"LIAR!" Shadow the Hedgehog screamed at the orange robot, Gizoid, who had just declared that it carried the mind of Professor Gerald Robotnik-Shadow's own creator, "Gerald Robotnik is dead!"
"No!" The Gizoid snickered, "My body died, but I had foreseen such disaster looming over the horizon! I do not travel forward unprepared, Shadow! When I caught wind of the military headed towards the ARK, I copied my brain into this mindless Gizoid and locked it up until the time was right-my bodily death,"
"For what?" Ruby gasped, "Why would you do all that? Why not just accept what was coming to you?"
"How stupid do you think I am, Ruby?! Why would I let them get away with the travesties they committed in my colony! They destroyed everything I dreamed of!" The Gizoid-Gerald exclaimed.
"What dreams would that be, doc?" Shadow asked, hostilely.
"If you were to know those, Shadow, you'd have to hear the entire story. Are you two curious?" He said, setting the pouch of Chaos Emeralds down behind his legs, "Are you?"
"Fine, we'll listen to your story, professor," Ruby said, kneeling to get more comfortable. It unnerved Shadow that she carried such a submissive air about her.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever," Shadow rolled his eyes, "Go on and tell us then!"
Gerald stood tall as the robotic frame began to speak again (though it lacked a mouth), "Over 60 years ago now, my greatest dream was granted to me by the efforts of the government to fund a project I named: ARK. I told those simpletons that it was to help scientists work in purely scientific environments to try and cure disease and mankind's problems. And like a moth to the flame they ate up my lies! In my heart, I wanted to create something far greater than they could ever comprehend! Not a space station but a space colony! I was going to find a way for mankind to live far beyond the restraints of atmosphere, solar dependence and weakness to disease!
"In secret, I created hidden floors in order to create artificial biomes in order to prepare a mass migration off the Earth and to make a utopia! On this colony, all species could live in peace without the fear of war, disaster or the unpredictable! Then, in turn, we could use the Earth as a prison for criminals-for those who would try and harm our civilization here on the perfect living space-ruled all by my lineage! And so I began making security units to try and protect those biomes from those who would do them harm, but I saw severe flaws in attempting to rely solely on robotic guardians,
"So I created ten perfected creatures, each to guard over a different section of the biomes I had made so that men, furries and animals could live in peace. I code-named them the Shadow Series-that'd be you two and the other eight. Shadow, you were the youngest of the ten, because I went out of my way to perfect your coding to prevent malfunctions such as the Biolizard project. The oldest was the Biolizard-but I overlooked a restraining mechanism, so I had to deport the failure to my Sky Fortress. I then decided to think smaller and worked on creating perfect creatures. Next was Darkness Metal, a totally subservient creature that would not go berserk like the first monstrosity,
"Unfortunately I found him more of a pain than of use, as his power could not improve unless by my hand. So I moved on to my next project: the one you knew as Alpha Ghost. A nanobot-model, and I thought an invincible one! Obviously, you found a way to stop him-otherwise you wouldn't be here. He was so perfect-so I programmed a great deal of his data into your own body alongside of chaos energies and other enhancements to try and make you the perfect, ultimate life form, Shadow!" The Gizoid paused.
"So, you tried to elaborate on what you called a 'success' by using me?" Shadow growled, "I was a guinea pig for a whole new generation or something?!"
"In a word, Shadow, yes, you were," the Gizoid nodded, then continued, "But you didn't come for quite some time. After the first model of Alpha Ghost was made, allowing him to have emotions often led him to pester me with bothersome questions. So, I made the Shadow.bat emotion restriction program in the core of a robotic assistant named Forte Armadda. He helped me keep the Shadow Series in check and allowed me to utilize more resources into keeping the government blind about the colony projects. He also held the keys, within his very life-force jewel, of yours or Alpha Ghost's latent powers-and you seemed to be the lucky one of the two to use those powers for a brief while. But even those were but temporary!
"The other models were all building upon the strange success I found with Alpha Ghost up until I finally ended up with you-as an embryo hedgehog. Around that time, I heard whispers that the government was going to shut down everything I worked so hard to achieve, so I began mass-producing weapons of mass destruction! I would show them not to mess with me-and if I had enough time I would've unleashed you on the world as the most vile, ruthless monster ever! Over time, I was told I had gone mad, so I simply jettisoned anyone who disagreed with my policies here off my ARK!" Gerald laughed.
"Murderer!" Shadow screamed, "What about Maria?!"
"She, dear Shadow, is what held my mentality in check for long enough to ensure all my projects were safely launched away from this colony as the government invaded and raided it. They were all locked away in time within their capsules as they drifted around and around that blue sphere. Over time, their orbits gradually waned as they flew closer and closer to earth and-some faster than others-they plummeted down onto the earth below! Another decade and a half ensued and you made yourself a hero by defeating my great-nephew in battle for the chaos emeralds-a facet I once had here on the ARK but likewise launched away when those murderous humans arrived!
"But, just in case the worst came, (and it did) I programmed an innate instinct into each member of the Shadow Series that if they woke up, that they'd have a drive to destroy the other members. You and Ruby, among an elite few others, seemed to have overcome that desire. However, I myself am now one of the Shadow Series and I will see to the ends of my plans. Now that you are both here, we can move onto the final step of my plan!" Gerald laughed joyously.
"Final step?" Shadow asked, "What final step?"
"Like I said," the Gizoid chuckled, "To take a deserving few-my estimates calculate roughly 100-people from the Earth and bring them here to the ARK. Fifty men, fifty women of human and furries. Then, like the first Ark, two of each animal. And here, they'd be led by me to glorious existence!"
"You mean an unending cycle of non-change," Shadow said, "No, I can't have that happen!"
"Shadow," Ruby peeped up, "Maybe he's right,"
"What?! You can't be serious!" Shadow gasped.
"He's promising a life without pain and suffering-a paradise. Isn't that what you wanted?" Ruby asked her brother in a soft, soothing tone.
"But never experiencing pain-no one will ever learn from an idyllic existence! It'll just be the same thing… forever, without any change or new hopes or aspirations!" Shadow exclaimed.
"Change brings disaster, Shadow," The Gizoid told him, "If we could bring the ones most worth of paradise here-think of it: a life without fearing premature death, depression, sorrow, or fear! It'd be a wonder place, isn't that what you fight for?"
"But imagine it, Gerald: people simply sitting around doing nothing but eating and sleeping for all eternity. What's the point? It's the same thing as a rat in a cage… sorry for the metaphor, Ruby, but you see what I'm going for, right?" Shadow asked.
"I agree with Gerald, that sounds much nicer," Ruby said, standing up and standing with her new allay.
"Ruby!" Shadow gasped, "Didn't you just see what he did to his last 'assistant'?! I can't believe you'd just trust him like this after all he's done! Building life just so that it can destroy itself! I wish he'd never made any one of us! If you bring everyone 'deserving' here, you wouldn't get anyone, Gerald! Besides, what's the use in living in a place where everything is eternally the same-where there really wouldn't be a meaning to life, or a difference in life and death-- and we all bow down to a psychopath?!"
"Shadow!" the Gizoid, now clearly irritated, shouted, "If you will not embrace my ideals, you'll be destroyed by them! Ruby! Those who stand against us must be destroyed! Kill Shadow!"
Ruby gasped, "No! I can't! Shadow's my brother!"
"Ruby! You will kill Shadow, or I will kill you!" The elder Robotnik shouted at her, "What will it be?"
Ruby, grudgingly, turned and faced Shadow and brought out her katana. Shadow's ears drooped as his shoulders fell, "So, this is the way it is now, Ruby? Betraying me for some 'ideal' where you have to turn against your friends for your own life? Is the philosophy you live by 'my life above all others', is it?!" he sighed, a tear visibly rolling down his war-torn face.
Ruby grit her teeth and viciously swung her sword back around towards her creator, the Gizoid, but the metallic hand caught her by the wrist and then grabbed her neck with his free hand before shouting, "So! This is how you repay your father, is it, Ruby? Well, then pay your penitence!" Gerald then lifted the girl in the air and violently shook her before sending her flying through the air and into the wall on the opposite side, blood leaving her body on the impact and even as she crashed lifelessly to the floor.
"Ruby! No!" Shadow screamed as he skated quickly to be with her, but when he arrived it was far too late-she was dead before her body hit the floor.
The black hedgehog choked back a sob as tears rolled down his face in silence as the Gizoid spoke again, "You see, Shadow?! I copied all the data of the Shadow Series into my memory banks! The Gizoid can copy any attack or power-merely by witnessing it! You are not the ultimate life! I am! And now, you may join your siblings beyond the abyss! Now perish!" Slowly, Shadow rose to stand, his back still turned to Gerald Robotnik. Gerald was about to speak again, but before he could Shadow let out a horrible, blood-curdling scream and raced at his creator, his hands in the air like a wild beast about to destroy his target
"DIE! DIE YOU MONSTER! DIE!" Shadow screamed wildly as he thrashed against his metal opponent, "HEARTLESS MURDERER! YOU KILLED MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! YOU DID EVERYTHING! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!!" Shadow's voice was very much different than ever before as his body narrowly dodged a powerful kick from Gerald before delivering a devastating right straight punch into the robot's face, hurling it back into the opposing wall.
The Gizoid rose back to its feet, "Foolish hedgehog. I can't feel pain and I'm in the body of the ultimate warrior! Face my wrath, mortal!" he then lifted the seven chaos emeralds into his arms and howled as they became a rainbow of light and entered into his chest. Shadow felt overwhelming power rage from the metallic frame as the lighting within the ARK was overloaded and the bulbs shattered and the computers overheated. Millions of, "ERROR! ERROR!" messages suddenly began to flash across the monitors and screens.
Shadow looked around, slowly regaining his senses as the ARK began to shake, "Hey! What did you do?!"
Gerald laughed, "I have the ultimate power now! I am perfect! And now-I used the chaos energies to power the ARK to plummet at the blue sphere. You, Shadow, YOU condemned them to this fate-now all life must perish for what you caused! If only you have joined me, we could've been an unstoppable force… but that's okay. I'll enjoy killing you and watching the demise of all existence. Then I'll build my empire on that lifeless bulb,"
"Shut up!" Shadow barked at the robot, "I don't care what power sources you have, I'm gonna rip that rust-bucket body to pieces!"
"Then try, hedgehog!" The Gizoid Gerald challenged, "Try!" Shadow grit his teeth and rushed the robot, but as soon as he got within arms length, the machine vanished. Shadow gasped in surprise but had no time to react as a cold, hard fist slammed into his back and shoved him hard into the metal wall. Shadow then forced himself back up to face his assaulter, who delivered another punch, but Shadow side-stepped it as the attack drove into the then-dented wall. Shadow took advantage of the temporarily stunned robot and drove his foot hard into the Gizoid's chest, but Gerald didn't even flinch from the impact and instead punched Shadow in the gut with the same hand, having just ripped it from the metallic holding place in the wall.
The black hedgehog crumpled down, but then was kicked across the face and flew across the room and into a corner. Shadow was in too much pain to even move so he simply laid there as Gerald calmly walked to him, lifted him up and hurled him roughly into the floor below. Shadow moaned in agony as he tried to lift his bruised, battered and bloody body up from the floor but Gerald was back on top of him and brought the heavy, flat foot down on the hedgehog's spiny back. The robot continued to beat the already downed Shadow over and over and over, laughing all the way, before lifting Shadow up by one hand and socking him in the face, hurling him back into the now-closed door from which he originally had entered.
"How's it feel, Shadow?" Gerald snickered, "To finally be out-matched?!" Shadow groaned as he slowly pushed himself up, but before he even got to his knees, Gerald kicked him hard in the stomach and he crumpled back down to the floor in pain. "You see, Shadow, there are two types of things in existence: Those who win and those who lose. I've done my fair share of losing; so now, I'm going to start winning everything. And don't worry about losing Ruby-you two will always be together: I have full intention on burying you in the same grave!" Gerald then brought his fist directly into the hedgehog's black head, assuming it to be a fatal strike but Shadow was still alive-and conscious no less.
"I'm not giving up," Shadow groaned out, but found himself powerless to stand up, let alone defend himself, "Never… no matter what you do… never… no… never…"
"You're delirious, fool," Gerald told the hedgehog, and then dropped his foot hard onto the spiny head of our hero, "So just give in and die!"
"Never… no… never… no…" Shadow panted as he felt his strength gradually waning.
"You're stubborn! An admirable trait, but it won't save you!" Gerald growled low as he lifted the hedgehog over his head and threw him right through one of the thick, steel walls. When Gerald went to check, Shadow was still alive, regardless of his injuries-and he became infuriated. "You need to croak, now!" Gerald declared as he walked through the hole Shadow opened on impact.
"No…" Shadow grunted in his weak, low-tone as he breathed laboriously. Gerald walked into the round room and looked up at the massive window that was on the opposite side of the room from him.
"Look there, Shadow," Gerald instructed. When Shadow did, he saw the big, blue beautiful Earth staring him back in the face, "That's the planet you condemned to die. Enjoy your last look at it!" the old scientist laughed and punted Shadow into the thick, apparently unbreakable glass. Shadow fell down on his back and groaned, but managed to open his eyes and gaze out the glass and towards the sun, which had just been eclipsed by the sun from his view. Shadow's eyes widened as he viewed the radiant halo gazing back at him and his mind rushed with renewed thoughts of everything it could.
What's Fiona doing right now? Shadow wondered silently, I bet Kindar went shopping again. Flam and Emerald are at the beach today, aren't they? I think Knuckles is working hard on retrieving the pieces of the Master Emerald, right? He panted vigorously as more thoughts filled his body: I wonder what my parents are doing in Heaven now… I sure hope that everyone's okay. I wonder if they can see me. Do they know I'm in trouble? I love you, guys… I wish I could've… could've told you… all that… one last… time… one last… time…
Down below on the Earth, Fiona suddenly gasped as she heard on the TV that the space colony ARK was on a direct crash-course with their fair planet. She then had a terrible premonition about Shadow's fate and began to weep uncontrollably and pray in her heart. Then, she went outside her house and began to chant her fiancée's name. "Shadow! Shadow! We believe in you! Shadow! Shadow!"
Meanwhile, across town, Kindar suddenly dropped her shopping bags filled with new clothes as she gasped from a suddenly shock. She looked around and drew attention to herself from her surprise. Suddenly, a radio in a near-by electronic store announced the bleak fate that faced the planet. The blonde lady rushed outside with many other scared denizens and, she too chanted her friend's name, without even knowing why, "Shadow! Shadow! I know you're up there! I feel you! I believe in you! Shadow! Shadow!"
Even further away were the sister echidnas, Flam and Emerald, building a sand castle. The two looked up into the sky and saw the red star, and they knew in their hearts exactly what it meant for them. They stood up and raised they hands and began chanting "Sha-dow! Sha-dow! Sha-dow!"
Miles from the city stood a lone red echidna, Knuckles, stood on top of a mountain as he lifted a large, green, emerald shard into his massive mitt, but dropped it when he thought he heard a familiar voice speak to him. Knuckles then looked up and clearly saw the red blur in his view which stained the sky as it gradually grew. He took in a mighty breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Shadow! I don't know why, but I know you need my help! I'm here for ya, buddy! You can do it! Shadow!"
Out in the desert, the fat doctor Eggman and his loyal Badnik, Ishnt stood just outside their base having just heard the report of impending doom. "This can't be the way it ends!" Eggman exclaimed, "Something must've gone terribly wrong!"
"What's going to happen?" Ishnt asked.
"I don't know. There's nothing we can do now," Eggman sighed.
Ishnt decided to do the only logical thing at the time, and began waving his arms and cheering, "Shadow! You can do it! You can save the world! You've done before! Do it again! Shadow!"
Eggman looked at his robot like he was insane, but then joined in himself, "Shadow! If you don't save us, I'll have nothing left to conquer! Shadow! Save the world! Shadow!"
Miles above the planet, in the ARK, Gerald slowly stalked towards Shadow as a wolf would a small rabbit, but suddenly hesitated, "What's that? The atmospheric sensors detect something outside the ARK! Something big! But what?"
Shadow's ears softly perked up as a PA system picked up the noises from below-they all blended together in one beautiful, perfect voice shouting "Shadow! Shadow! Shadow!"
"What is that about?!" Gerald demanded.
Shadow gasped a deep breath and began shouting, "I hear you guys! I'm here! I'm here!" he began struggling wildly, but finally forced himself to rise to his feet, miraculously.
"That's not possible! You're supposed to die!" The Gizoid demanded, swinging his arm in fury.
"I can't! I have… I have to fight for them! I'm all they have left! I can't let them down! I have to stop this madness!" Shadow swung his arms up above his head and listened to the serenity of his name, chanted by countless millions over the world and he felt something within his heart trigger. Familiar warmth, a renewed vigor, a supernatural strength: Hope. Hope had been revived in his heart and he no longer felt the fatigue and weariness of countless battles. In a shimmering light that could've dwarfed the sun itself, Shadow unleashed his latent powers: and the silver, shining SuperShadow was born again.
"This is impossible! You're power level is rising now, but before you were for certain a corpse! That's not possible! How?! You can't tap the chaos emeralds' power from that great a distance!" Gerald demanded.
"I don't need the emeralds to be strong when I have the hearts of the world rallying with me now," SuperShadow declared confidently, "Miracles happen, doc, you'd best get used to it! And now, it's time I teach you a lesson and stop this evil!"
"I'd love to see you try!" Gerald challenged, "No more word, Shadow! We fight now!" Gerald then hurled himself at the silver hedgehog, who merely floated off to the side to let the robot slam itself clear through the glass, and both of the fighters were hurled out into the outside of the ARK, but neither one was phased by the lack of oxygen. "Your end draws near! See? We're about to enter the Earth's atmosphere! It's too late now!"
SuperShadow hurled himself forward and kicked the robot in the chest, which hurled it back through the now-burning air as they both were constantly dragged into the flaming-hot atmosphere by the ARK. SuperShadow squinted in discomfort but Gerald began to panic, "It's burning! My systems are overheating! No! This can't be! I'm… supposed to rule everything!"
SuperShadow narrowed his eyes directly at his target, "Now's my chance to end this!" he rushed forward and slammed his hands through the metallic torso of the Gizoid Gerald and felt his hands grip the emeralds stored inside of him.
"W-what are you doing?! Aaaargh!" Gerald howled in agony as his systems gradually began to shut down.
"I'm gonna use our bodies to amplify the chaos energies! That way, I can make a warp zone big enough to move the space colony!" the radiant hedgehog replied, "Now! Activate! Final Chaos Control!" he screamed loudly as energies poured out of the two beings and whirled into a massive white vortex around the dome-and completely vanished. Down below, the people stared in awe but suddenly got a strange message from their local weathermen.
"Look behind you! In the sky!" they declared. When the masses turned to view the scene behind them, the red star now was on the opposite side of the earth, gradually getting smaller and smaller as it left. "Somehow-miraculously-the space colony ARK, a project started by Professor Gerald Robotnik over 60 years ago, had just entered the Earth's atmosphere above the North-Eastern quarter of the world, only to appear on the opposite side leaving the atmosphere! It truly is a day of miracles for us all!"
Even the notorious doctor, Eggman, celebrated, "We live to take over the world!" he sang victoriously. Suddenly, from the sky above him, the robot, Gizoid crash-landed in front of the fat man. It was burnt, broken, and all the memory banks completely wiped clean. Professor Gerald Robotnik was no more, but Eggman had other intentions for the heaven-sent machine. However, not all was well. The ARK was now on a direct crash-course for the sun, Gerald had been stopped and mysteries of the Shadow Series were finally all solved. Only one piece of the puzzle was gone.
Fiona looked around in the crowds and finally asked, "Where is Shadow?! Shadow! Where are you?!"

To be continued…