Shadow the Hedgehog

[Yolanda Riona]

Name - Shadow the Hedgehog

Age - 50+, though he appears roughly 17+

Sex - Male

Species - Hedgehog

Alignment - Appears to be Hero

Appearance - Shadow possesses semi-glossy black fur, with red stripes on the tops of his quills, his forearms, his lower legs, and the topmost corners of his eyes. He has large eyes with red irises. His ears are triangular, and stick up straight from his head. The insides of his ears and the area around his mouth and nose is covered with tan fur. He possesses white, furry, tufted chest hair, and six large head quills, as well as two smaller back quills and a very short tail. His quills are aligned in two rows and three columns, with the two outermost sets of quills turned upwards about halfway down their length, and the centermost quills drooping down, similarly to Sonic’s. He wears white gloves, the right of which is facened with a gold ring, and primarily white Air Shoes with a red fringe and a black heel. These shoes also have a number of red jets lining the bottom of each shoe.

Personality - Shadow is a very cold person. His past has profoundly affected his outlook on life, and this in turn has effected his personality, most often in negative ways. Shadow usually keeps to himself, and he is often quite condescending towards others, believing that he is exactly what he was created to be: the Ultimate Life Form. He particularly frowns upon humans, considering them in most cases to be both a cruel and weak race. Shadow, when determined, truly becomes a force to be reckoned with, and few who get in his way manage to escape unscathed, once he has set his eyes on a goal. Although he is considered a hero for his role in the Space Colony ARK incident, he is perfectly willing to do whatever it takes and hurt whoever it takes to accomplish his goals, making him very dangerous. He has had no problems collaborating with villains in the past, and chances are he will have no problems with it in the future. However, though this may be the case, for the time being it appears he is sticking to his promise to Maria, fufilling her wish that he protect the people of Earth, and so for now he seems to be fufilling his new role as a hero. It also might be noted that while Shadow is normally rather reserved, with the absence of one of his stabalizing bracelets he's become more emotional, and more prone to angry outbursts and fits of rage, especially when insulted or when losing a battle.

Family - Professor Gerald Robotnik (his creator) and Maria Robotnik (Gerald’s granddaughter) are the only people who ever came close to a family for Shadow.

Transport - Whatever vehicle is nearby, although he usually uses his feet to get around, to which end he wears a pair of Air Shoes, an extremely advanced system that draws in air and fires it back out through the rockets lining the bottoms of the shoes, allowing for a variety of functions. With them Shadow can walk silently on a cusion of air, go from motionless to top speed in an instant, run on water and even double jump.

Weapons - Whatever’s on hand.

Biography -
A little over 50 years ago, high up in the secret research facilities of the Space Colony ARK, an enormous scientific project was underway, under the careful supervision of Prof. Gerald Robotnik. It was dubbed “Project: Shadow” and it’s purpose was to create the Ultimate Life Form, the perfect being, and the perfect weapon. This project underwent a number of failed attempts, and finally resulted in Shadow the Hedgehog, a being that could not die of old age or sickness, possessing strength far beyond his size, and having mastery of the unique and mysterious force known as “Chaos Control”.

The project had gone quite well, until the Guardian Units of Nations, or GUN, discovered the research. Deemed a threat to all mankind, GUN troops invaded the Space Colony ARK, destroying all the research and killing all but Shadow and the Professor himself. This included Maria Robotnik, the only person in the world Shadow had come to know as a friend. As he watched her die before his very eyes, Shadow was ejected from an emergency pod and sent to the earth, with nothing but his memories, and Maria’s last words: to make the people of the world safe and happy. Upon landing, GUN immedietly captured the black hedgehog and put him into stasis, a stasis that would last fifty years.

Shadow was finally freed when Dr. Ivo Robotnik, grandson of Gerald Robotnik, discovered Project: Shadow and went in search of the ultimate life form his grandfather had created. He found him in an extremely secure holding facility on Prison Island. Shadow, whose memory had been inexplicably altered, believed that Maria had wanted him to reap his revenge upon the earth for what they had done.

This led to a long adventure, which eventually resulted in Shadow bringing the Eclipse Cannon, a lethal planet-destroying laser, online by using the seven Chaos Emeralds. This activated a secret mechanism, devised by the late Professor, which caused the ARK to be sent plummeting into the earth with obliterating force. Shadow, who had apparently known of this plot, was unmoved, and merely stood watching from the bridge as the space colony plummeted down to the doom of all. However, with a little help from Amy Rose, Shadow remembered Maria’s true intentions, and he immedietly left to combat the Biolizard, one of the early prototypes of Project: Shadow, and the guard of the chamber that housed the Chaos Emeralds that powered the colony’s decent. Shadow defeated it and, with the help of Sonic and Knuckles, deactivated the Emeralds.

All was not well, however, for the Biolizard, which also possessed the abilities of Chaos Control, attached itself to the Eclipse Cannon and pulled the ARK forward once more. Using the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic and Shadow entered their super forms and teamed up to defeat the lizard and warp the Space Colony back into it’s safe orbit using Chaos Control, finally defeating the Professor’s evil machinations and saving the world.

Tragically, Shadow the Hedgehog plummeted to the earth, his power expended. He was presumed dead by all. By the grace of good fortune however, this was not the case, as Shadow was still in his invincible super form when he fell, and so, though he left his super form upon entering the troposphere, and though he lay unconscious for two years in the middle of nowhere, the grass growing around his forgotten body and hiding him from the world…

Shadow the Hedgehog still lived.

Moves -
Shadow possesses an incredible repertoire of moves, rivaling that of Sonic.
- Chaos Control
Shadow is capable of bending space and time with the potent energies of Chaos Control in order to warp short distances. Without a Chaos Emerald, Shadow can easily warp about three feet, with little or no time necessary to warp again. After that, the length of time between warps becomes longer and longer. The exact limits of the distance he can warp is unknown, but as a long-distance warp is very taxing without a Chaos Emerald, it doesn’t matter much. As with all Chaos abilities, Shadow’s Chaos Control increases in strength exponentially with each Chaos Emerald collected.
- Chaos Spear
Shadow is capable of focusing Chaos Energy into golden bolts, or “spears”. These appear around Shadow and remain in place for a few moments before launching at their intended target. Shadow can create a maximum of ten spears at a time without a Chaos Emerald, and they generally only have a paralyzing effect upon impact. Of course, with a Chaos Emerald, he can create more, and they become much more numerous and destructive with every Emerald he possesses. However, with one of his inhibitor bracelets missing, Shadow's Chaos Spears have become eratic and difficult to control. Their power varies wildly, and Shadow has little to no control over their power.
- Chaos Blast
Shadow is capable of gathering the pure destructive essence of Chaos Energy into his being and releasing it in a powerful shockwave. Without an Emerald, this technique is fairly weak, with about the strength of a small grenade going off. The closer to the blast center an object is, the more effect the blast has. With a Chaos Emerald, the blast becomes much more potent, but it also consumes much more energy and leaves Shadow tired after one use. The Chaos Blast is unique among Shadow’s Chaos abilities in that the Chaos Emeralds do not have a stacked effect on it. In other words, it is weak with no Emeralds, but it is as strong with seven Emeralds as it is with one. With Chaos Emeralds, the blast becomes incredibly destructive, blasting back almost anything that isn’t bolted down and many things that are within a thirty foot radius of Shadow, and it still has a potent knockback at up to sixty feet.
- Spinball/Spindash/Homing Attack
Shadow is capable of curling into a ball and rotating on a horizontal axis at great speeds. His quills make this ball capable of doing a good deal of damage to enemies. Shadow can spin in place to exponentially increase his rotation, thus creating a powerful speed boost upon releasing position. Shadow, like Sonic, also has the unique ability to enter a spinball state in midair, alter his direction in midair while still holding his position, and then launching himself at a target. When launched at a wall, Shadow can stand and run on the wall for a short period of time (about ten seconds).
- Super Shadow
When Shadow collects all seven Chaos Emeralds, he enters a super state in which his black fur turns a beigeish-gold, of a much lighter hue than that of Super Sonic. In this temporary state his abilities are brought above and beyond their maximum potential, and he also possesses the ability to fly. This combination makes him a force greater than most any weapon.
-Inhibitor Release
When Shadow removes both of his inhibitor bracelets, his full latent power as a living conduit of chaos energy, normally restrained and controlled, is released. His abilities become far stronger, and his power surges out of him so strongly as to create a cusioning barrier of energy, visible only as a golden glow around him. This barrier makes approaching him extremely difficult, as it forcefully repels anything that gets too close. However, because he can't restrain his power and it is constantly surging out of him, he loses power at an exponenential rate, quickly becoming weak and tired. The barrier lasts for only a couple of minutes (three turns) before he has too little power left for his exuding energy to be noticable, and it will not return until he's worn his bracelets long enough to allow his full energy to return to him (which takes days). He can still fight and use his chaos powers, even after the barrier fades, and they will be exponentially stronger, but as long as he isn't wearing the bracelets he becomes exhausted extremely fast. This is a last-ditch gambit, something Shadow will only do if he is completely outmatched and truly has no choice, as even after he puts his braclets back on it takes some time for him to return to full strength.

Skills - Shadow is fairly skilled at the use of vehicles and vehicle-based weaponry. Shadow is also proficient with almost any kind of weapon imaginable, although in general his speed, agility, and jumping ability is hindered while carrying a weapon.

Strengths:
- Shadow is fast. Really fast. He may not be able to run quite as fast as Sonic, but his powerful skate-like Air Shoes make up for most, if not all of the difference.
- Shadow is also quite agile, and his skill with the operation of his Air Shoes allows him to pull stunts he normally couldn’t do.
- Shadow is ridiculously strong for his size. He’s no Knuckles, but he’s able to dent metal and crack stone with strong blows.
- Shadow is very skilled with his Chaos abilities, and they often give him the edge in combat.

Weaknesses:
- It’s not much of a weakness, since Shadow never takes them off, but without his Air Shoes Shadow’s physical abilities are weakened.
- Although Shadow’s Chaos abilities are strong, Shadow looses much of his destructive potential without a Chaos Emerald.
- Shadow is very touchy about his past, and he is easily provoked by it.
- Shadow is confident to a fault, and he is easily angered when his pride has been hurt. In most cases he will keep fighting a superior enemy even after his defeat was obvious, right up until the last possible moment.
- Shadow’s Chaos abilities are very taxing. While very short-distance Chaos Control is fairly easy, using it in rapid succession quickly drains Shadow’s energy. Longer distances, Chaos Spears, and especially Chaos Blasts can take their toll on his stamina. This effect is somewhat lessened when in the possession of a Chaos Emerald, even more so with each Emerald, but the strain of Shadow’s abilities on his endurance never fully goes away unless Shadow is in his Super Form.
-Right now, Shadow is only in possesion of one of his two inhibitor bracelets. This means that his powers are half-restrained, half unleashed, causing an extreme imbalance within him. As he is his powers are erratic, with his abilities ranging vastly in power from less than half their normal power to more than double, and everything in between. He has little control over his power, and very often, especially when he's angry, he will unintentionally release energy in short bursts of red sparks. The imbalance has also made him rather emotionally unstable, making him prone to sudden bursts of irrational anger and fits of rage, especially when he's losing a battle, clouding his judgement and making him do things he normally wouldn't do.

---

CHANGES

-Changed his Alignment
-Slightly altered appearance to reflect his missing bracelet
-Slightly altered his personality
-Put a description of his Air Shoes' abilties under Transport
-Altered Chaos Spear to reflect his missing bracelet
-Added a move, Inhibitor Release, in which he removes both bracelets to release his full power at the cost of drastically reduced stamina
-Added a weakness describing the effects of the imbalance caused by his missing bracelet

[Yolanda Riona]

Update approved by Jodie and Nokame.