Stage 1: Westopolis

The black hedgehog stood beneath a tree, the wind whipping at him. A discarded newspaper drifted past him on the wind, brushing the red streak on his foot, advertising the much-anticipated return of the Black Comet to Westopolis' skies.

Another haunting image played back in his mind, of a little girl running through a long corridor, past the stars outside. She turned to see a soldier and gasped. A shot rang out. He wasn't sure if he was remembering the scream that came, or if he was shouting it.

"Maria!"

Footsteps crunched in the grass behind him. "Finally remember her, Shadow?" I asked, stepping up so he could see me.

He glanced at me, an odd vulnerability in his red eyes. "Who am I? I don't remember anything except… except seeing her."

I shook my head, sighing, leaning on the tree next to him. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that. About all the stuff that's happened since the ARK. "He looked out the city, and I looked after him. "You know we saved all those people? All those people who get to run around, living their lives-"

"Being pathetic. I don't have time for this."

I sighed. Not this again. I thought we'd resolved that little problem up on the ARK, but apparently something in his brain shorted out again. I mean, more than it already had, obviously, since he couldn't remember the guy who created him, or the soldiers who shot his friend for no good reason. At least he had her name: "Maria." That was a start.

I was about to open my mouth and explain when the clouds began to swirl. We both looked up at it, jaws slack, as a vortex appeared. Something was flying out of them; even though they were far away, I could see every detail of wings and claws and giant heads. I could hear people screaming in the city… I was sure he could too.

A voice behind us interrupted our little moment, droning in this deep demonic growl, "Shadow… the day of reckoning has arrived." We turned to face the source of it, which floated before us. It was big, with brown, almost black skin. Two horns with red tips stuck out the side of its head, and it glared down at us with three red eyes. Its tiny head was attached to oversized, armored shoulders. Over that, it wore this big necklace with stars and moons all over. The whole thing gave me the creeps, like it was something out a movie about devil worshippers or something. I mean, at least Dark Gaia creatures are cute. But I think what was creepiest about it was its colors: Black with red tips and red eyes. Just like a chao. Just like Shadow. Anyway, it ordered in that weird, purring voice, "Bring me the chaos emeralds, as promised."

Shadow bared his teeth as he raised his eyebrow "How did you know my name? What are you talking about?"

I had to admit, I was with him there. People couldn't usually tell Shad and me apart back then, except Rouge and unfortunately Eggman. They were even a little confused at first.

Still, before he could get an answer, the figure disappeared, and this freaky little purple starfish behind it flew off into the city. Something nearby exploded, making Shadow shake a little on his feet. He turned to me, frowning, as if I could somehow explain what he meant. I understood a lot more of what was happening than he did, but that guy was new to me.

"What the hell was that all about?"

"I dunno. He called you by name, not me."

"He clearly knows who I am. I have no choice but to believe him."

I silently prepared myself to try and slap some sense into him. I opened my mouth to protest, but he kept going like I wasn't there.

"I've got to get those chaos emeralds."

Or you could, you know, ask me. Not the sharpest hog in the hedge, there. He ran off ahead of me, and I did my best to keep up.

By the time I reached the city, I was finding people down everywhere. Mostly soldiers, which I thought was pretty funny, because Westopolis isn't exactly a military stronghold. I hadn't really hung out there much, though I'd seen a couple concerts down town and I had to admit the roads there were pretty cool. When I could find 'em without cars, I'd run on the freeways, but the side roads were cool, too. Everything in the city came at each other at funny angles. You could tell there was a plan to the whole city, but then a road jumped out at you that made you think maybe the plan changed. I was out of time to think about the roads, though. All these downed soldiers… and curiously, most of 'em were alive. It was almost like something had almost killed them, but stopped just before the point of no return.

I couldn't help them, not really. Wiggle your toes. Does your neck or back hurt? Ok, I'm going to roll you on your side. That's safer. No man, I can't carry you, you're twice my size. Can you walk? Here, I'll help you get out of the sun, if that passes for sunlight through that red cloud. I had to tie a couple of tourniquets. It wasn't really fun. I was just glad I knew how.

It was hard, doing what little first aid I knew how to do with lasers raining down from the sky, big old aliens running up and trying to slash me, and these little black bat things dive bombing me everywhere. Even though I wasn't going anywhere in particular, I couldn't stave off the feeling like I was getting lost, going in circles like some of the roads, and every funny angled intersection made me wonder if I even knew what direction I was facing.

He was standing over a soldier when I found him, looking at him. I'd just seen a laser flash that way, so that could have been it, but something about the way Shadow was standing made me wonder if he was the one who knocked the guy down. He reached down and picked up the soldier's handgun. That was when I shouted.

"Hey, Shadow!"

He turned to look at me, surprised.

"Help me take out these, aliens, will ya?" I asked.

He glared at me. "I need to get the chaos emeralds."

"So you can give them to Creepy Mcdevilpants?" I rolled my eyes, motioning around. "He knows your name. Maybe that's all he knows. I wouldn't trust him yet."

"But I should trust you?" Shadow examined the weapon, aiming away from me and pulling the trigger.

"Like you'd trust yourself," I quipped, looking away. I searched the area around us for something, anything I could use to get through to him. I really hoped there weren't any civilians, but if I could just find a soldier that might trigger something in him, a memory, maybe I could make some progress.

And there she was, running out of one of those weird hidden drives that looked too narrow to even be a street. A tiny blonde girl, wisps of hair peeking out of her helmet, in armor, carrying a med kit. "Look at that, Shadow. That girl is going to have to get on her hands and knees to help these people. She won't be able to pay any attention, and it's easy for something creepy to use all these alleys as cover. One of those aliens could come up behind her easy."

He crossed his arms. "Sonic, I don't have time for this."

"Let's take out the aliens in the surrounding area. While we look for your emerald. That'll make less of a chance she'll get hit by anything."

"She looks like her. The girl in my memory."

"In your flashback. That's right."

"What's the difference?" Shadow looked at me, suddenly.

I chuckled. "You tell me, buddy. Come on, I see one of those soldiers up ahead."

We swept into the city, fighting aliens. I jumped into them and hit them, like I do Eggman's robots, but Shadow kept on shooting them. After a while, not long after we found the first emerald, he started breaking into military trucks to get more ammo, which got people swearing at us a lot. The look on his face as he fired at them, the crack of the gun, the smell of the gunpowder… it bothered me. It seemed like too much for aliens we could easily take down, and it made me think of everything I knew about Shadow's past.

You see… before he lost his memory, I fought him up on this space station. It was the same one Eggman gutted to make the cannon that broke the world apart, as a matter of fact. The military had locked him away, suspended, and when Eggman broke in and woke him up, it caused me a world of problems. It turns out Eggman's grandpa made Shad a long time ago to cure a disease Eggman's cousin had. But the military were afraid of Shadow, so they went in and had everyone they thought could possibly remake him killed. Everyone except one little boy they thought wouldn't remember, anyway.

Shadow saw Maria get shot, so he wanted revenge on humanity. I'm pretty sure that Gerald, Eggman's grandpa, did something to his mind to make him like that, though. Maria told Shadow to save all those people… but Gerald had him thinking she said to kill 'em all. I mean, Gerald basically said he did something to Shad in these journals he left behind, and in the video the military took when they executed him. Yeah, they executed Eggman's grandpa for trying to cure a little girl, just 'cause all the cures he was making were kinda dangerous. I'm not really surprised Gerald wanted revenge. Still, he sure makes Eggman look like a nice guy, and stable to boot!

But that's not what I'm getting at. We had thought Shadow was destroyed when he and I fought Gerald's other creation, but he came back with no memory later. I knew at this point that something was really wrong with him, but I wasn't sure what the problem was. Was it something physical inside his brain, or was it his mind, you know, his feelings? He lost more than just his memory. It was clear to me all of a sudden that he'd lost his sanity, or what little sanity he had in the first place, anyway.

I got shot at for the first time the night I met Shadow. They thought I was him. Can't blame 'em.

So yeah, gunshots aren't really my favorite sound in the world. And they were everywhere in Westopolis, some of 'em coming from the guy next to me. Aliens and soldiers fighting everywhere, comin' out of blind corners like something out of a nightmare. The sight of Shadow shooting a gun, the sound of it in my ears, the smell, it was making me a little sick to my stomach, and I was imagining him running around like a crazy man aiming a banana and shouting "bang" instead. It was just enough to keep me from asking him to split up, and not so much that I wanted to laugh.

"You should take one of these, Sonic," he teased, and suddenly the banana was smoking in his hands. He looked back at me, grinning. "Save your strength for the real enemy."

I shuddered. "I wouldn't be caught dead using one of those things."

"Then you'll be caught dead without one. Try and stay alive, Sonic."

He zipped ahead, and I did my best to follow, wind at my back.