Writer's Note:

Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form, a fan favorite character every since his debut back in 2001's Sonic Adventure 2 who has gone on to appear in many other Sonic games and get his own game.

The grim, black anti-hero rival of our favorite hedgehog has also popped up in other media too, appearing in comics and cartoons such as Sonic X, Sonic the Hedgehog's first and (so far) only anime.

Shadow appeared in that one, yes. Ah, but what if there was a Shadow X, a Sonic X AU where Shadow is the main hero and it was almost like the game Shadow the Hedgehog but in Sonic X format.

We are about to find out, prepare yourselves for a wild ride.

Shadow X, rated PG-13 for swearing, violence, suggestive content and blood...

Note To Disclaimer: I own none of the Sonic characters.

Mad Scientist Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik stood in the main control room of his latest evil technologically advanced lair, laughing maniacally as a chained up Sonic the Hedgehog sat close by, humiliated and bruised.

After all these years, after so much plotting and failure, Eggman finally had Sonic where he wanted him and all seven Chaos Emeralds. This was his hour of triumph, nothing could stop the doctor now.

Just a few hours ago, Eggman had launched an all out attack with his latest super Badniks against Sonic and, despite the hedgehog's efforts, he'd been beaten and captured.

With Sonic beaten and his friends currently elsewhere and the Chaos Emeralds in his clutches, all that Eggman had to do was insert them into his Chaos Omega machine and the universe would be his to control.

He'd already inserted the first six into the machine and had just gotten his hands on the last of the Chaos Emeralds, now all seven were in his grasp and universal domination was just one insert and activation away.

"Sonic, my mortal enemy," Eggman bragged, taunting his captive nemesis, "You thought you could stand a chance, but you were finally bested in the end. Now sit back and watch the beginning of the new era of the Eggman Empire."

Just as Eggman was about to insert the seventh Chaos Emerald into the console of his Chaos Omega machine, alarms began to blare throughout the base and he could hear explosions just outside that shook the walls.

The villainous triumph on his face was replaced with one of shock and outrage, who would even dare try to ruin his victory and snatch it all away from him at this point when he was close to achieving his goals?

Pressing some buttons, Eggman activated a security camera screen and a more outraged look crossed his face when he saw one individual in particular, fighting his way through hordes of his robots, blowing stuff up and teleporting all over the place.

The person in question: Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform, created by Gerald Robotnik aboard the Space Colony ARK space station decades prior and once thought to be gone after an intense battle to save the world, having recently returned.

Why was Shadow here, what did he want?

Eggman did not care, he was not going to let his grandpa's creation ruin his plot. He thought he could use Shadow once, it was obvious at this point that the black hedgehog would NEVER work for anyone… maybe except for G.U.N.

The humiliated Sonic raised his head to try and glimpse the screen, curious as to what was going on, but Eggman was in the way as he shouted furiously and slammed the control console and shouted orders to his robots.

That was when an enormous explosion shook the area as the nearby wall on the left exploded and Shadow the Hedgehog walked in, limiters aglow on his wrist and his eyes blazing. He looked around the room, setting his sights on everything in it.

"Hey, hey, Shadow!" Sonic said in his happy, snarky voice, despite being hurt from the earlier fight from hours ago, "Think you can bust a hog out and we can beat up on the old Egghead together, heh heh, great to see a familiar face."

Shadow glared at the blue hedgehog and pointed his finger at him. "Stay out of this, blue hedgehog! I didn't come here to rescue you, I came for my own reasons."

"Sh-Sh-Shadow!" Eggman stammered, almost terrified, "What brings you here, my edgy friend? I did not expect company whatsoever, I was just about to..."

"Doctor Eggman." Shadow said firmly, "Hand over the Chaos Emeralds so I can use them to fully understand my mysterious past and what I cannot remember."

That's right, Shadow had amnesia and knew little about his past, it was mostly because his life nearly ended after saving the world from the falling Space Colony ARK and Eggman had rescued him and he'd been sleeping for a while.

"Your past?" The mad doctor chuckled, "Whats to know other than you're the Ultimate Life Form and you're Shadow the Hedgehog, there is nothing else for you to learn or remember. The emeralds are mine, now, I must get to conquering the universe."

Acting fast, Eggman started pressing buttons like wildly and inserted the seventh Chaos Emerald into the Chaos Omega machine before grabbing a detonator style device and pressed a blue button, summoning a horde of Egg Fighters in the room.

The Eggman robots opened fire, attempting to blast the powerful black hedgehog, who warped around the room and decimated every last robot with Chaos Spear, homing attacks, Chaos Blast and some very amazing martial arts abilities.

At one point, Shadow jumped in front of Eggman in an attempt to trick one of the robots into shooting him, this seemed to backfire as the doctor ducked when the robot fired just as Shadow teleported out of the way, the laser bolts hit the machine, causing it to short out.

"COME ON, SHADOW!" Sonic yelled, getting annoyed with the fact that his rival was ignoring him, "LET ME JOIN IN ON THE FIGHT, GET ME OUT OF THESE CHAINS!" A stray laser struck Sonic's shackles, loosening his restraint and releasing Sonic to his delight.

Eggman was steaming with rage and desperation, he was not going to let that black hedgehog or Sonic ruin his shot at victory. When he activated the machine, the damage done to it would be fixed by the power of the emeralds... or so he thought.

The doctor pushed the activation button and, all to his dismay, the Chaos Omega machine started acting wonky and the emeralds began glowing intensely. In seconds, the whole room was enveloped in a blaze of color and light.

Shadow and Sonic were caught in the blast, Eggman was in the blast, everything in a one mile or six mile radius of the whole base was caught in the blast of Chaos energy and whiteness enveloped everyone and almost everything.

Far from Eggman's base, Knuckles the Echidna was minding his own buisness on his home island, guarding the Master Emerald when a strange light engulfed him. Soon, it seemed the whole world was encompased with Chaos energy...

SHADOW X