AN: For those of you who don't know, this is the sequel to Gemini Project, which is the latest in a story arc that began with Secrets of the Emeralds. If you haven't read those, then a lot of things in this story may not make much sense. Just FYI :)

Guardian's Log no. 11513

It seems like years since I last wrote in this, although in reality it's only been three weeks. I don't know why I stopped making daily entries. I guess it doesn't matter.

The snow's finally started melting. I wish I could say this was because Robotnik's given up, but the truth is that Angel Island has simply floated out of range.

Tails is back with Sonic. Well, I expected that – although I didn't expect it to take as long to happen as it did – but I can't get that kid out of my mind. Not surprising considering I looked after him for about a year, but Sonic's had him a lot longer than that; hell, he practically raised the kid. And since there's no chance he'll read this and get even cockier than usual, I'll admit that so far he hasn't done a bad job of it, especially when you consider he was no more than a kid himself when he and Tails first met.

I just can't help wondering, what use is raising a kid just to risk killing him through hypothermia? Though I suppose you could say he's risked killing him through fighting Robotnik, so maybe it balances out in some way.

-Knuckles the Echidna

What am I going to do?

Knuckles sat on the steps of the shrine, staring into space. Angel Island was currently floating over the Shining Sea, so far out that the echidna couldn't see land anywhere. Since the oceans were the only part of Mobius not being hit by the blizzards that ravaged the rest of the planet on a regular and apparently random basis, Knuckles had kept his island very firmly above those oceans. So far, it seemed to be working; with the obvious exception of Ice Cap, none of the Zones on Angel Island had been affected.

The only problem was that he couldn't stop worrying about Tails. No matter how many times he kept telling himself that the fox was safe with Sonic, a nagging little doubt always crept into his mind and reminded him that Sonic, for all his speed, couldn't fight the weather.

Stop it. That hedgehog would do anything to keep Tails from getting hurt.

A slight shiver ran down Knuckles' spine. Sonic had already proved that quite conclusively in Robotnik's fortress over a year ago.

He could try using the Master Emerald to find them, but that prospect was an alarming one to say the least. The last image the Master Emerald had shown him of Tails hadn't been a pleasant one and had ended with him having to trek through various Zones with Sonic to rescue the fox from that slave mine.

Your mother was right. Your attachment to Tails will do you no good.

It certainly didn't do her any good, Knuckles thought back irritably. He would never forget that night above the river as long as he lived, and it wasn't much consolation to think that Tails probably wouldn't either.

"Where are you, kid?" he said aloud. He'd been talking to himself a lot lately; not because he missed having company on the island, of course. It just helped him to arrange his thoughts a little better.

He hadn't expected an answer, but it seemed the new Master Emerald was going to give him one anyway; it flared brightly, revealing a snowy landscape. The image flickered there for a few minutes, then went out.

Oh great. Just great. Mobius is facing a new ice age and the only information this thing can give me about Tails is that he's somewhere snowy!

Maybe it would help if he shaped it a little. The original Master Emerald had been beautifully chiseled and polished to look like a giant jewel, but the replacement Knuckles had dug out of the Chaos Caves was more of a lump. It wasn't even pure green; other bits of Chaos matter were stuck to it, making it look rather like a giant chewed up gobstopper.

How are you going to do that? You got all the rock off of it, but you know what happens if you cut into pure Chaos matter. You wouldn't just wipe out yourself; you'd take out this entire island and boil half the ocean beneath you.

The echidna stared at the Master Emerald, thoughts in a slow turmoil. His ancestors had been the ones to shape the first Master Emerald, but if there was any record of how they'd done it, then it was probably in those caves under Scrap Brain Zone with the rest of the ancient echidna logs.

Knuckles wasn't even sure who he was guarding the Master Emerald from anymore. Robotnik was the obvious threat, but the echidna hadn't seen him since the whole fiasco with those damn clones. The chameleon Scarface came a close second, but he couldn't fly and besides, he had the Chaos Caves themselves. There was no point stealing Knuckles' lump of Chaos matter when he had access to an unlimited source of the stuff.

Except he doesn't know how to use it, a small voice inside him whispered.

Besides, Scarface had always seemed rather disinterested in Chaos matter. Having taken Knuckles, Espio and Tails prisoner and claiming the replacement Master Emerald, he'd then gone out of his way to return it to the echidna, for reasons that Knuckles was still puzzling over. Of course, it was entirely possible that the chameleon had just wanted Knuckles out of his spines and had figured that giving the echidna what he came for was the quickest way to achieve this, but something about that didn't ring true.

Still, Knuckles didn't think there was much to worry about. Scarface had no designs on world rule. As far as Knuckles could make out, the chameleon seemed quite happy selling the jewels produced by the slave labor in the tunnels.

Raker...oh, Raker would have loved to get his hands on even a small piece of Chaos matter, but Raker was dead and good riddance to him. Knuckles didn't know all the details of that, since he'd been on Angel Island when it happened, but Sonic had filled him in on the basics.

None of this helped him with his current dilemma, however; namely, did he try to find Tails or did he trust Sonic to look after him?

Knuckles leaned back against the shrine, arms folded as he stared at nothing. At first it had seemed right; Tails was back being Sonic's sidekick and Knuckles himself was alone on Angel Island again.

Now, though, he wasn't so sure. Having got used to Tails' presence, he was surprised how much he missed having someone else around. Granted the fox had often been more of a nuisance than a real help, but there was something about him that was very hard to dislike. Even when they'd first met and Knuckles had been doing his utmost to kill both Tails and Sonic, he'd found he couldn't bring himself to taunt Tails in the same way he had Sonic.

Knuckles glanced up at the posts that usually held the Chaos Emeralds. Three of them were missing; Sonic and Tails had one each and Shadow had the other one. That was alright though. Neither Sonic nor his adopted little brother were interested in ruling the world, and Shadow just used his as a cheaper alternative to public transport.

The echidna was halfway up the post holding the red Emerald before he admitted to himself that he was actually going to do it, that he was going to try and find Sonic and in doing so, get sucked back into the whirlwind that was the hedgehog's life.

Grabbing the Emerald and securing it in his spines, Knuckles glanced up at the blue skies and sighed. The break from the snow had been nice while it lasted, but he had to go back. There was no other option. He had to find Sonic and Tails, reassure himself that they hadn't succumbed to the cold like so many other Mobians.

He only hoped it wasn't already too late.