"But she just left the emeralds?" Sonic asked, glancing at them in the seat behind Tails.
"I guess she was afraid because of the green one. Maybe she doesn't know it's the only one that can stop her, I can't tell." Tails suggested, forlornly. As they searched for Eleanor, he had related the story of her creation and escape to Sonic.
"But the emerald didn't stop it, it resisted!" he argued, avoiding the robot's name, and Tails' tendency to personify it as a she. He'd never met Tails' mother, but he'd learned from what Tails could remember that she was kind, strong and brave. She surely didn't deserve to have a vicious, emerald crazed robot named after her.
"It slowed her down, at least! Maybe it's because the blue emerald is constantly charged by her fan now, that she can resist the other emerald's power," Tails explained. "I wish I knew where she's gone," he added, sadly.
"Well we haven't seen a sign of it for hours and I'm hungry!" Sonic complained. "Let's go back to the base, maybe it returned there, after all."
Tails sighed unhappily." Okay, I guess…Sonic?"
"Hrrm?"
"I'm sorry. I never thought this would happen." He gazed up at his hero with large, sorrowful blue eyes. The hedgehog's frown softened.
"Hey, it's okay. We'll catch your robot soon, and maybe you can fix it up again afterwards, and find out how to control it, yeah!" he proclaimed, grinning.
"I guess," Tails returned gloomily. It would hurt to see his robot damaged after everything he'd worked so hard to achieve with her. If it really was the only way…He whimpered softly, turning the plane around, headed back to the Mystic Ruins.
When Tails' plane landed, a small pink and red streak rushed out to meet them.
"Sonic!" Amy wailed, leaping towards him. Startled, he caught her. She was shivering.
"Amy!" he cried, setting her down. "What happened?"
Amy's wild, frightened eyes swiveled round to Tails' base for a moment, and then she keened softly and shrank behind Sonic.
"The robot?" Tails asked, staring up at her and Sonic on the wing from the cockpit. Amy met his eyes and nodded fearfully.
"It came to Station Square, it tried to get into the Chao Gardens!" she told them. Tails gasped, his eyes widening in horror. He thought to the Chao, tiny, chubby soft creatures with big shiny innocent eyes. Eleanor had blank robot eyes which glowed red at the centre, and long razor sharp claws. Tails grimaced; fighting away the awful images that his hyper-active imagination threatened to conjure.
"It's alright!" Amy exclaimed, seeing her friends' horror. "The police arrived before it broke in, and scared it away with their guns. I thought I'd find you here, so I came to warn you. But that robot was here instead, I saw it coming out of the aircraft hanger. I don't know what it wanted, but it's a real mess in there. It was horrible," she shuddered. "Red eyes and claws like…" she gestured with her hands, describing the shape and length. "But it looked strange-not like any of Eggman's robots I've ever seen before!"
"It's not one of Eggman's robots," Sonic said, frowning at Tails.
"D'you think it's still around here?" the kitsune asked. Amy shook her head, no.
"It might have been looking for the Chaos Emeralds!" she gasped. "When I saw it, it flew away somewhere, really high until I couldn't see it anymore. D'you think it went to the Floating Island, after the Master Emerald?" Amy asked. She stared at Sonic, watching his frown deepen and his spines bristle. Tails hung his head, like he was ashamed of something.
"Tell her, Tails, then we'll go check on Knux. I'll get some food and you get the plane ready for another flight." He hopped from the wing and disappeared into Tails' house.
"Sonic?" Tails murmured, staring after his friend. His ears flattened, and his eyes brimmed with tears. He knew Sonic had good reason to be angry, but surely he understood that Tails hadn't meant for things to go this way. He winced, feeling a paw grasp his shoulder. Amy had gotten down from the wing and she stood beside the cockpit, her big emerald green eyes full of confusion and concern.
"Tails, are you alright? What's going on?"
"I built the robot," Tails told her, ashamed. "I thought she would help us fight Eggman, but I guess she's got her own ideas." Tails got out to check over the Tornado.
"Why didn't you program it to obey your commands?" Amy asked
"Because I wanted her to be more than just a slave. Besides, don't you remember what happened with the E-series robots? You said one of them broke its programming and rescued you from Eggman!"
Amy nodded. "So what went wrong?"
"I don't know!" Tails wailed. "She's attracted to chaos energy! It's like she's trying to become more powerful!"
Amy gasped. "Can robots turn super?" she asked, wide eyed.
"It shouldn't be possible. But I guess I don't know everything about chaos emeralds," Tails told her. Sonic returned, carrying a sack full of snacks.
"All set?" he asked, handing Tails the sack and leaping back atop the wing.
"I'm coming too!" Amy insisted, ceasing the seat behind the cockpit and setting the chaos emerald sack on her lap. Sonic shrugged.
"Sure!" he told her. He still remembered the last time he and Tails had left Amy alone on the Ark, when her kidnapping by Eggman nearly jeopardized the hero's plans to save Mobius.
Dark thunderclouds gathered overhead, where Knuckles rested beside the Master Emerald. The gem sparkled in its full size glory to his left and to his right was a flight of large stone stairs. Beyond this there were caves leading to the ruins of an ancient echidna city. Not so long ago, he had seen the city's majestic temples equal the emeralds beauty, when he had traveled back in time and met Tikal. All that remained in his lifetime were abandoned ruins; the echidna race was long gone. But Knuckles didn't mind the solitude, it was peaceful. Visitors always meant trouble, threatening his emerald. Twice recently, it had shattered to pieces and he'd nearly lost some precious fragments in outer space. Now he guarded the gem religiously, day and night, sleeping when necessary at its base. Guarding the emerald was his sacred duty and he was determined not to fail it again.
Thunder rolled overhead. Hidden in the shades, a figure waited in the caves. She watched the echidna snuggle against the base of the emerald, where its diamond shape stretched out high above him, providing shelter for the night. The cave she crouched in was damp and drafty, but a good night's sleep was the least of her concerns tonight. She would wait and remain vigilant for the right time to act.
Knuckles awoke, instantly alert. He knew it wasn't just the storm that had woken him. There was something moving in the shadows on the other side of the emerald. He got to his feet and crept towards the intruder, being careful to keep quiet.
Suddenly, the shadows leapt and landed on the echidna, rolling him away from the emerald's light. He couldn't see the attacker plainly because his eyes were still half dazzled from the emerald green fluorescence. The storm clouds covered all other light sources, and he struggled blindly, attempting to get free. He flipped the attacker onto its back and felt cold claws digging into his sides. Grimacing, he lashed out to find the creature's face, but his claws slipped randomly, finding no purchase. He growled and rolled, forcing himself away from the thing's claws. He stood squinting at the darkness, panting with rage and pain.
He heard footfalls in the direction of the caves, and hurried towards the sound. Behind him, the shadows leapt once more, striking him to the ground. He rolled and wrestled with the creature, determined to get it away from the emerald and finish the fight. His fists lashed out and he roared triumph when he felt them strike something twice and hard. But there came no cries of pain from the attacker. Claws gripped the echidna's arms and an iron-like strength forced him onto his back. He struggled as the creature held him pinned, and when the grip loosened on one arm, he raised a fist to protect his face, fearing that it would strike at his eyes. As he wrenched desperately for freedom, the lightening flashed overhead, and he saw the light shine off a metallic claw raised above his throat. In an instant, he remembered where he'd seen such a thing before and the recollection gave him strength to hoist himself away from the creature.
"Rouge!" he screamed, at the creature's silhouette. Outside, the lightening flashed again, accompanied by a loud retort like a gunshot. Steel coloured claws swung blindly in surprise and fear, connected with the echidna's head quite by accident. But surprise only aided the attacker's strength. Knuckles screamed, feeling a sickening crunch and crashed to the cave floor, staring out towards the emerald. The last thing he glimpsed before consciousness drifted away was the unmistakable curvy silhouette with bat wings slowly flapping behind it, bathed in green emerald light.