Shadow the hedgehog then took off across the vast, cold, pre-dawn cityscape at his usual mach-speed travel, still trying to get the dark feeling from his heart. “I just know it… something evil is just waiting… but… what…?” Shadow whispered to himself. Shadow then landed on top of a gigantic tower in the midst of the city, a usual thinking spot for our short, black, hedgehog hero. “I keep dreaming of when I fought Eggman and saved Kindarspirit…” Shadow murmured to no one at all, “But it all seems like déjà vu…”

Perhaps… there was a lesson to be learned from that first fight? Maybe an unfinished end? Also, I still have yet to reuse Super Shadow’s powers again… and… those three bots… could they pose a threat? Just maybe?…” Shadow then turned and faced towards the rising sun in the distant east, “Who am I talking to?” Shadow muttered, distastefully, “I think I’m losing it…”

“Now THAT is the first thing you’ve said all morning that makes some sense, Shadow!” a voice from behind called. Shadow turned quickly only to find Forte standing there, laughing at him, “Hey, we were concerned when you took off yesterday, so I came to check up on you!”

Shadow smiled, “Let me guess, you heard everything?”

“Yep,” Forte quipped, “You love coming here to think, I’ve noticed!”

“You’re observant,” Shadow shook his head and sat on the east-facing ledge.

“Yeah! Nothing gets past me, bud!” Forte then sat next to his friend, “Wait… do you have red eyes?” Forte said, jokingly. They both laughed. It had been too long since they both had last laughed and let it all out. They sat there, cracking up for what seemed like hours, but in reality, mere moments. “Whew! That felt good, just to loosen up, right, Shadow?”

“Yeah!” Shadow exclaimed, “Man, I feel better! But still… that dark feeling isn’t going to just leave me for a good laugh…” Forte frowned at this but Shadow then shrugged, “I’m hungry, let’s go see if anything is open yet!” Shadow then grabbed Forte’s arm and rocketed down the building’s side and flipped safely to the pavement, several stories below.

Forte was near hyperventilation when he said, “I told you… don’t… do that!!!”

“Quit complaining!” Shadow laughed then pointed forward, “There! That 24 hour place! Let’s eat!” The two friends entered into the tiny diner and sat at the counter, “Let’s skip breakfast, I need something worth the 2.50 I’m carrying!” Shadow exclaimed, “We’ll have two hamburgers, Mack! Medium well, no pickles!”

After a confused look from the waiter, he delivered the order to the kitchen and Forte raised conversation, “You sure are pushy when you’re hungry!”

“Yeah, I guess so, maybe I’m just tense… I just KNOW something big is gonna happen and a lot of people might get hurt!” Shadow leaned back on his stool but kept one hand securely on the bar to insure he didn’t fall over.

“Well, I don’t wanna sound like a Pollyanna here, Shadow, but I really doubt anything’ll happen!” Forte replied.

“I hope, maybe it all stays nice and calm, we won’t have to worry! Being able to sleep in and stay up late…” Shadow pretended to swoon, and Forte laughed at him. They then got their meals and ate up. The two then left and Shadow immediately looked towards the sky, “The clouds!”

“They… are red?” Forte whispered. They were right. The clouds were red and what little of the sky that could be seen, was a deep, dank black. “Was this what you were feeling, Shadow?”

Shadow shook his head, “I don’t think so, Forte. I just got the feeling that this is the prelude to what’s about to happen!” They watched, as a peculiar purple lightning struck across the already darkened sky, shadowing the entire city, and beyond sight.

“What is it?” Forte asked, “A hurricane?”

“No!” Shadow exclaimed, “This isn’t natural! Something very powerful and very violent is causing this to happen! Let’s go check it out!”

Forte grabbed Shadow’s arm, “You psycho! You’d take a picture of Hiroshima at ground zero in World War II if you had been alive! The first time something bad happens you wanna see what caused it!”

“And you wanna run away from it!” Shadow retorted.

After a brief moment of thought Forte said, “You got me, let’s go!” and the two set off towards what appeared to be the center of an eyeless storm. When they arrived, so had most of the city, all wanting to see what was at the core of this problem. They all gazed upon what appeared to be a dark, spiraling vortex around a strange egg-shaped blur. Shadow focused his eyes upon what it was, but didn’t need to for long, the vortex ceased and there sat a large, egg-shaped hover craft sporting Eggman, his three robot creations (Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts), and now, a petit bat-girl.

“Eggman!” Shadow screamed over the gasps and awes of the crowd.

“Shadow! I’m so happy you could make it! Meet my new partner, Rouge the bat! She slipped into your house while you were away and claimed what was rightfully mine! All seven chaos emeralds!” Eggman let out a cackle of hysteric laughter and pointed at Shadow, “Let’s see your speed and battle prowess save you from this! This city is mine!” he then laughed again, “Meet your destroyer, Starmen.netville! And meet the father of the greatest empire of all time!”

Shadow stepped forward, but the energy-carrying winds pushed hard against the slowly progressing hedgehog, “Eggman! You’re insane! You’re gonna kill yourself! No machine and truly harness the power of the chaos emeralds! It’s gonna over-load!” Shadow tried to reason.

Eggman scoffed and continued, “Meet your creator and give him my regard for a worthy challenge! Die, Shadow the Hedgehog! DIE!” Eggman then slammed down on a large button and a cannon-like opening emerged from the front of the machine. A control stick-like item came from the dash board of the device, and with one button pushed an overwhelming burst of raw, unfocused energy came busting from the gun, right at Shadow!

All was deaf to Shadow then, but he then closed his eyes and lifted his arms in sheer terror, then heard a loud explosion. Shadow the Hedgehog opened his eyes and saw before him, his best friend, Forte, lying on the ground, no legs, waist, nor left arm nor armor. The half of the un-armored Forte lay there and looked up at Shadow, “Take care of the world for me, Shadow. See you….” Shadow’s best friend, Forte Armadda, had died.