A/N: Hello everyone. Guess who's back?

Sword: Hi!

Pen: That was a short vacation.

Sword: Yeah. That's because I learned something. Never use people's cars in the parking lot as a ramp for a team of sled dogs you recently shaved in front of everyone in a hotel.

...Uh, anyway, here's the next chapter. As usual, I only own Gauge and the plot. Everyone else is owned by Sega.

Sword: And never put teabags in the toilet. They don't taste like tea afterwards.

Pen:...You're an idiot.

Chapter 10-You'll Pay For That

Silver picked up two of the robots with his telekinesis and smashed them together as if they were a pair of life-size action figures. Dodging another one that reached for him, Silver took note of their present situation and gulped. There were more of the praying mantis droids than before and more kept coming.

"Geez! How many are there?" Silver wondered aloud as he jumped back from a blade.

Blaze was exhausting herself, throwing fireball after fireball. When several jumped at her, she concentrated her power on them, turning her hands into a flamethrower of sorts and roasting the robots to a crisp. They fell down, their circuitry buzzing and snapping with sparks.

Silver was about to comment on her kill before three unseen droids sliced him across the stomach. He cried out from the deep wounds, alerting Blaze to his pain. "Silver!" she shouted in a panicked voice

He fell to the ground and his vision began to blur. He could barely make Blaze hovering over him or hear the robots closing in over his oncoming headache. Looking down his body, he could see his gloves coated in red as he covered the wounds. He felt something warm against his cheek. A hand. Blaze's hand rubbing his cheek. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I don't know," Silver replied in a quivering voice. "My eyes," he paused, looking around for a few seconds. "Everything's a blur."

Blaze's own voice became shakey and ragged. She blinked rapidly, not caring that the robots were merely a few feet away. "Don't you die on me," she whispered.

Silver looked up at her, or what he could see of her. He nodded and felt something wet on his cheek. He touched it and wondered if it was raining.

Blaze wiped her nose on her sleeve and choked on her threatening sobs. She had to keep telling herself over and over that Silver would be fine. If only to keep her own sanity. Removing her hands, she suddenly looked up at the robots, who were poised to strike. The princess' hate-filled eyes were nearly aflame and her hands held flames in them.

She stood up and blasted away a few robots in front of her. She rounded on the rest as she breathed deeply before speaking. "You'll pay for that."

Shadow ducked and dodged the swings, letting the droids failed attacks slice the air with a muffled whoosh. Each time though, his injuries would sting and he would grimace, holding himself back from showing any sort of pain.

He kicked one into a wall and once agains, used his Chaos Spear on two of the robots. The one that flew into the wall was soon joined by the last robot and Shadow stomped on them until he could no longer hear their internal machinary whirring.

The ebony hedgehog's ears twitched when he heard clapping. Faint clapping and a chuckle to accompany it. He turned, but nobody was around. He then heard Nega's voice. "Bravo. You know, I had actually designed those using some dna from Sonic's blood." Nega sighed. "I guess it wasn't enough."

Shadow snarled and glared at the door as if trying to burn a hole through it. "I'll come after you next."

"Well allow me to make it easier for you." The door slid up and bright sunlight poured into the dark hallway. Shadow shielded his eyes and cautiously entered the helm.

Several droids froze and looked up at their boss, who sat in a chair at a control panel. Nega waved them off and they resumed their duties. The balding man spun around in his chair with a sickly smile on his face. "Ah, Shadow. Welcome." He turned back to the control panel. "If you had told me you had one of my emeralds, I would have gladly opened the door."

Shadow took in the scene around him, surveying for some trap of any kind. Yet all he saw were little robots running to and fro around him, operating the various machines that Shadow could only guess ran the ship. But his head snapped back to Nega when he heard his comment. "Your emerald?"

"Yes, my emerald," Nega replied. "I have quite a collection for myself now. So nice of you to bring another one to me."

Shadow growled, but noticed the sea outside the window. His eyes widened slightly and he walked over, looking for any sign of land. "Wait. Why-"

"Are we not at the island?" Nega finished for him. "Simple. I already retrieved the emeralds from there. And I can come back to salvage my opponent's emeralds once G.U.N. has taken him down."

"So then where is this ship heading?"

"The G.U.N. headquarters of course." Shadow spun around while Nega busied himself with some controls. "With most of their forces gone, it's the perfect time to snatch their emeralds."

"I won't let you," Shadow stated firmly, running over to Nega and grabbing him by the collar.

Nega gave a short chuckle as he stared into Shadow's determined face. Soon, he had burst into a laughing fit and came close to tears. All the robots once again froze, asking him if he was fine. Yet these were lost among the laughter, which was grating on Shadow's nerve.

"What the hell is so funny?" the hedgehog asked, giving Nega a quick shake to jolt him out of it.

Nega calmed down and took off his glasses, wiping his beady eyes. "I'll tell you what's funny. That you believe you can stop me."

Shadow roughly pulled the old man closer, pressing his nose into his face. "Who says I can't? I could kill you right now if I wanted."

"And then the precious emeralds you so desperately want would be gone?" Nega retorted. His lip curled into a nasty grin. "They could be on any of my ships and I've rigged each ship to explode if something should happen to me."

Shadow glanced to his sides, seeing the ships flying along the flagship. He weighed his options, wondering if the mad doctor was bluffing or if he was serious about it. "Yes, feel like going for a swim to look for them?" Nega asked.

Shadow growled. "I can still keep you from doing anything to G.U.N.," he answered.

"True," Nega paused, "but who's going to keep me from doing anything to your partner?"

A door off to the side opened and Shadow looked up quickly. He did a double take when he saw four of the repear robots enter, with a white bat walking between them. Two of them had their blades to her throat while the other two had already stabbed holes into her wings and rested the gleaming blades there. Her face was sliced and slightly bruised, but for the most part, Rouge seemed to be fine.

"Rouge!" Shadow immediately lept off the doctor and ran for her, but stopped when one of the bug-like robots lifted it's blade closer to her neck, making a slight cut.

"Ah, ah, ah," Nega chatised Shadow as if he were a child that had done something wrong. "Any bravado done will be at her own expense." Nega nodded at the robots. One of the droids with it's blade in her wing cut downward, making the hold larger. Rouge yelled out in agony, kicking at the offending robot, but missing and falling to her knees.

Shadow whirled around, anger of an unbelievable level written on his face. He could barely restrain himself from attacking Nega and beating him to death with the emerald he had tucked in his quills. "Let her go," he said. His voice was full of hate, but barely above a whisper.

"No, but I propose a trade," Nega offered. Shadow seemed to visibly relax ever so slightly so Nega continued. "You for her."

Shadow glanced back to her. The other robot was now joining in the tearing of her wings and it was too much for Rouge to bear. She cried out in pain, forcing Shadow to look away. "Fine," he murmured.

Nega walked over to him and held out his hand. "I'll also be taking your Chaos Emerald."

Shadow frowned, but handed it over. Several robots rushed up and grabbed Shadow while Nega pressed a nearby button. A panel in the floor slid open and the robots shoved Shadow into it.

To Shadow's surprise, the hole was quite deep. He tumbled and slammed against the walls before finally falling into a dimly lit and empty room. The lambent lamp above that gave the only source of light swayed back and forth silently like a pendulum. Shadow pushed himself off the floor and immediately looked for a way out.

In the far corner of the ceiling, a television flickered on, filling up with Nega's face. "Enjoying your accomadations?"

Shadow growled and tried to jump for the television to smash it. Before he could, he was zapped by an unseen turret that came out of the wall. After he fell down again, the turret retreated back into the wall while Nega cackled. "If I were you, I wouldn't exert myself too much. You'll need that energy later for my experiments."

The hedgehog stood up shakily, trying to shrug off the tingling sensations running through his veins. "What experiments?"

"Well I had originally planned to capture that infernal Sonic to find a way to make my Reapers faster," Nega explained. "But you'll do just fine."

Shadow could still see Rouge being held by the Reapers behind Nega. He pointed an accusing finger at the doctor. "You said you'd let her go!" he shouted.

Nega nodded, stroking his mustache. His beady eyes held a dangerous glint to them as he turned to the robots. "Yes, I did. And I'll make good on that." He pressed a button nearby and another floor panel slid open. The robots ripped Rouge's wings some more and knocked her out before throwing her in it.

"And there she goes," Nega smiled, turning back to Shadow. "I've held up my end of the bargain. She's off the ship."

Shadow almost relaxed before an thought flashed through his mind. They were still over the water. And there was no way that Rouge could fly away with her wings in such a state. "You bastard!" he yelled as he jumped for the screen again and was once more put down.

Nega laughed heartily at Shadow. "Yes, I do believe the little bat's flight will end," he put his glasses back on, "with a splash."

"Man, this thing seems to give off loads of power," Gauge said to Tails. He held up the Chaos Emerald Knuckles had given them.

"Yeah. Though the only ones who can use it are Sonic and Shadow," Tails explained.

"Really?" Gauge twirled it in his fingers. "Has anyone else tried?"

Tails shook his head and kept walking. "No. You have to have a lot of willpower to do it. You're welcome to try if you want."

Gauge stopped, along with the rest of the group, and held the emerald up high. He spread his legs apart and closed his eyes, concentrating on drawing the power from it. His whole body began to convulse and he held his lead pipe, gripped tightly in his hand, to the sky. A red beam at the end formed, growing steadily in size.

"Gauge," Sonic said, "that's enough. Let it go!"

Gauge dropped the emerald and held the lead pipe with both hands before firing the beam into the air. He immediately collapsed, breathing heavily. Sonic rushed over and picked him up while Tails retrieved the emerald. Amy watched the red light fly further into the air.

"Ya can't use that much power your first time," Sonic told him. He patted Gauge on the back, who weakly nodded.

"I think I'll just leave it to you then," he wheezed, coughing several times. "That drained me."

"I'm surprised you could do it at all," Tails said, looking between Gauge and the red jewel. "The only reason Sonic and Shadow can even use them is due to their connection with them."

Gauge stood up, nodding to Sonic that he was better. "Maybe it was the explosion?"

Tails nodded in agreement. "Possibly. You could have absorbed some chaos energy, which in turn could have charged your cells. Though it must have been an microscopic amount since my scanners never picked it up." His eyes widened as if he had just realized he left the oven on at home.

"What's up Tails?" Sonic asked. "Ya got that I've-got-a-theory look in your eyes."

"I do! I-"

"Um, guys?" Amy called to them, pointing upwards. Everyone followed her finger to the sky and saw a tiny dot appear behind the clouds, falling at an increasing rate toward the ocean.

"What is that?" Sonic questioned.

"At the rate of fall," Tails gulped, "it can only be a person."

Sonic eyes widened and he grabbed Tails hand. "C'mon! You're gonna hafta catch them!" And with that, he dragged the young fox off, heading for the edge of the island while Gauge and Amy ran after them.

Blaze let out a roaring battle cry. She had leapt into the air and was throwing fireball after fireball at the oncoming robots. After destroying several in the manner, the enraged cat let loose a stream of fire, burning any remaining ones close by.

She landed gracefully on her feet and ran for the rest. Though Blaze was not much of a hand to hand combatant, that did not stop her from kicking and punching the droids with an intensity to match the fire that she ejected. Just in case they might recover, she lit her hands on fire so that when any punch was delivered, it would burn through their plates of metal and destroy the circuitry inside.

By now, any straglers who were late to the fight were now fleeing in the direction they had come. Blaze saw this out of the corner of her eye. So, she rushed over to Silver and summoned all her remaining energy. She let loose a wave of fire, careful to make sure the hedgehog was not caught up in it. It eminated from her and spread out, taking down all the droids in one fell blow.

With the attack completed, Blaze collapsed on top of Silver, both of them panting hard and unsteadily. Blaze could feel his heartbeat, hard and frantic. This jolted her own mind as she remembered that Silver needed help as soon as possible. So, despite her body pleading otherwise, Blaze pushed herself up and began to drag Silver back in the direction of G.U.N.'s camp.

All the way, she called for a coreman, or anybody, to help her while constantly saying reassuring phrases, moreso to herself than Silver, over and over. "You'll make it," she muttered, heaving Silver along another few feet. "You'll make it."

A/N: So, critiques, comments, etc? Then feel free to leave a review.

Sword: Oh! I got everyone sourveniers!

Pen: You did?

Sword: Yup! I got...postcards!

Pen:...You dolt. You're supposed to mail those while on vacation.

Sword: Hey! Don't make fun of the gift I got you! En garde!