5:00 am. Morning routine. Out the door by 6:00 am, at the store by 6:15 am. Greet Marmotte. Feed cats. It was the same old, same old. Only a day later and it already felt like Rouge hadn't been at his apartment at all.

Marmotte was working in the back today, so Shadow worked the front desk by himself.

The unmistakable noise of a small animal chasing another small animal caught Shadow's ears. He peered over the counter just in time to catch a black cat-shaped object tearing across a stack of books with a gray cat-shaped object hot on her heels. The black cat, Matcha, hissed as her pursuer, Earl, managed to swipe her across the leg as she clumsily scrambled up a bookshelf and over the other side.

Shadow decided it best to stop the game of tag before he had dozens of clawed-up books to explain. He jumped out of his seat and moved around the bookshelves, following the chase until he managed to scoop up Matcha in his arms mid leap, shielding her from any more of Earl's harassment. In turn, the pursuer curled around Shadow's legs needily, as if hoping to trip him for ruining the fun.

Shadow couldn't help but smile as he cradled a thoroughly-peeved Matcha. The game had distracted him for only a moment, but long enough that he hadn't noticed when someone entered the store.

"Well, I didn't know you had cats here." An unnervingly familiar voice sounded behind Shadow.

Shadow whipped around, still holding Matcha in his arms. The jackal from yesterday stood before him. He also just so happened to be blocking the path back to the front of the store.

He hadn't heard the door's bell go off? No, that was impossible, he definitely would have heard someone enter!

Unless someone was trying to sneak in, a voice in his head reminded him.

Shadow forced an awkward smile. "Yes, they live here at the bookstore. Can I help you?" He could only hope his customer service voice sounded more confident than he felt. Shadow no longer saw the sword from yesterday, but that truthfully did little to ease his nerves.

"I'm just browsing." The jackal showed off a toothy grin. He stepped to the side, motioning for Shadow to pass by him.

Shadow hesitantly placed Matcha on the ground, who scurried off. He moved past the jackal and back behind his desk, keeping an eye on him every inch. The jackal in turn had already begun browsing over the selections.

Minutes later, he finally settled on a book Shadow didn't catch the name of and sat down in one of the lounging chairs. Each page he turned was the only sound in the bookstore as the cats were now nowhere to be seen.

The jackal had an irritated look on his face, clearly not enjoying what he was reading. He closed the book with a "thwap." "Do you read a lot of this stuff?"

Did he read books? What kind of question was that? He worked in a bookstore—what the hell did he think?

Shadow tried to hide the annoyance in his voice. "Why, yes, of course!" He beamed.

"Got any recommendations?"

To be fair, this was not an unusual request; people often asked him or Marmotte for book recommendations. Shadow internally sighed. "What kinds of books are you interested in?"

—-

Shadow led the jackal over to the "Fiction" section. He had told Shadow he was looking for something to read for fun during his off hours. Truth be told, Shadow didn't read many fiction books, but he did have some classics in mind.

"Dracula?" The jackal snorted.

"It's a certified classic." Shadow held out the book to him.

The jackal accepted the book. "Fine, I'll give it a shot." His eyes met Shadow's and he cracked the grin Shadow had seen too many times now. But his gaze was different now, eyes slightly narrowed with a glint of…something in them. Whatever it was, Shadow didn't like it.

"The name's Zero, by the way."

"Will that be all, Zero?" Shadow deadpanned, already returning to his desk.

The jackal almost sounded offended. "You got a name, don't you?" He followed after him.

Shadow tensed up, but maintained composure as he leaned both hands against his desk. He was a breath away from telling Zero that that was none of his business, customer-friendly facade be damned, when Mr. Marmotte decided now of all times to come back to the front.

"Henry, can you do something about this cat? She's being a nuisance and I don't have time to spoil her right now." The groundhog chuckled as he thrusted a wide-eyed Matcha into his hands."Oh, hello there," he turned once he noticed Zero, "did you find what you need?"

Zero paused, but then that grin curled back onto his face. "Yeah, I did. Henry helped me find what I wanted, didn't you?" Zero responded to Marmotte, but his eyes never left the other.

Shadow stayed silent.

"Well, that's great!" Marmotte scooted past Shadow, "I can ring you up here if you're ready." With a wave of a hand, he motioned Shadow to the back, who gladly accepted this excuse to flee.

Zero called after him. "I'll see you later, Henry."

—-

Shadow snatched the transmitter from the counter as soon as he arrived home. He switched the device on and made the call, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Miss me already?" Rouge greeted him on the other end.

"Rouge. Something happened at work today." Shadow ignored her. "Yesterday, a jackal came into the bookstore and today he was back again."

"And this is important…why?"

"I recognize the locals here, and this jackal doesn't seem like a regular tourist." Shadow barked into the receiver, pinching his brow, "he said his name is Zero, and he was armed with a weapon civilians don't walk around with. A red sword."

"Woah, slow down Shadow. Alright, so he had a sword—did he try to attack you?"

"Not yet. He just seems…interested in me. Interested to a suspicious degree. He stared at me like he was planning something, and was insistent on knowing my name. He also implied he would return again."

There was silence on the other end for several moments.

"So…" Rouge finally snickered, "this guy visits your bookstore two days in a row, stares at you the whole time, asks you for your name, and then says he'll be back? Honey, it kind of sounds like he's flirting with you."

Shadow's fur bristled. "I'm serious, Rouge. Something feels wrong here."

Rouge let out a heavy sigh. "Alright, I suppose I can look into it. Jackal with a sword named Zero—any other details about him you can give me?"

—-

Shadow had given way more information than Rouge would have needed by the time they ended the call. She sighed as she stretched against the office chair in her hotel.

Frankly, Rouge thought Shadow was being just a little bit paranoid, but she couldn't really blame him. Poor guy didn't exactly know how to make friends, she couldn't even imagine how it would go if someone was actually seeking a relationship with him.

She hopped out of her seat, nearly laughing out loud at the mental image of Shadow going on a date. What she wouldn't give to be present at that engagement.

Still, Rouge would keep her word and look into this "Zero" guy, but first, she had other priorities to attend to. The bed was currently covered in a patchwork of maps and notebooks. Marker strokes outlined areas of important interest on the greater whole of the Nulle Forest. Rouge had her route in mind, all she had to do now is slip into something more comfortable.

She flung open her suitcase and retrieved her "adventurers outfit." It didn't look all that different from her usual attire, but less "undercover spy" and more "19th century explorer." It was perfectly suited for treks through both thickly wooded forests and crumbling dungeons.

She slipped the transmitter into her belt along with the rest of her gear (a radar system, a condensed map, and a few other goodies) and headed out the door onto the street, flagging down a taxi.

—-

Her driver dropped her off near the edge of the forest. This was the location of the start of several hiking trails that led partway into the woods, but Rouge had no need for those.

The sun was low on the horizon by the time Rouge set out into the woods, the thick canopy making it appear like it was much later in the evening. There were several coordinates of interest on the treasure hunter's radar, so she elected to visit each one in a clockwise manner.

Rouge had only been flying for a short distance when she was forced to land. Her first location's coordinates led her face to face with a nearly vertical cliff, rising as high as some of the trees. She adjusted her spyglass and scanned the stone. Her first set of coordinates were centered on this cliff.

None of the maps had indicated such a steep incline of elevation. She ran her fingers along the cliff, disturbing a smattering of loose pebbles and dirt that tumbled to her feet.

Someone should really update those maps, she pursed her lips, but I'm not here to do cartography.

Bending at the knees, she launched herself up into the air, using her powerful wings to propel herself up the side of the cliff.

The sun set within the hour. Rouge glided above the canopy, diving down under the trees to investigate an area of interest. She slowed to a halt and landed again, eyes narrowed at her radar.

The coordinates had led her to an area that satellite footage told her could have been a cave system, but there was nothing but a large clearing riddled with the occasional boulder.

From her short time exploring the forest, it became increasingly obvious that no one seemed to have really mapped this place out. Rouge walked through the tall grass, tapping her radar system in frustration as it cycled between digits. She grumbled and shoved the thing into her bag. She would just have to do this the old fashioned way. Rouge circled around the perimeter until she came to a line of trees that sloped at a sharp angle down into the foliage. The wind seemed stronger here. She took one more step—only for the ground under her to crumble down the trench.

She cried out as she slid down the slope, thoroughly caught off guard. Her fingers gripped for root, rock, anything to try and slow her descent, but it was all in vain. All she could do was shield her head from the branches she broke through as she tumbled to the bottom.

It took a moment for Rouge to catch her bearings, but she slowly sat up, disorientated but mostly uninjured. "I suppose that could have been worse…" she mumbled.

But where was she? She stared up at where she had fallen from, but even with her keen night-vision, she could not make out the top of the slope. Trees blacked out the stars in the sky, and on the other side of the slope, there was…something.

Rouge stood up and slowly approached the mass. A wall? She placed a hand on it and stared up at it. Her eyes widened as she realized—it was a plant of some kind, maybe a vine or a root? She followed along the wall, and noticed a larger, similar mass that wrapped around it. She flew to the top of it and the site before her left her mouth agape. Hundreds of vines curled around each other in a mass of a foliage, each strand as thick as a pickup truck. They seemed to be growing along the perimeter of a massive grove of trees. The trees didn't appear much different from any other tree in the forest, but the ground around their roots and the bark of the trunks were alight with luminescent fungi, pulsating a bright lilac.

Now this was more like it. She could hardly conceive of a better place to hide century-old royal treasures. She made her way across the wall of vines and slid down into the grove, continuing her way through the woods. She was now on foot as the increased congestion of trunks and branches ensured flying was out of the picture. The canopy seemed to stretch hundreds of feet into the sky above her.

The mushrooms reacted to Rouge's presence, increasing in luminosity as she passed by them. She once again whipped out her radar, which somehow had a signal. Not only that, the readings were exactly what she wanted to see. There were gems nearby, and by her intuition, some nice ones.

Then, she stumbled upon something she hadn't quite expected. A barred iron gate lay before her, and beyond that, a no-kidding castle. Rouge could hardly contain her elation. She practically skipped over the fence and past the courtyard. In her hurry, she hadn't given thought to how unusually preserved the grounds and structures of the palace were. The grand entrance was open, leading into a wide open foyer with two curving staircases framing the space, a balcony overlooking the floor.

Just a myth huh? Take that, Shadow. She smiled to herself.

Instead of taking the staircases, she traversed through the hallways on the lower floors, passing by probably-priceless artifact by priceless artifact. She peered into a few rooms, but the ones she did left her puzzled. They were untouched, and for that matter, so was the rest of the palace. A castle untouched during the age of the revolution? Rouge couldn't fathom it.

But then on the other hand, that just told her no one had beaten her to any loot. She strolled around like she owned the place for a while longer, until she finally found what she was looking for.

She had traveled a few levels lower into the keep, but she came upon a room at the end of the hall. She creaked open the door, and her radar beeped loudly in response.

Though she knew it was unnecessary, she still stealthily snuck into the room, which seemed to be filled with a lot of…junk. It was a vast space filled with haphazardly placed furniture, armor, and weapons. Was this supposed to be an armory or a palace-sized storage closet?

But then, she saw it. A skylight illuminated a podium near the back center of the room, and on it stood the most magnificent gem Rouge had ever laid eyes on.

Truthfully, it was a dull gray, but the moonlight that bounced off its facets showed off a dazzling display and in that moment, Rouge believed in love at first sight. She bounded across the room towards the gem, staring at it in pure awe.

If the sight of it alone wasn't enough, her radar was now beeping louder than she had ever heard before. And perhaps that was why, along with her tunnel vision upon seeing the gray gem, she failed to notice the figure upon her until it was nearly too late.

Acute ears finally sensed the danger. Rouge swiped the jewel off the podium as she dove to the ground. Spiked fists barely grazed the top of her head and slammed into the ground. She tumbled across the floor but managed to regain her composure, landing in a crouch.

Rouge was not prepared for what she saw before her. Furious eyes blazed a bright magenta, patches and spikes along his body glowing much like the fungi outside of the castle. He almost resembled a porcupine, except horn-like appendages protruded from his head and back. A long spiked tail thrashed around threateningly. Then, there were his fists, dual claws protruding from his knuckles. One of these fists happened to be lodged nearly six inches into the floor where Rouge had just been, shattering and splintering the marble.

Rouge wasted no time throwing the gem into her bag and launching a counterattack, leaping into the air spinning like a drill towards her attacker.

Her goal had been to send him flying, or at least hit him hard enough to disorient him so she could make her escape. Instead, and to her horror, she felt a powerful hand grip her leg mid spin. Her attacker spun around and heaved her like a rag doll across the room where she crashed into the wall on the other side.

She dropped to the ground and shouted, half in pain, half in surprise. She barely managed to dive out of the way as the creature lunged after her with rapid punches. It became immediately evident to Rouge at that point that she was duly unprepared to deal with whatever the hell she had just stumbled across. She became airborne again and flew through the still open door, leaving behind any thought of subduing this creature.

Her pursuer was hot on her heels. "Where do you think you're going with the emerald, you dirty thief?!" He roared.

Rouge frantically navigated the corners of the keep. Her pulsating heart and the fearsome growls behind her leaving her panicked and disoriented. What way did she come from? She cut a sharp corner, nearly slamming into the wall. The monster behind her didn't waver, clearly well-acquainted with these halls.

When Rouge finally caught sight of a stairwell, she was willing to take her chances as to where it led. She shot forwards as fast as her wings would carry her, only to find that it was not enough. Rouge yelped as a gloved hand finally caught her leg. Then, for the second time today, she found herself falling