SONIC HEROES
Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic characters, just the OC's
Chapter Twelve: Fighting in the Forest
It has not been long since Knuckles, Tails, and Cream (along with Cheese) had left the wondrous mountain area outside of Station Square to arrive flourishing Frog Forest. It was obvious how it got its name because of all the frogs in the surrounding areas. But the frogs weren't like normal ones. These frogs were three times the size of normal frog. In fact, one of the frogs had accidentally mistaken Cheese for a fly and swallowed him whole. "Cheese, NO!" Cream cried as her precious chao was eaten alive. "All right, toad face, cough it up!" Knuckles demanded. But when the frog refused to follow orders, Knuckles charged at the large frog and delivered a serious blow to the frogs gut. The initial attack not only knocked the frog out cold, but it also forced it to spit out Cheese, who landed directly on Tails face. "Eww!" Tails exclaimed as he removed the sticky chaos from his face. "Cheese!" Cream cried for joy as she hugged her Chao, but pushed it away as the frog saliva got on her dress. "Thank you, Knuckles." Cream bowed her head to Knuckles. "Not a problem. Just be sure to stick close, this place is dangerous." Knuckles warned his teammates before moving on.
As the group progressed further into the dense forest, Cream noticed Knuckles staring at a small object wrapped in a brown cloth in his hands. "Excuse me, Knuckles. But, if you don't mind me asking, what is that?" Cream asked, referring to the object in Knuckles large palm. "Oh, this? It's nothing really." Knuckles said, trying to avoid any questioning. "I don't buy that one bit." Tails said, deciding to join in on the conversation. Knuckles knew that Tails was as persistent as Sonic, and with Cream, it would be impossible for him to avoid. He decided he might as well tell them. "All right, I'll tell you. The truth is it's actually something for...Rouge." Knuckles said the last part quietly, but Cream heard because of her big ears. "A gift for Rouge?" Cream asked. "Kind of" Knuckles said. "Is it her birthday?" Cream asked. "No." Knuckles replied. "Then why would you have a gift for her? I thought you guys hated each other." Tails said. "You'll understand when you're older, Tails." Knuckles said with a smirk on his face. But unknown to the group, three pairs of red eyes were watching from the trees.
Only a short while later did Knuckles, Tails, and Cream find themselves grinding along three large vines that surrounded a gigantic mushroom. "Wow! Everything it this forest is so big!" Cream exclaimed in amazement. "It isn't surprising the constant sun and the frog can provide rain whenever they want." Tails informed them. "Listen, there is a time for sightseeing and this isn't it." Knuckles said sternly. "He's right. We have to hurry and stop Eggman before he takes the Master Emerald." Tails said. "Speaking of whom, how are we supposed to find Eggman?" Knuckles question. "Perhaps I can answer that." Knuckles reached behind his back to pull out the red walkie-talkie they had since the beginning of the adventure. "What are you taking about?" Knuckles asked. "In the center of the forest is a chaos emerald. Find that emerald and it's sure to catch Eggman's attention." The voice said before cutting off from communication. "You know, he might be right." Tails said. "Then what are we waiting? Let's move." Knuckles said.
After a long grind down the vines, Knuckles, Tails, and Cream found themselves in a clearing filled with large frog, scaring Cheese, who was hiding behind Cream's head. "Wow, I have never seen so many frogs in one place." Tails said in amazement. But while Tails and Cream were looking wondrously at the frogs, Knuckles spotted something on the ground not far from them. As he drew closer to the object, he found it to be the light-blue chaos emerald, just like the voice from the walkie-talkie said. "Weird. How did that voice even know that the chaos emerald would be here?" Knuckles asked himself as he picked up the chaos emerald. "There's something not right about that guys." Knuckles said as he placed the chaos emerald safely with Rouge's gift. Just then, the screams of his teammates could be heard. "AAAHHH!!!" "Tails! Cream!" Knuckles exclaimed. As Knuckles ran back to his friends, he found them surrounded by four white fighter mechs. "Hey! Get away from them!" Knuckles yelled as he pulled out the shovel claws and charged recklessly and the group of mechs.
Upon the furious battle cry, the fighter mechs turned their attention towards the rampaging Knuckles. The mechs lined up and raised their guns to fire. Knuckles quickly crouched down to his knees and raised his shovel claws to act as a shield to defend himself from the bullets. "Great, I can't move. If I do, I'll be killed." Knuckles thought, trying his best to stay up with the constant barrage of bullets attacking him. Realizing that Knuckles was unable to move, Tails decided to act. "Stay her, Cream." Tails said as he pulled out a handful of rings from his backpack and ran at one of the mechs. Once in range, Tails threw the rings at the mech, exploding on contact. Unfortunately, one of the other mechs noticed this and turned around to face Tails. "Uh...hi?" Tails said nervously. Just as the mech was about to shoot the fox, a young voice screeched from the side. "Don't you dare touch him!" Cream yelled. Cream curled Cheese into a ball and threw the little chao with impressive strength. Cheese crash straight through the mechs chest armor, destroying it. With the destruction of the other two mechs, Knuckles was able to push back the bullets with less difficulty. "My turn." Knuckles said as he charged at the mechs again. Right as he was a few feet away from them, Knuckles jumped to claws the mechs heads off, completely destroying them.
"Tails, are you alright?" Cream asked. "I'm fine, thanks to you. You were great , Cream. I never knew you could fight." Tails said. Cream blushed at attention she was receiving from Tails, which Knuckles noticed, and looked down to hide her red face. "Well...um...Amy taught me some things. I just never used them." Cream said honestly. "You were amazing." Tails complimented, making Cream's face turn a deeper shade of red, which Knuckles also noticed, but didn't say anything. But before they could even have a chance to relax, three new enemies jumped from the trees and landed into front of Team Knuckles. "And who are you?" Knuckles question. They didn't respond. The new enemies were mechs that seemed different then the previous ones. Other then their claws, the three mechs were completely without weapons. One of the mechs was red, another was yellow, and the last one was tan. "Something tells me they aren't the welcoming committee." Tails said. The three mech jumped into action and drag each one of the teammates away to fight their own battles.
Knuckles was grabbed around the neck and thrown clear across the lake and into the rock wall on the other side. Just as Knuckles got to his feet, the yellow mech flew down from out of nowhere and kicked Knuckles clear across the face five feet away. "Not bad, but you'll have to do better then that." Knuckles stated. Knuckles brought out his shovel claws into view and began to burrow underground. The mech tried to calculate where Knuckles might attack and came to the conclusion that the echidna guardian would attack directly below it. The yellow mechs activated the jets on its back and took off into the sky. The mech waited for Knuckles to pop out of the ground and attack, but, to its surprise, Knuckles never did attack from the ground. All of a sudden, Knuckles burst out the side of the rock wall and darted towards the mech. "Take this!" Knuckles shouted before he swung at the mechs head, landing a direct blow. Unfortunately, the mech quickly recovered and grabbed Knuckles by the wrist, swinging him around until throwing him to he ground.
Tails tried to grab the explosive rings in his back pack, but the tan mech grabbed him by the wrist and twisted it behind his back. While Tails winced in pain, the tan mech grabbed the poor fox by his namesakes and lifted him into the air to twirl him around before throwing him to the wall. "Tails!" Cream cried for her friend. Cream tried to run to the injured fox, but just then, the red mech burst up out of the ground and stood in her path. The mech lifted its hand to show off the spikes on it fists in an attempt to scared the delicate rabbit. Usually, Cream would be scared out of her wits at the sight of the mech, but her concern for Tails overpowered her fear. "Cheese, get him!" Cream called out. "Chao, Chao!" Cheese jumped from behind Creams head to ram itself into the mech, forcing it back into the lake. "Tails, are you all right." Cream asked as dropped to his side. "Look out!" Tails shouted suddenly as he dragged her to the ground. The tan mech tried to take a swipe at them, but Tails quickly ducked with Cream to avoid the attack. Tails tried to reach for his back pack again, but once again, he felt someone grab him by the wrist. He looked back to see the red mech, who was holding the defeated Cheese in its claw.
The yellow mech landed in front of a large crater next to the lake. In the center of the crater was Knuckles, who was covered in scratches and had blood dripping from his mouth. "Ok, so you're a lot tougher then I thought." Knuckles said as he wiped the blood away. "All right, bring it!" Knuckles yelled. Knuckles was ready to charge at the mech until he felt two objects fall from the sky and land on top of him. Knuckles got up to see the object were Tails, Cream, and Cheese. "What happened to you guys?" Knuckles asked. His question was answered we he saw the other two mech stand next to the yellow mechs. "Oh, now know." Knuckles said to himself. The mechs showed off the claws and crouched down to attack until the most unexpected thing happened. A gigantic Alligator jumped up from out of the lake and brought its jaw down to feast on the mechs before turning away. "Didn't see that coming." Knuckles said.
Knuckles, Tails, and Cream decided to stay in the crater for a few moments, not wanting to take any chances being eaten by the alligator. Once they realized that the alligator was gone, Team Knuckles began to crawl out of the crater. Knuckles was already out and Tails was helping Cream up. "Ok, only one more step." Tails said as he grabbed hold of Cream's hand to help. But when Cream was finally out of the crater, she accidentally tripped on a rock and landed in Tails arms. When Cream realized how close she was to Tails, she instantly jumped away and turned to hide the blush on her face, which Knuckles saw. "Umm...what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Cream exclaimed before running off. "What's with that?" said the confused Tails. "Geez, Tails, for a genies, you're really dense." Knuckles said. "Huh?" Tails was confused at what Knuckles might mean. "Never mind. Come on, we better find her before she gets into any trouble." Knuckles said before chasing after Cream with the still confused Tails following close behind.
Next Chapter: Team Knuckles vs. Team Rose. Please, read and review