Greetings, prospective readers, and welcome to this, my latest experimental creation! Simply put, I figured it might be fun to try an experiment with Sonic Epilogue by Marie Lu aka mree. Also, I've been wanting to do a fanfic where Shadow ends up in the SatAM-verse for awhile now, so this seemed like the perfect premise to do it.

And you can bet your sweet bippy that Shadow is gonna be going to be turning Snively into a pinata for what he did to Sonic in Epilogue. Part of me wants to have Shadow go full on anti-hero mode and kill Snively for his crimes.

Also, I thought it'd be fun to spice things up a bit and have Shadow bring the Chaos Emeralds to the SatAM/Epilogue-verse, which in turn causes a few new villains to crawl out of the woodwork, such as Doctor Finitevus, Imperator Ix, the Nocturnus Clan, and the Gizoids (including Emerl), as well as bring in Knuckles and the Echidnas in general.

Also, before I forget, there will be no explicit sexual content in this story, or any other stories written by me. I mean, I like a good lemon as much as the next guy, but that's a no-no on fanfiction dot net. The M rating is just so I can go a bit darker and more sinister with Doctor Finitevus, the Nocturnus Clan, Imperator Ix, and things like that. Plus, it lets me get edgy, and what is Shadow if not an edgy hedgey, eh?

Also, as I'm uploading this after I uploaded it to AO3 and Wattpad, I do in fact already have the first chapter proper written and uploaded on those sites, but I think I'll wait 24 hours to upload that chapter here, give people a chance to decide if they like the premise first.

Anyways, that's enough out of me. Let's begin!

Prologue

Death of a Hero

Around a campfire, we find a group of young Mobians sitting, looking up to the Mobian tending to the fire, who was a middle-aged wolf Mobian wearing a black chapeau a black coat, and black combat boots.

So, you want to hear a story, eh? Well, I think I got a good one for you. Come, sit down, listen to old Grandpa Marco, Have I got a story for you. But, before I can tell you that story, I need to tell you another story.

This first story is about how a hero died. I know, kind of a depressing way to kick things off, but this is a story that needs to be told in order for the other story to be understood properly. Don't wanna hear it? Too bad, I'm telling you anyway.

Once, there was a hedgehog by the name of Sonic who had the ability to run faster than the speed of sound. He was the leader of the group of heroes known as the Freedom Fighters against Robotnik, although one could make an argument that role actually belonged to Princess Sally Acorn, or well, as she's known these days, Queen Sally Acorn. But, I'd make the case that Sonic was the most well known of the Freedom Fighters. Regardless, Sonic was a key part of the Freedom Fighters. Operating out of a secret base known as Knothole, Sonic, Sally, and his allies waged guerilla warfare against Dr. Robotnik and his mechanical legions, some of whom had been converted into machines to serve the madman from living, breathing, Mobians through a process known as robotization, from childhood all the way to his teenage years.

In the end, the Freedom Fighters were able to reclaim their home of Mobotropolis after defeating Dr. Robotnik in a climatic final showdown. No one's seen him since then, nor was his body ever found. As a result, he is presumed dead.

After defeating Robotnik and moving back into Mobotropolis came the hard work of rebuilding the city, a process that was greatly inhibited by Colin Robotnik aka Snively, nephew and heir apparent to Robotnik. Resurfacing with a robotic knockoff of Sonic that he'd been working on in secret called Silver Sonic, Snively proved to be a very capable and deadly enemy, but not one that proved to be too much for Sonic to handle.

Eight years of relative peace came and went. Despite Snively's constant attempts to reclaim the city and the kingdom of Acorn for himself, Sonic and his friends were able to hold him off quite easily. Two of Sonic's friends, Bunnie Rabbot and Antoine D'Coolette, tied the knot, and had a bun of their own in the oven soon after. Rotor Walrus eventually came to become the leader of the Acorn Council. Sir Charles "Chuck" Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle, was eventually able to reverse the robotization process, restoring those who had been subjected to that cruel fate to regain their Mobianity. Miles "Tails" Prower, Sonic's protege and younger brother, grew into a fine young man and a brilliant scientist on par with or perhaps even surpassing the brilliant minds Dr. Robotnik and Sir Charles, truly lending credit to the phrase "as smart as a fox."

As for Sonic and Sally, the two of them had fallen in love during the course of the war, and that love only grew deeper as the years passed, to the point that rumors, which have since been confirmed, that Sonic was planning to ask Sally's hand in marriage. I've no doubt that Sonic would have made an excellent husband, ruler of our people, and eventual father.

Fate, unfortunately however, had other plans.

While launching an attack on one of Snively's bases, Sonic had, unknown to Sally and his other allies, been captured by Snively using an adhesive substance known as mega muck that had been laced with metal shrapnel, disabling the hedgehog.

Bringing the hero to his lair, Snively injected him with a drug or chemical of some sort that made him lose his memories and corrupted him, turning him evil and bending him to Snively's will, forced to wreak untold havoc upon New Mobotropolis, causing Sally's heart to break clean in two, and leading Tails to become determined to bring his brother back from the darkness no matter the cost.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. When Sonic found himself cornered by Sally and Tails, who tried to talk Sonic back to his senses, Sonic attacked Sally, knocking her out cold and forcing Tails to fight his corrupted brother in what can only be described as a losing battle, one that, one way or another, was doomed to ending tragedy.

And end in tragedy it did, for while Sonic held him by the throat, slowly choking the life out of him with one hand. Tails grabbed a piece of metal nearby and rammed it through Sonic's stomach, impaling his older brother figure and slaying the fallen hero.

As Tails cradled his older brother's body in his arm, the corrupted hero's eyes, which had been turned a demonic and sinister red by the drug that had been used on him, reverted back to their normal green. The last words the Fastest Thing Alive ever said were to his younger brother, thanking him for setting him free from Snively's control, and allowing him to die as he lived: free.

Several days later, Sonic Hedgehog was buried on a hilltop near Knothole that he and Tails used to relax and bond on by Tails himself. The poor fox boy was wracked with the guilt of striking down his older brother, despite assurances from his fellow Freedom Fighters and even the heartbroken Princess Sally that he was not at fault for what happened, but rather, Snively was.

In the month that has passed since Sonic's funeral, things in New Mobotropolis went down the crapper in a hurry. Sally spends all her time in her chambers, wearing a black version of her normal attire, a cold and dead look in her eyes that leaves her caretakers feeling concerned for her mental health and well being. Tails, meanwhile, spends every waking moment inventing, fixing, building, programming, oftentimes forgetting to stop and eat or even sleep, doing everything he could to avoid dwelling on the guilt and grief that was slowly eating him alive. Lacking Sally, Sonic, or even Tails' leadership, the Freedom Fighters are barely able to repel the enemies outside of New Mobotropolis, to say nothing of dealing with the rising crime rate within the city itself.

With all that's happened, an all-important question is on everyone's lips: who will protect us now that Sonic the Hedgehog is gone? Who will be our hero, now that the Fastest Thing Alive is dead?

Little do the people of New Mobotropolis realize that they will soon have an answer to that question, and that Mobius would soon have its new hero. A hero who was far more powerful than Sonic the Hedgehog ever was. Perhaps the peace that would come with this new, incredibly powerful hero would be everlasting, due to the hero's immortality.

One thing is certain. Mobius will learn very well what their new hero, Shadow the Hedgehog, the world's Ultimate Lifeform, is made of... and when they do, they will bend the knee and cry "All hail Shadow!"

And that's a bingo! Yeah, I felt a quick primer on the events of Sonic: Epilogue would be a good way to kick things off, just in case readers haven't seen and/or heard of it. If you liked what you saw here, and are interested in this concept, then be sure to fave, follow, review, and join us next time as Shadow makes his grand appearance in this strange new world! See you then!