S. Kat: Hey guys. It's me.

Amy: Hey, are you okay, S. Kat? You look a little…

S. Kat: Nah, I'm good. I just got a little wake up call saying that I need to make a few changes. I'm good, though. But, I think maybe some little changes are required.

Shadow: Hmm, that's wise of you. If I may…

S. Kat: Not now, Shadow. Here's the disclaimer:

Shadow: …hmph…

Disclaimer: Don't own Sonic and Co. I own Ruby and Leo. That's all.

Chapter 4- A Bee in Need

My eyes slowly opened as I started to wake up. "Unh…" I slightly moved my left arm, making sure I could move. For some reason, my right arm was killing me! It felt really numb. '…must've used Chaos Gunshot too many times…' I stood up slowly, holding my head. "Wh…where am I…?" I heard foot steps coming towards me. "Good. You're awake."

I blinked and turned my head towards the voice. It was Shadow! Wow… he sure was popping up all over the place recently. "Sh…Shadow…? Oh, fancy running into you here—wait a sec! What happened?!" I asked.

"You tried to make an attempt to shoot down that hideous monster, but the Chaos Emerald you had was taken away, you fell and hit your head, and lucky for you, I saved you."

"Oh… thank you, but" I hesitated. "What about the Chaos Emeralds?"

"I got them back, of course," he replied flatly. But there was another question…

"Hey, where the heck are we? Where's Sonic? And Leo?"

Shadow kept silent for a moment. "We're inside one of Doctor Eggman's warehouses. After you were knocked out, Sonic and I took care of the alien while Leo tried to wake you up. But after Sonic and I took care of it…"

"What?" I was getting worried now. "What happened?!"

Shadow leaned up against the wall, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "He was kidnapped by the Black Arms."

I froze.

'What…?'

"Y…" I gulped. "You're lying!!" I shouted. "You have to be!"

Shadow shot me a serious glare. "I am not lying to you." He said with a cold tone. I couldn't believe this…

"Why…why him?! Why, why, why?!" I pulled on my hair. I was in massive panic mode now, and losing my cool wasn't that smart, either. "Why would the aliens want Leo?!"

"Hey…"

"This is all my fault! If I didn't get in the way! I'm so stupid!!"

"Look, girl…"

"I-I've gotta go save him! There's on telling what those things are going to do to—"

"BE QUIET!! NOW!!" He shouted. I shut my mouth and whipped around to look at him with a shocked expression.

"Now listen to me very carefully, girl." He said in a stern, emotionless tone. It's like he was in charge all of a sudden! But, seeing the current position I was in, I guess he really was. "I am sorry that your friend got kidnapped, but I don't have time for any side trips at the moment. I'm on a mission of my own: to collect the Chaos Emeralds."

"The Emeralds?" I asked. "Wait, so that's why asked me to…?"

"Yes." He answered before I finished.

"Why do you want to collect the Chaos Emeralds that badly?"

Shadow hesitated for a moment, then replied, "I need to find the secrets to my past, and I think the Chaos Emeralds are the key."

'Okay, now that makes perfect sense!' I thought, putting it all together. 'But… still, I kind of feel bad for him… that he lost his memories in the first place… poor Shadow. Wait, maybe… I could still help him, at least.'

"Shadow." I began. He stood there and waited for what I had to say. "Please, let me come with you!" I pleaded. Well, that must've caught him off guard; he looked at me as if I was crazy. "Look, I promise I won't get in the way, and plus, it seems to me, you're also trying to find out more on those black aliens, right? So if I can help you, we can find the aliens! You can get your answers out of them with some… persuasion, and I can save Leo and we both win!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

I sighed, defeated. I think that meant a 'no'. "Okay, I guess you don't…"

"Just don't get in my way." He said flatly and started walking.

"Huh?"

"What, are you deaf?" He asked while he was still walking. "C'mon, besides, I highly doubt you can survive in one of Doctor Eggman's bases without being caught…" He mumbled.

"Hey! That's not entirely true! I did just fine when I was up in Space Colony ARK!" I ran up next to him. He looked at me curiously.

"Space Colony ARK??" He asked.

"Wait," I said. We both had stopped walking. "You mean you don't remember that either?"

Shadow didn't look at me for a minute. He looked like he was thinking.

"Man, Sonic wasn't kidding… you really have forgotten everything." There was a brief silence. It was going on for way too long now… I had to lighten it before it got more uncomfortable. "Well, the good thing is that you've got me to help you, and if you have any questions about anything, I'll answer them honestly and truthfully!" I laughed awkwardly.

"Gee, I have the full and total support of a pre-teenage girl with Chaos Powers that she still can't control. I feel so much better now, thanks…" He replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome." I smiled warmly. Shadow gave a 'hmph' and continued to walk.

"By the way, you did say that you would answer all questions I ask you, right?"

"To the best of my ability, yep."

"Fine then, why were you in Space Colony ARK?"

Oops. I nearly forgot. The reason why I was up there was because Shadow kidnapped me! Well, then again, it was partially my fault, because I sort of charged at Shadow just when he was about to use Chaos Control. But I probably wouldn't have, if he didn't steal my picture. No I would have done it anyway, I think. Nah, if Leo could, he would've stopped me—

"Hey!" Woke me up from my 'critical thinking mode.'

"Oh, sorry, um… w-well, uh…" Crud. How was I going to explain this…? 'Oh, yeah, the thing is you hit me and then stole my camera and then you accidentally ended up kidnapping me too! Isn't that funny? Ha ha!' NO. Definitely not. "Erm… you-you see… that's kind of funny, well, ah…" Just then, I noticed the exit. Saved! "Oh, look, the exit!" I said happily and ran for the exit.

"Hey, get back here!" Shadow stomped after me. I final reached a huge metal door, but I was still able to open it. However, the outside was NOT what I imagined…

"Heeeey, Shadow?" I stared onto the landscape, which lied just outside the door. "Um… you said we were in Eggman's base, right?"

"That's what I said." He replied, annoyingly.

I slowly turned towards him. "Um… this doesn't look like a base from out here."

"What?" He pushed past me. "…ah."

It actually looked more like a theme park. No, it WAS a theme park! "Well, this can't get anymore bizarre, now can it?" I mumbled. "Then again, I was wondering when the Doc might try to do something like this…" I stepped out of the little base. The words "Eggman Park" were every where! Typical that the Doc would name a park after himself.

"There's a Chaos Emerald near by…" Shadow stated.

Wow. That was fast. "Oh! Are you sure?" I asked excited.

"Peh. Of course I'm sure. Who do think you're talking to?" He took out his green Chaos Emerald, and as expected, it was slightly glowing. "It's pretty close by. Try to keep up." And he took off.

"What the--? Heeeeey!" I called out. "How am I supposed to keep up with you if I can't run as fast as you?!" Just then, I saw an object being hurled at me. It was moving too fast for me to see what it was, so I ducked. "Woah!" When it landed, I realized it was the purple Chaos Emerald. "Oh." I quickly picked it up. "I see. I'll just catch up to Shadow by using this Chaos Emerald to find the other one." I started to sprint after him.

'When I help Shadow collect all of the Chaos Emeralds, he'll figure out his past, and I'll be able to save Leo! Both of them have saved me before, so now…'

Excitement boiled under my skin as I started to run faster.

'I'm going to return the favor!!'

Meanwhile, with the misfortunate Leo…

"…damn it…"

That just seemed to be Leo's favorite word of the day. Well, what better word would you say if you were stuck in an evil alien's hideout? Of course he tried to break out of his prison, which was some odd orb like object. The glass was a had a dark purple tint and it was suspended over the floor by some red, black, blue and purple goo. However, if he did actually break it (which wasn't so easy because the glass was at least a foot thick) he would be falling a good 20 feet to his death. So, no matter how you looked at it, the odds weren't too good for him. "Damn, damn, damn!" He said as he tried to punch the glass harder. Nothing, not even the tinniest crack. Leo clutched his throbbing hand. "Nng… damn it… the glass is hard!" He sat down, trying to calm down, hopefully the pain would subside.

'Dang it! Why is all of this stuff happening to me? Or rather, Ruby and I. Man, ever since the whole ARK incident, weird things were happening to us, or rather Ruby, and now, I'm the damsel in distress! Just great!'

Leo took a look at his surroundings. 'Where am I, anyway? I thought they'd take me to their ship or something, but this looks like an abandoned base in a jungle. What kind of base though…?'

Just then, two aliens on his lower right blew up a door. Leo flinched and look toward their direction. One of them ran in, while the other stood guard. 'Are those things looking for something?' Leo wondered. He then glanced at some sort of writing on the wall that was covered in vines. He squinted, trying to make out the letters.

"G… U… N…" He murmured. His eyes widened in realization. "G.U.N.!" Now it made a little sense. "So this place used to be a G.U.N. base? Or maybe still is…"

Gunshots could be heard a little away, maybe less than a mile. "And it looks like they're here, too!"

"Silence, you impudent human worm!" One of the aliens hissed. "Otherwise, your demise will be even more severing!"

Leo glared at them. That got him really flared up. He gritted his teeth as they stomped away. 'Grr… I don't know why they even kidnapped me. I mean, what's kidnapping ME going to do for THEM? Well, I can't worry about that now. Right now, those creepos left me alone… time to plot an escape.'

Leo sat down Indian style, crossed his arms and narrowed his mind. Even though he acted like a goofball most of the time, he is actually pretty smart. Unfortunately, there was a faint buzzing noise that was a little distracting to him. And for some reason, it sounded as if it was getting closer.

Buzz…

"…"

BUZZ…!

"…?"

BUZZ—BONK!

"What the-?!" Leo immediately stood up and whipped his head from side to side. Okay, first there was the buzzing, and then a 'bonk'? Leo leaned forward to find something twitching on the ground.

The object sat up and rubbed its head. "Oww… that's hard!" It whined. The 'object' turned out to be a… bee…?

'Wha… a giant bee?' Leo stared at the bee, which was still rubbing his forehead. He had a small orange jacket and a helmet with goggles on them. 'Ah! No, you idiot! He came from Sonic's world! Duh!' Leo tapped on the glass to get the bee's attention. "Hey! Hey you!"

"Huh?" The bee looked around, but didn't see anyone.

'C'mon dude… PLEASE help me out…!' Leo taped harder and shouted louder. "HEY! LOOK UP!!"

"Wha- oh!" The bee stood up and flew to Leo's height. "It's a person in a purple glass jar! Cool!"

"…Hey! I'm being held hostage against my will! That is hardly 'cool', bee boy! How would you like it if YOU were stuck in a jar?!"

The young bee was silent for a moment. Then he quivered. "Eek… yeah, I would really hate that! Oh, you said you were being held hostage??"

Leo nodded. "Yeah, and I need to get out. Can you help me?"

The bee nodded. "Well, sure! But if I help you, could you help me with something?"

"Sure! Anything! Just get me out of here first!"

"Okay! Oh, and before I forget, my name is Charmy Bee! Nice to meet ya!" He said happily.

"Heh, nice name, I guess. I'm Leo Richards. But you can just call me 'Genius'."

"If you were a 'genius' you wouldn't be stuck in that weird looking jar thing above the ground. Ha ha!" Charmy laughed and did a flip in the air.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, enough laughing already, get me out of here!" Leo urged.

"Okay, wait here for second, okay?" And he flew off as fast as he could. Leo watched him as he disappeared.

"Okay… I'll stay here then…" He sat back down. "It's not like I can go anywhere else at the time…"

Fifteen minutes pasted. Charmy didn't come back. And now Leo was in a very annoyed and slightly pissed off mood. 'I can't believe… I trusted that bee… great, now there's no way I'm getting out of…'

"Hey! Leo!" A cheery voice called out.

'Oh. Guess I spoke too soon. Heh. And I was about to doubt him… how silly of me.'

"Heya, Charmy!" Leo got up and waved. "What took you… so… long?" What he saw was unexpected. Charmy was riding some sort of saucer heading right toward him! "ACK! CH-CHARMY!! WATCH OUT! YOU'RE GONNA HIT--"

"Okay, now duck!"

"I really hope you know what you're doing!!!" Leo threw himself down and the saucer cut right through the glass. However… much to out hero's dismay, there was also the problem that he was suspended 20 feet above the ground, and couldn't sprout wings just like that. And thus, gravity here must do it's job.

"CHARMY—I CAN'T FLYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!" Leo screamed as he plummeted to the ground. Or, he would have if not a certain Charmy Bee caught his leg in the nick of time. Leo was only about two feet from the ground. "Whew… thanks Charmy…" Leo sweated.

"N-n-no problem… but," Charmy grunted, "I have to put you down now… you're getting heavy…"

Charmy tried to set Leo down as soft a possible. When they reached the ground, Leo got up and brushed himself off. "Well, thanks again! Not only did you get me out of there, but you also saved my life." Leo held out his fist for Charmy to knuckle him.

"Hey, wasn't that big of a deal!" Charmy did another flip in the air and knuckled Leo. "Well, now that I helped you, you're gonna help me now, right?" He asked eagerly.

"Yeah sure? What do you need?"

"Vector—oh, Vector's my boss. Vector told me that he wants five top secret discs."

"Uh-huh…"

"But, like, what's a 'top secret disc'??"

"…so you don't know what you're looking for then, huh?" Leo groaned.

"No, I know WHAT it is, I just don't know what it looks like!" Charmy retorted.

"Hmm…" Leo thought for a moment. "Let's see how I can put this… uh, they're kind of like CD's, but rather than putting them in a CD player, you put them in a computer. It's usually in some kind of flat, square case, too."

"You mean like that one laying over there?" Charmy pointed outside to a bush.

"Huh?" Leo ran over to the bush and pushed the branches out of the way to find a disc in a blue case. "Wow! That was easier than I thought." Leo grinned.

"Yah-whoo!!" Charmy flew around in the air doing spirals and spins singing, "We got the first one! We got the first one! Only four more to go!" Suddenly Charmy stopped spinning. "Oh yeah! I remember seeing more of those things when I went to get that saucer to help you escape! I think it was in that direction!" Charmy pointed to where the gun shots could be heard. Not good…

Leo froze. "H-hold on… you mean where G.U.N. and those aliens are duking it out…?"

"Yeah." Charmy nodded.

"…" Leo pivoted and ran to the door the aliens blew up.

"Hey!" Charmy whined. "Where ya goin'?? I thought you were going to help me!"

"Chill, Charmy. I am going to help you out. I just need some equipment." Leo flicked the light switch. Luckily it still worked. Inside the room, were almost any weapon and gun you could have imagined. Charmy peaked into the room. "Whoa-ho! Check out all of this stuff!" Leo rubbed his hands together, greedily. "Oooooh yeah! Now this is what I call jackpot! Cha-ching!" As he grabbed every weapon he could find one by one… but while he was doing this he thought to himself,

'Ruby, I know you're worried about me, but don't worry. If I help out this bee, I think I might have a better chance at finding you!'

His eyes then landed on what appeared to be a machine gun.

Ruby: Ooookay. Now I'm officially scared… Leo… holding a gun…

Leo: (shakes head) Tsk, tsk, tsk! You have little confidence in your life long friend, Miz Zorro. (towards audience) Kids, don't try this at home! No, seriously. DON'T! I'm only able to do this because one: I have experience from when I went to the G.U.N. bases with Ruby. And two: this is a fanfic, so it's not really true.

S. Kat: Thank you for that statement, Leo. Anyway, people, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE R&R!!!! And make sure they're nice. If it's not, you're getting blocked. Sorry folks, don't hate me, I have my reasons. Anywho, hoped you enjoyed this chapter. 'Til next time, LATER PEOPLES!!