Just as they'd expected but failed to admit, the journey was the same as the previous day. Each hour was chock-full of dead ends, empty mine shafts, and disappointment. Conversation was wearing thin, as was Shadow and Rouge's patience. Eventually they managed to escape the abandoned mining facility and re-enter the cavern itself. The air was getting thicker as they descended a little deeper into the cave.
This particular section of the cave was lined with strange vegetation, as Omega had said on the first day. Bugs scrambled away as the intruders to their home stepped past.
"Can't we take a break?" Rouge wheezed, her throat desert-dry, "I need something to drink."
"Just pull out the water bottles we got at the gas station," Shadow snapped, "We must be close by now."
"How many times can you say that?" Rouge asked, "Look around! We've probably walked in circles for hours! Everything looks exactly the same!"
Shadow made a low sound in his throat.
"Get your damn water and let's move on, all right? I'm not in the mood to pick a fight."
Rouge made her irritation obvious by letting out a loud sigh. No one said another word for a long time.
A single day turned into two days. Three days. Four days. Five. And all the while, Team Dark was either walking through damp tunnels or getting their rest in them. Each day was a letdown, containing nothing but stone walls and dark, vegetation-ridden corridors. Shadow and Rouge's frustration was showing more and more through cursing at miscellaneous objects and long bickering sessions. Omega would get between them like a single father of two children and order them to move along. The robot never did get truly angry with them; he somehow maintained his patience. However, stern words were getting more stern with every time that he had to scold them.
"Must I warn you again to discontinue your argument?" he said, a harsh tone forming in his voice box.
Rouge and Shadow's voices died down. Both of them knew Omega was much more helpless when his firearms were disabled, but they still stopped arguing. Perhaps it was guilt that caused them to stop.
Now, above ground, Eggman lingered over Mystic Cave with his newest Egg Carrier. He paced back and forth in the main control room, muttering to himself.
"G.U.N is onto me . . ." he mumbled, "those three little whelps will eventually find their way out of that blasted cave . . ." The doctor let out a mad chuckle. "I must eliminate them. I must. But how? How?" He stroked his mustache and gazed out of the front windshield. Then he looked down at the floor and a twisted smile crept across his sweaty face. An idea, a destructive idea, crossed his mind and thrived. "Oh . . . oh ho . . . yes, that's it . . ." He slowly stepped towards the control panel and grazed his hand over the main ignition key. "Good-bye, Shadow the Hedgehog. Good-bye, Rouge. Good-bye, you cursed traitor . . ." he whispered, his grin widening, "Good-bye, Team Dark . . ."
The door burst open, a bruised blue hedgehog stumbling through it. He noticed the doctor's hand on the key.
"Step away, Egghead," he said with a trembling voice, "you've gone too far this time."
Eggman lifted his hands, as though Sonic was pointing a gun at him.
"You're right," he said, "You've got me."
Sonic had barely taken one step, when Eggman hatched another idea. The term "mad genius" was becoming more applicable to the mustached doctor. "My dear foe," he drawled, "you and I have been enemies for so very long."
"Your point?" Sonic demanded, limping slightly to the doctor.
"We've had many adventures together, and this has been no exception. Haven't you had fun?"
"What are you getting at, old man?" Sonic asked, wrinkling his brow, "I s'pose adventures are always kinda thrilling."
"Yes, they are, aren't they?" Eggman spread his arms and put one around the shoulder of his blue nemesis. "Look out there, Sonic," he indicated the sky where the sun was beginning to set, "How magnificent it all is. My early days as a new villain were spent dreaming of dominating it so that I could have it all to myself. But of course, you came along and grew as a thorn in my side." He tightened his arm around Sonic, who winced in pain, but played along nonetheless. "We've had many a good time."
"Is that all you wanted, Egghead?" Sonic asked, his tone sharp, "Is that really all you wanted? To take over so you could enjoy a pretty view?"
"It was, my dear boy, but now . . ." he pushed Sonic closer to the control panel and let go of him, "now, I have power over my one true nemesis."
"I dunno, I'm kind of a free-spirited guy myself," the hedgehog replied, the tiniest hint of nervousness oozing into his voice. "Never liked the whole 'being controlled' thing."
Eggman licked his drying lips.
"Then you can leave," he mumbled, "Leave here. I never want to see you again, do you hear?"
Sonic was now beyond confused.
"You don't mean that," the hedgehog said with a soft voice, "Hey, c'mon, you know you'll want me to bounce back."
The doctor's mustache twitched with an unidentified emotion.
"Bounce . . ." he whispered. Eggman pressed a button on the control panel, causing the doorway to slam shut. "We all will now."
Sonic's green eyes were wide with sheer incomprehension. He shook his head slowly.
"Egmman, what-"
Eggman's eyes, though impossible to see, were glittering madly. He lunged for an unsuspecting Sonic and shoved him to the control panel. The doctor took Sonic's gloved hand and wrapped his foe's fingers around the key, and then turned it.
"Now look what you've done," Eggman whispered, letting go of Sonic.
"All systems shutting down," a robotic voice rang out. As a red light flashed, Sonic realized the gravity of the situation.
"Tails! Knuckles!" he screamed, trying in all haste to break down the metal door.
"If I'm going down," Eggman whispered, "you're all coming with me."
The Egg Carrier plummeted to the ground directly below it.
Team Dark was racing through the cavern's endless maze, leaping over gaps and shoving the greenery out of the way. Pieces of the cave had started falling from the ceiling, and they were raining down as something hit the top of the cave.
"Ow!" Rouge yelped as a rock hit her head, "That's it, we're dead now! Might as well just give up, because we're all just dead meat!"
"Down here!" Shadow called, ignoring Rouge's hopeless comment. They scrambled into another small chamber that was hidden underneath the ground that they were walking on. Shadow picked it only because it seemed relatively sturdy. Of course, so did the rest of the cave. Once they reached the lower ground, everyone ducked down and covered their heads. The pieces of the ceiling hailed down and tumbled over their heads. After a painful few moments, the rumbling and the shower of rocks came to a stop. Shadow and Rouge panted, their heads sweaty from the adrenaline rush. "Is everyone all right?" Shadow asked, his voice somewhat shaking.
"Sure, if I wasn't freaking bleeding," Rouge replied as she gingerly touched her forehead.
"Dammit," the hedgehog said, only just noticing a deep gash under her right ear. He rushed to Omega to get a bandage from the storage compartment. He pulled it out and began tearing off the wrapper. Once he did, the bat snatched it from his hand.
"Don't bother," she snapped, "I can take care of myself." She used Omega's shiny metal exterior to guide her hands to the wound, but became frustrated as she couldn't quite match her hands' position to the cut. "Stupid piece of—"
Shadow grabbed the bandage back and carefully pressed the adhesive parts on Rouge's forehead. He pursed his lips.
"You may need another one," he informed her as blood continued to ooze from the sides of the first bandage.
"I'm fine," she growled, "I don't need anything else."
Shadow'e red eyes furiously glimmered in the dim light that Omega provided.
"Don't shower me with gratitude all at once," he muttered under his breath.
"I won't," Rouge said, "Believe me."
"Don't you two even start," Omega began. "I won't stand for it."
"And why not?" Shadow said with a dangerously low voice, "This whole trip has been nothing but Rouge complaining. No matter what I do, she can't be grateful for a single thing."
"All you've done is gotten us lost," Rouge replied, glaring back, "Do you have any idea how sick I am of seeing this same wall everywhere we turn?"
"It's no picnic for me, either," Shadow said, "and what the hell else am I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for someone to pick us up?"
"Desist at once," Omega droned desperately, "I insist you stop."
"We wouldn't even be in this mess if you hadn't agreed to come on this mission," Rouge accused, "For once, you couldn't have said no?"
"As a matter of fact, I couldn't," responded Shadow, his temper climbing.
"I was exhausted, and I could be home sleeping right now!" Rouge yelled. Her face was becoming a bright pink as she spoke. "But Mr. Ultimate Life Form can't possibly miss a mission! Now I doomed to die of starvation in this death trap! Or it'll just cave in!"
"I will implore you this time," Omega said, interfering, "please do not go any further."
Shadow and Rouge were nose-to-nose now, both baring their teeth.
"Maybe I'll leave you here, then," Shadow said, "so you can starve to death!"
"You know you couldn't leave me!"
"Try me," Shadow sneered, gritting his teeth, "every damn word you've spoken on this mission has been nothing but pure negativity. Perhaps if you changed your attitude you'd think differently."
"Who are you, my father?! Don't lecture me; I'm not a little kid!"
"I can and I will. I'll do whatever I damn well please!"
"Ha! Then you have my permission to leave me! Leave me here and I'll sit here and slowly and painfully die! Not like it would have been any different if we continued anyway!"
"Stop talking like that!"
"No! I'll do whatever I damn well please!"
Something snapped in Shadow. Suddenly Rouge was an enemy; a foe. He hated her with all of his mind and heart. His face was hot, and his breath short. The hedgehog barely felt his hand swing around in a quick motion, his fingers curling into a fist. The fist struck the bat's cheek before Shadow could control himself. Rouge staggered backwards with her mouth agape.
"You . . ." she breathed, at a loss for words. "You bastard."