Sonic and The Chaos Kingdom
Ch. 7
(Okay, so I told myself I wouldn't start any new stories until I completed my promise I made before I went off on my mission, which was to finish this story. I REALLY want to write other things… but I think I'll finish this chapter and go from there :) )
The whole army and gang were able to successfully sneak into the castle… The place was cold, dark, and extremely dreary… even the colors of the flags hanging from the dungeon like stone walls were a faded bright red, gold as the symbol, which was torn or some had too much dust to really see the full image of it anymore. Others had ash stains and marks that showed years of battles or rebellions down to the very scrapes and holes in the walls of fallen souls.
"This place is a dump!" Sonic whispered to Knuckles, who shushed him as they continued to sneak around to where Jet knew the Master Emerald lay…
"So tell me," Sonic blatantly ignored Knuckles's shush and continued, giving him a glare from the red echidna. "How do you know about the Master Emerald? I would think Shadow would disregard his subjects to the degree of neglect, leaving you guys clueless as to everything that's going on.."
Jet looked back up at Sonic, having abandoned their horses now, he had kept his head low in fear of his own life. But leering up at him, he responded, "We keep taps on things for ourselves. It's not our fault our king is locked in his grief…" He looked forward again, his head still angrily down, pushing onward with clenched fist at helping, what he deemed 'the enemy'.
"His grief?" Sonic was taken by that for a moment, before Wave raised her fist to show a signal for the party to halt.
"It's this way. But this is where we say goodbye." She turned and folded her arms, "We've already risked our necks long enough for you, Kingy. It's time we call it quits here and meet you when we meet you." She leaped past Jet's curious look towards her, as she moved on. "Come on, I'm not going another step further…"
"Dah… We don't want to be robotized, boss…" Storm put a hand on Jet's shoulder, leaning down and looking sad. He knew it wasn't Jet's style to just back down or leave a good fight. But at the same time, they didn't want to take anymore unnecessary risks…
"Grr… fine then." Jet was upset, closing his eyes and biting down hard in his fury, but turned quickly around to Sonic. "YOU BETTER WIN! And if not, I'll take your place, and unite the land myself!" he half-threatened, but it seemed in his own way, was saying 'Good luck'.
Him and his team walked briskly out from the mist of the Chaos army.
"….Looks like we're on our own now…" Knuckles stated, as him and Sonic were both turned to look behind them, before Sonic motioned his head back toward him first, and lowered it down slightly.
"…Come on, Knuckles. For their sakes… let's end this." He looked seriously to Knuckles.
Knuckles looked back to him, for a moment, he registered the sincere seriousness Sonic was finally taking to helping the kingdom, and was proud of him for it. But at the same time, he had to chastise him again. "Woah-ho, now, Sonic. I know your anxious to win this thing, but let's not be too hasty. We're not on home-turf. We just lost our guides. The next best thing is to be precautious and look around every turn.I said so once, and I won't say it again-!" he had, at first, put his arm out to try and calm a pumped-up Sonic from making another rash decision, and then walked forward, as if holding more authority than Sonic in this moment. "You are to NOT, EVER, jeopardize the mission to fight Shadow. Got it?" Knuckles stuck a finger toward him, and a very stern look.
It was this moment that Sonic chuckled within himself, only showing a smile to reveal his inner thoughts.
Knuckles would make a comical father someday….
"Did you hear me? Or am I not clear enough." He straightened himself up and folded his arms.
"Loud and clear, General." Sonic played around and saluted Knuckles, closing one eye and slightly turning his head to try and hide his big ol'grin towards the loveable goof.
"Good." Knuckles seemed proud of himself, having 'tamed' the wild king. He put his hands to his sides and stuck up his nose in pride, smiling with his eyes closed. "Then I'll lead from nows on." He started to make the pace for the rest of the army, which also seemed to smile at the silliness of their general's antics.
As they moved down toward a large and spacious room, down in the dungeons where they saw the large figure of a statue dragon, the men began to feel skittish and frightened at its appearance, though straight ahead the doors had a little slit down them, just wide enough to see. Through it, a bright green glow…
"We've found it! We've found my Emerald!" Knuckles looked thrilled to at last be in sight of his precious stone, but the men looked around at each other, as he shifted his eyes and cleared his throat, composing himself. "Ehem, I mean, uh… Our Emerald…" he put his hands coolly back behind him, trying to look professional as he looked up.
Sonic stepped forward, as the men regained their uneasy feeling.
"It's time." He stated.
Banks suddenly looked around and stepped forward, whispering to Sonic and putting a hand up as he did so, as to not allow any unwanted eavesdropping. "Sire, do you think it's wise not to address the men at this time?"
Sonic turned back, looking behind him as Banks leaning down to speak to him. "Huh?"
"They grow weary of the impending doom." His eyes gestured up at the dragon figure. "It's intimidating them." He further explained. "It might not be a bad idea to encourage them somewhat."
A Solder (Kip) looked to his friend, finally reunited with him, and seeing him tense up and look afraid. He patted his shoulder, as if saying, 'don't forget what I said!' as his friend, the young journal writer, nodded and looked forward again, touched by his gestured and looked more determined to fight and win now!
"Oh… uhh.." Sonic turned and put his hands together, still not too sure about how to give 'kingly speeches' just yet…
He'd been winging it so far… after all.
"Alright men, let's uhh… let's take a second here." He started to pace down his army. "I know it looks bad, but bad can sometimes be fun!" he put his hands into a fist and pumped them slightly, as Knuckles looked back to him and face palmed.
The men looked around at each other, uncertain of Sonic's leadership skills still…
"U-Ummm…" Sonic's face began to fall, as he scanned the room to see not a single soul looking comforted… "Eh-heh-heh…" he sweat dropped.
"…." The young journalist looked around at his comrades, and then to Sonic.
He was that solder that wasn't able to name himself before, but he saw what Sonic could do, he saw how Sonic cared, and he was willing to show his kingdom that their king WAS meant to rule!
He started to put the hilt of his sword to his heart, and just above it, closer to his shoulder, as he started to bang it.
The gesture was suddenly followed with Kip, as Sonic noticed, and took out his own Chaos Sword, smiling, and repeating the gesture, although, he wasn't wearing armor, so it was a light hit with no sound.
But immediately as he drew it, the sword glowed the same emerald green light that was coming from the doors, and within, the Emerald seemed to stir awake, a metallic ring coming from it…
He gave a kind nod to his friend, as the whole army began to mimic and repeat the gesture.
"We will find peace. We'll gain it for all people. It's worth fighting for." Sonic stated, as the men slowly began to stop their gesture.
Knuckles smiled, walking up behind Sonic and giving him a proud pat on the back. "Keep it up, and they might actually think you a decent king." He teased, wrapping his arm over Sonic's shoulders.
Sonic smiled too, and shook him off, playfully, from his shoulder.
Suddenly, the eyes of the dragon began to glow a bright green too, as the army progressed forward to the doors.
"…Sonic… what was-?" Knuckles stopped, hearing a creaking sound, and looked around.
Directly above them, the robotic dragon shook its creaky claws free of its frozen position, and roared a metal cry, loosing itself as its gears began to crack to a start, and it became fully activated and alive!
"Soooooooniiiiiiic!" panicked, Knuckles took off, running behind him as the men braced themselves, and Sonic dashed to the side, dodging its swinging head.
The dragon's torso, arms, neck and head were the only things protruding from the wall; the rest looked like the metal back of a hunter's mounted head ornament they'd hang in their homes.
The Robotic Dragon roared again, and seemed to be powered with Chaos Energy.
"H-how'd they harness Chaos?!" Sonic spoke out loud, shocked by the energy flowing through the gears that were exposed.
Its head suddenly flung to Sonic, and glared.
"Sonic! Look out!" Knuckles cried out, as the head opened to reveal a powered up Canon, charging for a powerful blast!
"Grrr- Get out of there!" Knuckles pulled out his axe, swinging it into the dragon's mouth to pull it's jaw towards him, and then swung it up to close it's jaw as the dragon's eyes went wide, and spat out the powerful, misty ray of a chaos blast up towards the ceiling.
The men cried out as the ceiling came down on them, others dodged or ran for cover.
"We need to direct them! Your orders, sir!" Banks cried out to Knuckles.
"Arrows, ready!" Knuckles began, as the men formed a line, all falling in one at a time. Shouts of 'Go, go, go, go!' were made in the background as they each readied their crossbows.
"Fire!" Sonic shouted out, seeing the dragon shake it's head before tilting it at the strange formation they had created.
The arrows were launched, and the Dragon reared back it's head, shouting out as some of it's bolts were flying out or gears were being blocked from moving by arrows.
It's eyes glowed intensely for a second, before the gears cocked themselves out of the glitchy sequence they were in, and the dragon looked ticked off.
"Uh-oh…" Knuckles's face turned to a frown and widened eyes with small pupils as he noticed the dragon was readying for a counter. "New plaaaannn!" he started to fallback, as the army followed him, and the dragon slammed the tips of it's claws to the ground, and let out a powerful chaos blast!
The mist from the dragon's mouth sprayed out to fog up the room, as Knuckles coughed, looking around. "Where's-!? *cough cough* Son-Sonic? *cough cough*" he used his arm to cover his face, as a blue blur spiraled up the dragon's neck, causing the dragon to stretch it's neck out and shake itself, trying to loose the little insect from itself.
Sonic spin dashed to it's head, and wobbled back- "Wah-woah!" he took hold of one of the dragon's horns, as it tried to buck him off by reeling it's head back, and smashing it into the metal mount behind him.
Sonic was too small to hit though, and he held on, gritting his teeth, as it flung itself forward and started clawing at the men rushing towards it with swords and spears.
Sonic slowly began to pace himself, putting one hand out and flinging his arm over as far as it could go, gripping a thin metal scale, and almost rock climbing his way, at times, horizontally, towards the dragon's main head. Since the horns were in the back.
He finally got to where he wanted to be, and saw a poor solder get knocked out by the dragon head-butting the army back from it's underbelly.
"Ah!" he let out a cry for his faithful solder, and then glared up at the dragon. "This ends now!" He pulled out his Chaos Sword, holding it downward and raising it up.
It's spiraling chaos energy suddenly started to be pulled into a single spiral down to the tip, a few inches from the blade's actual point of the sword, and Sonic drilled it into it's head.
The Dragon revved a mighty and painful cry, as suddenly Sonic noticed the chaos that fueled the dragon was being absorbed by the sword, as it spiraled up the sword, and then broke free as strands of Chaos swayed and rushed by in ribbon like waves past Sonic's face.
The Dragon's gears, powered by chaos, started to glitch again, as the robot now flinched upward, robotically creaking, and it's head tilted, it's jaw forced open, before it powered out in loss of it's power source and slowly lowered it's head back down…
Sonic, having looked around and judged the dragon's situation to be down, tugged the sword back out of it's position, causing a powerful surge of Chaos energy to ripple the room in a wave, just like the coliseum, and jumped down, spinning as he did so.
"There, not so bad." He stretched out his arm by rotating it a bit on his shoulder, and tilted his head cockily.
The men looked at him with blinks and stares, awe coming across their expressions, as some men bent down to care for the wounded…
"Sonic… how'd you DO that!?" Knuckles flung his arms out, shocked, before hardily laughing and swinging his arms around Sonic into an embrace, lifting him up and spinning him in the air. "That was AWESOME!" he threw him down and shook his axe above his head, "The King slayed the dragon!" he cried out, as the men raised their swords or crossbows above their heads, pumping them too and crying out in cheers.
"All hail the king! All hail the king!" they cried out, as Sonic tried to catch his breathing, and smiled.
He never knew how much he liked praise…
Still, something was off.
As they pushed open the gates using Knuckles's head as a battering-ram, as they just let him down after his eyes spiraled and stars flew around his head, clutching it with his hand, Sonic started to make his way over to the Master Emerald.
Knuckles was a barbarian in his time, after all.
"I guess I'm out of practice…Ughh." Knuckles dizzily stated, and lowered his head down.
Sonic slowly reached a hand out, the Master Emerald's power apparent just by it's sheer size, and the metallic ring was more like a hushed purr now…
"Hey, buddy…" Sonic smiled, resting his hand on it. "I'm here to take you home." The color of his eyes met the green of the Master Emerald, and he narrowed his brow in a determined look of honor and care. "We missed you." He smirked.
The blade in his hand matched the purr of the Emerald, as it sparked a tiny lightning rod of chaos energy up its blade, slowly, before disappearing in its hilt.
"General! You're Majesty!"
The two turned, Knuckles still holding his head and looking way out of it from the ground as he leaned up.
"You might want to take a look at this…" A solder had found crates, and smashed one open to reveal long cylinder tubes, powered up with Chaos inside them. "They're labeled… batteries."
"What in the world is a battery?" Knuckles asked, getting up, and still rubbing his head, though looking concerned at the objects.
"I don't know, but they don't look good." Sonic paced over, folding his arms and matching Knuckles's expression as well. "They kinda resemble Tails's father's work…" he stated.
"Bombs?" "Grenades?" "What's that accursed prince thinking!?" "We have to destroy them!" "We can't miss this opportunity!"
Sonic and Knuckles turned back and forth at all the voices of the men behind them, as Sonic finally held out his hands towards them. "Woah-woah-woah. Let's not jump to conclusions here." He stated, and continued, gesturing to them as he spoke, and walked toward them. "We have no idea what the Eggman Empire is planning, all we know is that we have their power source, and a way to cut it off." Sonic held his sword, as that gave Banks an idea.
"Your highness," He bent to a knee as he ran up to approach Sonic, his head flinging down before straight up again, still performing protocol for manners towards royalty.
"Go on." Sonic turned to the side, and lifted a hand to gesture an encouragement to speak further.
"I wasn't quite sure what I saw you do on the Dragon's head, but I do know that the second you did it, the Dragon's Chaotic energy was sucked dry, leaving it motionless and basically lifeless." He stated, and continued, looking to the sword, before back at Sonic. "Could you… possibly… do it again?"
"What? Stab something? You got it!" Sonic looked excited, holding the sword more firmly and with style across his chest now, flashing a signature grin his way with the pose.
Banks nodded, and got up. "Slash through the batteries. Reclaim our Chaos Blessings, and don't let the Eggman Empire get away with desecrating our sacred Emerald!"
Sonic nodded, and happily sped around, slashing crates open at super sonic speeds, and slashing open each and every 'battery', gaining more and more chaotic energy to his blade…
The blade trembled in his hand, due to all the power it had absorbed, as Sonic put it away, a little frightened at its might. "Want to save you for later…" he muttered to himself.
The second the blade hit the sheath, you couldn't see the brilliant green, and the noise hushed as Sonic's hand left its hilt…
Sonic flexed his hand, confused as to why his grip had to be so tight on the blade, but it seemed it would of lost control if he hadn't, and trembled out of his hand.
He looked down to his side at the blade, more and more worries crept into his mind at the strangeness of the blade's power…
"Sonic! Uruff! Help us get this thing going! Asap!" Knuckles was trying to carry the whole thing, the side of his face squished by the Master Emerald's impact of it's weight, and holding the tip of it's end in his hands, his knees bent considerably, as the men all looked awkwardly on with hands out stretched, but not knowing where to grip the darn thing…
Sonic just sighed at the comical scene, shaking his head, before confidently striding over, letting the worries in his mind slip away~ "Geez, Knuckles. And for a second there, I thought you wouldn't let anyone else touch it!" he teased.
"Are you mad!? This thing weighs more than my grandmother! And that's saying something too; she used to have to ride whales for barbaric raids 'cross seas!"
"Must run in the family..."
"Don't you start…" Knuckles glared, trying to point a finger at Sonic but almost loosing his grip on the Master Emerald, making it almost topple over. "Wo-woah! Phew..! To think, if this thing falls, it could shatter into a million pieces! That'd take forever to round up! Good thing we're not on a time limit."
Sonic chuckled, wanting to lend a hand too, no matter how funny this was to watch, but still felt in the back of his mind that this was all just…
Too easy…
-Previously…-
The Palace walls of the Chaos Kingdom looked secured and well,… before a shadow zipped by the moonlight's sight, and the curtains swayed at it's passing…
A figure dropped from the ceiling of the library, and turned it's hood to see if anyone was behind them.
"Hmhmhm~ They really should guard this better~" A woman's voice stated, as the womanly figure began to move femininely towards a glassed book…
Before she could reach it, the door swung open, and she turned to have a scared look on her face, and her wings flashed out and she soared to the ceiling's sides.
"…Huh?" Tails peeked his head in the door, and looked around the quiet and darkened room. "Aw.." He bent his ears down, "I was hoping Sonic was studying… well, it's always good to hope in something!" he walked towards the room and lifted the glass off from where the book of their people was being displayed, and took it. "Even if that hope is misplaced in something bound to not happen… or just not probable. Haha! Well, if he won't study up, I'll have to do some digging for him!" he put the book under his arm and walked out, closing the door behind him.
The figure was upside down as she growled, and flew down. "That darn fox! Spoiling all my fun." She folded her arms, before looking over at a vase with wrapped up scrolls in it. "Still, shouldn't leave a party empty handed." She walked over to it and started digging around, "Ah! These will be lovely on the Eggman Empire's walls."She looked at a scroll with mock-ups of the Castlized Palace's maps, showing the structure and every door and room in the place. She picked up another one, and it continued with floor plans and other such things as to the making of the royal place.
She grinned and rolled them up, folding them and tucking them in her shirt. "Wonderful. I'll bet Shadow'd pay a pretty gem for these…~"
"Who goes there?"
She swung around; ready to fight if needs be, holding a dagger in her hand, before seeing a familiar angry red general…
"Ah~ General Knuckles…" she suddenly looked happy, and her stiff posture rose to an elegant one. She tucked the dagger back behind her, where it's sheath rested just above her butt.
"…Rouge?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"
"..Well, I.." she looked away, and quickly tried to think something up.
"Are you here to see me? Pfft, I thought the uncharted wastelands would have been enough of a greeting for you. Quit patronizing me and get going, hmph. Before I call in backup." He put his axe away and folded his arms, closing his eyes and raising his shoulders up to lower his head down into his arms, almost disregarding her in his body language and demeanor. "I don't have time for your tricks."
She twitched an eyebrow, having just as much anger issues as he did, but held it back slightly more than he did. "P-patronize!?" she kept her cool, and played along. "Yes, well… I suppose I would stoop to such a pitiful level to attempt to see you again… after all, we still have a bet to pay back…" she flirted, her eyes lowering as she moved closer to him.
His eyes shot open, and his whole body spread out in panic. "EEEeee. T-that was y-years ago!"
She walked calmly towards him, and as he backed away, put her arms up over his shoulders… "Oh, you Knuckle-headed buffoon… I never go back on my word… after all, when you were a tad, bit more barbaric… you saved me from an awful… misinterpretation." She chuckled slightly.
"You mean, one of your thieving plans gone wrong?" he leaned his head back and raised an eyebrow.
"I was caught and taught a lesson, I'll admit that." She leaned back too, upset at how disgraceful their first encounter was when he had to save her from some bounty hunters. "But I'm a good girl now, I've changed my wing-beat." She stepped back, and flapped her bat wings, just once. "I'm a Lady now, you know. A noblewoman and a wonderful spy on the gossip upstairs…" she winked. "You would like what the women say about you."
Knuckles blushed, and then started to yell at her, "I-I WOULDN'T KNOW! NOR BE INTERSETED, B-BATGIRL! Now, about that bet-…"
His loud voice made her flinch as she heard footsteps coming from around the corner, her excellent bat hearing picking up on them. "I'd hate to say I wouldn't mind staying and chatting, but I really must be off." She put her hoody back on and took off for the ceiling, dashing through the door from the top and spiraling herself up to the palace heights.
"General, sir! What's going on in here?" A few solders came in, about three with some behind them, as Knuckles just dusted himself off.
"Nothing, just a little unpleasant memory from the past." He suddenly smiled, closing his eyes and thinking back to that time he first met the Thieving batgirl…
Another shadow zoomed past the rooftops, as a solder turned around, and held his spear out in place, scanning the area.
He then walked over and loomed over the cliff of the palace walls, and called down, "Oi! Did you guys hear anything suspicious down there?"
Two solders ran out, looking fairly young. "Suspicious?" The solder looked to his friend, as he shrugged his response. "No sir, what did it sound like?"
"Sounded like rushing wind."
"Rushing wind?" The boy smiled to his friend, as the friend chuckled silently back.
"Then that must be what it was, sir."
"Hmm… r-right, sorry about that. False alarm." He reported back to his station, as Rouge was wedged up in a crevice of a lower floor's indent, holding herself up from sliding down and falling into view.
She flew straight down and over the wall, skillfully and quietly avoiding the watchtowers as she raced back to the Eggman Empire…
-The previous night's scene…-
"Excellent job, Rouge."
"As if you doubted me."
Shadow sat sprawled out on his throne, horizontal, with one leg up and one arm holding his head upright. Outstretched before him were the scrolls, as he sneered.
"You'd think they'd take better care of keeping these documents safe." He got up and walked towards the blueprints, picking one corner up and scanning it.
"Well, I am here to please~" Rouge smiled, as she held out her hand. "Ah-ah..?"
Shadow looked almost annoyed at her outstretched hand, gesturing for something, as he reached behind his purple royal robe to fling out a small sack of gems.
She peered in the small bag and happily took out a diamond, treasuring it's sparkling shine before putting it away and dropping it between her chest. "Always willing to do service for a king~"
"With this, a staged attack would be flawless." Shadow stated, before a voice interrupted his planning…
"That is… if we launched an attack… with powered machinery!" Eggman crept out of the shadows of the throne room in the Eggman Empire, and rose his arms up in the air, fist clutched, as Rouge just stared at him.
"He's like a kid whose getting to try out his birthday present."
Eggman zipped back into his normal demeanor and put his hands behind his back, "Well, I am quite fond of my craft."
"Would that be war?" Shadow muttered out from the side of his mouth, still heavily focused on looking through each and every scroll before him, seeing the layout of the castle and it's weak points…
"Hmph, you would be the teller of that." Eggman folded his arms, and smirked again, his glasses slightly shining in his excitement. "We all know you did battle with my grandfather's aid so many ages ago. If anyone was skilled at the art of war, it would be you, Shadow."
"I don't delight in it." He flipped another scroll. "I do it to end it."
"Yes,… we all know that tragic story." Eggman lowered his head as his glasses's shine skimmed across its surface. "But I'm here to make sure we're on the winning side of things. Hohohoho! You wouldn't have come NEARLY this far without my expertise."
"Robotizing innocent people isn't exactly a craft I'd delight in." Rouge held her arms as she said that, and looked away.
"Causalities of war, besides, if they don't comply… then they're not allies, now… are they?"
Shadow and Rouge held their silence.
"Besides, I never said war was pretty, just fun!" Eggman lifted a happy finger up. "Now then!" he clapped his hands together. "I'll go ahead and let you strategize Shadow, whilst I take care of super powering my- I mean, our army, for battle." He started to walk away, "Or ultimately… a dominating invasion!"
-A day later- (From Sonic's time now)
Rushing along the tunnels, a young man rode wildly through the underground sewers, frantically trying to find something.
Sonic and Knuckles, with their army, triumphantly made their way back home with their reclaimed Master Emerald, as the young man finally found them, and halted.
"Don't shoot!" he cried out, blowing a horn in a certain code to prove he was one of them.
The men were all prepared to fire crossbow, having seen and heard him coming up from ahead. Knuckles raised an eyebrow, and motioned his hand down slowly, as the men lowered their crossbows. "He's one of my men." Knuckles stated, leaning over to Sonic who nodded at his statement.
"What brings you here, boy?" Knuckles stood up straight, having been bent down with Sonic on one knee to take cover behind the archers.
"It's the kingdom, sire!" He cried out.
"We're under attack!"
"What!?"
The whole army broke formation as they looked to one another. With such a large number having come along on this secret request of the king, they had failed to realize how certainly small their numbers for guarding home were now!
"This is bad, this is really, really bad!" "My family! What's happening to them!?" "Are we too late..?"
"Calm down!" Sonic rose up, taking charge, as he walked toward the man on horseback. "We're coming, can you remember the way you came?"
"It's a straight line, your highness. It shouldn't be too difficult." The young boy spoke, but wasn't being sarcastic about his statement, he was being urgent and serious.
"I like that sass, kid." Knowing he wasn't meaning to sound that way, Sonic still tried to throw humor in this dark moment, somehow hoping it would lighten fears. "Let's go! I want swords in back and arrows on ready!" he rushed up and swung onto his horse, rearing Wind Rider up as he drew his Chaos sword, lighting the way with it's even stronger glow of Chaos Energy.
"We're riding into war!"
"Haaa!"
The solders also raised their swords, and all began to follow him.
The little messenger was shocked to see the usually immature, runaway king suddenly taking over and acting so… so… well, kingly! But he was thrilled, happy he had listened to one of the Chief Councilmen (Tails) who informed him to look for the king's secret army below ground.
(No 'Knuckles jokes' here xD but I hope you liked the headsmash! A 'moment before' lol!)