Chapter 6
Knuckles, Tails and Sally looked at the shattered master emerald in terror, fearing that they would never see Sonic and Julie-Su again. Tails fell to his knees in tears, thinking that his big brother was a goner, while Sally tried to comfort him. Knuckles fell to his knees in tears himself, but recovered quickly. Then Thrash appeared.
"Don't know what to say about the loss of your friends," Thrash pointed out before Knuckles looks at him in anger.
"You ignorant dumb devil, this never would have happened if you didn't banish my people!" Knuckles shouted in anger while marching over to Thrash, almost as if he was ready to kill him.
"Knuckles, we'll get them back, just breathe," Sally said, trying to calm Knuckles down.
"Look, I'm here to help, but in return, you reverse the damage that your ancestors did to my people. Do we have a deal?" Thrash asked.
"I guess I need to keep my promise don't I? We have a deal. So how did you power up the warp ring?" Knuckles asked.
"I used the master emerald, but since the Dark Legion exhausted it, we need something with similar power.
"Couldn't we use the chaos emeralds?" Tails asked.
"We could, but there's a problem, Shadow took one of them and left," Sally answered.
"He just took it? That wasn't part of our deal with helping him," Knuckles pointed out.
"Well we need to convince him to hand over the chaos emerald," Thrash said.
"The problem is, we don't know where they've gone, exactly," Tails said.
"Is it possible that they went back to Overlander Territory?" Sally asked.
"That's one possibility, but who knows how many Overlanders survived," Knuckles pointed out.
"If that one Overlander was brought back, I'm sure that the others will be here too," Tails pointed out.
"Then we don't have a moment to lose, let's go," Thrash exclaimed. Meanwhile in the twilight cage, Sonic was seen being dragged through the halls of the holding cells while all groggy. The last thing he remembered was beating up Dark Legion soldiers, when he was overrun by them before being hit in the back of the head real hard. The soldiers reach a suitable cell for him, sets him down in front of the wall and attaches chains to his wrist, then Lien-Da walks in.
"Comfortable?" Lien-Da asked.
"I wouldn't really consider this very comforting," Sonic pointed out.
"Hm, you won't be so funny once you join my half sister, which you will soon enough," Lien-Da said.
Back on Mobius in a small house. Hope was seen getting ready to fall asleep as Shadow walks in and covers her up in a warm blanket.
"Rest well, pal," Shadow said before joining Rouge, wearing a short white nightdress, in the living room.
"She should be asleep by now," Shadow said settling down.
"Do you think it was a good idea to just leave like that? You saw how brutal it got. What do you think Maria would want?" Rouge asked before Shadow started thinking. She brought up a good point, Maria wouldn't have wanted him to just leave the battle like that.
"Now that I think about it, you have a point, we should have helped them," Shadow said feeling guilty about what he did.
"Well it's too late to go back there and help now, but in the future we should really give it some thought," Rouge said.
"Your right, your right. It's just that there's really nothing left ever since Robotnik died," Shadow said realizing just how much damage the genesis waves have done.
"You still got me and Hope," Rouge pointed out.
"Hope explained to me that she's never gonna be able to have a family that cares about her, I really don't know how I'm gonna solve that problem," Shadow said.
"What about you, Shadow? Aren't you technically considered an uncle?" Rouge asked.
"Even if that's true, you know I can't raise her alone," Shadow said before Rouge pulls his face to face her.
"You have me you know," Rouge said before pulling Shadow into a kiss.
He then pulls away and looks at her before pulling her into a more deeper and passionate kiss. Rouge got shocked by this but almost immediately gave into the kiss. She let her tongue slide into Shadow's mouth and explore a little before he did the same with his while she wrapped her legs around him tightly. A couple seconds would pass before knocking was heated at the door causing Shadow and Rouge to break the kiss.
"Who could that be?" Shadow asked himself before getting up from on top of Rouge and walked to the door. He opened it to find Knuckles standing there, "what do you want?"
"We need the Chaos emerald you took earlier today. Sonic's in danger and we have no way of charging the warp ring," Knuckles explained.
"Hm, no surprise there. Why should we give it to you?" Shadow asked as Rouge got up.
"Shadow we should just let them have the emerald, if you think about it we really don't need it anymore," Rouge pointed out.
"Fine," Shadow said giving in before giving Knuckles the Chaos emerald from earlier.
"Thank you," Knuckles said before leaving.
"Hm it doesn't surprise me that the faker got himself in trouble like that," Shadow said sitting on the couch.
"Well let's just hope that they're able to set things right," Rouge said joining Shadow and resting her head on his shoulder.
Back at angel island with Tails who was attempting to power up the warp ring with the emeralds he currently had.
"Hello, Tails," Fiona said appearing behind the two tailed fox. He turned around to see her.
"What do you want?" Tails asked.
"You know I've been thinking about the day I betrayed you and... Well, I feel a bit bad for doing what I did," Fiona explained walking slowly towards Tails obviously lying.
"Right, like I should trust you," Tails said not falling for Fiona's lies.
"Your a very gifted kid, did anyone ever tell you that?" Fiona asked.
"I'm sure Sonic did at one point," Tails said obviously trying to buy time for Knuckles to get back.
"Look I'm offering you a chance to be with me. What do you say? Ditch Sonic and the rest of your friends for me? We could use someone like you," Fiona said as she slowly walked up to Tails and started rubbing his chin with her finger. Scourge got ready and charged at Tails, but as he got close, Thrash popped out of nowhere and punched him in the face knocking him to the ground.
"Sorry, mate, but we've been preparing for a situation like this," Thrash said as Sally karate chopped Fiona in the back causing her to fall to the ground.
"By the way, I'd rather die then betray my friends," Tails pointed out before a couple echidnas grab Scourge and Fiona. The two then get taken away.
"I'm proud of you, Tails, you handled it quite well," Sally said petting Tails on the head.
"Thanks," Tails said.
"What was that all about anyway?" Thrash asked curious.
"It was quite a long time ago, basically she was a friend that I had a crush on and in the end she down right betrayed us," Tails explained before Knuckles arrived.
"Okay, we're ready to go," Knuckles said.
"Let's see if this works," Tails said before Knuckles placed the final emerald in position. Tails then readies his machine as the Chaotix arrive.
"What do you want us to do, Knuckles," Vector asked.
"Keep the warp ring open until we get back," Knuckles said before the warp ring gets powered up.
"It works!" Tails shouted before him, Knuckles, Sally and Thrash got ready.
"We'll have to hurry, they might be using the machine on Sonic by now," Knuckles pointed before they all rushed into the warp ring.
Meanwhile in the Twilight cage the machine was seen turned on with Sonic's eyes being held open.
"They left you here on purpose, Sonic, they think they no longer need you," Lien-Da said standing behind the machine. Sonic then gives into the manipulation and passes out, "You will be a very useful asset to my cause."
Tails managed to hack into the security camera system and flipped through the cameras to locate Julie-Su and Sonic. He eventually finds Julie-Su in the command center waiting before switching to another camera and finds a blue figure in the holding cells.
"I managed to locate them both, Julie-Su is in the command center, while Sonic is in the holding cells locked up.
"I suggest we split up, you and Sally go get Sonic out of his cell," Knuckles said.
"Got it," Sally said before her and Tails went to look for a way into the holding cells.
"As for you and me, we find our way into the command center and find a way to bring Julie back to normal. Think you can crush their defenses?" Knuckles asked.
"Piece of cake," Thrash said. A couple of seconds later a Dark Legion soldier was patrolling the front gates when a massive crash was heard. He looked up to see a turret falling right towards him so he jumps out of the way as it hits the ground with massive force. He checks to see if he was alive and sighs in relief before the other turret falls right on top of him. A few soldiers come over to figure out what was going on before the main entrance was blown open by a massive sonic roar from Thrash who walks in with Knuckles. The Dark Legion soldiers rush towards Knuckles and Thrash with rifles at the ready, but Thrash takes them out with his sonic roar before proceeding towards the command center. In the command center, Julie-Su watches them proceed towards her before grabbing a rifle, but gets stopped by Lien-Da.
"Let me handle this, half sister. I can't risk them getting you," Lien-Da said.
"Fine," Julie-Su said before her half sister leaves.
Meanwhile, a Dark Legion soldier is seen guarding the sewer when he suddenly hears a noise. He turns around only to get punched in the face and falls to the ground knocked out. Then Sally and Tails open up the sewer door and enter the holding cells before they start looking for Sonic.
"Sonic!" Tails called out walking through the halls of the holding cells. He eventually finds Sonic and breaks the cell door open along with the chains attached to his wrist before grabbing his friend into a soft hug. Then out of nowhere, Sonic punches Tails in the face.
"I trusted you, you rodent!" Sonic said as Sally ran in.
"Oh no we're too late," Sally said to herself.
"Sonic... please don't do this," Tails said trying to talk Sonic down, but it was obviously futile.
"Do, what? Lien-Da told me what you did, you brat, now you're gonna regret it," Sonic said with his foot on Tails' head ready to crush him, but Sally hesitantly jabs him in the gut, knocking him off the two tailed fox.
"Sonic please don't make me do this," Sally said readying her ring blades.
"I don't think those are really gonna help you, Sally Acorn," Sonic said before spin dashing into Sally. Meanwhile several dark legion soldiers get thrown into the windows of the main command center before Thrash brakes the door down and let's out a massive sonic roar destroying a machine gun turret set up near the main entrance. Dark Legion soldiers instead of fighting run as Knuckles and Thrash push through when they were suddenly stopped by Lien-Da who was standing in front of them.
"We meet again, red head, this time we have a little surprise for you," Lien-Da pointed out before signaling a soldier to get Sonic from the holding cells.
"It doesn't have to end like this, just give me Julie-Su and Sonic and we can end this," Knuckles demanded.
"I moved beyond ending this war peacefully, I plan to end it my way, with everyone under my foot," Lien-Da said before readying her electric whips.
"You really think you can stop us with those?" Thrash asked.
"These adjustments were made with a little help from Robotnik. They can wipe the sonic roar right out of you," Lien-Da said.
"I highly doubt that, mate, in fact by the time we're through with you, you'll be banished to a dimension worse than this place," Thrash said before Lien-Da jumped at the two. Thrash tries to hit her with his sonic roar but gets stopped by her whip which hits him in the face causing him to stumble backwards in pain while Knuckles jumped up to her before they exchanged several punches and kicks. They eventually land on the ground before Lien-Da tries to hit Knuckles with her whip, but he stops it with her wrist and pulls her towards him.
Back in the holding cells, Sally was thrown into a cell wall while Tails tried to defend himself, but Sonic was too fast for him as he grabbed the two tailed fox by the neck.
"I was a fool for calling you a little brother, your pathetic," Sonic said.
"S-Sonic... please don't do this, we're your friends," Tails pointed out barely able to breathe.
"A true friend wouldn't leave me here to rot," Sonic said.
"We didn't intentionally mean to leave you here, the master emerald ran out of energy.
"Sure it did," Sonic said sarcastically as Sally snuck behind him with a lose cell bar.
"But... it's the truth... we... didn't mean to leave you... here," Tails said. Just as Sonic was about to crush Tails' neck Sally whacks him across the head knocking him out cold He crawls over to him before letting out a relived sigh when he heard breathing. Sally got on her knees and started rubbing Tails' back.
"I'm sure he'll be okay, Tails," Sally pointed out.
Meanwhile. Knuckles and Lien-Da continued to exchange blows to each other.
"You can't keep this up forever, red head," Lien-Da pointed out before dodging a powerful punch from Knuckles.
"Even so, I'm not giving up until Julie is back with us," Knuckles said as he dodged several attacks from Lien-Da before throwing several quick punches that she dodges. She then tries to whip his legs, but he jumps into the air before pounding the ground causing a shockwave that knocks her off his feet. Thrash after recovering from the whip to the face grabs Lien-Da.
"Go, mate, I've got this one," Thrash said before Knuckles runs towards a door and bust through it. He looks around for Julie-Su, but doesn't see her anywhere.
"Warning, nuclear detonation imminent, this facility will self destruct in three minutes," A computer voice said before Julie-Su tries to whack Knuckles across the face, but he grabs the rifle, rips it out of her arms and tosses it away.
"Please don't do this, Julie," Knuckles said before Julie-Su tries to punch him, but he grabs her fist before grabbing the other one restraining her, "I'm not going to fight you, you know me too well to do this."
"Quit trying to put these silly thoughts in my head!" Julie-Su shouted before trying to kick Knuckles, but he jumps away in time before she runs towards him. He then pulls out her double barreled pistol and aims it at her.
"I don't want to use this, this belongs to you," Knuckles said before Julie-Su starts having flashbacks of everything they have both been through together.
"No! This can't be true!" Julie-Su shouted to herself before holding her head as if she had a headache.
"This facility will self destruct in two minutes," the computer voice said as Julie-Su falls to her knees. She starts seeing images flash in front of her eyes from the past.
"Please! Make it stop!" Julie-Su demanded before she passes out a few seconds later. Luckily Knuckles grabs her before she could hit the ground.
"Let's get you home," Knuckles said before running out of the facility while carrying Julie-Su bridal style.
"Knuckles the facility is gonna blow! We need to get out of here!" Thrash pointed out.
"I'm aware," Knuckles said before joining up with Sally and Tails who were carrying Sonic to the portal.
"This facility will self destruct in one minute," The computer voice said. Knuckles stops at the portal and gives Julie-Su to Thrash.
"Get them out of here, I need to help with Sonic," Knuckles said before rushing back to help Sally and Tails. "We need to move!"
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, f-f-f-four, Th-ree, two..." The computer said as everyone got through in time. The portal shuts as the facility explodes in a massive nuclear blast that newly takes most of the twilight cage with it. Back on Mobius, Knuckles takes a minute to breathe while Thrash carries Julie-Su over to him. He then grabs her and sets her down on his lap.
"She gonna be okay, Knuckles?" Vector asked.
"I hope so," Knuckles said as he waited for Julie-Su to wake up. Eventually Julie-Su opens her eyes, the first thing she sees was Knuckles and smiles before grabbing him into a soft hug.
"I'm so sorry Knuckles," Julie-Su said in a soft voice happy that everything was back to normal. She then pulls Knuckles into a passionate kiss.
"Hey get a room, you two!" A familiar voice said causing Knuckles and Julie-Su look over to see Sonic was awake holding his head in pain.
"What do you suppose we do with this one?" Thrash asked holding Lien-Da.
"We give her over to the authorities," Knuckles said before Lien-Da broke lose of Thrash's grasp and tries to shoot Julie-Su with a pistol. Just as she shoots it though, Sonic spin dashes into her.
"Knuckles!" Julie-Su shouted as Knuckles gets up holding his eye.
"I'm fine," Knuckles said.
"Knuckles we need to get that eye looked at," Tails pointed out before helping Knuckles. Sonic grabs Lien-Da and restrains her.
"I'll take care of Lien-Da," Sonic said before Knuckles passes out. Knuckles wakes up to find himself floating before he sees Aurora.
"You did it, Knuckles," Aurora pointed out.
"I can see that, but what about Dr. Robotnik?" Knuckles asked.
"He's been erased forever, not able to terrorize anyone anymore and as for you, the future will be bright, for both you and your soulmate," Aurora explained.
"But I lost my eye of all things," Knuckles said pointing to the eye that was shot.
"Knuckles, sure you lost you eye, but you have her back don't you?" Aurora asked.
"Yes," Knuckles answered.
"Then You shouldn't let that stop you," Aurora pointed out, "now go and live a happy life."
Knuckles slowly starts to wake up and finds himself in the hospital.
"Good to see your awake, tough guy," Julie-Su said sitting next to Knuckles' bed.
"What happened?" Knuckles asked.
"They did everything they could, but there was nothing else we could do for your eye. Luckily, my half sister coughed up a way we could fix it, but I need you to remain calm once we show you," Julie-Su said as Tails walked in.
"Hi Knuckles," Tails said greeting the red echidna.
"What happened to my eye?" Knuckles asked.
"You might have a look for yourself," Tails said giving Knuckles a mirror. He looks to see that his eye was replaced with a robotic eye and freaks out a little. Julie-Su calms him down.
"You need to take it easy, hun, I know your not used to it, but there was nothing else we could have done," Julie-Su pointed out.
"Okay, it's just that I never thought I would be a cyborg," Knuckles said.
"I think you look just fine, sure you look like one of them, but fine none the less," Sonic said standing in the corner.
"What do you think about this?" Knuckles asked Julie-Su.
"I still think your the tough guardian I fell in love with that day," Julie-Su answered.
"I guess the eye will do," Knuckles said accepting the new eye.
Epilogue
One morning, two echidnas which were an older Knuckles and Julie-Su were fast asleep, when he starts to wake up to the sound of small feet hitting the ground gently. He looks to see a six year old red echidna girl looking down at him.
"Morning, sweetheart," Knuckles said greeting the little girl who was his daughter named Lara-Su.
"Morning daddy," Lara-Su said responding before Knuckles grabbed the six year old girl and held her in the air playfully causing her to laugh. Julie-Su wakes up herself and watches him play with his daughter before smiling. Few years have passed since things became peaceful, Sally was now married to Sonic and the two had recently discovered that she was pregnant with twins. Shadow and Rouge looked after Hope throughout the time she was growing up and was now a proud big sister when Rouge gave birth to Maria, Shadow's daughter who he named after his closest friend from a space station called the ark. Tails ended up marrying Mina the mongoose and had totally forgotten about Fiona who spent the rest of her days with Scourge imprisoned in an alternate universe. The echidnas were able to reverse the damage done to Thrash's people, after that, no one ever saw the purple Tasmanian devil again. As for the chaos emeralds and the master emerald, they were kept safe and was never used for evil again.