REVIEW RESPONSE

PurpleCobra247: I have to admit, I laughed myself when that idea popped into my head. I'm glad you liked it, I loved writing that down. I may add more humor if I get chance.

Nightw2: Glad you're enjoying the story. It was actually hard to think of ideas for this chapter. That's why I got that other story up.

acosta pérez josé ramiro: The Chaotix Detective agencey are from the Sonic games, so I don't own them. You're right, they are Chaotic. They first appeared in a game called 'Sonic Chaotix'. Espio actually proved quite difficult for the little spiked hero because of his ninja training and a camouflague trick where he turns completely invisible (What would you expect from a chameleon?). I liked how you compared Rouge to Catwoman and I agree completely. You also have an interesting point about the Bat/Echidna cross-breed creature.

Gamefreak: Thanks for your review. Looks like this story has another fan. Don't worry about the logging in thing, I'm like that sometimes.

Treasurehunter: I'm updating as quickly as inspiration allows. Thanks for the review.

Burner the Echidna: And hopefully, this chapter will be better than the last. It will be more romantic than the previous ones, which you may guess from the title.

There won't be much action in this chapter, but the romance will be built on.

Feelings realised

Knuckles and Tikal found themselves in a forest on the edge of the city. The forest was just a short distance away from Tails' workshop. The forest was thick with trees which blocked almost all sunlight. The forest floor was dark but not dark enough to obscure vision. Although there was little light, thhere were plenty of flowers around. As they were walking, Tikal's mind went wandering again. She was thinking about what Charmy had said. It had stuck in her mind ever since they had left the park. While it was true that Tikal had feelings for Knuckles, she was still unsure of what these feelings were. She was also unsure if Knuckles felt the same. If he did, he obviously didn't show it. She did recognize the feeling as to simething similar to a feeling she shared with her grand mother. The main difference was that the feeling that she had towards Knuckles was more powerful. Before she could think of this subject any more, Knuckles spoke.

"Tikal, what are you like alone in dark areas like this?" Knuckles asked. Tikal snapped out of her little trance and looked at him.

"I'm more nervous about being on my own to be honest. I don't know this forest." Tikal replied.

"Hmm, the problem is that we may need to split up to find any fragments around here."

"How many do you think there are?" Knuckles had a look at the fragments he had fused together. After a few minutes concentrating on the glow, he came up with an answer.

"I'd estimate that there are about 7 fragments in this forest." Tikal had a quick look around the area she was in.

"I'd rather not go alone in a place like this." Knuckles was quite understanding about Tikal's decision but it left him in a bit of a pickle. He wanted to split up but Tikal didn't want to go alone. While he was trying to think of a solution, he heard some humming from the distance. The humming sounded like that of a young girl.

"Who's there?" Knuckles asked. His voice was strong and frightening, giving Tikal a shock. He looked around harshly and saw a rabbit ear from behind a tree. The ear was orange in colour with some slightly darker spots. Tikal onticed the ear and got slightly nervous. She was unsure of what it was, although Knuckles now knew who was there.

"You don't have to worry Cream." Knuckles called out. Cream nervously looked out from behind the tree. She had been scared by Knuckles' shouting. Picking up courage, she came out from behind the tree, followed by her chao Cheese and Chocola. Tikal immediately recognised the creatures with her.

"Chao!" Tikal exclaimed.

"What are you ding here anyway?" Knuckles asked.

"I was looking for some flowers for my mother when I saw what looked like a meteor shower. I came here to investigate." Cream replied. Knuckles immediately had a thought about the meteor shower.

"Cream, do you have any green shards?"

"Yes I do. I found one somewhere in the forest. I picked it up because it looked pretty." Cream took out the green shard and showed Knuckles. It was a fragment of the Master Emerald.

"Cream, I need that shard. It's a fragment of the Master Emerald." Cream had another look at the shard before giving it to Knuckles.

"Here you go."

"Thanks. Have you seen any others?"

"I've seen a few. Most of them I couldn't reach." Knuckles had a think and then had an idea.

"Tikal, would you object going off with Cream?" Knuckles asked. Tikal had a think about this. After a coule of minutes, she made up her mind.

"Sure, I'll go with this young girl." Tikal replied.

"Oh, Cream, this is Tikal. Tikal., this is Cream."

"A pleasure to meet you." Tikal greeted, offering her hand.

"Likewise." Cream replied, accepting her hand.

"Ok, if you two go that way, I'll go this way." Knuckles walked off to the right while Cream and Tikal, accompanied by Cheese and Chocola, went to the left.

Tikal and Cream were walking in between some trees in the forest. Cream wasn't paying much attention as she was admiring the flowers that were growing. Tikal thoughts turned to Knuckles again. Different thoughts plagued her mind. Some of these thought were regarding Knuckles himself. She found herself thinking that he was quite handsome at uneven instances. She was also thinking about that feeling she had for him. Every time he spoke, Ther heart skipped a beat. The feeling was getting stronger, but she could not identify the feeling. Eventually, she could not stand it anymore. She turned to Cream.

"Cream?" Tikal asked. Cream turned and looked at her.

"What is it Tikal?" Cream asked.

"I need to talk to someone about this. It's been on my mind for a while now."

"What has?"

"Well, I've been having a feeling towards Knuckles."

"What kind of feeling?"

"It's some kind of attraction to him. I can't say what it is, but I see him as more of a friend."

"I know that feeling. It's called love."

"Love?"

"Yes. The feelings that you have are telling you that you're in love with Knuckles."

"I…love him?"

"Amy shows the same feeling towards Sonic all the time, but Sonic constantly rejects her." This brought a strange fear in Tikal's heart.

"Do you think Knuckles would reject me?"

"I don't know. Knuckles is a little unpredictable." Tikal then noticed a green shard in a nearby tree. She examined the shard as best as she could and realised that it was a fragment of the Master Emerald. It was actually quite large for a fragment. It was resting in a birds nest on the end of a branch.

"Cream, there's a fragment." Tikal said.

"Up in that tree?" Cream asked. She looked up and saw the fragment herself. Before she could say anything, Tikal had latched onto the tree and was climbing it as well as she could. She reached the nest with ease but there were baby birds in the nest. Tikal looked around and saw the mother coming back.

"It's ok, I won't hurt you." Tikal said calmly. She reached out and grabbed the fragment. Before she could pull her arm away, the mother landed and started pecking her. Tikal gritted her teeth and calmly pulled her hand away, holding the Master Emerald fragment. She quickly jumped back to the ground. The bird stopped pecking her and returned to the nest. Tikal had a look at her hand. It was cut quite badly but wasn't bleeding. She held it tightly to ease the pani as best as she could.

"Are you ok?" Cream asked.

"I'll be fine." Tikal replied reassuringly.

Knuckles was walking in a different stretch of the foresttt. He was looking around for any sign of fragments, but at the same time, he was thinking of Tikal. He started to have thoughts that he'd never thought before. For one thing, he began telling himself that she was cute, something he'd never thought before. He suddenly realised what he was thinking and slapped himself in the face.

"Grr, what's wrong with me?" Knuckles tried to put it out of his mind, but it kept coming back. Tikal and the Master Emerald were the only things on his mind. His mind focused primarily on Tikal. He was trying to figure out what all these feelings meant. Then, for some odd reason, he began thinking about Amy. She always followed Sonic around and never hid her feelings. These thoughts gave Knuckles an idea about what was wrong.

"Am I…could I be…in love with Tikal?" As soon as he realised this, he stopped. He had never been in love before, even though Rouge was tomboyish towards him. A new question began to boggle his mind, how would his life change if Tikal accepted him? It would go on a direction he'd never gone down before. Before he could think about this anymore, a flash of green light caught his attention. The light was coming from a bush dead ahead of him.

"There must be a fragment of the Master Emerald there." Knuckles ran over to thee bush and had a peek. To his extreme surprise, he found three fragments grouped together in a nest. He was about to reach for them when the owner of the nest came. It was a rare breed of Flicky with an extreme mean streak. It started chirping and growling at Knuckles.

"I only want those fragments.. Knuckles told the Flicky. He tried to reach for them but the Flicky turned very aggressive and bit his hand. Knuckles pulled his hand away and clenched his fists in anger.

"Why you ungrateful bird!" Knuckled threw a punch at the flicky and sent it over the horizon. Knuckles massaged is fist and then collected the fragments.

"Why are these animals so aggressive?" Knuckles asked himself. He ran off into a different part of the forest to look for Tikal.

Tikal and Cream were in another part of the forest. They had gathered three Master Emerald fragments themselves. Most of the were high in trees so Tikal had to climb them to reach. After claiming the third fragment, Tikal smiled.

"Now, if Knuckles has three, we have all the fragments here." Tikal said.

"Then what will you be doing?" Cream asked. They were walking around the forest looking for Knuckles. Tikal was holding the fragmets that they had found.

"I don't know. It depends on how many fragments are left."

"I see."

"Thank you for your help. I don't know this planet to go on my own."

"What will you say to Knuckles?"

"About what?"

"About how you feel."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I think you two would make a nice couple."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm just saying that it would be nice if you admitted your feelings to him."

"You think so?" Before Cream could answer, Knuckles came running into the area. He stopped just a few foot away from Cream. This shocked Cream and she jumped into Knuckles, who was pushed into Tikal. The fragments that they had found were dropped and scattered around the forest floor. Cream looked rather sheepish at the sight.

"Oops, sorry." Cream muttered. Knuckles wanted to shout his head off but refrained from doing so. After all, Cream was still very young.

"Cream, you go home. Thanks for helping but we'll be ok for now." Knuckles instructed.

"Ok." Cream walked off away while Knuckles and Tikal looked at the scattered shards.

"Well, we'd better pick these up." Knuckles muttered. He kneeled down and begn picking up fragments.

"Let me help." Tikal said. She kneeled down and began picking up fragments. After a few seconds, only one fragment was left. They both reached for it at the same time and their hands met. (A/N: hands up who saw that coming, LOL). It took them a couple of minutes for them to realise. They both pulled their hand away and blushed.

"Erm, oops." Tikal muttered. Knuckles picked up the last fragment and stood up. He was still blushing, as was Tikal.

"Are you ok?" Tikal asked nervously. Knuckles slowly looked at her. He was incredibly nervous about the awkward situation that had arrisen.

"Err, yeah…I'm fine." Knuckles replied hesitantly.

"So, what now?"

"Now we head back to the island and restore the Master Emerald." With that, Knuckles and Tikal made the long trek and raft journey back to Angel Island.

When they returned to Angel Island, they had a quick look around. It was just as they remember it, besides the fact that the Chaos Emeralds were gone and the Master Emerald was shattered. Knuckles and Tikal began runnoing towards the Altar, with the fragments that had found.

"What should we do once the Emerald has been restored?" Tikal asked.

"I say we help take dowm Dr. Eggman. He will pay for what he did." Knuckles replied.

"And after that?"

"That I don't know. I'll probably stay on the island and guard the Master Emerald again." The two had arrived at the site where the Master Emerald stood. Before placing the fragments, Knuckles looked at Tikal.

"You're welcome to stay if you want to." Knuckles offered. Tikal blushed slightly.

"Are you sure?" Tikal asked.

"Yes, I'm sure." With that, Knuckles placed the gathered fragments in the centre of the altar. He then stretched out his hand and focused on the Master Emerald. There was a flash of light and the Master Emerald was restored. They both smiled at the result. Tikal then sighed. In her mind, she decided to take Cream's advice.

"Are you ok?" Knuckles asked. Tikal turned and looked at him.

"Knuckles, there is something I have to say." Tikal replied.

"I'm listening." Tikal began blushing and became very hesitant. She eventually plucked up the courage to say it.

"Knuckles, I don't really know how to say this, but I…have…feelings for you." Tikal was very nervous about how Knuckles was going to reply. Knuckles had figured out what she meant and looked at Tikal wide-eyed. Inside his mind, he was shocked and happy at the same time. He had no idea that Tikal liked him. He eventually smiled with affection.

"Well, I have to admit, Tikal…I…have fellings…for you too." In her mind, Tikal was screaming with Joy. Before she knew it, Knuckles was holding onto her hand and looking at her in the eyes. They came closer together ubt Tikal glanced to the side before they could kiss. She then changed her expression.

"Knuckles."

"Yes Tikal?"

"The Emerald is incomplete." Knuckles qickly looked at the Emerald and saw that Tikal was right. There were four fragments missing.

"Where could those fragments be?" Knuckles asked. The incomplete Master Emerald glowed and showed an image of a base with Dr. Eggman's logo. The image also showed an array of fish swimming around.

"An underwater base. The last few fragments must be there!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"But how do we get there?" Tikal asked.

(A/N: I said that this chapter would be mostly roomantic. At a guess, I'd say that there are about 3 or 4 chapters remaining. But that is only a guess as I'm not sure. For now, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and please leave me a review.)