Prologue:

The following story takes place fifteen years after the events of "A Sonic the Hedgehog Story". Sonic Jr. is now as old as his famous father was when he first entered the hero business, and has inherited all of his abilities. The two other major couples of the house produced some offspring of their own, who are very close in age to Junior. Life on Mobius has been completely peaceful ever since Dr. Eggman's demise, aside from the occasional minor disturbances. However, that doesn't mean someone ELSE can't start to pose a threat, right?

Chapter 1: An Evening Of Honor:

It was past dusk - the opportune time for a pair of common thugs to infiltrate the Sonic The Hedgehog Museum in order to carry out their mission. Both thugs were at a decent height, and quite thin and lanky, but a heavy build wasn't required for their objective. Tiptoeing and constantly stopping at corners, the two men crept their way throughout the interior of the closed museum until they made their way to its main exhibit (or one of them at least). This exhibit was simply a sapphire the size of a cantaloupe, sculpted into the shape of Sonic's head, with a pair of small, ovular emeralds in the place of his eyes. It was resting on a pillow inside a glass box on a wooden pedestal enclosed within a set of velvet ropes. With mischievous grins on their faces, the two men carefully removed the artifact and slipped it into a burlap sack.

"Alright, now that that's taken care of, how do we get out of here?" One whispered.

"Don't look at me! I'm not the one who forgot the fucking schematics back at the base!" The other whispered back, "I swear, if we get caught and are denied that sum of money the boss promised us, I'm pinning the blame on you!"

Both robbers said no more as they crept around, looking for a route to the exit as best as they could despite the almost pitch-dark interior and their lack of a light source. Meanwhile, in an area not far from where the two men were walking, a faint clank could be heard as a vent cover was knocked off its bolts. A being crawled out of the vent, quietly placing its cover back against the opening, and zipping towards the nearest corner at the speed of sound. A cocky smirk appeared on his face at the sight of the burglars.

"Did you hear that?" One robber asked.

"Hear what?" The other guy replied, "Stop trying to scare yourself and try to find the exit."

As the two men continued their search, the being continued to silently pursue them, searching for opportunities to take them out and foil their plan. His first chance came when one burglar stopped to stare at a painting that consisted of all scrapped designs for Sonic.

"Whoa... !" He said in awe.

"Will you quit your damn fooling around and help me?!" The other robber barked back, continuing to walk without looking behind him.

"Okay, okay, I'm comi- OOF!" The man grunted as a large, blue projectile rammed into him from behind.

He was sent flipping upwards through the air for a bit before the same ball hit him in the stomach (causing him to cough up some blood) and knock him out cold onto the marble floor. The being quickly darted out of sight by climbing up a nearby column in a squirrel-like manner.

"Huh?!" The remaining robber barked as he hurried back to check on his unconscious partner, "Oh shit! What the hell happened?! ...Nevermind. I'll just get out of here. Every man for himself."

"That's what you think." The being muttered arrogantly, quietly enough that nobody heard him.

After a good half hour or so, the robber finally found the glass front doors.

"Phew! Alright, now to get this bad boy to the... !" He started, cutting himself off as he felt a drop of red liquid drip onto his shoulder.

He wiped it off with a single finger, noticing some odd chunks inside the liquid, before quickly wiping it against the burlap sack in disgust.

"Yecch! Just what was that all about?!" He asked, before a much larger drop landed right in front of him, making an audible splat as it collided with the marble.

Now growing nervous, the man looked up above him and nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of what appeared to be an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog hanging from the top of a column, giving him a sadistic grin that showed all of his teeth as his mouth was lined with the same red liquid. He managed to let out a yelp before a blue blur slammed into his head and knocked him out. The being who had stopped the robbers turned out to be none other than Sonic himself, and the red liquid was nothing more than the sauce from a half-eaten chili-dog in his hand, which he finished in one bite.

"Ah well! Maybe next time!" Sonic taunted as he caught the sack containing the jewel in his free hand without looking.

Soon enough, the artifact was placed back in its rightful spot, and just as Sonic was exiting the building, he felt an odd vibration. He took out his own personal Miles Electric and tapped the screen. It turned out to be a call from Tails.

"Sonic! Where have you been?! We've got somewhere to be tonight, remember?!" Tails asked impatiently.

"Oh, crap, that's right! I'm on my way now!" Sonic replied, hanging up afterwards.

Later that night, the entire household from the previous story was gathered around in an assembly-room within G.U.N. headquarters, all clad in their most formal attire. A spokesperson was delivering a speech on stage in front of the vast audience that mostly consisted of G.U.N. agents and soldiers.

"... And so, in light of the sudden, recent, and utterly tragic death of Commander Towers, we have agreed to pass his position on to our most competent elite agent." Hefinished, "And that agent would be none other than Shadow the Hedgehog."

The crowd proceeded to graciously applaud the commemoration as Shadow stepped onto the stage, standing there proudly as the spokesman placed the badges formerly worn by the late commander onto his chest. He took a deep breath at the thought of his newfound responsibility, and smiled genuinely as he waved towards the audience.

"Words cannot describe how honored I am to achieve this position." Shadow said as he took the spokesman's place at the podium, "In the past, I formerly stated that I had joined G.U.N. for the sole purpose of improving my image in society, but as the years have worn on, that has all changed. And only after his passing did I discover my real reason for taking up this job - to make him proud. Commander? If you're looking down on us right now, you don't need to worry. I've got this military under as much control as you had it, and I promise to never let you down in the future!"

Once Shadow's acceptance speech was completed, everyone applauded once more.