Ch.7: Terrors of the Mind
"Uh, my head" said Sonic, as he woozily opened his eyes " where am I? Hey everyone, are you alright?"
"Define alright," said Shadow, as the others began to wake up as well.
"Where are we?" asked Tails.
The room they were in was pitch black, with the only light coming from the glowing chains that held Sonic and the others chained to some sort of invisble wall. Suddenly, Dark Knuckles decided to come out into the light, bringing with him a glowing yellow cage of chaos energy, with the real Knuckles inside.
"What did you do to him?" growled Vector at the dark imitation of his friend.
"I didn't do anything Vector" said Dark Knuckles, grinning at his prisoner " like I said, all of you were the cause. You finally allowed me to be free and take over the Guardian's body completely, and for that I thank you,"
"Your not welcome!" yelled Sonic.
"Ah yes" said Dark Knuckles, approaching the chained Sonic " still miss your friend Tails? He went out with a bang you know? The Dark Legion's trap had orginally been set for Knuckles, they just managed to capture the wrong victim. Your leg was broken during the rescue attempt, and when the first bombs went off yours and Tails fates all relied on Knuckles,"
"Without your trademark speed to help you escape, Tails had run on his own while Knuckles picked you up and ran you to safety. However, all the punsihment Tails had suffered from the hands of the Dark Legion made him slow, and he couldn't keep up. You should have seen the look on your face as the whole, burning warehouse collasped on your twin-tailed friend,"
"You blamed Knuckles for the loss of Tails, but you blamed yourself most of all. If you hadn't got shot in the leg, your speed would have gotten all three of you out of there safely before the bombs went off. Finally, you couldn't take the pressure anymore, and with the flick of a knife, your life ended. The trauma of both of your deaths were first steps to my freedom,"
Tails and Sonic couldn't believe what they have just heard. Is this really how they were destined to die? Was it their fault that the future had turned out this way?
Dark Knuckles approached Vector and Espio next. The crocodile wanted so much to break free and give this dark creep what four, but his chains held him bound. Espio just settled for an angry glare.
"Vector and Espio" said Dark Knuckles, eeriely " what a shame that you and Knuckles feel right into the Dark Legion's trap. Shadow had come to Angel Island to report that Rouge had been captured, so you all rushed to the rescue. Shadow may have managed to escape the gas chamber, put you three, and your pathetic friend Charmy, walked right into it,"
"When you came awake you were in the Dark Legion's base. Thanks to Knuckles breaking the lock on your cage, you two, along with Charmy were able to escape, but not completely. You two couldn't bear the thought of leaving Knuckles alone to face the entire Dark Legion and ran back to help him, telling Charmy to run and get help,"
"I won't sugarcoat it, you two were killed on sight trying to protect your friend. Dimitri would have sucessfully recaptured Knuckles had not Shadow barged in at the time. While Mr. Ultimate Life Form here chaos controlled Knuckles out of harms way, your corspes were left behind for the Dark Legion to experiment with. You two were made into robotic drones, with only one goal in mind, capture and eliminate Knuckles,"
You could have heard a pin drop as the silence grabbed by Vector and Espio's shocked expressions. They had died and thier bodies had become machines for the Dark Legion to command? What kind of sick future was this?
"Ah yes, dear Rouge" said Dark Knuckles, approaching the chained bat " I remember your death especially well. While Knuckles was temporarily captured by the Legion in attempt to rescue you, he was put in chains and forced to watch your torture through a viewing screen,"
"Everytime one of the Dark Legionarie's cut a blade across your body, making you spill blood, Knuckles would cry and scream to the heavens. That was the last motivation I needed in order to be cut free from my chains and take over Knuckles mind. And I would have been in complete control too, hadn't it not been for Shadow!"
With that said, Dark Knuckles turned to glare at Shadow, who still had a calm face other than friends forlorn ones.
"You had to keep him in a shane mind!" Dark Knuckles shouted at Shadow, charging his hands with red chaos energy " well allow me to remedy that situation right now. If your past self dies here, your face shall vanish from history, forever!"
"Foolish echidna" said Shadow, surprising Dark Knuckles " you keep talking about the future as if it is happening right now, when nothing has been decided yet. Knuckles is our friend, and we will fight to make sure this world never happens!"
With that said, the chains that had held Shadow bound broke, and the black hedgehog envoked his Super form. Sporting a sly grin, Super Shadow launched a Chaos Spear at Dark Knuckles, blasting the black echidna into an invisble wall.
Seeing Shadow take a swing at Dark Knuckles boosted Sonic and the others spirits as well. Breaking their chains, Super Sonic and his friends joined the fight. Dark Knuckles tried to fight back with his chaos energy, but gasped in surprise when he noticed his dark powers were weakening.
"No, this cannot be happening!" yelled Dark Knuckles as Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and the others rushed into attack " I am the ultimate...Aaaahhhh!"
"Goodbye" said Rouge, as Dark Knuckles disentagrated " and good ridance!"
Sonic and Shadow slipped out of their Super forms and approached the glowing yellow cage that still held the real Knuckles trapped. Everyone else joined soon after. Sonic brushed his hand lightly on the outside of the cage and sighed.
" How we gonna get him out?" asked Sonic.
As if in answer to Sonic's plea, the glowing cage that held Knuckles bound filled the room with a bright yellow light. When the light vanished, everyone had disappeared back to the present, where the Master Emerald was ready to announce who it had chosen as Knuckles successor.