Nothing to add here.

CHAPTER 4

A WOLF IN THE SHADOWS

A FORCE WHERE ONE AND ONE MAKES THREE

The Marauders are Echidna.

Ever since I can remember, Knuckles has been the last of his kind. He has protected the Master Emerald in Angel Island all his life, but now it is possible he isn't alone anymore. I felt bad for him, and tried to put my hand on his shoulder, to which he rejected the offer. We were still in Blue Ridge Zone, with our path towards Metropolis blocked by Shade and her goons.

"What bothersome pest!" Eggman said. He was flying with his Egg Mobile atop all of us, touching his forehead in annoyance. "Those marauders taking over my city, and blocking our way in!"

"Why don't you fly towards the town?" Big asked, much to everyone's displeasure.

"Because I'm a genius, and fortified my own fortress with the necessary weaponry to even take me or any Eggman wannabe down! I thought I explained that to all of you, you moronic cat."

"Yeah, I did explain that," Tails said as he scanned the area with the Miles Electric, his handheld machine. "Meaning we have to find another way to get into Metropolis."

"I'm sorry..." Big said, with his ears lowering. I immediately jumped to comfort him by giving him a back pat. He wasn't the brighest, but he didn't deserve to be insulted. But that's Eggman for you. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Yes, well. My brilliant mind prepared something just in case this happened." Eggman said as he scratched his moustache. "Doctor Eggman always plans ahead!"

"You planned a backup plan in case you couldn't enter your own fortress?" Sonic asked.

"Oh course! A man can lose his keys sometimes, can't he?! Now...if only I remembered where those tunnels were..."

Everyone kept an uncomfortable silence, as Eggman looked around and called for Orbot on the computer - Orbot was one of his robotic minions, who remained in his base in Green Hill. Sonic was growing impatient, but so was Shadow. Tails kept looking at his device, and Knuckles kept quiet, thinking a lot. All that inaction was getting on my nerves. Eggman kept looking inside his computer to no avail.

"Ok, fine! We'll look for those tunnels, right?" I said, showing my hammer. "I'm sure it should be around here! Come on, guys, let's go!"

My darling Sonic quickly looked at me, and with his confident smile gave me his approval with a thumbs up. Oh, and the rest agreed too. Shadow and Knuckles didn't look so sure of themselves, for one reason or another. I didn't want to leave Knuckles alone, but he was insistent of remaining with Rouge. They were both treasure hunters, so if there was anyone who could find those tunnels, it would be then.

Unfortunately, Sonic didn't want to be with my group. He went with Tails and Eggman, while Knuckles and Rouge went their own way. Instead, Cream and Big followed me, with Shadow hanging along.

Why did he decide to do so? I don't know.

Well, that's a lie. He wasn't hanging along - we were just following him, that's all. Even if we knew what he had in his mind in his search for Omega, he still kept to himself. There was a difference between being introverted, and being a boastful jerk. We were atop the mountains, and we could see the entrance to the city - filled to the grim with turrets, and multiple deadly robots. I'm surprised Eggman didn't program them to attack anyone who is close, but I suppose we should count ourselves lucky. Above the city, Angel Island was floating on the sky, with those marauders up to no good. Fortunately, I could catch up to Shadow - years of practice, I guess.

"Hey Shadow, please wait!"

He looked at me with his somber red eyes. It was a little creepy. I was using that opportunity to take a breath, and hoping Cream and Big could catch up.

"What do you want?"

"No need to be so direct, you know?" I said, trying to remain composed. There was a way to speaking with Shadow, but I don't think even Rouge could fully talk with him. "You said you would help us, so we are all a team! Right?"

"Hmph. Suit yourself."

Grrrr, he annoys me. Shadow gazed at Metropolis, with something on his mind. "What are you thinking about?"

"Something is blocking my powers. If it were for me, I would teleport inside in a flash, but I can't feel my powers around this place."

"Do you think the Nocturnus are responsible?" I asked. I don't remember ever seeing Shadow frustrated about something regarding Eggman. "Or maybe the doctor?"

"It could be both. Omega is there. I know it."

"Don't worry, we'll help you find him!"

"That better be the case," he crossed his arms with an annoyed look on his face. "If I had a Chaos Emerald, I could have teleported us all back there. No technology compares to the power of those gems. "

"Yeah, but that Shade woman took them all! When I find her, I'm gonna hammer her!"

Shadow kept silent, looking at the fortress.

"That friend of yours. He seemed worried."

"Yeah...well, are you aware of Knuckles's background"?

Shadow denied with his head. I explained everything I know to him. I didn't know the full details, nor I was around when Sonic first met Knuckles, but Tails told me everything once. I always loved to hear about Sonic's adventures. Once I finished, Cream and Big finally caught with to us. Shadow expression didn't change much once I finished the tale.

"This is personal for him. Something he needs to do on his own."

I didn't know what to reply about that. We needed to find the entrance to the tunnels. Once Cream recovered her breath, however, she woke me from my thoughts.

"Amy! We saw something!"

"What? The tunnels?" I asked, showing my hammer.

"No! Someone is in trouble! We need to help them!"

I quickly ran, and saw someone below being attacked, as Cream told me. A battle was happening, with an alligator, a purple chameleon and a bee fighting off three jerks on Extreme Gears. I immediately recognize them: the Chaotix detective agency were being attacked by The Babylon Rogues!

"We can help them!" Big said. "They are friends, right?"

"Yes, they are the Chaotix! Come on, guys, let's help them!"

We jumped to the action to help them. I didn't see Shadow coming along. I imagined he ignored the situation. Annoying, typical of him. How does Rouge deal with him?

The Chaotix were beaten to a pulp, with Vector and Espio barely hanging together. Espio was throwing his ninja stars everywhere, trying to hit one of the Rogues; Vector was delivering karma to the brute, Storm, who had his Extreme Gear thrown into the ground. I wouldn't be surprised if Vector is responsible for throwing him out.

Without delay, I hit Storm on the head with my hammer. That was enough to knock him down. At high speed, Big used his fish road and caught another one of them: the girl, Wave. Both thrown to the ground. Storm was a gray, bulky albatross, while Wave was a purple swallow. The only one missing was the leader, Jet, the green hawk.

Cheesee tried to attack him, but Jet inmediately hit him back with that large fan of his. Cream flew to capture his friend, to which she did at high speed.

"Ow, my head hurts!" Storm said. "Why did you do that?"

"You're a bunch of jerks!" I said, preparing my hammer. "I know you guys are up to no good!"

"Great, just great," Wave said sarcastically. She looked at the sky as she pressed the red pendant in her neck. "Jet, we will leave with what we have! Go, go!"

I heard a huge noise in the sky, and I looked above - I saw how Jet was fleeing with his Extreme Gear. He got away!

"Blasted thief," Vector said as he was preparing his punches. "He stole our work, Amy!"

"You are all very mean!" Cream said.

"He flew very fast," Big said, looking at the distance. "I don't think we could catch up!"

The two rogues were recovering, trying to escape to their Extreme Gears. I wouldn't let them!

The battle was finished, and the two were too tired to move. They were cornered by two fearsome men, two brave kids, one giant friend, and a lovely and pretty maiden who is destined to marry her darling one day.

"Gah! Why did this had to happen, Wave?! "Storm said. " We were only stealing a thing, we were not in for the fighting!"

"How should I know?" Wave said. "My beautiful gear - you're all going to pay for this!"

"Why did you attack the Chaotix?" I asked, furious. "What is that artifact you mention?"

"Why should I say anything to you, missy?" Wave showed her teeth, ready to attack with her wrench.

"Yeah, we don't need to tell you anything about the marauders tech!"

"Storm!" Wave punched Storm very hard on the shoulder. "I can't believe you! Anyway, it's too late. Jet already flew away with that precious tech! Who knows how much they will pay for them in the black market!"

"Much more than you guys will ever eat!" Storm pointed at Vector, who was visibly annoyed.

RRUHUUAAA!

A noise. We all looked behind our backs, and saw Shadow and Jet.

Shadow was holdng Jet's Extreme Gear under his arm, while with the other arm he grabbed Jet by the hair. I don't even want to imagine what happened when we were all busy with the other two. Shadow threw him to the ground, as he looked at the board with interest.

"Fascinating," Shadow said.

"Y-you! Get your hands off it!" Jet said, as he tried to get up. "That's mine!"

"I too understand the need for equipment for going fast," Shadow said, calmly. He then grinned, as he looked down on the hawk. "But a one-trick bird will never ammount to anything."

Shadow hands started to shine. FIIIIUUUUUUUUU! In the blink of an eye, the Extreme Gear was destroyed. The three birds yelled in terror as the remains of the board were scattering around the area like sand. I could even see tears come out of Jet' eyes. I gasped, not knowing how to react.

"Hey, Shadow! That was uncalled for!" I said.

"They were real mean, but didn't deserve their board destroyed!" Cream said, with Cheese following along their "chao, chao".

Shadow ignored us, as he kept looking at Jet.

"You...you..." Jet spoke quietly, but then yelled as he tried to get up. "I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS, YOU SONIC WANNABE!"

"Try it," Shadow said, smiling. "If you don't want the other two boards be destroyed, hand over that marauder tech."

"B-boss!" Storm inmediately yelled, putting his hands on Jet's shoulders. "Please, hand it over!"

"Jet, I can build you a new board!" Wave looked scared for the first time in her life. "That piece of junk isn't worth losing our gears!"

Jet looked at the artifact in his hand. He was too angry to think straight, and kept looking at both the technology and Shadow. I think it wasn't anger alone that was driving him crazy, but fear as well. "Bah!" Jet said and threw the artifact at Shadow, who caught it without difficulty. "You just had luck, but I'll make you pay for this! On all of you!" Wave and Storm ran toward the boards, Storm grabbed Jet and all of them flew away. It didn't took us long to see smoke coming from one of the boards -Storm's.

"I hope they're ok!" Vector said. "We wanted to stop them, not sent them to the hospital!"

"They'll be fine, " I said. I looked at Shadow. "As for you, Shadow - why were you so hostile?"

Silence. Shadow kept looking at the artifact - a black belt. The design was somehow familiar. Shadow threw it towards Vector, who clumsily caught it. "Hey, thanks Shadow!" Vector said as he looked it. "It took us a lot, but we managed to stop a single marauder."

"One of them?" I asked.

"Indeed - we were hired by G.U.N. to find any information about them, and we hit the jackspot with some clues! We're ready to deliver the info to the Commander, and get paid in sweet cash!"

"Yeah! We will eat the entire restaurant tonight!" Charmy said. Charmy is a little bee boy who hangs out with the Chaotix as the third member of the team. I never interacted much with thim, but I always wondered how a young kid ended up with two grown men in a Detective Agency. "Vector, tell him how I stole his belt! Please tell them!"

"Right, so. We found one of the marauders all alone, possibly a scouter, and Espio followed him while invisible. Out of luck, the guy took out his helmet: he was identical to Knuckles!"

Shadow and I looked at each other, silently listening.

"It appears the marauders are Echidnas, just like Knuckles. And with this belt, they can come to this world. When we took his belt, the guy dissapeared back into his world."

"That's not how it happened!" Charmy said, as he was flying around Vector. "Once he took out his helmet, I jumped to action and took off his belt! I had to do so because you guys were waiting constantly!"

Espio, who haven't uttered a word, finally spoke. "You wanted to take off his pants, don't you?"

Charmy greened wide.

"He didn't have pants, regardless. It was luck from our part."

"Right, this is why we keep him around," Vector said. "Now, we will deliver this to the commander...wait, why do you guys look so bored?"

The situation was unconfortable, to say the least. Cream and Big were behind me, pretending they weren't there, and Shadow kept his usual ice treatment. I had to explain the situation to them, and about Shade. Now it was Vector who looked like he was about to cry, while Charmy was crying rains on the floor. Espio just kept his stoic self - but I think even him was dissapointed.

"What? You mean, our work was for nothing?!"

"For nothing! For nothing!" Charmy said. "Another day without dinner! We won't even pay the middle Loiue!"

"Oh, guys, there's a first time for everything," I said. My intent was being compassionate, but I think it came out as condescending. Shadow's tone must be contagious. I looked behind me, but Cream kept quiet, while Big was looking at some flowers. Jeez, thank you for the support, guys!

Shadow broke the silence.

"G.U.N. hired you to find the marauders identity. Right? I'm sure Rouge hasn't told the commander anything."

Vector eyes shone, Charmy flew again, and Espio...well, Espio kept quiet, but he looked more happy. Vector got close to Shadow and gave him a back pat. "Shadow, my man, tell me you're not joking! Our work can still be paid?"

Shadow looked unconfortable being so close to someone else, but he nodded. Vector went over with his group.

"Oh, tonight we're eating well, boys! And we have a bonus too with this belt!"

"Our work wasn't wasted," Espio said. "That's a relief."

"But how long do we have until Rouge tells the Commander?" Charmy asked, which put Vector nervous. "We can't run to Central City!"

"Ah, but I can swim!"

And he did. Vector instantly jumped to the river and went swimming quite fast. Espio and Charmy, and all of us to be honest, looked confused at this development. Vector is usually more serious than this.

"I thank you for your assistance, Amy. They took us by surprise," Espio said, looking at his surroudings. "The Babylon Rogues got an interest in the marauders too when G.U.N. did so. Possibly other low-lifes are on the move. "

"They were real mean! But I'm glad we arrived in time!" Cream said.

Big said nothing, merely smelling the flowers.

"I'm glad to be of help, guys. But luckily we had an ultimate savior with us."

Shadow walked away the moment I said that. Cheesy stuff, I'll admit - but he tend to say "ultimate" all the time. I needed to try that once. Espio looked at me directly.

"Say, you guys look like you need some help. Are you looking for something?"

I explained the situation to him, and he grinned in response.

"During our search, we found an old tunnel system under the snow. I'm sure its the way the Eggman talks about. We'll guide you there while Vector hurries to the G.U.N. headquarters."

We welcomed Espio's aid in our search. Before we returned with Sonic and the others, I ran towards Shadow and grabbed him by the hand.

"Despite everything, thank you for helping us, Shadow!"

"Whatever. Those rogues were being cowards by the way they fought - I felt it was fair to give a hand."

I laughed at his comment, to which he took his hand off mine.

"I asked Rouge through the communicator," Shadow said. "The detectives are in luck. Now let's get this over with."

We went with the group, and with Espio's help, found the way to Metropolis. Espio turned invisible and kept his distance, watching over us. I hope that I can be of any help towards Knuckles, but as long as we have the whole group, we can do everything together.

Written with the intention of Sonic Free Riders not being in continuity. Free Riders, in a way, is similar to what Team Sonic Racing is: a side game with some questionable writing (TSR's concern for me is Zavok's treatment, while Free Riders is Metal Sonic and Eggman). I don't like to take games out of continuity, but in my head I'll do it with these two games.

Unlocking this side mission awards the player with Espio and Charmy replacing the two human hint advisors for the puzzles of Blue Ridge Zone and Metropolis in chapters 4 to 6. I do wonder where Omochao is.

"Hey, why does a hint cost us!?" Sonic asks.

"Because it's a living, and we are three months late at rent," Espio replied.

"Yeah, Vector kept delaying the payment to the owner! Last time, he said we lost the payment in a fire!"

"Which isn't far from the truth," Espio said, adamant to go into detail.