Author's note: Nothing much to say, but thank you for the favorites. I'm glad you're liking this story so far, so I'll do my best with it. Enjoy!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 5: Sonic VS Knuckles?
One and a half weeks since finding himself in Station Square, losing Angel Island and the Master Emerald to the Iron Empire, Knuckles had spent the majority of that time trying to locate the Chaos Emeralds but to his frustration, he found nothing. Not even a peep of the mysterious enemy who are attempting to use the Chao belonging to the little girl named Cream who's mother had been kidnapped. The red echidna sat all by himself in the dark alley one night as a newspaper landed on his left leg.
Raising an eyebrow, the fifteen year old picked up and groaned when the Headlines showed Sonic fighting Robotnik before he tossed it aside and let the wind blow it away.
'What could those men possibly want with that kid's Chao? Where did she get one? The Colonies are supposed to be kept secret and I've never seen one in my life before. How are the Chao connected with the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald?' Knuckles thought to himself deeply.
Suddenly he heard footsteps coming from his right and stood up in defense, growling in anger as he saw Robotnik approach him from the shadows.
"What do you want, Robotnik?" Knuckles demanded, and felt his suspicion increase when, to his surprise, the evil doctor dropped to the ground with a convincingly sad and terrified expression.
"Please, you've got to help me, Knuckles. If we don't find the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic will hand them over to the Iron Empire!" Robotnik pleaded, taking hold of the teenager's hands.
"Huh? What!?" The red echidna gasped, shocked to hear this. He heard that the blue hedgehog had been fighting those men to rescue girls and that they were after Cream and Cheese. Could that be a lie?
"If we find them before those brutes do, we have a fighting chance to defeat them and save Mobius! I only want to find the Emeralds to keep them out of the grasps of those men once I learned who they were, and that Sonic is secretly teamed up with them to help their leader use them to take over the world!" Robotnik explained, sobbing.
"Sonic..." Knuckles grunted, absolutely horrified that the younger teen would do that. "He's crazy!"
"I'm done with taking over the world...I've changed my ways, and all I want now is to live in peace, but Sonic won't let me, and now these Iron Empire monsters are attempting to do more harm than I ever did!" The 'former' evil scientist wept, taking out a handkerchief and blew his nose into it, sniffling. "What can I do!? He won't give me a chance to fix this mess! I want to stop the Iron Empire, but when I found one of the Chaos Emeralds, do you know what happened? He snatched it from me and said he's planning on giving it to those evil criminals to maintain his freedom!"
That angered the red echidna, unable to believe what was happening. He glared up at the sky and grunted. "That selfish hedgehog!"
Unaware to Knuckles, Robotnik smiled secretly under his handkerchief, while continuing. "He said that he made a deal with since they were after his life and fears for it. He thinks his freedom is much more important than anyone else's! You'd think he'd be more concerned about his buddy."
"Sonic isn't my buddy!" Knuckles growled angrily. "I'm sick and tired of him turning everything into a game! Either he gives us the Emerald or I'll take it from him!"
"Be careful! Sonic said he'll crush anybody who tries to get it back!" Robotnik warned.
"Let him try! If it's a bitter battle to the end he wants, it's a battle he's going to get." The guardian declared, holding up a fist.
The evil scientist secretly smirked as this was yet another evil scheme of his. Soon his problems with Sonic will be history, as this plan is for to have Knuckles fight the oblivious hero of Mobius and get the Chaos Emerald for him. All had to do now was figure out how to get Julius and the Iron Empire off his back.
The next day at the Thorndyke Mansion, Tails and Chuck were analyzing the green Chaos Emerald, putting in the finishing touches on the emerald containment unit, the old scientist fixing it up while the two-tailed fox was reading up it's energy and Chris was standing by, gazing at the gem.
"A Chaos Emerald. Does anybody know where they come from or how they work?" Chris wondered.
"Nobody knows much on where they came from, or much of their power." Tails explained. "However, they possess energy that flows into the user, and as Sonic said, give them limited power."
"What do you mean?"
"It's hard to explain, but for some reason, Sonic's the only one who can harness the Chaos Emeralds through the Chaos Energy we Mobians possess, but his is somehow the strongest. Whenever he has either one or two, it gives him the power to beat Robotnik's really tough robots, and when he has all seven, it gives him the strongest power of all; transforming him into Super Sonic."
"Super Sonic?" The twelve year old boy, blinked.
"It would mean that Sonic was not only born with his incredible speed, but his body seems to harness the ability to use the Chaos Emeralds on his own." Chuck realized.
"Yeah, and since the Emeralds' real power is positive energy, they turn all of Sonic's optimistic and positive thoughts into his power. He doesn't always needs them, but he uses them in case of emergencies." The seven year old confirmed. "Of course, they can also be used for things like powering up machines and giving them unlimited power, and if one isn't careful, negative thoughts like anger can be really bad. That's why we've always been really careful."
"How was it that Sonic learned to use them like that?" Chuck asked.
"He just thought of saving everybody and the world from Robotnik when they first had their final showdown three years ago. Even Sonic has no idea and just went with it. That was before I ever met him." The young kit shrugged.
Just then, there was a knock on the door and Mr. Tanaka came up into the attic, saying. "Masters Chris, Chuck and Tails, Ella wishes to clean this room now."
"Okay, Mr. Tanaka." Chris replied.
"We should take a bit of a break. A little fresh air would be good for all of us." Chuck suggested.
"Good idea." Tails agreed, as he and the human boy walked past Tanaka to head outside. But when the oldest man made to follow them, the butler stopped him.
"Sir, while I commend on you helping our Mobian guests and spending time playing with the children to stay fit, I would stick to adult sports like bowling or golf." Tanaka advised. That made the elder Thorndyke annoyed as he folded his arms and looked away with his eyes closed.
"You can't tell me what to do. I'll play ring around the rosy if I-" Chuck cut himself off and flinched in fright at the scary look Tanaka was giving him.
"Perhaps you should slow down. Rest is important, and I believe it's time for your nap." The younger man strongly suggested, before grabbing him by the shoulders and began guiding him to his room rather than the yard.
"I don't need a nap!" The older man protested. "A little sunshine will do me a world of good!"
"You can go outside and play later." Tanaka argued.
"I'm a grown man and you know it!" Chuck argued back.
"Come along, Mr. Thorndyke."
"Forget it!"
"Off to bed."
"Take your hands off me!"
Chris and Tails had just met up with Amy, Cream and Cheese go outside and relax and were passing Ella when all seven of them saw the two men having an argument while the oldest of the house was protesting rather childishly.
"Sometimes your grandfather and your father act worse than misbehaved children." Ella couldn't help but comment in annoyance to Chris who sighed.
"At least they're not as bad as Uncle Sam." The boy pointed out, facepalming himself in embarrassment.
"Excuse me, but where's Mr. Sonic? I only saw him this morning." Cream kindly interrupted, sounding a bit worried.
"Chao?" Cheese squeaked.
"Sonic went off to look for clues on where those mean people that took your mother are." Amy explained, recalling what the blue hedgehog said earlier.
"He said he'd be back this afternoon." Chris added, before admitting worriedly. "But I am worried if the Iron Empire catch him."
"Catch Sonic? I don't think so. He'll be okay." Tails reassured.
It didn't ease the unsettling feelings on Chris, Cream or even Ella, as the former muttered. "I hope he'll be careful."
The seven year old fox tilted his head a little with a small frown. "Um, sure Sonic can be careful, but it's not his style most of time. He likes danger. Plus, he might be saving other people that are in trouble or going out to explore at the same time too. He does this all the time."
That only made everybody else begin to worry even more.
"Hey, I almost forgot." Amy recalled, becoming excited all of the sudden. "Cream and I just saw on the News that they might've found another Chaos Emerald!"
"Huh?" Tails and Chris both muttered in surprise.
"They said that there was this funny energy in a place called Silver Valley." Cream added, also remembering.
"It was messing up with the machines and stuff just like the one we found at the construction site." The pink hedgehog continued. "If there is a Chaos Emerald there, we can find it before Robotnik does, and maybe even go on a picnic for some fun."
"Great idea. Maybe Sonic will be there." Tails replied.
"You know, Silver Valley isn't very far from here. Let's go check it out!" Chris declared, before remembering, "Except Dad's at work, Mr. Tanaka took Grandpa to bed, and I can't drive a car."
"You could always take the train. Just be sure you keep Cream safe." Ella suggested.
"Good idea. Thanks, Ella." The twelve year old boy smiled.
"This is gonna be so much fun!" Cream squealed happily, turning to her Chao. "Isn't this exciting, Cheese?"
"Chao Chao, Chao!" Cheese squealed in agreement.
"Then I'll go make you all a nice set of juices and sandwiches." The housemaid said.
"I can help you, Miss Ella." Cream volunteered. The kindly woman giggled and the two happily headed towards the kitchen with Cheese and Amy, who also decided to volunteer, following.
Meanwhile, Sonic was searching everywhere he could think of for clues regards of the Iron Empire while exploring and indeed helping out in a few odd places. He'd saved a small kitten that got stuck in a tree and returned the cute little baby animal who licked him gently on the cheek in gratitude which made him chuckle to the little girl who owned it, prevented a crash between two trucks, and stopped a Mobian thief that he caught glimpse of the shape of a bat wearing a full body suit with only the eyes visible.
The teenage hedgehog searched around the city, the desert, the canyon, even an amazing valley with a mountain range and a huge stretched field full of beautiful flowers, but so far no luck. He even asked the police or witnesses, but so far only the name of the criminals, yet he had been reluctant to mention that Julius was related to Robotnik, but he did it anyway with a promise to not tell the public just yet to avoid panic.
The police agreed and informed GUN who would look further into the situation while agreeing that it was best to keep things low for the time being. Now the cobalt hero was standing on a cliff that overlooked the city, deep in thought and disappointed over the lack of evidence.
"Those guys have gotta be somewhere close by. Either that or their secret base is more secretive than Eggman's." Sonic sighed, his hands on his hips as he kicked the dirt in annoyance. "Maybe the military will have a bit of better luck finding those guys. But I promised Cream I'd find her Mom. I can't let her down."
Sonic looked up at the sky in thought, absently watching the clouds gently drift by and blinked in surprise that one took form of a Chao, very much like what he'd seen in his childhood ten years ago. "Huh. Haven't seen that cloud in years."
Seeing the Chao Cloud made the blue hedgehog think back on what Cream told him and the others the other day, how she found a lost Chao egg two years ago drifting in a river and, curiosity getting the better of her and wondering who lost it, brought it home to show her mother who explained that it must've gotten lost. At first Vanilla thought of returning to a Chao Colony near by, but remembered that there was a waterfall up stream and it was a miracle that the egg survived, which meant that it would be a long and dangerous journey to find it's home. The five year old had also explained that when they decided to take care of it, a week later, Cheese was born and Cream immediately fell in love with him and the newborn Chao returned her feelings, prompting Vanilla to allow Cheese to remain with them.
They had been inseparable since then.
"I'll find you, Vanilla, and bring you back to Cream. Until then, I'll keep her and Cheese safe from Ro-butt-nik and his twisted brother. I promise." Sonic whispered with a vow. Deciding to head back to Chris' house for a break, the teenager sped off in a blue blur.
Not realizing that Rouge, who had been the thief in disguise, both undercover and, out of habit, wanted to steal a piece of jewelry but failed, was listening in from underneath the cliff.
"Well, things are getting more and more interesting." Rouge whispered to herself, before yawning. "But recon missions are so outdated and it's messing with my make-up."
Even so, now that she gotten information on Vanilla which provided more information but knew that she now had to figure out if the older rabbit was either Cream's mother, older sister, cousin or aunt or even grandmother. Which meant that the Mobian Bat needed to spy on Sonic and his friends even more.
Though she wished the agents would've sent someone else to do this job.
She then heard her communicator ring and answered with a bored tone. "Agent Rouge here."
"Rouge, any more information on Sonic, and while on that note, you really didn't steal anything, did you?" A woman's voice responded through the headphone.
"Well, so far he's trying to find the location on the Iron Empire's base but like us, had no luck. He also mentioned the name of the little cute kid's relative; Vanilla, I think. But that's all I managed to get so far. Sonic's already heading back to the Thorndyke Mansion." Rouge reported, before answering the question. "And no, I didn't steal anything. The hedgehog put a stop to that."
"It can't be helped then. The Commander wants you to report back, but to then return to the Mansion tonight to gather more information."
"Topaz, honey, you and I both know that the only way to get more info on the Iron Empire's leader who happens to be Robotnik's twisted brother-which is a terrible thought-is to capture that man and that's hard work in and on itself." Rouge sighed in exasperation.
Topaz, the woman she was speaking to, sighed. "But you can still gather more information on the girl's family. If Julius Robotnik is after the girl's Chao, then keeping them both under futher supervision is our top priority. If anything acts up with Sonic's group, we're to move in and get the girl and Chao to the safe house."
"Roger that." The white bat sighed, hanging up and grumbled as she took flight, thinking to herself. 'I'm no good with kiddies, but locking up a five year old and a rare but very cute Chao in a safe house away from civilization is harsh, even to my taste.'
By the time Sonic got back home, he was informed by Ella that his friends had gone off for a picnic in Silver Valley. He debated on joining them, but decided to relax a little before he'd join them. The blue hedgehog was now lying on his back against a wall on the railing on a balcony, attempting to take a nap.
'Just hope those Iron Empire creeps aren't in that place. Silver Valley's cool, and I haven't seen any of them there yet. Not even Eggman's Ro-butt-nik brother.' The fourteen year old thought to himself, then smirked with his eyes closed. 'Heh. It's already easy calling Buttnik that, I'm starting to like it.'
Sadly, his moment of relaxing is cut short when he hears laughter and when the blue hedgehog looked up, he groaned in annoyance when he saw Bokkun fly over before landing in front of him.
"Hi there, Sonic!" Bokkun greeted. "Remember me?"
"Yeah, I remember you, Bokkun. What do you want?" Sonic asked, mentally in defense with an annoyed frown. "Wait, let me guess. Eggman wanted to give me a message, right?"
"Stop calling Dr. Robotnik names! But to answer your question, I do have a message. Right here." The messenger bot said angrily, pulling out a small TV and placed onto the tip of Sonic's shoe, turning it on.
To the blue hedgehog's shock, the screen turned on revealing not Robotnik's face, but Knuckles, and he looked furious.
"Sonic. I'm sick of all your selfish stunts. This time you've gone too far. I'm challenging you to a showdown. Meet me at Silver Valley in one hour. Don't be late." The red echidna said, causing Sonic to raise an eyebrow in confusion and concern. Silver Valley? That's where the others were.
The message then ended with an advertisement of Robotnik saying while Bokkun began backing away. "This message was brought to you by the Robotnik Empire which is not responsible for its content...except this part."
To Sonic's horror, the TV began to spark and before he could react, he exploded like the last time as he cried out, while the small Message Bot flew off, laughing. Once the smoke cleared, the blue hedgehog was covered in soot and coughed up smoke before growling, angered by his friend's betrayal and confusing message.
"Knuckles is gonna regret that." Sonic grunted, narrowing his eyes as he knew he had to get to the bottom of this, while hoping that his friends would be alright.
After taking the train to Silver Valley, Tails, Amy, Chris, Cream and Cheese had set up their picnic near a beautiful lake.
"This picnic was a super idea, Amy. Even if we couldn't find any Chaos Emeralds." Tails remarked, happily eating his sandwich.
"Yeah, it was worth the trip." Chris agreed.
"I wish it would've been more perfect if Sonic was here." Amy said, a bit disappointed over her 'boyfriend' missing out despite that she was having fun. She then clasped her hands together and sighed dreamily. "It would've been so romantic."
While Cream and Cheese had lots of fun, the former couldn't help but look around and said. "But, I wonder why there aren't any other people here? I thought they found the Chaos Emerald."
This got the attention of the others who looked around and realized that she was right, before Tails suggested with a shrug. "Maybe something else caused the energy spike."
"Yeah, it must've been a mistake. But even if there aren't any, we can still have some fun while we're here, like hiking in the mountains or swimming in the lake." Chris suggested as he stood up. "Maybe we might find some clue on where Cream's mother is."
As the four of them were talking, unbeknownest to them and the Chao, the water on the lake began to bubble before it shot upward, causing the five of them to turn around and gasped in shock as a really big robot emerged when the water ceased. It had a glass compartment in the middle, large claws and a red eye. The three Mobians, human boy and little Chao all screamed in fear and quickly attempted to run away, but the robot grabbed them with it's claw and shoved them into the compartment, trapping them. Robotnik then hovered into view in his Egg Mobile, laughing evilly.
"Robotnik!" Chris shouted after he and his friends saw who it was, and realization quickly dawned. "So that energy spike was caused by you!?"
"You mean bully! You tricked the News of that fake story!" Cream shouted, angrily despite that she was petrified in being captured along with her friends.
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! That is exactly right. I generated artificial energy spikes just like the ones made by Chaos Emeralds! It isn't my fault that those news hounds barked up the wrong tree." Robotnik explained, grinning.
Tails groaned, grumbling. "I hate to admit it, but Robotnik even out-foxed me."
"I think from this point on we really should start calling him Eggman." The twelve year old boy suggested grimly.
That irritated Robotnik as he growled angrily. "Oh, not that too! First you gained the trait from Sonic by calling me Ro-butt-nik, now you've already adapted in calling me Eggman!? I hate those insulting nicknames at the bottom of the earth!"
"Yeah, well, like all of your previous plans, this one is about to fail, Eggman!" Amy declared half-tauntingly, bringing out Piko Hammer. "We're outta here!"
But when she swung her Hammer to the glass, it didn't even make a crack. Shocked and bewildered, the eleven year old tried again a few times until she was out of breath, falling onto her knees and panting, which made Robotnik laugh.
"You're not going anywhere. I need you in case my first plan to beat Sonic fails." The evil scientist declared.
"Sonic isn't here!" Amy grunted as she, Chris and Tails all glared at him, while Cream now was really frightened and held onto Cheese, softly whimpering.
"We'll see about that. In fact, he'll be here any minute now." Robotnik grinned as he looked over his shoulder, up on a higher cliff ways away.
There on top of it was Knuckles who sat on a rock, his arms folded as he waited impatiently for Sonic, thinking to himself with his eyes closed. 'Where is Sonic? He should've been here by now.'
The second he thought of that, the red echidna snapped his eyes open and as if on cue, Sonic came into view, having arrived in a fast moon-walk while posing with a calm and cool smirk on his face.
"Hey there, Knuckles." Sonic greeted, his eyes closed.
"You're late, slowpoke." Knuckles said deeply, standing up.
"Yeah, well, I was looking for some sort of clue in finding Cream's mom, and admiring the scenery while I was at it. This continent is really cool." The blue hedgehog replied, holding up a light blue flower to his nose and sniffed at it's lovely sweet scent. "It's beautiful here. Yeah, you'd like this place too if you weren't such a party pooper."
"Enough talk." The red echidna grunted, ready to battle. "Let's go."
"Ah, relax, will ya? We have all afternoon to duke it out, buddy boy." The hero of Mobius said calmly, hoping to ease out the tensions as he wanted to know more about this, and, well, messing with the Guardian a little bit was a bit fun.
"I'm not your buddy, and don't you forget it, smart aleck." Knuckles growled. "Now put 'em up! I didn't come here to sniff the flowers!"
"That's your loss. You don't know what you're missing." Sonic said, turning fully to his 'former' friend as he opened his eyes and shrugged. "But if you'd rather get clobbered by me-"
"SHUT UP!" Knuckles snapped, having had enough with Sonic's 'lies'. "I know you're in the league with the Iron Empire! So give me that emerald you stole, or else!"
"Huh?" Sonic gaped in confusion. Where did the older teen get the idea that he was on Julius' side? Realizing then that Robotnik somehow put the idea and came up with a lie to trick Knuckles into thinking that the blue hedgehog betrayed Mobius and sided with the Iron Empire to try and get both Sonic himself and Julius out of the evil scientist's mustache.
Meaning that it was all part of the plan, and the blue hedgehog had no choice but to battle his friend and hopefully knock some sense into him...again.
Recovering from the mild shock, Sonic shrugged as he chuckled. "Your brain's even slower than your feet."
Knuckles' eyes widened before narrowing as he hissed furiously over the insult, a vein squeezing on his head. The two were then silent as the red echidna was now livid, while Sonic remained calm and stood there quietly. He then tossed the flower aside, which in his opinion, started the battle. The older teenager charged with a growl, aiming a powerful punch at the blue hedgehog who dodged out of the way just in time as the attack hit the ground, crushing a spot on it. The moment Sonic landed, Knuckles charged again while attempting to rapid punch him, but the fourteen year old easily dodged and kept himself out of range with a smirk, much to the fifteen year old's frustration.
When Knuckles punched a rock into pieces, his frustration only grew as Sonic dodged once more, landing onto another a good distance away, the latter frowning as he placed his hands on his hips, not impressed with how stubborn and gullible the echidna was. When the guardian of the Master Emerald attacked again, the cobalt hero leaped up and to the older Mobian's shock, aimed a swift kick at him, but Knuckles rolled out of the way and made to attack again, which Sonic avoided by being out of range.
The two leaped over rocks in the middle of a river before Sonic ran away into the bushes, with Knuckles following. The teenage Mobians made their way up a cliff with the blue hedgehog running up the rock wall with a smirk, and the red echidna climbing up in an impressive speed. By then Sonic rushed up a tree at the edge of the cliff and perched himself on top of the tallest branch.
"Dang. No secret base here either." Sonic grumbled as he made a quick look for any signs of the Iron Empire's hideout, but couldn't see it. He then smiled softly. "But the view's pretty cool."
Suddenly the tree began to tilt which alarmed him, and as Sonic held on while wondering what was going on, he looked down to see that Knuckles had yanked it from the roots with his strength and tossed it, causing the blue hedgehog to be flung off it.
"Whoa! AAAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he fell, before he calmed down and flipped to get a better position and landed safely, only to be forced to leap back to avoid in being crushed by more falling trees as the red echidna was punching them down.
Sonic quickly ran as he was too fast, and mocked his rival by sticking his tongue out, much to Knuckles frustration as he growled a yell, now attacking without mercy and knocking more trees. All the while within the trees that were out of range of the teenagers' fight, was a small bird robot with the Iron Empire's logo, a small camera just underneath it's head, watching the battle unfold.
The hero of Mobius by then slid down an already fallen tree which was then lifted up as the tree behind him crashed onto it, making him fly up but then he used it to his advantage. He went into a Spin Dash and rolled down the tree Knuckles knocked over, much to the latter's shock. The red echidna then quickly grabbed hold of Sonic's spinning form, struggling to hold on as the attack was slowly making him slide back. The force of Sonic's attack sent the two of them flying over another cliff, smashing a tree in half as the two glared at each other, the younger teen now frowning.
Sonic and Knuckles then rolled down the hill while wrestling each other until they landed into the river in a huge splash, much to the blue hedgehog's horror.
'OH NO!' The teenage hero panicked in his mind as he quickly resurfaced, screaming while thrashing about. "HEY, HELP ME!"
It wasn't until he noticed that he wasn't sinking and stopped instantly in surprise, before realizing that he was simply just sitting in the water that was barely up to his ankles. Sonic looked down, his heart's rapid beating slowing down while noticing Knuckles on the shore, his arms folded as he glared at the younger Mobian in annoyance over the blue hedgehog's overreaction.
"It's lucky I fell in the kiddie pool." Sonic shrugged sheepishly. Recovering quickly from his embarrassment, he leaped up and landed on the other side and braced himself to continue the fight. "Get ready! You're goin' down!"
"Let's end this now." Knuckles declared, hissing as he got ready himself.
"But before we do, let me ask you something: Why do you think I'd ever be with those Iron Empire punks?" The blue hedgehog asked.
"Enough!" The red echidna snapped. "Robotnik warned me that you joined them to save your own skin! Which made me realize you kidnapped that kid with the Chao and took her away from her mother!"
Sonic's eyes widened in shock when he heard this, before protesting. "No way! I'd never kidnap anybody even in a million years! I'm trying to find Cream's mother and bring them back together and stop the Empire! They're as dangerous as Eggman!"
"Pah! Like that's gonna save you if you're letting your grudge on him come up with a new nickname like Eggman!" Knuckles scoffed.
"I'm serious!"
"You're never serious! You never were! All you do is fool around playing games! You only cared about yourself!"
"You're wrong!" Sonic snapped, glaring hard. "I'd die for everybody if I have to! How many times have I saved the planet from Robotnik?"
As the two argued, on the other side of the lake, Robotnik and his prisoners were observing the battle as the evil scientist called out to the red echidna through more lies. "Go Knuckles! Show Sonic he can't save his own life! Our only hope in defeating the Iron Empire is for you to take down that tyrant!"
"Sonic..." Chris murmured worriedly.
"Why are Mr. Sonic and Mr. Knuckles fighting? I thought they were friends." Cream asked, scared and worried.
"Robotnik must've tricked Knuckles again." Amy said, and when the other two gazed at her, she explained. "When Sonic and Tails first met Knuckles, he had been tricked by Robotnik into thinking they were the bad guys and had him attack Sonic. He and Tails managed to make Knuckles realize the truth and helped him to save the Master Emerald and Angel Island. Problem is that since Knuckles lived most of his life on Angel Island all by himself, he doesn't know how to socialize with other people and, well, he's not very bright."
"Oh dear..." Cream muttered, now even more worried.
"No wonder." Chris murmured.
"But do they have to fight right now, though!? Can't they let us out first?" The pink hedgehog complained.
"There." Tails suddenly said, as he had opened up the panel, causing his friends to glance over their shoulders to see what he did.
"Wow, Mr. Tails! How did you do that?" Cream said in awe.
"I...used my screwdriver." The two-tailed fox replied simply, holding up the aforementioned tool.
The others turned around as Chris remarked, really impressed. "You're really handy."
"It's no big deal." The seven year old Mobian replied, turning back to the panel's insides. "Now I just have to figure out how this thing's wired."
"We don't have time for this, Tails! Step aside!" Amy commanded impatiently, already summoning her hammer once more and approached. "I'll fix this robot!"
"AH! Amy!" Tails panicked, holding up his hands as he and soon the others saw what she was about to do.
"Wait, Miss Amy!" Cream cried out.
"No, no! Don't!" Chris exclaimed.
But it was too late as the pink hedgehog smashed the panel which sparked and as everyone screamed, it exploded, forcing the five of them to duck while the impact smashed a hole in the glass and smoke was coming out.
"Huh? What the?" Sonic asked as he heard the explosion and looked over his shoulder to see the smoke, only for Knuckles to charge again. The blue hedgehog noticed this and gasped before leaping high into the air to avoid the punch.
'Whoa, that was close.' The hero of Mobius thought, turning around to make a landing, only to notice the main source of what was happening. There hovering over the lake was the evil man behind this mess.
"Why you brats!" Robotnik shouted over to Amy's group when he saw what happened.
Sonic's eyes narrowed in anger, his heart dropping into his stomach as he realized that his friends were captured, being used to bait and suddenly this made sense now; the evil man lured them all into a trap to gain the Chaos Emerald they got, tricking Knuckles while attempting to try and get the Iron Empire off of his back.
"Robotnik...!" Sonic growled, before landing and quickly made to rescue the others, leaving an irritated Knuckles behind.
"Get back here!" Knuckles roared, giving chase as he shouted accusingly. "You quitter!"
"I've got an Eggman to stop and friends to save!" Sonic called back in annoyance. "We'll settle this later!"
As Sonic increased his speed towards the area, Tails, Amy, Chris, Cream and Cheese all peered out of the robot, but were unable to climb out safely without hurting themselves.
"Help! Please, help us!" Cream screamed pleadingly.
"Chao!" Cheese cried.
Robotnik then hovered over, glaring at the children. "Look what you've done! You've wrecked my robot, and it isn't even insured!"
"Good! Your robot deserved it!" Amy shouted, glaring back.
Suddenly a blue blur sped by them before slicing through the robot's legs which exploded, causing it to topple over onto it's back and it's prisoners screaming. Sonic then came into view and stood in front as his friends began to climb out.
"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late." The fourteen year old greeted with a wave.
"Mr. Sonic!" Cream cried out in relief. "You came!"
Sonic smiled softly, winking. "'Course I did. I'll always be there to help out my friends."
"Thanks, Sonic." Chris said gratefully.
Sonic nodded, before turning his attention to Robotnik with a glare and a frown. "You seriously have a knack for using others for your scheme, don't you, Eggman?"
"It's Ro-butt-nik!" Robotnik snapped, before realizing what he said and quickly tried to correct himself. "Er, I-I mean Eggman-No, no! It's Robotnik-UGH! You get the idea!"
"I think we should stick to Eggman from now on if you're having trouble remembering your own name." The blue hedgehog snorted in laughter.
"This isn't over, Sonic! My robot may be down, but it certainly isn't out!" Robotnik growled.
Just then, the robot then reversed itself, turning it's arms into legs, flipping upside down while standing up and trapping the group once more as they cried out in alarm. Sonic spun around in shock and bewilderment as it completed the reverse before revealing it's cannons.
"Attack!" Robotnik ordered.
The robot opened fire which forced Sonic to leap out of the way and ducked for cover behind a rock...which disintigrated into nothing and revealing the blue hedgehog who had covered his head before he realized that the rock was gone.
"Uh oh..." He muttered as he turned his head. The blue hedgehog then raced away to avoid in getting hit himself, while trying to figure out how to save the others.
Just then Knuckles, still unaware of the trickery, came rushing in and kicked one of the cannons hard that he smashed it into pieces, much to Robotnik's shock as he saw the echidna arrive, saving the blue hedgehog unexpectedly.
"This is a battle between Sonic and me!" Knuckles declared, glaring up at the evil man. "I'll fight my way!"
Sonic stood there for a moment before shrugging.
"Fight your way?" Robotnik asked, frowning as his first plan had ultimately failed before declaring. "If you're going to insist on fighting a clean fight, then I'm going to start playing dirty!"
Under the silent command, the robot then launched itself off the ground, causing Knuckles to gasp in confused shock, while Tails, Amy, Chris, Cream and Cheese all screamed as they attempted to hold on for dear life. Sonic gasped in shock and fear as he could only watch his friends being carried over the lake and over to the other side, making it seemingly impossible for the two teenagers to save them.
"Plan A didn't work, so now we'll have to go to Plan B." Robotnik declared with an evil grin, hovering higher and over the two Mobians.
"Let them go, Eggman!" Sonic demanded. "Or you'll be sorry!"
"Fat chance, you blue brat! Bring me the Chaos Emerald or you'll never see your friends again!" The evil man responded cruelly.
"What is this? Robotnik swore to me that all he wanted was to live in peace." Knuckles muttered, now bewildered.
Sonic noticed and now realizing that his friend had been duped, relaxed and calmly placed his hands behind his back, saying with a smirk. "He sure is tricky, isn't he?"
Hearing this made all the pieces come together in the echidna's mind; Sonic's protests, and his promise to find Cream's mother, and everything else that has happened. Knuckles realized the truth now and with anger came to the sudden conclusion that he had been tricked again.
"That swindler...He lied!" Knuckles hissed angrily.
"You're catching on, pal." Sonic said.
"Sonic." Robotnik called out in a sing-song tone, prompting the teenage hedgehog to gaze up at him. "We all know your weak spot is water, so I stuck your friends over there where you can't save them without treading H20."
When Sonic noticed this, he easily spotted an alternative and said with a smirk. "Yeah, except for one small problem for you, Egghead."
"Oh yeah? Like what? And my name is Robotnik!" The evil scientist demanded, irritated that the blue hedgehog came up with another insulting nickname of the latest one he'd come up with.
"This is a lake, not a river or the ocean." Sonic replied, and to prove it, he raced around it very fast with his speed, much to Robotnik's shock as he gasped in disbelief. The blue hedgehog then zoomed past the robot and knocking it down once more, this time causing it to land on it's side so that the hole was now ground level and his friends can climb out safely.
Sonic stopped and smirked.
"Showoff." Robotnik grumbled in annoyance.
By then, Sonic was helping his friends to climb out, pulling Chris to his feet before carefully helping Cream to stand up, asking both of them. "You alright?"
"I'm okay." Chris replied.
"So am I." Cream replied, shaken. "I was really scared, though."
"Chao, Chao." Cheese murmured.
"I'm sorry. You got hurt because of me. I wish I could've come sooner." The blue hedgehog muttered, feeling guilty that his youngest new friend had got caught and put into danger again. He failed to protect her and the others, and would be kicking himself for a long time for this.
To his surprise, the young rabbit girl shook her head, smiling softly. "Please don't worry, Mr. Sonic. You saved us. That's all that matters."
Sonic had been stunned that Cream wasn't angry or upset with him, which made him smile in return. She was such a sweetheart. The little girl was such a wonderful combination of himself, Tails, Amy and his own mother when it came to kindness and forgiveness. Which made him want to try and keep her safe even more, to get to know her more, and find her mother even more. His heart melted over Cream's words and smile.
The moment of the bonding friendship between the two was interrupted when Amy came over and in tears hugged him tightly, crying.
"Ow..! Take it easy, Amy." Sonic gently held her back, only to cringe and wince uncomfortably when she hugged him even tighter.
"I just knew you'd come and rescue me!" The pink hedgehog exclaimed.
"You're suffocating me...!" The blue hedgehog grunted.
Just then, the robot suddenly starts to move which alarmed the group.
"Run!" Sonic shouted, guiding the girls and Cheese with him as Chris and Tails followed, all six of them running away(or in the Chao's case, flying away) and quickly hid behind rocks for cover just as the robot stood up. It opened up more comparts revealing dangerous missiles.
"I'm not calling it quits yet, Sonic! You've only had a preview of this robot's fire power! You and your friends are through." Robotnik declared, silently commanding his robot to fire like crazy to try and destroy the group who ducked as low as they could. He grinned evilly as the robot fired everywhere. "I've got you now!"
Sonic and his friends tried to avoid it as he tried to figure out a way out of this to save them and defeat Robotnik. He did his best to cover Tails, Amy, Chris, Cream and Cheese, their hearts hammering in their chests as the younger ones all screamed. Suddenly, Knuckles slid into view, glaring angrily at the man who tricked him as he knew what he had to do now, to get his revenge and atone for his mistake, especially when he saw the blue hedgehog save and was now trying to protect the others.
"Let me take care of Robotnik!" The red echidna declared, causing the hero of Mobius to look up in surprise.
"Okay." Sonic muttered, smirking as he got the idea. He knew that Knuckles needed to vent, and while the older Mobian wasn't fast, he was not only strong but he can be pretty swift.
Knuckles charged while dodging the firing line of the robot, before smashing his way up on it and leaped up to Robotnik's level.
"You!" The evil scientist yelped in surprise, then gulped nervously as he saw the death glare and knew in that instant that he was in trouble.
"YOU LIAR!" The guardian yelled, punching Robotnik's Egg Mobile so hard that the evil man went flying and blasting off screaming which faded as he disappeared from view.
Glaring up at where the mad scientist vanished from, Knuckles then landed on top of the robot and punched his fist into the head, causing it to split in half before it exploded, sending metal flying everywhere in a large gust of wind. The rest of the group braced themselves.
"Knuckles!" Sonic cried out, seeing his friend being blown away, and without hesitation immediately raced over to save him.
"Sonic, wait!" Chris cried out, but he was ignored.
Knuckles grunted as he was being flown, before Sonic grabbed hold of his wrist in his left hand and a branch in his right, holding on tightly which made the older teenager look up and saw that the blue hedgehog had just risked his life to save his.
Once the wind died down, the others looked up worriedly before sighing in relief as Sonic and Knuckles jumped down from the tree and landed safely, unharmed. The two teenagers stared before the red echidna smiled, silently thanking the blue hedgehog and knew that the younger teen was indeed the hero. He really did care for others. Sonic smiled back as his rival's expression was all he needed for gratitude. Plus he knew how his friend, stubborn and knuckleheaded and mostly cared about the Master Emerald, was loyal and had such a good heart.
"Sonic!" Amy cried out, as she raced over before hugging the blue hedgehog, crying while everybody else approached.
"You made it!" Chris said in relief.
"Thank goodness!" Cream said happily.
"Chao Chao!" Cheese chirped cheering.
Sonic smiled while cringing at the tightness of hug his self-proclaimed girlfriend was treating him. "Yeah. Knuckles and I had it all under control."
The aforementioned echidna still smirked, before deciding it was time to take his leave and so he turned and began to walk away, which was noticed by everyone else.
"Mr. Knuckles?" The five year old rabbit girl called out softly.
Knuckles just waved a goodbye to them and continued his way. But Amy wasn't having any of it and raced over to walk alongside him to give him a bit of a lecture.
"I bet you want to apologize to Sonic for believing all the lies Robotnik said about him?" She said, folding her hands behind her back. "And you probably wanna thank him too, only you're too proud."
"Zip it!" Knuckles grunted, glaring at her, but she just smiled knowingly as the two stopped. He looked back at the others who all smiled, and he returned it, before asking Sonic now that they somewhat reconciled. "Eggman, huh? Hate to admit it, but I kind of like it better than Robotnik."
"It suits him a whole lot better, doesn't it?" Sonic chuckled, before he quickly remembered one important detail. "That reminds me, this is something you need to know."
"What is it?" The red echidna questioned, now frowning in suspicion.
"The guys that are after Cream and Cheese? Tails, Chris and I met their leader when we were trying to find clues in Cream's hometown. This is gonna be a shock, but the guy's name is Julius. He's...he's Eggman's brother." The blue hedgehog explained uneasily.
"Eggman's what!?" Knuckles exclaimed in utter shock, spinning around with his eyes wide in disbelief. "He didn't tell me that!"
"It might be because either Robotnik doesn't know it or they're both secretly working together. But Julius did mention that they disowned each other a long time ago." Tails explained worriedly.
"He wants to use Cheese to find other Chao, something about unlocking the secrets of both the Chaos Emeralds as well as the Master Emerald to take over the world. Apprently he and Ro-butt-nik don't get on so well due to some childhood jealously and Eggman being their dad's favorite to the point of destroying everybody including his own family." Sonic continued.
"So that's why they took over Angel Island. But I've never heard of Chao actually having any connections with any of the emeralds." The guardian muttered, before turning to Cream and asked. "Where did find your Chao, Cream?"
"I found Cheese floating in the river a long time ago when he was an egg and took him home. Mama and I thought of finding his home but we couldn't, so we took care him and raised him when he hatched, so we've been best friends ever since." Cream explained, hugging her Chao who whimpered in worry.
"Julius said that he's keeping Cream's mother and all of the other people from their village with him, but he wouldn't tell us where and won't let them go." Chris added in concern.
Sonic narrowed his eyes with determination as he declared, "Well, I won't give up until I find Iron Empire's base and save everybody. Julius is just as crazy and dangerous as Eggman. He's got the Master Emerald, he's got Cream's mom and people as prisoners, so we have to make sure he doesn't get Cream and Cheese and the Chaos Emeralds, rescue the others and get Angel Island back."
"Will Mama be okay?" The little girl asked.
"She will, and I'll make sure to get her back." The blue hedgehog vowed.
Knuckles saw how seriously Sonic actually was, and given the hero's history and strong bond with Tails due to the young fox being an orphan before being taken in and raised by the blue hedgehog and his parents even though the seven year old was actually capable of doing amazing things even adults had trouble with, the fourteen year old wasn't actually bad when it came to kids. What really concerned him is that if Cheese had been found floating down a river when he was still just an egg and the Chao Colony was far from Floral Forest Village, then it explained why the village was attacked because it may not actually be that far from where Cheese originated from.
"I might come across a clue on where the Iron Empire's base is. My suggestion would be going with Sonic's plan." He finally suggested, much to everyone else's surprise. "If Eggman's brother thinks Chao are connected with the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, then Eggman might figure it out as well."
"You're right. Plus Ro-butt-nik's still after the Chaos Emeralds as usual." Sonic agreed, mentally relieved that Knuckles is actually going to help out with this.
"Right. I'll keep you posted." The red echidna said in agreement, before turning as he walked away once more, smirking at the blue hedgehog who smirked back, the former then waving and muttered. "Later."
The group watched him leave as things have seemed to calm down for now. But unbeknownst to them, the small robot bird that flew around observing the events had listened on the conversation once Robotnik's robot had been destroyed.
Inside the Iron Empire base, Julius had been witnessing and listening on what was going on, the large screen spying on Sonic and his friends at Silver Lake.
"Sir, it seems that the little girl has no idea of her Chao's origins nor of it's location." One of the assistance reported.
"It doesn't matter. We still need that child and the Chao, especially now that Sonic has revealed my identity to that gullible and annoying echidna." Julius hissed darkly, his hands latched together in front of him. "Those kids will never find us, no matter how hard they try."
"What do you propose we should do, sir?" Another assistant asked.
"We stay low, but I want them as soon as possible, and eliminate the hedgehog, his friends and Dr. Robotnik. They are the thorns on my side." The evil leader ordered. "Be ready for our next mission."
"Yes, sir." The two assistance nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the terrifying man alone for now.
Julius gazed at the video link and muttered to himself. "You foolish child. You and Ivo have no idea what you're both into. I will get that Chao and all the others across the planet, I will unlock the secrets, and soon Mobius will be mine, as well as your lives. It's irritating that you captured the girl and yet you only intended on using her and her friends to gain the Chaos Emerald from Sonic, dear brother. Such a pity as you have not advanced your goals, you second-rated buffoon."
Believing that things are turning to his favor despite that Sonic had rescued Cream and Cheese and their friends from Robotnik, Julius began chuckling evilly to himself.
Because only he knew the connections of the Chao, the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald.
A/N: Looks like things are starting to slowly heat up. What kind of connections that Julius wants to know about the Chao and the Emeralds? Only time will tell.
See you later!