Sonic sprinted over to Knuckles, who opened the door for Sonic. He waved Sonic through, and said "You go on ahead! I'll secure the Master Emerald and activate the island defenses!"
Sonic nodded, and began to run up the stairs, before realizing a potential flaw in the security. He looked up, then glanced back, and decided he'd better not risk it. He ran back down and stopped in the doorway. From the other side of the shrine he could see Knuckles, with both hands on the Master Emerald. Sonic could hear Knuckles, softly, but just enough to make out the words, "It's okay. I won't let anyone take you again."
Sonic called over to Knuckles loudly, "Hey! Knux! Make sure those defenses don't see me as a threat too, yeah?"
Knuckles jumped from the disruption, but when he realized Sonic had returned, he frantically waved at Sonic and shouted, "Yeah! I get it! Go! Get up there!"
Sonic gave him a thumbs up and spun around, zooming back up the long, steep staircase. Anticipating an ambush, he dropped into a ball and came spindashing out, ready to tear through anything that may be in his way. He uncurled midair and landed on the ground to survey the area. Nothing. Seems they didn't know where the Master Emerald entrance was. That, or they were only slowly advancing. Or they were in hiding, still waiting to spring a trap. Sonic dropped into a ball, and began swirling around the area, weaving in and out of trees and launching up through the branches to check for assailants. Still nothing.
Next, he ran up the tallest tree nearby to poke his head out of the canopy. Where were they... Rotating around he saw, the god damned Egg Carrier. Restored after it had sank to the bottom of the ocean. It's like an Eggman family reunion, and Sonic's everyone's plus-one. He turned back to the Shrine and shook his head. Knuckles would have to catch up. He had to at least try to get the drop on Metal Sonic. He dropped to the ground and took off for the northeast side of the island, where the ship was hovering above. As he got closer, he decreased his speed, instead advancing slower to watch out for any attacks.
When Sonic could hear the engine of the Egg Carrier, he took off to the side, curving towards the shoreline at a distance from the airship. He stopped in a bush and spied on them. Metal Sonic was there, hovering above the two fleets of Badniks, one resembling Swatbots with mean upgrades, mainly lots of sturdier looking plating and bigger guns marching into the jungle on land, and similarly upgraded Egg-Robos flying above the canopy, looking down at the jungle below. More Badniks with upgrades... There's no way Metal Sonic could be doing this, but who? Was Eggman really somehow alive?
He had to do something damn it! Staying low, and in the cover of the jungle brush, Sonic slowly crept up on the route the Swatbots were taking, making sure he didn't expose himself to the Egg-Robos above. He was close. Really close. Getting down on all fours, Sonic crawled through the foliage beside the Swatbots, trying to see if he had any openings to attack with. His hand found metal, and he realized he'd crawled right into a motobug that was hidden in the brush as well. It looked at him, and then looked back at the Swatbots. Knuckles' security! But how could a Motobug stand a chance against the upgraded robot forces?
Then, he noticed a Coconuts hidden in the trees. Then another. And across the trail, several Motobugs and Caterkillers hiding in the plants. Okay, maybe they stood a chance. Sonic decided to keep back a bit, and let Knuckles make the first move, a strategy he hated to do, but if these Swatbot upgrades were comparable to Metal's, Sonic needed all the support he could get.
A moment passed, and when the last of the many, many Swatbots had gone past them, the Coconuts began unleashing their bombs on the robots. Sonic pounded his fist against the dirt, cheering as he saw some of the troops hit the ground, but they weren't destroyed. The ground troops emerged: Motobugs, Caterkillers, Slicers, and Penguinators, all equipped with rudimentary firearms trained on the subjects of their ambush. Sonic crawled his way out of the bushes and sprung to his feet. "Aw yeah! Score one for the reformed Badniks and Sonic! Even though I didn't do much... Now then, let's see how tough these upgrades really are!" He bolted for the Swatbots and dove into them, with enough force to tear them apart three times over. Well, normal ones at least. Again, he knocked them down, but didn't destroy them. He landed in front of the downed Swatbot, and the rest trained their weapons on him. "Ah damn," he mumbled, getting ready to dodge backwards.
Red flashed behind them, as Knuckles burst out of the ground with a flurry of punches straight to the backs of the Swatbots. "Couldn't have waited two minutes for me?" he asked, flashing a grin at Sonic. He landed on the ground, and flexed a muscle at Sonic. "Well, either way, no need to worry, we'll tear the rest of these guys up no problem!"
During his victory lap, Knuckles failed to realize the Swatbots he'd attacked had taken heavy damage, but were standing up. Not only that, there were still more behind him... "Uh, Knux..." Sonic whispered, "We might want to uh, get the hell out of here."
Knuckles smirked, and crossed his arms. "What are you talking about? These Swatbots don't stand a chance against our forces!" Knuckles turned around to admire his work ripping apart that trashed robot, only to find it on its feet and advancing on him. "You said these guys got uh, upgrades?" Knuckles asked, leaning back to Sonic.
"Yup. Only thing I've seen seriously damage one is Shadow's Chaos power. I'm feelin' like we should uh, run." Sonic added, as the Swatbots raised their turrets at the two Mobians. It was like Knuckles' Badniks didn't even exist to them.
Knuckles tried to argue, but as he opened his mouth the Swatbots opened fire, unleashing a torrent of machine gun rounds on the two heroes. Sonic dove out of the way, grabbing Knuckles by the waist to pull him out of the line of fire. He could feel Knuckles pulling back towards the fight, but when Sonic let go of him, he kept running with the hedgehog.
"Sonic! They're gonna kill my Badniks!" Knuckles shouted, trailing just a little behind the blue blur.
"Then go back so they can kill you too! Knuckles, get real, you can fix some stupid Eggman robots after this-"
"STOP!" Knuckles roared, screeching to a halt.
Sonic continued for a second, but ran back when what Knuckles said processed. "Hey! Genius! We're getting shot at?"
"They're gone, idiot! They didn't follow us!" Knuckles stomped towards Sonic and brought his fist inches away from Sonic's jaw. "Now let's get something straight, buddy. Those robots have been better friends than any of you clowns have been in five years. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't barge into my home, make me abandon my friends, and then insult them! Got it?"
"Hey, pal," Sonic shot back, slapping the spiked fist away. "Sorry if I'm just a little annoyed seeing those animal prisons being run by a guy I thought wasn't a prick! Remember that? All our animal buddies, crammed into machines? Furthermore, sorry for making you abandon your 'friends,' but I did just save your red ass, so maybe be a little more appreciative!"
"Well while we're here, the Master Emerald is probably getting stolen!" Knuckles cooled down, just a little when he realized that. "We need to get to it. We need to stop them-"
"Knuckles there's no way we can take these guys apart now."
"Well we, we can't just leave it!"
"No. We can't. We can't get it from them, but we can try get to it first. I've rarely used the thing though, if we Chaos Control with it, it'll move with us, right?"
Knuckles thought this over. Shit, he couldn't Chaos Control, how the fuck would he know? "If we take it out of its pedestal, you should be able to. But we have to- shh."
"You were the one talking th-"
"Shut up! Do you hear that?" Sonic listened to the sounds around him. Tropical birds chirping, the engines of the Egg Carrier in the distance, a humming above him- oh son of a bitch, was he getting ambushed the exact same FUCKING way again?
The two looked up and saw about ten Egg-Robos above the canopy. They were in a circular formation around them, slowly closing the ring.
"Shit!" Knuckles hissed.
The laser blasts rained down on them, which Sonic was able to easily duck out of the way of. He heard a yelp from behind him, and as he curved around the clearing, he was able to get a look at Knuckles, who'd been shot in the leg. Sonic grunted as he ducked out of the way of another round of fire, colliding with a tree. Again, he had to dart to the side, and as he did he overheard the tree he was up against torn through by their fire. Since when could Egg-Robos fire this fast? Back in the day it was a single shot, but now it was like they were packing laser machine guns!
He tried to get to Knuckles, who was dragging himself to the shrubs, as he approached, more lasers hit the ground in front of him, as though they were corralling him. Sonic took a quick glance backwards, and saw more of those damn robots closing in on him. They'd constructed a ring of lasers, closing in on him. He took a breath, and it was like time slowed around him. Okay... too many to duck through... and they're robots, they don't care if they damage each other. He jumps up, and he'll still be surrounded. His momentum is about zero, so he's not gonna be able to get around them quick enough... If only he had more time! Wait...
As the lasers blasted the dirt and stones from the ground up, colliding with Sonic's legs, he raised his Chaos Emerald, and in a desperate plea cried, "CHAOS CONTROL!"
A white flash burst from Sonic, and color shifted in everything around him. It was almost blinding, as every shadow had its darkness stripped from it, each green became a red, and the blue sky turned orange. The only thing not inverted was his own body. He gazed down, and saw a round of lasers almost stopped, right before they hit the ground at his feet. One more round and they'd be on him. Standing on his tip-toes to avoid them, he watched the lasers slowly collide with the ground, and begin kicking up dust and stone. Well, time didn't stop exactly, but he could dodge the lasers without any momentum, so that's a step ahead. He flicked his eyes up, and saw the next round coming straight to his legs. He ducked down, and rolled to the side, just barely squeezing past the series of laser blasts.
He pushed himself to his feet, and looked up to smirk at the Egg-Robos, who were failing at keeping up with him. Turning back, he turned his attention to Knuckles, who was laying down, facing away from him. Damn, there was a lot of blood on the ground. He sprinted over to the echidna, scooped him up, and put him in the shrubbery to the side. Odd that they weren't targeting Knuckles... Maybe they figured he wasn't a legitimate threat when Sonic was there.
He turned back... they were getting back up to speed. Sonic shook his head, cursing himself for not trying this out at any other point in his life. He did a quick hop in preparation to combine slowed time with his speed, but even then he felt a bit sluggish. Not like the Chaos Control was slowing him too, but like he was tired. Was the adrenaline of combat wearing off?
Ah, he'd get it back with a little Badnik bashing. He ran towards them, and leapt up to one of them. Grabbing its gun, he aimed it at another Egg-Robo, and began firing, trying to unload in one of the other ones. The laser shots came from the gun, and entered slow motion once they were out.
Well, he'll see what this does. He wrapped his arms around the Egg-Robo to keep on it, and ended the Chaos Control. The first three lasers merely knocked back the Egg-Robo, but the final shot put a hole right through it. Okay, they're strong, but they can deal each other damage. Eventually. He spun the gun around to face another and froze. They were aiming right at him.
Waiting until he heard the guns fire, he fell backwards, letting the Egg-Robo take the full brunt of the gunfire, tearing it to shreds above him. That's two! He hit the ground rolling, getting himself out of the way of any more attacks. From there, he ran towards a tree to climb up it, and kick off to launch himself onto another Egg-Robo.
This time, he had more of an idea of what to do. Instead of trying to kill the Egg-Robos, he let them kill each other, jumping between them, waiting each time for the lasers to go towards the one he was on. The jumps were labored though, and a few times he could see he'd only just dodged the explosion. This wasn't a lack of adrenaline, it's like his everything was weighed down. Maybe the force of stopping time was causing this? Damn, he wished Shadow had ever mentioned how tiring stopped time was.
He leapt for the last one, and realized... he didn't know how to get this one. The idea came when the gun went straight back at Sonic, only barely being dodged by the blue hedgehog. He grabbed the hand of the robot, and it began spiraling wildly, trying to shake Sonic off. As he tried forcing the robot to aim its gun at itself, he felt his body scrape up against a tree, and he lost grip of the hand. It started firing wildly, trying to hit a target it couldn't see.
Sonic felt his grip slip, as his hands went form its head to its jetpack, and it kept spinning around, trying to scrape its cargo off on a tree. Sonic took a quick glance to the side, and saw it heading for another tree. One more bash like that and he's losing grip... So why not lose grip before the hit? He got a firm grip on the Egg-Robo, and jerked it backward, then let go of it so he hit the ground and it collided with the tree.
The tree wasn't enough to destroy it, but it did knock its flight path out of whack, and it landed on the ground. It tried to roll over to face Sonic, but, naturally, he was too quick for it, lunging on top of it to grab its arms and force it to point at itself. After a moment of struggling, he was finally able to jam the barrel right along the side of it. Unleashing its entire capacity, he was able to have the laser scrape off the face of the Badnik, enough for Sonic to dig his hand into its face and tear apart its wiring.
As he kept digging, he could see it begin spasming, until shutting off, as he jerked another bundle of wires out of its head. Straddling the Egg-Robo, Sonic fell off to the side, panting. Chaos, he shouldn't have been in stopped time for so long. At the very least, he'd taken out all nine of them. Lord that was exhausting... Wait, weren't there ten of those things?
He whipped his head to the side, and saw the forgotten final Egg-Robo wrestling Knuckles, firing a shot at random, trying to force a shot to hit the bleeding echidna. Sonic scrambled to his feet to try and tackle it off of him, but all he did was give it a jolt. He wrapped an arm around its body, and another around its arm to pull its aim away from Knuckles, who was struggling to keep its hands off him.
With Sonic wrestling its arms into a full nelson, at least, a struggling full nelson, Knuckles was able to let go of its hand and begin driving his spiked fists into the robot. It took a good sixteen punches, but he finally tore the faceplate off of the robot and began tearing apart its wiring. When it finally stopped moving, the two Mobians collapsed backwards on the ground.
With the Egg-Robo between them, they laid there, just trying to catch their breath after they'd almost been killed again today. Finally, Sonic raised his head, and ordered, "Come on, we gotta get moving. We can't let them get to the Emerald!"
"Wait!" Knuckles said, grabbing Sonic's leg before he could stand up and take off. "We have to go back for my robots!"
"Y- your robots!? Knuckles, the Master Emerald-!"
"I know! I know, but they can help us!"
"Knuckles, they barely dented those Swatbots!"
"At the very least their explosives could be used as blunt force on Metal. It might not destroy him, but we can at least hold him down for a few seconds, and you know how valuable a second can be, Sonic."
Sonic growled, and turned back in the direction of where their failed ambush had taken place. "Damn it! You're right. Let's go, and let's stay low. We don't know how many of those things got off the Egg Carrier."
The two hurried back a little slower than usual, making sure not to kick up much dust or draw attention.
"Hey," Knuckles finally said, breaking the silence. "Metal Sonic... He's not... He's not the one we fought five years ago, is it?"
"Metal Overlord?" Sonic asked, before shaking his head. "No, definitely a different model. Overlord had a lot more... personality than this one."
"Thank Chaos. So it won't have our battle data copied from that one?"
"No, Tails made sure it was wiped from everywhere. Plus, the only person who'd be able to access that would be Eggman. Then again, this one knows Chaos Control so, maybe Tails failed, and Eggman did it."
"Sonic-"
"Let's not talk about it. Come on, they're just up ahead."
As they approached the road, they slowed down further, dropping to all fours to army crawl through the jungle. The two stopped at the side of the road, hiding behind the dense plants. Through the leaves, they could see what looked to be a giant, green robot. It's face resembled Omega's, but it's two massive arms appeared to be much more capable than Omega's hand cannons. It also hovered above the ground, helping it tower over everything. A circle of Knuckles' Badniks surrounded it, firing their entire loads at it, but it didn't seem to be reacting to the pitiful shots.
"What the hell is that?" Knuckles whispered, ducking even lower, to make sure it didn't see them from above.
"That's... Zero! That E-100 robot that chased Amy around Station Square like, seven years ago! I thought she and Gamma tore that thing apart?"
"Yeah, and how many Metal Sonic's have we blown up? These damn things just never stop coming."
"Wait... That glow!" Sonic exclaimed, grabbing Knuckles' arm. Through the leaves, they could see an intensifying flash of red, and when it was gone, the firing had stopped.
"It took out all my robots, just like that!?" Knuckles asked, leaning forward to get revenge on the titanic machine.
Sonic grabbed him by the wrist and whispered, "Knuckles... Get another look at those Badniks..."
Knuckles pushed a leaf away so he could see a crowd of Caterkillers, which were all perfectly upright, seemingly undamaged. "What? They're okay? What did the Chaos Emerald do?"
The Caterkillers turned away, and began rolling down the trail, in the direction of the Master Emerald. "They're leaving?" Sonic whispered, sticking his head out a little further.
"Why would they leave? They're programmed to fight til the end, that's a part of Robotnik's coding I couldn't rework! It's like they-"
"- it's like they're under new management. Knuckles, what if Zero used the Emerald to... to take them over?"
"I- Can the Chaos Emeralds even do that? I thought they only manipulated time and space?"
"I mean... As far as Shadow and I know? We never tried reprogramming robots with the Emeralds. But Tails' plane runs on Emerald power, and his electricity plan was based-" Sonic paused, remembering Tails' treachery. He shook his head, and continued. "Tails ran a whole city off a Chaos Emerald. It's possible they can... interact with machinery more than we've ever tried."
Knuckles watched his allies march towards the Master Emerald, shaking his head as their fidelity to him came into question. Could the Chaos Emerald actually mind control his friends like that? "How did they beat Zero before? Maybe it still has a weak point?"
"Woah, woah, Knuckles, we could barely beat a bunch of Egg-Robos!" Sonic hissed, starting to back up. "You're crazy if you think we're beating a giant Badnik like that!"
Knuckles growled, and began to pull himself forward. "You're crazy if you think I'm letting that bastard take my friends!"
Sonic grabbed Knuckles by the shoulder and pulled him back. "And you're crazy if you think I'm gonna let him kill you. You're already wounded, and every second we waste is another second the Master Emerald is getting stolen."
Glancing back and forth between Sonic and Zero, he dug his fingers into the dirt, and started to crawl backwards. "Fine. But the security should stop him from... unless..."
"What!?" Sonic whispered, as they army crawled away from the trail.
"Well, there are multiple types of traps. Some are effective on living beings, and others on machines. Thing is, the Badniks have an override key, it's just a line of code but it kinda works like a card key, from a distance. When the traps detect them, they read the code, and don't activate. So if Metal Sonic took them over and had them lead him down, the traps wouldn't activate, as they'd be deactivated from my Badniks!"
"Then we made the right choice. We gotta get there, fast!" Sonic poked his head up, and once he determined the coast was clear, stood up to begin walking. "Come on, can you walk?"
Frowning, Knuckles wrapped his arms around a tree and pulled himself to his feet. Wincing, he replied, "Well enough. Just go on ahead, you need to protect the Emerald."
"If one of those things catch you, you won't stand a chance. You're coming with me."
"Sonic-"
"Every minute you spend arguing is another minute Metal can be stealing the Emerald!" Sonic snapped, interrupting the echidna. "So shut up and let's get moving." Knuckles grumbled, but he obeyed, limping behind Sonic as they began their hike towards the underground shrine.
ooo
The two returned to a crawl when they got close to the Master Emerald shrine. Having to stop every few minutes as Buzz Bombers and Egg-Robos flew above the canopy, hunting for them was torture, but with Knuckles' laser wound (and Sonic's various cuts and bruises) neither was in a place to enter more unnecessary fights. They came up to a ridge above the entrance to the shrine, and flattened themselves against the underbrush as they spied Zero and Metal Sonic in front of the shrine, surrounded by Caterkillers.
"Send the order to any Badniks left on the island to board the Egg Carrier," Metal Sonic ordered. "Leave this troop of old Badniks here. They'll ensure my time with the Emerald is uninterrupted."
"I should remain with you, Sir," Zero replied.
"Unnecessary. I've undergone repairs since my last embarrassment," Metal Sonic snarled, placing its hand on the spot Shadow had axed the other day. "I will not be injured so easily, especially not by the two on the island."
"Understood, Sir," Zero replied, before bowing and departing. Sonic and Knuckles kept each other from jumping Metal right then and there... He'd be hard enough without Zero turning around to back him up. Unfortunately, this gave Metal enough time to descend into the shrine, taking a Caterkiller in tow.
"They must know about the traps... Maybe the badniks told them?" Sonic whispered. Knuckles didn't need to reply, his fists slamming against the floor was enough of a response.
"Let's go," he roared, once Zero was certainly far from them. He dove down, injury be damned, and landed in front of a Caterkiller. He brought his fist back, just like old times, and froze as he stared it down. This one was the captain of the Caterkillers, a title earned for being the first Badnik Knuckles got his hands on and reprogrammed successfully. And it was headbutting him in the time it took for him to stop himself from striking. He fell back as it advanced on him, preparing another strike.
A flash of blue, and its head was torn apart. Sonic landed on the ground beside Knuckles in silence, a few snappy remarks coming to mind, but none came out. With clamped lips, Sonic jumped between Knuckles' reprogrammed robots to clear the area of guards. When they were all gone, he turned back to Knuckles. "Come on. We have to keep moving."
The echidna sighed, shook his head, and stood back up. "I just couldn't hit..."
"It doesn't matter. As long as you can hit Metal Sonic. Come on." Thankfully, Knuckles' leg had gotten better enough that he could power through the pain, enough to get down the long stairway at a brisk enough pace. Nonetheless, by the time they reached the bottom, they could see the Caterkiller that Metal brought with him torn in half, and Metal approaching the Master Emerald.
"Stop!" Knuckles roared, sprinting towards Metal to throw a punch into its head.
"Knuckles, no!" Sonic yelled, too late as Metal spun around to catch Knuckles' fist and squeeze down on it with a vicelike grip. Knuckles cried out in pain, as a mechanical clamp crushed his hand, but he managed to throw another punch with his free hand, and another, and another. None seemed to break through the robot's armor though, at least, he didn't get an opportunity to keep trying, as Metal hoisted Knuckles into the air to throw him across the room.
Sonic growled as Knuckles was flung to the side, and he withdrew his Chaos Emerald. "You're quick, but you can be stopped. Chaos Control!" Sonic roared, as the world around him inverted color and froze in place. Heh, he was a fast learner. He sprinted forward, not at Metal Sonic, but at the Master Emerald. He didn't need to beat Metal, just save the Emerald. As he began to pass Metal though, a white pulse suddenly blasted out of Metal, as the color of his body reverted back to normal. Metal grabbed the hedgehog by the throat, and slammed him to the ground.
"As you can see, I can't be stopped." It lifted his body up, and slammed it back into the ground. And again, and again, until the inverted colors pulsed back, retracting into the two, and Knuckles finally hit the ground, after being suspended in time. It raised Sonic's body, and flung him to the side, away from Knuckles. "Stand down, or beg for death," it told them, as its jets came on so it could begin to hover. As the heroes writhed in pain on the floor, it floated on top of the Master Emerald and began to inspect it with its spindly, metallic hands.
Sonic tried to wipe the blood off his face that Metal had left from mashing him into the ground, and he weakly turned to Knuckles, who was dragging himself to his feet. "Get off my Emerald," he mumbled, spitting on the floor.
"Excuse me?" Metal asked, turning to the echidna.
"Get off. My Emerald," Knuckles repeated, forcing his foot forward. He took another labored step towards Metal, slowly trudging over to him.
"What useless tenacity. Why fight when you've already lost?"
"When you come to my island... brainwash and kill my friends... attack my home, and defile the sacred treasure of my FUCKING ANCESTORS, you're out of your damn mind if you think I'm not going to stop fighting." Knuckles charged forward in a blind rage, to the shock of Sonic.
Turning to face Metal, Sonic thought he saw a wisp of red flare up by Metal. Then another. A few flashes of red surrounded Metal Sonic- no, it turned into a red aura, and the Master Emerald began to glow brighter. Wait, Sonic knew what this was... "Knuckles, stop!" Sonic screamed, forcing himself to his feet, despite the stabbing pain that shot through his body.
Knuckles didn't stop though, he drew closer to the red robot. "CHAOS!" It began to roar, thrusting its arms straight up, into the air.
Sonic scrambled at Knuckles, trying to intercept him before Metal finished charging his attack. "Ch- Chaos! Contol!" Sonic cried, as he dove at Knuckles, who leapt at Metal to launch a punch into its head. Sonic could feel a tugging at his feet, as light surrounded his vision as he felt his body start to vanish from the island. Just another second and he'd have Knuckles with him...
"BLAST!" the robot yelled, as Sonic's fingers stretched out, desperate to grab Knuckles before he was whisked away.
