Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are a copyright of SEGA Enterprises INC. and Archie Comics Publications. Delphine, Dimitria, Comet, Metal Knuckles, Ali, Rick and Dr. Heimlich M. Neuver are a copyright of ME(the author, duh). =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Uh, problem.... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The Cave, Part 2 of Newfound Alliances --Delphine Sonic quickly raced for the electrical panel. He got to it, and performed a sonic spin, destroying it. Sparks flew everywhere. The roboticization chamber stopped glowing. Delphine slumped against the side, unconscious. Knuckles thought. He and Espio rammed into the tube, and Knuckles caught Delphine as the glass broke and she fell through. He looked her over, and found that she hadn't been roboticized at all. Sonic raced over to the fake Delphine and destroyed it. , he thought. "STOP THEM!" Robotnik screamed at the SWATbots. The SWATbots started shooting at the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix. A SWATbots fired at Sally, but Mighty pushed her out of the way. He got shot. "Mighty! Hang on!" Sonic ran to him, destroying five SWATbots in the process, and swung him over his shoulder. "C'mon, gang! Let's get outa here!" Vector yelled. "Let's go!" The Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix raced out of the building, and across Robotropolis towards the Great Forest. When the two teams got to the Great Forest, they laid Delphine and Mighty down on the forest floor. "Wha? Huh?" Mighty groaned. "Hey man, you okay?" Vector asked. "I think so." Mighty said. He looked around. "How'd I get here?" he asked. "Sonic carried you. We decided to leave." Espio said. Mighty looked down at Delphine. "Is she all right?" he asked. "We don't know. She's still unconscious." Sally said. Knuckles was silent. "You gonna be okay?" Sonic asked Mighty. "Yeah, I'll be fine. It takes more than a laser to take me down." "Good. I didn't want to make two trips. I'll get Del to Dr. Heimlich." Sonic raced off. Knuckles looked on, wanting to go with him. But he knew there was no way he could keep up with the speedy hedgehog. "Come on guys, let's get back to Knothole." Sally said. She put a hand on Knuckles shoulder. "She'll be all right," she said. "I hope you're right Sal," Knuckles replied. "So do I Knux. So do I." When Sonic got back to Knothole, the doctor looked her over quickly, then had Sonic bring her into the observatory room. He kept saying things like "Hmmm" and "Uh huh" and "Oh my". When he was done, he said "I know what it is. I can fix it, but I need some extra supplies." "Doc, what are you talking about?" Sonic asked. "I'll tell you when the rest get here. Just sit tight. She'll be fine until they get back." Sonic reluctantly sat down to wait for Sally and the others to come back. The others got back about half an hour later. "Took you long enough. I know I'm fast, but it couldn't have been that far." Sonic said impatiently. "Well, now we're here. Is she all right?" Sally asked. "I don't know. The doc wouldn't tell me. He said he would when you guys got here." "Yes, I did. And now I shall." Dr. Heimlich said. "Delphine is in a state of hypodermic-cydromasis. (I made it up--don't go looking through medical journals to find it.) Her mind is stuck between normal living and roboticization. It's like what Bunnie Rabbot had when you brought her back, but it wasn't as bed because she was partially roboticized. There is a way to cure it, but I don't have the resources here." "Where can we find them?" Sally asked hurriedly. "In the Caves of Eternal Death." "Gee, sounds promising." Charmy said. "I'll go." Knuckles said. He was about to go out the door when Sonic grabbed his arm and said, "Whoa, hold on a minute. You have no idea where you're going, what to expect, and you are definitely not going alone." "I can do it myself. Let go of my arm." Knuckles said with slitted eyes. "C'mon, man. If you go on your own you'll probably get killed. It's not gonna help Del any if you die." Sonic said still holding his arm. "I told you, I can do it on my own! Now let go!" Knuckles yanked his arm free. "Don't make me hurt you." Sonic said, becoming tense. He definitely didn't want Knuckles going on his own. "You couldn't hurt me if Iet you." Knuckles retorted. "Oh yeah?" Sonic asked, his voice rising. "We'll just see about that!" Sonic leaped for Knuckles, and the two of them started rolling on the floor, fighting. "Boys, boys, please!" Sally said, breaking them apart. "You won't help the situation by killing each other!" They backed away from each other, glaring. "I can manage it on my own." Knuckles said in a low voice. "Fine then! Go get yourself killed! See if I care!" Sonic yelled. He turned, and stormed off to the corner, fuming. "Knuckles, you can't just go on your own. I know it doesn't happen very often, but Sonic's right." Sally said. "I heard that!" Sonic yelled from the corner. "Knuckles, I know you're worried about Delphine, but we all are. You can't just go storming off on your own with no idea what you are doing! Do you even know where this place is?" "I-- no." Knuckles admitted. "Well, then, how do you propose you get there?" Sally demanded. Knuckles looked down. "I guess I wasn't thinking." he said slowly. Sonic had gotten up and moved closer, but not close enough for Knuckles to notice. "Therefore I think that Sonic should go with you." Sally said. "What?!" They both said at the same time. "Sal, are you nuts? There's no way I'm going with him--" "Have you gone mad? No one can make me accompany him--" "Yes, you are. This conversation is over." Sally said with finality. "But-- whatever." Sonic muttered. He knew there was no way he would ever get her to change her mind. He just leaned against the wall and wouldn't look at Knuckles. "Now that that's over with, where is this place?" Sally asked Dr. Heimlich. "It's in the very center of the great forest. There is a cave there, covered with vines and plants from over the years. You may not be able to find it at first." "Shouldn't be a problem," Sonic murmured with a slight smile on his face. "Then you go down into the caves. Somewhere in there there will be a garden of yellow and white flowers. They are the only thing that can save her. But, you must be careful. There is said to be two guardians of this place. They are said to be very deadly. They are trained in swordsmanship and martial arts. If it's true, they will probably be tough to handle. It's best to make friends with them if they are real." "How do you know all this?" "From the writings of my half-brother, a scientific doctor named Larry N. Gyttis. He had searched the caverns and found out everything he could. I have the directions here somewhere." He turned, and skimmed through his papers. "Ah! Here it is!" He pulled out a journal. "The directions are on the last page. There's also a map." He said. He handed it to Sonic. Sonic looked it over. "Buncha twists and turns. Easy to get lost." he murmured. Then he handed it to Knuckles. Knuckles looked it over, then stuck it in his backpack. "Come one, you two. You're going to need supplies." Sally said. The three of them walked off, with Sally standing between them. Sally made sure they got everything they needed. She knew they weren't thinking because they had been stuck together, and didn't want them to forget anything. "All right you guys. You're all set to go. Just don't kill each other, okay?" "Nah, don't worry Sal. We were just letting out our differences." Sonic said. He didn't feel like telling Sally he was ready to get rid of Knuckles. "Well, just be careful." "We will." he said. As they walked off, Sally thought, The two walked in silence for about an hour. Then, Knuckles spoke up. "Sonic, look, I'm sorry--what I said--I wasn't thinking." "Forget it. I shouldn't have gotten so mad. If it had been Sal, I probably would have done the same thing." Sonic replied. Knuckles looked over at him. Knuckles thought. Just then Sonic realized something. Sonic thought to himself. Sonic looked over at Knuckles. Then Sonic realized it wasn't them, it was the forest. As they got closer to the middle, the forest was getting more dense, and there was less and less light. It was getting harder to see, and it was getting darker anyway. "Shouldn't we be there by now?" Knuckles asked, breaking the silence again. "Probably not. He said the center of the forest, and he meant the very center of the forest. We'll probably be there in an hour or so. Why?" The last question was asked so innocently that it was annoying. "No reason," Knuckles said gruffly. Sonic smiled slightly in he darkness. He liked making Knuckles mad.... as long as he wasn't _that_ mad. They walked on in silence. Sonic was getting restless. he thought. He looked up, and couldn't see anything through the treetops. No stars, no moon, nothing. He reached into his backpack and took out a flashlight. He turned it on. "What are you...." "There's no light. How else are we supposed to see?" "Good point." Sonic scanned the area. Suddenly he stopped. "That's it." "How do you know?" Knuckles asked. Sonic ran to it, then pulled aside some vines. Underneath was a gaping hole in the side of what had seemed to be just a rock. "Oh." "So? C'mon, we don't have all day--er, night!" Sonic said. The two of them ran into the cave. "Gee, this looks promising," Knuckles said with sarcasm. "Just take out the map." Sonic told him. Knuckles reached into his backpack and took out the map. "We're supposed to go that way," Knuckles said, pointing to the right. "Let me see that," Sonic said. Knuckles handed it to him. "You're right, we do go right." Sonic folded up the map. "Well, what're we waiting for?" Knuckles sighed, then followed Sonic into the dim. They had been walking down the cavern for about half an hour when they came upon another fork in the trail. "Time to look at the map again," Sonic said, taking it out. He and Knuckles looked at it. "We take the middle route," Knuckles said. "I know how to read a map," Sonic said. He out the map away, and they were about to head into the passageway when they were attacked. "What the...." "Who...." They said at the same time. They landed next to each other. Sonic looked up, and saw that their attackers were a squirrel and a cat. "You are trespassing on our property," the cat said in a high voice. The cat was a girl. "Do ya have a deed?" Sonic asked. "Very funny." The squirrel said in a deep voice. He was obviously male. He was also large. I don't mean fat. "Yeah, I thought so." Sonic said, getting up. Knuckles got up himself. "Are you nuts?!" he whispered. "Chill, Knux. These guys can't hurt us. We're the toughest guys on the planet, remember?" "But...." Knuckles was interrupted by the squirrel knocking him to the ground. "AHHHH!" "What the--" Just then the cat leapt at Sonic. The four of them fought heavily. the squirrel thought. He threw Knuckles to the side of the cave. "Ow," Knuckles muttered, holding his head. He could almost hear Delphine saying, 'that's putting it mildly, Knux.' As the squirrel was about to descend upon Knuckles, Sonic said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." "Who are you to--" "Rick, don't!" the cat screamed. Rick whirled around. He saw Sonic holding her own knife to the cat's throat. "Are we all done playing games now?" Sonic asked. "If you don't let her go, I'm gonna...." "You're gonna what? I'm a lot faster than you think." During this entire conversation, Knuckles had been slowly inching away from Rick. Now he was well enough away to be safe from the squirrel. Rick noticed this. "What do you want?" he asked. "An explanation," Sonic said, still holding the knife to the cat's throat. She had begun shaking slightly. "We are the guardians of this cave. You're in it without permission, and we had to do something about it. It's are job." Rick was starting to sweat. He didn't want anything to happen to his friend. "I'm Rick, and she's Ali." Ali smiled meekly. "Heimlich wasn't kidding...." Sonic whispered. "In that case...." he said, getting off of Ali. She quickly scrambled up. "But I thought...." she said. Knuckles spoke up. "We're here because we need some flower things to save our friend." Sonic nodded. Ali and Rick looked at each other. "If that's all you came for...." "Then why did you threaten me?" Ali finished. "What?! You attacked us first!" Sonic yelled. Knuckles nodded. "But--I--" Rick said. Then he realized what they were saying. "Oops." he said. "Yeah, oops. C'mon, Knux. These guys aren't gonna help us." Sonic walked towards the middle cavern. Knuckles followed. "Wait!" Ali called after them. Sonic and Knuckles turned around. "What?" Sonic asked impatiently. "Sorry." she said. "We were just doing our job. We've never had anyone come in here before, so we didn't know how to act." Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other. "It's all right I know someone who used to do the same thing. And he was experienced." Sonic said. Knuckles shot him a warning glance. Sonic looked away, a slight smile on his face. he thought. "C'mon, we'll show you the way," Rick said. "Wait! You didn't tell us you're names." Ali said. "Oh yeah! Sorry. I'm Sonic, and that's Knuckles." he said, pointing to said guardian. "Nice to meet you," she said shyly. Knuckles didn't say anything. He was thinking about Delphine. "Come on, let's go," Rick said. The three of them followed. "So," Ali asked Knuckles, "Who is this friend of yours?" "She's my girlfriend," Knuckles said. "Oh." Ali said. She didn't say anymore. "There they are," Rick said, pointing to a cavern that seemed to be glowing. Knuckles and Sonic looked in. "Whoa," Knuckles whispered. "Way past," Sonic said softly. Inside there were what seemed millions of flowers, and they were all glowing with their own light. "How do they...." "No one really knows." Ali replied. "Kinda like the Chaos Emeralds," Knuckles whispered. "Hmm?" Rick asked. "Nothing," Knuckles replied. He didn't want everyone to know he was the Guardian of the Floating Island. "You said something, and I want to know what it is!" Rick shouted. "Geeze, man, chill out. It wasn't anything important." Sonic said. He didn't feel like having everyone know about the Floating Island either. He knew all about the responsibility Knuckles had. "C'mon, let's get this over with." Knuckles said. He and Sonic walked into the cavern. They could here Ali yelling at Rick for being so rude. Sonic and Knuckles each took out a large jar, and the two of them bent over and started picking. "So, what do you think of those two?" Sonic asked. "I think they take their job too seriously for someone that has no experience." Knuckles chose what he said carefully. He didn't want to talk himself into a hole. Sonic had been picking up on a lot of things that he said lately. "I wonder what the big deal is with guarding these flowers. I mean, I understand the Floating Island gig, but what haven't they told us about these things?" "I don't know," Knuckles told him. His jar was just about full. He looked over and saw that Sonic's jar was full. "We've probably got enough," he said. The two of them put the jars in their backpacks, and went back out to were their newfound friends were waiting. "All done?" Ali asked all too cheerfully. Rick was leaning on the cave wall. It looked like they had had a fight. Ali's eyes were red. "Um--yeah." Sonic answered. Rick got up and walked back towards the entrance. "C'mon." he huffed. Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other. Then they followed, with Ali trailing behind. They got to the edge of the cave in about an hour. Sonic and Knuckles looked outside, and saw that it was sunrise. "Whoa," Knuckles whispered. "Well, here we are," Rick said stiffly. Ali looked at Sonic with pleading eyes. "Why don't you come with us?" Sonic asked them. "Are you nuts?!" Knuckles whispered fiercely. "Sure, of course!" Ali exclaimed gleefully. "But--" Rick said. "What, your worried about that silly cave? No one can see it, and these two are the only people we have seen our entire lives." Ali told him. "It wouldn't be any trouble," Sonic said. "Besides, Sally would probably like to meet you guys." "Sally? As in Princess Sally?" Rick asked. "The very same." Sonic told him. Knuckles felt like pounding him into the ground. he thought. As an after thought, Knuckles thought As the four of them were walking along, it was obvious that Rick and Ali were on speaking terms again. The two of them were the most talkative people Knuckles and Sonic had ever met. They kept saying things about how dark the cave was, how bright it was outside, how they had waited forever to meet someone, how they had waited forever to come out into the real world, blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., etc. After awhile Sonic and Knuckles tuned them out. "So, why did you ask them to come?" Knuckles asked Sonic all too innocently. "Can't you tell? It's obvious Rick beats her." Sonic replied. "Then why did you--huh?" "You heard me. Didn't you see the bruise on her face? She hadn't been crying because they had been fighting." Sonic said. Knuckles thought over what had been said. He realized that Sonic had been telling the truth. he thought. Hours later, they got to Knothole. When they got into the doctor's office, Sonic explained who Rick and Ali were. Introductions were made, and then Sonic and Knuckles went into the patient room with the doc. "Did you get the flowers?" Dr. Heimlich asked. "Of course we did," Knuckles said. "Yeah. Sonic the Hedgehog never does anything half way." Sonic said. "If he does it at all," Knuckles commented. Sonic glared at him. Knuckles looked away. he thought to himself. "I don't believe you got so many!" The doctor exclaimed. "Will ya keep it down?" Sonic asked. "We told you who these two were." "I know. I'm just so excited. This many flowers has never been collected before!" "There were so many of them, it didn't seem to matter how many we picked. They were practically growing on top of each other!" Knuckles told him. "Hm. Interesting. Well, I'll have the medicine cooked up in a minute. Delphine will be fine in no time!" Dr. Heimlich said. Knuckles couldn't help but smile. The two of them walked out of the patient room. "So? Is she going to be okay?" Sally asked. "The doc says she'll be fine. He just needs to make some of that medicine with those flowers." Sonic said, stating the obvious. "Good, " Sally said. "You two better get some sleep. You look beat." Sonic and Knuckles didn't realize how exhausted they were until she said that. "Maybe you're right, Sal." Sonic said, not wanting anyone to know that he felt like dropping on the floor and sleeping right there. "Knuckles, you can bunk with Sonic. The two of you better get some rest before you drop dead." Sally said. Sonic winced at her choice of words. The two of them walked to Sonic's hut. When they got there, Sonic told Knuckles he could use the couch. "Hey, I'm a guest. I should have the best." Knuckles said. "You're lucky you're not sleeping on the floor," Sonic said in low tone. "Hey, chill, I was just kidding." Knuckles said. Sonic walked towards his room. "Good night," Sonic said with a hint of a smile. "See you in the morning," Knuckles replied, grinning. The two of them laughed. As soon as Sonic got into his room, Knuckles collapsed on the couch, asleep. Neither Sonic nor Knuckles got up for six straight hours. When Knuckles woke up, he almost fell off the couch trying to figure out where he was. "Oh yeah," he said when he remembered. He shook his head, still groggy. He blinked his eyes a few times, then looked around to see if Sonic was up yet. He wasn't. He was about to go back to sleep when Sonic burst out of his room. "Wake up! Hurry up. I don't want to wait for you all day." "Whoa! I was up before you were, stupid." Knuckles replied. "I--oops." "Yeah, oops." Knuckles said. Sonic looked away. "C'mon, let's go see how Del's doing," Sonic said. Knuckles followed him out of his hut and towards the doc's office. "She's still unconscious, but she is no longer in any danger," Dr. Heimlich said when Sonic asked. "You said she wasn't in any danger before," Knuckles told him. "I didn't say anything about it before because I didn't want you to worry. If you hadn't come back with the flowers in time...." "There would've been no hope," Sonic finished. "Exactly." Dr. Heimlich replied. Knuckles sat down heavily in a chair. "You okay?" Sonic asked him. "Y-yeah, I--I'm fine." Knuckles stuttered out. Sonic pulled him up. "C'mon, let's go tell Sal." He left the Doc's hut, and Knuckles followed behind. "If we hadn't gotten back in time...." "Will you stop with the if's?! She's gonna be fine! Don't worry about it!" Sonic told him. "But if...." "Stop! You're becoming as annoying as Antoine! It's over! Nothing else to worry about! Chill!" Knuckles looked at him. He realized that Sonic was right. He didn't say anything else. A slight smile broke out on his face when he thought of the fact that Delphine would be fine. They found Sal watching Antoine making a fool of himself again. He was pretending that he could mix two dangerous components together without getting hurt. "I mix zes blue liquid cleaner with ze melted plastic and...." Suddenly Sonic raced to him and pulled him back. "What ez you doing?! I wez experimenting...." Suddenly there was a small explosion where Antoine had been working.  "Uncle Chuck taught me a thing or two about Windex," Sonic told him. He let go of Antoine's arm. Antoine walked off, looking sad. (okay, everyone break out the tisuues--ha ha) "So? What's the news?" Sally asked them. "She's gonna be fine. She's still in dreamland, but the Doc says she's gonna be okay." Sonic told her. "Whew!" Sally sighed. "Thank goodness! Well, now that that's over with, it's time to strike back." To be continued.... End of Part Two.