Hello everyone! This is my take on Knuckles' Chaotix's story. While it's mainly based off the Japanese manual, I am changing a few things as well, to add my own twist to it. For example, I'm incorporating Sonic Crackers into the story, so Sonic and Tails will be main characters, but not the stars. I'm also going to be using the Modern personalities of Vector, Espio, and Charmy, instead of the Classic personalities, though I will be using the Classic forms of all characters. I'm also taking a bit of inspiration from the OVA (English version), and Sonic CD (mostly for Robotnik and Metal Sonic), and a little from the DiC cartoons (mainly for Sonic).

This is my first time adapting a story from the games, and writing Knuckles, the Chaotix, and Metal Sonic, as well as a version of Robotnik that isn't from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, so I hope I do a pretty good job, and write them in-character.

I hope you enjoy the story. :)

Chapter 1: A Nightmare in Disguise

Space ... asteroids everywhere. He had been here before, and each time he found himself in space, it had ended disastrously for him, and this time was no exception, but it wasn't over for him yet. The giant green gem was still in his grasp - in his robot's hands, but still, in his grasp. The world was beneath him, his spacecraft, destroyed, and the one who destroyed it, following him in hot pursuit - all he could hope to do was hold on for a few more moments - just long enough for time to run out for his pursuer, but his efforts were in vain, and he had begun to realize it.

His pursuer, Sonic the Hedgehog, his body illuminated and flashing in an array of colors, with his spines standing on end and his eyes burning green, sporting a grimace full of determination and anger, slammed himself into the large robotic suit, damaging it one final time. The man in the robotic suit began to fall. At this point, the only way for him to survive was to release the powerful gem, allowing him barely enough energy to make a more-or-less safe landing. As he fell, he turned the head of his robot to glance back at the emerald. The flashing hedgehog sped towards it, grabbed it as best he could, and headed down with him.

The robotic suit shook violently, with more of it catching fire, and a loud boom occurred, as it broke into the atmosphere of the planet. Images of stars and asteroids soon changed to clouds in a bright blue sky. Robotnik turned the head of his robotic suit again, and watched the hedgehog fall with him. Hyper Sonic turned to him, and smirked. A loud revving could be heard in the distance. The sound came closer, until the source of it appeared: a red plane, piloted by a two-tailed fox. Sonic's color shifted to his normal cobalt blue, his spines falling to his back, as he landed safely on a platform of the plane, while the Master Emerald fell behind. A compartment just under the tail of the plane opened, and a long robotic claw stretched out, grabbing the emerald. Sonic turned back to Robotnik.

"You lose again, Buttnik!" Sonic called to the scientist. The duo flew onwards, back towards Angel Island, leaving Robotnik to fall into the ocean. It was the last thing Robotnik saw before entering the water.

Inside his machine, things began to blow apart around him. The Red Alert alarm started to sound. As the alarm sounded, a feminine robotic voice echoed throughout the robot, repeating an unsettling message: "Warning! This machine has received irreparable damage, and is at risk of exploding. Please exit, immediately!"

His unsuccessful life began to flash before his eyes - particularly this latest endeavor. The Master Emerald was gone, his Death Egg destroyed, and Mecha Sonic, nowhere to be found, and most likely destroyed as well. Everything was ruined, again.

"Another plan, ruined!" he thought. He continued to fall. He pressed all the emergency buttons and combinations in his machine, but to no avail. This always happened. It didn't matter what he did. Sonic always won. It was not logical. As Robotnik was a genius with an IQ of 300, the hedgehog wasn't half as smart as he was. Not even Tails, who was a genius in his own right, was as smart as him, and yet he always failed, thanks to an insignificant speedster and a mutated fox.

Anger surged through him. His hands began to tremble at the mere thought of his having lost to the hedgehog yet again. The anger overwhelmed him. He flung his hands into the air as clenched fists, his teeth showing and his eyes burning with rage. He brought his fists to his sides and let out a blood curdling scream. He soon regained enough control to form sentences.

"No!" he screeched. "I hate you, Sonic! You'll pay for this!"

A reflection of the clouds above became shattered and distorted, as the large mech crashed into the water, causing a tidal wave of a splash. More explosions in his robotic suit occurred, as it continued to lose power. The loud alarm and voice continued to sound. He was sinking deeply into the ocean. It wasn't long before everything began to fade to black.

...

It was now several months after that incident. It seemed an uninteresting day, as Robotnik sat in his Eggmobile, scouring the seas, lost in thought. There was nothing that could be of use to him - certainly nothing that could give him hopes of beating Sonic, or conquering the world.

If there was one thing Robotnik was, it was persistent. It didn't matter how many times his plans failed. All it did was make him angry, and even more determined than before to accomplish his goals. Unfortunately for him, his goals involved conquering the world, and, being the rotten egg that he was, that could not be allowed to happen, so Sonic and his friends would stop at nothing to ruin each scheme he came up with. For the doctor, though, it meant that he could never have what he wanted. This never stopped him from trying, however, and the Master Emerald had filled his twisted mind with countless new ideas.

The power of the emerald astounded him. It could power any machine he could imagine. It was far better than the Chaos Emeralds - it had even transformed said emeralds into Super Emeralds, allowing Sonic to obtain a Hyper form, an upgrade from his usual Super form. Power like this could not simply be ignored, and with a man as determined as Ivo Robotnik, it never would be. However, now he also had Knuckles, the guardian of the emerald, to contend with, along with Sonic and his fox friend, Tails. Three against one did not sound promising, and it was more than what he was willing to try at this time.

Robotnik soon found himself turning to new opportunities. Perhaps he'd find something that was just as good as the Master Emerald, or something that could connect him to it, without having to tamper with the trio. He had already given up on rebuilding Mecha Sonic, who was once his finest creation, after having heard of an incident back on Angel Island involving Knuckles and the robot. The robot had apparently attempted to steal the emerald himself, but ended up being destroyed in the process.

"There must be some way to accomplish my goals," Robotnik thought out loud.

At that moment, a flash of white light caught his eye. He stopped the Eggmobile, and leaned closer in the direction of the light. A small dot of green that could only signify an island was seen in the distance. He followed it curiously. It was the most interesting thing that had happened that day.

As he came closer, he saw that he was correct, and that it was, indeed, an island. "What's this?" he said. "I don't recall there being an island here. The South Sea doesn't contain an island." He was soon directly above the island, and began to hover over it.

The island was surreal. With bright and somewhat faded shades of green and purple, the vegetation seemed more like a figment of a dream than it did a result of nature. The trees themselves looked nothing like the trees seen elsewhere. They were clearly reminiscent of normal tropical trees, and yet, their peculiar shapes and odd leaves were more than enough to set them apart. Some trees had vines that curled into springs, others, circular leaves that could have passed for plates, while some plants were shaped more like flowers, with their leaves actually facing upwards, appearing to defy the laws of gravity, and then, there were the odd groups of trees that looked exactly like any average palm tree. Their trunks and stems were as strange as their leaves, where some were thin, others thick, and still others started thin, and became wider and almost acorn-shaped near the top, before becoming thin again. Given the colors and shapes of the vegetation, it seemed some of it would actually have been more fitting under the sea than above it. Needless to say, it was the oddest forest one could lay one's eyes on.

There were several waterfalls and lakes on the island. However, something very strange about it, was that nearly everything was wet, as if the island had recently experienced heavy rains that had lasted for days. Most of the ground was soaked, and water could be seen dripping from a majority of the trees on the island, even from those that weren't near any water.

Robotnik eyed the landmass carefully. After much inspection, he discovered that the island had very little life. In fact, all he saw was the occasional bird. One could say that this was because the sight and sound of his Eggmobile scared any animals away. While this could have been true, it seemed unlikely, as, besides the birds, there were next to no signs of life on the island.

"But how can this be?" the doctor questioned, perplexed. "An island with this much vegetation should be teeming with life, and yet, it seems uninhabited. I don't understand it." His voice trailed off as he finished his thought. It took all of the doctor's brainpower to solve this mystery, and he gasped as he came upon a startling realization: "This island rose from the bottom of the ocean! Now, it all makes sense!" And indeed it did. There was now an explanation as to why the vegetation looked aquatic, why there was very little life, and, most importantly, how it had suddenly appeared.

Dr. Robotnik began to see the island in a new light. Not only was it a great scientific discovery, but it also clearly had some sort of secret, most likely a new form of power. After all, there had to have been a reason as to why the island had chosen to rise from the ocean, and, being uninhabited and newly discovered, it gave the scientist all the time and space he needed to figure it out.

It should be mentioned that Robotnik was not alone on his venture. Flying beside him was one of his mechanical creations. Half his size, and quite thin, it was yet another robotic hedgehog. Unlike Robotnik, the robot was well-proportioned. Its head was a triangle that extended into three spines, each stretched out in a manner similar to Sonic's. Its color was cobalt blue, aside from the shoulders, muzzle, fingers and legs, which were silver instead, and its triangular ears, the insides of which were yellow, matching the backs of its hands. Finally, the robot's feet were styled as shoes that were, as the speedster's, red, with white trims.

While the robotic hedgehog highly resembled Sonic, his face was far less welcoming. Glowing red rings sat in a pool of black that formed the robot's eyes. The eyes were the same shape and size as Sonic's, but, just as the blue blur's eyes were warm and friendly, so the metallic hedgehog's eyes were cold and heartless. Caught in the robot's gaze, one would be confronted with an unnerving glare that seemed to spiral into an abyss of complete apathy.

A large hole in his circular stomach revealed his core, and a jet engine built into his back allowed him to fly alongside his creator. The robot turned his head to Robotnik as the scientist spoke.

"What an extraordinary discovery!" he exclaimed, nearly laughing, as a large grin stretched across his face. The smile remained on his round face, as he soon began to speed over the island in his hovercraft, turning to every tree and plant he came across. In contrast to his now overzealous demeanor was that of the silent robotic hedgehog's - blank, appearing entirely uninterested.

More trees, more plants, more water - more of everything that he had already seen. However, he soon came across something that he hadn't seen before, and which seemed completely out-of-place in the island. To his left, in the middle of what appeared to be a meadow, laid a large slab of stone, surrounded by large and small rocks alike. Robotnik stopped the Eggmobile, and stared at the stones, his companion stopping with him.

The rocky area stretched for several yards. Directly around the rocks stood more trees with long curly vines, and plants that were shaped like flowers. A bit further away, palm trees could be seen. Robotnik, eyeing the area carefully, rubbed his chin in confusion. "Hmm. That's strange," was all he could manage to say.

He looked away from the area, turning his attention to a palm tree that stood in front of him. At his current height, he was looking nearly at the top of the tree, its fruit being at eye level. Considering the fact that he was only several yards above ground, the tree was not very tall. Clearly, it was very young, and must have had a long way to go before it became fully grown. He wondered how tall the tree would become when it reached full height, as the height of palm trees on the island was highly inconsistent. Some were enormous, while others were small, yet all had reached maturity. Like everything else on the island, it was highly illogical.

Dr. Robotnik turned back to the slab of rock. There was no slab of rock.

Instead of the garden of rocks, he now saw trees with circular leaves, and plants with purple flowers that resembled closed tulips. The ground was covered with thick grass. It was as if the rocky area had never even existed.

Robotnik was at a loss for words. He shut his eyes and shook his head, hoping the rocks would reappear when he opened them, but he had no such luck. Instead, the vegetation remained, looking as if it had always been there. The hand that was once rubbing his chin was now rubbing his head. Had he imagined the stones? Was he hallucinating?

"Metal Sonic!" he called to the metallic hedgehog, but the robot's back was turned to him. It was highly unlikely that he had seen anything. Nevertheless, the machine turned to him in response. When he saw that the confounded scientist had nothing to say to him, he turned his attention elsewhere, this time in the direction of the new vegetation.

Turning back to his front, Robotnik shook his head again and removed his dark blue circular glasses with one hand, then rubbed his eyes with the thumb and index finger of the other. He replaced his glasses and opened his eyes to face the trunk of the palm tree that towered over him. He immediately glanced around, seeing if he had changed position. He neither changed height nor direction. This was the same palm tree that he had gazed upon a few moments prior. It was now at least double its previous height.

The doctor's jaw dropped and his eyes broadened. "No! This is impossible!" he blurted out. "This tree was half that size!" He looked to Metal Sonic, who was still fixated in the direction of the vegetation, though no longer looking directly at it. Robotnik too turned to the vegetation garden, seeing that it was significantly larger than before. His jaw was incapable of closing at this point, for the trees of the garden now also towered over him. His eyes couldn't widen any more.

Robotnik turned to his right, no longer facing the tree nor the garden. Instead, he saw a small wavy vine protruding from the ground, with a few very small rocks surrounding it. Suddenly, the vine and rocks began to glow strongly a light shade of green. The vine twisted itself onto its side, soon becoming a circle. The extending length of the vine showed that it was growing rapidly, and as it grew, it continued to circle itself, creating an upwards spiral, until leaves began to take shape from the circles - leaves that faced upwards. Robotnik watched as the tip of the vine split into three, each extending into a miniature bulb. The green glow helped to make the vine seem more liquid than solid as it morphed into what was now one of many small flower plants with skyward leaves that he had seen on the island. The rocks, meanwhile, melted into grass. They no longer glowed when they had finished their transformations.

To say that the doctor was shocked upon witnessing this scene would be a vast understatement. This was a scene that had befitted a nightmare. Unfortunately for him, the nightmare had only begun, as he turned to see rocks and small plants around him transform into similar things. He actually watched a flower grow into a tree with curling vines right in front of him. Short, muffled noises of panic could be heard from the doctor. It was too much even for his brain to comprehend, and he began to fear the worst.

"W-what is this? None of this is possible! Is it actually happening?" These were his words as he turned to see shapeshifting flora and minerals everywhere. He started to believe that it couldn't be happening. It was too much. "Is this it? Am I finally going insane? Has my last defeat to Sonic caused me to descend into madness? What's happening to me?!" His thoughts were running rampant. It was all he could do to keep from vocalizing these thoughts that put his own sanity into question.

He was panting frantically. In desperation, he turned to Metal Sonic, who was actually watching the vegetation around them. "Metal Sonic!" shouted Robotnik. The hedgehog turned to the doctor. "Are you seeing these rapid changes?" Robotnik bit his lip as he feared that Metal Sonic could not see them, which would have meant that they were figments of his imagination. The robot gave two slow but strong nods, before turning back to the growing and forming vegetation. A sigh of relief escaped Robotnik's lips. At least now he knew he wasn't going insane - yet, anyway. What that did not do, however, was fix the current situation. It came as no surprise to him to soon see every bird that was on the island fly away from it.

Rumbling occurred beneath the ground. Robotnik looked at the supposed source. A crack appeared in the dirt. It became wider, and wider, until the ground split open, revealing a small hole. A sprout of water shot up from the hole, directly at Robotnik, hitting his Eggmobile hard enough to throw it off-balance. Robotnik yelped in shock, and immediately moved his vehicle backwards. The water formed a fountain - a fountain that became green and solid, turning itself into another plant, this one with leaves shaped like tear drops. The stem was thick, and a light green. The ground sealed around the plant.

Robotnik gasped at this sight, and moved even further back. Unbeknownst to him, a large tree with curling vines was behind him, and he soon backed into it. His head shot up at the tree when he found that his hovercraft could go no further. It was a horrible situation, but not one that couldn't be fixed. All he had to do was move forward. He reached for the control panel with his right hand. Resistance. He tried to move his hand to the control panel, but he couldn't move it at all. In fact, he couldn't even move his right arm much. He turned to his right hand, and found that it was bound to the tree. A vine had curled around his wrist. He hadn't realized that, in the force of the Eggmobile's banging into the tree, his arm had been pushed to the tree.

He pulled with all his strength, but to no avail. It was like trying to pull a tree down with your bare hands. As hard as he pulled, he knew he wasn't getting anywhere. He pulled again. It was all he could do, but it didn't do anything. What was worse, the vine was tightening around his wrist as it grew, attempting to curl into its usual pattern, and seeing him as a threat to that pattern. As everything else that was transforming, the vine glowed a bright shade of neon green. It was beginning to hurt him.

"Stop it! My hand! AHH!" Robotnik was screaming in pain. The vine was getting tighter and tighter. He was trying to loosen it with his left hand, but it was too tight. It was cutting through his thick white glove, and into his wrist. He could no longer move his right hand. Swallowing the pain, he bellowed to the sky: "Metal Sonic! Help me!"

The robot was there in an instant. With his metallic claws, he grabbed the vine, and attempted to yank it from the tree. This did not work, however, and his creator's condition was becoming critical. A robot of action, Metal Sonic did not hesitate to do what he considered to be the next best thing, though others may have considered it to be risky. He hovered slightly away from Robotnik, and turned to the vine, his entire body facing it. A deep motor inside roared louder, and a bright white light began to glow inside the hole in his stomach, before the hedgehog unleashed a blast of energy from it at the vine that was holding his programmer captive. This was all it took. At once, the vine began to melt, and then broke. It could withstand what seemed any amount of raw strength, but heat was apparently its weakness, and, luckily for Robotnik, Metal Sonic was a master of extreme heat. That was his main power. Already, Robotnik was thankful that he had rebuilt this robot.

"Thank you, Metal Sonic," said Robotnik, relieved. He was still reaching for the vines on his wrist, but, alas, they were still too tight for him to grab a hold of ... but not for Metal Sonic. Seeing his creator struggle with the vine, the robot carefully placed his claws at the vines, digging them in just deep enough to fit underneath them. Not carefully enough, though, apparently, as Robotnik winced when Metal Sonic dug his claws in. The robot cut through the vines, and they fell to the ground. Instantly, Robotnik grasped his hand, rubbing it. A perfect ring that revealed the skin of his wrist showed just how deeply the vine had cut. The doctor looked up at Metal Sonic, still rubbing his hand, but said nothing. Metal Sonic simply crossed his arms and stared at the scientist.

To think, Metal Sonic was the first robotic Sonic Robotnik had created, and the only one who was capable of doing what he had just done. Not only was the robot a reminder of what he had done in his earlier days, but he had just saved his life, and was thus far the only robot he had created that had done so. He had also almost beaten Sonic before. All those unsuccessful machines ... it was here and now that he decided that his first robotic Sonic was his best. He didn't need others. He was so proud of himself.

This moment was short-lived. A beam of light on the ground caught Robotnik's eye. He looked down at it, and saw a small golden ring. It was too small to wear on the wrist, but too large to wear on the fingers. Why a ring was here, or how it didn't get swallowed up in whatever was happening to the island right now, he had no idea, but he pointed to it, motioning for Metal Sonic to pick it up (and telling him to do so). Metal Sonic did as he was told, swooping down and scooping up the ring. He handed it to his creator. Robotnik held the ring in his hand. It seemed there was some sort of text engraved.

Dr. Robotnik couldn't decipher the text, though, or even get a good look at it, as, at that moment, a vine from a tree a short distance away whacked the Eggmobile from underneath, causing it and the scientist inside to fly away like a tennis ball. The hovercraft was spiraling in the sky. Glowing trees were everywhere. At last, Robotnik landed, touching the ground. The machine slid as it landed, causing the wet dirt to pile up in front of it, until he found himself in what appeared to be a forest. He didn't much like the look of it, though, as the trees touched the sky, and could easily block out the sun. Shockingly, he diverted his attention from this, as what was currently in front of him interested him far more. In front of him was a large floating ring. Golden, and spinning on its axis, as if a pendant hung from a chain, it was almost exactly like the Giant Rings on Angel Island. His mouth was agape with wonder. He simply had to have this beauty in his fortress. It needed to be researched. The sudden loss of sunlight brought him back to reality, as he looked up and saw the trees begin to seal him in from above. He turned around to see that the way back was already sealed by plants.

"Uh-oh," said the doctor. Just then, from behind him, charged a metallic figure, burning the vegetation as it went - Metal Sonic. He had fired another ball of energy from his core, and had charged in afterwards. Robotnik turned to the sky, which was quickly being concealed by the thick trees.

"We can't let them seal us in," he stated. Metal Sonic hovered to the leafy ceiling, and fired another beam. Robotnik saw vines quickly growing to his own height, and he rapidly raised his Eggmobile. As he looked back to take another glance at that gorgeous ring, he noticed something strange, that was only confirmed when he made his departure from that thicket - whenever the vines were destroyed, the vegetation grew faster, and more aggressively, as if in retaliation. He was now well above the trees. He turned back, to see Metal Sonic just before the hole in the ceiling of the thicket. The robot had begun to fly out of there, but he encountered difficulty as he did so. Several vines had now wrapped around the hedgehog's ankles, then his arms and his stomach, and, finally, his neck. He struggled. Robotnik watched on, and, to his horror, saw two trees coming closer together - they were going to intertwine, becoming one large tree, and Metal Sonic was right in the middle of it.

"No! Metal Sonic!" Robotnik called out. The robot was struggling. "Use V. Maximum Overdrive!" There was no helping him now. The most he could do was hope that the robot could activate this mode. He was beginning to lose hope, until he saw the core inside Metal Sonic's stomach begin to light up. A reddish light, it grew stronger and spread around him, soon emanating from his entire body. Blue sparks could be seen flying from the robot. The vines immediately burnt up under the heat, and the resulting force caused the machine to bolt into the sky, nearly slamming into the Eggmobile.

"Watch it, you dimbot! You almost hit me!" Robotnik snapped, directing an angry grimace at the robot. He kept going, though, until he was out of sight. In this mode, Metal Sonic could destroy almost anything in his path. However, it overloaded his circuitry, so he wouldn't be able to stay in it for much longer, giving Robotnik plenty of time to catch up to him, and yell at him about how he could have harmed his precious creator. None of this mattered, for it wouldn't be long before he was praising the robot again. He'd never admit it, but the scientist was glad to see that the robot was alright. He turned back to the island. The island itself was actually changing shape.

"No wonder there's no life here. This island is a deathtrap!" he said in disgust. He turned back around as he followed the path the metallic hedgehog had taken - back home, most likely. He didn't know what the island would turn into, and he didn't care. He was just glad to be out of there. When he had hoped for some excitement to liven up his originally uninteresting day, this was not what he had had in mind.

He held up the little ring he had found on the island. At least something good had come out of it. Still, after feasting his eyes upon that large beauty of a ring, this ... small ring wasn't enough for him. Now that he had seen the other one, he knew that he just had to have it, if at all possible, for something that came from this island, that looked like something special from Angel Island, had to be special itself, and he would stop at nothing until he cracked the secret of it. For now, though, he was happy to go back home, relax, and examine this small token.

The end of the first chapter! Since Knuckles' Chaotix happens several months after Sonic 3 & Knuckles, I decided to incorporate the end of Doomsday Zone. Also, I know that, in the Japanese manual, Metal Sonic is introduced after Robotnik discovers the island, but I discovered that after writing the chapter, and I really like how it turned out, so I decided to keep it this way. I wanted Metal Sonic to be a central character in this chapter.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it. Not every chapter will be this intense, but there will definitely be more action scenes in the story.