"WHAAAAK!" Donald yelled , running top-speed out of the foliage.

"Donald? What's the matter?" Goofy asked, holding his hand over his eyes and peering beneath it, trying to see if Donald was being chased by something.

"THERE'S SOMETHING HUGE! It looks like a HEARTLESS!" Donald loudly announced.

"A heartless? Oh no!" Goofy said. "Here, too?"

Donald and Goofy had told Kierriadon and Knuckles about their quest on the trip down. Kierriadon whipped out his sword and listened carefully.

He could hear something crashing around in the forest, but he could not sense any sort of presence. Kierriadon focused intently, cocking his head to one side, confused. He could even feel the vibrations in the soles of his feet, but there was no life causing it. He glanced over at Knuckles, and saw that he was concentrating just as hard as he was. The Echidna opened his eyes and looked glaringly at Kierriadon.

"Eggman," Knuckles growled, his fists clenched.

"That big fella with the mustache?" Goofy asked. Knuckles nodded.

"We gotta get to that thing!" he said, punching his left palm. His companions nodded and they took off into the woods, heading in the direction of the strange sound.

As they neared the machine, Kierriadon was not the only one that could hear and feel it's destruction.

"Where is it?" Knuckles demanded of Donald.

"I dunno!" The duck cried, defiantly. "It was here just a second ago!"

"It must'ave gone that-a way," Goofy pointed toward a trail of destroyed trees. The small group took off after it. Kierriadon glanced over at the others. They were moving quickly, but not quickly enough to catch up to it.

"Knuckles, you and I will go on ahead and try and slow it down. The rest of you can catch up, then."

"Fine!" Knuckles needed no second bidding. Before Donald and Goofy had a chance to speak, he was a red blur through the trees with Kierriadon close behind him. As they ran, Kierriadon's foot sank into the ground.

"What?" He tried to correct himself, but the ground seemed to hold onto his leg. He looked down, and a dark mist was swirling around his ankle and seemed to try to eat it. He jerked free at last, rolling away from it. The hole vanished.

"What is this place?" Kierriadon wondered aloud, staring uneasily at the patch of ground that just tried to have him for a snack. A resounding crash brought him back to the present, and he ran after Knuckles. He skidded to a halt after about thirty seconds. The Elf came upon the Echidna as he was being thrown through the air toward him.

"Gotcha!" Kierriadon grabbed Knuckles out of the air as he sailed yelling over his head.

"Thanks!" Knuckles managed as he regained his footing.

Kierriadon looked across at Eggman's invention. It spun to a halt at the other side of a clearing that it appeared to have made, and then eight giant metal legs sprang out of its ball form and it stood, towering before the two warriors. A massive dent adorned the left side of it.

"I managed to get in a lucky punch," Knuckles said. "But this one's quicker than Eggman's last toy."

Kierriadon's quick eyes scanned the machine. He could still feel nothing, no presence what so ever. This was strange magic, or whatever it was. He could hear a straining noise coming from the side where Knuckles hit it.

"Is it wounded?" He asked. Knuckles barked a laugh as he rolled behind a large rock to avoid being crushed by a tree limb the machine decided to throw.

"I'd say it took some damage, yeah," he replied. Kierriadon looked closely at the dent.

"Could you hit it there again?"

"You bet!" Knuckles grabbed onto the question as if it were a challenge. He flew out from his hiding place and attacked the machine, which in turn smacked Knuckles out of the air like a fly. Knuckles landed in a heap beside a tree, and the machine, after watching for about three seconds, turned away and lumbered through the trees.

"It's ignoring us," Kierriadon remarked.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE, YOU WING-NUT!" Knuckles shouted, shaking his fist. Kierriadon walked over and pulled Knuckles to his feet.

"We better wait for Donald and Goofy." Kierriadon said. "It's damaged, we'll find it again."

Knuckles wasn't too happy about that plan, but he finally agreed to wait.

"Why do you think it's here?" Kierriadon asked. Knuckles shrugged. Then he snapped his fingers.

"Hey! I bet it's here 'cause Eggman is trying to find the Chaos Emeralds!"

Kierriadon nodded shortly. Knuckles had told them about Eggman earlier when they freed him from Black Doom's torture chamber.

"Then we should not destroy it."

"WHAT? Oh, right- we gotta follow it to the Chaos Emeralds and get them before Eggman does."

"Exactly. And if Sonic is with Hazel, and the others, I'm sure they have the same idea. We'll find them, too."

"Right!"

Donald and Goofy caught up with them a second later, and were filled in on the plan…such as it was.

"What about Relena and the rest?" Goofy wanted to know.

"I'm confident that Sakura will be able to track us, and most certainly the machine. We can focus on finding our friends and the Emeralds until they catch up."

The group went after the machine, Kierriadon and Knuckles some distance ahead of Donald and Goofy, but with Kierriadon keeping contact with them through his Elven telepathic abilities.