ARAAT3: The Forbidden Experiment

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A Rose And A Thorn 3: The Forbidden Experiment

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: Don’t worry CrazyIvan, surprisingly, your wishes do get granted. Not only is there no more sex, but we know the power of beautiful, wondrous irony. Geez, I love that shit.

Froggy: Incidentally, somebody suggested that Ashura had a slightly incestuous attitude towards Mirage. That’s very interesting.

Harley: Now, let’s get this story moving! There’s been too much time-wasting mush already.

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Chapter Fourteen: Against The Odds

There was a flare of blue energy, and Mirage dropped, panting, onto the grass of Angel Island. She glanced behind her, "I have a task," she muttered, "I must do what is necessary… because somebody has to…" She straightened up and pushed a quill behind one ear, "Now, where is that accursed Master Emerald?"

The Master Emerald was in its usual spot on the ancient altar created for it, its red, dreadlocked guardian napping on a rock nearby, basking in the rays of the sun. Even in his sleep, Knuckles was obsessed with his duty to the precious gem.

At the edge of the island, Mirage breathed in deeply. The Master Emerald powered this entire island; it lifted the mass or earth and rocks into the air. It was everywhere. But she could scent its location all the same.

Tails approached Knuckles, "Knuckles?" He shook the echidna, "Knuckles, half of the security alerts have been set off!"

Knuckles' eyes snapped open and looked up at the fox. His mind quickly registering Tails' words, the echidna rolled to his feet, shaking his head clear and ready for action, "Where?" he asked.

"On the south half of the Island," Tails answered quickly, "There's something wrong with it. It comes up on heat sensors, but when it comes near to security cameras all I get is static! I can't get a sight on what it is. It's emitting Master Emerald radiation, which might be what's disturbing the cameras. Everything on this island's powered by Master Emerald energy, so it might be an overload..."

Knuckles heard Tails' explanation, but he didn't really listen to it. His eyes narrowed, "Whoever it is, they’re not welcome here! Stay here and watch the emerald for me, Tails!" he said before he took off gliding south towards the intruder. Telling anyone to guard the emerald for him was a sign of great trust.

Mirage continued walking towards the major source of energy, simply following her instincts. She was starting to get the feeling that somebody was coming... but she hadn't read up on this place back at the Metropolis for nothing. She stopped, "I can smell you, Guardian," she said softly, "You are near. Show yourself, Invincible Guardian of the Master Emerald..."

Almost on command, he appeared, jumping out from his hiding spot and standing before her, giving the feline an angry glare, "Here I am. Who are you and what business do you have on my island?" he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I shall get straight to the point," Mirage replied calmly, "I am here for the Master Emerald. I would tell you to get out of my way or you will get hurt, but you also have a job to do, and I respect that."

Knuckles couldn't recall anyone ever being quite so blunt about their intentions. Even Rouge at least tried to sweet-talk him first, "I'll give you one chance to leave peacefully,” he growled, shifting into a fighting stance.

"I am afraid that I have a job to do," Mirage repeated. She produced her fighting daggers, "You will not surrender, of course. I know I would not."

Knuckles replied by launching himself at the feline and throwing a fist at her face in the hopes of ending the fight with a single blow. Violence was a language he was very fluent in, and Mirage had already confirmed that she wanted to waste no time talking.

Mirage sidestepped the blow quickly, and caught Knuckles' wrist with her free hand. She kicked him once, twice, three times in the gut, and then let him go.

Knuckles coughed and struggled to replace the breath that had been knocked out of him as he steadied himself. She was a fast one, "Is that the best you can do?" he growled as he moved towards her again, a bit more cautiously than before, and threw a short series of punches at her.

Mirage dodged one, caught another on the back of her arm, but the third hit her cheek, and Knuckles' spikes cut her cheek. She frowned, "You are as good as I anticipated," she said, "But I cannot allow you to win." She normally couldn't do this, but when Master Emerald energy was all around her, it was hard not to. The Shard around her neck glowed briefly, and the cut healed up. Mirage smirked despite herself.

Knuckles' angry expression turned to one of shock and surprise as he watched the cut heal, "What the...?" But then the echidna noticed the glowing shard and could easily feel its energy, "Hey, that's part of the Master Emerald! Give it back!" The red echidna lunged towards her, one hand stretched out towards the necklace.

There was no way Mirage was going to let him just take her Shard. She ducked under his arm, and growled, "No. This is mine and it always has been!"

Knuckles snarled in rage and dived towards the feline, this time reaching for her throat, "The Master Emerald is mine to protect, and no one else's!"

This time they collided. Knuckles shoved Mirage backwards with all his might and lunged at her again, a fist aimed at her belly. His only words were an inarticulate snarl. He was quickly becoming frustrated with the fast-moving feline who seemed to be able to draw on the same energy as him.

Mirage produced her knives again. If Knuckles hadn't stopped moving when he did, he would have impaled himself on the blades.

Knuckles felt a cold chill as he realised what almost happened. He couldn't underestimate the hedgecat, and he couldn't allow her to keep those weapons. He changed tactics, trying to grab her wrists or knock the blades out of her hands.

Mirage jumped backwards this time, "No," she growled, "These are mine also. Guardian, understand that I will do what is necessary and no more. Do not make that include your death."

The echidna wasn't taking that statement seriously. Reaching down and picking up a good-sized rock, he hurled it at the feline. He was done playing around with her.

Mirage dodged the boulder, "Oh, so you want to play rough?" She lunged with her knives, aiming them at Knuckles' stomach.

Knuckles slipped to the side before the blades could meet his belly... barely. As Mirage stumbled past him, he turned and kicked hard at her back.

The feline went sprawling in the dirt. She rolled to her feet and shouted, "No more play, Guardian! I have no time for it!" With that, she ran in the direction of the Master Emerald.

"What? Hey! Get back here! We're not finished!" a startled Knuckles shouted. Growling in frustration, the echidna took off running after the feline.

Mirage kept running, following the trail. She arrived at the Altar to see Tails on the steps, "So, you have an apprentice," she nodded slowly, "Or maybe you are doing some male bonding? Either way, step aside kid, and you do not get hurt."

Running behind her came Knuckles, who had quickly learned that he just couldn't compete with a hedgecat in a foot race, "Get away from that altar!" he ordered her.

"How about ‘no’,” Mirage stepped towards Tails, "Listen boy, you just move away from the rock and I will not have to kill you."

"No!" Tails snapped, "I can't let you just take the Emerald, whoever you are! Knuckles wouldn't!"

"Tails... get away from her!" Knuckles shouted, a hint of fear suddenly in his voice.

"Oh, his safety means something to you, does it?" Mirage grinned and lunged at the young fox unexpectedly grabbing him in a headlock, "Caring for people causes you to be vunerable!" she shouted, seemingly speaking from past experiences, “It causes you to suffer! And yet you do it anyway! Now hand over that Master Emerald!”

Knuckles halted in his tracks, staring up the steps at Mirage and her kitsune hostage, suddenly finding himself trapped between two different duties. He couldn't let her hurt Tails, but he couldn't let her get the Master Emerald, either, "Let him go, you coward!"

"I am not a coward!" Mirage answered, suddenly angry, "I just do what is necessary."

"You're hiding behind a kid and using him as a hostage! Sounds like cowardice to me!" The echidna slowly paced from own side to the other, looking for some sort of opening he could exploit.

Mirage pointed a knife at Tails' throat, "As an individual this boy's life means nothing to me. As a person I would rather not kill him. I do not bluff. Will you stand down?"

Knuckles paused, looking up into the young fox's frightened eyes, debating what he should do. He didn't know what the female wanted with the emerald, but it couldn't be good. However, that wouldn't excuse him allowing a close friend to die in order to stop her. In the end, the Master Emerald could be retrieved again. A dead friend was gone forever. Sighing deeply in frustration, Knuckles bowed his head and spoke quietly, "Take it. Bitch..."

“You are more stupid than I had hoped,” Mirage slammed her fist into the back of Tails’ head, and the young fox slumped unconcious.

As he watched Tails slump to the ground unconcious, anger boiled up inside the echidna, his vision blurred by a red haze. Tails did nothing to be treated that way. He was just a kid, dammit! Emotion overrode logic, reason, or any sense of honour he might have had, and Knuckles launched himself into the air with surprising speed, his fists, which could crush boulders, aimed directly at the feline's head. Shadow may have believed in her and wouldn't approve of the guardian killing his sister, but... well, that was his own damn problem.

Mirage didn't duck or dodge, just catching Knuckles as he dived at her, and using the momentum to throw him behind her. You should never have to exert yourself on an opponent. If you were good enough, they'd do all the work, and still lose.

Knuckles didn't hesitate, twisting in the air and slamming his hand-claws into the altar, dragging himself to a halt and hurling himself forward towards the feline. She could toss him around all she wanted; it wouldn't make a difference. None of her stupid tricks were going to change the outcome: namely her having her head smashed in.

Mirage couldn't help but admire the way Knuckles was fighting with such persistence. He didn't give up, and she admired that in a person especially. She caught his wrists again, trying to work out a solid strategy. As she held one wrist, she swung him around and into a tree trunk.

Knuckles growled in pain and frustration as he hit the tree, rebounding off of it to the ground. He snarled and vented his anger on the innocent tree, felling it with a single punch. A wicked smile crossed the echidna's face as he reached and picked up the whole tree, grunting in exertion. Taking aim at Mirage, he let the tree fly, hurling it at the red and black feline like a massive javelin.

Once again, Mirage didn't budge an inch. She held out her hands and there was a green flare, then the tree trunk disappeared, inches from her. As Knuckles gaped, the trunk reappeared, having lost all its momentum, and thumped to the ground. Mirage leapt over it, "I command the power of the Master Emerald, echidna," she said smoothly, and perhaps a little arrogantly, "You CANNOT defeat me."

This, of course, only enraged him further, "How DARE you?!" he shouted, "The emerald is mine! This island is mine! And guests on it are under MY protection! You aren't the only one who can command the Master's power!" Knuckles leapt into the air, paused... and dove down hard towards the ground, tunnelling under it in a second.

Mirage sneered, and ran back towards the Emerald, not waiting for Knuckles to appear again. She reached the huge stone, jumped for it - and Knuckles exploded out of the ground, intercepting the feline in mid-air, landing a punch against her lower back, sending her tumbling end-over-end towards the dirt below. Mirage landed badly, going limp as she hit the ground, gasping for breath.

Knuckles glared down at the fallen feline with a look of hatred on his face, and the echidna stepped forward, pressing one foot down against her throat, "Surrender,” he growled.

"If you were in my position... would you surrender?" Mirage gasped, "Be honest..."

"Not a chance,” said Knuckles, sneering down at her, almost daring her to resist so he could stomp on her windpipe.

"I cannot just give up..." Mirage was almost apologetic. Her hand grabbed a handful of dirt, and she threw it in Knuckles' eyes. There was a moment of confusion, and she rolled to one side, out from under Knuckles' foot, and stood quickly, "Just like you cannot give up," she finished, "I could just kill you. Do not make me choose between my duty and my morals, because you cannot win."

"A little overconfident, aren't ya?" asked the echidna, putting a fist out in front of him and clinching it tightly.

"Alternatively I could just kill him," Mirage gestured to the fox cub lying several feet away, "It would be quite easy to use Chaos Tempest to remove his heart from his body. Yours too. I could even do both. But I usually save it for humans."

Knuckles' eyes turned towards Tails, his heart skipping a beat as his mind managed to speak through his anger: she could indeed follow through with her threat. If she could ‘tempest’ a tree out of existence like that, someone's heart would be a simple task. There was nothing he could do to fight it, nor could he protect Tails. He growled in frustration, knowing full well that the fight was over and hung his head in submission.

Mirage nodded, "I am sorry for your loss," she said, "I hope I live to see you get it back."

The echidna looked up again, giving her a confused look.

Mirage walked past him, and over to the Master Emerald, careful not to touch it, "To Westside Island, Metropolis Zone," she ordered it. Knuckles looked around him as the air began to move. She was actually manoeuvring the island.

Knuckles looked around in confusing, wondering just what the hell she was up to. "Why are you moving the whole island?" the echidna asked.

"Well if I just take the Emerald, the Island will plummet into the sea, killing us all," Mirage replied, "I cannot just jump off it into the sea. This is necessary."

"Wonderful,” the echidna grumbled, still fuming as he walked over to Tails and kneeled down beside the kit and placing one hand on his forehead, “Now I have to watch.”

"He will be fine," Mirage told him, her hands resting on the Master Emerald, "Hey, did you know you can tell the future from this thing? It sucks."

"Oh really,” Knuckles said dryly, not really caring, "And what future do you see in it?"

"You will probably be glad to know I am going to die, no matter what happens," Mirage replied, "Maybe I should just ruin everything for everybody else before I- Dammit! Now I am thinking like Shadow!"

"Well at least there's some good news,” the echidna spat bitterly, glaring up at Mirage.

"It is pretty much a coin-toss whether Ashura wins or not," Mirage continued absently, "But Espio may survive."

No surprise there, but he wondered why she had specifically mentioned the chameleon. He shook his head and returned his attention to Tails, hoping that blow to the head wasn't too severe.

"I do not know about Shadow though," Mirage continued, "Oh dear, the future does suck..."

"If it sucks so much,” Knuckles said, looking up at her again, "Why don't you change it? If you know what is going to happen, just make it happen differently."

"Because I am certain to die no matter what future has in store,” Mirage answered, “And besides, there are so many of them... quite a lot of them you yourself can change."

"Whatever,” Knuckles growled and turned away with her, saving himself the trouble of trying to strain his brain thinking about that. All of Mirage’s concentration was on the Master Emerald. He tensed, and leapt at her, his knuckles outstretched.

Mirage hadn’t been lying about telling the future from the Master Emerald though. Even as Knuckles attacked her, she spun around, and her kick struck him straight in the face. It was followed up by her thick tail, weighted with heavy Power Rings, slamming into his side. He was sent tumbling to the earth with a curse.

"Ah, we are here,” she said, “Down. Carefully." The Island began to lower itself into the sea.

Knuckles got to his feet, shaking his head, "Alright, so what now? I kill you?"

"Now I take the Master Emerald," Mirage took it, carrying it as if its weight was nothing to her, "And leave. We will meet again. I am… sure of it."

"So am I,” said Knuckles as he turned his back on her and walked up to the top of the altar.

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Harley: Next chapter is a LITTLE bit mushy. But don’t worry. I promised you no more sex in this fic, and that’s what you’ll get. Or not get. Whatever.

Froggy: Yeah, people don’t have sex just before they go out on a world-saving mission.