Notes: Hey everyone! Be warned: there's some Chaos babble ahead. Stay tuned til the end for some shameless self-promotion!

Angel Island was quiet and peaceful, as usual. The island floated above the sea, the sun poking out every so often from behind the clouds. Waves of fog rolled across the different zones of the island, and in addition to the summer heat, the whole place felt rather muggy. Luckily, the island was in motion, so there was a nice breeze by the Master Emerald shrine, where Knuckles lay.

He had just started picking at a bowl of grapes when he realized that something wasn't right. Knuckles got a sudden feeling that there was a foreign presence on the island, on his island. It wasn't Sonic or Tails, as he would've heard the Tornado's engine if they had decided to fly up for a visit. No, this was someone different, trespassing on his island, and potentially putting the Master Emerald in danger.

He got to his feet and rolled his shoulders, loosening them up. It was time to welcome his new visitor.

Ooo

Zonic climbed out of his portal, emerging sideways but touching down on the soft grass as his spatial stabilizer kicked in. The Zone Cop was tired. He'd just finished sparring practice, still wearing his tight-fitting black t-shirt and sweatpants. He'd been plenty busy as usual. The rip in spacetime that he, Sonic, and the others had repaired had apparently also weakened the barriers between zones. There had been a few incidents already of people accidentally zone-hopping, but most of the issues came from Doctor Nega. The arch enemy of the Zone Cops had taken the opportunity to wreak havoc on the cosmic highway, and his agents were everywhere making trouble.

Once Zonic's one-week vacation he'd earned for saving the multiverse was over, he was right back to working harder than ever, with no idea when he would have a little time off. Hence, why he'd decided to visit Angel Island now, without giving Knuckles any prior warning. Zonic himself hadn't expected to have the rest of the day off, after all.

The portal closed behind him, and he took a second to get used to the grass under his feet. No Zone had plantlife, of course, but not an abundance of it, and especially not in the cities. Zonic didn't get to experience this much green very often. Grass, trees, ferns, bushes, ivy, flowers… As first impressions generally went, Angel Island was looking pretty good in his book.

And then he got tackled.

Zonic was hit from behind, and he tumbled face-first into the grass he'd been enjoying a second ago. He instantly regretted leaving his pistol at home as his assailant pinned him to the ground.

"What the hell?" uttered the gruff voice that was currently on top of him. Zonic turned his head around, catching a glimpse of the angry, red echidna who had his knees digging into the cop's shoulders.

"Knuckles Prime!" Zonic gasped.

Knuckles scowled. "You're not Sonic. Who the hell are you? What do you think you're doing on my island?!"

"I'm Zonic! The Zone Cop! We've met, don't you remember?" the hedgehog blurted out, feeling frustrated. He knew he didn't have the most unique face around, but he didn't think he was that forgettable. Then again, he'd only talked to Knuckles once, about a month ago. But still, he was an elite cop from another dimension!

The echidna grunted, seemingly just now having remembered their encounter. "Oh yeah," he said, climbing off of Zonic's back. "Kind of blocked that day out of my memory. Four Sonics at once isn't the most pleasant experience." He didn't help the Zone Cop stand back up, still eyeing him warily. Zonic's movements and mannerisms were much different, much more reserved than Sonic's, and it weirded Knuckles out a little bit. He crossed his arms. "So what brings you to my island, officer?"

Zonic pulled himself to his feet, dusting himself off. He suspected he had a small grass stain on his face, but he left it alone. "We agreed to have a talk about Chaos energy, and… for lack of a better term, what's wrong with the energy inside me. I'd wanted to drop by sooner to chat about it, but I just never really had the time. Sorry for… kind of barging in unannounced."

He had expected for his apology to be accepted, but Knuckles merely puffed air through his nose. "Yeah, don't do this again," he said with a slight glare. "Next time you wanna drop in, call ahead."

"I'll keep that in mind," the officer nodded. 'Note to self: Knuckles Prime hits first, asks questions later.'

"C'mon," the echidna said, tilting his head back in the direction he came from. "We can talk back at the Master Emerald shrine. Maybe we can figure out what's quote-unquote wrong with you."

Knuckles and Zonic walked back to the Master Emerald in relative silence; one of them wary and suspicious, the other gaping in wonder at getting to see Angel Island up close and personal. So few people have been on the island over the years, Zonic realised as he smiled. 'I must be the first person from another dimension to- nope. Scourge was here first. Dammit! Duh, he tried to hijack the Master Emerald to go Super a few years ago. Okay. I'm the first person from No Zone to ever set foot here though, so that's still cool.' Birds chirped all around, and as they treked through the bushes and the fog, sounds of gently flowing water rang out. A warm breeze rustled all the plants, rolling the fog along the ground. Zonic tried to take it all in at once, forest-green eyes looking every which way.

"This is beautiful up here…" he muttered aloud, barely paying attention to what came out of his own mouth. He hadn't realized he'd even spoken until Knuckles replied.

"Thanks. I try to keep it looking nice… for visitors," he smirked, pushing aside a tree branch that was in his path.

Hearing Knuckles's voice snapped Zonic's attention back to him, and the hedgehog ducked below the branch. 'I guess he's not that mad at me for barging in, then…? If he's joking about it…' The No-Zoner really didn't want to be on the echidna's bad side. Not only was Knuckles one of Sonic's friends, but he was also one of the most knowledgeable Chaos users on the planet. No one in No Zone knew as much as he did about Chaos- hell, it was likely that few people on Mobius Prime knew as much as he did. If Knuckles couldn't teach him about Chaos or figure out why exactly he couldn't use his powers anymore, then no one could.

After a little bit of walking, the foliage parted to reveal the Master Emerald shrine, rising up like a pyramid from the green landscape. There was a wide clearing of grass all around it, and a shallow pool of water all around the shrine, like a moat. It was clearly in a state of disrepair, just judging from how old it was. Where there had once been a roof to the shrine, there were only semi-intact pillars remaining. Ivy crawled all over the structure, and it was probably holding parts of it together. The mist danced along the ground, puffing out of the way as the echidna and hedgehog walked through it.

Probably the most impressive sight was the Master Emerald itself, glowing bright from atop the shrine. Zonic had been near it before, during the final fight against the Time Eater, but all the fighting had taken place in an underground chamber beneath the shrine. Only Sonic had seen the Master Emerald that day, so it was a completely new sight to the Zone Cop. The main thing Zonic noticed was the lack of energy he felt. He was sure this place was positively exploding with Chaos energy, but he couldn't feel a thing. He knew there was a reason for it, but it still made him feel sort of empty inside. But hopefully this emptiness was something that could be fixed.

"So, Mr. Zone Cop," Knuckles said, one foot on the first step leading up to the shrine. "What do you wanna know? The basic low-down on how Chaos Energy works, or…?"

"Um," Zonic said, snapping back to reality again. "I learned the basic gist of how it all works from Sonic, I'm sure he glossed over plenty of things, but… I think I wanna figure out what's going on with the energy inside of me first. Because last time we met, you said it was… weird."

"It is weird, I can feel it from here," the echidna furrowed his brow. The two started to walk up the steps, heading towards the Master Emerald. "You said you couldn't run anymore or something like that, right?"

"Yeah. When I was thirteen, I… well, long story short, I got hit with a laser blast that was meant to take my speed away. It did, but I think it did something with my energy, too. I never noticed anything other than my speed being gone, but when I was here helping Sonic with the Time Eater, the Time Eater actually de-aged me, so I was thirteen almost the whole time I was here on Mobius…" Zonic paused when Knuckles gave him an incredulous look. "No, really. I was thirteen, it sucked. But I had my speed back, and I could sense the Emeralds when I wasn't able to otherwise. If I hadn't been a kid again, I don't think I would've been able to go Super to fight that thing."

"And then when you turned back to normal, that all went away, I'm guessing."

"Yeah. Speed, sensing the Emeralds, healing powers… all gone."

Knuckles stopped dead in his tracks, only a few steps away from the top of the structure. "Healing powers?" he asked, unsure if he believed what he heard. Zonic nodded. "But… Sonic can't even heal. He's tried, he can't accelerate healing more than the Emeralds already do on their own. So how…"

"I have no idea. I was hoping you could tell me," Zonic said with a shrug, climbing the last few stairs. The Master Emerald caught his eye again, filling him with a sort of longing. He tended to feel like this often when he was on Mobius Prime. It was a beautiful world, while his was a concrete warzone. He wanted to help No Zone become a great place again, but when it came to the Emeralds… his world didn't have them, and never would. These were special, and he could only wish that he could feel their warmth again sometime soon.

Knuckles hummed, a hand on his chin. "I don't know. All this 'alternate dimension' crap is new to me. I mean, I understand it, but it's still not something you see every day. I'm still not used to Scourge," he said, eliciting a chuckle from Zonic. "But everyone who's Chaos Touched has different abilities. Sonic's fast, I'm strong, Amy can summon hammers out of thin air, yadda yadda yadda. Some people are more in-tune with Chaos than others, which is why Sonic can turn Super and most others can't. It would make sense if all of the different dimension Sonics all had the same powers, and the same connection to Chaos. But…"

"But I'm different," Zonic huffed, hands on his hips. "I don't get it either. I mean, by definition, there are Sonics who exist who've never had powers at all. The multiverse is infinitely large, so that's a given. But of all the ones that do have his speed… I've never heard of any of them being able to heal. I don't get it."

Knuckles nodded slowly, deep in thought. "Seems like we've got a mystery on our hands," he said. "Consider my interest piqued. I've never met a healer before. Apparently, a long time ago, back before echidna society had collapsed… people who were Chaos Touched were much more common. Most of them were fighters, like Sonic and I are, but a couple were healers. Ancient manuscripts aren't the most descriptive or easy to understand things in the world, but I think healers would often have additional powers, like fighters' abilities, but usually dialed back a bit."

"Wow…" the Zone Cop said, his voice hushed. He found himself pressing his hand into his thigh, his fingers searching for the scars on his leg. Listening to Knuckles talk about this felt strange. Zonic was apparently the first healer in a long time, and he was from a different dimension. He felt the same awkwardness that he felt when he'd been invited to a party by the president of the United Federation: he felt more involved and attached to Mobius Prime than he probably should.

"My best guess," the guardian said, "is that it has something to do with the soul? Again, I have no idea how alternate dimension stuff works, but I'm assuming you all have different souls. You all act like you do, anyway. Similar enough that you and Sonic and Scourge all have the same speed capabilities, but different enough that one of you can heal." He sat down a few stairs from the top of the shrine with a huff, giving Zonic a frustrated look. "You," he said, pointing a finger at him, "create a lot of questions about how all this works."

"Sorry," the hedgehog said meekly, even though he knew it wasn't his fault. Dimensional twins made everything more complicated, after all. He tentatively sat down next to Knuckles, sitting up straight and placing his hands in his lap.

Knuckles made a motion that would have looked like a shrug, if he wasn't lying back and his arms weren't up and tucked behind his head. "Hey, it's not your fault," he said. His voice was on the reassuring side, though his brow was still creased with thought. "Still, healing though… That's a hell of a skill. Sucks that you don't have it anymore, must've been handy. I'd love the opportunity to see something like that up close."

"Yeah, I'd love to have that back. Chaos knows it'd be helpful in my line of work," Zonic sighed quietly, the sound somewhat hollow. "All I have now is the scars leftover from my one and only healing attempt."

"Really?" Knuckles sat up a little, one eyeridge raised.

Zonic rolled up the leg of his sweatpants, revealing the three long scars that cut into his thigh. "I got sliced up in a cave-in," he explained as the echidna leaned in for a closer look. "I was bleeding pretty bad, so I tried healing it on a whim, and it worked."

"Huh. I'm impressed. I'd say not bad for your first time, but… I really have no idea what 'master healing' looks like," Knuckles smirked. "Looks like it got the job done, though. How many Emeralds did you have on hand?"

"Two."

"Damn," he nodded. "For being so much like Sonic, you sure are full of surprises…"

Zonic fidgeted, tangling his fingers together. He never felt particularly comfortable being compared to Sonic Prime; he never felt deserving of that kind of praise. He had to take a moment to remind himself that Knuckles had meant the statement as a compliment, and that he just had a bad habit of overthinking things. "Yeah, I guess I am," he eventually said.

Knuckles, not noticing his apprehension, continued. "Especially because your energy feels so different from his. Seriously, what is that? Because I keep sensing it and it keeps weirding me out." He sat up straighter and closed his eyes, his head tilted down slightly. "You still have plenty of energy inside of you, so whatever laser blast thing you got shot with didn't take it away," he said, scrunching up his nose. He placed a hand on Zonic's chest, not even thinking to ask first. Respecting personal space wasn't one of his priorities.

The cop's body was full of Chaos energy, just like his counterpart's. The main difference was, while Sonic had energy flowing through him like a river, Zonic's was more like a stagnant pond. His energy barely moved, if it moved at all. It was still, quiet, dormant. It felt awkward to Knuckles's highly-tuned senses. The No Zoner's energy was thick and heavy like syrup, and just as difficult to trudge through. Knuckles pulled his hand away, shuddering slightly.

"...So?" Zonic wondered, the echidna's expression not doing anything to encourage him.

"It almost feels like…" Knuckles frowned, trying to come up with a way to describe it. "It's like your energy's all blocked up, like there's a dam in there keeping it from flowing steadily. It's not flowing, it's just… there."

"I take it it's gotta be flowing for it to work?"

"Pretty much. Whoever tried to take your speed away didn't remove any Chaos energy from your body, I'm guessing. They just turned it off. You know, so to speak."

"So… if we turn it back on, get my Chaos mojo flowing again, we undam that river… You think I could get my speed back? And everything else?"

"I think. I've never seen anything like this before, I don't know anything for sure." He hummed, his lips forming a line. "Looks like I'll be doing some research… gotta dive back into those manuscripts. See if anything like this has ever happened…"

Zonic sat on his hands. "Um, if it's going to be a burden, you don't have to help me if you don't want to-"

"You kidding?" Knuckles smirked, a spark in his eyes. "I don't mind. Chaos stuff is my element. I live and breathe this stuff, and there hasn't been anything new about it since Shadow introduced everyone to the idea of Chaos Control. I don't mind doing a little research."

"Really? You're not too busy or anything?"

"Too busy? I guard a giant rock that just sits still all day. It's an important job, but 90% of the time, I'm just sitting around." The echidna stood up and stretched his back, grunting as it cracked. "For someone who decided to barge in on my island, you sure tread lightly. You're a cop, I thought you'd be more assertive."

"Well, this is a personal favor. I'm not on duty right now," Zonic said, hunching up his shoulders. "Besides, you're a Prime Zoner, and the guardian of the Master Emerald. I don't want you to waste your time on me if you don't want to."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Kid, I don't even know what being from the 'Prime Zone' means. And I don't care to know. You're not wasting my time, promise." He saw the Zone Cop smile a little bit at the reassuring statement. He leaned back against one of the cracked pillars by the stairs. "Besides, you know how hard it is to find someone willing to listen to me talk about Chaos theory, and the history behind all of it? Sonic can't sit still for more than ten seconds, and Tails is more interested in how this stuff can be applied to his machines."

The Zone Cop smiled wider, feeling a little more confident now. "Well, if you ever need a sounding board, I'd be more than happy to listen. My world doesn't have Chaos Emeralds of its own, after all. I've always thought they were pretty cool."

"No Emeralds, huh…? But you still had powers… Your world must be an interesting place," Knuckles thought aloud. He glanced over to the Master Emerald, wondering just how a world could function without it. Zonic's world clearly had to have Chaos energy of some kind, but no Emeralds? For the guardian, who'd grown up around the Master Emerald, it was a hard concept to swallow.

Zonic sighed. "Yeah, No Zone certainly is something." He looked out over the island, having a great vantage point from the top of the shrine. There was greenery as far as the eye could see, the tops of mountains visible in the distance. Fog tumbled along the ground, flowing effortlessly between the trunks of the forest. The water lapping at the base of the shrine was rhythmic, almost like a kind of music. The sun kept trying to break out from behind the gray clouds in the sky, peeking through every now and again and shining light on sections of the distant forest canopy. In the back of his mind, Zonic wished his home could be more like this place. Sure, he was a city boy through and through, but he had a soft spot for nature. He'd been to Zones all over the multiverse, some with flora and fauna unimaginable. But as often as he saw it, he was always amazed by a good view. He wished he could bottle some of this world up and take it back to No Zone with him.

Knuckles looked at the hedgehog staring stiffly into the distance and shook his head. 'What a weird guy,' he thought, amused. He stepped next to the Master Emerald, placing a hand on its surface. He was beginning to more clearly remember their first meeting, in Sonic's hospital room shortly after the Time Eater was defeated and the world returned to normal. Zonic had seemed polite, vaguely star-struck at meeting him, and brushed off the fact that he lost his speed like it was no big deal. The Zone Cop was potentially even more different from Sonic than Scourge was. Content to sit still and listen, polite, not very talkative… not to mention, lacking the ego and even some of the self-esteem that Sonic had. Seeing someone who looked so much like Sonic act so reserved was pretty strange. But from what the echidna had heard, the two hedgehogs had the same innate desire to help people, the same stubbornness, and from what he was seeing right now, apparently the same love of nature.

"It's a pretty good view, huh?" the echidna said, absentmindedly inspecting the Master Emerald for imperfections as Zonic continued looking out at Angel Island. "You got any sights like this in your world?"

Zonic hugged one of his arms across his body, gripping his opposite elbow. "Not really," he said, only turning his head slightly. "No Zone is full of cities, just concrete and brick. Not even a lot of parks. I usually only get fresh air like this while I'm on a mission, and then I barely get to enjoy it. S'probably why I like coming to Mobius Prime so much. There's still a lot of nature to enjoy." He smiled, his eyes at half mast. "But still… despite how gloomy No Zone can feel sometimes, it's still my home. I love it, I love living in Zone City. You can get all different kinds of food- not just from all over the world, but all over the multiverse- and there's so many different sorts of people, and so many things to do, and there's always something going on. My world's at war, but there's still people playing music on the street corners, able to find a little bit of happiness, y'know? It's still a good city."

"I'm not really a city guy myself. I like my island," Knuckles sniffed, leaning gently on the Master Emerald. "Exploring the world can be a nice change of pace from time to time, though. Your world sounds interesting."

The No Zoner chuckled. "I hear that. You can't really have a world that's turned completely on its side, and have it be normal."

The echidna screwed up his face in confusion, smirking. "Say what now?"

Zonic, deciding that showing would be easier than telling, stood up and removed the spatial stabilizer from his wrist. Without the silver bracelet there, he was forcefully turned ninety degrees until he was standing sideways in mid-air. "Ta-da," he said, holding his arms out to the side for a little bit of flair.

"Damn!" Knuckles barked out a laugh, crossing his arms over his chest. "You really are something else. Any other surprises I should know about?"

"Nothing that immediately comes to mind."

The guardian nodded, taking a few steps towards him and holding out his fist. "You're alright, Zonic."

The No Zoner beamed, bumping Knuckles's fist with his own. "Thanks, glad to hear it. You're a cool guy too, Knuckles Prime."

"Just Knuckles will do," he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He picked up the bowl of grapes he'd abandoned earlier, popping one into his mouth. "Wanna come check out where I keep all the ancient echidnan scrolls and books and stuff? Might as well get a leg up on that research."

"Sure!" Zonic said, popping his stabilizer back on and dropping back down to the ground.

"Good, because like hell I'd leave anyone alone here with the Master Emerald. C'mon, it's down this way," the red one said, bringing his grapes with him as he climbed down the stairs of the shrine. Zonic eagerly followed, still rather starstruck and happily surprised that Knuckles had warmed up to him. He already knew more than he had before he'd arrived on the island- that the energy inside him was blocked and therefore he couldn't use it- and he could only hope that there were more answers in store. And even if there weren't, he couldn't object to spending some more time on Angel Island. After spending weeks in the station or fighting on the crumbling cosmic highway, he could use a change of scenery.

Notes: Yup, so Zonic learning from Knuckles is going to be a thing! I'm excited to write more Knuckles, he's great. Plus, ooh, Zonic might see his abilities back? Maybe maybe not? Guess you guys'll have to wait and see. ;)

Interested in seeing more Sonic-related writing from me? Does the idea of a story about Sonic at Hogwarts not sound unbearably terrible to you? Check out my blog on tumblr, "sylvaniaschoolofmagic"! I share it with Hikareh and Yamiii, and we've been working really hard to deliver an awesome story. We're super proud of it, and it would mean a ton to me if you checked it out and followed the blog! Thanks so much guys :D

Remember to leave a review if you enjoyed this chapter! See ya next month!