I thank Whirlpool24 of DeviantArt for helping me.
At the Warehouse, Sparkle and the others were admiring the Emerald in a machine that Tails made for it. They couldn't get over how beautiful it looked shining in the case.
"Wow, it's so pretty," Cream said as she looked at it.
"Yeah, it really is and it's just one of six more Emeralds to go," Sparkle said as she looked in at it.
"But when we do get them, we can't have them too close together right away," Tails said as he looked at the machine and then energy the Emerald was putting off.
"Why not?" Amy asked him.
"Because of this," Tails pointed to the gauge, "This is the amount of energy one Emerald is omitting. Now imagine a second Emerald right next to it. It could cause it to...explode."
"Oh wow, so how long do we need to keep them apart?" Sparkle asked him curiously.
"Oh at least a day or two," Tails said as he worked on his plane. "I'm making this compartment so we can keep each Emerald in there until they get used to each other."
Knuckles stood apart from the group and listened in on the conversation about how long the Emeralds needed to be apart. And that got him thinking about what Sparkle said yesterday about how this place was Mobius but not the Mobius they know of.
"Knuckles?" Sparkle asked him when she noticed him sitting by himself and away from everyone.
"What?" Knuckles deadpan asked.
"You ok? You've been very quiet lately," Sparkle asked him in concern.
"I was thinking about Angel Island. You said this was Mobius, but also not. Which means, the Master Emerald might not be here," Knuckles said as he looked up at the sky and saw some stars poking their heads out.
"Well, we won't know unless we see if we can find it," Sparkle suggests to him.
"And if it's not here, what then?" Knuckles asked and then turned away from her, "I need some air. I'm going out for a while."
Sparkle watched Knuckles walk off into the dark. She sighed and shook her head before going back inside. Knuckles walked several blocks before sitting down on a crate to mull things over. As he sat there, a newspaper blew onto his leg. He picked it up and looked at the picture of Sonic fighting Eggman on the front page. He scoffed and then let the wind blow it out of his hand.
His thoughts drifted off to his days guarding the Master Emerald. How peaceful and quiet it was on the island. He was so deep in the thought, he was unaware of a figure appearing behind him in the shadows.
"What do you want, Eggman?" Knuckles looked to his right and asked.
"Oh, please help me, Knuckles," Eggman said as he dropped to his knees after standing there looking menacing. "If we don't do something fast, Sonic could make us prisoners on this planet forever!"
Knuckles looked at him in surprise, especially when he held his hand.
"If we can gather all seven of the Chaos Emeralds, there's a fighting chance that we can somehow reverse the effect that sent us to this world, and return to where we came from," Eggman continued pleading him and look at him with tears behind his dark glasses, "Sonic knew he could use the Chaos Emeralds to warp himself through time and space. That's the reason he attacked Chaos Control! He found out that I collected all the Chaos Emeralds to keep them out of his grasp! You know how reckless Sonic is. I was afraid of what he might do if he got hold of the Emeralds, so I set up defenses, but there was no stopping Sonic. He was determined to push his selfish search for thrills all the way this time, no matter who got hurt! Finally, Sonic invaded Chaos Control, and to my horror, he finally achieved his goal! Sonic destroyed Chaos Control and sent us all here just for the fun of it!"
"Sonic... He's crazy...," Knuckles scoffed and then looked at Eggman skeptically, "Hey, wait a minute. Sparkle said she caused Chaos Control."
"She is in league with him. She knew he wanted to do that, so she came to make sure it happened," Eggman exclaimed, "And then when I did manage to find an Emerald to send us back, she stole it right out from under me!"
"Your machine was crushing her," Knuckles pointed out to him.
"I didn't mean for it to hurt her, just to get her to let go of it. I've changed my ways and want to live in peace, but Sonic and Sparkle won't let me," Eggman bowed his head and then smirked that he was bluffing and continued his pity story, "What can I do? They won't even give me a chance to fix things! I want to get us back, but when I found one of the Chaos Emeralds, you know what happened! Sparkle snatched it from me, and said they're going to stay here as long as they please!
"That selfish hog," Knuckles exclaimed as he thought of her and how she seemed to make him think she was a friend.
"Sonic said that we can't leave here until he says so! He thinks this world's a lot more fun than ours, and if we don't agree, it's our tough luck," Eggman cried into his handkerchief and wiped his eyes.
Knuckles growled to himself as he clenched his fist in anger.
"You'd think he'd be more concerned about his buddy," Eggman pitifully said to Knuckles as he looked at him.
"Sonic isn't my buddy! I'm sick and tired of Sonic turning everything into a game," Knuckles shouted at Eggman and waved his fist at him, "Either Sonic gives us that Emerald, or I'm going to take it from him."
"Be careful. Sonic says he'll crush anybody who tries to get it back," Eggman warned Knuckles.
"So then... A battle to the bitter end," Knuckles coldly said and held up his fists as he looked where the others are.
'My chronic Sonic troubles are over,' Eggman grinned as he thought to himself, 'And Sparkle's getting quite a shock.'
XXXXXXXXXX
The next day Sparkle is exploring the forest with Cream. She was feeling the sun shine on her face and smiled.
"Ohh," Cream said as she looked around and found a flower patch.
"Did you find something, Cream," Sparkle asked Cream curiously as she came over to her.
"I found these, Sparkle. And they smell so sweet," Cream said as she showed her one of the blue flowers.
"Oh that is nice. Would you like me to preserve one of those flowers in a resin so you can have it forever?" Sparkle suggested to her.
"That sounds pretty, and could I make you a flower crown?" Cream smiled and then offered it to her.
"Sure," Sparkle agreed and then patted Cream's head.
Cream smiled in delight and then started picking the best flowers for her crown.
"I'm relieved you're taking this well, Cream. I mean, being away from you Mom," Sparkle said to her.
Cream's smile faltered a bit as she stopped picking and thought about her mom.
"Don't worry. We'll get back home to our Mobius," Sparkle put her hand on her back in comfort, "You'll have a lot to tell her about what you saw here."
"I know and I'm glad I'm with you and the others in the meantime. You're like family to me," Cream said as she turned to look at her and started making the flowers into a crown. "Even Knuckles, though he's a bit quiet sometimes and likes to be by himself."
"Yeah." Sparkle agreed to her and sat down by her, "You just can't help but like that cool side of him."
"Yeah, that's true. And..." Cream says as she put the last flower in the crown and smiled proudly at her work and showed her, "finished."
"Looks great, Cream," Sparkle smiled sadly and sighed, "I just wish I had the chance to do this kind of thing for my mother."
"What happened to her?" Cream asks her.
"I came from a jewelry village and I was about eight years old when it happened. Some dark figure came to my village and killed my mother right in front of me. I was too scared to do anything and I never did figure out who that was. If it wasn't for you and the rest of our friends, I'd probably still be looking for revenge and not move on." Sparkles sadly said and sniffled as she felt a tear roll down her cheek of the memory.
Cream gasped from the story and then put the crown on her head and gave her a hug. Sparkle sniffled and then hugged her back. Then their tender moment was interrupted by the beeping of the communicator Tails made her. She wiped her eyes before answering it.
"Sparkle, something's happening on the news!" Tails quickly said to them. "I need you and Cream to get back here as soon as possible."
XXXXXXXXXX
"The strange energy spikes, which seem to be coming from the Silver Valley area, have played havoc with computers and machinery across the entire region. Investigators are looking into..." the News Reporter said as she showed an image of the area and then the screen turned to black.
"That energy spike seems very similar to the reading I got from the Chaos Emerald we found at the construction site," Tails said after turning off the tv.
"So it could be another Chaos Emerald?" Sparkle asked in curiosity.
"Possibly, but we would need to go there just in case," Tail said as he put his hand to his chin in deep thought.
"Oh great! I'll go tell Sonic," Amy exclaimed excitedly and ran outside, "Hey, Sonic! You heard the news?"
Sonic groaned in response and opened one eye to look at her from the balcony he was napping on.
"We're going to Silver Valley. Come along, and we'll have a picnic there," Amy suggested to him and held her hands together.
"But we're going for the Emerald," Tails said in confusion.
"Nah. I've been there before," Sonic dismissed her and looked up at the sky with his arms behind his back and his legs crossed.
"Huh? You went without me?" Amy asked in shock and then in a crushed voice, "So you stopped there during one of your runs, huh?
"Yep. You guessed it," Sonic nodded and then closed his eyes to go back to sleep.
"Fine, Sonic," Amy shouted at him and then walked away in a huff to the Tornado. "Come on. We'll have more fun without him anyhow!"
"Uh, by the way, Sonic," Sparkle said to get his attention. "Have you seen Knuckles?"
"No, Sparkle. I haven't seen Knuckles at all, today," Sonic said as he shaked his head and looked at her, "Why?"
"Well, he didn't come back last night," Sparkle said and looked to where she last saw him outside.
"He's always been like this," Sonic said nonchalantly and shrugged his shoulders, "He probably just needed some time to himself to think. He'll come back later"
"Sparkle, why don't you come with us," Amy suggested as she packed a picnic basket with Cream and loaded it into the plane, "We can look for him after we come back."
"Ok," Sparkle said uneasy and then got in behind Amy.
'Why am I getting this feeling something's wrong?' Sparkle thought to herself.
"Hey Sparkle, is something wrong?" Amy turned around as she asked her.
"I have a terrible feeling," Sparkle explained to her.
"About what?" Tails asked her and looked behind him.
"Well, I think Knuckles is still bothered that we're stuck here," Sparkle said to him.
"Maybe after this, we could look for Angel Island," Amy suggested to her.
"Ok," Sparkle said as she leaned back in her seat.
Then the three of them fly to the Silver Valley. Tails put the plane down close to the lake and got out.
"Wow, this is a nice place," Tail said as he looked around. The area around them had a big crystal lake that shined in the sun. Around them were lush forests, some tall cliffs and in the distance was a snow capped peak.
"Yeah it is," Amy nodded and then sighed, "I wish Sonic could have come with us."
"Ah, don't worry about him," Sparkle shrugs to her, "If he's been here before, once is probably enough for him."
"I guess," Amy sighed, "Am I just fooling myself that Sonic likes me?"
"He does like you, just not 'that' way," Sparkle explained to her and then put a hand on her shoulder, "And you keep acting like a scared helpless girl when Sonic comes to help when it's clear you're not. And to be respectfully honest, it's annoying. And I don't mean to hurt your feelings, Amy. Would it help if we worked on you having more confidence in yourself?"
"I guess I do need to stop acting like such a baby," Amy nodded and then smiled at her, "You have a deal."
XXXXXXXXXX
While the others were looking for the Emerald and Cream was playing with Cheese, Sonic was sleeping in a tree. Then his sleep was interrupted by a mechanical bird. It shadowed him when it landed and then dropped a scroll in his lap before flying off. Sonic arched his eyebrow at it and then opened it up.
"Sonic, I'm sick of all your selfish stunts. This time, you've gone too far! I'm challenging you to a showdown! Meet me in Silver Valley in one hour. Don't be late," Knuckles stated angrily at him.
"This note was brought to you by the Eggman empire and will self-destruct in five seconds," Eggman added to the note.
"What?!" Sonic exclaimed and then yelled as the note blew up in his face. Then he coughed with his face covered in soot and growled, "Knuckles is gonna regret that."
XXXXXXXXXX
"This picnic was a super idea, Amy," Tails said as he ate his sandwich, "Mmm!"
"Yeah, but there doesn't seem to be an Emerald nearby," Sparkle stated after getting a drink.
"Shouldn't there be a lot of people here if they found a Chaos Emerald?" Amy said as she sat up from her spot on the blanket and looked around.
"Maybe something else caused the energy spikes," Tails suggested after finishing his lunch and then saw the lake bubbling in front of them.
"What's that?" Amy asked and then gasped as a large red-violet robot with an all-around glass encasing center, large construction digging claws for arms and feet, and one large green eye on its top appeared out of the water and then scoops up all three of them. "HEY!"
"Let me go!" Tails yelled as he was dropped inside it next to Amy.
"Eggman!" Sparkle exclaimed in shock when she saw the crazy doctor appear in front of them on his hover chair.
Eggman cackled at them and the predicament they are in.
"I should've known," Sparkle groaned and then glared at him with her hands on the glass, "You're the one who leaked that news story!"
"Ah-ah-ah-ah," Eggman said as he waved his forefingers at her, "I generated artificial energy spikes just like the ones made by Chaos Emeralds. It isn't my fault that those hounds barked up the wrong tree."
"I hate to admit it, but Eggman had even me outfoxed," Tails admitted to them.
"Ugh," Sparkle groaned from his pun.
"Well his plan fails 'cuz we're out of here," Amy smirked and then got out her hammer. She yelled as she slammed her hammer on the glass several times, but to no avail. She panted from exhaustion.
"You can't leave," Eggman laughed at them and taunted, "I need you in case my first plan to beat Sonic fails."
"What plan?" Sparkle asked him in confusion.
"Sonic isn't here," Amy smartly said to him and crossed her arms.
"He'll be here any second now," Eggman chuckled and looked ahead in the distance.
'Where's Sonic? He should've been here by now,' Knuckles thought to himself as he sat impatiently on a nearby cliff. Then he opened his eyes as he heard a familiar zipping sound and saw Sonic appear in front of him.
"Hey there, Knuckles," Sonic greeted him coolly.
"You're late, slowpoke," Knuckles coldly said as he stood up.
"Yeah, well, I stopped to enjoy the scenery," Sonic said and held up a flower to his nose. "This place is pretty neat. Yeah, you'd like this world too if you weren't such a party pooper."
"Enough talk, let's go," Knuckles said and then clenched his fist for the fight.
"Oh relax, will ya," Sonic nonchalantly said as he sniffs at the flower, "We have all afternoon to duke it out, buddy boy!"
"I'm not your buddy and don't forget it, smart aleck!" Knuckles shouted at him and glared as he held up his fists, "Now put 'em up! I didn't come here to sniff the flowers!"
"That's your loss," Sonic shrugged to him, "You don't know what you're missing, but if you rather get clobbered by me-"
"SHUT UP," Knuckles cut him off, "Give the emerald you stole! OR ELSE!"
Sonic briefly looked at him in surprise and then smirked as he held up his hands.
"Your brain's even slower than your feet," Sonic teased him.
"SHUT UP! I always wondered why Sparkle showed up that night. And now I know," Knuckles spitefully said and pointed at him, "She says she doesn't want to cause trouble, but she's a liar just like you!"
"Ok pal, you're going too far," Sonic said and looked annoyed at him, "I don't care what you think or say about me. I can take it, but don't you Dare say things like that about Sparkle! She would NEVER do that!"
Knuckles growled and charged at him. Sonic was standing on top of another rock. He put his hands on his hips with disappointment in his face. He should have believed Sparkle when she felt something was wrong. Knuckles charged toward Sonic, preparing a massive punch, but Sonic leapt out of the way. He spin-dashed at Knuckles, who dodged. Knuckles prepared a barrage of punches, which Sonic was easily able to keep out of range of. Knuckles gave chase to Sonic and they ran up the cliffside. Sonic grunted as he jumped from ledge to ledge while Knuckles dug his gloves into the side of the cliff and rapidly climbed it. At the top of the cliff, Sonic ran up the side of a tree all the way to the top.
"Huh, not a bad view from here," Sonic said in delight as he looked out at the surrounding. "WHOA! "
He yelped as he felt the tree moving. Knuckles grunted and then broke the tree off to send Sonic into the forest.
"Whoa!" Sonic shouted as he held onto it and then he let go to land on his feet on the ground below. He looked back to see the tree falling toward him and leapt out of the way. More trees fell toward Sonic, who dodged, as Knuckles punched the trees at him. Sonic ran from the falling trees. He laughed as he ran and then made a face at Knuckles, which enraged him. A whole line of trees went down as Knuckles punched through them. While traversing across one fallen tree, another one fell onto it, catapulting Sonic into the air. He tucked and rolled towards Knuckles like a bowling ball. Knuckles put out his hands and grunted as he tried to push him back but the force from the roll forced him back. As he dug his feet, a trench was left in front of him until the two of them broke over a cliff. The pair of them grunted as they rolled head over heels and locked right into some water.
"Hey! Help me! Whaaah!" Sonic shouted in a panic at being in the water. He then realized he is in a shallow part of the lake. Knuckles stood there on the shore looking at him unimpressed and annoyed with his fists on his hips.
"It's lucky I fell in the kiddie pool," Sonic sheepishly joked and then jumped back onto a rock, "Get ready! You're goin' down!"
"Hmph," Knuckles scoffed and then got back into a fighting position, "Let's end this now!"
While the two of them were fighting, Eggman, Sparkle, Tails, and Amy were watching it. Eggman in delight while the other three were trapped behind the glass of the machine and shocked.
"Go, Knuckles! Show Sonic he can't keep us stuck here," Eggman cheered for him and waved his fist in the air, "Our only hope is for you to trounce that tyrant!"
"Eggman, what did you say to him?" Sparkle glared at him.
"What the? Why are they fighting each now?" Amy exclaimed at the sight in the distance as she made out the small blue shape of Sonic and the small red shape of Knuckles, "Sparkle, we gotta get out of here to break them up!"
"Got it," Tails said as he pulled off a panel of the robot.
"You brought your tools?" Sparkle asked him.
"Yep," Tails proudly said and then turned his attention to the panel, "Now I just have to figure out how this thing's wired."
"We don't have time for this, Tails!" Amy shouted and then got out her hammer as she marched over to it, "Step aside. I'll fix that robot!"
"Amy, stop!" Sparkle fearfully shouted when she saw her bring it back.
"Amy!" Tails screamed too and put up his hands to stop her.
But it was too late. Amy smashed the panel, which caused Pumpty to spark. Sonic heard an explosion and looked to his right. Knuckles took that opportunity to punch him in the face and sent him flying. As he soared, he caught sight of Eggman far below.
"Get him, Knuckles!" Eggman shouted in the distance.
"It's Eggman," Sonic said in annoyance. Then he landed and dashed in the direction of his arch-nemesis.
"Get back here!" Knuckles shouted at him and pursued after Sonic, "You quitter!"
"We'll settle this later," Sonic said to him over his shoulder and then ran ahead for the real cause of the trouble.
Amy groaned and then coughed from the smoke with Tails and Sparkle. And then saw Eggman by her in a shock.
"Look what you've done!" Eggman cried out in dismay, "You've wrecked my robot! And it isn't even insured..."
"Ok I think I can get us down," Tails said and prepared to twist his tails to fly until he saw a blue streak coming, "Sonic!"
Sonic rammed right into the leg of the machine and knocked it over. Amy, Sparkle and Tails yelled as they fell over with the machine.
"Hey! What's up?" Sonic greeted them.
"Finally, you noticed," Sparkle sarcastically said as she looked up at him in annoyance.
"It's not over, Sonic! My robot may be down, but it certainly isn't out," Eggman glared at Sonic and then pushed a button.
Using its shovel arms as spare legs, Pumpty stood right back up. Several cannons appeared out of its bottom half, which was now its top half.
"Attack!" Eggman ordered him and pointed at Sonic.
Pumpty's cannons fire at Sonic, who hid behind a rock. The lasers reduced the rock to dust. When the dust settled, Sonic was crouched down with his hands over his head and ears.
"Huh? Uh-oh," Sonic said as he looked over his shoulder to see he was now exposed. He then fled as the cannons continued to fire. Suddenly Knuckles appeared and kicked one of the cannons. Eggman gasped as Knuckles landed.
"Knuckles. What's going on here?" Sparkle demanded and then saw the cold look in his eyes.
"Why don't you tell me? After all you and Sonic are the reason we were sent here in the first place. I know all about that. You lied to me," Knuckles angrily said to her and pointed at her, "You almost had me convinced that you actually wanted to go home."
"What are you talking about?" Sparkle asked in shock. "I'm not forcing us to stay here."
"Eggman told me that you two said if we don't want to stay here, tough luck," Knuckles shouted at her.
"He said, what?!" Sparkle shouted, enraged.
"He also said, you came to his lab to make sure Sonic would send us here," Knuckles said and crossed his arms at her, "But that stops now."
Sparkle glared at Eggman and then her quills started sparking to the disbelief of Amy and Tails. The pair of them scooted away from her to avoid touching her.
"And Eggman, stay out of this," Knuckles yelled at him, "This fight is between Sonic and Me. I'll fight my way!"
Sonic looked at the others and shrugged. He knew better than to argue with Knuckles when he got like that.
"Your way?! Well, if you're gonna insist on a clean fight, then I'm gonna have to start playing dirty," Eggman darkly exclaimed and then pushed some buttons that caused Pumpty to launch itself, along with Tails, Amy and Sparkle still inside it to the other side of the river. "Plan A didn't work, so now we'll have to go to Plan B! Bring me the Chaos Emerald, or you'll never see your friends again!"
"What is this?" Knuckles asked in confusion. "Eggman swore to me that all he wanted was to live in peace."
"He's sure tricky, isn't he?" Sonic asked as he put his hands behind his back and smiled smugly.
"That swindler, he's the one that lied," Knuckles growled at him and the fact he was so stupid to believe him.
"You're catching on, pal," Sonic commented and grinned at him with his eyes closed.
"Sonic!" Dr. Eggman shouted at him from the other side of the lake.
"Hmm?" Sonic hummed as he opened his eyes and smiled at him.
"We all know that your weak spot is water, so I've stuck your friends over there where you can't save them without treading H2O," Dr. Eggman taunted him and pointed to the robot.
"Yeah, that's what you think," Sonic smirked and proceeded to run around the lake, much to Eggman's dismay. Sonic sliced right through Pumpty's legs, causing it to fall. Sonic stopped, a smug expression on his face.
"Show-off," Eggman grumbled.
Tails climbed out of the broken glass part of the robot first and then helped Sparkle and Amy out. Amy smiled at Sonic and was about to go cling to him but Sparkle stopped her. She looked at her and shook her head. Amy sighed and then just put her hammer she dropped back behind her.
"You guys ok?" Sonic asked in concern and noticed Amy didn't cling to him like normal when he rescued her.
"Yes, we're ok, Sonic," Amy simply smiled and nodded to him even though she wanted to just hug him.
The four were distracted by a movement from Pumpty. Sonic quickly picked Amy up and ran with her and Tails. While the other three went one way, Sparkle went behind the robot instead. Pumpty then started firing missiles at her from its cannons. Sonic and Tails ducked with Amy behind some rocks and a turned over boat. Sparkle glared and started attacking the machine with a fury of electrical attacks. When it fired one missile right at Sonic, Knuckles grabbed it and dug his heels into the ground before letting it go into the lake and it exploded.
"Get clear. Sparkle and I will handle Eggman, " Knuckles ordered Sonic and fixed his eyes on the machine.
"Ok," Sonic nodded and then ran with Tails and Amy out of the way.
Knuckles started charging the machine and kicked off several cannons with Sparkle as she hit the weak points of the machine. Knuckles jumped up and punched several holes in the machine all the way to the top where Eggman was. Sparkle jumped up at the same time and stood next to him.
"You..." Eggman exclaimed in shock at the turn of events.
"If you ever convince Knuckles that I'm his enemy again, I will electrocute you into oblivion!" Sparkle viciously stated and showed two orbs of electricity in her palms to make her point.
"YOU LIAR!" Knuckles yelled and then punched him far into the distance until he was only a star and then landing on the top and made a final hole, "Sparkle, hit it here!"
Sparkle threw one of the orbs she created into the hole. A crack ran right down the robot, and it exploded. As Sonic's friends shield themselves from the debris, Sonic ran forward toward Knuckles. He grabbed Knuckles' hand and clung to a tree while the explosion's wind whipped through them. Knuckles squints his eyes at the wind and then grabs Sparkle's hand so she wouldn't blow away. The wind finally died down, and Tails and Any blinked in surprise at the ruined scenery. Sonic, Knuckles and Sparkle leap down from the tree. As they all met, Sparkle stared ahead angrily. Sonic, Tails and Amy knew to stay away from her.
"Sparkle, I...," Knuckles started to say as he approached her.
"You believed Eggman's lies," Sparkle coldly said.
Knuckles stopped moving and stood there speechless.
"I thought I could trust you with my confession," Sparkle sternly said.
"I bet you're feeling pretty foolish now for believing all the lies he told you about Sonic and Sparkle, huh?" Amy said and put her hands on her hips.
"And I think you should thank Sparkle and Sonic for their work against Eggman and for saving you," Tails pointed out to him.
"Everyone," Sparkle said to them with a still stern voice.
They directed their attention to Sparkle.
"Go back to the warehouse. I need to teach Knuckles a lesson," Sparkle said as she finally turned around to face him.
"Come on, guys," Sonic said as he understood what she was getting at and gave Knuckles a reassuring pat. "Knuckles. Good luck."
Then Tails climbed up into the Tornado with Amy and took to the sky. Sonic looked at them and then took off on foot. Then it was just Knuckles and Sparkle there in Silver Valley.
"Come with me," Sparkle sternly said and started walking ahead.
The pair of them walked in silence. The air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. They came to the top of a grassy hill with the sunset in the sky when Sparkle finally stopped walking. She kept her back to him as she looked out to the horizon. Below them was a vast forest with the mountains ahead. The sun set on the snow at the top made it glow gold.
"Ok, let me have it," Knuckles sighed and prepared himself for the yelling and hitting.
"Sit," Sparkle told him and looked at the sunset.
Knuckles wanted to argue about her giving him orders, but did as she said and sat down with his legs crossed. Sparkle thought in silence for a few moments, not looking at Knuckles.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Knuckles," Sparkle said when she finally turned to him.
"I know," Knuckles said and avoided looking at her.
"I can't understand why you would do something like this," Sparkle said in disbelief, "You listened to Eggman instead of thinking for yourself. And what's worse, you put our friends in danger!"
"I don't have any excuse for what I did," Knuckles sighed as he looked down. "He tricked me with this pity story and I was stupid to believe it."
"I only did what I had to, to protect my friends, and it seemed like a good idea at the time," Sparkle explained to him, "Besides stopping Eggman, I don't try to look for trouble."
"You don't seem to be scared of anything from what I've seen of you," Knuckles said to her.
"I was, today," Sparkle confessed and then smiled at him, "I was scared I was going to lose you and our friendship."
"I never had any friends growing up, and now I don't want to lose our friendship either," Knuckles admitted and then looked her in the eye, "This is all new to me. I know I messed up and I don't know how to fix it."
"You can continue helping us find the Emeralds," Sparkle said to him, "You can also try living a little and give this place a chance. Just take this one day at a time, and we'll get back home. I promise."
"Alright," Knuckles nodded, "And I know I'm gonna have to work to earn your trust back."
"It's not gonna be easy, that's for sure," Sparkle said to him with a bit of a chuckle.
"And I guess I can start by trusting you," Knuckles said and then held her hand.
Sparkle gasped silently, then smiled as she turned to view the sunset. The two of them sat there in silence and Knuckles smiled for once at the tranquility of it all.