"Knuckles!"

I sat up extremely fast. "Release Chaos and Tikal!"

The figure that had awakened me fell down in surprise. "Gosh, what'd you do that for?"

I rubbed my eyes and looked at the figure. It was my least favorite little black robot, and it didn't help that he had woke me up in the middle of the night. "Bokkun? What are you doing here? Does Eggman have a message for me?"

"No. Why did you yell about Chaos and Tikal? Did you have a nightmare?"

I looked him over. For once, he looked genuinely concerned about someone besides himself or Eggman. "Yeah, I've had it a lot lately. The Master Emerald keeps getting stolen, and I try to save it by releasing Chaos and Tikal." I turned around to make sure that the gem was still located in its proper place. It was.

Bokkun looked away. "That's why I'm here. Eggman plans to steal the Master Emerald, and he means business. I don't have a clue what he plans to do with it, but I know he's creating the largest group of robots ever. Believe me, you alone won't be able to stand up to it."

I stood up. "How did you manage to come tell me this?"

He looked very ashamed of himself. "I came to put his new invention in place. It's called a chaos lock. It sets up a dome which anything with chaos energy is unable to leave. This was to prevent you from running away with it. I had to come set it up; it was the only way I could warn you."

"Why are you warning me?"

"Because Eggman may have done terrible things in the past, but this seems to be one of his worst plans ever. Plus, when I went to talk to him to see how I could help, he threatened to dismantle me to use my parts for something useful."

I was confused at this. Bokkun was one of Eggman's favorite robots. Why would he threaten to destroy him? I decided to let it go. "Well how do you want me to stop him?"

"You already said it; release Chaos. Then go find more of your friends to help guard the Master Emerald."

I gave him one last quizzical look. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because I'm telling the truth, and if you don't, you will lose the Master Emerald."

I sighed. "Fine, but be prepared. Angel Island is about to fall."

"What?"

I ignored him and turned to the Master emerald. I put both hands on it. "The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The heart is the controller. The controller serves to unify the chaos." The Master emerald started to glow. "Release Chaos and Tikal!"

There was a blinding flash of light, and I covered my eyes. When I could see properly again, I saw that on either side of the Master Emerald was an orange echidna and water looking monster.

The orange echidna, Tikal, looked very confused. "Knuckles? What's wrong?"

I sighed. "What, can't I just wish to have some company while I guard the Master Emerald?" She looked at me. "Fine. Eggman plans to steal the Master Emerald and I'm going to need some help protecting it."

She nodded. "Well, we are willing to help. Right, Chaos?"

Chaos, the second he had come out of the emerald, had not taken his eyes off of Bokkun. Bokkun seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Got a problem, Blue Boy?"

He walked over, and laid his hand on his head. Bokkun seemed to try to struggle, but couldn't move. Chaos closed his eyes, and another blinding flash filled the area. I was unprepared for this one, and prompty fell into Tikal, causing us both to fall down and almost off the altar.

When I could see again, Choas had stood up straight again. Bokkun looked mostly unchanged, but there was one very obvious difference.

He was no longer a robot.

I looked him over very thoroughly. There was almost nothing different, except he was very clearly flesh and blood. He had been turned into a real chao.

Bokkun was just as stunned. "What did you do to me?"

Chaos turned to Tikal, and after a moment of silence, she explained. "You seem to have been a chao turned into a robot by chaos energy. Chaos reversed it, turning you back into a chao."

Before Bokkun could start freaking out, the ground started to shake. Bokkun hit the deck. "What's going on?"

"Chaos and Tikal are no longer in the Master Emerald, which is causing the island to fall," I explained. "It'll only last about a minute."

After the ground stopped shaking, that feeling of falling started, and soon ended abruptly with the ground shaking some more. Bokkun looked horrified. "Is it over?"

"Yes, now get up." He did so. "Now, do you know when Eggman will get here?"

"Three days."

I nodded. "Well, now would be a good time to start creating some strategy." I turned to Tikal. "How do you communicate with Chaos?"

"I speak or use telepathy, which is how he communicates to me," she said. "He is capable of other forms of communication, and the only reason he can't talk is he has no mouth."

I turned to Chaos, and he shrugged. It was true; he couldn't speak without a mouth. I thought for a moment. "I have an idea." I walked over to him and raked my knuckle across his face, right where a mouth should be. He stumbled back, and the hole in his mouth didn't stay.

I sighed. "Sorry. I thought it would work. What else can you do?"

He came over and touched my head. Thoughts flashed in my head, and I backed away. "What was that?"

"Chaos communication," Tikal said. "We've practiced deeply on communicating telepathically with each other, so we can only use it with each other. His second most useful form of communication is chaos communication, which is what you just saw. He uses chaos energy to put thoughts in your mind. He can't use it too often, though."

I nodded. "Does he have to touch me to do it?"

"No, but that allows him to use the least amount of energy."

"Okay, so we will only use that when absolutely necessary. Now, can you fight?"

She nodded. "I don't like it, but when I must, I must." She walked down the steps of the altar, and went around the back. When she came back, she was wearing brass knuckles. "I hid these here a long time ago. I'm glad they are still in such good shape."

I was a bit taken aback by this, since she is probably the most peaceful person I knew. "Okay. Bokkun, are you able to fight?"

He reached into his bag and pulled out multiple explosives. "You bet."

"Good. There isn't much to do but wait."

"Wait for what?"

We all jumped from the voice behind us. Standing next to the Master Emerald was Shadow. "It looks like you all are preparing for battle."

I sighed. "What happened to the days of peaceful nights? Yes, we are getting ready to fight an army that is coming to take the Master Emerald."

He looked at all of us. "Well, you all wouldn't be my first choice for the front line." He looked at Tikal and Chaos. "Who are you two?"

"I'm Tikal," she said, "and this is Chaos. Who are you?"

"Shadow." He looked at the Master Emerald. "It's intact. Why did Angel Island fall?"

"Because we're not in it," Tikal said.

He looked at them both. "I'm going to pretend like that made sense." He sat down with his feet dangling off the altar. "Well, since I have nothing better to do, I guess I'll help you all guard it. Eggman is the one bringing the army , right?" I nodded. "Good. I hope he'll make it a challenge."

I looked at us all. I would hate to admit it, but Shadow was right. We weren't exactly the worlds greatest fighting force. I shrugged this off. I had a job to do, and we were going to do it.