The shockwave threw both Sonic and Knuckles on the floor. Bolts of pure energy radiated from the Emerald, the chamber turning green in its overwhelming glow. Robotnik had his hands wrapped around the Emerald, and he lifted it off its place.
"Chaos is power!" his voice echoed around the space.
Y/N was lying on the floor beside the doctor, having been thrown there by the sudden shockwave. Squinting her eyes to see through the glow, she saw as the power beamed into Robotnik. Bolts like those around Sonic when he used his powers were now emitting from the madman, his eyes shining green in the process. She could have sworn she saw him phasing in and out of existence with only some of him there, and then there was a blinding flash..
The ground rumbled, and the altar —now empty— burst into pieces. Chunks of stone were sent flying into the air. Then the ceiling began caving in and masses of stone were dropping on the floor. Cracks appeared on the walls, and as they grew wider, water began to pour through them. It only took a few seconds for the walls to start tumbling down as a whole. The whole place was falling into ruin; without the Emerald the ocean was swallowing it back into the depths.
In the middle of it all, Sonic looked around in panic. "Y/N!" he shouted, and ran to the remains of the altar. He had seen it get blown, but had missed where it had thrown the girl. He shouted her name over and over again as he ran around the debris which quickly began to fall under water. As larger chunks of the rubble were disappearing beneath the surface, the looming worry that she might have been stuck somewhere under there began drowning him. "Y/N!"
There never came an answer.
The walls yet to cave in were breaking at a rapid rate as the temple was succumbing to the ocean. Last of the statues gave in and disappeared into the depths, sending waves of water crashing around the deepening pool. The chamber was overtaken by waterfalls as pieces of the ceiling fell down in chunks.
Despite his absolute hatred for water, Sonic couldn't let the girl be left there. He filled his lungs with as much air as he could, and jumped into the rising depths. The water was clear, but with the sky partly blocked by what remained of the ceiling and the water sloshing rapidly, his view was awfully limited.
He scanned the area around the altar, searching through the rubble. He even went as far as to try and move a chunk of the stairs, but found that impossible. As he was struggling with the rubble, the passing beam of light lit something by a fallen pillar that caught his attention, and he immediately stopped what he was doing. Taking off toward its direction, he tried his best to swim as Y/N had taught him —or at least she had tried to— last summer. It wasn't effortless, far from it, but he made it to the pillar.
Lying with half his body beneath it was Knuckles. His eyes were closed, mouth tightly held shut. Sonic looked back to the altar, a wave of confliction passing over him and for a second he hesitated. He was looking for Y/N. He should find her. Why should he help Knuckles? The echidna had done nothing but made his life harder, not to mention it was his family that had ruined Sonic's life in the first place. But as he thought of leaving the creature alone, he couldn't find himself doing it. He remembered what Knuckles had told him, that moment they had almost connected on that snowclad mountain. Had he had the ability to sigh, he would have done so.
He firmly set his feet against the ground, and started pushing the pillar. Grunting, he tried to move the massive piece of stone and found himself losing air. In what he could only explain as the universe's way of telling him he was doing the right thing, a bubble of air just so happened to pass by him. He took that final offering, inhaling that final gasp, and tried again. For his second try, he turned around. He placed his hands and back against the pillar, and pushed with his legs. This time it moved more, but not enough.
It was during his second try that the echidna he was trying to save took notice of his actions. Knuckles saw the hedgehog straining himself trying to move the pillar pinning him down. Quickly, he brought his hands beneath the pillar and tried to lift it as well.
Sonic felt the change in force, and immediately turned to the echidna. Just seeing him try to push the pillar gave him an idea.
He waved his hand, making sounds without opening his mouth and gained Knuckles' attention. Once he had it, he raised three of his fingers, then two and Knuckles immediately understood what he meant. One finger was left, and then none. Both the hedgehog and the echidna pushed the pillar as hard as they could, and it worked. The pillar lifted up, just enough for Knuckles to slip right under it.
Immediately once he was free, he began swimming up and away from the water. Sonic looked after him. He tried making noises to alert him, but that only made him accidentally open his mouth, allowing the last few breaths of air that he had left to almost escape. As the shape of Knuckles became nearly unidentifiable, he tried to jump up, only for him to sink back to the bottom. Above him the sunlight began to dim, the unreachable surface disappearing. In that moment of finality, he only had one thought.
I'm sorry, Y/N.
Enveloped in darkness even his last thought became nothing but a blur. His whole body was unresponsive, as if everything he had just been was nothing but a fleeting dream. At least he wouldn't have to live without her. Live with the quilt of allowing her to be taken by the blue. The blue. How ironic that then was.
With his mind adrift from the rest of him, he could hardly feel when something caught him by the arm. Before he could even understand what was happening, the pressure pinning him down was gone. He coughed and gasped, water escaping his lungs as air took its place. Just barely he could see the faintest of red beside him, and above him the sky instead of the rippling surface. He was pushed forward, and whatever had held him up let go of him. Closing his mouth, he was expected to slump back into the depths, but instead crashed right onto something solid, yet wet. His fingers immediately dug into the sand as he felt it. Between coughs he gasped, trying to soothe his yearning for air.
But in the midst of doing so, he suddenly stopped, and opened his eyes. He pushed himself around to face the ocean and its awful depths. His lip quivered, his already wet eyes welling up with tears. Despite his ache for air he couldn't breathe. Not anymore. All he could do was watch as the surface altered with the waves.
Then something broke through the surface. Knuckles.
A sliver of hope stopped Sonic's sobbing as Knuckles got closer. Maybe he had found the girl. Done what he himself couldn't. But as the echidna's swimming turned to wading, Sonic could see that he was alone.
Something between a gasp and a scream escaped his mouth. His tears flowed, and he buried his face in his palms, the sobs making his whole body shiver.
For how long he weeped like that he could never tell. As his sobs went on his breathing became too pained to where he felt like he was drowning yet again. So he stopped, or at least tried. He lowered his hands to his lap. The golden horizon greeted him, the sky in a haze of afterglow. But that wasn't all there was. Sitting in the sand, glistening in the sun was something golden.
Sonic reached for it, pulling the golden necklace out of the sand and dangling it with his shaky hand before his face. The ring shone as it slowly swayed in the last rays of the day. Sonic sniffled, his eyes swollen, the whites red with sorrow.
At the corner of his eye he could see the faintest glimpse of the red echidna. He was sitting a couple feet from him, his concentration on the horizon.
"You saved me," he said in a whisper, his throat still aching.
"Don't talk to me. I'm not in the mood," Knuckles grumbled.
Sonic's breaths were labored, every intake of air causing him to wheeze. He lowered the ring, staring at the horizon. "Why did you save me?" Sonic turned to face Knuckles, waiting for anything, but the echidna remained silent. Grumbling under his breath, Sonic threw the necklace on the beach. He scooped a handful of sand and threw it at Knuckles.
The sand hit Knuckles' head, breaking off his stance and clinging into his fur. Furious, he stood up, shouting, "How dare you attack me in my hour of sorrow?" Sonic had already grabbed a second handful, and threw it toward him. The echidna stumbled back as the ball of sand landed against his face.
"Why did you save me?" Sonic asked again, only now his tone was much more demanding. He was already forming another sand ball to throw at the echidna, but wasn't given a chance as Knuckles did the same. Only he did it tenfold. The pile of sand buried Sonic beneath it, only his legs sticking out of the mound. Sonic gasped as he burst out of the pile and found Knuckles glaring at him.
"Because you saved me first, which clearly gave you a tactical advantage I do not understand," said Knuckles.
"It wasn't a tactic," Sonic replied, offended that the echidna would insinuate something like that. "I couldn't just let you die."
Knuckles squinted his eyes, lowering whatever sand he had just scooped to throw at the hedgehog. "Why?" The sand fell back on the beach as he stepped closer to his foe. "I've been trying to destroy you since the moment we met."
"Because being a hero isn't about taking care of yourself. It's about taking responsibility for other people," Sonic explained. His gaze fell to the necklace now partly buried in the sand.
Thinking of the hedgehog's words, Knuckles sat down on the beach. For a moment, his eyes trailed the sand before him before he turned to Sonic. "Wise words. An ancient Earth proverb?"
Sonic smiled and shook his head, "No, sir, that's a Wachowski family special. I got it from a guy in a rowboat. Someone who means a lot to me." He sniffled, taking the necklace back to his hands. "Did you see her?"
Knuckles shook his head.
Sonic shut his eyes, tears he had been holding flowing down his cheeks. Y/N couldn't have been gone. She just couldn't. He quietly sobbed as his body trembled.
At his grieving state he could hardly notice it, but at the back of his mind was something trying desperately to gain his attention. It slowly creeped along his whole body like a gust of cold wind. His sobs clung onto his throat, staying within him as he froze. The tingling sensation now traversed him like a burst of electricity.
The feeling was new, but not unique. He had felt it once before. Somewhere. Sometime. But he could not recall exactly when or why.
He thought of the moment he had seen her over and over again. The altar exploded. Pieces flew into the air, large chunks of stone flying across the chamber. But there was no girl among the debris. Not when it blew. Not when he searched around it. She could have been buried under it. Stuck somewhere among the rubble. But was there such a piece anywhere? One that could have swallowed her beneath it.
The glow of the Emerald had been blinding. He had hardly seen it after Robotnik took hold of it. And what had happened to it after? The Emerald had vanished. As had the doctor.
The tingling stopped.
"I still feel her."
Sonic jumped up. She wasn't there. That's why he couldn't find her. After what had felt like an eternity of despair he could once again feel the slightest sliver of hope. She hadn't drowned. She hadn't died.
She had vanished with the Emerald.
A smile, a very small one, yet still a smile, was present on the hedgehog's face. But it quickly disappeared.
She had vanished with Robotnik.
Sonic's hands tightened into fists as he scowled. He tried to ignore the plethora of other questions as he tried to think of where the two could have gone. There was still a chance to save her and that was all that mattered.
His thoughts were quickly broken as whirring could be heard from the distance. He looked up, and could see a red biplane soaring through the sky. As the plane got closer, he recognized its pilot. "That sly little fox!" he laughed, and turned over to Knuckles. "Come on, knucklehead. We're not beat yet."
The echidna was frowning, his gaze in the sand. "On the mountain, you told me you'd lost everything. The way I did. But you seem so hopeful and free." He turned to look at the hedgehog. "How did you move forward despite failing again? And again. And again. And again. And again."
"Okay, I didn't fail that much," Sonic frowned. "But I didn't do this all alone. I found a new family. New friends. And you can too." He offered his hand for Knuckles and smiled. "You don't have to be alone anymore."
Knuckles eyed the hedgehog, the scowl persisting on his face. It took a second, but he finally took Sonic's hand, tightly gripping it.
Sonic's bones crunched and he howled, "Are you kidding me with that handshake?"
***
Y/N thumped against the tile floor, groaning as her bones ached. The blinding flash that had forced her eyes shut was gone, in its place only darkness, and her eyes fluttered open. Electricity was crackling around her, the unknown room lit only by an ominous green glow. She scanned around her, a fleeting glimpse of recognition there once she saw the tables by the brick walls. She could even remember walking through those doors. The doors that led to the...
Main Street of Green Hills.
"What?" she whispered.
"Doctor. You're here," said someone and she quickly turned around.
Her search for the voice's owner stopped before it could even really start. Instead, she found herself frozen still, her eyes locked onto Robotnik who was standing away from her. His body was coursing with green power, crackles of lighting traveling around him. His clothes had lost their color, instead turning deep black. It was as if he was out of his mind —which in many ways he was— as he blankly stared before him.
"Yes. I'm here and yet I'm not all there," he said, his voice robotic.
"Sir, are you feeling okay?" asked the voice from earlier.
"I'm more than okay. I'm upgraded," Robotnik answered in his new, unnatural tone. "Sinister 3.0. My game is next level," he showcased his newfound power, creating a sound mixer of constructs and then using it to play around with his voice. Then there was a flash, and he vanished and appeared behind a chair on which a man was tied. "Hi."
The man screamed, and as he did, Y/N finally recognized him. He was the owner of the coffee shop. Stone —or something like that.
Robotnik grabbed his face and turned him to face himself. "I can smell the electricity in your brain." He then sniffed, and his gaze turned to something else. "You smell like a snack plate."
"Yeah, no, that's fair. I had a couple today," said another familiar voice. Wade was standing opposite of Stone, holding a dining knife and a plate.
There was a sudden flash, and Robotnik appeared beside him. "Sit down," he commanded. Wade glanced at him, and squatted down. "In the chair," Robotnik clarified. Stone stood up, and stepped away from the chair.
"I didn't know," Wade muttered and quickly made it to the chair on which he sat. "'Cause he, 'cause he was in the chair, so I didn't... Okay."
Stone tied Wade's hands together and turned to Robotnik. "Sir? We have a problem." He pressed something on his watch, and sunlight entered the room. The blinds had opened, showcasing to everyone inside the army of soldiers right outside the coffee shop. Tanks and other military vehicles kept piling onto the street as they watched.
Robotnik smirked and turned to Stone. "Incorrectus, my trusty barnacle. After all these years, what I finally got is a solution." Then there was a flash, and he was gone yet again.
Y/N glanced around the room but could not see him, and then froze.
"Don't think I didn't notice you, stowaway," said the robotic voice right by her ear. She was yanked up from the floor and found herself face to face with the doctor. Robotnik's face contorted into a smile that made her shiver. Another flash, and the doctor was gone from her face. She released her breath, not having even realized she was holding it.
The doctor appeared in the middle of the room, hid feet no longer touching the floor, and began floating toward the doors which opened for him as if they were automatic. He floated out onto the street and landed there, right before the coffee shop.
"Rockin' that new spring collection, I see," said —again— a voice that Y/N knew.
She quickly made it to the window and looked out. "Dad," she whispered as she saw both her parents standing behind one of the vehicles.
"Well, if it isn't the pastry king," said Robotnik.
"The Donut Lord!" Tom corrected him. "A real genius would remember the name of the guy who helped kick your butt off this planet. And I'll do it again if you mess with Green Hills."
Robotnik scowled. "Congratulations on your oh-so-temporary sense of superiority."
"You're finished, Robotnik!" shouted Commander Walters who was standing by Tom and Maddie. "We've taken everything. Your lab, your drones, your funding! Let's see how big of a man you are without your silly little robots."
The statement caused Robotnik to grin. He tilted his head. "Would you like to see..." he started and continued with a deeper voice, "...how big a man I can be?" He extended his arm, his fingers shooting bolts of energy into the sky. A nearby tank began to come apart, its pieces floating in the air. Robotnik smirked. "Welcome to the new norm!" He began floating, his surroundings enveloped in dark smoke that crackled with energy. Tanks and other vehicles across the street were breaking into pieces that flew toward him.
Inside the coffee shop, Y/N was suddenly tucked from her spot by the window. "What the..?" she started but quickly recognized the power that had taken her. She was pulled to the door and out onto the street. Her feet lifted off the ground, making her scream.
"Y/N!" shouted Tom as he saw her daughter floating through the air.
"Dad!" the girl screamed.
Tom ran past the vehicle and pushed through the flying debris. Y/N already well off the ground, flying higher and higher by each passing second. Tom jumped on a passing sheet of metal and used it to propel himself higher. The girl reached her hand for him and Tom was to reach her. But a sudden tugged pulled her higher.
"No!" she screamed as her father's hand missed hers by mere inches. "Dad!"
The man fell on the ground, and quickly looked up to her. "Hold on!" he shouted as he stumbled up.
Y/N shut her eyes as her head began to feel woozy. She could only endure heights so long and this was way worse. A part of her didn't want to fall because of the hurt it would bring —or death— but another wanted it more than anything, as even that would be more merciful than whatever Robotnik was planning.
"Doctor! Take me with you!" shouted Stone as he ran out of the coffee shop. Suddenly, power similar to that which was lifting the girl appeared around him, taking him off his feet and into the storm.
More and more metal was pulled into the air. Dirt caught in the winds generated what looked like a gargantuan tornado in the middle of the town. In the depths of the tornado, Y/N was clinging onto some sort of hope that something would come and save her.