(This chapter's title "Being Useless" may be a mistake on my part. I wrote a chapter where Honest and Shadow took a sort of break from Emerald hunting, and called it Being Useless because of how little progress was actually made in it. However, this chapter gets a lot accomplished, so I think I lost that original chapter and called this chapter its name on accident. :/)

Next chapter! Please, if you're not going to read the whole story, at least read the paragraph at the end of the chapter. I presented some questions that will help improve the quality of my stories. Thank you, and in this chapter, Honest and Shadow meet a Big Stick. o.o I'm serious.

(Something I would like to remind readers is that not everything in this story is canon, and some things like relationships between characters, events, and even places are NOT real. Well, just to keep the record straight, whenever something in this story is referenced in a future story, you can take whatever is said as truth, but don't automatically assume the entire chapter or scene actually happened. I was Silver's age when I wrote this, if that says anything. XD)

Honest stared hard at the chessboard. Finally, she made a move. "Beat that."

Shadow, on the opposite side of the board, was grinning. "Ah, but what you did not expect was-" He moved his piece all the way across the board. "That I can win in one move."

Honest sighed, collapsing on top of the chessboard.

"Ugh," he muttered when chess pieces flew everywhere.

"I'm tired..." Honest groaned.

Shadow walked away, leaving Honest to jump in her bed and pull the covers up to her chin. Shadow climbed the ladder to the top bunk and nodded off. Honest found herself staring up at the underside of his bed yet again. "I wonder what Shadow dreams about," Honest muttered dreamily.

When Shadow woke up the next morning, he had a feeling something was different. He opened his eyes to find Honest's unconscious body beside him. No one could resist the charm of a sleeping kitten, and Shadow knew this. He stretched out his hand and just as he was about to pat her on the head, Honest snapped awake and pulled away.

"Oh, I'm sorry-"

"No," Honest said, looking upset. "It was my fault for falling asleep. But your fur was so soft and-"

"Honest." She looked up at him.

"Huh?"

"It's okay," he said. "You're a cat. You fall asleep everywhere."

Honest was ecstatic that he forgave her. "It won't happen again."

"You might fall asleep on the ceiling fan or on the doctor's bed," he mused.

Honest scratched behind her ear. "Yeah, maybe."

"Now," Shadow said, leaping out of bed. "I'll go make some French toast!"

As he started walking away, Honest leaped onto his shoulders. "Please don't wear an apron this time; you'll give Eggman another idea."

Shadow smiled. "Don't worry. Never again."

Honest's POV

Honest topped her French toast off with powdered sugar and went to sit beside Dr. Eggman.

"'Sup, Mista E?" She said in a very gangsta voice.

"Don't ever call me that."

As Honest burst into food-muffled laughter, Shadow took the last two slices of toast and went to sit beside Honest.

"Any emeralds?" Shadow asked calmly before he took a piece of toast into his mouth.

"Actually, yes. I saw Big with an Emerald last night, but he hid it away somewhere. You're going to need to go ask him for its location."

Shadow and Honest looked at each other and blinked. They both knew that dealing with Big meant big trouble.

After breakfast, Eggman steered his ship towards the big fluff-ball's home in the Mystic Ruins. The seats Orbot and Cubot usually occupied were now home to Honest and Shadow on this particular mission.

Orbot and Cubot ducked behind Shadow's seat. "We've been replaced," Orbot said.

"And our imposters don't even look like us!" Cubot said, putting his hands on the side of his head.

Honest glanced to her left. Shadow sat in his chair, quietly staring out the glass.

Honest smiled and turned to look outside. The land she saw beyond the deck was getting swampier and swampier.

Before she knew it, they had touched down in a puddle of muck, as indicated by the large strongsploosh/strong as they hit the water. At the sound of air being released as the exit ramp was lowered, Honest and Shadow left their seats to Orbot and Cubot and entered the Mystic Ruins, more specifically the swampy homeland of Big.

Once the two reached the exit ramp, they were disappointed at what they found. They were smack dab in the middle of a muck-infested pond. And Honest's shoes were primarily consisted of fabric, which only made the matter worst.

"I'll hold your shoes while you wade across," Shadow offered.

"Thanks," Honest said gratefully as she removed her shoes and socks and handed them to him.

She waded across, and when she got to the opposite bank, Shadow homing attacked across and handed Honest's shoes back to her. "Afraid of a little mud?" Honest asked, putting her shoes back on.

Shadow moved his head side-to-side as if weighing his options. "It'll get in my fur, and well..."

Almost instantly they saw Big underneath a rock, asleep. He opened his eyes when they approached. "Hello? Who are you?"

Honest walked over, preparing for the long task ahead of her, as Shadow nervously glanced around in search of the Emerald, as if it was just lying around waiting for them to come along and find it.

"Okay, Big," Honest began. "We need the Emerald right away, so if you can tell us where it is, that would be a big help."

Big thought for a while, put a hand to his chin, and said, "Froggy has it, but I don't know where he is."

This was exactly what they knew would happen all along.

"He should be around here somewhere. Froggy! Where are you, Froggy?"

"Okay, Big. We'll go find him for you. We'll be back as soon as we can," Honest said.

When Shadow and Honest were well enough into the forest that Big could no longer detect them, Shadow asked Honest, "How will we track him down?"

"We'll listen for him," Honest said, cupping her hand around her ear.

"But there are a million frogs croaking."

"Oh, you'll know when it's him."

Two seconds more and two feet more of walking and they could hear Froggy's distinct croak. "Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit." And no, I wasn't using onomatopoeia.

"Oh, so that's what he sounds like. How convenient." Shadow and Honest made their way towards the sound until they spotted a long, green tail disappear into a bush.

"I got it." Honest sprung forward, pouncing on her prey. She would've eaten it too had it not been for the fact that Big would call World War III on her if she had.

Froggy wiggled in her hands, ribbiting a riveting tale about what he would soon do to her for foiling his escape plans. Honest ignored him as she thought about what they'd do next. They couldn't just get Froggy to spit out the Emerald, but if they took the frog to Dr. Eggman he'd try to cut him open.

"Let's think back to what happened in Sonic Adventure. They got the Emerald out of Froggy by-"

"Letting it dissolve into Chaos 5, turning him into Chaos 6!"

Honest looked at him, confused. "You were asleep on Prison Island," Honest pointed out.

"I... heard it from you, I guess..." Shadow said, scratching his ear like Honest had done earlier.

Honest thought a while. "So all we've got to do is give him to... Chaos?"

"The Echidna god of destruction? Do you really think we can do that?"

"We'll ask Knuckles!"

Shadow rolled his eyes and took Honest's hand so that they would both teleport. "Chaos-"

Suddenly, in a flash of bright light, they were on the steps of the Echidna Shrine. "-Control!"

Knuckles ran up to him. "Are you here to steal the Emerald?"

Shadow looked at him. "No," he let go of Honest, who then showed the guardian the frog.

"We need you to get the Emerald out of... Froggy," Shadow said.

Knuckles took the frog from Honest. "I'll see what I can do."

Honest and Shadow watched quietly as Knuckles worked his magic. In no time Froggy's tail dissolved away and the silver Emerald formed in his hand.

"Thank you guys for returning the Emerald to me. I really appreciate- Hey!"

Shadow snatched it and Froggy. "Sorry, but this belongs to Dr. Eggman."

"Oh, right," Knuckles said, smiling.

Shadow and Honest disappeared in a shining light.

"Wait... CAT GIRL!" Knuckles shook his fist in the air.

When Shadow and Honest opened their eyes, Big was a couple of inches from Honest's face. "Did you find Froggy?"

Shadow dropped Froggy and he instantly bounded towards the trees. "Froggy!"

As Big ran after the frog, Honest said, "What did you do that for?"

"You know why," Shadow said, rolling his eyes.

Shadow and Honest boarded the ship again to find Eggman waiting for them.

"Did you find the-"

"Handled it," Shadow said, tossing him the Emerald. He fumbled to catch it as Shadow made his way to his chair, only to find it occupied by Orbot. He bowled him across the ship and jumped into the chair.

"Woah. Honest beamed sheepishly at the Doctor and dashed to her seat.

On returning to Eggman's base, Honest took in a deep breath of the toxic waste-like stench, mixed with a little Ben's Robotics-Safe Polish, and sighed. Shadow, on the other hand, wrinkled up his nose and crossed his arms. Eggman walked inside, his two robot partners hovering behind him. Shadow, after watching them shrink in the distance, took Honest's hand as they walked inside after them.

When the five of them entered the building, Shadow led Honest into their room.

"Now, Honest," he said. "That's four emeralds down and three to go. But whenever Eggman asks, there's four left, you got it?"

Honest crossed her arms and turned away. "You don't have to tell me twice."

"Honest," he said, turning her to face him. "You never have to worry about lying to Eggman."

Honest crossed her arms even tighter. "I don't worry about things I can see coming," Honest sighed. She opened her eyes. "You think the Doctor would allow us to play his video games?"

Shadow curled his lip. "You and your games." He sighed. "Go ahead, but I'll just watch."

So that's what they did until, like, 9 o'clock. Then their beds called to them and we all know how that ended up: They fell asleep in a heap on the couch before they could even get to their beds.

"Rise and shine! We have another Emerald to steal."

Honest woke up first to find that she couldn't move because Shadow had fallen asleep on top of her. "Shadow!" She poked his head.

"Who what now?" Shadow snapped straight up. "Doctor! Uh, sorry, Honest."

Honest smiled. "Your fur was nice and warm, thank you."

Eggman tapped his foot. "I said we found another Emerald. Sticks has it."

"S-Sticks?" Honest asked, almost not believing it.

Shadow stood up and looked almost excited. "We'll be sneaky about it and steal it from right under her nose."

Shadow and Honest were now standing just outside Sticks's burrow. "What kind of civilized Mobian would live out their days underground?"

"You must not know Sticks then," Honest said, smiling knowingly.

"Is that so?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow. Honest always seemed to know a little more than he did.

"Yeah," Honest said. "Sticks has to live in a burrow or else conspiracy."

"Oh, so that's what kind of person she is," Shadow said, walking up to her door.

Suddenly both Honest and Shadow were suspended 20 feet off the ground in a very small net.

Shadow twisted every which way until Honest gave him a stern look and he stopped thrashing about as much. Sticks came running out with her trusty boomerang in her hands.

"How would I guess that two government agents would get caught in the trap I made specifically for them?"

"Okay, Sticks," Shadow called down to her. "I might've been a government agent in the past, but you can believe me when I say that the government isn't involved."

Sticks lowered her boomerang and cocked her head to the side. "What do you want?"

Shadow reached behind him and pulled out a small box. Honest looked over at him, confused. "If you give me the Chaos Emerald, I'll give you the shiny," Shadow said, opening the box to reveal a ring.

"Where did you get that?" Honest asked him.

Oh my gosh, was I trying to-? I think I was. xD Shadow does not have a crush on Honest, at least I hope not.)

"Uh, I was about to use it for something, but I thought I'd-"

"Shiny~!" Sticks jumped at Shadow. He lifted it above his head.

"Nuh, uh, uh. You get the shiny when you get me the Emerald."

Sticks narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure I trust government agents, but I'll be back." She disappeared into her burrow.

Sticks walked back out with the Emerald.

Honest ran to meet her halfway. "Why thank you!"

Sticks pulled it away. "I'm waiting for my shiny."

Shadow walked up to her and tossed her the box. Sticks smiled and handed Honest the Emerald. "Here you go! Now don't try anything stupid."

Honest just narrowed her eyes and walked back to Shadow. Shadow took her hand and just as he was about to "fwash" away, Amy appeared. "Shadow! Are you here for the tea party?"

"Oh," Shadow said. "I promised Amy we'd have a tea party. I'll bring you to the Doc- I mean to your home and I'll be back later."

And that's the end. Don't ask how Shadow just how he happened to have a Shiny with him at the time. We'll just say that he pulled it out of his magic hat-like spines. So, if you haven't guessed the theme of the first part of the story, Shadow and Honest are still on the search for the Emeralds and each one of them happens to belong to a Sonic character we all know and love. I'm running out of prewritten chapters on my computer, so I will soon start needing ideas for chapters. So tell me in the comments which character should have the next Emerald. I'm interested to see what crazy characters I'll have to write about. This will be fun. Also, shorter or longer chapters? Longer chapters were easy to do up front, but if you want a chapter a day, I might keep them short. Go ahead and tell me your opinion, and I'm currently working on the next chapter.

(I loved the Froggy part. I should draw fan art. Is it technically fan art if it's intended for a younger version of myself?)