Chapter 1
Shadow swatted at a mosquito that was trying to get in a bite on him as he, Rouge, and Omega walked through the humid air of the East River Forest. "You know, I packed something for that." Rouge said, with a tinge of annoyance. "And I told you that stuff makes my nose itch." Shadow replied, curtly. Rouge just rolled her eyes and tried to stay on-point. GUN's Intelligence Division had stumbled onto some leads that implied SOME kind of Eggman-related activity going on in this forest, but ever since the Resistance, and later the Restoration, had established themselves in areas like this, GUN had preferred not to ruffle any proverbial and/or literal feathers by exuding any undue authority.
They did, however, have no problem calling in Team Dark(as they had come to be called)as a way to avoid properly contacting the Restoration in any way. Rouge was personally annoyed by all that noise, but they DID get extra pay for it, so who was SHE to complain? "Omega, your sensors detecting anything yet?"
"Results so far are inconclusive. While it IS possible that someone is cloaking their activities in this area, it could just as easily be natural electronic activity." Omega replied, steadily marching his way forward. "Ugh, can't your sensors tell the difference?" Shadow groaned in response. "Shadow, if it were distinguishable from ordinary interference, there would be no point in having it on." Omega replied, with an almost snarky tone. "It is, after all, called CLOAKING."
Shadow just huffed while Rouge chuckled. It wasn't always fun being the glue that held two dark and brooding hot-heads together, but it had its moments. "!" The three turned as that sound suddenly came from some trees in the distance. It sounded like an Egg Pawn. "FINALLY! SOME ACTION!" Omega shouted with glee, running towards the noise. Shadow and Rouge began running side by side with him, but as the three approached the source of the noise, they only saw three figures, along with two Wisps, standing in the darkness. "Omega, wait!" Rouge cried out as she and Shadow began slowing down. "DEATH TO ALL EGGMAN ROBOTS!" Omega shouted, switching one of his hands to gun mode. "!" Cried one of the figures, a dark grey canary with mechanical enhancements. Another one, a red wolf in a black battlesuit and cowboy hat, moved in front to defend her, before a brown bear with black stripes threw himself at Omega, knocking the ultimate E-series robot down as he let out a mighty roar and tore one of Omega's front chest plates off with his teeth. "Raccoon, stop!" The wolf suddenly yelled, just barely stopping the bear before it tore too deeply into Omega. "It's not the same as the other ones, okay, buddy? I know it looks similar, but it's not the same." The bear, who Shadow guessed was the aforementioned Raccoon, still seemed very angry as the wolf talked him down, but eventually calmed down enough to step off of Omega...Although he still seemed very upset in a way Shadow was VERY familiar with. What had happened to this guy?
"Omega, are you okay?" Rouge asked, concerned. "Physical damage is superficial, but my pride...is another matter." Omega responded with a twinge of surprise in his voice. The wolf approached Shadow after Raccoon had been sat down on a log. "Hey, sorry about that, Raccoon isn't USUALLY like this..." he started, before Shadow interrupted. "My friend attacked yours, so he tried to defend her. There's nothing to be sorry about...Though what you three are even DOING here would be nice to know."
"Right, right...Introductions are in order, I...guess." The wolf said, awkwardly clearing his throat. "Um, I'm Jack, the pretty bird over here is Cyber, and I think we're all familiar with Raccoon by now." Shadow nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, I'm Shadow, this is Rouge and Omega. You might have heard of us before." Jack chuckled before pointing over at Cyber, who waved very nervously. "Oh yeah, she has at least five t-shirts of each of you."