Blaze growled as she once again found herself eating berries off a bush. "We are losing ourselves more and more by the second," she muttered, her expression darkening.
She broke into a sprint toward the Master Emerald. "We can't afford to waste any more time. The empire will fall to that tenrec's hands by—"
She was cut off mid-run as something struck her chin, sending her flying backward into a tree.
Blaze looked up and saw fire. Heard screams. Everything she had worked so hard for—gone.
"You're too late," said the tenrec.
Blaze recognized her now. She'd only seen the arm cannon before. "Your empire is gone. Reduced to atoms. Another world lost in the grand scheme of things."
"No... nonononono..." Blaze stammered.
The tenrec scoffed at her denial and pulled back the hood that had obscured her face. "The Sol Empire is no more. Don't deny it. Need I remind you—you're the one who ran away." She looked Blaze dead in the eye. "Didn't make it any less fun burning the place down," she smirked.
Blaze could only stare in shocked horror.
Knuckles realized he'd messed up the moment his eyes landed on the gray Chaos Emerald—and the fact that Blaze had gone catatonic. He wasn't sure what to do, but one thing was certain: he should not approach her. Her eyes were swirling red spirals that practically screamed Do Not Approach.
Knuckles huffed and walked toward the communicator Tails had given him. Maybe a call to Tails would help. Or perhaps Shadow—he used Chaos energy more often than anyone else.
"Well, look what we have here," said a deep, cocky robotic voice.
Knuckles turned toward the Master Emerald and saw Mecha Sonic, one knee perched atop it. "Perhaps I've caught you at a bad time. Mating season happening soon, perhaps?" Mecha remarked.
Even Blaze reacted, muttering "no" over and over again, her voice trembling.
"What—no, we don't—never mind that! How are you here? Hyper Sonic should've destroyed you!" Knuckles shouted. "No way Eggman's crazy enough to rebuild you after what you did!"
Mecha growled and clenched his fist. "The only thing Hyper Sonic destroyed was himself. I survived. The Doctor found me—but dumped me in a scrapyard for spare parts."
He looked off into the distance, then back at Knuckles. "Luckily, there were other failures. True failures—unlike me. Locked away. Ones I put to better use than rusting in a junk heap."
Mecha gestured with his arms, painting a grim picture of what had become of the other Badniks.
"But that doesn't matter to you. Where is Metal Sonic, Knuckles? I've tracked his presence to this island."
The demand made Knuckles pause. His eyes widened in horror.
"You want to become Metallix again," he breathed.
Then he lunged.
"I won't let you!"
Knuckles punched Mecha Sonic off the Emerald. Mecha flipped mid-air, landing smoothly and transforming his left arm into a cannon. He fired instantly.
Knuckles dodged the shots like a boxer, weaving and closing the distance.
He threw a jab—Mecha slipped it. Then came a left hook that connected, sending the Badnik sliding through the dirt a few meters. Knuckles rushed forward and launched an uppercut.
Mecha dodged by stepping back and grabbing Knuckles' arm mid-air.
"Oh shi—" was all Knuckles managed to say before being slammed into the ground.
"Gaaaa!" he screamed in pain.
"You're too slow," Mecha taunted, lifting Knuckles and delivering a roundhouse kick that sent the echidna crashing into a boulder.
Stunned, Knuckles barely registered Mecha's next words.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you—" Mecha turned his arm back into a cannon and pointed it at Knuckles. "For a second time."
Just before Mecha could fire—and before Knuckles could dodge—a yellow blur slammed into Mecha, taking the Badnik with it as it flew into the distance. Knuckles blinked before getting up and walking towards were blaze was only to a huge hole where she stood and then growing horror he looked off to were the golden blur took mecha sonic only to see an explosion of golden light in the distance.
Knuckles stood there for a moment before rushing off to call tails, no one wanted super mecha sonic vs hyper sonic v2.