Chapter Twelve: Searching for the last Emerald
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow were very close in reaching the Scrap Brain. An area that was abandoned many years ago, when Sonic began his many adventures stopping Eggman's evil plans. It was all collapsed, and demolished.
There were pieces of scrap metal laying everywhere. There were also the saws, pieces of the robots that Sonic has destroyed to release the animals inside, the underwater pit that Sonic was forced into by Eggman, and the final battlefield where Sonic and Eggman had their final showdown.
"Man, it's been so long! I haven't been here, since my first ever encounter with Dr. Eggman." Sonic mentioned.
"That long ago, was it?" Tails asked.
"Yeah. But let's not worry about that now, let's find that last Emerald!" Sonic stated.
"Already on it!" Knuckles replied.
"Understood!" Shadow added.
After that, they began their mission to find the last Emerald.
"Now where would it be?" Tails thought.
"Tails, use your Emerald! You can see it glowing brighter when you're closer to the Emerald." Knuckles explained.
"Thanks Knuckles!" Tails thanked.
After that, he took out the yellow Emerald and used it to track the last Emerald. Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow did the same thing. It's been at least ten minutes of looking.
"Any sign of it yet?" Knuckles asked everyone.
"Not yet!" Tails replied.
"Not glowing yet!" Shadow added.
"Oh wait! Mines is glowing!" Sonic exclaimed.
The guys quickly ran towards Sonic's location, and checked on his Emerald that was glowing.
"Are you sure that's not reacting to our Emeralds, Sonic?" Shadow asked.
"No, the Emeralds only make each other glow once, a new one located glows again." Knuckles explained.
"But the question is, where is it?" Tails thought.
"Uh, I think it's over there. This was where my last battle with Eggman was, when he created these pistons that tried to crush me. And those are where he fired electricity from the generators." Sonic explained.
"Well, better get searching then." Knuckles stated.
After that, they began their search for that last Emerald. They've searched high and low, and all of a sudden, Knuckles tripped over a rock.
"Ah! Damn rock" Knuckles snarled.
"Knuckles, wait! That's no rock. Look at your Emerald." Tails told him. When Knuckles looked at his Emerald, it was glowing bright.
"It's glowing! Then that means..." Knuckles started, as he lifted the cloth from the ground. And there it was, the last Emerald. It was the white one.
"Oh my God, that's it!" Knuckles exclaimed, as he picked it up.
"The last Emerald!" Tails stated.
"And about time, too!" Shadow was relieved.
"Well, I think it's about time that we get our way back to Angel Island. We've wasted nearly twenty minutes looking for this." Sonic stated.
But all of a sudden, the electric generator started sparking. It shot out a lightning ball, And nearly hits Tails. Knuckles tackled Tails out of the way, before it hit him.
"That was close! Are you alright, Tails?" Knuckles asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But what the hell was that?!" Tails thought.
"How is this generator working?! This has been abandoned for many years! It should be out of power by now!" Sonic thought.
More lightning was shooting out of the generator, and the guys quickly dodged them. After that, something very strange was happening. The collapsed Scrap Brain was rebuilding itself. It rebuilt the pistons, the saws, the generator, even the robots that were destroyed by Sonic.
"What the hell is going on?!" Sonic thought.
"Guys, I think this is something to do with Exetior!" Shadow assumed.
"How do you guess that?!" Knuckles asked.
"Well, he's taken control of everything thus far. So maybe he can control the environment as well. He must've known we'd be here looking for the last Emerald, and he's rebuilt the Scrap Brain to slow us down!" Shadow finished.
"Well, that's the only reasonable explanation! But no time for messing about! We need to get the hell out of here, now!" Sonic yelled.
Everyone agreed, and began making their way out of the Scrap Brain. They ran as quick as they could, dodging every lightning bolt that tried to hit them, demolishing all the robots, and all the saws that tried to slice them. Within a mile, they saw the exit of the Scrap Brain.
"We're almost there, guys! Don't give up just yet!" Sonic called.
But suddenly, quicker than a blink of a human eye, Knuckles leg got caught on one of the saws, and cut it pretty deep.
"AH!" Knuckles yelped.
Sonic stopped, and looked back to see that Knuckles was hurt.
"KNUCKLES!" Sonic yelled.
That was not the only bad news, the only exit to the Scrap Brain was closing. If that closes, they'll all be locked in there forever.
"Sonic! The doors are closing!" Tails called.
"Don't worry! Shadow, grab Tails and reach the exit! I'll catch up!" Sonic demanded.
"But Sonic...!" Shadow tried saying, but was cut off.
"JUST GO!" Sonic yelled.
Shadow then frowned, but nodded. He then grabbed Tails, and rushed towards the exit.
"SONIC!" Tails yelled, but Sonic didn't respond.
Sonic then ran his way towards Knuckles, and knelt down.
"Sonic, forget about me! Save yourselves, and get rid of Exetior!" Knuckles demanded.
"Knuckles, don't talk like that! I am not leaving here without you!" Sonic snapped.
"JUST GO! All I do is slow you down anyway! All these years, I've always let you guys down! And I'm not doing that again! Just leave me behind! Tell Tikal that I love her, and I had to do this!" Knuckles stated, and had tears flowing in his eyes.
But Sonic wasn't having any of it. Sonic had angry, but sad tears in his eyes.
"NO WAY KNUCKLES! YOU HAVE NEVER LET US DOWN! You're my friend Knuckles, and I am not letting anyone else die! Not now, not EVER! Now get on your feet, you FUCKING ECHIDNA!" Sonic snapped, as he helped Knuckles stand to his feet, but Knuckles was in so much pain.
"NO SONIC! I can't do it! Please, take care of Tikal for me!" Knuckles sobbed.
But Sonic instantly lifted Knuckles in a fireman's carry.
"NOT A FUCKING CHANCE, KNUCKLES!" Sonic yelled.
As soon as that was said, Sonic dashed as fast as he could towards the exit. The door was like reaching downwards, about a few inches left, before the doors finally closed. Sonic then forced himself to slide on his front, and he made it passed the closing doors just in time. Sonic and Knuckles were panting very hard.
"SONIC, KNUCKLES, YOU GUYS MADE IT!" Tails said in relief.
"You had us worried." Shadow added.
They then saw the deep cut on Knuckles' leg.
"Guys, give me the Emeralds!" Sonic asked.
"That's not going to waste energy, is it?" Shadow asked.
"No, not from just healing. Only for super forms or powering something mechanic or monstrous does it waste energy." Sonic replied.
Shadow then nodded. As soon as he said that, Tails and Shadow handed Sonic the Emeralds. The Emeralds then floated, and the magic was used to heal Knuckles' wound. Knuckles sighed in relief, but frustrated.
"Sonic, why?! Why did you come back to rescue me?!" Knuckles snarled.
"Knuckles, you're my friend. It's my job to save you!" Sonic retorted.
"But I only would slow you down! You should have just left me!" Knuckles snarled again.
"No, Knuckles! I am sick to death of seeing people killed today! Ever since that Exetior came to this universe, it pains me to see people getting killed. And I can't stand to see any more of it! You're my friend Knuckles, and Tikal loves you. Did you ever stop to think about how that would make Tikal feel, if you were dead? That'd destroy her, man!" Sonic said, as tears were flowing from his eyes.
Knuckles then had tears flowing from his eyes. He was surprised that Sonic even cared about him. Sonic was willing to risk his own life for him?
"You're right. You're absolutely right. I'm being ungrateful. I'm sorry." Knuckles apologized. Sonic just smiled at him.
"Apology accepted." Sonic told him.
After that, Knuckles brotherly embraced Sonic.
"Thank you for saving me back there." Knuckles told him.
"It's all part of being a hero, Knuckles." Sonic replied. They then break the hug.
"Anyway, I think we should get to Angel Island." Shadow told them.
"Oh shit! That's a thing, how long do we have?!" Knuckles yelled.
"Oh no! We only have ten minutes!" Tails stated in fear.
"Ten fucking minutes?! Fuck me! We need to get on that Tornado, and get to Angel Island, NOW!" Sonic yelled.
After that, the guys ran towards the Tornado. They decided to make it go faster, so Sonic grabbed Knuckles, and Shadow grabbed Tails. They stopped at the plane, Tails sat in the driver's seat, and started the engine. Knuckles sat in the back seat, and Sonic and Shadow sat on each side of the wing.
Tails started the engine, and the plane started moving. As soon as the plane moved, the plane took flight, and flew away into the dark skies. Here comes the final showdown. Will the guys make it in time to save their girls, or will it be too late so save them and themselves from the evil clutches of Exetior?