The Fallen
Chapter 3/3
The Forgiven
Brian Bloomfield
Knuckles and Rotor both shook Griff's hand one more time.
Rotor shook his head gratefully. "Man, Griff. I can't tell you how grateful we are that you threw a Fuel Cell in with the deal. I can't believe mine went dead."
Knuckles nodded in agreement. "Yeah, without this cell, our plan would be finito."
Griff cocked his head and shrugged. "Well, you guys sure did give us more then enough in return. In fact, I would have given a cargo hauler to you instead of the cell, but I couldn't spare one with everything you gave us. By the way, I am just a little curious as to what you're going to do with these emeralds. You did mention your plan…but you never went into any detail."
After a moment of hesitation, Rotor glanced at Knuckles. "It's your call."
Knuckles bit his lower lip, and spoke. "Well Griff, let me put it like this. I'm going back in time to save the woman I love, and I need the emeralds to do it."
Griff lost all color in his face. After being quiet for a moment, he turned to Rotor. "Is he sane?"
Rotor nodded his head. "He showed me his book about the powers of the emeralds. It's the real deal.
Griff grabbed Knuckles' shoulders. "How far back are you going?"
Knuckles sighed. "I have an exact date to focus on. I know exactly where I need to go. June 5th, 4351, over Robotropolis."
Griff grinned. "The day the storm ended. Do you realize what you can do now?"
Until that moment, Knuckles was consumed wholly with the thought of saving Rouge. It never even occurred to him he might be able to save everyone else along with her.
"Holy shit…" Knuckles said weakly. He felt his legs wobble beneath him. He took several deep breaths.
Griff laughed. "Exactly!"
Griff's beeper went off. He looked at the display. His face went an ashen color.
"Oh my God…I have to get back right away. Rotor, Knuckles." They nodded at the goat as he got in one of the transports. The entire fleet sped off into the forest.
Rotor shook his head. "I wonder what that was all about…Oh well; our cargo ship is loaded up. Ready to go?"
Knuckles shrugged. "Time is like a frozen pond for me to skate across now. Gilmore, one of my favorite poets said that. It's true for me now, isn't it?"
Rotor nodded. "In a way Knuckles, it's true for us all. Now it's true for us all."
Rotor and Knuckles boarded the cargo ship and closed the hatch. A moment later it took off into the Mobian sky.
*****
"Griff, we have bad news and we have worse news." Dirk said to his leader as soon as he entered the control room.
Griff shook his head and sighed. "What's the bad news?
"The north tunnel is starting to buckle. I've reallocated power to the tunnel, but all the other tunnels are getting unstable from the power loss."
"No worry. I'm having the energy workers install the other half of the Power Stone now. We'll have practically unlimited power from now on. See? The new half just got attached. Look at those power readings!"
Dirk smiled as he readjusted the power in the cavern. His face went dark again after he was finished. "There's something else, Griff. I haven't told anyone else yet…"
Dirk kicked his chair to another console and punched in his access code. The Lower Mobians also acted like a sort of Mission Control for the Mountain Star, and this was the telescope observatory console. Griff brought the telescope on the Mountain Star's position. Or where the Mountain Star should have been.
"Its gone sir…She's gone, right in thin air…"
Griff sat at the open operators console and gazed at the image on the screen. "Impossible!" Griff shouted. A glint of light caught his eye. He sat the telescope to auto-track the spaceship's path. After the telescope was calibrated, He zoomed the image in.
Closer.
And Closer.
Closer.
Finally, Griff found what he was looking for. Bodies floated free among twisted sheets of steel, some still in leaking cryotubes. The Mountain Star had been destroyed.
Griff sat back in shock. Finally, he spoke. "Well, Knuckles, it's all in your hands now."
*****
Knuckles felt his body being pulled backwards as the transport lifted off from Knothole for the last time. The miniature colony, without the Chaos emerald to power it, was completely dead. Rotor set his course and the transport headed up towards the cloud ceiling so many feet up. Knuckles was going to say something to Rotor, but he suddenly blacked out. He immediately began to dream.
*****
Knuckles awoke to the sound of an iron forge in full swing, the smell of melting iron and steal filling his nostrils. His back ached slightly, and he realized that he was lying on a metallic table of sorts. He opened his eyes to discover he was in a blacksmith's forge. Four individuals stood on each side of the table, each wearing a festive mask of a sort, except the mask sent a foreboding chill through Knuckle's body. Three of the "people", if they could be called that, were the Ancient Walkers, and even with the mask on, he recognized Destiny as the fourth figure.
The man to his right nodded his head at the others. "Very well. Let us begin." Each figure picked up a small earthen container off of an unseen platform surrounding the table. They each took a turn at the head of the table, each smearing a substance on Knuckle's forehead. He tried to move, and discovered, to no surprise, that he was unable to. After each had finished, they began to chant in an unusual tongue, something that Knuckles, even in his former dealing with the walkers, was unfamiliar with. Suddenly they stopped and removed their masks. Nothing but a vast, empty darkness was underneath, except for Destiny, whose shining face was once again reveled.
"It is done. It is in the guardians hands now. There is nothing more we can do." All four backed away from the table, disappearing into the inky darkness surrounding Knuckles.
Knuckles felt himself rise into the air, and he was suddenly he was awake, remembering nothing of the Rite. They had just landed on Angel Island, and Tails was walking towards their craft. It was time. Knuckles sighed and opened the door. Rotor soon followed.
*****
At the sight of Knuckles, Tails felt his mouth drop open. It was a natural reaction, as he hadn't seen his friend in 15 years. The last time Tails tried to visit him, the echidna hid from him. He walked up to Knuckles, who had hopped out while Rotor shut the transport down. Tails held out his hand, which Knuckles gripped tightly and shook. Tails slowly nodded his head.
"It's good to see you again Knuckles. It appears that the years have been agreeable to you. You've hardly changed." Knuckles smiled at the fox.
"The same goes for you, my friend. I'm glad I've finally come back…I've missed you and Amy."
Tails nodded towards the house. "Ames and Sam are inside the house." Tails then realized there was someone still in the craft. "Knux, who did you bring with you?"
Just before Rotor climbed out of the ship, Knuckles laughed at Tails. "A very old friend of yours."
"Oh Destiny…Rotor!" Tails ran over to his old mentor and hugged him. "We thought you had died in the destruction of Knothole!" Rotor shrugged. "I barely made it to the underground dock before the storm hit. How's Amy? I hear you have a daughter? What's her name?"
"Sam. Both of you, enough questions!" Tails laughed. "Just come inside!"
They both followed Tails into his home.
*****
As they entered, Tails winked at Amy, who nodded curtly back. Her eyes swelled up to the size of tea saucers when she saw Knuckles and Rotor walk in. She jumped over to them and squeezed them into a bear hug. "I never thought I'd see you two again!" She leaned back away from them. "Knuckles, welcome home." Knuckles smiled at her, his eyes misting up. Even after 15 years, he was still their friend. "Thanks Ames." She turned to Rotor. "Where in the world have you been? We thought you were dead!" He laughed and nodded. "Well, I've been piecing together the remains of Knothole, and I've learned more about Chaos Emeralds and related technology then Robotnik ever knew, maybe even Charles." She let go of both of them. "Sit down, please. We have a lot to talk about."
All four people took a seat at the square table. A crystal vase of pink Carnations sat in the middle.
"Tail, Amy, I'm going to go right to the heart of the matter, but if I can do what I'm planning to do, then we can have 20 years to catch up on the last 15." They all looked at him funny, as he realized too late that you can't talk about time travel in present tense. He shook his head and continued. "What I'm saying is this: I'm going to use the chaos eme-" Tails cut Knuckles off.
"We know Knuckles. The emerald chamber is already unlocked." Tails pulled Knuckles journal out from under the table and handed it to him. He shook his friend's hand. "Whatever happens Knuckles, I hope we see you on the flip side." Knuckles gripped the bound book, finally setting it down on the table. He smiled at all of them.
"No need to take this with me. If all goes well…it will never exist." Knuckles walked over to the closet in the corner. By pushing on a certain spot on the wall, a hidden elevator opened up. He looked back one more time.
"Good-bye, my friends." Knuckles pushed the down button, and the elevator doors slid shut. He began his descent into the abyss of Angel Island's interior.
*****
"Hello Guardian. It has been 15 years, 3 months, 14 days, 15 hours, and 27 minutes since your last visit." The emerald spoke to Knuckles in the rich tongue of the ancient echidna, which only Knuckles could understand. He sat in front of the emerald, which was shining brightly, and began to meditate. He always did this before taking control of the Master. If he lost focus while in control of the powerful emerald, he could cause the island to break in half from the sudden out rush of power.
He began to think of Rouge, and the last time he had saw her alive. He remembered her as being so youthful, so vibrant. Personally, he thought that is was a sin that she was taken out of the world. He sighed deeply, the deep wounds on his soul slowly reopening with fresh pain. He gritted his teeth tightly and grabbed the emerald. It flared at his touch, at the raw emotion pouring from his soul.
"Not this time. Not this time…" Knuckles intoned the Chaos Emerald chant, his voice rising in fury so he almost screamed the last line. "Fa're l'e Serve're Ve'nir!"
The chamber shook with energy as the long reaching powers of the Master Emerald was awakened. It was sending out the command. The four remaining emeralds were coming home.
Fifteen minutes later, all the emeralds, including the ones collected so far by Knuckles, were perched atop the master in a star shape.
Knuckles cracked his neck and grabbed hold of the master emerald one last time. This time only two things filled his mind; the date he was headed two, and the thought of Rouge.
Knuckles gasped as a cold chill suddenly filled him. Everything around him in the chamber seemed less…real then it was the moment before, With the exception of the master emerald and the seven servers. He gasped as he saw a ghost of himself walk backwards and get into the elevator. He realized he was in a time shift.
"This is it, now or never." Knuckles placed all of his willpower on that date so many years ago, so many miles and lives ago. It was hard to explain, but he felt himself slide away from his physical self. After that, there was nothing but darkness.
*****
Knuckles exhaled sharply as all of his senses overwhelmed him at once. The acrid smell of smoke filled the battleground where he stood. The empty, scarred landscape was filled with twisted metal and sand. He recognized it as Robotropolis after the Phoenix had been detonated.
"Oh my god, this is before the battle ever took place." Knuckles looked at his watch, and saw he was a day early.
Suddenly, all around him thousands of sentinels erupted through the rubble, and Knuckles realized that he had arrived just before Bunnie was Robotisized. He focused, and found that his willpower over time around him was still active. He just couldn't travel back further without the emeralds. He quickly stopped time before the sentinels spotted him. He jumped up and began to glide through the air, looking for the hatch to the main computer. After a few moments he found it. He had stopped time just before the hatch had sealed fully, so he quickly jumped inside the underground chamber. It was dark, but Knuckles gradually began to make out a pair of red eyes in the darkness.
It was Bunnie.
She was Robotisized.
As this was the instrument of death for Rouge, he really couldn't bring himself to feel much pity for this mechanical slave, but none the less, he did feel pity. How could he not? How could anyone not?
He opened a grate in the corner of the room, next to a display console. He climbed inside and unfroze time. As he did so, he felt the residual power from the emeralds drain out of him. He was here, all alone, with no weapon, and a killer rabbit less then 15 feet away. It didn't matter, as he soon found out. He heard the rabbit go about its business, whatever its "business" was. He realized there was nothing left to do. Nothing but to sleep, and to wait, and to hope. Hope for himself. Hope for Rogue. Hope for everyone.
*****
Above the computer compartment, the laser turrets were firing at full speed, but the storm was interfering with their lock-on. Inside the computer room, Bunnie Rabbot stood at attention. Her display flashed a single, simple message: PRIORITY ONE: PROTECT PHOENIX MAINFRAME
The laser gun on her arm rotated barrels, increasing the laser power. She was ready for the intruders. Nothing will interrupt her master's plan. Nothing.
*****
Tails opened the rear cargo door as another blast hit the Tornado. They all jumped from the plane into the open air behind the plane. They were way past the outer edge of the storm and could see the city they were diving toward. The city itself was in ruins, as far as they could see. A sea of robotic soldiers stood ready as the laser turrets took out the Tornado. It blew apart in a ball of flame, wreckage flying everywhere. They all opened their chutes.
*****
Tails, upon hitting the ground, pulled out a machine gun Rouge had found and started shooting robots with it. Wave after wave came toward him, and he soon found himself running out of ammo for the gun. The robots never slowed down, just walked over their fallen counterparts. He discarded the empty machine pistol and pulled his handguns, placing shots into the heads of the soldiers. Soon, he was out of ammo for those too. He started punching the robots, realizing he was fighting a futile battle.
'Well, at least I'll go out swinging.' Tails thought to himself as he ducked a punch from a robot and quickly came back up with a right hook.
*****
Amy was running out of ammo. Her arrow quiver was now empty, and her last clip had five shots left. She quickly used those and started thinking quickly. She had only one idea to survive, and she didn't know if it would work.
"I hope Sonic knew what he was talking about." Amy murmured to herself as she jumped into the air and began to spin sideways, pointing her shoes downward. Hitting the ground, she burrowed down beyond the robots reach.
"Sorry guys. I'm out of the fight." Amy sighed, trying to get comfortable in her hideout.
*****
Rouge pushed the button on the EMP device she had brought and all the robots in a 10 foot radius of her dropped. Robots continued to pile up as they tried to walk toward their newly acquired target. She had seen the gleaming cover to the computer core from the air and turned to land near it. She tried to pull the cover open, but it was sealed tight. She pulled out a small cutting torch and cut a hole in the sheet of steel. She grabbed her bag and jumped into the hole.
Landing gracefully, Rouge saw the computer instantly. She tossed her bag against the machine and turned toward the exit. She came face to face with the robotisized Bunnie. She was sent sailing across the room by an uppercut from the solid metal fist.
"Going somewhere?" Bunnie asked in a metallic voice, dripping with contempt. On the main monitor, a small window opened, reporting Mind Control, 5% complete.
"You all believe in Destiny." Bunnie spoke softly, walking over to the stunned Rouge. She was dragged roughly off of the floor by the back of her neck. Yelping in pain, Rouge was brought to Bunnie's face.
"Robotnik is the only GOD! Before you leave here, you will be touched, cleansed of the flesh, the temptation, by his holy device, as I was." Bunnie dropped Rouge back to the floor and sharply kicked her in the ribs. "DO YOU SEE!?" Bunnie shouted at Rouge.
Gasping slowly, she thought of Knuckles, and what the future may have held.
'I'm sorry Knuckles.' Rouge silently thought to herself as she pushed herself up and pulled a small remote out of her pocket.
*****
The second the remote was pulled out of Rouge's pocket, the full realization hit him, the realization that she had been willing to sacrifice so much, for him and the others. Why shouldn't he do the same? As he opened the cover on the floor and stood up, ready to attack, one thought was on his mind.
She won't be taken from me again.
*****
Rouge saw Knuckles stand up a second before she was going to detonate the bomb. Her finger pressed hard to the right of the detonation button, and she dropped the remote.
Rabbot began to laugh. "An explosive device? That's about the only way your going to destroy me!"
Knuckles stepped forward and saw that Rabbot was standing in front of a high voltage electrical box. It was a backup to the primary that fed the main computer. He tapped Rabbot on the shoulder. "Excuse me."
She turned in surprise at someone else being in the room. She had barely enough time to register his species when he spoke again.
"Try this one out then." Knuckles leaped into the air and kicked Bunnie as hard as he could in the chest plate. She flew backwards into the power box. High amperage electricity immediately shorted out all of her critical systems. A few moments later, all of her systems crashed and she was dead. The electrical box now dead along with her, she collapsed to the concrete floor powerless and remained still. Knuckles turned and looked at Rouge, still crumpled on the floor. After a moment of shock, she jumped to her feet and bear-hugged him. She began to weep, and Knuckles did the only thing he could think of. He stood their, holding her and trying to calm her down. After a few moments, she pulled away from him and looked in his eyes.
"You knew I was in trouble, and you came for me."
Knuckles smiled at her. "You have no idea just how right you are."
She did nothing, except gave him a kiss. In the first time in eons, Knuckles actually felt there was a reason to live.
Knuckles looked Rouge in the eyes. "Marry me."
She kissed him again. "We've only known each other for a few days, and I did kill you."
He faltered, and when he spoke next, his voice was shaky. "I have something to tell you, Rouge. I was never here when I should have been. Outside…well…outside, there is another Knuckles. He's the one that truly belongs here, with you. I'm from 20 years in the future, and you were going to die today." Knuckles felt the power of the chaos emeralds beginning to return, and he knew he was on the right path. He knew there was one last thing for him to do.
"I have to leave right now, but that man outside…he loves you. Trust me, I know. Don't make him wait twenty years." He let the power of the emeralds flow through him, and his spirit began to leave the time he was in. His last act was to brush his fingers against Rouge's cheek. "Goodbye."
Knuckles let the darkness consume him, this time letting himself completely go into the ether. His job was done. It was time for him to rest.
*****
Twenty Years Later, on Angel Island
*****
Knuckles read the last entry into his journal and closed the cracked leather book. He had found the book a few days ago lying on the grass, and it gave him insight into a world he never even knew existed. He know knew how Rouge was able to defeat Bunnie Rabbot. She had gotten assistance from him, oddly enough. And because of that, they were able to hack into the Phoenix mainframe and cancel the storm properly. Mobius was healthy again, it's oceans a bright sparkeling blue and the plains and forests a deep emerald green.
"Knuckles? It's dinnertime! Plus you promised Gray you would help him with his emerald control!" Rouge called from the house, right next to Tails and Amy's house. Knuckles smiled at the mention of Gray, their 14 year old son. He was training to be the next guardian of Angel Island. In his father's eyes, he would make a fine guardian. "And perhaps someday a fine husband to Sam." Knuckles mused out loud, thinking of the growing relationship between Knuckles and Tails children.
He stood to began to head for the house when something stopped him. He would discuss the journal and the past with Rouge tonight, that much was for sure, but did he really need the journal anymore? It told some of his past, and of a future that had never come to pass in his eyes. He was standing on the edge of Angel Island, and they were currently passing over Station Square, the world capital after the Phoenix disaster. He let the journal slip from his grasp and watched as it began to fall to the ground, far below. He turned to head for the house. As he went, he laughed a little and began to whistle. Yes sir, things were certainly looking up.
*****
Brian stopped and looked at the strange book lying cracked and damaged in his back yard. He kneeled down and opened the cover. He began to read the scrawling script he recognized as an echidna's cursive:
Journal Entry: April 16, 4371
It's been twenty years since that last battle, and my tale is finally told. After that…
The End
Saturday, April 24, 2004