Chapter 5 (Shadow): Determining Destiny

A true treasure hunter knows no boundaries when it comes to hidden gems and locales. If there was a buried treasure chest on a deserted island, find a boat and grab a shovel. An ancient pendant at the bottom of the ocean? Scuba diving lessons are available.

A walking arsenal patrolling a tropical jungle?

It may not be something she could put on a shelf, but since it is important to her, Rouge will find it. Friendship is technically considered a treasure, after all.

Even though she would prefer the chest or pendant.

Checking her position on her mini-map every now and then, Rouge cautiously made her way towards Omega, who was constantly moving along a given route.

It – or rather, he – was the strongest member of Team Dark besides Shadow. Originally created by Dr. Eggman to contain Shadow in a sealed pod for cloning, his abandonment by the doctor led him to join her and the then-released Shadow on a mission to find and defeat the arch-nemesis of ol' blue boy.

All thanks to her knack for persuasion.

Hearing the familiar thuds of Omega's large footsteps, she climbed up the column of a nearby arch to locate the source. Just a few meters away on a grassy platform, the red behemoth was slowly strolling along.

He's so cute when he isn't destroying everything in his path.

Chuckling at her own joke, Rouge flew from her position over to him and approached him casually on foot.

"This is a charming little place."

Omega turned to face her, his body's servos humming at the change in his position.

Rouge smiled and waved. "Hi, long time no see."

"Rouge."

Omega lowered the top half of his body to look directly at Rouge. After a moment of silence, Omega slowly lifted his right hand and waved, then quickly returned it to his side.

"Accessing 'Mission Assignment Database.' Found. You were assigned to retrieve the Scepter of Darkness from Doctor Eggman. Do you need help destroying Eggman's worthless consumer models?"

Still can't get rid of that line, huh?

As limited as Omega was in terms of communication skills, he was still nice to be around every now and then. And he has been improving, to say the least.

"No, I don't need help with that. However, I am going to need your help with something else."

Rouge carefully explained what had happened to her and Shadow after Mephiles was freed, their time in the future, and Shadow's decision to stay behind. Omega listened to every word of Rouge's story with a blank stare until she finished.

"Situation understood. What would you like me to do?"

Rouge pulled the Chaos Emerald out of her pocket and held it out to Omega. "Take this, and deliver it to Shadow two hours after the exact date and time I mentioned earlier. Stay in Club Rouge's Casino guest room for now."

Rouge prided herself in remembering the time and day she found on Eggman's computer in the future. Looks like it came in handy this time.

She also assumed that it would be chaotic when the end of the world came, so she didn't want Omega to get heavily damaged, nor did she want him to be seen. If that future came to pass, she could always move him later.

A slight wind blew in the jungle, the grass whistling beneath the two. Crickets and frogs were heard all around, making the jungle feel more and more alive.

Omega reached out to grab the Chaos Emerald. His silver, sharp fingers reflected the greenish glow as they made contact with the gem. He then straightened his body and opened the protective glass plate in his torso, which allowed access to his inner workings. A rectangular case extended out of his body, and he placed the Chaos Emerald inside; it then returned to its original position, and the glass plate closed firmly.

"Chaos Emerald secured. I will conceal the energy emissions for extra security."

Omega's body hummed for a moment, then became silent.

"Energy emissions concealed. System reactivation countdown initiated. Backup power source and spare magazines secured."

His arms rattled through his ammo supplies, then hissed when done. Rouge put a hand to her hip smiling. It may not have been much, but she knew deep down this would help Shadow in some way.

"Command program priority changed. New mission: Shadow Support. External access no longer permitted. Confirmed."

Rouge gave him a wave goodbye. "I'm counting on you."

Omega slowly gave a thumbs up, then turned around and left.

He still has a way to go, but he's definitely become more social. If only Shadow were as easy to change as Omega.


"Mephiles!"

Shadow called out his target's name as he followed in hot pursuit. Mephiles had transformed himself into a black mist upon seeing Shadow and flew away in swirls and corkscrews. When it appeared he had stopped, Shadow rushed into the mist only to be met with nothing. He slowed down to a halt and checked his surroundings.

His eyes settled on the blue-stripped doppelganger, standing atop a stalactite embedded with a purple marble sphere on top.

Mephiles smiled, raising an eyebrow. "So, decided to void your return ticket now, did you?"

The tone in his voice told Shadow he was delighted at Shadow's decision to stay, something Shadow expected. The way he glanced at him earlier was an invitation for trouble, a trap that Shadow saw coming and still took the bait.

If this was the time for answers, better to do it now.

"Why are you here?" Shadow pointed, narrowing his eyes. "Did you ruin this world?"

"The answer's yes and no."

Shadow stared silently at Mephiles, expecting him to clarify. He wasn't in the mood for riddles.

"Perhaps it's better to show you."

Closing his eyes with an almost somber tone, Mephiles snapped his left fingers. Immediately, a black mist cloud appeared in this air, swirling around slowly as something else appeared within it. When the cloud dissipated, Shadow could make out what was inside.

There, in a diamond-shaped pod, was himself.

"…!"

"Yes, that's you." Mephiles, who had turned his eye to stare at the pod, looked back at Shadow and explained. "After the world was devastated by Iblis' flames, what do you think happened?"

Iblis… Shadow could've sworn he saw that name somewhere.

That's right…the doctor's computer!

The doctor's computer had a series of articles from the past concerning the 'Day of Disaster.' Shadow had merely skimmed a few lines, but he remembered a fiery demon that was mentioned.

The one called Iblis.

Was that what Sonic and I faced earlier?

All these things came into view in his mind, but Shadow continued to listen to Mephiles.

He couldn't afford to miss a detail.

Mephiles continued without delay. "A search for the guilty. 'Who did this?' you may ask. Humanity wasn't just jealous of your power. They feared it. They used this incident as an excuse to hunt you down."

Mephiles let the revelation sink into Shadow. Knowing that Shadow promised to protect the world – ironically almost destroying it twice – hearing this might make him reconsider his allegiance.

As expected, Shadow looked away, his eyes to the ground. The world goes to hell, and I'm to blame?

It was true he had made mistakes before. The first was his quest for vengeance for the death of a friend and the raid on his home, a quest that nearly resulted in the Earth being destroyed. Once he remembered an old promise, however, he sacrificed his life to save it.

The second time was the Black Arms invasion. At that point, he was suffering from amnesia, yet the fact that he almost sided with the aliens and had the blood of their leader only painted a darker image of him.

I was also put in with the Black Arms when that started, wasn't I?

It seemed no matter what he did, even if he tried to show the humans of this world that he is atoning for his past misdeeds, they would never forgive him.

Mephiles extended his hand out, his expression becoming serious. "Come with me, Shadow. Let us punish this foolish world of humanity. It is only fair to give back what was intended for you. You have every right to want justice."

Shadow closed his eyes. It was a tempting offer: why help the humans who stole everything from me and continue to treat me as an enemy? Professor Gerald felt the same way, hence why he altered Shadow's memories to make him desire revenge.

Even my creator used me as a tool in the end, didn't he?

And yet, the more Shadow considered it, the more he remembered why he protected humanity. However cruel and gullible humans can be, there are good ones out there. Even the non-humans were the same: some would choose a life of modesty and charity, while others pursued selfish desires and anarchy.

If Shadow acted Mephiles' offer right now, knowing Mephiles had already sent him with ill intent, would what he be seeking really be called 'justice?'

Shadow opened his eyes with resolve. "That's absurd." He turned back to face Mephiles. "Whatever it is you want to do, you can do it alone."

Mephiles frowned, gesturing to the dissipating future before Shadow. "You forgive humanity this folly then?"

Shadow shook his head. No, that's not it.

He clenched his right hand into a fist. "I determine my own destiny."

"…such foolishness."

In a flash of light, Mephiles transformed his appearance before Shadow. His body still resembled Shadow's, but instead of fur it was covered in part by purplish rocks and cracks. His color tone had also changed, becoming more orchard until the tips of his quills and legs, which faded into blue and then purplish-white. His pupils remained that lizard green, yet the sclera was now red.

Most disturbingly, Mephiles' mouth had vanished altogether.

Shadow lowered his body and kept his hands firmly loose at the sides. He couldn't underestimate his opponent this time around.

Shrouded in black fog, Mephiles summoned forth an army of small, black demons with one red eye and large three-fingered hands.

"Let's see if you can entertain me."

Mephiles vanished into the black fog, which then dispersed rapidly within the area. Shadow covered his face with his arms to withstand the pressure; when it resided, he found no trace of Mephiles.

Just the eerie laughter of his minions.

They flew towards Shadow and attempted to grab ahold of him. He took out his pistol and began firing back at them, each of them disappearing into mist. He soon ran out of bullets.

"It doesn't matter how many of them you defeat, you know."

Upon hearing Mephiles' chilling comment, Shadow turned around trying to locate the source to no avail.

Where are you?

"…!"

It hit him. Mephiles was a crafty individual who played with illusions and deceit. It was just as it was back in Kingdom Valley when he suffered a similar maneuver by Mephiles.

One that took Shadow's shadow and made a form to walk around in.

Shadow looked back on his own shadow, only to find Mephiles' silhouette grinning back at him.

One demon grabbed onto Shadow's arm, and Shadow instinctively punched it off. Another tried to secure his leg, and Shadow kicked it off with his other leg.

Like a hydra, however, the more demons he destroyed, a multiple of them returned to make things worse. Soon, his whole body was getting swarmed with the creatures. They pinned him to the ground and covered him in darkness.

Mephiles laughed as Shadow fell.

"Nooo!"


"Behold, the ultimate power!"

"Those heartless humans! Get out of my way!"

"…why was I created?"

"…for the people of this planet…I promise you…REVENGE!"

Shadow opened his eyes, his body completely tensed up. In front of him was something very blue and large – it almost took up his entire field of vision.

What happened? Did I…die?

Putting a hand to his chest, he felt his heart racing.

Guess not. Wait…this view…

The more he stared at the blue thing in front of him, the more details he began to recognize. There was green and white mixed into the giant sphere, and it was surrounded by black. The black itself also contained an assortment of white and red dots.

It was a shiny marble contained in a black void.

"The Earth…"

Shadow knew of the planet in view behind the shatterproof, airtight glass window in front of him. He had read about it, watched documentaries; he had even heard stories from other people about the world and what went on down there.

"Urg…"

Shadow put a hand to his head. A massive headache crept up out of nowhere and took him by surprise.

It was strange. He had never been to the Earth before, and yet it felt as though he's spent many months on it. Painful months.

On top of that, he had this nagging sense to fight back against something, almost as though he was in battle with someone for his life and he was about to die.

And yet, here he was – here he has always been.

On the Space Colony ARK.

"Shadow?"

"Ah!"

Shadow's muscles immediately felt a shock by his nervous system at the sound of that soft, angelic voice. Shadow quickly turned around to find the owner of that voice and stood awestruck.

She was slim, light-skinned and youthful. Her wavy hair, once a dark blonde that shinned like the sun, was now a bit softer in tone, yet still held back by a blue headband, a blue that complemented her dress. Her eyes were one and the same as the Earth's oceans.

The frailness of her body, hinted at by her malnourished, bony structure, indicated she was ill. Shadow knew the disease she contracted to be Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a disease both incurable and inevitably fatal.

This was the granddaughter of Professor Gerald Robotnik.

"Maria…"

Maria smiled tenderly as she walked towards him. "The world looks much bluer today, don't you think? …Oh, Shadow. You're crying!"

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Shadow shook his head. "I…I don't know why that happened. It just feels like I haven't seen you in a long time."

Maria giggled. "We just saw each other a few hours ago."

"…yeah."

Why is this so painful? Shadow wondered. It feels like my memories are all twisted inside my head. Maria is right here…she's always been here. But still…

Shadow crossed the remaining feet separating him from Maria and hugged her. Maria jumped at Shadow's sudden action, but she quickly returned the hug. Caressing his quills, she softly told him, "It's alright. I'm not going anywhere."


On the ARK, there was very little one could do.

Being a top-secret research facility where weapons were produced, there wasn't many fun activities for a young girl and her hedgehog friend to do except stargaze.

As such, Shadow walked around the Space Colony with Maria by his side for the majority of their time together. Despite this limitation, they enjoyed each other's company. Usually, they passed the time discussing what it might be like on Earth and how they would try everything the world had to offer.

Trending down the familiar corridors of glass planes and silver metal, Shadow's headache continued to linger. No matter what he did, it never went away. Eventually, he stopped in one hallway that offered another shot of the Earth, and he gazed out the window to the world of water.

Maria stopped and glanced back at him. "Is something wrong?"

Shadow remained silent for a moment. He had never been to the world before, and yet something in his mind made him believe his existence would not be well-received by the people down on the surface.

"Do you…do you think the people down there will accept me?"

"Huh?"

"The professor created me as the Ultimate Lifeform, to be the protector of mankind. But the military intended for me to be a weapon for war. Won't the people be afraid of me?"

Maria thought about it. "Hmm. Even if they did, it won't change who you are, will it?"

Her sickly appearance may say one thing, but that kind smile of hers always shined through. "And I know you, Shadow. You're a good person, just like grandfather! Once they see that, I'm certain they will treat you kindly. You'll make lots of friends, too."

Shadow was speechless. Then, he brightened up.

"Yeah…you're right. Thank you."

"Anytime!"

Shadow began to walk with her again when his head experienced a sharp pain.


"As if humanity would ever do such a thing."


"Ack!"

"Shadow, what's wrong?" Maria held her hand over Shadow's head, trying to comfort him.

"I…I'm fine."

Shadow tried to insist he was ok, but Maria saw through it.

"We should get you to the medical bay."

"No, it's alright. Really."

"Please, Shadow." Maria's eyes suddenly became misty with concern. Seeing her this way, Shadow couldn't say no.

He sighed. "Ok."

Maria took his hand and the two changed routes to the medical bay. All the while, Shadow's headache continued to worsen.

That voice, he thought. I know it, but from where?

The mysterious voice in his head was someone he had met recently, too. Almost as if it were a few minutes ago.

When they had reached the medical bay, the professor had Shadow be put in a stasis pod. His diagnosis was that Shadow's body was trying to adjust to the Chaos Energy that flowed through him.

That was the most likely culprit and the reason for half of his visits to the medical bay, the other half being to see Maria when she had her treatments. For a while, the headaches he had gotten were small and usually went away after a few minutes. Plus, they weren't occurring as much anymore.

But this time, the headache was excruciating and long-lasting. Whatever was causing it, though, a little bit of time in stasis should help.

Once he was in the pod while the professor readied the sleep cycle parameters, Shadow told Maria, "This won't be long."

Maria smiled. "I know. Sweet dreams."

When the pod door closed, sleeping gas came flooding in, and Shadow fell asleep as a breathable liquid filled the pod.


"The people of this world won't spare you. They don't even spare the weakest among themselves."

"Stop! Let go of the lever."

"The ones in charge always think for themselves…"

"Don't fool around with me!"

"…and leave the young ones to suffer."

"Stop!"

Clunk!

"STOP!"

BANG!


Shadow woke up right as the gun fired. Before his eyes, he watched Maria get shot by a military officer in heavy armor.

A GUN raid trooper.

"Maria!"

Shadow punched through the glass with tremendous force, shattering it instantly. The shards bounced off the floor towards the GUN soldier, who frantically tried to reload. Unable to keep his hand steady, the rounds of ammo he tried to place into his submachine gun fell clumsily out of his hand. He could only watch in horror as Shadow landed a critical blow to his head, knocking him back.

"It's the experiment! Don't let it escape!"

Shadow attempted to close the door, but the heavy lock controls were damaged on the other side, resulting in the emergency opening sequence to kick in.

He had to make a barricade of his own.

Gazing up at the ceiling outside the door, he swiped his hand in front of him.

"Chaos Spear!"

The energy that sprang forth collided with the ceiling and wall, creating an explosion that brought both tumbling down. From the other side, Shadow could hear the frustrated voices of other GUN soldiers.

"Damn it! It sealed off the way!"

"You! Take your squad and head around the back. Try and cut them off. The rest of you, take these scientists to the extraction point. Don't let them out of your sight. Remember, the Ultimate Lifeform and Professor Gerald are priority one! Move out!"

Footsteps could be heard moving away from the rubble. Once Shadow was sure they left, he raced over towards Maria.

"Maria! Are you alright?"

She winced in pain, but weakly responded, "Y-yes. I think so."

Shadow glossed over her body for the bullet wound and found it had struck her left shoulder. Normally, it was a safe spot to be shot it, not being anywhere near a critical organ. However, Maria's health was not in the best shape, so Shadow had to seal the wound now.

"Hang on. I need to patch this up."

Using some bandages from a nearby container, he wrapped Maria's wound to stop the bleeding. All the while, Maria stared at the unconscious soldier nearby.

"How horrible! I can't believe my own kind would do such a thing. They don't care about us at all!"

Shadow's head started to ache intensely again. The headache hadn't gone away completely, this much he knew since waking up. The adrenaline from watching Maria getting shot and the soldier attempting to kill him nulled it to some degree, but the pain came back in force.

Why is this happening?


"This is terrible! The researchers here are good people. Why are they attacking us?"


As Shadow tried to shake the pain away, he suddenly heard Maria's voice echoing in his mind. An image of the same scene that had just transpired played out differently just now.

What the…am I hallucinating?

Shadow finished bandaging the wound and pulled Maria up with her good hand.

"We need to find the professor and get out of here."

Maria stood there, looking as though she were about to cry, but she soon nodded and followed Shadow.

They exited the room from the emergency hatch located in a corner of the room under a hidden tile. As the ARK was a military-funded research facility of the United Federation, it was sure to have some defense systems and protocols in place should invaders attempt to seize control of it. One of the measures made was a hidden set of passageways and shortcuts that led to different areas of the ARK's main facilities.

Shadow had memorized them all during his time here, being a protector of the ARK. Thus, he easily knew which way to go. From the medical bay, go right, straight until the red sign labeled "DANGER", then left, and so on.

Finally, they had reached Professor Robotnik's living quarters, where another hatch door rested shut above them.

Shadow carefully lifted the hatch door, inspecting the room for any soldiers. He lowered the door when he heard footsteps, but relaxed as soon as he realized who they belonged to.

"How did it come to this? I just needed more time."

"Professor!"

Shadow silently called out to his creator from beneath the hatch door. Gerald Robotnik glanced around the room, but he couldn't find the source.

"Huh? Wh-who's there?"

"It's Shadow. Down here."

Gerald looked down at the floor and saw the crimson eyes of his creation peeking out from the hatch door in the corner.

"Shadow! Thank goodness it's you!"

Professor Robotnik, in his usual getup of a lab coat and thick blue glasses, bent over to open the hatch door and pull Shadow and Maria in.

"Oh Maria! I'm so glad you're ok!"

"Thank you, grandfather. I'm happy your safe as well."

Shadow turned to Gerald. "Professor, what's going on?!"

"It's the United Federation. They've decided that Project Shadow was too dangerous and that it must be shut down. I had hoped this day would never come, that I could convince them that the research being conducted was for the good of all mankind, but they didn't listen."

Rapid gunshots echoed off the hallway walls outside the professor's quarters. They were fairly distant.

"Now," Gerald continued. "GUN has been dispatched to take us all into custody." He banged his hands on his desk, tears running down towards his large, graying mustache. "I was so close…I just needed more time."

Maria put her hand on Gerald's shoulder. "Grandfather…"

Shadow sympathized with the professor, knowing how important the ARK (and even Shadow himself) were to saving Maria. But now was not the time to cry over what might have been.

"We need to get out of here. Now."

The professor turned to Shadow and, seeing the resolve in his eyes, wiped his eyes and sniffed. "You're right, Shadow." He looked briefly at Maria, then added, "Take Maria and get to the escape capsules in the Northwest sector. I need to finish collecting my research data, but I'll be right behind you."

Shadow nodded, then headed back to the hatch. He motioned to Maria to head in first, but she looked towards the room's main entrance, which had been sealed shut in this emergency.

"The researchers…"

"Hm?"

Shadow and the professor both stared at Maria, who then shut her eyes for a moment before reopening them and facing the two.

"I guess there's no saving them now. They should have been more careful."

Maria then climbed down through the hatch door and into the passageway below.

Right as Shadow had another strong stinging sensation in his head.


"The researchers…"

"Hm?"

Shadow and the professor both stared at Maria, who then shut her eyes for a moment before reopening them and facing Shadow.

"Shadow, I just can't leave everyone else behind!"

She reached out to grab Shadow's hands. "Please! You need to rescue the people being held by the GUN soldiers in the laboratory!"

Shadow saw the pleading eyes and tone in Maria's voice.

She's so selfless, Shadow thought.

He nodded. "Ok."


"Rrgh!"

Shadow's head was pounding like crazy. This wasn't merely a headache, nor was what he saw a hallucination.

It was…almost like a memory.

However, the events playing out now and in that image were different. To top it off, this GUN raid didn't happen before.

It was occurring now, making it impossible for him to remember something nonexistent.

Oddly enough, the Maria in the image acted differently for each situation, a little bit truer to her personality.

"Shadow?"

Professor Gerald was staring at Shadow with concern.

"I'm fine," he assured his creator. "Just thinking."

Shadow then jumped down into the passageway, with Gerald following suite. He ignored the image Maria's wishes this time around and attempted to guide them to the Northwest sector.

Unfortunately, there was a problem.

The passageways didn't extend past the large training room situated before the final stretch to the Northwest Escape Capsule station. In order to proceed to their destination, they would have to exist the hidden passageways and expose themselves.

Preparing himself for this possibility, Shadow led the two Robotniks through the maze until he found the appropriate exit. Instead of an escape hatch, there was a panel and a sliding wall door. Shadow entered in the exit code, and the door slide open. He peeked his head out to check for any nearby soldiers.

When everything seemed safe, he turned to his friends and nodded. "All clear."

The trio exited the passageway. Professor Gerald leaned on the wall, sweating. Maria, however, was panting hard from all the running around.

"Are you all right?"

Shadow cared deeply for her and wished she didn't have to go through this ordeal. One look at her bony structure, and anyone would believe she would shatter into pieces if put under enough pressure.

Maria smiled at Shadow. "I'll be alright. We should keep moving."

"There they are!"

The three turned their heads down one end of the corridor to find a single GUN soldier motioning to his men hidden behind a corner. A few seconds later, a group of soldiers appeared behind the leader of the group, and they ran in the direction of Shadow's group's position.

"Run!"

Shadow took Maria's hand and ran down the other way when Gerald gave the order. The professor entered in a code on the panel before chasing after them.

The hallway began to flash red, an alarm blasting all around. Over the intercoms, a voice recording rang alongside the alarm.

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! UNKNOWN THREAT DETECTED. ALL BLAST DOORS ARE NOW BEING SHUT!"

The leader of the GUN soldiers shouted to his squad mates, "Stop them! We can't let them get away!"

Ahead of Shadow, one of the blast doors in the ARK was about to close.

"Keep going!" Professor Gerald cried out, then turned to face the GUN soldiers head on. He succeeded in pummeling one to the ground before he was apprehended.

It was enough of a distraction. Shadow and Maria made it through to the training room before the blast doors shut completely, while the GUN soldiers were stuck with Professor Gerald on the other side.

Maria ran to the blast doors and banged hard with her delicate right hand. "Grandfather!"

From the other side, Shadow and Maria could hear another order from the GUN leader. "Find them before they escape!"

Shadow tried to approach Maria, telling her they needed to move on, but he was shocked when she screamed in anger.

"You horrible, horrible people! All you care about are yourselves!" She took a moment to breathe, then added, "I hope you all get what's coming for you in the end."


"Grandfather!"

From the other side of the blast doors, Shadow and Maria could hear another order from the GUN leader. "Find them before they escape!"

Shadow approached Maria, who was struggling to keep back her tears. "He sacrificed his freedom for us. We have to keep going."

Maria, exhausted from the running and sadness, slid down to her knees.

"Why are the soldiers doing this to us? The researchers, grandfather…they didn't do anything wrong!"

Shadow wasn't able to provide an answer. This was all so sudden, out of nowhere. All that he was certain of was that the ARK wasn't safe anymore.

Still, he tried to console Maria.

"The researchers are safe, for the most part. Some were able to get off the ARK because you asked that I help them. And the professor will be fine – it would be cruel to hurt someone instrumental to mankind's future."

Maria glanced up at Shadow. Though her eyes were still wet with tears, she seemed to find some solace in that statement.

"Thank you. I knew I could count on you, Shadow. I'm so sorry this all had to happen."


"Shadow? Please, focus!"

"W-what?" Shadow stared at Maria with confusion. His mind was almost split between what was real and what wasn't.

"Please Shadow. We have to keep going!" Maria insisted.

"…Right."

Shadow grabbed Maria's hand and led the way forward. Regretfully, Shadow's last hallucination wasted too much time.

From above, a large vehicle had made its way into the training room and hovered down towards their position. It was circular with a bluish-grey and orange color scheme. Around the top were a set of rocket launchers, and a small cockpit was situated in the front. One GUN soldier was piloting the aircraft.

Maria gasped in fear while Shadow instinctively put a hand in front of her.

"Mantis platoon. Heavy dog reporting in. Primary target and the girl have been located. Acquiring targets. En route to intercept and destroy!"

The GUN soldier gave his update to his superiors and prepared his machine for combat.

Shadow stood dumbstruck. "What the…!"

Intercept and destroy? They're going to kill me and Maria?!

Shadow could not and would not let that happen.

"Maria, run! Take cover!"

Shadow urged her to run away from the immediate area, and she did so.

"Please be careful!"

Shadow raced in the opposite direction on his skates, all the while keeping the Heavy Dog in his sights. As he suspected, it chased after him given his importance.

"This is Heavy Dog. Target is on the move: proceeding to engage and neutralize."

The Heavy Dog launched a series of missiles from its sides, all of them racing towards Shadow's position. Shadow easily dodged each missile by adjusting his direction of travel.

"Target is fast." The GUN agent kept updating his situation to his leaders. "Switching tactics. Charging particle beam cannon!"

Particle beam cannon? Shadow noticed the Heavy Dog to be glowing a faint red that soon turned to a yellow color.

"…!"

The particle beam cannon was an attack meant for clearing the area, Shadow realized. As he came to this conclusion, the Heavy Dog's glow turned to blue.

"Energy charge complete!"

Gotta move! Shadow hastily climbed up a series of boxes resting by a wall to get out of the way of the attack. Just as he reached the top…

"Particle beam cannon…fire!"

Shadow jumped off the top of the crates and landed on the head of the Heavy Dog. The GUN agent looked back in shock. "Hey! Get off!"

Shadow didn't listen and began to tear off the rocket launchers hanging off the top rim of the craft. The GUN soldier tried to shake him off by rotating the top portion of the craft at a fast velocity. To prevent the disadvantages of being knocked off forcibly, Shadow grabbed one of the rocket launchers and leapt off, twisting his body in the air to face the Heavy Dog. As he fell to the ground, he locked on to multiple core areas of the Heavy Dog and pulled the trigger.

A barrage of projectiles raced towards the Heavy Dog which, given its huge size, was unable to avoid getting hit.

"Nmph!" The soldier grunted. "Mantis platoon. Heavy Dog to HQ, come in! Requesting emergency assistance in eliminating target!"

Shadow landed on the bottom floor of the room, analyzing his performance. The rockets left a few holes in the aircraft, one of which seemed to lead to the core of the particle beam cannon's power source.

And the fuselage.

Shadow checked the amount of ammo left in his weapon.

Three rockets left.

I'll only need one.

The GUN attempted to charge the particle beam cannon again, and Shadow wasted no time in fighting back, instead moving around away from Maria's hiding position. That way, once he made his move, the Heavy Dog would explode a safe distance away.

"Energy charge complete! Take this, you devil!"

The GUN agent prepared to unleash the attack, but Shadow was faster. Aiming carefully, he fired one of the rockets straight through the hole of the aircraft and struck the inside dead-on. The Heavy Dog began to explode all over the body, leaving the pilot frantic.

"Critical damage taken to fuselage. We're losing…aaaaargh!"

The Heavy Dog flew out of control, smashing into the walls of the room until all functionality failed inside, resulting in the craft to plummet to the ground.

"Hmph!" Shadow dropped the rocket launcher and rushed over to Maria's position. She rose cautiously as if the Heavy Dog could come back on at any moment.

"Oh Shadow. Thank you!"

Maria bowed graciously to Shadow, who nodded with a smile. She then walked over to the Heavy Dog's wreckage, inspecting its state. The pilot was miraculously still alive, just in a daze.

Maria frowned. "He deserved it."

"Huh?"

"He shouldn't have gotten in our way. He's just one of many, Shadow."


"Oh Shadow. Thank you!"

Maria bowed graciously to Shadow, who nodded with a smile. She then ran over to the Heavy Dog's wreckage, inspecting its state. The pilot was miraculously still alive, just in a daze.

Maria bowed apologetically. "I'm really sorry."

"Huh?" Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Why are you apologizing to him? He was trying to kill us!"

"He's just following his orders, Shadow. He might have people who care about him, just like I care about you."


Shadow's head was throbbing, yet he recognized a problem before him.

Maria was acting like a whole new person: instead of caring about others, she looks down on them.

There's no way this whole situation could change her this much, could it?

Pff-whosh! The dome surrounding the pilot ejected itself from its hinges, the pilot himself struggling to climb out.

Shadow grabbed Maria's hand and ran her out of the training room. They just had to go around one final hallway and seal off the Escape Capsule room. Once inside, it was a straight shot to Earth.

"Whew whew" Shadow and Maria breathed hard in unison as they raced down the metallic tunnel, their footsteps clanging against the plating beneath them. The red and white lights placed throughout the hallway began blurred with each step taken.

Shadow glanced back and noticed more troops on their tail. He was worried, yet tried to maintain a positive attitude. He and Maria were almost at their destination.

But the pain in his head intensified. An array of images and voices started to resonate within him. A blue hedgehog with a cocky grin, and a pink one in a red dress. A tall, red coated man who resembled a younger Gerald Robotnik. A red robot. A white bat girl. All of them familiar.

"…!"

Shadow screeched to a halt at the sight of his own folly. He had overlooked a flaw in Professor Gerald's sacrifice. The emergency protocol he had activated shut all the blast doors in the ARK.

Including the ones to the Escape Capsule room.

Maria turned back to see the soldiers stopping before the two, their weapons mostly lowered. From another hallway, the GUN soldier from the Heavy Dog rushed onto the scene. From the way he clenched his teeth, he wasn't happy.

Maria noticed he was staring at Shadow, who was struggling with the pain in his head at the moment. She reached out her hand, begging the soldier to stop. But the soldier raised his pistol at Shadow, ready to kill.

Shadow's eyes flickered from all the excitement around him. The images, the mysterious figures, this moment now.

This whole thing was a flashback. And he knew how it ended.

Maria stepped in front of him at the last moment, right as the soldier pulled the trigger.

Bang!

"MARIA!"

Maria fell back in slow motion, her eyes closing shut from the pain. She landed with a thud! on the steel walkway, dying it with red.

Shadow shuttered at the sight. Within him, his rage reached a boiling point and, without delay, readied a set of Chaos Spears and assaulted the soldiers with them. The GUN soldiers were knocked back with force, the pain of negative Chaos Energy flowing through them. The blast also caused the roof to partially collapse the two tunnel entrances the soldiers arrived from, keeping them permanently at bay.

Shadow knelt down by Maria, carefully lifting her body.

This is bad. This is really bad!

Despite knowing what would happen, the pain of watching it again torn at Shadow's emotions.

Maria's eyes opened partially. In a weak voice, she said, "Please Shadow…help me…"

Shadow helped her up and kept his arm around her at all times. Going to a nearby console, he entered in the code to disable the blast doors; once they opened, Shadow carefully walked into the Escape Capsule room, taking extra care not to let Maria fall.

The room was a large empty space with windows on the walls and ground. While mostly being an oversized escape pod room, it also served as a balcony on the ARK for gazing the stars and the Earth.

Shadow brought Maria over to the control console that operated the escape capsules. A series of buttons and levers made up the majority of the device, and only a person with training knew how to operate it.

Shadow called for a capsule and waited.

"As soon as we land on Earth, we need to take care of that wound," Shadow stated.

Maria, too fatigued to even stand, wasn't able to respond. Her hand covered the wound in her chest, becoming stained with crimson blood.

When the capsule arrived, Shadow walked Maria over to the glass tube.

BOOM!

An explosion from the outside caused Shadow to lose his balance and fall forward into the capsule, Maria consequently in tow. She stared at Shadow, who had hit his head against the capsule's side.

It seemed the GUN agents were destroying the research laboratories as they tried to escape. All the hard work Maria's grandfather and his colleagues had done, destroyed within a matter of minutes. She looked at Shadow and knew that he may suffer the same fate.

Even if they both made it off of the ARK, she would slow him down with her injury, making it easier for GUN to capture and most likely kill him.

Closing her eyes, she prepared herself for the last conversation with her best friend.

As Shadow tried to clear his head of the dizziness, Maria got up off the ground with the remainder of her strength and used a mini control panel on the capsule to seal it shut.

Shadow saw the door closing in fear. "What?"

He tried banging and kicking the capsule door to no avail, watching as Maria limped towards the main control panel.

"Maria!"

Maria leaned against the control panel, her hands positioned on the rim and on the launch level. She turned to face Shadow with resolve.

"Shadow, I beg of you. Please…do it for me…"

"Maria!" Shadow knew this was a memory, but he desperately hoped things would end differently. He wanted Maria to get in, to see the Earth before she died, so that they could experience it once together.

"For all the people on that planet…avenge me."

"…what?"

Maria…asking me…to avenge her?

Maria continued, breathing heavily. "Those people…don't care about each other. They only…think of themselves. Humanity…even those like you…don't deserve happiness if good people like us suffer. I want you…to punish them."

Shadow's head kept racing with discomfort, but he finally realized what was going on.

Everything before him was a memory of the day the ARK was shut down, the day where he escaped and Maria died. However, the major difference was Maria herself.

She would never ask him that, even on a terrible day like this when her life was at an end.

Maria was a pure soul who believed there was good in everyone, even those tainted by darkness.

That's why…she asked me to…


As Shadow tried to clear his head of the dizziness, Maria got up off the ground with the remainder of her strength and used a mini control panel on the capsule to seal it shut.

Shadow saw the door closing in fear. "What?"

He tried banging and kicking the capsule door to no avail, watching as Maria limped towards the main control panel.

"Maria!"

Maria leaned against the control panel, her hands positioned on the rim and on the launch level. She turned to face Shadow, a bittersweet smile on her face.

"Shadow, I beg you. Please…do it for me...for a better future!"

"Maria!"

"For all the people…on that planet…give them a chance to be happy… Let them live for their dreams."

Maria closed her eyes. "Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason…you were brought into this world."

The ARK continued to shake from the explosions going on all over the place, but Shadow ignored the vibrations, keeping his eyes fixed on the trembling Maria. Her legs finally gave out, yet she managed to pull down the launch lever as she fell.

"Maria!"

A timer inside the capsule turned on, displaying 1:00.

0:59.

0:58.

0:57.

Maria crawled her way over to the capsule, her wound leaving a trail of blood on the glass and metal floor below.

0:45.

0:44.

Reaching the capsule, Maria kept a smile on her face as she addressed Shadow one last time.

"Shadow, please promise me…that you'll help people…and be…friends with them."

"Maria!"

"I'm sure you'll be very happy down there, Shadow. I only wish that I could go along with you."

0:30.

0:29.

"The world looks so beautiful from up here in space…but my grandfather says the people who live there have to face many problems. That's why you were created: to help those people…and to be their friend."

0:10.

0:09.

"Sayonara…Shadow the Hedgehog. Everyone's fate…depends on…you."

"MARIA!"

0:01.

0:00.

The sealed door beneath the capsule opened, and the capsule exited the ARK into the vacuum of space.


"Who are you?!" Shadow pressed his fists against the glass. "I know you're not the real Maria!"

Maria turned to face him. The resolve on her face faded into frustration. More disturbingly, her eyes were no longer those pretty blue, but a scaly green.

Those eyes…Ah!

Shadow finally remembered what he had been doing before this trip down distorted memory lane. He had ended up in the future with Rouge, worked with Sonic and his friends, and found a way home.

But he stayed behind to interrogate…to fight…

Mephiles!

Shadow recalled he had been pinned down by Mephiles' shadow army after he refused to give in to his offer for vengeance. That must have been the reason his head was throbbing this whole time.

He had to break free, get these shadows off of him.

Knowing what needed to be done, he closed his eyes and concentrated, zeroing the noise from the illusion around him.

With two words, he broke free of the nightmare.


"Chaos Blast!"

Shadow used the energy stored within him and unleashed a red aura of power expanding from his body. The shadows that had once kept him at bay disintegrated within seconds. As a bonus, Mephiles couldn't stay attached to Shadow as his shadow, unwillingly forcing him to break his hold on the GUN agent.

"What!? Shadow! You…!"

Seeing Mephiles stunned and in the open, Shadow, glowing in crimson energy, focused on his target. "Don't bother to try and deceive me. I know who I am!"

Mephiles grunted, then summoned another legion of minions around him. They swirled around him like a torrent of darkness. "Dance, my shadows, dance!"

The wave of shadows, as Mephiles ordered, rushed rapidly in the air, performing corkscrews and random turns in a rhythmic fashion before hurtling themselves towards Shadow. Jumping out of the way in time, Shadow unleashed a barrage of Chaos Spears at the shadows. The added energy he put into his attack left the spears with an additional discharge so that upon collision, the energy would spread out for a moment before exploding, adding more damage.

So, it was with the shadows who, unable to avoid the attack, were obliterated in an instant.

Mephiles didn't stop there. While Shadow was preoccupied with his minions, he summoned a large sphere of dark energy and purple electricity. Once it was ready, he hurled it at Shadow.

"Take this!"

Shadow noticed the incoming sphere and rolled out of the way, then rushed up to Mephiles and landed a strong left hook in his jaw.

"Gah!"

Mephiles tumbled backward, smacking face first into the ground. Seeing him struggle to get up, Shadow cooled his body down. The red aura that had been surrounding him had vanished.

"It's over, Mephiles." Shadow approached his doppelganger, ready to finish what he had started.

But Mephiles was not as beaten as Shadow was led to believe. Once Shadow was close enough, he stood up arms crossed, then waved his arms to his sides unleashing a hidden sphere of dark energy.

Shadow, unable to move out of the way in time, braced himself for the attack. It ripped into his defenses and pushed him off his feet, knocking him into a nearby stalactite.

Crack!

"Ough!"

The force from the impact broke the pointy rock apart, yet Shadow went right through. Pieces of the debris collided with his body, which added to the pain from the impact. Bouncing off the ground a few times, Shadow's body finally came to a stop at the edge of the platform.

Had the attack been a tad bit more powerful, Shadow may have ended up melting in the lava.

Mephiles crept forward towards him, his feet engulfed in purple flames. Before he closed the distance, the rat-a-tat! of bullets created a line separating the two.

Shadow and Mephiles both turned to see who was intervening, even though Shadow recognized the sound of a particular machine gun being reloading.

"Omega!"

The red robot, whose right hand had been completely replaced with a black machine gun, retracted it and brought out his usual clawed fingers.

"Now is the designated time. I shall assist."

"Huh?"

"Shadow. Rouge asked me to support you."

Shadow recalled how Omega in this time was in standby mode. It seems Rouge was responsible for his situation.

Clever.

"You're just a nuisance…Robot!" Mephiles dismissed Omega, preparing a shockwave of dark energy. Once it was charged up, he fired it straight at Omega, laughing maniacally.

Omega raised his left hand and fired a string of charged, orange energy shots towards the shockwave, dispersing it immediately. Quickly reloading as Mephiles reacted in surprise, Omega fired again, this time targeting Mephiles.

Not a single shot missed.

"Aaaaggghh!" Mephiles shot backwards, colliding with the floor multiple times until he lost momentum. "Errg!"

Omega walked over to Shadow, who had gotten to his feet while Mephiles was preoccupied. Shadow nodded at his friend, then returned his attention to Mephiles, who clumsily got on his own two feet.

Not so haughty now, are you? Shadow thought.

Mephiles stared at the two for a moment, most likely considering his options. Finally, with a grunt he summoned a whirlpool of dark energy much larger than the spheres was throwing earlier. Instead of attacking, however, he rose from the ground into the vortex of darkness.

Shadow realized he was trying to escape. "Mephiles!"

Wasting no time, Shadow and Omega raced towards the purple vortex and jumped after him, the vortex closing behind them.