Space Colony ARK

Space colony ARK

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In the video game Sonic Adventure 2, Space Colony ARK was the first Bernal sphere space colony (mistranslated to "Bernoulli sphere" in the English translation), and was used by the government for scientific testing and experimentation.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

It was aboard Space Colony ARK that Professor Gerald Robotnik worked on Project Shadow in an attempt to create the "Ultimate Lifeform" as the first step towards discovering the secret of immortality (he did this in order to find a cure for his terminally-ill granddaughter, Maria Robotnik). Thus, the ARK was the "birthplace" of both the Biolizard and Shadow the Hedgehog.

When Project Shadow was shut down, Robotnik refused to end his work before he had found the cure he sought. Thus, the military invaded the space station to end the program by force. Maria Robotnik was killed during the raid, and the news of her death sent her grandfather into despair. He plotted revenge against the entire planet. The Biolizard remained aboard ARK, having nearly decimated the invaders, and Shadow the Hedgehog fled to Earth in a stasis tube.

During Sonic Adventure 2, a reawakened Shadow the Hedgehog led Doctor Eggman and Rouge the Bat to the ARK as part of his own plans to get vengeance for the death of Maria. They planned to activate the Eclipse Cannon, a powerful weapon that, when powered by Chaos Emeralds, could destroy a planet. When six of the seven emeralds were connected to the power supply, Eggman demonstrated the power of the Cannon by blowing up half of the moon.

When Sonic the Hedgehog (along with his friends Tails, Knuckles and Amy) tried to intervene, Eggman stole the seventh Chaos Emerald from them. However, when he inserted the final emerald, rather than activating the full power of the weapon, a recording made by Gerald Robotnik appeared on several monitors, and the ARK itself began hurtling towards Earth. This was Robotnik's revenge plan: when warmongering humans attempted to activate the Eclipse Cannon, the energy from the Chaos Emeralds would be transferred to the engines and the colony would crash into the Earth, destroying all life on the planet.

In an attempt to stop it, Sonic and Knuckles made their way to the core. However, they were waylaid by the Biolizard, which had also been awoken when the seventh emerald had been connected to the Cannon. At the same time, Amy Rose convinced Shadow that Maria's final wish was that he should protect mankind, not destroy it, and Shadow quickly went to help by distracting the Biolizard. This allowed Knuckles enough time to deactivate the power of the Chaos Emeralds by using the Master Emerald. However, they were not safe for long as the Biolizard used Chaos Control to merge with the Colony itself, becoming the Final Hazard, and continue its descent to the planet.

Sonic and Shadow used the power of the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and Super Shadow respectively. The two fought and defeated the Final Hazard, then used Chaos Control to teleport the entire colony a safe distance from Earth again. However, this used the last of Shadow's strength, and he disappeared, believed dead.

The story of Space Colony ARK appeared in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, in the Shadow Saga of Sonic X, and it has been confirmed that it will reappear in Shadow's new game, Shadow the Hedgehog, as a playable level.