Art above is drawn by me (I'm terrible at drawing chao lol)

Angel island

Knuckles' (Boom!) PoV:

Knuckles crawled out of the cave, shaking the water droplets that had fallen into his spines when he did so. He looked down, finally getting a good look at the creature he saved the night before.

It was cyan and yellow, and had an orb that floated around the top of its head. It also sported a pair of light pink wings, which reminded the echidna of a fairy.

It was still sleeping, so Knuckles held it carefully as he started to explore the area. The air had a fresh scent to it, a result of the earlier rain.

I miss my friends. 

The creature in his arms started to squirm, waking up. It squinted, at first not recognizing the red echidna.

"Chao?" Knuckles looked down, and smiled.

"Morning, lil' guy!"

"Chao chao!" It then recognized its saviour.

It flew out of his grasp, and sat down on his head. 

He chuckled and started to follow his sensitive nose, trying to find the scent of any food nearby. The scent of the rain made things a bit difficult, but he eventually caught the scent of his favorite food.

Grapes.

He followed the scent, ending up in a small vineyard. According to his counterpart, there were many vineyards scattered around the island, to satisfy his hunger anywhere. 

Knuckles grabbed a few clusters of grapes, handing some to the cyan critter. It gratefully took them and sat under the shade of a tree. The echidna sat next to it, snacking on his breakfast.

x-x-x

Sonic's (Modern) PoV:

Crash!

The Egg-Hammer tumbled backwards, exploding.

That's taken care of.

The blue hedgehog shook the debris out of his quills, and stretched. Tails took out his Miles Electric, scanning the damage.

The citizens, mobians and humans alike, cheered for the two heroes.

"What's the status, bud?" He asked the kitsune.

"The damage isn't too serious, and thankfully there are no injuries or deaths."

"Thank Chaos."

"You, however, are in bad shape." The kitsune stated, pointing to the cuts and bruises on his older brother.

"Huh. I did not feel those at all. I guess the adrenaline didn't wear off, yet." Sonic said, then looked at his friend.

"You aren't so good, either." Tails was also bruised, but thankfully there wasn't anything too serious.

"Alright then, we'll go home and get ourselves patched up." He grabbed the foxes arm -careful not to hurt him- and ran in the direction of Green Hills.

Tails cheered as the wind hit his face. Sonic made sure not to run too fast, or the fox would suffocate.

With their speed, it would take a while to reach their house, though. Sonic pulled Tails towards his chest, making sure his face was facing behind them, and increased his speed.

The hedgehog halted, gasping at the sight before him.

"Sonic? What's wrong?" The fox pulled away from his brother's grasp, and stood there, shocked at the sight.

Their house was on fire.

Sonic's mind immediately went to the two mobians they had left behind.

"Tails, call the firefighters! I'm going in!" The hedgehog sped towards the flaming building, not leaving a chance for the fox to speak.

Sonic crashed through the door, ignoring his aching arm. 

He tried to make out the silhouette of... well... anything, but he couldn't, given that he could barely see the tip of his own nose.

He coughed as the smoke filled his lungs. The azure hedgehog knew that he couldn't stay here for long.

"*cough* HELLO? IS ANYONE THERE?" he yelled. Even if somebody did answer, he didn't hear anything.

He couldn't sense any chaos energy, either, with the blazing heat around him making him unable to focus.

His eyes landed on a part of the wall that hasn't burned yet. There was a long claw mark that was, undeniably, evidence that a fight had happened here.

Sonic figured out that there may be two reasons he wasn't being answered.

The two mobians were either unconscious, or they weren't here.

He hoped it was the latter.

The hedgehog remembered that there were breathing masks in his bedroom and Tails', so he made his way to the stairs. He leaped over the wall of flames and dragged himself up. 

His vision had begun to blur, and breathing became harder. He stumbled over his old sweater, and grabbed it, using it as a temporary mask.

He found his brother's room first, which had already started to burn. The door was up in flames, so it was inaccessible to him. His room's condition was the same. 

He was unable to reach the masks.

The smoke's affect started to take hold, and the azure hedgehog could feel his energy ebbing away. He tried to make his way to the window at the end of the corridor.

The last thing he could remember was the shout of an unknown person, and a hand grabbing his arm.

x-x-x

Knuckles' (Modern) PoV:

The red echidna ran through the woods, holding the crimson chao who was unable to keep up. He knew that his counterpart was most likely near shelter or food.

He had already checked the caves at the heart of the forest, and found no evidence, so he went to the caves closer to the base of Red Mountain.

This could take hours, if not days, to find him!

He grumbled in annoyance as water that had collected on the tree leaves fell on his head. He looked up, realizing a flicky had taken off, causing the water to fall.

"Chao?" He looked down to see the chao trying to dry its head, but it was unable to reach it. He dried it with his mits, and continued the search.

"Where could he be?" He said, frustrated. He knew this island like the back of his hand, so why wasn't he able to find one, bright red echidna twice his height?

The chao in his grasp started to squirm, 'chao'ing frantically as if he heard something. There was a high possibility the it did, since chao had better hearing than echidnas.

"Lead the way." The crimson echidna let it go, and it immediately started flying to his left. He followed it, and caught the scent of grapes.

Of course! The vineyards!

He ran towards it, catching the attention of a cyan chao and his counterpart. The cyan chao 'chao'ed in delight and flew towards the crimson chao, hugging it.

His counterpart also looked happy, but his eyes betrayed the hurt.

Knuckles sighed. He knew he had to apologize.

"Look-" he began. His counterpart looked at him with curiosity.

"I...I'm sorry." He stammered.

"..."

The echidna let out a surprised yelp as his counterpart pulled him into a tight hug.

"I-I can't breathe, let me go." he forced through gritted teeth. The larger echidna loosened his grip, still hugging him.

x-x-x

Tails' (Modern) PoV: 

The firefighters had came shortly after the fox called, and extinguished the fire. They found Sonic, unconscious, on the second floor, and brought him out.

The kit gasped as he saw his limp brother. 

"Sonic!" He rushed over to the Dalmatian who was with him, and knelt down to check his pulse.

He let out a relieved breath, happy that the hedgehog was ok.

"We're lucky we got him out in time, or he could've suffocated in the smoke." The Dalmatian said, 

"Thank you... uuhh..."

"Milo. And I'm just doing my job, no big deal." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

Tails' ears perked as the azure hedgehog groaned, opening his eyes. He tried to stand up, but was stopped by the dog next to him.

"Woah, there! You need rest!" Milo said, pressing the hedgehog down.

"Ugh, what happened?" 

"You went headfirst into a burning house, that's what." Tails replied.

"... Right. Wait, where are-?" He was interrupted by the kit.

"They aren't here, don't worry."

"Who aren't here?" A confused Milo asked.

"Some of our friends. They were in the house when we left for Central City. Thank Chaos they aren't here." Tails explained.

"So... where will you guys stay? I'd gladly have you guys as guests." The Dalmatian stated.

"Heh, thanks, but I think I know where we will stay." Tails said.

"Alright. I'll go check out what my friends are doing, then." Milo said, heading towards the group of firefighters in the distance.

Tails helped the azure hedgehog to his feet, supporting him. He noticed that his brother was shaking, and wrapped his namesakes around him.

"So, bro, where are we staying?" Sonic asked.

"Well, who lives closest to here?" Tails replied, a smirk on his face.

"Who-? Oh, you gotta be kidding me." A light blush formed on the hedgehog.

END OF CHAPTER 6

(A/N)

I finally got some inspiration! And I'm still not tellin what happened to the Boom! duo yet-

😁