Guess I should mention before this starts, in this story, everyone is about 2 years older than they would be in canon, for example, Tails was 10 at the time that Sonic disappeared… what? My story, my rules.

Chapter 1: Knuckles

Sonic just stared at Knuckles in shock. Did he mishear that? Did he really disappear for a whole fifteen years?!

Eventually, he managed to find his voice.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"Ow! Warn me the next time you do that!" Knuckles said, flinching from the sudden yelling. He then jumped when Sonic suddenly grabbed him.

"That was a joke right?! It was only a couple of days, right?!" Sonic asked.

"Sorry Sonic, but it I wasn't lying."

"Holy… wow… that would mean that you're…"

"About Thirty-Three years old now, yes." Knuckles responded.

"Wow… no wonder why you look so different now…" Sonic said, finally connecting the dots. "Wait a minute… what happened to Eggman?!" He suddenly asked.

"He disappeared with you. Haven't seen him since that day…" Knuckles responded. "That being said… since you're back, that might also mean that he is back…"

"Wait, you mean you didn't see him when you found me?" Sonic asked.

"Nope, only you. The Emeralds aren't here either." Knuckles said, earning a confused look from Sonic. "The Emeralds also disappeared with you."

"Ok… so let's talk about that. How exactly did I get here… or… to this time?" Sonic asked.

"Well, Silver would know the most about this kind of thing, but maybe the release of all that Chaos Emerald energy triggered Chaos Control, and sent you to the future… which would now be, the present." Knuckles theorized.

"Ok, makes sense. I think I remember Silver mentioning that time travel might be possible using the Emeralds."

"Well, we know that one of them can stop time, so I guess time travel using all seven wasn't too far outside of the realm of possibility." Knuckles said.

"Ok, so now that we know what happened, we can send me back right? We just need to find the Emeralds again, and use Chaos Control again." Sonic said.

Knuckles then thought about it for a minute, before giving his response. "While that may be true… it is probably not the best idea to just send you back."

"Wait, really? Why do you say that?" Sonic asked.

"Well, what if Eggman is here too? We can't just send you back and leave him here now, can we?" Knuckles said.

"Ooooooh… Ok, that's a good point." Sonic conceded. "So, we need to find the Emeralds and Eggman, and then send the two of us back along with the Emeralds, piece of cake!"

"Right, but that is probably going to take a while… soooo…" Knuckles said.

"What?"

"Well, it's been a while, so maybe you should go and see all of your friends?" Knuckles suggested. "I mean, I am sure they would all be happy to see you."

"Yeah, I guess catching up with everyone wouldn't be too bad of an idea. I am kinda curious what everyone is up to nowadays…" Sonic said, looking at Knuckles expectingly.

"What?"

"So, what have you been up to these past… fifteen years?" Sonic asked, still feeling a bit weirded out about the whole time travel thing.

"Oh, well, after you and Eggman disappeared, I went back to guarding the Master Emerald. I am happy to say that no-one has been able to steal it since that day." Knuckles started.

"There you go! I knew you would pull yourself together eventually!" Sonic said.

"No you didn't." Knuckles responded flatly.

"Hey, I am trying to be the proud friend here, don't ruin it!" Sonic said defensively.

Knuckles just rolled his eyes. "Anyways, after a couple of years, I decided that there weren't really any threats to the Master Emerald anymore, so I decided to go out treasure hunting a lot more often. I was actually on my way to meeting with my hunting partner to explore some cave in the mystic ruins." Knuckles explained.

"Wait, you partnered up with someone? Who?!" Sonic asked.

"Before you get ahead of yourself, it isn't THAT kind of partnership, and believe it or not, it's Tangle." Knuckles answered.

"Really? Huh, I guess that makes sense. She did always seem to like adventuring. I guess treasure hunting was up her alley!" Sonic said.

"Yeah, we do donate a lot of our findings to Jewel's museum, but it is a good time." Knuckles said. "Anyways, other than that uh…" Knuckles said, before turning a bit red.

"Oh? Don't tell me the big tough guardian settled down with someone!" Sonic said.

"Well, we aren't married yet, but I am engaged now…" Knuckles explained. "Engaged with… uh…"

"Come on, out with it!" Sonic said, waiting in anticipation.

"With Rouge, I am engaged with Rouge."

"Oh ho! You and Rouge huh? Who could of seen that one coming?" Sonic said with a smirk.

"Oh shut up, you were the one who asked!" Knuckles yelled angrily.

"I know, I just wanted to hear you say it." Sonic said.

"… Was it really that obvious that we would end up together?" Knuckles asked.

"Not really, but I always had a feeling that there would be something between you two. Congrats by the way!" Sonic said.

"Thanks, if you are still around, you are more then welcome to come to the wedding." Knuckles said.

"Would that of changed if I was around this whole time?" Sonic asked.

"Not really, but I thought you would like to hear it."

"Well, you are right about that. If I am not around by that time though, I will still be there… you know, with me going back in time and all." Sonic said.

"… Gosh this time travel thing is confusing… Guess I should leave that kind of thing to Silver, huh?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, that would be for the best." Sonic said. "So, anything else?"

"Nope, that is about it for me. I could tell you what everyone else has been up to, but I don't want to spoil the surprises." Knuckles said. "Let's just say, a LOT has happened."

"Oh great, I guess that I should go and see everyone then!" Sonic said. "Tails is probably a good start, he still living in Central City?"

"Yeah, his house is a bit bigger now, but it is in the same place. You can't miss it." Knuckles answered.

"Great! So uh… how exactly do you think I should go about getting off the island?" Sonic asked, pointing towards the ocean that the island was currently floating over.

"Good question… Oh! I got an idea!" Knuckles said before pulling out a communicator and calling someone. "Hey, it's me. Can you come to Angel Island for me? I need a favor… sorry, don't want to spoil the surprise! Ok, see you soon." He said before hanging up.

"Who was that?" Sonic asked.

"Your ride, she was nearby thankfully, so she should be here in a couple of minutes." Knuckles said.

Sure enough, after about five minutes, which was more than enough time for Sonic to do a quick lap around the island, what appeared to be a hover bike landed near the shrine of the Master Emerald. When Sonic got a look at the rider's face, his face went up in a grin.

"Hello Sonic, this is a surprise."

"Hey Whisper!"

End of Chapter 1

Did you guys really think I would not be doing any kind of shipping in this? Don't worry though, most of the pairings will be the more popular ones. Honestly, I don't really care too much for Knuckles and Rouge pairing. Heck, there are very few pairings in this series I really care too much about. They are just here to add a bit of development for the characters… well, all of this is true except for ONE pairing. It is, from what I can see, a bit of a rare pair, and I am still not too sure about it myself, however, it will be good for a certain thing I want to do towards the end of this story. You will know it when I get to it.

Anyways, a lot has happened with Knuckles, he is now free to treasure hunt more often, has a good friendship and partnership with Tangle of all characters, something I felt would be kinda neat, considering Tangle's love for adventure, and Knuckles being a treasure hunter when he not guarding the Master Emerald, and finally, he is engaged to Rouge… somehow. Will I explain how that happened? Maybe, maybe not. Stay tuned.

On top of that, Eggman and the Chaos Emeralds are still MIA. Meaning that Sonic is stuck in this time until they are found.

Some may think that Sonic might be a bit too interested in what his friends have been up to, but I think this is fine for one reason, and that is simple, he just found out that he traveled fifteen years into the future, who wouldn't want to know what their friends have been up to in that time? So, I think his curiosity is justified.

Anyways, as you can probably tell, Whisper is next! They will be traveling together to Central City, where Sonic plans on seeing Tails. But what is the lone wolf (ha) of the team been up to? Find out next time! Later!