"But why?" Asked Final.
"You know why…" Replied Knuckles, tersely. Final thought for a second.
"Um, is it because I hired my friend and got him to fire a missile at you?"
"While that was annoying, no, surprisingly not."
"Well, I'm stumped. Shall we fight now?"
"Sure, why not?"
Final leapt upwards in a spinning jump,, bouncing on a floating balloon that hovered next to the platform Knuckles was on. The orb exploded, propelling Final forwards, barrelling into Knuckles with a mighty crash. The echidna tumbled off the platform and onto the floor. Geo sighed.
"I'm feeling left out."
Making a decision to join in the battle, he pulled a gun from an inside pocket, readied it, and casually shot Knuckles in the face.
"Got him." He smiled.
"I can see that!" Final was practically screaming, aghast at the spectacle. "Look, I need to finish this off, why don't you go and..." Final looked around for something that would distract his friend for a while. "Chase that girl!" He blurted, spotting a figure walking cautiously through the Carnival Night Zone, taking care to avoid the many traps the zone had to offer.
When she saw Geo sprinting towards her, a grin on his face, the girl screamed and ran back through the twists and turns of the zone. Meanwhile, Final picked up the limp body of Knuckles. He was still alive. Final didn't know how. Maybe he had been carrying some rings, or maybe Echidnas were just tougher to kill.
Final tried to think of an ironic punishment for Knuckles, but short of putting him in the faulty emerald's field and asking the Mechas to beat him up, which would more likely result in Final being beaten up again, Final didn't know what to do. Maybe it would be best to ask Knuckles exactly why he had duped him.
...
The echidna awoke with a pain in his head. His eyes still blurry, he tried to figure out where he was. Everything looked green. One of the jungles of Angel Island? No, this was a lighter green, like the Sky Sanctuary Zone. He tried to remember what was important about this zone. Then, he noticed a blurry shape, brown at the top, with a white centre and a blue lower section. Blinking his eyes, he realised it was the shape of a human figure."Final?"
"Ah, you're awake. Good. I want some answers from you."
"Do you expect me to talk?"
"No, Mr. Knuckles, I expect you to die." Knuckles eyes widened.
"Are you serious?"
"Nah, I've just always wanted to say that. But seriously, I would like you to talk. The Master Emerald doesn't protect itself, and you're pretty securely locked up here. I could just leave now and take the Emerald. With some searching, of course."
"Fine, fine, I'll talk."
"So, why did you give me the faulty emeralds?"
"Well, I was told by someone about the list of crimes you had committed." said Knuckles.
"Someone?"
"Someone." Maintained Knuckles.
"Was it... him?" Asked Final, miming a few shapes.
"Yeah..." Admitted Knuckles, sheepishly.
"Now I've warned you about this. Don't listen to him! I've never committed any crimes. Everything I've ever done has been legally sanctioned." Said Final, mumbling his words.
"No, no, not that sort of crime," corrected Knuckles. "More generally."
"Fine, fine. We'll get to that later. For now, I need to go to the surface. Any good gardening shops you know of?"
"Well, there is this little one in the Green Hill Zone. But why would you need to go there?"
"Oh, you'll see." Replied Final cryptically. "Now, I'm going to release you, I'll pop back to the surface to get something from the gardening shop, and then we'll go and meet your informer. Can you get a trace on where the signal is from?"
"Already did. I like to check up on that sort of thing. He's in the Stardust Speedway Zone."
"Of course. That planet appears this month, doesn't it? Damn Earth 2 and its freaky physics."
...
Knuckles ran through the twisting paths of the Stardust Speedway Zone, going to a small destination near the edge of the zone. Finally, he ground to a halt, as across a gap stood the person he had received his information from, standing beside a small computer console.
The figure was morbidly obese, his massive stomach making his body look almost egg like. His arms and legs, however, were thin, almost to the point where they looked comical. He wore a black boiler suit, with a modified red tailcoat draping over his frame. The tailcoat was adorned by white trimming, and small golden ornaments.
"Doctor," acknowledged Knuckles.
"Why, Knuckles!" Exclaimed the rotund doctor, jubilantly. "How are you?"
"I'm not here to exchange pleasantries. Why did you tell me that Final was the one who wiped out the echidna species, killed Sonic, stole a Chaos Emerald AND ate my lunch?"
"Because you're just so gullible." Sighed Eggman.
"Oh." Was Knuckles' only reaction, as he looked at the ground sheepishly. Then, from behind him, there came a distant call, almost like a battle cry. Final charged around a yellow, trumpet like pillar, an object in his hand.
"EGGMAN!" He yelled. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! WITH A RAKE!" He leapt over the gap that separated the scientist from Knuckles, brandishing the said weapon in his hands.
Eggman, for his part, dashed off as fast as he could. For a few seconds, Knuckles merely watched the chase. Then, there came a terrible, high pitched scream, and Knuckles winced.
"Wow." He breathed quietly, disgusted, yet unable to turn away from the spectacle.
