Ch.7: Tempting Fate
"Knuckles!" shouted Sonic, jumping up in the medical bed with a start. Which he immediately regretted due to the searing pain in his side.
"Don't move!" said Tails, rushing up to Sonic " your wounds aren't completely healed yet,"
"What happened?" asked Sonic, looking at Tails.
"We found you unconious at the base" said Tails " Knuckles and Zelkova are gone. I think the Metarex kidnapped them,"
"No" said Sonic, remembering the shock in his back " it wasn't the Metarex. It was Zelkova! He zapped us with some kind of energy weapon and took Knuckles away,"
"Why would he do that?" said Tails, shocked " Knuckles saved his life,"
"Yeah" said Sonic " well you know what they say about a leopard never changing its spots,"
"Well how are we going to find him?" asked Tails " the Metarex probably took Knuckles back to thier own headquarters,"
"Wait for an oppurnity" said Sonic " it will come, I know it,"
Back at the Metarex home base, Knuckles had just woken up from his unconious state to find himself in the middle of an metal arena. His voilet eyes narrowed when he saw an unarmored Yellow Zelkova standing about ten feet in front of him.
"Glad to see your awake my friend," said Zelkova to Knuckles.
"What's going on here?" said Knuckles " where are we?"
" Your on my ship of course," came a voice from up above.
Knuckles looked up to see a viewing box with the other three Metarex leaders inside. By their body language Knuckles could guess what was going on, but he turned to Zelkova just to be sure.
"So" said Knuckles, pounding his fists together " our rematch can commence?"
"Yes," said Zelkova, getting into a ready fighting stance.
"What are the stakes?" asked Knuckles.
"Your freedom or your service," came Dark Oak's voice.
"Alright then" said Knuckles, charging at Zelkova " let's get this show on the road,"
"Lets," said Zelkova, charging at Knuckles.
Throwing out a punch at the same time, both opponents managed to land a direct hit, sending the other flying backwards. Recovering first, Knuckles launched another punch at Zelkova, knocking the Metarex to the ground.
Zelkova, barely had any time to roll out of the way when Knuckles came in for the finishing blow. Taking advantage of the echidna's momentary surprise, Zelkova backhanded Knuckles right into a wall.
Before Knuckles could recover, Zelkova grabbed Knuckles chest and pinned the echidna to the wall. Knuckles tried desperatly to pull free of Zelkova's grip, but it was to strong. A sly smile crossed Zelkova's lips.
"It's over echidna" said Zelkova " I have won!"
"No you haven't!" shouted Knuckles, his voilet eyes suddenly glowing green.
Zelkova was shocked at the sudden change as the echidna broke free from his grip. Without warning Knuckles struck a hard blow to Zelkova's gut making the Metarex step backwards in pain. Zelkova didn't have any time to react as Knuckles charged at him with another punch and another.
From the viewing stand, the three other Metarex leaders couldn't believe thier eyes. Even without his armor, Zelkova was still the strongest Metarex among them, and this echidna was taking him out like there was no tomorrow.
"It seems that Zelkova was right about this echidna" said Green Bay Leaf " he certianly has tremendous power,"
"Yes" said Black Narcisous " he shall be a great help to our cause in deed,"
"Then" said Dark Oak, pressing a button " let us commence, Operation Fenris,"
Gas started to fill the arena, as Knuckles punched Zelkova to the floor. Sensing danger, Knuckles forgot about his beaten opponent, his eyes changing back to voilet, and started searching for any means of escape.
However, just as he found himself lucky enough to find a door, the gas had already taken effect. Within seconds of freedom, Knuckles passed out on the floor.
When he reawoke a couple hours later, Knuckles no longer found himself inside that metal arena. This time, his arms and legs were tied to two of four metal pylons. All seven of the Chaos Emeralds encircled Knuckles body which was at the center of this mechanical diamond.
His voilet eyes glared as he saw all the Metarex leaders standing by the controls, but he glared at Zelkova most of all.
"I saved you" said Knuckles to Zelkova " treated you as a friend, and this how you repay me? You have no honor!"
Shock registered on Zelkova's face, and the Metarex looked down at the ground forlorn. He couldn't bare to look Knuckles in the eyes anymore, he knew the echidna was right. Before Zelkova could think of anything to say in response though Dark Oak activated the machine.
All the seven Chaos Emeralds began to glow and shot multi-colored beams of light right into Knuckles flesh, making the Guardian cry out in pain.
Back on the Blue Typhoon, the Master Emerald started to go haywire, messing up all the navigational systems on the ship. Sonic quickly sped to the engine room to check in out, and was surprised to see the Master Emerald glowing a bright, angry red instead of green.
The immense power generated from the Emerald shook the Typhoon like an earthquake. Suddenly, Chaos Control was activated and a bright red light engulfed the entire ship.
"I don't know where we're going" thought Sonic " but I have a feeling it's not gonna be good,"