Sorry for not updating in a while. School's been catching up with me. I've had no time to write!
Okay, I can tell that the last chapter was NOT one of my better ones! I revised it, to make it…better. Sorry, but school's been taking away my imagination. Hopefully, since it's the weekend, my brain will be happy and inspirational.
And thank you to all who are reading this fic! You know I love your reviews!
Well, here's the next chapter!
"The Master Emerald is the same as ever," Crash said as he gazed at it with his violet eyes. "Beautiful, yet mysterious in its own special way."
"Guess nothing's changed much," Knuckles replied, sitting on the stone steps leading down from the giant gem. "Except for the fact that I'm older and…well, you're there."
"Yeah," Crash said, sitting beside him. "I'm not sure if you know, but…who do you think is my mom? I mean, my stripes didn't come from nowhere, did they?"
Knuckles stared at him, thinking. Where had he seen a peach-orange colored female echidna?
In his mind, the image of a girl played like an old film. A female echidna, with peach-orange fur, was smiling. She looked happy. Yet at the same time, she looked like she felt…trapped. Without freedom. Doomed to be burdened forever.
Knuckles blinked in alarm, suddenly seeing that Crash may not be an ordinary echidna. "Well, I think - "
"Hey, look!" Crash said, standing up. "Are those the crazy hedgehogs?"
"What?" Knuckles asked, alarmed. "Where?"
"Over there!" Crash replied, attempting to point with his gloved hand.
Knuckles squinted to see what looked like a blur of different colors. But when it slowed, he saw what he was not in the mood to see at the moment.
Standing on a ledge about 100 yards away was Sonic, Amy, and three other hedgehogs.
"Oh, great," Knuckles groaned. "Just what we need."
"Angel Island is in sight!" Sonic shouted as he slowed down. "We should be there in less than…twenty seconds!"
"Great!" Dash said, almost matching his father's speed. "Can't wait to get back to the real Mom and Dad. You guys are cool, but I kinda liked it better when you actually knew who we were."
"Me, too," Justice replied. "And Tyler's not exactly making running easy." She struggled to keep Tyler in her arms as he squirmed in her grasp.
Amy sighed. "I just can't wait until I see you guys again," she said sweetly. "I hope it won't bee too long!"
As they progressed in their trip to Angel Island, Amy had begun to realize what Sonic and her having children really meant. So, she had been acting more pushy than normal towards Sonic, fantasizing their marriage and their future and their house and practically everything else that comes with having a family. Sonic, however, did not find it very appealing at the moment, and tried to ignore her as much as possible. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't working.
They approached the island quickly, jumping off of a ledge and landing gracefully onto the piece of floating land. Sonic set Amy down gently as Justice sat on the ground, still holding a very upset Tyler.
"What are you doing here?" Knuckles asked, coming up to them with Crash, who looked surprised to see the five hedgehogs.
Justice smiled when she saw the two echidnas. "We just wanted to know if you would help us. You see -"
"I accidentally asked the Master Emerald to take us back in time, but I didn't mean to and now I just have to ask it to take us back, and we can just act like nothing ever happened," Crash admitted in a hurry, his right eye twitching slightly.
"Okay…that wasn't exactly what I was going to say, but - wait, you did what?" Justice said, her eyes wide.
"Never mind!" Dash said, running up to the huge jewel. "Just get us back!"
"Hold up!" Sonic said, pointing to the sky. "Look! It's Tails and Cream!"
Amy blinked in the brightness of the sun, squinting to see the two small figures approaching Angel Island. "Uh, Sonic," she said hesitantly. "That's not Cream…"
"Hi, Crash!" Clementine shouted as she touched down on Angel Island. "What'cha doin'?"
"Hey, kiddo!" Crash said, patting the little girl's head. "Sorry I got you into this mess. I asked for the Master Emerald to do something for me, but it didn't exactly get it."
Clementine frowned. "But I thought the Master Emerald ALWAYS knew what to do!"
"Relax, kid," Knuckles said. "Even the Master Emerald makes mistakes."
"Hi, guys!" Tails said, landing on a patch of grass. "Uh…this is Clementine, my…uh…daughter…"
"Oh, don't worry," Sonic said, trying to shake Amy off of him, who was clinging to his arm. "You're not alone, little bro."
"Hi, Clementine," Dash said, waving to his friend.
"Oh! Hi, Dash! How's it goin'?"
"Good!" Dash replied with a cheerful grin. "We're going back to when our Moms and Dads know us!"
"Awesome!" Clementine ran up to where he was standing, gesturing for everyone to come up as well. "What're you guys waitin' for? Let's get this show on the road!"
Luna softly descended onto Angel Island, unnoticed by the bystanders on it. She stealthily hid behind a stone ledge, peering over it to watch what was going on.
So many people, Luna thought, gaping at the people gathered around the Master Emerald. I don't think I've ever seen this many people on this island -
"What are you doing?"
Luna jumped at the voice that suddenly spoke. She whirled around to see Silver and Blaze, who had obviously followed her onto the island.
"How many times do I have to tell you to back off?" She snarled, her hands balled into fists. "What I do is my business, and what you do is yours." She chuckled at that, looking over to Blaze. "Speaking of business, I'm still wondering why you're even here. Fine, then. I'll just make you leave." Her hand went straight to her utility belt. Reaching inside one of the pockets, she pulled out…
"A Chaos Emerald!" Silver shouted, shocked. "We're too late!"
Luna gripped the red gem tightly. "Chaos Spear!" She screamed, thrusting a handful of spears at the two, sending them flying backwards off the edge of the island, far off to where even Luna couldn't see. Why Silver didn't use his powers to levitate both of them right then was beyond her, but she let it go, watching them as they soared off into the distance.
She snorted, placing the Chaos Emerald back in the pouch. "You'll be back," she mumbled. "Man, why can't I get that move right? They always fly off like that…Wait, do I even need a Chaos Emerald for that one? Or is that Chaos Blast?"
"What the…" another voice whispered, barely audible. Again, Luna spun around to face Knuckles instead, who was gawking at her, his eyes wide as dinner plates.
Everyone else appeared from behind the Master Emerald, staring at the newcomer. Everyone was silent.
That is, until Knuckles groaned and facepalmed, annoyed. "Not more people!"
Aithne had been following her brother for at least an hour. He was high in the sky, on the lookout for anything familiar. Aithne was below, traveling and looking as well.
"See anything yet, Arick?" she called up to him anxiously.
He shook his head. "Not yet. We haven't made any progress. I'm not sure we'll find anything."
"Don't say that!" She shouted. "We'll find everyone! Keep saying that and you're going to jinx it!"
Arick didn't answer. He was squinting at something in the distance. It seemed to be getting closer…
"Arick? Arick, are you even listening to me?" Aithne placed her hands on her hips, irritated. "What are you staring at?"
"Hey, Aithne…I think you're going to like this!"
"What? What do you mean?" She floated up to him in a blue aura, like he was. "Okay, what's going on?"
Arick pointed to the screaming shape that was growing fast. "That!"
"What - OOF!" Aithne was hit by something hard, and she went flying to the side. Luckily, she caught herself in time. "What the…"
"Aww, man! Did it again!"
Aithne's head shot up, staring at the hedgehog floating in front of her. A purple cat crashed into him, and fell to the ground. The white hedgehog brushed himself off and lowered himself to the ground. Aithne and Arick did the same.
"Silver, seriously," Blaze said, annoyed. "Why didn't you just catch us? That way, you wouldn't have crashed into someone again."
"I like flying," Sliver said, chuckling to himself. "And that was much more fun."
Suddenly, Aithne pounced on Silver, toppling to the ground with him. "Oh, thank God you guys are okay! I was starting to think we wouldn't ever find you!"
"I told you," Arick said smugly, receiving a glare from his sister.
Blaze took on a confused expression. "Do we know you? I don't think we've met." She looked to Silver and Aithne, who were getting to their feet. "Although I must say, you two do look a lot like him. You guys could be related!"
It was Arick's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about, Mom? Now, let's go!"
"Whoa! Wait a minute!' Blaze said, staring at him. "Mom? I'm not your mom! I don't even know who you are!"
"I don't know you, either," Silver mumbled.
"What does this have to do with you? They - oh, I see! They look like you, so you must have something to do with them."
"Uh, Mom? Dad?" Aithne asked innocently. "Where were you just now? What happened to everything?"
Silver groaned and pulled on his quills. "Not again! Look, you've got the wrong people. I don't know you and you don't know me. And - wait, Dad?" He looked from the two to Blaze and back. "I'm not your dad. Got that?" He turned around and hastily walked away.
"Silver!" Blaze went after him, her arm outstretched. "I'm sure we can at least figure out where they've come from! Silver!"
Aithne and Arick followed the two, slightly disappointed. What had happened to their parents?
Hidden in the forests near Angel Island, a woman sat in a small, pod-like aircraft that rested just below the treetops. She wore a black hat, along with a full black bodysuit and black boots. Her black hair reached her hips, and her eyes were a dull yellow-brown color. A scar ran across her face, from the right side of her forehead to the lower left side of her jaw.
She smiled to herself as she looked at the tracking panel, a small cluster of blinking red lights pictured on it. Another blinking light (which was blue instead) was a small distance from the lights. Her targets were closer than she thought.
She brought the aircraft higher up, giving her view of the island holding the Master Emerald. Small animal people were gathered around it - well, sort of. They were looking at something out of her sight.
But that didn't matter. No, that was perfect. She could take the emerald while they weren't looking. She would make off with it, and they wouldn't even realize she took it until they turned around.
They could still hear the machine, however. But she didn't care. All she wanted to do was finally get the magnificent gem, to capture the ultimate power that was the Master Emerald. No one would be able to stop her with the advantage she'd have if she got it.
She laughed to herself, driving the pod towards the small island. Time to finally take what was rightfully hers.
There you have it! What will they do with Luna? Will Aithne and Arick be able to convince Silver and Blaze that they're their parents? And who is the woman? What does she want with the Master Emerald? All of the answers to these questions and more will be revealed in the next chapter!
And again, I'm sorry for not updating. I'll try to make updates more frequent, but I'm not making any promises. Don't forget to review! It's simple, really. Just click that little button right there! Go on! Click it! I'm accepting anonymous reviews, you know!