I couldn't remember if the mid boss for Carnival Night came before or after Knuckles shut off the power. I hope I got it right, I'm not rewriting if I didn't.
All copyright info on first chapter
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Sonic Adventure Zero – Death of Angels
By Master hunter
Chapter 7 – Restoring the fallen
Knuckles reached the Hidden Palace and examined the one thing he could count on. He knew the mural inside the palace was a prophecy. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. It showed the a picture of a huge robot carrying the Master Emerald while a Golden Demon chased after it. For years he examined it, trying to work out whether the Robot was protecting the Emerald from the demon, or whether the demon was trying to get it back from the Robot who stole it.
One thing he was sure of, the prophecy was coming true. The Golden Demon was no doubt Sonic in his super form and the Robot was most likely one of the Doctor's machines. It confused him even more, who were the good guys and who were the bad guys?
Then all of a sudden the Chaos Emeralds he had taken started to glow. He had left them by the Master Emerald, a natural resting place. He watched as the Chaos Emeralds ascended into the upper area of the chamber. They circled the ceiling rapidly before becoming seven rays of light. Each slammed into a special pedestal that coincidently lay beside the Master Emerald. In each now was a much bigger emerald, though it was no longer a jewel but a black stone.
"What is this?" asked Knuckles confused.
Free the Emeralds power, jump on top of one of the stones and complete the task given to you. Do it for all seven and restore the controller.
"Huh? What was that? Who said that?" asked Knuckles even more confused.
He then realised it was another one of the guardian tasks he wouldn't understand, but just had to do. He stood on the one closest to the Master Emerald and found himself in a strange new world. He was standing on a chequered plain, covered in spheres. Some were blue, some were red, some were yellow and some were white with red stars.
Collect Blue Spheres! Avoid the Red ones.
"Right then", said Knuckles before setting off to collect the Blue Spheres.
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Meanwhile Sonic and Tails had ventured through the Marble Garden. It was full of spike traps, oil traps and strange manmade traps that seemed almost tribal. They had found a machine with two drills that like to cause cave-ins. Just like Eggman in the Mystic caves. It fell much more easily.
As the progressed they were suddenly ambushed by Eggman. But instead of attacking he drilled into the ground and disappeared. The whole of the Marble Garden started morphing, the ground beneath them started to rise and they only had the one option, to rush ahead regardless of what dangers await them. It was tough but eventually they caught up with Eggman. Eggman said nothing as the two heroes took a moment to catch their breaths. Then all of a sudden he drilled the arena they were in and everything disappeared.
Tails took in the initiative and flew like he never flew before. He held Sonic into the air and never stopped flying. They caught up with Eggman and Sonic jumped into the drill machine. Tails caught him before he dropped into the dark abyss beneath them.
"Whoa! Tails are you not getting tired?" asked Sonic.
"I…can't…fail", said Tails, more determined than ever.
Then suddenly Eggman charged at them, Tails quickly dodged and Sonic countered. This time he bounced on the machine, causing massive damage.
"Hurry Sonic, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up", shouted Tails.
Eggman angrily tried to ram them again. The same tactics as last time were used and Sonic managed to blow up the Drill machine. Sonic and Tails followed the best they could but Tails was almost drained of his energy. As they started dropping slowly into the Carnival beneath them, they saw it. A brief glimpse of the Death Egg resting comfortably in the mountains. Tails crashed into the ground, panting in exhaustion.
"Well done Tails. I don't know what I would've done without you", said Sonic.
"Aw shucks", said Tails blushing before falling to the ground.
"You take a minute or two to rest, and then we're off towards the Death Egg. Looks like we're in a carnival. I suppose like the casino this is a source of revenue for old Egghead. He sure works fast", said Sonic.
Sonic sat down next to Tails and waited for him to recover.
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Knuckles managed to collect all the Blue spheres and found himself back in the Hidden Palace shrine.
"I get it now. When the huge spaceship crashed into Angel Island the shockwave must've knocked the Master Emerald's power out into the shrine itself. The power is invisible to the naked eye but it was scattered across the chamber waiting for something to focus it back into the Master Emerald. The Chaos Emeralds absorbed the extra power but for some reason became stone. I must liberate the extra power in all these Super Emeralds and then perhaps the Master Emerald's power will be restored", said Knuckles out loud.
"KNUCKLES? KNUCKLES? WHERE ARE YOU?" said a familiar voice coming from a radio.
The Doctor gave Knuckles a radio so he could ask for his help anytime.
"Knuckles here. Sorry but I've been busy", replied Knuckles.
"Doing what? While you were 'busy', Sonic and his pesky friend Tails managed to get through the Marble Garden and are currently in the Carnival Night Zone", said Dr. Robotnik.
"Sorry but I cannot tell you what I've been doing. Hey! You built a Carnival on my Island?" asked Knuckles angrily.
"I needed the money. Sonic and Tails are on their way, I cannot let them reach the Life Egg before I can launch it again. Please Knuckles I need your help. Stop Sonic or at least slow him down. He's a danger to everyone", said Dr. Robotnik.
Knuckles took a moment to think.
"I'm on my way", said Knuckles.
I'll come back to restore the Emeralds later. They'll be safe here, the doctor may not be.
Knuckles left the Hidden Palace and headed towards the Carnival Night Zone.
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The bright lights of the Carnival Night zone hurled past Sonic and Tails as they ventured through the deadly traps and balloons. It was empty as many parts were still unfinished, well empty as in no people.
Soon they saw Knuckles standing over a switch.
"Knuckles!" said Sonic. The two heroes stopped in front of the red echidna.
"I must applaud you for getting this far. I can't say I approve of this carnival but it's slowed you down at the very least", said Knuckles.
"So you joining our side now?" asked Sonic.
"No! Get off my Island. I cannot trust you or the Doctor, but if you're gone I can take care of him myself if he gets out of hand", said Knuckles.
"No can do Knuckles. If he re-launches the Death Egg we could all be destroyed", said Sonic.
"Life Egg, Death Egg, who am I to believe? I can see I can't stop you with words. Leave me to deal with this alone. It's my task not yours", said Knuckles.
"Eggman is more powerful than you can imagine. His machines are getting stronger, hell even I've had to get assistance. Without Tails by my side I don't know how I could've made it this far", said Sonic.
"It doesn't matter, I cannot let you pass. Let's see you find your way in pitch black darkness", said Knuckles.
Knuckles pressed the switch and destroyed it. All the lights suddenly went out leaving the entire carnival dark. Unfazed by this the two heroes ventured on and soon found themselves in water. Part of the Carnival was flooded.
"As if not being able to see was bad enough", said Sonic before diving into the water.
Soon afterwards they found another switch which restored power to the area. Shortly afterwards they came across a big badnik that floated above a set of chequered blocks. Sonic and Tails jumped into the arena, only to find a door lock behind them. A small spiked platform separated from the main machine and started smashing the blocks below.
"Well we can't go out the way we came", said Tails.
"Let's take care of this annoyance first shall we?" said Sonic.
Sonic span into the machine only to bounce off without doing any damage. However it froze in the air with its main body extended into a much bigger machine. Tails tried his spin attack but bounced off too.
"There must be a way to hurt it", said Sonic.
The machine retracted back into its smaller form as the spiked platform smashed the blocks underneath.
"Hmmm, I wonder", said Tails.
Sonic dodged the spiked platform as Tails dashed off to the other side of the arena.
"Sonic, get on the platform", shouted Tails.
Sonic didn't argue. He jumped on the platform as Tails smashed into the machine. While extended the added weight of Sonic sent the spiked platform right through the machine. It cut through the machine like a knife through butter. The machine exploded and smashed into the opposite wall, leaving a nice hole for the two heroes to escape through.
They ventured on through the carnival to find Knuckles waiting for them. He smiled as he pressed another switch, sending Sonic and Tails back the way they came. Sonic and Tails found themselves on the highest point of Carnival night, on top of a huge platform. They saw a large cannon aimed at the mountains.
"Cool a shortcut", said Sonic.
"You mean the cannon? Are you crazy?" asked Tails.
"We have to get there quickly. It'd take much longer by foot as we'd have to climb it first", said Sonic.
"But a cannon? Oh well I hope you know what you're doing", said Tails.
Suddenly a giant green ball fell towards the two heroes. Sonic pushed Tails out of the way before falling onto his back. The Green ball skidded to a halt.
"Once again I have to say I'm impressed again. I never thought Tails could fly for so long. Oh well Live and Learn", said Eggman who was in the air above them, "I suppose you plan to use that cannon to cover some ground"
"Yeah, and I suppose you're here to fight us again. Well if you're that desperate to lose again, bring it on", said Sonic.
Eggman collected the Green ball which gave Sonic and Tails enough time to get a few hits in. He then fired the Green ball at them again. As Eggman approached the ball the two heroes prepared another attack, finding it hard to believe how easy it was. They skidded to a halt as they realised this time Eggman wasn't going to collect the ball. Instead he created a vortex with electricity.
"You see hedgehog, when electricity circles around this ball it sucks everything towards it", said Eggman.
Sonic, Tails and a great deal of the arena started to be sucked into the vortex. Sonic grabbed Tails and ran as quickly as he could in the opposite direction. They managed to get a great deal of distance between themselves and the ball as Eggman upped the power. Sonic started to sweat as he found the pulling force getting strong enough to affect him at full speed. To his relief Eggman stopped the vortex and went to reclaim the ball. Sonic let the force take him and spinning in a ball smashed into Eggman. Tails also did this and Eggman's machine started to spark.
"Damn, another failure", said Eggman.
Sonic and Tails got a couple more hits in and Eggman's machine started to explode. Eggman retreated towards the mountains as Sonic and Tails climbed into the cannon.
"Wait, are you absolutely sure about this?" asked Tails.
"Nope, but there's only one way to find out", said Sonic.
They fired the cannon and the two heroes flew towards the mountain's peak at an incredible speed.
Meanwhile Knuckles had been making his way back to the Hidden Palace. He still had a job to do regarding the Emeralds. He reached the palace and jumped on another Super Emerald.
"Number 2. If I change another Emerald in-between setting more traps for Sonic I might be able to free the Emeralds and stop my Island being their battleground. I've already lost the lush jungle to their war and the holy ruins in the Marble Garden have definitely been left scarred", said Knuckles, "I won't let my Island be the place for their war any longer"
Knuckles disappeared inside the Emerald.
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Meanwhile Eggman was recovering from the fight. He could easily fly over the mountains and prepare he next weapon, while Sonic and Tails dealt with the Badniks patrolling the area. The region Knuckles called Ice cap could very well be Sonic's tomb if he managed to freeze him, and his latest weapon was designed to do just that.
But he could help but wonder about Knuckles. Was he really an ally? Had he realised it had been a trick? Where was he?
One thing was for sure, Knuckles had his own agenda. He couldn't be relied upon. Fortunately for him the Death Egg was almost fully repaired.
By the time those fools reach the Death Egg it'll be too late. I will have re-launched the Death Egg and glory will still come to the Robotnik Empire.