Pinkie and Shadow just looked at the newcomer in surprise. Shadow remembered seeing this robot in the years he fought alongside the Freedom Fighters, but only for a few moments at a time. Pinkie on the other hand was focusing on something else about Shard, specifically his design. "Look daddy, it's a metal you!" She said happily.

"Oh please, I'm hardly a metal copy of this science experiment, although I'm flattered...in a weird way I can't explain." Shard responded as he floated down and landed in front of the pair.

"She does have that effect on people..." Shadow said quietly. "I...didn't think you were still functioning after..."

"Metal Sonic totally kicked my metal ass? Yeah, I'm surprised that I was able to be rebuilt myself, considering my power gem was cracked." Shard looked to the gem on his chest and tapped it with his finger. "Turns out chaos drives have more uses than powering up Chao."

"So...what about you and Nicole?" Shadow asked carefully, knowing he was stepping into hostile territory with the question.

Shard looked away slightly and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I...haven't gone to see her yet...I was pretty sure she ended up with Espio."

"She didn't, they just share a deep respect." Shadow stated calmly, causing Shard to look at him in shock.

"And you even bothered to learn this why?"

Shadow just pointed to Pinkie. "She keeps tabs on everybody, that means likes, dislikes and relationships."

"Hey! I have to know those things, if I didn't then I wouldn't know how to throw everyone their perfect party!" Pinkie complained as she teleported onto Shadies head. "You say it like it's creepy..." She gave Shadow a pout before looking back to Shard with a huge grin. "So, if you aren't a Metal Shadow slash Mega Man knock off, are you a Metal Sonic?"

"Yep, Metal Sonic 3.0 to be exact."

"Then what does that make the current Metal Sonic?" Shadow asked.

"I think it's somewhere in the forties."

Shadow just looked at the robot in shock. "We have destroyed that guy way too many times..."

As the two were about to enter another conversation Pinkie leaned down and came face to face with Shadow. "While I'd love to sit here and chat with a new friend need I remind you both that this thing is ALMOST TO STATION SQUARE?!"

Tge two just nodded wide eyed before they began rushing towards the next dash panel. Pinke jumped off of her fathers head the three jumped to the next temple. They landed on the roof of a smaller building and traveled down a long slop at high speeds until they came to a section that split two ways. "They end up on the same path anyways, Pinkie and I will go the upper path, you go down." Shard said as he lifted Pinkie off the ground and dropped her on the upper path.

Shadow nodded and skated down another smaller slope and reached a group of aliens and a large mounted gun aimed at one of Eggmans battleships. Using his homing attack Shadow managed to take down two of the aliens before using a chaos spear to kill a larger enemy. He charged up his spindash and shot towards the large gun, destroying it and allowing the battleship above to fire on the smaller temple without its rockets being shot out of the sky.

As he was running he saw that Pinkie and Shard had reached the dash panel and moved on as the platforms began to fall down. He boosted the energy output in his shoes and shot towards the panel and launched himself towards the next area.

The three met up before moving into the next larger temple with another energy gem to destroy. There was of course some Egg Pawns nearby who assisted in defeating the larger aliens armed with huge crystal swords. As the last enemy fell Shadow lifted one of the huge blades and lugged it like a javelin into the energy gem, destroying it and causing the temple to start breaking apart. The Egg Pawns were teleported out while the three busted through a stone wall and reached a conveniently placed rocket. Shadow grabbed the rockets handle while Pinkie latched onto one of his quils.

As the rocket launched towards the next platform Shard flew beside them and began shooting multiple aliens with his arm gun. The group had landed in the largest temple in a huge storm cloud, thunder and lightning surrounding them as they progressed. Pinkie stopped for a moment and looked from the platform they were on and to the next temple room that would require them to fly over to. She dashed over to Shadow, shoved him into her party canon and fired him over to the next room to save time. Shard grabbed her hood and flew her over.

They found Shadow with his face stuck in the stone while his body stuck out like a nail on a wall, completely stiff. "Maybe I should have used chaos control instead...eh, it's funny anyway." They pulled Shadow out of the stone and he shot a disapproving glare at Pinkie while slowly shaking his head, but his expression only caused Pinkie to giggle.

They destroyed the third gem and made their way to the final platform. Looking up they saw Eggmans flagship above them with cannons aimed right at the final crystal but were being stopped by the gunfire from below.

The trio quickly dealt with the gunners and various giant worms that came from underground and jumped up to the last crystal. Pinkie dusted it off slightly before aiming her party bazooka at it and blowing it to pieces. "Very good you three! Grab whatever you came for and I'll teleport you up here! Hurry while you still have a chance!" Eggman exclaimed over his loudspeaker.

The trio rushed to the goal ring and completed the stage...there was only one problem.

"There's no emerald here!?" Shadow and Pinkie yelled in anger as they facepalmed. Shard rolled his eyes and the three were beamed to safety ad the final temple crashed into a barren wasteland outside Station Squares border.

Author's Notes:

More to come of Shard and Pinkies interactions.

Sorry if it seems rushed, I didn't get a lot of time to myself today.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed.