Chapter 76

"Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed. Knuckles jiggled unnaturally. Like he was attached to strings. "What gives? I've been looking for you all this time, and this is how you greet me?"

"Sonic..." Knuckles hissed. His voice sounded higher-pitched and echoey. His fur and skin was darker and duller, looking artificial. He raised up a hand while it looked like his body was floating midair. Not gliding... just floating. He beckoned Sonic to come over. Sonic did not, and instead went into a fighting stance.

Knuckles chuckled, and swung forward in a front flip, kicking Sonic back over to where the door was. Sonic knocked against it. Sonic heard frantic knocking from the other side of the wall. "Sonic!" His friends called out to him. He could hear Pico whining from the other side. Sonic looked back up to Knuckles. Immediately, Sonic saw strings attached to Knuckles' limbs. Sonic could now see Knuckles' mouth was in an unnatural, hollow smile not unlike a puppet's.

Sonic figured, if he could cut the strings, Knuckles would be useless. He wouldn't be able to move nor attack. He'd be completely harmless. So Sonic jumped at the strings in spinball form. He cut them in one instant, making Knuckles fall from the air and onto the floor.

Sonic breathed softly, his breath entering and exiting his lungs quietly and slowly, though he felt the need to breathe faster. But he didn't want to alarm Knuckles. It was a struggle to keep himself from bursting out in a hyperventilating fit, but he knew it would be worth it. "Knuckles? You okay, buddy?" Sonic whispered.

Knuckles moved an arm. Sonic stepped back with a gasp, before Knuckles started to convulse and shake on the floor, his limbs flailing around in all directions and making wooden clatters against the wooden floor. His arms and legs detached from the joints, leaving Sonic with the view of a red stained string. Not veins or muscle, just... string...

Knuckles stopped flailing. He had his face on the ground. But then, it started to turn towards Sonic. Sonic finally got a good look at his eyes. They were plastic, black, shiny and definitely not living. Sonic jumped back. "Aaaagh!" He screamed.

Knuckles then lunged for him, knocking him to the ground before even Sonic could act. "Independence was your first breath... now confinement here is your last!" Knuckles cackled. He punched the ground. Luckily, Knuckles could be classified as somewhat of a heavyweight. His attacks were powerful, but there was a lot of strength and weight to be moved. So it took a while to reach his target. Plenty of time for Sonic to move his head and kick Knuckles off of him.

Knuckles used his seemingly metal, artificial knuckles to stop his pursuit. He then used them to crawl towards Sonic at an alarming pace, chopping away at the ground. Sonic kicked him in the face while he was still puncturing holes in the floor. Knuckles was stuck in the floor by his metallic knuckles, so Sonic got multiple kicks in before Knuckles went flying.

"You've tried before and you'll fail again!" Sonic exclaimed, as he ran towards Knuckles. Sonic punched Knuckles in the gut, shooting the air out of his lungs and out his mouth and nose. Everything felt like it was going in slow-motion as Knuckles swung at Sonic, who wasn't expecting a thing after that beatdown. Knuckles uppercutted Sonic, who went flying up and against the ceiling.

Knuckles crawled up the walls. He didn't use his knuckles, he just scuttled up on his hands and knees. He bashed his forehead into Sonic's. Sonic fell, but didn't hit the ground until after Homing Attacking Knuckles. Knuckles fell to the ground and landed on his feet. Sonic threw a punch his way, but Knuckles caught it. Knuckles tried to punch Sonic in the stomach, but Sonic blocked his punch. Sonic kicked Knuckles' chin. Knuckles spewed a kind of sappy liquid out of his black hole mouth with wooden teeth. It landed in Sonic's eye, blinding him.

Sonic couldn't see Knuckles. He couldn't sniff his scent amidst all the wood in this building. But whenever he was not in a very specific direction, he felt a sneezing sensation in his nose. A little tickle. Sonic, going with his gut, attacked in that direction. He actually felt his fist hit something, as well as Knuckles grunting. Thanks, sixth sense! Maybe it was useful after all...

Sonic revved up a Spindash, but found Knuckles had done the same. Knuckles knocked Sonic against the wall with his Spindash. Sonic wound up a punch in the direction that wouldn't make him sneeze. Then, he landed it. He heard the crack of wood as Knuckles screamed.

Had he done it? He didn't know. He couldn't see. But the sneezing stopped. Sonic, rubbing his eye, cleared the sap away. There, he saw... Knuckles was unconscious. Running over to him, Sonic shook him.

"Hey, Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed. "Knuckles!"

Sonic looked at the ground. Did he do what he thought he just did? Did he kill Knuckles?

The walls unstretched from each other, letting Tails, Sonja, Pico, and Buck flood in. "Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. He ran up to Sonic, but quickly noticed Knuckles on the ground, not moving. "Kn-Knuckles?"

"I think I went too far, Tails..." Sonic mumbled. Sonja and Pico looked over the wooden puppet. There was a chance this wasn't actually Knuckles... but if it was... Sonic had just killed one of his oldest, best friends. He tried to push back the guilt and regret, but couldn't help it. He picked up Knuckles' wooden corpse. He held it close to him. He resisted the urge to cry. But his mask was breaking under the strong emotions.

Just when Sonic was about to give in, the tears already forming in his eyes... That's when a fist shot through Knuckles' corpse. Everyone jumped back, Sonic dropping the corpse. But the fist... it was gloved, with two sharp knuckles. And attached to it, was a bright red arm. Sonic immediately wiped away the tears in his eyes, and smiled.

"Knuckles!" Sonic shouted. He immediately ran over and began to tear apart the wooden shell. Underneath, he saw Knuckles. As normal as ever. Knuckles climbed out of the hole made by he and Sonic.

"Hey, hey!" Knuckles exclaimed. "Sonic! Oh... what happened to you? You look different."

"In short, time travel," Sonic replied.

"Oh, again?" Knuckles asked. "This has to be like the second time!"

"Yeah... it's just..." Sonic mumbled, hugging Knuckles. Knuckles seemed all sorts of confused as he awkwardly hugged Sonic back. "I'm really happy to see you again."

"Yeah... sorry about that back there..." Knuckles apologized. "I guess that's what those animals feel like when Eggman stuffs them into Badniks."

"Knuckles!" Tails exclaimed. He ran up and gave Knuckles a fist bump, his fist between Knuckles' knuckles.

"Hey, Tails!" Knuckles replied, a smile on his face. He looked back to Sonic. "Alright, that's enough." He said as he and Sonic parted from their hug.

"So, Knuckles... back to business!" Sonic stated. "Do you remember anything about where those people from before took you?"

"Hmm... I have an inkling..." Knuckles answered. He swung his arm towards the door in the center. "Follow me!" Knuckles walked off, Sonic and the others following.

Continue to Chapter 77