Chapter 8

A shadowy figure moved stealthily under the cover of darkness, inside of one of the government's top military facilities. The figure ducked behind a metallic wall as a search light shone around her area. A loud buzzing sound signaled the passing of a small sentry bot as it moved along to scan other areas for intruders.

The figure chuckled slightly at the robot's incompetence and moved out of the cover of the wall, moving swiftly to the other end of the room. Out of the shadow, the figure stepped to reveal itself as Rouge the Bat.

She had recently heard of a large priceless ruby captured by the government and sent to this facility for safe keeping and being the thief she was…she had come to take it as her own.

Smirking slightly, the bat moved over to an access panel to gain entrance to the sealed room before her. Moving quickly in case another bot came along, she used a miniature screw driver that she had pulled from her belt and began removing the screws from the protective plating of the panel.

Removing all four screws and tucking the screw driver back into her belt, Rouge proceeded to take off the plating and work on the complicated wring inside of the panel. Taking hold of a red wire, the bat pulled out a small knife and cut it in two. Next, she cut a light green wire and connected the ends of the red and green wire to each other.

The panel sparked for a moment before a monotone voice spoke. "Access approved."

Rouge smirked as she tucked the knife back into her belt and entered through the now wide open door. Light flickered on in the room to reveal absolutely no trace of any kind of jewel, only a large computer. Rouge's heart sank a little but some hope was rekindled when she spotted a large computer in the middle of the room.

Thinking she could use it to find the ruby's location, Rouge proceeded to the computer and spotted a small search bar on the screen. It required a password. Now, being the excellent world class thief she was, he could easily crack the code. Before she started however, an idea flashed in her mind.

Moving her gloved fingers almost gracefully, she typed in five letters, all capitalized" M-A-R-I-A

"Access Approved!" A female voice spoke.

She hastily typed in "Top Secret" to see if she could locate the jewel that way.

"Searching….Searching….Results found."

Rouge smiled when multiple screens popped up on the screen. There was one that immediately caught her attention labeled: Samoan Ruby. She moved the cursor over to the small box and was about to click it when something else caught her eye, labeled Project Shadow.

Her curiosity immediately heightened as she moved the cursor away from the previous box and to the one labeled Project Shadow. Clicking it, another white screen filled the monitor. She skimmed through it, reading all about Shadow's creations and the events in his life all the way to the Black Arms invasion when it stopped and one bold phrase was at the end of the report, on that made Rouge's heart almost stop.

Status: Captured

Location: G.U.N. Base Alpha, Sandstone Canyon

It couldn't be…

She read the information over and over again to make sure she wasn't mistaken but every time, it was the same. How could he be captured? He is the one who beat Devil Doom and Chaos Eclipse. How?

That one question kept running through her mind as a single tear of realization ran down her delicate cheek but she snapped out of it, coming to a decision. "I have to tell the others." She muttered.

And with those words said, the bat dashed out of the room, past the sentry bots, and back outside, heading towards the Mystic Ruins.

Mystic Ruins

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A familiar voice screamed through the usual silent air above the Mystic Ruins.

Sensing danger, a young two tailed fox ran out of his workshop covered in oil. "Sonic?"

Immediately, a blue blur ran to the fox as the famous Sonic the Hedgehog hid behind his little adopted brother. Tails cocked a brow as he looked back at Sonic. "What's wrong Sonic?"

The cobalt hedgehog only pointed a trembling finger forward. Tails followed the fingers direction and began to figure out what Sonic was so scared of. His suspicions were confirmed when a familiar voice echoed through the air.

"Soooooooooooniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic!"

Running up to the duo was none other than Amy Rose carrying a small basket, once again on a hunt for the blue hedgehog's affection. Sonic yelped slightly as he ducked further down behind Tails.

Amy sighed as she stopped before Tails. "Sonic, stop being a baby! You know you love me!"

Sonic looked up over Tails' shoulder. "I do not!" He said defiantly.

Amy glared at him. "Excuse me?"

Sonic squealed and hid behind Tails again.

Amy sighed. "Oh well," She said. "I guess you don't want these chili dogs I have…." She said opening the basket and revealing ten chili dogs.

Sonic's eyes widened as his mouth watered. Amy smirked. "You can have them if you want; all ya gotta do is give me a small kiss." She said pointing to her lips.

Sonic's eyes widened even more. Oh, what a dilemma. Chili dogs for the price of kissing Amy. Was he gonna go it? Hell No!

Sonic came up with a different plan as he moved away from Tails and stood before Amy. "Alright," He said sadly. "You win Amy."

Amy squealed with delight as she leaned forward. Sonic also leaned forward. Closing her eyes slightly, the pink hedgehog tilted her head to the side.

Tails covered his eyes. "Uh, I can't watch."

Their lips were about to meet when Sonic snapped back and grabbed the basket from Amy, taking off.

Amy opened her eyes to see Sonic and her basket full of chili dogs no longer with her. She looked to the side to see Sonic running off.

Amy's eyes caught fire as she pulled out her giant hammer. "Get back here!" She demanded taking off after the blue hero.

"No way!" Sonic shouted back, grabbing a chili dog and taking a huge chomp out of it.

Amy kept running after him, while Sonic kept eating the chili dogs in mid-run. The blue hedgehog laughed in amusement as he looked back at Amy, her jade eyes now mimicking Shadow's.

The hero looked back as his laughter disappeared. Before him was Rouge. Putting his feet in front of him, Sonic managed to break just in time before hitting the completely motionless Rouge.

Sonic screamed as he fell over, with the rest of the chili dogs flying to the dirty ground. Sonic sniffed. "What a waste, what a waste."

Amy stopped in front of Sonic and Rouge, looking at the bat. "Rouge, are you okay?" She asked worried.

Rouge lifted her face to reveal it covered in soft crystal like tears. "They have him…G.U.N. has Shadow."

Amy and Sonic's eyes widened. "WHAT?" They screamed in unison.

"How did this happen?" Sonic asked, getting up.

Rouge shook her head. "I don't know."

Amy walked up to her and placed a arm around her shoulder, leading her to the workshop. "Come in inside and you can tell us there."

Rouge nodded, sniffing back more tears and followed Amy, with Sonic close behind.

Workshop

"Alright," Amy began as she sat down on a small black couch with Sonic, Tails, and Rouge. "Just tell me how you know this for certain."

"Well," Rouge began. "When I was in one of the minor G.U.N. holding bases a few hours ago, I came across a computer. Hacking into it, I spotted a file about Project Shadow and read it. At the end of the report it said that Shadow was captured and is being held at G.U.N. base Alpha ad Sandstone Canyon."

"But," Sonic interrupted. "What were you doing there in the first place?"

Amy closed her eyes and sighed angrily, knocking Sonic in the head with a closed fist. "Shut up Sonic!"

Sonic rubbed his head. "Alright, I was only asking, jeez!"

Rouge continued. "So, as soon as I found out, I came here to tell you guys."

Amy nodded, thinking about the problem. She came to a conclusion. "Well, there's only one thing we can do, a rescue mission!"

Sonic jumped up. "Aw sweet, bring it on!" He said confidently.

Rouge smiled, wiping her tears away. "Thanks guys."

Sonic smiled cockily. "Don't worry about it toots, even though Shadow wouldn't admit it, I'm his friend and I never leave a friend behind."

Amy glared angrily at him. "Toots?"

Sonic's eyes widened. "Uh Oh…"

The next thing everyone knew, Amy was once again chasing Sonic around, only this time it wasn't for his affection.

"I'm sorry Amy." He said dodging another swing of the hammer. "You're the only one for me!"

Amy stopped and smiled warmly. "Awww thanks Sonic."

Sonic put his hands over his mouth, realizing what he just said. "I…um…"

Rouge walked up to him and smirked, putting a arm around his shoulder. "Would you look at that, Sonic has a little crush."

Sonic glared at her. "I do not!"

Rouge smirked again. "Then why are you blushing?"

Sonic's eyes widened as he covered his rose face. "I am NOT blushing, you're squeezing the life outta me!"

Rouge smiled and let him go. "Fine Sonic, you just keep being in denial."

Sonic growled and muttered some words under his breath.

"What was that?" Rouge asked.

"Nothing," Sonic mumbled and raised his voice again. "Now, can we get going?"

Rouge nodded. "Sure, but let's head to Angel Island first, I'm sure Amber and Knuckles wanna help as well."

Sonic nodded and looked at Tails. "You stay here little buddy, I wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Tails nodded as Sonic pulled the two females in closer to him. "Chaos Control!" Sonic shouted.

And in a green flash of light, they were gone.

G.U.N. Base Alpha

Shadow grimaced from pain as the heartless S.D. mechs strapped him into a seat surrounded by what looked like a giant see-through ball. The mechs tightened the straps on the hedgehog's arms and legs and left the room, with only a couple scientists and the hated Commander still by the hedgehog.

Shadow managed to talk through the pain. "What are you doing to me?"

The Commander smirked. "Something that will surely bend you to our will."

Shadow growled. "You'll never control me!"

The Commander smiled. "Oh, but I think I will!"

The small bubble Shadow was in sealed shut with a hissing sound. A buzzing sound started ringing in Shadow's ears as the night hedgehog looked up to see some kind of metallic head band connected to a bunch of wires lowering itself.

The dark hedgehog tried moving out of the way, but to no avail. The head band continued coming down until it slid onto Shadow's head.

The Commander outside of the bubble smiled evilly as he pointed to one of the scientists. "Activate the machine!"

The scientist nodded and punched in a few buttons. The bubble Shadow was in started filling up with a bright florescent light as the rest of the room darkened. Shadow shut his eyes as if trying to resist something when his eyes shot wide open.

He now knew what this machine was doing; it was making him relive his worst memories.