Part 1: The Hero’s Silent Contemplation
The sun was coming up. No, never mind that, it’s just Shadow the Hedgehog, floating in space as the radiant SuperShadow, and his eyes opened. The sun was all the super-charged silver hedgehog gazed upon in a half-stupor as he tried to re-assemble what had just happened to him in his scattered memories. He recalled something about danger, then a terrible loss, then a massive battle, and then a strangely serene silence. Shadow rested his eyes and focused through the daze and looked again at the bright fireball, which seemed to not affect him in his current state. He blinked only once and pulled himself together as he tried to gauge exactly where he was. When he looked around him, he saw infinite stars and several planets, including his beautiful blue earth.
He finally managed to wake himself up and contemplated what had just happened to him. He had driven the space colony, code named: ARK, directly into the sun, but the power of the chaos emeralds shielded him from the destructive plasma flames. His mission was complete and he wondered for a moment for what it was he was fighting for. At first, it was simply for his friends, then it was for revenge, then it was for peace, and then he found himself wrapped in a mystery spanning three generations only to end it with his power. “Now what?” he wondered silently. It then dawned on him that, maybe, the evil in the world was his doing—as he was a member of the Shadow Series, and the last remaining one to boot.
Then, he wondered if that was at all possible, seeing as how he had stopped the evil in the world, selflessly ready to lay down his own life, that maybe the cause of the evil was the Robotnik lineage. While it sounded tempting to merely blame Eggman, he knew he could not do such a thing as it was in part of Eggman’s help that Shadow successfully quelled the Shadow Series once and for all. The next item on the list was maybe it was the chaos emeralds themselves—surely such power caused the corruption in the hearts of furries and men. No, that couldn’t be either, as the emeralds had many positive energies in them as well, and surely he could not have used them for so many good things if they were evil-causing gems. But then what could cause such hate and evil desires? Greed, maybe… Shadow thought, perhaps it was greed that caused all the evil in the world. That made sense. But even Shadow himself could be faulted for such a thing.
“Maybe it would be better if I simply died…” Shadow wondered as he gazed towards the brilliant sun, “But… then again… Fiona…” he sighed as he rested his eyes. “I’m so tired…” he moaned as he merely allowed himself to orbit the flaring orb. Just as suddenly as he thought he would give up, he saw a very clear, very vivid vision. Before him stood his mother and his father. “How…” Shadow stuttered, “It’s you…”
“How are you, dear?” his soft, plump and white-furred mother spoke gently, “Are you eating all your veggies and washing behind your ears?”
“How ya’ doin’ there, boy?” his father, who had a thick southern accent and toughened dark-brown fur, “You takin’ good care of the house now?”
“Mom! Dad!” Shadow gasped, “You two! How… I thought… you were…”
“Dead?” his father cracked a smirk, “Naw! You know us better ‘n’ that, Shadow, m’boy! We been gone for a while now, son, an’ you oughta know that b’now!”
“So…” Shadow sighed, “What are you doing here? What’s going on?”
“Oh, dear, Shadow!” his mother giggled, “Parents never stop watching over their precious babies, even after our bodies pass on. We love our children that much, even your distant hedgehog-ancestors watch over you. Even if we weren’t—aren’t—your biological parents, we still love you,”
Shadow blushed, “Mom~” Shadow whined, “Why do you have to do that to me, even in the great beyond?”
“And, boy,” Shadow’s dad picked up, “We ain’t gonna let’cher give up that easy! There ain’t no easy way through life, ‘less you a coward, and I ain’t raise no coward, y’hear me?”
“Yes, sir,” Shadow smirked, as his parents hadn’t changed a bit since they went peacefully five years prior.
“And, lessie here…” Shadow’s dad smirked under his thick, grayed mustache, “You’s thinkin’ ‘bout just letting yerself rot here in space, huh? Well, it ain’t happenin’! You got yerself a real nice gal waitin’ on you, and you’re gonna break her lil’ heart if you don’t get back to her. Not to mention the promises y’made to yer buddies!”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, dad,” Shadow smiled softly.
“O’ course I’m right, boy! Can’tchu get even that in yer thick head?!” his father replied with a hearty laugh, “Now, seriously, we only got a short ‘mount of time here, so I’m-a gonna make this quick. You have a lot of responsibility but that came with your great power—there’s something like that in the Bible, I believe,”
“Or ‘Spider-Man’, dad,” Shadow quipped, unable to hold back his grin.
“Oh…” Shadow’s dad was unable to control his laughter before going on, “Well, y’see, boy, you got a lot of friends, too. You have a unique gift that goes far beyond that of ‘chaos powers’ or ‘life energies’. You got determination! Guts, I mean! You got spirit and hope! You are a natural leader and I bet’cher just excited about whippin’ ‘round that city and seeing all yer buddies again real soon, ain’t’cha?!”
“You also have a gentle nature, dear,” Shadow’s mother interjected, “You care for others, and you have love and a soft heart. You were never meant to be a warrior with such a tender disposition, deary. You have the power to bring people together for a common cause. You know the true meaning of ‘friendship’!” she beamed with motherly pride.
“That is so beyond cheesy, you two!” Shadow blushed, “Well, yeah, I guess you’re right, though. When I get up again, I’ll head home and get back with my friends. I’ll pick up from where I left off and I’ll never forget what’s happened with the Shadow Series!”
“Good boy!” Shadow’s father laughed, “And I really did hope you’d join the Army too, boy, but I guess bein’ a national hero is good too!”
“Oh, we’ll need to go back soon,” Shadow’s mother said, worriedly, “Well, I was just wondering, when do you intend on settling down and having some kids of your own, Shadow?”
“Mom!” Shadow blushed deeply, “Oh! No way! I don’t want kids! They’ll end up being just like me and I’ll have to whap ‘em with a stick!”
“Now you’re takin’ after yer old man!” Shadow’s dad laughed again.
“Oh, come now, dear, surely Fiona wants some little hedgies running around?” Shadow’s mom asked.
“Ah! No way!” Shadow protested, “Besides, I’m 16! I think I have some time to worry about that later. Right now, I know what I gotta do. Thanks you two… for… everything…” His parents floated down and embraced their son one last time before drifting away back into the light above and Shadow resumed his slumber peacefully with a smile.

Part 2: When You and I Were Young, My Love…
Fiona sobbed uncontrollably into her pillow, with Kindarspirit sitting on the bed with her, rubbing her shoulders. Fiona gasped, “It’s not fair! He’s been gone for a week! I want my Shadow back! I want my honey-hedgie back!”
“He will be back!” Kindar desperately tried to encourage her, “You know he’ll be okay! He wouldn’t just give up on us! He’ll be back!”
“You don’t know that!” Fiona bawled, “I want my Shadow back!”
Kindar was exasperated but finally declared, “C’mon, let’s go for a walk in the park, and get some fresh air,” Fiona nodded silently and the two were off into the city’s central park. “Wow, it’s nice here, huh?” Kindar tried to small-talk to keep Fiona from thinking about Shadow, but quickly found it was in vain.
“This is where Shadow asked me out!” Fiona sobbed as tears rolled down her full, round face.
“Uhh…” Kindar stuttered, “Hey! How’d you meet him, anyways? I’d like to hear the story!”
Fiona wiped her face with a tissue before beginning, “I met him way back in second grade. I was a grade ahead of him…” Fiona told her story…
Ten years before, there was a young, wild-haired black hedgehog boy who had just moved into the city after his Army-dad was transferred to a new job in Starmen.netville and the boy quickly blended into his new school. He was popular because he was funny, athletic and outspoken among the five and six year olds. However, because of his outgoing disposition, he annoyed some of the school yard bullies.
“Hey! You!” a tall, nine-year-old raccoon announced. The boy was still in second grade, but his size was that of one of the fourth graders. “You! Little hedgehog!” the boy demanded.
The young Shadow turned to face the boy, “Huh? Who? Me?” he asked innocently.
“Yeah, you! Whose school do you think this is, anyways?” the older of the two demanded.
Shadow, being very innocent at age six, said, “It’s our school, isn’t it?”
“No, dummy! It’s MY school and you’re the new kid. So you need your new-kid pounding!” the raccoon grabbed the much smaller Shadow and began to wail down on him with his fists and in contrast as to what we’d expect our hero to have done, the little hedgehog turned and ran away from his assaulter, screaming and crying. “Get back here, you little punk!” the large, bulky boy took off after Shadow.
The kids of the playground could only watch in terror as the bully angrily chased the much smaller hedgehog, who had no will whatsoever to hit back, around and around the jungle gym and screamed mean things at Shadow. The young hedgehog fell after taking a turn too fast and found himself in the shade from the bully’s looming over him. He felt sweat bead up on his head as he said his last prayers and the bully slugged him right over his small head. Shadow simply laid there and cried, begging for mercy.
“Leave him alone!” a stern, but young, female voice called out from over the crowd, “Randy, leave him alone!” it was none other than a young, round Fiona angrily walking towards the two boys and she stood between him and the sniffling Shadow.
“Aww, what are you gonna do about it, fatso?” the raccoon boy, Randy, asked as if to challenge her, “Are you gonna tattle?”
“I won’t let you hurt him; you’re just being mean and picking on him! He didn’t do anything wrong!” the young Fiona said, spreading her arms out, defensively, “So stop picking on him, you bully!”
“Fiona and new kid, sittin’ in a tree~!” a chorus rang out from the younger crowds.
“Aww, be quiet!” Fiona huffed.
“Out of the way, fatty!” Randy declared, shoving Fiona to the ground roughly. When Fiona fell her eyes went soft and she began to sniffle and sob when Randy challenged, “Ah, you gonna cry, dumb little fat girl, is that it?!”
“You dumb bully!” a voice shot out from Shadow as he pushed himself off the ground, with a small trail of blood leaving his nose, “You shouldn’t pick on girls! My dad taught me better than that!”
“You gonna tell the teacher or what, new kid?” Randy scoffed.
“You’re going to leave her alone or you have ME to deal with instead!” Shadow growled.
Randy merely laughed, “That’s the best you have, kid? You’re dead meat!” he then shoved Fiona over on her side in order to get a better shot at Shadow, but he never got the chance. The enraged black hedgehog shot his fist into the older boy’s stomach like a bullet and he dropped like a stone then and there. Everyone gasped and edged away from him, nervously, but his attention immediately turned to the chubby brown girl.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need to go see the nurse?” Shadow asked sympathetically.
“I’m… okay…” Fiona managed to sob as she sat upright and looked at her hero as she wiped her eyes, “I’m okay. He just… knocked me down,” she admitted as Shadow helped her back to her feet. They paused as they held hands still before Fiona hugged Shadow just as the teacher called the classes back inside, and she took off, leaving the stunned Shadow there, staring at his future fiancée.
Back to the modern day… Kindar smiled, “Aww! That is too cute, Fiona!”
“He was no warrior, though,” Fiona commented as she lovingly reminisced, “He was very sensitive and it didn’t take much to discourage him. While he may act like an egotist, he’s really very self-conscious and very dependant on others for comfort and support. He’s so gentle; I never would’ve guessed he was a member of the Shadow Series just from the way he acted,”
“That is the cutest story I’ve ever heard!” Kindar squealed with glee, “What else did you do as kids?”
“Well, he first fought Doctor Eggman when he was eight,” Fiona admitted.
“Really? So, when he saved me wasn’t his first battle?!” Kindar gasped.
“Nope. It was nine, almost ten, years ago when it first happened. Shadow was walking me home from school,” Fiona smiled.
Nine years ago… The young Shadow (who had a gap in the front of his teeth from having lost several baby teeth at the time) and a young Fiona were walking together, hand-in-hand but not quite boyfriend-girlfriend at the time. They walked together every day since Shadow stood up for her and even degraded his social status from hanging out with the “fat chick”. That never really bothered him anyways, so…
The two were eagerly chatting about the day’s homework (Shadow was amazingly poor at Math, in case you were curious) when they suddenly saw a very tall man with an afro walk into a candy store. “He looked funny,” Fiona giggled.
Shadow, however, was very serious about it, “I don’t like this. We should check it out,” he suggested as they waited behind the building’s corner. When the man came out, he had a whole sack over his shoulder full of the store’s goods as he let out a loud “Hoo-hoo-hoooo~” laugh.
“Stop, thief!” Shadow demanded as he ran into plain view of the tall, egg-shaped man, “You can’t rob a candy store, you thief!”
“Well, what have we here? A little boisterous brat! Aren’t you a little young to be out without your parents?” the tall man demanded.
“Aren’t you a little old to still be wearing black, stretchy pants and a ‘fro?” Shadow countered.
“Hey! Don’t knock the ‘fro, kid! This is very stylish, I’ll have you know! You are addressing the great Dr. Eggman! So, mind your manners or I’ll crush you!” the fat man declared. Shadow simply stuck his tongue out at Eggman and gave the raspberry and the shocked scientist exclaimed, “How dare you! I’ll have you know you’re looking at the future ruler of the world!”
“I’ll never obey anyone who has a ‘fro like that one!” Shadow laughed at the rounded scientist.
“STOP DISSING MY AFRO!” Eggman demanded, “That’s it, kid, you’re toast!” the doctor then drew out a pistol and aimed at the hedgehog, “Say your prayers, kiddo!” when he pulled the trigger, the small black boy had moved clear out of the firing path, “What?!” Eggman gasped as he looked at the hedgehog who was now at his right side, “How’d you do that?!”
“I’m super-fast! Watch this!” Shadow then curled into a ball and spun amazingly fast before slamming into the fat man, knocking him over and forcing the bag from his hand and crashing on the ground (without opening, surprisingly) and Eggman gasped.
“That’s incredible! Forget this! I’m outta here!” Eggman then got up and ran off, forgetting his ill-begotten gains.
“Yay! Shadow!” Fiona cheered, “Now we can eat all the candy!”
“No,” Shadow shook his head, “The right thing to do is to return it to the store. I’m sure he’ll be happy if we do,”
“Aww…” Fiona whined, “Fine, fine… but we won’t get much from it,”
“A good deed is its own reward!” Shadow declared firmly as he dragged the heavy sack back in the door, “At least that’s what my dad tells me!” However, Fiona was right as they were still little kids the man behind the counter only gave them three pieces of candy each. Shadow still claims they did the right thing.
Modern day again… “That’s pretty incredible all right,” Kindar giggled, “Eggy with a fro? That’s hilarious!”
“I know, but it’s true. Shadow only fought when it was the right thing to do, or when I was in trouble,”
“How’d he ask you out, though?” Kindar grinned, mischievously.
“That’s a whole ‘nother story in and of itself!” Fiona smiled softly as she remembered one of her most fond memories of the black hedgehog hero.
Seven, almost eight, years prior… The young hero and his fat lady friend sat in the very park where Fiona and Kindar then sat as Fiona recounted the entire event to her friend. Fiona giggled as she lay on her back in the soft grass, her head propped on her best friend’s leg as he lazily gazed into the semi-cloudy blue sky. “What’s so funny?” Shadow grinned a bit.
“Nothin’,” Fiona said flirtatiously, “I just think you have the coolest eyes,”
“They’re red,” Shadow commented, not picking up on Fiona’s more-than-obvious come-on, “And you have blue eyes, which I think are way cooler than mine,”
Fiona blushed, “Aww, you’re so sweet, Shadow,” she continued to subtly flirt with him, “And you have that adorable little white tuft on your chest!”
Shadow blushed slightly, “Heh—yeah, it’s kinda awkward really. Most hedgehogs don’t have it, but I suppose it just adds to the whole ‘black fur’ thing,”
Fiona giggled, “You’re silly. Just take the compliment!”
“Well, you have a cute nose,” Shadow chuckled, beginning to catch the air of what Fiona wanted.
“Nah!” Fiona jokingly disagreed, “It’s just part of my pudgy face!”
“It’s better pudgy,” Shadow retorted.
“It’s better?” Fiona grinned, knowing she was close to what she wanted to hear.
“Uhh… yeah,” Shadow said, feeling a sweat bead form on his head, “I mean, girls look better with weight on ‘em. Who wants to squeeze a toothpick?”
Fiona giggled, “Well then, I guess that means me dieting is out of the question then?”
“You got it,” Shadow snickered.
“Well?” Fiona asked.
“Well what?” Shadow replied, surprised by the abruptness of the question.
“Aren’t you gonna ask me out or are you gonna keep me here all night until I ask you?” Fiona smiled and blushed furiously.
Shadow grinned, knowing that someone (even to this day he blames Forte) had spilled his plans of asking her out so he said, “Well, since you put it like that, are you free this Saturday for a movie or something?’
Fiona squealed and embraced her new-found boyfriend in her tight grip and giggled, “Yes! You bet!”
Modern day… Fiona smiled softly and rested her eyes, “Yeah, that was such a good day,”
Kindar smiled too, “That’s so sweet. You two have a lot of history together; it’s amazing how far you’ve both come,”
“Yeah,” Fiona smiled, “I think it’s this place where I feel closest to him,” she suddenly frowned as a tear formed in her eye. Kindar sympathetically put an arm over her when they suddenly heard a booming voice, “What was that?!” Fiona gasped.
“I don’t know,” Kindar looked up suddenly, “It… it sounded like… Eggman!”

Part 3: Eggman’s Attack (Sort of)
“Attention foolish citizens of this city! I am the ultimate genius, Dr. Eggman! And now I declare this city a part of my beautiful empire!” the fat scientist announced from the deck of a massive, red airship.
“What the--?” Kindar stuttered as she and Fiona arrived on the scene, looking up with the other surprised spectators.
“Great! Now! All you people down there! Send Shadow out now!” Eggman demanded, gesturing towards the crowd below.
Fiona nabbed a megaphone from a nearby police man and shouted angrily into it, “Shadow isn’t here you big dumb dyslexic--!” Kindar nabbed it from her before she could finish her no-doubt potentially obscene comment.
“What?! He’s still not back?!” Eggman exclaimed, shocked, “You’re joking! You’re trying to hide him, fatty, so you’d better turn him over or else!”
“No, she’s telling the truth—Shadow has been missing for over a week, Eggman, no one has seen him!” Kindar shouted up at him, “It’s the truth,”
“Whaaaat?!” Eggman squawked, “Gone! No way! How could he not be back by now! This isn’t fair!”
Fiona ripped the megaphone from Kindar and began screaming up at Eggman, “If you hadn’t volunteered him for such a dangerous mission, he’d be here with me, you lousy son of a—“
“Me?! Don’t blame me; he was fighting someone else’s creations, not mine!” Eggman yelled back, “You ignorant tubby little—“
“I can’t believe you—“
“You’re too stupid to understand this—“
“You don’t even know where he is you fat—“
“I’m gonna rip you apart you—“
Several hours persisted in this way. Ishntknew was less than enthusiastic about the whole prospect, “Why don’t we just blow them up and take over the city in his absences?”
“Because I know he must be here!” Eggman demanded, “You all listen up! You’d better get Shadow out here or else I’m gonna nuke this whole city!”
“Shadow isn’t here, Eggman!” Kindar tried to reason with him whilst keeping Fiona’s hands off the megaphone, “He really isn’t, I swear,”
“THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!” Eggman screamed into the air, “If Shadow isn’t here; there aren’t any big dramatic action sequences or lame speeches about hope and love! There’s no fun if Shadow isn’t here!!!”
“Well, wait no longer!” a voice declared from above. Everyone gasped and looked and there shining in the sunlight drifted down the one and only SuperShadow, “Here I am, Eggman!”
“Shadow!” Fiona yelled so loud that everyone heard her even without the use of a megaphone.
“It is Shadow!” Ishnt said, unable to hide a grin, “And alive, no less!”
“Aha!” Eggman said, accusatively pointing a finger at SuperShadow, “There you are! Now fight me or this city is history!”
“As you wish, Eggman!” SuperShadow declared floating up then shooting down as an orange comet, “Aura Smash!” his voice declared as a massive explosion ignited the sky with a bright orange-yellow light over the masses. Just as suddenly, the Egg-o-Matic hovercraft floated up with Eggman in the seat and his robotic assistants, Scratch, Grounder and Ishnt sitting around him.
“You haven’t seen the last of me, Shadow! Heed me!” Eggman yelled as his ship turned around and flew clear out of sight.
“Sir! Why are you smiling?” Grounder gasped, “You look like you’re happy we lost!”
“It’s just fine, that ship was a prototype for something far bigger! I believe I’ll be naming it the ‘Egg Carrier’,” Eggman said with a malicious grin, “And with our new ‘associate’ we’ll be sure to be rid of Shadow,”
“I’d still like to know why you didn’t just blow up the city,” Ishnt said, his head cocked off to the side and his eyes half-open.
“Irrelevant!” Eggman declared, “Let us go wake up Chaos! The emeralds are back!”
Meanwhile, back in the city, SuperShadow gracefully descended to the crowd and he reverted back into his black, spiny self. “Shadow!” Fiona bawled as she squeezed him tight in her arms, “Oh! I’m never-ever-ever letting you go, ever!” she cried on his shoulder as he lovingly embraced her.
“It’s okay, Fiona. I’m here to stay now,” Shadow affirmed her, softly kissing her head.
“You are such a pain!” Kindar smiled softly, “But we’re all glad you’re back. You saved us all—again!” she giggled.
Suddenly a voice burst out in the crowd, “Here’s to our hero, Shadow!”
Another chimed in too, “Yeah! Shadow!”
And another, “Three cheers for the hero, Shadow!”
Shadow smiled softly as tears formed in his eyes an Fiona softly pressed her lips to his and they held tight as camera flashes ignited the dusk sky. “C’mon, Fiona,” Shadow whispered softly, “I’m exhausted, let’s get you home,” Fiona wordlessly nodded, her eyes overflowing with tears of joy and love. Shadow then took her by the hand and they walked off into the sunset together whilst the seven rainbow-colored emeralds shimmered in the sky as they flew off in different directions.
“Well, that’s all hunky-dory!” Kindar exclaimed, “Now, WHEN WILL I get a boyfriend?!”

The End… at least for now.