"Well, thanks so much for finding that little Chaos Emerald for me, Shadow. You're so sweet," said the approaching figure.

Shadow's expression became a bit smugger at that last comment. You observed the woman who spoke those words with a bit of a frown. She was a light grey bat who looked to be a bit older than you and wore an unusual and revealing outfit. She was very pretty, but she has an unsettling, promiscuous aura to her that made you uncomfortable.

"Who's she?" you asked Shadow as you clenched the Chaos Emerald a bit tighter.

"She's Rouge the Bat," he informed you. "She's a government agent and a thief."

"A thief . . ." you echo. The mention of a thief seemed familiar to you.

Is she the same thief that tried stealing the Chaos Emeralds from Shadow before?

"I prefer the term treasure hunter," cooed Rouge.

"Why are you after them this time?" Shadow asked. He seemed more comfortable with her than you initially anticipated, especially since you thought she tried stealing from him in the past.

"I'm working on the Eggman investigation of course. I was sent to go keep tabs on him and I just happened to be in the area of a couple of lovely gems, so I decided to take a teensy detour. I know Eggman's after them and all, but you know I just can't resist."

"I see."

"Now, is there any chance you'll be a real prince and just give me the Chaos Emerald? Maybe even the other ones you have on you too?" Rouge asked flirtatiously. You assumed she was the type to flaunt her body and charm to get what she wanted.

Shadow shook his head. "No, I'm keeping an eye on them for now, so I would much rather you gave me yours".

Rouge frowned too. "Now Shadow, you know I wouldn't give up one of them for nothing at all. Can't we just make a deal like the old days?"

Shadow remained silent, as if he were weighing his options. He clearly took too long for Rouge and so she spoke again.

"Do you maybe have another wonderful gem to trade me? Or maybe you know where I can get something bigger and better than a Chaos Emerald?"

"You mean the Master Emerald?" you piped up.

Rouge took note of you and then gave a slight giggle. "Well, I already have a bit of that".

With that, she pulled out her Chaos Emerald and four shards of the Master Emerald.

"F-four shards?" you exclaimed.

She gave a quick nod and wink as you felt your self-esteem begin to plummet.

How could I not sense them? Was the signal from the Chaos Emerald overriding the shards that much? God, I'm useless! I can't sense things well enough for Shadow and I can't collect the shards for Knuckles either! How am I ever going to restore the Master Amethyst and my island if I can't even perform simple tasks like this?

"Interested in them? I DO like your sparkly little cuffs," she said slyly, eying the emerald cuffs of your gloves and sandals. "All four of them may be worth a shard. Maybe".

"No!" you bark at her. You weren't in the mood to put up with her anymore.

Rouge shrugged. "Suit yourself. I thought I was being generous. A piece of a powerful jewel for a few cuffs? Sounds like a great deal to me."

"Rouge, don't provoke Lorraine," Shadow muttered. He seemed to sense you were beginning to get upset.

"Lorraine, huh? Well, if she doesn't have a nice return, she's not getting anything from me. Do you really not have anything interesting to trade me?"

"It's gone." You mutter quietly.

"What's that now?" Rouge asked.

"You're looking for big, priceless gems, right? Well, even if I even considered trading it – which I wouldn't – my gem . . . is gone. And I don't know if I'll ever get it back anymore. . ."

You bit your lip and sat down. You tried to redeem yourself this evening, but although you managed to acquire a fourth Chaos Emerald and the fifth one was staring you in the face, you felt as though you were failing since it looked like you weren't going to get the fifth Emerald or the four shards. Your self-esteem was sinking by the second.

"Your gem? You have a gem, do you?" Rouge's attention was solely on you the moment you said "gem".

You sighed at the thought of how you'd never get to see the Master Amethyst. You couldn't think much though; Rouge was persistent.

"Aww. I know it's painful when someone takes your jewels. But all you can do is go out there and get a bigger one, right?"

That sounds terrible . . .

"Jewels like the Master Amethyst are irreplaceable. Even something as distant and practically legendary as the Master Diamond couldn't replace it in my heart . . ."

"M-Master Amethyst? Master Diamond?" Rouge practically glowed with excitement. She bounded forward and got in your face eagerly. "The Master Amethyst is lost to you, but you know where the Master Diamond is, right?"

You said too much. Your sadness was replaced with and uncomfortable reluctance of being so close to her as you leaned away from the woman. "S-sorta . . ."

"Where is it? How big is it? Is it the size of the Master Emerald? What's it like?"

All the questions were bothering you. "Look, it's like the Master Emerald, but a bit bigger maybe and it's in the sky where you'll never find it".

"On an island?"

"You'll never find it. Nobody ever does."

"Then I guess you've never met a treasure hunter like me," she said with a wink.

Rouge then did something you actually weren't expecting: she dropped the Chaos Emerald and the Master Emerald shards in front of you.

"Wha . . .?" You were stunned by her actions.

"You don't seem so bad. Plus, you seem to know about some amazing jewels. I don't know what you're up to with Shadow, but I have bigger fish to fry than a little Chaos Emerald now, especially since Shadow's holding onto them for safe keeping. As for the shards . . . I guess I'll loan you them for now, since you probably to have a purpose for them."

You lit up a bit at the thought of gaining another Chaos Emerald and four whole shards of the Master Emerald.

Maybe . . . maybe I can get Knuckles to forgive me now.

"Thank you, Rouge. I really appreciate it," you said gratefully.

"Yeah, you'd better! But it doesn't matter; I'll get them back soon enough. Even if you don't give them back, I'll still get them. I always do!"

Rouge then gave a quick two-fingered salute-like motion as if to bid farewell and flew away.

You were still kind of surprised by her kindness.

"Is she normally that nice?" you asked Shadow once Rouge was gone.

"Rouge has been a good teammate to me in the past . . . but I know how strong her lust for jewels is. It seems unusual for her to part with so much, but at the same time you did tell her about some giant diamond in the sky, so it's not completely outlandish."

You felt a bit bad about telling her about the Master Diamond, but knew that she could never find it anyway.

Even if she located the island, it should be heavily guarded.

Shadow picked up the cyan Chaos Emerald and looked at it for a moment. You then proceeded to grab the four shards.

That makes five shards I have including the one I got from Shadow last night.

Shadow turned to you and, after a brief moment of silence, spoke to you.

"Lorraine?"

"Yes?" you said, looking back up at him.

"You're a good teammate too. In two days, I managed to acquire 5 Chaos Emeralds because of your help. I appreciate it."

You smiled. Contrary to what your self-esteem was telling you previously, you were certainly making progress. You had a large chunk of the Master Emerald, you helped Shadow acquire 5 Chaos Emeralds, you were starting to make friends and you had the potential to get Knuckles to forgive you.

"Thanks, Shadow. That actually means a lot to me right now."

Maybe things are looking up after all.