5 hours later: G.U.N. Training Room
"How long has be been going at it in there?" asked Rouge the bat.
"According to the training log, Shadow came in around four o'clock this morning and hasn't left since." Said the G.U.N. training officer.
The two of them watched in silence as Shadow continued to combat the training robots. Each move was swift and precise. Rouge would expect nothing less from her partner. However, there were some things Rouge saw about Shadow that seemed off. The first being the tired look on his face. Not the tired as if he was exhausted, but as if he hasn't slept in days. The next, the attacks Shadow were using seemed a bit more forceful and angrier than usual. Normally, Shadows attacks would only disable or slightly damage the training robots, not completely obliterate them in a Sonic second. Rouge has never seen Shadow act in such a manner before. There was a nagging voice in the back of her mind that wanted her to check on him to make sure he was ok. Throwing caution to the wind, Rouge stepped into the training area and proceeded towards Shadow, just as he destroyed another training robot.
"Easy on the bots Shadow. You're gonna blow the budget on those things." Said Rouge.
Shadow looked at Rouge with a look of annoyance, though an angrier annoyance than what Rouge was expecting.
"What do you want?" said Shadow, with a somewhat venomous tone.
For a moment, Rouge felt slightly fearful of her partner. He's never taken that kind of tone with her before.
"I was just seeing if you were alright. Why are you being so hostile with me?" said Rouge.
Shadow hadn't realized the tone he took with Rouge. He looked away, somewhat apologetically. Shadow was never one to apologies and Rouge knew that. Still, whatever was going on with Shadow was becoming concerning to Rouge.
"Seriously Shadow. What's going on?" said Rouge, concerned.
"It's nothing." Said Shadow, in a deadpan tone.
Rouge wasn't convinced. Even if some people couldn't tell, she knew when Shadow was trying to avoid talking to her.
"Doesn't seem like nothing. You look like you haven't had a good night sleep in a while." Said Rouge.
Shadow knew she wasn't wrong. The same nightmare had been bothering him for a while now. Not that he was going to tell Rouge that. The last thing he wanted was to let her get distracted with a trivial problem.
"I'm fine." Said Shadow, as he began to walk away.
"Shadow, if something is bothering you…" Said Rouge.
Shadow stopped in his tracks and clenched his fists.
"I said I'm fine!" said Shadow, more forcefully and with a slight yell.
Rouge was taken aback from Shadow's sudden outburst. Shadow realized what he did but continued on to leave the training room. The training officer stood aside and let Shadow by, then looked to Rouge, who looked concerned about her partner.
Mystic Island:
"I'm telling you; something is clearly wrong with Shadow. He's never once snapped at me the way he did." Said Rouge.
"You sure Rouge? I mean, Shadow does come off as a little standoffish." Said Knuckles.
The two of them sat on the stairs of the Master Emerald's alter while Knuckles tended to a small campfire. It was nearing the end of the day when Rouge came to visit Knuckles to talk about Shadow. By the time she arrived, the weather had become colder and Knuckles had just started the fire to keep himself warm while guarding the Master Emerald.
"I'm sure. Something felt different with Shadow, but I just don't know what. He looked more tired than usual and as I said before, he just seemed a bit angrier. I tried asking him if everything was alright, but he just lashed out at me." Said Rouge.
"You said he looked tired, maybe he just didn't get much sleep last night. He does sleep, doesn't he?" said Knuckles.
Rouge just looked at Knuckles with a half-lidded expression.
"Yes, he does sleep. Though, come to think of it, he has had that tired look for the past few days now." Said Rouge.
"So it's a sleep issue, like I said." Said Knuckles.
"Maybe." Said Rouge, though she wasn't completely convinced that was the only issue.
Knuckles added some more timber to the fire and prodded it with a small stick.
"From what your telling me so far, it sounds like maybe Shadow is having nightmares or something." Said Knuckles.
"You could be right, but we don't have any way of knowing for sure. He's not gonna open and just tell me he's having nightmares." Said Rouge.
"True, but it's the only assumption we can make right now. Going off of that, the next step would be to figure out what his nightmares are about." Said Knuckles.
"Which brings us back to the same problem. Shadow's not gonna talk about it and we're not going to make him tell us." Said Rouge.
"Well, maybe we can do a little investigating on our own. I'm sure we can figure this out." Said Knuckles.
Rouge looked to Knuckles with a hint of uncertainty.
"I don't know. Not sure Shadow would appreciate us prying into his life like that. We both know how he likes to keep things to himself." Said Rouge.
"I'm sure he'll get over it after we get those nightmares to stop. In any case, if he's been having them for a while, it isn't good for him to continue to have them." Said Knuckles.
Rouge knew Knuckles was right. Shadow might forgive them for their investigation into him, but the possible backlash still lingered in her mind. Still, if there was a chance of helping Shadow, she would take it.
"Alright. Let's do it." Said Rouge.
Knuckles smiled. "Good. I'll contact Sonic and Tails and we'll get to the bottom of this." He said.
"Why are you bringing them into this?" asked Rouge, confused.
"Well, I figured Tails could give some insight as far as looking into Shadow's file from the G.U.N.. He might be able to find something that could shed some light on Shadow's nightmares." Said Knuckles.
"Okay, but why Sonic." Asked Rouge.
"Hey, someone's gotta be human shield if this goes south." Said Knuckles, jokingly.
Rouge giggled at the joke, even though she wanted to resist. Knuckles chuckled along though his joke wasn't really supposed to be a joke. If things did go south, he would hope Shadow would go after Sonic instead of them. With the plan set, they decided to wait until tomorrow to begin their investigation.
Tails' Workshop:
Knuckles and Rouge explained the situation to Sonic and Tails, as well as Amy, Cream, who arrived a short time after Knuckles and Rouge. The idea that Shadow would be suffering from nightmares seemed highly unlikely to them, but after Rouge's explanation they started to see the pattern.
"Huh, who know Shadow could have bad dreams. I didn't even think the guy could sleep." Said Sonic.
"That's what I said." Said Knuckles.
"I think that's beside the point guys." Said Tails.
"So, you think you guys could help us help Shadow?" asked Rouge.
"Of course. Shadow's our friend. We'd love to help him. Right guys." Said Amy.
"Yeah. Anything to help Mr. Shadow." Said Cream.
"Alright, this could be interesting. Might learn something new about the old faker." Said Sonic.
"Count me in." said Tails.
"Well, I've already agreed, so let's get to it." Said Knuckles.
"Great. Now, Tails. I've got something here that might help." Said Rouge.
She reached into her pocket and revealed a small thumb drive. She then gave it to Tails, who looked at it with some curiosity.
"It's a copy of Shadow's file, along with every bit of information the G.U.N. has on him. It wasn't easy to get, and most of the files are encrypted. We might be able to find something in there." Said Rouge.
Tails studied the thumb drive and began to walk over to his computer.
"Well, it shouldn't be a problem decrypting the files. It's going through all the information that could take a while. Might make sense for all of us to take some of the information and comb through it." Said Tails, as he sat down at his computer.
Tails plugged the thumb drive in and began typing on his keyboard. After about fifteen minutes, Tails had managed to decrypt the files on Shadow.
"Here we go. Alright, I've got access." Said Tails.
"That didn't take you long." Said Amy.
"Oh, it was nothing. I've hacked into the G.U.N. a while ago so we could get to the ARK. I even copied some of the encryption keys just in case." Said Tails.
At that moment, he realized who was in the room. He turned around nervously and looked at Rouge.
"Uh, did I say that out loud?" he said, with a slightly scared chuckle.
Rouge raised an eyebrow at Tails and said "I'll pretend I didn't hear you say that. For now."
Tails gulped and began sorting the information. For the next hour, everyone was busy sorting through the files on Shadow the hedgehog. Everything from his awakening on Prison Island, to his involvement in stopping the Black Arms. Papers covered the floor around them in small piles. To state that their task was exhausting would be an understatement.
"Man, the guy just doesn't stop working does he. Look, here he is destroying an entire fleet of Eggman's ships. Would've been nice if he invited me to join in on the fun." Said Sonic.
"Stay focused Sonic. We're not here to… Hey, since when did Shadow receive a medal for saving a team of G.U.N. agents from the Black Arms?" said Amy.
"Here's something on him training new recruits for G.U.N.. I didn't even know he wanted to train other people." Said Knuckles.
"He doesn't. He only did it because he was ordered to by the commander." Said Rouge.
"Hey guys, I think I found something." Said Tails.
Everyone got up and walked over to Tail's computer. They gathered around and looked at the screen.
"What'd you find, bud?" asked Sonic.
"Well, I tried looking into Shadow's past as far back as I could, and I found a file that looked different from the rest. Rouge, does the code name: Light Spear mean anything to you?" asked Tails.
"No, it doesn't. Must be before I joined G.U.N." said Rouge.
"Open it up. Maybe we'll find some answers in there." Said Knuckles.
Tails clicked on the file and multiple pages came up on the screen. Everyone looked at the pages and saw pictures of a familiar place.
"Isn't that the ARK?" asked Amy.
"Yeah, it does. But, it doesn't look as decrepit as it did when we were there." Said Tails.
"Look, there's a picture of that Gerald Robotnik guy." Said Sonic.
Tails scrolled through the pages. Every detail of the ARK and Gerald Robotnik were in this file, as well as other information about the operation pertaining to the ARK.
"Says here the G.U.N. infiltrated the ARK in order to stop Robotnik from creating the "Ultimate Lifeform" and destroying the world. Everything was going to plan and they captured Robotnik." Said Rouge.
"That's good, isn't it?" asked Cream.
"Yeah. It is." Said Amy.
They continued to read the file until Amy noticed something.
"Wait, Tails. Go back a sec." said Amy.
Tails scrolled back to the previous page.
"There, look. It says here that there were two more fugitives that were trying to escape." Said Amy.
"Does it say who?" asked Knuckles.
"Hang on." Said Tails, as he scrolled further down on the screen.
"Says here, a young teen and an unknown creature were seen running into the control room for the ARK. They sealed themselves in and the G.U.N. had to blast their way inside." Said Rouge.
"Well, I guess we can figure who the unknown creature is." Said Sonic.
"Yeah, but who is the young teen?" asked Amy.
"Tails?" said Sonic.
Tails began typing on the keyboard and a picture of a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes appeared. She was smiling warmly in the picture and she was sitting next to Dr. Gerald Robotnik.
"Her name is Maira Robotnik. She's the granddaughter of Gerald Robotnik." Said Tails.
"Which makes her Eggman's cousin? Yikes! I feel bad for her." Said Sonic.
"No kidding." Said Knuckles.
"Guys focus. Tails, is there anything else on the file that tells us about Maria and Shadow and what happened in the control room?" asked Rouge.
"Well, it says here that when the G.U.N. entered the control room, Shadow was contained in some kind of chamber and Maria was talking to him. It doesn't say what they were talking about." Said Tails.
"But that doesn't make any sense." Said Amy.
"Wait. There's a video." Said Cream.
"Click it." Said Sonic.
As soon as Tails did, the screen showed an unforgettable scene. They watched as the G.U.N. rushed into the room just after the door was blown open. The camera was focused on Shadow and Maria. At that moment, Maria began to run towards the control console.
"STOP!" shouted one of the soldiers.
Maria made it to the control console and began typing. At that moment, something in the corner of the screen appeared, causing the camera to turn towards the object. It was a riffle barrel.
"NO! DON'T SHOOT!"
BANG
"MARIA!" shouted a familiar voice.
At that moment, everyone just stood there in shock as they witnessed. That G.U.N. soldier had just shot Maria. Sonic and the others just couldn't believe it. Amy, Cream, and even Rouge had tears in the eyes watching the gruesome scene.
At that moment, the camera turned back to Maria who was holding her wound and looking at Shadow.
"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog."
At that moment the chamber launched into space and Maria collapsed to the ground. The G.U.N. agents rushed to Maria.
"MEDIC!" shouted one of them.
At that moment, the video stopped, and the screen returned to the file of Shadow. Silence filled the room. No one spoke a word of what they just witnessed. It just seemed so unbelievable.
"Oh my god." Said Amy, tears streaming down her face.
"I… I don't even know what to say." Said Sonic.
Cream began crying uncontrollably. At that moment, Rouge brought the young rabbit into a comforting hug. The last thing she wanted to do was expose a child to such a horrifying event. Knuckles lowered his head in silence, trying to suppress his rage at the G.U.N. Tails just stared blankly at the screen, unsure about how to process what he saw.
"Tails." Said Sonic.
Tails didn't respond. Sonic placed his hand on his shoulder and broke Tails out of his trance.
"Tails. Does it say what happened to Maria after…" said Sonic, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Tails looked back to the screen and scanned through the information.
"It says that… due to her injuries, she was pronounced… dead on the scene." Said Tails.
"Oh, that poor girl." Said Amy.
"Rouge, did you know about this?" asked Knuckles, angrily.
Rouge looked at Knuckles with sorrowful tear-filled eyes.
"No, I didn't. I swear." Said Rouge.
"How could they do such a thing! She was just a kid!" shouted Knuckles, angrily, as he punched a nearby wall.
Rouge let Cream go and walked over to Knuckles, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Believe me Knuckles. I'm just as upset as you are." Said Rouge.
"At least we now know why Shadow has been having nightmares, if it's any consolation." Said Tails, solemnly.
"Yeah, but… where do we go from here." Said Amy.
At that moment, a thought appeared in Sonic's head. He gently moved Tails over to the side and began to type on the computer. Eventually, he found what he was looking for.
"I think I have an idea." Said Sonic.
The others gathered around the computer and saw what Sonic had found. No words were spoken between them, but they all had the same idea. With the decision made, they decided to put their plan into action. The only question was, how was Shadow going to react?