Welcome to Gaia! ::

The door falls open easily. No locks, no handle. It was a push-pull door. Inside was a simple room. A small alter looking structure sat in the middle of the single room structure, and glimmering softly in it was a small green jem. The Master Emerald, tampered with so long ago, reacted violently towards anybody that tried to harness its power, or those of its minors, the Chaos Emerald. In its center was a pool of darkness that slowly swirled about, pollution to the Balance of the energy inside. The Echidna was sittong on his heels infront of it on a small, ratty looking pillow, holding a candle as he peered at the Emerald. Off the the side, a Robot lay in peices, smashed to parts, the Echidna's knuckle spike sticking out of its right eye, or what was left of it.

"Of course you wouldnt know. Why should you? Nobody who can actually help ever comes down here. Hell, lately the only people on the island is Robots and those damnable Shadow Monsters. They seem drawn to It."

He shakes his head, never looking at Sickle. In this light, Sickle could see scars all over the red echidna's body, as if he had gone through quite alot recently.

The Echidna twitches at the mention of a Chaos emerald, and then shakes his head.

"No....this is far better. Everything has something it has to awnser to, something that balances it. This is it, the Master Emerald. Im....Its guardian, and I failed."

Getting up, he lets his arms fall to the side as he looks at Sickle. The fierce pride that flows inside this being was back.

"This is the Master Emerald. Its been infected. And once I find a safe place to keep it, Im gonna find the one who did this, and Im gonna make there life a living hell. I will show him so many levels of pain they will think they had died and gone to hell."

Now his eyes where aflame with anger once more as he clentches his fist.

"But hell will be a welcoming sight compared to what Im gonna do to the people who would Corrupt the Master Emerald."

The echidna growls, his fists shaking. Then suddenly he turns about and kicks up the remains of the robot, slamming his fists rapidly into it, the punching moving at a blurr. The final blow, completly decimating the robot, ended up with him tearing out its cental CPU from its chest. Right where the heart would have been located on a living being.

"Ixis......I had heard of him."

Turning around, his gloves ripped, the flesh underneath hardly scratched, he had the look of someone obssessed, fanatical.

"Where is he? I will find him, and make him eat his own entrails."

This said in a low growl. For the longest time, he had belived Robotnik was the one responsible. He had stayed on the island because of Robotniks Death Egg was chained to it. He had hoped to climb aboard somehow and deal with him personally. Now it appeared that not only had he failed to protect the emerald, he had been wrong about who had actually done it.

Turning, he quickly picks up the emerald and puts it into a bag. Without the ability to use the emeralds power to Vector Zone it, it wouldnt simply disappear by putting it behind him. Looking back at Sickle he says

"I guess I owe you something....Im Knuckles. Now...you have a place I can store it?"

Knuckles shrugs. "I'm nothing special at the moment."

Picking up the candle he says :" Sounds like a plan. You know where this person is? I probably know a way of getting there really quickly." He holds the emerald close to him in the hand that had the broken spike. He had a determined look on his face now. Though Knuckles doesnt seem to notice it, the candle flame suddenly dances about, as if by a wind, or someone passing close by.

Knuckles nods. "Of course. I know where everything is on my island. Wait, theres a Theme Park on my island?" He seems surprised about this.

Nearby, in the tunnel, hidden by tunnel was a Creeper

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t49/lunachan3000/SS-1.jpg

This particular creature was attracted to the Corruption in the Master Emerald, but what it really craved was the life forces of those around it. Made of Shadows and Dark Energy, the thing was fairly hazardous to touch physically. Some distance away, it was slinking along the edges of the fire pits, being carefull not to fall inside any as it traced its food.

Gwen covers her eyes. "That's bright! How am I supposed to use this?" She approaches the strange contraption. She heads over to one of the machaines and sets her hand on a blue crystal. "What are these for?" Then there was a flash. Gwen takes her hand off the crystal and hurridly backs up, tripping over a rock and landing on her back, hitting her elbow.

She opens her eyes only to find that she was in a different cave, but this one was smoldering hot. The ground seemed softer then usual, not just soft... Furry. She looks down and notices that she was sitting on somone, that somone being Sickle. She leaps back in alarm. "AH! I'm sorry!" The green echidna looks around in shock. "How did I get here?" She looks up and sees another echidna. Startled, she falls backwards and curls into a ball and rolls until she bashes into a wall. She pops out of her defensive stance in a daze.

((Oh ok I fixed it!))

Gwen opens her eyes. The ferst thing she sees is something red attacking her. She jumps up as fast as she can and starts to run but it was to late, Knuskles lands a punch on the lower left of her ribcage and sends her flying back a ways. She lands on the ground cluching her bleeding side. Tears ran down her face as she screams in pane. "PLEASE NO MORE! HAVE MERCY NO MORE!" she ceeps screaming those words.