Shadow opened his eyes. His mind was blank and he felt clueless. He had no idea who he was and where he was for a few moments, until he came back to his senses. He looked straight, only to see nothing but several shades of green. Leaves waved in the wind above him, and the sun shone through the gaps between them. The beams of light hit Shadow's face, sparkling across his black fur and tanned muzzle. The hedgehog squinted his eyes as his vision temporarily blurred, and all of the shades of green blended together. He looked to his side as his vision focused, to see a floor of grass and a horizon moss stained tree trunks.
The dark hedgehog sat up stiffly and looked around to see that he was surrounded by trees. But that still didn't answer all of his questions. With a baffled look on his face, he stood up and looked around at his surroundings. It looked familiar to him for some reason, but couldn't quite place why. Suddenly he put his hands to his head and closed his eyes in pain, letting out a grunt of pain in the process. Then he opened his eyes and looked ahead of him again in realisation.
"This is where the humans captured me after…" Shadow mumbled to himself slowly, but then changed his tone to hurried and urgent one. "Maria!" He brought his hands back up to his head and tugged at his quills, then bent over in a wave of agony. Then he straightened back up and began to yell. "I will avenge you, Maria! Just like a promised you!"
Using his skates, he ran forward as fast as he could. Then he began talking to himself as he pushed himself ahead.
"Those humans must have discarded me from their prison. I could have sworn they threw me into suspended animation," he pondered. "They're all foolish to think that I would be dead after-"
He skidded to a halt as he he saw a path of destruction ahead. Although the path was more like a wall, or an island itself. All buildings and structures were collapsed; some of it was burning.
"What happened to the island?" Shadow said and swallowed, then managed to breath out another sentence. "How was I spared?" Then he shook his head quickly as he tried to dismiss it. "This small scale destruction won't matter when I'm done with this cursed planet," he spat, then turned and ran the other way to find a way off of the island.
A while later, Shadow ran down some city streets. He stopped to look at the bright lights in the shop windows. The sun had set and the area was devoid of most humans. Once Shadow came to a halt, he couldn't ignore the feeling that he'd been here before, or that he'd seen something like that place.
"This is nothing like the photos of the earth that I saw before," Shadow said to himself. "But I can't help but think that I've been here before." The hedgehog thought to himself very hard, staying still and quiet for a few moments. "But I couldn't have. I was sent straight to prison island after I escaped the ARK… there's no way I've been here before." He turned around on the spot and took another look at the area. "I don't think I was in suspended animation for a very short period of time…" His eyes widened in shock. "Everything looks like it's the future."
Shadow didn't want to think about it any longer. He shot forward, skating his shoes as fast as he could. There was a strong look of determination on his face, his eyes narrowed and mouth straightened, almost frowning. He turned corners and avoided vehicles on the road as he crossed them. He raised his hand a few times to destroy them with chaos spears, but lowered it again each time as he bit his tongue.
"I must hold back and stay low. I don't want GUN to find out that I'm still alive," the hedgehog said through his gritted teeth. "As much as these humans deserve it."
After a few more minutes of running, Shadow found a large paved area. It was dimly lit and wider than most of the roads in the area, so there was plenty of room for cars and people, but it was empty. The hedgehog came to a stop, as he felt his headache return.
"Something doesn't feel right about this place," he said quietly to himself as he groaned and held his head where he felt as if his skull would split. "It's like something happened here before… but I've never been here."
Shadow took a few moments of silence to try and get rid of his headache. His headache died down and he was about to leave when he heard a voice nearby. It slowly got louder, as if someone was moving closer.
"I can't believe that not so long ago, I met him here, and now he's gone."
Shadow's ear twitched, and he got into a protective stance. The voice sounded foreign to him, it didn't sound like anyone he'd met before. The voice got a little louder and it's owner showed himself.
"We fought over there," said a blue hedgehog. It pointed over to where Shadow was standing. Shadow looked at him ominously, how dare this stranger point to where he was standing and pay no attention to his presence. "Wait, Shadow!?" Shadow felt himself jump inside; how did the stranger know his name? "You're alive!" the stranger continued to shout. He ran over to Shadow. The dark hedgehog dodged out of the way of this stranger, so the blue hedgehog just ran straight past him.
"I don't know who you are, but you got the wrong hedgehog. I'm not the Shadow you know," Shadow yelled. "I've never even met you!"
Sonic skidded to a halt and turned to look at Shadow confusedly; there was also a strong hint of disappointment on his face.
"But, you look and sound just like the Shadow we know," came another voice. Shadow looked to a small fox that walked up to him and the blue hedgehog.
"What a coincidence, but I've never met you, so I'm not the Shadow you know," Shadow said confidently and firmly. "So leave me alone." He began walking away from the strange pair.
"Wait!" the blue hedgehog yelled. He ran back up to Shadow and grabbed his wrist. "This is missing! You lost it when-"
Shadow hit the blue hedgehog with his free arm and he went flying against the wall of a building. Shadow pulled his arm out in front of him, it looked as if he was looking at a wrist watch. His eyes widened when he realised that the inhibitor ring was gone! He looked back at the blue hedgehog in anger. The fox boy was standing over him with a look of distress.
"Sonic!" the youth yelled and shook his limp body.
Shadow gasped and held his head in pain again. He was bent over slightly as he groaned in pain and stepped forward, almost stumbling over in the process.
"S-Sonic?" he mumbled to himself. He walked away as fast as he could to get away from the pair. Their presence alone was giving him migraines all of a sudden. The ultimate life form couldn't take it. "Must… forget about those pathetic creatures and… complete Maria's revenge."
"Shadow!"
Shadow turned around at the sound of the blue hedgehog's voice. He opened one eye slightly so he could look at him. The blue hedgehog had stood and started walking towards him. Looking at his green eyes hurt Shadow's head even more.
"Get away from me!" Shadow yelled aggressively then turned back around again to leave. Sonic ran over to him with his arms out, it looked as if he would try to grab Shadow. So, the black hedgehog ran to the side while he still had his hands on his head, to try to avoid his grasp.
Then, Shadow felt a shiver go down his spine. He took his hands from his head as his headache left. Then he looked at Sonic as if he'd come to a realisation. The dark one continued to stare at the hedgehog, his eyes narrowed more and more each second.
"What?" Sonic asked, stepped back. Suddenly, Shadow leapt and tackled Sonic to the before because the blue hedgehog could react. The dark one pushed his victim's face down onto the floor, stood one foot on one of his victim's arm, and one foot on his legs. The blue hedgehog let out muffled yells and struggled as hard as he could, but he was thoroughly stuck. Shadow bent down to grab something, but the fox flew over to stop him. Shadow put out his fist at full speed, knocking the young one back in the process. He yelped and skidded across the floor.
"A flying fox, that was unexpected…" Shadow mumbled, then looked down at Sonic emotionlessly. Then he reached for Sonic's waist, and pulled out a shiny object and pocketed it. He pulled out two more identical objects, but they were all different colours. Then he jumped off of Sonic and ran to a safe distance.
"The emeralds!" Tails yelled. Sonic took a while to come to his senses after having his face pushed against the floor. He stood up and looked at Shadow anxiously.
"You showed weakness because you thought I was a friend," Shadow said triumphantly. "Now I'm off to find the rest. I suggest you don't try to stop me." The ultimate life form shot off into the distance. He looked back to find that Sonic was running after him, with his fox friend closely behind, propelling his two tails.
Shadow felt a surge of power go through him, something that also felt new, but familiar at the same time. He looked behind him to see that the two of his chasers were still keeping up.
"Damn! What are the chances of finding someone who looks like me, and can run as fast as me?" Shadow grumbled to himself. "It's time to get rid of him." He turned his waist as he turned and channelled the new energy inside of him to his arms and hands, then sent an energy projectile backwards, yelling its name in the process. "Chaos spear!"
The two of them managed to dodge. Shadow grit his teeth and ran ahead as fast as he could. He was sure that they wouldn't keep up. The two tailed fox seemed to be falling behind, but the hedgehog he'd heard being called 'Sonic', still kept up. Sonic even managed to close the gap between them. Shadow growled in frustration, feeling the situation wasn't going to be resolved via running. He got out one of the emeralds as he continued to run as fast as he could.
"Shadow, don't you dare!" Sonic yelled. Shadow ignored him.
"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled, there was a flash of light and he was gone.