10 years later

It had been ten years since the disappearance of Sonic the Hedgehog, at first the planet was in uproar but a few weeks later everything had calmed down. Search parties were sent out by G.U.N. for the following months but they eventually stopped. Shadow had looked over the planet multiple times, with his speed it made it easier for him to get around.

The other mobians were devastated...well, most of them anyway. Not much had happened in the world since, in the Team Dark residence however...

Pinkie had brought much needed joy to the depressed people of Station Square and Westopolis. Her innocence and overall adorableness was all that was needed to bring a smile to the people's faces. Eggman had kept his promise and stayed hidden in his base, inactive and began focusing on his robotics research.

Amy often visited to see Pinkie as it took her mind off of Sonic. She eventually got over the whole thing and began looking for other relationship options. Tails started becoming more independent without Sonic around to hold his hand, he had taken it as his responsibility to fill in for Sonic if the situation arose. Knuckles had been visiting more often, taking the role of an uncle for Pinkie. The Chaotix often babysat Pinkie as they absolutely loved her, and she got along really well with Charmy.

Omega had fully accepted the role as nanny for the pink pony, and he actually took pride in it, although he seemed to have a strange obsession with poking people with sticks. Rouge and Shadow grew accustomed to her calling them her parents, although no relationship beyond friends came about.

Shadow and Omega decided it best to educate Pinkie themselves, as to avoid any teasing or problems with her hyperactive personality in a school with everyone being a separate species.

She eventually received a mark on her flank that none of them could figure out how it had gotten there of all places. Later that day Shadow received a letter from the very same people that had given her to them, detailing that it represented her special talent. Ever since then Pinkie has jumped at every opportunity to throw a party.

As Pinkie grew so did her energy and curiosity. She would watch from a hill as Shadow went through Green Hill to collect rings, she eventually started trying to copy his spindash ability, and surprisingly she could almost do it first try. Shadow began teaching her how to use it and eventually how to homing attack. She of course upgraded her party cannon with help from Omega to make it more efficient at destroying badniks and other hostile creatures.

She was now eleven years old and was just up to Shadows waist. She had noticed that over time Shadows headaches and visions were becoming more frequent, along with him mindlessly mumbling the name 'Maria.'

When she asked him about it he sat her down and gently told her about his amnesia. She took it to heart and started trying to find a way to cure him of his memory loss, which he greatly appreciated, but there is only so much a little filly like her can do.

After the threat against planet earth by an unknown force, Shadow had begun training with various weapons in the event of an invasion...

...and he was right to do so.

Shadow and Pinkie sat on a hill overlooking Westopolis on a blanket eating some sandwiches. The unusual forecast had stated that the weather was to be clear and bright, so they thought it was a great idea for a picnic. Pinkie loved Rouge and Omega, but she loved spending quality time with Shadow a little bit more. Pinkie flew a kite over the field while Shadow looked over a few papers.

He had begun trying to develop Pinkie her own set of hover shoes do she didn't have to cling to his top quill when going through a zone. So far he couldn't find a way to shrink the jets down for the shape of her hooves and had sought out the help of Tails and Eggman. They had told him the shoes would be complete soon and to stop by the workshop later that week.

He set the papers in the picnic basket as the shoes were going to be her present for her twelfth birthday the next weekend. He smiled as she slowly floated off the ground as the wind got stronger and pulled the kite up, but not too high that she would fly away. He loved moments like this, just watching her play about without a care in the world.

His thoughts went back to that strange girl he kept seeing in his visions. 'Who is that girl? And why can't I get this gruesome imagine out of my head?' He thought to himself. He momentarily pictured the girl being shot by a soldier before snapping back to reality.

"Daddy!" Pinkie shook his arm and he looked at her. "You were mumbling that name again." The worry present in her voice was enough to make him uneasy.

"I'm fine Pinkie, just another vision." He scratched her behind the ears which caused her to give a goofy expression and tapped her back leg. Just then her tail started twitching violently.

"Uh-oh."

"What, what is it?" Over the years he learned to read the signs of Pinies self proclaimed 'Pinkie sense', and after hearing the name of it he was surprised no one had been sued yet.

"Something's gonna fall." Just then a large vortex of red clouds appeared over the city. "Something very mean." Just then creatures stared to fall out of the vortex and into Westopolis, cries of fear could be heard and there was multiple explosions. "Daddy, we have to help the people in the city!"

"Right!" He was about to take off when he heard a dark crackled voice.

"Shadow..."

Just then a star shaped creature with one eye floated towards them, revealing a hologram of a dark figure in a dark red cloak, three orange eyes and some old tribal jewellery.

"As you can see, the day of reckoning will soon be here. Find the seven chaos emeralds, and bring them to me as promised."

Shadow hid Pinkie behind him and stared the figure in the eyes. "Who are you, how do you know I'm Shadow, and what are you talking about?" The hologram ceased and the creature flew away. When Shadow tried to go after it multiple explosions went off around him, he grabbed Pinkie and shielded her from the blasts.

When the dust settled he looked out to the damaged city. "Daddy, who was that?"

"I don't know Pinkie, but...I think he might know about my past." Pinkie just tilted her head.

"What gave you that idea?"

"He told me about this 'day of reckoning' like I should know about it." Pinkie then thought about it for a moment.

"Whelp, he said he'd do something if you brought him the emeralds, so maybe he'd be willing to share your past with you."

"Alright then, let's go find those emeralds!" Pinkie nodded and jumped onto Shadows quills as he shot off towards the besieged city.

Author's Notes:

Here's where you guys come in. If you want Shadow to take a certain path then feel free to say so in the comments. Next chapter will be Westopolis with Mighty instead of Sonic.