And now, after a suspenseful…(counts months) I have no idea how long, I put up a new chapter. One day, my teacher was talking to us, and she was talking about two-faced friends. They act like a friend to you, and when you look away, they turn their back on you and talk about you in a bad way. I never thought it would happen to me, but after school was out, I found out I did have a two-faced friend. Anyway, I continue story. Let's go! To update on their ages, I'm gonna post it. The story's getting close to over, about 3, maybe 4 chapters left. Not including this one though…

Tails – 18

Knuckles – 25

Rouge – 28

Amy – 23

Shadow – 28 (Technically 78)

Samantha – 8

Swift - 2

Never Look Back

Chapter VIII

Old Times

After a couple months, Swift learned almost everything he could know. Amy ran around the house, trying to catch him. "Swift! Get back here!"

"No way!" He ran around the house at super sonic speed. He ran down the stairs, and a few seconds later, Amy came running down.

"Get back here you little runt! Shadow! Help me!" Shadow sighed and got off the couch and chased down Swift as he ran around the house.

"Gotcha!"

"Aww. I hate going to bed…"

Shadow sent him off to bed. 'Speak for yourself, kid. I've been asleep for 50 years.' It's been a couple months and Shadow and Amy had gotten married (Who didn't see that coming). Since Shadow had no place to call home, he moved in with Amy.

Later…

Tails and Knuckles had kept in good touch. The next day, they wondered aimlessly around Angel Island, just talking. They came to the Forest of Angel Island. (Ya know, the first stage in Sonic 3 & Knuckles) "I remember this place." Tails remarked. "This is where our biggest adventure ever started."

"Yea. This is where Eggman tried to steal the Master Emerald to power the Death Egg." Tails never thought of it, but then it finally dawned on him.

"Hey, Knuckles. Whatever happened to the Master Emerald anyway?"

"I've got it locked up, safe and tight."

"Where is it?"

"Follow me." Knuckles led him through the forest and lots of other places before stopping him. "Now, what I'm about to show is a secret. None but me knows this, and I'm trusting you to keep my word." Tails nodded. "Okay." Knuckles started messing with the numbers on the keypad. "Oh shit, what was that password."

"INTRUDER! INTRUDER!" Tails and Knuckles hid behind an object as a ray beam protruded above the door. A hail of laser fire blasted around the room as the beam shooter surveyed the surrounding area.

"Damn it Knuckles! You must've really forgot your password!"

"No. It's not me… I didn't finish typing it in."

"So… What're you saying?" Tails already knew, but he asked anyway.

"Someone else broke in." Knuckles came out and ran up to the keypad, as did Tails.

"Let me try." Tails nudged Knuckles out of the way. He typed in some numbers as the door opened.

"How'd you do that!" Knuckles was confused. Tails told him how he done it. "Oh. Now I see." Knuckles remembered the matter at hand. "Quick! The intruder!"

"Right!" They ran through the hall and out on the catwalk above the big abyss. "Look!" Something was flying out above the abyss. It was a round object. Beneath it was a flashing triangle. "Oh shit. Eggman."

"THAT'S Eggman!" The round object was the Eggmobile (not Eggman) and the flashing triangle was nothing other than the Master Emerald. "Get back here asshole!" Knuckles ran to a nearby switch and closed down the giant opening in the Hidden Palace. Eggman flew off to the right. Knuckles chased after him on the catwalk. Eggman got closer, then disappeared behind the wall. Knuckles got to the Master Emerald Shrine to find everything in place. "What the hell…" Tails came running up.

"Where is… How did…" Knuckles shrugged it off and turned off the security.

"This is the dwelling shrine of the Master Emerald, and these are the Super Emeralds.

"Wow. I thought this was just a legend."

"You don't know how strong these are." After a while, Tails and Knuckles exited Hidden Palace and sealed it shut, turning on all defense mechanisms. "Well, I should be getting back home."

"Me too. See ya!"

Later…

It was getting late before Knuckles came home. He slowly came through the front door and sneakily closed it before he turned around to be right in front of Rouge's bosom. He looked at it wide eyed before looking up to Rouge's face. "Uh, hi!"

"And what took you so long?"

"I was just showing a friend around and I lost track of time, that's all." Knuckles was trying to play it smoothly.

"We're taking care of Swift for the night. Amy and Shadow said they had some important business to take care of."

"What's that?"

"Don't know. They wouldn't say."

"Hmm…"

"I want to do something tonight."

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to watch a movie?"

"What do you want to watch?"

"That new movie that came out."

"I'll have to rent it, though. I don't have enough money to buy any movies." Knuckles went out to get some movies. On the way back, he decided to drop by Shadow and Amy's place. He was about to knock on the door when he heard 'something'. "What in the…" He pressed onto the door and listened closely. He could hear it more clearly this time. "Holy crap! They're really goin' at it!" Knuckles ran off back to Angel Island, and told Rouge about what happened. Rouge just had a raised eyebrow, with her hands on her hips.

"This is NOT a laughing matter, Knuckles. That's invasion of privacy."

"I know, but…" After a while, they watched a couple movies and went to bed, but when Knuckles fell asleep, When Rouge got up, Knuckles was snoring real loud.

"Man! How did I sleep with that! And all this time I thought it was the alarm clock…" She got off the bed and went to the living room. She installed a hidden camera in the corner of the room. "Boy this'll be good!"

"Mrs. Rouge?" Swift came from the stairs. "I can't sleep. Mr. Knuckles is snoring too loud."

"Alright. Hold on. I'll fix it for you." Rouge went upstairs to their bedroom.

"OUCH! What was THAT for!"

"Quit snoring so loud!"

"Frickin'… Stupid… Son of a…" Knuckles groaned. Rouge came back down the stairs.

"It's okay now."

"Thank you Mrs. Rouge."

"You're most certainly welcome!" Yelled Knuckles. Rouge went back to bed, as did Swift.

Later…

The next day Shadow and Amy came over for Swift. Rouge came down with the kids. "I'm gonna take 'em to the park for a little bit. Is that alright?"

"Yeah. That's fine." Said Amy. "Just as long as he has fun."

"Alright. You guys just stay here and chat, 'kay?" She closed the door and left. The three talked for a little bit, as it got harder and harder for Knuckles to stifle a laugh. Amy was a bit confused.

"What's so funny?" Knuckles couldn't hold it back anymore. He burst out laughing. Amy just looked at him like he grew a second head. After Knuckles caught his breath, he finally told Shadow and Amy what happened last night. After he was done, he was looking at a maniacal Shadow and a seriously pissed off Amy.

"Uhh… What's… going… on…?"

"You asswipe!" Shadow yelled.

"How dare you invade our privacy!" Amy pulled out her Piko Piko Hammer.

"Ooooooh… Shit… This… does NOT look good… for Knuckles the Echidna…"

END CHAPTER

Poor Knuckles… He gets all the bad luck huh? Well, you'd better hope and pray for a new chapter, 'cuz this one's over! Arwingman is out!