Chapter 04: Emerald Crisis

Down on Mobius, Knuckles and Julie-Su were on their way back to Angel Island, where the Master Emerald was located. The Republic had established a base on the Island, not just as a defense of the Emerald, but as a way of keeping the peace between the Echidna factions. Knuckles still though would return to the Island periodically to make sure the Emerald was all right.

The two Echidnas piloted their YT-1930 transport, the Emerald Guardian, towards the island, and when they landed on the landing pad near the Emerald's spot, but when Knuckles exited his ship, he noticed that the guards were tranquilized, and drew his blaster pistol as he went to investigate. But when he entered the Master Emerald's chamber, he saw a female bat standing in front of it. "Hey! Who are you and how did you get in here?!" Knuckles demanded.

The bat turned around to see Knuckles, and she replied: "My name is Rouge the Bat, but you can call me Rouge."

"So, what do you think you're doing with that Emerald?" asked Knuckles training his blaster on her.

"I was thinking of repossessing this jewel, since me and jewels go hand-in-hand…" replied Rouge.

"Oh, really? I'm the guardian of this island when I'm not serving the Republic, so I advise you leave before I make you." warned Knuckles.

"I don't think so…" said Rouge attempting to draw a hidden blaster, but Knuckles simply fires at Rouge, who dodged the shot easily. She fired back at the Echidna, but he dodged her blaster shots easily. They exchanged both blaster shots and hand-to-hand combat, but then the battle shifted in Knuckles' favor when Julie-Su entered the room with her blaster rifle in hand. Rouge was so busy fighting Knuckles that she barely managed to dodge Julie-Su's shots, and then she fell onto the ground below. Knuckles then realized he couldn't leave the Master Emerald here, so he grabbed it and removed it from its spot. He and Julie-Su then retreated out of the chamber, with Rouge recovering and chasing them down. "Where do you think you're going?!" she demanded as she attempted to wound Knuckles with a blaster shot, but Julie-Su covered him and fired back.

The two echidnas quickly climbed aboard the Emerald Guardian, and quickly took off as the island began falling into the ocean below. Knuckles then stashed the Emerald inside a special podium aboard the Guardian and then he contacted the Republic Outpost on the island and sized up the situation to the Republic troops below and ordered them to search for Rouge. But neither Knuckles nor Julie-Su noticed that Rouge had attached a grappling hook to the underside of the ship, and was holding on for dear life on the underside.

Back at Castle Acorn, Sally, Leia, 3P0, and Kaylor met with Luke and R2. "Luke, where's Sonic? I thought he was with you by now." said Sally with much concern on her face.

"Sonic's trying to find answers, Sally. He thinks that by letting himself get caught, he'll uncover more info at the Prison Island facility." said Luke.

"Ohhhh….sometimes that Hedgehog does the most unusual things!" groaned Sally. "Anyway, the Super Star Destroyer Apocalypse was spotted entering this sector and has taken a position near a small moon in orbit around the planet.

"The Apocalypse….one of our agents informed us about that vessel and that it was planning something on Prison Island." said Luke thoughtfully. "Supposedly the island was hiding some kind of life form there for well over 50 years. I think that life form was Shadow the Hedgehog." Luke then told them about Shadow and of his abilities.

"You know Luke, I did get a report that there was a break-in at the Prison Island Facility last night. I don't think that that was a coincidence now. And now this Shadow guy shows up. Definitely not a coincidence." said Kaylor.

"Well then, what should we do?" asked Leia.

"Keep an eye on the Apocalypse, Leia. Kaylor, you, me, R2, and two Freedom Fighters are gonna go to Prison Island to see what we can uncover there." said Luke.

"And see if we can get Sonic out in the process." said Kaylor.

"Take the Star Tornado, Luke. It'll be less conspicuous." said Sally.

"All right. Kaylor, pick two Freedom Fighters and meet me in the hangar." said Luke as he and R2 headed for the hangar.

When they arrived in the hangar, they waited for Kaylor to arrive, and when he did, Tails and Amy were with him. Before Luke could ask, Kaylor said: "They insisted Luke. And besides, Tails is a good pilot. Let's go."

Luke said no more as Kaylor, Tails, Amy, and R2 climbed aboard the Star Tornado, and set off for Prison Island.

Meanwhile, high in orbit above the planet, a large Republic Fleet was heading towards the Apocalypse, and they were ready for battle against the ship. But they didn't get too close to the Apocalypse, since they had no way of knowing whether it would retreat or turn and fight. The Apocalypse had not deployed any TIE Fighters, but was close to the ARK.

"Admiral Forell. The Chaos Emeralds are in place and we are ready to power up the cannon." said Commander Akuji.

"Excellent. When it's ready, we will broadcast our demands and test it…on that Republic Fleet." grinned Admiral Forell.