Okay. This needed major editing, and I did so, but I've been sick. (Meaning: I probably have some typos and the like. I read it over and over, and I'm pretty sure they're all ironed out, but don't be surprised if you find a couple of errors.)

~Wolf~

I stood face-to-face with Luktani. To my left was Tails, who was gazing upwards at a tall, strongly-built coyote. I could tell he was nervous, but he had enough gadgets to get out alive. Knuckles was to my right, glaring at eye level with a large hyena. I wasn't worried about him at all. He could hold is own, no doubt. I saw him slip on two metal spikes over his already-lethal hands: the shovel claws. His amethyst eyes were cold and heartless, ready to brutally defeat his opponent.

I was the one who didn't stand a chance. Luktani's daggers were cleaned of any bloodstains and glimmered in the dim light of the tunnel. Her gun was ready to fire at a moment's notice. I fingered with mine, slipping off the safety and preparing to summon a hammer if need be. I normally didn't, but I figured I should probably use every resource I had.

I avoided eye contact with her. Her eyes were too piercing and harsh to risk a stare down. Then, all you-know-what broke loose with a single battle cry from Luktani. Her voice was animalistic and threatening, almost like panther's deadly growl. The one he gives right before he eats you. Relying on instinct, I leapt upwards, summoning a hammer and swinging it down. I heard a thud and a yelp, but then felt a dagger slice its way across my arm.

I ignored the pain and landed in a crouch, letting the hammer disappear. I glared at Luktani, who already had a gun drawn on me. Sonic never got himself into these situations quite so quickly. Still, I wasn't going down yet. I mentally ran over what I had in my arsenal: hammers, guns, C4, annoyingly without a charge, and speed that potentially rivaled hers. What I was about to do could've been classified as suicidal, but I didn't have another choice.

I rammed myself directly into Luktani, throwing her off balance and grabbing her other throwing dagger. I sliced it across her right hand, and she shrieked with rage before dropping the gun. I threw the dagger, but it didn't fly true. It did hit Tails' opponent, although not in a fatal location. I dove for the gun and snatched it just before Luktani could. Still on the ground, I fired, pleased as the bullet buried itself in the lynx's shoulder.

"Alright, if that's how you want to play," snarled Luktani. "We'll play." She leapt backwards and snatched one of the numerous guns from the hyena, who was too preoccupied to even notice. I didn't recognize it until she fired. I barely dodged the searing laser, yelping as the red light shot by me. I had no clue what the firearm did, exactly, but I didn't want to know. As she continued to fire, I moved forward, a dagger hidden in my belt.

It was a catch-22 situation. The closer I got, the better chance I had of hitting my mark with the knife, but being closer to Luktani meant I had less reaction time to avoid the laser. I clutched the dagger, and barely jumped out of the way of the laser, then reached my arm back and threw. It sliced across Luktani's leg, and I knew she'd be limping for a while. I grinned. Maybe I had a chance after all!

***

I waved my tails back and forth in a hypnotic sort of pattern, watching as the coyote in front of me began to get dizzy from the constant, twitchy motion. That's all I wanted. I took the time and thought about my chances. Okay, I had C4, but I didn't have time to set a charge. My tails' dance didn't work while I was moving. I had one pistol, but that was it. I really wasn't that prepared. I had a remote control, though, that could potentially call some of my inventions to me. I began pressing buttons on it, still waving my tails and keeping a close eye on the coyote. To tell the truth, I was surprised at how dense he was, that I could keep him distracted for so long.

Suddenly, a dagger shot from across the room and into the coyote's back. He yelped, and snapped into action. Cursing my luck, I stopped my tails' random movements and turned them into a propeller, flying up and out of reach. I grabbed the pistol and fired down at the coyote, but missed. I hadn't practiced my aim in forever. If Sonic was with me, we would have had an entire arsenal of devastating attacks we could use. Without him, I was essentially useless. My robots didn't do much but help my teammates.

I cried out as a bullet tore through my arm. I held it tightly, stunting the blood flow. I barely managed to fire again, this time hitting my target's foot. He shrieked with agony and fury, and began hopping on his uninjured foot somewhat comically. I used this time to grab the C4. I flew to the top of the tunnel and placed it there with some detonation cord and a remote charge. It would be a last resort, but if we had to collapse the place and make a run for it, we could.

The coyote had recovered now, and was obviously quite miffed that I was still flying. "Get down here, you two-tailed freak!" Before, I was just fighting, but insulting my tails was something you did not do. When I was younger, I just let it get to me, but then I met Sonic, who showed me how to use them. I had become quite defensive of them since then.

I curled into a spin dash, letting my tails whip around. They weren't nearly as effective as Sonic's spines, but they got the job done. I let gravity do the work, barreling straight into the coyote. He cried out as he slammed into the wall, my pummeling continuous and impassioned. I stopped and backed away, watching as he groaned in his unconsciousness. "I'm not a two-tailed freak."

***

You could say I was ticked. The second Luktani announced the start of the battle, I had rushed the hyena. I used my shovel claws and immediately punched him above the eye, striking blood and giving him a blind side. I loved starting out on top. I grinned and began pummeling him mercilessly. He cried out as each blow struck him hard and true. Then he fought back. With the butt of his gun, he rammed it into my side, sending me flying into the wall opposite.

I simply rose to my feet again. I wasn't going to go down like that. With a snarl, I shot towards him again, knocking the gun away and delivering a brutal uppercut. He fell to the ground, dazed and very much confused, but even in his stupor, he managed to grab a pistol and fire. I wasn't expecting it, but I still avoided the bullet.

I jumped into the air as high as I could, then prepared my fist to come into hard contact with the ground. I dropped and slammed my metal claws hard into the earth.

***

As the ground trembled from the force of Knuckles' attack, I braced myself by dropping to my knees. Luktani did similarly, even though she'd never seen this attack before in her life. It wasn't fair that she automatically knew what to do. The first time Knuckles did that near me, I was nearly knocked out. I saw Tails out of the corner of my eye, flying above the quaking ground while his opponent, who had been previously coming to, was knocked out by a falling rock. Luckily, Knuckles' hyena was unconscious as well. With her thugs out of commission, Luktani was the only one left.

I stood and rallied Knux and Tails to me. All three of us stood together, glaring at Luktani. I was hoping to intimidate her, but it didn't work. She just rose to her feet and smirked. Then I saw why. From out of nowhere rose all seven Chaos Emeralds. They were still their normal colors, but something was wrong with them. They were darker shades of their normally shining auras. Whenever Sonic was near them, they glowed so brightly they were almost white. These seemed to emanate evil.

Tails noticed my confusion, and he whispered hastily into my ear. "Those emeralds are dark because Luktani can't use the positive energies. She's brought forth the negative energies so she can use them, instead." I wanted to snatch the emeralds away, but I knew touching them now, in this state, would just kill me. It would kill anyone who couldn't channel the negative energies. I vaguely remembered Sonic saying he'd accidentally channeled them once.

I cursed under my breath as I helplessly watched Luktani. Slowly, the emeralds were drained of their power. One by one, their normally bright colors dissipated into black and they fell to the ground. With each emerald's negative energies stolen, Luktani's fur grew from dark brown to black, and a blue aura appeared around her. Her pupils and irises faded to nothingness and her fangs were slightly elongated. "No holds barred," she hissed, her voice coming out as a half-growl.

With a snarl she flung the now drained emeralds to the side. Using her newfound powers, she began to levitate slightly, then shot towards us. We didn't have a chance. We were all thrown in different directions. I was slammed into a wall, my vision swimming in black as I dizzily rose to my feet. The second I was standing I was shoved down again, Luktani's foot slamming into my back and sending me sprawling.

Weakly, I tried to push myself up again, my arms trembling with the strain. My right arm, the one with the knife wound, collapsed on me, and I fell back down. Then I was jerked to my feet by the back of my neck, almost like a puppy, and found myself staring straight into those pupil-less eyes. Her grin was demonic, as was her entire being. She laughed deviously before throwing me against the opposite wall. My head hit the rock hard, and I was powerless as I crumpled against it.

I opened my eyes to see Luktani towering over me, smirking. "I win. Remember the deal, deary? The blue one dies first. Let's get this over with."

She formed a fist with her right hand, and around it formed a ball of dark energy. It didn't look fun. You could tell by the electricity crackling around it and the dark indigos swimming around with black and crimson it was pure evil. She shot it behind her, in Sonic's direction. I couldn't see around her, but I broke down in tears then and there. I lost him again. I hadn't had him back for more than an hour, but already we had lost him.

But then I heard a voice I had been begging to hear for over a week: "Nice try." Luktani's eyes widened and she turned around to see a fully-healed, golden-furred version of the hedgehog she had tried to kill. He was holding the sphere of dark matter in his hand. As he held it, it's color changed to the same crimson amber of his eyes. It shot towards the lynx, but she avoided it. She shrieked with rage and shot over towards him. He smirked, crouched, and leapt into the air to meet her.

I was terrified. Sonic had the positive energies of the Chaos Emeralds, and Luktani had the negative energies. They were being pitted against each other in a fight to the death. I just prayed that the outcome would prove to be in our favor.