| Sonic X Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings Shadow and Maria |
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"Shadow and Maria" is the first episode in the Sonic X Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings web series. It first aired on the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube Channel on 25 September 2024.
Synopsis[]
Shadow's tragic past – rife with conflict and loss – haunts his thoughts. But these nightmares come to him while wide awake! Could some sinister force be beckoning to him through his memories?
Appearances[]
Characters:
- Black Doom
- Emerl
- Gerald Robotnik
- GUN Soldiers
- Maria Robotnik
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Biolizard (end credits only)
Races and species:
Locations:
- Sonic's universe
- Moon
- Earth
- Prison Island (fantasy)
- Space Colony ARK
- Gerald's Lab
Items:
Miscellaneous:
Plot[]
The episode opens on the Space Colony ARK, fifty years ago. Maria runs down a hallway with Shadow in hand, eager to show him something. When they arrive, Shadow, concerned, asks her what’s wrong. Maria smiles and assures him that everything’s fine, gesturing to the breathtaking view of the northern lights. However, just as Shadow begins to relax, Maria suddenly collapses, and Shadow catches her in his arms.
Shadow gently reminds her that the colony's low gravity only keeps her condition in remission and that she shouldn’t overexert herself. Maria nods, understanding, but admits that she can’t help it; the beauty of Earth always stirs something in her, and she looks forward to returning to it one day. Shadow, however, is unsure as he’s not sure if there’s a place for him on Earth. He’s frustrated that despite being designed as the Ultimate Lifeform, created to cure Maria’s Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome (NIDS), they’ve made no progress. Sensing his distress, Maria pulls him into a gentle hug, reassuring him that they’re doing their best and that, for her, spending time with him is enough.
Suddenly, an explosion echoes through the ARK as Emerl breaches containment. Panicked, Maria pleads with Shadow to go and save her grandfather. Though shaken by a dark premonition of the future G.U.N. raid, Shadow reassures her, promising to rescue the professor. He tells her to stay back while he handles the situation.
Shadow rushes to the scene and finds Emerl gripping Professor Gerald by the lab coat. A brief struggle ensues, with Shadow and Emerl exchanging rapid punches and kicks. Shadow finally delivers a powerful punch to Emerl, and reality itself shatters around him like glass. Suddenly, Shadow is seen witnessing the Guardian Units of Nations launching their raid, but he says it’s too soon, as if time itself is unraveling.
A rumble is then heard as the ARK suddenly tilts, and Shadow begins to slide as the station lurches to one side. Once again, reality fractures like glass, and Shadow crashes through, only to find himself now in Professor Gerald's prison cell. The professor sits silently at its center. Shadow experiences another series of disorienting flashes as he approaches Gerald, but the professor suddenly teleports further back with the room seemingly warping into a long hallway. Determined, Shadow chases after him, only to be thrust into a black void filled with crimson lightning and floating debris. In the midst of this chaos, Shadow sees a vision of Maria being shot. Her final words to him echo in his mind: “Remember!” As Shadow continues his endless descent, the clouds form an ominous three eyed figure who reaches out to him.
In a flash, Shadow awakens in the present day, clutching the yellow Chaos Emerald. Gasping for breath, he fires a blast at a nearby tree, realizing that everything he’d experienced was just a nightmare. As the dust settles, he looks up to the sky, seeing the shattered moon. He comments on how this was no ordinary nightmare as he turns his gaze to the distant ARK, wondering if "he" could have survived.
Determining that he needs answers, he rushes off as the episode ends.
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the first time since Shadow the Hedgehog that the moon is shown to be damaged after Dr. Eggman blew up half of it with the Eclipse Cannon. In most of the moon's appearances prior to this episode, its broken side isn't shown, even after the events of Sonic Adventure 2.
- The Chaos Emerald that Shadow was using is the same that Sonic would acquire later from their battle during the Time Eater incident.
- This episode also makes it explicit that Gerald Robotnik was executed via firing squad in flashback visions in the scene where Shadow ends up in Gerald Robotnik's cell, something that was only implied in Sonic Adventure 2.
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ Shadow and Maria. Sonic the Hedgehog (25 September 2024). Retrieved on 25 September 2024.