Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails " Prower, Knuckles The echidna, Amy Rose, Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat or other character's made by Sonic Team. I do own RX and Maya hedgehog.
Summery: In a depressed moment, Amy does something no one had expected, and Knuckles must face something he had never expected to. Warning, Sonic Adventure 1 - 2 and Heroes and Advance 3 spoilers sure to follow as the story progress.
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A good deed gone wrong
Part IX
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"Aw Man!"
Sonic's words felt rather right as Knuckles nodded his agreement; it seemed like the only way at the moment to describe the destruction that had befallen Amy's apartment. Smoke was still coming out of it as fire fighter struggle to get the fire inside to go out. "She'll kill us when she's finds out."
Next to him, Sonic shuddered a bit at that thought. The echidna was right, Amy would be mad at the level of destruction that had been caused to this place, mad enough to use her hammer for more then just a few treats to their health. "Tails!" The words suddenly yelled out as he remembered his two-tailed buddy who had stayed in the place along with. "Cream, Tikal."
"We're fine, Mister Sonic." Cream's voice drifted down to him as the rabbit girl landed next to them, her peaceful expression lost as a more scared one filled her face. "But Eggman got Tails, we couldn't stop him." Looking over at Knuckles, she blinked and smiled as she noticed the gem he was holding. "You found the Master Emerald, does that mean Miss Amy can be freed now?"
Getting a slightly spooked look on his face, Sonic cast a side-glance at Knuckles. "Well, I'll leave that up for him to explain." Facing turning more serious, Sonic cast a quick look at the group. "You said Eggman kidnapped Tails?"
Nodding in response, Cream slowly cast a look off to the side as a peach colored figure emerged from a group of nervous humans. "Yes, but he also said he would use him to make you and mister Knuckles hand over the Master Emerald."
Eyes flashing in anger, Knuckles held on a bit tighter to the gem in his hand. "That will never happen. Not as long as I'm around." Feeling Sonic looking at him, he backed away a bit. "Forget it Sonic."
Laughing a bit, Sonic shrugged as he turned back to face Cream. "Okay, you know where Tails workshop is?" Seeing her nod in response, Sonic grinned. "Good, Shadow and Omega are already there, along with Rouge." Facing Knuckles and Tikal next his eyes flashed with determination. "I want you all to go there, you too Knuckles, find a way to free Amy, and I'll deal with Eggman."
Opening his mouth to protest, Knuckles closed it as he coughed a bit from the sudden dust cloud left behind as Sonic took off running. As it settled, Knuckles shook his head. "Sonic." Muttering out the name with a bit of annoyance, Knuckles faced the rabbit girl and peach colored Echidna. "Well, let's go, Cream, Tikal."
The peach colored echidna looking up startled at his words and nodded. "Yes, of course." As they walked off, her eyes moved up to stare at the burning apartment, a slightly confused and fearful look in her eyes as she watched the fire and smoke coming out of the apartment.
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Eggman's moustache shook with anger as he watched his currently and most powerful fighting machine standing before him. "You failed me, even with that special upgrade I gave you, you failed!" The human scientist slamming a hand onto a computer console as he yelled out the last part.
"But, they were." Metal-Knuckles started in an effort to defend himself, only to shut up as he saw the look he was given by the human scientist. "I am sorry Doctor Eggman."
Waving a hand through the air to silence his robot, Eggman turned to walk away, one foot hitting the metal floor harshly after the other as he moved towards his new super weapon, the thing he had worked on for the last few months and scrapped in favor of other more deadly looking machines for his more prominent plans.
Grapping his tool kit, he cast a dark look back at Metal-Knuckles. "Go and make yourself useful this time, I need someone to guard the main entrance into this place." His voice turning cold as he began to adjust a few screws, Eggman's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "I suspect that Sonic will show up here soon, and I don't want to interrupted at this stage, maybe you can actually delay them for a few minutes."
Seething on the inside with rage of the sudden and complete charge of blame on him, Metal-Knuckles turned around stiffly and walked out of the room. Complaining inside his computer brain about the lack of true leadership in this operation.
Turning back to his new machine, Eggman rubbed a hand along the side of it. "Soon, you will be complete, and with your power I shall take over the world, and install the Eggman Empire as its new rulers." Laughing, Eggman returned to his work, robots moving out to help him as he began to move onto the more demanding parts.
Inside his cage, Tails kept a eye on the door that Metal-Knuckles had left trough, a sinking feeling of regret growing inside of him with each passing second, t had been a short moment where he had seen Metal-knuckles open up his chest for repairs, but it had been enough.
He had recognized the so called upgrade that this Metal copy had gotten from Eggman, and he had hoped it had been just a trick of light, that it wasn't his fake Chaos Emerald powering the robots and its weapons systems.
Turning back to the cage, Tails grinned as he finished his subtle work at last; thankful for all the spy movies he had wasted his time watching. Removing his shoe buckle from the door lock, Tails calmly pushed it open. Fully confident that Eggman's attention to his new mecha wouldn't be disrupted by his escape or anything else.
Landing on the ground as silently as he could, Tails quickly moved over to the doorway, watching as it opened for him with a soft swishing sound, the outer room free of any robots other then a cleaning robot trying to vacuum up some forgotten spare parts.
Quickly rushing through the room, the two tailed fox opened the door on the other side of the room and stepped out, a silent corridor meeting him with juts few robots patrolling it in the distance.
Casting a look back over his shoulder, Tails grinned as he took a step forward. "Gotta get out of here and warn Sonic." Then he froze as a loud blaring alarm went off, a red spotlight hitting him from the front. "Ah!"
Hovering before him, a badnik readied its weapon as several more robots began to show up in the distance. A single monitor placed in the corridor ceiling above the door turned on. "What, how did you escape?" Eggman's face popping up after a second, the doctor wasting no time in spitting out the question with an angry expression on his face.
Quickly moving forward, Tails kicked the Badnik before it fired, grinning as it shattered and released a small bird from its insides. "Sorry Eggman, but I decided to leave early." Waving cheerfully, Tails took off running, preparing to attack the robots in order to escape from the base.
Red in face from his anger, Eggman turned around and quickly hammered a fist down on a big fat red button, the move followed by more alarms going off through out the base. "Attention all robots units, Tails the Fox is trying to escape, all units on the upper Final Egg levels, find and capture him."
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Standing with Crossed arms, Shadow tilted his head back and looked up at the towering structure in the distance. It looked impressive from where he was standing, but even he couldn't help but get a bad taste in his mouth as he noticed the huge, freshly painted Eggman logos on the sides of the tower proclaiming it as his current HQ. "That man has no idea of stealth."
Turning around, his eyes narrowed a bit as he picked up the sound of something moving through the jungle, one hand moving into place for a quick chaos spear attack.
The attack getting canceled as a blue hedgehog stopped right in front of him, pure confusion in his green eyes as he scratched his head. "I thought you went with Omega to Tails workshop?"
Turning his attention back to the towering base in the distance, Shadow narrowed his eyes. "I did, but with Omega looking after Rouge, I decided to come here instead of getting in the way." Hands clenching up at his side, Shadow began to walk away from the blue hedgehog. "Go back to your friends Sonic, I'll deal with Eggman this time."
Getting an arrogant look on his face, Sonic crossed his own arms. "Yeah right, like I'd sit out on this one, Eggman's mine to stop." Jumping over Shadow, Sonic grinned as the doors leading to the connect corridor slid open before him. "You go and help Omega take care of Rouge."
"No." Shadow's voice rather strained sounding as he roughly shoved Sonic out of the way. "This has nothing to do with you Sonic, Eggman attacked Rouge and Omega, and therefore he is my problem."
Getting up from he had landed, Sonic rubbed a bit of dirt from his shoulder. "You are really wrong on that Shadow, Eggman's taken Tails, so that means he is my problem now." Pushing Shadow slightly roughly, Sonic grinned a bit as he turned to face the door as Shadow stumble back from the sudden move. "I'll let him know that you wanted to beat him up as well, that is after I've trashed his latest plan."
Yanking back on one of Sonic's quills, Shadows eyes were narrowed into slits as he pulled back on it. "I meant it Sonic, butt out of this."
Even as both hedgehog's moved into battle ready stances, Metal-knuckles using his stealth mode, and the brilliant idea of walking along the top of the connecting corridor, cast a simple look down at the two hedgehogs. It would be so easy to just hit them with an attack while they were fighting each other, but the more darker side of him wanted to prove just how much better he was then Metal-Sonic.
And there was only one way to do that in his opinion, ad that was to trash Sonic in a fair fight. Or as fair as a fight between a metallic battle machine and weak organic creature could be.
Dagger like claws glinting in the air, Metal-knuckles prepared himself for a smooth, yet stylish attack on Shadow, after all, he only wanted to fight Sonic, not both hedgehogs at the same time.
When the moment to strike came, the echidna like robot flung itself down into the battle, light glinting it off its dagger like hands as both Sonic and Shadow turned to face this new threat.
Slashing down with his daggers like hands, Metal-Knuckles superior feeling vanished as Shadow glowed a bright purple for a split second and then vanished. "What the?" Then his memory banks kicked in and informed him of the abilities of the red and black hedgehog. "Chaos Control."
Smirking as he held out the purple chaos emerald, the red and black colored hedgehog began to glow with power of it, several golden bolts of power forming in his free hand. "I will make you pay for what you did to Rouge and Omega robot."
Watching the beginning of a fight, Sonic turned away to face the towering structure of Eggman Final Egg base, the top part sporting several searchlights that moved along the outer parts of it. "Shadow, handle him, I'm going after Eggman." Not waiting for an answer, Sonic took of into the connection corridor in a blast of blue color and a sudden gust of wind.
Facing off, Shadow grumbled a bit as it appeared he wouldn't get a chance for direct revenge against Eggman after all, but who cared. He could take out his anger at this robot anyway, it had been the one to destroy Rouge's club and hurt the batgirl.
Smiling in a very dark way, Shadow tossed off the Chaos Spears and moved in for a closer range battle, all the while thinking of how much he would enjoy destroying that machine.
Preparing for battle, Metal-Knuckles began to defend himself against the sudden, and very powerful offensive moves that the hedgehog let lose as he began pounding at him and his shield.
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Inside the Master Emeralds world, Amy Rose sighed both from happiness and longing. She was going to be freed from here, that much she had confident in, Knuckles wouldn't let her stay inside the gem, nor would Sonic.
The only problem she had was the waiting. It was boring just sitting here on the shrine steps. Just how did Knuckles or Tikal handle doing something like this for so long? She wanted to be out there in the real world, feel the wind as it brushed past her.
Standing up and feel her back and legs protest from her long stay in the same position, she cast a glance around the area, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. The Chao had refuse dot come out again, no matter how much she called, and the whole place was starting to annoy her.
Turning back to the gem behind her, she gave it a swift kick, letting it know how much she was tired of looking at it. If she ever got out, she wouldn't set foot on Angel Island for a month, maybe two.
Clenching up her hands, Amy closed her eyes as she wished she could get out the gem at that moment, that she wasn't trapped inside of it.
But of course it didn't work, she was still inside of the gem, trapped with the chao and watching a perfect sunbathing sky above her that wasn't really real anyway.
Giving a loud sigh and dropping to her knees, Amy forced back a sob and settled for curling up a bit, one hand trying to draw a line in the soft ground, but not having much luck in doing so.
Left eye ticking a bit as she pulled her hand back, Amy looked up at the clouds. "I want out of this place!" Her voice echoing in the air around her, breaking the silence that had been getting on her nerves, but not helping her to calm down at all.
"Amy?"
Nearly falling down on back in shock, Amy spun around, or as good as she could while sitting down. "Who, who's there?" Her voice trembling a bit with a sudden wave of fear as she recalled the last time she had heard that voice in her head.
"You can hear me?"
Not knowing how to respond to that question, Amy cast a confused look around the area, finally letting her shoulders slump down. "Yes." If she was going to go insane from her stay in here, she might as well just accept it; it was the only thing to do at the moment anyway.
"You can, great." A bit of silence followed that statement as if the voice had turned its attention to someone else. "Okay listen up, we're trying to find a way to get you back out of here soon, so just hang in there."
Opening her mouth to reply, Amy stopped as she thought a bit about some more. "Ah, you mean you're not just a voice inside my head?"
If the voice had been around in a body, Amy could have sworn that it was laughing. "No, it me, Tikal, I'm mind talking with you through the Master Emerald." That was at least the way it sounded to her. "Oh yeah, Cream says hi, and that she don't want you to give up yet."
Smiling a bit at that comment, Amy nodded in response, lightly smacking herself when she remembered that the voice wouldn't be able to see it. "I will, and tell her I said thanks." No reply came after that, but Amy was sure that Tikal had heard the last bit.
Still smiling as she turned around, She looked out over the area, no longer upset at being trapped here. It didn't matter, she was fully sure of the fact that she would be free soon.
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Removing her hands from the smooth surface of the shrunken Master Emerald, Tikal smiled as she watched Knuckles reclaim it as fast as he could. "I got in touch with her." Her words making the small group look up a bit. "And she says thanks for your support Cream."
Turning her head a bit as the young rabbit smiled, her face took on a small frown. "Knuckles, I did not sense Chaos with in the Master Emerald." Her eyes staring right into his purple ones as he faced her with a grim expression. "He is still out there isn't he?"
Simply nodding in reply, Knuckles put the Master Emerald into his glove as he turned to look out the train window with a troubled expression, so much had happened recently that he really hadn't had the time to sit down and really focus on the events properly.
Closing his eyes, he could still see and almost feel the time when Angel Island fell down into the ocean, and it wasn't just this last time, it as all of them. And each time had been a cold reminder of how he had failed as a guardian, but letting Rouge steal it while he was right next to it, it was the last straw.
When he had the Island floating in the sky again, he would seek out a new hiding place for the Master Emerald, it was clear that both the Hidden Palace and the old shrine was not suited for the job anymore, far to many knew about those places.
It was only the soft touch of a hand on his shoulder that made him look up, forgetting the more darker feelings that had risen from his reflections of events. "Yes?"
Facing him with a curious and just as thoughtful expression was Tikal, the peach colored Echidna looking at both him and the coast line. "Don't blame yourself Knuckles, there are things in life that simply can't be prevented, no matter how much one try." Her eyes getting a slightly haunted look in them at the end of her sentence.
Getting a puzzled expression, Knuckles felt like scratching his head as he went over the words from her, going back over the events with each loss of the Master Emerald, every time Angel Island had fallen to the surface of the world. Had he really been able to prevent each attack, each loss of the large gem in a way?
"We'll be arriving at the Mystic ruins shortly, everyone who has to get off is kindly asked to prepare to depart the train."
Looking up as they reached the train station, the small group stood up and walked towards the doors of the train, each of them doing a slight stretch as they stepped down onto the wooden platform.
Walking down the stairs and reaching the flat area of the Mystic Ruins, Knuckles smiled a bit as he started to feel at home. The place looked like his Island in so many ways, that he was hard pressed not to just pull out the Master Emerald and hide it somewhere nearby.
"Knuckles?" Tikal's voice question as she stopped next to him, her eyes taking in the view of the ocean and grassy landscape, so unlike the place she had grown up, but still reminding her of the area around the Master Emerald.
The thoughts of that place making her wince a bit as she the red colored Echidna pull out the gem, it's glow a bit brighter then before as she watched it for a short time, her mind almost telling her she could see Amy Rose sitting inside of it, having taken her place as a payment for releasing the trapped soul with in. A soul they were seeking a way to free from this imprisonment she had to suffer.
A prison that shouldn't have been hers and not the pink hedgehogs to suffer in. "I'm sorry." The fact that she spoke the words out loud got the attention of both Knuckles and Cream as they focused on her after a bit. "This shouldn't have happened, I didn't mean for it to happen." Seeing them both get a highly confused look, she lowered her head. "I wanted to be free, to once more feel the sun on my face, the wind through my fur, to live in the real world instead of the one within the Master Emerald."
Feeling a single tear run down her cheek, she looked up at them both with pure sadness in her eyes. "Amy's wish was partly granted because I wanted out from it so badly." Not seeing it, but guessing that they were horrified at her words, Tikal quickly moved to avoid facing them. "I hadn't expected it replace me with her, I didn't even think anyone would make such a wish until she did."
Moving quickly, the peach colored echidna grabbed the Master Emerald from Knuckles, holding it in her hand protectively as she back away quickly. "But, I can't handle it, pretending that things will be okay, we all know that there is only one way to free her." Closing her eyes tightly, she focused on her emotions completely. "The servers are the seven chaos, chaos is power, power enriched by the heart."
Reaching forward to stop her as he began to figure out what she would do, Knuckles snapped out a hand to grab her, only succeeding in grabbing the Master Emerald as she moved back. "Tikal Don't!"
Opening her eyes as she felt Knuckles grab the gem, she didn't get chance to stop before uttering out her wish. "Please, release Amy Rose from within the Master Emerald!"
Feeling his temper flare up at the words, Knuckles cast a desperate look at Tikal. "That wasn't her wish, she wanted me to be happy, not for you to be free!" Yelling out the one thing he had kept to himself for so long. Then everything faded away in a brightlight, a sickening feeling of something getting pulled away from him, even as he himself was falling down.
TBC.
AN: Well, another chapter done, but it took slightly longer to write then the others, but then again, they keep getting longer and longer, and such a cliff hanger I'm ending the chapter with after all that time, what will happen to Amy, Knuckles and Tikal.
Just why is it that keeps on changing the codes for the preview function, It getting on my nerves having to change my break lines for a scene change every single month.
