Sorry for taking so long to update. Been busy with other projects. I've been working on making my Blog nice and pretty. Also I've been doing some 3 Shadows wallpapers for my PSP, Joz's is done. I still have to do Shadow's and Miles' and a group shot. All my images are on my DA of course. I've also been finding myself online for much longer than usual for some reason.
Christmas pic is up on my DA. A little section of my thank you's goes to ff dot net
Levels in this chapter: Circus Park - Cryptic Castle - Death RuinsSpace Gadget - Cosmic Fall
All Copyright info in first chapter
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Shadow the Hedgehog: A Rogue's Adventure
By Master hunter
Chapter 7 - But I can't change the things I've done.
We arrived at Iron Jungle to find the area completely deserted. I was angrier than I had ever been in my life, well besides when Maria got shot of course. Doom had left out things in his revelations, obviously so I would become his puppet. Sonic and the GUN commander were holding back for some reason. And now I just spent so much time tracking down the doctor and I'm more confused that ever.
I may or may not be an android created to replace a noble fighter who gave up his life for this planet. Or I could be that fighter, who somehow survived over exhaustion of a super form and re-entry through Earth's orbit. Someone told me it was the latter, and that the memories I had of Maria were hiding a secret, one that could make or break me. I just knew there was something I still needed to uncover and that no-one was willing to just tell me.
I felt as helpless as a child, practically begging for help yet getting nothing in return. I decided to focus on collecting the emeralds again. I never break a promise and I did indeed promise Doom I would collect the emeralds for him.
Just then a spaceship descended from the sky and hovered next to the walkway. Standing on top was a smiling confident Sonic.
"Hey Shadow, fancy meeting you here", said Sonic.
"Dammit Faker what do you know?" I angrily asked.
"Sorry Shadow, that's something you really need to find out for yourself. Though in the meantime how about you help us take out the Black Arm troops on ARK. I'm sure something there will help you uncover the truth", said Sonic.
I stopped to think for a moment. ARK, that's where it all began. My brief encounter up there with Doom didn't really give me enough time to explore. All of Gerald's data was stored there too. It made more sense to go with Sonic on this one. And then I noticed a familiar energy coming from the spaceship. It suddenly became clear that the spaceship used a Chaos Emerald to function.
I knew then what I had to do.
"Ok Sonic, lead the way", I said jumping on board the ship.
"What about you Omega, you coming too?" asked Sonic.
"Scan indicates some Eggman activity in the region. I will stay here and look into that", said Omega.
"Oh well Omega, it's been fun but I have my own agenda. Keep the Doctor out of trouble and harms way", I said
"Affirmative", said Omega.
The ship took off into orbit. I just stared at the Emerald, waiting for the right time to take it.
"You know Shadow there's something that's always bothered me. Why do you always call Eggman, 'The Doctor'?" asked Sonic.
"Hmm good question. To be honest I just have this feeling that I should treat him with respect. He is a Robotnik after all. Grandchild of my creator, cousin to my Maria. A part of me still sees him as family", I said.
"I suppose that makes sense. I guess I only really see the bad of old Egg belly. Sometimes it's easy to forget that he is only human", said Sonic.
I paused for a moment and then decided to ask Sonic a very serious question.
"After everything I've done why do you still trust me? It seems foolish to me that you would still trust me after I blew up a city and crushed the Diablon on top of you", I said.
"Because Shadow I know you're going through a rough time. I can see that you're rediscovering yourself. And when you finally do realise what you need to realise I'm sure you'll be your old self. My greatest friendly rival", he replied.
That actually made a lot of sense. The rivalry we had was something I always liked. While I would never admit it to his face it was nice to have a rival who could match my speed and abilities. That memory of fighting the monster dragging ARK into Earth was as fresh as ever, and fighting alongside Sonic, especially in our super forms, was something quite special.
"Hey guys we have a problem", said Tails suddenly.
Sonic and I rushed to the cockpit and found a squadron of Black Hawks waiting for us. They fired a barrage of energy attacks at the spaceship. The blasts sent the ship flying into ARK's underbelly. The force created from the crash knocked the Chaos Emerald out of his place and it rolled out of the hole left, when the airlock door flew open.
I watched and saw the Chaos Emerald use Chaos Control to protect itself. I could still feel it's presence nearby.
"THE EMERALD!" I shouted angrily.
"Shoot, we need that", said Sonic.
"Heh! You'll have to take it from my cold dead fingers first though", I said.
I saw a floating platform quite far down beneath us and made a jump for it. Sonic smiled and soon followed.
"Alright a race! This is just like old times buddy," said Sonic.
I actually smiled back. This could be fun.
"Come on Shadow try to remember. We once fought alongside each other to protect ARK. We once raced each other to the Eclipse Cannon. Me to destroy, you to stop me", said Sonic.
I did remember. With only the space between Earth and ARK beneath us, falling off the few platforms meant instant death. It was a rush to say the least. Falling a lot and manipulating the weak gravity in this area was a real challenged that I relished.
I soon came across Doom's Eye. The Black Arms and GUN were still fighting each other. GUN were pushing the Black Arms back to the Black Comet to claim the ARK. Doom wanted me to bring down more security nodes but I ignored his plea and raced on for the Emerald.
Things got more complicated as we ventured through ARK's power rooms. Even here the gravity changes were still in force. It was tough to keep a level head with perspective constantly changing. But I wasn't going to lose to that faker. I had the advantage of course, I had the emeralds. I could use them to pinpoint the other one.
I was grinding along one of the many bars and suddenly saw a small light. I also saw Sonic closing in on it. I tried to speed up on the bar but Sonic still managed to beat me.
"Alright! Score one for the good guys", said Sonic.
"Hand it over Sonic. There's no time for games", I said.
"No can do Shadow. This one's ours", he said and then warped somewhere using Chaos Control.
It came as no surprise that I was furious at this point but I was given no chance to vent my anger. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and I felt the chains holding the platform I was standing on shake. I looked behind me and saw the platforms around me start to fall. I raced towards one of the power terminals as it was only the floating platforms on the underside of ARK that seemed to collapse.
My heart started to pound as I saw more and more platforms collapse. The entrance to the power terminal seemed to get further away as I raced ahead. One final jump and I made it inside ARK.
"Phew! I made it", I said out loud before hearing a gun click.
I looked up to find the Commander of GUN aiming a gun at my head.
"At last Shadow, I will have revenge", he said, "Oh how long I have waited. This is for everyone on ARK and Maria"
"Commander? Please you have to tell me, what exactly did I do?" I asked him.
"Don't play dumb with me. I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was only a little boy back then and would spend my time with Maria. She was like a sister to me, always looking out for me. One day I was playing with her in the corridors of ARK and I raced off ahead of her, leaving her to chase me. I came across a dark part of ARK, one I had never been before. That's when I saw it. A monster with the professor toasting their success. They were saying how together they created the ultimate weapon. Then the chamber holding you rose up and I saw you for the first time. A demon created by a foolish man and a monster. At the time I didn't know what to think. Professor Gerald didn't seem like the kind of man to create weapons, monsters, but here he was with a monstrous creature celebrating the creation of a weapon. I couldn't believe my eyes and ran off horrified. Then we were attacked on ARK. I was lucky enough to be captured and not killed, but I put two and two together. GUN attacked ARK because of you, because of the Professors darkest secret. The world was in danger and rightly took action. I grew up on Prison Island; I trained as a GUN soldier and rose through the ranks. All to kill you. I had heard that they had captured you but then for some reason Dr. Eggman freed you. I was surprised that you made no efforts to hide but was pleased to see I would finally get my chance for revenge. And now here we are. I have a gun to your head, ready to kill a black arms monster.
See you in hell Shadow the Hedgehog", said the commander.
I wasn't ready to die and warped behind him as he fired the gun. I thought a lot about what he said and it made some sense.
"Huh?" said the commander
"If what you say is true I will gladly accept my fate. Just give me time to find the real truth for myself", I said.
"What? You mean you honestly don't remember?" he said.
"I don't have time for this. I have to find out what caused that explosion, get the Chaos Emerald back from Sonic and hopefully find the truth", I said.
I heard the Commander start sobbing a little after falling to his knees.
"All this time and I couldn't do it", I heard him say softly.
I ran ahead to that explosion. Whatever it was, it was destroying my home. ARK was a sacred place to me, it was where Maria died and I wasn't about to see it destroyed. The place was getting worse, more and more of ARK was collapsing. If I didn't do something soon the whole place would fall into space and burn up on Earth's atmosphere, before destroying Earth completely.
I passed Doom's Eye as I navigated through the falling platforms. He wanted me to get the Chaos Emerald and leave as soon as possible. Later I met Vector who wanted the same thing I did. I accepted the crocodiles help and headed straight for the computer room. Vector had told me that Black Doom had set off a bomb that was causing the place to fall apart since his troops were pushed back so much. Made sense, if he couldn't have ARK, no-one could.
We reached the computer room to find Sonic waiting there.
"Hey it's Shadow. He should know how to stop ARK falling", he said.
I raced to the terminal and found that the power supply to the computer had been blown apart. I needed a new power supply.
"The Emeralds! Give me yours now", I said.
"No way Shadow", said Sonic
"I need power, and six emeralds should be enough to power this massive computer system", I said, "Hurry!"
Sonic hesitated before handing it over. I place it with the five I had and used them to power up the computer. The screen gave a message saying enter system password and I entered MARIA, hoping it was right. I was and I quickly restored ARK to normal.
Some damaged still remained but most of ARK returned to normal. I reached down and grabbed the six emeralds.
"One left", I said.
"Hey give our emerald back!" said Sonic
"You're going to have to catch me first", I said before warping to the other side of ARK.
I placed my hands against the walls of the corridor I was in and fell to my knees in exhaustion. With the fear of impending doom gone I was able to take in what the commander had told me. If Black Doom was involved in my creation then that would answer a few questions I had.
But was I the reason the soldiers attacked ARK? That changes everything. I took a long hard look at myself and saw an ugly truth. I loved to destroy and fight. It felt great destroying the human's robots, fighting Sonic, fighting Eggman and even destroying the Black arm soldiers. It definitely seemed to support the 'I'm a weapon' theory.
I could feel myself getting closer to the truth but I knew there was still something I needed to find out. Something important.
I opened my eyes and realised I was in the corridor Maria and I ran down. Something just clicked and I started to remember so much more. I closed my eyes and relived that memory once more. Chapter 5 - the hunt for the Doctor
"Well, start talking", I said to Sonic and the Commander as they lay on the floor
I folded my arms and gave a very serious look at them. I wanted them to know I meant business.
"Shadow I don't know much but I do know you have to remember more about Maria and what she as….." said Sonic before being interrupted by the Commander.
"You destroyed everyone on ARK. It's all your fault the Government went up there in the first place", said the Commander.
I froze as I took all this in. A little voice in the back of my head was saying it could be true. Was it really all my fault?
"Shadow don't listen to him. Find Eggman, maybe he'll show you his grandfather's diary or some of the old ARK files. Either way your best bet to find the truth is to go after Eggman", said Sonic.
Sonic spoke with an air of sincerity. He wasn't one to lie, or deceive. Not as Sonic anyway. He was right too, that was what I had to do. I had to find the Doctor. I then heard them whisper something between themselves and I suddenly became suspicious.
"What are you talking about, WHAT ARE YOU KEEPING FROM ME?" I shouted angrily
"The Commander has revealed to me that a handful of his soldiers are investigating a huge theme park Eggman has built. I suggest you go there", said Sonic.
I turned my back at them and made a short angry hmm sound before racing off to find this theme park they had mentioned. It was quite a search but once I saw the bright lights and the big sign saying Circus Park, I knew I was there.
I ran straight to the entrance and saw Tails fly overhead in his plane. He got shot down by some sort of cannon and bailed out of his plane, leaving it to crash. I remembered that The Tornado, as he called it, was powered by a Chaos Emerald. Time to kill two birds with one stone as I ventured through Circus Park.
I ran into Tails who asked me to help return all the rings the Doctor has stole to build the place. I ignored him and eventually ran into a flying television screen with the Doctor's face on it. I grabbed hold of it and shouted into it.
"Doctor, I need to know the truth", I said.
"Shadow? Well what do you say you help me out first? Those GUN geeks are trying to bring down this awesome theme park. Could you