Shade the Echidna

Shade the Echidna is a new character in the videogame Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. As a Lieutenant with the Marauders she is an important spy, and her job is not easy. She has lived with others of her lost clan within the twilight cage for a millennia. She is the brains of the group. Within her clan there have been a lot of individuals who do not harmonize with the whole group, and have interests or ideas that frequently conflict with each other. These persons are constantly striving and competing for a position of superiority or authority over others. After she denied her superior the order to kill Sonic and Knuckles, Ix the Echidna attemps to kill her, only to be saved by Knuckles. She says that she is impressed only with Sonic and his "echidna friend", being Knuckles, and she is hard to impress. She then becomes Sonic's ally for the rest of the game. She joins with Sonic and friends because she only wanted to bring the Nocturnus back to Sonic's world - not take over it as well (Ix's goal.)

Personality
Shade is a tough and businesslike woman, the polar opposite of Rouge the Bat. Trained in the arts of stealth and the use of powerful, high-tech weaponry, Shade is a deadly force in combat. As a former denizen of the Twilight Cage, she is very knowledgeable about the races and places in that alternate dimension, and she is willing to help the team by telling them what she knows of Ix's secrets. She is quite impressed with both Sonic and Knuckles, and she fights alongside them to redeem herself for unknowingly contributing to Ix's plans for world domination.



Physical Appearance
Shade has orange fur, a peach muzzle, lilac eyes rimmed by a patch of much lighter (almost white) fur and each with a single, short eyelash which curves off to the side. She has seven quite dreadlocks hanging from around her head, noticeably shorter than Knuckles', which may be caused by her headband; a small black, shiny nose and zig-zag tail, akin to that sported by Knuckles and Tikal.

Attire
Shade wears a form-fitting, all-body, grey/black Nocturnus combat uniform with what may be additional armor plating on the upper chest and back. The uniform in general is probably made of some advanced Nocturnus polymer. She wears a pair of black and light-grey armored boots. These boots sport an iridescent pink strip running down the thigh and toe, which might be decorative or serve some sort of technological function. Shade’s black gloves appear to be part of her one-piece combat uniform as opposed to separate pieces of apparel. Around each wrist Shade sports a grey circlet, which look a bit like squat, four-spoked cogs, featuring a number of purple buttons. These things are high-tech Nocturnus devices which project Shade’s ‘leech-blade’ energy knife, and also allow her to activate her cloaking device, trigger explosives remotely, and anything else you might need when you’re leading an interdimensional raiding party. Although she usually doesn’t wear it in combat, Shade’s Procurator uniform is completed by a fancy lookin’ helmet that serves to disguise her head entirely (masking the fact that she’s an echidna, too). The helmet looks much more formidable and armor-plated than the rest of Shade’s suit. The faceplate displays a prominent Nocturnus vigil in iridescent pink (like the strips on her boots) on the forehead. Shade sees out of the helmet through glowing purple-white eye visors; these ‘eye sockets’ are set in somewhat extravagant, outward-sweeping pieces of the light-grey material seen on her boots. The lower portion of the faceplate has a pair of glowing pink lights that resemble nostrils. Shade’s dreadlocks fit inside two branching, backwards ‘horns’ that curl downwards from the back of the helmet. Oddly enough, these horns seem to be the most heavily-armored part of the Procurator’s entire ensemble, the outer curve being composed of large, segmented plating. The inner surface of the curves is the same light-grey stuff as features on Shade’s boots and visor-trim. When not wearing the full helmet, Shade still sports a wide headband-like strip of Nocturnus fabric that covers most of her forehead and crown. It’s decorated with the same glowing pink vigil as her armored helmet.

Romance
Shade appears to show romantic interest in Knuckles the Echidna, as she can be seen looking out for him throughout the game.

Knuckles the Echidna
Shade gets along well with Knuckles. She watches out for him throughout the game, an example of this is when they first land on Voxai Colony Beta. Some theorize that Shade is attracted to Knuckles and may be a new romantic interest for him. This is a definite possibility, as the series plotline is being developed by Bioware instead of SEGA.

Pir'Oth Ix
Shade originally had a great deal of respect for Lord Ix, but once she found out his true motives, she betrayed him for using her people for his own benefits.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Shade has a certain respect for Sonic after he stood up against Ix.

Amy Rose
Amy doesn't seem to like Shade as she objected to her joining with Sonic immediately and called her a witch.

Friends/Allies

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Rouge the Bat
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * E-123 Omega
 * Big the Cat

Enemies/Rivals

 * Pir'Oth Ix
 * Doctor Eggman

Trivia
When Shade takes her mask off, she looks just like Tikal the Echidna but with white marks around her eyes and shorter dreadlocks.