6: Shades of Deception

by Pip the Bat

A Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation with twists. When Sonic and Tails go on holiday to Sapphire City, events take a turn for the worse with the arresting of Sonic and the introduction of a new villain -- Shadow.

3. Light and Shadow

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Chapter 3: Light and Shadow
~The hunt for the Master Emerald shards~
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Knuckles trudged wearily along, glancing down at the compass-like object strapped to his wrist. It was at least the tenth time he had checked it that minute, still with no positive result.

The object was a Synchronised Endothermic Excess Charge Detecting Unit. To explain it simply, it was a device for locating Chaos Emeralds and other such power stones, as they produced a massive endothermic charge which would be picked up by the sensor. Obviously, this would help him to find the shards of the Master Emerald. The device had come into his keeping when it had been found by Mighty, the red and black armadillo of the Chaotix Crew, who had trodden upon it. Metal Sonic, its original creator, must have abandoned it on the Floating Island during the adventure in which it had come into play. After a few repairs and alterations, Knuckles and Vector, a green and yellow crocodile, also of the Chaotix Crew, managed to turn it into a sleeker, more portable machine. Now it was only the size of a portable compass, and infinitely more useful.

On the way to search for the Master Emerald shards, the echidna had stopped off at their supply hut to collect it, informing the Chaotix Crew of his actions at the same time. The Chaotix Crew consisted of the two afore-mentioned as well as Espio the purple chameleon and Charmey Bee. They volunteered to search the Island while Knuckles went down to comb the landmass below.

So here he was, in a place so hot that Sandopolis Desert seemed like a cool breeze. Knuckles was on top of a huge sandstone cliff of a golden yellow colour and a gritty texture, in the area known by the locals as Windy Valley. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, glancing down while shielding his eyes to keep at least some of the merciless dust out.

Maybe it would be cooler down there, he reasoned. At least, there was a lot more air blowing about, which should help to keep the heat down. He was not exactly having much luck up above, anyway, so he might as well try it. His mind made up, he leapt off the cliff.

For a few moments he just tumbled through the air, before the air caught and he levelled out, beginning to glide, his dreadlocks whipping out about him. His arms outstretched, he angled his flight to a gentle downwards descent. In no time at all he alighted gently onto the ground, straightened up, and glanced about him.

Something black against the browny-yellow caught his eye. He did a double take, turning back to see what it could possibly be. To his surprise, he saw it was a pair of sunglasses, half buried in a pile of sand. He walked over and plucked them out of the sand, carefully shaking all the grains of sand off before inspecting them. They seemed to be in a remarkably good condition, considering that they had been abandoned there, possibly for some time. It must have been some tripper or tourist who had dropped them, he supposed. Whatever the reason, they were going to come in handy for him. He slid them on, grinning a little.

"Now I look like someone out of a spy movie," he told himself. "That's fine just as long as the glasses don't explode."

At that moment, there was a demanding 'bleep' from his Detector. Looking down at it, he was that the green light upon it was pulsating wildly, indicating that a Master Emerald shard was so close he must almost be on top of it. Slowly, he turned once more to the pile of sand from which he had picked up the sunglasses. Sitting on his haunches, he began a hurried search through the sand. Sure enough, his hand came into contact with something cold to the touch. Closing his hand around it, he pulled it out. Yes, it was indeed a shard.

"One down," he murmured, straightening. Finding one piece gave him hope. After all, he had found the pieces of the Master Emerald when they had been lost before, although admittedly, there had not been someone else looking for them as well that time. He wondered vaguely what Rouge was doing at that moment. Hopefully, she would be far from finding any shards herself.

***

Rouge was, at that moment, in a very different climate from the echidna. It was a warm temperature still, though a manageable humid one, unlike that of Windy Valley. She was in the small paradise known as Dry Lagoon; a beautiful area with superbly green grass, not to mention the shimmering splendour of the lagoon itself. The bat was wandering through the grass, heading in the general direction of the lagoon. This had been the place she had alighted in after leaving the Floating Island. Naturally, since it was directly below, some of the shards must have landed there.

She had found one shard on the desert outskirts of the area, which had inspired her to enter. Strangely enough, the shard pulsed every so often, for no apparent reason. After a little bit of experimenting, she discovered that the pulses were more frequent when she was going in a certain direction. This led her to believe that the shard was in fact homing in on the others, with the 'hot and cold' of the hiding games she had used to play as a child. So, she would have to follow the route which gave the highest pulse rate. Simple really, she thought. Not to mention convenient.

Rouge wound a rather round-about way through the short grass; the pulses were a little meandering in their instructions, but on the whole not too hard to follow.

Her foot nudged something lying in the grass. Rouge looked down, at first seeing nothing. She moved her foot about in a gentle arc, until she touched the object again. Slowly, so as not to lose it again, she reached down. The object was cool to the touch. The edges felt jagged, though they were neither sharp nor cutting.

It was one of the pieces of the shattered Master Emerald.

Of course, she thought as she looked at it: the shards were green, therefore hard to spot in the grass. She pocketed it, keeping hold of the original shard so that she could still navigate. The pulses were irregular now, showing that there was not another shard nearby. It was lucky that it still functioned properly, despite the fact that she now had a second shard. Strange that its inbuilt radar or whatever it was that was doing the locating was not disrupted by it. It was almost as if the Master Emerald looked out for itself. That of course, was impossible.

It was at that precise moment that the crying reached her ears.

***

Knuckles ducked down, peering into the dimly lit passageway. Once his eyes became adjusted to the lack of light, he could see that it appeared safe enough. It was not about to collapse, at any rate.

The signal was indicating that he should venture down there. He was a little puzzled though: how could a shard have fallen sideways, into a passageway? Perhaps a small creature had run off with it, he thought, scolding himself for making a mystery out of the simplest thing. Really, the double encounter that morning must be getting to him.

He entered, crawling on his hands and knees. Every so often he winced as he banged his head on the low ceiling. Luckily though, the tunnel was only a couple of metres long, so he did not have to endure too much skull cracking pain.

The echidna emerged into a spacious chamber, and the change in atmosphere was considerable. Everything was still and silent. The room had sunbeams of dust spiralling about, but otherwise nothing stirred in the deathly quiet room. Highly decorated pillars that must have been grand in their day now lay broken and faded. Maybe it had once been filled with joy, and the walls echoed with laughter. Now though, it was sad, forgotten; lost.

Slowly, he got to his feet, conscious of his wish not to disturb such an ancient place that appeared not to have been touched by any living creature for centuries.

A soft sound of somebody letting out a mournful sigh drifted to him from across the room. He was on his guard at once; he was not alone in here after all. Somebody else was with him in this place. As he turned his head to look, so did the other person. Their eyes met, one pair purple, the other pair blue. Upon their faces they wore the same saddened expression, and seeing this they exchanged rueful half-smiles. This place was not somewhere where any creature could smile fully. Not at that time.

The other was the first to speak, in her soft lilting voice. "It seems such a shame," she whispered to him. "After all the years we spent building this palace, decorating it with all our wealth and beauty, for it to fall into such unloved ruins."

Knuckles shook his head sadly. "Nothing lasts forever."

She tilted her head upwards, looking up into the blue sky visible through the many gaping holes left from the fallen masonry. "Not everything does," she said, eventually.

The red echidna blinked. He was in the palace still, but it was new. The roof was no longer broken, and the pillars stood proudly upright, supporting the structure like they had been intended to. The colours were newly painted, gleaming and sparkling in the brilliant sunlight that cascaded through the spaces between the pillars. There were beautifully crafted decorations too, items which must have perished by Knuckles's time. Outside, there was grass, though the air was still humid like that of Windy Valley. Birds twittered, flitting in and out of the building, singing their hearts out.

However, it was the people that most interested Knuckles, for they were all echidnas. It stunned him to see so many in one place, considering the severe lack in echidnas in his own time. There were many different colours; reds like himself, yellows, browns, to name just a few. One particular brown echidna gave him a surly glance and turned away to take some grapes from the buffet table. Knuckles grinned to himself a little, recognising him from his previous journey into the past, during the time when they were battling Chaos in the present. Sepia appeared wise enough not to try and fight him again, after his humiliation last time.

He passed on, walking past the other echidnas in a daze. None of them seemed to take any special notice of him. After all, they saw dozens of echidnas every day.

With a start that comes with realising that somebody has been watching you for a long while without your noticing, he jerked his head up. She was standing at the top of a flight of stone steps, smiling at him, reaching out a hand for him to come and join her. The other echidnas walking by seemed spectral for a moment, as if there was a clear pathway between them, and there was nobody else in the room but the two of them. She beckoned again.

Up the stairs he walked, as if in a trance. He reached out a hand to touch hers. For the briefest of moments his eyes closed. When he opened them again, the palace had fallen into ruin, and was silent once more. He was still at the flight of steps. Instead of holding her hand though, he was clutching a shard of the Master Emerald.

The weight of the ages descended on him once more, as he looked about him, then suddenly lifted. This place was not a sad one, for it had once been parley to many people's happiness. Nothing that could claim that could possibly be unhappy.

"Thank you," he whispered, though he did not know whether or not she could hear him. "Thank you for showing me that, Tikal."

***

Rouge edged cautiously around the corner of the cliff. The crying was louder now; she was nearing its source. She was not about to put herself in any danger out of curiosity though. After all, curiosity killed the bat.

What she saw round the corner though made her grind her teeth together in indignation. Two robots were dragging a baby turtle roughly along. She could see that they were hurting it, for the poor creature was bleating in pain and terror. "Lloyd knows what they're going to do to it," she muttered to herself.

Slipping back round the corner, she waited until the robots were about level with her then leapt at them. Her wings gave her that little extra boost so that her feet were level with their heads. Sharply, she brought her boots scything through the air in a pincer movement, smashing one robot's head from both sides. The other turned, trying to shoot at her, but a swift kick in the chest put paid to that.

Breathing heavily, Rouge stepped in closer to admire her handiwork. She flipped one over with her foot, and read the letters on the back. "G.U.N.," she said aloud. "Well, they certainly aren't making them like they used to-" She broke off, looking down. The other robot, that was not quite as dead as it had first appeared, had grabbed both her ankles in its steel hands. They dug in painfully, and it was all she could do not to yell aloud. She tried to move her feet, but it was impossible. Not one to panic, she attempted to break its hold on her using her hands. Unfortunately, this did not work either. Before she could try anything else, there was a crunching sound. The hold on her ankles was released. To her surprise, she saw that the robot's hands were snapped off its body.

The little turtle rubbed itself against her ankles like a cat. Rouge could not help but smile. "I guess one good turn deserves another, huh?" The turtle made a sound suspiciously like a purr. She kicked the robot hard, just to make sure that it was properly dead this time. Something rolled away from it, and she picked it up automatically. It was another Master Emerald shard. She wondered about that. It seemed an impossible coincidence that the very robot she had attacked should be carrying one.

Shrugging, the bat turned to go. There was a whining sound at knee level. Rouge looked down to see what had made the noise, and saw that it was the baby turtle. From the way that it was desperately trying to crawl after her, she supposed that it wanted to come with her. "Have you lost your mummy?" she asked it. Its leaps became more frantic, so she took that for a 'yes'. With a sigh, she picked it up. What was she letting herself in for?

***

The red echidna yawned like a cat. It was hard not to, with the hot stuffy air in there. He felt very much like curling up and going to sleep on the floor, though of course he would not. For about half an hour now, he had been tracking a mysterious and elusive creature, although by now he felt like giving up on his search. He knew there was another creature there by the footprints they left (a standard shoe shape with a pattern of grips that could belong to hundreds upon hundreds of Mobians), and the messages. These messages were drawn in the dust and the soft sand of the floor, presumably traced with a finger. The actually sentences themselves though, seemed childish. The last one had read:

'Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow sand road'

Knuckles had a suspicion that the phrase was based upon some book or other for children, though he could not be sure. Most of the others he had come across were parodies of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, fables, and other such things. Either he was following a child, or someone very like a child, for the footprints were as big as his own.

In the last ten minutes, he had not come across any more messages. He was about to give up and go looking for the shards, when he realised that he had just trodden on another sand-written sentence. Hastily stepping back, he read it, with a little difficulty considering it was now partly flattened. It said:

'Nearly there'

Did it know that he was bored of the chase? he wondered. Was it reassuring him? He decided he would give the game, for game it seemed like, another minute, then he would call it a day and go and hunt somewhere else.

The next sign he passed was an arrow, pointing to his right. Looking that way, he saw, to his delight, a shard. The creature must have put it there for him to find. Maybe it was a helpful person after all.

In the shadows on the other side of the chamber, a creature, not unlike Knuckles in shape, prepared to move onto the next chamber, after laying another clue for the red echidna to find. Their eyes shone brightly as they watched him pick up the shard. A ghost of a smile flashed across their face, then they were gone, melting into the shadows with barely a sound.

***

Rouge grunted as she put the turtle down for the third time, stopping to catch her breath. Feeling the creature's mildly accusing gaze upon her, she said, annoyed: "Don't look at me like that. You're just to heavy for me to carry in one go. It's not like you're that small, either. You're awkward to hold." The turtle whimpered a little, and began to crawl sadly away. The white bat sighed. "No, come back. I didn't mean to get angry with you." The turtle turned back, almost leaping on her. "I hope we find your mum real soon," groaned Rouge, stretching her arms and picking it up again.

She staggered once more in the direction of the lagoon, unable to see where she was going due to the baby turtle blocking her vision. Thus far, she had tripped over at least three times. It was a wonder that she did not fall into the water. At the last second, she felt that there was nothing but air underneath her probing foot, and retracted it quickly, falling down on her backside.

"Ow," she complained, sitting up and feeling very tempted to just abandon the vexing little turtle. This time however, the turtle was not concentrating on her. In the lagoon was another turtle, a much enlarged version of the one she had been carrying. She guessed that it must be one of its parents. Picking up the baby turtle gently as the progress it was making towards the lagoon was excruciatingly slow, she held it out to the large turtle.

It blinked at her slowly for a minute. She guessed that its eye was probably about the same size as her head, minus her ears. It looked gentle and kind, yet powerful too. It smiled at her. "Thank you for returning my child to me," it said, in a soft feminine voice. "I am very grateful to you."

Rouge watched the baby turtle splashing about happily in the water, glad to be with its mother once more. "Oh, it weren't nothing much," she said, embarrassed, twisting around on the spot. She was not used to doing heroic things, as most of her work was done for money, and so did not know how to take the praise that came with it.

The turtle shook her great head. "No, it was a lot to me. Is there any way that I can help you at all, in return for your services?"

Now, this was more of what Rouge was used to. Somehow though, she did not feel like it would be right to ask for anything material of her. I must be turning soft, she thought, disgustedly. "Well, I am looking for some green Emerald shards," she said, after a pause. "They make up a big Emerald, but it got broken, and the pieces went everywhere. If you could tell me where I could find any of them, that'd be a great help."

The turtle considered. She did not seem a very hasty creature. "Yes," she said eventually. "I think I might be able to help you." Rouge blinked in surprise, for the creature dove under the surface of the lagoon, moving gracefully down, down, until the bat could no longer spot her.

She yawned a little, and settled down to wait, idly moving her finger about in the water, making little ripples across to the baby turtle. The baby seemed to like this, for it made noises of delight, attempting to make its own back at her. Unfortunately, it was a touch to vigorous in this, and succeeded in creating a wave that soaked the bat to the skin. Rouge yelped aloud. Her dripping clothes clung to her skin, going translucent, and she shivered. She thought it was strange how the temperature of the air and the lagoon was warm, but as soon as the water hit her, it felt cold. The turtle made a sound that could have been a giggle, and swam swiftly away to the other side of the pool.

Rouge began pulling off her gloves and wringing them out, then proceeding to jump up and down to try and dry the rest of her garments off. She caught the baby looking at her, and glowered at it, though this made it giggle all the more.

"You really are very hard to dislike, you know that?" she called across to it.

A sound from the water: the mother turtle was surfacing. She had been away for twenty, maybe thirty minutes, Rouge reckoned.

"I have retrieved some of the Emerald shards," the turtle told her. "I hope they are enough, because I could not find any more." Onto the bank in front of Rouge, she dropped three of the Master Emerald shards, looking anxiously at her with her deep brown eyes, seeking her approval.

"Oh, sure," replied the bat, trying hard to disguise her excitement. "That's great, thanks a lot." She pocketed them.

The turtle smiled. "It is only a small service," she said.

Remembering what she had said before, Rouge replied: "No, it was a lot to me." The other laughed. "Well, thanks again. I guess I'd better be going to see if I can find more of my Emerald pieces."

"Wait," the turtle commanded. "Before you leave, I must know your name."

"You can call me Rouge if you like. All my friends do." Or they would if I had any, she added mentally.

"Well, Rouge, if you ever are passing by, or need help with something that I can aid you in, you only have to come and call on us." She dipped her head into the water, a turtle version of a bow.

"Uh, thanks. The same to you." Rouge managed to flash them a quick smile before hurrying away. She would have liked to stay longer with them, but something held her back. To someone who had never had any real friends before, their company was unbearable.

***

'Dig, dig, dig, all day long'

Knuckles read the sign drawn in the sand, then looked up at the dirt pile ahead of it. "No prizes for guessing what I've got to do here," he muttered, getting down on his hands and knees and scrabbling through the piled up sand.

Sure enough, his hand came into contact with another shard almost as soon as he had reached inside the pile. Gently, he took it out, brushing the sand off it. He then slipped it into his pocket, straightening up.

At first he had wondered if it was Tikal laying the clues, though he had swiftly decided against it. Surely she would just give him the shards properly, like she had done in the palace? Also, she would not write child-like clues. It would not fit in with her personality to do it like that. So, it had to be somebody else. His mind drew blank on that score, however, so he soon gave up on it, merely following the clues.

After a short while of searching, he came across the next clue, lying at the base of a tunnel.

'Follow me into the light'

Knuckles shuddered momentarily. He most certainly remembered that grim fairy tale of Mobian folklore. It had scared him the first time that he had heard it, for he had been very young then. He had been claustrophobic for weeks afterwards. Returning to the present, Knuckles shook himself mentally. What was he thinking of? He was not five years old now, and fables were not going to scare him.

As he followed the passageway upwards, the light became sickly and pale. The echidna began to wonder whether or not the passageway did lead out into daylight. For all he knew, he could be walking right into some kinda of trap. Still, his guide had been proved trustworthy thus far, so he had no reason to doubt them now.

Sure enough, around yet another steep turn, he found himself standing at the exit to the underground caverns. There was one slight surprise, however: that he was no longer in Windy Valley. Instead, he was standing at the top of a forbidding hill, looking down into an equally forbidding valley. The wind howled mournfully through the cracked branches of the trees. It looked like a perfect backdrop for a horror film.

He shivered, though more from the sudden cold than from any mysterious foreboding, setting off down into the valley.

***

After her embarrassed flight from the turtles, Rouge found it hard to concentrate on looking for the shards. She could not help thinking that she had made a mistake, that she should have stayed with them for at least a little while longer. It always happened that way. Why could she not get on well with people? Sure, she could flirt with the best of them, but when it came to actually making friends, she always bottled out.

"It's their problem, not yours," she said aloud, attempting to reassure herself. "Besides, I work better on my own. Nobody to get in my way."

Her words were drowned out by a loud buzzing sound, like that made by a giant bee. Quickly, she ducked down behind a ledge to watch whatever it was that was making the noise. The bat was just in time, for almost as soon as she had done that, a monstrous metal contraption flew past, looking altogether too big and cumbersome to be staying in the air. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw who was behind the controls: Robotnik. He had been trying to steal the Master Emerald, no, her Master Emerald, before, so perhaps he might know something about the whereabouts of the missing pieces.

Slipping out from her hiding place, she took noiselessly to the air, stealthily tracking the machine and its occupant. All self-pitying thoughts were forgotten.

***

Knuckles leapt a foot into the air as a huge pumpkin head crashed and bounced to the spot where he had been standing a moment before. It splattered upon impact, some of the mashed up pieces landing on his shoes. The echidna shook himself, his eyes searching the darkened hillside for the culprit. Not a shadow moved. Sighing, he bent down and wiped the pumpkin off his shoes. As he did so, something glittering on the ground caught his attention, and he jerked his head back to look at it.

There, half hidden in the remnants of pumpkin, lay a shard. He reached out, picking it up, stowing it safely with the others, before taking another swift scan of the hillside. It appeared that his benefactor was using a slightly different method of delivery this time. Well, it was fine with him if they wanted to do it this way, remaining anonymous.

"Yeah, right," he muttered to himself. "Who are you fooling? You're as keen as anything to know who it is."

He continued on his way, confident that the person would follow him whichever way he went. Due to his love of climbing and adventure, he decided to pick a path over the dangerous pile of rocks near the cliff edge, presumably left by some landslide. It would present no problem to someone of his ability and prowess.

His eyes picked out the best handholds with a practised ease. Up and up he climbed, avoiding the less stable chunks of rock without even having to consider or think about it. This was his terrain and skill, something that he had been doing all his life. He did not even break out into a sweat.

Halfway up the jumble of rocks, he paused, looking at the valley below. It seemed suddenly beautiful as it basked in the fading spectrum that the heavens had provided. The hues all combined gloriously together, making the previously chilling atmosphere seem positively friendly. Knuckles had seen some fine sunsets in his time, though not one like this for quite a while now. He lingered to watch it, oblivious to everything else around him.

On the ridge above him, a creature looked on in horror as another pumpkin crashed into the red echidna, taking him entirely by surprise. He tumbled forwards, going straight over the edge of the precipice. Knuckles tumbled away, becoming a red dot, then a pinprick, then a small splash on the surface of the roaring river below.

Not pausing for an instant, the figure took a running jump, leaping after the unfortunate echidna.

***

The white bat smirked a little to herself. Robotnik was supposed to be one of the cleverest people on the planet, yet he had shown no sign that he knew he was being followed.

"So much for the wonders of modern equipment," Rouge said aloud.

The former dictator's path had taken them into the Tario Desert, a branch-off of the more well-known Sandblast Desert. Rouge had heard enough about the area to realise that Robotnik would probably be unable to enter Sandblast itself. According to rumour, the place was supposed to be inhabited by magical creatures, who would not allow murderers to cross their borders. Sensible people, Rouge thought. It was on the whole not a good idea to invite killers around for a cup of coffee and liquors. If feasible, of course.

They had been in Tario Desert for a mere hour, and already Rouge was bored to death of her surroundings. Granted, it was not just sand; many tall structures of echidna-like creatures were arranged in neat if mysterious patterns, providing most of her cover. One or two, however, had broken rank, collapsing lengthways, others sinking into the sand. There was other examples of ancient stone-craft, from demure patchworks of tiles, to great pyramids in the distance. The parched desert did not interest her much though, for all its decor. Even with her white fur it was still too hot for her to comfortably manage. It was not somewhere she would wish to live for one moment.

The bat braked sharply, dodging behind one of the half-buried monuments. Robotnik had stopped, and, though she was not sure why, she thought it was for the best to keep out of sight for now. She watched what proceeded with interest (nobody was watching, so she did not have to pretend to be detached for the present).

From the bottom of the air-borne vehicle a set of legs folded out, neatly settling onto the ground with a faint hissing sound as the traction took hold. It did not even sway. A swift transformation followed, taking under ten seconds. By the time it was complete, it had returned to the form of the Egg Walker. Rouge had not seen this mode of it before, so watched its moves intently, in case this knowledge should come in useful later.

It began moving again, using the legs of the walker, since it was not equipped to fly in that mode, despite its being able to jump impressive distances. Robotnik flicked the controls, running it around the edge of a fallen statue, leaping over a quicksand pit, smashing down an obstructive pillar with its laser targeting system. Rouge watched him go for a minute or two, calculating where he was headed. It looked to her like he was going towards a large pyramid structure just visible on the horizon.

'Well, he might be taking the hard way,' she thought, 'but it's no reason for me to do the same.' She did not know about Robotnik's perhaps greatest flaw: his constant need to show off. Although there was nobody to witness his skill, or so he thought, he still wanted to do it the hard way, just to prove that he could.

Flying, Rouge avoided the hazards with ease, reaching the pyramid much quicker than Robotnik, who thus far had covered only half the distance. Alighting on the floor, she quietly stepped through the entrance. The change in atmosphere was immediate; she felt the temperature drop at once. She found it much more to her liking than the previous one.

In the appreciated cool shade of the pyramid's equivalent of a lobby there were three ways to take. One, the most obvious, was straight in front of her. It had been given a metal makeover: a steel door and a small panel to the right side of it. She stepped up to the panel, confident that she could crack any code ever invented. Unfortunately for her, it was also locked; the conventional way, with a keyhole.

Rolling her eyes, she stepped back, surveying the other two passageways. They were both open, having no doors or other up-to-date equipment on them. 'More inviting, at any rate,' she thought.

Producing a small com-link that she had concealed about her person, she activated it, waiting patiently for a click at the other end. It came after a short pause. Calmly, she spoke into it.

"It's Rouge calling. I've located Robotnik's base, and will shortly proceed to enter it. It looks like I'll have to find the key first, though. End of message." She switched it off without waiting for a reply. The bat knew the drill: there would be no person at the other end of the line, just a machine to take her message. Those to whom it mattered would review it immediately after the end of the call. It was safer that way for all concerned.

Before rushing off to find the key, Rouge stood considering the matter, as was her way. Of course, the key might be hidden in any number of secret crevices, nooks, or crannies situated down either of the two passages. Somehow though, she did not think so. She knew that old people liked to leave their spare pair of keys under the mat, or in a flowerpot; somewhere where they could easily collect them if they lost their normal pair. The bat was not sure exactly how old Robotnik was. He was not grey and wrinkly, at least, as far as she could tell, though that was no longer any indication - he might have had a face lift for all she knew. He would certainly have been able to afford it with all the money that he had amassed over the years.

With a quick movement, she swooped down with one gloved hand, digging it deep into a pile of sand by the door. A moment later she brought it back up, triumphantly bearing a blue-handled key in her fist.

"I guess he really must have had that face lift," she murmured.

Her movements swift and precise, she inserted the key, turning it in the lock. To her pleasure, as the mechanism made a clicking sound, the door swung inwards. She grinned, inwardly thinking about the terrible security the place had for a former dictator's base. As she slipped through the door, she made sure not to slide it to behind her. However much attention its being ajar may attract, it was nothing to being attacked in someone's secret base with the door locked.

She slipped in, edging along the corridor. Unfortunately for her, her every move was being recorded and watched. The carefully concealed security camera focused on the retreating figure as she slipped round the edge of the passageway. In the control room, a pair of blazing red eyes grew even brighter.

***

Knuckles sat up, coughing, spraying water out of his mouth; an animate gargoyle. Blearily, he pushed himself up, rolling over onto his knees. Still dazed, he almost got tangled up in his own legs. The echidna stared at them for a moment. Why were they in that position, one knee over the other? Come to think of it, the rest of his body had been arranged strangely too. It reminded him of something, though he could not think what. Of course, this gave him the nagging feeling that it was something he should know about.

Struggling to his feet, his world spinning gently, he looked about him at his surroundings. The place was cramped, not open, and smelt strongly of damp moss and lichen; rather unpleasant. At first he thought he was in a box, then realised that two of the sides were not closed off. He decided that he must be in a passageway instead. Gradually, it dawned on him that there was the spasmodic dripping of water nearby. Once he had noticed this, he began to find it very tedious. A dripping tap was some form of torture in at least one country, he was quite sure. So, he was in a passageway with water in it.

Cautiously, he reached out, touching one of the walls. The texture was slimy and cold. It would have been dangerous underfoot had it been on the floor also, as it was extremely slippery. Earth walls behind the moss though, so he must be underground. His eyes searched about for the light source. He discovered that it was only the numerous cracks in the boards above; without them it would have been quite dark.

"A mine?" he thought aloud. Possibly. At least with the boards there he knew that he should be able to force a way out if he had to. However, he was curious. He wanted to know where he was, and, more importantly how he had got there. He remembered being swept along by the merciless torrents of the river, then ... Well, he assumed that he must have passed out, for he did not remember anything else in between that point and his waking up. If there was water about, perhaps the river had flung him into the tunnel, though it could not have done it all the way, for there was not a trickle in sight.

Deciding on a route to take, he took a step forward. Something clinked as his foot brushed by it. Reaching down, he picked the object up, holding it up to the light to inspect it properly. It was some sort of medallion, hung about a chain. On an uncharacteristic impulse, he slipped it over his neck, then breathed in deeply. The air seemed sharper, more refreshing all of a sudden.

It was then that Knuckles remembered what was peculiar about the way he had been lying. Somebody or something had put him into the recovery position.

***

Metal Sonic, blue hedgehog robot, Mecha bot, and one of Robotnik's most loyal servants sat at the control panel, his red irises flicking around his black eyes as they monitored the security of the Tario Base. More specifically, he was watching Rouge. His data systems were having trouble discerning her species, for she was like no creature he had ever seen before. Whatever she was, she was most likely one of that cursed blue hedgehog's friends, trying to sabotage their latest base of operations. That was not something which was going to happen with him around.

At that moment, the door whirred open and Pip raced in. "Hey, Mecha," she said excitedly. "Guess what?"

"Yes, I know," he said seriously. "I am just considering a suitable course of action to take."

The robot bat looked crestfallen. "How did you know about my new magic trick?" she asked, miserably. "It was a really good one too."

Metal Sonic stared at her for a moment, trying to work out some sort of sensical reply. "I was referring to the intruder. It might be a good idea to save your, er, magic trick until later," he added, courteously.

"Wow, serious excitement alert!" All upset was forgotten at this piece of information. "An intruder? Where?"

He glanced up at the monitor screens above. "Just entering the main corridor at this moment, actually. I was just about to apprehend them." He strove to look gallant.

"Can I go and look for them? Please?" she asked, looking hopefully at him.

Mecha hesitated, a little sub-voice in the back of his robotic skull nagging at him that this probably was not the best of ideas. He looked at her pleading face again. "Of course."

"Wahey! Well, see you in a bit." She shot out of the room, only remembering to open the door second time round, such was her thrill at being the one sent on such an important task.

The blue robot sadly watched her go, then changed one of the screens' displays to follow her. In the corner of the room lay Heat, watching the proceedings through half-closed lids.

***

Due to the dim light, Knuckles did not notice the great cracks running across the floor until it was too late. One moment he was striding purposefully along, no longer edging inch-by-inch, the next the ground gave was beneath him. He leapt backwards just in time, his heart pounding with surprise more than actual fear. It had been close then. He did not know how deep the drop was, and probably did not want to either.

"Terra not so firma," he murmured, looking at the yawning hole.

Perhaps he should have exited then, ripping the boards away to create a path to light and wholesome air. However, for some reason unknown to him at that moment, he decided to glide over the pit, continuing on his route. This he did.

On the other side of the pit, he found something that glinted even in the dull light: a Master Emerald shard. So, the helper was still about. There was no way that the piece could have got there by itself.

Knuckles proceeded onwards, walking with great care for quite a while, before he allowed himself to become bold once more. Unfortunately, this was his downfall, literally. The ground split beneath him, and this time the echidna did fall. He was plunged into another passageway, built beneath the one he had been walking along, though long-ago flooded out. With the sudden cold shock, he forgot to try swimming for a moment, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. It took him a moment or two to realise that he was not drowning.

Steadying his breathing, he looked about him in wonder. This was surely not an illusion of water; it was too real for that. Then what could it ... Something resting on his chest. Looking down, he saw the trinket that had been left lying about and had fastened about his neck. He had completely forgotten about it by that time.

Lifting the medallion up, he studied it more closely. It was intricately crafted, made of some kind of metal, perhaps steel. There were blue parts on it that looked like, though they were not, enamel. The whole object had an almost Celtic design, appealing to Knuckles. He could just make out the inscription written in minuscule letters around the rim.

"Haveus sercarta; meltranium purdont."

It was the Ancient Echidna tongue. Mouthing the words to himself to guide him, he made a rough translation:

"Talisman of secrets; the power of breath."

He studied it for a moment longer, then let it slowly drop through the water until it came to rest on his chest again. So, it let him breathe in places where he normally could not, like the water that he was in at that moment. Knuckles smiled to himself. He could see that the talisman was going to come in very useful.

***

The white bat followed the humming sound, using her finely tuned sense of hearing. She traced it to a room where a slightly peculiar sight met her eyes.

Rows of computer terminals and important looking electronic equipment were inharmoniously set into the sandy stone walls of the pyramid. They contrasted sharply with one another; one set belonging to an age where architecture was the most important asset, and the other belonging to, well, the age of information technology.

"He could certainly do with changing his interior decorator," said Rouge, musing aloud. "You'd never catch half the population of Mobius dead with something like this."

"Well, if you give me the address, I can come round and insult your secret base, too."

She almost jumped, not having noticed anybody else entering behind her. They had not, either. A black robot bat stood in the centre of the room, arms folded. Around her, a faint blue shimmer still hovered, a tell-tale mark of her teleportation.

Rouge folded her arms too, unconsciously copying the other. "Well, honey," she said. "If I had something as pathetically sad as a secret base, I'm sure I would."

"Why, what do you live in then?"

"I live everywhere," she replied, emphatically.

"Not all at the same time, I take it?"

The white bat changed tack. "Do you own this place?"

Pip looked horrified for a moment. "That was a joke, right?" She paused for a moment. "What kind of creature are you, anyway?" she demanded.

"A bat. What do I look like?"

"I don't know, but you're definitely not a bat. You've got six limbs for one thing. I mean, why have you got wings on your back? You look more like a-"

The other interrupted abruptly. "At least I don't look like a mindless robot without two brain cells to knock together."

"Yep, glad I don't look like that either. It must be terrible."

Rouge had had to ask the question eventually. She decided that it might as well be sooner than later. "What do you want?"

The robot considered this. "I think that I'm supposed to be giving you a crash course in Grievous Bodily Harm."

The white bat threw herself flat just in time, so the first swipe went wide. She noticed that the robot had extended her claws so that they were a better length for fighting with. Rolling out of the way of the next assault, she dived behind the nearest computer bank. Pip, who had studied her first few moves and now knew what to expect was only an inch behind her.

Those claw tips just grazed the back of her head. She could feel the burning sensation that one gets from even a small graze or a cut there.

Acting quickly, she somersaulted over the computer bank, back-kicking hard with one foot. As planned, one of them crashed down, though just missing Pip, who skipped back in the nick of time. Flipping backwards, the robot rebounded off the wall, landing on top of the monitors above Rouge. The white bat made a dive for the door, but the Pip was there before her, driving her back into the room. Once more Rouge hid behind the computer bank, scurrying to the far end of the room. Not to be drawn away, the robot waited coolly by the door, tapping her foot on the floor in a show of mock impatience.

"Are you going to come out, or do I have to drag you? If you do come now then I most probably won't kill you. Much." She gave her the robotic version of a sweet smile.

"I think you might just have to drag me."

"I was joking," Pip explained, helpfully.

"I wasn't." Silence. "Will Robotnik get really angry about that broken computer?"

"Guess so. He tends to take things like that very seriously. He has about as much sense of humour as a dead louse, although he does tend to do this weird sort of manic laughter every so often."

"Just wondered." Rouge heaved with all her might on one end of the computer bank, then shoved it as hard as she could. Pip saw what was about to happen, rushing forward.

"No, don't do that," she began.

The white bat raced for the door, glancing back just in time to see the equipment smash to the floor. At least, most of it did. The rest of it landed on Pip. Triumphantly, Rouge walked swiftly away down the corridor, just in case somebody else came to check up on the situation. After all, you could never be too careful.

***

Robotnik had found the last stretch of his journey excruciatingly large. The Egg Walker and himself came under attack, seemingly from his own base. He could not know of course about the intruder, and that Mecha had switched the security levels to maximum in view of this development. All he knew was that he was destroying some of his best robots in order to access his base.

The latest model of robot that he had produced, the E-1000s, were rapidly being decreased as he was forced to blast them out of the way. It pained him to do it, considering the time and effort that had gone into them, though it was a case of 'him or me'.

To his immense relief he found that he was at the foot of the flight of steps leading up to the pyramid. He appeared to have exhausted whatever defence the base, his base, rather, had to offer. Robotnik debated whether or not to make a mental note to upgrade the defence systems if he could bypass them so easily. On second thoughts, he decided against it. He might have to break into his base another time, and he did not wish to lose more robots on top of those he had already.

Talking of robots, he was going to have several strong words with Metal Sonic when he found him. He was supposed to have been in charge in his absence.

"A fine job he's done of it," he growled, piloting the walker up the steps and into the ancient building.

Once inside, he went straight to the control room. Nobody was in there, though he found after a brief inspection that the level of security had been stepped up. Curious. Was something wrong, or had it just been an accident? On a quick glance at the visual monitoring screens, he saw to his complete and absolute horror that one of his main computer rooms had been wrecked. Even on camera the destruction appeared tremendous.

The door slid open. Robotnik turned quickly, half expecting some would-be-usurper to be there, waiting to attack him. Instead, it was Metal Sonic and Pip. The latter was looking more than slightly dishevelled and knocked-about, while the former was doing his utmost to help and support her. She did not actually need to be supported though, as she seemed to be walking quite well on her own.

"What happened?" he practically snarled at them, his lips drawn back, his voice ominous.

"Nothing ... too much," said Pip, in a dazed voice.

Furious, Robotnik jabbed a finger at the display of the trashed computer room. "What do you call that then?"

"Nothing too much," she repeated.

"There was an intruder in the base," explained Metal Sonic.

"Just the one?" he sneered. "From what I can see, it looks like a whole army's been in here. Probably why I was fighting my own outside."

Mecha glanced at the safety setter, as did Robotnik. It was impossible for the robot to look guilty; his face was unfathomable as usual, but the human had the feeling that he did not feel that particular emotion anyway. It was almost a reproachful look he was receiving, as if it was his fault for arriving at the wrong time. He backed down.

"Did you get them, then?"

"Not ... quite. There were complications." The look he was getting now was almost hostile.

He snorted. "Whatever. I don't want to know." His thoughts traced back to his original purpose for coming to the pyramid base. "Mecha, have you ever heard of a place called ARK?" Realising how this could be interpreted, he hastily added: "As in an actual name, not a kind of boat. It's a space colony. Built by my grandfather, Gerald Robotnik."

"Wow," said Pip, who seemed to have regained a slightly more advanced grip on reality. "You have a granddad? I'd have thought you were too old to have one."

"He's dead," said Robotnik, shortly, glowering at the robot bat through slitted eyes.

"Oh right. That explains it, I guess." What Pip thought it explained he was not quite sure, but decided to leave it be for the time being.

"I can locate it," Mecha intervened. He turned to one of the computers, accessed a satellite navigation system. Mecha did not type furiously, for that implies randomness, a lack of order. He typed fast, though precisely, not once having to backspace or press the delete button.

A minute or two passed. Robotnik was trying hard not to fidget, for he was growing nervous, wondering if it was possible that ARK could not and would not be located. He would never get the power that Shadow had promised him then.

Just as he was about to start really panicking, the blue robot glanced up. "I've got it," he said.

His master, still in the Egg Walker, came closer to take a look. It looked to him more like a meteorite than anything else; just a big chunk of rock hurtling through space. "Are you sure?"

"You had left your grandfather's calculations and writings on the network. Deducing what I can from them, ARK can be in no other place. My only suggestion is that it might be a simple precautionary disguise: a cover for the actual station itself."

Robotnik nodded. That did make sense. "Fine. Get me the co-ordinates then program them into the teleporter."

Metal Sonic did not need to look at the reading again: he already had it memorised. Bringing another window up, he skipped to manual control. Another minute of typing, and he had finished.

"It's ready," he confirmed. "You will most probably beam in on the bridge of ARK."

"The co-ordinates will be moving as the station is also doing so."

"I have taken that into account."

The other believed him; the robot was very through. He rarely missed a procedure out, and hardly anything got past him. "Fine. You will be staying here to keep an eye on things. It might be a wise idea to catch that intruder before I get back, too." Robotnik was not the most forgiving and forgetting of people. "As for you, you're coming with me to ARK," he added, turning towards Pip.

"Why?" she asked, curiously.

He hesitated, for some reason loathe to mention that it had been requested of him. "I just thought it might be harder for you to wreck anything with me watching you."

"I don't think it'd make much difference, actually."

"Do you want to come or not?" he snapped.

"Sure, sure. C'mon Heat." The chao uncurled from where he had been lying in the corner of the room, scampering across the floor. With one great bound he leapt up onto his master's shoulder. Robotnik almost jumped. He had not noticed him there until that moment, he had been so still and quiet.

He said nothing, piloting the Egg Walker out of the door toward the room which held the teleportation system. With a quick "Bye Mecha!", Pip followed. Down the other end of the corridor, someone else watched them go.

Slipping out of the shadows, careful that there was nobody there to see her, came Rouge. Silently, she followed along the path that Robotnik had taken, coming to a halt against a huge slab of rock with many hieroglyphs carved into it. It was distinguished by the red background that made the ancient words and letters easily readable, to those who knew the language. Well, she had never liked Foreign Languages anyway.

She stood by the rock for a short while. When she judged that she had given them enough time, she pressed one of her large ears to the door. There was no sound from inside. "Good," she thought aloud. "They must have skedaddled already."

The white bat pressed hard on a stone that she had noticed before, protruding slightly from the otherwise regular wall. Just as she had expected, it grated upwards. With her usual confidence, she strode straight on into the room.

It was square; about five metres both ways. On the side opposite the door was a small selection of glowing electronics. Writing was projected onto the wall, the same luminous green as the equipment. Instinctively, she looked down at her feet. She was standing on a circular patch, quite different from the rest of the floor. It appeared to be part of the electronics, and gave off a pale yellow light.

"It's a space transporter," she said, impressed. Those were highly expensive pieces of equipment, mostly because of the infrequent need for their production. Her eyes scrolled down the information that illuminated the wall. "The destination has been set to ..." She paused, her eyes widening a fraction. "ARK? Wasn't that space colony shut down, like 20 years ago? What's he doing up there, anyway?" She shook her head, tapping out a command onto the display. Expensive, certainly, but it was still easy to figure out. "It doesn't matter. It's my mission to find out what that nutter's up to, or my name isn't Rouge the Bat."

Rings of purple spiralled up around her body. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pillar split up and down, the mechanisms in it activated. A few seconds later, she had vanished from the room.

***

Laughing with pleasure in an near child-like way, Knuckles swam through the underwater tunnels. It was exhilarating, the feeling of being able to swoop and glide through the water, without having to hold his breath, nor feel the constant pressure on his lungs. He wondered how the talisman worked. Was it some sort of close clinging force field? The water still moved freely about him, its cold enlivening touch all around his body. Perhaps ...

His thoughts were cut off by something ahead of him. He could not be sure, though he thought he had seen a creature, although he could not determine anything about it if creature it was, whipping round the bend ahead of him. Swimming strongly, he streaked through the water after it. He reached the corner in no time at all, only to see the same mysterious creature disappearing round the next bend.

So it went on, for nearly half an hour, the other creature always that little bit ahead of him. Even when he stopped, or he was slower, it happened in exactly the same way. He could have walked it then run it then walked it again, and it would still have gone on like that.

He was despairing of ever catching the figure, when he turned a bend and found, not a person, though a ledge where he could climb out of the water. Heaving himself upwards, he pulled himself over the edge. A puddle of water formed around his shoes as he stood up, shaking himself, his dreadlocks twisting with his body motions. However, he noted that it was not the first puddle to form there. So, he was not mad. He was chasing something real.

As he became aware of the sounds and noises about him, the first thing he noticed was a thundering roar. It was produced by the masses of water gushing out from an opening in the rock he was standing on. The layout was something similar to a sewer, though with much taller sides, and pure water instead of waste and filth. The opening was coming out of his side of the rock, flowing and dropping away into another, lower down opening on the other side. People less hardy than the echidna might have stepped back at the dangerous power presented by the torrents.

The sounds of the rushing water were so loud that they masked the approach of a group of three glistening reptiles. All three stood on their muscular hind legs, showing their creamy underbellies, textured no differently from their tough leathery green skins. Their faces, bodies and limbs were decorated with strange painted markings, quite beautiful in their way, though none the less chilling for that. The leading reptile's markings were stronger, more vivid than those possessed by the other two, showing him, or her, to be the leader. Their yellow snake-like eyes glittered malevolence, not dulled by the lightless lives they led. Forked tongues shot out occasionally, testing the air about them. In their mean little clawed hands they carried no weapons, for they needed none: their sharp fangs and claws served for all their purposes. These creatures were not Mobian in origin, but had mutated into these forms over the years spent in the dark mines. Their species was known as malusites, to those who knew or cared.

Most malusites were friendly, if shy, creatures. These three were different. They had been outcast from the mine tribe for their bloodthirsty nature, even having attacking members of their own species. Had the malusites been more impulsive creatures, they might have been hunted down to prevent them being a danger to others. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

They came forward cautiously, making barely a sound on the dirt of the floor. None of those three malusites had ever seen an echidna before, and did not know what to make of him. One, the leader, suddenly overcame his fear, taking a great bounding leap at Knuckles.

Hearing the faint sound, the echidna turned round. If he had not ducked straight away, it was possible that his eyes would have been gouged out. He turned his duck into a roll, getting out of range of his attacker. As they passed, one in the air, the other on the ground, the malusite swiped his at his back, drawing blood.

The other two, seemingly excited and encouraged by this, rushed at him. Unfortunately for them, they were young and inexperienced fighters, while Knuckles had been fighting all his life. One swift lash with his booted foot caught one of them in the shins. It stumbled backwards, falling into the churning water below with a terrible wail of despair before it was dragged under, its screams muffled.

He felt another rush of pain in his back: it was the leader of the strange creatures. It had sprung onto his back and was sitting astride him, raking his back cruelly.

The malusite had only been there for a moment before it was roughly pulled off, shrieking with rage. Knuckles almost fancied that he heard a voice say softly "Don't worry" close by him. He turned, catching a brief glimpse of two shapes disappearing into the watery death-trap.

Something made a clumsy grab at him: the third and last of the malusites. Without much effort, it too fell over the edge.

Only when the adrenaline ceased its action-charged flow did he feel the pain. Taking off one of his gloves, he reached round to his back. It felt hot and sticky, stinging at his touch. After a little more gentle probing, he managed to reassure himself that it was just superficial.

Then he looked around for the person who had helped him. There was nobody there. With a strangled cry, he rushed to the edge of the platform, though of course he was far too late. He had seen two figures falling, not one. There had only been three attackers, therefore it had been his mysterious helper who had gone over too.

A small tear blinked itself from his eye, and was quickly wiped away. His wonderful rescuer and leaver of messages must surely be drowned. After all they had done for him, protecting him, leaving him the shards, he had allowed them to die.

Furious with himself he turned away, striding briskly down the passage. No eyes followed him this time, from in front or behind.

***

Downstream from where the water gushed out of the rock, a large purple cat sat fishing. A belt was fastened around his furry white chest to suit what he called his 'three slice girth'. He was large by both nature and name, as he was aptly called 'Big' by all who knew him. A little frog sat at his side, watching his cast off. Having little imagination, the cat had named his pet 'Froggy'.

He sat for a while, humming to himself. So far that day he had caught only one solitary fish, and that had been so small that it was not even worth counting.

Without warning, there was a sharp tug at his line. With a surprised yell, he overbalanced into the river, creating a tidal wave of a splash that washed up and down the banks. Froggy hopped away in terror, aided somewhat by the great wave. He stopped a couple of yards away, his bulging eyes watching the scene with caution.

"Hey, watch it," complained a voice that was not the cat's. "What are you trying to do? Squash me?"

***

Shadow stood on the bridge of ARK, gazing out of the clear glass panel, not seeing what was in front of him. He was thinking of Maria, although he was trying not to do this too much, lest it distract him from fulfilling her wish. Also creeping into his thoughts was the blue hedgehog he had encountered before. What had he said? That the military had mistaken that hedgehog for himself? How could they possibly make such a mistake? Maybe they were accusing all hedgehogs. He doubted that they would go that far to get him back though. Perhaps the blue hedgehog was sent by G.U.N. in fact, to try and trap him. Well, if so, it had not worked.

A whisper sounded behind him; the familiar one produced by teleporters. He had heard that sound hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times before as he and Maria crouched down in their hiding places, watching the people come and go via them. They had found it amusing to spy on them, trying to guess what their purposes or errands were. It had been Maria's idea.

The hedgehog did not turn, but stayed watching out the glass. He could see them in the reflection anyway. There was Robotnik, in the machine that he had been in last time he had see him. There was also a robot bat with something perched on their shoulder that had a distinctly cat-like appearance.

"You've come," he said, calmly.

"Yes." The human paused, wondering what to say next. "So, this is the space colony ARK. Impressive." He waited for a response that did not come. "You said to meet you here?" he added. There was an undertone of question in his voice.

"True." He finally turned round, holding out one hand to show Robotnik what he held. "I have this Chaos Emerald. We need the other six now."

"And may I ask what for?" He was trying to keep the impatience out of his voice, though it did not work too well.

"To power the eclipse cannon." The other drew in his breath sharply: he had read of that vessel of destruction in his grandfather's notes. "You have heard of it, I see. It is the ultimate weapon, with the power to destroy a whole planet if needbe."

"It needs just the Chaos Emeralds, nothing else?" Shadow nodded.

"I know where three of the others are. They are on Prison Island, the military base of G.U.N. where you first met me."

Trying not to seem too elated, Robotnik voiced his doubts rather than his more excited and positive thoughts. "Still ... there are the others, and they are not exactly easy things to come by." He flinched at past memories involving the emeralds.

"Luckily for you, I'm just the person to help."

Robotnik almost jumped; he had not heard another creature's approach. All four looked to the teleporter. Rouge was standing there, hands on hips, head tilted slightly to one side. It had not taken her long to follow Robotnik and the robot.

"Who's this?" snarled the aforementioned, attempting to cover up for his earlier fright.

"The intruder," said Pip, brightly. "Hi again," she added, giving the white bat a little wave.

"If you think you can just come in, invade and destroy an essential part of my base, then expect me to let you in on this, then you've got another thing coming." Robotnik powered up his weapons.

"Chill, chill," drawled Rouge, waving his statement aside with one hand. "I was just trying to meet you. It was your robots who attacked me and started wrecking the place. Anyway, now that I've finally found you, you might as well listen to what I've got to say." Robotnik grunted ascent, his ego flattered by the fact that someone had been trying to find him.

She continued, keeping her statement brief and to the point. "I'm a treasure hunter, and what's more, I specialise in gems. If you let me help you, you won't regret it."

"Why should I-" he began, then stopped as Rouge held something up in one hand. It was a Chaos Emerald, the white one. She smiled, knowing that there was no way that he could refuse her offer after that.

The obese human hesitated, shooting a swift glance at Shadow. The hedgehog's face was expressionless. "Fine," he said. He could not help thinking that a qualified gem-finder would come in useful. "But don't forget, I'll be watching out in case you feel like double crossing us."

"Whatever. So, this cannon thing will be pretty powerful with those emeralds, right?"

"It will have the power to blow up the whole of Mobius," Robotnik boasted, with a fleeting look at the black hedgehog to confirm this statement. Shadow neither agreed nor disagreed.

Pip raised her hand politely, as if they were in a meeting of directors of some company or other, or in a courtroom case. "Objection," she said. "If you destroy Mobius, what place are you hoping to rule, exactly?" Heat smirked inwardly. He had the feeling that his owner was about to re-embark on her quest to annoy Robotnik.

"I'm not going to destroy Mobius. All I'm going to do is threaten to destroy it so that they will be forced to bow to my wishes."

"Ah, I see," she said, speaking very slowly in an animated voice as if Robotnik was a half-wit, or perhaps quarter-wit. "What happens when someone realises that you aren't going to destroy it?"

Robotnik looked exasperated. "They wouldn't take the risk."

Rouge decided to have her say in the matter heard. "You could always try destroying it anyway, then colonise the moon or something."

"That's a good idea, apart from one little point: you need people to colonise anywhere, and there won't be any people left if Mr. Genius here has his way." Pip stroked Heat's head, allowing him to curl up in her arms.

"Actually," the chao said, quietly. "I think that if Mobius was destroyed then there is a good chance that the moon might also be destroyed due to the fact that it orbits Mobius and the gravitational pull would be intimately disrupted."

There was silence for a moment. "I always did hate physics," Rouge muttered.

"Anyway, my point still stands," added Pip.

It was possible that Robotnik might have been freer with his words had he not been arguing with someone so potentially dangerous. "For the last time," he snapped. "I am not going to destroy the planet."

"But we're not talking about the planet. You need to pay attention more. We're moved on to people now. Y'know, the things that walk around and interact with each other, like talk for example. Unless they're plants of course, in which case they don't do much of either of those things. Actually, plants aren't people anyway, so I don't know why I just said that."

"So," said Rouge, under her breath. "For how long have you been a raving nutter?" Though the bat had not meant her to hear, she did.

"How am I supposed to know? I don't count."

"That explains a lot," said Robotnik, darkly.

Shadow had remained silent throughout this conversation, allowing the words - especially the robot bat's - to flow over him. He could not shake off how similar to Maria's voice hers was. No, not similar, identical.

The meeting broke up after a few more exchanges, and they began to drift away to their separate tasks. They had resolved to wait until the next day to try and steal the Chaos Emeralds from Prison Island. Shadow, on some impulse, found himself calling out after the black robot. She glanced back round at him.

"Yes?"

The hedgehog hesitated. He had been thinking about this moment, about what to say for quite a few hours now. Unfortunately, all of the words seemed to have vanished from his head. "I want to talk to you," he said.

***

Two figures entered the chao garden, one moving more confidently than the other. Both were hooded and cloaked, one in black, the other in purpley-blue. The chao ran up to the visitors, happy to have a new distraction. Mainly, however, they flocked around the one wearing the purple-blue shimmering cloak, perhaps swaying towards the old proverb 'stick with what you know'.

"Go on! Do the eye thing!" yelled Clove ecstatically, jumping up and down, shoving some of the younger and smaller chao out of the way in his eagerness. Unfortunately for him, he pushed one dark chao who was bigger than him, and shoved him back. Though the two were rolling around on the floor, the cry was taken up by the others.

"Do the eyes! Do the eyes!" they chorused.

The figure gave the other an apologetic look. "They seem to love it when I do the traffic lights," they said, by way of an explanation. The other slowly nodded their cowled head, giving an eyrie effect.

"Go on!" urged Clove again, momentarily on top of his opponent.

They sighed, pretending to think about it. "Well, I suppose so," they said, dragging out the words, "but only once, and you'll have to promise to leave us alone once I have."

The chao erupted into cheers, sitting down expectantly. The figure then drew back their hood, revealing themselves to be a black robot bat: Pip. Rolling her eyes for the benefit of the other cloaked figure, she began her act. Her ice blue eyes turned red. A great silence swept over all of the chao as they waited happily. Even Clove and the dark chao had ceased the fight to watch. Pip's glowing eyes turned to an amber colour, then, almost instantly to a lurid green. More cheers came from the chao.

"I really don't quite know what's so fascinating about it," the bat admitted under her would-be breath to the remaining cloaked figure. "Chao can like the strangest things." Then, to the chao she added: "Okay, the show's over now guys. You can buzz off now." They watched as the little creatures drifted back to what they had been doing before they had come, Clove doing a reasonable impression of a bumblebee as he went. "Come on."

She led the other over to the centremost palm tree, taking off her cloak as she did so. The other followed suit, though with more caution. It was Shadow, the black hedgehog. Pip motioned to him to sit, which he proceeded to do, resting his back against the tree, his limbs tense. He was not used to chao, and felt a little ignorant and uneasy in their presence.

"I did not know you could make your eyes do traffic lights," he remarked, managing to grin a little, despite his unease.

"You ought to see me when I'm doing pinball with them," she told him, smirking. "Wait here."

The Mecha bot went to the corner of the garden, picking up something from a container before sideling back to join him. She deposited the item in the turf in front of the hedgehog. Unceremoniously, she sat down, wrapping her wings around her legs and observing him, expectantly.

The object was a large black egg, roughly the size of his body. He gave it a suspicious, puzzled glance, as if wondering if it was about to explode. "What does it do?" he asked, eventually.

"Do?" The robot sounded amused. "It's a chao egg. It doesn't do anything as such, apart from hatch of course. They also come in an amazing variety of colours," she added, in her best air hostess voice. "Collect them all while stocks last. Not applicable at all major stores, and not redeemable at all minor ones. No refunds given. This does not affect your statutory rights."

Shadow gave the egg another hard stare, even more suspicious than the last. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Heat chasing one of the other chao, tickling him mercilessly with a feather whenever he came within range.

"Chao certainly do not appear to have any malice in them," he said aloud. A little pain stabbed at his heart. There had been too much malice in his life so far. Perhaps he could have done with meeting these creatures sooner.

"Oh no," Pip agreed. "They're really sweet." She watched Heat pounce on a butterfly that had innocently flown in. He raised his chao paws, allowing it to fly away again before jumping on it once more. "Most of the time." Raising her voice, she called: "Hey, Heat, stop torturing that poor butterfly!"

Heat turned, keeping his paws firmly on it. "I'm not torturing it," he cried indignantly. "I'm just playing with it."

"Yep, and does the butterfly know that?"

The golden cat chao sighed, rolling his eyes. "I doubt it has gained the intellectual capacity to consider such a problem due to the fact that butterfly's lives are renowned for being short and meaningless voids."

Pip's eyes winked on and off; a robotic blink. "Erm, okay," she said. "Carry on."

The hedgehog actually managed a proper smile, for the first time since ... No, he must not dwell on that. He felt that Pip was like the chao, not someone who was using him or would harm him. They were kind people. He was safe here. Maybe he might even be able to stay. Shadow hurriedly shook these thoughts from his mind. He could not stay there: he had a task to accomplish. Maria had depended on him; he could not let her down now.

"What do I need to do with it, then?" he asked, returning to his earlier question.

"Keep it until it hatches. Then you'll have a chao of your very own. You'll have to look after and care for it of course. Feeding it, petting it, you know the sort of thing."

"No."

"You'll soon learn."

Did he even want a chao? He could not remember actually saying 'Yes' to it yet. To his surprise, he found that he did. They were so ... innocent. He watched as they dragged Pip off to perform another trick for them, the robot pretending to resist, though really doing nothing of the sort. Her too. All of them seemed free of the evil that he felt was closing in on the world. Friends.

A nasty thought crept into his mind. Maria had been like that too, and look what had happened to her. He made up his mind to protect his chao fiercely when it hatched, so that it would not fall victim to a similar fate.

Pip came back, still laughing. "See what I mean? You'll love it when yours hatches."

Shadow hesitated a moment. He felt that if he was going to ask his all-important question, it would have to be at that moment. "I want to show you something." Pip, who was a living proof that curiosity did not kill the bat, looked interested. She waited while the black hedgehog produced something: a small photo. "I need you to find out about me. About my past."

The bat took the photo, looking at it closely. It was a human girl, fair skinned with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was smiling in the photo, obviously enjoying some joke, or perhaps just happy to be alive. "She looks like she's off Thunderbirds," was her eventual snickered verdict.

Shadow held her gaze steadily. He did not know what 'Thunderbirds' was, but he was not going to admit to that. "I need to know what happened to her. Can you do this for me? I would not trust anyone else with this task."

"What's her name?" she asked, honoured.

"Maria."

"What happened to her then?"

The hedgehog shrugged, non-comittally. "That is what I want you to find out."

"I'll do what I can," Pip promised.

"Thank you." He paused again. "Do you know why I agreed to meet Robotnik?"

She shook her head. "I thought you just did. I didn't know there was a reason."

"It was your voice."

The bat looked puzzled. "My voice?" she repeated.

"Maria, the girl in the photo. You have the same voice as she does." He almost corrected himself to 'did', but remembered his supposed ignorance just in time.

Pip sat back. "What a coincidence."

"How so?"

"Well, on average I make up a different voice to use every week. I never keep the same one for very long. It seems a little funny that you should hear me talking when you know someone with the same voice."

"Funny?"

"You know, weird. Strange."

"Ah. Yes, it is ... funny."

Pip glanced up suddenly, turning her head this way and that. "There's some people coming," she said. "It's probably the owners. We'd better be going." She stood, pulling the cloak back over herself, holding out a hand to Shadow to help him up. The hedgehog was reluctant to leave, though he knew they must. Accepting the hand, he got to his feet, draping his cloak on, picking up the chao egg. Heat scampered over to join them.

When Samantha and the others walked in, there was only a faint bluish glow left hanging in the air to show that anyone had ever been there.