KNUCKLES' TEAM

You just don't feel complete if you aren't with your usual team. "I'll go with you guys," you say to Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and Shade.

At this, Amy squeals with joy and doesn't waste a moment grabbing your arm and cuddling you closely. You groan at this. "Hey Amy," you say, "Maybe you could go over to Blaze or Shadow's team? We can't have a five-party team and leave them with three each."

Amy scowls at you. "Are you actually trying to get rid of me?" she hisses, "Nice try, but you're not going to do that easily!"

"And we're fine by ourselves, thank you," Shadow grumbles.

"How about I go with Blaze's team instead?" Shade volunteers as she steps over to the cat princess' group. "Knuckles should be strong enough for your team."

"Thank you, Shade," Amy smiles sweetly, "That's very kind of you to give up your date with Knuckles."

" Date?!" Knuckles spats, cheeks burning brightly pink. Shade herself looks awkwardly away, as Rouge glares daggers at Amy. You on the other hand can't seem to stop rolling your eyes.

"All right, everyone," Blaze announces, "Enough of the silliness. We've got work to do. Move out!"

Marine had kindly allowed Tails to take the Ocean Tornado towards the west with your team on board. You're back to your usual spot in the center, FAR away from the side of the boat. Sailing far west into the ocean… the deep watery ocean… What were you thinking?

"So how far west exactly was Nega located?" Knuckles calls up as he looks out the front over the horizon.

"Several hundred miles out," Tails replies while at the helm.

"Feels like we've been sailing forever," Amy sighs, leaning up against you. You don't seem to mind for once… She might make a good life preserver, just in case…

"It shouldn't be much longer," Tails calls out, "We're closing in on the coordinates."

And just like that, you feel the boat starts to rumble as if the waters suddenly got way too rough. You grab Amy tightly in response. PLEASE, boat, don't tip over!

"What's going on?" Amy cries, holding you back.

Knuckles is still at the front of the ship, staring intensely forward. "I think we've just found Nega…"

You chance standing up to get a better view of what he is seeing. Not too far ahead, you see a round fortress rising from the waters, shaped in the face of Eggman's logo.

"If he's not here," you state, "I don't know where else he'd be…"

You all decide it isn't safe to move the ship closer to the fortress, so Tails and Knuckles take a hold of you and Amy and fly/glide your way over.

For an obvious hideout of Nega, it's eerily quiet… No sign of Nega, or even any Badniks for that matter.

Tails scratches at his head as you all make your way deeper inside. "Why would Nega set up base here but have no defense system?" he asks.

"I don't know, you guys," Knuckles speaks up, "Maybe this looks too obvious for Nega to be hiding here. I'm smelling a trap."

"Well, all the reason to stay on guard then," you tell everyone.

*PLOW!*

Okay, no amount of being on guard could prepare you for that sudden attack… A quick but powerful force had blasted through the floor just underneath your team, sending you falling back into different directions. After landing flat on your back, you glare up to see what that force was.

It was Knuckles… only a taller, metallic version of him. Unlike that silver mech you once fought before, this one looked a lot more fierce. It was like an actual Metal Sonic version of Knuckles himself.

And who should float up after him but mechanized versions of Tails and Amy?

"What the heck is THIS?!" Knuckles snarls as he clenches his fists at the sight of his robotic counterpart.

"Nega made metal versions of… US!" Tails exclaims.

"Even me?!" Amy chimes, eyeing her robot-doppelganger up and down, "Wow! I can't believe Nega takes ME serious enough to make a Metal version of myself! I'm actually kinda flattered!"

However, she just barely had time to jump out of the way before Metal Amy shoots towards her and tries to slam her with a giant steel hammer of her own.

"Less flattery, unless you wanna get flattened!" you call over to Amy. You think about rushing over to help her, but you hear Tails wail from fright and that catches your attention instead. The fox has taken to the air to avoid an attack by Metal Tails, and soars around the room to avoid him.

CLANG!

You look over to where Knuckles is, seeing him engaged in battle with Metal Knuckles. Your echidna friend may be "stronger than the rest of them", but his metal counterpart was definitely giving him a run for his money. It's hard to believe he of all people was having trouble going against an enemy…

Since your own metal counterpart wasn't anywhere to be seen, you figure you should definitely help out one of your friends…

To help Tails, to to Chapter 54

To help Amy, go to Chapter 55

Don't worry about Knuckles, he can handle his own...