A.N: This is not your standard Sonic fanfic; Sonic himself doesn't even appear. So, if you're only looking for a tale of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, etc. you may want to try a different story. If you like Shadow, you may want to stick around, but he won't make an appearance until a good bit later.

There are two main goals in this story: To investigate the story behind a kind, genius scientist who devoted his career to saving the world then ended his life trying to destroy it; and to synthesize all the backstory about Shadow, Maria and Gerald into a cohesive whole if it can be done. Currently the story is rooted in SH3&K, SA2/SA2B, Sonic Battle, and Shadow the Hedgehog, with some reference to the "Backstory" from the SA2 Japanese manual and to Sonic Riders. I have made two intentional alterations, one minor and one that should be quite obvious.

Gerald, Maria, the Gizoid(AKA Emerl), Shadow, and Eggman (if he makes mention) are SEGA creations, as are the (game) story plots, the Chaos Emeralds and many of the settings. I lay no claim to any of the above, copyrights, etc. are theirs. The other characters, portions of plot not in the games, and locations are my own creations and I do retain those.

Incidently, the chapters are subdivided into sections, what you have here is the intro and the first segment of chapter 1. Enjoy:

Descent into Darkness

The faint whisper of the air system is the only sound in the room. The harsh white lights glare down on a desk cluttered with papers at each end; the only clear area the center where the computer keyboard and mouse huddle against the wall-mounted monitor. A single sheet of paper lies on the desk in front of them; the only inhabitant of the room sits hunched over it, his face buried in his hands. His only visible feature is an exorbitant mustache that droops to either side of his taut fingers. A harsh rasp joins the air-system's sighing as his shoulders shake, just once, then all is still again. A tear trickles between his fingers and drops to the paper, rapidly dyeing blue as the ink runs.

Father -

The news is as bad as we had feared. The last test came back today, confirming that Maria, our precious baby girl, has NIDS. The doctors say that this version, unlike the usual types of immune deficiencies, does not respond to bone marrow therapy and that she is not likely to live long unless she is isolated completely to prevent her acquiring further infections.

Eventually the man sits up and pulls another piece of paper from the mess to his right. A Presidential Seal marks the top of it. He barely glances at the text; he knows all to well what it says. He locates the string of numbers in one paragraph and reaches for the phone. He knows better than his son what the prognosis is for Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome is and that the usual treatments are temporary at best. So now, for the sake of his granddaughter, and her only hope for life, he makes a call he had sworn he'd never make.

1.i. Two Worlds

Some decades earlier, a young man had conceived an interest in the history of the non-human regions of the world. Although he was a technical genius with machines, and specialized in human-interactive machines and bioelectronics - protective gear for firemen and soldiers, artificial limbs that replicated the real ones even to responding to actual nerve impulses - he was always interested in new ideas. Having heard rumors of great but ancient technology from the south, and being curious about the inhabitants anyway, he decided to look for any truth behind them.

Somehow over the course of civilization growth, the globe had been informally divided; humans spread across and developed the northern portion of the planet; while the southern regions were inhabited by a variety of sentient animal species. Although the humanoid animals as a whole got along with each other well, the relations between their collective races and humans tended to be very formal; neither side willing to be aggressors, but never quite trusting each other enough to be friends or allies. As a result there was little contact between the two sides, and the government closely regulated what contact there was. Therefore, Gerald Robotnik took his request to the government's Planetary Relations Committee. After much wrangling it was approved and Gerald set out southwards to research the history of the byodokan(1) or dokan as they generally called themselves; among humans, they were commonly called "furries" in polite society and "freaks" or "animals" in less polite conversation.

Arriving by government car at Spring Grove, the dokan city that was nearest the border between his native continent and the southern one(2), Professor Gerald Robotnik was introduced to his native guide. The dokan seemed as interested in the human as Gerald was with him, and they regarded each other with a fascination that some might have construed as rude. Rafe Curl was a hedgehog dokan, a bit over three feet tall with medium brown fur over most of his body with long, heavy quills on his head and slightly shorter ones down his back. The quills, and the fur on his head and back were black-tipped, similar to the fur of a sable collie; on his sides and front, including his face the fur was uniformly brown. His tail was also black tipped. His hands were gloved, of course - everybody knew that the dokan would as soon go without gloves as a human would go naked - and he wore sturdy-looking hiking boots. His eyes were also brown, the irises ringed with a chocolate color that shaded to almost gold right around the pupils. Rafe was regarding the scientist with equal intensity, and Gerald wondered what he thought of what he was seeing - a man in his mid-twenties, eyes hidden behind glasses, reddish-brown hair already far-receded and a bushy moustache (though nothing like it would become later) hiding his upper lip. He was dressed in khakis that he hoped would be suitable for the terrain and hiking boots very similar to Rafe's but for the size. "How do you do?" he asked finally. "My name is Gerald Robotnik, and I was hoping to learn more of your people's history."

The hedgehog grinned rather insolently, and shook the professor's proffered hand. "I'm Rafe. You look reasonably prepared to trek through our history; I just hope you're fit enough!"

Gerald ignored the horrified gasps from the dokan ambassadors present, and grinned back. "I am sure that if I am not now, you will soon have me so. Now, if you can show me to a place where I can leave my excess baggage, then we can decide what actually needs to come with us and what can be left."

He soon realized that Rafe was quite right. Trekking through the southern jungles was no mission for the faint-hearted, or the unfit. However, the determination that had led him to so many breakthroughs in bioelectronics now found a new focus, and Rafe proved quite willing to adjust to the human's pace. Gerald, on the other hand, was repeatedly awed by the dokan's stamina and strength. Rafe scouted ahead marking trail, then would trot back past Gerald to look behind, swing back by with an armload of fruit and have camp half made by the time Gerald staggered in. However, it was immediately apparent that the hedgehog had no idea how to cook. Gerald could, and was amused to find that skills learned over a spare Bunsen burner when he had an experiment he didn't want to leave unattended transferred well to a campfire in a dripping jungle. He was equally amused when Rafe declared it was a fair trade - he'd do all the rest of the chores if Gerald cooked the meals. "Can Curl but can't cook!" was the hedgehog's explanation. Gerald recognized the play on Rafe's surname, but not the reference. Rafe said it was from some children's story that he didn't really remember except for the one phrase. The odd pair became good friends in the evenings comparing their respective cultures. About two weeks after they started they arrived at the crumbling ruins of an ancient city.

1From biyoudoukan (n) considering all people as equals. Sorry, but calling them furries just seemed silly, especially considering the existence of reptiles and insects in the group ("Scalies" and , perhaps?).

2 The layout of the continents is similar but not identical. Though the actual shapes vary, Gerald may be considered to live in "North America" which is connected by an isthmus to the dokan's "South America". As with our South America, this continent was isolated for a long time, allowing many species to develop in relative isolation. Unlike our world, the isolation lasted until much nearer to modern times and the continent itself has a large archipelago to the west that greatly aided migration to it from "Australia", which was a primitive dokan stronghold.