This is Master Tananh. Sorry I took such a long break. Let's just say your junior year in high school is not fun. This chapter is about Sonic invading Sykes and Knuckles trying to get the Master Emerald back. I have added a boss fight with Knuckles and I have greatly extended Sonic's fight with Nick Sykes. Read on.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 5: Emerald Problems

Sonic

We were flying toward Nick Sykes' boat. I was in a jet with Rogue. The plan was for her to get low enough for me to eject out of the jet and onto the boat. It was one of those deals where the co-pilot was in the back and the pilot in the front. Then I would find the Chaos Emerald and warp out of there. We figured that Metal Shadow would go for the one in Australia first since it wasn't as well guarded as this one was. I only hope we're right.

Knuckles and Tails were on their way in the Tornado to Eggman's base. Knuckles was to try to steal the Chaos Emeralds and, more importantly, (to Knuckles) the Master Emerald.

"Whoa!" Rouge commented. "Whoa." I agreed. We were looking at Nick Sykes' boat. You could've fit the Alamo on that thing! And Nick Sykes had taken advantage of this. He had filled the entire deck with nasty little robots, guns, and…

anti-air equipment. "Get us out of here now!" I shouted.

Nick Sykes

I sat in the control room of my "fortress", as I called it. Suddenly, an alarm went off. "Alert! Military jet approaching! Alert! Military jet approaching!" The computer went on and on.

I turned on the camera to find a single military jet approaching. "I'm insulted!" I said to no one. "You'd think they'd at least send an entire fleet in to get me! Maybe it's just heading to the Bahamas for some reason." Well, I needed a little action anyway. I smiled. "Shoot it down!" I ordered the computer.

Sonic

I didn't even see the shot. All I knew was our engines were on fire. "We're going down!" Rouge shouted. "Pilot eject system not responding!" She looked back at me. "But the co-pilot eject is fine." I widened my eyes. "No way! I'm not leaving you here to crash and burn!" Rouge smiled at me sadly. "Sorry flyboy, but you can do more damage out there then me anyway. Go get em!"

And before I could do anything about it, she flew me out of there. Lucky for me, I landed on the boat safely. It was kind of hard to miss. Rouge's jet hit the boat also. The explosion was deafening. "Noooooooooooooooooo!" I cried. Then a rage filled up in me that I didn't recognize. Nick Sykes was going to pay.

Nick Sykes

I danced with joy. A direct hit! Sure it hit the fortress, but it needed redecorated anyway. "The co-pilot bailed sir. He might be alive," my robot friend informed me. "Is that so?" I said, "Suit me up! I'll take this one personally." I could barely contain my excitement. I hadn't killed anybody personally for about a month now. I was overdue.

Knuckles

Tails landed the Tornado and I got out. "Eggman's base is about 5 miles from here. I can't risk getting any closer without being seen, so this is about as close as I can get you." I could tell Tails hated the idea of just sitting here while I did all the other work. If I asked, he would come. But I had to sneak in without being seen, and that was something that's better for one person to do.

As I set off, Tails called me back. I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry Tails, but you can't come," I said. Tails looked embarrassed. "It's not that. I just figured you might want this." Tails held out a walkie-talkie. "This way if you get into any trouble, you could call me!" I doubted he could do anything if I got in trouble, but I took it anyway to make him feel better.

After I thanked him, I took off. I could run pretty fast. I can't match Sonic's speed, but I can really move when I want to. I got there in about 5 minutes. After carefully sneaking by all the guards and security cameras. I reached the elevator. According to my senses, the Master Emerald was way underground. I hit the button that should lead me to the bottom floor.

After a long elevator ride down I found a very cramped but empty room with a ultra high security door that took up most of the wall. I knew that the Emeralds were in there, but how could I get in? I heard a noise above me

I looked up quickly to see some kind of strange spider-like robot. It had eight jointed legs that were sticking to the ceiling, and in the center was a large sphere. The legs were all attached on the bottom side. The top had about five guns, laser emitters by the looks of them, all of which were pointed at me.

"Uh oh."

I leapt backwards right as the spot where I had been standing was covered with lasers. The lasers began moving all over the room while I began to do all kinds of acrobatic maneuvers to avoid them. I leapt onto the wall and then jumped up to the ceiling, out of range of the lasers. I crawled towards the spider thing but it crawled quickly out of the way.

It moved jerkily, stopping suddenly. Before I knew it, it was moving again right towards me. It kicked me with three of it's legs, knocking me onto the ceiling into the laser filled floor below. I twisted my body quickly to avoid a laser and landed in a jumping position, hopping all over the place until I managed to get onto the ceiling again.

I felt my face and discovered three cuts. Those legs were very sharp. What now? The thing's movements were very unpredictable, keeping me from knowing what it would do next. Well, two can play at that game. I crawled quickly towards the thing but then switched direction to the left as fast as I could . I continued to zigzag all over the place. It seemed to be working. The thing made a few uncertain movements, but for the most part stayed where it was, trying to figure out what I was doing.

I got a little closer to it and turned sharply so that I was heading right for it. Right before I approached it I let go of the ceiling with my legs and swung right into the robot, kicking it hard. It recoiled, and I did a sort of upside down somersault and leaped towards it again and glided a little to stay in the air. I twisted around as I flew under it and punched as hard as I could at the center, ripping off the laser emitters as I went into a free fall back down to the ground.

I looked up and smirked, only to have the smile wiped off my face as it released itself from the ceiling. It turned around, and moved it's legs wildly, hoping to slice me to pieces when it landed on me, but I was too quick. I hopped out of the way just in time.

It landed rather awkwardly on it's sphere. Then the legs began to move to the center of the ball pointing straight so that they made a circle around it. I groaned as the ball began spinning very quickly and spun towards me. I quickly dug underground and felt it sail past me. I jumped back up and faced the new threat.

I ran towards it as it charged and jumped cleanly over it and kept going. I leapt at the wall and did a Wall Jump springing over the enemy, I grinned.

One Drill Claw later and it was nothing but rubble. I sighed with a combination of exhaustion and relief. That had been a tough one. It was a miracle no alarm had been set off. There were no cameras in this room, clearly Eggman didn't want anyone to know it was there. Then I heard something that put me on the alert again.

The elevator was going up. Someone was coming.

Eggman

I stood in my control room. Everything was going smoothly. Suddenly, a flash of green light appeared and Metal Shadow was standing before me with the sixth Chaos Emerald. Ha ha ha ha! Great work! Hand it to me."
Metal Shadow handed me the red Emerald. "The last one is being smuggled out of the Bahamas. By an old friend of mine; Nick Sykes I believe. I have a warp pad ready for you. It should take you pretty close to him. Your primary objective is to retrieve the Chaos Emerald, but make sure you destroy that stupid boat of his! It's very annoying!" Metal Shadow nodded and walked off to complete his mission.

While Metal Shadow was fulfilling his duties, I decided to install this Chaos Emerald into Goliath. I took the elevator down into the ultra high security door room. After taking about ten minutes of going through the security measures, the door opened.

Knuckles

Eggman hadn't noticed me. I had attached myself to the ceiling while holding what remained of the robot in my hands so Eggman wouldn't notice them. He just walked past me and opened the door. Too easy. I sneaked in after quietly putting the rubble on the floor. I waited for the moment to charge Eggman. It would be good to take him down before anything else happened.

But as I looked up I was distracted. Inside the room I saw a huge machine. It must have been the size of a skyscraper! It was as we had feared. The armored plating wasn't on it though. It was opened to reveal the complicated mechanics of the machine. Revealing five Chaos Emeralds and two other empty slots in the mass of wires and metal. It seemed to Knuckles like the machine was separated into seven separate pieces. One for each Emerald, but he wasn't sure. Knuckles wasn't very good with machines.

"Well Goliath," Eggman said, "One more to go! Then you'll be complete!" Goliath? Must be the machine's name or something.

After about another twenty-five minutes Eggman had connected the Emerald to "Goliath". He stood there marveling at his creation as I hoped that Sonic wasn't too late.

Sonic

I slashed through another robot. I had been at it for about an hour. Fueled by rage, I kept on. I was still on the deck. Then I saw him.

I knew it was him somehow. Standing before me was Nick Sykes in some kind of robot suit. It enhanced his power, but he wouldn't last against me. No one kills my friends and gets away with it!

Nick Sykes

I looked at this new foe. "You are Sonic the Hedgehog are you not?" I asked. He didn't say anything. He just glared at me. "Not a very cheery fellow are you? Well, since you've been such a bad boy, this year old Saint Nick will give you a different kind of present. I don't think you'll like it either!"
I laughed maniacally as I charged toward him. How thrilling! I would kill Sonic the Hedgehog! Before I made contact he jumped, but not far enough that my top arms wouldn't reach him! They smashed him clear over to near the edge of the boat. I chased after him gleefully.

Sonic

I got up painfully. That was stupid of me to lash out like that I began to get a grip on myself. The blind rage began to subside, but by no means was I my usual cheery self again.

I looked at Sykes as he ran towards me. His suit made him about seven feet, with six gigantic arms, three on each side. His back, however, seemed to be unprotected. A good Homing Attack back there and he would be sprawling on the floor defenseless. After that, well I didn't know what I would do. I went into a defensive stance as he charged me, laughing gleefully.

I jumped over his lower arm and was smashed by the middle, but I clung to it desperately, refusing to let go. He shook furiously until I let go, flying behind him. I smiled grimly as I smashed him with a Homing Attack. He turned around quickly and somehow managed to stay erect.

Nick Sykes

"You'll pay for that!" He stared at me with utter hatred. "I doubt it." He replied solemly. Where was the cockiness I had heard so much about? This time, he charged me. I backed up towards the edge as he did Homing Attack after Homing Attack. My arms were managing to block them for now, but I don't know how long I can hold him off. Finally, with my feet at the very edge of the boat, one got through.

"Aaargh! I cried as one connected with my face. I threw my arms up to protect me but then he curled up into a ball and knocked my feet out from under me. I gasped in alarm as my feet slipped off the boat and began to fall. Luckily, my middle arms grabbed the edge leaving my top arms above me. Sonic ran at me and I threw my top arms at him but he managed to catch them with each of his hands.

I knew then I was at his mercy. One kick in the face and I would be done. He raised his foot over my face and I braced myself, but something seemed to hold him back. I looked at his face and he looked at me. He seemed to be having some kind of inner conflict with himself. Then suddenly we were interrupted.

"Self destruct sequence has been activated. 5:00 until the self destruction," the computer announced. "What? I never gave that order!" I cried. Sonic looked shocked as well.

"Oh no! Not here! Not now!" he moaned. He glared at me for a second. "The self destruct will take care of you. I've got bigger fish to fry." And he let my arms go and started to turn around.

"No fish is bigger than me!" I cried maniacally and swiped at him with my arms. He back-flipped over the attack and spun around and kicked me in the face in frustration. I could only wonder what had happened as I flew overboard!

I fell down into the ocean. My suit started to leak as I got deeper. I was too heavy to be able to swim with all my metal gear on. And there was no way I could get this thing off without my robots to help me. This was definitely my final hour.

I saw a fish. It was a pretty fish. I marveled at its beauty. Maybe, there was more to life than what I had thought, I wondered as I stared at the brilliant display of colors. But the fish never saw the shark as it glided in and ate it on the spot. I found that very hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing. I died with a grin on my face.

Eggman

After I was done installing the Emerald I walked over to the Master Emerald's resting place not too far away from Goliath.

I pointed to the Master Emerald, which was on a table inside a glass case. "You want it?" I asked Knuckles. Who had been hiding up on the ceiling all along. I smirked at my brilliance.

Sonic

I ran as fast as I could toward the cargo hold. If I didn't find the Chaos Emerald before Metal Shadow, I would be toast. After fighting my way through the ship, I found the cargo hold.

I found Metal Shadow standing with the Emerald in his hands. "Where do you think you're going with that emerald?" I said with a little of my cockiness back in my voice. Ironically, I had said those same words the first time I met Shadow; who had been carrying the same green Emerald he held in his hands at this very moment. "Ready for Round Two?" I taunted. Although I really didn't think I could beat this guy with my injuries from Sykes and with three minutes on the clock.

Knuckles

I couldn't hide my surprise. Eggman had spotted me! Nothing left to do then, I thought. I leapt from my hiding spot and quickly glided towards him, ignoring the pain I felt from my previous battle. But I had never really saw the laser gun he had been hiding behind his coat all along. He aimed and fired.

Sonic

Once again, I found myself fighting Metal Shadow, and once again, he had the advantage. I don't like fighting in cramped spaces, I knew that I couldn't do any damage with his shield up, and I was injured. But I charged nonetheless. I didn't want him warping away.
I bounced off as I expected. I looked up in despair, surely he would've already started the Chaos Control technique. But he hadn't. He merely pointed his missile-loaded fingers at me and fired.

I leaped out of the way only to realize I hadn't been the target. He had shot the room behind us. The result left so much debris that it would take hours to dig through. I only had about two and a half minutes.

I looked up. It was do or die now.

I charged, he punched, I blocked. He kicked me in the face and I fell back. I looked up only to see him disappear in a green light. "Two minutes until the self destruction of the ship." I sighed. So this was the end. I had wasted too much time fighting robots in my fury.

"I only hope Knuckles is doing better than me." I muttered to no one.

Knuckles

"Arrgggh!" I screamed in pain as the searing heat of the laser hit my shoulder. I landed on my back. Eggman stood over me and aimed his pistol at my face. "There will be no more trouble from you." He said as he tightened the trigger.

This is Master Tananh. I'm rather proud of that little cliffhanger. Must be my best one yet. Who will stop Eggman now that Rouge is dead and Knuckles and Sonic are doomed? Can Tails do it on his own? And are any of them even dead? Find out next time. And please keep in mind that Sykes was only put in the story to give Sonic someone to fight, so don't give me any crap about how I should've tried to plug him into the main plot please. Now please review and tell me how awesome it is.