Knuckles the Echidna was sitting on the pedestal that homed the Master Emerald, eyes closed as he listened to the sound of nature surrounding him; noting the lack of danger for once. He was chewing on a piece of grass, letting out a yawn of boredom. The burden being a guardian brought was tiring, even when at its lowest point.
The only major threat he had on days like these was (Y/N), the spunky (a/t) that would go out of her way to make sure the echidna had no peace. She hadn't made an appearance today, but the red Mobian knew better than to let his guard down. She'd show up when he least expected it; so always expecting it should keep her away.
Should.
He let out another yawn, stretching his arms as he closed his eyes. Sometimes he didn't mind the (a/t)'s antics, it entertained him and kept him busy; but other times, it was annoying and distracting. It really depended on the kind of day it was. And he'd never know until the girl was right under his nose.
Just like she was when he opened his eyes.
"Hey Knuckles!" (Y/N) smiled wide, her tail wagging quickly behind her. The echidna jumped, not expecting the girl to just appear out of nowhere. How did she do that?
"Hey (Y/N)." The echidna let out a sigh, relaxing once the girl climbed off him, "What are you up to?"
"Oh nothing, you?" She tilted her head, before chuckling, "Oh right, never mind."
"Classy." Knuckles huffed, raising his purple gaze to hers, "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Nope!" She said, probably too confidently, and the echidna saw a flash of the annoying blue blur in her pose.
"You're hanging out with Sonic way too much." He huffed, crossing his arms, "You're starting to sound like him."
"What? Jealous?" The girl asked, raising a brow and leaning down to the other; she poked his nose, tilting her head the other way, "Don't tell me Knuckles the Guardian of the Master Emerald is jealous of Sonic, the Hero of Mobius. God he'd never let you hear the end of that."
"Why are you here this time (Y/N)?" Knuckles asked again, already growing impatient.
"Oof, so rude." The (a/t) sat next to him, leaning an arm on his shoulder, "But you know me so well..."
She leant up to the side of his head, nuzzling against his quills. The echidna couldn't stop the blush from appearing on his cheeks, but he could manage a grumble as he turned his head away; he hated how bashful he would get with this girl. She was a weakness to him.
"Then tell me what you're up to." The echidna said next, trying to keep his voice low and serious, "What do you want with the Master Emerald?"
"Why would you assume I'm after the big ole M.E.? Now you're just jumping to conclusions." She chuckled lightly, running a finger under his muzzle, "No, I'm actually here because Sonic said he needed you for something, something important."
"Important? Then why didn't you say it straight away?" Knuckles blinked at her, before jumping to his feet, "What does he need?"
"Just a big strong echidna to do some heavy lifting, maybe moving some bots out of the city. It's under attack you know and ohhhh boy it's a mess." The (a/t) leant back on the shiny green emerald, flashing a smile up at the other, "It's urgent, so I'll stay here and watch this bad boy, while you go do your super cool hero thing."
The red echidna froze, turning his purple gaze back down to her; his eyes narrowed and a frown pulled at his muzzle,
"This is a trick isn't it? You just want me away from the emerald."
"I can assure you big red, it's not."
"Then why have you been acting so weird and... Flirty?" He rubbed the back of his head, feeling weird for even saying the word.
"I can't flirt with my crush?" The (a/t)'s tail wagged, but then she sat up and stretched, "No, Sonic really does need your help. I came here to tell you and babysit."
"Alright..." Knuckles said cautiously, keeping an eye on her as he started to walk away, completely oblivious to her rhetorical question, "But I'm trusting you with this, you understand how important it is to me and the island?"
"Of course, the island will fall without it, and you'll be disgraced." (Y/N)'s features flashed a sort of seriousness, "I won't let anything happen to it Knux. Nothing that will endanger anyone."
"Okay, I'll be back as soon as possible then." The echidna gave her a wave, before jumping and gliding through the air.
(Y/N) watched him go, seeing his red fur disappear into the green shrubbery. A while later, when she knew for a fact he'd be off the island, the (a/t) finally let the wide smile she had been holding back spread over her muzzle. It was no lie that Sonic was currently fighting robots in the city, whether he needed Knuckles' help or not... Well that was the debatable side of the story.
And whether or not Sonic was even still fighting, that was also a probability.
No, the (a/t) just wanted to distract Knuckles from the Master Emerald, because she had a dastardly plan. She was going to make the Master Emerald disappear. Of course, not in a literal way; she really did understand how important the emerald's safety was. But with a few mirror tricks and invisible cloaks she stole from story books, the girl was going to camouflage the large magical rock so hard that Knuckles is going to flip.
And yes, it will be funny. Because the (a/t) knows deep down that Knuckles will laugh about it later on.
Or so she hoped.
So she set to work, using her abilities to manoeuvre things she had hidden in the forest around them, making sure the large green rock was practically invisible to the naked eye.
Meanwhile, Knuckles had just arrived in the city, seeing the devastation; he became more alert and forgot about how fishy (Y/N) had been acting. Gliding around the tall buildings, the echidna kept an eye and an ear out for brawling, a blue blur, or busted bots. After scoping the whole city and finding nothing, he started to wonder if he missed the fight; something he was sure he wouldn't do since (Y/N) insisted Sonic really needed help.
The echidna frowned to himself, before making his way to Sonic's house. There, he found Tails, a two tailed golden fox patching up the blue hedgehog. The two looked up as Knuckles entered their home, a look of surprise over both their features.
"Knuckles, what brings you here?" Tails asked, wiping a scratch on Sonic's side with some rubbing alcohol. The hedgehog hissed at the pain, but otherwise kept a straight face.
"Yeah, you totally missed an awesome fight. Eggman tried to take over the city, as usual, and I totaled him in a record 5 minutes." He chuckled, giving a thumbs up, "Of course 5 seconds is my goal."
"That's what she said." Shadow walked into their kitchen. The dark hedgehog looking over the bench before grabbing a croissant and looking around the room, before leaving.
Sonic and Tails blinked, "When did he get here?" They asked in unison.
Knuckles stared at them for a moment, taken back by whatever just happened, before shaking his head and getting back on topic, "Wait, you mean there's no big battle?"
"Big battle? What made you think there was a big battle?" Tails asked, now tilting his head at the echidna, "If there was one, we would have notified you straight away."
"(Y/N) told me..." Knuckles stopped, before holding a gloved hand to his forehead, "God dammit she did it again."
"Looks like you've been duked." Sonic chuckled, leaning a hand on his knee, "So are you two dating yet or not?"
"Shut up." The red Mobian growled, heading for the front door, "If she did anything to the Master Emerald I swear-"
"Hold up Knuckle-head." Sonic jumped up and in his way, "You know (Y/N) would never do anything to the ole M.E."
The firey echidna had to stop from glaring at him. (Y/N) had called it that as well, so he was right; she was spending a bunch of time with the blue blur. He hadn't admitted it earlier, but the (a/t) had been right about him being jealous.
And he had the strongest urge to punch Sonic right in his smiling face.
"Uh... Sonic?" Tails piped up, motioning for his blue brother to step away from their red friend, "Just let him go sort out whatever (Y/N) has planned, okay?"
The Hero of Mobius smirked, before nodding and stepping back from Knuckles. He raised a brow at the echidna, who returned it with a glare and a raised fist, before he took off out of the house.
"He was so about to punch me, wasn't he?" Sonic asked, rubbing a finger under his nose.
"Ohhh yeah." Tails let out a sigh.
"Jealous much?" Sonic snickered, before yelping as the yellow kitsune hit his arm, "What was that for?"
"Let me finish patching you up."
"Okay okay..."
Meanwhile, Knuckles had just gotten back to Angel Island, feeling a sort of rage as he pushed through the green leaves and vines. If the (a/t) has done anything to the Master Emerald, he was going to be so pissed.
Finally, he got to the base of the ruins, raising his purple gaze up the large amount of stairs to find the magical emerald was in fact gone. Knuckles let out a low growl, stomping up the stairs to find (Y/N) leaning against one of the pillars, her eyes closed as if asleep. Grasping her shoulders tightly, he shook her awake, and the (a/t) snapped to attention.
"Knuckles! You're back!" She smiled, her tail wagging.
"What have you done with the Master Emerald?" Knuckles ask in a fuming rage.
The (a/t) shrunk back quickly, feeling the heat coming off the red echidna, as if he was actually on fire. Boy he really was mad about this, but she kept her cool, seeing how far she could push the echidna's mood.
"What do you mean? The emerald is over there." She pointed to the clearly empty space.
"Over where?" Knuckles asked, turning the (a/t) to face the empty space, "Do you see it anywhere?"
"... Oh hey look at that." She said, blinking as if noticing the gap for the first time, "It is gone."
"Where is it?!" Knuckles yelled, stepping away from the (a/t) and over to the empty podium. His purple eyes searched it the space, trying to find any clues on to who might have taken it. But it was just empty, there was nothing in front of him as far as he could see.
(Y/N) came up next to him, seeming way to calm for the situation, although her voice sounded panicked, "I don't know, I had just closed my eyes when you arrived, it was there literally seconds ago!"
"Well obviously you fell asleep, because it was gone the moment I arrived and I had to climb all the way up here." The echidna growled at her, sending the (a/t) a glare, "I told you the Master Emerald was important and needed to be protected, you told me that you could do it!"
"But I can do it!" She yelled back, giving the echidna a frown.
"Can you? Because I don't see the Master Emerald here."
The (a/t) let out a sigh, before a wide smile appeared on her muzzle. She just couldn't keep it in anymore, as much as she loved her fiery friend's reaction. The glare she was getting from him intensified and he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt.
"What did you do (Y/N)? Where is the Emerald?"
"Easy easy." The (a/t) grabbed his arm, unable to stop the chuckle that shook in her chest, "It's right there."
"No it's not!"
"Did you even feel around for anything?"
The echidna stopped, staring at the other. It was obvious the cogs in his mind were cranking, his brain was processing what she just said, or maybe why she said it. But then it clicked, and he let the (a/t) go. Taking a step back, he shook his head, before holding a gloved hand up to where the emerald should be and grasping onto an invisible sheet.
It was light and easily pulled off the Master Emerald, the green shine making Knuckles relax as the sheet bundled at his feet. Placing a hand on the emerald, he took a moment to compose himself, before turning his still agitated gaze to the (a/t).
(Y/N) was sitting on the stony ground, covering her mouth to stifle the giggles that had escaped. She seemed very pleased with herself, and Knuckles couldn't help but feel silly.
"See? I can do it." The girl managed to say through her laughing, "My Gods your face, it was priceless!"
"Yeah yeah." He rolled his eyes, before looking down at the now semi-invisible blanket, "Where did you get this from anyway?"
"A book." The girl said, finally calming herself down, "Well, Tails helped make it, but he didn't know what I was going to use it for. He probably guessed breaking into Eggman's lab, but that would just be boring."
"Well I can't deny, it did a good job hiding the Master Emerald..." Knuckles said, clutching the blanket in his hands, "I think I'll keep it for future use."
"W-Wait, that's mine!"
"Not anymore it's not." The echidna gave her a sly smile, "You just gave me a free gift. Thanks (Y/N)."
The girl pouted, before crossing her arms with a huff, "Fine."
"And for what it's worth." Knuckles draped the sheet back over the M.E, making sure it was hidden, "You did do a pretty good job guarding it, so thank you."
"No problem Knux." She chuckled again, before stretching and laying back, "I think I'll make it a full-time job."
"In your dreams."