CHAPTER 2

Awakening Spirit

The sun began to sink behind the mountains. Espio, realizing it was getting late, said good bye and left his friend.

Knuckles watched the chameleon go then sat down on the steps. He was trying to figure out what that thing was inside the Master Emerald. As he brooded over it he dozed off without realizing it.

Deep within the Mater Emerald's shiny green surface the thing awakened fully.

It had finished taking on it's form and that afternoon's storm had quickened the process.

The spirit, the presence, form's heart began to beat and it opened it's eyes. Two sapphire colored eyes stared beyond the gem's green inner surface to a red echidna outside. Outside in freedom. That's where I must be...

It felt a connection with this echidna and had to see him. It had to get out. Somehow it had to get out.

It reached out to him.

Knuckles woke with a start. He had been dreaming.

In his dream he had been trapped in a prison made of a shiny green substance.

He hadn't been the only one in there. Someone else was also in the prison. A female echidna with sapphire blue eyes. She couldn't speak and was sending him a mental plea.

Please let me out. Please set me free.

Now he could sense that presence again. This time it was much stronger. It was coming from right behind him. The echidna turned and gasped at what he saw. Where the smudge had been that morning a figure, as clear as crystal, could be seen. A girl was trapped inside the huge Emerald.

He saw the figure's sapphire blue eyes locked on him, pleading. Please set me free.

Don't worry, he thought, I'll get you out!

He raised his fist and struck the Emerald. It shattered into pieces on impact and scattered all over the ground around the shrine.

There was a bright flash and Knuckles was forced to block it with his hand. After a few seconds it vanished and he was able to put his hand down.

He looked where the Master Emerald was, now in pieces, and saw an orange female echidna in white and green and wearing a gold crown lying on the stone floor.

OHMIGOD! Could it be her?!

He knelt down and shook her. "Are you all right?"

The female echidna opened her eyes and looked at him. "Who are you?" she asked not remembering who it was.

He sat back. "My name's Knuckles. I am the guardian of the Master Emerald...you?"

She sat up. "My name is Tikal," she said softly, "I've been trapped in the Master Emerald."

"How long?"

Tikal shook her head. "I don't know. I was set free once, though."

I know that, we met before.

The female echidna stared at his face a moment. "I think I know you," she said. "do you know someone named Sonic?"

"Yes."

Tikal smiled, "Then I do know you. We met before. You protect me."

"Huh?"

"In you protecting the Master Emerald you also protect me."

"Oh."

I still don't understand something...

Knuckles stared at her. Maybe she could answer his question. "But how?" he asked, "You were frozen in the Master Emerald. Only a spirit with no form. How are you here and how are you now?"

Tikal had no answer. "I don't know," she said truthfully, "one minute my spirit was sleeping and the next I was awakened."

Then it came to him. "Those storms!" he gasped.

"What?"

"Those storms. When lightning from the storms struck the Master Emerald they must have revived your spirit somehow and gave you form," Knuckles explained, "but why? Why would they revive you? What could it mean?"

"I don't know," she said, "but for whatever reason I'm alive again."

But why? He turned away from her and looked up at the sky trying to come up with an answer. Nothing rational came to mind. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked behind himself. Tikal was looking at him, a particular expression on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing really," she replied, "but would it be okay if we took a walk. I have a few questions I need to ask you."

"Okay."

The two walked down the shrine stairs. They became to stroll around it.

As they walked Tikal asked many questions that Knuckles tried his best to answer. Finally she asked him something he could answer easily. "So, has that Eggman guy been causing problems lately?"

"Yes," the male echidna answered, "he's still making trouble. He's still trying to conquer the world. I wish he'd just give up."

"I guess he won't because he's stubborn," Tikal said helpfully, "stubborn people always act that way till they get what they want."

"Yeah maybe," Knuckles agreed, sitting on the grass and resting his head on his knees. Tikal joined him. "It's not just him. I have this annoying bat girl named Rouge who keeps trying to steal the Master Emerald. Maybe she isn't after it at all though. Maybe it's just a trick to she can see me."

"Oh," Tikal said quietly.

He looked at her. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It's nothing really," she said, shifting her position slightly, "it's just that I missed so much. I've been sleeping in the Master Emerald for so long it's kinda hard to get used to the idea that I'm really here. Not just my spirit but really, really here."

Then something came to Knuckles. "If that storm woke up your spirit what about Chaos?"

Tikal looked at him sharply. "I don't know," she said. "but maybe. I didn't see him though."

"What if I released his spirit but not his body."

Tikal was on her feet in an instant. "We'd better go back and check."

The two ran back to the shrine. Tikal reached the top of the stairs first and gasped.

"What?" Knuckles asked coming up behind her.

Tikal didn't reply. She knelt down and cradled a watery head in her arms "Chaos," she said softy.

"Chaos?" Knuckles said leaning down beside her. "you mean he was freed after all?"

Tikal looked up at him a moment then back down at the Chao guardian. "I don't know if his spirit was," she said, "he isn't moving and it seems he isn't breathing either."

"You mean he's dead?"

Tikal shook her head. "I hope not," she said.

Knuckles noticed the female echidna looked upset. He put his arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, Tik," he said trying to comfort her, "it'll be all right."

Tikal didn't say anything for the longest time. Knuckles began to wonder if something else was bothering her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The female echidna looked at him saying nothing.

Knuckles felt something brush his hand and looked down. Tikal's hand rested on his. He looked up at her. She stared down at her hand and quickly withdrew it.

At that moment Tikal sensed a movement and looked back at the Chao guardian. Chaos seemed to be coming back to life. She could hear him breathing and color was returning to his huge green eyes.

"Chaos," she whispered to the thing, "Chaos, please wake up."

The thing swayed it's head gently and light returned to it's eyes. It's bright green eyes stared into her blue ones and a sentence as if it had been spoken floated in her mind. I'm okay, I wouldn't leave my best friend.

"Oh, Chaos," she whispered embracing him, "I'm glad you're okay."

Chaos weakly put his arm around her. He never said anything he just stared at her with his big green eyes. Then his arm dropped and his eyes lost their light as he fell back to sleep.

"Is he okay?" Knuckles voice broke the moment.

Tikal looked up. She'd been so happy to see her friend was all right she'd forgotten about the male echidna. "Oh, uh, he's fine," she answered, "a little weak but fine. He just went back to sleep."

"Well, that's good, I guess," Knuckles said, "but can we do something now?"

"What?"

"Well, I had to break the Master Emerald to get you out. So could you help me gather up the pieces, so I can put it back together?"

"Okay."

The two walked down the shrine stairs and began their collecting, but after about an hour of searching they had only found one piece.

"This can't be happening," Knuckles wheezed as his heart began to beat faster, "this just can't be happening!"

Tikal glanced down at the one Emerald shard they'd found. "Maybe it was just too dark," she suggested, "or maybe we didn't look hard enough."

Knuckles shook his head. "No, Tikal, we did look hard enough. I can't sense them for some reason. They're gone!"

Tikal didn't want to believe this. "No, they can't be...gone."

"They are," Knuckles said holding back a sniff (that's how upset he was, he was about to cry), "and it's all my fault!"

Author's Note: So it seems a bit like I'm pairing Tikal with Chaos doesn't it? Well don't worry I'm not it's just that Tikal and Chaos have always been friends from what I could understand in Sonic DX. That's all I wanted to make clear. Thank you.