Aaand we're back! Finally. You can thank Sonic Lost World for this update – that game has me incredibly hyped. Seeing as how I won't be able to get it for a few months, I decided to spoil the story for myself, lest someone else spoil it for me and dampen the effect. For whatever this is worth… it's good. Starts off decent enough, then works its way up to greatness. I didn't even have to convince myself to like it, like I did with Colors and Generations. Of course, for the sake of keeping spoilers unspoiled, I'll leave it at that. ;)
Anyway, I plan on updating this gem more regularly from now on! Hope I haven't lost ya guys. At least we're only a few chapters in so it's easy enough to refresh your memory if needed. ;) This kinda delay shouldn't happen again! If ya need a quick refresher: Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles found out that Eggman's dark condition has gotten worse, the doc has Kai once again, and Amber is trapped at the top of Meka Tower for reasons unknown to the team yet.
This story'll get where it's going a LOT faster than SR did, so hang in there! There's some pretty big moments in a few chapters, of both the good and bad variety. And once this story gets rolling it doesn't really stop. ;) Lotsa action and development and all that stuff.
Enjoy the random game references, heh. Here we go!
1-1-1
Chapter 3: This Machine
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles sat on the sofa, formulating a plan through their own various degrees of shock.
They had two friends to save, and a mad scientist to stop. At face-value it all sounded easy enough. Just another day, right? But there was so much more to it than that.
They would go to Meka Tower first and save Amber. Since Eggman wasn't there, it would be easier. They would save the harder battle for last. If they stormed into the Egg Carrier 2 and confronted Eggman directly, and if complications arose from that, Amber would remain trapped in Meka Tower for who knew how long. Besides, they needed to find out from her why the madman had trapped her at all. So it made sense to get her to safety before anything else.
There was no easy way to choose which innocent victim to rescue first. But this way, if nothing else, bettered their chances even if only a little.
For all they knew, rescuing Kai might lead to its own separate battle. Regardless of how he had gotten that way, whether he had chosen, or been forced by the dark energy in the atmosphere, he was still under that influence. For all intents and purposes, Kai truly was a dark chao.
"Something must be done about Eggman," Knuckles said. "That's the main thing here. It's not just about saving those two. Eggman is even more dangerous now than he was before, and I'm not sure if it can be reversed. The energy has mutilated him from the inside. " Knuckles paused heavily, and what he said next sounded just like something that would come out of the mouth of a Master Emerald guardian. "We… we cannot allow his existence to continue to threaten Chaos energy, and the world, the way it has. Or the way it will."
Sonic gulped. "Are you saying…"
"I don't know yet, Sonic. I don't know. All I know – and you know it too – is that Eggman is no longer who he was."
"I know all right." He met Knuckles's eyes. "He hasn't been for… a while. But we gotta save Amber and Kai first. After all we've been through with them… I gotta help them, Knux."
The guardian pondered this for a tense moment. Then, quietly; "I agree. We'll help them first, and learn what we can about Eggman in the process. They might even be able to help us. We should get Lucas in on this, too. Since he was trapped on the same floor as you, Sonic, he might know enough to help us. You suppose?"
"Yeah! Let's contact him – he'll wanna come with us."
"This has to happen soon," Tails said, ears folded down. "Real soon. I don't like this. I don't like that they're stuck again and I don't like the way that creep looked… this is wrong."
"Then let's go!" Tails and Knuckles both looked up at Sonic, seeing an unexpected grin on his face to match the energetic tone. "We can save 'em. And I know Eggface is real unpredictable now, but heck, we've dealt with that before too. We can do it again!"
There was no reason to argue against his words or even his optimism. It was all true enough… and no matter how scary or unsettling this situation was, there was always a chance that it could work out all right. There was always hope. It would only be a detriment to them to let the situation discourage them so soon.
1-1-1
The Tornado landed inside the fence protecting Meka Tower. Its engine whirred to a gradual stop and Tails began to climb out. Lucas, in the passenger seat, climbed out too. Sonic and Knuckles hopped down from the wings of the plane and landed in the sand simultaneously. It was covered by a thin layer of frost and the temperature was cooler than they had ever felt it in this area.
All of them walked around to the front of the plane and stood with each other, contemplating the massive, uncomfortably familiar tower before them. This time, no missiles shot out from the tower's defenses, and no androids attacked them.
The circular, dark building spiraled its way to the top, the ramp equivalent to several dozen floors, and from there a pillar ascended which held an emblem of Eggman's face. The words across the mustache, 'Meka Tower,' were dimmed and indicating a lack of activity about the place.
They knew better than to believe such a ruse.
Lucas looked down at Sonic. Specks of snow dotted his very dark hair. "We ought to make this the last time we ever have to go back into this place."
"No kidding. Every time we have to go back in here, I have that thought."
Neither of them knew that this truly would be their last endeavor associated with the dark tower – for reasons no one expected.
"It almost seems backwards," Tails said, looking at the group. "You guys have had to be in there so much. It seems like I should go in there this time, just to let you guys have a break!"
"No can do, buddy," Sonic said. "I don't want ya in there. Besides, I know the place better anyway."
"But Sonic… after everything? You're gonna tell me I can't do something?"
"It's not that, bro." Sonic smiled at him. "It's that I'm the one who's gonna be able to get in and out of there the fastest."
"Then why are any of us here with you?" Lucas remarked. "Don't get it in your head that you're doing this alone. If you're going in there, I am too."
"No offense, but you guys will only slow me down. We are all gonna need to work together when it comes to the Egg Carrier 2, but this… this is a one person job!"
Knuckles crossed his arms. "I thought you were planning on appreciating your friends a little more after what happened."
"Yeah," Lucas said, "what happened to the camaraderie like in Meka Tower?"
Sonic groaned and his ears fell flat. "Take it easy, guys. I promise ya I'm not trying to take on all this on my own, okay? I really just think this is the best way to start. Meka Tower's a long way up, and Amber's at the very top. If I can hurry up there and get her out, we'll be less likely to be noticed. The best thing anyone else can do is be here in case I need help for some reason. If I was really trying to be stubborn about this, I'm fast enough that I could've just run here ahead of you guys and tried to save her!"
Lucas and Knuckles looked at each other while Tails looked at Sonic. Tails spoke first. "I believe you, Sonic. You usually know what you're doing. You are the fastest, and in this case speed is just what we're after. Sooner we do this, the sooner we can infiltrate the Egg Carrier 2. So if the best thing we can do for now is wait out here, then we'll do that. Right guys?"
They all watched him in momentary silence, and then voiced their agreements in a simultaneous mumble. Then, leaving the Tornado where it was parked, they walked up the ramp leading into the building. It was open, as it had been left.
"Tails," Sonic said, "I'll need ya to keep an eye on me through the radar. Knuckles and Lucas… I'm hoping I won't need you two at all."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Knuckles asked.
"If anything goes wrong…" He let the sentence trail off. "Lucas is familiar enough with the area I'll be in. And Knuckles, you're the strongest of all of us. So if I can't figure this out for whatever reason, it's you guys who'll have to take over."
"Hurry, Sonic," Tails said. "None of us want you in there any longer than you have to be. If you need anything from any of us, just ask."
Sonic nodded and walked the rest of the way on the ramp, not wanting to slip on the frost on his way in.
As soon as he was beyond the opening's frame, the door began to slide shut from the top down. Knuckles reacted as if he'd been prepared to, launching himself under it before it closed and bracing it with his hands.
"Knuckles!" Tails shrieked as the heavy door continued to push down. "No, no! Sonic, get back out here, now!"
Lucas was already at the top, too, and wedged himself under the heavy door. Knuckles gave him a warning glare, eyes dilated with effort and adrenaline. "What are you doing!" he demanded. "You're not a quarter as strong as I am, Lucas! It'll crush you!"
"If you're saying that while you're trying to hold it, you must think it'll crush you too," the human pointed out, putting his shoulder underneath the descending barrier. "I don't need to be as strong as you. I just need to…" Grunting, he gave an upward push, "put a little more strength behind it than you already are…"
To both of their amazement, the door couldn't make it down any further – though its mechanism was still trying to close, the force they were putting against it was enough to keep it in place.
"Sonic – do what you do!"
The hedgehog gave them a stunned blink, scared for them and, he realized, suddenly scared for himself as they struggled beneath the heavy door. "You'll hold it up?"
Lucas managed to nod, meeting Sonic's eyes. "We're not letting you get stuck in there again."
Sonic looked between the two of them one last time, then his apprehension gave way to trust and he grinned. "Hang in there. I'll be back!"
Then he darted up the spiral ramp, taking it at hundreds of miles per hour, hands thrown out behind him.
It only took a few minutes. His speed was more than enough to make up for the large distance, but was entirely uphill and had him tired by the time he got to the top. Meka Tower was already huge but seemed even larger when he had to run the whole thing all at once.
Despite that, it was only a small part of reaching their goal. He still had no idea how to get to Amber. It made no difference that she was so close – perhaps right above him.
He lifted his communicator and spoke into it. "I might as well just be killing time," he said. "I'm at the top of the prison area but I have no idea how to get higher. The only time I've ever been up there was when Espio and I fought that army of robots there before. And somehow I don't think I'll be able to get up there the way we did then…"
Last time, one of Eggman's androids had opened the hatch door. Now, of course, there were no robots to be found.
"Yeah, I guess we didn't think of that," came Tails's reply. "One second, Sonic… let me get the radar going again. Maybe I can find a way."
Sonic nodded even though he couldn't be seen and let his hand drop to his side. Not too thrilled about the 'one second' part, he started walking again, idly exploring the place even though he already knew it so well. He was on what was for all intents and purposes, the top floor. The very same place he and Lucas had been trapped for almost three months. It looked just a little different than he remembered it. Places tended to emit a different vibe when circumstances changed enough.
The hallway was wide and low. It was just light enough in the area for him to make out the design on the ceiling; continuous logos of the Eggman Empire. Normally the logos were lit, offering a dim purple hue to the place. But there was no reason for them to be lit now.
At least, that's what he was supposed to think.
The empty, abandoned feel of the place was doing a good job trying to convince him otherwise, but he knew there was more going on here than he could see. As of late, Eggman had kept his plans a lot more inconspicuous. Sonic understood that, for as many times as the mad scientist had been defeated. What he didn't understand was why the doctor had taken Amber of all people.
Why not himself? Even Tails or Knuckles, for that matter…? What was the doctor after?
"Hey Sonic… Maybe we should have figured this out before letting you go in there. I can't seem to find another way up."
Sonic sighed. They had only one means of getting high enough to reach the hatch on the ceiling… but Sonic wasn't about to suggest having his two-tailed friend come to the top of the tower. Besides, Sonic wouldn't need to be taken higher, if he could teleport there instead.
"I mean… I know how to use Chaos Control. Maybe I could…"
"Sonic, no. I should have known you would suggest something like that. You've only done it once, and you weren't even meant to be able to do it. Meka Tower still has residual Chaos energy from before. You don't know how that could interfere."
"I'm sure the ARK was laced with Chaos energy too – maybe that's what helped me do it!" Sonic said as he thought of it. "Listen, we've had to do a lot of things that we didn't know the consequences of, buddy. If this is the only way, then we have to give it a try. Besides, you said yourself there's not as much of a concentration of energy here as in the Egg Carrier 2. I'm sure I can pull it off!"
"Sonic…"
It wasn't lost on Sonic that he was being hypocritical. He wasn't afraid to make an impulsive move himself, but he was afraid to suggest the only other alternative: letting Tails come in and fly him.
He was being quietly unfair, and he knew it, even if only because he cared about the fox. Tails had had to worry about him so much before, yet Sonic wasn't willing to let Tails in a situation that would cause him worry. He loved his brother; that was why he worried.
Tails loved him too, and was showing it with faith rather than fear.
But still, it would be so easy. Two words, a bit of focus, and Sonic could be where he needed to be in the blink of an eye. Everything would be fine. It would be so much faster and simpler for everyone.
"I'll check in in thirty seconds, okay?"
"Wait." Tails's voice was anxious and exasperated. ""You can't get all excited yet, Sonic! Let me give it another look. We're not gonna have all this beat in five minutes, you know." When Sonic didn't respond immediately, he added: "Please."
"All right, all right. I'll look around from in here too. Let me know if you find anything, yeah? How are Knuckles and Lucas doing, by the way?"
"They're holding up, but I gotta imagine they're kind of tired."
"All the more reason to use Chaos Control," Sonic grumbled, but let the subject drop – along with the hand that had the communicator on – and continued on his way.
Bored and a little tense, Sonic took out his red Chaos Emerald and used it to look into the cells he passed, seeing if any of them were any different from each other. They weren't, which only added to the dullness. 'Meka Tower' and 'dull' were not two words he would expect to find himself putting together, all things considering, but it was undeniably boring without anyone to talk to or any robots to destroy.
He sighed, very much looking forward to infiltrating the Egg Carrier 2.
He continued trotting briskly and looking around. After a few minutes, to his surprise, he did come across a cell that looked just a little bit different than the rest. It had its own special lock, and there was a rectangular section on the back wall. It was his. He almost hadn't recognized it. The place really did look different with no one in it, and most of the lights off…
It lacked spirit, too. The atmosphere up on the top floor had been incredibly spirited most of the time, and Sonic remembered it that way. He didn't see the whole thing as grim and horrid. There were moments like that, of course, but moments didn't constitute entirety. He wondered if he was the only one who remembered it that way, and at first he thought he probably was, then thought of Lucas and some of the other people he had seen and thought that maybe he wasn't.
"Tails?" he said quietly into the communicator.
"Hey Sonic. Good timing, I was just gonna say something. There's an area you might be able to use to get higher up. In between Meka Tower's walls is this… path of sorts, that Eggman must've used to get around behind-the-scenes, or something. It also houses a lot of the mechanics that kept this place going – the scanner network he had used, the mechanism that lets the cell gates open and close, and the fortification that kept the outer walls from being penetrated… among other high-tech stuff. But I think, if you are careful, you could work your way through there and use it to get to the storage area above the floor you're on."
"Great!" Sonic said, needing no further explanation than he was given. "So how do I get there?"
"That's the thing…" Tails said, a little quieter now. "I can't see a way to get back there. And that doesn't make any sense because if you can't get back there, then how could Eggman use it to get anywhere? There has to be a way somewhere…"
"Wait a sec." Sonic stopped walking. "Are you sure Eggman himself used it?"
There was a pause on the other end before Tails spoke. "Well, I guess not… but who else could have?"
"The androids. Eggman's H-series." Sonic looked around as if expecting to see one of them. "They could use Chaos control, remember? So they would have no need for way in or out - they could just teleport back there if they needed to fix a mechanical problem or whatever."
They were both silent for a few moments, considering how to get into an area that had no entrance. Sonic crossed his arms, eyebrows furling downward as his gaze fixated on that old cell of his.
The Chaos-infused panel built into the back wall had struck him as mildly peculiar once upon a time, but he had learned what it was – a device meant to keep the him from being able to escape should his cell be opened for any reason. Eggman had pulled out all the stops to keep Sonic trapped and rendered useless.
The panel could also move. It was supposed to be adjusted mechanically, but surely with a little persuasion, it could be removed from their path physically, as well...
Sonic blinked. "Ah, Tails…?"
"Sonic. I was just about to contact you again. I, um, I think I found a way through…"
The hedgehog gave a single laugh. "I think I did too."
1-1-1
It was a twenty-minute project to coax the plane up the ramp and get it to stay underneath the half-open door. As soon as they succeeded, Knuckles started his way into the tower just as Sonic had, determinedly making his way up even if at a much slower pace. By the time the Master Emerald guardian got to the top floor, Sonic had literally fallen asleep from boredom, arms and legs crossed as he leaned against the metal wall of the hallway.
Knuckles, exhausted, could have plopped down and fallen asleep too.
He briefly considered the plethora of different things he could say or do to scare the sleep out of the unaware hedgehog, but decided against it, considering where they were and what they were doing. Instead he decided to let Sonic sleep while he did his part, going into the cell and examining the back wall.
There was just enough room between the wall and the edges of the panel for Knuckles to slip part of his hands in between. He did so and gave the thing a tug, seeing what he was up against. It didn't move, but something behind it gave a low crack, like a mechanism giving way. Better than nothing.
The echidna took a deep breath and then pulled as hard as he could, putting all his strength into it this time. To his relief, it moved, extending from the wall. His arms trembled as he stepped backward and kept pulling on it. The mechanics confining it to the wall cracked and groaned obnoxiously as they were stretched and broken.
"Wh-what is that!?"
Knuckles paused but held the pressure against the panel's resistance as he looked over his shoulder at Sonic, who was suddenly in the cell with him. How could he have forgotten the hedgehog was sleeping? Sonic was loud enough when he was awake that there wasn't really any mistaking the difference… "I'm getting us behind the walls. Cover your ears if it bothers you." The guardian realized that despite his mild irritation at Sonic's complaint, it was a good idea to cover his ears. The own echidna's ears were buried beneath his dreadlocks, but Sonic's were currently standing upright on end, entirely exposed.
"Yeah… will do," Sonic said distantly, giving a shudder at the familiar but distorted noise. His ears folded down against his head and he took several extravagant steps back, more extravagant than Knuckles thought they needed to be.
Grunting in determination, Knuckles gave the panel one final, hard pull toward his chest. The atrocious creaking of metal echoed off the walls, but then it gave way and he stumbled back, falling to the floor and just barely throwing the detached slab off to the side before it could land atop him. It clanged down with enough force to be felt.
For a moment the echidna just laid there, winded. That thing was hard to break – even for him.
Sonic wandered closer. "Yeesh," he muttered distastefully, then grasped one of Knuckles hands with his own and pulled the echidna to his feet. "Wouldn't be surprised if they heard that down on the ramp."
Knuckles gave a nod and then looked at the space left behind by the missing partition. There was an arm of sorts sticking out: a device that let the panel be moved freely on its axis by mechanical means. That wasn't so much the case for more forceful means like Knuckles had just employed, and as such the panel had snapped right off the thing.
He squinted in through the dark. A couple feet away at the other end of that arm, to his complete dismay, was more wall. "Ah hell."
"Out of the way!"
Knuckles had just enough time to reflexively listen before Sonic shot by him, curled up into a ball, and launched himself into the indent. He struck the wall with tough, protective quills and then ricocheted backwards.
"It dented," Knuckles remarked with mild surprise, peering into the recess from off to the side. "It must not be nearly as thick, because there had to be room for the panel. Maybe we can weaken it and get through!"
"Beat ya to that thought, buddy," Sonic said, and rammed into the wall again. When he came back out, Knuckles took the opportunity to go in himself. He was the stronger of the two; if he struck it enough times, surely it would do just as much if not more than Sonic's speed-driven hits.
Jokingly, Sonic pretended he didn't see the echidna and made to hit the wall again. Knuckles predictably jumped and scrambled against one side of the gap to keep from getting mauled. Sonic stopped on a dime just before going in and snickered to himself.
"For someone who likes a job done fast, you're sure not facilitating it any," the echidna said.
"Neither are you, slowpoke. I think I got a whole night's sleep in while you were makin' your way up here!"
"Would explain why you're even more annoying than usual," Knuckles said, grinning a little, then began punching away at the dents Sonic had made. Immediately he could tell that the wall was hollow, not thick like the wall surrounding it. It was set far enough back from where the panel had been that the area they needed was probably right on the other side.
This was the easier part, and the dent poked through after a few heavy blows. He kept working at it until the gap was big enough for them to get through. All in a day's work for the strong Master Emerald guardian.
"You'll need that Emerald of yours to see much through here," the echidna said. "Squeeze back here and look."
Sonic did so, holding out the gem. "What, and you don't need it?"
"My ancestors spent a great deal of time in caves and underground areas. I'm good at seeing in the dark."
Inching closer, Sonic wedged himself in front of Knuckles and peered through the jagged opening the echidna created. Cast in the bright red light of the Emerald were countless wires and pipes. They looked tangled and messy up close, but looking at the whole scene revealed that it was organized chaos. Like the inner workings of a machine. In a way it probably was; Meka Tower was full of ingenious machinery. There was the network of scanners Eggman had used before, the mechanisms that allowed every cell to open or close remotely, the extravagant lighting… And the tower itself was built as a vessel to contain not only prisoners, but also the dark Chaos energy with which Eggman had intended to infect them. It needed to be strong and fortified.
"Guess I'm leading the way, huh…" Sonic muttered, glancing at the Master Emerald guardian behind him. "Something about this is making me think we shouldn't be here."
"You think?"
"Hey guys, you there?" Sonic nearly jumped when Tails's voice came out of their communicators. "I see you on the radar. I need you to be really, really careful in this area. Those wires dangling above you, Sonic? They're not protected and they'll electrocute you on the spot. This isn't an area of the tower that's meant to be traversed by the living– at all."
"You can tell what kind of wires they are?"
"Sonic." Tails sighed, sounding playfully insulted.
"Right, eight-year-old prodigy. Sometimes I forget."
Tails laughed, then continued on seriously: "This isn't the time for conversation, bro. You two could get killed back there."
"And this is different than any other day—"
"I think you can touch the wires with your hands, with those gloves on. Test it to be sure. But nothing else. Not even those quills of yours, Sonic."
"Hear that, hedgehog?" Knuckles snickered under his breath. "Gotta keep your big head out of the way."
"At least I'm not a knucklehead, though. We'll decide whose head is bigger by who gets themselves electrocuted first."
"Guys, seriously—"
"Right, right," Sonic said again. He removed one glove and tossed it gently upward. It touched the wires and fell to the ground, unaffected. Nodding to himself, he leaned down and put it back on, then stepped over the broken wall and into the area completely. "We'll be fine, bud, don't you worry. Knuckles, you coming?"
"Duh," the echidna muttered.
Together they gingerly wove their way around and through wires, making sure not to touch anything that looked dangerous. It was about a five-minute process. Knuckles noticed sweat on the top of Sonic's head, and sensed his impatience. They could see the other side – the path that had been on the radar – but they couldn't hurry to it, even though it was right there. The echidna wondered if letting Sonic step through first had been a great idea.
Then again, the hedgehog had calmly handled their exploration of the Egg Carrier 2 on the radar, despite its slow loading and despite the Chaos Emerald's unpredictability. Maybe being trapped for three months had taught the speedster a little patience.
"Uh-oh."
Though in some cases, patience was irrelevant, the echidna realized, coming to a rigid halt and slowly looking down at whatever he had just felt on his hand.
Sonic stopped too, ears perking up. "You okay?" He didn't turn around; there were exposed wires way too close to his head. Often he could be very graceful and precise in his movements – but that tended to mesh better with fast movements. He wasn't used to clunking through a tight area. He was used to fighting.
"I-I don't know," Knuckles said, voice as minimal as his movements. "Something's touching me."
"Make it not touch you…?"
"Something's snagged. Oh dear Chaos…"
The blue non-blur felt himself going cold under the sweat. A ghastly image of Knuckles being fried to a crisp flashed in his mind's eye. There were too many wires, too many exposed hazards. They were inside of the machine that was Meka Tower.
"Guys, I'm not liking what I'm hearing…" Tails's voice came through the communicator, and Sonic could tell the kid was trying to speak softly so as not to startle them. "Tell me you're out of there or at least close."
"Heh, we're close all right," Sonic murmured, looking past the wires ahead of him. "But I think we're closer to a problem…"
Tails gasped, but somehow they didn't think it was because of what Sonic had said.
"What's wrong?" Knuckles demanded, not moving.
"I tried to use the radar to see where you guys are," Tails said. "It's showing everything, but… something is very, very wrong here…"
Sonic felt like his thumping heart was making his body pulsate closer to the wires surrounding him every time the blood rushed through his veins.
"Eggman has been up to something here… he didn't want anyone getting in here to rescue Amber, and it looks as though he wired this place up differently… you're surrounded by dark Chaos energy. It's flowing through this place's mechanics, the wires, the very air…!"
"But… but that doesn't make sense!" Sonic said, knowing full well his protest wouldn't shield them against the illogical but wishing it would anyway. "Didn't we just say that the Egg Carrier 2 was what we had to worry about as far as dark energy? Because Eggman's there and he's all screwed up and stuff?"
"Yes, Sonic, but…"
"But what?"
"There is dark energy here too. The radar didn't pick up on it, because it was dormant."
"So it somehow knows we're here all on its own then?"
"No, it became activated because… Sonic… your Chaos Emerald."
For a moment all three of them were quiet. Sonic became suddenly, uncomfortably aware of the gem's searing heat against his quills. It had interacted with the invisible energy in the tower. But what did that mean? Nothing was happening, about him or to him. He felt no sense of it other than the physical warmth.
"...I'm still stuck," Knuckles said dryly.
"You two need to get out of there."
"That helps."
"Here Knux… let me just turn around here, maybe I can help."
Knuckles didn't protest, but heavily considered it as he watched the blue hedgehog slowly try to turn around amidst the cluster of wires. He hoped Sonic was aware of the length of his quills – they could so easily touch something, the guardian wasn't actually sure how they hadn't yet…
Aware of his own long spines, Knuckles tilted his head forward just enough to get a glimpse of what was holding him back. It was, unsurprisingly, a loose wire. It was covered – he didn't want to think of what would already have happened if it hadn't been – but the covering was rough and worn in a spot, and it had snagged onto the material of his glove cuff, threateningly close to his exposed wrist. A frightened chill rippled through him and he closed his eyes, the importance of remaining still making it ever harder to do so.
"Knuckles."
The echidna looked up. Sonic had completely turned around to face him, and while addressing him, his voice had that same air of surprising calm that he had noticed before.
But then, Sonic wasn't the one who was a margin of a centimeter from being fatally electrocuted.
"Lemme try to get this. I'm gonna bend down so I can reach better."
"Just take the glove off," Knuckles said, understandably tense.
"Will do. Knux… seriously, don't move, okay? And Tails, don't talk for a sec. I'll take care of this."
In Sonic's eyes as he bent down was a suddenly higher degree of anxiety, for talking was much different than doing, and if that wire touched either of them they were dead.
Or if not dead, at least very seriously hurt… and in some less-active part of his mind, Sonic was aware of the potential domino effect waiting to happen. Even if touching the end of one of the wires wouldn't kill them, at the very best it would be extremely painful and make one jump. Such a sudden movement in a spot like this would ruin their chances completely. The inside of the machine was everywhere.
Before his hands shook, Sonic gripped the wire and held it fast and stable. If any charge could have reached him, the gloves kept it from doing so. He held still and didn't do anything else at first. The way the wire had snagged left the hazardous part nearly touching the tip of Knuckles's fur. If the guardian hadn't frozen exactly when he had…
"You're shaking," Knuckles murmured. "Get a hold of yourself or get away from me…"
"Well excuse me for kind of not wanting to kill you."
"Not sure how shaking contributes to that goal. Take a breath, hedgehog."
Gulping, Sonic did so, letting it settle deep within his chest and then releasing it through his mouth. It made the fur on Knuckles's arm stir slightly before him.
There was a spark between the wire and the guardian's wrist. They both inhaled sharply and Sonic's quills stiffened. He heard Knuckles make a quick, low whine in his throat – an involuntary, primal expression of fear that the guardian couldn't even help, because for that split second, he had expected death.
Fur and wire had made no contact. They had just come close enough for there to be static in between. Sonic gingerly pulled back on the wire, putting a few more millimeters' distance in between again, but dared to go no further than that; if he pulled it too much, he would pull Knuckles's arm with it, and the snag had that fatal wire way too close to risk that much surplus movement.
Knuckles did not move either, but his violet eyes locked on Sonic and he whispered shakily, "Never mind about the deep breaths…"
Not looking up at him, Sonic held the cord aside and cautiously tried to pull of Knuckles's glove. To their relief, the situation finally facilitated itself as the snag broke, letting the wire hang free and the glove remain on Knuckles's hand. They were both very still for a moment, making sure they were in the clear.
"Didn't think there'd be this many strings attached…"
"Hah, hah. Come on, hedgehog. We need to get out of this area."
Said hedgehog did so with no reluctance, letting the rigidity collapse from his quills so they would hang closer to him as he wound his way through the remaining wires. Knuckles followed closely behind.
Finally, they emerged from the net of wires, both sweating from nerves alone. Sonic glanced back at it distastefully, shuddering a bit before surveying the new area around them; an area of Meka Tower to which neither had ever been.
The interior was unremarkable at best. It was a narrow path that spiraled upward beyond where they were – to the storage floor where Amber was being held, undoubtedly. This new path, outside the halls of prison cells, was at the outermost edge of the tower. There were thick, opaque windows through which they could make out the snow-dusted dunes and the tower's front ramp.
"Tails, we're all right, bud," Sonic said as they made their way up. "We can talk again."
"Good, because I just discovered something and I need to tell you right now. That negative energy that activated because of your Chaos Emerald? It's not affecting you guys because it's not meant to. It's engineered to affect the tower itself. Eggman must have wanted a defense – he was prepared for us to come in here!"
"Sounds Eggman-ish enough," Sonic said. "We'll be outta here in a jiffy!"
"I hope so, because it's not as Eggman-ish as you think… this isn't fueling some kind of trap or ambush, and it's not just an alert to Eggman that we're here…"
"What is it then?" Knuckles pressed.
"I-I think Meka Tower is going to blow up!"
"Blow up!?"
1-1-1
Wooo, that certainly sounds a bit familiar…
Was trying to find a way for them to get where they needed to be, OTHER than breaking through the back of Sonic's cell… that fricking panel got enough screen-time in SR... xD It occurred to me to have Tails fly Sonic up to the hatch door that leads to that storage area… but there'd still be the matter of opening it. Plus, enough of the following scenes/chapters were relevant to THIS version that it would be a pain to try and change it. Tails has a more significant role later on though, so it's probably better for Knuckles to have gotten some attention in this chapter anyway. c:
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, guys! Next update should be soon enough. Thanks for reading! If you wanna talk Sonic, as far as fanfiction or Sonic Lost World, hit me up! :) Take care, folks.
