At the Eggman Island...

(Author's POV):

Rei and Rogue walked down the hallway, discussing Eggman's summons. "Any idea why Eggman wants us, Rei?" Rogue asked. 

"No clue. He just said it was urgent," Rei replied. As they neared Eggman's lab, the metallic walls echoed their footsteps, heightening their uncertainty. "Do you think it's about that new project he mentioned last week?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Could be. But knowing him, it might just be another scheme to take over the world," Rogue said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. "Or maybe he finally found a way to stop Sonic."

Rei snorted, shaking her head. 

"The last time he tried, he built a giant robot that malfunctioned and chased him instead." Both of them laughed and just then, they reached the door only for Rogue to stay behind and let her go first since she likes making an entrance.

The black and blue female hedgehog fixes her scarf and quills before entering the room, only to be met with Eggman, Cubot, and Decoe celebrating with an unknown mobian: "You did it! You really did it!" Her creator joyfully shakes its gloved hand, exclaiming, "You did a great job!" 

Cubot and Decoe stand proudly with their servos at their sides, their optics filled with joy that Rei has never witnessed before. Confused, she raises an eyebrow: "He's incredibly happy!" "It's the first time he's won, so I guess it can't be helped." 

"By the way, Doctor..." The deep voice from the unknown mobian speaks up, "In order to rule the world using the Eclipse Cannon, you need to have five more chaos emeralds." 

Rei widened her light blue eyes to get a better look at the newcomer but could only see his sleek, muscular back. His distinctive black quilled back, adorned with red stripes, marked him as an anthropomorphic hedgehog like herself. 

She felt her heart race but ignored it as she hid behind a machine to eavesdrop unnoticed.

"What?" Eggman exclaimed in shock but quickly collected himself with a short cough and crossed his arms over his chest, "Oh yeah, you're right. So what's the next plan?" 

That's when Rei steps in and asks, "What's going on here?" In an instant, Eggman turns and pulls her next to him, placing both hands on her shoulder. "R-2! You're just in time to meet our newest team member!"

"It's Rei the hedgehog, Eggman." She mutters under her breath, "Right, of course! But I'd like to introduce you to the original Ultimate Lifeform!" Eggman tells her with a smile before clearing his throat to start, "Shadow, I'd like you to meet Rei, my latest creation."

This catches the Mobian's attention. He notices that she's a black hedgehog too, but her quills are black, slightly longer, to be exact, as it features light blue stripes that match her scarf. She's wearing a black sleeveless turtleneck leotard, grey shorts, and silver wrist limiters.

Shadow's crimson eyes narrowed as he looked Rei over. He seemed to be trying to decide if she was really a hedgehog. "Another hedgehog?" he asked, his voice low and steady, cutting through the tension in the air.

Rei stood up straight, and she looked at him with a spark of defiance in her eyes.

"I'm not just another hedgehog. I'm here to show that I can stand on my own, regardless of what anyone else thinks," she replied firmly. Sensing the tension, Eggman interjected with a wave of his hand, "Let's not get too heated here! I think we can all agree that we're on the same side here. The ultimate goal is to take down Sonic and his pesky friends!"

Shadow took a moment to think, looking Rei over as if he were assessing her value. Finally, he gave a little smirk, which was pretty rare for him. "I doubt she can keep up." 

"Likewise." Rei shot him a glare as he did the same.

The room filled with tension as Eggman blinked and cautiously moved away to whisper to his robot companions. Meanwhile, Rei observed Shadow's sharp features, noting the red stripes on his quills and the edges of his eyes, arms, and legs.

He has red eyes, a patch of white fur on his chest, a black nose, a tan muzzle, and small triangular ears with tan canals. Rei walks around him to examine his body and face, noticing he has five quills on his head—four curving upward and one downward—along with two spines on his back and a short, pointy tail.

For attire, Shadow wears white gloves with black cuffs and red tongues, and jet-propelled air Shoes which, like his gloves, have black cuffs and red tongues where on each of his wrists and ankles, he wears a single Limiter. 

Which caused her to stop in front of him and let out a heavy sigh and took out her hand to say:

"It's nice to meet you," Rei politely welcomed him, hoping he would shake her hand but to her shock, he just stared at it: "Hm." Shadow silently eyed her from up to do before responding with a cold glare. 

Rei's hand hovered awkwardly in the air as Shadow's gaze bore into her, a mixture of curiosity and indifference swirling within his crimson irises. The silence stretched, heavy and palpable, making her pulse quicken in the taut stillness of the room.

"Maybe introductions aren't your thing," she managed, forcing a small smile, trying to diffuse the palpable tension. Earning a reaction from Shadow felt like trying to unravel a tightly coiled spring — the pressure was relentless.

"Perhaps," he replies coldly, showing no warmth. "But I'm not interested in pleasantries." With that, he turned his head slightly, dismissing her, which caused her eye to twitch in annoyance, but Bokkun interrupted the moment.

Another robot holding a yellow TV in his gloved hands, excitedly starts saying, "Dr. Eggman, you have a guest! Here!" He throws it to Eggman, who catches it, and with a confused look, he stares at the screen to reveal Rogue, holding a bouquet of red roses; Making Rei deadpan at how she makes an entrance through the camera. 

"Long time no see, Dr. Eggman.~" Rogue starts, "I have something I want to tell you, so will you meet me?" 

She batted her eyelashes slowly, which made Rei choke on air as a way to hide her laugh but was stopped when Decoe took a peek as well: "She said 'long time no see'." " Then Cubot says, "She seems suspicious." Eggman then retaliates and scolds his robot companions about being rude to Rogue and commands them to let her in.

As the two robots sigh in defeat, "Not again."

"Huh?" Before the timer went off, Rei pulled Shadow down to shield him from a sudden explosion of the small TV, surprising the Ultimate Lifeform; As soon as it exploded, the room was filled with black smoke that you could hear the Eggman, and the rest complain about Bokkun's antics.

"You okay?" she asked, coughing as she turned to Shadow, the edgy black hedgehog. He blinked through the haze, his crimson eyes narrowing as he scanned the chaos. "I'm fine," he replied, his voice low and steady, despite the lingering traces of the explosion in the air.

He pulled away from Rei's protective grasp, brushing off the residual smoke from his dark quills. "What was that?" he asked, showing signs of respiratory distress and gesturing to disperse the smoke.

"Bokkun usually sends a small TV rigged with a tiny explosive for fun," she explained. "But don't worry, you'll get used to it. Eventually." This made Shadow roll his eyes before returning to his previous spot to ignore her.

That's when Rogue comes in with her flowers in hand.

"You're so rowdy." She comments, not before the smoke clears out that she comes to see Eggman dashing his way over to her, uses his boots as car brakes, and immediately greets her, "Mademoiselle!" It was an immediate response of how he is infatuated with her looks, for a mobian bat.

Rei hides her grin by shaking her head since she's the only experiment female mobian who knew that Rogue came over because it was a spy mission, "I heard what happened." She seductively smiles, "It seems you need my help." Showing a blue chaos emerald out to the team.

"The Chaos Emerald!" Eggman gasped.

"I may not look the part for it," Rogue starts, "but I'm a treasure hunter who specializes in gems. Depending on the terms, I may tell you the location of the other Chaos Emeralds." She turns to face Shadow, who gasps slightly but quickly averts his gaze from her. 

"All right, what are your terms?" Eggman demanded with annoyance in his voice as the Mobian bat laid out her terms. Meanwhile, Rei watched the Ultimate Lifeform with a puzzled expression, questioning why he had turned away. 

His body tensed, clearly on the brink of overexertion. Without hesitation, she walked over and firmly placed a hand on his shoulder. Her touch jolted him out of his thoughts just as he was ready to strike; he halted when he recognized her intent.

'You-good?' She mouthed the words, making Shadow's eyes widen as he firmly pulled away from the warmth that he had to admit calmed him down more than he cared to acknowledge. While some memories came to mind that Rei's worried eyes also reminded him of HER...

Rei nods and goes back to standing next to her creator, "We have a deal!" Rogue happily smiles, not before turning around to glance at Shadow: "I'm Rogue the Bat, but just call me Rogue. And who are you?"

"Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."

Rogue the Bat's expression was priceless. She was taken aback by Shadow, which made Rei feel a bit jealous. After Dr. Eggman introduced Rogue to Shadow, he suggested they all eat together to get to know one another, and Rei agreed because she was hungry.

As they sat down at the table with the food, Dr. Eggman got the conversation going, "Alright, everyone! Let's get started and make this a valuable team-building experience!"

Rei leaned back in her chair, arms crossed in a defiant gesture. Her light blue eyes met Shadow's crimson ones with a glint of challenge as Eggman continued, "Rei here is quite powerful in her own right. You're an ultimate lifeform, just like her, Shadow!"

Shadow's expression darkened almost instantly, and he looked at Rei with narrowed eyes.

"Just because you share that title doesn't mean you understand what it means to be an ultimate lifeform," he remarks quietly and coldly. Rei raised an eyebrow, "You think just because you've got a reputation, you're better than me? I'm not just a pale imitation of you."

At this point, Shadow puts down the fork without stabbing the table as he stands up. "You aren't an Ultimate Lifeform," he replies firmly. "You may be one, but it's nothing without the ability to heal or endure."

Rogue's ears perked up at the escalating tension, glancing between the two in amusement but slightly uncomfortable as Dr. Eggman, who just sensed the shift in the atmosphere, tried to interject: "Come on now, let's—" But Rei cut him off with a scoff. 

"So what is it, Shadow?" She slowly stands up from her seat to glare at him, "You think just because you can't be killed easily, you're the gold standard? You think you're a god among other beings?"

Shadow leaned forward, almost leaning into the hostility that he might summon his chaos spear for it, if necessary: "It's not about being a god —You wouldn't understand what it means to get the job done. You're just—" "Just what?" Rei raises her voice slightly: "Just a girl who can't handle anything? Is that it? You overlook me without even knowing what pain I've endured. 

"You're so blinded by your own arrogance that you can't even see the potential in others!"

"Potential means nothing without the strength to back it up!" Shadow shot back, his fists tightening, "You can brag all you want, but you're still just a wannabe with a title." 

Rogue instinctively leaned away, her wide eyes darting between the two:'This is getting more interesting than before~. I wish I had popcorn for it.'  The atmosphere grew thick with animosity as Dr. Eggman's attempts to ease the situation began to fade: 

"Look, we don't need to turn this into a—" he started, but Rei was relentless.

"Why don't you tell me, Shadow," she said, her voice low and simmering, "if I'm just a wannabe, why does it bother you so much? Afraid that someone else could walk the same path as yours?"

Shadow's expression hardened, his jaw clenched. He shot her a look that could cut through steel, "I don't dislike you because of your path. I despise the notion that you would presume to stand on as a wannabe insolent woman."

Rei held his glare, not backing down. "Just because I'm different and weak doesn't mean you're so wary about the whole thing, you anonymous prick!" Time hung heavy between them, the air crackling with unresolved tension as both refused to yield. 

"O-Okay! Dinner has been delightful!" Eggman stops the tension with a hearty laugh as a way to cover up how nervous he was, "Anyways R-2, please give Shadow the best tour possible while I and this lovely mademoiselle talk about our next plan!" 

Abruptly, he seized Rei's arm and emitted a hissing sound. "You are fortunate to have the presence of Mobians, which affords you the opportunity to experience freedom for the time being." 

In conclusion, they departed. 

Rei experienced a certain degree of discomfort regarding the display of affection, particularly the continued use of her "Project" designation. This prompted a physical reaction, with her hand clenching into a fist and an urge to lash out at her creator. 

However, she restrained herself, cognizant that should she allow such an outburst, she would be confronted with a state of solitude and solitude. Nevertheless, she was aware that Eggman's assertion was accurate.

Rei proceeded to conduct Shadow on a comprehensive tour of the base, elucidating the significance of various locations pertinent to his temporary residence with a notable degree of assurance and precision. 

Each room had a specific purpose, including training facilities, research laboratories, and communal areas, which made it evident what their role was in this operation.

Shadow remained silent, absorbing the information without seeking further clarification. He did not verbalize his thoughts, yet it was evident that he was engaged in a process of internal reflection. 

Despite his silence, it was evident that he was absorbing the information presented to him, as evidenced by his attentive demeanor and the intensity of his gaze. Especially when he saw how tightly Eggman gripped her arm earlier, had him bothered by it but did not say a word about it.

Rei, on the other hand, sensed that he was observing the tour with great attention, perhaps even contemplating the significance of each area. As they proceeded, she pondered whether his interest was genuine or merely feigned. 

Regardless, she concentrated on elucidating the intricacies of the base, deliberately omitting the isolation room to avoid any potential discomfort, "And last, but not least, your room, Shadow." 

She quietly says, by pressing the button that leads to a room that is sleek, features a single bed with dark bedding, a large window showcasing a view of the horizon, ambient purple lighting, and neatly arranged shelves holding personal items and small plant that happens to be a bellflower.

Shadow paused for a moment before going in to take a good look around the room as he already noticed the bellflower being thereby remembering a faint memory where SHE mentioned bellflowers being beautiful... But that's a story for another time. 

His crimson eyes softened ever so slightly for a long moment before Rei spoke up, "I'm just across the hall if you want to chat or have any questions," she said firmly. He scoffed dismissively, uttering a "tch," then turned away and shut the door right in front of her.

Rei was stunned that Dr. Eggman's grandfather's original Ultimate Lifeform hadn't said anything, asked, or thanked her for escorting him, except for dinner. How his words had affected her, kept replaying in her mind over and over again and made her feel hurt: 

'That was just cold!'  She had a vein throbbing in her temple, "At least have the courtesy to say thank you," Rei muttered, feeling irritated, before shaking it off and entering her room. Once inside her room, she paced back and forth, feeling the walls closing in on her with her irritation: 

"Idiot," she muttered under her breath, recalling the way the original Ultimate Lifeform had merely brushed past without a single acknowledgment, "You'd think a being designed to be exceptional would at least understand basic manners."

She flopped onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling as she replayed the encounter in her mind: 'Maybe it was just the product of his upbringing—what kind of life did someone like that have anyway? Portrayed as a weapon, an experiment, a creation barely finishing the sentence of being a mobian. 

'But still, that didn't excuse rudeness, did it?' Rei kicked the blanket off her legs, feeling the need to let off some steam. She picked up her communicator and considered going to Rogue's room to ask for advice. Taking a deep breath, she decides against it and begins to talk to herself.

I just had a brief encounter with the Ultimate Lifeform. It was unbelievably cold—no thanks, no nothing. "What's his story?" After hitting the pillows with her fists, she let her mind wander, wondering if maybe, just maybe, the guy on the other side of the door was dealing with something.

That didn't mean she had to accept his behavior, though.

Even though she tried to be empathetic, she still felt offended by his rudeness. She shook her head and grabbed a pillow, hugging it close as she considered how to handle the situation the next time they crossed paths. "He's got some issues, that's for sure," she told herself. "But... maybe I'll give him another chance."

With that thought, Rei saved the idea and went to bed. Unbeknownst to her, after she entered her room, the door across the hallway slowly opened to reveal a shadow figure...

********To be continued********