Matthew threw the Emerald at Omega. It hit his back with a clang then landed on the floor. The robot turned around and mechanically bent down to grab it.

"You need to be careful, master," Omega reprimanded.

"I'm not your master," Matthew croaked. He turned away from Omega and began to cry. His sobs reverberated around the lab.

"Is something the matter, Matthew?" Omega asked.

The teen sniffed and faced him. "Omega… I'm done. I can't do this anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"The G.U.N. Commander… I killed him. I killed him, Omega."

Omega made a low, sad beep. "Please excuse me, Matthew. I must put the Chaos Emerald in the Chaos Room. It is the only place in this lab that is leaded, so G.U.N. cannot trace its signature."

Matthew nodded and looked at the floor. "I get it, I get it. Do what you need to do."

Omega turned on the spot and marched to the far side of the lab. The doors to the Chaos Room opened, and Omega went in. He was gone for a few moments, then reappeared. The doors closed behind him.

"Continue."

Matthew shut his eyes and clenched his fists. "Omega, the only thing I do is cause destruction. I kill people. I look at their dead bodies and… and laugh at them. The alien part of me can't be controlled. It overpowers my human half, and I just let it." He looked at Omega. "I'm just bad luck. I want to be a hero, but people are afraid of me. I know it. I want to help the world, but I can't do that, because I get so angry, and the world won't trust me.

"I wish this never happened. I wish I was just a normal kid. I wish my mom was here. I wish I could find her, but I can't. I don't know how, or even where to start looking. I wish I knew exactly who I am. I wanna know who else my blood belongs to. I wanna know who my dad—er, father—is. But I don't know to start looking for these things. I'm just… lost."

"Would you prefer a hug?" Omega asked, extending out his arms.

"Uh, no thanks."

"Certain? Sometimes physical contact can soothe a troubled, anxious mind."

"No. It's just that it'd be weird."

Omega put his arms down. "Understood."

"Goodbye, Omega," Matthew said, beginning to walk toward the entrance to the underground lab.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"Home."

"Matthew, no!" Omega began to follow him. "You must finish this. Once you have, I promise that everyone will be back to normal."

Matthew whirled around and spat, "No, it won't, Omega!"

The robot stopped in his tracks.

"Fixed or not, nothing will be back to normal. Ever. I'm going back to Westopolis. I've had enough of this goodie-two-shoes city."

Omega watched Matthew as he left the entrance of the lab. "Goodbye, my friend," he said.

Once the panel had lifted him above ground, Matthew transformed into Shadow for the final time. He began to walk forward, thinking. His grandfather had told him that his father was an alien named Black Doom, and that his DNA had been mutated with a human male's DNA. So, he had two fathers. Who was the second? How would he find both of them?

Shadow brushed his Hover Shoes along the dry, arid ground as he walked. He looked at his hands, and clenched them into fists. Shadow The Hedgehog would be no more. He stopped walking. The rockets in his shoes began to combust, building up energy and causing the ground to slightly tremble. Shadow closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and looked at the sky, which had turned into a beautiful orange color.

The Hover Shoes practically exploded below him. He zipped into the sky, instantly achieving top speed. He soared past Central City, watching it whoosh past as he flew above it. This city did not need him; the corrupt Westopolis.

Shadow learned something during his flight. He could not run away from the alien inside him. He had to embrace it. The idea of that scared him, but he knew it had to be done. He could learn to control his immense power, because if he didn't, he would end up destroying himself.

Dr. Eggman had returned to his own lab. The death of his father had more than just troubled him. He almost crashed the Egg Dragoon as he landed it in his lab. As its front slammed onto the floor, the cockpit of the robot popped open, throwing Eggman out. He screamed and flailed his arms about as he flied out and flopped onto floor, with his hovercraft, the Egg Mobile, falling beside him. Eggman sat up and rubbed his bald head.

"Owww… Who turned out the lights?" he mumbled. He looked around as his vision became less blurry. He saw that a cracked, framed photo of Gerald was on the floor. He scrambled to crawl over to it. He gingerly held it in his hands.

"Father…" he said. "I'm so sorry, Father!" He hugged the photo close to his chest and sobbed. Gerald had died because he'd angered Eggman. Eggman had let his fury and greed get the better of him. The egg-shaped man looked at the Egg Dragoon. He thought about Westopolis, and all of his memories there. All those memories had been destroyed by his father's murder. A broad grin crept up on his face. Eggman knew what he had to do. He'd murdered a person, so why stop there? He could bring genocide and annihilation to Westopolis! That city had been overrun by darkness and corruption. Eggman, like many others, wished it would go away, but it never would. Eggman's memories of the city were rotten and terrible.

The only way to get rid of corruption was to destroy it at its sources.

With its source being none other than the city itself.