Shadows of the Past
"Hands up Dr. Eggman!" Sonic yelled at the mad scientist as he unleashed his latest mech on the group of aniimaloids, "Your plan's coming to a screeching hault!" "My my! Dear Sonic! You came...how nice..." Dr. Eggman Robotnik laughed coldly and ordered for the monster of metal to descend on Tails, Sonic, and Knuckles. "Give back the Master Emerald!" Knuckles shouted trying to punch the mech in vain, "You could destroy the world!" "Exactly you moron!" Eggman laughed and walked further into his base of Soleanna before saying into a communicator, "but I plan to take it over with this energy. Shadow! I need you in to make sure Sonic and his friends do not interfere until the procedure is complete."
The black hedgehog opened his eyes gasping and sweating. There he was, on the ARK, his home and the sacred place he was a guardian of, much like Knuckles was the guardian of the Hidden Palace Zone and Master Emerald...before they were lost in the rifts of time. Even though he had had so many years for himself to forget events he never did, Shadow was designed as a near perfect being and as such had a near photographic memory that never failed, unfortunately for him. Not always is immortality a blessing it seems, he always wondered why so many people wished they could live forever in their fear of their inevitable death. For him it was always the other way around, he wished he could die at times, wish he could experience an actual life cycle like a normal creature but could not.
"Shadow," came the voice of the robot Omega from one of the intercoms of the ARK, "the main energy gate of the ARK has shut down for some reason, we may be experiencing high levels of technical difficulties if it isn't taken care of. Please report to the Deck C7 at once." "Affirmative," Shadow replied from his end and leapt out of his bed which had probably a scientist's bed before they were killed by G.U.N. Shadow still harbored feelings of guilt for his creation but those had worn on, feelings wore on but memories never did.
"I bet Knuckles never had to make sure a rock formation was just right in his little shrine for the place to be kept in tact," the hedgehog moaned sleepily, not wanting to have to move but forcing himself to glide down the hall aboard his rocket shoes. Knuckles, possibly the only one still alive from that time period other than himself...if he knew where he was hidden away that was and if his theories were correct. Shadow still couldn't believe the events of that day and unfortunately would never ever forget them. He could remember the very smell of machinery moving about and working on various tasks in Eggman's base and feel the floor beneath himself shake as parts of the mech exploded.
"He can never build something that doesn't have a weak point is his problem," Shadow growled putting a hand to his head in frustration, "for a scientist he's rather stupid, especially if he hasn't figured out that I'm working for G.U.N. nowadays." "SHADOW!" Fang the Sniper called over his communicator, "I need help man! I can't hold Rouge much longer!" "Fang, I've got my own objectives to fulfill," the hedgehog told him, "do it yourself." "Come on man!" the weasel pleaded desperately as it sounded like something cracked in the background, "Egghead's gonna kill me if I don't do it!" "Tough luck."
Without another word Shadow clicked his communicator off and stopped into a lab that Dr. Eggman Robotnik was fiddling around in. "You know this is all going to end a disaster correct?" Shadow sighed from behind the round man. "Nonsense Shadow, it's all going as planned," Eggman laughed insanely and pointed at the creature he had in cryogenic sleep in a capsule in front of him with a capsule of dark energy suspended in a container connected to the capsule, "My grandfather was a genius indeed when working on you but he used the entirely wrong powersource for the Immortality Research Project. He shouldn't have used the Chaos Emeralds, oh no, he should have used the-" Just then an explosion occurred from beneath them, "make sure they don't reach here, it isn't fully ready yet."
Nodding, Shadow dashed out the door and down the hallway to the elevator, robots and badniks whizzing past his face in blurs and streaks. "Rouge," he said into his communicator as he headed down the hall, "I think we have the information we need now but G.U.N.'s not going to be able to do a thing about it." "I agree," came his partner's voice, "This is way out of their league. I'll keep Fang out of Sonic and his buddy's way, you make sure that they don't fully catch on to what's going on." "Roger," he said ending the transmission and hopping into the elevator. Floors flew past his face and he finally slowed to a stop at hallway C.
"Omega?" he shouted down the hallway and squinting in both directions, "Well, looks like the lights are out, better get the gate open. Hurriedly he darted down the hallway towards the only room with light in it. "Shadow," Omega greeted as he stepped into the room, "The robots can still not determine the origin of why the gate has stopped but to reactivate it you must go into gate itself and flip all the switches so that they're turned back on allowing energy to pass through it once more. If you stay in the gate too long after you flip them on however, the energy will course through your body destroying it." "Understood," Shadow replied and raced into the doorway in front of him opening into a long hallway with emergency lights and smoke blaring from all sides.
Though he was indeed the end result of Dr. Gerald Robotnik's Immortality Research Project he could still be killed, no doubt about that. Shadow was merely able to live forever unable to be affected by disease or viral agents, external physical forces though, could still destroy him. The smoke clouded his vision until he finally broke through it at the end of the hall. Shadow skidded to a halt on a ledge above the downed mech and spotted Sonic and his pals down below. "Sonic!" he shouted from his position catching their attention, "What are you doing here? The doctor is very displeased with you." "Shadow?!" they all shouted at once in astonishment before Sonic continued, "I thought you were with G.U.N." "Wrong," he laughed impersonating an evil character and doing a rather good job of it as he jumped down and landed in front of them, "I'm heartbroken that you haven't figured out by now that I go with whoever I see fit of being offered my services. It just tears me to pieces."
"Cut the chit chat Shadow," Sonic ordered getting into a fighting stance, "We have the Chaos Emeralds, if you're going to try and kill us do it fast cause we don't have time to fool around with you." Shadow took a step back, surprised as he rarely saw his look-a-like this serious about anything, "Sonic, aren't you usually up for making clever remarks before a fight for a bit? Not fun if you don't act the part you know." "Shut it Shadow," Knuckles growled raising a fist from behind Sonic, "seriously, we need to stop Eggman." "Guys," Sonic said looking back at his companions, "You two head on and get the doc ready for me ok? I'll keep Shadow off your backs."
"You got it," Tails replied and Knuckles nodded before heading off down the hall Eggman retreated into. "It's just you and me now Shadow," the blue hedgehog informed, "What are you up to?" "I'm surprised at how ahold of the situation you are Sonic. Sure you usually are a major factor in everything coming together and working in the way it should but never do I see you leading the ordeal," Shadow mused shrugging his shoulders and getting into a fighting stance as well, "Perhaps you should just hand over the Chaos Emeralds now." "Not a chance."
Attempting to strike, Shadow shot one of his feet forward intending to smash Sonic's face in only to hear his opponent shout words he feared would come. "CHAOS CONTROL!" WHAM! Shadow was sent flying into a huge generator and was pinned beneath it after the debris settled. "What the...how on earth did you...you really are serious about this aren't you..." Shadow sighed pitifully receiving a confirmative nod from Sonic who phased back to normal time. "I told you we have no time to play these games Shadow, we need to stop Eggman and we need to stop him now." "I doubt you could, but fine, I won't stand in your way," the ultimate lifeform replied managing to crawl out from beneath his metal prison, "You better have all the Chaos Emeralds with you if you're going up against him. And you should probably know that what he's doing is not just trying to take over the world, he's continuing the Immortality Research Project that his grandfather created me from."
"Why?" Sonic asked helping the black hedgehog to his feet, "What would he have to gain from creating...another...ultimate...oh..." "Also, he's not using the Chaos Emeralds if you haven't noticed, like his grandfather did. He's using something I think you'd recall from your trip to Little Planet." "WHAT?!" Sonic gasped jumping backwards in fright, "but...he could destroy time and space if he did that!" "Which is why you need to get down there," Shadow sighed cracking his neck, "I'll join you if I can, I have to go check on my partner though." Sonic nodded and ran as quickly as he could down the hallway to meet up with Tails and Knuckles while Shadow ran down a hallway opposite of it, smoke from the wrecked machines and badniks beginning to skew his vision.
Coughing, Shadow plunged into the room, blaring with sirens all around him. "Warning, energy buildup. If not fluctuated will cause self destruction." "Wonder what the problem is," Shadow mumbled to himself pushing one of the switches on the wall back into place, "This only ever happened when an experiment got loose and came down here." Quickly the hedgehog ran over to another switch and did the same to it, the energy and smoke beginning to turn to normal in the square metal room. "Shadow," Omega's voice said over the intercom, "you had better hurry and get the final switches into place, the sensors detect something down there with you."
"What?" Shadow said aloud in thought, "what could be down here...must be the thing that caused the energy buildup. Omega! Is it one of the ancient lab specimens?" "Unknown," came the robotic reply, "this subject seems to be organic but a form of unknown energy. Hurry and retreat back to the upper floor so we may seal the subject off in the chamber and analyze it." "Affirmative," Shadow replied and switched the final switch back into place. "Switches back in specified areas, energy buildup still commencing due blockage." "Blockage?" he questioned and looked at the center of the room where a hole was that the energy was supposed to be traveling through into a hole in the ceiling of the room. There lay in front of him a mass of swirling blackish substance that Shadow instantly kicked out of the way allowing the energy to flow again. "Energy flow commencing, systems back to normal status, please evacuate room."
As Shadow began walking back up toward the door he had entered from he began to hear echoes of kicks and gun shots. Rushing now Shadow came to an exit above where Rouge and Fang were fighting. "Give it up bat!" the sniper snickered as he fired another deadly cork past her cheek, "you know how good I am with a gun, especially when you made your deal with G.U.N. you saw how I was when I was ticked off." "Indeed," Rough panted and ducked behind a metal crate as another cork sailed between her ears, "But you remember how good I am at karate?" Taking the opportunity that Fang was using to reload his gun Rouge dashed out and slammed her heal into the back of his neck before sitting on him and pinning him to the ground.
"I win," she laughed tiredly as Fang grumbled. "Not quite bat," came Shadow's voice as he landed off to the side of them, "Fang, get to Dr. Eggman, I'll join you in a bit. Rouge, you're mine!" Gasping, Rouge was thrown off her feet as Shadow swept past at an astounding speed allowing the bounty hunter to scurry off into the base. "Looks like I did a good enough impression." "Uhuh..." Rouge agreed rubbing her butt as she stood up, "maybe a bit too good of one." "Sorry," Shadow told her and helped her up, "Listen, the demon of Soleanna is about to awaken due to Eggman's miscalculations and Sonic and his pals are the only ones heading for him at the moment. I told Sonic I'd try and meet up with him but we have to hurry." Nodding Rouge leapt into Shadow's arms, "Sorry," she said with a nervous smile, "can't really fly, wings badly burnt." Once more Shadow found himself rushing down one of Eggman's hallways, maybe for the final time.
Finally he reached the top of entrance to the hallway and reached to get back into the main area of the ARK. Just then something caught the supernatural hedgehog from behind and yanked him all the way back down into the energy chamber where pressure was already building up. "OOF!" he grunted as he slammed into a wall and shook his head about to clear the dizziness, "What the..." There standing in front of him was the mass of black substance that had shaped into a more suitable form, one that resembled him more but more...crystaline...and...darkish purple...and... "Mephiles?" The creature cocked its head to the side and stared down at Shadow with its soul-less eyes as if examining him. Shakily Shadow got back to his feet only to be swiped aside with ease by the demonic being, nearly tossing him into the deadly energy cylinder that had formed in the center of the room.
After shaking his head again Shadow opened his eyes to see thousands of blackish purple copies of himself surrounding Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in Eggman's main chamber, the pod with Ghost descending into the depths of the lair from a hole in the floor, the blackish energy container on top of his. "Give up Sonic," the mad scientist laughed wildly, "You're completely outmatched!" "Not entirely," Shadow announced leaping down alongside them with Rouge. "Ah Shadow, it's about time you decided to join us," he said grinning, "I was wondering when you'd show your true colors, it sure took you long enough. Well now at least I can kill you knowing for a fact you were against me." "Wait, you thought I was?" "Once a traitor always one I always say," Robotnik laughed and ordered the Mephiles clones to move in on them, "I know that first hand. Now if you don't mind, die, I have a world to conquer."
Just as the clones were about to tear the animaloids to shreds a glow emitted from the center of the group and annihilated all the clones leaving Super Sonic and Super Shadow shining in the smoke as it dissipated. "I thought you might try this..." Robotnik sighed and pressed a few keys on the computer he was in front of, "You know that creature Shadow? That Mephiles that we found? Well, I figured that since you have the Chaos Emeralds to try and defeat what I throw against you why not use something just as good? Sure he doesn't have all of his set of unique items but it will do I believe."
As Robotnik clicked the last few keys a rumbling began to rip through the base and out of the hole Ghost had descended into burst an endless stream of black smoke which began to encase the entire room and its inhabitants, a mass of the smoke forming about Eggman himself. Showing no signs of stopping the smoke became a world of its own, apart from the planet earth, apart from time and space entirely, it was its own entity. Finally the smoke flowed into a pattern and the smoke engulfing Eggman began to take shape as a huge monstrous creature with blood red eyes. "My my my," the being said in a demonic voice combined with Eggman's, "I do hunger some still but do I ever smell the presence of my undying nemesis. But what's this? In the form of Sonic and Shadow? For shame, but it will be a pleasure finally crushing you beasts into mulch!"
WHAM! Shadow was thrown across the room again, his fur getting a bit singed this time from coming close to the cylinder of energy. "How are you still around?!" Shadow gasped and coughed as he leapt back to his feet, "I signed up to be the model for Mephiles drones, but that all ended when we stopped Robotnik's plan way back when!" Without any reply the creature continued to step towards Shadow intent on obviously killing him. "Warning," came the computerized voice programmed into ARK, "the pressure of the room is becoming too great, all personel must evacuate immediately before doors are sealed." Shadow's eyes darted from his opponent to the hallway on the other side of the room and finally he sidestepped to the left. Immediately the Mephiles clone thrust a version of the Chaos Spear at his foot only for Shadow to slam it back into the being's throat distracting it as he made a mad dash for the door which was already shutting at the top of the hallway. Even with his unearthly speed the doors seemed to be shutting with no chance of escape. FWOOSH! Just as the doors shut Shadow leapt out gasping for air and looked back into the hall to see the Mephiles clone at the bottom through a window swirling about uncontrollably as a mass of black energy from the combination of both the pressure and energy in the room he had just exited from.
"Shadow," said Omega from the side, "Thank you for your assistance. We were not able to identify the creature." "Don't worry," Shadow panted in reply as he tried to catch his breath, "I know exactly what it was." "We were however able to find out where the being came from." This caught Shadow's attention and he turned to his robotic friend to see him holding a capsule, "It pierced one of ARK's neaby hallways in the C sector about an hour ago, it held the creature in it. The being, we calculated, was absorbing energy from the ARK by blocking off the passage for the energy to remain supporting itself allowing the creature to power itself while not getting severely hurt with the locks in place." "Really..." Shadow said lowering his brows and putting a hand to his chin in thought, "I wonder who sent that little present to us..."
Ghost's eyes snapped open as his vision of the ARK's C Sector power room swirled into a chaotic web of black energy. "Ugh..." he moaned clutching his stomach, "too bad the scout was destroyed but it was worth it." Hopping to his feet the human animal hybrid waltzed happily into the bridge of Robotnik's battleship and greeted the commander of the evil forces in the present day and age. "So, gotten Blaze yet sir?" "No Ghost," the scientist replied with a glare, "just...observing her actions for now. If she just searches for her dead friend she won't really present much of a threat but knowing her she'll eventually come after us. When she does we need to be ready." "Agreed," Ghost told him with a smile and walked off back to his room, "I'm gonna play some games, tell me when I'm needed."
End of Chapter ) I didn't know how to go about doing this one at first in all honesty. Hope it's alright and you can tell what's going on. For those of you who don't get it Shadow's obviously having flashbacks throughout the chapter of something that happened in the past, something he can't forget that but it may have shocked you what I "character" I put in. Don't worry, it won't be the unbelievably trainwreck Next Gen/06 was. Just wanted to build more upon the story in this chapter but from...a different perspective without giving entirely too much away. Hope you all enjoyed it G'night! Also, sorry if it seemed like a short chapter but I just decided to make it as long as I thought this kind of a chapter needed to be was all )