Here's a long, action packed, chapter for you guys! Things are really starting to pick up now. ;)
Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to Sega.
Chapter 10
Sega Universe: With Tails's Group
So far, Tails's group wasn't having much luck in finding any chaos emeralds. The emerald detector hadn't gone off at all, and they had been flying around in the tornado for a few hours. Tails only hoped Eggman hadn't gotten to them all first. But, speaking of the doctor, something had been bothering Tails ever since this whole thing started.
It wasn't like Eggman to plan things out like this. Sure, he did do some things ahead of time but anything regarding the chaos emeralds usually involved him bloating about it. Plus, he normally wasn't this sneaky with his plans. He still wasn't sure if the Master Emerald breaking was Eggman's fault or not, but he knew Sonic's disappearance had to be because of the evil scientist. He hoped Sonic was all right where ever he was.
He remembered Rouge and Shadow mentioning they had gotten information about some of Eggman's bases, but he hadn't heard back from them yet. He had tried contacting them after they took off, but was unable to reach them. He assumed they must have been busy and would get back to them later. He knew they usually did things on their own anyways.
He did feel a bit better, though, knowing they had some help in figuring out this entire mess. He was doubtful at first, but after talking through everything with Sally and the others, he felt they could be trusted enough to help. Besides, if Uncle Chuck's prediction about both of their dimension's events being connected was true, they would need all the help they could get.
As he dived deeper into his thoughts, he flew the tornado over a small range of mountains. Thick, storm clouds sounded in the distance, making him snap out of his trance. He focused his attention in front of him and gazed at the incoming clouds. A flock of flickies flew away from the incoming storm and past the plane as a clap of thunder sounded.
"Guys, we might have to land until the storm passes!" he yelled over the engines. The storm drove quickly towards them, while lightning exploded all around it.
Tails carefully navigated downwards, trying to find a safe place to land the plane. He spied a small cave on the side of one of the mountains and headed for it. Strong turbulence made the plane wobble about as it descended. Tails saw some trees and parked the plane under it to protect it from the passing storm. Making the sure the plane wouldn't go anywhere, the group run into the cave as rain drops began to pour on them.
Huddling close to each other, everyone plops onto the rocky ground with a sigh.
"We're not having much luck are we?" Amy asked as she grabbed onto her wet quills. She squeezed them tightly, trying to remove as much water from them as possible.
"We just have to keep looking." Tails responded. He glanced over at Knuckles, who hadn't said a word since they took off in the plane earlier.
"Do you think we can trust them?" Knuckles asked Tails, referring to Sally and the others. He stared at the cave wall in front of him as he waited for an answer.
"Do we really have much of a choice?" Tails replied with a shrug. "I mean, they seem trustworthy enough."
"I agree." Cream piped. Cheese was floating next to her, but was turned around from the rest of the group. "They we're really nice. And they did tell us the truth when we asked them."
Knuckles didn't reply and simply stared in front of him. Even though it was true that the the newcomers didn't seem dangerous, he still felt like something was off in the entire situation. Things didn't add up. Like Tails, Knuckles knew if this was Eggman's doings, he sure was being serious about it.
It didn't help that he could barely feel the Master Emerald's energy either. When it had shattered, it felt like something was ripped out of his entire being and it had made him on edge ever since. When the emerald had broken before, he could feel it's pieces from wherever he was. But now...now it just seemed like the energy was on it's last leg in surviving. It was like all the power was sucked from it. And that fact was far more serious than anything else going on at the moment.
Suddenly, Cheese shouted out and pointed towards the back of the cave. Cream looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong Cheese?"
"Chao! Chao!" Cheese exclaimed while continuing to point in the back. Cream gasped loudly.
"What is it?" Amy asked. Cream looked back to her in excitement.
"Cheese said there's something glowing back there!" She exclaimed while pointing behind her. Everyone walked over to where she was standing and squinted their eyes. They all stood in silence, trying to see past the thick darkness until they all spied a small, glowing blue light.
"You think it's an emerald?" Amy questioned. However, Tails and Knuckles had already started taking off in the direction of the glow. Amy, Cream, and Cheese all followed behind them.
The path towards the glow was covered in almost complete darkness. Drips of water plopped down to the ground around them. The thunder outside sent a slight rumble through the tunnel, causing small pebbles to shake off the walls. Keeping close to the walls, they slid their hands against the rocks, making sure to not bump into anything dangerous.
A brighter light shone ahead, lighting up the floor in front of them. A small opening revealed itself ahead and they all entered the small hole cautiously. When they all stepped inside, everyone gasped in awe at the sight in front of them.
There seemed to be a large cavern deep inside the mountain they were holed up in. Large rocky walls circled all around the cavern, all covered in small, white crystals. The walls led up to a small hole that had a river of water flowing from it and led to a large river below the rocks. Boulders were scattered throughout the river, making them look like stepping stones.
However, the main thing everyone was most interested in was the large platform directly under the rush of water coming from the ceiling. Atop of it was where the blue glow was coming from and on closer inspection, it indeed was one of the chaos emeralds.
Tails glanced over in it's direction. "I should be able to get it if I fly over." He went to take off but Amy grabbed onto his shoulder.
"No Tails!" Amy yelled. "It's too dangerous! You might hit one of those rocks up there."
Tails looked at her in confusion before slowly looking back up at the ceiling. Not seeing them at first, Tails gasped when he spied the very sharp rocks hanging directly over the platform, looking like they could fall at any moment.
"We could go across the rocks?" Cream suggested. She pointed to the boulders sitting in the water.
"Sounds like a plan." Tails agreed. Knuckles, Amy, and Cream went towards them. But, Amy stopped Cream before they could go any further.
"Sorry Cream but I think it would be better if you stayed back on this one." Amy said sympathetically.
"Aww, but Amy I want to help you guys!" Cream insisted.
"I know you do Cream, but I don't want you getting hurt going up there." Amy said. "How about you guys be a lookout? If you stay here, you should be able to warn us of any rocks that fall. Sound fair?"
Cream thought it over for a few seconds before nodding. "Ok, I can do that Amy." she said with a smile.
"Thanks Cream." Amy replied while meeting back up with the others.
As everyone approached the first boulder, they saw that their plan was going to be a little tricky. Since it was raining pretty hard outside, the current of the river was really rough the closer they got to the platform. One slip up would send them in the strong water below, most likely drowning them if they fell in.
So, Knuckles said he could safely glide over to each one while Tails could hover over while carrying Amy. Being extra careful along the way, they navigated the stepping stones to the emerald. However, they were met with another problem when they reached it. It was too tall to jump onto so they would have to climb up.
"I'll climb up and get it. You guys cover me." Knuckles instructed, referring to the rocks above them. Tails nodded and watched Knuckles slowly climb up. Amy glanced over at Cream, who had held her hands in front of her mouth in anticipation.
Trying to keep his grip on the slippery rocks, Knuckles finally made it to the top of the platform. He slowly stood up, glancing above him at the now very close sharp rocks hanging above him. He could see they were barely hanging on the ceiling and quietly walked over to the glowing emerald, not wanting to make too much noise in fear of getting attacked by the rocks.
Grabbing on the blue emerald, he tucked it inside his dreadlocks. Sighing in relief that he had gotten it, he started back towards the others. But, he froze when his vision saw something dark blue from the corner of his eyes.
"Cream!" Knuckles heard Amy scream from below. He snapped his attention to Cream's direction and widened his eyes in anger at he saw.
Metal Sonic, who had came from out of nowhere, was holding Cream and Cheese in his left hand while he pointed his laser gun at the pair. Knuckles could see Amy and Tails from where he was standing and they had started to move towards Cream. 'How the heck did he find us here?' Knuckles questioned himself. He started to move forward but stopped when he heard Metal speak.
"NO ONE MOVE." Metal Sonic droned at the them. "ONE MORE STEP FORWARD AND I SHOOT THEM BOTH."
"What do you want Metal?!" Tails exclaimed at the robot copy.
"HAND ME THE EMERALD." Metal demanded while pushing the gun closer to Cream and Cheese. Cream closed her eyes in fear while Cheese glared at Metal.
No one said anything. Amy and Tails looked back at Knuckles, trying to figure out what they should do. There was no way they could hand over the emerald to Metal Sonic. But, they didn't want to risk Cream's safety either. Knuckles pondered over the situation, looking all around him for any ideas. It was then that he spied something that could get them out of this. He flashed a smile at them before turning back at Metal.
"I've got a better idea." Knuckles stated while picking up a rock from the ground. "How about we kick your butt instead!" He exclaimed while throwing the rock towards Metal.
The robot merely stood there in surprise, not expecting the throw and followed the rock as it flew in the air. It impacted on a hanging rock formation on the ceiling and caused it to snap from the ceiling. Seeing it fall towards him, Metal pushed Cream and Cheese away from him and dived to the right, narrowly dodging the rock as it smashed to the ground.
Seeing their chance, Cream and Cheese flew away from Metal and back towards the front of the cave. Metal growled and glared back at the others before getting back up.
But, he didn't even get a word in before he was hit with something hard. His body flew backwards towards one of the walls and slammed into it. The force of impact shook the whole cavern, causing some of the rocks above to fall towards the ground.
Seeing the danger, Knuckles leaped off the top platform, barely dodging one of the rocks as they collapsed around him. He glided back to the entrance while Tails and Amy distracted the robot. Metal kept getting pounded by the pair every time he tried to get up. Not being able to take much more, he yelled out in anger and sent a shock wave of electricity from his body towards them. Amy and Tails were pushed back and crumpled to the ground.
The cavern continued to break away and shook even more as more things started falling. Knuckles landed back onto the ground, emerald safely behind him, as Metal rushed towards him. He blocked Metal's punch with his hands and sent a series of kicks before he could even react. Now both tied in deep combat, they attacked each other swiftly, breaking even more of the caverns in their struggle.
Amy and Tails, now recovered from the shock wave, picked themselves off the ground and saw the fight. Knuckles managed to punch Metal in the torso and thought he landed a powerful blow. But, Metal simply stood there, not looking like the attack fazed him. Caught off guard for a brief second, Knuckles was kicked in the face by Metal and slid backwards on the ground.
The chaos emerald had been knocked from out of his dreadlocks from the blow and bounced on the ground. Amy and Tails dived towards it, but we're too slow as Metal had already dashed at it. He held it in his clawed hand and looked down at the trio in disgust.
"FOR CAUSING SO MUCH TROUBLE, YOU ALL CAN DIE DOWN HERE." Metal said while firing a laser from his cannon at the ceiling. The blast sent large chunks of what was left of the cavern towards them.
Metal turned to leave them but was hit in the back of head unexpectedly. He lost grip of the emerald and it rolled back onto the ground towards the other mobians. He snapped his body behind him and glared murderously towards his attacker.
Cream and Cheese stood behind him, putting on a brave face. "You have no right hurting my friends!" she yelled in anger. "Leave them alone!"
Cheese, who had held rocks in his hands, threw them at Metal.
"YOU THINK MEASELY PEBBLES CAN HARM ME?" He asked them as he marched forward. "YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME."
"Pebbles might not hurt you, but this will!" a female voice sounded behind him. Forgetting about the other mobians for a second, he was caught off guard once more as he was slammed by Amy's hammer. He flew up into the air and was hit by some of the rocks on his way back down. But, he never even got to touch the ground as Tails and Knuckles stood directly below him and sent a hit to his side. He rocketed towards the river and landed inside with a splash.
"Come on! I have the emerald. We need to get out of here before we get crushed!" Tails yelled to his friends. Everyone ran for their lives as rocks smashed into the ground. The entire tunnel shook as they dashed through the darkness in front of them.
Spying the exit back outside, everyone rushed out to the open. Cold rain drops hit their faces as they were greeted by a large gust of wind. Looking behind them, they heard the tunnel collapse and rocks tumbled out of the entrance. There was no way anything was getting out of there anytime soon.
Sighing out in relief, Tails bent over, trying to catch his breath. The blue chaos emerald shone brightly in his hand and he held it up in victory.
"That was a close one." Amy stated, now standing under a tree. It was still raining and she tried to avoid get any more wet than she already was. "Thanks a lot Cream."
"You're welcome Amy." she said with a grin. Cheese happily smiled beside her. Everyone then took a moment to catch their breath from their near death experience. The storm had let up somewhat and the constant thunder from before had ceased. Now only a light drizzle of rain was falling down.
"I think we should meet up with the others and tell them what happened." Tails suggested. "Maybe they've found something by now?"
"Yea, let's head back to the plane." Amy replied.
Clearing off some loose branches that had fallen on top of the plane, everyone piled back into the airplane and took off into the sky. The storm clouds were beginning to part and no longer lurked about. The sun shone brightly above them and sent a glare onto the chaos emerald in Knuckles's hand.
He rubbed his bruised arms as they flew away from the cave. They had been lucky this time against the robot. Previous fights with the bot had left him a lot more winded than he was now. But, luck seemed to be on their side after all. He gazed behind him at the cave they were in. He knew there was no way Metal could get out, even if he had survived the fall in the water.
He then begun to silently listen to the hum of the engine as he gazed back down at the emerald. He let himself deeply focus on it's energy, trying to see if he could still feel the Master Emerald's power through it like before. The energy flowed through him, filling him with warmth. As he mind tugged for the main source of power, a small trickle flashed through the energy and pulsed very softly.
Trying to focus on the small amount of energy, Knuckles didn't notice the warnings of his friends as he sat on the edge of the Tornado's wing. A strong gust of wind slammed into his side and snapped him out of trance. His eyes flew open to let him see that he was now free falling towards the ground.
"Knuckles!" he heard Tails yell from above him. Not yet realizing what had pushed off, he was hit sharply in the back by something hard. He screamed out in pain and held tightly onto the emerald in his hand as the earth zoomed closer to him.
He managed to turn his head around far enough to see his attacker as he came closer to the trees below him. Spying blue metal to his right, he did a double take in surprise to recognize he was being attacked by Metal Sonic! 'How did he survive that cave in?!' Knuckles thought.
But, he didn't have time to muse over that. Right now he needed to do something before he splattered to the ground. Catching some air in his dreadlocks, he glided safely downwards. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Metal Sonic but couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Metal didn't seem to have a scratch on him! He was completely healed, almost looking brand new, and was flying right behind him.
"THE EMERALD." Metal droned. He angled himself at Knuckles and blasted his rocket boosters to full blast. Knuckles, still gliding down, turned to his left and landed onto a tree top as Metal skidded past him.
Jumping down onto the ground below him, he saw Metal swiftly turn around and boomerang himself straight for Knuckles. Tucking the emerald back into his dreadlocks, he held his fists up to block. But, no attack came and instead Metal landed in front of him, his hands on his hips.
"THERE IS NO USE RESISITING." Metal stated as he stared at his foe. The two were standing directly under a canopy of leaves. Streams of sunlight poke through the small opening of branches above them and flickies chirped in the distance. The Tornado, that Knuckles had heard on his descent, was now silent and Knuckles could no longer tell where they had gone.
"There's no way I'm letting you get the emerald Metal." Knuckles growled as he clenched his fist at him.
"YOU DON'T HAVE A CHOICE." Metal responded, his eyes glued to Knuckles.
"Oh, and why is that?" Knuckles asked him angrily. He stared head on, preparing for the inevitable attack from Metal.
"Because of me." a new voice chimed from behind a tree. Knuckles nearly jumped up in shock at the sudden visitor, as he didn't even hear him approach. He gazed in the direction of the voice, seeing the shadow of a person slowly walking towards him. But, he gasped out loud when the figure came into view.
"...Shadow?!" Knuckles exclaimed as he stared wide eyed at him. Shadow wore an expressionless face and moved almost like a robot, as he went beside Metal.
"The hedgehog and rabbit girl have been captured." Shadow stated. His eyes were glazed over and he didn't look entirely focused on what was in front of him. "However, the fox boy escaped before I could restrain him."
"What?!" Knuckles yelled. "Shadow what are you doing?!" Shadow, however, paid him no attention and didn't reply. Knuckles couldn't believe Shadow had betrayed them.
"NO MATTER. WE WILL GET HIM IN TIME." Metal responded. "NOW, ASSIST ME IN SECURING THE EMERALD."
Shadow only nodded before suddenly vanishing from sight. He used a chaos control to freeze time and sent a large punch to Knuckles's head. He slammed into a tree beside him, and slid down the wood. The top of his head was now covered in blood and he had his eyes closed.
"WHAT A WASTE." Metal said while looking down at him. He motioned for Shadow to grab the emerald and followed behind him as he walked towards Knuckles.
Not wasting any more time, Shadow moved over to his still body and reached to grab the emerald. However, Knuckles, who was thought to be unconscious, grabbed onto his hand and flipped him over into Metal.
"I told you." Knuckles gasped to his foes. "There's no way you're getting the emerald. I don't care if Shadow is working for you or not." His head ached badly but Knuckles was not about to let go of the emerald without a fight. His friends were also in trouble and used that fact as motivation to get back up and fight.
He quickly forced his aching body off the ground and dashed toward the fallen pair. Metal pushed Shadow off of him and dodged the hit. Shadow, who was back on his feet, stared at Knuckles and sent a flurry of kicks in his direction. Metal followed suit and both attacked him head on.
Not fast enough to dodge both sets of attacks, Knuckles was hit back and forth like a rag doll. His body suffered massive damage and blood was all over him. However, he still kept the chaos emerald safely tucked in his dreadlocks, too stubborn to give up from the onslaught of hits. Knowing he couldn't take much more, though, Knuckles focused to the emerald and tried to get it to heal his beaten body. He figured if he could just borrow a little energy from the emerald, he might be able to knock them out long enough for him to escape.
However, there was a major problem in his plan. Even though he could sense the energy just fine, he was unable to tap directly into it's power and use it. It seemed to be rejecting him and pushed his mind away from it. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before and it honestly had him dumbfounded on what to do.
Now not having any way of healing himself, Knuckles could no longer take the attacks and fell to the ground. Shadow and Metal gave him no mercy and slammed their fists into his head once more, causing his body to flip backwards and him land on his back. The emerald bounced on the ground as he fell and rolled over in front of Shadow.
Knuckles didn't have the strength to get back up and could only lay in his own pool of blood. His head had suffered more damage than the rest of his body and had a large cut right over his forehead. His body had cuts and bruises all over it and one of his arms looked to be sprained as well. His vision blurred as he looked up at his foes.
Shadow picked up the emerald and tucked it into his quills. He then walked over to Knuckles and started to lift him up.
"N-no." Knuckles groaned. But, he was too exhausted to move and his eyes slowly closed. He tried to keep conscious but his head wouldn't let him. He did nothing to stop Shadow from lifting him over his shoulder and simply hung from it limply.
The last thing he saw before completely blacking out were Metal's glowing red eyes staring at him in victory.
How did you guys like the battle? Personally, I love it when the characters have to fight against Metal. Also, what do all think of the Sonic Lost World announcement? Honestly, the 6 guardians have me interested.
Well, I'll update sometime next month. Summer's coming up so expect more frequent updates! See ya guys!