A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out to you guys. I may be on summer vacation, but motivation has been next to none. I blame it on Death Note, my latest infatuation. Speaking of which, I've been meaning to write a fic for that category too… but I digress. Let me know what you think!

"The answer is no."

"Shadow, I don't think you understand the severity of the situation at hand," Amy tried to reason, resisting the urge to reach across the table and clasp the other hedgehog on the shoulder. "Sonic is going to go on a rampage. Lives could be at stake."

"Even still," the svelte hedgehog replied, arms folded across his chest. "I won't oblige."

"Shadow, please." She was pleading now, and this time, she couldn't help herself - she did reach out and touch him, in the place right above the elbow. "This isn't something we can handle on our own. We need you." She peered into the dark contours of his face, only to realize he wasn't looking back at her directly - rather, his attention was focused on the digits fastened on his forearm, regarding their physical link with a kind of disdain that was usually reserved for vermin. Seeing this, Amy wisely decided to retract her hand and the hedgehog, at last, inclined his head to look up at her.

"It doesn't matter," he told her simply, and her face fell with finality of his words. Crestfallen, she had to remind herself that Shadow wasn't like Sonic or the others in the least - she could not appeal to his better nature here; she could not flatter him in an attempt to implore him for help. She could offer him nothing in return for his services and so he had no reason to oblige, having nothing to benefit from with the agreement to become involved. Furthermore, Amy Rose and her companions were by no means his friends – this, coupled with the lack of any reason motivation to join the fight – left him with a firm and unyielding answer. What little comradery he did hold for anyone was certainly not reserved for her, or any other members of the Team Sonic. The only person she could see influencing his decision on the matter was the albino bat situated in the seat just to the left of him, and she did not seem remotely impressed by Amy's begging.

It had been hard enough just to get the hedgehog to give her an audience in the first place. Meanwhile, she was receiving virtually no support from her own friends. Knuckles flat-out refused to be apart of this impromptu meeting, partially because he didn't want to acknowledge the renegade as a potential means of support, and partially because he wasn't particularly fond of Rouge either. Meanwhile Tails was playing mad-scientist, fumbling with dials and knobs in the background, trying to set up spy satellites to capture Sonic's every move. The television set was blaring in the other room of the machine shop, tuned into a popular news program in case the media caught wind of any of Sonic's wicked deeds before Tails and the others could first. Either Sonic had not yet publically revealed himself to be a villain, or devastation had not yet been wrought--regardless, the city was safe and sound… for now.

"We're sorry, sweets," Rouge murmured, although she didn't look apologetic in the slightest. Her heavy boots were thrown up on the table, thighs crossed as she leaned back in her chair. "But we just don't really see a point. Sonic can blow up Station Square for all we care. Heaven knows it'd make the place more interesting." She flashed a fanged grin. "A little chaos might be good for you chumps."

"Your affairs are not our concern," Shadow told her evenly. "Unless Sonic decides to directly interfere with my agenda, I see no reason to become involved."

"But Shadow—"

"My patience is wearing thin, girl," Shadow said, scarlet eyes narrowed to slits. "I've said my piece; my answer remains the same." The chair scraped nosily across the concrete floor as he moved to stand. "Let's go, Rouge."

"Right-o, Shads," Rouge said, sitting forward. Before she got up to follow suit, however, she leaned across the table to whisper into Amy's ear. The pink hedgehog perked up expectantly to better hear the bat's husky murmur: "The next time you want us to help you with your civic duty, honey, mayhaps you should come up with a better bribe beforehand," she breathed. "A few pretty gems to sway us next time, hmmm?" Amy stared at the other girl incredulously as she rose to join Shadow at the doorway. Amy followed suit in order to show them to the exit, playing the part of a gracious host even though the two flat-out refused to help her. Old habits died hard, she guessed.

As they passed Knuckles in the sitting area, the echidna spoke. "What's the matter, Shadow? Scared?" He did not look up from the news program on the TV, although there was something of a smirk tugging at the edges of his snout.

The black-furred hedgehog seemed unimpressed. Rouge, on the other hand, bristled at the comment.

"Nice try, Knuxie, but he isn't as easy to rile up as you," she told him tartly. "Not everyone is a hot-headed, gullible buffoon."

"It's echidna," Knuckles responded nastily, his eyes narrowing as he started to get his hackles up. "I'm an echidna."

"Knuckles, relax," Amy said exasperatedly, putting her hand on his shoulder. "She's baiting you."

"Relax? I don't need to relax," the scarlet Guardian responded gruffly, folding his muscular arms across his broad chest as he sunk lower into his recliner. "Why would I need to relax? I'm perfectly fine." Behind him, Rouge smirked and opened her mouth, apparently on the verge of making yet another smart reply when Shadow's deep bass voice interrupted them.

"Rouge, drop it. Let's go before we make ourselves unwelcome here."

Amy gave a sigh of relief. "Well, uhm, thanks for hearing me out, I guess," she said awkwardly, unlocking the door for them. Tails peered into the sitting area from the kitchen, eyebrows raised questioningly.

Amy shrugged at him and opened the door, showing them out. When she closed the door behind them and walking back into the living room, Knuckles very openly opened his eyes.

"Well, so much for appealing to their better nature," he said, rolling his eyes. "Got a Plan B?"

"Not… really…" Amy admitted slowly.

"Well, maybe we wont need one," Tails piqued up from the doorway. Both Amy and Knuckles' heads swiveled in the direction of the young kit's voice. He was staring past them, at the door whence Shadow and Rouge had exited through, his expression thoughtful.

"What do you mean, Tails?" Knuckles asked.

"Well, I'm sure they'll have a run-in with Sonic sooner or later," the kit reasoned, shrugging. "Maybe he'll do all the work for us. I think one tussle should be enough to sway Shadow's convictions. He may not be looking for a fight, but I'm sure Sonic is."

"Where to next, Shads?"

"We're going back to Station Square," the dark-furred hedgehog answered, his gaze never wavering from the path ahead as they made their way back into the forest from Tails' work-shed, "To meet up with E-123."

"What do you think of Station Square, anyway?" Rouge inquired, as they walked down the streets toward the Train Station. "Pretty pathetic excuse for being a city, don't you agree? I mean, not even a single jewelry store for miles…" Shadow shrugged noncommittally and Rouge chuckled.

"Never the one for small-talk, eh, Shadow?" she jibed. There was a rustle of leaves just ahead.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the faker!" came an almost pleasant exclamation from above. Shadow was immediately crouched in a defensive stance, his eyes turned upward toward the trees. He had assumed the position so quickly that Rouge nearly tripped over him, staggering before she lifted her head to follow his gaze. "I guess I don't need to ask what you're doing in the Mystic Ruins," the other hedgehog said dryly, flicking his gaze toward the workshop behind them. His legs were draped casually over the edge of a particularly sturdy branch on a tree just above him, his back supported by the trunk behind him. "I shouldn't be surprised that Amy is trying to recruit the next best thing." He grinned.

"What do you want, blue hedgehog?" Shadow asked evenly.

"It's hardly blue, anymore," Sonic mused aloud, indicating his self with a dramatic sweep of his hand. "I'd actually say it's more of a lovely charcoal color now, wouldn't you agree?"

Rouge blinked, and then realized that the other hedgehog was right. The negative chaos energy Amy had said he had been pumped with must have had warped his coloring along with his personality – it were as if the pigments had been sucked right out of him, leaving a dark and dusty looking coat behind in its absence.

"The Goth look doesn't suit your wise-cracking fat mouth, Sonic," Rouge chided, looking bored. "You heard the man. What do you want?"

"Actually, Rouge, I want to talk to you." Sonic said, nodding at her. "You're the professional treasure hunter of the group, aren't you? I was wondering if I might entice you into helping me on a jewel hunt."

At first the albino bat seemed stunned by the offer; a beat later, however, she glossed it over with her usual haughty look. "Oh, really?" she purred. "What sort of precious gemstones are you interested in, Sonic?"

"I need you to help me locate the whereabouts of the Super Emeralds."

Rouge quirked an eyebrow questioningly. "And what's in it for me?"

"Maybe I'll let you keep the husks after I've absorbed some of their energy," Sonic considered, his head tilted to one side as he seemed to mull over the offer.

Rouge eyed him skeptically. "Maybe?" she scoffed. "That's not much of a barter, Sonic."

"I'd say letting you keep all four limbs intact would be a pretty fair trade," Sonic replied, grinning down upon his two companions wickedly. "That was going to be the original deal. Your cooperation, in order to keep you nice and pretty with fully operational arms and legs. Nifty, huh?"

"I'd like to see you try," Rouge snorted, arms folded across her enormous bust. "No dice, hedgehog. C'mon, Shads." She waved the other life-form along, spreading her wings and taking to the air. She hovered just below Sonic's range for a moment, then swept down the pathway toward the train station, leaving naught but a breeze in her wake. Shadow lingered behind, still staring up at Sonic mistrustfully, eyes narrowed to scarlet slits.

The younger hedgehog shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn her," he said, and suddenly there was a flash of grey, streaking down the bough of the tree towards a retreating Rouge with the force and velocity of a bullet train. Shadow spun around just in time to hear her scream.