Sonic ZQ, Volume 2: A New Friend

Chapter 19: Knuckles' Chase!

Majikoma Inn, 6:45AM

Silver: Unbelievable...
Takeru: Yeah, that's the gist of what happened, anyways...
Silver: I'm glad to know you're okay, though.
Takeru: Ngh, I can hold up... Though, I'm not so sure about Knuckles. He's kept the Emerald unguarded for longer than he should have. I can't be surprised if it was stolen... again...
Silver: Lay off of him. Being the guardian of the Master Emerald isn't as easy as it looks, you know.
Takeru: That Emerald's been stolen and shattered more times than Sonic has saved the freakin' planet! And that's a crimson flag...
Silver: True. Though, Knuckles is an amazing treasure hunter as well. AND he can sense the Emerald shards' energy too.
Takeru: Hmm, you're right. Though, for now, it's about time I get moving.
Silver: In your condition...?
Takeru: Don't worry, I don't think I've taken that much damage. Besides, didn't I tell you to stop being such a worry-wart?
Silver: "Haven't taken that much damage"...? Takeru, I hate to break it to you, but you look like a complete train wreck right now... You aren't invincible, you know.

Takeru, looking at his injuries another time, seemed to realize Silver not only wasn't messing around, but had also bore a different tone compared to before.

Takeru: ...You're right...!
Silver: ...This is a problem. You've gone at it with Eggman a couple of times, and even had yourself thrown off of an airship because of your cockiness. Moreover, your recklessness during every fight only served as constant silent reminders that you should stop while you're ahead. There's a time and place for everything, you know. And from my perspective, if you keep this up, you'll come to find yourself in the same situation as me.
Takeru: Silver...
Silver: So tell me this. If you were in that situation right now... what would you do then?

With Silver's words taken into brief consideration, Takeru seemed to stay completely still, rather than going off as originally intended...

Angel Island, 6:55AM

Meanwhile, Knuckles glided onto the island, and immediately started searching for the Master Emerald and Eggman. Try as he might, to no avail, there was no trace of either of them anywhere, not even a speck to be found... Until 5 minutes had come to pass since the search began.

Knuckles looked to the sky and saw the Egg Mobile heading east, confirming that Eggman had indeed made his arrival. Without even a second's moment of thought, he pursued the Egg Mobile, an expression of anger and frustration on his face.

Eggman: Heheeeh... This should be enough to start powering up my robots...
Knuckles: HEY!!
Eggman: ?

Eggman looked below him, having noticed Knuckles chasing him. He seemed confident this time that he would get away with the Master Emerald, but was it going to be that simple?

Eggman: Why, if it isn't that red roach...
Knuckles: Give me back the Master Emerald! Right now!
Eggman: Tch, why do you care? It's just a big Emerald, nothing will happen if I borrow it for a minute...
Knuckles: Do you even know how powerful the Master Emerald is?!
Eggman: Yes! That's why I'm taking it to power up my robots. Think YOU can stop me? Hohohohoh!
Knuckles: Why you...! I'm not letting you get away with that Emerald, Eggman!

The chase continued from the shrine of Angel Island above, to a tunnel previously unexplored below. Knuckles had hit the Egg Mobile once, though Eggman still laughed, as if having confidence that his plan would succeed. The chase continued, but the tunnel they had been in ended in mid-air. Knuckles glided towards Eggman, landing on the Master Emerald. Eggman however, made efforts to shake Knuckles off.

By sheer luck, he was, but he had landed onto a platform that had a path that Knuckles could use to hit Eggman. As if he saw that that was possible, however, Eggman had raised the Egg Mobile upwards, high enough for it and the Master Emerald to be unreachable with Knuckles' jump height, and smiled. Knuckles, not long after, jumped back down and began digging into the ground. Eggman pushed a button as well, which retracted the wire connecting the hook holding the Master Emerald, which, by his logic, would have made it impossible to reach the Emerald.

Eggman: This emerald is going to be MUCH more useful than I thought... And it seems like that Knucklehead is gone... I shouldn't worry too much anymore, then! Victory is--

Suddenly, Knuckles came from a wall near Eggman and punched him square in the face, which made him accidentally push the button that extended the aforementioned wire. Then, he aimed for and destroyed the wire connecting the Egg Mobile and the hook holding the Emerald, which in turn, made it and the Master Emerald fall. Knuckles caught the Emerald and ran in the opposite direction of where he was going temporarily, to put the Emerald down.

Eggman: NO! RRRGH! YOU LITTLE...!

Eggman threw his typical temper tantrum as Knuckles put the Emerald somewhere safe until he was done with what was to come next. He began his assault directly after he put the Master Emerald down. He jumped onto a wall and started climbing up quickly, and as soon as he had reached the top of the platform, punched the Egg Mobile's light out, following up with another punch in Eggman's face. He finally ended the combo with a mid-air uppercut, which knocked him far enough away so that he couldn't even see Knuckles or the Emerald anymore.

Eggman: CURSES! Why does this always happen?

Eggman managed to recover, halting his spinning orbit throughout the skies of the zone, and began to think of his next move. It was then that he had his idea planned out; an all-out assault from every which way. At the same time, Z.E.T.A. Metal Sonic was already out and about, searching for Takeru's location; this, along with the aforementioned assault, would have proved to be a challenge in Takeru's state. So he thought, anyways. Eggman had decided to fly to where Z.E.T.A. had blasted off, having taken note of his strategy, hoping that the first thing he'd see is Takeru, under Z.E.T.A.'s metallic foot.