Hi! I'm back with another update. Sorry if it's been too long. I went back to college after finishing the first chapter, but I'll update every chance I get. Especially since a lot of you want me continue. You've all made me very excited to write this, and I'm gonna do just that, but first, the holy reviewer responses!

Captain Deoxys: I had a feeling you'd be the first reviewer! You and your Kyuubis and Juggernauts! Thanks so much for being a fan! Are we all gonna die? Some of us might, but not before Knux and Rouge get a chance to share their feelings. If he can survive, that is.

Tails and Cream: Wow! I'm impressed you liked the story even though you don't know Naruto. I'm amazed that you even faved it. I hope you continue to stick around, even though it's intended for Naruto fans. I guess you could consider this a normal story, just with a ton of OCs. You might find the next chapters confusing, but at its heart, it's a story with Tails as the main character and there will be a little TailsxCream stuff too, if you like that.

Lycropath: You love it? Awesome! That makes me so happy! Thanks for the compliment on Orochimaru. I'm trying to show how evil a badass he can get. Good to see it's working. I like your pairing suggestions. I too am a big fan of NaruHina and ShikaTem. We may definitely be seeing some of that.

Blue Mage Quartet: Thanks! Glad I exceeded your expectations. For a second, I thought you were gonna do a Monty Python thing there.

Rouge: Knuckles! Please don't die.

Knux: I'm not dead yet!

Rouge: Yes, you are. (sobs)

Knux: No, really. I think I'm fine.

Rouge: You'll live on in my heart forever.

Knux: But I'm alive right here.

Rouge: Knux! Stop ruining the tragic scene.

Knux: In fact, I'm all better.

Rouge: (shoots Knux in the head, killing him.) Knuckles! Nooooooo! (cries)

Angelus-alvus: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like the idea. It is a pretty cool idea, isn't it? I haven't got everything figured out yet, but keep reading and see how it all unfolds.

Azngirlchibi: Thanks for saying it's awesome. I'm pleased you liked the gory descriptions. If I grossed you out, then good. That's what I intended. Mwahahahaha! Not every chapter is gonna be as gross as the first one, but you can expect some heavy violence every now and then.

Maverick 87: Awesome! Thanks for showing the love, man. Hearing that makes me want to continue to do my best to create as awesome a story as I can. We'll see just how amazing we can make this story.

SasuukeAkzakura: Thanks for the review, my friend. I promise I will continue. In fact, I'm going to continue this… right now.

Silver Horror: Now that's a review that made my day! Coolx3! Awesome. I hope you continue to like it and I hope to make this fic aspire to greater heights of coolness.

Melody's last song: Thanks! I'm so pleased that you enjoyed everything. Sorry if the snake imagery was too disturbing. If at any point things get too nasty for you, go ahead and tell me to tone it down. Oh, and I had no idea that you were also doing a Naruto/Sonic story. But yeah, good luck with that and all your stories.

And with that, let's kick it old school style!

Chapter II: Troublesome Encounters

Konoha-The Hidden Village of Leaves, Fire Country 6:00AM

"Shikamaru! Wake up!"

"No. It's too troublesome."

"I said get your lazy ass up!" a female's voice yelled. It was followed by the hard thud of something heavy and metallic pounding into the tree that he was sleeping under.

The girl's voice and the vibrations of her big weapon forced Shikamaru, Konoha's number one lazy ninja to jump to his feet. He looked up to meet his attacker. It turned out to be someone he was well acquainted with.

Temari, the wind ninja from the hidden village of Sand was a dangerous girl. The weapon in her hand was a man sized fan that served as the focus of her deadly techniques that could create winds as strong as a hurricane. Those slashing winds could cut through anything. Shikamaru was privileged to see these techniques first hand. She was known to use them whenever she got angry.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru thought. "She looks angry now."

"Do you know how badly I could hurt you?" the blonde ninja threatened with a sly smile.

"Heh. All I know is how much like my mom you sound like," Shikamaru quipped.

"Does your mom give you spankings?" Temari shot back.

"No, because that's such a troublesome form of discipline. She just nags a lot."

"Well, then prepare yourself for a lot of nagging," which is exactly what Temari was already doing. She was even waving her finger in the air. "The Hokage is waiting for you and sent me out to look for you, so I see the lazy dumbass lying under a tree. I can't believe you were lazy enough to fall asleep on the way over. You have no idea how pissed off she is."

"I'll just bet she is. That troublesome old hag." Shikamaru yawned and went back to resting under the tree. He placed his arms behind his head, using them as a pillow. "She pisses me off also."

"You could get in a lot of trouble for saying that. If we ever got married, I'd make sure you'd never mouth off like that," Temari nagged, waving her finger.

"First she talks about punishment and now marriage? She certainly likes to bring up troublesome topics."

"Gaara is waiting there, too. Thatmeans you're making two kages angry. Jeez, there's only like, five Kages in the whole world. It's only seven in the morning. You'll have every Kage in the world on your case by noon at this rate."

"Gaara?" Shikamaru had to admit that he didn't want to get on the nerves of Temari's little brother, the super powerful Gaara of the Sand. "He's beyond troublesome. He's scary."

"They're still waiting. You coming or not?"

Shikamaru jumped to his feet and stretched with a yawn. "Yeah, let's go. I don't need to be any later than I already am."

Temari laughed. "You don't have to worry too much. That runt, Naruto is supposed to show up to the meeting also, and he's missing too."

Shikamaru let out a depressed sigh. "Naruto's coming?" The thought made him roll his eyes. "This is going to be such a noisy mission. What are the details, anyway?"

"Something from the Sand village's secret treasury was stolen. It was a newly acquired thing so I don't know exactly what the importance of it was. They called it a "chaos emerald" or something. I don't know. It responds to people's chakra. All we can be sure of is one thing."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Sasuke took it."

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "You mean you found him?"

"Not exactly. We came to Konoha for help in tracking him down."

"Well, where did he go?"

"Somewhere off this planet."

-------------------

The Hidden Palace, Master Emerald Shrine

"What have I been doing all this time?" Rouge looked down on Knuckles' body with eyes welled with tears.

"Who did I think I was acting like the tough girl, not even once showing my true feelings? You probably never knew how much I really cared for you."

The Master Emerald continued to resonate, lighting up the chamber with its emerald glow, then sending the cave back into darkness.

Rouge's eyes beamed at the Emerald. As she focused on the glowing gem, she gritted her teeth.

"I thought this was the treasure that mattered most to me. I thought that if I had all the jewels in the world, that would make me happy. How could I have been so stupid?"

Rouge stepped up to the Master Emerald and rubbed her hand along its etched surface. "Knuckles talks to you a lot, doesn't he? I've watched him do it."

She waited to see if she could get a response from the Emerald.

"Do you ever talk back? Can he hear you?"

No answer from the Emerald.

"If you have any sentience at all, then you know that Knuckles gave everything he had for you. Are you going to just sit there and watch your only guardian die? Huh?"

The Master Emerald's green glow deepened. Its rhythm changed slightly. It answered Rouge's questions by sending a small surge of chaos energy up her arm and into her head. She wasn't getting any clear messages from the emerald. It only added to her frustration.

"STUPID ROCK!" Rouge shouted, kicking the Master Emerald off its pedestal, causing in to crash onto the stone floor.

"What the Hell is the point of all this cosmic crap anyway? I want Knuckles back! You owe it to him." Her voice started to croak. "He protected you," More tears fell out of her eyes. They glistened a light clear green from reflecting the light of the Emerald.

"This is all my fault, Knux. Maybe if I told you how much you really meant to me, you would have something else to live for other than guarding this place. I would have taken you away from this island and we could've been happy together." A weak smile formed on Rouge's lips as she pictured her dream of living with Knuckles. "You could've given up this guardian business, but then, I too gave in to the allure of the emeralds. I lost sight of what really matters. I should have shown you my true feelings."

"It's better that you didn't," said a voice coming from the darkness.

Rouge span around abruptly, "Who's there?" She tried to force her tears back into her. The last thing she needed was for an enemy to see her weak.

"Showing your feelings just makes things more complicated," he continued while he stepped out of the shadows. He revealed himself to be a black and red hedgehog.

"Shadow? I never expected to see you again. Did you know about this?"

"My chaos powers tell me whenever something's unusual about the flow of chaos energy. Just recently, I've been sensing some unusual activity with the Master Emerald. There's been an incredible disturbance. I just came to see for myself, but I've got no time to stay and chat. I'll need to speak to that faker."

"What? You're leaving already?"

"Things are going to get very troublesome. I've wasted enough time here."

"Wait," Rouge protested. "You can't just leave yet, what about Knuckles?"

"He was the first. He was just unlucky," he said without a hint of compassion in his voice.

Rouge grabbed Shadow by the arm and pulled him towards Knuckles. "But you can help him. Use your powers. See if you can heal him."

Shadow broke Rouge's grip and backed away. "I've never done anything like that before, and there's no time for me to play around. We need to stay on the move."

"Playing around?" Rouge went livid. "The person I care most about in the world is going to die, and you're his last hope. That's hardly playing around!"

"Not my problem," the black hedgehog responded while walking away.

"I can't believe you! After everything we've been through together. Do you have any idea what I feel like right now? Don't you have someone that's important to you? Don't you know what it's like to lose someone like that?"

"Maria...," Shadow whispered too faintly for Rouge to hear.

Taking in Rouge's words and remembering that name, he stared up at nothing in particular, as if he was looking at something far away.

"And if he dies, I'm blaming it on you!" the bat added with an accusing finger.

Shadow just shrugged and sighed. "Fine. Put the Master Emerald back where it belongs."

The bat hurriedly recovered the Emerald and returned to its place on the pedestal. Shadow lifted Knuckles and laid him down adjacent to the Emerald. Shadow's red eyes quickly scanned the echidna's body. "Only a few physical injuries. It's Knuckles' mind that's been severely wounded."

"What does that mean?" Rouge asked worriedly.

"It means that this makes things more difficult than a physical injury. I'm going to infuse his brain with a steady dose of chaos energy. Hopefully, it should be able to override whatever contaminated his mind. If it works, his head should be clear enough so that he can get back to breathing properly."

"What if that doesn't work?"

"His head will explode," Shadow said very nonchalantly.

Rouge grimaced at the thought of her Knux's head getting blown up. "All right. Do that. Just be careful."

"Sure. I got it," Shadow said. Rouge detected a slight smile on Shadow's lips when he said that. It vanished as quickly as it came, but the bat made sure to register that in her memory as one of the more unusual things she saw today.

Shadow shut his eyes, gently placed one hand on Knuckles' forehead and breathed deeply. A yellow surge of chaos energy formed in the hedgehog's hand and he directed it to flow into the echidna's head. Rouge looked on with her hands clasped together.

Shadow opened up one eye, which locked on Rouge. He saw her clasping her hands over heart and she seemed to be whispering something intently. "Is she praying? That's very interesting." He shut his eye and redirected his concentration to his echidna patient. He visualized the flow of energy seeping into every corner of Knuckles' brain. The gray matter went alight with the presence of Chaos. It reached every cell, mingling with the electrical signals sent by the neurons.

The black hedgehog could see and feel all of Knuckles' thoughts and memories as their energies joined together. He paid particular attention to the most recent memories.

"Pain. A lot of pain."

"Serpents from a realm of nightmares."

"Snakes. Swarming everywhere."

"Teeth coursing with venom."

"Strangers from another world."

"Powers unlike anything seen before."

"A boy with a heart full of hate and eyes set on vengeance."

"A madman with slitted, yellow eyes of malice."

"Orochimaru, the Snake Lord."

"Their ambition to kill anything in their way."

"A guardian's last stand."

"His failure."

"A bat lover pouring out her true feelings. The sorrow, the remorse, the fear of death's hovering sword, threatening to kill all her hopes and dreams. Her important person."

"So, his subconscious is still aware."

Sweat poured down Shadow's brow. Even just sharing these memories was stressful. Shadow could only imagine what it must have been like for Knuckles. He sensed the snakes that had delivered the "venom" that took Knuckles out. Their presence still lingered in his psyche.

As the chaos energy reacted with the twisted chakra that birthed the snakes, Shadow heard the constant hissing enter his own head. The snakes screamed and then vaporized into clouds of dark, purple smoke. The smoke surrounded both the hedgehog and the echidna, swirling around them, engulfing them both and the Master Emerald in a miasma of black and purple.

"Shadow! What's going on?" Rouge cried. She rushed up to the Master Emerald stand with short breaths. Her hand reached out to touch the clouds, but she never made it through. The clouds erupted into a whirlwind that pushed her back. Rouge was left with no choice but to do the one thing she hated. Waiting.

The dark whirlwind swirled faster and faster. Rouge had no idea if this was a good sign or a bad sign. Everything was happening so fast, so many thoughts ran through her head.

"He's going to die."

"No! He's going to live."

"His head's going to blow up."

Meanwhile, her heart too was racing. "Fight it, Knuckles. You have to fight it!" she cried from the depths of her heart.

Inside the whirlwind, Shadow heard Rouge's pleas. They were echoing through Knuckles' mind. Shadow wasn't sure why or how, but he felt his control over it all improving.

"It's Rouge. Her words. They're giving Knuckles strength somehow."

Knuckles' head went ablaze with a storm of chaotic energy. The forces pushed Shadow this way and that way. He tightened his hand on Knuckles, trying his hardest to keep the situation as stable as possible. "Hold on…just a little bit… more."

-------------------

Inside Knuckles' Head

The chaos energy opened up the door to the deepest reaches of Knuckles' mind. Shadow found himself moving beyond Knuckles' memories. He entered Knuckles' subconscious realm.

That's when he saw it.

It was Knuckles. The very core of his psyche, anyway.

Shadow saw Knuckles struggling. He was caught in the vise of a monstrous constrictor snake. Behind the snake was a void of utter blackness. Shadow was sure that if Knuckles went in there, he would be lost forever. He swam through the astral space with hopes of releasing Knuckles from the serpent's grasp.

"This snake. It's the manifestation of Orochimaru's cursed chakra," Knuckles' subconscious spoke weakly. "There's no breaking it."

"That's not true," said Shadow's mind. "I can free you. I just need a little more power. I need…" Shadow's thoughts were cut off by an otherworldly presence coming from behind him. Something came towards Shadow and Knuckles. It was an angel, bathed in golden and silvery light. Shadow struggled to look at the celestial being before him, but his eyes were blurred by the intense glow.

"No! Stay away!" demanded the serpent.

"Whatever this is, it looks good," thought Shadow.

Then he realized what stood before him.

It was Rouge. She hovered there in the form of angel. Her leathery wings were complimented by a pair of huge feathery wings of the purest shining white. On her angelic face was a look of complete serenity. Her heavenly rays shined down lovingly upon Knuckles. They seemed to be bringing life into him.

Knuckles stared up at Angel Rouge. "Rouge, you're so beautiful. More beautiful than ever before. I wish I could get to look at you more often."

"Knuckles," Angel Rouge spoke. "I am the form of the eternal love that exists between us. It is the one thing that can free you from the serpent's hold." Angel Rouge spoke to Shadow without breaking her gaze from Knuckles. "Shadow, keeps the constant flow of chaos energy going. I'm going to end this now."

Angel Rouge reached out to Knuckles her arms. She smiled a smile that could not come from a mortal. As she drew closer, Knuckles' voice grew stronger. "You smell nice, Rouge."

"I'm taking you out of this Hell, Knux. Then, we can be together once again." Their arms connected together and Angel Rouge pulled Knux away from the snake.

"Just a little bit longer," Shadow told himself while continuously pouring the chaos energy into Knuckles' head.

-------------------

Moments later, the purple winds died down. Inside the settling mist, Rouge made out the shape of Shadow. While the mist cleared away, Shadow stood there in the midst of it all, out of breath. He looked down to see Rouge with her eyes shut tight and her fingers plugged into her ears. "She must have no idea what I saw in there. If only she knew."

"Hey, Rouge," he called to her. "Snap out of it."

Rouge looked up to see Shadow standing in the midst of the slowly fading purple fog. He had a sorrowful look on his face.

"Listen to me Rouge," he said solemnly. "Knuckles the Echidna…," he paused to think of what to say next.

"Yes? What happened?"

Shadow took a deep breath and started again. "Knuckles the Echidna is gone…"

Rouge's entire world shattered. Any tears she was holding in began flooding forth. Her heart tore itself apart. Her limbs gave up, leaving her dropping to the floor. Her violet eyes went blank, devoid of any emotion.

"No…," she mouthed that word, but she couldn't make a sound. "It can't be…"

"…from lying at death's door to being safely out of danger," Shadow finished.

Rouge stopped crying immediately.

"WHAT!"

Life once again returned to her eyes. In fact, her eyes were practically on fire. She furiously stepped up to face Shadow. The way her feet stomped on the ground told Shadow that she intended to do something very painful.

"You should've let me finish," Shadow said. A slight smile curled around his mouth. If anyone blinked, they would've missed it. "Didn't I tell you it was better not to get all emotional? It just messes you up."

"Don't you ever pull something like that off, you son of a bitch!" Rouge yelled, grabbing Shadow's neck. "You really are one dark, nutcase. A sick, cruel, angsty, gothic, unloving, twisted psychopath! And not only that, but…you saved his life didn't you?" the bat finished, letting go of her grip on Shadow.

"Yeah. Knuckles is out of danger."

The dark clouds completely dissipated, revealing Knuckles the Echidna lying peacefully in front of the Master Emerald. His chest showed the signs of his rhythmic breathing. Color returned to his body.

Rouge's eyes gazed at Knuckles for a very long time. Her eyes were watery and looked ready to burst again, but this time, her eyes were filled with tears of joy.

"So like I said, I'm running out of time," Shadow interrupted. "I have to go find out what's going on." Once again, he started to leave.

"Wait," the bat girl called again.

"What now?" he replied in an aggravated tone.

"Is Knuckles going to wake up?" she asked, pointing at the unconscious Knuckles.

Shadow shrugged again. "I don't know when he'll wake up. All I was able to do was keep him from dying. He's still in a coma, though. Maybe he'll never wake up."

"You saying he's a vegetable?" Rouge couldn't believe Shadow. He had about as much empathy as Sonic had humility.

"Like a tomato," Shadow said in a matter of fact tone. "Hmph," The hedgehog chuckled. "He looks just like one, doesn't he?"

Rouge threw her arms up in the air. "That's just great. Now what am I supposed to do?"

"We'll take him with us. Maybe we can cure him on the way."

"You really think so?" Rouge's eyes lit up at the thought.

"Sure. Now these guys are looking for the chaos emeralds. I've got two on me, so we're sure to run into them anytime. Still, we'd better find the others before more people end up like Knux other there."

"Where do you think they're headed to next?"

"The faker and Tails both have chaos emeralds. They'll likely go for Tails next."

"Sounds good. Let's get to the Mystic Ruins, then."

"Before we go, let me ask you something,"

"What?"

"About whoever did this to Knuckles. Well…"

"Well what?"

"Are you feeling vengeful?" he asked. A gun appeared out of thin air in Shadow's hand and he started twirling a pistol around his finger.

"You better believe it." She replied confidently.

"Good. Use it," Having said those words, Shadow tossed a handgun to Rouge.

"So you can use chaos control to teleport weapons now?" Rouge asked with great interest.

"Yeah. It's a handy ability. I think we're going to need every advantage we can get this time. It seems that we're going to be dealing with a lot of weirdoes," he said while loading another handgun. "For this reason-"

"Look out, Shadow!" Rouge shrieked. Shadow turned to see a six foot long snake, mouth wide open, fangs bared, and sailing straight for him.

Shadow pointed the barrel of his gun towards the snake and let a bullet from his gun catch the thing in midair. It resulted in an explosion of ectoplasm that quickly evaporated into purple mist.

"Illusions that are quasi-real," Shadow analyzed. "That could drive anybody nuts."

"I hate snakes!" Rouge spat.

"A lot of weirdoes," Shadow repeated that thought to himself.

-------------------

Chapter 2 done! There, that resolved what happened to Knuckles and Rouge. Now to move on to the other characters.

Next Chapter: Shikamaru and Temari meet up with Naruto and the rest of the Konoha Eleven. Oh, yeah. And Tails, too! Yeah, I'll bet you've been waiting for him. I'm already writing Chapter 3, so it'll be around sometime. In the meantime, please review this one.

Shikamaru: Hmmph. Nobody's going to leave reviews. It's too troublesome.

Temari: Why won't they? You didn't like this chapter?

Shikamaru: It introduced a lameass like me. Nobody's interested in reading about me.

Temari: Really? You'd be surprised by how many Shikamaru fangirls there are there.

Shikamaru: Not as many as Sasuke.

Sasuke: Hey, I'm in the next chapter! (Fangirls cheer)

Shikamaru: Not if I was writing this. Updating is so troublesome.

Sonic: Where's my fangirls?

Shadow: They're mine, faker.

Amy: I'll be your fangirl, Sonikku! (chases Sonic)

Sonic: Nooooooooo!

Shikamaru: So these are the characters we're supposed to team up with? Thinking about them pisses me off. If I could review, I'd leave a flame.

Temari: Isn't that just too troublesome?

Shikamaru: …yes. Yes it is. Forget it. (Sighs) See you next chapter, everyone.