Ultra Sonic 07

Robots Intervene

"Where do you think you two are going?" Came the cold voice of Silica.

Shadow's immediate reaction was to grab Rouge and quickly dodge. Next thing Silica knew, she had hit the far wall, her charge attack missing both targets.

"Move! Now!" Shadow yelled, grabbing Rouge's arm and rushing out of the door with her in tow. No sooner were they out the door and made a turn, Silica came rushing out, just missing them again.

"Do you know where you're going?" Rouge yelled as they ran.

"No, which way to the way we got in?"

"It's back that way!"

Shadow made another turn, just dodging Silica again. She was fast, but apparently couldn't turn as well in such close quarters. Or perhaps she wasn't even trying.

"Ok, which way to the exit?" Shadow yelled as the two continued.

"Somewhere to the right I believe!"

Shadow made another turn and then poured on the speed. He needed to try and stay one path so as to not get lost, which meant that he'd have to outrun the robot. Speeding around another turn, Shadow was forced to run across the walls to avoid crashing. And to his dismay, Silica started doing the same. Shadow quickly made another turn and then ran past a couple doors, opening them as he went past. Silica came around and nearly ran into the first few, but soon got into a back and forth motion to dodge the doors and not lose speed.

Shadow made another turn, barely keeping track of which way was which, until he saw a sign pointing to the direction of the front hanger entrance. He quickly turned in that direction, and then did a 360 loop along the walls and ceiling to get past a couple of Eggbots in the way. Listening to the pleasurable sound of robots smashing into each other, he made another turn and soon found his exit, a hanger ramp that was down. However, he soon saw one last blue hedgehog in his path...

> > > > > > > > > >

Knuckles continued his way through Eggman's ship, using his powers to sense for the Master Emerald. He found himself going farther and farther into the ship, getting lost within the air vents as he searched through his senses.

He worked slowly and methodically, concentrating completely on the Master Emerald. He was almost completely in meditation, searching for the power that the emerald gave off, and the peace of mind it gave him while safe within his grasp.

He focused his entire mind on this, as he didn't want to think about the alternative.

Rouge.

But of course, he could only keep from that course of thought for so long, as the thought of gaining comfort from the Master Emerald in his possession also reminded him of the comfort he felt just hours ago back on Angel Island as he stood there with Rouge. He had come close to telling her everything at the time, everything about his life and how he felt about it all.

"That's my problem," Knuckles surmised, finally breaking the silence for the first time since he left the cell. "I wanted to confide with her."

Knuckles decided to stop for a minute and try and figure out where he was. He had been going for so long while in that concentrated state of mind that he had lost track of time. He had to have been going for at least 15 minutes, but he wasn't 100 sure. Heck, it might have been even less, he had no idea.

He also had no idea where on Eggman's ship he was either. For all he knew he was inches away from whatever form of garbage disposal existed on the ship. He quickly looked around to see if there was a vent cover he could look through and see what was going on around him, and then started to inch towards it. However, after no more than a foot he felt a sudden surge through his body.

The Master Emerald was close.

Really, really close.

In fact, he was practically on top of it.

With a smash, Knuckles came crashing through the air vent, falling into some kind of lab room. And, right next to where he landed, low and behold, was the Master Emerald.

"Knuckles, how good of you to join us," Eggman said with a laugh from across the room, "I knew if I sent some power running through the Master Emerald you'd come running from wherever you were hiding."

"Well it's a shame then Eggman that I ended up next to the emerald, isn't it?" Knuckles said, turning back towards the emerald to take grab it. That's when he realized something odd in what Eggman said. "Wait, what do you mean by 'us'?"

Out from behind the Master Emerald, a robot jumped up and tackled Knuckles head on, sending the two of them rolling across the ground. The two pushed and pulled, trying to get on top of the other. All the while Eggman calmly walked over to a console and pressed a few buttons.

Knuckles soon noticed that the ground he was on was lowering. Whatever Eggman had done, it released a platform that went down into a lower room. To his dismay, mechanical arms grabbed the pedestal that held the Master Emerald so it wouldn't be coming down also.

"Eggman!" Knuckles yelled, finally getting a foot under the robot he was struggling under and kicking it off of him. He then got up and jumped as high as he could, trying to get back up to the above room, but the robot tackled him in mid air and the two went flying off of the platform, falling down into the bottom of a pit below. The two both hit the metallic ground hard and didn't move afterward.

> > > > > > > > > >

Tails and Amy didn't say word. They didn't even move a muscle. Meanwhile, Metal Sonic just stood before them, his arms crossed. He didn't have to speak; the fear was already in place.

"Tails, do we run or charge him?" Amy said in a whisper, breaking the silence.

"We charge, we get Metal, but if we run, he'll just catch back up to us."

"Guess that means we charge!" Amy said with a fire in here eyes.

"No Amy, don't!" But Tails was too late. Amy was already on her way to Metal Sonic.

"Get out of our way, we need to get to Sonic!" Amy yelled, winding up a hammer swing.

The hammer flew and Metal Sonic took a single step back and missed it. He then grabbed the hammer before Amy could bring it back up, and spun it around a few times before flinging it back at Tails, with Amy attached.

Amy crashed right into Tails, and the two become tangled into a giant ball of spines and fur. The two quickly untangled themselves, and then looked up towards their foe.

"We can't get past him..." Amy said, dismayed.

"If only Sonic was here..." Tails said.

All of a sudden, two blurs came rushing out of the ship, and ran straight into Metal Sonic, knocking him a good number of feet into the Fatbot, which in turn rebounded them into the ground several feet away.

"Ugh! My head! Shadow, next time watch where you're going!" Rouge yelled, getting up from the ground. Shadow soon followed her up and the two looked at what they had ran into.

"Metal Sonic..." Shadow muttered with anger

"Shadow..." Metal Sonic responded in the same tone.

"Rouge!" Tails yelled.

"Shadow!" Amy yelled.

"What are you doing here?" Both said at once.

"There's no time for talk." Shadow responded immediately, taking off after Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic responded by charging right at Shadow. Right before either could reach each other, another blur blew past them both and kept them separated.

"If you're fighting Metal Sonic, you're also fighting me." Silica said to the group.

> > > > > > > > > >

Knuckles slowly opened his eyes, waking up after who knows how long. Slowly sitting up, he looked around. He saw that he was in some kind of pit with nothing around him. That's when his memory came back to him.

Rolling out of the way, Knuckles just dodged a punch from the earlier assailing robot. Getting up, he finally got a good look at the robot. It seemed like a monkey that was about his height, but with an extra long tail and extra large fists and feet. And over half of it was colored red.

"Ah, Knuckles, I see you've woken up," came the voice of Eggman from above, "And you've met my newest creation, Coconuts. He doesn't talk much, but...he gets the job done."

"Coconuts, eh?" Knuckles responded. "Well it looks like its just another robot waiting to be smashed Eggman."

"Don't take my word for it Knuckles, take his."

Knuckles went into a battle stance immediately. He found it slightly odd that the robot just stood there, but he decided to take the opportunity to attack first. Charging ahead, he threw a fist that Coconuts sidestepped. Recovering gracefully, Knuckles turned around only to meet a fist to his jaw from the opposing robot.

Knuckles went flying into the wall, where he has just barely enough time to move his head before another first came crashing down. Ducking underneath the robot, he made a quick uppercut that knocked his opponent into the air.

While still in the air, Coconuts made a flip, using his tail to balance, and then sent itself straight back down feet first, once again just missing Knuckles and this time making a dent into the ground. Knuckles charged straight back at Coconuts, and a punch connected to its jaw. Coconuts was knocked back, but was able to land on its hands and then bring its feet up and kick Knuckles in the chest. Both opponents flipped in mid air and landed on their feet once more.

"Well, maybe this will take a bit longer than I thought." Knuckles said, re-readying himself into another fighting stance.

"Oh Knuckles, you don't even know the extent of Coconuts power. He's only at 30 percent and the two of you are just about even. Coconuts, increase your power to 50 percent!"

Knuckles watched as Coconuts' red eyes glowed for a second and then return to normal. Unsure of what to do next, Knuckles decided to wait a minute before doing anything, but Coconuts didn't give him a chance to think. Rushing for the first punch, Knuckles just barely moved his head out of the way. In that same motion, Coconuts let his hands reach the floor and then went into a handstand and kicking Knuckles across the room.

Knuckles just barely hit the wall before Coconuts was back after him, flying feet first as his next attack. Once again Knuckles barely ducked under the attack, but then retaliated with his own uppercut that Coconuts dodged by flipping off of the wall and landing in front of Knuckles in time to give him a fist to the gut. Knuckles bent over from the force of the blow, and Coconuts lifted him back up to deliver a finishing punch before a kick knocked it away from Knuckles.

"Hey Knuckles, looks like you could use some help."

Knuckles looked up to see Sonic standing before him with an outstretched hand. After being pulled up, the two turned their attentions back to the red monkey robot.

"Sonic, this guy is tough, and he isn't even at full power yet."

"Well that just means we'll have to take him down before he can reach full power then."

"So then, you'll hit him high..."

"...And you'll hit him low."

The two charged at Coconuts, who prepared itself in a fighting stance. Suddenly Sonic jumped and flew at Coconuts feet first, aiming for its head. Not missing a beat, Knuckles went into a low glide, aiming for its legs. The two flew in so fast, Coconuts couldn't respond in time to it's feet being swept from under it, and back pedal kick sending it flying to the side.

Coconuts quickly flipped back up, only to find it suddenly surrounded. It just barely sidestepped a punch before being tripped from a foot behind it. As it fell, a knee from in front knocked its head back up like a soccer ball, where Sonic did a quick spin dash and hit it full on, sending it into a wall.

"Coconuts, no!" Eggman yelled from above. "Hurry, increase to 75 percent!"

"We won't even give him the chance Eggman!" Sonic said, Knuckles and himself rushing in as quickly as they could.

They caught up to Coconuts just as it was getting up, but before a punch could be thrown, it jumped up and against the wall where it's red eyes glowed for a second like before.

"Sonic, he's powered up!"

"Then let's get him when he gets back down!"

The two didn't have to wait for long as Coconuts charged back down fist first. The echidna and hedgehog just moved out of the way, and the fist impacted so hard that it cracked the metal floor. Before the two could react, the robot did a break dance spin and kicked both of them away.

"Argh! Get him!"

The two charged right back at Coconuts. Sonic reached there first and threw a quick punch that was dodged without effort. Knuckles came from behind and sent a punch flying right at Coconuts' back, but Coconuts sensed it and back flipped over Knuckles.

"Speed it up!"

Sonic speeded over and made a sweep kick. Coconuts jumped. Knuckles followed up with a flying tackle. Coconuts just spun him past like a matador. Sonic then flipped up from the ground with a kick. Coconuts landed and sidestepped. Knuckles tried a left hook. Coconuts bent backwards and the fist went flying over its head. Sonic tried jumping and coming down with his heel, aimed at the head. Coconuts used his tail to scoot forward and the attack missed. Knuckles tried an uppercut, but the robot simply stood on it's tail, just high enough for the fist to whiz past him.

To finish the two off, Coconuts grabbed the next fist and kick thrown, and threw the two into opposite directions.

"Muaha ha ha ha ha! Coconuts, excellent! It is time to put the last of my plans in motion. Egg Port, launch!"

Sonic and Knuckles shakily got to their feet as Coconuts stood immobile in the center of the room.

"The Egg Port, huh? What kind of name is that?" Sonic said, wincing and grabbing his arm.

"Well, at least it's not another Egg Carrier." Knuckles said, rubbing his hand over his head.

The two could only stand there as the ship they were on started shaking, and soon lift off from the ground.