"Sleep" was a rather loose concept for Pretzel, and even as she rested she was keenly aware of Rouge and Shadow's auras approaching the hotel. She couldn't seem to shut down the watching, wary part of her brain. Wasn't sure she wanted to.

She knew Shadow was the one tapping softly on the door, and that Rouge murmured to him that Sonic was probably asleep. And she was the only who knew that Sonic tensed at the soft sounds, slightly relaxed when he recognized their voices, kept himself curled in a tight ball no matter what. Guess they were both light sleepers.

And yet… strangely, Pretzel felt no need to sit up. She felt no need to open her eyes or prick her ears or slip into the shadows. She felt their auras and knew them better than she knew herself, and somehow… she trusted them.

"Pretzel," Shadow muttered, and she blinked at him. "I believe you would like a say in our discussion."

Pretzel glanced at Sonic.

"Let him sleep," Rouge said from the windowsill, sunlight peeking through the blinds and playing across her white fur. "We're going to need him in top condition, and he's not used to being nocturnal."

Pretzel rose and spread her wings, leaping soundlessly across the room to land beside Rouge on the windowsill. "He won't rest long."

Shadow walked over to join them, leaning against the wall for a moment before giving up on appearances and sitting cross legged on the floor. Rouge smirked but didn't comment.

"We're trying to figure out our next move," She explained for Pretzel's benefit. "The temples don't seem to have the information we need, and we're running out of time."

"Did Shadow find anything out?" No one was surprised to hear Sonic's voice. He slipped off the bed and joined Shadow on the floor with a cheeky grin. Rouge rolled her eyes, but seemed to accept there was no more rest to be had.

"I did, actually." Shadow picked up his version of Rouge's magic-map-box thing. "The temple here is a reconstruction of an older one, which was destroyed—" Sonic winced at that "—but I believe it is accurate enough." He passed around the thing, which showed images like those seen in the other temples. Pretzel glanced at it, and her eyes instantly focused on that same, dark thing from the Holoska temple. "It seems Light Gaia and Dark Gaia have fought many times. They call it a cycle of rebirth— Light or Dark awakes first, and soon enough its opposite follows and they battle. Light Gaia wins, and both seal themselves in the Earth to regain their strength until the cycle begins again."

"So we need Dark Gaia," Rouge concluded.

Shadow hesitated. "I… would not be so sure." He swiped a finger across the pictures, and another picture appeared. Light Gaia dragging Dark Gaia down into the earth… and leaving behind nothing but ruins and bones. "It is called the cycle of rebirth because every time it happens, civilization has to be reborn."

"Ah," Rouge said, and they were all silent for a minute.

"So we shouldn't get Dark Gaia," Sonic shifted on the carpet. "It would be too destructive a fight. But what if we used the Chaos Emeralds?" Pretzel started to ask what these "Chaos Emeralds" were, but decided against it.

"So you could fight it in your Super form?" Rouge checked. Okay, now they were just spouting nonsense. Super form? "What if it took control of you again?"

Sonic winced. "I think having the Chaos Emeralds would help, maybe."

"Or they could make it worse," Shadow pointed out, not unkindly.

Rouge studied Sonic thoughtfully. "That is something I've been wondering about. The others under Light Gaia's control seem to be completely under Light Gaia's control. They never resist it, not that we can tell. Yet here you are, completely transformed by it, and plotting its downfall. And it's letting you."

Sonic shrugged. "Maybe my dark side's just too much for it."

"You don't have a dark side," Shadow said dryly.

Sonic stuck his tongue out at him, and Shadow rolled his eyes. "Anyway, even if the Chaos Emeralds don't help me, Shadow has a Super form too. We could gang up on it!"

"It has worked in similar situations in the past," Shadow agreed like this talk of superior shapes caused by expensive minerals was normal. "And I have other intel relating to that. Dr. Eggman still has the Emeralds."

Sonic perked up. "He does? Do we know where he has them?"

Rouge tapped at Shadow's… what was that thing? A magic tablet? The fox had had one when she first woke up, and they seemed to be used to conjure images. Interactive images. Speaking of images, it was now showing what she mercifully recognized as a map, with many names and colors and shapes she didn't understand.

"We believe he has at least a few at his base in Chun-nan." Rouge zoomed in on a very boring square. Didn't seem very helpful.

Sonic looked up. "Wait. Wasn't there a—"

"Yes, one of the temple doors leads there. Eggman has taken over the local Gaia temple, though he isn't there in person right now, if our intelligence is correct."

"That's a shame," Sonic growled. "I owe him a thing or two."

"If it makes you feel any better, you'll probably get to cause plenty of property damage." Rouge assured him, and Sonic grinned. "Besides, he may be holding Blaze there, if Light Gaia is still obeying him."

Sonic's smile faded. "I hope so."

Shadow looked between them. "What happened to the princess?"

Rouge glanced at Sonic, and he sighed. "She joined me at Holoska when she couldn't find any leads on the Sol Emeralds in Shamar. There ended up being this giant moray. She thought we should just leave, but I…" He glanced down. "I was determined to fight it. It was being controlled by Eggman, so I took the device off, but that just seemed to make it madder. Blaze saved me, and it grabbed her and swam off." He dragged a claw over the carpet, not looking up.

"I see." Shadow frowned. "Then this is a rescue as well." He looked at Rouge. "What's the plan?"

The bat grinned. "I'm glad you asked."