IMPERIAL PALACE LABORATORY

30 MINUTES LATER

"Alright, I told Blaze we'd be quick so grab your computer crap and move it." Knuckles ordered.

Eggman gleefully combed through the lab. "Oh, I know exactly what I'm taking. Bokkun, shut any security firewalls down and monitor the system."

"Right away, sir!"

The messenger bot plugged a cable into his forearm and began his work, while Knuckles made sure Eggman didn't try anything. O'nux took the group through the palace now that it was empty, and Bokkun shut off the hidden cameras Nega had left behind.

The doctor entered a tiny room and rummaged through wall mounted drawers. "Almost finished, Knux, just one more component."

"Better be, I'm starving."

A loud CLICK sounded out, red lasers appeared, and a heavy blast door slammed on the room, trapping Eggman inside. "Bokkun, what's going on?!"

"Interference from an outside source! I'm locked out!"

Knuckles wasn't too concerned since he had the warp ring, but he needed to bring Eggman back to Angel Island. "Can you get him outta there? I'm getting bored of this."

Bokkun looked at his chest as Eggman Nega suddenly appeared on screen. "I suspected you would raid my lab once I was gone. Hope you like what I've done with the place, it'll be your tomb!"

"You kill me, Nega, and you'll never be born!"

"Wrong. I don't need you alive, I just need your DNA. And since you've so generously stepped into the chamber-"

Three large needles shot out of the wall and Eggman yelped while watching his blood be drained. A glass vial was filled, capped and shot through a pipeline to a delivery spot for extraction.

"That will work just fine. Enjoy your final moments, gentlemen. And know that I've won."

The screen went black and Bokkun's eyes flashed. "Self destruction activated! I'm attempting an override!"

Knuckles activated the warp ring for Eggman to escape the chamber but the lasers prevented this. The echidna closed the ring, broke the glass of the blast door and glared at Eggman.

"Only the usb drive will fit through, toss it over."

"You've gotta pull me out!"

"Can't save you this time so toss it."

"No! You have to get me out of here!"

"Be decent for once in your miserable life so that at least one of us goes home."

Eggman exhaled as he accepted his fate, and tossed the drive through the small opening with an underhanded throw. Knuckles caught it and left the doctor with a final word.

"I'll tell everyone you went out with dignity."

"Get that to my lab and I can truly die happy."

"Sure thing, doc."

The floors below rumbled as the first set of explosives were detonated. Bokkun continued working through the system and gave an update to Knuckles.

"I've paused ground level detonation, find your friends and get out of the blast radius!"

"Alright, now I forgive you."

Bokkun seemed genuinely relieved to hear this, then Knuckles disappeared through the warp ring to collect his friends. While still connected to Nega's network, the messenger bot used the final seconds he had to restore some deleted files in his system. He made eye contact with Eggman and both waved goodbye, then the explosions destroyed the laboratory.

O'nux, Vector P., Juliette, Ray and Charmy hopped through the warp ring and Knuckles closed it before it was caught in the blast. They watched from a grass hillside as the Imperial Palace was engulfed in flames and brought down.

Charmy noticed the entire sky was filled with fireworks and heard cheering. "...looks like news of Nega's exit spread fast, these people are partying hard."

"They'll probably laugh when they hear about this tomorrow." Ray said.

While the group picked themselves up, Knuckles spotted Bokkun flying out of the burning palace. "How the hell did he make it out?"

The messenger bot landed a few feet in front of him and spoke. "Don't look too surprised, Dr. Robotnik made sure I was built to last!"

"Guess a machine that spits out bombs should be explosion-proof." Knuckles said. "So, now that Eggman is dust, you're a free elf, right Doby?"

"And you are still an asshole."

"I said I forgive you, that doesn't make us buddies."

Bokkun turned away from him. "Good, I don't have to share any of the money I just wired from Patch's account."

"You hacked that loser's assets? Cool!" Juliette said.

"Better than it being seized by the man. You don't have to take me back, Knuckles. I'm filthy rich in this dimension so you can take your broke ass home."

Knuckles shouted at the bot while he flew away. "You'll be broke and crying to come back by next week!"

"Yup! Count on it!"

"Whatever, you're Silver's problem now, screw you."

With this in mind, the black bot left the group and jetted across the night sky. As he went through his restored files, Bokkun knew he had a lot of explaining to do when he met Sticks at the hospital, but now he had proof to back up his word. The badger and Saffron stayed at Susan's bedside all night and were woken by the hallway door opening.

"What are YOU doing here?" Sticks said as she stood up.

"Take it easy, I've got a peace offering!"

"I don't want anything from one of Nega's sleeper agents!"

A video began to play on Bokkun's chest screen, so Sticks stopped to watch it. She and Saffron were shocked when Knuckles slammed Patch to the floor and won the duel.

"How'd you get this video?"

"In case you can't tell, I was there!"

"But you were on Patch's side." The female bee pointed out.

"Yeah 'cause he took me prisoner! He's gone now and I'm free!"

Sticks shook her head. "I still don't trust you."

"Well, can a couple million credits change your mind? Look!"

He brought up the balance on screen and both girls' eyes widened.

"How'd you get all that money?"

"Uh, did you not hear that big ass explosion a few minutes ago? That was me! Look, I've gotta send these credits before the account is frozen so-"

"Send them to me and I'll believe your story." Sticks said.

After receiving her details, Bokkun completed the transaction and Sticks' phone notified her of the deposit.

She grinned at the black bot. "Okay. You can tell me all about this adventure on the way to the nearest ATM."

He chuckled quietly. "It's a funny story, actually."

The duo made their way through crowds roaming the streets, taking the odd drink when offered. Sticks withdrew as much as she could and Bokkun caught her up on how he wound up in this position.

"So wait, are Silver and Blaze going to take you back to your dimension, now?"

"Unless Knuckles says otherwise, I think so. That's why I wanted to see you before they tracked me down."

"If you had this money, why didn't you just run? Why give it to me?"

Bokkun hesitated to answer. "Because, um..I don't have anyone left, and you're my only friend. I don't have to follow Robotnik's orders, so maybe I can be a good guy now."

Sticks broke the silence by punching the bot's shoulder. "Enough with the sappy talk, let's bring Saffron up to speed. I'm sure all this cash will help them both out while Susan recovers."

Bokkun led the way back to the hospital, while Knuckles met Ledian across from the remnants of the Midwest Jazz Lounge. He'd said his goodbyes to everyone else but he wanted to see this interaction for himself. He and O'nux looked bruised and battered when they approached the labrador's group, but instead of animosity, both were greeted with applause from the locals for ridding them of Nega and Patch.

"You guys look rough." Ledian said. "I was surprised to hear you both lived."

"You're welcome, first of all," Knuckles replied. "Secondly, it was all part of the plan. But I'll let O'nux speak."

His doppelganger stepped forward. "Hey Ledi. I know you probably don't wanna talk to me-"

"Or listen to whatever you've got to say." She said while turning her back to him.

"Hey, this guy survived absolute HELL under Nega, the least you could do is hear him out!"

She exhaled and turned back to face him. "Yes?"

"Regardless of whether you'll forgive me or not, I am sorry for how things turned out. I could've done things differently but we're here now, so I want you to move on and be happy."

She nodded in agreement. "It is best for us to move on-"

"And I need my crest back, it was a wedding gift that I've gotta return."

Ledian quickly took off the gold necklace that the crest was attached to, then dug the engagement ring out of her purse and slapped them both in O'nux' hand.

"Take this, too! I hung on to them when I didn't have to, FYI! I could've thrown them away when you left but I didn't!"

"I was abducted but thanks, it was fun while it lasted!"

"Eat shit!"

"Take care, now."

Knuckles burst into laughter as she turned away. "That went where I expected it to go."

"What, to shit? Bingo, Rain man!"

The echidnas watched her leave with her entourage, Knuckles laughed while flipping off the loudmouths and O'nux calmed down.

"...Ledian has the key to your bunker, doesn't she?"

"Ah shit, I forgot to ask for that, too! Think I should-"

"I - wouldn't." Knuckles said while stopping him. "Go knock on Juliette's door, I'm sure she'd let you crash on the couch."

"Yeah, I might have to at this point-"

"Then ask her out."

"I hope she's - Piss off!"

The bigger echidna flipped the warp ring into the air. "Just a joke. Wanna see my place? I've got a case of brews and wifi."

"Won't Blaze be upset? I don't need heat with the council!"

"Fuck 'em, they owe me so they're gonna let this slide. Come on."

The echidnas stepped through the warp ring and ended up in Eggman's laboratory which surprised O'nux.

"This is your home? Were you Eggman's lab rat or something?"

Knuckles spun around and said, "Yeah! I run inside a giant wheel and drink from a dish on the floor just like you did! Jackass!"

O'nux couldn't help but laugh at this insult. "Coulda just said no..."

Knuckles plugged the usb drive into the main console and stepped back. "I promised doc I'd get this thing back here. Final favor before he went out."

The power went out and a silent alarm rang. Knuckles didn't know what to do and O'nux was looking for the exit. Suddenly, the sounds of dial up internet connecting were heard and a very crude pixelated image of Eggman slowly rendered on his large monitor.

{Haha! Robotnik lives!}

Knuckles squinted his eyes while looking at the screen. "That you doc?"

{Of course it's me, you buffoon!}

"Oh, my bad! I couldn't tell due to the 10 foot tall creepypasta barking at me!"

"Yeah, I'm with him, you actually TERRIFY me, Eggman. Can't even look at you."

{I'm a scientist, not a visual effects artist! The important thing is that you can tell this is me!}

"That's not even MS Paint bad, you've somehow created a cursed image way worse than anything I've seen."

"It's a piece 'a shit!"

Both echidnas were startled when a lightbulb above them exploded.

{ENOUGH!}

"Alright, fine, I'll acknowledge this thing is you, Eggman. How are you alive? ARE you alive?"

{Since you did as I requested, I'll tell you. I could preserve my consciousness with Nega's technology, theoretically extending my mortality and achieving-}

"Immortality." Knuckles finished.

{Correct. Now, where is Bokkun?}

"Little prick wanted to stay behind so I left without him."

{What?! You imbecile, I need him! Go back-}

"You don't need him, you have a need to use him like all your other shitty badniks. Now he's free and you're stuck in whatever hell you've created."

{Knuckles, you're under the wrong impression-}

"No matter what we do, we can never seem to get rid of you. Even in an other dimension, Nega will continue where you left off."

{I know what you're thinking. Only I can unlock the Master Emerald's cage!}

"I stopped believing that a long time ago."

{WAIT, DON'T!}

Knuckles pulled the usb drive out, put it on a metal tabletop and smashed it to pieces with one swift blow. O'nux didn't know what to do or say so the room was silent for a few moments.

"...you and I both know Nega has a copy of that drive."

"There's no way he would've missed it." Knuckles said. "But I'm the guardian of THIS dimension. You need to get familiar with those new tools and fight for yours."

O'nux was handed the warp ring, then he shook his doppelganger's hand.

"In the end, this is what we do."

O'nux nodded and walked through the ring. After making sure the trail disappeared, Knuckles smashed walls on his way out of the laboratory. He was sure O'nux was capable of standing up to Nega so he didn't think much of his counterpart's actions.

On Angel Island, Tails was trying every gadget he owned to cut through Eggman's laser cage. Knuckles climbed the hill and joined his friend.

"Nothing you have will cut through that." he said. "Only the key will unlock it."

The fox spun around. "Knuckles! Oh man, you're not looking so good, what happened to you?"

"I did some crazy shit in Sol but that's over with. I'm waiting on Blaze and Silver."

"What do you need them for?"

"They're bringing the key."

After waiting a few moments, a vortex appeared in front of Knuckles and Bokkun stepped through first.

"I think you lost this one." Blaze said.

"Where's Robotnik?" Asked Silver.

"Dead. Set off Nega's trap."

"Knuckles, tell them to take me back to Sol! Please!" Bokkun pleaded.

"Unlock the cage." He responded.

"This one? Hold on a sec."

The black bot quickly searched through his files, and once he found the one Eggman left, Bokkun flew to the top of the Master Emerald. He pressed his forearm to a scanner and it beeped once, then the energy source used to fuel the lasers powered down. Bokkun tossed the lock away and landed on the ground.

"All done!"

"Alright, now you can have him."

"Hold on, you're not just going to dump him with us!" Silver said. "He belongs here!"

"Eggman is gone and I've got a new life waiting for me in Sol! Please take me back!"

Blaze looked at Knuckles. "Where's the warp ring?"

"Gave it to O'nux so he could get home, you can trust him with it. Keep the robot and you'll never hear from me ever again."

After a moment, she turned to walk through the vortex. "Consider us even, guardian."

"Come along now, android." Silver grudgingly said.

Bokkun gave two thumbs up as he walked away. "Farewell best buddy!"

"Yeah, good riddance."

The vortex closed, Knuckles sighed and Tails picked up the cage lock to inspect it.

"Sounds like you had an eventful trip." The fox said.

"One could say that. For now, I'll just say I no longer wish for a more exciting life. I'm more than happy staying here."

The echidna walked to the tiki bar outside his house, turned on the radio and poured two drinks. The song "We" by Volbeat played aloud. Tails took an orange juice from a mini fridge behind the bar and sat on a stool. Moments later, Sonic sped through the grass and took a seat.

"Knuckles, there you are! Damn, who'd you fight? Where'd you go?"

He slid the first glass over and raised his before speaking. "Eggman sent me to the Sol dimension, and I kicked everyone's ass."

The hedgehog and fox laughed while clinging glasses, chalking it up to Knuckles' usual tough guy talk.

"I may have started a war on my way out, but I've got confidence these guys can win."

"You're talking about O'nux, right? I thought he was a pacifist who didn't fight?"

This notion made Knuckles laugh. "Oh, trust me, that boy can fight."

THE END