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PROJECT SHADOW
named for its secrecy,
PROJECT SHADOW started its roots through the brilliant mind of professor gerald robotnik. a man known for his ingenuity, he presented the idea of creating the
Ultimate Life - a creature so powerful that it could cure the problems that ailed earth. he surmised that not only was this kind of creation possible, but the power could have incredible utility, not only to protect earth from any threats that may come to it but function as a living creature that can help with the study of medicine and thus advance it to a stage that most illnesses would either be eradicated or curable. he devised this plan from the inspiration of his granddaughter, maria robotnik, who had NIDS*.
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*NIDS: Neuro-Immunodeficiency Syndrome. a strand similar to that of its cousin, AIDS, but unlike AIDS is purely genetic and cannot be passed on otherwise.
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it did not take long before the project received funding from GUN*. they believed that it would allow them the ultimate protection of earth from alien terrorists that may seek to conquer it. as earth already had a history of extraterrestrials seeking to make the territory their own, GUN was especially eager to take part. they also provided the funding to create a byproduct of the project,
the Eclipse Cannon, designed to destroy alien territories before they reached earth.
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*GUN: Guardian Units of Nations. an organization tied to the government that seeks to maintain world peace.
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with the resources in place, professor gerald robotnik and other researchers commissioned began their work. they decided to begin their experimentation on lizards, given their ability to regrow limbs. with this, they injected various chemicals as well as used certain siphoning equipment in order to attempt to develop their abilities to a state that would bring them to Ultimate. much of what they tested resulted in failure, either in the deaths of the lizards or no effect whatsoever. it was then that gerald robotnik managed an idea.
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everyone knew that chaos energy was a wildly available resource on earth, and a powerful one at that. gerald robotnik theorized that if they could find a way to properly distill it so it could be used by the test subject, they'd come closer to the answer they sought. it was through this, the prototype of the Ultimate Life, the
Biolizard was created. it grew to incredible sizes, to the point that it placed the scientists in danger, and they sealed it away due to the instability; but that told the scientists that chaos energy was, indeed, the key. the only question was how to properly siphon it so it could be useful for the scientists.
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gerald robotnik found the answer to that when he studied ancient echidna technology, knowing their close connection to the
Master Emerald would provide them with intimate knowledge of chaos energy, and discovered a mural that depicted a glowing yellow hedgehog. this told him that the key to harnessing chaos energy properly lay in making a creature in a similar form, and he thus defaulted to the hedgehog as it was the one depicted in the mural. upon arriving on the space colony ARK again, he brought this information to the other scientists and they set to work on genetically engineering a hedgehog with chaotic abilities.
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a problem presented itself in the form of managing to get the creature to sustain itself. while it was more stable than the Biolizard, it did not live long on its own. this problem appeared to be rectified when gerald robotnik invented some kind of formula to allow it life. there is little record on what this formula is, although others have speculated to seeing gerald robotnik fraternizing with one of the very aliens that the Ultimate Life was built to fight*.
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* such suspicions were later confirmed when the invasion occurred fifty years later and footage that gerald robotnik recorded for his invention's consumption displayed the scientist admitting as such. apparently, he was so instrumental in the Eclipse Cannon's design because he planned for his invention to use it all along in order to eradicate the impending threat.
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regardless, it came into being. it took on the name of the project that it'd been created in. "shadow."
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SECRECY
many logs exist for information that "shadow" has provided us. with its willingness to cooperate with the scientists as well as the companionship that it brought to maria robotnik, who also lived aboard the space colony ARK, it became an invaluable presence. this information includes the inner-workings of chaos energy which allowed GUN to use it in their other projects, stress tests which allowed for better training environments for new soldiers within GUN, and advancements in medicine that would see their use expanding fifty years into the future. in addition, with the girl being a part of the space colony ARK, "shadow" was allowed the ability to socialize properly, engaging in activities that increased its loyalty to the space colony ARK and the scientists who worked there.
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curiosity remained a consistent pattern within its disposition. it asked the scientists numerous questions about what equipment did what as well as forwarded inquiries that the girl asked about fashion, the magazines collected by gerald robotnik, movies watched aboard the space colony ARK, and even human traditions such as holidays. scientists and soldiers alike would later report that their treatment of "shadow" during this time was unethical and they feel "deep regret" over it. when told to specify, they would elaborate saying that they saw it as invention first and creature second. often they would brush off the inquiries, or they would give clinical answers. the only two willing to engage with "shadow" beyond that were the man who created him and the girl he spent the most time with; the scientists believe that despite everything "shadow" had done for them, they doubted they would have "batted an eye" if something happened to it.
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this did not appear to impact the project's behavior, and indeed it complied with the rigorous testing with little struggle. despite this, the information uncovered alarmed GUN's leaders. in addition, the rumors that began circulating about gerald robotnik's "secret scheming" emerged from a boy who also lived aboard the space colony ARK. an orphan, he had been taken in to be a companion for maria robotnik as well as to encourage herd immunity. for the concern to be met with stubbornness had GUN's leaders perplexed.
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the suspicions only ran higher when creatures known as
Artificial Chaos emerged from one of gerald robotnik's experiments and became loose. although "shadow" was effective in dispatching them, some of the soldiers suspected it to be so to draw suspicion away from its creator. any studies that gerald robotnik did with these ACs were lost to the span of time, though some speculate they came as early as before "shadow's" existence, having been created as a byproduct of their studies on chaos energy. how they became loose on the space colony ARK, endangering the scientists' lives, is a mystery.
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the violations of ethics and secrecy of the project led to the belief of GUN's leaders of foul play, that gerald robotnik was collaborating with an enemy force and thus his project must be stopped as soon as possible. this resulted in a shut down operation of the project that involved force. soldiers were dispatched to the space colony ARK in order to find "shadow" and put it down as well as to arrest the man responsible for its creation. many scientists were gunned down; further reports from retired soldiers indicate that "shadow" put forth an effort to rescue the injured, but the sheer number of the soldiers made it impossible for "shadow" to attend to them all, especially as they remained in pursuit of the project. it ran through the corridors while holding onto maria robotnik's hand as it attempted to escape, only for maria robotnik to steer their course over to the escape pods, built in the event that the space colony ARK went under damage and routed to GUN headquarters. maria robotnik is reported to have shoved "shadow" within a pod and pulled the lever before a gun shot to her back made her fall down and bleed to death.
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the operation stopped shortly after, with gerald robotnik having been successfully captured and ushered back down onto earth. the space colony ARK was then abandoned, never to be used for the betterment of mankind again.
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REVENGE
the next news of "shadow" came in the form of one of doctor ivo "eggman" robotnik's plans, fifty years later. for those fifty years, "shadow" was being held by GUN as a result of being too dangerous for release; but doctor eggman's invasion of their headquarters resulted in his finding and uncovering of the project. later reports would suggest that "shadow" offered a deal, that he would assist it in gathering the chaos emeralds and it, in return, would grant him a wish. this was an offer that doctor eggman took, leading to the disaster that followed.
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the moon's state is attributed to this particular event. the eclipse cannon had been utilized to shoot it, fragmenting the moon into pieces and leaving its core molten and exposed. no major adverse effects came from this action, although it'd been, as doctor eggman later described it, a "warning shot." it is assumed that the man sought to control the earth itself by ruling a dominion of fear, with "shadow" at the helm of these efforts. worse yet, nothing that GUN attempted would regain control over "shadow." in fact, GUN focused its efforts chiefly on covering up the event in order to allow "shadow" to be brought in as peacefully as possible. given that people were witness to "shadow's" crimes in the form of thievery of a chaos emerald, the only option that GUN had available to it was to blame
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, who happened to be in the area at the time.
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SONIC did not take kindly to his imprisonment, and as a result in the helicopter used to take him to the camp he rendered all of its staff unconscious and jumped off of it into the city below. eventually, the soldiers managed to recapture him at the bottom of the city's hill, sending him to the underwater containment in order to ensure that he would not escape again. GUN soldiers, upon report, said that they would have released him after "shadow" was captured. SONIC had been broken out by amy rose, his self-proclaimed girlfriend, so it is unknown whether this promise would have been followed through.
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along with the Eclipse Cannon's warning shot, GUN wound up causing more damaged than they fixed by sending out their mechs in an attempt to stop "shadow." it continued to evade capture and escaped to the space colony ARK along with doctor eggman, which led to GUN's mechs only running into conflict with SONIC and his friends. once it reached the space colony ARK, it put its plan into motion. this plan became apparent once the screens of the space colony ARK lit up, projecting to the city the message that gerald robotnik left behind before he was executed. he desired for revenge after GUN killed maria robotnik, and he used "shadow" as his instrument for this revenge. it carried out his plan the way that he wanted it to be done, allowing the space colony ARK to take a collision course toward earth and destroy it and kill everyone who lived on it. for him, this was appropriate retribution.
revenge against humanity.[break][break]
it is known that SONIC had been ejected from the space colony ARK and nearly exploded in space, but then he faced against "shadow" himself. the winner of the outcome is undetermined, but it is assumed that SONIC did, as the earth was not destroyed in the aftermath.
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as the space colony ARK set in motion, leaving earth twenty four hours to fend for itself, the people living upon it panicked. with chaos reigning, GUN did its best to alleviate the damage, but as none of them were the scientists that created the space colony ARK none of them knew its functions, and thus none of them knew how to stop it. cameras on the space colony ARK itself allowed humans to ride upon the one hope that they had left: SONIC and his friends, who ventured bravely through the space colony ARK in order to shut down the machinations that brought it to this collision course in the first place. "shadow" seemingly disappeared during this process.
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it reappeared toward the end, in which the prototype of the Ultimate Life Form escaped from its containment. a new-found determination appeared to be driving it. the likely source came in the form of a conversation between itself and amy rose; the pink-haired girl told it that humans were "basically good," and this phrase triggered something within the project, convincing it to leave. even after the creature was defeated and then teleported outside of the space colony ARK to drive it to run into the earth, SONIC and "shadow" harnessed the power of the Chaos Emeralds, the seven wielders of Chaos, in order to confront Biolizard. the two teamed up together, and with a rigorous fight managed to defeat it, and then teleport the space colony ARK further into space - only for "shadow" to plummet to earth thereafter. SONIC ensured after this that anyone celebrated it as a hero, even though suspicion continued within the people of earth.
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"shadow" was not heard from for months after that.
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AMNESIA
everyone believed that "shadow" would not be making a return. GUN's databases marked it as deceased, and SONIC and his friends reportedly behaved as though it was an event of the past.
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"shadow's" re-emerging, then, surprised everyone.
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reported in by agent rouge the bat, she informed headquarters later during another event involving an alien invasion that will be described later in this report. she elaborated that [it] appeared to be "quiet, thoughtful, and taciturn" but "ultimately the same shadow." it also in later interviews with the experiment specified that it had amnesia at this time.
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discovered within doctor eggman's lab, likely it had been used for the purpose of creating "shadow androids," robots within the Ultimate Life Form's likeness. these androids were meant to replicate the abilities and effects of the original they were derived from, though future inspection indicates that they still have an inability to utilize Chaos Energy properly. they scattered all over the area, within the ruins, the upside-down castle, and the frog forest, and generally hampered not only the team that would later be known as "team dark" within GUN, but also team SONIC, the Chaotix (a detective organization), and a team led by amy rose. the androids were also being used by another one of doctor eggman's inventions by the name of METAL SONIC, a mechanized version of SONIC often responsible for collateral damage upon forests that SONIC protected.
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METAL SONIC copied the data of every team in order to build a PERFECT version of itself. this PERFECT version had one goal: to eradicate SONIC. despite initial misgivings, it is said that "shadow" worked together with all the other teams in order to stop METAL SONIC, despite not receiving any information in regard to its past. while some ambiguity remained as to whether or not it was the real project invented fifty years ago by the space colony ARK's prestigious minds, indeed future confirmation would lead to suggest that it is the original.
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this event, and all the others before it, became a lead-in for the largest event that affected earth the most, and the one for which "shadow's" purpose came full circle.
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HOPE FOR HUMANITY
suspicions aboard the space colony ARK were confirmed, fifty years later.
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the alien race were known as the
BLACK ARMS. operating under
Black Doom, the BLACK ARMS were a hive-mind that planned to harvest the resources on earth. they resided the
Black Comet, a comet known for its passing earth every fifty years. they were not prepared the last time that they visited, but Black Doom spoke to gerald robotnik and used him for his plan - and thus, "shadow's" creation became possible. "shadow" would, to them, be the key to invading earth and taking the humans, the dominant race of earth, for their own. it is not exactly known how they sought to accomplish this, but given "shadow's" ultimate state it contained a high enough versatility to be useful for any number of plans. most likely of them would involve teleporting the Black Comet to earth's surface where it would aattettach and then absorb the nutrients from the planet's crust and mantle, which would ultimately cause earth's life to die off.
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their initial wave of invasion was catastrophic to several major cities, especially those stationed closest to eurasia.
Westopolis in particular was hit the hardest, with an estimated collateral damage amounting to over $2 billion. homes were crashed, humans devoured by larvae and Black Arm soldiers alike, and although GUN sent in their own soldiers to protect the cities as well as the president, the GUN commander was unfortunately concerned primarily with "shadow" and its potential involvement. later reports would indicate that "shadow" did not aid the alien invaders; rather, it could often be seen playing companion to SONIC and those involved in the aftermath and clean-up. but the GUN commander would be the child brushed off for conspiracy theory within his youth upon having eavesdropped "shadow's" creation, rumors later turning out to be half-true.
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it is reported that while "shadow" primarily assisted GUN, despite the fact that they were ordered to shoot and detain it, there were a few incidences in which the black hedgehog appeared to lose control, its eyes becoming glazed over before it wielded a gun and shot soldiers in the head, chest, and in the leg in some cases. it is not known why it did this, and any questioning of "shadow" in this regard led to confusion. theorizing suggests that it is Black Doom's doing, as "shadow" contains the Black Arms blood and thus may have been susceptible to the hive-mind mentality. it appears to display minute distress when the alien invasion is brought up. more testing is needed.
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SONIC became an instrumental tool in assisting GUN in eradicating the alien threat, and he appeared to have convinced "shadow" of the very same. one of GUN's aircrafts picked "shadow" up and took the two of them to the Black Comet, the origin of the aliens, and the two managed a successful infiltration. despite this, a hiccup in the plan occurred when they ran into Black Doom, in which case SONIC and his team were frozen by a paralyzing gas. still, "shadow" broke through this and managed to pursue Black Doom, and in the process the Chaotix worked on the space colony ARK's remaining files. there, a screen was broadcast much like it had been in the Biolizard incident, only this time it divined gerald robotnik's true intentions.
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he wanted to create "shadow" in order to protect earth, much like he'd been commissioned to do. only after the heavy loss of maria robotnik did it take a toll on him; and further assessment and questioning of the GUN commander revealed that he believed himself to be mistaken on his assessment of the late professor. "shadow" proved him right when, upon facing this message, it took the Chaos Emeralds, accessed its Super form, and defeated Black Doom, saving earth from the alien invasion.
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during much of the invasion, "shadow" operated with very little memories. despite this, it chose to work for humans in the end, and be the hope for humanity that gerald robotnik intended it to be. it only made sense that GUN wanted to take it in for work shortly after, and "shadow" accepted the proposal.
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WHAT SHADOW IS
easily "shadow" has been seen for a weapon, and in many ways, it is - a machination of human engineering and thought to create the Ultimate Life, and in ways that would mean a creature that would be able to defy any mechanical object, including weapons. as a result, fear and suspicion surround "shadow" by the general public as well as within GUN, despite its reparations. this is a reputation that may follow it to its grave, if it even has one given its lack of aging. "shadow" is a dangerous creature that has on multiple occasions placed humans within harm's way, and though it appears to be experiencing
remorse it does not change the fact that those abilities still exist.
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regardless, "shadow's" saving grace could be argued to be the socialization it had toward maria robotnik. through experiencing humanity through the eyes of innocence instead of the purity of weapon and design that it was initially supposed to be, it learned a kind of empathy it would not have otherwise. its loyalty isn't merely contractual obligation; it appears to believe strongly in protecting the innocent and "giving [them] a chance to be happy." this piece of humanity is the raw humanity that one could argue GUN lost a long time ago, and in fact lost before "shadow's" creation. in other words, "shadow" saw the people that were worth protecting before it could be exposed to the ones that wanted it to protect, and that was the one saving grace behind the entire disaster that was the shut-down of the ARK.
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undoubtedly, GUN made many mistakes. but from this experience, GUN and its associates can learn. "shadow" is a soldier, yes, like any other GUN soldier, and it serves that function first, but
he is also a living creature that deserves respect for what he has done to protect the planet his dearly departed loved so much. he never owed the planet for the way that its inhabitants turned their backs upon him and repeatedly threatened his life, and yet he continued to pay for it. SHADOW is a wonderful example of the better sides of humanity and how they can be subdued by the lesser sides we want to turn our eyes from.
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this report is, of course, for the advocacy of tomodachi island to treat SHADOW with care. it may be easy to mistrust him, but i have faith he will serve the island well and, through this, keep it the utopia that it is meant to be.
