Hello all! Once again, I apologize for not giving Knuckles the Aquatic Mine
or Pumpkin Hill levels, but it means less complications for me to figure
out, like when things happen and stuff. Please don't be mad at me. Here we
go, with Amy's next level and where more plot is revealed. Oh, and I
thought I would explain a few things. First of all, Shadow knows all about
the Chaos Emeralds and his ability to use them. There are still only seven
Chaos Emeralds, but the Super Emeralds are a little stronger and not
centered on Angel Island like in Sonic 3 and Knuckles. The Super Emeralds
are scattered like the Chaos Emeralds are. Shadow was found with an
Emerald, and he has only lost it once before, to Chaos. The seven combined
Chaos Emeralds don't have enough power for Snively's plan, so he's using
the Super Emeralds instead. Also, Shadow believes he cannot use a Super
Emerald like he would his normal Chaos Emerald due to his attempts during
his first adventure on Angel Island. Because of this he's stuck as a
powerless, albeit strong hedgehog because GUN took his Chaos Emerald away.
One other thing. Here, Big is not an idiot. A little weird, but not an
idiot. This is why he is a good scientist and was able to make Amy. I hope
that clears things up.
Disclaimer: I own Angel, Amy's walker, Scales, Devil, and Eggchao.
Day 2, 8:00 PM
After their escape from Prison Island, our friends have returned to Shadow and Robotnik's home, Eggman Industries. Shadow's Chaos Dark Chao, Devil, was very happy to see his master home and safe, as was evident by the fact that he completely refused to let go of Shadow's leg. Devil was the same size as Angel, with a mostly black body, purple feet, a red crescent mark on his chest, red hands and spike knuckles, two horns, yellow eyes, a blue flame over his head and two black and red demon wings. Shadow once again tried to pry off his happy Chao. "Come on Devil, I'm happy to see you too, but you've been holding onto me for the last hour. Why don't you go play with Angel or something?" At the name of Amy's Chao, Devil let go of Shadow and ran off to find Angel. "Thank you, I think." He continued on his way to dinner, where he had been going in the first place. Amy and Robotnik were waiting for him. "Ah, so at last you're here! For the fastest thing in the world, it takes you a while to get to dinner." Joked Robotnik. Shadow frowned. "I can't run with an adorable little Chao gripping my leg." He sat down and started eating. "So, any news on this Scales lizard? Anything at all?" Robotnik shook his head. "Sorry Shadow. I checked all the government records I could find, but the only clues I could find lie on GUN's database. Which, unfortunately, I am unable to access." "I called my dad, and he's happy for our engagement," said Amy, changing the subject. "He'd be happy to pay for the wedding." Robotnik stuttered. "Wedding? Shouldn't we be worrying about more important things right now? Shadow, you agree with me don't you?" Shadow nodded. "Absolutely doctor. Amy, we need to figure out who to invite!" "Ooh, good point! Who do you think should come?" asked Amy. "Well," Shadow started, ignoring Robotnik's protests and complaints that they should be trying to figure out what Snively was up to. "I think Knuckles should definitely come." "Oh, and how about those birds Robotnik helped back in the Chaos incident?" Amy suggested. "Perfect. We should also keep all of the reporters out of the church. Don't want them messing up the ceremony." Shadow said. Robotnik pounded the table, getting their attention. "I am sorry to interrupt, but don't you think we should be trying to put a stop to Snively's plans before he implements whatever he's working on?" Shadow shrugged. "We don't know what base he'll be using, what he's trying to plan, or when he's going to do it, I will admit that. However, we don't really have to worry." "Not worry?" asked Robotnik, shocked. "Yeah, when he's ready to unveil his latest masterpiece, he'll let the whole world know at once." Said Amy. "And judging from our numerous experiences with him, I estimate that he should be making his big speech in the next five minutes." Added Shadow. Robotnik frowned. "That's preposterous, what makes you think he won't break from tradition for once?" A television screen lowered from the ceiling. It flickered on, revealing Robotnik's Chao, Eggchao. He was a Neutral Chaos Chao, with white skin, blue hands, green eyes, and a glowing ball of light floating over the point coming out of his head. He was in the computer core. He looked anxious, and started typing something on the keyboard in front of him, causing words to appear on the screen. "Doctor, come quick! Every widespread broadcasting system on the planet is receiving the same message, and it looks like Snively's work!" "See?" said Shadow, a little smugly. Robotnik scowled and headed off for the computer core, followed by Shadow and Amy.
All over the world, the same message was played as every television flickered to life, every station and communications satellite temporarily overridden. Dr. Snively stood proudly against a blue CGI background; his symbol, a cartoonish picture of his face, in the back. Words flying around behind him, such as "Snively Empire", and "I am great, I am wise, I am genius, I am not short, I am not ugly, I am not bald, I do not have a huge nose, I am Emperor." Snively grinned evilly. "Greetings, people of Earth, I am Dr. Snively, soon to be ruler of the greatest empire in the history of the planet! Namely, all of you little countries will belong to me! Muhahahahahaha!" He paused, then continued. "I am transmitting live from the space colony ARK, which will be my headquarters in the new era. I have attempted to conquer the world many times now, but this time I will succeed, for I have an incredible weapon at my disposal. Don't believe me? Well then, perhaps a little demonstration is in order." The shot of Snively changed to show a live broadcast from a commandeered satellite above the world, allowing all that were watching to see what was happening. Up in space, a massive brown spherical planetoid orbited the world. The south pole of the sphere started glowing green. Green cracks appeared all along the planetoid's bottom hemisphere, and then the whole thing exploded, revealing the planetoid's true form. Now visible through the large cloud of small asteroids that was all that remained of the southern hemisphere was a flat metal surface on the underside of the remaining hemisphere. Towers and structures shot up from the surface, a veritable city. In the center of it all was a great conical needle. The planetoid, or should I say colony, turned to face the moon. The needle split into four segments, opening wide like a great flower, but without lots and lots of petals. The splitting needle revealed a great hollow space, and a device in the very center that looked sharp and very dangerous. Bolts of blue lightning shot from the points of the four segments, meeting on the tip of the device in the center. The device glowed and fired a massive beam at the moon, visible to all looking up at the night sky. The beam struck the moon, cracking its surface. There was a massive explosion, as half the moon disintegrated. The screen changed back to Snively and the blue background. "Pretty impressive, huh? And I will do the same thing to one of the seven continents, probably America, if you do not surrender total global control to me by midnight tomorrow!" Snively vanished and was replaced by a timer as incessant maniacal laughter started playing over and over. The timer began at 28 hours and started counting down.
In the lab's computer core, our heroes had to start thinking about what to do. "The space colony ARK? That name sounds familiar." Mused Robotnik. "Well, now we know what he's up to. He's probably powering that gun with Super Emeralds." Said Shadow. "Well, let's get going! We have to find Snively's base!" said Amy. "What do you mean? We already know he's on the ARK, why would he have a base?" asked Robotnik, confused. "Snively always has a base, even when he's working somewhere else. If he didn't have a secret base for this latest plan, then how would he be getting supplies and the like up there? It's likely that if we can find his base, we can find a way to get up there and stop him." Shadow explained. "Oh, I see." Said Robotnik. Amy noticed a blinking button on one of the room's computers. "Uh, guys, what's this blinking light mean?" Eggchao ran over and pressed the button. A screen came on, revealing a view from one of the outside security cameras. There were GUN troops and robots heading for the front gate. "Oh dear! We've been found out!" said Robotnik. "Can we fight our way out?" asked Amy. Shadow frowned. "There are so many of them, it's possible but I'm not really sure it's doable. Besides, they could catch us if we all take them on." Amy got an idea. "Hey guys, I've got an idea! How about Angel and I rush out there in the walker and surprise them? They'll be expecting you Shadow, but not a big mech!" "Are you sure you can handle all those troops?" asked Shadow, concerned. "Hey, I got into their base without much problem, didn't I? I think I can handle these goons while you guys get some supplies and make a run for it." Said Amy. "We'll meet you at the airport." Said Shadow. Amy nodded and left the room. "Why the airport?' asked Robotnik, confused. "I'll tell you when we get there. So, what do we need other than food?" asked Shadow. "Find Devil and anything else you think we'll need. I have a few things of my own to pick up. Get going Shadow, we probably don't have much time." Shadow nodded and left. Robotnik turned to Eggchao. "Eggchao, I'm going to get some things of mine. Please find anything you can about the ARK in my database and print it out. Meet me with the printouts in the main lobby." Eggchao saluted and got to work on the computer.
Stage 7: Mission Street. Mission: Elude military pursuit.
Amy and Angel burst through the front gates, scattering the surprised troops. She started heading down the street. The soldiers rallied for backup to go after the walker and headed into the lab, not knowing they wouldn't get very far. Amy walked down the street a bit, turned the corner, and entered a car tunnel. She walked through it, glad that the military activity had temporarily shut down the traffic, and came out into the highway. As she started forward, Blue Eagles flew overhead and dropped bombs on the road, causing a section of it to crumble and fall apart just as Amy was about to step on it. She hovered over the gap, hopped over the barricade on the other side, and kept going. In front of her was the next section of road, suspended too high to jump to. A large weight went up and down, looking like it would crush her. When the weight was at its lowest, Amy jumped onto the top. When it raised, she jumped off, onto the road above. The road went a ways ahead then was elevated out of reach again. A series of floating metal pillars slowly moved up and down by the wall, forming a series of moving stairs. She jumped and hovered from pillar to pillar, soon reaching the top. She walked up and along the road, following its turns and avoiding some more bombing efforts from GUN. She reached a point where the road made a sharp turn to the left, but cages blocked it. Noticing a couple of missiles pointing conveniently at the cages, Amy walked over and stepped on their launch buttons, firing the missiles at the cages and destroying them. As Amy started walking onto the span of bridge where the cages were, GUN fighters blew up the path, nearly causing her to fall. Her boosters saved her, and she made it across to the next section of road. After making another sharp turn and heading along the span of the highway/bridge, Amy almost fell again as GUN blew out another section of bridge. She hovered across and walked over to the next elevated section of road, which also had elevator pillars in front of it. She hopped up the pillars and went down the road, soon coming to a gap. She hovered across it and was almost killed when the Blue Eagles once more blew out a span of bridge. As she hovered across, she started to get angry and thought that the next time those fighters made a run at her, she would blast them out of the sky, human or not. She continued forward and found a big falling weight blocking her path. She considered running while the weight was in the air, but then saw the metal pillars next to the weight's shadow. She jumped over the pillars and continued unobstructed. The road curved up and to the right, with some more metal pillars just off the bridge's railing. She ignored the pillars and walked to the top of the road, which looped to go over the path she had walked across. She hovered over the gap ahead of her and kept on going. A little further down the road, the path was blocked off and made a sharp turn downwards. As she started to walk towards the slope, the Blue Eagles roared towards her. Angel locked on to the fighters and blasted them, destroying the planes. Unfortunately, one of the wrecked planes careened towards the slope ahead of them and crashed into it, totally destroying the span, which was far too large for Amy to hover over. Amy groaned, then noticed a metal pillar next to her, off the bridge. She noticed a dynamite pack strapped to it. She aimed for the pack and shot at it, blowing the pack and knocking off the top half of the metal pillar, making a bridge across the gap. Amy jumped and hovered onto the bottom half of the pillar, then carefully jumped onto the fallen top half, walking across it and onto the stable road. She walked forward, going through a tunnel at the end of the road. She came out onto a city street. She went down the building-lined path, following the street signs and looking for the airport. Finally, she reached a square in front of the airport entrance, with the Goal Ring hovering in the middle. As she walked towards the Goal Ring, a dozen Hunters jumped out of their hiding places, surrounding her and aiming their guns at the walker. "Wait! I surrender!" Amy said quickly. The Hunters raised their weapons. While Amy had distracted them, Angel had spun the laser blaster in a circle, targeting all the robots at once. She fired, obliterating the machines. "Nice shooting, partner." Angel chirped happily. Amy passed through the Goal Ring.
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A)
Amy looked around the parking lot, trying to find the guys. She spotted them hiding under an overhang, near a manhole. She walked over to them. Shadow and Robotnik had taken Eggchao, Devil, and a large backpack with them for their escape. "Hey guys! Did you get out okay?" Shadow nodded. "The distraction you caused allowed us to get through the unguarded escape tunnels. We took the Chao because we didn't want GUN to do anything nasty to them." "I had to take a little longer because I thought we would need more than food." Explained Robotnik. "Like what?" Amy asked. Robotnik pulled off the backpack and opened it. He pulled out a few sheets of paper. "I took all the data I could find on the space colony ARK, including maps. I'll explain its history later." He put away the papers and took out a few DVD cases. "I brought some movies we could watch in case we're near a VCR." He said. He put back the cases and took out two identical yellow Super Emeralds. "I also brought the Super Emerald I got for my last Nobel Prize, and the fake Super Emerald I made when I was bored a few weeks ago." The hedgehogs looked at the fake and real Emeralds, interested. "Why did you bring the fake along with the real one, doctor?" Shadow asked. "I thought the Super Emerald might come in handy. For one thing, I believe it'll supercharge Amy's engine and make her walker stronger and faster." The doctor said, handing the real Emerald to Amy. Eager, she took the gem, got out of the walker and opened up the engine panel, looking for a place to put it. "As for the fake, if we are correct and Snively is using the Super Emeralds to fuel that cannon he used to blow up half the moon, then the fake can be used to stop it from firing again. I have an idea of how to do that, but let's save it until we actually get to Snively's base. Speaking of which, how are we going to do that, Shadow?" Shadow started. "It's easy. First, we go to Washington D.C." "Why?" asked Robotnik. "Oh, I know why!" said Amy; installing the Super Emerald and closing the walker's engine hatch. "Snively has a huge ego and is pretty impatient. He'll be calling the world leaders every hour or so to see if they're going to surrender yet. If we can find the president, we might have a chance of eavesdropping on Snively's call and finding out where his base is!" "Oh, so that's why you asked me to bring several thousand dollars." Robotnik said to Shadow. Just then, the nearby manhole popped open, and an incredibly weary and not too clean Knuckles crawled out. He groaned, looked up, and saw the others. "Shadow? Amy? Robotnik? Whoa, I can't believe I came all the way to San Francisco!" "Knuckles? What were you doing in the sewers?" asked Shadow. "Well, it all started when a female bat stole the Master Emerald!" the others exchanged surprised glances at this, wondering if this bat was the same one that Robotnik had seen with Snively. "I chased her all the way to Egypt, where Snively tried to steal the Emerald! I stopped, him, but the thing broke again. After Snively flew off, the bat and I went separate ways, each trying to find the pieces. She seemed to be heading after Snively for some reason. I found three of them in a weird canyon, and they transported me to some weird haunted wasteland in a different section of Egypt. After I found three more pieces, the Emeralds transported me to a flooded mine somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. That place was haunted as well," he added. "But after I fought off the ghosts and collected the three shards there, I expected to be transported to the last three pieces, which I assumed that bat lady had by then." "So, what happened?" asked Amy. "Nothing! The pieces wouldn't warp me anywhere. The only way that could be possible is if the bat was off the planet by then, but that's impossible, isn't it?" said Knuckles. "I wouldn't be so sure." Muttered Robotnik. "Anyway, since the pieces didn't warp me anywhere, and I couldn't dig my way out of the mines, and since the entrance was sealed up, I had to try to swim my way out through an old geological tunnel. There was barely any air down there, but the Emerald's pieces provided me with oxygen. I've been swimming for the last day and a half, and ended up right in the San Francisco sewers! Weird, huh?" Knuckles finished. "Not nearly as weird as what we've been going through." Said Shadow. "Oh really? Try me." Said Knuckles. They told him everything that had been happening over the last two days, from Shadow's arrest to the destruction of the moon. "Okay, I take that back. You have been going through a weirder time." He thought a moment. "Hey, you think that bat who stole the Master Emerald might be the same bat Robotnik saw?" "It's possible, if this bat ran after Snively like you said. She may have joined him in an attempt to find more pieces of the Master Emerald." Said Shadow. "In that case, I'll come with you guys. If I run into that Rouge again, I'm gonna show her not to mess with the Guardian of Angel Island!" Knuckles said angrily. "Rouge?" asked Amy. "Who's Rouge?' "Oh, she's the thief." Said Knuckles. "So you're on a first name basis now?" joked Shadow. "Hey!" yelled Knuckles. "It makes sense, the only way a woman could get his attention away from that big jewel would be to steal it." Robotnik added. Knuckles growled, and looked like he was going to punch their lights out, but Amy stopped them, reminding them all they only had a limited amount of time, so had to get moving. They headed into the airport, got Knuckles cleaned up, and purchased tickets for the next DC flight. After going through a lot of hassle when they tried to get the Passion through baggage, they finally made it to the gate, where they got on the plane after a couple of hours' wait. From there, it was only a six-hour flight before they reached DC.
So ends another chapter. I'm sorry if I'm rushing things, but I'm afraid I'm also going to have to cut both Kart levels from the Hero and Dark stories. I don't really know how to write them, just like I didn't know how to write the last two Knuckles levels, but I promise the story itself will keep progressing, and I will do the remainder of Knuckles' levels without hassle. So please relax and enjoy the slightly hastened scene in Washington, next chapter.
Day 2, 8:00 PM
After their escape from Prison Island, our friends have returned to Shadow and Robotnik's home, Eggman Industries. Shadow's Chaos Dark Chao, Devil, was very happy to see his master home and safe, as was evident by the fact that he completely refused to let go of Shadow's leg. Devil was the same size as Angel, with a mostly black body, purple feet, a red crescent mark on his chest, red hands and spike knuckles, two horns, yellow eyes, a blue flame over his head and two black and red demon wings. Shadow once again tried to pry off his happy Chao. "Come on Devil, I'm happy to see you too, but you've been holding onto me for the last hour. Why don't you go play with Angel or something?" At the name of Amy's Chao, Devil let go of Shadow and ran off to find Angel. "Thank you, I think." He continued on his way to dinner, where he had been going in the first place. Amy and Robotnik were waiting for him. "Ah, so at last you're here! For the fastest thing in the world, it takes you a while to get to dinner." Joked Robotnik. Shadow frowned. "I can't run with an adorable little Chao gripping my leg." He sat down and started eating. "So, any news on this Scales lizard? Anything at all?" Robotnik shook his head. "Sorry Shadow. I checked all the government records I could find, but the only clues I could find lie on GUN's database. Which, unfortunately, I am unable to access." "I called my dad, and he's happy for our engagement," said Amy, changing the subject. "He'd be happy to pay for the wedding." Robotnik stuttered. "Wedding? Shouldn't we be worrying about more important things right now? Shadow, you agree with me don't you?" Shadow nodded. "Absolutely doctor. Amy, we need to figure out who to invite!" "Ooh, good point! Who do you think should come?" asked Amy. "Well," Shadow started, ignoring Robotnik's protests and complaints that they should be trying to figure out what Snively was up to. "I think Knuckles should definitely come." "Oh, and how about those birds Robotnik helped back in the Chaos incident?" Amy suggested. "Perfect. We should also keep all of the reporters out of the church. Don't want them messing up the ceremony." Shadow said. Robotnik pounded the table, getting their attention. "I am sorry to interrupt, but don't you think we should be trying to put a stop to Snively's plans before he implements whatever he's working on?" Shadow shrugged. "We don't know what base he'll be using, what he's trying to plan, or when he's going to do it, I will admit that. However, we don't really have to worry." "Not worry?" asked Robotnik, shocked. "Yeah, when he's ready to unveil his latest masterpiece, he'll let the whole world know at once." Said Amy. "And judging from our numerous experiences with him, I estimate that he should be making his big speech in the next five minutes." Added Shadow. Robotnik frowned. "That's preposterous, what makes you think he won't break from tradition for once?" A television screen lowered from the ceiling. It flickered on, revealing Robotnik's Chao, Eggchao. He was a Neutral Chaos Chao, with white skin, blue hands, green eyes, and a glowing ball of light floating over the point coming out of his head. He was in the computer core. He looked anxious, and started typing something on the keyboard in front of him, causing words to appear on the screen. "Doctor, come quick! Every widespread broadcasting system on the planet is receiving the same message, and it looks like Snively's work!" "See?" said Shadow, a little smugly. Robotnik scowled and headed off for the computer core, followed by Shadow and Amy.
All over the world, the same message was played as every television flickered to life, every station and communications satellite temporarily overridden. Dr. Snively stood proudly against a blue CGI background; his symbol, a cartoonish picture of his face, in the back. Words flying around behind him, such as "Snively Empire", and "I am great, I am wise, I am genius, I am not short, I am not ugly, I am not bald, I do not have a huge nose, I am Emperor." Snively grinned evilly. "Greetings, people of Earth, I am Dr. Snively, soon to be ruler of the greatest empire in the history of the planet! Namely, all of you little countries will belong to me! Muhahahahahaha!" He paused, then continued. "I am transmitting live from the space colony ARK, which will be my headquarters in the new era. I have attempted to conquer the world many times now, but this time I will succeed, for I have an incredible weapon at my disposal. Don't believe me? Well then, perhaps a little demonstration is in order." The shot of Snively changed to show a live broadcast from a commandeered satellite above the world, allowing all that were watching to see what was happening. Up in space, a massive brown spherical planetoid orbited the world. The south pole of the sphere started glowing green. Green cracks appeared all along the planetoid's bottom hemisphere, and then the whole thing exploded, revealing the planetoid's true form. Now visible through the large cloud of small asteroids that was all that remained of the southern hemisphere was a flat metal surface on the underside of the remaining hemisphere. Towers and structures shot up from the surface, a veritable city. In the center of it all was a great conical needle. The planetoid, or should I say colony, turned to face the moon. The needle split into four segments, opening wide like a great flower, but without lots and lots of petals. The splitting needle revealed a great hollow space, and a device in the very center that looked sharp and very dangerous. Bolts of blue lightning shot from the points of the four segments, meeting on the tip of the device in the center. The device glowed and fired a massive beam at the moon, visible to all looking up at the night sky. The beam struck the moon, cracking its surface. There was a massive explosion, as half the moon disintegrated. The screen changed back to Snively and the blue background. "Pretty impressive, huh? And I will do the same thing to one of the seven continents, probably America, if you do not surrender total global control to me by midnight tomorrow!" Snively vanished and was replaced by a timer as incessant maniacal laughter started playing over and over. The timer began at 28 hours and started counting down.
In the lab's computer core, our heroes had to start thinking about what to do. "The space colony ARK? That name sounds familiar." Mused Robotnik. "Well, now we know what he's up to. He's probably powering that gun with Super Emeralds." Said Shadow. "Well, let's get going! We have to find Snively's base!" said Amy. "What do you mean? We already know he's on the ARK, why would he have a base?" asked Robotnik, confused. "Snively always has a base, even when he's working somewhere else. If he didn't have a secret base for this latest plan, then how would he be getting supplies and the like up there? It's likely that if we can find his base, we can find a way to get up there and stop him." Shadow explained. "Oh, I see." Said Robotnik. Amy noticed a blinking button on one of the room's computers. "Uh, guys, what's this blinking light mean?" Eggchao ran over and pressed the button. A screen came on, revealing a view from one of the outside security cameras. There were GUN troops and robots heading for the front gate. "Oh dear! We've been found out!" said Robotnik. "Can we fight our way out?" asked Amy. Shadow frowned. "There are so many of them, it's possible but I'm not really sure it's doable. Besides, they could catch us if we all take them on." Amy got an idea. "Hey guys, I've got an idea! How about Angel and I rush out there in the walker and surprise them? They'll be expecting you Shadow, but not a big mech!" "Are you sure you can handle all those troops?" asked Shadow, concerned. "Hey, I got into their base without much problem, didn't I? I think I can handle these goons while you guys get some supplies and make a run for it." Said Amy. "We'll meet you at the airport." Said Shadow. Amy nodded and left the room. "Why the airport?' asked Robotnik, confused. "I'll tell you when we get there. So, what do we need other than food?" asked Shadow. "Find Devil and anything else you think we'll need. I have a few things of my own to pick up. Get going Shadow, we probably don't have much time." Shadow nodded and left. Robotnik turned to Eggchao. "Eggchao, I'm going to get some things of mine. Please find anything you can about the ARK in my database and print it out. Meet me with the printouts in the main lobby." Eggchao saluted and got to work on the computer.
Stage 7: Mission Street. Mission: Elude military pursuit.
Amy and Angel burst through the front gates, scattering the surprised troops. She started heading down the street. The soldiers rallied for backup to go after the walker and headed into the lab, not knowing they wouldn't get very far. Amy walked down the street a bit, turned the corner, and entered a car tunnel. She walked through it, glad that the military activity had temporarily shut down the traffic, and came out into the highway. As she started forward, Blue Eagles flew overhead and dropped bombs on the road, causing a section of it to crumble and fall apart just as Amy was about to step on it. She hovered over the gap, hopped over the barricade on the other side, and kept going. In front of her was the next section of road, suspended too high to jump to. A large weight went up and down, looking like it would crush her. When the weight was at its lowest, Amy jumped onto the top. When it raised, she jumped off, onto the road above. The road went a ways ahead then was elevated out of reach again. A series of floating metal pillars slowly moved up and down by the wall, forming a series of moving stairs. She jumped and hovered from pillar to pillar, soon reaching the top. She walked up and along the road, following its turns and avoiding some more bombing efforts from GUN. She reached a point where the road made a sharp turn to the left, but cages blocked it. Noticing a couple of missiles pointing conveniently at the cages, Amy walked over and stepped on their launch buttons, firing the missiles at the cages and destroying them. As Amy started walking onto the span of bridge where the cages were, GUN fighters blew up the path, nearly causing her to fall. Her boosters saved her, and she made it across to the next section of road. After making another sharp turn and heading along the span of the highway/bridge, Amy almost fell again as GUN blew out another section of bridge. She hovered across and walked over to the next elevated section of road, which also had elevator pillars in front of it. She hopped up the pillars and went down the road, soon coming to a gap. She hovered across it and was almost killed when the Blue Eagles once more blew out a span of bridge. As she hovered across, she started to get angry and thought that the next time those fighters made a run at her, she would blast them out of the sky, human or not. She continued forward and found a big falling weight blocking her path. She considered running while the weight was in the air, but then saw the metal pillars next to the weight's shadow. She jumped over the pillars and continued unobstructed. The road curved up and to the right, with some more metal pillars just off the bridge's railing. She ignored the pillars and walked to the top of the road, which looped to go over the path she had walked across. She hovered over the gap ahead of her and kept on going. A little further down the road, the path was blocked off and made a sharp turn downwards. As she started to walk towards the slope, the Blue Eagles roared towards her. Angel locked on to the fighters and blasted them, destroying the planes. Unfortunately, one of the wrecked planes careened towards the slope ahead of them and crashed into it, totally destroying the span, which was far too large for Amy to hover over. Amy groaned, then noticed a metal pillar next to her, off the bridge. She noticed a dynamite pack strapped to it. She aimed for the pack and shot at it, blowing the pack and knocking off the top half of the metal pillar, making a bridge across the gap. Amy jumped and hovered onto the bottom half of the pillar, then carefully jumped onto the fallen top half, walking across it and onto the stable road. She walked forward, going through a tunnel at the end of the road. She came out onto a city street. She went down the building-lined path, following the street signs and looking for the airport. Finally, she reached a square in front of the airport entrance, with the Goal Ring hovering in the middle. As she walked towards the Goal Ring, a dozen Hunters jumped out of their hiding places, surrounding her and aiming their guns at the walker. "Wait! I surrender!" Amy said quickly. The Hunters raised their weapons. While Amy had distracted them, Angel had spun the laser blaster in a circle, targeting all the robots at once. She fired, obliterating the machines. "Nice shooting, partner." Angel chirped happily. Amy passed through the Goal Ring.
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A)
Amy looked around the parking lot, trying to find the guys. She spotted them hiding under an overhang, near a manhole. She walked over to them. Shadow and Robotnik had taken Eggchao, Devil, and a large backpack with them for their escape. "Hey guys! Did you get out okay?" Shadow nodded. "The distraction you caused allowed us to get through the unguarded escape tunnels. We took the Chao because we didn't want GUN to do anything nasty to them." "I had to take a little longer because I thought we would need more than food." Explained Robotnik. "Like what?" Amy asked. Robotnik pulled off the backpack and opened it. He pulled out a few sheets of paper. "I took all the data I could find on the space colony ARK, including maps. I'll explain its history later." He put away the papers and took out a few DVD cases. "I brought some movies we could watch in case we're near a VCR." He said. He put back the cases and took out two identical yellow Super Emeralds. "I also brought the Super Emerald I got for my last Nobel Prize, and the fake Super Emerald I made when I was bored a few weeks ago." The hedgehogs looked at the fake and real Emeralds, interested. "Why did you bring the fake along with the real one, doctor?" Shadow asked. "I thought the Super Emerald might come in handy. For one thing, I believe it'll supercharge Amy's engine and make her walker stronger and faster." The doctor said, handing the real Emerald to Amy. Eager, she took the gem, got out of the walker and opened up the engine panel, looking for a place to put it. "As for the fake, if we are correct and Snively is using the Super Emeralds to fuel that cannon he used to blow up half the moon, then the fake can be used to stop it from firing again. I have an idea of how to do that, but let's save it until we actually get to Snively's base. Speaking of which, how are we going to do that, Shadow?" Shadow started. "It's easy. First, we go to Washington D.C." "Why?" asked Robotnik. "Oh, I know why!" said Amy; installing the Super Emerald and closing the walker's engine hatch. "Snively has a huge ego and is pretty impatient. He'll be calling the world leaders every hour or so to see if they're going to surrender yet. If we can find the president, we might have a chance of eavesdropping on Snively's call and finding out where his base is!" "Oh, so that's why you asked me to bring several thousand dollars." Robotnik said to Shadow. Just then, the nearby manhole popped open, and an incredibly weary and not too clean Knuckles crawled out. He groaned, looked up, and saw the others. "Shadow? Amy? Robotnik? Whoa, I can't believe I came all the way to San Francisco!" "Knuckles? What were you doing in the sewers?" asked Shadow. "Well, it all started when a female bat stole the Master Emerald!" the others exchanged surprised glances at this, wondering if this bat was the same one that Robotnik had seen with Snively. "I chased her all the way to Egypt, where Snively tried to steal the Emerald! I stopped, him, but the thing broke again. After Snively flew off, the bat and I went separate ways, each trying to find the pieces. She seemed to be heading after Snively for some reason. I found three of them in a weird canyon, and they transported me to some weird haunted wasteland in a different section of Egypt. After I found three more pieces, the Emeralds transported me to a flooded mine somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. That place was haunted as well," he added. "But after I fought off the ghosts and collected the three shards there, I expected to be transported to the last three pieces, which I assumed that bat lady had by then." "So, what happened?" asked Amy. "Nothing! The pieces wouldn't warp me anywhere. The only way that could be possible is if the bat was off the planet by then, but that's impossible, isn't it?" said Knuckles. "I wouldn't be so sure." Muttered Robotnik. "Anyway, since the pieces didn't warp me anywhere, and I couldn't dig my way out of the mines, and since the entrance was sealed up, I had to try to swim my way out through an old geological tunnel. There was barely any air down there, but the Emerald's pieces provided me with oxygen. I've been swimming for the last day and a half, and ended up right in the San Francisco sewers! Weird, huh?" Knuckles finished. "Not nearly as weird as what we've been going through." Said Shadow. "Oh really? Try me." Said Knuckles. They told him everything that had been happening over the last two days, from Shadow's arrest to the destruction of the moon. "Okay, I take that back. You have been going through a weirder time." He thought a moment. "Hey, you think that bat who stole the Master Emerald might be the same bat Robotnik saw?" "It's possible, if this bat ran after Snively like you said. She may have joined him in an attempt to find more pieces of the Master Emerald." Said Shadow. "In that case, I'll come with you guys. If I run into that Rouge again, I'm gonna show her not to mess with the Guardian of Angel Island!" Knuckles said angrily. "Rouge?" asked Amy. "Who's Rouge?' "Oh, she's the thief." Said Knuckles. "So you're on a first name basis now?" joked Shadow. "Hey!" yelled Knuckles. "It makes sense, the only way a woman could get his attention away from that big jewel would be to steal it." Robotnik added. Knuckles growled, and looked like he was going to punch their lights out, but Amy stopped them, reminding them all they only had a limited amount of time, so had to get moving. They headed into the airport, got Knuckles cleaned up, and purchased tickets for the next DC flight. After going through a lot of hassle when they tried to get the Passion through baggage, they finally made it to the gate, where they got on the plane after a couple of hours' wait. From there, it was only a six-hour flight before they reached DC.
So ends another chapter. I'm sorry if I'm rushing things, but I'm afraid I'm also going to have to cut both Kart levels from the Hero and Dark stories. I don't really know how to write them, just like I didn't know how to write the last two Knuckles levels, but I promise the story itself will keep progressing, and I will do the remainder of Knuckles' levels without hassle. So please relax and enjoy the slightly hastened scene in Washington, next chapter.