Chapter 6

"So you're sure they don't suspect a thing," Eggman asked.

"Certain," the robot answered. "We made sure their escape wasn't too easy, and the A-tracker was planted."

Up above the two, Shadow watched from an air vent. He didn't know what the A-tracker was, but he knew it had to be tied in with what happened earlier, when they went for that emerald. He knew it was a real Emerald, since it went through a bunch of tests. But still, they needed to be sure.

"Tails," he whispered in a communicator. "It sounds like they let you guys get away. They mentioned something called the A-tracker. Know anything about that?"

"Never heard of it," Tails answered. "But I'll scan the emerald to make sure a tracking device wasn't attached to it. Keep watching."

Shadow didn't answer, as he looked back down through the vent at the office. It was sparsely furnished, having only a desk, three chairs, and yellow flags. All the flags hanging around had Eggman's emblem on it. The carpet was fluffy and pure white, with brown walls. The only ones in the room were Eggman and the Eggrobo that he was talking to.

"Okay, lets see what we can get from the tracker, and we'll plan an attack after we get enough," Eggman said, as the Eggrobo saluted and walked out of the room.

After watching him shuffle papers for a couple of minutes, Shadow didn't think there was anything more to learn here for the time being, and crawled back through the shaft. He glanced in a couple more rooms on the way, before finding an empty room with a computer. Figuring this spot will work as well as any, he crawled out.

Tail's directions for him were twofold. First, he was to spy on Eggman and see if he could get any useful information from listening in. Also, Tails wanted him to infect the computer systems with a virus. That will cause havoc over the network until they are forced to shut it down to remove the virus. That'll take down the security system, buying time for another attack. The robots will still function, but it'll still make their job easier.

"It all starts with this," he said, pulling out the disk. "A disk containing the ultimate virus."

He turned the computer on and inserted the disk. Right before he activated the virus, he noticed something else on the screen. It was a file which had a title that caught his interest.

"Emerald locations?" Shadow thought. "Could it be?"

Shadow clicked on the file, and saw a map with three X's on it, marking three parts of the city. Possibly the locations where the emeralds were hidden. He committed the map to memory before closing it and telling the computer to download the virus. Since the computers were now much faster, it took approximately 2.7 seconds.

Shadow turned and saw an Armored Eggrobo pointing his blasters at him. The Armored Eggrobo was one of Eggman's newest inventions, and one of his better ideas. The armor was made of pure titanium, and coated with a special chemical to ward off chaos energy. Because of the cost and time it takes, though, not too many are made.

"You are found in a restricted area, and are now under arrest," the robot said, and fired.

"Pathetic," was Shadow's only reply, as he suddenly jumped, placed a foot on the shoulder, and pushed off into the hallway behind the robot. A few seconds later, alarms sounded, but Shadow was already escaping out of the building.

---

"The virus has been planted, but they know I was there," Shadow said.

He, Tails, Sonic and Cream were in front of a map of the city. Amy was asleep, probably because it was hard to get a lot of sleep in the detention cell. On the map, Shadow marked the three places that the computer showed him.

"I don't know if the places are recent, or even accurate. But this is what it told me, and it's a good start as any," Shadow finished.

"That's good, because I figured out a solution to get Sonic back to his time," Tails said, then grabbed a piece of paper. As he explained then equations and other stuff he went through to find it, everyone's eyes kind of glazed over.

"…so, in conclusion, we need Sonic to go 150,000 miles per second. That kind of speed can only be done when he's in Super Sonic form," Tails finished.

"Wait, so why haven't I time traveled the other times I went to Super Sonic before?" Sonic asked.

"I believe the power of the emeralds kept you from time traveling. But by manipulating the Chaos energy in you while Super Sonic, you can allow yourself to time travel. But this is all speculation, and we won't know until we try it." Tails answered. "Now, the virus is moving through the system, and if my calculations are correct, they'll turn off the power to remove it about…now."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, all the electronic stuff in the base shut down, as power was cut for the entire city. The only light came from some battery powered emergency lights installed on the wall.

"That's our cue. Let's move out." Tails said. "Sonic, Shadow, you're with me. Cream, you stay down here.

Cream nodded, as Tails left with Sonic and Shadow. Soon, the base was empty except for a sleeping Amy, leaving Cream alone with her thoughts.

"One reason I looked up to you, Amy, is that you always were so confident. Everyone knows how much you loved Sonic, and you were convinced that he would love you someday," Cream whispered. "I wish I had your confidence. To tell the one I love how much I care about him, before something happens to him."

To be continued…