Disclaimer: Metal Sonic 2, Garion, Rolm, and Zeon are all mine. The others I don't own.

Once again...

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~~~~~KNUCKLES

I woke up to find myself in a bed. Where was I? Sonic's house? How did I get here? I looked down at my leg to find it in a strange metal cast. So it was broken. Leaning against the bed were some crutches. I used them to get out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Everyone was sitting down at the table there talking.

"Hey guys," I said as I sat down and joined them.

"Hi Knuckles. Is your leg feeling better?" Sonic asked.

"I'll live," I replied. "So what is this?" I asked as I gestured towards a machine sitting in front of me.

"I am Metal Sonic 2," the machine said as it shook my hand.

"I found him in a abandoned base. Apparently Eggman created him and then decided that he didn't want it," Sonic said

"I was abandoned," Metal said quietly. I was surprised to see that this machine had so many living qualities.

"So, now what do we do?" I asked. "We have a big badass warlock from the eleventh century blowing up islands, and all we have are a few measly gems. Correct me if I'm wrong," I said. OK, so I was in a bad mood. What do you expect when the Master Emerald has been stolen, Angel Island has been blown up, and I get my leg broken?

Nobody spoke for awhile. Finally Garion broke the silence.

"I think that Zeon lived somewhere in the mountains to the northwest. If we go there, we may learn something helpful that we could use when we confront him."

"That's another question that I have. HOW are we going to confront him? History books say he resides in his own dimension, gathering energy until he attacks. Surely we can't attack him then, because he will be fully powered and expecting it. So we have to strike him when he is resting in his dimension. The problem is, how do we get there?" I questioned.

"Let's just go look for his house for now, Knuckles," Sonic said. "We may find something there that will answer our questions."

Everyone got up from the table and started walking towards the door. I joined them, and then realized that I wasn't using the crutches! How...

"Looks like my invention worked," Tails said as he came back towards me and took off the cast.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a device that protects broken bones and speeds up the recovery process, much more than a normal cast," Tails explained.

My leg looked as good as new.

"Thanks Tails," I said as I headed towards the door.

"No problem, Knuckles," he said as he threw the cast onto the counter and followed me.

Ten minutes later we were flying over the mountains, looking for any sign of Zeon's old house.

"There!" Rolm said as he pointed at a bunch of stone blocks that were lined up on a hill.

"Hold on!" Tails said as he piloted the plane towards the ruins.

We landed next to the remains of Zeon's house and looked about eagerly for anything that we could use.

"I got something!" I heard Garion shout. We ran over to where he was at and looked at a book he had picked up. He opened to the first page and I saw that it was written in a different language. I groaned.

"Don't worry," Garion said. "I think I can still read it. Hmm... This appears to be Zeon's diary when we was a kid."

"What does it say?" Rolm asked with eagerness.

"It just seems like any normal diary," Garion replied. "I'm going to look at the last entry."

He flipped through the pages and looked at the last page for a couple of seconds. Then he began to read out loud.

"I do not know how I became so powerful. I am not sure if I was born this way or if my own anger has summoned it. I destroyed everyone in my path that night. However, in my own rage I had destroyed those who I had wanted to protect. I can't have that happen again. I have created a restraining belt that will limit my powers to half their velocity, but I haven't gotten around to putting it on yet. I feel like there is something I must do before I give up my power... I realize now that I could do almost anything with it. No, I don't think that I should put the belt on yet. There is many more things left to be done..."

"Is that it?" I asked Garion.

"Yes," he replied as he flipped through the blank pages in the back of the diary. "But let's look for that belt."

For the next fifteen minutes we looked around for the belt. Finally, I heard Metal shout,

"I think I've found it."

We headed over to him and looked at a golden belt that had a huge black gem in the middle.

"That must be it," Sonic said as he took the belt into his own hands.

"Let's hurry!" Garion urged. "We don't know when or where Zeon is going to strike next!"

"Right," I said as I ran towards the plane.

"But how are we going to get to Zeon?" Rolm asked.

"They say that sometimes when a large amount of energy is summoned into one spot, it may cause a hole to form between two dimensions," Garion replied. "If we head back to where Angel Island was, we may find a gate to dimension Z."

"All right!" Tails shouted. "Next stop, Angel Ruins."

On the way Garion taught Sonic how to use the Chaos Emeralds. Tails handed Sonic the two blue emeralds, and then handed the green and gray ones to Metal Sonic 2, who used them to improve his abilities. Rolm took the purple emerald and I took the belt. While they kept Zeon distracted, I was supposed to slip it on him from behind. Not an easy task, but I said I would try it.

As the remains of Angel Island came into view, I began to wonder. Would our efforts end in vain?

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Next chapter will be up on probably Sunday or Monday. As for now, I'm going to bed (haven't been feeling good lately).

Until next Chapter!