The Chaos Strain Chapter 4 Written by Lee Jin Long Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prowers and all other characters featured in this story are copyright by SEGA Inc., Archie Comics and/or DiC Productions. Please do not use this story to gain money. If you have any questions, email me at ljlong@mbox2.singnet.com.sg! Also, I have decided to do away with the synopsis. If you had liked it, email me to bring it back! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Timeline : 3 days after the events in Chapter 3 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Knuckles read his book of the Ancient Walkers one more time, thinking about his mammoth task ahead of him. He walked into the Emerald Chamber, still pretty much amazed at the past events... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Timeline : Immediately after the events in Chapter 4 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Knuckles listened attentively as Bookshire babbled out what was going to happen to Tails, Sally and finally Sonic the Hedgehog. The red echidna calmed the elderly raccoon down as he flipped through his refrence books, looking for something related to what Bookshire said. Finally, he came upon a small article in the book of the Ancient Walkers: Knoweth ye who bares witness to thy substance, for thou art shalt causeth eternal suffering of madness. Thou hath no cure, except maybeth thy shining diamond of light... Knuckles slammed the book shut. He thought of the Chaos Emeralds. However, the Chaos Emeralds were not diamonds! Neither were there only one of these. He read on: Thy diamond of light shalt raise thy island of floating truths, and thou shalt bare witness to these miracles. For thy diamond shalt be the center of all power, and mustheth be buried in thy bowels of the raised plateau... Knuckles thought for a while: raised plateau, diamond, center...Of course! The legendary Super Emerald! However, that was only a myth, passed down through the echidnas since the beginning of their existence! The book said that the emerald was buried deep within the Floating Island. Where else but...The Volcano--he had to find some secret passage in the volcano! Knuckles told Bookshire and the rest to tie Sonic up and guard him, in case he should go running off to Robotnik. Then, he jumped up and flew back to the Floating Island. Soon, the volcano was in sight, spewing out lava and bleching smoke. The lava would always flow in the rivers and cool of, so that would not cause a treat to the Floating Island. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Timeline : Back to the present... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Knuckles walked along the edge of the volcano, covering his nose to protect his lungs. The smoke made it hard to see and was causing Knuckles to cough every few steps. Stopping, he leaned against a wall, wanting to catch is breath. Suddenly, the wall moved away, as if someone pushed it aside. Knuckles fell and landed hard on his arm. There was a loud CRACK!, followed by a massive OOWW!. Knuckles picked himself up, holding in fractured arm. Great. Finding the secrect passage only to fracture your arm. Just Great. Knuckles limped on, the pain in his arm getting worst. The tunnel was very dark, causing Knuckles to bump into the walls every now and then, thus adding another OW! to the never-ending echoes. Soon, Knuckles saw a light shining at the end. Overjoyed, for his arm felt as if it was broken, Knuckles ran towards it, only to find himself at the edge of a great canyon. He looked down and he wished he had not. Down at the bottom were a few million spikes, some decorated with skulls and who-knows-what-else. Knuckles was about to turn back when he saw the light reflect off something. Turning around, he picked up a handful of sand and threw it and the opening . The sand landed neatly in a row, showing the invisible path across the canyon. He walked across and continued his journey into the never-ending tunnel. Soon, he saw another light at the end of the tunnel. As he took a step forward, he heard a distant BOOM! and turned his head. There, heading straight for him, was a gigantic black ball, ready to make his Knuckles Sushi! Knuckles turned and fled, only to have thousands of arrows shooting of from the walls, trying to make him Knuckles Snack! Knuckles dodged, skipped, ran, walked, stumbled, crouched, jumped, rolled, twisted and leaped, finally landing in a wide chamber. He arm was getting black and blue, and he was bleeding rather profusely, staining the clean white floor of the chamber. Knuckles glanced up and noticed a huge, green diamond-shaped crystal floating in the air. As he approached it, he felt himself getting stronger and his wounds started to heal almost instantly. Knuckles, who was totally healed, jumped up and touched the crystal. Immediately, energy surged through his body, causing him to shine with radiance! Knuckles felt stronger, more powerful when the time when he touched to Choas Emeralds! Knuckles grinned. So this was the Super Emerald. The emerald started to shrink, its power being contained in Knuckles body. Knuckles jumped up, and found himself smashing into the celing, without any apparent effort! Soon, he smashed through the top of the volcano, and emmited a light which was to be remembered in the years to come as the "Light of Hope". Then, he flew at an uncomprehandable speed, something which cannot be described in this story. At only a few second, he had reached Knothole, which should have taken him a few hours! Knuckles landed and the freedom-fighters gave a resounding cheer. Hyper-Knuckes was in town and he was going to kick Robuttnik's butt! Knuckles stepped into the Medical Room, where Sonic was being chained to the bed, with Bookshire and two guards by his side. Knuckles went up to Sonic and touched his hands. Immediately, there was a glow and the mechanics inside Sonic's body began to fade, returning to organic form again. Sonic's body now radiated with the same glow as Knuckles. However, Knuckles soon lost the glow as the power was being transfered to Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic broke off the chains easily and thanked Knuckles, "Well, we finally worked together for once!" "Hey, don't go too far, blue guy!" Knuckles replied, walking out of the room. Sonic shrugged and turned to Bookshire, "Hey bigguy! How did that email-thingey work out?" Bookshire nodded and then reminded Sonic of Sally and Tails. Sonic remebered them and became furious. It was then when he skin started to glow golden, chaging to blue and gold. Sonic rushed out of the flat and ran straight for Robotropolis, so fast that his molecues went straight through the trees and SWATbots! Bookshire could only hang on to the branch from which he was blown to when Sonic ran out... To be continued...