The Ultimate Lifeforms

Breaking a Promise

(Space Colony ARK – Over 50 Years Ago)
"Freeze!" The guard shouted as he raised his gun. "Take your hand off that lever!"
Maria gasped as she turned and met his gaze for a moment, her young blue eyes filled with fear. Pushing her feelings of terror aside, she turned her attention back to the lever which would insure the safety of her friend and the existence of his newest companion.
"I'm not fooling around here!" the guard shouted, keeping his gun aimed directly at Maria.
"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog." Using all her strength, she pulled down, launching the two pods towards Mobius, one somehow teleporting to another point in time.
A gun fired.
Suddenly, everything went black.

(The False G.U.N. Investigation Report)
Due to an unfortunate accident and miscommunication, our initial suspicion of the abuse of government resources to fund and create the "Ultimate Lifeform" was false.
No evidence of such a creature ever existing was found in the laboratories or computer data.
A total of 57 casualties have been reported, a result of members of the ARK attempting to attack G.U.N. soldiers and failure to cooperate with the investigation.
Head scientist, Gerald Robotnik, has been arrested for interfering with an investigation and embezzlement of government funds.
A warning has been issued to the general public warning of falling space debris due to the accident, including two capsules. These capsules are highly unstable and are thought to contain nuclear power sources. All civilians are advised to steer clear of such debris and notify the proper authorities immediately.
As of this report submission, neither of the capsules have been found.

(Present Day)
A loud and up-beat tune whistled down the hallway as the evil genius and self-proclaimed ruler of the world marched happily down the hall of the abandoned space station. After yet another defeat at the hands of his speedy blue nemesis, Eggman was willing to take the time to perfect his plan.
Defeat at the hands of Sonic the Hedgehog was nothing new to him; in fact it was practically a weekly occurrence. Heck, Eggman had overthrown a monarchy and built an empire, lost it to Sonic, built an entire army, and lost that too, because of Sonic.
This time, he was sure it would all go according to plan. That was what he always told himself before he launched a new campaign to rid himself of the blue speedster, but this time he was willing to wager his entire empire.
This time, he would not be working alone.
As the evil doctor approached the end of the hallway, the metallic doors slid open for him, revealing the ARK's observation deck.
Eggman smiled darkly, seeing the ace in his hand already there on the deck, watching the planet below them. He knew he would be there. He alone held what the Ultimate Lifeform truly wanted.
Frowning, Shadow the Hedgehog turned from the window to face the figure entering the room after hearing his footsteps and the door opening.
"Well, Shadow," Eggman began. "It's good to see you. I had a feeling you would accept my invitation."
"Let's just cut to the chase," Shadow growled, not in the mood for any of the evil doctor's games. "The journal pages, you said you had them. Where are they?"
Eggman reached into his red jacket and drew some weathered, folded papers from the inner pocket. "They're right here, but you know what you have to do if you want them."
Shadow turned back to the window, staring at the blue planet once more. "Fine. I'll get you what you want." Though Shadow loathed the idea of working for Eggman as if he were one of his lackeys, especially since it meant breaking his promise, he desperately needed the papers in Eggman's hands. They were the journal pages from Professor Gerald Robotnik's scientific and personal journal, and the only remaining documents containing the truth about Shadow's past and creation. True, he could use brute force to get the papers out of Eggman's hands, but they were only part of the journal, not the whole thing. If he wanted the complete book, he would have to go along with what Eggman wanted.
Eggman smiled. "Excellent, I knew you wou-"
"But!" Shadow interrupted him before he could go off on a rant; wanting to be sure he was heard. "I will do it under one condition."
"And what is that?" Eggman asked, still smiling and genuinely interested in what the black hedgehog desired.
"You have to swear to me."
"Swear what?"
"Swear that you won't kill him." As much as he hated to admit it, Shadow was willing to stoop to some unethical means of getting what he wanted, but he wasn't willing to dirty his hands with blood for it, especially not the blood of his best friend.
Eggman let out a rousing bout of laughter at this. His laughter, however, was cut short as he was suddenly on the floor with an angry black hedgehog standing over him with the front of his jacket in hand.
"I'm serious about this!" Shadow snarled. "Swear to me or I will teleport off the station right now and inform them of your whereabouts!"
"Why do you suddenly care about him so much?" Eggman asked, smirking. "Something happen in Mobotropolis?" Shadow's refusal to be involved if death was involved was piquing his interest. It wasn't like the Ultimate Lifeform's hands were clean of blood in the first place. Plus, he hadn't failed to notice Shadow's sudden, friendly attitude towards him.
"That's none of your business!" Shadow spat.
"Besides, I fight those I have to," he continued, still glaring menacingly at the fat man beneath him. "I may have taken far more lives than you, but I refuse to have the blood of the innocent on my hands. I was created to protect the world and that is exactly what I will do if you intend to end his life."
"All right." Eggman pushed Shadow off of him and stood up, fixing his jacket. "You have my word. I won't kill the rat while he's on the ARK. Happy now?"
"For now." Shadow muttered, moving away from Eggman. "When do you want him?"
"Before the end of tonight."
Shadow removed his Chaos Emerald from its hiding place. Just as he was about to use it to leave, Eggman stopped him.
"Hold on, Shadow. Not yet."
Shadow's face immediately fell even further. "What? Why?"
Eggman went on to explain why Shadow needed to wait a bit.
"Fine. When do I leave?" Shadow asked, wanting to get the experience over with as quickly as possible. He was ready to go, but who knew what Eggman had in mind.
"Just a few more hours."

Sonic inhaled, taking a deep breath of fresh mountain air as he lay on the ground. The forest reminded him of his childhood home in the outskirts of Robotropolis. It was always nice to take a stroll through memory lane.
Deeply relaxed, the blue hedgehog closed his eyes, hoping to take a quick nap before heading back to the house, which he now shared not only with Tails, but with Shadow as well. They were all still getting used to living with each other, especially Tails and Shadow. Tails hadn't taken the news that Shadow was moving in very well, but they were starting to get used to it.
Just as he was about to drift into unconsciousness, he felt a blast of energy suddenly strike him on the side of his face.
Snapping up to full attention, Sonic recognized the the blast as a Chaos Spear. He looked up to see Shadow standing on a boulder. "What the heck are you doing, Shadow?!"
"Sorry about this, little brother," Shadow apologized. In the blink of an eye, Shadow was on top of Sonic, the two of them sliding towards the base of a nearby tree at full speed.
Putting his hands behind his head, Sonic used the impact to give himself some momentum. Pulling his legs close to his body, he kicked forward, sending Shadow flying off of him in the opposite direction as he curled up into a ball and bounced off the tree.
Shadow flipped himself mid-air, landing on his feet as adrenaline pumped through his veins. Not wasting any time, he charged straight for Sonic again.
The two hedgehogs both curled up to strike one another. Had any person ventured onto the scene, all they would have seen were the two ricocheting off one another at breath-taking speeds.
"How long are we going to do this for?" Sonic asked as he dropped, grabbing the incoming Shadow by his chest fur and throwing him off course. "Another minute or so?"
"That's all the time I need to pin you down." Shadow hit the ground, sliding.
"Okay, joke's over, Shads. What's going on?" Though he hid it perfectly, Sonic was starting to feel slightly nervous. Why was Shadow after him? Somehow, he doubted it was because the black-and-red hedgehog was bored.
Shadow tackled Sonic, causing the two to tumble a few times before coming to a stop, Shadow on the top. Shadow firmly placed his hands on Sonic's shoulders, pinning him down.
"I'm really sorry about this," Shadow whispered, looking like he felt really guilty.
Sonic stared at Shadow, only to see the darker hedgehog bringing a syringe to his arm. "What is that?! What are you doing?! Shadow! Stop!" he all but shouted, now fighting desperately with a newfound fervor.
With a sigh, Shadow placed the syringe on the ground, out of Sonic's reach, but still within his own. He put his hand back on Sonic's shoulder and sat on Sonic's legs to hold them down.
"Shhh... Calm down, Sonic. It'll be okay," Shadow whispered soothingly, still looking really guilty. "Now, I'm going to give you this sedative. I know you'll be in a situation you won't like when you wake up, but I need you to trust me." Shadow then went on to explain what was going to happen. Sonic trembled, scared about what was going to happen to him. As Sonic relaxed (though still trembling), Shadow stopped pinning him down.
"We're going to get through this, but you're going to need to pull yourself together. I promise I'm going to get you out of this, but it's going to take some time before I can. I need you to wait and just trust me, okay?"
Sonic nodded shakily in understanding. Shadow inserted the needle into Sonic's arm. He injected all the liquid and removed the needle.
As the sedative kicked in, Sonic felt himself getting extremely weak. Before he knew it, his eyes were forcing themselves shut as he fell into a deep sleep.
Shadow hoped that Eggman hadn't lied to him about what was really in the syringe. For all he knew, he could have injected Sonic with a lethal poison. He comfortingly stroked Sonic's quills, then gently picked him up, carrying him in his arms. He then pulled out his Chaos Emerald from his quills.
"Chaos Control."