The Emerald Within

Chapter 4

        Later that day. Tails had went down into his little lab-like place to do more research about to previous events, and how it could even be possible. Amy was with him, as she had nothing better to do, because Shadow wouldn't listen to her, for staring over at Sonic, who was confused, as to why he would do so.

        Knuckles, who was still looking for the Master Emerald, had wondered into Tails' workshop/house, not even worried if he was welcome or not, knowing they knew better than to keep him out of anywhere he wanted to go, because he would find a way to do it anyway, so why would they even try?

        The night before, he had also had a dream, but his was as if to be watching someone else. Little did he know, he had watched Sonic's dream take place, somehow, and he thought it meant something. No! He didn't just think it meant something... He knew that it meant something very serious, but it may have been the wrong way to think, as he does a good job at doing that, when it comes to something serious, like the situation, "Sonic!" Knuckles yelled, walking into the room, presently inhabiting the mentioned hedgehog, "I now know you have the Master Emerald, so give it back!"

        "Hey, Knuckles!" Sonic beamed, ignoring his comment, and sat up, from where he had been laying down, trying to think about what had happened earlier, as well, "What brings you all the way out here? Still haven't found the Master Emerald yet?" Knuckles growled at him, thinking that he was just acting as if he was clueless, which he actually was.

        "You know why I haven't found it yet!" Knuckles growled again, baring his fangs to show that he wasn't about to listen to him act oblivious to the situation, "You have it somewhere! Where do you have it, so I can bring it back?!" Shadow stood up from where he was beside Sonic, walking over in front of the enraged echinda.

        "We are presently trying to figure out how we are to do that, Knuckles!" Shadow was growling back at him, getting Knuckles to give a confused expression, "Somehow... The Master Emerald was put into Sonic, so now all we have to do is find a way to get it out, without harming him too much... But we don't know how yet..." Knuckles shook his head, seemingly not believing him, but put on a surprised look, as Shadow crossed his arms, getting very agitated at his stubbornness, staring him directly in the eyes, so he could see just how serious he was about it, "You have no choice but to believe it, Knuckles!"

        "So what does this mean then?!" Knuckles growls, regaining his anger, "We need to get it out, now!!" Shadow gave himself a face palm, as he then turned around, going back over to Sonic's side, with a small, frustrated sigh. Sonic stood up, smiling, like he always seemed to, in bad situations, such as Knuckles being as angry, as he was then.

        "So... We can't just give it back to you, until we find out a way, and that might take... Forever... At the rate their going now!" Sonic says in a slightly mocking tone, getting Knuckles, to seem, as if he was getting ready to pounce him, then laughs, "Who knows... We might never get it out, and I'll just have to keep it for..." Sonic pauses, noticing Knuckles' expression, "Oh, come on, Knuckles! You don't actually think that I'd..." Sonic leaps back, narrowly dodging getting punched by Knuckles, who was obviously furious at him, as he was baring his fangs, and breathing slightly heavier as he became enraged by the fact that Sonic wasn't giving it to him, "You don't actually think that I'd keep it, do you?!"

        "Seriously, Knuckles!" Shadow growled, kicking him in the side, causing him to fall to the left, "What would he possibly do with it, anyway?! Out of us... Your the only one who can actually use it, so until we do find a way... Everything will be fine, and you will just have to wait until then!! OK?!" Knuckles thought about it, then finally nodded, groaning in pain, as he got back to his feet, holding his side, as it was hurting to put much weight on it, "Sorry about that." Knuckles seemed surprised to hear that.

       Did he just say sorry... To me? Shadow gave him a small smile, to confirm that he was really sorry, but Knuckles took it in a different way. He just... Smiled at me! Knuckles nods, showing he accepted the apology, "Don't worry about it... I'll be fine!"

        Sonic noticed that Knuckles was blushing, and was staring longingly over at Shadow, so he chuckled lightly, walking back from, where he had jumped to dodge to attack, sitting beside where Shadow was standing, "I wonder why Knuckles is blushing, huh, Shadow?"

        "I'm not sure, but it's strange that someone like him, who hardly ever shows weakness, other than his gullibility, would blush like that." Knuckles shook his head, trying to shake away the blush, to no avail, and it only became a deeper color, "But in a way... I think I know, but I'm not going to say, for it would seem as though I would be trying to make myself sound better than you, so I will keep it away from anyone else... You don't have to worry about that, OK, Knuckles?"

        "So you won't say that I'm blushing because I've recently starting having strange feeling for you!" Knuckles said quickly, smiling in an embarrassed manner, as he was blushing worse, the gave himself a pace palm, "I didn't mean it like that, though!!!"

        "Whatever!" Sonic laughed, "Hey, Shadow! It seems you have a secret admirer, that just accidentally revealed it, and now it's not so much of a secret anymore!" Knuckles shook his head, as he chuckled nervously.

        "That's fine..."Shadow replied in a low tone, not sure of what else to say. It was actually a surprise to hear, but he still kind of figured it out by himself. Shadow couldn't help but blush a small, light pink color, but then sits in Sonic's lap, getting him to also blush, but in a darker shade, "We'll talk about it later, but right now... It's not important."

Tails was sitting at his computer, when his eyes suddenly widened in surprise, as he gasped loudly, "What is it, Tails?" Amy ran over to his side looking over at the computer screen, gasping loudly, as well, when she saw what was on the screen, "NO!"

        Sonic's ear twitched at the sound of Am'y scream, "What was that all about?" Shadow shrugged, so they got up, and went down the hall, and into the room, where Tails and Amy were staring at the screen. Expressions of fear plastered upon their face, "What's goin' on? What happened?"

        Amy ran up to him, but, surprisingly, didn't try to attach herself to Shadow, who was standing right next to him, like she did now, instead of doing it to Sonic, like she used to do... All the time, "There's some really terrible news, Sonic! Really terrible!"