User Profile

Character: Shadow the Hedgehog
Series/Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog - Segaverse, post-Unleashed

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Age: Technically unknown, though somewhere around 50+ years. However, he was in a stasis tube for the vast majority of that time. He appears physically to be the same age as Sonic (15).
Gender: Male
Species: Genetically engineered Hedgehog/Black Arms hybrid
Blood type: Unique
Allergies: None
Admission group: 1

Appearance: Shadow is 3'3" tall and weighs 77 lbs, with a sleek, slim build. He is covered in black fur with red streaks along his quills and limbs, with a patch of pure white fur on his chest. He has six large bundles of quills on the back of his head, the outer four upturned, two shorter, hooked sets of quills on his back, and a short tail, arched slightly upward. His eyes are red, with red fur outlining them at the corners, and his muzzle is a dark tan. He wears white gloves on his hands and black, white, and red air shoes / hoverskates on his feet. Additionally, his wrists and ankles are encircled by gold rings. His expression tends to have a serious, often emotionless countenance, but when he does grin, small white fangs are readily visible.

Personality: Upon first meeting Shadow, one is likely to be put off by his standoffish nature. He can be cold, cruel, and condescending, and unless an individual is potentially useful or otherwise interesting to him, he is likely to ignore him or her entirely. And what interests him may vary, depending on current events. Shadow is highly goal-driven, and once his mind is set on accomplishing something, there is almost nothing that will cause him to deviate from doing so, nor is there much of anything he won't do to get there. While his confidence in his physical abilities typically means his first resort is violence, Shadow has been known to cheat, lie, and manipulate to get what he wants, if he deems it necessary.

He does these things alone, most of the time, preferring a primarily solitary lifestyle. Others simply get in his way, or so he believes. Despite this, there are exceptions - those few who, through their actions, have gained Shadow's respect have, in him, a powerful ally. The even smaller group, those he considers friends, will at times see glimpses of what lies beneath that harsh exterior of his - a quiet, thoughtful individual who will stop at nothing to protect those close to him.

With Shadow, everything is serious. On exceedingly rare occasions, his dark, dry humor will surface briefly, but he does not crack jokes, and he never makes idle threats. Cross him and you will surely regret doing so. But despite his morally questionable behavior, Shadow is good at heart. No longer shackled by his difficult past, he pushes forward to give his life new meaning, but consistently chooses to live by the promise he made to Maria 50 years ago. He will continue on, doing what he can to bring hope to the people of Earth, to ensure their peace and happiness and safety as a whole. So long as her wishes are upheld, in Shadow's mind, the ends will justify the means.

Abilities/Strengths: As the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow is immune to all disease, heals rapidly, and is immortal in the sense that he does not appear to age and has no limit to his lifespan. Severe injury could kill him, but severe for him is more severe than for most. As a descendant of the Black Arms, he seems to be capable of sensing the mental presences of others of this species. He is capable of running at great speeds, and with his air shoes he can match Sonic. His trademark abilities are those relating to the use of Chaos energy, primarily Chaos Control. This ability allows him to stop or slow time for a limited period, or teleport any distance he choses so long as he knows what his destination looks like. When using Chaos Control to teleport, Shadow seems to vanish instantly in a flash of bright bluish-white light. Other abilities are Chaos Spear (in which he collects Chaos energy in his hands, then throws it at a target- can stun or kill), and Chaos Blast (a burst of energy radiates outward from his body in a sphere with a 10-yard radius, destroying or severely injuring anything it touches). Chaos Control can be used at any time without a Chaos Emerald, as can the weak, stunning form of Chaos Spear, but anything more powerful than those abilities requires an Emerald or Chaos Drives (items used by the military to power their robots) to amplify his power. Like Sonic, if Shadow possesses all seven Chaos Emeralds, his Super form can be triggered, allowing him to fly, survive in outer space, move even more quickly, and all of his Chaos abilities become more powerful. Due to his close affinity with Chaos Energy, he has a limited ability to sense it and the Chaos Emeralds, and he is always looking for new and inventive ways to put the power of Chaos to use.

In addition, Shadow has incredible physical strength, is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and is trained to use a variety of hand-held weapons when necessary. He is also able to use his abilities as a hedgehog by curling up into a tight ball of spikes. He is capable of spinning rapidly from such a position and zipping forward in a Spin Dash that would be rather painful should you collide with him, and also uses a Homing Attack, in which he leaps into the air, curls up, and smashes into a nearby foe. Finally, the gold rings on Shadow's limbs limit his power. If removed, everything listed above is increased dramatically, but only for a relatively short time, after which he becomes physically weak until he has had a chance to rest to recover.

Shadow's greatest personal strengths lie in his drive to accomplish his goals, whatever they may be. No matter the cost, he will keep fighting, and would rather die than give up. Also, as mentioned above, he acts with utmost loyalty to those he respects, making their wishes his own goals.

Weaknesses: He may say he's moved on, but Shadow still carries a lot of emotional baggage. Those who know his history have used it before to manipulate him to their own ends, making it an especially sensitive subject for him. Also, up until this point, Shadow has always had some sort of purpose in life, something to work at achieving, but now he has served his original purpose, discovered his own history, and now finds he has no specified purpose. He feels somewhat lost and isn't quite sure what meaning his life now holds, leaving him an open target for anyone who might think they can use him for their own ends, assuming they could construct a plausible enough way to convince him to obey them. He is stubborn and prideful, often denying the help of others even if he needs it.

Notable Possessions: Nothing past his shoes and gloves (and binding rings), a GUN-issue G17 Glock pistol, and a GUN wrist-communicator.

History: 50 years ago, Professor Gerald Robotnik, head bioengineer of the space colony ARK, was approached by the government, which requested that he research the key to immortality. Robotnik initially refused, believing such research to be unethical, but eventually gave in when he realized such research could be used to save his beloved granddaughter, Maria, who had been diagnosed with a lethal disease known as NIDS (neuro-immune deficiency syndrome). Robotnik gave the research for immortality the codename Project Shadow, an in-joke amongst him and his team as they still believed immortality to be as intangible and as impossible to create as a shadow itself.

The prototype that emerged from this research was a large, powerful lizard with the abilities of regeneration and self-reproduction. However, the giant lizard was destructive and uncontrollable, and the Guardian Unit of Nations (GUN; essentially, a worldwide military force) decided the project had to be stopped due to the danger it posed. They created a top-secret plan to shut down the space colony and kill all those who had worked on the prototype, thereby erasing it from history. However, GUN was not aware that research had already progressed beyond the chaotic prototype. Professor Robotnik soon completed the Ultimate Lifeform itself, in the form of a small, dark hedgehog, but he had not done this so quickly on his own. By pure coincidence, the work on Shadow happened at the same time that the Black Comet, home of the Black Arms alien species, was passing the Earth. In exchange for the Chaos Emeralds, Black Doom, the alien leader, agreed to collaborate with Professor Robotnik, even donating some of his blood in order to alter the new creature's DNA, allowing it to make use of the aliens' natural Chaos abilities. It was only afterward that Robotnik learned that Black Doom planned to use the hedgehog as a weapon, himself, when the comet would pass the Earth in 50 years' time. He was able to record a video warning Shadow of this event, telling him to use the colony's main weapon, the Eclipse Cannon, on the comet when it would next arrive.

Shadow became fast friends with Maria Robotnik, to the point where the two were like brother and sister, and absolutely inseparable, and together they dreamed of going down to visit the beautiful blue planet below them someday. When GUN invaded the ARK, Maria and Shadow ran for the escape pods, but mere moments after Shadow stepped into his pod, the soldiers broke into the room and shot Maria. As she lay dying, she told Shadow to bring happiness to the people of the Earth, and activated the pod, sending him to the planet's surface. As Shadow left the colony behind, he promised to fulfill Maria's wish.

Though Shadow and Professor Robotnik himself managed to escape the massacre that took place on the colony that day, GUN captured and retrieved both of them. Upon learning that Maria had been killed, Robotnik went insane and somehow managed to make some final alterations to the hedgehog's mind, creating new memories and instilling within him a new purpose: to get revenge on Maria's death by bringing destruction to the humans who had killed her. Robotnik was executed, and Shadow was put into stasis on Prison Island.

50 years later, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, grandson of Gerald Robotnik, and mad genius bent on world domination, broke into Prison Island with the hope of claiming his grandfather's "ultimate weapon" for himself. To his surprise, he discovered the weapon was in fact a hedgehog. Shadow readily agreed to Eggman's plans for conquest, using this partnership to work his revenge on mankind. His first act upon being released was to hunt down and steal a Chaos Emerald, causing as much destruction as possible once it had been retrieved. Soon after, they were joined by Rouge, a treasure-hunting bat who was also an undercover government spy trying to get information on what had become of Project Shadow in the past 50 years. The three worked together to collect the Chaos Emeralds before Sonic and his friends could stop them. Once they had recovered six of the Emeralds, Shadow used them to power the ARK's Eclipse Cannon and fired it at the moon, creating a massive crater and a rain of meteorites. The act was used by Eggman to threaten the people of Earth and try and force them into submitting to him; however, Shadow had done it to prove completely his power to the other two, simultaneously making him a valuable ally, and not someone to make enemies with.

In the meantime, Rouge found a document stating that Project Shadow had been created and trained for merely a week before GUN shut down the space colony. Did this mean that his memories of his friendship with Maria were all false, serving only to further his desire for revenge? While pondering this unsettling possibility, the trio collected the final Chaos Emerald. But before the Eclipse Cannon could be used to subjugate the planet's citizens, the presence of the Emeralds triggered an unexpected emergency program and the ARK lost its orbit and began to plummet toward the Earth. In a desperate race to save themselves and the people of the planet, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, and Eggman joined forces to try and stop the colony from falling. Shadow, on the other hand, believed all was going according to Professor Gerald's plans for revenge and made no effort to help until Sonic's friend Amy happened to trigger within Shadow his original memory of Maria as, in her dying moments, she asked him to help bring happiness and hope to mankind. Finally realizing that this was his original purpose, he joined Sonic. The two took Super forms using the Emeralds' powers, defeating the Biolizard prototype which had taken over the colony, then sending the ARK back into orbit. Weak with exhaustion, Shadow made no effort to return to the ARK as Sonic had. He had kept his promise to Maria, and allowed himself to fall through space, toward the planet she had always wanted to visit.

However, Shadow did not die. Eggman sent one of his robots to rescue the hedgehog, then put him in suspended animation in one of his bases. He was found by Rouge, who had been searching for treasure, but immediately released him once she realized what she'd found. The two were joined by E-123 Omega, a robot who had been designed by Eggman to guard Shadow, but resented the scientist for making such an intelligent and capable robot as himself do nothing more than guard a hedgehog in a tube, Ultimate Lifeform or not. Rouge quickly realized something was wrong- likely due to his fall through the atmosphere, Shadow had severe amnesia, remembering only his name and the awful image of a girl named Maria being killed before his eyes. To complicate matters, the three found a room in the base full of androids that looked just like Shadow, making him believe he might just be a copy and not the original himself.

Eventually, the Black Comet returned to the planet on its 50-year cycle. Eggman had attacked the Comet previously, so the aliens thought it best to attack Eggman's planet in return, but Black Doom, leader of the aliens, remembered the promise Gerald Robotnik had made, and sought out Shadow. With the aliens, the military, Eggman, and Sonic and his friends all trying to sway Shadow one way or another in the war between the two worlds, and with his own identity lost to him, Shadow knew he had to somehow use the others to collect the Chaos Emeralds and use their powers to restore his memory.

Once Shadow had collected the emeralds, however, Black Doom as well as Sonic and co. caught up with him. Black Doom told Shadow of their genetic link, then used the Emeralds to bring the Black Comet to Earth. Having used him to get the Emeralds, the alien leader no longer needed Shadow, and released a toxic gas that would paralyze all who were not of the Black Arms species. While frozen in place, Shadow's memories began to rush back to him. Upon again hearing Maria's voice in his mind, Shadow fought against the paralysis with everything he had. Whether the strength against the gas came from the alien genes or from himself is unclear, but Shadow managed to regain motion. Using the Emeralds to take his Super form, he defeated Black Doom and used Chaos Control to move the Comet into space before teleporting to the Eclipse Cannon and destroying the rock along with the aliens. From his view of the Earth from the ARK, Shadow decides he's finished chasing his past, and that from now on he will only move forward and find his own purpose in life. Meanwhile, GUN realizes that Shadow has saved them several times despite how they've always treated him. As an apology and in recognition of his services to the planet, they offer him a job as an undercover agent, and Shadow accepts, forgiving them in his own silent way.

Not long after, Shadow was asked to retrieve Rouge, who had been sent to collect the Scepter of Darkness from one of Eggman's bases. Thus unfolded the entire saga of Solaris, which, due to a bit of time travel, was undone before it had even begun by Sonic and Elise. Shadow has no recollection of these events as they were erased completely from time itself, as if they never even happened.

It's been some time since then, and GUN has sent Shadow on a number of varied missions. Occasionally he is assigned to work in partnership with Rouge, or as a full team with her and Omega. Things are pretty normal these days - of course, normal, for Shadow, is a relative term.

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This is a role-playing journal for aphelion_rpg by shichahn.
[Shadow the Hedgehog] © [SEGA and Sonic Team].
All content is fictional and for entertainment purposes only, not for profit.

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