Each day came about relatively the same, whether it be another evil scheme from Dr. Eggman, being pestered about a vacation, or going around running missions and errands. There was rarely a day he had to break his routine, which usually broke itself as it was because of Eggman. So far today was no different to him. As far as it had gone, from when he woke up to about now, near noon, the most that had happened was a morning scare from Amy Rose. She had shown up at his doorstep with some muffins as a thank you for helping her last week, when she had asked him to assist her with a small Badnik problem near her house that wouldn't go away. Although it felt a bit too quiet to him, he didn't really mind the calm, uneventful day otherwise, being one of the few days of the month he was able to relax instead of being ordered around about things that personally didn't matter to him. Since, in fact, it was near noon, he decided he was going to take a stroll around the city, and hope to god that a certain eccentric colleague of his wasn't going on her daily shopping spree right now.

Central City was the hotspot for most tourists and the generalized shopping, having the best stores and some of the more renowned landmarks, which were mainly only there because of quarrels between either Sonic and Eggman or the Resistance, most often just Sonic though. With all of the shopping, however, it often drew a lot of the girls around that he knew, such as Amy Rose, Vanilla and her daughter, Cream, as well as older colleagues like Honey and Marine, even Tangle could be found making a scene at some sportswear stores. The one he dreaded meeting around here the most, however, was actually probably one of his closest colleagues, dare he say friend. She was a dramatic pain sometimes, but she knew how to get the job done, if she wasn't too distracted by any fancy objects that is.

Sitting down on a nearby bench, he opted to silently enjoy the sounds of the city, from the flickies up above to the calm hustle of mobians and humans alike. Times like this, times like this is how he wanted to world to stay. No Eggman, no annoyances, no distractions-

"Oooh! If it isn't my favorite hedgehog~" The familiar voice chimed into his thoughts, making him flinch before letting out a groan. Thought too soon. He turned to look over to the source of the voice, sighing.

"Hello to you too Rouge,"

"Aww you don't sound pleased to see me, rough day or just grumpy mood?" She plopped herself down next to him, setting her few shopping bags down before putting her hands on her lap, lidded eyes looking him over before a smile crossed her face.

"Well, I was actually enjoying not being bothered, but there's only so much you can do before being interrupted,"

"Oh Shadow, come on now you love my company~ besides, it's better me than Sonic, no? At least I won't try to convince you to stuff 20 chilidogs down your throat before 2pm," She chuckled at her own jab, referencing a rather recent encounter with the blue hedgehog. He grumbled at this.

"No, but you try to convince me to jewel hunt at midnight 3 hours after a major fight with Eggman, which is a different type of irritating than Sonic." This got a hurt look from Rouge, although it was all but obvious she was merely teasing him by faking it.

"So you don't like spending time with your favorite colleague outside of business?~"

"I never said that,"

"So you're admitting you like spending time then?"

"I never said that either,"

"It's so hard to get a straight answer out of you," She pouted, although she had a smile on her face. He rolled his eyes in response.

"Anyways, enough teasing, you said you were enjoying the day off, no? HQ hasn't called you at all today?~" Her tone shifted quite easily from a tease to a genuine intrigue, leaning back as she properly folded her wings, looking up at the sky with a relaxed gaze.

"Thankfully no, I think I got it through their heads this time around that I don't plan on coming in today," He followed her gaze up to the sky, watching a pair of flickies dance around before flying into a nearby tree.

"Pity, I've been called at least three times about minor inconveniences involving badniks that could easily be stomped out by our new recruits with a baseball bat, of course as you can see though I declined, but it leaves me wondering why they would call me on my day off for such trivial problems.."

"Did you annoy someone in the base before you left? Knowing some of the soldiers they'd kill for bringing you in just to realize you really weren't needed," She raised a brow at him.

"Are you implying something here?"

"Some people find your antics a lot more irritating than I personally present, it's not implication if it's right in front of you," She chuckled at this.

"No, you have a point, I find amusement teasing everyone but I can agree a lot of them would probably love to get me back for it~" She mused, putting a hand up to her chin with a thoughtful grin on her face.

They sat there for a little while in silence, enjoying the sounds of the city, before the sound of Rouge's communicator beeping cut through the silence.

"Rouge speaking," She responded, pulling her communicator out with a raised brow.

"Wonderful, you picked up. Are you with Shadow at all by chance?" The sound of their head commander rang through the communicator, making Rouge and Shadow exchange glances.

"Yes, he's with me. What do you need sir?"

"We have a situation that we presume involves Eggman, but it regards Sonic the Hedgehog." Shadow's expression darkened at this.

"I presume you're calling us in then?" He chimed in, leaning closer to make sure the commander could hear him.

"Affirmative, I apologize since it's your day off but it's an urgency only you two are qualified for." That made something in the back of his head twitch, and not in a good way.

"We'll be there shortly." He replied, getting up as he spoke. Rouge ended the communication as she stood up as well, grabbing her bags before sighing.

"I guess I'll just leave these in my locker, can't be hauling them around if we're being called directly~" She sighed as she unfolded her wings, boosting up to hover next to Shadow.

"Shall we go then?~" He simply nodded, before propelling himself forward with his air shoes, the rocket jets giving him the perfect momentum he needed as he sped to the G.U.N headquarters, Rouge flying not too far behind.