Knight of the Moon:Chapter 42

Chapter 42
Mechanized War

(Bedivere's POV)

"HHHAAAAAAAAAAA!" roared the bull, his voice ringing with the power and energy that was coursing through his veins. Bedivere's cry bounced around inside the cramped canyon walls as he spurred the anthro army onwards. The army returned his battle cheer and kept on chanting as they gave chase to the fleeing rebel army. "We're beating them!" yelled Bedivere as Gawain drew up next to the imposing figure of the bull.

The echidna grinned and let out his own war call to the soldiers. "This was a cake walk; we're rolling right over them!"

Galahad came up alongside Gawain. "Don't celebrate yet, we've still got to get into the fortress and we have no idea how well defended it is."

"Bahh!" spat Gawain. "We've leveled most of their army! There can't be many more of them left."

The silver hedgehog shook his head. "Thinking from a tactical point of view, it wouldn't make sense to send your entire army to fight and leave your base completely unguarded," explained Galahad. "If this Eggman is as smart as I've heard, then he won't have made that mistake."


Bedivere watched as the humans they were chasing rounded a bend in the canyon. They're leading us right through this maze…and right to that fortress. This is gonna be easy!

Then came the noises. Suddenly the whole anthro army stopped as they heard the screams of dying humans. A chill ran down Bedivere's back as the tormented sounds stabbed into his ears. Whatever was attacking the humans was something he really didn't want to run into. All of the soldiers were now taking a few cautious steps back with weapons raised. Then, a lone human soldier came out from behind the corner of rock trying to run towards them. Even at this distance Bedivere could see the insane fear in the rebel's eyes and the bull felt a slight twinge of fear in his gut. The human didn't make it far. Before anyone could react, an immense figure stepped out from around the bend and reached for the human with his equally large hand. A loud cry escaped the ensnared rebel as the thing wrapped its fingers around his midsection then brought him up to it's rounded head. Bedivere heard one last loud plea for mercy as the figure raised its right hand, which bore an extremely heavy blade then hacked off the rebels head silencing any further screams. A muffled whimper rippled through the anthro army as they saw the brutality of how this thing had disposed of the wounded rebel.

As the headless corpse fell from it's grasp, the figure's head tilted upwards slightly and Bedivere knew it was examining them. For a moment, nothing happened…and then the thing twisted round and pointed its sword at the anthro army. TRUMP…TRUMP…TRUMP…TRUMP. Bedivere heard a rhythmic sound akin to the beating of a bass drum echoing off the canyon walls.  TRUMP…TRUMP….TRUMP…TRUMP. Increasing in volume, the rumble, drew closer and closer until Bedivere could feel the ground quaking under his hooves.

What is that? Despite his thoughts, the bull had a growing feeling that he knew exactly what was making that noise because that tramping sound was really close to the marching cadence of an army.

Bedivere was right. Around the bend came row upon row of figures that looked perfectly identical to the first one. The columns of these things seemed never-ending as more and more kept on coming, steadily trudging forward carrying with them a sense of purpose…and doom for anyone who got in their way. The bull took another hard look at these new soldiers.

At first he thought that maybe these were humans in armor then realized that the shape was all-wrong.  These things stood roughly just as tall as he was. Their bodies were rotund in nature looking almost like a teacup of sorts without the handle or like a big bowl, smaller at the base and widening at the top. On top of the body was what Bedivere figured to be the head; it was also shaped like a bowl except upside down and inset into it's very center was a single red eye….emotionless and uncaring. The arms were almost shrimpy when compared to the figure's heft torso. Both limbs were short, stout, and covered with chunks of steel that Bedivere figured was some kind of armor. Most of it was focused on protecting the joints of its arms. While all of the figures' left hands were empty, their right hands wielded a thick, fat blade that in most cases, were already coated in the red gore of human blood. As for their legs, they were extremely heavy looking looked like they were made entirely of bundles of hoses or cables or something of that nature. Their bulky feet all stepped in perfect harmony, never missing a beat. Left, right, left, right….TRUMP….TRUMP….TRUMP….TRUMP!

Bedivere couldn't even manage a squeak as his throat had completely locked up. Yet, somehow Gawain fought out some words. "Halt right where you are! We are the soldiers of Camelot…stand down or fight!"

TRUMP….TRUMP….TRUMP….TRUMP! The rows of these soldiers were now about fifty yards away.

The bull nudged the small echidna. " I don't think they heard you."

"I said…HALT OR WE WILL ATTACK!" yelled the red knight.

TRUMP…TRUMP…TRUMP…TRUMP! Now they were barely thirty yards away.

Figuring that negotiations were going nowhere, Bedivere readied his hammer and blade then looked for his first target. Picking out one of the front row soldiers, the bull then searched for a weak spot to aim for on the figure's skin. But, the closer he looked at these things; he saw that there wasn't an ounce of open flesh on them. They were entirely enclosed in steel leaving behind not even a weak articulation point on any joints for him to aim for. You know, if I bash it enough with me ol' hammer here, it really won't matter where I hit it. "Alright men, weapons at the ready!'

Training asserted itself over fear and as one the entire anthro army positioned themselves and reformed their frontlines with Bedivere, Galahad, and Gawain at the front.

TRUMP…TRUMP….TRUMP….TRUMP…Bedivere could hear a strange whirring noise every time the steel soldiers lifted a leg. The bull had a strange thought. What if these things…aren't human…or anthro…or anything we've ever seen before. Cause I definitely know that I haven't seen anything like this before. Growling at himself for being stupid, he shoved those thoughts aside. Of course their human. Don't be a blockhead. We'll deal with these guys just like we tore apart the other rebels. Still, something bothered him. If these are humans too, how come they killed their own men. Then he remembered how mercilessly that one had slain the captured rebel. The metallic warriors were now just fifteen yards away.

Gawain popped his neck then yelled, "Well, someone's got to get this battle started!" He lunged away from the anthro frontlines, throwing himself blades first at one of the figures. It made no move to ward off the coming attack and Gawain's twin swords bit into it's steel covered torso. Surprisingly, considering the echidna's strength, his blades only went in a little ways telling Bedivere that lots more force would be required to get through that armor. Obviously angered by the unfazed figure, Gawain growled and then climbed up onto it's shoulders. He started stabbing in a crazed rage at any unscratched part of the thing he could find. As he hammered away, the blades began to sink in deeper and deeper into the metal soldier, which by now had seemed to finally realize that something was attacking it. It swung it's arm up trying to knock Gawain off. Instead, the echidna caught hold of it's hand and then with a mighty swing brought his other blade down on the upper portion of it's arm slicing clean through. The arm fell off and liquid spurted out.

Bedivere watched expectantly for the figure to clutch at its wound screaming. Then, his blood went cold as the thing continued shifting around focused entirely on getting Gawain off…it was completely unfazed by the fact that it's arm was now lying on the dirt by its feet.

The echidna kept on stabbing until finally streams of that liquid squirt from the puncture holes. Bedivere saw that it wasn't bleeding red, it bled a sticky black substance.

It's head kept swiveling round and round trying to find where Gawain was standing.

"Go for the head!" cried Bedivere.

Gritting his teeth, Gawain seized the thing's head with both hands then yanked up hard. CRACK! The echidna stumbled for a moment, off balance, when the head gave way. Little flashes of fire and sparks came from the now gaping hole on top of the figure. Chucking the head to the side, the red knight waited for the figure to collapse. It did pause for a moment as if it had been stopped…then it came to life again as a panel slid open on it's torso revealing another red eye. Startled for a moment, Gawain let up on his attack and that cost him. The thing reached up and swatted the echidna off it's shoulders.

The now headless soldier that was still continuing to fight stunned the bull. They aren't human…oh this isn't gonna be good. He saw Gawain trying to recover his footing and stand up but the metal man's sword was already raised and the bull knew that Gawain wouldn't have time to react.

"CHARGE!" bellowed the black bull as he lunged for the metal thing about to behead Gawain. With a raging shout, the anthros all ran at the seamless frontline of steel soldiers; Bedivere dove down next to Gawain and caught the sword arm of the metal man inches away from the echidna. Recovering, Gawain the proceeded to slice off that arm as well. Leaping to his hooves, Bedivere swung his hammer in an arc where it clanged against the front chest piece of the thing; the blow sent it stumbling. Not wasting a second, the bull pounded on the thing with all of his might. Each hit would have crippled any living thing, but all he was doing was denting its armor. Changing tactics, Bedivere out or anger brought up his long sword and plunged it into the right side of the steel man's torso. He'd been anticipating a lot more resistance from the armor, but to his surprise, the metal yielded really easily and his momentum almost carried him off balance. Quickly, the bull withdrew his blade to stab again when he noticed that the red eye had gone black and the metal figure had frozen in place. Buckets of that black fluid was pouring from the spot he'd stabbed. On closer inspection, he saw that he'd punched through a small panel made of thin metal. Since none of those things were attacking him, he took a moment to check how the anthros were doing. Oh…no…. The anthros were swarming the metal warriors to no effect. Swords and spears bounced harmlessly off the armor and arrows were just as useless. Slowly and methodically, the beasts were hacking apart the anthros near them with such brutality and they weren't showing signs of slowing down nor tiring.

How do we beat these thing! They aren't even alive! You can't kill what isn't alive! Mentally the bull forced himself to think rationally. I stopped one of them but how…hmmm Another one of those things approached Bedivere and the bull decided to try out a little experiment. The metal man aimed a rapid swing right at the bull's head. He ducked in the nick of time and then instead of wasting time beating it with his hammer, he found that same panel and stabbed it with his blackened long sword causing the same effect. The red eye on its head died and the man froze…dead. So that's how you beat these things… A panicked anthro soldier came sprinting by and Bedivere grabbed him before he could get away.

"We…we…can't stop them…they're invincible! We can't kill them!" babbled the crazed anthro.

Bedivere delivered to sharp slaps to the soldier's face. "Pull yourself together!"

The anthro shook himself then saluted. "Yes sir…sorry sir!"

"These…machines…can be stopped." Still holding onto the anthro, the bull him over the deactivated bot and pointed out the panel area that he'd stabbed through. "Aim for that spot there. It doesn't take much to get through it and that seems to kill them. Do you understand?" said Bedivere slowly making sure the anthro caught every word.

The anthro nodded swiftly.

"Good, now spread the word!" ordered the bull as he put the anthro back onto the ground. Saluting again, the soldier ran off back into the battle.

Twisting round, Bedivere saw Galahad and another squad of soldier's being surround by the machines. "Bedivere to the rescue!" The bull lowered his horns and ran headlong towards the group bellowing his challenge as he ran. Three of the bots turned to face their oncoming attacker…but it was too late for them to do anything about it. Bedivere crashed into them with a ringing sound of horns striking metal. A huge cloud of dust went up as the kicking and whirling mass of mechanical limbs and black fur landed in a heap upon the dead ground. Bedivere slammed his fist clean through the chest piece of the bot he was on top of. Feeling around inside of it through all the moving parts, he found something large and box like. "This feels important!" He clenched it then ripped it out. The thing sputtered a little then died. Two bots were still alive in the pile but they were effectively pinned beneath Bedivere's weight combined with the weight of the now dead machine. Well I can't leave them like that. He stabbed one with his long sword; then he grabbed the sword hand of the middle bot and used it to put the last bot out of commission. Bedivere withdrew his blade and left the borrowed one lodged into the one metal man. Rolling off, slowly, he then tried to stand up. His head quickly protested that movement as nausea overtook him along with a splitting headache. "Ahhh…note to self…don't do that again!"

Galahad pulled his sword from the chest of a machine he'd just down then faced the bull. "Thanks for the back-up, Sir Bedivere." The silver hedgehog paused with an amused look. "It seems Gawain was wrong."

Bedivere's brow furrowed. "About what?"

"About that thick head on your shoulders. He didn't think there would ever be any use for it," finished Galahad with a chuckle.

Considering the chaotic situation they were in, Bedivere didn't really take much time to discover whether he felt insulted by that or not. Instead he roared and charged after the nearest robot.

He grabbed both arms of one bot and ripped them out of its sockets. Turning around the machine's sword arm, which was still clutching the blade, Bedivere crammed it into its chest going through the front and exiting out the back. Rushing around, he similarly dispatched several more of the mechanical monsters before pausing to gather himself and catch his breath. His ears caught the sound of something rushing towards his head. Bedivere turned round faster than anyone would think a bull of that size could and found the blade of one of the machines just inches from his head; yet he also noticed it wasn't moving mainly due to the tip of a familiar sword sprouting from it's chest.

The bull laughed heartily. "Great timing on that one!"

The blade disappeared from the machine and a black hedgehog hopped up onto the frozen metal man's shoulders; he ran the length of the sword through his gauntlet smearing off the black liquid. "Hmmmph, you can thank me after we tear these tin can's apart," said Lancelot smoothly before leaping off the machine and rushing headlong into the heart of the battle.

Bedivere shook his head in amazement. We're in the middle of a fight with metallic monsters that we've never seen before and he still keeps an even head. Does that fella even have any emotions? Again he roused himself from his thoughts as Percival sprinted up to him with her rapier in one hand, and a black stained Caliburn in the other. Percival used the point of her rapier to raise her visor.

"Hello Sir Bedivere! Great to see you again," greeted the cat.

Bedivere was more of physical being when it came to greetings. In a smooth practiced motion, he sheathed his long sword and hammer, then wrapped his meaty arms around the petite lavender cat. Lifting her off the ground he gave her a mighty squeeze. "Ah! It's good to see ya too!"

The magic sword interrupted the bull's greeting. "Um…I do believe you are perhaps holding Percival a little to tightly."

The bull paused and looked at the cat that'd gone an even deeper shade of purple as the air was compressed out of her lungs. "Ooops! Sorry there Percival," apologized the bull quickly as he let the cat go.

Percival wheezed a few times as she caught her breath. She then straightened herself up and regained her composure. "How's the battle going?"

Bedivere glanced at the ensuing fight still going on all around them; pride built in his chest as he watched the anthros tear through the oncoming machine horde. On top of that, Bedivere looked at the line of the metal men and nearly leapt with joy as he saw the end of their columns. "I think the soldiers have got these tin buckets well handled," replied Bedivere with a grin.

Lancelot appeared next to Percival and a small orange figure flew out of the sky and landed neatly next to the grim hedgehog that was sliding back his visor. "Good, because we are going on ahead to try and bust Sonic out while the bulk of these machines things are occupied with the army."

"Can you, Gawain, and Galahad wrap up the situation here?" asked Caliburn.

Bedivere nodded as he drew his hammer. "Yep."

A tiny smirk appeared on the sword's face. "Good, now when you're finished here, bring the army up to the fortress and begin a siege. That should draw even more of the guards out and make it that much easier for us to accomplish our mission," said Caliburn. He then gazed up at the sky, which was now a dark orange color. "I hadn't realized how fast the time has gone; we must get to Sonic before nightfall."

Bedivere snorted. "Well then what are you all just standin there for? Get movin!" Spinning around, the bull roared and lowered his horns as he ran back into the battle.

(Caliburn's POV)
The sword twisted himself slightly in Percival's tight grip. "Could you please let up a little," whispered the sword.

Her grip slackened leaving the sword feeling a little more comfortable. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Caliburn couldn't blame her for her anxiety. Even he was a little nervous as he watched the machines slowly marching out the fortress gate bound for the battle, and he was sure that Lancelot and Tails weren't fairing much better. The small fox's hands were hanging at the ready by his dagger sheathes and Lancelot's hand never wavered from his sword hilt. As the machines marched by their hiding spot behind a pile of old rubble probably piled there when the fortress was being built. I count another fifty of those metallic monsters gone. That's the third one so far! This Eggman is severely crippling his guard, which means he either isn't as bright as I've heard or he is very confident in his warrior's capabilities.

They waited patiently for another fifteen minutes or so; no more columns of warriors left and Caliburn had noticed how late it was getting. Silently shifting himself in Percival's grip to get her attention, he then whispered to the other two awaiting companions. "We need to get moving. I estimate we have just around an hour before nightfall and I don't fancy having to sneak out of this place with a werewolf in tow."

Lancelot nodded along with Tails then the black hedgehog pointed with his blade towards the nearest side of the fortress wall that spanned the narrow canyon. "I'll lead the way…stay close and keep quiet. The less attention we draw the better of we are."

Together, the two warriors and Percival with Caliburn and rapier in hand crept from their shadowy hideaway and weaved their way through the rock piles until they were at the immense stone footings of the wall. Lancelot peered over at Tails and nodded. The little fox took off his handy pack, ruffling through its contents before finally pulling out a very familiar set of chains. Caliburn instantly recognized them as the ones used to chain Sonic up during their travel. What does that Blacksmith have in mind? Before he could say anything, the Smithy also drew out a piece of steel with three barbed heads on it. Anyone could have instantly figured out the purpose of this tool; it was a grappling hook. Tails tied this up to the chains and then motioned for them all to remain silent as he listened intently for any signs of movement on the parapets of the wall. Hearing none, the fox took a step back from the wall and then began to spin the chain in a large circle using the weight of the hook to build momentum and speed. Once the arc was at maximum speed, Tails released it at the precise moment sending it up and over the wall. At first, the chain began to slide back down as the it's weight pulled on the lighter grappling hook; then with a solid clank, the hook caught purchase on the stone above. Tugging several times, the fox nodded satisfied with it and then began climbing up. The others waited in anxious silence as the Smithy clambered over the wall and out of sight. At first, nothing happened and Caliburn began to fear the worst. Could those machines have ambushed him? Apparently, Percival and Lancelot were having similar thoughts as both of them had readied their weapons. Again the cat's grip tightened on Caliburn but he was to occupied with his thoughts to really care about it. Then, the Blacksmith's friendly face appeared over the edge and he beckoned to them. Sheathing his blade, Lancelot quickly leapt to the chain and climbed up hardly pausing. Percival put away her rapier and slipped Caliburn through a loophole on her belt before she followed suit.

With all of them at the top of the wall, Caliburn finally got a good look at what was left for them to deal with. Where'd they all go? Caliburn glanced around in surprise as he saw only barren space throughout the fortress's courtyard. There weren't even any sentries on the wall they were currently perched upon.

"Did he send them all off to fight?" asked Percival curiously.

A smug chuckle came from Lancelot. "With Bedivere ripping through them like paper, he'll need all the troops he can muster just to slow our army down."

The others muttered in agreement and Tails even snickered a little. Just thinking of the big klutz of a bull helped break the tensions they all felt and even brought a small smile to Caliburn's usually tight-lipped face. "Alright, let's just focus on the task at hand, shall we?" Turning their attention back to the deserted fortress, Caliburn searched for a building that looked like it might be the dungeon. No castle lord, no matter how insane or stupid they were, would ever lock away dangerous prisoners in their keep because of the risks. Where are you Sonic? His eyes lit upon a large structure built right out of the canyon wall to the left of the fortress keep. Seeing the glinting steel bars across the tiny windows was a fairly obvious clue as to what the structure's purpose was; the high palisade fence around it helped too. "There," said Caliburn angling his tip towards the building, "I think it's safe to say that's where we will find Sonic."

Grunting in agreement, Lancelot flipped his visor shut over his eyes then gracefully leapt from the wall landing in a perfect somersault to absorb the shock.

"Show off," murmured Percival disapprovingly as she grabbed the edge of the wall and using her elegant claws, climbed her way back down. Tails settled on hovering to the ground behind the other two knights.

They were very wary as they made their way across the eerily quiet courtyard of the fortress and Caliburn kept glancing up at the keep expecting to see a lookout at any moment spotting them and sounding the alarm guiding hundreds of those metal beasts right to their location. Despite his concerns, this never happened; still, Caliburn couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

And he was right.

(Eggman's POV)

The Doctor peaked through a crack in his shades as he observed the small rescue party's unnecessary caution with a wide grin. "That's it…keep going…there's no one here to stop you…well except for me," he cooed quietly his anticipation growing with every step the knights took.

"And me," grumbled the discontent hawk propped against the oak door of his study. "Why won't you just let me have at them and we can be done with this! That or you could have at least left some of your robo-thingies here to ambush them."

Eggman sighed. He really does have an over inflated opinion of himself. "I'm sorry my dear friend," the words were laden with sarcasm, "but I unfortunately doubt your abilities to fight even one of Sonic's knights in a one on one duel."

The bird was about to protest as he always does whenever his pride has been insulted but Eggman cut him off mid breath.

"However I do believe that Sonic himself will be able to handle them quite adequately," stated Eggman gleefully as he pulled the curtain shut and strolled casually back to his desk, hopping lightly on his feet as if barely restraining his joy. Smiling he looked back at the hawk and immediately saw the question coming to his face. Eggman groaned and slapped a hand to his face. "Remember how we've been starving Sonic these last few days?"

"Yeah, I remember that," snapped Lamorack, "but weren't you doing that so he'd eat the witch?"

"Again you fail to see the grander plan. That may have been my original scheme but once we had Sonic captured and his friends had escaped, I knew those heroes would attempt a rescue," Eggman stepped from behind his desk and paced as he spoke making wide gestures with his his lengthy arms. "Unfortunately they aren't going to find much left of their king. Sonic's instincts will have almost total control of him by now and they will be pressing him to find nourishment before he burns himself up. Just imagine if you will the scene playing out as they open his cell," said Eggman, a sinister edge on his voice. "He'll kill all three of them. With only three knights of Camelot left and their king completely taken over by the curse, Camelot will fall leaving it's resources ripe for the pickings!"

"But what if Sonic doesn't give in. As much as I hate to say it…he has a very strong will and I'll bet you anything that he's gonna be directing a lot of that anger at you, my lord," said the hawk.

Eggman made a shooing gesture with his hands. "Bah! Impossible. When I visited Sonic earlier, he barely remembered who I was. All he could do was whimper when the soldiers held out a slab of meat. Sonic is broken."

"All the same, I'm going down there to make sure this plan works out as you say it will," stated Lamorack. Without even waiting for the Doctor's permission, he moved to the door and slipped out allowing it to slam shut under it's own weight.

"Heh heh do as you wish," muttered Eggman to no one in particular. This will work out better than I planned. Maybe Sonic will even eat HIM. Moving back to his desk, Eggman brought up his camera screen and his face fell again as he watched his glorious robot army being torn apart by the anthros. This is the one downfall of being in a primitive land. I couldn't build my machines up to the proper specifications. They're weaklings compared to some of the robots I've created back on Mobius. The Doctor had already seen what was happening to his army and he also knew that the machines had already lost. With his production facility out of the necessary resources to build more machines, Eggman had no more robots at his disposal. He was going to lose…again. Eggman pulled open a hidden drawer on his desk and withdrew a black belt made of sturdy leather. On it was a metal box with all sorts of lights and gizmos blinking and whirring as he turned it on. "Perhaps it is time to cut my losses and leave this wretched place." The Doctor reached over and grasped Merlina's staff. "But I won't be leaving empty handed. With this gone, that witch will have no way of sending Sonic back to Mobius. No Sonic…means no one stopping me from claiming what is mine!" Eggman's laugher echoed inside the cavernous room.

(Caliburn's POV)
Their own footsteps reverberated off the walls making an eerie rhythmic sound in the quiet corridor of rock; Caliburn was now floating along ahead of the knights. Progress had been slow through the hallways of the dungeon, as they had to stop and check every cell. Soon though, the sword had told them to focus on finding a specialized cell as he quickly noticed that these smaller cells would not have proven adequate to hold back a werewolf.

"I think I found him!" cried a voice from up ahead.

Tails had run on ahead as the others had stopped to check a few branch passages. Percival and Lancelot had quickly regrouped, their pace was now a dead sprint and Caliburn was having trouble flying along as fast as the two knights were running. At the end of the corridor they found Tails tinkering with the lock on a steel door….that had silver strips bolted to it. After a few mutterings and some clicks, the lock finally gave way; the door swung open on its own revealing a short staircase. The three knights and the accompanying sword moved swiftly down the flight until they came into a musty room.

The only source of light were a few lanterns placed at random intervals upon the wall casting wavering phantoms of light on the walls of the room. There, in the very center of the room was a cage made entirely of silver bars, all of which bore deep scars and several were even mildly bent. Lying in a ball at the heart of this cell was their king.

"S.ss.sonic?" asked Tails.

One of the figure's ears perked up, swiveling round in their direction. His deep breaths hissed through the room. Finally, Sonic rolled himself over and got up onto his feet. Although Caliburn noted that they were paws.   It's progressed.. Sonic seemed to be permanently stuck in his half-werewolf form now. In fact he looked far more wolfish than like a hedgehog anymore. Sonic stood in the middle of his cell trying to keep as far away from the silver bars imprisoning him. He didn't respond to Tails in any way, instead his eyes never wavered from the group and the sword saw some kind of longing there that admittedly scared him. As Tails and Percival continued trying to talk with Sonic, Lancelot moved over to the gate and began fiddling with the lock using Tails' device. Caliburn then began to notice smaller details as he took another glance at Sonic. Lean muscles stood out across his entire body, yet at the same time, he looked very skinny. At first, Caliburn thought that perhaps it was just part of his mutation and then the true issue came to light. They've been starving him which means… Again Caliburn looked at Sonic's half smiling impression and realized with horror that it had nothing to do with being happy to see his friends…in fact Caliburn didn't see an ounce of recognition at all in his emerald eyes. Emerald? Oh no… The lock on his cell clicked and Lancelot grunted with satisfaction. He stood up and tugged hard on the door; its hinges creaked in protest to the movement but slowly it swung outward.

"Don't open the cell door!" cried out Caliburn…too late.

Sonic howled and then lunged for his opening to freedom. As his weight and momentum collided with the door, it forced the thing all the way open and also knocked the stunned Lancelot onto his backside. All in the same motion, Sonic stopped himself and landed perfectly upon the fallen knight. The others were frozen to the spot as Sonic opened his jaws wide revealing his fangs to Lancelot. With a triumphant growl, his head dropped and he went for the black hedgehog's throat.