Declaimer: READ CHAPTER 2 WHICH TELLS YOU TO READ CHAPTER 1!

Shortest chapter by far.

Chapter 3/??

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Chapter 3

Elsewhere

Slice looked around a small clearing for the emerald shard. She still haven't found it yet, and was growing frustrated. "Ugh! Where is it?!" She shouted, losing her patients. Already, she's been looking for the emerald shard for five hours, and no luck yet.

Her radar suddenly startling beeping slowly, glowing a slight green. "Yes! It's around here somewhere! Now where are the girls? Oh, who cares! The emerald shard is around here...now where?" She started walking around the field to see if her radar would pick up a stronger pace. It still stayed steady, but slightly stronger. "I'm getting closer..."After traveling around for a minute, it beeped frequently, glowing red. "Great! Now, where is it?" She glanced around, but saw no shard. "What? Is this stupid thing broken?!" Before she could do anything, the ground started to shake beneath her. "What the? What's going on here?!" As soon as those words left her month, something burst out from underground. Something large. Something scary. "AHH!" Slice yelled in terror.

Standing in front of her was a large demon. It looked to be like a dragon with equally large wings. It's head was the shape of a wolf's head and the tail was at least fifteen feet long, and deadly. It showed it's sharp teeth, which were, in fact, longer than Slice herself. It's colored was different. It's large body was golden brown and covered in fur instead of scales like your typical dragon. Eyes glaring a bright red as it stared down at Slice.

Slice nearly fainted at the sight of it. "Wh—what IS that thing?!"

The demon creature roared, blowing Slice away and into a nearby tree. It advance onto Slice who struggle to get up. She looked at it than noticed something on it's forehead, between it's eyes. The emerald shard!

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Knuckles and Rouge glide over the ocean to their destination in hopes of finding an emerald shard. So far, they've been traveling for a good hour, and the sun was beginning to set in the distance. As they pass over a field, something strange caught Rouge's attention.

"Knuckles! Look, down there! What is that thing?" Asked Rouge, pointing to a strange creature down below them.

Knuckles look at what Rouge was pointing to. It looked like a cross between a wolf and a dragon. "What the...? Rouge, isn't that Slice down there?"

"Slice?" It was indeed her sister, Slice. "Great, what has she gotten herself into now?" Rouge than notice something glittering between the demon's eyes, "Knuckles! It has one of the emerald shards!"

Knuckles growled, "Great, just what we needed. Stay here Rouge while I deal with that thing."

"What are you, crazy?! There's no way I'm letting you go down there by yourself, Knuckles! You could get hurt, or worst!" She exclaim.

"Don't worry about me, Rouge. I know what I'm doing—" Rouge cut him off with a look.

"Listen to me, Knuckles. We are in this together, got it? I'm not letting you fight that thing by yourself." She crossed her arms, determine to fight along side with the knucklehead.

Knuckles sighed in defeat. "Fine. Just stayed out of my way." And with that, he zoomed down to the demon, landing in front of Slice. Rouge landed on the side of him. The demon roared once more and Knuckles held his ground, putting his arms in front of his face. Rouge did the same.

"What is this thing!?" Knuckles yelled as he charged at it and punching it a couple of times, not doing any damage. Rouge kicked it a few times, with the same results. "Dang! Our attacks isn't having any effect whatsoever!"

Rouge growled, "This thing is invincible! How are we to take any hits off?"

Suddenly the wind picked up strongly as a figure appeared near the demons heard. The figure was a green dragon with yellow eyes, dressed in a blue samurai's kimono, with a sword. The figure smirked. "Ah, hello, friends."

Knuckles stood in a protective stance in front of Rouge as he growled at the dragon. "Who are you? And give me back my emerald piece!" Knuckles demanded.

The dragon smirk. "My name is Sameo. I am a demon wielder. And I can't simply give you this emerald shard. This...shard here, can make my demon stronger, faster, and ten-times better."

Knuckles wasn't having any of it, "Give me back my emerald piece! NOW!" He was about to charge at the demon once more, but Rouge held him back. "Ugh!"

Sameo chuckle, "I should be going now. I sense that there are more out there. Come, Dragtaro." They bother disappeared.

Knuckles was beyond furious, "Ugh! I can't believe this! How could I be so stupid and let this happen!"

"Calm down, Knuckles." Rouge said, tying to comfort the echidna.

"Calm down? Calm down?! That—that THING has a piece of the Master Emerald! Do you realize what that means? It could destroy this world! I can't just simply calm down while that thing is out there, searching for MORE pieces!" Knuckles ranted. He panted as he glared into the distance, where Sameo and his demon disappeared.

Everything was quiet for a while and they forgot about Slice who slipped off somewhere. Rouge lean up against a tree. 'I can't believe this...now what do we do? We can't defeat that thing on our own. We could get Sonic...but I wouldn't want to bother him with this. Oh, I don't know.' She glanced at Knuckles, who was obviously upset, and taking his anger out on an innocent tree. 'Poor tree, I mean, poor Knuckles. That emerald means a lot to him. I wish there was something I could do to help him...'

"Excuse me, miss?" Someone said from behind Rouge, startling her. She turn around to see a mysterious male echidna. He was a strange one, black with pale blue markings and dress in some weird ancient body armor. A scarf was wrap around his lower face, covering his nose and mouth. Also one wrap itself around his head, trailing down his shoulder and blowing in the wind. His armor was tore in certain spots, and he held a sword over his back. All in all, he was quite attractive.

"Uh, yes?" She asked, nervously, hoping Knuckles would notice soon.

The echidna glance at the red echidna than back at her, "My name is Tarosamo. You are seeking the shards of the Master Emerald, am I correct?"

Rouge nodded. "Yes, what do you know about the Master Emerald?" She asked. She was curious about this newcomer.

"I know enough. And that—" He points to Knuckles, "—must be the guardian of the Master Emerald. Am I not mistaken?" Rouge nodded.

Knuckles, as if hearing them, turn to see a strange figure talking to Rouge. Being suspicious, he ran over to them, jumping in front of Rouge, "Who are you?" He growled.

Tarosamo bowed respectfully. "My name is Tarosamo. I am here to aid you in your quest to regain the pieces of the once great Master Emerald."

Knuckles crossed his arms, "How do I know you aren't after the Emerald for yourself?"

Tarosamo faced remain the same. "I am too, after the one that goes by the name Sameo. He seeks the same as you, but for a different reason. He dreams of conquering the world and making it his own. I only wish to prevent that." He said, his voice monotonous.

Rouge step out from behind Knuckles, rolling her eyes at the echidna. "Tarosamo, what do you know about this...Sameo?" She asked with genuine interest.

"Sameo, also known as the Demon Summonor, has been place dormant in this Earth crust for many centuries, awaiting his chance to strike. The emerald shard found it's way to his liar, awaking him and his demons. He wields one from each element; Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind. That one that you had seen, Dragtaro, was the Earth Demon, Sameo's must trusted and loyal servant. The one emerald shard was place on it's forehead to increase it's abilities, such as strength and speed, making it invincible to take down on one's own without any attack power."

"Attack power?" Rouge asked with a raised eyebrow, listening attentively.

"Yes, attack power is an ability allowing you to wield strong attacks, either with a weapon of your choice or a limb, such as your hands or feet. I will show you one of my own." He took out his sword, targeting a nearby tree. "Eternal Darkness!" He shouted, attacking the tree with three swipes of the sword and than somersaulting, covering the tree in a darken swirl. The tree explode into nothingness.

Needless to say, Rouge and Knuckles were shock. "How did you do that?"

Tarosamo replace his sword back in it's sheath, "I will explain the rest to you tomorrow. It is getting dark, we must rest."

Knuckles and Rouge than noticed how dark it gotten, "I guess you're right. But where do we stay for the night?"

"I set up camp not to fall from here, we shall rest there." Tarosamo lead the way, with the two following behind at a much slower pace.

Knuckles didn't quite trust him. "We have to keep our guard up on this one."

Rouge laughed, "Calm down, Knuckles. He seems like a nice guy to me, and he's on our side." Knuckles than stop suddenly, causing Rouge to stop and look at him, "Knuckles?"

He turn to Rouge, "Rouge, listen to me, all I'm asking is that you keep your guard up around this guy. He might turn on us, and I don't want him hurting you."

"Knuckles? What are you talking about? Hurting me? He's not going to hurt me, or you! You gotta be more trusting. I have a good feeling about this guy." She smiled reassuring. She really didn't know why Knuckles was so protective and caring of her all of a sudden.

Knuckles sighed as Rouge went to the camping sight where Tarosamo was waiting, "I hope you're right, Rouge. For your sake." He glance up at the sky. The stars shun down upon the earth, glittering it. He soon join the two.

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Wow! They never made it to The City of looove. And a new character AND villain! I actually have a picture I drawn of them, but since I got a new computer, my old scanner/printer/copier doesn't want to install itself into it. -_- Anyhow, next chapter up soon! Tata!

Sorry for the chapter being so short!

Oh, yeah, I do have a picture I drawn ON the computer of Sameo and Tarosamo, if you like to see them, ask me and give me your e-mail address. BUT! You must like my story, first. Hehe. J/k, if you wanna see Sameo or Tarosamo or both, you may. NOW tata!