CAHPTER 13
Knuckles got down on his knees and focused intensely. He could sense the rest of the Chaos Emeralds scattered all over the base as well as the last few shards of the Master Emerald. "They're here," he said. "They're scattered all over the place."
"Maybe we can use this to help us find them as well," Tikal said, holding up the staff. "It can also help us know when we're close because it will begin to glow even brighter."
"Good idea," Sonic said.
"I'm glad," Knuckles said, getting up. "Because there's one close by."
"Which way?" the blue hedgehog asked.
Knuckles pointed into the darkness. "That way!"
Tikal, just to be sure, pointed the staff in that direction. The Emerald embeded in it glowed brightly. "Let's go," she said.
The Emerald Knuckles sensed was in the next room. With the help of Tikal's staff they spotted it in a glass enclosure suspended above their heads.
"How are we going to get it down?" Sonic asked.
Knuckles didn't need to answer. He climbed up the wall and when he was high enough he glided over to the cage. "That was simple," the echidna said, opening the case and pulling out the white Chaos Emerald. "I just hope the others are this easy to get."
He jumped down and put the Emerald in the bag he'd been putting the Master Emerald shards in. "Shall we go?" he asked when he was done.
Tikal nodded.
Knuckles took her hand. They started walking down the hall... without Sonic.
"Hey!" he shouted, chasing after them. "Wait for me!"
"Oh, we're sorry," Knuckles said, grinning. "We totally forgot you were here."
Sonic stared at him a moment. "How could you forget I was here?" he asked. "I've been with you guys for the past who knows how long."
"Whatever."
The blue hedgehog stayed in step with them both but he constantly had a scowl on his face. He noticed how Knuckles and Tikal were acting. It was different than before. They seemed very... close.
Why should I be jealous? I have Amy.
But he was. He just didn't say anything.
Four of the remaining five Emeralds were very easy to find. They didn't run into any problems till the final one. That's when the trouble began.
For one thing the Chaos Emerald was inside a locked safe with a very complicated combination lock. None of the three could figure it out.
"This is hopeless!" Knuckles exclaimed, after they'd tried for the millionth time. "We're never going to figure this out!" he pounded the lock with his fist. "Stupid Egglock!" he shouted. "I'll tear it apart with my bare hands!"
He smashed his fist into the lock. This caused it to break. The Chaos Emerald fell out and landed on the floor by his feet.
"Well that was easier than I thought," he said, picking the gem up. "I should have thought of that a lot sooner."
The echidna put the Emerald in the bag with the others. "Now all we have to do is find the remaining pieces of the Master Emerald and find Chaos before Eggman makes even more clones of him."
Suddenly a siren began blaring.
"What is that?" Tikal asked. "What does that mean?"
Sonic knew. "It means we're in trouble. Let's get out of here!"
They all started running.
Suddenly they heard Eggman's voice loud and clear. "Do you think I'm going to let you get away that easily? Why don't you have a little fun before you go?
"What does he mean by that?" Tikal asked, looking at the two guys.
"I have no idea," Sonic admitted. "But I don't want to hang around long enough to find out."
Knuckles grabbed Tika;'s hand when he caught up with her. "That means we're in trouble," he told her. "Major trouble. We'd better get out of here!"
"But what about Chaos and the Master Emerald?" she asked.
"We'll worry about them later!" he said. "First we've got to get out of here before Eggman sends his latest creation after us!"
"What?"
"Now's not the time to be explaining things to her, Knuckles," Sonic shouted. "Now is the time to run!"
"But what are we running from?" Tikal asked.
Lazers started shooting at them. "That's what" the blue hedgehog said.
Tikal screamed as a lazer hit the ground in front of her. Knuckles quickly jerked on her hand, pulling her out of danger.
"Stay close to me, Tikal," he instructed. "I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt."
Tikal looked up at him then nodded. She stayed close to the Master Emerald Guardian.
"We have to do something about those lazers!" Knuckles said. He looked over at Sonic. "Got any ideas?"
"Yeah!" the blue hedgehog said. "But I need a ring to take them out."
"A ring?" Tikjal said. "Hoe are we going to find a ring here?"
"Who needs a ring when we can destroy them the old fasion way!" Knuckles said, letting go of Tial's hand and stopping.
"Destroy what?" Sonic asked. "We have no robots to fight."
"Oh yeah, then what are those?" Knuckles said pointing.
Sonic and Tikal looked back. They saw some of Eggman's biggest robots coming at them.
"What are we going to do?" Tikal asked.
"We're going to fight them that's what!" Knuckles said.
Sonic and Tikal stopped running. Tikal because she was scared Knuckles would get hurt, Sonic because he didn't want Knuckles to have all the fun.
"Be careful!" she shouted, as the two guys ran at the robots.
"Aren't we always?" Sonic asked, looking back at her with a grin.
"Don't answer that!" Knuckles adviced.
The echinda princess didn't.
Sonic and Knuckles started fighting the robots. The going was easy till a huge robot came out of nowhere and went after them from behind.
"Look out!' Tikal screamed.
Before either Sonic or Knuckles could react the robot swung at them, knocking them in different directions.
"Where that robot come from!" Knuckles exclaimed, as he fell to the floor.
"Sonic! Knuckles!" Tikal shouted, starting to run forward.
"Stay back, Tikal!" Knuckles called to her, as he slowly got up. "We'll take care of him!"
"Knuckles..."
"Just stay there!"
The two guys regrouped. They ran at the robot then jumped into the air. The machine shot missles at them and blew them back.
Knuckles got up again just in time so see the robot come at him. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed.
Suddenly the robot was knocked away. The red echinda looked up. He saw Tikal running at the machine. She jumped at it and kicked it down.
"Nobody does that to my boyfriend!" she shouted.
The staff she held started to glow. She swung it down. "BEGONE!" she roared.
A ray of light hit the robot and it vanished.
"Tikal!" Knuckles exclaimed.
Tikal landed safely on the ground and looked at him.
"That was awesome!" Sonic exclaimed, running up to her. "You totally blew that thing away!"
"Don't praise me!" she yelled. "I did nothing good."
"Tikal?" Knuckles said.
"I don't like to fight," she said. "I shouldn't have done that..." She looked away. "I'm a disgrace!"
"No, you're not!" Knuckles said touching her shoulder. "You had to do it. If you didn't it would have killed me..."
She looked at him. "Knuckles.."
Suddenly Eggman's voice interrupted. "So you managed to defeat my robots, let's see how you do with something else!"
"What does he mean by that?" Sonic asked.
The ground began to rumble.
"I think we're anout to find out," Knuckles replied.
Suddenly the whole hallway began to fill with water. "He's trying to drown us!" Sonic exclaimed. "We have to get out of here!"
Once again they started running. The further they went the deeper the water got.
"We won't be able to get out of here!" Knuckles shouted.
"Yes, we will!" Sonic cried. "Don't worry about it, Knuckles!"
"I didn't say I was worried!"
"Can you two please not argue at a time like this?" Tikal asked, staring pleadingly at the two guys. "Arguing will not help us get out of here!"
"She's right," Sonic agreed. "The best thing to do is run. Who knows how long it will take for all this water to reach its full depth."
Just as he spoke the water began to fill the hall even faster. The liquid splashed loudly as they ran.
"It's getting deeper!" Tikal exclaimed, looking at her feet.
"Just keep running!" Sonic called to her.
Suddenly a huge thing appeared in front of them. The three stopped short and looked up at it. "I can't be!" Sonic gasped.
It was.
The huge clone of Perfect Chaos blocked their way.
"We have to do something!" Knuckles said.
"But what?" Tikal asked.
"Throw the Chaos Emeralds at me!" Sonic ordered. "If I can turn into Super Sonic we'll be able to beat this thing!"
Knuckles reached into the bag he'd been carrying them in. Just as he pulled them out and was getting ready to throw them at Sonic two things happened at once.
Sonic was hit by the thing's tail and thrown shy high. The tail hit the Chaos Emeralds and sent them flying.
'The Chaos Emeralds!" Knuckles exclaimed, as he watched them being drug away by the water.
"I'll get them!" Tikal called, running after the gems.
"Tikal, wait!" Knuckles shouted to her.
"It's all right," she said to him.
Suddenly the monster's tail came at her.
"TIKAL, LOOK OUT!"
The warning came too late. The tail hit her hard and sent her flying.
'Tikal!" the echidna cried, as he saw her land with a thud amidst the Chaos Emeralds far down the corridor. "TIKAL!"
Knuckles turned to the monster. "Now you've done it!" he shouted, rushing at the thing and hitting it hard with his fist. "How dare you strike an innocent girl!"
The thing wasn't even fazed by the blow. Knuckels fell back as his fist was deflected off the watery body.
"What's wrong, Knuckles?" Eggman asked, coming out of nowhere on his flying machine. "That thing more than a match for you?"
"Nothing more than a match for me!" Knuckles hollared.
"We'll see," Eggman said, snapping his fingers.
The monster came at him.
Knuckles covered his face with his arms. Tikal!
Suddenly a ray of light blasted into into Perfect Chaos and knocked it backward.
"What was that?" Eggman asked, looking around.
He noticed Tikal. She was now standing, holding the Staff of the Ancients in her hands. The Chaos Emeralds were around her glowing brightly.
"You! Who are you!" Eggman exclaimed.
Tikal stared up at him angrily. She began to speak, her body rising into the air along with the Chaos Emeralds. "My name is Tikal," she said. "I will not stand here and watch you hurt my friends like this. I will not let you get away with it. You hurt people and I can't let you do that."
The Emeralds around her glowed brighter. "If I have to I will destroy you."
Eggman smirked. "Like you can do that?"
Tikal closed her eyes and brought the staff close to her body. The Emerald in the staff glowed brightly as well. The light suddenly got so bright it was blinding.
Knuckles noticed the light and looked up. He saw the Chaos Emeralds floating around a sphere of light.
He saw Tikal's outline within it.
"TIKAL!" he shouted. "TIKAL!"
"How can I make you understand?" her voice echoed around him. "This is wrong. Killing. Violence. This is not the way to peace..."
Author note: Heh he heh heh. I know this is a weird way to end a chapter but what can I say? I'm just like that. Anyway I hope you liked that chapter.