*Shadow's POV*
"Since you're here and you're aware of what's going on. Will you help us?" Sonic asked Rouge as they walked out of my room, in direction to my office where I was currently at.

"We need your help, Rouge. The machine we destroyed was a simple distraction. He's working on something much bigger, and we don't have time to waste."  I cut right to the chase as I turned on my monitor and sat down.

"We don't know the full details about it yet. But whatever it is he's working on, it's not just about getting rid of me. He would have stopped working on it when he realized he 'killed' me. He's working on something that could destroy the entire planet. We must stop him." Sonic spoke as he walked to my side and sat on my desk beside the computer.

"And you two really have no idea what this big plan is?" Rouge said, walking behind me so she could see what I was seeing. She looked happier with Sonic now. They were probably going to be gossiping about what had happened when this was over. Great.

"Not yet. But he left a trail. I've intercepted a few transmissions between him and his robots. From there, I was able to track a few of his supply shipments to a base located in the Eastern Badlands. We think that's where he's hiding his primary lab."

"And you think I can help?" She leaned against the wall.

"We need intel, and you're the best infiltrator we've got, Rouge." I confessed. "You can slip in there and pull whatever data he's hiding."

"Alrighg boys, I'll help. But you know this won't come cheap." She smiled, I already knew she was up for this even without a reward.

"I'll give you as many chilidogs or gems you want when this is over." Sonic playfully rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. She smirked and nodded.

"You know me so well, Blue."

"Alright. We need you to infiltrate in his base, download the data from his central computer, and get out without triggering any alarms." I explained, handing her a flash drive.

"Sounds like a job I can handle." She took it and put it in her pocket.

"But be careful, Rouge, we can't let Eggman know what we are doing, or he might move up his timeline." Sonic said, his expression serious for once.

"Since when do you worry so much?" Rouge raised a brow.

Sonic gave her a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well. It looks like I've got a little more to lose these days."

I looked back at my computer, pulling up the map I got of Eggmans base while I pretended not to hear that. It wasn't time for that right now.

"Alright. Be ready, just in case I need help. I'll head out in a few hours." She flew to the door.

"We will be on stanby." Sonic playfully saluted her, causing her to smile at us, and then she left. "She'll pull this off. She always does." Sonic rested a hand on my shoulder.

"Right." I nodded. He could tell I was worried. If anything went wrong, Rouge could lose her life. Maybe it had been a mistake to include her in this.

"I can tell you're worried." Sonic's voice was soft. He had a way of reading me like no one else could. "We will beat him, Shadz. We always do." He smiled as he leaned closer and kissed my muzzle, making me tense up for a moment. I wasn't expecting that. "I'll make us something to eat." He walked away.

*Sonic's POV*
It had been hours, too long without hearing from Rouge. Shadow was pacing around the room, unable to keep still, I knew he was worried about her. The silence was eating at both of us, but I was worried too, I just tried to stay calm for Shadow.

"She's fine." I said, more to convince myself. I hated sitting around like this, but I had to at the moment. Not only for me but for Shadow and now Rouge too. I couldn't just jump into battle this time. I had to stay still.

"Eggman is out of his mind!" Rouge shouted as she burst in through the door. We were both quick to look at her. I dashed to her and ran around, making sure she wasn't injured, then sighed in relief as I stopped beside Shadow.

"What is it? What did you find?" I was quick to ask.

"Eggmans developed a machine that's going to cause a massive shockwave of chaos energy across the planet. It'll trigger global destruction, earthquakes, volcanos, the works." She spoke quickly, handing Shadow the flash drive and grabbing a bottled water.

"That's not all, is it?" I was afraid to ask, but I had to anyway. We needed to be prepared.

Rouge remained quiet for a second as she drank from the bottle, then set it down and sighed. She shook her head. "No. It will specifically target anyone with chaos energy. That's means you and Shadow. He's planning to use your power against you." My heart dropped.

"When is it planning to activate." Shadow clenched his fists, I could tell he was just as afraid as I was. But he put up a better wall than I could.

"We've got days at best." Rouge looked at Shadow. "If we don't stop him before then. It's over."

"So we stop him. We've done it before, we can do it again." I nodded, my voice firm. No time to mess around now.

"Sonic and I will take it from here." Shadow spoke sternly.

"You didn't think I'd sit this one out, did you?" Rouge crossed her arms with a smirk.

Shadow and I shared a look, I didn't want her involved, I faked my death so I could do this alone. So I wouldn't risk anyone's lives. Yet I knew there was no way of convincing Rouge to drop it. We both nodded at each other.

"No holding back then. We take down Eggman for good this time."