-Chapter Two-
Knuckles' Discovery
Approximately over fifty miles away, in the more mountainous, western part of the desert, the early morning rays of the golden sun broke through every nook and cranny in the valley. Bringing the ancient rocks to life with light. The sparsely grown desert grasses and flowers swayed gently in the soft breeze, and old, rustic grind rails lay still in the sands, ancient inscriptions and pictures carved into them. And above the tallest mountains, the faces of pumpkins could be seen, the golden sunlight illuminating each one. The sky was now a misty blue, sinking into deeper shades further west, but it was apparent that the night was drawing away, and a new day was finally here.
A small patch of ground broke into fragments as two sharp, metallic implements driven by a fist ploughed into it at a tremendous speed. Another fist followed, just above the other, and the 'fangs' pierced deep into the earth. The creature to whom these fists belonged to hoisted himself up, making sure that his footing was correct before he leant back, and drew his right fist out of the cliff's sidewall. Using his left fist as an anchor, he slammed his right fist hard into the cliff again, causing the whole thing to tremble. A pink-haired girl standing a top the cliff screamed with shock as the cliff trembled violently beneath her feet. Shocked somewhat at the startled noise, the indigo-eyed Echidna glanced up to the top of the cliff, drawing his right fist out of the earth to shield his eyes from the sunlight. He noticed jade green eyes glaring back at him.
"Knuckles! Careful with the digging!" She exclaimed, flicking her head back as she simultaneously removed her red headband, brushing her quills back firmly before replacing it back on her head once again.
"Sorry." The red Echidna replied. "It's just this part of the cliff. The rock here's pretty tough even with my Shovel claws on." The Echidna remembered someone at that point, and frowned angrily, turning his head towards the bottom of the cliff. "Espio! Mighty! I thought you guys said you were gonna help!"
The purple Chameleon waved his right hand dismissively, his yellow horn gleaming in the sunlight. "Hey take it easy! We've got all day to look for Chaos Ore, you know."
"Maybe you've got all day." Knuckles retorted. "But I'd like to get this done. If you recall rightly I do have a job guarding the Master Emerald you know, and right now, it's been left in the hands of Charmy!" The two figures shuddered at the bottom of the cliff at that thought. Amy followed suit.
Charmy was not only incredibly annoying, but he was also very small and very little powers to protect the Master Emerald with, so leaving the master Emerald guard duty in his hands was a very risky business indeed.
"Sheesh." Mighty sighed, walking towards the foot of the cliff and grabbing the first rock that jutted out sharply in front of him. "I'm coming, Knux." And with that, he leapt up, using his hand, which held onto the cliff to hoist his body weight upward. Within a few hops, he was at Knuckles' height. After reaching that point, he glanced up at Amy. "You might wanna get down from there, 'cause this is gonna get pretty rough!" He gave a slight roguish grin and curled his right hand up into a fist. The pink Hedgehog blinked, and gave a nervous smile. "Okay." She quickly replied, and walked away from the cliff's edge, walking around the other end to meet the foot of the cliff, next to Espio.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Mighty yelled, grinning. And in unison, Knuckles and Mighty pounded their fists hard into the cliff wall, large fragments of rock and dirt flying off the sidewall. They kept at it, pounding harder and harder at the cliff, breaking a large hole into it. Clouds of dust billowed over them and sailed into the air as the shattering and crashing sounds filled the valleys all around them. More rocks and boulders fell, and after a few minutes, the pounding stopped. The dust particles slowly began to clear into the morning air, and as they sailed away, Knuckles and Mighty could be seen standing on the ledge that they had created from digging deep into the cliff wall. Knuckles chuckled a little at their own work, and then signalled to Espio, who nodded in return then walked behind Amy, where a duffle bag stood amongst the rocks. Unzipping it, he reached his hand into it and pulled out a black, spherical object, with a timer set in the top, and a large, grey segmented ring around the middle of it. After standing up and inspecting the object for some time, he tossed the object up into the air towards Mighty, who caught it accurately in his hand. Mighty smiled, and passed the object on to Knuckles, who looked at it carefully.
"Do you think this'll do the trick?" Mighty asked hopefully.
"Looks like it'll pack enough punch." Knuckles replied, pressing some buttons around the timer. As he set it, it gave a beep. Reacting quickly, Knuckles placed the object into the gaping hole they created. At that, he turned away quickly and leapt off the ledge, and Mighty followed suit. As they landed, Knuckles and Mighty ran towards Espio and Amy. The purple chameleon grabbed the duffle bag and hooked his free arm into Amy's, dragging her away, completely oblivious to the situation at hand before she realised why she was being dragged. The object beeped again, then twice, then several times in succession until all that could be heard was a dull tone. The four ducked instantaneously behind the nearest boulder that could shield them all.
'KABOOOOM!'
Rocks, boulders and dust flew in every direction as the valley rocked and shook beneath them in the aftermath of the explosion. The four closed their eyes tight, raising their hands above their heads as smaller rocks rained down on them, followed by tiny shards of a glistening, green substance, which looked similar to diamond in the crystalline way that they were structured. After the explosion was over, the four opened their eyes and shook themselves from most of the dust that had fallen upon them. Knuckles slowly stood up and peered over the rock, looking at the effects of what their bomb had done.
The foot of the cliff, the top of the cliff and the ledge which they had created were not distinguishable at all, as the effects of the bomb had blasted a huge crater, which gouged out the entire cliff front. Knuckles blinked in disbelief as Mighty, Espio and Amy stood up and watched also.
"Maybe. It was a little too much punch." Mighty said finally, scratching his shiny red shell.
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Just a little?" Mighty shrugged and gave a nervous laugh.
Amy, Espio and Mighty looked on as Knuckles walked around the rock, which they had been hiding behind, and walked towards the gaping hole, which he had helped create. He walked into the deepest part of the hole, and gently used his knuckles to grind at the rock gently. As he did, large green crystal deposits fell out of the rock.
"All right!" he exclaimed, smiling. "Guys! We got some!"
"Cool!" Espio replied, clutching the empty duffle bag. "Now we just need to fill this big thing with that ore, then we can get out of here." He glanced over at Amy. "You got your hammer?"
Gently undoing the necklace, which hung around her neck, Amy removed the pendant from it, and made sure her necklace was fastened again before she tapped the miniscule button on the pendant. It gently sparkled in her hand, and she readied herself, her hand in the correct fashion to hold something larger than what the pendant should be. In a split second, it happened. In a flash of bright white light, the pendant instantaneously grew into her famous yellow and red Pico Pico Hammer. The slightly dusty pink Hedgehog smiled, and swung the hammer in front of her. "Let's get this over with! I had no idea that this job entailed the messing up of my hair! Now I need a shower!"
Knuckles quietly tutted and rolled his eyes as he once again began grinding his fist into the rock, more and more Chaos ore falling onto the ground below his feet. Not only were green crystals falling out of the rock, but other colours were falling out as well. A plethora of red, yellow, green, purple and the odd blue ore fell around him. Espio began collecting the ore as Mighty and Amy got to work. After a few minutes hammering away at the crater, the bag was soon filled. Satisfied, Espio zipped up the bag, and then turned to his friends, who were still quite busy with their hammering.
"Okay guys! I think that we've got all we need! It'll take us all day to turn these into Chaos Drives as it is." Espio called, swinging the back over his shoulder and onto his back. Amy smiled and minimised her hammer, pleased wither work. Mighty dusted off his gloves and Knuckles simply leant against the wall of the crater, and crossed his arms.
"Well that took a lot less longer than the last time." Knuckles replied. "Now that Eggman's robots are through, mining for Chaos ore is the only way to get our machines to work, rather than just using his."
"Yup!" Said Espio brightly, tossing a spare hunk of Chaos ore in his free hand. "And our version of the Chaos Drive seems to be a lot more powerful. It might have something to do with where we mine. And this place is pretty rich with Chaos Ore!"
"Ground's oozing with the stuff." Mighty added, tapping his foot against the ground.
"Alright guys!" Amy said brightly. "I'm not sure about you guys, but I'd very much like to get back to the base!"
"True." Knuckles agreed. "Let's get outta here." Espio and Mighty nodded, and began walking towards the path that led out of the valleys, and towards the lush greener hills in the west. Knuckles smiled and uncrossed his arms, pushing back into the crater behind him to lift himself more upright. But as he did so, he felt something flat and smooth underneath his palm, somewhat buried in the soft rock. He frowned, and turned around to inspect the object.
"Guys! Wait a minute! I think I found something." he called back as he used his knuckles to brush away the soft earth. There, staring back at him was a panel of smooth, flat rock. Frowning more, he pushed at the panel, pressed it, and then stared at it again. As he continued his inspection, Amy, Espio and Mighty surrounded him. Mighty wrinkled his nose as he looked at the panel of rock.
"What do you think it could be?" he asked, leaning closer to get a better look at the object.
"No idea." Knuckles replied, trailing off somewhat. He brushed around a little more, and around the panel slightly. Feeling something above the top of it, he brushed more vigorously to reveal a metallic panel with red lettering clearly inscribed onto it.
'Flip for emergency uncharted entrance shaft button. Use with caution.' "Let's see now." The Echidna murmured. And at that, he gripped the bottom of the smooth stone panel, and gently lifted it. This revealed more of the metallic panel beneath it, with a large red switch set in the middle. Knuckles frowned. "What's something like this doing buried deep in the rock?" He asked, scratching his chin.
Amy shook her head. "No idea. But who could it belong to?" She leaned closer herself, reaching out a curious hand to brush more of the metallic warning panel at the top. They all gasped in unison as the familiar 'G' emblem came into view.
Espio nodded after a while and bit his lower lip "Mmm. Makes sense. Well, it was either them, or Eggman, true?"
"Yeah, true." Mighty agreed. "But I thought that all military entrances were scanned in case of intruders. Why would there be an uncharted military entrance in the middle of nowhere, with one of the only seemingly outside switches buried deep in a cliff wall?"
"In case they wanted to hide something that they didn't want anyone to know about." Amy said quietly. The remaining three turned to look at her, and nodded in approval. They then all turned their attentions once again to the bright red switch in front of them.
Then there was a pause. A pause consisting of blinking and deep thought. A vulture silently flew overhead, then disappeared over the horizon.
"Shaaaall we press?" Mighty asked hopefully, raising his right fist up to his mouth. "I'm kinda curious to know what's down there myself."
"As am I." Knuckles interjected.
"Me too." Amy and Espio replied in unison. The four of them exchanged looks, then glanced at the switch again. Knuckles frowned and shook his head violently somewhat.
"Oh what the hell." He replied, and reached his hand forward to press the button. Amy bit her lip anxiously. Mighty and Espio readied themselves for action. Knuckles' hand edged ever closer, within millimetres of the switch. Knuckles usually acted coolly in situations such as these, but for some reason he found this moment to be somewhat intense. He reached forward still, gently beginning to apply pressure to the button.
Two explosions echoed around the valleys, one after the other. They sounded close. Knuckles jerked his hand back as he heard something approaching at an incredible velocity. Their attentions were turned to the top of the cliff.
The four shielded their eyes from the dust that fell upon them as two blurs leapt off the cliff front and jumped down to meet them, landing just a short distance from them. They both turned at the same time, dusting themselves off. Amy smiled widely as the familiar blue hedgehog came her way. Sonic gave her a knowing look and a short wink before looking at the rest of the ground. BoltStryke walked towards Knuckles, and they both exchanged nods and handshakes before the hedgehog duo stepped back. Knuckles frowned slightly as he noticed the look on BoltStryke's face, and then turned to Sonic, who look exactly the same way. The whirring noises of Tails' Tornado could be heard landing just short distance from them as they spoke, followed by and abrupt clanging noise.
"BoltStryke. Sonic. What's up?" Knuckles asked. BoltStryke gave a slight sigh, looking at each and every one of them. "Guys, Sonic and I have something important to tell you."
Knuckles and the gang gave a slight nod before Mighty spoke, crossing his arms. "Which is the funny thing, Bolt, because Knuckles, Espio, Amy and I have something quite interesting to show you."
BoltStryke crossed his arms and watched the switch intensely. "Interesting find." he murmured. Knuckles waited, as he wasn't quite sure if BoltStryke had intended that as sarcasm or not. It was always hard to tell with him. The violet hedgehog looked up the length and breadth of the cliff's crater, and then craned his neck to see the very top of it. After walking slightly closer, he surprised the group by leaping high into the air, tucking his arms and legs into his body so that he formed a tight ball. After reaching high enough, he assumed his landing position, and neatly dropped down onto the very tip of the cliff. Sonic scratched his head in confusion, watching BoltStryke pace the cliff, and then kneel down, using his hands to trace along the rock surface of the cliff. On finding something, he frowned, and jumped back onto his feet again. "Okay. Now I think I know why the switch is that deep down." He said, looking down on the gang. He began to move his head slowly, looking from the left of the cliff to the rightmost part of it. "Mighty, could you please follow me? I think I've found something."
"Sure thing." The Armadillo replied, running towards the rocky cliff face. Using a small rock as a foothold, he pushed against it, and used it to leap high into the air, and landed cleanly next to BoltStryke. The two nodded in unison, then BoltStryke led the way, walking the red and black Armadillo to the very rightmost part of the cliff.
It went on for about another 100 metres, and then a high wall of rock shielded part of the cliff. Fairly thin in thickness, but high and sharp nonetheless. They both jumped down the other side of the high wall, as the other waited, anxious to find out what it was that BoltStryke had discovered.
Amy glanced over nervously at Sonic, then bit her lip, wanting to say something but without annoying him. Sonic and Amy hadn't spoken much since the ARK incident, but it was nearly apparent to everyone that Sonic's feelings for her were stronger than he was letting on, but no one was entirely sure about that. It was sometimes hard to predict Sonic, and this was the trouble that she was having now. Deciding that this wasn't the right time, she turned her glance to Tails, who was already aware that she had been staring at the blue hedgehog for some time. They exchanged looks and shrugged, and jumped suddenly as a feint rumbling noise interrupted the silence. Everyone jerked their heads towards the direction of the cliff at the sound.
Surely enough, the very front of the cliff started to move.
Sounds of energetic pushing, slamming and shoving against the cliff wall could be heard as it jerked and bumped forward with every violent pounding it received.
"Ready?" came BoltStryke's voice from the other side of the wall, obviously talking to Mighty. "Three. Two. One. Go!"
The gang jumped again as the moving cliff wall shook with an almighty thudding noise, and jerked forward several feet, slamming into some stray boulders, shattering the edge of the cliff. Mighty and BoltStryke stumbled forward, having exerted a lot of force against the cliff for it to move at such a speed. Picking himself off the ground, Mighty dusted himself off, then glowered at the wall.
"That was a pretty tough one to move. But now we know why it's so deep down." He growled, straightening his gloves.
"And I take it that panel you guys revealed is the entrance to the shaft, right?" Amy added, pointing in the direction of the switch. Everyone swung their heads around instantly to look.
Sure enough, to the right of the panel, which beforehand had been shielded by the heavy rock wall was a much larger panel, it's door made up of two large sheets of metal, which looked as if they'd slide apart in order to open the shaft.
BoltStryke walked over to the switch, and without a second thought, pressed it. The button remained depressed as the doors slowly slid open without making a sound. A slight hiss was heard as the metal sheets slid back fully, and the short click of a button as the depressed button popped back out into its regular position once again. Everyone stepped forward as a gaping black hole was revealed to them. After some time, BoltStryke looked inside, and glanced down. After a few minutes analysis, he gave a slight sigh, then turned to everyone else.
"By the looks of things, not all of us can go down there at once. It's obvious anyway. Seeing as we don't what's down there, we can't all risk getting caught." he trailed off, glancing at everyone. At this point, Tails' curiosity beat him, and he hopped over to the shaft to have a look. BoltStryke continued. ".And it looks like a long way down. I can see a green light at the end, but it looks quite feint."
"I can see it." Tails said quietly, aware that the metallic properties of the shaft would cause his voice to echo. He promptly removed his head from the shaft. "Bolt, I think you and Sonic should go down there. You're both capable of doing this, and I can always keep track of your progress and position with the radios I gave you."
BoltStryke nodded. "True. And it wouldn't be a problem for either of us getting back up the shaft again, what with the new hovering capabilities that Denise installed on both our shoes."
"I must admit, they are pretty nifty." Sonic added, smiling. "Well I know I'm ready for whatever's down there. It's not like I can't handle whatever the military can throw at me. And if I'm capable, I sure know that BoltStryke could take 'em all on!" In his usual energetic manner, he walked quickly towards the shaft. BoltStryke smiled and crossed his arms, glancing at Tails.
"Take everyone else back to base, track us from there." He said, giving him a knowing wink.
The orange fox smiled and saluted him, causing BoltStryke to chuckle slightly. "Right!" At that, Mighty, Knuckles, Espio and Amy turned away and headed towards the path once again. After a few paces, Amy couldn't help but glance back.
"Be careful guys." She said quietly, then turned her head once again, and quickened her pace to keep up with the rest of the group. As BoltStryke and Sonic looked at the shaft, the whirring and humming of Tails' Tornado thrusters could be heard lifting off the ground slowly but surely, then hovered away into the distance.
Sonic took on a more serious disposition as the now feint whirring of the Tornado's engines disappeared into the day. "Well, it's been a fairly eventful day so far, and we haven't even told them what we wanted to."
BoltStryke curled his right hand into a tight fist, and gave a sigh. "I guess there'll be time for that later. But right now it looks as if today's about to become a little more eventful." He rested his hand against the wall of the cliff as he peered inside. After a while, he leapt up slightly, swinging his legs into the shaft, and sat on the thin metallic ledge of it, still holding the cliff wall with his hands, to prevent himself from sliding in. "Well. Here we go." And after a moment's hesitance, he let go of the sides of the wall, and let himself drop in. After waiting a few seconds to allow BoltStryke time to fall, Sonic swung himself in too, and began his decent to the bottom of the shaft.
The drop was indeed a fairly long one, and as he saw the very bottom of the shaft come up to meet him, BoltStryke at once tucked his knees into his body in order to reach the buttons on the back on each of his shoes. In an instant, two bright blue flames flashed and flickered into life, rapidly slowing his decent. As he touched the ground, he noticed that Sonic was performing the same procedure as he was just above him, and promptly moved out of the way for him to land. Shutting off his hover boosters just inches before he reached the ground, Sonic landed cleanly next to the purple hedgehog.
They stood in front of a large grate of metal, which closed up the shaft, but from this vantage point, they could see a lot of the room which they had entered into, despite the fact that the grate seemed to be partially covered by an old wooden table covered by an equally old and torn white tablecloth. It was a dark room, only lit by a few lights, which were green and yellow in colour. There were an array of computers on the far end of the wall, which were all active, and it was clear that they were still in use as to the left of the computers stood two large printers, which looked as if they had been printing reams of data for quite a while, as rolls of paper buckled and folded over each other several times over as the printers continued their work.
BoltStryke strained his neck to see the other side of the room. That far corner was filled with various computers and other mysterious equipment. Bu the most interesting point of the room was a large ring in the very center of the room. Dark grey in colour, welded to the floor. And in the center, four segments of metal interlocked with each other and looked as if they'd slide apart to open up something underneath the floor.
Sonic gave a frown, simultaneously wrinkling his nose. "What is this place?" BoltStryke glanced around the room from side to side, remaining vigilant. "I'm not sure. But it looks kinda creepy to me. And, it looks like it's totally separate from the usual military base- Hundreds of miles from it, in fact. Apparently they still use Prison Island."
"Do you think it might be something to do with the fact that this place is rich with Chaos Ore, or the fact that this place is in the middle of nowhere?" Sonic asked, turning to look at him.
BoltStryke grasped at the grate, giving it a slight shake. Luckily enough, it seemed to be slightly loose. "I'm not sure Sonic, but for some reason, I have a feeling that it might be for the latter reason."
BoltStryke's communicator, just under his green Dynamis ring on his left hand, crackled into life. "Bolt? Sonic? This is Espio. Just to let you know that we've arrived back at the base and the Ore is about to be processed to form more Chaos Drives. Any news on that shaft?"
BoltStryke lifted his left arm fairly close to his mouth. "The shaft led us to a room full of computers. There's something in the middle, but I'm not sure what it is yet." BoltStryke stopped and gave the room another glance around. "By the way, make sure that you replace all the Chaos Drives in the core of the Floating Island. The backup system needs it's drives replacing constantly now that we don't know where the emeralds are."
"Gotcha. I'll make sure that Knuckles changes them right away. I'd tell him now but. Eheh. he's having a go at Charmy. Let's just say he caused some fairly serious damage when kicking a football around."
Sonic jumped and leant close to Bolt's communicator at once. "You don't mean to tell me he's broken the Master Emerald with a football, do you?" He hissed.
"Well yeah." Espio chuckled. "Luckily it just a few pieces that flew off, but Knuckles is still pissed all the same, considering the trouble he had to go through the last time." Feint crashing noises and cursing in a deep voice could be heard coming from behind Espio, and after a few seconds commotion, he spoke again. "Erm. There's a little spot of trouble over here, so I've gotta go. Tails'll get in touch with you guys soon. Take care."
The communicator fell silent, and BoltStryke and Sonic exchanged looks. After a while, their attentions were turned once again to the room.
"So, what do you think we should do?" Sonic asked, leaning close to the grate.
"I think we should look around if we get the chance." BoltStryke said, tugging slightly at the metal grate a little more, noticing that it was increasingly becoming loose. "But we have to remain cautious."
As soon as those words left the purple Hedgehog's lips, a whirring noise came from the far end of the room. BoltStryke and Sonic remained close to the grate, but pressed themselves on either side of the shaft, watching as what seemingly was a wall slide away. The corridor behind them was just as low lit, and fairly misty. Two figures stood in the doorway. But it was clear that one of them wasn't human.
It was a hedgehog. "What the hell?" Sonic whispered lowly to BoltStryke. "I think I know who the human is, but who the heck is the hedgehog?"
BoltStryke glowered, his golden eyes glistening gently, keeping his eyes focussed on the two figures. "I think. I know." He whispered. Sonic raised his eyebrows, but decided against responding. He turned his gaze on the figures. The human and the hedgehog stepped into the room as the door slid closed. And parted ways, the hedgehog walking towards the center of the room, and the human, seemingly a very large man, walked towards the printers. He leant down and picked up the reams of paper in front of him, and searched for the top, and began to read. The overly large man scratched his head as he sifted through the paper.
"Hmm." Came the large human's voice, deep in tone. The man reached his free hand up to twiddle his moustache. "It looks as if he's almost complete."
"Good." Came an even deeper voice, belonging to the hedgehog. He turned to face the ring. "I told you that I'd be able to help you, doctor. Soon both our goals will be complete. You will have achieved the same goal that your grandfather achieved decades ago and have the chance to take over the world. And I." The hedgehog paused and reached behind him, and pulled out an object. Sonic and BoltStryke's eyes widened it twinkled and maximised in his hand. A green Chaos Emerald.
The hedgehog twirled the jewel in his palm, looking as if he was clutching it tightly. "I will have the perfect ally to help me collect the Chaos Emeralds." He continued. "And once I do, we will both assimilate our Perfect forms. Nothing will be able to stop us then. Not even that infernal purple hedgehog."
The fat human laughed. "And neither that pesky blue hedgehog, Sonic!" He added. He paced his way over towards the hedgehog, raising his right hand into the air enthusiastically. "We will crush them both, and all of their friends! And with the perfect alliance complete and the heroes out of the way-"
"Our legacy can begin." The hedgehog interjected. He let the hand holding the Chaos Emerald drop to his side. The bigger, moustached man joined him around the ring.
"It's Eggman." Sonic growled lowly. He stopped as soon as BoltStryke touched his arm, signalling for him to keep quiet.
"Show me." The mysterious hedgehog commanded. "Reveal to me the efforts of both our works! The genes of Shadow and I, together as one!" He spun around slowly on the spot, raising his hand in the air, the Chaos Emerald glistening slightly from the light sources around the room. He gave a laugh as he tossed the emerald into the air, and caught it. As he did, the glint of the hedgehog's solid green, pupiless eyes caught the light. BoltStryke glowered. It was clear to him now who the mysterious hedgehog was. Dr. Eggman hesitated, but still reached for an object in his pocket all the same.
"Demonis." BoltStryke said, lower than a whisper. Sonic, barely catching the purple hedgehog's words, swung his head in his direction for a split second, then raised his hand in a defensive stance, at once watching the scene beyond the grate.
The hedgehog named Demonis laughed manically. "Show me. Oblivion!" Dr.Eggman fell silent. The object in his pocket was a remote. As soon as he had pulled it out, he pressed a button. Surely enough, the metallic segments inside the ring slid open, revealing a bright white light beneath the floor. In an instant, a cold mist rose from the floor, and the two figures in the room were illuminated. Every feature of them becoming apparent.
Eggman looked the same as he usually did. Same massive bulk, the same steely blue glasses and the thick moustache, only his large pink nose visible through it. Only now he was wearing a white lab coat and his black boots. He looked serious and somewhat concerned.
Smiling however, standing right next to the doctor was a grey hedgehog, clutching his green Chaos Emerald. His eyes weren't as normal, as they were green and had no pupils, and shone as brightly as the emerald he was holding. The edges of the whites of his eyes were dark and subdued. His middle set of spikes swept upward, save for the lowest spike, which swept downward as with the side sets of quills.
Demonis smirked as the chamber that had just been opened whirred into life, and slowly but surely a large glass capsule was slowly raised through the hole in the floor. More mist surrounded it as it rose slowly. The liquid inside was pink, bubbling with life, with several tubes in it, all pointing to one source. There was something else in the tube. Something more. BoltStryke and Sonic's eyes widened in horror as they caught a glimpse of the capsule's contents. Demonis gave another cry of manic laughter.
"I don't believe this!" Sonic whispered. "How the hell could this happen?" BoltStryke touched his arm again, and the blue hedgehog fell silent once more.
Demonis, grinning evilly, walked over to Dr. Eggman and patted him hard on the back. "Hah! Look Eggman! With him and I together on your side, nothing can stop you! Think of everything you'll have! The world shall bend to the name Eggman!"
BoltStryke's eyes widened as very, very slowly, Demonis' eyes turned towards the grate. He held his breath, as their eyes seemed to meet. The purple hedgehog remained a still as he could, watching a slow, dirty smirk creep across the grey hedgehog's face. BoltStryke shifted his glance at once to Sonic, who seemed to be busy glaring at the silent Eggman. Demonis turned away, and tossed the Emerald he was holding into the air once again, and swung his hand forward to catch it, spinning it on his finger before grasping it again in his palm.
"And don't you worry." He turned towards the grate again "I shall make BoltStryke and Sonic pay for trying to defy you! Together we shall rule the world and destroy all who oppose us!" He turned away and laughed manically. Eggman suddenly seemed to loosen up, and as he stood staring at the creature in the capsule, he began laughing, low at first, but increasingly grew louder as Demonis' laughter echoed around the room.
"Why have they gotten a hold of a military lab.?" Sonic murmured. He quickly turned to BoltStryke. "Bolt! We have to get back to the base and tell the rest of them what's going on!"
"It looks like we won't be going anywhere, Sonic. You'd better be prepared for a party."
Sonic jumped, frowning at BoltStryke. "What do you mean?"
"He knows, Sonic." BoltStryke whispered back, curling both his hands into tight fists. "Demonis knows we're here."
Knuckles' Discovery
Approximately over fifty miles away, in the more mountainous, western part of the desert, the early morning rays of the golden sun broke through every nook and cranny in the valley. Bringing the ancient rocks to life with light. The sparsely grown desert grasses and flowers swayed gently in the soft breeze, and old, rustic grind rails lay still in the sands, ancient inscriptions and pictures carved into them. And above the tallest mountains, the faces of pumpkins could be seen, the golden sunlight illuminating each one. The sky was now a misty blue, sinking into deeper shades further west, but it was apparent that the night was drawing away, and a new day was finally here.
A small patch of ground broke into fragments as two sharp, metallic implements driven by a fist ploughed into it at a tremendous speed. Another fist followed, just above the other, and the 'fangs' pierced deep into the earth. The creature to whom these fists belonged to hoisted himself up, making sure that his footing was correct before he leant back, and drew his right fist out of the cliff's sidewall. Using his left fist as an anchor, he slammed his right fist hard into the cliff again, causing the whole thing to tremble. A pink-haired girl standing a top the cliff screamed with shock as the cliff trembled violently beneath her feet. Shocked somewhat at the startled noise, the indigo-eyed Echidna glanced up to the top of the cliff, drawing his right fist out of the earth to shield his eyes from the sunlight. He noticed jade green eyes glaring back at him.
"Knuckles! Careful with the digging!" She exclaimed, flicking her head back as she simultaneously removed her red headband, brushing her quills back firmly before replacing it back on her head once again.
"Sorry." The red Echidna replied. "It's just this part of the cliff. The rock here's pretty tough even with my Shovel claws on." The Echidna remembered someone at that point, and frowned angrily, turning his head towards the bottom of the cliff. "Espio! Mighty! I thought you guys said you were gonna help!"
The purple Chameleon waved his right hand dismissively, his yellow horn gleaming in the sunlight. "Hey take it easy! We've got all day to look for Chaos Ore, you know."
"Maybe you've got all day." Knuckles retorted. "But I'd like to get this done. If you recall rightly I do have a job guarding the Master Emerald you know, and right now, it's been left in the hands of Charmy!" The two figures shuddered at the bottom of the cliff at that thought. Amy followed suit.
Charmy was not only incredibly annoying, but he was also very small and very little powers to protect the Master Emerald with, so leaving the master Emerald guard duty in his hands was a very risky business indeed.
"Sheesh." Mighty sighed, walking towards the foot of the cliff and grabbing the first rock that jutted out sharply in front of him. "I'm coming, Knux." And with that, he leapt up, using his hand, which held onto the cliff to hoist his body weight upward. Within a few hops, he was at Knuckles' height. After reaching that point, he glanced up at Amy. "You might wanna get down from there, 'cause this is gonna get pretty rough!" He gave a slight roguish grin and curled his right hand up into a fist. The pink Hedgehog blinked, and gave a nervous smile. "Okay." She quickly replied, and walked away from the cliff's edge, walking around the other end to meet the foot of the cliff, next to Espio.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Mighty yelled, grinning. And in unison, Knuckles and Mighty pounded their fists hard into the cliff wall, large fragments of rock and dirt flying off the sidewall. They kept at it, pounding harder and harder at the cliff, breaking a large hole into it. Clouds of dust billowed over them and sailed into the air as the shattering and crashing sounds filled the valleys all around them. More rocks and boulders fell, and after a few minutes, the pounding stopped. The dust particles slowly began to clear into the morning air, and as they sailed away, Knuckles and Mighty could be seen standing on the ledge that they had created from digging deep into the cliff wall. Knuckles chuckled a little at their own work, and then signalled to Espio, who nodded in return then walked behind Amy, where a duffle bag stood amongst the rocks. Unzipping it, he reached his hand into it and pulled out a black, spherical object, with a timer set in the top, and a large, grey segmented ring around the middle of it. After standing up and inspecting the object for some time, he tossed the object up into the air towards Mighty, who caught it accurately in his hand. Mighty smiled, and passed the object on to Knuckles, who looked at it carefully.
"Do you think this'll do the trick?" Mighty asked hopefully.
"Looks like it'll pack enough punch." Knuckles replied, pressing some buttons around the timer. As he set it, it gave a beep. Reacting quickly, Knuckles placed the object into the gaping hole they created. At that, he turned away quickly and leapt off the ledge, and Mighty followed suit. As they landed, Knuckles and Mighty ran towards Espio and Amy. The purple chameleon grabbed the duffle bag and hooked his free arm into Amy's, dragging her away, completely oblivious to the situation at hand before she realised why she was being dragged. The object beeped again, then twice, then several times in succession until all that could be heard was a dull tone. The four ducked instantaneously behind the nearest boulder that could shield them all.
'KABOOOOM!'
Rocks, boulders and dust flew in every direction as the valley rocked and shook beneath them in the aftermath of the explosion. The four closed their eyes tight, raising their hands above their heads as smaller rocks rained down on them, followed by tiny shards of a glistening, green substance, which looked similar to diamond in the crystalline way that they were structured. After the explosion was over, the four opened their eyes and shook themselves from most of the dust that had fallen upon them. Knuckles slowly stood up and peered over the rock, looking at the effects of what their bomb had done.
The foot of the cliff, the top of the cliff and the ledge which they had created were not distinguishable at all, as the effects of the bomb had blasted a huge crater, which gouged out the entire cliff front. Knuckles blinked in disbelief as Mighty, Espio and Amy stood up and watched also.
"Maybe. It was a little too much punch." Mighty said finally, scratching his shiny red shell.
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Just a little?" Mighty shrugged and gave a nervous laugh.
Amy, Espio and Mighty looked on as Knuckles walked around the rock, which they had been hiding behind, and walked towards the gaping hole, which he had helped create. He walked into the deepest part of the hole, and gently used his knuckles to grind at the rock gently. As he did, large green crystal deposits fell out of the rock.
"All right!" he exclaimed, smiling. "Guys! We got some!"
"Cool!" Espio replied, clutching the empty duffle bag. "Now we just need to fill this big thing with that ore, then we can get out of here." He glanced over at Amy. "You got your hammer?"
Gently undoing the necklace, which hung around her neck, Amy removed the pendant from it, and made sure her necklace was fastened again before she tapped the miniscule button on the pendant. It gently sparkled in her hand, and she readied herself, her hand in the correct fashion to hold something larger than what the pendant should be. In a split second, it happened. In a flash of bright white light, the pendant instantaneously grew into her famous yellow and red Pico Pico Hammer. The slightly dusty pink Hedgehog smiled, and swung the hammer in front of her. "Let's get this over with! I had no idea that this job entailed the messing up of my hair! Now I need a shower!"
Knuckles quietly tutted and rolled his eyes as he once again began grinding his fist into the rock, more and more Chaos ore falling onto the ground below his feet. Not only were green crystals falling out of the rock, but other colours were falling out as well. A plethora of red, yellow, green, purple and the odd blue ore fell around him. Espio began collecting the ore as Mighty and Amy got to work. After a few minutes hammering away at the crater, the bag was soon filled. Satisfied, Espio zipped up the bag, and then turned to his friends, who were still quite busy with their hammering.
"Okay guys! I think that we've got all we need! It'll take us all day to turn these into Chaos Drives as it is." Espio called, swinging the back over his shoulder and onto his back. Amy smiled and minimised her hammer, pleased wither work. Mighty dusted off his gloves and Knuckles simply leant against the wall of the crater, and crossed his arms.
"Well that took a lot less longer than the last time." Knuckles replied. "Now that Eggman's robots are through, mining for Chaos ore is the only way to get our machines to work, rather than just using his."
"Yup!" Said Espio brightly, tossing a spare hunk of Chaos ore in his free hand. "And our version of the Chaos Drive seems to be a lot more powerful. It might have something to do with where we mine. And this place is pretty rich with Chaos Ore!"
"Ground's oozing with the stuff." Mighty added, tapping his foot against the ground.
"Alright guys!" Amy said brightly. "I'm not sure about you guys, but I'd very much like to get back to the base!"
"True." Knuckles agreed. "Let's get outta here." Espio and Mighty nodded, and began walking towards the path that led out of the valleys, and towards the lush greener hills in the west. Knuckles smiled and uncrossed his arms, pushing back into the crater behind him to lift himself more upright. But as he did so, he felt something flat and smooth underneath his palm, somewhat buried in the soft rock. He frowned, and turned around to inspect the object.
"Guys! Wait a minute! I think I found something." he called back as he used his knuckles to brush away the soft earth. There, staring back at him was a panel of smooth, flat rock. Frowning more, he pushed at the panel, pressed it, and then stared at it again. As he continued his inspection, Amy, Espio and Mighty surrounded him. Mighty wrinkled his nose as he looked at the panel of rock.
"What do you think it could be?" he asked, leaning closer to get a better look at the object.
"No idea." Knuckles replied, trailing off somewhat. He brushed around a little more, and around the panel slightly. Feeling something above the top of it, he brushed more vigorously to reveal a metallic panel with red lettering clearly inscribed onto it.
'Flip for emergency uncharted entrance shaft button. Use with caution.' "Let's see now." The Echidna murmured. And at that, he gripped the bottom of the smooth stone panel, and gently lifted it. This revealed more of the metallic panel beneath it, with a large red switch set in the middle. Knuckles frowned. "What's something like this doing buried deep in the rock?" He asked, scratching his chin.
Amy shook her head. "No idea. But who could it belong to?" She leaned closer herself, reaching out a curious hand to brush more of the metallic warning panel at the top. They all gasped in unison as the familiar 'G' emblem came into view.
Espio nodded after a while and bit his lower lip "Mmm. Makes sense. Well, it was either them, or Eggman, true?"
"Yeah, true." Mighty agreed. "But I thought that all military entrances were scanned in case of intruders. Why would there be an uncharted military entrance in the middle of nowhere, with one of the only seemingly outside switches buried deep in a cliff wall?"
"In case they wanted to hide something that they didn't want anyone to know about." Amy said quietly. The remaining three turned to look at her, and nodded in approval. They then all turned their attentions once again to the bright red switch in front of them.
Then there was a pause. A pause consisting of blinking and deep thought. A vulture silently flew overhead, then disappeared over the horizon.
"Shaaaall we press?" Mighty asked hopefully, raising his right fist up to his mouth. "I'm kinda curious to know what's down there myself."
"As am I." Knuckles interjected.
"Me too." Amy and Espio replied in unison. The four of them exchanged looks, then glanced at the switch again. Knuckles frowned and shook his head violently somewhat.
"Oh what the hell." He replied, and reached his hand forward to press the button. Amy bit her lip anxiously. Mighty and Espio readied themselves for action. Knuckles' hand edged ever closer, within millimetres of the switch. Knuckles usually acted coolly in situations such as these, but for some reason he found this moment to be somewhat intense. He reached forward still, gently beginning to apply pressure to the button.
Two explosions echoed around the valleys, one after the other. They sounded close. Knuckles jerked his hand back as he heard something approaching at an incredible velocity. Their attentions were turned to the top of the cliff.
The four shielded their eyes from the dust that fell upon them as two blurs leapt off the cliff front and jumped down to meet them, landing just a short distance from them. They both turned at the same time, dusting themselves off. Amy smiled widely as the familiar blue hedgehog came her way. Sonic gave her a knowing look and a short wink before looking at the rest of the ground. BoltStryke walked towards Knuckles, and they both exchanged nods and handshakes before the hedgehog duo stepped back. Knuckles frowned slightly as he noticed the look on BoltStryke's face, and then turned to Sonic, who look exactly the same way. The whirring noises of Tails' Tornado could be heard landing just short distance from them as they spoke, followed by and abrupt clanging noise.
"BoltStryke. Sonic. What's up?" Knuckles asked. BoltStryke gave a slight sigh, looking at each and every one of them. "Guys, Sonic and I have something important to tell you."
Knuckles and the gang gave a slight nod before Mighty spoke, crossing his arms. "Which is the funny thing, Bolt, because Knuckles, Espio, Amy and I have something quite interesting to show you."
BoltStryke crossed his arms and watched the switch intensely. "Interesting find." he murmured. Knuckles waited, as he wasn't quite sure if BoltStryke had intended that as sarcasm or not. It was always hard to tell with him. The violet hedgehog looked up the length and breadth of the cliff's crater, and then craned his neck to see the very top of it. After walking slightly closer, he surprised the group by leaping high into the air, tucking his arms and legs into his body so that he formed a tight ball. After reaching high enough, he assumed his landing position, and neatly dropped down onto the very tip of the cliff. Sonic scratched his head in confusion, watching BoltStryke pace the cliff, and then kneel down, using his hands to trace along the rock surface of the cliff. On finding something, he frowned, and jumped back onto his feet again. "Okay. Now I think I know why the switch is that deep down." He said, looking down on the gang. He began to move his head slowly, looking from the left of the cliff to the rightmost part of it. "Mighty, could you please follow me? I think I've found something."
"Sure thing." The Armadillo replied, running towards the rocky cliff face. Using a small rock as a foothold, he pushed against it, and used it to leap high into the air, and landed cleanly next to BoltStryke. The two nodded in unison, then BoltStryke led the way, walking the red and black Armadillo to the very rightmost part of the cliff.
It went on for about another 100 metres, and then a high wall of rock shielded part of the cliff. Fairly thin in thickness, but high and sharp nonetheless. They both jumped down the other side of the high wall, as the other waited, anxious to find out what it was that BoltStryke had discovered.
Amy glanced over nervously at Sonic, then bit her lip, wanting to say something but without annoying him. Sonic and Amy hadn't spoken much since the ARK incident, but it was nearly apparent to everyone that Sonic's feelings for her were stronger than he was letting on, but no one was entirely sure about that. It was sometimes hard to predict Sonic, and this was the trouble that she was having now. Deciding that this wasn't the right time, she turned her glance to Tails, who was already aware that she had been staring at the blue hedgehog for some time. They exchanged looks and shrugged, and jumped suddenly as a feint rumbling noise interrupted the silence. Everyone jerked their heads towards the direction of the cliff at the sound.
Surely enough, the very front of the cliff started to move.
Sounds of energetic pushing, slamming and shoving against the cliff wall could be heard as it jerked and bumped forward with every violent pounding it received.
"Ready?" came BoltStryke's voice from the other side of the wall, obviously talking to Mighty. "Three. Two. One. Go!"
The gang jumped again as the moving cliff wall shook with an almighty thudding noise, and jerked forward several feet, slamming into some stray boulders, shattering the edge of the cliff. Mighty and BoltStryke stumbled forward, having exerted a lot of force against the cliff for it to move at such a speed. Picking himself off the ground, Mighty dusted himself off, then glowered at the wall.
"That was a pretty tough one to move. But now we know why it's so deep down." He growled, straightening his gloves.
"And I take it that panel you guys revealed is the entrance to the shaft, right?" Amy added, pointing in the direction of the switch. Everyone swung their heads around instantly to look.
Sure enough, to the right of the panel, which beforehand had been shielded by the heavy rock wall was a much larger panel, it's door made up of two large sheets of metal, which looked as if they'd slide apart in order to open the shaft.
BoltStryke walked over to the switch, and without a second thought, pressed it. The button remained depressed as the doors slowly slid open without making a sound. A slight hiss was heard as the metal sheets slid back fully, and the short click of a button as the depressed button popped back out into its regular position once again. Everyone stepped forward as a gaping black hole was revealed to them. After some time, BoltStryke looked inside, and glanced down. After a few minutes analysis, he gave a slight sigh, then turned to everyone else.
"By the looks of things, not all of us can go down there at once. It's obvious anyway. Seeing as we don't what's down there, we can't all risk getting caught." he trailed off, glancing at everyone. At this point, Tails' curiosity beat him, and he hopped over to the shaft to have a look. BoltStryke continued. ".And it looks like a long way down. I can see a green light at the end, but it looks quite feint."
"I can see it." Tails said quietly, aware that the metallic properties of the shaft would cause his voice to echo. He promptly removed his head from the shaft. "Bolt, I think you and Sonic should go down there. You're both capable of doing this, and I can always keep track of your progress and position with the radios I gave you."
BoltStryke nodded. "True. And it wouldn't be a problem for either of us getting back up the shaft again, what with the new hovering capabilities that Denise installed on both our shoes."
"I must admit, they are pretty nifty." Sonic added, smiling. "Well I know I'm ready for whatever's down there. It's not like I can't handle whatever the military can throw at me. And if I'm capable, I sure know that BoltStryke could take 'em all on!" In his usual energetic manner, he walked quickly towards the shaft. BoltStryke smiled and crossed his arms, glancing at Tails.
"Take everyone else back to base, track us from there." He said, giving him a knowing wink.
The orange fox smiled and saluted him, causing BoltStryke to chuckle slightly. "Right!" At that, Mighty, Knuckles, Espio and Amy turned away and headed towards the path once again. After a few paces, Amy couldn't help but glance back.
"Be careful guys." She said quietly, then turned her head once again, and quickened her pace to keep up with the rest of the group. As BoltStryke and Sonic looked at the shaft, the whirring and humming of Tails' Tornado thrusters could be heard lifting off the ground slowly but surely, then hovered away into the distance.
Sonic took on a more serious disposition as the now feint whirring of the Tornado's engines disappeared into the day. "Well, it's been a fairly eventful day so far, and we haven't even told them what we wanted to."
BoltStryke curled his right hand into a tight fist, and gave a sigh. "I guess there'll be time for that later. But right now it looks as if today's about to become a little more eventful." He rested his hand against the wall of the cliff as he peered inside. After a while, he leapt up slightly, swinging his legs into the shaft, and sat on the thin metallic ledge of it, still holding the cliff wall with his hands, to prevent himself from sliding in. "Well. Here we go." And after a moment's hesitance, he let go of the sides of the wall, and let himself drop in. After waiting a few seconds to allow BoltStryke time to fall, Sonic swung himself in too, and began his decent to the bottom of the shaft.
The drop was indeed a fairly long one, and as he saw the very bottom of the shaft come up to meet him, BoltStryke at once tucked his knees into his body in order to reach the buttons on the back on each of his shoes. In an instant, two bright blue flames flashed and flickered into life, rapidly slowing his decent. As he touched the ground, he noticed that Sonic was performing the same procedure as he was just above him, and promptly moved out of the way for him to land. Shutting off his hover boosters just inches before he reached the ground, Sonic landed cleanly next to the purple hedgehog.
They stood in front of a large grate of metal, which closed up the shaft, but from this vantage point, they could see a lot of the room which they had entered into, despite the fact that the grate seemed to be partially covered by an old wooden table covered by an equally old and torn white tablecloth. It was a dark room, only lit by a few lights, which were green and yellow in colour. There were an array of computers on the far end of the wall, which were all active, and it was clear that they were still in use as to the left of the computers stood two large printers, which looked as if they had been printing reams of data for quite a while, as rolls of paper buckled and folded over each other several times over as the printers continued their work.
BoltStryke strained his neck to see the other side of the room. That far corner was filled with various computers and other mysterious equipment. Bu the most interesting point of the room was a large ring in the very center of the room. Dark grey in colour, welded to the floor. And in the center, four segments of metal interlocked with each other and looked as if they'd slide apart to open up something underneath the floor.
Sonic gave a frown, simultaneously wrinkling his nose. "What is this place?" BoltStryke glanced around the room from side to side, remaining vigilant. "I'm not sure. But it looks kinda creepy to me. And, it looks like it's totally separate from the usual military base- Hundreds of miles from it, in fact. Apparently they still use Prison Island."
"Do you think it might be something to do with the fact that this place is rich with Chaos Ore, or the fact that this place is in the middle of nowhere?" Sonic asked, turning to look at him.
BoltStryke grasped at the grate, giving it a slight shake. Luckily enough, it seemed to be slightly loose. "I'm not sure Sonic, but for some reason, I have a feeling that it might be for the latter reason."
BoltStryke's communicator, just under his green Dynamis ring on his left hand, crackled into life. "Bolt? Sonic? This is Espio. Just to let you know that we've arrived back at the base and the Ore is about to be processed to form more Chaos Drives. Any news on that shaft?"
BoltStryke lifted his left arm fairly close to his mouth. "The shaft led us to a room full of computers. There's something in the middle, but I'm not sure what it is yet." BoltStryke stopped and gave the room another glance around. "By the way, make sure that you replace all the Chaos Drives in the core of the Floating Island. The backup system needs it's drives replacing constantly now that we don't know where the emeralds are."
"Gotcha. I'll make sure that Knuckles changes them right away. I'd tell him now but. Eheh. he's having a go at Charmy. Let's just say he caused some fairly serious damage when kicking a football around."
Sonic jumped and leant close to Bolt's communicator at once. "You don't mean to tell me he's broken the Master Emerald with a football, do you?" He hissed.
"Well yeah." Espio chuckled. "Luckily it just a few pieces that flew off, but Knuckles is still pissed all the same, considering the trouble he had to go through the last time." Feint crashing noises and cursing in a deep voice could be heard coming from behind Espio, and after a few seconds commotion, he spoke again. "Erm. There's a little spot of trouble over here, so I've gotta go. Tails'll get in touch with you guys soon. Take care."
The communicator fell silent, and BoltStryke and Sonic exchanged looks. After a while, their attentions were turned once again to the room.
"So, what do you think we should do?" Sonic asked, leaning close to the grate.
"I think we should look around if we get the chance." BoltStryke said, tugging slightly at the metal grate a little more, noticing that it was increasingly becoming loose. "But we have to remain cautious."
As soon as those words left the purple Hedgehog's lips, a whirring noise came from the far end of the room. BoltStryke and Sonic remained close to the grate, but pressed themselves on either side of the shaft, watching as what seemingly was a wall slide away. The corridor behind them was just as low lit, and fairly misty. Two figures stood in the doorway. But it was clear that one of them wasn't human.
It was a hedgehog. "What the hell?" Sonic whispered lowly to BoltStryke. "I think I know who the human is, but who the heck is the hedgehog?"
BoltStryke glowered, his golden eyes glistening gently, keeping his eyes focussed on the two figures. "I think. I know." He whispered. Sonic raised his eyebrows, but decided against responding. He turned his gaze on the figures. The human and the hedgehog stepped into the room as the door slid closed. And parted ways, the hedgehog walking towards the center of the room, and the human, seemingly a very large man, walked towards the printers. He leant down and picked up the reams of paper in front of him, and searched for the top, and began to read. The overly large man scratched his head as he sifted through the paper.
"Hmm." Came the large human's voice, deep in tone. The man reached his free hand up to twiddle his moustache. "It looks as if he's almost complete."
"Good." Came an even deeper voice, belonging to the hedgehog. He turned to face the ring. "I told you that I'd be able to help you, doctor. Soon both our goals will be complete. You will have achieved the same goal that your grandfather achieved decades ago and have the chance to take over the world. And I." The hedgehog paused and reached behind him, and pulled out an object. Sonic and BoltStryke's eyes widened it twinkled and maximised in his hand. A green Chaos Emerald.
The hedgehog twirled the jewel in his palm, looking as if he was clutching it tightly. "I will have the perfect ally to help me collect the Chaos Emeralds." He continued. "And once I do, we will both assimilate our Perfect forms. Nothing will be able to stop us then. Not even that infernal purple hedgehog."
The fat human laughed. "And neither that pesky blue hedgehog, Sonic!" He added. He paced his way over towards the hedgehog, raising his right hand into the air enthusiastically. "We will crush them both, and all of their friends! And with the perfect alliance complete and the heroes out of the way-"
"Our legacy can begin." The hedgehog interjected. He let the hand holding the Chaos Emerald drop to his side. The bigger, moustached man joined him around the ring.
"It's Eggman." Sonic growled lowly. He stopped as soon as BoltStryke touched his arm, signalling for him to keep quiet.
"Show me." The mysterious hedgehog commanded. "Reveal to me the efforts of both our works! The genes of Shadow and I, together as one!" He spun around slowly on the spot, raising his hand in the air, the Chaos Emerald glistening slightly from the light sources around the room. He gave a laugh as he tossed the emerald into the air, and caught it. As he did, the glint of the hedgehog's solid green, pupiless eyes caught the light. BoltStryke glowered. It was clear to him now who the mysterious hedgehog was. Dr. Eggman hesitated, but still reached for an object in his pocket all the same.
"Demonis." BoltStryke said, lower than a whisper. Sonic, barely catching the purple hedgehog's words, swung his head in his direction for a split second, then raised his hand in a defensive stance, at once watching the scene beyond the grate.
The hedgehog named Demonis laughed manically. "Show me. Oblivion!" Dr.Eggman fell silent. The object in his pocket was a remote. As soon as he had pulled it out, he pressed a button. Surely enough, the metallic segments inside the ring slid open, revealing a bright white light beneath the floor. In an instant, a cold mist rose from the floor, and the two figures in the room were illuminated. Every feature of them becoming apparent.
Eggman looked the same as he usually did. Same massive bulk, the same steely blue glasses and the thick moustache, only his large pink nose visible through it. Only now he was wearing a white lab coat and his black boots. He looked serious and somewhat concerned.
Smiling however, standing right next to the doctor was a grey hedgehog, clutching his green Chaos Emerald. His eyes weren't as normal, as they were green and had no pupils, and shone as brightly as the emerald he was holding. The edges of the whites of his eyes were dark and subdued. His middle set of spikes swept upward, save for the lowest spike, which swept downward as with the side sets of quills.
Demonis smirked as the chamber that had just been opened whirred into life, and slowly but surely a large glass capsule was slowly raised through the hole in the floor. More mist surrounded it as it rose slowly. The liquid inside was pink, bubbling with life, with several tubes in it, all pointing to one source. There was something else in the tube. Something more. BoltStryke and Sonic's eyes widened in horror as they caught a glimpse of the capsule's contents. Demonis gave another cry of manic laughter.
"I don't believe this!" Sonic whispered. "How the hell could this happen?" BoltStryke touched his arm again, and the blue hedgehog fell silent once more.
Demonis, grinning evilly, walked over to Dr. Eggman and patted him hard on the back. "Hah! Look Eggman! With him and I together on your side, nothing can stop you! Think of everything you'll have! The world shall bend to the name Eggman!"
BoltStryke's eyes widened as very, very slowly, Demonis' eyes turned towards the grate. He held his breath, as their eyes seemed to meet. The purple hedgehog remained a still as he could, watching a slow, dirty smirk creep across the grey hedgehog's face. BoltStryke shifted his glance at once to Sonic, who seemed to be busy glaring at the silent Eggman. Demonis turned away, and tossed the Emerald he was holding into the air once again, and swung his hand forward to catch it, spinning it on his finger before grasping it again in his palm.
"And don't you worry." He turned towards the grate again "I shall make BoltStryke and Sonic pay for trying to defy you! Together we shall rule the world and destroy all who oppose us!" He turned away and laughed manically. Eggman suddenly seemed to loosen up, and as he stood staring at the creature in the capsule, he began laughing, low at first, but increasingly grew louder as Demonis' laughter echoed around the room.
"Why have they gotten a hold of a military lab.?" Sonic murmured. He quickly turned to BoltStryke. "Bolt! We have to get back to the base and tell the rest of them what's going on!"
"It looks like we won't be going anywhere, Sonic. You'd better be prepared for a party."
Sonic jumped, frowning at BoltStryke. "What do you mean?"
"He knows, Sonic." BoltStryke whispered back, curling both his hands into tight fists. "Demonis knows we're here."
