Chapter 130

A Plan to Save the World

The Egg Carrier vanished behind distant clouds. Knuckles waited until the ship was no longer in sight before turning aside. Metal Sonic had made good on his promise to return Cream and her fellow villagers. However, there had still been a tense moment during the exchange. Once the hostages were out of danger, there had been a moment when Knuckles considered attacking Metal and the rest of the Steel Court. With Tails powered up with the Chaos Emeralds they would have the advantage. However, the moment came and went. Knuckles had felt Metal's cold red eyes upon him as the moment slipped away. If Eggman had been in that situation he would not have hesitated to strike. Whether it was the virtue of mercy or a warrior's integrity, the end result was that they had just lost a valuable asset.

Knuckles' shoulder throbbed as he rotated it back and forth. Now that it was out of the sling it felt stiff and sore. He walked down a cobbled road through some overhanging brush until he reached the entrance to the temple. Knuckles paused and looked over the ruins. They did not seem like anything he had ever seen before. He knew there must have been civilizations older than the Echidna tribe, but these monuments hardly registered as something ancient, instead appearing more like something from another world.

Filled with a heavy sense of foreboding, Knuckles entered the temple. Once inside he followed some lit torches into an open courtyard. There he found the others all gathered together. Those that had come from the Egg Carrier clustered together on one side of the room, while a couple of dozen human soldiers retained a defensive position on the other side. In the middle, stood Tails and Amy.

They both turned as he approached. Amy's eyes were still glistening with tears, but she was smiling ear to ear. "Are they gone?" Tails asked. He had entrusted his power suit to Mighty and Ray who stood guard beside it on the far end of the courtyard.

Knuckles nodded. "I just can't believe it," Amy said breathlessly. "You two, alive, traveling around with Metal Sonic…It's just…" Her large reflective eyes filled with fresh tears. She moved away from Tails and sprang onto Knuckles. He groaned as Amy wrapped him in the tightest hug possible.

"You're gonna break my ribs-" Knuckles gasped.

Amy released him and took a step back. She laughed nervously and wiped her face. "I'm sorry…I just…I thought you were-"

"Dead?" Rouge walked towards them, she looked put off by Amy's open display of sentimentality. "He would have been if I hadn't saved him." She batted her long eyelashes and placed a hand delicately on her hip. "This one was all ready for a pointless noble death. Now he gets to be here and struggle along with the rest of us."

Amy's eyes widened in shock and she turned to Knuckles."What is she talking about?"

"That doesn't matter right now," Knuckles growled. "We have much more pressing matters to attend to. What is this place Amy, how did you get here, why are you with these humans?" He gestured angrily towards the company of human soldiers.

"Well they only just got here," Amy explained. "They were looking for a place to escape from Eggman. We decided they weren't a threat because…well…there is a lot to explain."

"Where even is here?" Tails asked. "I've never seen anything like this before."

Amy sighed. "Look, it's gonna take some time to fill you in. For now, just know that you are safe here."

Knuckles laughed bitterly. "There is nowhere safe anymore."

"Then you can call this the last refuge on earth." The group turned to see a green hawk striding towards them. His yellow eyes were narrowed with mistrust. A purple swallow followed behind him. "This is Babylon Garden." The hawk said. "If you would come with me, I will explain everything."

Knuckles and Tails exchanged dubious looks. Before they could respond, Amy strode forward. "This is Jet and Wave," She indicated the green hawk and then the swallow. "They are the Babylon Rogues, this island is their home." Amy then addressed the hawk. "These are the friends I told you about…well…at least these two are. The bat is named Rouge, but I don't know who all the others are."

"It wasn't my intention to let just anybody come here," Jet said angrily, shooting a sharp look at Amy.

"How could they have known that?" Wave said smoothly. She strode past Jet and walked up to Knuckles. Her eyes were wide and Knuckles felt himself blush suddenly. "They look pretty strong, I for one am happy they're here." Wave winked smoothly at Knuckles. His throat felt suddenly dry as he tried to respond.

"Ow!" Knuckles felt a stabbing pain in his leg. Rouge had just cut him with the sharp end of her boot as she moved forward to stand in front of Wave.

"You act as if you expected us to arrive," Rouge's aggressive posture made Wave frown. "I take it that you are the ones that sent that signal then?"

Wave put her hands on her hips. "Yes, and it wasn't easy." She turned her head to look back at Knuckles. "Amy told me about the connection you have to the Chaos Emeralds. We used to have one and I had copied its energy signature onto my computer. After that it was only a matter of reversing the harmonic frequency and…" Wave stopped short with a girlish giggle. "O, what am I saying, you wouldn't care about something like that. Just know that it took alot of engineering to match what you can do naturally."

Knuckles found himself blushing even worse than before. Rouge physically shouldered him to the side, knocking him off balance. For a second, he thought Rouge might actually attack Wave, but luckily Tails bounded forward.

"You did all that?" The fox asked excitedly. He practically bounced up and down with enthusiasm. "That's genius, I never would have thought of that!"

Wave turned her head in aloof fashion. "Well I am the brains of the operation after all."

Recovering from his temporary daze, Knuckles addressed Jet. "So why did you call us here?"

The hawk pointed at Amy.

"But how did you know we had the Chaos Emeralds?" Tails asked. "That was a huge risk, what if Eggman had them?"

"We knew that you had the emeralds," Amy answered.

"It is all too much to explain right now," Jet interjected before Knuckles could ask a follow up question. "Right now we need to get you all settled in." He jerked his head towards the direction of Cream and her villagers. "There are many rooms in the lower halls. In an hour we will have dinner in the dining hall, and then we can talk."

Knuckles wanted his questions answered now, Tails grabbed him by the arm and urged him to be patient. He agreed reluctantly and refused Wave's offer to help find him a room. Instead, Amy led the way deeper into the temple. Cream, Vanilla and the village chieftain presented themselves before Amy.

"It is an honor to meet you Miss Amy," Cream said, bowing low.

"Er….just Amy is fine," Amy said, clearly uncomfortable with the amount of reverence she was being shown.

"I've heard all about you of course!" Cream continued as Amy led the way through the many winding passages. "You're Mr. Sonic's girlfriend! I heard about all your socials, but our village didn't have internet. Once we went into the city and I got some of your makeup!"

Amy looked very uncomfortable with Cream's gushing, so Tails quickly changed the subject. "How did you get here Amy?"

However, it was Rouge that answered. "Did GUN come after you?"

Amy looked at her in surprise. "Yes, they attacked me right in my apartment. I would have been taken hostage, but I was saved by Jet and the others."

"They just happened to be there?" Knuckles asked pointedly.

Amy shook her head. "They were hired by Jeffrey Goldstone. Somehow he knew that GUN would try and capture me to use me as leverage against Sonic."

"Goldstone?" Tails repeated in shock. "Why did he help you?"

Amy smiled wistfully. "He wasn't trying to help me. He wanted me for the same reason GUN did, only with a more sophisticated approach. But it was a good thing that he did, because I was able to find out what is really going on."

"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked

"GUN wasn't acting on its own accord. Eggman was manipulating them the entire time."

"We've figured that part out," Rouge said sarcastically.

"Well then you already know that a big part of Eggman's plan was giving GUN Sol Gems."

"That's how they were powering the Eclipse Canon," Tails said.

"Yes, but Eggman was also making deals with Goldstone. His people were trading Sol Gems for weapons. Jet and the others even traded a Chaos Emerald for a bunch of Sol Gems."

"They did WHAT?" Knuckles stopped short.

Amy hesitated. "They weren't on our side then. They were just making deals that served their own interests."

"But Amy, how did they make those trades?" Tails wondered. "Did Goldstone have a way to travel back and forth from wherever Eggman went?"

Amy nodded. "His scientists used the traded Sol Gems to make transporters. He wasn't just trading with Eggman. They got in contact with criminal syndicates from the other world and made deals with them. Jeffrey didn't care at all about the fate of the world, he just wanted a way to make more profit. He thought that if GUN controlled all the Sol Gems then they would be able to control the world's economy. Jeffrey said he wanted to keep the market free, provided that he got rich as a result."

Tails' face was pale. "Wait…so there is a way to travel back and forth? That means…" The blooming comprehension on Tails' face was countered by Amy's slow shake of her head.

"I tried Tails," She said softly, her eyes closed. "When it became clear that GUN's aspirations were too dangerous to leave unchecked, Jeffrey sent me to the other world, to Arvana."

Knuckles watched Tails closely. The fox's pale blue eyes hardened in preparation for terrible news. "I found Sonic," Amy continued. "I begged him to come home, I told him that GUN had destroyed Angel Island…but…" Slow tears streaked down Amy's face. She wiped them away quickly and took a steadying breath. "He said he had to stay there, that there was something he had to do first. I gave him my other Sol Gem, the one he was meant to use to come back to earth. When I came back alone, Jeffrey revealed his true character. I was taken prisoner again."

"I…" Tails began weekly. "Sonic…he…he…."

Knuckles felt a pang of sympathy for Tails. Again he was reminded of just how young the fox was. It was only innocent naivety that kept Tails from truly knowing who Sonic was. There was no way that Sonic was going to return to earth and give up on whatever adventure he had started in that other world. A true warrior could not allow sentimentality to cloud their judgment. If Sonic had refused to return it was only because he felt that it was the best course of action. However, that would not heal the scars it would leave on the hearts of those that missed him.

Amy hung her head. "I'm sorry Tails, I really tried."

"There isn't anything to be sorry about," Knuckles said fiercely. "Sonic trusted us to keep the earth safe. He isn't abandoning us." Knuckles stared intently back at Tails. "Look how far we've come without him. We beat GUN, whatever the end result, we still won. It won't be any different now with Eggman." He put his arms on Amy and Tails' shoulders, bringing them into a close huddle. "Rouge told me all about GUN's plan and how Eggman had given them a strategy to defeat us by taking us all out one by one. Eggman was afraid of what would happen if we were together. Well he has already failed once. We are together, and we won't lose."

Amy and Tails both gazed up at him. Each of them had tears swimming in their eyes. Knuckles laughed to himself as he wondered what his ancestors would think if they could see him now. The echidna once commanded legions of trained soldiers, now, the last echidna would go to battle with just a handful of friends. A dry smile crossed his face.

"Nice speech." Rouge butted in, pushing Tails aside and opening up the huddle. "Are you going to be this sappy all the time now?"

"It was really great Mr. Knuckles," Cream was wiping her face of tears. "I wish Cheese could have been here."

Almost forgotten amongst the villagers, Might and Ray walked forward. Ray was also crying faintly. Mighty had his hands on his side and a wide grin on his face. "You guys really are something, no wonder you've managed to save the world so many times."

An hour later, they sat at a large circular table beneath a hanging chandelier. The newcomers sat on one end, and the human soldiers on the other. In the middle, sat Jet and Wave. There wasn't much food, but the chiefs from Cream's village made do with what they had. The GUN soldiers had brought army rations and the island was home to a strange variety of vegetables and fruit.

Knuckles ate sparingly. He found it difficult to relax in such close proximity to humans. Unlike Sonic and the others, Knuckles had very little experience with humanity and what little he did have was all negative. Up close the humans seemed pretty normal, though he did notice that many of them kept their guard up. However, since their weapons had been confiscated they were not really a threat.

The human leader was a female who sat close to Jet. It was obvious she was in charge because of the deference that her soldiers showed her. Knuckles felt that she was vaguely familiar to him somehow but he could not say why. He had been very surprised when Rouge had left her seat and went rushing over to her. The two females had greeted each other as though they were long lost friends.

"That's the vice president," Mighty whispered in awed surprise.

Knuckles watched the woman attentively after that. She too ate little and spent a majority of dinner scanning the room. Knuckles knew she was evaluating him and his group. She had probably already taken a count of all those who had come from the Egg Carrier, and she was accessing which of them were threats and which were possible targets. Knuckles kept wanting to ask why she was here, and how it was that one of GUN's highest ranking officials had escaped Eggman.

However, Jet had deferred all questions to after dinner. Knuckles knew this was the hawk's subtle way of asserting his authority. Knuckles could have chosen to challenge him, but he did not want to provoke a confrontation unless he had to. Amy had tried to paint the Rogues in a positive light when she told the rest of her story. However, she had not really recovered from her initial misstep. Whatever her instance to the contrary, it was obvious that the Rogues were not heroes. They had allied themselves to Goldstone for money, but had not hesitated to betray him, and had not taken up the fight against GUN until one of their own had been killed.

Knuckles stared across the table at Jet. The hawk's yellow eyes were slanted and betrayed a cunning mind. Would he betray them to Eggman if the offer came? He sat close to Amy, and Knuckles watched their interactions closely. It was very subtle, but he noticed a certain hesitancy whenever they looked at each other. Oftentimes, Jet would turn to look at Amy whenever she was talking to Tails. It could be nothing. Knuckles told himself.

At last dinner came to an end. Cream's village cleared the table and at the command of the elder, returned to their rooms. The vice president rose and dismissed her soldiers. Following after them, Knuckles politely asked that Might and Ray leave also.

Once the room was clear, Jet began the introductions. "This is Sally Acorn, she was the Vice President of the U.F."

The woman nodded gravely. "I understand that you have little reason to trust me." Her eyes darted over to Rouge. "But I hope I can prove that you meant no harm to anyone."

"How did you escape Eggman?" Knuckles snapped, ignoring her semantical excuses.

"Ease up," Rouge kicked Knuckles' chair. "She is the one that broke me out of my cage." Rouge jerked her thumb towards the vice president.

Acorn adjusted her glasses and looked intently back at Knuckles. He still felt an instinctive urge to mistrust her, but Knuckles sat back and motioned for her to continue.

For the next half hour he listened to the woman's tale. When she was done, Tails took over and explained everything that they had gone through. It was then Rouge's turn to give her story. This was the first time that Rouge had fully opened up and explained everything that she had gone through. Knuckles had known bits and pieces, but he had not realized just how much she had struggled. As she reached the part about Angel Island, Rouge glossed over the details for which Knuckles was extremely grateful. He did not want the others to know how close he had been to just giving up.

When it came time for her to explain how she had gotten the coordinates of GUN Fortress her voice cracked. Slowly, and with great difficulty Rouge spoke of Espio's last stand and how he had secured the location. Knuckles had never seen Rouge act this way before.

At long last, everyone had been caught up to speed. The room sat in a contemplative silence as everyone pieced the various narratives together in their minds. Jet finally broke the silence. "So now we know where we all stand. Now we must decide what comes next."

"We should go to Arvana," Tails suggested. "Use the Sol Gems we have left and go get Sonic."

"That would be a waste," Amy countered. "Sonic made it clear to me that he is not coming back until his business is finished."

"But that was before," Tails argued. "If he knew that Eggman was here, I know he would come back."

"It is too great a risk," Knuckles said. "We don't even know if Sonic is alive."

Tails recoiled at the suggestion. "Sonic went across the galaxy to chase Eggman, don't you think he would come home to fight him?"

No one made any answer to this. Tails searched around the table for support, but as he found none, he slumped back into his chair.

"Our best chance will come from staying in the shadows," The woman said. She folded her long fingers into a staple on the table. "We have all the evidence we need to convince the world that Eggman is the one responsible for all the terrible things that have happened. If we can get this information out there, we can rally the world against him."

"That would take too long," Jet argued. "By the time there are enough people to resist him, Eggman would have taken full control. It won't matter what the truth is or how many people know it at that point."

The woman reached into her suit and drew out a long shift of parchment. She unfolded it and spread it across the table. It was a map of the world with various red "Xs" scribbled onto it. "This is a map of all of GUNs secret bases. We can take these and then slowly build up our forces."

"Eggman will know all about those by now," Wave countered. "There are no more GUN secrets."

"That's our best shot. Ten of these bases have missile silos. If we can take control we can use the nukes against him."

"We want to save the world, not destroy it," Tails pointed out. "Besides, we don't have any targets to aim for."

"There is only one target." Everyone turned as Knuckles started to speak. He could feel their eyes upon him. He felt the pressure of all their hopes. "Eggman. If we can get him then we can win."

"What do you mean, "get him"?" Tails' voice shook slightly.

"We have to kill Eggman." Knuckles was not surprised by the look of shock on Tails' and Amy's faces. However, if either of them had looked around the table they would have seen how mundane that pronocument had been taken by the others. Obviously we have to kill him. This is a war. Knuckles put his fists on the table and looked around the room. "Our best chance is a single all out strike on Eggman's flagship. If you can get me on the ship, I will kill Eggman myself."

"We cannot keep hoping that Sonic is just going to come back out of nowhere and save us. Our fate is in our own hands. If we give him too much time Eggman will secure his power and by that point we won't have a world to save. For now, we have one advantage, Eggman doesn't know that we are all together. He will be expecting small, scattered resistance. What he isn't expecting is one, all out strike." Knuckles slammed his fist into his other hand to reinforce the point. "We go in, we kill Eggman, we save the world."