Sonic Squad: The Diary of Gerald Robotnik

By Cole Bezotte

The next morning, after Sonic had rescued Sally from Dr. Eggman's cave, a meeting of the mighty Sonic Squad came to an opening.

Okay, never mind. They had no idea what to say. That is, until Shadow came in to talk about something very important.

"Well, look who's here," Mario spoke up as he saw Shadow walk into the Mario Bros. Plumbing Shop.

"Shadow!" Luigi said, excitedly. "What brought you here?"

Shadow sighed as he pulled something out a handbag that he wore on his shoulder. "There are many things that I have left out of an important story. I have something to show you all." He pulled out a very old book from over fifty years ago.

"What is that?" Luigi asked, eager to find out what secrets lay in that book.

"This is the diary of Professor Gerald Robotnik," Shadow explained. "It contains all the notes from the day I was created. Let me tell you what he wrote in here." And so, everyone sat on the floor to listen to what Shadow had to say, reading from the professor's journal.

The diary told about the day when Shadow was to finally be created. It was during the time when the professor's granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, was suffering from the disease known as N.I.D.S. (similar to A.I.D.S.). The day took place aboard the space colony A.R.K., which floated above the planet Earth. On the day that the experiment was to be completed, the commander of the G.U.N. forces came to complain about the laziness that hung over the day. The commander of that time was not Abraham Tower (like he is now) but his father, Thaddeus Tower.

Also, another doubtful man known as Quell began to complain about how dangerous the experiment is.

But Gerald Robotnik was hopeful in succeeding in this experiment. "Another few seconds, and we'll see whether we are successful or not," he spoke up.

"I was against it from the start, professor," Quell replied, "and I still am. It is too dangerous! You should have confided in us, your fellow scientists."

"Quiet, Quell. Here comes Commander Tower."

Commander Thaddeus Tower came in, telling about how much of a wimp Gerald has been. "Why the delay, professor?!" he spoke up. "What are you waiting for?! My men have been stationed here for weeks because of your infernal delays! Are you going to create that life-form or not?!"

"Of course, commander," Gerald replied. "We must take extra precautions; we are dealing with powerful forces, you know."

"Powerful forces?! Bah! Don't lecture me, professor! You speed it up! The problem with you is that you're milksop! You've got no guts! With me in charge instead of a milksop like you, this would have been done by now!"

"Hold your tongue, commander! If I want my granddaughter to live… dang it! Fine! I'll do it, for Maria's sake!"

"Well, ding-dong! It's about time!"

After the argument ended, Gerald pulled a few levers on the main control panel and pressed the correct buttons to blend in the formulas that would create the ultimate life-form. Again, Quell complained about the experiment: "I'm giving you one last chance, professor. You should have told us the secret of the life-form that will soon be created!"

"Sorry, Quell," Gerald replied. "The secret formula is locked in my room, and there it will stay!"

"You fool!" Quell grabbed Gerald by his shirt's collar. "If you make one fatal mistake, you would blow up half a continent! Why, I ought to—"

"I don't make errors, Quell," Gerald interrupted.

"Professor!" a G.U.N. soldier spoke up, announcing the countdown of the experiment. "The countdown has begun!"

After Quell let go of Gerald, Gerald said: "I'll talk with you later. You know how I detest men who think with their fists. Thinking with your fists is hardly scientific, Quell."

It soon became days after Shadow and his powers were created. After all was a complete success, the G.U.N. soldiers (along with Thaddeus) went back down to Earth to further discuss about the project. Quell began to talk about how dangerous Gerald's experiments had been. It made Thaddeus fear that Shadow would be deemed too dangerous of a life-form to survive. He feared that Shadow would cause havoc and destroy Earth because of his incredible powers. So he came up with an idea that would seal Gerald's fate. "He's bound to return to his project," he said after all was settled. "I'll give orders to have him followed."

Leading a group of G.U.N. soldiers, Thaddeus traveled in a miniature ship back to A.R.K. "Stay with him," he said later, commanding his troopers. "Don't let him out of your sight."

"He won't escape us this time," a soldier spoke up from the backseat of the ship Thaddeus piloted.

Meanwhile, on A.R.K., a worried Gerald stared deeply into the special machine that mixed all chemicals to create Shadow. "I must be careful," he thought to himself. "I don't want the government to question me."

Soon, he looked outside the A.R.K. to see Thaddeus' ship heading for him. "Troops!" he exclaimed as he saw the ship land in the landing dock. "They found me, but they mustn't find Shadow!"

"Break down the door!" Gerald heard a G.U.N. soldier say as doors were being knocked down. Troopers ran throughout the halls of A.R.K., shooting and destroying everything related to the project. Even the staff got shot down as well.

Gerald was then captured and tied up by two soldiers, who motioned the other ones to head for Maria. "No!" Gerald exclaimed, feeling his throat tingle with fear. "Not my granddaughter!"

But it was too late. Soon, Thaddeus and two other troopers ran into the room where Maria was. She held a switch that would jettison Shadow in an escape capsule out of A.R.K. and down into the world below. "Don't pull that switch!" Thaddeus barked at Maria. Maria refused, and instead pulled the switch that brought Shadow down to Earth. But she was only able to pull it halfway until Thaddeus shot her in the chest. Shadow watched in horror as Maria fell to the floor dying. Yet she was not finished; she pulled the switch all the way down, jettisoning Shadow's escape pod down to Earth.

Right after Maria fully died, Thaddeus shouted down at the escape pod that hurled towards Earth: "You won't escape me forever, Shadow! I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth! I swear it!"

But that was all Gerald's diary said; that was when the story stopped. Apparently, the rest of the pages were torn out, so Shadow could not read any more of it. He closed the book and handed it to Luigi, saying: "Take this and keep it secret. Make sure nobody gets his hands on this. If someone sees this, the public will know I'm here."

"Okay, Shadow," Luigi replied, taking the book with care. "I've got you covered."

Meanwhile, in the deep forest near Dr. Eggman's secret cave, the evil Black Doom sat on a log and thought deeply about what happened over fifty years ago. "Little did the fools know that I was Quell himself," he thought to himself. "I merely took the form of an ordinary human and gave myself an unusual name. I tricked them all! I told the commander to shoot the professor's granddaughter. But it was a good thing that Shadow survived that ordeal; I would use him later to get me the Chaos Emeralds. But Shadow betrayed me! He saved his cowardly friend from my painful force field." (As you have read in our second story)

Later, back at the Mario Bros. Plumbing Shop, someone knocked on the front door. It was an urgent emergency, so Luigi immediately let the person in. But right when he did, he was surprised to see Daisy standing right in front of him. "Daisy! It's you!" Luigi exclaimed. "You've come back!"

"Hi, Luigi," Daisy replied, happy to see his boyfriend. "I'm glad you're here. I have something for you to keep safe." Daisy reached into her pocket and pulled out a small and shiny object. It was the Rock that Bowser wanted to use to merge Earth and the Mushroom Land together into one world.

"The Rock, eh?" Luigi continued. "I'm already holding onto a diary, but I have just the thing." With that, Luigi pulled a treasure chest out from under his bed and opened it up, revealing many other secrets kept in there. Some of them included a De-Evolution Gun, the beautiful flower-crowns that Cream the rabbit had woven together in the past, Gerald's diary, and a Power Star from the Mushroom Land. Luigi placed the Rock into the chest, keeping it safe from any prying eyes.

After a long talk, Luigi and Daisy walked back into the living room, where the rest of the Sonic Squad further talked about the story from over fifty years ago. "Your story was quite a spellbinder, Shadow," Mario spoke up as they went on with the conversation. "If only that last part didn't happen."

"What last part?" Shadow asked.

"Maria's death," Mario answered. "If only Thaddeus did not pull that trigger and fire. It would have been much better if Maria's life was spared."

"I miss her too. If she was still alive today, she would be much older than how she was that time."

"But now you've got us, right?" Sally came in.

"You are right," Shadow replied. "Now I can pick up the threads of a new life. I've got you guys now. Life must go on. Somehow, you've given my spirit a new lift. In a way, Maria can live on for me."

Meanwhile, at Dr. Eggman's secret cave, the evil mad genius watched as Wario chopped a metal chain in half with his bare hand. Waluigi doubted Wario at this new idea he had. "How does this have anything to do with Sonic and the Freedom Fighters?" he spoke up as he saw Wario chop the chain.

"I'll show you," Wario replied, seeing the chain now in pieces. "You have to find da weakest link. We'll catch Shadow alone. First, bring me da prisoner."

And so, Snively Robotnik came dragging Antoine D'Coolette into the lab, as a captive of Dr. Eggman. "Sacre Bleu! What's ze meaning of zis?! Why was I brought here?!" Antoine spoke up cowardly.

"Shut up, jerk!" Wario barked at Antoine. "Tell me: who's minding da store tonight?"

"Shadow is taking care of everyzing," Antoine answered. "He's new, you know. But why didn't you just phone us?"

"Dis is it! Grab your hardware, boys! We're going down dere to show dat guy a ding or two! Let's hope we don't easily fail like we did last time wid Sonic and Sally." (As seen from our previous story)

A short time later, at the plumbing shop, Shadow sat alone sitting on the couch and looking through a scrapbook with pictures taken from years ago. Most of them included the day when Shadow was created, along with pictures of Gerald and Maria Robotnik. "I can't take anymore of this," he said to himself as he shed a single tear. "I should have known better than to look at these dark memories that keep haunting me. I don't belong in this age. Life means nothing without Maria. I'm a stranger to this generation."

But before he could think about any more of it, he was suddenly ambushed by Wario, Waluigi, Snively, Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts. The villains fired the new weapon that Wario had created: the Strength Sapper. "Get him, boys!" Wario spoke up as he aimed his gun at Shadow. "Dis ought to make him loose all his power!"

"We've got you covered, Wario!" Waluigi replied as he fired his gun. "Nothing stands a chance! Nothing can stop us now!"

But Shadow was agile enough to dodge every blast from the six sinister villains' guns. He was even quick enough to jump high over the villains' heads and kick them down to the floor. The battle raged on for about a half hour before all but one bad guy was knocked out cold. Wario was the last man standing for Shadow to finish off. Shadow punched Wario in the head very hard, but Wario did not give up. "You fool!" he said. "One blow isn't going to finish me!"

"Then perhaps TWO can!" Shadow replied as he punched Wario again, this time even harder. Wario fell to the floor with a thud on his head. He had never experienced such pain like this. "Sleep well, my friends," Shadow taunted as he looked all around him. "Now I'll call the police and they'll take you to a nice quiet jail. But I can't show myself to the officers when they come. I'll put on the disguise that Luigi gave me: the nifty big coat and hat."

Hours later, after Shadow cleaned the place back up and the villains were arrested, the rest of the Sonic Squad came back. "They're back already," Shadow thought. "Little do they know that I'm the guy who cleaned all this up. After all, I am a very tired Freedom Fighter."

About a minute later, the team began to talk to their hearts' content. "Did everything go alright?" Luigi asked Shadow.

"Sure," Shadow replied. "I had a most relaxing night."

"You have improved a hundred percent," Mario said. "A good night's rest put a sparkle in your eyes."

"Yep. I think I'm my old self again. Except… I seem to be a bit stiff."

"But not near as stiff as when we first met you," Sally came in. "What a week!"

NEXT TIME: THE MYSTERY OF THADDEUS UNRAVELS!