15 Years Later: Chapter 3: Valuable Relics
Chapter 5: The Isle of Abyss

"Uuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh...why does waking up after being unconscious have to hurt so much?" Knuckles grunted, slowly raising up from the cave floor and massaging his cranium.

It had been a while since he, Relic and Shade had been knocked out by Dimitri and they were just starting to come to. At first, Knuckles thought he might still be unconscious because as he opened his eyes, it was still pitch black everywhere. Down where they had found the Chaos Gauntlet, it was total darkness and Knuckles couldn't even see his own hands as he looked down at them. But any doubts on being awake were dispelled as a torchlight shone over him. He quickly turned his head to see who was shining it at him. To his relief, it was only Relic, the pika having come to just seconds before the guardian. She counted her blessings that the torch was still working so they could see down in this deep cave.

"Thanks Relic. I was worried for a minute!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"I thought I was either dead or still knocked out too." Relic murmured, "At least I still have my torch. There doesn't seem to be any sign of Dimitri though."

She shone the torch all around the cave, the beam sweeping slowly over the scenery as the archaeologist observed closely. Knuckles followed the torch's light, noticing that Relic wasn't wrong about what she'd said. The robot echidna-head seemed to have vanished. The guardian narrowed his eyes in anger.

"I don't get it. Why did he just knock us out like that and then leave?" he wondered, "He could've killed us then and there if he wanted us dead! But why would he want that? We helped him out after S.T.I.N.G. shot him!"

"Unless the whole thing was a trick and he's actually working for them." came a familiar voice that made Knuckles and Relic turn around.

Relic shone the torch on the person who had said that, sighing with relief to see it was Shade. She had come to at last and had managed to blink the sleep out of her eyes. The torch's light was welcome to her as it showed she wasn't asleep anymore.

"After I got the Chaos Gauntlet from the water, he snatched it out of my hands and then shocked me into unconsciousness." Shade explained, "Given the only light source is Relic's torch, I imagine he's fled with the Chaos Gauntlet in tow."

"So do you think that Dimitri was only pretending to be on our side the whole time just so he could get the gauntlet?" Relic asked.

"I think that's exactly it." Shade muttered, "I bet the whole scene in the forest was a set-up so we wouldn't suspect his true nature. I wouldn't be surprised if rather than being pursued by S.T.I.N.G., he's actually working with them!"

"To think we accused Relic of being a spy." Knuckles sighed in annoyance, "It was Dimitri we should've been suspicious of all along! I just hope if he is on their side, he didn't bug us while we were unconscious..."

"Bugged?" Relic asked curiously.

"One of S.T.I.N.G.'s agents did it to our friend, Tails, back when the double weddings were taking place." Shade explained, "Luckily, we got it out of him and he's studying it to see what he can find out about it. We'll have to see if Dimitri's done it to us while we were knocked out."

"Oh good gracious!" Relic yelped, nearly dropping the torch in alarm. She ran a hand over her stomach as if afraid something was going to pop out of it.

"Easy there, don't drop our only source of light!" Knuckles exclaimed, "We'll worry about that later, we've gotta get out of this cave and back to the village to warn everybody that Dimitri's a double-agent!"

"If I get my hands on him, I'll reduce him to less than what he already is!" Shade growled, clenching her fists in rage.

"We'll make sure there won't be enough left for spare parts!" Knuckles agreed, "Come on, let's go."

The trio began to run back up the sloping passageway that had led down to the lake where the Gauntlet had been. Knuckles and Shade had little trouble, given how strong their legs were, but Relic came stopping to catch her breath.

"Sorry." she panted, after the third stop, "I'm not in good a shape as you two. I gotta get out of the lab more often."

At last, they reached the opening to the cave and staggered into the open air. The bright sun was dazzling after the darkness of the cave with only the torch or gauntlet to break it.

"Phew, I'm glad to be out of there." Relic said.

"Me too." Shade said.

"Guardians? Where are you?" came a voice from not too far away. It surprised the echidnas to be hearing a voice so soon after exiting the cave, let alone one that was pretty close by. It seemed luck was on their side.

"Remington?" Knuckles said, recognising it at once, "Over here, towards the cliff!" he called out so Remington could hear him.

It seemed to have worked for a moment later, Remington burst from the bushes, out of breath, but looking relieved.

"Oh, thank Chaos you're alright." he panted.

"Remington, what's happened?"

The soldier quickly filled the two guardians in on what had happened back at the village from Abyss's attack to their defeating Breakdown the Barracuda and the kidnapping of several tribesmen, including Sadie. Shade put her hands over her mouth in horror as Remington relayed all this.

"My baby!" she shrieked, "S.T.I.N.G. has got her!"

"Good gracious, the poor dear!" Relic cried, sharing Shade's horror. It seemed weird for her to be concerned over the one who had initially accused her of being a spy but that didn't matter. The pika couldn't help but feel afraid for Sadie just as much as Knuckles and Shade were.

"First Dimitri steals the gauntlet, now Abyss kidnaps our daughter!" Knuckles growled, his fists quivering with fury, "We've gotta find them and get her back before they do anything to her!"

"But how will we find them?" Remington exclaimed, "We have no idea where Abyss even lives! She and her pirates could be anywhere by now!"

"I beg your pardon sir, but did you say "pirates"?" Relic inquired.

"Why yes, why do you ask?" Remington replied.

"Your mentioning of pirates and some squid named "Abyss" is ringing a few bells." the archaeologist answered, "I believe that there is a place out there known as the "Isle of Abyss". Rumour has it that it's some sort of island that used to be owned by the ancient echidnas but pirates have since taken it over and made it their own. Given it's now called the Isle of Abyss, it stands to reason that that is where she and her crew probably live."

"Do you know the way?" Knuckles asked frantically.

"I should hope I did!" Relic retorted, "I was planning to study that island myself when I'd finished observing Downunda. No doubt that island is full of history to explore. I guess now we have more a reason than ever to go there."

"Exactly!" Knuckles cried, "We'll get to this Isle of Abyss and get back my daughter and the other villagers they've kidnapped!"

He punched his fists together to emphasize the point that he was going to break a few faces or two to achieve this goal.

"Wait a minute." Shade put in, "What about the Chaos and Master Emeralds? I just realized that if S.T.I.N.G. are here, they might be looking for them too!"

"And they've got the Chaos Gauntlet..." Knuckles muttered, "Dimitri might even be using it to locate the emeralds now as we speak! Shade, you and Remington get to the shrine as fast as you can! Me and Relic will find the Isle of Abyss!"

"Might I suggest you two go and meet Julie-Su back at the village first?" Remington put in, "She and the others have subdued Breakdown so maybe we can get some information out of him, get an idea on what we're up against and maybe learn something about the island beforehand."

"Good idea." the guardian said with a smile, "Me and Relic will go there first. Call us once you two get to the shrine and inform us on what's happening!"

"Got it. See you later my love." Shade said, turning on her heels and rushing off towards the Emerald Shrine with Remington close behind.

"Come on, Relic, let's get back to the village!" Knuckles said.

"Right behind you!" Relic said, as she and Knuckles set off back to the village.

Meanwhile, back in the village, Breakdown had been hauled to the laboratory, and after securing his limbs with strong bonds, the echidna tech experts had pried open his head to hook up his robotic brain to their computer. This had to be done very carefully, as they didn't want to accidentally kill the barracuda, even he was an enemy. Julie-Su has her pistol pointed at Breakdown's head.

"Just twitch, and you'll get a third helping of bullets." she said threateningly.

Breakdown knew it was pointless to resist. He'd rather live to fight another day and be able to get revenge on these heathens for doing this to him. He stayed still and didn't budge as the echidnas got to work on him. Julie-Su remained where she was, coiled up like a spring and waiting for the slightest excuse to shoot. It felt strange to her that she should be this close to an actual S.T.I.N.G. member, let alone one of the founding members. It just made his capture all the more worthwhile as it meant they had their hands on one of the organization's most important members. The pink echidna even wondered if one day, the tribe would capture the organization's leader. It made her smile with pleasure at such a thought.

Julie-Su was snapped out of her thoughts as somebody ran into the laboratory. She turned around and her face lit up with glee to see none other than Knuckles the Echidna, back at last. She ran over to him and hugged him in welcome. She also noticed that Relic was with him but Shade and Remington weren't here too. Dimitri wasn't here as well, which made her even more curious.

"Guardian! Thank Chaos you're back!" she cried, "I knew Remington would find you. Where is he? And where's your wife and Dimitri?"

Knuckles quickly filled her in on what had happened with him, Shade and Relic and how the Chaos Gauntlet had been lost to the double-agent. Julie-Su stomped the floor hard with one of her feet in exasperation.

"That dirty, stinking liar!" she snarled, "He was with THEM the whole time?! How could he deceive us like that?!"

"Either S.T.I.N.G. forced him into it or he's a willing part of the group." Knuckles murmured, shaking his head disapprovingly, "Either way, Shade and Remington are hunting him down as we speak so they can get the Gauntlet back and hopefully stop Abyss and her gang from getting the emeralds. Speaking of her, Remington told me she and her team had managed to kidnap several tribesmen and my daughter!"

"I'm afraid so." Julie-Su confirmed, "We couldn't save them before they fled, hence why I sent Remington to find you. We were planning a rescue mission once we'd finished with Breakdown here," she motioned to the restrained robo-barracuda on the bench behind her, "And now you're back, you can join us for that!"

Knuckles took a moment to look over at Breakdown and allow himself the pleasure of seeing a S.T.I.N.G. agent in their custody. It had been a while since they'd captured any S.T.I.N.G. members. The last time they'd arrested any of them was Ramirez the Chameleon, whom was now currently locked away in a secret facility that Sora Prower knew from her time in the M.S.I.U. As they spoke, Ramirez was all locked up and alone in a place where nobody would find him, and hopefully suffering for his crimes against Mobius and its people. When this was over, Knuckles would happily throw Breakdown, Abyss and her entire crew in that cell with him. He strode over to Breakdown, a smug smile on his face.

"Heh, heh, not so tough now when you're not able to move, are ya?" he crowed, "How does it feel to have been defeated by Eggman's rebels once again?"

Breakdown just narrowed his optics but said nothing. He didn't even bother growling at him, knowing it wouldn't achieve much.

"It was thanks to your daughter we even subdued him." Julie-Su informed, "It was her idea for us to shoot him in the mouth and bring him down, reckoning that was his weak point."

"Shade always believed Sadie was smarter than she let on..." Knuckles mused with pride. It did him good to see that his wife had been right about Sadie all along and that she had more to her than just being strong like him.

"So now we have this monster tied down, we can hopefully pry any useful information out of his head." Relic said, observing Breakdown with something close to fascination in her eyes, "Maybe he'll even have a map of Abyss's hideout that we could use to navigate our way around."

"Wait, you know where Abyss is hiding?" Julie-Su asked, arching an eyebrow in surprise.

"I've heard of a place called the "Isle of Abyss"." Relic explained, "Many people say that it's an island that's been taken over by pirates and given Abyss herself is one, I see no reason why we wouldn't look for her there."

"I dunno, don't you think that's a bit too obvious a place to hide?" one of the scientists put in, looking up briefly from his work, "You'd think Abyss would be more subtle than that."

"I wouldn't have said subtlety was her strong point to begin with." Julie-Su snorted, "I mean she dresses in an outfit that was clearly inspired by how Eggman looked when he was alive, that makes her stand out a bit. Plus she's clearly got an ego so naming an island after herself would be just the thing she'd do."

"Hence why that's the first place we're going to look for her." Knuckles declared, "Have you guys got anything out of Breakdown yet?" he asked, glancing over at the scientists.

"We're doing our best." one of them replied, "But the brain of a Robian is difficult to slice into, without causing any harm, of course."

"Hang on, I think I have something!" another said excitedly.

"Yes?" Knuckles said eagerly.

The scientist paused as he consulted the data he was receiving.

"It's too vague to be certain, but it might be the layout of Abyss' HQ and the identities of her co-horts."

"You look into this Julie-Su. You're better with computers than I am." Knuckles offered.

To a computer genius, the data would be like reading another language and to Knuckles, it just looked like garbled text on the screen that he'd never decipher. Relic had no idea what it was either, sharing Knuckles's lack of skill in technology and computers. She was used to reading ancient languages in caves and tombs, not text on a screen. The both watched as Julie-Su leaned over the screen the scientists were looking at and absorbed the information it was displaying. Her observant eyes darted up and down constantly as the data scrolled by. She shook her head.

"I can't really tell right now. But we should uncover it if we dig a little deeper." the pink echidna announced.

She plugged her robotic dreadlock into the side of the computer to provide her own set of hacking skills to see if she could bypass Breakdown's mental defences and get inside. Despite not wanting to talk about it, she did find herself occasionally thankful that she had this metal appendage in place of an ordinary dreadlock. It certainly was helping her and the scientists out now. Knuckles and Relic watched, not daring to make a single noise as the pink echidna worked away. It took a few minutes, but it seemed as if she'd made some kind of progress. Julie-Su straightened up, her dreadlock unplugging from the computer, and she looked very excited as if she'd found the Holy Grail in Breakdown's mind.

"Yes! I got through!" she cried, "Have a look at this!"

Knuckles and Relic did so, peering over at the screen as it was showing coherent text to read and some images that looked like a map of some kind. Said map was in the shape of an island. The Isle of Abyss? Relic seemed to recognize it for she peered even closer at the image, adjusting her glasses to make sure she was seeing correctly.

"That's the island." she confirmed, "It matches images I've seen in atlases and on model globes. We now have a good insight into Abyss's hideout."

"And what about all the other stuff we got?" Knuckles asked, "All that text for example?"

"We haven't got time to read it now. We have our men and women to rescue." Julie-Su muttered, "But I'll bet it's important. We'll save the data and study it later. For now, we should focus on this map of the Isle of Abyss we have."

"We could find a way to sneak in and rescue those poor echidnas." Relic chimed in, "But what do we do about Breakdown? Do we keep him here?"

"I'm tempted to say yes, but at the same time, we could potentially use him to our advantage." Knuckles deduced, "Maybe we could tempt Abyss to negotiate a prisoner exchange. Breakdown's freedom for Sadie's, if you know what I mean."

"It's not like giving him back will do S.T.I.N.G. any good now we have some interesting information we've plucked out of his head." Julie-Su sneered, "But it's risky. What if she refuses?"

"Then we'll just have to settle for more aggressive means." Knuckles said, "But it should be a surprise; something she won't expect. Relic, Julie-Su, how about you two sneak in and hack the security system? If Abyss refuses, shut down the power; if she accepts, do so anyway. It'll get the others out more easily. What do you think?"

The two girls looked over at each other as if trying read one another's thoughts. They weren't telepathic, but they both felt as if they'd come to the same conclusion. They turned back to face Knuckles.

"I'm not really the kind of person to get into these situations, but I'll do it for you guardian." Relic declared, "At the very least, I owe you that much for setting me free and believing I wasn't a spy."

"And you know me too well Knuckles. My life is to this tribe and I won't rest until all our men and women are freed from S.T.I.N.G.!" Julie-Su cried, pounding her palm with her fist.

"Just what I wanted to hear." Knuckles said proudly, "We'll get Shade and Remington to join up with us once they're done at the Emerald Shrine."

"We should go there now and see if they need help!" Relic exclaimed, "We have no idea what's going on over there!"

Knuckles agreed with the pika. He trusted his wife to be able to handle herself, but not even she would have the strength to take down an entire pirate crew should they get to the emeralds. He and Julie-Su freed Breakdown from his restraints and carried him out of the lab with Relic following close behind. It was going to be hard work dragging the immobile Robian with them to the Emerald Shrine but if they were going to try a prisoner exchange, they had to take him. Would Abyss let the echidnas go for Breakdown's return to S.T.I.N.G.? Knuckles knew that very soon, he was going to find out. He just prayed with all his might that they weren't too late to stop Dimitri and Abyss from stealing the emeralds...

"There they are...the Chaos and Master Emeralds! At last...I thought I'd never live to see such a valuable piece of echidna history in person." Dimitri crooned with admiration.

There they were, sitting on a plinth in a circle around another plinth in the centre, the Chaos and Master Emeralds themselves. The robotic head had found the shrine with help from the Chaos Gauntlet and he approached the emeralds with a mixture of excitement and awe on his face. Dimitri was puzzled to see that there was an eighth emerald sitting among the famous seven emeralds, but he didn't mind. He was sure there was a reason why it was here. His optics were fixated on the dazzling, beautiful gems sitting proudly on their plinths like powerful rulers looking over their kingdoms. It was a sight that Dimitri wanted to relish forever for they weren't just powerful gems to him. They were surviving relics of his race's ancient past, and one of the proudest aspects of said history too. He was even having second thoughts about stealing them. How could he take these precious emeralds from their displays and hand them over to S.T.I.N.G. like that? They belong to the echidnas! The Chaos Emeralds were their birth right! But he had to accept the horrible truth that he couldn't disobey S.T.I.N.G., not when they could put him through severe punishment that would be a fate worse than death. He had to do it, whether he liked it or not.

And so, he'd contacted Abyss to let her know he'd found the emeralds and was waiting for her to arrive at his coordinates. He hoped they wouldn't desecrate the shrine while they were at it. It was too beautiful to just destroy after all. As he waited for the squid to arrive, her looked over at the Chaos Gauntlet, remembering what he was planning to do with it when the time was right.

"At least that pirate scum has no idea what's coming to her..." he purred, "With any luck, I might get to kill her at the same time I destroy this relic. And S.T.I.N.G. will never suspect a thing..."

"DIMITRI!" shouted a voice, causing Dimitri to start in surprise. He looked round. Shade and Remington had come racing in, both looking livid. Dimitri was surprised and impressed by how quickly Shade had recovered.

"You pathetic little traitor!" Shade shrieked, "We took you in, and you repay us by attacking us?! I guess everything you said about S.T.I.N.G. was a lie!"

Dimitri merely smiled. "Not entirely." he said, "But I'm afraid I have no time for stories; Abyss is on her way, and if you want to avoid any more pain, I suggest you leave right now."

"I'm not going anywhere." Shade declared, drawing her blades out, "As guardian, it's my duty to protect the emeralds from people like you. And believe me, I've handled MUCH worse than you Dimitri. I was even willing to stand up to Imperator Ix!"

"Ah yes, that crazy old man..." Dimitri murmured, "Imperator Ix was always a short-sighted fool who couldn't see the benefits of our island being in the sky instead of on the ground. I hope you're considerably brighter than he was, my dear."

That was one thing they could agree on, that Ix had been a shallow-minded maniac with delusions of grandeur. Shade would've hated Dimitri even more if it had turned out he supported him. When she was through with him, she would maybe send him to meet her father in the void. Remington stood beside her, drawing out a pair of pistols and aiming them at the S.T.I.N.G. agent. He seemed more amused than anything at who he was up against.

"So it's two of us against a head-in-a-bubble." he sneered, "I'm almost beginning to question how he got the drop on you and Knuckles like that."

Shade glared at Remington but said nothing. She held her blades in front of her, her arms criss-crossed and ready to swing her weapons at the robo-echidna.

"Last chance Dimitri. Give back the gauntlet and leave this place now, or I'll cut you to pieces." she warned, her voice as cold as the Northern Tundra.

Dimitri refused to move, still clutching the Chaos Gauntlet as if his life depended on it. Shade could see he wasn't willing to stand down, so she deployed her helmet and ran towards him with an angry yell of fury. Dimitri knew that even with the gauntlet in his possession, he would be no match for the guardian. He couldn't use the gauntlet as he had no proper hands to use it with and his three-digit claws at the end of his tentacles were all too small for the gauntlet to be of any use. It would just slide off if he tried to wield it. But luckily for him, he wouldn't have to fight Shade for just as the distance between him and her had been fully closed, Abyss sprang seemingly out of nowhere and side-tackled the armoured echidna. She was sent sprawling across the shrine and came to a stop by a nearby plinth that didn't have any emeralds sitting on it. Shade grunted but got back to her feet with no problems at all. She saw Remington take aim and shoot at Abyss, only to miss as the cephalopod cartwheeled out of his way. The pirate captain spiralled towards Remington with her tentacles whipping through the air as she spun. The black-haired echidna threw himself to the side to avoid being hit, feeling the air whip past him as Abyss sailed over him. Abyss skidded to a halt and raised her tentacles, waiting to strike at him. Shade ran up beside Remington, adopting a battle-ready stance as she prepared to cut her down. The squid smirked, her beak curving up into a confident smile that suggested she was in total command and held all the cards.

"Nice suit of armour, peachy." she said sarcastically, "Although I'd say it's a little too form-fitting. Is skin-tight your kind of thing or something?"

"If you're trying to insult me then it's not working." Shade retorted, "I take it that's Abyss, Remington?" she asked.

"Yes guardian, that's her." Remington confirmed.

"And VERY pleased to meet you too!" Abyss sneered, "I've always wanted to take down a guardian! And I mean a REAL guardian, not that snot-nosed shrimp Sadie who thinks she has any chance of being one!"

"Well as it so happens, this guardian you're talking to now is her mother." Shade snarled, "And I'm giving you 10 seconds to give her back before I cut your tentacles off!"

Abyss chuckled. It was a humourless sound, the kind that suggested they weren't taking you very seriously.

"Oh woe is me, I'm now up against Sadie's mother! How ever will I handle this?!" she crowed, her tone mocking and full of arrogance, "Well as it so happens, I gathered all our prisoners to my ship and bought them with me as we came to pick up the emeralds. How's about I reunite mother and daughter for a little while?"

She then whistled, a noise that Shade wouldn't have expected her to be able to do with her beak. The whistle was clearly some kind of signal for a bunch of pirates came over to her. They were carrying somebody with them, a teenage echidna girl who had been tightly bound with rope around her body and a gag tied around her mouth. The sight of her daughter all trussed up like this made Shade's hands shake and her nerves jingle with rage. Sadie tried to cry out to her mother, but couldn't because of the gag.

"See, here she is, all alive and well!" Abyss cried as if the whole thing was a friendly get-together, "And don't worry, I haven't ordered the crew to do anything to her so she's fine."

"Let. Her. Go!" Shade spat the three words with seething hatred in her voice.

Abyss's eyes narrowed, the marine Mobian now switching from rude and arrogant to dark and serious. It was unnerving that she could switch personalities so quickly, both Shade and Remington shuddering at the quick transition.

"I believe you misunderstand your position here, doll-face." the squid said coldly, "You are not in any position to make demands. We hold all the cards as you can see. Dimitri got me the Chaos Gauntlet, and he'll happily hand it over to me the moment I say so."

Dimitri had toddled over to Abyss the whole time she and Shade had been talking. She and Remington hadn't even noticed him, he'd been completely forgotten about until Abyss had mentioned his name. They saw him now, standing directly by the squid with the gauntlet held above him, ready to give to her.

"Also, I have your daughter in hand." Abyss continued, patting Sadie on the head to annoy her, "You'll do anything to get her back...well too bad! I'll do anything I can to keep her! And as is clear to you, my shipmates are all armed."

To emphasize this point, one of the pirates pulled out what seemed to be a flintlock pistol and he pressed it against Sadie's head. It looked old-fashioned, like something in a children's pirate story. But this flintlock was up-to-date, able to fire lasers instead of bullets and Shade had no doubt the weapon was extremely reliable. Sadie whimpered behind her gag, the feel of the gun against her head making her feel sick.

"So go on, chop me up and make me into a soup. It won't do you any good when a single movement of my matey's trigger finger will spread your daughter's brains all over this shrine!" Abyss dared, "What's it going to be guardian. Surrender? Or a front row seat to Sadie's execution?"

"Y-y-you can't do this!" Shade protested, feeling the sweat trickling down her face and to her neck under her helmet, "I-I th-though S-S-S.T.I.N.G. didn't want anyone but Sonic dead! Y-you want to c-convert the world into Robians!"

It was foolish to try and reason with this sick woman, but Shade was determined to try. The situation was spinning helplessly out of control and she was grasping at whatever straws were left to grasp, hoping anything would work at this point.

"Doesn't mean I have to spare everybody." Abyss scoffed, "Scorn will understand if a few people have to die for our cause. He might even overlook Sadie's death if it means I get you and Knuckles to hand over to them. So I reiterate, do you want Sadie alive or not?"

Shade was in a real dilemma, as anyone would in this sort of situation. She did believe that the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, but what kind of mother would be willing to sacrifice her own daughter? But she couldn't see any other way out of it

"Tick, tock." Abyss said, mockingly waving her finger like an upside-down pendulum, "You got 5 seconds! 5, 4..."

"Hold it!" came a voice from behind Shade, and Knuckles suddenly appeared, dragging Breakdown with him. He, Julie-Su and Relic had reached the Shrine and heard voices, confirming their fears that Abyss and Dimitri were already there. He'd decided to go in alone with Breakdown; should he get captured, Julie-Su and Relic would still be safe, so they'd still have a chance.

"Counter-offer, squid-head!" Knuckles said, holding Breakdown by the neck, "Release my daughter, or your friend here becomes scrap!"

Shade was horrified. Her husband was willing to kill?! She knew it might be necessary in some situations, but that didn't mean she approved of it.

"I know you don't want Breakdown to be scrapped, Abyss. He is one of S.T.I.N.G.'s founding members!" Knuckles yelled, hoping to drive the point home, "Imagine how mad Scorn would be if he died on your watch!"

Abyss didn't even seem bothered by the counter-offer. If anything, the squid seemed oddly amused by the whole scenario. Her face was curled up into a sneer of confidence and she laughed, the kind of sound Knuckles hadn't expected to hear from her.

"Do you seriously believe that I'm stupid enough to think you'll actually do it, blockhead?" Abyss snorted, "I know you Royal Fighter types! You don't kill unless absolutely necessary! I know Sonic killed Dr. Eggman, but I doubt you have his killer streak, Knuckles."

"It is true." Dimitri added, "He couldn't even kill Imperator Ix and his clan. He merely banished them to the void instead."

Knuckles wasn't surprised that Dimitri knew about that already. The elderly echidna did seem to know a lot about echidna history, past and present. How annoying it was that he decided to bring that up now! Abyss was even less likely to take his offer seriously with that in mind!

"How do you know I haven't developed one over time?" Knuckles protested, desperately trying to save himself.

"You haven't killed Breakdown already, you was willing to bargain with him. That already proves you don't have one." Abyss sneered, "Now enough of this nonsense already. Just hand Breakdown over and give yourself up before your daughter gets her brains blown out!"

The pirate holding the gun against Sadie's head tightened his grip and pressed on harder, almost forcing the gun right through Sadie's skull. Sadie whimpered some more, pleading with her eyes for her dad to do something. Knuckles found himself mirroring his wife's expression, beads of sweat trickling down his head as the situation seemed to spin out of control. What could he do?!

"What about one of your organization's figure heads?!" he protested.

"What about your daughter?" Abyss purred.

The pirate's finger tightened on the trigger, just a millimetre away from firing the shot. Even the slightest twitch would make it go off at this point. There was no chance of them saving Sadie before the pirate shot her. Nobody could move fast enough. Even if they could, any attempt to wrestle Sadie away from the pirate would result in her getting shot. There was literally no way out. Knuckles could well kill Breakdown now, but what would it achieve? It would just leave him and Sadie with their only daughter gone. Besides, Breakdown had been roboticized. They'd just repair him and he'd be essentially "alive" again, but Sadie would stay dead. It was a hopeless bargain. Knuckles felt as if he could punch himself for this idiocy! Why didn't he leave Breakdown in their custody! Then again, they still had information downloaded out of his head so they still had a hidden trump card to use against S.T.I.N.G. later. Plus, Julie-Su and Relic were in hiding so they could change things in their favour. Maybe there was still hope in all of this. Sighing heavily, Knuckles lowered Breakdown to the ground and held up his hands.

"Fine. I give up." he muttered.

"I knew you couldn't do it." Abyss gloated, "You hero types, always the same sanctimonious, holier-than-thou tripe who big themselves up but prove unwilling to go the extra mile. How Eggman failed to conquer you guys is anyone's guess."

Knuckles didn't even have the strength to reply. What could he say that would make anything better. Sadie was staring at her father with horror in her eyes, crying muffled cries of dismay behind her gag. Even Shade looked horrified. It wasn't like her husband to just give-up! She ran over to him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Knuckles, we can't just give up like that!" she cried, her voice hoarse with horror.

"It's alright my love." Knuckles looked at her and winked, "I know what I'm doing."

That was enough to tell Shade that things weren't as they seemed. Knuckles had a backup plan! But they couldn't let the pirates know about it. She decided to play along for now, raising her hands just like Knuckles did.

"I surrender as well." she said, sounding defeated.

"As do I." Remington sighed. He wasn't sure what was going on but was going to play along for the time being.

"See, was that so hard?" Abyss crowed, "We could've saved ourselves a load of bother if you just gave yourselves up right away! Tie them up and load them on the ship while me and Dimitri get those emeralds!" she ordered.

The pirates obeyed and grabbed hold of Knuckles, Shade and Remington. In order to make sure that they didn't try anything at the last minute, the pirate holding Sadie at gunpoint was still doing so, keeping the gun against her head as if expecting a last minute ambush. In a matter of seconds, the pirates had tightly bound the three echidnas with rope and to make any attempts to escape impossible, Dimitri crept up to them and zapped them into unconsciousness. He found it somewhat amusing he was doing it to Knuckles and Shade a second time today. Abyss was taking no chances at this delicate stage. The pirates carried away their prisoners, some also carrying Breakdown away so he could be repaired, while Dimitri handed over the Chaos Gauntlet to Abyss.

"It might be easier to carry the emeralds by just using the gauntlet." he said.

Abyss smiled, liking the way the gauntlet felt on her hand as she slipped it on. It had a great weight to it and made her feel powerful. She could feel the energy of the Chaos Emeralds that had been used to make it surge up her arm and through her body. It was quite a sensation. What a find this had been! Now with the gauntlet on, Abyss saw to getting the Chaos Emeralds. They would shrink down to size and fit into the seven slots on the gauntlet, making carrying them as easy as that. Like Dimitri, she too was puzzled at the sight of the eighth, white Chaos Emerald that was there.

"And here I thought there was supposed to be seven. Ah well, an extra one for me." she shrugged.

As she grabbed the first Chaos Emerald to put into the gauntlet, two pairs of eyes watched her steal the precious emeralds while her crew took away the guardians and Breakdown. Julie-Su had fought off every nerve in her body that told her to attack and try to save everyone. She and Relic were safely hidden, no chance of them being spotted from behind the thick bushes near the Emerald Shrine. They had been horrified to see the plan go horribly wrong but they knew what to do now. Knuckles had told them as such on the way here.

"The poor guardians...that wicked pirate was just too clever for them!" Relic cried.

"I was so tempted to shoot that bitch!" Julie-Su growled, "But that would've given them the excuse to shoot Sadie dead. It was too risky...at least we have our little contingency in mind."

"Quite so." Relic agreed, "They'll never suspect that we know where to find them and we know the way into their base." the pika said brightly, "We'll be able to launch a nasty surprise on them and free the prisoners, and they'll never see it coming!"

"And if we capture anymore S.T.I.N.G. agents, we won't be so generous..." Julie-Su muttered, her voice like ice as she watched Abyss fill in all seven slots on the Chaos Gauntlet.

As soon as the last Emerald was inserted, Abyss threw her head back as she felt a surge of power unlike anything she'd ever felt. It was as if she'd, in every sense, become a god. The power was even healing some of the damage Sadie had done to her face earlier, making Abyss look as if nothing had ever happened to her.

"The power!" she breathed, "Such power! With this, I could remake the world in my image; wipe my enemies with a simple finger snap! I could-"

"Whoa there, missy!" Dimitri said, "Let's not get hasty now. Remember who you are serving."

Abyss just scoffed. "Why should I care about Scorn? He can't hurt me while I wield this."

"Maybe not." Dimitri said, "But how about this: you contact the King and Queen and order a surrender, or else, you'll wipe out all their friends and loved ones in a heartbeat?"

"Hmm, I like that." Abyss said, "Very well, then."

"Of course, S.T.I.N.G. wouldn't allow it as there'd be less people to roboticize, but they'll approve of making our enemies surrender with such a threat." Dimitri purred.

Abyss nodded in agreement, smiling back at him.

"You know old timer? I'm beginning to like you." the squid crooned, "The way you think and how effective you're proving in this mission, I think I might recruit you full time into my crew!"

"You're too kind my dear." Dimitri muttered in a voice dripping with distaste.

Abyss ignored him and headed off back to the ship, still wearing the gauntlet. As there were only seven slots on the gauntlet, she carried the eighth one in her spare hand while Dimitri picked up the Master Emerald and carried it with him as he followed the pirate captain away. He used four tentacles to carry the giant gem and four to walk. Abyss stared at him in amazement, surprised Dimitri could even carry the huge emerald. It seemed to weigh nothing in his claws. Whatever S.T.I.N.G. had done to make him this way, they sure did a good job on it! Maybe he would be a useful part of her crew after all.

As they walked away, Julie-Su and Relic watched them go with the former's eyes full of determination as she itched to carry out the backup plan. As soon as the shrine was empty with no sign that a single pirate had ever been there, Julie-Su and Relic emerged from the bushes and the pink echidna glanced over at the archaeologist.

"So, how do we get to the Isle of Abyss?" she asked.

"I'm so sorry I got captured mom and dad." Sadie said solemnly as she slumped against the wall, "Thanks to me, you two are in Abyss's grasp too."

"No Sadie, I should've known better than to think that sea-devil would actually agree to exchange you for Breakdown." Knuckles muttered, "I can still be such a knucklehead at times! The thought shouldn't have even occurred to me! Me and your mother could've snuck into this base and got you and the others out without needing to get ourselves out! I really should've that this through a little more."

"We were desperate to get our daughter back Knuckles, any parent in that situation could hardly be blamed for thinking irrationally." Shade said softly, "You don't need to put yourself down as well."

Knuckles sighed, still feeling like he deserved some of the blame for this mess. A while after they'd been captured, he, Shade, Sadie and Remington had been thrown into a cell together in what was presumably Abyss's island base. Where else could they be? If they stayed quiet for long enough, Knuckles could swear he could faintly hear the ocean lapping at the shore on the other side of the walls. Abyss hadn't untied any of them, the four echidnas still bound up tight with rope so they couldn't use their arms in anyway. The most they could do was just sit on the floor and struggle. Maybe she wanted to make sure they couldn't break out of the cell, though Knuckles was sure even he would have a hard time getting out of it. The walls were all completely solid and the door itself was completely reinforced, designed to withstand almost all attempts at breaking out. All they could do now was wait for Julie-Su and Relic to carry out the backup plan, if they could. It was going to be a long, tense wait, that much they knew.

"So what do you think they'll do with us dad?" Sadie asked.

It wasn't like her to sound so scared, but Knuckles could hardly blame her. She'd never experienced anything like this before. She was, in every sense, out of her depth in this kind of scenario. He only wish he could think of anything reassuring to say that would put her at ease, but there was nothing remotely pleasant to say.

"I imagine they'll just hand us over to S.T.I.N.G. so they can do what they want with us." Knuckles growled, "I bet they have a roboticizer waiting for us."

"They can make us the start of what's to come for all of Mobius." Shade said grimly, And just when I'd hoped I'd never experience what it's like to be a Robian again."

"I don't wanna be a robot!" Sadie whimpered, "We've gotta get outta here before they can do that to us!"

"Good thing Relic and Julie-Su are still out there." Knuckles noted, allowing a brief, confident smile to pass his lips, "They might get us out before anything can be done to us. I did tell them to sneak into this place and shut down the power should things go wrong."

"And they have the map of the base thanks to Breakdown so they'll find the power supply." Shade added optimistically, "Abyss thinks she holds all the cards, but she'll soon see that we have an ace up our sleeves."

"Heh, that's one way to look at it." Remington said, smirking confidently.

Sadie felt a little more relaxed with this in mind. Maybe things would turn out OK in the end and they'd make it out. Just then, the cell door opened and Sting entered.

"Sadie, the Captain wants to see you." he said, gesturing with his flintlock, "Alone."

"Don't you touch her!" Knuckles said, struggling to his feet and standing in front of his daughter. Sting just zapped him with his tentacles, causing him to collapse.

"You're not in a position to bargain." Sting said, as he grabbed Sadie by the arm, "Just like you weren't in the shrine. But don't worry; you'll soon join her."

With that, he slammed the door shut and shunted Sadie away. Knuckles and Shade couldn't do anything except wait and wonder on what was going to happen and why Abyss seemed to want Sadie in particular. They knew it wasn't good, whatever it was. They might even be taking this opportunity to bug her, if they so choose.

"And so you have it boss. I have the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, and all thanks to Dimitri finding the Chaos Gauntlet!" Abyss crowed, showing the gauntlet to her computer screen, "You were right to recruit him Scorn, he's proven to be a most useful ally to me and my crew! And here I thought he didn't look like much."

Abyss had naturally decided to take this opportunity to gloat to her leader about her recent success in obtaining the emeralds and kidnapping several tribesmen, including Knuckles and his family. She'd contacted Scorn and informed him of everything that had happened. The Robian's face was as unreadable as ever, making the squid wonder if he was even pleased with her.

"What about your prisoners?" Scorn demanded. He didn't seem to be in any mood to congratulate his agent, "Have you left any of them alive?"

"Every single one master, just as you wanted. No dead bodies." Abyss replied, "I bugged the two guardians and one of their own while they were unconscious and now we've got the time, I intend to bug the rest of the prisoners, starting with Knuckles and Shade's little daughter."

"Be quick about it. The sooner you finish with them, the better." Scorn ordered, "We can do without the R.F.S. showing up to rescue them at the last second."

"I know how to deal with them." Abyss sneered, "I can use my new toy to make them cede to us! Imagine it Scorn...I threaten to wipe them all out with a snap of my fingers, and I have the power to back it up! They'll be begging for us to take them in exchange for their lives!"

"And what if they call your bluff?" the scorpion muttered, "You know you won't be allowed to actually carry out that threat as genocide is not what we're striving towards."

"I could just wipe out a handful of prisoners, maybe even test it on a town that nobody cares about." the marine woman shrugged, "Just to show we're serious. Or I could just snap my fingers and make their bases disappear! That could work!"

"Make sure you rely on the gauntlet as a last minute resort." Scorn warned, "I would hate to use our most powerful weapon too early. In the meantime, keep the prisoners as long as you can and bug them all. I will come over and bring them back to our base and have the bugs command them to walk into our roboticizer. They will be a prelude to what will become of Mobius as a whole..."

"Indeed, Master, indeed." Abyss said with a smile, "I will see you soon."

With nothing more to say, she shut off the communications link. At that moment, Sting shoved Sadie into the room, still holding her at gunpoint.

"Ah, and here she is." Abyss said, sneering, "The wittle Guardian girl who never stood a chance against me, even after 10 years."

Sadie glared at Abyss. Despite her feelings of guilt, she was determined not to let Abyss get to her.

"If my memory serves me right, the only reason you captured me at all is because of this walking plate of jelly!" she said.

"Hey!" Sting said, stung by Sadie's insult. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was people making fun of him. The one bad thing about being a jellyfish was that there were plenty of ways to make jokes about it. He raised his tentacles to zap the girl, but Abyss stopped him.

"Hey, Hey, it's alright, it's alright." she said calmly, "Let her make her insults; they're all she has left. Besides, you really should've finished me, girl."

"And what do you think I would've achieved by doing that?" Sadie muttered, "I probably still would've been caught anyway. And I'd be setting a terrible example to my village too. How can they trust a guardian who's willing to murder in cold blood?"

"And yet that didn't seem to affect Sonic when he killed Dr. Eggman." Abyss retorted, "Oh and what about that Dr. Finny-Whatshisname guy? I don't see him walking around nowadays! I heard Sonic put him down like a rabid dog back in 2143!"

"It's thanks to him that Enerjak didn't destroy the world, in case that important details was left out to you!" Sadie snapped. She was indignant. Was Abyss trying to imply that Sonic was somehow wrong for killing Finitevus 17 years ago?!

"That was different! It was necessary for Finitevus to die, otherwise we would've all been dead too! Why do you and everybody else at S.T.I.N.G. seem to conveniently forgot about that?"

"Oh don't think for a minute we're ungrateful about that." Abyss scoffed, "Scorn himself even thanks Sonic for stopping that maniac so that it was possible for S.T.I.N.G. to form and get revenge for Eggman's death. So yeah, we haven't forgotten about that."

"Well some gratitude you bastards show..." Sadie spat venomously.

"That's irrelevant anyway, we're not here to talk about moral superiority." the squid dismissed, "I asked for you because my masters wish for me to set you up for their little takeover scheme."

"You're not gonna roboticize me, are you?" the teenage guardian asked, worriedly.

"Couldn't even if I wanted to doll-face. I don't have a roboticizer here." Abyss shrugged, "But that's not what I meant anyway..."

She then picked up a small, rectangular case that was sitting on a nearby desk and she opened it up. The case contained a few tiny robots inside and she picked one out. As soon as it was lifted out of the case, the robot seemed to spring into life. Its optics flashed red and it writhed about between Abyss's fingers, its antennae twitching. Sadie's eyes widened in horror, recognizing the little bug.

"That looks like the little robot they got out of Tails!" she shrieked, "Oh god, please don't put that in me!"

"Sorry squirt, that's what you're getting." Abyss crowed, her tone anything but apologetic, "And don't think we'll get a repeat of that because your precious Nicole will not locate THIS model!"

She then grabbed Sadie by the throat, forcing her mouth open as she gagged loudly. Sadie tried to resist but it was no use. She was tightly tied up and any attempts to close her mouth resulted in Sting zapping her to make her cry out in pain. She was helpless to stop it as Abyss dropped the robot into Sadie's mouth. She tried using her tongue to force it out but it clung on tightly with its tiny legs. It was like an earwig clutching onto something, it would never let go and nothing would shake it off. Then it forced itself down her throat, disappearing into her body in an instant. Sadie coughed and spluttered heavily, hoping she might be able to hack it up. With any luck, she might even throw up and dispose of it that way. She already felt sick from having the thing put inside her. But then suddenly, Sadie felt a sudden need to sleep. It was part of the roach's programming to make anyone fall asleep so they would forget about the whole thing and leave the R.F.S. completely in the dark. The echidna's head flopped forward as she passed out. When she woke up, she wouldn't remember this and unlike the previous model, it would do a better job on hiding itself and remain dormant so there'd be no tummy-aches to give it away this time. Swoop had seen to it that this model did just that so the R.F.S. would never locate another bug again. Abyss smirked with pleasure.

"That was fun!" she cried.

"That was creepy..." Sting muttered, "We really do this to anyone S.T.I.N.G. captures?"

"Of course!" Abyss retorted, "That's what this whole plan's about! Bug as many people as we can so when the time is right, we can activate them and have them all willingly walk into our roboticizer machine back at base! It's as simple as that!"

"Given how long we've been at it, I wonder how many we've already bugged right now..." the jellyfish said thoughtfully.

"Not enough yet, but we'll get there." the pirate captain said casually, "We're gonna keep at it until Scorn says we're ready. In the meantime, I'm gonna send a message to his majesty, King Sonic, and his little queen that'll hopefully make them surrender to us and then after that, I think we're due for some entertainment. Prep up the fighting ring Sting, I feel like starting a fight with Sadie's daddy! And string her up above the arena, she'll be a great prize to tempt Knuckles into the ring!"

"Aye, aye, cap'n!" Sting cried, saluting as he turned and left the room to do just that.

He took Sadie with him so he could prepare her for the fight. Abyss smiled to herself as she picked up the Chaos Gauntlet and slipped it on again, feeling the surge of power through her arm a second time. She could get used to this! It was such a sensational feeling to have so much power at her disposal! She must be the most powerful Mobian in the world with this tool! She knew it would make Sonic and friends surrender themselves to S.T.I.N.G. After all who were they to ignore a threat that could bring genocide to the world? They'd made sure Enerjak couldn't do it, they wouldn't want a repeat of that possibility...

This is bad, this is bad, so very, very bad! Knuckles, Shade and Sadie are all prisoners of Abyss! And they've all been bugged! The rest of the captured villagers will share the same fate and Abyss has the Chaos Gauntlet! It all seems pretty hopeless, doesn't it? Not entirely. Relic and Julie-Su are still free and are part of Knuckles's back-up plan. It looks as if it's all up to them...

Tune in next time as our heroes end up playing "The Games of Abyss"...