Chapter 15: Farewell, Sonic

*Outside of ARK*

Knuckles and Rouge battled each other in the field outside the base, they were panting heavily with adrenaline and staring each other down, each of them had an angry look on their faces. They looked as though they were about to fight to the death.

"So… you wanna kill me then? Go ahead! I can take a beating. But don't expect it to be easy for you!" Rouge shouted angrily at him.

"You think I'm gonna do that? Do ya' think I'd ever stoop so low as to hurt you?" he asked back angrily.

"Well, if you didn't want to kill me, then what are we fighting over!?" she yelled again at him.

"You have the shards of Emeralds, don't you? You should give me those! I need them if I'm going to find the other shards of the Emeralds, don't I?!" he demanded.

She was still glaring at him."Why would I give you that? I don't care if the Chaos Emeralds exist or not! These Emeralds belong to me-" She slipped to the edge of the balcony and began falling into the lava.

"Aaaahhh!" Rogue screamed as she fell towards the fire below her. She reached out her arms but there wasn't anything to grab onto. Her eyes widened when she saw Knuckles standing in front of her, his hands grabbed both of hers before she could fall into the flames.

"Hold on tight, okay? Don't let go," he warned her.

Rogue gasped in surprise when she felt his strong grip on her wrist tighten. She looked down there was lava boiling, then looked up at Knuckles. He lifted her up by her waist and set her down safely. Knuckles and Rogue were in an embrace with one another, they stared at each other lovingly while their hearts fluttered wildly. Rogue snapped and pushed him away from her.

"Keep your hands off me!" She cried her was blushing, Knuckles stared at her.

"What? Is this the thank I get after saving you from falling to your death?" Knuckles asked, slightly offended.

Rogue frowned at him and turned around from him. "Saving my life doesn't make you worth it. And you're such a creep anyway! Why do you even care?! "She started walking away leaving Knuckles behind her."Hey, wait! Where do you think you're going?!" He ran after her. Rogue stopped walking and turned around to face him, and sighed.

"You know what? I don't need them anymore. You can have these," she gave those fragments to Knuckles, picking up all the shards, and putting them all together in one. The gem became a whole again.

"Good as new," said Knuckles, caressing the Master Emerald, and grinned. Knuckles looked at Rogue, she turned her head as she crossed her arms. "What?" She asked him.

"Um... I'm sorry if I hurt you," said Knuckles as he ran off carrying the Emerald.

'He's such a handsome dork!' She thought to herself while looking at him. Rogue smiled at how cute he was when he was embarrassed. She went back to the mission.

*Meanwhile*

Sonic tried to communicate with Tails on the walkie-talkie, but Tails did not reply back. Sonic wondered where Tails was and why he wasn't answering back."Tails, come in, please answer me," Sonic pleaded.

He waited for a moment, and then Tails finally replied.

*static*

"Sonic?" Tails asked. Sonic could hear static and disoriented.

"I'm here, Tails!" Sonic replied back, "What happened? What took you so long to reply?" Sonic asked worried.

"Sonic, it's Amy. Amy is-" Static came from the speaker once more.

"What? What happened to Amy?! Answer me!" Sonic yelled. There was no response from the other side.

The static stopped, and there was just silence. Sonic felt his heart sink and his stomach twist. He knew something bad had to happen to Tails and Amy.

"Hello, Sonic," it was Eggman's voice through the walkie-talkie.

"Eggman," Sonic replied coldly, he clenched his fist tightly around the walkie-talkie.

"It's so good to see you again, dear Sonic. And just how much did you miss me, hmmm?" Eggman spoke with a taunting tone. Sonic could feel anger building up inside of him, and he wanted nothing more than to tear the stupid scientist apart right now.

"What did you do to Tails and Amy?!" demanded Sonic. His mind was racing, thinking of ways to destroy the stupid machine, or to destroy Eggman himself.

"Hohoho, my dear Sonic. How naive you've been. As you've already deduced, I've kidnapped them and brought them to the laboratory. It seems you and your friends are quite close friends, aren't they?" Eggman laughed mockingly. Sonic could hear the smugness in his voice.

"If you hurt them, I swear I will throw you into the fucking space!" exclaimed Sonic, his voice laced with rage and hatred for Eggman.

"Oh, don't worry, Sonic, I won't hurt your precious friends, they're too valuable. And I wouldn't want to break you," Eggman chuckled maniacally. "Now come and bring the Chaos Emerald to me, so I won't hurt them."

"Fine, I'll come to you," Sonic sighed in defeat.

Eggman chuckled evilly," Such a good boy."

"Fuck you," Sonic growled at the walkie-talkie. Sonic ran to the ship as fast as he could.

*Meanwhile at the Main Room Control*

Eggman held Amy hostage with a gun to her head, she was crying. Amy was scared, she kept shaking uncontrollably. Tails held his hands up in fear, he wanted to save Amy, but he couldn't because the gun pointed straight at his chest.

"You've got two choices. Give me the Chaos Emeralds now, or I blow up your precious friend, Tails," Eggman threatened. Amy continued to cry quietly while shaking her head, she could tell he was bluffing.

Tails looked at Amy in sadness and fear. "Amy…" he whispered.

'Don't give him anything!' Amy shook her head furiously in thought. 'Please, don't listen to him.'

Tails lowered his head sadly. 'Amy… I'm so sorry...' He was trembling in fear.

With that, the door opened revealing Sonic with a cocky smile on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Sup, Eggman, you started a party without me~?" He said jokingly, trying to sound playful, but it was obvious he was angry.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed in surprise.

"Sonic!" Amy exclaimed happily, her tears flowed freely.

"So you've finally arrived. Do you still have Chaos Emerald?" asked Eggman.

Sonic picked out a topaz-colored gem from his fur pocket. "You want this? You'll have to let Amy go first."

Eggman released Amy from his clutch and she ran up to Sonic and Tails. Tails asked her if she was okay. She nodded.

Eggman held out his hand, "Now be a good boy and give this Emerald to me."

Sonic smiled, "Alright, if you insist."

He walked to Eggman and was about to give it to him, he grinned evilly as Sonic stepped into his trap. Before he could do so, a dome came down to entrap Sonic, locked in.

"What the-?!" Sonic exclaimed in surprise. He tried to break the doom, but it wouldn't budge.

"Sonic!" Amy and Tails cried in unison.

"Hahahaha, Sonic, you really thought you could give me the fake Emerald?" Eggman asked laughing evilly.

Tails was shocked, "How do you-"

"I know everything, fox boy. You can try all you want, but it won't work," said Eggman.

"Let him go, Eggman!" screamed Amy, her fists balled in anger.

"No can do, sweetheart. Your precious little boyfriend has fallen into my trap. Now I'm gonna dispose him into the space until I have my precious Emerald," Eggman explained with a smirk plastered across his face. "Now, Sonic the Hedgehog... any last words?" he asked.

Sonic looked at his friends, they were in tears. He smiled at them.

"Tails... I'm counting on you, buddy. Amy... take care of yourself," said Amy.

"Oh, Sonic..." Amy whimpered, her tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Enough of this emotional nonsense. Time to end this! Farewell, Sonic!" shouted Eggman as he activated the pod, Sonic fell into the space that he was stuck in. Horrified, Tails and Amy ran to the window and watched helplessly as the pod alighted through the Earth.

Sonic closed his eyes, and he prepared for the worst. 'Goodbye, Amy... Tails...' Sonic thought.

And there was one thing he wouldn't forget. In his mind, Shadow kissed Sonic on the lips. He wouldn't forget that kiss. He would have to meet Shadow at the ARK when he got out of the pod. He hoped Shadow was there waiting for him, he hoped he would be fine. But he would never get the chance to see him again.

'Shadow...' Sonic thought, he shed a tear, letting a teardrop on the topaz gem, and it caused it to glow.

Sonic opened his eyes as the gem was glowing brightly, showing him that he was leaving the dimension that held him captive.

Pod exploded in flames, and Sonic was gone. Sonic the Hedgehog was gone...

Amy screamed in despair. Tails was sobbing loudly, clutching onto the windowsill. And Eggman was laughing madly to himself, enjoying the chaos that Sonic left behind.