I apologize for the long lack of updates. Writer's block, temporary hiatus, and other things can really get in the way. I've also revised the previous chapters, due to plot holes and the releases of Rush Adventure and Zero Gravity, which concern a few details. Therefore, rereading the previous chapters is advised for both continuity patches and a refresher before reading this chapter.
Chapter 8: Agitation
"You won't scare me off that easy!" Jet declared, stepping forward.
Knuckles staggered backwards, blood still dripping from his arm onto the floor. Nobody paid him much heed, though, as their attention was fixed on the hawk's surprising boldness against their adversary. With Knuckles, of all people, injured from her attack, it had seemed that nobody else would go against her. Even Wave herself had believed that the group would back down.
Jet flicked his wrists, summoning his twin Bashyo fans, and glared at the swallow. "I don't care who you are, or if you have a million knives. No one gets in my way when I'm on a mission!"
"Whatever you want. It's your funeral," Wave said coolly.
Without warning, she jumped towards him, ready to bring the still-bloodied knife down on him. The group scattered, with Rouge and Storm dropping their boards as they fled. Jet emitted a squawk of surprise before dashing out of the way. The clang of metal against concrete resounded through the hangar, but Wave had already turned around and leapt for Jet again before the echo died away. Each time she lunged, he would just barely escape from her blade. Much to his frustration, Jet was forced to keep on the move, unable to send any attacks of his own.
Jet was so focused on dodging the attacks that he failed to notice that he was being driven straight towards the middle of the hangar. The bottom of his boot found no traction in the slippery metal, and his foot flew out from beneath him as he tried to turn around. Jet let out a grunt of pain as he landed on his back, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs. Wave looked down at him and smirked as she raised the knife. She brought it down, aiming for the chest...
... only for it to be knocked away from her hand by the Bashyo fans. Jet got back to his feet, holding the fans tightly in his grasp as he caught his breath. Water from the puddle dripped down his back.
"Like I said," Jet panted. "You won't scare me off that easy."
"But I will get rid of you," Wave said, pulling out two knives from her pouch. A knot of uneasiness tied itself in Jet's stomach, and he tried to ignore it. Two knives against two fans was a fair fight, wasn't it?
The two birds side-stepped away from the wet metal, not daring to take their eyes off the other. Wave finally took the initiative and prepared to stab him again. Jet was overcome with the urge to take off running as he did before. However, if he were to do that, the cycle of attacking and dodging would only restart. With two knives in the swallow's hands now, he doubted he would be able to last if he slipped again. So knife met fan repeatedly as Jet defended himself from the attacks. Each time, he nearly lost his balance from pushing away the offending blade, with mere seconds to recover before the next one came for him.
Wave rained down blow after furious blow with the two knives. Jet grunted with the effort of keeping them at bay while also retaining his balance-- his fans were not made for defense. His arms screamed with pain, threatening to give out at any moment as he continued the frantic sweeping motions that kept the weapons away. Finally, there was a break in the pattern, as Wave brought both of the knives back at the same time. Utilizing this opportunity, Jet swung his two fans together, unleashing a powerful blast of wind. This knocked Wave off-balance, and she was thrown onto her back. Jet quickly wound up one more attack, holding his ground until the last possible moment. He panted with exhaustion, and beads of sweat trickled off of his forehead.
"You don't put up too bad of a fight, hawk!" Wave said, jumping to her feet and running towards him once more.
Before she could attack him, Jet let loose with his Screw Attack, whirling around with the remainder of his strength. The maneuver hit home, and Wave was sent flying even further back, this time slamming against the hangar wall. This brought forth a web of crackling electricity, and she screamed in pain as it flowed through her. After the worst of the bolts died away, Wave groaned as she collapsed face-down onto the floor. After a full minute of no further action from the swallow, Jet let out a massive sigh and sank to his knees in exhaustion, the Bashyo fans slipping out of his hands.
"Boss! Are you okay?" Storm asked, approaching the hawk.
"I'll be fine. I've seen worse," Jet lied, catching his breath. He could feel slight stinging sensations on his body in various places, where he had gotten nicked during the fight.
"Damn it," Knuckles swore, the bleeding of his arm slowing down. "I should have been the one to show her who's boss. But she just had to go and catch me by surprise!"
"Come on, Red Mutt," Rouge said. "Don't be mad just because you're not strong enough to fight girl power. Even I was impressed with her moves."
"Who asked you, you stupid bat? I could beat you right now!" Knuckles shook his injured arm at her, and immediately winced as a wave of pain followed his actions.
Rouge was unimpressed. "Just like you beat that swallow?"
While Knuckles and Rouge bickered, Blaze walked up towards Jet, still keeping her distance.
"That fight was one of the most furious I've ever seen," she said. Then she put a hand to her chin in thought as she recalled the four-year-old memory of the day that she had fought Sonic at Dead Line, noting how similar it had been to the battle that had just happened.
Tails was examining the fallen swallow. The silver box on her back was still crackling with small bolts of electricity, damaged from its collision with the wall. Her chest was rising and falling, signaling that she was still alive, albeit unconscious. Tails noticed a red card attached to the strap of knife pouches and carefully reached for it. After grabbing it with his thumb and forefinger, he quickly pulled the card away, as though she would wake up any minute and reclaim it.
Tails got back to his feet and took another look at the red card he had just snatched. Eggman's trademark logo was embossed onto the front, and the reverse side had a black strip intended for scanning-- a card key. He walked up to the door that the swallow had been guarding and looked for a card scanner, finding only a mere button. Tails pressed it, and the doors slid open without any trouble. He frowned, thinking that it had been too easy to open the door. Perhaps that was why the swallow had to be such a good fighter.
"Come on, guys," Tails called, turning around. "Let's keep going!"
Knuckles and Rouge almost didn't hear the fox between their arguing, and were reluctant to end their war of words so quickly. After a few seconds of silence and two simultaneous "harrumph"s, they both picked up the Extreme Gears that had been abandoned in the earlier battle and headed over towards the door, with Cream and Blaze following. Storm reclaimed the Type-S and began to make his way towards the rest of the group, but stopped when he realized that Jet wasn't following him. He turned around to find that the hawk had gotten to his feet, but was just standing there, the fans on the ground and his gaze fixed on the unconscious swallow.
Jet was still worn out from the battle. Until today, he had never been required to fight for his life, which was far different from the scuffles on the race track that he was more accustomed to. He had been victorious, which instilled some pride in him, but taking a second look at his fallen adversary made him wonder how permanent the damage he'd caused would be. Electrocution wasn't something that could be shrugged off like a minor bruise-- it was painful and often fatal. He cringed in fear at the thought of the black-feathered girl awakening, vengeance blazing in those ice-blue eyes of hers... and yet, at the same time, Jet couldn't help but feel as though he knew his opponent. If he didn't know any better, he would swear that she was a more sadistic and evil version of Wave.
"Are you going to stand there all night and stare at her?" Rouge called out. "Because we sure aren't. Now hurry up and get over here!"
Jet sighed and picked up his fans. He took one last look at the swallow and went to get his board.
'Wherever you are, Wave, hang tight. You'll be out of here in no time!' he thought.
Sonic blinked as he transitioned from dreaming into waking. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine that he was waking up in his bed at home, but the blue hedgehog couldn't fool himself. He knew that he'd been captured by Eggman, and that his super speed was as good as useless at this point in time. The pain in his leg, which had been reduced to a dull throb during his sleep, was a constant reminder of his predicament.
'Man, I sure hope the others are okay,' Sonic thought, yawning. As far as he knew, the only people that had been captured were Amy, Wave, Shadow, and himself-- and he hoped it would stay that way.
Sonic's ears pricked as they picked up the sound of footsteps coming down the hall, distracting him from his thoughts.
"Who's there?" he asked, opening his eyes again. He tried to turn over to see, but a fresh burst of pain shot through his broken leg. He yelped, quickly returning to his original position. "Shadow, is that you?"
The only reply he received was the footsteps stopping. After waiting a couple of seconds to get over the worst of pain, Sonic sighed. For all the time that he'd known Shadow, the ebony hedgehog had never been much of a talker.
"What time is it, Shad? Geez... must be really late. What is it, past midnight or something?" Sonic asked. When he was met with more silence, he continued. "Yeah. But you probably don't care about the time. You seemed pretty curious earlier about why Amy's acting all different."
Still there was no reply, just expectant silence. Sonic was unable to comprehend how Shadow's messages could get across so easily with a lack of words. The blue hedgehog stifled another yawn, wanting nothing more at that moment than to go back to sleep.
"It's a long story, and I really don't want to go into details right now, so I'll just give you the short version. When I started going out with another friend of mine about a year ago, Amy found out a bit sooner than I hoped, and she started avoiding us. I don't want to let it bother me, but... geez, something like that can't always be ignored. You're the expert on grudges, so tell me... can you really hold a grudge forever?" he asked. "I never wanted Amy to get hurt. I mean, she's like a sister I never had. It's not that Idon't care about her, it's just..."
Sonic tried to think of a good way to finish his statement, but was unsuccessful in doing so. Drowsiness was plaguing him, so if Shadow wanted a full answer, then he would have to wait until morning.
"Well, anyway, now you know." The hedgehog closed his eyes again and tried to get back to sleep.
Amy was silently thankful that Sonic hadn't turned over to see who he was talking to. She bit her lip and slowly walked back to her own bed.
'He thinks I'm holding a grudge against him? That's not true! It's not like I've been personally trying to kill him or anything,' Amy thought as she sat down. The memory of betraying his location to Eggman returned, and she felt guilt eating away at her insides.'Well, there was that. But I wasn't thinking clearly. If he thinks of me like a sister, why didn't he just tell me?' This thought was contradicted by Amy's recollections of the event she had dubbed as the worst day of her life. She sighed in irritation, reluctant to accept that there was no longer a good reason to continue avoiding Sonic and Blaze. It was difficult to let go of things she had been stewing over for so long.
Amy glanced at the other hedgehog occupying her bed, grateful to see that Shadow had finally drifted off to sleep. If he had been awake, then this situation would have been very awkward-- much like the other situations that had taken place within the past couple of hours. Amy looked away from him as she remembered the strange look she had been given during their meal.
'Who knows?' she thought. 'Maybe I've earned enough of Shadow's trust by now to be considered his friend. That would do him some good-- any time I've seen him, he was always alone. He's got to lighten up a bit. But... he doesn't really seem like the kind to make friends easily...'
"I need to sleep on it," Amy whispered, laying back down on the bed. After a second's thought, she adjusted her position, moving closer to Shadow.
"Quit squirming, Knucklehead, unless you just want to walk around with a bleeding limb!" Rouge growled, struggling to tie a white handkerchief to the echidna's bleeding arm.
Knuckles was doing his best to resist. "Stop trying strangle my arm first!"
The group had been walking for some time, and Knuckles' arm was still bleeding from the earlier fight. The blood flow had lightened considerably, and hardly stood out against his red fur. However, the blood was still dripping off of his arm, creating a visible scarlet trail on the floor.
"Come on! If any patrolling guards find the path you made, we may as well just march right up to Eggman and say, 'We're in your base, come and stop us'!" Rouge said. "Besides, some of those guards might be worse than that bird girl back at the hangar. So shut up and take it like a man!"
Knuckles looked as though he was going to retort, but opted instead to sigh irritably and let Rouge tie the makeshift bandage onto his arm. He squeezed his eyes shut and grunted in pain when the handkerchief was pulled into an exceptionally tight knot. Rouge smiled and dusted her hands. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?"
"Thanks... I guess," he said. Knuckles tried to wipe the remaining blood off of his arm, only to gain newer red stains on his glove. His arm still stung, but at least it wasn't dripping any more blood. He turned and walked back towards the group, followed by Rouge. At least they had stopped at a fork in the halls, so whatever bloody trail there already was didn't give too much away about their location.
"Both hallways from here look exactly the same," Cream said. "Blaze, didn't you say that you could find the other Emeralds?"
Blaze hesitated for a moment, then brought out the white Sol Emerald that she had carried in her coat. Her calm expression was reflected in the gem. "Yes. The Sol Emeralds are sensitive to each other's presence, so I should be able to find where the others are using this one."
The cat closed her eyes, her concentration completely focused on the Sol Emerald in her hand. She could feel its warmth, a result from the energy within it that waited to be released. Blaze tapped into this energy, requesting but one thing.
'Please, lead me to other Emeralds.'
The Sol Emerald complied, gleaming brightly at first as it was pointed at the left hallway. Blaze moved it towards the right, and its glow diminished.
"The emerald's glow is stronger at this hall," Tails said, pointing at the left hallway. "It's safer to assume the other emeralds are down there, so let's try there. Blaze, you lead, okay?"
Blaze nodded and began to walk in front of the group, still holding the gleaming emerald. No further conversation was passed as they all walked down the lengthy corridor, guided only by prayers and the glow of the Sol Emerald. After about a minute of walking, the hallway diverged into a left and right pathway, each curving off around a bend. Blaze pointed the emerald at each of the halls, but there was no visible difference in the glow.
"It seems that both halls lead to the other Sol Emeralds, wherever they may be," she said, frowning at the emerald. "Since either way goes, we should probably split up to cover more ground. But--"
"Divide and conquer? Well, that's easy!" Jet interrupted. "Just put three in each group and we're good to go!"
"But it's not that simple," Blaze said. "We have seven people here, so there'd be one left over."
"Ya think I can't count, furball? The odd one out can pick whichever group they want."
"What did you just call me?"
"Look, enough!" Tails shouted, casting a quick look at Blaze. While the cat was visibly offended by Jet's remark, it was also clear that she did not wish to fight him. "Arguing like this isn't going to get us anywhere, so we'll have to do this in an orderly fashion. Okay?"
Everybody else mumbled their agreement, while Jet crossed his arms in defiance and turned to look at the wall. He was used to being the boss, so having somebody else calling the shots was grating on his nerves. Not to mention that it was very late, and the lack of sleep was making him more irritable than usual.
"Jet's idea of the three-person teams was a good one. But like Blaze said, we have an odd number of people here," Tails began. "To make it fair, I'll be the odd one out, and everyone else can pick their teams. Jet, Blaze, since you two aren't on the best terms right now, you'll be in seperate groups."
Blaze nodded in understanding while Jet merely scoffed. Before Tails could speak further, Storm walked over to Jet's side. The hawk didn't acknowledge him, instead continuing to bore a hole in the wall with his glare.
"I'm sticking with Boss, and that's that," Storm declared.
Knuckles moved next to Blaze. "I'm not hanging around that meathead or his boss."
"I'll go with Blaze, too," Cream said, joining Knuckles.
Rouge shrugged and walked over to join the two Babylon Rogues. "Guess that puts me with these guys."
Tails smiled, impressed at how quickly the groups had formed. "This works perfectly. I'll go with Blaze's group down the left hall. You guys take the right hall. Everyone's Com-Links are on, right?"
Five resounding 'beep'sanswered his question. Tails checked his own Com-Link, and then looked over at Jet, who was still grousing. The hawk met his eyes and snorted derisively.
"Whaddya want, Prower?" Jet asked. "My wristwatch is on, if that's what you're wondering!"
"It's not a wristwatch, it's a Com-Link. And you know that you'll have to take Rouge and Storm down the other hall, right?" Tails asked.
"I know, I know, I know! Sheesh! I'm not deaf!" Jet snapped.
He started down the right hall in a huff. Storm and Rouge exchanged a glance and followed him, carrying their Extreme Gears under their arms. Tails looked at Blaze, Cream, and Knuckles, and motioned for them to follow him down the opposite hall.
The four walked down the empty corridor, with only the sounds of their footsteps and the buzzing of the overhead electric lights breaking the silence. Blaze kept her gaze on the Sol Emerald, her tail flicking in apprehension as she walked. While she had never attempted to infiltrate Eggman Nega's base back in her own world, it would have made sense if its halls were guarded by patrolling robots. The lack of guards in this base simply didn't seem right. Granted, it was very late, but robots were unaffected by time.
After what seemed like an eternity, the curved corridor straightened out. At the end of the hall was a scratched-up, silvery metal door. Mounted on the wall a few inches to the right was a small black scanner with a red LED on top.
"End of the road?" Knuckles asked through a yawn as he rubbed his eyes.
"Not quite," Tails said. He walked up to the door, then took a look at the red card key in his hand. "I just hope this card key isn't for just one door." With that, he swiped the card through the scanner. Immediately, the LED turned green, and the door slid open with a whoosh. Tails walked in first, followed by Blaze, Cream, and Knuckles. The sound of the door sliding shut was lost amongst their collective gasp.
The first thing their gaze was drawn to was the dimly glowing Master Emerald, held by three golden "claws" in the center of the room. Electricity was crackling from the three "claws" into a tangle of colored wires plugged into their bases. The blue wires were plugged into Metal Sonic, who was standing against the back wall. His head was slumped forward and his visual components did not have their regular red glow, indicating that he was shut off. Beside him was a deactivated Metal Knuckles with a couple of red wires in his back. Next to the robotic echidna was a door identical to the one they had just entered, and further along the wall were three replicas of Shadow, all of whom had their eyes shut, their heads slumped forward, and grey wires trailing into the backs of their heads.
"Those robots look exactly like Mister Shadow! It's like they're clones!" Cream exclaimed, going towards one of the Shadow androids.
Blaze followed the doe, taking care to not touch any of the wires on the ground. The Sol Emerald gleamed brightly in her hand as she walked past the Master Emerald. Blaze was confused at first, having believed the Sol Emerald was leading them toward the other Emeralds, not the Master Emerald. A four-year-old memory returned to her, and she could hear Eggman speaking.
"In close proximity, these emeralds call out to each other..."
"The Master Emerald is tied to the Chaos Emeralds, so I suppose that explains why the Sol Emerald is reacting," she said to herself, tucking the white emerald back into her coat's inside pocket.
"I can't believe this!" Knuckles growled, carelessly tossing the Red Rock off to the side and running over to the Master Emerald. He tried to pull it from the claws, but the gem briefly flashed a bright blue, and his hands were repelled from its surface. "What did they do to the Master Emerald?"
Tails walked up behind him. "Judging from the fact that the robots are shut off, I think that they're recharging their batteries. The wires are connected to this, so it'd be a good guess that the Master Emerald is charging them up with its own energy-- with Chaos Energy."
"It was hard enough fighting them on regular energy," Knuckles said, casting a look at the still deactivated Metal Knuckles. "If these things were powered by the Master Emerald, they'd be unbeatable!"
"That won't help matters any. We need to stop this charging as soon as possible," Blaze said. "Tails, do robots wake up when they're unplugged?"
Tails thought hard for a few seconds, his twin tails swishing idly behind him. "Since they're already deactivated, they shouldn't respond... unless Dr. Robotnik's programmed them with an auto-awakening feature so he doesn't have to turn them on manually."
"We're just going to have to take that risk, then," Knuckles said. "We can't let them use the Master Emerald like this!"
Cream had been listening to the conversation while she was examining the robots. She looked at Metal Sonic, who had three blue wires plugged into his chest. She hesitantly placed her left hand on his shoulder for support and wrapped her other hand around all of the wires. Her eyes squeezed shut and her heart pounding, Cream yanked the wires out with as much force as she could muster.
She waited one second, two seconds, three seconds. There was no mechanical voice, no robotic claws shoving her to the floor, or any other sign that she was going to be attacked. She opened her eyes cautiously, before heaving a relieved sigh. Metal Sonic had not awakened. Feeling more confident, Cream made her way towards Metal Knuckles.
Blaze watched as Cream repositioned Metal Knuckles to pull out his wires, then turned her attention to the unplugged Metal Sonic. "It seems the robots don't wake up when they're unplugged, Tails. Cream's taking care of them right now."
"Really? That works to our advantage," Tails said, unable to help smiling a bit as Cream did her work. He turned to Knuckles, who was trying again to remove the Master Emerald without any success. "Knuckles, I think you'll have to wait until all of the robots are unplugged before the Master Emerald will come out."
Knuckles swore and pounded his fist on the top of the Master Emerald, which promptly deflected his demonstration of irritation.
"We need to tell the others about this room," Tails said. Before he could open the line of communication, a tapping sound came from the door closest to the androids, which made Cream jump and squeak with surprise. Tails quickly spoke into the Com-Link. "Rouge? Jet? Storm?"
"We're all still here," came Rouge's voice from the Com-Link. "We've reached a door, but we don't have the card key, so it seems we'll be trying to break it down. Where are you?"
"We're in a room with two doors, the Master Emerald, and a bunch of robots," Tails said. "Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles are among them, but you'll never believe what else is in here with them..."
As Tails spoke, he was unaware that he was being watched by a pair of blank, black eyes, whose owner was obscured from view by a pile of discarded wires, scrap metal, and the Red Rock...
Jet, Storm, and Rouge had been walking down the hallway for what felt like hours, but in reality had only been a few minutes. None of the three had managed to engage in any conversation. Rouge had tried previously, but had been met with silence from Storm and an angry "harrumph!" from Jet. The lack of voices was starting to drive the bat crazy.
'I almost wish Knucklehead was here just so there'd be some conversation going on,' Rouge thought, chuckling as she envisioned another argument taking place between them.
"What're you laughing at?" Jet snapped, not turning to face Rouge.
"I was just thinking about something funny that always happens to a friend of mine," she replied coolly. "Why? Did you think I was laughing at you?"
The hawk didn't reply, instead grumbling irritably under his breath. No more words passed between them until the bend straightened out, leading them straight to a silver metal door with a card key scanner mounted on the wall nearby.
"Well, isn't this just peachy?" Jet asked, throwing his board on the ground in frustration. The clatter was loud, but no guards came running. "We finally reach a door, but we don't have the key! Of course, Mister Prower was just fine with that, it seems. Thanks for nothing, you worthless little--"
"Uh... Boss?" Storm asked, interrupting the hawk's rant. "Haven't you said that there's more than one way to open a door?"
Jet looked as though he were going to throw a dagger at Storm for suggesting such a thing, but reconsidered. He raised a hand, tapping one of his temples with a finger. "Hmm. Well, now... that's true. I did say that, didn't I?"
He walked over to the door, examining it so closely that his beak almost touched the metal. After a couple of seconds, Jet motioned for Storm to come over. The albatross hurried over, looking expectantly at his boss.
"Well, Storm? How about it?" Jet asked. "I think you'd be able to break this baby down with a good, solid whack."
Storm rapped the door a few times with his knuckles as a test, then frowned. "I swear I just heard something from the other side."
"Rouge? Jet? Storm?" Tails' voice asked from the Com-Links.
"We're all still here," Rouge replied. She had been standing off to the side the entire time. "We're reached a door, but we don't have the card key, so it seems we'll be trying to break it down. Where are you?"
"We're in a room with two doors, the Master Emerald, and a bunch of robots. Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles are among them, but you'll never believe what else is in here with them-- there's three Shadow androids!"
Rouge gasped with shock. The last time she had seen any Shadow androids was at the end of Metal Sonic's world-domination plan. But Omega had destroyed the other Shadow androids, hadn't he? Unless Eggman had built more during his four-year absence...
"Are you sure they're... androids?" Rouge asked hesitantly.
"Well, let's see," Knuckles said, sounding none too happy."They all look exactly like Shadow, they all have a bunch of wires coming out of them, they're being charged by the Master Emerald, so yeah, I'd say they're probably androids."
Jet and Storm exchanged a bewildered look as Rouge trembled. The bat's eyes suddenly widened, as though she was remembering something unpleasant.
"D-Do any of them have--" she began, but was interrupted by a loud thud and a scream from the adjacent room. Startled, Storm and Jet backed away from the door.
"Knuckles! Tails! What's going on?" Rouge asked, trying to ignore the fact that the scream had sounded a lot like Cream's voice.
No answer came from the other party. The sounds of running, metal hitting the ground, and yelling could be heard through the door.
"C'mon, Storm! We gotta get in there!" Jet shouted, pointing at the door. Storm nodded, backing up from the door to get a running start.
Tails had been listening to Rouge's question when something wide and flat had hit him from behind, sending him pummeling to the floor. He had only managed to get onto his knees before being beaten back down again with the same weapon. He looked up quickly to see Cream, who had been about to unplug the last Shadow android, ducking to avoid a glowing, fist-sized scrap of metal that was flying towards her. She screamed shrilly, unable to repress her fear.
"It can't be!" Tails said, getting to his feet and turning around as fast as he could. Hovering a few feet away from him, its blank eyes boring into him, was the Tails Doll. The gem attached to its forehead was gleaming brightly, and many pieces of scrap metal were floating around it, surrounded by a red glow. Tails could hear Rouge yelling from his Com-Link, but her words were faint.
Knuckles and Blaze were already running towards the Tails Doll, but the plush was ready. Without warning, the two were pummeled by flying metal. One piece of metal landed right at Blaze's feet, tripping her. She had to roll over quickly to avoid being sliced to ribbons. Even then, she could feel the sharper edges of the pieces cutting her, just barely missing her as she jumped back onto her feet.
"Why don't you fight me fist-to-fist?" Knuckles yelled, pushing ahead despite the fact that the metal was cutting him up and hitting him hard with the flat sides. "Or are you just too weak!"
If the Tails Doll had any consciousness, it showed itself then. It slowly turned its gaze on Knuckles, and all of the flying projectiles changed from their random courses. Before he knew it, he was the sole target of several dozen sharp edges, closing in rapidly from all angles. Within seconds, he would be ripped open.
"KNUCKLES!" Tails shouted.
Before the echidna could meet his grisly fate, however, the Tails Doll was hit square-on with a spinning wrench, courtesy of Cream. The scrap metal skewed off in various directions, leaving only a few projectiles to hit their mark. Knuckles roared in pain as the metal opened new cuts on his arms and legs. Blaze and Tails had to dodge the glowing pieces that headed their way, still getting cut in the process. Cream quickly grabbed another wrench that had been laying on the floor, and she chucked it towards the Tails Doll. The malevolent marionette turned to face her, just as the door flew out of its frame. Storm charged in immediately, his entrance followed quickly by Jet and Rouge.
The Tails Doll paid no heed to the new foes that had just entered the room, instead focusing on Cream. For the first time in the battle, it moved from its position, its plush limbs dangling uselessly as it floated towards the rabbit. Some of the wires around Cream's feet gained a red glow and wrapped themselves tightly around her ankles. She screamed and struggled to break free as the Tails Doll drew closer.
Blood was roaring in Tails' ears, and adrenaline surged through him as he moved faster than he ever had in his life. His twin tails spun rapidly as he flew towards the Tails Doll. He snatched it from its path and grabbed the red gemstone, hoping that it would provide the moment's distraction needed as it had before. His hopes were fulfilled as the flying metal dropped to the ground and the wires around Cream's legs lost their glow. The doe quickly pulled herself out of the bundle and ran towards Blaze. Tails, still enraged, kept a tight hold on his copy even as he hit the ground with a loud thud, arms wrapped tightly around it. The Tails Doll jerked around wildly in his unyielding grasp, its entire body glowing red.
"Tails!" Cream shouted worriedly. "Let go of that thing before it hurts to you!"
"But that doll is going to hurt all of us if he lets it go!" Blaze said quickly. "The only reason he was able to grab it in the first place was because it was focused on you."
"Then what are we standing around for?" Rouge demanded, running over towards the two struggling forms. "We need to beat this possessed voodoo doll before it can do anything else! Come on!"
Tails' strength was quickly being drained, and the Tails Doll was showing no sign of stopping its struggles. He knew that the moment he let go, the doll would win. In a last-ditch effort to keep it from escaping, he bit down on one of the plush ears. In the back of his mind, though, he couldn't help but think there was something out of place. The Tails Doll was far stronger than it had been when he had last fought it, and its body felt more solid than most stuffed toys. It was almost as if there was something inside of the doll, enhancing the strength its red gem already gave it...
With a jolt, Tails realized what had to be done. Without letting go of the Tails Doll's ear, he managed to growl at the group surrounding him, "Get the gem!"
Everybody started grabbing for the red diamond. The violent thrashing of the Tails Doll made it difficult, but it was only a matter of seconds before somebody-- in this case, Storm-- managed to snag it. The Tails Doll, stunned once more, briefly stopped in its struggles. Without waiting any further, Storm yanked the gem as hard as he could-- and stumbled backwards with a yelp of surprise as it snapped off of the doll.
Stripped of the source of its consciousness, the Tails Doll gave one last twitch as its red glow vanished. Panting heavily, Tails sat up and looked down at the now limp doll in his arms. Before he could say or do anything, the stitches connecting the white patch to its stomach popped open one by one until the plush circle fell off, revealing a red Chaos Emerald. A collective gasp issued from the group.
Tails removed the precious emerald and gazed at it. "I knew something else was powering the Tails Doll... but a Chaos Emerald, of all things..."
A groan of pain drew everyone's attention away from Tails. Knuckles was sprawled face-first on the ground by the Master Emerald, bloodied metal shards scattered around him. Cream gasped and clutched Blaze's arm tightly. Rouge sprinted over to Knuckles, kneeling next to him and examining his newest cuts. None of them seemed as deep as the one he had received back at the hangar, but he had been badly cut up nonetheless.
"Stop getting hurt, Knucklehead," Rouge muttered, half-sarcastically. She removed the handkerchief she had tied on his arm earlier and starting to dab at some of the heavier cuts. "I only have one handkerchief."
Knuckles' only reply was a small grunt. The pain stinging all over his body and the buzzing in his ears was almost enough to make him cry, but he managed to suppress the urge. With a lack of adrenaline in his system to keep him awake, Knuckles quickly succumbed to sleep in the spot he had fallen. All the while, Rouge continued trying to curb the bleeding.
"Will Mister Knuckles be alright, Blaze?" Cream asked, biting her lip. She still hadn't let go of Blaze's arm.
"Knuckles will be alright. He can make it," Blaze said, silently hoping that what she said was true.
If Jet felt any remorse for Knuckles, he chose not to show it. He walked away from the group and settled himself into the nearest corner, producing an enormous yawn as he did so. "I'm bushed. Let's just pick this up in the morning." With that statement, Jet ruffled up his feathers a little bit and closed his eyes.
"Jet does have a point. It's pretty late, and we've already managed to find the Master Emerald," Tails said, unable to stifle a yawn of his own. "We'll rest up here for tonight, and plan more tomorrow. Blaze, Storm, Rouge, would any of you guys mind keeping watch for a bit?"
Blaze, who had already seated herself on the floor in a cross-legged position, looked at Tails. Her body and mind were crying for rest, but she knew that the group would be vulnerable to attack if all of them were to be asleep. The risk of attack was fairly high, since Storm had knocked down one door. She reluctantly nodded, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Tails smiled drowsily at her, and then shut his eyes. Cream laid down between Blaze and Tails, yawned, and quickly nodded off. Storm sighed loudly and sat down where he was, but stayed awake.
"Wherever Sonic may be in this base, I hope he's not in too much trouble," Blaze said aloud, but not directing it at anybody in particular. "Although she may not be wishing the same for myself, I hope Amy is fine, too."
She fought back a yawn and then faced Storm. Blaze avoided looking at his eyes even as she addressed him. "Perhaps if we engage in conversation, it will be easier to stay up on watch."
A slight pause followed before Storm nodded. He might not have been as physically exhausted as the others, but he rarely remained awake this late. With any luck, talking would help keep him up, too.
"So then... tell me about this Wave that you and Jet are looking for. What's she like?" Blaze asked. She could already assume that the female in question was a bird of some sort.
"Wave? Well, uh... she's a bossy know-it-all, and she's always messing around with some crazy experiment," Storm began, making no effort to hide his disdain. "But she knows more about the Gears than me or Jet do, so whenever they break, she fixes them."
"A mechanic? Since you and Jet seem to ride those boards of yours a lot, she must be an important person to have around," Blaze said.
"Yeah, well, don't let her hear you say that. Her ego's bigger than this base."
"The two of you don't get along well, do you?"
"She's like a sister, annoying but still there."
"So you don't like her... but at the same time, you tolerate her?"
"Pretty much. I don't know how Jet can stand her sometimes, but we do need her and all. He got really worked up when she didn't come back this morning."
"Forgive me, but you seemed more worked up than Jet did."
Storm turned away from Blaze, instead looking at the sleeping hawk in the corner. "Whenever Jet gets worked up over something, I get all worked up, too. Whenever he's worked up, he's grumpy, and whenever he's grumpy, he's worried."
'Is that so? He's just been really worried all day, then?'' Blaze thought cruelly, unimpressed with the hawk's behavior. Granted, he did not know of Blaze's status as royalty (and she preferred to not have any special treatment because of that fact anyways), but he simply had not shown respect for anybody today. To her, it was a wonder that Sonic had even offered to help him after being subject to Jet's rudeness.
Blaze's anger towards Jet faded away, replaced by concern for Sonic. She knew that the hedgehog was tough to bring down, and she hoped that he had already escaped from his prison. With calmer thoughts in mind and drowsiness already present, Blaze's eyelids slowly shut as she nodded off, remaining in her seated position. Storm yawned loudly and laid down on his back, looking over once more at Jet before ruffling up his chest feathers a bit and closing his own eyes.
Rouge unsuccessfully tried to rub the forming sleep out of her eyes as she lazily dabbed at a cut on Knuckles' back that had long since stopped bleeding. Her wings flapped absently, her right wing stinging dully from the injury attained earlier in the day. She struggled to remain awake, but her gaze was unfocused and her mind was wandering. Finally, Rouge laid on her side next to Knuckles, the bloodied handkerchief falling out of her hand. She yawned and closed her eyes, the faint whirring of an android still charging its batteries lulling her to sleep.
