Can You Feel Life, Movin' Through Your Mind?

Chapter 5
Streaking Lights, Loud Sounds, and Instinct

(Uploaded on January 23, 2021)


Summary: In which Team Rouge steals the Master Emerald, and Team Knuckles attempt to get it back.

Things don't go according to plan.


Notes: Some dialogue inspired by Ziggyfin's Sonic Adventure 2 comic on DeviantART.

Light spoilers for Sonic Adventure below.


June 19, 2001 – 11:05 AM

Sand Ocean
Temple Grounds

For months now, Knuckles the Echidna had been at war with self-professed jewel thief Rouge the Bat.

It had all started when she had infiltrated Angel Island, curious as to what kind of treasures it could hold. It hadn't taken long for Knuckles to find her and kick her out—but not before she caught a glimpse of the Master Emerald, which she called the 'prettiest gem in the world' (her words, not his).

She'd been continuously coming back ever since, aiming to steal his charge by any means necessary. For a while, he'd been able to keep her at bay, his long experience with traps and trickery having been enough—

(They worked on Sonic and Tails, for a time; he'd only gotten better since)

—and then, a few days ago…

…everything changed.


A loud clang rang out from the Master Emerald's altar.

Knuckles dodged another strike from the blue intruder's spear, the tip of it glowing a dangerous crimson.

"Look, I don't know what's going on, but you need to calm down!" he yelled.

"Like hell I will!" the spearman replied, the desperation in his voice clear as day (despite it being night). "First I find myself here, then I see you handling my Master—!"

He grit his teeth.

"—I've only just gotten her back; I'm not gonna lose her again!"

The crux of their fight revolved around this: the Master Emerald had detected a new presence, prompting Knuckles to go out and investigate. After searching for a while, he had stumbled upon a pink-haired woman on the floor—bleeding out and missing an arm, much to his shock.

He patched her up as best he could, but he didn't know what else he could do. He took her to the altar afterward, just to be safe—

which was when Lancer attacked him, believing him to be an enemy.

As the two continued to clash, they knew that they had to quickly put an end to this. If they kept prolonging the fight, then there was no telling what could happen to the woman Knuckles had found.

The two began to charge up a final blow: Knuckles with his Maximum Heat attack, Lancer with his Noble Phantasm.

"Uraaaaaaah—!"

"Gae—!"

A green light suddenly erupted from the Master Emerald, startling them into stopping. That same light was subsequently transferred to the woman, and the duo watched in awe as her wounds were swiftly healed… and her arm was entirely regrown in seconds flat.

The light died down not too long afterward—

and the woman's eyes flew open in an instant.

"Wha…?" she blinked, sitting up on the floor. "What just… happened?"

"Bazett!"

She jolted up in surprise, seeing Lancer rush to her side.

"L-L-Lancer! You're… here!?"

Then she looked at her regrown limb— "Wait… I have my arm back?"

and then the backside of her hand. "I have my Command Seals back!?"

Knuckles put a palm to his temple and sighed.

Do I—

Do I even want to know what's up with these two…?


Knuckles, in the present day, shook his head.

Enough reminiscing. I have a job to do.

He surveyed the desert ruins in front of him, a solemn frown on his face.

"There's no doubt about it," he said. "The Master Emerald's here. I can sense it."

A laugh. "Whoa, somebody's all serious today!"

The echidna turned around, spotting Lancer casually fading into view. He was a lot more jovial now, what with his first Master healed and his second Master far away. It honestly reminded him of Sonic – if the hedgehog preferred spears instead of footwork, anyway.

He crossed his arms. "I have to be. It's my duty to guard the Master Emerald from anything. After what happened the last time someone got to it—"

(Thunder, rain, and lightning; danger, water rising—)

"…well, let's just say now I understand why I was given this fate."

"Hey, I'm not mocking you for it!" Lancer said, holding his hands up. "I know what it's like to have something to protect – which is why I'm here."

He flashed him a Sonic-esque grin. "I mean, you saved my Master, so I might as well repay the favor, right?"

"…hmph." Knuckles smirked. "You're more honorable than you seem. Can't say I disapprove of that."

Bazett trudged up from behind them, very much sweltering beneath the heat (which wasn't helped by the black suit she was wearing).

"Phew…!" she panted, wiping her forehead. "It's hot… way too damn hot. That thief just had to choose a desert to run to, didn't she? Not a jungle, not a lagoon… a desert. Aaagh."

"Don't worry… we won't have to be here for long." The guardian cracked his namesakes as he approached the doors barricading his destination. "We'll get in, get my Emerald back, and show those girls what for!"

Bazett wasn't so sure. "Are you sure we can do this, though? We got trounced pretty hard the last time we fought them…"

"They caught us off-guard then," Lancer chimed in—"plus, you were still recovering from being almost murdered. This time, we've got the advantage." He got out his spear, twirling it behind his body. "And I'm not gonna waste it for anything."

"…if that's how you feel, then I suppose there's not much more to say," she finally conceded. She drew back her head, feeling her runes powering her limbs. "Alright—let's go steal back an oversized gem."

Knuckles was more than ready for this.

"I've got you now, you know-it-all bat…" he growled. "You want to play with my Emerald?

"You're messing with the wrong guy!"


On the other side of the blockade, Rouge had placed her prize jewel down on the nearby carpet.

"Ahhhh…" she sighed dreamily, basking in the Master Emerald's glow under the sun. "Look at you – you're so gorgeous. That brutish echidna wouldn't what to do with you if his life depended on it."

Beside her, Rider wearily exhaled. "Can we go now? That 'brutish echidna's' likely to arrive any minute, you know."

"Hey, give a girl her time!" the thief-spy protested. "With a beauty like this, you've gotta appreciate it for as long as you can! Besides," she waved, "he wouldn't go that far. How important can one gem be to a guy like him?"

You'd be surprised, the Servant thought—especially after the way we left him.


"GET BACK HERE!"

In the dark of night, accompanied by a rainstorm of epic proportions, three figures raced through the forest onboard the floating Angel Island.

Two of them—Rouge and Sakura—were hoisting a massive gem above their backs. It was green and mean, as heavy as both their weights combined—but nevertheless, it was a cargo the bat girl wasn't willing to part with.

She grinned. "Hahahaha! At last, I've gotten my hands on the Master Emerald! All these months of trying, and that echidna's finally the one with his tail tucked between his legs!"

She hadn't thought much of Sakura and Rider initially, when they had arrived at her apartment seeking shelter. She'd later let them know she'd be out (to steal the Master Emerald, she didn't say)—

and then they'd snuck toward Angel Island with her, revealing their supernatural powers to her and offering to help.

(They didn't mention why, aside from apparently sensing 'a big source of energy' that they desired.

Maybe it was a principle thing.)

From there, it was all a matter of Rider distracting Knuckles and his new entourage while she and Sakura boosted her prize. And lo and behold, it was a crowning success!

Sakura, however, seemed a little nervous.

Scratch that, she definitely was.

"Th-That Knuckles guy sounds mad…!" she noted as the three continued their getaway. "If he catches up to us…!"

Rider considered her options.

They needed a clear escape route, lest they get pancaked into the floor by an angry guardian (who was way too strong for his own good; Rider didn't want to have to go through him now).

Luckily, she had one just waiting to be used.

She quickly took a dagger into her hand and slit her throat, letting her blood fall to the floor in the form of a glyph. Rouge's eyes widened at the sight—

"Wh-What the—!?"

right before a beautiful pegasus emerged from the circle, Rider herself already atop her steed.

The bat girl spent a couple seconds in a trance. "Oh ho ho," she whistled—"now that's one heck of a trump card! I didn't know you had this up your sleeve!"

She looked at the both of them. "Come on," she said, "we need to go. We only have this one chance."

And so, the unlikely trio took to the skies, Knuckles' group arriving just in time to watch them get away. As the echidna roared in rage, Rouge couldn't help but laugh triumphantly at what they'd accomplished—

and beneath the light of the moon, shining through the clouds, Sakura beamed brighter than Rider had ever seen her.


"She's pretty interesting, isn't she?"

Rider turned toward her (true) Master, Sakura Matou.

"That certainly isn't wrong," she replied, carefully neutral.

The younger Matou was… noticeably happier here.

She was far away from her abusive household, and in the hands of somebody who actually cared about her well-being. While Rouge wasn't exactly who'd you call 'respectable company', she was still leagues better than her so-called brother.

(If she ever saw him again, she wasn't sure if she could stop herself from gutting him instantly.)

Sakura smiled. "I… think I really like her. I know what we did last night wasn't nice, but—I had fun, and no one really got hurt in the end."

Rider snorted. "Except that echidna's pride, maybe."

"I suppose that counts… but that's nothing special. Nii-san's had worse happen to him."

I wish I could've seen that.

"Well, I suppose it's time to take this into my treasury," Rouge finally decided. She hopped off the Master Emerald and stretched her arms. "It's gonna be a long way to my apartment, but with you two around, the trip should be a cinch—"

"There you are!"


Knuckles crashed onto the scene, debris from the doors scattering all over the floor.

In an instant, Rouge and Rider were on their guards. The latter stood protectively in front of Sakura as Bazett and Lancer emerged from behind the guardian, all three of them looking ready for a fight.

Rouge was not amused by this.

"Oh, not you again!" she shouted. "You just don't know when to give up, do you!?"

"Of course I'm not gonna give up!" the echidna retorted—"That Emerald's mine, you got that!?"

She scoffed. "Yours? Like you could ever really care for it, atop that broken shrine on a floating rock! This beauty needs a better home, and that home is with me!"

"The Master Emerald's home is Angel Island! Which, thanks to you, has now fallen into the ocean—again!"

Bazett's expression became grumpier. "Do you know how drenched we got 'cause of the fall!? I didn't think waves could even make a splash like that…!"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter what you want—we're taking back that artifact, fair and square!"

"As if I'd let you, you boneheaded troglodytes!"

Veins popped from both their heads.

"What did you just call us!?"

"Oh, I'll show you who's a troglodyte!"

Lancer barked. Ha ha—man, I am so glad I have Bazett at my side again. She and Knuckles are such a hoot; it's almost fate that we fell into his camp first.

Anyway…

He twirled his spear around, pointing it right at the other Servant. "Nowhere to run now, Rider. Hope you can actually gimme a good fight now—it'd be a shame if you went down as easy as you ran."

His eyes drew toward the other violet-haired girl in the area. He hadn't gotten a good glimpse at her during their previous chase, partially owing to how dark and stormy it had been—but here in the sunlight…

hmm.

"Got yourself a new Master, I see," he casually remarked. "I'm not surprised; that weedy kid was the epitome of pathetic. Where'd you pull her from?"

Rider's stance tensed, and the spearman got the sense that she was glaring at him from behind her blindfold. "That's none of your business," she hissed, brandishing her nail-chain threateningly.

"I never said it was. Besides, I had to deal with swapping my Master out for somebody who sucked, too—" and forced me to kill people, can't forget 'bout that "—so I get why you'd want to ditch 'im first chance. That being said…"

He raised an eyebrow.

"…I have to ask: did you just happen to find a 'new-new' Master waiting around… or is she more of a 'new-old' Master, if you catch my drift?"

The aforementioned Master shriveled up, inching further behind her dominatrix protector.

Meanwhile…

"What's so important about this Emerald, anyway!?" Rouge asked. "It's not like you were getting any use out of it!"

"Oh yeah, and you'd be so much better," Bazett snapped.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," Knuckles calmly countered. "Not only does it keep my island afloat, the Master Emerald has special powers that can neutralize the energy of the Chaos Emeralds. It's not some sort of diamond for you to admire—it belongs with me, its guardian!"

The thief-spy stomped up to her months-long rival's face, sparks practically shooting out from their glares.

"Well, then… let's just see you take it from us, huh!"

But before a fight could break out between the two of them, they (and their companions) were interrupted by a whirring noise coming from behind. Everyone's gazes jumped to where the Master Emerald was—

—and they found it being carted off by a yellow claw, connected to a white hovercar flying in the sky.

"What the—!?" Knuckles gawked.

"Ah—thief!" Rouge shouted.

"Looks who's calling who a thief…" Bazett snarked.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!" The man inside—a portly scientist with an impressively bushy mustache—peered out from the cockpit in self-satisfied delight. "I came here following the signal from a Chaos Emerald, but I never could've imagined that I'd find the Master Emerald just sitting around!"

He sneered at the gathered out-of-worlders. "And you've even gotten a few new friends, too. Trying to compensate for your incompetent supervision, Knuckles?"

The echidna growled, pumping his fists together. "Eggman…!"

"Eggman?" Lancer blinked. "You call this guy Eggman?"

Sakura and Rider looked to their thieving friend.

"R-Rouge?" the teenager called. "Do—Do you know who this is…?"

Rouge pursed her lips.

"This is the infamous Dr. Ivo Robotnik. He's a mad scientist bent on ruling the world, his only nemesis being Sonic the Hedgehog."

His reputation could not be understated. G.U.N.—and by proxy, the United Federation—had his profile on high-alert, given his involvement in the disaster that was the flooding of Station Square three years ago.

Why was he here now, though?

What is he planning?

"So… he's a bad guy…" Sakura whispered, shivering slightly.

Rider shifted closer to her Master, frowning intently.

Bazett bared her teeth.

"We did not come all this way to be defeated by some loony scientist!" she shouted, hands clenched into fists. "Put the Master Emerald down, or else!"

"Ha! And what can you do, girl?" Eggman taunted. "You're barely even a gnat compared to my genius! Why don't you go home and play with your little Servants, or whatever?"

The Enforcer froze (as did the abused Matou).

He—He knows…?

He knows what Servants are!?

"This may not be exactly what I came here for, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Finders keepers, knuckleheads!"

He started lifting off, leaving Bazett at a loss as to what to do.

We can't let him keep a hold on that Emerald, Bazett communicated to Lancer—not with its power, and definitely not with what he knows!

Read you loud and clear, Master, her Servant mentally replied. He's pretty high up, though, and I'm not sure I'll be able to take him down without damaging that gem, too.

Damn it…! What are we supposed to do…!?

Independent of their conversation, Knuckles decided to take a chance.

He leaped toward the Master Emerald.

"Not if I can help it!"

SMASH!

Eggman reeled back, a miniature explosion having gone on beneath his pod.

"WHA—!?"

Bazett and Lancer's jaws dropped, as did Rouge and Rider's.

"Ah—Ahhhhhhhhh!" screamed the bat girl.

The Master Emerald…! Bazett thought—

he just shattered it! Rider unknowingly finished.

Indeed, Knuckles had smashed the Master Emerald into several pieces, the impact of which had sent the shards soaring across the land like shooting stars. He dropped down on the ground, clearly not pleased with what he just did—but understanding its necessity nevertheless.

Damn… Lancer whistled. Now that takes guts.

Rouge stared in horror for a little while longer.

"You!" She grabbed Knuckles by his shoulders and shook him like a ragdoll. "What was that all about!? What have you done to my Emerald!?"

He pushed himself off of her. "Hey, I can restore it by collecting the pieces—better that than having it be in Eggman's hands! Besides, it's not your Emerald!"

Atop his Egg Mobile, Eggman finished recovering from the blast and decided on a different course of action. "Bah, it doesn't matter. Nothing about this changes my plans," aside from the confirmation of more Servants—which was negligible, given his current set of allies. "I'll return to the base and check again for other signals."

He headed for the pyramid in the distance, catching Rouge's eye.

Whatever's he up to… I can't just let it slide by me.

She flapped her wings and started to fly, casting one last look at Team Knuckles.

"I'm not gonna give you a single piece," she declared, her intentions obvious to all. "All of the world's gems are mine to keep!"

She took off toward the horizon, Sakura and Rider sparing only a couple of seconds before following after her.

Knuckles aimed a glare at her, punching in her direction.

"We'll see about that, bat girl!"


Wild Canyon

Thankfully, a lifetime of being the guardian of the Master Emerald meant that Knuckles had a keen sense of where its shards had happened to land.

Hence, his first destination was the fairly out-of-the-way Wild Canyon, conveniently fairly close by to the border of Sand Ocean.

"I can't believe this," Knuckles was grumbling—"first that bat girl steals my gem, then Eggman tries to do the same thing… I'm beginning to think I should take Tails up on his security system offer."

Lancer stretched his limbs. "Man… is this how every day of your life tends to go?" he asked. "'Cause if it is, I can tell I won't be bored any time soon."

"Trust me, it isn't," he denied. "I spend my days mostly sitting by the altar or exploring the island. Rouge's heists are just… a recent thing."

One that I wish would just stop!

Bazett hummed, tapping her arm.

"You know," she said, struggling to find her voice, "it was… really brave of you, breaking the Master Emerald back there. Most Magi I know couldn't even dream of sacrificing one of their artifacts like that."

"I did what I had to do," Knuckles replied. "Like I said, it's better off being broken than put to use powering Dr. Eggman's schemes."

He let out a huge sigh.

"Still means I've gotta deal with the consequences, though. With the Master Emerald in pieces, it's up to me to get out there and put it back together."

And that would be one heck of a task.

Last time, the pieces flew as far as the Egg Carrier's Sky Deck; for all he knew, this time he'd have to go to space to get whatever's left by the end.

(He did not want to go to space.)

"Just you?" Lancer noted. "Nobody else?"

"Sonic and Tails have their own things to do, and I don't trust off-islanders easily. I just believe in myself, someone who doesn't rely on others."

that sounds like a very lonely existence, Bazett thought.

"…would you be willing to rely on us, then?" she quietly asked.

"If you want to," he replied—"you're not the worst guests I've ever had, and you've already been a lot of help, admittedly." He paused for a second, looking forward at the canyon in front of him.

"Enough wasting time—I've got Master Emerald shards to look out for. Just you wait, Rouge…!"

He kicked a rock and dove into the fray, officially beginning his second hunt for the Master Emerald.

Bazett and Lancer briefly glanced at one another.

"Oh, what the heck," Lancer sighed. "It's not like I'm gonna get much else done, with Rider out of the picture. I still haven't repaid that favor, anyway. Yo, Knux! Wait up for us!"

He hopped in after him, leading Bazett to shake her head in exasperation.

"Guess that's my decision made for me."

Please, let this journey be some semblance of sane…


Dry Lagoon

In the air, Rouge whistled.

"An oasis, out here in the desert…? My, how convenient!"

The spy had initially planned to trail Dr. Eggman first—but eventually she settled on shooting a transmitter onto his Egg Mobile. (He never even noticed. How perceptive of him.) She could divine his location later; right now, she had more important matters to take care of—

Like seeking out where all the Master Emerald shards had gone.

"I gotta say, I expected worse from my treasure-hunting senses. That infuriating echidna did break my Emerald over Sand Ocean—" like a childish brat, she couldn't help but think. "Ah, well… it's better than nothing, I suppose!"

She confidently landed on the ground, ready to start her search—before hearing two sets of footsteps approaching her position.

She turned around.

She blinked.

"…oh."

Much to her surprise, she was greeted by Sakura and Rider, the latter casually carrying the other girl on her back.

"You're… still here," she said.

"That we are," Rider confirmed, letting her Master get off her back.

Rouge had assumed that their alliance was one of convenience. The concept of them being long-term partners seemed ludicrous, no matter how nice they were—mostly because the only person who had ever managed to occupy that slot for her was Topaz.

"You don't have to keep shadowing me," she told them. "I'm not going to force you to help, and… it's gonna get real dangerous for me soon enough."

Because I have a doctor to spy on, and a fifty-year-old conspiracy to unravel.

"I know," Sakura whispered—"but you've been so kind. I—I don't get a lot of that."

There was Shirou-senpai. There was Fujimura-sensei. There was Rider, her Servant.

(Anyone else was a pipe dream.)

"That's why I—" She gulped. "That's why I want to stay with you. Even if it means doing some slightly questionable things… it's better than I can usually hope for, and I don't wanna lose that."

Rouge didn't want to dissect whatever the hell lay behind that.

"I go wherever my Master goes," Rider bluntly stated, "and you are far and away the best of our current options. Whatever you need of us, we can fulfill it."

"Is that so…?"

Pushing Sakura out for safety purposes clearly wouldn't work; she got the sense that both of them were stubborn enough to ignore it anyway.

So, she'd just have to take this as it was.

"Alright," she replied. "If this is what you want to do, I won't question it. Let's go show up that insufferable guardian, and take back our prize!"

This got Sakura and Rider to smile, a little bit inspired by her confidence.

That's a good start.

The bat girl looked into the grassy plaza and narrowed her eyes. Not too far away from the nearby shrine was some G.U.N. Hunters, harassing a baby turtle for… no real benefit, as far as she could tell.

"First things first, though… I think those two robots there need a lesson in manners. What do you two say?"

Sakura's face darkened. "You know, that sounds like a good idea."

"Quite," Rider nodded. "Ready at your command, Master."


The G.U.N. bots never saw them coming.


This chapter's title is derived from the lyrics to Knuckles' theme, Unknown from M.E.

This was meant to be part of a trio of rival encounter snippets.

As you can see, it got so far out ahead of me, it's not even funny.

The first Knuckles/Rouge encounter starts kind of abruptly—the two are just in a desert with the Master Emerald for some reason, with very little context given. I wanted to fix that, and… uh, admittedly, I might have gone too far with that.

It's probably a good thing I made this fic a disordered collection, in retrospect. A full-game fic would probably take me forever-and-a-half to finish (just look at how long I'm taking with Star Allies, Unite!).

Hopefully though, this chapter makes up for the lack of focus I've been giving Teams Knuckles and Rouge. I really do care for all these characters; it's just that the others tend to have more interesting moments I can draw upon.

Well, that's all for now – tune in next time for the Speed/Mech rival encounters!