Yeah, I know. I'm killing you with the cliffhanger. So, now I continue. Heh. Oh yeah, and this chapter will explain the title of the 'fic. Enjoy!

O B S I D I A N
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Chapter III: The Obsidian Emerald
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Knuckles's place was a mess. Tails and Sonic merely stood there, staring at the wreck that was once Knuckles's house. Everything was thrown, tossed, smashed about in a manner the red echidna would never stand for. Both of them were speechless as they stood there, gaping. There was also signs of some kind of battle.. and.. lying, unconscious (or, as they hoped) on the carpet was the guardian himself. Sonic yelled out his name and the both of them ran to his side, kneeling down beside him.
"Knuckles..?" Sonic asked, shaking him gently. Tails's eyes wideend with a look of fear and worr,y turning to Sonic.
"He isn't.. isn't.. is he..Sonic..?" Tails asked the cobalt hedgehog. Sonic shook his head in disbleief and felt Knuckles's pulse. He let out a sigh of relief.
"He's alive.." Sonic said, looking back up.
"What do you think.. What do you think happened, Sonic?" the young fox asked his friend, turning to look at the multitude of the destruction.

Sonic clenched his fists.
"I'll bet it was Eggman!" It was, of course, the obvious answer, everything was ALWAYS Dr. Eggman's fault. Tails got up and left the room, and returned.
"No, Sonic, it couldn't have been," Tails said. Sonic was confused and looked up to the two-tailed fox. Tails continued, "the Master Emerald is still here! Whoever was here wasn't after it-they were looking for something!" Sonic's eyes widened.
"The Chaos Emerald!" they both shouted in unison.

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Shadow tossed the green emerald up and caught it again, looking over to the dark emerald hedgehog. In Sigma's hand was an emerald that looked exactly like a Chaos Emerald, but black. The green hedgehog had a wide smirk as he stared into the emerald.
"I take it that if it weren't for that..that black emerald, we wouldn't have gotten the Chaos Emerald so easy," Shadow said to his friend. Sigma nodded.
"You catch on quick, Shadow," he responded.
"Just answer this one question.. what is it?" Shadow asked, gazing into the black emerald. Sigma gave a short laugh, which only added to Shadow's curiosity.
"It is called the Obsidian Emerald. It has a very unique power, but it is hard to explain. To put it simply, it can suspend something in a state of the user's choice. For example, we can use it to suspend one in a state of unconsciousness, and the state will not be reversed until the Obsidian Emerald is used to counteract it. Get it?" Shadow pondered this for a few minutes before responding,
"I suppose."

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Sonic sat by the phone in his home. It had been two days since they left Knuckles in the hospital, and the doctors agreed to inform him of updates. He rarely left the phone since then.. The whole time he spent pondering, wondering who or what had caused his friend's mysterious condition. The doctor's found him perfectly fine.. but that was obviously not the case. His thoughts turned to possible motives. A thought struck him.. 'The Chaos Emeralds.. whoever it is must be after them!' Another thought came to him which made his blood run cold.. 'Tails has a Chaos Emerald!'

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Nobody suspected a thing. The two hedgehog's casually strode down a back alley of Station Square. One carried a black emerald, the other one a green. They both wore light grins, they could picture exactly what would happened.. it was perfect.. Sigma laughed lightly, but Shadow didn't seem to notice. He had seen the news-the doctors thought that the echidna had a strange new disease-nobody would ever know what happened. And when they did.. it would be too late.

Sigma stopped and turned, having arrived at his destination. He gave a nod in Shadow's direction, and, on cue, he walked up the steps of Tails's home and casually knocked on the door. Tails opened the door, and, on seeing the ebony hedgehog, he gasped and stared, unable to move or speak. Sigma stepped up and faced the two-tailed fox, a broad grin across his features.
"Hello, Miles.." Sigma said and tossed the Obsidian Emerald into the air. Catching it again, he shouted out a word from some strange language and, before anyone could react, a blue fist shot out from the emerald, obscuring everyone's view.

When the mist cleared, the orange fox was lying on the floor, suspended outside of consciousness. Without another word, the two hedgehog's entered the fox's home, snatched the blue emerald, and strode back down the street in the same direction that they had come from.

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Running. Faster. Faster. The cobalt hedgehog ran as fast as his feet would carry him, soaring down the streets of Station Square. He wouldn't let them take Tails. He WOULDN'T lose his best friend. He couldn't. He finally arrived at Tails's apartment and stopped, but not to catch his breath. The two-tailed fox was lying down on the stoop, his door wide opened. Sonic collapsed to his feet, sobbing and crying out his best friend's name over and over. He didn't need to look inside. He already knew what was missing.

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Sooo.. How was it? Read 'n review, like always! Also, tons of action to look forward to in the next chapter, so see ya then!
*)