Chapter Two

At Knothole we see Sonic wearing an inner tube. He is standing very close to the lake. He looks scared.

"I have to do this! I must learn to swim. I must overcome my weakness…."

Sonic takes a deep breath. He is about to jump in when he hears someone call his name. He turns and sees that it is Julie-Su who is carrying Knuckles in her arms.

"What are you doing! This is not the time to go on vacation!"
"Did something happened?" Sonic asks.
"It must of! Otherwise I wouldn't have found Knuckles like this!" Julie-Su says sternly while still holding the red echidna.

"What hit me?" Knuckles says as he starts to open his eyes.

He jumps out of Julie-Su's arms and looks around.

"Where did that mouse go!" Knuckles asks.
"It would help if you gave us his name." Julie-Su points out.
"His name is Mandy."
"That's a silly name." Sonic says chuckling.
Knuckles glares at Sonic. "Can't you try to be a bit helpful?"
"Ah. Sorry. I'll get on it as fast as I can."

He pulls the inner tube off. After doing so he rushes off.

Meanwhile Mandy and Scourge are in a submarine. Mandy is driving with Scourge sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Where are we going?" Scourge asks.
"To my hometown. The underwater city of Nuub." Mandy answers.

Mandy parks the submarine at an underwater dock. He and Scourge get out of the submarine. They walk into the city of Nuub. They continue walking until they reach a small chamber. They see two guards standing by the chamber's entrance.

"Damn! I forgot about them." Mandy says.
"I can handle them. Chaos Control!" Scourge shouts.

Upon hearing those words the two guards are frozen in time.

"This effect will last for five minutes." Scourge explains.
"That's plenty of time."

They walk past the guards and into the chamber. There they see a bright growing crystal clear emerald.

"That is the Fantasy Emerald. It is ten times more powerful then the Master Emerald." Mandy explains while walking towards the emerald.

He touches it with his hand. The magic from the emerald flows into Mandy's body making him super powerful. As a result his fur turns bright red.

"With this new power we truly are an unstoppable duo!" Mandy yells.
"Exactly! We are unbeatable!" Scourge joins in.

Meanwhile over at Knothole Sonic is going over a plan with Tails.

"Knuckles and I will travel to the Angel Island to see if Mandy is still there."
"You're going back there already!" Julie-Su asks surprised.
"Of course I am! I must pay him back for what he did to me!" Knuckles says.
"Then I'm coming as well." Julie-Su says.

She climbs into the plane seating herself next to Knuckles.

"The Freedom Fighters and I will search around to see if he's hiding somewhere in Knothole." Sonic says.
"Good luck!" Tails says as he flies his plane off.

Sonic runs off to tell the Freedom Fighters about the situation so far. While he is running a bright red blast flies past by him. He turns around and sees that is Scourge and Mandy.

"Oh, Scourge you're back. I suppose you want to fight me again?" Sonic asks in an annoyed tone.
"Of course! You should of known that already!" Scourge yells at him.

"Is that Sonic?" Mandy asks in disgust. "Is that actually the guy who is the so-called grand hero of all of Mobius?"
"Yeah, he is. What a disappointment, huh?" Scourge asks scoffing.
"You really shouldn't talk like that. Considering that you're nothing but a cheap knock off of me." Sonic points out.

"What! No way! I'm better then you! You don't have my cool look or fantastic powers!"

Scourge yells feeling angry at Sonic for only thinking of him as a pale imitation.

"We can't let him get away with saying that!" Mandy yells.

Sonic looks at Mandy, fully noticing him for the first time.

"What's your name?" Sonic asks.
"I'm Mandy! Mandy the Mouse!" Mandy replies.
"I know someone who is looking for you." Sonic says.
"Is it my beautiful bat angel?"
"Huh?" Sonic looks confused at Mandy.
"The bat with lovely smile and ocean blue eyes?"

Sonic starts laughing a bit.

"No, I mean Knuckles the echidna!"
"Pfff! That guy? Yeah, he must be bawling like a baby after I defeated him!"
"So, you two really did get into a fight. But I certainly don't recall seeing Knuckles cry about it. He seemed more angry then sad."
"I can't believe I have to listen to this! Stop acting like you know everything!" Mandy yells."I'm not doing any such thing." Sonic responds with his arms crossed.
"See what I mean? There's just no reasoning with him." Scourge says.
"You're so right about that! I'm through talking to him." Mandy says.
"I agree. Chaos Spear!"

Bright yellow spears appear. They travel through the air striking Sonic in the back. This causes him to fall to the ground for a second. He then gets back up and looks around. Scourge and Mandy are nowhere to be found. Just then a bright red portal opens up. Mandy steps out of the portal.

"What's wrong, Sonic? Can't you generate your own portals?" Mandy taunts.

Sonic immediately rushes behind Mandy surprising him.

"With my talent I simply don't need powers like yours. Let me show you."

Sonic races around Mandy in a circle as fast he can. This creates a tornado with Mandy stuck right in the middle of it. The tornado spins around faster and faster before finally evaporating. Mandy falls roughly to the ground. After a minute he gets up staggering a bit from the effect of the tornado.

"That didn't affect me at all!" Mandy says while trying his best to look defiant.
Sonic shrugs. "If you say so."

Yet another portal opens up. Scourge steps out from it and yells out.

"Chaos Control!"

This freezes Sonic in time.

"What do we do with the idiot?" Mandy asks.
Scourge smiles evilly. "I heard that Sonic hates water…"
"We can drown him!" Mandy adds in.
"We have to hurry though I can only keep him still for five minutes." Scourge warns.

They teleport to an ocean near the edge of Mobius. There they throw Sonic into the water and wait a couple of minutes to see what will happen.

"He didn't even try to come up for air yet. He must be dead by now." Mandy says.

"You are right about that. Anyway, it's a good thing we did it. We did this stupid planet a huge favor by getting rid of that nuisance. We should go and celebrate our victory!" Scourge grins all ready to go.
"I agree! We totally deserve it!"

The two walk off.

Moments later Sonic opens his eyes.

"Where am I? More importantly why am I wet?" Sonic asks.

Shadow steps out into Sonic's view.

"You were in the water drowning. I had no idea that you felt this way…"

Sonic gives him a puzzled look.

Shadow continues talking. "I know at times life is bleak and meaningless. Even I am unsure though if I would have gone as far as you did. I couldn't see it as befitting end for you. So I decided to rescue you."
"You have the wrong idea! These two guys threw in there..and well… I couldn't come up for air because I can't swim."

Sonic tries to think of way to change the topic slightly.

"The two that did this to me are Scourge and a friend of his named Mandy."
"Scourge? Is he's that green hedgehog we met recently?" Shadow asks wincing as he tries his best to remember.
"He certainly is." Sonic answers.
"We must get going then. So that we may stop him once and for all." Shadow says.
"I agree with that. Let's get going right away!"

They both rush off to find Scourge and Mandy. After a few minutes of traveling at familiar locations, they find the two at the entrance to Knothole. They are arguing with Amy Rose who is blocking their way in.

"You can't walk into Knothole after all that you did." Amy yells at them.
"You can't talk to us like that!" Mandy yells back.
"You should treat us with respect." Scourge begins to say. "With our awesome powers we could easily destroy you." Scourge threatens.
"Like we did to that pathetic loser, Sonic." Mandy adds in.
"That can't be true! You're just bluffing." Amy says doubting the two.
"Oh yeah? Then where exactly is he?" Mandy taunts.
"I'm right here." Sonic calls out while walking over to them.

He stands in front of Amy Rose.

"If you want with someone it's going to be with me." Sonic says looking serious.
"And me as well."

Scourge looks behind and sees Shadow standing there.

"You won't defeat us!" Mandy yells.

Scourge glares at Sonic and Shadow evilly.

"You should be scared because now we will show you the full extent of our power…."

End of Chapter Two.

Endnotes: If you read my fic then please review it. And if you want to see where Scourge came from just check out Sonic # 160 & 161!