Here's Knuckles' chapter. I'm sure he'll forgive me for skipping all his
levels. And if he doesn't, so what? He can't do anything to me. On with the
chapter!
Disclaimer: Why do I bother writing this? Read the story already!
Day X, 8:30 PM
They looked at the door. It was big and ugly, due to the fact that Snively's face was painted on it. It had three keyholes, one for each eye and another for the nose. "Well Knuckles, you'd better start looking for those keys." Said Robotnik. "Fine. Can you guys help me?" he asked. "Sorry, we're no good at treasure hunting." Said Amy. "Lazy ass." Knuckles muttered under his breath. "Hey, don't you dare talk to my fiancée like that!" Shadow said angrily. "Uh, I'll just get going now, okay?" Knuckles said quickly, moving away from a not-too-happy Shadow.
Stage 9: Death Chamber. Mission: Find the 3 gate keys.
Knuckles looked around. They were in a fairly large red chamber. The stairs they had used to get down here lay near the locked door. The room had three exits that he could see. He chose the exit on the left and went through it, leaving the others to chat. The red hallway went forward a bit then curved to the right. A patrolling E-1000 walked around the bend, spotted Knuckles, and ran towards him, firing missiles. Knuckles jumped over the missiles and glided into the robot, destroying it. He continued around the bend and followed the corridor, which went straight for a while. It then went right; stopping at a wall that supported a higher path. As he was about to climb the wall, a dozen Unidus flew down, their spiked balls rotating around their central bodies. Knuckles frantically swung his fists, striking the central bodies when there were openings in the orbiting spikes. After a few minutes, all the robots were dead and he could safely climb up the wall. Up ahead, the red ended in a door leading to a plain hallway. He was about to enter the green area after the plain hallway when his treasure senses went off near a wall painting. He walked over to the painting and burrowed into it, landing in a tall room with an hourglass and a closed hatch in the floor. Knuckles punched the hourglass, figuring it would open the hatch. It didn't. Instead, platforms slid out of the right and left walls. One of them had an hourglass on it. As the platforms started to recede, Knuckles jumped onto them, hopping from platform and hitting the hourglass. The hatch in the floor opened, revealing a shallow pit. Knuckles dropped down from the platform, ran into the pit, and dug into the ground, finding the first key. He climbed out of the pit and dug back through the painting, reappearing in the corridor. He walked through the door into the green corridor. He walked to the right, and was faced with a cliff. An E-1000 was gunning for him, but could not fire down at him since he was right beneath the cliff. Knuckles climbed up the cliff, and punched the E-1000 into scrap. He followed the corridor to the left. A ghost rushed towards him. Knuckles didn't punch in time and the ghost flew right at him and screamed, scaring the Echidna. The ghost then vanished. Knuckles frowned, a little confused, then kept going, following the trail to the right. He was attacked by a Gola, a robot exactly like a Unidus except it had flames instead of spikes. Knuckles smashed the Gola and went through the doorway at the end of the corridor, coming into a large green room. There were three doors he could go through, but a stone door sealed one with a nearby hourglass and the other didn't appeal to the Guardian. He went through the remaining door walking down a long green hallway filled with E-1000's. He had to desperately fight his way through the robots until he made it out of the corridor. His mouth dropped at the next room. It was a huge round chamber, high and deep. The green door was on top of a tall platform, as were two other doors in the room, one red, one blue. In the center of the room was a huge cylindrical machine, made up of chain links and steel, complex machinery and electricity working inside the cylinder. At the top of the cylinder was a great stone pillar going up to the ceiling, where several stone slabs ringed it. Knuckles finally moved, dropping to the bottom floor of the chamber. He walked around the big machine, trying to pick up something with his treasure sense. He found an open hatch in the ground, leading to a shaft of water. Thinking he might find a key or two down there, Knuckles dove into the water, using the pieces of the Master Emerald to keep a constant supply of oxygen. At the bottom of the shaft was a water filled room with an hourglass and a sealed door. Knuckles swam into the hourglass, flipping it over, then swam through the door before it closed. He swam across the hallway beyond, which had two E-1000's firing at him. Evidently they were waterproof. Knuckles punched them as he swam by; ridding the world of these nuisances, and down another hallway lined with ghosts. He came out into a large half-submerged chamber with some altars under the water. As he started to swim past an altar, his treasure sense went off. He swam around the altar and found a key, guarded by a Unidus. He destroyed the waterproof robot and claimed the key. Only one more to go! Knuckles swam to the surface of the water, getting a breath of real air. He saw a stone door high up the wall, and an hourglass sitting on a ledge. He swam over to the wall and climbed up, shimmying over to the hourglass. He struck it then started climbing as fast as he could for the door, getting through just before it closed. His treasure senses went wild, but he didn't need the senses to tell him what he could already see. The third key was right in the center of the room! He grabbed it and did a little victory dance. Then he started back for the others.
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)
After getting out through the waterway (don't ask me how he got through the sealed door) he was about to enter the red corridor, which he believed would take him back to the others, when stone doors slammed shut over every exit in the room, trapping him in the chamber! "What the?!" He heard a ghastly noise coming from the top of the machine cylinder. Getting a bad feeling, Knuckles climbed the machine. He got to the top and looked around seeing nothing. He heard the same noise and turned around, seeing a horrible sight! It was a giant ghost, with bulging, wide apart eyes, long, curved claws, a great, blue-rimmed mouth with a rainbow-colored tongue and many sharp teeth. "A ghost? This must have been the guardian Snively was talking about!" Knuckles said. The ghost howled and floated onto the top of the machine, mouth wide open. Knuckles gulped and started running, getting the idea the ghost was trying to have him for dinner!
KING BOOM BOO
Knuckles ran around the big central pillar, feeling Boom Boo getting closer and closer, literally breathing down his neck. Boo got closer, closer, his mouth wide in anticipation for the kill. Knuckles started moving faster; barely missing getting his tail ripped off by Boo's jaws. Boo fell back a bit and threw a blue fireball. The projectile exploded just behind Knuckles, causing the echidna to pick up the pace. Boo threw two more fireballs, still missing. He conjured another fireball and threw it ahead of Knuckles. Knuckles frantically swerved away, getting singed as the fireball exploded right next to him. He kept going, ignoring the pain. Boo got frustrated and stopped, breathing out a blast of blue fire. Knuckles ran even faster than before, outrunning the turquoise flames. He ran all the way around the pillar and ended up behind King Boom Boo. He saw a normal ghost holding an hourglass near the King's tail. Knuckles ran up and punched the ghost, sending it to the afterlife. The hourglass flipped over as it hit the floor. The panels on the roof opened up, letting sunlight in to the chamber. Boo screamed and shrunk, becoming a ghost only a little bigger than Knuckles. As the panels began to slowly close, Boo sunk into the ground, a shadow forming to reveal his location. The shadow slid along the ground, away from Knuckles. The Guardian echidna ran after the shadow, running onto it and digging into the ground. He popped back up, sending Boo back out. The ghost wailed and flew down the path. Knuckles looked up and saw the panels were three-fourths closed. He didn't have much time. He ran after King Boom Boo, catching up to the regal spirit, and punching him from behind. The ghost screeched and flew away even faster. As Knuckles ran after him and was about to deliver another Knuckles sandwich (Heheheh) the panels slammed shut. Boo turned around and swelled to his normal size once again. Knuckles moaned, turned, and began to run again. Boo flew after him, trying to eat our friend the echidna. When Knuckles sped up, Boo fell back and started throwing more fireballs. After three dangerous close calls, Knuckles sped up again. Boo started breathing fire, which gave Knuckles the time he needed to run all the way around the pillar and punch the new hourglass-holding ghost. As the spirit faded away, the hourglass flipped over, opening the panels. Boom Boo shrunk, wailed, and went into the ground again. The shadow moved faster than before, too fast for Knuckles to keep up with. He panted and stopped, getting an idea. He turned around and waited for Boom Boo to circumvent the pillar and head towards him. Right when the shadow was about to pass under him, Knuckles dug into the ground and unearthed the ghost. Boom Boo started to fly away, but Knuckles caught up to him and hit him with another punch. Boom Boo moaned and flew off. Knuckles began to pursue him, but just then the time ran out and the sun was blocked out. King Boom Boo became a giant again and started after Knuckles once more. As knuckles quickly outran his bite, Boom Boo started throwing fireballs, which Knuckles was now moving too fast to get hit with. By the time Boom Boo started to breathe fire, Knuckles was already on the other side of the pillar. He kept going and destroyed the ghost with the hourglass, reopening the skylights. Boom Boo shrunk and went into the ground. His shadow crawled up the pillar, staying fairly stationary at the top. Knuckles climbed up the pillar, crawled over the shadow, and dug into it, releasing the ghost. Boo fell to the ground and started flying down the path, wailing. Knuckles let go of the wall and started gliding down the path, ramming into Boom Boo. He screamed and flew off. Knuckles ran after him, passing by the hourglass, noticing it was almost empty. The panels were almost completely closed. Suddenly getting a brilliant idea, Knuckles flipped the hourglass over again just before it completely ran out, reopening the shafts and allowing full sunlight to stream down. (Don't you wish this could have worked in Sonic Adventure 2?) He then waited in front of the hourglass, knowing his enemy would come by eventually. As Boo's wailing got louder, Knuckles got into position, ready for his final attack. As Boo came screaming down the path, he saw Knuckles and tried to turn around. But he could not, he had been moving too fast to stop or change direction. He tried to screech to a halt, slowing down and running straight into Knuckles' outstretched fist. Boo screamed and covered his face with his claws. Despite the light from the sun, King Boom Boo swelled back to his true size. He floated away from the center of the room, sounding like he was crying. He was! As the undead monarch sobbed, his features slowly faded, until he turned into a motionless white and blue-white form. The form slowly lowered to the ground far below, where it collapsed, melting into a puddle of white and blue-white. The puddle shrunk into a small concentrated pool, evaporating in a ghostly haze. The exits opened, the guardian destroyed. Knuckles wiped his brow. "Phew! That was tough. Well, time to get back to the others. He glided from the top of the machine to the red door, going inside. The hallway was uneventful and not noteworthy, only a sparse number of E-1000's scattered around. He exited the hallway, back in the room with the locked door. "Hey guys, I made it!" he said, getting their attention. "Bravo, Knuckles! I guess you've disproved this place as the Death Chamber, eh?" joked Robotnik. Knuckles scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, but I came kind of close a couple of times. I had to fight a giant ghost just to get back here!" "Can we see the keys?" asked Shadow. Knuckles took out the keys, noticing for the first time that each one had a stylized Snively face at the top. He grimaced. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's unlock this door!" said Amy. Knuckle handed a key to both Shadow and Amy. He climbed up the wall, next to the left eye. Amy positioned her walker in front of the right eye, using the robot arm to hold the key right over the hole. Shadow stood right in front of the nose keyhole. They inserted and turned their keys at the same time, unlocking the door. The great metal gate swung inwards, allowing entry to the inner sanctum. The heroes walked down the corridor within, coming to a hieroglyph door. It rose upwards as they approached, letting them through. They were in a huge round chamber. There were four doors at an equal level around the room, one for each point of the compass. The heroes had just come out of the south door. The north one was open, and the other two were closed. Connecting the four doors was a ring shaped stone platform with a bridge leading off to each door. Far below was the floor, a pit of quicksand with several stone blocks lying around and a few pulleys leading back up to the stone ring. The group stepped forward on the bridge. "Which way do we go?" asked Shadow. "Nowhere!" said a familiar voice. As an incredibly irritating song started to play on hidden speakers, the west door rumbled open, revealing Snively, in his walker! "This is your end, heroes! I'm not letting you get to my shuttlepad!" "What shuttlepad?" asked Amy innocently. "The shuttlepad through the north door, you pink bimbo!" he paused. "D'oh! Shouldn't have told you that. Guess I should have gotten around to fixing the locking mechanism on that door too. Oh well, anyway, you're not getting to the shuttlepad because of my powerful guardian, and you're not getting to the teleporter in the control room behind me because I'm blocking the way!" said Snively, fiercely. "Incidentally, what's to the east?" asked Knuckles. "To the east is an elevator leading to a different area of the pyramid much like the Death Chamber that leads directly outside, with a slightly less guarded series of ruins." Snively replied. They all looked at each other. "Why didn't we notice the east ruins?" Shadow asked. They all shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, bring on your guardian Snively, I doubt he's any more difficult than any of your other creations." Snively scowled. "Just for that, I'll program him to kill you first! Now, let's do this!" Snively pressed a few buttons on his control panel then started shouting. "Arise my servant, destroy the black hedgehog and kill the others after you're done with him!" The quicksand pit bubbled. From the center, something huge erupted, towering through the center of the ring and looming over them all. It was a giant robot, covered in a stone shell to make it look like an extremely muscular Egyptian statue. Only two things gave away that the monster was indeed not just a living statue. First of all, it had a metal pod with black and yellow hazard stripes on the top of its head. Second, Snively had given it his own face, creating the image of an extremely big and strong version of Snively that everyone found hard to stomach. "By Chaos, that thing's even uglier than King Boom Boo!" said Knuckles, disgusted. "I can't stand to look at the thing's face without wanting to throw up!" complained Amy. The Chao moaned and started to cry, scared by the big ugly thing. "Oh come on, I'm not that ugly!" said Snively. "YES YOU ARE!" they all replied. Snively gnashed his teeth. "Kill Shadow!" he screamed at the giant. The giant machines opened his arms, anticipating combat. Shadow looked to the others. "Amy, get everyone to the shuttlepad. I'll teach Snively to make better guardians. Try not to leave without me, okay?" Amy grinned. "We'll be sure to keep a seat for you." Knuckles and Robotnik squeezed into the Passion. Amy jumped off the bridge, hovering to a platform below and jumping across them to reach a pulley near the north end of the room. Due to Snively's instructions, the giant didn't even notice them. Shadow walked onto the stone ring. "All right big guy, let's dance." He said.
SNIVEL GOLEM
The Golem swung a fist downwards, trying to squish the black hedgehog to a bloody pulp. Shadow ran out of the way and began speeding down the ring, trying to get behind the Golem. The giant turned to face him and smashed his left arm down, trying to cut Shadow off. Shadow stopped immediately, thanking whoever had made his cool shoes that they had literal air brakes. As the Golem raised its fist again, Shadow ran underneath it, still going. The Golem tried to smash him again and failed, being far too slow. Shadow got behind the Golem's back. He was surprised when it stopped moving and several platforms shot out of its back, then started to slowly recede. Shadow quickly jumped onto the biggest one, which was in line with the ring. He jumped and did a Homing Attack to reach the next one up, and did the same for the next one. Now he was just underneath the giant's neck. Three immobile platforms stuck out of the Golem's head. Each had a glowing hieroglyph on it. Shadow performed four Homing Attacks in a row, striking the hieroglyphs on the platforms and smashing right into the pod on the Golem's head, destroying it. He tumbled through the air, his momentum carrying him towards the quicksand. He activated his jets, landing on a platform. He Homing Attacked onto a pulley and lifted himself back onto the ring and headed for the exit. The Golem flailed its arms wildly, its stone head spinning. Snively sputtered furiously. "Wha-but-hey! Come back here!" Shadow sighed and turned to face Snively. "What is it?" "Why aren't you dead? How did you know the Golem's only weak spot was the restraining mechanism on its handsome head?" Snively asked, really angry. Shadow rolled his eyes. "Because it was the only thing not covered in stone, it was on top of its head; practically screaming it was a weak point, and it had yellow and black hazard stripes. You really make your weaknesses too obvious Snively." He smirked. "Hell, the GUN's F-6T Bigfoot put up more of a challenge than your Golem!" Before an enraged Snively could lock onto him with his laser blaster, Shadow ran through the north door.
The top of the pyramid unfolded, revealing a deep shaft. At the bottom of the shaft was a stolen American space shuttle, complete with giant fuel tank and booster rockets. A feminine computer voice switched on. "Liftoff sequence initiated. Shuttle liftoff in 5.4.3.2.1.0. Liftoff is engaged. Have a nice day." The shuttle engines and booster rockets ignited, launching the shuttle up the shaft and out of the pyramid, streaming up into the night sky. Our heroes and Chao were heading into space, for the final confrontation on the ARK.
And so the final leg of the Hero story begins! What dangers await on the colony? What has Robotnik found out about the place? Find out next time! And please review!
Day X, 8:30 PM
They looked at the door. It was big and ugly, due to the fact that Snively's face was painted on it. It had three keyholes, one for each eye and another for the nose. "Well Knuckles, you'd better start looking for those keys." Said Robotnik. "Fine. Can you guys help me?" he asked. "Sorry, we're no good at treasure hunting." Said Amy. "Lazy ass." Knuckles muttered under his breath. "Hey, don't you dare talk to my fiancée like that!" Shadow said angrily. "Uh, I'll just get going now, okay?" Knuckles said quickly, moving away from a not-too-happy Shadow.
Stage 9: Death Chamber. Mission: Find the 3 gate keys.
Knuckles looked around. They were in a fairly large red chamber. The stairs they had used to get down here lay near the locked door. The room had three exits that he could see. He chose the exit on the left and went through it, leaving the others to chat. The red hallway went forward a bit then curved to the right. A patrolling E-1000 walked around the bend, spotted Knuckles, and ran towards him, firing missiles. Knuckles jumped over the missiles and glided into the robot, destroying it. He continued around the bend and followed the corridor, which went straight for a while. It then went right; stopping at a wall that supported a higher path. As he was about to climb the wall, a dozen Unidus flew down, their spiked balls rotating around their central bodies. Knuckles frantically swung his fists, striking the central bodies when there were openings in the orbiting spikes. After a few minutes, all the robots were dead and he could safely climb up the wall. Up ahead, the red ended in a door leading to a plain hallway. He was about to enter the green area after the plain hallway when his treasure senses went off near a wall painting. He walked over to the painting and burrowed into it, landing in a tall room with an hourglass and a closed hatch in the floor. Knuckles punched the hourglass, figuring it would open the hatch. It didn't. Instead, platforms slid out of the right and left walls. One of them had an hourglass on it. As the platforms started to recede, Knuckles jumped onto them, hopping from platform and hitting the hourglass. The hatch in the floor opened, revealing a shallow pit. Knuckles dropped down from the platform, ran into the pit, and dug into the ground, finding the first key. He climbed out of the pit and dug back through the painting, reappearing in the corridor. He walked through the door into the green corridor. He walked to the right, and was faced with a cliff. An E-1000 was gunning for him, but could not fire down at him since he was right beneath the cliff. Knuckles climbed up the cliff, and punched the E-1000 into scrap. He followed the corridor to the left. A ghost rushed towards him. Knuckles didn't punch in time and the ghost flew right at him and screamed, scaring the Echidna. The ghost then vanished. Knuckles frowned, a little confused, then kept going, following the trail to the right. He was attacked by a Gola, a robot exactly like a Unidus except it had flames instead of spikes. Knuckles smashed the Gola and went through the doorway at the end of the corridor, coming into a large green room. There were three doors he could go through, but a stone door sealed one with a nearby hourglass and the other didn't appeal to the Guardian. He went through the remaining door walking down a long green hallway filled with E-1000's. He had to desperately fight his way through the robots until he made it out of the corridor. His mouth dropped at the next room. It was a huge round chamber, high and deep. The green door was on top of a tall platform, as were two other doors in the room, one red, one blue. In the center of the room was a huge cylindrical machine, made up of chain links and steel, complex machinery and electricity working inside the cylinder. At the top of the cylinder was a great stone pillar going up to the ceiling, where several stone slabs ringed it. Knuckles finally moved, dropping to the bottom floor of the chamber. He walked around the big machine, trying to pick up something with his treasure sense. He found an open hatch in the ground, leading to a shaft of water. Thinking he might find a key or two down there, Knuckles dove into the water, using the pieces of the Master Emerald to keep a constant supply of oxygen. At the bottom of the shaft was a water filled room with an hourglass and a sealed door. Knuckles swam into the hourglass, flipping it over, then swam through the door before it closed. He swam across the hallway beyond, which had two E-1000's firing at him. Evidently they were waterproof. Knuckles punched them as he swam by; ridding the world of these nuisances, and down another hallway lined with ghosts. He came out into a large half-submerged chamber with some altars under the water. As he started to swim past an altar, his treasure sense went off. He swam around the altar and found a key, guarded by a Unidus. He destroyed the waterproof robot and claimed the key. Only one more to go! Knuckles swam to the surface of the water, getting a breath of real air. He saw a stone door high up the wall, and an hourglass sitting on a ledge. He swam over to the wall and climbed up, shimmying over to the hourglass. He struck it then started climbing as fast as he could for the door, getting through just before it closed. His treasure senses went wild, but he didn't need the senses to tell him what he could already see. The third key was right in the center of the room! He grabbed it and did a little victory dance. Then he started back for the others.
(STAGE CLEAR. RANK A.)
After getting out through the waterway (don't ask me how he got through the sealed door) he was about to enter the red corridor, which he believed would take him back to the others, when stone doors slammed shut over every exit in the room, trapping him in the chamber! "What the?!" He heard a ghastly noise coming from the top of the machine cylinder. Getting a bad feeling, Knuckles climbed the machine. He got to the top and looked around seeing nothing. He heard the same noise and turned around, seeing a horrible sight! It was a giant ghost, with bulging, wide apart eyes, long, curved claws, a great, blue-rimmed mouth with a rainbow-colored tongue and many sharp teeth. "A ghost? This must have been the guardian Snively was talking about!" Knuckles said. The ghost howled and floated onto the top of the machine, mouth wide open. Knuckles gulped and started running, getting the idea the ghost was trying to have him for dinner!
KING BOOM BOO
Knuckles ran around the big central pillar, feeling Boom Boo getting closer and closer, literally breathing down his neck. Boo got closer, closer, his mouth wide in anticipation for the kill. Knuckles started moving faster; barely missing getting his tail ripped off by Boo's jaws. Boo fell back a bit and threw a blue fireball. The projectile exploded just behind Knuckles, causing the echidna to pick up the pace. Boo threw two more fireballs, still missing. He conjured another fireball and threw it ahead of Knuckles. Knuckles frantically swerved away, getting singed as the fireball exploded right next to him. He kept going, ignoring the pain. Boo got frustrated and stopped, breathing out a blast of blue fire. Knuckles ran even faster than before, outrunning the turquoise flames. He ran all the way around the pillar and ended up behind King Boom Boo. He saw a normal ghost holding an hourglass near the King's tail. Knuckles ran up and punched the ghost, sending it to the afterlife. The hourglass flipped over as it hit the floor. The panels on the roof opened up, letting sunlight in to the chamber. Boo screamed and shrunk, becoming a ghost only a little bigger than Knuckles. As the panels began to slowly close, Boo sunk into the ground, a shadow forming to reveal his location. The shadow slid along the ground, away from Knuckles. The Guardian echidna ran after the shadow, running onto it and digging into the ground. He popped back up, sending Boo back out. The ghost wailed and flew down the path. Knuckles looked up and saw the panels were three-fourths closed. He didn't have much time. He ran after King Boom Boo, catching up to the regal spirit, and punching him from behind. The ghost screeched and flew away even faster. As Knuckles ran after him and was about to deliver another Knuckles sandwich (Heheheh) the panels slammed shut. Boo turned around and swelled to his normal size once again. Knuckles moaned, turned, and began to run again. Boo flew after him, trying to eat our friend the echidna. When Knuckles sped up, Boo fell back and started throwing more fireballs. After three dangerous close calls, Knuckles sped up again. Boo started breathing fire, which gave Knuckles the time he needed to run all the way around the pillar and punch the new hourglass-holding ghost. As the spirit faded away, the hourglass flipped over, opening the panels. Boom Boo shrunk, wailed, and went into the ground again. The shadow moved faster than before, too fast for Knuckles to keep up with. He panted and stopped, getting an idea. He turned around and waited for Boom Boo to circumvent the pillar and head towards him. Right when the shadow was about to pass under him, Knuckles dug into the ground and unearthed the ghost. Boom Boo started to fly away, but Knuckles caught up to him and hit him with another punch. Boom Boo moaned and flew off. Knuckles began to pursue him, but just then the time ran out and the sun was blocked out. King Boom Boo became a giant again and started after Knuckles once more. As knuckles quickly outran his bite, Boom Boo started throwing fireballs, which Knuckles was now moving too fast to get hit with. By the time Boom Boo started to breathe fire, Knuckles was already on the other side of the pillar. He kept going and destroyed the ghost with the hourglass, reopening the skylights. Boom Boo shrunk and went into the ground. His shadow crawled up the pillar, staying fairly stationary at the top. Knuckles climbed up the pillar, crawled over the shadow, and dug into it, releasing the ghost. Boo fell to the ground and started flying down the path, wailing. Knuckles let go of the wall and started gliding down the path, ramming into Boom Boo. He screamed and flew off. Knuckles ran after him, passing by the hourglass, noticing it was almost empty. The panels were almost completely closed. Suddenly getting a brilliant idea, Knuckles flipped the hourglass over again just before it completely ran out, reopening the shafts and allowing full sunlight to stream down. (Don't you wish this could have worked in Sonic Adventure 2?) He then waited in front of the hourglass, knowing his enemy would come by eventually. As Boo's wailing got louder, Knuckles got into position, ready for his final attack. As Boo came screaming down the path, he saw Knuckles and tried to turn around. But he could not, he had been moving too fast to stop or change direction. He tried to screech to a halt, slowing down and running straight into Knuckles' outstretched fist. Boo screamed and covered his face with his claws. Despite the light from the sun, King Boom Boo swelled back to his true size. He floated away from the center of the room, sounding like he was crying. He was! As the undead monarch sobbed, his features slowly faded, until he turned into a motionless white and blue-white form. The form slowly lowered to the ground far below, where it collapsed, melting into a puddle of white and blue-white. The puddle shrunk into a small concentrated pool, evaporating in a ghostly haze. The exits opened, the guardian destroyed. Knuckles wiped his brow. "Phew! That was tough. Well, time to get back to the others. He glided from the top of the machine to the red door, going inside. The hallway was uneventful and not noteworthy, only a sparse number of E-1000's scattered around. He exited the hallway, back in the room with the locked door. "Hey guys, I made it!" he said, getting their attention. "Bravo, Knuckles! I guess you've disproved this place as the Death Chamber, eh?" joked Robotnik. Knuckles scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, but I came kind of close a couple of times. I had to fight a giant ghost just to get back here!" "Can we see the keys?" asked Shadow. Knuckles took out the keys, noticing for the first time that each one had a stylized Snively face at the top. He grimaced. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's unlock this door!" said Amy. Knuckle handed a key to both Shadow and Amy. He climbed up the wall, next to the left eye. Amy positioned her walker in front of the right eye, using the robot arm to hold the key right over the hole. Shadow stood right in front of the nose keyhole. They inserted and turned their keys at the same time, unlocking the door. The great metal gate swung inwards, allowing entry to the inner sanctum. The heroes walked down the corridor within, coming to a hieroglyph door. It rose upwards as they approached, letting them through. They were in a huge round chamber. There were four doors at an equal level around the room, one for each point of the compass. The heroes had just come out of the south door. The north one was open, and the other two were closed. Connecting the four doors was a ring shaped stone platform with a bridge leading off to each door. Far below was the floor, a pit of quicksand with several stone blocks lying around and a few pulleys leading back up to the stone ring. The group stepped forward on the bridge. "Which way do we go?" asked Shadow. "Nowhere!" said a familiar voice. As an incredibly irritating song started to play on hidden speakers, the west door rumbled open, revealing Snively, in his walker! "This is your end, heroes! I'm not letting you get to my shuttlepad!" "What shuttlepad?" asked Amy innocently. "The shuttlepad through the north door, you pink bimbo!" he paused. "D'oh! Shouldn't have told you that. Guess I should have gotten around to fixing the locking mechanism on that door too. Oh well, anyway, you're not getting to the shuttlepad because of my powerful guardian, and you're not getting to the teleporter in the control room behind me because I'm blocking the way!" said Snively, fiercely. "Incidentally, what's to the east?" asked Knuckles. "To the east is an elevator leading to a different area of the pyramid much like the Death Chamber that leads directly outside, with a slightly less guarded series of ruins." Snively replied. They all looked at each other. "Why didn't we notice the east ruins?" Shadow asked. They all shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, bring on your guardian Snively, I doubt he's any more difficult than any of your other creations." Snively scowled. "Just for that, I'll program him to kill you first! Now, let's do this!" Snively pressed a few buttons on his control panel then started shouting. "Arise my servant, destroy the black hedgehog and kill the others after you're done with him!" The quicksand pit bubbled. From the center, something huge erupted, towering through the center of the ring and looming over them all. It was a giant robot, covered in a stone shell to make it look like an extremely muscular Egyptian statue. Only two things gave away that the monster was indeed not just a living statue. First of all, it had a metal pod with black and yellow hazard stripes on the top of its head. Second, Snively had given it his own face, creating the image of an extremely big and strong version of Snively that everyone found hard to stomach. "By Chaos, that thing's even uglier than King Boom Boo!" said Knuckles, disgusted. "I can't stand to look at the thing's face without wanting to throw up!" complained Amy. The Chao moaned and started to cry, scared by the big ugly thing. "Oh come on, I'm not that ugly!" said Snively. "YES YOU ARE!" they all replied. Snively gnashed his teeth. "Kill Shadow!" he screamed at the giant. The giant machines opened his arms, anticipating combat. Shadow looked to the others. "Amy, get everyone to the shuttlepad. I'll teach Snively to make better guardians. Try not to leave without me, okay?" Amy grinned. "We'll be sure to keep a seat for you." Knuckles and Robotnik squeezed into the Passion. Amy jumped off the bridge, hovering to a platform below and jumping across them to reach a pulley near the north end of the room. Due to Snively's instructions, the giant didn't even notice them. Shadow walked onto the stone ring. "All right big guy, let's dance." He said.
SNIVEL GOLEM
The Golem swung a fist downwards, trying to squish the black hedgehog to a bloody pulp. Shadow ran out of the way and began speeding down the ring, trying to get behind the Golem. The giant turned to face him and smashed his left arm down, trying to cut Shadow off. Shadow stopped immediately, thanking whoever had made his cool shoes that they had literal air brakes. As the Golem raised its fist again, Shadow ran underneath it, still going. The Golem tried to smash him again and failed, being far too slow. Shadow got behind the Golem's back. He was surprised when it stopped moving and several platforms shot out of its back, then started to slowly recede. Shadow quickly jumped onto the biggest one, which was in line with the ring. He jumped and did a Homing Attack to reach the next one up, and did the same for the next one. Now he was just underneath the giant's neck. Three immobile platforms stuck out of the Golem's head. Each had a glowing hieroglyph on it. Shadow performed four Homing Attacks in a row, striking the hieroglyphs on the platforms and smashing right into the pod on the Golem's head, destroying it. He tumbled through the air, his momentum carrying him towards the quicksand. He activated his jets, landing on a platform. He Homing Attacked onto a pulley and lifted himself back onto the ring and headed for the exit. The Golem flailed its arms wildly, its stone head spinning. Snively sputtered furiously. "Wha-but-hey! Come back here!" Shadow sighed and turned to face Snively. "What is it?" "Why aren't you dead? How did you know the Golem's only weak spot was the restraining mechanism on its handsome head?" Snively asked, really angry. Shadow rolled his eyes. "Because it was the only thing not covered in stone, it was on top of its head; practically screaming it was a weak point, and it had yellow and black hazard stripes. You really make your weaknesses too obvious Snively." He smirked. "Hell, the GUN's F-6T Bigfoot put up more of a challenge than your Golem!" Before an enraged Snively could lock onto him with his laser blaster, Shadow ran through the north door.
The top of the pyramid unfolded, revealing a deep shaft. At the bottom of the shaft was a stolen American space shuttle, complete with giant fuel tank and booster rockets. A feminine computer voice switched on. "Liftoff sequence initiated. Shuttle liftoff in 5.4.3.2.1.0. Liftoff is engaged. Have a nice day." The shuttle engines and booster rockets ignited, launching the shuttle up the shaft and out of the pyramid, streaming up into the night sky. Our heroes and Chao were heading into space, for the final confrontation on the ARK.
And so the final leg of the Hero story begins! What dangers await on the colony? What has Robotnik found out about the place? Find out next time! And please review!