The leader of Black Arms, Black Doom, was thinking deeply as well. So much had happened, leaving him pondering and with many questions. He was inside of the Black Comet above the gravity pull of the planet, sitting on his throne which had many cables attached to it that were connecting it to the ship. The air around the big and intimidating figure was eerie.

His body was hidden by the darkness that was occupying a vast room. His three eyes were open, shining through the darkness like red lamps. The third one on his forehead was the brightest one like a will-o-wisp, luring unsuspecting prey into his claws.

The trio fascinated him. Shadow was miraculously alive, or it might be his clone or an android. He had a chance to meet those inferior copies during the first invasion and smash them in one swift attack.

The other hedgehog was having an interesting power. Given how he looked and behaved, he wasn't doubting a small group of his flying forces would be enough to capture him. In his life, he had met many creatures and races with various powers, but none had something like this one. It seemed to be versatile, and he slowly played with a thought to incorporate his D.N.A. into the newest generation of black soldiers or maybe creating a new type of living weapons.

But if he would be frank with himself, the third one caught his attention the most. He looked a lot like Black Arms, yet he was different. The hive-mind leader as well noticed four small creatures around him, and he was getting a similar vibe from them too.

If he was somehow of his kind, Black Doom should be able to reach him through hive-mind. All of his race was directly connected to him. Thanks to it there was never a problem or conflict among the soldiers, no thought of betrayal, as all of them were controlled by Black Doom.

His race was perfect, and the only one worthy to be left alive. Other species were only using the space, having useless fights and quarrels, waging wars against each other and never learning a thing. It was his mission to clean the universe of them and spread the tranquility.

'It's good I have decided to travel around this conquered planet. When our sensors detected life down there, I couldn't believe it.

I didn't expect much from the deeper scan, but when it was confirmed, I had to inspect it. What an interesting treasure I have found.'

He closed his eyes, concentrating on searching for the third creature. It might take a while as he wasn't directly bound to him.

As the ominous leader of Black Arms was deep in thoughts, Shadow was in the middle of an investigation. He had explored a big deal of the military facility, confirming his suspicions.

This planet, this place, and this city; it was Mobius which future and its inhabitants had been devoured by Black Arms.

He stopped, looking into one room. It was dark and empty, reflecting the state of his mind.

'How many other planets he destroyed in this zone?' The ebony hedgehog shook his head. 'It doesn't matter. I'll end his life... again.'

Even though he had already decided to do so, he wasn't sure if he could make it. This time there wasn't his all the time favorite robot, neither his female teammate with a knack for computers... better than his. Black Doom was also possibly a lot stronger here, and he had more of his mindless slaves.

He sighed, resumed his walk and turned the corner to enter the computer room they had passed some time ago. A small smile flickered on his face as a nostalgic moment hit him, but he was still glad there wasn't a way too talkative crocodile behind him. He looked around sure this was the central command room of this facility.

The front wall was full of broken screens with big computer panels in front of it. He could only imagine how it looked here during the day, whether it was a normal one or through a crisis. He walked down the stairs, noticing knocked down chairs, broken machines and marks left by claws and laser shots on everything around.

'This may be just a branch, but...' He scanned the nearest machine which seemed to be mostly undamaged. '... if they had a backup generator as good as in my zone, then there still may be running electricity in the whole facility since the entrance door opened.'

Of course, that didn't mean the data could be accessed, but it was worth of the shot. He picked one chair, sitting on it and pressed every button possible to do anything, but it refused to respond. He didn't let it frustrate him; however, after good twenty minutes, he was fed up, banging his fist against it.

"Dang," he cursed when the panel turned on. "What? That hit hacked me into the computer?" He facepalmed himself. "For the love of..."

"... >brzt< ... Log number... >krsh<... The Black Arms..."

Once Shadow heard Commander Tower's voice, he stopped worrying about his computer abilities, completely ignoring his surroundings. He observed the little holographic figure of the commander above the panel.

He wasn't the only one paying extra attention to the person in front of them. Eclipse was still sitting under the rack with Dark Arms around him. He kept petting them, and they didn't dare to utter a single note. The alien was too young to appreciate waiting, but he had to endure it, especially if it seemed he got through his possible sibling. From the fidgeting, he could guess, the silver hedgehog was finding the truth in his words.

He played with an idea to talk with him once more when he felt some pressure in the back of his head. At first, he tried to push it away, but that was soon proved fruitless as the outside power was out of his league.

A second later he heard an unfamiliar voice, >How strange... Who are you?<

>That's my question!< barked the young alien, baring teeth. Who dared to invade his inner personal space?

>I'm Black Doom of Black Arms and you... Why are you so similar to me?<

The small figure gasped. >Black Doom?< he whispered in his mind.

Was this real? Was he really his master's master? Alive and talking with him?

>I-I'm Eclipse the Darkling. I was created by my master Black Death as the ultimate answer to our ultimate problem.<

>Fascinating,< said the other voice. >Who are those hedgehogs? How come you are here?<

Eclipse didn't hesitate and told him about everything. He started from his demise, and how Black Death became the new hive-mind, creating Eclipse for the sake of the second invasion, to his escape through Genesis Portal and what they were. The hive-mind listened, absorbing the fascinating amount of information.

>Interesting,< Black Doom said after a while, >to think there are such endless possibilities within my reach.<

The small alien continued, >And this silver hedgehog is probably sharing our bloodline! He can harvest our plants.<

>True, his power is indeed captivating.< The hive-mind ruler extended his mind control, going deeper into The Darkling's brain.

Eclipse silently moaned. >What you are doing?< The sensation was painful since it was causing him a headache.

>Don't resist!< he ordered. >I'll locate you and send there my minions!<

The young Darkling tried not to defy, but he couldn't help it; it felt so weird. He stopped petting his companions, curling up, hugged his knees he pressed against his forehead.

Dark Arms had no idea what was happening to him, so they could only watch him be in pain.

Though Silver was sitting just a few meters away, he had no idea what was occurring. His mind was too busy trying to convince him he was an alien, so it could find a reason why it couldn't be possible in the next seconds.

He fidgeted with his fingers like crazy while his head was resting on bent knees.

'I can't be like Eclipse,' he weakly said in his mind, 'I never had a tendency for eating or carving for raw meat, hadn't I?'

He remembered the red fruit. 'I had no choice here... I couldn't be picky with food...' A shiver ran down his spine. 'I have eaten a lot of stuff... and not everything was tasty.'

A cold sweat appeared on his forehead, as he realized he was so far able to digest anything... without much problems. He tightened his ball position, hiding his face and biting his lip.

He shouldn't have whispered to Eclipse he would seriously think about his offer to become his 'brother'. He did it to calm him down, to make him cooperate. Now, the thought of possibly belonging to man-eating alien's race was bugging him to no end.

'No, no! Shadow said he was lying!!' Tears started to pour down his cheeks, calling his grumpy friend.

The ebony hedgehog finished watching the holographic log left behind by Commander Tower. Parts were damaged, but he was still able to get the picture of the war against Black Arms.

They had come just like promised, but after it, everything went differently from his zone. Rouge and Omega created two cell team with a mission to plant a nuke bomb inside the comet.

A troop of humans was accompanying them, and most of them were wiped out. Omega sacrificed himself for Rouge and the survivors, allowing them to escape as he self-destructed, damaging the control room. Rouge then reported the successful detonation; however, that comet was just a decoy, and the real one was hiding behind the moon.

The huge alien army invaded numerous cities across the globe, destroying the most important facilities first before moving to civilian areas.

The military and other fractions used all their resources to fight against the invasion, even infamous Dr. Eggman deployed his Badniks and other robots. The fight was lasting for long months, and many heroes died on the battlefield including Rouge.

His zone version was captured during the first big wave, but he was able to escape and collect all Chaos Emeralds gaining Super Form. Unfortunately, Black Doom proved to be more powerful, killing him after a long fight.

Shadow the Hedgehog of different zone saluted at the end of the video-log, feeling boiling anger inside of him. Although he didn't learn anything new, he was now more determinate to end Black Doom's cruel reign. The most difficult question was how to get to him? He was sure, he was hiding on the Black Comet above the planet.

His body slightly turned around when he felt sudden chill ran down his spine. He immediately assumed a fighting stance, but he was still too slow as a huge figure with a green flash appeared behind him.

He bared teeth as a blow was dealt behind his left ear, knocking him to the ground. His eyes merely glimpsed a huge figure with a red head.

'Dam...' his mind managed to utter before everything turned black.