This is Who I Am (Shadow Saga Series, Book 5)

Chapter 1: A New Challenge

Well, after literal MONTHS of sitting on my butt and not doing anything to update, we are finally at the next part of the Shadow Saga Series. This one is gonna be a doozy.
I'm gonna start off with a bit of a hot take: Shadow 05 is a great game. I have a lot of fun with it when I play, and it's a really good entry with a lot of ambition. The story, though? As hilarious as I find it, it's... a mess, to put it mildly. The morality system, while interesting, was a little too complicated.
So what am I doing with it?
I'm turning Shadow 05's story into a linear, Point A to Point B, level-to-level-to-level narrative. No branching pathways, no morality system, no replaying the same level over and over and over again. Is my interpretation going to be better than the actual game? Heck no. Will I still enjoy myself? You're darn right I will.
Okay, enough preamble. On with the show!
Sonic belongs to SEGA, enjoy!

Westopolis—outside the city

Alone time.

Shadow always enjoyed having his alone time. It was just him, his thoughts, and the wind to keep him company. No annoying blue hedgehogs yammering in his ears about "gotta go fast" and whatnot. Just him, given time for reflection.

But the problem was, he wasn't sure what he was reflecting on.

Shadow stood outside the city of Westopolis, a faint afternoon breeze ruffling his quills and making the leaves above him dance and sing. He felt a newspaper hit his leg for a moment, but he already knew what it said—some nonsense about an upcoming festival to celebrate the passing of a comet in four days' time. Apparently it only happened once every 50 years.

He would be unimpressed, but honestly, humans had weird holidays anyway. Why would they even need a "World Compliment Day"?

Whatever. The point was, Shadow wasn't interested in a massive hunk of rock swinging by the planet. It didn't seem worth shooting fireworks for. And besides, he had bigger things to think about.

"Shadow the Hedgehog"... he thought to himself now, standing with his arms crossed as he pondered. The only thing I have etched in my memory is this name. But a name doesn't mean anything if I can't remember much else about myself.

Almost as far back as his mind went, he recalled the strangest things. Waking up in a container of green fluid, staring out at the world as it drained from his foreign-feeling body. Looking at a stranger, a white bat, who stared at him as if he were a ghost. Nearly getting attacked moments later by a robot, who would later become an ally. Joining up with the bat and the robot to form a team, "Team Dark", on a quest for answers about his past.

Answers which, much to his annoyance, still had yet to be provided.

Omega knew nothing. Rouge had told him nothing. Sonic and his friends had told him nothing. Even the Doctor, Doctor Eggman, had been frustratingly vague on the matter. Shadow was left no closer to discovering who he was or what his purpose was supposed to be.

Now, you may have noticed the use of the word "almost". ALMOST as far back as his mind went. Well, that's because there was one other memory he had.

But it wasn't one he liked thinking about.

A gruesome image. A blonde girl in a blue dress, looking panicked yet as innocent as they come, falling to the floor after a bullet struck her in the chest.

Shadow's own screams in that memory told him the girl's name was Maria.

But that was all he knew.

From what little he could tell, her death wasn't an accident. The man who'd shot her was dressed in a military uniform, but that made even less sense. Why would they kill such an innocent child? And why was Shadow with her? Was she a friend? A relative? Or just a civilian caught in the crossfire?

Who am I... and why can't I remember anything? he wondered. And just who is this "Maria"?

As he continued his musing to himself, he noticed a large form covering the area in a blanket of shade. Looking up, he saw clouds—but not normal clouds. Dark red clouds, swirling around in the sky and forming some kind of wormhole, or at least that's what he'd guess. He watched, perplexed, as a legion of dark creatures began to plummet down toward the city, landing with multiple loud crashes and causing immediate chaos. People started screaming and fleeing for their lives, but the creatures seemed only to care about dealing as much damage as was possible.

That was Shadow's cue to make his exit. GUN would be all over it anyways, so it wasn't like they'd NEED his help. Or want it, for that matter.

"Hmph, what happens to the humans is none of my business," he scoffed, turning to walk away.

"Shadow..."

The black hedgehog froze in his tracks, ears flicking behind him toward the voice. He turned back around, and found himself staring at a strange little creature: a starfish-like thing with a single red eye, which began to project a hologram of sorts. A robed creature floating off the ground stared back at him, with three glowing red eyes and two large horns atop its head. Many intricate medallions hung from its neck, and it stared at Shadow with an almost expectant look.

"As you can see, the promised time will soon be here," the creature said in a low, rumbling voice. "Your true purpose shall come to you in the near future. Now, find the seven Chaos Emeralds, and bring them to me in four days' time."

Shadow stared, dumbfounded, at this odd life-form. He seemed like he knew him from somewhere, but Shadow was drawing a blank—and everything about this guy screamed "stranger danger". "Huh? Who are you, and how do you know I'm Shadow?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at this creature. "And what are you talking about?"

Without a single word, the creature's hologram disappeared, and the starfish-like thing flew off.

"Wait!" Shadow was about to follow, but a series of explosions suddenly went off, making the hedgehog flinch. When the dust died down, Shadow was left alone on the hilltop again.

"...Just what was THAT all about?" he wondered aloud, crossing his arms again. "The Chaos Emeralds are said to create miracles when seven are collected." And if that thing is after them, there has to be a good reason. That kind of power...

And then, an idea hit him. If he could find all seven emeralds, maybe... maybe he could get his memory back!

Yes, that had to be it! Nobody else was telling him anything. If his memories hadn't come back on their own in these three months, surely the emeralds would speed up the process.

"If those emeralds have my answers, I must obtain them!" he decided, before taking off into the city with renewed vigor.

Little did he know the roads this adventure would take him down...

All right, first chapter done. Next up will be Westopolis.
Peace out!