jigoku app
Application
PLAYER:
Name: Ruto
Personal Journal: iceberry
Contact Info: aim -- frostchime
CHARACTER:
Name: Shadow the Hedgehog
Source: Sonic the Hedgehog (end of Sonic Adventure 2, specifically)
History: Shadow is not a normal hedgehog. Not that a normal hedgehog is one that is roughly three feet tall to begin with, but he's unusual for his canon. Part of that might be because, oh, I don't know, he was genetically engineered on a space colony--the Space Colony ARK. Shadow's prototype was originally a gigantic evil lizard that sounds like a leopard, so the furry hedgehog was a considerable improvement in comparison.
Part of the reason the scientist Gerald Robotnik wanted to create this super secret...genetically engineered talking animal weapon thing was as to help find a cure for his granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, who was so ill she could not even remain on Earth, and therefore was stuck in the sky with all the other scientists and researchers. (I'm still wondering what kind of parents would allow their child to go up in space at a mere twelve years old, but considering that they're related to a one Doctor Eggman, the resident evil genius in the Sonic series, perhaps it's understandable.)
Anyway, Gerald was on the path to creating immortality. If he could do that, then he could find a cure for Maria.
Now, Gerald Robotnik, brilliant as he was, still could not do this alone. Therefore he enlisted the help of aliens. I don't follow that logic, but okay. So the leader alien, Black Doom, donated some DNA and the like to the cause in exchange for Chaos Emeralds 50 years later. (The Chaos Emeralds are the Sonic series' resident plot devices, and serve a role in pretty much all of the games. Part of their powers include turning furry animals into Super Saiyans glowing powerhouses, which is relevant later in the story. Woo!) So that happened, and eventually the fuzzy monster we know as Shadow was born.
NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG~
Except for everything.
Shadow came to befriend little Maria, which was understandable--she was a total sweetheart. They became fast friends, and she was Shadow's very first and only friend at the time. Gerald Robotnik apparently didn't count. Shadow was branded 'The Ultimate Life-form', and with good reason. Within this little woodland creature was a ton of power, and the aforementioned immortality.
But GUN, the resident military, wasn't having any of that. No, they decided that the project was ~too dangerous~. Their solution? Kill or arrest everyone on the ARK, and then label it an accident. Yeah. So during that time, as GUN was storming the Space Colony, Shadow and Maria were trying their damnedest to escape. However, in the room they entered, there was only one escape capsule to Earth. With the soldiers approaching, Maria shoved Shadow into the capsule, and told him her death with.
Paraphrased, it was, 'Do it for me... Give them a chance to be happy.'
With that, Maria was shot dead and Shadow sent to earth, where he was eventually placed in suspended animation. What happened after that is a bit muddled. It's known that Gerald Robotnik subsequently went insane after learning of Maria's death. He devised a plan that would fire a huge cannon into the planet if the seven Chaos Emeralds were collected and placed aboard the ARK, and presumably modified Shadow's mind in a way that would allow him to carry out this plan if released. Sometime afterward, Gerald was imprisoned and killed.
"Release and awaken it, if you wish to fill the world with destruction."
Cut to roughly 50 years later, and Doctor Eggman brakes into a secret military base at the promise of finding goodies inside. And by goodies, I mean the Ultimate Life-Form. When he does finally awaken Shadow, he mistakes him for Sonic. The lighting was bad, so I can forgive him for that. From there, Shadow and Eggman are partners, Shadow promising Eggman he'd 'grant him a wish'. After watching Shadow slay a mech in mere minutes, Eggman is completely sold. And so begins the search for the Chaos Emeralds!
The next thing Shadow does is break into a museum and steal one of the Chaos Emeralds, leading to a fantastic, glitchy highway chase. It also proves that everyone in the Sonic series is totally blind, because they mistook Shadow for our favorite Blue Hedgehog himself. Nevermind of course that Sonic's been saving the day since ever, and looks nothing like Shadow beyond the fact that they're both hedgehogs.
Sonic and Shadow then have their first meeting. Shadow shows off his fancy warping abilities, known as Chaos Control, he and Sonic share a few lines, and...that's pretty much it. But Sonic realizes that Shadow has a Chaos Emerald, and with that, the plot can continue! Also, all of this results in Sonic ending up arrested for stealing the Chaos Emerald, even though it wasn't him. Don't worry, he gets better.
So while Sonic and co. are trying to figure out just what the hell's going on exactly, Shadow tells Eggman about the cannon in the ARK (called the Eclipse Cannon), and they meet a crafty bat named Rouge, who promptly joins their team. Rouge is looking for the Chaos Emeralds herself, and is willing to help out Eggman and Shadow in exchange for use of a radar that could help track pieces of the Master Emerald. (Long story--essentially, Rouge and Knuckles the Echidna begin fighting over this stupid powerful glowing rock, and it breaks. And its shattered pieces end up much farther away than logically possible, because the Sonic series doesn't like logic. So Rouge was then trying to find all the pieces before Knuckles, as she is a treasure hunter and loves shinies.)
Party member get!
Their next plan of action is to break into another top secret military base on a top secret military island, where top secret military things like Chaos Emeralds are stored. Eggman sets the island to blow up, because apparently he can do that, and Rouge is given 15 minutes to collect all the emeralds. But Rouge being Rouge, she says 'five will be plenty of time!', leading to one of the most frustrating treasure hunting levels ever.
Ahem.
However, just as she's collected all three that she's looking for, she somehow gets locked in a vault, and radios Shadow for help. With five/six minutes having been spent, there are about 9 minutes left on the clock before the island explodes.
Shadow is perfectly willing to say 'forget Rouge', but something stops him. He experiences a brief flashback and remembers Maria lying on the ground, near death. Perhaps realizing that Rouge is in a similar situation now, Shadow is compelled to rescue the trapped bat.
Going through the island's jungle he encounters Sonic once more, where they fight--due to the nature of the story modes in the game, the winner is left ambiguous. With only seconds to spare he finds the vault and warps Rouge and the emeralds back onto the ARK, just as the island explodes. By this time Eggman has presumably made his eggscape escape. This rescue by Shadow is met with some light teasing from Rouge, her stating that it wasn't like him to come back for her like that.
"You know... I didn't come to save you. I came back for the Chaos Emeralds."
"Yeah, yeah. But then again, that's not the whole story, is it?"
Rouge isn't buying it, and rightly so. Shadow, your excuses are so very transparent. Eggman then interrupts them, saying that it's time for a little demonstration of the Eclipse Cannon's power, despite only having six of the seven Chaos Emeralds.
He then proceeds to blow up half of the moon. The friggin moon.
Naturally, pretty much everyone on Earth starts to freak out. You would too, wouldn't you?
Eggman, however, doesn't seem to be satisfied with just this. One expository news article later and they discover that Tails the Fox has the final emerald, so they plan to go steal it from the little vulpine. It is at this point that we discover Rouge is actually a government agent, trying to learn if Shadow is truly the 'Ultimate Life-Form or not.'
Shadow and Rouge proceed to pursue Tails, to which Eggman finally intercepts them at his secret desert base. He then summons a giant golem monster to try and kill them--apparently his idea of a security system. Sonic kills the thing with a blow to the head, to which it glitches up and attacks Eggman. To be fair, Eggman really did deserve it. Sonic and co. escape, which Eggman is distinctly displeased with.
In the meantime, Rouge is gathering more information on Shadow--but learns something she finds disturbing, and makes her question the true nature of Shadow's existence.
That being, she learns he was originally supposed to be a giant lizard. I would be a little shocked too.
At this time, Sonic and his friends have made their way to the ARK, and Eggman proceeds to go find them to do more villainous stuff, though none of it is really relevant to Shadow himself, so it's fair to glaze over it. The confrontation ends in Sonic apparently dead, having been shot down in a capsule to Earth, reminiscent of what happened to Shadow. Except this capsule was going to explode.
Eggman likes to make things explode.
Shadow watches this all very impassively, remarking that Sonic must have simply been a regular hedgehog after all. After this he returns to the ARK's control room, where he discovers Rouge snooping about where she doesn't belong. She tells him outright that since the 'real' ultimate lifeform is the lizard-beast, "then who or what is standing in front of me?"
He declares that it doesn't matter who or what he is. He's still Shadow, and he's going to fulfill his promise to Maria, a promise for revenge. (His memory is bad enough that he only remembered a fraction of what Maria had spoken to him before she died. Mainly the 'do this for me' part. He just kind of filled in the rest.)
He then proceeds to go check on the Eclipse Cannon, having been alerted that someone was trying to get it it. Gee, I wonder who that could be. It's not like Sonic is extremely good at escaping certain doom or anything... Three guesses as to who he encounters up here in space, and the first two don't count.
They proceed to have a high-speed battle up in space, made better by some pretty cool background music, and once again the winner is ambiguous, marking the end of the game. The Hero Side story shows Sonic deactivating the cannon presumably by the sheer power of his awesome, and the Dark Side story shows Eggman laughing by the cannon's control panel--with an ominous 'WARNING' appearing on the screen.
Except it's not really the end of the game. There's still a few more loose ends that need tying up, and a few misconceptions rectified.
I mean you, Shadow.
The last story mode, shocking named Last Story, begins in a room on the ARK. The entire structure is shaking ominously, always a bad sign. Something appears on a nearby screen--it's a recorded message from Gerald Robotnik, and he's got a message to the world.
He states that because the world took away all that he cared about, he's going to destroy it, so that they "may feel (his) loss and despair".
Rouge then reads an electronic diary of Gerald's, and it's clear just how nutty this guy became, and more exposition is given. We learn that the core of the Eclipse Cannon is now reactive and explosive, and causing the ARK to fall, which means unless they can somehow chill out the Chaos Emeralds, they're all screwed.
Luckily, Knuckles has the newly restored Master Emerald on hand, which can neutralize the power of the Chaos Emeralds. So everyone, including Eggman, decides to team up because they really don't want to die, and they set off deep into the ARK to go save the day. Everyone except for Shadow and Amy. Amy's been left behind, frustrated that there's nothing she can do to help--funnily enough, she doesn't know that what she will do next is what will save everyone in the end.
She talks to Shadow.
She begs him to help, and tells him that despite their flaws, humans aren't all bad. They deserve a change to be happy. It's this phrase that triggers a repressed memory in Shadow's mind, and he remembers what Maria really told him that fateful day on the ARK.
"[...] For all the people who live on that planet... give them a chance to be happy. Let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason why you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow, the Hedgehog."
Shadow sheds a tear as he remembers this, finally realizing that it wasn't revenge she wanted after all. (And about time, too!) With this, he races off, going to help everyone in whatever way he can.
Excellent work, Amy!
When he finds Sonic and co. they're about to utilize the Master Emerald's powers--when suddenly the ultimate life-form's prototype, known as the Biolizard, drops from the ceiling. To the surprise of Sonic and Knuckles, Shadow tells them to go on ahead, and that he'll take care of the Biolizard.
He proceeds to battle and defeat it, and then Knuckles uses the Master Emerald to make the Chaos Emeralds cease giving off so much power. Therefore, all is well and the game is ended, right?
Wroooong. The Biolizard's not dead, nope.
It Chaos Controls itself into space and attaches itself to the Colony, trying to force the ARK back down on its crash course to Earth. But now that all seven Chaos Emeralds are in one place, as are Sonic and Shadow, what else is there to do but enter a transformation sequence? Sonic turns a bright yellow and Shadow a whitish-gold, and with that they've gone Super Saiyan Form.
They proceed to brutalize the Biolizard, now named Finalhazard according to the boss subtitles (why not just Biohazard?) despite the fact that it shoots laserbeams at them. The people on the ARK had far, far too much time on their hands.
Finally, Finalhazard is defeated, the ARK is Chaos Controlled back into orbit, so now all is well, right?!
Wrong, again.
Sonic manages to make it back to the ARK safely--alone.
Shadow uses up the last of his energy, and begins to fall to his death.
"Maria, this is what you wanted, right? This is my promise I made to you..."
Personality: Shadow's SA2 incarnation is calm and arrogant. He appears to take great pride in his status as the 'Ultimate Life-form', considering the amount of times he brings it up. Give it a rest, won't you, Shadow? He is a braggart and someone who finds himself superior to others. For example, some of his quotes to Sonic in-game.
"Faker? I think you're the fake hedgehog around here. You're comparing yourself to me? Hah! You're not even good enough to be my fake."
He can be very, very harsh when he wants to be, or finds it necessary; take into consideration that he was absolutely willing to carry out Professor Gerald's plan of completely obliterating the planet.
Shadow went to great extents to carry out what he perceived to be Maria's wish, showing that he can be incredibly loyal to those that he grows to consider friends. The ending of the game also shows that he was even willing to die to carry out her wish. If that isn't loyalty, I don't know what is.
However, his behavior with Eggman also implies that in order to get what he wants, he is willing to be quite manipulative--note that Eggman's plan with the Eclipse Cannon was to force Earth's surrender and then take over, not to actually destroy the planet. Shadow appears to have left this detail completely out of the equation in his dealings with him.
He's not entirely dismissive of others, however. Shadow seems to truly respect Sonic, even before the events of the Last Story transpired, though in that case it appeared to be a grudging respect than anything. During the Finalhazard battle he shows genuine concern for Sonic whenever it appears he's losing rings, as in-game, losing all rings means death. His respect and affection for Maria is plainly obvious--despite his callous nature, he isn't uncaring in the least. He has the potential to be downright compassionate, despite, and perhaps because of his previous actions. It's not a great leap to assume that he'd want to make right what he's done--partly because of Maria and partly because he would feel he owes it to the people of earth.
Granted, none of this means that his social skills have gotten very good. Actually, Shadow is the kind of person who would do downright terrible with small-talk unless it's with a person he's extremely comfortable with. He's still someone who prefers to work alone, though will team up with others if it's convenient or necessary. His interactions with Sonic during Last Story, and Rouge and Eggman during the regular Hero/Dark story modes should be considered the exception as opposed to the rule. At that, Shadow will stop at absolutely nothing to accomplish a goal if he has his heart set on it.
Shadow won't hesitate to take on an opponent, no matter how dangerous they appear to be. He has great faith in his skills, and with good reason. Provoking Shadow tends to not be a good idea at all. And if someone he cares about is harmed in some way, he will not hesitate in getting revenge against the perpetrator, though understandably the level of retaliation would be proportionate to how much of a friend or ally he considers the one harmed.
Despite the great amount of pain in his past, he is not the kind of person who will mope around and whine. He's very much a hedgehog of action, and while at this point in time he's not quite ready to put his past behind him, he won't be angsting over all that's happened, though the occasional moment of melancholy isn't out of bounds. Rather, he'll be working to continue fulfilling Maria's wish of bringing about happiness on the planet, with that perhaps being his own way of coping and moving on. With this goal in mind, Shadow will have something to strive for and to work to accomplish, and simply won't have time for extreme sadness. In that vein, when he is upset, he doesn't broadcast it everywhere, but keeps it self-contained, perhaps to avoid showing weakness. As said before, Shadow takes great pride in the power he possesses, and would not want to jeopardize that image.
Biggest Fear: Shadow's biggest fear is of letting Maria down, and failing to do all he can to carry out her last request.
Powers: Whoo boy. For a fuzzy little animal, Shadow has quite a few powers.
Super Speed: Shadow has a pair of Air Shoes (assumed name; this is the name of a power-up for his 'skates', there is no actual canon name given) that let him 'skate' at very fast speeds.
Chaos Control: Usable only with a Chaos Emerald, this is the ability to warp from one location to another. Jigoku-wise this will be powered down considerably.
Chaos Spear: A bright light of energy that strikes the opponent, usable only with a Chaos Emerald.
Spindash: (physical ability) He curls up into a ball and rolls.
Homing Attack: (physical ability) Jumps, curls into a ball, and slams into the opponent.
SAMPLES:
Third Person: The last thing Shadow could remember happening was memories of Maria's voice ringing in his ears, and falling, falling down through space... But space this was not. Nor the ARK. Spitting out the cinnamon candy, he sat up and pressed two fingers to his forehead.
"What...?"
Narrowing his eyes he stood, realizing that the red Chaos Emerald was sitting on the nightstand beside him, glowing faintly. He picked it up and examined it to ensure it was the real thing, and it was. He could feel the gentle pulse of energy in his fingers.
"Hmph... Strange."
Had he died? He could feel the slight throb of a headache, could taste the cinnamon that had been in his mouth. He was breathing, his heart was pounding--he was alive, wasn't he? But how could this have happened? Had Sonic rescued him as he fell? If that was the case, he would be on the ARK...
He didn't know, but it didn't matter. He would be back soon, anyway, and then he could track down the others and ask his questions. Gripping the Chaos Emerald tighter he focused his energy and snarled, "Chaos Control!"
The emerald glowed brighter, brighter--and then nothing. The light dimmed back to a faint sparkle. Startled, he looked down at the emerald again. The Chaos Control had failed?
"Impossible," he said, eyes narrowing. That shouldn't be.
He tried again, and again, but quickly realized that this was futile.
"Lovely," he growled to himself. "Whomever brought me here had better return me, and with all haste."
He didn't care about the hows or whys, (though admittedly it would be interesting to learn what could possibly negate a Chaos Control, if only to make note to avoid whatever it was in the future) he simply wanted to get back to where he belonged.
Back on earth (as he had doubts this was even it), where he could...
There was a sudden mental pause. Hadn't he already completed Maria's will by saving the earth?
He shook his head. No, if he was still alive, then there was still work to be done.
First Person: [Shadow is sitting--reclining, rather, at a desk. Legs crossed, he tosses a red jewel up and down in a gloved hand, expression calm and pointed.]
I'd like to...speak with whoever's responsible for this.
I would also like to politely request I be sent back home.
If this request is denied, action will be taken.
Immediately.
[He looks intimidating--as intimidating as a hedgehog can look, at least. But despite the ridiculousness of being threatened by what is by all means a woodland creature, it's clear that Shadow means business.
That red jewel isn't just for show, after all.
He takes a thoughtful pause before adding;]
Doctor. If this is your doing, I'm sure you'll agree that this situation should be rectified now. You of all people should know not to cross me.
[Murmured:] Perhaps Sonic is here too...
Notes: n/a