Who were the Chaotix working for in Shadow the Hedgehog?

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Ivogoji
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Who were the Chaotix working for in Shadow the Hedgehog?

Post by Ivogoji »

There are two possible answers.

The one I've kicked around the most before is The President.
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We know it couldn't have been Eggman, since the Chaotix and Eggman are actively trying to kill each other throughout the game, and it can't be GUN since they're the ones suppressing information about Shadow in the first place and- before the Last Story plays out- the Commander has no reason to relax his tight grip on that information given his attitude towards Shadow.
That basically leaves The President as the only person with a means and motive to hire the Chaotix to dig up the data disks on Prison Island, hack Eggman's computers, infiltrate the ARK, etc. Their mission is effectively an extension of Rouge's mission in SA2, so it makes sense that Rouge's boss would be the one telling them what to do.

It isn't that strange that The President would know who the Chaotix are, since he met up with Shadow and Sonic after the end of the Metal Overlord crisis and he could have easily learned about the rest of the heroes' efforts in defeating Metal Sonic.
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Granting the Chaotix are a somewhat dubious detective agency to enlist for a case like this, hiring them would still have similar advantages to working with Rouge; they aren't loyal to any outside organization that might interfere with the mission such as GUN, they will do almost anything for the right price regardless of the risks involved, and best of all if they fail it will not effect The President or his administration in any way (#cannyoperator2020).

Under the circumstances The President is faced with during the Black Arms invasion, turning to the Chaotix for help wouldn't be out of the question, since it would neatly skirt around the Commander's objections and save him from sacrificing any Chaos Emeralds his side collected amidst the conflict- something Rouge would definitely demand in exchange for the information if he hired her again. It's unsurprising that he'd request them to keep his involvement secret (as Vector tells Shadow not to ask why they're on this case) since it would defeat the purpose of working through outside channels if any of The President's less trustworthy allies learned about the investigation. And for the Chaotix it would have been an ideal opportunity, an amazing reversal of fortune after the lack of success they had working for Dr. Eggman.

That's the first possibility, and it's certainly the cleanest and simplest explanation; it's what I'd consider to be the most likely one if SEGA ever thought of a concrete answer to this question. Nevertheless, it is not what I think "really" happened in-universe.

The second possibility is a lot more speculative and a little bit complicated.

- we know from SA2 that Gerald's computer console on Prison Island required one Chaos Emerald in order to activate Shadow's cryochamber. That means that the Professor had physical access to a Chaos Emerald during his stay on Prison Island, after the ARK raid took place.

- we know that ten years before the present the Duke of Soleanna used one Chaos Emerald in his experiments for Project Solaris (he had it before any of the time travel stuff happened so history getting changed at the end of 06 doesn't effect this). In fact it was the White Chaos Emerald, the same one Eggman used to activate Gerald's computer at the beginning of SA2.

- we know that Chaos Drives were one product of Project Shadow that survived into modern use after the rest of the project's research was suppressed. We also know that Chaos Drives only ever appeared again in Sonic 06, where they serve an identical function to Light Cores, the items dropped by Iblis monsters.

- Light Cores were being researched by the Rimlight Corporation as an energy source. This energy research was so valuable Rimlight was the victim of corporate espionage by Dr. Eggman as well as a group of thieves attempting to steal fuel from Soleanna. This was the subject of several Town Missions in 06.
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- Whenever Rimlight was attacked by Eggman or other threats GUN agents in Soleanna responded, despite none of them other than Shadow doing anything to stop the larger disaster threatening the nation all throughout the story.

So we have this scenario where an item confiscated from Project Shadow by GUN finds its way into Project Solaris, and GUN is providing a notable amount of protection to a corporation which continues to carry out Project Solaris related research.
My suspicion is that after Gerald was killed and his work could no longer be carried out on Prison Island, GUN decided to back Project Solaris in hopes of achieving similar goals, and when Project Solaris failed as well (whether from the Flame of Disaster going out of control in the original timeline or from Elise destroying it in the final timeline, it's all the same) they supported Rimlight as the Project's potential successor.

Now, you might ask, what does any of this have to do with who the Chaotix were working for in a game released long before 06?

Consider this: everything I just said about the Rimlight Corporation also applies to another organization that appeared in a game before Shadow the Hedgehog.
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It's HEXAeco.

Like Rimlight, HEXAeco is also an energy development corporation. Like Rimlight, they are targets of industrial espionage and fuel theft by Eggman's robots. And like Rimlight, they are being attacked for an energy source that is substantially similar to Chaos Drives.

If you're confused by what I mean by that last point, I'm talking about the Power Cores in Sonic Heroes. In Heroes, Eggman's robots don't drop small animals or Chaos Drives, they drop Power Cores.
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Power Cores are very similar to Chaos Drives- in fact, they are more similar to Chaos Drives than the Light Cores in 06 are. Because while all Light Cores increase all characters' abilities the same way in 06, Power Cores come in different colors that increase different characters' strength- just like how Chaos Drives are color coded to improve different stats in Chao.

Although the colors are different, the stats they increase are pretty much the same- Speed/Run, Power, and Fly. Only Swim is missing.

Now if Eggman's robots run on Power Cores in Heroes, and they are draining energy from HEXAeco's Power Plant, then it follows logically that HEXAeco's energy source is Power Cores. Don't think so? Just look at the fireball obstacles floating around the Power Plant stage.
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Those are just big Power Cores. Tails even describes them as the source of the Plant's energy.

If we think of Power Cores as being derivative of Chaos Drives, which is a fairly intuitive conclusion, then the idea that HEXAeco may be connected to Project Shadow in the same manner Rimlight was connected to Project Solaris becomes plausible.

Let's think about this carefully. When Team Dark enters Grand Metropolis they say Eggman is attacking the city to harness its valuable power supply. They are wrong, because Eggman isn't attacking the city, Metal Sonic is.

What do we know Metal Sonic is after?
What is it he is trying to get throughout the first half of the game?

Ultimate Life Form data.

That, and Chaos data, which is why in Team Chaotix's story Eggman tasks them with rounding up lost Chao and destroying Shadow Androids, because those are the things Metal Sonic needs in order to copy the life form data he's looking for.

Eggman's mission for the Chaotix in Grand Metropolis is an attempt to prevent Metal Sonic from getting one of those two things. It isn't a random "test" like finding hermit crabs, he has them take down all of the robots in the city and the gold turtles Metal Sonic placed in control of the Power Plant's system. There was something in that Power Plant that Metal Sonic needed to further his transformation into Metal Overlord, something that could help him complete his copying of Chaos and Shadow. If that's the case, then it means HEXAeco's energy program was a cover for replicating the Ultimate Life Form.

The evidence indicates that GUN divided the spoils they obtained from Project Shadow with interested parties, who over the years attempted revivals of the project's research, developing new technologies based on the Chaos Drives and other materials they managed to recover from the previous generation of scientists. HEXAeco and Rimlight are just two such corporations, both working towards similar utopian visions that have their root in Gerald Robotnik's creations. I believe one of these organizations is responsible for hiring the Chaotix in Shadow the Hedgehog. That's the most intriguing possibility. HEXAeco may have approached the boys because they saved Grand Metropolis from Metal Sonic's forces. It makes sense; arriving hot off of the Metal Overlord adventure just as poor as when they started, an offer from a powerful client with potentially vast amounts of money would be too good to pass up. Of course, there's no telling what those companies would do with the information the Chaotix collected for them, whether they would use it for good or evil; Eggman thought he was building an utopia too. And the Chaotix most likely knew exactly how shady it was, and chose to conceal their clients identity for that very reason. After all, if those corporations reaped the benefits of GUN's seizure of Project Shadow, it's possible they were responsible for the raid on the Space Colony ARK in first place. Vector may have sold his soul when he accepted that case, and that's what most fascinates me about the idea.

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Lambdaforska
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Re: Who were the Chaotix working for in Shadow the Hedgehog?

Post by Lambdaforska »

Incredible analysis as always!! However i disagree with your last words. Vector is the most misunderstood character of the franchise. His boisterous and loud exterior is just that; he is very perceptive and analytical, with great reads on people. He barely knows Eggman yet seems to understand him uncomfortably well, for example (he made a comment about Eggman not having any personal connections in Heroes and in SonicX was the only one (besides sonic) who understood his motives in the 3rd season and was worried about Shadow in ShadowTH in a way that only really Rouge was.
He is in fact rather reflective in that way.
So theres my read on the situation.
After the ARK fall incident, there is no way a guy like that wouldnt research ARK. After learning it was closed 50 years ago, he would undeniably make a connection between that and Black comet arriving also every 50 years.

Lets say HEXAeco contacts them then (because i quite enjoy the possibility). Vector would immediately jump to the opportunity, and I dont believe only for money. He would definitely want to research something like this for himself too. To be honest? I do not believe he would hand something like this to HEXAeco. Heck, he knew to play Geralds video over the entire world (i assume). Client is client, but he does have morals and like i said, good grip on people. I do not believe he'd let Eggman off scot free if he HAD paid them either.

Well thats my two cents :P
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