Knuckles Quest Chapter 10: Felling the First Few Felons, a sonic the hedgehog fanfic

Slam422: Before we begin, I just want to give you all a quick heads up on something. If you've been following my art account, you'll know that I updated Slam & Crystal's design a bit. I've also done the same with Stealth, though I have yet to post his pic.

In any case, the new designs for Slam and Stealth will be making there appearance in this chapter in a sort of "plot hole" kind of thing: where it happens but isn't explained as to how it happened. I hope that you all won't find this too sudden of a change…

Just a quick warning to you all: this chapter is going to be a long one (at least, long when compared to other chapters I've written) because it will (finally) end the first story arc of Knuckles Quest. After this will be about 2 or 3 "intermission" chapters before we begin the "Ice" story arc. I hope that you all will enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you in the foot notes.

Oh, and just to let you know, I'll be referring to myself as "Slam422" instead of "Matt" in the head and foot notes from now on, mostly due to the fact that I want to differentiate myself from my Author Character, as we are 2 separate beings, after all…

Chapter 10: Felling the First Few Felons

Slam went flying back into the wall from a powerful strike by a Magic Grunt. He was still fighting his way up the torso section of the Master Juggernaut, aiming to get at the power core and retrieve the 2 emeralds there, but he wasn't having much luck getting through some of these more powerful Shadow Demons. One of them, a large, humanoid demon with a large crab-like claw in place of its left hand, rushed forward and grabbed Slam in a vice grip. It put as much pressure onto him as it could in order to crush him, but the electrically-charged hedgehog was just a bit more powerful than it and, with some degree of effort, broke through the demon's grip and escaped. He then drew back and landed a serious haymaker to its jaw, shattering its fangs and sending it flying over a railing, where it fell into the depths of the machine below.

While Slam was distracted with the large demon, several grunts tried to get him from behind. Two of them tried swiping their claws at him, but Slam avoided the attack and grabbed a hold of their arms. He threw the first one at a Guller that was swooping down from above, knocking them both out, and the second at a Magic grunt that was trying to shoot at him. Another Grunt tried to jump him from behind, but Slam was a bit too fast and sent it flying into a wall with a swift kick.

Two more Magic Grunts came at him with large swords charged with energy. The first swung low, but Slam jumped over it with no problem. However, he failed to notice the second sword swinging at him in time, and was slashed across the chest by the tip of the blade. The hedgehog quickly pushed himself away from the two Magic Grunts and placed his hand over his wound.

"Damn," Slam cursed, "dese guys are startin' to get serious. Guess it's time for me to take of da kiddy gloves!"

The first Magic Grunt ran in and tried to impale Slam with its sword, but he sidestepped it and kicked the sword out of the creature's hand. The sword flipped up into the air before landing in Slam's hand where he, with a single slice, decapitated it with a single blow. The now dead Magic Grunt's body simply evaporated away as the second one came in for another blow, but this one also felt the blade that Slam held penetrate it's body; and it, too, vanished without a trace.

Once those two last Shadow Demons were gone, a door to the next area opened up. Slam instantly took the chance to advance farther in and up in the giant mecha: he knew that every level that he climbed and every door that he opened lead him closer and closer to the power core of this mechanical monstrosity.

As Slam climbed, 7 more Gullers swooped in from the ceiling. One of them shot an energy blast at him, but the hedgehog deflected it back with a single swing of the sword he held, destroying the Guller in a dark explosion. Another one swooped down at him, but it met the steel of his blade. Slam continued to run up the large staircase he was on as the other 5 kept shooting at him. 2 more of them tried their luck in tackling Slam, but he was too quick for the both of them and they both were felled by his new blade. The last three kept their distance and just kept firing energy shots at him as they continued to ascend.

Eventually Slam was forced against a door that would not open for him. Try as he might, the metal that the door was made of was too strong even for the physically overpowered hedgehog to break through. The last 3 Gullers let out a bird-like laugh as they charged up energy for one final shot.

"Gotta time dis just right…" Slam said to himself as he readied himself for the Gullers final attack. As soon as the 3 bird Monsters fired, Slam tossed his sword at them, and then jumped out of the way of the huge energy ball that was shot at him.

The blast was strong enough to destroy the door that was blocking his path, revealing a large room behind it, and the sword spun through the air like a saw and cut through all 3 of the Gullers before returning like a boomerang to the hedgehog, who had landed right in front of the now open doorway.

"Wow," Slam awed to himself, "dat wasn't half bad for someone who was just wingin' it da whole time…"

Without hesitating, Slam instantly turned around headed into the large room behind him. It was a least the size of a small baseball stadium, with the ceiling being at least 5 stories above him. The walls were lined with several large panels, and several clear tubes with electricity surging through it jutted out from the wall, curved down, and connected to the floor along the base. The energy surged through the floor under non-conductive glass into a large machine in the center of the room. This machine had a large sphere of energy glowing in the center of it that seemed to be feeding power to the surrounding areas.

"No doubt about it," Slam said to himself, "dis has to be da Power Core of dis giant robot; and if I'm right…"

Slam placed his hand above his eyes to block out some of the bright light coming from the glowing energy sphere, and squinted as he looked into it. Sure enough; he could see the silhouettes of the 2 Chaos Emeralds inside.

"Ha, I knew it! Dis is gonna be easier den I thought…"

As Slam approached the machine, however, he didn't notice that he stepped right through an infrared sensor beam. Without warning, the entrance to the room slammed shut, and alarms started to blare throughout the room.

"WARNING," exclaimed a robotic voice, "INTRUDER DETECTED IN POWER GENERATOR ROOM; ACTIVATING GUARDIAN KNIGHT DRONE…"

"Damn it; when am I gonna learn to keep my big mouth shut!"

Slam quickly retreated back as the floor under him began to open, bringing the power generator underneath it before closing up. Once it did, the ceiling opened and dropped what appeared to be a giant chess piece, or at least, the base of one. It was about the size of a Juggernaut mech, and its upper portion looked like a humanoid chest with 3 glowing blue domes on it; one on each side and one on top. After the giant structure landed, two hatches on either side of the room in the walls opened up, revealing large, mechanical arms inside of them. The blue domes on either side of the large body portion then glowed and shot out, grabbing the arms and pulling them in to attach to the sides. Finally, the head portion, which was built to look like a stereotypical helmet of a suit of armor, fell from the ceiling and landed perfectly on the giant robot's shoulders; connecting to it instantly. Finally, the eyes of the robot began to glow red, signifying that it had been activated, and it let out a large mechanical growl that seemed to shake the room.

Slam just stood there, looking up at the towering behemoth that loomed over him, with his jaw wide open and his pupils shrunk down to the size of peas. He stood there for only a few moments before dropping the sword he was carrying and bolted for the door. Slam tried his hardest to break through the barrier as best as he could, but even his Herculean strength wasn't even able to dent it. He tried everything: punching it repeatedly, trying to kick it down, attempting to lift it from underneath: he even pulled out his guns and tried to shoot it down. Despite his best efforts, however, the door just wouldn't budge: he was trapped like a rat…

Outside the mech, the gang wasn't really faring too well against the Shadow Demons themselves. The Master Juggernaut was finally tricked out of the city and lead into the desert to the east, but that's when things started to get worse. Over half of the G.U.N. and Eggman robotic flyers had been taken out, and the Shadow Demons in the air and on the ground revived with about 5 of them for every one destroyed.

Rouge was having a bit of trouble in the air as she was being chased down by a group of Gullers who were shooting at her. Her quick moves in the air and fancy flying let her easily dodge the shots the flying demons shot at her, but she failed to notice that one managed to get right up behind her. By the time she did, it was already too late as the creature let loose with an energy blast that hit her square in the back. With a scream of pain, Rouge began falling to the ground at high speed, with the demonic bird right on her tail. The Guller was about to fire off another shot before Rouge hit when the bat girl just suddenly vanished in front of its eyes. The creature just stopped in mid air and looked around in confusion before feeling someone tap it on the head from behind. It looked behind just long enough to see Shadow's gloved hand bash it right in the face.

Shadow just hovered there in the air (with the help of his Hover Shoes), with Rouge held tight in his grip, as he watch the Guller spiral to the ground before disappearing in a puff of black dust. Once the Guller was gone, he reduced the thrust on his Hover Shoes and returned to the ground, where Shadow just sort of dropped Rouge on the ground.

"You need to be more careful," said Shadow in his usual emotionless tone. Rouge just gave Shadow a fierce look before picking herself up off the ground.

"And you need to keep an eye on that brother of yours," she chimed in. "Stealth abandoned us again!"

"So it would appear; but you need to realize that he has a very good reason for doing so."

"What possible reason could justify his actions in running away like a coward?"

Shadow was about to reply to this, but the two of them were interrupted by a Magic Grunt's energy blast. Shadow quickly dashed off and smashed it in the face with a right hook, knocking it back into a group of Grunts nearby. He then threw his right arm in the air and brought it down hard, letting loose a volley of Chaos Spears that fried the demons where they lay, vaporizing them instantly.

Rouge soon joined in as she took back to the skies. Trying something new, she combined her Dark Wave with some of her new ice powers to see if that would help to deal some more damage. She launched it, and it slammed into a nearby Guller with a forceful explosion, one that made Rouge have to shield herself from the shockwave.

Well, she thought to herself, it seems as though this Ice element may have some use after all. I still hate it, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt; for now…

Meanwhile, a sight that seems impossible is taking place, as Sonic and Eggman are fighting together. Eggman was using what appeared to be an exoskeletal enhancement machine to enhance his power and defense while fighting, and he was taking out any Shadow Demon that came his way. At the same time, Sonic was using several different melee moves to fend off several more Grunts that came his way.

"How ya holding up, Eggman?" Sonic exclaimed to his arch nemesis as he swatted another Grunt away.

"I've destroyed at least 300 of these things thanks to my latest invention," Eggman said with a half-satisfied tone in his voice, "but it just seems as though no matter how many we destroy, there seems to be at least another ten to take the place of each one!"

"I know, but we've got to keep fighting!"

"Let's just hope that that crazy recolor of you found his way to the power core of that giant robot and is disabling it as we speak…"

"SOMEBODY SHUT DIS THING DOWN!!"

Slam screamed and ran around in a panic as the giant robot was trying to crush the poor hedgehog. It took a swing at him, but it just missed as Slam managed to stop dead in his tracks as the fist struck the ground. He then turned around the other way, but was cut off once again by a giant robotic fist that just barely missed him.

The robot was starting to get angry now, evident in its mechanical roars, and it lifted its hands high in the air. Energy began to gather in its grip as it took the form of a large, rectangular blade. The robot drew the blade back as far as it could, and then slammed it long ways into the ground. The strange thing about this, however, was that the blade was embedded nowhere near where Slam was standing. However, Slam was so busy trying to figure out why the robot purposely missed him that he failed to notice the second blade forming in it's hand, which was brought down hard just behind him. The poor hedgehog tensed up as chills went down his spine as he felt the tips of his quills being sliced off by the blade behind him. In a sort of comical fashion, Slam quickly tiptoed away from the blade to the center of the area he was now trapped in.

The ground under Slam's feet began to shake as, outside the separated area, 4 large energy pylons rose out of the ground. Slam looked up and out at each one as they rose up to the point where he could see one on the outside of either blade. The robot lifted its arms up as the pylons started to exude large amounts of electrical energy, which shot up into its hands in bolts of lightning. The lightning started to form into a large electrical sphere that grew larger and larger.

It took a moment for Slam to realize just what the robot was doing, and once again started running around in a panic, trying his hardest to get out of the area he was trapped in. Once the energy sphere was at its largest, the robot activated a targeting cursor on the ground that began to move around in an attempt to lock onto Slam. Luckily for the hedgehog, he was running around so much that the cursor failed to lock on in time, sending the attack (a large burst of electricity from the sphere over its head) crashing down on the ground. Once the attack was over with, the energy blades dissipated, letting the still panicking Slam out into the rest of the room again.

Slam was certainly panicking something fierce for a good few minutes before running out of breath, forcing him to stop running around to catch his breath. As he was huffing and puffing to try and catch his breath, he seemed to notice something: the robot had not tried to obliterate him since the energy burst. Looking up and over to the robot, he made a starling discovery…

"Hey, dat thing ain't movin' no more!"

Indeed, the machine had stopped moving altogether. Its eyes had shut off, and steam was seeping out of its joints.

"I'm thinkin' dat maybe it overheated after usin' dat attack. Maybe dis is my opportunity to damage it!"

Not missing a beat, Slam pulled out his guns and began blasting away at the outer hull of the robotic giant. He ran around the mechanical monster, blasting away at any point that he could, but he was unable to leave even a dent in the armor.

"Damn it," Slam cursed, "not even a scratch! What da hell is dis thing made of anyway? Dere's gotta be a weak point somewhere!"

That's when he noticed it; the pylons from before. They had not yet been pulled back below the ground yet, and were no longer sparking with energy.

"I wonder…"

Taking a chance, Slam ran over to where he dropped the sword he was carrying earlier and grabbed it; and then ran over and took a strong swing against one of the pylons. The sword blasted straight through it like a hot knife through butter, creating an electrical feedback that blasted through the Guardian Knight Drone. The monster was instantly reactivated, and it let out a mechanical scream of pain as energy surged through it with intense force.

"Ha, I knew it: now I just gotta take out da other three!"

Before he could, however, the pylons retracted into the ground again. The Guardian Knight Drone let out an angry roar before resuming its attack. This time it tried something new, opening an area on its chest, revealing a gattling cannon. Knowing full well what was coming next, Slam began to dash around the room as fast as he could as the cannon fired on him. He was just barely able to stay ahead of the volley of fire when it finally stopped. The robot then held its hands up and formed the two energy blades again. Slam knew full well what was coming this time, and tried to position himself so that the machine would try and trap him where one of the pylons came up.

The Guardian Knight Drone fell for his ruse, and he was trapped once again, this time with the pylon inside with him. As predicted, the pylons rose once again, revealing the monster's weakness. Slam took no hesitation this time around as he tore through the second pylon before it was even raised up all the way. The pylon exploded, sending another electrical surge throughout the robot, badly damaging it.

The interruption in the beast's charge time caused the energy blades to be vaporized, revealing the other two pylons. Wanting to end this quickly, Slam ran as fast as he could (which wasn't very impressive for a Sonic-style character, and slashed through the third one. The shock this time was enough to cause parts of the Guardian Knight Drone's armor to start to crack and drop off. The monster was really pissed off at this point, and shielded its final pylon with a barrier before Slam could reach it. Now that the monster knew that Slam was a threat, it decided to stop holding back. It raised its arms high, and absorbed every last ounce of energy it could muster, creating a huge energy sphere above its head that was at least 10 times bigger than the first one (which was pretty big to begin with).

"Oh shit…" was all that Slam could manage to say as the demon threw the energy ball down right on the hedgehog. Slam was so frozen with fear that all he could do was hold up his hands in defense as the sphere of energy came at him. However, as it was just about to reach him, the sphere seemed to just stop in mid air. Slam kept his eyes closed and his arms held out for a few moments, but took a peek real quick to see what was going on.

Slam was left speechless as he saw the sphere being held back by him with very little effort at all. He was at a loss for words for a few moments before finally realizing what happened.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I'm da Chosen of Thunder, and dis is electrical energy; which means…"

An evil smile spread across Slam's face as he focused the energy he was holding inward; absorbing it into his body. The energy increase in his physical being caused his body to begin to glow with a yellow aura that increased in intensity and brightness as the energy went further into him. Soon the entire room was basked in a golden yellow glow, completely blinding the Guardian Knight Drone. After a few moments, the light began to die down a bit, and when it was gone, there was a sight to behold

Slam had somehow changed in his appearance. He now appeared to be more muscular than before, and his shirt had changed from his normal orange, dark sleeved shirt to a drab orange t-shirt under a white tank top. His sneakers had also changed; becoming solid red, save for a single, long ways stripe of yellow on the toe. The rest of his outfit/appearance didn't really change, though.

Slam took no time to take notice of his change as he stood back in a… well; I guess the best description for it would be the stance Goku uses when he charges up the Kamehameha Wave attack. Electrical energy began to charge up inside of the palms of his hand, steadily growing in size and intensity…

Outside, the battle had reached its most critical moment. All of the GUN and Eggman flyers had been all but destroyed, save for the GUN flagship that still floated just out of the Master Juggernaut's reach, and the team on the ground were completely surrounded in what seemed to be a never-ending ocean of Shadow Demons.

"I don't know how much more of this we can take!" Vector exclaimed as he created a wall of stone using his new Earth abilities to protect himself from a few shots of energy.

"We've got to hold out as long as possible," Crystal stated as she slashed at an attacking Grunt with an Ice Sword she made, "We need to give Slam the time he needs to disable the Master Juggernaut!"

"Speaking of recolors," Charmy said as he parried the staff of a Magic Grunt away with his stinger, "Where'd Stealth disappear to?"

"I saw the lousy coward run off!" Rouge said as she launched an Ice-charged Black Wave attack, "He deserted us when we needed him!"

"He didn't run away," Sonic said while blocking a few shots with his new Light powers, "there were a few civilians left behind in the city: I told Stealth to make sure they make it to safety!"

"Yeah, and he's probably still hiding out with them!" Rouge quickly replied, "He's nothing but a coward!"

"Can we please discuss this another time?" Espio interrupted while swatting away a few Shadow Demons with another plant-based jutsu. "I think that keeping ourselves from being destroyed takes priority over squabbling over who did or did not desert us right now!"

"I agree with Espio," Eggman chimed in as he swatted away another Guller, "but it seems as though we'll have our answer on the matter sooner than you think: check out over there."

Everyone looked over to where Eggman was pointing to see a fiery streak plowing through the Shadow Demons like they weren't even there to begin with. The streak continued to burst through until it broke through the offensive line that was surrounding the heroes and stopped. The flames died down, and there stood Stealth in the flesh and blood…

…but, something seemed different about him. His quill groupings on his head were reduced from 6 to 3 in a similar style to that of Slam's quills, except that the two on either side pointed upwards like Shadow's. They were a bit messy, and the back of his head, which was once solid black, was now a yellow color that seemed to fade into the red in his face (like a flame effect. His bangs also changed from draping over his right eye (effectively concealing it), to draping down on either side. They, like his quills, had yellow tips that seemed to fade into the red. The tuft of hair on his chest had also disappeared, and in place of his trench coat was what appeared to be a military issued black utility vest.

"Hey there everyone," Stealth greeted, "Sorry I'm late, but I had to help a few stragglers get to safety. Oh, by the way, how do you like my little design update? Makes me look more like my own character instead of just being a simple recolor, don't you think?"

Nobody answered; they all just stared at him like he had two heads: or more specifically, they were staring at his eyes. You see, Stealth's right eye wasn't real: it was an optics device that was similar in appearance to that of Metal Sonic's eyes, with the exception of the fact that he could still emote with it, where as Metal Sonic's stay the same all the time, regardless of his mood.

"Uh," Crystal finally managed to say, "What happened to your eye?"

Before Stealth had a chance to answer, however, a huge explosion could be heard from above. Everyone, including all of the shadow demons, looked up to the source of the sound, which was a gigantic beam of electrical energy blasting outward from the Master Juggernaut, severely damaging the outer hull, and destroying the giant mask on the chest of the mecha. All the Shadow Demons, at the site of this, began to be thrown into a panic as one by one they began to dissipate and disappear, as if linked to this plane of existence by the mask itself.

High up on the Master Juggernaut, Slam looked out through the giant hole that he had created from that blast.

"Damn," he cursed to himself as he looked down, "it's a long way down from here…"

Slam then reached behind him and pulled the blue and yellow Chaos Emeralds from his hammer space.

"…but I guess dat recoverin' dese emeralds have earned me a bit of luck, so I guess that makin' a leap like dis ain't all dat bad…"

Just as he was about to jump, however, a faint sound caught his ear; the sound of an engine. Slam looked out in the distance, and saw a small, blue biplane heading for him. The biplane, which was being piloted by a young orange fox, was dipping and swooping through the remaining Gullers that were still able to stay alive, before finally reaching Slam's location, where the plane just seemed to hover there.

"Hey there," the young fox greeted, "need a lift?"

"Hey," Slam said curiously, "Ain't you dat Tails person who made dat order for da custom parts?"

"I was wondering what was taking so long for you guys to get me my parts, so I decided to come and check up on the status…"

Before Slam could answer, a large explosion rocked the giant mech, causing the hedgehog to start loosing his balance a bit.

"Whoa," Slam said as he tried to regain his balance, "I'm thinkin' dat maybe we should continue dis little discussion on da ground!"

Tails nodded as he moved the Tornado 2 into position for Slam to get in. Once Slam was buckled in, Tails quickly and skillfully piloted the biplane away from the robot; and just in time, too, as a large, fiery explosion blasted out through the hole in the robot's armor. Slam looked back in both horror and amazement as giant explosions blasted through the hull of the giant mech, tearing it apart bit by bit. After a few moments, the explosions seemed to get more and more intense as a bright white light seemed to engulf the robot, sending out beams of light across the sky. After a few moments, one final giant explosion burst outward from the robot, completely obliterating it.

The battle was over, but the war has just begun…

Mushroom Hill: a forested area on Angel Island best known for its giant mushroom that are scattered all over the landscape. It is a peaceful area, where many people go to find rest and relaxation among the flora, fauna, & fungi.

However, today was not a day of rest and relaxation in the zone. It was one of tense and extreme danger.

Black Rose was angry, that was evident of her intense aura of energy that surrounded her body. She had been humiliated by Knuckles, and she was ready wasn't going to stand for it anymore. She floated just above the ground as she went forward, her sharp eyes keeping a lookout for any movement.

Not too far away, Knuckles and Tikal were hiding in a small area concealed by vines and the large mushrooms. Knuckles looked out through the vines to see Black Rose only about four feet from where the two of them were, and almost panicked when she looked straight at where they were. Luckily, she didn't notice they were there thanks to the concealment of the vines, and she started to move away.

"Phew," Knuckles quietly sighed in relief, "that was a close one…"

"Knuckles," Tikal asked, "do you know why Black Rose wants the Master Emerald?"

"I didn't have time to learn from Circuit just what it is that she needs it for, but she probably wants to use its power to revive the Demon Nazo…"

"Did you say Nazo? But, I thought that he was just a legend; part of a story that parents told their kids at night to keep them from misbehaving..."

"Well, he isn't. From what I've learned so far; Black Rose is Nazo's most devoted follower, and she seeks to revive him. I don't know what she could possibly gain from it, but I can't let her get her hands on the Master Emerald."

Knuckles then reached into his hammer space and pulled out the Master Emerald, which he had shrunk down to the size of a Chaos Emerald for easy carry.

"Tikal, I want you to take the Master Emerald and bring it to the Hidden Palace Zone shrine.."

"What? Knuckles, what are you talking about?"

"I'll go out there and distract that she-witch while you get the Master Emerald down to the Hidden Palace Shrine."

"What?! But, Knuckles, that's just plain suicide; she's too powerful for you to handle, not to mention that she's so angry that she'll probably hold nothing back!"

"That's a risk that I have to take. As Guardian of the Master Emerald, I have a responsibility to keep anyone from taking the emerald for their own gain; even if it costs me my own life."

Tikal was about to try and plead with him, but she knew that no matter what she said, Knuckles wouldn't listen to her. He was stubborn like that, but he was also right: Black Rose would misuse the Master Emerald's power if she had gotten her hands on it, and that would mean the end of the world as they knew it. She just simply nodded to Knuckles to let him know that she agreed with him, and with a simple nod back, the red echidna went out to face off against the evil priestess.

A few yards away, Black Rose was floating in a large clearing, where it looked like a large amount of trees was chopped down (the mini boss area from S&K/S3&K). She was still trying to locate Knuckles so that she could finally put an end to him and take the Master Emerald. She was so busy looking, that she didn't even notice him walk into the clearing.

"Hey, Black Rose," Knuckles exclaimed, "Are you looking for me?!"

Black Rose instantly turned around to see Knuckles standing there, readied in a fighting stance.

"Hmph," Black Rose scoffed, "you realize that facing me is a death sentence, you know. I plan on holding nothing back now, considering how you've humiliated me horribly…"

"Why don't you just stop talking and bring it on!"

"…Very well then…"

Black Rose instantly teleported behind Knuckles, and bashed him in the back of the head with a powerful kick, sending him flying across the field. She then pursued his body and kicked it up in the air. Knuckles was able to correct himself in the air, and managed to block an incoming punch from the evil sorceress, and bashed her in the face with a powerful punch. She was only knocked back a few inches, however, and instantly retaliated with a flurry of her own punches. He was able to either block or avoid the majority of the strikes, but a few caught him off guard and dealt serious damage against him. Thinking quickly, Knuckles quickly blocked one of the punches with his left foot, and brought his right foot up to smack right into Black Rose's jaw. She was knocked back some, allowing Knuckles to quickly glide back down to the ground. The moment he touched down, he put on his shovel claws and began digging into the earth.

Back in the sky, Black Rose finally managed to regain her senses from Knuckles' kick, and flew straight down to the ground after him. She stopped just before she touched down, and looked around for him.

"Come out; come out; wherever you are…" Black Rose said tauntingly as she carefully surveyed the area. Without realizing it, however, Knuckles shot back up from under her and delivered a powerful uppercut to the evil priestess, the damage of which was increased from the use of his Shovel Claw. Black Rose was throne back a bit as the claw cut her cheek. Wiping the blood from her wound with the sleeve of her robe, she summoned up one of her scimitars and quickly slashed at Knuckles, who was just able to back up in time to avoid it. The evil priestess then summoned her second sword, and slashed again. This time, however, the blade clanged against Knuckles' Shovel Claw as he used it to shield himself from the attack, and then took the opportunity to punch her hard in the stomach with a powerful left hook.

Black Rose was thrown back, but she quickly righted herself in the air and flew forward at sonic speed with her blades at the ready. Knuckles was unable to adjust for this quick maneuver and cried in pain as he felt dozens of sword slashes against his body. In only a few seconds, he was laying on the ground in pain with large cuts all over his body. The evil priestess simply scoffed at him as she watched the red echidna try his hardest to stand back up.

"You really don't know when to quit, do you?" she said, mocking Knuckles' attempts to keep fighting.

"Guess I'm just stubborn that way…" Knuckles mockingly replied, "…but then again, I kinda get that from my dad, if you will recall…"

"Please: Locke was ten times the Echidna you could ever hope to be and even he could not stop me! What hope could you ever have of defeating me, or even surviving for that matter?"

A small smile crept its way across Knuckles' face as he chuckled under his breath.

"I'm not trying to defeat you, Black Rose; I'm just trying to stall you…"

All of a sudden; a pale blue light seemed to begin to emanate from the trees, mushrooms & the very ground itself. A look of surprise was evident on Black Rose's face as the blue light slowly began to increase in brightness and intensity.

"I believe you are familiar with the Purity Pulse: an invention that my father created to harness energy from the Master Emerald to purge any source of corrupted power from the island, keeping the Master Emerald safe. I believe that it's safe to assume that you've lost."

Before Black Rose even got a chance to reply, the energy burst outward from the ground, enveloping the entire island in an extremely bright, pale blue light. She screamed as the energy, which was too much for even her to withstand, blasted her far off the island.

The light remained for a few moments afterward as Black Rose regained her composure in mid air about a mile outside of the island's airspace. She watched the light patiently and intensely as it slowly began to dim down until it was no more. To the normal eye, the island hadn't changed at all, but Black Rose was able to sense and see different types of energy; and through her eyes, you could see a thin, almost invisible barrier of purified energy surrounding the entire island.

Black Rose just floated there with a blank expression on her face. She had been denied the Master Emerald a second time, and was booted off the island in a most undignified manner. She simply closed her eyes and bowed her head in defeat, and remained like that for a few moments.

But then, something unexpected happened: her mouth seemed to curl up a bit into a smile, and she began to chuckle a bit under her breath. Soon, that chuckle started to build up as she threw her head back in a hearty and healthy laugh.

"Hahaha, I can't believe it!" she said, almost as if she actually enjoyed it, "That's the second time that I've underestimated the Master Emerald Guardian: and it was Locke's own son, too! Ha, the irony of it all! But be warned, my 'friend'; you and your friends in Station Square may have won the battle, but this is MY war: and it's far from over! The next time we meet, I will kill you & your flea bitten friends!"

And with that, Black Rose just seemed to vanish into thin air: teleporting to an unknown location to rest and regroup for the next battle…

SAGA 1 End

And so the first Saga of Knuckles Quest comes to a close. Black Rose has failed to retrieve the Master Emerald, and the city of Station Square, albeit somewhat destroyed, is safe from the Master Juggernaut. But just what are these Shadow Demons, and why does Black Rose seem to have a strong resentment against Locke, even though she killed him long ago?

Only time will reveal the answers…

Slam422: Well, I didn't think I'd make it, but I've finally finished the first story arc of Knuckles Quest with no problem. I'm hoping that you are all enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it, because there is so much more in store for the future.

Oh, and I just want to point one thing out before I go: even though my username is Slam422, Slam is NOT a self-insertion character. He is an independent character that is completely separate from me. There was, at one point in time, where he was my author character (hence my username), but I turned him into a separate character when I realized that making myself a hedgehog when I am not one is just silly, and so I created a human character to act as my avatar. I say this now so that I avoid any comments on "self insertion" in the future, as I have already received one and don't want anymore when it isn't true…

DISCLAIMER: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Eggman & all related characters, locations & themes are all © to SEGA™ and Sonic Team™. Slam, Stealth, Crystal, Black Rose, all Shadow Demon species & the story itself belong to me, Slam422.

NEXT CHAPTER: Black Rose returns to her lair to confer with the Council of Corruption on what to do next.

Matt: Until next time; Later Days!