I'M BACK FROM THE DEAD! Lol, well I had a lot of time being consumed from college, but now I have the latest chapter. I worked on it piece by piece, and I think I got it the best way I could. Enjoy this chapter, guys.
Chapter 17: Sonic & Knuckles
Once we got into our battle stances I wondered how long has it been since I've faced Knuckles. The last time we fought was back on Angel Island, and a couple of other times when Eggman Nega from Silver's present was around to turn the world into a card with that camera he had.
"You ready to get this started, Sonic?"
"As I always am. Let's get this party started."
Sonic smiles as he looked at the red echidna, who was also excited. These two battle hardened warriors were ready to test each other's mettle, as their battle stances vaguely revealed their strongest attacks.
"I'll make the first move, Sonic."
"Alright then, come at me."
"With pleasure."
Knuckles came at him with at his fastest speed, which was Sonic Speed, and then proceeded to attack him with a flurry of powerful punches, but Sonic anticipated his moves and started dodging every attack Knuckles tried to use.
"You're too slow!"
Sonic ran behind him and performed a roundhouse kick to Knuckles's backside, pushing him away from the hedgehog. Knuckles quickly got up, and got back into his stance.
"Not bad, Sonic. You've definitely gotten faster."
"Was there any doubt, Knuckles?"
"Heh heh, nope. Just how I want it."
"Shall I kick it into high gear then?"
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Alright!"
The two began to fight at a high speed making sure that it was visible to their audience. Sonic was dodging Knuckles's attack while countering with his own, as Knuckles was doing the same thing. Instead he was being pushed back, as Sonic had the upperhand in terms of speed.
"Check out my speed, now! What do you think of it?"
Knuckles smirked as he dodged Sonic's attacks.
"I got it."
Knuckles grabbed Sonic's foot, catching him off guard.
"What!?"
"Take this!"
Knuckles jumped into the air while holding Sonic's leg and slammed him into the ground using his fire dunk attack, and while he was on the ground, Knuckles followed up with a fire punch to the gut of Sonic, knocking the air out of him.
"I'm not finished yet. How about this!?"
Knuckles jumped back and used an earthquake punch to launch Sonic into the air, and prepares one of his most powerful punches.
"Time to end this! Explosion Punch!"
Knuckles ended his combo by punching his blue opponent, resulting in an explosion. Sonic was sent flying into a pillar, but when he collided with it, it flew with him, knocking away trees and creating a visible path down to Knuckles's alter. Knuckles stood waiting for Sonic to return, while Shade watched in amazement of what happened.
"Uh… I think you overdid it, Knuckles…"
"Sonic took worse things than a measly punch. Trust me, there's no way he won't get back up."
I couldn't believe how strong Knuckles has gotten over the years. It was like fighting against Shadow, only this time the power was drastically increased. If such, Knuckles could've ended my life if he gotten serious, and when I mean serious, I mean angry serious. I got back up and walked back to the arena.
"Ow… That hurt… A lot… Just how strong did he get? He's still fast, but at this point if he was as fast as me, I wouldn't have stood a chance against his power. It's a really good thing he has to wait for a opening, because I'm faster in terms of speed. In power however… I'm at a disadvantage. I need to think of a way to bypass his power and defense."
As I walked back to the arena, I could faintly hear a tale of how Knuckles's punch was nothing compared to the worse things I've took. He is right, to an extent, but he's downplaying how strong he really is. I remember back when I got hit by Shadow's Chaos Spear attack years ago during the battle on the way to the Eclipse Cannon. Compared to Knuckles's physical strength, they're on the same level. However, Knuckles has the potential to be even stronger than Shadow, since his affiliation with Chaos powers is of a similar level, if not greater. I mean, he's the only one that knocked me out of my super form with just one punch when I was on Angel Island.
"Ah! See, Shade? I told you my punch wasn't nothing."
"That's easy for you to say. I felt like I was going to die from that punch."
"You know I never hold back, Sonic."
"I know that, but geez… I didn't think you were going to go all out on me like that."
Knuckles laughs. I could tell by the look on his face that he was enjoying my reaction from his newfound strength.
"Well, I didn't want to disappoint, so I brought the welcome wagon. How's my newfound strength?"
"If you were serious I could've died from that attack."
"I got that strong, huh?"
"Knuckles, I remember you knocking me out of my Super Form back on Angel Island with only one punch. If we could go Hyper again, you'd probably knock me out of that one from one punch using this new strength."
"That means I've progressed really far."
"Yeah… A lot. Do you know you're the only person that's managed to knock someone out of Super Form? I don't even think Shadow can do that."
"Heh, it's good to hear my reputation still precedes me, but enough talking Sonic. Get back to the fight!"
"Alright. This time I will show you what true speed really is!"
Sonic came at Knuckles, who was prepared to face Sonic at his strongest, and traded blows with him. Sonic outmatched Knuckles in terms movement, but Knuckles counteracted with his power, knocking Sonic backwards in case he would be driven into a corner. Just like his battle with Metal Sonic, Sonic Booms flew across the area making anyone who was in the vicinity hear the battle. Sonic was prepared to show Knuckles how fast he could really go, and because of this, Knuckles was being driven into a corner.
"Don't blink even for a second, Knuckles! My speed will only get faster from here on out!"
Sonic rushed down Knuckles using a barrage of punches and kicks, keeping him pinned down from the front.
"You may have me beat in terms of speed, Sonic, but I have raw power to knock you away again!"
Knuckles tried to punch Sonic as fast as he could, but to no avail he hit an after image left by the blue hedgehog. This left Knuckles shocked.
"What!?"
"Right behind you…"
Sonic punched Knuckles in the back of the head, sending him tipping over from his front. Knuckles regained his balance and turned around to look at Sonic, only to find him up close sending another punch at him. All Knuckles could do was to initiate his guarding stance as fast as he could while Sonic kept attacking him, not giving Knuckles any chance to find an opening. However, Sonic's true speed was only beginning.
"Try this on for size!"
Sonic initiated his boost, pushing Knuckles while he was guarding. Because Knuckles was blocking, his feet was sliding across the ground, revealing the dirt under the grass. Knuckles struggled against the hedgehog.
"Just how fast are you!?"
"Faster than you think! Super Peel-Out Barrage!"
Sonic started running around the echidna, generating after images around him. Knuckles was ready to guard, but his defense was penetrated by the first hit from the back. His barrage of attacks continued, landing each punch and kick on the red echidna.
"I'm not done with you yet! Blast Away! Light Speed Attack!"
Sonic went his fastest of speeds, the Light Speed. Only activated when he revs up fully, Sonic revving up from just a Super Peel Out was truly a feat given to the blue hedgehog. Sonic kept hitting Knuckles from all directions using punches and kicks, landing each one due to his tremendous increase in speed. Due to his speed, he was generating a blue tornado, however, this didn't stop Sonic from hitting him. Once his blue tornado was fully developed, the attack lifted Knuckles into the air.
"Can you catch the wind, Knuckles!?"
Sonic continued his combo using a barrage of homing attacks, ending with a bounce attack that sent Knuckles flying into the ground. He collided with the ground so fast, a crater was formed from his momentum and velocity. When Knuckles recovered from the attack, he was shocked to see how Sonic formed a blue tornado, and when he looked up Sonic was generating a wave of air from the blue tornado.
"Sonic Wave!"
Sonic threw a Sonic Wave at Knuckles, who was still perplexed from what just happened. However, Sonic performed another bounce attack, and when he collided with his projectile, the air formed circled around the hedgehog increasing the power of the attack.
"It's my win, Knuckles!"
"Not a chance, Sonic!"
Knuckles could barely get up, due to the barrage, but he had a better idea. He turned himself over, and crawled through the ground just before Sonic hit the ground. When Sonic collided with the ground, due to how fast and powerful the move was, crater got deeper, and the blue tornado dispersed, sending air in all directions, destroying everything in their path. Shade was caught off guard, and as a result she was sent flying from the air along with the debris. However, Knuckles came out of the ground, and saw that she was flying through the air, so Knuckles went to go get her while Sonic was getting up from the attack.
"Here I come, Shade!"
"Don't worry about me, Knuckles. I'll be fine!"
Despite Shade's protest, Knuckles flew up to catch her in the air. Shade blushed a little, being embarrassed from experiencing the princess carry, but she was thankful of him saving her from falling.
"You shouldn't have saved me."
"I always take the time to save my friends, even during battle."
"What about the Master Emerald?"
"I'm sure I have to find those pieces again, but that's fine. I finally got something to do."
I looked around after my finishing blow, and saw that the place was devastated with debris. I wonder if I took it too far like Knuckles did.
"Knuckles? Shade? Where are you guys?"
"We're right here, Sonic."
I turned around to the location the voices were coming from and saw Knuckles carrying Shade.
"Where did you two go?"
"I was saving her from falling. That attack you did a few moments back really wrecked the place, Sonic. What did you do?"
"Uh… It's a new technique I'm trying to develop."
"I see. From what I saw, were you trying to encase yourself in your own wind projectiles to power yourself up?"
"Yeah. Although I had no idea that the Blue Tornado would send wind flying everywhere from a single bounce attack."
"I think you just gave me an idea."
'What is it?"
"If we can have Tails build you some gloves that can contain the wind you can draw, your attacks can be a lot more powerful, and not only can it be used offensively, but also defensively given its properties."
I was shocked that I didn't come up with that idea sooner or later. Gloves that can be used to contain the wind? It reminds of the time when I went against Jet the Hawk using Extreme Gear that Tails made himself. Can he really pull it off though? I mean he managed to make an Extreme Gear just from looking at Storm's Extreme Gear, which is really impressive. Unfortunately, it was getting a little late, so I had to cut my visit short, and go back to Amy's house.
"That's a very good idea, Knuckles, but we'll discuss about that tomorrow."
"It's getting late huh?"
"Yeah. Oh! Before I take my leave, I wanted to talk to you in private."
"Sure, Sonic. We'll be right back, Shade."
"Understood."
He puts her down, and we began walking outside of Shade's hearing range. I had this on my mind since before the battle.
"What's up?"
"Well… I don't know if you want to hear this, but-"
"It's about Shade, and her being here with me, is it?"
"Yep. Right on the ball today, are we?"
"Well, I figured you were going to ask sooner or later. I'll explain. After we saved our world from Eggman's rule, Shade came up to me, and asked if she could stay in this world. I accepted her request, and told her she could live with me."
"That's a nice thing to do Knuckles."
"Well, she is from the same race, so I thought it would be good idea. She doesn't seem to mind it either, since we talk a lot about our tribes."
"Ok. Are you thinking of creating an heir to the throne of echidnas?"
"With her? I haven't thought about it yet, but she does know about the long line of echidnas who protected the Master Emerald with their lives until the next was in line for the task. She might ask me to mate with her using that mindset where it's her duty, but we didn't get to that yet. Right now, she's just enjoying herself."
"Huh… Well, if she did what would you do?"
"I'd flat out reject her. It'd be too sudden to think of that anyway."
"But aren't you like 21?"
"Yes. So?"
"I mean, I wouldn't want to force you to, but you might have to consider it a lot sooner, Knuckles. She's an echidna just like you, so why not talk to her about it?"
"I guess… But how would that benefit me?"
I thought about it for a moment. I guess they're of the same race is a good benefit, but that wouldn't be considered one. Hmm… I figured out what to say, and then looked at Knuckles, who was waiting for my answer.
"I can say that with you two being of the same race, it's important to try and build a family using that reason. Just like how Tails said it's important to consider your own happiness, why not build an intimate relationship?"
"As I said, it's a bit too early, but I get where you're coming from. Tails always wanted the both of us to be happy, and I bet if he was here, he would say the same thing, and then bring up Cosmo."
The both of us chuckled. It's been awhile since Knuckles and I actually hung out like this, but it felt good to sit back and chat with a former rival and best friend/brother.
"That's Tails for you."
"Yep. He'd be mad at us for talking about him like this."
"Well, it's not like it's going to hurt him in the long run. By the way, do you still think that idea can work?"
Knuckles got serious along with me as he nodded his head.
"Definitely. If Elise was able to pull it off to bring you back to life, then I'm sure it'll work for Tails. He just have to chant the spell himself when he brings all seven emeralds to the plant."
"What's the name of the spell?"
"Chaos Revival."
"Ok. Would the conditions be the same as how Elise revived me?"
"Yeah. I had to do some research to see if it could bring her back, but I'm not so sure. She's very far gone, and I don't think we'd be able to get her soul from the spirit world."
"... I see…"
"...Yeah."
"Do you think we'd be able to bring her back in any other way possible?"
Knuckles thought about it for a while, and had an idea.
"We could ask Amy to perform a summoning. While it may be fake, it could work."
I immediately shook my head to that proposal. Deceiving Tails was the last thing I wanted to do.
"No. I'd rather have a resurrected Cosmo with no memories than a Cosmo that's based off what Amy thinks of her."
"True. Well, since that's out of the window, we've got a plan."
"Yep. Well I have to go see Amy and hopefully, work things out with her."
"If it's you, Sonic, I bet she'll understand. After all, you two didn't technically kiss."
"I hope so. Well, see ya!"
"See ya later, Sonic, and good luck!"
I took off and wave goodbye to Knuckles, heading to Amy's place for the night. I never really thought about how much Amy meant to me, but somewhere deep inside my heart, I wanted things to work out between us. After the incident with her clone, I couldn't figure out what to do, so talking with Tails, who had some experience, and Knuckles, who had some idea of it, made it much better. Would I really be able to continue this? Doubts were still on my mind, because I still have so much to learn about love, but maybe, just maybe, with a little faith, I can have something that Tails wanted me to have.
How did you guys like the fight? Pretty neat huh? Well, the next chapter's going to be coming up pretty soon this time, because of the weekend, and I really to need to get you guys caught up to speed. After being delayed like this, man. I tell you. It's not pretty my friends! DX
