Wooow, this might be the shortest chapter! It might actually fit on one AOL e-mail!! :) That would be soo coool...I would have been much earlier with this chapter, but no one who has been inducted in the Honor Society can concentrate too much on things...That's right!!! I'm now an official member of the National Honor Society...All that work is paying off!!! Heehee...that means, to all the readers, to people in high school, keep studying, don't slack, or you'll do REALLY bad!!

Enough of my educational griping, on ith the 7th chapter (I am still soooo psyched about it!!! :D)

-Jess

"Good God!"

Neptune, Uranus, Manic, Sonia and Nathan watched as the fire burned on. Cleona had completely disappeared from sight.

"Neptune..." Nathan tugged at the sailor's skirt. "Uhhh..."

"I know." Neptune turned to the fire. "Deep Submerge!!"

The fire was extinguished by the powerful ball of water. After the fire completely disappeared, Manic clapped.

"That was cool. Cool!" the green hedgehog applauded. "Are you guys Freedom Fighters, or Affiliates?"

"Huh?" The two turned to him.

"What's...an Affiliate?" Haruka asked.

"MANIC!!" Sonia slapped him. "Of course they're not either!"

"But you are." Nathan was amazed. "I always knew you were hiding something...but Freedom Fighters?"

"We're not Freedom Fighters..." Sonia flicked her hair. "But that's not important right now. We've got to get off of this base."

"Uhhh...right..." Nathan turned to the soldiers. "You wouldn't have any room in your helicopter, would you?"

---------------------------------

Eggman was careening over the sea. It was afternoon in the time zone he was in, and he was starting to fall.

"Ack! I have some control," Eggman fumbled with the controls, "But not enough to pul up! Where...where..."

His eye suddenly caught a sight he had, ironically, hoped to never see again. It was an island, one that was lazily floating over the sea.

"Oh! Happy day!" Eggman's face lit up. "I never thought I would be so happy to see...the Floating Island!! Setting coordinates..."

------------------------------

On the island, it was a sunny day at the beach. The many citizens were there, catching a tan or talking with friends.

"Ah, summer!" A turtle stretched. "Nothing like vacation. Right, guys?"

His response was a sudden panic. People were looking up and running in all directions.

"What the..." the turtle looked up to see an all-too-familiar object flying towards them. "OH MY GOD!! IT'S EGGMAN!!!! EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The sound of the screaming echoed throughout the beach. The sound waves bounced off the trees of a nearby jungle, rumbled throughout the snowy Osohai mountains, reverberated through the ancient ruins, and finally reached a small outpost house near the edge of the Sandopolis desert and Angel Island forest.

"Huhhh....?"

The keeper of the house, who had been asleep, was awoken by the screaming. He rubbed his face and looked around. He jumped up, idly pushed aside the Chaos Emerald on his bed and went to the window. The sky was sunny and bright.

"What the heck did I just hear..."

"YO, KNUCKLES!!!" He was surprised by a crocodile. "YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHO'S COMING TO THE ISLAND!!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" Knuckles was thrown to the ceiling. "VECTOR!!!"

"Hey, man!!" Vector flashed a smile. "Like I said, guess who approaching the island!!"

"Another salesman of asbestos shorts?" A disapproving Espio was standing next to him. "Realy, Vector, you need to see a specialist. We're all concerned."

"Yo! Lay off my shorts! It's all cool!" Vector was trying to control himself. "I can handle this, I can handle this..."

"Holy crap." Espio shook his head. "And I thought I might have had problems...but, Knuckles," he turned to the echidna, "we've just heard that Eggman is approaching the island!"

"What? Again?!" Knuckles jumped up to his feet. "When will he get the idea that I'm not going to let him take the island's emerald!"

"I, uh, know this might sound far-fetched, Knuckles," Espio looked around to check that no one was there. He lowered his voice. "I think he's here for your help."

"What?!"

"But he might," Espio objected. "There's always a chance. But, either way, we'll have to confront him when he crashes."

"He's crashing?"

"Yeah." Espio noticed that Vector was sucking his thumb. "He needs help."

He slapped Vector.

"Dow!" Vector fell to the ground.

"All right." Knuckles came out of his outpost. "I'm going to look for him. You and, uh..." he saw Vector whimpering. "Uh...you'll stay here and guard the outpost, right? God knows what would happen if that Emerald or this one gets in the wrong hands."

"Right." Espio shook his head when he saw Vector. "I'll try to get a hold of Charmy and Mighty to alert them. They'll go search too."

"Okay. I'm off!" Knuckles glided into the distance.

He flew over the landscape, looking up in the sky as he did for any type of unusual vehicle that would have been passing. Finally, after going to each edge of the island twice, he heard a loud crash.

KABOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!! Knuckles was alerted to the huge burrow of smoke that followed. It was deep into a thick jungle area of the island, and as he flew over Knuckles saw fires throughout the vicinity. Eggman's location was given away by the fact that some of the fires were being put out with a water laser.

"Well, well..." Knuckles thought as he coasted into a clear and fire-free landing area. "So he's back again, eh?"

Eggman, though completely scorched up and his clothing in tatters, was not injured to the point of death; however, upon trying to stand after putting down his laser he found that his ankle was seriously injured.

"Dammit...DAMMIT!!!" Eggman crawled over to his completely annhilated hovercraft. He stroked the remains carressingly. "Oh, my Egg-O-Matic hovercraft...my pinnacle machine!! You've been destroyed!...That bitch. I've been ejected, dejected, and I'm injured with nothing to help me with! Curses! Now I know I'm a goner...she's bound to follow me..."

"You'll be cursing a lot more when I'm through with you, you demented psychopath." All of a sudden, Knuckles appeared out of noweher in front of him. "So you're back here again. Ruining my jungle. If you're after the Master Emerald I can guarantee you won't be touching it. In fact-"

"Cut off your 'holier-than-thou' crap, you miniscule red punk!" Eggman's voice was sharp and angry. "If you think I'm here for your pleasure or for your Emerald I can swear you have another thing coming. And it's got stilettos!"

"What's this bull? What are you coming here with?" Knuckles was getting angrier.

"What am I coming with?" Eggman realized what could happen in the next minutes, and it scared him. "I'm coming with a chance for you to wipe my face off of this planet forever."

-----------------------------------

Cleona flew closer to the island. She clutched her stomach as she flew.

"My power...is getting weaker..." She looked at the island. "He's here."

she said out loud in a coarse voice. "I must kill him...if it's the last thing I do!!"

A light from the island caught her eye.

"What's this?..." She covered her eyes. "It's like a beacon...yet...as I get closer..."

She looked down at her hands.

"There's something on this island..." She flew under the bottom of this island. "Strange...a floating island..." Her mind went back to the task at hand. "I have enough power to teleport to that light...I must find out what it is!!"

As she teleported, the red butterfly appeared. It paused for a moment, then flew up.

-------------------------------

Knuckles' eyes grew wide in shock. He looked at Eggman, trying to decipher his face, but all he could get was fright and desperation.

"You can even kill me with that water laser," Eggman started to plead.

"Throw me off the island. Beat me to death. Drown me. Lynch me. Rape me-"

"-I don't think so." The thought made Knuckles sick.

"Ok, forget the rape! But I'm begging you, PLEASE!!!" Eggman shifted in order to get to Knuckles' feet. "IF I'M GOING TO DIE TODAY, AT LEAST I WANT YOU TO BE THE ONE TO FINISH ME OFF, NOT THAT PSYCHOTIC BITCH!!! O-HOHOHO....." At this point Eggman started to blubber. "DON'T GIVE ME TO HER, JUST TAKE ME NOW..."

"Why should I-" Suddenly Knuckles looked up. The sky grew dark. "What..."

Suddenly, the island began to rumble. The sky grew dark and black, and lightning flashed brilliantly, scorching even more of the jungle. All over the Floating Island, fires were suddenly started through all of the lightning.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!" Eggman ducked his head.

"What's going on?!" Knuckles was thrown back by an explosion. He landed on his feet. "What are you doing, Eggman?"

"I'm not doing anything!!!" Eggman screamed. "It's here, it's all her! I have no power without my machines, and YOU MUST KILL ME BEFORE SHE DOES!!!"

"WHAT?!?"

"Yeah..." The sky suddenly spoke. "Go on. Kill him. But see if you're faster than I am..."

Knuckles jumped back from the sound and grabbed a tree limb. As he did, however, the tree limb transformed itself and grabbed him, holding him fast.

"Oh, no!!!" Eggman knew what it meant.

The tree changed form, and it became Cleona. She looked completely different from when Eggman saw her last. Something caused her to transform into a giantess, and she was now about nine foot tall. Her hair was brighter, and her eyes were pale orange. Her dress was different as well. All of the injuries, save for her ripped-up stomach, were all healed up.

"Well, well," she crooned as she had Knuckles. She turned to Eggman. "The little old fat man. How nice to see you again."

"Uhhh..." Knuckles tried to break free. "Who are you?!"

"I am Cleona..." Her eyes flashed. "The greatest warrior to ever walk this pathetic world. What a difference this makes..."

In her hand was the spare Chaos Emerald.

"WHAT?!?!" Knuckles screamed.

"That's right...This gem has caused me to transform!!" Cleona laughed.

"Now, I have power to destroy you once and for all, fat man!!"

"Nooooooooo!!!!" Eggman screamed.

"That's impossible!" Knuckles was suddenly let go by the hand. He fell to the ground and pointed to the gem in Cleona's hand. "I don't know who you are or why you're here on my island but I can bet that had to have gotten rings from somewhere beforehand, didn't you!"

"Rings?" Cleona laughed harshly. "What rings? You're a strange creature.

Get out of my way."

With a flick of her hand she air-tossed Knuckles into another tree, where his hands and feet melted in. Knuckles struggled to break free.

"Nnnnngh!!"

"Be happy, stupid creature!" Cleona turned her back to Knuckles. "I'm sparing your life, for now. After all, you're the one that will tell your people to subject to me."

"Dammit!"

"As for you, fat man." She turned her face to Eggman. She had a smile of pure evil. "Just like those fools at the little house, you're not so lucky."

She took her hand and threw a huge fireball at Eggman. He flew up when it hit, being burnt even more, and he landed on his feet.

"Fools at the house...?" Knuckles realized. "NO!! NO!! NOOO!!!"

"QUIET!!" Cleona screamed. "Or I shall destroy you as well."

Knuckles felt something on his head at that moment. He looked over to see a small red butterfly, glowing white, perched on one of his dreadlocks.

"Now..." Cleona walked over to Eggman. Eggman looked up a gave a gasp.

"You die."

"Fool!!" Eggman gave a half-frightened, half-scared laugh. "You think that you can get rid of me so fast, so efficiently? You may get me now, but I'll be back. Someone's got to stop you, like those two soldiers. So go ahead, kill me, but it's your funeral!"

"SILENCE!!" Cleona took her hands and formed a gigantic energy ball.

"DOUBLE ROLL RAPTURE!!!"

The scene that happened next burned into Knuckles' brain cells. The blast of energy was so powerful that he figured that he could have died. He saw Eggman screaming as he was blasted to death. A minute later, the light died down, and all that was left of Eggman that Knuckles could see was a completely burnt corpse. Some of his limbs had completely disintegrated. It was sick for Knuckles to see.

"There." Knuckles could hear Cleona's victory tone. "The guardian and the fat man in one stroke. Just like the fools at the house."

Knuckles' heart sunk. Then he realized again.

"Huh?!" Knuckles thought. "She got me? But...I didn't feel..."

"Don't despair." A small voice filled his ears. He looked to see the red butterfly.

"What the..."

"Don't despair," the red butterfly said. "I was able to protect you."

"You?!"

"That's right."

"But Espio and Vector..."

"I wasn't able to save them from injury," the butterfly said sadly. "I didn't get to them in time. But, I was able to save their lives."

"Am I having this conversation?" Knuckles couldn't believe it.

"Of course."

"WHAT?!" Cleona turned around, shocked to see that Knuckles was alive.

"DIE!!! YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!! DIE NOW!!!!"

She blasted the tree, and a loud explosion followed. After the smoke cleared, however, Knuckles was still alive, and he was down from the tree.

"What?" Cleona's eyes were shocked. "Is it possible...how did you..."

"What??" Knuckles looked at the red butterfly, then looked at Cleona.

"I've got friends. Naturally, what kind of question is that?"

Cleona looked around, but could see nothing.

"Liar!" she seethed. "You have power. No worry, maybe you'll surrender if I destroy your island!"

She turned and disappeared into the jungle.

"What?" Knuckles, confused, looked at the red butterfly. "How could she not see you? You're glowing like sonar."

"Her evil heart cannot see those who are In Between."

"In Between?"

"I am hanging in between death and life, time and eternity."

"Oh," Knuckles understood. "Ghost."

"Not ghost. I am past that." The butterfly fluttered. "I am awaiting my reawakening."

"Reawakening?!"

"Only by touching that emerald that that evil one has will I reawaken."

The butterfly disappeared into the brush. "But if I touch it she will sense my power immediately, unless she is distracted."

"Oh, you..." Knuckles stopped and shook his head. "Well, I guess there's no choice."

He disappeared into the bushes.

--------------------------------

Finally, the helicpoter touched down in front of Magic Cups.

"Thanks." Manic jumped out.

"Say," Sonia turned to them with a suspicious glare. "How did you know where we lived? We said nothing about our home."

"No reason, Sonia," Nathan quickly butted in. "Come on."

"Hey, do you know them?" Sonia demanded. "Are they your drug dealers?"

"I don't-" Nathan shook her head. "Forget it, I'm going home." With that, he left.

"No." Uranus laughed. "I figured that Nathan's too nice a boy to be doing drugs."

Sonia looked at her for a moment, transfixed. Finally, she said her goodbyes and closed the helicopter door. The chopper took off a blistering speeds.

As it left, Sonia turned to Manic.

"You know?"

"What?" Manic looked at Sonia.

"I've heard someone say that before. In that exact way."

"When? Who?"

"I...don't remember..." Sonia held her head. "It's just slipped me...but forget it." She saw Manic's worried look. "Let's get in. The wind's sarting to pick up, and boss wants a report."

"Right..." Manic looked up to the apartment that Sonic, Rotor and Tails were staying. One of the lights was still on. "Who's up at this time of night?"

Up in his room, Tails watched as the helicopter flew away.

"Man..." he thought. "I wonder if I'll ever see them again...especially Michiru..." He looked at the communicator. "I can talk to her on this, but it's not going to be the same. I guess they rescued Nathan-"

The clock made Tails jump. It chimed 11:00.

"This clock..." Tails looked at it. "It sounds louder than normal..."

-----------------------------

"Surrender!!"

The fires raged on. People were screaming everywhere. One was nearly being trampled on by a rushing herd of scared residents.

"What in hell's half acre," Mighty looked around as people and suitcases flew around, "is causing this panic?!"

"I don't know either," Charmy looked around. "But this is serious. We need to get a hold of the others!"

"Right!" Mighty took out a phone. "Calling Vector and Espio!"

He rang them up, only to get a disconnect. He hung up the phone in disgust.

"Friggin phone company!"

"Or friggin Vector."

"No, Mighty. The phone company said that the phone line has been disconnected! That's not possible. You know Knuckles would shove himself down their throats if he found out that they turned off their phones! Especially if this is Eggman."

Suddenly, from the dust, a huge figure appeared amist the screaming citizenry.

"What?!" Mighty and Charmy jumped back, ready to fight.

"Well!!" A scary female overlander suddenly appeared in front of them.

She was twice the size of a normal person of her type. "More gnats! How long will it take that boy to surrender!"

"Huh?" Charmy glanced at her hand. "A Chaos Emerald?!"

"Where'd you get that emerald, you ogre?!" Mighty shouted over the clamor.

Cleona's eyes flashed as she caught the armadillo and bee. She stepped towards them.

"Ogre?!" She laughed. "What if I told you I got it from your guardians on that shanty house? Would you try to fight me then?"

"Shanty house...Vector and Espio!" Mighty clenched his fists. "What did you do to them!!"

"The same thing I will do to everyone who opposes me!!" Cleona laughed.

"I am more powerful than any of you puny Moebians!"

"Oh, really?" Mighty ran forward. "I am Mighty, the strongest man in the world! Me and Charmy Bee will destroy you in the name of our fallen Chaotix partners!!"

"Mighty!! Don't!!" Charmy screeched. "She's got an emerald!! Are you nuts?!"

Mighty threw himself at the woman, only to be thrown up into the air. Cleona threw a fireball at him, and it hit him head on, consuming him in flames. He landed far off in the distance.

"Mighty!!!"

"Now it's your turn..." Cleona blasted Charmy. However, Charmy simply flew out of the way of each attack she threw.

"Not if you can't catch me!"

Cleona threw another blast at Charmy. He dodged, but lost his balance and fell into a cesspool. Cleona took the advantage she recieved and sent a lightning ball into the cesspool.

Knuckles, accompanied by the butterfly, arrived in time to see Charmy as he was elecrocuted. He finally lay still.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Knuckles screamed at the last of his fallen Chaotix.

Cleona turned to see him.

"See? Your puny allies were uselesss." Cleona created a sword from energy. "So you must be here to surrender."

"Who said anything about surrender?" Knuckles' eyes flashed. "I'm here to fight you. I'm the guardian of the island, and of the Emeralds!"

"You did a very good job. You let me have one."

Cleona attacked him. Knuckles dodged it. He flipped backwards to dodge her next attack, only to barely miss being sideblasted by the ricochet.

"Haha!!" Cleona just kept blasting at him. "You're quick, but not quick enough to beat me!"

The sweat poured down Knuckles' body as he dodged every blast. The battle carried into the Marble Gardens, where Knuckles took cover under the ruins.

"Come on, coward!!" Cleona became angry. "I shall rip you like I did the fat man!!"

As he hid waiting for her, the butterfly reappeared.

"Now you must do something else." The butterfly fluttered. "You must cause her to drop the emerald. She is so livid she will not expect a surprise attack."

"A surprise attack...right."

Knuckles slowly peeked his head up. He saw Cleona angrily throwing stones everywhere.

"Surprise...got to switch to guardian mode."

Knuckles very, very quietly tiptoed over to Cleona. He walked over and very lightly tapped Cleona on the shoulder.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!"

Cleona spun around, ball of energy in her hand. Faster than lightning Knuckles swung both fists and pounded her pus infected stomach, causing her to fall back. The emerald flew out of her hands. Knuckles took full advantage of her fall, and he punced on her. He was all overv her, punching anything that his hands hit. After a few minutes of it, he jumped down from off of her.

"Not so tough now, are you?" he angrily shouted. "You've dropped your precious emerald! Now stand up!"

Cleona looked around, and realized that the emerald was gone. However, she was still in emerald form, and as she stood up her fists were clenched.

"Now," Knuckles went to her. "You're coming with me, and it's not going to be pretty."

"No," Cleona said. "It won't be."

Into Knuckles' stomach she thrust her fists, which were powered with energy. Knuckles was thrown across the Marble Gardens, and his head smacked on a stone. He screamed in pain.

"Never underestimate me!!" Cleona jumped over him. "Now is the time for your death!!!"

A flash of light illuminated the sky. A loud crack was heard from behind Cleona. She turned around in time to see a huge ball of energy barrowing towards her. Her eyes grew wide, and she screamed as it slammed into her. The explosion engulfed the whole island in light. Knuckles covered his eyes.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!" Cleona disintegrated into nothing as the light disappeared.

Suddenly, the fires that raged on the island were mysteriously put out and controlled.

Finally, the light disappeared, and Knuckles uncovered his eyes.

"What the..." Knuckles suddenly remembered. "Oh god."

In front of him was the red butterfly.

"You?"

The red butterfly changed shape. Its form shifted until it became human shaped. The red color and the bright white glow disappeared, save for on the human's forehead, where a mark flashed, and revealed a dark-skinned young woman overlander. Dark green hair grew out of her head and swept down to her knees. The overlander's eyes opened to reveal small red irises as it looked at Knuckles.

"What the..." Knuckles couldn't believe it as he stared at the nude girl.

She bowed down and held her right hand up. A strange heart topped staff appeared in her hands.

"Hello, Knuckles." She looked up. "I have been invited by the upcoming crisis. We all have been brought together by the time stream to face the new and powerful enemy."

"A new enemy..." Knuckles looked at Cleona's ashes and shuddered. "So not only is Eggman not my true enemy this time...this isn't the last of her kind, is it?"

The girl shook her head.

"But...who...how..."

The mark on her forehead flashed again. The girl's body glowed for a moment until the aura dissipated, revealing that the girl was now clad in a strange black and white uniform. On her feet were boots. She wore gloves that covered up to her elbows. On her head was a tiara with a small red jewel in the middle.

"I am the keeper of time, newly revived by the power of the Emeralds."

The wind picked up. Knuckles thought he heard a chiming clock. He took a few steps back. "Invited by a new age, I am the reforming pretty soldier, Sailor Pluto."

Up in the sky, the sun blazed down. A strange object suddenly appeared in the middle of the sun's light, only to quickly disappear as laughter accompanied it.

To be continued...