I haven't played the game yet but…as far as I can say, this story will be accurate to all the notes that I currently have. One other thing…for those of you who have played Shadow the Hedgehog…I'm writing this in the perspective of Shadow having finished the Hero Missions.

Shadow's Next Move

Chapter 1

Moving Out

Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow are walking down a highway road to an unknown place. Sonic says to Shadow, "Hmm, I think you did the right thing…but…why? I mean…was there someone special…someone close to you that you did what you did?"

"……Yes…" said Shadow.

"Who?" Sonic asked, perplexed.

Shadow looked down on the ground and mumbled something along the lines of 'I don't want to talk about it'.

"Excuse me, I couldn't here you correctly."

"I said that I don't want to talk about it……she's dead already."

"Please, let me know, who it was."

"Why on earth would you want to know?"

"Because, you seem saddened recently…and I wanted to know what was bugging you."

"Oh…okay, I'll tell you…years ago, on Colony ARK, I met a young lady named Maria. She was sweet and nice to me and we played together. Then, one day, Maria told me about an experiment that wasn't going right. I promised Maria that I would help her…that I would see what went wrong and fix it."

Shadow paused in his story.

"Then what happened?"

"While I went to go fix the experiment, I saw that it involved a Chaos Emerald. Just as I was about to enter the room I heard a scream," said Shadow, "'Maria!' I cried. I ran toward her…I heard voices, most likely GUN Federation troops, but I continued to press forward. By the time I nearly reached there, gunshots were fired. I knew that I had to hurry. When I got there, I found Maria's dead body; blood had spilled all over the area...and…the number of bullet holes in her body. I remember that I counted them…50 shots…they killed her. I crouched near dead body and I cried. Heh, you probably think that this sentimentality isn't in me, don't you Sonic."

"No, not at all. I had no idea what really happened on ARK. I just remember that I left ARK and never turned back. I'm so sorry." Sonic said.

"Anyway, that's all in past now. I still can't believe what had happened back then. I regret that I couldn't save her. I made a promise to her that I would always protect her. I failed…miserably."

"It's not your fault. The circumstances that happened back then…you couldn't help."

"But that only proves that I can't be good. I can't save people."

"That's not true, you saved Westopolis. You defeated the Black Arms. How can you say that?"

"I wasn't meant to be evil…and I wasn't meant to be a hero."

"You are a hero. That was your past, you can't change that, and I'm sure even you know that."

"I guess you're right."

"So what's you're next move?" Sonic asked.

"Well, I've got the seven Chaos Emeralds. I think that I'll go with you on your next adventure."

"Huh, how come?"

"I want a rival, now that I've realized my true destiny. And not just any rival, I want you. You have potential. Though you'll never be as good as I, I still would like a challenge."

"Hmm, very good. All right, you'll be my rival. I'm heading north to the polar ice caps to train."

"If that's where you're going, then so am I." Shadow replied confidently.

And the two raced off.