"Before the ARK..."

By

Sakura Courage Solo

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Author's Notes:
Yes, I know, I should be working on "Next Level Underground", "Kage no Ai" and stuff like that. In my defense, I had a couple more chapters of "Sonic Adventure 2 Battle: Revised" done MONTHS ago, but my floppy disk where I keep my fanfics stored screwed up and I lost them, and I got discouraged on writing it over again, but I may finish it yet. I dunno. Does anyone know how to repair/recover damaged floppy files?

Anyway, this is supposed to be Author's Notes about the fanfic. Well, I always wondered in the back of my mind... was Shadow REALLY created with Black Doom's DNA? Assuming he 'created' Shadow at all... and then it hit me, what if Shadow was in existence BEFORE he was on Space Colony ARK, and Professor Gerald and Black Doom only 'Created the Ultimate Life Form' by editing an already living and breathing Hedgehog, infusing him with Black Doom's DNA? This story will also contain... 'dun dun dunnnn'... the origin of the Chaos Emeralds!

Well, that's what this story is about. I hope you like it. I know, it may be corny at some parts, but bear with me. n.n; Leave me reviews!

Oh, and a new trilogy of Chapters in "Next Level Underground" IS coming, so hang tight!

Disclaimer:
I don't own Shadow, okay? If I did, he would've been in Sonic Underground and wouldn't have used profanity in his own game! 'brick'd' What? Profanity killed that game for me. v.v; Plus... come on, Shadow and Manic in the same TV series? That'd be spankin' and you people know it. XD

Well anyway, I don't own anything but the plot and perhaps some of the characters, like Emerald, Callista and Dark. So don't sue me! I'm trying to save my money so I can get a pet Hedgehog! n.n;

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Chapter 1

"Revelations of the Past"

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Small clouds of dust lifted themselves from the floor as Shadow walked across the dust-covered floors of Space Colony ARK, the Hedgehog's ruby red eyes scanning the dark room for the proper computer terminal.

Why had he returned to the ARK? What was the purpose for it? Recently, Shadow had been having odd dreams in his sleep; dreams he thought may be linked with his past...

After the incident with Black Doom though, did he not already know his past? And hadn't he vowed not to look on the past any longer? He felt there was more to it though... in his dreams, he would find himself in a dark, but warm surrounding, seemingly floating in a beatheable liquid in his small, enclosed but very comfortable space as the constant sound of a beating heart gave him an odd feeling of serenity and calmness. He had pondered the dream over many a time and finally came to the conclusion that in his dream, he was an unborn child.

There were times that he pondered if this was only a memory of when he was perhaps in a gestation chamber in one of the ARK's labs, but then why was there the constant sound of the soothing heartbeat? Why the warm and loving feeling?

Shadow felt he had to look into it, and finally, upon coming across the right computer terminal, sat down and booted it up. The computer prompted for a password after the boot, and Shadow typed in "MARIA". Moments after the computer processed the password as correct, Shadow was given access to all of Gerald's files. He sat there for hours, reading over file after file, wanting to know every shred of his past.

Finally, he came across a file that appeared to be the oldest of all. It looked like the file was damaged and unreadable, but Shadow remembered this trick of Gerald's. He remembered he'd taught it to Maria, who used it in her own diary. It was an encrypted in such a manner that it looked like the file was simply corrupted. Shadow smirked softly, simply going to the top of the document and switching the font over. The 'Encryption' was actually nothing more than a strange and unreadable font that Gerald liked to use. So simple, yet no one would ever think of it. It was obvious that even Rouge and GUN hadn't thought of it, as Rouge had all these files on a disk, but she'd never mentioned this file. Shadow read over the now legible text document, mumbling to himself as he read,

"Finally, I have found a way to give Black Doom the Ultimate Life Form that he wants. I only had Black Doom's DNA to work with before, but I had no way to simply clone that DNA as of yet, so I regretfully took a young Hedgehog boy I've recently found and infused him with Black Doom's DNA. I rather hate it the poor boy has to suffer this, but I hope he will understand later it is for the good of the world, and that he forgives me.

This one is more than just a Hedgehog, however. When I found him, he was in suspended animation inside of what appeared to be a large Crystal enriched with Chaos Energy, deep within the confines of the Mystic Cave Zone. I released him and brought him back to the ARK with me. He seems to have gained the ability to wield the Chaos Energy from his time in the Crystal, and it's fortunate he happens to have black and red fur, as do the Black Arms, but he remembers nothing past the fact that his name is Shadow. I can only hope that my plan works, and that in the future, Shadow will be able to defeat the Black Arms with their own power. I pray Black Doom doesn't find out what I'm doing; At least, not until it's time for Shadow to defeat him."

Shadow was stunned as he read the entry. It was proof that he had been found by Gerald and not created by him... this had meant that he had been born naturally, by a Mother and a Father! But who were they?

The Black Hedgehog sat there and pondered for a long while, wanting to know and find out, but Gerald had obviously no idea as to who Shadow's birth parents were, let alone where he'd come from before he was found in the crystal.

"I have to know... "

He finally murmured to himself.

"I've put together one more piece of my past... now I have to finish it."

With that, Shadow got up and walked into one of the labs, beginning to rifle through various experiments and specimens that were in cryogenic containment throughout the facility.

Finally, in one of the lockers where very rare and special experiments were kept, he found what he was looking for; a Time Stone.

"Knew it was in here somewhere."

He mumbled, picking it up. He had often wondered how in the world Gerald had ever attained a Time Stone from the Little Planet, but he had known Gerald had it because he was often warned by Gerald that it was a very dangerous gem and was not a toy.

"Sorry Professor, but this is an emergency..."

He whispered, closing his eyes and beginning to concentrate as hard as he could, speaking softly as the stone began to glow in his hands.

"I must go far into the past... as far as I must... I want to go to my Birthplace and find my origins..."

With Shadow's wish, the Time Stone's glow became blindingly bright...

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"Guh... what happened... ?"

Shadow grunted as he came around, finding himself laying on sandy ground. He shook his head a little and stood up, finding himself in a small grove of palm trees by a village, a beautiful blue bay visible just off to the side. The Black Hedgehog's eyes widened a bit as he realized he must be in the past now. He glanced around, seeing the Time Stone on the ground nearby and sticking it in amongst his quills, using them for a pocket.

"I hope I'm in the right place at the right time... "

He said to himself, then hearing footsteps coming his way and ducking behind some tropical bushes in reaction. He watched to see who was coming and saw two people. One was a Black Hedgehog that looked almost EXACTLY like himself, but with red beads strung through his quills and a deep scar over his left eye, his feet covered by tall red boots as a red vest hung around his body. This Hedgehog was walking along with a Fox Woman who had scarlet red fur the exact same shade of red as Shadow's highlights, her eyes a crystal blue colour as she wore a simple, white dress over her body. One other detail about this Fox Woman that Shadow noticed was that she was carrying a child, her stomach very large and round as her dress hung over it loosely. Shadow noted that by her size, she looked ready to give birth any time.

As Shadow watched the two, he suddenly got a feeling of familiarity, as if he knew them as he also thought that the Hedgehog looked too much like himself to ignore. That's when Shadow realized something...

The unborn child... he couldn't feel it's life force. Normally, Shadow could sense anyone's life force within a 2 mile radius if he tried, but here the pregnant woman was right in front of him, and he couldn't feel the child's life force... there were only two explanations for why he wouldn't be able to feel it. First, he thought the child might be a stillborn and have no life force left after death, but that was impossible since the Hedgehog had his hand on the Fox's stomach and was commenting on the child's kicking. The only other reason Shadow would be unable to sense the life force was if it was exactly like his own. As one knows though, no two life forces are exactly alike, so therefore...

'That... that's ME!'

Shadow thought to himself as he stared as the Fox Woman's pregnant belly, his eyes wide with the realization as he just stood there, frozen.

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End Chapter 1

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Okay, so how did you people like the first chapter, huh? Okay, so maybe the first chapter isn't too tantilizing, but meh, since when is the first chapter of anything really tantilizing, huh?

Anyway, I actually already have this fanfic done with 6 chapters, but I'm gonna upload one chapter per day, okay? So chapter 2 will be uploaded tomorrow for your viewing pleasure. Thanks for reading, and please review!