Ta-da! Ten chapters! It's my birthday, it's my birthday! No it isn't! Party anyway!
Oops, did I actually write that down? Uh, you can ignore the random cheering guys.
Well, now that my one (and hopefully only) Author's Note is taken care of, let's get back to the story!
I don't own Shadow, or Sonic, or anything related to Sega. I DO own Project Cross! He's alllll mine!
Shadow POV, might be a little OOC, blah blah blah. Just read it already!
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"Shadow, you know a lot more than you've told us! So spill it! What is Cross?" We
were back on Angel Island. I held my Chaos Emerald tightly, still coming to grips with the
fear I had and still felt on the subject. Never in my life had I ever experienced fear like
that. Sonic poked me in the arm. "Hello? Shadow, you home?" I glared at him. "What?"
"Like Rouge said, you seem to have neglected to tell us something, and I think it's eating
at you." "Nothing is eating at me!" I stormed outside, ignoring the shock my behavior
caused. "I am the ultimate life form! I'm designed to be superior to everything! How is
this happening!" I was grinding my teeth and generally feeling very upset when Tails glided
over. "Are you okay, Shadow?" "I'm fine." "Oh? Then why don't you look the part?" He
hovered in midair in front of me. "You were snapping at them, and I can tell that's not
like you at all. Do you want to talk about it?" "There is nothing to talk about." "That's
not what you were telling yourself when I was flying up." The horror I felt showed on my
face before I could control the reaction. He heard me? Oh no, he'll tell the others and
they'll know what a disgrace I am… "I think I know what you're having problems with. You've
been like this since Cross flew off. You're scared of him." He said it in such a
matter-of-fact way it caught me off guard. I eyed him. He wasn't taunting me in the least.
"Yes," I muttered reluctantly. "Fear is normal. You can't really live if you don't have
good and bad emotions." "It was a different kind of fear. It was like…the deep fear you
get from facing something you can't escape from and you know nothing you do fazes it in the
slightest and it can kill you anytime it wishes and you know it knows that too." I closed
my eyes and gritted my teeth, drawing deep breaths to control myself. "I fought Cross when
he was an underdeveloped, two-minute old hatchling. I nearly killed myself just trying to
keep him pinned him down. He's been growing and developing for the past fifty years. How
am I supposed to beat him now if I couldn't even fight him then?" "I can see where you
would be worried," Tails said thoughtfully. "But you're forgetting something. No one is
going to let you fight alone. All your friends will be fighting right beside you."
Friends? They thought of me as a friend? I had tried to kill them, both indirectly and
directly. I had tried to destroy their world. And they called me a friend? "We're all
your friends, Shadow. We want to help, but you have to let us." Slowly, I nodded. "Now,
do you think you can talk to us about Cross?" "Yes." He glided in front of me as we made
our way back to the cave. "Tails?" He turned. "Thank you," I said. "Don't mention it."
I stayed close to Tails as we rejoined the others. I was nervous, after all I _had_
yelled at them before. But they didn't say anything at all at first. "Are you okay now,
Shadow?" Sonic asked me cautiously. I nodded and mumbled "sorry", before sitting down.
"Okay, Shadow said he'd tell us everything he remembered about Project Cross." Tails sat
right next to me. I took a deep breath. "Dr. Gerald Robotnik started Project Cross about
fifty-six years ago. His goal was to combine the DNA from the Biolizard and myself to form
an even more superior creature." So far they were all listening quietly. "He succeeded in
creating this creature 18 months prior to the GUN assault on ARK." "Wait, I thought you
told me he never finished it!" Sonic protested. "He didn't. When Cross was first hatched,
he proved to be dangerous and uncontrollable, attacking the doctor within minutes of his own
birth. At the time he was…" I thought. "About my size. Brown, scaly. Kind of a
shriveled little version of the Cross we saw earlier. I was watching the whole thing, and
when the doctor was attacked I fought Cross." "And?" Knuckles leaned forward. I closed my
eyes. "He beat me into the ground. If I hadn't been designed to take such rough treatment,
he would have killed me outright. And I could barely even pin him down." I heard the
others gasp in shock as that sunk in. "In the end, Dr. Robotnik managed to get him with a
tranquilizer. He put Cross into suspension, where he wouldn't be a danger while the doctor
figured out how to control him." "And he's been in stasis ever since? But Cross was huge!"
"Stasis only kept him from escaping or killing people. It didn't do anything to stop his
growth. I have no idea how GUN managed to find him, since when they attacked his stasis pod
broke loose from ARK. He must have been in orbit this entire time." "And GUN must have
found the records in the files they stole from ARK, right?" "It appears so." They all
looked worried. Hah, they hadn't heard the best part. "But Cross told Vox he didn't answer
to anybody. So what's Cross after?" "You aren't going to like this part," I warned them.
"Try us." "If you say so. Cross's only desire is to cause death and destruction. He wants
to obliterate everything on the planet. And now he's going to have an easier time than
ever." "What do you mean?" "When Dr. Robotnik locked Cross away, he injected him with a
special chemical called Compound X-490." "But that stuff's illegal!" Rouge looked
horrified. "It was the only thing he could do at the time." "What's Compound X-490?"
"It's a chemical that causes the breakdown of DNA in an organism, resulting in a slow
descent into madness and eventual death. It was to insure if the doctor failed in finding a
way to control him, Cross would not survive. With the stasis, Cross would live for eighty
years before he succumbed. Dr. Robotnik had also devised an antidote for it, but all that
data was destroyed in the attack." "So, what about that makes him better at killing
people?" "Remember what I told you, Sonic? They needed me to figure out the normal
parameters for Cross's genetic structure. But with the damaged code they needed new DNA to
patch it, and mine matched too close to be useful. They had to be choosy with their new
sample; they wanted Cross as unchanged as possible. And you and I are more similar then you
think." "So they _deliberately_ lured me in!" Sonic jumped up and began pacing, obviously
quite disturbed. "And if they used my DNA-" "Cross has gained all your powers, abilities,
and attacks." "I think our odds for success just plummeted," Amy said. "A fight against a
mix of that lizard thingy, Shadow, _and_ Sonic? Are you certain we should fight?" I stood.
"We don't have a choice."
To save energy, we all took Tail's foldout jet back to the city. I was thinking the
whole time. I am the true Ultimate Life Form! And I was not going to back down from a
fight with anyone! Even if it IS Cross…I sighed. "Cheer up!" Sonic sat next to me, his
cocky expression in full gear. "How can you be so cheerful at a time like this?" "Hey, I
just do what comes naturally. And it's not like this will be anything really new. I mean,
I've fought you, and the Biolizard, and a metal version of myself. This is just all of them
at once." I kept from rolling my eyes. Sonic is great and all, but he can be a little
thick-headed. "Besides, I brought backup," he whispered and showed me the Chaos Emerald
he'd snuck from behind Knuckle's back. I just raised an eyebrow. All too soon, we were
back in the city. Or what was left of it…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Cue evil laughter* A cliffy, a cliffy! Oh the humanity!
Uh, wait...wouldn't that be hedgehogity? Or...oh never mind!
Just review this thing! C'mon, I know you wanna!
Oops, did I actually write that down? Uh, you can ignore the random cheering guys.
Well, now that my one (and hopefully only) Author's Note is taken care of, let's get back to the story!
I don't own Shadow, or Sonic, or anything related to Sega. I DO own Project Cross! He's alllll mine!
Shadow POV, might be a little OOC, blah blah blah. Just read it already!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shadow, you know a lot more than you've told us! So spill it! What is Cross?" We
were back on Angel Island. I held my Chaos Emerald tightly, still coming to grips with the
fear I had and still felt on the subject. Never in my life had I ever experienced fear like
that. Sonic poked me in the arm. "Hello? Shadow, you home?" I glared at him. "What?"
"Like Rouge said, you seem to have neglected to tell us something, and I think it's eating
at you." "Nothing is eating at me!" I stormed outside, ignoring the shock my behavior
caused. "I am the ultimate life form! I'm designed to be superior to everything! How is
this happening!" I was grinding my teeth and generally feeling very upset when Tails glided
over. "Are you okay, Shadow?" "I'm fine." "Oh? Then why don't you look the part?" He
hovered in midair in front of me. "You were snapping at them, and I can tell that's not
like you at all. Do you want to talk about it?" "There is nothing to talk about." "That's
not what you were telling yourself when I was flying up." The horror I felt showed on my
face before I could control the reaction. He heard me? Oh no, he'll tell the others and
they'll know what a disgrace I am… "I think I know what you're having problems with. You've
been like this since Cross flew off. You're scared of him." He said it in such a
matter-of-fact way it caught me off guard. I eyed him. He wasn't taunting me in the least.
"Yes," I muttered reluctantly. "Fear is normal. You can't really live if you don't have
good and bad emotions." "It was a different kind of fear. It was like…the deep fear you
get from facing something you can't escape from and you know nothing you do fazes it in the
slightest and it can kill you anytime it wishes and you know it knows that too." I closed
my eyes and gritted my teeth, drawing deep breaths to control myself. "I fought Cross when
he was an underdeveloped, two-minute old hatchling. I nearly killed myself just trying to
keep him pinned him down. He's been growing and developing for the past fifty years. How
am I supposed to beat him now if I couldn't even fight him then?" "I can see where you
would be worried," Tails said thoughtfully. "But you're forgetting something. No one is
going to let you fight alone. All your friends will be fighting right beside you."
Friends? They thought of me as a friend? I had tried to kill them, both indirectly and
directly. I had tried to destroy their world. And they called me a friend? "We're all
your friends, Shadow. We want to help, but you have to let us." Slowly, I nodded. "Now,
do you think you can talk to us about Cross?" "Yes." He glided in front of me as we made
our way back to the cave. "Tails?" He turned. "Thank you," I said. "Don't mention it."
I stayed close to Tails as we rejoined the others. I was nervous, after all I _had_
yelled at them before. But they didn't say anything at all at first. "Are you okay now,
Shadow?" Sonic asked me cautiously. I nodded and mumbled "sorry", before sitting down.
"Okay, Shadow said he'd tell us everything he remembered about Project Cross." Tails sat
right next to me. I took a deep breath. "Dr. Gerald Robotnik started Project Cross about
fifty-six years ago. His goal was to combine the DNA from the Biolizard and myself to form
an even more superior creature." So far they were all listening quietly. "He succeeded in
creating this creature 18 months prior to the GUN assault on ARK." "Wait, I thought you
told me he never finished it!" Sonic protested. "He didn't. When Cross was first hatched,
he proved to be dangerous and uncontrollable, attacking the doctor within minutes of his own
birth. At the time he was…" I thought. "About my size. Brown, scaly. Kind of a
shriveled little version of the Cross we saw earlier. I was watching the whole thing, and
when the doctor was attacked I fought Cross." "And?" Knuckles leaned forward. I closed my
eyes. "He beat me into the ground. If I hadn't been designed to take such rough treatment,
he would have killed me outright. And I could barely even pin him down." I heard the
others gasp in shock as that sunk in. "In the end, Dr. Robotnik managed to get him with a
tranquilizer. He put Cross into suspension, where he wouldn't be a danger while the doctor
figured out how to control him." "And he's been in stasis ever since? But Cross was huge!"
"Stasis only kept him from escaping or killing people. It didn't do anything to stop his
growth. I have no idea how GUN managed to find him, since when they attacked his stasis pod
broke loose from ARK. He must have been in orbit this entire time." "And GUN must have
found the records in the files they stole from ARK, right?" "It appears so." They all
looked worried. Hah, they hadn't heard the best part. "But Cross told Vox he didn't answer
to anybody. So what's Cross after?" "You aren't going to like this part," I warned them.
"Try us." "If you say so. Cross's only desire is to cause death and destruction. He wants
to obliterate everything on the planet. And now he's going to have an easier time than
ever." "What do you mean?" "When Dr. Robotnik locked Cross away, he injected him with a
special chemical called Compound X-490." "But that stuff's illegal!" Rouge looked
horrified. "It was the only thing he could do at the time." "What's Compound X-490?"
"It's a chemical that causes the breakdown of DNA in an organism, resulting in a slow
descent into madness and eventual death. It was to insure if the doctor failed in finding a
way to control him, Cross would not survive. With the stasis, Cross would live for eighty
years before he succumbed. Dr. Robotnik had also devised an antidote for it, but all that
data was destroyed in the attack." "So, what about that makes him better at killing
people?" "Remember what I told you, Sonic? They needed me to figure out the normal
parameters for Cross's genetic structure. But with the damaged code they needed new DNA to
patch it, and mine matched too close to be useful. They had to be choosy with their new
sample; they wanted Cross as unchanged as possible. And you and I are more similar then you
think." "So they _deliberately_ lured me in!" Sonic jumped up and began pacing, obviously
quite disturbed. "And if they used my DNA-" "Cross has gained all your powers, abilities,
and attacks." "I think our odds for success just plummeted," Amy said. "A fight against a
mix of that lizard thingy, Shadow, _and_ Sonic? Are you certain we should fight?" I stood.
"We don't have a choice."
To save energy, we all took Tail's foldout jet back to the city. I was thinking the
whole time. I am the true Ultimate Life Form! And I was not going to back down from a
fight with anyone! Even if it IS Cross…I sighed. "Cheer up!" Sonic sat next to me, his
cocky expression in full gear. "How can you be so cheerful at a time like this?" "Hey, I
just do what comes naturally. And it's not like this will be anything really new. I mean,
I've fought you, and the Biolizard, and a metal version of myself. This is just all of them
at once." I kept from rolling my eyes. Sonic is great and all, but he can be a little
thick-headed. "Besides, I brought backup," he whispered and showed me the Chaos Emerald
he'd snuck from behind Knuckle's back. I just raised an eyebrow. All too soon, we were
back in the city. Or what was left of it…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Cue evil laughter* A cliffy, a cliffy! Oh the humanity!
Uh, wait...wouldn't that be hedgehogity? Or...oh never mind!
Just review this thing! C'mon, I know you wanna!