A Shadow of Hope cover artwork
A Shadow of Hope is a Swap AU fanfic created by SonicLegend10. The story retells the events of Sonic Adventure 2, with the roles swapped between Sonic and Shadow.
The story revolves around Sonic, who after being in a state of suspended animation for the past fifty years, is suddenly woken up by Gerald Robotnik, with only one thing on his mind: revenge.
Meanwhile, Shadow has been accused of being involved with the reawakening of Project Lightspeed, and must escape military pursuit. After their first encounter, its up to Shadow and the others to head to outer space before Gerald has the chance to destroy the Earth.
Sypnosis (Spoiler warning)[]
The story starts off with a flashback from fifty years ago, showing Madonna and Ivo reawaken what is dubbed, 'The Ultimate Lifeform', Sonic the Hedgehog. Madonna is eager to meet her new campanion, as her uncle opens up the machine, bringing Sonic into the world.
In present day, Gerald Robotnik, the great-nephew of Ivo Robotinik, infiltrates a G.U.N. facility, with several alarms as well as a robotic voice alerting the intruder's presence. This doesn't phase the doctor, as he manages to break inside and reawaken what his uncle left behind; Project Lightspeed. Sonic strikes a deal with the old doctor to bring him the Chaos Emeralds and meet him on the ARK.
Soon after, Shadow the Hedgehog has been accused of being involved with the reawakening of Project Lightspeed. After arguing and fighting with several of the guards, Shadow breaks out of the government's custody and flees to Central City. (que City Escape) After destroying the G.U.N. truck by sliding under a bridge, an officer warns the driver that it would be pointless to destroy public property, however, the driver doesn't listen, resulting in the vehicle crashing into a bridge.
Meanwhile, as Gerald makes his way to the Hidden Base, he discovers Rouge the Bat and Knuckles the Echidna having a quarrel over the Master Emerald. Knuckles doesn't trust Rouge with such a duty, so he compromises that he guarded the emerald from now on. However, Rouge refuses, and states that 'its too dangerous'. and 'she'll never forgive herself if it had gotten stolen." Ironically enough, Gerald arrives to steal the Emerald, so the bat shatters into what seems like a million pieces.
Later that night, the two hedgehogs cross paths after Sonic had stolen a Chaos Emerald. Shadow attempts to attack Sonic, only for him to use Chaos Control and warp away, leaving Shadow to be recaptured by G.U.N.
Gerald then meets with Sonic on the ARK as they'd planned, and Sonic informs him about the Eclipse Canon, a superweapon capable of destroying entire planets with only the Chaos Emeralds as a power source. The doctor devises a plan to collect all seven emeralds and power up the Canon to destroy the planet. Sonic agrees to this, convinced its what Madonna would've wanted. Knuckles, who'd infiltrated the ARK through a transporter in the Hidden Base, joins them once he hands them a Chaos Emerald.
The trio meets on Prison Island, plotting to infiltrate the area, rob them of any Chaos Emeralds in G.U.N's possession, and then blow up the island. Meanwhile, Amy Rose arrives to the island to liberate Shadow and eventually meets Miles Prower, who'd came there for the same reason. After the three fight Gerald, they infiltrate the facility, before crawling inside the air vents to find where Shadow is being kept.
Unfortunately for them, Amy had no idea where they were going, resulting in them getting lost. Eventually, they stumble upon an air vent. After unscrewing it, they discover Shadow trapped inside a jail cell. After bailing him out, Shadow and Sonic meet again, and the two have their rematch. Soon after, Sonic is informed that the island will explode in one minute, and must get him, Knuckles, as well as the Chaos Emeralds off the island.
Upon hearing this, the two hedgehogs go their separate ways, with Shadow and his friends escaping before the island explodes. Meanwhile, Sonic rescuses Knuckles and the Chaos Emeralds, and uses Chaos control to warp off the island in the nick of time.
On the ARK, Sonic recalls how he made a promise to Madonna fifty years prior to protect humanity if she'd never return to Earth. Sadly, her fears came true once G.U.N. had raided the ARK, destroying anyone and anything that got in their way. Unfortunately, Madonna got caught in the crossfire, and in her final moments, she sent Shadow down to Earth, begging him to protect humanity.
In present day, Gerald uses the Eclipse Canon to demonstrate its terrifying capabilities by blowing up half of the Moon, and threatens to destroy Earth in twenty-four hours. Shadow and Amy infiltrate the limousine of the President of the United Federation and hack its computer, learning that Gerald is headquartered on the ARK. Concurrently, they meet Rouge, who'd spent the previous night searching for shards of the Master Emerald.
The trio, as well as Miles, head to Hidden Base, where they hijack a rocket ship and head to the Space Colony ARK, leaving our story to be continued.
Characters (Who is swapped?)[]
In this story, many of the characters switch roles, with these being some major examples:
And plenty more! ^^
| Image | Character | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow the Hedehog | ||
| Amy Rose | ||
| Rouge the Bat | ||
| Miles Prower | ||
| Sonic the Hedgehog | ||
| Knuckles the Echinda | ||
| Gerald Robotnik | ||
| Madonna Garnet | ||
| Ivo Robotnik |
Drafts/Concepts[]
Originally looking for a fanfiction centered around Shadow and his origins, SonicLegend10 created what was at the time called, 'Shadow Adventure 2', creating several concepts along the way. At first, he decided to base his AU off of a similar AU created by the TikTok user, @ar11_mox, with the idea of Sonic and Shadow having swapped roles being the main inspiration.
Several ideas were tossed around, like Tails being 'emo', Amy and Maria being swapped originally, or Amy and Rouge being swapped. Eventually, most of these ideas were scrapped as SL10 wanted an AU that felt easy to understand and reader-friendly.
On January 2025, he released the first part, titled, 'Suspended Animation', which was met with praise from users on Wattpad. The story currently has five parts all being 45 minutes long to read.
Trivia[]
- Originally, Tails was supposed to remain the same, however his personality was supposed to be more inspired by Shadow's, with him being 'emo'.
- This AU was inspired by another AU created by the TikTok user, @ar11_mox
- Sonic's design was based off of existing characters in the Sonic franchise, such as the Werehog, Mephiles (his Shadow form, to be exact), and Dark Sonic.
- It is likely that other existing charcters in the Sonic universe, such as Silver or the Chaotix, are swapped with each other.
Cultural Refrences[]
- The story is a retelling of Sonic Adventure 2, with some scenes taken word for word from the cutscenes of the game.
Where to read?[]
Currently, the fanfic is only on Wattpad, however it is possible for it to be published on Ao3 sometime in the future.
If you'd like to read it, here's the link! ^^
https://www.wattpad.com/story/388225028-a-shadow-of-hope-a-sth-swap-au