Black Shadow: Exodus (Pilot)/Script

## Introduction

*[Unsettling ambience plays.]*

(transcription of on-screen text)

> *Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process, he does not become one.*
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> *For if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.*
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> *~ Friedrich Nietzche*
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## Aresian Homeworld

> **Aresian Overseer:** "Black Shadow... My master. As requested, I present to you... The fruits of our labor."
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*[Image begins to fade into view of Black Shadow and the Aresian Overseer. The Overseer nervously sweats as Black Shadow looks over his shoulder at him, inspecting an alien fruit with one hand. Behind the Overseer, two Black Oak soldiers can be seen by their eyes glowing in the shadows.]*

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> **Black Shadow:** "Is this all of them?"
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "Y-Yes master. We've tended to the seedlings just as you've instructed. This greenhouse is state of the art! Remotely climatized to the most optimal atmospheric conditions! Cultured fertilizer supplying a wide array of nutrients-"
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> **Black Shadow:** "Huh..."
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*[Black Shadow picks a fruit.]*

> **Aresian Overseer:** "Pristinely developed, yes? Bursting with the rich, ambrosial energy your army needs. I assure you... You won't find a more suitable flowering environment anywhere else in this galaxy."
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> **Black Shadow:** "Impressive work... Aresian Overseer."
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> **Aresian Overseer:** (slight crosstalk) "Ah... Thank you, my master."
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> **Black Shadow:** "Yes, impressively well-disguised incompetence."
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "I'm... I'm sorry?"
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> **Black Shadow:** "I'm sure you will be. Tell me... Do I look like a fool to you?"
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "No! Of course not, my master! I would never!"
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> **Black Shadow:** "Then why do you insult my intelligence by lying to me?"
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "I...I don't understand. Have we not done what you asked!?"
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*[Sound of fruit being handled.]*

> **Black Shadow:** "They're unripe. Insufficiently matured. Laced with impurities and chemicals.
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "A-ah... Well... Well, you see, we-"
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> **Black Shadow:** "We had an agreement.
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "Yes, I-I understand, it's... It's just that-"
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> **Black Shadow**: "So you understood my terms, and wilfully chose to violate them?"
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "With all due respect, master... We hadn't been expecting you for another... Three duodecycles! We've barely had enough time to-"
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> **Black Shadow:** "Irrelevant. This produce is inadequate. Lazy... With or without the full duration."
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "N-No...! We-"
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> **Black Shadow:** "My demands were very clear... As what would happen should you fail me-"
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "Wait! Wait! Be reasonable! Without us... Without our planet... Our resources...You- you have no way to grow this... Baneful vegetation! Y-You need us, don't you see?"
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> **Black Shadow:** "You really think you're the only ones cultivating our Black Fruit? I have others, Overseer. Other worlds. You're in no position to bargain. If you can't provide like they can..."
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*[Black Arms approach and snarl.]*

> **Black Shadow:** "-then you're useless to me."
> **Aresian Overseer:** "No... No! Please, master! I beg you! W-We'll do anything!"
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*[Black Arms grow silent.]*

> **Black Shadow:** "What a pitiful display. If only your species valued the lives of others as much as your own."
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "We... We can make this right... I swear... We'll do anything... Please, give us a chance..."
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> **Black Shadow:** "I was once told to give those were ignorant 'a chance'... This is yours. We will take this inferior harvest..."
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> **Aresian Overseer:** "Oh, thank you, master! Thank you... You will not regret trusting us... And putting your faith in our-"
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> **Black Shadow:** "But... You will start on a fresh batch, immediately. And this time... Your deadline... Is cut in half. Be warned. If you disappoint me again... If I find your work to be in-any-way lacking... You will watch in horror, as the Black Arms nourish themselves on you, and your people... Instead."
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*[Fade to black.]*

## Black Comet: Holding Cell

*[Sound of footsteps.]*

*[Sound of Black Comet automatic door opening, followed by more footsteps.]*

*[Image fades in of Black Shadow, addressing an unseen party.]*

> **Doctor Eggman:** "I wondered if you were *ever* going to stop by."
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*[Image fades to a full view, showing Eggman in a cell with two Black Arms footsoldiers guarding him. In the background, two Black Hawks fly by.]*

> **Doctor Eggman:** "Long time no see, Shadow."
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> **Black Shadow:** "Not long enough... Doctor."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "Must've been weeks by now... I was starting to wonder if you'd forgotten about me."
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> **Black Shadow:** "The whole reason you're here is to be forgotten."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "Then to what do I owe this sudden... 'Recollection'?"
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> **Black Shadow:** "That remains to be seen."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "The sentiment *is* appreciated. It's nice to have some extra company. Haven't had much of that lately. Well... Aside from these two. These creatures here... I gave them little nicknames and everything. I call them 'Decoe' and 'Bocoe'. They're not much for conversation, sadly. But still! Such fascinating beings... I can see why you took command of them. So single-minded... More automated than any Badnik or E-100. Just scrupulously watching me... Every minute... Every moment... Even while I sleep. No doubt they're just as hungry as I am..."
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> **Black Shadow:** "You're alive, aren't you? You've had food provided."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "You mean that 'sour gruel' they bring me? It's *deeply* unappetizing. But regrettably, there's only so much a starving scientist can take. What *is* that stuff, anyway?"
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> **Black Shadow:** "The previous Black Arms leader used it to cultivate... Livestock aboard the comet."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "That doesn't make it sound any nicer."
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> **Black Shadow:** "It's all we have, and it's all you'll get. I'd advise that you continue to eat it voluntarily. I *can* arrange to have you force-fed, if need be. Remember... I promised Sonic you'd remain alive here. I will uphold that promise by any means necessary."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "And that promise includes... Visiting me like this?"
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> **Black Shadow:** "This isn't a 'visit'."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "Then what, pray tell, is it?"
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> **Black Shadow:** "Prisoner inspection. To see what state you're in... To ensure you aren't plotting anything... Unwise-"
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "Oh, we both know you don't need to be here to do that. You have eyes everywhere. I sense you aren't being wholly honest with me... Or yourself."
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> **Black Shadow:** "Feh... Believe what you like."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "Same to you... Because while I'd *love* nothing more than to unveil some brilliantly insidious exit strategy... Come now, just look at me! I'm a shell of the Eggman I once was! I barely have the will to move now... Let alone orchestrate any 'master plans'!"
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> **Black Shadow:** "Every time you're defeated... You systematically rise to start over again. That's what you do. That's what you've always done."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "And I've played the game long enough to tell when it's over. There's no way out for me... Not anymore. It's taken me a while to come to terms with that fact. I suppose that's something we have in common here. Both writhing against actuality... Against the truth we try desperately to ignore."
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> **Black Shadow:** "Illuminate me. To what 'truth' are you referring?"
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "You blame yourself for what happened to Sonic... Don't you?"
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> **Black Shadow:** "Tch... I'm not in the-"
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "Don't try to deny it... It's obvious. Your guilt... It's exactly why you're out here... Shuffling through space, playing intergalactic knight! You feel responsible... You feel as though you have to atone for your very existence."
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> **Black Shadow:** "Once again, you can believe what you like. I've taken this role because I can. Because no one else should have to. Because I won't stand idly by while diseases like you fester throughout the universe."
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "That's what you like to tell yourself, I'm sure. But regrettably, it can't change that which courses through your veins! And no... I'm not talking about your alien DNA... I'm talking about the 'core' of you... 'Chaos'... Pure and unadulterated! Chaos energy is a complex mixture of incalculable wavelengths... The likes of which even I have never fully understood. Positive and negative currents.... Each naturally offsetting the other. In parallel, these currents can be drawn upon for opposing means. They can be used for good... And for evil. To create... But also to destroy. Chaos is a seam which binds these instances together. But it goes beyond just that. There's a causality, you see. For every hero that chaos attracts... It must also attract a villain. For every favorable happening... There must also come something disastrous. You, for example... You saved the Earth from these so-called 'Black Arms'. But, if I'm not mistaken... The whole reason they *came* to Earth in the first place... Was because of you, wasn't it?"
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> **Black Shadow:** "You're suggesting that *I'm* the cause-"
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> **Doctor Eggman:** "I'm suggesting what you already know... Deep down. Chaos is a part of you. And chaos can *never* be controlled. This 'exodus' of yours? It's just an excuse... A miserable attempt at rejecting what you are. Whether deliberate or not... You attract calamities... You proactively incite conflict... You bring pain and suffering to yourself, and those around you! You... Are the ultimate lightning-rod. I should actually thank you for putting me here and giving me a front-row seat... Because mark my words... Horrible things are going to happen... And when they do... It'll be all your fault! How long will it take, I wonder... Until there's another Sonic? Or perhaps... Another Maria?"
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*[Energy flares up from Black Shadow's body.]*

> **Black Shadow:** "Say her name again and I swear... The first thing I'll feed to the Black Arms, will be your tongue!"
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*[Energy dissipates with a thunder-like sound.]*

> **Black Shadow:** "I've wasted enough of my time here. We're done. Enjoy your front-row seat. It's a chair in which you'll rot... 'til your dying day."
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*[Sound of footsteps.]*

> **Doctor Eggman:** "You know, you never told me... The true reason you came here to see me. Be honest... You're lonely, aren't you? An entire army at your command... And yet no one to even talk to. Who knows how many light-years away we are from anyone you'd call a friend. So tell me, oh mighty Black Shadow... Who's the real prisoner aboard this rock!?"
> **Black Shadow:** "Hmph!"
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*[Shadow audibly turns and starts to walk away. Eggman begins laughing maniacally, echoing and growing in intensity as Shadow gets further away.]*

## Black Comet: Throne Room

*[Image fades in of Black Shadow sitting on a throne. Many Black Arms soldiers can be seen by their glowing eyes in the darkness surrounding the area.]*

> **Black Shadow:** (internally) "I just can't shake it... This feeling of unease. Like something's... 'off' somehow. I've never experienced anything like this before. It's been this way for days now. I can't explain where it's coming from... Or what's causing it. But an acute sense off... Awareness... Pervades over me. Like I'm being alerted to some unseen danger, at all times. Speaking with the Doctor has only exacerbated things. Even with his pathetic attempts to toy with me... It didn't seem like he was up to anything. But it's still there. I still feel... On-edge. Is this the work of the Black Arms hive-mind? Then why? Why does it elude me? I need to concentrate... Find this dissonance... And the meaning behind it. Focus..."
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*[Deep, indiscernible sounds from within Black Shadow's mind.]*

> **Black Shadow:** (internally) "Focus... Concentrate..."
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*[Sounds are laden with faint voices.]*

> **Black Shadow:** "Hngh..."
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*[Voices continue, building in volume].*

> **Black Shadow:** "Guh... Ngh..."
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*[Black Shadow continues to grumbles as the noises multiply.]*
*[Black Shadow's ears start ringing, then the noises instantaneously stop at once.]*

> **????:** "Shadow..."
> **Black Shadow:** "Ngh!"
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*[Black Shadow pants as the noises recede, then sighs.]*

> **Black Shadow:** "That... No. I must be imagining-"
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*[A loud explosion goes off somewhere.]*

> **Black Shadow:** "Ungh!"
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*[Sounds of nearby destruction, Black Shadow groans as he recovers from the jolt.]*

> **Black Shadow:** (confused exhale) "That impact... We've been hit! The Black Comet is... What... What is this!?"
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*[Fade to an image of the Black Comet being dwarfed by a massive, silver spaceship.]*