S. Chensu: Yo peeps, new episode up!
Luff: And only three more left to go until no more have been written!
S. Chensu: Eek, better get to work then!
Luff: But until then, please read the episode and reviewer replies if you reviewed.
S. Chensu: Not many people have been reviewing recently... Do you think we have only two readers?
Luff: Surely we must have more?
S. Chensu: Well if you do read but not review, then make time to say hi at some point before the end of the story.
Luff: Anyway, here are replies:
Yugi and Mai- Yes, they do sound a lot like moblins but honestly, they had no influence at all cough cough on the Arcs. And Yugi, don't be nasty; your sister doesn't deserve to be sent to the Shadow Realm. And Mai, the same thing goes for you. And no Sonic and Shadow are not going to be made gay because people don't like that sort of thing. People fine but hedgehogs... And yes, this episode is about Knuckles, you can tell because of the first word in here. And Gregg can't be hurt because he's a god i.e. immortal so he can do whatever he wants. And what would happen if the Grim Reaper died? There'd be chaos, that's what! Hope you two had a lovely Easter too!
RichaCo- We're glad some things have been cleared up but you won't find out who the boss is for another few episodes unfortunately. Knuckles is this chapter, Marie is the one after, then it's back to Sonic and Shadow and then Eggman. We think. We're sure that episode 25 is Eggman because it's the last one we've written. Which reminds us that we must write some more soon...S. Chensu: We no own the characters, only the story.
Luff: Boo hoo but oh well. On we go, living poor sad little lives...
Episode twenty-two: Lava PitKnuckles stormed through the darkness, his senses blinded by the anger and the adrenalin rushing through his body. Despite this, even /he/ could feel the sudden increase in temperature. Stopping to look around, his eyes widened at the scene laid out before him. The source of the heat soon became obvious and as Knuckles looked down at the magma as red as his fur, he felt the whole place shake slightly. Small chips of rock broke and tumbled down, only adding to the tension Knuckles felt in his body. As he looked up, he saw a clear blue sky through a hole at the top of the pyramid shaped room.
Turning his attention to the brick path in front of him, he saw someone standing in the circle that ended it in the middle of the room. However, he couldn't see them properly because the heat was starting to sting his eyes. He walked forward slowly but sped up when the room shook again, this time much harder. When he thought he'd finally reached the person, he was surprised to find they had gone. He didn't have long to ponder on this before he fell to the ground as the rumblings increased. What surprised him more though was the voice he could hear. Well not hear, it was more like thoughts in his mind.
"You haven't really helped yourself, have you Knuckles?" The voice was neither accusing nor asking, it was merely stating what it felt.
"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked aloud, since he didn't know what else to do.
"You now have ten minutes to get out of this place before you become a kebab."
"Before what? Ten minutes?" Knuckles frowned in puzzlement.
"You are in a volcano and it is going to erupt in ten minutes if you do not get out of here." Although the voice remained neutral, he swore the person was very annoyed with him. He however, was starting to feel panic rise through him.
"An eruption?" His panic brought anger too and his mind was reminded of the earlier scene with Rouge. "Not only has she accused me of misunderstanding her and abusing my trust, she's made me end up in a volcano about to explode!" He shouted in frustration.
"She has not made you do anything, your actions have caused this. How /you/ have acted, not her. She merely played a part in your fate and still does." The voice said calmly.
"/She/ has nothing to do with me anymore. She merely reminded me how gullible I am and that I should never trust anyone." He retorted resentfully.
"You think whatever you want to but leave that until later. You now have five minutes."
"Five minutes?" Knuckles yelled but suddenly he remembered himself. "Wait a minute, I have enough skills to get out of here in a moment!"
"You wish..." It muttered and suddenly, Knuckles knew it was gone.
He also knew that he had to go too, for despite what he had said, even Sonic would have trouble getting out of there. He jumped up high into the air before gliding to one of the walls, thinking of climbing as far as he could. He gave up on that idea though as soon as he felt them. He yelped in pain and let go of the wall, falling down several feet onto a ledge below. He lay there for a moment, stunned by the flashing pain going through his hands. Usually he could take heat better than this, although he didn't like bright sunlight and cursed silently at the lack of training he had done recently.
He now had to make a decision about what he was going to do and quickly. Gliding seemed like the first option but Knuckles knew that took up a lot of energy and he wouldn't be able to get to the top of the volcano like that. His only other choice was to climb up and bracing himself for the pain he knew was about to come, he gripped the walls and started climbing. Resolving himself not to let go, he slowly made his way up.
At first it was hard not to stop as the pain shot up his arms and his brain told him to let go. Curse his heightened reflexes! He struggled upwards and slowly, the pain gradually grew less.
Although it's probably because my nerve endings have been burnt away... He thought bitterly as he stopped for the third time. The shaking was getting worse and he had to pause so he didn't lose his grip and fall. This worried him too because he meant that he had not much time left. Ignoring the tremors, he moved his foot, causing the rocks to crumble from underneath it. He slipped, losing his footing and he held on for dear life with his hands. His feet scrambled around, causing more rocks to fall and he felt his grip loosening. Knowing it wouldn't be long until he fell, he hauled himself up by one arm while reaching for a ledge above with the other.
He sat, exhausted by his effort on the ledge and allowed himself enough time to see how far he had got. He'd covered some considerable distance and smiled to himself. However, this turned into a frown when he saw the magma slowly rising through the volcano. Swearing loudly, he started gliding from ledge to ledge as there were more up here. The smell of fresh air encouraged him but the searing hot liquid was moving faster now, gaining on him. It was at this point that his body refused to take any more punishment and he was forced to jump from platform to platform. It was also at this point that he realised the harm he had taken to his hands.
The skin was peeling and starting to form blisters from the extensive damage he had inflicted on them. He wondered at what he was going to do about them when the thought suddenly occurred to him that if he didn't hurry up, he would have no /body/, let alone any hands, to worry about. The temperature rose with the lava and Knuckles, not able to see any more ledges, began his final ascent. Suddenly, a blast of hot air shot him up and out through the top of the volcano.
He flew through the air and landed in something he did not expect. It was white, crispy and most importantly, it was cold. It brought great relief to Knuckles, who had soon forgotten the small matter of the erupting volcano. Until someone grabbed his hands and yanked them out of the snow that is. He couldn't see anyone though and struggled against their grip on his wrists, which was starting to tighten.
"Let go!" He shouted. Suddenly, several things happened at once.
First of all, a loud explosion was heard from the volcano and magma burst out from the top, lava spraying everywhere. The air began to shimmer in front of him and Knuckles knew he was going to die but something happened that wasn't expected. A shield had been created around him, stopping him from being burnt to death. Now this concern was removed, he could feel the pain in his hands, which were still held above him. He cried out as air got into the cuts and shivered from the snow he was lying on. He couldn't move though and he felt weakened from his earlier struggles.
"Who are you?" He said hoarsely.
"Someone who wants to help you..." They whispered calmly and he felt something warm and refreshing wash over him. "Sleep now, you have nothing to worry about..." His eyes slowly closed to the sight of the sky becoming dark.
"Tell me..." He murmured as his body relaxed.
"I hope I have enough energy to heal all of those wounds. But his body isn't the only thing that is broken..." The person sighed softly as they laid his arms across his body. He glowed slightly for a moment and seeming satisfied, the person transported Knuckles to a different part of the volcano. As they disappeared (although they were in truth invisible), the shield remained, preventing the fresh fall of snow from covering Knuckles.
S. Chensu: In all the excitement, we forgot to say Happy Easter to everyone!
Luff: Even if you're not Christian or whatever, we hope you're still enjoying the holidays.
S. Chensu: Yeah but because they're a bit weird down here in the south, they haven't put us on holiday until this Thursday, whereas everyone else has already had a week off.
Luff: Puzzling...
S. Chensu: But anyway, continue to enjoy the hols and the next episode is up Friday the 16th April.