Your jaw dropped a bit as you gazed up at the intruder.
"Sonic . . .?" you gasped in a voice just barely louder than a whisper. Another flash of lightning from behind you revealed your mistake. The intruder did look very similar to Sonic and was a hedgehog, but he was black with red stripes. You saw his eyes glow with determination and were temporarily paralyzed by his stare. You could tell he really wanted this Chaos Emerald. He snatched it out from under your hand while you were still a bit dazzled and had already jumped back up to Tails' yard with his prize by the time you finally got back to reality.
"HEY" you shout loudly, following him, "what are you doing?"
The hedgehog didn't look at you and just shook his head at your question. "I don't need to tell you my intentions with this Chaos Emerald".
"Well, this is Tails' property, making this theft." The hedgehog ignored you and continued making his way off of Tails' land.
"GET BACK HERE, THIEF!" you scream louder than ever.
He gave you a cold glare, causing you to flinch momentarily. "Be quiet," said in a harsh but quiet voice, "or you will raise more of a fuss than is necessary".
"I'll raise all the fuss I want, vagabond! Give it back to its owner and then go home!" you growled defiantly. Your voice echoed through the rain as your eyes stayed focused on the intruder. Your vision shifted, however, when you noticed the lights go on in Tails house. Someone must've heard you. Someone did indeed hear you; Knuckles awoke from his light sleep at the sound of your argument and was peering through the window on the door. The intruder glared at the house as if he could tell someone was watching. Another lightning bolt crashed nearby as you watched the intruder shift his glare over back towards you.
The intruder lifted the blue Chaos Emerald upward. "Chaos . . ." he began. You didn't know what he was planning, but knew the power of a Chaos Emerald. You acted purely on instinct and dashed towards him. As the word 'control' came across his lips, you swiftly grabbed his left arm. Your grapple cut him off a bit, obviously messing up his train of thought. A bright light surrounded the Emerald and then surrounded both of you. You turned to the house and saw Knuckles emerge from the front door. He disappeared from view though, as well as the house and the land. Your surroundings blurred together, as the light grew stronger. All that remained in view was the intruder. You looked at him, scared and unsure of what was going on. Suddenly, you felt as if you were being pulled from your stomach as your insides contracted and the wind was knocked out of you. Everything was happening so fast, you had no idea what was going on. Finally . . . you disappeared from Tails' property.
Meanwhile, Knuckles stood on Tails' doorstep, dumbfounded.
"Knuckles . . . why did you turn on the lights?" Tails asked, rubbing his eyes. Since Knuckles was sleeping on the couch, he heard the argument outside, but Tails had not. Clearly though, turning on the lights downstairs did wake him.
"It's . . . Lorr . She was outside with Shadow," Knuckles responded, not quite sure what happened himself.
"What?" Tails gasped, suddenly alert. "Why was Shadow here?"
"I . . . I don't know. He had a Chaos Emerald. I think Lorr may have been trying to stop him or something, since she was yelling, but . . . I dunno what actually happened."
Tails gave a thoughtful look and replied "hmmm . . . maybe there was a Chaos Emerald around here . . . somewhere. . ."
"She got in the way of Shadow when he's on a hunt for Chaos Emeralds?" Knuckles gasped as a sharp pain of panic coursed through his body. Both Tails and Knuckles knew how violent Shadow could be if something or someone got in the way of his objective. Knuckles wasn't sure why he cared so much, but he felt sick when you realized the danger you was in. Perhaps it was guilt because he let you tag along and unintentionally got you dragged into this, or perhaps it was general concern. Whatever it was, he felt like his stomach was in his throat.
"Knuckles . . . are you listening to me at all?" Tails asked. He'd been talking for the past few minutes, since Knuckles asked his last question, but Knuckles was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice.
"What?" he asked, dumbly.
"Let's go inside, Knuckles and we'll work this out," Tails said with a forced smile. Knuckles nodded and followed him inside.