Sonic briefly interrupted his conversation with Tails and Amy. "Hey, you two headed for Angel Island?"

Knuckles nodded. "Well, that emerald isn't gonna put itself together,"

"Need some help?"

Knuckles raised a brow, and half-smiled. "We'll be fine, Sonic. Don't leave your date high and dry," With a gloved hand, he gestured to Amy, whose eyes grew wide as a grin appeared on her face.

"D-Date?!" Sonic sputtered, ears flattening. "Don't encourage her!"

Tails retrieved the pieces of the emerald for Knuckles, who thanked Tails curtly, before beginning his journey. "Here, through this hole in the cliff, and up the next tunnel. Angel Island is on the other side of this wall."

Earth crunched beneath the feet of the two as they walked through the small, dark cavern, up and out through the other end. Exotic birds chirped, cicadas sang in a chorus. Knuckles walked patiently. Who knew how many times he'd walked up and down this path.

"Won't be long now," he said reassuringly. "So, I'm sure you've heard of Angel Island...Gerald obviously built that re-imagining of the shrine up in the ARK after taking inspiration from the real thing,"

Shadow followed in silence, briefly ducking to avoid a branch whacking him in the face.

Knuckles continued. "It looked so similar, it was uncanny. And those artificial Chaos robots he built...he must have studied this place very closely. I wonder if he did any research on my clan..."

"Your clan?" Shadow asked.

"The Knuckles Clan. I'm the last surviving member. Three-thousand years ago, the whole clan was wiped out by Chaos, after Chieftain Pachacamac angered him. It was brutal...both sides out for blood,"

"How is it that you could be the sole survivor of a clan that perished several thousand years ago?"

Knuckles glanced over his shoulder. "Aha...it's complicated...that story's way too long to tell you right now, but I'll let you guess..."

Three-thousand years...he's not implying he's like me, is he...?

The shrine stood proudly, silently, in the open sun. Knuckles hiked patiently across the bridge leading to the island, where the shrine resided. Shadow sighed as he trailed behind, wiping his brow.

Knuckles looked back. "I mean, you could've stayed behind if you were too tired. Maybe I should've warned you about the walk..."

"I'm fine."

Step-by-step, Knuckles eventually made his way up the stone staircase leading to the top of the shrine. A great circle of stone surrounded a pedestal with a divot in the center, where the absent emerald belonged. Knuckles sighed in relief, releasing the shards of the emerald, the pieces traveling forward, floating in a circle, before slowly re-forming the great emerald piece by piece. Eventually taking full shape, the cracks in the emerald slowly faded away, as a vivid green glow emanated off the glassy, brilliant surface of the jewel. Within moments, the island began rumbling.

"There she is!" Knuckles gave a pleased chime, chest out as he admired his work, the emerald once more in one piece. "I'm able to keep the island at ground level for about twenty minutes for the time being, but after that, you gotta get going. The island's gotta go back up. Not that it was ever supposed to come down in the first place..."

Shadow nodded.

"So," Knuckles began. "I wanted to bring you up here for a reason. You're smart, I'm sure you know,"

Shadow nodded again.

"There should be some way for you to get your power back. If you're up here with the Master Emerald itself, there shouldn't be anything getting in the way of your ability to channel its energy if a single Chaos Emerald doesn't work," Knuckles paced around the shrine as he spoke. "So just like a rechargeable imitation emerald, maybe you can recharge up here...just, uh," Knuckles hesitated, briefly extending a hand. "B-Be careful with that emerald, okay?" The echidna watched sternly and carefully. "I'm trusting you, Shadow, after your big stint of heroism in space...but if you try anything funny, I told you, I'll..." He readied a cautioning fist.

Shadow himself hesitated. Everything Knuckles said seemed to logically add up, but Shadow was plagued by doubt. Something felt 'off' inside him, in a way that deeply disturbed him. He cautiously approached the Master Emerald, a careful step, one at a time, Knuckles watching him like a hawk. He reached an arm out, touching the surface of the emerald with his fingertips. Even the smallest amount of contact with a source of chaos energy should have been enough for Shadow to use his powers. He attempted to absorb some of the emerald's energy, and waited.

Waited more. A buzz? A hum? Anything?

Mocking silence and numbness.

Shadow bared his teeth in frustration, snarling in outrage.

"Nothing!" Shadow shouted, putting his hand down, tossing his head to one side and walking away. "Nothing at all!"

Knuckles tilted his head to one side, growing increasingly puzzled. "Y'know, I'm not so sure I can help you much more than this. I know what I know about the mystic properties of the emeralds and chaos energy itself, but you..." He shrugged. "I don't know what makes you tick. I'm not a scientist."

"I've lost myself..." Shadow looked down at his hands, balling them into fists. "I'm nothing. I have no power. It's...it's gone."

Knuckles scratched behind his head sheepishly. "I...I'm sorry, man. Maybe you should talk to Tails?"

Shadow's quills raised in exasperation and fury. He huffed, upset. Keep your cool. Keep your cool. "If he can give me an answer, then I will. I need answers now."

"Come to think of it..." Knuckles approached Shadow slowly, briefly waving a hand around his general direction. "You gave off a lot of chaos energy before..." He paused. "...before you went super! That seems to be where everything went wrong. I'm just not picking up anything from you anymore...something changed."

Shadow shook his head. "But how? This doesn't make sense. This isn't supposed to happen to me, Gerald created the perfect vessel for chaos energy-"

Knuckles uncertainly interjected. "Uh...it couldn't be a design flaw, could it...?"

Shadow whipped around, an accusing finger pointed at the echidna. "Design flaw?! I'm flawless! The ultimate life! I'm not supposed to...it's not...Gerald couldn't..." Shadow's arm trembled as it dropped to his side again, eyes glazing over as his words slowly lost confidence. Reality was coming apart at the seams, and all Shadow could do was watch. Losing his grip. He was quickly realizing that he could no longer understand or justify his existence- but could he ever, he wondered?

Knuckles raised his hands defensively, looking away. "Just throwing ideas around. Gotta play the devil's advocate sometimes."

Shadow clenched his fist again. "...you say Tails can help me. I'm speaking to him." Shadow stormed back, past Knuckles, down the stone staircase, towards the bridge. He stopped. One last glance over his shoulder at the echidna. "And...t-thank you," Shadow said awkwardly, trying to soften his tone. "Thank you."

Knuckles's own expression softened as he nodded, slightly disarmed by Shadow's civility. "Yeah...don't mention it. Guess I'll see you around again, someday,"

"Someday?"

"I'm the guardian of this place, you know. Been here all my life. I've only ever had to come down when there's been trouble, or something's happened to the Master Emerald. But otherwise, I stay here."

The hedgehog looked a little defeated, shoulders lowering ever so slightly as he kept his eyes on the echidna. Out of everyone Shadow had spoken to...he found himself most enjoying Knuckles's company. Sonic was just too high-energy, and was driving him crazy at the moment. Tails was a kid. Amy was a giggling teenage girl. There was always Rouge, but he wasn't sure about whether he should speak to her again, given their recent history together...

Knuckles tilted his head up in a sort of amicable up-nod. "You could visit though. You'd probably need Tails to give you a lift, though," He reassured Shadow.

"I-I was just curious to hear more about your history with this place. That's all."

"Oh, I'm sure," Knuckles smiled knowingly. "I know that's all. We're cool, Shadow. As long as you're not after the emerald, we're cool."

"...we're...cool." Shadow nodded plainly, and turned away, beginning his walk across the bridge, and his slow, disappointed walk back to the Mystic Ruins. Knuckles had hoisted himself up on the Master Emerald, watching the hedgehog's slow trek off the island. Strange guy, Knuckles thought. Not very friendly, but oddly polite. Not quite the person he seemed to initially be, interesting for sure. Too bad they couldn't talk more.

More branches to duck under. More cicadas. More birds. A few mosquitoes needing to be swatted at. Shadow tried to walk steadily, as to not burn up the rest of his stamina (what little remained of it). He headed back out through the tunnel he walked through, hopping down a small drop, before finally making his way back to the entrance, now back outside where the group had arrived. The earth rumbled suddenly, and did not stop until the loud crash of slowly shifting earth echoed through the ruins as a dark shadow began forming over the land, like a massive cloud. Shadow looked up, beholding the sight of Angel Island beginning its ascent up into to sky.

See you around.

Just when he was sure the island wouldn't go much higher, its altitude increased. Shadow was astounded by the sight- he'd seen many technological marvels in his life, but this was something else. The island, in due time, looked to be the size of a golf ball up there.

A whistle interrupted Shadow's marveling.

"There it goes! See ya, Knux!" Sonic stood nearby, saluting the island up in the air.

Amy walked along, standing by the two. "I wonder, doesn't he ever get lonely up there? All alone, so high above the world, without anyone to talk to...I'd want at least one friend to talk to, if that were me...the view can't be that good!"

Sonic stood, gazing up at the sky with his arms crossed and a relaxed smile. "Who knows? Knuckles is a strange guy. Maybe guarding the emerald's the only thing that really matters to him."

Hmm.

Shadow walked to Sonic's side. "I need to speak to Tails. I've been told he can help me,"

Sonic's ears pricked up. "Sure! His lab's right over there. Still not feelin' well, huh?"

"I've completely lost my power. Not even the Master Emerald had any effect on me,"

"Woah, what?!" Sonic's eyes widened. "Are you sure? How did that happen?"

"That's what I'd like to find out."