Urgh…. Well, finals are this week, so I might be a bit slow with the next chapter…. Ahem. Onwards!

Chapter 7

A Search

"Where did you say the ship was last sighted?" Shadow wanted to make absolutely sure he had heard his blue counterpart over the rush of the wind in their ears. They were currently on their way towards where Sonic had heard Eggman's airship had last been sighted. As usual, they were both running at insanely fast speeds. Even in this times like these, they were competitive.

"It SHOULD be right over this-" Sonic skidded to a stop on the edge of a large hill. "Woah. THAT is BIG." Looming on the horizon in front of them was an enormous ship, painted in Eggman's usual, die-hard style. Compared Eggman's usual ships, however, this thing was HUGE! Not only that, but it seemed to be lacking any kind of fleet surrounding it; it was the only ship there. Large as it was, it was going at a pretty good speed, heading away from them.

"Stop gawking and get moving." Undaunted, Shadow ran off ahead after the ship, followed soon after by a still skyward staring Sonic.

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Rouge's train of thought jolted to a stop as the airship gave a similar jolt. She looked around suspiciously. Just before the window before her closed, she caught a glimpse of landscape disappearing as the ship lowered itself into some kind of underground landing area. After that, the metal covers of the windows slid shut, allowing no view whatsoever. "Welcome to my base, my dear." Rouge almost jumped; she hadn't seen Eggman put his hand on the intercom button and so was surprised to hear him. "I hope you find your stay to be… pleasant." She could hear him snigger to himself as he took his hand off the intercom button. She gave him a Glare of Doom, but it only served to make him laugh harder.

Next thing the bat knew, she was feeling her stomach lurch as the glass tube she was in shot downwards, taking her to a place below the ship. Now she could see where they had landed. As the tube opened and she was dragged off by some of Eggman's robots, she took careful mental notes of the landing area around her. It seemed to be underground, and was quite large. 'I wonder how long it took him to build this place…. He must have been planning this a long time.' Finally she was dragged into a hallway, the door shutting behind her and her robot guards and obscuring the landing area from view.

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Shadow cursed loudly as he saw the ship disappearing from view. For a moment he thought they'd lost it, but suddenly it stopped and landed. He would have breathed a sigh of relief, had he had any breath to spare. "Hurry up."

"I AM hurrying! Geez Shadow, when'd you get so fast?" Shadow hadn't really noticed his own increased speed until then. Deciding to ignore it, he had a little fun insulting his companion instead.

"I'm not any faster. You're just getting slow."

"Ha ha, very funny. But really, what have you been eating?" Shadow did not answer because he was in the middle of skidding to a stop in front of a large metal panel in the ground. It was even bigger than the ship. Sonic almost ran into him, skidding to a stop just in time. "Hey, what's-" Sonic looked down and immediately shut up. "Oh. I guess that's where the ship went, then."

"What was your first clue?"

"Cut the sarcasm. Let's just find a way in."

Shadow was already way ahead of him.

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Rouge sighed from her place in the corner of the small cell that was to be her room for the time being. She was bored, dangit. "Well, enough playing damsel in distress. Time to bust out of here." She pulled a lock pick out of her boot and got to work on the lock of the traditional and yet horribly out-dated cell door, again mentally praising her own intelligence whilst wondering why Eggman always overlooked building decent prisoner holding facilities.

"Stupid Shadow. The least he could do is hurry up with saving me."

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Meanwhile, the 'stupid' hedgehog and his companion ran down a small passageway with a downwards tilt. "You know Shadow, I think this is all too convenient. I think it's a trap!"

"You just now realized that?" Shadow was becoming increasingly fond of sarcasm. "Of course it is." He rolled his eyes, not slowing his pace. After traveling a long time with no sound but the swishing of the air in their ears, the two finally came to a door.

"Ready Shadow?"

Shadow did not respond; he was already opening the door. The two dashed out, expecting a large ambush. To their surprise, they found nothing but a very empty landing area. Empty, that is, except for the huge ship in the middle, but that didn't count; it wasn't moving or trying to attack them.

"Huh. Eggman's really off his game today."

"That just makes it all the easier for us to pay the good doctor a surprise visit."

"Well, which way do we go now?" There were two ways out; one to their right and one to their left.

"It seems the doctor wants us to split up."

"It looks like we'll have to play his way… for now. You go left, I'll go right. Good luck Shadow." Without waiting for a response, Sonic dashed off to the right.

"Heh. He's going to get himself killed one of these days." That said, Shadow headed off to the left to investigate this 'empty' base.

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Heh…. Sorry for the short, boring chapter. I think the next one should be a bit better. C'ya guys next chapter, and thanks for the 28 (WOW!) reviews.