The sun was just beginning to tint the sky by the time that Rouge made it back to her own doorstep. It had been an eventful night but definitely one well spent and she could hardly wait to put the new gems she had acquired in her room with her other treasures. In fact, she had just gotten her hand on the doorknob when an explosion made her entire club shake and knocked her on her ass. A blue hedgehog-shaped blur rocketed out of one of her second story windows, shattering the glass in the process, and sped off down the hill at a breakneck pace. Rouge blinked, but before she could even begin to comprehend what she was seeing, another movement caught her eye.

Shadow was hanging out of the window frame, Chaos fire burning bright in his hands and an enraged look in his eyes. "GET BACK HERE, FAKER!" he screamed, and then he was taking off after what she assumed to be Sonic. A second later both figures had disappeared over the horizon and Rouge was left staring after them, eyes wide.

"…what-"she started but a shrill ringing cut her off before she could finish her sentence and she went inside to pick up the telephone. "Hello?" she asked numbly and there was a sigh of relief on the other end of the line.

"Shadow," the voice said. It sounded like Tails. "I've been trying to reach you for at least an hour. Sonic's escaped!"

It said a lot about Rouge that she was able to take such information in stride. "It's Rouge, honey. I got back to my club just in time to see Sonic and Shadow bust out of my window and race down the hillside to do Chaos knows what, so if you could start from the beginning that would be great."

Then she got herself some food and made herself comfortable. This was no doubt going to be a long story.

Eggman was livid. Not only had his corruption ray not worked but he had also been left high and dry by the hedgehog for the second time that day alone.

He must be losing his edge.

Irritated, he stomped across his evil living room, back and forth, ranting and raving at the top of his lungs. Orbot and Cubot stood to the side, hovering anxiously but knowing better than to try to speak up when their master was working himself into a tantrum. They had learned their lesson the last time after Cubot had attempted to step in and been temporarily turned into a trash receptacle for his efforts.

"And where does he get off thinking that he can treat me like this?! That overgrown rodent- after all the time I spent on making that corruption ray just for him, he has the gall to not only not follow my explicit commands but to also take off the tracker I had so cleverly installed. It's probably lying in a ditch somewhere gathering dust – that is if the little blue hairball didn't completely destroy it. Clumsy oaf." He grumbled, pacing the floor. Just thinking about it made him furious. If he ever saw that hedgehog again, he'd-

Before he could finish that thought, said hedgehog came bursting in through a set of sliding doors. Eggman stared at him for a second and then rounded on his robot minions.

"Really?!" he shouted. "Neither of you thought to revoke Sonic's access after he ran off and proved he wasn't actually corrupted?!"

The robots looked at each other but wisely refrained from pointing out that Eggman hadn't thought of it either. That would get them nowhere. Besides, the evil genius had already forgotten about them, turning to once more face his arch-nemesis.

"Stop right there, hedgehog," he declared, "don't think you can trick me so easily this time." He whipped his wristwatch up to his face and jammed his finger on the button, immediately summoning a plethora of badniks to his side. They crowded around Sonic menacingly but the hedgehog barely paid them a passing glance. He was concentrating on searching the room, his sharp gaze flicking from object to object before he darted from the room and down the hallway.

"Robots ATTACK!" Eggman shouted. Or at least, that's what he was going to shout before Sonic sped back into the room and cut his command short.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Egghead," Sonic mused and Eggman faltered. He had expected there to be a chase, fight, and rousing victory in his favor – in that order – but he masked his disgruntlement and instead mustered up as much attitude as possible.

"Oh yeah? And why's that?" he asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently.

"Well, there's currently another hedgehog trying to get through your defenses at this very moment and you'll need every one of those robots pretty soon," Sonic replied casually, examining his nails. "Oh, and he's a little cranky," he added, almost as an afterthought.

Eggman was about to protest and tell Sonic he was obviously mistaken – that there was no one trying to get through his security because if there were then he would know about it – when red lights and flashing sirens suddenly started going off all around him. Beside him, his security control panel automatically lit up and pulled up a picture of the camera that had the best view of the situation.

Cranky was an understatement.

Shadow was currently seconds away from hitting the lair at supersonic speeds and, even though he was moving incredibly fast, the camera could still pick up, in incredible detail, the color of the Chaos energy gathering around his hands and the wild gleam in his eye that promised death for everyone and everything in his path.

Eggman could feel all the blood draining out of his face.

"Told ya," Sonic chirped behind him and the villain whirled around to face him, officially in panic mode.

"Why did you lead him here you stupid rodent?!" he wailed as he made a run for the door. Beyond was an escape pod; at the very least he could get out of this whole predicament alive. Then Sonic stepped smoothly into his path, effectively blocking off his only exit and bringing the doctor to an abrupt stop.

"Where do you think you're going?" the hedgehog asked, the pleasant smile still plastered on his face. Eggman reeled back. That look was starting to get really creepy and he took an involuntary step back as Sonic began to advance on him and crowd him back into the main room.

"Where do you think, I'm getting out of here!" he said but Sonic only shook his head at him.

"I can't let you do that until I get what I came here for," the hedgehog said calmly, his hands crossed over his chest. Eggman stared at the hero like he had grown another head, then snarled at him, completely prepared to tell him off when there was a deafening boom and the entire lair shook. Dust and plaster floated down from the ceiling and the doctor shrieked, hands creeping up to press against his trembling mustache. The hedgehog, however, could have been channel surfing on his couch back home, he was so relaxed.

"Alright already, what do you want?!" Eggman finally cried after a second boom sent a giant, spidery crack radiating out from the middle of the north wall.

Sonic nodded, satisfied. "I need to see all of the cages you have," he said and the doctor nodded feverishly.

"Yes, yes, alright" he quickly agreed but the hedgehog held out a hand to stop the evil genius before he could rise.

"And," he continued, "I need for you to show me how to use one of them." The doctor shot him a pleading look but Sonic was unrelenting and he finally gave a frustrated sigh.

"Alright, alright, fine," he muttered. The stupid hedgehog was risking both of their lives by forcing them to stay in this doomed lair for any longer than absolutely necessary, but if it would allow him to finally get in his escape pod and out of immediate danger then he was all for it.

The pair made their way down a hallway and passed a series of doors, the booming noises getting slightly softer as they walked farther and farther away but still loud enough to have Eggman's heart hammering in his chest. Finally they arrived and Sonic was pleased to see that the containment room was only a short distance away from the main room.

Eggman pushed a button and the doors slid open to reveal a plethora of chains, cages, force fields, and the like, all pushed back against the walls and set up on wheels so that any one of them could be moved out of the room on a moment's notice. Sonic smiled and began to peruse the selection as Eggman fidgeted alongside him, shooting occasional glances back in the direction of the escape pod. The boom's from before hadn't ceased and he was positive that Shadow was only a couple more Chaos Blasts away from breaking into his main room.

Eggman swallowed.

"Aren't you done yet?" he growled but Sonic was barely paying attention to him anymore, so caught up was he in the variety of contraptions in front of him. But even so, he could hear the booms as well and he knew he had to make a decision fast. His eyes flicked from cage to cage, trying to determine which one would work best for his plan, and then finally settled on the perfect unit.

"That one," he said, pointing to the far corner and the doctor followed his gaze and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally he would be out of this mess and in relative safety soon enough.

"Alright hedgehog, listen carefully."