Shadow Adventure: Chaos in Time
Prologue: Chosen One
Disclaimer: I don't own the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series.
Note: Spoilers for one of the endings of Shadow the Hedgehog.

Prologue: Chosen One

"Am I what the humans call, 'The Evil One'?"

"So I'm just a research experiment gone horribly wrong?"

"… Shadow?" said Vector uncertainly, looking at the black and red-striped hedgehog in front of him. Vector looked behind them, at the fallen Black Doom, leader of the Black Arms that had been invading the earth.

"What?" asked Shadow, turning his head to look at the crocodile.

"Shouldn't we do something? Like… Tie him up?" asked Vector.

"Do you honestly think that will accomplish anything?" asked Shadow. Vector laughed weakly and scratched the back of his head.

"Nah…" Vector walked over to Shadow. "But really… You're not an experiment gone wrong, Shadow. You may have been born differently, but so what?"

Shadow was silent for a moment, closing his eyes and thinking.

"A good philosophy, but I am an experiment, a weapon, either way." replied Shadow. "I'll think about it though, as long as you don't bring it up again."

"Yeah yeah… So how do we get out of here? Sonic and the others went ahead to the comet to get rid of the rest of the Black Arms." stated Vector. Shadow turned to face Vector.

"But we have the Chaos Emeralds." remarked Shadow, looking up at the seven legendary emeralds, which had been simply floating above the two. "Have you ever used them?"

"No. Knuckles has though." replied Vector. Shadow held his hand up, and the emeralds floating down to him.

"Lift up your hand, and they will grant you power." said Shadow. Vector did so, and the emeralds began swirling around both the hedgehog and the crocodile.

Shadow closed his eyes as he felt the power of the Chaos Emeralds enter him, but Vector was watching in amazement as he and Shadow went through the transformation. The black fur and Shadow changed, becoming pale yellow in color. Looking at his own skin, Vector discovered it was changing color as well, changing as fast as he felt the power entering his body.

Vector lowered his now dark yellow arm, staring in amazement.

"Now then… I think we've got enough power between both of us for a Chaos Control right down to the Earth…" Super Shadow closed his eyes, then snapped them open. "CHAOS…"

Only two yards away, Black Doom gave a weak chuckle and held up a black gem. It began to glow, giving off red light. At the top of the emerald was a dark red symbol, exactly like the shape of the necklace that hung from Black Doom's neck.

'Shadow… You disobeyed me… Now, your fate will lie in the hands of that Ultima Emerald…' thought Black Doom, grabbing the black emerald out of the air and throwing it towards the seven Chaos Emeralds, which had surrounded Super Shadow and Super Vector in nearly blinding gold light.

"… CONTROL!" finished Super Shadow. His eyes widened when a black and red emerald, one smaller than a Chaos Emerald, appeared in the center of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Super Shadow and Super Vector lost their Super forms, and could only watch as the black gem shot seven thin strings of energy at the Chaos Emeralds.

The Chaos Emeralds began glowing, then they changed. It looked as if a small black jewel was inside the Emeralds, one in each. It gave off a red glow, and then the gold light surrounding them turned red.

"ULTIMA CONTROL!" yelled Black Doom, holding a jewel exactly the same as the one he tossed in his hand, except the symbol on the top was dark blue and it's glow was also dark blue.

"What's going on!" yelled Vector. However, his question was not answered. Instead, he and Shadow vanished and the only sound left in the computer room was Black Doom's echoing laughter, the owner of the laughter nowhere in sight.

-

Vector weakly opened his eyes and took a deep breath in. The air was clean and fresh. Far different from the thin, fake air on the ARK.

"You're awake." remarked a familiar voice. Vector looked up and saw Shadow, offering his hand no less. Vector knew that it really wouldn't help much, seeing as Vector was nearly twice Shadow's size, but he took it anyway.

"We're in Station Square." said Vector, looking around him in awe. The sky was cloudy. In fact, it looked like it was going to rain. "But it feels wrong somehow."

"I agree." replied Shadow, crossing his arms and sighing. Vector looked around, then spotted something across the street. He walked over to it, discovering it was a newspaper stand, but no one was manning it. Vector picked up one of the new newspapers from an untouched pile. Shadow stared when Vector dropped it in shock. "What is it?"

"Shadow…" started Vector. "I'm not sure how to say this, so I'll be blunt about it. We're in the past."

"…" Shadow walked over and took the newspaper from Vector's hands. "This is… Not right. How could the Chaos Control send us her-."

"Shadow! What about the Chaos Emeralds?" exclaimed Vector, wide eyed. "Black Doom threw that weird thing in and everything went wrong…"

"They're gone. Either someone took them or they've been scattered all over… " said Shadow thoughtfully. "Probably they've been scattered all over… Knowing my luck anyway. We could have ended up fifty years ago and stopped all of this from happening…"

Vector frowned.

"Even… You?" asked the detective crocodile.

"Probably." replied Shadow. There was a silence. A deafening silence.

Vector was unsure about how to deal with this new predicament. He was in the past. And he was with Shadow. Now while he considered Shadow a friend, thanks to recent happenings, Shadow was acting different. Even only minutes before Shadow and Vector had fought Black Doom, Shadow was his normal self. Now, Shadow really did believe he shouldn't exist-

The silence was interrupted by crashing sounds. Vector looked to the side and his eyes widened. Shadow frowned and looked at his reptilian friend.

"What?" asked the black hedgehog. Vector pointed.

"Look." said the crocodile.

Manholes were flying in the air, being pushed up by water. Shadow's eyes widened as water even began pouring out of buildings. This was a new kind of enemy. One that couldn't be beat, no matter how hard you tried. Shadow only had one thing to say, and it was something he never imagined he would.

"Run."

End Prologue