Upon reaching the end of the stage after speeding through a long, spilt section of what appeared to be the ocean, Pinkie and Tails came to the final tower in the castle ruins where Eggman was waiting for them, a small case in his hand while a few Egg Pawns stood guard around the outside of the tower. Pinkie looked around and smirked playfully, pulling a few items of clothing out of her mane while quickly putting them on.

When Eggman spotted her, he raised a brow when he saw her in a brown trench coat, black fedora and sunglasses, a serious look on her face. She slowly looked around before facing away from him. "You got the stuff?" She asked with an attempt to make her voice sound deeper. Tails stood to the side trying not to laugh while Eggman struggled not to smile, trying to play along.

After clearing his throat and composing himself, he gripped the case tightly. "Yeah, I got the stuff, you got the payment?" Pinkie smirked and pulled out a white bakers box and slid it over to Eggman. "Hold on, I gotta make sure this is legit." He said while picking up the box and opening it, noticing that Tails was still struggling to contain his laughter by forcing a hand over his mouth while recording the scene with his phone.

"What's to check? It's the purest and most delicious set of cupcakes you'll ever get." Pinkie asked with a raised brow.

"Ok, who the hell is the dealer in this situation?" Eggman groaned in confusion.

Pinkie giggled and jumped out of the clothes to turn and greet her friend with her usual smile. "Sorry, I watch a lot of noir detective shows with Espio and I've always wanted to do this as the dealer."

Eggman rolled his eyes and placed the pastry box in his Egg-O-Matic before handing the case to Pinkie. "There, all three of the E-100 robots have been modified for mobile transport."

Pinkie smiled as she threw the case open and tossed the three cubes into the air. The cubes expanded before the three robots returned to their original forms and surrounded Pinkie. Kappa spun his drills happily as Iota picked Pinkie up before flying around with her on his head, Lambda folding his arms and shaking his head while emitting sounds that resembled a soft chuckle.

"What are you two doing out here in these sunken ruins anyway?" Eggman asked Tails who was busy uploading the video of the previous scene to the rest of their friends.

"Oh, Pinkie said something about the princess saying that she could possibly find something here, maybe something to do with Snively. I didn't really ask why we were out here, it's just been awhile since I've been on a zone run." The two tailed fox explained as he put his phone away, watching Pinkie play about with her new robot friends.

"Well, if the princess pointed her here, she's probably referring to the Solaris Project that destroyed this castle ten years ago." Eggman hopped into his vehicle and turned to Pinkie. "Hey Pinkie, you're here looking for info right?"

"Yep! Although I don't know what to find here." Pinkie replied as she hopped down off of Iota and sat on Kappas head.

"Follow me, I'll bring you to the main computer room." As he said this, Eggman immediately turned to a nearby Egg Pawn. "Do not let Vector anywhere near this place while we are here."

Meanwhile

Back in the town of Soleanna, Shadow sat with Sally in a small outdoor café just behind the main alter in the centre of town. "So, I guess your plans for a peaceful vacation are cancelled?" Sally asked while gently stirring her tea.

"Pretty much, we were supposed to only be staying here for two weeks, but now we're staying as long as is needed for us to track down Snively and foil whatever he is planning."

Sally just chuckled. "You have no idea how much you sounded like Sonic just now."

Shadow glared and growled. "I am nothing like that small minded faker!"

Sally just laughed and pat him on the head. "Sure sure, whatever you say Shadow."

Meanwhile, in an alley just across from the café, a figure stood in the shadows watching the two. "There he is, I just need to wait until he's alone, no point in having others caught in the crossfire." The figure spoke in a regal females voice, clenching her fist slightly. "Just wait. The future will be saved, just wait Blaze, do this quickly and carefully."

"Don't you know its rude to spy on people?" Blaze gasped before turning to face the newcomer. When she turned she was immediately met with a metal fist to the gut, knocking her out of the alleyway and into the square. She flipped through the air and landed on all fours, slowly getting to her feet as Omega made himself visible. "Now, are you going to tell me why you were spying on my buddies or am I going to have to beat the information out of you?" He asked while punching his fist into his palm.

Shadow and Sally noticed the presence of their friend when the people around them all turned towards the scene. While Sally rushed over, Shadow jumped over the other tables and landed just behind Blaze. "What's going on over here Omega? Who is this?"

"Miss Kitty over here was spying on you two, and judging from her expression I don't think she was having friendly thoughts." The robot explained, eagerly hoping that Blaze would opt to fight.

Shadow stared at Blaze with a slight glare, Blaze having frozen up, unsure of what to do. 'Crap, I can't take these three on my own, not without burning this entire area to the ground anyway. Silver, if there was ever a moment that you'd conveniently show up out of nowhere, please let that moment be now.'

The civilians in the area had already began to clear out, leaving the four of them in the empty square. "I don't want to jump to conclusions here, so you'd best explain yourself." Shadow stated as he folded his arms and waited for Blaze's response.

Just around the corner, Amy and Silver walked side by side, Amy humming happily to herself while Silver remained silent. "So, you live in Soleanna or are you just here for business?" Amy asked, trying to break the silence between the two with small talk.

Silver thought for a moment before answering. "Oh, I'm just here for business, I guess. I came here with a friend looking for Shadow. What about you?"

"I'm just here looking through old temple ruins, making a few notes on the country's history. Seems a lot of my friends ended up here too, just a happy coincidence I suppose." Amy answered with a small smile.

"So, you're like an archeologist?" Silver asked with interest, completely missing the crowd of people rushing out of the square just up ahead.

"Yeah, but its more of a hobby, I'm currently in between jobs, too much has been happening to really find steady work. Plus I like to keep moving, when I was younger I used to travel a lot chasing after this boy I had a crush on. I guess I just became used to moving around all the time."

Silver didn't know why, but he felt an odd sense of familiarity from the pink hedgehog. The simple conversation certainly helped to lighten the mood, which he was thankful for. When he had started following her there was a feeling of tension due to what he had to do when they found Shadow, but now it was almost like that tension had completely vanished. "Wait, so you chased your crush everywhere? Isn't that kinda stalkerish?"

Amy glared slightly while punching his shoulder. "I was young and in love ok?"

"Still stalkerish though..." Silver muttered under his breath while Amy rolled her eyes. "Hey, what's going on over there?" He asked as he finally noticed the crowd running out from the area just around the corner from them. Amy pulled out her hammer and dashed over, Silver running close behind her.

When they turned the corner Silver froze as he saw his childhood friend in between a very intimidating warbot and the person he had been sent to kill. Blaze looked over and made eye contact with the white hedgehog, looking at him expectedly. He didn't know what to do, they could probably take them all together, but he would have to get Blaze out of her current position and he knew that the others most likely wouldn't give him the opportunity.

"What's going on here?" Amy asked.

"Caught this cat spying, she hasn't said anything though and isn't answering our questions." Shadow answered, suprised to see the pink hedgehog there. After answering, he noticed the newcomer standing beside his friend. "Who's the kid?"

"Oh, this is Silver, found him out in the desert ruins looking for you." Amy explained, eyeing Silver cautiously.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out weed hair over there and this cat are working together." Omega stated while changing one of his claws into a minigun.

Thinking quickly, Silver used his powers to grab Omega and throw him at Shadow. Amy tried to strike him with her hammer only to have Blaze spin kick her in the face. Blaze and Silver now stood side by side, taking fighting stances. The others all recovered and got to their feet. Shadow cracked his neck and knuckles while Omega changed his other hand into a rocket launcher, Amy spun her hammer around and Sally clenched her fists and two blue energy blades grew out if her wristbands.

"Blaze, can we actually do this?" Silver asked his friend with extreme nervousness.

Blaze rolled her eyes and summoned a ball of fire in each hand. "We'll be fine. We can't fail here, our future and everyone else's future depends on this, so shut up and fight."

Meanwhile on the Egg Carrier

Inside of Eggmans lab, Shard sat with his feet up on one of the doctors desks while happily snacking on the leftover treats that Pinkie had sent that morning, humming 'Live and Learn' to himself.

Behind him, the Sceptre floated in its glass container, began to glow with a dark purple light, the glass cracking around it. "Shadow the Hedgehog...I must...find...Shadow..."

"What the hell?" Shard spun himself around and looked to the sceptre. "That's never happened before, best get you to Eggman so he can take a look at you."

Meanwhile...again...damn there are a lot of these lately

While Pinkie and Tails flew through the air above the castle ruins with Eggman leading them to the old abandoned research facility withimg the sunken castle, Pinkie suddenly shuddered.

"Hey Pinkie, you alright?" Tails asked while looking down to her, carrying her by holding one of her front hooves.

"I'm fine...it's just...I feel like something bad is gonna happen soon." Pinkie responded with a worried tone, her mane deflating slightly. "Eggy, take us back to the town, I have a bad feeling, the information can wait."

Eggman didn't question her, he just nodded and changed his course. "Fine, I'll send Metal Sonic in to retrieve any data that can still be found." With that, the trio sped off towards the town, unaware that a metallic figure was watching them.

Author's Notes:

If you see any mistakes please let me know, it helps me a lot. Thanks for reading.

Just in case some of you think it's going to happen, I'm not shipping Silver x Blaze or Amy. I have something different planned for Blaze, if you've read the comics you can probably guess what it is. Now for Silver...still debating over whether or not I should go through with what I have planned for him or not.