There came the hurried pitter-patter of heavy paws hitting the ground. A navy blue pelted beast roamed the streets, fur lit by the moonlight, eyes burning as insane as the length of his gleaming claws. A bead of drool rolled down the side of the creature's muzzle as his fangs clamped together in rhythm with the beat of his paws. Curled ears suddenly pricked upright and he stopped dead in his tracks, a snarl ready to escape from the bottom of his throat.

A dark shape emerged from around the corner slowly. Upturned quills with red streaks revealed him to be a hedgehog. Shadow the hedgehog. He let a small devillish growl of his own, bearing his small fangs and taking a ready position for a fight. However, the beast lowered its head and with a quick glance to the alleyway ahead, bolted into the darkness. Shadow smirked. So it was a race, eh?

A burst of fire from the hedgehog's hover boots revealed the dark alleyway and the fleeing animal. He stayed on his guard, as this wasn’t the first time the elusive beast had escaped him. The navy pelted creature leapt upon a trashcan and off of another wall, ready to leap to the rooftops. The midnight hedgehog's speed had proven to be helpful in catching up, as he jumped at the right moment and caught onto the beast's ankle, throwing it off target. The beast snarled, eyes burning a hole into the midnight's crimson orbs. It outstretched an arm and stretched it a very long way up to the rooftop. As The creature did so, Shadow pulled himself onto the navy fur's back and tried to move it away, but with no such luck.

"Damnit. Why don’t you give up?"

The midnight fur growled into the curled ear. Once both were on top the beast roared, agitated and getting tired with being followed, he threw the hedgehog off and punched him into the ground causing the roof to dip and dust to rise. As the dust settled, the navy beast saw that he hadn’t actually hit the pestering hedgehog and Shadow came back with a kick to the face. The beast took the hit, snarled once more and grabbed his leg before the hedgehog could recover. He then spun about once and threw him with his stretchy arms in the direction that they had come from. It howled triumphantly and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Shadow found himself flying towards a wall at quite a speed. He turned positions of his body and bounced off the wall with his feet, landing on one knee. Once again, the beast had escaped. With basic fight or flight methods, that was a bit of both. The dark hedgehog stood up and brushed off his fur. He knew he had to try a different approach.

The moon luminated his back, leaving his face in almost complete darkness. The stars were out and shining happily as if everything in the world was perfect, and the crisp, cold air and dead silence of the night was still well kept, almost as if nothing had happened. This irritated the hedgehog to the fact that he couldn’t enjoy the stars and the night the same way he used to with that creature running about way past its bedtime. Shadow turned to face the moonlight and looked up to where he last saw the beast.

"Hmph."

He snorted and walked off the opposite way until the next night, having thought up another way to capture this beast...

Morning came quicker than expected for a certain blue hedgehog. His alarm clock beeped at him 3 hours to early in his mind. Mornings weren't his thing. He kicked the alarm clock off the table next to him and covered his eyes with his arm lazily. From downstairs, a perky two tailed fox bounded into the room wearing an apron, his vibrant blue eyes showing his young age. The fox crept over to the window nearby the blue hedgehog, careful not to bother him and pulled the curtains wide open, letting the fresh bright late morning sun flow into the once shadowy messy room. The blue hedgehog didn’t seem to notice and was too busy trying to get back to sleep when:

"Sonic! Chillidogs are ready!" The fox shouted.

Sure enough, Sonic threw his arm from over his eyes, done the same with his covers and flew out of his bed. It was then that the sun's rays caught his unadjusted eyes.

"Arrgggh! Too bright" Sonic cringed away from the light for a minute then slowly opened his eyes to see his adopted brother. "Tails, ya got me" The hedgehog gave a hearty grin and legged it downstairs for breakfast.

On the other side of town, the black red-streaked hedgehog was sleeping peacefully on his bed, not under the covers. His dream started to turn bittersweet, then sour. A frown occupied the hedgehog's face as he squirmed to get away from the bad dream. Shadow gritted his teeth and started to toss and turn. He couldn’t get away, the nightmare wouldn’t let him. It was like he was too slow, too unresponsive, too late. He thought all this, yet the scene had been played back countless times, each playing back like the time it actually happened. Due to being immortal, Shadow was stuck the way he was created forever, never aging, definitely not getting younger. The dream replayed in his head just like it happened. The sounds were so real, he could almost feel her presence, feel her golden hair. His best friend. Only friend on the Ark. The only person he truly trusted.

A shot sounded out throughout the Ark, time stopped in its track and the world fell silent. His world span round and round in his mind, moving in slow motion yet at the speed of light. He watched her body fall to the floor.

"Maria!"

He watched her once lively eyes, the source of everything angelic in his life, turn to dead, lifeless gems like a smashed crystal that once held immense power. The light in her eyes had faded, and with that, Shadow disappeared too, into a dream of complete nothingness.