Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sega; Sonic, or associated characters.

And this is my first attempt at a Sonic story…so please be nice! ^^;

Sonic Adventure 3

Rouge looked up at the dark night sky, as the twinkling stars lit up her features and face. She sighed. She was on the Small Planet in Mad Space. She always found it so peaceful and welcoming there.

"Who was I kidding?" she shook her head. "How will this all work out?" She asked herself, reflecting back on her last adventure with Eggman, Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles, during her last moment with Knuckles. Just then her cell phone rung, and she angrily picked it up, before clearing her throat and trying to shake herself out of her discouraged mood.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Rouge?" the other voice sounded familiar.

Rouge blinked as her eyes widened. "Mi-mister President?" she asked hesitantly. Rouge had previously worked with the President, and was the President's spy.

"Yes, it's me," he replied.

"Why are you phoning me, sir? Especially at this hour…" she paused before continuing. "I thought I told you that I was doing too much work for too little pay," she said a little testily.

"Yes, yes, I know," the President said back impatiently. "But I promise I'll pay you more."

Rouge thought for a minute. "No thanks, sir. I'm not really interested in jewels anymore…"

"Rouge I will pay you a wealthy amount. Triple what I was paying you the last time."

Rouge considered the idea. Triple? What an easy way to get paid! "Well…okay, I'll do it!" she said confidently. "But why are you hiring me again, all of a sudden, sir?"

"It's because a new adventure has arisen, and I need you to find out more about Shadow," the President said firmly.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked. An overwhelming feeling of sadness filled her. "Shadow…" she repeated sadly. She looked down at the ground sadly, before looking up at the sky again. "Shadow died, sir. He ended up saving everyone and risking his life for us all."

"Yes, I know!" the President said. "But our reports say he didn't actually die."

Rouge blinked obliviously. "What?" she asked. "Of course he died…there was no way he could still be alive. He approached the earth at an incredible velocity, and –"

"That's all well and good, but they didn't call him the ultimate life form for nothing," the President said simply.

Rouge was a little sceptical. "So he could still be alive somewhere?"

"Yes," the President said. "So first thing in the morning, you have to go to earth and find him."

"What?" Rouge asked angrily. "Why me?"

"Because seeing as you're a treasure hunter, maybe you can hunt your way towards Shadow."

Rouge still wasn't impressed, as she crossed her arms over her chest. She agreed reluctantly. "Fine," she said firmly.

"And don't worry, you'll be doing your share of treasure hunting, too," the President said.

Rouge sighed. "Okay."

"Good luck tomorrow," the President said, closing the conversation.

"Thanks, but if I don't get paid triple, you better forget about this whole thing!" Rouge threatened.

"Yes, yes, I know," the President said calmly as he flicked off his cell phone, and Rouge did so afterwards.

Rouge placed her cell phone in her pocket, and slowly closed her eyes. "I better get a good sleep tonight. I have a big day ahead of me, tomorrow," she said with a tired sigh before nodding off to sleep.

-+-

Rouge yawned sleepily, before checking her watch. It read 6:00 in piercing red digital numbers. "Six in the morning," Rouge covered her mouth as she yawned again. "I guess I should get an early start on Project Shadow Part Two," she said as she swiftly jumped off the small planet and glided slowly towards Earth.

-+-

Rouge was slowly walking around a nearby town, when she spotted some familiar people.

"What? It can't be…" she whispered to herself, as she curiously looked closer at four figures walking by, and hid behind the nearest garbage can. There was a heroic, determined looking blue Hedgehog. Attached to him was a cute pink Hedgehog wearing a pink dress. She was beaming up at the blue Hedgehog, and the blue Hedgehog was blushing slightly, but had an impatient look on his face, as he looked down at her. Beside them was a young blonde boy who had two tails, and resembled a fox. He was smiling slightly at the two, but looked pretty embarrassed. They were all easily identified. Sonic was the blue Hedgehog, Amy was the pink Hedgehog, and Miles 'Tails' Prower was with them.

Rouge smirked at them, undercover. 'Wait a minute,' she thought, scanning the area. 'Where did the fourth one go? There was a fourth guy hanging around them…where did he go?'

"Well, well, well. Long time no see, bat girl," a familiar voice called from behind Rouge. Rouge spun around to find Knuckles smirking down at her. Rouge looked up at him, and blinked a few times before pulling him down beside her on the ground, and throwing her gloved hand over his mouth. "Shhh!"

"Well there's a nice way of saying hello," Knuckles said sarcastically, as he rolled his eyes.

Rouge frowned. "Yeah yeah. Just keep it down, would ya?" she whispered, as she looked over at Sonic, Amy and Tails again.

Knuckles looked at her sceptically. "What are you doing? Are you back in the treasure hunting business? I thought you did too much work, for too li-"

Rouge's eyes widened as she covered his mouth again. "Shhh! Is whispering too hard for you?"

Knuckles blinked obliviously, as she removed her hand. She resumed watching Sonic, Amy and Tails. "Jeez! Do they always walk around this slow?" she whispered impatiently.

"I don't know," Knuckles said in a confused tone. "What are you doing, anyway?" he whispered.

Rouge smiled a bit, before turning around a winking at him. "It's a secret mission. If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret, now would it?"

"I guess not," Knuckles whispered with a frown. "But if you harm them at all, I'll…" By now, Knuckles was shaking Rouge. Rouge angrily pulled away.

"Don't worry, I won't harm them. It's not them, I'm after."

"Well then why are you watching them?" Knuckles asked with a frown, not quite trusting her.

"Because I have to wait until they pass, knucklehead," she said. "They can't see me doing what I'm doing. No one can know who I'm after," she whispered rather loudly, to him.

"What about me?" he asked.

Rouge looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What about, you?" she repeated.

"I mean you're not after me are you?" he asked her with a side-glance.

Rouge blushed faintly at the term. Maybe her answer wasn't completely true, depending on what he meant. "No I'm not after you."

"Heh, I'd disagree with that," Sonic sneered. Rouge looked up at Sonic who was now joined by Amy and Tails. "Watch your back, Knuckles," Sonic told Knuckles firmly. "Who knows what bat girl's up to now…"

"Hey Rouge, what are you doing here?" Tails asked her curiously.

Rouge frowned. "Well this is working out perfectly," she muttered sarcastically under her breath. "Um…nothing," she lied. "Just thought I'd drop by!" she said nervously.

"Uh-huh," Sonic said, obviously not believing her. "You'd never drop by, to see us."

"Well, miracles happen," she said sarcastically as she got up and glided away.

"We should be a little sceptical about this whole thing," Sonic said firmly. "What's Rouge up to, now?" he asked, looking down at Knuckles.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully.

"We better follow her…" Sonic said. "Quick guys, she already has a good head start!" he dashed off.

"I'm right behind you, Sonic!" Amy called lovingly, as she ran behind him.

"You know Amy," he said a little impatiently, "you don't have to come with us if you don't want to."

Amy smiled. "Oh that's alright Sonic, I'm up for a good adventure!"

Sonic groaned, as the two continued to run towards where Rouge had glided off to.

"Aren't you coming, Knuckles?" Tails asked Knuckles, staring down at him.

"Wha?" Knuckles seemed to be torn out of his thoughts. "Oh, I don't know…" he said, studying the ground.

"Come on. We'll need you!" Tails said, extending a hand, as Knuckles slowly got up. "And who knows? If Rouge ends up getting in trouble, maybe you can save her life!"

Knuckles snorted. "Yeah right," he rolled his eyes. "I've already saved her life. She was lucky that time. This time there's no reason for me to save her life, unless she's after the Emeralds again," he sneered. "…But…I'll come."

Tails smiled. "Good! I'm sure Rouge'll be pleased with your decision," he smirked, and Knuckles frowned.

"Whatever," he said as he started to run after Sonic and Amy.

"Hey, wait up!" Tails called, as he started to run behind Knuckles.

-+-

Meanwhile, Rouge was sitting on top of a local building, watching everyone run towards where she had been headed.

"Those idiots," she smirked. "They'll never figure this whole thing out."

Her cell phone rang, and she picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Rouge. Have you found him yet?" the President asked.

Rouge frowned. "Not yet. Just—" she cut herself off as she saw a familiar black hedgehog walk by. "Be quiet, would you?" she asked, as she slowly turned off her cell phone and put it in her pocket, not taking her eyes off of the figure.

She glided down towards him, but made sure to keep hidden among many things.

Shadow spun around. "I thought I heard something…" he frowned and shook it off, as he continued to walk away.

Rouge blinked. 'It's Shadow! He didn't die!' she thought. 'I guess they didn't call him the ultimate life form for nothing…the President was right!' She sneakily moved ahead without being seen. 'Now to get some more information on him…'

Rouge carefully placed her hands on the ground and forcefully pushed. A small invisible earthquake hit Shadow dead on, and Rouge closed her eyes, as if to read his mind. It was as if she had to wait until he was vulnerable, so she could read his mind. "Same attacks…" she scanned his mind. "Everything's the same…" she said, a little confused, before her eyes flung open. "That's it!" she obviously found something. "He used his Shield Guard attack to shield himself from harm!"

Shadow regained consciousness. And Rouge carefully watched. "He can use his Shield Guard attack to be safe from any attacks…" she thought. "Wow, talk about high-tech…and quality protection! Sonic couldn't even lay a finger on him…even if he did, Shadow wouldn't feel it…" Rouge considered. "Hmmm…impressive," she smirked evilly, slightly.

"It would be great to get a shield like that…" she whispered to herself. "It would be almost perfect…" she grinned evilly, and held up her arm getting ready to do a more powerful invisible earth quake attack, when someone's hand stopped her.

"Not so fast, bat girl," a familiar voice said, as he slowly lowered her arm and she frowned as she spun around.

"Sonic!" she said, slightly surprised. "A heh…" she smirked a bit. "I wasn't going to harm anyone," she lied with a grin.

"Uh-huh," Sonic said, obviously not believing her.

"What?" she asked guiltily, with a small smirk. "I told you I wasn't going to hurt anybody…" she glanced back to where Shadow had been.

"What?" she panicked. "Where did he go?!"

"Why do you want to know…?" Sonic asked her curiously, with a frown. "Um…no reason…" she said as she turned around.

Shadow was standing behind her. "Shadow?" Sonic asked. "Wow…long time no see!"

"Sh-Shadow!" her eyes widened as she stood up. "Um…hey, how's it going?" she asked casually.

"Great," Shadow falsely smiled at her. "But not so great for you," he frowned as his eyes narrowed.

Shadow rasied his arm in a threatening way, and glared at her. "You blew your cover, Rouge, and there's nothing left for me to do, but to destroy you."

"D-destroy me?" she repeated. "B-but Shadow…isn't that a little harsh? I mean…I had no intention on destroying you…"

"Life isn't always fair, is it?" he glared. "Chaos…cont-" Knuckles slammed his arm down, so he couldn't continue, just in time.

"Don't waste your time on her, Shadow," Knuckles said protectively, standing in front of Rouge with an arm drawn out to the side.

"Huh? What? Where did you come from, knucklehead?" Shadow asked, angry that Knuckles had interfered.

"I said don't waste your time on her!" Knuckles repeated. "She's not the one who's trying to harm you…it's someone else."

"Knuckles…I…" Rouge stared at him with wide eyes.

"Oh really?" Shadow asked angrily, but in a calm tone. "And who might that be? The President…like last time?"

Rouge calmly answered. "Maybe, maybe not," she teased.

"Rouge you better tell me!" Shadow threatened, and Rouge just nodded in defeat.

"Perfect. I guess I'll be seeing you all around then. I have a President to destroy…" Shadow said as he dashed off.

Rouge watched him leave. "No! You can't hurt the President…he…" she trailed off, and then looked at Sonic and Tails.

"Follow him, please. He can't hurt the President!" she said in a distressed tone.

"And why not…?" Sonic asked with a rasied brow, sceptically.

"Because…the President has powers beyond Shadow's…and if Shadow battles the President, the President will surely kill him and use his body parts for chemical testings."

"Chemical testings?" Amy made a grossed out face. "Eww…poor Shadow!"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah…well, okay, we're on it, Rouge!" Everyone dashed off in the direction Shadow had been headed except for Knuckles.

"Knuckles," Rouge turned to him shyly. "Thanks for saving me…again…" she looked at the ground with a small blush and smile.

"Don't mention it," Knuckles said firmly. "And you owe me, big!" he teased.

"I know, I know!" Rouge answered impatiently. "But…thanks anyway."

"No problem," Knuckles said slightly warmly, at her. Rouge smiled and looked at him. They got a little closer to each other and then a little closer…

"So…we better go save Shadow," Knuckles turned away, uncomfortably.

"Darn! So close! Not that I…uh…care or anything. I mean, it's not like we were about to…" Rouge thought to herself and blushed deeply of what could've happened.

"Rouge?" Knuckles waved a hand in front of her face. "Let's go!"

"Huh?" Rouge snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, right…!" "I don't care about the knucklehead echidna…do I?" her mind raced with confused thoughts. "Oh well. I don't have time for love or relationships…we have to go save Shadow!" she shook off her previous thought, as she followed behind Knuckles and the others.

**

End of Chapter One! Please don't hesitate to review! And if it stunk…sorry…this is my first attempt, keep in mind!

~ Satokasu Suki