Prologue

"Mission 0: Prologue", or just Prologue (飛行士 - Pilot) is the first episode/chapter of Lost. It introduces many central characters as well as sealing the main premise of the series. Its plot is very similar to the official Sonic game Sonic Forces and its free DLC Episode: Shadow. The chapter is told in Shadow's point of view.

Characters

 * Team Universe
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Maria Robotnik


 * The Resistance
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Tails
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy-Rose
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Fuchsia Cat


 * The Chaotix
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Espio the Chameleon
 * Charmy Bee


 * Team Dark
 * Rouge the Bat
 * E-123 Omega (mentioned)


 * Eggman Empire
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Infinite
 * Metal Sonic
 * Zavok
 * Chaos


 * Aeon
 * King Sonic (through vision)
 * Queen Antarctica (through vision)
 * Zara Acorn (through vision)

Locations

 * Prime Mobius
 * Abandoned City
 * Mystic Jungle (flashback)
 * Death Egg
 * Resistance HQ
 * Metropolis


 * Sky of Time
 * Time Citadel
 * Eternal Winter Zone (through vision)
 * Snow Mountain Village (through vision)
 * Ice Castle (through vision)

Themes
Opening Theme: "heavenly blue" by Kalafina

Ending Theme: "SABLE" by nano

Sypnosis
When villain Infinite joins Eggman's army and 99% of the world is decimated, Shadow and his sisterly-figure Maria find themselves at the center of a multiverse adventure to find the 300 Soul Plates to stop him conquering all dimensions.

Plot
The chapter starts in the Abandoned City as Shadow tries to hide from Eggman Empire forces while hearing a Forced Legionization Video looping through city megaphones. He manages to hide from some Buzzbombers who promptly kill a female bird who runs in the opposite direction. Shadow reflects on the world's affairs and that even he isn't sure what Eggman is ultimately up to. He then hears screaming from the City Center and heads straight there, only to be beaten by Sonic, who saves Tails and a group of civilians from some Egg Pawns. Tails thanks Sonic for the save, though noting the close call but Sonic laughs it off and spin-dashes into a remarkably-calm Eggman, only to be blasted with purple energy. Much to his surprise, Shadow, hiding behind a building, sees a pixelated and soulless version of himself alongside Metal, Zavok, and Chaos, all exhibiting the same pixelated aura.

Infinite then arrives, amusing Sonic. Shadow notes something about Infinite's appearance is strikingly familiar but can't pinpoint the person. Sonic tries attacking but Infinite easily dodges to the side, much to everyone's surprise. Tails tries scanning Infinite but his power is too immense for the Miles Electric to understand. Eventually, with help of Infinite's four "commanders", Sonic is so badly beaten and bloodied that he loses consciousness and Tails runs in fear. Shadow is about to interrupt but hears an exchange between Eggman and Infinite as Eggman uses a claw in his Eggmobile to pick up Sonic, who Shadow notes as looking dead. Eggman notes that the jewel on Infinite's chest is only a prototype and that it would take 6 months at least for him to get it to full power. Infinite then suggests torturing Sonic to destroy his spirit, which Eggman eventually agrees to after some persuasion.

As Eggman leaves, Shadow attacks Infinite, angry at the state of affairs, and is surprised when Infinite recognizes him. Infinite, suspecting that Shadow no longer remembers who he once was, explains their last encounter, which is told from his point of view. He remembers trying to attack Shadow when he defeated his squad in Mystic Jungle 3 months previously and then got defeated himself. After Shadow had left, calling him worthless and a disgrace, Infinite suffered a tantrum and a psychotic meltdown, binding his soul to the Phantom Ruby to make himself stronger. Shadow, now remembering the encounter, correctly identifies Infinite as Zero the Slayer, a wanted criminal and leader of a mercenary unit called Squad Jackal. The two get into a skirmish after Shadow accidentally addresses Infinite by his former name, which he has dismissed and no longer sees as a person, but the battle is cut short by an annoyed Eggman on Infinite's wrist-transceiver. With no other option, Shadow returns to Metropolis and meets with Rouge, as the two converse on Omega's 3-month absence and the state of Project: Memoria.

6 months later, Shadow muses on how things have changed. No news on Sonic has been leaked apart from endless Eggman Empire videos explaining he has died, which has resulted in a drastic drop in Resistance morale. As he stops lamenting, the machine containing Project: Memoria stops and signals it is complete. Rouge shuts off the machine in earnest and Shadow is reintroduced to Maria, the friend he lost during his early life, though she is now a hedgehog and doesn't recognize Shadow instantly, revealing she remembers nothing about her human life. After Maria meets Rouge, the base begins to collapse, though everyone gets out safely. It's revealed that Infinite was behind the attack, though not at them directly, but sees them trying to sneak away undetected. He admires Maria's appearance, taunts Shadow and confirms his desire to torture Sonic, as well as hinting at his desire to conquer other universes separate to Mobius Prime.

The trio then heads to Resistance HQ, where Shadow goes over each member. He is then treated for a gash to his shoulder from the fallen GUN base and Cream asks for confirmation of Sonic's fate, to which he answers neither with yes or no. They return to the hub room and Shadow brings Maria aside following a mountain of questions, despite her assuring him everything is fine. Shadow then learns that Tails has not had radio contact with his friends ever since Infinite's initial attack and Shadow is eventually forced to tell everyone what truly happened after Knuckles correctly theorizes that Infinite was the one behind Sonic's disappearance. Rouge then suggests hacking into Eggman's network to get intel and they find that Sonic is being stored in a high-security prison on a rebuild Death Egg, but plans are in place to let him die now that the Phantom Ruby is fully operational. Knuckles places Shadow and Silver in charge of the rescue mission, much to Shadow's annoyance.

During the mission, Shadow and Silver keep bickering and then hear traumatized screams from the Prison Hall, which Shadow fears is Sonic. The two hide as Infinite passes them, but they manage to avoid detection. As they pass other cells, Silver starts freaking out and, in fear of him letting Infinite or guards know they are there, places him to do aerial surveys. Shadow then goes solo to the high-security unit and manages to find Sonic's cell, only to express heartbreak at the state of him. He manages to hack into the cell and tries waking Sonic up but with little result. He breaks the cyan ring shackles, grabs Silver and uses Chaos Control to return to the City, where Rouge to guarding the entrance to the base. Tthe four enter and Silver, Amy and Espio rush to stabilize their friend (Cream is forbidden to do so due to her age, despite her nursing skills and role within the Resistance). Maria asks if Shadow is alright but he is more worried about Sonic. They then hear screaming and the three rush out, wondering why Sonic screamed in such a way. Espio persuades Shadow to attempt a conversation due to him having experience with torture and psychological damage.

Shadow enters the infirmary and manages to get Sonic's attention, but the hedgehog refuses to talk and only growls ferally at him, literally pushing Shadow away at one point and watching him in paranoia. Shadow is forced to revert back to animalistic growls to calm him down and even then he fails to get full recognition. After he calms down, Shadow learns that Sonic is not fully convinced he is real and screams that all his friends are dead, making Shadow realize what Infinite's psychological torture was based on and laments on that fact that a lack of friendship is Sonic's mortal weakness. However, Shadow successfully manages to restore Sonic's reality and Sonic forces Shadow into a hug, but then realizes he hadn't seen Tails. Not wanting to lie, Shadow admits they haven't had any contact, but that only destroys Sonic all over. Despite Shadow's insistence that Tails' disappearance isn't his fault, Sonic becomes catatonic and Shadow leaves the room, warning the group of his fragile state of mind and orders Knuckles to set up a watch rota in case anything bad happens, namely suicide. As they begin drawing up the rota on Amy's PC, Fuchsia comes in, surprised at the new faces. After a quick introduction, Fuchsia agrees to help with the watch when told of the day's events by Knuckles.

Early the next morning, Shadow is awoken by a harsh alarm and recognized as an emergency watch alarm. Panicked, Shadow heads to the infirmary, only to be met by chaos and a scared Rouge, who was on watch at the time. She recounts that she saw a slice in Sonic's throat, done by his quill, and she was unable to stem the bleeding herself, causing her to panic and to press the button. Silver emerges from the infirmary and confirms that Sonic's wound is stable, but the blood loss has left him in a shallow coma. As things calm down, Maria complains that her body feels tingly but then Shadow feels the same way, resulting in both of them blacking out.

Shadow and Maria then wake up in a garden of sorts and are met by Aeon, who reveals she had sent them to her realm in order to find Soul Plates in order to build a weapon to neutralize the Phantom Ruby and stop Infinite's universal takeover. Shadow at first rejects the mission, worried about Sonic, but relaxes slightly upon hearing that Aeon, being the Goddess of Time, has frozen Mobius Prime's time-flow to a standstill, meaning no time would pass during their mission. She leads them to the Universe Altar and shows them a vision of their next mission: namely an icy world where an alternate Sonic is seemingly King and Shadow sees a statue of himself. Upon hearing their mission, to save that dimension, the two head into a portal, not fully prepared for what lies ahead.

Trivia

 * Originally, there were going to be two other characters in the chapter: Gadget and Hawk (the red wolf and blue bird from Sonic Forces demo trailers). These were scrapped for the reason of overloading the first episode with original non-SEGA characters. This trait fails later on in the series as every chapter from here on out involves more than one original character. These two do later appear in another universe.
 * Despite the fact that Shadow specifically says that Tails is still alive, Sonic takes the statement as a way of saying Tails has died. Why he mishears this is unknown, but may be down to his trauma.
 * In Sonic Forces, OCs don't talk (as well as in the Sonic Forces digital comic and the OC's voice is just mental thoughts), but Fuchsia does have a few lines in the story to give her more personality than in-game. She also does not have a cowardly and shy personality like the OC in Sonic Forces actually has.