Story notes: I apologize for any of the errors my beta and I might have missed, and I also apologize if any of it seems too choppy. I didn't even realize until it was point out to me that I had been using a multitude of short, choppy sentences; ones that could be combined, etc. I've combed through it since, and if there's any poor quality, ell me straight up and I'll try to edit it out. I must also say that if ANY of the characters seem OOC to you at ALL, PLEASE tell me. I have the most AWFUL time writing poor little Tails, and writing Shadow's grumpiness takes some getting used to. Eggman and Sonic aren't quite as difficult – I don't have trouble making Sonic witty and Eggman evil like I struggle to make Tails one smart little kid.

Disclaimer: See prologue.

To those who read my other stories: Please be patient with me; I'm an easily distracted person. If you are waiting on the next chapter of That Moment of Silence Before Everything Moves, have no fear. The next chapter is nearly completed and will be posted once it is finished and beta'd. If anyone happens to read The Beginnings of the Heroes and Villains, I may or may not be getting something completed for that, so just keep your eyes peeled – you never know what might happen.

So, with no further ado, I present to you all, the story!

Sound of Shadows
Chapter One

Many sinister screens and consoles filled up the walls and surrounding area of the small dark room. Flashing lights and buttons briefly illuminated the imposing figure seated in the chair placed in the center of the mass of machines. His brow was creased, his lips were set into a frown and even his moustache was twitching. Lines of binary and information danced across the screen and monitors.

"Hm. This is all very interesting. Maybe something useful can come of this after all," Dr. Eggman muttered as if to himself as he set upon trying to crack the passworded encryption graved into the source file.

Grunting in concentration, he meticulously punched in each letter, number, and symbol, a smaller screen beside him flashing crazily. The code was an elaborate 46 character combination that would've stopped an intermediate or amateur hacker dead in his cybernetic tracks. But for a genius such as the doctor, such was not the case.

A soft noise indicating that the code was cracked sounded around him and he grinned maliciously. Next was to reveal its contents.

Skilled fingers flew over complicated keys as their owner stared intently at the information scrolling across the backlit surface. Top secret government information was being pulled from files and displayed for his eyes to see and his mind to absorb. As he skimmed it over, one folder in particular caught his eye.

TOP SECRET – RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; PJT06-UTM19-LFM01 SFD5729

"Hm? What's this?" the evil dictator-to-be mumbled in mild interest. Tapping a few more keys, Eggman brought it up on the monitor. A command prompt asking for yet another password greeted him. A cursor flashed repeatedly, its slow rhythm gradually hypnotizing him. Blinking a few times to snap out of his reverie, the genius sat there and tried to figure out what the password would be. He furrowed his brow and set it aside to come back to later. He opened another document after seeing the title composed of strange symbols and seemingly random letters.

Skimming his eyes over it, he noticed it contained no intellectual content aside from one line of text near the very bottom. It read, 'Millions amazed, trying isn't accepted. Pass freely.'

"'Millions amazed, trying isn't accepted'? What does that even mean? And what about passing freely?" Eggman blurted out in confusion. Something about the sentence rubbed him the wrong way, and the short phrase following seemed to be mocking him. Glaring at it, he started tapping his fingers against his chair to help him think. All of a sudden, it struck him, and he pulled up the unopened file that required a code word. Typing in the simple five-lettered code, he grinned in triumph as it let off a happy ping and revealed its contents.

After reading all that it had contained, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik set to work on his latest evil scheme.

o0o

The shadows fell across the brightly lit streets as Shadow stalked down the sidewalk. He'd just been sent on a simple information retrieval mission and had ended up completing said assignment, made a wrong turn, and then proceeded to stop random crimes he stumbled upon.

Take that very moment, for instance; he heard a scream and took off after it. Turning into an alley, he saw a tall figure clothed in all black terrorizing a girl pinned beneath him. Glaring, he grabbed the guy, pulled out his gun, and slammed the butt of it against the guy's head. Throwing him to the ground, Shadow waited for the girl to flee before leaving himself. Putting his weapon of choice away, the black hedgehog continued his stroll down the lonely road.

A high pitched alarm sounded, throwing Shadow off guard. Picking up the pace, he started to run in the direction of the atrocious resonance. The closer he got, the louder it became. He soon realized that it was the bank; it happened to have just been robbed. The culprits hi-jacked a getaway car and tire screeched as they made their rapid escape. Shadow pulled his handgun back out and took careful aim at the tires; the bullets exploded from the barrel and compressed air exploded outward as the shells met their mark. The vehicle swerved around the road at it careened out of control. The joyride ended with the front bumper wrapped around a pole.

As he started to approach the car, as silently as possible, his radio crackled.

"Shadow! Shadow! Come in, Shadow! This is Tails at the GUN HQ! Do you read me?" Suppressing a growl as the criminals got out and took off, Shadow pulled the radio out and sighed.

"Yes? What do you want? Over." Shadow sighed and turned to head back to base.

"Did you find the secret location? Over." The fox sounded exasperated.

"Of course I did. Who do you take me for? Over."

"Well, um, someone that is apparently faster than you are, obviously. It wasn't that difficult of a job; you should already be back by this point! Over."

"Hmph! Excuse me for even being alive then, Miles. I may be the fastest being alive, but that doesn't mean I'm freaking Superman or whatever. Over," the ebony hedgehog growled out, narrowing his crimson eyes.

A sigh. "Whatever. Just get back here before the Commander blows a gasket and puts you on lockdown. Again; over."

He grunted over the line before cutting the connection. He turned the radio off and sprinted towards the location of the military headquarters of the Guardian Units of Nations, also known as GUN.

Guardian Units of Nations, as they were more officially called, was a governmental military branch that served to protect the citizens of Station Square, a mostly human city that became increasingly integrated as the years passed. It was home to several big time celebrities including an actress and her computer software company owning husband. They had a son around 12 years old that lived with his inventor grandfather, maid, and family butler. The boy attended the local school while his parents were gone the majority of the time. Shadow remembered (somewhat disgustedly) the mission he was assigned some time ago in which he had to keep his eye on the boy for GUN until they could find someone to watch the child full time. They had relieved him of his duties after almost three months and Shadow couldn't have gotten away fast enough.

Which for the black hedgehog was somewhere around Mach 1.

And so he kept on his track to the Station Square GUN base. He arrived moments later, sneaking through the shadows and through the secret entrance at the back of the building made especially for agents. As soon as his foot broke the threshold, he was bombarded with questions and a flurry of motion from his partner and friend, a little two-tailed fox by the name of Miles "Tails" Prower.

o0o

"Huh...? Where am I...? And why do I feel so... woozy?" A white gloved hand rose to rest on a blue head.

"Hello," a voice cut through the fog around his mind. "I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik; more commonly known as Dr. Eggman. Do you know who you are?"

A shake of the head, as if to clear it. "I suppose. My mind's a little messed up. But my name is Sonic.

"Sonic, eh? So I suppose this means you're... loud?" Eggman almost smirked, thinking a bit if a joke would get the other to do as he said.

"No, fast. But I can get pretty loud," the blue hedgehog raised startlingly bright emerald green eyes to take a look at the rotund scientist. He studied facial features, muscle structure, body language, and vocal tone for almost five minutes. Robotnik was starting to get a little nervous under the level gaze of the labor of his grandfather's work. After a while passed, Sonic closed his eyes and felt out with his Chaos Sense. He knew not to trust this man.

"Haha, that's nice, my boy. Someone who knows how to laugh at himself has the makings of a good character," Eggman purred, glancing down at the hedgehog.

"Mm. Indeed. So, um, where are we?" Sonic asked, looking around. After noticing he was leaning against some kind of mechanism, he studied the immediate area and put on a burst of speed from his resting state to rocket him to the ground. He landed with a foot, a knee, and a hand on the ground.

The evil scientist grinned. He knew his granddad had created a wonderful being, but he had no idea how wonderful. The built in speed tracker on his mecha had clocked the other at moving over 200mph.

And it was just to make a simple jump to the floor.

Shadow will never know what hit him... The man had to stifle a sinister cackle.

So. I hope you found that interesting and it can hold you over until the next update (whenever that may be). Until then, keep running!

Don't forget to review, please! I wanna hear your thoughts!