September 7

10:00 AM

Omega sat in the helicopter as it flew over the Ice Cap Zone. Omega called to mind the last time he had been here. He looked over at Shadow the Hedgehog who was sitting next to him. The first time they met was burned into his mind. Shadow had been talking Gamma into joining G.U.N. when he had crashed through the trees, guns blazing. His thoughts were interrupted by the Commander.

"Your mission is to infiltrate a Dark Egg Legion base somewhere in the Zone. You are to shut down the operation AND retrieve the Chaos Emerald they are using to power the base," the Commander said over the howling winds.

"No problem," Shadow said.

"Good luck, Team Dark," Commander said.

And with that, Team Dark jumped out of the helicopter and into Dark Egg Legion territory. Shadow hit the fresh powder snow lightly. Omega made a three foot crater in the ground.

"Where's the base, big guy?" Rouge asked, not bothering to look at Omega.

"Three miles South of here. If we start now and run, we should be there in 10 minutes," Omega calculated.

"We need to be quiet, or we'll be completely destroyed by Dark Egg Legionnaires," Rouge said.

"Well, then we'll walk," Shadow said.

September 7

11:07 AM

Omega treaded through the thick snow. They had been walking for about an hour. The snow had been slowing them down. Something moved behind them. Omega stopped moving.

"What's wrong?" Shadow asked.

"We're being followed," Omega whispered as he started to move again.

"What are we going to do about it?" Rouge asked.

"Just act as if we don't he's there," Shadow whispered.

"Or we could pretend we were going to stop, let him catch up and counterattack," Omega suggested.

"Alright, let's stop here," Shadow said loudly.

They each sat down. Omega tried to keep his eye on the spy without letting him know that they know that he's there. Shadow took out some bread and broke it in half. The spy inched closer. He handed some to Rouge. The spy got closer. Shadow and Rouge started to eat the bread. The spy was three feet behind Omega, waiting behind a tree.

Shadow shouted to the others, "Now!"

Omega turned around and blasted the tree with his arm cannon. The spy jump to the side as the tree came pounding into the ground.

"Wait a second..." Rouge said, letting her guard down.

The spy pulled out what seemed to be a crossbow. He shot three shots. Omega dodged them all and jumped at him firing shots of his own. The spy took cover behind a rock. Shadow jumped behind the rock, a Chaos Spear in his hand.

"Croikey!" a voice said behind the rock.

He was from Downunda. The accent was clear. Shadow emerged from behind the rock, a skunk in his other hand. The skunk was wearing a mask. The only real way he could tell it was a skunk is because of his tail. A skunk from Downunda? Omega thought.

"Who are you?" Omega said walking forward so that he was in front of the spy.

"I ain't 'ere to hurt ya, Mate," the spy said.

"Tell us who you are or you will be destroyed," Omega said, aiming his arm cannon at the spy.

"Wait!" Rouge cried out.

She took of the mask he was wearing, revealing the skunk's face.

"Rouge?" the spy puzzled.

"Geoffrey St. John?"