Chapter Four

The Freedom Fighters and the entire Royal Guard have been incapacitated by the villainous Nack the weasel. Tails has set off in search of reinforcements to aid his injured friends.

"I know just who to turn to!" said Tails, as he flew off into the distance.

Before long, he had reached the Floating Island. He spotted a purple chameleon down below, on the island shore.

"Hey, do you know a guy named Knuckles the Echidna?" asked Tails.

The startled chameleon looked up as Tails came in for a landing.

"You know, the Guardian?" Tails continued.
"I need to speak with him right away! It's important."

Meanwhile...

Sonic is still in a struggle with Nack. Sonic is now armed with the knife Nack had stabbed into him earlier, but the wily weasel is well prepared.

"Always a backup!" Nack said, as he reached into a pouch and pulled out a small handgun.

Bang, BANG!

Nack fired off a few rounds as Sonic ducked for cover. Nack didn't see where he had hidden.

"I'm gonna getcha, hogboy!" Nack threatened.

Nack crept through the room looking for Sonic, but he passed by the spot where Sonic was quietly hiding.

"Come on out and face me!" Nack demanded.

"Sure thing!" Sonic yelled, as he dashed out from his hiding place and jumped on Nack's back.

"Hey!" screamed Nack. "What're you-?!"

Rrrrip!

Sonic stabbed the knife into Nack's side and cut his liver out!!

"Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!" Nack hollered. He struggled to reach behind himself and shoot Sonic off his back.

BANG!

The shot only grazed Sonic, but it gave Nack enough time to scoop his liver up from the ground and retreat.

"This isn't over hogboy!" Nack moaned, as he backed away from the scene with his gun pointed at Sonic.

BANG! BANG! Zzzap!

Nack fired off a few more shots at the hut as soon as he was a safe distance away. The hut caught afire and collapsed! Sonic and company were still inside…

Later:

Back on the Floating Island...

Inside the Master Emerald Chamber:

Knuckles was busy working out. He was pounding away at his "Sonic The Hedgehog" punching bag. It seems he still held a grudge from his tumultuous encounter with Sonic in the previous story.

Suddenly Knuckles heard one of his friends' voice call down to him from a tunnel above the cave.

"Hey Knuckles!" said the purple chameleon.

"What's up Espio?" Knuckles replied, still tearing into the punching bag.

"There was this funny looking creep snooping around the island, looking for you," said Espio.

"He-hee!" Knuckles squealed with sinister anticipation.
"It's probably Sonic. I've been waiting for him to show his face around here again! Where is this creep?"

"You said to beat up all strange looking strangers and bring them to you, so here he is!" said Espio.

Espio dangled a punch-drunk Tails down through the cave entrance and let him drop.

Bang, whap, wham! CRASH!

Tails took a harsh tumble and finally crashed down below with a thud.

"Ow,ow,ow,ow,ow!" Tails whined.

Knuckles looked down on him with disappointment.

"Oh, it's only you," said Knuckles. "Where's Sonic?!"

"He's in trouble!" said Tails.
"He's being attacked by Nack the weasel... you gotta help!"

"Okay, I'll help!" said Knuckles.

"Really?!" said Tails, happily.
"I'm so glad Knuckles! You're the only one I could turn to"

"Of course I'll help!" replied Knuckles.
"It'll take more than some weasel to put that fiend away for good! Besides, I want a piece of Sonic too!"

"No,no,no!" cried Tails.
"I was asking you to help Sonic!"

"Oh, I'll help him alright... right into his grave!" roared Knuckles.
"Don't try to stand in my way!"

"Please Knuckles! Don't hurt Sonic!" Tails pleaded on his knees with outstretched hands.

"Move it!" snapped Knuckles, as he kicked his foot right into Tails' face.

"Oof!" Tails grunted as he fell onto his two-tailed butt.

Knuckles stormed off, determined to find Sonic even if he had to sniff him out by the scent of his blood.

But Tails was just as determined to prevent him! He rolled up into a furry ball-attack of his own and bonked Knuckles on the head!

BONK!

"OW!" Knuckles yelled.
He reached back and flung Tails off of himself. Tails crashed into the hard cave wall!

"Ah!" Tails shrieked.

"And if that wasn't enough to getcha... eat this!" screamed Knuckles, as he picked a stone up from the ground and hurled it at Tails.

Tails saw the large rock zooming towards him, so he revved up his tails and blew a big gust of wind that sent the rock careening back at Knuckles!

WHAM!

The rock struck Knuckles directly in his head. He fell backwards, accidentally knocking the Master Emerald off its podium. The emerald rolled away and fell down the emergency exit at the bottom of the cave!!

"Knuckles! Where does that emergency exit lead to?!" Tails panted.

Knuckles didn't respond. He was unconscious.

"Guess that means I'm going in!" said Tails.

Tails jumped down the hole in the ground. He slid down a long and winding tunnel and plummeted out the other end. As he looked down, Tails realized he was about to fall into a lava pit! He grabbed onto the wall of this new cave room and hung on for dear life!

"Oh no, the emerald fell into the lava!" cried Tails.
"And without the emerald, the whole island will fall from the sky!"

The emerald started to glow in the lava down below, and several violent bursts of energy went beaming forth from the powerful gem. Some of the blasts knocked huge chunks of rock from the cave walls down into the lava.

"Hmm, maybe I can use those chunks of rock as platforms to get to the emerald," said Tails.

He revved up his tails and drifted down to the platform. Tails carefully attached a steel clamp onto the part of the emerald that was not submerged in lava.

"Gotcha!" said Tails.

Tails pulled on the clamp's chain and hauled the emerald back up to the surface level of the cave.

"Boy, why would someone have an emergency exit like that?" Tails wondered aloud.

He carefully approached the Master Emerald's pedestal and gently placed it on top.

WHOOSH!

The Floating Island halted its descent, but it didn't start rising back into the air. It stayed in place, hovering just above the ground of Mobius.

"What's wrong?" Tails wondered.
"Did I not do it right? But I'm afraid to mess with it anymore."

The island remained that way for the time being.

Meanwhile, in Robotropolis...

Nack had sewn his liver back inside himself and was now setting off on a new mission. He was ready to go after the second target on his hit list.

"Here I am, in the heart of Robotropolis," Nack whispered to himself.
"This would be suicide for amateurish fools like those Freedom Fighters! But not ol' Fang... I welcome a challenge like this."

Nack crept along through the shadows and polluted fog of the mechanical city.

"I know Robotnik was partially responsible for my downfall back on the Floating Island," Nack muttered under his breath.
"Some of his badniks were still on the island the last time I was there. That rotten, no-good, three-timing Sonic The Hedgehog must have been in cahoots with the eggman, even after I specifically told him not to involve Robotnik in our job!"

Nack was getting so worked up in his anger that he was getting a bit careless. He continued stomping his way through the city.

"Things didn't go as well as I'd expected in Knothole," said Nack.
"I gotta get me some new artillery in Robotropolis, and while I'm at it, I'll knock off the second target on my hit list.….. Robotnik himself!"

CLINK!

Nack heard a high-pitched clinking sound. He stopped in his tracks and peeked around a corner to see what it was. He saw some Swatbots rolling dice in a game of chance. Fortunately they were too caught up in the game to notice Nack, so he fell to the ground and crawled past them.

"Phew! That was a close one," sighed Nack.
"Better take it easy. I may be the toughest and slickest treasure hunter around, but if these bots see me... well, it'd be pretty bad!"

Suddenly, Nack felt a laser gun pressed against the back of his head!

"Kinda like this..." Nack grumbled, as he put his hands in the air.

He slowly turned around to face his captor.

"Don't shoot!" said Nack. "See? I'm surrendering!"

But even as he spoke those words, Nack reached one of his raised hands under his hat and pulled out a throwing star! He threw it into the Swatbot.

CLANK!

The throwing star just sort of sat there in the Swatbot's chest, not doing much damage.

"Impressive, right?" boasted Nack.
"Nobody gets the drops on me, unprepared. But that's not all there is to it!"

BOOM! The throwing star exploded. It turned out to be a bomb. The Swatbot was destroyed... but Nack got knocked out from the force of the explosion!

"Maybe I... outsmarted myself..." Nack groaned as he passed out.

Later...

Nack woke up with chains tied around his arms, hanging from a prison wall. There was a turtle guy chained up next to him. The turtle spoke:

"Oh, you're awake now," said the turtle prisoner.
"I've been here for quite awhile myself. What's your story?"

"Unngh!" Nack grunted, as he struggled in his chains.
"This place won't hold me for long! Not a well-trained adventurer like me!"

"Are you a Freedom Fighter?!" asked the prisoner, hopefully.
"They've been torturing me because they think I'm a Freedom Fighter. They want info on you guys."

"I ain't no Freedom Fighter!" snorted Nack.
"I'm Nack the we-"

He caught himself midsentence, remembering his new alias.

"Er, I mean... the name's Fang," said Nack.
"I can't stand the Freedom Fighters!"

Nack enacted his plan for escape. It's ridiculously absurd and overly complicated, but here goes:

Nack kicked his own foot, causing a lighter to pop up from his boot. The lighter propelled high enough from his boot so that Nack was able to catch it in his mouth and turn the knob with his tongue. He used his tongue to move the fiery lighter onto his snout. Finally, he turned his snout up towards the chains binding his arms, and the flame began melting the chains away!

(I don't know how I thought of this crazy stuff.)

"Very impressive!" said the turtle prisoner.
"You know, Robotnik might be willing to make a deal with you since you're not a Freedom Fighter. I'm sure he could use a guy with your skill. Forming a temporary alliance with Robotnik might be easier than trying to escape the city right away."

"Really?" exclaimed Nack.
"That information could be very useful to me!"

Nack's chains finished melting, and they fell to the ground. He was free!

"No problem," said the turtle.
He was feeling guilty about aiding an enemy of the Freedom Fighters…

"I hate to do anything against the Freedom Fighters, but I'm so desperate to get out of here!" he mumbled to himself.
At least I'll pretend to help them out until I'm in a position to get away… he thought.

"Um, Mr. Fang? Could you melt my chains too?" he chuckled nervously.

Nack began searching the room for his belongings, but all he found was his empty backpack.

"Darn!" said Nack. "Looks like they took everything else."

"I saw them put some of your things in that hidden compartment over there," said the turtle prisoner.
"Now if you could just take a moment to…"

"Hey, you're right!" said Nack, as he dug through the compartment.
"Well, I guess I'm all set then. Better get going!"

ZOOM!
Nack took off so fast; you'd almost have thought he was Sonic The Hedgehog or something.

"HEY, WAIT!" yelled the turtle.
"HEY NACK! I mean, Mr. Fang! COME BACK FANG!!" he called out after him.

But Nack left him behind without hesitation...

"WHY?!" screamed the turtle, as the guards came into the room for another torture session.
"WHYYYYYYYYY??"

Nack walked up to the wimpiest looking badnik he could find, to ask for directions. It was a Crabmeat.

"Hey, crabby!" said Nack.
"Which way to the doc's room?"

The Crabmeat motioned its claw towards a door that read, The Doctor is IN.

"Thanks!" said Nack. "And I expect to be shown a little more respect the next time I visit your city," he huffed.
"I'm about to make a deal with the Doctor."

Nack strutted towards the Swatbots who were standing guard at Robotnik's door.

"Hey, I've come to see Robotnik!" Nack shouted, arrogantly.
"The name's Fang. I'm a VIP, so lemme through!"

"We don't know any Fang!" said one of the Swatbots.

"What about Nack?" asked Nack.

"Oh yes, you're the new prisoner!" said the Swatbot.
"You must be here to submit for an early roboticization. Right this way."

Nack walked into the room, ignoring their presumptuous attitude.

"Robotnik!" yelled Nack.

"Hmm?" Robotnik grunted.
"What do you want?

"I want a deal," Nack replied.
"I'm sure you know of my exceptional abilities by reputation. You probably have a file on the great Super Villain Fang."

"I know you're that buffoon, Nack the weasel!" snapped Robotnik.

"I guess the nickname never caught on," said Nack.
"Anyway, I'll finish off the Freedom Fighters for you if you give me a few good weapons. I know the location of Knothole and everything! I almost had those goodie goodies beaten last time, but…"

"Very well!" interrupted Robotnik.
"Take a few robots and go to Knothole."

"Really?!" exclaimed Nack, with stars in his eyes.
He was finally becoming a real supervillain.

"Yes, yes!" said Robotnik.
"Just get out of my sight! I'm busy with a new invention right now."

Nack gathered together his troops for the mission.

Meanwhile, back on the Floating Island:

Knuckles was still laid out on the floor from his fight with Tails.(!)
He began to groan as he stirred back to consciousness.

"Knuckles! You're finally awake!" Tails exclaimed.
"The island is hovering and I need to know if it's gonna fall!"

"What?!" snapped Knuckles.
"What did you do to the emerald?! You been messin' with it boy?!"

"No!" Tails fearfully replied. "I just…!"

Knuckles angrily pushed past Tails to examine the Master Emerald.

"I see what happened," said Knuckles.
"Look here."

He pointed to a little switch on the emerald's podium.

There were several different settings the switch could be turned to; such as "Soar", "Rise", "Float", and "Hover".

"Something must have knocked the switch into the "hover" position," explained Knuckles.
"Oh well, I'll take care of you later fox boy. But since the island is hovering..."

Knuckles quickly flies several feet in the air, up out of the emerald cavern. Once airborne, he glides to the edge of the island shore.

"...it'll be easier to get down to Mobius!" Knuckles continued, as he jumped down to the mainland.

"I'll pay my old "buddy" Sonic The Hedgehog a little visit!" said Knuckles, sarcastically.
"And while I'm at it, I'll make him pay for all his crimes too!"

Tails was still sitting inside the cavern in astonishment.

"Did Knuckles just fly?!" Tails exclaimed.
"What the-?! …I thought he was only supposed to glide and climb!"

Tails just stood there and shook his head.

"Oh well," Tails sighed.
"Whatever fits the scene..."

To Be Continued.