"Are you sure about this, Knuckles?" Tails asked, camouflaging the trap. A mysterious group of thieves, who were rumored to be called "the marauders," had been stealing Chaos Emeralds one by one, and Tails and Knuckles were determined to get to the bottom of things.
"Absolutely! This is the only Chaos Emerald left. It shouldn't take long for them to find it, and once they get here, we'll be ready!" Knuckles replied. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that they couldn't catch these thieves.
"Why can't we just hide the emerald anywhere? They'd still find it," Tails whispered as the two hid behind some bushes.
"I'd like to teach these thugs a lesson. Not to mention find out who they are and what they want," Knuckles grunted.
Suddenly, the thieves appeared out of nowhere. As expected, they went straight for the Chaos Emerald. As soon as they were but a few inches of it, the trap activated and popped out of the ground, sending electric currents toward them.
"Heh, see? Told you it would work!" Knuckles exclaimed with a grin.
"It almost makes sacrificing the Tornado for parts worth it," Tails said as he prepared himself to head for the marauders.
Then, something happened that did not go according to plan. The thieves destroyed the trap as if it were nothing, and began heading toward Knuckles. Knuckles urged Tails to move out of harm's way while he took care of things.
"Oh, no you don't!" the echidna cried as he began to engage battle with more marauders than he could handle, although he refused to admit it.
"Enough. I'll handle him," a feminine voice came out of nowhere. At once, the group stopped what they were doing. The source of the voice appeared, while looking similar to the rest of the marauders, she wore a helmet with two horn-like protrusions coming from the back. Her attire glowed pink, rather than blue like the others. "Stand down or be put down," she said directly in front of Knuckles.
"Try it!" Knuckles cried as he hurled his fists toward the mysterious woman.
"Speed, strength, some skill...impressive enough, but you're in our way," said the female marauder, knocking Knuckles out cold after kicking him in the forehead.
"Here's the Chaos Emerald, Procurator Shade," one of the bandits said, handing the emerald to the woman, apparently named Shade.
"Excellent. Mission accomplished. Bring the echidna, too," she replied.
"Yes ma'am. But wouldn't it be easier to just destroy him?" the marauder asked, slightly tilting his head.
"No. We are not needlessly ruthless. Now, everyone, fall back!" Shade exclaimed as the group teleported off to a location unknown, bringing the knocked-out Knuckles with them.
"That...went really bad," Tails thought aloud to himself after watching the whole event. "I need to call Sonic back from his vacation! And maybe Amy, too...and possibly even G.U.N.! We're gonna need everyone in order to save Knuckles!"