(I do not own Sonic X etc)

Flip card 2:

Name: Knuckles

Age: 17

Sex: Male

Species: Echidna

Description: Knuckles is the Guardian of the Master Emerald and the last of the Echidna race.

Days and weeks floated by unknown on Angel Island. With hardly any grasp of time, all Knuckles had to record the passing of days was the gentle cycle of the sun above. Weeks, months and years blurred into one continued existence. Leaving the Shrine of the Master Emerald only when it was absolutely necessary, Knuckles' life was pretty much the same from day to day.

Still he left no boredom, no need for anything new. His guardianship was all he had known ever since he was little older than four, so why should he crave other things? Angel Island was his home and his life. It was an illusion that had sustained him for years and although he was well aware that someday he would have to grow out of it, he could relax in it for just a bit longer at least.

Then, as he'd half expected, something came along to shatter that blissful illusion.

That something being a shapely female bat called Rouge. Lying on his back away from the Master Emerald, the Echidna blinked against the sunlight above when he saw a faint black dot hovering across the sky. Concentrating his eye sight on it he could see, as it got closer, that it had leathery wings.

Sighing, he pushed himself up into a sitting position as she effortlessly gild down to the bottom of the shrine. Knuckles had lost count of how many times he'd told her to leave the island and he knew from long experience that she wasn't going to listen. So instead of getting into an argument he couldn't possibly win, he groaned and collapsed to his back again; staring up at the sky.

"Hey handsome." She smiled at him, pushing her face directly over his. Having little social skills, Knuckles just levelled his eyes.

"Can I help you?" He asked bluntly. Rouge's smile widened, amused by his emotionless façade before she slid down to sit beside him. Knuckles cast her a sour look when he noticed her eyeing up the Master Emerald, evaluating exactly how much effort she would have to exert to get it back down to the surface. She looked back at him with a grin to let him know she was only joking.

"I'm here to collect you." She stated. Knuckles sat up with a half bemused look on his face. "Wasn't my idea." She began quickly. "Sonic thinks he'll be needing you."

"Sonic knows better than anyone my only concern is towards the Master Emerald. I don't do adventures." Was his very flat, emotionless reply before he lay back down again with his eyes closed and his hands behind his back.

"Don't tell me that thick head of yours is filled with nothing by that?" She asked, shaking her head in the direction of the giant Emerald; whose glow pulsated disapprovingly in response. "There's really nothing else in there?" He tapped his head, nearing hearing a hallow echo before Knuckles opened his eyes to give her a very angry glare. She would never, could never tell him but even in a glare those purple eyes were just like any priceless jewel.

"Look Rouge…" He began sadly, closing his eyes again. "This is the only piece of the world I'm familiar with. The rest of it doesn't move right, too chaotic and random. I'd probably just get in the way."

Before she could start to reply, the glow from the Master Emerald intensified as it reached out trying to grab it's guardians attention. The red Echidna was on his feet in an instant as the green light radiating from the giant jewel shone like a beacon for miles around.

It was clear by the expression on the Echidna's face that he could understand the light and from that Rouge gathered that the Emerald was in fact talking to him. The air around them seemed to shimmer and within the depths of the jewel itself, an image clarified. It took a moment to form, but when it did it showed an image both Rouge and Knuckles were familiar with. The semi-circular form of the ARK Space Colony.

"ARK?" Knuckles began in confusion. "You want me to go to ARK? Why?" The image dissolved, before reforming into another image. A large round face with a long orange moustache lancing out from a pointed noise materialized out of nothingness. Eggman was holding in each hand a Chaos Emerald; with a hideously wide smile on his face. Knuckles grimaced before sitting back down with his arms crossed stubbornly. "Eggman is not my concern." In reply to his statement, the image liquefied again before solidifying in the form of a towering dark image with piercing red eyes. Knuckles shuddered involuntarily, a shiver running down his spine at the sight of it. The familiarity in those eyes very disturbing. "But I can't leave you here unprotected." The images within the Emerald died away and it's glow started to pulsate again. "No!" Knuckles stated sharply, for once defying the Emeralds wishes. "I'm not going!" There was a sharp flash of light from within the Emerald and almost like a hologram, the image manifested above it in a three dimension shape. A demonic figure with large bull like horns and glowing red eyes, a long spiked tail swinging out behind it's humanoid like form. Those sharp evil eyes latched onto Knuckles and pulsated bright red.

For a moment, the red Echidna was forced violently into his own past. Back into his earliest memory, to the day he came upon the Master Emerald's shrine, being chased there by an evil presence with those very same eyes. Alone in a harsh, unfamiliar world with death closing in on him.

"Knuckles, hey are you in there?" Rouge demanded, seeing the thin trails of cold sweat running down the Echidna's face. Knuckles blinked once, then shuddered.

"Alright, alright I'll go!" With that, the images disappeared completely and the emerald's glow shrank back to normal.

"Hey, are you ok?" Rouge asked, laying a hand on his shoulder. Knuckles swallowed hard, trying to forced the pit that had formed in his stomach closed. The wiped the sweat of his head with his glove.

"Yeah…fine." He lied. The fact of the matter was he was not fine. That sight had petrified him beyond all imagining and he didn't even know why. That figure, the last image the Emerald had shown him had been the spitting image of one of the statues of the Ancient Echidna's god; Krish Kra Pal. Had it been his eyes that had chased him when he was little more than an infant? He took a moment to steady himself, trying to remind himself that he was the tough Knuckles. He didn't show any emotion if he could help it.

"Looks like you're going." Rouge began. Knuckles let his shoulders drop, finally grasping that the Master Emerald had just ordered him to go.

"I can't just leave it here alone."

"Oh come on Red." The bat laughed, putting his arm around his shoulders. "It managed to survive without you for a good thousand years. What's a couple of weeks?"

"Weeks!"

"Don't worry about it Knuckles. After Metal Sonic used it to transform into Metal Overlord, G.U.N began considering the Emerald a top security concern. Over a quarter of their remaining surveillance satellites are used to monitor both you and your little jewel." She smiled playfully at him. "Don't that make you feel special?" Knuckles was too annoyed to respond.

Fang had no loyalties. He was a mercenary, assassin and muscle for hire. He would undertake any job for money. Murder, assignation, theft, arson; whatever the client wanted really. He was allied ultimately only to himself and his profits. So when he was asked to undertake this errand he carried very little about the specific details and he did so only when he was told how much he was being paid.

Sabotage was amongst his variety of services and it bothered him not that his target was the G.U.N Military. Sneaking onto the base hadn't been altogether difficult. Most guards were on the look out for attacking Eggman Empire attack robots, not a lone raider trying to make his way onto restricted ground.

The base his clients had picked as his target was a large one located deep in the French countryside, miles away from any town or city. His clients had not identified themselves officially, but Fang had a clear idea of who was paying him to do this. Not that it really mattered. As long as the money was in his hands at the end of the day, he'd kill, bomb or destroy just about anything.

Clipping the bared wire fence with a pair of pliers, Fang slipped effortlessly past the patrolling Laser Hunter robots and into the base itself. Standing in the bay, ready to move out were four of the large, pilot-able Mech-Walkers G.U.N was deploying heavily in their campaign against the Empire. These were large robotic machines with enough fire power to lay waist to over half a dozen tanks. These were the weapons on the future. Nearly every army on Earth had them used in military campaigns now.

These were not his targets. His mission was to get inside the base, set explosives in the armoury and then steal one thing from their research labs. For this job, he was being paid a large amount of cash and any difficulties he encountered along the way would sufficiently raise that amount. So he would be sure to run into a little difficultly now and then.

Strapped across his back was a brown leather backpack, filled to the brim with everything he would need for this job. Cutting equipment, several spare rounds for his gun and a lot of explosive devices and detonators. Security on the base turned out to be far tight inside the buildings than he'd originally expected. In fact, far much more. More guards, security cameras and patrolling robots. That more than doubled his originally fare.

Getting inside the main compound through a ventilation shaft, Fang began silently crawling through the murky collection of metal tunnels, his purple fur snagging against the in-turned steal rivets that held it all together.

This way he could avoid most security systems and have access to the mass majority of the base. Located the armoury took longer than expected, but eventually he removed the grating from one of the vents and poked his head out, nearly dropping his hat into a security infra-red beam that lined the corridor. From this vantage point, he could see a large security door with the words: ARMOURY: RESTRICTED ACCESS; Printed on in large white letters.

Two security camera's were watching the door, and the weasel could also here voices from not too far away. This door was being watched like a hawk, but it wasn't as if Fang had much of a choice in his method of entry. He didn't have time to find another way in. The longer he stayed on the base, the greater his risk of detection was. Sooner of later, someone was going to notice the clipped wires back at the perimeter.

Reaching into his bag, he withdrew several suction cups which he attached to his palms and knees and then slowly he crawled out of the vent and across the ceiling, the suction keeping him above the lien of sight of the cameras and the security beams.

"Spider Man's got nothing on me." He whispered with a short laugh to himself, climbing over the cameras and discounting the two of them from their power supplies, leaving two large blank spots in the security grid. He estimated after that, security would be alerted to his presence in just a few minutes.

Still attached to the ceiling, fearing his section of floor could be triggered with alarm sensors, Fang reached into his back again and took out a mobile hacker. This small device was about the size of a mobile phone and would probably pass for one if it was ever examined by police. Two long wires lanced out from it and these the Weasel attached to the large panel at the side of the door.

The door itself required a security code in order to open, but a few dummy commands were good enough. Packing everything he wouldn't need away, Fang dropped down to the floor and reached for his gun, a silencer extending the barrel by another inch.

Once the metallic door had retracted, Fang darted inside and hide behind the nearest big thing he could find. The armoury was a large chamber with a towering ceiling, large forklifts helping the personnel to move large crates from one end to the other; all marked with the G.U.N G symbol.

Several of the Raptor Walkers stood at the far end, their pilots sitting in the cockpits testing out the system responses. Fang looked up briefly as a large metal door to the outside opened up and a large, Yahger Mech marched itself in, the floor trembling under it's footsteps before it stopped directly in the centre of the room and the glass cockpit opened up.

Taking out the plastic explosives, Fang looked for a place where he could place them. It would have to be a good hiding place. It would need to keep them hidden long enough for him to leave and remotely detonate them from a distance. For a moment he considered inside one of the crates, but that wasn't practical. Crates were entering and leaving the armoury all the time, he wouldn't be able to ensure the explosive wound stay in the room that way.

Looking up, he saw a tall metal ladder leading up to the rafters above. That would be perfect. Scaling it before anyone could notice him; he planted one just underneath a rafter, setting the detonator to remote control mode. Planting the others in various locations here and there, all in ingeniously thought-out hiding places, Fang paused to admire his work from the safety of the shadows. The fact that his explosives would most probably kill everyone here did not weigh too heavily on his conscience, as he did not have one.

Still, his job was not finished yet. Contained up within the bases new technologies lab was a piece of hardware his clients desperately wanted and he had little intention of disappointing them.

The flight from France to Rome had lasted longer than expected; on-top of an hour delay in the departure lounge after a couple of Eggman Empire Dreadnaughts had been sighted in the area. But finally Chris and Chuck arrived in the city of Rome. It was here that Prof Toriyama, a famous archaeologist had uncovered something to extreme importance; at least according to Chuck's friend Artimus. Something so important that might have the potential to put his life in danger.

One of the artefacts he uncovered from his dig site bore the symbol of the Foundation; a fanatical order of cultists that once masqueraded at high level businessmen. Chuck wasn't entirely sure what he would find once he got there, but if his hunch was correct Toriyama's find could be both monumental and possibly cataclysmic.

"Just what does this Toriyama person look like?" Chris asked as his grandfather hired a jeep for the day just outside the airport.

"Artimus didn't give me an exact description." Chuck admitted, tugging down the round pale cream hat ha had down over his eyes to block out the flares from the sun. "Just the location of his dig site." The site itself, according to the map Chuck had in his pocket; was located in the wilderness not to far from the city limits. However, none of the resident G.U.N forces were being allowed to patrol the area. They had received orders to keep clear and allow private guards to be stationed along the perimeter.

That made getting inside the excavation site difficult, but not impossible. Since Chuck had accepted a job as one of G.U.N's top level scientists, he had been given a VIP pass. Anyone with one of those had near unlimited access to any and all military seized areas. The guards around the outside of the dig site had little choice by to reluctantly let him and his grandson pass.

The site was a large oval hole in the ground, with a large collection of digging and lifting equipment stacked around the outside edge. Some of the foliage around the sides had been cut away for a large collection of white tents on the far side of the hole. Looking down into it, Chris could see that they had uncovered the remains of some kind of building, rubble and mounds of dirt carefully being dusted away by a small army of people and pieces uncovered were being loaded into wooden crates. After that, they were then lifted up to ground level for study by the team on the surface.

Chuck was quick to notice some of the artefacts they uncovered were instantly boxed and sealed up, stacked in a corner awaiting removal. No self respecting archaeologist would even consider something like that, unless of course they had a gun barrel jabbed in their back.

"Yes can I help you?" A Japanese man hunched over a make shift table asked without looking up from his magnifying glass as he studying several broken fragments of some emblem.

"Prof. Toriyama?" Chuck asked. The man looked up briefly. The two of them could now see a long scar down the left hand side of his face.

"Wee?" He asked after a moment of careful consideration; as if careful not to talk to people he shouldn't.

"My name is Chuck Thorndyke and this is my Grandson Chris."

"Thorndyke?" Toriyama repeated, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Oh Wee, Artimus mentioned you in passing." They shook hands. "I take it Arti' asked you to come down here to see how I was doing?" Chuck seemed a little astonished at that last remark.

"Well, yes…" Toryiama sighed, putting his magnifying glass back into his jacket pocket.

"He's a good friend, but sometimes jealous can make anyone go green." He was definitely Asian, but his accent was a very strong French. "Can I get you a drink?" He asked, Chuck only nodded dumbly; an itchy dryness suddenly forcing it's way into the back of his throat. With a wide smile, he lead them across the camp to the tents. Once inside however, his smile disappeared and he looked back through the doorway to make sure he wasn't being followed.

"Listen very careful and be quietly; I don't have much time." He stated with such force either Chris nor Chuck said anything. He reached into his trouser pocket and withdrew a small sheet of paper. "Take this to the address mentioned at the top. Ask for Andre'." Before chuck could even blink in surprise he thrust it into his hand. "He will explain everything to you. I can't say anything more now; I'm under near constant surveillance. Go, quickly before you attract too much attention." He quickly poured a drink from the drinks cabinet and trust it into Chuck's other open hand. He looked like he was about to add something when the shadow of one of the patrolling guards passed over the doorway. "Going so soon, well do stop by some other time." Quickly he pushed them out the door. The guard standing outside gave them both a sidelong glance and quickly they made their way to the entrance of the camp.

"What as that all about Grandpa?" Chris asked once they were out ear shot from the guards, standing at the side of their jeep. Chuck looked back, then at the note in his hand. It was an address for some apartment in Rome, not too far from Camp itself. As for the message itself, it was written in some sort of code than he couldn't understand.

It seemed Artimus had been right with his concerns. It seemed Toriyama had stumbled across something big and some powerful people were involved.

"I don't know…" He began, then he downed his drink in one gulp. "But I intend to find out."

"Ready for another adventure red?" Sonic asked as he saw Knuckles come down the catwalk towards the ship; the most irritated look imaginable on his face. He'd arrived with Rouge as an escort a few minutes ago and judging by the look on his face most people judged it wise to stay out of his way.

"I don't know how you did it Sonic but I know you had something to do with the Master Emerald's decision." The Echidna snapped at him. "But let me be perfectly clear from the start. I don't want to be here and had any oneother than the Master Emerald asked me to go I'd still be back where I belong." With that, he barged angrily past the blue hedgehog.

"Whatever happened to hello?" He asked himself, before following the Echidna inside.

"He's been in a mood since we got here." Rouge explained. "He's never taken an order from a superior before."

"Knuckles has a superior?"Sonic asked in surprise. Rougenodded wearily.

"That Emerald of his."The blue hedgehogrolled his eyes.

Strapping themselves into the seats, the team heading into space consisted of Tails, Knuckles, Sonic, Amy and Rouge. The X Tornado had been loaded into the hanger area of the Icarus, along with a few things Okida thought that they were going to need before too long. Without warning the ship tilted backwards for a moment before righting itself again and if something very heavy had just stepped on it's rear end.

"What was that?" Amy asked, trying to look out one of the porthole windows at the side.

"That must have been Omega." Rouge replied flatly with no hint of surprise in her voice. "He won't be riding with us though; he's content to stay in the back." Tails had placed himself in the cockpit at the controls. While this was Chuck's creation, he was to be the pilot. Chuck, naturally would have been delighted to pilot them into possible hostile territory in search of a diabolical madman, but he had pressing business else ware to take care of. Of course, he was sweating a great deal when he said that so Tails didn't take his explanation too seriously.

"Ladies and gentleman if you please take note of the exits to your left and right, to be used only in the unlikely event of an emergency. Space suits are located in the compartments below your seats." Sonic began in the most upper class voice he could manage.

"That isn't funny Sonic." Knuckles snapped angrily.

"No really I'm serious." Sonic replied, taking out a helmet out from under his seat. There was a loud groaning sound as a complex set of machinery set to work and daylight began pouring through the ceiling towards them as a pair of shutter doors began to open up to the world outside.

"Ok guys, launching bay has been cleared of personnel, you are free to lift off." Okida announced over the intercom. "We'll keep the Eggman Empire busy down here while you go after the fat guy himself. Good luck."

"Roget that." Tails replied, before flicking a few final switches and settling back into the seat with the controls in his hands. "T –minus ten to lift off." Everyone's throat seemed to go dry at that point, their gaze fixed on the cloudless sky beyond the pane of glass in the cockpit. "Nine, eight, seven, six." This wasn't the first them they'd gone into space. They all seemed to have this strange feeling of de-ja-vu about it. This was almost the exact same situation they were in last time, when Chris had been taken to the ARK by Shadow after Prison Island exploded. Hopefully, this situation won't be as complicated at the last time. "Five, four, three, two." Tails didn't even finish, he simply counted that last numbers in his head before he hit the ignition button.

The rockets at the back of the craft roared angrily to life and after a minute the craft began to move slowly, before blasting forward towards the sky. Breaking out of the base itself and finally into the air the Icarus left the ground far behind and was souring into the clouds in no time. With a sonic boom, the craft began to shrink into the sky; becoming a mere speak to those watching from the ground.

Knuckles hadn't enjoyed the last trip into outer space and he disliked this one even more. He was sure he left his stomach on the ground. Sonic was tempted briefly to cry …"To infinity and beyond!" but eventually decided against it. With a loud window shattering boom, the Icarus punched a hole straight through the atmosphere and evenything grew silent. No one said anything for a few moment, before they looked out the side windows to see a black universe full of stars beyond it, the faint glow of the planet just behind them.

"Wow." Amy remarked, looking out the window. "That couldn't have been more than five minutes and look how high up we are."

"The Icarus was designed to be fast." Tails replied, un-strapping himself; but then rather unexpectedly found himself floating upwards. Now sufficiently beyond the gravitational pull of the earth walking on any solid surface seemed near impossible. "Hey, this is fun." He added, after setting the computer on auto pilot. Sonic watched him float past, before unbuckling himself and following him.

"A hedgehog could get used to this." He stated with a grin, putting his arms behind his head as he floated above their heads. Knuckles simply folded his arms and remained in his seat, glaring out his window angrily.Once beyond the atmosphere, the wings on either side of the ship pushed themselves outwards, unfolding delicately to form two large sheets of metal forming a giant triangle. A third sheet descended from the ships underbelly like a giant fin.

"Doctor Eggman…" Becoe began, looking up from his control panel onboard the Egg Carrier 3 that was due to arrive at the Space Colony ARK within the next few minutes; the giant semi- circular station already in sight on the main viewer. The large spire; the towering Eclipse Cannon had been removed and dismantled, leaving an almost wanting hole directly in it's centre.

"What is it, I'm busy here?" Eggman sighed, looking over the top of the clip board containing the final reports from the hanger."We have a ship on the long range sensors. The computer estimates it's destination is the ARK as well." Eggman paused, put the clip board down before standing up; striding down to stand over his Hence-bots shoulder.

"Affiliation?"

"It's not transmitting one of our codes Doctor; and we're too far away to see if it's a new G.U.N ship." Eggman narrowed his eyes; realizing the truth almost at once.

"Persistent hedgehog." He snarled from between clenched teeth, returning quickly to his chair. "Turn the Egg Carrier around, put us on an intercept course."

"But sir, what about the ARK?" Decoe asked suddenly.

"Leave a few badniks to hold it down until we get back; we cannot allow that ship to go anywhere!"

(In Chris' voice)

Shadow returns next time on Sonic X Dark Ages. But is that a good thing? What is his connection to the cunning Void? What plot have Chris and Chuck stumbled across? And what is Fang up to? Find out next time on Sonic X: The battleground called ARK. Don't miss it!