Emerald Island 9:49 A.M. Day 1

TR was racing to assist Knuckles with the Master Emerald as he always did at 9:45 A.M. As he traveled through the forest and the ice cave mines, he stopped every now and then to fight what little resistance there was. Before he could enter Emerald Plains, he had to fight this bull-like monster. When it came charging, TR jumped and landed on his head, at the same time, he punched him so hard, he went off balance and fell. TR then jumped off, picked him up, jumped back up, and slammed him several feet into the ground. When he finally got to the Emerald Plains, he didn't see the emerald, he instantly knew something was wrong. Knuckles would never remove the Master Emerald from it's rightful place. TR went up to the alter where the emerald used to lay. From there, he saw Knuckles' body. "Knuckles? Knuckles!" He knelt by his dead cousin's body and held his hand. "I will avenge you... by the Echidna Law, I will avenge you." The wind seemed to blow harder. He picked up his body and brought him to the Echidna burial grounds and gave him an honorary burial in a special place for those who dedicated their lives to protecting the Master Emerald, as of right now, Knuckles was the only one there, even in death, knuckles was alone. No tears were shed, only anger. Knuckles was the protector of the Master Emerald, now he is dead, TR was the only family he had, which meant it was now his job to protect it, so it was time to find and restore the emeralds energy. He looked around the plains for clues, none were found, other than the impendent use of the Master Emerald. TR meditated for a few minutes trying to feel the energy of the emerald, hoping to discover it's location. The emerald could not be sensed. He stood up, and began to run, as he reached the edge of the island, he jumped off, with the wind blurring his vision, he began to easily glide through the air. It was a beautiful day, for a not-so-beautiful event.

It is now 10:13 A.M. Day 1

Island 5 9:45 A.M. Day 1

There was a clear sky as Tails was flying to Island 5. He soon noticed that it wasn't there. "Wha- where is Island 5? It should be right here, don't tell me I took a wrong turn again!" He looked around. "No, I remember, this is where it is supposed to be, but..." He saw a small rock hovering in the air. As he picked it up, he examined it. "This is Chinzite, a rock only found on Island 5... Sonic!" He suddenly realized that Island 5; the island Sonic was on, was gone. There was nothing left of Island 5, nothing but the small portion of rock, now falling to the Mainland floor. At first Tails just sat there. He looked from side to side, then he simply looked down, once again, no tears were shed. Tails immediately went back to Island 3 to tell the news of Sonic to his girlfriend, Tiffany.

It is now 10:01 A.M. Day 1

Island 3 10:07 A.M. Day 1

Tails opened the door silently, empty of emotion. TR was sitting there with Tiffany, tears in her eyes, and a fierce look on his face. "Tails, Knuckles is..." He looked at Tiffany. "dead." Tiffany let out another cry. Tails was still emotionless.

"So is Sonic." Tiffany stopped crying only long enough to take in this addition to the bad news, then began to cry once more. TR looked up.

"Sonic? Dead too? This is no accident, we have a murderer on our hands." Tails walked right past him as if he had said nothing. "Yo man, did you just here me? We gotta find who did this!" Tails snapped back.

"I'm going in my workshop, leave me alone." TR sat in amazement, Tails, usually the emotional one, was now cold as rock. He soon came out again, but he was different, no longer was he the cute two-tailed fox that aided Sonic, but he now wore baggy clothes, like a teenage human would wear, still emotionless. Tiffany had stopped crying. Tails took no notice. TR stood up and went towards the kitchen.

"We called in Katrina, you know, my sister, she's bringing us a map, so we can check off places that we've looked." Tails simply said ok. Tiffany now stood up, frustrated.

"What is wrong with you? You seem to not care about anything!" There was no answer. "Hello!" Tiffany was trying to get Tails attention as TR came back with some drinks, he handed everyone one. As Tails began to take a drink of his, he mumbled something. No one understood him, but it sounded something like "There's nothing to care about anymore." They sat silently drinking and watching the news babble on about broken traffic lights and repetitive J-walking, unknown to the fact that their two greatest heroes are dead. Katrina finally came.

"Hey guys, what's up?" TR was the first to speak.

"Not much, did you bring the map?" She got the map out.

"Yeah, here it is, I already marked off a small section of the mainland, I checked there when I was coming back." She looked over TR's shoulder to Tiffany. "Hey sis, you feelin ok?" Tiffany looked up and nodded. Katrina noticed Tails for the first time in the corner, he was messing with some papers. "You seem to have undergone a change." Tails crumbled up a piece of paper and threw it in the trash. He spoke in a lost voice.

"Did you know that Sonic entrusted me with the job as "hero" for when he died? It's quite a responsibility, I played that part once, briefly of course, I thought Sonic was dead, but he some how found a way to survive, I don't think I'll ever be able to do things like that, I can't do things like that." Tiffany was worried.

"Tails..." TR interrupted her.

"We need to think of a plan, fast." Tails sat next to Tiffany. "Island 5 was blown up with Sonic, you need the Chaos Emeralds to blow up something like that, so Eggman couldn't have done this." Tiffany quickly followed up on this.

"Right, that means that we have a new enemy on our hands." Tails pulled something out of his pocket.

"Here." Tails threw Tiffany a radio. "Contact my cousin, Artail, tell him to come here as fast as he can, he should be on Island 1." His voice was flat, and had a demanding tone.

"Uh, sure." She instantly turned it on and called him. "Artail, are you there, Artail?" He was racing some Usaku when his radio buzzed.

"Yeah, I'm here, what ya need?" Tiffany replied.

"I want you to come here as fast as you can, please hurry." Artail was wondering what she needed him there so quickly for, but thought it better not to waste time to ask.

"Sure thing, are you home?" Tiffany became slightly impatient.

"Yes, just hurry." Artail nodded.

"Alright, I'll be there." Katrina walked towards the door.

"I have some photo shoots to do, good luck with your search." About 10 minutes after she left, Artail came. Tiffany and TR filled him in on what was going on, but he seemed to be more concerned about what happened to Tails.

"Oh, he just, uh, changed."

"Well whatever he did, it's a good look." TR got everyone back on track with his plan.

"Now then, it may take a while, but if we thoroughly search and mark off on this map, we should be able to get rough ideas on where this enemy may be, and maybe even find out who he is." Tiffany let out a small yawn.

"Not now, I wanna get some rest, I've had enough excitement for one morning."

It is now 12:03 P.M. Day 1