Chapter 7: Sirens, Explosions and Emeralds
As Knuckles struggles to maintain control of himself, the scene returns to Sonic & Mario.
While Sonic ate the leftovers of the meal Mario had brought him, the red clad plumber filled the blue hedgehog in on what he had currently gathered the situation was.
"I'm going to have to tell them where we were while all this was happening eventually. But how can I explain it without making it sound like I abandoned everybody?"
Finishing up the plate of pasta, the speedy hero tried to counsel his old friend.
"Mario, you didn't abandon your world anymore than I did mine. Even if any of us had had the strength left to go back to try to stop this from happening, we'd likely just end up killed. We were all so battered and beaten, we were lucky to be alive at all."
"I know that, and you know that. But they don't. They've been fighting the evils we should have been dealing with this whole time. They'll all shun us and refuse our help if I tell them."
"You'll never know that until you actually tell them, Mario."
Sighing, the mustached Italian turned on his side, pulled his hat down over his eyes, and tried to sleep. Resting his head on his arms, Sonic couldn't help but wonder if his friends were in danger.
Now, we return to Luigi and Tails, in their search to find Knuckles.
Luigi looked out of another manhole, looking around for his missing companion, at the same time waiting for the hesitant Tails to catch up with him.
"Luigi, how can you STAND walking in this muck?!"
"I told you, it's my job."
"They must pay a lot for a job like this."
The green clad plumber couldn't help but grin.
"I wish."
Then, almost as soon as the young fox had reached the manhole he was under, Luigi signaled for silence, listening intently. He looked back at Tails with a pale face.
"I think our old pal Knuckles set off the alarms."
Slapping his face in exasperation, Tails leapt out of the manhole, running down the roads towards where the sound was coming from, closely followed by Luigi.
"That damn knucklehead is going to get us killed."
We see Knuckles up on the rooftops, quickly being surrounded by Mechs.
"Crap..."
The frustrated echidna glared at the mechanical guards that were quickly encircling him. Out of anger at his own helplessness, he had smashed through a sentry. He was now paying the consequences. Taking in the scene around him, he took note of the searchlights. Quickly, he rammed through the Mechs to destroy the searchlights.
"This way, they won't find Tails or Luigi."
Once he was finished, Knuckles turned back to his enemies, ready to fight. But, just when he was about to strike, he saw one of the sentries short-circuit, quickly followed by those near it, setting off a chain reaction that disabled the surround horde. Confused, the red guardian scratched his head, then turned to see a familiar figure in green appear from a hole in the floor of the roof.
"Luigi?"
"Hey Knuckles. Looks like we arrived just in time, huh?"
The red echidna followed the green clad plumber down to ground level, meeting back up with Tails.
"It's a miracle you're not dead, knucklehead."
"Nice to see you too, Tails. How did you do that, Luigi?"
Smiling, the mustached plumber summoned a spark of blue lighting from his finger.
"Thunderhand. Long story short, let's me attack enemies with lightning. But that's history, let's get out of this dump. I can navigate a way through the sewers."
Impressed, Knuckles smirk of respect turned to one of distaste when he looked down the manhole. Before he could leap down, he felt a small projectile hit him in the chest, knocking him back against a wall. Whipping around, Tails caught only a glimpse of a flying Mech before it shot him as well, hitting the wall near the downed echidna guardian. Rushing to their aid, Luigi tried to help them up.
"Can't... move..."
The projectile had somehow sapped the two heroes' strength, leaving them paralyzed. Taking out his hammer, the green clad Italian looked up in defiance at the flying Mechs that were quickly surrounding him. All of them fired their paralyzing projectiles at him, but the determined hero stood his ground, and was still moving.
"Looks like you're paralysis crap doesn't work on humans. Too bad for you."
Rearing back his hammer, Luigi launched it with all his might into the Mechs directly in front of him, then leapt into the air, leaping from the head of one Mech to the next to retrieve his weapon. As he yanked his hammer from the smashed remnants of his foes, the green clad plumber summoned a crackling bolt of electricity from his hand, infusing it with his hammer, running toward the mass that was closing in on him. With each Mech he smashed with his hammer, two more near it were short-circuited by the electricity surrounding the hammerhead. Suddenly, the Italian hero was grabbed by the neck, and slammed against a wall, as the Mech that held him aimed it's gun. A split second before it fired, another android, designed like the Mechs, but painted red, smashed through the Mech before it could kill Luigi. Falling to the ground, gasping for air, the green clad plumber looked up to thank his savior. But before he could, the android placed something in his hand.
"Take this and guard it well. Take your companions and leave this city immediately. I've planted a bomb that's set to blow in 90 seconds."
With this, the mysterious android rushed off, leaving Luigi confused for a second before grabbing his hammer and scrambling to Tails and Knuckles. After smashing hurriedly through a few Mechs that blocked his path, the young green plumber reached his friends, hauling Tails onto his back, dragging Knuckles with his other hand as he leapt into the sewers.
"Quit dragging me! I can walk on my own!"
The stubborn echidna broke free of Luigi's grip, and began running to keep pace with the plumber.
"Whatever! Just move quickly! We have less than a minute before a bomb blows this place up!"
Before the confused echidna could ask about what the green Italian was talking about, he was grabbed up out of a manhole near the edge of the city. Ignoring his curiosity, the red guardian grabbed Tails, and ran alongside Luigi.
"Crap! 10 seconds!"
"Quickly! Grab hold!"
Clasping arms with Knuckles, Luigi was spun around and launched to safety, while the echidna shot forward with a burst of speed, barely making it out of the danger zone before the whole city behind him erupted in flames. Dropping Tails on the ground, the exhausted warrior collapsed, falling asleep almost instantly. Grinning, the tired green clad hero looked in his hand to see what his savior had given him.
"A chaos emerald. Well, it'll be safer with one of them than with me."
Watching the sun rise, Luigi placed the colorless jewel into Tails' hand, drifting off to sleep soon after...
Once more, the story's setting changes, showing us Ryu and Jenso.
"I'm returning to my home. I'm going to make sure my people are safe and that's final."
Jenso sighed, gazing up at the rising sun.
"You'll just get yourself captured. Your people have been enslaved. If you go storming in, it won't solve anything."
"I don't care what I have to do to set my fellow Yoshi's free. I will not abandon them in their time of need, and I won't hesitate to trade my life for theirs."
At this, the mysterious orange clad hero fell silent, the black Yoshi's comment seeming to have struck a nerve.
"I'm going with or without you. You can help me, or you can go do whatever you do."
Ryu turned, unfolding his wings, and was about to take off when he was stopped by Jensos utterance of three words.
"Alright. I'll help."
