Space Colony ARK

**Space Colony ARK** (スペースコロニー・アーク, *Supēsu Koronī Āku*) is a location in the *Sonic the Hedgehog* series. The ARK is a space station and research facility in orbit around Sonic's World, and was the most advanced research center of its kind, built more than fifty years before the events of the *Sonic Adventure 2*. Space Colony ARK appeared in the games *Sonic Adventure 2*, *Sonic Adventure 2 Battle*, *Shadow the Hedgehog* and *Sonic Generations*, which all took place aboard Space Colony ARK.

The ARK was used by the government for scientific testing and experimentation, and housed some of the world's finest minds in the most advanced research center of its kind. One such scientist was Professor Gerald Robotnik, grandfather of Dr. Eggman, many of whose inventions remained aboard the ARK until being reactivated many years after his death. It is particularly notable as the "birthplace" of Shadow the Hedgehog and the Biolizard, and home to the powerful Eclipse Cannon.

"*.*"

—About the Space Colony ARK.

## Characters

### Inhabitants

* Gerald Robotnik
* Maria Robotnik
* Abraham Tower (formerly)
* Biolizard (formerly)
* Shadow the Hedgehog (formerly)

### Visitors

* Team Sonic
	+ Sonic the Hedgehog
	+ Tails the Fox
	+ Knuckles the Echidna
* Team Rose
	+ Amy Rose the Hedgehog
* Rouge the Bat
* Eggman Empire
	+ Dr. Eggman

## Points of interest

* The Doom
* Lost Impact
* The ARK
* Lost Colony
* Eternal Engine
* Meteor Herd
* Mad Space
* Crazy Gadget
* Space Gadget
* Cosmic Wall
* Cosmic Fall
* Final Rush
* Final Chase
* Cannon's Core

## Known creations on the ARK

According to Shadow when he introduced the Eclipse Cannon to Eggman, the ARK was a top secret research facility for weapons of mass destruction, a piece of information that very few knew of. However, as Shadow was using Eggman to exact his own vengeance against humanity for killing Maria, it could easily have been a lie to gain Eggman's trust, with the Eclipse Cannon being the only creation to back up that statement.

* The Biolizard (prototype of Project: Shadow)
* Artificial Chaos
* Heal Unit (Maria's favorite creation, due to her pacifist nature)
* The Gizoid (examined and partly reprogrammed)
* Shadow the Hedgehog (Project: Shadow)

### Eclipse Cannon

*Main article:* *Eclipse Cannon*
The **Eclipse Cannon** (エクリプスキャノン, *Ekuripusu Kyanon*) is the signature weapon of the space colony, which is built onto the front of the colony itself. It projects a humongous laser (blue in *Sonic Adventure 2* and green in *Shadow the Hedgehog*) that is capable of destroying an entire planet when it is fully charged and powered by all seven Chaos Emeralds. The cannon takes longer to charge with fewer Emeralds.

The main room that assists in powering the cannon is called "The Core." It is a complex system flooded by yellow fluid (safe enough for swimming, as demonstrated by Knuckles), and the fluid leads into a room large enough to well fit the Biolizard. This room contains an architectural copy of the Master Emerald altar, designed for maximum Chaos Emerald energy extraction.

## History

When the government sought to recruit brilliant scientists aboard the ARK, Gerald Robotnik initially rejected their attempts to recruit him. However, he reconsidered when he discovered that his granddaughter Maria Robotnik had a terminal disease known as Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Gerald brought Maria with him to the ARK, where he set about not only finding a cure, but also discovering the secret of immortality. To this end, he attempted to create an "Ultimate Life Form". The workers and scientists aboard the ARK thought this project was impossible, so they began calling it "Project Shadow", because it was an unreachable goal, along with the total secrecy that was required for it. Gerald liked the name, so it stuck.

Gerald's early experiments involved lizards, since they have the ability to regenerate limbs. Gerald's earliest known "prototype of the ultimate life" was the mutant Biolizard, but this creature was deemed too dangerous, and sealed away at the core of the colony.

The next creature Gerald and his colleagues created was designed with a more desirable physique. In this time he also made contact with the Black Comet, and enlisted the help of the alien Black Doom, who supplied genetic material to allow Gerald to complete Project Shadow. However, little trusting Black Doom, Gerald secretly began construction of the Eclipse Cannon, a powerful weapon that he built into the colony itself to destroy the Black Comet.

While aboard the ARK, Gerald also began experimenting on an ancient robot he had discovered on the world below, called the Gizoid (although the robot eventually came to be called Emerl). "Project Gizoid" later destroyed a large chunk of the ARK, after copying some of the super-weapon's abilities.

When the government became skeptical of Gerald's work on immortality, he sent them the dangerous Gizoid, to buy time to finish off Project Shadow. When he still refused to shut down his research, G.U.N. raided the ARK, and discovered that, with some behind-the-scenes help from Black Doom, Project Shadow had already been completed in the form of Shadow the Hedgehog.

Shadow and Maria (who had by then become close friends) tried to escape the intruders, but Maria was shot while defending Shadow. With her last breaths, she trapped Shadow in a stasis tube, and made him promise to protect the Earth, the planet she had always watched and wanted to visit, before sending him away with the words, "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog". Her last words were, "Bring hope to humanity".

Since Maria Robotnik was killed during the raid, the news of her death sent her grandfather into short-lasting depression. With despair and insanity he plotted revenge against the entire planet. He reprogrammed several of his old experiments, including the Eclipse Cannon and the Biolizard, with the intention of devastating planet Earth. He also programmed Shadow to bring the Chaos Emeralds to the ARK, having presumably recovered Shadow's escape pod before being caught and executed by the government. GUN attempted to shut down all of Gerald's projects, locking up Shadow's stasis tube and sealing away the Biolizard, which had nearly decimated the GUN invaders. Space Colony ARK was forgotten for fifty years. Presumably during this time, GUN also sealed the flaps of the colony and constructed a second hemisphere around it, making it appear as a simple asteroid to insure it would not be rediscovered.