SeaShell muttered to her self tips on fishing as she walked briskly through the woods, ignoring the scolding Cht-Cht-Cht of the squirrels. She climbed up a tree to survey the area. She noticed plant growth in some grey soil. Weird. She spiraled down and inspected the dirt. Her forked tongue flicked in concentration as she determined it was old ash mixed with droppings and soil. She guessed there was a fire here and went along her way back, not at all curious.

A question came into Knuckles' mind: Where was Eclipse? The last time he saw her she was delivering a message, but she hadn't shown up since then. The fox-like creature was hiding something, pretending to be feral for the first month or so, but showing signs of intelligence every time their paths crossed. What she was hiding, he didn't have the faintest clue, but the whole tingling sensation when he was spying spoke for itself. Maybe she was on West Side with the others-- This is pointless, He thought. The reason she left is because she's just as suspicious as I am. She knows I'm catching on and she's going to put her barriers up now. He growled in disgust. He stood up and wandered off. "Try not to think about it,"

(family reunion tiiime)
Shell decided maybe a bit of fresh air would do her some good. She lifted her powerful wings and took of. How come flying is easier to me than swimming and fishing? I'm the worst sea dragon. Ever. She flew on without another thought keeping Angel island in her sight. She landed on a nearby island. It was barren with little grass and trees. Wild rabbits cowered at the sight of her and leaped away. She sniffed at the dying grounds. It smelt familiar. She shuddered at the sudden memory of soft talons rubbing mud on her bruised back. She stepped back and yelped falling into a steep hole. She tumbled into another dragon, who in turn screeched in surprise. She cowered to the back of the cave as the other dragon stared at her in disbelief. He had the same emerald green eyes she did, and the same black-purple horns, as well. He stuttered out, "S-s-s-seashell?!" he said no more as Shell came a bit closer interested in how he knew her name. "H-how do you know me? I never said my name." The he-dragon almost laughed, but instead he blurted. "That's because I named you."

( :p yay happiness!)

Knuckles looked up and saw Shell fly off. "I thought she was--? Nevermind,"

"W-wait, what?!" Shell let her jaw drop. Her 'father' was alive? What about her mother?

Disabling traps as he found them, Knuckles continued on his mindless wandering. Yeah, that was the phrase. That's what happens when you go on one out of the ordinary adventure; you get bored easily and will do anything to satisfy that boredom, even if it was pointless. Well, at least he was accomplishing Something. He stopped by a waterfall and looked through the mists. "Is that bridge still broken?" He growled. The splintered boards and unraveled rope dangle over two outcrops on either side of the flow of water. He kicked a metal trigger absently. Nothing happened, as this was a one time use trigger that he used... what, two years back? It was amusing at the time, and he remembered exactly how it happened. He smirked, though he knew that he back then he did it out of a sheer since of duty, not just for laughs.

Shell inched closer. "If your my father who's my mother?" she asked suspicious of the other dragon. The other dragon sighed and looked nervous his raven black scales glittering. "She was...was... Coral..." he answered after two solid minuets. "Was? Well, where is she then?" Shell asked narrowing her eyes wanting answers now. "U-uh..." The other dragon gulped and looked nervous out of his mind. "Dead." was all he could say his claws twitching. Shell's world went... well how do you explain this...hmm... oh, yeah... she felt like an invisible force smacked her the face. Something told her not to trust her 'father'. "How then huh?!" she spat her tail lashing. The dragon looked down not wanting at all to meet his daughters furious eyes. Shell immediately noticed guilt on the dragons face. "Y-...you... killed her?!!?" Shell guessed fury washing over her like water. "N-no I-I can explain--" he started but in fury Shell raked his face with white glistening claws and took of flying as fast as she could from her cowardly father. She plummeted into Angel island's waterfall sinking to the bottom letting steam rise up in anger, betrayal, and a deep dark feeling of resent.

(Oh... That was... um... interesting... warm fuzzy feeling gone)

Knuckles yelped and lept back in surprise. "What... happened...? Shell?" He asked after he had a moment to recover from the shock.

Shell answered with a whole ton of furious bubbles and steam from the bottom of the water fall.

"That bad, huh?" Knuckles said, trying to get a glimpse at her. "Is it your wing? Are you hurt?"