The Chaos Guardians Ep 7 Grandiose Grand Prix Part III

Disclaimer:I don't own sonic of corse or else i wouldn't be writing FanFiction and I'd be writing actual sonic games (probably) all rights belong to there respective owners!

"As we enter the halfway mark of the race, more than half of the racers have been taken out. Every member of the Alligator Extremists are out of the race, and Terry is the last one standing of the Babylonian Blasters. Which is honestly a bit strange since they are the ace team. The Chaos Guardians are doing little better, with Sonic and Knuckles as the last ones standing. The only team really in the race are the Eggman Elites, who have Eggman, Orbot, and Lan- Lancear?" Omochao said with enthusiasm.

The crowd's cheers almost drowned out his commentary. The race in the main city of Babylonia had the eyes of millions on it, both in person and over satellites to ships and other planets. But that publicity was completely lost on the remaining racers, who were focused only on the road and each other. Well, ALMOST completely lost.

Eggman chuckled at Omochao's struggle to pronounce his teammate's name.

"When we co-rule, I imagine everyone will know how to say your name?" he asked Lancar.

Lancar grinned.

"Yes, or they won't be alive to say it," he replied.

Both evil dictators laughed. Orbot rode up next to them.

"Sonic and Knuckles are coming up fast," he said.

"Excellent," Lancar said with a smile.

He motioned Eggman to come closer to him, then handed him a small disruptor.

"You can get the hedgehog," he said.

"I don't think I've mentioned it, but I like the way you think," Eggman said, taking the disruptor with a grin.

When Sonic got within earshot, Eggman looked back at him and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Hey, Sonic! I'm so much faster than you are on an Extreme Gear!" he said, "I bet even Big the Cat would be faster than you, you spiny, blue snail!"

The insult lands like it was meant to. Sonic bristled.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

Knuckles looked over and saw Sonic bristle.

"He's Trying to bait you," he said.

"I know that, Knuckles," Sonic said through gritted teeth.

Eggman huffed in annoyance that this was taking so long. So he decided to take a different approach. He quickly ran through who all had been on Sonic's team, then smiled. Bingo.

"Oh, Sonic," he said, "Where's Tails?"

Sonic went ridged, and Knuckles gulped. This wasn't going anywhere good. He pulled ahead to try to win the race while this all went down.

"I noticed that he's not on your team," Eggman continued behind him, "Did you two have a fight? Is that it? Are you enemies now? What kind of best friend keeps his friend off of his team?"

"Maybe you should mind your own dang business!" Sonic snapped, "I am a good friend! Now shave your mustache and buzz off!!!"

Knuckles winced and tried to focus on the road. Sonic most likely wouldn't be winning in this state, after all. But Lancar had hoped for this and fell in beside him a few feet to his right.

"Hey, red hedgehog!" Lancar called, "Have you learned to count to three yet?"

Suddenly, Knuckles understood how Sonic had felt when Eggman started taunting him. He took a deep breath before replying.

"Of course I have," he said, then tried to quip like Sonic, "I mean, that's the number of the pole you're about to crash into, you unkempt hyena."

Lancar grunted, then pushed his Gear to the left in a sideways jump. His Gear went around the pole, and he grabbed onto it and swung around it to land back on his Gear. He smirked at Knuckles.

"I'm a dhole, hippie hedgehog," he said.

Knuckles stared at him in shock.

"Wha- you're a Pack foot soldier! How'd you learn that fancy footwork?" He asked, "Also, I'M AN ECHIDNA, NOT A HEDGEHOG!"

Lancar laughed and shook his head.

"You think I'm a foot soldier?" he asked, "Oh, you nïeve endangered specimen..."

Knuckles tensed at Lancar's tone and choice of words. He felt his fists clench.

"You wanna fight, pal?" he asked as calmly as he could manage. He couldn't blow the race. Not with Eggman taunting Sonic like he was.

Then a loud screech rang out from behind all four racers. They stopped and looked back to see Terry the Pterodactyl barrelling up the track. Her eyes, which were already a bit feral naturally, were completely crazed with rage.

"Terry is….ANGRY! TERRY WILL TEAR YOU TO SHREDS, WOLF GUY!!" she said.

Knuckles managed to dodge with a "WOAH!" But Lancar just smirked. Terry's board started to sputter as she went after the Dhole, then it twisted. Terry was sent flying as her gear flung away.

"TERRY HATES FALLING!" she said.

Apparently she forgot she could fly. Fortunately for Knuckles, the distraction was just what he needed to punch Lancar's gear. The punch demolished it and sent a very surprised Lancar tumbling to the pavement. He growled softly.

"You haven't seen the last of me, echidna," he said, "Your species will come under our control, especially if you keep attacking us. It won't be hard- you're the only one left."

Knuckles looked at him with a mix of smugness and caution.

"I only hope you can dish out what you take, you dull dhole,we'll be ready for your sneaky tricks" he said, then muttered, "Man, Sonic is starting to rub off on me."

As Knuckles caught up with Sonic and Eggman, he saw that Sonic was struggling to keep his cool. When he got within earshot, he understood. Eggman's taunting threatened to boil Knuckles' blood, too.

"-Whether you win or lose, you'll have to face Tails," the doctor was saying, "And I should let you know- when Tails is mad, the person he's mad at gets the worst of it."

Sonic snapped his eyes onto Eggman, a flicker of blackness blurring his outline.

"What would you know, you human omelet?!" he asked with barely restrained anger.

Eggman shook his head patronizingly.

"You've forgotten that I've faced that kit multiple times on my own, Sonic," he said, then looked Sonic in the eye, "I also recall that he's sacrificed himself for you recently- twice in fact- but that you've only done something similar once in the same time. Maybe he's too good for you."

The black flicker around Sonic had steadily grown, leading to a dark aura that was now surrounding him.

"You'd better zip it, Eggman, or I'll come over there and rip off your mustache!" he said.

Knuckles faltered for a moment, then called up to his friend, "Sonic, calm down! This is a public space!"

Too late, he realized that that meant his less-than-stellar sportsmanship with Vincent and Lancar had been broadcasted as well. But he shook it off- that was in the past. What Sonic was doing now could be curved, and it looked like Knuckles would have to do the curbing for him.

Eggman grinned at Sonic's outburst, though his hand did come up nervously to his pocket- where a fake Chaos Emerald was hidden. He just hoped that Sonic couldn't go completely dark with only one Emerald. Lucky for Eggman, though, Knuckles' call had diverted Sonic's attention from him. The hedgehog glared daggers at his friend.

"What would you know about calming down, you tomato-furred hothead?!" he asked snapping at the echidna.

Knuckles flinched at the insult and felt a bit offended, but he could tell that Sonic wasn't himself right now. So he swallowed his hurt pride and leaned forward on his Gear.

"Fine, I'll go on ahead. You do your thing," he said.

Eggman laughed as Knuckles sped up. The echidna only heard one more taunt from Eggman before managing to tune out the conversation behind him:

"Looks like you're losing your friends one by one."

Meanwhile, on the Blue Typhoon, excitement had turned to confusion and/or fear. The screen was focused on Eggman and Sonic, and Sonic's black aura was clearly visible. Omega, Jet,Cecilia, and Bokkun were all staring at the screen as Espio walked in from being in the engine room with Tails. Bokkun seemed nervous at the sight of it, but the others didn't notice in their confusion.

"Um… he's doing that thing again," he muttered to himself.

Espio glanced at him curiously, but the others didn't seem to hear.

"Why is Sonic glowing black?" Jet asked, "He's never done this in OUR races."

"This doesn't make any sense," Cecilia said, "Black is a rare aura, and it always follows malicious and destructive individuals. But not only is it around Sonic, and so suddenly, but you guys can see it, too."

Espio walked up to Bokkun.

"He's doing what thing again?" he asked.

All eyes turned to the young cyborg as they realized Bokkun might know what was going on. Bokkun glanced around nervously.

"I don't know what it's called, but it happened once with the Metarex. With the commander Black Narcissist. His fur went black, and his eyes all white, and Eggman had to stop him from murdering the Metarex leader," he said, then shuddered, "It was freaky."

Jet paled, and Cecilia turned to Omega.

"If Eggman knows about this, then it must be in your memory banks, right?" she asked.

Everyone looked at Omega, who didn't seem to respond at first.

"Accessing memory banks," he said, "Data found. Transformation dubbed: Dark Sonic. It is obtained from negative emotions while around negative Chaos Energy most commonly associated with fake Chaos Emeralds. It is apparently a corruption of a super form."

Bokkun nodded in affirmation, and Espio turned to leave, heading for Tails' lab. The room fell silent except for the noise of the crowd and announcer coming from the TV.

Back on the race track, Sonic's fur had darkened considerably, but was still noticeably blue. His irises had faded to a wispy green but were still there, as were his pupils. Thankfully for Eggman, the hedgehog appeared to not be getting any darker than that. Unfortunately, he was dark enough.

"You know, Eggman, I don't think anyone would mind if I finished you off right now," he said, flexing his hands into and out of fists experimentally.

Knuckles straightened in shock when he heard that. That wasn't something that Sonic would EVER say.

"Have you lost your-" he froze as he turned and saw how different Sonic looked.

Eggman chuckled, though his nervousness couldn't be kept out of it.

"Then why don't you? You are the 'good guy', after all, right?" he said, trying to sound confident.

Knuckles came to a stop, shocked by what he was seeing. Sonic had paused, looking torn at the decision that shouldn't have taken any thought for the hero. One one hand, Knuckles could use this as a distraction to win. On the other… could he just let Sonic struggle with a choice that he'd regret his whole life?

With that, Knuckles' mind was made up. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted the cheesiest words he could think of to snap Sonic out of whatever was going on.

"Sonic, remember the race! Remember us!"

Sonic flinched like he'd been struck, and his fur started fading to his normal blue.

"Wh-what am I doing?" he asked in a trembling voice.

Relief flooded Knuckles, and he almost didn't notice Eggman and Orbot pass him. He shook himself and focused back on the race, though he noticed that recovering slower from the ordeal that he was. That was alright. It just meant that the race would probably come down to him.

The last turn in the track, about 1,000 feet before the finish, was coming up quick, and Knuckles leaned forward, coming neck-in-neck with Eggman. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sonic on Eggman's other side. Knuckles smiled briefly; he was glad that it wasn't just on him after all.

Unfortunately for him, he'd completely forgotten about Orbot, who was coming in behind Sonic. The robot stretched his hand forward, and the wires once again shot out of them and wrapped around Sonic's Gear. Sonic felt the wires wrap over his feet and looked down. He glanced back to see Orbot extending his other hand to Knuckles, and his eyes narrowed.

"Oh, no you don't-" he muttered.

In a moment, Sonic had spindashed into Orbot and the two hit the road. Both Knuckles and Eggman glanced back at the noise. Seeing the wires around Sonic's Gear and the stray wires from Orbot's other hand, Knuckles put together what happened and nodded his thanks to Sonic. Eggman just growled and leaned as far forward as he could without falling off. Knuckles followed suit, and his lighter weight allowed him to accelerate faster and pass Eggman just before the finish.

"And it looks like Knuckles is the winner!" Omochao called over the roar of the crowd, "The crowd is eating this up right now."

"What?! But I had the perfect plan to win!" Eggman yelled.

He punched a nearby poll. Knuckles heard him over the din of spectators and turned on him.

"A plan that nearly got you killed," he said, "What did you do to Sonic?"

Eggman sneered at him.

"I just used his fear and insecurity against him with the power of this false Chaos Emerald," he held up the green gem, "But, thanks to you, it was all ruined!"

"I saved your life!" Knuckles said.

Eggman grunted and turned away.

"I will admit that I didn't think that he'd go that Dark with only one Emerald," he said, "I wonder… did he and Tails actually have a fight?"

Knuckles huffed and started walking towards the winner's platform.

"Use that IQ of yours," he said.

Eggman mumbled something behind him about 'not helping', but Knuckles ignored it. He saw Sonic waiting for him at the base of the winner's platform and stopped next to him. Sonic looked shaken and was fiddling discreetly with his glove.

"Hey, Knux?" he said, "Look, I'm- I'm sorry about what I said before, I- I don't know what came over me…"

Knuckles glanced up at the cameras around the platform, then leaned in and lowered his voice.

"It's not your fault. Eggman said something about using a fake Chaos Emerald to use your negative emotions against you," he said.

Sonic paled, and one of his hands clenched into a fist. Knuckles studied his face with concern.

"This has happened before, Knux," Sonic whispered after a moment.

The pure terror in his expression kept Knuckles from asking him if he had chosen the wrong thing to joke about. Knuckles paused to get the anger out of his voice before he responded.

"What happened?" he asked.

Sonic shuddered, and Knuckles almost reached out to put his hand on the hedgehog's shoulder before remembering the cameras. Sonic noticed and gave a weak smile of thanks before the smile left.

"It was while fighting the Metarex," Sonic whispered, "When Black Narcissist captured Chris and Cosmo. They were terrified, and Chris was unconscious, and I got so mad… Knuckles, I would have killed Black Narcissist if Eggman hadn't stopped me."

There was a moment of pause while Sonic watched for Knuckles' reaction. Knuckles kept his face composed, not revealing any shock or anger. Then he reached up and took the dark blue Chaos Emerald from the winner's pedestal. He offered it to Sonic.

"You're the team leader, so you should have this," he said.

Sonic shook his head and pushed the Emerald back to Knuckles.

"You won the race. You earned it," he said, then took out a small yellow and green debit card, "Besides, I need to go see if they'll transfer the prize money onto the Universal Money Card so we can spend it easier."

The surprise registered on Knuckles' face, but he nodded and put the Emerald away. He and Sonic left the podium, and Sonic ran to get the prize money. Knuckles watched him run off, then opened his com-link. Eggman having a fake emerald had given him a worrying idea, and he needed to know if he was right.

"Hey Tails, can I ask you something?" he asked.

"Yeah?" Tails asked, coming onto the screen.

He was lit by a green glow on one side, showing that he was by the Master Emerald. The fox sounded calm, but Knuckles knew him well enough to see the traces of nervousness on his face. He bit back an exclamative.

"The Master Emerald is a fake, isn't it?" he asked, "And don't sugarcoat it."

Tails had winced at Knuckles' question, but nodded.

"To the best of our knowledge," he said apologetically.

Knuckles bit his tongue, knowing that Tails didn't like cussing, but couldn't keep himself from kicking the side of a fountain. The wall broke, and water gushed out of the opening and onto the street. Knuckles kept walking.

"I'm sorry," Tails said, "I would have told you sooner, but we found out right when Sonic had come and gotten the Gear. We didn't want to distract you from the race."

"It's fine," Knuckles said, massaging his temples, "I'll meet you on the ship in a couple of hours. I need some time to think, and I don't think I'm the only one that does……."

He closed his com-link and continued walking down the road.

Charmy, Cream, and Cheese stood at the top of the viewer's bleachers, scanning the crowd below. Charmy squinted, then pointed.

"Is that them?" he asked.

Cream shook her head.

"No, cause I just found them," she said.

Charmy followed her pointing finger to a group with pink, black and red, and green colors. He sighed.

"Fine, you win," he said, handing over two gold rings.

Cream smirked and took them, then jumped off the bleachers and flew down to their friends. Cheese and Charmy followed her. Amy waved to them as they flew up.

"Who won? There weren't any video feeds where we were," she said.

The kids filled them in about Knuckles' victory and Sonic's threat to Eggman's life. They had a hard time believing that last part.

"I've only ever threatened Eggman in my angriest moments," Shadow said, "Sonic's SAVED Eggman on several occasions. Even when he doesn't deserve it."

A blue blur suddenly materializes by the group. It stops, and Sonic casually takes a bite out of a chilli dog he'd bought.

"Hey, guys," he said, "Everything okay?"

Several of the group could hear nervousness in his voice. He was trying to figure out what they knew of the match without explicitly asking. So Shadow answered his real question.

"We heard you threatened the Doctor's life," he said.

"Charmy's lying, isn't he?" Amy asked.

Sonic chuckles uncomfortably for a moment before deciding that there wasn't any point in lying.

"No, but I just got a little upset, that's all," he said, "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, I always bounce back."

On the outskirts of the group, Cream almost said something but decided against it. There was no point correcting Sonic if he wanted to soften the truth. No one noticed her hesitation because Sonic had started talking again.

"I let Knuckles hold the Chaos Emerald," he jabbed a thumb behind him, "So are you three alright? I know Shadow's pride must be hurt from being the first one out of the race, out of all the teams."

Shadow growled, but he wasn't actually offended. He didn't want to admit that Sonic threatening someone's life worried him. Amy sent him a glare for the growl. Vector folded his arms.

"We're fine, aside from the fact that my Gear was a dud," he said with clear annoyance.

Sonic chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Vector. The guy looked like he sold good, working products, but I guess the deal was too good to be true," he said.

Vector sighed and shrugged. Big walked up to the group with his hands cupped.

"I found one of those lucky charms you were looking for," he said, holding out what looked like the dark blue Chaos Emerald.

Sonic waved it away.

"That's a fake, Big," he said, "Knuckles has the real one."

"But I like it," Big said, pulling the Emerald back, "I'm gonna keep it for good luck."

"Go ahead," Any said.

Several of them wanted to protest, but her stare quieted them down. Big didn't seem to notice.

"Yay! I'll put it in my room on the spaceship!" he said.

Vector grumbled something under his breath and Shadow rolled his eyes. Sonic tried a smile.

"Come on, guys, let's head back to the Blue Typhoon," he said.

The group murmured agreements, and they headed back to their ships.

Meanwhile, Eggman and Steven were fixing up a demolished Metal Sonic in the back of Gear-On Robotics. Eggman glanced at the bird next to him, who was diligently bending Metal's legs back into shape.

"You know, you're pretty good with machines, kid," he said.

Steven looked up at him with buried hope in his expression.

"I'd like to think so, sir," he said.

Eggman stayed focused on fixing up Metal.

"How'd you like to join the Eggman Empire?" he asked nonchalantly, "Like, as a permanent member. I have room on my ship and could use another pair of albeit less-talented hands to help me with my badniks. So what do you say, Steven?"

Cubot started to say something, but Orbot shushed him. Neither organic seemed to notice, since Steven's eyes were sparkling.

"YES!" he blurted, then corrected himself, "I mean, I'd be honored to join you- as an underling, of course."

Eggman paused for a moment.

"Since you helped me with that race, I'm feeling generous. I'll make you third in command. I'm promoting Orbot to second in command," he said.

He went back to working on Metal, but watched Steven out of the corner of his eye. The swallow looked like he was trying to not explode with excitement. Eggman smirked a little, though he made sure Steven didn't see it.

"Thank you, Doctor Eggman," Steven finally managed, "Thank you!"

Eggman then grins "yeah yeah sure. This is finally the time the Eggman empire succeeds just you watch sonic I've got more where that came from" he then laughs loudly in hisinfamous laugh as Lancar just watched them from a distance grinning evilly.

Sorry guys I took so long but my friend was a bit busy for awhile. Hope you enjoyed the end of this little mini story arc and there will be a few of these coming up. Leave reviews with your thoughts and thanks again for reading!

Ocelot out!