Treasurehunter: Yep, it was pretty quick :P I tend to go that way when I'm writing; it's sluggish for the first part and then when the end's in sight I just wanna get it finished ;) I do wait on reviews though, so the faster they come up, the faster I update :P

PyroHedgehog4ever: Ah, the Void, the Void, the ever-endless Void! You'll find out more about that in the sequel :P

Samantha27: Yep, Knuckles is indeed the hero (Knuckles: Finally, someone gets it!) And as for Sonic...well, all shall be revealed in this chapter ;)

Saffra: Heh, I know what you mean :P It was kind of a weight off my mind when Sonic semi-recovered ;)

FriedBrickWall: Yeah, he did it for Tails. And yes, this is the final chapter...kinda sad but it means I can work on the sequel (which has been buzzing around on my computer and bugging me for ages) :P

Awdures: Thanks; I liked the emerald switch as well ;)

Kdizz: Heh, I'd never have guessed :P And yep, it's updated!

Ryopon: Yeah...I think Sonic and Tails would both agree with you there ;) And I'll try!

TC Chan: (blushes red) Wow...thanks :D I've had a lot of fun with this story...and yeah, everybody seems to like the part about Tails punching Sonic out :P Knuckles...well, he's my favourite character, so it kinda stood to reason that he was going to have a major part in this (and the next ones as well ;)) but I'm glad you liked him in this :P

Matri90: Thanks :)

Ri2: Well...large explosions have vacuums, yeah. Like Knuckles said; the first part is when the air's pushed out, and the second part is when it rushes back in to fill the gap. Usually if there's anything left standing, the vacuum takes care of it ;)

Guardian's Log no. 11470

Good news, we have three Chaos Emeralds. Bad news, Robotnik has four. Tails is...well, he's fine, and so's Sonic, or at least as fine as can be expected. He still looks like he's been put through an acid-soaked mangle, but he's alive. Robotnik's fortress was destroyed, although Robotnik himself escaped. We're right back to square one, except Sonic is still crippled and torn up, both physically and mentally. I guess I understand why he said what he said to Tails, but some of that was from the heart. He's genuinely changed. I suppose he has every right to after what's happened, but that doesn't make it any easier.

And me? I'm back. Back on Angel Island, back home, back where I belong. Tails is with me, although Sonic flatly refused to come along. I don't know where he is or what he's doing now. Tails has gone out searching but so far there's been no sign of him. I can't help wondering if Robotnik hasn't caught up with him and finished the job he started.

--Knuckles the Echidna

Dear Diary

Sonic's missing. I dunno why I'm worried when he was so mean to me but I am. I've flown around but I can't find him anywhere. And Angel Island is currently over the Lazuli Ocean, so I'm stuck on it until it flies over land again. Luckily that won't take too long.

I don't exactly miss Sonic though. That sounds really mean, I know, but it's true; I'd feel more lost and alone if Knuckles left me. But I always notice Sonic's not there, and it's weird to think of him out there without me. We've been a team for so long that it feels like a part of me's missing. I hope he's okay. We'll be over the Emerald Hill Zone soon, where I grew up. I'll hop off then and look until I find Sonic, then I'll bring him back to Angel Island.

--Tails

The hot morning sun lanced down on Knuckles like a laser, and the echidna growled in irritation. Dragging himself to his feet, he moved down the steps of the shrine to the shade of a tree and sat down there, mind turning over.

Dammit, where was Sonic? Knuckles could understand the hedgehog's not wanting anyone's pity, but would it kill him to make contact, just to let them know he was still alive?

The Chaotix had found them next to Sonic and had helped bring him back to their base. There had been one slight problem when Amy – who had heard about his predicament from someone, and Knuckles fully intended to swat Charmy as soon as the bee owned up – had shown up and begged to be allowed to nurse Sonic, but Tails had sent her on her way with several choice words, some of which even the CDA had never heard before. For once, she hadn't argued, just left. Knuckles suspected she was privately rather glad to be relieved of the duty.

Everyone wants heroes, but they don't want them to stick around. Who had said that? Knuckles couldn't for the life of him remember, but he rather thought it might have been his father.

They'd woken up one morning a couple of days after the attack to find Sonic gone, and none of the Chaotix – not even Espio – would tell them where. Knuckles had eventually given up trying to persuade them and gone back to Angel Island with Tails in tow. The fox had hung around for a couple of weeks and then left. Knuckles didn't blame him; he wasn't a very congenial host, and he knew the kid had been worried about Sonic, just like he knew Tails would be back before too long.

Knuckles gave one last lingering look at the Master Emerald, then set off into the woods in search of some fruit. The grapes were just coming into season; maybe he'd find a few ripe ones.

Some thirty minutes later, Knuckles had just finished breakfast when someone spoke up from behind him.

"Can I see the Master Emerald?"

"No," Knuckles said automatically, then froze in position as the voice and words registered. "Say that again?"

"What's wrong, Knux? All that cosmic duty dull your hearing?"

Knuckles turned.

"Sonic?" He shook his head, a slow grin lighting up his face. "Jeez man, where the hell have you been? I've been—" He coughed and broke off.

"You been what, Knucky?" Sonic shifted his weight. Someone – possibly Tails – had rigged up a pair of crutches that were taller than the hedgehog, with the end result that Sonic's ruined feet – or what was left of them – were supported some two feet above the ground. The crutches themselves culminated in large multi-hinged platforms, which bent according to the weight distribution. Shifting that weight back slightly now, Sonic smirked at Knuckles. "Not worried, surely?"

Knuckles folded his arms across his chest and fixed Sonic with his best glare, a glare that was unfortunately lessened by the grin on his face.

"I let you get away with calling me that before, Sonic, because you happened to be on the verge of death. Now you're going to live, the rules are back in place."

"Party pooper."

Knuckles snorted and didn't answer.

"You're depressed," Sonic remarked. "I can always tell, Knux; you scrunch up your snout and glare at the floor without blinking. What's bugging you? We won. You won."

"It was all for nothing."

Sonic shook his head.

"You freed a load of Robotnik's prisoners, destroyed his base and forced him to lie low for who knows how many months while he collects his armies to him and finds a site to construct a new fortress. I don't call that nothing. Especially the part about freeing the prisoners."

"Maybe not, but we're still no nearer to finding out what that void thing is."

"Yeah." Sonic subsided for a few moments. "You seen it recently? Or not seen it, or whatever?"

"Not a sign," Knuckles admitted. "It can teleport between places, remember? Could be anywhere by now."

"Where are the Chaos Emeralds?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Tails has one, I have two, you have one and Robotnik has the other three."

"Yeah?" Sonic looked around. "Where is Tails, anyway?"

"Looking for you," Knuckles said succinctly. "Speaking of which, what the hell are you doing here? If it comes to that, how'd you get here, anyway?"

"I've been staying with the Chaotix. Mighty persuaded Charmy to fly me up. Does he always yammer on like that?"

"Incessantly. You must've wanted to come pretty badly to take a lift from that little squirt. What do you want?"

Sonic shifted, looking awkward.

"Robotnik has the healing emerald," he said abruptly. "I don't particularly want to hobble back and ask him to pretty please use it to patch me up. Then I remembered what you said about the Master Emerald, how it harnesses the power of the Chaos ones. I thought, there's probably no chance ol' Knucklehead will go against his sacred duty just for the sake of one hedgehog who wound up hurt through his own carelessness—no, don't argue," Sonic added, although Knuckles hadn't even opened his mouth and had no intention of doing so either. "But then I thought, there's even less chance of him doing it if I don't ask at all. So...whaddaya say?"

The echidna hesitated, caught in a quandary. If he hadn't been in such a hurry...if he hadn't written Sonic off as dead so soon, Tails might have found the robot that had captured him. The torture could have been avoided, or at least stopped much earlier...

Knuckles gave a curt nod. This went against the grain on so many levels he didn't even want to think about it, but one thing was for sure; he wasn't the same as he'd been a year ago when Sonic and Tails had showed up. And Sonic's integrity was beyond question; the guy was many things, but he wasn't a traitor. At least...he wasn't all the time Robotnik didn't torture him to the point of death.

"Follow me."

He set off along one of the easier routes, although to his surprise, Sonic's crutches enabled him to walk at an almost normal pace.

"Tails rig those up for you?" he asked, as they rounded a corner and started the climb towards the Master Emerald shrine.

Something flickered in Sonic's eyes as he answered, "Yeah." He didn't seem inclined to elaborate, and Knuckles didn't push it.

"Whoa." They'd reached the shrine and Sonic stopped to stare. "This place is amazing!"

"Yeah. Needless to say, you won't breathe a word about it to anyone on the outside."

"Huh? Oh. No. Course not." Sonic shot a look at Knuckles. "So what now?"

"Out the crutches. I don't know what kind of effect Chaos energies will have on them if they're in contact with your flesh, but I don't want to take the chance."

Sonic hesitated, then reluctantly lowered himself right to the ground, clenching his teeth as red-hot pain blazed up his legs. Ignoring the hedgehog's expression, Knuckles lifted the crutches and moved them several yards away, then returned to the Master Emerald. Reaching out, he hesitated and turned back to Sonic.

"There's something you should know."

"If it's about how you failed to bench press some mountain, Knux, I'll understand."

The echidna rolled his eyes.

"I've never used the Master Emerald before. I'm ninety nine percent sure I can harness the healing energies, but if I fail you might be zapped with one or more of the other Chaos powers."

Sonic shrugged.

"Think I care?" He hesitated. "But...just outta interest, what do the other six do? And I'm not bugged or being coerced into asking that question, so you can be honest this time!" he added.

Knuckles laughed, but the laugh had a touch of sadness in it. The old Sonic would have viewed the risk of getting it wrong as...

"C'mon," Knuckles said, in an atrocious impersonation of Sonic, "it'll be fun."

"Yeah, but...just in case."

The echidna rolled his eyes.

"Alright, fine. The first one is a healer. The second one is a teleporter. The third can give life and a free will to anything it touches, the fourth makes whoever holds it super-strong, the fifth makes them invincible, the sixth grants them super-speed and the seventh truth; whoever holds it can see through all lies and deceptions. That's the one I substituted," he added. "I didn't fancy the idea of Robotnik figuring out what I was up to."

"Did you know the place was bugged?"

"Not until Robotnik told me, no. But I didn't want to take chances; bugs or no bugs, if he found out I'd spoken to you..." Knuckles let the sentence trail off meaningfully, and Sonic shivered.

"Yeah. Alright, Knux. Do it."

Knuckles placed both hands on the Master Emerald and focused inward, dropping into the source of power. As Sonic watched, a vivid green glow so bright it was almost blinding flowed over the echidna, until it was hard to tell where the Master Emerald ended and Knuckles began. The hedgehog opened his mouth to ask if Knuckles was okay, then the glow hit him and the words turned into a soundless gasp as the air seemed to be sucked out of his lungs. He had just enough time to wonder if this was what people caught in the nothing-void felt like before he dropped to the ground, writhing as the terrific pressure increased before finally greying out, face down, still conscious but feeling detached from his body.

After what seemed like hours, but which was in reality only a few minutes, the glow cleared away and took the terrible pressure with it.

"Argh," Sonic commented, voice muffled against the ground.

"It does pack one hell of a kick," Knuckles admitted. "Sorry. I should've thought of that before I gave you that much." Turning away from the Master Emerald, he glanced at Sonic, who was now fully healed and looking exactly as he had before he'd gone over the rail. Reaching down, the echidna helped him to his feet. "How do you feel?"

"Pretty good, all things considered." Hardly daring to believe it, Sonic tested one foot, then another, then grinned so broadly that Knuckles felt his own lips stretch into an answering grin.

"Where's Tails? Oh right; you don't know." Sonic shook his head, still grinning. "Man, is he gonna get a surprise."

"Yeah? Well, here." Knuckles retrieved Sonic's sneakers from where he'd hidden them and tossed them over to the hedgehog. Sonic's eyes widened.

"Knux, where'd you ever get—"

"You told me to take them away, remember?" Knuckles shrugged. "I thought they might be useful to Tails, but since he's gone, you may as well have 'em back."

Sonic pulled them on, almost fumbling the straps in his haste, then straightened up.

"Oh Knux, I could kiss you!"

"And then I could break your jaw."

Sonic's grin widened and he broke into a run, gradually increasing his speed until he was a blur. Screeching to a stop in front of Knuckles, his grin now threatening to take in his ears.

"Knuckles, if you...if there's ever anything I can..."

"Can it, hedgehog," Knuckles said shortly, "the humble gratitude thing doesn't suit you. I did it for Tails more than you; given the way you've been acting lately—"

Sonic waved a hand.

"Uh huh, yeah, yeah, I know, big jerk hedgehog beating up on the little fox cub. So over that now, though. Where's Tails?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"I told you twice before, I don't know. He mentioned going to the Emerald Hill Zone; maybe you should try there."

"On my way." Sonic turned and raced away, then came back just long enough to pull the echidna's arm upright and high-five him before pelting off again.

For a few minutes, Knuckles just stood there, one hand still raised stupidly where Sonic had left it, then he rolled his eyes and lowered it again. Still, something in Sonic's mood had been infectious, and the echidna found himself grinning as he climbed the steep path towards the Master Emerald. Maybe it was going to be a good day after all.

Okay, it's finished. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading and reviewing (especially reviewing!) If you want to find out what happens next, check out the sequel Caves of the Ancients (the first part of which was published at the same time as this chapter, so it shouldn't take too long to appear :P) While you're waiting, please review :)

And a big thankyou to all of you who reviewed this final chapter:

TC Chan: You did? Really? (squirms embarrassedly) Wow...thanks; a review like that really makes my day :P

Samantha27: Thanks...I'm glad you enjoyed it :D

FriedBrickWall: Heh...okay ;)

Kdizz: Everything is indeed okay again. At least until the sequel ;)

Ryopon: (smiles) Thanks :) More has come ;)

Saffra:D Yeah...it is kinda surprising that Knux would do something like that for Sonic. Guess looking after Tails had a good influence on him ;)

PyroHedgehog4Ever: You'll have to wait and see...

Treasurehunter: Okay, okay; you want the sequel, you got it!

Parslie: Thanks for reviewing; I'm glad you liked it :)

Zaln: Heh. Oddly enough there was a part written for this where Knuckles gave Tails fighting lessons. I scrapped it because – like you said – it detracted from the story too much ;) Still, thanks for such a good review :D Hope you enjoy the sequel as well :P

MSmk3: (blushes) Thanks so much for that; I'm really glad you enjoyed it :D

Shadow-spawn180: (smiles) Thanks :D As to Tails and Sonic's relationship...well, you'll have to read the sequels to find out ;)