Lost Impact

[BionicleMandi121]

...Okay so first, an apology. I mentioned in the Saying Hi thread some time ago that I'd written this fanfic, and I asked if anyone would be interested in reading it. No one replied, so I figured Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction isn't exactly popular in our crowd.

However, I am pretty proud of this fanfic, and I really would like some non-fan feedback to see how understandable I made the story to those that have no prior knowledge of the game series timeline, not to mention any possible critiques on my writing style or my use of story elements. I spent a lot of time and effort on this, writing and revising from March to August, and would like to share it with you guys, who I think of as a sort of online family.

So, here's Lost Impact. Set 50 years before the "present" of the canon timeline, it is 30 chapters long and split into four parts. It was written in Textedit, which is the Mac's version of Notepad combined with Wordpad and a hint of Microsoft Word, so don't mind the ridiculous spacing issues. I'll be posting by chapter, as one part is way too long to squash into one post. Chapter one is below to sorta 'test' for how much interest you guys would have for the rest of it.

The title was taken from a BGM track from the Shadow the Hedgehog game, which is from a flashback stage in the location most of the fanfic takes place. I also chose it because there are at least two "lost impacts" within the fic itself; what they are, I'll leave for you to find (if this gets that far).

~~ Part 1 - Project ~~

I

Professor Gerald Robotnik stood before his computer, hands clasped loosely behind him. There was a growing cramp in his left calf, but he ignored it. Instead, all of his attention was fixed on the screen in front of him, where the image of a dark-suited man, seated at a desk, stared back.

The scientist cleared his throat, rather nervously. "I'm afraid I didn't understand that," he began slowly. "You want me to try doing what?"

"We want you to create the 'Ultimate Life Form,'" the man replied, looking somewhat amused at Gerald's surprise. "An immortal being. We want to know if it's possible."

"What would you do if it was?"

The man shrugged. "That comes later. First comes this. We know you're highly proficient with biological processes."

"I suppose I am," Gerald admitted, glancing briefly at a framed photograph just below the edge of the screen.

"Due to your location on the Space Colony ARK, any experiments you may run will not affect the general population," the man continued. "Likewise, any disastrous failures can be easily covered up." He steepled his fingers and gazed at Gerald over them. "This, along with your certification as one of the best scientists in the world, would make you very well suited for this project."

Gerald nodded grudgingly. "I don't really like this...creating business, however. It's one thing to investigate illnesses and what causes them. It's quite another thing altogether to-"

"If you do successfully create a truly immortal being," the man cut in suddenly, "nothing should be able to destroy it, not even disease. I'd imagine that would interest you." Gerald stared at his screen, but the dark-suited man remained utterly expressionless. Slowly, the scientist tried making sense of the seemingly non-sequitur comment.

"Would...would doing this help my ongoing research?" he eventually asked, his voice wavering just slightly. The man smiled humorlessly.

"Perhaps. You may take however long as you like. We merely request progress reports every four months. This may increase in frequency, depending on your progress."

Gerald sighed, reached up, and removed his glasses. He slowly polished them for a moment with unsteady hands, then put them back on. "Alright," he said, reluctance still coloring his voice. "I'll do it."

The man's smile widened. "We'll entrust you with all responsibility for Project Shadow, then." The screen winked out.

[Josiah]

I don't have time for a full critique right now, but your writing looks pretty good from the spelling, grammar, and structure perspective. While it seems a little short for a "chapter" it makes a solid opening for the story.

As far as Sonic goes, I like him, though I'm not a huge fan of the story they've got going in the 3D games.

[BionicleMandi121]

Oh. Well, I hope you're not one of those people that hate Shadow's guts, because otherwise reading this is going to get kind of unbearable. The entire point of writing this was me trying to fill in all the gaps in his background story. ._.'

All of my "chapters" are relatively short; the longest one spans maybe three or four pages. They're meant to be read straight down on a web page, where each of the four parts got its own page, so yeah, if you look at them as book chapters, they're all extremely short. Sometimes there are time skips between chapters, other times there are point-of-view changes (although those don't show up until part two). Still other times, nothing much changed, and one chapter follows directly after another; I simply felt a chapter break there would help the pacing a bit.

I'll try to post a chapter a day, if I remember to; with 30 chapters, it's going to take a while, but I don't want to overwhelm anyone actually reading this.

~~~

II

Gerald shook his head as he examined the last test tube in the rack. Whatever had been in it was no longer visible, hidden behind a cloudy gray film that coated the inside surface of the glass. "This one's no good," he muttered, crossing a line off his clipboard.

"No luck, Professor?" One of his laboratory aides looked up from another rack, his young face filled with disappointment. "Nothing here, either."

"This whole batch is gone, sir," agreed another aide as she began collecting the samples for discarding. Gerald stared at his clipboard, frustrated.

"How do they expect me to create something immortal with no basis whatsoever?" he exclaimed, moving out of the way as the young woman walked over to his set of test tubes.

"You have absolutely no leads, sir?" the other aide asked, a little hopelessly. He slid the rack he had been inspecting across the table. "That's rather unlike you, Professor."

Gerald set his clipboard down on one of the lab tables, sighing. "The only reason they want me to do this is because currently there are no immortal beings, correct? Since there are none at present, the next best thing would be to take the longest-lived ones and attempt modifying them until they are." He took his glasses off and polished them, eyebrows furrowed in thought. "However, the most long-lived organisms we know of are a cactus and a jellyfish." He resettled his spectacles on his nose, shaking his head again in exasperation. "What are we supposed to do with that?"

"I'll bring in the next set of samples, Professor," the woman called from the doorway as she left the lab.

"Thank you, I'll leave that in your hands." Gerald massaged one of his temples, then turned to the remaining aide. "Set up new test tubes. We continue. Perhaps we may still make a breakthrough with something unexpected."

"Yes, sir." The aide obediently went to the back of the room, where all of the equipment was kept. When Gerald left his clipboard on the table and began walking to the door, the younger man paused. "Where are you going, sir?"

"Out," came the reply. "I need a break."

[BionicleMandi121]

Whoot, first long(ish) chapter!

~~~

III

The stars were bright that night. Gerald stood in the ARK's central main room, gazing through the huge window-walls. Normally, there would be people here, the other occupants of the Colony who weren't his scientists: families with connections to the government or military, but not directly involved in either. Some were here by choice, others because their relatives down on Earth feared for their safety. Still others were here because they couldn't live anywhere else...

Normally, the room would have other occupants. But at the moment, it was empty. He has requested to be left alone, to ease his growing headache. Although the room was the largest in the space colony, there were others similar in design; everyone in the room had readily agreed to relocate elsewhere.

They're all such nice people, he thought fondly, taking in the view. A tiny movement caught his eye. At first he couldn't pinpoint it. A few seconds later, he realized there was one "star" that didn't stay in one place. A comet? he wondered. Ah, yes...the Black Comet comes around here soon, if I remember correctly... The large asteroid-like body only passed Earth every 50 years. Gerald couldn't help but feel fortunate. This would be the second time he saw the comet, although the last time it had come by, he was still on the Earth's surface-

There was no warning. One moment, he was alone, musing to himself about the comet's approach.

All of a sudden, a flash of light-

There was a gigantic...thing next to him.

Gerald threw himself to the side, away from the thing. He lost his balance, tripped, and fell heavily on his side. As quickly as he could, he scrambled backward on all fours, his eyes never leaving the creature.

A small head sat atop broad shoulders. Many chains hung from its massive frame, trailing strangely wrought charms that hung down to the floor. Two arms, each with three-digit hands, were just barely visible under what seemed to be heavy robes. It didn't stand so much as hover, as it didn't appear to have any legs or feet. It was very dark in color, although whether it was black or a dark brown, he couldn't tell.

Three crimson eyes regarded him from that alien face. They were the only features it had; there was no visible nose or mouth.

Gerald could only stare at it, his mind numb with paralyzing fear. His one coherent thought was a tiny, almost whimpered, How-?

Greetings.

The scientist jerked, looking wildly around him. He had certainly heard a voice just now, a very deep, masculine voice, but... it had come from everywhere at once, and yet simultaneously from nowhere.

You are a creature from this planet, are you not? The thing regarded him intently, unmoving. This planet called Earth.

It talks, he thought faintly. And in English... Out loud, he stammered, "Y-yes, I'm from Earth, I... what are you?" he blurted.

The thing chuckled, very obviously entertained. I am called Black Doom in your language, it replied. I believe you humans refer to my home as the Black Comet.

"You live on-? How did you-?" Gerald inwardly cringed at his own inability to speak in complete sentences. What an example of his species he had to be making of himself.

If you are wondering how I came here, it is a simple enough feat for one like me.[/b[ The thing shifted, the chains draping from its figure clinking gently as they swayed back and forth from the movement. You would know it as Chaos Control. Now-

"Chaos Control?" He stared at it blankly. That's...supposedly capable of warping time and space, isn't it? "You can- But you don't have the Emeralds-" The thing quivered for a moment. Belatedly, he realized he probably shouldn't have interrupted it. But when it spoke again, it didn't sound particularly angry. In fact, it seemed curious.

Emeralds? What do you speak of? Why would I need a mere stone from your planet?

"They're not just normal emeralds, they-" He cut himself off and continued a little angrily, "Look, I don't know what you are, but you just...appeared in here without explanation. Why are you here?" When the thing didn't reply, he kept talking, very aware that his voice was slipping up a few pitches in his panic. "If you're here to kill us all, I'll have you know that we have armed-"

I have no interest in that. The creature sounded bored enough for him to believe it. I simply wished to know what this...thing is. It gestured around them with its hands. It was not here the last time the Black Comet passed your planet. I am curious as to why it is here now.

"Oh..." Gerald decided at that point it was impolite to continue talking from his sprawled position on the floor. Whatever else this Black Doom was, if it was here to slaughter them all, it wouldn't be bothering to talk to him in a reasonably civilized tone. He got slowly to his feet, dusting himself off. "This is the space colony ARK," he explained. "Everyone living here have reasons to not stay on Earth itself. We're mostly civilians, although my subordinates and I are scientists. There are a few people from the military, but they're on leave and visiting families." He fixed the thing with what he hoped was a meaningful stare. "You'd better be speaking the truth when you said you weren't here to kill us, since I think you realize now just how ill prepared we would be against an attack." Seriously, why am I telling it this?

The thing inclined its head. I protect my promises, it rumbled gravely. You say you are a scientist? Why are you stationed on a mere space colony rather than in a suitable facility on your planet?

"The higher-ups are concerned about disastrous failures," Gerald found himself replying, a hint of sourness creeping into his voice. "Given what they're getting me to do, I suppose it's not unwarranted."

And what would that be? The thing made no attempt to move from where it...floated. Gerald could tell he was letting down his guard around this seemingly passive creature, but it was most certainly not human. He would have to take care dealing with it, particularly since it appeared to be so docile. He thought for a moment, deciding how much to tell it.

"I'm...attempting to create an immortal life form," he admitted after a while, kneading his forehead. "I'd like to say it's quite impossible, but I have personal reasons to hope for its success." At this, Black Doom shifted again, his three red eyes glinting.

I may be able to aid you in that endeavor, it said, carefully.

"What?" Gerald was completely distracted from his thoughts of his failed experiments. "How?"

I am considered "immortal" as you humans define it, it replied. As Gerald stared at it in dumb astonishment, it continued, sounding amused again. I have lived for many thousands of your years, human. I do not age. I could provide you with some of my blood, from which you may find the necessary means to endow a creature with my characteristics. Gerald got the vague impression that it smiled, despite its lack of a mouth. I would like...payment, however.

Gerald was at a complete loss for words. "I- I would be most grateful for your help," he told it fervently. "If it's within my power, I would try my best to provide whatever you would want." He tried keeping the sudden elation and hope from his voice. He hadn't lied; he wasn't in this project for the money or fame or anything else. He was in it mostly for the sake of someone dear to him, and if this thing was speaking the truth about his immortality...

Black Doom regarded the scientist, his eyes gleaming with undiluted interest. Tell me more of these...Chaos Emeralds of yours, scientist.

[BionicleMandi121]

IV

Sensing a long discussion, Gerald asked Black Doom to meet with him in his private office instead of a large spacious common room where anyone on the colony could walk in on them. As eager as he was for a chance at success, he did not want to send everyone into a panic. Black Doom was very agreeable and instantly transported himself to the proper location after a detailed description of where it was. Gerald, lacking that ability, made the trip on foot.

He passed one of his lab assistants in the hallway and sent him to let everyone else know the central room was available again. He also left instructions to begin preparing the DNA separation devices. There wasn't any proof that Black Doom would even have DNA, but everything on Earth, at least, depended on it. It was as good a place to start as any. The head scientist then forbade anyone from disturbing him in his office, claiming he needed more time to "think." His aides, though curious, promised obediently to not approach the office.

Thus prepared, he let himself into the room, careful that no one stood behind him when he opened the door. His office was small, with only a solid wooden desk in the back with his computer on it. Several metal cabinets lined the walls, filled with his many, carefully organized research notes. There were no windows.

Black Doom was already there, hovering next to the table. "Sorry to have kept you waiting," Gerald apologized. "Seeing as I still haven't introduced myself, my name is Gerald Robotnik." He paused when he was standing before his desk. "Would you mind if I, uh, seated myself?"

Not at all. Black Doom waited patiently as Gerald settled himself into his chair. Now...

Gerald knew what he wanted to discuss. "To be honest, we don't really know everything we'd like about the Chaos Emeralds," he began. "There are seven of them, identical to each other in all but color. We have noticed that they contain some sort of power, which appears limitless, but we have thus far failed to harness this power in any way." He sighed, a little disgruntled. "It is said that they can grant wishes and bring people's dreams into reality, but that's..." He waved his hand in the air dismissively.

And Chaos Control? How are the Emeralds relevant?

"As I said, we haven't had much success in working with them, but..." He paused, wondering how to best phrase his next words. "There was an incident a while back involving the Emeralds. The government is very secretive about this incident, but I gather that someone accidentally used them to trigger a Chaos Control, instantaneously and imperfectly warping himself and most of his surroundings several miles away into the middle of a crowded area, leading to much mayhem and disorder." He leaned back in his chair to look up at Black Doom. "To date, that's the only successful use of Chaos Control, so it was generally believed it was only possible to Chaos Control with the aid of an Emerald."

Hmm. Black Doom was silent for a few minutes. Gerald watched the opposite corner of his office, listening to the overly loud ticking of his wristwatch in the silence. This is...intriguing, the alien eventually said, drawing the scientist's attention back to him. I would make a deal with you.

"A deal of what sort?"

Allow me to possess these Chaos Emeralds for a time, came the reply. I wish to know if what you say is true, and without physically in contact with them, I cannot do that.

"I'm afraid I can't agree to that either," Gerald said regretfully. "The government is, understandably, very cautious about the status of the Emeralds, and so it keeps all of them under very heavy guard." He paused again, realizing he'd forgotten to mention something. "That is, when it can actually find them; I believe they currently only have two. The Emeralds are notoriously difficult to locate."

I see. Black Doom seemed disappointed. In that case, I will aid you in creating your immortal life form. I do not know nor do I particularly care how long you will take in doing this. It is possible you will not finish before the Black Comet moves away again. However, he continued, looming a little closer to Gerald's desk, upon the Comet's return, I would like your creation to help me procure these Chaos Emeralds, as it is unlikely you will still be alive.

"You seem very interested in the Emeralds," Gerald noted cautiously.

That I am.

"Might I ask for what reason?"

Black Doom regarded him silently. I have wanted to permanently anchor the Black Comet somewhere for a long time, he finally replied. Having the Chaos Emeralds would give me the necessary power to do so.

At that moment, Gerald had to suppress a shudder. Black Doom had no expressions to speak of, and his voice was the same bass rumble as before, yet something about his eyes had changed, somehow, and it made Gerald greatly uneasy. Trying to hide his discomfort, he attempted a smile. "Well, in that case, I hope you can accept my personal promise to uphold our deal. I am not entirely sure the project will succeed, so I can't really speak for my, uh, creation-"

It will succeed, Black Doom interrupted. There was a steely edge to his voice. Gerald decided to stay silent. After a moment, the alien spoke again, his tone once again amiable. Do we have an agreement? Upon receiving a nod, he reached out and selected a small glass beaker from the top of Gerald's cabinets, setting it in front of him on the desk. Using one of the charms trailing from his shoulders, he made a wide incision on one of his broad fingers, allowing a dark brownish-red liquid flow into the beaker. He stood there for a while, watching the glass. When it was approximately half full, he moved his hand away, concealing it once again in his clothing. That should be sufficient.

Gerald picked up the beaker and gazed at it. Here in his hands was his chance. His chance to make a difference in her life. He had to make it count, make it work. He might never get another.

"Thank you," he said.

[BionicleMandi121]

Back to short chapters...

~~~

V

The following days were busy.

With the help of his aides, Gerald put samples of Black Doom's blood through several DNA purification processes, hoping to isolate something. Most of their efforts induced no change whatsoever, much to their consternation. After five days, Gerald instructed his assistants to bring out the stronger, more hazardous chemicals not normally used for biological purposes.

Not so surprisingly, they worked, lysing the things that passed for blood cells. Under a powerful microscope, they could detect a dark stringy substance floating aimlessly in the remaining liquid. Hoping it was genetic material, they very carefully filtered it out, keeping it in a separate test tube.

By the end of the week, they had gathered a half tube full. Gerald had his assistants continue isolating any more the substance they could find while he himself began attempts to sequence it.

Before even a day was over, he gave up.

The scientist pushed his seat away from the table with a disgruntled sigh, getting wearily to his feet. "Forget it," he grumbled, noticing the inquiring expressions of his aides. "It doesn't respond to anything I try on it. All I can conclude is that whatever this is, it's much too different from the DNA we know to use the same techniques on it."

"So it won't work, sir?" the young man asked timidly. Gerald shook his head.

"Never mind that. We might as well use this...substance for something." He paced along one wall of the lab, stroking his mustache. "How many animals do we have DNA samples for?"

"Uh, sir?" The young man looked confused. The young woman answered for him.

"Seven, sir. Eleven, if you count the ones we haven't completely sequenced."

"Bring in a sample from each species and add some of this mystery substance to them." Gerald picked up an empty test tube. "Hopefully they can combine in some constructive way that leaves them still usable."

"Yes sir," chorused the assistants, leaving the room together. Gerald was left alone in the lab, contemplating the tube of extracted material, his expression carefully unreadable.

[BionicleMandi121]

The series is pretty vague on just how advanced technology was in Gerald's time, but I reasoned that it should be far ahead of what our technology was fifty years ago because of everything he wound up doing. So this talk of computers and microscopes isn't really an anachronism. Hopefully. ._.

~~~

VI

His aides found him still there several hours later. Both of them held several white tubes in their hands, made of plastic and with attached caps. They set the tubes down on the table in front of him, then stood back and waited for further instructions. He looked over the tubes carefully. Each was labeled with the type of animal it contained the genetic code for. Gerald raised an eyebrow as he read the labels. They ranged from the common creatures to more bizarre ones: rat, sparrow, pig, cow, sheep, dog, cat, lizard, squirrel, hedgehog, and seal.

"I understand the first five or so samples, as they are animals readily found and often used in experiments, but where did the rest come from?" he asked. His aides shrugged in unison.

"We're not sure, sir," the woman added.

"Even though these are samples of the species in general," the young man spoke up, "they still have DNA specific to the individual we took them from."

"Hopefully that won't matter much." Gerald returned his attention to the alien material in its single tube. "Well, each of you select a handful of DNA samples, take some of this," he gestured at the tube, "and mix them together. Let them sit for a few days, and if any are still viable, inject it into an enucleated egg and see how it develops." He paused. "We do have some, right?"

"If we don't, we can send for them, sir," the young woman assured him. She reached over the table and picked up the DNA samples for the rat, pig, cow, and sheep, carrying them to another table. The young man likewise took the sparrow, dog, cat, and squirrel tubes, leaving Gerald with the lizard, hedgehog, and seal. Gerald busied himself distributing the contents of his test tube equally into two other ones, then passed the two to his assistants.

As the young man and woman obediently began their work, Gerald selected the seal DNA and popped the cap open. He poured the tube's contents into a shallow dish, tapping it to free anything clinging to its sides. Then he selected a long glass dropper, dipping it into the alien substance and withdrawing a small amount. He dripped his sample into the dish as well, then placed the entire thing under a microscope.

He fiddled with the controls until the strands of DNA became visible. What he saw made him frown and lean closer to the screen. That can't be right, he thought, trying to make sense of the tangled mess he was seeing. It's almost as if the alien material was-

His eyes widened and he sat abruptly back in his seat. At the same time, the young woman exclaimed, "Professor! We've run into some difficulties!"

"I've likely run into the same ones," he replied, suppressing a groan. Helplessly, he watched as the dark strings from Black Doom's blood wriggled across the screen, overtaking all of the material from the seal. He wasn't quite sure what was happening, but it appeared as though it coated or fused with the DNA, which then disintegrated. Another failure.

"Why do you suppose it does that?" asked the young man. He had come to stand behind Gerald, staring at the screen. "We've just lost the pig and cat samples."

"The seal one is gone too," Gerald told him, shaking his head. "And I hate to say it, but I don't know what causes this...invasive reaction." He sighed, recalled Black Doom's conviction in the project's success, and decided that as the project head, he should be at least positive. "Carry on. We'll just have to hope we have something here that won't fall to pieces." For that matter, he added mentally to himself, we'll have to hope there's something on Earth that won't.

[Pikachu127]

I loved this the moment I saw it.

[BionicleMandi121]

Why thanks. :o

....I think this is the shortest chapter in the entire fic...

~~~

VII

Gerald waited as his male assistant hauled open the incubation room's door. Even though the three samples from the day before were clearly done for, it had still taken them over 12 hours to completely dissolve. The three of them had added the alien substance to all of the other DNA samples and set them in the incubation room in an attempt to speed up the process.

Once the door was wide enough to admit them, Gerald led his aides into the room. His hopes, already low, sank further. Almost all of the lights indicating sample status were red. The young woman walked up to the sparrow sample, shook her head, and began removing it. The young man did likewise with the cow sample across from her. Gerald walked slowly up the aisle, heading for the sole green light.

He drew level and glanced at the label. Lizard. Lifting his gaze, he examined the small screen showing the DNA as his microscope had the previous day. The strands were completely coated with the material from Black Doom, but had not sustained any visible damage. Gerald smiled slowly.

"Prepare an enucleated egg, please," he instructed the young woman. She nodded, picked up the failed samples she had already gathered, and left the room. Gerald carefully lifted the lizard sample dish and followed her out, leaving the young man to complete removing the failed experiments.

Finally, something had gone right.

[BionicleMandi121]

Longish-chapter. o3o

~~~

VIII

Humming a tune, Gerald wrote his report in high spirits. It had been almost a month since the lizard DNA had accepted the alien substance, and all was well. The creature had developed without a single hitch, in half the time lizard embryos normally took, and accepted testing quite readily.

In appearance, it looked like a squat-legged, orange and gray lizard with round black eyes and a few short bristles around its mouth. It had crawled out of its incubation chamber the size of Gerald's hand; now it was roughly the size of a dog. It could not speak, instead making a variety of grumbling sounds, but it was obviously intelligent and could understand whatever they told it. Several more scientists had come from Earth to help, now that the project was finally underway. One of his new assistants had taken to calling it the Biolizard, a nickname that quickly spread among his staff.

The results from the last few weeks of testing had been favorable. Samples from the lizard had finally confirmed that it was no longer aging. Next to come would be tests for disease resistance, then exploration of its abilities. It was already amusing the lab workers by spitting small deep purple orbs into the air that caused a rather pleasant tingle when touched. What those orbs really were, no one knew yet, but they didn't appear to be dangerous.

Gerald finished the last sentence in his report and was in the midst of adding his signature to the bottom of the page when a splintering noise made him stop. He had heard too many glass instruments shatter in his years as a scientist to not recognize the sound. The startled gasp and scream that followed the splintering caused him to leap out of his office chair and run for the lab as fast as he could.

Just before he reached the door, he heard a deep roar above the sounds of human panic. Seizing the door handle, he hauled the door open and stared.

The Biolizard, just earlier that morning small enough to pick up with a little effort, was now almost the size of an adult human. It roared again, lashing out with its tail in agitation and breaking another dozen glass beakers. Some of the lab assistants were trying to calm it, yelling to be heard, while others helped a young woman out of the room. She looked as though she had been sprayed with glass fragments.

Gerald grabbed the arm of one aide as he passed by. "What happened?" he demanded.

"We don't know," the young man wailed, wringing his hands. "It was fine up until a minute or two ago. Then it suddenly started growing, really fast, and making distressed noises." He tugged hard on Gerald's arm and ducked, bringing the senior scientist down with him. What looked suspiciously like part of a chair flew over their heads as the clamor behind them grew louder. "We don't know what caused it, or when it's going to stop-"

Silence fell, very suddenly. The bewildered young man also stopped speaking, his eyes wide. Gerald got back to his feet hurriedly and returned to the doorway.

His staff was arranged around the room in a semicircle, sporting injuries from flying lab equipment. Most of the lab was in shambles; thankfully there were no pieces of expensive equipment, and everything would be easily replaced. The Biolizard itself was lying motionless on the ground, larger than one of the lab tables. One woman approached it cautiously, then knelt and rested her hand against its chest.

"Its heart is failing," she announced. "If we want to keep it alive, it'll need temporary life support at the very least."

For perhaps a minute, no one moved or spoke. Gerald swallowed a few times before he could talk. "Find a way to move it," he instructed them. "Move it to the largest vacant room available. Hurry," he added, since the lizard was still clearly growing at a slower pace. He beckoned to the woman who had made the announcement. "You, come with me. We'll need to find something suitable for it."

His assistants hesitated only a moment. Then they all leapt into action, moving tables out of the path between the lizard and the door, or fashioning a giant makeshift stretcher to carry it with. Gerald himself led the woman to the other half of the lab, drowning out his emotions by trying to remember where they had life support equipment.

[BionicleMandi121]

Someone pointed this out to me a day or two ago, saying I shouldn't be using the terms "night" and "day" when the setting is on a space colony. He said that because the colony lacks an atmosphere, sunlight wouldn't light it up, and so it would have the same illumination 24/7.

I admit this was an oversight on my part because I have never been too huge a fan of sci-fi stuff involving outer space, so I didn't pay as much attention to that kind of thing. Just pretend Gerald keeps track of what time it's supposed to be using his wrist watch, or maybe they consider "day" when they can see the sun and "night" when they can't. @_@'

~~~

IX

It was late at night before Gerald stumbled back into his office, feeling drained. By the time he had found the life support systems and reached the room his helpers had moved the lizard to, it had already grown so large that the traditional setup would not work. He'd had no choice but order his more handy assistants to convert the equipment on the spot, surgically attaching the support unit to the lizard's back and running two thin tubes to a cap on its head to let it breathe.

Gerald flopped into his chair, gazing morosely at the report he had written earlier. His eyes lingered on a phrase midway down the first page, proclaiming "great success." He scowled, reached out, took hold of his report, and tore it in half, then tossed the pages into the wastebasket. Some great success this was, when his creation would need life support for the rest of its immortal life to survive.

He found his office much too small to pace properly in and left, wandering through the lab. His assistants had already cleaned it of all broken glass, and the tables were more or less back in their places. He nearly left for the ARK's main common room again when he noticed the door to the incubation room. The light above the door was still red, indicating it was in use.

He frowned. After the Biolizard had come out of it, that room had been empty. Why was the light still red? Someone must have forgotten to turn it off, he decided, making for the door. I'd better fix that.

The sight of the empty incubation chambers made him melancholy all over again. Shaking his head, he made for the control panel on the opposite side of the room. He reached out to flip the status light switch when a flicker at the corner of his eye caught his attention.

A green flicker.

Turning, he saw that one chamber was still occupied. A single dish lay within it, its light a dim green. As he watched, the light grew brighter, flashed twice, then faded to its original intensity. We need to get that light bulb switched, was his first thought. His second was, Where did that dish come from?

A closer look triggered his memory. This was one of the DNA sample dishes from weeks before! Why was one still here? He glanced at the screen and saw with a jolt that it also displayed whole DNA strands coated in dark alien matter. Another combination had succeeded, and he hadn't noticed.

As though afraid it would break in his hands, Gerald removed the dish from its chamber, barely registering its label. Walking slowly, he took it with him out to the lab, searching for where the enucleated eggs were stored.

Not many people got second chances. He would make the most out of his.

[BionicleMandi121]

End of part one. o3o

And Shadow finally makes an appearance. ._.'

Shadow's development stages were based on the human gestation period for two reasons. One, I couldn't find a description of a hedgehog's development. Two, I figured since he's anthropomorphic, it could go either way. So you can think of this as me being lazy for not going deeper in trying to find info about hedgehogs, or as me being a nerd for even bothering to look up gestation periods for something that's only used in half a chapter.

~~~

X

It was hard not to feel hopeful.

The hedgehog DNA--for the hedgehog sample it had been--was just as stable as the lizard's, if not more so. By the end of the first day in an incubation chamber, the zygote was well into the process of division, nearing the blastocyst stage.

The next morning, however, Gerald was startled to find a visible embryo where the blastocyst had been. It even had a primitive heart. Development normally would not progress that quickly overnight, and he experienced misgivings. What if this creature ended up the same as the Biolizard? He didn't have any other samples left. He set his worries aside, however, and kept an eye on the embryo's growth.

Two days later, on day four, Gerald was becoming confused. The DNA sample had definitely been from a hedgehog. He had double-checked the label to be sure before injecting it into the egg. Yet the growing embryo was vaguely humanoid in form, bipedal instead of quadrupedal, and had fingers showing at the ends of its forelimbs.

On day eight, it was clear that the fetus was not a pure hedgehog. It was significantly larger, for one, and definitely humanoid. At the same time, it had a hedgehog's long nose, and its face structure was vastly different from both of the species it resembled. One of Gerald's original assistants, the young man, suggested the physical changes were because of the "mystery substance" they had added to the DNA. As there was no other explanation they could think of, Gerald accepted that as the most likely reason.

On day nine, Black Doom appeared.

Gerald was alone in the incubation room, gazing at his creation. It had grown another few centimeters overnight and now had a fine coat of something very much like fur all over its body. The fur grew longer on its head and back, stiffening to a spine-like density. It was mostly black. Streaks of red flowed along its arms, its legs, and the spikes on its head, and a tuft of white adorned its chest. Only the skin around its nose and mouth was left bare.

Once again, without any warning other than a brief flash of light, Black Doom was hovering beside him. He saw the alien's reflection on the glass and turned to greet him. After their meeting in Gerald's office, Black Doom had occasionally appeared to check on the project's progress. He had, however, become less amiable, more direct, and infinitely more unreadable. Gerald could no longer bring himself to trust this being, regardless of his help.

It goes well with this one, Black Doom commented, contemplating the incubation chamber. The creature within stirred, then fell still once more. I believe you can entrust our promise to it.

"We still don't know if it's stable," Gerald muttered. "The Biolizard didn't exhibit any defects until around three weeks after it was..." He fumbled for a word; "born" hardly described a creature freed from an incubation chamber.

Yes, I saw what became of that. Black Doom hung silent in the air for a moment longer. This one shall be different. You may recall that the prototype did not share my coloration. He tapped the glass with a finger, gently. This one does.

I suppose you think that means something, Gerald thought, but he stayed quiet.

I have come to inform you that the Black Comet is leaving your planet, Black Doom finally said. It is already testing the limit of my Chaos Control to come to you now. I must depart immediately to avoid becoming stranded. He turned toward Gerald and dipped in what might have passed for a bow in a normal person. Gerald inclined his head in response. Remember your promise. Bring me the Chaos Emeralds by this day, fifty years from now. With another flash, he was gone. Gerald couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, feeling some pressure lift from his shoulders.

The very next day, the tenth day after incubation began, the creature awoke.

[BionicleMandi121]

Yes I gave my fanfic sections very original names. >>

The description of what Shadow sounds like was based on his Japanese voice, not his English one. This actually does make a huge difference.

~~ Part 2: Shadow ~~

XI

Unlike the Biolizard, the hedgehog could talk.

Gerald had established early on that the creature was male, or at least had a masculine voice. It wasn't as deep as Black Doom's, but not high enough to sound feminine. However, he didn't sound much like the near infant he was, either, instead possessing a voice similar to that of a teenager or young adult. The effect was quite disorienting.

The creature--Gerald couldn't easily think of him as a hedgehog--stood at exactly 100 centimeters tall, and at 35 kilograms was much heavier than his height suggested. He seemed to be withdrawn, only speaking to reply to questions that he couldn't answer with gestures, and remained silent the rest of the time. Gerald noticed this, but refused to let himself be concerned for the creature. He didn't want to be crushed with disappointment if this experiment failed as well.

Instead, he busied himself with tests. Daily, he had his assistants take samples from the creature. These were then analyzed cell by cell, their condition recorded, and then compared to previous readings. After a suitable time period of no change, the creature would be determined non-aging. The Biolizard had taken over three weeks to ascertain its status as a non-aging entity; Gerald expected to take at least that long with this new subject.

Merely one week later, he was reconsidering his decision. The Biolizard at least had shown signs of further growth, increasing in size until week two; this hedgehog had not. He was the exact same size and weight as he had been the first time they had taken his measurements, and the samples they took from him were likewise identical. The cells they kept in culture never divided either, implying his body didn't regularly replace cells and further implying that it didn't need to.

Finally, thirteen days into testing, he called for a halt. When his assistants looked at him quizzically, he told them, "You should have also seen from our data that he's not aging or growing at all. There's more than enough proof that he can be considered ageless at this point. Take tomorrow off. We'll move onto disease testing afterward." The assistants voiced their assent and began cleaning up their work stations.

Gerald walked to where the hedgehog was sitting on a footstool, knees tucked under his chin and fingers interlaced above his ankles. He watched the scientist approach, unmoving except for his eyes. Gerald fought down the chill along his spine whenever he met the creature's eyes. They were the same vivid red as Black Doom's had been, and just as unreadable. Not allowing his unease to show in his voice or manner, he bent down to the hedgehog's level.

"We're done testing for today," he told him. "You have the rest of today and tomorrow to do whatever you want." The creature blinked at him. "I'm sure you'll think of something to occupy yourself with." Straightening up, Gerald looked around the room. Most of his aides were already gone, and the few remaining were chatting with each other as they walked to the door. He looked back down at the hedgehog, then reached down and gave him a gentle push on the back. The creature stood and also walked to the door, then stopped outside.

When Gerald had finished a final check of the room, turned off the lights, and closed the door, the hedgehog was still standing there, looking down the hallway after the chatting aides. Watching him, Gerald was reminded of a certain small girl standing at a window in a pristine room, gazing longingly at the children outside playing with each other.

He sighed, resigned. He could probably have remained detached if his creation had been more like a real hedgehog. He would have managed it if it were as utterly expressionless as the alien whose blood it had been created from. But not when it was a humanoid being. Not when it was clearly lonely and unhappy.

He extended a hand toward the hedgehog. He looked at it, then up at Gerald, and didn't take it. "Come along," the scientist told him, moving off. "There's someone I think you should meet."

[BionicleMandi121]

I'm actually not too happy with the dialogue in this chapter. It sounds...much too sappy. But given what I know of Maria's personality, I couldn't think of any other way she'd react. So meh.

First chapter from Shadow's point of view. I hope that's made clear in the chapter itself.

~~~

XII

The hallways they went down now were new to the hedgehog. He looked around them as they walked, taking in the sights. The man in front of him moved at a steady pace, looking nowhere but straight in front of him. He appeared to be deep in thought. The silence suited the hedgehog; he could observe their surroundings in peace.

Minutes later, the man stopped in front of a door and tapped on it with a knuckle. "Are you in there, Maria?" he called. The hedgehog heard a muffled reply. The man smiled and turned the doorknob, letting both of them into the room.

It was very different from the rooms he had seen so far. For one, it was much smaller. A narrow steel table sectioned off approximately a third of the room. A similar counter ran the length of the back wall, with a sink in the middle and spaces for what looked like two metal cupboards. The counter also rounded one corner, with a strange device positioned midway between the corner and the end of the counter. It had a large windowed door on the front of it, several concentric circles on top, and five knobs above the door.

A person with yellow hair was standing at the sink, drying her hands on a towel. She was shorter than everyone else he'd seen, and wearing different colors: light and dark blue rather than white and gray or brown. Her shirt had puffy sleeves, and her skirt ended at the knee. She was smiling at them.

"Oh, grandfather! I haven't seen you in a while," she greeted the man, walking around the table to hug him. "How is your project coming along?"

"With lots of ups and downs," he replied, smiling warmly down at her. "Recently I've had some progress, however." He turned toward the hedgehog. "I've brought him to see you, actually." The girl turned to look at him, too. He looked up at her; although she was shorter than the other humans, she was still much taller than he was.

"How nice!" she exclaimed, crouching down. "What's your name?" she asked him.

He blinked.

"I haven't thought about giving him a name yet," the man confessed, sounding a little embarrassed. "He's been just 'Project Shadow subject #2' to me."

"Why not just call him Shadow?" The girl didn't wait for an answer, turning instead to the hedgehog still standing in front of her. "Would you like that?"

He shrugged.

"Well it's a better name than 'Project Shadow subject #2,'" the girl declared, raising her eyebrows at her grandfather. The man smiled sheepishly. "I'll call you Shadow from now on, alright?" She stood up again. "Grandpa, it's not even past noon yet. Are you done with today's work already?"

"Yes, actually. We're ready to go to the next stage of testing. The rest of today and all of tomorrow is off." He indicated Shadow. "I thought, since he's never been outside of the laboratory, you could keep him company."

"I'd be glad to." She offered her hand to the hedgehog. As before, he merely stared at it. Patiently, she reached down and caught hold of his own hand. "Want to help me with something, Shadow? I could use another pair of hands."

He shrugged again and allowed her to lead him to the counter.

[BionicleMandi121]

Another chapter I'm not entirely satisfied with, but don't know how to fix. See, the Japanese Shadow is strangely polite, whether he's telling someone to die or to tell him what he wants to know. (For those that know Japanese, he often uses the word "morau.") He has to get that politeness from somewhere, and it's most likely going to be the person closest to him that got him to start doing this, since he's still talking the same way 50 years later. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to write out Maria's suggestion without making it sound kind of random, so meh.

There's a short cameo of the GUN Commander in this chapter.

~~~

XII

Two days later, Shadow was back in the lab. The scientists were taking fewer samples from him now, since they already had the samples from the previous tests. They were now recording the health of the harvested cells when transplanted onto petri dishes containing various bacterial and viral cultures. The head scientist, the girl's grandfather, had estimated it would take at least another week to test all of the cultures they had on the ARK, and perhaps another week to test cultures he had requested from Earth, of rarer diseases.

Shadow wasn't very interested in these tests. They didn't tell him anything. He was, however, coming to enjoy any time spent with the yellow-haired girl. She talked to him, a lot, even when he didn't respond to anything she said. It was nice listening to someone talk to him, knowing she was chatting for the fun of it and not just telling him to do something all the time.

She told him her name was Maria Robotnik, that she had just turned twelve years old, and that she had something called NIDS (which apparently meant Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). Having NIDS meant she couldn't live with other people normally and needed a very sterile living environment. That was why her grandfather had brought her to the ARK, which was in outer space.

When the head scientist noticed Shadow was once again seated on his footstool, looking aimlessly around the room, he walked over. "If you'd like, you can wander around the ARK," he said. "In fact, go ahead. It'll get the colony's other residents used to you. Maria can take you on a tour, if you ask her."

Shadow decided to chance asking a question for the first time. "What about the testing?" From the man's startled expression, he hadn't expected a question from him.

"We, ah, have enough samples for now," he eventually answered. "From now on, check in at the lab. If and when we need more samples, we'll ask you to stay for a while. Otherwise, you're free to go anywhere you like." He paused, then added, "I suggest you ask Maria to take you to the main common room at least once. The view is excellent, and you've been looking at walls for far too long."

Shadow thought about it for a while, then nodded.

After that, his days were far less monotonous. Maria was thrilled to act as tour guide and introduced him to nearly everyone on the space colony. Most of them, after overcoming their initial surprise at seeing a sentient, oversized, bipedal hedgehog, were friendly enough, although he detected some caution in the way they spoke to him. However, one boy--a boy with one blue eye and one green--didn't even try pretending to be friendly. Every time he saw Shadow, the boy would always shrink back and try to either hide or leave the room.

The boy's behavior puzzled Shadow. He finally asked Maria, "Why does that boy always act scared of me?"

Maria sighed, washing her hands. They were in her kitchen again, which he found out no one else ever used. "That I don't really know, but if I had to guess, I would say you're not really being polite enough. You tend to stare, and it kind of makes people feel like you're not very friendly, sometimes."

"Polite?"

"It's always a good idea to be nice to people," she explained. "It lets them know you like them, or respect them. It also tells them you want to be treated nicely too. If you act mean toward everyone, they're not going to want to treat you nicely. They'll treat you the same way you treat them."

He considered it. It did make sense. "Then I should be more polite to people." He made it a statement.

"That would be great." Maria smiled down at him. "Now, how about I teach you a new recipe?"