_Knuckles p.o.v_

"Maria, you can't fly the plane any longer," Shadow said. "You need to do something about your shoulder."

I was in the back, looking around for any material to wrap the wounds in. I found the first aid kit, and it did have a large amount of gauze. I clenched my teeth, and pulled the throwing spike out of my arm. The wound started bleeding profusely. I quickly wrapped the wound.

"Maria, give the controls to Chaos," I said. "Tails taught him a good deal about technology." She looked at the blue creature, and he nodded. She got up, and he took her seat, picking up right where she left off.

I pulled the spike out of Maria's shoulder, and she flinched. I threw it aside, then started wrapping her wound. She looked at the spike that I had thrown, then at my wound, then back at the spike. "Um, Knuckles?"

"Yes?"

"Please tell me our blood is supposed to be green."

I looked at the spike that she was staring at. The tip was covered in green blood. I looked at my bandage, and it was tinted green as well. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Tikal said.

"The spikes had been poisoned."

Shadow and Tikals eyes widened. "What do we do?" Tikal asked.

"Well, medical attention would be nice." I said, looking around for a sharp object. I found a knife, then started cutting the gauze off of Maria. "We can't let the poison sit on the wound." Once it came off, I got two clean pieces of gauze. "Here, put this in your mouth to bite down on." I handed one of the pieces to her, and she bit down on it. I then started wiping any traces of green off of her wound. She shut her eyes tight and bit down hard on the gauze.

"Knuckles, you need to get the poison off of your arm, too," Bokkun said.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maria said. "Get the gauze off of your arm now."

"No, I'm fine," I said, getting another clean piece of gauze. Truthfully, my vision was starting to become spotty, but I didn't care. Shadow had, well, pretty much no close friends. He was always cold and unwelcoming. Now he had his best friend back, and I wasn't just about to let her die.

After a few minutes, all traces of green were gone from her wound. "There. How is your vision?"

"Fine. Why?"

"No reason." I rewrapped it, then stood up, and as I did, my vision blurred, and I fell back down.

"Knuckles!" Tikal and Maria said, rushing over. I could just barely see Shadow giving Tikal the knife before I blacked out.

_Tikal p.o.v_

"Come on!" I said, looking desperately down at Station Square. "There has to be a hospital somewhere."

Chaos was looking around desperately, too. Shadow and Maria were tending to Knuckles, whose face was extremely pail. He was covered in sweat, and his breathing was extremely shallow. Maria was extremely angry. "He just met me! Why would he risk his own life for me? It just isn't fair!"

They had the bandage off, and Maria was getting the green blood off while shadow was applying disinfectant. I was really worried. If he died, then a third of Eggman's plan was complete. I shuddered at the memory. Latik. She was created with one purpose: destroy and replace me.

I finally saw what I was looking for. "Chaos, there!" He saw where I was pointing, and quickly turned the plane in that direction. He brought the plane down onto a helicopter landing pad. Maria and Shadow picked Knuckles up, and we all rushed him out. We had found the hospital.

A tall man came running up to us. "Hey, you can't just-"

"This is an emergency!" Maria said. "He's been hit by a poisonous spike and needs help now!"

He took one look at Knuckles. "Follow me." He led us down a flight of stairs and into the emergency room. The man inspected the wound. "You did a good job cleaning it, but the poison has already entered his system. I'm not too sure there is anything we can do."

"Oh, move it," I said. "Shadow, Maria, put him on the ground." They did this. I pulled out the three pieces of the Master Emerald in a triangle around him: one at his feet, and the other two at his shoulders. "Maria, get the chaos emerald out of your gun." She pulled out her weapon, opened it up, and pulled out a green emerald. I put that at his head, and the other two on either side of his legs.

I folded my hands together. I wasn't sure if would work, since we only had three shards and the chaos emeralds, but it was our only plan. "The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos." The chaos emeralds and shards started to glow. "Please, save Knuckles!"

The glow got stronger. Color returned to Knuckles face, and his breathing leveled out. The wound even started to close. The glow died down, and he opened his eyes. "Where are we?"

"In the hospital," Bokkun said. "But they couldn't do anything, so Tikal healed you."

He sat up and looked at his wound, which had now completely closed. "Nice. Do you think it would work on Maria's wound too?"

I folded my hands together, and closed my eyes. I felt energy radiate from the emeralds and shards, and when I opened my eyes, they were on the ground around Maria's feet. She cut the gauze off of her wound, and it was gone as well.

Amazing. Chaos said through telepathy. When did you learn to do that?

I didn't. I picked the pieces and emeralds up. "Well, now what?"

"Simple," Shadow said, "we find the other pieces of the Master Emerald, get the other Chaos Emeralds, stop Eggman, Latik, and Chaos B., and save the world."

"I'm for it," Knuckles said, standing up. "You guys in?"

"We are," I said, Chaos nodding in agreement.

"I'm in, too," Bokkun said.

"So am I," Maria said.

"Alright, then let's get going."

_Knuckles p.o.v_

"So there are pieces of the Master Emerald here?" Shadow asked.

"I'm certain of it," I said, looking at the building. It was huge, but the pieces seemed to be on the first floor. The only problem was there was some event going on, and you had to have an invitation. "Does anyone have a plan to get in?"

"I do," Maria said. "Just follow my lead." She walked up to the man with the guest list. "Sir, please help me! I lost my cat, and he might have run into the building!"

He looked at her. "I'm pretty sure that I would have noticed that."

Her eyes got misty. "Well will you please help me look? He's just a kitten."

He sighed. "Fine. Where did you last see him?"

"Over here." She led him to the side of the building, and we all rushed in. We made sure we were out of view from the door, and waited for Maria.

"I don't think he's around here," the man said.

She sniffed. "Well, thanks for help-" She screamed. "There he is!"

"What, where?" The man said, whirling around wildly. Maria swiftly ran into the building, and hid behind a bush. We could hear the man mumbling about rotten kids, and he continued greeting guests.

"Okay, we're in," Maria said. "What now?"

"We head this way," I said, walking through the lobby. I was a little uncomfortable, since this was a black tie event, but I ignored it. I had to find the pieces of the Master Emerald.

We walked into a large ballroom, and my senses were going crazy. The pieces were in here. "They're in here somewhere. Do any of you see them?"

"I do," Bokkun said, pointing at a long table with three people sitting at it. I groaned. I saw them too. On the table was a trophy, and they were on it.

"What now?" Tikal asked.

"Isn't it obvious?"

We all jumped and turned in the direction of the voice. None other than Rouge the bat was standing there, wearing an elegant black dress. "I see the Master Emerald broke again."

"And you aren't getting it," I said, scowling at her.

"Relax, I don't want it anyway. You'll just always be there to give me grief. I'm more concerned about two things: why it's broken and why Bokkun is with you." She winked at him, and he glared. I guess he doesn't like her.

"We can explain later," I said. "What kind of competition is this?"

She smiled. "It's a dance competition." She smiled at Shadow, Chaos, and me. "Which one of you will be my dance partner?"

Chaos looked at us both, and raised his hand. Rouge looked skeptical. "You know how to dance?" He nodded. "Do you know how to improvise while dancing?" He nodded again. "Good. I'll fill you in more, but we need to register." She grabbed his arm, and they ran off.

"Do you think we should all enter?" Maria asked.

"Not me," I said. "I have no dancing ability."

"Me neither," Shadow said.

"Good evening," A voice magnified by a microphone said. "Our dance competition is now under way. Our first dancers are Rouge the bat and her partner, Chaos." There was a collective gasp as those who remembered the blue creature from before saw him. He paid them no mind.

Music started up, and they started to dance. It was I song I surprisingly knew. I believe it was called Sway, by some guy I didn't know the name of. Bubble? Soufflé? Not sure. It was the perfect music for the tango, which is what I believe they were doing. They were incredible. You would have never guessed that they had never practiced.

The music stopped for a moment, and they froze. It then started up again, more lively, and they started dancing faster, spinning and moving in such eccentric ways that it was impossible to tell exactly what they were doing. For their finale, Chaos threw Rouge up, where she spun around, and he caught her, flipped her back to her feet, and they were done.

"Amazing," Maria said, clapping with the rest of the excited crowd. "Were did they learn to do that?"

"Who knows?" I said. "I just hope they won."

They joined us. "So, we were perfect, right?" Rouge said.

"Of course," Maria said excitedly. "I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Maria."

Rouge eyes widened. "Maria Robotnik?"

"Yes. How'd you know?"

"Shadow spoke most highly of you," She said, winking at the hedgehog. "I'm glad to see you aren't dead."

The rest of the dancers weren't nearly as good as Chaos and Rouge. There was no way they were going to lose. Soon the competition was over, and the announcer was back. "That is all of our dancers, and the judges will now make their decision."

"Wait just one minute."

Everyone but Rouge's eyes widened. "That isn't-"

"It is."

We all turned to see the creepy blue echidna and her black partner. "We're sorry we're late," Latik said, "but it'll be worth it if you let us dance."


Song: Sway, by Michael Buble