Kj: Okay, it's updated ;) Enjoy!
Saffra: Sonic as a human...now there's an interesting thought ;) Hmm...maybe I can work it into another fic...he's stuck as a hedgehog in this one :P
Ri2: We can but hope ;) That much at least will be revealed in this chapter though :P
PyroHedgehog4ever: Well...kinda short ;) I did add that bit with Tails to bulk it out; originally I was going to write that here and leave you hanging about Sonic for a little bit longer (Am I evil? Oh yeah)
BlueCheetah: Hey, continuous comments are fine by me LOL! I'm glad to know you're still reading it and enjoying it ;) And yes, it is updated right now...most of this chapter was written at about the time when Sonic et al were racing through the power plant ;)
FriedBrickWall: Well...maybe 'almost over' was putting it a little strongly; there are still a few chapters to go :P But! The story will continue in the sequel, and very possibly the sequel to the sequel, so please keep reading. (Knuckles: --reads written chunks of sequels-- I don't believe it. How could you humiliate me like that! Is it some kind of female human thing?) And forestalling your next question, yes, the sequels will feature Tails very strongly...in a way :P (Knuckles: On the subject of Tails, if this person doesn't quit insulting me then I'm gonna just go back to Angel Island and abandon the kid to his own devices! You like that?) Yes, Knux, whatever. Now go find a nice emerald to stare at. (Knuckles: I'd like to see this person come face to face with someone they knew back from the dead, see how they cope!)
Guardian's Log no. 11465
Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell. Just when I think I'm getting a handle on this whole relaxation business, something happens to leave me with the feeling of thrashing helplessly in midair. First it was that damn kid using me as a pillow (and a mattress, comfort blanket and hot water bottle to boot) and now this!
I just realised what I wrote. I don't mean that about Tails; he just...unnerved me. Nobody's ever done anything like that to me before, and it freaked me out big time. The last real physical contact I had was with my mother ten years ago, and then I was the snuggler, not the snugglee. I don't like not being in control of a situation. I don't like surprises, and getting a quasi-hug from a mechanically gifted two-tailed fox falls broadly into that category!
Well...he's a good kid really.
I just read what I wrote and realised that it's nothing more than a way of meandering around the truth of the matter; Sonic's alive. Barely, but he's alive. He looks like he's been dunked in a vat of acid – hell, knowing Robotnik, he may well have been – but he's alive.
How? How could I have got it so wrong? How did Sonic survive that fall? It was over three damn miles onto solid rock! How could he have made it? More importantly, how the hell did Robotnik get his greedy hands on him?
Questions, questions. Too many questions and nowhere near enough answers. I dread to think how this is gonna affect Tails. I'll have to tell him when I get back; it'd be better for him to hear it from me rather than come face to face with his hero in this place, particularly given how Sonic looks now.
Note to self: next time anyone invites me to pay a little visit to the Casino Zones with them, run like hell!
--Knuckles the Echidna
Sonic shook his head tiredly.
"Long time no see, Knuckles. What the hell kept you?"
"The little fact that you took a three mile drop off a railing!" Knuckles said, too shocked to soften his tones. "You...I saw you fall. Tails tried to catch you and he spent weeks searching the ground for some trace of you, but he never found any."
"I never reached the ground."
"Then..." Knuckles broke off, still staring openly. There didn't seem to be a part of the hedgehog that wasn't injured or scarred in some way. Blood had soaked Sonic's hide until it was a grotesque purple; it had been that combined with the poor lighting that had prevented Knuckles from recognising him at first. The worst was his feet; seeing Sonic without his trademark red-and-white sneakers was strange enough, but the feet in question looked like nothing more than charred stubs, a mass of twisted flesh and suppurating burns. They were still there, but only just.
Sonic followed his gaze and curled his lip.
"Yeah. That's what happens when you try running at the speed of sound with no protection."
Knuckles sat down, hard. The action didn't look entirely voluntary.
"Why...what happened? How'd you get here?"
Sonic shrugged.
"One of Robotnik's pets zapped me with a transporter ray before I hit the ground. I wound up here and here I've been ever since."
Knuckles frowned, trying to put his finger on what bothered him about Sonic. It was something...something in the voice, in the eyes...
"Where's the switch?" he said. "C'mon Sonic, there must be a switch to open this door somewhere. Where?"
Another shrug.
"What does it matter?"
Defeat. That was it. Sonic had finally given up the fight.
"Sure it matters," Knuckles said sharply. "You wanna stay here for the rest of your life?"
"The rest of my life?" Sonic sneered. "And just how long do you think that's likely to be, Knuckles?" He paused. "How do I know you really are Knuckles?" he said suddenly. "How do I know you're not one of Robotnik's sick games, a hologram or sophisticated robot?"
Knuckles stared for a few minutes – in his worst nightmares he'd never imagined anything like this – then shrugged.
"Ask me something."
"Where's the Master Emerald?"
"Nice try, Sonic. Ask me something else."
Sonic racked his brains and Knuckles frowned slightly; had the hedgehog's suffering really affected his mind that much?
"What nickname did you make me swear never to use on you again?"
Knuckles squirmed.
"Ah, c'mon Sonic, didja have to pick that one? Robotnik could be listening."
"Answer it!"
The echidna sighed.
"Alright, fine; Knucky. You also had a contest with Tails to try and come up with a better nickname for me, and the kid listed Rad Red and Crimson Storm. And when you tried to make me act as your slave and fetch chili dogs, soda and ice cream for your so-called solar energy storage, I emptied a water barrel on top of you. Now, shall we cut the crap, Sonic? How can I break this glass?"
Sonic laughed, a quiet, cynical sound.
"Ohhh, that's an easy one, Knuckles. You can't."
Knuckles ground his teeth in frustration.
"Alright then, where's the switch?"
"Look, forget it. There's only one way out for anyone in this place and it's not through any of the doors."
The echidna pounded the glass.
"Dammit, Sonic, snap out of this!"
"Already snapped, Knuckles, already snapped." Sonic looked away. "Now get out of here before those sentries you threatened us with appear."
Knuckles brought the other fist up and leaned on both.
"Aren't you worried about how Tails has been?"
"Not much anymore."
"He's getting over your 'death', or starting to. Poor kid was too sick with grief to eat or speak or do much of anything in the beginning."
Sonic shifted his stare back to Knuckles.
"Are you telling me this to make me feel better, Knuckles? Because it's not working."
"No, I'm not telling you to damn well make you feel better! I'm telling you because once upon a time, that kid's welfare was the most important thing in your life, even more important than your own!"
"Was being the operative word," Sonic said flatly. He shook his head. "Get real, Knuckles. I don't give a damn whether I live or die anymore after all that's happened. You really expect me to give a damn about someone who's safe and sound?"
Knuckles opened his mouth, found he couldn't think of a satisfactory retort, and closed it again, remembering something his father had often said.
Those whose hands are in the water should not expect sympathy from those whose hands are in the fire.
"Sounds like gibberish to me, Knuckles, but you're probably right."
"Yeah." The echidna hadn't realised he'd spoken aloud, and his mouth quirked in a slightly grim smile. "Well...I did try to stop you firing that cannon."
"What are you doing here, anyway? I know you didn't come for me, since five minutes ago you had no idea I was even alive, so why are you here?"
Knuckles hesitated.
"Well...I don't want to worry you—"
"Worry me?" Sonic stared at him for a long moment, then burst out laughing, laughed until his sides hurt. "I'm a cripple trapped in the dungeon of my worst enemy who now has all the Chaos Emeralds and you don't want to worry me!"
"What?" Knuckles said sharply.
"Robotnik took the Chaos Emeralds. You weren't stupid enough to think he'd let me keep them, did you? He has all seven now. I dunno what he's been doing with them."
"Nothing," Knuckles said matter-of-factly. "I told you twice before, Sonic, and I'll now tell you a third and final time; I am not the trusting type. When you were asleep one night, I swapped a Chaos Emerald for a normal one that was the same size and pretty much the same colour. I've had it for seven and a half years now and kept it for just such a purpose as this; it was too perfect an opportunity to miss. Valuable enough in its own way, and I'm sure the good doctor could get at least a few thousand for it in a street sale, but it's not a Chaos Emerald. I hid the real one somewhere else."
Sonic stared at him incredulously, then a slow smile appeared on his face.
"Yeah? And I never felt the difference because they don't work together unless you have the entire set." He shook his head. "When did you do it?"
"Bridge Zone. The night after Tails rescued us."
"That's why you were so keen to take the first watch that night."
"That's why. I didn't think I'd get another chance, certainly not a better one. So no, Robotnik doesn't have all the Chaos Emeralds." Knuckles paused as an ugly thought occurred to him. "Then again, if he gets his hands on the Master Emerald, he won't need them."
Sonic coughed several times, a harsh racking sound, then spat a mixture of blood and phlegm onto the floor.
"Knuckles? Why the Master Emerald? Why do the echidnas guard that one? What does it do?"
Knuckles shot him a quizzical look.
"Robotnik didn't tell you? Before, I mean?"
Sonic shook his head.
"He said something about stabilising, but that's all I understood. Then it all went haywire."
Knuckles sighed. His duty as the guardian prevented him from even speaking of the Master Emerald, but these were exceptional circumstances. If anyone deserved to know, Sonic did.
Besides, if you wanted to be utterly brutal about it, the chances were good that he wasn't going to survive to tell anyone on the outside.
"It's a...well, I guess you'd call it a conduit. It's linked into the seven Chaos Emeralds – even I'm not sure how – and that's what makes it so powerful. It can do whatever any of the Chaos Emeralds can do, and it can be used as a kind of window—"
"What do you mean, window?"
"Pretty much what I say. If you place a Chaos Emerald in one place and then focus on its energies, you'll see a picture in the Master Emerald which would be the same as if you were looking out from inside that Chaos Emerald. The Chaos Emeralds also broadcast their energy continually to the Master Emerald. You can see any Emerald, not just see out of it but see it in its entirety, see where it is. It also changes colour when all seven Chaos Emeralds have been brought to within five feet of each other and activated."
"Why?"
"The Chaos Emeralds are too unstable to survive in such close proximity for very long, especially all seven of them. Unfortunately, although they work fine individually, they only work together in that kind of proximity."
"Individually?" Sonic repeated, frowning slightly. "What do you mean, individually?" When Knuckles didn't answer, he pressed on. "Knux, c'mon. You're about the only expert there is, certainly the only expert I'll get down here. I've collected the emeralds over and over ever since I was eleven years old and Robotnik went bad, and I've never understood what was so special about them."
The echidna remained silent, torn, and Sonic took a deep breath.
"Knuckles, we're probably never going to see each other again after you leave. I'm not asking you to hand over the Master Emerald. I'm asking you to answer a question that's bugged me incessantly for the past four years; what are the secrets of the emeralds?"
Knuckles made up his mind, unwilling to admit how much Sonic's comment about never seeing each other again had chilled him.
"Each of the seven Chaos Emeralds has a special power. Take the first one – the bright blue one – for example. It's a teleporter. Point it at someone, the energies radiate out and you just have to focus on where you want to send them."
"A teleporter, huh?" Sonic raised his eye ridges. "Who'da thought?"
Knuckles shook his head.
"Sonic, we gotta get out of here. Can you walk?"
"Can I what!" Incredulity soaked Sonic's words, then he laughed bitterly and for too long. "Are you taking the piss?" he said eventually. "No, I can't damn well walk. In case it escaped your notice, Knuckles, I lost my feet, my damn feet."
"Knuckles?" the echidna echoed. "Thought that would rank a Knucklehead at the very least. It would've back then."
"You just said it yourself, Knuckles. That was then." Sonic looked away. "This is now."
There was an awkward silence. Knuckles had all but forgotten their current situation.
"You should be thrilled," Sonic added in a monotone. "You were always bitching about how you wanted me to take things more seriously, how you were fed up with my being so happy—"
"I never said that," Knuckles interrupted very quietly.
"No, but you thought it, didn't you?"
The echidna didn't answer. That in itself was answer enough.
"So like I said, you should be thrilled. You got what you wanted, huh?"
Knuckles shook his head. Although he had admittedly spent most of his time wishing Sonic would grow up and develop at least half a sense of maturity, he'd never wanted the hedgehog to attain that maturity like this.
"Sonic, I didn't...I never meant...look, if I could go back—"
"Too late," Sonic cut across coolly. "Go on, Knuckles. You want to take Robotnik down, he's probably in the control centre at this time." He smiled then, a dead expression. "Maybe if you're lucky, he'll kill you outright."
"I'm not gonna abandon you, Sonic."
"Why not? You did before." Sonic shook his head, that ghoulish smile still on his face. "If I still had them, I'd bet every single Chaos Emerald that you didn't bother helping Tails to look for me, even though you could have glided down well enough. Go on, go do what you came here to do. Maybe when he's done with you Robotnik'll be kind enough to toss you in here with me and we can catch up on old times."
Knuckles couldn't think of anything to say. All he could think was how glad he was Tails wasn't here to see this. The kid had just about started to get over Sonic's 'death' – sometimes an entire day could go by without him mentioning it – and seeing his hero reduced to this would have destroyed him. Growling in frustration, the echidna got to his feet.
"What do you want, Sonic? An apology? Fine! I'm sorry that after watching you fall three miles to the ground, I didn't think you'd still be alive! In case it escaped your notice, throughout our entire trip I seemed to be the only one who was even remotely in touch with reality!"
"What I want," Sonic said dully, "is for you to get out, Knuckles." He closed his eyes. "I get little enough time to rest and sleep without being tortured as it is. I want to make the most of it. You really want to do something to help me, take those damn sneakers away with you when you go. I'm sick of having to stare at them all the time."
"Huh? What—" Knuckles followed the tilt of the hedgehog's jaw and caught sight of them; Sonic's old sneakers displayed on a pedestal. Knuckles knew it was just another form of torture, albeit a psychological one. Even if Sonic could have reached the sneakers, there was no way he'd be running anywhere. Despite his slowly developing hatred for Robotnik, Knuckles couldn't help but feel a grudging admiration for the bastard's mind; he'd gone for the one thing that would hurt and destroy Sonic the fastest.
"What happened to your feet?" he said very quietly. Sonic dragged his eyes open to fix the echidna with a cold look, then shrugged.
"Robotnik said that since I liked running so much, he'd be happy to oblige. He set up a treadmill suspended in mid-air over a vat of acid, and I had to either run or get dissolved. Looking back on it, I think I made the wrong choice."
Knuckles just looked at him helplessly, not knowing what to say.
"Thought you'd have gone back to your beloved duty," Sonic added. Knuckles glanced away.
"Yeah, I wanted to. But Tails...he wants revenge. I swore I'd help him, and I am."
"How'd you find this place?"
Knuckles shrugged.
"Asked around. I have certain friends who do nothing but watch Robotnik, see where he's going and what he's doing, and who know the quickest and easiest routes to get there. And let's face it, Sonic, he's not exactly shy about advertising his presence. I thought we'd probably have our work cut out for us as it was. I wanted to get as much of an advantage as I could."
Sonic snorted.
"Yeah? Well, the doc's in a lousy mood, has been all morning. You picked the right day to die; he'll be thrilled to get you as well."
"He's not gonna get me," Knuckles said, although he couldn't suppress the slight chill that went down his spine; Sonic had sounded so blasé about it, as though the event had already happened.
"That's what I always thought, Knuckles, and you can see well enough what's happened to me."
"Yeah," Knuckles said bluntly. "I can see that you've lost your speed and spent the last few months moping and wallowing in self-pity instead of trying to adapt and do something constructive."
"Like what?" Sonic said tonelessly.
"Like watching the guards to work out their shifts," Knuckles retorted. "Like trying to trick Robotnik into gloating and telling him something, anything. Don't insult me by asking me to believe he hasn't come down to crow over you, Sonic."
The hedgehog was obstinately silent and Knuckles pressed on, undaunted.
"The only thing – the one thing that kept you alive during all your daredevil and thrill-seeking activities – was your ability to think faster than you ran. Robotnik might have stopped you running, but he couldn't have stopped you thinking short of removing your brain." And he'd have to have found it first, the echidna thought but didn't say. The old Sonic had never minded a joke at his expense – so long as it was a good one – but Knuckles wasn't entirely sure what to make of this new Sonic.
"Robotnik isn't stupid, Knuckles. Yes, he's come down to crow over me, as you put it. But he's never given away any of his plans in that crowing." He shook his head. "Get out, Knuckles, before he gets you too. Get out and don't bother coming back; there's nothing you can do to change things. You can tell the kid that from me as well."
"I'm not leaving you here."
"Then get comfortable, because you can't help me." Sonic favoured him with another dead smile, one which split the hedgehog's cracked lips. If he noticed, he gave no sign, and Knuckles supposed the pain of a split lip was trifling compared to what Sonic had already gone through. "But thanks for trying."
Knuckles shook his head stubbornly.
"I'm not giving up."
Sonic closed his eyes again with a tired sigh. "Whatever. Like I said, take the sneakers with you when you go. They're no damn good to me now anyway. Maybe the kid'll like 'em."
"Tails, you mean?" Although Knuckles rarely used Tails' name – he was almost always 'the kid' to the echidna whenever he thought about him at all – there was something disturbing about hearing Sonic refer to him so dismissively.
"Yeah, him. Might as well have someone get some good outta them. Now piss off, Knuckles. I'm too tired to argue any more with you." As Knuckles watched, the hedgehog's breathing became slower, more regular.
Carefully, he crossed over and lifted the sneakers off their pedestal. He was half expecting an alarm to sound and was almost annoyed when it didn't; a good fight with a bunch of bots might have helped dissipate some of the storm raging inside him. Looking over at the cylinder, his eyes narrowed slightly as he caught sight of Sonic's sleeping form.
"You don't get shot of me that easy, hedgehog. I'll be back, and soon."
Glancing around, his gaze fell upon a lever set back in a recess in the wall. Knuckles supposed it was asking too much for it to be the one to open the containment cylinder, but still...it had to be worth a try.
He'd got as far as reaching out when a hand slammed down on his shoulder and a voice hissed in his ear, "One more move and you're dead."
Okay, so Tails wasn't in this one, but there is a reason for this; the next part with Tails calls for Knuckles as well. I did think about adding it on here, but...well...this seemed as good a place as any to leave it ;) Again, if you read this, please review!