High in the sky above Central City, Sonic was annoyed.

The sound of the helicopter's blades whirling through the air made a speedy rhythm, and the hedgehog tapped his foot in time with it as he frowned at his cuffed hands. This was really getting ridiculous. He knew the military wasn't his biggest fan 一 and he could just as easily claim the same himself about them 一 but at this point they were looking for any excuse to apprehend him. He wasn't even carrying a Chaos Emerald, for pete's sake! Yet they detained him, bringing him high into the sky because they'd had enough experiences with him to know that if he was kept on the ground, he would escape.

Again.

Sonic glanced over at the security in front of him. Two guards, one pilot. Easy enough once he got his hands free. After that… well, he would cross that bridge once he got there.

He sighed loudly, groaning in boredom to distract from the sound of the handcuffs getting loosened. Handcuffs were a joke to him at this point, which only went to show how ridiculous this whole thing was. Sonic had been framed too many times to count, and he was sure he knew exactly who was behind the theft he was being taken away for, too. The hedgehog frowned, his mind effortlessly bringing forth the image of sleek black spines… fluffy white fur… smouldering teal eyes… pointed white teeth bared in a smirk…

He shook his head, forcing himself to focus. C'mon, Sonic. He's not even that hot…

His hands slipped out of the cuffs right as he heard the pilot start making a report over the radio. Time was of the essence now, and his escape couldn't be stealthy anymore. That was all fine; Sonic wasn't really one for sneaking around. A spin dash here, a punch there, a kick up above and down below, and before he knew it, he was gripping on to the wing of the helicopter, pulling himself up as the pilot screamed at the incapacitated guards.

Soon enough, all of G.U.N. would be on his tail. He might as well have fun while he was still thinking over his escape route.

"Talk about low-budget flights!" he taunted over the noise. "No food or movies? I'm out of here!"

He was tempted to throw in a threat for a bad online review, but the detached helicopter panel in his hands gave him an idea. A stupid, reckless idea, that would likely get him killed if he had been anyone else. He slid the panel down onto the wing, resting his feet on top of it, taking a deep breath and preparing to jump.

"...I like running, better."

And with that, his escape began.


Even as night fell, Sonic kept running. G.U.N. sure could be relentless when they wanted to! Sending out robots to fight him, and all for an emerald he didn't steal? This was going way too far!

He dusted off his hands as the combat walker fell to the ground, sighing loudly. What he wouldn't give for a glass of water right about now. And dinner. And some peace and quiet.

"My, my…" a familiar voice purred, and Sonic half-heartedly gave up on any of those happening anytime soon. He lifted his gaze back to the fallen robot, and sure enough, there he was, standing on the wreckage, tossing the green Chaos Emerald idly into the air and catching it as he smirked down at him.

"You did quite a number on this one," the black hedgehog continued, tapping the metal shell with his shoe. "I'd be impressed if I didn't expect as much from you."

"I could have taken it down faster if I hadn't been running from the cops all day," Sonic returned, making his way over to the heap. "You know, Shadow, the more I take the fall for your crimes, the more I start to think this is all a game to you."

Shadow's smirk widened to a grin, and he leapt down, walking forward until they were face to face, his eyes focused on the other's, and Sonic didn't dare look away. He wasn't losing another one of their little showdowns. "Oh, but isn't it fun?" Shadow cooed, his eyes flashing with playful mirth. "I get my jewels, you get to perfect your escape tricks, we both get a little bit of adventure…"

"Until the day they lock me up for good," Sonic replied, but despite his best efforts, he didn't sound as annoyed as he wanted to.

"I have faith in you," Shadow replied simply, twirling the gem in his fingers. His eyes still never left Sonic's, their pull almost hypnotic. "And even if they put you in the most maximum security cell there is, your friends won't stop until they've busted you out."

"Unlike yours?" Sonic retorted. Shadow blinked at that, eyes hardening and shifting away, and Sonic, despite winning this round of their little game and his frustration at always being the fall guy, wished he hadn't said anything. "So a Chaos Emerald, huh?" he said, switching back to a safer topic. "Heard it came from a high security bank vault. How did you pull that one off?"

Just like that, Shadow was back to normal, exuding confidence. "What, was it supposed to be hard?" he teased, one hand resting on his hip while the other held up the gem. Sonic knew better than to try to take it; it was just more evidence against him, in the end. "Are you impressed?"

"A little, yeah," Sonic admitted, and Shadow fumbled, almost dropping the emerald in his grasp.

"You are?" came the soft, meek whisper, causing Sonic's ears to perk up in shock, before Shadow got a hold of himself and returned to his usual bravado. "I mean, of course you are! Who wouldn't be? I'm the world's greatest treasure hunter!"

Ordinarily, this would be the part where Sonic would dismiss that claim, bantering and teasing and trading insults back and forth until they raced across the city, but Shadow's earlier reaction peaked Sonic's curiosity. He tried a different approach.

"You're right. I can't think of anyone else who could have pulled it off."

Shadow blinked, blue lined eyes going wide and his jaw going slack. Sonic felt a surge of exhilaration; he had never seen the other hedgehog so off of his game. He grinned, stepping forward, and to his amazement, Shadow took a step back.

"What's the matter, Shadow?" he taunted, feeling like he had the upper hand. Shadow, too, seemed to be aware of the current status quo, his eyes shifting around and his teeth darting out to worry at his lip, and Sonic couldn't help but feel a powerful sense of delight at the sheer degree that he was flustering the other. "Not used to compliments?"

"Yeah right," Shadow shot back, weak and defensive. "I just… It's… Are we going to race or not?" he snapped, tapping his shoes to the ground and bringing them to life, looking anywhere but at Sonic. Sonic rolled his eyes, grinning wide at this new knowledge of how to mess with his rival and storing it away in his mind for future use. He knew the time for banter was over… now it was time for their preferred passtime.

Both of them took their starting points, eager to get running, all the way to the bridge as usual, and maybe beyond if they felt so inclined. The air was ripe with their eagerness, the yearning to dash through the streets, to weave past cars and pedestrians until they reached their destination, exhilarated from the thrill of running alongside the only one who could keep up with him…

...but the sound of approaching sirens stopped them before they could begin.

"Shit," Shadow swore, gripping onto his treasure as Sonic tried to pinpoint the direction the sound was coming from. "Sorry sweetheart, but it looks like I've got to get going."

"Who're you calling 'sweetheart'?" Sonic replied dryly, prompting a laugh from his companion.

"Well, I'm not about to call you 'cellmate' any time soon." Shadow paused, appearing to mull something over. "Actually... do you think they would put us in the same cell?"

"No idea, and I'm not about to find out," Sonic returned.

"You're right, can't afford to be caught." With a dramatic sigh, Shadow turned in the opposite direction from Sonic. "Well then… until next time, sweetheart."

Sonic could hear the teasing lilt in Shadow's voice, but before he could so much as open his mouth, he felt the winds pick up around him, and when he turned his head, Shadow was already gone.

"That Shadow," Sonic said, shaking his head and staring out into the distance after him. "But I'd better get out of here before-"

The words had scarcely left his mouth before a harsh floodlight blinded and stunned him, and when he next opened his eyes, he was surrounded by cars and helicopters.

"Damn it," Sonic groaned, frustration returning in full. "Not again!"


On a rooftop, several streets away, Shadow saw the lights flash and heard the faint voice boom through the loudspeaker. He sighed, taking back out his emerald. He didn't relish the fact that Sonic often 一 okay, always 一 took the fall for his heists whenever he was caught on camera, but that was hardly his fault. It wasn't his fault that he managed to get caught so often either.

"Sorry sweetheart," he murmured to the emerald, as though it would carry his words over. "But it's better you than me. Your friends will help you out…"

Shadow bit his lip as he recalled Sonic's words. Unlike yours? The dark hedgehog glared into the distance, because, unlike Sonic, there was no one in the world willing to bust Shadow the Hedgehog out of jail, and that knowledge was still a bitter pill to swallow.

He didn't understand it, either. Wasn't he cool? Didn't he do amazing things? He was charming, good looking, confident… so why wasn't he liked as he should be? Why was he still as good as invisible to everyone but his rival? Even that stupid treasure hunter Knuckles didn't bother to acknowledge how great he was, let alone send a kind word his way.

But Sonic had said he was impressed by him… Shadow's fingers fumbled around the emerald again as his face heated up, and he cursed his pitiful display back on the streets. He had made a complete ass of himself, had let his cool, calm and collected exterior crumble, and for what? A compliment? A measly crumb of validation?

Shadow sighed, deflating and holding the gem in his hand up to the sky, falling back onto the roof of the house to look at the moon and stars. "At least I still have you," he murmured to his prize. Gemstones had never failed him before. They were proof, incontestable proof, of his capabilities, of his greatness, and they never failed to make him feel better. Gemstones never ran off, never dismissed him, and maybe they would never save him from a prison cell, but at least they would never look beyond the surface. They would never dig too deep and realize that, at the end of the day, Shadow was just a regular hedgehog with a fancy pair of shoes and nothing more.

Shadow's fingers clutched painfully at the gem, his eyes shutting tight. Why did he have to think like this? He was having such a good day, too…

Then the emerald disappeared from his grasp, and Shadow was clinging at empty air.

"Wh… What the hell?"

He sat up, eyes blinking open and looking around wildly, burning with red-hot fury until he found the thief. In the moonlight, it was difficult to make out many features, but thanks to the photographic memory of a master thief, Shadow only ever needed one good look. A bat, fairly tall, long white hair, tacky jumpsuit, gold rings, red stripes and eyes, and a strange insignia on the left arm. Satisfied with his observations, Shadow leapt to his feet, rocketing forth to take back his prize, but with a simple murmur of 'Chaos Control', the bat disappeared and reappeared behind him, knocking him to the ground.

"Ugh!" Shadow spat, ridding his mouth of the dirt he had inhaled, recovering quickly to sweep a leg at the thief's feet, but she jumped elegantly into the air, her wings extending, overshadowing the moon behind her. Shadow scrambled to his feet, fueled by anger as he jumped into the air, gaining some extra height with a boost from his shoes, but the stranger swooped down to meet him halfway, a slender arm that was somehow more solid than steel burying itself into his midsection and knocking the winds out of him as she brought him crashing back down to the rooftop.

Shadow squirmed, desperately trying to put air back into his lungs and clawing in the air in a futile attempt to get his emerald back, and the bat hesitated, looking down at him with a look that could only be pitying, and Shadow hated, hated, hated it.

The stranger knelt down, grabbing his reaching hand with a vice-like grip that Shadow was unable to shake, and stayed by him until he finally let in a gasp and air flowed into his lungs once more. The sound of his hyperventilating and the blood pounding in his ears almost drowned out her final words to him.

"Stay out of this. This is bigger than you understand, and you have no idea what you're dealing with."

Shadow was still struggling to catch his breath as she stood up, and with one more chant of 'Chaos Control!' the thief was gone without a trace.

Shadow was pissed off.

He got back up to his feet, shaking from the fight and from the pure, unfiltered rage coursing through him. How dare she? How dare she come up to him, knock him down, and take his spoils? The emerald he had worked so hard to obtain, gone just like that. The one good thing that had come out of today, snatched up by some condescending bat with the worst fashion sense Shadow had ever seen.

He had no idea what he was dealing with?! She had no idea what she was dealing with! He was Shadow the Hedgehog, and he wouldn't take this insult lying down.

He closed his eyes, recalling the insignia he had seen on the arm of her jumpsuit. That was the key to tracking her down. All he had to do was trace the origin and he would find her or her organization. He would keep looking, fueled by spite and fury, until he tracked her down and she paid in full for what she did to him. That bat had better prepare herself for the coming storm...

Because he was Shadow the Hedgehog, and he hated anyone who took jewels from him.


Next chapter: Shadow's research gives him a lead, and Eggman prepares to visit the ARK.