Masters of the Desert

"So we need to go inside that pyramid?" Sonic asked Knuckles, gazing at a huge pyramid through the heatwaves and the flurry of sand. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy's flight to the barren outskirts of Shamar had lasted hours. It was afternoon by the time they even reached the wastelands. "How do we know for sure it's an Egg Base?"

"Sonic… look at that sphinx," Tails chuckled. Sonic turned his attention to a sphinx off to the right. It had its head carved to look like Eggman's face.

"Ohhh… now I believe Rouge," Sonic replied.

"It needs a shave!" Amy exclaimed. "That mustache will never not be ugly. Knuckles, cut that poor statue's mustache off!" Knuckles turned to her.

"What are you, crazy?" Knuckles asked. "That'll just make it harder for the locals to restore."

"Let's get a move on, you guys! We still have no idea when the Eclipse Cannon will recharge," Tails ordered, stepping forward and prepping the Cyclone to attack any potential guard Badniks.

"Got it, Tails!" Sonic exclaimed. "Let's go up to that space colony, and kick some imperial butt!" The four charged Egg Base Gamma, while Slinger the Squid watched from the darkness underneath Team Heroes' vantage point. He held his communicator up to his head, and vocalized a peculiar sound like the noises a laundry machine makes. He watched intently as a swarm of human GUN Soldiers raided Egg Base Gamma closely behind Team Heroes.

Sonic and the others were quickly cornered by a variety of the standard Eggman Badniks. Kiki the Monkey threw bombs their way from above, one of them barely grazing Sonic and knocking him over. Amy screamed as the same explosion toppled a pillar, only for Knuckles to punch the falling debris into little pebbles before it could crush the hedgehogs. Tails then shot a grappling hook at the robotic monkey, sending it flying forward.

The blast from the Kiki that Tails had Propeller Punched broke down a rather brittle wall, one that Eggman had installed to blend in with those of the impenetrable pyramid. "Arright! Way to make an entrance, Tails!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Don't pass out again, babe…" Amy mumbled sadly. "Last time we went into a pyramid, you did that. Remember? I had to kiss your mouth to get you back to life."

"So… when did 'this' happen?" Knuckles asked as they entered the Pyramid Cave. He pointed between Sonic and Amy, as all four heroes slid under a closing stone door, leapt off of a ramp and landed in a more spacious area. Badniks were everywhere, protecting the interior of the pyramid that was littered with neon signs of Eggman's face. Ancient Erigyptian statues and architecture had been vandalized with Eggman Empire imagery. Strangely enough, it almost seemed like the original architects meant to make them look like echidnas.

"When did what happen? Sonic and I were always like this!" Amy exclaimed happily as she whacked a Motobug.

"Well, not exactly," Sonic mumbled. "It happened in Spagonia."

"What do you mean? I thought you always loved me," Amy whined, looking his way. She was so distracted, that a certain robot was able to sneak up on her. Sonic Homing Attacked into the E-Series robot, reducing it to rubble.

"I mean, I always LIKED you like that, I guess," Sonic replied. "I wouldn't say it got serious until a few weeks after we moved into Kerosen. This is news to Knuckles."

Amy looked down at the familiar yellow visor of the busted robot, and gasped. "Gamma?" She mumbled.

"It's just an E-1000," Sonic told her. "They're supposed to be based on some old experiment Eggman made while living in the UF." Sonic thought on what she said as they all continued their run through the base. "Come to think of it, I think he called that experiment 'E-102 Gamma' at some point. How did you know its name?"

"Oh shoot. I never told you," Amy sighed, facepalming. "When we were in Kerosen, I met that robot, E-102 Gamma. It's a long story." Amy pulled out a card. It had an illustration of a peculiar hourglass on it. "I still have the Hourglass Card I got that night." They all screeched to a halt as a stone door suddenly slammed down and nearly crushed them.

"Whoa! Close one!" Sonic exclaimed. All of them were now trapped in the narrow hallway. "Tails, think you can break this one down, too?" Tails shot at the stone door, but it didn't so much as crack.

"No… it's part of the actual pyramid," Tails replied. They heard echoing footsteps from not far off. "Shoot… the Badniks are already closing in!"

"Those don't sound like robots," Knuckles muttered. He put some strange sunglasses over his eyes. He had brought them from Angel Island, and they allowed him to see in the dark. He saw little white orbs taking form. "Ghosts?" Knuckles whispered. Everyone stepped back as the footsteps grew closer. Just then, another door lowered… completely trapping the team.

"Hey! My card!" Amy cried, as a white translucent arm reached out from the darkness and tugged on the Hourglass Card. She was forced into a very delicate balancing act of pulling the card away without tearing it. Knuckles turned around and punched the small specter, causing it to disappear. "Thanks, Knuckles. But what was that?!"

"Some kind of evil spirit. I thought I wouldn't have to worry about them anymore when I left the mines, but it looks like they're here too," Knuckles grumbled.

"There has to be some kind of key around here, right?" Sonic asked, zipping all over the place in a claustrophobic mania. Tails joined, using the Cyclone's laser pointer to faintly illuminate his surroundings. He shot at a collection of ghosts as soon as they appeared.

"Ghosts?! Really?! Why did it have to be ghosts?!" Tails cried, looking everywhere for a key.

"Everyone calm down, there's no need to panic!" Knuckles shouted. Amy was swept away into the darkness by an unknown force with a blood-curdling, ear-splitting scream.

"Amy!" Sonic cried. He ran off after her, calling for her until Knuckles couldn't hear his voice or his footsteps. Tails backed the Cyclone up until he was close to Knuckles.

"Knuckles? What's going on?!" Tails screamed, before he and the Cyclone turned to smoke. Knuckles jumped back, breathing heavily. He heard a woman's muffled laughter behind him, echoing through the large empty room. He spun around, to see a collection of circular ghosts hovering around a large humanoid apparition. She had the Hourglass Card in her hands.

"Hey! What did you do to them?!" Knuckles shouted, pointing his fist in her direction. She looked up from the card, and stared at Knuckles with her deep hypnotic eyes. She opened her mouth, snapping the stitches sewn onto her lips.

"I just took them somewhere else. Do we know each other? I think I remember you…" the banshee whispered, handing the card to a smaller ghost with a rainbow tongue. She curled her fingers together. "But I don't quite remember why." Knuckles looked on in confusion. "You're somehow… different from how you used to look."

"Well I have been working out," Knuckles stated. He lunged forward and punched the ghost woman. He went right through. She grabbed him by the leg and swung him overhead into the ground. He grunted as he tried to get up. She cackled, throwing a fireball at Knuckles. He caught it, and though it burned his hand, he was able to toss it right back at her. She used a Boo as a shield, the fireball burning the tiny ghost to ashes. Knuckles clenched his fists, and ran as the ghost woman soared after him. "Who are you? And why are you doing this?!" Knuckles asked.

"My name is Sonja the Ghost," the ghost woman sighed. "You're invading my home, and the home of my servants." Sonja caught up with Knuckles, and headbutted him into the wall. He drove his fists into the wall, and pulled out a piece of the pyramid. Chucking it at Sonja, it went right through her, instead landing on the Boo with the rainbow tongue. "King Boom Boo! Are you okay?!" The rainbow-eyed Boo dropped the Hourglass Card. It landed face-up, and sent a reaction throughout the pyramid. The trapdoors overhead opened, letting light from outside flood in. Sonja screamed, shrinking down until she was smaller than Knuckles. All the other ghosts disappeared. Knuckles chased after Sonja as she turned into a shadow on the ground.

"Hey! Don't run away from me!" Knuckles ordered, chasing her shadow around the room. He shot his knuckles into the ground, and yanked Sonja out of the floor. He slammed her against the wall with his burnt hand. "Return the others. If you don't, or if I see the slightest scratch on them, you're dead!"

"What makes you think I hurt them?" Sonja asked with a grin, choking as Knuckles tightened his grip. "I'm actually making them better. You'll enjoy them much more when they're back to normal." She reached for the Hourglass Card. It was surrounded by a purple glow, and Knuckles could almost see white clock hands ticking backwards quickly. When the clock hands made one full counter-clockwise loop, the card reverted to lying face-down on the floor. The trapdoors slammed closed, and Sonja grew in the darkness with a cackle as her servants returned. Knuckles bolted away as she turned invisible and chased him once more. The only lights he had now were the fireballs being chucked all around the room.

"If you would just hold still, I could make you all better too," Sonja promised, trying to grab Knuckles. "I remember you now. How long has it been since we last saw each other, Knuckles?"

"I've never seen you before," Knuckles grunted, putting his sunglasses over his eyes to see where the Hourglass Card was. It was in the hands of King Boom Boo. Knuckles punched the ghost to make him drop the card. Knuckles caught the card in the air. Just then, he felt a force paralyze him. He felt himself levitating, carried by a purple aura. He gasped, losing his grip on the Hourglass Card. Sonja caught it.

"It'll take longer to revert you than it takes to revert some card," Sonja sighed, holding Knuckles still. "If I could, I would just revert this whole planet. But by the time I appeared here with this new power, it was already broken into pieces. I can't leave this tomb, so I can't revert the rest of the continents, and I don't see much of a point in reverting just this small piece of the planet." Sonja smiled sentimentally, looking down at the floor. "But now you're all here. We can all go back to how things used to be." She grinned, as her eyes and mouth turned rainbow-colored. "It'll be just like old times, more or less!"

Just then, a large stone fist crashed through the wall. It looked like the hand of a giant golem. Sonja looked away from Knuckles, but still held him in place. The golem tore the wall away, and looked in. The golem seemed like it was being controlled by two kids in a cockpit placed on the head.

"Okay, who's making all that noise in here?!" Susie the Frog screamed, as the dust settled. Her face went pale when she saw all the Boos. "Guh-g-guh-g-GHOSTS! Oh no!" She cried. Pico the Wooly Mammoth gasped, clutched his chest, and fell onto the seat with his tongue out. His eyes rolled back into his head. He was dying from pure shock! "Pico, don't you turn into a ghost too!" Pico sat up instantly. He shook his head back and forth, putting his trembling hands back onto the controls.

"Pico…?" Sonja asked. She dropped Knuckles. He landed on his feet. "You're here too…" She floated towards the Egg Golem.

"Get out of Lord Eggman's base!" Susie shouted, using her manipulation powers on Sonja. "And take the other ghosts with you!" The soundproof glass cockpit they sat in blocked Susie's voice from reaching Sonja's ears. "Pico, that plan's a no-go. You know what to do." Pico nodded, and shot the Egg Golem's fist towards Sonja. It phased through her, punching Knuckles. He bounced back, bouncing once and scraping both pairs of his knuckles against the ground to catch himself from tumbling any further. Though Sonja didn't get hit, she felt attacked nonetheless.

"You… you tried to hit me…" Sonja gasped. "Pico, you don't remember me either? I raised you better than to hit your mother!" She floated up to the cockpit, and Susie responded by hitting a button on the control panel.

"Go, Rocky!" Susie ordered. The Egg Golem's head slammed onto her. Again, it didn't even touch her. "What's she even talking about? I practically raised you, not her." Susie asked, both of them picking up Sonja's words through their headsets. Pico shrugged as they rose the golem's head. "How are we supposed to get rid of her without going out there ourselves?" With Sonja in shock, Knuckles ran forward and tried to grab the card. King Boom Boo appeared and whacked him away, taking the card for himself.

"Hey, you two!" Knuckles shouted. "Let's work together. Destroy that other ghost, and get the card for me! Then we can drive these spirits out of this place."

"Nobody tells me what to do!" Susie shouted. "Except Lord Eggman. Pico, since we're taking turns, you handle this." Pico gazed to King Boom Boo as he scampered all around the room. Something sparkled in his eye, and he shot a beam of electricity precisely at King Boom Boo from the Egg Golem's chest. King Boom Boo disappeared once more, and Knuckles caught the card. He knelt down, and placed it face-up on the floor. The trapdoors above opened once more, and Knuckles leapt into the air at Sonja, ready to deal the finishing blow.

She turned around, and Knuckles saw black tears falling from her eyes. The rage disappeared from his face, leaving nothing but confusion. Sonja floated down to the ground as she shrunk.

Knuckles landed next to her, unsure of what to do as she sobbed. "What's the matter?" Knuckles asked, approaching her. "Is this a pathetic feint to gain sympathy, or are you actually sad?"

"Nobody even remembers me," Sonja squeaked, curling up into a ball. "I don't get it. This is supposed to be the right world." Knuckles' gaze softened, as he knelt down beside her. "I tried for so long to get back to where I belong, but now that I'm here, nothing's the same. How am I supposed to go back?! I just want to go back home with my family!" She shrieked. Knuckles sat down next to her.

"I see," Knuckles mumbled. "I mean, I don't exactly know what you're talking about. But I feel your pain. I feel it very deeply." Knuckles cleared his throat, putting the puzzle pieces together. "You want things to go back to how they used to be. So you're using your power to force them to revert to their prior form." Knuckles looked to the side. "But you can't do that. Sometimes you can't go home, even if you really want to. Sometimes you have a job to do before you can return." Sonja glanced to him. "Sometimes the time isn't right." Sonja sniffled. "It can be scary, it can be confusing when you're trapped in a new and strange place. You want to go back, even if that means doing the wrong thing. Giving up on what you know is right, or giving up on your sacred duties. But you must keep hoping that someday, you will find the correct path home." Knuckles smiled at her reassuringly. Sonja smiled a little too.

"Yeah, you… might be right," Sonja replied. "I don't know what you're talking about either, but I can feel it too! Thank you, Knuckles, I—!" The Egg Golem slammed its fist down onto Sonja, reducing her to a pool of rainbow ectoplasm that bled out from under its fist. Knuckles jolted back, shocked.

"Yeah? Lord Eggman? We took care of the pests inside the base. We're detecting some Master Emerald readings from this red guy that snuck in too," Susie said, communicating with Eggman. "Kill him and take the shards? You got it!" Knuckles stepped back, before a blue blur shot through and slammed into the Egg Golem.

"Teriyyaaaaa!" Sonic shouted. He collided with the golem, bounced off, and skidded to a stop by Knuckles as the Egg Golem tried to regain its balance.

"Sonic! You're back!" Knuckles sighed in relief, looking ahead at their foe. Sonja being destroyed must have ended up releasing them. Amy and Tails stepped into formation.

"Yep! I dunno what happened, but you can tell us later!" Sonic exclaimed. Everybody attacked the Egg Golem, reducing it to a pile of rocks in less than a second. Pico and Susie sat in the middle of the rubble, unharmed.

"Careful, Sonic! There's something wrong with those kids," Knuckles whispered, looking to the splotch of ectoplasm on the floor. "I just hope Sonja's okay. Ghosts can't actually die, right?"

"Heh… what? These two are just Eggman's little helpers," Sonic replied, disregarding Knuckles' warning. "You guys aren't hurt, are you?" Susie and Pico looked at Sonic angrily.

"Man, you always have to ruin our plans!" Susie shouted. Pico made a semi-deep rumbling sound to try and intimidate Sonic. "Doesn't matter, we can still defeat you! Red guy! Hit Sonic!" Knuckles ran forward and decked Sonic in the face. Amy quickly used a tarot card spell to freeze Susie and Pico in little ice cubes.

"Oh my God!" Amy cried, running over and smacking Knuckles in the back of the head. Susie and Pico's eyes rolled over to her. "Why'd you do that?!"

"It's not his fault," Sonic mumbled. "The frog can control people to do whatever she wants."

"Well, I for one was waiting to do that anyways," Knuckles replied, dizzy. With a shove, Amy slid the ice cubes holding Susie and Pico into the distance. The team looked over at the sound of a battering ram hitting the door that had closed behind them. Knuckles used his sunglasses to peek past the door. "Humans! They're armed."

"GUN must have caught up," Sonic groaned. "They just don't know when to quit! C'mon, let's get to the ARK!" Sonic ran off deeper into the pyramid through the hole the Egg Golem made, the others following.

They quickly reached Eggman's teleporter room. "I'm gonna feel real stupid if this turns out to be a bomb," Sonic sighed, as they all piled into the teleporter. They shut the doors behind them.

"It should be safe," Tails stated, scanning it with his Tails Electric. "It should also send us right to the ARK."

"How do we activate it?" Knuckles asked. "Rrgh… don't shove!"

"Sorry," Amy mumbled.

"What are you doing? HEY! Don't touch that lever, Knuckles!" Sonic shouted as Knuckles grabbed onto a lever to catch himself from falling.

"REQUEST RECEIVED," the teleporter's virtual assistant stated. "SENDING YOUR EXCESS INVENTORY TO THE EXTERIOR OF THE ARK."

"What does that mean?!" Knuckles shouted. "They're taking the Master Emerald shards? Where's the undo key?!" Knuckles swung wildly, bashing every button on the wall with his fists in a blind panic. Sonic, Amy and Tails yelled as they ducked for cover from the falling bits of metal and Knuckles' punches.

In a flash of light, the teleporter activated, and they were all sent up into space.