Sonic and Rouge, realizing the danger of Eggman taking the emeralds aboard the ARK, broke into the base and stole a shuttle. Shadow then teleported away with the emeralds, leaving the two in the desert. The two were successful in finding Rouge - with the emeralds - and Shadow teleported them all off of the island to Eggman's pyramid base using Chaos Control. Sonic, overhearing this, proposed a temporary truce with Shadow in order to save Rouge. Eggman merely told Shadow to meet him at the rendezvous point after the explosion, saying that they would dig the emeralds out of the ashes later. Rouge then called in saying that she was trapped in the vault where the Chaos Emeralds where being held. While he and Sonic fought in the forest, Eggman informed Shadow that he had set charges on the island and it was about to explode. Shadow was later confronted by Sonic on Prison Island during his mission to steal six Chaos Emeralds with the assistance of Rouge the Bat. Due to his similar appearance to Sonic, Station Square's army mistakenly believed the thief to have been Sonic the Hedgehog, and thus sent their military after him. Shadow proceeded to steal Station Square's Chaos Emerald, after facing off against the city's protector, Silver Sonic II, which he destroyed. Coveting Shadow's power so that he could take over the world, Eggman enlisted Shadow's aid in acquiring the Chaos Emeralds. When Shadow was awakened from stasis fifty years later, it was thanks to Gerald's grandson's alternate counterpart, Dr. When Shadow awoke decades later, he did not remember any of his original purpose, only a desire to avenge Maria, due to Gerald altering his memories. As he was uncooperative, he was eventually executed, but not before planting the seeds to enable his vengeance in the future. Gerald was arrested, but when he learned of Maria's death, he was driven insane, desiring the destruction of the planet in revenge. The pod in which Shadow was ejected was recovered by the military and he was placed into stasis. While they were attempting to escape the space colony, Maria was fatally shot by a soldier before Shadow's eyes. Sadly, like Black Doom, GUN saw the project as a potential weapon, but hoped to turn it to their own ends. However, tragedy struck soon afterwards, as GUN soldiers raided the ARK, seeking to apprehend the Ultimate Lifeform and destroy all knowledge of the project. Gerald instead planned to make Shadow the planet's greatest protector should the Black Arms ever return. However, Gerald learned of Black Doom's malicious intentions for Mobius - the alien planned to use Shadow as an agent in ushering in his eventual conquest of the planet. The contribution of Black Doom's own DNA helped in the process of creating the being known as Shadow, who was immortal, immune to disease and, thanks to Doom, highly attune to Chaos powers. Failing to develop a successful Ultimate Lifeform on his own, he turned to the alien Black Doom, leader of the species known as the Black Arms. The project had been commissioned by the president of the time as a means of creating immortality via an "Ultimate Lifeform" Gerald, however, saw the research as a potential means of curing Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a disease from which his granddaughter Maria suffered. Shadow was created on the Space Colony ARK by Professor Gerald as part of Project Shadow.
Eggman, Gerald's grandson, to help him take over the world. After the project was forcibly shut down by the government, Shadow was put into stasis for 50 years and then awakened by Dr. Created by Professor Gerald in his efforts to find a cure to a rare disease known as NIDS that was affecting his granddaughter Maria Robotnik, Shadow was gifted with the powers of the alien Black Doom through that entity's blood. Shadow the Hedgehog is the end result of Project: Shadow, an effort to create the Ultimate Lifeform.