Sonic grinned at the Shadows glare. The other only seemed to narrow his eyes. He knew Rouge, Tails, and the green stranger (Why did he seem familiar?) were standing there patiently. Even if he wanted to fight against Shadow all day, now was not the time. He needed to stop egghead. Shadow abruptly straightened up, turning to face the others.

"We need to deal with Eggman." Shadow looked back at Sonic, who blinked a bit confused.

"I know that," Sonic looked around, "but no eggbots around here!"

"Not here, doesn't mean not around the island." the green hedgehog said, gray eyes looking straight at Shadow, "And just because the rest of your friends that I've heard are holding them back, doesn't mean that they'll keep them back."

He pointed to an area.

"There's a ship over there, and a lot of scattered robots around."

"How do you know about that?" Tails ended up asking.

"I do-" He started, but Shadow cut him off.

"Shade just knows. I want this to stop so I can head off home." Shadow glared. "I'm going to the ship."

Sonic stared. "You're not going on without me!"

Shadow just ignored him and raced to were Shade had pointed.

"Wai-" Sonic frowned and looked at the rest of them.

Shade raised his hands defensively, Rouge shrugged, and Tails looked down. Great.

"I'm going after him, can you guys just help my other friends here?"

Really, he didn't wait for a answer, he ran straight for the trees. He didn't quite know where he was going. He hoped they listened to him and went to find Amy and Knuckles. They were going to need all the help. The trees were a blur and he didn't notice a huge ship around...

"Faker!" Immediately Sonic skidded to a stop.

A curse followed shortly after, and suddenly Sonic was shoved into bushes.

"Idiot, you were headed straight for the ship," Sonic looked up to see the deathly glare of Shadow.

"Aren't we suppose to go in the direction of the ship?" Sonic remarked, brushing himself off ready to take off again.

"Yes, but right now if you want to be a target for about 200 robots be my guest," Shadow deadpanned, motioning for Sonic to come closer and pointing to his left. "Look over there."

Sonic did what he said and almost let his jaw drop. There was millions of robots marching down the metal stairs of the ship. The ship was still floating a bit off the ground. It was no mistake that it was Eggman's as his logo was smack on the middle of the side. Yes, Sonic dealt with these robots a lot, and they were not much of a bother... But he had only went head on with a few at a time, never this much!

"Okay," Sonic nervously said, "What are we gonna do now?"

"I have no idea... If Shade were here it would have been no problem really," Shadow shrugged, seeming almost bored. "The best bet we have is me going down there and blasting them."

"Uh yeah, how 'bout no?" Sonic rested his hands on his hips. "And I know we are both fast but there are many of them! One of them is bound to hit us!"

"You could get killed. I will not." Shadow crossed his arms. "Ultimate Life-form remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. And what do you mean if Shade were here it would be no problem? Don't think I can handle it?" Sonic asked.

"I'm not saying that," Shadow looked away, shocking Sonic a bit at how soft his voice was. "Shade can control electricity. These robots are controlled by it. He can fry their systems."

"How do you know so much about Shade anyway? I've never seen him around here before." Sonic said, tilting his head to the side. "Plus, he seems familiar."

"Now is not the time for that." Shadow's voice turned harsh again. "I'll go and be the distraction, chaos blast a few of them. You run into the ship when you can and see if you can get it off the damned island."

"Are you sure you can handle that?"

"Yes," Shadow rolled his eyes then yet again took off.

"Okay so what are we going to do now!?" Shade turned to the fox kid who struggled to keep robots off the alter.

"Keep the robots off?" Shade couldn't help but sarcastically say.

"Oh!" Shade turned to look at Rouge who was knocked over. "Not a way to handle a lady!"

The robots had suddenly swarmed a few minutes after Shadow and Sonic left. Shade had not been able to sense them until now... And they seemed to be all around them. He took a deep breath. He was here, might as well help. Closing his eyes, he brought his hands close to his chest, imagining all of the electricity flowing into his hands from the robots.A collected gasps from the two others reassured that it worked.

But not all the way, Shade growled in his head. Some of them were just too far away. At least now he felt energized.

"How did you do that?" Tails asked looking at him with curiosity mixed with uncertainty.

Shade shrugged. "No time to explain kid, there's still plenty more on the way."

"Knuxs better get here soon! And I still want answers!" Rouge flapped her wings glowering at him.

"That's not up to me." Shade smirked, "And who is 'Knuxs'?"

"The echidna that is suppose to be guarding the Master Emerald in the first place!" She pointed at the green glowing rock.

Master Emerald...? Shade looked at it confused. It was sending out blasts of chaos energy, but he never took notice that this big rock was the source. He had just thought that maybe Shadow had an emerald with him. Shade stepped closer reaching out to touch it.

"HANDS OFF!"

Shade barely had time to yelp as he felt someone roughly grab him by his quill and pull him away. He struggled free and turned around to see a red echidna, glaring daggers at him. Both his hands were up and Shade took notice of two spikes jutting out where knuckles would be on both of his hands.

"I guess your Knuxs?" Shade chuckled nervously, side stepping away.

"Knuckles. Who are you? I've never seen you around here before."

"Shade... I'm friends with Shadow," Shade gave a small smile. The guy was strong, Shade could sense that, but also he had a feeling that he should not mess around with this guy.

"Friends with Shadow? Excu-?"

"I thought Amy was with you?" Rouge interrupted.

"She was." Knuckles sighed and threw his hands up. "Then she said that she could sense Sonic nearby and that he needed her help. Then she ran away without another word"

"Oh great she's in the danger zone!" Shade growled. "If you didn't know, there is a huge ship on the island and is unloading a bunch of robots."

"WHAT!?"

Shade jumped back and noticed that Tails had hid slightly behind him. Rouge, however, rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"Shadow and Sonic are finishing the job right now."

"Oh great..."

"THIS DID NOT GO AS PLANNED!" Sonic yelled as he dodged another missile, spindashing into another robot.

He had did what he was told. Waited out at the spot for Shadow to draw away the robots and waited for a clearing straight into the ship. The clearing was made and the hundreds (not really) of robots were chasing and firing at Shadow. He readied himself and waited a bit longer... Than he took off...

Into a trap.

Sonic had made it into the ship, but as soon as he did he heard Eggman's laughter over an intercom.

"Hello blue rat! Think you can find me?"

"I am a HEDGEHOG! Jeez how many times do I have to say that to my many enemies!" Sonic yelled, shaking his head.

He took off again, zooming from one place to another seeing if he could find where they powered the ship. Then the robots came and basically shoved Sonic into a corner.

Sonic dodged, sprinted, and taunted but no matter what he couldn't escape. And, he was beginning to become very worn out. He had not gotten enough sleep and the matter of the mission he was given to by G.U.N. had stressed him out enough for the past week. Oh, but no Eggman had to show up again and waste more of his time when he could have been finding leads! He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to fight. Relief took hold of him when he heard a familiar voice shout out two words and for the explosion that sent some of the robots flying.

"Are you okay?" Again the softness of Shadows voice made Sonics heart do a little flutter.

"Yeah, just tired," Sonic forced himself to smile.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "You can go run back, I can deal with this."

"So you could have all the fun without me? Heck no!" Sonic shakily stood up. "Let's go!"

Shadow sighed but didn't say another word as he explained that he had seen where the central power was. But also that Eggman was somewhere in here waiting around with a new robot of his.

"This will be easy! Piece of cake just like always"

"You look like you would faint at any given moment," Shadow muttered, "Again you could go back and see if everyone is fine."

"Or just deal with the cause of the problem so they don't have to worry anymore themselves." Sonic's lip twitched. "Shade's there and if what you said earlier was correct, they are in good hands. Although I really want to learn more about Shade. He does look like you."

"Don't worry about it!" Shadow growled.

Unbeknownst to Sonic, Shadow was also running thin on energy. He was so tired and he had been fighting longer than Sonic has. His chaos energy was running out too. Shadow had to move quickly.

"This way." Shadow pointed and Sonic nodded.

They both ran, fighting a bit more robots, but it seemed that they were thinning out now. That was a good sign. Sonic and Shadow reached the area and they were not very surprised to see Eggman cackling away on a spider robot. The evil so pre-claimed doctor went on explaining what he was had planned to do with the Master Emerald once he gets it. They didn't waste time hearing the full plan and went on attacking.

"Well, hey they seem to be wearing out!" Tails exclaimed, flying up on his twin tails, scanning from the skies.

"Yeah, I can barely sense them." Shade tilted his head.

"Wow you are pretty good at fighting." Knuckles nodded to Shade.

"You learn how to when you have crazy friends," Shade shrugged with a smile on his face.

"Well I think anyone who is friends with Shadow would know how to fight so they can protect themselves." Knuckles murmured under his breath, but Shade could still hear it.

"He is not bad," Shade's tone darkened as he glared, "We both have reasons here."

Before Knuckles could reply, something came bounding up the stairs. Rouge appeared, holding a pink hedgehog in her grasp, who seemed to not be happy with the situation she was in.

" I was so close to finding Sonic!" She hmphed, looking away with a pout.

"And I guess that's Amy?" Shade asked although he figured he already knew the answer.

"Yes and she was so close to the ship," Rouge took a deep breath. "A lot less robots, and I heard a crap ton of explosions I guess those two boys are doing there job."

"Way more than our job!" A voice made everyone jump and a blue blur crossed their visions.

"We finished it," Another voice said.

Shade looked to see Shadow walking out going to stand next to Sonic. He raised a brow at this. However he couldn't help but feel happy about it. But he kept his smile hidden as Shadow looked over to him.

"Well that's good to hear!" Amy cheered, running up to Sonic and wrapping her arms around the blue hedgehog's neck.

Shade could feel the sudden anger from Shadow. He shockingly looked toward Shadow.

She's annoying. A voice said, ringing out in his mind.

Shade bit his bottom lip.

Yeah, that's the problem. Shade sarcastically thought, earning a questionable look from Shadow.

"Oh so good to be back at home!" Sonic sighed in relaxation, kicking off his shoes and falling into his bed.

Him and the others had a short celebration before they all went home, about everyone tired as he was. Knuckles of course stayed, Rouge and Shadow left, dragging Shade with them. Amy went with Sonic and Tails, using his plane and dropping Amy at her house before coming home. (Even though she wanted to stay with Sonic for the night.) He was a bit curious at the look Shade gave him before he left though. Eh, whatever. He could think about this all in the morning after a good nights sleep.

And then beeping happened, making Sonic curse quite loudly, which was very uncharacteristic of him. Sonic looked over tiredly wondering what was making that horrid beeping noise. It wasn't his clock... The time said 4 A.M. it usually woke him up at 6. But he planned on sleeping in. That was when in hit him. His watch! Sonic dived at his dresser at the other watch the commander gave him as back up. It beeped uncontrollably meaning someone was trying to contact him.

"Hello?" Sonic answered.

"There you are! You better be lucky you answered. We will not hesitate to kidnap that fox again as leverage. Have your watch on you at all times. And do NOT hang up on me again. This happens again we will do it. And we won't give him back until I see it fit. Got it?"

"But Eggma-"

"Got it!?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, I want you in tomorrow morning. We have more news."