A/N: Hey, here's the third chapter of my first story ever!

Sorry for the wait, but life's busy you know!

Sonic: Is that really a good excuse?

Me: Yes! But it's also a nice long chapter, so enjoy! But right after… Amy does the disclaimer!

Amy: OK! He does NOT any of us Sonic the hedgehog characters, they all belong to SEGA. But he does own Ryan the cat!

Me: That was perfect! Good job!

Amy: Thanks!

Sonic: Show off…

Amy: *Takes out hammer* Care to repeat that!

Sonic: NAH! I'm fine!

Me: Anyways, let's get on with the story!

Hope you like it!

Chapter 3

*Ryan's POV*

I awoke to a deep, mumbling voice. As I lifted my eyelids, I was suddenly drenched by sunlight. "Hmph, what?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. I opened them and saw Shadow opening the drapes.

"I said, unless you want to starve, I suggest you get your lazy butt out of bed." Shadow said blankly. I opened my eyes again, now accustomed to the light, to see Shadow walk out of the room. "That's pretty much the nicest thing he's said to me since we met…" I mumbled to myself.

In the kitchen, Tails was eating his brains out, stuffing his face with his plateful of Shadow's pancakes. "Mmm, goo- orni-, -yan!" Tails exclaimed with his mouth overflowing. He swallowed and repeated himself, "Good morning, Ryan! Sleep well?" "Yeah, I did. Maybe I can deal with Shadow's "happy-go-lucky attitude" for a little while today." I answered sarcastically, glancing at Shadow who was washing dishes as I walked past him. He gave me a peeved look, but I just sat down at the table with Tails.

"Have some of Shadow's famous pancakes!" Tails proposed, then shoving more pancakes in his mouth. "Aww, you didn't have to pamper me so much just because you like me, Shadow." I said teasingly. He just rolled his eyes and kept washing.

*Normal POV*

"WOW! These pancakes are amazing!" Ryan finally managed to say after wolfing down his pancakes. Shadow didn't say anything, but he did faintly blush in embarrassment, but out of Ryan's view. Tails had gone to the bathroom to wash up when Ryan finished his breakfast.

Ryan walked over to Shadow with his dirty plate. "Umm… Since you're washing dishes…could you take care of this please?" Ryan asked being as inoffensive and polite as he possibly could. Shadow remembered the conversation that Tails had with him before Ryan had woken up.

*FLASHBACK*

"Shadow, please be nice to Ryan. He didn't do anything to you! I'm sure he's wondering why you don't like him." Tails said. "Argh, fine. I'll be nicer to him. But only if the opportunity arises, I'm not going to go around looking for ways to be nice to him." Shadow responded. "That's all I can ask of you, Shadow."

*END FLASHBACK*

"Sure." Shadow answered. "Thanks…You're not so bad after all." Ryan said, putting his plate on the counter and patting Shadow on the shoulder.

Ryan walked back to their room with a smile on his face, but Shadow washed the dishes with confusion in his thoughts. (What could Ryan mean by that?)

When Ryan got back to the room, he decided to put on his clothes. But…where were they?

He looked under the beds, in the cabinets, and in the drawers, and what did he find there?

Tons of gadgets! From shurikens to formulas to machines to controllers to books to-wait…books?

A book titled: My Diary – By Maria Robotnik was in the drawer. Ryan picked up the book and stood up. He looked up and observed the "stuff" that was on top of the chest. Mostly pictures. Pictures of a blonde-haired girl, usually wearing a blue dress, always smiling, and almost always with…Shadow.

(Is this Maria?) "Yes, it is." Ryan froze, then slowly turned around to see Shadow with arms crossed and a blank expression on his face standing in the doorway. "How do you know about Maria?" Shadow continued. "Umm…" "Did Tails tell you about her?"

If there was one thing Ryan couldn't do, that was lying. "Pphht. Noooo." he answered, trying to sound honest but failing miserably. "He did, didn't he?" Shadow pressed. "Yeah," Ryan admitted, looking down at the floor, "Are you mad?"

Shadow sighed loudly, remembering his earlier conversation with Tails. He took a deep breath, and replied, "No…" "Really?" Ryan was extremely surprised, "I thought you would be." "It's still considered rude to go through other people's stuff without permission."

Shadow snatched the book from Ryan's hands and put it back in the drawer. "Sorry…I was just looking for my clothes." "Oh, you left them on the floor last night, so I put them in that walk-in closet over there." Shadow replied, gesturing towards a door. Another white door Ryan had missed, - amazing. "Oh, thanks…" Ryan replied as he opened the closet door and walked in, leaving Shadow by himself.

Shadow sighed again and mumbled to himself, "I hope he learns…"

*Ryan's POV*

(I can't believe I have to wear clothes! I'm going to look so stupid!) The first thing on top of the pile of my clothes was a pair of white jeans. I tried them on, and they looked kind of good. "I'll stick with these…What's next, a shirt."

I rummaged in the pile of clothes for a minute until I found something that caught my eye. It was a black, collared shirt with buttons on the front. (Now if I just get something red as well, Shadow should be happy…Ooh, a ruby red, ankle-length trench coat! I'll take it!)

I put them both on, rolled up the sleeves, buttoned up the shirt, and kept the coat open. It looked nice.

(Next, shoes. But I like my shoes already, plain black and steel toes, I don't want new one-) "Hey, Ryan!" I practically jumped out of my pants. I turned around and saw Tails.

"You scared the Bejabbers outta me!" "Sorry, I didn't mean to. What 'ya doing anyways?" "Getting my clothes." I looked down and saw what Tails was wearing.

Dark green pants, black boots with white laces, a charcoal jacket with black straps stretching across his torso and long sleeves that met his white gloves, a black belt with lots of little compartments that held all sorts of stuff, and finally a pair of black spy glasses resting on his forehead.

"Looks good so far. Ya still need gloves and shoes, right?" Tails asked. I nodded.

"Try those cobalt blue, steel-toed sneakers with white buckles." "Hmm, they're nice. I guess I could wear them with these black gloves with open finger holes." I added. "Don't forget these spy glasses!" Tails exclaimed, handing me my glasses.

After I put on the gloves and shoes, I took the glasses from Tails and put them on. My transformation was complete. "Wow, that looks nice!" Tails stated. "You really think so?" I asked. "Of course!" he reassured. "Cool, I guess I'll stick with these then. Oh, by the way, why is this closet so big?" "Because it's a-" "IT'S THE NEW GUY!" I spun around to see a pink hedgehog with crazy hair and eyes gaping at the sight of me. "-shared closet…" Tails finished.

"Hi, I'm Sonia!" "I'm Ryan, it's nice to meet you." I stuck out as hand. "Forget about shaking hands. We're one big family now, so come give me a hug!" Sonia said, wrapping her arms around me. I hadn't been hugged in such a long time. I looked at Tails and gave him a "what's going on?" look. He chuckled and spoke, "Yep, that's Sonia. She loves hugs." Sonia ended the hug and looked me up and down.

"Well, aren't you the spiffy one!" she exclaimed. "They're new clothes…" I attempted to explain. "Well, they look good on you!" Sonia stated while walking over to a section of the closet and she quickly pulled out a sky blue dress shirt and a white miniskirt.

"I guess I'll see you two at training! Bye!" Sonia said, walking out the door of which she entered. Another WHITE DOOR I had missed before. (Where'd that door come from?)

"Do you like those clothes, Ryan?" Tails asked. "I guess they're pretty good…" "Well everyone wears the same clothes every time we go to battle, so you will be too!" "Every time we battle?" I murmured. "Come on, Ryan! Let's go get Shadow!" I followed Tails out of the closet.

There was Shadow, in our room waiting for us. With one hand on his hip and the other clenched in a fist by his side. "Let's go." he said harshly. (Jeez, you don't have to be so pushy!) Shadow made a low growling noise. I glanced at him and he was staring at me ferociously. I forgot he could read minds. But he looked like he wanted to bite my head off! It wasn't that big a deal.

I followed Shadow and Tails out the door and we headed to training.

When we arrived at the large, gymnasium-like room, there were a few other agents waiting for us. There was Knuckles, Blaze, Sonia, and three others who I didn't know. When they noticed me, they started to greet me and introduce themselves.

"Hi, I'm Amy!" "What's up? I'm Manic!" "Hello, and I'm Tikal!" (Wow, I hope I can remember all these names!)

"Training will start shortly. Everyone will participate in three battles. The first and third will be single battles, and the second will be fought in teams of two." Blaze explained. Then Sonic, Rouge and Marine entered the room. "Does everyone understand?" Blaze asked. "Not really…But I catch on just as fast as I run!" Sonic boasted. "Too bad your brain isn't so fast…" Rouge mentioned. Everyone laughed, except for Sonic.

"Pick your opponent for the first round!" Blaze said. Sonic and Tails, Knuckles and Shadow, Rouge and Tikal, Manic and Marine, Amy and Sonia, and…That leaves me with Blaze!

Blaze and I walked over to Ring 2 of 6. We both took our positions.

"Welcome to the IPIA, Ryan. I've never battled another cat before, so it should be a good first fight for you!" Blaze said, seeming serious but excited at the same time. "Whenever you're ready, Blaze!" I exclaimed.

*Normal POV*

Blaze was wearing a purple cape with frilled sleeve ends, white gloves, ruby red sneakers with black laces, an orange headband and a pair of spy glasses that appeared out of nowhere.

She pounced at Ryan as quickly as she could, but he jumped straight up to evade it. He looked down at Blaze from the air.

"Let's see what these glasses can do!" Ryan shouted, as he pushed a random button on the glasses.

Two tiny cylinders emerged from the frames and the lenses displayed a scope for Ryan. Then they started to fire lasers at Blaze! She dodged them uneasily as Ryan fired countless others at her. Blaze was having some trouble, so she pushed a button on the side of her right sneaker.

The laces then shot opposite ways to form a line on the ground. As lasers were heading towards her, Blaze snapped her fingers, and a force field shot up from the laces protecting Blaze.

"What? That's not fair!" Ryan whined. He kept firing lasers but they did nothing due to the force field.

Ryan landed on the ground and stopped firing the lasers. He pushed another random button on the glasses and the two cylinders fired a mysterious pale blue ray at the force field.

It hit the force field and…it disappeared! "What? How did you know how to get rid of a force field?" Blaze yelled confusedly. "I didn't…but I'm good at this anyways! Let's finish this!" Ryan replied excitedly. He turned around and closed his eyes just as had done against Rouge the previous day.

"Don't play games with me, Ryan. I'm sorry, but…I will finish this!" Ryan turned around and opened his eyes, "Huh?"

"With the power invested in the spirit, I summon the sacred element of… FIRE!" Blaze exposed the palms of her gloves to reveal the red flame symbols displayed on them. And flames sprouted from her hands, covering her body.

"Woah…" Ryan managed to say. He was distracted, so Blaze shot some fireballs at him. He noticed them just in time to dodge them, but one caught his left foot and Ryan fell to the ground.

Blaze swung her arm and flames appeared on the floor and started moving towards Ryan. "Aaah! I surrender! I surrender!" Ryan screamed. The flames formed a circle around him, and a burning Blaze walked through them.

"Very well…" Blaze said, and the flames weakened, until only smoke was floating around the two cats. "That was an interesting battle." Blaze stated, "Good match, Ryan." "Ha! That's for sure!" "Did you enjoy it?" "Of course I did! That was epic! I didn't know you could do anything like that!" "Well, it's not just me…Come on, let's go get ready for the second battle."

The two cats joined the others, including Knuckles who was sulking. "Why are you sulking, Knuckles?" Ryan asked. "Because Shadow beat me in a battle. I'm a guardian! I'm supposed to be good at battles!" Knuckles replied. "I'm sure you're good at battles! Besides, how many guardians are there anyways?" "There's two around here, me and Blaze." "Oh! That explains why Blaze was so good!" Ryan said, looking at Blaze who was about to make an announcement.

"Alright, everybody! Find a partner!" Blaze said. "RYAN!" Tails yelled, running across the room towards Ryan. When he reached him, he spoke normally, "Wanna team up?" "Sure!" "Hey, Ryan!" Sonia said suddenly, "Want to battle Amy and I?" "Sure! But Tails and I are unstoppable!" Ryan boasted. "Whatever you say!" Amy said.

The four animals walked over to Ring 3. Tails started to talk to Ryan, "Ok, take this belt. It has all sorts of gadgets in the compartments. But use them wisely…" "Got it."

Amy was wearing a white and yellow t-shirt and lime green skinny jeans, with white boots and purple gloves. Sonia was wearing a sky blue dress shirt and white miniskirt that she had taken out of the closet, purple flats and orange gloves and hoop earrings to match.

Amy pulled out her Piko Piko hammer, "Alright, boys! Let's have some fun!"

"Alright! I'll start it off with some lasers!" Ryan said, as he pushed the laser cannons button. The two tiny cylinders emerged, and lasers were fired at Amy. But she deflected them with her hammer one after the other. "Ack! That was as useless as snowshoes in July!" Ryan said.

Meanwhile, Tails started to fly towards Sonia as she reached into the biggest compartment in her navy blue belt and pulled out a golden disc. She threw it on the ground and it suddenly transformed into a 10-foot tall laser cannon! Ryan noticed this, "Holy shiznik!"

Sonia hopped in the seat and started firing lasers at Tails. "Oh, I know!" Tails, does that thing have some sort of weak spot?" Ryan asked. "Yep, right below the cannons, where the wires are exposed!" Ryan reached in a compartment and pulled out three shurikens. He threw the first one.

Just as it was about to hit, Amy jumped in with her hammer and smashed the shuriken to bits in mid-air. "Not on my watch, Ryan!" she said. "Not if I can help it!" Tails shouted, and he threw something on the ground that created a cloud of smoke.

At that cue, Ryan threw the other two shurikens at Sonia's machine and they both hit perfectly. The machine started to malfunction and make weird noises. "It's gonna blow!" Sonia shrieked. Amy raised her hammer and whacked the side of the cannon to send it flying across the room.

Just as it hit the ground, the machine exploded. When the dust settled shortly after, Amy turned to Tails and raised her hammer, "Back to the point!"

Sonia just happened to be standing nearby, twiddling her thumbs, so Ryan shoved her into Tails. This knocked Tails aside, with Sonia in his old place and…WHAM! Amy's hammer flattened Sonia. But she stood back up immediately.

"I'm fine." Sonia stated. "But your hair is a mess!" Tails remarked, smirking. "Ahh! Sorry Amy, I'm out!" Sonia said. "What? You're leaving me?" Amy screamed. "I know how to get my way…" Tails said.

"But I'll never give up!" Amy exclaimed. Ryan snuck behind her as Tails started to chant, "With the power invested in the spirit, I summon the sacr-" "HEY AMY!" Ryan interrupted. Amy spun around and Ryan pinched her right ear.

"AAAHHH!" Amy screamed at the top of her lungs as she dropped her hammer and fell to her knees. "I surrender! Just stop!" "Ok. Tails, we win!" Ryan exclaimed. "How did you just do that?" Tails asked, baffled. "It's called a pressure point. It sure comes in handy!" Ryan replied. "That's for sure!" Tails exclaimed. "Yeah…that's for sure…" Amy moaned.

Back with the group after the battles were finished, everyone was choosing their next and last opponent.

"You're pretty good, Ryan!" "Thanks, Tails!" "I know! You can battle Shadow!" "WHAT?" "Yep, that would be the awesomest battle ever!" "I don't know…" "You afraid of me, scaredy cat?" Shadow suddenly asked. Ryan whisked around and replied, "Nobody calls ME a scaredy cat and gets away with it!" "Then battle me…" "Fine!"

Shadow and Ryan went over to Ring 6. "You know I'm going to win. Don't you, Shadow?" "In your dreams." "Just because I'm hilarious doesn't mean I'm not a good battler, because I'm both!" "This is going to be the easiest battle ever." "Just fight me already!" "You have NO right to give me orders, Ryan. I'll do what I want."

"Fine, then. Whenever you're ready, Shadow!" "As you wish."

A/N: That's the third chapter!

I hope you readers out there think that I'm progressively getting better at writing, because I hope that you all enjoy my stories.

Knuckles: Moving on…

Me: Yeah. Anyways, I'm going to be submitting the 5th chapter around Halloween, so there's going to be a Halloween party in chapter 5, and I would like you guys to send in some reviews, giving suggestions for the IPIA agents' costumes. So for Ryan, Tails, Shadow, Knuckles, Blaze, Sonic, Rouge, Marine, Manic, Sonia, Amy, Tikal and Master Cream, you can suggest any costume for them.

Try to submit any suggestions before October 15, so I can consider your suggestions and include them in the story!

I'd love to hear from you, even if you don't have an account!

Anyways, I hope you liked it!

Please R&R!