Chapter 38: A New Threat:

In the middle of a grassy field just outside of town was a hill that stood out from the rest of the area. The grass on this hill was charred gray, ash and dust were blowing around on the slightest of breezes, (giving the illusion of fog) and gigantic shards of metal and broken machinery were scattered around. The reason the hill was like this? This was the very spot where the Death Egg Mk. III had landed after its destruction over a year ago. Though this particular area was abandoned and only remained to remind the citizens of Doctor Eggman's former misdeeds, something disturbed it from within. A purple light started to glow from within the ashy wreckage, followed by a dark shadow who emerged from it. The silhouetted figure was tall and round, with a small head compared to its abdominal region, and something sticking off the sides of its head, which was impossible to make out through the mist. The unfamiliar figure stepped outside the ash cloud, the dead grass making a crunching noise beneath his feet. He was coughing as he carried the source of the light under his arm. The unidentifiable thing sticking off of his head turned out to be a long gray mustache. It was none other than Dr. Eggman Nega, having ventured into Mobius from the Sol Dimension.

"Well something happened here," He said coughing as he stepped outside of the fog, the blackened grass crunching and collapsing beneath his feet, "but at least I made it!"

The doctor admired the dawn-drenched valley as he pressed a button on the glowing object's underside. This caused the light to go out, and the object collapsed into a small metal disc. He put the collapsed warp-pad into his pocket and pulled another disc out of his other. The button on the other disc caused it to unfold into a pod resembling the Egg Mobile, but with a different color-scheme.

"Now to try and conquer this world and attempt to make myself another empire!" Eggman Nega grinned.

With a cackle, he climbed into the pod and flew off.

I'm Shadow the Hedgehog! The Ultimate Life-Form!

Though I wasn't too pleased to have the idea for this vacation

suddenly shoved into my face, I have to admit that I'm enjoying

this so far! The beautiful scenery, the quiet seclusion, the great

distance away from anyone who could possibly want to bother us,

and the chance to be truly alone with Rouge! Unfortunately, being

alone with someone also allows you to become aware of their quirks.

In this case, I learned that Rouge takes a bit too long for my liking

when she's getting ready for something! I love her to death, but even

I'M having a hard time not noticing this!

Despite what was implied last chapter, Rouge and Shadow had not actually started exploring the park, instead choosing to sleep in until a more desirable hour. Once they had woken up however, they got started for real. Standing on the grass, Shadow waited for Rouge to come out of the tent so they could go hike up the mountain. Within a few minutes, she finally came out, showing an expression of slight frustration as she zipped up her sports bra in the back.

"What took you so long?" Shadow asked.

"Oh, nothing major. I was just having some trouble getting this damn thing on! When we get back home, I'm looking for a bigger size!" Rouge replied.

Shadow said nothing and proceeded to grab two drinking glasses and cracked three eggs into each one, handing one glass to Rouge, who hesitantly looked at the raw eggs and then at him. With a brief, reassuring nod in unison, the two clinked their glasses together and gulped down all three yolks and set out on the hike.

I'm Knuckles the Echidna! But they call me Knuckles!

So apparently, Shadow and Rouge headed out to Mobius National

Park for a romantic getaway, and they didn't even bother to tell us until

they had already gotten there! I would be more pissed off at this, but even

if the rest of us weren't allowed to go there too, at least it's still a beautiful

day here too! And regardless of what region you're in, there's no better place

to spend a beautiful day than outdoors!

In the circular driveway back at the mansion, Tails and Knuckles were playing a game of "Sonic Basketball", a game they had made up. It involved Sonic curling into a ball, while players would toss and dribble him around. Off to the side, Sonic Jr. was sitting on the asphault, not paying any attention to the game and instead playing with a stuffed Tails Doll.

"Just give up already!" Knuckles said, guarding Tails' passage to the goal.

But Tails was too smart, choosing to somersault through the echidna's legs and jump high into the air with the aid of his twin-tails. He then dropped Sonic through the basket and grabbed onto the edge, successfully landing a slam dunk. Right at that moment, Amy came outside and saw Tails still hanging onto the hoop while Knuckles stared at him with disbelief.

"Hey boys, have you seen Sonic?" Amy asked, finally speaking.

Knuckles pointed to the fuzzy blue ball that was slowly rolling into the sunlight. It uncurled and Sonic appeared, dizzy but unharmed as a trio of winged chili dogs swirled above his head.

"Should've known." She replied to herself, "But regardless, you need to come in and freshen up our room! It smells like shit, thanks to your chili dog gas from last night!"

Sonic shook his head vigorously and his eyes started to focus once again. He saw his wife standing akimbo and staring at him from above. With a sigh, Sonic got up and went inside.

Tails jumped off the hoop and now both he and Knuckles had the same exasperated expression on their faces. Within seconds though, Knuckles thumbed towards Sonic Jr. and he and Tails started to giggle at the emerge of a new idea.

"Don't even think about it!" Amy yelled, looking back. The two returned to their exasperated state again.

Back at the National Park, the couple was still hiking up the mountain, (about 2 hours and 45 minutes into the three-hour hike) both of them sweating profusely as they traversed the mulch path, occasionally stumbling over a rock. Within the next fifteen minutes, Shadow and Rouge finally reached the peak and stopped to admire the view. The forest below was gargantuan, and a flock of white flickies flew above it; all beneath the late afternoon sun that gleamed down on the entire park. Panting, Rouge took a sip from the shared water bottle.

"You were right!" She said, "Those eggs really did give us a boost!"

"Well, like I said it's pure protein." Shadow replied.

"Actually, you didn't say that, but I can say this: This hike completely trumps my usual workout; in both fun and calories!" Rouge said.

The two sank into a deep kiss as the sun just started to set behind the trees, making their figures appear as silhouettes against the orange backdrop. Meanwhile as this happened, an unidentifiable flying pod blazed past the mountain as if in a hurry. Though it went by too fast to get a good look at, a gray mustache could be seen blowing in the breeze. Despite its conspicuousness, the couple did not notice it as they kissed.

After ending the kiss, Shadow said: "Lucky for us, going down should be much easier."

The couple managed to get back to the camp before the sun was truly setting. The nearby lake was glimmering as both of them were wading in it, attempting to catch fish for supper. Rouge, who was wearing her usual bikini along with daisy dukes suddenly got a bite on her line.

"Aah! What do I do!?" She yelped.

Shadow stepped over and guided her along as they slowly reeled the unidentified catch closer in. Under the surface, the catfish who had bitten the line was suddenly snatched up by a Rocky and quickly tugged away. Though they could not see this, Rouge and Shadow still felt this from the other end of the pole and toppled over into the water, only to come back up and see the Rocky swimming off with his prey. Any annoyance coming from this quickly dissipated, and the couple failed to stifle a laugh.

Despite this minor setback, they still managed to catch a trout, much larger than the one that had previously bitten the line. Within 10 minutes, it was cooked over the fire and eaten down to the bone. As dinner came to an end, Shadow and Rouge sat on the picnic table and gazed out at the darkened horizon as the deep orange sky began to turn pink with the setting sun. As they looked around, they both noticed something curious off in the distance.

"Hey look, there's a cave behind that waterfall!" Rouge said, pointing to it, "We should check it out tomorrow!"

"Haha, yeah! But not until I check out three other caves, and these one's aren't nearly as far away." Shadow replied, resting a hand on Rouge's thigh.

"Oh, stop it!" Rouge said playfully. After the brief joke, the two headed inside the tent.

Of course, no romantic vacation could ever be complete without sex. Shadow was in a small room within the tent, separated only by a zipper-door. He stood over his duffel bag, rummaging inside it.

"Where is my fine, strong man?" Rouge called from in the other room.

"Uh, just putting condom-ents on the hot dogs!" Shadow replied with a chuckle to himself.

Rouge came in, wearing a cranberry-colored bra-and-panty set with a near-transparent, waist-length slip on top that matched them in color.

"Well, I'd rather have mine plain tonight!" She said, clinging to Shadow's free arm and lifting a leg so that her foot touched her backside, "Just plain."

As if he had picked up the box of condoms for no reason at all, Shadow comedically tossed it back into the bag and followed Rouge onto the two-person sleeping bag. Right as he slowly started to kneel on the sleeping bag however, Rouge yanked him down to her level while using her free hand to reach into her duffel bag and pull out a folded-up electric blanket. She spread it out on top of them with a purr.

"Now! Are you ready for the night of your life?" She asked.

"My body is Reggie!" Shadow replied confidently.

"Ooh! Treason! I like it!" Rouge said.