Rouge's Point of View

        The Master Emerald made for a beautiful sight when it shone, sparkling particles falling from it like magic. It was magic, a magic I wish I held in my own hands, but I knew the echidna standing by it would never allow me to touch the thing again.

        Knuckles took his palms off the large gem, the glowing light dimmed to its original brightness. When he turned to look at us, his mouth set in a grim line. "Sonic's emerald is definitely not on Earth anymore," he said, eyeing Tails. "It looks as if Mephiles created his own personal dimension to bring them to."

        A whole other dimension? I didn't know much about what went on with that creepy demon-hog, but I certainly never expected him to wield enough power to create an entire dimension himself. "Will it actually be possible to get to this dimension?" I asked with a tentative approach.

        The echidna grunted. "Probably. But it will take a few Chaos Emeralds to make a portal, along with the Master Emerald to direct the portal's location. While I checked the emeralds' locations, I saw where the last two are. One is in the Mystic Ruins and one looks like it dropped in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I think we should bring all the emeralds with us when we go to Mephiles' dimension. He appears to be more powerful than before, and the only way to take him down might be through super forms."

        Tails nodded, agreeing, and Eggman groaned as he remembered the times he had been defeated by his enemies' overpowered forms. I, however, was skeptical. "Is that really a safe idea, hon?" I said to Knuckles. "We'd practically be handing the emeralds straight to Mephiles."

        "Only if we manage to lose possession of them, which we won't," said the echidna with furrowed brows. "Anyway, I don't see you jumping up with any ideas. That's just as well. All you know is stealing things that don't belong to you—and after you do that, you don't have a clue what to do afterward."

        I shrugged and turned away, not letting him see the flash of hurt in my eyes. As much as I didn't want to believe so, it was true. My schemes revolved around being sneaky and snatching precious items out of places they were meant to be protected. After I obtained those items, I put no thought into how I would use them, especially when I had a Chaos Emerald in my clutches. I didn't have power over them like Shadow did, I could only put them on display and gaze at their beauty until someone else came along to take them back. It was a constantly repeating cycle.

        "I'll play along for now, Knuckles, but if I have a better suggestion I'll be sure to let you know about it." Bending my knees, I leapt off the top stair of the temple and flapped my bat wings once, allowing myself to glide to the bottom step.

        Tails followed at a much slower pace, meeting me by his new flying contraption. "Why aren't Knuckles and Dr. Eggman coming?" I said as I looked up at the echidna and human watching us from the temple.

        "Knuckles is going to stay on guard over the Master while we get the rest of the emeralds," said Tails. "After we pick up Shadow and Silver and the rest, we'll only have two emeralds left. There's enough of us to go searching for them. And Eggman, well, he won't be of much help to us right now."

        I smirked, the kid did the same, and we climbed into the plane.

        Soon, the aircraft filled with chatter from four anthros we picked up. Shadow and Blaze had gotten the cyan emerald from Shamar, and Silver and Amy had gotten the yellow emerald from Chun-nan. Tails turned the plane toward North America. "Before we go after the Chaos Emerald that landed in the ocean, I need to stop at my workshop to get scuba supplies," he said. "Some of us can go after that emerald, while the rest search the Mystic Ruins."

        "I call the Mystic Ruins. The ocean is no place for a bat," I said. My arm wrapped around the shoulders of Shadow, who sat next to me and away from the younger passengers. "Why don't we team together, Shadow? It's been so long since we went on a mission together. We still need to catch up."

        "Fine," said the hedgehog in a gruff voice, his body stiff underneath my arm. I smiled at him, and he looked away. What was his problem?

        "Aren't you glad to see me, hon?" I asked, an eyebrow raised. "It's been months, you know?" Shadow sighed through his nose but said nothing. I put both hands in my lap. I guess he really doesn't care, even after all that time. And I thought he was starting to get more in touch with his emotions. Guess not, hmph!

        By the time the plane landed, I had grown tired of my partner's cold demeanor. I jumped off-board as soon as I could. Tails' workshop towered overhead, the large garage door opened to allow us inside. I wanted to stay in the sun, though, and I strutted around the runway. The warm rays on my back felt nice after hiding in a cave with the Master Emerald for a few days. Shadow also clearly enjoyed the sun, despite having searched around the desert in Shamar for a Chaos Emerald. His gaze had a far-off look, as if he was deep in thought.

        "Tails," I called, grabbing the attention of the boy as he sifted through his workshop for scuba supplies. He stood with a few suits in hand, ears perked. "I think Shadow and I will get going after the emerald in the Mystic Ruins. We'll meet you here, okay?" The boy nodded, and I walked over to Shadow and tapped him on the shoulder. "I'll bet I can find the Chaos Emerald before you do," I said in a teasing tone.

        The striped hedgehog harrumphed and held out the cyan emerald. "That might be difficult."

        "Cheater!" I laughed, lightly slapping him on the shoulder. "Still, don't underestimate me. I am the best jewel thief there is. I might just slip right under your nose." With another chuckle, I flapped my wings and hovered above Shadow, mock-saluting him before taking off to the rain forest that I knew to be only about a mile away.

        The wind whipped past me at high speeds, and down below I watched the luminosity of the Chaos Emerald increase. In the sky I had a direct route to the Mystic Ruins, but Shadow had to weave through the trees in the forest and deal with the changing terrain. It amused me to see him zipping back and forth, that magical light shining along with him. I knew he didn't care about our race, he was much too serious for that. Today, more so than usual.

        There was probably a reason for that. I really had been thrown out of the loop, hadn't I?

        After a mile had flown under my feet, I came upon the dense, thick-leaved rain forest of the Mystic Ruins. The light of Shadow's Chaos Emerald lost itself under the canopy of the trees, and I glided downward. It would be difficult to navigate the forest without a little help, and I needed to see the emerald to know if I went the right way.

        Breaking through the tree cover, I happened to land just beside Shadow as he ran by. He paused, a few feet ahead of me, looking back with an expression that might be smug if he bothered to raise the corner of his lips. "What, Rouge? Are you afraid of getting lost in the jungle?"

        "Pfft. Don't even start with me," I waved him off. "I just thought you'd like a bit of company, is all. Besides, diving in and out of the trees isn't exactly the best way to find something. My wings would get worn out by the end of the day. It's no fair you have a Chaos Emerald to help you, so consider this race at a standstill."

        The black hedgehog turned away, fine with that, and pushed past hanging vines to delve deeper into the jungle surrounding the Mystic Ruins. I followed close behind, shivering as the vines slapped at me, cold and wet. A rainstorm had come through not long ago, it seemed. Considering the dark clouds that lingered before I went into the forest, another shower would soon arrive. I hoped the tree leaves were thick enough to take the brunt of it.

        The cyan emerald glimmered and glowed, brighter and brighter, as Shadow and I twisted through each path covered in mulch. As we went along, the vines that wrapped around tree trunks and dangled from their branches appeared to grow bigger in diameter. I quirked an eyebrow at this. "I didn't know such huge vines grew in the Mystic Ruins." My partner only grunted in reply, stepping lightly over the forest floor so as not to be tripped up by the vines that lied there, too.

        When it seemed the emerald could not shine any brighter, we arrived at the ruins. My teal eyes widened, taking in the bizarre sight. Gigantic green vines had themselves wrapped around the ruins and the surrounding trees, resembling a messy spiderweb. Many of these vines crept along the ground, kinked and lumped to form a disastrous obstacle course. "It looks like a giant jungle gym," I laughed. "This will be fun."

        Reaching down, I poked one of the big vines and it very faintly wiggled. That's strange, I thought while Shadow walked past me. He was suspicious of all this, shoulders tensed and with a grave expression.

        I scanned the dilapidated stone structures for any sign of the Chaos Emerald we looked for, and just noticed a wavering light at the top of the temple. "I think I see the emerald," I said to Shadow. "It's on top the temple, ripe for the taking. Want to bet I'll grab it before you do?" A sly grin spread across my face as I reminded the hedgehog of our race, attempting to lighten the mood. He turned to glare at me, very serious, before running for the stairs to the temple.

        What a sneaky hedgehog! I inwardly scolded Shadow as I flapped my wings quick, feet leaving the ground. Ducking through the strung-up vines, I made my way up the temple's side without bumping into anything. Piece of cake. Briefly, I glanced down at Shadow who leapt over the giant things, trying to keep on stable ground.

        "If you ran up the vines, you'd probably be here already," I said in a taunting voice, flapping my wings once more to reach the tippy-top of the temple where a deep blue glow rested on a pedestal. Aren't you lovely? My eyelids lowered as the blue Chaos Emerald seduced me, and I reached out for it with sturdy hands. Just as my fingers brushed its brilliant, warm and smooth surface, I was jerked away.

        I gasped as my back slammed into something hard that moved out from underneath me. With a cry of terror, I flung myself away when a vine as thick as a tree came lashing toward me, striking the side of the temple and knocking the Chaos Emerald to a location I couldn't see. The vines that surrounded me thrashed violently, alive. "What did you do?" I called out to Shadow, somehow knowing him to be the cause of this wacky event.

        "All I did was step on it!" he yelled back, springing off the temple toward the fallen emerald with a vine at his heels. The jungle thrashed wildly, the hedgehog unable to avoid getting hit. A vine slapped Shadow away after he launched a Chaos Spear at it, flinging his own emerald into the writhing mass of green.

        While Shadow struggled on the ground, I was busy dodging vines that lashed into the air. I had thought this would be a fun mission. Now, I feared my head would be lopped off my shoulders by a plant with a mind of its own. Gritting my teeth as a vine swung too close, just clipping my wing, I scowled and hugged my arms and wings to myself, cutting through a thick vine with a drill dive. The attack severed the vine in half, causing it to flop on the ground, quickly shriveling into a grey-green husk. Humming thoughtfully to myself, I continued to slice through as many of the vines as I could, of course, getting slapped around in the process.

        At a particularly hard blow, I tumbled across the sky and landed on the stairs of the ruins around the temple. Groaning, I picked myself up before I could be smashed into a pile of mush and bones. That was when I caught a glimpse of the cyan emerald in the corner of my eye. The vines had thrown it all this way in their mysterious fury. Seeing how Shadow bounced back and forth between attacks, curled in a tight ball, I knew he'd be needing this emerald.

        I waited for a vine to smack the ground in front of me, leapt over it and grabbed the Chaos Emerald while in a somersault. "Shadow," I screamed in his direction. "Here's your emerald, you'd better catch it!" With all my might I threw the glowing gem into the mass of writhing vines, desperately hopeful that the hedgehog would get a hold of it.

        It didn't take long to hear the words "Chaos Blast" ring out. I instantly dropped to the ground, flat on my belly, closing my eyes against the bright red light that emanated in the center of the Mystic Ruins. A hot wind blew over me, catching my breath in my chest. I stayed down until the pulsating energy had entirely dispersed, looking up to see the area completely wiped out of the dangerous vines. As well, some stones from the temple and surrounding ruins had been dislodged, but they remained undamaged for the most part.

        Taking a deep, much-needed gulp of air, I glided to the hedgehog's spot and looked around awestruck. "You took out all those vines with one blast? I'm impressed, Shadow. I'd forgotten how powerful you were with an emerald."

        "Not all of them," said Shadow, his red eyes glaring at something behind the temple. He zapped the last living vine with a Chaos Spear, and it shriveled and twitched before turning into a pale husk of itself. "The Mystic Ruins had been taken over by an infestation of nearly-sentient vegetation. I wouldn't doubt the doctor, or even Miles himself, had an experiment go awry without knowing."

        "At least it's taken care of," I said, sauntering over to the beautiful blue jewel that lied alone on the ground. "And we have our emerald. Let's head back to Fox Boy's workshop so we can relax and enjoy a cup of coffee. I'm sure the kids will be some time getting their emerald out of the water. Meet you there, hon."

        I took off, forcing my way up and out of the thick tree cover only to have large drops of rain land on my head. I sighed heavily. There would be time to dry off once I got to the workshop. And while I was there, with a delicious coffee cradled in my hands—lovingly provided by Tails' espresso machine he used to keep himself awake during long hours of building his inventions—I'd get Shadow to tell me, in great detail, everything that went down with Mephiles.