Ten. Ten years in darkness. Ten minutes an hour of rest. Ten total others. Ten lethal wounds. Ten simple rules. Never complain, never escape, never talk, never run, never disobey, never rebel, never be dominant, never show compassion for experiments, never sympathize with experiments and never ask questions. All ten of which, I intend to break.

My name is Shadow the Hedgehog and for too long I have rotted with my fellow "cell-mates". So now, I break free and set things right again, the way things used to be...

Ten Years Ago

"How long does it take to go to the store and buy food?" I sat in a surprisingly comfortable chair composed of velvet fabric, dark oak legs and a matching pillow with the same deep purple color.

"APPROXIMATELY FIFTEEN TO TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES FOR CLOSE STORES." My robotic teammate, Omega, answered in his monotone voice.

"It was a rhetorical question, Omega." The oversized destruction machine simply analyzed those spoken words and slightly bowed with understanding. Earlier this same day, my other teammate, Rouge the Bat, went out to "fetch something good from the local grocery" as she had said. That was an hour ago, I started to worry for her well being. Nothing special I mean I worry for Omega just as well but, Rouge is only a bat. Yes a very capable bat with superb hearing, sight, flight, instincts and fighting abilities (I would know), but she is still mortal. And with her history, anything could happen. For all I know, the apocalypse could start because of her.

Suddenly a loud explosion sounded through the normally quiet atmosphere.

What did she do this time?

Omega and I quickly burst through Rouge's front door to see something worse than that Faker's annoying voice for once. The sky was red with black clouds, gunshots blared from further down the road, corpses of innocent mobians littered the streets. What made this situation worse was the shouting mobians searching for their lost ones, and Shadow was one of them.

"Rouge! Rouge where are you!? Rouge this isn't funny!"

Frantically he searched the entire city using his speed to do so in records time. Still no sign of the white haired bat. He felt like a part of him was stripped from his exhausted body and taken with her. He knew one thing though, if she wasn't here and her body didn't lye in front of him, she was still alive.

While thinking this situation over and plotting his next move, he was oblivious to the eight figures approaching him. And the fact they were armed. The last thing he remembers is the desperate cry of a female shouting his name...

Present

Here he was, ten years later, in a cell waiting to be taken for more unnecessary torture. Sickening how the Ultimate Life Form was trapped like a caged bird. Yet here he is.

The creaking of a rusted door filled the deadly silent room. No light was admitted, only the tapping of heavy shoes. Suddenly, my door was opened. A gloved hand reached out and squeezed the quills on my head to drag me to a place worse than eternal darkness. It was now or never.

Without warning, I tackled the "retriever" to the cold metallic ground. They fought back but even with ten years of being treated like carp, I was unstoppable. Eventually the punches stopped and they barely heaved their chest up and down.

Using my almost unmatched speed, I bolted for an exit. Having the entire building cloaked in darkness was a good idea on their part. Whoever the leader of this inhumane society is, was a genious. If Eggman had an IQ of 300, this guy had an IQ of 3,000. I was looking forward to meeting him face to face. Before we meet face to fist of course.

First things first, I had to find everyone. Even if the world is at war with itself.

Author's Note

Hey guys new story idea. It came to me while I was watching a play through of the game Portals. No it is not the same story but it is very very very loosely based off of the concept. The story is romantic, adventurous, dystopian, si-fiy, and potentially long so sit tight and enjoy the read. Reviews of all kinds welcome.