Case 3: Shadow Hawk Pt.2
Rouge had been sleeping soundly in the room right next to Knuckles, when the loud crash woke her up. Kicking down the door, Rouge rushed into Knuckles room, only to uncover a disturbing sight.
Glass lay scattered on the floor from a broken window, and Knuckles was nowhere in sight! Quickly, the worried bat called up Shadow and the others to investigate the scene.
Shadow was busy studying the broken window, while Vector and Espio searched the room. Charmy had been sent outside to find any trace of Knuckles.
"Hey, what's this?" asked Vector, pointing to a burn mark on the floor. Espio immediately came over and examined it.
"Sleep bomb" said Espio " whoever kidnapped Knuckles didn't want him putting up a fight,"
"Our ninja friend again?" asked Vector.
"I say that's a strong possibility," said Shadow, walking over with a piece of black cloth in his hand.
"But why?" asked Rouge.
"That's what we have to find out," said Vector.
"Hey guys!" shouted Charmy, flying through the window " I interviewed some of the locals, seems like Knuckles is quite famous in Japan. He and Hawk put a stop to a local crimelord, Li Yan, awhile back. You think that's who could have kidnapped Knuckles?"
"A crimelord would definately have enough money to hire a ninja" said Espio, then turned to Charmy " any idea where Li Yan hangs out?"
"Somewhere in the warehouse district is all I can say," said Charmy.
"Then that's where we'll search" said Vector " Espio, you take Rouge and Charmy to search the west side of the warehouse district, while Shadow and I take the east. If anyone of us finds Knuckles, call out immediately!"
"Got it!" said the others in uninession.
And with that said, they went off to search for Knuckles.
Meanwhile, in Li Yan's hideout, Knuckles was still tied up on the floor, being guarded by the ninja Li Yan had hired while he was out of the room. During the temporary silence, Knuckles struggled hard to find a good plan of escape. He had just started working on a strategy when Li Yan returned.
In the mobster's hand was a carefully crafted statue of a great bird that almost seemed as if it were on fire. There was no doubt in Knuckles mind that this was the artifact that had been stolen from the musuem.
"What are you planning to do Li Yan?" asked Knuckles, snidely.
"Revenge for a start" said Li Yan " you and Hawk ruined my life, now I will ruin yours. If even half the stories about the Ruby Phoenix is true, I can use it's power to conquer all of Tokyo,"
"I wish I had a nickel every time a villian said that," thought Knuckles, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"But first..." said Li Yan, an evil smirk growing on his face as he looked towards Knuckles " I think I'll test it on you,"
With that said, Li Yan began chanting some words in japanese, and the Ruby Phoenix lit up with a brillant red light. Streamers of red light exploded all around the room, before twisting and turning around Knuckles body.
The echidna could feel the force of the streamers crushing him, as they tightened around his body. A searing heat could be felt from his skin, as the streamers of red light dissolved into his flesh.
Knuckles body suddenly went rigid as if he were frozen in place, and as he looked at the staue, he could swear he saw the image of a Phoenix screaming in pain.
When the Ruby Phoenix stopped glowing, and the image disappeared, Knuckles found himself frozen in time. His entire body had been paralyzed! Not a single muscle could be moved!
Li Yan grinned at the sight of the frozen echidna, then turned his head towards the ninja nearby.
"Take him to my office" said Li Yan " he'll make a wonderful trophy for my collection,"
Meanwhile, outside in the warehouse district, the Chaotix, Shadow, and Rouge had started their search for Knuckles. Shadow and Vector had just started their search on the east side, when Shadow motioned for Vector to be quiet.
Taking off his headphones for a moment, Vector listened for whatever sound Shadow had heard. A couple of voices could be heard talking from a nearby building. Sleathily, the croc and hedgehog sneaked inside.
Two figures stood inside the room. One, a black-haired, fat man, with smug grin on his face, and another dressed from head to toe in black.
"That has to be the ninja who kidnapped Knuckles" thought Shadow, looking around the room " but where is he?"
"There's the Ruby Phoenix" said Vector, pointing in between Li Yan and the ninja " but I don't see Knuckles anywhere,"
"They must have him in another room somewhere," said Shadow.
"I'll find Knuckles and contact the others" said Vector " you take care of these two,"
And with that said, Vector snuck off while Shadow went in to attack.
The ninja and Li Yan were immediately taken by surprise the sudden appearence of the black and red hedgehog, but Li Yan was the first to regain his cool.
"Friend of Knuckles I presume?" asked Li Yan.
"We have a mutual aquiantince" said Shadow, glaring at Li Yan " now I sugguest you give him back and return the Ruby Phoenix to me,"
"How sweet" said Li Yan, snapping his fingers, calling more of his henchmen into the room " but I'm afriad Knuckles won't be going anywhere. And niether, will you,"
Rouge, Charmy, and Espio had just finished there search of the west side, when they received an emergency alarm from Vector. GPS cordinates locked into her guantlet, Rouge led the charge to the east side.
Hoping in her heart, that it wasn't to late.
Vector busied himself with ransacking all the rooms in Li Yan's hideout. He was about to give up hope, when he saw through a crack in door, Knuckles sitting still on roll-top desk, his hands and feet still tied. Not wasting a moment, Vector burst in through the door and ran to the echinda.
"There you are!" said Vector, quickly untying Knuckles hands and feet, and grabbing the echidna by the arm " come on, let's go!"
When Vector lifted his arm up to dash out of the office, he noticed that Knuckles was still in a sitting position. Shocked, the crocodile layed Knuckles down on a nearby table, and waved a hand over his eyes.
The echidna didn't even blink. His eyes just stayed there, frozen, looking at nothing but the sky.
"Oh man" said Vector, his worry returning " what did they do to you?"
Suddenly a thought went through the reptile's mind as he remembered Pr. Conway's story about the Ruby Phoenix. All the worry Vector had felt before was suddenly replaced by intense anger, as he picked up Knuckles and dashed out of the room.
"Li Yan is going to pay for this!" growled Vector, as he ran back to help Shadow.
Reinforcements had arrived just in time to help Shadow in his battle againist Li Yan's henchmen. Espio squared off with the ninja, while Shadow, Rouge, and Charmy attacked the otherr thugs in their unqiue ways.
Rouge knocked out two thugs with her powerful drill kick, while Shadow knocked out five with Chaos Spears. Charmy stung one ofthe thugs, making the poor guy run crying all the way home to Mommy.
Espio was making some good progress in his battle, and with a quick drill kick from Rouge, managed to pin the ninja to the wall with five kunai knives.
Charmy cheered in victory at seeing Espio put a beating on another ninja, and hovered to close to Li Yan, who now had a gun in his hand. Striking quick, Li Yan grabbed Charmy and pointed the gun at the bee's head.
"Make one move, and I'll shoot," threatened Li Yan.
Shadow, Rouge, and Espio all growled and glared at Li Yan, but knew that they couldn't make a move that would risk Charmy's life. Suddenly, an angry, green miracle charged up behind Li Yan, pushing him into the stand that held the Ruby Phoenix, and loosened his grib on Charmy.
A crash was heard and the Ruby Phoenix crashed on the floor, and broke to pieces. Knuckles immediately snapped out of his frozen trance, and charged towards Li Yan, knocking the mobster flat with one powerful punch.
"Don't mess with me!" growled Knuckles, at the now unconious mobster.
Suddenly, fire erupted from the shattered pieces of the Ruby Phoenix, giving birth to a gigantic bird made fire. Knuckles and the others immediately awed at the amazing sight.
"Thank You," said the Phoenix, and with a caw, spread it's fiery wings, blasted through the roof of the warehouse, and soared off into the night like a shooting star.
"Wow," was all Charmy had to say.
"Another case solved" said Vector " wait to go Chaotix!"
"Well" said Rouge, picking up the shattered pieces of the Ruby Phoenix " the general isn't gonna to be to happy that we smashed the statue, but I guess the capture of Li Yan and his cohorts will change his tune,"
"And Hawk?" asked Knuckles.
"He'll be released" said Shadow, then turned away with a grin " nice working with you Knuckles, we'll have to do it again sometime,"
With that said, Rouge and Shadow disappeared along with Li Yan and his thugs as Shadow activated Chaos Control.
"Yeah" Knuckles whispered to the empty space " some time,"
