Saving the South Island!

Journey to South Island!

The fall of South Island. I remember watching the island fall from the sky and over the years turn dark, the trees cracked and crumbling, the ground dry and dead. Even with it sitting in the ocean it was dying, a whole civilization was gone, possibly two, all I wanted to do was explore it. Finally, I was able to reach it without having to bother Tails for his plane although, that island was sunk further into water, so I wasn't sure what was going to be left. Nothing was going to stop me! I set out across the water and arrived at the crumbling island, I explored some underwater caves, temples and destroyed homes, I wonder what happened to cause all this? I traveled to close to the center of the island and set up a small camp for the night before I continued in the morning, I had much to discover, I kept note of everything and hoped I could dig up more info when I returned home, if I couldn't someone could.
Every day was a new adventure here, I wish I visited sooner! I could only imagine this place in its full glory, temples and houses everywhere, the culture, the people... Shame all of the hedgehogs were killed during the incident. I took a few pics with my phone and sent them to Tails hoping he could do one of those fancy bio scan things and find out why everything looks so dead, maybe there was something I could do to help.

I spent approximately three weeks on the enormous, dilapidated island before I stumbled across someone, a distant figure, as I approached it seemed to be a female...hedgehog? I was certain they were all killed when the island fell... But those ears, muzzle and shape I was sure of it! I had to go meet her! Imagine getting to meet a hedgehog! I ran over to her and raised my voice with a cheery tone.
"Heyyyy! Ma'am? Helllllooooo~ Are you a resident of this island? In case you've never heard of me, I'm Knuckles the Echidna! Savior of Mobius! South Island is the only place I've never visited because it WAS floating but... Can I ask what happened here? I remember the day it fell out of the sky, but I never thought it would fall apart like this, aside from all the destruction it is really pretty to view! Oh! Are you a hedgehog by chance?"

WHACK!

A swift kick in the face that sent me flying back, she was fast, I didn't even see her move! When I could see straight she was gone, all I could think to do was keep searching to try and find her, maybe calm down my approach.
Late night I found her at a shrine that was half under water, torches lit around her and she was praying. I couldn't hear what she was saying but the tone sounded in pain. I watched carefully. She was performing some magic by the looks of it, the bright green glow from her palms as she placed them down and made the whole temple shake and light up, it looked like it was missing something? A block? A relic? A gem? She continued her praying until I faulted and made a sound, she jumped and quickly turned around, she slipped and backwards and set off a trap. We both fell down pretty far and ended up in a small dark room with only a slight glow from her magic stuff.
"Ah! It's you again! Why do you keep following me! I don't allow strangers on MY island! The last stranger on my island took everything from me... I'll give you one chance to leave before I force you off!"

The green glow on her face illuminated her beautiful eyes, I'd never seen such a pretty green before, I was captivated, I moved closer to grab her hand and calmly reintroduce myself, but I kicked something and caused the room to start filling with water. She was mad but also a slight fear of panic in her eyes, she began feeling around for something but slipped and fell back into the forming puddle. She wouldn't talk to me as the room filled, in a matter of seconds the walls burst to pour in more water and I quickly lost her, I swam in circles trying to avoid crumbling and looking for the poor girl but to no avail. Was I about to kill the last hedgehog in existence? I dove down and saw a small glowing light under a rock, I shoved it aside and found that she had been knocked out. I scooped her up and swam to the top for more air, there wasn't much, with a deep breath and a good charge up I smashed through some crumble and got us both out safely. The ground started shaking so I ran out as fast as I could find, I got us outside and grabbed a torch, I took her back to the little campsite I had set up and bundled her up in the fabric that I had gathered and dried. I set the fire and sat next to her to check her over for any injuries, some deep cuts, quickly wrapped and safe so she won't get an infection.
She was beautiful. My eyes were constantly stuck on her, aside from a beautiful figure there was just something so intriguing about her, maybe it was the fact I was staring down the last hedgehog, at resting she looked really peaceful. She was really defensive towards me and maybe I didn't help with my energy, but I had to wonder...Was she left here? Or escaped and came back?

After a while she was still out cold, so I just let her sleep and stayed close in case she wanted to press me more, I only wanted to help her after all plus this was a new adventure and I couldn't wait to venture it. I let the fire burn through the night until it died and soon fell asleep myself.
When I woke up, I was on a raft afloat between South Island and Knothole's peninsula with all my gathered fabric folded neatly beside me and a bag of my belongings on my other side, attached was a note that simply said... "Thank you." She kicked me off the damn island! Luckily... I'm a fantastic swimmer! carefully slipping off the raft and into the ocean I grabbed the raft and paddled my legs back towards South Island, I wasn't giving up on this adventure! She was a new friend! I wanted to make sure she knew that! I always want to help a friend in need, and she needed some help with this mess. I returned to the island and hunted her down, making sure to get the drop on her just so shell talk to me.

THUD!

I pinned her against the ground and smiled at her just to show I wasn't trying to be aggressive, she immediately punched me in the face and squirmed under me, sure it hurt but I've taken harder punches. She stopped fighting me and just angrily stared at me, the sunlight on her quills just glistened, those eyes sparkled and man O' man I was falling in love! My face twitched from holding the smile for so long that I probably looked creepy, I know my sharp teeth didn't help with making her comfortable.
"H-Hedgehog! Is there anything I can do to help you? I don't want to see this island crumble more and I don't want you to suffer! Again, in case you didn't hear me, I'm Knuckles! All I do is fight evil and something evil happened here, was it a bald man with a moustache? An angry red glowing wolf? Who? I've stopped them before, and I'll do it again! I want to save this culture! You can't say no to this smile, right?!"
She bit my nose which caused me flinch back, she tried to wiggle out, but I held her down and accidentally dripped my blood on her face, which caused me panic and wipe it off, I touched her cheek and froze. Soft. She was cute. 

"...If I tell you, will you please leave? My fate is tied to this island. There isn't anything you can do to help me I- did you say bald man? He did this. I'm Soni. The last of the hedgehogs and guardian of the master emerald. Well. I was until he tricked me and my family and took it from us, he killed everyone here and only left me alive, I failed as a guardian, I killed my whole species, my ancestors are disappointed in me, I can't even contact them anymore! Now please go! No amount of trying to appease to me is going to help."
Soni. What a pretty name! It seemed like good Ol Eggman got away with some theft that I didn't catch him on, he must be hiding that emerald pretty good. I was going to restore her island and hopefully restore her honor given I couldn't bring back the dead, it was the least I could do. I rolled off of her and grapple hugged her.

"Ms. Soni! If you trust me enough... I will get your emerald back and get you back as much as possible! If you will. Come with me and we will get it back, I'll leave you alone afterwards, but I won't leave until that emerald you are looking for is back! Deal?"

"...I don't trust you. But. I don't have another choice. I've never left the island. You seem to know where the bald man went so... It's a deal. Don't come back after this."