#shadow voice yes i regularly break into government bases searching for info on maria and materials for the doctor but i have STANDARDS.

[nyatbinary-81]

HONORED to be in a fav tag @spiderh0rse. heres elaboration for you <3

so! eggman and shadow! methinks shadow ends up with the other robotniks bc theyre a source of familiarity in this large, terrifying world. GUN is semi okay with this bc that means most of the people connected to the ark are in one place and therefore easier to keep track of. unfortunately, eggmans already canon feelings of being bypassed/seen as a poor replacement for maria are only amplified by having her former best friend as one of his caretakers, and shadow is absolutely struggling with moving on from maria. he never saw her die, so hes clinging on to the idea that shes alive, just held by the government somewhere.

by the time eggman grows up, hes got a lot of ideas and enough sense to realize he needs the superpowered hedgehog on his side, so he goes on about his theme park and bettering the world and whatnot with a side of taking down GUN until shadow is helping him raid bases and theyre both on the run together.

of course, shadow isnt actually big on eggmans schemes, since most of them either dont improve the world or actively make it worse. but GUN is on BOTH their tails, so they have no choice to stick together.

good news, its been nearly fifty years, and sonic is juuust old enough to go out and beat up the badniks threatening the local wildlife population. so! classic sonic and shadow meeting! i think sonic and friends would be a positive influence on shadow, slooowly befriending him and (unknowingly) helping him move on. their first meeting is literally like

shadow: hm. i suppose you're here to stop the doctor?

sonic, about to beat up who he assumes is a lackey who just implied he cant: >:/

shadow: third door on your left. he's using an emerald to power his generator, take it out carefully, don't blow it up.

sonic: ??

i also have a specific vision for the first time sonic goes super. he has 6/7 emeralds and eggman is boasting about him never finding the last one, so he looks imploringly at shadow and extends his hand to ask for it. shadow, who is realizing how actively dangerous eggman is becoming, gives it up. he expects to never get it back, even if eggman collects them again, seeing as he just. yknow. betrayed eggman. but the emerald stays in sonics hands after the battle when the others fly away, and sonic gives it back to shadow. this is what starts sparking hope in shadow, and over the years they develop a very casual friendship with a lot of banter even before sonic starts talking.

i also think tails and shadow get along well bc tails is always infodumping and shadow loves learning new things. plus they both stick to the sidelines. oftentimes shadow ends up solving whatever problem tails was having with his tech, either through rubberducking or genuinely working together toward a solution. eggman is sooo mad bc shadows working AGAINST him. their relationship is. very strained by this point. bc now even SHADOW is leaving him behind for this annoying hedgehog and his weird friends! hes got no one left! this makes him worse <3 which makes his relationship with shadow also worse <3 the downward spiralllll. and that eventually spirals into SA2! i have. a lot of thoughts on SA2. but they arent coherent juuust yet. i just know its gotta be Fucked Up and throw ALL of shadows trauma back into his face.

so if the experimental cures based on shadows dna gave maria black and red eyes like eggman used to be depicted with and she used them to take the fall for shadow allowing him to live on earth where he grows up with/raises eggman and they have a very strained semi-mutual-interests-based relationship until SA2 where eggman unearths maria in a G.U.N. bunker would that be fucked up or what