a/n: On to the next one. As always, enjoy and thanks for the support.

"Little bit tricky…"

Sonic placed one hand in front of himself as he shot forward, bracing for impact.

"But I think I'll just improvise this time."

The fireball hit his right hand, and he could feel it starting to burn quickly. Gritting his teeth, he put his plan into motion.

"Chaos Control!"

The fireball was pulled into his hand, sucked up like dirt into a vacuum cleaner. He spun quickly and aimed his left hand at the dragon, currents of wind swirling violently around it. He hadn't done this in a while, and not from this position, either…but this wasn't the time to second guess himself.

"Sonic Wind!" Stifling more pain, a burning vortex of wind shot out from his hand and slammed into the dragon, sending it reeling for a moment. Still thinking quickly, Sonic pushed energy into the bottoms of his sneakers, lighting them up before shooting forward at light-speed and landing on the dragon's head. He slammed his left hand into the dragon's head and heard it roar in pain, the purifying power reaching through its hide. A wave of flame washed over the dragon's body, forcing Sonic to jump off towards a tall spire of earth and roll down to the ground below.

"Better than I expected," he grumbled as he uncurled from his roll. The gamble had paid off, since his right hand hadn't taken too much damage and his left was slowly healing itself – the key word being slowly. He wasn't keen on using his hands for any extended amount of time, but that in itself – time – was the issue. Had he been here alone, he could very well stall. But he wasn't – he had Kiriko to tend to. And every moment he was fighting was another moment that she was possibly in pain.

That wouldn't do at all. He had to hurry, like it or not.

The issue was that he didn't have anything to beat the dragon with…not anything conventional, and while that hadn't stopped him before, he was having trouble since his opponent was constantly keeping at range and had an active defence that could keep him at bay. He would exploit Chaos Control in any other situation, but the heat and ash were sapping his energies.

Still sweating, he cursed his luck for a moment as he took off to avoid the rising pillars of molten rock chasing him. Did his abilities include the power to reverse the direction of the wind so that it would flow towards him? The books hadn't said, and he hadn't had an opportunity to test that theory out like he had with the power of his left hand.

"Something I can use…"

There wasn't much he could think of that was useful: fire, fire, molten rocks in various states, lava, more fire…

He couldn't use his blade around all of this heat, either…or…

"Steel sharpens steel…"

Why did that come to him all of a sudden? The dragon was still meandering about in the sky, and the flames were still around him. He stopped as the pillars stopped chasing him.

"Steel…sharpens steel…"

At a million miles per second, Sonic's brain went to work. Since he hadn't been able to run much, he resorted to reading and studying in most of his spare time. First out of boredom, then a general desire for knowledge.

It was there in the library that he met her, the one who had given him that name.

"You seem just like the legends say…I believe you're destined for great things once you leave this place, Sonic."

"Legends? What legends?"

"You will know in time, as I don't know everything myself. But I hope that you can help us soon."

"You said that I'm getting out of here? That's not possible, I'm…"

"Trust me…you'll be set free soon enough." She started to walk away.

"Wait! At least tell me your name," he said. She smiled and turned to him, dark blue hair swirling around her.

"As you wish, O God of Wind…my name is…"

His eyes snapped open, and he dodged a fireball that came down from above him. The words still rang in his head, all of the knowledge from the past five years rushing through his head until he came up with something.

He'd have to end it now, starting with this next move.

Sonic drew his sword, pushing violent currents of wind through the blade as he raced towards the Red Dragon once more.

"You're sure that you don't want me to take care of that for you?"

"I'm fine, Rouge. Thanks for the offer."

Shadow the Hedgehog was currently finishing paperwork at one of the local Station Square Police Department precincts. His friend and G.U.N colleague, Rouge the Bat, was looking at her nails as she sat on the edge of his desk.

"I'm just worried that it might take a while. You always were a perfectionist, Shadow."

"Hm," was all that she got in reply, and she sighed. Apparently, not very much had changed in five years, although she felt that she understood him now more than she did back then. And although a bit unnerving…he seemed to have figured her out as well. He sometimes knew things that she didn't know about herself.

Seeing as he was the Ultimate Life and her close friend, however, she didn't mind too much. At times, she welcomed the help…shopping was always fun with him around, she thought with a smile.

"You coming to the mall with me tomorrow?"

"What time?"

"Around three. I want to get something stylish for the event coming up."

"Move it down an hour. I've got security detail on the north side."

"Again?"

"It's of interest to me, Rouge. I don't do this for the paycheque," he said while rising from his desk. "I'm done. Ready?"

"Born ready, babe," she said playfully. "We gonna eat first?"

"Yeah. Might head downtown afterwards and get that new cable for the mixer…what's on the list for tonight?" he asked while cracking his neck.

"Top 40." The black hedgehog groaned at the answer. "I know, I know…but you know it, Shaddie, whatever brings the money in."

"Tch. I suppose…no choice if you're in it for the profit," he mused out loud. She placed a hand on his shoulder as they walked down the precinct steps.

"Friday, you run the booth all night in exchange."

"And if someone requests Black and Yellow again?" he asked.

She smiled. "Tell 'em to jump a cliff." Shadow allowed himself a small smile at that.

"Sounds fair. You've got a deal."

"Good. Now, where should we grab a bite?" Rouge started to walk forward before realizing that Shadow wasn't beside her. "Shadow? What's up?"

"…Don't know." He signalled her silently, and she nodded in reply, rounding the next corner that she saw before flying onto the roof above. Crossing it silently, she used her ears to pick up the sounds coming from the nearby alley. The phone in her pocket vibrated just then, and she picked it up.

"Area's clear. Just watch your back; we need to keep this on the low. Someone wanted to see us."

Rouge shoved her phone back and dropped into the alleyway without a sound, landing beside Shadow and a certain purple chameleon.

"Espio? You couldn't just call us?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

"G.U.N and police phone lines aren't the safest place to exchange classified information."

Rouge nodded at that. He did have a point – and that reminded her to thank that cute fox-boy for the secure line he set up between herself, Shadow, and Omega. She had been wary of her superiors regarding Shadow for the longest time, and it would be a cold day in hell before she let any harm come to him because of their actions.

"Classified? Like how?"

"Sonic came to us one day while on his temporary stint. He asked me personally to keep watch for any…abnormalities...regarding his girlfriend Amy Rose. He told me that cost was not an issue, but I told him the same thing."

"Pro bono, eh?"

"After what he has survived, it is the least I can do for such an honourable man."

"Did you find anything?" Rouge asked.

"It disturbed me at first, because I found nothing. Then one thing led to another, and I believe that I have uncovered something…something that we are not supposed to know about. Your organization is very, very interested in what Amy Rose does with her time, but I'm sure that it's not because she's the main subject."

"Sonic…" Shadow concluded. "Is it related to the time he served in prison?"

"That's what bothers me. It has nothing to do with it, but several international organizations have been contacted and told the opposite. They are actively watching his movements because of his time served."

"Hold up, where'd you-"

"Tails," Espio and Shadow answered simultaneously. The former continued. "He said that it was child's play to obtain the files since he works in proximity with both the Department of Defense and G.U.N on certain projects. I asked him to find out what he could about these events."

"Clever boy," Rouge said with a smile.

"Indeed. The only information he couldn't obtain was the reason for the investigation in the first place…but he did find out that a certain someone was one of the people involved. Doctor Ivo Robotnik."

"Also known as…" Rouge started.

"…Eggman," Shadow finished. "We need to talk to him at some point. Although…I'm not certain that he even knows the full story himself."

"I think we can settle for the info that we'll get," Rouge concluded. "If anything, it'll get us closer to the truth."

"Agreed."

"I will continue my surveillance and maintain contact with Tails," Espio said.

"It's just our little party, I presume?" Rouge asked.

The chameleon nodded. "Not even Miss Rose is to know, unfortunate as that is. I fear that something sinister is on the horizon…"

Shadow nodded. "I feel it as well. Take care, Espio."

"I wish safety upon you as well, Shadow." He bowed towards the two before leaving silently. Rouge sighed and looked over at her friend.

"We're in deep again…"

"Yeah. And this time, we can't trust our own government at all."

"What do we do, Shadow?"

"We put our faith in each other," he said as he walked off. "As we always have."

Rouge nodded and followed him back onto the streets. "I guess we can talk over dinner?"

He shook his head. "Not about this. Tomorrow is a new day, Rouge. Let the news settle until then."

Knowing that her friend always gave sound advice, Rouge took it to heart and let the matter rest for the time being. The two walked side by side as the sun started to set over Station Square.