Submitted this to Summer of Sonic to hopefully get more traffic and to add my stuff to the whole celebrations. If you followed the SoS link don't worry I accept anonymous reviews.

Sorry it took so long to update. Been away past few days and it's finding the time to write.

As for my other works they are on hold until this is finished. I am entirely focused on this fic.

I always wondered why the mountainside just bursts open for you when you need to get to Ice-Cap. I hope you like the short explanation I came up with.

All copyright info in first chapter

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Chapter 4 - The Echidna is tricked again

BOSS: CHAOS 2 (KNUCKLES)

Chaos made the first attack smashing the ground beneath Knuckles. Knuckles jumped and used his glide technique to reach the other side and grabbed hold of a pillar. Chaos became a massive ball of water and started bouncing around the arena. Knuckles waited for the right moment and smashed his massive fist through the water.

The massive water ball fell backwards and Chaos reformed as his normal Chaos 2 self but was left open to attack for a brief moment. Knuckles took advantage of the moment and smashed the forehead with his fists. Chaos flew backwards and smashed into a pillar. His body collapsed into a puddle again.

The puddle moved underneath Knuckles and projected tentacles to grab Knuckles. Knuckles struggled to get loose but this time Chaos pulled Knuckles into the centre of the ball. Knuckles was stuck and knew he had to do something. He wasn't the best swimmer but he could hold his own underwater.

He began to focus. He had a technique he didn't use often but this was the perfect time to use it. One of his godly guardian skills allowed himself to heat his body to unholy temperatures before exploding in a flash of punches. He called this the Maximum Heat Knuckles attack.

As his body heated up Chaos felt the burn and burst into tiny balls before reforming. Knuckles got another hit on him after releasing the Maximum heat energy. Chaos 2 was more or less defeated. The Water Beast tried again but Knuckles managed to counter it and finished the form off. Chaos disappeared through a crack in the floor.

The Doctor began to panic.

"Easy now Knucklehead. I'm not who you're after remember", said Dr. Robotnik

"Can it Eggman. You are in cahoots with that monster and he appeared shortly after the Master Emerald shattered. I know you have something to do with it", said Knuckles angrily. Dr. Robotnik smiled

"Well you beat Chaos 2, no big deal you have yet to meet his true potential. In the meantime however perhaps you should go see Sonic and Tails", said the Doctor.

"Sonic and Tails? What do they have to do with anything?" asked Knuckles.

"I hear they are collecting Master Emerald Shards. Don't really know why do you?" asked the Doctor.

"What? Why would they…? How would they….? This doesn't make any sense", said Knuckles.

"I'm collecting the CHAOS emeralds; I have no need for the MASTER Emerald. So why would I shatter it?" asked the Doctor.

He made a good point. It was the Grey Chaos Emerald he gave to Chaos perhaps he was telling the truth. Knuckles used his sensing ability to check and felt no sign of any Master Emerald shards. Knuckles reluctantly turned his back on the Doctor.

"Don't think I'm just going to let you do. I'll be back for you later", said Knuckles before leaving the room.

Knuckles returned to his quest to find the Master Emerald shards and headed straight for the Casino. There outside the entrance was a small crowd around Sonic and Tails, who were sleeping. He felt no emerald on them and did his best to try and wake them up. Though they were out for the count.

Knuckles felt a signal and immediately left them to pursue it. Inside the Casino he was blinded by bright neon lights and his feet were on fire. Somewhere inside the building there were Emerald shards and he was going to find them.

ACTION STAGE: CASINOPOLIS (KNUCKLES)

Knuckles felt the first signal emanating from the giant Sonic statue in front of him.

"Oh well Sonic ol' buddy I'm afraid I'm going to have to smash you", said Knuckles.

Knuckles smashed the statue into pieces and took the Emerald shard from inside it. Knuckles then headed towards the decorative pirate ships around the top of the room. On these boats were numerous Eggman Robots. Knuckles wasted no time in destroying them and recovered the last two Emerald shards.

Knuckles left the Casino to find Sonic and Tails had disappeared. He was more concerned with the Emerald shards. There were obviously more but he felt no signal in the city. He then realised he overlooked one of the more obvious areas, Angel Island itself and immediately raced off to the Emerald shrine again.

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It was time. The weapons test on Angel Island was a moderate success. With some tweaking his giant laser cannon would be perfect. The Doctor launched the Egg Carrier again for its second test run. It started by flying over the water near Tails Workshop and had the first test of the improved cannon.

The Doctor ordered his robots to fire the cannon on one of the mountains in the Mystic Ruins. The wall of the mountain cracked and a whole new path opened up. It was as if fate had made him blow up that part of the mountain.

The Doctor didn't realise, instead was overjoyed at the success of his cannon. He decided the test was a success and the Flying Fortress was finally ready. He would fly over Station Square tomorrow and terrorise the city into surrender.

Today was a good day.

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Sonic and Tails awoke angry that they had let Eggman poison them like that. Eggman had only managed to collect one, leaving them with just the one. Though it was one Eggman didn't have and they quickly went after more Emeralds.

They heard a loud explosion from the direction of the Mystic Ruins area. It was a sign, a bad omen not a good one and the two heroes raced off to the Mystic Ruins again.

Once there they saw the newly opened path and decided to explore it. It started to get rather cold though to their delight they saw the Chaos Emerald act widely. It was a sign that they were close and so went into the Ice Cap area to investigate more thoroughly.

ACTION STAGE: ICE CAP (SONIC / TAILS)

They had been here before. The Ice Cap Mountains were winter wonderlands hidden on top of Angel Island. They had to get through here to reach the Launch Base during their last adventure.

The Mountains were just as deadly as they remembered them. Thankfully no water but they did end up in the middle of an avalanche! One minute they wandered out into a balcony from a cave tunnel, the next they were sliding down the slopes on the conveniently placed Snowboards.

They raced down the mountainside and felt the adrenaline rush. They were actually having fun that they decided to show off a bit. Until they saw a green light and swiped the Green Chaos Emerald they just happened to chance across.

They now had two emeralds and immediately left Ice Cap and found a nice spot to rest beside a small lake.

Meanwhile Knuckles had arrived in the Mystic Ruins and was overjoyed he didn't have to climb the mountains again. That passageway was always blocked at the other end but someone blasted a hole through it.

His happiness was interrupted by a green glow to his right. Knuckles proceeded to investigate and found that Sonic has something Green Glowing in his hand. Some sort of gem.

No it could be. Eggman was right that's a Master Emerald shard.

Knuckles raced over to Sonic and Tails and roared out the Blue Hedgehog's name. Sonic and Tails jumped to face Knuckles taking a fighting stance. Knuckles was angry, that was obvious, and at them, what had they done?

"Hand over the Emerald now Sonic?" asked Knuckles angrily

"No way! We found them and we need them! If you want them you're going to have to take them from me", said Sonic.

"And it's two against one Knuckles. You wouldn't stand a chance against both of us", said Tails.

"Nothing will stop me restoring the Master Emerald. Take this!" shouted Knuckles before throwing a punch at Sonic and Tails.

CHARACTER FIGHT: Sonic and Tails VS Knuckles

Sonic jumped out of the way and used his spin attack on Knuckles. Knuckles dodged Sonic's attack but ignored Tails who grabbed hold of him and flew into the air. Knuckles reached up and grabbed Tails by his Tails. Knuckles then threw Tails down to the ground with incredible strength. Tails smashed into the floor which enraged Sonic. Sonic waited for Knuckles to land on the ground again and spin dashed into him sending him flying.

Knuckles sprang to his feet and dashed towards Sonic. Sonic dashed towards Knuckles and they both hit each other. Sonic's two emeralds slid across the floor towards the lake as Sonic fell to the floor. Before either one of the three could return to their feet the Doctor came from underneath the lake and swiped the two Emeralds.

"Ha Ha! You fools brought two more emeralds to me. Time to feed Chaos", said Dr. Robotnik.

"Wait those are Chaos Emeralds! What have I done?" asked Knuckles.

"You fool. You are so easily tricked. Sonic and Tails weren't gathering the Master Emerald shards", said Dr. Robotnik.

"He tricked you again! How could you fall for it twice?" asked Sonic.

"Guys we don't have time for this. Chaos is here", said Tails.

Indeed a puddle of water appeared in front of the Doctor. Dr. Robotnik dropped the two chaos emeralds into the puddle and the three fighters were blinded by an intense light. When the light faded all that remained was a shark like creature made out of water. More stone like bones appeared within the water beast, some clearly holding the emeralds in place.

Chaos 4 dived into the Lake and swam in the water beneath the surface of the lake.

"I may have been tricked again but I won't let you get away with this!" shouted Knuckles.

"That's more like it. No way Chaos can stand all three of us", said Sonic

Sonic and Knuckles descended into the lake

"Hey wait for me", said Tails who followed them in.

BOSS: CHAOS 4 (SONIC / TAILS / KNUCKLES)

The three fighters skimmed across the surface leaping from giant floating lily pads. The water seemed thicker, as Chaos had merged himself with the lake. As such any assault simply bounced of the surface of the water, yet if they landed in it they would start to sink, a bit like quicksand.

Chaos fired many chaos attacks towards the three heroes and attacked any lily pad a fighter stayed on too long. Chaos wanted them in the water but the heroes were having none of it. After a few failed attacks Chaos raised his head above water to try and find the fighters.

This was their chance and the three fighters simultaneously hit the head with all they had. Chaos disappeared under the water, the three fighters had already found his weakness and his anger was growing.

The Doctor watched from above as Chaos made desperate lunges trying to hurt the three fighters. But every time Chaos went above the surface to find them again he paid the price.

After a few hits Chaos started to use his head a little. He raised his head above the surface and just as Sonic was about to hit him, Chaos burst into multiple balls of water. Sonic fell right through with the force taking his deep within the water. Sonic got a little stuck and struggled to get free. Tails went in and tried to pull Sonic out of the water. Chaos prepared a powerful energy wave attack but just as he was about to fire he felt a powerful fist go through his head.

Chaos roared in pain and left the arena. Before it left however it seemed to freeze, taking a good look at Knuckles.

Meanwhile Dr. Robotnik had left the arena and above them was a huge flying battleship with Eggman's trademark Egghead logo.

"Tremble in fear in the presence of my flying fortress, The Egg Carrier. You may have won this round heroes but there are only three more emeralds to find before Chaos becomes perfect. And with my Egg Carrier I will find them before you do", said Dr. Robotnik.

"Dream on Eggman. Come on Tails lets go after him in the Tornado", said Sonic.

"Way ahead of ya! Come on it's in my workshop", said Tails

"You guys go. I'm Sorry. I thought you had Master Emerald shards on you and when I saw the green light…" said Knuckles.

"You jumped to conclusions. Though don't worry about it buddy, it happens to the best of us", said Sonic.

"Come on Sonic, we have to get going", said Tails.

Sonic and Tails ran straight for Tails' Workshop. Tails ran through the door telling Sonic to wait outside. Moments later the grey gate of the Workshop opened up and the tree on the overhanging cliff fell to the ground. A runway rose out of the ground as a red biplane came out of the workshop.

The red place was Sonic's gift to Tails. Sonic awoke one day inside of it remembering nothing of how he got there. Though it was Tails that knew more about this kind of stuff. For that reason he gave it to Tails to tune up and make it great. In front of him was a slightly improved model with Tails in the cockpit. Sonic jumped onto the wing and prepared for take off.

The Tornado's engines roared as the plane took off into the clear blue skies. Eggman wasn't going to get away this time. Once on the Egg Carrier they can take it out and return to looking for the emeralds.