With the green Chaos Emerald in his position, Sonic triumphantly returned to Tails' lab.
"Alright, great going Sonic!" Tails cheered.
Yuki had his back turned on Sonic, Tails and Kaori. "You took way too long." Yuki muttered.
Sonic gave Yuki a menacing stare. "Are you saying I'm slow?"
Tails looked up at Kaori with a worried look on his face. "Hey Kaori, do you think we should get out of here, while we have the chance?"
Kaori sighed in frustration. "Yep. I can just tell this won't end well!" They ran out the door just in time.
From outside, they could hear Sonic and Yuki shouting at each other. As a matter of fact, the whole of Shikokou could hear.
"I'M THE FASTEST THING IN THE UNIVERSE! NO ONE CALLS ME SLOW AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"
"WELL Y'DON'T HAVE TO BRAG ABOUT IT!"
"OH, JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU'RE MR. PERFECT!"
"I NEVER SAID THAT!"
"I'M LOSING MY PAITENCE WITH YOU, YOKI! IF IT'S A WAR YOU WANT YOU GOT ONE!"
"AND FOR THE LAST TIME! MY NAME IS YUKI!"
As Kaori and Tails quietly watched the two bicker from the window, a big sweat drop descended from their heads each.
"Oh boy! At this rate, they'll never learn to get along!"
"Did I forget to mention… The worst thing you can say to Sonic is that he's slow!"
After a few minutes, things finally calmed down and everyone was safe to go back into the lab. Tails placed the two emeralds they had on the table – the yellow one from the Death Cyclone, and the green one Sonic had recently claimed.
"So far we've collected two Chaos Emeralds, and the demon also has two. So right now, it's a tie."
"Now there's only three left out there! All we have to do is find those ones, get the two the bad guy has and then, huzzah! The world is saved!"
"I don't think it'll be as easy as that."
"Okay, Mr. doom and gloom. If you don't wanna help us, just leave!" Sonic pointed to the door. "Y'see that? That's called a door. Its purpose is to enter and exit buildings. You open it and go away!"
"Shut up! I'm entitled to speak!" Yuki folded his arms and lowered his head. "Suppose we do collect all 7 emeralds. Then what? If we hide them, he can just find them again, and if we keep them he'll never leave us alone until we just give them up!"
Sonic pointed his index finger upward with a cheerful face. "That's an easy solution! We'll just hide them in a treasure chest or something like that, throw the key away, and there you go! He'll never be able to get them!"
"That could work, but on the other hand, he's a powerful demon. He could probably just destroy the chest! And even if we can't, that would mean we can never use them again!"
"That's one thing we could do, though. I'll still keep that in mind." Tails got out a notepad and pen and wrote down something as he softly spoke "Hide… emeralds in… treasure chest!" Okay, any other solutions?
"We could destroy them!"
"How do you think we should destroy the emeralds?"
"Once we got the last emerald, we'll travel to the hottest volcano in the world, go right up to the top, and then throw them all in and, there we go! Now no one can get their hands on it!"
Tails wrote down "Destroy them in a volcano."
"Well, those are our two options. Whichever way you look at it, it looks like we're going to have to give the emeralds up. So, lock them away or destroy them? Which one?"
"Sorry to barge in but, does it have to be a volcano? Why can't we just break them with a hammer or something?"
"Hmm… No, too casual."
"Oh come on! It's not a beauty contest! We won't get any points depending on how stylish it is!"
"Kao-Tan, you're from the past. This is the future. I like to go out with a bang!" Sonic followed his response with his signature thumbs up. "So, we burn them?"
"I don't think we have much of a choice. Let's burn them!"
"Alright, it's settled!"
Tails looked at the two emeralds looking worried, despite sounding mostly enthusiastic about this decision. "It's scary to think that this'll be the last time we're collecting the Chaos Emeralds…"
Meanwhile, in Angel Island…
The Master Emerald remained in its shrine in the island high up in the sky known as Angel Island. Sleeping beside it was a friend of Sonic & Tails, Knuckles the Echidna. He was dreaming of a life where he didn't have to protect the emerald when a butterfly approached and landed on his nose. His eyes slowly opened and he was greeted by the butterfly. He shot up, and it flew away as he watched. He sighed a deep breath. "Lucky butterfly. He doesn't have to spend his days up here protecting a jewel." He turned around to the Master Emerald and saw his reflection. "I've been guarding this thing for as long as I can remember now… A few times now, I've had to protect it from harm's way. Come to think of it, it's been four years since there's been anything going on. Those four years I've spend up here, as always. But I shouldn't just be sitting here whining about it. I guess this is what I'll have to do for the rest of my life." He sat back down. "Say, I wonder how Sonic's doing… He's probably enjoying himself… Maybe I should train up to beat him in a fight – it's been too long." He yawned and began to doze off. "But right now, I'm too tired. I think I'll go back to sleep first. Good night…"
Not too long before he fell into deep sleep, he could hear the sound of wings flying off in the air accompanied by a female chuckling to herself. Suddenly, he woke up and sprinted off to chase this figure before she could get away. "You again! You're still up to your no good tricks!" He jumped up and delivered a strong punch, and reclaimed the Master Emerald that had been stolen. As he was putting it back in its place, the thief rose up and revealed herself.
Music Option A - Unknown from M.E from Sonic Adventure
Music Option B - Unknown from M.E from Sonic Adventure 2
Music Option C - Fly in the Freedom from Sonic Adventure 2
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out you're the victim, bat girl!"
"Aww, that was disappointing. I thought that would be the perfect time to take it." The feminie bat Rouge spoke in her usual sexy voice.
"I knew it. Four years and you haven't changed a bit. And as long as I'm guarding it, you'll never get away with the Master Emerald!"
And, as always, the two bickered over the emerald… Again!
"You just don't know when to give up, huh?"
"My one and only dream is to have all the jewels in the world and become rich and famous. No echidna boy will get between me and my Master Emerald!"
"YOUR Master Emerald? What the f—"
His sentence was interrupted (in the right time, too) by the demon grabbing him on the shoulders. He turned around and threw a few punches until the demon effortlessly shoved him aside.
"Hey buddy, you wanna get your hands on the emerald too, don't you? Oh boy, I really got my hands full!"
"So, this is where the legendary Master Emerald resides. You're Knuckles, the guardian of the emerald, am I correct?"
"Wait, how do you know about me?"
"I know everything about the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. Here's a little history lesson for you. I am a demon from feudal Takashima, and the emeralds are from my demon blood! They're emeralds created by us demons!"
"We get it, you're a demon!" Rouge impatiently shouted out.
"Demons? Takashima? Demons from Takashima? But I thought they originated from my ancient tribe!"
"They came from Takashima, deal with it!"
"Did you come all the way here just to tell me about that?"
"No, I'll take it for myself, I could find something to do with it."
"Don't you even bother, thief!"
"Thief? Heh, says you!" Knuckles angrily called. Looks like I'll have to use my last resort…! Before the demon could get away with the emerald, Knuckles punched it, shattering it into hundreds of pieces.
"Real bright move, echidna boy! Now no one gets the emerald!"
"Were you asleep when I told you about fixing it? If I gather the shards all together, it'll be back in one piece. And this time, don't even bother finding the shards for yourself!"
"Hm, you're smarted than I thought. Oh well, I don't need it right now anyway. I can just get the shards out of you after you've found them all. Don't forget, you will be seeing me again." The demon vanished.
Good riddance, he's gone.
"See ya, echidna boy. Next time you see me I'll have the Master Emerald!"
"Don't hold your breath, bat girl. I'll never let you get away with it!"
Rouge took off, no doubt to begin her search for the emerald pieces.
I can't take my mind off of that demon guy… He claims the emeralds are from his ancestry! Right when I first saw him I could tell he was a bad guy. But right now, I have to go looking for the pieces of the emerald! The island began trembling at that moment. "That's right! Without the Master Emerald, Angel Island sinks to the ground!" He leapt up and glided off the island as it descended to the surface of the ocean. He was able to sense the Master Emerald as well as the Chaos Emeralds, but so could Rouge due to her treasure hunting skills. Without a second to lose, Knuckles descended to his first destination – Kyukai.
Music - Knuckles' Unknown from M.C from José the Bronx Rican of Overclocked Remix
He landed in Takashima, where he could sense three pieces of the emerald. "Right, there should be a few around here. I gotta find them before bat girl does!"
He ran forward in search for the first piece when he soon came across demons. "These guys must work for the demon I saw just then... Alright, guess I'll deal with them the old fashioned way!" He punched them all with his huge, powerful fists, taking them out easily. "Man, is that the best they can do? That was too easy!" He started climbing the wall behind him with his climbing ability to get the emerald on higher ground. More demons awaited him up there, which he took care of with more huge punches. A few more leapt towards him in an attempt to grab hold of him. Knuckles leapt until into the air and began spiralling. "Tornado Claw!" He beat them all with a fierce uppercut from his left hand. They all exploded into purple, one of them leaving a shard of the emerald, which he caught as it slowly fell down. "That's one, just two more!"
He glided down with the help of his signature dreadlocks, down to the village. The second shard was somewhere in there. He ran past the street following his senses, and leapt up on the rooftops of the houses, continuing his search there when suddenly felt demons surrounding him. He evaded and the demons chased him on the rooftops. I can take them all out at once with the Hammer Punch, but I have to make sure I don't destroy the houses. He jumped onto the ground, and then as the demons all circled around him, he crouched down and raised his left hand, charging up an attack. "Hammer Punch!" He punched the ground, sending a red shockwave around him defeating them all at once. He found the second shard ahead of him digged into the ground halfway, so he picked it out. "There's just one more around here. It can't be too far."
Knuckles continued his search to nearby the river where the third shard was underwater. He punched the demons in his way and dived into the water. The fish glided in the warm, blue body of water, swimming away as Knuckles approached. He was an expert swimmer, so he had no problem finding objects underwater. He came across underwater demons that began chasing him. He swam away and then turned around to defeat them all in one punch. More took their places when he found the emerald floating at the floor of the river. He fought them all as he swam down to grab it. He had three left when he reached the emerald. He threw it upward, took care of the last three demons and reached the surface with three shards of the Master Emerald.
"That's all there is around here. I already have three pieces, but I don't know how many Bat Girl will have gotten by now. I should be alright just as long as I don't run into that demon." Knuckles went off to continue his search in Kyukai.