A/N: A month and a half without updating... -shudders- Sorry guys. I had some serious writer's block for this chapter, hehe, and having a hectic schedule doesn't help much either. Anyway, I would like to dedicate this chapter to all my lovely reviewers! Thank you Windfield, Kelly, and especially RC-sonicCRAZED. Thank you all so much; your reviews are the main reason why I even got the strength to type up this chapter.

So anyway, enjoy...

Chapter 13: Sweet n' Sour Surprises

Sonic and Knuckles stood back to back, staring at the infinite numbers of creatures surrounding them. Both quickly switched their surprise to immense concentration.

"How many can you take?" Sonic whispered.

"All those that you can't!" He yelled and quickly ran into a horde of enemies. The echidna, constantly throwing punches, had steely fire in his eyes.

The hedgehog laughed, "Now that is the echidna I know."

Sprinting in the opposite direction, Sonic headed for one creature in particular. However, instead of blind punches, he made a sharp turn left, and then ran around in super-sonic circle. Wind quickly shot up from his incredible speed, as Sonic soon made a path around dozens of enemies. All of which soon became victim to the ever-growing tornado. The creatures flew upwards, only to fall back down unharmed. All of them slowly stood up menacingly.

"What? You gotta be kiddin' me!" Sonic panted breathlessly, but did not finish his statement before a creature from behind attempted to hit him. As usual, his speed rescued Sonic from a fatal blow. He slid on his knees to escape, only to skate into a different horde. On the floor, Sonic nervously gazed into the baleful eyes from above.

Meanwhile, Knuckles was not fairing off so well, either. As he pummeled dozens of enemies, only more came.

"They are never ending!" He punched repeatedly, moving faster and faster until a crimson light glow emanated from his fists. Making a path, Knuckles thrust his one claw forward, and the bright light destroyed everything within proximity.

Only water rested on the tile floor. Relieved, Knuckles turned around, to see Sonic nowhere to be found.

An ear-shattering screech came from a group of creatures, which unbeknownst to Knuckles were encircling Sonic. They all drove their claws downwards in an attempt to pierce Sonic's flesh. Luckily he rolled over on his side, escaping the ring.

As Sonic crawled, Knuckles noticed the hedgehog and performed the same attack upon the creatures.

"I thought you'd be rusty after all this time," Sonic laughed weakly.

"I thought you'd be better," Knuckles cruelly retorted, as he sauntered around the puddles of water.

Sonic merely laughed and limped towards the red echidna.

"What's wrong?!"

"Just a scratch really," he replied and attempted to stand upright, revealing a deep gash on his leg. The pain was minimal, but still made it difficult to walk.

The water surrounding them began to vibrate slowly. Knuckles sighed in annoyance and grabbed Sonic's arm.

"Let's get out of here already."

"What happened to the whole 'don't touch me!' thing?"

"You're hurt, and there is no way you are going to die again." Knuckles yelled in return, sprinting to the closest doorway as the water creatures slowly reformed.

"I can run!" The hedgehog scolded, despite his amusement from Knuckles' comment. Had the echidna really missed Sonic that much? No, of course not, he just refused to be at fault for another catastrophe... right?

Knuckles released Sonic as he punched the control panels alongside the doorway. It slowly creaked open... a little too slowly. Both of them crawled underneath its rusty metal and then closed the airtight door from the other side.

Water seeped from underneath the door. Both Sonic and Knuckles recognized this, becoming extremely nervous. Now they were cramped in this small passageway with an infinite number of creatures, all of which indestructible.

"We can't take 'em on now!" Sonic shouted as he ran down the hall. Knuckles quickly ensued, and was surprisingly faster than the hedgehog. No longer in their solid form, the creatures continued after them, surging like a crazed ocean.

Now the gash in Sonic's leg began to take its toll. The pain coursed through his veins with relentless force. Though despite his shallow breaths, he was able to stay ahead of the malevolent tide.

Knuckles and Sonic sprinted along the winding path, blindly turning at any intersection without knowing their destination. Until, they reached a dead-end. Panting, both turned around to the immense wave of tainted liquid soon to crash upon them.

"Knuckles?"

"Yeah?"

"Any last words?"

"Yeah. The plot in Sonic Heroes was a big let-down; you shouldn't have agreed to licensing it."

"And you're dubbed voice in Sonic X is really annoying."

"I'm glad we got that off our chests."

"Sure Knux, sure."

The flood quickly enveloped them, raising the two heroes many feet above the steel floor. Soon they reached the ceiling, with both heads crushed against it. The liquid stung at Sonic's wound, slowly electrocuting him. He caressed the ceiling above and felt a small recess upon it.

However, the liquefied creatures had already eradicated all bubbles of air. Soon Sonic and Knuckles would drown. The blue hedgehog's wound seeped blood and made it difficult to see Knuckles. Despite this, Sonic tried to show Knuckles the opening, but to no avail. In desperation, he waved his fist back and forth, until hitting Knuckles' head. The angered echidna swam towards Sonic to throw a punch, but quickly saw what the hedgehog was pointing to.

Knuckles punched hard on the recess, to open a vent. He quickly jumped up and then dragged Sonic in. Without time to catch their breath, they ran down another hall, but this time, found a working control panel. Knuckles immediately smashed the panel in two, making it short-circuit and thus electrifying the liquid.

"That won't stop it for long," the echidna gasped, running down the hallway.

"Right."

They sprinted to the best of their ability, despite immense fatigue, and found a closed doorway with flashing lights.

"This has got to be the only place here that is turned on."

"Must be the control room."

"Hurry, those things are probably on our tails!" Sonic breathlessly rasped as he placed his hand on a control panel next to the door. It made a quick swishing noise, and both heroes quickly jumped inside. The technology sensors realized they entered and immediately closed the door again.

Sonic collapsed on the wall and sank to floor, panting. With all that adrenaline, he did not realize how severe his wound had become. The blood was diluted and all over his leg. Clutching it, the blue hedgehog looked up to see Knuckles staring straight ahead.

There was Shadow.

"Shadow." Knuckles said, as calmly as possible. "Where is Dice?"

"How should I know!? Because of her, I... I... Never mind! I need to concentrate," The dark hedgehog cruelly retorted without changing his focus from the keyboard in front of him. He was rapidly typing, searching... desperately searching. Knuckles leisurely sauntered to Shadow's side, as Sonic grudgingly stood on his feet.

"I need to know; where is she? She was looking for you and was very nervous. What are you planning?"

"I am too busy to be concerned with your nagging questions."

"Maybe I... err we can help."

"This is none of your business! Go back to the haunted island from whence you came."

"Wow that was an interesting comeback. Slightly cliché if you ask me."

"STFU Sonic!" There was a long silence. Shadow glanced upwards, without turning around. "SONIC?!?!"

"Hehehe." The blue hedgehog smiled with extreme amusement; he was wondering how Shadow would react. Though Sonic was flattered that Shadow recognized his voice so quickly, even after so many years.

"Why you... you!" At last Shadow thrust himself around to find both Knuckles and Sonic laughing. "You were alive!!!"

"Long story."

At first Shadow was not sure how to react. His vented anger seemed to rise exponentially but when the fact sank in, all the dark hedgehog could feel was... happiness. His mouth gaped open and the incredulous hedgehog limped backwards, tripping on the control panel.

A smile was plastered on his face, "You bastard." Sonic and Knuckles snickered at the remark, until suddenly all the lights switched off. It was pitch black.

"Smooth Shadow."

"Wasn't me."

Suddenly a flashing red light came on. It was like a heartbeat: on and off, on and off, pulsating red and black light.

"What the--?!"

"The base... it's on self-destruct!" Shadow yelled.

A/N: Wow the beginning of this chapter is really bad huh? Like I said, serious writer's block. At least the transition chapter is finally over. Now it can get interesting! Remember to leave me a review! It's what keeps me going. Oh, did I already thank my reviewers? I just want to reiterate: thanks for boosting my esteem guys.