Lost Memories

I will honesty say…. I never had thought that this would ever happen but sometimes fate seems to hide the weirdest surprises. I assume though… afterwards it's not as weird as at first thought. Oh? You seem confused. I guess you don´t know then what I am actually talking about, am I right? Very well. Let me tell you a story of what I have experienced then. A story that you may, at the end of it, find very hilarious or maybe idiotic. But let me inform you, that it never lay in my hands what happened. Destiny just seems to love taking paths no one would have ever seen coming...

"Argh! Can´t you just get lost already, you little pests?!" Dr. Eggman shouted of his Eggmobile down to his three chasers.

"Na, where would be the fun of it then?" a cocky blue hedgehog grinned up as he followed the way slower, but for him out of reach, flying vehicle of his arch nemesis.

Close behind Sonic, his two fellow rivals Shadow and Knuckles followed. Each for their own reasons. As for Shadow it was because of an emerald that Eggman stole from him a few weeks ago when he wasn´t looking. On the other hand for Knuckles…. It was such an obvious reason that it isn´t really worth mentioning. Eggman just had the brilliant idea to steal the Master Emerald… once again. Like it was his favourite hobby. At least for the red guardian it seemed just like that. Even though a chase like this was far from being something new to either of them, there still was heavy, very heavy, tension in the air. Not because they feared to be unable to get the emeralds back from the bald man, but because of the presence of Shadow and Knuckles at the same time, at the same place. The two quilled rivals of the blue blur were far from being on good terms with each other. Whenever they met each other, the air got heavy and danger was almost touchable, so thick was the tension between the two. The reason behind their blank hate towards one another, was unknown to anyone but them. They wouldn´t tell the others, no matter how persistent their friends were about it. It confused them greatly since Shadow and Knuckles used to be something you could actually call friends. But this changed almost rapidly, from one day to the other. Their once respectful behaviour vanished and a, most if the time, nonviolent war inflamed between the two chaos benders. A war of words may probably be the best way to describe it. A war of words that… sometimes leads to violence between them. And if that was happening, any living being in their surroundings better brought themselves to a save place. Once a fight enraged, they didn´t care much about what or who was around them.

"Just give me back my Emerald, you bad Santa Claus fake!" an obviously annoyed Knuckles yelled, his white fangs showing as he did so.

As an answer Eggman just gave more speed, what did nothing to calm the rage that slowly built up inside the red guardian. A growl and a suppressed, but still pretty good hearable, "god dammit" left Knuckles throat when he tried to keep up with the mad scientist. Instead to calm his thick-headed friend, Sonic turned around to face Shadow and Knuckles while running backwards at the same speed without effort and smiled, much to the echidnas' annoyance. For him that smile seemed taunting or amused. Knuckles never were the best with interpret things like that in a, for him, serious situation. The smile Sonic was actually wearing, was just his normal cocky one. One that Knuckles saw who knows how many times already but still failed to see the true meaning at this very moment.

"Come on guys! Let's get him now. It's getting boring to chase him" Sonic said in a tone that made it pretty clear for Eggman to be unable to escape from them, or more specific, from him.

"Wha? Sonic! I can´t run faster!" the guardian panted which was in vain as the blue hero zoomed off before he was even able to finish what he had to say.

This made a frustrated growl find its way out from Knuckles as he tried to speed up more but he just couldn´t run any faster and the fact that his stamina slowly ran out didn´t do any better. Not that his stamina was bad in any way. Quite the reverse! His reserves were admirable, but he just wasn´t a runner like Sonic or the black hedgehog beside him. He was not used to run for such a long time and this got now the better of him. Shadow, who was quiet for the most of their chase, moved his eyes to the panting echidna. He wasn´t one for pulling jokes, but if there was one thing he was, it was being awfully honest. Especially to those he didn´t like. And Knuckles happened to be one of them. To tell the least, most hate was coming from the black hedgehog, as he was the one who started it all in the first place. Stubborn as Knuckles is, he didn´t ignore and went right for the offense. This wasn´t simple teasing. This was pure, blank hate. And it was only growing.

"Hmph, shouldn´t have joined if you can´t keep up, Red" Shadow said without much emotions while running cosily beside the person he wasn´t fond of.

For that Shadow earned a hateful glare which didn´t affect him much, if at all.

"Shut the fuck up, you idiot! It is MY emerald Eggman stole and I will NOT sit around doing nothing!"

"Tsk, like I give a shit about your problems with this idiotic rock" Shadow carelessly added, what made Knuckles hiss dangerously at him, which again left him unaffected.

If Knuckles could, he would jump at this hedgehogs' throat in a matter of a few moments but that was probably not a good idea while running as fast as they did. Beside the fact that this was Shadows' pitch. Dodging would be the least of his problems, if Knuckles was dumb enough to think it would work. Of course the red head wasn´t this stupid. So he just swallowed it for now, but that wouldn´t mean, he can´t get revenge sometime later. Soon Shadows ears perked up at a familiar sound up high in the air. Moving his eyes up, he saw Tails' biplane passing them. A taunting idea creeped into Shadows' mind and so he moved his eyes slowly back at Knuckles who was calling him all sorts of insulting names while focusing on what was in front of them, instead of looking at Shadow. Not like the hedgehog cared. It caught Knuckles a little of guard when the ultimate lifeform suddenly interrupted his speech of insults.

"If you`re done now, let me give you some advice, guardian. Since you already look like you would collapse any second by that bit of running, I suggest you to take a flight with your yellow, two tailed friend. When you break down, you are more useless than you already are" he said for Knuckles out of the blue and in such a cold and hateful way, shivers would run down everyone's back.

The red guardian stared at the other for what felt like an eternity, even though it was just a few seconds in real. When his purple eyes locked with the piercing red orbs of Shadow, it seemed like everything around them was gone and they were the only two beings in existence. How did this guy even dare to say something like this?! A rush of adrenaline and hate ran through the red males' body. Muscles tensed and eyes started glowing dangerously. Luckily for Shadow, he has a very good reaction because Knuckles decided to go for an attack towards him after his last comment. That was the final straw that was missing for Knuckles' rage to take over. With a sudden move, he jumped to his side with one hell of a pissed of face. He was going to smash that hedgehogs' face in and he would have done so, if Shadow hadn´t dodged his attack fast enough. Instead of the red streaked hedgehog, a massive stone of granite was the echidnas' victim. It broke into thousand little pieces after the impact. When Knuckles realized that he had missed, he gritted his teeth hard and hissed furiously at the other quilled creature. Shadow didn´t stop running but was looking back, unimpressed of the sheer strength Knuckles could muster into just one blow. At least he seemed to be underwhelmed. On the inside he had to admit that this physical power did give him at least a little respect. And he hated to admit that. If that blow, which broke a granite stone like that, hit him, there was no way he would have gotten out of it without broken bones. Thanks to his speed and good reaction that this wasn´t the case. Howsoever, a very angry growl left Knuckles throat when he watched the hedgehog running. There was no way to catch up with the other anymore. For that Shadow got too much distance. It was a hard time for Knuckles to not lose complete self-control which was clearly seen at the way his body shook in rage. He wouldn´t get any use of going on rage mode now. His primary goal was to get the Master Emerald back, so he took a very deep breath to calm himself before recapture tracking.

"Pathetic" Shadow said quietly to himself, when he saw Knuckles starting to run again.

He turned his attention away from the person behind him but back in front of him. A fight with the echidna was the last thing that laid in Shadows interested right now. The reason he even joined this chase was for the Chaos Emerald. Nothing else. Even though it may not look like it with all the things he said to piss the guardian off. Soon he was out of sight for Knuckles. Growls, hisses and any other known noises of rage left his mouth.

"That son of a bitch! I'll show you!" he growled, that rush of adrenaline long gone.

If Shadow thinks, Knuckles wouldn´t persevere this running, he was so going to smash his believes into shards. No way he was going to shout up to Tails to pick him up. No way he would prove Shadow right. No way he was throwing his pride away like this. He was so going to prove this idiotic black hedgehog that he was sitting through this. No matter that his lungs burned and screamed for air, just like his legs longed for a break. Something he didn´t think of was… did he really do this to prove something to Shadow? Or only to himself? Bringing his body to its limits like that. He always said to himself that he doesn´t give a damn what Shadow says about him, but it was pretty clear this was the result of something the dark furred one said. And if it wasn´t clear before, then it sure as hell was now. Knuckles, on the other hand, didn´t want to admit that to himself of course. He wasn´t going to show weakness to Shadow, no matter what. Gritting his teeth hard enough to be visible he keep on running to catch up with the hedgehogs. It took him several minutes before the others finally got in sight again. Much to his detriment the fight with Eggman was already over. The egg shaped man wasn´t even there anymore. The only thing left from the doctor was his Eggmobil smashed down and lying completely broken on the ground with Sonic standing in front of it and rubbing his nose. Once his eyes got sight of this, Knuckles started to slow down. By the end of it he stumbled before finally falling on his knees when he halted. Inhaling as much air as his lungs could hold, in deep pant like breaths. Sonic looked worried when Knuckles finally reached them. He thought Knuckles would eventually stop somewhere behind them because he reached his running peek, but obviously he was proven wrong. The echidna didn´t stop once except for that short time he attacked Shadow to let off steam. But that was far from being a real break. Shadow, who was standing away some distance, looked over at the scene from his eye corners. He truly didn´t expect for the echidna to bite through it. Not like this was the point of the whole running but still. Though Knuckles looked miserable, Shadow wore his usual hard and expressionless face.

"How said. Pathetic" he thought, after closing his eyes and turning away with his arms crossed, to stand there with his back facing them.

At the same time Sonic kneeled down to Knuckles to ask if everything was alright while laying a hand on the shoulder of the panting red echidna. As an answer Sonic got a very annoyed glare which made him feel a sweatdrop run down his head.

"Do I look alright to you?!" the guardian snapped at his blue rival.

That made Sonic jump back slightly at the unusual cold tone. This wasn´t the normal annoyed intonation Knuckles normally had. The sound of his current voice was cold as ice and hard as solid steel. Whatever had happened after the blue blur ran off, must have pissed his rival off bad. Very, very bad. Eyes moved over to Shadow to see if the other hedgehog gives any kind of reaction, only to find out he was not even paying attention towards them. With a sigh he turned back to a still very annoyed Knuckles.

"Geeez, sorry. Was just a question. Sorry for worrying" Sonic answered, which caused a displeased snort as a reaction towards him. "By the way… got your emerald back, buddy"

After that, the still panting echidna slowly stood up. His legs slightly shaking and barely able to hold his own weight. The blue hedgehog tried to give him some assistance to only get pushed off again. Glares exchanged but Knuckles obviously had the upper hand in that one, since he already was angry to a point where he wouldn´t hesitate to beat someone hospital ready. Though it wasn´t Sonic Knuckles was angry with and he probably shoved him away rougher than he intended to do, there was a high chance he would get at him if he dares to make a stupid comment. Good thing Sonic is smart enough to see this sign and kept any comment he would normally spurt out to himself. He wasn´t exactly eager to get beaten to near death by his red rival. Well enough he knows what the other is capable off. When the other finally managed to stand up, a harsh "Hmpf" came from the red head before turning towards his emerald. Knuckles went over to it to check if everything was alright with it. A slight pout became visible as soon as Knuckles turned his back towards Sonic.

"Not even a "thank you"? Tsk… rude" ran through the blue blurs mind when he watched the guardian.

His ears perked up when he heard the familiar sound of Tails' tails rotating in the air. With crossed arms he turned towards his little brother who was landing beside him no five seconds later. Tails took notice that his red friend was very annoyed but he missed out on why, even though he was passing him and Shadow when it happened. Admittingly the young fox heard the sound of something breaking but he was unable to see what it was because his planes' wing happened to be in the way. Tails hoped to become an answer of his older brother in that case.

"What happened for Knuckles to be this annoyed?" he questioned and looked up at Sonic.

"I have no idea, bro. Slowly I get the feeling that's his normal state" he answered.

For the last comment he earned a warning growl from the red echidna. Hearing that, Sonic decided it would be for the better to not challenge is luck any further. Knuckles made it clear he wasn´t going to put up with his shit for much longer. To anyone's luck the red echidna still had enough self-control to contain himself. The tension coming from him was still very noticeable.

"I…. see…" Tails replied. He wouldn´t ask more about Knuckles but turned to look over at Shadow. "Um…. Sonic? Why did Shadow actually help? Not that I mind. It's nice of him"

The echidnas' eyes twitched in annoyance that the mentioning of the name of the person he despised greatly. He took a deep breath to hold himself back from making a nasty comment.

"Tsk, like it's important!" he thought to himself.

Before Sonic had the chance to reply, Shadow cut him off. The yellow boys' ears perked up in surprise.

"Don´t get used to it, Tails" the far older hedgehog said while turning to look at the child. "The only reason I joined was to get my emerald back"

Once again one of Knuckles' eyes twitched. He slowly turned around to glare at the black hedgehog. Of course Shadow felt that heavy stare on him and moved his eyes to meet them with Knuckles' own. As soon as that Knuckles slowly made his way up to the other. Sonic and Tails exchanged peeks. The air got heavier and heavier. A few moments later Knuckles was almost nose to nose with Shadow, who looked as cool as a cucumber.

"Well, excuse me. This is not "your" emerald" the red guardian stated with a voice hard as rock.

"Oh, is that so? It isn´t yours either since I don´t see your name on it" Shadow replied pretty calmly yet still cold enough, obviously not effected by the dangerous voice towards him.

"There is no need for that. I am the guardian of the Master Emerald AND the Chaos Emeralds" Knuckles gave back, seemingly not effected by Shadows tone of voice either.

That was probably not the best comeback Knuckles could come up with. It exposed a very vulnerable spot of the red guardian. To his own misfortune, Shadow took use of that.

"In this case… you are doing an awful job"

Silence took place over them. Knuckles stared at the person in front of him, obviously a little stunned by the last thing he said. Sonic and Tails watched the scene a little wide-eyed. Both knew that this was a point Knuckles hated to hear. Not like he really was that awful. People just tend to make a fool out of him or rub it in his face. The moment Knuckles hands clenched into fists, Sonic knew if he doesn´t go between the two, a fight will enrage.

"WHY YOU?!" Knuckles yelled out in rage, lifting one fist to punch the loudmouth in front of him.

At this moment Shadow got into a defensive pose, ready to battle the outraged echidna to the ground. If it wasn´t for the blue speedster, who was rushing between them in time, the fight would have begun the moment Knuckles raised his fist. It caught the echidna just like the hedgehog of guard when their faces were covered by gloved hands to get pushed away from each other.

"Oh cut it out, you two! We aren´t getting anywhere with this! Besides, we are all friends!" he said out loud as he kept his rivals on distance.

"I am not friends with that hedgehog, Sonic!" Knuckles growled as he made Sonics hand leave his face alone.

"I am not friends with the echidna either"

The blue hedgehog felt a sweatdrop run down his head. At least they had the same opinion once in their lives. With a sigh Sonic rubbed his eyes in frustration. He had no idea what to do with them both. If he just knew how to bring them back on good terms but for that he would need to know how it all started. No chance Shadow and Knuckles would tell him. He tried a lot of times already. He could just hope that this will settle between themselves soon. The very moment Sonic rubbed his eyes, Shadows and Knuckles' eyes met in a contest of death staring. Both of their gazes freezing cold, like only the other exists. This was far from an innocent rivalry like Sonic had with either of them. They saw each other as enemies, despite being on the same side… most of the time. While the three adults acted more like 5 year olds, Tails stood beside and couldn´t help but wonder.

"…. What wanted Eggman with the Master Emerald in the first place…?" he asked more to himself than to the others, but all of their gazes moved to the younger one.

"For sure he just wanted to steal its power for… whatever reason" Knuckles stated while crossing his arms.

This got the yellow fox boy to look at the older red male. "No doubt, Knuckles, but normally he would only try to get all of the Chaos Emeralds for that"

"Maybe he needed more power?" Sonic predicated which turned all the attention towards him. "I mean… sure. The seven Chaos Emeralds are already extremely powerful but the M.E. still is on a complete different level"

This made Tails' head tilt to the side. Sure the possibility was there but…

"Why would Eggman go through all this trouble for that? Whatever he wanted, I am sure the Chaos Emerald would have been enough"

Sonic had no answer to that. He could only assume what Eggmans' true intention was. Knuckles, for his own reasons, couldn´t care less why the doctor wanted the emerald. All he cared for was getting it back, which succeeded thanks to his blue companion. Listening to their guessed made an own idea pop up in Shadows mind. He would probably get murdered for that one, but he couldn´t hold himself back.

"Probably because it's a lot easier to steal the Master Emerald from this walking disaster area than getting all of the Chaos Emeralds. Even Rouge is able to steal this thing almost every week" the dark hedgehog said matter-of-factly, not caring how much his words truly dig into the red echidnas' soul.

Sonic stared almost shocked at his main rival after saying THAT. If that wasn´t bringing Knuckles on the edge, he had no idea what would. Slowly his eyes wandered over to the guardian, whose eyes twitched once again in pure annoyance. Fists were clenching once more and so were his teeth. It almost looked like he was going to explode by any second. To his, or better, to all of their surprise Knuckles then just turned around, went up to the Master Emerald to pick it up and made his way to leave. No more word was coming from the echidna but the built up rage could be felt by anyone. As a matter of fact, Knuckles decided there was no use in staying any longer. He already tried to attack Shadow twice and he had the Master Emerald back. He wouldn´t even bother to make a third attempt. With a few surprised blinks Sonic watched Knuckles leave. As soon as the other was out of sight, his surprised gaze turned into an annoyed glare and turned towards Shadow. With a raised eyebrow he returned the gaze, less annoyed but more questioning.

"What?"

"Are you for real?! Why are you provoking Knuckles like that?! You're not even that harsh towards me and that should mean something! You know, one day you will get yourself killed!" Sonic explained angrily.

"I know"

"Huh?"

"I know what Red is capably off but he would never succeed in trying to kill me. He can try whatever the hell he wants, I am still the Ultimate Lifeform" Shadow stated with crossed arms.

"Say that again when he managed to break your legs. Believe me… he would! Just what the heck happened between you two? You weren´t like this in the past!" a very annoyed Sonic said, making fists and demanding to know.

A careless snort was pretty much his only answer, followed by what seems to be Shadows favourite line.

"How about it's none of your business, Faker?"

"Everything is my business, Shadz" a still obviously annoyed Sonic replied to his empty answer.

With rolling his red eyes he started to turn away, much to Sonics displease. The black and red streaked hedgehog wasn´t going any deeper into this topic. He made it obvious enough but if Sonic refused to stop there, then he will just take his leave.

"Hey! Where ya going?!" the blue hero shouted after him, ready to run up to him to stop him from leaving.

"Somewhere" was his only answer and before Sonic could even react, Shadow chaos controlled himself away, leaving a pretty dumbfounded blue hedgehog behind. Sonic looked at the spot his rival last stood on before turning his head to meet the worried stare of his little brother. Not even Tails had any idea of what else they could do with them. Shadow and Knuckles obviously didn´t want to send this problem out of the world. They were sure if it continues like this, soon or later one of the two will get himself killed. By the looks of it the chance was pretty high that it was Shadow who will take this fate. Dropping his ears, Sonic let out a long sigh, hating the feeling of being unable to do a damn thing.

Meanwhile at Doctor Eggmans base, the human just came back from his failed mission. He growled quietly to himself. Why can´t those little rats just stay out of his plans for once?! With some silent swearing he then entered one of the many rooms of his base. There he gets greeted by two cheeky little robots.

"Oh, you are already back, boss?" the small round red and black coloured robot asked innocently.

"As you can see, yes, Orbot"

"And let me guess! You didn´t get the big green rock, huh?" an overexcited yellow-black robot asked.

That question got Eggman to let out an annoyed sigh and reply just like that. "No, Cubot..!"

"I am sure, next time you will get it, Doctor. I know you must have been very close this time" Orbot said in his fake friendly tone.

Of course he knew that his creator would fail, but admitting that would be his cause of death. Or in better words, his cause of getting thrown in the old metal thrash. Cubot, being as confused as normally, didn´t get Orbots' lie. In contrast to his red companion, he actually liked his creator and always meant what he said.

"Wait… didn´t you tell me that you knew he would fail again?" he asked and scratched his metallic head in confusion.

The red robots cameras widened slightly at the honest statement of his buddy and covered his loudspeakers in a matter of seconds. To his luck, Cubot wasn´t speaking that loud so didn´t hear clearly what he said.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Boss!" Orbot said, almost cutting his creators question off and hitting Cubot on his metallic head.

"Ow!"

Narrowing his eyes he turned his back towards his creations, mumbling something barely hearable. When they were out of the humans' range of vision, the red robot wrapped his arm around the other to whisper to him.

"Stupid! I told you to not say that out loud!"

"I'm sorry… I will remember next time" Cubot apologized while bringing his index fingers together.

"I doubt that but alright…" Orbot sighed and let go of the other.

The red robot then turned around and followed his boss. After Cubot noted that he flew after him. The doctor was working on his plan. The same plan he needed Knuckles' precious emerald for. Orbot landed beside the blueprints and looked at them. Cubot, somehow, missed the edge and hit a lamp. Both, Eggman and Orbot, felt the heavy urge to facepalm and did exactly that.

"Cubot! Can´t you watch out?!" the already annoyed human barked at him.

"Sorry!" the yellow robot apologized and hovered up on the desk to sit down beside Orbot.

When it was silent again Dr. Eggman turned his attention back to his blueprints. Four curious cameras were watching their creator work. Though they were never allowed to help him with his plans, they loved watching Eggman. Even Orbot, as strange as it seems. It was admirable with how much passion he worked at them, no matter that they fail pretty much all the time. How the doctor didn´t get frustrated from them being unsuccessful is beyond to them. Guess he must really love what he is doing. Coming up with new plans and such.

"…boss?" the small red robot asked to get his creators attentions.

"What is it, Orbot?"

"You tried to get the Master Emerald, right? But what for exactly? You still didn´t tell us" he asked while looking at his boss curious as a child would be.

"For a machine" Eggman answered after a small pause and started to roll up his blueprints.

Curious as Cubot was, he had to ask what kind of machine that would be. To answer his question, the doctor stated it as being a surprise. This answer made both robots look at each other as if they didn´t know what that should mean. They really didn´t know. Normally Eggman always informed them on what he was currently working. It confused them why this one was different. But since they had no power over the man with the moustache, they couldn´t force him to tell them. Seemed like they had to be patient and see what will happen. When Eggman started to laugh his trademark evil laugh, both of the small robots looked back up at him.

"You will find out soon enough, don´t worry! And soon enough I will try to get the Master Emerald again from this dumb echidna to finally finish my masterpiece! And then… no one can stop me! Muahahahahaha!"

If Orbot could breathe, a long and deep sigh would have been made by him this very moment. The doctor stated this after every plan he finished or was soon-to-be-finished. It was kind of sad. Cubot on the other hand, shared his creators' enthusiasm and clapped his hands for him. When his red friend didn´t join in, he turned his head towards him and tilted his head. Noticing that he returned his gaze, just less enthusiastic but more bored of hearing this every time.

"How often did he say "no one can stop me" already since he built us?" Orbot then asked out of interest.

At that strange question Cubot couldn´t help but scratch his head before answering.

"Uhh…. 1735 times. Why?"

"I see... well… then let's update it into 1736 times" he replied, while closing his cameras and crossing his arms.

Blinking curiously at the other as if he just solved the mystery of life, the yellow-black robots' enthusiasm returned. Feeling that stare on him, made Orbot reopen his cameras and feeling slightly nervous at the way the other looked at him. A big question mark appeared above his head.

"How did you know it were already this many times?!" Cubot asked in the most curious voice he could do.

For a few moment Orbot just remained silent. He waited for the other to say anything else, but when he didn´t, the red robot couldn´t really believe Cubot were actually serious about his question. Slowly he moved both hands up to cover his cameras in frustration. He knew it didn´t really lay in Eggmans' hands on what kind of personality they got, which was a mystery in itself already, but why couldn´t he built one who was just a little more serious and less stupid? He didn´t hate Cubot. Far from it. But it could be very frustrating to put up with his childish behaviour at times. And one time just happened to be now.

"Oh Cubot…"

That curious spark in the yellow bots blue eyes vanished at the tone of voice that came out of his friends' loudspeakers. Instead a confused look returned when he tilted his head to scratch it once more. Having no clue why the others mood changed so suddenly. Like most of the time failing to understand that his attitude was the cause of it.

To be continued…