Okay, all that I have to say right now is: "Guess what I don't own!" Hope you like this one, ladies and gentlemen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know, I wasn't saving you. I came back to get the Chaos Emeralds." "Yeah, yeah, but that's not the whole story, is it?" Rouge smiled sadly as she was lying on her private beach. She had always suspected that the Shadow she and Omega had worked with was the original; after all, why else would Eggman keep that one clone isolated from all the others? He loves me. I just know he does. No male alive can resist my beauty and charm! That thought rang throughout her head. But she couldn't help but wonder: Was it a thought, or a wish? Rouge sighed. It had been several years since she had discovered that there were probably hundreds of Shadows roaming the planet, and only one was real. She decided that she would have to find out if her Shadow was real or not. "I'll go over to Tails' house. He'll know what to do," she told herself reassuringly. She got up off of her blanket, and left her umbrella and chair on her beach.

As Rouge approached Tails' house, she checked her watch. "Tch. 6:30 PM already. I need to talk to Tails quickly, or I'll be late for work." She rang the doorbell, and when no one answered, she knocked. She looked at her watch again. It was 7:00. If she waited for much longer, then she would be late. She tapped her foot impatiently. "I don't get it," she whispered quietly to herself. "Tails said that he was working on a machine that does your homework for you. He should be home." Finally, at 8:00, she just used a lockpick to break in. "He's probably been asleep this whole time," she reasoned. But when she looked through the entire house, she couldn't find him. Just when she was about to give up, she spotted a post-it note on Tails' refrigerator. It read: "Dear Sonic, I went over to Knuckles' house with the black cat whose name eludes me. I'll be back in a couple of days.

Your best buddy,

Tails Prower" So Tails and the cat-like creature whose name also eluded Rouge were over at Knuckles house. But there was a problem with Tails note. Rouge could remember that the cat-like creature whose name also eluded Rouge hated Knuckles. So why would he be staying at Knuckles' house? Whatever the reason, she would find out the next morning. She was confident that the suspicion could wait until she was finished with work.

She was wrong.