Chapter 29
Long Time Coming
"I don't have time for this!" Sonic shouted as he slid out of the way of Knuckles, who slammed his fist into the ground right where Sonic had been a second ago. The echidna quickly turned and threw punch after punch in Sonic's direction. "Eggman's-been-messing-with-your-head!" he tried to reason with Knuckles. But again, nothing stopped Knuckles when he was fired up. So, it was fight time.
The echidna chuckled and jumped high up. Higher, higher, higher, until Sonic could no longer see him. "This is what I mean," Knuckles explained, though Sonic couldn't see him, "when I say I have the home-field advantage." "Yeah, but you're home crowd's booing and leaving early to beat the traffic," Sonic snapped back. But in reality, he was scared. Knuckles was crafty like this, he could pop out from anywhere and snap his back in two or bust his head in. If there was ever a time he needed his super-quick reflexes, this was it. The exit. He could make a run for the exit. Nah, no chance, Knuckles would catch him.
"Mistake!" the echidna laughed and he came out of nowhere to hammer Sonic in the stomach. Almost all the air inside Sonic rushed out of him at that moment as he fell down. Fool, he thought. He let his guard down. For less than a second, maybe, but the window of time had been enough to get him-and taunt him too.
"Alright pinky," Sonic wheezed as he got back up, "your fun and games are over. It's time we fought for real." Knuckles shrugged and jumped back up to the ceiling again. Good God, he didn't have a chance if he kept this up.
Then, an idea. Crazy enough to get himself flattened into a piece of salami, stupid enough to work.
He made a run for it.
"Mistake two!" Knuckles bellowed as he came careening from the ceiling. But something happened that threw off Knuckles' timing. Sonic stopped. And the echidna buried his fist into the solid floor, shattering the top to pieces. He howled in incredible pain.
"Mistake!" In one smooth motion, Sonic grabbed Knuckles' arm, yanked it out of the hole, and threw him across the hallway into a wall. The body bounced off the wall into the air. Sonic blasted ahead, did a quick hop, and landed a picture perfect roundhouse to Knuckles' head, sending the echidna spinning to the ground. Better not let him back, he figured, and he dragged him up and threw him to the center of the room. Before Knuckles had a chance to react, Sonic was running towards him. WHAM! A heavy drop kick. Down went Knuckles again.
"C'mon, pinky," Sonic smiled, realizing he had a new insulting term to use on Knuckles. "Maybe I'm mistaken, but you're the one who wants to fight."
A groaning Knuckles rose to his feet again. "You think I'm done yet?" he growled. "I've got a few more tricks left." In a second, Knuckles burrowed underground.
"Not this bull again," Sonic groaned, and he jumped up to the ceiling. Knuckles would have to come up eventually. And if he didn't…
Sonic couldn't hold much longer. And Knuckles was still under. Was this his little trap, wait for him to fall and hammer him then? Well, he'd find some kind of loophole, no sweat. Three, two, one…
Down he fell. Time for his trusty little move. Once more, he curled into a ball and drilled into the ground. There he was! "Of all the dumb mistakes you have made…" Knuckles laughed once Sonic was all the way inside the tunnel. Sonic soon realized this as well. Knuckles was almost unbeatable underground. He needed to get out of there.
"No, you're not leaving," Knuckles countered, almost reading Sonic's mind. "You got yourself into this, you're gonna have to live with it." Then, shaking furiously, Knuckles planted his foot and charged towards Sonic. But Sonic was faster. He jumped out of his own hole and curled into a spinning ball once more. Just as he predicted, Knuckles popped his head out of the hole and came spiraling upward towards Sonic, fists bared and jutting forward.
The two collided in mid-air.
"Okay, let's clear this up right now," Amy told RaGiff once Blade had left the hovercar to get that armadillo he was chasing. "Tails isn't a traitor, and Blade isn't the bad guy." "Yep."
"Tails was trying to help Sonic and Blade at once with that little plan." "Uh huh."
"The Chaotix guys aren't bad, they just thought Sonic killed Knuckles." "Yeah."
"And now we're going to attack Eggman because Tails says he probably framed Sonic for killing Knuckles." "That's about the half of it."
"Anything I left out?" "Rouge is helping." "What?!?"
"Hiya!" Rouge cut in on the intercom, as if to confirm the point.
"We can't trust her!" Amy cried. "I'm shocked the government can, but she just abuses her rights to get more treasure!" "Rouge, is that right?" RaGiff asked, almost jokingly, figuring Amy just had a grudge against the bat. "Sure is." RaGiff's eyes widened, although no one could see it at that time. However, the long pause portrayed his feeling.
"Fine, whatever. Rouge is here, and we should utilize her skills in some way. You're real stealthy then, right?" "Hell ya. Can break into anything in the universe. Fort Knox is probably the easiest," she bragged. "Sure. Then you could prove useful…" Rapping on the window of the car. It was Blade. Tails pressed a button to open it. A sound of rushing air, then the door opened. Blade and the armadillo walked in, squeezing Amy and Tails together near the window. More space was created when Blade moved to the driver's seat, but it was still getting crowded. "This is Mighty," Blade explained to the group. "Everyone say hi." No one said anything. Not even RaGiff.
"Good, now that we know each other," Blade said, and he powered up the machine again. He checked the energy gauge. Medium. He had enough for now. "We're going to need as many people as possible. Mighty, where's the others you were with?"
"I don't know, but they're probably going to the Silver Mountains," Mighty answered. "But wait, I thought Eggman was supposed to be some prominent politician now." Blade thrust the acceleration lever forward. "So did I, but I'm not always right." "But I am," RaGiff piped up.
"Shaddup," Blade wanted to say, but a beeping sound caught his attention. It came from behind him, inside the car. Was someone attacking him? No, it was something Mighty was carrying. A radio of some sort. Blade couldn't hear anything but crackling and Mighty talking to whoever was on the other end.
"What? Where are you? All right, see ya." Finally, the armadillo pressed a button to turn it off. "Stay away from the mountain for a bit," Mighty told them. "Espio says there's an rockslide." "Great," Blade moaned. "Rouge, you hear me?" "Yeah, what?" "Touch down somewhere in the forest, and we'll meet up with you there. We've got to think of something else. Let's just get everyone together for a bit."
Normally, he would just run up, but to catch up to Knuckles, Espio decided to scale the mountain instead. He climbed easily-this rock was fairly soft compared to other mountains he had gone up before. It was tall, to be sure, but not too big. Plus, he had gotten faster through training.
Tiny pebbles fell from above, pelting him on the rare occasion. He'd been lucky so far. Most mountains had a couple big ones he had to move out of the way of. Knuckles was still quicker than him at scaling, so Espio needed every advantage he could to catch up.
Finally, he came to a trail. After almost five minutes of all-out climbing, running seemed like a cakewalk. He flipped himself onto the path and began to run up. His arms were heavy from the work, and his legs ached a bit, but running actually made them feel better.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from…where? Espio initially thought from the inside, but then it continued on. It must be from the top. That meant one thing-rock avalanche. He needed to get inside the mountain somehow. Just keep running, there must be a…
"Cave!" he yelled to nobody. He ducked inside the dark, dank cavern and flipped on his radio. "Mighty, Espio shouted into it, "Vector, Charmy, whoever can hear me, Silver Mountain is coming down. Stay away until I tell you." He was about to flip it off when Mighty came on.
"What?" "There's a rockslide on Silver Mountain. It's gonna crush anyone that comes near." "Where are you?" "I'm in some kind of cave. I'll call you again when it's safe." "All right, see ya."
Espio turned his attention to the other two.
"Charmy, do you hear me? Vector???"
Nothing but static. Great. What now?
Then, Espio heard something coming from inside the cave. Much deeper. Shouts and screams, shaking and cracking. He dashed on into the cave, then halted when he saw the spike pit. He figured there was more to come after this. Espio cracked his knuckles, cleaned off his horn, and put his hand out in front of him. Time for some of that ninja training to pay off.
Long Time Coming
"I don't have time for this!" Sonic shouted as he slid out of the way of Knuckles, who slammed his fist into the ground right where Sonic had been a second ago. The echidna quickly turned and threw punch after punch in Sonic's direction. "Eggman's-been-messing-with-your-head!" he tried to reason with Knuckles. But again, nothing stopped Knuckles when he was fired up. So, it was fight time.
The echidna chuckled and jumped high up. Higher, higher, higher, until Sonic could no longer see him. "This is what I mean," Knuckles explained, though Sonic couldn't see him, "when I say I have the home-field advantage." "Yeah, but you're home crowd's booing and leaving early to beat the traffic," Sonic snapped back. But in reality, he was scared. Knuckles was crafty like this, he could pop out from anywhere and snap his back in two or bust his head in. If there was ever a time he needed his super-quick reflexes, this was it. The exit. He could make a run for the exit. Nah, no chance, Knuckles would catch him.
"Mistake!" the echidna laughed and he came out of nowhere to hammer Sonic in the stomach. Almost all the air inside Sonic rushed out of him at that moment as he fell down. Fool, he thought. He let his guard down. For less than a second, maybe, but the window of time had been enough to get him-and taunt him too.
"Alright pinky," Sonic wheezed as he got back up, "your fun and games are over. It's time we fought for real." Knuckles shrugged and jumped back up to the ceiling again. Good God, he didn't have a chance if he kept this up.
Then, an idea. Crazy enough to get himself flattened into a piece of salami, stupid enough to work.
He made a run for it.
"Mistake two!" Knuckles bellowed as he came careening from the ceiling. But something happened that threw off Knuckles' timing. Sonic stopped. And the echidna buried his fist into the solid floor, shattering the top to pieces. He howled in incredible pain.
"Mistake!" In one smooth motion, Sonic grabbed Knuckles' arm, yanked it out of the hole, and threw him across the hallway into a wall. The body bounced off the wall into the air. Sonic blasted ahead, did a quick hop, and landed a picture perfect roundhouse to Knuckles' head, sending the echidna spinning to the ground. Better not let him back, he figured, and he dragged him up and threw him to the center of the room. Before Knuckles had a chance to react, Sonic was running towards him. WHAM! A heavy drop kick. Down went Knuckles again.
"C'mon, pinky," Sonic smiled, realizing he had a new insulting term to use on Knuckles. "Maybe I'm mistaken, but you're the one who wants to fight."
A groaning Knuckles rose to his feet again. "You think I'm done yet?" he growled. "I've got a few more tricks left." In a second, Knuckles burrowed underground.
"Not this bull again," Sonic groaned, and he jumped up to the ceiling. Knuckles would have to come up eventually. And if he didn't…
Sonic couldn't hold much longer. And Knuckles was still under. Was this his little trap, wait for him to fall and hammer him then? Well, he'd find some kind of loophole, no sweat. Three, two, one…
Down he fell. Time for his trusty little move. Once more, he curled into a ball and drilled into the ground. There he was! "Of all the dumb mistakes you have made…" Knuckles laughed once Sonic was all the way inside the tunnel. Sonic soon realized this as well. Knuckles was almost unbeatable underground. He needed to get out of there.
"No, you're not leaving," Knuckles countered, almost reading Sonic's mind. "You got yourself into this, you're gonna have to live with it." Then, shaking furiously, Knuckles planted his foot and charged towards Sonic. But Sonic was faster. He jumped out of his own hole and curled into a spinning ball once more. Just as he predicted, Knuckles popped his head out of the hole and came spiraling upward towards Sonic, fists bared and jutting forward.
The two collided in mid-air.
"Okay, let's clear this up right now," Amy told RaGiff once Blade had left the hovercar to get that armadillo he was chasing. "Tails isn't a traitor, and Blade isn't the bad guy." "Yep."
"Tails was trying to help Sonic and Blade at once with that little plan." "Uh huh."
"The Chaotix guys aren't bad, they just thought Sonic killed Knuckles." "Yeah."
"And now we're going to attack Eggman because Tails says he probably framed Sonic for killing Knuckles." "That's about the half of it."
"Anything I left out?" "Rouge is helping." "What?!?"
"Hiya!" Rouge cut in on the intercom, as if to confirm the point.
"We can't trust her!" Amy cried. "I'm shocked the government can, but she just abuses her rights to get more treasure!" "Rouge, is that right?" RaGiff asked, almost jokingly, figuring Amy just had a grudge against the bat. "Sure is." RaGiff's eyes widened, although no one could see it at that time. However, the long pause portrayed his feeling.
"Fine, whatever. Rouge is here, and we should utilize her skills in some way. You're real stealthy then, right?" "Hell ya. Can break into anything in the universe. Fort Knox is probably the easiest," she bragged. "Sure. Then you could prove useful…" Rapping on the window of the car. It was Blade. Tails pressed a button to open it. A sound of rushing air, then the door opened. Blade and the armadillo walked in, squeezing Amy and Tails together near the window. More space was created when Blade moved to the driver's seat, but it was still getting crowded. "This is Mighty," Blade explained to the group. "Everyone say hi." No one said anything. Not even RaGiff.
"Good, now that we know each other," Blade said, and he powered up the machine again. He checked the energy gauge. Medium. He had enough for now. "We're going to need as many people as possible. Mighty, where's the others you were with?"
"I don't know, but they're probably going to the Silver Mountains," Mighty answered. "But wait, I thought Eggman was supposed to be some prominent politician now." Blade thrust the acceleration lever forward. "So did I, but I'm not always right." "But I am," RaGiff piped up.
"Shaddup," Blade wanted to say, but a beeping sound caught his attention. It came from behind him, inside the car. Was someone attacking him? No, it was something Mighty was carrying. A radio of some sort. Blade couldn't hear anything but crackling and Mighty talking to whoever was on the other end.
"What? Where are you? All right, see ya." Finally, the armadillo pressed a button to turn it off. "Stay away from the mountain for a bit," Mighty told them. "Espio says there's an rockslide." "Great," Blade moaned. "Rouge, you hear me?" "Yeah, what?" "Touch down somewhere in the forest, and we'll meet up with you there. We've got to think of something else. Let's just get everyone together for a bit."
Normally, he would just run up, but to catch up to Knuckles, Espio decided to scale the mountain instead. He climbed easily-this rock was fairly soft compared to other mountains he had gone up before. It was tall, to be sure, but not too big. Plus, he had gotten faster through training.
Tiny pebbles fell from above, pelting him on the rare occasion. He'd been lucky so far. Most mountains had a couple big ones he had to move out of the way of. Knuckles was still quicker than him at scaling, so Espio needed every advantage he could to catch up.
Finally, he came to a trail. After almost five minutes of all-out climbing, running seemed like a cakewalk. He flipped himself onto the path and began to run up. His arms were heavy from the work, and his legs ached a bit, but running actually made them feel better.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from…where? Espio initially thought from the inside, but then it continued on. It must be from the top. That meant one thing-rock avalanche. He needed to get inside the mountain somehow. Just keep running, there must be a…
"Cave!" he yelled to nobody. He ducked inside the dark, dank cavern and flipped on his radio. "Mighty, Espio shouted into it, "Vector, Charmy, whoever can hear me, Silver Mountain is coming down. Stay away until I tell you." He was about to flip it off when Mighty came on.
"What?" "There's a rockslide on Silver Mountain. It's gonna crush anyone that comes near." "Where are you?" "I'm in some kind of cave. I'll call you again when it's safe." "All right, see ya."
Espio turned his attention to the other two.
"Charmy, do you hear me? Vector???"
Nothing but static. Great. What now?
Then, Espio heard something coming from inside the cave. Much deeper. Shouts and screams, shaking and cracking. He dashed on into the cave, then halted when he saw the spike pit. He figured there was more to come after this. Espio cracked his knuckles, cleaned off his horn, and put his hand out in front of him. Time for some of that ninja training to pay off.