-Knuckles-
One of those rare few days when it's actually relatively peaceful. We're holed up in a natural cave I found underground, waiting, getting ready to move on. We can't stay in one place for too long, always moving, on the run. It seems such a long time since I had to leave Angel Island… maybe forever. Don't know if I'll ever be able to return now. It's in the ocean, stable, but I have the Master Emerald. I have to, to keep it away from Robotnik. Seems so long… so long…
I don't know what happened, how Robotnik got to be so powerful, but when his robots first came to the island, I couldn't beat them back, because they just kept on coming. Slowly, we're running out of places to hide, running out of time. And Sonic… I heard from someone, in one of the hidden settlements, that Sonic was in a coma, that he wasn't coming back. Don't know about that, but if he were still around, I don't think Robotnik would be ruling the world now. Even Angel Island. We grounded it and got away just in time. The fall destroyed most of the robots chasing us.
And since then I've been running, trying my hardest to protect the Master Emerald. If Robotnik really paid all his attention to finding it, I don't think we'd be here now, but he acts as though he has all the time in the world - because nowadays, he's the only one who does.
I look up, around the little cave. There's not much in here, just me at the moment, alert, ready, waiting in case the next thing to arrive is a robot. Always ready for battle, because I have to be, always fighting and running and fighting again, because I must, protecting the Emerald with my life in this drawn-out retreat. Because I am retreating, further and further, with every passing day. I'd thought I could best his robots, and I can, but there are too many of them to keep up a battle, because however many I destroy, they just keep on coming…
A little sound, the scrape of earth on stone, brushes the edge of my hearing. Automatically I tense, eyes flicking to the Master Emerald in its hollowed-out recess, then back to the entranceway. It's only wide enough to fit one at a time, so I can hold on in here for a long time, if I have to. As the intruder comes closer, my ears catch footsteps, shoes on loose soil, and I relax just a little. Only one person would be coming down here, knowing where to turn, and she'll be in my sight in another few minutes.
Rouge enters, looking about automatically, as battle-ready as I, checking that nothing has happened while she's been gone. The treasure hunter who was once fighting me for shards of the Master Emerald is now one of my greatest allies in protecting it. Turn and turn about, we keep watch, leave to gather what information we can so that we'll be prepared for the next strike. Whatever she's found this time, it doesn't look good.
"There's rumours that Robotnik managed to catch Amy and her resistance fighters, but that's not too reliable, because after that happened, Robotnik lost a Chaos Emerald to 'unidentified intruders'. Only one group would be daring enough to try a grab for those. But… there's also something that looks more… solid."
Her face is oddly sad; something must be wrong. Something bad has happened, must have done.
"Rumours are also flying that, the last time Amy changed hideout, they didn't take the life-support equipment. People are beginning to talk about giving in. With Sonic gone… he was an emblem of hope for everybody… they all dreamed that he'd awaken someday…"
Sonic can't be dead! We didn't always see eye to eye, but… I respected him, and he me, and though all that is lost in the mists of the past now, it never seemed as though…
Rouge puts a hand up for silence, cocks her head to one side, listening. Her ears are far sharper than mine, and she seems to think she's heard something in the tunnel system. We look at each other, and, concentrating, she holds up three fingers, slowly, one at a time, a longer pause between the second and the third. So, two or three, coming down into the tunnels. Nothing we can't handle. Side by side, at the doorway, Rouge and I stand ready for battle again.