Sonic the Hedgehog and all related official characters are copyrights of SEGA and Archie Comics, used without permission. All non-official characters are copyrighted by me. Please don't use without permission.

Author's Note: This story takes place immediately following "The Dark Prophecy" and is an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. I will be posting a new chapter every few days or so. As always enjoy reading it and please provide constructive criticism as it aids in helping me improve my skills.

Shadow of a Hero

Chapter 1

August 23, 2323 21:02

"Intruder is in Sector 4-N, Security Gate 3! Repeat! Intruder is in Sector 4-N, Security Gate 3!" said a female voice over speakers all throughout the base. A small armored walker that resembled Eggman's hovercraft with a set of mechanical legs and a laser cannon attached on the back left side of the walker's body started marching through the freshly blasted open security door as Dr. Eggman laughed behind its controls. As soon as the walker was through the door, however, he happened upon the first robots to block his way since entering the base.

Several of the robots were humanoid in shape, their left hands replaced by laser cannons. Flying above the humanoid robots were several orb shaped ones sporting fins that went around their entire midsections. Each one sported a laser cannon on their undersides. Eggman didn't wait for the robots to make the first move. The walker's laser cannon opened up, rapidly taking aim and blasting each of the robots apart.

"Ha! That was entirely too easy!" laughed Eggman as the last robot was blown apart by the walker's weapon. The vehicle once again advanced deeper into the compound as Eggman headed in the direction of the base's most secured research facility located deep underground within the base.

Back at the base's command center, several dozen people were scrambling to keep track of what was going on. With what little information they had to go on, their ability to mount an effective defense of the base was proving difficult. One lone man, however, remained surprisingly calm despite the chaos going on around him.

The human was well past the normal age of retirement, his dyed brown hair hinting at a younger age but his wrinkles a dead giveaway that he was an older gentleman. Yet his dark green eyes held a fire behind them that still burned with a sense of duty accented by the commendations and medals adorning the red and blue sash that went around his upper body.

"Status report, Sergeant Natara. Where is the intruder headed?" asked the human, looking down at a young female human officer stationed at one of the computer consoles in the room. Her vibrant blue eyes still held with them the look of youthful enthusiasm, though at the moment they were filled more with a questioning look as she read over the data coming in.

"I'm not sure, Commander Korvak," said the woman, looking up from the console and back at the man. "They seem to be headed in the direction of the research facility at the center of the base." Hearing this, the commander's eyes went wide. This wasn't lost on Natara as she saw his reaction.

"Redouble our efforts to stop the intruder! They must not reach that facility!" said Korvak.

"Sir, I don't think we can stop them," said Natara. Korvak's face grimaced.

"Then it's time for drastic measures…Tell Captain Pathos to prepare to engage the intruder as soon as he can. If he spots a mobian hedgehog with the intruder, kill it on sight," said Korvak. Now it was Natara's turn to widen her eyes.

"Sir, do you really think it's necessary to use the B-3X Hot Shot walker to defend this facility?" asked Natara.

"If this intruder can lay waste to our smaller combat robots this easily, then we need to bring in the big guns to fight them," said Korvak.

"Very well, sir," said Natara, turning back to the console as she typed a command into the console. "The order's been sent."

"Good," said Korvak. But despite the order having been given, he was still disturbed. No one but himself and a select few of the military's highest ranking officers knew of the significance of what was currently being stored inside of the facility. How this intruder knew of its contents was worrying him. Realizing he'd have to confer with his fellow members of G.U.N.'s High Command about this turn of events, he turned and headed towards the command center's exit.

"I was hoping there would be a little more challenge breaking into this place, but so far it's been a bore. But I doubt their security will be anywhere near this lax the next time someone tries to break in," said Eggman to himself as he piloted his walker through the final corridor leading to the entrance to the underground facility. As he reached the end of the corridor, a massive reinforced security door barred his entrance into the facility.

"Well, I could run a decryption program to open this door, but where's the fun in that?" Eggman then lined up the walker perpendicular to the door, a hatch opening in the front midsection of the walker's body as energy started to gather in a laser lens embedded in the hatch. A smile spread across his face as the lens finished charging. The walker then fired a large beam of energy that slammed into the door, blasting open a large hole in it.

"Good to know it wasn't a waste building a smaller version of the Egg Cannon weapon for this walker," said Eggman. Urging the walker through the hole in the door, Eggman was astounded to find that the "facility" at the heart of the base was nothing of the sort. Rather it was a large room that housed but a single small cryo pod next to a rather large computer at the far side of the room.

"Interesting…I expected this 'Ultimate Life Form' to be bigger than something that could fit inside of a pod of that size," said Eggman as the walker crossed the room, coming to a stop a few yards away from the console. He then lowered the walker's body to the ground before dismounting the vehicle. Walking over to the console, he looked over the controls.

"Let's see…" he said as he began to enter commands into the console.

"Enter user data…Enter password…M-A-R-I-A," he said, entering the same five letter word that had given him access to the top secret files of Project Shadow that had led him to this very machine. The console then lit up as it accepted the password.

Grinning from ear to ear, Eggman then entered the command to open the pod connected to the console. A loud hissing noise started to sound from the pod as its seal was broken for the first time in nearly fifty years.

Thick clouds of carbon dioxide began to issue forth from pod, quickly obscuring it from Eggman's view as the cryo pod rapidly unfroze its contents. As the seconds ticked by and the cloud of gas began to dissipate, a figure lurking in the cloud started to become visible. Eggman's eyes instantly widened, realizing the figure looked all too familiar.

"Is that you Sonic? How in the world did you find out I was coming here!?" shouted Eggman angrily. But as the cloud finally disappeared, Eggman realized that it wasn't Sonic he was looking at, but rather another person altogether.

"Wait a second…You're not Sonic! Who are you?" While it was indeed a late teenage mobian hedgehog that was now standing next to the pod, it was most definitely not Sonic. This was evident by the fact that this hedgehog's fur wasn't blue, but rather jet black with a patch of white fur on his chest. The quills on the sides of his head curved up instead of down like Sonic's did.

Each of his quills sported a red stripe going straight through the top middle, his fiery red eyes staring at Eggman with a look that sent a chill through the human. In addition to the white with red trim air shoes he wore, gold bracelets and anklets adorned his look.

"My name is Shadow," said the hedgehog, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am in your debt for finally setting me free from that capsule. As such, I will grant you any one wish your heart desires." However, before anything else could be said, the remains of the security door that Eggman opened with his walker suddenly exploded in a shower of shrapnel.

"Now what?" asked Eggman, both him and Shadow turning to see what the commotion was about. As the smoke cleared, a two legged green and red walker equipped with shoulder mounted missile pods that towered over Eggman's own walker stepped through the entryway.

"Let me show you a small sample of what I am capable of doing by destroying this nuisance. Then we will continue our conversation," said Shadow as he began to walk in the direction of the giant walker. Eggman turned around to watch as the two enemies prepared to square off.

"Hot Shot to command. I've spotted the intruders. One of them is Dr. Eggman. Repeat. One is Dr. Eggman. The other contact is a mobian hedgehog. Engaging to kill as ordered," said Captain Pathos into his comm unit. Immediately he took aim at Shadow with his walker's main weapons. But before he could line up a shot, Shadow suddenly took off from his spot, skating across the room at a high speed thanks to the air shoes he was wearing.

Realizing he'd never acquire a target lock with the enemy moving at such a high speed, Pathos opted to forgo targeting and instead unleash a quarter of his missile payload all at once in the hedgehog's general direction. As the missiles fired, Shadow expertly dodged out of the way of each one as holes were blown open in the room's floor. Leaping high above the final missile and into the air, Shadow pulled his right hand just in front of his left shoulder as a ball of energy began to gather in his palm, quickly growing in size.

"Chaos Spear!" cried Shadow, flinging the ball of energy at the walker's left missile pod. The energy blast slammed into the pod, causing the pod to explode. Its remaining payload went off from the energy blast hitting it as the walker started to tip over. But before it could, engines on the underside of its feet fired. The walker then suddenly took to the air as its legs folded up underneath it.

Shadow's eyes narrowed as he landed on the ground, looking up at the flying walker as it took aim at him. Shadow shot from his spot once more, skating across the room towards the walker. In response, it unloaded all of its remaining missiles from the remaining pod at the charging hedgehog.

Most of them went wide, but one struck the ground less than a foot in front of Shadow, the explosion concealing the black hedgehog in smoke. Inside the walker, Pathos breathed a sigh of relief. He was sure that the explosion had caused a good amount of damage to the hedgehog if not having killed it outright.

But that relief was suddenly dashed as a whirling ball of black spines emerged from the cloud of smoke aimed right at the walker. Eggman's eyes widened in shock as he witnessed Shadow perform Sonic's signature spindash move. Until just now, he had never seen another mobian be capable of performing the move. Pathos immediately tried to move the walker out of the way, but his reaction time was too slow.

Shadow crashed through the left leg's connecting bracers, shredding it off the walker and causing it to go into an uncontrolled spiral towards the ground. Pathos closed his eyes and held on for dear life till the walker finally crashed to the ground, coming to a rest in a heap.

Pathos remained slumped in the cockpit, unconscious from a blow to the head he suffered when the walker crashed. With the threat of the walker now gone, Shadow turned back around and started walking back towards Eggman. He noticed the overweight human had a stunned look on his face.

"I take it you're impressed, human?" asked Shadow as he came to a stop a few feet away from Eggman.

"I…I'm speechless Shadow. I've only seen one other person able to move like that. And he certainly can't perform that energy blast move like you did. How did you do it?" asked Eggman.

"I am able to harness the chaos energy in the air around me, manipulating it to perform energy attacks such as the one you saw me perform. I have other unique abilities as well. However, they pale in comparison to what I am capable of doing with a Chaos Emerald's energy at my disposal," said Shadow. Looking over at Eggman's walker, a smile crossed his face before he looked back at the doctor.

"I can sense one is here. Perhaps in your own walker judging by the hole I saw blasted in the door before the military walker destroyed it." Eggman merely nodded in response to the inquiry.

"Then if you would be kind enough to hand it over, I will assist in getting the two of us to a place where we can continue our discussion without the threat of being interrupted again," said Shadow.

"Generally I don't hand over something as valuable as a Chaos Emerald without a very good reason. However, I am curious to see what you can do with one's power," said Eggman as he walked over to his walker, reaching into the cockpit as he retrieved the aqua Chaos Emerald from its housing. He then turned back to Shadow, tossing the gem into the black hedgehog's waiting hand.

"Very well. Then I shall show you another of my powers. If you would be so kind as to get back in your walker, I will get us out of this place," said Shadow as he walked over and placed his free hand on the walker. Eggman complied, climbing back into the vehicle. Once he was properly seated, Shadow closed his eyes and began to concentrate, searching out a certain aspect of the Chaos Emerald's energy field. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes as the emerald's glow began to intensify.

"Chaos Control!" cried Shadow, a flash of light bursting forth from both himself and the Chaos Emerald, the light engulfing Eggman's walker. Almost instantly the light vanished, both Shadow and Eggman having vanished along with it.

Nearly a hundred miles inland, deep inside of a large forest, a burst of light exploded out of thin air as Shadow and Eggman reappeared.

"What the heck did you just do!?" cried Eggman, taken completely off-guard by their new surroundings.

"I teleported us to an area far removed from that island," said Shadow as he lowered his hand off the walker. He then walked around to its front and turned to face Eggman. "Now then, I believe we were discussing your one desire before we were so rudely interrupted."

"I must say that I am very impressed with you, Shadow. My grandfather certainly wasn't exaggerating when he claimed that you were the ultimate life form," said Eggman. Hearing that caused Shadow's eyes to widen slightly, but only for a moment before his face returned to its stoic look.

"Interesting…You said Professor Gerald Robotnik was your grandfather? Does that make you one of his descendants?" asked Shadow, his own interest now caught with this turn of events.

"It does. I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, now known as Doctor Eggman by the world," said Eggman.

"I suppose it is only fitting that my new master is descended from my creator," said Shadow.

"Master?" asked Eggman, looking at Shadow questioningly.

"Of course. I am in your debt for freeing me from that icy prison. And as I said before, I will help you achieve any desire your heart has," said Shadow. Hearing that brought a massive grin to Eggman's face.

"I have but one simple desire, Shadow. I wish to take over the world and create the ultimate empire to rule it all!" he cried.

"Then you are in luck, doctor. I have the perfect way for you to achieve your goals," said Shadow. He then turned and started walking away from Eggman, tossing the Chaos Emerald over his shoulder towards a surprised Eggman who barely managed to catch the gem.

"Meet me tomorrow night at exactly ten thirty in the evening aboard the space colony ARK. And bring that Chaos Emerald with you because we will need it," said Shadow.

"Meet you aboard ARK? And just what are you going to do in the meantime?" asked Eggman. Shadow came to a stop and looked back at Eggman.

"I could sense another Chaos Emerald just along the shoreline of where that island was at. I am going to go retrieve it tomorrow afternoon, then meet you aboard the ARK at the designated hour. For now, I am going to rest and recover my full strength for that task. Despite being frozen in a deep sleep for fifty years, my body needs natural sleep to recover fully from the weakening effects of the hibernation I've been in," said Shadow. He then started to skate away from Eggman at a high speed, leaving the doctor alone to ponder this turn of events.

August 24, 2323 2:34

Commander Korvak stood at the head of a somewhat large conference table. Around the table sat some of the highest ranking generals of the G.U.N. organization. Not all of them were present, but enough to discuss at length what had happened. Each of them looked nervous, as news of Eggman's escape with the black hedgehog they only knew of as Shadow was now the topic at hand.

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say we can't let news of Shadow's release get out," said Command Korvak. "The fact that Eggman knew about him disturbs me." He then placed both hands on the table and leaned on them as he looked back at the other humans.

"Nothing has ever been leaked about Project Shadow after…Well, after what happened aboard ARK all those decades ago," said Korvak. He then rose back up and turned to his left.

"But from what we've been able to gather from our computer records over the last few days, we found a breach into our mainframe databanks. When our technicians went over the data, they discovered that not only had our robot schematics been accessed, but a certain file had been downloaded and then deleted from our computer mainframe," said Korvak.

"Project Shadow's file…" said one of the generals, his voice filled with concern. "And how did the technicians not notice this file being missing from the mainframe?"

"We...never believed someone could hack into the mainframe. So...we didn't keep a constant watch over it," admitted another general, lowering his head. This caused the first general to just put his head into his hands in disbelief.

"Regardless of that, we believe Dr. Eggman was the hacker after tonight's attack and that he plans to use Shadow for some terrible purpose. The problem is we don't know what that purpose is," said Korvak as he turned back to face the table again. "But our biggest problem at the moment is how to cover up what happened here tonight. Several officers witnessed Shadow's fight with our walker through our security cameras. We need to make them believe Shadow was…someone else."

"What are you suggesting?" asked another general.

"We know for a fact that tomorrow Sonic Hedgehog will be arriving in Zephyr City to witness his friend Miles Prower receive the Medal of Valor from President Quinn," said Korvak.

"You can't be serious. Blaming the greatest hero of this world for tonight's events?" asked the first general, a stunned look on his face. Korvak sighed, then turned away from the others.

"Need I remind you of what happened fifty years ago? We were all there when the incident happened aboard the ARK. Sure we were low ranking soldiers at the time, but we committed horrific acts that day. All to sate the fears of our superiors…" said Korvak. The rest of the humans all lowered their heads at that reminder. Korvak then turned back around.

"If it is discovered that G.U.N. was responsible for one of the largest acts of terrorism in this planet's history, then at best our organization would be dismantled. And at worst, those of us that partook in the act will stand trial as traitors to this nation," said Korvak This caused murmurs to begin all around the table.

"But what happens when we capture Sonic? That plan falls completely apart once Shadow does something after that," said one of the generals.

"It's not ideal, I know. But it will buy us some time to try and discover Eggman's plans. I've already alerted our top operative of the situation and she agreed to assist in finding out what Eggman has planned for Shadow starting tomorrow," said Korvak.

"Why not start now?" asked another general. Korvak sighed before clasping his hands behind his back.

"Because, as you know, this agent always seems to get into trouble with her…hobby. If she didn't get excellent results with every mission we give her, I'd have left her to pay for her actions a long time ago," said Korvak.

"Who is she trying to get away from this time?" asked the first general.

"All she said was there was a crazed mobian that's been after her for nearly two weeks now," said Korvak.

"Two weeks? What kind of mobian is that dedicated to getting back a gem?" asked the second general.

"A persistent one apparently," said Korvak. "Still, she believes she has lost him, but wants to wait till morning to be sure. Now then, any suggestions on how we go about capturing Sonic?"

August 24, 2323 11:08

Nearly a hundred and fifty miles north of where Shadow had left Eggman behind, a massive desert stretched for miles in all directions. Normally the desolate landscape was home only to a few creatures and plants that could withstand the intense heat and super dry conditions. However, standing out in the desert sands next to a giant green gem were two mobians, one female and one male. And each one was yelling at the other.

"Just leave me alone you annoying pest! Haven't you chased me enough already?" shouted the female mobian, a white bat wearing a black jumpsuit with a purple, heart-shaped top. She also wore white gloves that went up to her elbows and a pair of white boots with purple trim. Her green eyes were filled with anger that was directed towards the other mobian that stood only a few meters away from her.

"Like I'd ever stop chasing after you, thief!" shouted the male mobian, a crimson echidna with a white crescent birth mark on his chest. He was wearing a pair of white gloves and a pair of green, yellow, and red shoes. His own anger filled green eyes were focused on the bat.

"You know well and good that you stole the Master Emerald from my island! And I'll be a human's uncle before I quit trying to get it back from you!" shouted Knuckles.

"Why is this 'Master Emerald' so important to you that you'd chase me across the entire continent just to get it back?" asked the bat.

"Because the Master Emerald contains an enormous amount of chaos energy. Enough to keep Floating Island aloft in the sky," said Knuckles. Here he closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "And I just recently found out it has the power to control the energy of the Chaos Emeralds, making it even more important than I used to think it was."

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" shouted the bat, causing Knuckles to open his eyes again, only to see that the Master Emerald was no longer on the ground. Rather, it was rising into the air towards none other than Eggman's hovercraft, a tractor beam drawing the emerald towards it.

"Well, well…I come looking for a Chaos Emerald and I happen upon something much more valuable," said Eggman. "I'll just take this with me if you don't mind. So long fools!" With that, he gunned the hovercraft's engines.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Knuckles as he jumped right at the Master Emerald as it hung in midair. Pulling back a fist, he thrust it out as he reached the Master Emerald, striking the gemstone as hard as he could. Instantly the Master Emerald shattered into dozens of pieces that went flying off in all directions. As soon as Knuckles landed, the bat ran over and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Why in the world did you break my emerald you stupid idiot!?" she cried as she shook Knuckles hard.

"Let go of me you crazy bat!" shouted Knuckles, finally managing to squirm free of her grasp. "I did that to prevent Eggman from stealing it. Even if it's in pieces, I can restore it." Hearing Eggman's name caught the bat's attention, looking back up at the hovercraft as it started making its way towards the pyramid in the distance.

"So that's Dr. Eggman?" asked the bat.

"Yeah…And knowing him he's probably up to no good," said Knuckles as he watched Eggman head off towards the north. He then took in a deep breath, then gave a loud sigh. "But now, thanks to you, I have to find all those shards all over again just like I did nearly a month and a half ago…Just great…"

"Don't blame me. You're the one who broke it," said the bat. Knuckles frowned angrily as he raised a fist in the bat's direction.

"I wouldn't have had to break it if you didn't steal it from me in the first place!" he shouted. But the bat merely turned away from Knuckles and took to the air.

"Whatever, echidna boy. I've got more important things to do than sit around arguing with you," said the bat as she started flying off in the same direction Eggman had been heading. Now that I have my objective in sight, best not to lose him, thought the bat as she began to follow at a fair distance after Eggman's hovercraft, leaving a fuming Knuckles behind.

"Curse that bat girl…" said Knuckles under his breath. "Guess it's time to see if I can sense where all those shards went flying off to." With that, Knuckles closed his eyes and started to feel the area around him, searching for signs of the Master Emerald's power. I'll never understand why those shards scatter so far when the Master Emerald breaks…thought Knuckles to himself as he started heading southwest in the direction of the first shard he had sensed.