Chapter 1: Shattered memories

Shadow: I am Shadow the Hedgehog and I am the CyberActors15 representative and I have been tasked by CA15 to give you some info about this story. First of all this story is focusing around me but don't worry this won't be another 'Shadow weeping over the death of Maria and going on a rampage through the world to get her back thing' but will focus on different things. Don't get me wrong Maria will appear in this story but she won't have as prominent a role. In terms of timeline this takes place in the Game universe that doesn't include Sonic Boom so the mainstream Sonic Team universe, not the Archie Comics, not SatAM, not Sonic Underground, not Sonic X just the video game world and so this story will take place after Sonic Lost World. And now for the Disclaimer unfortunately CA15 doesn't own the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise… if he did do you think Sonic Boom would have been that bad? However he does own the OCs.

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"Dreams are more than simple illusions created from the mind
as they are often formed from repressed memories
or experiences. One thing that remains constant about them
is that they cannot simply be created and must arise from some past experience."

He didn't know what this sensation was but he knew it was powerful. Looking down to his hands that were covered in black and red fur he could feel some kind of powerful energy coursing through. The power was older than him, older than perhaps the place he currently stood in.

"Hey you okay?"

He looked up and saw three people… one person and two animals like himself. He didn't know why but he felt like he should know the two animals but he didn't. What he did notice was that in their eyes there looked to be a bit of… hope while the human girl showed concern in her eyes.

The seven year old scoffed and crossed his arms.

"Am I okay?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life form. Of course I'm okay."

As he said that he briefly saw the looks of hope in the other two animals fall before they were replaced with acceptance. The human's eyes showed amusement.

"Okay then. My name is Maria Robotnik Nice to meet you Shadow." The human said.

"I'm Biolizard the Prototype… Uh Lizard. Nice to meet you as well I guess." The 10 year old lizard boy said.

"I'm Mage the Eagle. Welcome to the family Shadow." The eight year old eagle girl said.

Shadow's eyes snapped open and he took a moment to regain his bearings and figure out where he was. He had to smirk at the coincidence; he was leaning against a tree right outside the recently rebuilt Westopolis after having a dream that seemed like a forgotten memory.

He took half a second to think about the dream but then shrugged it off. He had decided to leave his past behind him a long time ago so why should he go back on that decision now. Besides even if he did decide to research into his past again he didn't have a family, he never did and he never would… assuming that he could get Rouge to stop trying to fix him up with a date.

"Oh there you are."

Speaking of Rouge.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting Shadow." Rouge said as she landed next to him.

"If this is about another one of your friends who you think could date me then you're wasting my time." Shadow said as he sent a suspicious glare at the nineteen year old bat.

"Most people would dive at the chance to get romance advice from me." Rouge said with a smirk. "However that's not what I'm here for."

"Then what do you need?" Shadow asked. "I assume it's not to do that stupid teenager stuff that you are always trying to get me to do."

"No this time it's work." Rouge said.

"G.U.N or filling your purse with gems?" Shadow asked.

"Surprisingly this job has nothing to do with either." Rouge said. "This is a different kind of mission that requires your help. I need a bit more info on the Ultimate Life Form project."

Shadow glared and turned to walk away.

"Shadow, wait…" Rouge called making the black hedgehog stop.

"The me project was shut down years ago and its secrets have been buried with everyone who died that day." Shadow said. "There is no point in digging up graves for secrets or information that don't need to be known."

"But Shadow you're wrong. I'm not talking about you." Rouge said and was shocked to see Shadow show a surprised emotion. "Okay to be truthful not even I'm sure if this is actually linked to the Ultimate Life Form project but from some of the information I've gathered it looks like it. And if it is it might be linked to the prototypes not you… at least I'm not sure you fit into the picture."

"Prototypes? There was only one prototype." Shadow said.

"No there were two." Rouge said. "According to these files the first was a lizard and the second was an eagle before you were created."

Shadow grunted in pain as he grabbed his head while memories seemed to flood into his brain.

The seven year old black and red hedgehog looked at his 'siblings.' Biolizard was a ten year old reptile with red scales around his body and dark navy blue almost black scales on his belly and he had purple eyes. He had what looked like a metallic backpack with steel cables instead of straps attached to his back. He also wore White gloves and Black, white gold and blue sneakers.

Mage was an eight year old eagle with white and purple feathers and green eyes. She wore a blue sleeveless top alongside a blue skirt and knee length black, white gold and purple high heeled boots.

"Hm so you're my older brother and sister huh?" Shadow asked. "Then why don't I know you. All I know is my name and that I'm the Ultimate Life form."

"No you wouldn't remember." Mage said. "You see you, me and Biolizard are creations, created by Professor Robotnik to be the Ultimate Lifeforms. Biolizard was the first prototype, I'm the second and you just might be the last in the Ultimate Bloodline. Hence you are our baby brother."

"I'm not a baby." Shadow said with a huff.

"Whatever you say little bro." Biolizard said with a laugh before he rested his arm on Shadow's head.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked concerned.

"I'll help you on this mission. But I'll do this my way, alone." Shadow said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Wow that was easier than I thought." She said quietly to herself before she looked at Shadow. "I need you to investigate an old town that was destroyed around 63 years ago."

"What am I looking for?" Shadow asked.

"Anything really. There was a mysterious incident all those years ago and residual signs show that there is a lot of excess chaos energy floating around what's left of this town." Rouge said. "Other reports state that the town was attacked by the elements and submerged in the earth and or ocean."

"If it's below ground why not ask your boyfriend for help?"

Rouge then blushed a deep shade of red, so deep that she could probably look like her 'boyfriend.'

"Knuckles, isn't my boyfriend Shadow. We're rivals, nothing more." Rouge said defensively.

"Explains why you used his real name instead of calling him that echidna." Shadow taunted with a raised eyebrow. "So keep telling yourself that maybe you might actually believe it someday."

"Damn it Shadow, our relationship is strictly rivals only. And even if I wanted him to take this job he couldn't. I was wrong to say that there was a lot of excess chaos energy, around the town in actually a lot of chaos radiation."

This sparked Shadow's attention. He had heard about Chaos Radiation before, it was deadly and people who got within the vicinity would be sure to die. However he was immune to such radiation because of his status as an Ultimate life form.

Another thing he knew was that Chaos Radiation wasn't a usual occurrence nor did it last long, so to be able to find Chaos Radiation in a single area for 63 years seemed very strange indeed.

"Where is this town?" Shadow asked.

"You won't find it on any modern maps so you'll have to take these GPS coordinates to find it." Rouge said as she handed him a GPS. "I'll also do some research on my side in the less volatile places in the world."

Shadow nodded before he dashed off leaving Rouge.

"A goodbye or a good luck would have been appreciated." Rouge said dryly as she watched the black blur dash across the landscape.

~00000~

Shadow didn't immediately go to the town, what he did do however was go and conduct a little research on the town. He learned that it was a town that had an equal amount of anthropomorphic animals as it did humans and that it was a general peaceful city at least until a large accident that resulted in Chaos Radiation being forced on the city. The thing that caught his eye was that this town was where Maria Robotnik was born and Ivo Robotnik a few years later.

Now Shadow stood on a mountain outside the town as he observed from an aerial view. He watched as scientists and authorities in hazmat suits prevented people from entering while conducting searches. It had been 63 years and people were still searching for answers. Whatever happened here must have been very dangerous.

The black hedgehog thought back to the information he had learned alongside what he saw and his general knowledge. If there was one thing he didn't believe in, it was coincidences. This town had suffered from Chaos Radiation and possibly more chaos energy and it also happened to be the very town Maria and Eggman were born in. Maria's deadly disease was also a result of being exposed to extremely low levels of chaos radiation. There was also the position of this town; it was in the middle of a valley that was surrounded by multiple mountains and cliff sides making it somewhat isolated from the outside world like there was something to hide. There was also the fact that this valley was a natural setting that hadn't been disturbed by much. Despite the radiation, the surrounding environment had absorbed some of it allowing for the place to only look like ancient ruins. Humans and Anthropomorphic animals also lived here in a sort of harmony which seemed interesting as humans generally lived in technologically advanced cities while animals tended to live in natural areas. They didn't tend to live together. The humans and animals personally had nothing against each other they just lived separately. So that left the question why were humans and animals living together in this town.

Shadow looked at the landscape again and began to see a pattern. The mountain sides that surrounded this place all looked like pieces of something that was removed. They looked as if there was something covering this valley like a dome that had been removed.

"Maybe not a dome but an egg." Shadow said.

(AN: suggest music Green Forest from Sonic Adventure 2)

It seemed it was time to begin his investigation.

Shadow jumped into air and curled into a ball as he began to spin in the air. His momentum began to build before he landed and rocketed down the mountain side.

A while down the mountain side the black hedgehog uncurled from his ball form and as his feet touched the ground he jumped, more like rocketed into the air and did a forward flip to increase his momentum before he landed on and grinded on a thick forest vine towards the town.

The vine continued down until it joined onto a particularly large tree and Shadow was sent down until he reached the roots of the tree and once he was on the solid ground he could use more speed and burst off at the speed of sound.

The solid ground however didn't last and he was eventually skating on the surface of the crystal blue lake at least until he jumped up and performed the gravity defying homing shot to the surface where there was a lot of moss covering some kind of rock. As soon as Shadow hit the moss he was sent rocketing vertically upwards into the air before he did another homing shot and grabbed a thin vine that was hanging from another extremely large tree and he used it plus his current velocity to swing around the trunk of the tree before he shot off and landed on the inside of the quarantine zone.

The black hedgehog did a small spin on the ground to halt his velocity before he crossed his arms.

"Hm perfect." He said when he noticed that he had gotten inside the quarantine zone without having to deal with the scientists or authorities.

Shadow had to smirk at his S-Rank achievement of getting inside without any opposition.

The Black hedgehog then began to investigate the town for anything that could make reference to there being information about an Ultimate Life form. However he wasn't only investigating that, he was also searching for any information about this place, why it suffered Chaos Radiation and why there were so many coincidences here.

The good news was that the town wasn't completely destroyed. Some of the buildings were still intact as were items inside. Shadow could walk into different buildings and see objects that had been left behind from when people still lived here. That was good, it meant there was a lot of evidence he could use for information.

He walked through looking for any journals or recorded documents that could give him a clue and he was able to find a few things of interest. Apparently a lot of the families both human and animal had been living in this town for a very long time and no one ever really came in or out of the town… at least until a man, his two sons and their wives moved in from outside the town. The first people to move in in quite a few hundred years.

This family was the Robotnik Family apparently. So what caused the Robotnik to be the first to move to this town and why didn't anyone leave or enter in the past few hundred years? Perhaps answering that question could get answers about what happened here.

So here Shadow stood at the former residence of the Robotnik family. The house was a nice and modest three story house that was obviously made to house the three generations of Robotnik Family. The house like some of the others in this particular area was aged and looked like it was on the verge of collapsing. Obviously this one hadn't been one of the lucky places when disaster struck, however it was still in fairly good shape meaning that there were probably some things on the inside that were still in one piece.

Shadow entered the house as carefully as he could. Despite the fact that he was an immortal, if a building collapsed on him it would still hurt.

The black hedgehog looked around and just like every other house this place was all but deserted. There was a clear lining of dust everywhere, some plants had grown into the house and quite a few things clearly looked destroyed.

Shadow raised his arm as a yellow glow emitted from the chaos spear in his hand and it seemed that even without light the room's appearance didn't really seem to change. He then proceeded to search the entire house for any journals or information that could be used to help him but he wasn't able to find anything. All he found were some old photos and a… a flash drive. It seemed old but it would definitely be compatible with the computers on the Ark so that was good.

Shadow felt like leaving but he still felt like he hadn't learned anything. The flash drive was all he had and he knew that there was the possibility that it no longer worked.

He then left the house and continued looking for anything that could help him in his search but then he stopped in front of the more destroyed part of the town.

This place looked terrible with collapsed buildings and buildings that were on the verge of collapsing. A lot of the buildings that remained were structurally weak and would break down with a touch so Shadow knew he had to be careful, however being careful would take a lot of time that Shadow didn't want to spend too much time in this place. So he came up with the best solution to his problem, the buildings would inevitably fall, that much was certain and even if he went in as carefully as he could the place would feel some effects of his being there. So to save time Shadow would accelerate through all the buildings at a speed lower than the Speed of Sound as a sonic boom would tear these building apart faster than Shadow needed. He would be moving so fast that he'd be able to search each room and clear the area before they collapsed.

Shadow knew he would have to be incredibly precise, he couldn't afford to be too fast or too slow.

With his goal in mind the black hedgehog curled into a ball and began to spin before he then shot off to the first building and once at the door he uncurled and skated in at incredible speeds and initiated his plan.

And it was working smoothly at first as he was able to move through an entire building and search and grab any evidence that he could find. However when he reached the second building, Shadow made the mistake of stopping in a room.

The room he stopped in was a small apartment. Why because the moment he saw it he was hit by a wave of familiarity.

There was a small dining room that was connected to the kitchen with a table and three chairs around. There were plates on the table meaning that the family that lived here was probably going to begin eating before disaster struck. There was also what looked like pans and pots on the stove that made the appearance of food being prepared before the incident.

However the most shocking thing was the hedgehog skeleton that sat at the table. The interesting thing was that the skeleton held a glowing gem. Shadow knew about those gems, they had the potential to redirect chaos radiation meaning that that gem had been used to try and protect someone.

Looking at the skeleton holding that gem made Shadow begin to feel angry.

The black hedgehog looked up to the taller female black hedgehog that stood making food with wide hungry eyes, he then looked over to the other black hedgehog who was talking about the possibility of leaving the town.

The female black hedgehog shook her head, talking about how that was unnecessary and that leaving the town wasn't permitted or something like that. The younger black hedgehog wasn't paying attention to what the older hedgehogs said; he only focused on the smell of food and the toy in his hands.

Shadow's anger and desperation grew; they should have escaped when they had the chance.

The female hedgehog was now serving the food to the five year old black hedgehog and the older male black hedgehog seemed to be missing.

The five year old grinned happily and was about to begin eating but before he could the older male black hedgehog burst into the room, his eyes wide with fear.

The five year old and the female could now hear the screams of agony and fear that roared through town.

The male hedgehog was quick to pull out a glowing gem and he began to sit down and chant.

Red energy began to spark off of Shadow as the negative energy built up inside him.

The male hedgehog raised his hand and a blast of light shot from it hitting the youngest hedgehog first before the energy slowly spread to the female hedgehog.

The five year old hedgehog's eyes widened when he felt a lot of power coming from all directions and then he saw it the glow of Chaos Energy in its purest form.

A single tear slid down Shadow's cheek as he was encompassed in bright red energy.

"MAMMA PAPPA!" the young hedgehog cried out.

~00000~

The scientists and authorities who were monitoring the restricted area where utterly surprised when they saw a large blast of red chaos energy ripple outwards from approximately the centre of the town.

It was clear what this was, this was a Chaos Blast and the amount of people who could induce a Chaos Blast could be counted on one hand.

When the blast died down they were surprised to not see a huge crater but a lot of the buildings in a crystal type form. What wasn't crystal was reduced to rubble but most of this place was crystal.

More surprising the scientists noted that the Chaos Radiation levels had decreased significantly, not to the extent where it was safe to enter but lower none the less.

~00000~

Everything was pretty chilled for the group of friends. Eggman hadn't attacked since the Lost Hex incident which was about a month before so the group of friends were allowed to relax at one of their, Sonic's, vacation homes.

Sonic was sitting on the couch with his girlfriend, Blaze, lying next to him. Tails was busy tinkering with a device, Amy and Cream were casually talking and Knuckles and Silver were playing a game of cards.

It was pretty relaxing for them… so the last thing they expected was for Shadow to appear in the room clearly exhausted.

"Wha… Shadow?" Sonic asked.

"Not here to fight." Shadow grunted before he looked over to Tails then to Knuckles. "I need your help."

"What's wrong?" Tails asked.

"I need you to enter my mind." Shadow stated simply.

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Sonic: Whoa not that I'm complaining, but Blaze is my girlfriend?

Shadow: Really out of everything that happened in this chapter, you having interspecies with a cat is the thing that you are perplexed about?

Tails: He's kinda right Sonic.

Sonic: Sorry but it's not every day or every fanfiction that Blaze is my girlfriend. I mean Shadow having problems with memories that happens all the time, but me and Blaze?

Shadow: My god you are an incompetent fool.

Tails: So what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite and Follow to find out.