A/N: I'm trying my luck at a Sonic story. I already know about how bad this is going to turn out, so go ahead and flame me! I like flames! They're funny!

This story will have hints of Shadow/Amy and Knuckles/Rouge, but this is not a huge part of the story, therefore it is not in the Romance genre. There are already plenty of good romances with these characters: Go read them. Now.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Shadow the Hedgehog, Dr. Robotnik/Dr. Eggman, Rouge the Bat, Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles are all © Sonic Team. Hear that? I don't own them! I wish I did, though...

Shadow is, as you may or may not know, dead. Live with it. In none of my stories will I bring him back to life. Don't like it? You'll live.

This story takes place a few months after the events in Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) and Sonic Advance.

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bA New Guardian/b

uPrologue/u

After the "Ark Incident", as it had been dubbed, many things happen. After a long and exhausting, both physically and emotionally, search, Shadow the Hedgehog was pronounced dead. Besides some news reports, there was no acknowledgement about how he gave his life to save mankind. No memorial, no ceremony, not so much as a gravestone. The only evidence he ever existed was the Flame Ring, which Rouge kept on a dresser in her room to remind her of her greatest adventure.

About a month after the Ark incident, Dr. Robotnik was reported to be searching for the seven Chaos Emeralds. Luckily, six of the seven were located quickly. Sonic, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles, Rouge and Amy Rose had all been given one for safekeeping. The sixth was sent to the safe house on Prison Island, well known for no one to ever have broken in. The seventh was missing, but no one worried: After all, what could Eggman do with only one emerald?

uChapter One: A New Challenger Comes Forth/u

Angel Island was currently floating through an area encased in dark night and under a sky

bathed with stars. The top of the floating island was smooth, and decorated with a circle of twelve pillars. Situated in the direct center of it, on an ancient oriental rug, sat the Master Emerald. Its green light shone a sickening, yet at the same time mystical, light throughout the twelve pillars, although it did not touch the small amount of land outside them. The island was hypnotically beautiful, albeit rare to see.

Perched like a silent hawk on top of one of the pillars was the Guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles the Echidna. A powerful treasure hunter and a skilled martial artist, Knuckles was known as little more than an occasional help to Sonic the Hedgehog, and he preferred it that way. Thieves never knew of a guardian when they came to steal the mighty emerald, and no thief would dare tell a tale of his defeat. His being was often a surprise to thieves on Angel Island, which is why the emerald was still here.

Currently though, the guardian was meditating. Since the stories of the Ark had been told, it was blatantly obvious someone was guarding the emerald. Although a few idiots had come to try and overthrow the guardian, after their shameful fall (Quite literally, considering the altitude of Angel Island) most thieves knew enough to stay away. As such, Knuckles had one thing he has never had: A vacation.

The red guardian had his violet eyes closed, and his legs in a crossed position. His large white and spiked gloves rested on his knees lightly. His muzzle was light brown, and a white circle marked his chest. On a golden chain around his neck was the purple Chaos Emerald, which he was concentrating on now. The emerald seemed to have an infinite power well, similar to that of the Master Emerald. The energy was different somehow; tainted. Perhaps it was-

Knuckles' eyes snapped open. He heard someone land on the northern side of the island. Slowly and silently, he got up into a kneeling position and looked out across the island. Useless; the dead knight was dousing anything beyond the twelve pillars in complete shadows. Knuckles bared his teeth in annoyance, and jumped down to the ground, giving off a silent thud. "Who's there?" He shouted, his eyes scanning the shadows uselessly.

The only answers were dead footsteps circling the perimeter of the pillars. They sounded very close, but no one was to be seen. Annoyed, and slightly unnerved, Knuckles began pacing circles around the emerald.

Becoming nervous, Knuckles raised his nose into the air and sniffed. There was an odd aroma in the air. It smelled like rusted metal and grease, and burning oil. Then, a new sound reached his ears. It sounded like metallic, running footsteps...

Quickly, Knuckles turned and delivered an uppercut into seemingly empty air. A sound of a hammer hitting metal rang, and the air shimmered, and then revealed an opponent. His head was spinning a full 360 degrees from the powerful uppercut. He reached up with robotic, jerky actions and grabbed his muzzle, stopping his head and facing it straight. He glared at the warrior Echidna with red, vengeful eyes.

The opponent somewhat resembled Metal Sonic. He was a robot, but slightly more advanced. His height was level that of Knuckles, and shared the body build, right down to two out jutting pieces of metal to resemble the spikes on Knuckles' fists. His red optic eyes glowed with an eerie red light as he grinned an evil grin similar to the one Shadow was well known for. Instantly, Knuckles recognized him as the robot Eggman had built to aide him in stopping Sonic and the others from gaining the Chaos Emeralds. The one who had been dubbed 'Metal Knuckles'.

"It's you!" Knuckles said angrily, flexing his fists. In response, the robot hovered a few inches off the ground, jetpack on his back activating. He flew forward with incredible speed, slamming into Knuckles' and carrying him full-force into a pillar. Debris from the top of the pillar fell warning, but Metal Knuckles slammed Knuckles back into the pillar, cracking his skull. With one hand he held Knuckles' wrists above him forcefully, and with the other pushed the dazes echidna's body up against the pillars.

Knuckles' chuckled to himself as his daze wore off, even though the headache remained. "Sneaking onto an island with a hologram and surprising your victim?" He asked, looking the robotic fake in the eyes. "How very cowardly of you?" His ears perked as he heard a sound in the distance. Eggman's robots. Backup. "And you couldn't even take me on your own? Pathetic!" He said, enunciating the last word.

Angrily, Metal Knuckles grabbed the purple Chaos Emerald with his left hand, keeping a firm grip on Knuckles' wrists with his other hand, and pulled hard, snapping the gold chain easily. He then used the same hand to backhand Knuckles, the two out jutting pieces of metal gashing his cheek. Knuckles' eyesight wavered, and he fell into uncouncisness as the hum of the robots became deafening.