Hey guys!

I'm sure that you're all anxious to see what's going to happen, so no more talk out of me. On with the next chapter

CHAPTER 4

Knuckles stood on top of a snow covered cliff side over looking a frozen wasteland. He had already been from Windy Valley to Pumpkin Hill looking for Dr. Eggman and the Master Emerald. Now he was overlooking a large area covered in ice and snow. His senses told him that the Master Emerald was here, and since he had the ability to sense the Master Emerald's energy, there was little chance that he was mistaken.

However, there was something that bothered Knuckles. It seemed to him that the emeralds energy was in two places at once. "How can that be?" Knuckles said to himself. Then a horrible thought occurred to him, "Maybe Doctor Eggman used a machine of some kind, to transfer the emeralds power into something else. If that's the case, I'm running out of time." Suddenly, Knuckles noticed a blue blur speeding across the snowy terrain. He knew there was only one person on the planet that could move that fast. "What is he doing here?" Knuckles thought.

Sonic had made excellent time getting to the location Eggman specified, but as he screeched to a halt, there was nothing to be seen except snow. Sonic crossed his arms, "Where is he. I'm sure this is where Eggman said he would be. He better not be leading me on a wild goose chase."

"Hey, Sonic!" a voice called out from behind him.

Sonic turned and saw Knuckles running towards him, "Knuckles? What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

Suddenly, a few yards away, something popped out of the snow. It looked like Eggman's head attached to a metal pole, and the eyes looked like cameras. This was unnoticed by Sonic and Knuckles.

Meanwhile Eggman saw his enemy's on his video screen and became worried, "Knuckles? What is that irritating Echidna doing here. If he tells Sonic that Broad is working for me, it will ruin my little surprise. And we can't have that now can we?"

"I see." Knuckles said, after Sonic finished telling him about Eggman's little invitation he sent him, "So I was right. Eggman is here."

"Well, now that you know why I'm here," Sonic said, "Why are you looking for Eggman?"

"Why else, he stole the Master Emerald from me. Kidnaping Amy was probably his way of getting you here so that he can use it's power against you in some way."

"So," Sonic smirked, "How did old Eggbutt get the drop on you?"

"That's the weird part. He was with this......"

Before Knuckles could finish the ground beneath them began to shake. They quickly got out of the way as something huge came rising out of the snow. Sonic and Knuckles turned to see what it was. It was a giant metal dome, which looked almost like a big metal egg. It was easily thirty stories high.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and guess that that's Eggman's base." Sonic joked.

Just then Eggman's voice could be heard over the loud speakers, "I thought I told you to come alone Sonic. It's not like you to break the rules."

"You know why I'm here, Eggman!" Knuckles shouted, "Give me back the Master Emerald!"

Eggman laughed, "Sorry, no refunds! As for you Sonic, I believe you also came looking for something."

Sonic shouted, "That's right, Doctor Egghead! Let Amy go right now!"

"If you want her, come save her!" With that a large metal door opened at the front of the base. Not wasting any time, Sonic raced into the base, with Knuckles close behind. However the second Sonic was inside the door slammed shut locking Knuckles out.

"Hey," Knuckles yelled, "Let me in."

Eggman's voice could be heard once again, "Sorry knucklehead, you weren't invited."

Sonic yelled through the door, "Knuckles! You okay."

"Don't worry about me Sonic." He replied, "This door won't keep me out for long. You have to hurry and save Amy!"

"Right, thanks pal." Sonic then speed off into the center of the base, to find Amy.

Meanwhile, Knuckles began to rapidly punch the door, slowly making his way in. This did not go unnoticed by Eggman. "Party crasher! I'll just send a little something to keep him busy, while I attend to my other guest."

Sonic soon found himself inside a giant dome shaped room. 'Judging by the size of this room,' Sonic thought, as he stood in the center of the room, 'I'd say it takes up half of the base.' Then sonic noticed two glass containers on the far side of the room, one held the, now gray Master Emerald and Amy was sitting inside the other one. She had her head down, which meant that she hadn't noticed Sonic yet.

"Amy!" Sonic called to her.

Amy looked up, and instantly stood up, "Sonic, you came!" Although there was surprise in her voice, Amy knew that Sonic would come. Her hero always had a way of showing up when she needed help. Just as Sonic was about to run over to her and try to break her out of there, Eggman's voice filled the room. "Not so fast Sonic!"

Sonic looked up to Eggman floating in his hovercraft, "You don't want to claim your prize before the contest begins do you?"

Sonic was grinning, "A contest, huh? No problem, I can beat you in anything. Unless it's a pie-eating contest."

"You'll pay for that crack, hedgehog." Eggman fumed, "But who said you would compete against me."

"Yes Sonic, wouldn't you rather compete against me?" a voice asked.

Sonic turned around and saw Broad floating in the air. Sonic was shocked, "YOU!?!"

Meanwhile, outside Knuckles was still punching away at the entrance. "I have to admit that this door is pretty strong." Knuckles said to himself, "But it's still no match for my strength." Just then, something came up out of the snow from behind Knuckles. Knuckles turned around and saw one of Doctor Eggman's robots. It was a giant robotic penguin, it was easily three times Knuckles size, and had glowing red eyes.

The robot opened it's metal beak and fired an ice beam at Knuckles feet, freezing them and leaving Knuckles stuck. As the robot started toward Knuckles he growled, "It's not gonna be that easy!" Using his fists, he cracked the ice and jumped out of the robots path. Knuckles thought to himself, 'I guess Eggman doesn't want me ruining his fun.'

"Here's how it's going to work Sonic. If you win this fight you get little Miss Rose, and I think you know what's in store for her if you lose." Eggman chuckled.

After hearing those words, Sonic looked at Broad, "Is that so? Well, I guess I'll have to make this quick then."

Broad stared at Sonic with cold eyes. In a flash Sonic connected with a Spin Dash attack, sending Broad crashing into a wall. Sonic stood up and dusted off his gloves, "Well, that was fun." Sonic looked up at Eggman and smirked, "Next time you get an opponent for me, try to make it worth my time."

Eggman laughed, "You don't think it's over already, do you?"

Amy shouted, "Sonic! Behind you!" Sonic turned just in time to receive a powerful punch from Broad. Sonic was sent crashing into the wall in a big pile of smoke. Sonic tried his best to stand up, but was only able to muster enough strength to stand on his knees. "What's the deal?" Sonic moaned, "I only took one punch, but it felt like fifty."

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" Eggman said, trying to sound innocent, "Our friend Broad has been infused with the powers of the Master Emerald, making him invincible."

Broad smiled, "That's right, and I didn't even use half of my power on that punch."

'Great', Sonic thought, 'This is gonna be tougher than I thought.'

Knuckles quickly dodged another ice beam, as the robot prepared to fire another one. Knuckles was desperately trying to go on the offensive. 'It's no good,' Knuckles thought, as he dodged another blast, 'Every time I try to get close enough to attack, it fires at me. It just won't quit. It's taking all my speed just to stay one step ahead of that thing.'

Then Knuckles noticed something going straight for the robot's head from behind. It connected with a powerful kick. Sparks began flying from the robot's head, as the object landed on the ground by Knuckles.

Knuckles was shocked, "Rouge!?!"

Rouge turned to Knuckles, "Now's your chance, get 'em!"

Knuckles looked at the robot. Rouge was right, she had kicked the robot so that it's eyes were no longer glowing, which meant that the robot was totally blind. Not wasting any more time, Knuckles charged at the penguin robot and used his Drill Claw Attack to go straight through the robot, causing the robot to explode. Knuckles walked over to Rouge, "What are you doing here?"

"Gee, your welcome." Rouge said, sarcastically.

"Fine, thank you. Now answer the question." Knuckles said impatiently.

"Lets just say that, Eggman breaking that Broad guy out of jail got the president's attention. He sent me to find out what the doctor is up to. Why are you here?"

"Eggman stole the Master Emerald. He also kidnaped Amy and lured Sonic here, probably to use the power of the Emerald to get rid of him."

Rouge, a little taken back by the news, "Is Sonic inside that place?" pointing to Eggman's base. Knuckles nodded. "We've got get in there and help him." Rouge said, ready for action.

"What do you think I've been trying to do?" Knuckles shouted, as he pointed to the dents that he made in the door.

"Don't tell me you can't even get though that little door." Rouge sighed.

Knuckles folded his arms, "You think you can do any better?"

"Just watch me." Rouge began to rapidly kick the door in the spot that Knuckles had already been working on. Knuckles smiled, 'I have to admit, she's tough.' Then Knuckles walked up to the door and began pounding it, alongside Rouge.

Meanwhile back inside the base, Sonic was running around at top speed, trying to keep ahead of his pursuer. Sonic was shocked as he looked over his shoulder, 'That Emerald must have really juiced him up. I'm running full throttle, and he doesn't even look like he's working up a sweat yet.' Broad suddenly disappeared. "What the? Where did he go?" Sonic looked in front of him to see Broad coming right at him. Not being able to react fast enough, Sonic received a knee in the stomach. Then Broad began rapidly landing punches in Sonic face, laughing the entire time.

Eggman was practically howling with glee, "This is wonderful. Sonic is being turned into mashed potatoes. It won't belong until he is completely destroyed."

Broad delivered a powerful kick, sending Sonic crashing into the wall once again. Amy looked in horror as Sonic lay there motionless. After a few minutes Sonic began to slowly get up. Broad chuckled under his breath, "Well Sonic, you are determined if nothing else. But surely you realize that it is useless to fight me. I am all powerful."

Sonic was halfway up and started to laugh as he showed his trademark smile, "Well,..... at least ...... your modest."

Eggman grinned, "You never disappoint me Sonic. Confident to the bitter end." He turned to Broad, "Finish him off."

Amy shouted, close to tears, "Sonic, please give up. If you keep fighting like this..."

"No," Sonic shouted, as he finally managed to stand up, "I'm not gonna quit. I've never given up before, and I'm not gonna start now."

Broad got into a fighting stance, "Very well then. Time to end this."

AN: Whoa! Will Sonic survive his fight with Broad? Will Knuckles and Rouge make it there in time? Will I ever get my VCR to stop blinking twelve o clock? (Probably no to that last one.) Please review. I like reviews.

NEXT TIME: The Master Emerald's true power.