Chapter 4
In the city, Knuckles was walking from the jewelry shop, carrying a necklace
with an amethyst on it.
"Well," he said to himself, "finally, I've got something that'll convince that
feline to give me the emerald." Suddenly, Knuckles heard someone laughing. It was Bokkun
again, flying with his engine.
"Long time, no see, Knuckster," he said, landing toward Knuckles.
"Aw, not you, again," said Knuckles.
"Hey, I don't care if you hate my job. At least it's free."
"Let me guess, you brought me a message from Eggman?"
"Not this time. It's actually from someone you know. Take a look." Bokkun
took his television messenger and turned it on.
Halley was on the screen. "Hey, Knuckles," she said. "What's up?"
"Halley?" Knuckles said, curiously.
"I feel ashamed to tell you this, but I already traded the Chaos Emerald to
someone else."
Knuckles was shocked. "What?! WHO?!"
"A scientist. He's called Dr. Eggman, which I think is a stupid name."
"I heard that!" said Dr. Eggman from another room.
Halley sighed. "So, anyway, I'm really sorry, but I couldn't resist. Besides, a
deal's a deal, no matter what. He gave me this suit in exchange for it. Plus, he offered me an
opportunity to join his team."
"Halley, how could you?!"
"I know you're pretty mad at me, but you'll probably get over it. Anyway,
thanks again for helping me out last night. I really appreciated it. It was nice meeting you."
When the messenger was turned off, Knuckles was a little angry. "I can't
believe that girl!" he said. "How could she trade the emerald for a lousy outfit?!"
"Hey, don't ask me," said Bokkun. "You should probably ask her at Dr.
Eggman's base. But like that's ever going to happen. See ya!"
As Bokkun flew away, Knuckles thought, "I can't believe you did this to me,
Halley. Eggman's been playing you for a sap." He sighed. "Well, I'm going to have to talk my way out of this mess." Knuckles left
the city and ran to Dr. Eggman's base to get the Chaos Emerald.
At the base, Halley and Dr. Eggman were talking and drinking juice.
"How do you like your new outfit?" Dr. Eggman asked.
"It's okay," Halley replied, "except it's a little tight around the waist."
"You'll get used to it. I'm so glad we made this deal. That Chaos Emerald is
as good as mine."
"Cool." Halley looked a little glum.
"Hey, don't worry about that red mammal. He wasn't too trustworthy in
the first place. He and his friends are always against me all the time. But, you trust me, right?"
"I guess so."
"Good, because you'll be staying with us for a long time." Suddenly, the
alarm went off. It was so loud that it hurt Halley's ears.
"INTRUDER ALERT, SECTOR A 12," said the voice in the security system. It kept
repeating itself many times.
"I wonder who it could be." Dr. Eggman said to himself. The door came
crashing down to the floor. They saw a figure near the entrance.
"Knuckles!" Halley exclaimed.
"Hand over the emerald, Eggman!" Knuckles shouted. "And let the kid go!"
"What are you talking about?" Dr. Eggman asked innocently.
"Don't you play dumb with me, you moron!" Knuckles turned to Halley.
"Halley, don't give Eggman the Chaos Emerald."
"Why?" Halley asked.
"Because he's been using you just so he can have world domination."
Halley turned to Dr. Eggman. "Is this true, doctor?"
"Of course not, my dear," the doctor lied. "He's just lying so he can try to
ruin our enterprises. Besides, we made a deal, remember?"
"He's the one who's lying." Halley turned to Knuckles. "Halley, you met
me before you met him and I helped you. The truth is, the Chaos Emerald doesn't an owner, but my friends and I try to
protect them. You've got to trust me."
"Well, Halley," said the doctor, "it's your decision. Who are you going to
trust? Me or Knuckles?" Halley was very nervous because it was hard to decide on who to
trust. Then, she had a serious look on her face and ran from the room.
"I guess she doesn't want to make her decision because she's too naïve," Dr.
Eggman said. Knuckles growled and clenched his fists. Suddenly, they heard a crash from the
other room. Halley leaped into the core room, wearing her regular clothes again. She held her
new clothes in one hand and the Chaos Emerald in the other.
"What are you doing?!" said Dr. Eggman feeling shocked.
"Sorry, Eggman," said Halley. "But even though there isn't an owner to this gem, Knuckles is the one I really trust. He's
really sweet, honest, funny, and caring. Our deal's off, so you can take this suit back!" Halley
threw her outfit at Dr. Eggman's face. He growled in anger and he was steamed.
"Come on," said Knuckles. "Let's get out of here."
"Right behind you," said Halley as she took Knuckles' hand and ran.
Dr. Eggman became very angry and shouted, "Decoe, Bocoe, Bokkun,
activate the robot ship, E-45. We've got two teenagers on the run."
"YES, DOCTOR!" all three robots screamed.
After Halley and Knuckles made their escape, Knuckles asked, "Are you
okay, Halley?"
"I'm fine," said Halley, panting. "Thanks."
"How'd you manage to get the Chaos Emerald from Eggman?"
"It wasn't easy, but I used my secret weapons to break the case."
"I'm just glad you weren't hurt." Knuckles smiled at Halley and she smiled
back. Their smiles broke off when the ground started to shake. A huge robot came out of a pile
of junk. It was very tall, and it was gold, silver, black, and white at the same time.
"Alright, Halley," Dr. Eggman called out from the intercom, "I'll give you
and Knucklehead a few seconds to give me the emerald before I hurt you."
"Never!" said Halley.
"You asked for it." The robot grabbed Halley and held her in its clutches.
Halley couldn't escape it.
"Halley!" Knuckles shouted. He ran towards the robot and tried to punch
its left leg. "Put her down, Eggman!"
"I'm afraid that's unacceptable, my friend," said the doctor, laughing. He
pushed a button that made the robot's fist squeezed Halley. She screamed in pain. The robot
kicked Knuckles. Just then, he heard a sound, and it came by very quickly. It was a huge blue
blur spinning in the air. It sliced the robot's fist off of its arm, causing it to fall. The fist let go of
Halley and Knuckles jumped in the air and caught her in his arm. They both landed safely.
"You alright?" Knuckles asked, putting Halley down.
"Yeah," Halley replied. "Don't worry about me." When the blue blur
stopped spinning and it turned out to be a blue hedgehog. He had green eyes, white gloves, and
red sneakers with a golden buckle on each white strap.
"What's up, Knux?" asked the hedgehog. "Haven't heard from you in a
while."
"Nice to see you too, Sonic," said Knuckles.
Sonic looked at Halley. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Halley Hallivan. We met each other yesterday."
"Nice to meet you, Halley."
Halley shook Sonic's hand. "Nice to meet you too, Sonic."
"Well, well, well," said Dr. Eggman. "Look who decided to crash this party.
Hello, Sonic." Dr. Eggman cackled.
Sonic turned to him. "Hey, Eggman," he said, smirking. "Long time, no
see. What are you doing in a dump?"
"Don't even think about it. I'm just looking for a Chaos Emerald that
someone took from me."
"Oh, shut up, you egghead!" Halley yelled.
"You better watch that mouth of yours, little girl, or you'll have to face my
laser beams!" After Dr. Eggman laughed, he pulled a lever that activated a lot of lasers.
Halley really made the doctor mad. "Oh, snap!"
"You shouldn't have said too much," said Sonic.
"Ready, aim, FIRE!" said Dr. Eggman. The robot shot a lot of laser beams,
making the three heroes scatter.
"There's too many of them!" Halley screamed. "What'll we do?"
"Eggman's robot is very powerful," said Knuckles. "But we've got to defeat
it."
"Don't even bother, you idiots," said the doctor. "I could do this all day."
Suddenly, a bunch of bombs came in and destroyed all of the lasers. "What the…?" Someone
jumped off a huge pile of junk. It was a periwinkle raccoon with black hair. It was in a small
braid with two blue ponytail holders. She had brown eyes, and she wore a black tank top, navy
blue jeans, black high heels, and three silver chains on her tail, neck, and waist. She also wore a
lot of make up on her face that it made her look gothic.
"Jackie!" Halley called to the raccoon.
"Hal," Jackie replied. "Didn't expect to see you here."
"You two know each other?" Knuckles asked.
"Yeah," Halley replied. "I told you about her last night, remember?"
Knuckles finally remembered. "Oh yeah."
"You insolent pests!" the mad scientist yelled. "I'll make you pay for this!"
"That's not going to happen, Eggman!" said Sonic. He turned to his friends.
"C'mon, you guys. Let's beat him, one person at a time." The first guy to challenge Dr. Eggman
was Sonic. He used one of his power rings and did a spin – dash attack. It pushed the robot
backwards, making it a little weak.
Sonic landed safely to the ground. "Your turn, Jackie," he called to the
female raccoon. She waited for Dr. Eggman to make his move.
"Take this!" he said, firing a lot of missiles at Jackie.
She dodged every single one. "What a nuisance," she said. She took out her
bombs. "Bombs away!" Jackie threw the bombs at the robot, making some damages to it. The
smaller robots inside it started to panic, but the doctor stayed calm.
"Looks like you're up, echidna," Jackie said to Knuckles. He ran to the robot
again, but this time, he jumped up and landed on its head.
"Surprise!" he said as he punched the robot's head repeatedly. It nearly
caused a lot of destruction to the cockpit. Dr. Eggman became furious.
After Knuckles jumped down from the robot's head, he said, "Halley, we're
counting on you!"
"I'm on it," Halley replied. She ran towards the robot, but then stopped.
"Hmph, this isn't over yet!" said Dr. Eggman. "Face it, Halley. You're too
much of an amateur to stop E-45." The four villains began to laugh mockingly.
"Don't try to underestimate me, Eggman," Halley said under her breath, "or
you'llhave to say hello to my secret weapons." Halley took out her boomerangs from her purse.
Each one was purple with a skull on it. She jumped in the air and held up her boomerangs.
"Boomerang Blast!" She said as she made an attack that was similar to
Sonic's spin – dash, only with boomerangs. The villains panicked as Halley charged for them. She
broke through the robot several times. As Halley landed safely to the ground, she watched it
explode. The robot was in pieces, but the four villains were floating in a small ship. They were
badly burned. Halley jumped in the air toward them again.
"Oh crude," said Dr. Eggman.
"This is for making me betray my new friend!" Halley said. She kicked the
ship very hard, sending the bad guys flying away.
Halley landed on the ground. "Finally," she said, "they're gone…for now."
"Yep," agreed Jackie. She looked at her watch. "Oh, look at the time, I got
to go. My parents are going to flip if I don't. This place is suckish anyway. See you around, Hal!"
"Bye, Jackie."
After Jackie walked away, Halley looked at Knuckles. "Knuckles," she
said, "I'm really sorry. I should've known how important that emerald was to you. Please, don't
be too mad at me." Halley's head drooped in sadness.
Knuckles lifted it up by the chin and Halley stared at him. "I'm not mad at
you," he said. "I was just a little upset. You were very brave and fought back for us."
"He's right Halley," Sonic agreed. "You did a great job and we're proud of
you."
Halley smiled and very small tears filled her eyes. "Thanks, you guys," she
said.
"One more thing," said Knuckles, "I got something for you for our trade."
Knuckles pulled out the necklace that he bought from the jewelry shop.
Halley gasped. "You bought that for me?"
"It wasn't easy, but I had to convince the owner to make one of these and
he did. Will you accept it?"
Halley nodded. Knuckles put the necklace around her neck and she gave
him the Chaos Emerald. Halley hugged him and smiled. At first, he became confused, but then
he realized why she hugged him. She was thanking him for the necklace. He hugged her back,
telling her that she was welcome. He then let go of her.
"I must be off," Halley said as she walked to where her bike was parked. "I
can't just stay here forever."
"But where will you go?" Sonic asked.
"Everywhere. It doesn't really matter. All I know is, I won't stop until I see
my family again." Just as she was about to get on her bike, she realized that she forgot something.
She walked to Knuckles and kissed him on the cheek. Then, she got on her bike and left the two
boys staring at her. Knuckles touched the spot on his cheek where he had been kissed. He
blushed lightly and smiled. Sonic began to giggle softly.
Knuckles turned to him with a frown on his face."What's so funny,
hedgehog?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing," Sonic said innocently. "It's just that you really like her,
don't you?"
Knuckles slapped Sonic's arm. "Stop it, Sonic."
"Well, do you?"
Knuckles went silent for a few seconds. "Maybe I like her a little bit. She's
a sweet kid and she knows how to take care of herself."
"Oooh, Knuckster's got a girlfriend!"
Knuckles growled in anger. "THAT'S IT, I'M GOING TO GET YOU FOR
SAYING THAT!!" Sonic ran from Knuckles as he was trying to chase him.
"You can't catch me, you slow sucker!" Sonic shouted, slapping his butt tauntingly.
"Come back here!" Knuckles shouted back.
Halley heard that while she was riding on her bike. She giggled and she
never forgot the day she met the red echidna.
The End