[KNUCKLES]

"Ahh for shit's sake," I muttered to myself as my communicator rang, disturbing my deep concentration. Pulling away from the giant piece of tree trunk in front of me and placing my chisel down on the floor, I debated on whether or not to answer. I really didn't want to interrupt my creative flow, I had nearly finished my latest wood carving.

"Better just see what they want." Even though there had been no more emergencies since Eggman had been banished, it never hurt to be cautious. I guess when you've lived most your life in fight or flight mode, you are always prepared to go into battle.

Looking down at the flashing screen I saw a familiar caller ID.

"Rouge." I said as I opened the communicator.

"Oh heyyy darl! How're you doing? Now look I need a favour."

I sighed. Rouge was never one to call for just a causal chat.

"And what's that, Rouge?"

"I need you to come with me to Shadow's house."

I felt my heart skip a beat slightly as this was a strange request. Something didn't feel right.

"Is everything ok?" I said.

"Well, I'm not sure. Last night we figured out no one has seen or heard from Shadow for months. So I'm just going to go check up on him," Rouge answered.

"But why do you need me to come?" I replied.

"Honestly Knuckles, I'm scared of what I might find..." Rouge's voice quivered and trailed off, making me feel uneasy. She tends to have very accurate intuition.

"All right then let's do it, we'll check up on him, make sure he's ok. Don't worry." I tried to sound reassuring.

"Oh thank you Knuckles, you're an angel!" Rouge exclaimed. I blushed slightly at her comment.

"One more thing," she continued, "Are you able to call Sonic and get him to come?"

"No problem," I replied. "When are we going?"

"Let's do it this afternoon? I'll come over around four?"

I looked at the sun. Judging from its position in the sky that was about two hours away. Maybe I'll have enough time to finish my wood carving.

"Sure. See you then." I hung up and sat back on down on my stool opposite my sculpture.

The sun beat down on my back covering me in a mild, yet pleasant warmth. Even though it was winter the sky was clear and blue. The weather is often damp here in Mushroom Hill so I always make the most of any sunshine we have. Today I had decided to sit in my garden and do some crafts. I love creating, working with my hands.

The smell of mushroom soup was oozing out of my kitchen, a small stove in a cave made of stone. Less is more in my world. I don't need a lot. Life has a funny way of always giving you what you need under any circumstance.

Picking up my chisel again I started to chip away small slithers of wood. My mind drifted to the conversation Rouge and I had just had. She sounded so nervous.

Shadow certainly wasn't the most social creature but I could tell he did have something in him that cared for people. He fought selflessly for the freedom of everyone on this planet and never expected anything in return. 

A lot of people get him wrong, because no one has ever seen him smile. But to be honest I believe it's because no one has ever given him a reason to smile.

It sometimes seems that when people suffer, it gives them the capacity to care way deeper beyond comprehension. Shadow has had to watch the closest thing he ever had to family die by gunshot. He was frozen for 50 years and when rescued, had to figure out who he was all over again. If that doesn't fuck someone up, I don't know what will.

One peculiar thing that I did notice, although he hid it very well... Shadow is discretely protective over Sonic. The way he always keeps his eye on him, he doesn't do it with anyone else. The way he took out Eggman after he nearly killed him...

I snapped out of my thoughts as I suddenly remembered I was supposed to call Sonic. I picked up my communicator and punched in his code.

"Hey Knucklehead, what's up!" He greeted me cheerfully.

"Sonic, I need you to meet me and Rouge at my house around four this afternoon." I cut straight to the point.

"Why, what's going on?" Sonic questioned, sounding intrigued. 

"We're going to check on Shadow, and need we some reinforcement," I replied calmly, trying not to create any unnecessary panic.

"Check on Shadow eh? Hmm well now that you mention it, it has been a while since I've seen him around. But you know Shads, he's the ultimate loner. He loves being alone!"

"Yeah well, now that we're not meeting regularly under the circumstance of fighting Eggman, we should make an effort to check in with each other. It makes sense to make sure everyone's doing ok," I replied. I could hear Sonic shuffling his feet, either thinking about what I just said, or impatient to get off the phone. 

"Ok dude, if you say so! We gotta all stick together, no matter what!" Ever the optimist, Sonic always had a positive outlook on things. I could never tell if he was being completely authentic, or if that's just how he copes with life.

"Great. See you here soon." I hung up and went back to my carving, deep in thought.