SONIC AND THE IMPREGNABLE WARLORDS

Chapter One --- First Encounter

"Knuckles?" The red echidna stood firm, as usual, allowing his hair to flow freely in the pleasant breeze. He turned his head slightly, and then looked back out to sea. Sonic approached cautiously, he knew what his friend was like in this state. "I'm fine. Go back to your friends, I need to be alone." "Would you at least look at me?" Knuckles turned around and sat down on the wet sand. Sonic joined him. The foaming water lapped at their feet calmly, and it soothed their aching toes. "I'm lonely..." Sonic didn't know what to say. Knuckles looked away, then back at Sonic again. "I see you and Tails and Amy, happy and sad, but you see it through thick and thin, but still, I have to guard the Master Emerald." At this point, Knuckles withdrew a shell from the water and crushed it into small pieces in his hand. "What about... you know... her?" "Rouge? Ha! She works for the government, I'm lucky to see her once in a blue moon!" He looked at the shell, and then tossed the shards aside in disgust. "Hey... what's that?" Just on the horizon, out at sea, several large silhouettes appeared, shaped like great men. They stopped, in full sight of the echidna and hedgehog, and then called to each other in a foreign language. They emitted terrifying screams, and then retreated into the mist. "What?" Then, from the smoke, several of the men blasted forward, flames roaring from their backs, cutting through the water and slashing it to either sides of them. "What on Ear...?" They rocketed to the shore, then, with a deafening roar, steamed upwards. "Hmm... the new robotic ballet?" "Ha Ha!" They plummeted back down, then stopped, just before impact and stepped into the water.

The two stood up, and ran into the waters. Three of the titans aimed a large gun, mounted on their arms at Sonic. "Oh really?" Suddenly, Sonic darted around; creating a mirage of several hedgehogs, then ran towards them and jumped upwards, then homed in on one of the great machines. The monster was dazed, and the additional damage of Sonic's leap sent him flailing wildly backwards into the water. Small flickers of blue electricity shot around the intricate hulk of metal, then it exploded in a flurry of fire and metal.

The others looked back, and then at Sonic. They aimed again, but this time, opened fire almost immediately, blasting yellow beams at him. Sonic kept moving, but didn't see the third monster, as it fired coils of thunder at him, which entwined his small body and brought him to his knees. "Sonic!" The hedgehog screamed in severe and excruciating pain, then tried to put the lightning out using the sand around him. The monster howled with laughter at the sight of this squirming body, yelping in pain, only to look back and only catch a glimpse of a spiked fist smash him to oblivion. It whirled around for a bit, then it too exploded, throwing intense flames around the echidna.

He looked at the other three, and turned to them. Again, they raised their guns, but Knuckles held a... "Chaos Emerald!?!" Shouted Sonic in between several howls of grief. They fired at him, but he held it in front, and as the beams made contact, the monsters realized what had happened, just before the beams shot back at them. They fell in a curtain of fire, and then blew into millions of pieces, with Knuckles still illuminated by the emerald, hovering above their smouldering wrecks. The defiled machines buzzed with electricity every so often as Knuckles ran away towards his friend. The whip of thunder disappeared, revealing several burns down Sonic's chest. "Weird... Guess we'll have to wait 'til CHAPTER 2 --- MALEVOLENT KING to solve this one..."

CHAPTER 2 --- Malevolent King

"Sonic? Are you cool?" "Yeah..." Knuckles carefully helped his friend up, and then looked around at the wrecks. He pulled out the emerald and showed it to Sonic. "Amazing..."

Tails suddenly came into view, followed by Amy dangling from his grasp and Rouge, flying wearily across the oceans. They landed with a thud on the sand. "R...Rou...Rouge?" Knuckles took several steps back, then scraped at the sand with his heel. "No time..." All three were gasping for air, and then sat on the sand.

"You were lucky my Knucky Wucky was here to save you Sonic!" Said Rouge after examining the defiled hulks of metal. "Ha!" Laughed Sonic, watching Knuckles' cheeks turn bright pink. "Uh... so what are you guys doing here?" "Well... It's like this..." Began Rouge...

Rouge tapped quietly away at her computer, wearily gazing at the screen. "Huh... I'm sooooo bored!" Suddenly, her computer bleeped and the message appeared: You've got mail! "Oh Joy!" She thought. "Hi Rouge?
I hope I got your E-Mail address correct; otherwise I'm in deep trouble! OK, I'm currently on holiday with Amy at Emerald Coast, but our peace was broken by several robotic warriors trying to find you and Knuckles for the Master Emerald, as their proclamation read. Now, I haven't a clue what this is about but will you please find us? ~~~Tails~~~"

"Holy Sploops on a stick!" She shouted and ran from her cubicle. "Rouge, I need these reports in triplicate!"

"So... this still doesn't make sense!" Knuckles was busy drawing hearts in the sand and Sonic was completely puzzled. "*Sigh!*, Ok... After a while we discovered these robots were guardians of an item not too dissimilar from the Master Emerald Knuckles! And so we headed to find you... It appears these robots and their king dwell in a world far from these shores, and need the Emerald to rid their world of a foul demon by the name of Uriel... Got that?" "Yeah... So we gotta stop these jerks, hmm?" "Yep!"

Knuckles awoke from his coma and spoke softly to himself. "So it begins..." "What?" "Oh... nothing." "Are you sure?" Said Tails, "Do tell Knucky Wucky!" Knuckles flung himself forward and wrestled Tails to the floor. "Boys, please!" Shouted Amy.

"Hmph! Let's go then..." It was a fine sight to see, as off towards the horizon they ran, red, blue, pink, orange and white, illuminated by the setting sun, five souls about to depart on one of their most daring of challenges yet.

"Check out Chapter 3 --- The Ocean Battle for more hedgehog adventuring!"

CHAPTER 3 --- Ocean Battle

Upon the horizon, they saw a fleet of galleys, waiting for paying customers to travel across the great blue void. They approached the flock of sailors and slowly came to a halt next to a huge silver ship, with Destiny Ranger engraved on the hull. "Excuse me... Uh... we need a ship." Said Tails to one of the plump, yet burly sailors. "That'll be twenty coins for the red and blue ones. Ten for the kiddies and you, ma'am..." He said in his most suave of voices to Rouge, "Can get on free!" She slapped him strongly across the cheek, "Jerk!" They walked up the gangplank onto the wooden deck.

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles leaned on the side of the ship and sighed in turn at the fantastic view. "We'll go and get some snacks!" Said Rouge. "Yeah... I'm starving."

A few moments later they returned carrying a tray of crisps, cola and peanuts to the guys. They all stood, gazing out to the crystal blue waters, Knuckles and Rouge hand in hand of course, and ate, drank and joked. Suddenly, the boat rocked violently, splashing water over both sides and knocking them all to the deck. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" The insane laugh was unmistakeable. "Eggman..." From the waters, a large bulk of metal rose, water and foam falling from it's gears and pipes, and flew into the air. It then fell back into the ocean and coiled up like a snake. Then, without error, it launched itself at one of the galleys (Not the heroes boat!) and destroyed it, completely shattering the deck and mast, bending the iron and melting the canvas sails.

"What in the world?" "HA! So, trying to defeat my closest ally eh, sonic? I won't hear of it!" "You freak!" Shouted Knuckles, shaking his fist warningly at the bulk of metal. "Now, now, my friend. Watch your language around the ladies. Especially your girlfriend, Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Knuckles looked back at Rouge, and then stepped back down. "Ha! Now, Initiate the EGG COCKROACH!" "What?" The bulk suddenly moved and changed, until it stood high and mighty, as a huge metal cockroach, which giant sharp pincers on it's head.

It had, mounted on it's plated back, a spine of spikes, which made sure they didn't jump towards it. It also had, mounted in the hood of the armour, a small hole that emitted steam.

Knuckles, Tails and Sonic ran up to the top of the mast by climbing up ropes, then got a better view of the situation. "Ha! I pity you all. I fear this will all be over in but a few seconds!" Rouge and Amy watched in fear as the cockroach fired several jets of steam at Tails, sending his to the bottom of the sea. "TAILS!" "Sonic, you take the nutcase here, I'll rescue Tails, I can swim better than you." Sonic nodded at Knuckles, then jumped at the titan. "Not so fast!" Eggman suddenly released more steam, but this wasn't enough to put Sonic off. "AH! Get away!" Eggman paused, and then realized something. "Ha! Forgot those spikes on my machine's spine, didn't we?" "Oh... crud." Sonic leapt forwards then landed just between two spikes. "Lucky son of a gun!" "Get a load of this!" Sonic span around, then using his spines, tore a hole in the armour.

Back in the sea, Knuckles was searching frantically for Tails. He saw him, and then darted after his already sinking hand. "Not yet you don't!" Knuckles grabbed him then swam back to the boat. Eggman suddenly saw this sub-episode and kicked the water with a giant metal leg, causing a huge wave to knock Tails from Knuckles' grasp. "NO!" "Knuckl..." Tails' words were cut short as he sank slowly into the deep. "Ha ha ha!" Laughed Eggman, "Too easy!" Knuckles swam under, and then saw Tails hit the bottom of the ocean. He swam towards him, then grasped his hand and swam upwards. As he began to lose air, he felt dizzy. Swirling colours stunned his eyes, and he slowly fell asleep. They both landed on the sand of the seabed unconscious.

Meanwhile, Amy was watching Sonic's exploit and Rouge merely watched bubbles emerge from the spot where Knuckles had gone down. "I can't wait any more!" "Rouge, NO!" Shouted Amy. Rouge dived in and flung herself down, and seeing Knuckles and Tails on the sand she wept, but then knew it was not too late, and caught their hands. Tears in her eyes mixed with the salt water as she kicked frantically up. They emerged seconds later, to the surprise of Amy. "Yeah! You did it!" They helped Knuckles and Tails onto the ship, and then watched Sonic.

Sonic had torn a hole in the plating and was now jumping up and down of the soft inner technology.

"Just like cracking walnuts!" The titan staggered, then rays of light pierced through the shell. "Time to leave!" Said Sonic. The machine exploded, which was strange, because Eggman's cries of "Noooooo!" were louder than the explosion itself! Sonic landed perfectly on the deck, and ran instantly over to the two darkened bodies on deck.

"See Chapter 4 --- Haven is Found to continue with the gang's exploit!"

Chapter 4 --- Haven is Found

"Tails! Knuckles! Speak to me!" Sonic shook the bodies. He pressed down on Tails' chest while Rouge did the same to Knuckles. "No! This will not happen now... not now!" Sonic kept saying while Rouge quietly sobbed to herself. Her tears hit Knuckles' chest and she sat back. "It's... over... Sonic." "NO!" Suddenly, Tails jerked up, coughed water, which was slightly green in colour out onto deck and cried to himself in fear. "Come on Tails calm down!" Said Sonic patting him on the back. They all turned to Knuckles. Rouge was now pressing on his chest again. "1...2...3..." "1...2...3..." "1...2...3..." "No..." Sobbed Amy. "No." Said Knuckles, "Not yet." "Ha ha! He did it!" Knuckles' eyes were still shut. Rouge rejoiced and pecked him softly on the cheek. "Hmph!" Knuckles' cheeks glowed bright pink again. "You had us worried." Said Tails, still with tears in his eyes.

Knuckles sat up slowly and coughed some water onto the deck. "Yep... you're fine!"

Later, they sat in their cabin; Knuckles, Rouge and Tails were wrapped in towels. "Phew! I'm absolutely shattered!" Gasped Sonic. "Yeah..." A whistle blew, and from a loud speaker came the voice of the captain. "We have reached out final destination Charming Haven." "Where?"

They walked from the gangplank onto lush green grass, softened by glistening dew like small crystals sleeping on green hammocks. "Woah..." Gasped Sonic. Water rolled clear and pure from waterfalls to diamond lakes, surrounded by perfectly green trees and deep blue skies. "Picturesque..." Sighed Rouge. "Adorable..." Giggled Amy. "Pretty..." Said Tails. "Hmph!" Grunted Knuckles.

They walked through a wilderness of pure green and brown, well lit by lanterns, which were hanging conveniently from the tree branches. "A signpost." Said Tails. The signpost read: HAVEN --- LEFT TOWN SQUARE --- RIGHT "Which way?" "Aw, let's just go ... ... ... ... left!"

They walked through lush green, crisp grass and gazed at the wondrous plants surrounding them. As they walked, a sweet, sweet breeze filled their lungs and made them sigh. They slowly approached a marble building, surrounded by waterfalls and grass, completely perfect. "Good evening weary travellers, welcome to Haven..." trailed off the soft voice of a lady, wearing a pearl white robe, with deep blue hair and green eyes. "... I am Elzu of the Haven Guardians. I am the princess of Kacha the Fallen One. And you are?" "Eh? Oh, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, just call me Sonic!" "I'm Amy Rose! Call me Amy!" Said Amy, just before a very elegant courtesy. "I'm Miles, but everyone else calls me Tails!" Said Tails, pointing at his dusty tails behind him. "Rouge the Bat! Rouge to friends." Said Rouge, also curtseying. They all looked at Knuckles, who had his eyes shut, keeping his eyes away from hers, with his arms folded. "Knuckles." He said. "Excuse me, but you do have a hotel or something don't you?" Asked Tails. "Ha! This IS the hotel. Haven welcomes travellers. We will treat you like kings, but first, you need a bath." She said, looking around at the footsore, muddy creatures before her.

Sonic had just finished his bath, and he decided to explore this new 'hotel'. He entered what seemed to be a games room, where Tails was playing on a pinball machine. "Hi! Isn't this place awesome?" "Yeah!"

Then, he saw Amy talking to Elzu about girly subjects. "Hi Sonic! I was just thanking Elzu for her amazing hospitality!" "Yeah, sorry, I forgot to thank you." "That's fine! Just enjoy yourself."

Sonic then saw that Knuckles and Rouge were cuddled up on a sofa watching a film. As they started to kiss he decided to leave them be, and go for a jog. Just as he was about to exit, he saw a grandly dressed man, wearing a silver crown. He walked up to him, but saw that another man was talking to him. "Yes sir, they will attack soon. Those cursed metal soldiers!" "We are not enough!" "Indeed." Sonic knew what they meant. "Sir..." Said Sonic quietly, "Maybe I can help. I assume you mean those robots? Because if so, me and my friends can destroy them ourselves!" "WHAT? Ha!" Sonic grew angry. "Sorry, but it's just that you're so small!" "Me and my friends will beat them! I am SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!" "WHAT? THE Sonic the Hedgehog? And Tails and Knuckles, Amy and Rouge?" "Yes." "Oh! Long have my people waited for this day! The heroes finally are here to rescue us from their evil clutches!" "Just call my guys and we'll be ready!" A loudspeaker shouted through the peaceful building. "SONIC'S FRIENDS PLEASE REPORT TO FRONT DESK FOR BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS..." "Crud!" Shouted Knuckles, "I was just getting in the bath as well!"

"See Chapter 5 --- ON THE ROAD for the concluding part of this part of the story... Then see BOOK 2 --- THE EVE OF DESTRUCTION for the conclusion to the whole thing!"

CHAPTER 5 --- ON THE ROAD

"Tails, are you in position?" "Yeah!" Tails was manning a Sniper Rifle he had created, hidden away in an arrow slit of a nearby outpost. "Okay guys, let's do this!" "Yeah!" "Okay!" "Hmph!"

"Knuckles, you act as the first barrier! Stop as many as you can getting through!" Knuckles nodded and ran into the forest. "Amy, you stay with me, and we'll finish any which do get through Knux." "Sure thing!" "Tails, you help Knux and pick off anything attacking him!" "A-OK!"

"Rouge, you can fly overhead and help anyone in trouble!"

"No problem!"

After Sonic shouted his orders, they stood, waiting in an awful silence. Amy scratched her heel with her foot. "I'm scared..." "No time for that now! Here they come."

Meanwhile, Knuckles was fighting his way through green trees and bushes. "Huh?" The earth was shaking beneath his feet. "Heh heh! Let's get it on!"

Three robots, blue in colour appeared, wielding massive swords as well as their guns this time. They were at first taken aback by this red creature, standing in their way. All it took was one shot and they would finish him, but still he stood firm. They shrugged and opened fire. "AH!" Knuckles jumped past the beams, then glided into one, before smashing it in the chest. "Ha, ha, ha!" The remaining two swung their swords, hitting Knuckles in the left arm. Blood sprayed everywhere, but it wasn't as bad as it first seemed. "Ack! You stupid imbecile! I'm gonna settle your hash now!" Knuckles leapt up, then came rocketing down, slicing them both into bits. They exploded in a blast of flames, casting Knuckles backwards, blood strewn across his face. He lay, shaking in pain, under several rocks, which were crushing his leg. "I don't need any help. I'm KNUCKLES for goodness sake!" Another warrior smashed through the trees and raised his blade. Knuckles shut his eyes. "NO!" Rouge plummeted down and smashed the robot into tiny pieces. She helped him up. "..." "Well?" "Hmph!" "Come on!" "*Sigh!* ... Thanks..." "He he!" She pecked him on the cheek and blushed. "No time for that now! Let's do this. Sonic's counting on us!"

They ran forward, him swinging his fists wildly, her kicking madly at the hunks of metal. As they began to fall in sheets of flame, Eggman began to watch. "No, no, no! Bungling fools!" Knuckles cut his way through, until he could see Eggman in his saucer. "Ha!" He helped Rouge over a log, and then turned to the laughing fiend. "If it isn't Knuckles! Ha, ha, ha! You should have stayed back!" "Eh?" Suddenly, a mass of metal warriors, at least a thousand, leapt from the bushes and rocketed towards the Haven. "Ack!" Knuckles was stunned. He watched them shoot off and could hear Sonic shouting, "Here they come!" "Knuckles, help!" He rushed round, then saw Rouge in they grasp of a large, metal hand attached to the saucer. "No! You complete and utter..." "Now, now, Knucklehead! Ha, ha, ha! Too easy! Adieu, until we meet again ha, ha, ha, ha!" He flew off towards a mountain. Knuckles fell to his knees in pain.

Back at the Haven, Sonic was fighting madly at the monsters. "..." "Sonic, there's too many." "You're right! Run!" They ran towards the keep, Tails firing madly at the robots. They fell, but slowly, and not enough at a time. "Where's Knuckles and Rouge?" "Dunno. Hang on, there he is!" Knuckles walked out, his face streaming with tears. He looked up, his eyes narrowed. "I'll crush you all for this!" He ran towards them all, madly. He didn't even dodge the bullets, just ran, swinging fists madly at them, smashing them down into piles of scrap. A few shots hit him in the arms and legs, leaving gashes up them, streaked with blood, but still he ran, smashing away. "Eh?" At the end, the wrecks lay completely massacred, steam and smoke whisking around them, Knuckles standing on top of their defiled bodies. Sonic, Tails and Amy crawled up the wrecks, and approached Knuckles. He staggered, clutched his wounds and fell down the pile. "Knuckles!" ... "ACK! Rouge, no!" Knuckles found himself sitting up in a silk bed, panting and covered in sweat. He looked around at his friends staring at him, and then sighed as his head hit the pillow. "You okay dude?" Asked Sonic. "You've been delirious for quite some time." "Huh... I'm fine." "What was that about 'Rouge?'" "Man, I suck as a fighter..." "No you don't Knuckles. You're our best fighter!" "No! I let them take her... I tried... DAMN THAT EGGMAN!" His friends stared as he closed his eyes, letting a single tear hit the sheets. "Don't worry pal! We'll save her. Trust me." "Thanks guys." 'Sonic and Co. are off to rescue Rouge! Check it out in Book 2 --- Uriel At Last!' Sonic & The Impregnable Warlords!

Book 2 --- Uriel at Last

CHAPTER 1 --- Looking for leads

"Uh, Sonic, I appreciate you helping me find her, but is it really necessary to keep me in bed?" "Yeah, Knuckles, I mean, you just had your flesh torn by those robots, so you can't see any more action for a while." "Aw, man!" Sonic left Amy to guard Knuckles while he and Tails started to search for clues. "Sonic, look!" Tails removed from the debris of the destroyed robots... "The Chaos Emerald! Of course! Knuckles must have dropped it!" "This little beauty can help us find her, if we return it to the Master Emerald Altar!" "Yeah!"

A while later, they reached the altar, but... "It's not there!" "Nor are any of the Chaos Emeralds Sonic, ha, ha, ha, ha!"