A/N: Sorry for the extremely late update… I was missing my copy of Sonic Chronicles, so I couldn't really get anything written. Never fear, though, for I am back from all trips, with a new (used) copy of the game!

Chapter 7: Easter?

Without much more conversation, the Mobians headed out of the Marauder hideout. As the lazy sunlight brushed against the multicolored fur of the heroes, Knuckles turned toward the south end of the ruins.

"What's up, Knux?" Sonic asked, looking sidelong at the echidna.

"It's Angel Island…" he replied. "Now that the Marauders have all seven Emeralds, I think they're going to go for the Master Emerald."

"That would seem to make sense…" mumbled Tails. "If that's the case, we'd better hurry!" There was no time to move, however, before a massive rumbling noise shook the sapients.

"What on Mobius was that?!" Amy shrieked.

"Angel Island is moving!" shouted Knuckles as he pointed to the south. Eyes turned as the aforementioned landform floated past them in the sky.

"It has to be Buttnik!" spat Sonic. "Let's get him!" The azure hero began charging a Spin Dash, but Tails yelled for him to stop.

"We can't chase him down now!" said the fox. "Besides, he's probably not even up there. The best chance we have is to regroup back at my workshop." Sonic grumbled something under his breath, but he led the way down from the cave area and to the smoggy area.

XXX

"So… what happened with the trap and all that?" asked Sonic as the group made their way back through the ruins to the Tornado.

"Didn't Tails fill you in, hedgehog?" Knuckles retorted. "We built the trap, set up the Emerald, and I hid in a corner. When the Marauders showed up, they pointed at the trap, and it broke down. I tried to take them on, but they overwhelmed me with numbers."

"What'd they do, ask you to solve a quadratic equation?" said Rouge in tones of slightly friendly humor. She was out of the way by the time the echidna's fist would have rammed into her stomach. The team was at the Tornado by now, and the six Mobians were struggling to all fit inside the small biplane.

"Okay…" huffed Tails as he settled into the pilot's seat. "From now on, no more than four of us in the Tornado…"

"So, do you know anything about this Shade character?" Amy inquired as the plane sputtered to life and took off.

"All I really know is that Shade seems to be a 'she'," answered the Guardian. "For whatever reason, she ordered that I be kept alive."

"Well, that could hardly be considered plot development…" Big mumbled, scratching his ear.

"Sometimes I wonder if his parents dropped him on his head or something…" Sonic mused. "Then again, his parents probably didn't know how to lift him in the first place…" The trip to Tails' workshop was now almost complete, and the heroes gratefully stretched their respective legs after the plane had landed in Central City. Inside, Tails called a meeting with the team.

"Does everyone still believe that Eggman's behind this?" the kit said. Several furry heads nodded. "The good news is this tracker that we used to find the Marauders' signal can also be rewired to find Robotnik's special frequency."

"That's a waste of time," grumbled Knuckles. "If we're going to stop Robotnik, we need to get Angel Island."

"Knuckles…" Rouge pleaded. "Believe me, sugar. I want to make sure that big, shiny hunk of Emerald is safe as much as you do, but –"

"Save it, bat!" the Guardian spat. "You just don't want it stolen because you want to steal it for yourself! Well, I'm not having any of it. I'm getting up there, and none of you are gonna stop me." With that, the scarlet echidna made to storm out of the workshop, but a pair of gloved hands clamped onto his dreadlocks. Knuckles turned to punch the interloper, but the hold was released and the echidna was hit by a spinning blue ball within the same second. He fell to the floor, holding his gut where Sonic had used his natural ability to Spin Dash to defend himself.

"Sorry, Knux, but if Tails says we do this as a team, then we do this as a team," the hedgehog said firmly. Without approval, Sonic grabbed one of Knuckles' fists and yanked him up onto his feet.

"You win this round, hedgehog… but if things get any worse, we do this my way." The two glared at each other, past rivalries and misunderstandings burning in emerald and amethyst eyes. This didn't have enough time to go on before Tails cleared his throat quite loudly.

"If you two are done settling things over there, maybe you could listen to my plan now," the fox suggested, taking much resemblance to a college professor. "As I've said, this tracker is able to detect the frequency used in Eggman's machines. If we follow the signals when the tracker goes off, we might find Robotnik. However, it may lead us to devices that aren't Eggman. The important thing is that we look everywhere for him."

"I still think looking for our sworn enemy seems really stupid…" commented Knuckles. "He could be on the island, transforming into Final Eggman again…"

"I'm pretty sure that was a fluke when that happened," Tails answered. "Even if we were to go your way, the Tornado isn't strong enough to get all the way up to Angel Island. Our best bet is to find Robotnik as soon as possible…"

"So where do we even start?" asked Amy. "I mean… we've found all kinds of machines that Eggman used, and he wasn't near any of them."

"I think we're just gonna have to start here and expand to Green Hill Zone and Mystic Ruins," the fox explained. "If that doesn't work, then we'll go as far as Metropolis Zone to look for Robotnik."

"I think that's where Angel Island was headed, anyway… based on my knowledge of Mobius locale," said Rouge.

"We should look there first, then," Knuckles demanded.

"That's not an option, Knuckles…" Tails reminded him. "Remember, we tore that place up when we brought the Egg Carrier down. There's no way in, with the exception of an air drop… but only GUN could help us with that."

"That comes up red on my alert system," Sonic blurted out. "I don't trust GUN. Not only do they believe any asset to them is a weapon, but they're always confusing blue and black. It's so annoying."

"Sonic's right… at least, the first thing he said was," agreed Tails. "No offense, Rouge, but I don't really like GUN, either. They're more of a mob than the NFB."

"The who?" Big inquired, scratching his floppy purple ear.

"Never mind…" dismissed the fox. "We need to do things ourselves as much as we can. I've got a bad feeling about GUN's involvement in this, so let's just get moving."

"Agreed," Knuckles concurred. "If I have to work with you guys rather than get my hands dirty and take care of business the way a Guardian should, we should at least find Eggman without GUN's help." Even Rouge nodded, and the group headed toward the workshop door.

"We should probably organize this plan a little before we get carried away," Tails cautioned before opening the door. "Knuckles and Amy should go to Green Hill Zone and look for anything suspicious. Same thing for Rouge and Big around here. Sonic and I can take the Ruins."

"Say, Amy…" Big mumbled, leaning in towards the sakura hedgehog. "While you're in Green Hill Zone, could you look for Froggy's friend, Norton? Froggy says he's been missing for quite awhile…"

"No problem, Big!" Amy replied happily. "I wouldn't mind helping you and your best friend."

"C'mon, Amy…" urged Knuckles. "We don't have any time to waste." Without another word, the echidna pushed through the small crowd of sapients and exited the workshop. Amy sighed and followed suit. The other four Mobians filed through the open door, and the unlike brothers began making their way south while Big and Rouge wandered toward the west end of Central City.

XXX

Amy had quite some trouble keeping up with her echidna companion as he rushed through the pleasant meadows of Green Hill Zone. Not even the aggressive animals and occasional SWATbots could deter the crimson Guardian from making his way to the central regions of the zone. Knuckles made his way across the bridge that led to the more hilly places, but Amy stopped him as she saw a familiar pair of floppy ears, the owner of which was sitting near the edge of the hill. The pink hedgehog dashed over to her rabbit friend, a worried expression crossing her face.

"Cream, what are you doing sitting all alone out here?" she inquired sternly. Cream looked up at her good friend, the tears in her big hazel eyes sparkling in the bright sunlight.

"I can't find Cheese!" the rabbit sniffled. "I've looked everywhere for him, and he's nowhere to be found!"

"Why don't you just go to the grocery store and buy some more?" Knuckles grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Don't you remember, Knuckles?" asked Amy. "Cheese is Cream's pet Chao."

"Not just that!" Cream sobbed. "He's my best friend in the whole wide world!" Amy looked down at her friend with an intent stare. "I mean… when you're not around, Amy. Please help me find him!"

"Oh, of course we'll help you, sweetie!" the pink hedgehog said, much to Knuckles' chagrin. "For now, we need to look for something else, but I promise we'll find Cheese for you." Cream nodded, and Knuckles and Amy headed around the hill and toward the waterfall, which separated the hill from a small clearing with a cave to the north.

"I'll get us over the fall…" offered Knuckles. "Hold on tight." Amy climbed onto the echidna's back, and they glided over the rushing waterfall. Before they could move on, the sound of a child's scream came from the opening of a cave nearby. Without a word, Amy dashed into the cave. Knuckles sighed and followed. Inside, it was almost pure dark, but the battle-seasoned Mobians could see clearly enough to tell that a little boy with fiery red hair was being attacked by two enormous creatures. They resembled scorpions, but there was no scorpion that Knuckles had ever seen that was six feet long and three feet wide. Each monster's tail curled in a menacing arc that threatened to poison anyone who even thought about getting near.

"We've got to save him!" Amy shrieked, producing her hammer in an instant. The Guardian seemed to hesitate, but the head of the mallet was turned toward his face before he could refuse outright. "I don't even wanna hear any of your 'We're wasting time' crap, Knuckles! When little children are in danger, it's a hero's job to save them!" Without another word, Amy ran forward and struck one of the beasts with a blow similar to an uppercut that knocked it onto its back. Knuckles was next to advance, performing a two-handed smash to the ground that delivered enough force to shake the ground. The resulting quake managed to make the exoskeletons of the scorpions start to crack. The behemoth that was still standing upright crawled sluggishly toward the heroes, and its tail shot straight out ahead of it like a spring-loaded blade. The limb was aimed at Knuckles' head, but the echidna was able to dodge most of the attack's force. Only his shoulder had been hit, and it was just a glancing blow at that. Nonetheless, Knuckles staggered for a second before regaining his balance and running at the overturned bug. Using the thing's twitching tail as a springboard, the scarlet echidna leaped into the air and slammed his spiked fist into the soft underside of the creature. The skin broke, releasing a spray of greenish-purple chunks all over the place. After striking the surviving scorpion with her hammer, Amy began spinning around in rapid circles, the mallet extend to create a small pink whirlwind. This was enough to break away the beast's remaining exoskeleton and make several deep bruises in the skin of the creature. It struggled to advance, trying to attack anything it could with sheer brute force. This would not turn out well for the scorpion, as its mad charge ran its head straight into a waiting and spiky fist. With a nasty crunch, the monster collapsed in a dead heap. Wringing out the messed-up gloves, the echidna walked to the back of the cave, where the boy was cowered in an indent in the wall.

"You okay, kid?" he asked, only a touch of gruffness in the Guardian's voice. The redhead lifted his thin face and nodded. It was then that Knuckles noticed a strange hunk of metal in the little human's hands. "Hey, what's that, buddy?"

"M-my alarm…" said the boy, cradling whatever it was. He had the slightest hints of a speech impediment, but his words were intelligible enough. "This is my fort."

"This is no place for such a cute little boy to be playing in!" Amy scolded. "Where do you live? We should get you back to your parents before more of those scorpions attack."

"Amy…" said the echidna under his breath. "I think that thing he's holding is an Eggman machine…" To the boy, he asked, "Where'd you find that piece of junk, kid?"

"It was just lying here," he replied. "I don't want it anymore, though!" The boy almost threw the device at Amy, who received it with an almost ginger cqtch. As the two Mobians exited the cave, their latest fan trotted after them. "Can you take me home? I live in Emerald Town."

"Of course we can!" answered the hedgehog gleefully.

"Amy…" The addressed rodent turned around to face Knuckles, the glare in her jade hues piercing his resolve. "I… I just don't think we should be going so far out of the way…" His point seemed to melt like metal in acid rain, and the two Mobians continued down to the southeastern end of Green Hill. Something seemed to strike Amy's mind, and she pointed at an opening at the top of a rock wall.

"Knuckles, do you think you could climb up there to that opening there?" she asked.

"Why?"

"I think Cheese might be up there. Sometimes, Chao like to hide in places like that," replied the hedgehog. Knuckles sighed and latched on to the vertical surface. He scaled the wall with ease, as was his skill, and entered the room at the top. Inside, he saw the tiny aqua-colored creature sitting in a corner.

"Hey there, little guy…" coaxed the Guardian. "You wouldn't happen to be Cheese, would ya?" The Chao nodded, its emotion ball bobbing up and down with its motion. "Well, come with me, and I'll take you back to your friend Cream, okay?"

So… sorry for not giving this story any love over the recent months. My writing should be returning with even more flash than before, though, now that I have my own laptop, and my spirits are high… well, high enough for now…