When Shadow left the Mystic Ruins to the ocean, Amy was merely standing there, watching him leave with his motorbike. The pink hedgehog sighed softly as her soft quills flowed by the wind, she closed her eyes and had a flashback of the beloved blue hedgehog.

Her memories of her cherished moments with Sonic began to flood her entire head, but in a moment she immediately frowned and shook her head out of her daydream. She has no time for daydreaming and has to help out in any way she can, but for now, she must tale care for Shadow's sleeping partner.

She walked back inside the lab and towards Tails, who was already on the computer looking a little busy in his own world. Amy blinked suddenly and was a bit annoyed that she didn't get to be in the action, but caring for an ally is her top priority right now.

Although she is occupied with Rouge, she had noticed Shadow acting a little bit different since he came into the lab with the sleeping white bat. He seemed worried and more troubled, something he rarely shows, especially around other people. The look in his eye as well, he felt guilt.

It made Amy think that he may have some sort of deep connection with Rouge, just by looking at his own face and eyes, he seemed vulnerable around her, but more so when she's injured in some way.

But seeing as Rouge is still asleep and resting, Amy decided to see what Tails was up to, "Hey Tails, " She said as she walked over to his desk and placed her arms on the table. "What's up? "

Tails jumped a little by surprise and glared at Amy but sighed calmly, "I'm... Fine. I've just been thinking... " He said, not wanting to tell Amy what he was thinking about, "But for now, " He then moved the mouse and clicked on a specific location on the map, overlooking a part of the ocean. "Let's see what Shadow found. "

*

Inside a G.U.N. submarine, Shadow navigated across the ocean to Eggman's abandoned base under the depths of the bodies of water, he's already got his wet suit ready just in case and the other few things required. The commander did offer him a crew to join him since Rouge is out of commission but he refused, they were not surprised by the refusal at all.

He's already nearing the base by just a few more miles, so in his few hours of alone time, he has been thinking of his partner from when he started to dive in the ocean. He can see the images of her injury in his head, and the thought of Rouge dying if the sedative overdosed.

No.

He was just in over his head, the good thing is that Rouge is safe with Tails and Amy, he doesn't have to get worried about her right now.

Then, the radar suddenly picked up a signal from what Shadow can think of is a base or underwater lair, he followed the signal and finally came across an old, rusty underwater base.

Seaweed stuck in between the gaps of the base, the rust clearly seen and a few sea creatures coming in and out. Shadow huffed and pulled himself together and put on his wet suit and immediately got out of the sub then made his way into the entrance of the old base. Inside the of the lair was eerie and made him feel as if though it was a haunted house he was entering, courtesy of Rouge introducing him to the concept of Halloween.

As he soon drifted close to a section of the structure, he found a surface area and swam up and climbed out. Quickly, he got up to his feet, seeing that he is inside some sort of control room. There was a monitor, control pad, wires on the floor, anything Shadow suspected he'd find.

His communicator activated and presented Tails as a hologram, "Anything? " He asks, Shadow took his eyes off of Tails and examined the area, it was... wet.

But to what caught his eye that some of the machines and schematics were activated recently and there seemed to be signs of life inside. He and Tails spotted prints on the ground, Shadow then analyzed the impression of the prints via a feature on the communicator enabling him to analyze it and send it directly to Tails.

Tap

Tap

Tap

Shadow's ears perked up and he switched his focus on the tapping, it startled Tails so Shadow turned off the communicator and narrowed his eyes and kept quiet, trying to hear the tapping once more.

Tap

There it was again, Shadow positioned himself, looking at a dark corner where he heard the sound coming from, "Show yourself. " He snarled, wanting to face his foe. And quickly, a dark, shadowy figure ran pass Shadow and managed to claw the black hedgehog on the face.

Shadow winced as he felt the blood on his cheek flooding his muzzle, he growled and wiped the blood away, the shadow's walked out...

Another Metal Sonic????

Shadow's eyes widened but didn't even bother and proceeded to attack, with his hover shoes he ran full speed at the metal duplicate of his rival and attempted to punch him but, the robot catches Shadow's hand easily. The black blur fell back and was thrown across the room, hitting his back on the old rickety walls of the base.

A drop of water dropped upon his face, he looked up and saw the roof falling apart, Shadow knew one blow on the walls and water will soon flood the entire base, and water is what he needed. The dark hedgehog stood up and put on his clear sphere attached to an oxygen tank on his back.

"Come and get me, you pathetic piece of metal. " He taunted, The metal duplicate's eyes glowed red and ran up towards Shadow with a punch to the face. Shadow reacted quickly and moved aside as the robot hit the walls hard and above their heads, the roof shook violently.

Then finally, the roof collapsed and the water started to flood the entire base, not having enough time, Shadow made his way to the monitor and punched into it, pulling out the motherboard.

Once the water started to fill, reaching Shadow's head, he immediately swam out the base and into the sub outside. He turned on the sub and turned around, making his immediate escape.

But for a moment he turned around and miraculously, the other Metal Sonic survives and looked unfazed by the water surrounding it. Shadow knew that it may see him, so he turned on cloaking mode and hid the sub in plain sight.

His communicator then begun to blink twice before Tails appeared before Shadow, in a hologram of course, "What happened?? Are you okay? " He asks frantically.

"I'm fine, " Shadow answered bluntly at the worried kitsune, before flipping the motherboard in his hand, clutched it with force but not enough for it to break. "And

so was my foe. "

*

Amy left the room, catching the black hedgehog's attention and he immediately asked, "How is she? " he asks Amy.

The female turned her eyes to the right, "Conscious, " She said, walking over to Shadow. "And she wants to see you. "

Shadow sighed aggressively and stood up, following Amy as she led him into the room. There, on the bed, Rouge laid there, feeling weak from the sedative but had enough strength to turn her head to the side, seeing her partner looking at her with worry and relief.

She chuckled, "It's been a while since I've seen you worried about me. " The ivory bat commented, feeling the need to lighten up the mood despite her current state.

Tails, who was standing beside her, snickers a little and spoke with wise words. "Listen Rouge, even though you're body is paralyzed, Metal's claws were so big that some of your blood was lost. So maybe a day you can get back up on your feet. "

Rouge nodded and Shadow requested for alone time with his paralyzed partner, Tails, of course, agreed to those terms, knowing how close the two agents are with each other, but he doesn't realize that it goes much deeper than that.

He and Amy left the room, leaving only with Shadow and Rouge to talk.

Shadow looked down, Rouge saw this and sighed as she was able to lift her arm and place it gently on Shadow's cheek, she really misses her partner. "It wasn't your fault. "

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have left you with Metal, I should've done that myself and now I got you stuck in a bed and we still have a mission to do. " He began to doubt her answer, making Rouge laugh inside seeing how he really cared for her well-being.

She stared at him, at his cold, dead red eyes with her ocean teal ones, once Shadow catches her gaze, he stopped ranting, just how Rouge liked it. "I'm beginning to think it wasn't just the mission that you're worried about. "

The crimson blur stopped for a moment after Rouge said that, then after realizing what she was saying, he felt something.

Like something making him feel emotions, it was unintentional to him but for his feelings, it was the truth. Because of this, Shadow was unable to keep in his pack of emotions and in and to Rouge's surprise, he blushed.

The bat raised her brow by Shadow's sudden urge of emotion flowing out his conscience, it was something unbelievable. He was never the type to ever show certain emotion, he was all about pride and justice, but this...

This was new, especially to him.

Feeling a bit nervous she may have hit a nerve, Rouge gulped and attempted to reach Shadow's shoulder with her hand,

"Shadow? "

Making her almost jump, but couldn't, Shadow grabbed her hand and squeezed it, but it didn't hurt her, her hand felt... warm. Rouge looked at Shadow, the black hedgehog stared back at her, but starling her in the inside, is that he was leaning closer to her, not letting go of her hand at all.

It made her stomach flutter inside, it felt weird but right in the same time, seeing as to how she didn't wanna back away from Shadow, even though she was supposed to feel uncomfortable.

She followed his lead and was able to lean her head closer to his, slowly closing her eyes for the inevitable. Rouge can feel one of Shadow's gloved hands hold her face gently, as he then slipped his other with Rouge's hand still clutched and held her face entirely.

Rouge can feel Shadow's hot breath on her face, it made her feel warm and fuzzy, the feeling was driving her crazy. Surprisingly, she felt her lips brush against Shadow's, that was the last straw, she wasn't able to hold it in, so did Shadow.

They went all in and kissed...

Briefly, that is.

"Hey you guys done-" Tails came bursting in the room, feeling a little impatient and walked into Shadow and Rouge's kissing session, startling the two agents and looked directly at Tails with shock and anger.

"Uhhhhhhhh... " The young fox was in a loss for words.

"...uh, please leave!" Rouge demanded and Tails didn't wait and left the room fast.

The white bat sighed but remembered what happened and looked at Shadow, who was just as confused as she was.

What did they just do?