I should have like, a translator for what Chaos says but.. I don't want to! Tehe! Then it'd be to easy to understand the storyline! (Squeals!) I love Tikal!
Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters do not belong to me.
Two creatures approached the tall dark gothic gate, basically warning if anyone passed it; they would deserve whatever they got.
The female of the two stepped closer and placed her hand on her hip in an uninterested manner. It was Rouge the bat, well known thief and a secret agent of GUN. She placed her treasure scope over her right eye and observed the mysterious mansion beyond the gates.
"There might be treasure in there, I've heard that once you go in... You never come back out." She smirked seductively at her fellow treasure hunter; Knuckles the echidna stepped up beside her and crossed his arms. "Probably just a rumour or.. Are you scared?" He returned the smirk and she laughed.
"Me? Scared? You gotta be kidding me." She muttered and spread her wings, she flew up above the fence and stared at the building before them, nothing was going to creep out Rouge the bat. Nothing.
"I heard someone took a chaos emerald in there." She yelled to the echidna and he looked a bit more interested than earlier.
"And what if it isn't haunted? What if someone lives there; we'll be breaking in." He muttered and the bat smiled in the kind of way that told him she knew something he didn't.
"Now..." She placed her finger on her chin in thought as she hovered above the gate, "Who was the one who said I was scared? Maybe you're really the scaredy cat!" She grinned and the echidna growled. "Anyway, I've checked the records on this place, there hasn't been anyone living in it for years!" She announced and flew to the other side of the gate, she landed softly and unlatched the simple old lock; the gate opened with a rather loud screeching sound and Rouge held her hands over her ears to block out the horrible racket. The gate finally stopped and there was only just enough room for the echidna to walk through, he didn't seem very bothered by the noise earlier and simply walked up beside the bat.
"Ladies first." He smirked and she huffed, "I'm no lady." She muttered and strode along the path to the mansion, Knuckles laughed and followed close behind. The path wasn't anything special, it was a dirt path with weeds growing around the sides and the occasional rebel that grew in the path, the whole yard was covered in weeds and long grass that was so long it reached up to Knuckles' waist.
"What's the point of going into this place anyway? It's only a house." Knuckles grumbled.
"Mansion." Rouge corrected and continued to the wooden veranda at the front of the house. "Anyway, there might be a chaos emerald in there."
"Might be? You dragged me here because there might be a chaos emerald; this is a waste of time, how did you ever con me into this?" The echidna asked and stepped onto the first creaking step, the steps were rather large and there were only two of them that led onto a old worn oak floor.
"Okay, so my sources aren't always correct..." She glanced at him and approached the large front double-door, "But! I never say no to a challenge!" She announced and he rolled his eyes. "So this was a challenge?" He questioned and crossed his arms.
"No... But even if there isn't anything in there, at least we took a look." She muttered and reached for the knob.
"We?"
She looked back at him and tilted her head questionably. "Aren't you coming?" She asked and he thought for a moment and slowly shook his head, "No way, look; you have fun with this stupid mansion, I'm going home." He muttered and turned and began walking away, Rouge clenched her fist and pointed at him.
"You're just a chicken!" She yelled and he just raised his fist in a 'who cares' kind of manner and slight goodbye; she swore to herself and opened the large doors. "Fine! But if there is a Chaos Emerald in here; it's all mine!" She yelled to herself and strode inside the mansion; Knuckles had just gotten to the large gates and turned back and watched the large doors close behind the white bat.
"Fine... Be that way..." He muttered to no one in particular and was about to take one more step to out of the yard but a loud scream ran across the area from the mansion.
"Rouge!" He immediately turned back and ran towards the mansion, up the steps, opening the doors...
One Week Later
Once a month, Tikal would visit Chaos, to see how he was doing and if he was happy and taking good care of the chao.
"The Chao look very happy today." Tikal smiled as she sat on the steps of the Master Emerald Shrine next to the watery creature known as Chaos, they both watched seven normal Chao playing not too far away. Chaos nodded with a gurgling sound shortly after, she nodded.
"He is um... Taking it well." She giggled while covering her mouth to hide the obvious smile on her face, Chaos turned to look at the Master Emerald behind them and made a few more bubbling sounds.
"Hmm?" Tikal followed his gaze and soon a worried expression came across her face, "Chaos? Where is Knuckles?" She asked and the water creature just shook his head and turned back to watch the Chao, another bubbling sound came from him.
"With Rouge? Oh I remember her." She murmured and he continued with another few sounds of water, "To... Get a Chaos Emerald...? Where?" She continued and Chaos simply shrugged and pointed to one of the Chao and bubbled which probably meant that the Chao should know; Tikal stood up and walked over to the Chao and sat down in front of them.
"Good day Chao." She smiled and they all ran over to her with love hearts above their heads, she giggled and pet them all one by one, "Now; do any of you Chao know where Knuckles is?" She asked and all the Chao popped a question mark above their heads, one Chao on Tikal's left suddenly hit its fist with triumph and a explanation mark appeared atop its head; it flew over in front of Tikal and nodded. "Chao chao chao!" It chimed and raised its hand, it motioned her to follow it as it flew over to the edge of the island.
"Oh; please be careful." She murmured and walked up beside it; it pointed at the land below, a city was somewhere below and not too far away. "Knuckles went there?" Tikal asked and the Chao happily nodded, "Will you lead me to him?" She smiled and the Chao jumped up and down in joy, a definite yes.
Somewhere around Angel Island
The first few other times that Shadow and Tikal visited the island, they had crash-landed and Shadow had made the suggestion of putting a tele-porter there, he found a rather interesting cave and just finished making the tele-porter.
"There, no need for the ship now." He said, patting his hands together to get any dirt or small pieces of rocks off his gloves. The tele-porter was a bit of a bright colour, a circle of metal was on the ground with a control panel in front of it, it didn't look like much, but it would get them home in no time.
"Shadow!"
"...?" He turned to see Tikal standing in front of him, but they had barely been there for half an hour.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, he noticed the small Chao in her arms and raised an eye ridge in confusion. "We're not taking that thing home." He said and she giggled.
"No, of course not silly! Knuckles has gone missing and this little Chao knows where he is, can we go to Earth? Please?" She asked and he shrugged.
"Sure, why not? We can take the ship; it didn't crash too badly this time." He said and snickered, there was one time where they had directly hit a large tree and they had been stuck there for over a month. Shadow and Knuckles had a few issues during that time and Chaos and Tikal had to keep them from trying to beat each other to a pulp.
Their ship was a lot smaller than it used to be, there was heaps of old and destroyed robots left on Ark and he had made a small ship that was easy to pilot and a bit difficult to land but they hadn't gotten hurt yet with their landings.
In the small Space Ship, on the way to Earth
There were only two seats, Shadow sat at the controls and Tikal sat beside him with the Chao in her lap. The Chao pointed to the small town below and in no time, they were directly above it.
"Chao chao!" It smiled and continued to point below.
"Okay, hold on." Shadow smirked and Tikal held onto the Chao as they neared the ground. "We should find a better way to land!" She yelled and the Chao began to bounce around, it must of found it enjoyable in some way.
As every landing previously, they crash-landed. The ship was built especially for this sort of thing, so they were fine, just a bit dizzy.
"That was a.. Nice landing..." Tikal murmured, holding the Chao with one hand and her head with the other.
"Better than the last one I'd have to say." Shadow smirked and stepped out, the Chao happily hopped out and waved its hands in the air, Tikal came out, still holding her head.
"Chao chao!" The chao scurried over to her and yelled with a big smile still across its face, she nodded and looked to Shadow.
"It knows where Knuckles is," She crouched in front of the Chao and smiled, "Lead the way." She said and the Chao happily began running along a dirt road, Shadow stared after it with an odd look on his face.
"That's pretty fast... For a Chao that is." He muttered and she giggled and began following it.
The dirt road was deserted, grass and weeds freely grew on the sides of the road, large metal fences made it difficult to see what was beyond the properties and whether or not, the Guardian had been there.
The Chao stopped in front of a large dark gate, it was partially open. "Chao chao!" It pointed to a pathway leading to the mansion, Shadow was already stepping up to the gate and Tikal only just caught up. "You are a fast little Chao." She smiled and pet the Chao on the head, it jumped up and down in joy and stood at the side of the gate.
"Okay, Chao, you stay there and we'll go in and find out if Knuckles is in there." Shadow muttered and the Chao confirmed with a nod, Tikal walked up beside Shadow and they started walking along the small dirt path to the mansion. They approached the large doors and Shadow knocked on the door a few times, "Hello?" After around a few minutes, he knocked again... Still nothing.
He turned the knob and opened the large doors, they opened inwards and didn't creak at all, "Hello?" He repeated and took a few steps inside, he turned to Tikal. "I don't think anyone lives here." He murmured and she walked in a bit further, it was all dark, a old wooden staircase was in front of them, leading to the second floor. A fine oak door stood below the staircase, probably a closet. Large openings to the left and right lead to a very old lounge room and kitchen, Shadow walked to the centre of the room they were in, carefully looking around at the floor and ceiling.
"Hello?" He called out yet again.. Still no answer. Tikal walked over beside him, "Do you think; the Chao could have been wrong?" She muttered and he shrugged, "I don't know; maybe." He continued to look around a bit more then turned to the door, it suddenly shut tight on them with a loud slamming noise echoing all around them, Tikal jumped a bit and they both watched the door cautiously. They walked cautiously towards the door but suddenly, something grabbed both their feet, Tikal gasped as they started pulling them down a hole that suddenly appeared.
"Eahh!" She yelled as they were both dragged into the hole at an incredible speed, Shadow tried to see where they were headed, but couldn't see anything in the depths of the darkness.
Crack!
Thump!
She had landed first and he had fallen onto her on his back but quickly rolled off. "Rrr..." He groaned and struggled for air for a moment, he slowly got up on his knees and leaned over Tikal.
"Tikal. Tikal?" He shook her shoulder gently, she didn't move, but she was breathing. He sighed with relief, she had landed on her stomach, she didn't seem to have any bleeding wounds. He gently rolled her onto her back and finally took a glance around the room, although there wasn't much to gander at anyway, it was far too dark to see anything except for the small amount of light coming from the hole they had fallen from.
"Come on, I'll get us out of here." He murmured and carefully lifted up her head with his right hand, he quickly froze in place as he heard something coming closer to them.
"Who's there?" He growled, he pulled Tikal closer to himself protectively, but... It was not something threatening.. It was...
"Maria?" He stared wide-eyed at the human in front of him, it was Maria Robotnik, but that was impossible...
Shadow was about to stand up, but was aware of the echidna girl he held in his arms, he continued to stare at the human in front of him, she was glowing faintly. He began to shake.
"Tikal, I..." He looked at her peaceful features, then looked to his friend from long ago, he bit his lip. "I.. This.." Tears began to trickle down his cheek, why?
He closed his eyes and held Tikal closer, "Maria, you died... You are still my friend but... I cannot leave Tikal...
I love her." He muttered and after a while, he opened his eyes again, the room was suddenly well lit. It was a basement, a staircase lead to the main room. Shadow wiped away his tears and gently picked up Tikal, he walked up the stairs with caution, there was a door at the top, he opened it and found that it was the door that they had thought to be a closet. He didn't waste any time getting outside into the fresh air, he instantly picked up someone yelling with his skilled hearing.
"Fine! Be that way!" Rouge's voice yelled from over near the gate, Shadow quickly ran over to the gate and just caught a glimpse of the white bat flying away. Knuckles had his arms crossed and was walking away in the other direction rather quickly, Shadow quickly ran over to him.
"Hey! Where'd you two disappear to?" He asked, the Chao from earlier began following them; the red echidna looked at him then to Tikal.
"What happened to you is more like it?" He growled and quickened his pace, Shadow frowned and followed along the dirt road anyway, their ship was somewhere this way wasn't it?
Around half an hour earlier, in the Mansion
"Uh geez, I feel like I had a little too much to drink..." Rouge muttered as she awoke, Knuckles was laying on the floor beside her, he was already awake but holding his side, blood was seeping through his glove.
"Hey! Are you okay?" She covered her mouth with her hand and leaned over to have a closer look, "Does it hurt much?" she asked with just a bit of worry in her voice. The red echidna growled while sitting up, "I'm fine!" he grumbled and attempted to stand up but grunted as he fell to the floor again and slowly checked his leg, nothing, must have been the fall, but his legs were rather weak.
"It's nothing." He growled as she leaned closer to him, she placed her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. "Don't pretend to be so tough, hmpth!" She crossed her arms but her eyes soon lit up as she saw something in front of them. A Chaos Emerald, it was silver.
Knuckles winced and held his side, Rouge looked between the emerald and the wounded Knuckles, she smirked. "My Emerald." She grinned and stood up, she strode over a few steps and quickly snatched the emerald from thin air. She looked back at the echidna and he frowned and looked into the darkness, her bat ears picking up something moving, like a mechanism or something.
The ceiling started to lower and Rouge swore.
"Cya Red!" She yelled and bolted up the stairway, Knuckles stared up at the ceiling, but it suddenly stopped. He hung his head and let his hands rest on the floor, anyone that knew of olden time things, knew this way some type of test of love, of course Knuckles hadn't known this until she had chosen the Chaos Emerald over him, then she left him to die...
"Gee, thanks bat girl..." He muttered; he didn't count her as a friend, more as another rival, but it still stung. He felt a tear roll down his cheek but quickly wiped it away with a frustrated growl, he didn't need anyone anyway...
Aww! Poor Knuckles! That kind of touched my heart there, but I feel kind of stupid for repeating the test, oh well. Anyway, I'll be linking this story to Sonic Heroes and I better get around to going through the game with all the characters, so the next chapter is going to take a LONG time and will contain major spoilers of Sonic Heroes! That's going to take forever... Anyway, I'm very well aware of how I still have Sonic and Amy coupled, don't worry! I'll answer that!
This'll answer any confusion, anyone who entered the mansion, would get frozen in time, but when Shadow went in there... Well the energy of the Chaos emerald went a bit weird and the ghost couldn't control it any longer, therefore, Knuckles and Rouge had their test and got out just before Shadow and Tikal fell through, its all to do with timing... Haha timing! Haha.