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Chapter Text

Knuckles always considered himself to be strong.

Who wouldn't think that after being able to almost take down Sonic? 

So, when none other than Eggman showed up to take the Master Emerald (a bold move on its own), Knuckles was confident he'd punch his puny robots into oblivion and be on his way.

He didn't stop to think about why Eggman came for the emerald, and he didn't stop to think about why Metal Sonic had been brought along.

The thought of alerting anyone else never even crossed his mind, even after spotting a handful of Shadow Androids lurking around (weren't those destroyed?).

Knuckles never thought about the fights, he just showed up ready to win them.

Now, Knuckles was half-conscious in the grass, having been blasted to somewhere else on the island.

Maybe he should think more.

He didn't process the rumbling, the way the island suddenly shook, or the deafening roar that echoed through the sky after a particularly large explosion.

The world faded to black.

Chapter Text

Eggman.

A feared villain, if he did say so himself.

Brushing off his coat and spinning his chair around, the man laughed to himself.

It was a flawless plan, really!

Swoop in with his best robots and those Shadow Androids he accidentally found, take the Master Emerald, use it to create a massive machine of destruction, take over the world.

Four steps!

He could almost imagine the look on Sonic's face when he crushed his little friends one by one, leveling cities until there was no-

"Doctor! I've found something that I have reason to believe mi-"

Thunk.

Dark coffee dripped off of a shiny red exterior while glowing cyan 'eyes' gave off a Why do I exist only to suffer type look.

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT INTERRUPTING MY SCHEMING?" Eggman yelled, picking up the mug that he'd thrown when Orbot had entered and hastily throwing a rag at the yellow box-like robot that followed the spherical one.

"My apologies, but I have a report from the bots you sent to-"

"Angel Island!" The doctor interrupted, nodding quickly. "Let me guess. The echidna destroyed them? They didn't even make it? Sonic stopped them?"

Orbot shook his head. “No, sir. The bots were destroyed, but not by Sonic or Knuckles. They were destroyed by a large explosion.”

Eggman’s eyes narrowed. “A large explosion, you say? And where did this explosion take place?”

“On Angel Island, sir.”

"Right, yes, you said that already."

A smirk spread across the man’s face. “Well, well, well. Looks like this will be easier than I thought. The Master Emerald is mine. And this time, I’m going to make sure there’s no one to stop me.”

Robotnik turned to his computer screen and began plotting his next move. With Knuckles out of the picture, the Master Emerald was practically his for the taking.

As he worked, Cubot approached him, his voice barely audible over the whirring of machines.

“I think there's something wrong with the robots,” Cubot said. “The computer says that they’re all offline, but a few of them have... unidentified code?”

Eggman glanced up from his screen. “Unidentified code? You mean like malware?”

The box-shaped robot nodded. “Yeah. I think someone might have hacked them.”

The doctor scoffed. “Hacked? My robots? That’s ridiculous. My coding is too advanced to be hacked. Besides, I don’t have time for this right now. Just make sure that the coffee is cleaned up before I get back.”

Cubot nodded and scurried away, leaving the villian to his scheming.

As Eggman continued to type away on the computer, a warning message flashed briefly on the computer screen.

It went unnoticed.

Chapter Text

Red optics swept over the landscape, shining a glow on the water surrounding the robot.
OBJECTIVE: Ş̷̻͖̔́͐̊̏̒̇̾̚͝T̶̡̳̮̫̣̫͔͒̃̈́̃̍͘O̸͚̤̤͇̜͎̰͇͒̚P̷̨̘̬͔̟͖͇̼͔̀̿̌̇̔͘̚͝ ̸͇̥̘̜̱̹̝̙̾͐̄̚T̷̢̢̛͍͎̯̹͈͂̆͆H̸̝̗̝̪̻̞̫͍͔̥̚̚E̴̢̖̠̰͚̪͎͎͉͛́̾̉̇ ̴̯̱̪̥̙̱͚͙͒̒͗̏͊̓̔̈͠͠ͅŚ̶̢̻͚̼̟̈͋͋̒͒͜͜P̵̮̞̄R̸̛̥̦͍̩̆̉͋͑̂́̒̕ͅE̶̠͎̺̠̳̦̘̗̺͊̆̎̇Ä̵̤̦̣͎̣D̷̜͇͈͇̙̙̖̽̾̔̋͠

Metal stood up from the creek. Rain washed over their outer shell, finding its way into their internal workings. 

The robot tilted their right ankle joint, then the left. Clenched their right wrist. The left did not move. They could feel the sparks dancing across a multitude of wires.

[DAMAGE ANALYSIS UNDERWAY.]

DAMAGE: LEFT SHOULDER

They swung their head to the side, watching as the exposed wires sparked, little balls of fire dancing in the air before fizzling out.

One step forward.
DAMAGE: INTERNAL CORE

Moving out of the creek, the robot stumbled towards the fire dancing across the trees.

GET TO THE EMERALD

A coughing sound alerted Metal to the presence of another. The echidna. The red mobian coughed multiple times before stumbling to his own feet. 

Metal turned away, stepping into the flames. The echidna would not follow, they knew.

“Wha- Hey!”

Metal was wrong.

Footsteps ran toward the robot, pushing low-hanging branches out of the way, some burning with embers.
A large mitt grabbed Metal’s shoulder. Red optics flickered before thinning.

“You think you can just set my island on fire and-” He paused to cough. “-and get… away with it?”

Out of breath. Weakened. [TWO] cracked ribs. Analysis: 73 possible ways to defeat.

They were shoved slightly forward. A vine snagged onto one of their ankle joints, dragging the robot to the ground and hitting the ground with a thud.

Analysis: 46 possible ways to de-

“Hmph. Can't even stand? Serves ya right, ya metal menace.” He blew a harsh bit of air from his nostrils.

The echidna put a foot over the robot’s head, tilting it slightly left.

Analysis: 53 pos-

Their foot lifted before slamming down into their visual display, shattering the polycarbonate.

[ERROR] 26 [ERROR] 12 [ERROR] 34 [ERROR] [ERROR]

Red orbs died on a black screen, replaced by flickering green and purple spots.

New objective.

P̶̮̑̿̐̄͋͜Ṟ̸̛̬̥̅͗̊͘͜͝Ő̸̰̻̎̍͛̄̈́͆T̷̡̺̙̭̲̓͗̓̈́̏́̓̒͘E̵͔̗͇̲͓̼̭͔͔̓̋̀̆̆̇͠C̷̬͙̜̜͙̈́̕͘͝͝͝ͅT̵̡̰̗̰͂̅̊̉̒̾͛̓́́ ̶̑͜͝T̴̢̮̙̬͓̯̜̙̱̤̆̒́͂̿͂̐̌́̕Ḫ̵̢̧͓͓͈͎̝̅̈́̌̂Ę̷͓̊͊͝ ̸̞̗̜̙͉͛Ġ̷̨̀̍͗̾͝U̷̧̟̖̦͍̘͖̘̓͛͐͗̓̋̈́͛̈́͝Ǎ̶̡̢̪̮̝̮̱̠͕̈́͜͝R̴̛͍̍̈̏̍́͗͑́̈́D̷̨͈͕̮͉̮̻̻̩̈́́̍̈́͂̆̿͝͝ͅI̷̢̯̤͓͕̫̹̼̒À̶͓̜̖͎͓̀̌̓̑̈̄̂N

The screen went blank.

[Troubleshooting…]

[COMPLETE]

Chapter Text

Knuckles sprinted onwards, wincing as thin sticks whipped against his limbs.

No need to call anyone yet. He just has to get to the Emerald, and then he can stop the fires. The rain should help it die down anyways.

Another vine snagged at his arm, wrapping firmly around his wrist and tugging him back.
“ERK- damn plants! It’s like they’re grabbing me!” The echidna hissed, yanking his arm away and continuing his journey.

The energy grew stronger the closer he got, a subtle thrum increasing in power. Usually, it flowed as naturally as oxygen, but it’d felt off ever since he regained consciousness.

A loud crack echoed through the air as a burning branch broke off of a long-dead tree and fell towards the echidna.

The emerald guardian quickly planted his feet, jumping back just as the branch hit the mud and splintered into thousands of tiny embers. He coughed at the smoke- but he didn’t have time to linger.

Get to the Emerald before it spreads too far.

Jumping over the embers, the mobian grabbed a branch and swung himself upwards into the treetops, propelling himself forward off of a few unlucky plants.

Faster.

The vines grew thicker as he approached, snagging his fur and trying to drag him down.

Faster.

He couldn’t see past the leaves anymore. The branches were too close for him to safely move through above-ground.

Knuckles dropped quickly, muttering a line of profanities when a vine nearly took his head off.

Planting his feet, he began to sprint again. Sloppy and desperate. Slipping in the mud.

The fire is getting hotter. The rain isn’t enough. The plants had been too dry- what had even caused the explosion in the first place?