After years and years of battles, saving animals, and non-stop running, Sonic was finally happy to be able to take a break and get away from the life of a supersonic hero. On the mystic land of Angel Island, Sonic decides to lay back and take it easy for once. There's no reason that the fastest thing alive can't take things a bit slower, right?
"Sonic! Come quick! Hurry, it's important!"
Dang it.
Jumping up, grass swishing around him, Sonic blasts off at breakneck speeds, hoping to find the source of the call for help. Of course, he already knows who the voice belongs to, as not many visit Angel Island at this time, or at all, for that matter. Sighing to himself, Sonic rushes forward, hoping that whatever was waiting for him wasn't something too concerning, or too annoying.
Screeching to a halt, Sonic finds his best friend and loyal partner-in-stopping-crime, Tails, the source of the cry. He walks over to Tails, hoping that his friend isn't hurt in any way.
"Tails, what's wrong? You ok?" Sonic asks, putting his hand on Tails' shoulder, concern filling his eyes.
"Yes, well, no… I mean, I'm fine but.." Tails trails off before grabbing Sonic's arm. "Just follow me, ok? I feel like you're the only person who can help with this."
"Follow you? Do I need to set you free too?" Sonic chuckles to himself.
Tails rolls his eyes, "Enough with the meta theme song jokes, let's go!" He tugs on Sonic's arm once more, slowly dragging the hedgehog with him.
"Fine, if that's what you want!" Wiggling out of Tails' grasp, Sonic picks him up and launches them both into a dual spin dash, hurdling them both vaguely in the direction Tails was walking towards. Knowing that he could easily circle around the entire island like this, Sonic allows himself to recklessly bounce around in order to find whatever was concerning Tails. As far as he knows, once whatever was causing trouble finds them, they're certainly in for something! Despite the fact that Sonic wanted today to be a calm, relaxing get away, he's always ready for a quick high-paced battle! Plus, how long could this encounter be? 2 to 3 minutes at the most? It'll be a piece of cake!
"Sonic, watch out!" Tails forces himself out of Sonic's grasp, quickly flying up above him in order to not be caught again by the blue blur. Not noticing that Tails had gotten himself free, Sonic runs further on, not seeing that Tails had left him alone until he was stopped by a head-on collision with a hard chunk of metal. Flopping to the ground, Sonic rubs his head, feeling the wonderful concussion that will greet him later.
"W-what? What is…" Placing his hand on the object that had stopped him, he looks to see what had caused the now searing pain rattling through his skull. Stepping back, he notices the red colour on the object was not a product of his blood, but rather the result of a sleek paint job. Smashed into the ground, the metal mystery was letting out extreme amounts of smoke, and near the top, the place to hold the pilot of this said mystery was nowhere to be seen. Stepping further and further back, Sonic was slowly able to depict more obvious clues to what it was, such as wings and a propeller. It was a plane. Once Sonic was able to decipher the signature on the side, the words spelling out his own name, of course, he soon realised that it was Tails' plane. "W-what happened here? Are you ok? Who did this?" he sputtered out.
"I'm fine, just be happy that I can fly," Tails reassured the hedgehog, floating back down to his side. "It was struck down, actually, and I think I know who did it."
"Was it Eggman? Metal? Shadow? C'mon, tell me so I can beat them up for you!" Sonic pulls out a few air punches to truly prove the passion in his offer.
"No, it was-"
"Hey, don't you know what the words 'Private Island' mean!? I swear once I find you I'm gonna punch your teeth out!" An overly aggressive voice makes itself present amongst the minor chaos. The two look up, both pleased and mildly annoyed at hearing that voice.
"Yo, I think this island belongs to everyone now considering how many times you've managed to let it be captured and taken over by random strangers," Sonic calls back, the two snickering amongst each other. "Anyways, you were really stupid enough to straight-up punch Tails' plane out of the sky? You realise you could've killed him, right? Pfft, some guardian you are."
"Alright that's enough- wait did you just say that I almost killed Tails."
"Yup, nice going, dude."
"I can confirm, you did in fact almost kill me," Tails chimes in.
A flash of red fur darts back into the forests of Angel Island in shame, causing an eruption of laughter to emerge from the ladder two.
"I was just trying to protect the Master Emerald, alright? I never know who to trust anymore!" Knuckles responds, finally showing himself. "Ever since Eggman, I've been paranoid about this, you should know that!" Non-existent chills begin to run up the echidna's spine as he thinks back to the numerous times Eggman got his hands on the Master Emerald.
"Protect it? I thought you were supposed to protect everything on this island! Including us, your best friends, in case you forgot!" Sonic responds, letting out a quick huff of air to portray his hyperbolized anger. "Plus, I'm pretty sure that when you see a plane with my name on it, you should know that it belongs to me."
"Heh, yeah, sorry, must've not noticed that…"
"Wait," Tails cuts in, stepping up to confront Knuckles, "What do you mean you didn't notice? It takes up almost half of my plane! Were you just not paying attention?"
"I guess so, haha! Silly mistake, right guys?...Right?" A bead of sweat begins to form on the forehead of the now notorious plane-puncher. Sonic looks back at him, quirking up his eyebrows. He tilts his head slightly, suspiciously glancing at the echidna. His eyes meet Knuckles', squinting directly at him.
"Wait… Knuckles, do you know how to read?"
A prompt punch in the jaw brings his question to an immediate close. Sonic flops back on the ground with absolutely no intentions to get back up.
"Welp… at least I can relax now," he thinks to himself, as the hedgehog is now able to finally lay down without any interruptions.
Jumping back onto the fallen plane, Knuckles proceeds to investigate the vehicle more, as he looks around to see how much damage his punch actually did. A fist-shaped dent can be seen in the centre of the left side of the plane, leaving the 'S' in Sonic's name to be completely illegible… Or at least that's what Knuckles assumes, considering the fact that he can 100% totally read, no doubt. He wasn't dumb, he was just raised on an abandoned floating island. He's just a bit of a goof, nothing wrong with that! It's just a character flaw, nothing more! Knuckles then hops more towards the front of the plane, content with his punch and his reading skills. Creeping towards the pilot's seat, he rummages through all of the now damaged trinkets Tails kept up there with him. Surprisingly, there was nothing too interesting, just a series of buttons and a steering wheel that looks as though it belongs on a private jet.
"Wow, classy," he thinks as he chuckles softly, admiring the handiwork of the young twin-tailed fox. "Despite the fact that he can fly, he still makes himself a plane and puts Sonic's name on it? I don't think I'll ever fully understand this kid."
Glancing past the ripped apart front seat and the surprisingly well-made cup holder Tails keeps seated next to him, Knuckles finally notices a small picture attached towards the bottom of the front window. It was a picture of Tails and Sonic, smiling and eyes glimmering as if they haven't experienced the weirdest monstrosities that the world has to offer. It often passes his mind that Tails is still so young, and that all Sonic wants to do is be his best friend. It was sweet, charming really, to see how much the hedgehog cared for his loyal companion and buddy. Slowly picking up the photo, Knuckles hold it in his hands and begins to watch the duo. Tails was patting Sonic's head, his tails swishing lightly in the wind, while he tells Sonic about his new mechanical invention. Sonic, who was either passed out or listening very intently, was laying on the grass still, his legs sprawled out to exaggerate his fall.
Glancing at the photo once again, Knuckles calls out to the two, "Hey guys, we're friends right?"
Tails looks back at him, squinting at the echidna, and bites down on the right side of his cheek. He ponders the question for a bit, and then remembers the fallen hedgehog at his side. "Uh… we'll think about it," he lets out a puff of air, letting out his momentary stress. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I did just hurt you and Sonic, like, a lot."
"Yeah, you really did."
Silence envelops over the two, letting that statement hang awkwardly in the air. "But… we are friends, right?"
"Yeah, I think by now I can say that. Well, I guess it more of a frenemies or like a friendly rivalry type deal, but that's more or less Sonic's problem with you, not mine, but I think you get what I'm saying," a light smile finds its way on Tails' face, content with both is answer and the fact that Sonic doesn't have the energy to argue with the two on this topic. Seemingly being content with that answer as well, Knuckles makes his way back towards the window, gently placing the photo back in its original spot. Reaching back to put his foot on the front seat in order to push his body fully out of the vehicle, Knuckles jumps back a bit in order to give himself a proper footing. Landing his foot on the edge of Tails' seat, he bends his knees to prepare himself for the awesome jump-into-glide trick he was about to pull off. Pushing himself forward, he launches himself into the air, does a magnificent flip, and gently lands next to Sonic as if he were just a bird who was really good at gymnastics.
Well, that's what would have happened if he hadn't snagged his foot on the cupholder next to him, causing him to fall face first back into the pilot's seat, smashing his muzzle in the process. His fall was so intense that he even managed to break a bone! Or, at least, a bone that sounds a lot like breaking glass.
"Hold on, I have bones of steel! My body would never produce that sound! I'm way too buff to ever do something like that!" Pulling himself back onto his knees, Knuckles looks down at the object that he had apparently smashed in his fall. Seemingly a million little yellow shards of glass were on display for him to see, all twinkling lightly in the light of the sun. "Hey Tails, do you keep anything glass up here?"
"No. Well, kinda? Sonic found a chaos emerald a few days ago, and I just kept it up there for storing until Sonic finds a proper place to put it. Why do you ask?"
"Oh good, it was nothing, it was just a chaos emerald! No big deal," wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, Knuckles fully jumps out of the plane, with sadly no semblance of grace or form in that leap. Trotting back over to Tails and Sonic, he sits himself down next to the fox, letting himself finally enjoy the day too.
"Uh, Knuckles, so why did you ask that question exactly?" Tails motions his tails towards him, leaning forward so that he could properly hear his response.
"Oh, it was nothing, I just accidentally broke your chaos emerald, it's nothing."
"NO WAIT I LIED TAILS I JUST REALISED I BROKE A CHAOS EMERALD-"
The two's screams could likely be heard from the moon. Knuckles, jumping back up, he scrambles back into the plane, picking up as many little yellow shards as he could. Tails, on the other hand, begins to violently shake Sonic until the hedgehog wakes up. Both frantic about what had just occurred, Knuckles brings Tails all of the pieces he could find and hands them to him. "Tails, you're a mechanic, right? You can fix things, right? Well then fix it!" he desperately yelps out, too paranoid to notice or remember that mechanics can't fix all-powerful emeralds.
"No, I can't fix this! Why would I be able to fix this? But Sonic can help!" Tails responds, picking up the speed of which he shakes the hedgehog. The blue blur soon regains his consciousness to the delight of Knuckles and Tails, and to the misfortune of himself.
"W-wha? What's going on? What's wrong?" Tails points Sonic's head at the pile of what used to be a chaos emerald in Knuckles' hands. "Oh, so you broke some glass? Well why'd you wake me up for that?"
Exhaling deeply, Tails takes a second to try and form his reply in the nicest way he possibly can. "Ok, so, hear me out here, and I mean really hear me out… Knuckles… broke.. a chaos emerald. He didn't mean to do it on purpose, I swear!" Knuckles vigorously nods in agreement. "He fell down and it just… happened? Please don't be mad." He clasps his hands together in a plea, Knuckles mimicking his action to show the same feeling of begging for mercy.
"You… He… What?! How do you even manage to do that?! It's a chaos emerald! They never break! How did he manage to shatter a whole chaos emerald when we've done much more extreme adventures with them, and they haven't even suffered from a single scratch!" Sonic throws his hands up in the air, unable to come up with any more questions. He furrows his brows and slaps his face into his hands, a low groan being emitted from his soul.
"Uh… they broke because.. of plot devices?" Tails cautiously responds, shrugging with his answer. He is soon being grabbed and quickly shook as a response, his answer being drowned out by Sonic's own shouts.
"Plot device? Tails this is no time for jokes! This oaf over here managed to shatter a whole chaos emerald! A chaos emerald, Tails! Do you realise the damage he's done?" Shaking the young fox, Tails' can soon feel his brain been rattled around in his own head.
"Wait, I have an idea!" Knuckles grabs onto Sonic and Tails' shoulders, his sudden burst of genius ideas shocking the both of them. "Hope is not lost! We can use the Master Emerald's power to restore it! Plus, since we're all on Angel Island, it's only a matter of getting there quickly! We can fix this! I, Knuckles, can fix this!" He triumphantly throws his fist in the air, careful not to this the other two. He lifts his head up, proud of his idea.
"Hey, that's actually not a bad idea," Sonic stops shaking Tails and turns to Knuckles. "You might actually be on to something there, yeah! Like, that's actually genius! Knuckles, I can't believe I'm saying this, but let's go do that! To the Master Emerald!" Sonic picks Knuckles up, overly-joyous with the fact that Knuckles actually had a thought, and begins to pace himself to get ready for his high-paced journey to get the Master Emerald.
"I thought… I was the genius..." Tails mumbles out before joining the former two. The three begin to follow Knuckles towards the location of the emerald. He jumps towards the front of the group before Sonic blasts through, using his extreme speeds as an advantage. Going along, the trio actually feel a spark of hope towards the whole situation. Tails grabs the shards of the yellow Chaos Emerald from Knuckles, and begins to hover over the two, not wanting to deal with any possible quarrels that might break out. Racing towards the front, Sonic lets his arms drag behind him as they traverse the floating island in search of its greatest treasure. At this point, the least Knuckles can do is guide him, as Sonic is not fully in the mood to listen to him because of the fact that he managed to do the impossible, break a chaos emerald.
"Hey Sonic, Tails said we're friends, so you can't be mad at me! Friends aren't allowed to be mad at each other!" Knuckles calls out, slightly mocking the hedgehog as he runs far beyond his field of vision. "D-don't be mad, ok?" he adds, a hint of worry lacing his tone, as he genuinely does not want to deal with the powerful fury that Sonic keeps locked away.
"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, Knuckles, but I think he might be mad at you," Tails calls down to him. Floating down to try and comfort him, he hovers over the echidna, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If he is mad, then don't let him touch the Master Emerald. If he goes Hyper, then we're both done for, no question. Trust me, just stay far back for a bit," he ends his statement by flying back up, trying to catch up more with Sonic. Knuckles gulps down some air, as imagining Sonic going Hyper is the last thing he wants to think about. If this Master Emerald idea doesn't end up working, then Knuckles might as well jump of Angel Island himself.
"It'll be better than dealing with an angry hedgehog..." he thinks, hoping that whatever happens, it isn't Sonic catapulting himself off of his mystical floating island.