"YOU! Give me back my EMERALD!" Knuckles gasped, his tired eyes widening in anger and shock. Sonic! How dare he let that bat girl get her filthy paws on the Master Emerald? How could he trust her after she'd betrayed them all? Despite his weakened state, he tensed, ready to fight.
"It's right here, take it!" Rouge cried, proffering the emerald towards Knuckles who snatched it.
Relief washed over his face as he held it in his paws. Instantly, he seemed calm, no longer as weak or tired. The emerald, finally returned to its rightful owner, sparkled with shimmering emerald green radiance. The light flowed over the Guradian, bathing and healing his wounds. Knuckles, forgetting the others' presence for the moment, stoked the gem lovingly. Seeing that, Rouge bit her lip and shuffled her feet uneasily. Not many months ago, she'd presumptuosly assumed it was hers by right of her reputation as an infamous jewel theif. She was still captivated by its immense beauty, but she understood now that she could never truely own it, nor ever share the deep bond between the gem and its guardian.
"Well gee, Knux, you might say thank you!" Amy scolded him. Now fully restored, the echidna glared daggers at Rouge. He leapt to his feet.
"To her? She's the one that took it in the first place!" he roared, preparing to attack.
"Don't!" Amy wailed, bravely grabbing his arm in both paws. She gazed up at him with honest, pleading eyes.
"Let go Amy!" he growled.
"No! It's not her fault! She only stole it because of a robot, okay!" Amy squealed, struggling with the echidna.
"What robot?" he demanded, pushing her rougly aside. Amy whimpered.
"Hey, watch it, Knucklehead!" Sonic shouted, angrily.
"We'd tell you if you'd only calm down and listen!" Rouge added, scowling.
"Get out of here!" Knuckles roared at her, waving a fist under her muzzle. "You're nothing but a liar and a theif!
Rouge sighed, and swept out of the room. Moments later, Amy observed her outside of the hospital, kicking stones into a nearby lake.
"Why did you bring her here?" Knuckles growled at Sonic.
He shrugged, grumpily. "She wanted to come. We wouldn't have got it back without her help!"
"She wanted to appologise for taking it at all! You're not being fair, Knuckles! You wouldn't even hear her out!" Amy scolded.
"You said she took my emerald because of some robot...One of Eggman's again?"
"No. If you really want to know, Knuckles, you gotta calm down and listen properly!" Amy told him. She sat on the bed and patted a space next to her. After a pause, he chose one further away, sitting with his arms folded around the Master Emerald.
Sonic knew the tale better than Amy, so he related the details to Knuckles. He was surprised at Amy, and proud of her, the way she'd gotten Knuckles to listen. He hadn't known if she believed him and Rouge, even when she'd insisted on accompanying them. They'd stopped by Tails' base to get dry and clean, and found Amy alone in the house, watching television. Tails was eagerly working somewhere inside the caves which surrounded his home, where he had many workshops. Amy wanted the whole story behind the Master Emerald's retrieval, so they borrowed the Tornado 2 for the journey. Sonic filled her in while he flew the plane, and Rouge glided alongside. Their destination was a hospital on the Emerald Coast, where Tails had flown Knuckles the day before.
"So you gottah keep the emerald safe this time, no matter what!" Sonic said, concluding his explaination.
"I will," Knuckles affirmed, clutching his gem tightly. "I'm taking the Island to the highest, most isolated place on Mobius, beneath the Ice Cap mountains. Even if a robot can track the emerald though the montains, it will be extremely difficult to reach the Island there. And I'll be on guard day and night. I should take the chaos emeralds too."
"We need them!" Sonic cried. "Tails needs them to power the cyclone and the Tornado. And we need the green emerald to help us fight the robot!"
"If the robot gets hold of them..."
"It won't! We'll make sure of it!"
"You can count on Sonic!" Amy added, sensing Knuckles' gaze on her. She got up, and made slowly towards the door. "I'm going to find Rouge."
"It'll take time to move the whole Island," said Knuckles as Amy left. "I'll have to rely on you to keep the robot away, until I can get my emerald to saftey."
"Sure thing, Knux!" Sonic replied, staring out of the window to where Amy and Rouge were talking.
"You already completely lost track of the robot! Twice!"
"Tails is working on that. He's making something so we can track her."
"Why did he build a robot in the first place? Using Eggman's programming, using scrap parts from his robots? He should have realised the dangers."
"Yeah? Well maybe you shoulda guarded your emerald better! Eggman's always stealing that! Tails was just trying to help us! His robot's way better than any of 'botnik's."
" Really. It's too bad it's not on our side!" Knuckles returned, fixing Sonic with his stony gaze.
"It is!" said Sonic, stretching and heading for the door. "You need a ride back to the Island or what?"
Knuckles turned to the window where Amy and Rouge could be seen, sitting beside the lake. His frown deepened. "It's not far. I'd rather go alone."
"Later, Knux!" Sonic sighed. He swept out, leaving the door to bang closed behind him.
"Hey!" Amy called brightly, when she found Rouge beside the Tornado 2. She glanced up at the pink hedgehog.
"Don't mind Knux, he's always grouchy!" Amy continued.
"Grouchy? What's he like when he's angry?"
"Well, Sonic told me, the first time they met him on the Floating Island, Eggman had told him that Sonic and Tails were the bad guys. So when Sonic showed up in super form , Knuckles wanted his emeralds back, and-"
"Yes, I can imagine." Rouge grumbled. Her black wings flapped and she landed atop the Tornado 2's wing, where she stretched out casually on her side.
"I take it he doesn't want my help with guarding the Master Emerald?"
Amy sat herself beside the Tornado 2, dangling the tips of her shoes into the lake. "No, I guess not...it's not really his fault. You did try to steal it that time before..." she replied, watching Rouge over her sholder. "I almost thought you'd stolen it again yesterday."
Rouge's gaze suddenly seemed very interested in her left fingertips. Amy noticed that the steal claws attached to her knuckles were simular to the way Eleanor's claws had looked, when she (Amy) had seen the robot leaving Tails' base the day it escaped. Amy wondered if this was why Knuckles had mistaken Eleanor for Rouge, that dark and stormy night when she attacked.
"What changed your mind?" asked Rouge.
"Sonic believed you!"
Rouge sighed. "Can't you think for yourself?"
"I can!" Amy cried. "I just think he's a good judger of character." She turned away, swinging her feet over the water and gazing down at the ripples.
"You're sorta mean though. I'm on your side you know." she pouted. "Just because I admire Sonic and trust him, I'm not stupid!"
Rouge glanced up. She hadn't meant to srtike such a raw nerve. She leapt from the Tornado 2, and swept over to land next to Amy with a flutter of her leathery wings. She tried to meet the hedgehog's gaze, but Amy ignored her, watching the water. Rogue tapped the surface with the tip of her boot to send ripples lapping around Amy's toes.
"I didn't mean that. I'm just frustrated," she sighed. "I'm sorry, Amy."
"It's okay." Amy replied, smiling.
"Afternoon, ladies!" said Sonic from behind them. "Knux is going back on his own."
Rouge stood. "I'd better get back to headquaters and explain things. That's if I've not been sacked already."
"Good luck," Sonic told her. "Thanks, y'know - I'm sure that's what Knux meant to say..."
Rouge smiled back at him as she launched herself upwards. "You're welcome, Sonic," she replied. She waved goodbye with a flick of her paw before flying out of sight. Sonic returned the gesture, then turned to Amy.
"Right! Shall we go and see what Tails has been up to?" he asked, tapping the Tornado 2. She nodded eagarly, then leapt, turning a graceful somersault to land in the spare seat behind the cockpit.
"Hey Tails, you in here?" Sonic called into a cave.
"Just a minute, Sonic!" came a reply. Sonic and Amy, standing at the cave mouth, heard a sharp clang. Then there came a stanger noise, a kind of metallic sucking noise, followed by a thump. The curious sounds repeated over in rapid succession, drawing closer. The hedgehod glanced at eachother.
After a moment, the source of the noise came into view. It looked a little like the Cyclone Walker, except that the cockpit was much larger, and it seemed to be driving itself. Then Tails appeared , hovering above his new creation, with a remote control in his paws and a huge grin on his face.
"What d'you think!" he called.
"It's cool!" Sonic said, peering inside. Tails landed beside him, and pointed out the control bank inside.
"You see this radar? It's designed to detect the proximity of the chaos Emeralds. What's more it can identify each one by their unique wavelengths. You see, a chaos emerald can naturally sense another chaos emerald and they seem to recognise eachother. It's almost like they can communicate. You remember that fake chaos emerald I made last year?"
"Sure!" Sonic agreed.
"I tried to make a duplicate of the yellow chaos emerald, but something about it wasn't right. The real chaos emerald didn't like to be too close. It'd gradually get hotter and hotter and shoot out sparks of emerald energy. Then when Eggman started gathering the chaos emeralds to power the Eclipse Cannon, I realised the fake emerald wasn't such a faliure afterall, because we could use it against him. If it made just one emerald spark, surely more chaos emeralds would intensify the reaction, and cause an explosion in the Eclipse Cannon! Normally, the real chaos emeralds do not react so violently to eachother, but we know that when all seven are gathered together, their individual powers unite-"
"But how does this help us track your robot?" Sonic interupted.
"Well this radar can read the reactions of the yellow chaos emerald which powers the machine. Each emerald communicates with the others differently, so when Eleanor is within range, the yellow emerald will recognise her blue emerald. You'll see it as a blue mark on the radar screen. If she comes too close, it'll set off an alarm and an alert in the remote, incase she tries an attack while you're asleep or something."
"What's this do?" Amy asked, pointing to the controls beside the radar screen.
"Oh, I used those for testing the devices. You can change which emerald sets off the alarms," Tails explained.
"Well c'm on then, let's have a demonstration!" said Sonic, reaching into his backpack to draw out the green chaos emerald. Tails nodded, then began fiddling with the controls. He handed the remote to Sonic.
After a moment, a small bright light flashed on the remote and it vibrated rapidly in the hedgehog's paw. The radar sounded three piercing alarm tones, then the alert continued silently as a flashing green light across the screen. Sonic watched, grinning his approval as he casually tossed the emerald up and down in his free paw.
"It was just gonna be a hand-held device at first," Tails added, modestly. He tapped at the controls again until the alarms ceased. "But I thought, if we have to track Eleanor for a while, we'll need something to carry supplies in."
Sonic smiled supportively. "Well it's really neat and all, but how long d'you think this will take? If Rouge and me hadn't needed to leave the military base so soon..."
"She'll learn, Sonic! Next time it won't be so easy. In fact she'll probably avoid fighting too much to avoid getting any more damaged. We'll have to guard the emeralds really carefully now, because it's when we're off guard that she'll try and take them. She'll learn from your techniques, so each time she'll be harder to hit..."
"You really thought this robot building thing through, huh!" Amy lamented irritably.
"Hey, well that's cool. I can learn too y'know!" Sonic cried.
"Just be careful, Sonic," said Tails, glancing down to his feet, his fur bristling slightly and his ears slightly flattened. He kicked at the soil underfoot, disloging a stone which pinged off the side of his latest creation. Sonic gave a shrug and grinned. "Sure thing, pal!" he agreed, patting his sholders. After a pause, he nudged the troubled kitsune closer for a hug.
"Hey, it'll be okay, you hear?" he cajouled softly. Tails nodded obediantly.
"So cheer up!" Sonic cried, suddenly tickling him. Tails leapt away, giggling. Sonic turned his attention to the remote, examnining the controls. They didn't seem complicated, so he curiously poked a few of the buttons.
"How'd you get this thing to - opps!" he cried as the machine rose suddenly and raced past him, nearly trampling Amy's toes. Reacting quickly he just managed to slow it down before it careered into the cave wall. He turned it around and brought it back to heel beside him. Tails slowly uncovered his eyes.
"Son-ic!" he moaned softly.
"Sorry! So, what d'ya call this thing, eh?" Sonic replied. He counted off the names of Tails' previous inventions on his fingers. "Tornado, Cyclone...Twister?"
"More like a hurricane!" Amy grumbled, inspecting her toes for injury.
"Whatever, Sonic. Just be careful not to break it, okay?" Tails sighed.
"Sure!" Sonic exclaimed confidently. "So what are we waiting for? Let's pack our stuff and catch this robot already! You coming, Ames?"
"Yeah!" the pink hedgehog whooped in agreement, and chased after her hero as he headed towards Tails' house with the remodelled Cyclone padding along beside him.
For a moment, Tails lingered on in the cave, watching after his freinds with fearful eyes. Somewhere out there, he felt sure, Eleanore was intent on tracking down the Master Emerald, and he could only guess what might happen if she found it. With that thought, he turned and scurried back to an alcove in the cave where he stored his tools and selected a battered notebook. Subconciously tense, as though committing some dreaded task, he tucked it inside his glove so they wouldn't see it or ask about it. He knew Sonic wouldn't like the plans scrawled tentativley across its pages. Perhaps he'd even be furious if Tails actually tested these latest theories. But in the back of the kitsune's mind, a flicker something like curiousity yearned to be fulfilled. Some tiny part of his terrified mind had to know if it would work. He almost hoped that Sonic would not destroy Eleanor so they might have to find out...