Disclaimer: Same as last chapter. None of these characters belong to me. They belong to Sega/Archie. Used without permission. No copyright infringement intended. Please don't sue. I'm not making money off of this. I'm just a poor teenage outcast with no life.

Author's Notes: Since most of you seemed to like my chapter-a-week idea, I'll keep it as long as I can keep the chapters in cliffhangers until the end.

If you haven't read many comic books, then now is the time to brush up on the history of Knux. It'll be hard to follow if you don't know what I'm talking about, now won't it?



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Darkest Reality: Part 3

"The impossible scenario we never came up with a plan for? Well we'd better come up with a plan."
-- Sydicate Member, "X-Files, Fight the Future"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Knuckles began scanning the ground long before he was in sight of Knothole. Partially because Enerjak may have already left the village and partially because he wanted to find his friend's body.

The boy bit his lip. The hedgehog and he had never really gotten along very well. Yet, he had called Sonic 'friend.' The same Sonic that had fought him more times than he could count. The same Sonic who, when Knuckles had undergone the dangerous roboticization procedure to help the Knothole Freedom Fighters, had scorned him and ran him out of the village.

The same Sonic who saved his life and his island time and time again.

Knuckles gulped as he felt tears come to his eyes, but he held them back. He didn't have time to cry now. That would have to come later. The Knotholers needed him. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, flying blindly towards his destination. Finally, when he was sure he was within visibility of the village, he opened them again.

"Oh no . . . " he moaned.



* * * * * * * * * * * * *



In Echidnapolis, a young fox stirred in his restless sleep. Awakened by the sound of a feminine voice speaking to him, he opened his eyes groggily.

"Don't worry, honey. You're okay," she whispered,smoothing his unruly hair out of his eyes.

Tails sat up, staring at the female echidna that was sitting down beside him. "Who're you?"

"I'm Knuckles's mother. My name is Lara-Le."

The two-tailed fox frowned as he remembered why he was there. He felt tears come to his eyes again. "Knuckles. Where did he go?" he choked.

"I'm not sure. He just said he wanted you to stay here."

The boy stood up, a bit shakily, and walked towards the window as if in a trance. Lara-Le followed him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"He's in trouble. I hafta help him," he said blankly.

Lara-Le grabbed his arm. "You can't go anywhere. And what do you mean, he's in trouble?"

"Let go! I have to go! He can't die too!" the fox growled, but it sounded more like a whine as he kept talking. "I hafta fight!"

The lady blinked and then spoke in the same fashion any parent would to a disobedient child. "You have to stay here!"

"But . . . "

"No buts. I don't know what's going on here, but children shouldn't be fighting. Now sit down!"

The boy looked at her, mouth ajar, staring into her deep green eyes, before walking over to the couch and taking a seat.



* * * * * * * * * * * * *



"Argh!" Knuckles screamed as he further destroyed the Shadow Bots. After making sure that his opponent was thoroughly disintegrated by firing some Chaos Energy into his back, he turned around and scanned the ruins of Knothole Village. Enerjak had destroyed everything until, although the young guardian prayed otherwise, everyone was dead. The young echidna knew that no one could have survived such an attack, unless they somehow ran away.

And not even Sonic could run that fast.

The young guardian panted, wanting so desperately to kill his evil ancestor that he scared himself. He tried to calm himself down, telling himself that if he ran after the echidna that he would surely be killed. The thoughts that dominated his mind, however, were those of his friends in Knothole. Sonic, Bunny, Antoine, Rotor, the royal family . . .

Sally, the only childhood friend he had, was probably dead. This fact hit him just as hard as Sonic's death. He felt tears fill his eyes again, but he kept them back for a time longer. He had to do something. Who knew where that echidna had gone now?

'No way I can beat him. Not by myself. Not like this,' he thought, then an idea struck him. Sure, his uncle was a chaos-powered freak, but he could be one as well.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * *



"Ha ha ha!" the young guardian laughed as he finally skidded to a stop with fifty power rings and seven chaos emeralds in his arms. He secretly blessed Robotnik for opening up all of those zones with his Ultimate Annihalator. Satisfied, the Knuckles closed his eyes and waited to be transformed into Hyper Knuckles.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing happened. Knuckles opened his eyes again and stared at his arms, counting a few more times to make sure he had enough. He did. So what was wrong?

He thought of everything that had ever happened whenever he transformed. First time was when he was fighting Sonic. Second time was when he, Tails, and Sonic had all fought Mammoth Mogul. So what was missing?

Sonic.

He groaned and fell to his knees when he realized it. He couldn't transform without the hedgehog, and the hedgehog was dead. He was going to have to fight Enerjak alone and without any power.

"I am so dead," he muttered.

To be continued...

* * * * * * * * * * * * *



Author's Notes: Yada, yada, yada. Same as last time. Flames, criticisms, praise, and death threats are all welcome.