This is a slightly revised edition from the version which Tylec Asroc kindly reviewed. I've taken out the awful bit where I basically recited the game's script line for line, and changed a few other details. I don't own any of these characters, all are copyright to Sega/Sonic team. It's much more fun messing with the official character's heads than writing fancharaters...

This fanfic is dedicated to the memory of my friend Rickie who was a devout Knuckles fan.

Sonic the Hedgehog leapt high onto a rail above a boiling mass of green liquid. His shoes sparked like firecrackers as they ground along the rail he landed on. The hedgehog bent low, determined eyes fixed forward into the distance, searching for any sign of his friends. Tails' plan to disable the Eclipse cannon had been almost forgotten in his haste. What mattered most now was finding where Eggman had taken Tails and Amy. Their captor frequently taunted Sonic's progress though hidden speakers, becoming increasingly more impatient. Sonic leapt from the rail into a security door, forcing it open. For a moment he stared aghast at the scene beyond, where brightly coloured panels floated among the stars. Eggman's final furious treat sent a chill down the hedgehog's spine. "Amy, hang on, I'm coming!" he yelled, bouncing like a rubber ball though the maze. Sure, Amy could be a pain at times, but she was one of the few people he knew that cared deeply for him, and Eggman was trying to lay the blame for her death on him! And why not when he, Sonic, had abandoned her in this strange and dangerous Space station "Ark" while he sought to swap one of the chaos emeralds with a fake one Tails had created. The plan was that it would react to the other real emeralds and explode, ruining Eggman's fearsome cannon and threats to attack Mobius with it.

Sonic's ears swivelled to follow the sound of a soft noise, which sounded like something small and afraid whimpering, and he followed the sound. Never the less, he might have run straight past the room he was looking for, had Amy not spotted him and squealed his name. Sonic skidded to a halt outside the door, entering causally, though he noted the immensely relieved look on Tails' face, and several large holes in the sides of the Cyclone as well as Eggman's walker. Maybe the two of them had been duelling.

"Ah, there you are, Sonic! I was beginning to think you weren't coming, but Amy assured me her boyfriend would come and rescue her!" Eggman gloated. Amy was handcuffed and tied up in front of the Egg Walker, its lasers tagged onto her. Tears still welled in her eyes, and she could not seem to keep from shaking.

"What d'you want, Eggman?" Sonic growled.

"Your chaos emerald, to start with...place it on that platform, would you, and then we'll talk," Robotnik said, leering greedily. The only emerald Sonic had was a fake. He just hoped Eggman would not know the difference.

"Been taking 'evil villain' classes, Ro-blubber-nik?" he taunted, producing the fake chaos emerald, trying to hide his fears. He stepped on to the small platform and reached to put the emerald down. Suddenly he heard a hissing noise, and jumped to see a strong glass cylinder rise up around him. Instinctively he pushed against the glass as though not quite believing he was trapped. Amy howled, and Tails gasped.

"You didn't think you could trick me with that fake did you?" Eggman laughed. Tails looked utterly devastated. Eggman had seen through their plans all along, then. And it did not seem that he thought Sonic or any of them were still hiding a real chaos emerald. They had all been tricked and now his hero was captured.

"Why did you want it if you knew it was a fake?" Tails demanded, wanting to cry. All his hours of painstaking work had been for nothing!

"I only knew since you just told me, you little pipsqueak!" Eggman laughed. He had not known it was a fake; he was missing an emerald and had hoped the heroes had it. He had been suspicious when Sonic had willingly handed over the emerald instead of risking an attack on the already damaged walker. The trap for Sonic, however, had been part of his plan.

"Tails! Whatever happens, don't let Eggman get away with it...I'm counting on you, buddy," Sonic said, knowing he was undeniably trapped. The kitsune just stared at him, eyes filling with tears. He could not believe he had been tricked into giving away the plan so easily. "Amy...try and stay out of trouble..." Sonic added. The pink hedgehog wailed, struggling against her bindings.

"SO LONG SONIC!" Robotnik cackled, tiring of the sappy goodbye speech.

He slammed his hand down hard on a switch. The cylinder, which surrounded Sonic, hummed and vibrated softly. The terrified hedgehog reached out, and pounded at the glass. Tails locked his walker's laser onto the glass just seconds before the cylinder dropped through the floor, vanishing from view.

"SONIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCC!" Tails screamed. Eggman laughed and turned his attentions to the window. Amy and Tails followed his gaze in time to see Sonic's capsule floating out there, and watched in horror as it exploded. Tails just stared, feeling helpless and numb. Amy howled her hero's name, and burst into dramatic sobs.

"SHUT UP you insufferable creature!" Eggman screamed. Amy's high-pitched hysterics hurt his ears, and now Sonic was dead, she was of no value to him as a prisoner. Tails, who had been staring at the empty space where the capsule had been, turned at the voice, just in time to see Eggman about to fire on Amy. He screamed something and fired the walker's jets at full force. He crashed into Amy, knocking her out of the way of the blast, which earthed itself on the far wall. Tails glared at Eggman. At the man responsible for Sonic's death. Realising now that he had planned to kill them all, all along. His grief transformed to anger. 'Sonic said it was up to me now...' Tails thought. 'For nearly my whole life I've had looked up to Sonic, wondering what it would be like with the whole world depending on me. And now it does... He trusted me with that much responsibility... I have to honour that trust!'

"What are you going to do about it, Fox boy?" Eggman taunted, hoping the comment had sounded as cocky as he intended. There was something about Tails' stare that unnerved him. The Cyclone stood, and Eggman tensed, ready at his weapons controls. Tails ceased his own, and fired a missile at Eggman. He swerved to avoid it, but did not react quite quickly enough. The missile stuck the rear end of the walker, blasting a large hole and ripping the metalwork, despite the protection that the shields were supposed to provide. The doctor turned for a moment in his cockpit to survey the smouldering wreckage...but was brought to attention by a long low growl from Tails. Almost fearful of the young kitsune now, he turned for battle.

Amy's sore and tearstained face turned slowly from the window. She had not noticed that the first shot had been aimed at her, having been too wrapped up in her sorrow. Not knowing what she could possibly do to prevent Tails fighting, she hugged her knees to he chest and watched, mentally cheering for the kitsune. For a moment, the two mechanical walkers circled each other then Tails said something about seeing the true power of his Cyclone and pressed something. A long bright beam of energy fired from the front of the Cyclone, encompassing the Eggwalker. Tails grimaced at the controls, struggling to keep is own walker steady against the force it was discharging. The beam dimmed then went out and the charred remains of the Eggwalker crashed to the ground, its legs no longer able to support it.

For a moment, no one moved, then an anguished groan emitted from the wreckage. Eggman emerged from the cockpit, which he had ducked completely into when Tails had unleashed his beam. He leapt from the broken Eggwalker and scuttled away, screaming: 'This isn't over yet, Fox boy!'

Tails barely noticed him leave. All his anger had depleted now that Eggman was defeated and for now, all that was left was sorrow, overshadowing his victory.

"I did it, Sonic!" he cried. Once he had dreamed of the day he would tell his hero that. Now there was no one to hear it. He climbed out of his walker, carrying a tool kit. He got out the pliers and cut Amy free from her cuffs and ropes. She moaned sadly, and clutched hold of him for comfort like a teddy bear. Tears stung his own eyes then ran freely down his cheeks.

"We...should find out where Eggman went...and hope we find Knuckles on the way..." he stammered."We have to stop Eggman firing that cannon... we owe it to Sonic..."

Knuckles had returned to the main finished structures of the Colony to find the others. He felt he had a duty to help them now, since he may never have caught up with Rouge and the rest of his emerald without them. He'd also proven to everyone that he had no idea how to fly a shuttle earlier, so it was unlikely that he'd get home alone.

He heard a sort of sizzling crackling sound-and the air sparked brightly before him. Alarmed, he leapt backwards, well out of the way, and stared. There was a point of bright yellow light hanging in mid-air, which rapidly grew bigger. He could also hear a faint sound, which sounded vaguely like screaming, that was becoming louder as the light expanded...and now there appeared to be an object travelling through it.

In the next instant, the screaming sound reached its pitch and stopped abruptly when the light winked out as though it had never been there. In the same instant, a large blue and tan ball erupted from the air and landed heavily on the ground, moaning on impact. Knuckles lowered a protective fist from his eyes and stared once more.

"Sonic?" he cried, astonished. The hedgehog moaned again, and tried to stand. He appeared to be holding a chaos emerald.

"Eggman...into space...used chaos control..." Sonic mumbled, incoherently. He rose for a few seconds then staggered. Knuckles caught him.

"Are you alright? Did you say you used...chaos control?" he said, righting the hedgehog. Leaning on Knuckles' shoulder, he gingerly placed the foot that had unbalanced him before down on the floor again.

"It's fine, I just twisted it a bit," he winced, pulling free from the echidna. He managed two paces before the foot gave out again and he fell heavily on his side. His ankle screamed pain in protest.

"It looks broken to me," Knuckles said, staring over Sonic as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Thanks for the diagnosis, 'Doc'. But if I don't deliver this emerald to the Eclipse Cannon, Mobius joins that asteroid belt outside!" Sonic said, bitterly. Knuckles winced when he attempted to put weight on his damaged ankle to stand up. Growling in anguish the hedgehog grasped at his ankle as if that might stop the agony.

"I'll take that emerald...What am I supposed to do with it?" Knuckles said.

"Throw it into the cannon's barrel before it fires. It's a fake that'll react with the others and explode. But hurry," Sonic told him. He placed the emerald in Knuckles' paw. His own felt strangely cold, and shook very slightly. He still sounded exhausted too, even though he was trying to hide it. He handed Knuckles a small black object.

"Try and contact Tails on your way. Tell him where I am...no... Start by telling him I'm still alive..." he said. He scowled at the echidna's confused expression. "Just get on with it!"

The echidna ran, vowing that the hedgehog would pay for his retort when Mobius was safe and he had recovered from whatever the effects of using a fake chaos emerald for 'chaos control' apparently caused.