Please note that the first chapter is very slow moving and somewhat bland. I promise that I will try my best to improve this and to make the story much more interesting to read. Once the plot really starts to get moving, then that's when it will hopefully happen.

For now, enjoy please. Constructive criticism is highly appreciated, but mindless bashing is not.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Hey Knuckles!" The young echidna shouted from up above, "I think I found something inside the wall!"

The red echidna opened his eyes and looked up at the girl who was waving down to him. He uncrossed his arms and walked over, holding up his hand.

"Drop it down to me, Sam." He commanded, "Let me take a look at what you've found."

"Okay, sir." She said teasingly, giving him a small salute.

Samantha slowly pulled out a glowing jewel from the hole she had made in the rocky surface. A smile formed on her muzzle as she stared at the beauty within the palm of her hand. Knuckles was asked by his friends to find a Chaos Emerald that was within the area and she had offered to find it for him in order to get some training on how to be a treasure hunter. Seeming satisfied with what she had found, the echidna dropped it down to the other who was waiting somewhat impatiently with his hand still outstretched.

"I think this one is a winner, Knuckles." She grinned, staring down at him.

"I think so too. From the looks of it, it's definitely one of the Chaos Emeralds. Good work, Sam. You did well today." Knuckles replied with a small nod. "I'll go contact Sonic and let him know that he can come to pick it up."

"Sounds like a plan." Sam said, jumping down from the wall. "That was really fun! You have to let me do it more often." She brushed off her clothes before pulling up her goggles from her eyes. "Maybe I'll find even more things in those walls!"

"Don't start dreaming too big." Knuckles sighed, "I'm surprised a Chaos Emerald was even there." He began walking off, "I'll be back soon. Try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

"H, hey!" Sam called as she chased after him, "Wait up! I don't want to be left alone! Not when it's starting to get dark!"

"Fine, you can come with me then." Knuckled grumbled in annoyance, "But you better not misbehave or anything."

"You treat me as if I'm some kind of child." Sam whined, "I'm nearly as old as you are!"

"Then start acting like it." Knuckles retorted, tossing the Chaos Emerald in the air and catching it. "Once you start acting your age, I'll treat you like it."

"Fine…I'll start acting my age then. Sheesh. You're all work and no play."

"You just keep telling yourself that. There are times where you can't be so relaxed and carefree. Now come on. If we want Sonic to be here before nightfall, we need to hurry up."

/-/-/-/-/

"Whoa, Knux! You guys actually found it!" A blue hedgehog grinned, taking the colored emerald from the red echidna. "Great job! This will really come in handy."

"It's one less emerald Eggman will get his hands on." Knuckles muttered, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

"You got that right! Now we need to hurry and collect the other six."

"Wait…You guys haven't even started looking for the other ones?" Knuckles shot a glare to the hedgehog, "What in the world have you guys been doing?"

"Well, you see…It's kind of a long story." Sonic said, scratching the back of his head. "We've been…Relaxing since the last battle and…"

"You idiot! There isn't enough time for slacking off!"

"Maybe if you loosened up a bit Knucklehead, you'd understand!"

"Loosened up? How can I loosen up if there are other emeralds out there that we need to find?"

"C'mon, just relax a little. There isn't enough time for worrying." Sonic shrugged, "Besides, we always find them so it'll be no sweat!"

"I think you need to listen to him, Knuckles." Sam giggled, resting a hand on her hip. "It wouldn't kill you to relax every once in awhile."

"Whatever." Knuckles snorted, "I'm going back to the Master Emerald."

"Good night, Knuckles!" Sam chimed, "See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, yeah." The echidna gave a small wave to her before turning on his heel and walking away.

"See ya later, Knucklehead!" Sonic teased, waving. "Don't get into any trouble tonight!"

"We should…Hurry up and go too, Sonic." Sam turned her attention to the blue hedgehog, "The sun's really starting to set…It's getting kind of dark out."

"You're right…It'll get really dark in a few minutes! Well, I'll see you later then Sam. It was nice seeing you again!"

Sonic gave her a thumbs-up before turning his back to her and taking off at full speed. Sam waved to him and began heading home herself. She felt proud about what she had done today. It had been her first find ever since Knuckles began teaching her how to treasure hunt. The echidna skipped happily, humming to herself quietly. Everything seemed to disappear around her, as she wandered off into her own little world far from reality.

-/-/-/-/

"So are we finally going to start looking for the other Emeralds today, little buddy?" Sonic grinned, standing beside his fox friend. "Knuckles was so mad last night when he learned we haven't started looking. It was hilarious! You really should have been there."

"Knuckles did kind of have a right to get mad. I mean, we asked him to start working while we sat around and relaxed. It's a little unfair, right?" Tails looked back at Sonic for a moment, setting down his screwdriver. "He barely gets to relax as it is, being a guardian and all."

"He didn't even work though." Sonic shrugged, "Sam did all the work apparently."

"Knuckles probably wanted her to get some training done." Tails stretched before returning to his work. "After all, she's not going to learn if she doesn't do anything."

"Yeah, yeah. I know…But still. He could relax just a tiny bit." Sonic leaned against the wall. "That echidna is always so uptight! So, uh, what are you working on?"

"I'm just giving the X-Tornado a bit of a touch up." Tails explained, seeming relaxed at the change of subject. "Some things needed to be touched up a little."

"So now it'll run like a champ, right?"

"Sure hope so. We're going to need it to when we find those Emeralds. We all know Eggman is after them too. We should head out soon with everyone to start our search."

A knocking at the door interrupted their conversation, as Tails stood up. He walked over to the door of his workshop and opened the door to see a familiar face standing before him.

"Silver? What are you doing here?" Tails asked, raising an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be in your own time right now?"

"Nice to see you too, Tails…" Silver sighed, "But there's a reason why I'm here and it's not good."

"What's up, Silver?"

"A dark force is approaching." Silver looked away for a moment. "I can't exactly say what, but it's threatening my future and the present."

"It must be really serious if it's threatening the timeline." Tails frowned, "Are you going to stay and help us with whatever problem is coming?"

"But of course." Silver smiled, "I wouldn't just ditch my friends, now would I? Besides, it might be a good idea to explain it to everyone so they can understand it. This is something that shouldn't be kept secret from anyone. We'll need all the help we can get with this."

Tails nodded in agreement, stepping out of the way for Silver to enter the workshop. The hedgehog gave the fox a small "Thank you." before stepping inside and looking around. His entrance caught the attention of the blue hedgehog, who grinned at Silver's approach.

"Yo, Silver. How's it going?" Sonic greeted, walking over to the other hedgehog.

"Not very well Sonic." Silver sighed, "But thanks for asking."

"Is something up?" Sonic tilted his head, "What is it?"

"It'll have to wait until everyone gets here…Whenever they do. I don't want to repeat myself multiple times…"

"Alright, sounds good." Sonic shrugged, "Tails will probably give everyone a call in a moment."

Silver nodded in acknowledgement, and crossed his arms. A small sigh escaped his lips as he worried over the possible events. Yet another event was threatening his time, and possibly threatening everyone's existence in that said time. He tapped his foot impatiently as Tails told the two that everyone was on their way. Sonic leaned against the wall once again and closed his eyes, beginning to doze off while waiting for the others to show up.