Yo! I have some good news and bad news! Since I like to save the best for last, I'll give you the bad news first.

Bad news is, with the recent stress levels rising for me, I might change the schedule a bit. Like, on one week, I will update Where the Wind Blows, and another week, I will update From the Wilderness. In this case, it would mean that you would have to wait TWO weeks before an update if you are exclusive waiting for just one of my two fanfictions.

Where the Wind Blows will probably be safe for a while, as long as I finish a new chapter before updating an already-ready chapter (like, I have already typed out Chp. 5 while I post Chp. 4, which means even if I can't type out Chp. 6, there's still one chapter left to post, which would give me more time), but for this fanfiction, I'm typing the chapter I am posting; no safe already-typed chapter to fall back on, and this has left me stressed, trying to post a chapter with such a close time frame.

Which is why I am extending the time frame to two weeks. While I will still update weekly, a chapter for one fanfiction will take two weeks before it gets posted. So I AM VERY SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE!

Already, with the bad news out of the way, we'll get to the good news.

The good news is that in this chapter...

WE WILL FINALLY HAVE SOME PROGRESS WITH SHADOW GETTING SOME ANSWERS ABOUT HIS PAST! I bet most of you are sighing, 'Finally!', since that is probably what you came for. I'm sorry it took this long; I have a word limit on each chapter, around 3200 words, which is why I can't put all the scenes together in one chapter with how many words they take (and how long it does take to plan each scene). But fear no more! Here, Red-Tail will finally spill on what he talked about with Sun-Spoor at the end of Chp. 1!

Now, without further delay, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own any Sonic characters or the franchise.


Chapter 4

Last time, Sonic, after arriving at the Black Arms' den site, once again met their leader, Shadow. After a rather tense start (with no introduction either, how RUDE! ...And how troublesome for me when I have to refer to one of them from the other's p.o.v using as much diverse vocab as possible...), Sonic agreed to answer Shadow's questions, in return for the safety of his friends and himself. Shadow was fine with it, as long as Sonic and the rest of the intruders leave the island afterwards. Seeing no reason to argue, Sonic accepted. And now...

With Sonic's agreement to the terms, the black hedgehog began. "First of all, what are you?" he asked, causing Sonic to nearly to a spit-take.

'Is this guy serious?' he asked himself, staring at the black hedgehog (he really need to know if this guy had a name; referring to him as the black hedgehog was getting old). When there was nothing but a stoic and serious face, Sonic inwardly sighed.

In any other situation, he would be tempted to make a joke out of the question, but with things as they were (the terms, so to speak, and the blue hero's reluctance to break his words), he ignored Blackie's glare and gave his answer. "A hedgehog mobian," he replied, intending to be evenly worded, but unable to stop himself from using a 'duh' tone at the end.

Blackie seemed to ignore it, though those garnet eyes did flash once at Sonic. 'If it wasn't for the whole 'I can and will kill your friends if you don't cooperate', I would have so much fun pushing his buttons,' the blue hedgehog thought mischievously, a slight grin on his lips.

"...And I assume by our...similar appearances (Sonic watched as Blackie's expression twisted at those words, his tone coming out rather reluctantly when admitting that they did have a generally similar appearance), I am the same species as you?" Blackie asked.

Sonic's own face furrowed slightly. In a way, he could understand where Blackie was coming from; aside the color scheme and the obvious height differences, with both being hedgehogs, there was the generally-similar appearance and features. 'But he still looks very different...which makes me wonder...'

"Well, from what I can see, yes," Sonic drawled out, finding it more important that he admitted Blackie was a hedgehog mobian before there were more serious identity issues. "But then again...you do look a lot like them," he finished, gesturing towards the creatures around Blackie. "And since you are their leader, I would probably say that if it weren't for your mobian shape, you would be one of them."

Sonic decided to try and throw out a bait for more information. Just because Blackie got to ask questions did not mean Sonic couldn't fish out for some of his own answers. "Which is rather surprising. I have never seen creatures like them before..." he trailed off, watching one of Blackie's eyebrow raising in surprise.

"You have never seen a Black Arm before? Do they not exist beyond this island?" he asked, his tone both curious and urgent.

'Black Arms...so that's what they are called.' "Black Arms? Never heard of them," Sonic replied indifferently. "To be fair, this island is classified as unexplored by the rest of the world, so it's not like we can say for sure there aren't any more Black Arms out there, but I sure haven't seen or heard of one before."


"Not surprising," Sun-Spoor's voice echoed in Shadow's head. "Our species is extremely rare. I am quite sure our pack might be the only one in existence..."


Sonic watched as Blackie's ears twitched while his head tilted slightly towards the Black Arm with yellow markings. Said Black Arm was also half-staring (and by half-staring, Sonic meant its right eyes were staring at Blackie while the other half was trained unerringly at him, which, considering how they could move their eyes to that extend, sort of creep him out...).

But only a few seconds of silence passed by before Blackie's attention turned back towards him.

"I see," he muttered first before asking his next question. "And what is the secret behind your speed?"

Sonic gave Blackie a surprised look. Why ask about his speed? 'It might have something to do with how you use said speed to outrun his pack and smack them down,' a part of him mumbled sarcastically. 'Egghead himself asked the question before and tried to answer it himself in an attempt to defeat you. Why should he be any different?'

"I was born with it," Sonic replied curtly, the shortness of his answer and his darkening eyes signs that he was not willing to elaborate on the answer.

"Do all of your species have the same abilities?"

'He's definitely fishing for information now,' Sonic thought with a frown starting to form on his muzzle. "No. As far as I know, I'm the only one," the blue hedgehog answered, a bit too fast to be natural but all in all, it was still the truth; there were no other hedgehogs that he knew could go head to head with him on a race.


Shadow's own lips formed a confused and slightly disappointed frown. When the blue hedgehog admitted that they were the same species, he thought that his own unnaturally fast speed (that did not come from the Black Arms; he checked) was one of the abilities he got from being a hedgehog. So when the blue hedgehog replied that he was the only one who could do it (and Shadow couldn't find any traces of a lie in that answer), Shadow was...

"I have the same speed," he admitted. "If it were not for the fact that my feet would burn from it..."

The blue hedgehog's green eyes widened in shock at the piece of info. Emotions flashed across those eyes; disbelief, suspicion, realization and a dark emotion that had been brewing in his gaze now disappearing.


'So that's why he's asking about my speed,' Sonic realized as his eyes briefly glanced down at Blackie's feet. Despite the black fur covering them, as a speedster who had suffered the same problem before he got his friction-resistant shoes, he knew what to find.

However, he was quite surprised at how well-healed Blackie's feet were; for Sonic, if it weren't for the Chaos Emeralds, he would have literally naked feet with how his fur had burned off... 'He was just curious whether his speed has something to do with him being a hedgehog too...'


While the questioning was going on, Sun-Spoor was giving her mate a look. "Tell him."

"Don't you think we should wait until-?"

"Tell. Him." Sun-Spoor added a deep growl to her words and Red-Tail sighed in defeat.


"Shadow, I have something to show you."

Red-Tail's words came rather unexpectedly to Shadow. "What is it?" he asked, ignoring the blue hedgehog's surprise and odd looks directed at him.

"It...it probably has something to do with your past. You may not remember it, but before you became the leader of the Black Arms, you knew about it. You even kept it with you in your shelter," Red-Tail replied, his words coming out a bit clumsily from his indecision on how to exactly approach the subject to his leader and friend.

You did not just reveal you know something about their past to the person who had been searching for it after a long time of not doing anything.

"...What is it then? I...I don't remember..." Shadow murmured, eyes narrowing as he tried to recall the object (or at least, that was what he thought Red-Tail was referring to).

"Come with me then. I'll show it to you." Red-Tail headed out of the den, followed by his mate. There were a few seconds before Shadow followed, the blue hedgehog trailing behind with a mix of discontentment and curiosity warring on his features.

"It is on the west side of the island, in one of the caves that face the north sea," Red-Tail explained. "If we follow the den's wall towards the west, we will find it, but it is a long way there, so..." His red eyes glanced at the blue hedgehog still staring at the two in confusion before turning to his mate. "Sun-Spoor, would you mind if...?"

"Not at all!" Sun-Spoor chirped. Without further adieu, she reached out and grasped the blue hedgehog by the scruff of his neck, amused at the surprised yelp her action provoked. "It is better I do it anyway. I'm used to holding pups this way."

"Ugh, not again!" the blue hedgehog whined, glaring at the three as best he could (though to the others, he only managed to look like a disgruntled pup being reprimanded by his mother). "Where are we going this time?" he asked in a more resigned tone, relaxing in the Black Arm's grip.

"Red-Tail will lead us," Shadow replied curtly before turning to the Black Arm. There was a shared nod between the two before the trio shot off, sticking close to the stone wall that continued to stretch through the jungle.

There was mostly silence throughout the journey. Shadow was in deep thought, old memories being played out in his mind as he tried to recall whatever it was that Red-Tail believed to be part of his past. But try as he might, all he remembered were some parts of his life before he met the Black Arms...

Back then, he was surviving on his own, foraging his own food and finding shelter where he could. There were only a few bits and pieces he could clearly remember from that time, and two of the moments he remembered so vividly were the headaches that plagued him...and the fog that was wrapped around his memories, so thick and dense that he could not remember, that he didn't even have the luxury of time to focus on remembering.

It was only a few years after he became a leader that his mind decided that it felt relaxed enough to bring its owner back into the fray. Hopefully, whatever Red-Tail would show him would help with his recollecting of his past...


"We're here."

Red-Tail came to a stop at the edge of the jungle, where the greenery melted away into a wide expanse of sand. The wall they had been following tapered to a thin point, stretching outwards into the sea. Lining this wall were several caves and arches, worn and weathered out for years.

The Black Arms headed into one of the cave while the others waited outside. It was not long before there was a faint sound of something being dragged through the sand. Everyone watched as Red-Tail came back out, his jaws clamped on the edge of large object he was pulling.

It was cylindrical in shape, made of a strange shiny (well, some parts of it were still shiny; the others were dull, encrusted with what appeared to be reddish-brown dirt) material Shadow had never seen (or at least, did not remember seeing) before. This material only lined the outside and half of the cylinder though; the other half was made of another material, green in color with a huge jagged hole in the center.

"This..." Red-Tail began as he stopped in front of the others. "This is the object you stuck to for so long. Before I even met you," he told Shadow. "But after you became our leader, you seemed to have forgotten about it, and it remained in this cave for all this time. I thought this might have something to do with your past...but you never mentioned it and I myself have no idea what this thing is..."

Sun-Spoor hummed at that and strode over to the object with the blue hedgehog still dangling from her jaws. Her sun-colored eyes took in the markings etched at the base of the object. "I have seen markings like these before," Sun-Spoor remarked. "My ancestors once showed them to me; said that these were words, but in a different form. Our words are of the air and mind, but these words are in a physical shape."

"Can you read them?" Shadow asked, coming over to stand next to Sun-Spoor.

"No, but-"

Sun-Spoor's words faded away as the blue hedgehog, thinking Shadow was asking him, started to slowly read out the words. "U...L...dash, one five."

The Black Arms remained quiet, acknowledging that the blue hedgehog could read the words they couldn't and waited for him to finish reading. As for Shadow...

'UL... Ul...Ulti...Ultimate...' The words were coming together, but Shadow felt a strange sense of dread despite the signs of his memory coming back. 'UL-15...Ul..Ultimate Life...Lifeform...' The two words seemed to resonate with him, like two puzzle pieces of his identity fitting into place. 'Was I...the Ultimate Lifeform?'

"Creation...date..." the blue hedgehog continued, the words bringing Shadow's attention back. "The second of March. Release date...the nineteenth of June. Name...Shadow...the Hedgehog..."

'So my name is Shadow... I...I think someone told it to me...' Shadow thought, closing his eyes as the very first memory he remembered started to clear up. Before, it was nothing but a haze, his mind too disorientated to remember it. But now...

"Sayonara...Shadow the Hedgehog."

Garnet eyes snapped open. 'Who said that? Why...why do I feel as if...it's really important that I remember them?'

But before he could think deeper about it, the blue hedgehog finished with the last words, as if the last nail that closed the coffin.

"Project Shadow."

Fire flashed before Shadow's eyes as he groaned, clenching his eyes shut while placing his hands on his forehead. Images bombarded his chaotic, disordered mind, blurring the lines between imagery and real memory.

"Project Shadow..."

"Project Shadow is nothing more than a weapon!"

"He is a threat!"

"G...will take over."

A loud blaring sound echoed in his head like the tolls of a funeral bell. Red lights flashed, panic overtook his mind while his heart raced and raced and 'can'tstop', 'keepmoving'. 'havetoescape', 'protectHER!', 'whyisthishappening?!'

Then despair...

'NOcan'tletthemtakeme!'

Panic filled his heart and mind, struggling against bonds that he could only feel in his memories. Desperate to get away. Desperate to escape. Because what they were about to do...

'IDON'TWANTTOFORGET!'

No, no, no! Memories were fading away, no matter how tightly he held onto them. Slipping through his fingers like water. Images were fading. His resistance was weakening... What was he doing again?

"Put your hands up! Move away from the controller!"

Blue and yellow... Who was this person?

"Sayonara...Shadow the Hedgehog."

'Who are you?'

BANG!

And red was all he could see.

'NO!'


'Shadow... Shadow? Shadow can you hear me?! Shadow?!"

"Shadow!"

Warmth flooded his being as something held onto him. Unseeing red eyes stared. 'Someone's holding me...' Shadow thought in a daze as his vision slowly started to focus. 'Warm...but Black Arms don't have warmth...so who...?'

A bright green that reminded him of new leaves appeared into his line of sight, a pair of eyes that were staring at him in confusion and worry. They lit up in relief when they noticed the glassy look in garnet eyes fading away. "You're alright, Shadow..." Shadow's ears twitched as they recognized the voice.

The blue hedgehog was crouching in front of him (Shadow only realized then that both of them were kneeling in the sand and when had he gotten onto his knees?), his covered hands tightly holding onto Shadow's upper arms. Emerald-green eyes kept staring at him, as if waiting for another outburst to happen.

"Shadow. Are you alright now?" Red-Tail asked in worry, leaning over the blue hedgehog's head.

Shadow shook his head, closing his eyes briefly as he tried to calm his racing heart. A few seconds of silence passed by before Shadow decided to ask them.

"What...what happened?"


Well...to anyone can make sense of what just happened, congrats! To those who don't know what the heck just happened...

When Shadow lost his memories, he lost EVERYTHING (how to read, write, what to eat, etc.) except his name and the last memory he saw (I think it is very clear what memory it was) before his capsule was jetted off to the planet (still need to decide whether it should be Mobius or Earth...).

And this memory wipe was done INTENTIONALLY by something/someone that starts with 'G', hence the damage his mind had taken, which is why he can't recall his memories of his life after he first landed on the island and broke out of his capsule. But he is the Ultimate Lifeform, so his brain is healing, SLOWLY, which is why it took years before he started to remember.

However, it is debatable whether he would recover every memory or just have flashes and glimpses of memories that affected him the strongest (like that flashbacks of words he had in this chapter). Heck, it is actually VERY likely that he won't recover everything at all.

Well, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, and remember, the next chapter for this fanfiction will come two weeks later. The coming week's chapter will be one for the other fanfiction.

ALSO! I'M LOOKING FOR A BETA READER, OFFICIAL OR OTHERWISE! I NEED HELP WITH KNOWING WHETHER THE PLOT FLOWS SMOOTHLY OR NOT! SO IF YOU WANT TO BE A BETA READER, OFFICIAL OR OTHERWISE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW THROUGH A PM!