This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.

Chapter 1: All Power has a Price

"48 rings?"

Shadow was meeting with Sally and Geoffrey. Displayed before them were the rings Shadow had taken into battle the previous night. 59 rings were laid out, 48 had been drained of their power.

Sally picked up one of the drained rings, and held it up to a small hand computer. "That's quite the power you must have if it drained all these rings."

Shadow crossed his arms. "They say that any power has a price. I'm sorry if I'm not Energy Star compliant."

Geoffrey also took one of the drained rings. "This could be a problem. If you need this many rings to perform your Chaos Control, then your usefulness is in serious question."

Sally tossed the expired ring back in the pile. "There's just no way we could gather the rings needed for an offensive, or a dependable defence for that matter. We have to be careful how we use power rings around here, they don't just grow on trees."

"Then, where do they come from?"

Geoffrey answered. "They are a physical manifestation of energy. We really don't know where the energy comes from, but they culminate in certain areas in the form of rings. They hold a lot of power, but they regenerate very slowly, sometimes taking months to return. We've found that by taking expended rings to certain areas they can be recharged, it's much faster than waiting for one to regenerate completely, but it still takes weeks to achieve full power."

"And how many rings do you have?"

Sally hesitated to answer, that being a piece of information that was not freely given. She turned away from the pair, facing a nearby wall. "We have a little over 200 in stock. Our scouts gather on average, 8 rings a day, but we need 4 or 5 to maintain everyday activities."

"Which means your attack would have drained a two week surplus."

Shadow didn't need Geoffrey to do the math for him.

"What we need, is a more efficient way to collect rings, or a better way to recharge them."

"I could collect them, I collected these."

Sally turned back to Shadow. "How long did it take you?"

"A couple minutes."

"Really, then this might work."

Geoffrey stepped in. "Excuse my lack of faith, but it seems that we might be spreading ourselves a little thin here. You might be able to help us fight Robotnik, but if you have to keep going out collecting rings, it would diminish your ability to attack or defend. Not to mention it makes us too reliant on one person."

Geoffrey realized that mentioning it got to Sally and Shadow, it was the exact situation they had before with Sonic; Sally missed him so much, and Shadow hated the implication of taking his doppelganger's place.

"I'm sorry, but I had to say it."

"Still, if that's what it takes, then that's what must be done. It looks like we'll need you to pull double duty."

Shadow wasn't too keen on having to find his own supply of power, but so be it. "I'll do what I can; after all, I got these on my own, pretty quickly too. It would have been faster if…"

Sally and Geoffrey looked on as Shadow smirked and started a weak maniacal laugh.

"What is it?"

"I could have shaved almost a minute off my time had I not had a chance run in yesterday. Your highness, I think I may have an answer to our energy problems; if I can find her again that is."

* * *

Deep in the Great Forest, far away from the hidden village of Knothole, or the glorious eyesore of Robotropolis, a lone stranger to the woods flew about the treetops.

Down below, a row of five rings was lying out in the open.

{Five pretty little rings, just waiting for me.}

The winged predator swooped down to ground level and with an outstretched arm, hooked each ring one after the other. The first four were easy, but the fifth had a bit of resistance to it, enough to bring the flier down to earth.

Planting both feet firmly on the ground, two eyes looked back to examine the obstacle that solidified the last ring.

A shameless smile was visible in the darkness. "Hey there Sweet Thing. Funny meeting you here."

* * *

Shadow let Rouge take the last ring in exchange for hearing him out.

"So you want me to find Power Rings for you and these 'Freedom Fighters' for their war against Dr. Robotnik?"

"That's right."

"Well, that is an interesting proposal, but I have other concerns."

"Like what?"

"Me, for one. You expect me to collect these delicious rings and just give them away to a bunch of grubby forest dwellers who probably couldn't scrounge up a decent meal to offer, let alone the money to pay for my services."

"So I suppose asking you to do it out of the goodness of your heart is out of the question."

"'Goodness of the heart' isn't going to put cash in my pocket."

"Is money all you want?"

Rouge cackled. "Of course not. Money is just paper or small discs of metal. What I like either sparkles or shines. Gold, jewels, hmmmm… That's the stuff. Now if you had a chest full of beautiful diamonds and rubies, then we could talk."

"What if I could promise you all the jewels you could ever want."

"You'll be promising the stars my dark friend. Where would you get jewels anyway?"

"Sally is a princess, ruler of Mobotropolis. At least before Robotnik came. If we defeat him, I'm sure she'll gladly reward you for your trouble."

"That's hardly good enough. Although I'm sure she'll be able to grant my wishes, that's a long wait I'll have, as well as very long odds. You may be willing to bet that you'll win, but I want a more concrete guarantee."

"Then I'll personally barge into Robotropolis and steal back whatever I can. We'll consider that as advanced payment."

"That is equally long odds, although it would cut the waiting time. You must really be desperate for my help."

"I wouldn't go quite that far. I can collect rings too you know, probably faster than you."

"Hah, if that were true, then you wouldn't be wasting your time with me."

"Of course it's true, I have these after all."

Rouge noticed that Shadow was now holding five rings. She took a look in her purse to find the five rings she had just collected were missing. "You slimeball. Give those back!"

"Make me."

Rouge tried to grab the hedgehog, but he was far too fast and was out of her reach in a fraction of a second.

"Hey, come back here."

Rouge ran after him, only for Shadow to move around again. She was about to lock onto his new position when she decided she didn't want to play this stupid game.

"O.K. You've made your point. Now can I have my rings back?"

"Are you going to consider my proposal?"

"I suppose."

Shadow tossed the rings back at Rouge, and with a few quick motions, she recaptured all of them.

"This princess of yours had better have a whole lot of gems, cause working with you is going to be a major pain in my ass."

"Then allow me to offer something else; your pretty little head."

"What?! You dare threaten me."

"Oh, I would never do that, but Robotnik might. A lone bat out in the middle of the Great Forest. Not only do these woods offer their own danger, but there's a mad scientist running loose. Just what do you think he'll do if he caught you."

"Catch, me? You must be joking. No one can catch Rouge the Bat!"

"I did, twice."

"The first time was an accident."

"This time wasn't. Trust me, this guy is bad news, and if you plan to stick around at all, I would suggest that you not be alone."

"I've seen his robots, they're not a big deal. But for a hedgehog, they might pose a problem, or so I've heard."

Shadow's temper started to flare, the sight from that fateful night flashed into memory. At his feet, between the scrapped robots was one very dead hedgehog, blue fur with streams of red coming from two spots in the chest.

"Are you scared of the big bad robots?"

Shadow glared at the bat and spoke in a hideous voice. "Listen here bitch, I'm not in the mood for your blasted jokes! I came to ask you for help, so here it is!"

Shadow paused and regained his composure. "Would you please help us?"

Rouge was definitely scared at the change in Shadow's demeanor. Although she tried to hide it, her voice was broken from fear.

"I'll think about it, but you and this princess of your had better be able to deliver."

"Then I'll bring it by her for her approval. In a little bit, I'll return for your answer."

"Alright. But if I refuse, I don't want to ever see you again."

"As you wish, but if that's the case, then I suggest you leave entirely."

"An interesting choice."

Rouge stood and watched as Shadow engaged his phase run, disappearing into the woods.

"This could be easier than I thought."

To be continued