Prologue

Like a mangled body left on the side of the road, I was alone. I wanted company, but I hated the presence of people, since I had no true friends. He was not a person. He was a project. A monster. And I couldn't feel anything when I saw him except his company.

Oh, and his eyes. I hated the burn of his eyes on me. They hit with excruciating force. I always knew when he was there. Watching.

Like a creeping predator about to slay a forever-lost victim, he watched.

And watched.

And watched.

Finally, there was a day when I felt his penetrating eyes, like usual, but for the first time, I began to wonder, why does he watch me like that? Shadow was just an experiment, and a young one at that. He had been worked on for only about seven years, and I never thought anything of the fact that he found me to be quite a spectacle.

I remember when my parents told me I was sick, and that I had to stay with Grandfather on the ARK. I was excited, but sad to leave my friends and family behind. I was going to the the very base of all government secrets and projects. I was going to see things that no average person could ever dream of. Or so I thought. I began to grow bored, for all I ever got to see were the rather boring sights of failed experiments. Monsters. Not real government weapons.

By the time I'd heard of Project Shadow and was told I would get to see it, I just didn't care anymore. It would be another failure.

And now, when I could always feel this creature lurking in the dark corners of what seemed to the every room I entered, I began to think back on why I didn't care at all for it. I didn't even give it a chance to meet me. I had automatically assumed it a failure. Realizing how unfair I had been over the course of its life, I finally decided to turn around and look it right in the face.

As soon as I did, I wished I hadn't. When I saw that red fire, perfectly in sync with a small, animal-like body, I wondered to myself, "What is this?" He was a black and red creature with wrathful spikes coming out the back of his head in all directions. It looked like something created to be a super villain's pet! I took a step toward it and it backed away, showing its perfect yet lethal teeth in an oddly pleased smirk.

"My name is Maria. What do you want from me?" I asked when it showed no other reaction. Ha, as if it could talk.

"My name is Shadow. I was about to ask you the same thing." I froze and we stood like that for a million years, my mouth hanging open in shock. "I'm a hedgehog. Perhaps you know my creator, the professor?"

"...Gerald Robotnik?"

"Yes. Your grandfather."