Disclaimer: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Doctor Ivo Robotnik,
Mobius and the Floating Island belong to Sega, and so does this storyline. The story is based on the Sonic 3 and Sonic
4 (Sonic and Knuckles) Sega Mega Drive games.
The Sonic and Knuckles Story
The huge,
ominous metal hulk lay on the yellow grass, sunlight reflecting dully off it's
battered surface. It vaguely resembled
some kind of flying battleship, with gun placements and huge turbine
engines. The battleship – or whatever
that it was – was given a wide berth by the forest animals. It reeked of evil and the faint yet
nauseating scent of something that smelled – to be honest – like an egg that
had been left in a corner for years.
In one of
the flying ship's many large rooms stood the only human on Mobius – Dr Ivo
Robotnik. The doctor was a round,
portly man perched on ridiculously short legs.
A bright orange moustache dominated his otherwise plain features, and
his eyes glinted with pure evil. That
this man had once been one of the nicest guys on Mobius would be hard to
believe, since he was now a complete lunatic – not to mention, genius.
"Let's see
…" Robotnik talked to himself most of the time, being totally loopy, "my Death
Egg will never fly again unless I make these parts …" the mad scientist scribbled down a bunch of indecipherable
figures, "but it will take years! Ah
yes, I know, the Chaos Emeralds! I
amaze myself with my brilliance sometimes.
If I can steal those Emeralds, I can harness their combined power and
raise the Death Egg again. That blasted
hedgehog has the Emeralds now, and I've no doubt he's heading for the Floating
Island. Now … if I remember clearly,
there was a certain Guardian. It's
simple!" he banged a fist on the table, "I'll trick that stupid Guardian and
put him against Sonic, and I'll steal the Emeralds while they're busy
fighting!"
The mad
scientist started dancing with obvious glee, then cackled wildly.
A tough,
wiry, red echidna stood at the edge of the Mushroom Hill Zone, his gloved hands
framing dark, intense eyes. There was definitely
something – or someone – headed his way and some sixth sense told him it wasn't
a good sign. Knuckles, Guardian of the
Chaos Emeralds, tensed his muscles, waited for the something to come nearer.
And come
nearer it did. The something – whatever
it was – looked, to Knuckles, like a large sphere of metal, probably a
transport of some kind, he decided. A
distinctly portly man with a flaming orange moustache could be seen at the
controls, and Knuckles narrowed his eyes, thinking. Who on Mobius could it be?
He wondered warily.
Robotnik
steered his Egg-o-matic towards the echidna in the distance. So this was the famed Guardian. The Egg-o-matic came to a stop a few metres
away from the echidna and Dr Ivo Robotnik clambered labouriously out of the
cockpit.
Knuckles
frowned at the human but waited for Robotnik to speak first.
Robotnik
gathered himself then began, "Greetings, wonderful Guardian of the Chaos
Emeralds … "
"Stow the
fancy language," Knuckles interrupted sharply.
"Sorry," Dr
Robotnik said with a sickly smile, "the truth is, I've got bad news for you."
"Spit it
out."
"I'm Dr Ivo
Robotnik, and I have just learnt that Sonic and Tails are headed this way with
the Chaos Emeralds. They plan to steal
the Super Emeralds too."
Knuckles raised
an eyebrow cynically, "Why should I believe you?"
"Well, you
have been missing the Chaos Emeralds lately, haven't you?" Robotnik wheedled.
That was
true, Knuckles knew. The only reason
he'd not gone after the seven Emeralds was because he guarded the more powerful
Super Emeralds as well. Already, the
Floating Island had landed in the sea, and would probably remain there until he
could think of a plan to regain the Chaos Emeralds.
"Think
about it," the mad scientist handed Knuckles a computer print-out of Sonic and
Tails' pictures. "They're coming here
so you'll have plenty of opportunities to nab them."
As the
Egg-o-Matic disappeared in a cloud of dust, the red echidna was seething with
rage. So, this hedgehog and fox pair
dared to steal his Chaos Emeralds and were now coming to steal the Super
Emeralds. Knuckles clenched his fists
and set off for the Angel Island Zone.
He had his work cut out for him.
"It's not
far now, Sonic," Miles 'Tails' Prower told his partner. The furry orange fox was piloting a bright
red bi-plane, and Sonic stood on the tip of the wings. Sonic could have piloted the plane himself,
but Tails was a far better pilot, – being a born flyer – although Sonic seldom admitted it, even to
himself.
"Okay, here
we go!" the blue hedgehog jumped of the plane into the shallow water, the seven
Chaos Emeralds held tightly in his fists.
Reaching Supersonic speed in mere seconds, he was gone in a blur of
speed, the Chaos Emeralds lending him an awesome power. This power was so immense that Sonic glowed
an intense bright yellow.
The
landscape flashed before him as his feet hit the beach, and Sonic enjoyed the
feeling of speed. He was the fastest
creature on Mobius, and he knew it.
Tails would say he was going too fast, but then again, the twin-tailed
fox was usually a little too cautious himself …
Wham! Sonic just managed to see the pair of fists
before they hit him. He flew back a
metre and landed on his back, totally dazed.
The seven Chaos Emeralds flew out of his hands and lay scattered around
him. His attacker, a red echidna stood
laughing in front of him.
"So, you
came to steal the Super Emeralds," the echidna snarled, "well, you'll have to
get past me first!"
"I came …
to stop Robotnik," Sonic gasped from the shock of the attack, "I'm Sonic the
Hedgehog, don't you know who I am?"
Knuckles
spat on the ground in contempt, "Yeah, you're the one who's trying to steal the
Emeralds, Dr Robotnik says." The echidna gathered up the seven Chaos Emeralds in
his fists, then turned away from Sonic.
"Hey,
who're you?" Sonic managed to yell at the retreating form of the red echidna.
"Knuckles,
Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds," the reply was a taunting threat.
Sonic
managed to get to his feet just as Tails hovered and landed on the ground
beside him.
"Man, he
can run fast," Sonic muttered to no one in particular.
"Who was
that?" Tails asked curiously, taking in Sonic's bruises and mud-stained spikes
in one glance.
"Some stupid Guardian," Sonic replied, disgruntled,
"said something about Robotnik telling him that we were going to steal the
Emeralds. Then he ran off with the
Chaos Emeralds."
"The name's Knuckles," a voice came from somewhere
above Sonic and Tails.
"Okay, okay, picky aren't we," Sonic complained, but
Knuckles seemed to have disappeared.
"Sonic, Robotnik's Death Egg is still around, isn't
it?"
"Yeah, what's your point?"
"Well, this Island isn't called the Floating Island
for nothing. It used to be way up in
the sky until the Chaos Emeralds disappeared, then it crashed into the
ocean. Y' know, I think Robotnik wants
to steal those Emeralds so his ship can fly again. And if I were him, I'd trick the Guardian into thinking someone
else was stealing the Emeralds."
"Oh, man," Sonic muttered, "a flying hunk of metal
that could shoot out the whole planet, a totally crazy – not to mention evil –
genius, and one echidna. All gunning
for us. Not good."
Tails twirled his twin appendages excitedly, "What
if you convinced Knuckles that Robotnik's the real enemy? He'd fight against Robotnik then."
"And I get bashed up in the process. Great," Sonic was sarcastic, but he knew
Tails did have a good plan there.
"Okay, let's do it."
Knuckles sped on to the Hidden Palace Zone, knowing
he had just enough time to replace the Emeralds there before going to warn
Sonic off the Island again. The red
echidna had set up obstacles and traps in Sonic's way, and the hedgehog would
be delayed significantly.
His footsteps echoed in the dark, dimly lit chamber
that housed the Chaos and Super Emeralds.
The Super Emeralds glowed faintly with a contained power, and
one-by-one, Knuckles replaced the Chaos Emeralds carefully in their places. As he raised his head, he noticed that the
largest Emerald was missing.
Anger and frustration surged through him. Someone had been here, and stolen the most
powerful Emerald of all. Knuckles shook
his head in disbelief. This Sonic
creature must be faster than I thought, he realized. But his shrewd, cunning mind could not
completely accept it. Perhaps, there
is another who wants the Emeralds, he thought. Either way, I've got to
find whoever it is, and quickly, too.
"Sonic, I don't think that Knuckles creature really
likes us," Tails complained as he tagged along behind Sonic, twirling his twin
tails frantically to keep up with his blue partner. They'd spent the better part of two hours dodging traps and
badniks – Dr Robotnik's hideous robot creations – in the Angel Island Zone, and
Tails was quite sure that the latter had been provided exclusively by a certain
pesky red echidna.
"Well, we've still got to find him and Robotnik,"
Sonic replied nonchalantly, then suddenly brightened up, "There's the end of
the Zone, hurry up."
The hedgehog and fox pair raced quickly through the
trees and onto a bridge made up of logs.
"The water's a long way below," Tails remarked to
no-one in particular as he made for the other side of the bridge.
Except that they didn't quite make it to the end of
the bridge. Halfway through, it gave
way beneath Sonic's feet and the hedgehog plunged down into the foaming
water. Tails' reflexes were faster and
he immediately started hovering.
"Hey, fox," an unusually-accented voice called from
above Tails. Knuckles stood on a ledge,
arms crossed, a grim smile on his face.
"Keep off this Island, and quit trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds will
you? You're lucky you haven't been
killed yet."
Tails flew to the ledge and grabbed onto the
sides. "We're just trying to help," he
said through gritted teeth.
"Well, stay away!
I don't need your help," Knuckles sneered at the fox. In a single, fluid movement, he released
Tails' grip on the ledge and sent the fox plummeting into the water below. "Good riddance," the echidna muttered.
"Sheesh," Tails muttered as he climbed out of the
water and onto a slab of stone sticking out of the wall. "Sonic, are you here?"
"Yeah, I'm still alive, but wet," the hedgehog
scrambled onto the slab of stone and stood beside his furry sidekick. "I hate the water."
"What's wrong, swimming's cool."
"For someone who actually loves to swim."
Tails gazed around him at the Hydrocity. "Well, we'll have to swim out of this mess
though."
Sonic groaned.
Knuckles would've definitely set up more traps and obstacles to block
his way, and they'd be very difficult to cross in the water. It's a hero's job, I suppose, he
thought, though how I got this job, I don't know. Still, this can't be as bad as having Robotnik control the whole
of Mobius.
"The faster we get out of here, the better," Sonic
told his sidekick as he dived into the water.
Two zones later, the hedgehog and fox pair arrived
at the Carnival Night Zone.
"Sure looks like a carnival," Tails remarked as he
set Sonic down on the ground.
"Thanks for the ride," Sonic muttered
unenthusiastically. Dangling in mid-air
by grabbing onto an air-borne fox's paws while trying to knock out your worst
enemy was decidedly thrilling, but not exactly very safe – especially if you
looked past your feet.
"No problem," Tails replied, "This isn't a bad zone
…"
"But it'll be really creepy if the lights go out,
right?" Sonic completed his friend's sentence for him.
"Yeah, but don't give our Knuckles friend any ideas,
okay?"
"Sure. Let's
get going."
Sonic sped through the first half of the zone
easily, Tails tagging along behind. The
Carnival Night Zone was decidedly less haphazard and trap-laden than the
previous three zones, and Sonic enjoyed the breeze as his red-and-white
sneakers pounded the ground. Tails was
enjoying himself too, until they met Knuckles, again.
The echidna appeared as if out of nowhere, a grim,
determined expression set on his face.
Knuckles stared straight at Sonic, and the hedgehog stared back. The two adversaries locked eyes for a long
tense moment, and Sonic could sense the echidna's hate and anger – you didn't
need any kind of Force for that.
"Won't take a hint, will you?" Knuckles snarled, "I
said get off this Island. How many
times do I have to tell you two?"
"Look, just take it easy, will 'ya," Sonic
responded, "it's not like we're gonna steal your precious gems or what. We're just after that Robotnik guy. He's the real bad guy after all, couldn't
you sense it when you met him?"
"That's none of your business," Knuckles spat, "now
back off!" The echidna leveled a fist
at a light switch and put it out of action.
All of a sudden, the lights went out and it was totally dark.
While Sonic waited for his eyes to adjust, Knuckles
made good his escape, calling out a threat over his shoulder, "We'll see if you
survive this, Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Oh, man," Sonic muttered to himself.
Knuckles hid silently behind a hunk of metal as he
watched Dr Robotnik work. 'Couldn't you
sense it when you met him?' Sonic's words lingered in the Guardian's mind. Knuckles didn't know who to believe, and
decided that he might as well suspect Dr Robotnik too. The mad Doctor was poring over a pile of
diagrams which seemed to be for some kind of flying ship.
"Let's see now," Robotnik was talking to himself, as
usual. "The power I can harness should
be enough to raise my Death Egg again …"
What power? Knuckles wondered. Could it be the Emeralds?
" … then I'll be in total control of the whole
planet, and even that pesky hedgehog, Sonic, can't stop me!" the mad scientist
started laughing crazily, and his laughter was enough to send a chill down the
fearless echidna's spine. Who is
this guy anyway? Knuckles wondered,
but decided he didn't really care if Robotnik controlled all of Mobius, so long
as the Floating Island and the Chaos Emeralds were safe and free from anyone's
clutches.
The Guardian turned to leave, but a blaring siren
stopped him in his tracks. "What? An intruder?" Robotnik stormed. Guess I best be going, the echidna
thought dryly.
Knuckles broke into a sprint and raced away from
Robotnik's laboratory, certain that there was more happening than had met his
eyes.
Six zones after arriving on the Island, Sonic and
Tails were finally at Robotnik's launch base.
Wherever it is on this weird Floating Island, Sonic thought to
himself. They'd managed to escape most
of Knuckles' traps, albeit with quite a collection of scratches and bruises,
and had found a few new fancy descriptions for the red echidna in the process.
Sonic stopped for a few minutes to rest, and Tails
sat down on the rough metal floor. The
orange-furred fox rubbed his painful feet woefully as he watched Sonic
attempting to think of a plan. You
couldn't just run into your worst enemy's base and announce you were going to
destroy his pet project, could you?
Tails sighed, Sonic rarely stopped to think so the hedgehog must have
felt that it was really serious this time.
Tails looked up at the drab, grey, polluted sky, evidence enough that
Robotnik was definitely planning something this time.
All of a sudden, Tails' keen eyes spotted a speck on
the cluttered horizon. "Er, Sonic, I
think you can stop planning now," the fox told his companion, "I'm a monkey's
uncle if that isn't our fat friend."
The blue hedgehog looked up at where his sidekick
was pointing and said cheerfully, "At least we didn't have to look for
him. Let's go bash up that stupid
contraption of his."
"All right!" Tails brightened up at the promise of
some real action. – dodging a whole lot of traps wasn't counted.
Please tell me if you want
more, I don't know whether I should continue.
