Knuckles was sitting on the stairs leading to the shrine of the Master Emerald. Behind him, the giant jewel gleamed in its mystical aura. Knuckles felt at peace with himself, with his surroundings. He was doing his job, and as long as no one would be able to steal the emerald, his purpose as a guardian was served.
Grandfather Hino left the hut and looked at the stars. "Knuckles, I'm going to bed. Looks like Rei is going to be late again. Make sure to guard the shrine until she takes over, okay?"
Knuckles just nodded. He didn't need the guidelines of some old geezer or his violent daughter. He really didn't like it how they settled down on his island as if was theirs. Sure, they were the last echidnas, along with him, but he was the first guardian. Angel Island was and stayed Knuckles' home. He was a little relieved when he found out that he wasn't the last of his tribe, but after he got to know the two of them better, he really wished they had left him alone.
After the old echidna went back into the hut, some time passed. Rei was really late today. After a while, Knuckles' tummy began rumbling.
'Damn,' he thought. 'I'm really hungry.' He stood up. 'Good thing I left some of the fruits we had for lunch today.'
He went down the stairs to fetch his bag. With a full stomach, he would do his job more effeciently.
----
Without being noticed by the guardians of the floating island, an enormous battleship had approached the island from behind. For a ship of its size, the Egg Carrier could fly very stealthily. But they also had the island's mountain as additional protection, so Dr. Eggman really didn't need to be that careful.
The rest of the job was lying in the hands of his two new robots. This was their chance to prove their worth to their master.
"All right," the egg-shaped scientist told Beta and Gamma. "Your job will be either to bring me the Master Emerald, or, if that turns out to be impossible, to find a way to release the ancient being trapped inside. And most important, don't let the echidnas find you! Understood?"
The E-Series robots saluted with their weapons. "Affirmative!"
----
As stealthy as two heavy robots could be, Beta and Gamma left the Egg Carrier and walked through the jungle. As this mission required stealth, they didn't fire their weapons.
After some time, they reached the wide clearing with the shrine and the Master Emerald on its top.
Gamma looked out of the bushes. "Scanning for vital signs! Echidna life form detected at eleven o'clock!" ('Let me check if the coast is clear, Artemis! Be careful, there's that red echidna Rei lives with!')
Beta's head spun around to the shrine itself. "Direct approach not recommended! Possible seizure of Master Emerald is most improbable! Suggest destruction by ballistic projectiles!" ('Guess we can't just take it then, huh? Time for plan B: Let's blast that thing to pieces!')
If E-102 had a normal face, the robot would very likely have frowned at its white colleague. "Mission instructions included absolute avoidance of being detected! This is a stealth mission! Ballistic weapons are out of the question!" ('Are you crazy? The old egg-head told us clearly not to make too much noise. We can't let them see us! Shoot one missile up there and I'll kick your metal butt to the moon!')
Then, they saw Knuckles going down the stairs of the shrine. He was heading towards the hut to get some food.
"E-102-Gamma's arguments do not compute! Echidna life form leaving surrounding area! Initiating missile launch!" ('Don't be silly, Luna! This is our big chance! Look, the echidna is going inside. Let's blast that thing!')
Beta raised it's gun arm while Gamma tried to interfere: "E-101-Beta, abort launch!" ('Artemis, you idiot! Stop it!')
The miniature missile flew through the night air and headed straight for the shrine.
And with a loud 'CRASH', it shattered the Master Emerald into dozens of pieces that flew away in every possible direction.
"Mission completed! Suggesting tactical retreat!" ('Easy as pie! Now let's get to that old scientist to report.')
Gamma looked at Beta. "E-101-Beta, your actions are most illogical! After this unit's power source has been removed, prepare for facing the consequences!" ('Artemis, you're the biggest jerk I've ever seen! Once Usagi finds a way to free us, you're going to be in so much trouble...')
And the two robots got ready to return to the Egg Carrier.
----
Knuckles was just reaching for his food bag, when he suddenly heard a big crash coming from outside. "What the..." He hurried outside.
On the top of the shrine, he could find almost no trace of the Master Emerald. Only some green shards were lying on the ground. "Who did this?" he shouted angrily.
Grandfather Hino came running. "Knuckles, what is...? Oh no, what happened to the Master Emerald?"
"I'm not sure, gramps," Knuckles snarled while looking around. "But I fear that whoever did this is still around here somewhere."
Suddenly, they heard a strange noise. Somehow, it sounded like the gurgling of a defect drain.
"W-what's that?" Hino-san shouted in a surprised voice. Knuckles turned around. Behind him, a strange puddle of a gel-like substance was slowly growing into a humanoid shape, until a strange being made entirely of that blue liquid was standing before them. The only thing that didn't look blue or made out of water were its green eyes and the brain that was floating around in its head.
"Who are you?" Knuckles shouted angrily. He gestured towards the remains of the Master Emerald. "Did you do that? Ooooh, I'll get you for that!" And he ran towards the strange water creature to hit it with a powerful smack of his fist. But the creature jumped high into the air, over the heads of the two echidnas. Knuckles punch hit empty air, and the force of his attack made him fall to the ground. "Ooof! Hey, no fair!"
Before he could do anything, the figure slowly seemed to melt back into its original shape of a puddle, before seeping into the ground.
Then it was gone.
Grandfather Hino stared at the place where the creature had vanished. "Gee, I wonder what that was... I've never seen anything like it before in my entire life."
They didn't notice the shining ball of light that was floating away from the shrine...
Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet began shaking. "Oh no, it's starting to happen," Knuckles shouted. "Without the Master Emerald's power, this whole island will fall down into the sea. Brace yourself..."
And then all went down...
----
Rei anxiously turned around on Makoto's couch. The tall rabbit peered into the room. "What's wrong, Rei? Can't sleep?"
"I don't know," the echidna-girl sighed. "I just have a bad feeling, that's all. I wonder if it really was okay for me to stay here for the night. I would have called my grandfather, but on the island, we have no electricity. And I can't afford a cell phone..."
"Don't worry," Makoto said. "Perhaps it's just your imagination. After all, Knuckles is the most experienced guardian of you three, and your grandfather is there as well. I'm sure everything is fine."
"I hope you're right," Rei mumbled while closing her eyes. "Good night, Makoto!"
"Good night, Rei!"
----
Night Babylon... the most dubious part of town. There are several normal stores, true, but most of the small district is well-known for it's night clubs, it's dubious dealers and it's street gangs.
As she was mostly safe from all the unpleasant residents of her neighborhood, Rouge the Bat actually liked the atmosphere. Her own little club, 'Club Rouge' was her pride, and in the evenings, it was normally filled with customers.
She financed the club itself, the beverages and her few employees by secretly working for the government, as an international spy. She also was a thief specialized in jewels, but only few people knew that.
One of those people was her apprentice, Minako Aino, who adored her. Since her mother died, she was taking care of the blonde bat-girl. Her father threw her out of his house, because Minako (stupidly) told him of her plans of becoming a thief.
Rouge was proud of the girl, as she was making great progress. Just her clumsiness was making it a little difficult sometimes...
Right now, Rouge was sitting in her private room and relaxed. It was a nice, pleasant evening.
When Minako returned to 'Club Rouge', she instantly went to her instructor and friend. "Hi there, Rouge," she said cheerfully. "Lots of customers tonight, I see?"
"Did you get the Master Emerald?" Rouge asked instantly.
Minako winced. She had been afraid Rouge would ask her that. "No, I didn't... they caught me." She then grimly looked at the older bat. "But you didn't tell me that it was that important for Rei and her tribe. Did you know that without the emerald, their whole floating island would fall down into the ocean?"
Rouge huffed. "Please, Minako! Do you actually believe in that mystical mumbo-jumbo? I bet your echidna friend just told you that so you wouldn't try to steal it anymore."
Minako looked away offended. "Well, I won't steal anything that's important to my friends. Send me to steal any other jewel, not that big green one."
Rouge sighed. Kids and their morals... she'd never understand them. "Fine, fine! Let's talk about that later. Now, go to bed early, we have a job to do tomorrow."
Minako nodded. "Well, okay. Night, Rouge."
After the blonde bat left the room, the older, white-furred bat leaned back into her chair with a sigh. She had dreamed of getting that beautiful emerald. It was so big, and so shiny... she loved looking at it since she saw it for the first time, after landing on the floating island by pure accident. Well, if Minako wouldn't bring it to her... she would try it by herself some time.
Her cell phone beeped. She turned it on and responded: "Hello, Rouge here? ... Well, hi there! Nice hearing from you again! ... Oooh, don't tell me GUN screwed up again... ... So they lost them? Yeah, I had expected something like that. ... So you want me to get them back? ... Okay, I'll do it! The usual fee?" After her conversation partner responded, she smiled. "Well, then consider it done. I'll keep an eye open for them. And remember: I just LOVE sapphires. But say, just who could be skillful enough to break into that facility?"
----
Several GUN soldiers hurried through the streets. "She must be somewhere around here," the captain told his men. "Find her!"
After the troops had left, a dark figure peered out of a narrow alley. She looked down at the three colorful gems in her hands.
"I won't let those GUN idiots keep the Chaos Emeralds... they only do what they think is right. Letting them keep them would be almost as dangerous as just giving them to that Eggman guy."
The dark green hedgehog girl made a fist. "I will find my brother... and until that time has come, I won't let GUN get away with what they did to us!"
----
Chaos was floating through the sewers of the city. He could feel it... somewhere out there, there were some of the Chaos Emeralds. If he found them, he would be one step closer to regaining his true strength.
He heard some human voices on the street above them, so he waited and listened. Afterwards, he slowly slithered up the wall and through the drainage.
----
"Did you find her yet?" the captain asked one of the subordinates.
The soldier shook his head. "No, sir."
"Keep searching! We cannot terrorists like her run loose with such powerful objects. You heard the commander: Failure is not an option!"
"R-right away, sir," the private saluted.
Suddenly, they heard something... it was the sound of something coming out of the sewers. Something that looked like a puddle of water. And then, it changed its shape.
"It's a monster," the private cried out in terror.
"Calm down, soldier," the captain ordered. He pulled out his walkie-talkie. "All soldiers, return to City Hall! We need additional support. That's an order!"
----
Sonic was just speeding home, when he heard gunshots. 'Bank robbers?' he speculated. 'Perhaps the police needs some assistance.' He jumped up towards the building walls and ran past them, pushed himself away from the walls and somersaulted over the incoming army troops.
When he reached the plaza in front of City Hall, he saw the reason for the soldier's alert: It was a tall, humanoid monster made entirely from water. Several soldiers were cornering it.
"You're completely surrounded," the captain just shouted. "Surrender yourself!"
The monster didn't seem to understand him, or it just didn't care. Also, the multiple weapons aimed at its body didn't seem to worry it much. It just growled and took another step towards the soldiers.
"Lock on target, men," the captain ordered. "Get ready... fire!"
And the soldiers opened fire. Thirteen bullets fired by thirteen soldiers hit their target.
But then, the bullets fell down on the ground without having scratched the creature.
"Oh no," one of the soldiers shouted. "Our weapons are useless!"
"Retreat," the captain ordered. "All personnel, fall back!"
And after shooting two additional bullets at the creature, the captain and his men ran away from the scene, while Sonic jumped in front of the monster.
It growled at him with a kinda 'splashy' sounding voice and lashed out with its arm. The arm extended and grew longer as it lashed at the blue hedgehog. Sonic dodged by jumping over it. "Oh yeah," he said. "This could be fun."
Chaos just stared at him. The hatred towards all mortal beings was engraved in his face. He stretched out his arms even further, surrounded them with a magical, burning energy and spun them around while approaching Sonic.
Sonic jumped, skipped and threw himself on the ground to avoid the multiple attacks of his opponent. "You're not from around here, right?" he flippantly said. "If you like, try out the burger stand in the shopping arcade, okay? They make good chili-dogs."
Chaos growled again and concentrated its powers. Then, it hit the earth with a powerful punch. The impact made the ground shake, and it stunned Sonic for several seconds. "Whoa, they didn't tell me about that quake on the radio."
Chaos used that moment to punch Sonic into his face. The hedgehog flew back several feet.
"Now you've done it," he muttered. "You know how expensive a pack of aspirin is? It's highway robbery, I tell ya." He then smirked and launched his body towards the water creature as a ball. And surprisingly enough, it seemed to hurt it.
"Now let's finish this," Sonic said.
But before he could do anything, a dark shadow appeared on the wall that was surrounding the area. "I sense you're a dark creature, filled with anger," a female voice said. "Do not release that anger on the humans. Leave this place now!"
Chaos didn't like the appearance of another intruder, so once again, he lashed out with his arms. The figure simply blocked the punch with both hands and stretched out her right arm. "Chaos Spear!"
A lance of yellow energy shot out of the stranger's palm and hit the water creature. Chaos screamed in pain and decided to retreat. Two powerful opponents were too much for him. He would have to return after gaining his full strength. He returned to his puddle shape and slithered back into the drainage.
"Come on, you big drip," Sonic shouted. "Where are you going?"
"Leave him be," the stranger said. "You won't be able to catch him now."
Sonic looked closer at the figure. It was a female hedgehog with dark green fur. "Who are you?"
The girl smirked. "I am Pluto the Hedgehog... the world's Ultimate Life Form - First Version! I have to go for now... farewell!"
She held up a gem. "Chaos Control!"
And in a flash of light, she was gone.
"Was that... a Chaos Emerald?" Sonic wondered. "Pluto... who is she anyway?"
----
Rei just stared at the enormous rock wall that was in front of her. Normally, when going home, she would see a nice beach with sand and palm trees... now the enormous mountain of Angel Island was rising above her... the Ice Cap!
"How could the island just crash like this?" she murmured. "That must mean... wait a minute! The Master Emerald! Something must have happened to it."
"That's right," a grumpy voice to her right said. "The Master Emerald broke just because YOU couldn't return in time to guard it."
Rei turned around to face Knuckles. "What did you say? Broke? Who did it?"
"I don't know," the male echidna said. "I only know it happened because of YOUR incompetence as a guardian."
"Now just wait a minute," Rei growled. "You may be an unsocial jerk that has no concerns except for guarding the island, but some people on Earth have something called a life, you know? If I stayed on that stupid floating rock for all my life, I would have never met my friends!"
"Perhaps that would have been better, then," Knuckles growled. "I think they distract you from your duties as a guardian! Our ancestors left the Master Emerald for us to protect it from outsiders. And now look at what happened: The island came crashing down, and the emerald got shattered!" He held up several green shards. "I was lucky to find those up to now, but as long as we don't find the others, that means nothing!"
Rei stared at him. "I may have called you, but on your island, there isn't even a phone! Do you think I want to stay on that piece of rock forever? I know I messed up, and I know of my duties... But we are three guardians, so that doesn't mean one can jump in when one of the others fails to attend to his duties. One thing you failed to learn after all these years you spent alone was: teamwork!" She huffed and stormed back towards the train station.
Knuckles looked after her. "Dang... and the worst thing is, part of me believed what she just told me..."
----
When Rei arrived back in Station Square, she returned to Makoto's apartment and knocked on the door.
Makoto opened. "Yes?" Rei sobbed and threw herself into the arms of the taller rabbit.
"That stupid Knuckles! He just blamed me! He has no friends himself and says I should leave you all behind... he doesn't even know my other duties as a Senshi. And now the Master Emerald was shattered, and the island came crashing down, and everything that jerk could do was yell at me." She sniffed at the shoulder of her friend.
Makoto patted the distraught echidna girl on the shoulder. "It's okay, Rei... He's just an insensitive jerk, don't let his words get to you."
"But he's partly right, you know?" Rei mumbled. "Protecting the Master Emerald is almost as important as being Sailor Mars, and I failed to attend to my duties as I should."
"Just come in for a while." Makoto led her friend inside. "A strong cup of tea, and you'll feel better."
Cream came out of the kitchen, followed by the floating Cheese. "Makoto, who's there? Oh, Rei... did something happen? Did you cry?"
Rei smiled. Makoto's little cousin really was sweet. "I'm fine, Cream... I was just upset at some guy..."
"Now, sit down for a while and tell us the whole story, okay?" Makoto said.
After several minutes, Rei had told the two bunnies and the Chao what had happened to the island and the Master Emerald.
"That's terrible," Makoto said. "How many pieces do you think are scattered?"
"I don't know." Rei shook her head. "I just know that we have to find them. The Master Emerald contains massive powers, and even a small shard in the wrong hands could be disastrous."
"Um, are those shards by any chance green and gleaming?" Cream wanted to know.
Rei nodded. "Yes, but how do you know?"
Cream smiled and held up some shining shards. "We found them yesterday at the park and decided to keep them. If you want, you can have them back."
Rei smiled and hugged the little rabbit. "Oh Cream, you're wonderful! You're the sweetest little girl I've ever met."
Cream giggled. "You should thank Cheese! He was the one that found them in a tree."
Rei looked at the little, floating Chao. "Well then, thank you for finding the emerald shards, Cheese! It means a lot to me."
Cheese smiled happily. "Chao!"
----
Knuckles' own search for the emerald pieces led him to Station Square, where he bumped into a certain pink hedgehog girl. She turned around. "Knuckles! Wow, I don't see your face too often in town. What brings you here?"
"Huh? Oh, Amy... well, it's just that the Master Emerald broke into pieces..." He sighed. "And I have to find them all. Just because of that stupid Rei... if she hadn't gone to her friends that evening... the emerald would still be in one piece! Oh man, I already gave her a piece of my mind, but right now I'm still so angry at her... I'd smack her once if she was standing before me."
Amy frowned at hearing that. Then she sighed and pulled out her mallet.
WHAM!
"Ouch!" Knuckles yelled and held his head. "What was that for?"
Amy put back her hammer and shook her head. "Knuckles, you may be a nice guy, but... sometimes, you're just hopeless! Staying around her friends is her way of finding happiness. You always stay up on your island and never meet with friends... I really think that's what makes you distrust everyone. Remember how Eggman tricked you when you first met him, and you thought Sonic was an emerald thief?"
Knuckles groaned. "Please, don't remember me of that..."
"But you should remember it! From what I understood, you hurt Rei's feelings! And a girl's feelings are something very special, Knuckles! And you better remember that, got it? Or I'll pull out my Piko Piko hammer again!"
Knuckles sweat-dropped. "That won't be necessary, I think."
Amy nodded. "Good. Now, go back to Rei, and apologize to her."
"But I have to find the pieces of the..."
"NOW!"
Knuckles gulped. "Yes, ma'am..."
----
Amy Rose shook her head while walking back to her own apartment. Really, that Knuckles... sometimes, he was just as terrible as Sonic. Boys... she would never understand them.
Without her noticing it, some little capsule floated nearby and attached itself to her hammer, which she still hadn't put back into hammer space.
Then it lit up in an eery light. "Whaaah!" Amy shouted and dropped her mallet. "What's going on?"
"PIKOPIKO!"
The mallet grew until it resembled a human wearing a mallet-shaped helmet and gloves with attached mallets on their ends. "Prepare for a pounding," the daimon shouted.
"Eeeek," Amy screamed. "Normally I'm the one doing the pounding..."
PikoPiko smirked. "Then let me return the favor... HA!" And she smacked her giant mallet-head down on the street.
"YIKES!" Amy jumped aside. "You almost flattened me, you creep!"
The daimon laughed. "Well, that was my intention, dear..."
Amy wished she could give that stupid creature a piece of her mind... and some good, old-fashioned malleting.
But sadly, said creature WAS her favorite mallet.
PikoPiko stormed forward again and raised her two mallet-hands. "Now prepare to be pounded!"
"DEEP SUBMERGE!"
A gleaming ball of energy hit the daimon and showered it with water. "Gyaaaah," it screamed. "Who was that?"
The sleek cheetah and the elegant dolphin were standing back to back. "Heralded by..."
A green, scaled hand smacked the cheetah-girl on the head. "Spare us the speeches! Just attack!"
"GERONIMOOO!" a small, hyperactive bee shouted as he dove for the daimon, stinger extended.
"Whaah! Augh! No! Get away! That stings!" the mallet-monster screamed as Charmy buzzed around her and let her taste his stinger multiple times.
On a traffic light, a purple chameleon appeared out of nowhere. "Behold my Ninja power," he shouted and threw several shurikens at the daimon.
PikoPiko swatted the annoying bee away to avoid the shurikens in time. "You all are starting to bug me."
"Hahahaha," Charmy laughed. "That's a good one! Get it? Bug me... and I'm a bee! Hahahaha!"
"I don't think she was joking, Charmy," Vector grumbled.
"You... take this!" the daimon shouted and pounded the floor with both mallet-gloves. Twin shock waves were flying towards the cheetah, crocodile and dolphin. They quickly dodged. "This is how it's done," Sailor Uranus shouted. "World Shaking!"
PikoPiko groaned as the attack threw her off her feet.
"And now to finish them," Vector smiled and scooped Uranus off the ground.
"Wha... hey, lemme go! What's the big idea?"
The big crocodile smiled. He curled the protesting Cheetah up into a ball and carefully put her between his mighty jaws.
'Is he going to eat her?' Amy wondered.
But then, the leader of the Chaotix detective agency spit out the cheetah-ball at high speed, while aiming at the daimon.
BANG! The living projectile of Uranus hit the target. The daimon screamed and turned back into Amy's Piko Piko hammer.
Uranus stood up and almost swooned. "Oooh, my head..."
Neptune sweatdropped. "Is that how you always attack?" she asked Vector.
He grinned. "Sometimes, yeah... Espio doesn't like it, but Charmy is always enthusiastic about it."
Amy carefully walked up to her mallet. "Is it... safe to pick up?" she asked. Neptune nodded. "Sure, the daimon egg has been forced out of it. You can take it."
Amy nodded and took her mallet back. "Um, who are you guys?"
"I'm Sailor Neptune," the dolphin girl said. "Aaaand I'm Sailor Uranus," the cheetah said dizzily.
The three guys made a group pose. "Team Chaotix, the hardest-working detectives in town!"
Espio walked towards Neptune and grabbed her hand.
"W-what are you doing?" she muttered while the ninja pulled her to the pink hedgehog.
He smiled and put her hand on Amy's chest.
"Wha...?" Amy asked in alarm, but Espio calmed her down. "It's okay! We just want to test something." He looked into Neptune's face. "Well?"
The dolphin sighed. "I guess you're right... I can feel her heart from here. We're so stupid... If we just tried this before..."
"And?" Uranus asked. "Does she have a talisman inside?" Neptune shook her head.
Espio smiled. "There. All settled. You really should start thinking of alternative ways of reaching your goal some more, you know?"
Neptune looked at him sadly. "But when we find the talismans, we somehow HAVE to get them out of the hearts."
Espio sighed. "I know, I know... But until that time, use this method instead of your previous one. And perhaps the two of you will think of another way, when you have learned to better use your powers. Perhaps talking to those other Senshi would be a good idea?"
Neptune nodded. "Yes, I think you're right."
Amy blinked. "Um, excuse me, but... I really don't know what you are all talking about."
Charmy Bee shrugged. "You're not the only one. Vector tried to explain it to me, but somehow, it all sounded pretty weird."
Vector grinned. "I think it's best we retreat for now!"
Espio nodded. "Roger that." And they ran away, together with the two Senshi.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Charmy did a little loop and buzzed after his friends.
Amy just stood there, held her mallet and tried to figure out just what was going on.