Chapter 3

The Missing Link

Sonic and Tails were laying down on Sonic's green couch. They were watching a DVD of School of Rock. Tails paused the movie for a second.

"What gives?" Sonic asked.

"I just remembered this great pimp joke I heard," the fox explained. "Here we go. This pimp has three girls. He goes to the first one and says 'Girl, you owe me $50.' She goes, 'No, I only owe you $25.' So he slaps her and says 'Don't correct me, bitch.'"

"Goes to the second girl and says, 'You owe me $100.' She says she only owes him $50. Same thing, he slaps her and says 'Don't correct me, bitch.' Gets to the third one, says 'You owe me $200.' She says she only owes him $100, so he slaps her and goes 'Don't correct me, bitch.' Goes to the fourth one and-"

"Hold on," Sonic stopped him. "You said there was only three girls."

Tails slapped Sonic across the face. "Don't correct me, bitch."

The two laughed. Just as the laughter died down, the phone rang. Sonic zipped over to it and picked it up, quickly checking the call ID. It was RaGiff.

"'Giff!" he bellowed into the phone.

"Uh, Sonic?" replied a quiet female voice on the other line.

"Huh? Who's this?" Sonic asked. As far as he knew, RaGiff wasn't going out with anyone.

"It's Cassie."

"Cassie? What're you doin' at RaGiff's place?"

"It's a long story…Sonic, RaGiff…"

"What?"

"…He's hurt. Real bad. I think he's going to die."

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"Settle down, settle down," boomed Harold. There were a lot of spirits at the table. They must be high ranking or something, Knuckles thought. "Our honored guest, Knuckles the Echidna, has finally come. We now have a special announcement for him." Harold then faced Knuckles, who had been pushed into a seat on the opposite end of the long table by Lianne. "Knuckles, the people of D8 would be honored if you became our city's link with Earth."

Knuckles was confused. Usually, when he was messed up like that and completely out of the loop, he asked quickly and bluntly what the other person meant.

"Say what now?"

"We would like you to live here with us," explained Harold, "and serve as a link between our dimension and yours. Like an ambassador," he continued, seeing Knuckles' still-puzzled look.

Knuckles stared at Harold for a while. Then, he began chuckling. "Oh yeah, that's good Harry. Live here? You kill me, man."

Now it was Harold's turn to look confused. "Do you accept?"

Knuckles stopped his laughing and looked hard at Harold the spirit. "You're serious, aren't you?" Harold slowly nodded back.

The echidna turned his head just as slowly to Tikal and Lianne. "Could I…" He looked back at Harold, who nodded. The board members looked a bit astonished at Knuckles' attitude towards such a great honor.

After Lianne, Tikal, and Knuckles were safely out of earshot, Knuckles began his tirade. "You dragged me up here for a stupid question like that??? Would I like to stay here forever? Hell no, you know that! I have to-"

"At least be polite and give it some consideration!" Tikal hissed back.

"What's the point? This is crazy-OW!"

He had just received a hard slap across the face from Lianne. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know what you're problem is, but this is one of the highest ranks in this whole dimension. Only the most worthy warriors get nominated for it. No one ever offered the position has ever turned it down. I can't believe anyone could be so rude as to laugh at it's offering!"

Knuckles was rubbing his face. "Maybe you don't understand this," he growled, "but I'm the guardian of the Master Emerald. I have a life back on Earth that I'd like to live. I checked my agenda this morning and giving up my life to protect a whole bunch of half dead spirits I've never met before wasn't on it-"

Another slap. At least an attempt. Knuckles grabbed Lianne's hand before it reached his face and forcefully thrust it down. He had a glare in his eyes that could be best attributed to that of an angry lion. Lianne finally seemed to give up. "Good," Knuckles replied to her action. He was about to walk in to the room to decline their offer when someone grabbed his shoulder. He came within an inch of punching out Tikal.

"What if the Master Emerald wasn't a problem?" she asked, unafraid of her near face bashing.

Knuckles thought for a minute. If that wasn't a problem, what would be? Now that he thought on it, he didn't really do anything other than protect the Emerald. And if he was a "link," then that implied he could visit Earth whenever he wanted. Plus, he didn't piss off a whole bunch of spirits who could help in a pinch should he need it.

"How would that not be a problem?" he asked her.

"Get an apprentice. Train them and have them guard it."

Knuckles had a prepared retort to this question he planned to use late into his life when someone may suggest he retire from old age. But for some reason, he couldn't remember it now. And plus, it seemed like a good idea-he was sick of guarding that big green gem. Boring as hell, that would be a good descriptor for it.

"Okay then," Tikal said, taking Knuckles' understanding expression. "Let's go tell them." Knuckles nodded. The two walked in. Lianne, caught a bit off-guard, followed far after.

"My client accepts your offer," Tikal announced as if she was Knuckles' agent, "under a small condition."

Harold looked slightly taken aback, as did the others at the table. "Yes?" he got out.

"I need a week," Knuckles explained, "to find a new guardian for the Master Emerald and train them."

Harold's face showed sheer confusion, but he soon replaced it with an expression of understanding. "Very well. We are honored to have you here."

"One last thing," Knuckles asked. "Tikal told me of a disturbance far from our planet. Could you bring me up to speed on that?"

Harold's face turned grim. "Our defense secretary will inform you on this."

Knuckles' eyes flashed around the room looking for another person to come to the stand. To his surprise, Lianne began to walk towards Harold. She looked around the room, then at Knuckles.

"As you know, massive earthquakes have struck our area recently, a magnitude 6.5 and two near the range of 5.7. These quakes can only be attributed to disturbances related to the Chaos Emeralds in the ground dimension."

"Oh crap!" Knuckles shouted. "The Emeralds! We left them on Earth!!"

The board murmured.

"We…were under the impression you had brought them with you," Lianne said.

"No, we were brought to the hospital while we were unconscious and didn't have a chance to get them before we went to Mobius."

"Very well. We are unsure of that particular disturbance, but you may see it at our labyrinth with your Chaotix powers. But we have received frequent shakes in our labyrinth as well. Our priests have told us that one Leo O'Connell is a threat to all dimensions. We cannot trust him-"

"BLADE!" Knuckles shouted.