The Freedom fighters that had a few seconds ago gathered around a fight between their resident hero and a robot now gathered around a scene of a different kind, all with a different levels of concern on their faces. Sally reached down and placed a hand on Sonic’s shoulder.
"Sonic." She shook his shoulder. No response. "Sonic!" She yelled. She gritted her teeth to keep from crying. She had to think of a way to heal him…
Suddenly Knuckles was at her side with a new power ring. He forced the ring into Sonic’s hand, and held it tight. Sonic’s DNA activated the ring, and the ring automatically filled Sonic’s body with energy. In the space of a few seconds, Sonic was healed.
Knuckles blew air through his teeth. He hated to use up the Emeralds' energy like that, but he had needed a power ring, and the next one wasn’t due for another hour. And if Sonic had died…
Oh, no. He didn’t want to even think about that.
His thoughts were interrupted by another noise. As one, the whole crowd craned their necks over towards the metal Sonic.
Or what had been the metal Sonic.
The black female hedgehog laying on the ground bore a direct resemblance to the robot.
Bunnie Rabbot turned to Sally. She had been one of the ones brought out of their huts by the commotion. "What the hoo-ha happened?" she asked her friend.
Sally sighed. "Bunnie, I hadn’t been meaning to tell you this this soon, but…" she swallowed. "We found a deroboticizer."
Bunnie stood, stunned, for a few, then swept up Sally in a giant hug. "Oh, Ah’m so glad!" She cried out. Then she sobered. "Why din’ja tell li’l ol’ me? Was it a secret?"
Sally took a deep breath. "It’s not pleasant," she said, "and there’s some sort of sickness going with it. I wanted to make sure that I knew about it before telling you. I- I didn’t want it to fail on you."
Bunnie was about to reply when the not-bot stirred again. She raised a hand and rubbed her eyes. "Where, whurr am I?" Her voice was devoid of any accent but ‘American’, and her hands were covered in skintight silver gloves.
Sally knelt by her, and Sonic sat up. Knuckles stood over the two girls. "Who are you?" Asked Sally.
"Xelphene." Said the girl. "But, everything’s wrong. I- I can’t… it’s gone!" She nearly screamed. "It’s GONE!!"
The two Freedom Fighters and the Guardian had noticed a few things about Xelphene. First, she had Th-varian red eyes, red with cat’s eyes pupils and no irises. Second, after yelling ‘gone’, her gloves had flashed white.
And Knuckles noticed that she was the one that he was looking for.
Just then, every other deroboticized mobian in Knothole screamed.
Knuckles jerked his head up like the rest when he heard the screams of pain, but remained with the hedgehog when the others left to see what was going on. She seemed to be experiencing the first stages of the sickness, and he wanted to make her more comfortable. Plus, he wanted to see why the Emeralds had chosen her, out of every other denizen of the planet.
He admitted that she was cute. She looked like Sonic, but some of her features were different9. And she glowed with an aura that reminded him of the Emeralds, though it was much weaker.
He noticed her looking quizzically at him, and he stopped staring and slightly blushed. "Hello," he said. "My name is Knuckles. I’m the Guardian of the Floating Island." He felt a pang of guilt, for he hadn’t been guarding the island. What if-
"H - hello. Do you know why I can’t remember anything?" Xelphene interrupted his unwelcome thought.
"You can’t remember anything?" he asked, to keep his mind off of what he should or shouldn’t be Guarding.
"N- no. All I remember is that I should have Beryl, but I don’t have it ‘cuz he took it and I don’t have it now." She said miserably.
Knuckles thought for a moment. "Who took, um, Beryl?" he asked, making the word a separate question.
Xelphene shuddered. "He did, the bad man, but I don’t know who or when!" She ignored Knuckles’ obvious confusion about ‘Beryl’, shuddering and folding in on herself. Knuckles put a hand on her shoulder, and she grabbed onto it as if she were drowning in a sea of hopelessness and he was a lifeline. He gently scooped her into his arms and held her.
Suddenly, Sally ran out of Rotor’s hut, calling his name. "Knuckles," she said when she saw him, "Come quick! We don’t know what to do!" Knuckles didn’t see how he could help, but he nodded his assent and followed her back in. You didn’t ask questions when Princess Sally Alicia Acorn told you to do something, not because of her power, but because she was that kind of person.
When he saw Daniel, he saw why Sally was worried. The sick hedgehog was giving off sparks, and was looking pale. Through the Emeralds, Knuckles noticed that his and the other new de-robots’ life signs were failing. He sighed. There was no other way than to use the dwindling power of the Emeralds to-
He never finished his thought. Xelphene, by some panic-driven instinct, jumped out of his arms and laid her palms on Daniel’s shoulder. As Knuckles was about to yank her away from the sparks, her gloves glowed a brilliant white, and Daniel’s seizure stopped.
Everyone looked at Xelphene. Xelphene stared at her hands. It seemed that the Metal Sonic was now showing her stuff.
Knuckles just hoped that he could keep her on his side.
Author's notes: