Chapter 18: Shadow's Purpose

An alert sounded throughout the ark as a warning to the now exposed area on the ark to the vacuum of space. A blast door fell down almost immediately to seal off the room that contained the breach. People ran over to see what was going on. After all, they knew that room. It was Maria's. What could have happened? When they arrived they could almost feel strange energy resonating in the area just in front of the blast door. Suddenly, a flash of light sounded as 4 individuals materialized in mid-air. These four were Shadow, Maria, Julius, and Emerl. It didn't take a moment for all four to land on the floor with a thud as the Chaos Emerald in Shadow's hand flashed once before vanishing, making it's returned to one of Mobius' Special Zones.

The crowd wanted to press further as Shadow straightened up, having been the only one to have landed on his feet. He was glaring at Emerl with rage at what he just did. Emerl didn't meet with any kind of gaze as he was just on the floor as the plasma part of his body was gone yet the occasional static spark came off of him signifying that he had been damaged due to the unstable reaction. Shadow didn't seem to care as all he saw before him was a pathetic piece of junk that almost got Maria killed. He came to the decision that Emerl didn't deserve to live any longer as he prepares to dash at him and hit him with a rolling attack, just like he did to a few of his other brothers.

"Stop!"

Shadow was a split second away from ending the creature's life when Maria's hand wrapped around his legs as she shouted up to him having not fully gotten up from the floor.

"Please, don't..."

"But he almost killed us."

Shadow said still not ready to let this go. But Maria just shook her head as she did her best to plea with the black hedgehog.

"It was an accident. Faulty programming.. he... he was just trying to stabilize the Emerald."

Shadow thought back. Was that really what he was doing? Maria's words were already starting to cut into Shadow's resolve but not just yet.

"Please Shadow, I beg of you, spare Emerl."

Finally, Shadow relented. It was possible Emerl didn't even know what he was doing as the programming could have kicked in automatically having seen the Chaos Emerald.

"Very well," Shadow said as he relaxed his stance as Maria smiled as she got up and hugged Shadow before looking over at Emerl with concern on her face. It didn't seem he was into good of condition. Meanwhile, Shadow looked down at his now empty hand. Seems it really did leave after being used once. He wasn't sure how he would explain this to the professor.

"What's going on here?"

The voice caused those in the area to look over and see Professor Gerald Robotnik walk into the area. There was a worried look written all over his face as he had been alerted to the breach in his granddaughter's room. The Professor's eyes scanned the area as those around them had given him some room to get closer to the other 4.

"Maria, Shadow, Julius, What," That's when he noticed Emerl on the ground, "There was one left? How did we miss it?" He turned glanced over to one of the GUN soldiers that were accompanying him, "Get rid of it."

"NO!"

Maria said quickly getting into the way between the GUN soldier who was starting to take aim at Emerl and his target.

"Grandfather no you mustn't."

Maria was once again pleading for Emerl's life. Of course, The professor was surprised.

"Stand aside Maria," The Professor said, "That thing needs to be stopped."

"No," Maria pleaded, "It, it was an accident! It saw the Chaos Emerald and couldn't stop himself, it wasn't his fault."

"The Chaos Emerald?!" The Professor said astonished, "Did you..."

He glanced between the group as Shadow was looking a little ashamed that he had moved the Emerald now. Julius was in the corner terrified right due to the experience that just transpired. The Artificial Chaos blew a hole in the wall and Shadow using some kind of power to transport them all out of there. Just what was happening?

"You... found it then," The Professor said then gave a sigh, "I'll have to get a new one then, but getting back to Mobius won't be an easy task."

"M-Mobius?" Julius stammered but his question went on deaf ears. As the Professor turned his attention back to Emerl as the GUN agent was still trying to get a shot without shooting Maria.

"But that all doesn't matter," The Professor said getting back to the matter at hand, "That thing is a failure. You saw first hand to that. It needs to be put down before it can cause any more harm."

"But, Emerl's our friend!" Maria said, "He... He wouldn't hurt us, not on purpose... you.. can just fix him, right?"

"There's no reason to fix him," Professor Gerald replied, "He's an imperfect creation and it will be easier to just create a new one than to deal with trying to work out the bugs in an already faulty creation."

This caused Maria to tear up before beginning to flow. How could her grandfather say something like that?

"You think he should die because he's not perfect?" Maria said through her tears, "If Shadow wasn't perfect? Would he be destined to die as well?"

The Professor slowly shakes his head.

"That's absurd," The Professor said, "Shadow is perfect in every way. You have no idea the sacrifices I've had to make in order to make sure of that."

Hearing that, made Shadow even more curious but he decided to file it away for another time as right now, the person he probably cared most about in this world had a gun pointed directly at her and if the GUN soldier decided to just shoot Emerl through her, Shadow would only have a split second to react to save her. Yet, Maria's grandfather's words were cutting deeply into Maria. Her grandfather wasn't that heartless, she knew it. After all, she wouldn't even be in this very place trying to defend this poor creature's life if it wasn't for her grandfather.

"What about me?" Maria finally said as her tears increased, "I'm not perfect... should Should I just be tossed aside like you've been wanting to do Emerl? All because I wasn't born perfect?"

"that's not the same..."

"Of course it is," Maria said, "We're both living creatures. I've seen Emerl go through so many different emotions during how time together. He was so scared during the revolt after I rescued him, I've seen him express such joy at the different little wonders I've been able to show him. He wants to live Grandfather, just like I do... can't you see that?"

Maria's passion and sorrow were showing in her eyes. She had to make her grandfather understand. All living things deserved a chance to live. Of course, what she said was having a heavy tole on Professor Gerald. He could see that resolve in his granddaughter's eyes. Perhaps it was all the times her and Shadow tried to convince him that the Artificial Chaos deserved a chance to live, perhaps it was seeing Maria defy him so fearlessly in order to save the life of the creature, whatever it was, the Professor finally understood as he placed a hand on the GUN soldier's shoulder.

"Stand down."

"But..."

"I said stand down," The Professor said with more authority and the soldier reluctantly relented as he lowered his weapon. Maria smiled at seeing that.

"Thank you," She said as her tears of sorrow turned to Joy but while Emerl wasn't in the best conditions just yet, she knew her grandfather could fix him... then her knees buckled beneath her causing her to faint. Shadow quickly catching her.

"Maria?!"

He wasn't exactly sure what was going on. Why did Maria just faint like that? Was she injured? Shadow quickly gave her a once over and didn't see any injuries. As he gave the Professor a worried expression.

"It's... it's fine," The Professor said walking over to them, "She's just had a little too much excitement."

Shadow wasn't sure what he was talking about. Did it have something to do with what Maria said earlier? About not being born perfect? But, the professor seemed to know what was going on as he directed the two GUN soldiers with him to take Maria to the infirmary, as Julius, not wanting to be near Shadow or Emerl, decided to go with them. Shadow also wanted to go with him but The Professor shook his head.

"I need your help with something," He said, "Don't worry, Maria will be fine."

Shadow could only take the professor at his word as he nodded. The Professor then nods as he glances down Emerl's slightly sparkling body.

"Pick him up for me," He said, "We'll take him to my lab, and I'll see what I can do."

Shadow nodded as he picked up the creature, without too much issue with the slight static shocks coming from it as most of it was filtered through his gloves. The Professor was silent as the two of them made their way towards his laboratory. Yet, Shadow couldn't help wonder what was going through the professor's mind right now, but that took on a slightly back seat as his mind occasionally returned to a memory of seeing Maria collapsing. What had happened? Was she sick?

Once the duo arrived at the lab, The professor had Shadow sit Emerl on a table before he began to plug different wires into him. Shadow stood back, thinking of going to check in on Maria but the Professor seemed to realize this as he spoke up.

"Maria's really sick."

This got Shadow's attention as the Professor didn't turn his attention away from the computer monitor he was now working on to check on the damage Emerl had taken.

"She was born with a rare disease that has no known cure," The Professor said, "It causes her body to grow really weak after exerting too much energy. However, the disease will eventually take her life before she even reaches 18. That's why this place exists Shadow... that's why, you, exist."

Shadow wasn't sure what to make of this situation. He was saying that he existed to cure Maria? How was that possible?

"What does my creation have to do with Maria's illness?" Shadow asked the professor, still going about his work on Emerl.

"Truth is," The Professor replied, "Before I even knew of Maria's illness, my research lead me to find out about the planet Mobius, a place whose inhabitants looked similar to yourself. They weren't all hedgehogs but there were bears, rabbits, foxes, and even birds, among so many other species. Of course, my data actually came from an ancient android I discovered here on Earth that originated on Mobius."

"An Android?" Shadow asked remembering the robot that was also stored with the real Chaos Emerald. The Professor nodded.

"Yes," The Professor said, "I assume you've seen it, I kept it in that same storage vault in your room."

Seemed Shadow's theory was correct but he was still more curious as to all of this so he stayed silent to allow the professor to continue.

"It was called a Gizord," Professor Gerald continued, "And it was built by an ancient race of Mobian Echidnas. It seemed it had a consciousness at some point, but it died out a very long time ago before I even discovered it. However, it's memory banks were still intact, which is how I managed to find out so much about Mobius before I ever had a chance to get there myself."

"But what does that have to do with curing Maria?" Shadow had to ask.

The Professor gave a long sigh before he continued.

"My research into finding Maria's cure was going nowhere," He said, "We even created the ark as a research lab and in an environment where Maria would be able to stay until a cure could be found. The illness would have already claimed her life had it not been for this Ark. As it stands... she can't even return to Earth without the cure or else, she would die in a matter of a few days..."

The professor's eyes teared up slightly but he wiped with the sleave of his white coat as he continued to work on Emerl.

"However, one day, after coming up with so many dead ends," He continued, "I was getting desperate and I turned to the Gizord's database in hopes of finding something... anything that could help me. And then, I found out about the Chaos Emeralds. 7 gems that are said to contain a miracle when all 7 were brought together. I had to find them. So, using data from the Gizord I created a portal to Mobius, even though I couldn't send organic matter through it, that didn't stop me as I set up a control system for the Gizord so I could control it and see and hear what it did from afar before I sent him through the portal. I even found one of the Chaos Emeralds. Using the Gizord I managed to obtain it and brought it back... only to find out about their instability. I sent the Gizord back a few different times to uncover more information about the Chaos Emeralds and discovered a lot of things about them. I do believe they were the key to curing Maria's illness."

Shadow gave a nod. From what little he knew about the Chaos Emeralds, he believed that what the Professor was purposing could actually be plausible. Yet, that still didn't answer his other question.

"But where do I fit into all of this?"

"You?" The professor said still not turning to face the black hedgehog, "You were created as the ultimate lifeform. I had a little... outside help, but you, you are immune to disease, you have thus far been perfect in every way I could ever imagine. And you need to be, for once I find a way to restabilized the Chaos Emeralds, I need your help in order to control the Emerald's power in order to use it to cure Maria. Only certain creatures can even withstand that much Chaos energy. There's only even so many that can use the Chaos Control like you did, let alone a Super transformation, which is only considered as a myth."

"Super transformation?" Shadow asked and the professor nodded.

"Yes," The professor said, "I believe it's what I need to save Maria. You should be able to transfer some of your power into another while in a super state. Which is what I've been counting on. But, I need to make sure you're able to do it. You're body being how it is, should also amplify the power so that it will be a permanent fix for Maria and not just last until the energy you give her fades. That is what I'm counting on. So Shadow... you are vital to saving Maria."

Shadow nodded. He now understood his purpose. His reasoning for living was to save Maria and there was a part of him that couldn't think of any other purpose for himself.

"I won't fail you professor," Shadow Said, "I will save Maria."

"I know you will," The Professor replied, "I know you will."