Okay, so 3 things:
1) That Shadow vs Sonic, Tails, Knuckles scene was bad ass. The dialogue and tone was perfect. Im kinda hoping that's all we get for now until the movie and Shadow Gens DLC. We getting too spoiled.
Sonic: Um, excuse me... why do you look like me?
Shadow: I don't look like you, you look like me... why do you look like me?
Faker energy. Bros wanted to say it so bad, but I'm sure its somewhere else in the movie. Its too iconic.
2) I know I said I would not be making another chapter until 2025, but I found some time to make conceptual scenes I've been experimenting with for the past couple of days. While the votes are rolling in, I figured I could share a few ideas with you all to snack on (in no particular order). Its not allot, and these scenes don't have active places in this currently unofficial arc, so some of them might not even get used should or if we get there.
3) For some reason when I posted this the first time (yes this is an update), about half the document didn't go thru. Maybe I didn't copy and paste all the way down, the website deleted some stuff during post, user errror, skill issue, I don't know. But I double and triple checked this time. We should be good.
So for now, take a look at what i've been heating up in the oven and let me know what you think, even if its not fully cooked yet. Be honest as you possibly can in the comments. I want to do this adaptation justice should the voting swing in that direction.
In the meantime; you vote, and I'm going back to the kitchen.
Draft: Sonic X Shadow
After exiting Chaos Island, Shadow began to explore White Space a bit more. It was kinda part of a routine now: run through a location, find keys, open gates, gain a new mutation somewhere in between, rinse and repeat. He still had to deal with Black Doom, but those Devils did help out speeding up the solution to solve the issue at hand. They were probably just finishing up running/flying through Chaos Island as he thought to himself about this, looking for more keys... they found 4 keys this time as oppsed to the usual 3... wonder where the 4th one would go...?
He jumped down from a few floating platforms near a place called "City Escape"... there was nothing interesting here, so just he was about to head back to check on progress of the key hunting...
"I found you! Shadow!"
Ugh... not now... him.
"The Blue Hedgehog... of all places..." Shadow slowly turned to see Sonic called him... why was he not surprised?
Nearby, at the very top of the floating structure above City Escape, the Devils happened to also be here, having found the last key. They didn't expect to... actually, scratch that. They DID expect to see Sonic at some point, since Sonic already told them his side of the story. The Hedgehog was as upbeat and lighthearted as ever, and it was great seeing him again, although it HAD to be at a far distance to prevent any further damage to the timestream.
Sonic boosted off, then appeared behind Shadow. "Nice you see you too... though a 'Happy Birthday' would've also been nice." Both Asia and Akeno giggled at this. Even a few years into the past (at least for them), Sonic still retained his humor and charm that they fell in love with.
"Here to waste my time again?" Shadow dismissively turned away and crossed his arms.
"Well Rouge mentioned something about the 'Ultimate Party Guest' horroring me with his presence, so my feelings were kinda hurt when he didn't show up." Sonic teased, earning another Asia/Akeno giggle. Even in the distance, Maria noted Shadow's conversation with Sonic... he seemed really nice. Was that a friend they'd meet in the future together?
"I have more important things to do than spraying silly string or helping you blow out your birthday candles..." Shadow said.
"Hold on there a sec, ol' buddy... you have something I need..." Sonic said, and it was clear to Shadow he was talking about his Chaos Emerald.
"There's definitely some romantic tension there..." Kiba joked, which Asia and Akeno smiled at.
"With how he always hung around Issei, I'm not surprised he swings that that way to," Akeno joked.
"I honestly have no response to that." Koneko answered dryly.
"You can wait until my business is finished." Shadow said as he started to walk away.
"Yeah, sorry. But that Chaos Emerald and I have a date with a monster." Sonic said. Shadow knew Sonic wasn't gonna stop bothering him, so not wanting anymore distractions later on down the line...
"Well then... it'll be a date to die for." Shadow said with Sonic grining at him. Just then, a Time Hole opened up before them, showing a section of the Space Colony Ark. Both Hedgehogs looked at each other, before chasing each other into the portal.
Akeno was the first to sprout her wings and took flight, ending up a few feet before Koneko called out to her. "Where are you going?"
"Was gonna watch the show. Sonic and Shadow duking it out?... Sounds like something worth watching." Akeno said.
"But Gerald said we shouldn't... we could pollute the timeline..." Asia said, though you could hear the confliction her voice. She too would love to see Sonic again, but also knew the risks.
Akeno smirked at her friends below. "Gerald said we couldn't intervene... he never said anything about spectating." She said, then turned her body back around. "Now come on! The Holes closing!" She added, as the Time Hole did start to shrink, and flew after the dual hedgehogs.
It took a few more seconds, but Asia immediately gave into the pier pressure and followed Akeno after spreading her own wings. As for Kiba and Koneko, they just looked at each other for 4 seconds and shrugged it off before doing the same, managing to enter just as the Time Hole closed.
XXX
(AN: If the following scene is used officially, it will be remade into a proper Boss Battle scene)
They ended up on the Space Colony again, the Devils appearing just in time to see Sonic and Shadow racing each other, both of them Boosting as well. Because of this and just how fast both Mobians were moving, it was kinda hard to see exactly what was taking place in the fight. The only time it was clear enough to see anything is when they clashed and attempted to push the other aside, when one of them jumped up or off of something momentarily to try a Homing Attack (which would cause another clash and they'd bounce away from each other), or when one of them would try a Special Attack or Chaos Control.
At one point, only noticed by the Devils however, was Shadow accessing his Doom Powers, presumably going for a Doom Spear or Doom Blast as the other 2 didn't have any application here... but he must have hesitated because he didn't follow through with it, which was surprising. Didn't he say he'd 'use this power as his own'? Plus he's gotten better at controlling them, and the fact they already felt natural according to himself meant there was no other excuse or explanation.
Regardless... that's what cost him the fight.
Sonic, most likely none the wiser of his rivials new abilities that could very easily kill him, was able to land a Homing Attack and slow Shadow down, who lost his balance and tried to Boost away, but thats also when Sonic Boosted into Shadow... it was too much. After being thrown into the air from that attack, Shadow lost the Chaos Emerald as Sonic returned to pick it up.
"Nice hussle, but looks like I won this one. So I'll be taking the Emerald. See ya!" With that, Sonic left after dashing off with his prize.
Draft: Shadow Android Boss Battle
They finally caught up with the Black Hedgehog. Wasn't easy as he constantly stopped time, but they did it... those trains were insane.
"So your Shadow, right?" Akeno asked... Shadow said nothing back. Just stared blankly at them.
"We... we know Sonic... he's your friend, right?" Asia asked.
"Its not him." Koneko said, and it was actually at that moment this Shadow swiped his hands to launch... missles?... Wasn't Shadow an organic being, minus the whole government experiment thing?
Draft: White Space Arrival
After being pulled into that dark portal or tear in reality or whatever the hell that was; Akeno, Kiba, Asia and Koneko opened their eyes to see... whiteness. That's it. Just whiteness as far as the eye could see. The only thing they could gather was they were on some kind of bridge or long seemingly endless road. Aside from that, they got nothing.
"Ugh... is everyone alright?" Akeno asked, glancing around a bit at her fellow Devils.
"We're fine... but what was that?" Asia said.
"We've seen a few dimensional spaces and tears before... that one was new." Kiba said.
Koneko began looking around herself, and she happened to look away to the right, and her normally stoic face cracked a bit with surprise and confusion. "... guys..." was all she said to get their attention, to which they all turned to look where she was looking, and their mouths opened...
Kuoh Town... at least, a portion if it in the from of a small yet tall structure. In fact, the name of the town was written in front of it with letters somehow hanging before it as well. Around the group were more familiar setpieces of Kuoh Town around the entrance to this Kuoh Town biome, such as a few fountains with water frozen in place in a park-like landscape, and a few buildings which were either residential or official. It was hard to tell when they were all currently white... actually, the current landscape was only partially white compared to the rest of this space, the color looking like it was somewhat drained from the rest of it.
"Did Kuoh Town shrink?" Akeno asked, she and the others trying to grasp what was going on here. With how big the city actually was, the would take at 100 of these 'Kuoh Town' biomes to get close to the actual size.
"Ya think that's weird..." Kiba's voice came from further away, so when the girls turned around to see him, he was at an end on the bridge. "Take a look at this."
The girls did in fact follow him see what he was taking about... and it wasn't just the structure with eye staring at them... its what was beyond that made their mouths drop as far as their jaws would allow...
(AN: Shadow Generations White Space theme)
A large body of water... what appeared to be a large castle to the right... what looked like ruins of an older castle on the left... a black structure in the sky in the center of this place... there was allot to unpack here.
Draft: Meeting Shadow
As he exited Rail Canyon, he immediately noticed blond hair... was that...?
XXX
2 minutes earlier...
The group exited Rail Canyon and felt exhausted. It was the infamous tag chase with Sonic all over again, except this time a time-stopping ability was involved. Whenever they tried catching up to Shadow, he'd just get further and further away little by little. With how many times he called out "Chaos Control", it was no surprise as to why they lagged behind, especially Kiba as he was the closest to Sonic in terms of speed.
Then was the whole "getting fired out of a cannon" thing...
"I didn't know trains could do that..." Asia said.
"Those smaller ones were annoying." Koneko said.
"And Shadow... was a robot... did we just...?" Akeno was contemplating if they probably killed Shadow back there and probably fucked something up in the course if history, but thats when they saw 2 robots by what looked like the beginnings of a rocketship, looking over an instruction manual, one reb orb-shaped one and another yellow cube-shaped one.
No, they didn't appear to be weapons like the Egg Pawns they saw, but they still had their guard up regardless. They've dealt with enough surprises already.
"I think we should put the pumps over there!" Said the yellow robot, pointing to a spot on the manual.
"No, because the Wheel Banks go there!" The red robot said, pointing to a different spot on the manual.
"... hey! Maybe they can help!" The cube robot said, happening to notice the Devils approaching cautiously.
"Well, appears we're not the only ones trapped in this white void." The orb shaped robot said. "You all seem intelligent enough... maybe you can help us with something."
Akeno starred as the duo of mini robots, then at rocket they most likely were putting together. Where they trying to use this to escape?... It seemed like a good idea. If this was a place between dimensions, that meant space most likely was somewhere in between, so if they could escape that way, then a rocket would be useful to breathe after exiting.
Still though, as Queen, Akeno was in charge of the peerage now in Rias' absence... could she really trust them? These robots seemed harmless enough. Otherwise they would have attacked them already, right? It was her call, and whatever she decides is on her.
"Your building a spaceship to fly outta here?" Akeno asked.
"Exactly. We found what appears to be the framework of a rocket." The orbed robot said, gesturing to the rocket's frame. "Just imagine! If we can complete it, we can slip the bonds of this ceasless expanse."
"Yeah, and we can fly outta this white void too!" The cubed robot said, repeating the same thing essentially as the other one... he was the slower of the 2 obviously.
"However, we lack the speed and tenacity to search for the necessary parts, you see." The red orb continued.
"Sounds like laziness to me." Koneko said dryly, mainly as a jab.
"Wow! You guys really are smart! The boss would love you, right Orbot?" The yellow cube said.
"Shush, Cubot!" The red robot snapped to the yellow one, making the Devils glance at each other. "So if you don't mind, could you look for parts that could help in the reconstruction?"
Before they could give the robot duo an answer, the section they were in began to hum, and the color began to be restored but only certain parts... was Sonic nearby? Then, Orbot tilted his head after noticing someone behind them slowed walk up to them.
"Oh. Hello, Shadow."
That's when the Devils eyes went full alert and turned around quickly, seeing Shadow coming out of the Rail Canyon entrance... how did he survive that?! Kiba cut his body in half from the waist down, leaving nothing but wires!
"Please don't smash us to bits!" Cubot added a bit nervously, but all Shadow did was fold his arms and kept his serious expression. He also appeared surprised to an extent, but then calmed down... so it wasn't a dream per say, he just got confused with someone else.
Even as Shadow stayed silent, Orbot continued. "How are you this fine..." He paused to think. "Morning? Evening? It's hard to say."
"Because unlike you lazy buckets of scrap metal, Omega already duced we are in some sort of anomaly without time or space." Shadow said, albiet it sounded quite rude, even dryer than Koneko. "And what is this? Some kind of weapon?" He added, completely ignoring the Devils, which they did take some offense too. He was an insanely focused person though, they couldn't lie.
"No, we're not building a weapon! Honest!" Cubot defended.
"Yes. Quite so. We were just telling our new acquaintances about how we found this lying around and how we could use it as an escape." Orbot said.
"I don't like it here. It gives me the heebie-jeebies." Cubot added.
"At least we're together." Orbot also added, expressing that despite being trapped, he was at least with his partner. "The boss went after that strange energy and disappeared."
That caught the Devils attention... strange energy? That was the Time Eater, right? That Eggman went after if they remembered the 'McNosehair' story correctly?... That alone pretty much confirmed it, they WERE in fact pulled into the White Space Sonic spoke about in a particular adventure he went on years before meeting them! But how? Why? Could this fuck up the timeline if they accidently ran into Sonic?
"... You have fun building your Lego Rocketship. I have more important things to do." Shadow dismissed them entirely and began to turn away to leave.
Okay... still rude, but assuming they knew each other better than they did, the Devils didn't comment on this. They did however gather, despite what Sonic said about him restoring White Space, it would appear Shadow could too... somehow.
"Your Shadow?... Sonic's friend?" Akeno asked, still a bit cautious.
Hearing his and Sonic's name, he did turn back to Akeno. "Who's asking?"
Geez, that demeanor was gonna take some getting used to. It was easier to get along with Sonic, being as friendly as he was, but Shadow appeared to be the polar opposite. More to the point. They were just so used to Mobians like Sonic and Tails...
"I'm Akeno. And these are my friends; Kiba, Koneko, and Asia." Akeno said, introducing the rest of them with a gesture of her hand. "We're friends of Sonic... or, not yet I guess...?"
That last sentence did peak Shadow's interest to a degree, his eyebrow cocking up at her. "So, what? Your saying your from the future?" Shadow asked. No, it didn't sound like he was berating her or doubting her story, it sounded more like a genuine question, albeit in his brooding tone.
"Sonic in our world told us about this. At least from his perspective," Kiba said. "How time itself was being devoured by monster called the Time Eater controlled by Eggman."
"Time Eater, eh?" Shadow asked. So was that the thing that sent him here in the first place after he found the fake emerald? Most likely. And the Doctor was also involved?... Actually, Omega mentioned chasing it, so these people weren't lying. The stories lined up. But why would the Doctor pull 4 random human kids from the future? What was their connection to him? "And the Doctor pulled you here why?"
"It wasn't the Time Eater... we don't think..." Asia said, explaining their side of the story. "We never saw the Time Eater exactly, a tear in our dimension pulled us in..."
"For us, this happened before we ever met Sonic." Akeno added on. "But we all want to get home, maybe we can help each other out. You help Sonic all the time, right?"
Shadow could admit that wasn't a bad idea. As they seemed to have prior knowledge of all this happening, that could benefit him in his goals of finding Black Doom and escaping this void.
Even so, Shadow give a dismissive gruff as he turned to walk away again "Humph... if you can keep up, you can stick around. Otherwise, stay out of my way." He then twisted his body a bit...
WHOOSH!
Akeno, Asia, Kiba and Koneko braced themselves and their clothes; grunting and eeping from the sudden rush of wind generated as Shadow dashed off, very much so reminiscent of the tag game with Sonic that faithful day. He skated back through a door in the distance.
The Devils blinked a few times, then Akeno frowned.
"What's his problem?" She said.
"Didn't know 'lone wolf' translated to 'asshole'." Koneko commented. Yes, Sonic mentioned Shadow was in fact a solo type of guy and was serious in his pursuit of his missions... they didn't think it would be this bad.
Yeah... definitely needed some getting used to.
"... We'll save you seats in the rocket, buddies!" Cubot said, randomly.
Entry#671
I honestly don't know what happen... how it happened or why... but it would appear I've become stuck in a time anomaly of sorts. I don't know if this entry or any following entries I jot down will even exist when me and Maria return home... somehow she was brought with me, and she was with Shadow according to some of my colleagues... how far we've come. Everyone's really starting to warm up to Shadow, of course Maria's bubbly positivity obviously helped... she really is precious.
Speaking of Shadow, he didn't appear with us in this white void... perhaps he was left behind? Or he's somewhere here too?... How do we even get home?... I'll figure something out...
Entry#672
I've decided to dub this void as "White Space"... I'm naming it after the empty space between and around text on a page or a screen. From what I can gather, the various biomes in close proximity, yet also separated by white spaces in between... Ha! I sound like a mad scientist. I don't have a camera for any video evidence, just me and my journal, with Maria as my only witnesss... no one would believe this.
It's truly fascinating... castles, canyons with train stations, islands with technology that connect directly to the brain, even having some similarities to that angelic island... I have a theory time probably has very little meaning here, but I fear anything we touch could trigger a butterfly effect. Maria did nearly try running into the distance, claiming she saw Shadow near the Ark... even if that is true, I have seen Black Doom's henchmen running around... she needs to stay close. I have to protect her.
Entry#673
Maria was nearly killed or to be harvested by the Black Arms, there was nothing I could do... then a miracle happened... Shadow. I saw it at a distance after exploring a war-torn city (an apocalyptic future perhaps?), he expertly dispatched them all. That's to say nothing of the kids with him that saved me, wielding swords and elemental attacks... they looked human, but I surmise there's more to them.
And Shadow... he's stronger and more confident... more focused... is this our Shadow?...
Entry#676
Shadow is not directly connected to the Black Arms hive mind, meaning despite being made by their blood, he can resist its pull... but only as long as his mind itself remains stable. Now that he's starting to discover the dormant power in his body from the Black Arms DNA, he is becoming more like them. His most recent Morph Ability being a prime example of this.
Black Doom will try to take control of him in some shape or form, internal or external. Either take over his mind, and Shadow will be forever bound to the hivemind; or take over his body as use him as a "host" of sorts. Either way, he will be lost.
While Maria and Shadow's friends were definitely concerned, Shadow himself took it surprisingly better than I anticipated... I'm starting to believe this is not the same Shadow me and Maria are familiar with... is he from the future? An alternate timeline?
He wants to tell me something... something important... different timeline or not, I know my son well. Even so, regardless of how important it may be, I can't in good conscience take that information. Even if time itself is meaningless here, the influence of the events that happen in this White Space could result in irreversible damage to the time stream itself.
Regardless... the more power he obtains, so does Black Doom. Both of them are nearly on par with all 7 Chaos Emeralds.
Entry#678
These... "Devils" as they call themselves... they are truly an interesting species. A few of them have special mechanisms in their bodies they call "Sacred Gears", while the rest of their abilities they claim is magic... its like that island all over again. I would love to see what I can discover from them, but it feels taboo too even attempt to do so... they are only children after all, only a little older than Maria herself.
Then there's Akeno... very handsome woman, I suppose... its just her, how do I say this kindly... obsession?... Maria does like her, and they get along well enough, but she could be somewhat of a negative influence... I'll keep an eye on her...
Additional (and possible) Stage List
Shrouded Forest
White Acropolis
Gimme Shelter
Dragon Road
Asteroid Coaster
Night Palace
Honeycomb Highway
Frozen Forest
Death Yard Zone OR Chaotic Inferno Zone
Olympic Games
High School Submit (Original DxD Stage)
Townhouse Tustle (Original DxD Stage)
Museum Mayhem (Original DxD Stage)
Germory Castle (Original DxD Stage)