A/N: I know this chapter is a little out of proportion compared to my others, sorry about that. I just couldn't find a good stopping place, and anywhere I did wanna stop it, it would of been way to short. SO instead of two really short chapters I'm gonna give you one long one.^^; Please R&R, and happy reading.
Chapter 15
"Be careful with that. It's worth more than all your lives." Daniels stood over a group of men as they cautiously packed the Tokda Stone into a metal strong box and clicked on a large padlock. "Now get that downstairs and into the transport."
Gray clouds loomed over head as Rouge was perched on a ledge watching the building. She had been re-scouting it all morning. She was trying to figure out when and where the stone would come out of the building. "I know it's being moved today, but when?" She began to move about again taking in more of the scene.
Not much time had passed before Rouge spotted several large tank like transport vehicles. They all looked the same. Rouge was certain that one of them would hold the Tokda Stone. "But which one is it?" She begged the questioned. She hoped that she would be able to see in which transport they would place the stone, but that hope soon died away when she saw each of them began to pull away from the building.
She quickly perused them in flight. Rouge's mind was frantic. How could she have any hope if she chose wrong? Once one was disturbed the alarm would be raised and there would be no second chance should she pick incorrectly. She heard her own voice screaming at her from within, angry with the mistake of arriving too late to see which transport held the stone. Suddenly in the midst of her panic she heard another voice.
'You are the one true guardian of the Tokda Stone. You will know which is the right one.' Rouge recognized the voice as Nova's.
"Does she live within me...?" Rouge questioned softly. She looked back down at the vehicles she followed. "I will know." She repeated to herself as she began to fly downward. 'But how? How will I know!' Rouge asked silently as she neared the transporters. Suddenly Rouge realized what Nova meant. She pulled down the sleeve of her right glove. "I hope this works." She was coming to the transporter at the end of the line. She watched the mark on her arm as she passed over it. She did the same over the next two. As she began to pass over the fourth the mark on her arm started to glow. "Yes, this is the one."
Within a matter of seconds she drew back to the rear doors of the transporter. As swiftly as she could she began cracking the lock on the doors. Thought difficult while moving, she managed it. She heard the sound of the unlocking click. The door swung open. To Rouge's dismay there were five guards inside. she hung onto the door as it swung to and fro from the movement of the vehicle. As soon as she was spotted gunfire erupted. Rouge's eyes narrowed as she began to find her bearings among the speed, the swing door, and the barrage of bullets. Her ears moved with purpose as she heard the empty rounds dropping to the metal floor of transporter. As soon as she was sure she heard the click of an empty gun she swung around and in a flying kick knocked the guard in the jaw. She was quick as she grabbed the incapacitated guard by the leg and swung him against to other guards knocking them from the moving vehicle. The remaining two began firing at Rouge with their reloaded weapons.
Rouge ducked and rolled to the side. She took cover behind a metal strong box. 'The stone must be in here.' She thought quickly as she tried to come up with a plan. 'This box is the only thing keeping me from being slaughtered.' She thought as she heard the sound of bullets rickshaw of the front of the box. 'Wait! That's it! The box!' She turned so her back was against the wall and she put her feet up to the side of the box. Then with all her strength she shoved the box forward. It went sliding toward the entrance where the two guards were standing. In a few heartbeats the box slammed into them shoving them out the door. Rouge stood quickly in purist as the box was the next thing to slid out. She landed a few feet from the box and began to pace towards it.
"Hold it right there." One of the guards stepped in her path aiming a gun right at her. He pulled the trigger. He pulled it again and again, but nothing happened.
Rouge narrowed her eyes at him with rage. She suddenly was standing before him. She took the barrel of the gun in her hand and jerked it away from him. "Guns," She slammed him in the stomach with the butt of it, "are for those who cannot protect themselves otherwise." She pushed him aside. She looked at the huge lock on the strong box. She didn't even begin to pick it. She simply held up the gun and shot it off. She knelt down and opened the box. "The Tokda Stone..." She whispered as she stared down a gorgeous glowing blue stone. She lifted it gently with her fingers. Suddenly Rouge was distracted as she felt a cold wind and then a shadow overtook what little light there had been. She looked forward seeing a huge looming shadow stretching out to block out the sun over the whole city. Rouge turned toward the source of the shadow. She gasped at what was before her.
A mecha suit stood ominously in the distance. Even from where Rouge was standing she could tell that the machine was the size of a monster. It was clad in red and gray metal. It's huge body covered in thick armor. A pair of mechanical yellow eyes flashed in Rouge's direction. "Oh no..." She clutched the stone. The large monstrous machine began to make its way toward Rouge. "How can this be..." She began to run.
She didn't know much about mechas, but she had heard of them. They were like a kind of metal suit that one could control from the inside. She'd never heard or seen one this size though. This mecha was large enough to demolish any building in the city with a few swings of its metal fists. She ran as fast as she could, but her movements only took her a few steps away. When the mecha took a step it moved its body almost a mile forward. "I can't out run it." She huffed. "And if I fly..." She cringed as she imagined the giant hand of the mecha swatting her out of the air as if she were an insignificant insect. She whipped around the corner of a building, flatting herself against the side. She breathed in deeply trying to catch her breath. Even without her sensitive bat ears she could hear the sound of the monsters footsteps as it made its way closer and closer. "How does it know where I am...why is it..." She suddenly looked up. "Daniels." She growled as she heard the crashing of the building on the block just behind her. She took off running again.
"Rouge, you can't escape." A voice sounded loud across the nearby streets.
Rouge ducked behind another building gasping for breath. "John..." She gritted her teeth at the sound of his voice.
"We have your DNA. The scanners will find you no matter where you hide."
Rouge growled as she pushed herself forward scrambling for distance between herself and the mecha. "At least now I know who's in control of that thing." She huffed as she continued to run.
"Run all you want. I'll still find you." John's voice echoed as he followed Rouge slowly.
"He's taunting me." She snarled as she realized that he had to wait before he could follow her, otherwise he risked crushing her with his step. "I'll have to move in on this thing." She turned back to face it.
"Oh so you'll face me after all." the machine put its metal hands together in a fashion that a human would do when popping its knuckles. "How foolish of you. Come at me then."
"You've got to legs and heartbeat, John, What's stopping you?" Rouge sneered at the machine.
"It would seem your only weapon is your mouth!" The mecha's hand moved quickly toward her. Rouge flapped her wings and in one swift move she dodged the hand in the last second as it slammed into the ground creating a huge crater.
"Hold still!" He ragged.
"Not on your life." Rouge dodged another attack. She perched on a ledge of a crumbling building as the mecha turned to face her. She was level with its large glowing eyes.
"How about on yours then?" He held up his hand and this time he aimed his fingers at her. Within the next second five missiles shot from its fingers. Rouge slapped her wings down hard sending her straight up. She flapped harder and harder. She looked back to see the place where she had just been standing now gone. "I wouldn't relax just yet Rouge."
She turned to see him firing another round. This time Rouge moved downward plunging straight for the ground. She narrowed her eyes. "Come on, come on." She breathed and at the last second she angled her wings and was flying straight again. She looked over her shoulder. "What!" The missiles were still on her tail.
"Don't you just love heat seekers?" He said with satisfaction.
Rouge tried to dodge them, but it was no use. "I can't out run them for much longer." She huffed. She could feel them approaching closer and closer. "No, no..." She clenched her eyes shut.
BOOM! Rouge's eyes snapped open as she heard the sound of the missiles exploding. She looked over her shoulder. One of the missiles was gone. She watched as suddenly a chunk of rubble smashed into the second missile. She looked a little lower and almost lost her breath at what she saw. "Knuckles!"
The red echidna launched another piece of debris this time the chunk was much large and took out the remaining three missiles. He glided to her side. "I turn my back for one second and you get into a brawl with an opponent way out of your league." He snorted. "You're more arrogant than I first though." He snapped.
"Knuckles what are you doing here?" She questioned quickly as she followed him while they dodged several punch attacks.
"Saving your sorry tail. What does it look like!" He growled as he fended off another missile.
"But why?" She said suddenly at his side.
"Lilly wanted to come." He said looking at her.
"Lilly..." She looked at him a little disappointed.
"You left her behind." He moved a bit closer. "And me to for that matter." She looked up seeming hopeful again. "You think you can get rid of me that easy? Well you can't ditch either of us. I told you what the deal was and you tried to weasel out of it." He pushed her out of the way of another attack. Rouge remembered back to what Knuckles had said about following her until she was recovered and able to protect Lilly properly. But hadn't she been able to do that before she left them? "Move it!" Knuckles yelled as he followed Rouge from behind.
"We can't out run it!" Rouge called trying to go faster.
"Who's trying to outrun it?" Knuckles growled. "I just want to get out of the way it's damned fists."
"We have to do something to disadvantage it. If things keep on like this we'll never make it." Rouge turned so she was flying backwards and looking at the mecha. She sized it up as quickly as she could. "The eyes, that might work." She flapped her wings hard as she rammed through the air toward the mechas face. "Ha!" She yelled as she slammed a flying kick into its left eye.
The yellow lens cracked and electricity danced in the wound. "GAH! My scanner!" John screeched. He now only had the use of the mecha's right eye. "You'll pay for that!" He snapped.
Rouge made a break for another go at his face, but this time he was faster. With one metal hand he swatted Rouge to the ground with a thud. "Uh..." She lay on the ground barely able to move from the shock. "Wha..." She tried to push herself up.
"Like crushing an insect." John moved the mecha hand over her and began to lower it. He planned to crush her with it.
Rouge looked up as she saw the hand coming closer and closer. "No..." She tried to struggle out of its way but it was no use. The hand as only a yard above her now. She snapped her eyes shut as she felt it about to crush her. In the next few heartbeats Rouge had expected death, but it did not come. "Huh..." She opened her eyes as she heard a creaking sound like that of straining metal. she looked up to see the mechas hand just above her head.
"Rouge..." She looked in front of her. Knuckles was standing there both hands held up high. He was holding the mechas hand at bay. His knees began to bend as John pressed harder. He gritted his teeth. "Ugh no." He growled pushing it up.
"You will die!" John began to press without restraint.
Knuckles closed one eye as he went down on one knee. "Rouge," he looked over his shoulder at her as his arms began to shake. "Move!" He yelled.
"Knuckles." She stared at him with shaking eyes.
"I said move! Now!" He growled. "For once would just listen to me damn it!"
She struggled to her feet and limped out from under the giant hand. She turned quickly to see if Knuckles had made it out. She watched as he went to both knees. "Knuckles!" She screamed as the hand when flat against the ground. "No!" She shook her head.
For a moment nothing happened then suddenly Rouge saw movement again, the hand was lifting. No the hand was being moved. She watched as suddenly the mechas hand was fully pushed back and in the next second it was torn from the body of the machine. Knuckles stood aside huffing as he threw the detached arm to the side. "I won't die so easily." He sneered at the mecha.
"Then I'll kill you the hard way!" John sneered angrily as he began to swing his punches at Knuckles in a rage.
"Don't make idol threats." Knuckles mocked as he stood on the edge of a crumbling building in a fighting stance. He looked up slightly as he heard a crack of thunder and it began lighting.
Rouge watched helplessly as she tried to sit up. "Ugh..." Her body cried out in pain with every attempt to move. The beating she had taken from the mecha was taking its toll.
John threw several more punches in Knuckles direction. "I will crush you!" He pounded his fists to the ground in another failed attempt to mash the red echidna. He was at a much bigger disadvantage now with only one eye and arm..
"You're too slow, and on top of that you are a coward!" Knuckles growled as he landed a spiked fist to the same yellow eye that Rouge had already injured.
"GAH!" He growled out loud. "A coward am I?" He glared at Knuckles. His good eye switched to Rouge. "You have your weakness, and I do believe I've found it!" He held his metal fist up again this time it came down in Rouge's direction. Rouge gasped as she got to her feet feebly trying to make it out of the way. "To slow." John laughed as he brought his fist down.
"Rouge!" Knuckles ran towards her as quickly as his feet would carry him.
"AH!" Rouge slammed against the ground. She felt pain, but she realized it was not pain from John's attack. If he had succeed she would be dead. She realized she had been brutally pushed. She lifted her face from the ground. It was starting to rain heavily. She saw the giant mecha fist pushed against the ground. Her eyes widened. "No! Knuckles, no!" She screamed.
The fist lifted and Knuckles lay in the crater it had formed. He didn't move. He was battered and broken. "Fool, you sacrificed your own life for hers." He lifted his fist ready to pound on Knuckles body simply out of cruelty.
"No!" Rouge forced herself forward though every fiber of her body protested. She held Knuckles in her arms. "Stop!" She glared up at John. "STOP!" She screamed. Her eyes began to glow with a blue light. The stone that she had gripped all along was growing brighter and brighter with every second.
"What's this?" John could barely make out the scene as the bright light was putting off the scanners.
"You will stop." Rouge held up the stone gripping it tightly. In a flash the stone began to crackle with lighting. Large streaks of lighting began to strike out of the gem each one bigger than the last. Within moments the shocks targeted the giant mecha.
"No, stop!" John yelled as the mecha stumbled with every blow. "No, no!" He yelled as the machine tumbled backwards. It hit the ground with a thud and did not move again.
The stones glow died down and Rouge fell to her knees. "Knuckles..." she was looking down at his body. She used every bid of her remaining strength as she lifted him into her arms. "Knuckles...please..." She felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks. "No, please don't take him!" She cried. "Knuckles open your eyes," She hugged him. "Please, please open your eyes...Knuckles!" The rain did not let up. The brown dye in Rouge's fur had began to melt away. Her fur was beginning to turn white again. "Knuckles please...I beg you..." She looked down at his face. "Please don't leave me..."