Knuckles the echidna sat on the master emerald shrine, arms crossed and head bent down.

Some would say he's brooding.

Others would say he's napping.

But one thing's for sure. He was about to be very disturbed very quick.

It was an average day at first, no real surprises were in store. Until, eventually, Knuckles heard a ringing. He looked down at his wrist to see a communicator, built for him by Relic the Pika. Knuckles tapped it, and an image of the pika showed on the small screen.

"Hey Relic." Knuckles said, slightly confused as to why she'd be calling.

"Knuckles! Someone's coming for you, they're heading to the shrine now!"

Knuckles raised up at that. "What?!" Knuckles heard feet tapping, and looked up. "I think they're here. Relic, I'll call you back."

"Knuckles, wa-" Knuckles turned off the comm. Before Relic could get out a word, as he stared ahead. Eventually he saw the culprit Relic was talking about.

Shadow the hedgehog was standing there. Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Shadow?" Knuckles began to walk down the steps of the altar. "What are you doing here?"

"G.U.N. sent me, echidna. They need something."

"What is it?"

"You know what."

Knuckles' eyes widened, as he looked back to the master emerald. He looked at Shadow with anger on his face. "Not in a million years."

"G.U.N. needs the emerald, echidna. There are too many threats that try and get the master emerald around here."

"I know. I'm the guardian. I'm not letting this emerald out of my sight."

"Call it a hunch, but with the amount of times the emeralds been stolen or smashed, I wouldn't call you a worthy guardian."

Knuckles clenched his fists in rage.

"You know I'm right."

"I'm not going to let G.U.N. walk in on my home and-"

"Take what's yours?" Shadow said, before dropping his crossed arms. "Sorry, you don't have a choice." Shadow said as he began to walk by, only for Knuckles to stick his arm out and place his hand on Shadow's chest. Shadow looked down, and then looked at Knuckles.

"Get your hand off me."

"Then you get off my island. Leave the emerald where it is."

Shadow simply stared at Knuckles before closing his eyes and shaking his head. "They were going to send Rouge here, you know. But they didn't for several reasons." He said, staring Knuckles in the eyes.

"Here's one." Shadow said, as he pulled his fist back and slammed it into Knuckles' chest, sending the echidna flying back through one of the pillars of the altar and slamming into a nearby tree. Knuckles shook his head to recover, as Shadow floated down his jet skates. "I'm taking that emerald, echidna."

Knuckles pushed himself up, shaking rubble off. "No, you're not. And if I have to fight you for it, then so be it."

Shadow floated down, and began to make his hands glow with chaos energy. "Very well. I guess now's the time to say I never liked you."

"Feelings mutual."

FIGHT!

Knuckles and Shadow lunged at each other and clashed their forearms, creating a boom around them that moved all the trees on the island. The two struggled for a few seconds before Knuckles grabbed Shadow by the chest fur. He fell onto his back and slammed his foot into Shadow's gut, throwing him through the tree he had slammed into earlier. Knuckles got up and ran towards Shadow, wrapping his arms around his waist and body slamming him into the ground.

Knuckles began to pummel Shadow, continuing for multiple seconds that felt like minutes before Shadow finally countered and slammed a glowing fist into Knuckles' eye. Knuckles stumbled back before Shadow ran forward and uppercut Knuckles, sending him into the air. With a simple jump Shadow was in the air, putting his fists in a ball and slamming them into Knuckles' spine, sending him flying down onto the ground. A massive crater formed upon impact, sending dust and rubble flying up.

Shadow floated down, arms crossed as Knuckles picked himself up. "One last chance. Give me the emerald, or-" Knuckles cut Shadow off with a spear that knocked them both into the emerald alter. Knuckles pulled back his fist to slam into Shadow, who grabbed it and crashed his heel into Knuckles' chin. Knuckles landed on his back as Shadow powered up his skates and grabbed Knuckles by the dreadlocks, dragging him through the ground. He did this for several miles (although it was only a few seconds to them) until they hit carnival night zone, and tossed Knuckles through one of the many barrels.

Knuckles pushed himself up, only for Shadow to land on his back and drag Knuckles on the ground yet again, but this time Knuckles pushed up and threw Shadow off of him. Knuckles grabbed Shadow by the head and, while in the air, put his feet on his stomach, and pushed off with enough force to send Shadow flying with a mach cone forming around him. He hit one of the many walls in the zone, which cracked under the intense pressure. Shadow grit his teeth and launched off it, shattering the wall under his launch. Knuckles leaped into the air just in time for Shadow to tackle Knuckles in the gut and crashing out of the carnival zone.

They landed on the ground and separated, rolling away from each other. The two stared each other down, running at each other after a few moments of dead silence. Their clash shattered the ground around them, clashing forearms and pushing each other back and forward. Eventually, after several moments of clashing, Shadow managed to create a tiny chaos spear, and launched it at Knuckles' face. It scrapped across Knuckles' skull, causing him to flinch in pain. At this point, Shadow pulled back his fist and slammed him across the face, throwing him back.

Knuckles slammed into the ground feet first, dragging and causing rubble to fly up, as Shadow swung at him from above with another chaos spear, Knuckles somersaulting out of the way to avoid becoming a pincushion. Shadow pulled back his leg for a spinning kick, only for Knuckles to block it. He grit his teeth and grabbed Shadow by the leg, slamming him face first onto the ground. He pulled Shadow back, under his feet, and went for a stomp, but Shadow rocketed himself up and drove an elbow into Knuckle's face while the echidna was off balance. It flung Knuckles back yet again, hitting the ground hard. Knuckles pushed himself up and felt a warm fluid reaching his lips. He wiped at his muzzle and brought his glove in front of his face. Blood was streaming from his nose, and he could taste it in his mouth.

Shadow landed. "Are you done yet echidna?" He asked, Knuckles growling and running forward. Knuckles swung at Shadow, only for him to dodge and slam his elbow into Knuckles' back, feeling something crack under his hit. Knuckles slammed on the ground and coughed up blood as Shadow scoffed. "It's over." He said. "I win." Shadow said as he turned and walked away. Knuckles grabbed his leg, but Shadow slammed his heel into his face. "I said, it's over." "Not.. Not yet." Knuckles said, again grabbing for Shadow's leg. This time Shadow dodged and growled. "Alright. You want to be that way?" Shadow drew back his leg and swung at Knuckles… who smiled. Knuckles pushed away and swung at Shadow's knee, shattering it.

Shadow roared in pain as he felt his kneecap shater, as Knuckles began to form lightning and fire around his fists. He drew back his fist and slammed into Shadow's face. Knuckles began a massive barrage on Shadow, shockwaves of lightning and fire shooting off. He roared as his punches became faster and faster, the island practically shaking beneath them. He drew back his right fist and, with a final roar, uppercutted Shadow hard enough to create a massive shockwave around the island.

Shadow was flung back and slammed into the emerald alter at what seemed like mach 5. He tried pushing himself up, only for Knuckles to push him down. "Had enough?" Knuckles asked, glaring at Shadow, who grit his teeth. He blew Knuckles back with a burst of chaos energy, as Knuckles recovered on the ground. He lifted his head up, and saw Shadow putting his hand on the master emerald. "No!" he shouted, but it was too late. Shadow let out another burst of energy, blinding Knuckles, and then throwing a massive left hook into his stomach.

"Had enough?" Super Shadow said angrily, before tossing Knuckles aside and unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks on him, each one making a boom upon contact. He began turning upwards, pummeling Knuckles into the sky. Eventually Shadow stopped, holding a beaten and bloody Knuckles in his hands, miles above angel island. "Yeah. I think I've had enough now." And with one final punch, Shadow sent Knuckles flying downwards, creating a massive crater that sent cracks throughout the island. Shadow scoffed and began to fly back towards the master emerald. He stopped right in front of it, floating down and putting a hand on the emerald.

"Chaos-"

He was cut off by the red echidna bursting through the shrine, uppercutting Shadow and sending him sprawling onto the ground. But as soon as Knuckles' fist made contact with Shadow's chin, he felt the bones in his arm crack in ways they never should. Knuckles clenched his teeth in pain as he clenched and unclenched his fist, trying to null the pain in his arm.

Shadow got up and rubbed his jaw. "Impressive. Even in a super form you can send people flying. I guess that's what you did to Sonic all those years ago." Shadow said, Knuckles just staring at him through blood and sweat. "Yeah. Guess so." He said.

Shadow grimaced. "I'll make a note of that." He said, flying forward and slamming his fist into Knuckles' stomach again, this time causing the echidna to practically vomit blood up onto his arm, followed by Shadow grabbing him and slamming him into the shrine steps (which at this point, could barely be classified as rubble). Knuckles crawled out, only for Shadow to kick at him. Knuckles dodged and slammed a massive uppercut into Shadow's chin, as the bones in his arm cracked even more. Shadow flew back, Knuckles feeling the blood rush from his arm. "Sorry." He said quietly to the master emerald, before he began absorbing the emerald's energy. It seemed to blink with how much power was being absorbed, Knuckles' breathing becoming faster and faster.

Shadow stopped himself in the air, and wiped his mouth before grabbing his wrists. With a simple turn, his inhibitor rings fell off. "I tried to be nice." He said, before his silver aura became tainted with red, his eyes now the same pure color.

Knuckles looked up, his arm (and most of his face) bleeding, but chaos energy coursing through his veins. He looked up at Shadow, his eyes now pure green.

Shadow let out a yell as he rocketed down at angel island, the sky turning red. Knuckles ran towards the spot he was dropping to, the land turning green. Knuckles stopped for just a brief second to get a look at Shadow, who pulled back his fist. In that brief second, Knuckles launched up and pulled back his good arm. With a yell that would haunt the dreams of anyone who heard them, Knuckles and Shadow collided in mid air, a massive explosion that coated the land, sea and air in green and red light erupting. The planet seemed to shake at the impact, the world wondering what just happened. Station Square looked up and saw the explosion, people and animals alike gazing up at the immense show of power.

After what seemed like several minutes, the explosion finally settled. A body fell from the explosion, landing on angel island with an audible thump.

Knuckles the echidna lay there. Beaten, bloody, now missing an arm… and holding one of Shadow's inhibitor rings.

"... Nice fight." Knuckles said before laying back and closing his eyes.