Authors Note:

Sigh, I deeply apologize. I must be making a habit of taking so terribly long. Its inexcusable I know but I do apologize. So many things I have had to deal with, I guess I lost interest for a time. Once more I apologize but I will I try harder to make the updates. I hope all my fans can forgive me.

Chapter 7: Contemplation and Realization

Knuckles

For a long portion of my life, I had competed with Sonic for numerous reasons. But in the end we always sorted out our differences. I look back on those times with disgust at the source of all those problems.

"Eggman…" I scuffed at that name; it was mostly his fault that Sonic was in such a shape. If it wasn't for Eggman and his numerous attempts at taking over this world then Sonic might be better off. Sonic was always they're for everyone, and never thought twice about risking his own life for all of us. Granted he often had a cocky attitude; I could always see it in his eyes, he was always scared whenever he got in a situation it seemed he couldn't win.

"But he always rose to the challenge.." I nodded at my own words as I leaned against the stone column near the center platform where the Master Stone sat. I couldn't deny Sonic's greatness, no matter how hard I tried to hide it. When all seemed lost, he would always find a way to win. But now that I think about it; it was the Chaos Emeralds that always saved him. But now I feel like it's because of the Emeralds themselves that are killing him.

"Perhaps…they were never meant to be used that way…" I looked down in thought; it was true that whenever Sonic used the emeralds, I felt like a part of him was slipping away. I couldn't describe the feeling when I first laid eyes on Super Sonic. I could remember it so clearly; it was the day that changed everything I thought about Sonic.

Flashback----

All 7 chaos emeralds had finally been gathered. I could only think about going home now, back to Angel Island and the Master Emerald. But it was now that I realized I really had no idea how to make the emeralds work.

"Blast…I have them together…but why wont they work?" I gritted my teeth in anger then slammed my large fist into the ground trying to relieve it but this only brought depression. I was so close to going home, to leaving this place and never looking back. But that's when I realized that maybe its because of this wish that the emeralds would not respond.

"Am I being to greedy? Is it because I would be leaving the others behind that the emeralds deny my request?" I sighed once again before finally nodding. It was the truth and I had to accept it. My time on this world had made me bitter and selfish. I realized that I had to find the others first before we could leave.

"I have to find them first…and convince them to come with me.." I nodded at this but as I prepared to go, I could feel the ground quake and the winds pick up from an approaching force. As I turned to find what it was, it became quite obvious who it was.

"Eggman…not now!" He was piloting his latest version of his flying battle fortress. It wasn't until this moment that I realized why he was here. I had made the mistake of gathering all the emeralds right in plain sight. I groaned putting my hands over my ears from the loud voice coming over the sound speaker of Eggman's ship.

"Woohoohooo! Thank you Knuckles for finding all the emeralds for me…now if you don't mind I'll be taking those for my own use…. Woohooohooo!" I looked back to the emeralds now in horror to find that they were already gone; now being taken away by one of his robots. I could only growl at the helpless situation that I couldn't stop him.

"This is bad…if he figures out a way of using them then we are in a lot of trouble…" My thoughts raced for a moment; what could be done? As I felt a feel of helplessness wash over me; I looked up to see a blue blur dash by me only to stop right beside me.

"Looks like I got here just in time eh Knux?" Indeed it was Sonic; I could feel a small sliver of hope coming back but I could only wonder what he could do. But when I thought about that I realized that there was very little that Sonic couldn't do to make things possible.

Flashback end----

My train of thought was suddenly detoured when I felt a strange sensation wash over my body. I had felt this sensation before when I first went to see Sonic in the hospital; but it wasn't until now that I realized it was the same sensation as when I am close to the Master Emerald. I had been guarding it for so long, but I really knew very little about it. All I really knew was that it was apart of my heritage and that it contained the plasmatic being called Chaos.

I rubbed my head a moment before looking up to the sky, the feeling still present in my head. I knew that the two were connected, but now I knew that Sonic had become a involved in something with the emeralds as well. I didn't know what it could be, but I felt it was a mix of good and bad. I looked down in thought before looking out over the ocean knowing of something I had to do.

"I have to let Tails know…he's probably oblivious to all this…" I nodded then stood up looking back to the Master Emerald briefly before running down the small strip of island and finally jumping off it and hovering off to the city not to far away..

Authors Note: Half way through this story I discovered how I want the next chapters to go so I am cutting it shorter then I originally intended but I will try extra hard to get the next few chapters up as soon as possible. I apologize if this is a burn for all of you that have bared with me up to this point but thank you!