A/R: Okay, first off, apologies. Last time I had serious writers block, and a busy life to boot, so I was a little touchy. I have no intention of discontinuing this story, save the non-permanent times between chapters. Some of you have said I need longer chapters, so I'm working on that as I go, just a heads up. Also, if you guys have no clue what Rotor's talking about, don't worry, neither do I. ^^; I'm changing from Word to Notepad as I get it ready, since for some reason Word's html documents don't work correctly in ff.net. *thinks* Anything else I need to say? *lightbulb* Right! Almost forgot, my thanks to all of you who reminded me that I still have to finish this, and if it seems slow, I had planned on short, but numerous chapters (probably about 20 and counting) and I have some ideas that need refining. Also, the things in the little summary I have planned for after the "mysterious visitor" bit, so if they seem late in coming, that's what's happened. I've said my part, so here's the next part of the story.
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"Go forth my creation! Find Knothole!" Robotnik ordered his new robot, which he had "affectionately" or at least, as affectionately as Robotnik can get, named 'Void'. Void did not look like a normal Swatbot, no, instead, it was made along the same lines as Hyper Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic, thus in Sonic's image. Still, Robotnik being no great artist*, it still looked vaguely like a machine.
"It's a miserable piece of trash..." Snively murmured under his breath.
"WHAT WAS THAT SNIVELY?!" yelled Robotnik.
"I-I-I said it would have some serious backlash, sir." Snively quickly covered up. "...You miserable toad." he added under his breath.
"WHAT?!"
"I said I'd get your robe." Snively snarled.
"No Snively, I want you here to witness the revealing of Knothole."
Snively sighed with relief. He had never meant to get Ivo's robe anyways, so that had been a lucky break. Right then, Void set off to carry out his master's orders.
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Night had fallen, and both Sonic and Knuckles had made good progress. Sonic had had excellent fortune in Casino Night Zone, and was far past the fifty-ring minimum with about four hundred. He loved it when he hit the jackpot. Knuckles had found his secret ring stash, and had also made it beyond the fifty mark. In fact, Sonic was already on his way back through the Ice Cap Zone, and Knuckles wasn't far behind.
"Alright, now I just have to make it back. Heh, this'll be a cinch." Sonic was feeling quite pleased with himself, no one had ever out run him yet, and it wasn't gonna happen now, especially not Knuckles. He looked back, just out of curiosity wondering how far behind Knux was.
"Wha? What's that?" Sonic put a hand up to his eyes and focused his gaze on a cloud of dust and snow.
"What on Mobius... that's... Knuckles!" Sonic almost tripped over a snowdrift when he realized that Knuckles was close behind him... and, somehow, impossibly, gaining!
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"Ha! I've got you now, Sonic!" Knuckles thought to himself "I'm not going to lose this time!" Knuckles was running flat out at top speed, and the strangest thing was... Sonic was getting closer!
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By now, the two friends were going neck and neck for the finish line. As Knuckles looked to see how much farther it was to the finish, he saw Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Mighty the Armadillo cheering him on. He could just make out what they were saying over the noise of the wind rushing past.
"Come on Knux m'man!"
"You can do it!"
"You're gaining on him!"
Knuckles smiled and waved back. Just then, he noticed something glinting in the moonlight. He looked over to see what it was. A Chaos Emerald!
"Ah, crud, not again… I'll get it later..." he thought to himself.
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Void had been searching for most of the day, and had covered the outskirts of the Great Forest, but still had had no sign of Knothole. Besides, how was he supposed to look for something he didn't even know what it looked like? Okay, so he knew it would most likely be organic, but nearly everything outside Robotropolis was. The trials of being a robot…
[POWER OUTPUT: 20%... BACK-UP POWER SOURCE: EMTPY... MOTION OUTPUT TEMPERATURE: HIGH... INTITATE TIME-POWER DOWN... SET POWER ON TIME: MORNING... ACTIVATE POWER RECHARGE: YES... SYSTEM POWER DOWN.............]
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"Well I finally did it. And she said the same thing… I wonder how long she's felt the same way… Today was great, the picnic went perfect…" Tails thought, as he got ready for bed. "Where's Sonic? He should be here"
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Sonic couldn't believe it! Knuckles had beaten him! Impossible! It had always been the other way around every other time, why should this time be different?
"Wait… Something's fishy here… he did seem a bit overconfident earlier when he suggested it… hmm…"
"Hey Sonic! I saw a Chaos Emerald back in the bushes a ways back while we were racing, could you help me find it again?" Knuckles asked.
"An Emerald? Of course I'll help look."
"Thanks Sonic, follow me" Knuckles called back.
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"Hmm… It ought to be about…here." Knuckles said skidding to a stop about fifty feet from the finish line. "Okay... Sonic, You look over there" he pointed left "Espio, you look off that way" pointing right "Mighty? You search off that way" backwards this time "Vector?"
"Yo! M'man!"
Knuckles glared at Vector.
"…Sorry, Knux."
"Vector, you look that way" indicating a little bit forwards and to the right "I'll get some air and see if I can see it."
Everyone nodded, and spread out, to find the Emerald.
"Uhh.. Knux? M'man?"
"What Vector…?" Knuckles asked, annoyed.
"Which one was it?"
"Doh… I was so busy racing I forgot to check its color…"
"Which one was it?" Vector repeated.
"I… don't know…" Knuckles replied sheepishly. "I was caught up in the race…"
Everyone stopped looking and turned to look at Knuckles.
"KNUCKLES!!!" came four voices as one.
"What? At least it's only one… the other six are still at the shrine." Knuckles said, quickly getting airborne.
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Rotor the walrus was busy tinkering away in his workshop back in Knothole. He had been working on a new Roboticizer since the old one had been destroyed back when Sonic's uncle, Uncle Chuck had been de-roboticized.
"Hmm… something's missing…" Rotor thought as he inspected the project. "Let's see…Bio-scanner…Physics-fluxuator…Electro-magnetic pulse generator for calming the 'bots down…hmm…what am I missing? I think everything's here…"
Rotor had just about finished assuring himself that everything was there when he noticed a bundle of open wires about the size of a remote control he'd left hanging.
"That's right! I still need the Energy Modulator! …But where to get one…"