Chapter 6 – Learn From Your Mistakes

"Oh, no, Knuckles!" shouted Sonic, and he raced to check on the fallen Knuckles. The dragons seized the moment to attack Sharkinator while he stopped firing.

Knuckles struggled to get up, but he was unable to move.

"That really hurts," he groaned.

"Just relax there, buddy," said Sonic. "You had quite a nasty fall in addition to being rammed by the Robot Master."

"Sonic," said Knuckles slowly. "I don't know what to say, I feel like such a fool to believe in Eggman's lies about you. Please, do whatever it takes to defeat him, and get back the Master Emerald. Without it, the Angel Island will lose its ability to float and it will be in jeopardy."

"We'll do our best, Knuckles," said Sonic.

Knuckles smiled faintly and rested as he watched Sonic return to the battle with Shadow and the dragons.

"Shall we get the show on the road and put an end to Eggman?" asked Shadow.

"Yes, we will," said Sonic. "He is going to pay for what he did to Knuckles, and we'll try to get the emeralds from him once and for all!"

"You fools are wasting your time and effort!" laughed Eggman. "Sharkinator can easily mop the floor with you!"

"We shall see about that!" declared Sonic. "Are all of you ready?"

"Ready when you are!" replied Shadow and the dragons.

Tails, Blaze and Darky looked on away from the battlefield as they stood by next to Knuckles, anxiously hoping that the team will defeat Eggman.

"Come on, Sonic!" called Tails. "You and the team can do it!"

"We're counting on you, Sonic!" Blaze joined in. "Give that Eggman what he deserves!"

"Give him hell, Sonic!" called Knuckles.

"Draco! Cynder! Show that robot what you're made of!" added Darky.

Sonic and Shadow boldly faced Eggman, who stared down at them and the dragons with extreme disdain.

"I'm warning you," growled Eggman. "You are all signing your death warrant! Sharkinator, dispose of them, and show no mercy!"

"They will be taken care of, doctor," replied Sharkinator, and igniting his jets, he sped towards the team. "All of you better surrender if you don't want to get hurt."

"We won't surrender!" declared Cynder. "We shall finish you off!"

"Very well, then," said Sharkinator. "But this battle will be your last."

"I doubt it, Sharkinator," replied Sonic. "Let's see how you can take us all out at once!"

Sharkinator dashed towards the group, but Sonic and Shadow quickly zipped around him, while the dragons attacked from all sides, confounding the Robot Master. Draco and Bowser used their fire breath attacks which did some considerable damage to him, followed by Cynder and Ash perforating him with a barrage of plasma bursts. Percival, Jakkin and Lily delivered physical blows, and finally Torden used his electric attacks. Although Sharkinator endured the assault, he was starting to short circuit. Sonic and Shadow saw the opportunity to finally down the Robot Master, and they rammed him with their Super Spin Dash.

"Curse you hedgehogs!" snarled Eggman. "The both of you and the lizards are going to regret this!"

"Not a chance, doc!" said Sonic confidently. "You're going down, one way or another! There's no way you can be victorious!"

But just as the team thought they had defeated Sharkinator, the robot slowly got up. He was still shooting sparks, but he was not completely down. This left Sonic, Shadow and the dragons shocked and disbelieved.

"How could this be?" asked Shadow. "That robot had taken a lot of damage! There's no way he can be able to recover that easily!"

Eggman laughed nastily. "Ha! Just like I told you!" he gloated. "Sharkinator is a lot more durable and resilient than the last two Robot Masters you have destroyed, so all of your combined efforts won't be enough to take him out!"

Even so, the doctor was rather worried. Sharkinator may still have plenty of steam, he thought. But he is on the verge of malfunctioning, so I can't force him into continuing the fight with Sonic and his friends. It looks like I'm going to have to return to the lab and repair him so he can be much stronger that he is now…

"What are we going to do, Sonic?" wondered Percival. "That Robot Master clearly isn't going to go down without a fight."

"Not to worry," said Sonic. "Look at him, he may not be down, but he's shorting, so I think we have found a weakness to finally beat the robot."

"If you think you are going to win that easily, then think again!" declared Eggman as he took out a strange metallic ball. "I say that this battle will end in a draw for now, so have some fun with this!"

Laughing menacingly, Eggman tossed the ball down into the battlefield.

"A bomb!" panicked Lily. "Quick! Duck for cover!"

Sonic, Shadow, and the dragons scattered away and prepared for the worst, but upon landing, the ball burst open, unleashing a cloud of smoke that billowed everywhere. After the smoke cleared, the team realised that they were not in any real peril, but they were rather confused. When they checked the battlefield, Eggman and Sharkinator were nowhere in sight.

"They're gone," said Draco.

"It seems as if Eggman had decided to postpone the fight," said Cynder. "I wonder why."

"That's the least of our worries," pouted Sonic. "He has all the Chaos Emeralds, including the Master Emerald, and now he has gotten away with them! This is not good!"

"We're going to have to get them back from him," added Shadow. "But doing so will not be an easy task."

Knuckles made his way towards Sonic, feeling very guilty of what has recently been transpired. All eyes were on him, and the dragons felt very wary, believing that he might try to attack them. Sonic turned to face Knuckles, and he was just as remorseful.

"Sonic…" began Knuckles, much to the dragons' surprise.

"Knuckles, I really am sorry," said Sonic. "I let Eggman escape with the Master Emerald. I've failed on our attempt to get it back from him."

"No, Sonic, I'm the one who's sorry," said Knuckles. "I should have known Eggman was up to no good again, and I let myself get manipulated by him…"

"At least now you realised your mistake," said Shadow. "We can only hope that you'll learn from it and never fall for his lies ever again."

"I'm going to try my best this time," replied Knuckles slowly. "For now, I'm going to head off on my own."

"Wait, aren't you going to help us?" asked Draco. "Surely we could use your help since you've inadvertently caused this mess."

"Absolutely agree," said Torden. "Even if we might not be friends for the time being, it always helps to have allies among us."

"No, that will be fine," said Knuckles. "I really need to gather my thoughts so I can try to get my act together. See you later, everyone."

With that, the echidna left silently and solemnly while everyone looked on.

Sonic grinned. "That's our Knuckles," he said. "He has so much pride in his own independence."

"You really are taking this well, Sonic," said Percival.

"He seemed like a rude and egotistical jerk," snorted Jakkin. "I don't understand how you, Tails and Blaze could put up with such attitude."

"Oh, you guys don't know Knuckles better than we do," said Sonic. "He may appear as an unfriendly dude, but deep down inside, he has a heart and comes through for us whenever the situation gets dire."

"Well, that is reassuring," said Jakkin sarcastically.

"Now that we know what our new objective is, we better start making plans in order to thwart Eggman's goal," said Cynder. "Surely with Shadow's help, we might have a better chance in saving the world."

"Actually, I'm not going to hang around with you guys," said Shadow. "I was only here to stop Knuckles from killing Sonic, for my own reasons."

"You haven't changed a bit, Shadow," said Sonic. "One of these days, we will have our fight."

Shadow smirked. "And I'll be the one who comes on top, don't you forget that!" he said and he dashed off.

The others looked on, while Sonic could only smile.

"That's another one gone," said Torden. "Why don't we head back to the village now?"

"Good idea," said Tails. "We've left it out there with no one looking after it."

"In that case, let's get back as quickly as possible," said Bowser. "Hurry up, everyone!"

"Um, wait guys," said Ash.

"What is it, Ash?" asked Cynder.

"I've made up my mind and decided that I'd like to be solo for now," replied Ash. "Hanging out with you guys is cool and all, but it's not really my style as I'm more of a lone wolf, if you know what I mean. I'll be sure to drop by at your village from time to time, though, and I can try my best to help out whenever you guys need me."

At first, Cynder was about to object, but seeing how Ash had good intentions, she nodded understandingly. "If that's what you want, Ash, then by all means, you're free to follow your heart."

"Thanks, Cynder," smiled Ash. "I'll always appreciate and remember what you've taught me these last few months."

So after saying their goodbyes the team watched Ash disappear into the forest, and then they returned to the village. With Eggman having possession of the seven Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, they knew they will have to give it their all to stop him as soon as possible.

To Be Continued…

This was surely an action-packed story! But there's still more to come as we're getting close to the halfway point of this set! The mission to get the Chaos Emeralds from Eggman has become much more serious than ever, and the team will need all the help they can get! See you next time!