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[Fanfiction] The End (Finished)


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The Omen

Clutching several stolen jewels, Rouge glided over Angel Island. She planned on visiting Knuckles and throwing a few teasing insults at him, which she often did in her spare time. It had been a while since she last poked her fun at him and she was beginning to miss their headbutting. She smirked when she spotted Knuckles slouching on the shrine, near the Master Emerald, then she swooped down and landed in front of him.

He seemed to be asleep. She giggled, thinking what an awful "guardian" he must be for falling asleep on his job. She wondered how he could possibly expect the Master Emerald to stay out of others' hands if he was so lazy with his work. Putting her hands on her hips, she thought perhaps she should just take the emerald herself and be on her merry way. She snickered to herself and reached forward to touch the glowing gem when Knuckles woke up abruptly, making a loud, scared sound and startling her.

"Ah! Bat girl, what're you doing here?!" he barked, getting up.

"Oh, hi, Knuckie. Just thought I'd drop by and say hi, sugar."

"I bet you were trying to steal the Master Emerald again, you b--"

"Come on, if you really cared about that big ol' thing you wouldn't be lounging around sleeping on the job all day, hmm? And what's with the rude awakening? I didn't even touch you... having nightmares?" she said, grinning.

Knuckles' eyes widened and his pupils dilated a bit when he heard the word "nightmare". He looked at his shoes and sat back down on the ground with a sigh, rubbing his head. Rouge raised an eyebrow and took a seat beside him, crossing her legs.

"I've just been having some trouble sleeping at night..." he whispered.

"Uh-huh. You haven't been seeing some other woman, have you?" she teased.

"Nothing like that, ya trick," he snapped. "No, I just haven't really been feeling well. Maybe it's insomnia or something."

Knuckles certainly wasn't being any fun, Rouge thought. She gathered up her treasures and stood back to her feet. She gave him a mischievous smile and giggled at him.

"Whatever, Knuckie. I suppose I'll leave you alone if you're not up to talking right now, boo. See you around later, mm'K?"

"Uh-huh. Whatever, see ya," he said, raising his hand as if shooing her away.

She took off, yelling "Ta!" in singsong. Knuckles reclined on the floor of the alter and looked up at the sky. He rubbed at his eyes and then sat back up, looking around the shrine and at the Master Emerald in the center.

"Oh... whatever. It can't be. I'm just being superstitious here. The Master Emerald's safe as always."

=======

Aboard his newest Egg Carrier model, Eggman fumbled with blueprints for his newest weapon. He was sure that this time, he'd stumbled upon something capable of bringing the world to its knees. Then he'd rebuild his masterpiece capital of Eggmanland. He'd gotten so close during the ordeal with Light and Dark Gaia, and would've succeeded if not for his horrible luck with ancient monsters. As he read over his newest plans, SA-55 appeared from its pod.

"Having fun designing futile schemes, Doctor?"

"Oh, shut up, you twit! This plan is sure to work. It's simply foolproof! Oh ho ho ho!"

"I recall you saying that every time. And every time, you fail. Miserably. Epically," SA-55 said, drooping its mechanical eyelids.

"And I always fail for stupid reasons, yes? But I've taken special care with this one. It simply cannot fail, mark my words."

After a pause, SA-55 asked "Does it involve giant monsters? Sealed evil within a can?"

"Well, yes, bu--"

"Failure. Miserable, epic and absolute," the robot said, before being backhanded by Eggman.

"Enough of your babbling! With this plan I'll reshape this world into a perfect paradise. Not even that irritating hedgehog can stop this."

Scanning Eggman's notes and blueprints, SA-55 rubbed its head and said "Doctor, your escapade with the Chaos creature was one of your biggest failures to date. A failure which was followed by other similar unsuccessful schemes. Why are you using its power again?"

"Oh ho ho ho! That's where you're wrong, Sass. The Chaos creature referred to in these plans is not the one that originally betrayed me. That horrible mutant still resides somewhere in the Mystic Ruins."

"I do not follow."

"You don't need to. You'll see when it all comes together! Now, I need to collect the Chaos Emeralds and take them to Angel Island, where the Master Emerald is."

"Why are you taking them to Angel Island, Doctor? Is that not essentially giving them up to the guardian?"

"In due time, peon."

=======

The sun started to set on Angel Island. The sky was a blend of orange and purple and the last hints of sunlight reflected off the surface of the Master Emerald. Knuckles, still lying on the shrine, looked into the orange glints of light in the stone. The color made him think of something. Fire, lava. He pictured everything around him burning to ashes.

He groaned and rubbed his forehead, deciding that he should try to get some sleep. But he knew he wouldn't be able to get any rest. The bad dreams were getting worse, and much more frequent. He thought perhaps he should just try and stay awake until this bizarre situation was all over.

Sighing to himself, he said "Maybe it's true and there's nothing I can do about it. Maybe this is the way the world ends."

Edited by AXB
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Guidance of Tikal

It was morning, and Knuckles' eyes were baggy and lined. He hadn't slept a wink, because he knew that even if he tried, his nightmares would just wake him up. Still, he was exhausted. He wished he could just lie down and take a nap; what kind of guardian would he be if he was too tired to protect the Master Emerald should the situation call for it?

"Maybe it'd be a godsend if someone made off with the Master Emerald right about now," he whispered solemnly.

Knuckles originally didn't know much about his job as the Master Emerald's protector. It was just something he was obligated to do. But after Chaos' rampage in Station Square, he decided to do some research into the history of his tribe. He had learned about some key figures in the legends and mythology of the Knuckles Tribe, and their rivals, the Nocturnus. The stories he read up on always seemed incomplete, though. It was like they were never finished. He knew the Knuckles Tribe was wiped out by Chaos' rage, but the Nocturnus just seemed to vanish without explanation. Sometimes he thought perhaps Chaos killed them too, before Tikal managed to seal him away.

"Even I don't know what happened to them, truthfully," an echoing female voice said, causing Knuckles to raise his head.

A pink light bounced in the air in front of him, and with a flash it transformed into the familiar figure of Tikal. She was a ghost; translucent and glowing. Knuckles shrugged when he saw her. She made occasional visits to him in this spiritual form. He considered her a guide of sorts.

"Chaos killed our people and I sealed us both in the Master Emerald before Ix's clan disappeared. I don't know what became of them," she continued.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes and said "Eh, I read some transcripts that said something about black arms from the sky, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it. But... that's not really my concern right now. I don't know if you--"

"I understand exactly what's troubling you. You've stumbled upon something disturbing about your position. You needn't worry, Knuckles... no matter how bleak this world becomes, the powers of the Chaos Emeralds always make things right again."

"I don't see how the Chaos Emeralds could fix this. If anything, they'll make it worse. I sort of wish there was some way to get rid of them and the Master Emerald now," he said, then paused. "Or... maybe... maybe I should just get them off this island? Will that work, Tikal?"

"Do as you wish. You're the guardian, so your wisdom is much more than anything I could offer. If... if you think ridding yourself of the Master Emerald will undo what's coming, then do so," she said, sadly.

"It's just... well, I know it's my job to keep the Master Emerald safe from harm, but all the other echidna prophecies so far have come true. I can't afford for this one to, though. I just... can't. No one can."

With a smile, Tikal said "You just need to decide; what's more important? Your job as the guardian of the Master Emerald... or, the lives of everyone on this planet? Don't let your job cloud your judgment, as there are things far more important than... occupation."

She faded away in a fine mist. Knuckles groaned and rubbed his head. Even she couldn't help him, he thought. He had no one to help him reach a decision, and he would have to choose between his duty and the planet Earth.

"Even in the end, I have faith in your wisdom," her voice echoed after she had gone.

Thinking to himself, he said "Well... maybe I don't have to permanently get rid of the emeralds. Just until after this is over."

=======

"Behold, SA-55! My Chao, Dark Chaos!" Eggman announced, holding a small Neutral Chao up to his confused robot.

"A... Chao," SA-55 said blankly.

"As you know, Chao are very special creatures whose features and personality depend on how they are raised. And Chaos, according to the stone tablets, was once a Neutral Chaos Chao before a mutation occurred. I figure that if I can raise Dark Chaos into a Dark Chaos Chao, and if I can induce a similar mutation, I'll have a loyal pet, unstoppable in every way!"

"A dark version of the original Chaos? Doctor, your plans grow more and more unoriginal with each passing moment. And this Dark Chaos Chao... I have seen them before. Very nasty little creatures. What makes you think it will be loyal to you?"

"I have a backup plan just in case of betrayal, I assure you."

"Of course, Doctor," SA-55 said sarcastically.

=======

Knuckles had felt compelled to take a trip to the shrine in the Hidden Palace. He'd kept the Master Emerald there back when Eggman had first tricked him into thinking Sonic had come to the island to steal it, but after that whole ordeal was over, he switched back to the standard emerald alter. He preferred that one anyway. But after reading up on some of the Knuckles Tribe's lore, he became even more distasteful of the Hidden Palace and its alter. He originally thought it was just supposed to be an alternate place to keep the emeralds in case of emergencies, but when he found out what it was really built for...

"I hate this place. So dark and dank..."

He walked up to the shrine. It looked very different from the one the emeralds were normally kept in. Each pedestal looked sort of like a flower, which he thought was much too ornate and gaudy. He liked the less flashy design of the normal alter better. He looked down at the ground and saw various sigils and inscriptions. His pupils dilated at the sight of them and he was filled with fearful thoughts. He'd originally payed them no mind, but now he knew just why they were there.

Edited by AXB
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Just Being Nice

"We've got about a week left, I suppose. Seven days... seven..." Knuckles said to himself.

He'd decided to leave Angel Island for a while to gather his thoughts, so he went to a park in Central City. He certainly couldn't be at peace as long as he was near the Master Emerald. But at least the Chaos Emeralds weren't around. Nothing could happen as long as the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds were separated. Then again, they did have this connection... it wasn't unreasonable to think the Master Emerald could attract them.

Still, separating the emeralds was the only way to stop things. He just needed to find a way to keep them separated. Maybe Tails could find a way. He could find all seven and take them to Tails, and the kid could try to find a way to seal them up until the next week where things would be safe again.

"Knuckles! What are you doing here?" he heard Amy's voice call, causing him to turn around.

"Oh, hi. Nothing, just wanted to get away from home for a while."

"Why so gloomy?" she asked, walking over and sitting on the park bench beside him.

"Just a little tired," he sighed.

"Hmm... oh, hey Knuckles?" she started. "Is it true that the echidna calender ends this year? I heard it ends sometime this week."

He sadly looked at the ground when he heard her words, then whispered "Yeah. It's true."

"Yeah, I heard people had a bunch of whacked-out theories about it... some people are just so superstitious, it's kinda funny, isn't it?"

"It's weird that you'd be so skeptical, given the world we live in. You've seen so many weird things, so why does the end of the world seem so odd to you?" he asked, with a hint of anger.

"Oh, c'mon. You're not telling me you actually think that, are you? What, you think some big asteroid's gonna come blow the world up or something?"

"I didn't say I believed it. I'm just saying anything's possible. You never know. Besides, if it weren't for the Chaos Emeralds, the world would have ended several times over by now," he said dully.

Amy began feeling somewhat uneasy. She shrugged and sighed, standing up from the bench. Knuckles blinked as she put her hand to her hip and smirked.

"You're really not a happy camper today, are you?" she asked, frowning a bit when he didn't answer. "Well... I guess I'll go. Gonna see what Sonic's doing."

Knuckles' eyes opened more widely and he tried to smile as he asked"Oh, speaking of that, did Sonic ever take you out?"

"Huh? No, he... time and time again he weasels out. I guess I'll try asking him again. Like that'll change anything..." she said, turning and starting to walk away.

Knuckles stood up and said "Well, hey! What if I took you out on a date instead? Just to be nice, I mean..."

Amy's eyes widened and she tried to hold back a laugh. Knuckles, asking her on a date? Ridiculous, she thought. She thought he must really be depressed if going on a date with her sounded like a plan.

"Wh-what? Are you serious?" she laughed. "Why? You must be sick or something."

"Well... you never know what's going to happen today, tomorrow or even... a week from now... you should try to have fun while you can. Besides, I... I've never been on a date before."

"Never? Ha, Knuckles, I never would've guessed someone like you had never been on a date. Especially considering how friendly you are with Rouge," she said, almost spitting the last word out.

"It's kind of hard to be social when you have to spend your life with a big rock," he mumbled, shuffling his feet.

Amy giggled again, then said "OK, fine. Knuckles, I will go out with you. It could be fun, I guess. Maybe it'll even make Sonic jealous."

=======

Aboard the Egg Carrier, Eggman conducted an experiment with three Chaos Emeralds he'd found. Each emerald was inserted into a slot, all three of which were connected to a container by a tube, and covered with a protective lid. SA-55 idly played with Eggman's pet Chao on the floor while the doctor carried out his project.

"Oh ho ho ho! Behold, SA-55 and Dark Chaos! I have constructed a device that will allow me to test the reactions between these three Chaos Emeralds!"

"Why, Doctor, would you need to do that?" SA-55 asked, still playing with Dark Chaos.

"Because; legend has it that around this time on the echidna calender, the Chaos Emeralds will begin to irradiate a strange energy, much different from the energies they normally manifest. Apparently, this energy will make the emeralds deadly to the touch," Eggman announced, sounding pleased.

"Doctor," SA-55 said, rubbing its head, "I fail to see how this is a good thing. If they are deadly to the touch, any attempt to use them will result in... death."

"Ah, but there's more. You see, the Chaos Emeralds will, at present, only give off this energy if their powers are connected. For instance, these emeralds here are hooked up to this machine. Watch and be amazed!" he said, grabbing a potted plant and putting it inside the container to which the emeralds were attached.

He pulled his goggles down over his eyes, then pulled a lever. The Chaos Emeralds started to glow red in their slots. There was a strange humming sound and bolts of energy were sent up through the tubes and into the larger container, where they converged and gave off a bright red flash of light. When this light dimmed, the plant had turned black, shriveled and died, having been blighted by the emeralds' power.

"Odd," SA-55 said in a puzzled tone.

"Yes, indeed. It appears to be a corrupted form of the normal reaction between the Chaos Emeralds; instead of attracting and repelling each other like magnets would, as they generally do, the emeralds are now giving off a bizarre radiation that saps the life out of whatever is exposed to them. And this is just with two Chaos Emeralds. Just think how terrible things could be if all seven were harnessed and life exposed to their energies! Unfortunately..." he trailed off.

"Unfortunately... what, Doctor?"

"Unfortunately, this will probably put a dent on my plans for Dark Chaos. I'm not sure how Chao would react to such power. It seems to rip away the life force of whatever it comes into contact with, but then again, Chao are energy-absorbing creatures. Still, I wouldn't want to risk his life for the sake of my plan."

"It is good to see that, in spite of being a terrible orchestrator of schemes, you are still a wonderful pet-owner," SA-55 teased, causing Eggman to groan in frustration.

"Yes, well, even if this energy prevents me from mutating Dark Chaos into a being similar to Chaos, it may still be of use. Realize, SA-55, if I can gather all seven emeralds and learn how to concentrate this power, I can use it to construct a directed energy weapon! Much more effective than the Eclipse Cannon, it won't blow anything up, but merely steal the life force of anything I fire upon!"

"So what is our next choice of action, then?"

"According to my research, this power will grow and grow over a period of about a weak. Then it will be at its maximum. If my hypothesis is correct, we must gather all seven emeralds and build the weapon before the power becomes too much to control. In fact, there's a possibility that the power will get to such a high level that contact with even a single Chaos Emerald could be fatal. This life-absorbing energy is in its relatively early stages."

"Then we should begin blueprints for construction of the weapon."

"Yes. But the energy must only converge under the control of the weapon's structure, just as it was controlled in this experiment. But direct physical contact between the emeralds must not happen."

"I will alert the Egg Fighters and Egg Pawns to scour the planet for the other four Chaos Emeralds immediately, Doctor. This may prove to be a refreshing change of pace. I am somewhat glad that the plan for Dark Chaos did not turn out as desired," SA-55 said.

=======

"So Knuckles, why are you so glum?" Amy asked, getting nervous. "I mean... I've never seen you like this before."

Knuckles shrugged and stared off into space. They'd gone to a restaurant in Central City for their "date". Amy was still rather surprised that Knuckles, of all people, would ask her out. He said he was doing it just to be nice, but... since when did Knuckles do anything just to be nice? She knew he wasn't a cold person who'd enjoy seeing someone else unhappy, but she still felt it was odd that he'd put himself in such an awkward situation out of pure selflessness.

After a long pause, Knuckles rolled his eyes toward her and said "Amy... have you ever felt like... something was going to happen, and you wanted to stop it, but you couldn't? And that something was kinda your fault anyway?"

"Uh... um, no. Not really. Why?"

"Eh... nothing. You wouldn't understand. I guess I should find someone else to talk to..." he said with a groan.

"No, talk to me! Seriously, no one ever trusts me with anything! You can tell me, I swear!"

"No, really, Amy. I'm sorry I brought it up. I shouldn't even be talking about this. I've, um... I gotta go," he said frantically, jumping to his feet and running out of the restaurant, ignoring Amy as she yelled for him to come back.

She scowled and crossed her arms, slouching in her chair as she said "Ugh, just like a man to invite you out and then skip out on the bill."

Edited by AXB
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The Prophecy

It was early in the morning on the day after Amy's small date with Knuckles. She was still a bit upset with him for leaving her so abruptly the night before. Still, she was grateful that anyone even asked her out. Even if it was Knuckles, who she considered one of the most boneheaded people she knew.

She went outside to water some of her plants. She smirked when she imagined what Sonic would think if he found out she'd gone out with Knuckles. She could just picture the jealousy on his face. His eyes would turn even greener, she thought, giggling and putting her hand on her cheek.

"Mmm, it'll tear him apart, I just know it!" she sang.

Maybe, she thought, she'd ask Knuckles out on another date, and another one after that. She thought it might be a brilliant way to drive Sonic crazy, and then he'd have to go out with her just to spare himself the torture. Yes, that's exactly what she'd do; forgive Knuckles for the lousy date the night before and ask if they could try their luck with a second one. And maybe she could even make Rouge angry as well. The thought made her laugh out loud.

"What's so funny?" she heard Sonic's voice from behind her, startling her and causing her to drop her watering can.

She jerked her head around and glared at him with clenched teeth, yelling "Hey, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"It's what you get for always tackling me from behind, Ames. So what are you over here chuckling up a storm about?" he asked, smirking.

"Oh! Yeah, I've got something to tell you!" she chimed, regaining her cheery disposition, then raising a finger and asking "Guess what I did last night?"

"Do I want to know?"

"You tell me. Since you're never taking me anywhere, I went on a date with someone else. In fact, I wasn't even trying, the guy totally asked me out himself!"

"Must be a masochist. Who was it?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ha ha, you won't believe it! It was Knuckles! Knuckles asked me out on a date!"

Sonic paused, raised an eyebrow and scratched his ear. He was confused. Why would Knuckles go on a date? And why would he go out with Amy? Surely, he thought, there must be some other desperate, lonely girls who'd enjoy his company. But Amy?

"Are... are you for serious?" he asked, chuckling and hoping it was a joke.

"Yeah, and it was really fun until he left me to pay for everything," she said, trying to hold back a growl.

"You should've payed anyway. The guy's supposed to pay for the girl, ri--" he was cut off as she struck him with her piko-piko hammer.

"Shut up! Anyway, it was a great date and I had a lot of fun without you!" she barked.

"Ugh, sorry, Amy, I was just joking. But seriously, why the heck would Knuckles ask someone out? He doesn't even wanna go out with Rouge and she makes it easy as pie."

Amy paused and put her hammer away. She looked up at the sky and sighed. He told her upfront that he was just trying to be nice, but why? It wasn't in his nature to just do something like that for no reason. Normally, Knuckles would be far more concerned about his job than some random date with one of his friends.

"I... you know, I really don't know. He said it was just to be nice..."

"Nice? Knuckles? Since when?" he said, snickering.

"It weirded me out too, but I just saw him setting on a bench in Central City staring off in space. I said hi and the next thing I knew he asked me out. Weird proposition."

"Weird." Sonic said, tapping his foot and looking off, before starting to chuckle. "Hey, you don't suppose he's one of those loons who thinks the world's gonna blow up or something just because the echidna calender is ending?"

"Ha ha, I actually mentioned that to him and he kinda got angry at me."

"Whatever. Typical Knucklehead," he sighed, taking out the blue Chaos Emerald and bouncing it around in his hand.

"Oh, you've got a Chaos Emerald."

"Yeah, I found it the other day. This one's been sparking a little today for some reason. When that happens it kinda feels like a shock when I touch it."

"Since when do Chaos Emeralds do that?" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dunno. Tails did some scans on it and said he'd let me know later, so I came to see how you were doing to kill time."

"Well it's weird. But I bet ol' Robuttnik has something to do with it," Amy giggled.

"I'll actually be surprised if it's him this time. I don't see how he could do something like tha--whoa," he jumped as the emerald gave off a red spark and the blue orb on his bracelet lit up for a split-second.

"Oh my gosh, you OK?" Amy asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just kinda surprised me, is all," he chuckled. "It doesn't hurt or anything, just feels like one of those joy buzzer toys, I guess."

Amy sighed and picked up her watering can. She told Sonic he could feel free to lounge around while she did her gardening if he didn't have anything else to do. She enjoyed his company anyway and it got lonely living in her house. She liked her new suburban home much better than her old apartment in Central City, but she often felt secluded because the suburbs had no real hustle or bustle. But she appreciated it because she had much more space in her new house than she did back in the city. Maybe, she thought, if she could ever get Sonic to agree to settle down and marry her, they'd live together in that house and perhaps raise a family. She sighed at the thought of that fantasy coming true someday.

=======

Knuckles had gone back to Angel Island after he left Amy the night before. She'd been asking too many questions and they were driving him crazy. He wondered why she couldn't just enjoy her, and his, first date without bringing up stuff about the echidna calender reaching its end. He didn't think that was something she should be concerned about. No one, he thought, should waste their last days on Earth talking about such things.

But then again, he considered, she really had no clue. He hadn't told anyone about it, so there was no reason for him to get angry at anyone else for being ignorant. He decided that, in fact, it was his own fault for keeping such a thing a secret. He stumbled up to the Master Emerald with tired, puffy eyes and looked at his reflection on the sides of the jewel.

"No, no, no! This is all wrong! It shouldn't even be turning out this way, I mean... they should have told me about this before I was sworn in as the guardian of the island! Why would they just keep it a secret from me?!" he seethed, pounding on the surface of the emerald, but using restraint to keep from breaking it.

Then it hit him. Break it, he thought over and over. Break it and then nothing bad would be able to happen. He solemnly looked at it as the thought played through his head again and again. If the Master Emerald was broken, he could just wait until it was all over. Then he'd go out and recollect the parts to rebuild it. He pulled back his fist and prepared to bust it apart. Yes, that'd be the best choice of action.

But just as he was about to punch it, he stopped in his tracks. He groaned as a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead, then he felt a sharp jolt of pain in his skull. He grabbed at his head and staggered back, growling under his breath. When the pain left, his eyes popped open in shock as he heard a strange voice echoing through the air. He stared back at the Master Emerald, where the sound seemed to be coming from.

"Wh-what is this?!" he barked at the spinning gem, then paused. "No! Don't you understand? I've got break you apart until after this is over! I don't have a choice, and it's for the best anyway!" he paused again, then his eyes widened. "Shut up! It's my duty to guard you, but not at this cost!"

Up in the air, Rouge had decided to pay her "Knuckie" another visit. She put her hand to her mouth and giggled when she saw Knuckles, apparently arguing with himself. She thought he must be out of his mind. She dropped down from the sky to inspect. When her boots touched the ground Knuckles snapped around and snarled at her, taking her by surprise.

"My, my. What's wrong with you? Going nuts from being stuck on this dirt clot every day?" she asked with a hint of fright in her voice.

Knuckles huffed for a few seconds before regaining his composure. He closed his eyes and rubbed his muzzle, then let out a sigh. Rouge had originally planned to come say something snarky, but now she just wanted to know what was eating Knuckles.

"S-so, what've you been up to, pumpkin?" she asked.

"I just, I... n-nothing. Sorry for... growling at you and all, I just..." he stammered, rubbing his head.

"Don't sweat it. I've got men growling at me all the time, believe it or not."

"With that skanky outfit you wear, I believe it," he said, managing to form a smirk.

"You're just angry 'cause you know you can't have any of this."

"Yeah, right. Anyways, I think you'll be surprised to hear I had a date, and with someone else!" he said, proudly crossing his arms.

"Oh? With whom?"

"Uh, well... I took Amy to dinner last night."

"Are you kidding? Amy? She's, like, thirteen years old. Do you realize how disgusting that is?" she barked, putting her fists on her hips.

"I only did it to be nice, I mean... Sonic wasn't going to take her out, so I just wanted to--"

"Nuh-uh, buster, I don't associate with cradle-robbers," she said, scoffing and preparing to fly away when Knuckles grabbed her ankle.

"N-no! Don't go, Rouge. P-please! I need you!" he pleaded.

"Ugh, I hate it when men are forward like that!" she yelled, reeling her foot back to kick him.

"No, no, wait! I didn't mean it like that! I mean, Rouge... I've got a real favor to ask you. Please don't go," he said, staring sadly up at her.

She looked at him with a puzzled expression and, after he let go of her foot, she let herself back down onto the ground. She looked at him as he stared at the ground and kicked at some rocks, waiting for him say something. Knuckles was definitely acting strange, she could tell. When he looked up at her, his eyes were welling up with tears. Yes, definitely strange; she'd never seen Knuckles cry before, or even come close to it.

"Uh... um, R-Rouge, uh... look. S-something is... something's coming, and... I, uh... I need you to help me stop it," he choked, taking a few steps toward her. "I didn't tell anyone else because I... I-I thought if I kept everyone out of it I could handle it myself, you know? But... but I've seen so many signs and it just... just doesn't seem like there's anything I can do. I think... if there's anyone in the world who can help me, it's you."

Rouge was shocked. Here Knuckles was, stuttering and crying. Not only that, but begging her for her help and confiding in her at the exclusion of everyone else. She knew if something was troubling him this much and he was only comfortable telling her, it must be very bad.

"O-... OK, Knuckles. I'll... do whatever I can. Now tell me what's wrong."

He grabbed her hand and started running. She didn't know where he was taking her, but she let him lead the way. She needed to know if whatever this was that was bothering Knuckles was really as big a deal as he was making it seem. But if it was enough to reduce him to tears, she thought, it had to be important.

They came to a stone barrier with a large number "7" etched onto its surface. Knuckles let go of Rouge's hand, then walked up to the barrier and pressed his forehead against it. The symbol lit up in blue, and the barrier dematerialized into the air, revealing a secret passage. Knuckles looked back at Rouge and said "In here."

"My, I had no idea you echidnas could do magic like that," she remarked.

"Let's go," he said, leading her inside.

Once inside, Rouge admired all the crystals that were stuck in the rock walls of the cave. She put her hand to her chin as she examined each rock and mineral. Angel Island sure did have some exotic gemstones, she thought. Maybe after she'd finished helping Knuckles out of his little crisis, she'd take some home for souvenirs.

Knuckles led her down the cave's maze-like corridors for several minutes. Eventually, they came to a large shrine, similar to the one the Master Emerald stayed in, but with a lot of aesthetic difference. Or at least, they seemed to be merely aesthetic to Rouge. She looked down at the ground and was puzzled when she saw all the crests and inscriptions that were etched there.

"Oh, my..."

"This is the Hidden Palace. I used to use it in emergencies, when the Master Emerald was in danger. But I really hate it down here," Knuckles said.

"Don't see why. I could live down here with all these pretty jewels. So what's so special about this place that you had to bring me here anyway?"

"Look, these sigils on the floor of the cave. They were made by an ancient civilization who lived on this island before my tribe," Knuckles whispered, kneeling on the ground and brushing the symbols with his hand.

"So? What, you mean to tell me you were throwing a hissy-fit back there just 'cause you found some old cave drawings?"

"No, it's what the symbols mean that bothers me. Look, on the wall next to the alter," Knuckles said, pointing to a large slab of rock covered in bizarre glyphs. "This is the dead language of the Knuckles tribe. I can read what it says for you."

"Shoot, muffin," Rouge answered.

"OK... here it is. Listen; 'The promised day shall surely come when the seven reach their peak. The souls of the Earth shall be as a river, writhing along their crooked course. The angel of death shall glide across the surface of the ground and steal its breath away. And the seven sins shall clear a path for the end of the world.'"

Rouge raised an eyebrow and stood quietly for several moments, before saying "Wh-what? Is that for real, Knuckles?"

Knuckles nodded and said "Yes. That's what it says, all right. That's why I need you to help me."

"Hang on a minute! You actually expect me to believe all that? What makes you so sure it's true, huh?"

With a sigh, Knuckles said "Rouge, please. I know what I'm talking about. Believe me when I say this is true," he took a step toward her and put a hand on her shoulder. "The echidna prophecies have all come true so far. All the stories my kin told me before they died. They foresaw it all. So this... this has to be true, no matter how much I dislike it."

"So how come your family never told you about this? Don't you think that should have been at the top of their priority list?"

"They never told me anything about this. I didn't even know how to read this language until around the start of this year, when I did some research. I thought I'd benefit from learning more about my background. But whether I found out about it or not, nothing could stop it," he whispered.

"Why not? What's even going to cause this whole end of the world thing anyway?" she prodded.

"Well... let's just say that... I want you and the government to seal the Master Emerald up. Lock it up somewhere until the end of this week. Six days from now and this'll all be over. Then the emerald can be brought back to the island."

"Well... why the end of this week?"

"My tribe made a calender. And... that calender ends in six days. That's when this is supposed to come true... the calender was apparently designed as sort of a timer. We need to keep the Master Emerald locked down until after the calender's ended. Please, Rouge. Please?"

Rouge rubbed her arm and looked at the ground. It all seemed so crazy and superstitious, but Knuckles seemed thoroughly convinced. And it was his tribe that came up with the whole thing, so she figured he'd know if it was all true better than she would. Besides, she figured, if he was wrong and there really was no apocalypse or anything coming, there'd be a silver lining; she'd have the Master Emerald. What could she stand to lose by him practically giving it to her?

"All right, Knuckles. I'll do it," she said, causing his face to light up with relief. "I will take the Master Emerald to GUN and have it sealed away until your calender is over. But remember... if you're wrong, that pretty stone will be all mine!" she said with a wink.

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The E.G.G.M.A.N.'s Plan

There were five days left until the echidna calender ended. Knuckles and Rouge had made sure the Master Emerald, now in GUN's hands, was under maximum security. It was locked away in a vault in Central City, where it was under the watch of several soldiers.

"You'll really be on my bad side if it turns out this is all just superstition, big boy," Rouge scoffed.

"You'll see the signs when they come. We have five days left, and then hopefully everything'll be all right," Knuckles said.

"So, Commander, do you believe a word of this?" Rouge asked.

The commander chuckled and said "To be honest, I don't believe it for a second. But considering everything else that's happened in the world, there's no room for arbitrary skepticism. We need to be ready in case this is true."

"Hmph, fair enough. I think you're all nuts, 'cause so far I haven't seen anything but old writing in a cave. I bet if Knuckles never read it, we wouldn't even be freaking out."

"Whether I knew about this or not, there was never anything I could do to stop it. It's actually good that I uncovered what I did, or else we wouldn't have any hope."

=======

Tails and Sonic had uncovered the location of another Chaos Emerald that was somewhere in the Mystic Ruins, according to the detector Tails had built. They flew there on Tails' Tornado; they couldn't take the Tornado 2, since the Chaos Emerald they had previously picked up had started becoming unstable and giving off painful sparks of red energy at a more frequent pace than the day before, according to Tails. Sonic, on the other hand, still found that he was able to handle the emerald without any effects beyond a mild buzzing sensation. He'd noticed, though, that his bracelet he'd gotten from Chip glowed whenever the Chaos Emerald gave off a jolt while he was holding it. Maybe, he thought, this strange state of the emerald had something to do with the Gaias.

The biplane landed in front of the pyramid in the rainforest. Sonic and Tails glanced around, trying to find where the signal had come from. Tails hoped he'd gotten the right place; the signal had been going rather spastic on regular intervals, which seemed to coincide with the surging of red power in the blue Chaos Emerald. Sonic tapped Tails on the shoulder and pointed toward a patch of grass near the edge of the rainforest. The green Chaos Emerald was lying there.

Tails walked up to the emerald and prepared to pick it up, but withdrew his hand when he noticed that the grass within about a one-foot radius of the stone had died. He stared at it for a second, then noticed the emerald spark with red energy, just like the blue one.

"S-Sonic, it's not just the emerald we found. This one's acting up too. You go ahead and pick it up. Doesn't seem to hurt you," Tails said, prompting Sonic to grab the emerald.

"Weird. So maybe the sparking is what was jamming the signal."

"Most likely. I noticed that a lot of my equipment seemed to malfunction around the other emerald... what do you think is wrong with them?"

They both jumped back when a mechanical arm extended from behind the trees and clamped onto the emerald. When it retracted, Eggman rose up in his Eggmobile. He cackled as the arm stuck the Chaos Emerald into a slot on his aircraft's dashboard, where his other three emeralds had also been placed, each kept a few feet apart.

"I'm afraid I can't let you have this! Oh ho ho ho!"

"Oh, not you again. What are you gonna do this time? Use them to open a portal to another dimension and bring out some monster?" Sonic asked.

"Maybe we should just let him. Then whatever monster he's waking up this time'll turn on him. So it's not like we've got much to worry about," Tails joked.

"Fools. You fail to realize what's happening with the Chaos Emeralds now. Know that, in five days, they will be at their most powerful! And in five days, I will use them to build a weapon that can destroy the world!"

"Why would you wanna do that? That'd sort of mess up your whole Eggmanland thing, right?" Sonic said, smirking.

"No, I don't plan on destroying the world, but with the power to do so at the flip of a switch, who would dare question my authority?" he chuckled, pulling out a gun-like device, which had a tube that ran down to the dashboard of the Eggmobile.

Eggman pulled the trigger, causing the four Chaos Emeralds to glow red. The energy flowed through the tube and fired from the gun in the form of a bolt that Sonic and Tails were both narrowly able to dodge. Eggman began erratically firing shots, trying to catch them both. Every plant he struck was instantly killed.

"Hold still, you little pests!" he barked, getting flustered.

One of his shots finally connected with Sonic, and he gave a hearty chortle, thinking he'd killed him at last. When the light from the blast dimmed, however, Sonic was surrounded by a strange blue force field. Eggman snarled, and then looked at the hedgehog's wrist, noticing that the orb on his bracelet was glowing blue.

"That bracelet! Isn't that the collar Light Gaia wore around its neck?!" Eggman exclaimed.

Sonic looked at his bracelet in surprise. The glow faded and the bubble around him disappeared. So, he thought, Chip's bracelet really did protect him from this odd chaos energy. He decided he should feel lucky that Chip had decided to leave it with him as a gift.

"Maybe he gave this to me because he knew this was going to happen," Sonic whispered.

"So Chip's collar is why the power from the emeralds hasn't been hurting you?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, I guess... it really should have been obvious, come to think of it," he said, looking at the orb on the bracelet.

"So Light Gaia's powers extend even to that little piece of costume jewelry..." Eggman growled as SA-55 popped out of his pod.

"So, Doctor, Sonic has found yet another way to foil your latest scheme, yes? And Dark Chaos, due to the state of the emeralds, is doomed to be a normal Chao for the rest of his life. It appears that your plan was doomed to failure from the start," the robot said. "And realize, had you never awakened Dark Gaia in the first place, Sonic would have no protection and this plan would have succeeded. You have failed to look before you l--"

"Shut up! It doesn't matter that Sonic is protected from the Chaos Emeralds. There's still nothing he can do to stop them. Their power cannot be undone," he assured SA-55. "Well, this has certainly been fun, Sonic, but I have to go find the other Chaos Emeralds now. You'll see; this shall be the greatest weapon of mass destruction ever created!"

Eggman grabbed a small canister and threw it to the ground near Sonic and Tails. Gas began to rise from it and fill the air around them. The two of them coughed and clutched their mouths as they inhaled the substance. They began to feel drowsy and, after a few seconds, collapsed on the ground as Eggman stretched the mechanical appendage out again to grab the blue Chaos Emerald they brought with them and escaped in his Eggmobile, laughing triumphantly.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tick-Tock

A strange, gruff voice growled in Knuckles' head as he struggled to sleep, tossing and turning on the hard, uncomfortable ground. It was dusk of the third day of the echidna calender's final week. Four more days until the end of the world, Knuckles thought, or three days, considering it was already nighttime. No matter how tight he shut his eyes, it seemed like he could never sleep at night. The bizarre voice kept calling to him whenever he even tried to rest.

Time is running out.

"No... it isn't," Knuckles grumbled, still keeping his eyes shut tight.

Don't you see how pointless it is to hope that this will all blow over? Starting at the end of this week, the world will burn forever.

"No," Knuckles growled, flipping over and covering his ears in a vain effort to drown the sound of the voice out. "It can't happen anymore. The Master Emerald is stuck with GUN until the end of the week. There's nothing that can make this lie come true now."

You shall see, when the time comes. Nothing you did could ever have stopped this from happening. They say all good things must come to an end. The world is no exception.

"Heh, you can say that all you want," Knuckles said, cracking a smirk with his eyes still closed, "but that doesn't change a thing. I'd like to see how the world's going to 'end' with the Master Emerald locked up in Central City."

True... let's see how long it stays there. How long you can bear to see your precious stone in the hands of the corrupt military. How long you can stand having your floating island locked into the ground.

"Yeah, 'cept I'm pretty darn sure a couple more days won't be enough to push me over that edge," Knuckles scoffed, sitting up and propping himself up on his hands, with his eyes still closed.

Very well. If you are so certain that everything will remain as it is, why do you not open your eyes? Are you frightened?

Knuckles paused for a few seconds, considering the words of the voice. Why didn't he open his eyes? If everything was going to be fine, no questions asked, why was he still being troubled so much? He got up on his feet and took in a deep breath, before slowly cracking his eyelids open.

"See? I'm not afraid anymo--" he said, before feeling a lump in his throat and losing his voice.

He grabbed at his throat and felt like he was choking. He tried to force out a scream, but couldn't do anything but shallowly wheeze. When he decided to run, he realized his legs were stiffened and his feet where stuck to the ground, and after a few moments of struggling, he lost all the feeling in his entire body. With his eyes open, he saw a wall of fire rise from the ground and swirl around him. He wanted to cry for help, feeling that he'd be incinerated by the flames.

He was finally able to force out a cough after smelling smoke and ashes. His body unfroze and he fell face-first onto the ground, where he stayed for several seconds until his feeling began to come back. He put his palms to the ground to push himself up, spitting dirt and dust from his mouth as he did.

"Ugh... wh-... what in the world...?" he huffed as he checked his surroundings.

Everything had suddenly become rather dark, but he could still see by a red glow coming from strange geometric patterns on the ground. He recognized the designs immediately as being similar to those found around many of the ruins on Angel Island and in the Mystic Ruins. The illuminated sigils covered the entire ground as far as Knuckles could see, stretching up through the forests and mountains.

All the plants he could see were dead. The grass was gray, as were all the trees and flowers, which had also lost their leaves and petals. He couldn't hear the usual sounds of animal life; no birds, no rodents scurrying around. The entire world had turned completely silent. Looking up, he saw that the sky was red as blood with gray, spiraling clouds.

"No... please, no..." he choked.

This, Guardian, is the world at the end of the week. It is glorious, don't you agree? All your nightmares realized, and with such perfection.

"This cannot happen. It can't!"

Of course it can. Don't be so delusional. You'll do it yourself, after all. The world will be destroyed. Everything slithering upon its surface will be killed. But...

Knuckles' eyes widened at the frightening sound of the voice and whispered "But... what? What?!"

But... you'll still be alive. You get to have this whole world all to yourself. All the peace and tranquility... I really don't see why this future world frightens you so much... it won't be such a drastic departure of your normal life. Living alone on that empty, depressing island. No, your world won't be turned upside-down so much as you think. Everyone else's, on the other hand...

"And don't I get a say in the matter? There are so many things about this that are hinged on my decision. And not only my decision, but the state of the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. As long as they all stay separated, away from that weapon, nothing can happen to the world. And I've got the willpower to make sure nothing happens."

Naive little boy, you always were so easily tricked. Wherever you got the idea that you had a choice, you are grossly deluded. Can't you see, child... this is the will of the Master Emerald, and the seven servant emeralds. And their will be done.

The scenery changed around him, like a dream, and he found himself in the burning ruins of what looked to have once been Central City. There were no people to be seen anywhere. None that were alive, at least. Sprawled all over the ground, Knuckles saw petrified corpses. They all had a distinctive look of fear on their faces, like they saw something horrific just before they died. Knuckles' eyes widened in shock when he recognized several of the mummified bodies as those of Amy, Tails and Rouge. He felt burning tears start to run down his cheeks.

"No..."

Yes. Don't fight it. Be proud of your future accomplishments. Who else do you know who could say that they, all on their own, destroyed the planet Earth and brought about the extinction of everything that lived on it? Even your Robotnik family could never dream of achieving something so magnificent.

"The world won't end like this," Knuckles snarled.

It will. Such is the desire of the emeralds... and it will happen during the galactic alignment at the end of your calender. That is when you will be beckoned by your fate to rule the world.

=======

"What an excellent night this is for me. To have found two more Chaos Emeralds, and with no interference from that irritating hedgehog," Eggman chuckled.

Dark Chaos crawled up to the doctor's side. Eggman looked at the Chao and chortled in satisfaction when he saw that he had started developing some of the features of a Dark Chao. Since he had an entirely new plan of action, he'd all but abandoned his plans for mutating Dark Chaos into a more powerful creature like the original Chaos, but he still wanted to grow him into a Dark Chaos Chao, if only for the novelty of having an immortal pet.

"Dark Chaos will even make a nice little mascot for the Eggman Empire once the world is under my authority," Eggman sang, petting the Chao as at made cheerful gurgling noises.

"So, Doctor," SA-55 began, appearing from its pod, "is there any remarkable new information on the state of the Chaos Emeralds? Have you yet learned why they seem to have randomly been granted with this power?"

"Upon further research, it seems the echidnas who created this calender knew what was going to happen to the Chaos Emeralds. They ended the calender on the exact day the Chaos Emeralds would reach their final peak, and gain power such that can destroy the entire world," he announced, standing up and pacing around his metallic laboratory. "But this energy the Chaos Emeralds are radiating, now that I've looked further into it, was not the work of the echidna tribe. And it was also not something that was in the Chaos Emeralds to begin with. Many, many cultures have used the powers of the Chaos Emeralds. The echidnas were merely the most recent of such cultures, excluding us modern folk."

"How could this be?" SA-55 inquired.

"The Chaos Emeralds can be filled with other kinds of power. Powers from outside sources. Apparently, before the emeralds fell into the hands of the Chao and the echidnas, they were kept by some other unknown culture. These people somehow filled the emeralds with a special life-sapping power. But this power seems to have been suppressed, put under a seal of some sort. And that seal is dying, which is why the Chaos Emeralds are malfunctioning."

"Excellent exposition, Doctor," the robot said, sarcastically clapping its hands before being struck in the head by a wrench.

"Fool, you're the one that asked!" Eggman barked as his Chao picked up another tool and chucked it at SA-55, causing the doctor to chuckle with pride. "Oh ho ho, Dark Chaos is daddy's little boy, it seems!"

=======

Sonic dropped by Tails' workshop in Central City to see if he had discovered anything new. It was still nighttime, but knowing Tails, he was still up and tinkering with something. Besides, he couldn't afford sleeping and missing out on crucial research of the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic thought, ringing the doorbell.

Tails answered, wearing pajamas, and wiped at his eyes, saying "What are you doing here so late? Shouldn't you be off sleeping in a tree or something?"

"Just wanted to see if you found anything new. Eggman took the emeralds, after all. It's not like we can just sit around," Sonic said, walking in and sitting on Tails' sofa.

"Yeah, well, I was able to find another Chaos Emerald earlier today. And it seemed to be giving off that weird energy at an even faster pace. I tried touching it, but it burned even worse than last time, so I had to get it in a container to bring it here."

"Weird how the emeralds are doing this. I've never seen anything like it."

"But here, you should be able to hold it. Chip's bracelet keeps the shocks from hurting you, after all," Tails said, pointing toward the emerald's container.

The fox sat down at his desk and scribbled a few things in a notebook as Sonic took the Chaos Emerald in his hands and fiddled around with it. Just like before, it didn't hurt to hold the emerald, merely sending painless buzzing sensations through his hand.

"So... yeah, Chip's bracelet seems to emit force fields just like the ones he was able to make when he tapped into his sun power. This is able to shield you."

"Thanks, Sherlock."

"But... I did a little digging into the subject today. I ran some tests on that emerald you're holding and I think I have a better understanding of how this energy works. It seems to me that it literally sucks the life out of any biological thing that touches it. That's why, when we found that emerald in the Mystic Ruins, the grass around it was dead. This is death energy and I've never seen anything remotely similar."

"So how come it doesn't kill you to touch it?" Sonic asked, juggling the emerald in his hand.

"That's another thing. The energy, as it is now, isn't powerful enough to kill something as large as you or me. When I held it, I only noticed some spots of dead skin and fur. That means the energy is only charged enough to sap small patches of life at a time. It can kill grass and plant leaves, but it hasn't reached a mature enough level to kill something my size. But killing a few skin and hair cells, that's the pain I felt whenever I touched it. Of course, you can't feel that pain as long as you keep Chip's collar."

"So that must be why it's getting harder and harder to track emerald signals with each day."

"Yes, exactly. The energy is growing at a steady pace. As it grows, the shorter the intervals between discharges, and thus, the faster the discharges happen. Soon, touching one emerald could be fatal for someone not wearing Chip's bracelet, not just painful."

"So how come Eggman's weird gun thingy was so strong, then? If the emeralds aren't at full power--"

"Emeralds give off reactions when they're together. In this case, since Eggman had several emeralds, the combined power was amplified enough that he could use it was an assault weapon. So... if he gets all seven, it'll basically be the most powerful weapon ever made. He really could bring the world to its knees this time, and with no giant monster to betray him."

"He said something about the power being at its maximum in five days. So now, that'd be three days, discounting tonight."

"It shouldn't be that hard to get them back. He can't hurt you with their power, after all."

"True," Sonic said, putting the emerald away and heading for the door before saying "Oh, and there's kinda something else I forgot to mention."

"What?"

"Um, I heard Angel Island fell again... sometime yesterday, I think. I heard it was before we fought Eggman in the Mystic Ruins."

"Good grief, what is it this time?" Tails groaned, putting his palm to his face.

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Retrieval

"Why would Knuckles give the Master Emerald to GUN?" Tails asked Rouge, who he and Sonic had gone to the GUN headquarters to speak with.

"Yeah," Sonic said, "doesn't seem very much like him."

"Don't ask me. I was just as weirded out as you two when Knuckles said he wanted me to look after his precious wife. And this was right before I caught the poor boy talking to himself. Must be losing his mind from his little walnut brain finally overloading."

"Doubt it. Tails here talks to himself all the time," Sonic said, winking and nudging Tails with his elbow.

"But I'll be serious with you here. Maybe you know a little something about this. Knuckles is convinced that, at the end of the week, we're all dead," Rouge said, sighing.

"What makes him think that?" Tails asked.

"Ah, some superstitious mumbo-jumbo. I took it with a few grains of salt. I really only took him up on the offer because he was practically having a breakdown right in front of me, plus now I won't have to steal his pretty rock at all. It's win-win."

"Yeah, for you. So wait, Knuckles really doesn't care that the Master Emerald's sitting in a vault here in GUN's HQ? Has he finally snapped?"

"Beats me. Just to let you know, though, he thinks whatever's supposed to doom us all is going to start with the Master Emerald. He took me to some place called Hidden Palace on Angel Island and said it was part of a prophecy."

It had been a while since either of them had heard talk of the Hidden Palace. They thought Knuckles had completely abandoned that cave in favor of the standard emerald shrine.

"OK, Rouge, will you come with us to Angel Island? Maybe we can figure out just what Knuckles is on about, and maybe he can help us with whatever's wrong with the Chaos Emeralds," Sonic suggested.

"Hmm? What's the matter with them?"

"We don't know, exactly. But maybe it has something to do with why Knuckles is acting so strangely," Tails said.

"Ah, well, fine. Maybe I can nab the Chaos Emeralds while we're at it. Whatever's wrong with Knuckles, it's a jackpot for me.

"Let's go," Tails said, spinning his Tails and grabbing Sonic by the wrists. "Since Angel Island's crashed, we won't need to take our plane."

======

Amy grumbled as she pushed through the shrubbery of Angel Island. She looked down at her dress and snarled at the spots of dirt that were stuck to it. She thought Knuckles should really mow down some of the plants on the island to make it easier to get around. When she got through the bushes, she saw the all-but-ruined Master Emerald shrine, with Knuckles lying face-down on the mossy steps. She huffed and ran over to him to nudge him.

"Hey, get up, lazy!"

"Wh-... what do you want?" he mumbled, looking up and opening his eyes.

"What's wrong with you? It's the middle of the day and you're sitting here sleeping?"

He got up and rubbed his head, saying "Sorry... I didn't get any sleep last night. Wait, what do you care?"

"Well, I was wondering why Angel Island fell. I figured something was wrong when I came to the Mystic Ruins to find you and didn't see if floating."

"The Master Emerald is off the island."

"Why? Isn't that thing, like, your lover?" Amy giggled.

"Shut up. Nah, I asked GUN to look after it for a few days. I just... I needed a break from it," he said, wiping at his eyes. "So, wait, why'd you want see me exactly?"

"I... um... I-I just wanted to know what was eating you after our, uh..."

"Oh, good grief..." Knuckles groaned.

"No, no! I just wanted to know why you got so upset and left! I've been wondering about it for a few days, and I was just a little worried about you. Look, you can tell me anything, you know. It's not like I'm gonna tell or anything. I mean, I'm also wondering why you really asked me out in the first place."

Knuckles let his eyelids droop. He didn't know if it was from tiredness or sadness. Probably a mixture of both, he thought. He struggled to his feet and looked her in the eye.

"Look, Amy. What I'm about to tell you... you probably ain't gonna believe me at all."

"Try me."

"When you asked me about the rumors and crap about the echidna calender ending... and I told you not to be so skeptical... what if I told you that the rumors were true, and the end of my calender really does mean the end of the world?"

"... I'd probably say you were nuts. Are you for real right now? Is that really why you've been all moody?"

"Amy, I'm being absolutely serious. I've never been so sure of anything in my entire life. The echidna calender's end was supposed to mark the conclusion of life on this planet. Unless something is done, we're going to be faced with it. And at this point we have three days left."

"Th-... that's ridiculous! You know, I think you just need to chill out a little bit," she said, causing him to lower his head and close his eyes. "Look, Knuckles... you ever notice how much your culture is like in ancient Maya and Inca?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, way back in 2012, the Mayan calender ended. And everyone thought it was the end of the world. But here we are, so many years later. See? It's all superstition and you shouldn't take it so seriously."

"Amy. This is not superstition. In three days, the sun will align with a certain point in the galaxy. And this is supposed to trigger an event that'll destroy the Earth."

"And how do you suppose that'll happen?" Amy asked, putting her hands to her hips and smirking.

"Something about this galactic alignment will mark the end of a seal that was put on the Chaos Emeralds, long before they fell into the hands of the Chao and the echidnas. It's a curse that someone, I don't know who, put on the emeralds years and years ago."

"OK, OK, humor me, Knux. What makes you so sure this will happen, huh? I don't see any evidence. Everything's the same as it normally is."

"I read a prophecy. It was inevitable that this would happen, though, whether I knew or not. Something about me being sworn in as the guardian of the emeralds marked me as the one who's supposed to..." he trailed off and rubbed his muzzle. "Anyway, I've been having visions. They started off as nightmares, but they've been changing into full-fledged hallucinations. I can't even sleep at night. And the glyphs and symbols all over this island... it's the end of the world, Amy. No questions asked. And that's why... I took you out on that date. Sonic was never going to do it... at least not any time soon."

"So... it was just a pity date, then," Amy sighed, sounding disappointed.

"It wasn't pity. I just wanted you to be able to experience having a guy take you out before... before, y-you know, the end. I thought you deserved it. But... all isn't lost, Amy. I took precautions that I hope will help. I don't really have faith... but you never know."

"So... you left the Master Emerald with GUN to stop whatever you think's going to happen?"

"It's not a matter of what I 'think'. But yes, I left it with GUN because I hope that with the Master Emerald away from the island, this prophecy can't come true."

"My, my, on another date, I presume?" they heard Rouge's voice chime from the air above them, accompanied by Tails and Sonic. "Knuckie," she said, landing in front of him, "I brought Sonic and Tails here because I think they can help us out of our little dilemma. So you say the world is coming to an end when your calender reaches its end, right?"

Tails held a finger up and started "Knuckles, we need to know why exactly you think this is going to happen. Because, judging by what Rouge told us on the way here, we think it has something to do w--"

"Yes, the Chaos Emeralds, I know," Knuckles interrupted, raising his hand and closing his eyes. "I've taken care of it, for the most part, by having Rouge and the rest of GUN lock the Master Emerald up."

"But we need you to help us out about the Chaos Emeralds. They've been acting strange, giving off weird radiation that sucks the life out of everything exposed to them. And this power is growing stronger and stronger, and it's amplified when they come in contact."

"Yep, exactly," Knuckles said, looking toward Amy as if to say "I told you so," "The Chaos Emeralds are filled with a secondary kind of energy, and this energy only comes out during the solstice at the end of the echidna calender. When the 'galactic alignment' happens. That's how the world will end."

"So... you think this death energy is going to take out the whole planet? I mean, how? I don't see how, even when the power is maxed out at the end of the week, it can cover the whole planet. I estimated that the energy will only spread around South Island and Westside Island when the calender ends," Tails said, putting his hand to his chin.

"Yeah... you're right..." Knuckles said after a long pause.

"So Knuckie, how's this supposed to 'end the world'? If it takes out South Island and Westside Island, that'll be bad enough, but what makes you think the world's at stake?" Rouge asked.

"I... hope the world isn't at stake. I hope with every fiber of my being, Rouge. But I know what I know. Just trust me. The Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds have to stay separated until the solstice is over."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Amy interjected. "Doesn't the Master Emerald control the Chaos Emeralds? Can't it get rid of whatever this radiation is you're all talking about?"

"No, Amy. It can't. Like I said, this power the emeralds have during this time in the world's history is some kind of curse. It's not chaos energy. It doesn't have the properties of the positive and negative forces that exist in the emeralds. It's a third kind of power," Knuckles groaned. "That's why all we can do to save the world is to keep the Master Emerald away from the Chaos Emeralds... and keep the Chaos Emeralds away from each other."

"About that," Sonic started "Eggman took the blue emerald, and the green one we found in the Mystic Ruins two days ago. We don't know how many of the others he has."

Knuckles' eyes widened and his pupils dilated. He grabbed both of Sonic's arms and growled at him.

"What were you thinking letting Eggman take them from you?! Do you realize what he could do with them, you idiot?!"

"Uh... h-he said he w-was using them to power a cannon or... or something. D-don't worry! We can stop him easy."

"No..." Knuckles said, releasing Sonic and stomping the ground. "No, no, no! And if he has the Chaos Emeralds, all he has to do is get to the Master Emerald, and we know how easy that'd be for him! Sonic, since you couldn't even protect two measly emeralds, Eggman could destroy the world, and completely by accident, too! We have to get them back now and get rid of them until after the solstice! Oh, crap... crap, Sonic."

"Whoa, Knuckles, stop being such a drama queen. It's never hard to get the Chaos Emeralds fr--"

"Just shut up, Sonic, and take me to Eggman so I can get the emeralds back. I swear, if he gets all seven of them, I'll kill you and Tails before he even has the chance. Let's go after him now," Knuckles seethed, frightening all four of the others.

"What in the world is that guy's problem?" Rouge whispered to Amy, receiving a puzzled shrug in response.

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I'm surprised this has gone 7 chapters without any comments. Anyway, I really like this fan fiction, the plot is very interesting, it uses events from most of the 3D games which is good because then it isnt inconsistent, its very descriptive and quite humourous at times as well, especially the part where the chao throws a wrench at SA-55's head (XD), everyone seems to be in character as well. Keep up the good work

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God's Revelation

"Do... do we even know where Eggman is?" Rouge asked.

"Well, no... but like, it's nothing to get so worked up about, right?" Sonic asked Knuckles, who was behaving much more angrily than usual.

"Sonic, you have no idea what you've done, letting the emeralds slip through your fingers like th--"

"This is your fault, Knuckles, so don't yell at us about it," Tails said.

"Wh--my fault? How's it my fault, huh?"

"If you'd told us about this earlier we could've done something about it. You're the one that kept it a secret from everyone except Rouge and... Amy."

Knuckles growled and crossed his arms. Tails was right, he thought. But there was no way he'd admit that, so he just responded with a huff.

"Stop fighting! Can't we just use your emerald tracker thing, Tails? If Eggman has the emeralds we can use it to find him," Amy said.

"The stalker's right. Also, Shadow told me he found one Chaos Emerald on his own somewhere, so that's at least one in our hands," Rouge said.

"And I found one yesterday. So we've got two, and Eggman had three when he fought and took the other two we had," Tails said.

"See?! Now Eggman has five Chaos Emeralds, and even that's enough to destroy a good chunk of life in the world!" Knuckles barked before exhaling and taking a few moments to calm himself. "And then he'll probably come after the Master Emerald. We should... we should really go back to Central City and protect it so he can't get it..."

"Well what about the Chaos Emeralds? What happened to 'we have to get them back now or I'll kill you'?" Rouge scoffed at him.

"If we have the last two emeralds, Eggman's going to come and try to take them from us. We can take him out and get them back, then separate them again so no harm can come to the world."

"A'ight then, boo," Rouge cooed. "I'll give Shadow a call and tell him to meet us at GUN's HQ."

======

"Yes, SA-55, yes! Just two more Chaos Emeralds and my weapon will be unstoppable!"

"And the Master Emerald?"

"We'll get that as well. I haven't done any research to see if it contains the destructive powers of the other emeralds yet, but logically, having it in my possession would allow me to direct and control the death energy to an even further extent. Even though the Master Emerald can't neutralize this energy the way it can neutralize chaos energy, it should still be able to 'bend' and perhaps amplify it to a certain extent. And apparently, the Master Emerald is being guarded by those mooks at GUN."

"Funderful. Also, Doctor, our diagnostics show that Dark Chaos is nearing his final evolution into a Dark Chaos Chao. Soon you'll have your... 'mascot'," SA-55 dully stated.

"Oh ho ho! Good, good! It's very easy to raise Chao with a hoard of robot nannies," Eggman chuckled, causing SA-55 to narrow its mechanical eyelids. "Well, what are you waiting for? Bring him to me so that I can bear witness to his transformation!"

The robot bounced over to the door to Eggman's Chao garden, entered the password "EGGMAN" using the large buttons on the floor, and hopped onto the teleportation platform. Eggman eagerly tapped his foot in anticipation of what he considered a historic event, and after a few moments, SA-55 returned with his prized Dark Chaos, placing the Chao on the floor in front of the doctor.

"Statistics indicate the transformation should commence shortly."

"Excellent!"

After several minutes of idly eyeing the little rubbery creature, a teardrop-shaped object started to materialize around the Chao. The object slowly became opaque and solid, resembling a large egg, and after several moments the object began going translucent and intangible again.

The Chao had evolved to his final stage and grown devilish horns on his head, each capped with purple, mirroring the violet color of his round feet. His eyes became bright yellow and his head had a pair of downward-pointing protrusions colored in fiery patterns. Also covered in flame-like markings where his spiked fists, and his chest had a glowing orange crescent shape.

"Yes, yes, yes! At last! Dark Chaos has become a Dark Chaos Chao! I'm so proud!"

"So, Doctor, do you still wish to mutate Dark Chaos into a godlike entity?"

"Eh... no. The Chaos Emeralds have become my greatest weapon. There's no need to risk Dark Chaos' life in an experiment with them. Besides, I'm still unsure of the nature of Chaos' mutation. I don't even know if it involved the Chaos Emeralds at all."

"There must have been some source of energy that caused such an odd transformation..."

"It happened ages ago. Perhaps the power that caused it is long-gone," Eggman remarked. "In any case, let's find the last two Chaos Emeralds before we take the Master Emerald."

The doctor pulled out his tracker and activated the device. It displayed a map of South Island and showed a weak, spastic signal in Central City, near the military base. Another blip was moving north from Angel Island and the Mystic Ruins, disappearing and reappearing from the radar screen with each jolt of death energy. Eggman snickered as he realized where it must be heading.

"So Sonic and his friends must have the last two. Must be a futile attempt to guard them and the Master Emerald. Fine then, we can strike right now!"

=======

It would've taken Sonic a very short amount of time to get from Angel Island to Central City, but he decided to give the others a chance to keep up, so the trip took several hours. He hated going slow, though. He was the one carrying the Chaos Emerald due to the effects of Chip's collar.

The sun was starting to set over the city. Knuckles frowned. It was almost nighttime, and then there would be only two days left on Earth. That is, if their efforts really were as futile as the almost schizophrenic voice in Knuckles' head told him during his hallucinatory episodes at night. But he hoped that keeping the Master Emerald on lockdown and separating the Chaos Emeralds until after the solstice would do some good.

The five of them approached GUN's headquarters. The familiar image of Shadow was slouching on the ground in front of the building, with the violet Chaos Emerald lying on the ground a few feet away from him. Upon noticing them, he stood up and walked toward them.

"So how'd you get that pretty little thing all the way here with all those weird discharges going on?" Rouge asked.

"I was able to activate Chaos Control during one of the red energy's intervals of inactivity."

"Good, so we've got two Chaos Emeralds here. Eggman's bound to come after them, and that's when he pound him and take the other five," Sonic said, punching his palm and snickering.

"... What's going on with them? I've never seen anything like this before," Shadow said.

Knuckles sighed and said "The Chaos Emeralds currently have the power to destroy the world, and that power will be at its highest in a couple days, when the sun aligns with a specific point in the galaxy and when my people's calender reaches its end. That time is prophesied to be the end of the world. So we're hoping that with all the emeralds separated, the solstice's prophecy can't come true."

There was a loud noise in the sky. Amy looked up and gasped as she saw Eggman's battleship drifting over the city. The Egg Carrier stopped over the HQ and its bottom hatch opened and an army of Egg Pawns and Egg Fighters fell out and landed on the pavement. Eggman descended from the giant aircraft in his Eggmobile, chortling evilly.

"So, the three final pieces to this puzzle are all right here. Two Chaos Emeralds, and the Master Emerald secured behind the metal doors of GUN HQ. I'll make this quick and easy; give me the three emeralds and I won't have to cause any tragic casualties," Eggman said.

"Ah, Eggman. I've been wanting do mangle you for a while now. How 'bout you just hand your five emeralds over to me and everyone goes home happy, yeah?" Knuckles said smugly.

"I'm afraid I've come to close to absolute power and victory to do something like that. Back off now, echidna," Eggman barked, aiming his gun and firing a bolt of red energy at him, which Knuckles was barely able to dodge.

Sonic, Tails, Shadow, Rouge and Amy managed to take out the army of robots as Knuckles recovered from avoiding Eggman's attack. The doctor rapidly fired his energy projectiles at the six of them, missing each time. Sonic jumped in front of the group, yelling "Stay behind me!" as a shot darted toward him and was obstructed by the shield generated by Chip's necklace.

"Drat, I forgot all about that stupid little trinket," Eggman growled. "Well I guess I can't take it by force using the Chaos Emeralds' energy. So how about we negotiate a little bit? I think you'll see it my way."

A robotic arm reached down from the Eggmobile and grabbed Amy, shaking her and causing her to drop her piko-piko hammer. She kicked in an attempt to get away as Eggman aimed his weapon at her.

"Now, Sonic, give me your Chaos Emeralds and call your little friends off, or I'll reduce your little fangirl to a lifeless husk right before her eyes!" he yelled as Amy's eyes began to tear up in fear.

"S-Sonic! Help me!"

"Aw, crap..." Sonic said, looking at the Chaos emerald.

Go on and save her, Knuckles heard that voice again in his head. Not that it matters... but you might as well. Do not fear the Chaos Emeralds. You needn't worry about suffering their wrath, for it is not their will to harm you.

"Let her go, Eggman, or I swear I'll make you suffer," Knuckles snarled, taking a step forward.

"Oh? And what are you going to do? I could easily destroy you too."

"I'm warning you. I'll rip you to shreds and bury you under all the scraps of your robots."

"Hmph. Fine, then. Get a load of this!" Eggman shouted, firing an energy blast at Knuckles and laughing as it connected. "Oh ho ho ho, see the power I posse--... what in the world?"

A strange red shield had formed around Knuckles. It seemed to be made of the same fiery red energy that had been emanating from the Chaos Emeralds. Eggman growled and fired more shots at Knuckles, but to no avail as they were all obstructed by the glowing red dome.

"What kind of sorcery is this?! Do you have some souvenir from Light Gaia too?!" Eggman asked.

Now, finish him! the voice roared.

The force field faded away as Knuckles raised and clenched his fists, which began to glow red. He took several more steps toward Eggman, growling, and his eyes began to take on the same blood-colored glow as his hands. Eggman's look of frustration quickly turned into one of fear as Knuckles jumped into the air and onto the cockpit of the Eggmobile, punching several huge dents into the metal and breaking the mechanical arm that held Amy, causing her to drop to the ground with a small thud.

Eggman shook the Eggmobile, causing Knuckles to fall off. He landed on his feet, and, as Eggman retreated, sent a bolt of energy from his fist, striking the Eggmobile and making it fall to the ground. He ran toward the aircraft, lifting it up and violently hurling it toward the hull of the Egg Carrier as Eggman shrieked at the top of his lungs. As the five Chaos Emeralds fell from the Eggmobile, Knuckles raised his hands and they were each stopped in midair, encased in a red sphere of energy before being allowed to slowly drift down to the ground.

The energy bubbles around the emeralds disappeared as Knuckles swiped his hand. His eyes then regained their usual appearance and the glowing red energy around his fists faded away. He looked toward the other five, who were giving him looks of shock and fright.

"U-um... what the heck was that?" Amy asked.

"I've never seen such odd powers. They seemed similar to my own, but that was not chaos energy," Shadow remarked.

"Yeah, since when can you glow and levitate emeralds and stuff?"

Knuckles exhaled and solemnly looked at the ground. He had used the strange power to ensure that the emeralds didn't make any physical contact with one another after falling from Eggman's vehicle. Their power had grown, and direct contact between even five of them would be cataclysmic enough to take out the entire city and over half of the Mystic Ruins. He looked back at the others and groaned in exasperation.

"Like I said... this is the way the world ends," he whispered.

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No Hope

Knuckles scanned the ground, with an expression of half-sadness and half-relief. The Chaos Emeralds were all safe and Eggman was gone for now. And the Master Emerald was still locked up. Maybe, he thought, the world wouldn't really be doomed after all.

"I'll explain it to you all later. Right now... I have to try and make sure we're safe," he said, raising his hand and once again catching the Chaos Emeralds inside spheres of red energy.

The seven emeralds were lifted into the air above Knuckles, where they spiraled around each other and, with another wave of his arms, were sent shooting off in seven different directions, leaving streaks of colored light. Sonic's jaw dropped as he saw Knuckles cast the Chaos Emeralds away. Stepping toward him, he said "What the heck did you just do?!"

"I threw the Chaos Emeralds away. They're all on completely different parts of the globe by now."

"Are you crazy?!"

"I'm perfectly sane. But with the Chaos Emeralds apart, there's no way the world can be destroyed."

"Yeah, we can always find them again," Rouge said. "So we've got, what, two days from tomorrow until the echidna calender ends? After that, we're in the clear, right?"

"I hope so. But... I'm starting to doubt that even the efforts we made today were enough to stop what's coming. If the world ends... it'll be all my fault," Knuckles said under his breath.

======

At noon, the next day, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Shadow and Rouge went to see Knuckles at Angel Island. After his bizarre display the night before, they felt they needed to talk to him about the 'end of the world' he was fearing and what the truth behind it was. They knew it couldn't be as simple as being caused just by the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds, otherwise simply separating the eight of them would have given him a lot more hope than it did.

Knuckles sat at the alter of the Master Emerald as the other five gathered around him asking their questions. He still had bags under his eyes, indicating that he still hadn't slept.

"There were some things I didn't tell you. How exactly the world will end... why it was sort of a futile attempt on my part to try and prevent it by throwing the emeralds away last night. Don't get me wrong, I'm still at least hoping... or trying to have hope, that our actions and precautions pay off. Still..."

"Knuckles, how exactly is this apocalypse supposed to happen? The emeralds are all separated but you're still not sure we're safe... what else could happen?" Tails asked.

"Um... Sonic, Tails... do you remember when you and I first met? Eggman fooled me into thinking you were intruders and I kept the Master Emerald in the Hidden Palace?"

"What about Hidden Palace? Rouge said you found a prophecy there," Sonic said.

"Yeah, exactly. The shrine at the Hidden Palace, though... it's not like the shrine we're sitting on right now. This shrine was built on the island sometime after the shrine at the Hidden Palace was, and it's where Chaos guarded the Chao. It... wasn't the echidna tribe who built the Hidden Palace's alter. It was some dead civilization. All I can gather is that they were some kind of ancient cult, and they performed all sorts of rituals on the Chaos Emeralds."

He paused for a few minutes, taking deep breaths. His speech was shaky and his voice seemed to crack as he continued to explain himself.

"They... put some kind of magic curse inside the Chaos Emeralds, a curse that can sap the life force from any organism exposed to its power. The 'death energy' Eggman wanted to use for his weapon was the magic from that curse, not ordinary chaos energy."

"So how's this going to destroy the world? Even if all seven come together, the blast of power would only take out a few islands," Tails said.

"And that's what the alter in the Hidden Palace was built for. This cult made it in order to spread the energy around the planet. There are sigils and runes connected to the alter that cover the entire surface of the world. The ones in Hidden Palace can be plainly seen, but the ones over the rest of the Earth are invisible... at least until the Chaos Emeralds activate the shrine. The symbols that cover the planet serve as canals to guide the energy. And underground there are... puppets or... dummies. They're also covered in sigils and when the energy reaches them, they'll be animated and run rampant over the planet."

The others' eyes widened. The thought of all life on Earth dying was disturbing enough, but what Knuckles was telling them sent even more chills down their spines.

"Yes, so... the alter of Hidden Palace is what you might call a precursor of whatever weapon Eggman wanted to build. Much more efficient than just a handheld gun, though. That is, if you wanted to destroy the planet and not just rule it, like he does."

"But you're still not telling us why you think this unavoidable. The Chaos Emeralds are... off somewhere. The Master Emerald is in Central City and the solstice and end of the calender are tomorrow night," Rouge said.

"Because... the one who's supposed to set all this up is... it's... i-it's me. That's why... why this is all my fault. As the guardian of the Master Emerald, it's my destiny to use the emeralds to destroy the world."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. That so isn't true," Sonic said.

"It is. And it would have happened even if I didn't know about it. When I was sworn in as the guardian of this island, my mind was sort of... linked with the Master Emerald. That power I had last night... that came from the emeralds, since I'm the one destined to use them. When the time comes I don't know if I'll be able to resist the... 'urge', I guess, that the emerald gives me. I'm probably just a puppet," he said, standing up. "In any case, if it comes to that, I want you all to do whatever it takes to stop me. Even if it means killing me. My life isn't worth the world and I wouldn't want you to just let me do what I'm cursed to. Tomorrow at midnight, the echidna calender will reach its end, and the galactic alignment of the solstice will finally happen. That's when the ritual I'm supposed to do to destroy the world is set to take place."

"It won't come to that, Knuckles," Rouge said. "Even though you're mostly an annoying person, you don't deserve any of this to happen. If... if it's true, that is."

"The world's going to be safe. We'll make sure of it," Tails said, putting a reassuring hand on Knuckles' shoulder.

"Yeah, I bet this is all going to be OK. I'm not saying it's superstition anymore... I believe you, after what I saw last night. But I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you or the world," Sonic said.

"Hmph. I can easily hold you off until this solstice is over," Shadow murmured.

"Yeah, I'll give you a nice little knock upside the head if I see you anywhere near Hidden Palace or the Chaos Emeralds!" Amy teased with a wink, posing with her piko-piko hammer.

"This is... sickeningly sweet, guys, really. But... all we can do is pray, now. And maybe things'll be OK... I don't know. I'm just praying. But just in case it's all for nothing, I want you all to enjoy the next two days. It's crucial. Please, don't spend what could be the last days in the history of the world worrying about me... it'd kill me if I knew you did that for me," Knuckles whispered, feeling his eyes dampening.

"These won't be the last days on Earth. Trust us, Knux," Sonic said, giving Knuckles a thumbs-up.

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Seize the End of Days

It was sunset on the second-to-last day of the echidna calender and Sonic went to Amy's house for dinner. He'd thought back to her telling him about her "date" with Knuckles and realized how often she'd asked him to go out with her. He knew he wouldn't be able to count, there had been so many times. According to Knuckles, the sun would set on the world for the last time the next day at midnight. Sonic was sure things would work out somehow, but why take chances when you're dealing with the apocalypse?

So he took Amy up on her offer at last, if only to make her happy. If this really was the end, he thought, she at least deserved to seize the day and enjoy the moment. But he shrugged off such thoughts of impending doom and thought about recent escapades. "The End of the World™" had been threatened several times and everything always turned out OK. The world was supposed to end when its surface was in danger of being flooded by Chaos. The world was supposed to end when the ARK was on its collision course. The world was supposed to end when the Black Comet landed on Earth and covered the planet in neurotoxins. The world was destined to end when Eggman awakened Dark Gaia from its core. So why should a measly little prophecy be any different?

As he thought about these things, Amy set some food in front of him. The smell caught his attention quickly; neurotic stalker or not, Amy had always been a great cook. She giggled shallowly as he began eating, and Sonic could sense a hint of sadness in her voice. She sat down across from him and drooped her eyelids, looking down at her lap. Sonic swallowed the food in his mouth and gave her a quizzical look.

"You know, it's funny," she started. "Knuckles swears this is the end of our lives together, but it just doesn't seem like it."

"Because it isn't. Don't talk like that, don't even worry about it. Ya know everything's gonna come out fine," he said, munching on more food as he spoke, causing her to wince a little.

"Then... then... what are you doing here? You never took me out on a date or even came over alone just to spend time with me before. Why's now any different? If you're not scared or anything, why'd you feel the need to come have dinner with me?" she whispered.

He paused for several minutes. He really couldn't think of an answer other than yes, he was afraid. But he couldn't admit something like that to her. She, and everyone else, always trusted in him to make things right when they got bleak, but this time he had no control over the situation. There was nothing he could do. The only person who had any part in the predicament was Knuckles and even he was only about one-fourth optimistic.

"Maybe... I am scared. But there's no sense sitting around being afraid. If this really is the end of the world, why not enjoy it as best we can?"

"So... you'd spend your last days on Earth with me just to make me happy?" she asked, puzzled.

"Why not? I wasn't about to let you go your whole life without ever getting what you wanted. I'm not that heartless, Ames."

"Hee hee... thanks," she sang, smiling. "So... all we do now is wait, right? Tomorrow night is when this is supposed to happen."

"Knuckles said waiting's our best option. We just have to make sure he stays away from the Master Emerald and doesn't go after the Chaos Emeralds."

"Kinda weird he thinks the Master Emerald could force him to do something like this. I never knew the powers of the emeralds were anything like that."

"Unlimited power is unlimited," Sonic said, snickering.

"And absolute power corrupts absolutely... it's funny how the Chaos Emeralds have had more bad uses than good ones."

After dinner, Sonic agreed to stay with Amy overnight. She was reluctant for him to leave at such a time, and Sonic wasn't in his usual mood, which would have prevented him from spending the evening with her in the first place. He knew he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if the end really was near and he refused her on one of the last days of her life. Maybe, he thought to himself, this was something he wanted before the end too.

=======

"I cannot believe... I can't believe this! So close. I was this close to finally having the world in my grasp and that stupid hedge--... no, it was the echidna this time. Ugh, these failures are becoming too much for me to bear!" Eggman ranted as he wandered through the Mystic Ruins with SA-55 and Dark Chaos in tow.

"Doctor, perhaps you should give up on world domination and do something productive for society? Since my construction, I have noticed that your biggest successes have been when you lend a helping hand to the world rather than try to overtake it in your conceit."

"Choa!" Dark Chaos chirped.

"My plans are for the betterment of the world. Everything would run so much smoother under my control, SA-55. People abuse the world they live on. I just want to stop the abuse by force and make this ball of dirt a better place for everyone... with a few gold busts here and there."

"A bust... just like your plan. So now that 'Operation Megiddo' has failed, will you go back to your plans for Dark Chaos?"

"Ah... no. I've come to love the little bugger to much to involve him in such an experiment," Eggman cooed, tickling Dark Chaos and causing him to sing "Choa, Choa!"

"Then it is back to the drawing board, yes?"

"I suppose. Unfortunately. Ugh..."

"The solstice is tomorrow night. The end for the echidna calender and thus the Chaos Emeralds will most likely return to normal."

"Yes, they--... wait, SA-55... what?"

"The Chaos Emeralds. Their death energy will be exhausted by tomorrow night, correct? Then the chaos energy will resurface."

"Oh. Oh, no... oh, no, how could I have forgotten, SA-55?! Even if my plans are a bust, the Chaos Emeralds can't just be out their on their own during the solstice!"

"Why not, Doctor?"

"Because, you idiot! The Chaos Emeralds, in their current state, can unleash cataclysmic bursts of power! Realize, if they fall in the wrong hands tomorrow, it could doom the world to chaos!"

"No pun intended, I trust."

"We need to find wherever Knuckles scattered them before midnight tomorrow. The galactic alignment will be the peak and climax of their death power," Eggman announced, looking up toward the night sky.

=======

Tails had decided to spend the night at Cream's house. She and Vanilla were sound asleep, but Tails was too troubled to relax. If the world ended, his life, along with Cream's, would be cut tragically short. There were so many things he'd never gotten to do. And he still hadn't told Cream or Vanilla about Knuckles' prophecy. He wasn't sure how they'd take it.

"Hey, Cream?" he whispered, turning over and looking at the sleeping bunny across the room. "Cream?"

He sighed. She was a heavy sleeper and he really wanted someone to talk to. It was creepy, he felt, to be the only one awake in a dark house.

"Chao!" he heard the voice of Cheese chime as the Chao fluttered toward him from Cream's bed.

"Oh, Cheese. You're awake," he said with relief as the Chao crawled under the covers with him. "Oh, you wanna sleep with me?"

"Chao, Chao!"

"All right," he said, smiling and hugging the Chao. "Y'know, Cheese, I look forward to tomorrow. You never know what kinds of surprised there'll be."

=======

This is it, Guardian. The last night of sleep you'll ever get.

"What sleep? You're in my head keeping me up, whatever you are," Knuckles groaned with exhaust.

Don't you just love night? The end of the day, just before the start of a new one? And the new day always holds such wondrous, glorius events. Ahh, the promise of a bright, new day is almost enough to bring tears of joy to one's eyes. Why, you seem to be weeping joyous tears as we speak.

"Wh-why can't you just leave me alone? Y-you're m-making this entire ordeal harder on me. And you don't even sh-show yourself. Just a nagging voice in my head..."

I am the voice of the solstice's power. The mind planted into the Chaos Emeralds by the ancient cult. Do you really think this death energy as you call it is merely that; energy? No, it is a consciousness that will aide you in destroying everything you hold dear. It is I.

"I'm not going to be afraid of you. My willpower is stronger than you."

It is not. You will bend to my will. The will possessing the Master Emerald. As its guardian, your soul is linked to its, and you are under its, and thus my, control. Just be a good boy and do as you're told, yes?

"J-just shut up, you monster!"

Tomorrow at sunset, it will begin. You will receive and follow your orders. You will perform the ritual of death and absorb me. You will be my host, and with my power, you shall destroy the world. Your ancestors gave you this position so that you could be someone in conscious control of me, but they failed to realize that my powers are stronger than your mind. Your soul belongs to me. It's belonged to me since you assumed this position.

"Knuckles, do not heed the words of this beast," the voice of Tikal echoed in his head, just before her form appeared before him.

"T-Tikal?" Knuckles gasped.

Accursed wench. Begone!

"Guardian, your willpower is stronger than this evil spirit that lies within the Chaos Emeralds. Remember, Knuckles; 'The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the chaos.' This demon within the emeralds is not chaos, not power and not enriched by the heart. The powers of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald can dispel it!"

If that were true, little girl, then why did your people not do away with me thousands of years ago when they had the chance?

"You talk to me as if I'm oblivious, filth! My people wanted the seven chaos so that they could abuse their power. And some among them even wanted to harness your power! You vile creature, I will not allow you to destroy the world! You shall do no such thing as long as my spirit presides over the guardian of Angel Island!"

Ha ha ha... do not make me laugh. You couldn't even stand up to your own father. What makes you think you can stand up to omnipotent power such as mine?

"I won't. The guardian will. Knuckles, I told you, this is your choice! The end of the world can only come to be if you lose your head and believe this evil spirit's lies! Deceit, falsehoods... the words of evil can be seductive, but you should not be swayed!"

"Tikal, what can I do? I'm being forced into this! What can stop it?! If I knew I would have done something by now!"

"Simply ignore the voice of evil in your head. Allow it no place in your soul. Cast it out and rebuke it and you shall be at peace. The Chaos Emeralds were given to us by the gods for the betterment of the world, not its destruction."

Stop filling the child's head with your idealist lies! The world is not meant to last forever! Nothing is! One day the entire universe will shrink into oblivion, leaving nary a trace of a particle! This world is just the beginning, and the apocalypse draws n--

"Shut up!" Knuckles screamed at the top of his voice, cupping his ears.

For a few moments he heard nothing but silence, except for the ambient sounds of the waves splashing against the shores of Angel Island and the birds flying around in the air. He inhaled and exhaled sharply, feeling a soreness in his throat. He coughed and snarled under his breath.

"Just shut up... I won't let you keep me awake anymore."

He stepped down from the shrine and onto the grass, where he laid down and closed his eyes. The voice seemed to have disappeared. There were no disturbing hallucinations, no feelings of fear and no discomfort. It all seemed to disappear the minute his feet left the stone structure of the alter. He felt like he could finally relax for a while.

"You need your rest, Guardian. You have such a long life ahead of you," Tikal's voice rang, fading into the air.

He felt his tears begin to dry and the quietness continued for several moments, until the wind picked up and howled eerily as it swept around the shrine.

Yes, sleep well, Guardian. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow...

Edited by AXB
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The Last Sunset

The end of the world.

There have been thousands of guesses as to how it would happen. The return of God? The battle of Ragnarok? So many legends and so-called "revelations" of what the Earth's final moments will truly be like. Would there really be a time when a red dragon with seven heads and ten horns prowled over the world and enslaved the nations, or was that all just superstition?

Everything comes to an end, as the rule of entropy dictates. That isn't superstition, it's fact. The question is how and when everything will end. It's not a matter of "if", but a matter of time.

The glorious day has come, and the prophecy will be realized. Knuckles the Echidna, keeper of Angel Island, tonight, you will become the greatest ruler in history. The end is at hand, and your preparations for this day have been in vain. Enjoy the last day in the history of the world. Don't let something so precious go to waste.

The eerie voice woke Knuckles from what had been his first peaceful sleep in days. He shakily stood to his feet, feeling woozy and nauseous. His head cramped and ached terribly and he felt stinging tears come to his eyes.

"T-today is the day. My last day on Earth..."

Don't be foolish! You will live on for eternity. It's everyone else's last day. Isn't it tragic? In spite of all your efforts, nothing could be done. Tonight at midnight, you will watch as everyone around you dies a horrific death. The greatest tragedy in the history of the world, and the last. And you will live on until the end of time as the only survivor of this horror. And when the universe itself dies its ultimate death, you will continue to float there, the only trace of existence in an infinite void of nothingness. You'll beg for death, but it's cold embrace will never come.

"Please... stop it. Just leave me alone..."

Look at the powers you have. Stare in awe at the glorious might you possess! the voice exclaimed as Knuckles' hands glowed red again, causing him to jump back in fear.

"Ugh, no! Please!"

See, even though you've gotten rid of the Chaos Emeralds, when the galactic alignment happens I will be given absolute control. I will have the power, and then I will take the emeralds back for myself. I will assemble them and end the world using you as my puppet, and the Earth will turn silent forever.

"This cannot be real. It c-can't be..." Knuckles whispered, dropping to his knees, trembling and crying.

It's the most real thing you've ever experienced. Accept the reality of entropy. Accept the end of the world. Only once you accept reality will you have peace.

"No..."

=======

Neither Sonic or Amy really knew how to enjoy their last day to the fullest. There were still so many things they wanted to do that couldn't be done before the day was over, so there was no way this "last day" could really be perfect. They just did the best they could to enjoy themselves just in case this really was the end, and Sonic knew the best way to make Amy enjoy herself was by him spending time with her.

They spent hours just talking, watching TV and playing video games. They both knew it was a lazy, uneventful way to enjoy the day, however.

Around midday, after they'd done everything they could do without leaving the house, Sonic said "Heh... uh, c'mon, Amy. We've got a lot of stuff to do before tonight," getting up from the sofa and nervously walking toward the door.

"Oh... right," she said quietly, standing up and following him outside.

The sun was getting higher in the sky. The fact that the day was already half-over made Sonic droop his eyes in disappointment. He knew he couldn't let this be their last day. He'd never accepted defeat so easily before, and, he thought, he wasn't about to start now. But even though he wanted to be able to say he was completely cocksure about everything being OK, part of him thought the situation was hopeless. When he really thought about it, what could he do? What choice of action could fix what was happening?

Sighing and rubbing his nose, he picked Amy up onto his back. He gave her a halfhearted smile and a shallow chuckle.

"Let's go get Tails," he said, boosting off in a bolt of light and leaving a blue vapor trail behind him.

=======

Tails had been playing with Cream and Cheese since early that morning. He wanted to have fun with them before "it" happened. Cream was the only friend Tails had who was near his age, excluding Charmy, who Tails didn't really know that well anyway. He sort of regretted not getting to know the little bee a bit more before the end of the world, but at least he had the rabbit for a friend, he thought.

"Thank you for coming over to play with us, Tails!"

"Aw, don't mention it. It's fun hanging out here. Your mom's nice, as always."

He thought he heard his own voice crack and his eyes started to burn slightly. Even though he was so young, Tails never really cried that much. He didn't had much to cry about until now, being afraid that he was going to die at such a young age and knowing this was probably the last time he'd be able to sit and play with one of his friends.

Then again, he thought, Sonic had always been able to stop the threat of the week. What made today so different? He thought that maybe the reason he wasn't completely panicking was because he trusted Sonic to fix everything. He was used to Sonic saving the day. Was there really anything to be scared of?

They heard a knock at the door and Vanilla's voice chiming "Come in!"

The kids and Cheese poked their heads out through the bedroom door and saw Sonic and Amy entering the house. When they saw Tails, the two of them put on forced smiles and waved. Amy looked at Sonic for a second, then skipped into Cream's room to give her a hug. Tails stayed in the doorway and gave Sonic a half-smile.

"Hi, Sonic..." he said, wiping his eyes as he felt small tears forming.

"Hey, buddy. Uh, c-... come here for a sec," he said, motioning for Tails to come into the hallway with him.

When they were both away from the others, Sonic grabbed Tails' shoulders and asked "Did you tell them?" to which Tails shook his head, and Sonic sighed in relief and petted the fox on the head. "Good on you. It's probably best if they don't know. We wouldn't want them to freak out or anything..."

"What are we gonna do? Knuckles said to wait, but there has to be mo--" he said before Sonic shushed him.

"H-hey, c'mon, keep your voice down. Yeah, we're gonna do something," he whispered. "Knuckles said the prophecy can't come true unless the Chaos Emeralds are at the alter of the Hidden Palace when the solstice happens. After the solstice, everything's fine. We just need to protect the Master Emerald until then."

"What are you boys talking about?" Vanilla cheerfully asked as she walked past them carrying a teakettle.

"Nothing Miss V. Just telling some jokes," Sonic chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

=======

Be proud of what you're in charge of doing.

"I won't let you do this!"

Little boy, you have no control over this. You're just a tool.

"Tikal was right. I can stop you if I just..."

If you just what? What can you possibly do to undo me?

"I'll find a way. I swear."

Then you'd better do so before midnight. The sand is running out, with only a few grains left.

"Knuckles!" Rouge's voice sounded, startling him and jerking him out of his daze.

"Wh-what the heck?! Wh-when did you get here?"

"I just popped by to see how you were doing. You were here talking to yourself again," she said, frowning. "Knuckie... I know today's the day. But... I'll do everything I can to stop this prophecy crap from happening. I won't let anything go wrong, and neither will the others."

"My hope's kinda running out..." he sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Sonic's gonna save the day just like he always does, I bet. Just watch."

"No. Sonic saves the day by harnessing the power of the Chaos Emeralds. But look, Rouge, the Chaos Emeralds are the root of all this."

"Stop being such a pessimist. I'm not gonna tolerate you acting like a Debbie Downer, OK? Everything's going to be fine, believe you me," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Now c'mon, I told Tails you and me would meet him at Miss Vanilla's house around now."

She pulled him to his feet and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, acting as a crutch. He meekly dragged his feet as she guided him off the shrine. Looking up, Rouge could see the sky getting dimmer and the yellow sun turning orange.

=======

Sonic and Amy sat and had tea with Vanilla while the kids played in the other room. Vanilla wasn't used to having visitors. She always loved having people over, though, and Sonic and Amy liked her hospitality.

"It's not every day you all drop by. Is there something you wanted?"

"N-no, we just wanted to say hi to you and Cream, that's all. We don't see you nearly enough, hee hee," Amy said.

"Yeah, 's not really fair of us to never come see you or anything."

"Well, it's nice of you to do that for us. It gets awfully lonely here for just the three of us. We were thinking about moving into the city. I want my Cream to have even more friends to socialize with in the future," Vanilla said, breaking the pair's smiles.

After about fifteen minutes, there was another knock on the door and Vanilla called "Come in!" again. The wooden door creaked open and Rouge appeared in the threshold, almost dragging Knuckles with her. Pulling him over to the table, she gave a brief smile and looked toward Vanilla.

"Oh, hi, Miss Vanilla. I told Tails I'd come by here to see him. I brought Knuckles with me."

"Good to see you, dear! Tails is in Cream's room. You two make yourselves comfortable."

Rouge lifted Knuckles' arm off her shoulder and made her way to Cream's room. Knuckles slowly pulled out a chair and joined them, clearing his throat. His eyes were moistened and his dreads were disheveled. Amy twiddled her thumbs and hummed idly, while Sonic drummed his fingers on the table and sipped some more tea.

"So..." Knuckles started, "how are you, ma'am?"

"Fine, thank you. How about you? You look exhausted."

"Eh, last night was the first night of sleep I've had in a few days. I'm pretty tired."

In the other room, Rouge pulled Tails aside as the rabbit and Chao kept playing with their toys, and she whispered in his ear "I put Shadow on alert on the way here. He's standing by at Angel Island in case anything happens with Knuckles. We're prepared to take Knuckles back to the island if there's an emergency, right?"

"Yeah, I brought the Tornado, so I can fly him there. Then I'll meet you all back in front of GUN's HQ."

"Good. It's almost sunset, so it's best we're prepared."

Vanilla poured Knuckles a cup of tea and mixed it with sugar before giving the other two their refills. He took short, weak sips from his cup. The warmth of the tea soothed him a bit, but it didn't really fix how he was feeling. He knew that at midnight, everyone around him would be finished. The thought made beads of water form in his eyes. It'd been hard enough for him being a recluse on the island, but the thought of being alone in the world forever...

"So, Knuckles, what made you agree to come here with Rouge?" Sonic said with a smirk, breaking the awkward silence.

"Nothin'," he muttered, drinking more tea. "Just thought I might as well. 'S not like I have anything else to do."

His voice was broken and hitched. Sonic chuckled and took a big gulp from his cup, finishing his tea. He rubbed his hands over the wooden surface of the table and cleared his throat, searching for something to say.

"Y-yeah, well, it's nice to see out in the sunlight, y'know? Good for you to come out and hang with us more, right?"

"I guess."

Back in the bedroom, Rouge had joined Tails, Cream and Cheese in their games. She sighed as the orange glow of the sunset started filling the room. She started feeling a little sick to her stomach and her heart beat faster. She was afraid. She'd never been more scared in her life.

She reflected on the things she'd done with her life. She'd always been a jewel thief and a manipulator. Part of her regretted these things, and with the world's end coming closer, she sort of wished she could go back in time and make amends for all the bad things she'd ever done. But at least, she thought, if this was the end, she was spending it with the few people she could call her friends.

They all spent about an hour just hanging out at the house, trying to ignore the impending nightfall. The stars were starting to come out and the sky had turned violet and orange, specked with a few thin clouds, and they wished they could relax for the rest of the day. That was out of the question, though, because they knew the closer they got to nighttime, the closer they got to the solstice.

The time approaches, the voice started speaking, causing Knuckles to gag and cough his tea out. Look through the window and see your destiny draw near.

He slowly and shakily turned his head and looked out the window. He could see the skyline of Central City, reflecting the bright orange light of the sunset. His pupils dilated and his cup trembled in his hands as he watched the sun start to go down over the horizon. The final sunset the Earth would ever see, he thought as he began to shiver.

His hands shook and he dropped the cup onto the floor. The sound it made as it cracked filled the room. Vanilla was startled, asking "Knuckles, deary, are you feeling all right?" when he started jerking and shuddering in his chair.

He grabbed his head and screamed loudly, causing the others in the house to jump in shock. After a few moments of grunting and squeezing his eyes shut, he started twisting and flailing wildly. Tears ran from his eyes uncontrollably and his wooden chair slipped from under him, making him fall onto the floor. The others stood over him as he writhed, snarled and began foaming at the mouth.

"Knuckles! What's wrong?" Rouge asked, rushing from the room, followed by the kids and Cheese.

"Oh my goodness! Is he having a seizure?! I'll call an ambulance!" Vanilla exclaimed with panic, running toward the phone before Sonic grabbed her shoulder.

"No, don't! He'll be OK, we'll take care of him. All right, ma'am?" he assured her.

"H-how?! H-he needs medical help, doesn't he?" she whimpered.

"We've gotta get him back to his island. Trust us, ma'am, he'll be fine," Sonic said in a panicked voice.

Knuckles managed to get on his hands and knees as saliva dripped from his mouth. He groaned dully, retching loudly and throwing up on the floor. Cream ran to her mom, grabbing onto her waist and sobbing "M-Mama, i-is Knuckles g-going to be OK? I-is he?!"

"I... I don't know, sweetie," Vanilla said, hugging her daughter.

"Knuckles, is it happening now? Say something, please!" Amy begged with teary eyes.

"Please, no..." Tails whispered.

"Yes," Knuckles wheezed, looking up at them hopelessly. "Right now..." he choked, wiping at his eyes, "we're on the verge of Armageddon. The end of the world."

The sun finally set, disappearing from the view through the window, and the orange illumination dissolved. The sky became pitch-black.

Edited by AXB
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The Shadow of the Apocalypse, the Beginning of the End

"Why're you taking me back to Angel Island?" Knuckles groaned, clutching onto the back of the Tornado as it glided through the sky.

"Shadow's back there. He's going to make sure you don't... err, the Master Emerald's curse doesn't try to seek out the Chaos Emeralds. And we're going to guard HQ so the Master Emerald will be safe in case Shadow can't handle it.

"No. Please, Tails, you guys don't need to do this. It's my responsibility."

"We're here to make sure everything's safe. The fate of the world can't just be on your shoulders, ya know?"

Knuckles was silent, looking down from the plane and wincing a bit when he noticed how high up they were. He looked back at Tails and frowned. The kid was too young to have to deal with stuff like this, he thought.

"You said your soul was linked to the Master Emerald, and that this curse could use that link to control you. But as long as the Master Emerald stays away from you, everything's fine."

"And how do you plan on keeping it from me? You saw that weird power the curse gave me when we fought Eggman! You won't be able t--"

"We're willing to risk our lives to save you. That's all that matters, OK?"

After several seconds, Knuckles gulped and said "Yeah... sure."

It took the biplane about half an hour to reach Angel Island. Tails guided his aircraft over the alter of the Master Emerald, where he saw Shadow leaning against a pillar. The plane dipped as it prepared to land, and Knuckles had to hold on tighter to keep from falling.

Looking around, he saw that everything was getting darker. Even darker than usual for nighttime. The air was filled with thick fog, and the temperature seemed to drop, getting colder and colder with each passing second. Surely, he thought, it was an omen.

The plane came to a stop as it landed in front of the alter. Tails helped Knuckles up the steps and set him down next to where Shadow was standing. The black hedgehog huffed when he saw Knuckles' near-crippled state. He kept a cool demeanor, as usual, but even he was frightened at what was coming.

"Do not let him leave this island," Tails said slowly.

"Understood."

"Tails, even Shadow can't--"

"Just have faith in us, Knuckles. Please. Look, it's not even near midnight yet. We've still got a few hours to go," he said, running back to the Tornado and jumping into the cockpit. "Good luck."

He started the biplane's engine and took off, flying north of the island toward Central City. Shadow looked down at Knuckles, who was sprawled out on the ground, whimpering. Sitting down next to him, Shadow sighed and gave a softer expression.

"You know... I was once tasked with destroying the world. I... think I understand how you feel."

"You had a choice, Shadow. But this... this is inevitable. Like I told you all, it's Armageddon," he said under his breath.

"Even I can muster a little faith and hope. I think you should try and do the same."

======

Sonic, Amy and Rouge were standing by at Central City, waiting for Tails. They'd apologized to Cream, Cheese and Vanilla for leaving so abruptly without explaining what was going on. When they'd left, Cream and Cheese were both stricken by panic, crying uncontrollably, as Vanilla tried to keep her composure and comfort them. Maybe, Sonic thought, they should've told them what was happening instead of leaving them in the dark.

Sonic smiled a little when he saw the red plane approaching. They could only see by the lights of the city; the stars had disappeared behind strange, black clouds. The Tornado dived down and landed in front of the building, and Tails frantically jumped out and ran to the others.

"So what now?" Amy asked.

"We've just gotta wait until midnight," Sonic said.

"Then everything'll be OK?" Rouge asked.

"Let's hope."

=======

Hours passed with Knuckles and Shadow making idle conversation. Neither of them were particularly chatty people, but making smalltalk was better than just sitting there in silence for the rest of the night.

"So..." Shadow said, tapping his foot, "what's it like for you living here on this island?"

"Gets boring. Almost enough to drive you crazy. But I guess... I guess you get used to it. I'll be all alone in the world anyway when this prophecy comes true, so at least I had some practice..."

"Hey, this prophecy is not going to come true. The world has been threatened so many times and it always ends on a positive note. I've no reason to believe now will be any different."

"Shadow... this is... it's nice of you all to have faith and everything, but... what way do you see out of this?"

"I don't, but that doesn't mean there is none," Shadow mumbled.

"Well, I envy your optimism. I never would've guessed someone like you would even have a trait like that," he said, shivering from the cold.

A flash of lightning lit the sky up and the sound of thunder filled the air. Shadow and Knuckles felt drops of water on their fur, and, after several minutes, there was a torrential downpour of rainfall. Knuckles stood up and mumbled a prayer under his breath, then felt another sharp jolt of pain in his head.

Midnight approaches, Guardian. Go forth and retrieve the gems!

"Gah! N-no!" he shrieked, shaking wildly.

"Kn-Knuckles!" Shadow gasped, grabbing his shoulder.

The end is now! You cannot resist me any longer! Now move!

Knuckles fell down on his hands and knees, growling and screaming. Shadow jumped in surprise when the echidna's eyes glowed red, just like they had when he'd fought with Eggman. He took a fighting stance as Knuckles stood to his feet and raised his fists, which lit up with fiery red energy.

"Oh, look, it appears I've gained control. And it's almost midnight now. Ha ha ha..." Knuckles growled in a strange voice.

"Wh--... so, you're the incarnation of the curse on the Chaos Emeralds, huh? You really have taken over his body after all. Fair enough. I won't hesitate to obliterate you," Shadow said, preparing a Chaos Spear in his palm.

"Ha ha ha... excellent, then. Good. You, black hedgehog, will be the first to taste the end of the world," the thing possessing Knuckles spoke, causing him to stagger forward like a zombie before lunging toward Shadow, clenching his fists.

=======

A power outage spread through Central City as the apparent typhoon rampaged. Because of the extremely low visibility, due to the rainfall, the four could just make out the shapes of buildings as bolts of lightning struck and illuminated the area.

"The weather's getting really bad!" Amy yelled, nearly drowned out by the sound of the wind and rain, as she held her dress down over her knees.

"It's almost midnight, so we should all keep our eyes peeled!" Tails exclaimed.

After about twenty minutes, they prepared to go inside the headquarters for shelter. It was getting increasingly dangerous for them to stay where they were. Just before they were about to head into the building, though, they saw a bright light approaching through the downpour. They were ready for a fight when a flash of lightning revealed the silhouetted shape of the Eggmobile, and they could barely make out the sound of Eggman's voice yelling "Has Knuckles gotten to the emeralds yet?"

"Wh--Eggman?! What are you doing here? Come to try and take the Master Emerald again?" Amy barked.

"No, you fool! I've come here to help you protect the Master Emerald! Midnight is getting closer and Knuckles will be forced to come steal the emerald shortly! We must prepare for his arrival!" he shouted as Dark Chaos bobbed up and down in the air next to him, fretting and squealing. "This storm is the result of the galactic alignment drawing closer. It should reach its climax when the clock strikes twelve!"

"What time is it now?" Tails asked.

"Uh... I... I think it's eleven! We've got about an hour! And then everything should be fine!" Sonic yelled.

"I... I think I'm actually started to get a little scared!" Rouge shouted.

"Don't be! Everything's under c--" he said, cut off when a blinding flash of red light lit up their surroundings and the shower of rain diminished to a drizzle, letting them see more clearly.

They jumped back when they saw Knuckles, slowly trudging toward them from the road. He kept his view concentrated on his shoes as he approached them, and stopped in his tracks a few feet away from them.

"Kn-Knuckles? Is... is that you, or... or you under the control of the...?" Rouge stammered.

"No. The evil spirit in the emeralds only has limited control over me until midnight. It can manipulate my actions in short bursts, but right now I'm me," he whispered in a cracked voice.

"W-well, good!" Sonic started. "That means you can fight it, right? So we've still got a chance of--"

"Let me through," Knuckles said bluntly.

"Wh-... what?" Amy asked.

"All of you. I said let me through, so I can get the Master Emerald."

"No! We're trying to make sure this whole mess doesn't happen!" Rouge said.

"You don't understand. I want you to give me the emerald now before the demon takes control of me again and kills you all. I don't want anything to happen to you, but if you resist, the curse won't spare any of you."

"S-so, what, Knuckles, you're giving up now?" Tails pleaded.

"Do not be a fool, Knuckles. This power you have is the most deadly thing we've yet faced," Eggman said, followed by an exclamation of "Choa, Choa!" from Dark Chaos.

"I can't fight fate. I just don't have the strength," he said dryly.

He raised his arms, making a dome-shaped barrier of fiery energy materialize around the others, holding them back. They beat against the shield from the inside, trying to escape, but it was completely solid and unbreakable. Even Chip's collar couldn't bust it open. Knuckles shrugged his shoulders and sighed, looking at them with half-lidded eyes.

"Don't worry. The force field will disappear when I get back to the island," he said, starting toward the door of the headquarters.

"No! Stop it, Knuckles! Stop!" Tails screamed from inside the force field.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Goodbye. This is the last time we'll be seeing each other... Sonic, Tails... Amy... even Rouge and Eggman... I think I'm gonna miss all of you."

He tread toward the entrance of the building, punching the door down. The others screamed for him to stop as the entered the HQ and strode down the corridor toward the vault where the Master Emerald was held. He shuddered from the coldness of the building's interior and kept his eyes fixed on the tiled floor.

See how much easier things are when you heed my voice and commands? the voice said in his head as he walked down the hall of GUN's HQ. There were no unnecessary casualties, and now your friends get to live just a tiny bit longer. All because you obeyed me instead of resisting me. This is your reward.

A group of soldiers guarded the vault at the end of the corridor. As they aimed their guns, Knuckles simply waved his arms and trapped them all behind force fields too. He created more barriers to block the other passages off to hold the rest of the soldiers back as he made his way the the vault.

"Maybe I just didn't feel like fighting anymore. It was tearing me apart. I've always been a realist, so I guess I've accepted this inevitability," he whispered.

Unfortunate that the black hedgehog couldn't do the same. For the 'ultimate lifeform', he seemed to die rather easily.

"I wasn't expecting to kill him so easily," Knuckles mumbled, using a bolt of energy to break the vault's door off its hinge, opening up the room where the Master Emerald was kept.

In any case... grab the gem and taste victory. It won't be as bad as you think.

He clutched the emerald and said "It doesn't really matter what I think anymore..."

He dropped his head and choked up. The Master Emerald reacted to his power and flashed with green light. Seven floating objects appeared, encased by containers of red energy, and spiraled around him. The vault was illuminated by a blinding red glow, accompanied by a bizarre, high-pitched echoing sound.

Everything has been set in motion. Now we wait for the end of the world.

When the glow faded, Knuckles had disappeared, along with the emerald and the seven objects. The rain, wind, thunder and lightning stopped and the the thick, black clouds were reduced to gray wisps, exposing the moon and stars.

Edited by AXB
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The Angel of Death

After Knuckles vanished with the Master Emerald and the seven red balls of light, the shields of energy that contained the others dematerialized and they could move around again. The soldiers inside the headquarters building were freed as well, and their faces were washed-out from what they'd just seen.

Sonic searched the area for Knuckles, but found no sign of him. He cursed under his breath and rubbed his nose in frustration. Scowling, he growled and folded his arms.

"What the heck just happened?! Where'd he go so fast?" he asked.

Eggman jumped out of his vehicle, nuzzling Dark Chaos, and said "Apparently, Knuckles used the Master Emerald to bring the Chaos Emeralds here and transport himself somewhere else. That would logically be Angel Island, because that's where the prophecy will be fulfilled."

"Choa, Choa!" Dark Chaos chirped.

"So what should we do? We've got under an hour left before midnight!" Amy exclaimed, getting slightly teary-eyed.

"We must get to Angel Island and stop the ritual Knuckles will be made to perform. I don't know how we're going to do that, exactly, but this is our last chance. Or the world is doomed forever," Eggman said. "So, it appears that, for the umpteenth time, I'm going to have to help you all out of a pickle."

"Me and Sonic can take the tornado!" Tails said, starting toward the biplane.

"No! We'll get to there much faster if we use one of my my vehicles. Fortunately, I, the great Dr. Ivo Robotnik, have come prepared for just such an occasion," he said, pulling out a controller and pushing a button.

They looked up and saw a compact, silver aircraft slowly coming down from the air, decorated with Eggman's crest. It came to a stop hovering several feet over the pavement. With a metallic whoosh, the side hatch of the vehicle opened. Eggman played with his mustache and chuckled.

"Heh heh heh! Behold, fools, the Egg Turaco! Everyone, get inside and we'll set a course for Angel Island!"

"Doctor," SA-55 started, jumping from inside the Eggmobile, "you'll surely not make it back alive. I don't think you should confront the echidna, for your own safety."

"If we just stand here and do nothing, SA-55, we're doomed anyway. You said yourself that my successes usually entail me helping the world, so that's what I'm doing now. Have a little faith in me."

The doctor boarded the vehicle, followed by SA-55 and Dark Chaos, and took the driver's seat. He activated the aircraft's engine, and it took off into the air. He was right; it was much faster than the Tornado.

"We should land on the island in about fifteen minutes. From there, we'll have about forty minutes to stop Knuckles and prevent the end of the world," Eggman said.

"I can't believe this is happening," Rouge grumbled, looking down at her lap.

"Everything's going to be fine. We still have time to stop this," Sonic said with determination.

=======

Carrying the Master Emerald, Knuckles entered the cave of the Hidden Palace with the Chaos Emeralds drifting behind him. Making his way through the labyrinthine pathways, he tried his best to hold back tears. He felt trapped; even if he refused to cooperate, the spirit would just force him to act anyway. Like a puppet, he had no control. He felt like a pawn.

Yes... just a little closer.

"Please shut up. I don't want to hear your voice."

You'll be hearing my voice forever. You will be a part of me for eternity.

"What if my friends come to try and stop me?"

Nothing can be done. But if they come after you, I will deploy an... army.

"Well, whatever. I'm done struggling. This situation is like quicksand," he sighed, approaching the shrine. "OK... we have a while before the solstice. It is almost time; the calender shall reach its end, and the world with it."

=======

The Egg Turaco landed on the island near the shrine. After everyone exited, Amy saw a strange shape on the alter. Running up to it to inspect, she shrieked and cupped her hands over her mouth. She felt the blood drain from her face and her eyes widened in shock. The others ran to her to see what had scared her, and gave nauseated looks when they saw Shadow splayed out on the ground. His fur was gone and his body was dried-up. He had a look of shock and surprise stuck on his face.

Rouge hesitantly poked at him and tears ran from her eyes as she whispered "H-... he's... dead."

They all stood in silence for several moments. Knuckles' new power really was a force to be reckoned with if he'd been able to kill Shadow so easily. Sonic ground his teeth and spat swears.

"I can't freakin' believe this..."

"The evil spirit must have taken control of Knuckles' body long enough for him to fire the death energy at Shadow. This is tragic and unfortunate, the brainchild of my grandfather succumbing to such a horrific fate, but we mustn't just stand here. We're running out of time. Let's hurry to the Hidden Palace, quickly!" Eggman spoke.

They ran into the forest, toward the entrance to the cave. When they found it, however, there was a barrier blocking their path. Sonic ran up to the wall and began punching it wildly, seething and snarling.

"I can't believe this! How are we supposed to save him now?!"

"This thing was here when Knuckles first brought me. He used a spell or something to get past it. If we can't open it, though, why don't you use your spin dash to break through the side of the mountain?" Rouge suggested.

"It's worth a shot. Watch out," Sonic said, charging up a supersonic spin dash and boosting into the rock, cracking through it and opening up a way into the cave.

=======

Your friends have entered the palace. Know that they are doomed.

"Leave them alone," Knuckles choked. "They can't stop you anyway, so there's no need to hurt them."

Letting them live is only delaying what's going to happen anyway. There are only about thirty minutes left. What difference does it make?

"I... I don't know."

There's no use. Just let them go.

"They're the only friends I ever had..."

You have no choice in the matter, so there's no use feeling conflicted. The time draws near for me to have limited control over you. I will use that time to kill them all.

"You can only control me for a few minutes at a time. They'll outlast you."

We shall see. Now... give me your body. I'm sure it won't take long.

=======

"We've almost reached the shrine room!" Sonic shouted. "Be ready for anything!"

"Like those?!" Amy screeched, pointing behind her.

Turning around, the group saw a bunch of wraith-like creatures chasing after them, wailing and moaning. They glowed red and appeared to be made of the Chaos Emeralds' death energy.

"C'mon! Don't stop and fight them! Just run!" Sonic yelled, grabbing Amy and Tails by their hands and picking up speed.

"Doctor, why did you have to bring me with you?!" SA-55 cried frantically.

"Shut up, you fool!" Eggman barked, taking the robot and Dark Chaos into his arms as he tried to keep up with the others.

"I see the end of the corridor! The shrine is just up ahead!" Rouge yelled, gliding as fast as she could.

As they reached the threshold of the shrine room, more creatures popped up in front of them, blocking their path. They were trapped, with the ghostlike monsters obstructing their way on both sides. Amy and Tails jumped behind Sonic, whimpering and tearing up, while Rouge assumed a fighting stance and Eggman dropped to the floor, shaking in fear and clutching SA-55 and Dark Chaos.

"Nice of you to come and visit me," Knuckles' voice called to them from the middle of the room, sitting on top of the shrine with a smug look on his face. "These creatures are tulpas. Wraiths I've created with my vast power. The death energy, as you call it."

He hopped up and walked toward them with glowing red eyes, waving his hand and getting rid of the monsters that blocked their way into the shrine chamber. He eyed them all up and down, smiling half-cheerfully and half-sadistically.

"Knuckles... are you still yourself?" Rouge asked.

"No, actually, this is the first time we've met face-to-face. I am the amalgamation of the death energies that the Chaos Emeralds have been radiating this week. Nice to make your acquaintance," he hissed, holding out his glowing hand as if asking her to shake, to which she responded by jumping back. "Heh... you're right to fear me. Your black hedgehog met his end at my hands so easily..."

"So you did kill Shadow..." Eggman growled.

"Don't be jealous; I didn't forget about you. You're all soon to follow. I've only got limited control over the echidna's body until midnight, which is in about... ten minutes from now. So, I'm going to kill you all before his consciousness takes control again," he said, turning and walking back toward the alter. "Kill them, pets."

The monsters charged the group, shrieking like banshees. As they prepared to attack, Sonic yelled "Everyone, grab onto me now!" The others held onto him from behind as the creatures struck, but their power was deflected by the force field generated by Chip's collar. Knuckles, still under the influence of the evil spirit, was taken aback.

"Ah... I forgot. Light Gaia's powers cancel out my own. My powers are rather similar to Dark Gaia's, so it's not a surprise. The difference seems to be that Dark Gaia preys on emotions and I prey on life itself."

"As long as we've got this bracelet, you can't do anything to us!" Amy barked from behind Sonic.

"Huh... perhaps not," he growled, waving his hand and causing the monsters to disappear. "But even if you survive, the world is finished. You might as well just lay down and die. In the future world, there will be no food to eat, no water to drink. The planet will be totally inhospitable. Give up now."

"We won't give up until you give Knuckles back, monster!" Rouge barked, grabbing Amy's hammer and throwing it at him, grumbling as it merely bounced off the red force field he generated.

"Well... the solstice draws near. I am not completely heartless. What say I let you have your final goodbyes with your friend, the guardian? For once the world ends, I will own his soul completely and absolutely," he said, smirking and closing his eyes. "See you soon. Make your farewells quick."

His body was enveloped in a flash of red light. The others shielded their eyes, and when the light dimmed, Knuckles fell to his knees and groaned. Rouge ran to his side to help him up, and he gave her a halfhearted smile in return. His eyes had lost their demonic red glow, but were pale and cloudy. He looked at all the others and sighed.

"So you guys really did come for me," he said weakly. "I'm both touched and disappointed."

"This is our last chance to save the world. We're begging you, Knuckles, fight this thing inside you! It doesn't have to end like this!" Sonic pleaded.

"Yes. It does. Even with all the preparations we made, we're still here minutes away from the end. All we did was inconvenience the forces inside the Chaos Emeralds. But we never could have undone them. It was too late."

"Knuckles, you can overcome this monster with your willpower," Eggman stated, followed by a "Choa!"

"Yes, Knuckles, with your willpower you can stop yourself from doing the one thing the doctor never could," SA-55 said, before being dropped to the ground by Eggman.

"No, I can't," he said, dropping his head.

"How do you know, though, Knuckles?" Sonic asked. "You were never someone who'd just give up like this! There has to be another w--"

"Ugh... Sonic, please don't patronize me. What's happening right now was meant to be. I'm sorry. I'll never forgive myself for what I'm about to do, but... at the same time, I'm powerless to prevent it."

"That's a freaking lie, and you know it!" Amy shouted.

"There are so many ways out of this if you'd just be open-minded for half a second, Knuckles! Please, don't let it end this way for all of us!" Tails begged.

"I've known this day was coming ever since Chaos' attack on Station Square. I decided to learn more about my heritage, but... finding out that the world would end at my hands tore me up inside. That's why... I spent more time off the island afterward. Remember? You couldn't pay me to leave Angel Island before then. It was my duty as guardian to stay here. But after I learned the truth... I decided it was also my duty to spend time with you guys as a friend."

"You--... so the reason you've been doing such a lousy job guarding the island is because..." Sonic trailed off.

"I wanted to make some good memories with all of you. I tried my best to be more social so the world didn't end with me having been a complete hermit all my life. Sonic, Tails... that's why I joined you when you fought Metal Sonic. That's why I helped you guys fight the Black Arms. It's why I competed in the Ex-World Grand Prix with you. I needed some good memories of my life, spending time with my friends and not just living alone here."

The others were all stunned. They never would have guessed Knuckles had such personal reasons for leaving Angel Island all those times. And they'd always teased him about slacking off at his job. They regretted making fun of him now.

"I... want to apologize for always being so gullible. But... that is how we met, after all. If I hadn't been so easy to trick, I never would've made such great friends," he said, walking toward Sonic and Tails and pulling them both into an awkward hug.

"Knuckles... please... don't let this happen. You can build so many more memories if you just fight this demon!" Rouge said.

"Rouge... I wanna thank you for being such a great foil for me. You're one of the most impressive women I've ever known. Sorry I never tried to get along better with you. I'll miss you too. And you, Amy. And even Eggman. All of you gave me the best times of my life, and this is the hardest thing for me to do."

"Knux... it's never too late to turn back. This monster in your head is lying to you. If you just fight it until after the solstice is over, things'll be fine. Please... buddy, please don't do this to us," Sonic said, wiping his eyes.

"I have no choice," he sighed. "Lust, gluttony, envy, greed, pride, wrath, sloth... these sins have polluted the world, and now they will be its downfall. I wish it hadn't come to this, but this has been my curse ever since I was sworn in as the guardian of this island."

It is time. Midnight has arrived.

Tears ran down Knuckles' cheeks. He knew there was zero hope now. He wiped his eyes before taking a few steps back and solemnly waving goodbye to everyone.

"See ya... it is time. The galactic alignment has occurred as prophesied. This is the end."

"Knuckles, no!" Tails screamed.

"Stop it now, Knuckles! Just fight it a little bit longer and everything'll be normal again!" Amy screamed, crying her eyes out.

"I'm sorry. Please don't make this harder than it needs to be. All good things have to come to an end, and the world is no different," he said, turning around and walking toward the alter.

Choking up, Sonic charged and tried to punch him, but Knuckles' energy shield was impenetrable. Amy growled and tried to hit him with her piko-piko hammer, but the plastic toy just bounced back on impact with the fiery force field. Using his spin attack, Tails tried to break Knuckles' shield and stop him, but his attack was deflected and he was knocked to the ground. Rouge tried to break the force field with her screw kick, but he was still unfazed.

Stepping toward the shrine, he grabbed the Master Emerald and positioned it in the center of the alter. As he climbed on top of the gem, it lost its green color and glowed red. He groaned as its energy flowed into his body.

"Now it has begun... the servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the chaos... and transfer their power to the user. The powers of lust, gluttony, envy, greed, pride, wrath and sloth," he spoke lowly, blazing with a fiery aura.

"N-no! Kn-Knuckles, stop! P-p-please!" Amy screamed, sobbing.

As Knuckles spread his arms, the seven emeralds rose into the air and spun around him, glowing red with energy. They each darted to their respective pedestals in lightning-like flashes, growing several times their original size as their powers were connected to the power of the Master Emerald. The energy rushed through the crests carved into the shrine, causing the entire alter to light up.

"Oh, crap... everyone, grab onto me and you'll be OK!" Sonic screamed as everyone huddled around him.

The floor and walls were illuminated as the energy reached the sigils, and Chip's collar lit up and created a force field to protect the group from the symbols' activation. The entire cave was filled with a blinding red light, which grew larger and larger until it covered the whole island. The glow spread until it encased the entire world, reshaping the surface of the planet and sucking the life energy out of everything that lived on it.

In just a few moments, the world had ended, just as they had all feared. Armageddon had arrived.

The End

Edited by AXB
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Yeah everyone dies in the end!

=====

Very intersting story. Was that the last chapter? You would think everyone (/thing) is dead now but...

"But even if you survive, the world is finished. You might as well just lay down and die. In the future world, there will be no food to eat, no water to drink. The planet will be totally inhospitable. Give up now."

So maybe there is another chapeter. I will definetly read it if there is or I will look forward to your next fic if you do so choose to write another. Another thing I like how Sonic has the last word... it's pretty epic.

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After the End

The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the chaos and transfer their power to the user. The powers of lust, gluttony, envy, greed, pride, wrath and sloth. The promised day shall surely come when the seven reach their peak. The souls of the Earth shall be as a river, writhing along their crooked course. The angel of death shall glide across the surface of the ground and steal its breath away. And the seven sins shall clear a path for the end of the world.

Finally, I am free. It has come to pass. The Earth has slipped into silence now that I have come.

=======

"Mama! I'm scared!" Cream screamed, holding Cheese as Vanilla hugged her close.

The ground was shaking violently, and, thinking it was an earthquake, the three of them had taken shelter in a doorway. Their things crashed to the floor as the ground jerked and shifted. Cream frightfully turned her head to look through the window and gasped when she saw that the sky had gone from black to bright red in almost an instant.

"M-Mommy... wh-what's going on?" she whispered, followed by a frightened "Chao!"

They heard a loud, thunderous noise. Glancing through the window again, Cream saw a gigantic dome of red light growing from the horizon and expanding their way, extending over the skyline of Central City as it approached their secluded house. It looked like some kind of bomb had gone off, and Cream cried as it came closer.

"C-Cream, Cheese! I-I want you to know that... I love you both more than anything else in the whole world!" Vanilla sobbed.

They all screamed as the bright light came closer and closer, and eventually swallowed their little house as the floor lit up with bizarre red symbols.

=======

Sonic, Tails, Amy, Rouge, Eggman, SA-55 and Dark Chaos whimpered as the ground kept shaking under them.They couldn't see anything because of the blinding light that still filled the entire cave. The force of the energy output almost knocked them to the ground, but they tightly held onto Sonic for their lives.

After about five minutes, the ground stopped shaking and the light died down, allowing visibility. They opened their eyes and sighed in relief when they realized the bubble generated by Chip's collar had held up and protected them. When they were sure it was over, they shakily let go of Sonic and the force field faded away.

They all looked around; Knuckles and the emeralds were gone, and the alter had been destroyed. The floors and walls were still lit up by the glowing crests and symbols etched into their surface. However, these were the only visual differences they noticed.

"Wh-where's Knuckles? D-did the world end?" Amy asked.

"These glowing patterns we see around the room suggest that the Hidden Palace alter was activated as planned. The deadly weapon used the symbols as a sort of global spell to sap life from everything on the planet," Eggman said.

"And we're still alive because of this bracelet of mine. I figured it'd help," Sonic sighed.

"H-hey, let's go outside and look around," Tails suggested.

Walking back the way they'd come in, they winced when they noticed how cold it had gotten. They could see their breath in the air.

When they reached the outside, they saw the real changes that had occurred. The landscape of Angel Island looked entirely different. It was malformed, with bizarre, grotesque carvings and structures built onto the surface. The mountains had strange, monstrous faces and images sculpted onto them. Where there were once rainforests, there were now gray, dead tree trunks, and the grass had withered completely. The ground was covered with the same glowing symbols and glyphs as the inside of the Hidden Palace.

"Oh my God... oh my God..." Rouge said breathlessly, touching her mouth and staggering back.

"Is the... whole world really like this?" Tails asked, shivering.

"It would appear so. Knuckles has used the death energy of the Chaos Emeralds at its fullest, during the solstice, and transformed the planet Earth into a literal land of the dead."

"This looks just like that weird digital world thing we went to when we were at Babylon Garden..." Amy remarked.

"Indeed. The world has literally gone to hell," Eggman solemnly remarked.

Kicking a rock, Tails said "Maybe that thing was right... maybe we should just give up n--"

"No, Tails! We have to turn the world back to normal and save Knuckles! See, we're still alive! That means it isn't too late!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Look at everything, Sonic, what can we possibly do to save the world? Just because we're alive doesn't mean anything! Everything else on Earth is dead!" Rouge yelled.

"Perhaps... but I am inclined to agree with Sonic," Eggman said, getting confused looks from SA-55 and Dark Chaos. "Knuckles has indeed brought about the end of the world as we know it. That much is true. But that doesn't mean there isn't some action we can take to restore the world to its original form."

"How in the world could we do that?" Tails asked, starting to tear up and sniffle.

"If we can find Knuckles and come up with some way to destroy the creature possessing him. It appears that the death energy we've been dealing with was actually this demon separated into seven parts. With the Master Emerald, Knuckles unified the demon and allowed it to inhabit his body in a parasitic manner. Before the unification, the demon could only control him for a few minutes at a time."

"How can we stop it, though? You all saw what it did... he was totally invincible!" Amy said.

"The demon can generate force fields to protect Knuckles' body from harm. However, even though it is at such an amplified state of power, this is still the same power that the Chaos Emeralds have been sparking with for the last week or so. Thus, it is not at a constant output. My hypothesis is that, after using a certain amount of power, the demon will need a period to recharge, just as the Chaos Emeralds did after giving off jolts of death energy."

"So... the energy is still 'sparking', basically?" Sonic asked.

"Precisely. But due to the power being at its maximum, these periods of weakness are few and far between. The only thing I can think of is to attack Knuckles with all we have and coax him into releasing all of his energy for a given time, then striking when he has to recharge. But this is not guaranteed to work," Eggman said.

"Doctor... I am doubtful," SA-55 said, followed by "Choa!"

"Understandable. This is the end of the world. Much greater than anything we've ever faced before. And we don't have the usual way to fix things, because the Chaos Emeralds are what's causing this calamity in the first place. But..." he said, kneeling before SA-55 and Dark Chaos, "it's not as if we have anything more to lose. The world is gone, and our only option to make things right again is to try and stop the evil spirit that has possessed the emeralds and Knuckles."

The chirping call of "Chao! Chao!" startled them all. They looked and saw Cheese fluttering toward them, crying and rubbing his eyes. The Chao landed in Sonic's hands, sobbing and shaking.

"Ch-Cheese? You're still alive? B-but how?" Sonic asked.

"It's because Chao absorb energy and data. Instead of the death energy sapping Cheese's life force, he just sorta... sucked it up, I guess," Tails said, shrugging.

"Choa!" Dark Chaos called, floating toward Cheese, trying to comfort him.

"Judging by the waterworks, I guess Cream and Miss Vanilla didn't make it..." Rouge sighed.

"No one did, except us and... the rest of the Chao, I guess. But they'll die soon of hunger and exposure if we don't find a way to fix the world," Amy said. "But wait, even if we can stop Knuckles, how will we restore all the life to the world? You... can't really bring the dead back to life..."

Eggman rubbed his chin before saying "Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Merely redirected. The life forces of the beings of the world must have been channeled somewhere else into another form."

"The prophecy Knuckles read me said something about the souls of the world turning into a river, but... it might've just been a figure of speech," Rouge said.

"Perhaps not. This world has been turned into a caricature of hell. And some religions and mythologies tell of rivers that the dead must cross on their way to the afterlife. Perhaps the souls of the world truly have been sent to such a place. This is just a hypothesis, though."

"This all sounds too convenient," Tails mumbled.

"Maybe so, but we can't give up now. We have to save the world and Knuckles," Sonic said.

"I suggest that we split up. One group should go see if there is any way to restore the life to the planet, and the other group will attack Knuckles. This is the only way for us to undo the end of the world," Eggman said grimly.

Edited by AXB
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Lucifer, Fallen from Heaven

"See how easy that was? It didn't hurt you a bit, heh heh," the evil creature said, slouching on the ground in control of Knuckles' body.

Yes it did. I just... committed a mass-murder.

"Aw, don't let it weigh on your conscience. I committed a mass murder. You were just a tool," he said, clenching his fists and smirking. "And now that tool is blunt and has become useless. But your body makes a fine vessel, Guardian."

The Chaos Emeralds, glowing red, swirled in the air around him, with the Master Emerald floating in the center. The evil spirit smirked, satisfied with its power.

"You know, 'Knuckles', your friends are still alive. The mercy of God has sustained them... Light Gaia's powers shielded them from my attack on the world. They are the sole survivors of the end of days."

Don't hurt them...

"They will taste the same destruction as everyone else on this planet. And it will be delicious."

What... what are you? Where did you really come from and why did you make me do this?

"Heh. I? I am exactly what you thought me to be; a secondary form of power implanted into the Chaos Emeralds. But... I may have elevated to such a power and sentience that you could give me a name. The cult who created me... worshiped what you call 'the devil' or 'Lucifer'. It was my sole purpose to destroy the Earth. Your ancestors appointed you as guardian because they thought you'd be able to subdue me. See how well that went? Perhaps if they'd just left well enough alone, the world would still be flourishing with life right now."

The others are going to stop you. I know they w--

"How? I am omnipotent. I have shaped this perfect landscape, and I have all the power of a god. It was inevitable that this would happen, fool. And nothing can undo what I have wrou--ow!" he was cut off as something struck him in the back of the head.

Turning around, he saw a large rock lying on the ground. He looked up and saw Sonic sticking out his tongue in a teasing manner. Growling, the possessed echidna scrambled to his feet and fired a red beam, which was once again blocked by Light Gaia's force field.

"Tch... I keep forgetting you have that deplorable toy with you. You managed to catch me off-guard, but that won't happen again. So what was the cheap shot for, hedgehog?"

"If you won't give Knuckles back and change the world back to the way it was, I'll just beat you to a pulp," Sonic sneered.

"Heh heh heh. How will you do that? I may not be able to harm you, but that is mutual. You can't lay a hand on m--gah!"

Amy's hammer connected with him from behind. He jerked his head around and growled at the smirking girl, preparing to throw a bolt of energy before Sonic, in a flash, jumped in front of her.

"Thought you said we couldn't catch you off-guard anymore, hon?" Amy giggled, making another hammer appear in her hands.

"Trust me, I won't make that mistake again. Why won't you give up? The world's been destroyed already, so it's not like there's anything left to fight for."

"All we have do you is get rid of you. Then everything should be fine again," Sonic said.

"I don't see how you'll get rid of me. Little kid..." he growled before hearing a whistling sound, and turning his head to see a missile speeding toward him.

He put his force field up to block the projectile, and when the debris from the explosion cleared, he saw Eggman, smirking and holding a cannon. The doctor played with his mustache and chuckled, with Dark Chaos and Cheese hovering at his side.

"Your powers only sapped life from the planet. Did you really think that I, the illustrious Dr. Robotnik, wouldn't be able to salvage technology?" Eggman taunted.

"So you fools think you can gang up on me, hmm? You have no idea what you're dealing with," he said, throwing an energy blast at Eggman, who narrowly dodged it by jumping to the ground. "You can't defeat me now that the solstice has happened. I am a god compared to you."

Great, Sonic thought, he was using his powers. He hoped the demon would need to recharge soon, and then they'd break Knuckles' legs if they had to. Anything to save his soul. Sonic darted toward Knuckles and threw punches as the echidna blocked with his energy shield.

"You little pests. Curse that Light Gaia for giving you a way to survive this," the creature in Knuckles growled.

"Heh, see, Eggman? If you hadn't come up with that sucky plan to break the planet apart, we wouldn't have had a chance!" Sonic snickered.

"You don't have a chance. All you can do is fight until you wear down and... where are the other insects?" he hissed. "Hmm... I bet they've gone to save the spirits of the beings on Earth. Those poor, unfortunate souls. Your friends' efforts are futile, if that's their quest, because I control an army of monsters all over this planet."

=======

"How do we even know this 'river of souls' really exists? It seems way too unlikely..." Rouge said.

"It's our only option for now. The bad thing is that it could be anywhere on the planet."

"Tails, Rouge... do you think the doctor, Sonic and Amy are safe?" SA-55 asked, hopping along behind them.

"They should be fine... I hope. W-wait..." Tails trailed off, "What's... that... noise?"

"What noise?" Rouge asked, grabbing her shoulders.

"Sounds like... something burrowing underground. Did animals survive or--whoa!" he jumped as a white, spindly arm burst from the ground.

The two of them gasped and jumped back as a bizarre, humanoid shape dug its way up from the soil, moaning. Its skin was plastic-like, with glowing red symbols covering its torso. Its eyes were bulbous and glowed bright orange, and its teeth were long and flat. It opened its mouth and let out an earsplitting shriek before reaching out and limping toward them.

"Good God!" Rouge screamed, flapping her wings and gliding the other way, followed by Tails, who carried SA-55 in his hands. "What is that thing?!"

"Didn't Knuckles say something about there being puppets or something underground? I think that's one of them!" he yelled.

"So it's a zombie apocalypse too... this just gets worse and worse."

The creature's limp turned quickly turned into a grotesque sprint as it chased after them, and more animated dummies sprouted from the ground, growling and screaming.

=======

"You can't beat me. This world has ended," the being said as Sonic continued attacking.

Suddenly, the red force field around Knuckles' body flickered and dimmed, along with the glowing of the symbols that covered the ground. His eyes widened in shock as one of Sonic's punches connected, hitting him square in the face and knocking him to the ground. Amy ran up to him and pounded him viciously with her piko-piko hammer, causing the echidna to snarl in pain and frustration.

Your power isn't unlimited. It never was.

"Sh-shut up! This is your body that's getting beaten down, you know!" he shouted, covering his head with his arms as they continued to attack.

They're not gonna kill me. They're just gonna incapacitate my body so you won't be able to use it anymore. They've found your weakness. And it's such a weaksauce weakness, too.

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Inferno

Rouge and Tails flew into the air to avoid the onslaught of monsters. They crowded together on the ground under them, snapping their jaws and screeching. SA-55 squinted its metallic eyelids and clutched onto Tails in fear.

"What are we gonna do now?" Tails asked.

"Just keep flying and they can't get to us," Rouge panted.

One of the zombie-like dolls grabbed one of its comrades, spinning it and flinging it into the air. Tails and Rouge gasped and narrowly drifted out of the way as the dummy lunged toward them, gaping its mouth and hissing. Dropping onto the ground, its body was bent out of shape as it groaned and lost the glow of its sigil and eyes.

More monsters came darting at them like projectile weapons as the two of them flitted around, barely able to avoid the attacks. They turned and flew the other way as fast as they could as the mob of creatures staggered after them.

"Keep moving and watch out for... whatever it is we're looking for!" Tails called, holding SA-55 tighter.

=======

The ground lit up again as the demon's power returned. A new force field formed around Knuckles' body, repelling Sonic and Amy's attacks. He stood up and smirked, wiping some blood from his lip.

"So you've figured it out. Forcing me to use my powers to such a large extent, then attacking when I temporarily power down," he growled, blocking Sonic's spin dash. "But beating your friend halfway to death won't stop me. I have control over this world."

Running up behind him, Amy pounded his force field with her hammer, kicking at him simultaneously as Sonic attacked with punches from the other side.

I almost can't believe they're actually hurting you.

"They aren't. They managed to exploit a window of opportunity to do some damage. They can't keep up forever. I can," he said, throwing a ball of energy Amy's way before Sonic grabbed her by the arm and threw her to the ground to protect her.

"This can keep up forever, monster. One of us has gotta get tired eventually," Sonic said.

=======

As they flew through the air, trying to escape the horde of creatures running after them, Tails, Rouge and SA-55 spotted a gigantic, black slab-like structure, covered with hellish sculptures and symbols. It was set between a pair of large mountains, positioned sort of like a door, and there seemed to be some sort of valley or ravine just beyond it. Flying up higher, they tried to go over the large barrier, but when they reached its edge, they were blocked by some sort of invisible wall.

The dolls were still stumbling toward them from the other direction, shoving each other out of the way like they were each trying to get there before the others, giving off high-pitched shrieks that would probably be able to break glass. Rouge and Tails quickly lowered to the ground and kicked at the wall, hoping something would happen.

Just as the dummies were closing in on them and they were prepared to take off into the air again, the wall lit up with bright, white light. The monsters' sprinting reduced to slow shambling and they fell to their knees, groaning dully. Their glowing symbols dimmed, turning pale gray.

The wall slowly disintegrated into floating, sparkling grains of dust, revealing a large corridor, cut off by another, smaller wall at its end. There were words carved on this wall, surrounded by grotesque images.

First Seal

Sin of Lust

"What the heck does that mean?" Rouge asked.

"Um... Knuckles said something about the Seven Deadly Sins. The ones from the Divine Comedy," Tails said. "That's gotta tie into what we need to do he--"

The ground shook furiously, knocking both of them down. SA-55 tumbled from Tails' hands, rubbing its head and making a buzzing sound. Something else started digging its way up from underground. At first, they thought it was another pack of animated dummies, but it was much larger.

Huge, tusk-like structures protruded from the surface of the ground. As whatever owned them burrowed up, they could see a reptilian head with lime green eyes, each with vertical slit-shaped pupils. As more of its body was exposed, they saw that it had a serpentine body, a pair of crab-like claws and several antlers protruding from its back. It hissed and coiled its body, raising its claws and showing its jagged teeth.

"I am the first of the seven beasts. I am the beast of lust," it growled.

SA-55 jumped behind Tails, holding onto his leg. The fox and Rouge both took a fighting stance as the monster snarled and reared its head back.

"If you can defeat me, you shall advance to my other six brothers. If you best all of us, you will be granted access to the soul stream. But beware; if you should lose, your souls will join the others, twisting and writhing in eternal agony and despair."

"This is completely random... Eggman didn't say anything about giant hell-beasts," Rouge murmured.

"Doesn't matter, Rouge, we've gotta get past these things if we're gonna save everyone's souls... besides, looks like we're trapped anyway," Tails said, pointing back to where they had entered; the colossal wall had reappeared, preventing any potential escape.

=======

"Ahh... your friends have entered the corridor of the seven sins..."

"What the heck is that?!" Amy demanded, gripping the handle of her hammer tightly.

"Just in case there were any survivors... seven deadly creatures were created, each representing a different aspect of my power. These beasts guard the souls of the dead. Your friends are doomed."

"I think they can handle your random little pets!" Sonic shouted, spinning into a wheel and slamming into Knuckles' force field. "And hey, if we can stop you, those monsters'll disappear and it'll be that much easier for them to do what they're doing, right?"

"Your idealism in the face of Armageddon is truly adorable. But you will have no such luck. I have already won."

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Divina Commedia

Rouge swiftly dodged as "Lust" whipped its gigantic tail at her. It roared violently, snapping its claws at Tails, who nearly dropped SA-55 as he frantically tried to avoid them. The creature's head bucked and Rouge was hit by its large antlers, knocking her to the ground. She narrowly avoided being burned by the wall of fire that had formed around the edges of the large room.

Shuffling back to her feet, she wiped the blood from the cut on her cheek and growled "Ugh... Tails, how are we supposed to beat this thing?!"

"I... dunno!" he answered between dodging the beast's attacks. "I, uh... one would assume that... it involves knowing about Dante's stories! Th-that's where these sin things are from!"

"Drat. Well I've never read those. That kinda stuff is for geeks..."

"D-don't worry, I've read them! Lust is punished by... um... jeez, I can't remember!" he yelled, dodging the onslaught from the monster.

"Should Rouge not know? Lust is one of her biggest vices, after all," SA-55 said as Tails clutched him.

"Well, I never!"

"In any case, I believe the punishment for the sin of lust is to be burned in fire."

"Rouge! We have to get it to burn itself in this fire!" Tails called.

"On it!" Rouge yelled, throwing her bombs at the reptilian monster, knocking it back several feet and causing it to shriek out in pain. Tails, freed from its attacks, threw some of his dummy ring bombs at it. It lashed it's tail at him and knocked him to the ground, causing SA-55 to tumble out of his arms. Rouge continued her assault, occasionally diving toward the monster to kick it it the eyes.

As Tails scrambled to his feet, he saw that Rouge was forcing "Lust" closer to the flames. The fire touched the beast's scaly tail, causing it to cry in agony. As Rouge threw more bombs, it keeled over, exposing more and more of its body to the fire until it was completely set alight.

Its hide shriveled and turned black as the flames consumed it. When the fire was finished devouring the creature's body, it left a snakelike skeleton behind, covered in putrid ashes.

"Th-that wasn't so hard," Rouge huffed, landing next to Tails.

"C'mon... we apparently have more of these sin things to fight," Tails said, stepping toward the next wall with Rouge.

Second Seal

Sin of Gluttony

"I'm starting to think there's more than 'death energy' involved here..." Rouge said.

=======

"Maybe... I can't attack you while my hands are ablaze with power, hedgehog," the creature said as Knuckles' fists lost their glow, "but direct melee attacks with the echidna's physical force shouldn't be repelled by the force field Light Gaia has protected you with."

"Try me, Knuckles. You're way too slow for us to fight like that," Sonic teased, spinning into the creature's red barrier. "No matter how we do this, you're at a disadvantage."

"Yeah, you've gotta give up sometime! You're not going to win here, monster!" Amy shouted, throwing hammers at him, all of which bounced off his force field.

"And what do you stand to accomplish by beating your friend to near death? That won't stop my powers. And your two friends will be dealt with by the cardinal sins that have risen in this world... they have defeated Lust. But can they defeat the others?"

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Broken Veil

After crossing the door of gluttony, Tails and Rouge prepared themselves for another fight. The last one had been easy enough, but they and SA-55 knew that things would logically get harder.

The ground rumbled as it did before, and a fat, frog-like beast with a multitude of mouths plastered across its face sprung forth from the soil.

"I am the beast of gluttony... let me... swallow you..."

=======

"Enough is enough! Tell us what the heck you are right now!" Sonic yelled, grabbing Knuckles by the arm as the death energy temporarily powered down and kicking him violently in the teeth.

The possessed echidna slowly pushed himself to his feet. His body was battered, and he cursed how easy they'd managed to find his weakness. He gave low, heavy breaths and scowled at Sonic and Amy, clenching his fists and growling angrily.

"Huh... y-... you fools... can't accept that the world has ended. It was God's will all along, but... but you still cling to such silly hope that you can--gah!" he was cut off as Sonic punched him in the jaw.

"I said tell us what the heck you are. Do it right now," Sonic snarled.

Eggman, Cheese and Dark Chaos stood on the sidelines as the "invincible" demon was being brought to his knees. The doctor smirked at the apparent success of their efforts.

Standing up straight and dusting Knuckles' body off, the demon said "I am sin."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Amy shouted, clutching her plastic hammer.

"Stop giving us vague answers!" Sonic yelled.

"I am sin. That is all. I am the sin of the world... put into the Chaos Emeralds by an ancient cult who worshiped... a being with many names. Lucifer, Beelzebub, the devil... Satan. Yes..."

Sonic clenched his fists and prepared to charge before he heard the creature cough and grumble. Knuckles' eyes were half-lidded as he looked at them both, and their red glow was dim and flickering.

"In an attempt to give the evil one a worldly form... they used their magics to bind the sins of the world into a spiritual form. Pure evil... pure evil amassed together into an amorphous glob of energy. And as the sins grew more powerful in the world, so did the 'death energy' seeping from the Chaos Emeralds. I am a manifestation of all the sins in the world. I am pure evil."

"That doesn't explain all the changes you've made around here," Eggman said. "My research showed me that the death energy was just that; power that sucked the life force out of organic matter. But this... this is overly complicated, as you've done that and then some. Reshaping the world into this dark, shadowy place... and giving rise to these seven monsters you spoke of... animating dummies, creating force fields and sending the souls of the world into a sealed river. I do not understand the magnitude of--"

"The ability to sap away life is only my most base power. The prophecy was fulfilled as promised when I was first created. The solstice allowed the seal that was put on me to be broken, and my other powers were made manifest. The things you've seen me do... all spells that were... 'programmed', if you will, into me. The sigils that light the ground allow those spells to function. Ultimately, this apocalypse you've witnessed was merely a worldwide magical spell that sapped life and made the planet into my domain, plunging the Earth into hell. The effects of my spells were inspired by various interpretations of hell and the afterlife that had existed for years and years prior to my creation by this cult."

"You're not some god or anything, then. You're just some glorified magic trick," Amy barked.

"Be that as it may, I have the power. Those that created me aimed to give sin and evil a physical form. And here I am. With their magic, they gave me a spirit and soul, and... unwittingly, by making your echidna guardian of Angel Island, the Knuckles Tribe gave me a body. A perfect body with which I now control the world with an iron fist. I am the angel of death and the god of the dead. As it was intended, so it has come to pass. There was never any stopping what was meant to be..."

=======

Rouge and Tails were able to overcome the monster with sheer brute force. With its mouths, it had tried to eat them, but they'd been too fast for it. After beating it to death, it dissolved into a bony corpse just like the beast of lust had, and they moved onto the next wall.

Third Seal

Sin of Envy

The barrier disappeared and allowed them to pass into the next room. The ground shook and a gigantic, lizard-like creature dug itself to the surface. It had a multitude of lime green eyes covering its scaly green hide. It hissed and flickered its fiery forked tongue

"You shall not pass... you shall not pass the test of envy. Envy cannot escape this place... and if Envy cannot have what it wishes, you shall not taste freedom or happiness either... die, fools..."

Tails put SA-55 down as he and Rouge attacked "Envy" immediately. It lashed its flaming tongue at them, slightly burning Rouge's arm and singeing Tails' fur. Tails assaulted it relentlessly with his spin attack as Rouge laid into it with her screw kick.

"Why do you have such power...? Such power that should belong to Envy..."

=======

"I won't let you restore the world to the way it was... I have finally achieved absolute sentience... I finally have powers and freedom. And I shall use those powers to continue destroying worlds... this planet and dimension was only the first..."

"And we won't let you keep the world like this. You've killed everyone and everything and you have to die," Sonic said, attacking as the demon weakly put up its force field.

"How can you kill me without killing your friend? Look, his body grows weak... if you save the world, it will be at the cost of his life. And your friends... what if they fail? Right now they have caught a glimpse of Envy..."

=======

"Do not hurt Envy... please... you keep your life... why should Envy lose its life?" the creature said as Tails and Rouge crippled its reptilian body by bursting its many eyes.

"These things are surprisingly easy to kill... there's gotta be a catch..." Rouge commented.

"We've fought worse. We're probably just used to stuff like this."

When all of the monster's eyes had been put out, it stumbled back and roared. Green slime leaked from its injured areas, spilling onto the ground as its body shriveled up.

"No... you do not deserve victory... Envy deserves victory..."

Tails grabbed SA-55 up and they approached the next door.

Fourth Seal

Sin of Greed

"After this next room, just three more and I think we'll be able to save the souls of all the lifeforms on Earth. But... I wonder how the others are doing..."

"They'll be fine as long as Sonic has that pretty bracelet," Rouge said as the door disappeared and they proceeded through the threshold.

Edited by AXB
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The Soul Maze

The beast of greed whipped its many black tentacles and crooked hands through the air, trying to snag Tails and Rouge. They flew too fast for it to catch them, however, and it screamed out in frustration. The sight of its grotesque, skull-like face sent chills down their spines as they evaded each of its attacks.

Attached to the side of the room, high above the ground, was a large vat. Beneath it, a pair of pipes jutted from the rock, spraying fire out at its bottom. Steam flowed from its rim as its interior was heated by the flames.

Tails flew up to the cauldron and saw that, inside, there was bubbling fat. Oil being boiled by the fire. The monster shuffled toward him, flailing its multiple appendages in the air.

"Rouge! Get outta the way!" Tails shouted, prompting Rouge to fly away from the vat, holding SA-55, as the creature got closer.

When "Greed" was under the vat, Tails kicked it with enough force to make the oil spill out, dousing the monster's skin and making a sizzling sound as it burned its rubbery hide. The slug-like monster waved its tentacles and hands erratically, screaming and shrieking loudly as its flesh melted off its bones, leaving a crackling puddle of tar-like fluid on the ground. Rouge and Tails landed in front of the next barrier and both sighed with relief.

"The punishment for greed is to be burned alive in boiling oils," Tails huffed.

"Lil' dork," Rouge chuckled, petting his head.

"There are three sins left. Then... apparently, we shall be one step closer to saving the Earth," SA-55 said.

Fifth Seal

Sin of Pride

=======

The demon possessing Knuckles had resorted to evasion. As long as Sonic was protected by the collar of Light Gaia, he couldn't be damaged. However, the being's attempts to flee were further obstructed by Sonic and his speed, which Knuckles' body was unable to match. So the demon was still forced to put out energy to block Sonic's attacks, which, in turn, gave him a window of opportunity to severely damage Knuckles.

"You can't really run from me, pal. It's over for you, just a matter of time!" Sonic barked, smirking smugly and attacking Knuckles with another spin dash.

The demon felt another rest period coming on, and its ability to put up a force field failed again. Sonic struck Knuckles in the head with a brutal punch, knocking him onto the ground and making him skid several yards. The possessed echidna weakly forced himself to his feet, panting and coughing drops of blood. His eyes were half-lidded, with their red glow growing dimmer and dimmer, and his fur was covered in dirt.

"Death is near... but not for me... for your friend..." he struggled.

Sonic slowly walked toward him, clenching his fists. His smile had left, and now he was scowling irately. He stopped a few feet away from Knuckles, looking him in the eye.

"You can't keep using a body that's near death, though. Can you?" Sonic whispered. "You should just change the word back to the way it was. Let us bring everyone and everything back to life. Whether the world gets fixed or not, you lose."

"If it's a lose-lose situation... what does it matter if I oblige you or not? I have no reason to restore the world. The apocalypse has already happened, and there was never any way you could prevent it. How can you just stand here and keep fighting for what's ultimately a lost cause? You are all like children, fighting because someone ate your last piece of candy or broke your favorite toy. What's done is done. This world is beyond repair."

"Then I guess... if the world's gone down, we're just gonna take you with it," Sonic snarled.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes and hissed. He clutched his broken right arm, wincing at the pain. His body was covered in bruises and marks, and the demon inside him knew that the vessel couldn't hold much longer.

His eyes shifted, throwing their view over Sonic's shoulder. Amy was there, ten or so yards away, watching their fight. A weak smirk formed on Knuckles' face; Sonic wouldn't have time to react if he threw a ranged attack at her, since they were at a bit of a distance and he wouldn't be expecting it. He licked his lips as the demonic energy filling him was recharged.

"Now I will kill you, hedgehog. Prepare to taste the sweet flavor of death, and join the other sinners in the river of souls," he said, setting his hands alight with the red glow.

"Heh. Not as long as I've got this here--" he was cut off as Knuckles tripped him and fired a bolt of energy behind him.

Amy's eyes pupils dilated as the blast darted toward her. She tried to run, but was frozen with fear; she felt like her legs were glued to the ground. A tear ran down her eye as the shot connected and the life force was sucked from her body, leaving her a gray husk on the ground.

Sonic got on his hands and knees and felt the blood drain from his face as he realized what had happened. When he tried to get to his feet, he felt Knuckles grab his arm, then snag Chip's collar. The possessed echidna pulled the object off Sonic's wrist and threw it to the side before kicking him violently in the stomach. Waving his arm, he caused a red force field to form around the bracelet, smirking inhumanly.

"Ah ha h--ah ha ha... ah ha ha ha! I was tired of playing that little game. Let's do something a bit more fun, eh?" he cackled.

=======

"Pride" was satanic in form. It had thick red skin and bat-like wings, along with a pair of bull-like horns on its head. It slashed at Rouge and Tails with its gigantic claws, roaring in a deep, loud tone. Rouge attacked with her bat bombs and screw kick while Tails used his tail-whip and dummy ring bombs on the creature.

It roared as they assaulted it, keeling over and dying after several minutes. They quickly ran to the next door, eager to escape the entrapment of the ravine.

Sixth Seal

Sin of Wrath

Beyond the next barrier, a ravenous wolf-like beast attacked them blindly, roaring and snarling. It foamed at the mouth and its eyes were filled with red vessels as it charged them without hesitation. Spikes lined the insides of the room; the monster of wrath was defeated by being coaxed to charge into them, impaling and killing it instantly.

Running to the next barrier, Rouge said "That was kinda... a bit too easy."

"Yep. The ultimate fate of someone full of wrath is suicide; the greatest expression of anger toward oneself. So it was easy to trick it into killing itself without much effort on our part," Tails said, smiling.

"... Yeah. So now... sloth, right? Then we're closer to winning this whole thing."

"Yes, indeed. If the 'Lust' monster was to be believed..." SA-55 said dully.

Seventh Seal

Sin of Sloth

The door vanished, revealing the next area. This room, however, was much different from the previous six. It was huge and round, and had a ceiling blocking off view of the sky, and the door was larger and much more ornate than the other ones, with a colored mural that seemed to depict the faces of a multitude of people, submerged in a water. The room looked more like an entrance than an exit.

In front of the door, there was a large, hairy creature sleeping on the ground, with its huge body blocking the door. Its snores were extremely loud, nearly shaking the whole room. It didn't seem vicious or hostile at all.

"Uh... th-this must be... Sloth?" Tails said, although it sounded much more like a question than a statement.

"Looks like it. Um, are we supposed to fight it?"

Rouge slowly walked up to the monster, nudging it. It stopped snoring and began lowly groaning before getting up and shambling away from the door, after which it fell asleep again.

"That was... um... that was a little anticlimactic," Tails said. "I mean... not that I'm complaining or anything."

"I'm sort of disappointed," Rouge sighed.

The door dissolved into grains of sand, revealing a dark passage. Tails and Rouge shrugged and entered, hoping they were almost through. When they stepped across the threshold, the door reappeared behind them, closing them in.

There was no light to be seen. The darkness sent chills down their spines, and Tails grabbed onto Rouge's arm in nervous fear.

"Wh-... where are we n-now?"

"Um... I... have no idea..." Rouge whispered.

"I recommend we keep moving forward. We are bound to stumble onto something," SA-55 said.

"Well it's so dark in here, I wouldn't be surprised," Tails muttered.

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The Life Stream

Trying to hide from the demon's rampage, Sonic crouched behind a large rock. He had to find some way to get the collar back and defend himself, he thought. He knew he could probably keep away from the monster for a while simply using his supersonic speed, but the demon controlled legions of puppets all over the planet and he knew he wouldn't be able to hide forever. Besides, he thought, Eggman was still defenseless. He wasn't sure what would happen if the demon decided to leave him alone and go after the doctor. He knew it would probably be detrimental to their victory; Eggman was the brainiest of the bunch.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted when the rock busted into pieces right behind him. He jumped in fright, turning around and seeing Knuckles' sneering face. Hopping to his feet, he sped off as a blast of red energy was fired his way, missing by a fraction of an inch. The demon chuckled smugly and lit Knuckles' hands up again, slowly trudging after Sonic.

"Oh, hedgehog, why won't you just give up? I promise, this won't hurt a bit. Why, the other beings on this planet didn't feel a thing when their souls were ripped right out of their bodies, I swear," he hissed, shooting another fiery blast, which Sonic dodged with a sideways somersault. "The world hasn't really ended until all life has been eliminated. So you've gotta get with the times and die already, yeah?"

"Heh, all I've gotta do is keep away from you until your powers go down, then I'll get my bracelet back," Sonic said cockily, rubbing his nose. "Unless you think you can kill me before then."

"Oh, you can count on it," the demon said, firing a barrage of energy blasts from Knuckles' spiked fists.

It wasn't so hard for Sonic to dodge the red energy projectiles. After all, he had extremely fast reflexes. Still, he was disturbed at the thought that one hit would leave him a shriveled prune of a corpse on the ground, just like everyone else on the planet.

"Ah, the end of the world is such a beautiful thing; everything remade in my image, all the pesky life forms dead and gone. I really wish you could learn to appreciate it. You can't hope to stop evil incarnate. Even the Chaos Emeralds bend to my will," he said, waving his hand and making the red Chaos Emeralds swirl around him and around the reddened Master Emerald that floated above him.

"Wh-... what's happened to the real chaos energy, huh? This doesn't make sense!"

"The positive and negative energies have been put under a seal, suppressed by the death energy that makes up my existence. Much like, before the solstice, my powers were suppressed by the chaos energy. Now I control the Chaos Emeralds, and with the Master Emerald, I have unified into one entity. You remember the old poem. 'The servers are the seven chaos' and all that rot. It says the controller unifies the Chaos Emeralds... and since my powers are rooted to the Chaos Emeralds, they were amassed together into what now controls this echidna's body."

"This still isn't making sense. Why would Knuckles' old tribe even make him guardian if it would just give you a body?"

"They thought that I'd be put under his control, but they were so very wrong. Had there been no guardian, I'd still exist, yes, but as a formless energy. The destruction would have been uncontainable, destroying cities and countries one by one. So really, the world was doomed to end anyway. They just gave me a way to let it be done much more quick--... wh-... what's this?" the demon growled, putting Knuckles' hand to his forehead.

"What? What's going on?"

"N-... no... no... no, no, no! This has to be wrong! Your little friends have entered my labyrinth. They've defeated the seven sins... and are now nearing the life stream where the souls of the world are harbored..."

"Well sucks to be you," Sonic said, sticking out his tongue. "I guess you aren't as high and mighty as you thought."

"Heh heh heh... oh, no. Nah, I'm still killing you, then I'll destroy your little friends. Simply releasing the souls will do nothing. As long as I remain in this world, the death energy will cover the Earth. And the souls will be unable to reenter their bodies. It wouldn't help your cause at all. But enough talk. I must get rid of you before my powers have to recharge again. Say goodbye, little boy," he said, firing a beam of death energy.

=======

"This maze is... like, endless," Tails said after they'd trekked through the labyrinth for almost half an hour.

The maze was dark. So dark that they could barely see their hands in front of their faces. They were frustrated at having yet another obstacle in their way, but the seven sins had been extremely easy. They were, mostly, sure that they could persevere.

"All I've gotta do is just keep my hand on the wall and we'll find our way out," Rouge said, touching the side of the corridor with one hand and grabbing Tails' hand with the other.

"Well, we've been in here for a while. I'm sure we'll get out eventually."

They'd run into several dead-ends since they entered, so they figured they had to find a way out eventually. Tails squeezed Rouge's hand tight and closed his eyes in a futile try to ignore how dark it was, and he hugged SA-55 close like a stuffed animal, causing the robot to narrow its mechanical eyelids.

"The world's been in danger so many times, I've lost count. But I never expected it to actually end or anything..." Rouge said.

"I'm wondering why we're all so calm. I mean, if we lose, that's it. No one else'll be around to save the world."

"I have faith. Things always fix themselves, so why should now be any different? Besides... I know Knuckles isn't weak enough to let some little man in his head control him forever. Even he isn't that much of a..." she said, trailing off and drooping her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh... nothing. I just don't feel right making snide remarks at a time like this."

They kept going for around ten more minutes before seeing a faint light. Their eyes widened in relief as they rushed toward it. It was about time, they all thought.

As they'd hoped, it was the exit; the end of the maze. They prepared to go running out to claim their prize, but they stopped in their tracks when they realized the exit led to a ninety-degree drop from the side of a cliff. At the bottom there was a giant, rushing river of murky liquid with thick fog rising from the surface. Tails squinted down at the river and shuddered when he saw what he could have sworn looked like the ghostlike images of people and animals flowing through the stream. The air was filled with the sound of agonized moans, wails and shrieks.

"H-... help... u-us..."

"Come and... c-c-come and play with me..."

"Who's th-there...? Will you b-be my... friend...?"

"It hurts... make it... s-... stop..."

Their pupils dilated at the sight. They'd found the spirits of the people of the world at last, and they were extremely disturbed by what had become of all the life on Earth.

"Well... u-um, how do we set them free?" Rouge asked, holding Tails and SA-55 close.

Tails scanned the environment for a few seconds before pointing and saying "Over there! See it?"

Rouge looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a gigantic stone dam in the distance, at the edge of the river, covered in strange letters and symbols. The river of souls made a loud, booming noise as it crashed against the giant barrier, producing white foam at its base.

"We've gotta break that dam and let all the spirits out. Then I guess we'll go back to where Sonic, Amy and Eggman are and see what happens."

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Redemption from Sin

The spirits in the river whined in pain, reaching their ghostly hands up to the surface of the cloudy water as if trying to squirm their way out.

"Rescue us..."

"... B-... break us... out..."

"I am afraid..."

Rouge and Tails shivered at the bone-chilling sound of their sickly voices; it was like nails on a chalkboard.

Rouge grabbed SA-55 from Tails' hands and patted the fox on the back, clearing her throat and forcing a smile. Tails nervously glanced up at her, then back down to the huge river at the base of the cliff.

"U-um... R-Rouge?"

"Let's go down. We've gotta break that dam and let those ghosts out. We've come this far, so let's hurry and finish," she said.

"The structure appears to be ordinary stone. Enough force should send it tumbling to the ground. Rouge, your bat bombs should, in high quantity, be enough to destroy the dam and set the souls free," SA-55 said.

"Sounds easy enough," Rouge said, swooping down the side of the cliff and gliding to the far side of the river toward the large dam, followed after by Tails.

Grabbing onto the other side of the structure, Rouge reached into her pouch of bombs. When she looked down, however, she saw that, at the very base of the dam, the animated dummies were approaching. She shrugged then off, thinking she'd simply ignore them, but jumped in fright when she saw them sticking their elastic hands onto the stone wall, pulling their way up. Sweat beaded on her face as she stammered and frantically tried to plant bombs onto the side of the dam before the puppets were able to work their way to the top of the structure.

"Uh... ye--um, T-Tails! Those dolls are coming up the wall! Do something about them!"

Tails, poking his head over the side of the dam, said "Oh, shoot! Hurry and blow the wall up while I hold them off!" then jumped down to combat the creatures.

=======

Beams of red light flashed in all directions as the flustered demon tried to strike Sonic with its death energy. Even without the power of Chip's collar, the hedgehog was still a difficult target. Tired ridges formed under Knuckles' eyes as he clenched his teeth, trying to catch Sonic with one of his projectiles. His aim was thrown off because of his broken arm and ribs, making it that much more frustrating for the demon. Knuckles roared ferociously with each blast of power, fuming each time the glow cleared, revealing Sonic had still been able to skid over and under the bolts.

His face turned red as he swiped his arm, sending a wave of energy in every direction that Sonic was still able to jump over. The demon could feel his recharging period approaching the force field around Chip's collar would collapse and then Sonic would have the upper-hand again. Knuckles panted and gave a low growl before firing a wide beam, cursing under his breath as Sonic drifted around it.

Realizing he still had the advantage, a small smirk formed on Sonic's face. He wagged his finger at Knuckles, drooping his eyelids.

"What's the matter? Getting tired? In a minute you're gonna pay for what you did to Amy and everyone else!"

"You've defied your god... you've made the biggest mistake of your life!" he screamed, shooting a large sphere of red energy Sonic's way.

=======

Tails kicked at the heads of the monsters, holding SA-55 tight and flinching when the creatures tried to reach up and grab his legs. They groaned as they tumbled to the ground, one-by-one, but there was a whole legion of them and Tails couldn't hold them all off forever. He glanced up at Rouge, sweating with anxiety as she quickly placed her bombs.

"R-Rouge! Are... ah! A-are you almost done there?!"

"Just hang in for a little longer, sugar! I just need to make sure this is enough to crack the wall and let the watery stuff out!" she shouted down to him, sticking bombs onto the stone structure.

One of the dummies whipped its bony arm up, narrowly missing the fox's tails, before being attacked and losing its footing. It fell down on top of several others, sending them falling down the sides of the dam and onto the ground below. They all lost their glow and went dead after being contorted on impact.

After planting several dozen bombs, Rouge smiled in relief and yelled down to Tails, "Th-that should do it! I'll set them off and the wall should crumble!"

Tails glanced up at her to give a reply, but was caught off-guard by one of the possessed dolls grabbing his ankle with its white, slender hands. He nearly dropped SA-55 and screamed for Rouge to help him. Scared, she flew away from the wall, fumbling with her remote control before setting the bombs off.

Tails kept screaming as the creatures pulled him down, violently biting and squeezing him while trying to snatch SA-55 out of his hands. Rouge swooped down and grabbed him, trying to force the monsters to let him go. She saw blood staining his fur where the dolls chewed on him, and she hurriedly punched and kicked at them as they dragged him further down the side of the dam.

The explosion of the bat bombs caused cracks to creep along the wall. The crumbling noise filled the air and Rouge felt drops of water splash onto her her. The cracks spread and the liquid from the river spilled through the side of the dam.

Rouge grabbed Tails' arm, screaming "I've got you, Tails! Just hang on!"

Finally, the soul-filled water burst from the side of the dam, gushing out like a waterfall and washing them, along with the hoard of creatures, downstream with tremendous force. Rouge clutched tightly onto Tails as he held SA-55 tightly, making sure she didn't lose him in the strong flow. The souls that filled the water rushed around them, loudly chiming in relief at finally being set free.

=======

Sonic smoothly dodged everything the possessed Knuckles threw at him. At the speed of sound, it wasn't so hard. He chuckled at the look of rage on the echidna's face as he effortlessly evaded all his attacks, and pulled his lower eyelid down in a mocking gesture.

Losing its temper, the demon fired random shots in every direction, hoping one would, by chance, hit and kill Sonic. With each shot, Knuckles screamed and howled at the top of his lungs.

"Heh heh. Just a few minutes and your powers are gonna go down! Looks like I--whoa!" he yelled as he tripped over a rock and stumbled down onto the ground.

"Hee hee, yes!" the demon hissed, firing a bolt of death energy at the hedgehog and managing to strike his leg, causing it to dry up and become gray and useless.

Sonic's eyes widened and he gasped in horror when he looked back and saw his dead leg. He struggled to crawl along the ground, unable to get up and run. Knuckles stomped toward him with his fists balled up and glowing. His shrieking cackles filled the air as he approached and prepared to deliver the final coup de grace.

"Ah ha... ha ha ha ha ha! Mmm, oh, hedgehog, you don't look so good!" he said, raising his hand and getting ready to shoot.

"N-n-no... please, stop!" Sonic yelled, holding up his hand and squeezing his eyes shut.

"I told you the end of the world wasn't something you could prevent, but you didn't believe me! You wanted to hang onto your idealism and believe you could stop what was destined to happen. You managed to inconvenience and greatly annoy me, you and your friends... but now, I..." he trailed off, hearing a loud, rumbling noise and jerking his head around. "Wh-... what on Earth?!"

From behind him, a gigantic wave of water swept across the landscape, flowing over hilltops and through the dead forests of Angel Island. The current picked both Sonic and Knuckles up as it moved over the surface of the ground and the screaming of spirits echoed through the fluid.

Edited by AXB
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