Epilogue

Knuckles' side and the end

I stood on the edge of the mossy platform in Sky Sanctuary, waving goodbye to Sonic and Tails and feeling very alone. There went the two guys I should have been friends with from the first. Instead, the one guy I had worked with and trusted had double-crossed me. Well, I had learned something-you don't know your friends until you need them.

I stared at the bright specks, trying to see when they entered the battleship. I didn't get the chance. I sensed, rather than heard, the footfalls approaching me from behind. I whipped around to find myself nose-to-nose with Metal Sonic.

"Hello, Knuckles," he purred. He was too close-within arm's length. I tried to step back, but my foot encountered thin air. I was on the very edge of the platform.

He stared straight into my eyes with frightening intensity. He was going to kill me. I had helped build him. I had co-programmed him. And I knew an enemy when I saw one.

Slowly he lifted one hand, curling his silver fingers into a fist. I knew what he was going to do, and acted first.

I drove one fist into his chest, the other into his eyes. Unprepared, he staggered backward. I leaped around him, away from the edge of the platform. To my surprise he lunged with me, grabbed me by the arm, whipped me around like in 'crack the whip', and sent me sailing over the edge of the platform.

It happened too quickly. I saw the sharp brink, outlined against the blue-green ocean. Then I was over, the platform rising rapidly above me, nothing around but empty air. I was falling sideways. I thrashed around, trying to get into my gliding position. There! I felt myself grab the air, my descent slowing. I looked around. I was below the platforms and clouds. I would have to glide until I either reached the ground (which, incidentally, would have to be the Floating Island), or find an updraft. At least Metal Sonic couldn't follow me.

It wouldn't be the first time I had been wrong. I heard the cursed robot's engines as he dove off the platform. I glanced over my shoulder. He was flying upright with his hands at his sides, head turned in my direction. "Prepare to die, vermin!"

Mecha preferred hand to hand combat, but he also had some nifty weapons at his disposal. He proceeded to use them on me.

The first round of rockets missed by a hair. They passed so close I felt the heat from their jets. I banked to one side, breaking a cold sweat. He was shooting to kill, and gliding is not the most maneuverable way to fly.

Lasers cut the air around me, thick and fast as hornets. I wove and ducked, praying he would miss.

The lasers did.

The missile didn't.

He must have realized he couldn't hit me directly, so he shot a missile in my vicinity and detonated it.

The concussion struck me from the side and blew me out of the sky. I was stunned, toppling end over end like a piece of paper. I couldn't move or think-the world was a spinning blur and rushing wind. I was falling.

Something dark whizzed by me. I thought it was Mecha. I didn't know which way was up, and my body wouldn't obey my commands. I was curled in the fetal position, limbs stiff. I couldn't breathe.

A large object struck me from above and checked my fall. My teeth came together with a snap. The only thought in my head was that Metal Sonic had attacked a different way. I wanted to struggle, but could not move at all.

What happened next is hazy and jumbled. I guess the missile blast had almost killed me. I remember being laid down on a mossy platform, and feeling a pair of hands massaging my stiffened limbs. Its face was not a robot's-it was rectangular, like a lizard's, and had dark green eyes. I remember thinking they were the color of the Master emerald. It was speaking to me, but I could not understand it. I couldn't understand anything.

As if from a distance, there came the sound of metal on flesh. The lizard vanished from my range of vision. Then Mecha Sonic was kneeling over me, raking my body with his scanners. He spoke aloud, but, like the lizard, I couldn't understand him. I felt his cold arms lifting me. The motion made the world pitch and rock again. Then all sound faded away.

I wasn't entirely unconscious. I knew I was being carried rapidly though the air. I knew when we entered a dark, cool place. We passed under roaring fans. A space of time after that, Mecha tossed me on the floor like a sack of grain. I was aware of the dull clang my body made as it struck the floor. It hurt a little. Then I was alone, staring through half-open eyes at the mesh ceiling.

I lay there for a long time. The chill of the metal floor worked its way into the backs of my arms, legs and shoulders. Cool air was moving over me. I didn't move, think, or even breathe much. I dimly knew that I was cold, but didn't care. I had a concussion, and my brain wasn't working properly.

Someone knelt over me. In my mind, it was my father after I had nearly destroyed the island. I was eight years old again, suffering from the only broken leg I ever had. As it lifted me, I moaned, "Dad, I'm sorry-I shouldn't have tried to fly the island in that storm!"

It's arms encircled me in a big hug, and a voice that was not my father's crooned, "Oh Knuckles, you're hurt worse than I had thought. That robot ..." I could understand it, although what it was saying did not register. The voice was strangely familiar.

Another voice began to speak, sometimes coherently, sometimes gibberish. I wished he'd shut up. It was drawing me out of the comfortable numb place in my head. I wondered if whoever was holding me could hear it. He never answered. He just rocked back and forth with me. It was soothing.

It wasn't until I awoke that I realized I was the one speaking. Abruptly I closed my mouth. What was I saying? Had I spilled my guts without knowing it? I had been betrayed once today-I didn't feel like going through it again. I felt the figure stroke the side of my face. It had been doing it for a while-I hadn't noticed it before. I looked up. The green-eyed lizard. Funny, I had seen those eyes before, somewhere.

"How do you feel?" it asked.

My head ached a little, and I told it so. It gazed into my eyes. "You looked better, anyway."

I stared back into its face. It had big brown patches around its eyes and along its muzzle. My first question surfaced. "Who are you?"

"Slasher," it replied.

"Have I ever seen you before?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Carnival Night."

Those eyes! That's where I had seen them-the creature that had stalked me through the darkness. I felt the impulse to run. Instead, she held me a bit tighter and whispered, "Shh. A robot is passing by." I froze. I could feel her heart beating against my cheek. After a moment I felt her relax. "There, it's gone. Can you stand?"

She set me down. Yes, I could stand, but the action sent a surge of blood to my head. I held her arm until the nausea passed, then said, "Where are we?"

"The Death Egg," Slasher replied simply. "Mecha wanted to test the latest robotizer prototype on you."

I felt sick. I had unwittingly tried it on Sonic. "What goes around comes around," I mumbled. But I thought of my island, and my fear of death faded. I guess I wilted, because Slasher looked at me strangely. "Whassamatter?" She sounded like Sonic.

"I've failed as Guardian," I said. I didn't have the energy to explain, but she seemed to understand.

"Ah. The Master is gone, correct?"

I nodded.

"Have you ever read about the super emeralds?"

"No."

"If you had, you'd be a little more optimistic."

"Why?"

"Because-"

A laser bolt struck a beam above my head. We both ducked. For the first time I realized we were in a jail cell. The front was all bars, but the back wall had a panel slid to one side. She grabbed me around the waist, lifted me off my feet and dove for the loose panel.

It was dark. It took my eyes a few second to adjust, but I could feel we were jumping around. I began to distinguish shapes. We were in the steel framing of the outer hull of Death Egg. Slasher was sure- footedly leaping from cross-beam to cross-beam. I looked down and felt my stomach lurch. There was no floor-just miles and miles of Death Egg skeletal structure. If we fell, we would drop through that steel jungle, striking every beam in our way, until we reached the rounded underbelly of the ship.

The velociraptor's movements were fluid and quick. I could feel her massive strength with each leap, and could hear the chink of her claws on the framing. My head was clearing, and the questions were coming. Where were we going? How had she got here? Why had Metal Sonic left? Why was she helping me when she had terrorized me in the Carnival?

We were moving along the length of the Death Egg's hull. I couldn't see how she kept from slipping in the darkness, but guessed her night-vision was sharper than mine.

"There."

I saw a light shining across the framework.

"How I got in," she said, voice clipped.

One problem-it was on the INSIDE wall.

A few more leaps and we were there. She stepped out, head jerking this way and that. I looked around as well. It was a little storage room, nothing special. There was a broken security camera on the floor, and the lock on the door had been forced.

She set me down on my feet. I didn't feel very well, but I could move all right. Standing beside my rescuer, I was struck at how big she was. Everything about her was big-eyes, wide chest, wings folded to her sides, legs, claws, tail-she stood five feet high at the hip, and her head and neck added a foot and a half to that.

She must have noticed my stare, for she chuckled. "Pleased to meet you, too, Knuckles. C'mon, let's get outta here. I gotta get you back to your island." Slasher stepped up to the door, swung it open a bit and looked out.

"But hasn't it sank?" I protested.

"Keep it down," she hissed. "No, it hasn't."

"But won't it?"

"Hush. There's no time for questions right now. We're in too much danger. C'mon." She beckoned to me, and we slipped out the door.

Outside was a long, narrow corridor. I could see robots in the distance, but they weren't moving toward us. Quietly Slasher began to walk in the other direction. I followed her, wishing my feet were padded. "Where're we going?" I whispered.

"Back to the secondary docking bay," she whispered back. "It's closest."

We crept down the hall, turned a corner, entered a machine room, crossed that, and entered another hall on the far side. There were no robots. I saw nothing wrong with this, but it worried my escort. "Too quiet," she murmured, looking around the empty hall. "Something's up. Better get on my back, Knuckles. If we need to run, I can carry you."

She crouched and lowered one wing. Clumsily I climbed up and sat astride her back. Somehow, the way her wing muscles connected to her shoulders gave a really good place for a kneehold. I buried my feet beneath her warm wings. When she stood up again, I felt as if I were riding a tank.

We had only been on the move a few minutes more when Slasher stopped and said, "Hsst." I followed her gaze. Something was going on at the end of the corridor. Laserblasts flashed, and voices shouted. A mob of robots were barreling in our direction. "Better run," I whispered.

"In a minute," she replied.

We stood there in the middle of the hallway, watching. I was oblivious to the danger until a laser struck one of the wall struts ahead of us. We both jumped, but Slasher didn't seem ready to run. I crouched low, wishing I could burrow into her feathery wings and hide. More lasers zipped by, and the approaching noise grew louder. "Run!" I whispered frantically.

"Not yet," she replied.

Suddenly two things flashed by us, travelling at the speed of a bullet. I twisted around and stared after them. "What the heck was that?" I said.

"Who do you think?" was the reply. Then Slasher whirled, opened a door to our right and dove through it.

"Sonic?" I asked, hanging on for dear life. We were hauling down this new hall. I could hear her long claws clicking on the floor. "Yes," the raptor said, glancing over her shoulder. "I would lie flat if I were you."

"Why?" I looked back. The robots (and Metal Sonic) who had been chasing Sonic and Tails were now after us. I leaned forward and clung to Slasher's neck. Great. We were in trouble now.

I heard Mecha's voice cry, "The reptile is taking the traitor! Kill them! Kill them!"

Slasher heard him, too, and growled resentfully, "I'm not a reptile, stupid."

That was easy for her to say. I was a traitor.

Laser beams ripped past us. I felt Slasher pull her wings tight against my legs, trying to make herself as small a target as possible. I was already lying as flat as I could, and there wasn't much else I could do.

Then she did the last thing I expected. Slasher stopped, whirled, and charged into the oncoming robots. Ever try to ride a bucking horse? That's the closest way to discribe it. She reared up, kicked out with her powerful hindlegs, turned and lashed her long tail, then pounced and kicked again.

I would have fallen off if my legs hadn't been anchored beneath her warm wings. Even so, I was suffering from severe whiplash by the time she finished. The squadron had been leveled. Metal Sonic was gone-I assume he fled. I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. Slasher looked back at me. "You okay?"

My neck hurt too much to nod, so I said, "I guess so. I see where you got your name."

She smiled, showing her long white teeth. "It fits, doesn't it? Hang on, now. The docking bay is around the corner."

It was. We stepped through a large steel door and stood on a large windy platform. There were two long stalls stretching out into space- places for big hovercraft to dock. We were so high the air was thin and cold. Slasher opened her wings, hitting my legs with a draft of cold air. Suddenly I wasn't so secure anymore. I dug my knees into her flanks. "Good," she said, "you know more about riding than you think. Put your arms around my neck and lie flat again." I obeyed. "There, now you won't lose your balance when I take off. Hold on tight."

I felt her muscles surge, and she ran toward the edge of the empty docking bay. My stomach twisted. It was like sitting at the top of a rollercoaster, waiting for the moment you pitch forward and the ride begins.

One moment there was solid platform below-the next there was nothing. I saw the big wings begin to flap, and felt the muscles pump. We were airborne.

I dared not sit up for a long time, but I did manage to turn my head and look around. I saw the Death Egg's ugly side behind and to our left. We were near its underbelly. I saw the ground far below, hazy blue with distance and clouds between us. I couldn't tell if we were above ocean or land. All I would hear was the roar of the wind in my ears and the steady whooshing of Slasher's wings. It was cold. The air chilled my back, but my front was pressed against Slasher's warm back, so it wasn't too bad.

We were descending. Descending doesn't take as much energy as ascending, and often Slash would glide for minutes at a time. We didn't say much until we had dropped below cloud level, the wind had slacked and it was warmer. "You can sit up, now," she said over her shoulder. "Take it slow and keep your balance.

I sat up very, very slowly. It was kind of fun to look around properly. We were still a long ways up. The ocean spread out below, a solid blue-green. As I looked at it, my enthusiasm faded. The island ... the Floating Island wasn't in sight.

I guess Slasher knew what I was thinking. "Oh, it's still afloat," she said. She dipped left and pointed. I looked, and with relief saw the little green-and-brown patch that was my home. It had descended into the ocean and was floating in the water. "How come it hasn't sank?" I asked. "I was always told the island would collapse if the Master emerald was stolen."

"Well," Slasher answered quietly, "you have Sonic and Tails to thank for that. They used your teleporters to go to Hidden Palace and used the chaos emeralds to make the supers emeralds appear. They've been hidden for centuries, you know."

I nodded. "I know my history. I knew they had brought them back, but I didn't know the chaos ..."

"Sonic and Tails charged each super," Slasher told me. "Which is why they were exhausted during the last leg of their journey. They were drained seven times of their energy."

I thought of Sandopolis and watching Sonic and Tails come out of the teleporter and collapse. I was ashamed. Sonic had told me that if I knew what they were doing I would thank them a thousand times over. He was right.

As the island grew below us, I thought about everything that had happened. I had worked with one of the most dangerous scientists on the planet. I had helped construct Metal Sonic. I had willingly allowed part of my island to be burned. And I had fought Sonic and Tails all the way down the line, thinking that somehow they were responsible for my bad decisions. Come to find out that not only had I been on the wrong side, but Sonic and Tails were working to save my island. If not for them, I would probably be dead by now.

We were quite low by this time. "Where do you want to land?" Slasher asked me.

I considered. Someplace open, where we could watch the sky. Marble Gardens was the closest. "Marble Gardens," I said, pointing. Slasher banked right and we dropped sharply. At the last second she flared out her wings, and we landed as gently as a falling leaf.

I slid off her back and nearly fell over. My legs felt like blocks of wood, and I stamped around to get my blood flowing. Man, it was good to be on solid ground again-and to know my island wasn't going to sink. The dull misery I had felt since leaving Hidden Palace was gone.

Slasher lifted one wing and ran her teeth through the feathers at its base. "Boy, what a flight," she commented. "I hope I don't have to do it again."

I looked at her curiously. "Do it again?"

She cocked her head and looked up at the sky. "You weren't the only one on the Death Egg."

That's right. Sonic and Tails were still up there, and so was the Master emerald. I looked up, too, but the only things in the sky were a few wispy clouds.

The big velociraptor settled herself on the warm grass, spread a wing and began to straighten her feathers. She acted as if nothing were wrong. It wasn't until long afterward that I learned to read her, and realized she was intensely worried. But at the time she seemed calm, and it steadied me.

I stood and watched her preen a moment. She seemed to be in no hurry to go anywhere. There was nothing to do but wait, anyway. I sat down on the grass and looked up at the sky. Maybe if I looked hard enough-ah, that was hard on my neck. I lay down. That was better. Now I could view the whole wide sky-

Before I knew it, my eyelids had sneaked shut on me, and I was sound asleep.

Slasher's voice was what woke me up. I sat up, rubbing the haze from my eyes. "Sonic and Tails back yet?" I asked.

"Nope," she replied. "Just Espio."

Espio! I had forgotten all about him. What would have happened if the island HAD crashed, and ... Was he mad at me? I stood up. Gosh, I must have slept a long time. The sun had moved and the shadows had changed. I felt rested and ready to go.

Espio, a dark jungle-green this time, was sitting next to Slasher, talking. I noticed both her wings were immaculate, every feather in place. "C'mere, Knux. We were watching the Death Egg."

I walked up to them. "The Death Egg? Where?"

Both lizards turned and pointed north. I squinted and finally spotted it. It could have been a distant hawk, but for the plume of brown smoke trailing it. I shaded my eyes with both hands to see better.

"It was really high," Espio said. "We thought it would have gone down by the time you woke up."

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," I said, sitting down beside him. "Sorry I sort of abandoned you."

"That's okay," he said good-naturedly. "Slasher, here, has been telling me about your exploits."

I rolled my eyes. "You mean about how absolutely stupid I was."

"You weren't stupid," Slasher said quietly, folding her arms and gazing at me. "Just deceived."

"Yeah," I said ironically, "and I got what I deserved. If I hadn't been so dumb, Sonic and Tails wouldn't be up there right now." My eyes sought out the dark speck in the blue sky. Espio and Slasher followed my gaze.

At that moment the Death Egg erupted into an orange and white fireball. The speck enlarged to the size of a golfball held against the sky, the edges a deep red. It slowly faded, a cloud of smoke rising from it, and stuff that looked like dust settling downward. We knew it was debris.

Involuntarily we all looked down. "Well," said Espio, "that's the end of the Death Egg."

"I hope they weren't on it," I said. I had a terrible suspicion they were, though.

"They've had plenty of time to get away," Slasher said reassuringly. "And I don't think it would have blown up if they hadn't done something. Like taking the Master emerald."

I looked at her with sudden hope and relief. "You think so?

She bobbed her head. "Battlestations like that don't blow up without a good reason."

We sat in silence for another moment, watching the colors of the explosion fade from the sky, leaving a smoky shadow. A meadowlark sang. A breeze touched my face. The island was safe, I knew, but at what price? Were my friends dead somewhere up there?

Abruptly Slasher lifted her head and gazed south. A second later she jumped to her feet, said, "Excuse me, please," spread her wings and was gone. Espio and I watched her go. Man, she could fly fast. She was out of sight in a moment. "Boy, what's the rush?" the chameleon muttered. He turned a hot pink all over, then turned to me. "So, where you been?"

I looked at him curiously. "Slash didn't tell you?"

"She told me about you and the island, not what's been going on. C'mon, spill. Why were you bemoaning your stupidity?"

Slasher hadn't been putting me down, as I had thought. She had left it to me to explain myself to my friend. Wow. She cared about my self-image!

I gazed off in the direction she had gone, wondering how to begin. But as I did, I noticed a winged shape coming back. Espio saw her, too.

"Gosh, that was quick," I murmured. "I wonder what-" I stopped, my eyes riveted on the thing flying behind the raptor. Then Espio and I were on our feet, staring in surprise.

A shiny red bi-plane, well known to me by now, was slowly flying in. As it drew nearer, we could see Sonic, glowing brightly, seated on the upper wing, arms wrapped around the glowing Master emerald. It was as big as he was. He saluted me as they flew over. I saluted back.

I can hardly describe my feelings. I don't suppose everyone has had a precious treasure returned to them. I suppose you could say I was jumping around, cheering wildly.

Anyway, Tails finally landed the plane. (Slasher had landed, too, but she was standing back watching us.) It had hardly stopped before I had scrambled up on the wing with Sonic, looking at and touching the Master emerald.

"Wait a minute, Knux," he said, chuckling. "Get down and I'll hand it to you." I obeyed. He lifted the immense gem easily, crouched and lowered it. I took it with a grunt. I'm pretty strong, but we're talking heavy, here! I couldn't support it and had to set it down. Sonic was very strong as hyper.

He jumped down beside me. Tails climbed out of the cockpit and went straight to Slasher. I hardly noticed.

"Hey, Knux," Sonic said. He sounded tired. I looked up at him from my examination of the emerald. He bent down, rolled the Master over on its side and indicated the bottom tip. I stared-the tip was gone. Three inches had been cleanly cut off. I touched it gingerly, as one might a wound.

"Robotnik did it," Sonic murmured. "He cut it to get it to work in his laser. Metal Sonic had the piece, and used it to become super-or something like it. We tried to get it from him, but he threw it off the edge of the Death Egg. Sorry."

I had never heard Sonic sound so low, even in Hidden Palace. I went over the Master again with a fine-toothed comb. When I looked up again, Sonic had decharged himself. He looked a lot smaller normal-and he also looked exhausted. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his head drooped. "My legs hurt," he muttered. "I gotta lay down somewhere ..." He turned away.

Sonic's attitude and the missing piece of the Master sobered me. I couldn't budge the Master by myself, so I left it by the bi-plane and joined the others.

Sonic flopped down unceremoniously and closed his eyes. Tails, Slasher and Espio sat down a few feet away from him. Espio was sort of standing there, watching Tails. The fox had his arms around Slasher's neck, crying fit to beat the band. Slasher held him comfortingly, but looked bewildered. "What's wrong with him?" I asked. Slasher shook her head, then said, "Stress."

Not knowing what to do, I sat down beside Sonic. He opened his eyes and looked at me, then folded his arms behind his head.

"What's wrong with Tails?" I asked him, concerned.

He gave me a weary look and said, "Remember the four flickies of his? They killed themselves keeping him alive."

I gave Tails a pitying glance. "Poor kid."

"Yeah." How could Sonic be so callous? Didn't he care?

Well, Sonic did care. Very much. But at the moment, Slasher had things covered, and he was too tired to push himself anymore, as he told me afterward.

Gradually Tails's sobs subsided, and he was able to recount the death of the flickies. I think that was the only time he ever talked about it. He never mentioned the subject again.

Sonic fell asleep for a couple hours. Tails asked for something to eat, but by the time I got some stuff and came back, he had flaked, too.

Me, Espio and Slasher took the opportunity to get the Master emerald back where it belonged. It took all three of us to lift it, lug it through a teleporter I made, and heave it back into its pedestal. By the time we finished and warped back to Marble Gardens, the sun was setting and we were all hungry. Sonic, who woke up when we got back, suggested a hotdog roast, I assume so he could use the cans of chili stashed in the bi-plane. It was fine with everybody else, so Sonic and I wandered off to find some firewood.

There's only scrub brush in Marble Gardens, and it doesn't burn too well. We hiked out toward the carnival and found some wood in the trees nearby.

As we selected the driest sticks we could find, I asked, "What's the matter, Sonic? You're usually livelier than this." I spoke from experience.

He nodded and looked away. "Yeah. It's just-" He conveniently bent to retrieve a small branch.

"Just what?" I prodded.

He stood up, eyes on the sticks in his arms. "Oh, lots of things, Knux."

I snapped a dead limb off a tree. "Like what?"

He turned and looked me in the face, as if about to give a confession. I faced him and waited. "Knuckles, we lost the flickies. We lost a chunk out of the Master emerald. The flickies took Tails's chaos emeralds. And-" He shifted his load to one arm, stuck his free hand's fingers in his mouth, bit down and pulled his hand out of his glove.

The shock of seeing his robot hand was almost as bad the second time. It gleamed dully in the fading light, each joint plated individually. "And this," he finished angrily. "I'm doomed to be part robot for the rest of my life. Mecha said it's permanent. Now you see why I've been brooding?

I had to look away. The guilt was still fresh, and the horror of the metal clinging to his fingers. He didn't put his glove back on, and I heard the muffled clanks as he picked up wood. I sneaked a look at him. The sudden anger had passed, and he appeared depressed. Wearily he stood up and looked at me. "I think we've got enough wood now."

For the first time I noticed we had as much wood as we could carry. I nodded. "Yeah. Let's head back."

Sonic moved slowly, heavily, eyes on the ground. I watched him as we walked. Something had gone out of him. I didn't understand until he lifted his bare hand, glanced at it and hurriedly dropped it to his side. Then I knew. It was as if his body had been violated. His hands no longer belonged to him.

We were halfway back when the idea hit me. I stopped. Sonic noticed and did, too. "What's wrong?"

I set my load on the ground. "Sonic, let me see your hands."

He dumped his wood on the grass, pulled off his other glove and held out his hands. I suppressed a shiver as I touched them-the metal was warm. I forced myself to examine them closely with a mixture of revulsion and excitement. "Sonic," I said, taking ahold of a metal segment and wiggling it back and forth, "does this hurt?"

"No."

"What about this?" I yanked a wire.

"No. Ow, yes! What'd you do?"

"Where did it hurt?"

"It pinched the side of my finger." He jerked his hand away and rubbed it. "Don't do that."

My excitement was growing. "Sonic, know what this means?"

"A new torture method?"

"No ... that stuff can come off!"

He stared at me in disbelief. "You're kidding. But Mecha said-"

"Forget what Mecha said!" I interrupted, a wide grin taking over my face. "Doc reverse-engineered the robotizer from a prototype he stole from an inventor in Mobitropolis. He didn't have it completely figured out. All it did was put an electronic covering over your hands. Like gloves. It didn't penetrate your skin. And I can take it off!"

He didn't believe me. "You sure?"

"I'll prove it! When we get back, I'll get some of my tools and cut it all off. I'm sure I can!"

Sonic slowly pulled his gloves back on, turning this information over in his head. He didn't say a word until we had picked up our armloads of sticks and had resumed walking. Then he looked at me and said bluntly, "Knux, you're a genius."

I proved my ingenuity that evening after dinner. I got out my wirecutters, screwdriver and pliers, and in three hours time Sonic's hands were de-robotized.

We talked as I worked. "You know," Sonic said, "you've got a monster in Sandopolis."

I looked up at him, startled."What?"

"Yeah," Tails chimed in. "It chased us through the pyramid, then opened the floor and dropped us into Lava Reef."

I smiled ruefully. "Did it have a hood and cape, and a face was like stone?"

Sonic and Tails exchanged a glance, then nodded. "Yeah. How did you know?"

My embarrassed smile widened to a grin. I ducked my head and mumbled, "That was me. Sorry."

I guess their surprise was comical. Espio burst out laughing, and even Slasher cracked a smile.

"You-you mean YOU were that thing?" Sonic asked incredulously.

I nodded. "I wanted to give you a scare."

"You sure did that!" Tails exclaimed. "Did you drop us into that shaft on purpose?"

I shook my head and returned my gaze to Sonic's hand. "I climbed the wall to glide after you, and my foot touched a loose brick. I guess it was a trigger."

We didn't say anything for a while. I had a question for them, but couldn't remember it at the moment. After a while it came to me. "Hey Sonic, what did you guys do in Lava Reef before I got there?"

Sonic looked at Tails, then me. "Do? What do you mean?"

I lifted my head and looked at him. "C'mon. You two were down there twenty-four hours before I got to you."

"We were?" Sonic looked blank. "It didn't seem that long ... we woke up when the lights came on, and-"

"I turned the lights on when I got there," I interrupted. "You slept the whole time?"

He and Tails looked at each other. "I THOUGHT we slept a long time," Tails said, eyes narrowing.

I didn't understand. "What? Were you hurt or something?"

"No," Sonic said slowly, pulling his hand away from me and looking at it. "I remember smelling something ... like gas. It made me sleepy."

Ah, that was it. I stabbed my screwdriver into the grass thoughtfully. "That's why the secondary lighting wouldn't come on. All the gas must have leaked out. It's kind of like chloroform-breathe it and you're out. It's called oxymoro-oxmorobi-bi-it's about this long." I held my thumb and forefinger three inches apart.

I took Sonic's hand again as he said, "Well, that explains it. No wonder we had such a time balance to recover."

An hour passed. I finished his left hand and was setting to work on his right. He kept looking at his freed hand and touching things, amazed he could feel them.

Espio and Tails were asleep by then. The sky was covered with stars and the moon had risen a ways. Slasher kept tossing wood on the fire so I could see what I was doing. We had all been quiet for a while-Sonic's attention was fixed on what I was doing-but Slasher broke the lull.

"Sonic," she said softly. I had my back to her and was facing Sonic, so I saw him look up, then lift his left hand and catch a small object. He held it so I could see it. A flake of stone with a strange word written on it. I recognized it as a piece of the devestated mural, not far from where we were camped.

I snipped a wire as Slasher said, "Finally got it translated."

Sonic's eyes brightened. "Yeah?"

I heard Slasher shift positions. "The language is Old Mobian. Let me tell you, I had to do some serious studying to figure out that little word. Turns out it means speed, swiftness, or-get this-the speed of sound."

"Sonic," I and the hedgehog breathed simultaneously. He looked at me-something had clicked. "Knux, Slash-that mural was about US! The blue figure was me, the yellow one was Tails, and the red one was you, Knux. That last picture-the tapestry in Hidden Palace-was when I became hyper, chased down Robotnik and got the Master back." He drew a breath, eyes moving from me to Slasher and back again.

I stared at him vacantly. I had often looked at that mural, wondering what it meant. I knew the pictures by heart. It all fit ... our battle in Hidden Palace ... Robotnik stealing the Master while we fought ... Sky Sanctuary, where I helped them board the Death Egg ... and Sonic's solitary battle with Robotnik in the sky. It was all there.

"Well," I said slowly, trying to remember the history of the island Dad had taught me, "I've heard that the first guardians were time travellers of some kind. Maybe ..."

My eyes met Sonic's. He shook his head a bit and breathed, "Cool ..."

No more was said for a long time. I worked on Sonic's hand uninterrupted. By the time I finished, he had climbed into his sleeping bag and was half-asleep. As I put away my tools and picked up the bits of metal and wire, he said sleepily, "Knux, this time yesterday you hated my guts. I never thought ..."

I brushed my dreadlocks out of my face and smiled. "Me neither, Sonic. Me neither."

But as the five on the Floating Island drifted off to sleep, another crucial scene was being played out on the Flying Battery blimp.

"Doctor, your left arm is in critical condition. Neither I nor a professional could piece it together again."

Robotnik's knuckles whitened and he gripped the arm of his chair with his right hand. His left arm, fingertip to shoulder, was heavily bandaged. "Metal Sonic, I can't afford to lose this arm. Isn't there anything you can do?"

The blue robot, hands clasped behind his back, shook his head. "No. The burn, together with the circulation being cut off when the cockpit was dented ... Gangrene is inevitable. Your limb is dead."

Robotnik glowered at his arm, as if it had done it on purpose. "Mecha, I have to have both hands to work on my machines. I can't have it simply amputated!" He pounded his good fist against the arm of his chair in helpless anger.

A moment later he looked at his henchman and growled, "Do you have any suggestions, bright boy?"

Metal Sonic didn't answer. Instead, he shot a wicked sidelong glance at a machine in the corner.

Robotnik followed his gaze, then recoiled. "No. No, I won't do that."

"You said yourself that the robotizer can save injured limbs," the robot said pointedly. "Besides, you don't have anyone to test this version on. Wouldn't it be imposing for the overlord of Mobius to rule with a literal iron fist?"

Robotnik weakened. Perhaps Mecha had a point. He had always been curious as to robotization, anyhow, and-

Ten minutes later, Robotnik stood before a map in the control room of Flying Battery, left arm clad entirely in metal. This type of robotization, however, was different from Sonic's. It was the tried and true version he would use in later years-the one that filled the limbs of victims with wiring instead of remaining external.

With his gleaming silver hand, Robotnik pointed to a spot on the map. "Target: Mobitropolis. Capital of the world. I'm already on good terms with the king-under the alias 'Julian', of course-and with a little maneuvering, I'm sure we can get that little political misunderstanding to flare into a war. And then-"

"The first step in ruling Mobius," Metal Sonic finished. The two exchanged an uproarious laugh at the simplicity of their plan-an evil laugh.

And the rest is history.

The End