"I trust Mr. Wang. If there's only one person on Earth worth trusting, it's definitely him."
Sonic looked at Andrew and said, "Besides, with Mr. Wang's intelligence, he has no reason to covet the Master Emerald."
"Sonic, I like an honest hedgehog like you. You always tell the truth."
Andrew accepted the Master Emerald with a satisfied expression. Diana gave his shoulder an exasperated smack. Despite having kissed his face countless times, she still had no idea just how thick his skin was.
Knuckles looked at the others, feeling dispirited. Something he had pursued with all his might meant nothing to anyone else. It felt awful—he felt like a complete idiot.
"Forget it. It's yours anyway. What you do with it is up to you."
Knuckles said, "I'm going home. Goodbye. Uh, I guess this is farewell forever. We probably won't have much chance to see each other again."
With that, Knuckles waved and prepared to leave. Sonic and Tails were both reluctant to see him go.
Andrew smiled. "Knuckles, there's no need to rush home. Stay on Earth and have some fun for a few days. Also, I can extract energy from the Master Emerald to make you stronger."
Knuckles was surprised. "Extract energy from the Master Emerald? Is that even possible?"
"Other people can't, but Mr. Wang definitely can."
Sonic sounded utterly certain. The more Andrew looked at the little hedgehog, the more he liked him. He really knew what to say. Andrew could have him talk more often in the future.
Knuckles hesitated, and Sonic and Tails hurried to persuade him. In the end, Knuckles decided to stay for a while and see how things went.
Andrew chuckled despite himself. Knuckles was just stubbornly pretending not to care. Before long, he would officially become Sonic's friend.
That