CHAPTER 1

STEPPING INTO THE UNKNOWN

It was a bright and early morning on Angel Island. The birds were chirping and there was a barely a cloud in the sky.

A red male echidna wearing a green short sleeved hoodie, a light blue shirt, blue baggy denim shorts, green cuffs around his ankles, and red and yellow shoes was walking around the dense forest with a pink female echidna. He looked over to her while the two were walking together. "Are you sure you heard something around here, Julie?"

The pink echidna who was walking with him was wearing a black and green vest, black pants, and green boots. "I know I did. There's something weird around here, Knuckles."

The red echidna rolled his eyes as he didn't believe her. "There's nothing around here. All there is is a load of trees, trees, and more trees."

"Oh yeah? Then what do you call that?"

He saw her pointing her finger in front of them. He looked and saw an old ancient building surrounded by vines and trees. He placed a finger to his chin. "Looks like some old ruins." He turned to Julie, "I definitely don't recall running into this before." He saw her walking towards the destroyed building.

"Let's take a look around."

He didn't believe how reckless she was acting. He was thinking if something dangerous was inside. If so, he wasn't prepared for her to go alone. "Wa-wait a minute, Julie!" He ran in after her.

Once the two were inside, it was so dark they could barely see each other.

Julie looked around and tried to make everything out but it was way too dark. "It's so dark, I can't see anything."

"Hold up. I think I have a lighter." In no time, Knuckles had lit a fire from his lighter and made things a little easier to see.

The two looked around and saw nothing around them that had interested them. They walked deeper into the building until they saw a distant light further down from them. They turned to each other and gave each other a look meaning they had to take caution. They slowly walked forward into the lighted room. They turned and saw an orange echidna taking chalk and writing a bunch of numbers across the wall.

"Hey you!" Knuckles called.

Frightened, the echidna dropped the chalk to the floor and turned to the two echidnas in shock.

When the echidna spun around, they both noticed that the strange echidna was a young girl maybe in her early twenties. She was wearing a white halter top, a green tribal like dress, white sandals, and a strange gold headband.

Her blue eyes began to fill in tears and her body shook as if she was afraid of them.

Knuckles and Julie looked back at each other in confusion both asking themselves who was she? And why was she hanging around inside the ancient ruins?

Later that night on a small island that wasn't that far from Tech City, there was a large tower setting on the island. Everything was quiet until there was a mass explosion coming from the inside of the tower.

Inside of the tower, a white female bat was running down the long narrow white hallways. She was wearing a black skin tight body suit with knee high black boots, and black gloves that came up to her elbows. Her long white hair that was tied in a ponytail was drifting in the air as she was running. She looked behind her and saw two gray robots hovering behind her in a fast pace.

A blue male wolf wearing black goggles on his head, a blue coat, black pants, and blue and black shoes was not too far from behind the robots that were after the bat. "Stop that crazy bat!" He shouted while he continued to run after her beside his robot servants.

The bat's boots skidded across the clean white floors as she tried to lose the wolf and the robots. She panted heavily while she ran. 'Why am I always the one to get the suck ass jobs?' She then immediately stopped in her tracks when she saw one of the robots standing in front of her. "Heh, looks like I made a wrong turn." When she spun around, she turned to the blue wolf and another robot that was standing beside him.

The wolf confronted her and held his hand in front of her while a sinister smile formed on his lips. "You're surrounded, bat girl. Now give back what you stole and maybe I'll let you off with a warning."

The bat woman arched her eyebrow towards the wolf. "I stole? You mean you stole it!"

An anger mark formed on the side of his head. "Sassy bat! How dare you steal what I stole! It's mine!"

The bat rolled her eyes. "As much as I would love to stand here and watch you throw a tantrum, Hao. My ride is waiting."

The wolf watched as she took out a flash grenade and threw it on the floor, blinding him. While he was trying to focus on her, he heard a loud explosion. When he could finally see again, he saw that a huge chunk of the wall had been blown away. "What!" He ran over to the ledge and saw the bat woman staring up at him from the tower while she was standing in a motorboat beside a black and red hedgehog. She made a salute sign from below him and turned to the hedgehog beside her. "Step on it, Shad."

The hedgehog made a nod and started to drive the motorboat away from the island.

The wolf's jaw dropped when he saw her drive away with the hedgehog. He clenched his fists and jumped up and down on the floor. "No! They're getting away! It's no fair! It's mine! Mine! Mine!"

While the hedgehog and bat were riding away from the island, the bat took out a small device from the inside of her boot. She gave the hedgehog a cunning look, "Dare I?"

The hedgehog formed a small smile, "Go for it, bat girl."

She pushed a small red button on the device and in no time, they both heard a loud explosion from behind them.

They looked and saw the tower explode into a million pieces and watched the wolf fall into the ocean.

The bat laughed hysterically. "Heh, man! I never get tired of that!" She stood beside the hedgehog and watched him drive the boat.

"He'll rise back up and build another crazy base for us to destroy in a few months." He felt her rest her hand on his shoulder and lean on him.

"You got that right." She sighed tiredly, "I'm just so glad this mission is over. I'm totally ready to hit the bed right about now."

The hedgehog arched an eyebrow towards her, "Yeah? So you can oversleep again?"

She made a teasing smile and playfully hit his shoulder. "You know me all too well, Captain Shadow." She took out a blue floppy disk from the inside of her boot and studied it. "So what's so special about this thing anyway?"

"I'm not sure. Vector didn't give specifics. We'll have to analyze it early tomorrow morning."

She sighed and placed the floppy disk back into her boot. She rubbed her head and tiredly laid her head on the hedgehog's shoulder. "I'm gonna take a small nap."

He couldn't help but to form a small blush as she laid her head on him. "I hope you're not gonna use me as a pillow. I'm driving here."

She tiredly lifted her head off of his shoulder and sat down in a corner of the boat. She leaned her head to the side and closed her eyes. "Wake me when we get home will ya, partner?"

"Sure." When he knew that she was really sleeping, his eyes traveled over to her sleeping body. 'Even when you're asleep…', he thought. '…I can't get over how beautiful you are.'

A/N: Well here it is! The sequel to Saving Me! I hope you guys like it!

Charmy: My brain hurts!

Espio: How old is that language anyway?

Rouge: Maybe Knuckles can help us out here?

Espio: You're the one who put her in the friend zone!

Shadow: I just don't deserve her...