Robotnik and Knuckles, along with some drones, are already inside the temple as they're running through the various traps. A bunch of arrows are shot at them before a bunch of them shoot up from the floor, most of the drones. Robotnik skids to a stop, and they go through another hallway. The two jump off a staircase before diving out of the way from an incoming boulder that takes out the last three drones. The giant boulder rolls down after them and they run down the hall. "I don't wanna die like this!" Robotnik cries out. "It's derivative!"
A door starts to close up ahead. "Make room for Daddy!" He shouts as Knuckles holds up the wall for Robotnik to slide through. Once Knuckles lets go, he collapses next to Robotnik. "Two and two. Great!" He claps in relief that they still have all their limbs. "We're still bipedals, more or less."
They slowly turn around, getting onto their feet and looking around. "Fire in the hole!" Robotnik points to a part of the wall that breathes out fire, and they duck their heads just in time. "I've solved it. There is a booby trap every seven seco-" An axe flies his way and it barely misses him before hitting the wall. "That was a little early. Oh! So glad it didn't cut off my mustache," He briefly touches it, looking to Knuckles walking away. "Hey, Little Red Wrecking Ball. I know you're dying to get your emerald on, but...can we be a little bit more mindful of our surroundings? May I?" He touches his glove and summons a little drone. It starts scanning up ahead to guide their way.
"In 30 feet, turn left."
"Work smarter, not harder," Robotnik glances down at Knuckles, who just stares at him. Up ahead is a maze, and at the end of it will be the Emerald...
Sonic and Sophia scream as they slide down a waterfall, landing hard on sand. They just got past all of the booby traps themselves. "My pelvis," Sonic groans as Sophia stands up perfectly fine, dusting herself off. She looks up and gasps.
"Um...we might have a problem," She points up ahead and he looks to see the maze himself. He gets onto his feet.
"It'll be fine!" He waves it off.
"We don't have the compass anymore," She reminds him with a blank look.
"True, but it won't be hard to search every single path. Okay, Secret Temple, let's see what you got. Come on, Sunshine!" He grabs her hand and they both speed through a pathway, easily getting past the traps. They jump, slide, and bounce off walls. "No, no, no, no! No!" They run on the walls and glide on the ground a bit.
"This is so overkill!" Sophia shouts and they slide against the ground once they come across a fire trap. They then spin dash down a hall and Sonic stands up proudly.
"Yes! Aah!" He pulls the pink hedgehog away as a big rock comes in after them.
In a room with two waterfalls, Knuckles punches open a wall. "You have arrived at your destination."
"Wow. That really opened up the space," Robotnik couldn't help but compliment. "I can't even picture it with an impenetrable wall now. And the rubble is always a nice touch." They step inside and see the green light coming from the top of a staircase.
"At last. The Master Emerald..." Knuckles clenches a fist.
"Ultimate power," Robotnik murmurs as they get closer.
"Soon order will be restored. All because of what we have done together," The echidna looks up at Robotnik, who couldn't seem to care less.
"Such a lovely sentiment, Knuckles...I think I feel a single tear forming," Robotnik pretends to wipe an eye. "Sadly..." His glove activates with electricity, stepping up towards Knuckles. "You're as useful to me now as a backstage pass to Limp Bizkit." He's about to take out the unaware Knuckles from behind when a few thumps are heard above their heads.
Two people are heard yelling as when they pass over stones in the ceiling, dust falls. They look up as the ceiling keeps breaking apart bit by bit, and then two holes form to reveal that it's Sophia and Sonic. They land in a pile of rubble, coughing.
"Nailed it," Sonic comments with a smirk, with the giant boulder from before landing right behind them.
"These guys are always trying to spoil a bad thing!" Robotnik grumbles since he can't do anything to Knuckles now without them noticing. He blows off his glove.
"Ah! You guys are here, too?" Sonic stands up, Sophia also getting onto her feet. "Took the long way, huh?"
"Is everything a joke to you?" Knuckles demands to him. "Why must you constantly interfere with my destiny?"
"Because our destiny is to protect our friends and family," Sonic clenches a fist as they step forward.
"And mine is to help him accomplish that. So that they don't have to deal with people like him!" Sophia points at Robotnik, who looks on blankly.
"I think I just threw up in my mouth..."
"And if you want that emerald," Sonic speaks as the two stand in front of the staircase. "You're gonna have to go. Through. Us!" Their eyes glow blue and pink. Robotnik swallows up his vomit and the two run up towards the emerald. Knuckles takes off after the duo, shocking Robotnik. They glance to the side as Knuckles lands on a wall, jumping up. They touch a wall and charge, Knuckles doing the same. Red, blue, and pink clash with each other as they land hits. Sonic lands on a statue, charging towards Knuckles with his fist raised. Sophia bends down on all fours and is about to jump when a shock hits her body and she falls onto the ground.
"Sunshine!" Sonic glances at her and she looks up to see that Robotnik is responsible.
"Can't let you have all the fun, can we?" Sonic growls and turns back to Knuckles, punching him so hard that he's sent flying. "The echidna's taking no prisoners today! Sonic and Sophia have heart, but will they lose the quills to live?"
Sophia stands up, shaking it off as she watches Sonic slide to a stop in front of her. "We don't want to fight you, but you're not giving us much choice!" He dives forward, his foot outstretched, but Knuckles punches him so hard he falls into water.
"Sonic!" Sophia screams and growls at Knuckles. She charges forward and spin dashes, but Knuckles punches her down as well. She grunts and gives him an upper fist punch to the chin, knocking him onto the floor.
"Too...easy," Knuckles grits his teeth, but the punch did hurt. Sophia narrows her eyes and the two clash with both of them getting equal hits until she kicks him. She turns around and heads for the waterfall, looking up ahead.
"Sonic...?" She murmurs in worry as she doesn't see him.
"Let's do this..." Knuckles stands up and walks the staircase towards the emerald. A blue spark comes from the water and Sophia beams in relief. Knuckles looks to the side as a burst of blue and pink energy swoop in front of Knuckles, taking off a piece of the staircase. Knuckles falls backwards as the two run up a wall. Knuckles looks up to see them running on the ceiling and they come to a stop, holding hands. They nod at each other before spin dashing and heading right towards Knuckles at rapid speed. They hit him multiple times, taking off part of the staircase before charging in one last time hard. They jump out of the staircase, sliding onto the floor.
"There. Now he-"
Knuckles yells as he bursts out of the staircase and charges at them with fists ready to punch. They yelp and dodge every single one. "Why don't you both stand still and die with honor?"
"Let me think about it," Sonic quips back to him. "Okay, I thought about it and we pass."
"We won't go down without a fight, but we're not your enemies! And Robotnik isn't who you think he is either!" Sophia tries and fails to reason with him. Knuckles goes in faster, eventually landing a hit on both and they slide across the room. Meanwhile, Robotnik has reached the Emerald using another path.
"Hi there, beautiful. You're the real deal, aren't ya?" He examines it closely. "(Where have you been all my life?)" He asks in Italian, spinning around.
Sophia sits up and Sonic groans, looking up and they both gasp. Knuckles holds a rock over the both of them. "Say goodbye, hedgehogs..."
Sonic then looks to see Robotnik and the Emerald. "Oh no!" Sophia murmurs in horror at this.
"Knuckles, stop. Robotnik's stealing the Emerald!" The blue hedgehog points past him.
"What kind of fool do you take me for?" He growls at them.
"He's telling the truth," Sophia argues back to him. "Robotnik isn't a good person. I used to be human before…he turned me into what you see now."
"What…?" Knuckles murmurs and then shakes his head, thinking that it's a trick. "No. I will not fall for your games!"
"Just look."
Knuckles looks back and sees Robotnik about to touch it. "Mine..."
"Wait!" He looks to the echidna. "That wasn't the deal!" Knuckles drops the rock as Sonic helps Sophia stand up.
"Oh, you poor, naïve creature," Robotnik talks down to him like he's a baby. "It's not your fault. A more advanced intellect would have seen this move coming a mile away. Or 1.6 kilometers."
"But I trusted you! You were my friend!" Knuckles grits his teeth, which Robotnik laughs to.
"I'm sorry. That just hit me funny. Let this be my final lesson to you, you dim-witted celestial skin tag." Even Sophia and Sonic are shocked at this shift in him and how much he just doesn't care. "Friends...are open, honest, and vulnerable with each other. Which means X squared times the hypotenuse of Y squared divided by the absolute value of friendship, equals...dookie!" He then turns to the emerald.
"Oh no," Sonic says in horror while holding his arm. Robotnik touches it, and it causes an explosion that sends the three flying backwards. The Emerald surges with green energy as it changes Robotnik's outfit.
"Chaos...is...poweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!" He screams as he disappears, and without the Emerald's power, the whole Temple starts to collapse. Water seeps in from the outside.
"Let's get out of here!" Sonic shouts as rocks fall around them. The two take off, Knuckles looking up as a pillar falls over him. The rocks fall into the growing pool, Sophia hugging Sonic as he hangs onto a cliff. They look across the water to see Knuckles trapped underneath the pillar. He gets submerged into the water and closes his eyes. "Knuckles!"
However, he's not strong enough to break out on his own. "Oh my god...Sonic, come on!" Sophia dives into the water and goes in deeper.
"Water again? Come on!" Sonic complains, but jumps in after he while holding a rock to weigh him down. They see Knuckles and push the pillar as hard as they can. However, they start to lose their breath, seeing a bubble and inhaling them. They continue to push and Knuckles wakes up to see them struggling. They feel a sudden weight being lifted off, looking to Knuckles pushing it, but he can't do it on his own. Sonic waves a hand for him to stop and counts down to two. Knuckles nods at him and once he gets to one, they all push at the same time to get Knuckles free. He swims to the surfaces, Sonic trying to yell out to him and covering his mouth. Sophia looks to Sonic and grabs him, swimming upwards, but he brings down too much weight for her. Sonic holds out a hand to Knuckles, jumping and trying to swim, but he starts to black out. And Sophia does too because of the prolonged time underwater. She slowly floats to the ground and Sonic sits there...until hands grab both of them and pull them onto shore.
They both cough, Sophia sighing in relief as Sonic glances to Knuckles, hugging his girlfriend with a small smile that she's okay. The sun starts to set nearby. "You saved us."
"Don't talk to me," Knuckles sits down next to them. "I'm not in the mood." Sand gets thrown at him. "How dare you attack me in my hour of sorrow?!" He yells to Sonic, standing up and getting hit with sand again.
"Sonic, that's enough," Sophia warns him with an annoyed look.
"Why did you save us?" He's about to throw sand again until they're hit with a huge pile of it from Knuckles.
"Okay, if someone throws more sand again, I will punch them in the face! We are already dirty!" Sophia screams in annoyance as she stands up, shaking herself off.
"Because you saved me first, which clearly gave you a tactical advantage I do not understand," Knuckles is about to throw a ball of sand when Sophia's shoe hits it and dispels the ball. She huffs and he finally lowers his hand, tossing her shoe back to her.
"It wasn't a tactic. We couldn't just let you die."
"...Why?" Knuckles wonders to them. "I've been trying to destroy you both since the moment we met," He steps up slowly, confused.
"Because being a hero isn't about taking care of yourself. It's about taking responsibility for other people, and not just the one you wanna spend your life with," He holds Sophia's hands as he smiles at her and she returns it. The two nuzzle each other's foreheads before Knuckles sits down next to them.
"Hmm. Wise words. An ancient Earth proverb?"
"No, sir, that's a Wachowski family special," Sonic explains to him. "I got it from her dad in a rowboat," He jerks a thumb to Sophia. "Someone who means a lot to me, as much as she does."
"Ah, yes, the Wachowski family special," She smiles a bit. "One that he takes pride in. But for me…yeah, you were out to get us, but you have a spirit that kind of reminds me of myself. When I was a human, I was always fighting to build a life for myself. But now that I can't do things other people can…it's hard. I guess you could say you inspire me."
"…Robotnik…will suffer for what he has done," Knuckles narrows his eyes. "How dare he ruin someone's life?"
"He didn't ruin it. If anything, he weirdly made it better," She winks at Sonic, who grins happily.
A plane is heard and Sonic looks up to the sky. "Wait a second. What's that sound?" Sophia follows his direction to see Tails flying a plane.
"Only Sonic the Hedgehog needs rescuing this much."
Sonic laughs at this. "That sly little fox!"
"Thank god you're here, Tails!" Sophia waves to him and they both look to Knuckles, who sits there and laments what he did as well as other things.
"Come on, Knucklehead. We're not beat yet," Sonic places his hands on his hips.
"Yeah. Let's go kick Robotnik's butt again," Sophia smirks, crossing her arms.
"On the mountain, you told me you'd lost everything. The way I did. But you seem so hopeful and free. How did you move forward despite failing again?" He looks up at Sonic. "And again. And again. And again. And again. And again-"
"Okay, I didn't fail that much," Sonic corrects him, Sophia giggling. "But I didn't do this all alone. I found a new family. New friends. And a girl that's just adorable and everything!" He hugs Sophia as he snuggles her and she smiles. "And you can too."
"It's not too late, Knuckles. You can start over," Sophia encourages him with a soft smile. They hold out their hands to him.
"You don't have to be alone anymore," Sonic tells Knuckles gently. He then takes their hands and just like with Stone and Robotnik, he breaks them.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!" Sophia screams so loudly in pain that birds fly away.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Are you kidding me with that handshake?!"