Chapter 3
August 24, 2323 13:32
"I'm sorry we had to end the press conference so soon, my friends. My security wouldn't stand for me to be out in the open with your friend on the loose," said President Quinn as he looked across his private limousine at his two guests.
"I understand, but you don't seriously think Sonic's working with Eggman, do you?" asked Sally from her seat across from the president. Tails sat beside her, his face full of worry for his best friend.
"I don't," said Quinn, his face becoming stoic. "No...I believe something else is going on. Something my top military officials don't want me or anyone else to know about. And they're using Sonic to help cover it up."
"What makes you think that, Mr. President?" asked Tails, his curiosity aroused.
"I have two undercover agents working for me inside of G.U.N.. They have already reported that the top leader of G.U.N. has been acting strangely ever since the attack on Prison Island by Eggman last night. Now my field operative has been charged with learning Eggman's plans and to also recover something called 'Project Shadow' from the doctor as well," said Quinn.
"What's Project Shadow"? asked Sally. The president just shook his head at the question.
"None of my staff has even heard of it. Or at least they won't acknowledge its existence with me," said Quinn. "Yet Commander Korvak is going to great lengths to recover this project from Eggman's hands. If he's sending my double agent on such a dangerous assignment, it only makes me think it is something extremely dangerous to this world."
"I'll bet Nicole could hack into Prison Island's mainframe and find out what this project is," said Tails. looking over at Sally.
"I have no doubt she can Tails, but that would be breaking the law and would turn the human nation against us," said Sally, glancing back at Tails. Hearing this comment, the president's left eyebrow arched.
"So you honestly think this person of yours can successfully hack into the most secure mainframe on the planet and find out what's truly going on?" asked Quinn.
"Given enough time, I'm sure she can. But why do you ask?" asked Sally, returning her attention to the human president.
"I can't give you the authority to do so, however..." said Quinn as he looked at the floor of the limo. "I can't use my people to find out what's going on without raising an alarm with Korvak. But if someone outside my organization was to do it, then it wouldn't blow my operatives' cover."
"But what if we're caught?" asked Tails.
"Then unfortunately there'll be nothing I can do. At best you'll live the rest of your lives in a maximum security prison," said Quinn, looking back up at the two mobians.
"Not very reassuring, but what choice do we have?" said Sally as she lowered her head a little. "Someone's impersonating Sonic and if this someone is a person the military wants to keep a secret, then we have to discover who this person really is and what ties he has to the military."
Less than ten seconds later, the limo came to a stop outside of a large hotel on the south side of the city. A small parking lot was off to the side where the Tornado now rested in a few of the parking spaces, Tails having landed it there using its new Cyclone walker mode since there hadn't been any nearby airports to land the plane in its flight mode.
"Here's your stop," said Quinn as he motioned to the door of the limo. "I wish you luck in your ventures and you have my contact information if you should find something."
"Thank you, Mr. President," said Sally as she opened the door and stepped out, Tails following after her. Closing the door, the two watched as the limo started to drive off.
"So...do you think we should have Nicole take a crack at the most heavily guarded system on the planet?" asked Tails, looking up at Sally.
"My gut tells me we have to, Tails. We just have to hope Nicole can be discreet while she does her hacking so she isn't noticed," said Sally as the two of them turned and walked into the hotel's lobby. As they arrived back in their room, the sight that greeted them was one they still weren't quite used to. Nicole was projecting her lynx holo image onto one of the large beds, her eyes locked with the TV screen. Noticing that she hadn't heard the opening of the door, Sally gave a small cough.
"Oh Sally, I didn't hear you two come in," said Nicole as she turned her gaze to her two friends.
"What are you watching?" asked Tails as he and Sally walked into the room.
"Something called a 'soap opera'. It's so awkward in both dialogue and acting, however...I'm intrigued by it nonetheless," said Nicole as she returned her attention to the screen. It was promptly shut off as Sally hit the power button on the remote sitting on the bed.
"Hey!" cried Nicole, an angry look crossing her face as she glared at the ground squirrel.
"Sorry, but we don't have time for TV shows right now," said Sally. Sensing something major was going on, Nicole's gaze softened.
"Why? What's going on?" asked Nicole. Sally and Tails then filled her in about what had been going on in the last fifteen minutes.
"So I was right," said Nicole after hearing of the recent events. "I knew that hedgehog that robbed the bank couldn't have been Sonic."
"Wait a second. What bank robbery?" asked Tails.
"I'll show you. I recorded it just in case," said Nicole. Her image flickered for a second before the news report that had just been telecast appeared in her place. Tails and Sally watched as a hedgehog set off an explosion before taking off down the street at an incredible speed.
"Well, whoever that was, I can see why they mistook him for Sonic," said Sally.
"I agree. I've never seen another hedgehog able to move that fast aside from Sonic," said Tails. He then noticed something down in the corner of the screen. "Wait a second...That time on the dash camera. It's before Sonic was reported to have escaped from the military chopper he was in." The image of the news report flickered before Nicole's image reappeared in its place.
"Then the president was right," said Sally as he face turned into a frown. "Something else is going on here and we need to find out what."
"How are we going to do that?" asked Nicole.
"How good do you think your hacking skills are?" asked Sally.
"Do you honestly have to ask me that question?" asked Nicole, looking a little insulted by the question.
"Didn't think so, but just so you know this won't be as easy as cracking Eggman's encryptions. You're going after the heaviest encrypted system on the planet," said Sally.
"You can't mean the Prison Island computer mainframe, can you?" asked Nicole, surprise evident on her face.
"You got it," said Sally. "You think you can do it?" Nicole looked a little stunned, then slowly nodded.
"Yes...I should be able to, but you're right. It won't be like the cakewalks Eggman's pitiful security is," said Nicole, looking down and away from them.
"I know you can do it Nicole. You're the smartest AI on the planet. No computer security has anything on you," said Tails. Nicole could only smile after hearing the vote of confidence.
"You're right, Tails. I'll get started immediately. What is it I'm looking for?" asked Nicole as she walked back over to the table where her physical self was resting.
"Anything to do with something called Project Shadow. Both us and the president think that if there are any answers as to why G.U.N. is after Sonic it'll be found there," said Sally.
"Project Shadow...This should be interesting to say the least," said Nicole as she turned back around to face them. "I'll have to disengage my holographic self in order to work at peak effectiveness. I'll let you know when I find something." With that, her image flickered a few times before disappearing.
"Good luck," whispered Sally.
August 24, 2323 22:16
"Man...All day I've been dodging the military in this town and I haven't seen hide nor hair of that imposter," said Sonic as he came to a stop in the middle of a large parking lot outside of a grocery store. The lot was almost vacant, the store having closed over an hour earlier with only a few of the store's employees cars remain.
"This game of hide and seek is getting old fast. For all I know that guy already left the city a long time ago," said Sonic to himself. He was about to take off again when a loud clang of metal hitting asphalt caught his attention. Looking behind him, he saw that the thing that had made the noise was a walker that was nearly five times taller than he was. It was teal in color, with red and yellow accents over its hull. A hull mounted assault cannon was attached underneath its chin and attached to its head were two missile bays. However, compared to the Hot Shot walker, it was only carrying about half the payload.
"Sonic Hedgehog. This is your last chance to come peacefully. Resist and we will use force to bring you in," said the person piloting the walker over its intercom.
"So one of you finally managed to catch up to me, eh?" asked Sonic, turning around to fully face the walker. "Guess I couldn't avoid you guys forever staying here. But if you really want to take me in, you'll have to beat me first."
"Are you threatening me, hedgehog?" asked the pilot.
"Hey. I'm not the one aiming a walker full of guns at someone, am I?" asked Sonic, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll tell you right now though you won't win if you engage me. Compared to Eggman's mechs, this thing's nothing but a little toy."
"So you won't surrender?" asked the pilot. Sonic's only reply was a simple shaking of his head. "Alright. I gave you a chance to come quietly. Now we'll do this the hard way." The walker suddenly lifted off the ground as it engaged its thrusters, its legs folding up underneath its cockpit. It then started to move rapidly in Sonic's direction, the assault cannon opening up once it had a lock-on. But Sonic merely smirked before zipping out of the way of the cannon's fire as the walker passed by harmlessly overhead.
"Come on! You said we'd do this the hard way, but I've barely done anything yet," said Sonic as he turned around to face the walker as it reoriented itself to face the blue hedgehog again. This time the missile bays on the sides of the cockpit opened up. Each one carrying nearly two dozen small missiles. But this only cause Sonic's smirk to turn into a full fledged grin.
Oh this is too easy, he thought as half the payload of missiles fired from the bays. Sonic took off in the opposite direction, the heat seeking missiles following after him. He then raced up the side of the store well ahead of the missiles, each one turning upwards to follow after him. Sonic waited till the last possible moment, then jumped as far away from the building's roof as he could. The missiles just barely missed contact with the roof of the building as they turned to track him. The pilot could only watch from his vantage point as Sonic's jump found him falling right at the walker, the speedy hedgehog landing on top of it with perfect form.
"What do you think you're doing!?" cried the pilot, looking up at Sonic through the cockpit window.
"I suggest abandoning ship," said Sonic as he looked down at the pilot. "I'll give those missiles twelve seconds before they make a bee line for me and hit this walker." Realizing that Sonic was serious, the pilot quickly landed the walker and opened the cockpit hatch. He jumped out and ran away from the walker as fast as he could as the heat seeking missiles bared down at Sonic's position atop the walker. Sonic glanced over at the human, seeing that he might not have enough time to escape the explosions of the missiles when they struck.
Humans are too slow, he thought as he returned his gaze to the missiles, seeing they were only a couple of seconds from hitting. Less than a second before they hit, Sonic sped down off the walker. He scooped up the human in his arms as the missiles contacted the walker. This set off a chain reaction with the missiles still inside the firing bays as the whole upper half of the walker exploded in a shower of molten slag. The walker wobbled a couple of seconds before it toppled to the ground.
"Are you crazy!?" shouted the human as he quickly got out of Sonic's arms.
"What? You're the one that started the fight with me in the first place," said Sonic, frowning as he watched the human run away. Suddenly, Sonic heard a soft clapping coming from behind him back in the direction of the walker. Turning around, he came face to face with a black hedgehog with red striped quills and glaring red eyes that now stood in front of the walker.
"I must say I'm impressed. Using that walker's own weapons against it was a rather ingenious maneuver," said the hedgehog as he stopped clapping, reaching down to pick up the glowing purple object next to him.
"Just who are you supposed to be?" asked Sonic. Suddenly, he realized what it was the black hedgehog was holding. "Hey! That's the Chaos Emerald that was stolen from the bank earlier today!"
"Indeed it is. And this is where it will all start. With a jewel that contains the ultimate power," said the black hedgehog, holding the Chaos Emerald up in his right palm.
"Now I know who you are. You're the hedgehog that helped Eggman last night and caused the military to try and hunt me down," said Sonic, giving a frown. "And then you stole that emerald pretending to be me as well."
"I don't have to pretend to be you, blue hedgehog. I'm much better than you'll ever be," said the black hedgehog as he gave a smirk.
"Ha!" cried Sonic, tensing up. "I saw you run away from the bank on that video footage. You're pretty fast, I'll give you that much. But if that's as fast as you can run, you're a long way off from being better than me." This only caused the black hedgehog's smirk to widen.
"Well then, if you think you are better than me, why don't you show me? I'll bet you won't lay a finger on me," said the black hedgehog.
"We'll see if you can say that after I catch you and turn you over to the military," said Sonic, not seeing that the Chaos Emerald in the black hedgehog's hand was beginning to glow brighter. Sonic suddenly shot from his spot at half of his maximum speed, preparing to land a solid punch to the hedgehog's face when he met him.
"Chaos Control!" cried the black hedgehog, a flash of light erupting around him before he disappeared. Sonic skidded to a stop as he realized he'd lost track of the black hedgehog.
"Where the heck did he go!?" cried Sonic. A fit of laughter caught his attention, drawing his eyes to look up at the roof of the store. He saw that the black hedgehog was now standing there, waving a finger down at him.
"Ah ah ah...You'll have to be much quicker than that to catch me," said the black hedgehog. Sonic could only look up at the black hedgehog in amazement. I didn't even see him move at all! thought Sonic. But then he recalled the flash of light and it suddenly hit him.
"Hey! That's a dirty trick! You're somehow using the Chaos Emerald to teleport yourself, aren't you?" asked Sonic.
"Well now, you're more observant than I'd have given you credit for, blue hedgehog," said the black hedgehog.
"Just who the heck are you?" asked Sonic.
"Very well. I suppose telling you who I am wouldn't hurt anything," said the hedgehog, tossing the Chaos Emerald back and forth between his hands. "My name is Shadow. I am the world's ultimate life form." Shadow then caught movement out of the corner of his eyes and realized his time to toy with the blue hedgehog was over.
"Unfortunately, I have places to be and I would hate to keep my new master waiting. Farewell!" said Shadow. With that, another flash of light engulfed Shadow. It then vanished just as quickly along with him.
"Shadow...Just what the heck is he?" asked Sonic to himself as his gaze stood transfixed on Shadow's last spot. Suddenly, something metallic struck him in the head, causing him to close his eyes and cry out in pain. He then held a hand up to the back of his head where the object had hit him, rubbing the sore spot. Suddenly, a small psh noise sounded. For a second, Sonic wondered what the noise was from. It was all he had time to think before the powerful sleeping gas that was now being dispensed from the canister that had hit him knocked him out cold.
"Told you that would work," said a G.U.N. officer as he walked up next to Sonic's unconscious body along side two other soldiers. "Radio command and tell them we've captured the target."
August 24, 2323 22:18
"Blue Falcon, this is Gold Hawk, do you read me?" asked a certain white girl bat seemingly to no one as she walked down a stone corridor of a giant pyramid, a small sack in her right hand. The pyramid she was now inside of was the same one she had been casing for hours now trying to discover a way to follow a certain doctor into it without being spotted. She'd actually been surprised her presence hadn't been discovered yet what with all her snooping around outside.
But her hard effort had paid off as she had finally discovered an emergency escape hatch that apparently wasn't being guarded from either the inside or outside. Now she was walking around the inside of one of the pyramid's corridors, taking note that it looked like it wasn't ancient at all. Rather, it looked to have been made by today's technology. Suddenly, a nearly invisible earpiece in her ear responded to her.
"Blue Falcon here, I read you loud and clear Gold Hawk," said a female voice on the other end of the receiver.
"So spill. Did the higher ups accept my report?" asked the bat as she continued walking down the corridor.
"Every word. They're none the wiser," said the female voice.
"I suppose they really are idiots. You'd think by now they'd have caught on we're working double duty here," said the bat, rolling her eyes.
"Anyways...Do you have a status report for me?" asked the female voice.
"Yeah. I finally managed to sneak into Eggman's base, though the place seems deserted," said the bat. Suddenly, her ears perked up as she heard the sound of a power tool coming from further down the corridor. "Scratch that, someone's here."
"Eggman?" asked the female voice.
"I'll bet my whole diamond collection it's him," said the bat as she kept walking in the direction of the noise.
"You sure you wanna go at it this way?" asked the female voice.
"It was Commander Korvak's idea to do it this way, I figure might as well go along with that plan for now till it gets me in too hot of water," said the bat.
"Just be careful. Eggman's not someone you can trust," said the female voice.
"Like I need to be reminded of that fact," whispered the bat. "Talk to ya later girl." With that, she cut the transmission to the receiver. The noise from the power tool was getting extremely loud now, indicating she was close to the source. As she rounded the corner, a doorway in the corridor could be seen several yards further down. Carefully sneaking over to the doorway, she peeked her head around just far enough to see into the room.
From the way all the walls of the room were lined with computer monitors, the bat could only guess this was the control room for the pyramid. Her eyes then took in a sight to behold. Eggman as facing her with his back turn, knelt down in front of a large machine. At the heart of it was a large violet orb with three metallic rings circling it along its horizontal axis anchored to the bottom of the machine.
As the bat watched, the doctor finished tightening the last screw with the power screwdriver before giving a large sigh of relief and standing back up. The bat instantly retreated her head back to the hallway, then flew up above the doorway so that if Eggman were to exit he wouldn't spot her. She then honed in with her sensitive ears to see if she could make out anything that was going on in the room.
"I suppose stealing this ancient echidna technology from Floating Island the first time I was there was worth it in the end after all," said Eggman as he looked over his work and began to enter the coordinates of where the receiving teleporter was to be found.
"Who would've ever guessed that the people who build that place had recovered and restored one of these to use for quick transportation to and from the there. Granted only a select few individuals used it or even knew about it, but at least my grandfather was among those people," said Eggman. He then started to walk around the machine and over to one of the control consoles for the rooms monitors.
"Still...what could possibly be up there that would require the use of the Chaos Emeralds?" he asked himself. He began punching in commands to the console. Suddenly the screen lit up as the doctor tuned the monitor into the local news channel for Zephyr City. He had been wondering if his attack last night had made the news or not. Knowing the humans, if it had reached the locals' ears, the news would broadcast it for a few days since it was himself involved with it.
"And if you're just joining us, we're going to repeat our top story tonight," said the news anchor as she shuffled the papers in her hands. "The First National Bank of Zephyr City was robbed today. Strangely enough, the only thing that was stolen was a large purple gemstone."
"That must've been the Chaos Emerald that Shadow was talking about," said Eggman to himself as he watched the news report.
"Dash camera footage captured at the scene has led officials to believe that the suspect is none other than the mobian hero, Sonic Hedgehog," said the news anchor. At hearing this, Eggman only grinned widely.
"Oh that's too rich. Those idiots at G.U.N. have mistaken Sonic for Shadow," he said before chuckling to himself. "That'll make this whole thing a lot easier to pull off if that blue pest is too busy dodging the military to worry about what we're doing." Back above the entrance to the room, the bat girl listened intently to what was transpiring inside. She highly doubted that Sonic could've been the one the military wanted to catch. She then realized that Eggman had mentioned someone by the name of Shadow. Shadow...Could he be linked to Project Shadow? thought the bat.
"Oh no, I almost let this news distract me from meeting Shadow on time," said the doctor as he walked over to the teleporter. "All the coordinates are set. Time to see what Shadow has in mind for the Chaos Emeralds." With that, he placed a hand on the orb, the ancient machine powering up before a flash of light engulfed Eggman. The light vanished just as fast along with him. Seeing the flash of light from the hallway, the bat landed and ran inside the room.
"Where the heck did he vanish to?" asked the bat as she looked around the room. She then looked over at the teleporter in the middle of the room. Running over to it, she examined it for a few seconds before spotting a set of coordinates cued up on the lower half of the machine.
"Oh wow! It's some kind of space transporter. I didn't think there was anything this advanced on the whole planet," said Rouge. She then typed a few commands into the machine, watching as the coordinates were reworded to spell out where they were set to.
"ARK? Just what in the world is he planning to do from that old space hulk?" she asked herself. She paused for a second, realizing if she followed after him immediately, she'd be spotted. So she waited for a full thirty seconds before reaching a hand out and touching the orb, the teleporter whisking her away after Eggman.
August 24, 2323 22:41
Shadow gazed out the viewing window at the starry scenery and the large planet below from one of the residential rooms aboard ARK. Standing next to him was his friend Maria. She was dressed in a blue night gown as she brushed her long blond hair as she prepared for bed. Maria was the only person aside from the professor that Shadow respected. The other humans treated him as a lab experiment, but Maria and the professor treated him as an equal. Thinking of that brought a smile to Shadow's face, which didn't go unnoticed by Maria.
"What're you thinking about Shadow?" asked Maria, stopping her brushing. Shadow shook his head a little bit.
"Oh...nothing important," said Shadow, continuing to look out the window.
"Well, I've got something important on my mind, but promise me you won't laugh," said Maria. Shadow turned his attention to his best friend.
"You know I'd never laugh at you," said Shadow. Maria smiled warmly, giving a nod of her head.
"I know, but it never hurts to be reminded that you won't," she said. She then turned her gaze out towards the planet. "I was just thinking that some day...I'd like to visit the world down on the surface if even for just one day. To see how the people there live. To see the flowers and animals that I've only ever seen in picture books."
"I wouldn't mind seeing the world myself someday," said Shadow as he looked back out the window with her.
"Then will you promise to take me there someday Shadow?" asked Maria, looking over at Shadow, who returned his gaze to her.
"I could never refuse a promise to you Maria. Of course I'll take you down to the planet someday," said Shadow.
Shadow opened his eyes as he took in the same residential room he had made that promise in. Sadness hung heavy with him at being back in the room. All it did was bring back painful memories of a friend that was now dead. I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise to show you the world below, he thought as he walked over to the window and looked out at the planet below.
"You would've been amazed by it, just as I have been seeing what I've seen in the last day," said Shadow softly. His gaze then shifted to a much darker look.
"But those accursed humans...I promise I'll make sure they pay. That the whole world does," he said with anger. Glancing at a watch he had swiped from a pedestrian, he realized he had used up the last of his free time and was now actually running behind his own schedule. He walked back to the nightstand that was still next to the bed in the room. On it was a large picture of Shadow and Maria sitting on the bed.
Shadow picked up the violet Chaos Emerald setting next to the picture, holding it for a few seconds before a flash of light erupted from it as Shadow activated Chaos Control. Instantly Shadow was teleported to a control station inside a massive room near the center of the space colony. A single walkway connected the rather small spire that served as the center of the room with a control station resting in front of it to the only entrance into the room at the far side of the walkway. Turning around, he watched as if responding to his presence the door leading into the control station whooshed open. A little late, but then again, I suppose I was too, he thought.
"Ah doctor. You made the appointed hour, just as I knew you would," said Shadow as Dr. Eggman walked out onto the walkway and towards Shadow. The doctor then pulled the aqua Chaos Emerald from his pocket.
"Well, the next time a little bit of direction on how to get here would help immensely," said the doctor with annoyance in his voice.
"I apologize. But you are here, so let us proceed," said Shadow. "As you know, I am the result of the government research project to create the ultimate lifeform, Project Shadow. However, I wasn't the only research project Professor Gerald was working on. Shortly after my creation, he and his top scientists began work on another project."
"It would seem my grandfather was a busy man," said Eggman. "And I'm guessing this 'other project' has something to do with the Chaos Emeralds?"
"Exactly. Behind me you see the controls for a weapon that overshadows anything you could imagine. It has the potential power to destroy an entire planet. It's codename...the Eclipse Cannon," said Shadow.
"The power to destroy an entire planet?" repeated Eggman, his mind racing with the possibilities such a weapon could have.
"Yes. However, even the good professor knew that such a weapon would require an enormous amount of energy to function properly," said Shadow as he turned and walked up to the control panel, entering a command. Suddenly, the side of the spire just behind the control panel opened up revealing a large hidden compartment with seven holes resting inside.
"And with the ARK being powered down for decades except for essential systems like life support and the like, the demand for energy is even greater than it was when the ARK was operational. However, as you can see, the professor had figured out how to solve the energy problem. We had the green Chaos Emerald aboard the ARK all those years ago, so the professor knew that they weren't merely legends," said Shadow.
"So those seven holes fit the Chaos Emeralds I assume?" asked Eggman. Shadow merely smiled before reaching over the control panel and placing the violet emerald into one of the matching sockets. A few short seconds later and the darkness that had kept most of the room enshrouded vanished. Lights and systems all across ARK that had lain dormant for decades turned back on as the power of the Chaos Emerald revived the space colony from its slumber.
"As you can see, one emerald alone is enough to power this entire colony. However it would take the cannon months to power up to maximum with a single emerald," said Shadow. "That is why we need to find all the Chaos Emeralds. Once the Eclipse Cannon is powered by all seven, you would wield the ultimate power of destruction. And the world would be yours for the taking." Eggman let out a fit of laughter after hearing those words.
"Oh...I like the way you think Shadow," said Eggman. "So we'll find all the Chaos Emeralds and use the cannon to dominate the world. I'll finally be able to build my Eggman Empire!"
"Do you really think it'll be that easy?" asked a female voice from far above their heads, causing both Shadow and Eggman to look up above them as they spotted a female white bat mobian hovering high above them.
"Just who in the heck are you and how did you get here!?" cried Eggman as the bat flew down onto the bridge behind Eggman.
"Who me? Just someone who can smell opportunity a mile away," said the bat with a wink. "I've been following you're career for some time, doctor. I gotta say this plan has all the makings of actually working."
"That doesn't answer my question!" shouted Eggman.
"Calm yourself doctor. Let's hear what the bat has to say," said Shadow as he walked in their direction.
"Oh...handsome and smart. I like a guy with that kind of combination," said the bat. But Shadow paid no attention to the compliment as he walked up next to Eggman.
"I would use your time to speak to tell us what you want rather than try and flirt with me," said Shadow, narrowing his eyes.
"Right right. I can tell you're not an easy catch, so I'll get to the point," said the bat. "First off, my name's Rouge. I couldn't help but overhear that you're after the Chaos Emeralds to make this little plan of yours work, so I'd like to make a deal with you." With that, she reached into the sack she was carrying and pulled out the gray Chaos Emerald, instantly catching both of her listeners' attention.
"I'm actually something of a jewel fanatic, and this little beauty found its way to me thanks to a few of my contacts. They've told me they know the location of three more Chaos Emeralds. If I give you this one and we retrieve those other three, that would give you six out of seven. And I'm sure my contacts could locate the final one very quickly as well," said Rouge.
"Hmm...You obviously wouldn't make that kind of offer unless you wanted something in return," said Eggman as he crossed his arms while Shadow remained passive.
"Nailed it on the first try Eggy," said Rouge. "All I want is a piece of the prize at the end of the game."
"What makes you think I won't just take that emerald from you and find the others myself? After all, I can sense a Chaos Emerald's general whereabouts fairly easily," said Shadow, finally breaking his silence.
"Really hun, you can do all that?" asked Rouge skeptically. "Alright then. I'll make this deal instead. If you can sense where the three emeralds are that I know of as well as the missing one, I'll gladly hand this one over to you and be on my way."
"And if I can't," asked Shadow.
"If you can't, I join your team hotshot," said Rouge.
"Fine. This shouldn't take long," said Shadow as he closed his eyes and reached out with his sixth sense, trying to detect where on the planet the remaining Chaos Emeralds were at. But as seconds turned into over a minute, he finally opened his eyes as he gritted his teeth in frustration.
"Aw, didn't find them, did ya?" asked Rouge playfully with a cocky smirk on her muzzle.
"As much as I hate admitting it, I can't sense them. Something's blocking their auras," said Shadow, looking severely annoyed with himself.
"Then looks like I'm your new partner, sweetheart. So here's my Chaos Emerald, as promised," she said as she held out the gem towards the two of them. Shadow walked over and took it from her with a nod. "Now that that's settled, let's head back to Eggman's base. I didn't ask where my contacts have found the three emeralds I mentioned earlier, just that they knew where they were. I'll get in touch with them first thing in the morning and we can plan our move."
"That sounds like an excellent idea," said Eggman as he gave a small yawn. "I've been working nonstop to be able to get up here without using my shuttle craft since that'd give away my base's position."
"You have a shuttle in that pyramid?" asked Rouge, looking over at the doctor with surprise.
"It's meant as an escape vessel should Sonic or any of his friends find me there," said Eggman. "One can never be too careful when a base is compromised."
"From the sound of it, this Sonic person's been giving you grief for a long time," said Shadow.
"He has, but I think he's met his match in you Shadow. Not that he should be any concern for the time being, what with the military mistaking him for you," said Eggman.
"Interesting...I met a blue hedgehog just before coming up here that claimed the military was hunting him down for my actions," said Shadow.
"So then you've ran into Sonic already?" asked Eggman.
"It would seem so. But he constitutes no real threat to me. Judging by the way he defeated the walker sent after him and the speed he displayed during both that and trying to catch me, he isn't my equal in the slightest," said Shadow. This caused Eggman to smile widely.
"So that little pincushion has finally met his match in my grandfather's ultimate life form," said Eggman gleefully.
"You mentioned this 'ultimate life form' was yourself Shadow and that it had something to do with a 'Project Shadow' when I was listening in on your conversation with Eggman when you two arrived," said Rouge.
"You are correct, but that's all you need to know. The past is something I try not to dwell on too much. I am only interested in the here and now. And right now we need to collect the Chaos Emeralds," said Shadow.
"Fair enough I suppose," said Rouge, shrugging her shoulders.
"Enough small talk you two. Let's return to the pyramid," said Eggman as he started walking out of the control room, Shadow and Rouge following after him.