A news paper flew through the air, hitting the leg of one Knuckles the Echidna. He grabbed it, seeing a photo of Shadow and Robotnik. He sighed, letting the paper fly away in the wind. Then, just in the corner of his eye, he saw movement. Knuckles stood up ready to fight, only to see
"Robotnik." Knuckles growled. However, Eggman collapsed in front of him sobbing.
"Please, you have to help me Knuckles!" He pleaded. "If we don't do something fast, Shadow will keep us stuck on this planet forever!" Knuckles cocked an eyebrow at this. "If we gather all the Chaos Emeralds, we may be able to reverse the effects of Chaos Control. You know how Shadow is. He won't let anything stand in his path. I gathered the seven Chaos Emeralds just to keep them away from him! But there was no stopping Shadow. He was determined to go all the way this time, even if Cream got hurt! Finally, Shadow damaged the Chaos Emeralds and sent us off here, just for his feud with me!"
"Shadow always was a loose cannon." Knuckles agreed, his frustration blinding him.
"I figured if we collect all the Chaos Emeralds I can find a way back home, but Shadow won't let me. He took one of my Emeralds and said he'd never let me have them. He can't even properly use them! I can, but Shadow won't let me."
"That egotistical HOG!" Knuckles yelled. Eggman smirked at this. "I'm sick of Shadow making everything about himself. If he won't give us the Emerald, then I'll just take it from him." Knuckles announced.
"Looks like my troubles with Shadow are over." Robotnik thought.
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Back at Maria's home, she, Tails, and Chuck were all admiring the Chaos Emerald. Chuck had been trying to get readings on it, but it was taking some time to do. They heard a knock on the door. They turned and started panicking.
"MARIA!" A voice called out. "I know you're in there! I haven't clean that room in so long I've missed the DIRT ALERT!"
"Oh no, it's Ella. Quick Tails, hide!" Maria hushed. Tails looked around finding no place. As the door opened, he jumped onto a bean bag and went completely limp.
A woman came up, looking around as Maria and Chuck put on their best poker face...even if they were bad.
"I thought I'd find you two up here." Ella said. Maria turnedand acted as if she just noticed Ella walk in and said hi. Ella wasn't exactly sure what was going on as she looked around and started vacuuming. "Keeping this room dust free seems to be a loosing battle. Not that I'm complaining, but it's like cleaning a dirt road. I-" Ella said, noticing the new "Stuffed animal" and perked up. Chuck and Maria got really nervous. "It's so precious! Is it yours?" Ella asked.
"Well...I'm taking care of him for someone..." Maria nervously spoke a half truth.
"It almost looks real to me." Ella said with joy, but she could've sworn the eyes moved. Before she could question it, Maria grabbed tails and ran for it, saying she'd be outside. Chuck followed, leaving a very confused Ella.
.
With Tails on her back, Maria ran alongside her Gandpa.
"We sure fooled her, hahaha." Chuck said laughing.
"I'll say." Maria said as she giggled a little. However it was short lived when they bumped into a tall man in a dark suit.
"Master Maria...what may I ask is going on?" The man asked.
"Uh..., Mr. Tanaka!" Maria hesitated for an explanation as Tails went limp again. "We were playing...capture the stuffed animal, hehehehe." Maria nervously stated as she moved out of the way, Tanaka not believing it.
"I think I'll-" Chuck tried, but was cut off.
"Sir, while I admire your desire to stay fit, I would stick to adult sports like bowling." Tanaka suggested.
"You can't tell me what to do!" Chuck said crossing his arms. "I'll play ring around the rosy if I-"
Tanaka got in Chucks face. "Perhaps you should slow down. Rest is important, and it's time for your nap." Tanaka dragged a denying Chuck away as Maria and Tails sighed. Well, right up until they were bumped by Amy.
"Amy, what are you doing out here?" Maria asked.
"I just saw a news report. It looks like they found another Chaos Emerald!" Amy said quickly. The three went inside, seeing the news on Silver Valley. Maria described it as best she could, saying it wasn't very far from where they were.
"Yes, let's." The three heard, turning to see Shadow in the doorway. "Tails, you and Maria can go in the Tornado. I'll get Amy there." Shadow said, Tails and Maria nodding as Amy smirked.
Maria thought for a minute, looking at Shadow before getting an idea. "Shadow, I bet we can get there first." Maria challenged.
Shadow looked over at her. "This isn't a race. We need the Chaos Emerald." He said simply, deflating Maria a little. They took off towards Silver Valley, Tails speaking up.
"Don't mind him Maria. He means well, but he doesn't have much in the way of fun anymore." Tails said. Maria nodded.
"Was he always like that?" She asked. Tails stayed quiet. "It's best if he tells me himself." Maria concluded and Tails nodding. They reached Silver Valley in no time at all, splitting up to cover more ground.
As Shadow walked along, he saw Knuckles on top of a mountain, and Knuckles was looking right at him as if challenging him. Shadow never backed down from a challenge and shot up the mountain.
"Well, look who decided to show up." Knuckles stated.
"What are you talking about?" Shadow asked.
"Give me the Chaos Emerald Shadow." Knuckles demanded.
"You're joking, right? Why would I give it to you?" Shadow responded.
"So that Robotnik can find a way home. I don't care what happened between you two. Put it aside and hand over that Emerald, or I'll take it from you." Knuckles threatened.
Shadow sighed. "If you want a beating that badly, BRING IT!" Shhadow accepted the challenge as he and Knuckles ran towards each other.
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Maria, Tails, and Amy had no luck in finding anything and took a break by the lake.
"Maybe it was a mistake after all." Maria stated.
"Oh well, at least we got this nice view." Tails added.
"We should've brought a picnic or something." Amy joked, the three laughing before something burst out of the water. A shovel was brought down and captured the three of them, putting them in the glass center of a massive dark pink robot. Eggman descended in front of them.
"Eggman." Maria said, Eggman doing a mocking laugh. "You...you tricked them into that story."
Eggman waved his hand from side to side. "I generated artificial energy spikes, just like the ones made by Chaos Emeralds. It isn't MY fault the news reporters got it wrong."
"Well you're plan FAILED because we're out of here!" Amy yelled, taking out her hammer and slamming away at the glass. But no matter how hard she hit it, the glass wouldn't break.
"It'll take a lot more than that to break out Amy. Besides, I need you three in case my actual plan backfires." Eggman stated, looking over to where Knuckles would be.
.
Knuckles threw a punch, Shadow barely dodging. Shadow ran backwards as Knuckles went after him, shattering rocks when Shadow dodged his hard hitting punches. Knuckles looked up to see Shadow on a ledge not far from him.
"I must say, you've gotten sloppy. Normally you would've come close to hitting me by now." Shadow mocked.
Knuckles ran after him as Shadow jumped forward and over Knuckles. But Knuckles prepared for it, grabbing Shadow's leg and hurling him into the ground. Getting up quickly, Shadow slammed into Knuckles with his spin dash, knocking he brawler back. Knuckles got back up and tackled Shadow off the edge, the two rolling down into a shallow creek.
"BACK OFF!" Shadow yelled, firing Chaos Needles at Knuckles. Knuckles couldn't dodge them and took them. They were meant to hurt, but not kill. "I'm done playing games Knuckles. Stop this now before someone gets hurt!"
"I'm not stopping until I find a way back home. NOW GIVE ME THAT EMERALD!" Knuckles yelled.
Shadow was about to retort until an explosion caught his attention. He turned his head in that direction and Knuckles took that opportunity to strike and Shadow flew into the air. He looked over and saw...
"Robotnik." Shadow scowled before landing and taking off.
"GET BACK HERE COWARD!" Knuckles yelled.
"We'll settle this later." Shadow thought before meeting Robotnik.
.
"What have you done!?" Eggman yelled as his machine had one massive hole in it. Suddenly, a yellow blur streaked by in front of them, then under taking out the robot's legs.
Shadow skid to a stop, looking behind him as everyone crawled out. "Are you guys ok?"
"We're fine, thanks Shadow." Maria nodded.
"My robot might be down, but it certainly isn't out!" Robotnik roared as the robot flipped itself, standing on what used to be the top part as small turrets came out and opened fire at Shadow. Shadow jumped back, sending out Chaos Needles, but they did no good. He couldn't used a Spear or Flare for fear of hurting everyone. But an unexpected help came in Knuckles as he smashed a few of the turrets.
"This is between me and Shadow! STAY OUT OF IT!" Knuckles warned.
"If you want a clean fight, then I'm going to start playing dirty." Robotnik responded as his robot flew away to the other side of the lake.
"I don't get it." Knuckles pondered out loud. "All Robotnik wanted was to go home..."
"And you didn't think to wonder if he would just as soon take over this world?" Shadow asked. Knuckles growled at himself for being foolish.
"Shadow!" Robotnik cut in to get Shadow's attention. "We all know you can't swim, so I put your friends over there! Surrender that Chaos Emerald to me, or they'll get hurt."
"We'll see about that." Shadow challenged as he shot forward, activating his skate and gliding across the water and knocking Robotnik's mech over again. He helped everyone up, keeping an eye on Maria. Humans weren't as durable as Mobians. As the four were walking away, the robot stood back off.
"That does it, FIRE EVERYTHING!" Robotnik ordered. Missiles started flying as the group ran for cover before Knuckles stepped in, nodding at Shadow who nodded back.
Knuckles ran forward, side stepping and dodging the bullets and missiles before making it to the Robot. He climed up to reach the Egg Mobile and hit with all he could, landing and striking with an impact so hard the Robot blew apart. Shadow ran forward against the wave created, grabbing Knuckle's wrist and keeping him down. When everything had subsided, Knuckles and Shadow looked at each other before everyone else came, relieved to see the two alive.
"Knuckles and I had a bit of a..." Shadow looked at Knuckles. "Misunderstanding. But I think we solved the problem. Right?"
"Right." Knuckles said as he walked away. He put his hand up, saying his goodbye's before he disappeared into the woods.