Angel Island was moving slowly.

That in and of itself wasn't unusual. The floating isle usually did move all across the world, but, lately, Knuckles seemed to have placed it into a holding pattern nearby Mystic Ruins, over the sea.

It made it easier for both Tails and Sonic to get up there, with the workshop/house located along the edge of Mystic Ruins, and it meant that they were always prepared for whatever season may be striking the island. (Sonic refused to take any blame for the two of them showing up with beach balls in the middle of an Angel Island winter)

The small, two-tailed fox frowned slightly as he pressed his nose against the windowpane. The cool surface didn't disconcert him as he watched the island slowly drift… North?

The fox leaned harder against the window now, breath fogging up the glass, blue eyes worried.

This year's winter had been harsh. Not just a little cold wind and some snow, but several blizzards that broke new records, piling snow deep enough that the fox knew there was at least one avalanche up on the mountains.

Not that the stubborn echidna living on the island would actually admit to it: no, he had to find out when he and a certain speedy blue hedgehog had visited to check up on their stubborn friend they found half the mountain snow at the base of the shrine.

The echidna still refused to say what had happened- "Tails?"

The fox yelped, tails twisting to take into the sky in a single moment. "S-Sonic!"

"Yo, Tails, what's wrong? Is Angel Island falling or something?" Despite the light hearted tone, The question rung clear enough.

The Island falling would be a disaster any way you looked at it. "N-No, not falling Sonic, but look- it's moving north." Tails pressed a finger against the windowpane, pointing to the slowly vanishing isle.

Sharp green eyes lifted to the island. "That's odd, why would Knuckles want to go north? I think he'd be tired of all the snow."

The hedgehog shrugged, "Eh, whatever. We'll go check it out tomorrow. It's probably nothing."

Sonic linked his hands behind his back, a completely carefree position. Tails frowned after his big brother for a second, before looking back to the Island. It wasn't dipping any, nor was it rising. It kept at the right height… just going north.

"It doesn't make any sense though Sonic!" Tails wailed, following after the hedgehog, "Why would Knuckles want to go north? Winter is only just barely breaking here!"

It was true, the only snow left on the ground were the sorrowful remains of snow animals and igloos that had been built a few weeks before. This didn't seem to bother Sonic, who simply shrugged. "It might just be Knuckles off doing his guardian thingy's. We'll check it out tomorrow."

It wasn't that easy. It was never that easy. Whenever Sonic wanted something to be easy, the entire universe conspired against him making life more difficult.

The metal beneath his feet hummed softly, and wind whipped at his quills as the plane majestically soared through the sky. Automatically, one sneaker-clad foot began to tap against the metal impatiently. "Tails! Anything new?"

"NO SONIC!" The fox bawled above the rushing wind, eyes scanning the sky ahead. "Nothing on the scanner! But Angel Island can move pretty fast when it wants too! I'm going to go just a little further!"

Sonic groaned, looking back to the front. It had to be a waste of time. There was no way Knuckles was actually going north. It didn't make any sense, and Sonic just wanted to go in some other direction, somewhere warmer.

"THERE IT IS! I'M PICKING IT UP ON MY RADAR SONIC! DEAD AHEAD!"

"What?" Sonic collapsed to his knees, leaning over the cockpit, gloved hands clinging to the metal. "You sure about that?"

"Uh-huh!" Tails tapped a complicated looking doo-hickey, blue eyes shimmering with confidence. "I have it right on here."

"Okay then! Let's go see what's bugging Knuckles enough that he'd decide to extend his winter vacation, shall we?" Sonic leapt to his feet, crouching slightly on the metal of the biplane.

He could see it now, a dark smudge on the horizon, too dense to be clouds. A grin split the hedgehog's face. "That spiky anteater had better have a good explanation for this Tails!"

"I'm sure he does! Knuckles tries to take good care of the island!" The plane spiraled higher, almost unnoticed by Sonic. He was busy staring at the floating isle, trying to mentally will it into giving up its secrets.

Personally, Sonic couldn't understand Knuckles love of the island. It was filled with booby traps, ancient ruins that crumbled slowly, and it had absolutely no chilidogs. Not even a grocery store!

What did Knuckles eat up there anyways?

"Hold on tight Sonic! The crosswinds are getting rough!" The plane tilted sideways at Tails words, and Sonic slid one foot out, steadying himself against the wind. "HERE WE GO!"

The plane began a dizzying descent towards the island- Sonic clung for dear life against the buffeting winds. "Whoooaaaa- waargh! Oh commmeeee ooooonnnnn! Taaaaaiiiiilllllsss!"

"Hang on Sonic, this is going to be a rough landing!" The plane bounced, jolted, and Sonic felt his hands disconnect for a single precious second. He scrambled to catch a hold for dear life, emerald eyes squeezing shut.

BOOM!

The low groan of angry metal screaming against frozen ground rumbled through his body, more touch then hearing. The roaring slowed and slowly died, as Tails turned the plane off.

Sonic dizzily considered kissing the ground for one sweet second, before an irrepressible smirk appeared instead as he jumped off. "Good job little bro!"

"Thanks Sonic. I think the landing gear is a little damaged though, but I can fix it. Why don't you go on ahead to Knuckles?"

"Sure thing!" Sonic lifted one foot, balancing perfectly. For a single moment, the world seemed completely on pause, even his breath frozen in the cold air, before BOOM!

It only took a few moments to reach the ancient shrine; Sonic knew the pathway like the back of his hand, and he was using shortcuts for once. It's too bad Knuckles doesn't come down to greet us anymore, makes it easier for both of us if we don't have to go searching.

Well, it made it easier for Sonic at least. Knuckles always had a kind of sixth sense when it came to people on his island and where they were.

Step, step, bounce, roll, and fake glide, and bam!

The ancient shrine towered above him, it's crumbling, ruined stone staring at him. Sonic could feel his spines sharpening in response; it was something he would never, ever admit to Knuckles, but as he'd gotten older, more attune to the chaos emeralds, he felt more and more of The Master Emerald's power, seeped into the very land itself.

It was a dangerous power, one that his body instinctively reacted too.

"KNUCKLES! HEY, KNUCKLES!" Sonic shook himself determinedly out of his funk, concentrating on his missing red friend. Knuckles would be at the shrine, he always was.

Quickly he zipped up the stairs and glanced around, foot tapping impatiently. "Okay Knucklehead, you're taking this whole being a mysterious lone to ridiculous levels!"

Silence.

I hate silence. Where is he?

Emerald eyes scanned the shrine. There was a thin layer of ice coating the shrine, and the Master Emerald was covered in it own sheet of crystalline ice, completely incasing the gem. Sonic cautiously approached; "Wow Knuckles, I can't believe you'd let the Emerald get this bad."

The echidna did take good care of the emerald. Kind of obsessively actually, but he was getting better about it, more willing to relax a little. "KNUCKLES!" Sonic circled around the Emerald twice, just because he could. There was still no response.

"Huh, that's odd, is he with Tails?" Sonic glanced back to where Tails was probably working on the Tornado.

With a shrug, he looked up at the mountains. There was a cave that overlooked the Master Emerald, where Knuckles liked to sleep if it had been peaceful enough lately. Normally he just stored food up there in preparation for the winter.

Still, it would only take about two seconds to climb up there and check it out for himself.

A blue blur made its way to the cave in the time it took to think the thought.

"Yo! Knux! You up here?" Sonic tapped his foot at the entrance of the cave, impatiently waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He could see the few coals of a dying fire on the ground, and what looked like a giant wrapped bundle placed next to the fire.

"Knuckles? Okay, now this is totally not on!" Sonic threw his hands up in exasperation, "It's too cold on this island to go chasing you everywhere!"

He crouched down to poke at the cloth bundle. "You had better be in here and- oh."

Sonic's voice trailed off as a familiar red spine poked out of the bundle. "Really Knucklehead, you fell asleep on the job? Oh, you bet I'm not going to let you live that one down!"

Ready to back up at any second for when his sleeping companion exploded into violence, Sonic poked his companion in the cheek.

Not even a twitch.

"Knuckles?"

He crouched down next to the echidna, pulling the blanket further back. The red furred guardian was curled up on one side, as if trying to protect himself. A slight feeling of unease began to creep in.

"Hey, Knuckles?" The hedgehog jiggled Knuckles shoulder, still ready to jump back.

The echidna didn't even so much as twitch.

Sonic hesitated for a moment, before stripping off one glove. Knuckles could yell at him about inappropriate touches later: after he made sure his friend was still alive. Carefully he placed one bare paw against the neck, shivering slightly as it became clear just how cold Knuckles was.

He felt like ice.

Pulse Sonic, he's gotta have a pulse.

The hedgehog slumped in relief as he felt it weakly, the soft, unsteady pulse that reassured him Knuckles was still alive. "Okay, one frozen echidna being transported back to the workshop. We'll call up Chaotix or someone to watch the Emerald."

Quickly he gathered Knuckles, blanket and all, into his arms. "This year we're going to build you a house, with proper central heating, and you will use it during the winter if we have to lock you in it."

There was no answer.

Sonic zipped down the hill side, at a fraction of his normal speed, but still going fast, aware of the bundle in his arms.

Knuckles was light for a creature seemingly carved out of muscle- Sonic doubted that there had ever been an inch of baby fat on the echidna, and now that they were all growing up, whatever fat there couldn't been was gone completely now.

Sonic dodged a rock, and jumped across a pit; Knuckles body blocked his landing, and he stumbled for a split second. Quickly his eyes glanced at the unconscious echidna- Knuckles didn't seem to be registering anything at the moment.

Still- Sonic shifted his aching arms and took off at a steady pace once more.

The Tornado came into view, Tails still working on the landing gear, a smudge of grease along his cheek. Normally Sonic would've laughed and wiped it off while teasing him, but now wasn't exactly the time. "Tails! Can you get the Tornado working?"

"Yeah, sure, it'll be rough landing her but- is that Knuckles?"

The fox kit dropped his wrench, hurrying towards Sonic, cautiously lifting the blanket corner. "Oh dear, that doesn't look very good. We should get back now Sonic. Put him in the second seat, we'll strap him in."

Tails hastily gathered up his stuff, as Sonic leapt up to the second seat, and lowered the fiery red echidna into it. "Do I need to strap him in Tails?"

"No, it should be fine, I'll do my best to go smoothly, and I think he should probably be covered as much as possible." Tails chewed on his bottom lip worriedly; Knuckles had the greatest medical knowledge out of the three, gleaned from years taking care of himself. Tails relied on his machines; Sonic relied at on his fast immune system to beat down everything.

"Ready Sonic? We'll take off now, while the wind has died down!"

Sonic grinned at Tails as he swung himself to the top of the plane. Tails settled down, flicking on the plane, running through the checks as quickly as possible. Sonic felt his foot tapping impatiently and stilled it- this wasn't Tails fault.

"Yeah, thanks Chaotix, we owe you for that! Yeah, the Island was headed north for some reason- there should be plenty of firewood in Knuckles cave, just help yourself. No, he still hasn't built a mansion. Yeah, well, trust me, I plan on making certain that he does build one as soon as he defrosts."

Sonic hid his face in the palm of his hand as a high-pitched voice chattered on the other end, grunting every so often, "Yeah, anyways, see ya guys later." He slammed the phone down on the receiver and zipped to the spare room.

It was actually Sonic's room that he had graciously given up seeming how it was on the first floor and had the biggest door- perfect for anything Tails might need to wheel in. Sonic didn't use it much anyways, preferring to fall asleep on a branch overlooking a canyon in the middle of nowhere.

"Tails? How's it going?"

The bed groaned beneath the weight of what looked to be every single last blanket in the house. Tails was frantically digging through the closet, tossing out old clothes Sonic had never actually worn left and right. "Sonic! Where's the electric blanket I got you a year ago?"

Sonic frowned slightly, attempting to remember that far back- "Amy broke it."

"I was afraid you were going to say that. Great." Tails rocked back onto his heels. "I could probably make another one, but it'll take a couple of hours."

"These blankets should be enough, right?"

"I don't know." Tails waved some kind of hand held device at Sonic, "I put a heat measure on him to monitor his vitals, but he hasn't been warming up at all. His core temperature is dropping still!"

"Uhh, maybe hibernation?"

"Echidna's don't hibernate I think."

"They might, and Knuckles has just been putting it off until now- maybe he's been using the Master Emerald to keep from falling asleep!"

Together they turned to look at the only echidna they had ever known. "Somehow I get the feeling that isn't it Tails."

"Yeah, somehow I do too."

They sighed simultaneously, drooping slightly. "We gotta get an actual doctor here I think Sonic, but still, there's not much they can do either. Knuckles is one of the last echidna's."

Sonic shrugged, "Eeeh, he's gotta be similar to other creatures. I mean, he's a kind of anteater- right?"

The two of them glanced to the spiky red echidna buried beneath the blankets. "Uhh, not really."

Both of them groaned. "Anyways, I'll keep trying to warm him up. See if you can find a doctor that specializes in rare species, would you Sonic?"

"Question is, how are we gonna afford it?"

"Oh, Knuckles told me where he stashes a few of his rare gems for times like these, so go ahead Sonic." Tails smiled, "I've taken a look at some of the gems and he's probably a millionaire."

The words fell like a weight on Sonic's head. "M-Millionaire?"

"Uh-huh, since he doesn't have to pay for food, housing, utilities, damages to buildings, cable, or the internet." Tails hovered his way back to the unconscious echidna. "Plus he goes treasure hunting every now and then."

"So Knuckles will be paying for everything? Sweet! I'll get the best doctor in here right away!"

A blue blur zipped out of the door, leaving behind only the wind to say he was ever there.

The large crocodile shivered and sneezed loudly, wiping the palm of one paw across his nose. Beside him, a chameleon muttered crossly about going into hibernation if it got any colder.

A small bee flew around the giant green emerald, humming away happily as he picked away the ice. "I hope Knuckles thanks me for getting off all of this ice!"

"Yeah, yeah Charmy." The two reptiles huddled closer to the small, portable heater. "It's a good thing we brought this, right Espio?"

"We'll have to go back down to the surface soon to get new batteries." Espio pointed out, movements sluggish in the cold air.

"Perfect, why don't you and me go. Charmy, take the phone- if anything bad happens hide and call us." He was obviously eager to be somewhere, anywhere warmer- Espio couldn't find it in himself to complain about it. He was freezing as well.

"Will do Vector!" The bee saluted the crocodile, and went back to tearing off shards of ice from the Master Emerald. He was having lots of fun! The emerald sparkled and shone in the light, really pretty, and it looked prettier without the ice.

a/n: Well, well, well! What has happened to our beloved echidna? Find out in our next installment, and don't forget to drop a review if you like.