Dark Mecha By: Asa Castle Note: some events, people, or objects from this story may be related to NetRaptor's stories ****** Sonic stumbled to the ground as Tails passed him by. "Tails, I think you've got my running style down," Sonic said while he was still hacking up the dirt from Tails' last pass by. Tails screams at Sonic, "Sonic! I wanna keep tryin'! I can still only go half your speed." "Tails, I think goin' the speed of sound is fast enough," Sonic told Tails. Sonic picked himself up from the muddy ground as Tails ran even faster so he could pick up enough speed to do his new move: the Super Tails Cannonball. First Tails jumped upward as high as he could, using his twin tails to carry him higher, then spun his body around as Sonic did, but Tails, instead of rolling along the ground, kept his tails spinning to shoot him through the air like a cannonball. "Tails, watch it!" Sonic yelled as Tails landed next to him, splashing more mud on him. Sonic looked behind him as Spike walked toward him through the mud. Spike started telling Sonic how much better Tails is than he is. Sonic, being ticked off at Spike from when they were with Metal Sonic, rolled into a Super Sonic Spin and knocked Spike backwards into the mud. "What the heck did ya do that for!?" yelled Spike. "Oh lets see, hmmmm ... I wonder, maybe, because you're a total jerk!" Sonic yelled back. Then Sonic tried to get up, but stumbles due to the recently broken arm. Spike walks over Sonic, pulled him up, then threw him back into the mud. Soon Sonic and Spike were rolling in the mud, play- fighting with each other. Sonic winced with pain as Spike's elbow hit his still injured arm. Then Sonic decided to have some real fun; he reached down towards his belt and drew his hands across his belt's Emerald studded surface. Spike was blown backwards as Sonic flew upwards, flashing all the colors of the emeralds. Then Sonic grabbed Spike and Tails at the same time and flung them up towards the nearest cloud. Spike rolled up into a ball like Sonic would do, and Tails started to spin his tails. Then he grabbed Spike and threw him down toward Sonic. Sonic grabbed Spike's arm and flung him farther down, into the waterfall below him. Spike then spun into the water, causing the water to leap upward and knock Tails down into the water with him. Spike and Tails were washed down the waterfall and pushed under from all the momentum of the fall. Sonic, realizing what was happening, spun into a Sonic spin and jetted down into the water at the speed of sound! Sonic, now underwater, pushed himself down towards the all-too familiar surroundings of where Mecha first went down. Sonic kept pushing downward until he saw Tails' limp body floating upward with Spike nearby. Sonic swung to the right with a flash of Hyper Sonic speed and grabbed Tails and Spike, then flung them up above the water. The force of his throw pushed him deeper underwater. He started to feel cold, even through his invincibility curtain. Sonic then spun in place and shot out of the water at Hyper Sonic speeds! He flew upward, remembering how Nights had taught him about the paraloop maneuver. Then, just for the thrill of it, he looped around in a paraloop, and to his surprise he saw a trail of sparks that touched and flashed in a brilliant light! ****** Back at Knothole, Sally was still researching comas on Nichole. She had just tapped into a new line at Robotropolis, when she saw a flash of brilliant light, followed by a Super Sonic Boom. The blast knocked Nichole onto the ground and pushed Sally over into a pool of mud behind her. ****** Back at the waterfall... Sonic now fell to the ground from the flash of light. Luckily he landed on his feet instead of his injured arm. He called out as loud as he could to Serena, using his Hyper powers to increase the volume of his voice. Sonic knelt over Tails and shook him until he awakened with a mouth full of water. Then Sonic tried to rouse Spike but couldn't. He removed his emerald belt and placed it on Spike while he was still fading back into pure blue. "Spike? Spike!? SPIKE!!!" Sonic yelled. The porcupine was burning a fierce red from the power of the Super Emeralds. "Spike, c'mon, ya gotta get up ... we were gonna play tag ... remember?" Tails said slowly. Just as Tails finished his line Serena spun forward from the trees and skidded to a stop near Sonic. "Is Spike all right?" she asked impatiently. "I'da know sis ... I don't know," Sonic said slowly to his speedy little sister. ****** "Awwww ... c'mon, I can take Spike back to Sally. Lemme try," Serena asked Sonic while he just shook his head. Then Sonic thought about all she had done before, and replied, "All right Serena, but be careful." Serena spun up into the air, having some fun, for she knew Spike wasn't hurt at all. Serena spun down at Spike and grabbed his belt off his waist, then strapped it onto her own waist and, still playing, ran around as fast as she could, and transformed while still running. Because of her speed during the transformation, her image trailed out behind her at three different points. Serena flew over to Sonic and hovered above his head, flailing her arms around, watching the sparks she created. "C'mon, Serena, we gotta help Spike, he could be hurt," Sonic said impatiently. Serena spun down at Sonic, dancing through the air for a little while. "You can wake up Spike! HA HA! Sonic! We fooled you, Sonic!" Tails, Spike and Serena all yelled together. Then Tails said, "After you threw us up into the air, Spike and I decided to trick you. When we saw Serena beside the waterfall we were falling into, I hovered just long enough to tell her our plan, then flew into the water while Serena kept the plan going to get your emerald belt." "Well, aren't you all the little 'botniks." Sonic commented sarcastically, while trying to grab the belt off of Serena. Serena grabbed Sonic and pulled him up into the air, while he was spinning in place, trying to stop her. Then suddenly, in the exact spot Sonic did the paraloop, a giant gold ring appeared and in a flash disappears, leaving a lone figure crumpled on the ground. Sonic dropped down from Serena, who was still in the air flashing only pink and green with red sparks crackling around her, to see who the creature was. As he neared it he saw the two long tail-like projections from the back of its head, making it look like a joker. Then Sonic saw the white eyes and it's purple body and realized it was Nights! "NIGHTS! Why are you here!?" Sonic yelled, running toward him. "Huh? Sonic? Where am I?" Nights replied dazedly. Sonic picked up Nights and said he was on Mobius near Knothole. Nights picked himself up and said, "Reality!? What am I doing here?" Nights jumped up into the air, hovered over to Serena and asked her why she was flashing. Serena, kind of startled, explained it all to him, but only because she realized he was Sonic's friend. Serena removed the belt and fell to the ground, landing in a spin dash. Sonic spun his legs like an eight, trying to show off to Nights about his speed. Then Sonic released his grip to the ground and shot forward, grabbing the belt and strapping it around his waist. He spun as fast as he could until the air was being pushed through his quills, this made him shoot upward while he ran his arms across the belt. Everyone had to cover their eyes from the flash, even Nights. Sonic then gripped his belt and spun his legs as fast as he could, then released his grip on the belt and appeared by Nights in a flash of light. "Trying to show off, Sonic, when a great question is at hand?" Nights told Sonic, looking around at his surroundings. "What QUESTION?" Sonic asked slowly. "WHY I'M HERE," Nights said angrily. Sonic figured something must be wrong for Nights to be ticked. ****** Back at Knothole... Sally called Rotor and Bunnie over to help her figure out what was going on. Rotor scrambled out of his workshop holding a SWATs hand, while Bunnie walked over to Sally and said, "What's wrong, sugah?" Sally answered by telling her about the Sonic boom she felt shouldn't have travelled the 17 miles between Knothole and the river. Suddenly a flash of light blinded the three. A giant ring appeared before them, leaving a dark figure standing in one spot. Sally walked over to it, and saw a clown-like creature with scarlet colors and a demented-looking face. _________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 2 _________________________________________________________________________________ "Who are you anyway, you clown guy!?" Spike yelled at Nights, very ticked, for no particular reason at all. "My name is Nights, and I am SUPPOSED to be in Nightopia," Nights calmly told Spike. Tails flew up next to Sonic and looked at Nights, kind of scared. Then Sonic told him that there is nothing to be scared about and that Nights is his friend. Serena seemed to like the way Nights looked and asked him how he could fly. "Well ... I ... um ... I don't really know," Nights slowly told Serena, as she looked at him, very interested. Sonic looked down at Nights side and saw the scrape that was down his side before was now gone. Sonic, deciding to try and make some fun out of the situation, said, "Nights, ya wanna race in a flying match?" Nights, due to his fun-loving nature, immediately replied, "Sure!" ****** Tails was laying down beside Serena and Spike, watching Serena's watch, which was set on Timer Mode. Hyper Sonic and Nights were lined up beside each other, Sonic in his famous gripping position where he grips the ground to rev up, and Nights hovering beside him. "On the count of three, go. 1 ... 2 ... 3!!!" Sonic shot ahead, but was suddenly knocked to the side by the speeding Nights, who was going at least Mach1! Sonic gripped his belt as hard as he could, harder and harder until he couldn't even feel his hands anymore, they were so tight. By this time, Sonic had been speeding up, and suddenly Tails, Serena, Spike, and Nights were all shaken by the Super (or Hyper) Sonic Boom. Sonic, still wondering how fast he can go, grips the emeralds even harder. He felt a jolt of raw power run through his arms. He was blown backwards into Nights, who instantly spun around, having a great time. Sonic, now surging with Hyper powers, pushed himself forward as fast as he could. He began to pass Mach 3 as all of his surroundings changed to a flash of colors. Sonic was constantly bombarded with Nights sparks. He began to plan when to stop. After a split second Sonic suddenly appeared beside Tails, with a time of ten fifteen mile laps in three seconds! Nights pulled up behind Sonic and said it was fun, but he still wanted to know: "Why am I in reality?" _______________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3 _______________________________________________________________________ Back at Knothole, Sally approached the dark faced clown and inquired who he was. He only replied, "Nights is here." Sally then asked him whether he knew Robotnik. He went into a large FAKE conversation about how much he hated Robotnik. Then he hovered above Sally, and zipped off towards Robotropolis. ****** "Packbell! Get this over with! I want Robo Knuckles on-line in 24 hours!" Robotnik yelled at the humanoid android. As soon as Packbell booted up Robo Knux's main computer, a wire sparked as a dark figure in the shape of a clown emerges as an electric bolt. "Packbell.." it said. ****** "Nights, I'm telling you I don't know!" Sonic impatiently told Nights, as Nights began to twiddle with his joker tails. "NIGHTS! You're FADING!" "What!? Fading!?" Nights asked in kind of a yell. Sonic grabbed Nights's hand and showed him it. Nights stared at it a while, until he just said, "I've been here too long; I've gotta get back to Nightopia." Sonic grabbed Nights's arm and said, "Well, if I made a Paraloop and you came through, then I'll make another and put you into it." Sonic charged up with the little Hyper powers he had left, and shot into the air, leaving a trail of sparks behind him. He spun around in a total circle and let the sparks meet to create a Paraloop. "In ya go, Nights," Sonic said as he lunged to the right, in order to throw Nights into the flashing ring of sparks. He threw Nights into the sparks, and a giant ring appeared and vanished again--with Nights in it. "Where did he go, Sonic?" Tails asked, still blinded by the light. "I donno, but I hope it's Nightopia," Sonic answered. Spike decided that this was getting a little dull and walked off towards Knothole. Serena held out her arms, seeing that Sonic was fading back to blue. After a couple seconds Sonic fell to the ground, only to be caught by Serena. "Whoa, thanks sis," Sonic said, a little surprised. ****** Back at Knothole... Bunnie and Sally were studying Super Rings through a connection in Robotropolis when they saw a familiar shadow gliding down beside them. "Knuckles! What are you doing here?" Sally asked. "Not much. Just wanted to check up on Sonic's hurt arm," Knuckles told Sally. Then Knuckles spun his legs the way Sonic had taught him to do, spun into a Spin Attack, then shot away through the forest to find Sonic. ****** "Sonic, I wanna go back to Knothole. I'm getting bored," Tails told Sonic as Sonic spun by again. Sonic grabbed Tails and Serena, then shot down towards Knothole. While he was shooting through the forest he collided with a blur of red. "KNUX!? What are you doin' in my path!?" Sonic yelled, kind of ticked. "I was checking on you, but you seem to be fine. By the way Sally seemed kind of shaken. Is something wrong?" Knux asked. "Not that I know of," Sonic said, not wanting to reveal Nights to anyone in case they thought he'd lost it. Then Knux grabbed Sonic's quills and held on tight while Sonic shot forward, spinning his legs like mad. A few minutes later Sonic shot into Knothole with Serena holding on for dear life, Tails flying above Sonic, and Knuckles gliding beside Tails. Serena stumbled off Sonic and started gasping for air, then fainted and fell onto the muddy ground. "Great Sonic, you did it again!" Knuckles yelled. "Great, SLASHER!" Sonic yelled. "Sonic, Slasher isn't here. Remember, she's out on vacation or something," Sally told Sonic. Sonic just sighed and picked up Serena. He laid her out on her bed and told Tails to watch her while he checked the outpost points. Sonic then grabbed Knuckles and spun his legs in the shape of an eight. After a second of revving up, he shot off, still holding Knuckles. Sonic had always wanted to try this. What he did was a spin attack and move as fast as he could while he held Knux above him. The faster Sonic moved the more Knuckles's dreadlocks spread out. Knuckles started being pulled up into the air, still holding Sonic below him. Sonic wanted to go faster, so he ripped his hands across his belt and changed into Hyper Sonic. Knuckles was blown upwards about twenty feet and Sonic, although he can now fly, still held onto him. Sonic spun his legs so fast that they seemed to vanish. The speed lifted Knuckles even higher and pushed him forward at about two hundred miles per hour. Sonic estimated that they were about 1000 feet above the surface of Mobius. Sonic asked Knux if he wanted to go into Robotropolis on a hit and run mission, but before Knuckles could answer, Sonic yelled, "COOL!" He shot in a dive straight into the center of Robotropolis. ****** "This wasn't my idea," Knuckles said worriedly. "Oh, stop being such a wimp," Sonic growled. Sonic charged up even more on his Super Emerald belt and flew up into the air near Packbell's office. Knuckles looked up at Sonic, shielding his eyes from the blinding glow. He felt worried as Sonic looked through a window into Packbell's office. While Sonic was looking in he saw seven bright lights; as he looked closer, he realized that they were the Time Stones! Sonic held up his arm and slammed through the window to get at them. Knuckles, below him, jumped to the left, dodging the falling glass. Up above, Sonic began flying into the room, spinning wildly to produce sparks for light. Then a booming voice echoed through the room, "Sonic, dehyperize before I have to clean you up!" Sonic thought it sounded a little like Mecha, but also a little like another robot he had never heard before. Sonic spun around so fast that a flash shot through, the room making Knuckles think he was under attack. Knuckles jumped into the polluted air and caught a gush of air in his dreadlocks, the wind pushing him upward, near the window opening. Sonic saw him and tried to cover the window area to prevent any damage to Knuckles if there was a fight. Sonic looked harder into the dark room and saw a pair of red half circles with a bright green center. Then he heard a boom and saw a black blur shoot out towards him. He dodged to the left and back to the right, but the blur kept swerving around all his dodging attempts. Knuckles, seeing what was going on, pulled out a tiny pistol he had been carrying and shot it at the blur. The shot bounced back and hit Knux in the chest. He fell backward and toppled through the window. Sonic heard a thud and saw Knuckles wasn't there anymore. Then the blur stopped moving and slid to a stop in front of Sonic. Before anything happened Sonic wanted to have the Time Stones, so he pushed himself forward, grabbed the stones and placed them in his belt. Then Sonic heard deep laughter. He turned around to see what looked like Metal Sonic, but was coal black and had some little extras on him. Sonic moved to the side and saw the 'bot followed his exact movements. "Who are you!?" Sonic yelled at the 'bot. The robot just stood there silently. Then he lifted himself off the ground and whispered something into a comlink on his chest. Sonic saw eight jet propulsion units light up brightly on the robots back. "Sssonic, we're here to KILL you!!! HAHAHAHA!" the robot boomed as it's jets hurled it straight at Sonic. Sonic leaped aside to dodge it, but wasn't fast enough. He was blown through a wall and toppled through the air. While he fell his belt fell off and Sonic hit the ground with a loud thud. Knuckles, now revived, sprinted over to Sonic and saw he had the Time Stones. Remembering something Robotnik said one time, he got an idea. Knuckles climbed to the top of building and into the hole Sonic made. He saw the belt laying right on the edge of the opening. A second later Knux glided down to Sonic with the belt. He picked up the seven time stones and tied them onto the belt. After a second or two the belt started to get hot and glow blood red. Knuckles strapped it onto Sonic, and used Sonic's arms to activate the belt. Knuckles was blown backwards fifty feet and paralyzed from the legs down! He saw Sonic rise up into the air and explode into a ball of colors. Then all the colors dropped out and he changed black, white, then black again. Knuckles saw Sonic shake his head and wake up, then Sonic screamed with what sounded like extreme pain. Knux wondered if he had done the right thing, but then his question was answered because he saw Sonic standing before him, fading black and white with red sparks crackling all around him, and even the smallest movement (like the movement of a finger) seemed to create it's own Sonic Boom, due to its new super speeds. Knuckles struggled to get up and finally managed to. Sonic appeared beside him in a flash and said, "What did ya do to me, K-T-E?" "A long time ago I heard 'Botnik talking about what would happen if somebody possessed the Time Stones and the Super Emeralds together. He said that whoever had them all would become ultra and could crush a mountain with a single flick!" Knux hesitantly told Sonic. "Well, whatever I am, I like it, and I'm gonna go kick some 'bot butt up in that tower!" Sonic snapped back. Suddenly Sonic appeared up on the tower. A couple of blinding flashes later, Sonic and an exact duplicate of him shot out of the tower's wall, engaged in combat. Knux stood in place, watching the robot, thinking that this one must be dangerous because he saw what looked like a miniature PPC on it's shoulder! When Knux heard the sound of Ions being charged up he took cover behind an old building. After a huge flash of light, a Super Sonic Boom, and intense heat Knuckles stepped out to see the bot and Sonic still in the same position, neither of them even fazed by the shot. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 4 ________________________________________________________________________ Sonic was still hovering through the smoggy dark brown air that was starting to drop down below zero. Knuckles shivered, and had wrapped himself in some old newspapers to try and keep warm. Sonic was still right in front of the robot who now said, "I am Dark Mecha and my creator is Reala." "Reala!? Dang! That explains why your so ugly lookin!" Sonic angrily told Dark. Knux picked up a cup of warm water and rubbed it onto his injury where the shot had bounced of of Dark. Knuckles started to think about stuff to keep his mind busy. He thought about all the stuff Robotnik had said about when you had Ultra powers. Then he remembered something. "SONIC!!! As Ultra Sonic you can pass over the boundaries of time!" Sonic smiled an unfriendly smile at Dark just before he vanished, then reappeared. As he came back Dark vanished in a flash of light that illuminated the whole city. "Whadd'ya do, Sonic!?" Knux yelled. "I just travelled back in time and made his body explode before he was on-line," Sonic said. Then after a second or two another flash illuminated the city, and this one was blood red! Sonic turned around to see Reala and Dark Mecha hovering beside one another. "Sonic, Metal Sonic was your worst nightmare, so how do you feel about a Robo Knuckles AND a Metal Sonic added together? Which is JUST what Dark Mecha IS," Reala said in a whisper. Sonic was about to attack the two invaders, when his hand was shot at by a whole squad of U-SWATs. Sonic swooped down to destroy the SWATs but just as he reached them his power faded away and he fell into a puddle of dirty oil right at the U-SWATs feet! Knuckles ran out at the U-SWATs only to be shot down by a stun blaster. ****** When Sonic awoke he found himself chained tightly against a bare wall in a cold dark cell. He looked all around for Knux, but only saw empty cells covered in cobwebs and dust. Sonic sneezed as some dust drifted into his nose. Five SWATs walked up to Sonic and said, "State your name and problem." "Listen, I don't gotta do zilch to what you all say!" Sonic spat back at them. Then Sonic heard a scream and saw Knuckles come crashing through a wall, then get shot down by lasers, and last thrown into a cell. Then Dark stepped through the hole in the wall with only some paint and coloring scrapes, but besides the finish he hadn't been damaged by Knux at all! A little after ten minutes later Knuckles poked his head out through the bars in his cell, after deciding nobody was around, he started cutting at the bars with his knuckles. "Knux, quiet! Dark could be right out the door," Sonic whispered. Knuckles just kept going until one bar fell out, but right when it had been totally removed a loud alarm rang through their ears as red floodlights filled the room. Suddenly the room was filled with U-SWATs and the one Dark Mecha. Soon all the bots started clearing to the side to allow two dark figures through. One was very large like an egg and Sonic figured this was Robotnik, he also figured the smaller one must be Reala. "I hate being right all the time," Sonic grumbled. Sonic reached for his neck where his whistle ought to be, but it was gone! "DANG!!! It musta' fallen off!" Sonic scowled. ****** Reala stepped into the light near Sonic and cursed him as Sonic just stayed on the wall in chains looking at his dark crimson face. "Sonic. I don't know how I got into your world, but I like it, and in case you want to know where Nights went, he's trapped in the Interweb," Reala said with an evil chuckle that put Robotnik and Packbell to shame. "WHAT!?" Sonic screamed as Knuckles just sat in his cell, wide eyed at the word. "Yes, the Interweb. When you made your second Paraloop I had just initiated my plan to destroy Nights, and since he was in reality he couldn't stop it. I sent a holograph of a giant gold ring to convince you that it would be safe, but if you were on the other side of the ring you would have noticed the portal to the Interweb," Reala said, again chuckling, but more twisted than before. Knuckles hated the way this dark creature laughed and lunged out of his cage at Reala, smashing anything in the way with his flailing arms. Knuckles was so mad that Sonic couldn't help but watch him, and he didn't notice Dark Mecha fly away into the forest out of Robotropolis. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 5 ________________________________________________________________________ Back at Knothole everyone was asleep except Sally, who was awake worrying about Sonic and Knuckles--she didn't know where they were; nobody did. Sally decided to get up and get a drink of water. As she left her hut and walked out into the cold night she thought she heard a distant rumble, then decided it must have been thunder from another storm. Then she heard it again. Now it was a constant humming that was continuously growing louder. "Sally girl, whats that noise?" Bunnie asked as she walked out of her hut. "I ... I ... I don't know, but go sound the alarm," Sally stammered. Bunnie ran over to a large brass bell and started hitting it with her arm to make a loud ringing noise. Tails walked out of the medical hut where Serena was asleep and still recovering from when Sonic carried her too fast. "Whats up?" Tails said sleepily. "Ah da know, Tails dear," Bunnie answered slowly. Tails stood there a second, and then ran inside to wake up the now partially recovered Serena. After a second or two, Tails, Serena, and the rest of Knothole were scrambling around collecting weapons to use against the bright light heading in their direction. ****** As Sally started directing the normal citizens out of Knothole the small village was suddenly showered with laser shots. While Sally was directing some people out of the village a laser glanced her shoulder and she fell to the ground. Bunnie activated the jets built into her metal legs and flew over to Sally to pick her up. Just as Bunnie moved a PPC shot hit right where Sally used to be. The ground exploded behind Bunnie, knocking her into a tree that instantly splintered with the force. Sally managed to get up, but was knocked down again by a downfall of rocks and cold dirt. The dark figure landed beside Sally and kicked her head, knocking her out cold. Bunnie tried to get up but couldn't, as some of the trees limbs were wrapped around her metal legs. Bunnie watched the dark figure, wondering who or what it was. Then, as it stepped into the light, she thought she knew who it was ... Metal Sonic. Then she looked closer and realized it couldn't be him, this one looked larger ... more evil! "Reala, this is Dark reporting in." "Go on", Reala said. "On my weekly patrol route 9AF, I found the secret location of Knothole Village. Home in on my source for the location." "Excellent," Reala said with a scowl. Bunnie finally ripped the trees limbs off and stood up, pointing her laser blaster at the robot. Her shot illuminated the night as the energy ball shot forward, toward Dark Mecha. Just as it had done to Knuckles, the shot bounced off Dark's hull and shot upward into a treetop. Bunnie ducked under as a PPC shot flew overhead exploding four huts behind her. Wood splintered through the air as flame fell down upon the ground. Then Bunnie turned around to face the robot, but while she was turning a black blur flew, by her knocking her over into the mud. Then she thought she felt something and looked down to see her right leg smashed inward on the back and crackling with electricity. Bunnie stumbled to the ground and fainted, but before she went out she noticed that her deflected shot had started a forest fire around Knothole! ****** Back in Robotropolis Sonic and Knuckles were struggling to get away from the U-SWATs that were taking them to the Roboticizer room. Sonic's feet couldn't get good enough traction on the cold slick metal floor to make an advantage out of his speed. But Knuckles could grip the floor well, and had managed to get one of his arms unnoticed out of the chains. Knuckles, gripping the floor with his feet as hard as he could, diverted all of his weight into flipping the U-SWAT backwards. The U-SWAT started to lift off the floor as it's head started looking around, always repeating, "Freedom Fighter HALT!!!" Finally Knuckles flipped the bot clear over his shoulder and into the one holding Sonic. They both exploded, blowing Sonic and Knuckles into the wall. ****** "Robotnik, I have found the location of Knothole and am taking measures to destroy it, ONLY so I can kill that wretched hedgehog who made a fool of me in Nightmaria!" Reala told Robotnik in his evilest voice. It echoed down the hallway so loud that all the SWATs heard it and started peering around. "Whatever, Reala. As long as that HEDGEHOG DIES!" Robotnik answered to Reala. ****** By now Sonic and Knuckles had cleared out a trail of bots and were on their way to Knothole. "Knuckles do you remember when I told you about Nights and Nightopia?" Sonic asked. "Sure, how could I forget!?" Knuckles answered, a little sarcastically. "Well, you know Nights is stuck in the ... Inter ... the Interweb, and I'm wonderin'--how are we gonna get him out before he looses his mind?" Sonic again asked. "I da' know, I guess we could have Slasher get 'im out once she's back from wherever she is," Knuckles told Sonic. "Okay ... HEY! Whats all that smoke comin' from in the forest!? Uh oh, it's near Knothole! Grab on, it's time to JUICE!!!" Sonic said as he shot off in a burst of Super Speed. ****** At Knothole, Serena was doing her best to put out he fires while Tails was fighting the mysterious robot. "Little kid! Stop scuffin' my paint! Or I, Dark Mecha, will have to extinguish your pitiful life," Dark angrily told Tails, who was flying beside him, whacking at him with his tails. What Dark Mecha said made Tails so mad he curled up his tails and did a Super Tails Cannonball. The blow seemed to only chip off some paint at first, but then Dark started to reach for his arm where he had been hit and feel it, only to find out that a piece of his metal plating had come off. "Well, at least we know he's not invincible," Serena told Tails. But as Serena said that a mini-missile launched from Dark and blew her backwards into Sonic's chili dog stand. Serena stumbled up and picked out a gun from a pouch on her back. She picked out the strongest Energy Rifle that was there. But like always, when it hit Dark it reflected back this time hit Tails in his chest. He he fell to the ground with a loud thud. Serena limped over to Tails and felt his heart. "Good, he's still alive ... only stunned." "HEY!!! What's goin' on here!?" Sonic yelled at Dark as he ran up to the top of a hill overlooking Knothole. "YEAH! We want in on some of the action!" Knuckles added. ________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 6 ________________________________________________________________________ "Well, look who made it out of the jail. Big surprise," Dark said sarcastically. "Reala and I could make better brussel sprouts!" he added. "Uh oh, Knux, he's not loyal to 'buttnik--that means he won't stop at anything ol' 'buttnik wants to to kill us," Sonic said. "Great," Knuckles told Sonic sarcastically. Then Sonic grabbed Knuckles and flung him into the air while he was spinning. Sonic followed, launching himself upwards with a Peel Out maneuver. Sonic bounced off him while Knuckles hit him in the place where Tails hit him in his arm. Sonic landed on the ground by Serena in time to see Dark's arm fall off and Knuckles get shot into a tree by Dark's Laser Rifle. Sonic spun his legs like mad to rev up fast enough to shoot around Knothole and gather up all the injured people. Then he revved up again and carried them to a hidden area he knew about, shot back to Knothole. All of this happened in less then a second! After this Sonic tried to change into Ultra Sonic, but as he pulled his hands over his belt the stones just made a whining noise as the power faded out again. Serena grabbed Dark's arm and threw it at Sonic, hoping he'd catch it and see her plan. He did. Sonic caught the cold metal arm that was still splintered around the top where Knuckles hit it. Sonic threw it up into Dark's jet engines in his back. Dark turned around and started to charge up to spin attack Sonic, but as he did so, sparks started to fly out of his back. He turned around and started trying to rip his old arm out of his engine, but it was to late. The explosion blew Sonic, Serena, and Rotor, who had been putting all the fires out, backwards about 300 feet and landing them all near a creek on a cliff ledge. None of them were hurt in the blast, so they immediately got up to see Dark's charred body crash down into the exact same river under the bridge where Mecha first died. ________________________________________________________________________ Ending ________________________________________________________________________ Now, six months, later everyone who was injured was now healed, and the location of Knothole is no longer known to Robotnik due to a mission led by Knuckles to sabotage the computer which stored the location. Reala is still at Robotropolis, leading all of Packbell's new robot plans. And as for Nights, he is still trapped in the Interweb until Slasher gets back and figures out a plan to rescue him, and boy, does Sonic have a story for her. For now... THE END ______________________________________________________