#How long do you think Shadow and Maria had together before the ARK incident?

[polling-sonic-fans]

How long do you think Shadow and Maria had together before the ARK incident?

A few weeks to a few months

1-2 years

3-4 years

5-6 years

7+ years

Thanks anon! I added an option, I hope this is okay.

Polls for the Sonic fandom on just about anything. Share polls you like to get more data. Asks and submissions always open.

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

Team Chaotix found out how to Time-Travel and are (probably?) using their powers for good

[I.D.: Screenshot of Shadow the Hedgehog, the cutscene before “Mad Matrix.” Shadow approaches Team Chaotix, standing in front of Eggman’s computer. Vector says “Well, we need your help to hack into [Eggman’s] computer... and don’t ask why!” End I.D.] 

What a title, huh? Let me complicate this more by explaining this is going to deal near exclusively with the 2005 game Shadow the Hedgehog and Chaotix’s role in it. 

My thesis statement for this is as thus: In Shadow the Hedgehog, all endings are actually technically canon; the universe was reset back at the end of them all until the True Ending was reached, and the universe was reset by none other than Team Chaotix. 

Is this theory going to make at least two insane reaches? Yes. Is it a crack theory? uuuuuuuuh depends on how people react to it 

So, let’s get into the logistics of how and why I think this went down.

Part One: What was Team Chaotix’s Mission?

Team Chaotix appears very briefly in ShTH; Charmy is on a solo mission on “Prison Island,” the whole team seems to be in “Mad Matrix” with Vector in  “Cosmic Fall”, and they appear briefly aboard the ARK at the end of the game. (Which... I don’t think they left? Were they up there when Shadow isolated himself inside? Is that why he wasn’t gone for long, did he get sick of their shit and pilot them back to the planet--) 

The point is, from the few appearances of the team in the game, we know that they are on a mission, one so secret/confidential that no team members tell anyone what it is- even Charmy, who has the impulse control of a kid left alone in a room with a million buttons. 

Of course, with their appearances, we can figure out some elements of their mission, and it becomes quite clear that their mission has something to do with the Space Colony ARK. 

Charmy’s solo mission, for starters, in “Prison Island.” Charmy is there to collect five discs from GUN, discs that I don’t believe the player ever finds out the contents of. 

[I.D.: Three screenshots from Shadow the Hedgehog, of Charmy’s dialogue in the “Prison Island” stage. He says, “Heeey, Shadow! I gotta ask you something! Vector told me that he wants to find five top secret discks... but, like... what’s a top secret disk?” End i.D.]

As the Hero Route of Prison Island immediately transitions to “Mad Matrix”, the implication is the GUN discs have something to do with hacking into Eggman’s computer. 

Oh, yeah, the team needed to hack into the files of Eggman’s computer, with Espio having to gather data himself. Again, what they were looking for is never revealed, but Vector insists that it’s urgent. 

[I.D.: Screenshots from the beginning of the “Mad Matrix” cutscene. Espio is sitting at a computer, attempting to hack. Vector says, “Are you done yet? At this rate, the entire day will be wasted.” Espio turns and says, “Hey, back off! Data retrieval isn’t exactly my specialty.” End i.D.]

Vector attempts to locate the ARK’s computer room, again for no stated reason. 

[I.D.: Vector at the beginning of the “Cosmic Fall” route. He says to Shadow, “We’ve got to make it to the computer room before this place collapses!” End I.D.]

Upon it being found in the True Ending, Team Chaotix once again hack inside the computer. After Gerald’s video begins playing, we don’t see them again. 

So, to recap: they are all gathering information from GUN- which was pretty much the only organization with any information on the colony- and Eggman, a member of the Robotnik family; with the fact they were later on the ARK and stealing GUN documents, it’s likely they were looking for information on Gerald on Eggman’s computer. 

So, while we don’t have the explicit mission, we can clarify that it definitely has something to do with the ARK. An important question, though, which might be able to clarify their entire mission, is who is their client? 

Part Two: Who Sent Team Chaotix on this mission?

Team Chaotix’s missions are almost exclusively client-based, and even if we say that they don’t have one, there has to be something that tipped them off that they needed to get to the ARK. 

The client themself is a bit of a mystery- it can’t be any non-chaotix main character, as literally nobody seems wise to what they’re up to. And considering Charmy was, uh, pretty much literally stealing GUN files, we can safely assume they’re not working for GUN. 

But their client had to be someone who knew there was important information on the ARK, which was pretty much unknown to everyone before SA2, and afterwards, even if we assume the ARK incident is common knowledge, there has to be something specific the Chaotix were sent after. 

And something important. 

In case you haven’t played ShTH, during the entire game, the world is being attacked by demon aliens intent on murdering and eating everything on the planet while also setting it on fire. You’d think that Chaotix would want to deal with that above a relatively unimportant mission. So whatever they were doing was more important than fighting/hiding from/investigating the apocalyptic monsters attacking them. 

What would be important than the, as I said, apocalyptic demon monsters? 

Potentially... a way to stop them. 

[I.D.: Screenshots from a cutscene in the Last Story. Team Chaotix are attempting to hack into the ARK’s computer. Vector says, “Espio, we need you to focus, cuz if we don’t hurry all the data we recovered will be lost.” End I.D.]

So. You know how in every one of my metas there’s a part where I leap off the deep end? 

Let me just say this outright. 

What if the one who sent them on their mission... was none other than Gerald Robotnik?

So, here’s my mission statement. 

Gerald Robotnik, sensing that something bad was going to happen on the ARK, made his video message for Shadow. We know this because of, you know, the content of the message. 

After the ARK massacre, Gerald obviously cracked, but left behind some hint of the video’s existence, or a hint of a way to defeat the Black Arms that nobody picked up cause nobody knew they existed except the people on the ARK. Who, you know, GUN massacred. Thanks GUN. 

What the hint exactly was I’m not sure-- in Sonic X he wrote a shitton of stuff on the walls of his prison island jail cell, maybe he left something there. [Something to note-- Sonic X begun airing before production of ShTH, and it second and third seasons, the ones featuring Shadow, would probably be being made while ShTH was in production.] 

[I.D.: Screenshots from Sonic X of Gerald Robotnik’s prison island cell, which has multiple scientific notes scribbled across the walls. End I.D.]

We already know the Chaotix know of Prison Island and can get there from Charmy’s appearance in his route, so them being there and seeing something left behind isn’t impossible. 

So this hint was discovered by the Chaotix, who pieced together that this ARK message would give the information needed to defeat the Black Arms-- I believe they knew that there was a message specifically, as they seem unsurprised and happy when the message appears at the end of the game, meaning it was among the things they were looking for, if not the only thing. They also figured out that the only one who could defeat said Black Arms was Shadow. Hence why they’re not only hacking into the computers of two Robotniks, but they, in different timelines, accompany and assist Shadow in his little angst party missions. 

[I.D.: Screenshots from the end of the “Cosmic Fall” Hero Route. As Shadow walks away, depressed that he’s what he considers a failed experiment, Vector says, “Hey... don’t go there... yet! Things may not be what they seem. You could be...” End I.D.]

But then why wouldn’t they tell Shadow what they were up to? Sure, he has amnesia, so you can’t just say “your granddad might have a secret way to kill the demon aliens,” but you could say “we think there’s a message for you.” So why didn’t they? 

Because, my dear friends, they only have twenty-four hours, and it takes quite a while to explain and prove time travel to an amnesiac hedgehog. 

Part Three: What Route leads to the True Ending? The Time Travel One 

Here’s where we get into crack. 

Let’s put everything together and then go into Connie’s HellBrainMode™

The Chaotix’s mission is so secret that either they didn’t dare tell Charmy, or the ADHD 6yo understood that he had to shut up for once (and I say that with love) and thus not a single one of them dares reveal it. 

The Mission definitely pertains to the ARK, Black Arms, Robotnik Family, and Shadow. 

The Chaotix vaguely knew of the message that was needed to defeat the aliens, and so they were attempting to hack Robotnik computers to find it. 

For some reason, they don’t even tell Shadow what’s up, even though due to their penchant for traveling with him and protecting him, they likely are aware he’s a bit important at the moment. 

...so why does Shadow the Hedgehog have so many endings anyway? 

On that last point... ShTH has an insane amount of routes, but really only eleven endings, with #11 being the final, canon ending. But all the endings are plausible routes, no matter how goddamn dark they can get. It seems the only thing that separates the endings is Shadow’s choices; whether he remains neutral, assists the Black Arms, or fights for Earth. Of course, the true ending involves him fighting for Earth, his friends, and Maria’s final wish, but the path he takes over the day of the Black Arms invasion needs to lead him there. 

Does that mean he must follow a Hero route to reach that? By the time he gathers all the chaos emeralds, he can’t be in the depths of despair or convinced he’s an android, etc.; he’s definitely not in one of the endings where Eggman or Sonic die, seeing as they help him out in the True Ending. So if Eggman and Sonic are alive and Shadow’s not literally losing all hope in everything, we have to assume neither a Dark nor Neutral route was taken, as Dark tends to end with dead Sonic and Neutral tends to end with Dead Eggman. 

Something interesting-- several Hero Routes involve helping the Chaotix. Gathering the discs for Charmy, helping Espio collect necessary data, helping Vector find the infamous computer room... Of course, most Hero Routes involve helping your friends when you see them, but the Chaotix specifically are looking for GUN/Ark/Robotnik/BlackArms information. While they will not share this information with Shadow, helping them puts him on the Hero Route, aka closer to the True Ending. 

But which ending leads to the true ending? None of them, and yet all of them. 

None of them end in the place where the true ending begins-- Shadow alone with the Chaos Emeralds, ready to discover the truth about his past, and about to be ambushed by an uninjured Black Doom while his friends are about to burst in to try and save him, having apparently discovered more about what’s happening. 

Hero endings end with Shadow defeating Black Doom earlier, Neutral ends with depressed Shadow and dead Eggman, Dark ends with angry Shadow and dead Sonic. So a whole nother timeline was taken. Then what was the point of the first ten? 

Well, through the first ten, you do learn certain information, don’t you? So who’s to say someone else going through the first ten endings wouldn’t learn something as well? If someone could, say, reset the day to the beginning every time Shadow has an angst moment and fails to save the world, and then use what they learned the last time in order to try and steer Shadow on a better path... 

And in the True Ending, when Shadow and his friends are attacked by Black Doom, Shadow hears voices in his head-- voices from several different routes. Almost as if something in his mind clicks, something that feeds every route into him to make a final decision. 

[I.D.: Gif from the Last Story of Shadow the Hedgehog; Shadow is on the ground, and voices are heard, represented here by captions, which read, in order: “I will avenge those whose blood has been spilled!” “Did I... die?” “That’s why you were created...” and “Please help me, Shadow.” End I.D.] 

So what route leads to the last ending? All of them. All of them, so that the information gathered... gets the Chaotix on the ARK. To get the message out to Shadow. 

Part Four: The Timeline of the Chaotix Time Travel 

Every route begins with the same cutscene-- the beginning of the day, as the Black Arms invade... as their comet gets close enough to reach the planet. Let’s say, hmm, Gerald, for example, realized something might go horribly wrong when the Black Arms showed up if Shadow was traumatized and confused, and tried to make some kind of safeguard. The safeguard ended up being a reset button,* but it relied on the position of the Black Arms’ comet-- so thus, you can only reset to the beginning of its approach. The beginning of the day. And only the one(s) pressing the button remembers the reset, that could be an issue. 

*Note: we’re using “reset button” as a general term, obviously it doesn’t have to be a literal button. 

The Chaotix break into the remains of Prison Island sometime before the Black Arms attack; perhaps they sensed something was up, perhaps they noticed some weird stuff was going on, who knows. But they get in there, and find Gerald’s notes, and figure out some important stuff-- the Black Arms are invading, there’s a way to stop them on the ARK, and... oh, what’s this, this thing that the GUN scientists could never figure out how to use but hid away in case they figured it out one day. It’s a comet reset button? 

Oh, comet, like the one right overhead-- oops. 

The Chaotix are unable to stop the comet from arriving in the first place. So Vector puts together all the pieces-- “ultimate lifeform,” fifty-year timeskiip, whatever hints Gerald left-- and figures out that, likely, Gerald knew about the Black Arms, how to stop them, and that his ultimate lifeform, Shadow, is the key to saving the planet. 

He sends Charmy to retrieve discs from GUN involving the ARK and Gerald on Prison Island, and then sets Espio to hacking into Eggman’s systems. Once they’ve got the info they need, they hop on a spaceship and race to the ARK. Thing is... each of these steps could go wrong in any way. Charmy doesn’t find the discs, Espio can’t reach the data, Vector can’t find the computer room, they fail to reach the ARK, or, above all, Shadow shows up and fucks up their shit. 

Thankfully, the Chaotix have the day reset. Every time the planet starts to go to shit, Vector resets. Shadow just killed Sonic? Reset it, now, before those demons crash into Earth. Omega just texted Rouge to tell her that Shadow is convinced he’s destined to lead a robot uprising? Reset. Shadow is depressed thinking he’s a failed experiment that never should have been created and thus literally falls into such a state he can’t or won’t fight the Black Arms? Gotta reset that shit. They reset at least ten times, each time gaining more information and figuring out what they have to do. Charmy gets Shadow’s help in one route, then in the next timeline repeat remembers the locations. Espio knows how to break into Eggman’s computer. Vector figures out where they need to go. They figure out where the Chaos Emeralds are and where and when to get them to Shadow. 

The eleventh and final reset begins, and Chaotix informs the Sonic Squad that the Black Arms need the Chaos Emeralds to destroy the planet and that they need to go keep an eye on Shadow. Somehow they get Eggman onboard-- idk they probably just namedropped Gerald and he listened to whatever they had to say. Once they’re sent off, they rush to the ARK. 

Shadow, in the Last Route, has gathered the Chaos Emeralds off the ARK, somewhere on the below planet. Everyone else is on Earth, including Sonic, Black Doom, Eggman... 

Everyone but the Chaotix. 

The Chaotix, who continue working on this Big Case even after the Black Comet has descended through Earth’s atmosphere and the Black Arms are killing everyone on the planet. 

The Chaotix, who are trying to hack into Gerald’s computer, looking for something important. 

The Chaotix, who show absolutely no surprise or concern when Gerald’s message appears, implying that this could be what they were looking for. 

The Chaotix, who are not seen again after the message is played. 

Because their work is done. 

Shadow’s choices lead him to make the right decision, but that final push he needs to defeat Black Doom is Gerald and Maria’s message. And once it’s played, he saves the goddamn world. 

And then is stuck on the ARK with the Chaotix until the next game. Oops. 

[supportingme]

Hey so let’s talk about Shadow’s age. His age is always listed as “uhknown” or 50+ and while that is correct for his physical age I also want to look at his mental age. If course, being in cryostasis keeps you from getting older. So while Shadow may have been “alive” in the universe physically, mentally he hasn’t aged a day. 

I put my thinking cap on and this was the best I could come up with. If anyone sees any inconsistencies or can think of anything better I’d love to hear your opinions. I’m open to anything really.

When Shadow is born he is the mental age of a 15 year old. Obviously his early development was fast tracked and he was expected to grow into his body overtime. That...didn’t happen as the gun raid happened a little less than a year after his “birth”. Leading to Maria’s death and him being sent to earth where GUN eventually found him and put him in stasis. 

At the start of Sonic Adventure 2 Shadow is physically 47 and mentally 15. I know this contradicts some things said in the game. I don’t believe it had been 50 years since the incident on the ark. It made sense when the game was made, but when you take Shadow the Hedgehog into the equation it throws everything off. So I’m going to say it was roughly 50 years since the raid, but realistically more like 47 for reasons I’ll get into. 

At the start of Sonic Heroes Shadow is physically 49 and mentally 15. Unfortunately for Shadow he “died” at the end of SA2 only for Eggman to later find him and set the events of StH into motion. I have a feeling at this time the doctor was on a robotics high, what with the upgrades he’d already given Metal. So having his hands on the ultimate lifeform gave him the chance to make his own “Shadow Army”. Highly detailed killer androids that could easily pass off for the real thing. Of course I believe this to have taken a few years. Which is why Shadow has physically aged by 2 years, however mentally he’s still that of a 15 year old. Considering he’s back in stasis...it’s just goo-stasis this time.

At the start of Sonic Battle Shadow is physically 49 and mentally 15. This is the last “major” stop I consider before StH happens. These events take place almost immediately after Heroes. Shadow is living with Rouge at this time who is trying to make him comfortable and struggling with how to...properly being his memories back. She’s also keeping him from GUN, who obviously want to get their hands back on him, but she has done her best to convince them he’s not the threat he was before and to let her take care of him. It’s here where Shadow finally gets a “birthday” and ages up...you know what that means. 

At the start of Shadow the Hedgehog Shadow is physically 50 and mentally 16. Guess who’s back, back again, black doom’s back, kill your friends. Dad’s home and wants Shadow to hold up his end of the barging in a deal he wasn’t even a part of, but that’s what happens when your dad decides to make a deal with a deadly alien race in order to use their genes to make you. But hey, at least Shadow’s a little older and not any wiser. But we all know what happens, Shadow kills Doom, saves the planet and becomes the true anti-hero we love.

At the start of Sonic 06 Shadow is physically 53 and mentally 19. A lot of time passes here. Most of it is filled up by the smaller games. Rivals 1 and 2, chronicles, the rush games, those titles. Things that Shadow isn’t really a huge part of. (Mostly because I haven’t played them and don’t know his role in them hjgkdsha.) Shadow, having set aside his differences with Tower has been working in GUN with Rouge and Omega, operating under the codename “Ares” (a name aptly given to him by Tower).  Insert Sonic 06 shenanigans here.

At the start of Sonic Unleashed Shadow is physically 55 and mentally 21. Another little jump once again littered with a few smaller/side games. Shadow...doesn’t really have any part in Sonic Unleased, SO it’s time to go to the comics! This is the time where the second lesser black comet comes to wreck house and Shadow once again has to exterminate his own race, though not without meeting Eclipse and having their back and fourth. This lasts until the end of Unleashed when the planet is put back together and Shadow finally bests his estranged brother in combat. This is also the first time Shadow decides to spare the life of an enemy and lets Eclipse live. He tries to convince Eclipse to work with him, as having another member of the black arms on their side would be valuable, however Eclipse chooses to flee and has yet to be seen again. Though he does still keep in contact with Shadow...however infrequent. 

At the start of Episode: Shadow in Sonic Forces Shadow is physically 59 and mentally 25. Forgive me if I get any of this wrong, I personally haven’t played forces. I’ve watched it but I honestly can’t remember to details and I’m a bot too lazy to go back and re-watch it, that and I kinda want to play with the events of the game a little to fit my personal interpretation of Shadow a little better. By the end of the episode Shadow defects from the group (and GUN) to leave and find his own answers (as he does), where he is eventually trapped in a glorified virtual reality Null Space created from his memories and the power of the phantom ruby.

By the mid-ish way point of Sonic Forces Shadow is physically 60 and mentally 26. Shadow is trapped in Null Space until Sonic and Rookie end up being pulled in as well. Shadow fights them at first, believing they are sent there to kill him, like Infinites virtual reality showed him but is eventually convinced by Sonic that what he has been shown isn’t true. He leaves with Sonic and Rookie and goes through the rest of the game as normal. I also just kinda want to see them do a...triple boost(?) for the giggles.

During the rebuilding process from the end of Sonic Forces Shadow physically turns 61 and mentally 27. That leads up to roughly the end of the games, at least what we have so far, depending on the next thing Sega puts out. By this point Shadow’s story would diverge to the IDW comic but frankly I’d rather not go through that in timeline form, that would be a lot ad this is already long.

As of the canon time of this blog being set in the future Shadow is physically 311 and mentally 277 years old. He’s old. Really...really old. But hey, at least he still looks like he’s 20.

[mobius-prime]

269. Sonic Universe #2

The Shadow Saga (Part 2 of 4): Time & Again

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

So, do you remember how way back when we got the single-issue incomplete "adaption" of Sonic Adventure 2, I mentioned that the events of the incident would be clarified by Ian Flynn in a later issue? Well, this is the one! Interspersed within the events of the modern story are flashbacks to what happened during Sonic Adventure 2, heavily modified to fit within the comic's world. However, I've elected to tackle the modern half of the story first, and explore Sonic Adventure 2 afterward, mostly because though Ian seems to be trying to draw parallels between the latter story and the former, they don't really… work all that well, nowhere near the level that they did in the first arc of KtE anyway.

The modern story opens with Shadow approaching the Freedom Fighters' camp not far from the Eggdome in the middle of the night, waking Sonic up to invite him along to a little bonus mission.

I mean, while I can understand wanting to invite Sonic on a mission against Eggman, 1. he's already on one, and 2. you'd think Shadow would realize he'd need some sleep before the final battle against his arch-nemesis. What, you can't handle this alone, Shadow? Well, as it turns out he's not actually alone, as Sonic reaches the rendezvous point first (zooming off ahead of Shadow, of course), and finds Rouge waiting for him. Apparently, Eggman's been working on a sneaky plan to turn a telescope in the city into a massive laser capable of wiping the Freedom Fighters' little camp off the map, shield or no… as well as half of the rest of the city. Sonic thinks this is overkill even for someone like Eggman, but as Shadow catches up he explains that GUN doesn't quite think so.

To be fair, Sonic, you haven't been seeing the behind-the-scenes insane ramblings of his that Snively's been subject to recently. They break into the laser control room, and Sonic and Shadow deal with the smaller security lasers while Rouge hacks into the control system, trying to disable the thing. The cannon is already moving into position to fire, and worse still, the console then fries itself, Rouge having accidentally triggered a self-destruct command. Sonic and Shadow try to destroy the cannon directly, but no amount of spindashing or Chaos Spear-ing will pierce its armor, so Rouge suggests going for the bolts holding it in place, hoping it might throw off the shot.

Brilliant job, guys! Shadow, seeing no other choice, removes his inhibitor rings and climbs onto the top of the cannon just as it begins to fire. He uses all of his power to force the shot to misfire outwards instead of straight ahead, wrecking the barrel but saving the Freedom Fighters. This is really the only place where the parallels Ian tries to draw make sense, as then we see a flashback of him using his power a year ago to force the ARK back into orbit, and subsequently falling back into the atmosphere.

Aww, look at 'em! As the sun begins to rise, the three walk back towards the camp, and Sonic asks if they want in on the invasion. Shadow refuses, saying that he believes this is Sonic's fight considering how long he's been fighting against Eggman. As Sonic leaves, Rouge smirks at Shadow, and remarks on how far their relationship has come from before. Shadow, of course, has to defend his ego and insists he merely respects Sonic, to which Rouge teases him even more about how of course he can't admit he's made a friend.

Now, time to take a look at what their relationship used to be like, in the very-condensed Adaption 2.0 of Sonic Adventure 2! Instead of following exactly how it's portrayed in this issue, I'm just going to explain how exactly everything went down starting from the beginning, relying on context clues from this issue and previous ones. In case you've forgotten, during the events of the incident, both Tails and Knuckles were otherwise occupied, Amy was chilling in Mercia with Rob, and basically no one was even aware of where Sonic was at the time, as he was apprehended while sneaking back into Knothole while he was still supposed to be confined there. StH#98 covered what happened leading up to his arrest and subsequent breakout, but naturally, after the GUN truck chase he was rearrested and taken to Prison Island. Meanwhile, of course, Shadow had been released from his pod by Eggman, stolen a Chaos Emerald from Station Square, and presumably explained how the ARK's Eclipse Cannon worked to Eggman. Like in the game, Rouge also showed up at this point to offer her support in procuring more Chaos Emeralds - though as you might remember, at this point in the comic's history the emeralds still hadn't been combined into their distinct seven forms yet, so the Eclipse Cannon only required seven random emeralds to fire. Conspicuously missing is the entire plot point about Rouge stealing the Master Emerald from Knuckles, and the both of them subsequently searching for its shattered remnants all over the world, but if we're being quite honest the entire story still makes perfect sense without Knuckles and the Master Emerald, which I suppose is lucky for Ian trying to make sense out of all of this.

The point at which this issue actually starts recapping prior events begins on Prison Island after Sonic had broken out of prison once again - without the help of Amy or anyone else, mind you, since once again, they were all elsewhere at time. Really, this version of events is so stripped-down precisely because half of the game cast is missing, which is why the events of the game were able to fit into a single day despite several days passing in the game itself. Sonic and Shadow had their famous "faker" exchange in the forest and began fighting each other, with Rouge's voice coming over Shadow's communicator and informing them she'd found the remaining six Chaos Emeralds they'd need. At that point, Eggman reminded Shadow the whole island was about to blow, and at the same time Rouge called for help as she'd found herself stuck inside the vault. When Sonic heard Eggman tell Shadow to leave her and that they'd come back later to "dig the emeralds out of the ashes," he was outraged and offered Shadow a truce so they could rescue Rouge together. Shadow accepted, and they raced back to the facility as the timer counted down, with Shadow Chaos Control-ing them off the island and into the desert just before the place exploded.

See, while I understand where Ian is going with this, I really don't like his rewrite of Shadow's motivations here. For those not familiar, in the game, Shadow makes the decision to go back for Rouge entirely on his own, because the thought of her dying alone in the facility made him flash back to Maria's death. Later on, when she tries to talk to him about how he saved her, he avoids her questions, giving a similar excuse to this one, but with it being pretty obvious that that's not the case, as he hasn't stopped thinking about Maria since the mission. Here, Ian makes it seem like Shadow actually didn't care and indeed was only after the Chaos Emeralds, and he only went to the trouble of rescuing her thanks to Sonic's suggestion. However, I understand why this was kind of necessary - with his main allies elsewhere, Sonic needed someone to ally with for the next part of the plot. He ended up teaming up with Rouge, who was quite offended at Shadow's attitude, to break into the pyramid containing Eggman's base, and she piloted the space shuttle within up to the ARK. As I've pointed out before, at no point in the comic is it even slightly hinted that Eggman broke the moon in half as he does in the game - the only indication we have of such an event would be in StH#197, when Sonic recognizes Mobius from orbit by its half-destroyed moon, but in all fairness, the issue doesn't actually state the reason why the moon is broken. Remember, it's canon that Mobius has one hundred moons - that wasn't even retconned! Ian just made up a story behind it and put it in the Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia afterwards, but with one hundred whole-ass moons, it's entirely probable that at least one got bodied at some point in the planet's history, and Sonic just happened to recognize that particular one as he was reentering the planet's atmosphere. But anyway, once Sonic and Rouge made it up to the ARK, Sonic and Shadow quickly got into a fight on the catwalks outside the station, presumably while Eggman slotted the emeralds into their positions in the cannon.

*sigh* One of the biggest problems I have with the preboot is its handling of Shadow's entire story. I don't think Shadow ever got an actual chance to shine from his initial appearance until StH#171, when he had his whole "This is who I am" moment after exploring Gerald's digital diary. Everything about him, his entire backstory, was horribly neglected compared to his actually very rich and deep character arc from the games. This, above, is exactly what I'm talking about. In the game, it's implied that Shadow actually wins his final fight against Sonic (though Sonic obviously doesn't die from it), and then once the Eclipse Cannon is up and running, he moves into one of the ARK's observation rooms to quietly reflect on the past and watch the station crash into the planet. He doesn't snap out of it until Amy enters the room and her subsequent words trigger a flashback of Maria's real final wish. Furthermore, he's the only person in the cast who doesn't actually see the video of Gerald's execution or read his final diary entry. In other words, in the game, he comes back to his right mind organically, by remembering what his purpose is, while in the comic he apparently just got to watch a video telling him outright why he's wrong without him actually having to do the thinking that brings him back to reality. Seeing as Shadow is my favorite character in the entire franchise, this brushing-aside of one of the most important moments in his character arc irks me a little. But then again, I will still acknowledge that Ian wasn't really left a lot to work with here, and if anything the fault lies more with Karl Bollers and Kenders carelessly brushing past Sonic Adventure 2 in favor of their ongoing story about Robotropolis getting nuked or whatever.

Anyway, in the end, Shadow and Sonic went to the ARK's internal chamber that housed the Biolizard, and when it fused with the ARK to bring it crashing down to earth anyway, he and Sonic went Super and defeated it out in space, just like in the game. The game actually doesn't give a very clear reason why Shadow fell from orbit while Sonic was fine, but in the comic, it's shown that the act of teleporting the ARK back into orbit exhausted all his energy, resulting in the loss of his Super form early. As one of the above images shows, Sonic actually reached for him but was unable to catch him in time, hence his remark of not wanting to go through that again (even though realistically a fall from a five-story cannon is hardly going to do the same damage to Shadow as a fall from orbit). And that's it! As I said, the comic's adaption is incredibly stripped-down from the events of the game, but with so much of the cast missing, it kind of had to be. While I don't agree with all of Ian's decisions on how to adapt the circumstances while still retaining the basic gist of the story, I understand his ultimate conclusions, and in the end, they do work pretty well given how different the history of the world is in the comics versus the game. And despite Shadow not having a clear history with Rouge in the comics as he does in the games, Ian's finally saw fit to bring them together as a team in this issue, and they remain as such for the rest of the comic, including through the reboot.

But - hey, speaking of which, remember another adaption that was missing a few key plot points? Say… the first Sonic Adventure? Remember how the conclusion of Gamma's entire character arc was totally forgotten about and ignored? That would seem to imply that he's still out there somewhere… I wonder what he's up to nowadays. And for that matter, with the entirety of Sonic Heroes missing from the comics' timeline, where the heck is Omega in all this? Does he even exist? Gee, I wonder if we'll ever get to see these two important robot characters in the comic - like, say, next issue?

[seventeendeer]

you've mentioned shadow in some of your other responses about rouge and omega, but what's his deal? afaik he was created in a lab of some kind as the "ultimate lifeform"? why? who's maria? why does shadow have a grudge against sonic? :oc

Shadow’s story is arguably the longest and most needlessly complex in the series, so I’ll boil it down to it’s basic beats!

around 50 years before the games’ present time, Eggman’s grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, was tasked by the military with unlocking the secret to immortality. Gerald initially hesitated, afraid that his research would be used for waging war - however, he soon realized that it may also help him cure the illness of his beloved granddaughter, Maria, and despite his fears, he relented and started the project.

far away from Earth, on a space colony called the ARK, he began his work. the first round of experiments was a failure, and he soon realized that in order for his work to go anywhere, he would need help. he soon came into contact with an ageless alien named Black Doom, who agreed to let Gerald use his DNA in his experiments, on the condition that when Black Doom returned, the resulting life form was to help him retrieve the seven chaos emeralds (most people outside the fandom know about these, they’re basically super-powerful magic rocks that make crazy stuff happen if you can get all seven). Gerald agreed, and from his new experiments using Black Doom’s blood, Shadow was born.

(there’s also a whole little side-plot about how Gerald based Shadow’s physical appearance on some ancient imagery he found in some ruins depicting a being that looked a lot like Sonic, hence why Sonic and Shadow look so similar, but this plot line was never elaborated on or explained - maybe Sonic gets into some time travel shenanigans later in his life, who knows)

now, Gerald was a smart dude, and decidedly Not a fan of the military, so in order to prevent Shadow from being used for evil, he had given him sapience and a good heart, in the hopes that even if someone tried to force him to be a weapon, he would be able to refuse to carry out their orders. this was a success, and as Shadow developed, he became a part of Gerald’s family. Maria, who lived on the ARK with her grandfather, as her illness made her vulnerable and unable to survive outside of the sterile research facility, especially bonded with Shadow, and the two of them were as close as siblings. they promised each other that one day, they’d go down to the planet’s surface and see the world together when Maria was better and Shadow was ready to be set free.

however, the military soon learned about the immense success of Shadow’s creation, and they became scared of his power. in the end, soldiers were deployed on the ARK and tasked with killing everyone aboard and arresting Gerald. at the last moment, Maria managed to stuff Shadow in an escape pod, before she was killed along with Gerald’s research team.

unfortunately, after Shadow’s escape pod crashed on Earth, he was quickly located and brought to Gerald, who was forced to continue to experiment on him under supervision, presumably to try to make him safe for the military to use. when Gerald learned that Maria had been killed, he lost his mind to grief, and instead altered Shadow’s memories so that once Shadow was released, he would believe himself to be a link in a plan to destroy the world. Gerald was eventually executed, and Shadow was put into stasis for fifty years.

in the game where Shadow first appeared, he was woken up from stasis and followed what his false memories told him to do, while the other characters fought him and eventually helped him remember what really happened. at the last moment, Shadow fully recovered his memories and chose to save the world he nearly destroyed. he almost died in the attempt and his memories were fully wiped in the incident, and then he went on a three-to-four game long journey to get them all back and find out what the whole deal with Black Doom was all about. in the games’ present day, he’s aware of his past, but has chosen to leave it behind in order to become a full-fledged hero who protects the world from evil. he’s still a little rude and aloof about it, but there’s never any doubt that he means well.

as for his grudge against Sonic, honestly, it seems like he just thinks he’s annoying. they tend to clash because of their differing methods in dealing with conflicts, but they’re actually friends. Shadow just refuses to acknowledge it unless Sonic is actually dying or dead or about to die, he’s just that kind of person

[superemeralds]

I never understood this about Shadow, why does he even work with GUN?

*rubs my gay little hands together*

Finally it’s time for my analysis of GUN, the current GUN commander, Shadow’s relationship with both of them and speculations on the future…………..

warning: it’s actually gonna get……….. really wild. This turned out to be mainly an analysis of the GUN commander because he is the main factor that influences shadows decision but im… hoooo boy.

TLDR;

The commander is a Robotnik and the character development he went through, paired with Shadows acceptance of his judgement + forgiveness of his actions, as well as their friendly bond by the end of the game, gave Shadow the feeling that it is a good idea to join forces with GUN to keep his promise to Maria in keeping the planet safe.

( +3k words; all referenced videos and audio files are transcribed for accessibility; sources/references at the bottom)

If you have any questions or comments feel free to shoot me an ask! If you have anything to add or critique (because I’m 49320% sure i forgot half of the things i wanted to address again), feel free to add to my post!

Okay so before we can make out why Shadow would join GUN, we should establish why people think he wouldn’t.

As you said, you can’t understand his decision (very understandably so), therefor let’s sum up why you feel like this, and then I’ll try to explain how all that can actually lead to him joining in the end.

We all know GUN is responsible for Maria’s death, so why would Shadow want to join them? It doesn’t make sense!

Well, you see, it doesn’t. Things don’t always make sense. Not on first sight anyways.

First thing we should note is that the current GUN commander (I’ll talk abt him a lot now) and his family were aboard the ARK during the time that Shadow was created. We don’t know why, as there are no hints towards his parents’ jobs. There are also little hints to GUN actually having employees up there.

It is confirmed that GUN was funding the ARK project and all scientists abroad, they probably had agents up there that would live among the scientists to make sure to report back to the base frequently and keep HQ up-to-date about new findings and development of the experiments.

If the future commander was aware of that, or his parents were part of GUN, is not clear.

Speculative it is to say that he probably saw the GUN soldiers in the big invasion that killed his family (his parents either were scientists that were exterminated so they wouldn’t talk, or they were GUN agents that chose to defend the scientists, or they were killed by the artificial chaos that went on a rampage*) as heroes, since he canonically blames Shadow for everything.

He did have a deep and strong fear of Shadow since the very beginning because he happened to see Gerald and Black doom in a room with Shadow together at one point in time and associated Shadow with the alien ever since. It’s possible he didn’t know about Maria being very close to him, or he tolerated it because it was her.

Actually. 

Actually hold your fucking horses everyone I’m onto something.

Okay so… You know how the commander is super inconsistent with the whole family and Maria dying deal right?

SHADOW: Damn it! What does it all mean? These memories… thedoctor’s actions and words… nothing makes sense! Wasit real?

* - The GUN Commander walks up to Shadow, and points a handgun athim.

GUN COMMANDER: It’s been a long time… Shadow.

SHADOW: Who are you?! And how do you know my name?

GUN COMMANDER: I know you… Shadow the Hedgehog. You killedeveryone I loved… myfamily… Maria. I’ve been waiting all my life for this day!

SHADOW: What?! Me… and Maria?

* - A younger GUN Commander and Maria are running in a hall on theARK. He hits his ass to taunt Maria, and she catches up to him.She holds him in place, but he starts running again.

GUN COMMANDER (voiceover): Maria was like a sister to me. She wasthe only family I knew! And because of you… she waskilled!

* - The younger GUN-C gets to the door to Geral’d lab, and looksin the glass. Inside, Gerald and Black Doom are talking nearShadow’s pod.

GUN COMMANDER (voiceover): Witnessing it all… the plan to createthat horrifying evil creature... that black creature, and that insane professor who unleashed it all!

* - As the pod starts to move, the young GUN-C starts screaming.The pod sits upright, and Shadow opens his eyes.

SHADOW: So… the professor created me… with Black Doom?

GUN COMMANDER: You don’t fool me! It’s not just about Maria.Thanks to you, everyone I knewand loved was killed when the ARK was destroyed. Worst of all, myfamily! Finally… justice is served!

I bolded everything that is important to my analysis,,,,

ANYWAYS AS I WAS SAYING.

The Commanders words about his family and Maria being killed are all jumbled. One moment Maria is the only family he had, the next everyone he knew and loved was killed. Among those people Maria and his family.

We have no canon confirmation as to who his family was and why they were killed on the ARK. (Read speculation above again if needed, marked with an *)So what if Maria was his family? What if he was a Robotnik himself?

Who says that he knew about Ivo’s parents?

He might be blood related, or adopted by Gerald.

How else would a kid end up on a Space Station that is primarily for scientific research? Maria and the future commander should logically be the only children up there, because Gerald brought them with him. 

The commander witnessed Shadow’s creation and knows that Gerald was involved in it. He felt a deep hatred for Shadow, aswell as Gerald, for what happened. He mainly blames Shadow for the incident on ARK, but he also holds resentment towards Gerald for having created Shadow in the first place. (”The insane professor that unleashed it all!”)

This would imply that the commander refuses to see Gerald as part of his family anymore after that had happened, which would figuratively make Gerald “dead to him.” Maria would be the only family he had left after that, and she was killed on the ARK.

He was not there when it happened, he was escorted by GUN back to earth while Maria tried to defend Shadow and help him escape. He never got told how she died, he just, presumably, saw her on the list of victims.

This event shaped the commander into wanting to become someone who can protect the innocent from harm and prevent needless death.

We see his compassion in other cutscenes!

* - The Presiden’t helicopter touches down on the landing pad andseveral GUN soldiers run over to it. Slightly later, the GUNCommander helps the President walk to the control room. The Presidentsits down in a chair.

GUN COMMANDER: Sir, are you all right?

PRESIDENT: Never mind me… What about the people of Central City?

GUN COMMANDER: No need to worry, sir. Orders were issuedyesterday, and  everyone hasbeen evacuated to the safe zone.

[…]

GUN COMMANDER: So he’s finally decided to show himself. Attentionall command units! Mobilizeall Mech battle sections! Prepare all weapons to strikeincoming vessels! Mobilize “Diablon”!

GUN SOLDIR: But sir! It’s not ready yet!

GUN COMMANDER: I don’t care!! We have NO other option!! We MUSTprotect the President, andthe Chaos Emeralds, at all costs.

* - In the White House, the President is looking at Westopolisfrom the balcony. The sky is dark red/orange. The GUNCommander and two other soldiers come in through the door.

GUN COMMANDER: Sir, your transport is ready. We must go now! Sir,please!

PRESIDENT: Once again… I have failed my duty to protect ournation.

GUN COMMANDER: Sir, it’s not over! We can continue to fight. Theblack aliens may haverendered us unable for now, but we will rally, sir. You  must keep yournation strong and together.

PRESIDENT: Yes, keep the nation united. No matter what happens,we’ll never surrender to these creatures.*looks at the picture of Sonic and Shadow* This much I learnedfrom them.

GUN COMMANDER: Sir, please hurry.

PRESIDENT: Okay.

* - The President and the two soldiers start to leave. The GUNCommander looks at the picture the President keeps on his desk before leavinghimself.

GUN COMMANDER: The black creatures will feel their own bloodyHell!

Again, bold lines are important!

The commander made sure to evacuate the entire population of a major city that is based off the Washington metropolitan area with a populus of over 6 Million people within just one single day.

For reference I researched how long it normally takes to evacuate big cities in real life.

“At around 10 am on August 28, Mayor Ray Nagin declared a mandatory evacuation of the city, after Hurricane Katrina was updated to a Category 5, the strongest possible hurricane. By the time the hurricane hit, at around 7 AM on August 29, later studies revealed that around 90% of the New Orleans population left. That’s around one million people within 21 hours.

Preparations for Hurricane Katrina - Wikipedia

This is important, as we can guestimate just how long an evacuation could take, if we assume that the cities can evacuate at a similar rate to New Orleans. Doing the math, this means that New York City takes around 8 days to clear out, and Tokyo needs around two weeks or so.

Thing is, however, evacuation procedures will likely suffer because these cities are much larger than New Orleans, so you might need to add a few days to them.

So, it’s more likely that NYC and Tokyo would need at least two weeks before the cities could be cleared.”

source

So he really did something really amazing.

He prioritizes to keep the President and the chaos emeralds safe above anything else and risks unleashing a new and unreliable weapon; and against what you might think- that he’s selfish/doesn’t care about the citizens- the reason he prioritizes the emeralds over people….. 1) They’ve already been evacuated.2) If Black Doom gets all of the Chaos Emeralds there won’t be an Earth anymore. No Humanity. He can think critically and in advance yall.

Also consider how he gives the President hope, not to give up. He’s confident in his abilities as commander, and his his soldiers, to do whatever they can to keep the people of their country, and the entire world, save. And he also emphasizes that the nation themselves should not loose hope, that the President should be a positive influence and stand up against the intruders (the aliens).

He also says he’ll return “their bloody hell” to the aliens, which 1) references his association of Shadow with those aliens and his firm belief that Shadow killed Maria (and by extend his (grand?)father Gerald ?).2) references the fact that the aliens have taken countless of soldiers lives already and that he wishes to return that favour to their kind.

The commander is generally a justice loving person who will do anything in his power to do the right thing. When it comes to Shadow, though, he seems to not have his personal grudge towards him under control and he gets a little extreme with his idea of justice.

GUN COMMANDER: Shadow? Deploy the troops, NOW! And if you findShadow with the black aliens…then kill them all.

GUN SOLDIER: But sir, isn’t Shadow on our side–

GUN COMMANDER: I gave you an order, soldier! He’s evil and he’sthe enemy!

//

GUN COMMANDER: Alert all field commanders in Sector B. I’mauthorizing full use of alltactical weapons. I want both black aliens and Shadow stopped andburied. Failure, is not an option.

//

GUN COMMANDER: Hm-hm… It’s over, Shadow. You’ll finally beexposed and eradicated forthe evil that you are.

//

GUN COMMANDER (radio): Come in, Eclipse Cannon! He must be stoppedat all costs! Take him out... that’s an order!

//

GUN COMMANDER: Shadow! Damn you! It’s been fifty years… justicewill finally be served.*cocks handgun*

This emotional side of him is a great flaw in a man of his position, but also a great strength.

As we know he confronted Shadow about his hatred and literally attempted to personally kill him.

* - He fires his gun, but Shadow’s now standing behind theCommander, faced away from him, with his eyes closed.

SHADOW: If what you say is true, then I will respectfully acceptmy fate.

GUN COMMANDER: You mean to tell me that, you really don’t remembera thing?

SHADOW: But I just need some time… to uncover the real truth.

* - As Shadow walks off, the Commander looks at his gun and fallsto his knees.

Shadow admits to not remembering any of what he is saying, but that he will take responsibility for those things if it’s true (WHILE NOT EVEN REMEMBERING ANY OF IT). This means that Shadow accepts the justice the commander wanted to serve. And also that he forgives him for being so bitter about it, for being so incredibly angry.

You might think it is because he knows what it’s like to hate someone for killing your loved one and then doing everything to avenge them but…. he doesn’t remember. He doesn’t remember SA2. All he knows is the empty feeling of rage and sorrow, that he can’t really put any context on. (He remembered that Maria died and that he wasn’t able to save her, but he never remembered how she died. This had to be told to him by someone else. Either it was directly shown to him by Black Doom when he uses chaos control to show Shadow the past, or by Doom’s Eye in a cutscene before a boss fight. (iirc anyways because I’ve gone through so much cutscene and script material now that I might mix some stuff up, please correct me if I’m wrong).

Once the commander learns that Shadow doesn’t remember anything and fucking accepts his plans to kill him, he is SHOCKED.

He looks at his gun, as if he’s realizing just what the fuck he was doing, threatening and literally trying to kill Shadow in an attempt to serve “justice”. He falls to his knees in shame for his misguided behaviour. He realized how foolish and childish is obsessive pursuit of Shadow was.

Later in The Last Way when Gerald tells the truth about Shadow and Black Dooms relation and Shadow saves the world….

* - All of the members are cheering and yelling.

GUN COMMANDER: *sigh*

* - The President pats the Commander’s back.

PRESIDENT: How ironic… After the way we all treated him, hesaved us all i the end. We were all wrong about the professor. Let us pay homageto Professor Gerald. Let’s work to ensure peace and prosperity for a brighter future! What do you say, Commander?

GUN COMMANDER: Excellent idea, Mister President.

They feel guilty for holding Shadow accountable for the destruction the aliens caused, aswell as for what happened to Gerald. They plan to reform the way they act in homage of Gerald Robotnik (and Shadow the hedgehog).

Now, it’s not confirmed when exactly in the timeline it is, but the commander does say this, but in Space Gadget (after completing the game I assume) during the training gameplay it is possible to get a random call from the commander which says:

“Shadow, do you read me? First… I want to apologize, for the other day. Actually, I just became a grandfather last week and I was thinking of maybe having you over. I know that training is tough, but try and do your best.”

(here’s the voice file in case you want to hear it)

This confirms that the commander is trying to build a friendly relationship with Shadow now and wants him to be part of his family (again. Since they are both Robotniks.). It could either be an invitation after Shadow already had joined GUN, or, and I think that’s more likely, he wants to discuss that matter when Shadow pays him a visit and they can talk about it in person.

Now Shadow does forgive the commander for his actions, and he accepts that what happened to Maria lies in the past and that it is not the fault of anyone else but the person that shot her, so he can’t be angry at the entire human race for it. He understands it now.

The commander makes a genuine effort to keep the country, and the planet, save; and GUN is an organization that focuses on keeping the world save. Shadow knows that it is impossible for one person alone to do it, so he likely sees this as a good option for help since he’s willing to cooperate with this commander. Due to his old age he would have to retire soon, though, so Shadow would also likely want to be inside that system to have influence on the new leaders in the future, so that GUN does not stray the wrong path again. (Be it shady experiments or useless killing.)

He likely agreed upon the request under the condition that OMEGA could join along with him, as well as the condition that he, OMEGA and Rouge are an inseparable Team that will work together from this day forth.

This is how I think it went.

Yes I got lazy towards the end because it’s super hot and I’m sweaty and my laptop is literally wet from my sweaty hands its disgusting akjsfhka

If you have any questions or comments feel free to shoot me an ask! If you have anything to add or critique (because I’m 49320% sure i forgot half of the things i wanted to address again), feel free to add to my post!

sources: (take the wiki ones with a grain of salt i only referred to the stuff that is absolute fact (sourced trivia, quotes and plot line); not personality descriptions or anything interpretative stuff since the wiki is also fan made and i disagree with some of that)

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_the_Hedgehog_(game)

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Commander

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/926671-shadow-the-hedgehog/faqs/39966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh7b_eml0EU (i used all 4 of those videos aswell as this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBisWZ8eKV0

[welcome-to-chao-hub]

Dating

Shadow sighed as he walked into the small apartment only to find a pink mouse in the kitchen. “...Aura, how did you get into my place?” he asked, trying to recall if he left her the spare key or not. Maybe he did when Diana was sick earlier this year.

“Ah, Sandy let me in. He forgot something at a friend’s house and I offered to watch the stove; I was thinking maybe we could play some games since I’m in town!” she explained, the black hedgehog coming over to see her stirring a pot of soup. “Speaking of being in town, you’re home early. Did G.U.N. not have anything for you to do?”

Honestly he really didn’t want to play games with her...last time she did, she had brought a game focusing on him from a world where Sonic games were common. He was also pretty certain that a certain Sonic game that he spotted on the coffee table that was labeled ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ for the 360 was what the mouse was inferring to.

So in a desperate attempt to steer the conversation away from that outcome, he said, “I stopped working there earlier this year, remember?”

��Right, right, right! Trying to keep track of the different multiverse stuff that some stuff you forget, y’know?” she said, the pink mouse gently bonking her head with her right palm. “But still, not used to seeing you home, well, early.”

Shadow’s lips pressed into a fine line as he took a seat at the table. “I...tried to go on a date. Didn’t go well.”

Aura looked confused by that. “How did it not go well? You’re handsome, pretty charming, a….somewhat steady job I hope,” she started listing. “Also, didn’t consider you the dating type.”

“Handsome yes, curious to see what the dating scene was about, but not everyone is really….ok with dating someone who’s essentially immortal or has a major case of ‘baby face’,” he huffed. “I’m 55 or so years old and I look like I’m now hitting my 20s. If I date someone younger, they’ll probably be more creeped out by the whole ‘I’m 30 years old than them; if I date someone older, they’ll worry that they’re the ones looking creepy by others. It’s a lose-lose situation with me. My dating options are limited enough as it is, either going with a robot created by Eggman or one of the Zeti...”

The mouse looked thoughtful as she turned the heat to low and went to sit down by the hedgehog. “So, what makes you think you’re 55 years old? Because....yeeeah you don’t look over...20.”

He looked confused as if it wasn’t obvious. “Because I was created 55 years ago?”

“And Aang was born over 100 years before Katara was born and they still got together!”

“Aang is a child in that show and wasn’t a fully-formed-person created by science and aliens!”

She clapped her hands together and exhaled. “Ok...like, point...but let’s start at the beginning. When you were...born, created, whatever, how old would you say you were then? You had to have had some idea, right?”

Shadow sighed as he leaned back to think about it. “....15. Professor Gerald wanted to make sure that Maria had more friends her age and the kids on the ARK were...limited to say the least, so I suppose I was also created with that in mind? I say it was about two years later when I started to become unstable, prompting the professor to use Black Arm’s help,” he explained. “And, well, for the project to be shut down the way that it did.”

“Ok, some changes compared to other timelines, but still somehow has the aliens in it. So when you woke up about 50 years later, you were still 17 in a way? So it’s been about...5 or 6 years later since then so you’re like...technically 22, 23? ...how are you a dad of two 18 year olds?” she mused before shrugging. “Look, whether you see yourself as some young 20 year old or someone who’s actually 50, that’s up to you. You’re still an adult no matter how you look at it.”

She leaned over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Look, I’ve been to a lot of worlds and I’ve seen a lot of people. Different versions of you, different versions of Sonic, Tails, the whole gang! Do some of those Shadows see themselves as teenagers when they first woke up after the ARK incident? Probably! Do some of those Shadows see themselves as adults? Just as likely as the teenagers! If you’re also that worried about not being able to date because of this, maybe I could date ya!”

Shadow snorted, chuckling as he buried his head into his arms, the mouse playfully pushing his arm. “Aura! Why would you wanna date my old ass?”

“What, I’m serious! I mean, I’m...28? 29? Multiverse hopping is weird. But yeah I’ve had a crush on you before, I’m also an adult so I’m not bothered by dating your ‘old ass’,” she said, using air quotes as she got up, not noticing that the hedgehog’s face was turning an interesting shade of red. “The only thing I ask is if you’re not sure about the whole dating me thing is….try not to wait too long on deciding, ok?” she added, stirring the pot.

He stared at her before giving a nod. “I’ll think about it. Thanks.”

“...also speaking of ages, isn’t Diana supposed to be 19 or 20? Why is she still listed as 18 in her bio-”

“Aura-”

“And you could also be from that one timeline where you’re an android and I could also secretly be a robot-”

“Aura!”