Ultra Sonic 16
Possessive Emeralds
"I didn't think I'd see another shrine after Mystic Ruins..." Knuckles said softly from behind Rouge as the two looked over their surroundings.
"You...you mean you've seen a temple like this before?" Rouge said in disbelief
"Yep. There's even one on Angel Island, the Angel Sanctuary. Although this place is a lot smaller; it appears to be just one room." Knuckles commented, before stepping forward. "Come on, let's go and get what we came here for."
Quickly dashing across the room and up the steps ahead of them, the two treasure hunters reached a table with two emeralds on top, both appearing to be colored totally black.
"Two emeralds?" Rouge asked to herself as Knuckles stepped forward.
"There's some ancient text here that I recognize. It says 'the two here were imprisoned for creating a great power.'"
"Could that mean the power source to Ultra Sonic?"
"Possibly. The one in front of me is called Night, and the one near you seems to have been named Shade.
"Wait, I remember Ultra Sonic mentioning something about a 'Night' when he first saw Shadow."
"Right, so this is probably the emerald we need right here. So, shall we be leaving then?"
"Wait, if we only need one of these emeralds, I can keep the other, right?"
"Well..." Before Knuckles could finish, Rouge had already grabbed the emerald on the right.
"Shade Emerald, you are now mine!" Rouge declared as she held the emerald up into the light.
Knuckles gave a sigh before picking up the Night Emerald. "Just don't stare too long. We still have to hurry back."
"Knuckles, don't you understand that you can never stare too long at true beauty?"
Knuckles shook his head and turned around, quickly heading down the steps. Reaching the bottom, he started towards the stairway when he realized that he hadn't heard Rouge take a single step yet. Turning around once more, he looked up towards Rouge, whose face was being blocked from view by the emerald.
"Rouge, hurry up!" Knuckles called back. As the words left him, he thought he noticed Rouge's fur suddenly become a few shades darker. The emerald in her hands pulsed with a dark energy that seemed to be moving for itself to the bat holding it. "Rouge..."
"Shush you blabbering echidna. I move on my own time." The dark energy soon stopped, and turning around Rouge placed it back upon its pedestal. Knuckles could see a streak of black fur, much like the streak of red on Shadow, that covered part of her head and went up to completely darken her ears.
After carefully placing the emerald down, Rouge turned back around and Knuckles gasped in shock. Just like Ultra Sonic, Rouge's pupils had completely disappeared. All that was left were the whites of the eyes, staring blankly upon him.
It didn't take long for him to put two and two together.
"Who are you and what have you done with Rouge?" Knuckles yelled
"My name is Shade, and after all the time I spent stuck within that emerald, I think it's about time I took a stretch."
"Leave Rouge alone!"
"Don't order me echidna." Shade said with a venomous tone. "The only echidna that I bow down to is Ultra."
"Well, let me show you that times have changed!" Knuckles yelled, pocketing the Night Emerald and rushing up the stairs. He threw a punch, but hit only air, as Shade effortlessly jumped over him and flipped before landing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Wow, this body is even more elegant than my old one." Shade said, looking herself over. "I even have wings!"
"What are you and what have you done to Rouge!" Knuckles yelled.
"I told you already," Shade said, changing her tone from glee to malice, "the only echidna I answer to is Ultra. Now, unless you can point me in his direction..."
"I...I believe I can."
Shade turned around in an instant and glared at Knuckles with a look of disaster. "Show me him, now."
"Only if you answer my question."
"Spit it out."
"Who or what are you and what have you done to Rouge?"
"Now isn't that two questions?"
"Just answer."
"Fine. As I said, my name is Shade. At this point, I'm no more than a spirit that has lived this long by being trapped within one of the emeralds you found. My sister and I came across this pyramid village of hedgehogs and echidnas that did not want to fight in the great war."
"Great war?"
"Yes, the great Hedgehog-Echidna war. The fight for the power of the many chaos emeralds. My sister and myself had stopped in this village and through an unfortunate series of events, I became trapped within an emerald."
"I see..."
"Now that I've answered your question, show me the way to Ultra."
"Fine, return into the emerald."
"Return into the emerald?"
"Yeah, once you go back into the emerald, Rouge and I will bring you to Ultra."
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to see Ultra as is."
"That wasn't part of our deal!"
"Our deal was that you'd show me him. There was no part of it included that said I'd have to return to the emerald."
"Why you..."
"Hmm...How about you and me fight for it? If you can beat me I'll let your pretty girl friend go."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"That blush tells different."
Out of anger, Knuckles finally exploded and rushed back down the stairs, straight at Shade. Pulling back a fist, he jumped the last couple of steps and flew towards Shade.
"Knuckles, wait, it's me, Rouge!" Shade suddenly yelled.
"Huh?" Knuckles suddenly and quickly twirled to the side, pushing himself far enough so that he missed Shade completely and rolled to a stop on the ground. "Rouge, is that really you?"
"Foolish echidna. You're way too gullible." Shade quickly turned and was upon Knuckles in an instant, applying a flurry of kicks and then sending him flying with a final roundhouse. "What luck, it seems this specimen too is a fighter that uses her feet."
"Come here!" Knuckles yelled, running up from behind. Just before he reached, however, Shade turned around with tears in her eyes, and Knuckles quickly stopped in his tracks.
"Too easy." Shade said, her tearful expression turning into a smirk. With a back flip, she kicked Knuckles into the air, and as he fell back towards the ground, another roundhouse sent across the shrine room once more.
Walking over to take a look, Shade reached Knuckles and looked to see he wasn't moving. She gave a few jabs of her boot into his ribcage, but nothing happened.
"Wow, knocked out already? Either you're extremely weak, or I just don't know my own strength." Shade started to turn around, until she noticed a flash of light coming from next to Knuckles. Looking back, she noticed the Night Emerald that Knuckles had picked up had fallen out of his pocket. "Hmm...?"
Bending over for a closer look, Shade watched mystified as the black emerald pulsed before filling the room with it's strange light.
"Ugh...my aching head..." Knuckles said as he slowly woke up. Turning over, he looked up at the imprint he made in the wall before fully standing up. "Now...where am I again?"
Looking around, Knuckles' eyes soon found the body of Rouge. Everything quickly flooded back into his memory as he ran over to her and propped her head up into his arms.
"Rouge, Rouge, are you ok?"
"Uh...Knuckles...?"
Knuckles quickly looked Rouge over to see it was really her. The black fur that appeared on her head was now gone, meaning that Shade's spirit no longer resided in her.
"What happened?" Rouge asked.
"Um...I think the emeralds caused some kind of explosion when we moved them." Knuckles said quickly.
"Really...?" Rouge asked. Knuckles gave her a nod. Slowly, she turned her head towards her side, and as Knuckles followed her gaze, he saw that the Night Emerald was lying right there in her hand.
"We need to get out of here." Knuckles said urgently.
"Give me a minute then..."
"We need to get out of here, now." Knuckles said impatiently.
"Geez, alright already, I'm getting up!" Rouge said with a huff, hastily getting to her feet. "Can't a girl enjoy a moment of serenity?"
"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked, bewildered by her last sentence.
"Just forget it. Let's get out of here." Rouge said as she walked towards the exit, grumbling something about being surrounded by things she liked.
Knuckles watched her for a few steps before he got up himself. Looking around quickly, he realized that the Shade Emerald was missing.
"I guess good riddance anyway..." Knuckles said as he turned towards the door to catch up to Rouge. To his horror though, he found her held by the neck, in the grasp of Coconuts.
"Rouge!" Knuckles yelled as he charged straight for the robot. Turning to face him, Coconuts flung Rouge off to the side and got into a battle position himself.
Knuckles jumped and lunged through the air in a speedy glide, with his fist pointing straight for Coconuts. Bending over as if he was doing the limbo, Coconuts dodged the attack and flipped under Knuckles in order use his feet to spring the echidna into the ceiling.
Recovering in the air, Knuckles flipped himself upside down and landed feet first onto the ceiling, immediately planting his knuckles into the stone to keep him locked in place.
"Nobody flings Rouge the Bat around like a rag doll!" Rouge yelled, surprising both Coconuts and Knuckles as charged at Coconuts. Jumping, she led in with a diving kick that Coconuts sidestepped, but upon landing Rouge pivoted upon her heel and used her other foot for a roundhouse kick. Coconuts was forced to block, and Knuckles saw his chance.
Pulling his knuckles out of the rock, Knuckles pushed off as hard as he could with his feet and dived straight at Coconuts, who barely looked up in time before Knuckles' fist hit him straight in the face smashed him into the ground. So much force was applied that an imprint was immediately made.
"Do you think that did him in?" Knuckles asked.
"I'd bet my wings on it. Now let's get out of here." Rouge said.
The two turned and made a few steps before they heard the sound of metal scraping against stone. Turning, they saw Coconuts pulling himself out of the ground, an imprint still in his face from Knuckles' last attack.
"Reaching 100," A computerized voice said, coming from the red robot.
"Rouge, get ready, he's going to become unbelievably fast." Knuckles said, getting into a battle position as the robot fully righted itself upon its feet.
"I'm ready." Rouge said, following Knuckles' lead and getting into a battle position of her own.
A moment passed before Coconuts took a step and suddenly he appeared in front of Knuckles. Before the echidna could make a sound, Coconuts made a high kick that launched the echidna into the air, and then turned to attack Rouge. Rouge barely dodged a quick punch, then jumped into the air and spun around for a kick that was easily blocked. Coconuts then grabbed her boot and spun her once before smashing her into the floor. Raising his fist, he planned to do to her what Knuckles did to him.
However, he was interrupted by Knuckles who sped across the shrine and tackled him head on. Knocking both of them a couple feet away, Knuckles flipped up and charged again, this time with a punch combo. He was easily blocked, but before Coconuts could counter attack, Rouge came from behind and the robot jumped as the bat kicked the air where his head used to be.
Reaching the height of his jump, Coconuts watched as Rouge gave a large flap of her wings and suddenly was at the same height as him. Quickly punching forward, he missed as Rouge used her ability to fly against him and flew over his head to kick him from behind.
Coconuts was sent towards the ground, with Knuckles waiting for him. Knuckles made an uppercut before Coconuts could touch the ground, but somehow the robot was able to twist himself in the air and just miss the attack, landing and quickly swiping his tail to trip up Knuckles. Next, he back flipped over Knuckles as Rouge came down towards the ground, spiking the spot where Coconuts had just jumped been. Landing, Coconuts quickly spun and did a roundhouse kick of his own at Rouge, which was blocked but sent the bat skidding away for a few feet.
Looking down at the ground, Coconuts planned to finish off Knuckles, but instead found a large hole where the echidna used to be. Looking back up, he quickly put his arms up as Rouge struck from the air with a multi-kick combo. Floating just above him, she continued to kick, kick, and kick until suddenly a hole appeared in the ground and the robot fell in.
"Hmm, well that's sure surprising." Rouge said as she landed by the hole.
"Thank you." Knuckles said as he climbed back out of the first hole that he made when Coconuts had tripped him. "Now let's get out of here before he gets out of the hole. I didn't have time to make it very deep."
"Sure, we can seal the robot inside the shrine."
And the echidna and bat were soon away.