(GAG, I had this chapter typed up and ready to post, but then I lost it. That's why this took so long to post, I had to retype it. *sighs* at this rate, I won't finish this story untill New years...)
Knuckles inwardly groaned. On the top of his "hate-to-be-doing list" was being around sobbing people, next to being off Angel Island. Worst was when he had to do both at the same time. Most days he would have tried to get away when no one was looking
This was not a normal day.
It was a day that most people had hoped would never come, or at least wouldn't come for a very long time; the funeral of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Knuckles was standing near the front with Amy, Tails, and Cream, where an empty casket lay. Amy and Cream were both crying and accepting the kind words people offered as they walked by. Tails was just sitting there, staring into space, and not saying anything.
Looking around, Knuckles shook his head. Over a million creatures of all kinds had come, and more were still coming. There was everything from hedgehogs to reptiles, from large animals to smaller ones, all there. So many had come that they had to start turning people away, and put out signs; but that didn't stop devoted fans.
Looking at the huge number of flowers that had come, Knuckles rolled his eyes. EVERY kind of flower in the world had to be there, in nearly every color. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought Sonic had saved a million flower shows. One person had even gone to the trouble of making a collage out of their flowers to form life size replica of Sonic. Mostly blue flowers for his fur and quills, tan for the fur on his arms and stomach, and red, yellow, and white for his shoes. His eyes were green leaves.
Sometimes there is such a thing as being too loyal
Looking away from the crazed and crying fans, Knuckles looked down at Tails, who was sitting next to him. The fox was still staring straight ahead.
Knuckles sighed, wishing for the world someone else could deal with this. An overload of emotions and mournful crying had never been easy for him to deal with.
Gently nudging the small fox, Knuckles awkwardly put his hand on the 8-year-olds shoulder. "You doing okay kid?"
Tails slowly raised his head and looked at the echidna with tears dripping out of his large blue eyes; a look that made the echidna's heart break. Whimpering softly, the golden fox leaned his head against Knuckles' chest and continued to sob.
Knuckles looked down at the kid crying his eyes out, torn between putting his arms around him and not doing anything. Guilt won out, and the echidna rested his large hand on Tails' head. Gently stroking it, he wished more than anything that he could bring Sonic back.
Not because he missed him (even thought he did, not that he would admit it), but because it tore at him how much pain poor Tails was in.
Slowly looking up at the sky, Knuckles hoped that this day would end quickly.
What he didn't expect was the next day would be so much worse.
The same day: 2 hours earlier.
"You're right on top of it." Eggman's voice crackled in Sonic's ear, with the help of the tiny device he had given the hedgehog to help him find the Chaos Emeralds.
"Kay." Sonic answered and cut the connection, preferring to find them his own way.
10 minutes later, he was holding the Purple Emerald. Turning it in every direction, Sonic admired it and felt his thoughts run wild
The Emeralds, they were so beautiful, and so powerful. They had so many secrets. Sonic had been collecting them for years, and he still didn't know all of them. No one did. Most people didn't even want to touch them for fear of their power.
Holding it up with the green, white, and red Emeralds, it looked so much more beautiful. The lights that came from within the Emeralds all shimmered and danced together.
Magic by jewels.
Carefully tucking the other three away, Sonic held up the one he just found. Four down, three more to go, and then he would have all of them. He would be able to see what old 'Eggo would do when all seven emeralds were right in front of him
Sonic curled his lip and looked away, half knowing what Eggman would do. Shaking his head, Sonic held up an emerald and carefully tapped into the special power each emerald had; the one that made them attract each other like magnets.
Feeling a strong blast from the north, Sonic sped off in search of the 5th emerald.
30 minutes later (Knuckles' time).
Knuckles sighed. He had hoped this wouldn't happen.
Some guy that Knuckles didn't know (and he wasn't sure if Sonic knew him, either) stood up and talked for a long time about the Blue Blur. After going on and on and on about pointless things about him, he asked if others wanted to say something.
Watching several people get up and move toward the front to talk about how Sonic looked at them, or how he came in their store, or how he rescued their kids, Knuckles sighed.
Whatever he did to deserve this, he was sorry!
Sighing again, Knuckles looked over at Tails, half wondering if he could sneak out with out the fox noticing. However, seeing the pain-stricken look on Tails' face stopped him.
Groaning to himself, Knuckles leaned back in his chair, wondering how long the current person would talk for, when he felt a wave of panic.
He bolted upright and looked around. It was the same feeling he got when something really bad was about to happen
But he saw nothing.
On alert now, Knuckles carefully looked around as he felt another wave of panic, this one stronger then the last.
Suddenly he knew; someone was messing with the Master Emerald.
Feeling adrenaline rush through his body, Knuckles stood up and started to leave when two small hands grabbed his.
"Knuckles, where are you going?" Tails asked, not bothering to keep his voice down.
People turned to look at them. Noticing, Knuckles took Tails' wrist in his hand and led him out, away from everyone else.
Outside, away from the huge crowd, Knuckles put both of his hands on Tails shoulders and looked him in the eyes. He tried for a moment to forget about the increasing level of panic inside of him. "Tails I. Have. To. Go."
Tails just stared back at him with large blue eyes, "Why?"
Knuckles sighed, some small voice in his head saying every second he spent here was another second closer to danger. " Tails, I'm not leaving because I don't want to be here, I'm leaving because—I don't know why—but I think something is wrong with the Master Emerald. I. Have. To. Go. NOW."
"
Will you be back?"
Knuckles gritted his teeth, "Yes, now go back to Amy." Spinning the fox around, the scarlet echidna watched Tails go back inside and waited until he sat down. Some part of Knuckles felt that, since Sonic was gone, he had to keep an eye on Tails now.
The second that Tails was seated, he took off, running as fast as he could. Now he could only hope that he wouldn't be too late.
One hour before.
Sonic slowly let out his breath, and hoping he looked braver then he felt, walked up to Eggman and dropped six Emeralds on the ground in front of him. "I got them." He stated proudly, semi enjoying the dumbfounded look on Eggman's face.
Eggman looked from the emerald to Sonic and back to the Emeralds. To say he was surprised was by far an understatement. Sonic had found them in only 3 hours. If he had tried to find them, it would have taken him days, maybe even weeks.
"Wow..." seemed to be the only thing he could say right now. He then looked closer and noticed something. "You only brought 6..."
Sonic shrugged and reached down to pick up the red Emerald. "I got all 7, I just didn't bring the last to make sure Chaos Control or something doesn't happen."
Eggman nodded, reaching down and picking up the Green Emerald. Feeling Sonic's death glare, he turned away to try and hide his beating heart. "I need you to get the last emerald, and one more thing."
Sonic eyed him for almost a minute before answering, "Which is?"
Eggman took one more deep breath and turned to look at Sonic. "I need you to get the Master Emerald." He said as calmly as he could.
A second later, he wondered why.
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Sonic shrieked. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KNUCKLES WOULD DO IF HE SAW ME WITHIN 30 FEET OF THE MASTER EMERALD WITHOUT HIS PERMISSION?!!!
Eggman sat down and rolled his eyes. "Re-lax, Knuckles isn't even on Angel Island. And I need The Master Emerald. I can't do this without it. Besides if I had it, I would be able to seal the Emeralds."
Sonic stared at him. "What?"
Eggman shrugged, "If I had the Master Emerald, I would be able to seal all evil in the Chaos Emeralds. It would only take a few minutes. Knuckles can have it back when I am done."
When Sonic didn't answer, he kept talking.
"Think about it; no more fighting. There would be no more evil"
Sonic was silent for almost 2 minutes, thinking it over. If Eggman was right, then all problems would be over, But would it really be worth risking getting Knuckles VERY angry with him?
Looking up, Sonic looked Eggman straight in the eye. "I want to know two things."
Eggman smiled, "What?"
"Are you SURE that Knuckles isn't on Angel Island? Or anywhere near it?"
Eggman nodded, choosing not to say where Knuckles was. "Yes, I am."
Sonic continued to look Eggman in the eye, "And you're not going to do anything else with the Emeralds?"
Eggman nodded.
Sonic sighed; the hero part of him, the part that wanted to see a world without evil won. "Okay, I'll get it."
As he turned to go, Eggman said one more thing. "Oh, Sonic? If you see any of your friends, hide. They won't understand. They will try to stop you. Besides, think of how happy they will be when you tell them that the fighting is over."
(45 minutes later, Angel Island)
Sonic stood on the edge of the shrine, clearly shaking. Even though Eggman had assured him Knuckles wasn't here, he was still half expecting Knuckles to pop out of the bushes and attack him.
Slowly easing forward, he started up the stairs and walked right up to the giant jewel. Reaching out, he put one hand on it and for a moment forgot what he had to do
This jewel was special; he couldnt just take it! Besides that fact that Knuckles would be less then pleased, he was the hero! What kind of hero took?
Eggman's words echoed back to him. "No more fighting, no more evil...
Sighing, and offering up a silent apology to Knuckles, Sonic slowly picked up the Master Emerald, and almost dropped it when he realized how heavy it was.
Carefully balancing it, Sonic took off at a full speed, going as fast as he would have if Knuckles was on his tail.
(5 minutes later)
Knuckles came around the shrine as fast as he could. He almost fainted when he saw what had he been dreading.
The Master Emerald was gone.
After staring at the empty space where the Master Emerald should have been, Knuckles turned, fire blazing in his eyes. If that bat had even thought of harming the Master Emerald, she was going to wish she had never met Knuckles
Going down the steps, Knuckles suddenly noticed something in the dirt.
A footprint.
It was little bit smaller then his own footprint. Studying it, he realized it didn't look like Rouge's; it actually looked a lot like Sonic's
Knuckles frowned, Sonic was dead. Right?
Sonic slowly came to a stop, holding the 7th Chaos Emerald in one hand, and dragging the Master Emerald with the other.
He couldn't help but pant for several seconds. The Master Emerald was heavy! Knuckles made it look like it weighed next to nothing.
The hedgehog took a deep breath, and was picking the Master Emerald back up when he felt a small sting in his left leg, right above the knee.
He brushed it off as nothing, until seconds later when his leg went numb. His muscles seemed to turn to water, and he fell, out like a light before he even hit the ground.
Later, though, he was able to recall very familiar laughter all around him.
(oh yeah, I am almost done with this story! Again, another sorry for how long it took, please review, and I have a poll for the next story on top of my page for the next story. If you would like a say in the next story I write, please vote.)