Flip card 2:
Name: Knuckles
Description: As the guardian of the Master Emerald, the last Echidna would never leave it alone undefended.
Knuckles did not like it here. Right now, he would much prefer to be back at the Emerald Shrine on Angel Island floating above the clouds. Instead, he found himself sitting at the bottom of a metal duplicate of the shrine inside the Blue Typhoon's energy core. The Master Emerald sat aloft, its steady green glow pulsating like the beating of a heart. The three other Chaos Emeralds the others had been able to gather were placed at the top of a group of metallic pillars around the side. These, at least Tails claimed, helped to unlock the Chaos energy trapped within the Master Emerald.
The Echidna though this chamber was an ugly duplication of his home. The floors and ceiling around the shrine were coated nearly completely in wires and capable, carrying the energy away from where it was needed.
Knuckles still had no idea why the Master Emerald agreed for the two of them to head out on this fiasco. This was not his fight. This only concern was to keep the Master Emerald safe on Angel Island. Never once had he considered himself subordinate to the Emerald itself, but it quickly rectified that when it began ordering him about. What precisely did it know that he didn't? Normally it would not interfere with the affairs of the world around it, so whatever danger it sensed coming had to be big.
Still, it was telling him nothing and he knew there was no point in arguing with it. It hardly spoke back. If left alone to his mediation, this place might have been endurable, if she hadn't decided to act as his baby sitter.
Sitting nearby admiring the Master Emerald a little too much than Knuckles found comfortable was Rouge. She was the only person on this entire ship he spoke to. Sonic came in now and then to see how he was doing but apart from this, Rouge was his only companion here. Not that he needed any companionship. He'd gotten by just fine until now without it.
Trying to think back to a point where he had been alone on Angel Island, he stopped; finding that whatever memory of that revered time appeared flat and emotionless. Looking back at it, he realized just how utterly boring his life had been until he got thrown into the mix of things. Now used to his guardianship being interrupted every other day, any notion of going back to those placid and dull days seemed unappealing.
Groaning, he realized that Sonic's uncontrollable lust for adventure had infected him despite his best efforts.
"Here." Rouge called over, tossing an object wrapped in foil his way. Catching it in one hand, Knuckles unwrapped it to find a baguette sandwich. Once food was within sight, he was instantly reminded that he had not eaten in over a day. Events had been so out of control he'd forgotten to. "If that big o' jewel up there could speak, it'd be telling you that you forget the little things half the time. Stuff like eating." She added with a short grin, floating down to sit beside him as he ate. "You know, what you need is a vacation to get your mind off the Emerald for at least a week. Maybe somewhere in the tropics?" The bat suggested, looking up towards the ceiling thoughtfully. Knuckles paused from his meal to give her a side glance. "Oh come on, don't tell me that doesn't sound even the slightest bit appealing to you?" She leaned forward so her face was level with his, a sly almost seductive grin playing over her lips. "I'd be glad to come with you; I'd even bring something kinky to…"
"Alright, stop right there." The Echidna quickly butted in with a powerful blush on his face despite his tone. "I'm sure there are plenty of other people on this ship you can bother." Rouge feigned a disappointed look.
"Oh, don't you like that idea? Guardians don't take vows of celibacy do they?" Knuckles hesitated.
"Well no but…" Without any warning, she flung herself against him; her arms wrapped around his shoulders lovingly. At that point, Knuckles was silently pleading with the door at the far end of the chamber to open up and let anyone through to interrupt this awkward moment.
"You know what you're problem is?" Rouge began, poking him on the cheek playfully. "Growing up on an island alone, you don't know what you're supposed to do in this situation do you?" Knuckles wanted to argue back, but couldn't think of any answer he could give that wouldn't end up with him looking like a fool. Apart from that, there was some truth to her words. Since infancy, all Knuckles had ever known was Angel Island and his solitude. Living along like that, he had devolved little to no social skills.
Not only that, but he hadn't known family either. For the first time in his entire life, the red Echidna realized just how lonely his existence had been. His shoulders slumped. Seeing what Sonic and his friends enjoyed, Knuckles finally felt the emptiness deep inside.
He'd been telling himself different for years, but the verbal acrobatics had not made the fact go away. He had been lonely on that island, all alone for so long. Just like Rouge had guessed. The only thing that had kept him admitting it earlier had been fear. Fear that if he did, it would mean the end for everything he was familiar with. The end to his way of life.
"All I have is the Master Emerald." He began, all the same looking utterly defeated. "It's all I've ever known." He left a soft gloved hand on his chin. Looking back, he saw Rouge smiling at him.
"You know me don't you?" She asked him. He knew what she was offering, to be another part of his small world. Mixed feelings swelled up, threatening to overflow if he didn't keep a lid tightly on them.
Sighing, he picked himself up and made his way to the top of the metal version of the shrine, to stare directly into the Master Emerald. Rouge quickly joining his side.
The red Echidna was staring directly into the depths of the giant jewel with unblinking eyes. Whatever he could see in it, she couldn't. Being so close to it, its guardian, Knuckles shared a relationship with the Master Emerald that escaped her reason. It could speak to him on a level she could only imagine.
Perhaps she was fooling herself. What room did Knuckles have in his life for her when he was bound like he was to the fate of the Emerald? They were two very different people with very different life styles.
Slowly, she turned away to leave. Stopping her however was Knuckles' hand resting on her shoulder. Looking back, she could see that the red Echidna was smiling. Actually smiling, Knuckles? THE Knuckles?
"I'm sorry Rouge." He admitted solemnly. "I've been a complete jerk to you."
"You can say that again Knucklehead." She replied with a grin, messing up his dreadlocks.
"I've lived alone for so long, I forgot how it felt to be around other people and before you arrived in my life no ones ever been this close to me." Without any warning, he leant forward and hugged her. Rouge's eyes widened at this action, one she would never have expected from him. "I'm not as proud as Sonic or shadow, so I'll admit how stupid I've been. I needed you." For at least a minute, Rouge was utterly certain her heart had stopped beating. Knuckles was just a like a little kid, frightened of the world as it's unfamiliar ways so he turned away from it all to live alone. But now he had discovered that no one could remain alone.
"Oh how deeply moving." A voice stated and the two of them looked up to see Sonic standing at the entrance to the chamber with his arms crossed, a smug smile on his face. The two of them broke away from each other, blushing intently. The blue hedgehog snickered under his breath. "Mind locking the door next time?" he asked casually.
"I…er." Knuckles began, trying to explain but found himself tripping over his own tongue.
"Save it." Sonic added with an apprehensive grin, walking inside. "Chuck tells me…" he paused and reached for a piece of paper he had tucked into his left glove, unfolding it to read what was written down. "That pipe lines…five to ten burnt out again. He says they'll need replacing." A dark rustling reached Knuckles ears and he looked back, to see that Rouge had completely disappeared.
"Little help lover boy?" Sonic asked, pushing a large metal panel off the side of the wall, exposing several pipelines running through it. Knuckles growled at him.
"That, er, wasn't what it looked like." He began scratching the back of his head nervously, anything appropriate to say in this situation lost to him. Sonic just chuckled to himself and pull a few burnt cables away from the side of the wall.
There was the fifth blow out today. At this rate, any hope of activating the jump engine and getting to Mars instantaneously would evaporate. Still Chuck confidentially claimed that once he had the right system settings in place, the Chaos energy that surged through the vessel should stabilise. Not that Sonic actually knew what that entailed; the only thing he had to understand was that once everything was fixed, they went faster.
"Sonic, we need you up at the bridge a second." Tails voice announced over the intercom nearby.
"I'm kinda busy here." The blue hedgehog announced, hanging Knuckles several sections of burnt cable before going looking for the replacements which Chuck had told him were stashed somewhere around here.
"It's sorta important." Tails continued as Knuckles gestured over to the corner, where a large collection of replacements had been placed in a log like pile, all tied together by leather straps. Sonic scratched the back of his head for a second.
"Knuckles, can you take care of this?" The Echidna, who was grateful for any excuse to be alone and out of an embarrassing situation just nodded; even thought his scientific knowledge was none existent. "Fine, I'll be right up." The blue hedgehog groaned, leaving the Energy chamber.
Everyone onboard was rush off their feet trying to get this vessel working properly. Sonic wouldn't have been surprised if Eggman had engineered these faults purposely when he helped create it to slow them down. Of course a ploy like that didn't make any sense, but Sonic couldn't help but feel their temporary ally was up to something behind their back.
At least this delay had given them time to plan. Their overall scheme would depend entirely on what Metal X was up to on Mars, but ultimately their goal was to steal the three Chaos Emeralds that they had, defeat their generals and bring down Metal Sonic. How they went about doing that was still up in the air.
Rounding a corner, Sonic came to one of the lifts. This one had just reached his level and when the doors opened, he found Amy standing inside.
"Oh there you are." The pink hedgehog started. "Tails wants us up at the bridge."
"He asked you to come as well?" Sonic asked stepping inside with the doors closing behind him. Amy just nodded and pressed a button on the side and the lift started to ascend.
"Now!" Cosmo stated with a short grin and Chris threw the switch, cutting power to that section of the ship the lights going off, the hum of Chaos energy passing through the walls ceasing and the lift coming to a complete stop with a sudden jolt that nearly knocked Sonic off his feet. "There, now all we do is sit back and wait." The green haired seer added, rubbing her hands together as her plan got underway.
"You certain this is going to work?" Chris asked down at her sceptically. Cosmo just nodded.
"I got the idea from this book Topaz showed me." She admitted, producing a leather back book entitled; Trapped in the Lift. According to the summary on the back, the plot was about two people who couldn't stand each other getting trapped in an elevator for several hours and in that time they fall in love with one another. Apparently, Cosmo had decided to adapt the idea into her plans.
"But that's fiction!" Chris began looked a little stunned. "Does that kind of thing happen in real life?"
"Oh ye of little faith." Cosmo announced looking sly. "I'm a Seer, it's my job to predict the future. And right now I predict love." Her expression was ominous. Chris suddenly had a sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach.
"We can't keep them locked in there forever." Tails put in. Shutting down power from the bridge meant cluing the young fox into her plan. "Exactly how long do you want them in there?" Cosmo looked thoughtful for a second.
"Well, about an hour I think."
Sonic looked out through the window to see how high they were, thinking that perhaps if he knocked the doors open they could jump out. That idea was quickly abandoned when he saw that any attempt to jump would end up severely injuring both of them. Now that he believed he could knock out the doors. They looked pretty sturdy and nothing sort of a spin attack was going to dislodge them, and that felt too risky as well. Since all the lights on this level had gone out, he guessed that there must be another cable blow out somewhere; cutting off the juice not just to the life but to the lights as well.
"Typical." He muttered to himself, looking around for a com or something he could use to see if someone could get them moving again. Amy had already tried it, only to find power had been cut from that as well.
"Looks like we're stuck here still someone's fixes the problem." She started.
"With so many things going wrong all over the ship; that could be some time." Sonic replied, slumping down against the side of the lift interior, looking bored. Amy joined him at his side.
"Hey, you ok?" She asked, suddenly noting his melancholy expression; hardly the standard Sonic look she was familiar with.
"I'm fine." She knew instantly that was an untruth. As if she could sense it from him, she knew he was still worried about what would happen if they ran into Metal Sonic again. That notion had been dogging all of their minds for a while now, but it was hitting Sonic the hardest. He was the one who convinced the rest of them that Metal had changed, that he was one of them now.
"Hey, talk to me; I'm right here." She offered, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"No really, I'm fine." Sonic replied. "I already got the low-down from Shadow, I'll have to fight Metal sooner or later. Not much I can do about it."
"That doesn't mean you have to like it." Amy added. "I know I don't." Sonic decided that it was probably best for his mental health if he stopped brooding on it. Shadow had been right; no amount of mopping was going to change the facts. Sonic gave her a short grin.
"You know; guys our age shouldn't be up to ours necks in this kind of trouble." Amy could see where he was coming from with that statement. Most teenagers their age were either in college or out enjoying their youth any place they felt like. As for them, they were all too busy trying to stop the latest evil megalomaniac from taking over the world. Whether it ranged from Eggman to Metal Sonic, or even dark gods intent on destroying everything; there was always someone distracting them from the simple teenage fun others enjoyed.
"Yeah, most people like us are supposed to be living on campus." Amy replied with a smile of her own. "Yet here we are on a space ship flying to Mars. One adventure after another with us." Sonic laughed out load.
"Wouldn't have it any other way would we?" He asked, holding up a fist. Amy formed her own fist and they tapped knuckles.
"What other way is there?" She asked with a very Sonic style grin. As Cosmo's intended hour ticked by, Sonic and Amy's conversations did not drift to romantic intent like she'd originally predicted. Instead, they spent all that time talking about their lives, their friends and other things two friends might talk about.
Hardly the intention Cosmo had had in mind, but regardless it had preformed both Sonic and Amy a great service. Through these discussions, they gained insight into each other's character; learning details and traits they might never have expected. Sonic for example learnt that Amy wasn't a fan of high healed shoes. While that piece of information might have seemed trivial to the passing observer, Sonic found it surprising, having always imagined Amy to have a passion for that kind of thing.
Vice versa, Amy discovered the blue hedgehog's first ambition had been to be an author. The pink hedgehog nearly burst out laughing at that point, knowing full well that while Sonic wasn't illiterate his grammar skills were none existent. He had even once misspelled the word; Tooth.
"I did not!" Sonic defended himself adopting a shocked look.
"You spelt it T-O-T-H-E." Amy announced between laughs. "You a writer? What did you plan on writing?"
"Well er…" Sonic began looking slightly embarrassed. "I always wanted to write Sci-Fi." Amy hadn't stopped giggling. "Ok then, what did you first want to be?" He asked her with a near sadistic grin.
"Can we change the subject?" The pink hedgehog began, suddenly ceasing her laughter.
"Oh no you don't." Sonic persisted. "Come on, out with it." Amy clamped her lips together in a stubborn expression. She crossed her arms and looked away, shaking her head. "It can't have been that bad." Amy remained silent. "Not chicken ah yah?" He asked, flapping his arms like a fowl.
"Promise not to laugh?" She asked after a moment of silent contemplation. Sonic made a cross sign on his heart. "I'd always wanted to be a racer." The blue hedgehog just sat there looking a little confused.
"Why would I have laughed at that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, every other girl wanted to be something like a dancer or a model. I just came out and said I wanted to race." She formed a smile. "But thanks for not laughing anyway."
This time spent talking had lifted Sonic's spirits far more than even he would have anticipated. He knew it sounded corny, but with friends like Amy by his side; he knew he had what it took to take on his robotic clone.
As soon as the hour had gone by, Tails flipped the switch restoring power and the lift stared moving again. Once it reached the next level up, the doors opened and the found Chris and Cosmo standing there waiting for them.
"You know how long we've been in there?" Sonic asked feigning a furlong look.
"Since the power went off, I think about an hour." Chris replied, suppressing a smug grin. Sonic noticed the strange look on his face and paused, then looked towards Cosmo who had adopted a similar expression. Something at the back of his head told him something was up, but it was quickly silenced as Doctor Eggman's voice crackled over the ships intercom.
"I'm done working, so if the rest of you would be so kind as to join me on the bridge we can get going." He barked in his usual arrogant voice before falling silent.
"Must have fixed the engines." Chris commented. "Guess we can get going now."
"It was a nice try Cosmo." Amy commented, whispering to the green haired seer when Sonic wasn't looking their way. "I appreciate the effort, but I'd like to win Sonic on my own terms. Thanks anyway." With that she walked off and Sonic disappeared through the corridors in a blue flash. Cosmo just looked stunned that she had figured out that she had been behind all that.
Amy hadn't been angry with her for locked the two of them in a lift for an hour because she knew he intentions. Plus Cosmo was struggling to deal with her own problem, feeling that she useless amongst the others. This scheme of hers had been her attempt to put some purpose in his presence here.
"It took a little work, but I have it online." Eggman announced once most of the crew excluding Omega and Knuckles had arrived on the bridge, running his hands over the rows of buttons at the front of the ship, the holographic displays upfront changing as he did so. "Give me a minute to charge the system and we'll be underway." He added quickly, pulling up several programs at once.
"The systems stable now." Chuck told them as they waited for Eggman to finish the preparations. "We shouldn't have anymore failures. At least, we shouldn't." The overpowering energy from the Master Emerald had finally been managed into a steady stream inside of a tidal wave. The problem, Chuck discovered, was that they hadn't taken into account how much energy could be absorbed from the Emerald at one time. The ship's system had taken in to much and the result was failures throughout the vessel.
The finality of this moment poked hard at Sonic. After this point there was no going back, it was either they destroyed Metal Sonic or Metal Sonic destroyed them. There could be no room for doubt now.
"Ok, all set." Eggman told them, backing away from the console and strapping himself into his seat; his two robots doing the same. Tails had even clamped himself to his chair, still with both hands on the controls. On the holographic screen, a countdown from thirty seconds began. Even from here, they could feel the steady vibration as the engines began to build up more energy preparing for the jump. "You may want to sit down." Eggman told them over his shoulder as half the countdown elapsed. Getting the gist, they quickly found seats.
At the back of the Blue Typhoon, the cone like end of the engines began to resonate and glow bright gold; the loud humming that indicated the presence of Chaos Energy growing to a near deafening pitch. Eggman's jump engine had been the end result into his scientific pursuits of Chaos Control. Ever since discovered the warp creating capabilities of Chaos Energy, the Doctor had been trying to invent ways of harnessing the power. This new system, if it worked, would be the fruits of his labours.
"If this doesn't work…" Sonic began, suddenly looking a little worried. "What happens?"
"You really don't want to know." Eggman told him confidently. In that next section, the countdown reached zero. The space around the Blue Typhoon rippled like the water in a pond, whatever lay in sight horribly distorted for a single moment before the engines kicked in one last time and with a sudden burst, the ship went rocketing forward at an impossible speed; so fast that a hole was torn in the fabric of space and the Typhoon disappeared inside.
-
The three Chaos Emeralds belonging to the Machine Federation glowed brightly as the rest of their group approached. Metal Sonic stood over their glass display case watching their pulsating glow. This plan was working perfectly.
So far, Equinox was reporting that their experiments were having a mixed success rate. Some of the duplications seemed able to manifest Chaos Energy, while others died almost instantaneously. Fortunately, none of the experiments had blown up in their faces thus far and the positive results were proving very potent. For the meanwhile at least, it would prove profitable to keep experimenting. The trail and error process was coming to an end and Equinox assured him that he would soon have the technique perfected.
Repair robot repair bays stood a short distance away, long mechanical arms reaching down to work on the armour of three of Metal Sonic's inquisitions. Metal Knuckles, Egg Robo and the Third E1004: Theta. The latter had been destroyed during a conflict with Sonic, but thanks to some of the technology taken from the Eggman Empire; Metal Sonic was able to reconstruct his body from the blueprints. Within hours, he would be operational once again. All three of them had had their Eggman logo's removed and replaced with the Metal X symbol.
"You have conquered quite a daring plan." A voice behind him stated from an origin more than familiar. Turning his head, Metal Sonic saw that his mysterious benefactor had appeared again, a dark figure clad in a robe that concealed his robe. His face was hidden behind a hood and a long metallic mask that gleamed brightly in the semi light coming through the windows. The visor of the mask was glowing bright green. ""Yet I fear I must warn you not to overestimate your own abilities." He continued, half lurking in the darkness. "Sonic can be a very dangerous enemy, and I still believe you made a mistake in letting him live."
"How I deal with him is of no concern to you." The robotic hedgehog replied. "My plan is fool proof. By the end of it, I will have all seven Chaos Emeralds in my grasp and Sonic at my feet." His visitor remained silent for a moment.
"Oh very well, if you insist on doing it your way my trying to persuade you otherwise would be pointless." He remarked flatly. "Although, you should know that Sonic does not travel alone to destroy you, he has many companions." Metal Sonic turned back towards the windows with a short chuckle.
"None of his lackeys could ever hope to match me." He stated confidently.
"Not even Shadow?"
"None of them." Metal repeated forcefully, clenching a fist in mid air; the hollow ringing of metal against metal resonating throughout the chamber.
"Pride comes before a fall Metal Sonic." His benefactor reminded him, the glow from his visor increasing slightly. "Never underestimate an opponent, and never hold back in a fight." Metal Sonic whirled around, his cape flying out behind him.
"You presume to teach me?" He asked angrily. "What could you ever know that I do not?" Even under the mask, the robotic hedgehog could almost feel the figure grinning sadistically.
"A lot more than you think." Was the reply before he faded away. Metal Sonic stared him down for a moment, before turning back towards the three Chaos Emeralds he had collected; their glow was steadily increasing as the remainder of the set slowly moved towards them.
-
(Well how many couplings did you see? Two, three, or more? Really, I'm interested to see how many managed to see the newest edition I snuck in.)
(In Chris' voice)
Maybe next time Cosmo! Tails gets to put his new ship to the test as the crew arrive at Mars, only to face Metal Sonic's right hand General; Dark Oak, one of the most powerful in Metal X. Can they escape this unstoppable titan and the rest of the Metal X army? Find out next time on Sonic X, Enter Dark Oak. Don't miss it!