You may be thinking I'm coming to the end of the fic already. Erm no I'm not. I'm going to try and cover all 23 levels and summarise all routes. Personally I feel the story works this way, but they edited it so you could have the good/bad dynamic.

Sorry it took so long to update, its ff dot net's fault for adding forums. I think it's a great idea, this place needs more community and as soon as I saw them I created the Sonic Writers Guild. Give it a look sometime.

I realised I missed Blue Falcon (heh heh, nice nod to F-Zero there) so I'll start this fic with it.

Levels in this chapter: Air Fleet - Gun Headquarters (or is it fortress, I can never remember) - Black Comet.

All Copyright info in first chapter

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Shadow the Hedgehog: A Rogue's Adventure

By Master hunter

Chapter 4 - No more life, No more death, somewhere in between

As Black Doom scanned the planet for the president we were interrupted by a loud crash. I proceeded to investigate with Doom's Eye by my side. GUN had responded quickly by sending up a Blue version of the machine I fought 50 years ago.

"HQ this is Blue Falcon. Have spotted the target and proceeding to destroy", said a soldier from the machine.

"Understood, destroy that demon", said another voice.

The only difference I could see this time was that the machine could fly this time, whereas it could only hover before. This made things a little more difficult as I had to climb to the top of the arena at certain intervals. But it fell the same. I smashed off its rocket launchers and used them against it.

The missiles smashed into the machine causing more and more damage and soon it just fell back to Earth and exploded. For a moment I felt sorry for the human inside, only for a moment though.

"Good work Shadow. We have found the President too now. I'm going to warp you there now", said Black Doom through Doom's eye.

I nodded and found myself in a military base. Then I thought it was some sort of special tunnel that ran from Central City to GUN's Headquarters, when it was actually a giant blimp flying in the sky, escorted by more ships. There waiting for me was Tails.

"Hi Shadow. You going to help us out this time? Sonic and Knuckles are on that ship guarding the President directly. We're taking it to GUN headquarters", said Tails.

I ignored him and moved on.

"Come on Shadow, I know this isn't you. Help me take out the Black Arm soldiers' ok?" shouted Tails.

I continued to ignore him and grabbed the nearest gun. I followed the heavily armoured ship and sent it down a more dangerous path. I got some good clear shots on the plane like machine and soon saw it start to catch fire and smoke.

Later I found myself outside overlooking a long drop. One false step and I was doomed. At that moment I remember thinking that the humans were quite intelligent despite their greed and corruption.

I proceeded through the tunnels, ploughing through the wind tunnels and giant armouries. I caught up with what they called the President's Escape pod and attacked it some more. Its engine's exploded a little but just as I was about to make the final strike I heard a voice in my head.

"Shadow listen to me", it said

I sounded like Gerald and as a closed my eyes I heard him speak to me. It was some sort of memory I had long since forgotten.

"Shadow listen, I created you to help people however I needed help from someone. Fifty years from now they will ask you to collect the Chaos Emeralds. You must do this, it is a promise I needed to make to create you", said Gerald.

I opened my eyes to find myself inside GUN's Headquarters. The Air Fleet had landed and now the Black Arms was making their last assault. I saw the Escape pod land, with two humans helping each other to safety with Sonic and Knuckles following them.

"Please Shadow, you must fulfil this promise", said Gerald.

"I will professor, I will", I said to myself before proceeding through the base.

The more I thought about it the more I left the two armies to fight between themselves. They were still equally matches. The Black Arms had the numbers but GUN had kept their big machines to protect themselves. Yet again both attacked which just enraged me.

Later I came across Rouge again. I felt like strangling her for what she did to me back in GUN's Digital Circuits. Instead I just shouted at her.

"HEY! Where's that Chaos Emerald", I shouted

"Oh it's you Shadow. Where do your priorities lie these days? I can't believe you destroyed Central City with the Eclipse Cannon", said Rouge

"The humans betrayed me Rouge, and so did you. The Chaos Emeralds belong to me", I said

"No way. Those Aliens aren't getting their hands on the Chaos Emerald we have, we need it", said Rouge.

Doom's eye then appeared.

"Excellent Shadow. Now for the finishing blow. We destroy the computer cores here in the base and it'll become defenceless", said Doom's Eye

"You're siding with this squid thing? Urgh! What happened to the Ultimate Rogues? I know Omega is tracking down Eggman for us, but we used to be a team", said Rouge

She had reminded me of the team but I had more important concerns.

"Rouge I need to find the truth", I said

"I know. But put it this way, have they revealed anything?" asked Rouge.

"Well yes, the showed me how the humans killed Maria in cold blood for their own greed", I said.

"That it? You don't remember what Maria asked you to do?" asked Rouge.

I froze. It immediately became clear that Doom was deliberately holding back on me.

"You held back on me Doom. Why?" I asked.

"It wasn't important. She asked you to avenge her death, but somehow they froze you and you couldn't do it", said Doom's Eye

"That isn't true Shadow. He's only telling you what he wants you to believe", said Rouge.

I felt confused, like at the start. I didn't know who to trust. Rouge could've been lying too, she had deceived me before. But she could've been right about Doom, and honestly it sounded like something Doom would do.

"I don't know who to trust. Rouge lead me to this Emerald. If you do I will take it for my own, not for the Black Arms. I promise and you know I always keep my promises", I said.

Rouge took a moment to think about it, but then led the way.

"Do not betray us Shadow. You know what happened last time", said Black Doom.

"Betray you? How do I know you're not betraying me? All I know is that I need the Emeralds. I am no longer helping you or them", I said before running off.

I could tell Black Doom was angry but at that moment I didn't care. I raced through the base and collected the Emerald. There I saw an army of GUN soldiers with Sonic and Knuckles

"You know what to do Knuckles. You lead this Army and attack the Black Comet while most of their troops are down here", said Sonic.

"Will do Sonic. But what are you going to do?" asked Knuckles

"The Commander is preparing the Diablon. I will protect him until its up and running and then we'll join you", said Sonic, "Time to teach those Black Aliens a lesson. No-one invades Earth without fighting the Sonic Heroes"

"Well well Sonic. How Sneaky. Attacking their home when their back is turned. It's so unlike you", I said flipping the Emerald up into the air and grabbing it again.

"Shadow! Please stop this now. Those Aliens aren't your friends," said Sonic

"Oh and I suppose you are faker. At the moment I need to hear the truth and no-one is giving me a straight answer. If you attack Black Doom, I will protect him. However I can no longer trust him either", I said.

I looked around and found Black Doom had entered behind me. As did the Diablon.

"Now Shadow finish them off or you'll face my wrath", said Black Doom

"Well Well Shadow we meet at last. I will destroy you for all those people on ARK and Maria", said a man inside the Diablon.

"Who are you?" I asked, "And how do you know about Maria? Wait wasn't it GUN who murdered everyone on ARK? ARGH! I don't understand"

"Of course you don't Shadow. But we don't have time to tell you the truth", said Sonic, "Commander let's go and destroy the Black Comet and leave Shadow with his pain for now"

"You are attacking our home, how dare you?" shouted Black Doom in rage, "Come on Shadow you must protect us"

"I don't know who to trust but for now I can't let you hurt Black Doom", I said

Black Doom warped me into the Black Comet. I stood on a small platform with a floating disk saucer in front of me. I looked around and found the dark walls really emphasised the Black in Black Comet. There was no floor, just a strange thick liquid with a strange red, purple, black colouring. The smell was quite nice despite others trying to tell me otherwise. Part of me felt like I was home but this was the first time I had entered the Black Comet.

Doom's Eye was right there to greet me and I jumped on the floating disk saucer.

"Shadow there's no time to lose. Destroy all the pathetic humans, eliminate them all from our precious home", said Doom's Eye, "That liquid is our life-force; it is fatal to everyone else including yourself. Stay out of it"

I didn't want to risk it; I stayed on the saucer and used them to get past the vast lakes of the strange liquid. The GUN robots had secured some platforms; I smashed one and used its gun against the others. I was in the middle of the war again but I needed the Black Arms and so I helped them.

Anything that got in my way was soon destroyed by my hand. I came across Knuckles but I simply ignored him. He was rather mad that I had destroyed so many of the GUN robots that at one point he attacked me directly. Black Doom opened up a warp hole for me which I quickly used to get away. It immediately closed and I was in the Comet's Core.

There I saw Sonic and the GUN Commanders huge machine. It was mostly red, with two large arms and no legs. It floated over the air and protected its head with some sort of yellow energy shield. They were advancing to Black Doom who was leading his troops. I had to stop them.

"Oi faker! Leave Black Doom alone or face my wrath", I said.

"No can do Shadow. This war ends now", said Sonic.

"Yes! Shadow now I can destroy you for what you did on ARK. Feel the might of the Diablon", said the Commander.

I felt a special sort of energy inside the machine, a very familiar energy and I smiled. I knew that thing must've been powered by some sort of crystal. But I had to be sure.

"That thing's powered by a Chaos Emerald isn't it? I'll tell you what, give me that Emerald and leave now and I promise to spare your life", I said.

"How did you…? No matter I will avenge the people of ARK", said the Commander.

"So be it", I replied

"I can't believe I'm going to fight you, after all we've been through. Very Well Shadow, let me show you why I'm the number one hero", said Sonic.

I jumped at the machine but I merely bounced off it. Direct attacks didn't seem to work. I tried attacking the head but my jumps did not reach high enough. Sonic bounced into me and sent me flying to the edge of the arena. I sprung back to my feet and made another attempt, this time I bounced off sonic head and I got enough height to hit the head. The Diablon fired a laser but I dodged it and attacked. Using the laser made the machine drop its shields and I managed to smash the head and do some damage.

I had found its weak spot but there was much more to this Diablon that I first though. The Commander had charged a massive weapon that created a dome of energy. Unprepared it hit me and knocking me on my back. I started to breath more heavily and sweat. The humans had made quite a weapon.

Regardless I kept attacking and managed to destroy some of the jets. This made it easier to hit the head but Sonic proved to be a massive annoyance. Doom's Eye descended into the arena and handed me a weapon. I picked it up but this left me directly in front of the machine. I was so close it tried to swipe at me.

"Hold still you devil", it said as it tried to whack me with its metal arm.

I back flipped away and found that his swipe attack had dropped its shields. I fired my gun at its head and saw the thing start to spark. When the shield came back up and dodged an attack from Sonic and lured the Diablon into another swipe attack. I fired the last of the gun's bullets into the machine's head and it started to explode.

As the thing fell I dashed into Sonic who had been distracted by the explosion and smacked him straight into the machine. I heard Sonic Scream and the machine fell on top of him.

"Dammit, I failed", said the commander.

When the smoke cleared I saw Sonic trapped beneath the machine. He extended his hand as if to ask for my help. I reached into the machine and took the Chaos Emerald for my own. I now had 4, the two from Westopolis, the one from GUN HQ and the other I got from the Diablon. 3 remained, Black Doom was safe and my job was done.

"Just whose side are you on anyway?" asked Sonic.

"I fight for those wiling to reveal the truth to me. However no-one is giving me a straight answer. No you, not him, not Black Doom", I said angrily.

"Shadow well done, Now finish them off", said Doom's Eye.

"No. I need them to stay alive too", I said.

I used the four emeralds to warp Myself, Sonic and The Commander back to GUN HQ. The Black Comet was safe for the Black Arms but they knew something and they were going to tell me all they knew.