Cream and Cheese came up to Tails as he was working on the Tornado. "Tails, can I talk to you?" Cream asked, a little shyly.
Tails came out of his machine. "Yeah, what about?"
"It's Amy… She's acting strange…" Cream looked at her feet.
"It is probably best to leave her be for a while… Loosing Sonic…" Tails looked away, controlling his own emotions. "…It hit her pretty hard…"
Cream looked at Cheese. "..O.k…." She left.
Shadow stalked the remains of Eggman's base. He looked at the ruined walls. Then smiled to himself. "You sure did a lot of damage…" He jeered, smirking. "…Knuckles…" He turned to face his stalker.
Knuckles gritted his teeth. "What are you doing here?" He spat, hackles up.
"Oh, just paying my respects to Sonic. Too bad he's dead…" Shadow smirked, folding his arms.
Trembling, Knuckles itched to punch something. "Back off, Shadow. I'm mad as hell already. Don't provoke me…"
That made Shadow laugh. "You're so pathetic! What a Knucklehead!" He walked away, laughing.
Enraged, Knuckles started punching out a nearby pile of scrap metal. When he looked up again, he noticed a Keycard nearby where Shadow had been standing.
"That wasn't there before…" Knuckles mused. "Did Shadow drop it?" He scratched his head. "What should I do with it?"
Tails came out from his work on the Tornado. He wiped some sweat off his forehead, staining his face black with oil. "Almost done!" He encouraged himself.
He was about to delve back in when he heard his name.
"Tails?! Tails?! Where are ya?!" Knuckles called, waving something above his head. "I found something I need you to look at!"
"What is it?" Tails answered, putting his wrench down. He picked up a towel and cleaned himself up a little.
"I was at the ruins of Eggman's base, trying to find some sign as to what happened to Sonic... Shadow was there..." Knuckles looked at the thing in his hand. "I think he dropped this thing-a-ma-jig when he left. I don't know what to do with it so..." He held out the Keycard to Tails.
Tails took it, wracking his brain. "It's a Keycard, like the ones Eggman used. But it doesn't look like his at all..." Tails read the writing engraved on one side. "C.A.R... I wonder what that means..."
Knuckles left without a word.
"Let Tails deal with that thing... None of my business anyway..." Knuckles told himself as he returned to Angel Island. He started when he saw someone was at the Emerald.
Running as fast as he could, Knuckles charged for it. "GET AWAY FROM THE MASTER EMERALD!!" He howled, pulling back his fist for a punch. He skidded to a halt when he saw who it was.
"Amy?!" Knuckles asked, surprised. Amy froze, her back to Knuckles, still gazing at the emerald.
"Amy?" Knuckles asked again. "Are you o.k.?" He grabbed her shoulder, then jumped back. "You're freezing! Ice cold! What happened to you?!"
Amy finally turned. She had a dark smirk on her face. "I'm just fine, Knuckles, considering..." She was about to turn back to the emerald when something big hit her.
"Get away from her, Knuckles!" Rouge called. She was standing over Amy, who was sprawled on the grass at the base of the structure that the Emerald sat on.
Knuckles gapped. "What the HELL did you do that for, you lunatic?!" He jumped down after them. "You trying to kill her?!"
"That's the idea, Knucklehead," Rouge retorted. Amy got up.
"You know?" She asked, a little surprised.
"Every bit of it," Rouge answered. "Shadow is already looking for him. You might as well give up."
Knuckles looked from Amy to Rouge to Amy again. "What the HELL are you talking about?!"
"Amy's-"
"SHUT UP!" Amy knocked Rouge over before she could finish. "Knuckles, Rouge is trying to frame me into working with Eggman! To hurt Sonic!" She looked at him, tears in her eyes. "I heard Eggman talking to her about it for if he got caught. You remember hearing him say that I'd pay for his defeat when you saved me, right?" She almost pleaded.
Rouge got up. "Cut the act, Witch. Not even Knuckles is stupid enough to fall for that lame act..." She looked at Knuckles. "Or maybe he is!"
"STOP!" Knuckles yelled. He closed his eyes, trying to calm down. He hated when a problem couldn't be solved by punching something. "O.k., look, I don't know what's going on but-" As he was talking, a flash of rainbow light went off. He didn't look to see what it was.
"NO! The MASTER EMERALD!" Amy cried, sounding a little defeated.
Rouge was holding the emerald above her head. She smiled, a crazed look on her face, and threw the emerald high into the air. Another rainbow flash, and it had vanished. Rouge stood by the emerald's empty pedestal like she wasn't sure how she got there.
Amy pointed. "SEE!" She screamed accusingly. "She's trying to frame me, and now she's stolen the Master Emerald!"
Knuckles climbed up to Rouge. "Alright, Batgirl, that's enough!"
Rouge started, then waved her hands in front of her. "No! No, it's not what it looks like! I swear!"
"Enough!" Knuckles punched, and Rouge fell, groaning. "You can go to jail with Eggman!"
Amy smiled behind him.
Knuckles waited outside the jail cell where Rouge was held. He tapped his foot impatiently. Finally, Rouge got up.
"O.k., Batgirl, where did you send the Master Emerald?!"
Rouge looked at him through the bars. "I'm telling you, it wasn't me!" She jumped up to kick the bars, but fell down flat. She had a ball and chain on every limb, and a little shocking device on her neck and hips. She looked at herself. "Oh, how tacky! Is this your idea of fashion, Knucklehead?" She wasn't pleased.
"Can't you take anything seriously for five minutes?! Where is my emerald?!" Knuckles clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
"Geez, you just don't get it, do you?!" Rouge sighed, exasperated. "I can't help you if you won't listen to me!"
"Rouge? Knuckles?" Eggman asked from the next cell. "What's going on? Did she get you too, Rouge?"
"Uh, huh, she got me good. Although, I think in this case, Knuckles is the one who got fooled the most."
Eggman laughed. "You can't expect Knucklehead to understand the situation. When did you find out?"
"Shadow told me. He knew as soon as he saw her - but he saw her when she wasn't acting..."
Eggman sighed. "You believed him? Shadow tried to warn me too. I just laughed at the idea. And here I am..."
Rouge looked a little forlorn. "At this rate, Sonic is doomed!"
"Would you mind telling me what the hell this is all about?!" Knuckles punched a hole in the wall opposite the cells. "Sonic is dead, thanks to Egghead! So how can he be doomed?!"
"You're not going to believe me, so what's the point of telling you anything?" Rouge stuck up her nose. "You're so gullible, yet when we tell you the truth you don't believe us! What a Knucklehead!"
It took all his restraint not to thrash her. Knuckles spoke slowly and softly, a sign that he was about to explode. "Look, just tell me what is going on. I'm going to listen to you..."
Rouge blinked at him. "...Alright. Well, to start, Sonic isn't dead." Knuckles was about to interrupt her when she held up a finger. "Ah-ah, don't interrupt. Sonic isn't dead. He's being held captive in a secret facility against his will. And - now here is the part you're probobly not going to believe - the person holding him is-"
