Tails the Fox
Chapter 14 - Knuckles in Cyberspace
Stage 07 - EggmanEmpire.com

2BIT: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?

Back in Eggman's Control Room, which was the room with the holographic Chaos Emeralds, Copter gave Dr. Eggman the report of the battle in Station Square. Eggman seemed a bit annoyed. "I knew Alpha would screw up. I need to improve my E-X series robots."

Eggman seemed forgiving of Copter's failure this time. He turned his attention to his computer screen and pondered for a moment. Then he got an idea. "Punchy! Come here a moment!"

Punchy, who was asleep in his seat, suddenly woke up with a start. "I didn't touch your wife, I swear!" he shouted, apparently still drowsy. When he regained his senses, he rushed over to see what Eggman wanted from him. Eggman pointed to a map on his screen. "This base, located about 3 miles from Station Square, is a GUN facility known as the Security Tower. Housed there is the Chaos Emerald that GUN is saving for a rainy day. I say, it was raining this morning, so they don't need it anymore, if you get my drift."

Knuckles had infiltrated Eggman's base, and was listening from behind the holographic projector. "I knew it! That green echidna is working for Eggman! I bet they stole the Master Emerald together!"

"Punchy and Copter," Eggman continued, "I want you two to get the Chaos Emerald held by GUN, by any means necessary!" Copter and Punchy both gave a quick, unenthusiastic salute, and Eggman led them away to give them further details. Knuckles saw his chance and snuck over to the computer. There was a cyberspace terminal next to it, and Knuckles decided that he would search the computer world for any leads on the location of the Master Emerald. He slowly stepped into the terminal, and was digitized instantly!

(If you've played Shadow the Hedgehog, you know how cyberspace looks there, so I won't go through too much description here, if any.) Knuckles was now in the digital world. After some searching, he found a large area blocked by a big firewall. However, Knuckles had no idea what it was, so he tried to punch through it. Big mistake. "OWWWW!! HOT, HOT, HOT!!!" he screamed.

"You'll never get through the firewall like that!" came the voice of none other than Charmy Bee. "Don't you know anything about cyberspace, Knuckles?"
Knuckles was crying over his hand, which was actually glowing red. "What do you know about it? What are you even doing here!?"
"Looking for info on Eggman's plan." Charmy replied. "If you want to get in there, Knuckles, you'll need to find a terminal that'll open the firewall!" Charmy then flew over toward a bitstream leading across a deep chasm. "I've checked everywhere else already, so I bet the terminal's this way!"

Knuckles didn't know the first thing about bitstreams. "How do we get over there!? In case you didn't notice, I can't fly!"
Charmy flew behind Knuckles. "Don't you worry! I'll be your digital guide!" he said before pushing Knuckles into the bitstream! Knuckles landed feet first, and tried to keep his footing as the bitstream pushed him forward. Charmy followed in the air behind, laughing. After all, he's supposed to roll through the bitstreams! However, Knuckles instead struggled to maintain balance on his feet. (talk about surfing the internet!) He finally reached the platform on the other side and tripped off the bitstream, landing face-first. "I hate computers..." he grumbled.

"Over here, Knuckles!" Charmy called from across the platform. "The terminal is over here!"

Knuckles scrambled to his feet and ran toward the terminal. Halfway there, he was stopped by the sudden appearance of viruses! However, they appeared only to be harmless little black kittens. Knuckles wasn't concerned with them, and kept walking, completely oblivious to the fact that the kittens were surrounding him. Charmy called this to his attention. "Knuckles, what are you doing!? This is Eggman's computer! Are you so gullible to be fooled by the 'cute' act of those kitties?!"

"No." Knuckles replied. "I just can't hurt something that seems so harmless!" So, as if in response, the virus kittens had a quick transformation. They jumped up into the air and landed as vicious cat monsters! They had big, sharp claws, glowing yellow eyes, spikes lining their whiplike tails, and saber-teeth! A red one, apparently the leader, spoke with a voice that sounded sort of like purring. "We are Dr. Eggman's Ninja Purrr Virus Squad! Troops, get that hacker!"

The Purrrs charged at Knuckles with intense speed. Thinking fast, Knuckles jumped high into the air, leaving the Purrrs to run right into each other and knock themselves down! The red one smacked his own face and rubbed his eyes in annoyance. "Bloody morons! Looks like I, Firepaw, will have to deal with you myself!"

Knuckles landed in front of Firepaw. "Fine then, chump! Let's see what you got!"

Firepaw meowed excitedly and picked up his tail, which suddenly caught of fire! "They don't call me Firepaw for nothing. Meowr!"
"But that's not your paw, it's your tail!" Knuckles mumbled, them shook his head quickly. "Err, who cares! I'll show you!" Knuckles ran at Firepaw, who simply threw his tail at Knuckles. Firepaw's tail seemed to grow longer as it smacked Knuckles across the chest, causing him to fall over and yell in pain. Firepaw then retracted his tail and chuckled. "Child's play!"

Knuckles had recieved some nasty burns, but he couldn't stop now. He had to find the Master Emerald! He slowly rose to his feet, and noticed that Charmy was preoccupied with fighting the other Purrrs. Firepaw approached the injured Knuckles, and prepared finish the feisty echidna with his claws. Knuckles, however, was not so easily beaten. As Firepaw attempted to slash Knuckles, the echidna ducked under the attack and grabbed Firepaw's tail, causing the Purrr to trip! Knuckles then tossed the flaming tail towards the terminal, and missed it by a centimeter. However, it was close enough. The flames from the tail ignited the terminal and soon it was engulfed in flame. Flames apparently spread easier in the digital world.

Firepaw retracted his tail and stood up, his face seeming redder than usual. "You stupid son of a--"
He was interrupted by Charmy bashing him  over the head with one of his underlings. "There! That'll fix ya!"
Knuckles looked around at the unconscious Purrrs. "What the.. How did you fight off all those viruses?!"
"Aw, c'mon Knuckles! That wasn't hard! Quit playing around!

The destruction of the terminal was enough to destroy the firewall. Knuckles and Charmy returned to it and stepped into the next section of the digital world. After a while, Knuckles spotted a digital replica of the Master Emerald, as well as various other objects. "This must be where the data on Eggman's schemes is stored!" Charmy said.

Knuckles started walking in the direction of the data, but a large shadow appeared between him and it. Knuckles and Charmy looked up to see a giant virus cerberus falling from the sky! It's fur was red, yellow, and blue, with the left head yellow, the right head red, and the middle head blue. Sitting on top of the blue head, was Char the Chao! He laughed playfully. "That was cool how you beat Firepaw, but the game's up, hackers! The Virus Tri Demon will delete ya from the digital world! Ha ha ha!"

To be continued...