Sonic Apocalypse

Chapter 68 - A Remedy for a Broken Emerald

Knuckles had a potential remedy for the Emeralds in his sights. The suspicious looking facility was dead ahead, a facility that stood out amongst its brutalized neighbours. Knuckles hypothesized the possibility that this base was set up just recently to restore energy for Imperial forces, which would explain its mostly intact condition. In order to further confirm his theories, Knuckles gave a closer look at the base just to see whether or not he was alone.

He wasn't.

"Whelp, now I know for a fact that this place has some sort of power." said Knuckles as he observed the base in front of him.

Pretty soon, something peculiar had caught his eye. He witnessed some sort of light green figure who appeared to be a hedgehog of some sort. Since this mysterious Mobian was communicating with some of Eggmans androids, Knuckles knew he couldn't have been allied with him and the others. Curious, he leaned in to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Sir, some Allied forces have been spotted within the vicinity." warned an anonymous android.

"Find them. Bring them to me. I require more strength." ordered the unknown figure. The robots fulfilled his request and began searching throughout the area, walking right past Knuckles who kept his stealth up by hiding beneath some rubble.

"I'm only hiding from you guys 'cause I got more important things to do at the moment." Knuckles growled to rid himself of the humiliation he had felt.

Due to the uncertainty regarding whatever powers this man possesses, Knuckles stayed behind and waited for him to walk away. He had to wait behind a pile of rubble for quite some time, seeing that the Mobian looked around for a few moments to get a possible glance at his intruders. After he finally gave up and strutted off impatiently, Knuckles seized his chances to try and revive his Emeralds. Obviously, he was completely unfamiliar with his surroundings, but he knew that this base was relatively new and makeshift so he probably wouldn't have too much trouble finding a suitable remedy.

"Now's my chance!" Knuckles whispered.

His next course of action would be the stealthy entrance into the facility. The dark atmosphere of the nighttime provided Knuckles with extra coverage, allowing him to swiftly glide into the base undetected. As his feet touched the ground, he began to search the area for any type of energy source he could get his mits on. The base was of pretty small size, so there wasn't much ground he would need to cover, but he did have to watch for the many busted androids that laid around him. After pacing around the area for a little while, he eventually came across something that could potentially be of use: a generator.

He gave a short reliving sigh prior to giving a closer inspection of the generator. The room was very dark as the generator was the only apparatus which provided the room with light. However, Knuckles had a very keen sense of vision, as mentioned before, so he was able to see what was arouns him really well. His proficient eyesight also allowed him to witness something rather interesting:

Hooked up to the generator was a handful of various different androids from many different ranks. As the circumstances of the situation came to his mind, Knuckles smirked at the opportunity that was oh so kindly gifted to him.

"Looks like I can kill two birds with one stone. Or in this case, quite a few androids. If I can somehow tap into this generator, I can suck all of its power and give it to the Emeralds! And in turn, we can use the hedgehogs super forms and take out Eggman for good! Damn, Knuckles, you really outdid yourself this time! Wait until Rouge hears about thi--"

Upon hearing himself getting carried away with his monologue, he started blushing lightly. Collecting himself after nearly dozing off completely, Knuckles began fidgeting with the generators control panel, hoping to disable it in some way. He knew next to nothing about this sort of thing, which is why he began regretting his decision to not bring Tails along. But he thought his experience with technology was enough to allow him access to the generators mainframe.

By sheer, dumb luck, Knuckles disable the generator beside him. He crouched and hid underneath the control panel after the shutdown caused an irritating whirring sound to go off. Following the short commotion, Knuckles took a gander around the room, making sure that nobody heard that awful sound. After confirming that the coast was clear, he got back up and headed for the generator and carefully placed his Emeralds inside. As he put his plans into action, Knuckles continued to look around him to further confirm his loneliness.

"I know for a fact that somebody heard that. I have to hurry, at least one Emerald will do."

As the Emeralds extracted energy from the base, Knuckles could distinctly hear footsteps ahead. Realizing that one Emerald was successfully powered up, he panicked and grabbed all of them. With the gemstones coddled ever so comfortably in his arms, Knuckles glided upward and exited through a convenient latch on the ceiling. His mission was proclaimed a successful one. He smiled warmly while gliding through the midnight air, the cool summer breeze caressing his cheeks made him feel an extra layer of comfort. It was now time to rendezvous with Tails and the others, assuming they were still over at Floral Village.

Knuckles was so proud of himself that he immediately forgot about the strange villain he had just witnessed. He then started asking himself the obvious questions:

"Who is he? What is he? He appeared to be withered and burned in some places, so it's obvious he had taken part in the war in some form. He was an ugly motherfucker for sure, though I didn't get a very good glance at him. But for a second there, I could've sworn those quills of his almost resembled...Sonics? What the hell is this thing? Regardless of what he was...what could he have been planning back there? Is it something regarding the Empire? Is he out doing his own thing? Eh, in any event, I'm sure all of my questions will be answered in due time, but for now, I've got some buddies I gotta find."

Knuckles was so caught up with his own ambitions that the possibility of his friends getting tangled up in combat hadn't crossed his mind. But now that his fears had come true and his friends were in danger, Knuckles knew he had to do something. And fast.