"Well, care to explain what happened, traitor?" Black Doom asked cooly. His arms were crossed with disapproval, but he still didn't seem to be taking things too seriously.

Shadow was incapacitated. He was half-conscious on the ground from attempting to resist. A trickle of reddish-black blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. The injured arm he had that was previously healing really quickly to the point he didn't even need a cast anymore, was bleeding madly yet again. Shadow wasn't sure if he'd get caught for sure when he was taken back to the Ark... His past uncertainty now seemed so, so, so foolish. Capture was inevitable. As was torture.

A harsh-sounding cough erupted from Shadow's throat and more blood splattered across the floor. Instead of resigning himself or scowling at his master, he flashed a cocky smirk at Black Doom. He knew better than to continue to show weakness. "You'll have to hit me a lot harder than that to turn me over to your side. Unlike you, I have a reason to fight."

Thundering rumbles poured from the large alien. He couldn't help but wonder if he was laughing or growling. Black Doom's face would forever be impossible to read. "I'm glad you said that," his rolling voice roughly replied.

In an instant, a dark cloud billowed up from the ground and started filling the room. Hoping with his entire being that the black fog wasn't poisonous, Shadow sucked in a last breath of clean air and forced his eyes shut. A minute of indecipherable noises passed and Shadow started feeling light-headed, but he refused to breathe until he was sure it was safe. The noises reminded him of a lion. No, a dinosaur! No..., a jaguar! But there were also loud footsteps like an elephant that shook the whole colony. With every feral howl the beast gave, the more Shadow's eardrums started to burst. He clung to his life and his reasons for living in that moment. In the unclear, dizzy, fogginess of his mind, Shadow reminded himself of what he was doing it all for.

Maria... (Y/N)... Emeralds... Freedom... Earth... Maria... Magicians... Protector...

Suddenly, there was a sharp, high-pitched squeal of terror.

(Y/N)!!

A burst of panic rushed through Shadow. Before he could consider what was happening, his eyes flew open, he was on his feet, and he was gasping for air. Where was the enemy?! Who was making you scream?!

"Shadow!!" you cried from the jaws of a giant beast. Your limbs were flailing in a desperate attempt to escape the gargantuan reptilian. Sadly, something inside told you that escaping from the lizard would be like an ant defeating an armored warrior.

The pain was fiery, and Shadow was livid. Without the power of his anger and desperation, he probably wouldn't have been able to get up at all. Fighting to stabilize himself, he lunged forward towards the Biolizard and launched a feeble swipe at the creature. Immediately after, he collapsed forward onto his face.

Black smoke began to sift through the room. The smoke swirled around Black Doom and completely engulfed him. When the black smoke drifted away and faded into nothingness, what was in Black Doom's place was a giant, floating octopus. It hovered above the room with one huge yellowish-tinted eye glaring down at everything: Doom Eye. Doom Eye's presence felt like it was everywhere and seeing everything like a god. Even though it didn't have a mouth, it cackled a devilish laugh.

"If there's something you want to say to your beloved, say it now...," the Doom Eye chortled. It continued to grow larger by the second. The Biolizard was small in comparison.

Shadow didn't seem to hear the Doom Eye. His glare was fixed to your face. He couldn't stop the feelings of dread and despair when he saw you screaming in fear and agony. Blood was dripping from the Biolizard's razor-sharp teeth. Clearly, the Biolizard was trying to draw out the pain as long as possible before finally ending everything. Doom Eye also seemed to be revelling in his dastardly method of torture.

The seconds extended into a minute and Shadow couldn't say anything. Not a word. He was too paralyzed with fear, anger, pain, and weariness. Doom Eye shot an annoyed squint at Shadow and gave a grunt of disappointment. "Well, that's upsetting," he uttered. He looked back over toward the Biolizard. "Finish her."

Shadow felt his face contort into an expression of horror. With as much effort as he could muster, he clawed himself forward with one arm and flung his other arm toward you in despair. "NO!!"

Time stopped for Shadow in that moment. He couldn't look away. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't do anything. All of this... just to break him. Well, it worked. When the Biolizard chomped down with all of its power and dropped its kill, Shadow felt a sharp pang rip through his chest. He collapsed down further into himself than he ever had. Dark... Despair... Blood... He didn't even have the strength or the will to shed one tear. Hopeless... Lifeless... Dead. And yet, from deep inside the black infinity of his soul, he found a small flame. It was screaming. Angry. Raging and clawing at Shadow's insides in order to get out and be felt. It was the world's smallest wildfire that was waiting to consume everything. Maybe it wouldn't be enough..., but if he could avenge you, then that would be all he needed.

Tremoring and gasping, Shadow glared back up at Doom Eye and hurriedly fanned his inner flame. It was the only way... He could feel a certain familiar evil spreading and contaminating his heart and his mind..., but this was all his own. His already fierce demeanor transformed into something deadlier... Quills flared red and emitted an eerie glow. Strength beyond what he could control flooded every inch of his body. It was so powerful that he began to float above the ground. A memory from long ago came back to him... The memory of this exact same thing happening to him as a result of the alien blood. Only this time, he was the one willing it alive. Shadow's hate-filled, murderous gaze fell on Doom Eye once again and his expression quickly transitioned into a bloodthirsty grin.

"Death to all who oppose me, Doom Eye!" he howled. His voice was so strong that it reverberated through the room. His proclamation of death only confirmed what he'd done... Dark Shadow was born and ready to deliver pain to everyone in his path.

Contrary to what Shadow believed, Doom Eye actually seemed pleased. He hovered a little closer to Shadow with tentacles swarming the room. They almost seemed to be contracting around Shadow and waiting to squeeze him to the brink of death. His one enormous eye pierced through Shadow's heated gaze. "We've been waiting for you to unleash your true self. It's better for our purposes... And now, you will feast with us on all of the world's humans and we will thrive once more!"

"No... You'll die, you murderous beast!!" Shadow spat. He snapped his arms around one of the squirming tentacles and brutally ripped it apart. The tentacle bits writhed in agony on the ground for another moment before going limp. Black blood splattered across the ground and onto Shadow's crimson red quills. As soon as the blood came into contact with his skin, it fizzled and crackled before finally evaporating into nothingness. Quick as a whip, Shadow latched himself to the next tentacle. Then the next. Then the next. It was a midnight bloodbath on the Ark and Shadow was greatly enjoying the satisfying crunch of alien bones in his grip.

Doom Eye continued to hover in the middle of the room. He lashed mind-controlling waves in Shadow's direction, but Shadow was completely immune. He wasn't thinking. There was nothing to control. He was just blindly snapping and clawing and ripping and screaming. Every last cell in his body was defying the hideous beast that took everything away from him. Despite all of this...,

Doom Eye was still pleased.

"I see that we succeeded in creating you. You truly are at the height of all power. It's a shame, really. You could have been so great," Doom Eye admitted. Something in him felt the need to tell Shadow that he was too qualified to be the next alien leader, but he knew better than to gloat over his own invention. Shadow was just a lost cause. He knew there was nothing more he could do there, so he began to make a hasty retreat.

Right on que, Shadow's attention jolted to Doom Eye gliding away for the exit. In a split second, Shadow snapped the neck of the Biolizard and sent it hurdling to the ground. One target down. His supersonic speed sent him catapulting into Doom Eye. In a blind fury, Shadow dragged Doom Eye down to the ground and just started brutally punching with all of his might. The alien that was supposed to be the leader of the galaxy's fiercest race of aliens started wailing and screaming in agony. Shadow felt his lips curl up into sinister smirk at the sound, and he continued the endless barrage of punches. Five minutes of just punching and tortured wailing went by before Shadow finally tired of the game. He lifted a final punch with a balled up fist. Electricity crackled from every inch of his arm, hand, and fingers. In a swift, final punch, he ended it. A flood of blackness erupted from the creature before it finally died. The villain was dead at long last.

And thus, Shadow's merciless genocide came to an end.

The Ark suddenly became deafeningly quiet. Too quiet. Rubble was strewn everywhere with chunks of alien guts sticking grotesquely to the debris. Dark Shadow couldn't find anything else to destroy in the ash-ridden wasteland. Gradually, the anger leaked out of his heart. All of the tightened muscles in his body slowly eased. All of the anger was replaced with sadness and a hint of regret. He finally took in all of the blood everywhere and realized what he just did. It was never meant to go this far. Shadow's quills and fur returned to their normal colors as he tried to figure out how he could have let himself become so engulfed in rage. Once he was mad, he wanted to feel the satisfying rip of alien flesh. He wanted to see blood and guts cover the walls and the floor. It was an agonizing realization for him, but it was not as awful as the horrible truth he finally brought himself to face.

Gasping and incredibly out of breath, he scurried over to your twisted, contorted body and tried to ignore the fierce lurching in his gut at the sight. His transformation left him with a little more strength than he had after his little torture session, but it only allowed him to feel more pain. He didn't want the strength to feel anything. And yet, when his gaze locked onto your glassy, glazed over eyes, he could feel his eyes welling up and his chest heaving.

"You... were all I had left...," he choked. Talking only made the pain worse, so Shadow hushed. There were still so many things to say...

He cradled his fingers around your shattered skull and pulled your limp body a little closer. With excruciating effort, he gently closed your eyelids and released a heavy, sorrow-filled sigh. It was the sigh of a person who lost all hope and just wanted to buckle down and cry. He thought for a moment about what he was going to do. He could find the chaos emeralds to try to bring you back, but would they be enough...? Were they even ethical at this point?

Throwing the thoughts of the chaos emeralds aside, he searched his heart and mind for a reason for everything. "No... This can't be it... Why did it have to be you?! They could have picked anyone else! It can't end like this, (Y/N)!" He threw his eyes upwards as if he knew some divine force was there responsible for ruining his whole life. In a deafening voice, he called out to your spirit that he knew wasn't even there. He begged the divine deity that toyed with him to let you hear his words. Despite his loud voice, he felt smaller than ever. "It was supposed to be us! You and I were going to look out for each other! I was going to show you everything you missed out on. I was going to be the person I promised you that I would be... And now...," he paused for a minute to allow the moment of uncontrolled trembling pass. It didn't. "I know Maria's gone, but I wasn't ready to feel the same pain again... Especially not like this... It's not... It's not..."

Shadow curled up into a ball and let his heart collapse.

A sudden flurry of movement buzzed in the corner of Shadow's peripheral vision. Out of instinct, his tear-shot eyes bolted over to where the movement was located. Shadow assumed that things couldn't get any crazier or worse, but the bizarre anomaly proved him wrong. Mere minutes ago, Shadow recalled feeling the satisfying snap of a roaring, reptilian neck. Now, when he looked over...

The entire Biolizard was gone.

Upon closer inspection, Doom Eye's body vanished as well. So did the blood and the bones and the muscles and the guts and... You. A body that was once there as clear as day was suddenly as if it never existed.

Shadow flew to his feet and his eyes danced around the room in bewilderment. There had to be an explanation for all of the strange behavior! Matter couldn't be created or destroyed unless... it was never there.

"So, you finally figured it out," chortled Black Doom's voice from the sky. It was as if he had never been attacked. And he probably wasn't.

The room evaporated into a series of 1's and 0's around Shadow's feet. A familiar void surrounded him... It was a void that could be manipulated by the touch of someone who wanted to play God. That person was Black Doom, and he was using the Phantom Ruby.

"Professor Gerald finished his research on the Phantom Ruby. We decided that it would be a great way to turn you to our side. Even though we didn't succeed, it was certainly quite the show! Bravo," the alien chief said. He really meant his praise. It sickened Shadow.

From the swarm of binary 1's and 0's, bright red cubes congregated under Shadow's feet and they fixed him in place. Shackles rose up from the floor and bound Shadow's arms and legs with merciless aggression. Shadow didn't resist them. He was too weak and he expended all of his power as Dark Shadow. Besides..., you can't fight an illusion.

Black Doom snickered at Shadow's lack of flailing. The alien leader knew that the plan was almost complete. There was only one thing left to be done. "Since you're of no use to us...," Black Doom snarled at Shadow as if emphasizing the fact that Shadow was a failure, "...you will become our power. We'll take your life force and use it to conquer the world. Once we have that, nothing can stop us!"

The shackles and chains suddenly turned into giant, leech-like creatures and dug their fangs down into Shadow's precious blood. In fat, hasty gulps, they drank. After everything that Shadow had been through, he found himself not caring. He couldn't possibly care less about the world now. Everything started fading into the dark void of unconsciousness and the pain flickered out like a candle.

It was finally over. It had to be. It just had to.

"SHADOW!! Fight him!!"

With a harsh, terrified screech, the leech-like alien creatures disappeared and the shackles all melted into nothingness. Shadow found himself falling and landing into an awkward heap on the floor. Somehow, he could still move.

Black Doom's voice started screaming loudly from the real world in what seemed to be rage. The world inside of the Phantom Ruby began to violently shake and an earth shattering roar went shooting through the air! Hunks of jagged rubble went flying around Shadow and his eyes suddenly flared to life at the sight.

"It's not over yet," he told himself before forcing himself to his feet. The Ultimate Life Form was not about to get killed by mere rocks.

The voice that screamed his name only seconds ago returned. When Shadow heard his name, he thought he imagined the voice, but it was very, very real. He tried to fight off the flurry of emotions and concentrate on moving, but he couldn't ignore his fluttering heart. It was you. You were alive. And that was all he needed.

"Shadow, I know you're being pushed to your limit, but you're not allowed to die!" your voice screamed frantically.

Shadow lunged to the right just in time to avoid being squashed by a large boulder. "I'm not going to!" he shouted in reply. Another thunderous roar split through the air and nearly knocked Shadow off of his feet, but he was able to stabilize himself. He finally decided to address the elephant in the room. "What is going on?!"

Suddenly, Barrett's voice took over. Of course, he seemed just as cheerful as ever. "Gilbert's hacking into the Phantom Ruby and trying to destroy all of those icky alien bugs that are draining your life energy! So far they've drained about 60% of your life, but they're going to be dead in a minute or two!"

For the first time in the history of ever, Shadow was glad to hear from Barrett. He found himself smiling. "Who took out Black Doom?!"

Barrett's snickering filled the air before he explained. "(Y/N) grabbed the stun gun and clobbered him! He's collapsed on the ground now! In fact, I am STOMPING ON HIM WITH MY FOOT RIGHT NOW!"

Another series of growls erupted from Black Doom. It was music to Shadow's ears.

"Barrett, stop fooling around! We've got work to do! Gilbert, get Shadow out of that Phantom Ruby! Now!" you commanded with an air of authority that made even Shadow jump.

A beam of light fluttered down from the heavens on angel wings and engulfed Shadow in a mighty sweep. His body was reconfigured into a series of 0's and 1's before being swept away back to the real world. It was just in time, too. The entire world inside the Phantom Ruby gave a final strained shudder before collapsing on itself. No more illusions would plague Shadow, and he finally felt certain that everything was real.

--

"Nice move, Gil. Smashing the ruby, I mean. There's a real charm in your deadly, ruby-shattering punch. You should test it out on me sometime!" Barrett chirped from on top of his alien mound on the floor. Black Doom was still growling viciously. Black Death was locked up in a closet somewhere.

Gilbert narrowed his eyes at Barrett and actually considered launching a punch at his face for a brief moment. "That wouldn't be right and you know it," he finally replied. No matter how much he wanted to, he could never harm his wayward comrade. Besides, he was the one who freed (Y/N) and allowed her to grab the stun gun in the first place. After his heroics, he didn't deserve a punch in the face. Even if he was literally asking for it.

In a sudden puff of light, Shadow appeared just in front of Barrett. All of the wounds that were previously inflicted on his body in the Phantom Ruby vanished because the fight itself was only an illusion. Despite the dissolution of his wounds, his energy was still severely drained. Luckily for Barrett, he still had enough power to land a gut-churning punch on his ribs. The blonde boy let out a squeak and collapsed to the floor with his arms wrapped around his midsection. Shadow smiled weakly. "That always makes me feel better."

Gilbert smirked at the spectacle. "He certainly had that coming to him."

"Shadow!" you cried with relief. Without stopping to think, you rushed over to the exhausted hedgehog and squashed him in your arms. "I'm so sorry! This was never meant to happen! What they did to you was just awful!" It took quite a bit of strength to hold back the welling emotions. Witnessing Shadow in the Phantom Ruby was torture for you as well. Seeing your protector in so much pain and despair...

Black Doom made a choking sound at the sight of you hugging Shadow. Clearly, he didn't like your PDA. "How sentimental... Just what I'd suspect from a fragile human." He continued to scoff at the sight.

"Excuse me?!" demanded Barrett as he jammed his foot back into Black Doom's face. The alien growled. "Do you want to get the stun gun again?! It'd give me great pleasure after everything you did! My little sister is going to need some serious therapy after all of this!" Barrett reached over for the stunner and smirked when Black Doom recoiled at the sight of the weapon.

Shadow swayed a little on his feet. He seemed about to pass out in your arms. And yet, despite what happened to him only mere moments ago, he still fought to stay on his feet and appear strong for your sake. He knew the battle wasn't over just yet. The alien army was still going to swarm the planet and kill all the humans with half of his life force. Even just half was a terrifying amount. There was no way Earth would be able to stand up to the attack.

"We have to go...," Shadow huffed wearily. "They're still going to... attack..."

Gilbert seemed confused. "But we took out Black Doom and Black Death! They wouldn't attack without them, would they?"

Shadow shook his head. "I can hear the hive mind sometimes..., and they're buzzing about the taste of blood. They're excited. I have a feeling they're already down at the planet... The attack's already started..."

You sucked in a breath and clung to Shadow tighter. "No! That can't be happening! They can't be--!"

Black Doom started chuckling from the ground. His piercing red eyes glared up at Shadow. "Did you think our little dance in the Phantom Ruby was all that was going on? There's more to this plan than you, Shadow. And now, we've succeeded. Now that the human race is being feasted on by millions of aliens with your power, there's nothing you can do to stop us."

Barrett shoved the stun gun in Black Doom's face and began firing it repeatedly. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"

Shadow gently pushed you away from him with an expression of shame. The world he loved so much was being torn to shreds by aliens with his own life force. "I've failed them, Maria...," he murmured. His declaration of failure was more for himself than for Maria.

You plopped to the ground and thought harder than you ever thought before. Surely there was a way to fix this! To go back in time and... Wait. "The chaos emeralds!" you shouted excitedly. "If we go back in time to when G.U.N. swarmed the Ark and we change a few things..., then the aliens will never attack! We just need to find the chaos emeralds and we'll be all set!"

Gilbert perked up at the thought and ran a few calculations in his head. "Actually, if we change the right things, then her idea might just work!"

Shadow, on the other hand, looked very skeptical of the idea. After all, it was you who suggested that bringing Maria back to life would create issues. What's to say that time travel wouldn't also cause its own issues? "Are you sure it's safe? Changing history shouldn't be taken lightly."

Barrett skipped on over to Shadow with an overly-happy grin. "Come on, Shadow! This is our destiny! We're going to save Earth from being consumed by creepy black aliens!"

When put like that, the plan didn't sound half bad. In fact, it was probably the only thing that might actually work. Reluctantly, he heaved a sigh of defeat. "Fine. We'll go through with the plan. Just remember, we can't change more than what's necessary!"

As expected, Barrett heard none of the warning. He just danced around like a fool on top of Black Doom excitedly. "We're travelling through time! We're travelling through time!"

Even though everyone acted confident in the plan, they all secretly knew that something was going to go wrong. The foreboding unease only increased when Barrett made the classic mistake of asking...

"What can possibly go wrong?"