Shadow grimaced, crumpling up another failed artist's rendition of the insignia he saw and tossing the paper away before trying to draw it again, slower this time. He closed his eyes, effortlessly bringing back the image he had seen; that was the great thing about a photographic memory.

Unfortunately, he lacked the artistic skills to replicate what he needed to research.

He huffed as his hand wavered, making the outer curve of the odd shape too small compared to the inner one, and felt just about ready to toss his pen across the room and throw in a scream for good measure. But he needed to do this. He needed the image out of his brain and onto paper. Then his hunt could begin.

As he tried once more, hand moving at a snail's pace, he let his annoyance simmer into anger, gritting his teeth as he remembered why he was subjecting himself to this nonsense. He could still feel it, the solid whack to his gut as her arm slammed into his midsection, the gem swimming before his eyes, just out of reach, clasped in the fingers of that thief with the disgusting, pitying look in her eyes… Staring at him as though he were some child… Something useless...

He pressed his pen down so harshly that he almost ripped a hole in the paper. Bile rose in his throat, hot and bitter, and the surge of spite that rushed through him like a flash of electricity drove him to finish his drawing.

A weird, red crescent type of thing. Spiral in the inner curve. Weird spikes on the outside.

Close enough. He could work with this.

Shadow brought his rendition over to his scanner and uploaded it onto his computer, sitting back in his chair as he started the search and compare program that had taken him years to perfect. With how thorough it was, it wasn't exactly legal, but then again, most of the things in his room weren't exactly legally obtained. At most, he was on a few watchlists, but that didn't matter to him. Technology was easy to wipe, and a cinch to replace if you didn't plan on paying for it.

He did what he had to do. This was how he learned to live on his own.

Given the amateur likeness he had provided, it took a while for his comparison program to find a match, and those that it did find were, more often than not, barely even close to the original, but Shadow sipped at his energy drink, sifting through the occasional result and waiting patiently as his anger stewed and reminded him why he was doing this in the first place.

He would find what he was looking for eventually. He always did.

And there it was, small and blurry in a black and white photograph, tucked between near-miss matches for a cereal brand logo and a coiled rope of red licorice. Shadow clicked on the photograph, eyes narrowing as he was redirected to an article about some kind of government shutdown of a project. His eyes skimmed the page, occasionally glancing back up at the photograph to make sure he was looking at the right symbol, but there was no mistaking it. That symbol had to do with this project.

He started to scroll down, ready to read in earnest, when the website froze and kicked him from the page. Shadow groaned; this was also nothing new. He had found himself banned from most government-operated websites and news sources with his research. Just in case, he tried going back to the page, but sure enough, the photo he had found had been removed from his program's search results and retyping what he could remember of the web address just led to nothing.

Shadow sunk back into his chair, closing his eyes and revisiting what he had seen as he skimmed the article. He hadn't gotten the name of the project, oddly enough, but he had seen one name that could prove to be a lead.

Robotnik.

Innocent enough to look up, right? Shadow typed it into the search bar and hit Enter.

His eyes grew wide, and a grin spread across his face in tandem.

He knew what he was going to do next.


Eggman hovered across the desert on his mech, grumbling in frustration. After the mess that was his attempt at securing the Master Emerald, his efforts at finding another Chaos Emerald for Rouge had proven futile, but he wasn't about to let that drive him into a corner. The way he saw it was that he had every right to be suspicious of the bat, and if she was a reasonable being, she would understand his stance. He had one emerald to offer her; if she was unable to prove to him that she needed the rest and required his help, then he would not bother with her.

That would be what he said to her face, anyhow. He wasn't quite so eager to let his grandfather's greatest creation out of his sights, but she didn't know him. She wouldn't make that kind of gamble if she was a creature of logic, and even if she did, Eggman was confident in his ability to make a device able to capture her.

He kept his course steady toward his pyramid base, unaware of the black blur that tailed him.


Shadow watched the mech enter the pyramid, frowning as the door closed behind the doctor. He clicked his tongue, inspecting the base all around, but there was no back door or secret passageway inside.

"Well then," he sighed, stretching out his arms. "Looks like I've got some keys to track down before I get in there…"


Eggman strode into the transporter room in his base, deep in thought. "A Chaos Emerald..." he mused, making his way toward the large holographic monitor. "...in the space colony ARK. Hmm... I've got to find out just what's going on up there."

Rouge's plan intrigued him, but not if it came at a price he couldn't afford. He needed answers more than results right then.

He tapped a few keys on the display, and the monitor booted up, immediately showing a news segment from the night before. Eggman crossed his arms, wondering what dastardly events had been going on while he was plotting his own schemes.

We interrupt this broadcast for an important news flash. There was a break-in at the federal reserve bank last night. Mysteriously, the only thing that was stolen was the Chaos Emerald.

Eggman slammed his hands onto the console in shock. "The Chaos Emerald?!" Could it only be coincidence? Or was it Rouge's doing?

The footage from the night before began to play, grainy and poorly-lit, but there was an unmistakable speedy blur dashing away from the bank, glowing gem in his grasp. Eggman squinted at the figure as the reporter droned on.

According to eyewitnesses at the scene, the suspect was identified as the world-renowned hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. The suspect was seen fleeing the scene-

"Sounds more like the work of Shadow," Eggman remarked, tuning the rest of the broadcast out. The footage of the suspect had been barely passable as evidence, but Eggman could see that it hadn't been Sonic legging it from the bank. The two looked similar, certainly, and both ran at incredible speeds, but there were some obvious differences that could be picked up even in low-lighting and bad quality camerawork. The hedgehog who had run off with the emerald had his spines upturned rather than falling flat, and there had been a small dash of white at his chest rather than a large peach patch across the stomach. The darkness had made it impossible to tell if the suspect's quills were black or blue, but the arms were covered in dark hair rather than the pale fuzz that Sonic's had.

Eggman had seen Shadow the Hedgehog only the day before, too. There was no mistaking who the thief was, and it made him laugh.

"So Sonic's found himself paying for your crimes again," he chuckled, twiddling his moustache as he switched away from the news bulletin. "At least that'll keep him out of my hair for a while!"

His grin stayed strong as he typed in the commands to power up the transporter. He was on the cusp of something incredible, and it seemed fortune was in his favor.


Shadow heaved a sigh. Finally, after running, climbing, digging and fighting his way around and through the base, he had found his way into the inner rooms. He tried to take his time, searching around for any hidden treasure, but all he found was more robots to dodge and push into walls, and still no sign of the doctor himself. Shadow darted through the base, his impatience growing, until he happened across a brand new door. He pushed his way inside and his eyes lit up at the sight that greeted him.

"It's a space transporter!" he gasped, running forward to confirm his hypothesis and clapping his hands together with glee as he realized that he was entirely right. He had only heard of these before, but to see one in real life! It was so cool! His eyes, still gleaming with delight, lifted to the monitor. "And the destination has been sent to… ARK?"

ARK? ARK…

Oh! ARK! Just like…!

He closed his eyes, bringing back the image of the article, skimming back over the words he had bothered to pick up on his first glance, and there it was.

Space colony ARK.

It was all coming together now. Shadow's smile widened as he typed in a repeat command and stepped on the transportation pad, shifting his feet impatiently as it powered up.

Whoever that bat was, she was working with Eggman to some degree, and the doctor had led Shadow right to her! The emerald was as good as right back in his hand.


Next chapter: Shadow photobombs the Top Secret Villain Meeting and inserts himself into the grand scheme of things.