Years have passed after the Second Grand Prix and not much changed for a while: People lived their lives the best they could; Eggman continued to make plans for world domination but surprisingly, our heroes managed to not only win, but minimize collateral damage, not letting plans evolve into global crisis by taking the fight to the evil scientist, with a few exceptions; New faces appeared to join the group and some new relationships and bonds were forged. In resume, things were looking up, especially considering that Eggman disappeared from the radar for over two years.

Then, everything changed. Eggman returned with a new and powerful weapon with the name of Infinite. It first act was not only confront Sonic, but destroy him. Disintegrate him, to be more specific, in front of a worldwide audience. Not only that but Sonic's previous enemies like Zavok and Metal Sonic and even reformed ones like Shadow and Chaos had joined the forces of evil. Knuckles and the Echidnas, both the Knuckle clan and the Nocturne clan, led the resistance along many other allies. However, Tails wasn't one of them. A lot of people instantly called him traitor, deserter and coward. Hope just seemed to decrease as things were getting worse.

But a silver lining appeared in a young Sonic and an extreme year rider named Rolls. Rolls was a nobody as a hero and racer, but the young Sonic shaped him into the hero he really was. Soon enough, Sonic returned, no one was sure how, but they didn't give a damn since the world needed a hero. Soon, Shadow and Tails returned to the feud. But the damage was done: the public had lost a lot of fate in their so called heroes, a lot of lives damaged and some were gone for good; the toll was starting to become evident, varying from person to person. Not even Sonic maintained his goodie-two-shoes persona scratch free, as he was forced to break his most important rule… he murdered Eggman.

It has been five years since that day. Life has returned to a more stable time. There had been many attempts to restore the most contaminated and destroyed areas of the world. Some had succeded, others not so much. Here is when our story begins.


The area was destroyed, buildings, roads and other constructions were damaged, entire pieces were missing from what seemed were the aftermath of explosions, some were cut in half entirely. The lower areas had a weird purple coloration from the toxic gases. It was hard to believe but this once was Westopolis.

GUN agents, both human and anthro, were on the scene, where heavy chemical protection gear, all spreading themselves at different areas of the city. Among them, there were some large mechanical structures. They looked like some kind of volcano made of glass. Soon enough, these structures were set in the correct place and activated. At unison, their started draining all the toxicity of the air. Soon, the agents could remove their helmets, among them a very famous black hedgehog we all know.

"Demolition squad, it is your turn. Don't leave a single structure on foot." The General barked orders on the communicator. As it was obvious, their job was to destroy everything. Shadow was part of said squadron. He would have loved to simply use his Chaos powers to destroy everything in sight but his superiors wouldn't let him have an emerald again, not since the whole fake Shadow confusion that Infinite had left on the world. They had him on a leash, even if he would never admit it.

Still, he was useful, especially in this dangerous environment. As some of the people tried to enter into one of the buildings, out of nowhere, some were kick out. Large tentacles came from that same building and grabbed some more people. Other soldiers surrounded the building, as they started to use their wispons to shot at the tentacles, as well of focusing on the bases of the structure, hoping for it to crash down on the monster. There were not fast enough as the capture soldiers desperately shoot at the tentacles, helplessly feeling how they were being drag into the building. Little after the soldiers were out of sight, something like a metalical press sounded, the shouting stopped. Finally, the structure give in, all of it falling on whatever that was.

The soldiers hoped to have a moment to regain their strength, hoping that, at least, this monster was down. Suddenly, that thing was back, lifting pieces of debris through the sky. The thing was a giant purple jelly thing that seemed to be constantly melting. It had tentacles and some giant, horror movie like series of teeth, all larger than your average anthro. The soldier kept shooting at it, but simply wasn't effective. With a fast move of its limbs, it crushed more soldiers, some dead in that very instant. "We need back up! We need back up!" One of the soldiers shouted on the communicator at the top of his lungs, darkness over him as the tentacle closing into him. Right before the hit landed, Shadow grabbed him and put him into a safer spot.

The black hedgehog gave a one eighty once he had saved, directly running toward the monster. The crushing tentacles were easy to avoid, but the monster tried to hit him with a horizontal swipe. Shadow jumped it too and tried the homing attack on it. However, the monster opened its mouth and started shooting its teeth, which were rapidly replaced. Shadow did his best to try to avoid them, but a simple graze from one of them was enough to make him bleed. Changing tactics, he bounced off from a flying tooth to change his direction, knowing that entering in his mouth would be suicidal. Instead, he opted for attacking on his blank spots, several spin dashes entering but none doing more than pissing his opponent as his squashy body absorbed most of the damage. *OK, this is getting tiresome* He thought. "Someone, hand me a burst wispon." Shadow shouted on the comm.

For a second, he ran away from the monster, taking the desired wispon from his hand and he went back right on the monster face. "Hey. Ugly, want a piece of me? Take a bite!" He shouted, a little part of him wincing since he could swear he sounded just like Sonic. *If the faker finds out, he will never let this go.*

The monster tried to hit Shadow but he kept dodging and returned to his original spot after every dodge. The monster got upset enough to throw himself head first, which Shadow also avoid. He then used the homing attack, landing in what would be the creature`s back of the neck. Then, he activated the Burst power and exploded, the monsters liquid leftovers spilling all over the place. Shadow rose, totally covered in goop. Some rapid spins and the dark hedgehog was clean.

"Take five. I will check the surrounding buildings to see if any more monsters are around." He told personally to the captain of the squadron.

"Look Shadow, we are thankful for saving our asses out there but you must be kept under vigilance…" He responded, not finishing because Shadow just ran away, the powerful zoom sound stopping the agent speech.

"I wasn't asking for permission." He answered on the communicators, already going into some of the buildings. The soldier was still dumbfound at that moment.

Mutated beings had appeared in these areas. People originally had hope that there would be survivor on this areas, at least on the first year after Eggman`s defeat. Teams brought medical equipment's, hoping to save someone, any life counted. They met a terrible fate. The first group died instantly, at the hands of similar goop monsters like the last one. The first attempt was a failure, but as their security and soldiers became better, they were finally able to save some people. It also ended awfully as the people who had being saved turned into said monsters fast, way before anyone could analyze and hope to stop this. Sometimes, they remained normal for a while, enough time for their families to reunite with them, and then they morphed and, well, took them all together with it. So far, no person had ever avoided this fate.

So what would you do if you found a friend in this situation? Shadow just observed in horror as the person who he just found inside the building was none other than certain purple Swallow knocked out cold in the floor, her extreme gear at her side. He pondered it a bit. She was bound to turn into a monster at any sec, if he simply ignored her and destroyed the building with her inside, then no problem, no one would ever know about her and he would avoid a lot of trouble that way. *But could I look at her again in the eyes if I just kill like that?* Shadow could not stop the thought. He also cursed himself internally, thinking he had actually gone soft. *Giving them to GUN is telling them to kill her so that's not an option either. That leaves me… Urrrgh. There is never an easy choice with me…* He cursed. He then grabbed Wave and carried her on his back.

He ran as fast as he could, hoping to not being seen. Shadow was trying to improve his social image and this stunt would likely cost him points. Nevertheless, he was just a few thousand miles from Mystic ruins. He hoped for the possibility to get to Tails, leave his package and get back to help fast enough. However, as he continued to run, he couldn't help but notice something: he was going slower than in the beginning. The knocked Swallow was starting to feel a lot heavier than what he expected. *Is she getting heavier?* that's what he thought but as he continued, he felt his leg burning horribly, forcing him to walk. Soon, even walking was painful. *Am- am I getting… tired?* He thought, each step feeling like an agonizing shore. He had reached the designated place but now he had to climb a crazy large staircase to reach the place. "Fuck me."

Still, armed with decision, he started the difficult task. Each step was painful; he needed a second for each step to gather enough strength for the next. The weight on his back only increased, feeling right now as he was carrying the world on his shoulders. Sweat continued to flow through his body, almost to the point that it could look like rain. He had never being so relieved to finally reach the end of the stairs. *Fuck this!* He threw Wave to the floor, not caring if it hurt or not. Walking like a zombie, only moved by willpower, he knocked the door. After that simple act, his body gave up, falling to the floor at his side.

Tails came out a little later. He looked down, looking at Shadow cold body. "Shadow?" was all he said. Looking a little further, his sight also found his infamous rival. "God damnit."