Ages of Main Characters:

Knuckles – 19

Rouge – 20

Sneasel the Mongoose – 26

Amber the Bat - 21

Sonic – 18

Tails - 11

Amy – 16

"Self-Destruct in 5 minutes," came a computerized voice through the Egg-Carrier speakers. Dr. Eggman had activated the self-destruct system.

"What?" Knuckles yelped. "How?"

"He knows we're all here is it really that surprising?" Rouge answered as they ran through the airship's hallway together.

"But why blow up the ship?"

"He's probably readying an escape pod. I just hope Sonic and Shadow can get to him before he escapes. We've got to hold off these robots for just a couple more minutes."

For a month now, Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge had been devising a plan that would bring Eggman down. For good. No more games, no more outsmarting, no more meaningless fights. They were going to bring him down, and turn him over to G.U.N. The professor had been very quiet and inactive for awhile now, probably still recovering and biding him time. What better chance to strike than now? After tracking down the Egg-Carrier and sneaking aboard it, all of their hard work was going to come down to the next five minutes. It had been Knuckles and Rouge's job to hold off the security robots while the two hedgehogs would catch up to Eggman. They just needed to hang in there for a little longer.

"They're coming from behind us," Knuckles called to Rouge.

"I see that Knucklehead," she answered curtly, spinning into a screw kick. Like a torpedo, she shot through the air, drilling straight through four robots in one kick.

Knuckles watched in admiration. "Damn," he said to himself. He hustled over to help her, sinking his knuckles into a droid's metal face. This set of droids was by far the largest group they had encountered thus far. Nevertheless, with combined efforts, the two of them made fast work of the hunks of steel.

"Two minutes till self-destruction," came the voice again. Uh-oh. Time was running out quickly.

"C'mon, we've got no time to waste, let's hurry and catch up to those two!" Knuckles said.

They sped through the corridors together, in the direction that Sonic and Shadow had been running in. There was no need to go much further; two blurs sped right by them in the opposite direction. One was blue, the other black. Knuckles and Rouge stopped, wondering what the hell they were doing. Knuckles' guess was that they hadn't noticed them. Irritated, he yelled, "OVER HERE CLOWNS!" Rouge giggled. She always found it cute when Knuckles was angry. In seconds, Sonic and Shadow had sped back and were standing in front of them.

"What's going on?" Rouge asked. "Has Eggman escaped yet?"

Shadow looked at her gravely. "No," he said. "He won't escape. We chained him to a chair in his office before he could get to the escape pod." He looked to Sonic who nodded grimly.

"The guy will never stop," he added. "This is a golden opportunity to end all of this for good… we have to take advantage of it."

"One minute till self-destruction," came the voice again.

"Shit!" Knuckles yelped. He had forgotten for a moment that the Egg-Carrier was going to explode. "How are we getting out of here?" Sonic and Shadow pointed to parachute packs on their backs.

"We're jumping," Sonic explained. "Tails will be flying under the craft in the Tornado, you guys can glide onto the wings right?" The two of them nodded. "Then let's get the hell outta here, we need to get to the deck!"

The four of them ran through the corridors of the Egg-Carrier, trying to get to the deck in time.

"Forty five… forty four… forty three… forty two…" the computer counted down. They could make it… they were almost there…

The automatic deck door opened and they scurried onto it. The sky was getting darker and darker; it was almost nightfall. They would have to jump quickly to see where they were landing. "Well, see you guys down there!" Sonic grinned. And with that, he and Shadow sped across the deck and jumped off the side, plummeting towards the Earth.

"C'mon we have to jump!" Rouge yelled. As she and Knuckles leapt from the aircraft, they felt a sudden, powerful suction pulling them back towards the ship. They couldn't have this, the Egg-Carrier was about to explode! Knuckles frantically fought against the pull, but it was no use. He was helplessly caught in the grasp of the engine. He looked over to Rouge, who wasn't faring much better.

"No, NO! What's happening?" Knuckles yelled in panic.

"Eggman's found a way to reverse the turbine engines!" Rouge screamed back. "Knuckles! We have to…" she didn't get to finish the sentence: the suction had violently pulled her out of her flight, sucking her in to be devoured by the spinning engines.

"ROUGE! NO!" He yelled.

BOOM!

Knuckles awoke from his dream with a start. He didn't jump up or anything like that, his eyes merely opened in shock, and he was sweating. That dream again. Three years had passed since the battle on the Egg Carrier, the night that Dr. Eggman was finally put down and killed. Ironic, how the crazy bastard died at his own hand in the end. Things had been peaceful for so long now… so why was he so haunted? He exhaled deeply. There was no need to ponder; he knew the reason perfectly well.

That night not only claimed the life of Eggman, but the life of a girl he deeply cared for. She had been pulled into the turbine engine of the aircraft, where she died as it exploded in flames. After three years, his heartache was far from cured. Why? People come, people go, right? He scratched his head in frustration. 'I don't talk to anybody," he thought to himself miserably. He knew better than anyone that having enough time alone makes you think. Who else out there had more time on their hands?

His mind unable to wander to anything else, he sighed as he thought of physical features, her sexy body, her beautiful face… that cute little cocky smile. Her touch alone was enough to make the brave guardian tremble. Then he remembered the times she had tried to take the Master Emerald, the arguments and bickering. He knew he should have hated her, the sneaky jewel thief! Hell, he wanted to hate her, especially now that she was gone and he had to live with all those memories that tortured him. But it was no use even trying anymore, he was helpless. In her death she had pulled off her greatest heist and had taken her trophy to the grave with her: his heart. After everything he had been through, he would have assumed his experiences in the world would help him understand the meaning of life. If not that, then all the years he had lived on Angel Island, rarely coming into contact with others. Surely the peacefulness, the beautiful nature, the history of his ancestry would spell it out to him loud and clear. It didn't. The feeling of optimism that drove his determination years ago was fading. What did it all matter now? She was gone… gone forever. He closed his eyes.

"Rouge," he whispered to himself.

Panting heavily, he slowly sat up. He checked his clock to see that it was almost 2 A.M. "Damn it," he growled. He knew he would now be up for a few hours before he'd be able to fall back to sleep. Another night of crashing on the sofa until daylight while watching Prison Break on Netflicks was in store. He slowly got out of bed and made his way to the living room. Pausing on his way to the sofa, he stopped to stare out his giant living room window. It was a beautiful sight, giving him a view of the exotic nature of Angel Island. And of course, the Master Emerald throne was the closet landmark in sight. On top of the throne sat the magnificent emerald, its bright shade of green glowing as majestic as ever. Every time he looked at the emerald, all he could think about was her and all the memories involved with the gem. She had once attempted to steal it years ago, and their constant arguments over it was a recurring aspect of their relationship. He couldn't help but smile as he remembered their first encounter.

'Didn't you ever learn any manners? That's no way to treat a lady!" She snapped at him.

"What kind of lady steals gems anyway?"

He shook his head in discontent. No matter how much he tried to think otherwise, he could feel how much her absence was affecting him. He was annoyed when she was around yet… she completed him in such a defining way. His heart was still beating her name… when would it end? When would he finally be free? Could she still be alive? He hadn't actually seen her die with his own eyes… could it be… He shot the thought out of his head. There was no way she could have survived. If for some reason she could have avoided the engines, the explosion would surely have killed her. He remembered how badly he had been injured from the magnitude of the blast. Hell, he would have died himself if Tails hadn't caught him on the Tornado as he fell out of the air. He had been unconscious for three days after. If that had happened to him, from a further range, then there was no chance she could still be…

It tortured him to think about her. Not actually witnessing her death had planted hope into his mind, making him all the more miserable. It had been three years… three years without her. How much more of this could he bear? He felt a hot tear trickle down the side of his face as he gazed softly at the light of the emerald.

"If you're still out there," he said softly. "Please… come back to me."

Meanwhile, at Amy's house

"You want another cup of coffee?" Amy was asking Sonic. It was her sixteenth birthday and with her sweet sixteen happening later that day, she requested that her boyfriend Sonic spend the weekend with her and her friend Cream. Their plan had been to stay up as late as possible but now they were struggling to resist passing out.

"Nah, it's late, we should probably go to bed," Sonic yawned. "Besides, you don't wanna be like a zombie during your party. Cream's already passed out, look." Sure enough, the exhausted bunny was out cold on Amy's bed. "You want me to move her or…"

"Nah, leave her be," Amy said, proceeding to tuck Cream in. Sonic smiled as he watched her, admiring her motherly characteristics. How she had grown up; he remembered the days when she was just an annoying little girl who would chase him around.

When she finished with Cream, she crawled onto the blow-up mattress on the floor that Sonic was sprawled out on.

"Msdmsdfme," he muttered, half asleep as she pulled a couple blankets over them. He pulled her close to him, slowly stroking her long silky hair. "Happy 16th birthday…"

"Thanks," she smiled. She slowly stroked her hand down his stomach, going gradually lower and lower. "You know what would really kick off the day?" No answer. He was already asleep. Sighing in slight disappointment, she pressed a kiss to his lips and rested her head against his chest. Before she closed her eyes though, she could have sworn she saw a shadow outside her window, standing in the tree in her backyard. She hadn't the faintest idea what it could be but it had wings. Very pointed wings and a curvy body, with large ears on top of its head. In fact, it looked a lot like… She shut her eyes, realizing she must be more exhausted than she thought. 'I must be really tired if I'm imagining things like that…' she thought as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

Outside the pink hedgehog's window, a figure indeed stood on a thick tree branch, peering in through the window its eyes fixed on Amy to make sure she was asleep. "Happy birthday Amy," whispered Rouge. So she had finally caught Sonic after all. 'It's about time,' the bat thought. Her eyes wandered to something on Amy's desk. Looking closer, she made it out to be a picture of the entire gang from the early days. She couldn't help but smile as she looked at all their faces, a certain red one particularly catching her eye. "Be seeing you soon." And she took back off into the pitch black night.