Hey…the latest chapter to the story starts now.

A Day in the Sun

Theme song: Take Five, by Marty Q.

Emerald Coast, 4:23AM

Shadow stood on a hill. It was a fairly large hill, giving a good view of the Emerald Coast. He was able to see the length of Station Square, the highway that seemed to go on forever over the ocean, and even the Mystic Ruins were visible from this vantage point.

He was dripping with water, but the rain was not as rough as it had been several hours ago, when he was passing the border of Halloween Gorge and this green paradise of water and foliage. In fact, it seemed like the shower was letting up and coming to an end.

The clouds were changing from black to grey then to white. It was going to be a beautiful morning.

The hedgehog planned his route through the city. He wanted to make it to Club Rouge in Night Babylon. It was the only place he knew of in the city where he could stay. So he walked down the slope, and began his run to the illustrious casino.

Bloodmail Manor, 4:30 AM

"You see Ms. Rouge, the mind is not as large as it seems when it is one's only companion through the darkness"

The conversation between Rouge and Rico had gone on all night and into the early morning. The bat was not tired however, as she was wide awake processing all the information that had been given to her over the last few hours. She had learned of Vedrix being the last of the Nosferatu, a vampire clan of Shadow and Stealth. She learned about Orion who was the god of Time, an all powerful being that controlled time itself and everything affected by it. He created the Chaos Emeralds of Earth to absorb and purify the present of the planet and the Master Emerald to stabilize them. Since the gems were created by a god they were able to grant enormous amounts of power to mortals.

He had placed them under the control of the oldest and wisest species; the Echidnas lead by Pachacamac, thousands of years

ago. She also learned of how fifty years ago Orion and his Second in Command; Black Doom, traveled to Earth to create a life form to become a vessel for the destruction of the universe.

"Almost every day I hear something that has to do with the incident fifty years ago. It gets so annoying. No matter how much I dig up at the Global United Federation's archives there is still more that I find out" Rouge said aloud and then quietly whispered to herself, hoping the Echidna would not hear, "Shadow, will I ever find out the true story?".

Rico, who was gazing into the distance, questioned her, "Who is this Shadow you speak of?" Rouge looked up in surprise, "By the tone of your voice I can tell that he, or she, is very close to you" The bat walked over to him in disgust, "What do you know! Why don't you go mind your own business old man!"

She turned around and started to leave the room when Rico smiled, "Looks like I hit a nerve" this stopped her. She flipped around with a high kick to the left side of his head, but instead of feeling the success of a hit, she felt pressure against the heel of her boot. His left hand had come up and blocked the blow with the speed of a hawk in flight.

"After all the information I presented to you, an old man could only ask for a little respect" Rico said still smiling. "I can tell that you want to leave this place, and so you may. The rain is stopping and the winds are calming. Please, let Vedrix fly you to your home, before the sun comes up? It's the least I could do to such a nice woman"

Bloodmail Manor, 4:59 AM

After a few ending comments Rouge finally agreed to letting Vedrix, the bat who saved her from the storm, fly her home. She stood in the foyer with her own clothes tapping her foot in annoyance of waiting for the vampire. Fredrick was standing at the door in a sort of military attention pose, with a grin of course. The thousands of candles on the chandelier gave off an orange glow that coated the room with a comfortable feeling.

"Don't you guys ever sleep?" Rouge said with impatience to the vampire butler. "Oh yes of course madam, but only during daylight hours, but even then I shall arise to fulfill any wish of the Masters and Lords. Although the elders sleep for eternity until called upon in times of crisis, I shall stand by and wait for my orders".

The door that Vedrix had entered when he first brought Rouge to the castle opened and out walked the tall muscular vampire himself.

"Are you ready to go?" He said in a deep grim voice. Rouge looked at him with sleepy eyes and yawned, "Yha, let's get going".

Night Babylon, 5:10 AM

Shadow stood in front of the door to Club Rouge. It was cool fall weather, with a slight breeze that blew dead leaves in circles. Shadow turned the doorknob but the door was locked. He was tired and this angered him. He brought his arm back to punch the door down, but stopped himself at the last second.

Rouge would not take kindly to a broken door. Although sleepy, Shadow was able to keep a good sense of awareness. He looked up at the roof.

It was not that high off the ground, being that it was only the entrance to the casino. He took a few steps back because he was going to try to run up the wall and land on the roof.

He started his sprint but at the moment he made contact with the wall someone called out, "Shadow! What are you doing here?" This made the hedgehog fall and crash into the ground. Rouge raced over to his side to help him up, "Are you all right?"

The hedgehog looked up, "Yes, I'm fine" He got up on his feet and dusted himself off, "Where were you?"

Rouge smiled and was about to answer but was interrupted by Vedrix, "Rouge…get away from him".

"What are you talking abo-" The bat stopped as she turned around to see a gun in the Vampire's hand. It was pointed at Shadow.

I wonder why it took me so long to post this. Wow...I think about this story all the time but I never get a chance to write anymore.