Chapter 4: Preparations

Angel Island was over a thousand years old, yet it floated. It floated because it had a power source known as the Master Emerald. The island was covered mostly in forests, grassy plains, and one small desert. Despite these hospitable environments, the floating island had no inhabitants for them.

The only resident that lived on the island was its guardian, Knuckles the Echidna. He was at his house, studying some ancient history when he heard a knock on the door.

Must be Sonic. I wonder what he wants this time. He usually calls me up on my cell phone, unless it's an emergency.

He opened the door, but it wasn't Sonic who knocked.

Standing in the doorway was a bat with white fur. She wore a black jump suit, white gloves, and white long boots with high heels. At the toe area of each boot was a pink heart. A pink leather heart covered her chest. Around her waist was a belt that held a lot of high tech gadgets.

Knuckles recognized her as Rouge the Bat. She was a treasure hunter that specialized on tracking down valuable jewels. She was often hired as a secret agent by the government. In exchange for her services, she was awarded with gems.

Last month she stole the Master Emerald from Angel Island causing it to crash into the ocean again. At that time Knuckles had followed her. A fight ensued, it was shortly interrupted when Dr. Robotnik tried to steal the Master Emerald himself. Just as he was about to get away with the giant gem, Knuckles smashed it to pieces preventing the mad scientist from successfully stealing it.

Both Knuckles and Rouge went searching for the Master Emeralds pieces. Eventually, they both fought each other for the rest of the Master Emerald shards. Knuckles won and Rouge gave up her Master Emerald pieces saying they stunk like all echidnas did.

The last time they met, they both helped Sonic stop the space colony ARK from crashing into the Earth.

"Oh no." Knuckles groaned. "Not you again."

"Relax." Rouge said. "I'm not here for your gem, I'm here for you."

"WHAT!?" Knuckles mouth hung open in shock.

"Do you remember the main central chamber at the space colony ARK?" Rouge asked. "The one that had that weird ancient shrine."

"You mean the ARK's core?" Knuckles replied. "What about it."

"There was some ancient writing there that my boss wants translated." Rouge answered. "I tried translating it myself, but the writing is so ancient, not even a high tech computer can figure it out."

"And you need me to translate it." Knuckles realized.

"Exactly." Rouge replied. "You're the last of the ancient echidnas."

Knuckles thought about this. He was interested in learning knew things and perhaps he'd learn some more information about the echidna clan. On the other hand he couldn't leave the emerald unguarded.

"What about the Master Emerald?" Knuckles asked. "I can't leave it unguarded."

"My client has agreed to have the military guard the Master Emerald while you're away." Rouge replied. "Oh, and if you think I'm lying take a look outside."

Knuckles looked outside, his eyes widened. Standing outside of his house were several human soldiers and military robots. Apparently they had just finished setting up camp.

"What do you think?" Rouge asked.

There was silence for a few minutes. Finally, Knuckles gave his answer.

"Lead the way."

--

It had been three minutes since Sonic had seen Monica faint. Even now she was still unconscious.

Great. Way to go Sonic, you made her faint. Now what should I do. I cant leave her here, but I don't know where she lives either.

Just then Tails showed up.

"Hi Sonic." Tails greeted him. "I think I figured out a good hiding spot for- HOLY BATMAN! What happened here!"

"To make a long story short, I found the cat but Eggman and Mecha took it." Sonic explained. "As you can see Monica didn't take the news very well."

The fur on Tails' twin tails stood straight up. "Did you just say Mecha was with him?" Tails asked.

"Yes, unfortunately." Sonic sighed.

"Oh man. That guy is five times worse than Shadow." Tails groaned. "The only reason Shadow wanted to blow up the entire planet was because he wanted revenge, Mecha on the other hand likes killing everyone just for sport. He's a demon I tell you."

"Yeah." Sonic said. "Mecha is a demon, Shadow was just a tortured soul."

The two remained silent for a few minutes.

"So that's Monica Granger." Tails mused. "We cant just leave her lying here."

"I know." Sonic replied. "I don't know where her parents live though and the only friend I know she has is Amy Rose."

"Then lets take her over to Amy's house then." Tails said.

"What?" Sonic asked. "Have you lost your mind or something. This is Amy were talking about. She's totally obsessed with me I tell you. She'll eat me for lunch the moment I set foot on her front doorstep."

"But Sonic, we can't leave the girl here and Amy is the only source of information we have." Tails said.

"You carry her to Amy's house then." Sonic protested.

"But she's to heavy for me to carry." Tails said. "You have to do it. I'll follow you."

"No." Sonic said. "That is my final answer."

--

"This was not my idea." Sonic groaned. He was carrying Monica with Tails walking by his side.

"I didn't say it was." Tails said. "Seriously I don't understand what you don't like about her."

"What I don't like about her?" Sonic's eyes twitched. "She tries to crush my bones to Jell-O with her hugs, she drags me around with her to the most hellish places on the planet, and you ask me what's wrong with her!"

"Okay, so maybe she does try to date you." Tails admitted. "But she isn't evil like Eggman and Mecha. She's actually kind and friendly."

"More like overly friendly." Sonic sighed. "Well, here we are. The haunted house of doom."

"It's Amy's house." Tails corrected. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, we'll just knock on the door, set Monica on the ground, then hide in the bushes."

"Okay." Sonic said with relief. "I'll go knock. How long do you think you can hold her."

"If I'm just standing, then I estimate about three to five minutes." Tails replied.

"Good." Sonic nodded. He then walked up to the front door and knocked. All of a sudden, the door flung open. Before Sonic had the chance to react, Amy gave him an atomic hug.

"Sonic." She squealed. "Oh Sonic, I knew you'd come."

"Erk-Amy…your…choking…me." Sonic wheezed. Amy released her killer embrace.

"I already made plans for just the two of us." Amy said gleefully. "First we'll go to the Chinese restaurant down the corner and get a bite to eat, then we'll stop by Baskin Robins and haves some ice cream, and then we'll go back to my house and watch…Mc Guyver!"

"Uh Amy." Sonic said nervously. "Did you happen to notice your friend's condition." He motioned to the unconscious Monica.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" Amy shrieked. "OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!"

"Don't faint." Tails begged. "For the love of god, please don't faint."

Thankfully, she didn't.

Sonic, Tails and Amy carried Monica into the house and set her on the couch.

Tails explained everything that happened.

"Monica will be okay." Amy assured them. "She seems to have gotten over the shock. I reckon she'll be up in a few hours."

"That's nice to know." Tails nodded. "Say Sonic, I guess we'll have to go hunt down Eggman, just like old ti- uh Sonic, are you paying attention to me?"

"Oh…my…god." Sonic slowly said. His eyes were wide as saucers.

"What's wrong Sonic?" Tails asked.

"This room." Sonic replied. "Everything in this room is…PINK!"

Tails observed his surroundings for once. Sure enough the entire room was pink.

"God save me." Tails whispered.

--

The G.U.N. Fortress was hidden deep underground. It was the military's top secret facility, designed to withstand nuclear missile strikes. Knuckles and Rouge walked through the concrete corridors.

"So who is this client of yours anyway?" Knuckles asked. The trip so far had been boring, so he decided to strike a conversation.

"General Striver." Rouge replied. "One of the commanders of the G.U.N. (Guardian Units of Nations) army. We'll be meeting him shortly."

A pair of human soldiers guarded the doorway ahead of them.

"Halt!" One of them barked. "Who goes there?"

Rouge showed them her ID.

"Ah, welcome back Rouge." The guard said. "The commander is expecting you." The guards then stepped aside.

Knuckles and Rouge entered the room. It was a large office. There were several desks and computers. At the other end of the room was a man around the age of 45 in a military uniform.

"General Striver, I brought the guardian of Angel Island just as you requested." Rouge reported.

"So this is the guardian of the floating island." The general turned to face them. "You can translate ancient echidna text then."

"Yes." Knuckles nodded.

"Good." The general said. "I've lately been searching for data on how Professor Gerald Robotnik made Shadow. However, that information had been wiped out from the ARK's main computer about 50 years ago."

"I take it you suspect that the ancient writing at the ARK's core contains that information?" Rouge asked.

"Exactly." General Striver nodded. "I believe the two of you already know what your mission objective is then. Head to Hanger 7, there will be a space shuttle there you can use to board ARK."

"Understood Sir." Rouge saluted. "Just be sure you have my jewels ready when I get back."

"I haven't forgotten about that." General Striver said. He was about to dismiss them when he remembered something. "Oh by the way, we still haven't managed to reprogram the security robots there. The robots there are programmed to shoot down any intruders that board the ARK. Do not hesitate to destroy them. Dismissed."

--

It had taken Sonic and Tails thirty minutes to adjust to the pinkness of the room. They were now discussing about Eggman's whereabouts.

"He's most likely at that pyramid base of his." Sonic said.

"I don't know Sonic." Tails said. "He may have already abandoned the base and switched to a new one."

"True." Sonic replied. "But he also tends to use old bases just to get us going in circles."

"You may have a point there." Tails admitted. "But I'm still not certain."

"We'll checking the base out is much more better than standing around here," Sonic said. "Plus I'm already beginning to suffocate here."

"Oh get over it!" Amy sighed. "It's just pink."

"Yes." Sonic said. "And it's scrambling my brains."

"Okay. I know that girls are fond of pink." Tails said. "But did you have to own a pink TV."

"It was the cheapest one they got." Amy shrugged. "Still, I do get the point. You guys are going to search for Eggman and Mecha. Normally, I'd like to join you, but I have to stay and take care of Monica." Her head turned to face the still unconscious Monica on the couch.

"Let's juice Tails." Sonic said before he spin dashed out of an open window.

"Wouldn't it have been easier for him to use the door?" Amy asked.

"That's Sonic." Tails replied. "Always in a hurry. Until then, bye Amy." He then sprinted out of the door following Sonic.

The duo was now running down the street.

"Finally, fresh air!" Sonic sighed in relief. "Let's head to the pyramid base Tails."

"We'll have to head to my workshop in the Mystic Ruins first." Tails replied. "The pyramid base is in Egypt, so we'll need the Tornado to get there."

"Good." Sonic smiled. "I can't wait for you to show me what upgrades you gave that plane."

With those words, the duo rocketed out of the city and was out of sight.