Author's Notes: I'm going to start updating my profile with things everytime I update a chapter. Right now it isn't much, but please start checking it out anyways. If any of you feel like sending me e-mails for suggestions I would like that. Anyway, I hope you at least come once as there is something currently bothering me on there right now. Now, on with the story.

Ultra Sonic 03

Island Moment

Three days ago...

The Guardian of Angel Island, Knuckles, sat peacefully napping in front of the Master Emerald. Squirrels scurried around him while birds landed on his head. It was a peaceful time. There was nothing to worry about.

Sitting there Knuckles dreamed. He dreamed of fun, of peace, of relaxation, the same kind he was getting now. But throughout it all, he felt that he was missing something. In his dream, he was running through his thoughts and memories, trying to find the one thing that would make everything whole. He searched and searched and searched until...

Knuckles' eyes snapped open, sensing a presence before him. They snapped open so suddenly that all the birds and squirrels around him ran quickly away from fright. This all surprised Rouge, who was about to give him a tap on the shoulder, and she ended up jumping back with a loud yell before falling down the many stairs up to the Master Emerald.

"Rouge, are you ok?" Knuckles called down, quickly jumping from his position and landing beside her to help her up.

"I'm ok, I guess..." Rouge said, holding her head and taking Knuckles' hand to stand up. Once up she quickly jumped away from him and yelled, "Don't ever startle me like that again or I promise you'll be dead!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just you startled me a little when I felt someone was near."

"Whatever." Rouge snapped, then mumbling something about him trying to kill her.

"Anyway...what brings you here?" Knuckles asked.

"Well, I came to see you of course. Why else would I track down and find my way on top of this floating island?"

"Well I don't know, maybe to steal the Master Emerald?"

"Knuckles, how dare you accuse me of such a thing?" Rouge asked, looking shocked.

"You've done it before." Knuckles said with a monotone.

"Well, uh, I learned my lesson from last time, remember? Anyway, you never showed me how to make the Master Emerald smaller before."

"That's easy, you just touch and ask it to become smaller."

"Ask it? You talk as if that thing is a living thing."

"In a way, it is actually. The Master Emerald has to be I guess, as it controls so much power, and balances the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Well, at least that's what I think."

"I see..." Rouge said, starting to walk back up the stairs. Knuckles followed her. The two found themselves at the top of the shrine, once again looking at the Master Emerald.

"The view of up here is great you know. I can never get tired of it." Knuckles said, looking around.

"Huh?" Rouge asked. She had been staring at the emerald the whole time.

"From up here, you can almost see the entire island."

"Oh." Rouge said, turning to see what he meant. She found herself speechless as she looked around. The golden sand radiated from the desert, followed by the greens of a magical looking forest with mushrooms for trees. Next to that you could see the snow capped mountains, and then another area of ruins which tiny figures of echidnas could be seen.

A light wind soon came and rustled Knuckles' spines. Rouge thought about how the whole place seemed perfect and full of magic. It was a wonderful feeling, the kind she got whenever a beautiful jewel fell into her possession. That's when she felt a light touch on her hand, and realized that it was Knuckles'. She grabbed it with her own hand and then couldn't help but lean on his shoulder as the two watched the sight.

That's when Knuckles sensed danger. "Rouge, get down!" Knuckles yelled, pulling her down to the floor as a black blur flew over them from the stairs, right where their heads just were. Knuckles immediately got up and jumped in front of Rouge defiantly, before a look of surprise overtook him.

"Shadow? What are you doing here?" Knuckles asked quickly, letting his guard down.

"Rouge, you've taken too long. Hurry up, we have to go." Shadow said.

"What do you mean she's taken too long?" Knuckles asked. Suddenly he felt a strike to the back of his head and soon fell over unconscious.

"I'm sorry Knuckles..." Rouge said slowly, after hitting him over the head with a loose brick.

"Save your sorrows for later. He may wake up soon. Now how do we shrink this humongous thing?"

"I'll do it." Rouge said, stepping over Knuckles. She walked over to the emerald and touched it. She could immediately feel its energy, along with something else. Something that seemed like age and wisdom. She had never felt this when she had the smaller shards from before. She then remembered what Knuckles had told her just a little while ago and with her mind she asked the emerald to shrink. It soon shrank until it was just larger than a chaos emerald.

"Ok, I got it, let's go." Rouge said, pocketing the emerald.

Shadow quickly rushed back down the stairs. Rouge started to follow, but stopped when she reached Knuckles. She looked down on him with tears nearly welling up in her eyes.

"He'll never trust me again..." Rouge said softly before bending down and giving him a kiss on the cheek. She then quickly got up and wiped away her tears.

"Rouge, hurry up!" She heard Shadow yell. She looked over at Knuckles one last time before running down the steps to leave.

The island soon fell into the water, causing a massive earthquake and some tidal waves to crash onto it. All of the calamity stirred Knuckles enough until he finally woke up and looked around. It took him a second to realize that the island had crashed again. It had landed in the middle of the ocean this time, far from any main land. He quickly looked up to see the Master Emerald gone from its pedestal.

"Shadow and Rouge..." Knuckles whispered their names with anger. But then he remembered when he had held Rouge's hand...

A couple minutes afterward Knuckles was running through the Mushroom Forest, reaching the tallest mushroom tree there was. He climbed up to the very top as fast as he could and from there looked to see where the closest form of land there was. Luckily he spotted the main land to the west and from what he could tell it was close enough for him to glide part of the way and swim the rest.

Bouncing a little on the mushroom for some extra height, Knuckles launched himself into the air and away he went.