If you're interested in reading my race between Sonic and Shadow, check out my other fic: 'Sonic vs. Shadow' and while your at it, check out some of my other stories!

"I am the fastest!" Sonic whined. "I won! Your camera thingy is wrong!"

"Sonic! It's already been two days! Besides, it's not like you lost, anyways!"

"I'm still the fastest!"

"If it makes you feel any better, you both technically cheated by taking a shortcut."

"Well, Shadow took it first!"

Tails just sighed. They were resting in Tail's house in Emerald Town. Neither had heard much about artificial Chaos 2, so they figured that he was defeated.

"I've been thinking about creating an artificial Chaos 3.0. One that'll last longer and become stronger!" Tails mentioned to Sonic. He had a sort of gleam in his eyes that he received when an idea sprung into his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny Tails," Sonic looked over at his buddy, then noticed the gleam. "Tails? You're not serious right? If your first creation was evil and destructive, why would you want to make another one?"

"Oh yeah. I guess you're right."

Sonic sighed, then decided to take a nap.

Meanwhile…

Knuckles the Echidna was sitting near the Master Emerald, guarding it as well as he could. He was also half-asleep.

The artificial Chaos then suddenly appeared and stared at Knuckles. After a few moments of just looking at one another, Knuckles gasped, then jumped.

"Chaos! You're here! But that must mean… you broke the Master Emerald!" Knuckles shouted, then pointed to the solid green gem.

Chaos looked at the emerald, then Knuckles, then the emerald again. After understanding that the echidna wouldn't realize his own mistake, Chaos decided to just attack. He threw an extended arm at both Knuckles and the emerald. If he was being blamed for something that he didn't do, he may as well do it, right?

"Oh, no you don't," Knuckles shouted. He clutched the arm and began swinging him around. "I'm not gonna let you break the emerald a second time!" He tossed Chaos into one of the nearby ruins, then gave him two powerful punches followed by an uppercut. He continued with his drill drive move and burrowed under ground. An instant later, Knuckles reappeared and tackled the foe.

Chaos hit the ground, but reacted quickly and transformed into a black echidna.

"Now… an echidna? Who are you? And where'd Chaos go?"

The new echidna started off with a copy of Knuckles punches, but added extra power. He continued with a spin dash, and an uppercut, then finished with his own Chaos Spear.

"You're not another echidna, and you aren't the real Chaos, either!" Knuckles shouted, while kneeling on the floor.

The creature returned to its normal state, then replied with mumble of water noises that had somewhat of a sarcastic tone. It walked over to the Master Emerald and touched it. It always had a vibrant glow of energy, but now it seemed to grow. There was a blinding flash, then all of the glow was gone. The artificial Chaos seemed surprised, so it quickly fled.

"Amazing!" Knuckles stated, unaware that the emerald had lost it's energy source. "He found all of the missing shards and put it back together instantly!" Knuckles was also unaware that the emerald had never even shattered and was still half-asleep.

There was a small vibration felt throughout Angel Island. Knuckles was slightly confused. The island then began to plummet into the ocean. Knuckles instantly confirmed that the fake Chaos had stolen the Master Emerald and replaced it with a copy. He also considered it a possibility that Rouge was behind this. He decided to find Sonic, so he left his island.