***QUEST FOR THE CHAOS EMERALDS***
>>First in UltraBob's Sonic Series<<
by UltraBob a.k.a. Steven Senisba (ultrabob@hotmail.com)

	"Where could he be?!  Probably stopped for a chili dog...  The nerve..."  Sally was muttering to herself again.  Sir Charles had sent word that Robotnik had plans for a biological weapon.  Sonic, of course, had to be sent in through the heavy security to get them.  He was supposed to have been back two hours ago.  Even Sonic wasn't usually THAT late.  Suddenly, someone burst into the room.  It was Razor, one of the scouts.
	"Princess!  Someone's heading toward Knothole!  We can't tell who-or what-it is, but they certainly seem to know where they're going.  They're dragging something behind them, but again, they're too far away for us to tell who."  Just then, the door flew open.  A figure stood in the doorway.
	"I think this is yours," it said, dropping what looked like a body onto the ground.  Sally recognized the figure immediately.
	"Knuckles?  What are you doing here?"
	"Glad you recognize me.  I was just going through Robotropolis 'cuz I'd gotten word from Charmy that Robotnik had plans for a bio-weapon.  He was right.  Your boyfriend here got it real good."
	"Wha..?"  Sally looked at the body again.  It was Sonic.  Immediately, she flipped out Nicole.  "Nicole, do a life sign scan, now!"
	"Yes, Sally."  She read for a moment.  "Life signs existent, but very weak."
	"No..."
	"Yep.  He got blasted by a big, wall-mounted gun.  I got lucky; I saw him take it and smashed the thing before getting zapped myself.  Then I hauled his butt outta there.  Nearly got singed by laser fire doing it, too." 	He sat down in a nearby chair and made himself comfortable.  Sally was still messing with Nicole.  Sonic remained on the floor, his fur and skin a pale white.
	"Nicole, predict survival period without treatment."
	"Very short, Sally."
	"Suggest possible cures."  Her voice was shaky.
	"None, Sally"  By now, Tails and Antoine had wandered in.  Antoine fainted upon seeing Knuckles, but Tails was more concerned with other things.
	"SONIC!!!"  He began shaking his hero violently.  "SONIC!!!"
	Nicole's monotone voice came on again.  "Life signs gone, Sally."
	"Gee, what a shame," remarked Knuckles sarcastically.  He then found himself on the floor, a sharp pain on the side of his head.  Sally had punched him very, very hard.  "Ow."
	Tails was on the floor, kneeling over Sonic's body, crying.  Antoine was recovering, and after seeing Sonic, promptly fainted again.  Rotor and Bunny, both in the room by now, were stunned.  Sally was staring into space. Other than Tails' crying, the room was silent.
	"There may still be a way to save him yet."  A voice shattered the silence like a stone hitting glass.  Everyone looked toward the doorway.  A figure stood there.  As he stepped in, the fact that he was a cat became obvious.  So did the fact the he was carrying a big sword.
	"Who are you?!" demanded Sally, stepping up to him.
	"My name matters not now.  You don't have much time."
	"Keep talking."
	"I have with me three of the legendary Chaos Emeralds.  If three of you should each take one, you can help him."
	Everyone volunteered but Antoine, who was still out cold, and Knuckles.  "I don't buy this," he said.  "The Emeralds're on the Floating Island."
	"Sadly, guardian, that is not the case.  After your recent battle,  The Emeralds scattered themselves for protection."
	"But there are more pressing matters at hand," interrupted Sally.
	"She is right.  The Emeralds will choose who will go," he said, tossing them into the air.  One landed at Sally's feet, one at Knuckles', and one at Tails'.  "They have made their wishes clear.  Seek the remaining five, and you can bring him back."  He turned to Sally.  "Princess, you hold the Emerald of Nobility.  Keep it, and forever shall your royal blood line show through."  He turned to Tails.  "Little one, you have the Emerald of Faith.  Remain true to your goals, beliefs, and the ones you love, and you will always triumph."  He turned at last to Knuckles.  "You control the most powerful, and most dangerous, Emerald, the Emerald of Energy.  It can give you strength when you need it, but so can it take it when you act selfishly.  Should you ever stray from your goal on this mission, it will consume your very soul."  And with that, he vanished.
	"Creepy," remarked Rotor.
	"I still don't buy it," said Knuckles, looking at his Emerald.  He immediately fell, weak.  "Okay, okay, I buy it, I buy it."  He stood back up.  "Wow."
	Sally spoke up.  "We should go north."
	"How..?"
	"Just trust me on this one."  And so they headed north.

	They headed north, through an older part of the Great Forest.  All three of them were glad Robotropolis was to the east of Knothole.  They sat down to rest, weary from a day of hard travel.  "So what exactly are we looking for?" asked Knuckles, looking at his reflection in his Emerald.
	"I don't really know," replied Sally.
	Tails was flying above the trees, scouting the landscape.  Something caught his eye.  "Aunt Sally!  Aunt Sally!  I see something!"
	"What is it, Tails?"
	"It's a red tree.  It's not on fire or anything, but it's RED."
	Knuckles climbed a nearby tree and looked over the horizon.  "He's right!  It's a red tree.  How unusual."  So they headed for the tree.  When they reached it, they found it was very red: a blood red.  Knuckles pulled out his Emerald, pulled back his fist, and let a mighty punch fly.  The tree shattered.  Inside there was a hole.  Knuckles was the first to jump in.
	"No, Knuckles, wait..!"  warned Sally, but she was too late.  He his the ground with a thud.  It was a long way down.  "Tails, help me down."
	"Sure thing, Aunt Sally."  He flew up, grabbed her wrists, and lowered them both slowly down.  Knuckles was already up.  He grabbed a torch off the wall.  They were in a large room, made totally of stone.  In front of them, a rotted wooden door loomed.
	"I guess this is where we go," said Sally.  Knuckles yanked open the door.  There was a long, stone hallway with a metal door at the end.  They trekked down the hallway, unaware of what loomed above them.  Then Sally noticed.  "Where's Tails?"
	"Help! Aunt Sally, help!"  He was in the clutches of a huge black spider.  Sally's Emerald flared.  So did Knuckles'.  A brilliant white beam shot out of each, and merged into one.  It hit the spider.  The spider was incinerated.  Tails fell, but Knuckles caught him.
	"I never imagined..."  said Knuckles to himself, a sense of awe in his voice.  They kept going.  When they came to the door, Knuckles tried it.  It didn't open.  He punched it as hard has he could.  Still no effect.  Tails just walked up and knocked on it.  It opened slowly.  They heard a high-pitched voice inside.
	"Ahhh...  More dinner!"  They saw it.  It was a whirlwind.  But it was alive.  They got ready.  Then Tails noticed something.
	"Be careful, guys!  It's got someone back there!"  He flew over to help whoever it was.
	"Tails, no..!"  But it was too late.  He was swallowed by the raging storm.  Sally immediately leapt into action.  She grabbed a nearby stone, and hurled it into one of the wind's eyes.  The eye shattered.  Knuckles got a bright idea from this.  He climbed the wall and leapt off, punching out the other eye, but staying as far from the whirlwind as possible.  It worked.  In a violent burst, the winds dissipated.  Tails was thrown to the ground unconscious.  Knuckles, with a clear view of the captive, turned a pale white. 
	"Mighty..."  The armadillo was chained to the wall, disemboweled and very much dead.  Knuckles vomited.  Recovering, he walked over to a nearby altar that was now in view.  On it lay the next Chaos Emerald.  Knuckles recognized it immediately as the Emerald of Storm.  Taking it, he handed it to Tails, who was now waking up.  "Here," he said, still sad, "maybe it'll help you fly better."
	"Knuckles..." began Sally.  He interrupted her.
	"No, don't even start.  It's not worth it.  NOTHING can bring him back now.  Let's go.  I don't want to stay here any more."
	So they made their way up out of the hole.  "We should head east next," said Tails.  "I just feel it."
	Trusting him, they headed east the next day.  By the time they reached the outskirts of Robotropolis, they had still seen nothing.  "We should go back west," Knuckles murmured.  They were all quite relieved.  They headed back west, still exhausted.  Soon after, a fog set in.  By the time it had cleared, they found themselves in an unfamiliar place.
	"Where are we?" wondered Sally aloud.  It was damp, and smelled awful.  It was... a swamp.  But there were no swamps in this area.  Something was wrong.  Suddenly, Knuckles felt something slimy climb up his leg.  It was a tentacle.  Quickly, he slashed it.  But it just grew back.  They were surrounded by tentacles; at least twenty.  Outside the area, a huge mass of eyes had gathered.  This was very, very bad.  They fought, but with no luck.  The tentacles just kept growing back.  Tails found himself fighting alone, as Knuckles and Sally had been lifted off the ground and were being strangled.  Amidst the confusion, he heard Knuckles.
	"Kid, the-*hack*-the eyes..."  No more.  Tails looked over.  Indeed, he saw a glimmer in one of the eyes.  Harnessing the power of the Emerald of Storm, he flew up, over the tentacles.  He flew right into the eye that had the glimmer, and yanked out the stone.  It was, in fact, a Chaos Emerald.  As soon as he grabbed it, the creature, with its tentacles, vanished.  After he regained his breath, Knuckles looked over the Emerald.  "The Emerald of the Ocean."  He looked into the Emerald.  "I see a message in there!  It says... 'Head east, and seek thee the Emerald of Steel'"  The message vanished.  They looked around, and were surprised to find themselves right where the fog had set in.  "East, huh?  That means we finally get to raid Robotropolis."
	"I say we get some sleep first," yawned Tails.
	"Good idea, kid."  So they went to sleep.

	During the night, Knuckles woke to a thought in his head.  But it wasn't him thinking it.  "Take their Emeralds and you can have the ultimate power," it whispered to him.  So it was true.  Those stories he'd heard as a boy.  They told how the Emeralds would try to corrupt a person.  But he was the Guardian.  He knew better.  Trying his best to ignore the voice, he drifted back to sleep.

	They awoke the next morning and continued on.  They came to Robotropolis around eleven.  It looked even worse than usual.  They were in a junk pile, scanning the area.  An explosion behind them, which threw them all about ten feet forward, got their attention.  When they turned around, a gasp escaped them all.  Standing there, in gold armor, was a new, improved, Metal Sonic.  He had lasers mounted on both arms, and a grenade launcher on his shoulder.  Robotnik obviously meant business this time.  An almost-human voice came from it.
	"Prepare to die, Freedom Fighters.  The old Hedgehog was first.  Now, you three shall join him."  With that, it fired its lasers.  Tails and Knuckles went flying across the garbage heap, but Sally managed to dodge just in time.  She pulled out Nicole, punched a few buttons, and immediately the computer fired a laser blast.  The shot dented the unprepared Metal Sonic, but it didn't seem slowed down.  He fired a grenade, but Sally caught it and hurled it back.  The 'bot didn't detonate the thing fast enough.  It exploded right as it hit M. S., and took the machine with it.  All that was left was one shiny stone: The third Emerald.  Sally took the Emerald of Steel, thinking maybe it would help Nicole.
	"Two left," said Knuckles, helping Tails up.  "This is really getting annoying."

	Leaving Robotropolis and heading south, the three arrived back at the Great Forest.  The three of them turned at the same time, alerted by a sound off past some of the bushes.  They crept through the brush, and came to a clearing.  All peering toward it at once, they received a shock.  Sonic was there, making out with a girl none of them recognized.  Without thinking, Sally burst out of the brush, furious.
	"Aunt Sally, no!"  Tails' warning came too late.  "Sonic" looked up, pointed his palm at Sally, and blasted her with a fireball.  She flew back, scorched but out cold.  The girl fired a lightning bolt, knocking Tails into a tree, and knocking him out, as well.  Suddenly, Knuckles leapt out of the tree, smashing into the false Sonic, who exploded.  It was just Knuckles and the girl.  But the Emerald Guardian recalled an old trick his father had told him.  Concentrating on the Emerald of Energy he had, he let loose with a huge ball of pure chaos.  The ball enveloped the girl, disintegrating her.  All that remained was an Emerald.
	"Phew," said Knuckles, taking the Emerald of Deception.

	By the next morning, Knuckles had Sally and Tails revived, and they continued east.  By midday, they arrived back at Knothole.  It was in ruins.  And in the middle of it all stood that mysterious man.  He was holding the last Emerald.
	"I see you got the Emeralds.  Well done.  I'll be taking them now."
	"Hold on," interrupted Knuckles, "YOU give US that one."
	"No.  Give those to me, and I can revive him."  So, reluctantly, they handed over the Emeralds.  "Fools!"  The cat revealed his true form: Robotnik.  It had been an illusion the whole time.  "Now that I have the Chaos Emeralds, nothing can stop me!  Before I kill you, though, I just want to thank you for retrieving the Emeralds for me!.  And with that, he struck both Sally and Tails unconscious.  Knuckles remained unaffected.  "What?!"
	"You think I'm a fool, Robotnik?  Ha!  I decided to keep my little Emerald of Energy, just in case."  But before he could activate it, Robotnik roasted him with a lightning bolt.  Then the surprise happened.
	"What?!"  cried Robotnik.  The Emeralds had left his grasp and were hovering over Sonic.  With a flash, they were gone, and Sonic sprang up, supercharged by the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
	"Whew!  What a rush!"  Sonic looked around.  "Yo, Buttnik!  How 'bout I waste ya like you wasted me?  Get ready, 'cuz Sonic's gonna jam!"  He rushed over to Robotnik and grabbed him. Charging energy through him, Sonic overloaded his arm, in an explosion that took the rest of him with him.

	Later, the remaining Freedom Fighters, most of whom had escaped when Robotnik had devastated Knothole, mourned the loss of Knuckles.  His body was still intact, but badly burnt.  All of a sudden, the Emeralds hovered over him, and an image of a beautiful woman appeared.  And she spoke.
	"O Guardian of the Emeralds, Protector of the Chaos, and Finder of the Path, I bless thee.  Arise, Prince Knuckles, and continue your duty to the Emeralds."
	Upon this prayer, the woman disappeared, and the Emeralds fell to the ground.  Knuckles' body, in like-new condition, began to rise.  As he stood up, woozy, he looked around.  He realized where he was almost immediately.  "Whoa!  So THAT's what it feels like to die.  Can't say I'd like to do it again, though."  He turned, gathered up the Chaos Emeralds, and began to leave.  As he did, he said, "It's been, well, annoying.  I gotta go.  Sal, Kid, and yeah, even you Sonic, be sure to call on me if ya need me.  Later!" As he finished he charged up the Emeralds and sped away.

	Later that day, everyone was helping to rebuild Knothole.  There was still danger in going to Robotropolis at the moment, but they'd get it back soon.  Still, everyone was uneasy that hot afternoon, and almost everyone thought they heard a sinister voice say:

"I WILL BE AVENGED."

But that was only a figment of their imaginations, right?


THE END... UNTIL NEXT TIME...