Disclaimer: Sega owns
all. Need I say more?
Acknowledgements: Jesus, Padawan Nik-ka, Orin, Gingerninja,
Chewbacca, and whoever else.
Okay, okay, this is WAAAYYY overdue. I think, anyway. Exams. Exams. Exams. I gotta sneak out
of studying to type this since nobody's gonna let me
dump it. I'm gonna
say Knux is a bot, since
most pple already figured that out (actually, I was
trying to hide it). Anyway, hope you
like this chapter...
Chapter 2
"Okay, the Factory is located in
the North of Metropolis. Tails, you will
take the first team and create a diversion in the South. Sonic, you lead the second team into the
Factory and try and find out what Robotnik is up
to. It can't be good," Sally's voice
reached Sonic's ears, but though he heard her, he wasn't
listening. He was afraid he would leave
someone behind again. Afraid. Sonic prided himself on being brave, and here
he was, letting fear take over him.
Tails
is right. There's nothing I can do about
Knuckles now. But he couldn't banish
the fear. What if? Sonic didn't mind
being in danger himself, or even getting himself killed, but he did mind having
to shoulder the responsibility of someone's death. And if it happened again, so soon, Sonic
wasn't sure he'd be able to bear it.
"Is everyone clear about what we
have to do?" Sally's voice drilled
through Sonic's thoughts. He forced himself to listen, or else, he reminded himself, someone else would get killed.
"Then we'll leave in an hour." The Freedom Fighters left the hut silently,
all but Sonic. Sally remained too. Watching Sonic with
concern.
"Sal," the hedgehog started
hesitantly, "I don't think I can do this."
"Of course you can, Sonic. You've done it before."
"I don't want to be responsible for
another life taken," Sonic stared at the floor. "Like Knuckles. He was counting on me, and I failed."
"Look, Sonic," Sally held his hand
gently, "I can put someone in your place to lead the team, but we're
hard-pressed as it is, and no-one can lead a team as well as you can."
"Maybe I can't lead at all," Sonic's voice was low, betraying his grief and sadness.
"Yes you can. And you can't back down now, we need you
most. At this time. Robotnik's planning
something big. And we gotta stop him again.
Just take this one last mission, Sonic, and if you feel you can't do it,
then I'll swap you next time," Sally fervently hoped she wouldn't have to do
what she'd just promised.
Sonic nodded dumbly. There wasn't much else he could do. All that Sally said was true, and she was too
wholly involved in the Freedom Fighters to be swayed by what he said. He got up and left the hut quietly, walking
quickly into the Great Forest.
"He's dead," Sonic said aloud to
the tall, forest trees. "Knuckles is dead. And it was
my fault." Somehow, that seemed better. Rather than everyone telling him that it
hadn't been his fault.
Sonic clenched his fists in bitter
anger and frustration. "Why?" he
asked. "Why?" He let anger fill his
voice, so that tears wouldn't come. And
then, he sat down with his back to the tree.
Trying very hard to forget what had happened.
It wouldn't work. He couldn't banish the memories of Knuckles'
presence. And somehow, he didn't want
to. Knuckles had been brave, strong,
loyal, but always more of a loner.
Still, he had befriended Sonic as his only close friend, for some reason
Sonic would never know. And he had
trusted Sonic with his life. And now,
Sonic had tripped, and Knuckles was gone.
"Sonic!" Tails' shouted for the
hedgehog.
"Here," Sonic answered, getting to
his feet. An hour had flashed by so
quickly, he hadn't noticed. Nor had he
actually wanted to.
"Sally says it's time to go," Tails
skidded to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust which set him coughing.
"I think, Tails, that you'd better
have a crash course on how to stop running safely," Sonic said it as soberly as
he could, then started laughing.
Tails grinned sheepishly. "C'mon Sonic, let's go."
"Try that door," Sonic whispered to
Rotor, pointing at a large, metal sliding panel with a row of flashing lights
above it.
"Okay," the walrus ran up to the
control panel and entered a series of codes.
The door slid open easily. Too easily, Sonic thought. He entered the room carefully.
This room was unlike any of the
others the Freedom Fighters had broken into previously, following Tails'
diversion – which was still going on.
Many rows of control panels lined the room, with flashing light displays
and computer terminals.
"Must be something big," Rotor
murmured to Sonic.
Sonic scanned the room. Nothing caught his eye as very unusual, until
he saw a holographic image played on a table.
"Let's check it out," Sonic
beckoned to Rotor. The pair walked over
to the table.
The image showed a large, metallic
object vaguely resembling a ground satellite.
Sonic ran his eyes quickly over the heaps of diagrams and plans piled
messily on the table, his heart skipping a beat. Robotnik was
planning to steal the Chaos Emeralds.
Not that that was unusual, since he'd already made a few grabs at the
gems. But now, he had an even more
sinister plan.
"He plans to use this ground
satellite thing to beam a ray to other satellites in space. He's using the emeralds to strengthen the
ray, and then shoot it back down onto Mobius," Rotor
said in disbelief, "And that ray would roboticise
anything it touches! This is one mad,
smart guy."
"Maybe he knows Knuckles is dead
and he's gunning for the emeralds with Knux outta the way." Sonic answered, with a sinking
feeling. "Let's get outta
here before anyone else comes in." He
took one last look at the plans, trying to remember everything he could.
Sonic and Rotor left the room
silently, and managed to get out of the Factory through the ventilation shafts.
The creature moved silently from
shadow to shadow, a near impossible feat accomplished only by habit and long
practice. And
adaptation to his new form.
His sensitive hearing picked up the
sound of footsteps, and he shrank back into a back alley. He prepared to attack, but stopped just as
the Freedom Fighters passed the alley.
"Report in," the mad scientist's
harsh voice came from the comm. unit that he held in one hand.
The creature turned slowly,
abandoning all plans to attack the Freedom Fighters. As he turned his head to look back once at
the blue hedgehog and his companions that passed, the light from a lamp struck
his face, glinting off the cold steel that encased both eyes and half his face,
but unable to penetrate his dark heart.
He was no more Knuckles, the Guardian echidna.
Ok, thanks for reading.
I'll probably have the next chapter up in about 1 week or so… I hope.