(EDITING) Sonic Rift

Chapter Nine : Under A Common Goal

Knuckles' POV

The Master Emerald was stolen.

A badnik, the very first I'd ever seen, dug into the shrine. Its claws tore through dirt like it was water, while shoveled hands carried the ground away. Its drill destroyed the encarved stone that my ancestors had built. At first I tried the spears, sharpened rocks tied at the end to thick branches—at this point in time, I didn't know what metal was. The spears, of course, bounced off its haul, continuing to drill into the ancient shrine. When the first option didn't work, I tried my fists. With one swing, I broke off one of its arms. I grimaced at the sparkling electricity from the nub and the worm-like wires that wouldn't stop wriggling. "What is this... this creature?"

Eggman hovered in his Egg-Mobile, moving around the machine. He sneered at me with a vileness I'd come to know all too well. "I should thank you, my simple tachyglossidae. Without your help, I would've never found the legendary Master Emerald."

I didn't understand much of what he said, but I knew this was his fault. "You tricked me!"

His beady eyes looked down at me from the rim of his glasses. "Hardly! You would've seen it a mile away had you been a little more civilized. It can't be helped that I took a chance at a fortuitous opportunity."

With a loud creak, the badnik hefted the Master Emerald from its shrine. The island gave a sudden lurch, then shuddered. The ground shook and I felt the shifting in air pressure. Before I could even yell, Eggman was gone with the Master Emerald. The grass began to shrivel from the base of the shrine, then quickly spread through the rest of the forest. The palm trees started to droop, their leaves flaking off, while the mushrooms of the forest floor withered. Angel Island was dying, and I was completely helpless to stop it.

I heard fast footsteps crunching in the dead grass. I snapped my neck around to look, coming face to face with the blue hedgehog. His chest was rising and falling as if he had been running, which he probably had. His nose was still bleeding from when I punched him, blood dripping off his chin. His emerald green eyes followed Eggman in the sky. "He took it, didn't he?"

I stared at him in disbelief.

The blue hedgehog looked at me when I didn't answer. He asked again, "That's why the island's falling, isn't it? He took the Master Emerald?"

I felt outside of my body. "You... you tried to warn me..."

He crossed his arms over his chest, "No kidding, pal. You think I'd fight you over this for three days just for the fun of it?"

I said, blankly, "He tricked me."

"That's Eggman for you, a real tricky guy. Don't let it get to you."

"He... tricked me..."

The blue hedgehog snapped his fingers in front of my face, and I blinked back to life. He cocked his head at me, concern written in his features. "Are you gonna be alright, pal?"

I clenched my fists, speaking through gritted teeth, "He tricked me! He took the Master Emerald! Angel Island won't survive without it!"

The blue hedgehog, despite how horrible everything was, despite every loss he faced in the three days he chased Eggman on the island, despite me breaking his nose and fighting him at every corner—he smiled. Sonic said, "Then we'll just have to get it back!"