"Right."Shell answered simply.

Knuckles casually continued on, weaving around potential obstacles. He looked at Shell now. Wait until Sonic hears about this, He'll think I got brainwashed or something. He stopped at a clearing that opened up into a field. "Well, here we are,"

a bit later...

(I picture this music playing in the background: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eKKJ72i9QeU. Listen to it for a like 3 minutes and see what I mean.)

"Hey, Shell? Remember yesterday, when we got into that fight? With the Sea monster, I mean. Remember I told you to fly because I couldn't help you?" Knuckles didn't wait for a response. "I would have use the chaos emerald on it, but... you may or may not know this, but that energy is usually flared up by emotion. Vengeance or Fear, for example. You... could say I didn't want to fall into that. No. I wouldnt be able to--" he stopped and shook his head. "Anyway, I've seen the product of the energy plus those things, and that creature... it reminded me of what I saw that day... and I can't face it alone, chaos emerald or no,"

Shell nodded her scales glinted in the sunlight. "That thing... The sea monster... I sensed that it wasn't.. The same. The thing had a mad insanity in its eyes I couldn't comprehend." She stepped over a ragged faux rock.

Knuckles took up his position next to the Master Emerald. "Yeah, exactly. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it used to be a seahorse or an ordinary fish, only... possessed and mutated,"

She'll nodded gravely. She had bags beneath her eyes and began to nod of after flying for a day and two nights straight, with an injured wing beginning to heal.

Knuckles shook his head. "You should rest," he said. "Just don't get any crazy ideas," he continued with a ghost of a smile.

She'll squinted and backed up slightly into the shadow of a tree. She laid down and closed her eyes. The white lines in patterns on her scales illuminated slightly and softly. "Don't wake me up unless there's danger, okay, okay."

"Ok," Knuckles said. He kicked back and sighed. Things were normal again. He looked at Shell. "Wellll... almost normal,"

Shell went out like a light her back slowly rising and falling.

Night fell, and soon they were both asleep.

A scrapping in the darkness woke Knuckles up. "If this is just Rouge... I swear..." he grumbled. Though he didn't have the best night vision, between Shell's bioluminescence and the Master Emerald behind him, he noticed a metallic glint. "Great. Just great," he growled under his breath. He crept closer for a better look.