A shining knight wandered the land of the dead, gilded armour bolstered against all the horrors the subterranean tomb had to offer, the hammer in his hand unblemished despite endless use.
But as thick as his armour was, it offered no protection to the aura of undeath that seeped from the walls themselves, sapping life and will to leave only determination and violence within.
The knight tramped forward, only the soft clinking of metal and the distant rattle of bones disturbing the deathly silence as he descended with aimless tenacity, halting for a moment beside an ornate table cluttered with glass tubes and alchemical tools before walking on with numb disinterest, the light of a hovering fairy ignored above its head.
"Is someone there?" A woman's voice broke the hush.
The knight halted, eyes scanning the darkness, hammer at the ready.
"I know you're out there. The traps wouldn't be working otherwise." The voice came again. "Please, get me out of here?"
The knight hefted his hammer, accelerating towards the noise.
A scythe blade sliced down from the ceiling, neatly slicing through the back of the knight's head and out the front. The knight dangled limply from the blade a moment before flopping to the floor, hammer clattering to the ground from numb fingers, body burning away to ash as the catacombs claimed their prize.
Miles sighed, visible once more. He disconnected his grapnel and dropped to the floor, slipping the scythe that was far taller than himself into his hammerspace with vague discomfort before swapping his invisibility knife back into his dominant hand.
"I'll be right with you." He muttered into the dark. He was running across a lot of damsels in distress while he was underground. It seemed probabilistically unlikely. But hadn't Cosmo been down here before? Or an equivalent on her own world? Was there some pattern to this? A repetition world to world?
Focus. Miles blinked glowing blue eyes, staring down at the glorified fantasy chemistry set with as close to a smile as his numb state could muster. His body started to fade the moment he stopped walking.
He hadn't expected to find anything of the sort down here, but it was almost like a sprawling city. A trap filled, skeleton infested, city that was slowly seeping in through his pores... well, nowhere was perfect. But this, he could use this.
But not now. He'd been down here exploring so long, gathering books and messing around with the rudimentary electrical circuits, evading the even more nightmarish horrors that had invaded the world above that his fur had turned greyish white and faintly transparent - as, apparently, had the skin beneath.
"... Hello? Are you still there?"
"We'd best go, eh, Ulnah?" Miles stretched out a diaphanous hand to catch the hammer the skullfairy presented him, flickering back into view once more as he did. Like the Whammer - and all the other weapons he'd found, rather than forged - it was too big for him to wield comfortably. "Hey, maybe I should reforge some of these? What do you think?"
"Ulnah mgkadishtu?" The fairy stared at him, eyes glittering from her skull.
"It'll be fine, I'll wait until we're out of here at least. Just don't let me forget the chemistry table, alright?"
"Ulnah mgepahmggoka!"
The mismatched pair flew on, Miles tearing through skeletal guardians without slowing while Ulnah collected a steady stream of remains, books, and more exotic items as they traversed corridors full of spikes and traps that might have been difficult or dangerous for someone that actually had to walk now and then.
It didn't take long to find his target, a red-headed human girl in yellow coveralls bound head to toe with rope. She eyed him warily as he approached, dropping a safe distance from her with similar caution.
"Hi!" Miles raised a hand. "Are you a creepy ghost monster in disguise?"
"I… don't think so?" She looked the ghostly fox up and down with a frown, lingering on his glowing eyes. "Are you a normal person in disguise?"
"I don't think so either." Miles shrugged. "But here we are, right?" His hand flashed forward, slicing her bonds with two expert slashes.
"Thanks." The young woman stood, towering over him as she stretched. "My name's Selene Carter. You killed my father, thank you."
She extended her hand, pink and healthy, unaffected by her time there in the dark in the slightest. Her red hair and mechanic's attire reminded him of Doodle.
"Miles Prower." He shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you in the flesh, Mister Prower." Selene smiled sadly. "But I think you know I can't do anything to help you."
"That's fine." Miles nodded, his almost smile glittering in fairylight. "Tell me all the things you can't do for me with while we get out of here."
"This is taking too long!"
Shadow knelt on the ground, panting heavily. Blood and worse spattered his body, the remains of splattered eyeballs littering the ground around him.
"Having… trouble keeping up?" Sonic smirked, leaning against a bone stalactite to conceal his own exhaustion.
"Shut up and cover your side." Shadow scowled as four Knuckles appeared on each side of him, each lunging forward as one.
"Top left!" Sonic yelled, lunging out of the way of an eyeball as big as himself before hopping back into it, spines first.
Shadow twisted, unloading a salvo of bullets into Knuckles' face without hesitation. The other images faded as the echidna leapt back, twisted flesh warping back to normal in scant moments.
"You cannot win, Chosen." Knuckles spat metal cylinders to the floor one after the other. "I am not alone."
How long had they been fighting? Even the flares were starting to dim, but Knuckles just kept going, his twisted body torn and repaired time after time, blow after blow. He'd already managed to hit Shadow once, a lucky shot, but luck was all he needed when he had time on his side.
And he definitely had time on his side if this kept going. Sonic could feel the precarious balance of the twin taints within him starting to shift and accelerate. Not a weakening, quite the opposite, he could feel the presence of the alien monsters, and Knuckles, more keenly than ever, could feel his body repairing itself more quickly, strength flowing through his arms…
And he could hear the whispers more clearly than ever.
But even if they weren't wearing Knuckles down, the same couldn't be said for his army. Sonic lunged forward, kicking the final eyeball into Knuckles with all his might. It passed through without resistance, splattering against the far wall, but Shadow followed up a moment later, barrelling into the giant's chest with a burst of speed to knock him flying backwards into a meat altar. Knuckles screamed as the impact provoked the devastating backlash once more, blood spraying from his lips as he collapsed to his knees.
"Now!" Shadow followed up the advantage without hesitation, smashing his foot into Knuckles' head to send him sprawling.
Sonic followed suit, teeth gritted as he slammed into his friend's prone body with the force of a falling star. Knuckles let out a pained grunt, unable to stand as the two speedsters brutally struck him time and time again, slowly whittling their way through his unnatural resilience.
Could this kill him?
He felt sick to his stomach. Normally facing Knuckles he'd try to wind him, or at least trick him into going against whatever trick had set the gullible echidna against him in the first place. He was tough, sturdy enough to take a beating without having to worry too much about any permanent injury.
Not like this though. There was no choice but to go all out, no choice but to keep going no matter what - not that Knuckles was begging for mercy or anything. Sonic slipped around lightning punches to deliver blows of his own, his own body starting to ache from the endless abuse he was meting out…
And Knuckles finally stopped swinging, flat and still on the ground, torn and battered body still twitching, still healing, but slowly.
"...Fools." Knuckles bubbled through torn lips, arms wrapped over to protect his vitals from a salvo of bullets. "Didn't I tell you already?"
A blast of crackling red energy erupted from the darkness into Shadow, blasting him sideways with a flash of light.
And Sonic felt something approach from the dark corners of the cave, beyond the light of the failing flares. Hulking, bloodied shapes stumbled from the dark, twisted, bloated features barely recognisable through the crimson corruption twisting their flesh.
And as the zeti loosed a chorus of rattling laughter that echoed from wall to wall, Knuckles' grim voice drifted up from behind Sonic, filled with dark amusement.
"I am not alone."
