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The history of the powerful, ruthless albeit heroic hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
Origin[]
| “ | The professor created me using alien DNA. The Black Arms, he called them. The same DNA as this...larva. This ugly, heartless creature. I may look like a hedgehog, but I'm really no different than this thing. | „ |
| ~ Shadow about his identity. |
Shadow was created 50 years before Sonic Adventure 2, with a project called Project Shadow in the works. Led by Professor Gerald Robotnik, it was a government-sanctioned initiative to create "The Ultimate Lifeform," an immortal being that could be used for the benefit of the nation, likely in a militaristic fashion. While Gerald had initial misgivings to the purpose of the research he was assigned to, he realized that his results might be able to save his granddaughter, Maria. Suffering from the incurable disease Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Maria only had a short time left to live, and Gerald was willing to do whatever it took to save her life. Going against his worries of stepping into territory man had no business playing with, the professor immediately began work, hoping that he could apply any newly gained knowledge to find a cure to N.I.D.S.
Even with the resources at his disposal, Professor Gerald was unable to make significant progress. Without alerting anyone, Gerald decided to plea to the stars for help, contacting the Black Arms race, an alien civilization that lived upon the Black Comet, a celestial object that passed near the planet every 50 years. Its leader, Black Doom, offered to assist Gerald in his quest. He offered his blood - which ended up being the key to perfect the ultimate lifeform - in exchange for the seven Chaos Emeralds, which he would collect the next time he passed through. Knowing that the Black Arms' intentions were less than desirable, Gerald made the deal regardless, albeit with preparations to defeat the Black Arms with the cannon built into the ARK, and was able to successfully create Shadow the Hedgehog. Once brought to life, Shadow immediately befriended Maria, and they became close during their short time together. Gerald, meanwhile, made precautions for the return of the Black Arms, ensuring that the Eclipse Cannon - an extremely powerful laser built into the ARK - was compatible with the seven Chaos Emeralds, so that when they did return with the Black Comet, humanity would be able to defend itself instead of bowing to their whims.
However, Gerald's progress was ruined when it was leaked to G.U.N. how he was able to create the successful prototype. During the meeting between Gerald and the Black Arms, one of the other children aboard the ARK had accidentally seen what transpired and reported back to those in charge. As ties between the ARK and the United Federation had already been strained, hearing the news of the dealings with an alien race scared those in charge. Afraid of the implications, it was decided to launch an invasion and put a stop to the work being done there. What happened next was nothing short of madness, as G.U.N. troops descended onto the ARK, causing chaos and confusion wherever they went. Immediately they went after the Biolizard, which they thought was the successful "Project Shadow" prototype, and in the process of putting the creature into stasis, lost quite a few soldiers. From there they went about doing damage control, shutting down everything, getting everyone off the ARK, and killing those who resisted if need be. Knowing that the G.U.N. forces would be there at any moment, Maria convinced Shadow to enter an escape pod, her final wish to him that he gives the people on the planet a chance to be happy. Wishing him goodbye, Shadow could do nothing as he watched the G.U.N. soldiers' storm into the lab, firing a shot which would forever change the hedgehog's life as it ended the life of Maria Robotnik.
Learning of his granddaughter's death, Professor Gerald soon went mad with grief, swearing vengeance on humanity for taking away the only thing that ever meant anything to him. Though just what exactly transpired is cloudy, what is known is that both Gerald and the escape pod that held Shadow were gathered by G.U.N., Shadow having to be put to sleep in a stasis capsule within Prison Island, and Gerald being incarcerated and charged with the crimes that happened aboard the ARK.
Sonic Adventure 2[]
In Sonic Adventure 2, Dr. Eggman released Shadow from a G.U.N. base on Prison Island, where he had spent approximately fifty years in suspended animation. In exchange, Shadow agreed to aid the doctor in his plans to take over the world, holding to himself his true intentions as wishing to get revenge for the death of his friend, Maria Robotnik, as he thought she wanted. To achieve this, the black hedgehog revealed the Eclipse Cannon to the scientist. Beforehand, he also stole the green Chaos Emerald from a bank, unknowingly also framing Sonic the Hedgehog for the deed.
He later participated in the second heist alongside Dr. Eggman and Rouge the Bat against Prison Island, where he would plant explosives throughout the island as part of their getaway, although his resemblance to Sonic also resulted in Amy Rose mistaking him for the latter. However, because Miles "Tails" Prower came to Amy's rescue from Dr. Eggman, he was forced to act fast due to the unexpected delay. In addition, after Rouge ended up getting caught and stranded in the containment area while recovering the four Chaos Emeralds, Shadow, largely because he realized that his plans of avenging Maria Robotnik would be for naught if Rouge perished in the explosion, rushed to get to Rouge and by extension the Chaos Emeralds.
After meeting Sonic for a second time, Shadow also believed that Sonic was trying to copy him. They fought to a stalemate before Shadow was forced to leave to rescue Rouge (with Sonic also learning from Eggman via Shadow's radio that the island was about to blow up), and just barely arrived at Rouge's location and used Chaos Control to warp himself, Rouge, the four Chaos Emeralds and presumably Eggman out at the last possible second. After the demonstration, needing the final Chaos Emerald to fulfill their plans, Shadow pursued Tails' plane at a canyon. Although he was unable to stop them, he nonetheless reported to Eggman that they are headed his way. When Eggman discovered the presence of two apparent emerald readings, and thus deduced Tails' plan of placing a fake Chaos Emerald into the cannon, Shadow wordlessly departed, apparently to confront Sonic and Tails to stop them for interfering, although Eggman stopped him, wanting to deal with them personally. After Sonic was seemingly killed by Dr. Eggman via a rigged escape capsule, Shadow, witnessing the explosion, guessed that Sonic was only an ordinary hedgehog.
Afterwards, Shadow stumbled upon Rouge's plan to steal the Chaos Emeralds, and deduced that she was in fact a spy for the President of the United Federations, although Rouge then unveiled a report from Gerald Robotnik regarding the Biolizard, claiming, it, not Shadow, was the actual Shadow. However, Shadow was forced to depart after Eggman mentioned an anonymous figure (Sonic) heading towards the Eclipse Cannon, although not before stating that he's still Shadow despite his memories possibly being fake, and that "the fake emerald is good enough for Rouge." He then discovers Sonic the Hedgehog at the area. Shadow, impressed at Sonic's capability of using Chaos Control despite using a fake Chaos Emerald, nonetheless stated that he cannot allow him to live before fighting on a collapsing runway. In the last story, Eggman inserted the final Chaos Emerald, only to initiate a destabilization program on the ARK. Professor Gerald Robotnik then revealed that he had made this function to have revenge for Maria, and that the ARK would destroy the Earth. Sonic, Eggman, Rouge, Tails and Knuckles took a shortcut to the cannon's core so they could stop the Professor's mad plan.
Amy Rose then helped Shadow realize Maria's true wish. In a twist of fate, Shadow ultimately aided Sonic when realizing, with Amy's help, Maria's true wish, which was to save humanity. Meanwhile, Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles had reached the central core, where they reactivated the Biolizard. Notably, a scene from Gerald Robotnik's diary appeared again. After Shadow defeated the Biolizard, Knuckles used the Master Emerald to stop the Chaos Emeralds. But the Biolizard, being the prototype of Project Shadow, used Chaos Control to fuse with the ARK, continuing its fall. Then, Sonic and Shadow, in their Super States, destroyed the Biolizard. The Ultimate Lifeform prototype became a monster, codenamed Finalhazard. Using their powers, Shadow and Sonic defeated him and executed an enhanced Chaos Control which stopped the fall and warped the ARK. Afterwards, Shadow's energy was drained out and after falling to the Earth, he was presumed dead.
Sonic Heroes[]
In Sonic Heroes, Rouge discovered Shadow unconscious in a stasis pod located in the deepest part of one of Dr. Eggman's bases, after he was believed to be dead. As she activated the capsule, E-123 Omega ban to scan Rouge and the newly awakened Shadow, believing him to be a creation of Eggman. As Shadow awakened, Omega fired a round of guns at Shadow and Rouge. Shadow ordered Rouge to step away while he took on Omega, but Rouge stepped in to break them up, quickly ending the skirmish. Shadow discovered that he has amnesia and could not remember anything before his release, aside from his name and brief images of Maria Robotnik's death. He joined forces with Rouge and Omega, to form Team Dark and find Eggman.
On their way to Eggman on Grand Metropolis, Shadow and his team met up with Team Chaotix, and began fighting against them as Rouge suspected them to be searching for "Eggman's treasure". Later, Shadow met Dr. Eggman in a casino, asking him for his identity; however, "Eggman" denied that Shadow had "a past to remember". On another battle against one of Eggman's machines, Shadow discovered that there are clones of him, much to his already established self-confusion. After giving it a brief break, Shadow, however, chose to proceed forward. Unbeknownst to him, Neo Metal Sonic had collected Shadow's data while the hedgehog was fighting during that moment.
In Lost Jungle, Shadow confronted Sonic and his team of Knuckles and Tails. When they encountered each other, Shadow had no memory of Sonic, and asked Rouge about him. The two teams began taunting each other until Omega threatened Sonic and his team to destroy them. Shadow then started a fight against Sonic and his friends. When they made it to the Egg Fleet, Shadow made up his mind to defeat Eggman once and for all even if he was not truly the ultimate lifeform.
After "Eggman" was seemingly defeated, Shadow remarked that Rouge's desire to steal the Master Emerald from Knuckles as she was explaining her next plan is nothing strange for him. Shortly after that, Neo Metal Sonic revealed himself to them, and began transforming as Shadow, his teammates and the other teams were witnessing that moment. Having no other option, Shadow worked with everyone else to help defeat the monster, and gladly gave his Chaos Emerald to Sonic. After the final battle, Shadow and E-123 Omega were holding the defeated Metal Sonic wondering what to do with it.
Shadow the Hedgehog[]
Shadow serves as the titular main protagonist of this game, where he attempts to find out his true past. When Black Doom and his army of aliens, the Black Arms, invaded, and Black Doom told Shadow that he held the answers, and that he should help him take over the world and bring the seven Chaos Emeralds to him, Shadow was reluctant to obey Black Doom, but realized the Chaos Emeralds might have the answers. There are many different paths Shadow can take: Throughout the game, Shadow can choose to help Black Doom, the heroes, sometimes Eggman, or else not help anyone and go straight for the Chaos Emeralds. Because of this, the game has ten normal endings, though the true ending is unlocked by viewing all of them. The endings are split up into a Dark Path and Hero Path with Shadow facing a boss at the end once he finishes that choice:
- In the Pure Dark path with the sixth level being GUN Fortress, if Shadow chooses to help Rouge, he faces Black Doom, angered that Shadow would betray the Black Arms at the last minute when G.U.N. was on its last legs. If Shadow destroys G.U.N.'s mother computers and cuts off their ability to summon reinforcements to protect the base, Sonic and the Commander, piloting the G.U.N. mech Diablon, face him in a final stand to stop Black Doom from attaining ultimate victory.
- In the Semi-Dark path with the level Black Comet, if Shadow helps Knuckles, he faces Eggman in the Egg Dealer. If he chooses to help Black Doom and destroy G.U.N.'s forces assaulting the Black Comet, Sonic and the Commander, in the Diablon, face Shadow in a final stand to stop Black Doom from winning.
- In the Neutral path with the level Lava Fortress, joined by E-123 Omega, Shadow faces Eggman in the Egg Dealer, no matter which path he chooses.
- In the Semi-Hero path with the level Cosmic Fall, if Shadow helps Vector, he faces Black Doom after the dark prophet admits to having been involved in Shadow's creation, thus why people refer to Shadow as the "Evil One". If Shadow helps Black Doom, he faces Eggman in the Egg Dealer, who refuses to let Shadow tarnish Professor Robotnik's legacy.
- In the Pure Hero path with the sixth level being Final Haunt, if Shadow helps Black Doom defend the Black Comet from the inevitable counterattack by G.U.N., he faces Sonic and the Commander in the Diablon, only wishing to prove who is the stronger hedgehog between Sonic and Shadow. If Shadow helps Sonic, they face Black Doom together, with Shadow vowing to uphold the promise he made to Maria Robotnik to protect the Earth.
In the Last Story, as Black Doom arrives and asks for the Chaos Emeralds from Shadow, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and Eggman, arrive and tell Shadow not to give the Chaos Emeralds to Black Doom as he intends to destroy the Earth. Black Doom reveals that was never the case. He intends to have humanity enslaved to serve as a food supply for the Black Arms, revealing that when Gerald made the deal with Black Doom previously to thus give birth to Shadow, it was to make sure that, when the Black Comet returned in 50 years, Shadow would aid Black Doom with recovering the Chaos Emeralds, so he could use them to amplify his own Chaos Control to teleport the Black Comet down to Earth's surface, allowing it to take root. Black Doom then makes that a reality, and when Sonic and his friends attempt to fight back, they are paralyzed by a nerve gas released by the Black Comet, leaving them helpless as Black Doom sends the Death Leeches to fed on them. Shadow is unaffected due to his Black Arms blood and DNA, and pursues Black Doom to confront him in his inner sanctum. However, Black Doom attempts to take control of Shadow via a mental link due to Shadow's Black Arms genetic code, but before he can fully succeed, the Chaotix activate a video message from Gerald addressed to Shadow. As Gerald explains that he created Shadow and the Eclipse Cannon to stop the Black Arms and destroy the Black Comet when it next returned to Earth, after Maria appears at the end of the video to offer encouragement, Black Doom scoffs at Gerald's efforts, thinking it was in vain, but to his surprise, Shadow breaks free and vows to fulfill Maria's dying wish to protect the Earth. With that, Black Doom transforms into his evolved form of Devil Doom to face Shadow, who uses the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Shadow to face him in battle. Despite his best efforts, Black Doom is overpowered and defeated. With him gone, Super Shadow Chaos Controls the Black Comet back into space, in range of Space Colony ARK and the Eclipse Cannon, and with one concentrated blast, the Eclipse Cannon destroys the Black Comet forever. With the Black Comet destroyed, Shadow is back on the ARK. Taking one last look at a photo of him with Gerald and Maria, Shadow says goodbye to his past as he moves on with his life.
Sonic Battle[]
In Sonic Battle, Shadow had numerous instances of a mysterious voice telling him to not allow a so-called "strong power" to exist. Eventually, this prompted him to go to investigate at Dr. Eggman's Gimme Shelter base in Night Babylon, where he found the Gizoid, an ancient weapon of mass destruction in the scientist's possession which he recognized as the voice that called him. Soon after, he found Rouge, who also went to investigate after hearing rumors of Eggman hiding something important. Afterwards, however, the two were confronted by a horde of the doctor's Guard Robos, whom they promptly fought. Despite holding the advantage, the black hedgehog was attacked by one of the robots while he was looking away, heavily injuring him. The bat thus took him to her Club "Rouge" nearby, where he would spend several days recovering.
A few days later, Shadow headed to Emerald Town, where he found Sonic with the Gizoid approaching Tails' house. Following a misunderstanding, the two hedgehogs fought in the area over the robot. After losing due to his weakened state, the black hedgehog left, but not before asking his rival not to let Eggman get ahold of the Gizoid. Much later, Shadow learned that Tails and the Gizoid, now named "Emerl", found out about the latter's background in a governmental computer, and told the fox to destroy the robot before it collected the seven Chaos Emeralds to regain its full power and destroy the world. However, Tails did not listen, and a confrontation between the two soon ensued in Central City. Fortunately, Rouge stepped in and stopped the battle, since Guard Robos were hot on their trails too. The black hedgehog was also forced to quit fighting when his poor condition got the best of him. Shadow promptly left with the bat while Tails and Emerl escaped to Emerald Town.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)[]
Shadow's story begins as he infiltrates Eggman's White Acropolis base to locate Rouge, who had infiltrated the base earlier, but G.U.N. has lost contact with her. After he finds her and they escape together, dealing with Eggman's Egg Cerberus that was blocking their way out, they arrive in Soleanna New City, with Rouge in possession of the Scepter of Darkness. When they attempt to meet up with Rouge's G.U.N. contacts in Kingdom Valley, they are confronted by Eggman. In the scuffle, the Scepter is broken, freeing Mephiles the Dark from his imprisonment within it. Using Shadow's shadow to gain physical form, Mephiles then banishes Shadow and Rouge to the apocalyptic future of Soleanna where it and the world have been devastated by Iblis, the Flames of Disaster, and turned into a literal Hell on Earth. Soon meeting up with Team Sonic in the ruins of Eggman's White Acropolis base in that time period, they then work together to find two Chaos Emeralds so Sonic and Shadow can use Chaos Control together to generate a time portal to return to the present. However, after dealing with Iblis and getting the Emeralds, Shadow remains behind in the future, and finds Omega. After learning of how humanity will turn against him, Shadow later returns to the present himself, and later rescues Sonic from being killed by Silver. When Silver is unable to counter Shadow's Chaos Control with his psychokinesis, he tries to use a Chaos Emerald himself against Shadow, but their attempts to use Chaos Control simultaneously results in opening a time portal that allows the two hedgehogs to travel 10 years into the past to see the origins of Iblis and Mephiles as a result of the Solaris Project going catastrophically wrong.
As a result, Silver returns to the present to help Sonic, while Shadow rejoins Rouge and Omega to find and deal with Mephiles, acquiring a new Scepter of Darkness to try and imprison him again, but Mephiles easily escapes the second attempt to imprison him as he was too powerful now to be trapped in the Scepter a second time. Taking on a crystalline form from his Shadow-like appearance, he then summons hundreds of clones to fight Team Dark. Shadow, taking off his Limiters, and with Rouge and Omega backing him up, plows headfirst into the melee to show the Mephiles clones his full power.
By the time it is over, there is no sign of Mephiles. Only then, Team Dark is dragged into a pocket dimension where they find Eggman, Silver, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, and also Princess Elise cradling a lifeless Sonic, having been murdered in cold blood by Mephiles so that Elise would free Iblis and Mephiles could reunite with Iblis and become Solaris once more to bring about the end of the space-time continuum. As everyone fears that Solaris is unstoppable with Sonic dead, Elise senses he might still be able to be resurrected, and Team Dark join everyone else with finding the Chaos Emeralds. Once all seven are collected, Elise revives Sonic, turning him into Super Sonic. Sharing his power with Shadow and Silver to turn them into Super Shadow and Super Silver, the three hedgehogs face off with Solaris, and manage to destroy his consciousness, slaying Mephiles once and for all, and causing Solaris to implode and revert back into the tiny flame that he was born from. Sonic and Elise then travel 10 years into the past, and Elise sees to Solaris' death once and for all by blowing him out, thus altering the timeline with Solaris' extinction.
Sonic X Shadow: Generations[]
Shadow has been dispatched by G.U.N. to investigate a life-form anomaly on the Space Colony ARK. While there, Rouge contacts him to let him know he is going to miss Sonic's birthday party, but Shadow blows her off, before noticing the hallway in the distance looking warped and distorted. Going to investigate, he soon has a run-in with Doom's Eye, indicating that Black Doom has survived his defeat and the destruction of the Black Comet by the Eclipse Cannon previously. After Doom's Eye vanishes, Shadow finds the room containing the fake yellow Chaos Emerald that Tails tried to use against Eggman previously to cause the Eclipse Cannon to backfire if it was inserted with the other Chaos Emeralds. Taking it, Shadow soon spots the Time Eater as it emerges from a time rift in space some distance from the ARK, and at the same time it attacked Sonic's party and dragged everyone into White Space, Shadow and part of the ARK are drawn in as well.
Finding himself in a separate area from Sonic's region of White Space, Shadow decides to investigate further. He soon discovers that Black Doom is there as well, having restored his body, and is attempting to rebuild the Black Arms within White Space. Later, Shadow hears a scream and sees someone being pursued by Black Warriors. He quickly arrives to defeat them and save the person, only to find to his shock that it is Maria Robotnik, soon being joined by Professor Gerald Robotnik, her grandfather. Surmising that they must have been brought to White Space by the Time Eater from a point before the ARK raid that cost Maria and Gerald their lives, Shadow has them stay there while he continues to investigate the area. During this time, Shadow collects Doom Gears that cause him to unlock latent abilities contained within his Black Arms blood and DNA, such as the Doom Spears, Doom Blast, Doom Surf, Doom Morph, and Doom Wing.
| “ | Black Doom: The promised time is nigh upon us, Shadow. Soon, you will be mine. Maria: Shadow will NEVER serve you! He's nothing like you! Black Doom: Gerald may have given him this, unassuming form, but the blood of the Black Arms, flows in his veins. He is a warrior! A destroyer! Shadow: Yes! The warrior that will destroy you! Black Doom: (malevolent laugh) I have learned from our last encounter. There will be no mistakes this time. Struggle all you want. You will be MINE! (After Doom's Eye retreats to the Black Moon, Shadow speaks to Gerald about what Black Doom said) Shadow: Professor, what do you think he means he "learned from our last encounter"? Gerald: I surmise you defeated him at some point in the future. He has grown a new body, and used the nebulous nature of time in White Space to accelerate his plans for revenge. Shadow: (trembling with rage as his hands glow with Black Arms energy) He's right. No more mistakes. This time, I will crush every last one of them! Maria: SHADOW, NO!! Shadow: Maria? Maria: It breaks my heart to see you so full of anger. This isn't who you are. Do you know why I named you "Shadow"? Because without light there's only darkness, but a shadow will show you where to find the light. Do you understand? I don't want you to be driven by darkness. I want you to be happy. Stand in the light with peace in your heart. |
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| ~ Maria encourages Shadow to fight his inner rage over Black Doom's survival and fight with peace and happiness in his heart |
When he rejoins Gerald and Maria later, Black Doom appears before them to gloat that his final clash with Shadow is nearing. Maria vows that Shadow will never aid Black Doom, but the dark prophet and leader of the Black Arms makes it clear that, as long as Shadow has Black Arms blood in his veins, the Black Arms' lust for destruction will always be a part of him. When Shadow vows to use that power to destroy Black Doom and prevent the return of the Black Arms, Black Doom gloats that he's learned from his previous encounter with Shadow during the events with the Black Comet, and one way or another, Shadow will serve Black Doom again as the first of his new Black Arms forces. When Shadow questions Gerald about what Black Doom meant by "learned from our previous encounter", the professor surmises that Shadow defeated Black Doom in the future, but one of the Death Leeches, larva of the Black Arms, must have survived on the ARK and was used by Black Doom to rebuild his body so he could try to rebuild the Black Arms. Incensed by how a single Black Arm larva was able to survive and resurrect Black Doom, Shadow becomes consumed with rage, vowing to wipe out the Black Arms for good this time. Horrified, Maria pleads for him to stop, heartbroken to see him give into his anger and begs him to not succumb to it. She then explains why she named him "Shadow" in the first place, and asks him to fight with peace and hope in his heart instead of anger. For the moment, Shadow leaves to think things over.
When he returns later with his Doom Wings out, and the Black Moon having turned the White Space into a Doom Zone, though Black Doom beckons him for their final confrontation, Shadow fights off his anger and gets full control of his Doom abilities, deciding the time is now to deal with Black Doom for good. Gerald apologizes for what led Shadow to the path he's on now, but is proud of how he navigated it and wishes his surrogate son good luck. When Maria wants to go with him, Shadow tells her to stay back. When she stumbles due to a tremor from the Black Moon, Shadow comes to her aid, and with a genuine smile, promises to uphold his promise to her and come back safely after he deals with Black Doom. With that, Shadow spreads his Doom Wings and heads for the Black Moon for his final fight with Black Doom.
Black Doom assumes his true form of Devil Doom to fight Shadow, but when that is not enough, he evolves into Neo Devil Doom to fight Shadow. Despite his best efforts, Shadow manages to overpower Neo Devil Doom, break free of when Neo Devil Doom tries to crush him between his claws, blasts him with Doom Spears, before delivering a final, piercing strike through Neo Devil Doom, causing Black Doom to scream and roar in anguish before exploding spectacularly, ending the life of the Black Arms' dark prophet and leader once and for all, and ensuring the Black Arms do not return.
However, with Black Doom dead, Shadow loses his Doom abilities as his Black Arms DNA and blood go dormant with their link to Black Doom severed permanently, and with the Black Moon's destruction, the White Space begins to recover, meaning Gerald and Maria will be returned to their time period. Though Shadow tries to intervene, knowing of their destiny with the ARK raid, Gerald and Maria assure him it is alright, and to keep them in his heart, even if he never sees them again. Accepting that, Shadow departs moments before Gerald and Maria are returned home, and as he passes Rouge at they head to regroup with Sonic for his fight with the Time Eater and Eggman, a single tear from Shadow splashes on Rouge's face, much to her surprise, but understanding why, she decides not to question Shadow about it and hurries to rejoin him as they head to cheer Sonic on for his fight with Eggman and the Time Eater.
Sonic Forces[]
In "Episode Shadow", Shadow and the rest of Team Dark are investigating one of Eggman's facilities that seems too heavily guarded for being out in the boondocks. When Omega charges in headfirst without waiting for Shadow, Shadow tries to catch up to him, but soon hears Omega engaging an emergency withdrawal before the signal with him goes dead. Only afterwards does Shadow encounter Infinite, who reveals that he and Shadow have met before.
During an earlier raid on Eggman's lab in the Mystic Jungle, Shadow had easily dispatched the elite Jackal Squad that Eggman hired to defend his lab. When their captain arrived to fight him and avenge his squadmates, Shadow easily overpowered him, called him weak and pathetic, and warned him not to face him again before teleporting away with Chaos Control to continue his mission. Unknown to Shadow, when the captain saw he was shaking with fear, that, combined with Shadow's insults, caused the captain to snap in a psychotic meltdown, declaring he was not weak. As a result, the captain agreed to be granted use of Eggman's perfected Phantom Ruby Prototype, and in that moment, the captain was reborn as Infinite.
Infinite then tests his new power with trapping Shadow in a virtual reality of Green Hills, attacking him with all manner of what he could manifest against the Ultimate Life Form, all while having Shadow deal with radio reports from Rouge and Omega, with Omega soon repeating Infinite's madness mantra from when Shadow originally defeated him, causing Shadow to clutch his head in pain. When it was all over, impressed by his new power, Infinite took his leave from Shadow, laughing manically and taunting Shadow that not even Sonic would stand a chance against him. Before Shadow could follow, Rouge contacted him to warn him that the base was about to blow and to evacuate immediately. With no other option available, Shadow retreated just in time.
As he and Rouge discussed things later, Rouge mentioned Eggman having launched an assault on the City, but Sonic was on his way to help. However, Shadow was haunted by the last thing Infinite told him about Sonic, and soon Rouge reported that Sonic was in trouble. Before Shadow could come to his aid, Sonic was bested in battle by Infinite and taken prisoner aboard the rebuilt Death Egg.
Come the main game, six months after Infinite defeated Sonic, morale is low among the people, and the Resistance led by Knuckles, including Silver, Amy, and the Chaotix, alongside Rouge and Shadow, are struggling to fight the Eggman Empire, with Eggman in control of 99% of the planet. Joined by a new recruit, the Resistance manages to rescue Sonic from the Death Egg and begin to make headway against the Eggman Empire. Shadow later shows up personally to save Sonic from a Shadow Replica created by Infinite that was about to attack him in Sunset Heights in the City. Afterwards, Shadow explains about the Replicas to the Resistance, and from there, an attempt to attack Eggman's capital of Metropolis fails thanks to Infinite arriving to throw the attack into disarray. Realizing they need to neutralize Infinite's Phantom Ruby powers, the Resistance goes after the Death Egg. Once it is destroyed, they attack Metropolis again, but despite Eggman being ready this time, and revealing he built a backup reactor under the Eggman Empire Fortress in case the Resistance did go after the Death Egg, the Resistance manages to capture Metropolis and prepare for the final siege on the Eggman Empire Fortress.
As Shadow joins everyone for the final assault on the Eggman Empire Fortress, they are soon rejoined by Omega, having been repaired from what happened prior, and looking for some payback on Infinite. However, Infinite launches Eggman's endgame, and creates a massive virtual sun to drop on the Resistance to wipe them out one and for all. Luckily for the Resistance, the Rookie had acquired a Phantom Ruby Prototype of their own, and used it to dispel the virtual sun, saving the Resistance from total annihilation. Even Shadow is impressed by the effort. Thanks to the Rookie, Sonic, and Sonic's classic self, Infinite is defeated, Eggman's Death Egg Robot is demolished, and the Replica army is erased, making the Resistance the ultimate victors of the War to Take Back the Planet. As a result, after Classic Sonic is returned to his dimension, Shadow joins everyone as the Resistance is officially disbanded, and everyone goes their separate ways to begin the process of rebuilding the world from the carnage the war had wrought on it.