Sonic's death came as a great shock to everybody and the news brought great sorrow, even though their most feared enemy had been defeated. It was decided that Sonic's body was to be buried where he'd died and so it was.

Shadow and Knuckles had together buried their friend and it proved to be a terribly traumatic task, even to Shadow. Amy Ray and Tails stood alongside, along with the other residents of the Underground Resistance. Ray had his face buried in his mother's chest, his body jerking slightly from his crying. In fact, they all wept, some more noticeably than others, at the loss of their hero.

Tails had engraved words into a large stone and placed it at the head of Sonic's grave. It read,

A great hero and a true friend
May he rest in peace

Sonic The Hedgehog

Several hours passed before people began to leave. Knuckles Amy Ray Tails and Shadow were the last ones left. But it wasn't long before most of them decided to turn in. Without saying anything, they began to walk slowly back to their underground base.

"I'll catch up with you in a few minutes." Shadow said to them quietly.

The black hedgehog found himself alone. He sighed, small tears beginning to dwell in his eyes.

"I never thought it would end like this, my friend." He said. "Yes, death comes to everyone but nobody deserves it so soon, especially you…"

He swallowed.

"From the beginning we've always been rivals. But after you saved me, all of those years back, I saw that you really were what I'd heard; a hero. I guess you'll always be remembered as one too."

Shadow lowered his head and sighed again, the tears beginning to fall down his face.

"I just wish I could've saved you…" he thought to himself.

Dark storm clouds began to gather up above and thunder boomed, echoing over the hills. Rain began to fall but Shadow was unmoved by it and continued wallowing in his grief. He put his hand to his head, as if there was some kind of pain there, and began to cry.

…

The few days past and life was beginning to become normal again. The humans, who Eggman had enslaved, heard of his death and were overcome with joy. They began to rebuild their city of Station Square, clearing all of the weeds and vines that had grown there over time.

The Underground Resistance moved up into the forest and rebuilt their homes there, Sonic's grave being only a few metres away.

Within a week, the Underground Resistance was no more and their small colony had been completely refurbished.

2 weeks later

Shadow was sat up in a tall tree. He was looking on at Eggman's old base, which was still sitting beyond Station Square. He sighed.

"Shadow! Where are you? I have to talk to you!" came a voice from below.

Shadow blinked and jumped down from the tree and found that it was Tails. He was holding Shadow's wrist communicator/ mapping device and his gun.

"I know what you've been thinking for the past few weeks, Shadow." Tails said.
"Really?" Shadow replied.

"Yes and I agree. You must return to your own time period. You can stop all of this from ever happening at all."

Shadow nodded.

"The only way I can is with Eggman's gun…the weapon he used to send me here in the first place." He said.

"It's bound to be lying in Eggmn's base. Eggman abandoned his HQ when he came to fight you. But there may be some robots still lurking around…" Tails answered.

"They'll be no problem." Shadow said.

Tails smiled and handed Shadow his things.

"You'll be able to keep in contact with me as before." The two tailed fox said.

"What's going on?" came a voice from behind them.

Shadow and Tails turned around and saw Ray walking toward them, a puzzled look on his face.

"I'm going on another mission." Shadow said.
"Really? Why?"
"Eggman left something of mine in his base. I just have to go collect it…"
"Can I come?"
"Sorry Ray but I have to go alone on this one. "

Shadow looked at Eggman's base, in the distance.

"Let the others know where I am. I shan't be long." he said.

And with that he zoomed off in the direction of the base.

Ray was more confused than ever but didn't ask any question.

"Whatever he's doing it must be important…" Ray thought to himself.

…

Within a few hours, Shadow reached the base again. He ran through the various corridors trying to find the Eggman's time gun.

"I don't even know where to start looking! It could be anywhere!" Shadow thought.

He sighed and flipped open his wrist communicator.

"Tails! Can you hear me?"
"Yep. What's up?"
"Do you have any clue as to where I should look first? This place is so huge…"
"Hmm…well remember when Sonic said…"

He paused a moment.

"…Tails?" Shadow spoke into the watch.
"Sorry, it's just…" he sighed. "Talking about Sonic…it's hard…"
"I know…but what did he say that I'm meant to remember?"

"He was saying about how he found plans for that robot you fought. He said that he ended up in some kind of weapon room or something…"

"A weapon room…" Shadow said, more to himself.
"I still have the blueprints of the base on the computer. I'll go load it up then call you back when I have the location."
"Thanks Tails." Shadow said and closed his communicator.

Suddenly he heard a noise from behind him; the clattering of metal being dropped.
Shadow swung round and held up his gun.

4 robots leapt out of the darkness toward Shadow. They seemed confused but still had their programming intact.

"Intruder Alert! Must capture hedgehog, by order of Eggman!" The robots yelled as they leapt at Shadow.

Shadow jump up in the air and began firing his gun. Each robot began to spark and jerk as the blue jets of energy, from Shadow's gun, hit them. Eventually they lay in a heap on the ground.

"Eggma's dead…you useless pieces of junk have no purpose anymore…" Shadow said.

Just then his wrist communicator began to bleep. Shadow opened it. It was Tails.

"Ok Shadow I have a location for ya. It seems Eggman had built a weapon room. It's not far away from the prison cells. Just keep going straight then go down the 3rd corridor on the right. The room should then be straight ahead of you."

"Alright then." Shadow said. "Thanks again Tails."

He closed his communicator and ran in the direction Tails had told him to. Sure enough, down the 3rd right hand corridor, Shadow saw a door. There was a card swiper by it but it had been deactivated, as had everything else in the facility.

Shadow pushed open the door and found what he was looking for. The room was small but had many shelves, each holding a different sort of weapon. Rocket launchers, laser guns and many other things.

In the centre of the room there was a table and on the table was Eggman's Time Absorber 2000. Shadow picked up the gun carefully and examined it.

"Alright. No time to waste. I must get out of here!" he said quietly to himself.

Keeping a tight hold of the Time Absorber, Shadow rushed off down various corridors until he found the exit. He ran back over the various hills and fields, towards the forest.