okay, someone asked me if i would be crossposting this on Ao3, and the answer is...yes
but only after the story is complete
i will be posting it on there as i go through the editing
(I will explain more later, but for now... on with the story!)
As Sonic ran through the colony, he couldn't help but feel… sad. Sure the world was about to meet its end, and he would definitely lose his life in the end if he failed to stop the ARK. Heck, even if he did manage to stop it, the entire group might still lose their life in the process. Even if it meant blowing up the colony itself, Sonic would do anything to save the world. He had made a promise. But that is not what made him feel sad.
The only thing that haunted his mind as he ran alongside Tails in focused silence, were the cold words of Professor Gerald. This wasn't a man who wanted to destroy the world for no reason; this was a man who witnessed atrocities and decided that it was the best course of action in the end. The man clearly wasn't thinking straight in his last days, but his heart still ached and burned for his lost granddaughter. It filled Sonic's heart with sorrow that one person had to live with the burden that the Professor carried. The pain was so deep, that it drove him to make Shadow carry out his revenge plan.
Dashing towards the core filled Sonic with hope, however. The mere act of trying to save millions - even billions - of lives gave the blue hedgehog resolve. He needed to succeed. There was so much at stake. Thinking about the events that led up to this point would only slow everyone down. Time is of the essence.
"How much time do we have?" Sonic shouted to Tails.
"We have twenty-five minutes until the ARK reaches the atmosphere!" The fox replied, looking at his handheld device. It had been a good idea for him to connect his pad to the colony before even boarding. Sometimes the intelligence of the kid made his blue friend laugh.
"Knuckles!" Sonic cried, turning on his communicator. "We only have around twenty-five minutes! How's it going over there?"
"It's going fine! I think we're getting close to the entrance point!" The echidna responded.
"Great! Us too." Sonic reported back.
"Call us when yo- … YUCK!"
"What happened!" Sonic exclaimed, looking over at his companion.
"I just stepped in some… goop stuff." Knuckles groaned, thoroughly disgusted. "Just be careful Sonic…"
The line went dead, and the two groups carried on. Sonic and Tails down one corridor; Knuckles, Rouge, and Amy down the other.
Sonic's route was fast and straight, obviously the express corridor and main highway through the colony. Occasionally, a laser grid would obstruct the way, but the tech was no match for Miles Prower. Unfortunately, the two were not alone in their area. Those water robots kept crawling out and attacking the duo, forcing the children to destroy the poor mechs.
Knuckles and his group weren't having as much luck. In fact: their luck was far worse than Sonic's, who in comparison, was having pretty good luck. The path they chose was full of twists and turns. Even worse, the strange "goop stuff" was everywhere. The further they travelled into the ARK, the more and more vats of viscous orange fluid they would encounter. It was horrible smelling stuff, and it sometimes flowed out of the walls into pipes to be pumped away to goodness knows where. Sometimes, Rouge would have to fly Amy over huge pools of it.
Sonic and Tails, after a little hassle, reached a large door. Tails tried hacking the system to get it open, but only realized how much of a bad idea this was. Ugh how horrible the situation had turned. Tails switched open his communicator after reading the instructions on his hand-held.
"Knuckles?" He sheepishly called, sitting down. "We… have a small issue."
"What now?" Knuckles grumbled, gingerly avoiding yet another puddle of goo.
"The ARK computer says we need to drain the core." Tails explained.
"Drain the core?"
"Yeah… it says: 'amniotic fluid needs to be drained before access'."
"You're telling me that this … stuff … is amniotic fluid?" Knuckles gulped, looking nervously at the orange puddles. The girls stopped dead in their tracks. It took less than ten seconds for Rouge to turn several colors and ultimately end up a lovely shade of green.
"Yeah, and the switch to drain the core is up ahead. Just keep on your path, and you should find it." Tails reassured. "I'll walk you through it."
"Okay…." The echidna reluctantly replied. Metal shoes began to nervously make their way down the corridor once again. The knowledge of what the gross fluid was, made the entire group wish they didn't know. Ignorance is bliss after all.
Eventually, the trio reached a huge open room. It was beautiful, really. The room was vertically cylindrical and very large. Waterfalls of the smelly liquid cascaded down from pipes into a huge pool at the bottom with splashes and ripples. In the very center, a structure sat like an island; switch resting in the very center. However, activating it would not be that easy. The switch was covered, blocking anyone, trying to randomly access the core or not, from simply pressing the button.
"Okay, your communicator says you've reached the place, there should be a case enclosing the drainage control button." Tails crackled from the small device.
"Yeah… now what do we do." Knuckles groaned.
"There are two unenclosed buttons you need to press. The first one is through the corridor to your left, and the second one is below you." The fox instructed. "You need to press them both at the same time in order for this to work.
"Im sorry…" Knuckles interrupted, looking at the great pools of liquid around them. "The second one is where?"
"In the space underneath the switch control." Tails clarified. "It shouldn't be a hard swim."
"You are sorely mistaken if you think I'm swimming in that stuff." Knuckles growled, clenching the communicator.
"Oh, okay." Sonic answered from somewhere near Tails. "You can tell that to the billions of people on the planet. I'm sure they'll understand."
With a disheartened growl, Knuckles snapped the communicator shut. Sonic was right. Knuckles had to suck it up and deal with it. Stupid life or death situations.
"Okay Rouge, You head down that corridor there." The echidna instructed. "I'll press the button… below us... and when the capsule opens, I want you to press the button Amy."
"You better make it up quick red, or else you will be stranded down there. Waterlogged." Rouge sighed, taking to the air. She wasted no time in flying down the corridor towards the button.
Mumbling profanities, Knuckles sat on the edge of the concrete island, dangling his feet into the nasty smelling liquid. It took a few seconds, but eventually the red mobian gathered the courage to push off the edge with a deep breath for air.
Swimming in that stuff was worse than it sounded. Not only was the amniotic fluid forced up Knuckles's nose, it was far more viscous than water. Movement was made difficult from the pounds and pounds of liquid resting around him, limiting his movement and stealing his air like trying to swim through mud. The echidna felt lucky to have such immense strength, but power can only do so much for comfort. The structure underneath the island wasn't very far, but somehow difficult to arrive at. It took a lot of willpower to approach, and Knuckles began to feel as if he would not make it back to the surface. After a struggle to reach the button, the Guardian pushed on it, feeling the tension and resistance of Rouge's button.
A great door opened, and the fluid started to pump out, dragging the Echidna with it. Things grew clear as Knuckles fought the current. He would not make it out. So he stopped fighting it. At least Amy and Rouge had succeeded. It was the most he could do to save the planet. His sacrifice would be remembered. Knuckles flowed through a pipe, his air draining more and more as he went. Tails and Sonic would keep the Master Emerald safe. It was an honor for an Echidna warrier to die in battle. Knuckles would go down with pride.