Prologue: The Story of Shadow

A/N: Hey guys! This is Nitro321, giving you another fanfic! :D

So before you say anything: Yes, I have other fanfics going on, and I'm still updating them. This will not effect those stories. But I had this idea, and I couldn't wait to use it, so here it is!

The prologue, as it says, is the history of Shadow. This is mainly for those who don't know about Shadow, or for those who want some refreshment on his history. If you don't know much about Shadow, or if you want to learn more about him, then I highly recommend that you read the prologue.

But enough jibberish. Enjoy the prologue!

I do not own Shadow the Hedgehog, Maria Robotnik, or any of the characters in here! All rights go to SEGA and Sonic Team!

Over 50 years ago, the United Federation's government began an experiment to unlock the secrets of immortality. This experiment, code-named Project Shadow, was to take place on the Space Colony ARK, and was to be headed by one of the world's most well-known geniuses at the time: Professor Gerald Robotnik.

The project took several years of hard labor and failed attempts. But it was finally completed. The project was a success, and the world's Ultimate Life Form: named Shadow the Hedgehog, was created.

Professor Robotnik not only had political reasons to create Shadow, but also personal reasons. His granddaughter Maria was ill with a deadly disease, and Shadow was created to help find a cure for the girl.

Shadow and Maria became close friends. So close that they began to see each other as family. They did almost everything together, from exploring the huge space colony to staring out the window at Earth.

A couple months after Shadow was created, another experiment that Professor Robotnik was working on went terribly wrong. The experiment backfired, and before anyone knew it there were demonic creatures all over the space colony, killing who they pleased. Shadow was able to not only destroy the creatures, but was able to use his Chaos powers to heal those who had been injured during the attack.

That incident made Shadow and Maria's friendship grow even more, and the scientists onboard the ARK soon saw that nothing would separate their friendship. They thought it would last forever.

Unfortunately that was not to be the case. The Government Unit of Nations, also known as G.U.N., deemed Shadow too dangerous, and ordered Professor Robotnik to shut him down.

Professor Robotnik, seeing Shadow's power, as well as seeing his ever-growing friendship with his granddaughter, boldly refused, and shut off all communications with G.U.N.

G.U.N., enraged at the Professor's refusal, sent troops to the Space Colony ARK to forcibly shut down Shadow, and to capture the Professor and anyone else who worked on Project Shadow.

On that fatal day, G.U.N. agents burst onto the ARK, and captured the scientists. Maria, who was going into the lab to grab something for her grandfather, saw the G.U.N. agents and quickly ran, provoking one agent to follow her. She ran as fast as she could to Shadow, who understood immediately what was happening. Shadow grabbed Maria's hand and ran as fast as he could toward the escape pods, hoping to escape to Earth with Maria.

The duo reached the escape pods despite the growing number of G.U.N. agents chasing them. Shadow quickly closed and locked the door, hoping to buy time to escape with Maria. Maria however, knew that she was unable to go to Earth, and so put Shadow into a space pod, just as the door was forced open.

The G.U.N. agent aimed his rifle at Maria and ordered her to move. Maria refused, prompting the soldier to shoot her in the chest. With her dying breath Maria asked Shadow to be the protector of the Earth. She asked him to give everyone a chance to be happy. Then, with all the energy she could muster, she pulled the lever, jettisoning the escape pod with Shadow in it.

Fueled with rage and hatred at the sight of Maria's murder, Shadow swore that he would avenge her death by destroying all mankind. However, before he could fulfill that he was captured by G.U.N., who quickly put him in a state of suspended animation for over 50 years.

Fifty years later, Shadow was released from his state of suspended animation by Professor Robotnik's grandson, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, also known as Dr. Eggman. To show his gratitude for releasing him, Shadow agreed to help Dr. Eggman take over the world.

Shadow, Eggman, and undercover agent Rouge the Bat worked together to get the Chaos Emeralds to power up the Eclipse Cannon, a weapon so powerful that it could destroy a whole planet.

Shadow runs into the world-renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog, and after several skirmishes with him returned to the Space Colony ARK, where he discovered that Rouge was in fact a G.U.N. spy under orders from the President to learn more about the Ultimate Life Form.

Sonic and his friends boarded the Space Colony ARK to stop Eggman's plan, only to find Shadow in the way. Sonic nearly was killed when he was sent to space in an exploding pod, but was able to escape using Chaos Control, a technique which Shadow had accidently taught him during their first encounter.

Sonic and Shadow fought once again, only for Shadow to get defeated. While Sonic continued searching for Eggman, Amy Rose asked Shadow to help them save the world, and asked him to forgive the humans for whatever they did to him. Shadow instantly remembered Maria's dying words, and vowed that he would protect the world she loved enough to die for.

Shadow met up with Sonic just as a monster appeared. This monster, which was in fact the Ultimate Life Form Prototype, fused itself with the outside of the ARK, pulling it by hand toward the Earth as a last-ditch attempt to destroy the planet; fulfilling Professor Robotnik's plan of revenge.

You see, the Professor was enraged at the death of his granddaughter by the hands of G.U.N., and devised a plan to get his revenge. His plan was to use the Chaos Emeralds to set the Space Colony ARK on a crash course with Earth, which would destroy the planet entirely.

Shadow didn't care about the planet, so he was willing to let the Ultimate Life Form Prototype destroy the planet. However, Amy Rose begged Shadow to reconsider, and to give the human race another chance. Shadow immediately remembered Maria's final wish, and vowed to protect the planet.

Shadow distracted the Prototype, which was code-named Bio Lizard, while Sonic and Knuckles used the Master Emerald to deactivate the Chaos Emeralds, making the collision course with Earth halt. However, the Bio Lizard used Chaos Control to fuse itself with the Space Colony ARK, and physically pulled it towards the Earth.

Sonic and Shadow used the Chaos Emeralds to turn Super, and working together, were able to destroy the Bio Lizard, and use Chaos Control to halt the Space Colony's crash course to the Earth. However, Shadow's energy ran out, and he fell to Earth to his apparent death.

However, several months later, Rouge the Bat accidently found Shadow in a life capsule and released him. You see, after Shadow crashed to Earth, Dr. Eggman found him and put him in a life containment unit and ordered E-123 Omega, the last of the E-100 series robots, to guard him.

Rouge released Shadow, who protected her from Omega, who was angrily destroying all of Eggman's robots to avenge being put in the same room as Shadow. Rouge managed to stop Shadow and Omega before they killed each other, and the three eventually became known as Team Dark.

Team Dark helped to defeat Dr. Eggman's newest plan, and protected the world from the evil Metal Overlord. But then a threat came that Shadow had to face alone: The return of the Black Arms.

The Black Arms were a race of aliens that had visited Earth over 50 years ago. Their leader Black Doom had actually helped with the creation of Shadow, giving the black hedgehog some of his DNA. Now, Black Doom wanted the Chaos Emeralds to destroy the planet. Shadow, after dealing with several temptations, and being constantly reminded of his past, killed Black Doom and destroyed the Black Arms completely. Shadow determined to leave the past behind him, and joined G.U.N. as an undercover agent.

Since then, Shadow has worked with G.U.N. to protect the planet from threats such as the sun god Solaris, the demonic Mephiles, the nasty Time Eater, and most recently: The dreaded Lyric.

Shadow has left the past completely behind him, never mentioning the Space Colony, his creation, or Maria. And everyone for the most part seems to have forgotten about it. That is…until a terrible secret was discovered.

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To be continued...

A/N: So there's the prologue. Before you say anything about Sonic Boom not being canon, I FREAKIN' KNOW THAT! But this is kinda combining that adventure with the Modern Sonic era. (No, Sonic Boom character's WON'T be in it! But one of the characters might reference something that happened in Boom).

And don't go saying that Mephiles and Solaris are the same being. I know that! But for a long time they were separate, so I mentioned them separately.

Anything else I need to cover so people don't hate on this!? Good. I thought not. XD

But anyway, what secret was the ARK holding that will soon be discovered? We'll have to find out.