A/N: Hi everybody! Glad to see you liked the first chapter. Hope you enjoy this one! Please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
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IN THE END
PART I – ENEMY IN THE SHADOW
Knuckles felt the cool night breeze breathe across his face. His fists clenched, his knees bent. He wasn't imagining himself – he had heard something in the dark night…hadn't he? Or maybe he was just being paranoid…
Swish. There it was, once again. A hardly detectable sound, as light as a feather falling on a pillow. But against the Guardian's ears, it was a drum against the silent sky. The red echidna fell back into the shadows, his lavender eyes watching the Shrine carefully, and his feet poised to leap. The intruder crept forward, causing Knuckles to lean even further. The green bathe of the Emerald's light did not spread enough to show the intruder. Knuckles step closer, trying to get a good look at the intruder. But every time he seemed to have the animal in his sights, all he got was a swish of black blending with shadow. Knuckles felt a noise, but closer this time. He turned around. And odd feeling crept into his stomach. A Guardian always listens to his gut instinct. Knuckles backed away from the spot, cold constricting his throat. He needed to get out of the shadows, but he'd be seen if he glided close to the Emerald. The echidna closed his eyes tightly, listening and thinking. He opened his lavender eyes…
…And he stared at his reflection through white metal. In surprise, Knuckles darted backward, but lost his footing and fell backwards. His hands broke the fall, and he flipped himself back upright. The intruder stepped from the shadows. Knuckles gasped. It was a robot, as the white eyes had given away, but it was black. Not just black, but shadowed. If Knuckles hadn't been train to spot things then he would never had seen the robot. The robot did not move like a machine. In fact, it moved with the fluid grace of a trained assassin. The robot walked forward. It was oddly nondescript. It neither sauntered forward, nor quickly jerked forward. Each step the robot took, Knuckles took backward, his eyes wide. One clear thought shined out of the ones jumbled in his head: "Robotnik." A simple, one word thought. A terrifying, numb-full feeling. Robotnik used to be fun and games, but he had proved himself. He had redeemed himself as a threat. Knuckles felt his feet hit the bottom step of the Shrine. Slowly, carefully, he looked back at the robot.
Knuckles leapt forward, trying to dig his shoulder into the robot's gut, but the robot pressed its metal hands on his shoulders and broke his momentum. Then, using Knuckles' shoulders, he threw him into the stairs. The robot picked up the echidna relentlessly, and threw him, once again, only this time away from the Shrine, heading to the Emerald.
Knuckles picked himself up off the ground. He saw the robot slowly reach the Emerald. "SHATTERED JEWEL!" he cried. Not an attack he used often, but an attack he had learned…before. An arc of diamonds, each with sharp edges, belted toward the robot. But before they could reach it, the robot melted into shadow again, and the diamonds crashed against the emerald, shattering one of its sides into large chunks. The echidna looked for the robot, but his eyes did not see anything. Suddenly, he felt pain in his lower back. Turning, he was once again met with those damn white eyes…
"Give up, Mortal," the robot's voice wasn't exactly…robotic. It was just flat and devoid of feeling.
"Never," responded Knuckles with gritted teeth, rolling away from the robot, running to the Emerald. He tossed a glance over his shoulder as he thundered up the stairs. The robotic still stood there, a cocky tilt to its head as it watched him. Knuckles almost froze. Why wasn't the robot moving? Didn't he want the Master Emerald? Once he reached the Emerald, he slammed his fist into the Emerald, shattering the whole thing. The robot moved swiftly forward, bounding up the steps easily. Knuckles resumed his fighting stance, thinking quickly of an attack that may injure the robot. Finally thinking of a sequence, the echidna bounded forward. Each punch he threw didn't seem to hurt the robot, only push it down a step. No matter how hard he slammed his fist, nothing bent. Not even the metal shield around its exterior.
"Do you intend on hurting yourself?" the robot spoke. Knuckles paused for a second, knowing that from each punch, his knuckles grew bruised. His breathing labored, he stopped, blinking the sweat off his eyes rapidly.
"What do you want?" he growled. The robot stared at him for a second before replying in its monotone voice.
"You," it replied simply, and to the point. Knuckles blinked, surprised. Him? What about the Emerald? The robot regarded the echidna, the Guardian's reflection shifting in its metal eyes. Slowly, it lifted one hand up, palm facing Knuckles with its fingers curled. Knuckles jerked his arm, ready to move, sure that the robot was attacking…
…But his arm didn't move. Knuckles gasped, tugging on his muscles, trying to get something – even his fingers – to move. They wouldn't. As soon as he seemed to realize this, an oppressive shield settled around him, squeezing in, cutting off his breath. His bones and muscles caught at a rigid angle, Knuckles fought against the shield. He felt his lungs gasping for air, his heart pounding against his chest, pumping nonexistent oxygen-full blood. As his eyelids tugged down and blackness twirled around the edges of his vision, Knuckles saw the blue mist whispering around him, filling his nostrils and mouth. Moments later, he lay limp, suspended in the air only by the surrounding blue mist.
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A/N: REVIEW PLEASE!! Sorry it was short!