Aloha, peoples!
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Well, I don't have anything else to say (surprisingly 0.o) so, here's the tenth chapter! Yay!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co. I own Ruby and Leo.
Shadowed Photo Ch. 10- Secret Agents!
"Oh, Ruuuuubbbyyyyyyyyy…" Rouge called out as if I was a lost puppy. "Come out, come out, where ever you are…" She sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Oh, c'mon, Ruby. It's not like I'll steal your camera, like we know Shadow would. Heck, he'd probably smash it into a million pieces after what you did, but I personally don't care. I guess it was sort of funny."
I was sick and tired of hiding all the time, and I knew that Rouge wouldn't kill me, so I came out from behind a huge machine thing-a-ma-jig. "Duh! It wasn't funny. It was hysterical! You guys could have been an old married couple in a past life, maybe! Ha ha!"
Rouge made a 'tch' sound and replied. "Oh puh-lease! Shadow and I are just partners, and besides, he's always Mr. Grouch. He doesn't show any emotion. I like to mess around with men just to see their reaction, but with Shadow, it's a total bore. Not like Knuckie…"
I cocked my head to the side. "Huh? Who?" I asked in confusion. Rouge turned the other way.
"Oh, no one. Just a boy I like to tease." She said coolly.
"Hey, it's not nice to tease! I bet that guy has feelings to, and I don't even know him!" I said defensively. I sometimes got teased at school because I was a photographer geek and the fact that my best friend was a guy. (Honestly, what's wrong with that?) They would sometimes think that we were actually more than just friends (which I honestly can tell you we weren't) and well… if you have been in this situation before, you'd understand what I'm talking about (so bear with me, people).
She turned back to me and looked at me in disbelief. "Wait… you mean… you haven't figured out who I was even talking about yet…?"
"Uh… no. Should I?"
She studied the dumb expression I had on my face, and then shook her head in pity. "Sigh… I guess you're not as smart as I thought you were, even though you stole the file on Professor Gerald."
"HEY I'M NOT… wait," I stopped in the middle of my sentence. My eyes were dinner plates. I slowly raised a finger to her. My voice was a little shaken. "…what… did you… say?" She gave me one of her sly looks.
'HOW…? HOW DID SHE KNOW! OH, MAAAAAAN! I'M IN SO MUCH—'"Look, before you start spazzing out, kiddo, you are not in trouble, okay? Actually, it was a good thing that you swiped this." She held out the file I 'borrowed' from Eggman the other day. "I actually thought that I would have to go through the trouble to steal it myself. You're pretty sly for and 11-year-old." I just stood there and stared at her.
I finally found the words to say. "Who… are you, really?" I didn't back away, though. I truthfully didn't feel threatened in any way, surprisingly.
"Secret Agent Rouge for the President of the United States of America." She flipped out her badge with her ID on it.
Stare… Twitch…"Meaning I'm one of the good guys." She rolled her eyes.
"O-oh, right! Of course you-you are!" I said slightly startled. 'Wow…! A real secret agent! I knew she was one of the good guys! This is soooo cool!'
"Anyway, let me skip to the point; we believe…"
"Who's 'we'?" I interrupted.
"The president, his advisors, the government, etc." She stated. "Anyways, we believe that Eggman might have found some top secret weapon that's powerful enough to make him 'emperor'. We don't know what the weapon is, but we do know it by it's code name," she paused for a moment. " 'Project: Shadow' ". She finished.
" 'Project: Shadow?' " I echoed. Why did that sound so familiar? Could it have something to do with the REAL Shadow? But, that was impossible! Then again… Shadow was little different from Sonic and his friends, so maybe, just maybe…
"Does it have any connection with Shadow, as in 'Shadow the Hedgehog'?" I asked. She shook her head.
"That's what I'm wondering. It is possible, though. I mean, you have seen how powerful he is, right?"
I nodded in agreement. "So, what do you want from me?"
She looked up at me with a slightly serious smile. "Your help." She replied. "But don't worry," She floated up to my shoulder and patted me on the back. "I won't make you do anything drastic after everything that you've been through, you poor girl." She gave me a sympathetic smile, with a hint of slyness, as usual.
"Well, at least someone understands me." I sighed. I turned back at her with a small spark of determination. "I'll help you in anyway I can! There's no way I'm gonna let Eggman take over the Earth!" I raised my fists, as if I was personally going to knock him out my self.
"That's what I want to hear!" Rouge nodded her head. "You're actually a very brave girl, we could use someone like you for our next secret agent."
I blushed from embarrassment. Was I really being praised from a secret agent? I waved my hands rapidly. "W-w-well, thanks for the complement, but I don't think I'm quite old enough yet! And I'm just into photography, but then again, it would be kinda cool to become a secret agent…"
"Hey, I'm not putting any pressure on you, kiddo, but I do really need your help, and if you do help, I'll get you back to your family."
'My family… I almost forgot. My mom I is probably worried sick about me. Dad has probably already posted 'lost' adds all over the internet by now and has e-mail to every single person we know. And I'm sure that Ricky is missing me by now, wondering if I'll be home soon so I can play with him again, like I always do… I… never realized that I miss them… I MISS THEM SO MUCH!'
I was on the brink of tears, but I knew I had to stay strong! It looked like the only way I was ever going to see my family again was to help out Rouge. She blinked at me. I quickly rubbed my eyes and put on my determined, yet kind of nervous look.
"Alright," she whispered. "This is what you have to do…"
Elsewhere, just outside of Earth's atmosphere…"Gaaah…!" Leo groaned, rubbing his head. "I thought for sure we were gonna get killed…! Man, that was scary! That Egg Golem thing was HUUUUUGE!"
Leo, Sonic and the gang had just barely escaped being squashed like pancakes in Eggman's Pyramid Base in the desert. They had found out that Eggman was hiding in the space colony, ARK, and found an extra rocket and launched themselves up into space… after they defeated the Egg Golem. (If you have played Sonic Adv. 2 Battle, you know which boss I'm talking about.) Leo couldn't stop talking about how exciting the battle was… and how he nearly got killed by trying to help… poor Leo.
"And YOU almost got squashed!" Amy added while handing him an ice pack. "Next time, leave it to the boys to do the smashing and bashing."
"But I AM a boy!" He scowled. Sonic and Knuckles sweatdropped.
"Um," Sonic began. "I think what Amy is trying to say is, 'Thanks for distracting the Egg Golem for Sonic, but try not to do anything that reckless next time.' "
Leo rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Hey, I had to do something, otherwise, Sonic would've been a pancake! And plus, it's just a bump, it's not like I need to get head surgery or something." Knuckles was in the chair to his left, with his arms crossed and chuckled a bit.
"Heh, if you hit your head a like that again, not even head surgery is going to help you." He joked. Leo threw up his hands dramatically.
"Is everyone in the world against me because I helped someone today? I should be praised for helping for once! Not criticized!" Leo pouted.
"You're actually right, Leo." Tails stated. "If you weren't there at the time, Sonic might have… well, no offence, Sonic, but I don't think that the out come would have been pretty…" He looked down feeling slightly ashamed.
Sonic shrugged it off. "Well, what matters now is that we're outta there and we're going to rescue Leo's friend and stop Eggman."
"Speaking of your friend, Leo," Amy sat down in her seat, which was behind Leo and stood up on it as she continued, "what's she like? Is she nice?"
Leo nodded. "Oh, yeah, she's nice most of the time, and she cares about her friends and stuff. And she's pretty good at cheering people up, even for no apparent reason. The only thing she hates are spiders and, uh, 'not so nice people'. Oh, and Eggman, too."
Sonic smirked. "I think I'm already starting to like her, we at least have one thing in common! Heh, heh."
"She sounds like a great person, I can't wait to meet her!" Amy replied.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention that Ruby is also very smart. She mostly gets A's and B's. She rarely gets anything below that, except on one of her 'off days'. But, everyone has those once and a while."
"Wow," Tails said slightly impressed. "So she's a photographer and has an 'A's & B's' average? That's pretty cool."
"Why are we even talking about a person who we have never met!"? Knuckles roared without warning. "What really matters is finding Eggman and that 'batgirl' who stole the Master Emerald! Nothing else!" He sourly crossed his arms.
"Hey, Knuckles, if losing that Master Emerald thingy is a big deal for you," Sonic said in a slightly louder tone, "think how big a deal it is for Leo; his BEST FRIEND just got kidnapped! Think about it, he's just as worried about his friend, as you are for the Master Emerald."
Knuckles slouched in his chair, with his hands still crossed, looking a little ashamed. He closed his eyes and then said to Leo, "Sorry." Leo just grinned back.
"Hey, no harm, no foul, Knuckles. And I'm sure we'll find your Master… thing-a-ma-bob."
"…It's called 'The Master EMERALD." Knuckles grumbled.
Leo just laughed then looked out of the window again. 'I wonder if Ruby's doing okay…'
Back on the ARK, in the Central Control Room…"I do not feel okay!"
I clutched my stomach and tried to look sickly as possible. Eggman sighed in annoyance. "Alright, fine, I'll get you some medicine to make your stomach feel better… but if you really need to throw up, do in that trash can in the corner over there." He said pointing and then he left.
'Good...' I thought. I held out a walkie-talkie. "This is Miz Zorro to Agent Rouge. Part one of operation… um, did we even have a name for this, over?" I said into the walkie-talkie like I was clueless.
"Erm, no we didn't, but nice code name, Miz Zorro." She joked. I giggled a bit, but not for long. She then gave me instructions on what to do next. "Okay, you ready for Part 2? Over."
"That's a 10-4, over." I responded.
"Alright, then. Go on the computer. Eggman probably didn't have enough time to shut it down, so I need you click the file that says 'Professor Gerald'."
I moved the mouse to the file that said 'Professor Gerald', but when I did, a pop up came up that said, "Enter user data". 'Uh, oh…' I thought. 'Not good…'
"Rouge? It won't let me get in without a pass—"
"Holy--! Ruby, log off! NOW!"
"WHAT? Uh- uh-" I fumbled with the mouse and quickly clicked the "X" button and ran over to the trash can and pretended to throw up. At that moment, the door slid open and Eggman walked back in with a medicine bottle in his hand.
"Ah, here we go. 'Calms stomach aches and upset stomachs…' Whoops. Looks like I got here a little too late…" He grumbled as I he saw me bending over the trashcan.
"Urp! Erg… ah, that's much better." I picked my self up. "Sorry, I think it was just, um, eating too much fruit or something.Well, I guess that's what I get for mistaking thosw prunes for giant raisins. I didn't mean to trouble you, sorry!"
I then ran out of the room. Before I exited it I hear him mumble, "Hmph. Who knew kids were such health maniacs?"
I made a right and went down a hall until Rouge glided over to me and I stopped running. I bent over apologetically. "I'm so sorry I messed up! I didn't know I needed a password in order to get in! Really! I'm really, really sorry!"
"Chill out, kiddo. You did great!" Rouge said reassuringly. "Actually, this was just to make sure that we needed a password in order to get in. I'll take care of the rest, sugar. Thanks." She started to walk away, but I stayed in place.
I looked at her hard. 'Hmm… something tells me that that's not the only reason why she needed me to try to sneak into Eggman's computer. Maybe, she was using me as a… no, she wouldn't. Would she?'
"… I think there's something else that you're after besides info on 'Project: Shadow'." I stated and walked away as well.
I heard Rouge stop walking and saw at the corner of my eye that she smiled a bit. "I'm tellin' ya, kiddo- we could definitely use someone like you for a secret agent."
"When I'm older." I reminded her and she left.
'Yeah, that would be cool, I guess.' I smiled at myself and giggled a little. Me, a secret agent? Who knows? I'm still a kid, and anything could happen.
"What's with that ridiculous little smile of yours, girly? Did you just win the lottery?"
Oh. Shadow. That could happen, too. (Groan…)
S. Kat: Oh, goodie. Looks like Ruby is gonna have to put up with Shadow yet again.
Ruby: Save me! (cries)
Shadow: Hey, you're just as big of a pain in the—
Ruby: Don't make me get a group of "Shadow fan girls" in here to accidentally stampede all over you!
Shadow: …! (eye twitches rapidly)
S. Kat: Thanks for reviewing, y'all! Now if you would be so kind as to do it again, I'd be extremely happy! R&R and no flamz! Bye!