-1Chapter 8

On Angel Island, Charmy the bee buzzed his way around the island. The years have done nothing to make him less hyperactive. He then saw something in the sky. It looked like a plane, and it was approaching fast.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" Charmy yelled at the top of his tiny lungs, as he zipped through the forest. "Intruder alert! Intru…"

He was stopped short by running straight into a white gloved hand that held him by the face. That hand was attached to a large crocodile that effortlessly brought the squirming, muffled bee up to eye level. His eyes clearly said that he dealt with this too many times before, and he was getting a bit sick with it.

"Calm down, Charmy. Now what's the problem?" Vector asked.

"Mmmmmmmm mmmmm!" was all Charmy was able to say, with the hand up against his mouth.

"There's a plane coming this way," a voice said above them.

They looked up, and didn't see anyone. Or, at least they didn't until a purple chameleon shimmered into view. Espio jumped down from the tree above them and landed soundlessly next to them.

"Release him," Espio told Vector, and he did. "Now, we need to get news to Knuckles about the plane. He should be in front of the Master Emerald."

---

It turned out that the red echidna already knew about the plane approaching the island, and he watched it as the plane came down near the location of the Master Emerald. As they landed, he could see that the occupants were ones that he already knew. He walked down the stairs, walking between the two statues of Rouge, as he went over to the plane

"Thankfully, you remembered the landing gear on this one," Sonic remarked, as he jumped off.

"Crashing on the Egg carrier can do that," Tails replied, as he jumped out. Then he saw Knuckles coming towards them. "Hey Knuckles, long time no see."

Knuckles looked at him silently for a moment, before suddenly punching him without warning. Tails stumbled back, hitting his head on the back of the plane. He fell over, and they could see the large bruise left from his punch.

"I told you not to drag your rebellion up here," he roared. "Though I am surprised to see you, Sonic. I thought you disappeared for good."

"Hey, you just can't keep a good guy down," Sonic replied.

"Knuckles, I can understand if you're still angry," Tails told him, as he stood up. "But Eggman found the base, and captured Cream and Amy."

Knuckles looked surprised about Amy being alive, so Tails launched into an explanation. As soon as he was done, Team Chatoix burst on the scene, looking for a fight. As soon as they saw it was Tails, they calmed down.

"Late, as usual," Knuckles muttered, crossing his arms. "So Eggman wants the emeralds, and promises to give back Cream and Amy once he has them. You know, and I learned, that he can't be trusted."

"I know, but we have to get them back somehow, without them being harmed," Tails answered, some worry creeping into his voice. "Where's your Emerald?"

Knuckles gave a nod towards the Master Emerald, and Tails started towards it. But suddenly, Knuckles tackled him, bringing him to the ground. Tails was about to ask what he thought he was doing, before laser beams fired from both statues, meeting where he was standing only seconds before.

"New security measure," Knuckles told him. "If anything but me or the Chatoix passes by the statues, they blast a highly destructive laser beam."

"It's not a substitute, but it does help us with our protection duties," Espio added. "And being prepared is the first rule when guarding a valuable item."

Tails stood and walked over to the statues, careful to keep out of their line of sight. He was visually impressed, as he examined them from every angle. Before he could examine them further, however, the holo-communicater on the Tornado activated, showing Eggman.

"Since I can assume you got my first message, I'm here to give the rest of the directions," he said. "You have 6 hours to arrive at Eggman Square, with all 5 of the emeralds you posses. Failure to do so will result in an event that I don't think any of you want."

As the Eggman transmission ended, Sonic asked, "What's Eggman Square?"

"A section of what used to be New York called Times Square," Tails answered. "The signboards burned out long ago, but most of the other ads there are still there."

"Anyways, we got six hours to figure out what to do. If we don't figure out something fast, I don't want to think about what would happen," Sonic replied.

To be continued…