A/N: A bit of referencing here—knowledge of Sonic Adventure or Sonic X would probably make things a bit easier to follow.
And thank you sooooooooooo much to everyone who's been reviewing, following, faving, and/or reading! Seriously, I'd need a thesaurus or two to properly express how awesome you guys are. ^_^
Fiolet was not seen for days.
"We should worry," said Knuckles grimly. "He must be stockpiling his energy again to take on another more powerful form."
"On the other hand, that's good," shrugged Sonic, unruffled. He was sprawled lazily atop the Master Emerald, much to Knuckles' irritation. Tails was lounging in the afternoon sun at the echidna's side; he and Sonic had just come back from Apotos with the last Chaos Emerald. The fact that it was purple was either highly appropriate or uneasily ironic.
Amy was currently on Angel Island too, since she had been bringing Knuckles some kind of health mix three times a week to help him recover from his injuries at Eggman's base. Knuckles was attempting to be fed up at the number of visitors he currently had, but truth be told he rather enjoyed the relaxed conversation they were all having for a change.
"It's kinda nerve-wracking to wait so long, but the break does help," agreed Tails. "Even with the stockpiling, Fio's not that much more powerful. And it gives us more time to regroup and plot against him."
"The plotting doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere," grumbled Knuckles, poking his spoon at the bowlfull of greenish slurry he'd been provided. "Amy, seriously, I'm not eating any more of this stuff."
"Aw come on Knuckles, at least a little!" admonished Amy. "Don't you want to get better?"
"I am better," protested Knuckles. "Look, it's sweet of you, but I'm practically fine by now. Besides, I don't see how eating this is going to make any difference."
"Of course it will!" scolded Amy. "The milk contains calcium to keep your bones strong, and the bananas have potassium to help your muscles heal! And the spinach has iron for healthy blood cells. Tails told me all about the science of it."
"Blergh," muttered Knuckles, still stirring the sludge with an expression of distaste. Tails chuckled sheepishly.
"You'd better eat up, Knux," joked Sonic, wagging a finger. "Or Amy might get angry."
Knuckles pretended to consider, then looked terrified and hastened to take several large spoonfuls of the health mix.
"Ohh, you two." Amy rolled her eyes amusedly as Sonic stifled a snicker.
"So, where do we keep all of these?" asked Tails, pulling out the purple Chaos Emerald and squinting through the glinting facets. "Even if Fio stockpiles for months, I don't think he could get a form powerful enough to merit going Super. Non-Chaos creatures just don't get that powerful, mythical or not."
"Jus' keep the Em'ralds spread out the way they are now," said Knuckles with his mouth full. He choked slightly and swallowed. "Having different people each hold a few is actually a pretty safe way to keep them. It'd be hard for anyone to steal all seven without being detected."
"On the other hand, what happens if we need all seven?" asked Amy. "Team Dark is holding four right now; what if they don't want to give them up?"
"They'll come through," said Sonic, relaxed. "When push comes to shove, they always do."
The conversation meandered to other topics. Sonic and Tails were just about to head back home when there came a sudden rattle of wings. They all jumped and looked up just as Rouge shot into their midst, more of crashing than properly landing.
"What's up?" asked Knuckles, bolting to his feet. He could sense already that something was wrong.
"Beat him here," gasped Rouge, sinking to the cobblestone floor and gulping for air. "Fio's headed this way."
"Here?" Knuckles' face darkened. "As in, right here?"
"Uh-huh. Straight line," said Rouge breathlessly. "Do you think . . . ?"
"I think it's bad," growled Knuckles, already striding to the edge of the shrine. The others followed. Peering down the steps of the pyramid, they spied what seemed like a thick purple stain on the grass below. As they watched, the patch of discoloration moved, sliding closer. Reaching the base of the pyramid, it halted, roiling slightly. The Mobians waited, breaths held.
It moved blindingly fast. The mist practically leaped its way up the entire pyramid like some bizarre reverse waterfall, whooshing around the Mobians' ankles and whipping through their fur like a stiff breeze. The slightest smell of rotting plums and mold registered before—
"The Master Emerald!" squealed Amy in horror, as the mist oozed its way around the giant green stone. "What's happening?"
"Get away from there!" barked Knuckles, lunging. But there wasn't much he could do—even the strongest fists are useless against a formless entity. The purple smoke merely swirled around his hands wherever he tried to strike, quickly rejoining the main body of the creature.
"What's it doing?" whispered Amy, as the mist encircled the Master Emerald and began to circle tightly along the stone's facets.
"Fio's figured it out," gritted Knuckles, fists clenched at his sides in helpless desperation. "He's figured out the Master Emerald is the source of all Chaos power. Now he's trying to tap into it."
"Can he do that?" asked Sonic.
"I'm not sure. It's possible it'll reject—" Knuckles drew in his breath sharply. The dark purple cloud had suddenly started to shrink, and it almost seemed as if it were seeping into the Master Emerald. The stone's glow began to pulse gently, then harder and harder, the green light mixing eerily with a deeper and deeper purple, giving off a steady humming beat. Suddenly a faint, faraway sound of laughter filtered through the rhythm of energy, seeming to grow louder, nearer, wilder—
"NO!" roared Knuckles, and hurled himself forward. There was a earsplitting shattering sound, a blinding patchwork of green and purple light, and for a moment the world seemed to lurch and turn inside-out.
A minute later the ground shook violently, once. Jolted by the impact, Mobians groaned and began to stir slightly where the explosion had thrown them. Knuckles' eyes flickered open slowly, then widened in horror; a thick purple cloud, crackling with bright bolts of yellow energy, was still whirling where the Master Emerald had once stood. From deep within the formless mass came the distinct sound of breathing.
"No," whispered Knuckles, starting to scramble up and stopping with a jolt when his right arm sang out sharply. That was the hand he had shattered the Master Emerald with; it was going to smart for quite a while.
Right now though, that was the least of his worries. The purple cloud was already whirling away like some otherworldly thunderstorm, spewing sheets of energy and searing the landscape as it passed, and Knuckles could only watch. He stared after it for a moment, panting, then all at once drove his fist at the ground, hissing an ancient echidna curse between gritted teeth.
His despair was interrupted by a small orb of glowing white light, which approached quietly and circled his head. When he didn't notice, it nudged against him gently, making a small sparkling sound.
". . . Tikal?" Knuckles lifted his head slowly. "I . . . I'm so sorry."
The orb bobbed slightly, twinkling.
"I was too late," whispered Knuckles. "He tapped the Master Emerald's power before I could break it. We're doomed."
The orb bobbed again, insistent. Swallowing, Knuckles slowly reached out one hand to touch it.
Rouge was still a bit groggy when she managed to sit up, but she came awake pretty fast once she'd had a look around.
"Knuckles?! Wh-what—"
"It's okay," cut in Sonic quietly from a few feet away. He joined Rouge in watching Knuckles, who seemed to be in some kind of trance. Slouched on the ground with his feet tucked back on either side, the echidna rested one mitt atop a floating orb of bright white light, motionless. His eyes were open, but wide and glassy, staring straight through the ground before him.
"What is that . . . thing doing to him?" asked Rouge suspiciously.
"That's Tikal," said Sonic. "The Master Emerald broke once before, back before we knew you. Tikal is one of the ancient spirits who lives inside it."
"And he's . . . talking with Knuckles?"
"She. And yeah. She's talked to me before too. It's a trip."
The moments slipped by. Tails and Amy joined the silently waiting group of Mobians. After two or three minutes, Knuckles lifted his head, removed his hand from the glowing sphere, and blinked until his eyes returned to their usual clarity. They were bright and eager with relief.
"We've got a loophole," he announced grimly. "But we've got to act fast. Rouge, call Shadow over, tell him to bring his Chaos Emeralds. But warn him that Angel Island is in the ocean now! We don't want him rematerializing in the sky somewhere thinking it's still floating."
Rouge nodded and activated her communicator. Twenty seconds and a clipped exchange later, Shadow materialized with a flash in the others' midst.
"Something's up?" he asked grimly.
"Can't explain now. Quick, everyone give me the Chaos Emeralds!" ordered Knuckles.
Seven multi-colored stones glinted into a rough circle as the others held them out. Shadow the green and cyan; Rouge the red and yellow; Sonic and Tails the white and purple; Knuckles the blue.
"All right. Let me work with them," said Knuckles tersely, and arranged the stones swiftly in a ring on the ground. Standing before them, he began to murmur some ancient chant, too low for the others to catch much of.
"What's going on?" asked Shadow, turning to the others.
"Fiolet got into the Master Emerald and tapped it," said Tails anxiously. "He's got Chaos Powers now."
"Might have known he'd find a way eventually," muttered Shadow, "considering how badly he wanted them. So. We're screwed?"
"Knuckles doesn't seem to think—what the heck is—"
"Woah, relax!" For the second time in fifteen minutes Sonic interrupted Rouge's outburst. She had some right to be startled; a weird mass of transparent pale-blue slime had materialized out of who-knows-where, and was crawling up Knuckles' outstretched arm.
"That's Chaos," explained Sonic. "He's the other spirit that lives in the Master Emerald."
"Exactly how many of those have you got?" asked Rouge, eyeing Tikal's still-hovering orb.
"Only those two. I think."
Meanwhile, Knuckles was murmuring something rapidly to the little blue mass of protoplasm, gesturing. Soon the creature detached itself from his arm and slithered away with startling rapidity, sliming down the stairs of the Master Emerald shrine and into the woods. Knuckles gathered up the Chaos Emeralds and trotted after it.
"Where're you going? What's up?" called Sonic, as the others followed.
"I'm buying us time!" Knuckles called over his shoulder.
Soon they reached the edge of Angel Island. The ocean was now lapping right up at the shores on every side, since the island had landed in the sea when the Master Emerald broke. Chaos slithered his way purposefully to the edge and slipped over, plopping into the water below. Being made mostly of water himself, he vanished completely from sight.
"Fio's down there too, somewhere. Still getting the hang of his new powers," announced Knuckles. Then he drew back his arm and hurled all the Chaos Emeralds into the sea.
For a moment the others regarded him blankly.
"I'm going to assume he knows what he's doing," remarked Shadow at length. "Because it's an inconvenient time for him to lose his mind."
"No, wait. I think I know . . . " said Sonic, eyes wide.
Knuckles was staring out across the sea with an expectant expression. The others followed his gaze, some dubious, others uneasily anticipative. Not all of them had seen this before.
Entirely without warning, part of the ocean suddenly seemed to rocket upwards. An enormous watery mass heaved its way into the sky, unfolding into a head, a neck, gigantic tentacles, all rearing dozens of stories high and tossing like a thing alive. For a moment it towered hundreds of feet above the onlookers' heads, sluices of water flying from its body, a glowing reptilian eye rolling from somewhere behind its gaping jaws, a monstrous roar shaking the sea and the earth alike—and then it was gone, plunging beneath the surface as quickly as it had come.
A second. Perhaps two. Shadow gave a duly impressed whistle.
"Yeah, that's Chaos when he's ticked and on Chaos Emeralds," laughed Knuckles resignedly. "We've got about an hour."