CHAPTER 15

SECURITY

The light slowly faded.

When it was gone Sonic, Knuckles, and Eggman all stared at the echidna floating in the air. There in crystal white and ice blue was the Princess Tikal.

"What? Tikal can use the power of the Chaos Emeralds too?" Knuckles exclaimed.

"I can't believe this!" Sonic gasped, unable to take his eyes off the glowing echidna. "I just can't believe it!"

Tikal looked down at the Perfect Chaos clone. "You are not real," she said in an echoing voice. "You have no right to be here."

She made a few movements with her hands. "Captive Light!" she shouted, pushing her hands toward the monster.

A huge crystal of light enshrouded the monster. Though it tried to escape it could not. "I'm sorry, but this is the end," Tikal said, closing her eyes and putting her hands over heard heart. "You must be sent to a place that is safe for you."

The light glowed brighter. "Begone!" she shouted raising her hnads.

With a shriek, the Perfect Chaos clone vanished.

"What have you done?" Eggman shouted, grabbing his head.

Tikal wasn't finished yet.

She looked toward the room where all the clones were. "Those that are there are no longer here. The one that was there is now here."

A bright light filled the room hiding everything except the scientist and the three animels.

"What's going on?" Sonic asked blinded by the light.

Then as suddenly as it started it was over. Knuckles looked around himself. He saw what was left of Eggman's base was gone. The scientsit lay unconsious on the ground. Knuckles didn't care about Eggman, though. He was looking for someone else.

"Where's Tikal?" he asked, looking around himself.

"Over there," Sonic said pointing.

The echidna's gaze followed Sonic's finger. He saw Tikal lying face down on the ground a few feet away. "Tikal!" he said walking up to her.

He knelt down and cradled her head in his arms. "Tikal?"

She opened her eyes. "Is it over?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, it is."

"Is Chaos here?"

He looked arond. He saw the Chao Guardian standing a few feet away. He was surounded by Chao.

"Yes," the echidna said, looking at her.

She smiled and closed her eyes. "That's good," she said.

"Tikal?" he said, shaking her gently until she opened her eyes again. "Are you dying?"

She reached up and put a hand on his shoulder. "No, I am not dying," she replied in a whisper. "I'm just tired."

Knuckles picked her up. "You just rest then," he said walking toward Sonic. "You'll be okay."

When the echidna reached the hedgehog he said. "I have to go. You take care of Eggman. I need to take Tikal back to Angel Island."

"What about Chaos?" the blue hedgehog asked, confused. He glanced at the water creature. "Tikal came here to find him you know."

"When he's done updating his Chao on everything that happened tell him we went to Angel Island."

"Okay."

The Master Emerald Guardian walked away, keeping a tight hold on Tikal so she wouldn't fall out of his arms.

A while later they were back on Angel Island once again.

Knuckles sat Tikal on the Shrine steps and sat down beside her. "You are a very special girl," he said in a whisper. "You are one who won't give up either. You kept on searching and you found Chaos and me." He smiled. "And my love."

She opened her eyes and said softly. "Yes, you and your love."

He looked down at her and she sat up. "I'm sorry," she said.

He blinked. Confused. "For what?"

"We haven't found all the Master Emerald shards."

"We can look for them later," he told her, putting his hand under her chin so she had to look at him. "The only thing I care about at the moment is that you're okay."

She smiled. "I never wasn't."

He smiled back. He let her chin go and rested his hand on hers. "I'm not so sure," he said. "But I guess you're right."

"So," she said softly. "Do you think we should finish searching now?"

"We will," he said. Then he pulled her into a hug. "We will. Tomarrow."

She smiled and returned it. "Yes, tomarrow sounds lovely."

THE END

A/N

Well I'm done. I hope you all liked the story. Sorry for the way it ended I may have to do a sequal to it. To finish up the entire package. shrug Maybe.. Anyway if you liked it let me know if you didn't please keep your oppinion to yourself. Okay, that's about it. Bye.