Ch.4: Whispers of Betrayal

"Uh" said Sonic, climbing out the wreckage " is everyone alright ?"

"Define alright," said Knuckles, standing outside the crashed Typhoon with all the others.

"It's going to take a few hours just to fix the engines" said Chris " we were lucky that was all that was damaged,"

"We'd better get to work," Tails said to Chris, and immediately the two geniuses got busy on repairing their spacecraft.

"Well I'm not going to stand here and watch those two work" said Amy " how about a party? There's a beach over there,"

"Sounds like fun, right Cheese?" Cream asked her chao friend.

"Chao!" said Cheese.

"Come on Cosmo" said Amy " last one to the beach is a rotten egg,"

With that all three girls rushed towards the beach leaving Sonic, Zelkova, and Knuckles behind.

"Well" said Knuckles, looking at Sonic " what should we do?"

"Explore the city I guess" said Sonic " who knows, there may be a Chaos Emerald here,"

With nothing better in mind the three split up through the city and began to explore. Knuckles was teamed up with Zelkova while Sonic ran out on his own.

The citizens on this wierd planet mainly looked like alien cats, although there were some foxes and wolves mixed into the breed. In the center of town square there were tons of shops open selling material goods.

Knuckles bought a pair glowing gold bracelets that the merchant said were forged from a falling star and put it on his gloves. A tingling sensation passed through the echidna's body, and he felt as if he had just become ten times stronger.

Getting hungry, both Knuckles and Zelkova stopped at nearby cafe and started tasting thier delights. Zelkova's eyes widened in sursprise when he saw Knuckles turn down the all meat special and just order a fruit salad. Given the echidna's fangs, the Metarex had assumed that Knuckles was a carnivore.

"I never did like meat" Knuckles told Zelkova " no one else even knows that I'm a vegetarian. They just don't realise that when you grow up, by yourself, on floating island, there's nothing like nature's bounty,"

"This echidna even has the same love for nature we Metarex have" Zelkova thought, looking at his own fruit salad " there's truly more to this animal than it first appears,"

After finishing the last few bites of his salad Knuckles got up and turned to Zelkova.

"I got to run to the bathroom" said Knuckles " you'll be okay here while I'm gone?"

"Sure," said Zelkova, and Knuckles left.

As soon as Knuckles was gone Zelkova returned his attention to finishing his meal, only to be stopped in his tracks when a cold, metal hand suddenly gripped his shoulder. Shaking with fear Zelkova turned around until he was staring into the cold eyes of Black Narcisous.

"Well Zelkova" said Black Narcisous " I didn't expect to find you here. When the last report came in it seemed like you had perished on that volcanic plant, but now I see you here dining with the enemy,"

"Not by own choice" said Zelkova " the echidna saved my life and took me aboard his ship to heal. For the past few days I have learned much about Sonic and his friends,"

"Do share " said Black Narcisous, sitting down in a nearby chair. " I'm sure Dark Oak will be pleased with the intelligence you gathered,"

"Well I'm afriad that most of the information is some we already know" said Zelkova " thier engineer is most interesting one of them all. To put it in small terms, he's like one of us. Invaders killed off the rest of his kind, he is the only survivor,"

"Interesting" said Narcisous " any special talents?"

"He's a vegeatarian" said Zelkova " good in combat, can climb, dig and swim, and is Guardian of something called the Master Emerald,"

"The Master Emerald?" said Narcisous, curiously " what is that?"

"I'm not sure" said Zelkova " it's kept somewhere in the engine room. But according to Sonic and the others, only Knuckles has the power to control it,"

"Very interesting" said Narcisous getting up " do not worry Zelkova you shall not be thier prisoner for long. Once I deliever this information to Dark Oak, our victory to conquer the universe will be assured,"

With that said Black Narcisous left, leaving a stunned Zelkova behind. Not ten seconds later Knuckles had returned from his trip to the bathroom and approached Zelkova.

"Tails just called in" said Knuckles " the ship's repaired and ready for take off! Hey, you okay? You've looked like you've seen a ghost,"

"I'm fine," Zelkova lied, getting up.

"Cheer up friend" said Knuckles, walking towards the direction of the Typhoon " we can't keep everyone waiting,"

"Friend?" Zelkova thought, looking up in surprise at Knuckles. " did he just call me 'friend'?"

No matter how many times the word repeated his mind Zelkova still couldn't believe it. After all the torment Zelkova had put the universe in, all the grief he gave Sonic and others, especially Knuckles during thier fights, and the complete distrust surrounding him, the echidna had stepped up and called him 'friend'.

With that joy also came the sting of betrayal. Black Narcisous and the rest of the Metarex still believed that Zelkova was working for thier side. And with the information Zelkova had just given them about Knuckles, there no doubt in the world that the Metarex would soon decide to attack.

A huge battle was coming and Zelkova knew he had a big choice to make. Would he stay loyal to the Metarex and help in Dark Oak's plans? Or would he stand by his new found friend?