Author's Note: It's here! Knux gets face-to-face with Dimitri! Just to let you all know, my main page has been updated with a few things. Might be an idea to check it out. nyway, here you go!
REVENGE
Sally and Bunnie pushed the door open a crack and peeked into the boy's room. Some were on the floor in sleeping bags, some were on the couch. DJ's head slowly rose up and turned each way to absorb his surroundings. He put his mouth close to Grim's ear and belched into it. Grim flailed around as he fell off the couch. He swore at the top of his lungs, waking everyone up. "What are you doing!" Grim shouted. "Waking you up," DJ replied. "I swear I'll…" he began, until Sally cut him off. "I was going to wake you all up anyway. Knuckles and Julie-Su never came back last night." The guys paused and looked at each other, snickering. "Somebody got lucky last night!" "Good for him!" Sonic remained silent. His mouth had already gotten him a VIP seat on Sally's bad side. "Will you pervs shut up! They could be in trouble!" Bunnie scolded. "Knux can take care of himself. So can Julie-Su," Espio said. "Nevertheless, I shall run a mystic scan for them," FC said as he sat in the lotus position and began to meditate. "Don't mess up! Don't mess up! Don't mess up! Don't" "SHUT UP, VECTOR!" After a few seconds, he stood up. "Well?" "Look out the window." They all peered out the window and saw the two echidnas walking down the street towards their building.
"You feeling better?" Knuckles asked. "I'm not as sore anymore. That weird ointment really helped," she replied. "I'm glad." She would have replied back if not for the yelling of their friends. "What happened? We were so worried!" Tails yelled as he hovered over. "We…had a little run-in with the Legion and had to sack out at my old place." There was a silence for a moment as the others stared at them suggestively. "Get those thought out of your heads," Julie-Su said. "Right…" Sally said, still smiling. Julie-Su smiled and turned to Knuckles, "Personally, I despise him." He turned to her with a smile and replied, "And I can't stand the sight of you." Constable Remington rushed over, gasping, "Guardian! We feared the worst!" Knuckles smiled and said, "We're fine." Remington glanced over at Julie-Su, then Knuckles. "I cannot say I understand this, knowing your past with legionnaires, but if you see something in her, then she must be special." "She is."
Their discussion would have gone on longer, if not for the yelling of a well-dressed echidna. "Guardian! It's you!" He was a brown echidna with a white robe and a black cape. "Hello Counselor Yanar," Knuckles said. "I see you have returned unharmed. This is most fortunate. Constable, take this legionnaire into your custody." Remington glanced over at Knuckles, who said, "She is under my protection, high counselor. There will be no need for that." "Oh, but there will. You see, the laws have changed since you left us. Any legionnaire taken within the city limits is to be put on trial…and executed." All eyes widened. "You can't do that!" "Oh, but I can, and I will. Remington…do your duty." Remington sighed as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Julie-Su backed away, and Knuckles stood between her and Remington. "What proof do you have that she has done anything?" The high counselor raised a brow and asked, "Why, Guardian, do you protect her? Have you gone soft on a legionnaire, after they killed so many of our people, including your family?" The other Freedom Force members, stared at their red companion, shocked at this information. "Knuckles…why didn't you…" Sally began. Yanar continued, "And especially after you slaughtered the perpetrators of the massacre." Now everyone, including Julie-Su, was shocked. "I see you didn't tell them about what you did that day…"
Cries of pain filled the air as the wounded were being cared to. Remington ran through the streets, hoping to find the young Guardian. Alive, that is. He spotted him on his hands and knees, sobbing. "Guardian…I am so, so sorry," he said as he knelt next to the Guardian, putting his arm around his shoulder. Yanar ran over, shouting, "What are you doing! This is not the time for you to mourn!" Remington stood up and shouted, "For pity's sake! He just lost his whole family!" "There is no time for that! The legionnaires are refueling on the island's edge! We can still catch them!" Knuckles slowly rose to him knees, growling. His eyes were filled with hate and rage. He shot forward, darting off. Remington yelled after him, but he didn't listen.
At the island's edge, the legionnaires laughed. "Did you see the Guardian? What a baby!" "You'd cry too if you saw your mom's freakin' head get cut off." "No I wouldn't! I'd do it myself! I hated my mom!" "How many did you get?" "Fifty four." "Sixty seven!" "Thirty six!" They laughed and laughed, until they heard a scream. They grabbed their weapons and rushed to where the scream originated, where they froze in place. There was a legionnaire on the ground, his chest ripped open, standing over at him was the Guardian. His bare hands were bloody, the lethal spurs dripping the thick substance. Blood was splattered on his chest and face. He growled as he stared at them with his eyes. His evil eyes, that seemed to freeze them in place. He didn't seem like himself at all. He seemed like a savage beast. He roared as he charged at the legionnaires, who never saw what was coming. Legionnaires ran around the camp, shouting and firing. Red flashes shot before them. Sometimes it was the Guardian, most times it was blood. "HELP!" "NO! PLEASE, DON'T!" "NO! NO!"
It eventually came down to one legionnaire, who ran for his life until he found himself cut off by the island's edge. He turned around when he heard a growl, and came face to face with the Guardian. "No….please!" "I know you. You're the one that killed my mother!" Knuckles growled as he grabbed the legionnaire. The legionnaire panted heavily as the Guardian glared at him, but then lowered his fist. "Wh-what are you…" "You made my mother die a horrible death. You'll get the same treatment," Knuckles said as he slashed off the legionnaire's robotic appendages. All that was left now was a body and a head. Knuckles left him in the middle of the camp and left. "You're gonna leave me here to starve!" Knuckles came back with a tank in his hand, an evil smile on his face, "No. That would be letting you off easy." The legionnaire watched as the Guardian began to pour the tank's contents in a spiral around him, leading inward. He sniffed the air and was shocked. "G-gas!" the legionnaire shouted, before having the remains of the tank dumped on him. The Guardian drew a match and stared at the legionnaire for a second, who began to beg. "Please! Just kill me quick! Don't do this!" "I'm sure my mother pleaded, but you didn't let her go. Burn in Hell," Knuckles said as he dropped the match. The legionnaire screamed as the flames began to circle around him in a spiral, drawing closer and closer, until it finally reached him. As he screamed in pain, he heard the Guardian laughing. A hysterical, cold, sinister laugh that would have given him the chills if he were not on fire. Knuckles laughed until the legionnaire stopped screaming and was dead. His eyes widened as he looked down at himself, covered in the blood of the legionnaires.
All were silent as Yanar finished his story. Finally, Ray asked, "Kn-knux…is-is that t-true?" Knuckles was also silent, until he turned to them and said, "Yes. I killed them all." He was quiet again, until he said, "And the scariest part is…I enjoyed it." "So I don't understand why you defend her," Yanar said. "It's…it's because I…I love her….and I won't let you, or anyone else hurt her ever again." Sally glanced over at Julie-Su and noticed that she was a bit bruised. She would have asked about it, but Yanar cut in. "You can't be serious! This is unacceptable! One of such high class as yourself and a piece of trash like that!" Knuckles walked right up to Yanar, glared him in the eyes and said, "I said that no one will hurt her again. That means physically and emotionally. So I would watch what I said if I were you." Yanar didn't flinch. He stepped back and snapped his fingers. Another echidna ran over and handed him a packet. "We managed to hack into a Legion database and pulled up all the files we could before we were cut off. She happens to have a very interesting file," Yanar boasted, flapping the packet in the air. Suddenly, the packet burst into flames, causing Yanar to jump away as it brunt into ash. All turned to Grim, who looked up surprised and sarcastically said, "Oh, I'm sorry! Did I do that? Silly me. I just snapped my fingers! Oh well." A piece of paper floated by, he snapped his fingers, and it ignited and burnt away. "That is a cool power!" Rotor said. "I know."
Yanar growled and said, "We have copies on our computers!" Knuckles gave him a curious look, and then glared. "You say you hacked into a Legion database?" Yanar flinched and replied, "Yes. It took many weeks, but we" "The Legion is more advanced than Robotnik. How could you, with our limited technology, every hack into their files? Unless someone was let in." Knuckles said. Yanar was sweating as Knuckles stepped closer to him. "And why are you bent on killing Julie-Su, anyway? Is it maybe because she could leak out some information that could ruin someone's plans? Someone like…you?" All turned to Yanar, who got on the defensive. "Th-that's preposterous! H-How could…could…" He stopped as Knuckles grabbed his collar and growled, "You let the Angel Island Massacre happen! Traitor!" Knuckles drew up his fist to strike, but Sally stopped him. "Wait! Knuckles, I know it hurts, but he could have some information that we could use!" Yanar chuckled, "I won't lose so easily!" He pushed a switch on his sleeve, and out of the forest came a platoon of swat bots! "Surrender now!" one shouted.
As the others got ready to fight, DJ and Swiper slipped into an alley. DJ got to work hacking into the swat bot broadcast frequency. They were controlled from Robotipolis through radio waves. If he could intercept them, he could take control. "I'm in, but it requires voice activation. Swiper?" Swiper grabbed a small microphone DJ gave him and coughed. Impersonating Robotnik, he shouted, "Cease your attack!"
As the Freedom Force prepared to charge the robots, they suddenly paused. "What the heck?" "It's a trick. Be ready for anything!" Sally ordered.
"I order you…to dance!" Swiper said into the mike. "Dance, master?" a bot responded. "You who question me! Self destruct now!" "Yes master." The Freedom Force watched in wonder as a robot exploded. "Huh?" Suddenly, the swat bots began to perform a rendition of an Irish River Dance.
"This is awesome! My own robot army!" "Well get rid of 'em!" DJ scolded. "Alright. Now…conga off of the island's edge!" The Freedom Force stood by as the swat bots began to conga to the island's edge. One by one they fell over into the ocean, until all were gone. They all looked at each other in confusion, then shook it off and turned back to Yanar.
"I won't say anything!" Knuckles glared at him with an evil smile, then began to drag him by his collar. They followed him to the edge, where he dangled Yanar. "You can't do this!" Yanar shouted in fright. Knuckles smiled, "You're right," he said as he pulled him back, then grabbed Yanar's arm with both hands and broke it, causing Yanar to scream in pain, "Now if you try swimming to shore, the broken arm will drag you down." Although Sally didn't like his methods, she began questioning Yanar. She gathered as much tactical information as she could, then turned to Knuckles. "Alright, Yanar! Sally may go easy on you, but I won't! Now tell me…where is my little brother!" They all turned to him in confusion. "You have a…" Knuckles held Yanar with one hand and pulled out his locket with the other. He flipped it open to reveal a picture of his baby brother and pointed it at Yanar. "Where!" "He…is with Dimitri himself…in New Necropolis." Knuckles nodded, "Thanks. Now die," he said as he dropped Yanar, who screamed until he hit the water. Sally motioned for whoever could fly to save him, but Knuckles got in their way and threatened, "If any of you try to save him, I'll break your arms and leave you with him! I would have made his death last longer, but there's too many kids here." With that final note, he headed back towards the city.
Mighty caught his arm and said, "Wait! You're just gonna barge into New Necropolis! That's suicide!" "Dimitri has had my brother for far too long. I'm getting what's left of my family back. I don't need you anymore," Knuckles said as he continued to walk. Sally jumped in front of him and said, "Wait! You were using us?" He paused, then answered 'yes'. All stared in disbelief. "Thanks for your help, but I have to go now." Julie-Su grabbed his arm and made him look at her, "Let us help you. We can do it together." He sighed and shook his head. "Then does that mean you were using me, too?" His head shot up, "No! No, I'd never…!" "Then what's the problem? I thought last night meant something to you. It did to me. I felt like someone actually cared about me. So do you love me? Or am I just a piece of crap like Kommisar always told me I was? What I believed I was." He was silent, and then sighed, "You'll have to…find someone else." Her eyes widened as tears built in them. "I'm too far gone. I've lived too long with all this hate…Once Dimitri's dead…I'll be the biggest killer on the planet. You deserve better. So does Mace. I…I just want to see him one more time before I bring him here. Remmy will find a nice place for him." "What about you?" "Me? I can't let any more evil ruin your lives. Once Mace is in a nice home…I won't be around for too much longer." All eyes widened. "When I killed Legionnaires, the pain felt like it left. But it only grew worse. I had to kill more. Now…what will happen when I kill Dimitri? Julie-Su, I'm sorry…but I have to do this for everyone. It's for the best. I have to leave. Good bye." He kissed her head and left, leaving them all behind.
Julie-Su began to sob, Sally hugging her for comfort. Grim growled in frustration. "He never cared what happened! I oughta make an echidna roast outta him!" Cap turned to him and said, "Calm down. There's more to it than that." "Like what? The dude used us all this time! We could have all died and he wouldn't have cared!" Vector shouted. Julie-Su stopped crying and wiped her eyes. "We…we need to go after him. He needs us now more than ever. He doesn't mean it all that way…He cares about us…he just needs his brother." "Then let's go get him," Sally said, "Ravagers, you head back to Knothole in case things go bad." "Alright," Cap said as the others headed back to the city.
Knuckles hated himself now. He had hurt all of them…especially her. He felt even worse about stealing the jet. When he landed in New Necropolis, he noticed how silent the streets were. Someone was waiting for him. New Necropolis was a large city, with large menacing towers that pierced into the sky like spears. He wandered down the empty streets until he reached a square, where he heard a familiar laugh. He snarled and turned, only to face Dimitri himself. No guards. Just Dimitri. "Welcome, Knuckles," he said calmly. He obviously didn't realize that his life was moments from ending. "Dimitri! Where is my brother!" Knuckles demanded. ""Oh! You mean cute little Kneecaps? Heh. What a stupid name. Meiniker is asleep in my tower." Knuckles growled. Dimitri had named Mace after his own son, who had died long ago. "How dare you call him that!" "I had actually hoped that I would have had him for a few more years. Teach him to hate you. Teach him that you were the enemy." "Why! You've taken everything from me! What is your sick obsession with me!" "Because you are the last son of Edmund. Once you die, then the weak wing of our family will be gone." "I'm gonna rip your lungs out!" Knuckles growled.
"Heh. You're more like me than Edmund. Edmund. No, I see none of him in you. My brother was a pest. He didn't have my courage. Or my strength. He tried to convince me that it was for the best for the High Council to ruin our plans, the weakling. But…then it happened. I transformed. I absorbed the emerald's power and became the all mighty Enerjak!" "I've heard this bedtime story before. You went nuts and tried to enslave the planet. But then Edmund reversed the chaos siphon you used to drain energy and took it from you. Not as smart as you think you are if you didn't see that coming." Dimitri glared for a second, and then smiled again. "Yes. It was a foolish mistake. However, my dark tower collapsed upon me as the drainage was taking place, which left me with enough chaos energy to remain alive for the centuries I was imprisoned. Then, a little over a decade ago, the Dark Legion discovered me while excavating the site of my tower, and roboticized me so that I might lead them." "Save your life story for the obituaries!" Knuckles shouted. "Oh. I see we're in a rush. Well then, let me get to the point. It has taken us many years, but I have done it! I have re-created the siphon and gathered eleven emeralds!" "WHAT!" Dimitri laughed as his palm began to light up as he activated the siphon, eleven emeralds swirling around him. "You will be the first to see the rebirth of Enerjak!"
Dimitri growled as the emerald energy swirled around him. His metal frame became eradiated in a green light that almost blinded Knuckles. Suddenly, his cold, metallic body began to change into blue and gold armor. When Knuckles looked up, he couldn't believe it. Enerjak chuckled as he stared down at his great-grandnephew. "So, Knuckles, are you ready to die?" Knuckles clenched his fists and teeth. This was it. Time to finish what had started so long ago.
I charge, knowing well that I'm going to my grave. I feel my heart beating rapidly, the sweat pouring down my brow, my muscles tensing up for battle. It's like nothing can stop me, like I'm an unstoppable force of nature. I hit a wall of energy and become frozen in place. He holds out his palm, and an unseen force throws me back. I feel skin rip and bones crack as I hit the metal wall and crash through it. I spit the blood out of my mouth, and get up. It's different now. The rules have changed. Before, I would have killed him because I wanted to. It's not a desire anymore. It's a necessity. With this power, he could rule Mobius in a matter of minutes. I have to beat him. For the family I lost on Angel Island. For the family I gave up in Knothole. I walk out of the rubble and face him again. . I love this feeling. I love dying. The feeling you get before it, that is. It's funny. At the borderline of life and death…I've never felt more alive.
To Be Continued…
Author's Note: Yep. That's how it all ends. Questions? Comments? Don't be too mad, though. I have a sequel in the works. What will it be about? Let's just say that this part of the story, all the missions and hardships, were nothing compared to what's in store for our heroes. I hope you've enjoyed this story and I look forward to your opinions and reviews. Catch ya later!
