Fugitives on the run! Disguised as the

Shinobi killer Loot the Chameleon, Espio

works undercover to solve a Separatist

plot against Chancellor Solaris.

Espio meets the plot's mastermind,

Zor, breaking him out of jail to

gain his trust. But now Espio faces

another obstacle: bounty hunter Fleabyte.

Can Espio overcome Fleabyte's

suspicions? Or will the ruthless criminal

see through his disguise and expose the

Shinobi? Only time will tell...

The ship entered the atmosphere of Ox Hutta and started to shake "You're coming in too fast, Loot. Are you trying to kill us?" Fleabyte yelled, "They'll be waiting for us in every spaceport. We have to ditch the ship". Fleabyte was thrown back into his seat "You mean you're going to intentionally crash us into the swamp?" "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm gonna do". Zor nodded "He's right. We have no choice". The ship violently crashed into the swamp causing the wildlife to scatter. The three of them climbed out "Nobody can trace us here. The swamp will swallow up the ship". Zor chuckled "Zor likes a man who plans ahead" the three of them jumped off the ship as it started sinking "You do have a plan?" "Yeah, I know Ox Hutta. We can get a ship at Eldorado. But this time we buy one. Otherwise, we'll have the authorities back on our tail". They started walking but Fleabyte didn't move "We need to ditch these prison fatigues. We'll have a bounty on our heads for escaping. And I don't like to stand out".

They made it to the city and tried to avoid local security before making it to a shop "We'll get some new gear and equipment. Stringer's pawn shop has everything a bounty hunter needs and more".

Eventually the three of them suited up, Fleabyte had a jacket identical to his old one but he was missing something "Now all I need's a new hat" "Don't you think the hat makes you stand out" Loot said who was back in his striped shirt. "I don't like to hide under a helmet" Fleabyte said but he couldn't find a hat. The owner of the shop, a bald human man with a green shirt walked up to him "Is there anything else you desire, huh? A new ship". Fleabyte turned to him "Your choice of weaponry is lousy, Stringer. Where can I get some quality blasters?" "I wouldn't be too picky, being on the run like you obviously are". Fleabyte suddenly grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the wall. He then took a toothpick from his mouth and put the point at Stringer's throat. Stringer's wife ran up and stared at him worryingly. Fleabyte stared at him coldly "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, Stringer. We'll get our weapons elsewhere". Fleabyte let him go and Stringer fell back and breathed heavily "Thanks for the jacket". Loot glared at him and then saw Stringer being held by his wife; he took out a ring "For your trouble". The wife hit it away angrily, so Loot walked away. Once outside he caught up with Fleabyte and Zor "That trader's heard worse threats than yours, Fleabyte. Probably calling the Iron Dominion right now, seeing what kind of bounty there is on us". Fleabyte looked over to a group of pig guards who didn't notice them "Relax. In this slime pool, everybody's an outlaw. Besides, they'll be looking for us, so we're splitting up. Loot, find a ship. We'll get weapons". He was about to move but Loot stopped him "Not so fast. If it's all the same to you, I'll get the weapons". Fleabyte pushed him back "It's not the same to me. You crashed the ship. You get us a new one". Zor shrugged "It does seem fair".

Loot was in a large landing strip with multiple ships being shown to him by a goat salesman. He eventually stopped at a large red ship "No, no. that's my final offer" "Fine. We have deal". Loot handed him the money as a down payment before walking under the ship and placing a tracker on it. He then saw Fleabyte and Zor "Good timing. Soon as you pay for the ship, we can get moving" "With pleasure" Zor said before handing rings to the salesman. Loot looked to Fleabyte "Hey, where's my weapon?" "Won't need it. You're not coming" "Says who". Zor walked up the ship ramp "He doesn't want to split his fee for breaking me out of prison. And also, he hates you". Loot grabbed Fleabyte's shoulder "All I know is, I'm not going anywhere without my reward". Zor entered the ship "I'm sorry. This is between you two". They then saw Stringer and his wife leading a group of pig guards towards the ship. Fleabyte turned to Loot "here's your reward: I'm not killing you". He pressed a button on his wrist which then fired a green gas at Loot causing him to cough. Fleabyte then kicked him away before running onto the ship. The ship took off as the guards surrounded Lot and kicked him in the face.

He woke up in a dark room hanging upside down "Where…. Where am I?". A green lizard kneeled down in front of him "You are a guest of the Iron Dominion. If you do not answer my questions about your two partners…". He used and electric staff to shock Loot "We will not be so hospitable". He hit Loot in the stomach causing him to grunt in pain "You call this hospitable?". The lizard raised a knife, but Loot put his hands up "Wait. Torture won't be necessary. My partners double crossed me, but I put a tracking device on their ship. Let me down and I'll tell you the frequency". The lizard nodded to one of the guards who pulled a lever. Loot then fell on his face, "Now tell us the tracking frequency".

Zor was in the back of the ship speaking to a hologram of Dimitri "Yes, Dimitri. I'm sorry I was delayed. I'm free now. I'll try to reach Megaopolis as soon as possible" "No more excuses, Zor. Time is running short" "Yes, Dimitri. No more excuses". He deactivated the hologram and entered sat next to Fleabyte who glanced at him "You said it yourself, Zor. You're free now. I want my money" "After the weapons and the ship. I have very few rings left. You will be paid when we reach Megaopolis". The ship suddenly shook violently "What is this? Who's attacking us?". A fighter flew in front of them that Fleabyte recognised "Iron Dominion" "How did the find us so quickly?" "Loot trying to even the score". The ship got hit "The engines are fried. We'll have to turn back".

Loot was hanging back upside down when the lizard's commlink activated "Their ship will crash soon on Ox Hutta. Be there to capture the fugitives". All the guards left except for the lizard who Loot stared at "You found the ship, like I said. Our deal was, you'd let me go now" "The deal has changed". The lizard turned away and checked the scanners. Espio quickly looked up and used the Force to release his leg restraints. He landed on his feet, grabbed a staff, and hit the lizard over the head knocking him out. Loot quickly got his equipment and ran outside. He climbed up on the roof of a building out of sight and activated his commlink "The is Valdez. I apologize for being out of communication, but the situation was rather tenuous". He then saw Fleabyte's ship over head "Although, it now appears things may be on track soon. Here's what I need. Have the bounty hunters removed. If I can win over Fleabyte, I can learn of Zor's plot. But there can be no more complications. So, no matter what reports you hear, do not contact me to send help. Oh, and one more thing. I shall need enough rings to buy a new ship".

Solaris was in his office with Shadow sitting opposite him barley holding back his anger. Solaris was speaking to a hologram of Merlin "Why're you removing the bounty on the three fugitives?" "If they're removed they could lead us to Zor's operation". Solaris nodded "Very well. Keep me apprised". The message cut off and Solaris looked to Shadow "You look troubled, my boy" "How can they expect me to just sit here and do nothing with Espio's killer on the loose". He stood up and started pacing. Solaris watched him "It is possible they believe your emotions make you a liability at this time". Shadow clenched his hands into a fist "Loot killed my master, my best friend. Now he's escaped and the Council won't do anything about it!". Solaris stood up "I have it from a reliable source that the fugitives were last headed towards Ox Hutta. You cannot deny your feelings, Shadow. They are what makes you special. If you believe you can stop this plot against me, I trust you" "Thank you, Chancellor. You won't regret this". Shadow left the room and Solaris stared out of the window with a grin "I know you won't".

Zor and Fleabyte came back to the city when "Ah, back so soon?". They looked around and saw Loot sitting at a table with a raised glass. They walked up to him causing Loot to smirk "Let me guess. You missed me". Fleabyte grabbed him and pinned him against a wall. Loot remained calm "Kill me and you won't get off Ox Hutta". Zor pulled Fleabyte back "Zor is running out of time and patience. Let the man talk". Loot coughed before speaking "Look, I've got a ship. You've got the Iron Dominion on you tail, so you make me a partner in everything". Zor sighed "Your deal is accepted". Fleabyte however pushed Loot back "First, I want to know where you got the rings to buy a ship". Loot pushed his arms away "You thought you left me for dead. But the Dominion owed me a favour" "So you had them shoot us down?" "You would have done the same thing, Fleabyte. The way I see it, we're even now". Zor rolled his eyes "Good. Now that we're all friends, get me off this festering stink-hole".

They arrived at the large ship "So about your fee from Zor: A 50/50 split sounds fair to me" "Over my dead corpse" "Sounds like easy money". Not far away a shuttle landed, and Shadow walked out with a confused Amy "What makes you think Espio's murderer is here?" "I gotta tip from the Chancellor himself". They entered the city "How are we gonna find them?" "Amy, you should know by now, if you want to find a lowlife…." "You start at the saloon". They entered the bar where two guard got in their way, but Shadow quickly pushed them back with the Force. Shadow walked up to the bar where the shark owner stood "The fugitives are already gone" "All three of them were here?" "Two came in, met a third". Amy stood forward "When did they leave?" "Nothing's free on Ox Hutta, especially information-". Shadow lifted him by the throat with the Force "I don't have time for games!" "You… You just missed them. I heard one of them say they bought a ship". Shadow released him before turning to Amy "Let's go, Snips".

Fang was outside the Solaris' office when his holo-disc activated. Fang took it out and a hologram of Merlin appeared "Captain Fang, I need to speak with General Shadow. He's not responding to my calls" "Sir, General Shadow is unavailable". Merlin stared suspiciously at him "Where is he, Captain?" "I can't say, sir" "You can't, or you won't". Solaris then exited the office "Shadow is on Ox Hutta". Merlin turned to him and crossed his arms "Ox Hutta?" "Protecting me is only postponing the problem, not solving it" "With all due respect, Chancellor, the Council has a plan in place". Solaris nodded "Yes, and so does Zor, who appears to be several steps ahead of you. For that reason, I asked Shadow to take action. He is confident he can find the fugitives and stop this plot against me. I suggest you have more faith in young Shadow". He then turned to Fang "Captain, if you must escort me home, I'm leaving now" "Yes, sir".

Merlin and Blaze were in the war room "This is exactly what Espio didn't want to happen. If I warn him, it could blow his cover, get him killed". Blaze pondered "Shadow might kill Loot. Or die trying. We must warn them both. The truth is long overdue".

Shadow was talking to the salesmen "How do you know they couldn't have gotten far?" "I only gave them enough fuel to reach the station on Orondia. It's owned by my brother". Shadow gave a slight chuckled "Nice little scam". He walked over to Amy "We'd better get going. Orondia's pretty deserted. They may steal a ship there to throw us off their trail" "I like your thinking".

Zor had just paid a goat who refuelled the ship "Here, take it. I just want to get out of here". He walked over to Fleabyte and Loot who were sitting on the ship's steps "We're being swindled. Who sells a ship with only enough fuel to get to this lousy rock?". Fleabyte glared at him "The way I see it you keep paying off everybody but me" "Yeah, why is that?" Loot asked as they got back on the ship. They didn't notice a Shinobi cruiser fly around the station and spot them. Fleabyte takes the ship off but then the top gets hit "Now what?" Zor said frustrated. Shadow's shuttle flies in front "Shinobi". The ship flies back ad Shadow jumps out of the ship and lands in front of the cockpit. "I'll take care of him" Loot said but Fleabyte stopped him "No, it's my turn to kill a Shinobi". Fleabyte jumped out and used his rocket boots to fly around towards Shadow who was cutting up one of the engines. He fired on Shadow who deflected the blast back and hit the boots causing Fleabyte to fall onto the roof of the ship. Shadow chased after them and they made it to the front of the ship where Loot saw them. He moved the ship trying to throw Shadow off, but he then had to move up to avoid a rock formation causing him to hit the Shinobi shuttle. The two ships crashed throwing Fleabyte and Shadow off.

Loot got up and his eyes opened wide "Shadow" he said concerned. He ran out onto the rocks which were now covered in a mist because of the crash. Loot took out his pistol but was suddenly tackled by Shadow. Loot pushed him away and the two stood up "You're going to pay for what you did". He lunged forward but Loot managed to hold him back "You shouldn't have gotten involved". Shadow kicked him to the ground and ignited his lightsaber "This is for Espio". He was about to kill him but Fleabyte suddenly appeared and fired a cable around Shadow "You can thank me later, Loot". Fleabyte used his rocket boots to drag Shadow away as he struggled. He managed to kick Fleabyte back, free himself and grab his lightsaber. Shadow lunged at Fleabyte but was then tackled away by Loot who pinned him to the ground and punched him repeatedly in the face. Shadow tried to get free but Espio got him in a head lock and "Shadow, don't follow me". Shadow's eyes opened wide in surprise before falling unconscious. Loot dropped him to the ground, Fleabyte was about to shoot the hedgehog when Amy suddenly jumped down at Shadow's body and deflected the blasts. Zor then appeared calmly "Ship is still operational. I got it working. Let's get out of here". Fleabyte holstered his weapon "You're lucky we're in a hurry, little lady. We'll have to dance another time". Loot and Fleabyte ran to the ship. Once out of sight Amy kneeled down next to Shadow "Master, are you alright?". Shadow groaned and held his head. They then saw the ship take off. Amy tried to help Shadow up, but he sighed "What is it? What's wrong?" "That's why I felt a connection. Espio's still alive". Amy was surprised "What? I- I don't understand" "I don't either. But we're gonna get to the bottom of this, believe me".