Wee, chapter three! And, if you haven't guessed, character three!
Oh yes, something I forgot to mention on chapter one (since I didn't have enough room in the description...), there very well could be other couples besides Knuckles and Rouge... they're just the only definite ones.
Well, I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, or any other characters from the games or Sonic X. I do not own Angel Island or the Master Emerald or other places/objects from the Sonic games or Sonic X, either. o.o' Also, there is no offense meant with the history question, it's just something that's studied in history. I don't think anything will be wrong with it, but I just want to make sure... o.o''
--The Protectors of the Emerald--"I wish you could see this, honey," the pilot of a passenger airplane spoke on his phone. "The ocean looks so beautiful with the cloud cover. Hold on, we're approaching more clouds. I need to pilot." He slowly moved the plane through the thick clouds, a little worried—not being able to see was not good, especially since the news reports of a floating island. Of course, he didn't believe there was a floating island, but this thick of clouds was still an ominous sign. The plane jerked a little, despite his attempts to keep it steady. He pulled up, trying to get above the clouds.
The clouds broke and released the plane back into normal air. Below the airplane was an island that did not touch the water. Forests and streams covered it. A huge mountain poked up through the forests. A few clouds floated above the wild landscape, adding to the beauty. "Oh... my..."
The pilot quickly pulled the microphone to talk to the passengers towards him. "If you'll look out your windows, you will now see that we are above a floating island." He threw the microphone away from him and called out to the other members of the staff, "Someone, get a camera!" He turned his cell phone off of mute and said, "You're never going to believe this. We're actually going over the floating island. I'll try to get many pictures for you—Where's the camera, people? Yes, you'll definitely be able to see it soon. You'll ride the next plane goin—Hey, who are you? You can't come up here!"
Two passengers stood there. The tallest one was a boy with long, red hair tied in a ponytail. His purple eyes stared out the window. He wore a red T-shirt, cargos, and tennis shoes. The girl next to him had light orange hair and blue eyes. She wore a white tank top and a long, green skirt. Her white sandals wrapped around her whole foot. She bent down and tied part of the skirt around one leg, and then the other with a string. Both of the teenagers wore backpacks.
"Go back to your seats! H-hey!"
The boy opened the door to the airplane. Wind rushed in his face, making his hair fly and clothes rustle. The girl stood behind him, trying to keep her hair out of her face.
"Get away from there! It's dangerous!" the pilot yelled, standing.
The girl turned to him. "We'll be gone in a minute, Sir. We're sorry to trouble you." She bowed lightly to him.
"There's definitely something there..." the boy said, staring down at the floating island. "Ready, Karen?"
"...Yes."
The boy flung himself out of the door, causing the pilot to freak out. He yelled as loud as he could for help and grabbed the girl's arm. The girl waited, giving the boy enough time to fall out of her way. She then gently pushed the pilot away and pulled her arm free. She jumped out of the plane.
"No!" The pilot stared down, holding on to the door. The boy and the girl fell below him and the plane, their arms and legs spread out. The boy pulled a string on his backpack first, unleashing a parachute into the air. The girl then did the same. The two floated safely down until they landed on the grass of the island. They stood up and took the backpacks off, surveying the land as they did so.
They landed in the clearing of a forest. Small animals scurried around and birds sung happily. Many of the animals watched curiously, having no idea what these visitors were. Rocks of all different sizes lied on the ground. The girl, Karen, untied her skirt while the boy started walking, his destination set. Karen then ran to catch up with him.
"Do you feel something different here, too, Kevin?"
"More than that. I've felt it since long before the pilot announced us being here," Kevin answered.
"What?"
"There's something ahead of us... something powerful. I can feel it."
"I can feel something, too, but not very well. What do you think it is?"
"I don't know... but I know it's not harmful," Kevin assured the girl. "It's up there." He pointed at a stone monument that they could now see over the trees. They kept walking through the forest in silence until they reached it.
The shrine was broken. It had fallen apart from years upon years of standing in that same place. Only the main body was left completely standing, and even that looked crumbled. The main body rose up, getting smaller and smaller as it went to the top. A set of stairs climbed the whole thing. Pillars of different sizes stood on the stone platform and all around it in many circles. Some pillars had completely fallen to the ground. Animals made homes of the pillars on the ground, but none seemed to go up the main body of the shrine.
Karen stared in awe. "This place... its beautiful. It must've once been the glory of a nation."
Kevin didn't say anything. He slowly started walking up the stairs. Something... something's up there...
"Brother, wait up!" Karen called when she noticed that he was climbing the stairs. She also started climbing it.
He stood at the top and stared at it, the thing he had felt. It was a humongous green emerald. It shined brightly on the shrine, and it seemed to shine brighter and brighter as Kevin approached it. As his sister reached the top of the stairs, he slowly lifted his hands and reached for the emerald. He grabbed the lovely thing with both of his hands at the same time, and a blinding white light engulfed him.
"Kevin?" Karen hid her eyes so as not to be blinded, but she was very worried. "Kevin!"
The light died down and Karen slowly opened her eyes again.
"The Master Emerald, huh?" she heard her brother's voice say. She turned to see him, glad to hear him okay. However, her brother was nowhere in sight. A red echidna stood in front of the emerald, one hand on it. His spikes hung down in dreadlocks and a curved white mark was on his chest, looking almost like a necklace. He wore huge white gloves with two spikes on each glove. His shoes were red with a yellow stripe across them. On top of the shoes was a huge silver buckle. The socks he wore were green. His tail zigzagged out. He stared at the emerald with a smile on his face and pride in his purple eyes.
"W-who are you?" Karen demanded. "And where's Kevin?"
The red echidna turned around and stared at the girl, not knowing what to say.
Those eyes... those purple eyes... those are Kevin's eyes...
"Wh... what happened to my brother?"
----
At the end of the Language Arts class, everyone received the scores on their tests from the day before. All of the students conversed with their friends over how they did while waiting for the next class to start.
"You always get a one hundred!" Tim said after he saw Miles' paper.
"It was a good book, so I remembered everything."
"Good? More like boring!"
"And what'd Sir Sleeps-a-lot get?" Kevin taunted, leaning back in his chair. To both his and Tim's dismay, Kevin had been sat one in front of Tim at the beginning of the year. Tim glared at his enemy.
"Read it and weep!" Tim boasted, handing his paper over. Kevin took it and stared for a few minutes without a word. Tim smirked. Ha, I finally got him! he thought.
"...You call that good?" Kevin finally asked.
"What do you mean? Of course that's good! These tests are hard!"
"Not if you read the book."
"I did read it!"
"What'd you get?" Emily asked Tim curiously. She sat to his right.
"An eighty-two!" Tim boasted. "I bet Kevin got lower than that, he just doesn't want to admit it!"
"Oh really?" Kevin held up his own paper. On it was an eight-five. Tim stopped everything, not believing that Kevin beat him again. Tim's anger rose.
"All right! We'll settle this next period!"
Ruby curiously looked over at Tim's paper before Kevin tossed it back. She sat just to Kevin's right, in front of Emily. She then sat back in her chair, happy.
"What did you get, Ruby?" Kevin asked.
"An eight-five."
"Wow, you got the same thing as me!"
"Yes, ironic, isn't it?" she asked, not sounded surprised at all.
"Good job," Kevin congratulated sincerely. She must've liked that book... she usually doesn't do that well. That's good... Hopefully she'll continue doing this well.
"Thank you..." ...for not covering your answers, Ruby thought deceitfully.
The bell rung for the next period to start. Dr. Eggman called for everyone to get in his or her seats as he stood up at the front. Tim glared at the back of Kevin's head. All right... I will beat him!
"You have a test tomorrow, so let's see how well you know the material... I'll go around and ask each of you a question. If someone gets it wrong, someone else can answer," Eggman announced. Tim and Kevin simultaneously pulled out a sheet of paper each—they each had to keep tally of who answered more questions correctly.
"Question one, Miss Sarel. What compromise brought in California as a free state, but allowed Utah and New Mexico to decide their status through popular sovereignty?"
"The..." she thought, stumped. "That's not the Missouri Compromise, is it...?"
"No. Next."
Miles raised his hand, but not nearly as fast as Tim's and Kevin's hands shot up.
"Mr. Parker."
Tim grinned, happy to have beaten Kevin. "The Compromise of 1750!"
"No. Next."
Tim's surprise was huge as some people laughed. Kevin's hand was the first up this time.
Kevin turned around in his chair just to rub his answer in Tim's face. "The Compromise of 1850."
"Correct, Mr. Hogosha."
Tim glared angrily as Dr. Eggman asked the next question. Every time someone got an answer wrong, Tim and Kevin raced to get their hands up first, whether they knew the answer or not.
"They're at it again..." Sam whispered to Alice from her seat behind Miles. "Who's winning so far?"
"Kevin won in Language Arts, and he's winning so far here."
"Tim better pick up the pace soon..."
The end of the History class gave Kevin another win. Like always, neither had lied on the tally, but they always had to make sure of the other one.
"All right!" Tim yelled. "Next is P.E.! You're not winning in there!" Especially since it's running day!
"Isn't that what you said about History?" Kevin taunted. Sparks flew as the two glared at each other; the people in both of their groups knew better than to try talking to them today. When the bell run, they walked out to the gym without a word to anyone and changed into their P.E. clothes quickly. They were the first in the gym and they sat on opposite sides of the room, glaring. The P.E. teacher, who the students called Coach Sensei, sighed, understanding this behavior all to well. Tim and Kevin competed in P.E. more than any other class; while they tied at sports, Tim always won the runs and Kevin always won in the weight room.
"Running is supposed to be a pace exercise," Coach Sensei told them, "not a race."
"We have to pace ourselves to get to the end," Tim pointed out.
"But the point of this is not to be exhausted afterwards."
"As long as I beat him..." both of them said as they turned to glare at each other again.
Coach Sensei chuckled; there really was no reason when they were like this. "Just don't over exhaust yourselves." The other students now started coming in and picking their seats. The members of Tim's posse wished him luck just as the members of Kevin's posse told him to do his best. When it was time for class to start, Coach Sensei called them to the track.
Tim and Kevin stood next to each other on the track, preparing to run. Coach Sensei led a long warm-up stretch just for the two.
"All right, class. I want a mile jog. That's ten laps. Start whenever you're ready."
"Miles, count us off," Tim said.
"O-okay..." Miles hurried over and stood to Tim's left, facing them. "On your mark... Get set... GO!"
The two raced off quickly, hurrying past anyone in their way.
"Maybe I should've given them two miles..." Coach Sensei complained.
"They would still wear themselves out..." Miles pointed out. Tim and Kevin then raced past, neck and neck. Miles started his jog.
Heh heh... I'll show you, Kevin! Tim thought ferociously. I'll wait until lap nine before showing you how fast hedgehogs run! They kept running, dodging people on their way. Lap three... four... five... six... seven... eight...
The crossed the line for lap nine at the same time—now it was time for both of them to push harder. They pulled ahead at the same interval as they turned the first corner. Sweat poured down both of their faces as they pushed themselves to the limit. As they turned the second corner, Tim pulled into the lead. His shoes changed color for a split second as he sped up on the straightaway. As Tim got further and further away, Kevin pushed himself harder to catch up. His shoes also changed color for a millisecond as he pushed. Tim turned the next corner seconds ahead of Kevin, who tried to go faster. Tim looked back on the straight path to notice Kevin slowly catching up. Tim smirked and ran just a little bit faster as he turned the last corner. He pushed himself off of the wall he almost ran into and ran for the finish.
Right after his right foot hit the other side of the finish line, he almost collapsed. His speed reduced tremendously as he spun off of the track. Kevin slowed down as he reached the finish line, knowing that it was too late anyway. He trudged over to the water fountain, where Tim was busy missing his mouth. Both of them were covered in sweat and on the verge of collapsing. They breathed heavily.
"Hurry... up..." Kevin said between breaths. "I need... water... too..."
Tim swayed. I guess my human form's not meant to run that fast... he thought tiredly. I'll leave Sonic speed to Sonic... if I can ever get that down... He collapsed onto the rail next to him.
"I told you not to exhaust yourself," Coach Sensei said as he extended a hand. "Need a hand?" Tim gladly took it and Coach Sensei helped him to a place to sit. He then walked over and waited for Kevin to finish his drink of water before offering the same thing. They sat there trying to catch their breath the rest of the class period without a single word.
The next period was math, where they compared warm-up answers and answers after the lecture, when Eggman gave them problems to try. Miles checked all of their answers and, to Tim's disappointment, Kevin won in math. The bell rang for lunch.
"That stupid Kevin..." Tim muttered to Miles and Hiei. The girls were still getting their lunch.
"You have to win in the next two classes to tie with him, don't you?" Hiei pointed out.
"Yes... and I will! He's not beating me!" Tim declared. And even so, I've won anyway—I can turn into a hedgehog and save people. That idiot would be bowing down before me if he knew...
"Huh? Who's that that Kevin's talking to?" Sam asked curiously as she and Alice walked over. "I don't believe I've seen her before." The boys curiously turned to look.
Kevin was talking to a girl wearing a school uniform. She had long, light orange hair and kind blue eyes.
"She's pretty... What's she doing hanging out with an idiot like Kevin?" Tim said.
"Does Tim have a crush on Miss Mystery Girl?" Sam joked.
"Don't let Emily hear that..." Alice suggested.
"I don't have a crush on anyone! I was just saying!" Tim yelled in his defense.
"And just what were you saying?" Emily's threatening voice boomed as she walked over.
"Urk!" Tim slowly turned to face her, his face pouring with sweat. "Uhh... N-nothing! Nothing at all!"
"What were you saying?" Emily demanded, not believing him.
Think fast, Tim... "Well, Alice wasn't feeling good today, so I was trying to compliment her to make her feel better... and Sam decided to torment me! Yeah, that's what happened!"
"Huh? Alice, is everything okay?" Emily asked, worried.
Alice laughed lightly. "Yes. I feel better now, thank you. That was quite entertaining to watch."
Thank you Alice! Tim thought happily. I knew I could count on her to stick up for me! Tim quickly changed the subject.
"Hey Kevin!" Mike, a member of Kevin's group, called. Kevin waved good-bye to the girl he had been talking to and ran over to his friends. Tim listened in, curious to find out just who that girl was.
"Hey guys," Kevin greeted.
"I heard of some more weird events last night!" Henry spoke up. "Did you hear? They say that yesterday, on one of the airplanes flying across the ocean... they passed over the floating island. And that's not all! Two passengers, a boy and a girl, jumped off of the plane."
What? Tim thought, now even more curious. Why would anyone do that?
"Are they okay?" John asked.
"It's said they had parachutes. And then—it gets better. They were never found after that. The pilot called the police, who went to the island on helicopters. Instead of finding the two kids, they found two hostile creatures near the center of the island... creatures sorta like that Sonic the Hedgehog."
We were not hostile, Kevin thought angrily. They came too close to the Master Emerald, so I made them leave.
"Whoa, really? Is that where he came from?"
"No one knows..."
"So what about the humans?"
"My guess is they died..."
"That's so creepy!"
"How'd they look?"
"Who, the creatures or the people?"
"...Both!"
"Well, the pilot said the boy had long, re—"
"Okay, that's enough of this foolishness," Kevin finally spoke up. Henry stared at his friend, now remembering the description given of the boy. "There is no floating island—the media's just trying to create stories again. You shouldn't believe them."
Come to think of it, Henry thought, the boy was described as looking much like Kevin... purple eyes and everything... But Kevin's still alive. So... did he have some twin that we didn't know about? If he did, maybe I shouldn't've brought it up!
"Like you're one to talk," said Ruby. "You believe almost anything someone says."
"I do not!"
"Yes you do," Mike joked.
Hostile creatures that look like me...? Tim thought. Now I have to check this out. They'll bring me a bad reputation if I don't.
The bell rang and everyone walked to his or her next period. Tim's group and Kevin's group happened to have the same fifth period: band.
The students walked in, one by one, and got out their instruments. Tim and John were the first to sit down in the trumpet section. Kevin and Hiei set up the percussion equipment in the back while Sam hit one of the drums on her way to the tuba section. Alice separated from her best friend to sit with the rest of the clarinets, and Emily divided the three girls up even more as she took her seat in the flute section. Henry, Mike, and Paul joked with each other as they got out their instruments and sat in the low brass section; Henry sat on the edge of the trombone section, Mike played the baritone, and Paul was their only mellophone. Ruby winked at the boys as she walked up holding her saxophone. And last, but definitely not least, Miles wobbled over carrying a base clarinet.
The music teacher stood at the podium, making sure everyone was there. She was a small woman named Miss Myra. Her short, blonde hair was tired into a loose ponytail; hair hung all around her face. "Today we're doing sight-reading—"
"YES!" Tim and Kevin burst out—sight-reading was one of the best for their war.
Miss Myra sighed. "Are you two competing again?"
"Yes," the whole class chorused for them. Tim and Kevin both blushed, feeling a little embarrassed.
Miss Myra shook her head and passed out the music. She gave the students time to look at it silently before she went over a few things with them. She then conducted while they attempted to play this new song. When the song was over, she went over how the band did, and then how each section did as a whole, like she normally did. She hated going over how each section did when Tim and Kevin were competing, but it was for each section's benefit. The percussion section messed up more than the trumpet section—Tim had won in band.
"Ha! Take that, Kevin!"
"It's still three to two in my favor," Kevin pointed out.
"We'll see about that! One more period!" The two glared at each other yet again.
In the next class, Chemistry, they worked on balancing equations again. Dr. Eggman passed out sheets of paper with equations to balance and let them work on that most of the period.
Okay, Miles reviewed this with me yesterday... Let's see... Oh yeah! Tim thought as he worked a problem. If I put a two here, I have two hydrogen... no, wait, four... So then...
At the end of the period, Miles checked both Tim's and Kevin's work again. Tim won.
The school day was over, leaving Tim and Kevin at a tie.
"Next time I will beat you!"
"Yeah right, I'll be the winner next time."
----
Dr. Eggman wandered the floating island in his usual flying machine, looking for something that might help him against the annoying hedgehog. He found a huge emerald that seemed to radiate much power. "I'll just take this..." he mumbled to himself as he greedily reached his hands out.
"STOP!" a voice called from behind him. A red creature ran up the stairs and punched at the doctor, who quickly floated up and out of the way. The creature glared at him. "Don't you dare touch the Master Emerald!"
"Oh? Is it yours? And who are you?"
"I'm Knuckles the Echidna, the protector of the Master Emerald."
Hmm... Another one of them... I wonder if I could have him fight that hedgehog... Dr. Eggman thought. "I hear there's a hedgehog who's after this emerald."
"What?"
"He'll probably come soon, so you might want to prepare yourself," Dr. Eggman said as he turned the machine away.
"Where are you going?"
"I just came here to keep that evil hedgehog from getting this lovely jewel, but since you seem to have that covered, I figured I should get out of your way."
"...Thanks for the warning," Knuckles said, making Eggman grin as he flew off. A girl watched from behind the trees, worried.
He fell for it! Eggman thought. Now all I have to do is get the hedgehog to that island... this should be easy... "Wait, is that...?" he noticed an airplane headed straight for him—the Tornado II. In it were Tails and Cream, and Sonic stood on the right wing. This is even more perfect than I thought... Dr. Eggman schemed as he hid around the rocks below the island. That hedgehog is headed straight for the island already! Now all I have to do is let that 'Knuckles' take care of him and then take that emerald for myself!
The Tornado II landed near the edge of the island and its passengers got out. They stared at the wild forest, wondering what lay in it.
"Hostile, eh? We'll have to be careful. You two stay behind me," Sonic instructed as he started walking. Cream walked behind him, and Tails took up the rear to keep an eye on Cream and Cheese.
"Wait, please!" a voice rang out. The four looked around, but they only saw trees and small animals.
"Who's there?"
"You haven't... come to steal the Master Emerald... have you?"
"Master Emerald? What's that?" Sonic asked. The person could tell that he was sincere and sighed in relief.
"Then please, I'm begging you... don't go any further. You could get hurt...!"
"I know," Sonic said. "I came to investigate hostile creatures, and I'll investigate them. I can't have all these rumors going around, you know."
"He's not hostile! He's been tricked by Dr. Eggman!"
"Tricked?"
"What do you mean?"
"Please wait here. I'll go tell him the truth, but until then, you must stay safe."
"Thank you for telling us, Miss...!" Cream called out.
"Sorry, I don't like waiting," Sonic said before he ran through the forest, curious as to what she was talking about.
"Sonic!" Tails called behind him. He, Cream, and Cheese chased after Sonic.
"Oh no..." the girl muttered, even more worried.
Sonic ran until he reached a stone shrine; at the bottom of the shrine stood a red echidna. He glared at Sonic.
"So, the rumors are true," said Sonic. "There is a hostile creature in these parts."
"I won't let you take the Master Emerald," Knuckles said.
"What's this Master Emer—ALD?" Sonic yelped as Knuckles attacked him quickly. Sonic jumped up, landing in a tree. Knuckles whipped around and destroyed the tree with one punch. Finding himself falling, Sonic quickly took to another tree. This guy's dangerous! Sonic felt the tree he stood in moving underneath his feet. He looked down to see Knuckles picking it up. Sonic's eye widened as Knuckles threw the tree and Sonic.
He hit the ground, trapped in the trees branches. The trunk hung above him, only staying up due to a few branches holding it. Sonic heard the deafening sound of those few branches starting to crack. Sonic cursed and curled up, quickly spinning. The branches broke and the tree fell on top of the spinning hedgehog. The tree spilt in half and the halves fell on either side of Sonic. When all of the branches were finished, Sonic stopped spinning.
"Pretty good... for a hedgehog," Knuckles said as he walked up, one hand on his hip.
"And your pretty strong... Dreadlocks!" Sonic jumped out of his leafy prison and punched Knuckles quickly. Knuckles attempted to punch Sonic, but Sonic quickly moved and kicked. Knuckles blocked Sonic's foot and punched the hedgehog in the stomach, sending him back a little. The two charged, attacking each other at the same time. Their shoulders hit each other and they fell back, but they quickly regained and charged again. Knuckles punched, Sonic dodged; Sonic punched, Knuckles dodged. The battle raged on, both getting scars but neither tiring.
"Sonic!"
"Mr. Sonic!"
"Chao chao!"
"Oh no..." The girl ran for the battle. "Please, stop!"
Sonic and Knuckles continued fighting, not even hearing the others. Sonic punched Knuckles, who charged back and punched Sonic. This guy's tough! Sonic thought, sweating. He was starting to wear out. I'll have to take him out quickly...
He's stronger than I thought, went through Knuckles' head as he, too, breathed heavily and sweated. But he won't survive this...!
Sonic curled up and spun quickly while Knuckles prepared his strongest punch. The girl continued running, trying desperately to stop the two. Sonic charged at Knuckles, spinning.
"Stop!" the girl yelled out again as she got closer.
That girl from before...!
Karen? Knuckles dared move his eyes to see his sister about to come between him and Sonic. "Idiot!" Knuckles jumped out of the way, pushing the girl down to the ground as he, too, hit it. Sonic spun past them before he could uncurl. He turned around to look, worried.
Whew, looks like she's okay... Sonic thought as Knuckles stood up. Tails ran over to Sonic while Cream ran over to the girl.
"Miss, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, thank you."
"You idiot, what are you doing here? Today's my day, remember?"
"I know, but..." She looked down. She was a light orange echidna with kind blue eyes. There were two wraps of cloth around her two front dreadlocks and around two in the back. She wore a gold band around her head with a square blue sapphire in it. Her large necklace had the same sort of pattern as the headband and an oval sapphire. High up on her right arm was a gold armlet and on her left, a band of cloth was wrapped twice around, a little lower than the armlet. Huge blue bracelets hung above her white gloves. A white tank top wrapped around her body. Her skirt was multi-colored: it started with a white dot, then a red diamond formed around it, a white diamond engulfed that, and it ended in green. The red and white diamonds continued all around the green skirt in a simple pattern. The skirt ended in many little flaps of cloth, surrounding the whole thing. The soles of her shoes were white and rested on the bottom of her feet, tied on by string that wrapped around her feet and bottom of her legs. But that girl in the green cloak told me to come...
"Never mind. I'm not done fighting this hedgehog... Stay out of the way this time, Tikal."
"No!" the girl Tikal yelled. "I can't let you fight... I won't let you fight! Please, Knuckles... These people are good. I know they are. It's that doctor that's the evil one."
"What are you talking about? Dr. Eggman came here to warn me about this hedgehog."
"Do you really believe that?"
"Dr. Eggman's up to no good again? This is the third time he's tried something. What's with that guy?" Sonic asked.
"Oh ho ho ho ho!" Eggman laughed as he hovered above the Master Emerald. His machine clamped onto it. "Thank you for keeping the pest busy, Knucklehead!"
"Wh... what?"
"Oh no... The Master Emerald!"
"Sonic!"
"Right!" Sonic charged at Dr. Eggman. Eggman pressed a button and his machine shot a laser at the exhausted hedgehog. It hit, knocking him down the stairs. "Don't exhaust yourself," Coach Sensei said in Sonic's head. Great... guess I should've listened to him this time.
Knuckles jumped above Sonic and attempted to punch Eggman, but he pulled the same trick, knocking Knuckles back as well.
"Sonic!"
"Knuckles!"
"Hey! Knuckles, right?" Sonic called over, grabbing Knuckles' attention. "What'd'ya say we get your emerald back?" He held a thumbs-up to Knuckles. Knuckles blinked, confused, before grinning and nodding.
Dr. Eggman laughed and started hovering off as Sonic and Knuckles stood up. Sonic and Knuckles jumped up into the air. They faced each other, grabbed hands, and started spinning in a circle. They spun faster and faster, until they made a huge, dangerously spinning ball. They charged at Dr. Eggman, who quickly tried hovering higher. Sonic and Knuckles went through just below the tip of the Master Emerald. The landed on the ground and each spun around.
"He's too high!" Knuckles complained. Sonic glared at Dr. Eggman, angry. Eggman laughed and floated higher in response.
"I'll fix that!" Tails said, making everyone turn in confusion. Tails two fox tails started spinning, getting faster and faster, much like a helicopter. The tails took to the air, pulling the fox off of the ground. The others gasped, surprised. Tails flew over to Sonic and Knuckles who, after staring a moment longer in awe, held up their hands. Tails grabbed them and the three flew up, straight towards Dr. Eggman. Eggman yelped and attempted to fly higher, but Tails flew faster. Tails moved to the side as Eggman started shooting lasers at him. He dodged every laser, determined to help Sonic and Knuckles.
Tails threw his arms back. He then used all of his strength to chuck Sonic and Knuckles at Eggman. The two soared through the air. Sonic flipped himself around and they attempted their combo spin again. They struck Eggman's floating machine, throwing him off balance and making the Master Emerald fall. At the first possible moment, Knuckles let go and spun himself around to face the Master Emerald. He glided down to it, his dreadlocks waving in the air. His gloved hands grabbed the Master Emerald, and he lowered it onto the ground gently. Knuckles landed next to it and breathed easily. Sonic smiled from where he had landed. He then turned his attention to Eggman, who was retreating empty-handed. Guess he gets away this time... Sonic walked over to Knuckles.
"Well, turns out the real crook decided to show his colors. Maybe if next time you wouldn't be such a knucklehead, that won't have to happen again."
Anger rose inside Knuckles. He had half a mind to yell at Sonic, but... He exhaled and calmed himself down. "Thank you... for helping me get the Master Emerald back."
Sonic smiled and gave Knuckles a thumbs-up. "No problem!"
"What are your names?" Tikal asked as Tails landed on the ground. Knuckles picked up the Master Emerald and started walking up the shrine's stone steps with it.
"I'm Sonic, the fox is my best friend Tails, the rabbit is Cream, and her friend there is Cheese."
"I'm Tikal, and my brother is Knuckles."
"I thought you two looked sorta alike!" Sonic said.
"Just because they're echidnas...?" Tails asked. He and Cream exchanged looks, amused. Cream's really my sister, and we look nothing alike in these forms.
Tikal giggled. "I'm glad everything turned out all right." Knuckles slowly descended the stairs, the Master Emerald back to where it started.
Cream held her hand out to Tikal. "Can we be friends now, Miss Tikal?"
Tikal stared, surprised. She then smiled warmly. "Yes, I'd love that!" The girls shook hands and Cheese cheered.
"What about you?" Sonic turned to Knuckles. "Why don't you join us? We'd love to have more friends." Tails smiled up at the red echidna, who blinked.
Knuckles smirked and shook his head. "I guess it all depends. Don't touch the Master Emerald, and you're on my good side."
Sonic laughed. "Gotcha."
"Then we should get along great! Right?"
"Yeah, as long as Knuckles isn't tricked again."
"Hey, what was that?"
The others laughed.
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