All Sonic characters are copyrights of SEGA, DIC, and Archie Comics. Silver the Hedgehog is copyrighted by me.

Author’s note: This is not nearly as long as my other fanfics. This is more of a prologue to a much bigger storyline that will span the rest of this series.

Shadows in the Night

It had been a long day for the entire village of Knothole. This very afternoon, they had all gathered to welcome the newest addition to the Freedom Fighters, Mecha-Sonic; who now went by the name Silver the Hedgehog. Both Sonic and Sally had then taken Silver on a tour of Knothole, starting with the campfire spot where they ate and ending with the Power Ring pool, where they were busy talking.

**********

"I still can’t get over the beauty of this place. So many trees and flowers. It makes me feel like just laying in one of those patches of daises out in Green Meadow," said Silver as he continued to take in the site.

"Yeah, Knothole isn’t very big, but they say good things come in small packages," said Sonic, staring into the Power Ring pool, which was only a few minutes away from releasing the next ring. Sally was seated on the log that sat at the bank of the pool, twirling a freshly plucked flower between her fingers.

"Yes, Knothole is lovely place. I just wish that all of Mobius could be like this," said Sally, motioning the backdrop of the forest with her free hand. Silver lowered his head slightly, also thinking the same thing.

"I know how you feel, Sally. Mobius should never have been abused like it has been. But in the end, both Robotnik and Metal will pay for the destruction they’ve caused. We will win this war," said Silver as he looked up towards the sky. Sonic couldn’t help but smile. No matter how bad the situation seemed now that they knew how deadly Metal Sonic could be, Silver always looked on the up side of things. He then noticed a faint glow from the center of the pool as the next ring prepared to surface.

"Here she comes," said Sonic as the Power Ring emerged from the pool. Sonic reached out and grabbed the ring, then quickly flung it high in the air in the direction of Silver before he could activate its power. Silver smiled as he flew up and grabbed the ring in mid-air. He started to come back down, but decided he’d have a little fun with Sonic first. He hovered in place about 10 feet above the ground, Sonic growing rapidly impatient with him.

"Silver, come back down here," he hollered up to Silver, who in turn smiled, then flew off as fast as his thrusters could go. Rotor had modified his foot thrusters to be able to reach speeds matching Metal Sonic’s engine, coming close to breaking the sound barrier when going full speed. Now he was flying through the forest at nearly four hundred miles per hour with a rapidly gaining Sonic on his heels.

"Silver, you come back here with that ring!" yelled Sonic as he speeded up. Silver snickered, then pushed his feet out in front of him, coming to a complete stop in a matter of seconds. Sonic saw this and also came to a stop. Silver then flew down and landed next to Sonic, grinning ear to ear.

"What’s so funny?" asked Sonic as he grabbed the ring and put it into his pack.

"Oh, just the look on your face when I left you behind," said Silver, nearly laughing now. Sonic had to smile to as he realized he’d fallen for the trick.

"You know, sometimes I think you’re to free willed for your own good," said Sonic as Sally ran up to them, winded from having to run that far to catch up. When Silver saw her, he immediately regretted tricking Sonic when Sally was present since she didn’t have the speed to keep up with them.

"Oh, I’m sorry, Sally. I should have done this when it would have been just me and Sonic," said Silver apologetically. By now, Sally had caught her breath.

"Oh, don’t worry about it. I had a feeling you would pull something the moment you stopped yourself from landing," said Sally. Sonic jerked a thumb towards Silver.

"Yeah, and he got me good. I didn’t see that one coming," said Sonic. All three of them laughed as the started back towards the village. Sally because of Sonic admitting he had been tricked. Silver for the fact that Sonic had fallen for his trick. And Sonic because he knew that if he didn’t laugh, they would be on his case about the trick all day long.

**********

The rest of the day went without any incidents. Silver had Rotor repair his laser cannon and put a safety lock on it so that he would have to run a certain program through his internal computer to arm the laser. Sonic had gone fishing with Tails out by the river, each of them catching five fish a piece. Sally had helped Bunnie prepare the dinner for the village along with about five other ladies. Today, it was as if the world outside of Knothole had no effect on them at all. This day seemed like the one day that they would have total relaxation. But little did they suspect that later on that night, their entire outlook on both the war and their lives would be forever changed.

**********

Everyone was gathered outside by the campfire as they ate their dinners. Sonic munching on his usual chilidog, Rotor eating a freshly cooked fish, Tails chewing on an apple. Silver, having no need for nutrition, just sat around and watched, laughing when one of Sonic’s chilidogs slipped out of the bun when he bit into it. But someone else was watching them. A figure with red eyes like rubies, covered by a tan cloak. He stared down at the group of friends from a tree about fifty feet away.

"Your destiny has finally arrived, Sonic. Now is the time to reveal both myself and your purpose in life," said the figure. With that, he pulled the green gem from a pocket in his cloak. Raising it high above his head, he spoke two words under his breath, the gem glowing bright. Then the figure vanished.

**********

"So anyway, there we were, both me and Sonic having just been given the worst beatings of our lives," said Silver. He was once again telling the tale of his and Sonic’s fight against Metal Sonic, since Sonic had been unconscious for the last part of it. And as always, everyone was listening intently. "And Metal was preparing to ram Sonic. So I grabbed a steel rod that was right behind my head. Then as soon as Metal flew by overhead, I jabbed the rod into his engine intake, which caused him to go completely haywire. Next he smacked right into the side of a building and fell to the ground. Then part of the building itself fell on him."

"Then what happened?" asked a young leopard. Silver suddenly looked very confused, not really knowing himself what had exactly happened that day.

"Well, the last thing my visual sensors can remember before I woke up in Rotor’s workshop was this blinding light surrounding us, then falling into the middle of the village," replied Silver.

"What was the light like?" asked the leopard.

"It was kind of like when someone shines a flashlight into your eyes. Much like that light…shining in that tree!" shouted Silver, pointing towards top of a tree just ten feet behind Sonic. Sonic quickly vaulted off the log he was sitting on, landing next to Silver. Everyone looked up to see that, sure enough, a bright light was illuminating from the top of the tree. It grew brighter, then died down. Silver was the first to see what had caused the light since he had built-in light shading hardware in his eyes.

"Who…or what is that?" asked Silver as he saw a figure standing in the center of the dying light. Sonic was the second one to recover his sight. He also saw the figure, which stood at about the same height as him and Silver. The figure turned its head down towards the group of Freedom Fighters, the red eyes inside the hood of the cloak shimmering off the fire’s light.

"Who are you!" demanded Sonic. The light faded away, leaving the figure lit by only the moonlight and the light from the campfire.

"No need to make demands, blue hedgehog. I come in peace," said the figure. It then leaped out of the tree towards the ground, the bottom of the cloak wafting up from the breeze cause by his fall. Sonic noticed that the figure was wearing sneakers like him, except these were white in the front and black in the back. And a ring of red went around the bottom of the front and back quarters of each sneaker. There was also several small holes in the bottoms of the sneakers that had a small ring of yellow protruding from them. The figure landed softly on the ground, then looked over at Sonic. Everyone else but Sonic and Silver backed away from the figure.

"I don’t care if you come in peace or not, who are you!" asked Sonic again. Silver ran the program through his system that would arm his laser cannon, then pointed it at the figure, making sure to have an aim on him if he tried anything.

"If you are this impatient to find out who I am, then you will never be patient enough to win this war," replied the figure. True, Sonic was getting close to losing his patience. Sonic collected himself, then turned towards the figure again.

"All right, I’ll go first. I’m Sonic the Hedgehog, and who might you be?" asked Sonic, annoyed that he was talking like this to a perfect stranger that had somehow found Knothole. A white smile formed from inside the hood of the cloak.

"Nice to finally meet you in person, Sonic," said the figure. It then reached back and grabbed the back of the cloak. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name," started the figure as he took off the cloak, "is Shadow." The cloak flew off to reveal a black hedgehog that closely resembled Sonic, his coloring and slightly different style to his quills being the only thing different. He was totally black, except for a small patch of white fur on his chest and streaks of red running down the top of each one of his quills.

"Hey! He looks just like you, Sonic," said Silver. Sonic gave Silver an angry look, causing the robotic hedgehog to cower back slightly. Sonic then turned back towards the black hedgehog, eyes burning like fire. Sally saw his eyes and knew right then that Sonic would take the course of action he always did when he had that look.

"So, you think you can pull off being me!" said Sonic, his hands forming fists at his sides. Shadow was surprised by this comment, but didn’t allow it to show.

"I admit that I do have a striking resemblance to you, Sonic, but…" started Shadow.

"You’re nothing more than a copycat!" said Sonic, pointing his finger squarely at Shadow. Sally put her head down into her hand, shaking it back and forth. Sonic always knew the quickest way to make new enemies.

"I am not trying to copy…" stammered Shadow.

"Nothing but a big faker!" shouted Sonic. This was Shadow’s breaking point. While he was a very patient hedgehog, he also had a sense of pride about how he looked.

"Fine!" yelled Shadow. Everyone but Sonic jumped at the sudden rise in his voice. "Let’s have a little race. Then will see how cocky you are." His voice sounded cold and slightly evil, even though he hadn’t tried to come across like that.

Sonic looked surprised by the mention of a race. Surely this black hedgehog had heard of his speed. But he couldn’t have if he actually thought that a race would show that he was Sonic’s equal or superior. *I let this uninformed hedgehog think he’s hot stuff until we race*, thought Sonic.

"All right. I’ll race ya. I’ll even let you choose the course," said Sonic, gesturing with his hand towards Shadow. Shadow smiled to himself, not letting Sonic see it. He knew very well of the blue hedgehog’s speed. He would let him think he’s the top hog, until they raced.

"Okay. How about Knothole to the edge of the Great Forest and back?" suggested Shadow.

"Fine by me. Any rules?" asked Sonic.

"Just one. You can’t harm the other racer in any way," said Shadow. Sonic nodded in agreement. At least this would be a fair race.

**********

"All right! This race is between Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog!" announced Silver, who would record their times with his internal clock. "The first one to the edge of the forest and back will be the winner! Tails and Antoine are at the edge of the forest, where they will make sure you touch the tree that is between them!" Sonic looked over at Shadow, who didn’t seem at all worried about the distance. This worried Sonic a little. When he was younger, he had heard his uncle tell him that he probably wasn’t the only Mobian who could run at supersonic speeds. He had learned that his great-grandfather had also had his remarkable speed, and that there were more than likely others in the world. But he shook off the worried feeling as he glanced back at his pack, which contained the Power Ring from earlier today.

"On your mark!" said Silver, raising his laser cannon into the air. Both of the hedgehogs got into starting positions.

"Get set!" said Silver. Both looked each other in the eye, the competitive spirit in both of them ready to be released.

"Go!" cried Silver as he fired his laser cannon. Sonic took off like a shot, kicking up a huge dust cloud. Shadow started after Sonic, his speed being nothing compared to Sonic’s. But then, the little holes under his sneakers started to give off small bursts of fire, propelling Shadow an inch above the ground. Obviously, these were some kind of thrusters, only a lot less powerful than Silver’s. Shadow then started to "skate" after Sonic, rapidly picking up speed.

*I knew he was nothing more than a faker,* thought Sonic as he ran through the forest, not coming close to breaking the sound barrier open. He was quite relaxed, letting himself become comfortable with the pace he was setting. It wasn’t until a speeding black figure flew by that he realize that Shadow wasn’t the faker he had made him out to be. Sonic quickly shook off his surprise as he sped after the now leading Shadow. Sonic couldn’t believe how fast Shadow was traveling. Even now, he was feeling the drag of the sound barrier against him, and Shadow was still able to stay ahead of him. Sonic sped up even more, breaking the barrier open with a sonic boom.

Shadow looked behind him to see Sonic trying to catch up to him as he sped through the forest. He knew he could never win if Sonic was to use all his speed. While he was able to break the sound barrier himself, Shadow knew he couldn’t match outrun. Heck, he had never seen anything that was as fast as Sonic. Shadow started skating in a wide circle as the tree they were supposed to touch came into view. He swung around in a wide arch as he tagged the tree and headed back towards Knothole, smiling at the surprised looks on the two Mobians’ faces when he had tagged the tree.

**********

"Th…th…that was Shadow!" exclaimed Tails, his eyes wider than they eve had been before. Antoine watched the black figure zip out of view, then turned towards Tails.

"If that was being the black hedgehog, then where is Sonic?" asked Antoine in his deep French accent. Tails shrugged before turning back towards the tree, just in time to see Sonic’s hand slap the tree and continue on.

"I think that was him," said Tails, jerking his thump at the blue figure as it flew out of sight.

**********

*Darn! He’s got too big a lead!* thought Sonic as he ran full speed after Shadow, slowly gaining on him, but not fast enough. He had no choice but to resort to a measure he thought he would never have to use against another living being. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out the Power Ring.

"Hey Shadow!" yelled Sonic. Shadow heard his call and looked back at him. The Power Ring was now glowing brightly as it’s energy surged through Sonic’s body. "I’ll see ya at the finish line!" With that remark, Sonic exploded forward at speeds exceeding Mach 2, easily passing Shadow, who had to cover his eyes from the dust cloud Sonic kicked up as he passed by.

"No, it is I who will see you at the finish line," Shadow said to himself as he pulled out the green gem. He then held it out in front of him, shouting, "Chaos Control!" The green gem’s glow increased tenfold as Shadow was wrapped in a veil of light, which then disappeared as quickly as it had came, taking Shadow with it. By now, Sonic had reached the outer borders of Knothole and was now in a dead run towards the finish, the friction from his running catching small patches of grass on fire.

*There’s no way Shadow can catch me now! I’ve won!* thought Sonic as he saw the finish line, Silver waiting to time him with the other Freedom Fighters watching. What happened next took everyone by surprise as a flash of light appeared just past the finish line. Sonic still continued, letting his pride in his speed keep him from playing it safe. He dashed into the light…right into the figure of Shadow, sending both tumbling to the ground. When he had recovered, he was staring into the eyes of his competition. Sonic quickly picked himself up and stared down at Shadow with disbelief.

"B…but…h…how?" stuttered Sonic, unable to believe that Shadow had beaten him. Shadow looked up from his sitting position at Sonic, smiling. All the Freedom Fighters were just as shocked as Sonic, none of them ever seeing anything come close to, much less beat Sonic in a race. They were whispering to one another, some pointing at Shadow. Shadow picked himself up, leaped up onto a nearby stump, and caught the attention of the villagers.

"If you will all have a seat, I will explain everything," said Shadow, motioning for everyone to sit. Everyone sat down on nearby stumps or logs, some on the ground. Everyone, that is, except for Sonic. He was still to shocked from losing the race to sit, but he had opened his ears for hearing what Shadow had to say.

"First of all, I would like to say that in no way am I trying to imitate Sonic or his amazing speed. The truth is, if not for this," said Shadow as he pulled out the glowing green gem, "then I never would have beaten him." Everyone’s eyes turned to the softly glowing gem.

"What is it?" asked Sally. Shadow motioned towards her left boot where Nicole was attached. Sally bent down, picked up Nicole, and opened her up. She then walked up to Shadow and put Nicole only two feet away from the gem. "Nicole, analyze this jewel."

"Analyzing, Sally," said Nicole’s monotone voice as she started running scans. It took her a good three minutes to finish the scans, but the news of what she had gathered was something that no one was prepared for. "This gem is none other than a Chaos Emerald." Sally’s jaw almost hit the ground with this information.

"Are you sure?" asked Sally, not willing to believe what her trusty computer had just said.

"99.9% sure, Sally," said Nicole. Sally looked up at Shadow, who nodded slowly, confirming what the little computer had said.

"Indeed, this is a Chaos Emerald," he said. Sonic walked up to the two of them, confusion written all over his face.

"What’s so special about a Chaos Emerald?" asked Sonic. Sally turned to him with disbelief in her eyes.

"You mean to tell me you have ever heard of the Chaos Emeralds?" asked Sally. Sonic shook his head no. Sally sighed, then held up Nicole. "Nicole, give me all information on the Chaos Emeralds." Nicole beeped a few times before answering.

"In Ancient Mobian scripture, there is a tale of seven jewels which contained powers unimaginable to both the human and Mobian mind. These jewels were called the Chaos Emeralds. Many legends tell of Mobians who supposedly found one or more of these emeralds, empowering themselves and gaining special abilities through their power. These powers range from partial psychic power which allow limited visions of the future to manipulating nature and revitalizing life-force energy. No one to date has ever collected all seven Chaos Emeralds, leaving much to be wondered about what the combined power of all seven will produce. No other information," said Nicole. Sonic looked at the emerald that Shadow was holding onto, then a he smiled slightly.

"So it wasn’t your speed that helped you win the race?" asked Sonic, looking up at Shadow.

"Nope. I won by using the power contained within this emerald to warp myself to the finish line," said Shadow. Sonic looked at Shadow with relief, now knowing that he still was the fastest thing on Mobius. Shadow continued with his explanation.

"I came across this emerald two years ago at about the same time Snively took over Robotropolis. This emerald’s special power is the one that gives the holder limited psychic abilities. With it, I was able to see a few visions of the future. At first, they were always ones of mass destruction, each one showing a barren Mobius devoid of life. A lifeless planet that eventually broke apart at the heart. This is what the future would hold if these things remained untouched. But then I started having other visions. In each one of these, there would always be that same dark force overtaking everything in sight. But this time, the darkness would be driven back by a blue figure moving at incredible speeds that held onto a golden ring. Then the visions would end," said Shadow. By now, everyone was listening with concentration that they had never used before. Even Sonic was glued to his place and listening intently.

"After that, I traveled all over Mobius to find this savior to our planet. I searched high and low, finding many blue Mobians, but none of who came close to matching the one from my vision. Then I saw you, Sonic. Blue, fast, and you even used rings like the ones from my visions. But I had to be sure that I had found the right person. For the last two years, I have been following your every move. From your missions in Robotropolis to your little parties you all held here," said Shadow. Sonic looked confused again as he looked up at Shadow questioningly.

"But how is it that we never saw you?" asked Sonic. "I mean, there had to have been sometime when you showed yourself, if even for a minute." Shadow smiled, then looked over at Sonic.

"Actually, there were two times that I appeared and helped you escape your doom. The first time was in Dragon’s Cave. You remember that fight between you two, right?" asked Shadow, looking over at Silver. Sonic nodded, remembering the fight all to well. Silver nodded reluctantly, not wanting to remember the things he had done in the past.

"Well, I was that thing that knocked you off Sonic, Silver," said Shadow.

"So it was you who saved me," said Sonic, surprised by this news. "But how? I didn’t even see you."

"I used the same ability as I did to bring you two back to Knothole last week after your fight with Metal Sonic," answered Shadow. Now both Sonic and Silver had shocked looks.

"That was also you that brought us back here?" asked Silver. Shadow nodded, then turned to Sonic.

"Despite me having to save you those two times, I know in my heart that you are the one that my visions speak of. I finally revealed myself tonight to tell you all that this war is not just for the freedom of this planet, but for the preservation of life on this planet. If we fail, then this planet will be doomed," said Shadow. Bunnie got to her feet, looking unconvinced as she marched up to the stump Shadow was standing on.

"Now hold on. Ya’ll scare us half to death with that little magic trick you pulled, then ya’ll race Sugar-hog around this here forest, and now ya’ll say that we are fighting for far more than just freedom?" asked Bunnie, putting her hands on her hips. Shadow jumped down off the stump, then held up the Chaos Emerald towards Bunnie.

"If you do not believe me, then touch the emerald and I’ll show you one of the visions that I saw," said Shadow. Bunnie reached for the emerald with her metal hand, but Shadow pulled the emerald back before she could touch it.

"Don’t touch it with your metal arm!" shouted Shadow, scaring Bunnie and a good deal of the Freedom Fighters.

"Why not?" she asked shakily.

"Because touching a Chaos Emerald has devastating effects on machinery," said Shadow as he looked around for an example. A little bear cub ran up to him, holding one of their transistor radios. "Thank you, child," said Shadow as he took the radio. He gently placed the radio against the side of emerald. As soon as the radio made contact, it began crackling as if electricity were shooting through it. It began to smoke as the inner wiring started melting. Shadow removed the radio from the emerald before holding up the emerald for Bunnie to touch again. This time, she reached out and touched it with her organic hand. Shadow closed his eyes and concentrated. The glow of the emerald grew in intensity, at which point Bunnie’s eyes also closed. Almost immediately, she let go of the emerald, gasping for breath.

"What wrong? What did you see?" asked Sally. Bunnie looked back at Sally, pale as a ghost.

"I saw…Mobius. It was…nothing but a burning wasteland. Both this here forest and Robotropolis were gone, and there was no one in sight," said Bunnie. Everyone took their eyes off Bunnie and placed them all on Shadow. He nodded grimly.

"What she saw was Mobius’ future if we do nothing to prevent what will cause this to happen. Unfortunately, the psychic power that I have from the emerald is very limited. I can’t tell you what will cause this to happen. But if I had to guess, I would say that what will cause this to happen is if the one you call Robotnik gets his hands on all seven of the Chaos Emeralds. He has one already, and I doubt that he will stop searching until he as them all," said Shadow. Sonic then stood up, a slight hint of fear in his eyes.

"You’re right. Robotnik never liked to quit when he set his goal on something that big," said Sonic. Silver then got up and stood next to Sonic.

"Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not taking any chances. I think we should try to find the emeralds before Robotnik and Metal do," said Silver. Everyone else rose up and spoke their agreement. It wasn’t until Sally had started waving her arms that everyone stopped talking and looked over at her, as se walked up to Shadow.

"Shadow, since you have brought us this information, and since you believe that Sonic is the one that will save Mobius, I would be honored if you stayed with us and help Sonic learn what he needs to know," said Sally. Sonic jumped up, almost leaping three feet off the ground.

"What makes you think I don’t know what I already need to know!?" asked Sonic angrily. Sally turned back towards him.

"Because you can’t even hold still for more than thirty seconds. This kind of thing requires patience, not speed," said Sally firmly.

"What do ya mean this thing doesn’t need speed? If I knew where those emeralds were, I’d go and get them and be back before morning," said Sonic.

"It’s not just that. Shadow knows more about what might happen than any of us. And he might even be able to teach you a few things," said Sally. Shadow snickered as he looked over at Sonic.

"It is true, Sonic. You have almost no patience and I could teach you a number of things," he said.

"Like what?" asked Sonic sarcastically as he crossed his arms.

"Like how to use my ability to warp from spot to spot, for example," said Shadow. Sonic looked a little surprised.

"You mean that I could use that little trick?" he asked. Shadow nodded, then held up the emerald.

"Yes. I can teach you how to use the Chaos Control…" said Shadow.

"Chaos Control?" asked Sonic, puzzled.

"The ability that I just talked about," answered Shadow.

"Oh," replied Sonic.

"Anyway, I can teach you how to use the Chaos control, but only after you have learned patience. To use the Chaos Control, you have to have a strong mind and a lot of patience," said Shadow. Sonic looked a little disappointed, but he still had a smile. He could just imagine taking on Robotnik with that kind of power.

"All right. I guess you can stay. It’ll be nice to have another hedgehog to talk to," said Sonic. Everyone let up a cheer as Sonic and Shadow shook hands. Shadow then bowed to Sally.

"Thank you both. I will try my best to tech you everything I can, Sonic. Maybe I can even learn a few new things from you. And with a little luck, we will save this planet from destruction," he said. Shadow then shook hands with Silver before everyone headed back towards the campfire where everything had started to finish their meals.

THE END

Okay, so this one probably wasn’t up to par with the last one. This is due to the fact that I didn’t want to burn myself out on the next one I do, which I call, "The Island in a Sea of Clouds". The title alone should give you some hint as to where this next one’s going to take place, but for those of you who need a little teaser...

Tails has just finished his secret project, a bi-plane equiped with a jet engine, which he calles the Tornado. When he and Sonic take it on a test flight out over the Great Ocean, they dicover a world untouched by the war. But when they set foot on this wonderful land, they are met with a most unwelcome greeting.