Because You Loved Me--Even If I Didn't Want You To

Chapter Eight: Jungle Boogie
(AKA: Eggman Could Actually be a Threat? Who Knew )


“Sonic! ”

The azure hedgehog screamed in agony as he fell to his side again, digging his gloved fingers into his neck so roughly that he was drawing trickles of blood, trying to yank the glowing collar off of him.

“Sonic, Sonic stop, you’re hurting yourself! ” Amy called to him as she pulled herself to her feet, leaving the others in their heap and ran to his side, placing her hands around his wrists and pulled at them slightly, trying to pry them away from his neck.

“Get–away! ” he snarled at her as he tried to break away from her grip.

“Sonic, I just want to help you! ” Amy cried desperately, refusing to let him go.

“Gotta–get it–off... ” he cried, then without warning, he slumped over into her arms just as the ring stopped glowing, resting his head on Amy’s shoulder. She looked over at him, first in surprise than concern.

“Sonic?” she whispered to him in question, stroking his quills absently.

“It’s only a matter of time now.”

Amy turned around as much as she could to see Eggman over her shoulder, looking down at Sonic as he stroked his chin thoughtful. “Perhaps it isn’t be as powerful as it should be, but once more emeralds are added, there will be nothing the little annoyance can do.”

“You!” Amy called to him, and he inclined his head to her, as if just realizing she was there. “What did you do to Sonic?”

Eggman blinked behind his glasses, then raising his eyebrows, he gave his infamous chuckle, his belly moving up and down. Then smirking, he pointed at Amy before replying “You don’t really think I’ll tell you my plans just yet? No, this time, I want my success to be a surprise! ”

“Isn’t it always,” Shadow retorted in his dead pan voice as he glared at him.

Eggman sweat dropped at him, then frowned. “Yes well–” He growled and stumped his foot, his fist balled up at his sides. Then he pointed a finger at Shadow and retorted. “It will only be a matter of time before you find out exactly what has been done. And by then it will be far too late. ” Then he smirked and looked up in the sky with what could be described as a dreamy expression. “Then the Eggman Empire will finally be realized! ”

“Not if we beat the answer out of you first,” Knuckles snarled as he launched himself at the doctor. Eggman sweat dropped again as he watched him for a second. Letting out a small yelp of fear, he ducked and dodged the fist that approached his head. He gave a sigh of relief before he felt a foot collide with the back of his head, sending him falling forward. But before he could meet the ground, he was met by a fist coming upward with such force, it sent him falling in the other direction.

He landed with a large ‘thump’, holding his large nose with both hands and wincing in pain.

Rouge landed right beside Knuckles as he pulled his fist back, both frowning at the egg shaped man lying in front of them.

Eggman sat up. He was usually in his Egg Carrier but that silly fox had damaged it as he tried to take away the Chaos Emeralds. Though it was a stroke of luck that when the carrier landed, it tossed the small fox hard into a tree and completely knocked him out, sending him deep down into the crater.

He let go of his nose and smirked. The crater. How could he have possibly forgetten about his new pet?

“So–you all want to play, is that it?” he teased, standing to his feet. Knuckles and Rouge both went into a fighting stance while Amy continued to hang on to Sonic, glaring at him. Surprisingly, Shadow hadn’t made a move toward him, he only continued to glare with his crimson eyes, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Then allow me to introduce you to my latest invention!”

Everyone was thrown off balance a bit as they felt a large rumble below the bridge. Rouge looked over the vine railing as if trying to see past the large leaves into the crater below while Knuckles cautiously looked around him, waiting for whatever it was too attack.

Amy looked worried as another rumbled made her hold on tighter to Sonic, nearly knocking them both over.

“Do try to have fun,” Eggman called to them as he took this chance to break out into his odd sprint.

“What the,” Knuckles called annoyed as the egg shaped man made his way as quickly as he could off the bridge, across the leaves, and hitting firm ground, disappeared into the wall of trees.

“Get back here! ” Knuckles cried as he began to give chase but ceased immediately once he was thrown completely off his feet by another rumble, this one closer to them. He rubbed backside as Rouge backed away from the railing.

“Let him go Knucklehead, he’s not important, ” she called as calmly as she could, her eyes widening slightly. And as if on cue, a robot sprung through the leaves and into the air, swaying slightly as it knocked branches out of its way. Its head tilted back as it cleared the tops of the trees and opened it’s mouth wide to let out a long hiss of aggravation.

Amy gasped while Shadow, still watching the entire scene, looked unimpressed, not making a effort to move. Rouge got into her fighting stance while Knuckles balled up his fist, preparing for the upcoming fight.

The robotic anaconda’s head peered down between the trees, steadying the five heroes before picking it’s first target then hissing loudly again, launched itself at Rouge with lightening speed. She barely had enough time to dodge out of the way, getting knocked off her feet as she dove over the vine rail and on to a large, nearby leaf.

The robotic beast shot through the bridge with enough force to make it sway slightly. Knuckles backed away while Amy let out a small scream of fright, hugging on to Sonic. They watched as the rest of it’s body made it’s way through, the head still not coming up yet.

Amy let out a shivering sigh as the tip of it’s tail disappeared down the freshly made hole. The robot was skinny but not enough not to nearly sever the bridge in half: the sides were only holding on by a few strands of the vine railings. However, it was a suspension bridge and even if it had completely broken it in half, they wouldn’t have fallen into the crater and for that, she was thankful. Though she was still worried: if it decided to try that again, this time closer to where Shadow stood, the middle would fall for sure...

“You alright batgirl?” Knuckles called to Rouge.

“Peachy,” she said sarcastically as she got to her feet, dusting the front of her spandex pants off. She looked up at him then cried out in alarm “Knucklehead...the tail! ”

He looked confused for the split second before the tail crashed into his back and sent in flying into the trees, disappearing from view.

“Knucklehead! ”

“Knuckles!”

The head of the snake came up just in front of the bridge, it’s tail swaying from side to side as it hit the railing of the bridge, making it sway again, while the rest of the body went soaring into the air as it shot straight upward. It paused finally, the tail retreated beneath the leaves as it craned it’s neck down, spotting Rouge again. Before long, it was launching another attack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knuckles shook his head to clear the dizziness he felt, one hand at the holding the bridge of his nose while the other steadied him as he leaned on the base of tree.

He was surprised that he hadn’t completely been knocked out. The fall through the leaves wasn’t as steep as he thought, but it was still pretty deep. With the exception of being knocked into the tree he was leaning on, he hadn’t hit anything else on the way down.

The ground was covered with moss and dirt and Knuckles could just make out the side of the crater a few feet away, where the walls of trees that blocked on all sides began.

After shaking his head again and convinced he could, Knuckles straightened up then flexing his arms, determined to get back to the fight ensuing above him. He paused when he saw something move a few feet away from him–more than likely a part of the body of that large anaconda.

Knuckles thought about attacking it from below for a second but decided not to. While it would hold the element of surprise for a second, the snake would come down to the ground and with the cramped space due to the large, thick tree trunks and many stems of those large leaves they’d been walking on, it would be harder to get away without going to the surface of the leaves.

He dug his left knuckle into a nearby base of a tree as deeply as he could before he began to climb.

He had just made it a foot up the long oak wood before he heard a muffled cry for help and what seemed like struggling. Knuckles craned his neck to look behind him, frowning as he paused in his climbing. His ears moved as they straightened, straining to listen for the sound again.

And he heard it, the sound of a child struggling and a muffled cry for help.

Knuckles pushed himself off the tree with his feet and back flipped to the ground, his eyes looking from side to side as he heard the sound again. He turned his attention to the left of him and began to jog his way along the ground, through the maze of tree trunks and leaf stems until he saw a small wreckage wedged between three tree trunks.

The whimpering got louder and he recognized the voice.

“Tails?” Knuckles called out.

The struggling sound seemed to stop before he heard “Knuckles? Is that you?”

Knuckles made his way over to the small wreckage, realizing it was Eggman’s Egg Carrier and leapt on top of it. He peered down the other side, seeing Tails, who was trying in vain to push the machine off of him as both tails and left leg where pinned underneath it.

He winced and looked up at Knuckles accusingly. “You’re adding weight!”

“Oh–sorry kid,” Knuckles grumbled sheepishly before leaping off and landing behind him.

“We have to hurry,” Tails began, still trying to push it off of him. “There’s something down here It goes to the surface sometimes but it’s only a matter of time before–”

“We’ve seen it,” Knuckles replied, cutting him off. “Eggman’s new robot. We gotta get to the surface anyway, Rouge and Amy probably need help, since it doesn’t look like that jerk Shadow will help and Sonic is knocked out–”

“Sonic’s hurt?” Tails cried with alarm, his eyes wide. A look of utter worry overshadowed his face and Knuckles blinked. It was amazing how loyal Tails was to the azure hedgehog. It was almost like he completely forgot about his own situation in favor of Sonic’s.

“He’s fine kid, it’s Sonic,” Knuckles announced, placing his hands underneath the rather large machine and grunting, began trying to lift it. After a few moments, he gave up, glaring at it.

“It’s the trees,” Tails announced. “It’s wedged between them and holding it in place.”

“Then we’ll just have to fix that, won’t we?” Knuckles announced as he cocked back his arm and with a loud grunt, punched the nearest tree to him.

There was a seconds pause before the tree began to sway away from him in what seemed like slow motion before it went crashing into another tree and like dominos, a few more followed suit, none actually crashing into the ground, just into each other.

He turned his attention back to the Egg Carrier, then grunting a bit, lifted it off the small fox. With another grunting cry, he picked it up and tossed it a small ways away from them and into a tree. It landed with a loud crunching sound.

Knuckles looked down at the tan fox and smirked a bit. “Think you can walk kid?”

Tails smiled back then slowly stood on his feet with the help of a nearby tree. He made it a half of step before wincing and going crashing back into the ground with a moan of pain. He touched his right ankle and winced again, quickly letting it go.

Knuckles sweat dropped slightly then sighing, lifted the small fox up and on his back.

“Ow! ”

“Sorry,” he grunted as he dug his gloved knuckle into the same tree Tails had used to help himself up then began climbing his way back up to the surface, pausing any time they felt a strong rumble made by the robotic anaconda.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amy watched as Rouge went crashing into a tree, getting tangled briefly in the branches before letting out a cry before the robot attacked again, sending her and the tree crashing through other trees.

Amy could just make out the milky white fur, now splotched with crimson, as Rouge shaking slightly, lifted into the air before the tail came around and knocked her into another tree.

Amy got to her feet, letting Sonic down as gently as she could. She thought Knuckles would have been back by then but he must have gotten hurt as well. Rouge needed someone’s help and fast–and despite what the bat had done, Amy still considered her a friend and didn’t want to see her get hurt any worse than she had.

She turned her attention to the ebony hedgehog who had simply been watching the entire event unfold, leaning against the railing of a good part of the bridge, an indifferent look on his face.

“Why are you just standing around?” Amy snapped at him. He cut his eyes to her.

“Can’t you see she needs our help?” She snapped again. He ‘hmphed’ slightly and turned his attention back to the fight. Amy’s frown deepened as he anger rose. Shadow really knew how to hold a grudge it seemed. Certainly he had a right to be anger at Rouge–they all did–but now wasn’t the time.

Amy took out one of her infamous Piko-Piko hammers and clutching it in her hand, glared at Shadow again.

“If you want to be that way, then fine I can’t make you fight. But I won’t let Rouge die just because she did something wrong. ”

She didn’t catch Shadow’s side glance as she looked back at Sonic. She really hadn’t wanted to leave him just in case the snake decided to attack him. He wouldn’t be able to defend himself and it was obvious Shadow wouldn’t help him if it did. But Rouge needed someone’s aid and quickly so it was a risk she would just have to take at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, she jumped on the railing, then on to a leaf, waiting for it to stop swaying before she begun running across them toward the anaconda.

At the moment, the mecha was snapping it’s mouth at Rouge fiercely in an effort to get her out of the tree she had landed in. The bat was kicking returning the viciousness with swift kicks to it’s head whenever it came too close and so far, she was succeeding in keeping it away from her while not getting her leg caught in it’s mouth. But it was only a matter of time–she was beginning to look wear down from all the abuse and blood lose she had suffered and the kicks were diminishing in their flare.

Amy took in a deep breath, bracing herself as she leapt into the air and with a loud cry, spun around and swung the mallet with her, sending it crashing into the side of the snake as hard as she possibly could.

This in turn, got the robots attention as it swayed from the force, the head tilting back as it hissed in pain before cocking its head down at Amy, its robotic slitted pupils narrowing before hissing, it launched itself at Amy.

She dove out of the way just in time as the head disappeared into the leaves making the one she landed on sway wildly as she clung on to it as much as she could. The head came darting back up beside it, it’s tail just disappearing through the leaves as it opened it’s jaws and launched itself at Amy. She screamed and ducked, the sharp metal fangs just missing her as it went crashing into the tree a way behind her.

Branches and bark fell away from the tree as the snake thrashed around over her head, trying to free its fangs from trunk, tearing it apart in the process. Amy curled up and covered her head with her arms, still clutching her mallet.

A moment, later, the snake was finally able to break free and hiss, staring at Amy it what almost seemed like disdain.

Amy came out of her protective curl and stood to her feet, staring at it with determination before she pulled her arms back, preparing to swing again. But the snake’s tail came literally out of no where it seemed as it appeared on the other side of her and snapping it like a whip, knocked the mallet out of her hands as it smashed into her left hand, making Amy scream in pain and grab it with her good right one.

Preoccupied only for a moment, the snake took its chance and prepared to strike, fangs drawn. Amy looked up at the last split second and screamed, preparing to feel immense pain course through her body.

But she gasped in surprise when she felt arms wrap around her waist and she felt herself being picked up of the leaf and quickly moved out of the way, so fast that she grimaced as the wind smacked her in the face. She tucked her head into the warm fur of her savior’s chest until they came to a complete stop. Then she looked up and blinked.

“Shadow?”

He frowned down at her slightly before he unceremoniously let her go, landing with a small thud on her butt.

She rubbed it slightly, then glared at him. She was back on the bridge, right next to Sonic, who was propped up against the opposite railing in a sitting position along with a dazed Rouge.

“Watch them and don’t get in my way,” he snapped at her, before he left in a blur.

Amy frowned after him. Treated like a nuisance–again!

She heard a loud grunt and spun around in time to see Knuckles glide on to the bridge , Tails on his back and looking like he was in a bit of pain.

“Oh, what happened?” she asked in concern as he sat the small fox next to Rouge, ignoring his cry of pain as he was sat down and turned his attention to Rouge.

“Egg Carrier fell on him,” Knuckles guessed. “What happened to batgirl?”

“I’m fine,” she grimaced.

“You’re bleeding,” Knuckles warned, frowning at her side.

”Just a few bumps and bruising, nothing I can’t handle,” she replied lazily, trying to wave him off with equal enthusiasm before she just let her hand drop to her side.

Knuckles frowned at her annoyed then turned his attention to Amy. “I’ll take care of that piece of junk. Then we’ll get them all to a hospital.”

Amy nodded and Knuckles climbed onto the railing then leapt off of the bridge and went gliding through the air at the robotic monster, in which Shadow was already in the process of trying to home attack into oblivion.

She watched for a moment, then turned her attention back to Tails.

He was rubbing his ankle absent mindedly as he stared at Sonic with worry, who was now slightly slumped over, his face still caught in pain.

He looked up at Amy. “What happened to Sonic?”

“I’m–not sure,” Amy admitted, glancing at him. “Eggman put that ring on his neck and it knocked him out.”

Tails studied the ring and gasped. “That’s the thing I was trying to take from him It has–”

“Chaos Emeralds encrusted in it, yeah, we know,” Rouge cut him off, grimacing in pain slightly as she moved to lay on her side, panting.

Amy frowned at her in worry. This was a time she wished Cream was with them–the small bunny had all the medical supplies with her and could really help.

But in the mean time, Amy put her mallet away, and began tearing at the hem of her dress, until she got a nice strip of it torn off. Tails watched her in confusion until she took the piece and began holding it to the wound on Rouge’s side. Putting pressure on the wound and ignoring Rouge’s wince of pain, she began to rip off another piece with her free hand.

When she was finished, she looked down at her.

“Rouge, do you think you can hold this?” she asked softely and Rouge took the material in her hand and kept it pressed on her side, wincing slightly.

Then taking the long strip she was holding, Amy began to wrap Tails’ ankle, ignoring the grunts of pain, crashing of trees, and wails of metal as it was being crushed behind her.

“Is Sonic mad at me?”

Amy tied the piece off a little tighter than she meant to, earning a wince of pain from the small fox as she looked up at him.

“I mean,” Tails began, looking at his feet. “You guys are all here and it was only suppose to be–”

“He’s upset,” Amy admitted but then she shook her head. “But he isn’t angry at you Tails.”

“He thinks I’ve corrupted you,” Rouge laughed in slight pain as she sat herself up again, still holding the bloody material to her side, hoping the blood would slow down. Tails stared at her slightly confused while Amy frowned at her, remembering exactly what had occurred before hand.

“ You did. Sort of. What you did was–”

“I know,” Rouge admitted, cutting her off. “Should have thought that one through a bit more.”

“Why at all?” Amy snapped.

Rouge hunched. “Simple isn’t my style. The fun is in the challege–the risk. Though I really didn’t think it would have ended the way it has. So for that, I am sorry.”

Amy glared at her for a moment, in those violet eyes–to see if the bat was just acting again. But her face softened slightly . Rouge was being sincer. But that didn’t mean Amy wasn’t still upset at her.

A small grunt got all of their attention.

They all looked over to see Sonic coming to, grabbing the side of his groaning, trying to sit up right slowly. The ring began to glow dimly but this time, it didn’t seem to effect as it had before.

“Sonic,” Amy called as she rushed to his side and placed a hand on his back, helped him sit up.

He looked over at her. “Oh–hey Amy.” He paused slightly, frowning in confusion as he looked at her. “Uh...what happened to your dress?”

She blinked then looked down at the torn clothing. Realizing how short it was now, she blushed. “Oh. Tails and Rouge–they needed some help and since Cream wasn’t here I um, improvised.”

He nodded and gave a faint smirk. “Well–nice legs.”

Amy blinked at the compliment then smiling, her blush deepened. Rouge rolled her eyes while Tails looked at them confused.

Amy helped Sonic to his feet and stretching slightly, he looked from side to side. “What happened to Knux? And. . .Shadow?”

At that moment, they heard a yell and Knuckles went soaring over they heads and crashing into a tree, landing this time in the branches. It wasn’t long before Shadow joined him, landing completely on him with a grunt of annoyance.

“I told you to attack from the left you idiot,” he snarled at the echidna below him.

“Get off me ” Knuckles snapped, ignoring him as he literally tried punching Shadow off of him. The ebony hedgehog dodged the fist growled and returned the favor with a punch of his own to Knuckle’s abdomen.

“Geez, could you two knock it off” Sonic called up to them in a bored tone, his eyes heavy lidded. They both paused to stare down at him, Knuckles in surprise and Shadow in slight fury. “Why are you awake?” he snapped.

“I woke up,” Sonic snapped sarcastically and Shadow snarled at him.

“Sonic!” Tails cried pointing and the azure hedgehog turned his attention to the mechanical snake, which didn’t look as defeated as they might have hoped. A metal fang was missing, and he held a few deep dints, but the thing was a lot larger than they realized now as its body was coiled around several trees, watching the group with narrowed slitted pupils as it’s metal tongue flicked out in anticipation.

It focused immediately on Sonic and launched itself forward, disappearing into the leaves.

“Sonic,” Amy called with worry, touching his arm again.

He looked over to her and winked. “You gotta stop worrying about me. I’m fine!” He pulled out of her grasp and ran swiftly to the end of the entire bridge, anticipating the upcoming fight with a light smirk on his face.

The entire group watched as the anaconda shot through the leaves and quickly swung it’s head at Sonic fiercely. The azure hedgehog was able to dodge each blow with ease, his smirk widening as his pupils shrank in size, his eyes glazing over slightly.

He didn’t notice the tail taking aim and pointing itself at his back before it sped toward him.

“Sonic!” Amy and Tails cried in fear as they watched in horror, Rouge gasping slightly as Knuckles made an effort to move forward, Shadow landing on the bridge with a thud as he watched Sonic was a indifferent expression though his eyes were troubled.

Sonic spun around quickly and caught the tail before it could piece his flesh, the tip just inches away from him and the group gasped slightly in surprise.

“Egghead is gonna have to do better than you,” he snarled as the golden ring around his neck began to glow dimly, the emeralds incrusted in it glowing brightly. He took the tip and launched it forward just in time to catch the snake by the head, sending it straight through the roof of it’s mouth, the tip protruding between it’s mechanical eyes.

They could all hear the whine of metal as the snake began to sway from side to side, Sonic’s eyes following the movements intently as they narrowed, his smirk deepening.

He wasn’t finished yet.

He sprinted forward, leaping into the air once he got to the end of the leaf he was standing on and rolling his body up, he went into a homing attack.

Amy gasped as he disappeared down the anaconda’s throat. The group waited but all was still and quiet, with the exception of the whine of metal as the snake tried in vain to get the tip of the tail to release itself from the roof of his mouth.

“Is he alright?” Rouge asked slowly, wincing slightly in pain as she continued to watch. “He seems a lot stronger than before.”

“It’s just adrenaline,” Knuckles replied just as slow, a small sweat drop by his head.

“We should help him,” Tails began, trying to make an effort to move.

Shadow, who had been glaring at them, opened his mouth to snap at them but was cut off by Sonic bursting through the beast’s upper area , metal debris and oil flying everywhere before he bounced off the trees and sent soaring back through the snake again and again before giving a final defeat cry, the mecha swayed to the far right and simply, collapsed into the crater with a deafening crash. Leaves, twigs and clouds filled the air in it’s wake and after a few moments, all was quiet.

Knuckles eye twitched while the others peered the best they could over the edge of the vine railing, looking at the large hole that led to darkness.

As if on cue, the azure hedgehog burst through cloud of smoke and twirled in the air slightly before landing on one foot on the railing. He still had that wide demented smirk, his fist clutched at his sides, the iris and pupils of his eyes tiny in size while his entire body was covered in black oil, most of it dripping down is face and quills.

The sight was a bit unnerving, to say the least.

“Uh–Sonic? You alright?” Knuckles asked.

“Fine,” he stated matter of factly, that smirk never wavering as he stretched his arms lazily over his head and took a seat on the railing.

“And the collar–it doesn’t hurt anymore?” Rouge added.

“Does it look like it hurts?” he retorted in a calm, yet viciously cold tone that could rival Shadow’s and Knuckles frowned at him.

“Sonic, she was only asking if you were all right,” Knuckles snapped. “When Eggman put it on, you got pretty hurt. She’s just worried.”

Sonic glared at Rouge for a moment, then rolled his eyes, that smirk still not fading. “I don’t need that conniving tramp’s concern. It hurt, now it doesn’t. Simple as that.”

There was a long silence as they all quaked at him, Amy and Tails in concern, Rouge was a bit to hurt to look anger but the annoyance was still there, while Knuckles growled at him, the fact that Sonic was still smirking fueling the anger more as he clutched and unclutched his fist at his sides. Shadow was frowning but his eyes were instead, trained on the golden ring around Sonic’s neck.

“Sonic, are you sure you’re alright?” Amy insisted and he let out a exsperrated sigh. “Let’s not be so annoying Rose. Back off.”

Amy looked hurt for a brief second while Rouge frowned and Tails gasped slightly. But then Amy frowned herself and touched his arm.

“Sonic, I really think–”

He snatched his arm away from her, the smirk no longer gracing his lips as his expression melted into a annoyance. He snarled and snatched his arm away with such force that Amy stumbled forward. He pushed her back slightly and she landed on her butt. “I said I was fine, now back off!” he snarled viciously.

There was a shocking silence as Amy turned away from him, her eyes tearing up. She slowly got to her feet and stumbled a few steps away from him, the pain evident on her face.

“I..” she began softly. “Should go find Cream.”

With that, she ran as fast as she could off the bridge.

Rouge and Tails stared after her in concern, while Knuckles began took a step forward, but Shadow stepped forward and placed his arm out in front of him, making the echidna stop. He was glaring with hard eyes at Sonic, who only raised an eyebrow at him.

“Like something you see?” he smirked slightly and Shadow’s eyes narrowed at the gesture.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t treat someone who cares about you like that faker,” he stated matter of factly in his dead pan voice.

Sonic’s smirk widened. “Like you would know anything about having feelings or having someone care about you.” Then he hunched. “Well–at least not anymore. But then, who cares about a little girl who was too stupid to get out of the way, right?”

Knuckles and Tails looked at Shadow in alarm as his crimson eyes widened at the remark before he snarled at Sonic. Tails instinctively grabbed Shadow’s ankles in an effort to protect Sonic while Knuckles caught him by the neck, pulling him backward.

“No please,” Rouge grumbled sarcastically. “Let him go.”

They all ignored her as Sonic watched the trio for minute while Shadow continued to try to fight and break free, Tails and Knuckles fusing at him to just let the entire thing go.

Then Sonic turned his back to them, waving the entire thing off as if it weren’t important anymore.

“Come on Tails,” he laughed in ridicule. “We’re leaving.”

The tan fox stared after him for a moment, relaxing his grip on Shadow’s ankles but not enough to let the hedgehog kick him in the face. “Sonic–I can’t.”

The azure hedgehog paused and gave him a bored expression making Tails continue. “I can’t walk. I hurt my ankle.”

Sonic pretended to consider his words for a moment before hunching.

“Then crawl,” he replied in a polite, cold voice.

The trio paused, Tails looking hurt and startled all at once while Shadow continued to glare daggers at Sonic, and Knuckles frowned at him like he had grown an extra head.

Sonic never talked to Tails like that. N-e-v-e-r.

“ Craw– what the hell is wrong with you?”

Sonic opened his mouth to speak but froze. His pupils shrunk to the size of a baby pea again and the smirk fell from his face into that of slight surprise before letting out a small gasp for breath and lightly touching his collar that finally stopped glowing, his iris dilated back to their normal size before he fell to the ground in a heap.

“Sonic!” Tails called to him as he let go of Shadow completely and struggled to get to his feet. But Knuckles, also letting go of the ebony hedgehog, touched his shoulder, gaining his attention. “I’ll check on him, stay put kid.”

Shadow watched as the echidna made his way over to the fallen hedgehog, still fuming. How dare that insolent faker insult the memory of Maria. And after what had occupied earlier on the bridge, Shadow was determined to promptly kill Sonic just as soon as the son of a bitch woke up.

Because killing him in his sleep would just take the fun out of living–no he wanted to see the light fade from his eyes when he strangled him. Then he would smack the stupid fox for convincing him to come on the bridge in the first place. And then he might trip Rouge for her encouragement of actually liking that jack ass.

~~~~~~~~~

The Dr. Eggman stroked his chin as he watched Knuckle began to check the azure hedgehog for a pulse.

He was impressed by the damage Sonic had done but then it was to be expected really. The ring was still imperfect, though he wasn’t too worried about that: he knew Sonic wouldnt’ be able to get it off of any time soon. Not after the improvements he’d made to it or the fact that he had successfully acquired the Master Emerald safely and planned to keep it out of Sonic and the gullible echidna’s reach.

He wouldn’t be able to use the ring to it’s full extent until all seven Chaos emeralds were in place, but in the mean time, it appeared to be functionally properly with the three it already had.

And once all seven were applied, he would have complete control of the situation and his true master plan would finally be able to commence. But in the mean time, all he had to do was continue to observe the hedgehog and wait for Sonic to make his move. And didn’t plan to wait long.

~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:
Once again, thank you all for your wonderful reviews. They're fun and enjoyable to read and really make my day. I'm now currently trying to officially decide whom Sonic will end up with, as I'm getting closer to the core plot of the story.
But look for Team Chaotix, Lady Vanilla and the return of Cream in the next upcoming chapter.

And here's the link to the Family Guy Peanut Butter/Jelly dance:
http://www.devilducky.com/media/38524/

Thanks again everyone and more to come!