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 are a copyright of Delphine.

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	Uh, problem....
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	The Cave,
	Part 2 of Newfound Alliances
	--Delphine

	Sonic quickley 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 SATbot 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 annd 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
quickley, 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 untill 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 resorces here."
	"Where can we find them?" sally asked hurridly.
	"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 saidm 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 murmered 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 murmered. 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.
	"Pobably 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 inocently 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.
	"Ahhh!" They screamed 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 tresspassing 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 interupted by the squirrel knocking him to
the ground. "AHHHH!"
	"What the--" Just then the cat lept 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 apon Knuckles, Sonic said,
	"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
	"Who are you too--"
	"Rick, don't!" the cat screamed. Rick whirled aroud. He saw Sonic
holding her own knife to her 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
chest. 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 amiled meakly.
	"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 alright. 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 uis 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?"
	"Sh'e 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 weemed
millions of flowers, and they were all glowing with their own light. How
do they...." 
	"No one really knows." Alio replied.
	"Kinda like the Chaos Emeralds," Knuckles whisperd.
	"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, ad the two of them
bent over and started picking.

	"So, what do you think of thise two?" Sonic asked.
	"I think they take their job too serously 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
inocently.
	"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 whi thise 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 exhasted they were untill 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. 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 wo 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 own 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?! Sh'e gonna be fine! Don't worry
about it!" Sonic told him.
	"But if...."
	"Stop! You're becoming as anoying 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 Sally 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)
	"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.

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