The Blue Rose
Author Note: Any affection between Sonic and Knuckles is purely out of friendship. Nothing more, all you sick people out there.
~~Kat Warrior
__________
"Run! Run!" Sonic shouted to his friend. They sprinted down the narrow path, not daring to look back. An arrow thudded to the ground between Sonic and Knuckles, missing them narrowly.
"Wow! That was too close for comfort!" Knuckles shouted.
"Just keep running," Sonic yelled sharply back at him. They ran for what seemed like hours, and inevitably Knuckles had to stop to catch his breath.
"I think we...can stop," he puffed. Sonic glanced back. They were no longer being followed.
Sonic fell to his knees on the path, pulled out his water container from his pack, and drank deeply. He let his body fall backward to the ground and stared through the trees at the blue sky above while catching his breath. A few minutes later he fell asleep. Suddenly he was jolted awake by Knuckles shouting, "Hey, Sonic! I found something--a cave!"
Sonic sat up and looked around. "Where are you, Knuckles?"
"Over here," his friend's voice called back. Sonic followed the voice down a path to a clearing.
"See?" said Knuckles, pointing at a large hole in the side of the mountain.
Sonic looked through the opening and saw a vast tunnel, apparently leading straight into the mountain. "I think this will be a good place for us to spend the night. It'll be dark in a couple of hours," Knuckles said.
"I don't know..." Sonic said hesitantly. "It's really dark in there." They stood there a couple of seconds before Sonic spoke up again. "All right, we're going to have to find some way to light the cave and I don't have my flashlight. I lost it somewhere back there." Knuckles groaned and rubbed his head. "Hey, do you wanna go back there and look for it?" Sonic asked in annoyance.
Knuckles quickly shook his head. "No thanks. I can do just fine without a flashlight."
"Okay then. It's also going to get really cold tonight, so I'm gonna go gather some firewood," Sonic said, heading off to gather some. An hour later, after sunset, the two were huddled around a blazing fire when they heard a strange noise coming from inside the cave. The two of them followed the noise by light of a small torch, trying and failing at being stealthy.
They stared in shock when they rounded the corner, hardly believing their eyes.
Sonic wasn't quite as stunned Knuckles, however, who had seen the creatures in a book.
"What are they?" the hedgehog gasped.
"G-goblins..." the echidna stuttered. The creatures had no visible faces, for they were covered with large, dark red hoods. The rest of the cloak was the same menacing crimson, reminding the pair mainly of blood.
The only flesh visible on these "Goblins" was their eerie, slimy green hands, which were scraggly and bony, reminding them of an old witch in a fairy tale.
"Why are you so darn scared of 'em?" Sonic whispered.
"They have poison arrows that if they want them to they can pierce your skull or rot your mind and body into one of them. I've heard that it's quite the painful process."
Sonic visibly shuddered. He'd read about creatures similar to that in a book once, but they were demented men known as "Nazgûl." They had grotesquely close tactics. "What'll we do?" he asked.
"Leave right now," the echidna whispered, and they turned to go.
As they walked, Sonic stumbled on an unnoticed root and plummeted forward. Fortunately, he hadn't been holding the torch, but he managed to grunt on impact, making enough noise to attract the attention of the Goblins.
"Run!" Knuckles breathed as he helped the hedgehog to his feet. When they were outside the cave, Knuckles dropped and stamped on the torch and kept running.
"What did you do that for?" Sonic demanded of him.
"Do you want an arrow wound?" Knuckles snarled in reply.
They continued to run when they suddenly came to a smooth, solid wall of rock. There was no way even Knuckles could climb it, so the two were forced to stay and fight.
"This'll be easy, right?" Sonic asked, doubting a positive answer. The echidna did not reply. Instead, he stared straight ahead, going pale. He was obviously frightened to death of these creatures.
The Goblins stepped into the clearing and pulled down the hoods, revealing their green, maimed, and hairless heads. Their eyes were almost like Robotnik's, black with red pupils.
"We can take 'em!" Sonic thought.
One of them shot an arrow at him, and he easily dodged it. He glanced over to see Knuckles. The echidna was swinging ferociously left and right and managed to hit one in the gut. Sonic wondered if it would shriek, but it did not. It roared. When Knuckles had hit, it had dropped its bow, but it was now reaching to pick it up again. Knuckles lifted it off the ground and threw it at a nearby tree. It smacked into the trunk headfirst and did not recover. Knuckles then picked up the bow and snapped it in two, after smacking another goblin with it.
"Good job, Knux," the hedgehog thought as he spun into another Goblin. After taking out a few more, Sonic looked over to check on the echidna. He dodged an arrow and swung at its owner, missing it narrowly. The Goblin he had swung at grabbed the rope-like quills on his head and yanked hard. With a grunt, Knuckles toppled, but he struggled to stand. Two others of the few remaining Goblins grabbed his arms to hold him in place. He squirmed and kicked his legs, giving the one trying to grab them a bloody nose. The one holding his dreadlocks moved his hands to grip both sides of the echidna's face, holding him still.
The only Goblin not occupied holding Knuckles or fighting Sonic readied his bow and aimed it.
"NO!" Sonic shouted, bolting towards the scene. Just as he started running, the Goblin fired and struck Knuckles in the left side of his chest. The echidna cried out, his face contorting into a pain-filled expression.
Sonic hurried over, attacking the creatures with ferocity he hadn't known he possessed. He killed two of them and the rest fled into the woods. Sonic ignored their roars and threats as they ran. He was too busy tending Knuckles. He had lifted the echidna's head into his lap and was looking for something to bind the wound with, having quickly yanked the arrow out.
"Please, don't die," Sonic mumbled as he searched.
"I...won't..." Knuckles wheezed, wincing his eyes shut.
"How do you know?"
"If they had intended it to kill me, I would be dead right now. I'm going to become...one of...them..." The echidna's voice broke. One of his worst nightmares was coming true.
Sonic had taken off both his gloves and was tying them onto the wound with a vine he had found.
"Can you walk?" he asked. Knuckles nodded and attempted to stand. He stumbled a little as they began to walk, so Sonic put an arm around his friend to steady him.
"Where will we go?" the echidna asked. "We're miles away from Knothole."
"Remember that old woman that told us to go home because it was too dangerous?"
"Yes."
"Maybe she'll help us."
* * * * *
"Go away!" a voice from inside the cabin shouted. "I don't want any visitors!"
"How about a wounded echidna?" Sonic asked, becoming frustrated. The door creaked open, revealing the elderly bat. She had crumpled, ash wings that matched her pale gray fur. Her eyes were amber, and she wore a tattered brown shawl and a faded blue wrap-around dress. On her feet were worn sandals, and she was leaning on a gnarled old cane of pine. She glared at them a moment, and then her eyes took in Knuckles.
"Bring him in and lay him on the bed," she sighed, obviously irritated. Sonic followed her, practically dragging Knuckles behind him.
Once Knuckles was lying on her bed, she gently removed the makeshift bandage. Black veins were sprouting around it. The old woman looked into his eyes where similar veins were creeping in, and his pupils were turning red. Sonic shuddered. It was just like in the book.
"Can we do anything?" he asked, his large, green eyes hopeful.
"WE can't, but YOU can," she told him. "You must start traveling first thing tomorrow morning to a certain village where they grow the legendary Blue Rose. This flower is the only means of healing him. You must leave before daylight if you are to get there in time. Talk to their chief and ask him for one of these flowers, but be prepared to fight. These are a people of war, and the flower is precious to them. They will make you battle their greatest warrior in order for you to have one of the Blue Roses. You must defeat your enemy quickly, for if this echidna is not helped by sundown tomorrow, he will become a Goblin."
Sonic nodded, storing this information. "Is there anything you can do for him in the meantime?" he asked.
She nodded and handed him a basket. "Go out and get some white berries. They will slow the effect of the poison." Sonic rushed out.
The old woman turned and looked at Knuckles, who was still cringing with the pain. "I ought to clean the wound," she thought as she left the room momentarily.
When she returned, she carried a bowl and a cloth. Knuckles caught scent of it and wrinkled his nose. She ignored his expression of disgust and pulled up a chair beside the bed. She wetted the cloth, wrung it out, and pressed it into the echidna's shoulder. He winced and grunted. She looked at him silently a moment and then continued.
* * * * *
"You must get ready to go!" a voice commanded, bringing him out of sleep. Sonic looked up to see the old woman shaking him. "You ought to pack right away if you are to accomplish this task."
Sonic sat up and put his shoes on as quickly as he could in his half-awake state. The old woman returned, carrying a small pack and a map.
"There's a compass in the bag," she insisted, shoving into his arms and pushing him to the door. "Hurry!"
Sonic heard the door slam behind him. He looked around and smelled the morning air. He was still so tired he wondered if he wasn't really just dreaming. He started walking and was jarred into full consciousness when he stumbled on a log. He finally put his pack on and started running, following the direction of the map and compass. Before noon, he reached a small clearing. He stood in the foliage along the outskirts and watched the village before him. He was surprised to find mostly hedgehogs walking around.
He walked right into the village casually, figuring he would fit right in.
He was right. As far as he knew, no one had noticed him. Or so he thought. In the watchtower only a block away from where he was, someone had noticed him entering from the bushes. By this time, the one in question had made his way to the chief's hut.
Sonic continued his casual trek until a guard walked up to him and blocked his way.
"Is there something wrong?" Sonic asked, looking innocent.
"You are a stranger in our home. The watcher saw you come in from the bushes," the burly guard informed him.
Sonic couldn't think of an excuse for this one. The guard had him.
"I could have been out picking berries," Sonic tried to lie, but the guard was not convinced.
"The watcher knows everyone in our tiny village, and you carry no fruit," he yawned casually.
"Then I might as well go with you."
"Wise choice."
* * * * *
Sonic looked around the hut curiously, wondering what was to become of him. The chief was deep in thought before him, his chin resting on his large hand. Sonic had been slightly surprised to find that the chief was a slender, blue hedgehog like himself.
"So, you want the Blue Rose?" the chief sighed. Sonic had told his story already.
"Yes," the hedgehog pleaded, "Knuckles is becoming one of...them." He looked to the floor, cringing at the memory the dark veins in the echidna's eyes and near his wound.
"If what you say is true, Sonic, we will take care of this matter our way. You must prove yourself worthy of the Blue Rose of courage. You will fight the village's greatest warrior."
Sonic nodded. He was unfazed by the challenge if it meant fighting for one of his best friends.
* * * * *
Sonic now stood in a small arena, much like the ones wrestlers use. He couldn't help but wonder what his challenger would be like. Would it be another hedgehog? If so, then this could be quite difficult.
You can imagine that he was totally surprised when a human stepped into the arena. A human? They thought a human was their greatest warrior? Sonic had to contain his laughter. Humans were weak as far as he was concerned. The only thing they ever fought with was guns and other weapons! Besides, furries are much more durable than any human could ever be.
The human was handed a spear by a guard, and Sonic wondered if he was aloud a weapon, too. He stopped wondering when something dull jabbed him, and he looked down to find a guard trying get his attention by nudging him with the butt of a spear.
"All must be fair," the guard said. "You must have a weapon, too."
Sonic accepted the spear and looked at it a moment.
"Are the contestants ready?" the chief's voice boomed. The competitors looked at him and nodded. "Then let the battle begin!" he commanded.
Sonic, for the first time in his life, stood still and waited for the human to make the first move. He had learned this maneuver from Knuckles. Much to his surprise, it wasn't long until the attack came. The human charged toward him, the spear aimed for his chest. Sonic didn't move until he was about a foot away and going too fast to stop. Then he leapt into the air and landed gracefully behind his enemy. The human had rammed into the wall of the arena and was regaining his composure. Sonic ran over to him and kneed him in the gut. He was starting to doubt even needing his spear. The human was doubled over, holding his stomach. Sonic stood in front of him, not expecting him to move. He was startled when the human took a sudden firm hold on his ankle. He stood, holding the hedgehog in the air like a fisherman showing off his catch. He pointed his spear into Sonic's chest.
Sonic's mind raced as he tried to think of a way out. He realized that his spear was still in his hand. He reached his arm up and scraped the spear's head against the arm that held his leg. The human dropped him, and he landed with a thud. He quickly hopped to his feet and prepared to continue the battle.
Sonic darted to the other end of the arena when the human began to change again. Then he stopped. The footsteps behind him had ceased. He turned around just in time for the spear to graze the side of his head. He yowled in pain and crumpled to the ground, pressing his hand to his head.
"Is he down?" a voice in the crowd murmured.
"I think so," another replied.
"Outlanders know nothing of fighting," yet another added.
Sonic could feel anger-induced adrenaline starting to pump through his veins. An image of Knuckles' pain-filled eyes flashed through his mind...the veins...the blood...gasps of agony... Sonic's head rose quickly, and he glared at the human. He pulled his hand away from his head and got to his feet.
"It doesn't matter now what happens..." he panted. "I will never give up the fight. As long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight..." He jumped upon the human and jabbed his spear into his left shoulder. The man cried out and collapsed to the ground.
Sonic was suddenly aware of his hand being raised into the air. He looked over to see a guard holding it up and declaring him champion. Then Sonic collapsed, too.
* * * * *
"Has he awoken, yet?" a ruff voice asked.
"He's working on it," another, softer one replied.
Sonic opened his eyes the rest of the way to see the chief and a younger hedgehog looking down at him.
"You fought well," the chief congratulated him, "and have earned the Blue Rose."
"Thanks," Sonic moaned as he winced at the stinging in his head.
"You must rest for a few days now," the younger hedgehog told him. Sonic's eyes flew open.
"I can't!" he protested. "I have to save my friend!"
The two others glanced at each other and then back at Sonic.
"I suppose we cannot stop you," the chief sighed and looked to his assistant. "Fetch a Blue Rose and some supplies," he said, "and then we will escort him out of the village."
* * * * *
Sonic walked quickly yet awkwardly through the woods. He was tired and dizzy but determined to make it back. The sun had started towards the west!
He stopped only a moment to gulp some water and make sure that the flower he carried was safe.
* * * * *
Knuckles glanced out the window to see the sun creeping westward. Then he leaned his head back further into the pillow and let out a gut-wrenching howl of pain.
His body was fighting itself. The hero within him was being over-taken by a cruel, ruthless villain. The dark veins were creeping further into his eyes, and his pupils had almost completely turned blood red. It felt like his insides were ripping themselves out.
He tried to remember where the elderly woman had gone. He thought he recalled her telling him that she was going out to her garden behind the hut.
He was distracted from his thinking when the door creaked open. He looked over to see that no one was near it. A rustle of fabric caught his attention, but another sudden surge of pain over-took him. He cried out again but not as loudly.
He looked directly in front of him to see a long, bony, green hand reach out to him.
"Take my hand," a chilling voice commanded. "End your suffering. One touch and your transformation will instantly end."
"No!" he gasped, his tone hardly assertive. He tried to turn away and not think of the pain.
The hand continued toward him, and much to his horror, his own hand began to reach out for it. His breaths were struggled now, and it felt not only like he was being ripped apart but also like someone was stomping on his lungs.
"No!" he tried to protest again, his voice scarcely a wheeze.
Then, distantly, he heard yet another voice protesting. It was a familiar voice, but it seemed so distant... so much further than the evil green hand before him now.
"NO!" Sonic yelled at the top of his lungs as he charged the Goblin, drawing a dagger the chief had given him. He jabbed it into the creature's back, shuddering at the bone-chilling roar that sounded.
The Goblin sank to the floor, creating a heap of blood-red cloth.
"What's going on?" the old woman's voice demanded from the doorway.
"Am I too late?" Sonic asked her, ignoring the question.
She looked over at Knuckles and at the blue flower in Sonic's hand. Then her gaze went out the window.
"Not yet," she finally replied. She rushed to the kitchen and came back with a bowl of water and a cloth. The water in the bowl was steaming. "Let me see the flower," she commanded. Sonic handed it to her. She pulled up a stool beside the bed, setting the bowl, the cloth, and the rose on a small table. She gently pulled a petal off and set it on Knuckles' wound. The echidna let out a startled gasp, his eyes widening in shock and pain. She proceeded to lay the now steaming wet cloth over the petal. Knuckles writhed and shook his head from side to side, trying to avoid shouting out. Sonic gently, almost timidly placed a hand one of Knuckles'. He didn't say anything because no words would come that could do either of them any good.
When she had finished laying the cloth, she plucked another petal and handed it to Sonic with the bowl of water.
"Crush it in your hand and make it a paste with the water. After that, feed it to him," she ordered.
Sonic looked doubtfully at the petal and then proceeded to obey. When he had a blue paste-like substance in the small of his washed hand, he tried to put it on a spoon the woman offered him. Finally accomplishing that, he put it to the echidna's mouth. Knuckles made a face at its taste, but he ate it all, anyway. He was starving, not having had anything to eat since they'd arrived.
"What do we do now?" Sonic asked, glancing at the Blue Rose. The woman picked it up, lifted one of Knuckles' large hands, and laid it over his chest. She then let his hand fall back into place, over the stem. He looked like a male version of Sleeping Beauty.
"Why did you do that?" Sonic demanded.
"It will finish the healing process," she snapped back. It was then that she noticed that bandage strapped to the side of Sonic's head. But she chose to ignore it. It probably wasn't a terrible wound, anyway.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" the hedgehog asked her.
"Yes," she muttered. "You and your friend can get out of my house before dawn tomorrow morning."
* * * * *
"Get up!" Sonic heard a voice order. He drowsily opened his eyes to see the old woman shaking him awake again. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Get your things and be gone!" she continued, handing him his backpack. He looked in at the contents. Inside was the head of the spear he had defeated the human with, his and Knuckles' canteens, some dried fruit, and the rose, the bottom of its stem wrapped in a cloth.
"Is Knuckles awake?" he asked, slipping his shoes on.
"I left that to you," she informed him, walking out of the room. Sonic walked over to Knuckles to find him sitting up in bed already, his legs hanging over the edge.
"You think you can walk?" Sonic asked.
"Yep. I feel pretty strong today," he replied. He leaned over the edge of his bed and grabbed his large shoes. "We should make pretty good time before stopping for the night."
"Any idea how to get to Knothole?"
"Nope. I have no idea where we are."
"Go east," the woman's voice interrupted. "Now hurry up and get out of my house!"
* * * * *
The two of them finally left the little cabin and were glad to go. They had been well aware of the fact that she didn't want them there, but where else could they have gone? They hadn't known about the village of hedgehogs until the elderly bat had sent Sonic there.
"How far east do you think it is, Knux?" Sonic asked as they walked, just to make conversation.
"Can't be too far if she knew it existed; but then again, who knows if she was telling the truth. She could have just told us that to get us to leave."
"That's what I've been thinking, but I was hoping that I was wrong. I'm getting pretty homesick."
"Me too."
* * * * *
They walked on a while, Knuckles still overlooking Sonic's head wound. The bandage had fallen off while he was sleeping, so there was nothing to draw the echidna's attention to it.
Somehow, Sonic had forgotten all about it and was unaware that it was starting to trickled blood down the side of his head. Until after noon when they stopped to rest, that is.
"I feel pretty tired," Sonic huffed, plopping down on a log, "but I don't know why; we've only been walking at a nice, easy pace."
"Sonic, what's that on the side of your head?" Knuckles asked, suddenly becoming concerned. It was then that the wound began to hurt again.
"When I was fighting in the village...my opponent threw a spear and it grazed me," Sonic explained. "They bandaged it, but apparently it's still bleeding."
"Let me see it," Knuckles sighed, motioning for Sonic to lie down. The hedgehog took off the pack and ungracefully plopped down, the right side of his head upwards. Knuckles crouched behind him and took off his gloves. Much to Sonic's surprise, the echidna's hands were slender, although large. Not only that, but he was very gentle in examining the wound.
"They must not have cared if you made it past giving me the rose," Knuckles commented after getting a whiff of the wound. "This kind of plant grows on the Island. It temporarily stops bleeding and relieves pain, but after that it pretty much turns into a fresh wound. They should've stitched it or something."
"Are you going to do that?" Sonic asked, trying to hide his nervousness.
"Heck, no! What would I do it with? I think I ought to wash it, though. Maybe find a new bandage..."
"Where are you going to find a bandage out here?"
"If you had survived on the land most of your life, I suppose you would know, too. I'm going to need to gather some leaves and roots. I think I hear a stream not too far off, so I'll get some fresh, cold water, too. You stay here."
"And do what?"
"Lay against that tree and rest. I won't be far away, so just holler when you need something."
Sonic reluctantly leaned against a tree trunk and looked at the sky above him. Or tried to, anyway. He couldn't see through all the leaves. Then he remembered something.
'Knuckles' wound! I almost forgot all about it! How does he expect to collect plants and stuff when he's hurt?' Sonic sat up and thought of calling the echidna or looking for him. Then the pain reminded him of how tired he was, and he leaned back again. He would repay the echidna...somehow.
* * * * *
Sonic woke up to find himself in a very different position. He was on his side again, his head resting on something soft and warm. He looked around to find that his head was in Knuckles' lap, and that it was dark out, and a fire was going. He could see the glowing out of the corner of his eye and sense the wonderful warmth on his body.
He looked up into the echidna's face, seeing a serious, concentrative expression, the flame's reflection dancing in his mysterious, violet eyes.
"What time is it?" Sonic asked.
"Seven."
Sonic almost sat straight up. Seven? He'd been out for six hours!
"I've been asleep that long? Gosh, Knux, I'm sorry."
"No apology needed. You traveled pretty far yesterday and didn't get a lot of rest. You needed those six hours. When I came back and found you sleeping, I decided I shouldn't wake you, so I set up camp. When I was finished, you were still sleeping, so I let you sleep for a while longer. Then I figured you must be a pretty heavy sleeper, so I moved you into my lap and cleaned and medicated you, anyway. You seemed to kinda sag into your new surroundings after that and looked pretty darn comfortable, so I didn't move you."
"How long have I been here?"
"I'm guessing around an hour."
Sonic sat up and stretched, still feeling sleepy. He heard Knuckles move from behind him and so didn't lie back down. He watched the echidna's movement and noticed him still favoring his left shoulder. He hadn't forgotten that he wanted to repay him for his kindness.
"Come here, Sonic," the echidna called. "I made up a bed for ya."
Sonic stood shakily and walked over to see a nice piled of large leaves and feathers.
"Where did these feathers come from?" Sonic asked as he sat down, finding the bed quite comfortable.
"I ran into an abandoned nest by the stream," he simply explained as he pulled a canteen out of the pack and picked up some fruit from a pile on a leaf. "Here's some dinner," he told Sonic. "You haven't eaten anything since we stopped for breakfast, remember?"
Sonic suddenly realized he was starving and gratefully accepted the offered meal. He ate it and watched Knuckles sit down only a few feet away and begin to eat his own dinner.
When they had finished eating, they both sank into their bedding. Knuckles fell asleep almost immediately, but Sonic lay awake for a while, thinking. Just before falling asleep himself, he prayed that he would be the first to awaken the next morning.
* * * * *
Sonic woke up the next morning to find his prayer answered. Knux was still sleeping heavily. He looked as tired as his breathing indicated.
Sonic stood up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around to try and make some breakfast. The fruit from the previous night was still ripe, so he put some on a leaf and set it by Knuckles, as well as one of the canteens. That was good, but what else could he do? He glanced at Knuckles' shoulder wound. It was swelling a little and looked dirty. The evil within Knuckles had gone, that was for certain, but the wound stayed, becoming like a regular injury. He thought a moment, trying to remember anything Knuckles had told him a while ago about cleaning wounds. There was a certain plant...now he remembered. He thought he had seen it around their campsite somewhere. He searched for only a short while before finding what he was looking for. He pulled off the leaves and walked back to where Knuckles lay sleeping. He found a flat rock and a small round one, and began to smash the leaves. Finally satisfied with the paste that resulted, he scooped some up with his fingers and placed it on the wound.
Knuckles stirred, moaning in confusion. He opened his eyes and looked at Sonic, then down at the gash on his shoulder. Much to Sonic's surprise, he smiled.
"Thanks, Sonic," he grunted, sitting up. "Looks like you were paying attention after all. That's the right stuff."
Sonic smiled and handed him the leaf with the food on it.
"I wanted to repay you for all that you did for me," the hedgehog informed him.
"Now I'm in debt again," Knuckles chuckled. "I owed you one for getting the Blue Rose." He began to eat his breakfast.
"Let's just forget it," Sonic suggested as he got himself something to eat. "What good are debts to a pair of pals like us?"
* * * * *
"Are we almost there?" Sonic asked just to annoy Knuckles. They had been walking quite a while, and Sonic had naturally become bored.
"Will you stop asking that?" Knuckles growled in response. "I'm getting slightly tempted to knock you out and leave you behind." He would really never do this, of course. He just wanted Sonic to shut up. Sonic was silent for a while, trying to think of a witty reply to his friend's comment.
"I'd like to see you try!" he spat back, putting his hands on his hips.
"Big talk coming from someone with a head injury," Knuckles snarled and then turned to keep walking.
"Look whose talking! At least my body was never possessed by Goblins!"
Knuckles whirled around and stared the hedgehog right in the eye.
"I was never possessed," his voice informed him, low and haunting. "I fought it until you arrived. I went through excruciating pain so you could return and find that your mission hadn't been in vain. I could have easily surrendered to the Goblin's call."
"So you're the hero, now? Is that it? You're saying that I didn't do squat about the situation?"
"No," Knuckles' voice was cold as he was starting to regret that the argument had started. "I'm not saying that at all." He looked at the ground.
But Sonic wasn't willing to drop it. He was pumped up and ready for a good argument. "So you're Mister Humble now? You think you're better than me because you're going to stop this since I started it? You're no saint, pal!"
Knuckles' impatience had momentarily vanished, but listening to Sonic, it had returned.
"SHUT UP!" he roared. "Just shut it, Sonic! I'm sick of your big yap flapping! I should have left your wound alone!" His face was only inches away from Sonic's now, and the hedgehog could hear and see the echidna panting with fury.
"BE QUIET!" Sonic all but screamed. The next thing either of them knew, Knuckles was stumbling back a few feet, his hand pressed his cheek. The left side of his face was swelling up. Sonic stood, frozen, his hand in the air where Knuckles' face had been. They had both heard the sound of flesh being stricken. Somehow, they had both come to their senses now.
"Knux...I-I'm so sorry..." Sonic stuttered.
Knuckles' head was bent downward, but he wasn't crying. His finger was writing something in the dirt. Sonic leaned over timidly to see what it was. Letters formed the words "TODAY MY FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."
"Let's go," Knuckles sighed, standing and starting to walk. Sonic felt tears coming to his eyes.
* * * * *
They walked on for quite a while, neither saying much. Sonic was afraid to say anything to his friend because he didn't think he could get the words out without his voice cracking.
Eventually they came to a clearing containing a peaceful, crystal clear lake.
"Let's take a dip," Knuckles suggested, as though nothing had ever happened. He was seated on a rock, his back to Sonic, slipping his shoes off. Sonic plopped down on the ground and did the same, still not saying a word.
Knuckles waded into the water first, savoring the refreshing feeling of the cool water against his fur and flesh. It felt cleansing, as if washing away the argument of before. When he was in up to his knees, he heard Sonic splash in behind him. He worked his way in until he was up to his chest and then washed out the wound on his shoulder.
Sonic watched Knuckles for a while and then decided to wash his head. He cupped some of the water in his hands and splashed it into his face, feeling the delightful coldness run down his chin. He looked up at the sound of violent splashing from where Knuckles had been. The echidna was gone. Panicking, Sonic swam out to the middle and plunged under the surface, seeking his friend out. He didn't have to look long. Not far below, he could see the echidna struggling to free himself from something. Pure terror was in his eyes. Sonic looked down further to see a metal wire ensnaring Knuckles' ankle. It was attached to something he could not make out; something on it's way to the bottom of the lake.
He surfaced to get some air and dove back down. After fighting the object and cutting his gloves, Sonic freed his friend and swam to the surface with him. He gulped in the precious air and glanced at the echidna he held. He looked to be either dead or unconscious. He laid the echidna out upon the warm sand and listened to his breathing. It was almost non-existent. He turned the echidna's head to the side and pushed down on his chest. Knuckles coughed up a bunch of water and then sat up, shaking partly from shock and partly from chill. He wrapped his arms around himself, and looked gratefully at Sonic.
"You're hurt," the hedgehog mumbled, glancing at the echidna's ankle. Sure enough, the wire had torn the flesh deeply, and it was now bleeding profusely.
"No wonder I feel so weak," Knuckles sighed, leaning against a rock and trying to absorb its heat. "But my leg is so numb from cold I can hardly feel it, anyway. Look at your hands, Sonic."
Sonic glanced down. They were cut, all right, but not badly enough for him to worry.
"I'll go collect some stuff," Sonic sighed as he picked up the pack. He took out a canteen and handed it to Knuckles. "You stay here and rest. I'll be back as soon as I can."
* * * * *
Sonic returned to hear the sound of something scraping against rock. Was Knuckles trying to climb something? He stepped into the clearing to see the echidna bent over the rock, chiseling away with a sharp animal bone that had evidently been lying on the beach. He noted that Knuckles had wrapped his gloves around his ankle.
When Sonic got closer, he could read the letters Knuckles had been carving. "TODAY MY FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."
"When I slapped you, you wrote it in the sand," Sonic choked, "but when I saved you, you wrote it in stone... How come?"
Knuckles looked at him, his soft violet eyes full of forgiveness. "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone, where no wind can ever erase it."
"I-I'm, sorry, Knux..." Sonic began, but he couldn't finish. He put his arms gently around his friend's shoulders.
"I'm sorry, too," Knuckles whispered, doing the same.
* * * * *
Sonic looked up at the stars just before poking at the fire again. He glanced over his shoulder at Knuckles who was sleeping, still leaning against the rock. His ankle was well medicated and bandaged now, or as well as they could do with what they had.
Sonic sighed and lay down. He traced circles in the sand with his finger until he fell asleep too.
* * * * *
The next morning they woke up, put out their fire, and headed on their way. Knuckles used an old, gnarled stick they had found as a cane as he walked, looking like a feeble old man. Sonic felt genuinely sorry for him and suddenly wished that he had been stuck and almost drowned instead.
As they walked, the day brightened, and so did their hopes of ever getting home. Sonic could almost feel that his home was nearby. It was certainly close, but reaching it would be more difficult than he thought.
They had not rid themselves of every last Goblin, as Sonic had been led to believe. Five more remained and had been tracking the two of them since they left the old woman's hut.
Now the foul creatures were right behind the twosome, hiding in the bushes, waiting for the right moment to spring upon them.
* * * * *
"Something draws near, I can feel it," Knuckles said suddenly, stopping in his tracks. Sonic stopped, too. He had been feeling something as well but had said nothing to his friend.
Without further warning, the Goblins sprang, their distorted faces smirking at the two.
Sonic glanced over to see Knuckles put his hand over his wound and go pale.
"Be brave," he heard himself whisper. "We can do it." He certainly sounded more confident than he felt. He doubted that Knuckles would be able to fight very well with a wounded ankle and a cane, but what other choice did he have? Sonic couldn't take them all by himself, and he knew Knuckles would fight even if he told him not to.
The leader of the Goblins hissed something neither of them could understand, and the battle began. Despite the beautiful day, despite the birds singing, it began.
Sonic did a spin-dash into one of his attackers, knocking it in the head. That Goblin did not recover, but the others seemed to suddenly fight with more ferocity than before. At least now there were only four of the beasts, giving Knuckles and Sonic only two each to fight.
Knuckles stood weakly on his own for a moment to bash a Goblin in the side with his stick. The Goblin stumbled backward but did not fall. Knuckles took this opportunity to drive his fist into the other attacker. The one he had beat with his stick returned and kicked him in the back, knocking him forward. He lay in the dirt a moment and then tried to get to his feet, pain shooting up his leg. When he was up on one knee, both Goblins began to beat on his with sharp, whip-like branches.
Sonic grabbed one Goblin's leg and pulled it out from under him and then thrust him into the other Goblin he was fighting. The two of them stiffly got to their feet and lunged at him. The hedgehog easily dodged one but was grabbed by the other, whose icy, thin fingers curled around his neck. Those fingers, though bony, were strong. The Goblin started to strangle him. Sonic gagged for a bit, trying desperately to think of something before his neck was snapped completely. Not able to come up with another plan, he bit the creature as hard as he could and was surprised to find that he had drawn blood. The Goblin dropped him, and he landed on his rump. He stood, rubbing his sore spot, and managed to see an oncoming attacker just in time to dart out of the way.
Knuckles moaned and tried again to rise. The monsters had stopped thrashing him momentarily, but for what reason he dared not guess. He managed to get all the way to his feet this time and turned around after picking up his walking stick. One Goblin was coming at him with a dagger of some sort, likely to run him through with it. Knuckles raised an arm to firmly grasp the Goblin's wrist and twisted it. The creature yowled in pain and tried to pull its appendage away, but Knuckles wouldn't let go until it snapped. The Goblin roared in agony and came at him again, its other hand holding the dagger. This time, it got past Knuckles' block. The Goblin was on top of the echidna, pinning him to the ground with his knees and legs. Knuckles' body felt sore and tired from the beating. He just wanted to fall asleep right there. But he wouldn't let himself. There had to be a way out! He squirmed around and then realized his advantage. The Goblin now only had one serviceable hand, while he himself had two. He struggled and thrashed about some more until one of his hands was free. He then grabbed his enemy's broken wrist and clutched onto it, making it hurt some more. While the Goblin was distracted, he reached up and curled his fingers around the other wrist. The Goblin pulled back, trying to avoid getting another broken appendage. Knuckles couldn't very well get up using his feet, so he pushed off the ground with his hands and landed gracefully though painfully. He swung as hard as he could at the beast's head, cringing at the snapping sound that resulted. He glanced over at Sonic.
The hedgehog was on his back, obviously winded. One of the Goblins had charged him, and he had gotten the wind knocked out of him. The same beast came charging at him, but Sonic was smart enough raise his feet and send his enemy flying over his head. He gasped with sudden pain as the other Goblin he had been fighting stepped right onto his chest. This time, he couldn't manage to think clearly. All he could think of was being able to breathe. While his arms and legs were flailing about, he somehow managed to strike the back of the goblin's knee, causing his leg to buckle and making him fall over. Sonic stayed where he was for only a second to regain his breath, and then he leapt up and did a spin-dash right into the creature's head. It didn't move again.
"I think this makes it more fair," he panted, wiping his hand over his forehead.
Knuckles sagged against the trunk of a tree, exhaustion over taking him. The other Goblin he had been fighting had rammed him into the tree in the first place. He just didn't feel like battling anymore. It didn't feel like his body could take it. The monster charged at him again, but Knuckles held out a hand, holding it back. Even his fingers ached. The sound of thunder startled him, and he looked up to the sky to see clouds rolling in. A light rain had started to fall. The Goblin noticed this, too, but chose to ignore it. He grabbed Knuckles' arm and flung him at another tree. The echidna grunted upon impact and let his body slump to the ground. He lifted his head to see his enemy coming back for more. Seeing his last chance, Knuckles grabbed hold of the Goblin's ankle and yanked on it. The Goblin fell to the ground. Knuckles picked up a sharp stick that he saw on the ground beside him and jabbed it into the creature's side. Green ooze squirted into the echidna's face. The Goblin roared, then went silent.
"Good," was all Knuckles could wheeze before his head sagged to the ground, and he, too, lay silent.
Sonic let the Goblin sink to the ground. He had just snapped its neck by doing another spin-dash. But he hadn't destroyed it without taking a few licks himself. He grasped the cut on his arms and hobbled over to where Knuckles had been fighting. He found the corpses of the Goblins and then stared in shock at his friend. It appeared that Knuckles might be dead, too.
Gently he pulled his friend up into his lap and checked for a pulse. It was a weak one. He looked over his friend's injured body, finding bruises, scrapes, and gashes. His whole body was covered with mud and his face with an odd smelling green goop. The hedgehog threw his head back and hollered into the storm, the rain splattering on his face.
He turned his head upon hearing a rustle in the bushes. The Freedom Fighters were standing there, staring in awe, but not as much awe as Sonic himself.
* * * * *
Sonic looked on silently as the doctors tended to his friend. Not that he could have said anything about it, for another team of doctors had slipped a breath-mask over his own muzzle. He was relieved to feel the air flowing easily into his lungs. He ached all over and was tired, anyway. The hedgehog cringed, not only because he was watching what was happening to Knuckles but also because the wound on his head was being cleaned and his arm was being stitched.
"Looks like he's broken a few ribs," someone commented, and Sonic could tell they were looking at him. No wonder his chest hurt so badly. "His lungs have been harmed, too," the same person continued. Sonic figured it was from the Goblin stepping on him. Then he heard a moan. He turned his head to see that Knuckles had woken up to a world of pain. The hedgehog didn't have long to think on this, however, as the doctors had replaced his breath mask with sleeping gas.
* * * * *
The doctors proceeded to clean the echidna up, just before tending the broken bones that had come up on the X-ray right after he was brought in. His shoulder blades were both cracked, his spine was out of line, and several ribs had snapped. Most of this was due to his two collisions with the trees. Knuckles writhed and gasped with pain as they turned him onto his side to clean the cuts on his back. They couldn't lay him directly on his stomach because he was already have breathing problems. It was a nightmare to him; the intense pain, the bright lights... he wished he could pass out again or just plain die.
* * * * *
His nose twitched. That was the first sign of his consciousness. But the only other person in the room didn't see it. He moved his arms around a little to feel something soft surrounding him, with a cool, clean feeling to it. Could it be? Sheets, on a bed? Something soft and downy was supporting his large head. A pillow? He was reluctant to open his eyes, fearing that he would find that this soft paradise was only a good dream. He opened them, anyway, his amethyst gaze taking in the room. He was relieved to find it was the medical hut in Knothole. He found himself smiling and wondering why he didn't hurt too much.
Then Knuckles made the mistake of trying to sit up. He yelped and fell back into the pillow as a jolt of pain coursed its way through his body.
This little event was enough to call the attention of the other in the room.
"Knux!" Sonic exclaimed, turning his head in his friend's direction. "How do ya feel?"
"In...pain..." Knuckles moaned in reply.
Sonic glanced sympathetically at his friend and glanced down at himself. He no longer needed the respirator, but if he moved wrong, his chest hurt something awful. His arm stung, too, as did his head. But Knuckles seemed to have it much worse. He couldn't even sit up.
"I'll get the nurse to bring you some pain killers. Are you hungry at all?"
Now that Knuckles thought about it, he was starving. "Yes," he replied weakly to his friend's question.
Sonic didn't need to be told twice. He rushed out of the room, cautious of his aching ribs, to fetch a nurse.
He soon returned, a young lady dog close behind him. She had a white top on and a pair of blue jeans, and she was pushing a small cart in front of her.
"Lay still a moment," she told him, picking up a needle. "This will only hurt a little." Knuckles readily held out his arm. After all he'd been through, he was sure an injection would seem like a simple pinch. He winced at the little sting of it, but aside from that, he didn't react. It might have been his imagination, but he almost immediately felt some of the aches in his body subsiding.
"Do you need me to support him sitting up?" Sonic asked.
The nurse shook her head, her ears swaying slightly. "His spine is distorted," she replied. "If we tried to move him without a whole team here, it would not only cause him pain, but it could possibly make it worse."
Sonic didn't understand a whole lot about medical conditions, but she had worded it in a way he could understand. He simply nodded his reply.
"You could, however, hold his head up just a little."
Sonic gently slid his hand under Knuckles' heavy head and lifted it a little ways so the nurse could get the soup in his mouth.
* * * * *
Sonic's and Knuckles' recovery took at least a month. During the first week, neither of them did much. Sonic would hurry out of the room to fetch a nurse or two for Knuckles, but aside from that, he took it easy, although mainly because it was commanded of him. After that week, Knuckles was started on a therapy to get his legs working again. He would be helped into a wheelchair by a team of nurses, pushed down to the exercise room, and helped to various machines. The therapy was tiring, sometimes painful, and often made him irritable; but with enough encouragement, he was willing to do it anyway. Sonic was the main source of this. He would sometimes even argue with Knuckles until he agreed to do it again. Sonic himself had needed to do special exercises to get used to using his arm again, and so he could identify.
After two weeks of this therapy, Knuckles was able to walk himself from and back to his room. He enjoyed this much more than a wheelchair, since it gave him a much-needed feeling of independence.
One evening, when therapy was over for the day, Knuckles found himself practically crawling to his room. He was exhausted, but he had stubbornly turned down the offered wheelchair. He didn't ever want to see it again.
When he finally got into his room, he just collapsed at the foot of his bed and fell into restless slumber.
It wasn't long until Sonic came by, however, and noticed his friend on the floor. At first he panicked, thinking his friend dead, but then he heard the heavy breathing of sleep and realized what had probably happened. He struggled under the echidna's weight, but he managed to pick him up and lay him gently in the bed.
"You're a good friend," Sonic heard Knuckles murmur, still appearing to be asleep.
"You, too, Knux," Sonic replied quietly as he walked out the door. "You, too."
Author Note: Any affection between Sonic and Knuckles is purely out of friendship. Nothing more, all you sick people out there.
~~Kat Warrior
__________
"Run! Run!" Sonic shouted to his friend. They sprinted down the narrow path, not daring to look back. An arrow thudded to the ground between Sonic and Knuckles, missing them narrowly.
"Wow! That was too close for comfort!" Knuckles shouted.
"Just keep running," Sonic yelled sharply back at him. They ran for what seemed like hours, and inevitably Knuckles had to stop to catch his breath.
"I think we...can stop," he puffed. Sonic glanced back. They were no longer being followed.
Sonic fell to his knees on the path, pulled out his water container from his pack, and drank deeply. He let his body fall backward to the ground and stared through the trees at the blue sky above while catching his breath. A few minutes later he fell asleep. Suddenly he was jolted awake by Knuckles shouting, "Hey, Sonic! I found something--a cave!"
Sonic sat up and looked around. "Where are you, Knuckles?"
"Over here," his friend's voice called back. Sonic followed the voice down a path to a clearing.
"See?" said Knuckles, pointing at a large hole in the side of the mountain.
Sonic looked through the opening and saw a vast tunnel, apparently leading straight into the mountain. "I think this will be a good place for us to spend the night. It'll be dark in a couple of hours," Knuckles said.
"I don't know..." Sonic said hesitantly. "It's really dark in there." They stood there a couple of seconds before Sonic spoke up again. "All right, we're going to have to find some way to light the cave and I don't have my flashlight. I lost it somewhere back there." Knuckles groaned and rubbed his head. "Hey, do you wanna go back there and look for it?" Sonic asked in annoyance.
Knuckles quickly shook his head. "No thanks. I can do just fine without a flashlight."
"Okay then. It's also going to get really cold tonight, so I'm gonna go gather some firewood," Sonic said, heading off to gather some. An hour later, after sunset, the two were huddled around a blazing fire when they heard a strange noise coming from inside the cave. The two of them followed the noise by light of a small torch, trying and failing at being stealthy.
They stared in shock when they rounded the corner, hardly believing their eyes.
Sonic wasn't quite as stunned Knuckles, however, who had seen the creatures in a book.
"What are they?" the hedgehog gasped.
"G-goblins..." the echidna stuttered. The creatures had no visible faces, for they were covered with large, dark red hoods. The rest of the cloak was the same menacing crimson, reminding the pair mainly of blood.
The only flesh visible on these "Goblins" was their eerie, slimy green hands, which were scraggly and bony, reminding them of an old witch in a fairy tale.
"Why are you so darn scared of 'em?" Sonic whispered.
"They have poison arrows that if they want them to they can pierce your skull or rot your mind and body into one of them. I've heard that it's quite the painful process."
Sonic visibly shuddered. He'd read about creatures similar to that in a book once, but they were demented men known as "Nazgûl." They had grotesquely close tactics. "What'll we do?" he asked.
"Leave right now," the echidna whispered, and they turned to go.
As they walked, Sonic stumbled on an unnoticed root and plummeted forward. Fortunately, he hadn't been holding the torch, but he managed to grunt on impact, making enough noise to attract the attention of the Goblins.
"Run!" Knuckles breathed as he helped the hedgehog to his feet. When they were outside the cave, Knuckles dropped and stamped on the torch and kept running.
"What did you do that for?" Sonic demanded of him.
"Do you want an arrow wound?" Knuckles snarled in reply.
They continued to run when they suddenly came to a smooth, solid wall of rock. There was no way even Knuckles could climb it, so the two were forced to stay and fight.
"This'll be easy, right?" Sonic asked, doubting a positive answer. The echidna did not reply. Instead, he stared straight ahead, going pale. He was obviously frightened to death of these creatures.
The Goblins stepped into the clearing and pulled down the hoods, revealing their green, maimed, and hairless heads. Their eyes were almost like Robotnik's, black with red pupils.
"We can take 'em!" Sonic thought.
One of them shot an arrow at him, and he easily dodged it. He glanced over to see Knuckles. The echidna was swinging ferociously left and right and managed to hit one in the gut. Sonic wondered if it would shriek, but it did not. It roared. When Knuckles had hit, it had dropped its bow, but it was now reaching to pick it up again. Knuckles lifted it off the ground and threw it at a nearby tree. It smacked into the trunk headfirst and did not recover. Knuckles then picked up the bow and snapped it in two, after smacking another goblin with it.
"Good job, Knux," the hedgehog thought as he spun into another Goblin. After taking out a few more, Sonic looked over to check on the echidna. He dodged an arrow and swung at its owner, missing it narrowly. The Goblin he had swung at grabbed the rope-like quills on his head and yanked hard. With a grunt, Knuckles toppled, but he struggled to stand. Two others of the few remaining Goblins grabbed his arms to hold him in place. He squirmed and kicked his legs, giving the one trying to grab them a bloody nose. The one holding his dreadlocks moved his hands to grip both sides of the echidna's face, holding him still.
The only Goblin not occupied holding Knuckles or fighting Sonic readied his bow and aimed it.
"NO!" Sonic shouted, bolting towards the scene. Just as he started running, the Goblin fired and struck Knuckles in the left side of his chest. The echidna cried out, his face contorting into a pain-filled expression.
Sonic hurried over, attacking the creatures with ferocity he hadn't known he possessed. He killed two of them and the rest fled into the woods. Sonic ignored their roars and threats as they ran. He was too busy tending Knuckles. He had lifted the echidna's head into his lap and was looking for something to bind the wound with, having quickly yanked the arrow out.
"Please, don't die," Sonic mumbled as he searched.
"I...won't..." Knuckles wheezed, wincing his eyes shut.
"How do you know?"
"If they had intended it to kill me, I would be dead right now. I'm going to become...one of...them..." The echidna's voice broke. One of his worst nightmares was coming true.
Sonic had taken off both his gloves and was tying them onto the wound with a vine he had found.
"Can you walk?" he asked. Knuckles nodded and attempted to stand. He stumbled a little as they began to walk, so Sonic put an arm around his friend to steady him.
"Where will we go?" the echidna asked. "We're miles away from Knothole."
"Remember that old woman that told us to go home because it was too dangerous?"
"Yes."
"Maybe she'll help us."
* * * * *
"Go away!" a voice from inside the cabin shouted. "I don't want any visitors!"
"How about a wounded echidna?" Sonic asked, becoming frustrated. The door creaked open, revealing the elderly bat. She had crumpled, ash wings that matched her pale gray fur. Her eyes were amber, and she wore a tattered brown shawl and a faded blue wrap-around dress. On her feet were worn sandals, and she was leaning on a gnarled old cane of pine. She glared at them a moment, and then her eyes took in Knuckles.
"Bring him in and lay him on the bed," she sighed, obviously irritated. Sonic followed her, practically dragging Knuckles behind him.
Once Knuckles was lying on her bed, she gently removed the makeshift bandage. Black veins were sprouting around it. The old woman looked into his eyes where similar veins were creeping in, and his pupils were turning red. Sonic shuddered. It was just like in the book.
"Can we do anything?" he asked, his large, green eyes hopeful.
"WE can't, but YOU can," she told him. "You must start traveling first thing tomorrow morning to a certain village where they grow the legendary Blue Rose. This flower is the only means of healing him. You must leave before daylight if you are to get there in time. Talk to their chief and ask him for one of these flowers, but be prepared to fight. These are a people of war, and the flower is precious to them. They will make you battle their greatest warrior in order for you to have one of the Blue Roses. You must defeat your enemy quickly, for if this echidna is not helped by sundown tomorrow, he will become a Goblin."
Sonic nodded, storing this information. "Is there anything you can do for him in the meantime?" he asked.
She nodded and handed him a basket. "Go out and get some white berries. They will slow the effect of the poison." Sonic rushed out.
The old woman turned and looked at Knuckles, who was still cringing with the pain. "I ought to clean the wound," she thought as she left the room momentarily.
When she returned, she carried a bowl and a cloth. Knuckles caught scent of it and wrinkled his nose. She ignored his expression of disgust and pulled up a chair beside the bed. She wetted the cloth, wrung it out, and pressed it into the echidna's shoulder. He winced and grunted. She looked at him silently a moment and then continued.
* * * * *
"You must get ready to go!" a voice commanded, bringing him out of sleep. Sonic looked up to see the old woman shaking him. "You ought to pack right away if you are to accomplish this task."
Sonic sat up and put his shoes on as quickly as he could in his half-awake state. The old woman returned, carrying a small pack and a map.
"There's a compass in the bag," she insisted, shoving into his arms and pushing him to the door. "Hurry!"
Sonic heard the door slam behind him. He looked around and smelled the morning air. He was still so tired he wondered if he wasn't really just dreaming. He started walking and was jarred into full consciousness when he stumbled on a log. He finally put his pack on and started running, following the direction of the map and compass. Before noon, he reached a small clearing. He stood in the foliage along the outskirts and watched the village before him. He was surprised to find mostly hedgehogs walking around.
He walked right into the village casually, figuring he would fit right in.
He was right. As far as he knew, no one had noticed him. Or so he thought. In the watchtower only a block away from where he was, someone had noticed him entering from the bushes. By this time, the one in question had made his way to the chief's hut.
Sonic continued his casual trek until a guard walked up to him and blocked his way.
"Is there something wrong?" Sonic asked, looking innocent.
"You are a stranger in our home. The watcher saw you come in from the bushes," the burly guard informed him.
Sonic couldn't think of an excuse for this one. The guard had him.
"I could have been out picking berries," Sonic tried to lie, but the guard was not convinced.
"The watcher knows everyone in our tiny village, and you carry no fruit," he yawned casually.
"Then I might as well go with you."
"Wise choice."
* * * * *
Sonic looked around the hut curiously, wondering what was to become of him. The chief was deep in thought before him, his chin resting on his large hand. Sonic had been slightly surprised to find that the chief was a slender, blue hedgehog like himself.
"So, you want the Blue Rose?" the chief sighed. Sonic had told his story already.
"Yes," the hedgehog pleaded, "Knuckles is becoming one of...them." He looked to the floor, cringing at the memory the dark veins in the echidna's eyes and near his wound.
"If what you say is true, Sonic, we will take care of this matter our way. You must prove yourself worthy of the Blue Rose of courage. You will fight the village's greatest warrior."
Sonic nodded. He was unfazed by the challenge if it meant fighting for one of his best friends.
* * * * *
Sonic now stood in a small arena, much like the ones wrestlers use. He couldn't help but wonder what his challenger would be like. Would it be another hedgehog? If so, then this could be quite difficult.
You can imagine that he was totally surprised when a human stepped into the arena. A human? They thought a human was their greatest warrior? Sonic had to contain his laughter. Humans were weak as far as he was concerned. The only thing they ever fought with was guns and other weapons! Besides, furries are much more durable than any human could ever be.
The human was handed a spear by a guard, and Sonic wondered if he was aloud a weapon, too. He stopped wondering when something dull jabbed him, and he looked down to find a guard trying get his attention by nudging him with the butt of a spear.
"All must be fair," the guard said. "You must have a weapon, too."
Sonic accepted the spear and looked at it a moment.
"Are the contestants ready?" the chief's voice boomed. The competitors looked at him and nodded. "Then let the battle begin!" he commanded.
Sonic, for the first time in his life, stood still and waited for the human to make the first move. He had learned this maneuver from Knuckles. Much to his surprise, it wasn't long until the attack came. The human charged toward him, the spear aimed for his chest. Sonic didn't move until he was about a foot away and going too fast to stop. Then he leapt into the air and landed gracefully behind his enemy. The human had rammed into the wall of the arena and was regaining his composure. Sonic ran over to him and kneed him in the gut. He was starting to doubt even needing his spear. The human was doubled over, holding his stomach. Sonic stood in front of him, not expecting him to move. He was startled when the human took a sudden firm hold on his ankle. He stood, holding the hedgehog in the air like a fisherman showing off his catch. He pointed his spear into Sonic's chest.
Sonic's mind raced as he tried to think of a way out. He realized that his spear was still in his hand. He reached his arm up and scraped the spear's head against the arm that held his leg. The human dropped him, and he landed with a thud. He quickly hopped to his feet and prepared to continue the battle.
Sonic darted to the other end of the arena when the human began to change again. Then he stopped. The footsteps behind him had ceased. He turned around just in time for the spear to graze the side of his head. He yowled in pain and crumpled to the ground, pressing his hand to his head.
"Is he down?" a voice in the crowd murmured.
"I think so," another replied.
"Outlanders know nothing of fighting," yet another added.
Sonic could feel anger-induced adrenaline starting to pump through his veins. An image of Knuckles' pain-filled eyes flashed through his mind...the veins...the blood...gasps of agony... Sonic's head rose quickly, and he glared at the human. He pulled his hand away from his head and got to his feet.
"It doesn't matter now what happens..." he panted. "I will never give up the fight. As long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight..." He jumped upon the human and jabbed his spear into his left shoulder. The man cried out and collapsed to the ground.
Sonic was suddenly aware of his hand being raised into the air. He looked over to see a guard holding it up and declaring him champion. Then Sonic collapsed, too.
* * * * *
"Has he awoken, yet?" a ruff voice asked.
"He's working on it," another, softer one replied.
Sonic opened his eyes the rest of the way to see the chief and a younger hedgehog looking down at him.
"You fought well," the chief congratulated him, "and have earned the Blue Rose."
"Thanks," Sonic moaned as he winced at the stinging in his head.
"You must rest for a few days now," the younger hedgehog told him. Sonic's eyes flew open.
"I can't!" he protested. "I have to save my friend!"
The two others glanced at each other and then back at Sonic.
"I suppose we cannot stop you," the chief sighed and looked to his assistant. "Fetch a Blue Rose and some supplies," he said, "and then we will escort him out of the village."
* * * * *
Sonic walked quickly yet awkwardly through the woods. He was tired and dizzy but determined to make it back. The sun had started towards the west!
He stopped only a moment to gulp some water and make sure that the flower he carried was safe.
* * * * *
Knuckles glanced out the window to see the sun creeping westward. Then he leaned his head back further into the pillow and let out a gut-wrenching howl of pain.
His body was fighting itself. The hero within him was being over-taken by a cruel, ruthless villain. The dark veins were creeping further into his eyes, and his pupils had almost completely turned blood red. It felt like his insides were ripping themselves out.
He tried to remember where the elderly woman had gone. He thought he recalled her telling him that she was going out to her garden behind the hut.
He was distracted from his thinking when the door creaked open. He looked over to see that no one was near it. A rustle of fabric caught his attention, but another sudden surge of pain over-took him. He cried out again but not as loudly.
He looked directly in front of him to see a long, bony, green hand reach out to him.
"Take my hand," a chilling voice commanded. "End your suffering. One touch and your transformation will instantly end."
"No!" he gasped, his tone hardly assertive. He tried to turn away and not think of the pain.
The hand continued toward him, and much to his horror, his own hand began to reach out for it. His breaths were struggled now, and it felt not only like he was being ripped apart but also like someone was stomping on his lungs.
"No!" he tried to protest again, his voice scarcely a wheeze.
Then, distantly, he heard yet another voice protesting. It was a familiar voice, but it seemed so distant... so much further than the evil green hand before him now.
"NO!" Sonic yelled at the top of his lungs as he charged the Goblin, drawing a dagger the chief had given him. He jabbed it into the creature's back, shuddering at the bone-chilling roar that sounded.
The Goblin sank to the floor, creating a heap of blood-red cloth.
"What's going on?" the old woman's voice demanded from the doorway.
"Am I too late?" Sonic asked her, ignoring the question.
She looked over at Knuckles and at the blue flower in Sonic's hand. Then her gaze went out the window.
"Not yet," she finally replied. She rushed to the kitchen and came back with a bowl of water and a cloth. The water in the bowl was steaming. "Let me see the flower," she commanded. Sonic handed it to her. She pulled up a stool beside the bed, setting the bowl, the cloth, and the rose on a small table. She gently pulled a petal off and set it on Knuckles' wound. The echidna let out a startled gasp, his eyes widening in shock and pain. She proceeded to lay the now steaming wet cloth over the petal. Knuckles writhed and shook his head from side to side, trying to avoid shouting out. Sonic gently, almost timidly placed a hand one of Knuckles'. He didn't say anything because no words would come that could do either of them any good.
When she had finished laying the cloth, she plucked another petal and handed it to Sonic with the bowl of water.
"Crush it in your hand and make it a paste with the water. After that, feed it to him," she ordered.
Sonic looked doubtfully at the petal and then proceeded to obey. When he had a blue paste-like substance in the small of his washed hand, he tried to put it on a spoon the woman offered him. Finally accomplishing that, he put it to the echidna's mouth. Knuckles made a face at its taste, but he ate it all, anyway. He was starving, not having had anything to eat since they'd arrived.
"What do we do now?" Sonic asked, glancing at the Blue Rose. The woman picked it up, lifted one of Knuckles' large hands, and laid it over his chest. She then let his hand fall back into place, over the stem. He looked like a male version of Sleeping Beauty.
"Why did you do that?" Sonic demanded.
"It will finish the healing process," she snapped back. It was then that she noticed that bandage strapped to the side of Sonic's head. But she chose to ignore it. It probably wasn't a terrible wound, anyway.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" the hedgehog asked her.
"Yes," she muttered. "You and your friend can get out of my house before dawn tomorrow morning."
* * * * *
"Get up!" Sonic heard a voice order. He drowsily opened his eyes to see the old woman shaking him awake again. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Get your things and be gone!" she continued, handing him his backpack. He looked in at the contents. Inside was the head of the spear he had defeated the human with, his and Knuckles' canteens, some dried fruit, and the rose, the bottom of its stem wrapped in a cloth.
"Is Knuckles awake?" he asked, slipping his shoes on.
"I left that to you," she informed him, walking out of the room. Sonic walked over to Knuckles to find him sitting up in bed already, his legs hanging over the edge.
"You think you can walk?" Sonic asked.
"Yep. I feel pretty strong today," he replied. He leaned over the edge of his bed and grabbed his large shoes. "We should make pretty good time before stopping for the night."
"Any idea how to get to Knothole?"
"Nope. I have no idea where we are."
"Go east," the woman's voice interrupted. "Now hurry up and get out of my house!"
* * * * *
The two of them finally left the little cabin and were glad to go. They had been well aware of the fact that she didn't want them there, but where else could they have gone? They hadn't known about the village of hedgehogs until the elderly bat had sent Sonic there.
"How far east do you think it is, Knux?" Sonic asked as they walked, just to make conversation.
"Can't be too far if she knew it existed; but then again, who knows if she was telling the truth. She could have just told us that to get us to leave."
"That's what I've been thinking, but I was hoping that I was wrong. I'm getting pretty homesick."
"Me too."
* * * * *
They walked on a while, Knuckles still overlooking Sonic's head wound. The bandage had fallen off while he was sleeping, so there was nothing to draw the echidna's attention to it.
Somehow, Sonic had forgotten all about it and was unaware that it was starting to trickled blood down the side of his head. Until after noon when they stopped to rest, that is.
"I feel pretty tired," Sonic huffed, plopping down on a log, "but I don't know why; we've only been walking at a nice, easy pace."
"Sonic, what's that on the side of your head?" Knuckles asked, suddenly becoming concerned. It was then that the wound began to hurt again.
"When I was fighting in the village...my opponent threw a spear and it grazed me," Sonic explained. "They bandaged it, but apparently it's still bleeding."
"Let me see it," Knuckles sighed, motioning for Sonic to lie down. The hedgehog took off the pack and ungracefully plopped down, the right side of his head upwards. Knuckles crouched behind him and took off his gloves. Much to Sonic's surprise, the echidna's hands were slender, although large. Not only that, but he was very gentle in examining the wound.
"They must not have cared if you made it past giving me the rose," Knuckles commented after getting a whiff of the wound. "This kind of plant grows on the Island. It temporarily stops bleeding and relieves pain, but after that it pretty much turns into a fresh wound. They should've stitched it or something."
"Are you going to do that?" Sonic asked, trying to hide his nervousness.
"Heck, no! What would I do it with? I think I ought to wash it, though. Maybe find a new bandage..."
"Where are you going to find a bandage out here?"
"If you had survived on the land most of your life, I suppose you would know, too. I'm going to need to gather some leaves and roots. I think I hear a stream not too far off, so I'll get some fresh, cold water, too. You stay here."
"And do what?"
"Lay against that tree and rest. I won't be far away, so just holler when you need something."
Sonic reluctantly leaned against a tree trunk and looked at the sky above him. Or tried to, anyway. He couldn't see through all the leaves. Then he remembered something.
'Knuckles' wound! I almost forgot all about it! How does he expect to collect plants and stuff when he's hurt?' Sonic sat up and thought of calling the echidna or looking for him. Then the pain reminded him of how tired he was, and he leaned back again. He would repay the echidna...somehow.
* * * * *
Sonic woke up to find himself in a very different position. He was on his side again, his head resting on something soft and warm. He looked around to find that his head was in Knuckles' lap, and that it was dark out, and a fire was going. He could see the glowing out of the corner of his eye and sense the wonderful warmth on his body.
He looked up into the echidna's face, seeing a serious, concentrative expression, the flame's reflection dancing in his mysterious, violet eyes.
"What time is it?" Sonic asked.
"Seven."
Sonic almost sat straight up. Seven? He'd been out for six hours!
"I've been asleep that long? Gosh, Knux, I'm sorry."
"No apology needed. You traveled pretty far yesterday and didn't get a lot of rest. You needed those six hours. When I came back and found you sleeping, I decided I shouldn't wake you, so I set up camp. When I was finished, you were still sleeping, so I let you sleep for a while longer. Then I figured you must be a pretty heavy sleeper, so I moved you into my lap and cleaned and medicated you, anyway. You seemed to kinda sag into your new surroundings after that and looked pretty darn comfortable, so I didn't move you."
"How long have I been here?"
"I'm guessing around an hour."
Sonic sat up and stretched, still feeling sleepy. He heard Knuckles move from behind him and so didn't lie back down. He watched the echidna's movement and noticed him still favoring his left shoulder. He hadn't forgotten that he wanted to repay him for his kindness.
"Come here, Sonic," the echidna called. "I made up a bed for ya."
Sonic stood shakily and walked over to see a nice piled of large leaves and feathers.
"Where did these feathers come from?" Sonic asked as he sat down, finding the bed quite comfortable.
"I ran into an abandoned nest by the stream," he simply explained as he pulled a canteen out of the pack and picked up some fruit from a pile on a leaf. "Here's some dinner," he told Sonic. "You haven't eaten anything since we stopped for breakfast, remember?"
Sonic suddenly realized he was starving and gratefully accepted the offered meal. He ate it and watched Knuckles sit down only a few feet away and begin to eat his own dinner.
When they had finished eating, they both sank into their bedding. Knuckles fell asleep almost immediately, but Sonic lay awake for a while, thinking. Just before falling asleep himself, he prayed that he would be the first to awaken the next morning.
* * * * *
Sonic woke up the next morning to find his prayer answered. Knux was still sleeping heavily. He looked as tired as his breathing indicated.
Sonic stood up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around to try and make some breakfast. The fruit from the previous night was still ripe, so he put some on a leaf and set it by Knuckles, as well as one of the canteens. That was good, but what else could he do? He glanced at Knuckles' shoulder wound. It was swelling a little and looked dirty. The evil within Knuckles had gone, that was for certain, but the wound stayed, becoming like a regular injury. He thought a moment, trying to remember anything Knuckles had told him a while ago about cleaning wounds. There was a certain plant...now he remembered. He thought he had seen it around their campsite somewhere. He searched for only a short while before finding what he was looking for. He pulled off the leaves and walked back to where Knuckles lay sleeping. He found a flat rock and a small round one, and began to smash the leaves. Finally satisfied with the paste that resulted, he scooped some up with his fingers and placed it on the wound.
Knuckles stirred, moaning in confusion. He opened his eyes and looked at Sonic, then down at the gash on his shoulder. Much to Sonic's surprise, he smiled.
"Thanks, Sonic," he grunted, sitting up. "Looks like you were paying attention after all. That's the right stuff."
Sonic smiled and handed him the leaf with the food on it.
"I wanted to repay you for all that you did for me," the hedgehog informed him.
"Now I'm in debt again," Knuckles chuckled. "I owed you one for getting the Blue Rose." He began to eat his breakfast.
"Let's just forget it," Sonic suggested as he got himself something to eat. "What good are debts to a pair of pals like us?"
* * * * *
"Are we almost there?" Sonic asked just to annoy Knuckles. They had been walking quite a while, and Sonic had naturally become bored.
"Will you stop asking that?" Knuckles growled in response. "I'm getting slightly tempted to knock you out and leave you behind." He would really never do this, of course. He just wanted Sonic to shut up. Sonic was silent for a while, trying to think of a witty reply to his friend's comment.
"I'd like to see you try!" he spat back, putting his hands on his hips.
"Big talk coming from someone with a head injury," Knuckles snarled and then turned to keep walking.
"Look whose talking! At least my body was never possessed by Goblins!"
Knuckles whirled around and stared the hedgehog right in the eye.
"I was never possessed," his voice informed him, low and haunting. "I fought it until you arrived. I went through excruciating pain so you could return and find that your mission hadn't been in vain. I could have easily surrendered to the Goblin's call."
"So you're the hero, now? Is that it? You're saying that I didn't do squat about the situation?"
"No," Knuckles' voice was cold as he was starting to regret that the argument had started. "I'm not saying that at all." He looked at the ground.
But Sonic wasn't willing to drop it. He was pumped up and ready for a good argument. "So you're Mister Humble now? You think you're better than me because you're going to stop this since I started it? You're no saint, pal!"
Knuckles' impatience had momentarily vanished, but listening to Sonic, it had returned.
"SHUT UP!" he roared. "Just shut it, Sonic! I'm sick of your big yap flapping! I should have left your wound alone!" His face was only inches away from Sonic's now, and the hedgehog could hear and see the echidna panting with fury.
"BE QUIET!" Sonic all but screamed. The next thing either of them knew, Knuckles was stumbling back a few feet, his hand pressed his cheek. The left side of his face was swelling up. Sonic stood, frozen, his hand in the air where Knuckles' face had been. They had both heard the sound of flesh being stricken. Somehow, they had both come to their senses now.
"Knux...I-I'm so sorry..." Sonic stuttered.
Knuckles' head was bent downward, but he wasn't crying. His finger was writing something in the dirt. Sonic leaned over timidly to see what it was. Letters formed the words "TODAY MY FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."
"Let's go," Knuckles sighed, standing and starting to walk. Sonic felt tears coming to his eyes.
* * * * *
They walked on for quite a while, neither saying much. Sonic was afraid to say anything to his friend because he didn't think he could get the words out without his voice cracking.
Eventually they came to a clearing containing a peaceful, crystal clear lake.
"Let's take a dip," Knuckles suggested, as though nothing had ever happened. He was seated on a rock, his back to Sonic, slipping his shoes off. Sonic plopped down on the ground and did the same, still not saying a word.
Knuckles waded into the water first, savoring the refreshing feeling of the cool water against his fur and flesh. It felt cleansing, as if washing away the argument of before. When he was in up to his knees, he heard Sonic splash in behind him. He worked his way in until he was up to his chest and then washed out the wound on his shoulder.
Sonic watched Knuckles for a while and then decided to wash his head. He cupped some of the water in his hands and splashed it into his face, feeling the delightful coldness run down his chin. He looked up at the sound of violent splashing from where Knuckles had been. The echidna was gone. Panicking, Sonic swam out to the middle and plunged under the surface, seeking his friend out. He didn't have to look long. Not far below, he could see the echidna struggling to free himself from something. Pure terror was in his eyes. Sonic looked down further to see a metal wire ensnaring Knuckles' ankle. It was attached to something he could not make out; something on it's way to the bottom of the lake.
He surfaced to get some air and dove back down. After fighting the object and cutting his gloves, Sonic freed his friend and swam to the surface with him. He gulped in the precious air and glanced at the echidna he held. He looked to be either dead or unconscious. He laid the echidna out upon the warm sand and listened to his breathing. It was almost non-existent. He turned the echidna's head to the side and pushed down on his chest. Knuckles coughed up a bunch of water and then sat up, shaking partly from shock and partly from chill. He wrapped his arms around himself, and looked gratefully at Sonic.
"You're hurt," the hedgehog mumbled, glancing at the echidna's ankle. Sure enough, the wire had torn the flesh deeply, and it was now bleeding profusely.
"No wonder I feel so weak," Knuckles sighed, leaning against a rock and trying to absorb its heat. "But my leg is so numb from cold I can hardly feel it, anyway. Look at your hands, Sonic."
Sonic glanced down. They were cut, all right, but not badly enough for him to worry.
"I'll go collect some stuff," Sonic sighed as he picked up the pack. He took out a canteen and handed it to Knuckles. "You stay here and rest. I'll be back as soon as I can."
* * * * *
Sonic returned to hear the sound of something scraping against rock. Was Knuckles trying to climb something? He stepped into the clearing to see the echidna bent over the rock, chiseling away with a sharp animal bone that had evidently been lying on the beach. He noted that Knuckles had wrapped his gloves around his ankle.
When Sonic got closer, he could read the letters Knuckles had been carving. "TODAY MY FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."
"When I slapped you, you wrote it in the sand," Sonic choked, "but when I saved you, you wrote it in stone... How come?"
Knuckles looked at him, his soft violet eyes full of forgiveness. "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone, where no wind can ever erase it."
"I-I'm, sorry, Knux..." Sonic began, but he couldn't finish. He put his arms gently around his friend's shoulders.
"I'm sorry, too," Knuckles whispered, doing the same.
* * * * *
Sonic looked up at the stars just before poking at the fire again. He glanced over his shoulder at Knuckles who was sleeping, still leaning against the rock. His ankle was well medicated and bandaged now, or as well as they could do with what they had.
Sonic sighed and lay down. He traced circles in the sand with his finger until he fell asleep too.
* * * * *
The next morning they woke up, put out their fire, and headed on their way. Knuckles used an old, gnarled stick they had found as a cane as he walked, looking like a feeble old man. Sonic felt genuinely sorry for him and suddenly wished that he had been stuck and almost drowned instead.
As they walked, the day brightened, and so did their hopes of ever getting home. Sonic could almost feel that his home was nearby. It was certainly close, but reaching it would be more difficult than he thought.
They had not rid themselves of every last Goblin, as Sonic had been led to believe. Five more remained and had been tracking the two of them since they left the old woman's hut.
Now the foul creatures were right behind the twosome, hiding in the bushes, waiting for the right moment to spring upon them.
* * * * *
"Something draws near, I can feel it," Knuckles said suddenly, stopping in his tracks. Sonic stopped, too. He had been feeling something as well but had said nothing to his friend.
Without further warning, the Goblins sprang, their distorted faces smirking at the two.
Sonic glanced over to see Knuckles put his hand over his wound and go pale.
"Be brave," he heard himself whisper. "We can do it." He certainly sounded more confident than he felt. He doubted that Knuckles would be able to fight very well with a wounded ankle and a cane, but what other choice did he have? Sonic couldn't take them all by himself, and he knew Knuckles would fight even if he told him not to.
The leader of the Goblins hissed something neither of them could understand, and the battle began. Despite the beautiful day, despite the birds singing, it began.
Sonic did a spin-dash into one of his attackers, knocking it in the head. That Goblin did not recover, but the others seemed to suddenly fight with more ferocity than before. At least now there were only four of the beasts, giving Knuckles and Sonic only two each to fight.
Knuckles stood weakly on his own for a moment to bash a Goblin in the side with his stick. The Goblin stumbled backward but did not fall. Knuckles took this opportunity to drive his fist into the other attacker. The one he had beat with his stick returned and kicked him in the back, knocking him forward. He lay in the dirt a moment and then tried to get to his feet, pain shooting up his leg. When he was up on one knee, both Goblins began to beat on his with sharp, whip-like branches.
Sonic grabbed one Goblin's leg and pulled it out from under him and then thrust him into the other Goblin he was fighting. The two of them stiffly got to their feet and lunged at him. The hedgehog easily dodged one but was grabbed by the other, whose icy, thin fingers curled around his neck. Those fingers, though bony, were strong. The Goblin started to strangle him. Sonic gagged for a bit, trying desperately to think of something before his neck was snapped completely. Not able to come up with another plan, he bit the creature as hard as he could and was surprised to find that he had drawn blood. The Goblin dropped him, and he landed on his rump. He stood, rubbing his sore spot, and managed to see an oncoming attacker just in time to dart out of the way.
Knuckles moaned and tried again to rise. The monsters had stopped thrashing him momentarily, but for what reason he dared not guess. He managed to get all the way to his feet this time and turned around after picking up his walking stick. One Goblin was coming at him with a dagger of some sort, likely to run him through with it. Knuckles raised an arm to firmly grasp the Goblin's wrist and twisted it. The creature yowled in pain and tried to pull its appendage away, but Knuckles wouldn't let go until it snapped. The Goblin roared in agony and came at him again, its other hand holding the dagger. This time, it got past Knuckles' block. The Goblin was on top of the echidna, pinning him to the ground with his knees and legs. Knuckles' body felt sore and tired from the beating. He just wanted to fall asleep right there. But he wouldn't let himself. There had to be a way out! He squirmed around and then realized his advantage. The Goblin now only had one serviceable hand, while he himself had two. He struggled and thrashed about some more until one of his hands was free. He then grabbed his enemy's broken wrist and clutched onto it, making it hurt some more. While the Goblin was distracted, he reached up and curled his fingers around the other wrist. The Goblin pulled back, trying to avoid getting another broken appendage. Knuckles couldn't very well get up using his feet, so he pushed off the ground with his hands and landed gracefully though painfully. He swung as hard as he could at the beast's head, cringing at the snapping sound that resulted. He glanced over at Sonic.
The hedgehog was on his back, obviously winded. One of the Goblins had charged him, and he had gotten the wind knocked out of him. The same beast came charging at him, but Sonic was smart enough raise his feet and send his enemy flying over his head. He gasped with sudden pain as the other Goblin he had been fighting stepped right onto his chest. This time, he couldn't manage to think clearly. All he could think of was being able to breathe. While his arms and legs were flailing about, he somehow managed to strike the back of the goblin's knee, causing his leg to buckle and making him fall over. Sonic stayed where he was for only a second to regain his breath, and then he leapt up and did a spin-dash right into the creature's head. It didn't move again.
"I think this makes it more fair," he panted, wiping his hand over his forehead.
Knuckles sagged against the trunk of a tree, exhaustion over taking him. The other Goblin he had been fighting had rammed him into the tree in the first place. He just didn't feel like battling anymore. It didn't feel like his body could take it. The monster charged at him again, but Knuckles held out a hand, holding it back. Even his fingers ached. The sound of thunder startled him, and he looked up to the sky to see clouds rolling in. A light rain had started to fall. The Goblin noticed this, too, but chose to ignore it. He grabbed Knuckles' arm and flung him at another tree. The echidna grunted upon impact and let his body slump to the ground. He lifted his head to see his enemy coming back for more. Seeing his last chance, Knuckles grabbed hold of the Goblin's ankle and yanked on it. The Goblin fell to the ground. Knuckles picked up a sharp stick that he saw on the ground beside him and jabbed it into the creature's side. Green ooze squirted into the echidna's face. The Goblin roared, then went silent.
"Good," was all Knuckles could wheeze before his head sagged to the ground, and he, too, lay silent.
Sonic let the Goblin sink to the ground. He had just snapped its neck by doing another spin-dash. But he hadn't destroyed it without taking a few licks himself. He grasped the cut on his arms and hobbled over to where Knuckles had been fighting. He found the corpses of the Goblins and then stared in shock at his friend. It appeared that Knuckles might be dead, too.
Gently he pulled his friend up into his lap and checked for a pulse. It was a weak one. He looked over his friend's injured body, finding bruises, scrapes, and gashes. His whole body was covered with mud and his face with an odd smelling green goop. The hedgehog threw his head back and hollered into the storm, the rain splattering on his face.
He turned his head upon hearing a rustle in the bushes. The Freedom Fighters were standing there, staring in awe, but not as much awe as Sonic himself.
* * * * *
Sonic looked on silently as the doctors tended to his friend. Not that he could have said anything about it, for another team of doctors had slipped a breath-mask over his own muzzle. He was relieved to feel the air flowing easily into his lungs. He ached all over and was tired, anyway. The hedgehog cringed, not only because he was watching what was happening to Knuckles but also because the wound on his head was being cleaned and his arm was being stitched.
"Looks like he's broken a few ribs," someone commented, and Sonic could tell they were looking at him. No wonder his chest hurt so badly. "His lungs have been harmed, too," the same person continued. Sonic figured it was from the Goblin stepping on him. Then he heard a moan. He turned his head to see that Knuckles had woken up to a world of pain. The hedgehog didn't have long to think on this, however, as the doctors had replaced his breath mask with sleeping gas.
* * * * *
The doctors proceeded to clean the echidna up, just before tending the broken bones that had come up on the X-ray right after he was brought in. His shoulder blades were both cracked, his spine was out of line, and several ribs had snapped. Most of this was due to his two collisions with the trees. Knuckles writhed and gasped with pain as they turned him onto his side to clean the cuts on his back. They couldn't lay him directly on his stomach because he was already have breathing problems. It was a nightmare to him; the intense pain, the bright lights... he wished he could pass out again or just plain die.
* * * * *
His nose twitched. That was the first sign of his consciousness. But the only other person in the room didn't see it. He moved his arms around a little to feel something soft surrounding him, with a cool, clean feeling to it. Could it be? Sheets, on a bed? Something soft and downy was supporting his large head. A pillow? He was reluctant to open his eyes, fearing that he would find that this soft paradise was only a good dream. He opened them, anyway, his amethyst gaze taking in the room. He was relieved to find it was the medical hut in Knothole. He found himself smiling and wondering why he didn't hurt too much.
Then Knuckles made the mistake of trying to sit up. He yelped and fell back into the pillow as a jolt of pain coursed its way through his body.
This little event was enough to call the attention of the other in the room.
"Knux!" Sonic exclaimed, turning his head in his friend's direction. "How do ya feel?"
"In...pain..." Knuckles moaned in reply.
Sonic glanced sympathetically at his friend and glanced down at himself. He no longer needed the respirator, but if he moved wrong, his chest hurt something awful. His arm stung, too, as did his head. But Knuckles seemed to have it much worse. He couldn't even sit up.
"I'll get the nurse to bring you some pain killers. Are you hungry at all?"
Now that Knuckles thought about it, he was starving. "Yes," he replied weakly to his friend's question.
Sonic didn't need to be told twice. He rushed out of the room, cautious of his aching ribs, to fetch a nurse.
He soon returned, a young lady dog close behind him. She had a white top on and a pair of blue jeans, and she was pushing a small cart in front of her.
"Lay still a moment," she told him, picking up a needle. "This will only hurt a little." Knuckles readily held out his arm. After all he'd been through, he was sure an injection would seem like a simple pinch. He winced at the little sting of it, but aside from that, he didn't react. It might have been his imagination, but he almost immediately felt some of the aches in his body subsiding.
"Do you need me to support him sitting up?" Sonic asked.
The nurse shook her head, her ears swaying slightly. "His spine is distorted," she replied. "If we tried to move him without a whole team here, it would not only cause him pain, but it could possibly make it worse."
Sonic didn't understand a whole lot about medical conditions, but she had worded it in a way he could understand. He simply nodded his reply.
"You could, however, hold his head up just a little."
Sonic gently slid his hand under Knuckles' heavy head and lifted it a little ways so the nurse could get the soup in his mouth.
* * * * *
Sonic's and Knuckles' recovery took at least a month. During the first week, neither of them did much. Sonic would hurry out of the room to fetch a nurse or two for Knuckles, but aside from that, he took it easy, although mainly because it was commanded of him. After that week, Knuckles was started on a therapy to get his legs working again. He would be helped into a wheelchair by a team of nurses, pushed down to the exercise room, and helped to various machines. The therapy was tiring, sometimes painful, and often made him irritable; but with enough encouragement, he was willing to do it anyway. Sonic was the main source of this. He would sometimes even argue with Knuckles until he agreed to do it again. Sonic himself had needed to do special exercises to get used to using his arm again, and so he could identify.
After two weeks of this therapy, Knuckles was able to walk himself from and back to his room. He enjoyed this much more than a wheelchair, since it gave him a much-needed feeling of independence.
One evening, when therapy was over for the day, Knuckles found himself practically crawling to his room. He was exhausted, but he had stubbornly turned down the offered wheelchair. He didn't ever want to see it again.
When he finally got into his room, he just collapsed at the foot of his bed and fell into restless slumber.
It wasn't long until Sonic came by, however, and noticed his friend on the floor. At first he panicked, thinking his friend dead, but then he heard the heavy breathing of sleep and realized what had probably happened. He struggled under the echidna's weight, but he managed to pick him up and lay him gently in the bed.
"You're a good friend," Sonic heard Knuckles murmur, still appearing to be asleep.
"You, too, Knux," Sonic replied quietly as he walked out the door. "You, too."