PICKING UP SOME FRIENDS ON THE WAY
"Eclipse can you tell us how to defeat Tartress?" Tails asked in an interested voice.
" No, but I can tell you, you will require help with this even the five us will not be enough we will need Rouge and Knuckles for this they are the best treasure hunters in this world and we will need them for what we are going after."
"And what are we going after?" Amy asked as she paid very close attention.
"We are going after the 8th chaos emerald."
Everyone gasped, and looked at Eclipse as if he was crazy.
"What are you talking about there is an 8th chaos emerald?" Sonic asked as he looked at Eclipse.
"There is an 8th chaos emerald it is hidden far away, awaiting the day it will be reawakened."
"Ok well why do we need Rouge and Knuckle's help?" Sonic asked.
"Because they will be able to help us in our journey, Rouge is the greatest treasure hunter I have ever seen, and Knuckle has great skill in hunting for chaos emeralds, and their assistants could be very helpful if needed." Eclipse explained.
So the group headed off towards Angel Island to find Knuckles.
Knuckles was laying back against the master emerald's alter he was resting peacefully. He heard something he opened his eyes to see five figures approaching him. He stood up and got into a fighting stance when the figures got closer he could see a black, blue, and pink blur running towards him, he thought it was Sonic and Amy he wasn't sure who the black blur was, or who the figure jumping from tree to tree was but his suspicions were confirmed when he saw a yellow fox following from the air. When they arrived Knuckles was surprised too see that the black blur was Shadow, and he was alive but didn't take it into account, what he did want to know was who it was that had been following them by jumping from tree to tree.
"What do guys want?" Knuckles said as he relaxed and crossed his arms over his chest in an 'I could care less' pose.
"We need your help Knuckles." Amy answered.
"Why?"
"Because Shadow released an evil spirit that could doom the whole world." Sonic said scornfully.
"I had help from the faker." Shadow said as he crossed his arms and looked at Sonic with an evil glare.
"We need your great skill for hunting chaos emeralds." Eclipse answered this time.
"And just who are you?" Knuckles asked as he looked the new hedgehog over.
"I am Eclipse."
"And why do you need my emerald hunting skills all the chaos emeralds are locked away under the master emerald shrine." Knuckles said a little suspicious.
"Because you do not have all the chaos emeralds there is an 8th emerald." Eclipse answered again.
"What!" Knuckles said as he looked at Eclipse with wide eyes.
"It is true; the 8th chaos emerald was made after the first seven and was much stronger than the others it could resist the taming of the master emerald, so it was hidden deep in the heart of mystic Metreon."
"Where?" Tails asked somewhat confused.
"It is a mystic island that has been kept secret for over ten thousand years; it was created to keep the 8th chaos emerald safe."
"Well if you know all this why do you need my help to find it?" Knuckles asked.
"Because the island is huge and we will need your skill too help find it before we are out of time speaking of witch we need to get moving." Eclipse fished.
"Well let's start heading for Metreon then." Knuckles said as he touched the master emerald and made it shrink and he placed it some where on his person.
"We have one other stop we must make before we head for Metreon." Eclipse said.
"Where is that?" Amy asked.
"Paris." Eclipse said simply.
"Pairs!" They all yelled in unison.
"Ah isn't that the city of love?" Knuckles asked a bit confused.
"Ah yea, Eclipse why are we going there?" Sonic asked also confused.
"Because that is where we will find Rouge." Eclipse answered.
"Well lets get going." Shadow said, getting annoyed.
When he said that the x tornado suddenly appeared.
"I thought this might come in handy." Tails said as he walked over towards the plane.
"Oh but two of you will have to ride on the wings." Tails said as he climbed into the polite seat.
"I call wing." Shadow said as he jumped on to the left wing of the tornado.
"I'll ride the other." Amy said heading for the right wing.
"But I want to ride on the wing." Sonic pouted.
Amy just turned to him and gave him stare and she began to pull out her famous hammer. When Sonic saw the hammer coming out he quickly declined.
"Ah you know what, I change my mind." Sonic said as he backed up a bit.
"That's what I thought." Amy said as she walked over towards the plane.
Soon the tornado was on its way it was already flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Shadow had just been standing on the left wing watching the water as they pasted over it. But soon his attention was caught by Amy, she had been sitting on her wing just watching the ocean, she seemed almost sad. He had never imagined that he would see her this way she always seemed so hyper but seeing her this way, when she seemed calm and relaxed he thought she was kinda cute. Wait what was he thinking Amy cute that was a new sensation for him. He was curious to know if something was bothering her, so he took a chance and walked over to her and took a seat.
"Very thing ok?"
She didn't turn to face him she kept staring down into the water, the sun had began to set and it's reflection on the water was beautiful.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Amy said still gazing at it.
"Huh?" Shadow said as he looked down at what she was speaking of.
"The ocean it is beautiful isn't it." She said as she turned to face Shadow.
Shadow looked in her eyes he couldn't believe that after all that had happened all that was happing she still remained just as cool and calm as ever, and it seemed as if she wasn't even worried about what was going on. Her eyes were soft, and were a light shade of green. Shadow had never seen such beautiful eyes.
"Yea it is beautiful." "I always have admired the sea." He said as he looked at it again.
"Well at least someone else does." She said she clutched her knees to her chest and rested her head on top of them.
Shadow turned back to her. "What do mean?"
"I have never found anyone who thought about the ocean the same way I did." "It's nice to have someone who agrees with me for once."
It was now getting dark, and Shadow decided to ask her a very personal question. "Amy what exactly happened to you, I mean you've changed a lot since the last time I saw you, not just your appearance but your attitude has changed too, why?"
"Well, Sonic broke my heart just one to many times, and then it was the last straw I couldn't stand it anymore I stopped becoming the damsel in distress, and the hostage… I went hard core Shadow." She said with a some what angered look on her face as she stared at the ocean again.
But then she turned back to him for a moment and gave him smile. He couldn't resist he smiled back at her, and then he was somewhat surprised to see Amy put herself into his arms. She had him in an embrace, and then as she began to get up, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, which made Shadow blush.
"What was that for?" He asked as he rubbed the spot where she had kissed him.
She was getting up and walking to the very end of the wing, she slightly turned to him and answered.
"For being nice to me, something not very many people have done." She said as she returned to her walk toward the end of the wing.
"What are you doing?" Shadow asked, as he noticed where she was heading.
"I thought I would take a little dive, to our landing spot I need a little excitement, and besides we're here." She said as she turned completely around to face him and opened her arms and let her self fall off the wing.
"Amy!" Shadow shouted as he got up and ran to the edge of the plane to see she hadn't changed her falling pose she kept her arms straight out, and didn't move.
The others were looking out the window and saw what Amy had done.
"What does Amy think she's doing?" Knuckles asked.
"I don't know but I hope she does." Tails said as he began to try and land the plane in the big field of green grass that Amy was headed for. But Amy was just about to hit the ground when her eyes snapped open and she turned and faced the ground and landed in handstand position, and did a flip and landed perfectly on her feet. She walked over to a tree and leaned against it. Then when the tornado landed sonic was the first to get out.
"Amy are you crazy?" He yelled as he jumped to the ground.
"No Sonic I'm perfectly sane." She said as she closed her eyes and turned her nose up at him.
"Well how about showing it a little more often." Sonic yelled back.
"Hey Sonic, I don't think Amy needs you telling her what she can and can't do." Shadow yelled at Sonic as he jumped to the ground.
"What ever…" Sonic said as he walked over and leaned against the tornado.
"We need to find Rouge, so I will go and search the out skirts of pairs, Sonic and Tails you two to search the east country side, Shadow and Amy, go to the west of the country side, and Knuckles you search threw the heart of Pairs, and we will all meet back at the Eiffel Tower in 2 hours." Eclipse said as he headed off in his own direction not giving anyone time to disagree. So they all headed off in there given direction.
Amy and Shadow had searched high and low but hadn't seen head or tails of Rouge anywhere and their time was almost up so they were on their way to the Eiffel Tower, Amy walked up next to Shadow and began to talk with him.
"Shadow, I wanted to thank you for sticking up for me back there." She said in a thankful voice.
"Well you don't deserve to be treated that way, and Sonic has no right to tell you what to do either."
Meanwhile Sonic and Tails hadn't had any luck either and were also headed for the Eiffel Tower, Sonic had wanted to race, and Tails had unthinkingly agreed, so when they reached it Tails collapsed on the ground gaping for breath, Sonic was surprised to see that Eclipse was already there and waiting, but said nothing about it.
Knuckles had been jumping from roof top to roof top looking for any sign of Rouge but found none and was about to head back, when he saw a familiar figure in the distances jumping form roof top to roof top just like him, so he chased after them. But for some reason the figure ran from him, he was just able to catch up with the figure, and he jumped at them and pined them to the ground and just by luck he found it was Rouge she was struggling to get free but when she opened her eyes to see who her challenger was she stopped.
"Knuckles?" She said surprised. "What are you doing in Pairs, and do you mind letting me up?" She asked.
Knuckles got off of her and then began to explain, "I was here looking for you."
"Me, why were you looking for me?" She asked with great curiosity.
"If you will come with me I will explain on the way." He said as he began heading for the Eiffel Tower.
Rouge agreed and followed him, and Knuckles made sure she was completely filled in on what was going on. When they reached the tower all the others were already there. Knuckles told them that he explained to Rouge what was going on, and so there was only one question left and Eclipse was the first to ask it.
"So will you aid us in our quest Rouge?"
