Chapter 7

Halley was still running from the mansion to Knothole Village, with tears in

her eyes. She couldn't believe that the two guys that she really liked were fighting. She

thought she would never forgive herself.

Then, Silver was in the forest, watching the view, when he heard someone

crying. He saw the green cat-girl near a tree, looking very sad.

"Halley?" Silver asked as he walked up to her.

Halley looked up and saw the hedgehog. "Silver," she sobbed, "it's you."

"What's the matter? What happened?"

Halley didn't want to talk about what she just saw, but she answered

while crying, "I…was at Ernest's house, and I…I saw him…with Knuckles." More tears rolled down

Halley's cheeks. "Th-they were f-f-fighting! So I ran away."

Silver took pity on Halley for her problem. "I'm so sorry."

"Silver, I don't think I'll be able to solve my love triangle conflict. Why

does it have to be this way?!" Halley cried even harder.

Silver couldn't stand to see her like that. "Halley, please, calm down.

Crying won't help make you feel better."

Halley wiped her tears with her arms. "What do I do, Silver?"

Silver sighed. "I wish I knew."

"Silver!" a voice called out. Halley and Silver saw Blaze running towards

them."



"Blaze," said Silver, "what's wrong?"

"Dr. Eggman's attacking Station Square!"

"Again?!"

"Does that buffoon ever quit?" asked Halley.

"Guess not," said Blaze. "And the worst part about it, Eggman stole a

Chaos Emerald from the museum. He's using it for one of his robots."

"What?!" said Silver, looking shocked. "We'd better get going, then."

Halley, Silver, and Blaze ran from Knothole Village to Station Square to stop the evil doctor.

When the three fighters made it to the city, they saw a huge, purple robot

firing a lot of lasers. In the center of it, there was a Chaos Emerald.

"Not you again," said the doctor, inside the cockpit.

"Seriously, Eggman," said Halley. "You're nothing but a pain in the rear-

end."

"Give back the Chaos Emerald, or we'll force it out of you!" said Blaze.

"Don't even bet on it," said Dr. Eggman. "Take this!" A lot of lasers and

missiles were shot at the fighters, but they were no match against them. Silver stopped the

missiles by using psychokineses and shooting them back at the robot. Blaze used pyrokineses

to melt some of the metal of the robot. Halley used her boomerangs to try to break the middle,

but it didn't work.

Suddenly, a metal claw reached down and grabbed Halley. She couldn't

escape.

"You thought you could try to stop me?" asked the doctor, mockingly.

"Ha! Like that's ever going to happen."



"Let her go, Eggman!" screamed Blaze. She jumped in the air and used an

Accelerator Tornado attack. However, Dr. Eggman knocked her out by hitting her with the

robot's metal arm. Blaze fell to the ground.

"Blaze!" Silver screamed. He was so upset to see his girlfriend in pain. He

growled at the doctor in rage. "How dare you do that to her!" Silver used his psychic powers on

a car and hit it at the robot. It didn't do too much damage though. Dr. Eggman kicked Silver

and he landed on the ground. He was badly burned by the hot, melted metal.

"Silver, Blaze! NO!!" Halley screamed in fear.

Dr. Eggman evilly laughed. "It's no use! Nothing can stop me from trying

to take over the world!"

"That's when you're wrong, Eggman," said a masculine voice. The doctor

looked down to see a red echidna and a black cat standing in front of him.

"Knuckles! Ernest!" said Halley, feeling a bit relieved to see them.

"We will give you five seconds to put her down," said Ernest.

"I'd like to see you try to stop me," said Dr. Eggman. He fired a lot of

missiles. Knuckles and Ernest dodged them before they got hit.

"Looks like we've got to get the Chaos Emerald out before we can save

Halley," said Knuckles to Ernest.

"We?" asked Ernest. "There is no we. If you want to get killed by that

madman, be my guest."

"Oh, so now you're just going to act like a chicken and not help out?"

Ernest didn't answer. All he did was shrug. He didn't want Halley to get

hurt, but he didn't want that to happen to him either.

"Fine," said Knuckles. "I don't have time for this." Knuckles jumped up to

the air and threw a couple of punches at the robot. It was getting weaker, but it didn't break the

vault where the emerald was sealed in.



"Enough of that," said Dr. Eggman, grabbing Knuckles with his other

claw. He couldn't escape either.

Ernest was extremely nervous. "What do I do?" he kept asking himself

while biting his fingernail.

Knuckles saw one of Halley's boomerangs on the ground. He thought of

an idea. "Ernest," he shouted, "you have to break the vault by using the boomerang that's on

the ground."

"I…I can't," Ernest said.

"Why can't you?"

"Because I…I'm afraid, okay? I hate taking a lot of risks!"

"You have to understand. Sometimes, in life, you have to face many risks,

even if they're hard."

"But what if I mess up?"

"Ernest, please!" said Halley. "It's the only way we're going to stop

Eggman."

Ernest hesitated for a few seconds.

"ERNEST!!" Halley and Knuckles shouted. Ernest picked up the

boomerang from the ground. Then he threw it at the vault of the robot and it was a direct hit.

"NO!!" Dr. Eggman shouted. The robot suddenly exploded and the

doctor went flying away. Knuckles landed on the ground and caught the Chaos Emerald. Just

as Halley was about to make a hard fall, Ernest ran to Halley and caught her. However, he fell

down on his back.

Halley got off of the cat-boy. "Oh gosh, are you okay?"

Ernest slowly sat up. "Yes, I'm fine." Ernest held onto his tail. "But I think

I sprained my tail." His tail had a little bruise on it.

Halley smiled. "You saved me, Ernest."



Ernest looked at Halley and blushed. "Well…" Knuckles, Silver, and Blaze

walked up to the two cats.

"You did it, Ernest," said the echidna. "You risked your life to stop

Eggman, get the Chaos Emerald, and save Halley."

Ernest smiled. "I guess I did, didn't I?" Ernest and Halley got off the

ground.

The black cat-boy face the red echidna-boy. "Knuckles," he said with a

sigh, "I'm sorry I acted like a…jerk. I really like Halley so much, and I guess I got extremely

jealous when I saw her with you. I'll not get in your way anymore."

Knuckles smiled and held out his hand. "That's fine. We're cool, Ernest,

right?"

"Yes." Ernest shook Knuckles' hand.

Halley walked up to Silver. "Now what?" she asked.

"You have to tell them how you feel," Silver answered.

Halley sighed. "I don't' know, Silver…"

"Go on. Tell them."

Halley walked to Ernest and Knuckles. She was nervous at first. "Guys,"

she said, "I have something important to tell you two. I'll start off with Knuckles." The couple

walked a few inches away from Ernest.

"What's up?" asked Knuckles.

Halley took a deep breath. "You've been a great boyfriend and I really

love you so much."

Knuckles smiled. "Thanks, Halley."

"However, besides you, I'm also in love with someone else."

Knuckles didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then, he put his hand on

Halley's shoulder. "I understand. It's okay."



Halley became confused. "Huh?"

"No matter what happens, if you're my girlfriend, or just my friend, I'll

always love you."

Halley became speechless.

"You really like Ernest, don't you?" said Knuckles.

"Obvious, wasn't it?" asked Halley.

"Yep. Go talk to him."

Halley smiled. "Thanks, Knux." She quickly kissed Knuckles on the cheek

and walked to Ernest.

She breathed in again. "Ernest," she said, "I may be Knuckles' girlfriend

and all, but…I also have feelings for another person."

Ernest was surprised. "You really do?"

Halley nodded her head.

Ernest put his hands on her shoulders. "There's something I have to say

to you, too. You see, the truth is…" Ernest leaned toward Halley and kissed her on the cheek.

He kissed the other one too. He gazed into her eyes and said, "Je t'aime, ma cheri."

Halley had a feeling that he was going to say those words. "I know what

that means," she said. She wrapped her arms around Ernest's neck. "I feel the same way about

you." Halley leaned closer to Ernest and hugged him. He hugged her back.

Silver and Blaze saw them and smiled.

"Way to go, Halley," said the hedgehog.

Halley turned her head. "Thanks, Silver." She let go of Ernest and saw

Knuckles smiling too.

"Would you all like to come to my mansion?" asked Ernest, smiling. "I

have the best ice cream, smoothies, and desserts there."

"Works for me," said Blaze.



"Me too," agreed Knuckles.

"I guess we all deserve something to eat or drink," said Silver.

"Well, let's go," said Ernest.

As the five friends walked away from the city, Halley said, "I guess this

love triangle won't be so bad after all."

The End

(except for a French-English glossary as the last chapter)