Chapter 9 Sandopolis
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Tails slowly opened his eyes. The sun burned down fiercely, and the sand beneath him burned upward. He hadn't been lying there very long--the sand was just starting to scorch through his fur. He sat up, slightly dizzy from the fall. He had landed as Sonic had taught him-- breaking his fall by rolling.

The fox stood up, brushing the rough sand from his coat. The air smelled of hot rock and baking vegetation. The sun reflecting off the bright sand made him blink and squint. A faint breeze touched his face, stirring the heat a little. He scanned his surroundings, slowly realizing where he was. Mirages shimmered on the horizon like pools of water, reflecting the clear blue sky. There were buildings in the distance; another abandoned city. The many structures were mostly ruins--fallen to pieces over years of neglect. The walls were faded colors. Yellow, red and brown seemed to be the colors of the original paint and bricks, now bleached nearly white under the constant sun. It was still and dead. Dry scrub grew in the few shadows. It was a desolate, unwelcoming place.

A sound made him turn. A short distance away, Sonic was just sitting up. He gave a faint cry. Concerned, Tails walked up to him, feet crunching on the sand. Sonic glanced up at him, then back down at his feet. "Aw Tails, my skates are ruined! They're fulla sand!" Mournfully he pulled them off and set them down. "That's the second toy I've wrecked today." He stood up slowly, dusting himself off.

"Sonic," Tails said softly, "where are we?"

For the first time Sonic looked around.

After a moment of loud silence (and with the sun beating down on them), Sonic gave a low whistle. "Hoo boy, looks like we did it again. Another hostile location. Gee. Let's see if we can get out of this sun."

They trotted across the burning sand to the first ruined block. A few minutes of searching revealed a shady spot under several pillars that leaned against a roofless wall. They took refuge under this. Sonic leaned against the warm wall and said, "At this point, the sidekick always has the bright idea. What do we do now?"

Tails leaned against the wall beside him. "I have no clue. We're still on the island, right?"

"I think so. I think this place is called Sandopolis."

"Hmm." Tails was working on the bright idea. Absentmindedly he rubbed his bandaged shoulder, eyes fixed on the rippling skyline. "Sonic, where was Flying Battery going? Any idea?"

Sonic shook his head. "Nope. It sure wanted to get there in a hurry, though. Be nice to be shy of Knux for a while." He pulled off one glove and stared at his metal hand again. Tails looked at it, too. "Does that hurt?"

"This? Nah. It just feels kinda funny--like I'm wearing stiff gloves."

Tails stepped back. One foot struck a pile of loose rocks, which tumbled down in a tiny avalanche. Instantly their ears were filled with a rattling buzz. They turned. To their horror, the whole pile was a rattlesnake nest. Three snakes were coiled up, ready to strike, and several more were slithering into view.

Sand flew in all directions as Sonic and Tails made tracks. They didn't stop until they were a good distance away from the ruins. "Good night!" Sonic gasped. "Did you SEE that? There were tons of 'em!"

Tails nodded, panting. "Yeah. I'm lucky they didn't bite first and ask questions later." He held up his thumb and forefinger, forming a mock gun. "Like this. Bang, stop or I'll shoot!"

Sonic chuckled and looked back toward the buildings. "Well, I guess this means we stay out of the ruins. All the shade will be sheltering snakes and scorpions and whatever else lives out here." Another thought struck him and he sobered. "And tonight, when it cools off, everything deadly will go hunting. Oh man, we'd better be out of here by then, Tails."

The fox looked up at his friend imploringly. "Can't we just look around a teeny bit? If we stay in the open, you know, away from snakes and stuff."

Sonic sighed, relenting. "Oh, all right, you little creep. We'll check around."* * *

I stood silently in the shelter of the ruins, watching and listening to them. There weren't as many dangerous creatures here as they thought. They had just happened to walk into a rattlers' nest. I wasn't much afraid of the snakes; my race had long been immune to their venom.

Now they were walking back toward me. I crouched in the shadows and listened to them as they passed me, chattering like magpies. It seemed they talked a mile a minute every time they explored. This time, instead of it irritating me, it made me lonesome. It would be nice to be able to have a close friend to talk to like that. I thought guiltily of Espio. I had just abandoned him to board Flying Battery; without telling him, of course. He had a very low opinion of Robotnik, and I didn't want to take the trouble to explain why I was working for him. Well, maybe after this was over with, I could go back and find Espio.

Sonic and Tails were getting a good distance away. I slipped out of my shelter and began to follow them. The ruins of Sandopolis were nothing like Marble Gardens--these were older, and their layout was simpler. I wouldn't lose them THIS time.* * *

Metal Sonic stood still, shielded behind a stone wall, tracking all three with his radar. He had already decided he absolutely hated Sonic and Tails, but wasn't sure about Knuckles. The echidna had helped build him, after all. There was just something about him; something about the way his eyes lit up when he spoke of Sonic and Tails. It didn't seem right for him to be so enthusiastic.

Mecha paced out of hiding and down a deserted street, parallel to Sonic and Tails's course. Knuckles was more difficult to track, as he wove in and out of the ruins, sometimes stopping for minutes at a time, then vanishing noiselessly. Knux's feelings for Sonic were rivalry, not necessarily enmity. Those feelings could eventually lead to trouble.

The robot clenched his fists. At that point, Knuckles would have to be done away with.* * *

I was totally unaware of Metal Sonic's presence. All my attention was focused on Sonic and Tails as they poked around. They were nearing the spot I had beamed down at. I had used the ring teleporter. It had always vanished behind me and never reappeared, and I wasn't worried about them finding it.

So a feeling of horror struck me as they looked into the ruins and Tails exclaimed, "Sonic, look! It's that glowing teleporter!"

"Great," Sonic replied, sounding less than thrilled. "Well, lets see where it takes us."

"No!" I leaped out of hiding, but I was too late. They had already touched it and teleported. I stood still, my hands doubled up at my sides, a horrible, fearsome rage tearing my insides apart. Hidden Palace. The teleporter only glowed when it was set for Hidden Palace. The Master emerald! What if--what if they--

I yanked out my miniature emerald, rubbed my hand across it and threw it on the ground. Usually a teleporter would have appeared, but nothing happened. I tried it again. Still nothing. My suspicions were confirmed. I couldn't teleport because the channel was filled; it would take them there and back before freeing up. I had set it to do that myself, but now I cursed the handiness of the emeralds. It was set up to appear for them instead of me. Must have something to do with the chaos emeralds.

I was helpless. I hated feeling helpless. But there was nothing I could do. Ah, but I could wait. And I would make them pay. Hidden Palace was off-limits to all but me. Intruders! The pure, heated rage I had felt before and struggled with was back, stronger than ever. I beat one of my fists against the block wall, my knuckle-spikes punching double holes. It was an action of fury.

After a moment I retreated to a place where I could watch without being seen. I would get them when they came back. Oh, I would make them suffer ...* * *

Sonic stood in the cool dimness of Hidden Palace, Tails beside him. Before them was the Master emerald on its pedestal--around them were the six dead super emeralds and the one glowing green one.

Tails touched Sonic's metal hand. "Let me charge one," he said softly, his voice echoing in the cavern. "It might hurt you to touch one."

Sonic looked down at his hands, face darkening. "If not for these darn things, I'd put up a fight. But," he sighed heavily, "I know what the emeralds do to machinery. Are you sure you want to try to charge one? It's really hard on ya."

Tails nodded. "Hey, I'm in better shape than I was. I can handle it." All the same, he looked nervous.

Sonic walked to the emerald beside the one he had charged. It was a dull ashy grey, cold and lifeless. Tails stood beside him, biting his lower lip. "You gonna be able to handle this, little bro?"

Tails nodded without speaking. Then he drew a deep breath, thrust out his hands and slapped them down on the emerald's top.

It happened just as it had before. Light appeared out of nowhere, surrounding Tails and the emerald. Sonic watched as he was lifted into the air above the pedestal, enclosed in a force-field-like bubble, and slowly drained of his energy. Tails refrained from thrashing about, but his small body was tense, fists and teeth clenched, eyes shut. Sonic flinched along with him, unconsciously going stiff himself, suffering along with his sidekick.

At last it was over. Tails was let down to rest on top of the charged super emerald, limp as a shoestring. Sonic pulled him off and held him in his arms. Tails collapsed against him, breath ragged and choking. "Oh Sonic," he gasped. It was all he could say. "Oh Sonic." Sonic could feel him trembling. "That was very brave, little bro," he told him softly.

Tails opened his eyes and looked up at him. "I'll never touch another one, I swear it," he breathed. "That was too much."

It took about ten minutes for Tails to recover. Then he and Sonic walked around a bit, looking at the other emeralds, putting off their their return to the scorching desert as long as possible. Sonic crouched down beside one of the dead crystals, looking at the inscriptions on the pedestal. "Wow, look at this one," he said to Tails. "You can almost read it. See, it looks like a D, then sort of an O--" He reached out to trace the letters with one hand. As his fingers touched the pedestal, there was a sudden flash of light and Sonic was jerked to his feet. "I thought you had to touch the emerald!" he yelped. "No fair!" And then the routine process took over, ignoring his robotized hands.

* * *

I saw them stumble into view. Literally stumble--they both took two or three steps, then fell over. They just lay in the sand for a while, then Tails got up and knelt beside Sonic. Sonic looked AWFUL. His face was almost grey, and if I hadn't seen him moving I'd have thought he was dead.

Surprisingly, I felt no compassion. Nothing but a hard, cold resentment. "He deserved whatever he got," I thought grimly. "And I'll see to it he gets more of the same."* * *

Sonic opened his eyes and looked at Tails dully. "Three down, four to go," he mumbled, "and I have absolutely no strength left. You okay, kiddo?"

"I guess so. Are you gonna be able to go on? We can't stay here-- there's no water."

"I guess I'll have to." Sonic slowly pulled himself to a sitting position. "I feel terrible. This must be what it's like to be old."

Tails looked worried. "Are you all right? Want me to call Slasher?"

"No, no. I'm okay, just tired." To prove it, Sonic dragged himself to his feet. He was forced to lean against the wall a moment as the blood rushed to his head, but once it passed he felt a little better. "C'mon, Tails," he said, motioning to the bright outdoors. "Let's get the heck outta here."

They set out once more, but the thrill of exploring was gone. The ruins were now unfriendly obstacles, and travelling was work. Knuckles followed them, his grudge against them growing with everything he saw them touch. Not only did he want them off his island, he wanted them out of commission, dead. Little did he know it, but by letting hatred consumed him, he was becoming robot-like, no better than Metal Sonic.

Mecha continued to trail all three of them, observing and transmitting reports to Robotnik every fifteen minutes. As of yet, he was a very obedient robot; he had not yet developed into a ruthless, uncontrollable, scheming killer.* * *

An hour passed. The sun had begun its decline toward the west, and it was now the hottest past of the day.

Sonic and Tails had discovered an old stone cistern that had a foot or so of tepid water in the bottom. It had dead insects in it and dirt in the bottom, but they didn't mind--it was water. They drank, ducked their heads and drank some more. After a brief rest there, they continued on, refreshed.

After a while they came to a high brick wall that cut the city in half, spanning from north to south. The mortar between the bricks had crumbled away in spots, creating hiding places for scorpions, spiders and small lizards who zipped for cover as Sonic and Tails approached. "Wow," said Tails, throwing back his orange head and looking up. "That's a big wall. Wonder what's behind it?"

Sonic, still not feeling himself, replied, "Who knows. Maybe a river, maybe the other half of the city, maybe nothing. Curiosity killed the cat, ya know."

"And satisfaction brought it back," Tails retorted. "I'm gonna check it out." He reached behind him and twisted his double tails together. He unfurled them with a flourish, spinning them like helicopter rotors. He left the ground and flew lightly to the top of the wall. Sonic heard him whistle. "Whew! Must be somethin' cool over there, Sonic. There's a great big open place in the ruins, like an arena or something. What do you suppose--"

Tails broke off. Sonic saw him look at something, cupping his hands around his eyes to see better.

"What is it, little bro?"

"I donno. It's a huge black cloud front. Looks like another thunderstorm."

"Another one? You're kidding me."

"No, and it's coming really--" A sudden gust of wind struck Tails and nearly hurled him off backward. "Sonic, I think it's a sandstorm!"

"Wonderful, just what we need. Get down and lets find some shelter."

Tails spun his tails, intending to lower himself down. Instead the wind caught him, lifting him off his feet and into the darkening sky. "Tails!" Sonic yelped in horror. Tails slowed in the lull between gusts, and tried to land. But another gust hit and held, followed by even more, blowing him away like a stringless kite.

Sonic ran along under him, dodging around buildings and hurtling fallen pillars, eyes on his friend. The wind was full of sand now, carrying it like a curtain through the air, forming little eddies behind obstacles, driving it against everything with a savage hiss. It burned Sonic's back and legs, getting into his eyes and mouth, blocking his view of Tails. For one long moment Tails saw him, reached out pleadingly--Sonic reached up--their fingertips touched--then the sandy clouds enveloped Tails, and he was gone.

Sonic ran a few more paces, his eyes straining to see through the clouds, voice hoarse with calling. He came to a stop. Tails was gone, just like that. He stood still, eyes fixed on the stormy sky, heart like ice. Once more he cried his friend's name, but the blowing wind only mocked him in return. Tails was gone; the finality of it hit him like a ton of bricks. Gone! He couldn't go on without Tails! He ran a bit more, but couldn't call anymore. The sand and dust was beginning to smother him.

He found a mostly intact building and sank down in the lee of the wind. His teeth gritted with dust, his throat felt like sandpaper and his eyes burned. He wanted to scream with grief and frustration. Grief over the loss of Tails, frustration at the storm that prevented him from searching.

It was still and hot in his little shelter. Sand trickled over the walls and down to the ground in little rivulets. Sonic slumped against the wall and shut his eyes. So--tired--poor Tails--hope he's all right--

The sound of footsteps aroused him. He sat up, wanting, hoping to see Tails-- Instead, his blurred eyes made out Knuckles's stocky form. Knux was standing just out of the wind's reach, panting a little. Their eyes met. Sonic was startled. Knuckles's countenance had changed so much he was almost unrecognizable. His eyes were black with hatred, and burned like live coals. In two bounds he was at Sonic's side, motions almost feline.

Sonic leaped to his feet, sensing this would not be a friendly meeting. He was right. Knuckles shoved him against the wall roughly. Sonic swatted his hand away and moved up a step. "Keep your mitts off me," he growled. "I'm not in the mood for violence."

Knuckles stood his ground, head lowered, eyes narrowed, teeth bared. They faced each other coldly, neither wanting to make the first move. Sonic folded his arms and threw his head back. "Go ahead, hit me," he challenged. "I'm not going to fight you."

He didn't expect Knux to do just that, but managed to sidestep the blow. Knuckles's fist hit the wall with a thud. The echidna moved back a few steps, knees bent, back arched, fists up. Sonic felt a slight twinge of fear. This guy meant business and had not said a word the whole time.

"Knux, please--"

Knuckles came at him again, eyes full of hate. Sonic dodged again. There wasn't much room for fighting in this little ten by six foot square. Again they faced each other. For the first time Knuckles spoke, his voice little more than a beast's snarl with words. "I'm gonna kill you--" He sprang, caught Sonic as he dodged and slammed him to the ground.

The echidna crouched, pinning his opponent down, pressing one knee into his chest, holding his arms. Sonic struggled, but was still too weak from his episode in Hidden Palace to throw him off. Again their eyes met and regarded each other.* * *

I was surprised to see that Sonic didn't seem frightened. He just lay there and stared at me, sort of pleading, but not afraid. It was so odd I had to question it. "What aren't you scared?" My voice sounded strange, even to me. His lips barely moving, he replied, "I'm terrified."

"You don't look it."

He didn't answer, just kept looking straight into my eyes. It maddened me. I lifted one hand, intending to bring my knuckles down in his face. The blow never fell. His arm darted up and his hand closed on my wrist. I felt the cold metal plating through the fabric of his glove, and with a chill I remembered his hands.

"Don't you think you've done enough?" he asked quietly. "If not, then go ahead and pound me." I sat frozen, uncertain. The horror of his robotization was still with me, even though I had tried to bury it. But the protective instinct for the emeralds was still there, and the indignation-turned-hatred. I was torn.* * *

The fire left Knuckles's eyes. Grudgingly he moved aside and let Sonic up. "I won't pound you yet," he warned as Sonic climbed to his feet. "But I'll have you know that Hidden Palace is forbidden to all but me. If you go there again, I'm not gonna hesitate. Next time I catch you, you'll be breathing out your ears."

Sonic primly dusted himself off. "Knuckles, if you knew what we were doing in Hidden Palace, you'd thank us a thousand times over."

"Why? What are you doing?" Knux looked curious.

Sonic looked up at him. "I can't tell you yet, but I'll tell you this--it sure has beat the heck out of me and Tails." At the mention of his friend's name, Sonic flinched and looked out at the blowing curtain of sand. Knuckles noticed this, and realized Tails was not there. "Where IS Tails?"

"I don't know." Sonic said nothing more, knowing if he did he would shame himself by breaking down before his rival. He moved back to the wall and sat down, staring out at the wind-driven storm.

After a moment Knuckles turned and dashed out into the sandstorm. Sonic watched him go. Then, in a brief lull the air cleared, and another figure could be seen moving after Knuckles. Its head turned, and two glowing red eyes examined Sonic for an instant. Then the sand covered it, and it was gone.* * *

The storm raged for another hour and finally died out around sunset. Sonic cautiously came out of hiding, scanning the sky, wondering if it was some trick of the weather's. But the storm was over. The sand was blown into ripples and ridges, heaped up against everything that had blocked the wind. The grey-green desert scrub was half buried in some places and lay with roots exposed in others.

Knuckles was nowhere around and the wind had covered his tracks. Sonic thought uneasily of the red-eyed figure. Unless he was mistaken, that had been Metal Sonic. What was the robot doing out here? Did Knux know?

He stopped walking and held his breath, listening. It was almost perfectly quiet. He could hear the fine hissing of sand trickling down the walls and roofless structures. He could hear the plastic rattling as a scorpion crossed his path, leaving a tiny trail in the dust. Then there was nothing.

Sonic cupped his hands to his mouth and brayed, "Ta-ils! Taaiills!" He listened again. Nothing. His head filled with thoughts of what could have happened to his friend. Smothered by the blowing dust--falling on sharp rocks and breaking an arm or leg--landing exhausted and being buried by the drifting sand--snakebite--Metal Sonic! Suddenly he regarded the empty ruins with horror, his insides twisting. Tails lost, and being stranded alone here! What if Tails had been blown completely off the island and into the sea?

He wandered aimlessly for a good while, watching the night shadows grow in length and depth, making Sandopolis ring with his calls of, "Ta-ils! Miles! Miles Prower, do you hear me?" The sky faded into late evening blue and a few stars appeared. The desert was cooled by the storm, and with the sun gone it was almost chilly. Sonic thought of Tails out there by himself, watching night come, maybe having to sleep in the open, cold and alone--

Sonic found himself back at the ten-foot wall his friend had been swept off of. He looked up at the massive dark shape with distrust. If Tails hadn't have wanted to climb it, they would still be together. Well, the storm was over. Might as well try to get over it--

The wind had drifted sand over the top of the wall and deposited it in heaps on the near side. Some piles reached nearly to the top. Sonic struggled up the highest one he could find, feet sinking in the soft sand. At last he reached the top of the brick wall and scrambled up.

The wall was about eighteen inches thick, easy to walk on. To his surprise, the other side of the wall had a solid slope of sand packed against it, smooth and hard; doubtless deposited there by other sandstorms. He looked westward, toward the ruins Tails had described. Sure enough, there was a vast open space in the center, not too far away. In the failing light it looked like Stonehenge, outlined against the dimming sunset.

Sonic turned his back on it and looked eastward, the direction Tails had gone. He wished for the chaos emeralds' power to enhance his vision. Bitterly he thought of the life-draining super emeralds that had stolen them. Well, you couldn't argue with a gem ...

"Taaiillss!" he shouted, hoping the new vantage point would let his voice carry further. But no answering call met his ears. He thought again of Metal Sonic's presence and swallowed uneasily. He made an easy target way up here. He turned and trotted down the packed slope, nervous. Night was falling. Anything could happen under the cover of darkness. He wondered where Slasher was ...* * *

Tails had heard Sonic clear as a bell that time, but didn't dare answer. He was pressed flat against a wall, motionless, hardly breathing. On the other side of the wall was Metal Sonic.

The robot was quietly updating Robotnik on all that had happened. Tails could hear him speaking aloud, just barely audible.

"I apologize for the long delay, sir. A small storm blocked all transmission." He paused, apparently receiving some reply Tails couldn't hear. The fox waited, heart in his mouth, wondering if he should run. But to his relief, Mecha continued. "Yes. Knuckles and Sonic are both in scan range. No, Tails is lost. Excuse me; Miles ... no, he was blown away by the storm ... I do not know where he is." Tails gulped and wished he could turn himself invisible. "Yes sir, I will continue to track them. Yes sir. Mecha out."

The robot fell silent. Tails held still, beginning to sweat from the tension, straining his ears for departing footsteps. For a long time there was no sound at all, and he began to wonder if Mecha had somehow left without making a sound. He was on the verge of leaving, himself, when he heard the robot's feet crunch on the sand as he walked away.

Tails let himself sink down against the wall and breathe freely once more. Now to find Sonic.* * *

Sonic warily made his way through the new territory, alert to any sound. He saw a few snakes, another scorpion and some lizards, but nothing more. He thought of Knuckles, the robot and Tails as he explored in the twilight, wondering where they were and what they were doing.

The open space in the midst of the ruins was a puzzle. The sand was a lighter color than the surrounding desert, and was smooth, unmarked even by insects. The buildings around it were not as ruined as the rest of it; some still had roofs and the remains of pavement. Sonic wandered in and out in the eerie silence, wanting to walk into the open area but not quite daring. There was something unnatural about it.

He discovered what that open space was for by accident.

He had found a small hut with paintings of the walls and was looking at them, wishing for a flashlight. Some of the figures looked like the ones in Marble Gardens, and he wished he could see them better. He was tracing one finger along the hieroglyphic-writing, wondering what it said, aware of the metallic sounds his hands made against the brick. To his surprise, one of the bricks inward slightly under his touch. He touched it again, glanced around the room suspiciously, then placed both hands on it and shoved.

The brick slid inward with a grinding sound, then clicked loudly. Sonic stepped back nervously. A tick, tick, tick was coming from within the wall, like a time bomb. An eternity of ten seconds passed. Sonic waited.

The quiet was broken by the whirr and whine of machinery starting. The wall began to split apart, dust pouring into the air. Sonic realized it was a concealed door, the bricks on the outside interlocking like clasped fingers. They were sliding apart with a terrific noise. Sonic shielded his face and bounded out the doorway, afraid but hating to admit it.

After a moment the rumbling subsided. Sonic stood outside, letting the dust settle, curious and nervous at the same time. How he wished for Tails's company!

He stuck his head in the doorway and looked around. It was almost completely dark by this time, and he could see little. However, there seemed to be a good deal of space at the rear of the room. Cautiously he ventured in, straining to see in the dark, ready to run at a moment's notice. He noticed a musty odor that hadn't been there before. Had it opened a secret room? Cool. He moved forward a few more steps, wondering about traps.

A face!!

Sonic tore out of the building, heart ricocheting around the inside of his ribcage. Once outside he whirled around to see if it was following him. The black doorway was empty, and total silence reigned. He stood still indecisively, letting his heart find its place in his chest again. What had that thing been? It had resembled an animal, maybe a lion. It had been staring straight at him, face contorted in a terrible snarl. Maybe he should leave. And have it follow him around in the dark? No way. Maybe he should go back and see for sure.

He crept back to the doorway, his eyes the size of dinnerplates. He ventured inside a few steps, probing the darkness for it. There it was! He froze, staring at it. It stared back, teeth shining in the shadows, eyes glowing. He waited for it to move, to growl or something. But it didn't stir. Hesitantly, one foot at a time, he inched up to it and extended a hand toward its head. Very carefully, slowly, he touched it.

Stone. The cold sweat of relief broke out all over him. It was a carving. He looked at it closer. It had fiery diamonds for teeth and dark green emeralds for eyes. It was a lion, crouched in the dark behind the secret panel, meant to frighten away intruders. And it had worked.

He looked around, but all that seemed to be in the hidden room was the stone lion. He ran one hand over the wall, half looking for another loose brick. His hand encountered something cold and round. He couldn't see it, but it felt like a button or a dial of some sort. Without hesitating he pushed it.

The button clicked and lit up, casting a bright yellow glow into the darkness. It seemed like a floodlight to Sonic's dark-sensitive eyes. He turned away from it, wondering what it did. His answer came in the form of a mild earthquake.

He ducked into the open, away from the ruins, thinking of Marble Gardens. The ground was vibrating, trembling, rippling a little. He thought of Tails, wondering if he could feel it, hoping he would be all right. Then he glanced toward the empty white sand area and forgot everything else.

A hill had formed in the center and was slowly increasing in height. The sand streamed down it. After a moment dark brick came into view, lifting up into the air. Sonic stared as row after row of brick appeared, each new layer increasing in size and width. It was a step- pyramid, and growing like Jack's beanstalk. It rose higher and higher, getting larger and larger, nearing the ruins around it. It stopped a few feet away from them. And there it stood, a massive, imposing shape against the night sky, sand pouring down the sides in rivers. The earthquake subsided, and total silence resumed.* * *

Metal Sonic stood silently in the shadows, his red glowing eyes shut off so as not to reveal himself. His scans swept the pyramid. It was full of tunnels and extended far beneath the ground. A labyrinth began to appear in his radar. It was very large and went very deep ...* * *

I stared up at the pyramid, watching the sand slide off it. I had read of the pyramid, of the traps and tunnels and secret passages. It had been concealed for many years. But here it was! How had it been buried like that, and what had forced it up? Sonic. Sonic had to have done it. But what in the world had he done?

I crept closer. There had to be a way inside.* * *

Tails stood atop the high wall, warily eyeing the vast structure. Not only had he found Sonic's tracks in the soft sand mounds, he had also found two more sets. Metal Sonic's undoubtedly, and probably Knuckles. Who or what had caused the pyramid's appearance he didn't know, but was beginning to feel very small and alone. Sonic was probably down there and would hear if he called, but that might expose both of them to their enemies. What should he do?

Tails cautiously began to creep down the sandy hill.* * *

Sonic stood silently in the darkness, the only part of his body in motion being his eyes. This was the part, he was sure, where the guns appeared and blasted all to cinders. But nothing happened. It was so quiet he could hear the sand hissing faintly as it sifted to the ground. He began to move forward, wondering what he was supposed to do now. He stopped a dozen feet away from the base and again reconnoitered. The uncanny silence was beginning to get on his nerves.

Cautiously he began to circle the pyramid. It was big. Each block was half again as tell as he was, and twice that length. It towered sixty feet into the night sky. He could smell the settling dust. Still nothing happened.

He reached the far side and came to the first break in the outer shell. It was a stone door as big as a garage. It had no handles or keyholes, and looked as if it had been sealed for years. Sonic sidled up to it, uneasy and feeling something was always behind him. He turned and scanned the black doorways and hollows in the ruins. It seemed full of eyes and faces, the faint starlight picking out odd shapes. But now his back was to the strange door. It could open and anything could come out. He whipped around to face it. "If I hear a sound," he thought with grim humor, "I'll probably scream and shoot straight up. And I won't come down very soon either."

Sonic looked up at the top of the door, examining the stone, and extended one hand to touch it. As his fingertips touched the stone surface, the entire door trembled like a leaf. He jerked his hand away immediately. The door rumbled, electronic sparks flashing through the cracks in the rock. It quivered once more, then vaporized into dust on the threshold.

Now Sonic was really scared.

He backed away from the vacant doorway, feeling a cool breath of air on his face and arms. The pyramid was open. Oh, where was Tails when he needed him? Even Knuckles would be welcome--anything to reassure him that he was still on planet Mobius. The empty opening would have had a creepy air about it in the daytime; at night it was downright sinister. Sonic stood uncertainly and and looked at it, then all around-- especially behind him. Nothing. Figures. The logical thing to do was enter the pyramid. No, he couldn't without Tails. Tails ...

Sonic turned his back on the pyramid, squelched his fears of his enemies hearing, and called, "Ta-ils! Where are you?" He stood still and listened. After a few seconds he was rewarded by a soft call. "Sonic?"

Footsteps crunched on the sand, and Tails's light figure appeared from behind the debris. He flung himself into Sonic's arms and they exchanged hugs. "Oh Sonic," he whispered, "I'm not afraid of the dark, but I hate this place. Metal Sonic is following us."

"What about Knux? Have you seen him?"

"No. He's tracking you, not me."

Sonic cast a wary glance into the darkness surrounding them. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt in the storm?"

"N-no. I curled up and it dropped me way out in the desert. I hid behind some rocks 'til it stopped. What about you?"

"Oh, Knux tried to start a fight, but I reminded him of my hands and he backed off."

Tails moved back a step, looking up at the towering pyramid. "I saw this thing come up. Did you do it?"

"Yeah. Don't ask me what I did; I'm still not sure." Sonic turned with him, one hand on his friend's shoulder. "Wanna go in?"

Tails shivered, looked down, then back at the ruins. "Well ... I donno. What about THEM?"

Sonic followed his gaze, thinking of how Mecha's eyes glowed. "Maybe they won't follow us. Maybe they'll chicken out."

"Or maybe they WILL follow us. Oh Sonic, can't we call Slasher and go back to the mainland where it's safe?"

"You've turned into quite a chicken yourself," Sonic said, although he, too had considered that option. "No, let's go in. No telling what we'll find."

Tails looked uncertain. "Well, if you say so ..."* * *

"Sonic, look out!"

The two of them leaped out of the way as a large stone plug fell from the ceiling. Sand began to pour through the opening, filling the corridor. "Run!" Sonic barked, the stone walls echoing back his voice.

"I can't run," Tails protested. Sonic grabbed him by the hand, and they four-wheeled it down the passage.

They had been in the pyramid two hours, and were hopelessly lost. This was the second sand-trap they had unwittingly triggered. The first had filled the passage for a hundred feet up and down, so they knew what to expect with this one.

They were both exhausted. They had discovered another teleporter and travelled to Hidden Palace once more. They charged one super apiece, dropping the number of dead ones to two, but totally lost their second wind doing it. Tails was all for dropping in his tracks and sleeping, but Sonic was afraid to. Something kept him moving--a survival instinct, perhaps.

"Sonic," Tails gasped, slowing. "I can't. I can't run. I gotta rest."

Sonic looked back at the growing mound of sand. "Tails, we can't stop here." He was alarmed to see Tails sink to his knees and lean against the stone wall.

"Sonic, I just can't. Gotta rest ..."

The fine, choking sand-dust was filling the air. In desperation, Sonic scooped up his friend in his arms and fled.

The tunnel sloped up, curved right, then left, criss-crossed by other corridors, studded with doorways. Sonic kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, knowing that to peer into the shadows meant losing his nerve completely. Tails laid his head on Sonic's shoulder and sighed. He was too tired to care much about anything anymore.

Sonic's footsteps lagged. Tails was heavy, and he hadn't much strength left. Well, maybe they had come far enough. He looked up, letting his eyes scan the dim ceiling. There, he spotted an ancient mechanism with a big metal bar dangling from it. They would rest beneath it ...

Sonic knelt and laid Tails on the floor. The fox was already asleep. Poor kid ... Sonic stretched out beside him, feeling his aching muscles relax. Normally, sleeping on a cold stone floor would have been uncomfortable, but tonight he was tired enough to sleep in a wind tunnel. He stared vacantly up at the old machinery built into the ceiling.

An old fashioned light-switch--that's what it was. Pulling it somehow activated the old torches that lined the hallways, making them flare up and burn brightly, producing almost no smoke. After a while, when no other switches had been pulled, the torches would dim and go out. A curious technology. Knux's ancestors must have been very advanced ... Sonic dozed.

Time passed. The pyramid was silent, as it had been through the ages, and the two exhausted explorers slept without a sound. The old torches flickered out, and darkness filled the corridors. All was deathly still ...

Tails opened his eyes. Strange, he who had been ready to drop was the first to awaken. He had dreamed of Metal Sonic stalking silently through the pyramid, using no light and needing none, feet hardly touching the ground--

It was pitch dark. He put out a hand and felt Sonic lying beside him, sleeping heavily. All was well. He closed his eyes again, reassured by his friend's presence.

A motion of the air touched his face and ears. He snapped awake. Why would the air be circulating when it had been dead still? Someone was coming. Dread filled his heart. Trying not to hyperventilate, he sat up and listened. His big ears caught the faintest whisper of a footstep, far down the hall. He remembered his dream about Metal Sonic. He was certain that that was who it was.

He groped in the darkness until he found Sonic's warm body. He shook him. "Sonic, wake up," he whispered fearfully. "Something's here."

Sonic groaned loudly. "What? Tails?"

"Shh!"

Sonic sat up, mind clouded and drugged with sleep. "What's wrong?"

"Somebody's coming."

Sonic rubbed his eyes with the back of one hand, trying to wake up. He felt Tails's hands clench around his arm and his friend's frightened breath on his face.

"It's getting closer. Can we turn on the lights?"

"Yeah. There's a switch--right up there."

Tails jumped to his feet, one hand waving in the air above his head. His reaching fingers encountered the rough, cold metal. He grabbed the bar and gave it a hard pull.

There was a protesting screech from above and the ancient torches blazed into life. The darkness was repelled, driven into the shadows. Sonic bounded to his feet, aroused by the noise and light. Tails was standing still, listening, filled with the child-like conviction that the light would drive away the spooks. The footsteps had stopped. The only sound was the faint crackle of the torch flames, high on the walls.

There was the sound of brick grating on brick, then some scratching. Tails's hand crept into Sonic's. "Do we run?" he whispered.

"Not yet," Sonic replied, showing more nerve than he felt. "Lets see what we're running from first."

More scratching that echoed. Then from around the corner sprang-- something. It was taller than Sonic, draped in a yellow-brown cloak that reached the floor. Its face was hideous. A mockery of a human face, it had stony square features, heavy brows, glowing eyes and gleaming fangs. It charged at them without a sound.

Sonic and Tails whirled and ran for their lives.* * *

"Wow," I thought as I pursued them, "this old mask and cape are more effective than I thought." I had found them in a trunk in one of the musty rooms. The mask was sort of copper-plated aluminum, with quartz for teeth and rubies for eyes. It was a lot like the lion Sonic had found, but I didn't know about it then. All I knew was that I had to keep quiet and not laugh. If I laughed at their terror I would give myself away.

Deciding to make myself even scarier, I jumped at a wall, climbed it one fist at a time, then glided diagonally across the hall, gaining on them. "What fun!" I thought.

Well, I thought that until the unexpected happened. As I hit the wall and gathered myself for another glide, my foot struck a loose brick, forcing it inward. There was an ominous click.

At once a huge slab dropped out of the floor just ahead of Sonic and Tails. They yelled and tried to stop, but it was too late. They toppled headlong into the dark hole.

I rushed up to the hole and looked in, then pulled off the mask to see better. I had expected a snare or a spike pit, but this was more like a well. I could feel a faint, musty draft wafting upward from the depths. There was no sound from Sonic and Tails. "Hello!" I called down. My voice reverberated down the shaft, then was flung back to me in a taunting echo. Gosh, were they dead? Where the heck did that shaft end?

I can't say I was sorry for what I had just done, for I was not. Instead, I was filled with a sort of sick curiosity. I wanted to see their dead bodies for myself. But _I_ wasn't about to jump down that shaft. No way, uh-uh. There had to be another way down ...

I stood up and pulled off my cloak. Cumbersome thing--no use for it now. I glided across the pit and continued on into the pyramid. There had to be an alternate route someplace ...* * *

Metal Sonic calmly walked to the lip of the shaft and looked down it. His scans showed it dropped straight down thirty feet, went into a steep slope for fifty, then dropped another thirty. Sonic and Tails were at the very bottom, 1100 feet below the pyramid. Both were alive, but unmoving. Well, that meant he still needed to keep a scan on them. It shouldn't be too hard, once Knuckles found a way down.

"Dr. Robotnik," Mecha said through his communicator. "Sonic and Tails will be out of the game for a while ..."
Chapter 10
Lava Reef

______________________________________________________________________

Falling, falling, careening from side to side, striking a steep ramp, rolling down. Another drop, this time into deep blackness. Landing hard in a warm place. Tails somewhere near, but doesn't answer when I call. Deep silence, warm breeze in my face. So--dead--tired--

Then it seemed to Sonic that he was running, running, always from the monster in the pyramid, through echoing passages. Now the monster was a painting in the Marble Gardens mural, but still alive, moving, trying to get him. Running again. Another wall, covered with the strange pictures and writing, bigger than the biggest building, stretching across the world, towering into the sky. Then a beam of light was burning down on his face and arms. Outstretched hands slowly turning into metal, the plating creeping up his arms--the light growing brighter than anything, blinding him--fierce heat, like standing under a focused magnifying glass--

Sonic gasped and awoke. He was lying on his back on stony ground, and from the way he felt had been there for hours. It had all been a dream. What a relief. But then where was he? The dream and what had really happened were confused in his mind.

Slowly he sat up, bruised muscles aching. It was pitch black; darker even than the lightless pyramid. It felt solid, no light for miles. He put out a hand, feeling around. Rocks, rough floor, uneven wall to his right. It was strangely warm. He had a feeling they were far, far underground; somewhere in the bowels of the Floating Island.

Where was Tails? He couldn't be far. Sonic got down on his hands and knees, hands groping, eyes probing the darkness futilely. It came to him that he hadn't heard a sound from his friend in quite some time. Oh no, what if he had landed wrong and--

One hand touched something warm and furry. An arm. Sonic felt along it until he located Tails's body. The fox was lying on his side with his knees bent, out cold. Sonic cupped a hand over his nose and mouth, then silently cursed the metal that dulled his sense of touch. He leaned over Tails instead and tested for breathing with his cheek. To his relief, Tails was alive.

Feeling a little better, he curled up beside his friend. Not much they could do now. Might as well sleep. It would pass the time until-- until what? Until they starved to death in this black hole?

The thought was so horrifying he slammed his mental doors on it.

He began to doze. The air smelled funny; kind of like propane gas. It made him sleepy, dulling the aches in his body. He gave into it, wondering vaguely if it was poisonous. Nothing he could do about it anyway ...

* * *

Measureless time passed. Sonic and Tails slept, drugged by the gas gently blowing in their faces. Only the ventilation shaft above their heads kept them from suffocation.

At last the gas thinned out. The air continued to move, drifting though and up into the shaft. The hole they were in was not a hole at all; it was the end of a mine shaft. Without knowing it, they had entered the Lava Reef mines, an extremely hazardous region at the island's core.

Sonic slowly began to awaken, returning to the surface like a deep-sea diver. For a good while he had been aware that the darkness had become less, as if light was coming from somewhere. Now, as he swam back to consciousness, he was aware of something else; a deep throbbing hum that seemed to fill the cave and could be felt through the ground. With the unreasoning assurance of the half-asleep, he assumed it has the island's heartbeat. But as he awoke, he realized that couldn't be it.

Slowly he lifted his head, realizing he could see the walls and floor quite easily. Where was the light coming from? He propped himself up on his elbows and found himself looking down a long, tilted tunnel. The light was coming from somewhere down it. He thought of his groping about the night before--or whenever it was they had entered this place. What if he had ventured into that tunnel, crawling down, searching for Tails? He shuddered at the thought.

Tails was lying in a different position now, curled up, double tails covering his body like a blanket. Sonic looked at him fondly, then shook him. "Tails ... Tails, wake up."

Slowly the young fox began to awaken. His sleep had been as deep as Sonic's. He yawned, stretched, opened his eyes and sat up. "Hi Sonic," he said sleepily.

"Hiya Tails," Sonic replied. "Feel okay?"

"Oh, I don't feel great, but I'm not in the red. My shoulder hurts--I think I landed on it when we fell." He looked down at the bandage, which wasn't so white anymore and bore a large red spot.

Sonic winced. "I wish we could change that. It'll get infected."

Tails only nodded, his brain still kicking on.

After a few minutes he looked around. "Where are we? I thought it was dark at the bottom of the hole."

"It was. There's some kind of light way down the tunnel. And a sound--hear it?"

They both sat quietly for a moment, listening to the low whirr. It seemed to be coming from a great distance. "It sounds ... mechanical," Tails remarked. "What is this place?"

"I donno," Sonic replied, climbing to his feet and wincing at his stiff muscles. "But we ain't getting out that way."

Tails looked up at the dark shaft above their heads. "No kidding." He slowly climbed to his feet and leaned against the wall. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck--twice."

"You and me both, kiddo." Sonic ventured a few steps down the tunnel, noticing the rough rock walls and wooden supports every few feet. "It looks like a mine of some kind," he told his sidekick. "We're underground again." He stamped one foot. "I'm sick of this! I've been underground more these past few days then in my whole life!"

Tails moved up to him and touched his metal hand. "But we made it this far, didn't we? And we're still in one piece."

Bitterly Sonic lifted one hand. "Yeah, but at what cost? My hands are totally ruined forever, and you're walking around with a hole in your shoulder. Not to mention we don't have ANY of the chaos emeralds anymore."

"But Sonic, we're both alive. Where there's life there's hope."

Sonic gave his friend a withering glance. "Look at the facts, Tails." He ticked them off on his fingers. "You're hurt, I'm handicapped. We have no food, no water or supplies of any kind. We haven't had a drink since Sandopolis, and a meal since--since Mushroom Hill. Robotnik might very well have all the chaos emeralds, our supers, and the Master emerald by now. And you have the guts to be optimistic?"

Tails nodded. "Sure. The dog either walks on water or can't swim. I say lets keep our sense of humor. Look, we're rested and alert. Neither of us have anything seriously wrong with us. Like Slasher says, never give up, in or out."

Sonic sighed. "You sure know how to boost a guy's morale. You win. I guess we'll hunt around for an exit or something."

And with that, they embarked on what could be called the last leg of their journey, little knowing what lay ahead.

The tunnel snaked downward, burrowing through the rock like a massive earthworm had drilled it. After a bit they came to the place the lights began--bare lightbulbs hanging from exposed wires on the stone ceiling. They were careful not to touch them.

At last they spotted the end of the tunnel; a strange golden light illuminated it, and there was the smell of heated rock and sulfur. They hurried toward it, stepped into the room ... and stared in amazement.

The cavern was about the size of an auditorium with a high, vaulted ceiling. Normally it would have been dark and rather cool; but it was exactly the opposite. The floor had five huge lava pits in it, criss-crossed by high stone dikes. The lava was red and orange on top, but underneath, such as when bubbles broke the surface, it was yellow and glowed like fire. The air was heavy and very hot.

Sonic and Tails stared in a frightened awe. It was bizarre, unlike anything they'd ever seen. The walls were made of black lava rock and reflected the orange light only a little. Further up they faded into blue-violet shadows.

Sonic said one word that described it all: "Hell." Then he beckoned to Tails and stepped onto one of the dikes. They quickly made their way across to a tunnel in the far side, shielding their faces from the intense heat. They ducked into the tunnel and leaned against the wall, gasping. "I think it singed the fur off my arms," Tails moaned. He checked, but it hadn't.

Sonic felt the same. "Oh man, this is a terrible place! Let's get away from this cave."

But this was the Lava Reef mines, and they had been aptly named. There were many lava caves, and the tunnels wandered in and out of them at random. And always, above and below everything else, was that deep, throbbing hum. They found out later it was the circulation fans. Placed at strategic points in the caves and powered by geo-thermal generators, they kept the air moving. Without them Lava Reef would quickly become uninhabitable.

Sonic and Tails found a waterpipe that had broken and was spewing hot water all over the floor. They drank from the cooler puddles, splashing their faces, washing away some of the grit accumulated in Sandopolis. Then they continued onward, thirst slaked and beginning to feel hunger.* * *

They had been following one rather wide tunnel for a while. Cool air was drifting through it, and they were hoping for a lava-less cave or two, maybe a mine exit.

Suddenly the wall just ahead of Sonic burst outward in a cloud of dust. Sonic collided with something and stumbled back, the dust blocking his vision.

"What is it?" Tails asked from behind him.

"I donno," Sonic answered. "Stay behind me--it might be a robot or something."

Or something. Like the thing in the pyramid. Sonic crouched a little, slightly uneasy but ready for anything.

As the dust settled they made out a moving figure, just climbing to its feet. It turned and looked straight at them. Knuckles. His mouth fell open; he had thought they would be dead! He was unprepared for this, and Sonic looked ready to attack at a moment's notice. So, to their surprise, Knuckles turned tail and fled from them.

Sonic stood where he was, too surprised to move. Knuckles had run-- from THEM! "Tails," Sonic said, "did you see that? He ran away! Weird!"

"He was too startled, I guess," Tails said, moving up to stand beside his friend. "Did he come out of the wall?"

They turned and looked. The rock had a gaping hole dug in it, chips and fragments all over the ground. Sonic poked his head in. "Ah, I see. There's another tunnel alongside this one, and he broke through the wall between. He paused, and Tails saw a look of consternation pass over his face. "Oh no! There's another of those glowing teleporters!" He backed away from the hole. "No! I'm just now feeling rested! No way am I gonna charge a super!"

Tails could see the glowing ring plainly through the opening. He gave Sonic a pleading look. "Please? There's only two left. Maybe, if we finish it up, it'll give us our strength back. C'mon, Sonic!"

"I said no, and I mean no! For-git it!"

* * *

They stood in Hidden Palace, facing the last two dead gems. The cave was lit by the others' colored light. The dim ceiling's crystals reflected flecks of color, and the polished marble floor held hazy reflections.

"Let's do it at the same time," Tails called from a short distance away.

Sonic glanced at him, eyes bright with uneasy anticipation. "Okay, if that's how you want to do it. Maybe it'll go faster. On the count of three. One, two ... three!"

They smacked their hands down on the emeralds' tops.

The process was nearly routine by now, but this time it was doubled. The cave resounded with the energy transfer beams, and with the occasional agonized cry that escaped the victims. But at last it was over. The brilliant light faded away, and the two were let down.

Sonic lifted his head and let his eyes trace the room. Funny, he didn't feel as bad this time. The emerald he had brought to life was dark red, and Tails's was white.

Tails slowly sat up. "Well Sonic, we did it--whatever it is we did."

Sonic slid off the emerald and walked over to his friend. "You okay?"

"I guess." Tails slowly climbed down. "What happens now?"

"I donno." Sonic's eyes strayed to the Master emerald. "Maybe we should end it like we started it; by touching the Master."

Tails followed his gaze, then shifted his weight from foot to foot uneasily. "Um, you sure? That might not be a good idea."

Sonic shrugged. "No worse than you wanting to come here in the first place."

Tails winced at the tone in his voice. "You don't have to be such a grouch about it. Well, go ahead. I didn't touch it at first."

Sonic slowly advanced until he was standing before the gigantic green gem. With sudden forethought, he turned and said, "Tails, you might want to back way off. It blasted you last time."

Tails obeyed, hurriedly taking shelter behind one of the emerald pedestals.

Once his friend was secure, Sonic focused his attention on the Master. He could see deep into it, like staring into a bottomless pool. He drew a deep breath, shut his eyes and placed a hand on the crystal's smooth top.

At first nothing happened. Sonic opened his eyes, looked around, then down at the emerald. To his surprise, the inside had lit up, the very core glowing as if a lightbulb had been inserted there. A stream of something--light? electricity?--was extended upward to meet his hand on the inside of the emerald. He stared at it, entranced. This was the most bizarre thing yet.

Suddenly the Master emerald flashed out, overwhelming his senses with light. Tails shielded his eyes. Something weird was going to happen.

Sonic flung his arms over his face and turned away from the intense brightness. His eyes fell on the super emeralds, all of which were shining like fire, triggered by the Master. The closest one, the green, suddenly directed all its light to Sonic, as if someone had aimed a floodlight. The orange one did the same. Then the blue. One by one all seven stones focused their energy on the blue hedgehog, blinding him. But it was more than just light. There was a burning intensity, like radiation, that made it impossible to stand against. For one moment all the gems brightened and the cave was illuminated fully, light reflecting from the polished floor and scattered crystal formations. Then it drained away. The gems returned to their old glow, and silence reigned once more.

Tails crept out from behind the pedestal, eyes readjusting to the dimness. "Well," he said, voice echoing through the cavern, "that was totally strange. Did you see what it did, by any chance?"

He walked up to Sonic. Sonic had been standing motionless since the light had faded, staring down at his cupped hands. Now he looked up, dazed. "T-Tails. It gave me--look what it gave me."

Tails looked into his hands. Cradled gently against his palms were seven brightly-colored stones. They glowed softly, bearing witness to their power. "It's like I'm holding electricity," Sonic murmured, staring down at them. "My fingers are tingling."

"But what are they?" Tails asked gingerly. "The chaos emeralds?"

"N-no. These are shaped different. They're like--" He broke off and lifted one to the light. His eyes strayed to the big super emeralds, then back to the small gems. "Tails," he exclaimed, "these are super emeralds! Miniature supers! How cool--"

Tails shook his head, mystified. "But ... how? And what happened to the chaos?"

Sonic shrugged, unable to take his eyes from the jewels. "I donno, Tails. I just ... donno."

After a while he pocketed them and dazedly teleported back to Lava Reef with Tails. It was a good while before he returned fully to his senses--he was in partial shock.* * *

I had run from Sonic.

The humiliation of it filled my heart and mind.

I had RUN from him! Just turned tail!

Of course, I had been expecting him and his friend to be messily dead at the bottom of that shaft. Finding them alive was a shock.

But then, to simply run ...?

I entered the biggest cavern in the Lava Reef mines. It was the massive hollow in the heart of the island; the roof was a mile up, supported by seven gigantic stone pillars. They had been built several generations back by the other guardians, but had been slowly covered with flowstone, so they appeared natural.

I barreled across the stone floor, barely remembering to avoid the nasty sharp places. They were the spots where the liquid lava had cooled in ripples, forming sharp ridges that would cut and slice the soles of your shoes. A fall usually meant cut hands and knees.

I had run and was still running. I kicked myself mentally for it, but I had to. Lava Reef was dangerously close to Hidden Palace; there were several old tunnels that led straight to it. The emerald chamber was sealed, of course, but access from Lava Reef was easy, if you knew which walls were the weakest.

I would set a trap. I stopped a moment and stared thoughtfully around the huge cavern. A little way off was a gigantic fissure in the floor. A big earthquake had cracked it open a few years back, and it was slowly expanding. It was now about fifty feet wide, and most of the floor was molten lava. Yes. If I could somehow shove Sonic and Tails into it ...

A plan appeared in my mind. Oh yeah, it would work great. Sonic and Tails were totally gullible and would walk into the most obvious of traps. I'd get 'em as soon as they got close ...* * *

Metal Sonic was seated on a ledge near the roof of the monstrous cave, watching Knuckles far below like a hungry hawk. His scanner didn't work too well when tons of solid rock blocked its path, but he could see Knuckles clearly, and knew Sonic and Tails were somewhere near.

Quietly he reported in to Robotnik, who was somewhere on the other side of Lava Reef. "Hello, Doctor. Yes. I have all three in sight. Knuckles isn't leaving the big cave; I think he thinks Sonic and Miles are chasing him, the moron. No, they won't be in your sector for a good while, it seems. You have located Hidden Palace? No? We MUST be getting close; I am picking high-energy readings on a cave not far from here ... Ah, you haven't made it there yet. Well, keep me informed. Do you wish me to attack the echidna? ... I see. Very well, I will not. Mecha out."

The robot stared at Knuckles, a red speck against the black floor. His metal hands curled into fists. "Not yet, at least," he muttered under his breath. His crimson eyes brightened. "But I WILL spill your blood, Knuckles."* * *





About thirty minutes later Sonic and Tails emerged from the tunnel and stood staring at the huge cave. At first they couldn't grasp it. It was overwhelming, like standing on the lip of the Grand Canyon. The floor was solid, but were those distant pillars real? Was it all somehow a gigantic poster?

Slowly they made their way out into the cavern. "Wow," Tails said. He searched his mind for something more eloquent, and added, "Gee."

Sonic blinked his eyes and shook his head. "Why do things always have to be so huge? It's just an island, for crying out loud." He looked down at the floor, trying to get his bearings. After a moment he said, "Well, let's cross this thing. We'll see if it's as big as it looks."

Moving around had helped Sonic get over his daze, but he wasn't himself. He was unusually quiet as they walked along, and seemed content to move slowly. That in itself was a signal he was not all right. Tails kept tossing uneasy glances at him, worried. After a while he built up the nerve to ask, "Sonic, what's the matter?"

Sonic glanced at him, then back down at the ground. "Nothin'. Why?"

"You're acting funny."

Sonic shrugged. "I guess I am." A pause. "I keep thinking about those little super emeralds. Do I use 'em like the chaos? What do they do?" He snapped his metallic fingers. "I hate these things. If there were only some way to undo it ..."

They talked little more. The hardship of their adventures was wearing on them, and it was good to walk in silence for a change.

Running parallel to their course and to the left was the big fissure in the floor. Neither of them paid much attention to it until they neared the far end of the cave. There it began to snake toward them, narrowing. The rough basalt floor began to have cracks across its surface, as if it had suffered in the same quake that had formed the chasm. The ceiling above dropped lower, and the high wall curved nearer.

At last they came to a steep hill of loose rock, as if a section of the wall had collapsed outward. As their eyes moved up it, they saw the remains of a tunnel in the rock, partly blocked but passable.

"Do we go up there?" Sonic asked his sidekick, his voice betraying his weariness.



Tails shrugged. "I don't care. One more obstacle can't hurt."

They looked up at the passage again, just in time to see Knuckles appear inside it, sneer down at them, then retreat back inside.

Sonic and Tails looked at each other. "Maybe he knows a way out," Tails exclaimed.

Sonic nodded, eyes showing some of the old sparkle. "Yeah, let's follow him!"

They charged up the slope. It seemed to have been made recently, as most of the rocks had that freshly-broken look, and bounced and shifted beneath their feet. It was pretty solid, however, and was not difficult to climb.

It wasn't until they were three-fourths of the way up that they realized Knuckles's scheme.

The scarlet echidna stepped out of the mouth of the tunnel, folded his arms and leered at them. Sonic and Tails automatically stopped and watched him warily. Sonic, faintly hopeful, called, "Do you know a way out of here?"

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," he snorted. His resentful scowl told him not to ask any favors.



The three exchanged stares for a few minutes, Sonic and Tails trying to be alert for anything. At last Sonic said, "So, Knux, whaddya want?"

Knuckles nonchalantly swung his dreadlocks out of his face. "Oh, nothing. Except that you knocked me down and hurt me." He glared at them. "See, I don't forgive things like that. I figured I'd do the same to you--until I found a better way. HA! Better get moving, you cretins."

He crouched behind a monstrous boulder that was sitting at the top of the heap and shoved at it. Sonic realized what he was doing before Tails did. His eyes widened in terror. He grabbed Tails's hand and yelled, "Run for it!"

Even as they began to move, Knuckles pried the boulder loose and sent it tumbling after them. Then, his voice nearly drowned in the crashing of the four-thousand-pound stone, they heard him laugh manically.

The two tore down the rough slope, trying to get clear of the boulder's path. Its weight and motion jarred loose smaller rocks and boulders, and a regular rockslide was beginning. Sonic kept a tight hold on Tails's hand as he had in Flying Battery, and they steadied each other during their headlong flight.

At last the floor was reached, but the rock was still coming. Sonic had a dim idea that they were running toward the trench in the ground, but could only think of getting out of the stone's path. Each time it bounced and hit the floor he felt his teeth rattle. He risked a glance over his shoulder--it was gaining on them. "Run faster," he gasped to Tails, nearly turning his ankle on a dip in the floor. "It's too close--"

And then the ground yawned open before them, a black ravine with glowing red lava in the bottom. The heat struck them in the face as they skidded to a halt at the edge. "No good!" Sonic cried. "Let's go that w--" He stopped. They were standing on a spike that jutted out over the chasm. There was no way to go, and back meant going toward the rapidly advancing boulder ... they were trapped.

"Sonic, what do we do?" Tails cried in terror.

Sonic looked over his shoulder. "Jump!"

They leaped clear of the ledge and into space. The boulder smashed down on the ledge, breaking it off with the impact, and together they toppled into the abyss.

The chasm was deep, and they had an agonizing four seconds to fall. Sonic could see the lava below--a blurred red mass, like blood. He wondered how long it took you to melt completely, and if it hurt the whole time, or if you went into shock and it passed quickly. As the lava floor drew nearer, Sonic thought of his friend ... no, he couldn't let Tails die like that. His mind raced here and there, like a rabbit looking for a hole, trying to find some way of escape. The super emeralds! Maybe they could save them ...

In the remaining second before the lava claimed them, Sonic dug out all seven of the super emeralds and flung them away, into the lava. The reaction was instanious; so much in fact, that Sonic and Tails were rendered senseless on impact.

The emeralds cooled the lava just beneath Sonic and Tails, forming a black, hardened crust that they smacked down on. From that little island, like frosting on a cake, the blackness swept across the lava's surface, meeting both walls and sweeping down the length of the fissure, cooling the lava instaniously. Then the coolness worked downward from the crust, solidifying the lava for several hundred feet underground.

Sonic slowly came to and opened his eyes. He was lying on rough, warm rock. Where was he? What had happened to the lava? He sat up and looked around. The walls of the chasm stretched up above him, zig- zagging against the background of the high cave ceiling. But there wasn't any lava anywhere; it was all black. Steaming in some places, yes, but completely solidified.

His eyes found Tails, lying motionless on the black floor a few yards away. He jumped to his feet and hurried over to his sidekick. Tails was still breathing, but unconscious. Sonic cradled him in his arms and rocked back and forth a little, eyes scanning the stone walls for a way of escape. Tails would be able to fly out, he was sure, but he wasn't sure if Tails could airlift him. They hadn't tried an airlift since Tails had been shot, and Sonic hated to ask him to. But what if they were trapped down here? That Knuckles ... For the first time Sonic felt real hostility toward him. He had only tried to hurt them, before--this had been an attempt at homicide. Sonic ground his teeth. Knux would pay for this, and at their very next meeting ...

Suddenly, from all around, the rock began to groan and creak. Sonic felt a distinct sinking feeling, as if the rock were settling downward. To his surprise, a short distance off, seven glowing points of light surfaced from the stone and lay on its surface--the super emeralds. So he hadn't sacrificed them, after all.

As he looked at the supers, he noticed something else; a passage had appeared in the wall. It had been covered by the lava before, and was now visible. Sonic felt a cool breath of air touch his face. It smelled musty, as if the tunnel had been closed up for a long time.

Tails stirred in Sonic's arms and opened his eyes. "Hi, Sonic," he mumbled. "Where are we?" He sat up and shook his head as Sonic explained about what the emeralds had done.

Sonic rose and gathered up the little supers. They weren't even scratched. He pocketed them and returned to Tails. The orange fox slowly, painfully, climbed to his feet. "Ugh, I thought we were goners. How do we get out of this place?"

Sonic pointed out the passage. "There's air moving out of it, so it can't be blocked. You want to check it out?"

Tails shrugged. "Sure. Might as well see if we can get out of this place."

And they entered the passage, little suspecting what awaited them at the far end. Chapter 11 Hidden Palace ___________________________________________________________________ The tunnel opened out into a huge oblong cavern. It was not as large as the one they had just left; about the size of an auditorium. It was lit by softly glowing green crystals, like in Hidden Palace. But it was not the cave itself that was impressive--it was the far wall.

The wall had been carved and molded into a huge palace entrance. Huge stone steps led up to the wide doorway, and massive pillars towered up on either hand, three on a side. The cave was dusty and dry, as if no one had been there in years.

Sonic and Tails slowly advanced to the temple-like entrance, staring. As they drew closer, they could see the entire thing was made of polished green marble, like the floor in the emerald chamber. The doorway no longer had doors in it, but the sides and top were richly engraved with fine, scroll-like writing. The top was too far up to see clearly, but the left and right sides bore examining. On the left was the strange writing they had seen in Marble Gardens and Sandopolis. But on the right was readable text.

"Cool," Sonic muttered, aware of how his voice echoed. "Tails, listen to this. 'Today, March twenty-third, year twenty-four sixty- five, this Palace was completed. It is to be a gathering place for all Echidnas, and a school for those who desire to learn the uses of the power stones.' But look, down here it looks like they erased what else was here and wrote something else. Listen to what THIS says." He gingerly touched the cold stone, following the words as he read them.

"'This day, October nineteenth, year twenty-five ought-five, this Palace was hidden. The main entrance had been sealed and buried, and all access is restricted to all but the current Guardians and their children. Because of the great evil the emeralds may produce in the wrong hands, all but one Echidna family have been driven from the Island. These few will continue to tend it indefinitely. The prophecy must be fulfilled!'"

Sonic looked at Tails, who had been reading over his shoulder. "This place was only open forty years. Why? Did somebody try to take the supers?"

Tails shrugged. "You're askin' ME? I have no idea. What 'prophecy'?"



Sonic looked back at the inscription. "I donno." He sighed. "Well, let's go in."

As they stepped across the threshold, the blue hedgehog froze. "Uh oh. Tails, it said 'this Palace was hidden.' Hidden Palace! Is that what this place is?"

Tails didn't answer. Sonic glanced around and realized why.

Before them stretched a wide corridor of smooth stone. The walls and floor were black, but that only served to heighten the beauty of its contents. The place was a garden of crystals. Huge red, green and blue clumps shot up here and there like stone ferns, geometric and startling. Many of them had veins of light in their cores.

Sonic and Tails moved among them on a carefully maintained path, marvelling at the beauty and wonder of it. They noticed single formations, set apart from the other clusters. These were obviously specially grown crystals. There were many different colors in a single cluster, and the very largest crystals had been cut off cleanly at the base. The cave smelled of ammonia, giving one a sharp feeling at the back of the throat.

The crystals were very much alive, as was shown by the pools of water around some clusters. They were formed by the chemicals and growing fast. And, as most bore the light inside them, it was like walking through a neon-lighting display.

Dazzled and struck dumb by the strange beauty, Sonic and Tails reached the end of the passage and stepped into another cavern. It was not very large--perhaps twenty feet across--but had no roof. The walls simply climbed higher and higher, cathedral-like, lit with the green crystals all the way. Sonic and Tails tipped their heads all the way back, eyes travelling up. Far, far up--miles, it seemed--was a single bright patch of daylight. It gave them the sensation of being buried alive, enclosed and suffocated by tons and tons of black rock--

It wasn't worth thinking about. Sonic touched Tails's good arm and their eyes met. They were thinking the same thing; when would they ever get out? They seemed to have been in darkness for years ...

There was another passage in the far wall. They trotted over to it and entered, wishing they hadn't seen that daylight. It seemed to have dimmed their spirits.

But this low-ceilinged cave soon made them forget all but what it contained.

One whole wall was draped with a brightly colored tapestry. It only took them a second to recognize it; was the picture they had seen in Marble Gardens--the grey monster being confronted by the blue thing with the flame around it. But it was woven in cloth--it seemed the past guardians had been intent on preserving it.

In the middle of this room, fists raised, was the current Guardian.* * *

If it took bare-fisted confrontation to stop those two, then I would do it. I could feel that old, horrible rage beginning to consume me, but swallowed it momentarily and remained calm.

Sonic raised one hand. "Knuckles." I took it he meant it to be a greeting, but his tone was icy. His eyes were cold, too. He moved forward, putting himself between me and Tails. I remained in my fighting stance, ready for anything. In fact, I was welcoming anything. Sonic lowered his head. "So, It's come to this, has it?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

I nodded, my adrenaline beginning to rush. "Now we fight to the finish." I sounded detached--at least I still had SOME control over my voice. I kept going, finding it encouraging to speak my thoughts to my rival. "YOU invaded MY island. YOU stole MY emeralds. And now YOU'VE infiltrated MY Hidden Palace. YOU will pay MY price."* * *

Sonic could feel his stomach doubled into a hard knot. Now that it had come down to it, he was almost afraid. The echidna was much stronger than he was, and-- "Sonic," Tails whispered, touching his arm. "Sonic, what about the supers?"

Sonic turned and looked at his friend. "I can't use 'em here, Tails. What about my hands?"

"They didn't seem to matter when we charged the supers. C'mon. Just scare the jerk--he'll back down. Try it! I'll watch from the other room back there."

The fox scurried away to safety. Sonic turned back to Knuckles, who looked a trifle uneasy at being made to wait. "Well Knux, I guess if _I_ have to pay YOUR price, I'll do it on MY ground. Let's make this match equal." Sonic pulled out the seven super emeralds. Knuckles's jaw dropped as Sonic lifted them above his head, drew a deep breath, and clashed them together.

It seemed lightning had struck the cave. There was a blinding white flash and a buzzing roar, like a power arc. Tails ducked behind a protruding rock formation, and Knuckles shielded his eyes and turned away. The light vanished an instant later, and Sonic stood in the center of the room, transformed.

All the spikes on his head and back stood up and out wildly, charged with energy. His entire body glowed and sparkled seven different colors. Large stars of energy soared away from his chest, spiraled above him, then faded away, some hitting the ground with a hiss.

Sonic stood stock-still, temporarily blinded, wondering what in the world had happened to him. After a second his vision faded back in, enhanced twenty times. His eyesight matched that of a hawk's; he could now read a newspaper from ten miles away.

He fixed his eagle-vision on Knuckles. "I donno what this is, but it's cool. Still wanna fight?"* * *

I stared at him. His power far surpassed that of Super Sonic. Could it be that he was now Hyper Sonic? Very few of my clan had ever gotten the super emeralds to work on them before they had been hidden and decharged, and becoming Hyper was something of a legend.

But this was still Sonic. He didn't even know what he was doing. A sense of superiority came over me--I was still older and more experienced. And I had something that could challenge the power of the supers.

I pulled out the chaos emeralds. They had no longer been needed once the last super had been charged, and were now in my hands--all of them. I lifted them above my head and looked Sonic in the eyes. "You're on."

I clapped them together.* * *

Knuckles began to glow brightly, like the red chaos emerald. Sonic noticed the emeralds in orbit around him; they did that for whoever used them. Knux advanced on Sonic, pounding one fist against his palm. "Payback time, you little creep--"

He jumped, Sonic blocked. They circled, shedding light on the floor and walls, watching each other. They clashed again, sparks flying in all directions as invincibility met invincibility. They separated, closed again, struggled, fought, then parted. Neither could hurt the other. The fight turned violent.

Tails watched from around the corner, wideyed, feeling very small and frightened. The two rivals were taking advantage of their powers and abilities, and were getting hard to follow. Knuckles could glide in all directions at once, it seemed, then smack into Sonic fists-first. Sonic would take the blow, right himself, then fling Knuckles against the wall. There would be a dull thud--if not for being super it would have killed him. Knux would bounce to his feet and tackle Sonic. They would go down and wrestle like a couple of wildcats ...

This struggle might have gone on indefinitely if not for a freak accident.

Knuckles's fist caught Sonic right between the eyes and sent him flying. Sonic smashed into the rock pillar Tails was hiding behind, leaped to his feet with with a snarl and returned to the fray. Tails watched him a second, then happened to glance at the floor. Just in front of the pillar, where Sonic had fallen, lay the super emeralds. He had dropped them. They were glowing like live coals, still supplying Sonic's power. "What if Knux sees them?" Tails thought. On impulse he leaped out of hiding, snatched up the glowing gems and dodged back.

The little fox crouched in the dimness of the tall cave, light spilling out of Sonic and Knuckles's arena. The emeralds held his eyes; he could not tear them away. Each one shown with a living, vivid light, warming his cold hands, making them tingle. He sensed they had more power then they were giving Sonic. It was contained, under wraps, waiting. Waiting for what?

Tails had a vision of himself, powered by the emeralds; he could be anyone's equal, invincible, maybe even help Sonic! His shoulder wouldn't bother him ... Sonic always said you could feel no pain while you were invincible. Could he? Would it work for him?

The young fox drew a deep breath, took four gems in one hand and three in the other, then clapped them together.

Tails was jerked erect, power like he had never felt before flooding into his body, making him glow. It felt alien, as if something was consuming him from the outside in. At fist he panicked and dropped the stones, gasping. He looked down at his arms and legs, noticing how his fur and skin was glowing a bright yellow. Was this it? Was he hyper, too?

A sound made him look around. Far above, from the patch of daylight in the top of the cave, came four tongues of fire, streaking down at him. Tails covered his head and ducked, half wondering how invincible he really was. The flames drew nearer, hot yellow--Tails squinted. His keen eyesight strengthened by the power of the emeralds, he gazed at them. They weren't flames. They were animals of some kind ... small in size, but glowing as bright as Tails himself.

They shot downward, barely missed the floor and began flying in a tight circle around Tails's head. He stared at them. Birds. Something like cardinals, they all had thick beaks, crests on their large heads and bright black eyes. Their feathers shown like fire. Fascinated, Tails held out one hand. "Hi," he offered. Immediately the biggest bird landed on his arm. It wasn't heavy, but Tails could feel its power.

"Hello," the bird chirped. "We are the Power Flickies, called to your dimension by a novice using the super emeralds. We will aid you and keep you from hurting yourself."

"Cool," said Tails, carefully stroking its back. "Are you invincible?"

"Yes."

"Am I hyper?"

"Nope. You're Super--uh, what's your name?"

"Tails."

"Okay, you're Super Tails."

They were interrupted as Sonic and Knuckles slammed into the pillar Tails had been hiding behind. The blow shattered the rock, and the pillar collapsed outward. Tails leaped back as the rock clattered to the ground. The flickies, he noticed, moved with him. "Can you guys back off?" Tails asked them. "I'm gonna help Sonic. Knux is too much for him."

"Oh no you don't," another of the birds said. "You're only super, not hyper. We'll do it. Do you want us to break them up?"

"Yeah. They'll eventually kill each other."

First, the four flickies swooped down and picked up the fallen super emeralds; three grabbed two apiece with their feet, and the leader picked up the last one. He began to shine blue as the super poured its energy into him. The others were flashing back and forth between the colors they carried. The leader chirped a command Tails couldn't make out, and they all swooped into the battle cave.

The floor was littered with rocks the dueling pair had knocked from the walls. They were hard at it, moving so fast it was difficult to tell them apart. The birds dove at them, mixing with the fray, the power of the supers giving them strength.* * *

If we hadn't have been invulnerable, the fight wouldn't have been so long. But neither of us were hurt or even winded. I was getting somewhat discouraged. I mean, a fight is seeing how much damage you can inflict on your enemy before he gets in fair punch. Neither of us even had a scratch. If only he knew how much of an advantage he had ... he was handling himself as if he were still Super Sonic.

We had tangled for the hundredth time, our rage matching blow for blow. I threw him off, but before we could recover a couple bright things attacked us. Literally. Two of these glowing things dove into my face, striking me with their wings, driving me to the floor. They were hyper, whatever they were, and knew exactly how to use their power. They shrieked and made a lot of noise, their hard little bodies striking my arms and face. They were attacking Sonic, too.* * *

Tails watched, clapping his hands gleefully. The power flickies were taking the fight out of the two, and rapidly. It wasn't long before both combatants had been driven to the floor under the relentless assault. Knuckles was trying to fight them off, but Sonic began to yell, "Tails, help! These things are vicious!"

"Guys!" Tails called shrilly. "Leave Sonic alone and get Knuckles!" They obeyed instantly.

Tails rushed to Sonic and helped him up. Sonic stared at him. "Little bro! What happened to you?"

"I'm glowing with success!" Tails slapped his thigh. "Ha! That's a good one!"

"Why are you glowing?"

"The supers work on me. They called the power flickies to help me."

Sonic turned and gazed toward Knuckles, who was now under double the attack. "Power flickies. Oh, you mean they're birds?"

"Yeah. Um, do you think we should call them off?"

"See if they can get the emeralds away from him."

Tails whistled to get the flickies' attention. "Hey guys, get the chaos emeralds away from him!"

"Continue the assault once he is disarmed?"

"No, you'd kill him."

"Okay."

The little birds worked with unbelievable speed. In less than fifty seconds they had taken all seven of the emeralds, deactivated them and dropped them at the feet of their young master. Knuckles felt his power being stripped away and collapsed to the floor, waiting for the inevitable. He fully expected the birds to kill him as soon as he was normal, so it was a relief to find that they abandoned him as soon as he was helpless.

Silence descended over the cave. Tails handed the supers back to Sonic and took possession of the chaos emeralds. The flickies returned to their orbit around Tails's head, and together they stood and watched Knuckles.* * *

I slowly sat up, feeling beaten and tired. My enemies were standing at the other end of the cave, looking like the power team. The glowing bird-things circled Tails's head protectively, all four of them watching me. I noticed Tails was holding my chaos emeralds. Sonic had all the supers, too ... they had finally proven themselves more than a match for me.

I suppose I would have gotten up and fought them until the finish, but something happened that totally twisted my way of thinking inside out and upside down.

The entire Hidden Palace shook, and a rumble echoed through. Earthquake? I jumped to my feet. It came again, knocking dust from the ceiling. I looked suspiciously toward Sonic and Tails, but they were looking around at the walls, bewildered as I.

Then there came a crash from the cavern behind me. Now, if you were not the Guardian of the Floating Island, you would not have known there was a cavern behind me. The entrance had been sealed with a thin lid of stone, and all through our fight I had been careful not to let Sonic hit it. I ran to the wall in desperate silence and kicked a hole right through it. I took down the rest of it with my fists and leaped through.

It was the emerald cave that contained the supers and the Master emerald. One look around revealed the gaping black hole in the wall at the far end of the cave. Someone was in here. I felt a hot fear rush through me. Who? Who was it?

I got my answer as Dr. Robotnik's little utility ship swung up from behind the Master's pedestal. Attached to the bottom was a huge steel clamp. He flashed a triumphant grin at me from under his mustache and hovered over the Master. Was he going to ...?

Yep, he was. I tore across the marble floor. Even as I reached him, the clamp lowered and attached securely to the Master emerald. I bounded up on the pedestal. I felt as if I were being torn in two. Doc had lied. He had lied to me all along! Furiously I attacked the clamp with my fists, screaming at Robotnik every name I could think of. It did no good. There was a sound like rock cracking (I can't tell you what it did to my already enraged system) and the Master emerald, bigger than I was, emerged from its bed of crystals. Ignoring me, Doc turned his ship and began to fly back the way he had come.

I leaped off the pedestal and ran alongside. He couldn't take it away. No! He couldn't! My island would sink! I jumped into the air. My hands caught the smoothly cut edge of the immense gem, and I hung on. If he was going to take the Master, he was taking me, too.

I felt the ship slow and hover in the middle of the cavern. I didn't know what he was doing, but I wasn't going to let go if _I_ could help it.

I didn't see the metallic robot arms emerge from the sides of the ship, although I heard Sonic yell for me to let go. I only felt the needle-sharp tips for an instant as they touched either side of my head; then--I guess he electrocuted me. Everything went violently black, then white. I saw bright stars, colored snow and sparks. After a second or two, I blacked out and fainted.* * *

Knuckles collapsed in a heap on the polished floor. Sonic, still hyper, leaped around him. "Get Robotnik, Tails!" he shouted wildly. "If he gets away we're history!"

Tails commanded the flickies to attack Robotnik's ship, then attacked, himself. Robotnik, seeing the two were both invincible, high- tailed it out of there, back through the hole he had made getting in. They followed as far as they could, but the tunnel ended in a ventilation shaft, and the ship made it up and out.

Crestfallen, Sonic and Tails walked back into the emerald chamber. "Well," Sonic said glumly, "I guess it isn't hidden anymore."

Knuckles was lying where he had fallen. Sonic deactivated himself and knelt beside him. Tails did the same. The flickies' glow faded away, leaving them a deep blue. They perched on one of the super emeralds and looked on in silence.

Sonic felt Knuckles's wrist. "He's alive," he announced glumly. "I guess you could say we caught a minnow, but the big fish got away." His eyes moved to the Master emerald's empty pedestal.

Tails followed his gaze. "Sonic ... are we going to die?"

"No!" Sonic snapped. "Of course not! Just because the Master's gone and Knuckles is out of it, it ... it doesn't mean we're licked." His tone contradicted his words. He lowered his head.

Tails moved over beside him. "It's okay, big bro. We'll call Slash--she'll get us out of here."

Sonic looked up at his friend, tears glazing his eyes. "It's not that, Tails," he said, voice cracking. "I'm not worried about the island going down so much ... it's that we failed! Robotnik got the Master and got away. Even with the supers, I--I couldn't stop him. I'm a poor excuse for a hedgehog if I couldn't even keep him from leaving the room ...!" Sonic closed his eyes and tilted his head downward. Tails didn't know what to say. His friend's sense of defeat was too great.

Knuckles began to come around.* * *

My brain was a whirl of lights, colors and sounds. It seemed I was caught in a whirlpool of noise and couldn't escape. But slowly, steadily, I began to resurface. The sounds corrected themselves first; two voices, Sonic and Tails. Then the lights and colors shakily fell back into their correct places. I was lying on the floor in Hidden Palace. My head hurt on either side, where the charges had entered my body. I felt rather sick.

I lifted my head a little. Sonic and Tails, both quite normal- looking, were seated on the floor beside me. What had happened? I felt as if an eggbeater had been lowered into my brain and turned on. I looked at my former enemies. They looked very solemn, and Sonic's eyes were strangely shiny. Then I looked toward the Master emerald. The pedestal was empty.

In a flash I remembered. An animal-like cry escaped me, and I dragged myself to my hands and knees. Sonic caught my arm. "It's no use," he said flatly. "He's gone."

I sank back. Something within my chest was dying, sinking toward my socks. The island ... the island was doomed. As soon as the Master left the immediate vicinity, it would capsize. I had failed as guardian. The most precious of all the power stones had fallen into the hands of a dangerous enemy ...

But as defeat overwhelmed me, the hatred of Sonic and Tails was vanishing. That red heat I had carried in my heart for so long was fading away. I had been wrong about them. Doc had lied to me about them. And, believing him, I had done terrible things to them.

I had to put things right, somehow. Even if the island was lost. I lifted my head and looked at Sonic and Tails. Tails returned my stare calmly, but Sonic was staring vacantly at the floor. His face reflected everything I was feeling--shock, fear, guilt, helplessness.

"Sonic," I began. Pain flashed through my head, and I closed my eyes a moment. When I opened them again, Sonic and Tails were both looking at me. "You guys," I began again. No pain this time. I continued. "I'm really sorry ..."

"I'm the one who should apologize," Sonic said quietly, dropping his eyes to the floor. "I could have stopped him, and I didn't. I didn't stop him ..."

"You mean _couldn't_," Tails corrected. "Sorry Knux, but we COULDN'T stop him. He was out before we got close."

I guess my face registered how I took that news, for Sonic elbowed Tails viciously.

An awkward moment passed. I gathered my thoughts and spoke them aloud. "I'm sorry. I didn't really believe Doc at first. I somehow thought that maybe he was wrong, at first. I didn't want you to get hurt, really, I didn't." I glanced at Sonic's gloved hands, then at Tails's bandaged shoulder. "Sonic, I didn't mean to ... robotize ... you." It was still a new word back then. "I thought the beam did something else. I'm sorry." I kept my eyes on my folded hands as I said this, then looked up. He was staring at me, but not for the reason I thought.

"Can you un-do it?"

I didn't know, and said so.

His face fell. "Well, I guess this throws a major monkey-wrench in everything. I won't be able to so much as touch a chaos emerald again, ever."

I had felt bad before; that made me feel worse. But before I could say anything, the floor beneath our feet trembled slightly. One of the power birds chirped from nearby, "We must flee this place. The great emerald is now out of our reach."

We jumped to our feet. Tails looked frightened, but Sonic's eyes were dead. He moved slowly, as if his mind were far, far away. "I've killed the island," he murmured. "It's all my fault ..."

"No," I said with a sick feeling, "I'm the one to blame. I should have realized Doc was lying--"

"Look," Tails broke in, "I don't care who's fault it is. Let's get outta here! We don't stand a chance underground!"

He had a point, although I didn't have much to live for once the island sank.

I led them back through the hole in the wall. I felt as if I were moving in a dream--my body was doing the right things, but my head wasn't attached. Some sort of shock, I guess. Maybe exhaustion. Sonic still looked exactly the same--brain-dead, defeated. Tails was carrying the birds on his head and shoulders; guess they had decided to come with us.

We stepped into the small cave with the distant ceiling. I glanced up at the point of light and said, "That's our way out."

They looked up in disbelief. Sonic's beaten attitude didn't change, but Tails was feeling far from whipped. "What do you want us to do? Fly? I can't fly that high."

"Nope. We'll use this." I was trying to be cheerful, but it was rather difficult. Before long I would lose everything. I was beginning to feel sick ... how I imagined the people on the Titanic must have felt.

I knelt on the floor, slipped my fingers through a niche in the stone and tugged. A light wood panel slid aside, revealing the reason the high cave existed. It was a specialized teleporter--a transporter. It would carry us up and out. I reached down along the side of the thick crystal lens and cranked a dial all the way to the right. "There," I said as I stood up. "Now only the sky's the limit."

We joined hands and stepped onto the lens.
Chapter 12
Sky Sanctuary

_____________________________________________________________________

The beam carried the three up, up and up. The cave shot by, then they were out and the island was falling away below. There were in a bubble of complete silence, but all around the beam was a rushing, roaring sound. "Where the heck are we going?" Sonic said, showing a little more interest in life.

"Like I said," Knuckles replied cheerfully, "the sky's the limit." But he stared down at the Floating Island with sadness in his eyes.

A cloud swished by, then another. "We aren't going into orbit, are we?" Tails queried nervously.

Knuckles shook his scarlet head. "Nope. You'll see in a minute."

Another cloud engulfed them, plunging them into grey haziness. "Okay," Knuckles said. "Hang on, you two. We're about to land." He grabbed their hands and gazed upward. Sonic and Tails did the same, noticing that the transporter was slowing down.

"We're not gonna freefall, are we?" Sonic asked.

The echidna looked at him quizzically. "You don't think I'd do all this if I was gonna kill ya, do you?"

The beam faded away suddenly. They were still surrounded by thick grey fog, but they could feel something solid beneath their feet. The air was startlingly cool after being in the warm underground for so long. "Where are we?" Tails asked faintly, holding Sonic and Knuckles's hands for all he was worth. The fog was so thick he could just barely see their outlines.

"Stand still," Knuckles commanded. "The fog will clear in a minute."

"But where are we?" Tails persisted.

"Sky Sanctuary," Knuckles replied.

Slowly the grey walls around them faded to white. Overhead became tinted with blue. Patches appeared, and a faint breeze could be felt as the cloud swept away. In the misty light, they could see they were standing on a yellow brick platform. Moss and creeping vines grew all over, their roots squeezed between the bricks.

"Can we move yet?" Sonic wanted to know.

Knuckles shook his head. "Not yet. It's not safe until you can see the edges of the platform. The guardrails rotted off a long time ago."

A few more minutes passed, and the air grew clearer. Sonic and Tails looked around. The floating platform seemed to be on a level with the clouds. The sky above and around was rapidly becoming the purest shade of blue imaginable. The air was clear and pierced straight to the bottom of their lungs.

Shafts of golden sunlight struck down, intensifying all color, burning away the last of the mist. Sonic noticed Tails's fur looked frosted--each hair was beaded with fine droplets. Sonic and Knuckles were drenched as well.

Wordlessly Knuckles flung his wet hair out of his eyes and walked away. Sonic and Tails glanced at each other, shrugged and followed.

The echidna led them across the broad platform. It was built in segments, and each had a certain amount of flexibility. Because of this, the cloud beneath could somehow support it. A closer look at the clouds all around revealed the other platforms, some narrow, some broad, some sporting the remains of great stone buildings. Everything was covered in moss and slender vines. Somehow, it reminded Sonic of Marble Gardens and Sandopolis ... He doubted that any of it would hold together without the island below supplying the power of the Master emerald.

Knuckles stopped and looked around. They had reached the edge of the platform. Before and below spread the blue-green ocean, the mainland hazy in the distance. Other islands were visible on the horizon. It took the breath away to realize how high they were.

Tails stepped back involuntarily. He looked queasy. "Uh, Sonic," he murmured, "we're like, a looong way up."

Sonic nodded, agreeing. He too stepped back. Knuckles smirked at them, but not unkindly, as he would have before. "Aw, ya get used to it. Watch this."

To their horror, he dove off the edge of the platform. But instead of falling, his thick dreadlocks caught the air like an open umbrella, lifting him through the air. He glided like a hanglider across open space, and landed lightly on a platform several dozen feet away. There he turned, gave them a thumbs-up, then knelt and fiddled with something on the platform. A moment later a thin catwalk thrust out of the cloud beneath him and extended until it locked into their platform. Knuckles beckoned to them.

Sonic inched across first, and was followed by Tails. Neither could keep from staring into the vast depths below their feet. Knuckles, seeing their vertigo, walked out halfway to help them across. "Nothin' to it," he told them as they stepped onto the other platform.

"Right," Sonic replied. "That's easy for you to say."

Cool breezes came wafting across the platform, scented faintly by the moss and greens. It seemed odd to be on a level with the clouds, which smoked up all around. There was something dream-like about it. Knuckles stood with them and looked around. After a moment he said, "I never thanked you guys for helping me out in the Ice Cap. I'd like to do that before I forget."

"Oh, you're welcome," Tails said.

Sonic added, "It was a good thing, too. We wouldn't be here otherwise."

The red echidna looked at them thoughtfully. "You guys wouldn't be hungry, would you?"

Sonic and Tails looked at each other and nodded. "We haven't had anything to eat since ... Mushroom Hill," Sonic said weakly.

Knuckles gave him a pitying look. "Good grief, that was two days ago. Well, come on. I've got something that'll brace you up."

He led them to a low stone building in the center of the stone platform. It was grown over with ivy and moss, but did not look as ruined as the rest of the Sky Sanctuary. They stepped inside. It was about as big as a good-sized shed. Moss padded the floor, and relief carvings adorned the walls. There was nothing else in the building but a tall stone urn in the corner. It was the urn Knuckles was interested in.

He walked to it, lifted the lid and pulled out a dipper. He waved Sonic and Tails forward. "One drink each," he said, filling the dipper and handing it to Sonic.

Sonic took it. It looked like clear water, but his recent adventures had taught him that looks were deceiving. "What is it?" he asked gingerly.

"It's called 'Ent-Wine'," Knuckles replied. "Don't worry, it won't hurt you. It's not alcoholic or anything. Drink it."

Slowly Sonic obeyed. At first it tasted like water, but by the second swallow it was more like liquid gold, or honey. He was reminded of how the woods smelled in springtime, of fresh water, of damp earth after the snow melts. By the time the dipper was empty, he felt like he had eaten a six-course dinner.

Knuckles watched him with a grin. "Good, ain't it?" He filled the dipper again. "Here, Tails. Your turn."

The young fox hesitantly took the dipper, watching Sonic. "What's it taste like?" he asked nervously.

Sonic fondled the taste in his mouth, searching for words. "Like how the Floating Island smelled when we got there."

Tails's ears came forward. "Gosh." He drank slowly, eyes brightening. As he finished, he licked his lips and said, "Boy, I think that was the most exciting thing that's happened to me yet."

Sonic agreed, and Knuckled chuckled. Knux drank a dipperful, himself, then replaced the dipper and closed the urn.

"What was that stuff?" Sonic asked. He felt re-vitalized, such as he hadn't felt since the first day, before the super emeralds. Knuckles shrugged and folded his arms. "Family secret," he said. "We learned it a long time ago. You make it with the emeralds, water and some roots that grow up here. I like to keep some on hand--it's faster than eating. And just as good for you."

They stepped back into the cool outdoors. Knuckles walked to the edge of the platform and looked down. Sonic and Tails joined him. The Floating Island was below, and didn't appear to be sinking at all. "It will, eventually," Knuckles said, as if reading their thoughts. He bowed his head and turned away, but not before Sonic and Tails had seen the raw pain in his eyes.

After a moment they heard him murmur, "I have a confession to make."

"Fire away," Sonic said.

Knux turned to face them, hands dangling limply at his sides. "I stole your bi-plane," he said simply.

Sonic and Tails stared at him. "What did you say?" Sonic blurted.

"I stole it," the echidna repeated. "It didn't burn."

Sonic and Tails looked at each other, then at Knuckles. "Knux, you big creepo," Sonic said, a huge grin creeping across his face. "I never thought I'd thank somebody for stealing something. Where is it?"

Knuckles looked away. "Well, that's the bad news. Doc put it on the Death Egg."

"Oh."

Silence a moment.

Tails said, "Let's go get it."

"Can't," Sonic said glumly. "Last time I boarded it, it was as a stowaway on his cruiser. The thing's impenetrable."

Another pause. The only sound was the sighing of the breeze across the platform.

"There IS a way." Knuckles's eyes were suddenly alight. "I just had a brainwave. Listen. You two can become super and hyper, right?"

"Duh, yeah."

"That means you can both fly."

Sonic and Tails exchanged glances. They were beginning to see his point. "And?" Sonic said.

"And," Knuckles finished, "I'm a complete idiot." He slapped his forehead. "Gee! When Death Egg launches, it goes straight up. It'll come right by us! You guys can hitch a ride easy."

"Is there a way to board from the outside?"

"Sure. You know the docking bay on the eastern side? It's right under the mustache," Knux added with a snicker. "Access is easy through there."* * *

As the three made plans, they were unaware they were being watched. A certain red-eyed robot was perched on a platform three clouds away, watching and listening with his equipment. "Yesss, Knuckles, you ARE an idiot. You are selling them straight into our hands. I would relish killing all three of you." He turned on his internal intercom. "Sir? They are planning to board the battle station. No, not Knuckles. He will remain here, the fool. May I please, please attack him, as soon as the others leave? Thank you, sir. It will be a great honor."* * *

Fifteen minutes later found the intrepid three on the far side of the Sky Sanctuary, watching and listening to the Death Egg launch. Knuckles was correct; it was launched straight up. As they watched the grey sphere rise toward them, they noticed the rocket-flames were a brilliant yellow-green, instead of orange.

"Doc's already using the Master," Knuckles said grimly, clasping his hands behind his back and leaning dangerously out into space. "It's so powerful ..."

"Knux," Sonic said. A horrible thought had just struck him. "Could he use the Master as a laser crystal?"

Knuckles whirled, all the blood drained from his face. "Don't even say it!"

"But could he?" Sonic persisted, alarmed at Knuckles's behavior. "He could build some powerful doomsday weapons, couldn't he?"

Knuckles turned away. "You don't understand," he growled into the cool air. "If he builds any, it will be using MY blueprints."

"You--you mean YOU--"

"Yeah." The echidna turned back, eyes dark with anger at himself. "_I_ designed weapons for him. Doomsday weapons. I was just playing around, 'cause I knew he'd need a power source like the Master emerald to make them work. But now he had one. So if he takes over Mobius, it'll be MY fault. _I_ helped him!"

His voice was abruptly drowned out by the roar of rocket-engines. They turned. Death Egg, silver and sinister, was slowly rising above the clouds. Sonic watched it silently, body rigid. As soon as speech was possible again, he snarled, "No Knux, it will be MY fault. I'm gonna go up there and get the Master back. If I fail, it will be because I will have died trying."

He looked at his sidekick. "Tails, you can stay here if you want."

Tails shook his head emphatically. "No way! I've toughed it out this far. I'm stickin' it 'til the end."

"Good. Ya got grit, kiddo."

Sonic turned to Knuckles and thrust out a hand. "Thanks for helpin' us, Knux. I guess this is goodbye."

Knuckles shook his hand, noticing the difference in their hand sizes. "Thanks for being on my side, even if I don't deserve it. And this is my goodbye, too. If--when you get back--" he swallowed. "--and I'm not around, you'll know that Doc retaliated. He never lets a traitor survive."

Sonic slowly withdrew his hand. "You mean we might never see each other again?"

"Right, buddyroe. I won't have much to live for, anyhow, once the island goes down." Again, the deep grief flashed through the echidna's eyes. Sonic saw and felt a sharp pang. His new-found friend might soon lose everything, possibly even his life. He patted the echidna on the back. "Maybe it won't go down."

Knuckles looked at him dully. "What's gonna keep it up?"

Sonic looked down and didn't answer.

Knuckles pushed him gently. "Get a move on, you two. Death Egg won't stay there forever."

Sonic nodded, the glanced at Tails. Tails stepped forward and held out the chaos emeralds. "Here, Knux. We both run off the supers."

Knuckles shook his head. "No. Look at what happened last time I took them. Besides, the supers can't supply double power for very long. Don't lose them, now."

Sonic and Tails charged up as Knuckles watched. Just as before, Sonic became hyper and Tails super. The power flickies (who had flown away into the Sky Sanctuary when they arrived) returned to be his guardians. Together they waved goodbye to Knuckles, then soared off toward the imposing Death Egg.* * *



A pair of crescent red eyes watched the glowing specks recede into the distance. "Once they are too far away to hear his screams, I will act," the robot muttered. "Prepare to die with your island, Knuckles."* * *

A pair of green eyes were also watching Sonic and Tails out of sight. "You befriended Knuckles at last," she murmured. "And Metal Sonic is all set to kill him." She turned to face the place the robot was hiding. "You may try, Mecha, but anyone who attacks my friends will pay the price. MY price."
Chapter 13
Death Egg
___________________________________________________________________



Sonic and Tails located the docking bay Knuckles had spoken of. It was far down the ship's side; almost underneath. They landed cautiously, found a door, electrocuted the lock and stepped in.

They entered a long, narrow corridor between exposed machinery. Most of it was running; pistons going up and down, wheels and bars turning rapidly, nameless things moving in and out. The air reeked of grease and exhaust. "Decharge!" Sonic called over the racket. "I wouldn't mind taking this mess down, but we have to find the Master emerald."

Tails obeyed. The flickies faded into their natural blue and flew out the open exit door. "Frankly," Tails said, watching them go, "I like being invincible."

Sonic's multi-colored glow faded to indigo. "I know," he agreed, "but it has its disadvantages. Let's go."

They cautiously made their way down the narrow avenue, stepping around turning gears and ducking under great swaths of hanging cable. After fifty or sixty feet they came to a heavy door in a thick frame, such as those found in submarines. It took both of them to turn the big wheel and open it.

On the other side was a huge open space with a catwalk leading across it. Sonic ventured out a few steps, scanning for danger. But there was nothing but space. They had entered the core section of the Death Egg.

It was a monstrous spherical hollow, the sides studded with lights, catwalks, doorways, machinery, windows and framing. A massive metal pillar pillar soared up the center, supporting the inside of the ship. The pillar was probably more than a hundred feet in diameter. About halfway up was a section with brightly lit windows. "Nerve center," Sonic said to Tails, his voice echoing in the vast cavern. "Ten to one that's where the Master is."

A tiny security camera on the walkway railing rotated and focused on the two. Neither noticed it. It followed their movements as they walked on by. A light on its side began to flash, signalling a certain robot.

"Yeah," Sonic was saying thoughtfully, "I saw this open place last time, but I didn't cross it. I think I was in that side, over there."

"Well, _I_ don't like this place," Tails said. "It's freaky. Too big to be a ship. Too big, period. Can we fly out to the pillar and get the Master?"

"Nope," Sonic shook his head. "Only way to get in there is to climb up inside of it. C'mon. I want to see if we can find the bi- plane."

They crossed the catwalk, their feet clanking on the metal grating. They came to a doorway, stepped through and began to pick their way down the hallway. Doors were set at regular intervals all the way down its length. The lights were few, turning the corridor into a long, dim, cave-like place.

Sonic watched the names of the doors as they went by. "Engine 25C," he read aloud. "Engine 25B. Fuel. Robot Maintenance. Engine 25A. Hanger." Sonic stopped and touched Tails's good arm. "Hanger. That's where they keep planes and stuff, little bro!"

"Cool!" Tails said, eyes lighting up. "Let's go in!"

"Right," Sonic replied. He twisted the doorknob and pulled the door open.

Glaring at them from the darkened hall beyond were a pair of red- crescent eyes.

Sonic tried to slam the door shut, but Metal Sonic caught it halfway. He swung it open as the fox and hedgehog backed away. "We meet again," the robot purred softly. "But this time you will not escape so easily."

"Oh yeah?" Sonic challenged. "You'll hafta catch us first. Run, Tails!" He grabbed his friend's good arm in his steel hand and was off like a shot.

"You will not escape as easily as that!" Mecha roared after them.

Tails felt his feet touch the floor once in a while, such as when Sonic took a sharp turn and had to decelerate. He could not see how his friend kept from tripping or hitting a wall. After a close brush with a protruding pipe, Tails shouted, "All right, all right! Put me down-- you're gonna kill me!"

Sonic slowed, looking behind them. "Okay," he panted, "I don't think he followed us. You okay?"

Tails stood, pulled away and rubbed his arm. "Man, you have no feeling in your hands. I'll bet I get a bruise the size of a grapefruit from that."

Sonic opened his hand and looked at it witheringly. "I can't help it, little bro. This stupid metal--"

"Actually, it is very intelligent metal."

They whipped around. Metal Sonic was standing in the passage behind them, arms folded. Somehow he had crept up without them hearing. "In fact," he continued, "you would be much more useful if you were both robotized. And Sssonic, your condition is permanent, so get used to it."

Sonic's hands curled into fists, but otherwise he did not stir.

"You are trapped here. All exits have been sealed. You will die unless you surrender."

"And if we surrender," Sonic growled, "we die. Not much choice there."

"Correct. Which do you wish?"

"Delay my answer. Tails, we are up, over and gooonne!"

The two fled down the passage. This time Mecha pursued them openly, red eyes bright with anger. They could hear as he radioed for reinforcements.

"I don't think this was such a good idea," Tails panted to Sonic as they ran.

Sonic cast a glance over his shoulder. "What else was I supposed to do, give up? Not in a million years!"

"Do you think he was lying--you know, about this place being sealed?"

"I donno, but I'm pretty sure we're gonna need the bi-plane to get away."

Two hallways later they were forced to stop by three big robots, who were standing in the middle of the hallway, guns aimed and ready. Sonic recognized them as the 'SWAT-bots' they had seen in Flying Battery's construction bay. For the first time they head their war-cry: "NUMBER-ONE PRIORITY HEDGEHOG! APPREHEND!"

"Go back!" Sonic yelled, spinning around.

"But what about Metal Sonic?" Tails cried.

"I'll mow him down. Come ON!"

They tore down the corridor, alert to the clanking of the SWAT- bots' feet on the smooth metal floor. Laser blasts began to flash by them, striking the ground and walls. "I can see the headlines now," Tails said, gasping every few words. "Sonic Hedgehog and Tails Prower found dead--shot in the back. Speculation of cowardice--"

"This isn't cowardice!" Sonic retorted. "This is saving our skins!"

Metal Sonic appeared ahead as he rounded a corner. Tails moved next to the wall, while Sonic threw himself into a spin and shot forward. He collided with the robot head-on. Metal Sonic was thrown backward and sent skidding across the floor. He finally came to rest, the robot equivalent of stunned. Sonic and Tails jumped around him and ran on, scott-free.* * *

"Sonic, where are we?"

The two stopped and looked around. They had been wandering down the hallways for ages, trying to find he hanger door Mecha had chased them from. None of the door names looked familiar. They had come to a gigantic, thick-glassed window that looked out into the core section of the Death Egg. They certainly had never seen THAT before. This is why Tails brought up his nervous question. Sonic had no idea, but was not about to admit they were lost. "We're almost to the hanger," he said, crossing his fingers behind his back and hoping it were true. "This is a shortcut."

Believing him, Tails meekly fell into step beside him as they set out again.* * *

Robotnik was engaged in analyzing the crystal structure of the Master Emerald when his communicator beeped. Concentration focused on the computer, he didn't notice until it had beeped twice more. Distractedly he picked it up and flicked it on. "Yeah? This had better be important."

"Doctor," came Metal Sonic's voice, "S-Son--my rival and his companion have escaped and are somewhere in the Death Egg."

That got Ivo's attention. "What? How did THEY get here?"

"Crept aboard is my guess, sir."

"What about Knuckles? Did you kill him as I wished?"

"Nearly, Doctor. His vital signs were very low, so I brought him here. He is in one of the prison cells. I figured we could try out the robotizer prototype on him."

Robotnik looked at the computer screen thoughtfully. "I programmed you to show no mercy."

"That was not mercy, sir." The robot was personally insulted. "I will show you what I mean when you give me your permission to use him as a guinea pig."

Robotnik waved a hand, as if Metal Sonic were in the room. "Do with him as you wish, but I want him dead afterward. No traitor against me has ever lived very long, and I intend to keep it that way."

"Very well, Doctor. It will give me great pleasure."

The comm clicked off, and Robotnik returned his attention to the Master emerald.* * *

"Intruders! Halt!" Two laser blasts hit the wall a few feet from Tails's head.

"Yipes!" the fox shrieked, whirling. "Sonic, we've got company!"

A whole gang of SWAT-bots were pelting toward them, weapons ready.

"No kidding!" Sonic yelped. "Let's get outta here!"

The hedgehog and fox ran down the dim hall. Laser blasts flashed by, striking everywhere but their intended targets. "Lucky for us they're such rotten shots," Sonic muttered.

Tails looked back. "Uh oh, not for long. Mecha just joined the troops."

Sonic tossed a glance over his shoulder. Sure enough, the blue robot had appeared out of nowhere and was leading the pack.

A few lasers were fired that merited ducking. Metal Sonic was deadly serious about the chase, but had not had much target practice. He was still learning how to think like an assassin.

"Oh great, what's THAT?" Tails asked, beginning to pant. Sonic looked. Ahead of them, standing in the middle of the hall and waiting, was a large figure. Sonic's footsteps faltered in indecision, then strengthened again. "Just keep going," he panted to his sidekick. "It won't stop us."

A second later they flashed past it. Tails looked back. "Look, it's distracting the robots! It's leading them off!"

Sonic looked back, too, then laughed out loud. The thing had ducked tough a side door, and all the SWAT-bots followed it. Incidentally, so did Metal Sonic.

"That was Slasher!" Sonic exclaimed, slowing. "What's she doing here?"

"Saving our skins," Tails replied, and sighed with relief. "Man, I thought we were toast."

They slowed to a walk, looking around warily.

"Think she'll keep 'em occupied very long?" the young fox asked.

Sonic shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Never can tell with Mecha. Let's find someplace to hide."

On impulse they turned down a hallway marked 'engines'. "Lotsa obstacles," Sonic said hopefully. "Let's hope they assume we wouldn't be dumb enough to go in here."

Tails shot him a sharp glance. "Dumb enough? We're not gonna jump down the engine core or something, are we?"

The blue hedgehog waved a hand. "Naw. We'll just hide somewhere. C'mon, before we get spotted."

The hall brought them to a very large room that dropped down at least two hundred feet. A narrow metal walkway and staircase zig-zagged down one wall, like a fire escape. The two started down, peering curiously over the railing at the machinery below. It was quite noisy; hissing, clanking, the roar of gigantic engines. There was a door at each level of the staircase--engine 1, 1A, 2, 2A--

The two made it halfway down before there came a shout, and a laserblast bounced off the wall to their right. It ricocheted around the room several times before going out. Sonic and Tails dropped flat until it had vanished, then looked around. Two worker bots, apparently on guard, stood on another walkway across the room. One was carrying a deadly-looking blaster rifle.

Sonic jumped up and turned to the usual engine door on their platform. "In there, kiddo! We're gonna get killed if we stay in here!" He yanked the door open and they leaped through, failing to read the sign on the door. It said, 'Circle Gravity-Engine 3-B.'

The first thing they noticed was the deafening roar and the blue- grey light. The next thing they noticed was that they were flying forward with no way to stop. The wall coming at them was not a wall at all, but a spinning circular fan, like those in jet-engines. It had to be a hundred feet across. They shot toward it, but about ten feet from the blades, a massive gust of air struck them. They were hurled back toward the door they had entered by.

The entire room was turning clockwise around a huge rod up the center. It was not square, but cylindrical. They did not fall downward-- 'down' had been switched to the giant fan to their right. The door they had come in by was now 'up'. The gravity was confusing, the noise was confusing, and the rotating motion of the thing they were in was confusing.

Sonic finally succeeded in catching Tails's arm as they passed in the air. Tails looked ill. He came near to losing his lunch every time he neared the sharp fan blades. "What is this?" he shouted over the noise.

"Gravity generator!" Sonic yelled back. "It's gotta shut down for us to get out!"

"Won't we hit the fan?" Tails cried, even as they hit the air barrier and bounced horizontally, or 'up'.

"No!" Sonic replied loudly. "Down is that way, remember?"

"How do we shut it down from inside?"

"I donno! I REALLY don't want to go hyper in here! Let's see if we can find something!"

They bounced around for a while, studying the walls and and rotating rod in the center. Sonic finally spotted a small panel hanging open on the rod, near the center of it. Wires and circuits were exposed beneath. After several tries, he finally managed to grab the edge's opening. He hung sideways by one hand, and with the other reached inside, clamped his metal fingers around the electronic hardware and yanked.

It must have been vital. Sonic was shocked violently, muscles locked, unable to let go. The rotating cylinder around them ground to a halt, the roar of the machinery rising to a deafening scream. Sonic could do nothing. He was frozen in place, unable to make a sound or free himself.

Gravity change. He had no idea which way was up anymore, so it was a shock to make a right angle turn and hang in THAT direction. It jerked his hands out of the wiring, and he free-fell twenty feet to what had been the wall. He collapsed onto the rough metal surface and closed his eyes, muscles trembling.

The hedgehog lay there for a few minutes, unmoving. He was aroused by the faint clanking of footsteps. Tails knelt beside him. "Sonic? Are- are you okay?" Sonic hadn't the strength to reply, which frightened his sidekick. "Sonic! You're not dead, are you? Oh Sonic--"

"Tails," Sonic growled, irritated. His speaking apparatus didn't seem to work very well, but he slurred, "I'm alright, so gimmeuhminit ..."

Tails gave a sigh of relief and sat back on his heels, waiting.

It took Sonic some time to recover. The prolonged electric shock had drained him of all energy, and his muscles seemed turned to jelly. He had just made it to a sitting position and was resting with his forehead on his knees, when voices startled them.

"Master, there they are!"

"Wait! Do not go in there. I will go in myself and drive them to you." The voices echoed in the vast tube. Sonic and Tails turned. Metal Sonic glared at them from the doorway they had entered by. Three SWAT- bots stood behind him.

Tails tapped Sonic's shoulder nervously. "Sonic, we'd better get out of here. Mecha's gonna eat our lunch."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. Help me up."

Tails took his hand and pulled him to his feet. Sonic took two steps, buckled and sank to one knee. His legs would not support him; they burned and throbbed as if his veins were filled with liquid flame. He moaned involuntarily, glanced back at the robot, who was climbing down into the generator, and forced himself to his feet.

Tails was almost dancing, eyes on their enemy. "Hurry, Sonic, hurry! We gotta run--"

"I can't run!" Sonic nearly shouted in frustration. "Tails, you hafta help me. My legs don't work right!"

The fox took his hand, sobered. "You can't run?"

"No! You have to help me until my legs get strong again. Hurry up, already!"

They both looked at Metal Sonic. The robot was pacing toward them like a lion in an arena. "Run," Sonic commanded flatly. "I can move if you'll steady me."

Tails looked around wildly. "Where the heck do I run to?"

Sonic turned and pointed to the huge fan, which was now stopped and quiet. "There. We can get out through the blades. Now run, dummy!"

It was perhaps the hardest thing Sonic had ever attempted to do. Tails's hand kept him upright, but he lifted and placed each foot by sheer willpower. Each step was agony, and his body cried out for him to stop. He bit his lip fiercely against the pain. Mecha was gaining on them--Tails was not half the runner his crippled friend was.

The huge fan rose before them, hundreds of thin blades glinting in the dim light. The center was attached to the monstrous rod that supported the center of the engine, now high above. Tails slowed, helped Sonic over the low ledge that formed the edge of the fan, then looked back. Mecha was only fifty feet away and closing fast, eyes burning dangerously.

They forced and wiggled their way through a gap in the blades, surprised at how wide they really were. Sonic held himself up and fought his way though the narrow slit without help, but once on the other side, Tails again had to take his hand.

They found themselves in a huge exhaust pipe, bigger in diameter than the generator had been. Fortunately, there was a door in the far side. It seemed to take years to cross the vast open space. By the time they made it to the far side, Metal Sonic had succeeded in clawing his way through the fan and was again running toward them.

It was then they discovered the door was locked securely.

"Sonic," Tails said helplessly, "you have to become hyper. We're trapped, no question."

Sonic nodded. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but it was better than being captured and wrested of the chaos and super emeralds.

Wordlessly he pulled out two super emeralds and clashed them together.

His blue flashed to a hot myriad of colors, and the bursts of excess energy appeared. His glow was startling against the grey twilight of the pipe. Metal Sonic stopped short and began to back away. He was not foolish enough to challenge Hyper Sonic.

Sonic stood still, feeling the pain drain from his limbs. Invincibility was a wonderful thing; maybe his body would have recovered by the time he decharged. He had no idea how long he was to remain hyper that day ...

He assaulted the door, wrested it from its hinges and and tossed it aside. He motioned Tails inside, waved a sarcastic goodbye to Metal Sonic, and disappeared into the dark passage.* * *

A hunt/chase developed. Sonic, made reckless by faith in his invincibility, fought and destroyed dozens of SWAT-bots. Tails lived in an agony of suspense, never knowing when the next attack would come. Sonic didn't let him use the chaos emeralds for fear the flickies would cause major damage to the Death Egg before the Master emerald had been secured.

The chase went on for hours. Sonic and Tails fled through engine rooms, robot factories, guardstations, and spent quite a while lost in the weapons-factory wing. There they found a set of gigantic guns, all of which needed the Master emerald as a laser crystal. Doomsday weapons all.

After a while Metal Sonic dropped out of the chase. They didn't know where he went or why, but knew he must be up to no good. Only the SWAT-bots kept up the chase.

Then Robotnik put his oar in.

Hyper Sonic and Tails ducked into a small empty room to catch their breaths. They heard the robotic voices of their enemies in the hall outside for a while, but the robots eventually wandered off.

"Safe now," Tails panted.

"Not while we're here," Sonic corrected. "This stupid battlestation is crawling with traps. And robots." He looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I think if we leave this hallway and turn right, we'll--" He broke off and stared at the grid ceiling.

Tails, noticing, looked up as well. "Huh?"

Sonic moved forward and reached up. "Hey Tails, look. See how this seam right here runs up to here, then across, then down, the back across--" Experimentally he pushed on the square. To their surprise, it lifted quite easily. It was a hidden trapdoor. "Cool," Sonic remarked. "I take back what I said before. We'll get out through here."

He gave it a shove. The panel flipped up and clanked against the floor above. Sonic jumped up through it and looked around, braced up on his elbows. Tails saw him freeze and catch his breath. "What?" the fox demanded. "Is it Mecha?"

Sonic climbed up out of the hole and stood beside it, staring around him. "Nope," he replied after a moment. "It's the hanger. Give me your hand--I'll pull you up."

Tails took Sonic's hand and scrambled out onto the floor. Then he too stared.

Like everything else on the Death Egg, the hanger was enormous. Easily the size of a football stadium, the ceiling was so high it was almost out of sight. The west wall was a solid glass door from floor to ceiling. Outside was a very large landing platform, almost a runway. Also outside, they could see something that gave them sudden vertigo.

They were on a level with Mobius's atmosphere. Black, star- studded space spread out above, and Mobius, sapphire blue, vivid brown and green, laced with white streamers they knew to be clouds, lay below.

"If we jumped now," Sonic said grimly, "we'd be meteors by the time we hit the ground. I only hope Slasher got out of here before we got so high."

Tails was more concerned with their predicament. "Could we get out of here as super and hyper?"

Sonic nodded. "Probably. I'm not too worried about us. But the Master emerald--" here he turned and gazed into the hanger. Tails did the same.

A vast assortment of attack ships met their eyes. They were parked in neat rows near the walls, silent and waiting. The two approached them for a closer look.

The ships were nearly trademarked--Knuckles had obviously designed some, and Robotnik others. Some resembled fighter jets, others closer to flying saucers, and a few were so bizarre as to defy description. These were the fast, expensive fighters, all bearing heavy defense shields and vicious weaponry.

"You know," Sonic said, hands on his hips, "I could destroy all these. But I don't think I will."

"Why not?" asked Tails, who was crouched over a jet's canopy, looking into the cockpit.

"Two reasons," Sonic said, with the air of a know-it-all teacher. "One, they might blow up big. Two, those explosions might hurt the bi-plane."

Tails's head snapped up. "What?"

Sonic walked up to a tarp-covered object and flipped one corner back with a flourish. Underneath was the silver wing and bright scarlet side of none other than their stolen plane.

Tails came running, eyes bright. "You found it! How'd you know it was under there?"

The two pulled the yellow tarp off, and Sonic replied, "I'd know its shape anywhere. And what a place for it!" He jumped up on the top wing, which was specially insulated so his power would not affect the machinery. His eyes swept it from nose to tail, missing nothing. Aside from a little dust, it seemed untouched. "If Robotnik put one scratch on this baby," he growled fiercely, "I'm gonna sweep the floor with his mustache." He nearly decharged himself so as to check the engines, but checked himself. He didn't want to risk the chance that he might not have recovered from his electric shock. Instead, he waved Tails into the cockpit.

The young fox vaulted into the seat with the ease of long routine. He adjusted the controls and started the engines. "Everything's the way we left it," he reported, "but the fuel's one notch lower."

"Probably from Knux taking it," Sonic said, lightening up. "Good. We'll be able to get it out of here--as soon as we get a little lower, that is." He glanced toward the big glass door as space beyond. Then he gasped. "Oh my gosh. Tails, look!"

The fox stood up in the cockpit and looked. He too gasped in horror.

Outside on the runway were two giant feet. These were connected to two giant legs, a massive torso, huge arms--Their eyes travelled on up to the head. One eye was back, tinted glass--the cockpit. The other was a mass of machinery. The metal mustache confirmed the robot as Robotnik's likeness. It was framed in the glass doorway, four stories tall.

"Tails," Sonic said quietly, "get out of the plane and become super. When that door opens all the air will be sucked out."

Tails obeyed, wondering how Sonic knew the door would open.

The flicky birds appeared out of nowhere, as usual. The lead bird looked around the hanger with a destructive eye and asked if his young master would like all the machines destroyed. "No," Tails said shortly. "See the big robot outside? That's the target, as soon as the doors open."

"Look," another flicky chirped, "it's Robozilla."

"But there's no air this high," another began. It was interrupted by a clank and a whirr. The glass paneled door began to rise.

Sonic grabbed Tails and held him as the air rushed out the door with a roar of wind. It tugged at their bodies with impossibly strong force, attempting to suck them out the door. Sonic, protected thoroughly by the supers, felt no ill effects. Tails, however, was only partially protected by the chaos emeralds. The air was ripped from his lungs, and the air pressure changed wreaked havoc on his eardrums. He gasped, struggled a little, then went limp in Sonic's arms.

"Tails?" Sonic said in horror. "What happened? Tails!" No answer. The fox lay senseless in his arms, the glow in his body slowly dimming.

"He will be dead in a few seconds," the lead flicky said impassively. "You must bond the emeralds to save him."

"What?" Sonic said, panicking. "How do I do that?"

The chaos emeralds, rotating around Tails, were slowing down.

"Take your super emeralds and hold them inside the orbit of the chaos," the flicky explained.

Sonic hurriedly pulled out his supers and thrust the handful inside the chaos emeralds' circle.

There was a powerful flash of light. Tails was torn from Sonic's grasp in the explosion. Sonic was thrown to the floor on his back. He bounded to his feet almost instantly, and beheld a strange sight.

Tails was just sitting up a few feet away, gasping and dazedly shaking his head. The chaos emeralds were not orbiting him only--they looped around him, flashed through the air, went around Sonic, and back again. The bright sparks of energy that had flamed from Sonic were now flaming from both of them. The flickies soared back and forth between them.

Sonic went to his friend and helped him to his feet. "Are you okay, little bro? I thought I'd lost you."

Tails rubbed one ear. "I'm okay now, I think. I couldn't breathe. It was like my brain shut down. Hey, what's with the emeralds?"

The lead bird heard him and said, "In atomic terms, this is called 'covalent bond'. Two atoms bond by sharing the electrons in their orbits. The chaos emeralds, incidentally, do the same when brought into contact with the supers. The two of you together have achieved ultra powers. Travel through the sun itself would not harm you. Oh, by the way--do you want to do something about Robozilla over there?"

Indeed, the giant stood waiting, Dr. Robotnik himself in the cockpit. As they gazed at it, it lifted one foot and moved forward heavily. "Sonic," Tails said, "don't let him come in here. He might hurt the bi-plane."

"Yeah," Sonic agreed. "C'mon, mister ultra-Tails. I don't think we can get very far apart during this ... 'covalent bond'."

The two took off. Tails found himself able to move as effortlessly as Sonic and just as quickly. He could not help but feel a twinge of fear as they neared the monstrous robot. He didn't trust the emeralds. He had been super and yet nearly suffocated. No matter what the power flickies said, he was taking no chances.

Sonic, on the other hand, was ready to take every chance he got. If he was mondo invincible now, then he could test the robot's defences without fear.

"Can't tell you to split up," Sonic called to Tails, "so come with me. I wanna get a look at the engine housing."

"Be careful!" Tails said. "It's a little bigger than we're used to."

"Duh."

They cut sharply right thirty feet from the boss's feet and circled it. The head turned to follow their movement with its one black eye, giving the uncanny impression it was alive. The engines, unfortunately, were built inside the robot's chest. Only the vents on the underside of its torso gave a clue as to where they were. They circled it again, looking up at it curiously. Its armor was at least three feet thick.

"I don't see any weak spots," Sonic said, discouraged. "If there were only a way to get inside ... Tails, fly with me. I want to get higher up."

The fox spun his double tails obediently, and kept up easily when Sonic bounded into the air and soared upward. On level with the chest, they again circled it, then moved closer and looked at the head. No weaknesses. They landed on it and walked around, trying to electrocute it, but the robot was insulated from their attack. It was too big.

They landed on the runway a ways away from it. All this time the only move the bot had made was to turn its head. They decided that it was too big and heavy to pose any real threat. Sonic scratched his head in bewilderment. "I don't know what we're gonna do, little bro. We're like ants trying to threaten an elephant."

Tails nodded. "But there's gotta be a weakness. There always is. Hey birds," he addressed the glowing flickies, "any suggestions?"

"Yes," one chirped. "Watch out!"

A monstrous metal hand smashed down inches away from Sonic and Tails, shaking the entire platform. They leaped back with a surprised yelp. The boss had extended its hand on a long thick pole from its wrist. Now it lifted it and withdrew. They could almost see Robotnik's sneer in the robot's face.

"Overconfidence is your weakness," the lead flicky remarked to Sonic. "You forget to be on guard. This is your intelligent, scheming enemy we're facing. It would help to be on your toes."

Sonic glanced at Tails, who nodded. "I'll watch, too, Sonic. Look, here comes the other hand. Think we could break it off?"

Sonic watched the heavy metal hand slowly extend toward them. "Sure. I seem to remember another ship with hands and arms--it got you last time. Dual attack as soon as it comes down. Ready ..."

The massive hand crashed down. Ultra Sonic and Tails dodged like lightning, then pounced on the hand before it could pull away. Tails was surprised to find himself strong enough to grasp two metal panels and rip them off. Sonic noticed and approved. "Get the fingers, little bro. I'll get the rod."

He flung himself into a spindash and crashed into the thick, greasy pole. His own strength had been doubled by the bond, and he was able to smash it in half with only four hits.

The other hand was already extending. When Robotnik saw what they had done he tried to retract it, but it was too late. Sonic and Tails attacked, and soon the other hand was dislocated and lying on the runway, smoking. They gave each other a high five as the boss loaded its next weapon round.

Sonic and Tails turned to face the boss again, only to see all four flickies abandon them and take off toward it. "Wait!" Tails began, but Sonic touched his arm. "No, look."

A gigantic panel had slid aside in the robot's chest, revealing delicate machinery--and the biggest laser either had ever seen. The lens was four feet across, and a deep green.

"Sonic," Tails said softly. "It's the Master emerald on end."

Sonic stared. It was true--the emerald was on its side, smooth top facing outward. As they watched, it began to glow a hot neon green. "Not only that," Sonic said, "but it works, too. Start running. Even as ultra, I wouldn't want to get hit with that thing."

They took off, zig-zagging and dodging around the runway, eyes fixed on the Master emerald/laser. It charged until it was nearly too bright to look at, then fired a monstrous green beam. It missed, of course, but it burned a ten-foot circle in the runway. Then the panel closed over the laser, and the flickies returned and again circled Sonic and Tails.

"What'd you guys do?" Sonic asked.

"Checked things out," one replied. "It'll fire again. The Master is the heart of the whole machine. If you can get in and break the Master out of the machinery, the robot will die. We'll help you as much as we can."

Sonic gave them and Tails a thumbs-up. "Good. Now we have something to go on. C'mon!"

First the robot moved forward several steps and blasted a huge fireball at them from the guns in its' 'nose'. Sonic, Tails and the flickies stood still and let it pass over them. The flame could not penetrate the emerald bond or invincibility, Tails was relieved to see.

The chest panel opened again. "Now!" Sonic yelled. He and Tails bounded forward, leaped into the air and flew into the chest cavity. It was narrow and cramped, so Sonic went down on his belly and wormed his way in. Everything was hot and reeked of grease and oil. A hot green light shown from the Master emerald. He worked his way alongside it and examined the steel framework about it. Then he yelled, "Birds, get in here!"

Somehow, all four obeyed.

"I'm gonna pull this bar like this," he said, demonstrating. "You get in and pull those three clamps back. That should get it away from the light source. Ready, set, go!" He pulled the support rod back, releasing the clamps. The flickies jumped in and yanked the clamps back. The Master emerald settled to one side, loose. Sonic set his feet against it and kicked.

Tails, hovering outside, was just in time to catch the heavy gem as it popped out. It was too big for him to carry, so he brought it to the ground as best as he could without dropping it. Sonic jumped down beside him, literally glowing with elation. The flickies followed close behind. Sonic turned the gem this way and that before finding a way to carry it. He lifted it, grunting, and said, "Might as well be a boulder. C'mon Tails, let's get out of--"

He was interrupted as the towering mountain of metal above gave a groan and began to topple forward. "RUN!" a flicky shrieked. Sonic and Tails dashed sideways in time to avoid the monster's fall. The metallic crash was deafening as it sprawled headlong, covering most of the runway like a felled tree. As soon as silence resumed, Tails said, "All right, where'd Robotnik go?"

Indeed, a door in the back of the robot's head was standing open. They looked around suspiciously.

"Sssonic ..."

They whirled. Metal Sonic appeared, walking toward them from the direction of the hanger. He had something--it looked like a piece of glass--clenched in one hand. Sonic folded his arms. This robot was nothing compared to the one they had just defeated. "Hiya, Mecha. Where've you been? Ya just missed all the fun."

"On the contrary," the robot replied, red eyes glittering savagely, "that was merely the intro. The show has just started. For instance." He lifted the thing he was holding above his head. "I hold in my hands a fragment of the Master emerald."

Sonic cast a glance at the gem beside him. His eyes fell on the pointed end--the three inches of the tip had been cleanly shaved off. He returned his gaze to the robot, horrified.

Metal Sonic nodded. "You understand. And soon you shall see!"

He clashed one metal hand against the bit he held. His metal hull began to glow a dull yellow, like molten gold.

"Fool," the lead flicky said evenly. "That power is not meant for a machine. Sonic, you must take the fragment from him. It could be the cause of much evil."

Sonic looked at Tails. The young fox nodded, eyes burning. "Let's get him."

They attacked. Mecha deflected their blows easily, for he was invincible. He looked toward the Master emerald, alone and exposed on the runway, and laughed. He was a decoy. He would hold their attention until Robotnik had picked up the Master, then flee the two.

The armored freighter was nearly silent. It swooped down unnoticed, scooped up the huge gem and took off into the airless sky.

Seeing this, Metal Sonic broke away from his attackers, pelted to the edge of the runway and hurled the green fragment over. It fell, shimmering like a raindrop for an instant, then was gone. Bewildered, Sonic and Tails stared at him. "You two are very stupid," he told them smugly. "Where is the Master now?"

They turned and saw it was missing.

Neither noticed the robot calmly enter the hanger, climb into one of the little jets, fire it up, and roar away. They had tore to the edge of the runway and were staring after the departing freighter.

Abruptly Sonic turned to his sidekick. "Tails, I'm going to unbond us. You go back and get the plane out of here. I'm going after Robotnik. I'm not losing out now. Not after coming this far."

"Sonic," Tails said apprehensively, "I can't breathe out here. We can't unbond."

"We can create an oxygen shield around you," a flicky said. "But Sonic, don't unbond here. Please, not here!" The other birds echoed him.

"Why not?" Sonic said impatiently, staring after the vanishing ship.

"Because it releases a tremendous amount of energy! Don't do it here--"

"We've got to do it sometime," Sonic said crossly. "Put your shield around Tails and tell me when you're ready."

Reluctantly the flickies began to whirl around Tails's head. When they were a yellow blur, one said, "Okay, we're ready."

Sonic snatched a chaos emerald from its orbit and clashed it against a super.

The resulting explosion was best compared to a nuclear bomb, or a volcanic eruption. Sonic was blasted spinning out into space, where he righted himself and tore after Robotnik, hyper. Tails was hurled in the other direction and landed on the hanger floor.

True to their word, the flickies had created an air shield around the young fox. He picked himself up, winded but unhurt. As he did he heard the sound. It was a horrible mechanical shriek, as if every machine in the Death Egg were running down. It wasn't until artificial gravity slanted sideways did Tails understand--the explosion had been so big it had damaged everything in the battlestation. He ran for the bi- plane, staggering on the floor that now felt as if it were pitched up at a 45 degree angle. As he did, he thought of something--wouldn't he fry the machinery?

"Birds," he panted, "can you drop my energy output so I won't hurt the bi-plane?"

"Yes," one flicky said slowly. "But it will have grievous consequences."

"Just do it," said Tails. His glow dimmed accordingly as he vaulted into the cockpit. He fired up the little plane, thankful that they had had the engines and fuel line pressurized, so an airless altitude wouldn't hurt them.

He taxied out onto the runway, drove around the fallen boss robot, gunned the flamejets, and took to the airless sky.

He never would have made it if not for the flickies. They moderated the power of the chaos emeralds, while maintaining the bubble of air around the young fox. What they didn't mention was that this was the breath from their own bodies.

As the altimeter dropped from 55 miles to 4, one by one the flickies began to fall behind. Tails didn't notice until he said, "Okay, I'm low enough to breathe now." He looked around, and saw only one flicky, the leader, flying wearily alongside.

"I am the last," he gasped. "Young master, I am afraid I must take the chaos emeralds from you."

"Why?"

"You no longer need them. It is better for them to remain separated."

The little bird flew forward, caught each emerald in its orbit around Tails, deactivated it, then tossed it out into space. Finally all were gone, and Tails was normal. The flicky no longer glowed. Its once-bright eyes were dim. "Goodbye, Tails," he chirped feebly. "I have done my bidding. Our lives were drained from us to maintain enough air for you to survive. I must now leave."

"No!" Tails cried. "Land in the plane with me! I'll land--we'll find a doctor--"

"Too late," the bird murmured. "Too late. You are alive; that is all that matters. Farewell, friend ..."

The flicky sank from sight and vanished in the wake of the bi- plane.
Chapter 14
Doomsday

____________________________________________________________________

Sonic hurled through space, shining like one of the stars above him. Mobius spread out like a blue map below, its aquamarine glow reflecting off his face and arms.

His power was weakened. Not that his invincibility was any less, but the bond had created a sort of shield around him. Now that was gone, and he was alone in the sky with his arch-enemy.

Hyper Sonic pressed his arms to his sides, willing himself to fly faster. There was no air, no wind in his face to gauge his speed by. For all he knew, he could be standing still. But he was not, for he was catching up with the distant ship. He could see the red taillights shining against the blackness.

Space debris! One moment he was flying through nothing, the next he was dodging through huge floating boulders. There were thousands of them, creating a tiny asteroid field in orbit around Mobius. He ducked, dodged and wove his way through, knowing he should slow down and refusing to. This inevitably led to crashing into a large rock head-on. It cracked apart from the impact, and Sonic went spinning wildly out of control. He righted himself, unhurt but shaken. The collision had slowed him. He would never catch up at this rate.

After a while the asteroids thinned out, and Hyper Sonic was able to pour on the speed. It wasn't long before he reached the freighter and pulled up alongside. It was a massive, burly thing. It was vaguely egg-shaped, with three huge rockets roaring at the big end. The front end had a tiny tinted windshield with gaping engine intakes on either said. Sonic made note of them. A very obvious weakness.

There was no sound out in space with no air molecules to carry it. Sonic could not hear the jets, although he could feel their vibration. This is the reason he did not hear the missiles fire. He didn't even see them until one hit him from behind and sent him careening downward. By the time he recovered his wits and balance, the freighter had gained some distance. He took off after it, wondering what had hit him.

He finally spotted the two remaining red-tipped missiles. They had him targeted and were homing in on him. Thinking quickly, he pulled ahead of the ship, waited until the missiles had nearly reached him, then ducked backward. The missiles turned to follow him--and entered one of the engine intakes squarely.

"It was quite an explosion," Sonic said afterward. "I'm sure the noise would have been terrific." A bright blue flame ripped through the armored hull as the engines died. Fragments were flung loose and hurled into space. The dying ship began to sink slowly toward the planet below. Sonic followed, watching like a hawk for the Master emerald.

But instead, the cargo hatch in the underside of the freighter opened and a smallish ship dove out. Sonic found himself staring; it was a smaller version of the Robotnik-bot they had battled earlier. Right down to the evil face. In its clawed hands was clutched a big green crystal, the prize Sonic was trying for. There was no doubt about who was driving the robot. The rocketpack on its back fired up and it took off, leaving the freighter to burn in Mobius's atmosphere.

Sonic tore along after it. This was Robotnik's last-ditch attempt to escape with the Master emerald, and the hedgehog intended to stop him.

He flew up ahead of it and glanced through the windshield. His arch-enemy glared back at him. Sonic bristled. This was the person responsible for Tails's injury. This was the one who had created Metal Sonic. This was the one who had caused Knuckles so much misery. And it was payback time.

Hyper Sonic slammed his invincible body into the robot's side. It jolted slightly to one side, but kept flying. He began to circle it, smashing himself into every vulnerable area, testing the bot for weaknesses. It never dawned on him to check the thickness of the armor, or that perhaps the old method of shocking the machine might work. He couldn't hear the engines whine every time he touched the robot's hull.

He did see the series of small explosions in the arms. The hands opened, and the Master emerald floated free. Sonic swooped down, grabbed it, then hit the robot's chest one last time.

The explosion nearly rivaled that of the freighter. Fragments and burning metal went flying in all directions. Only the head remained intact, dented and slowly toppling end over end in space.

"Goodbye, Doctor," Sonic said to it in triumph, although his voice never made it past his lips. "I've got the loot, you've got the boot."

He whirled and dove for the blue world below, carrying the Master emerald awkwardly against his chest.

He didn't see the robot's head right itself, fire up a small engine in its underside, and roar at an angle back toward Mobius ...* * *

Sonic flew down, down, down, accelerating alarmingly. He would have incinerated, hyper or not, had he not been carrying the Master emerald. Its power poured into his body, brightening his glow and turning him its shade of emerald-green. It was only because of this he was able to pull out of the dive, slow, and fly steadily downward at his own pace.

He was tired. Now that Robotnik was defeated and the Master safe, he had very little drive left for finishing. All he could think of was landing somewhere and sleeping for about two weeks.

For the first time in hours, a sound reached him. It was a relief to hear something other than the rushing of the wind in his ears. His enhanced vision picked out the tiny aircraft below. He could see it clearly--a red bi-plane with silver trim. Well, what do you know. He made for it with renewed vigor.

As he drew closer, he began to call, "Tails! Taaiills!" After the fifth call the plane swerved and began to fly toward him. Tails had seen him. Sonic swooped down over it and alighted on the top wing. He let the tip of the Master emerald rest on it, taking the weight off his arms. He sighed in relief as Tails said, "Sonic, you won! Are you okay?"

He nodded his glowing head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm cool. Bushed is all. Where are we? Got enough fuel to make it to the Floating Island?"

The fox checked. "Yeah, plenty. What happened?"

Sonic sank to a sitting position and thrust his feet through the handles on the wing top. "Tell ya later. Make tracks. We gotta get the Master back before the island sinks."

Tails turned the bi-plane and began to pour on the speed. He didn't have the heart to mention the flickies. Not now. Not yet ...
Epilogue
Knux's side and the end
______________________________________________________________________

I stood on the edge of the mossy platform in Sky Sanctuary, waving goodbye to Sonic and Tails. I suddenly felt very alone. There went the two guys I should have been friends with from the first. Instead, the one guy I had worked with and trusted had double-crossed me. Well, I had learned something--you don't know your friends until you need them.

I stared hard at the bright specks, trying to see when they entered the battleship. I didn't get the chance. I sensed, rather than heard, the footfalls approaching me from behind. I whipped around to find myself nose-to-nose with Metal Sonic.

"Hello, Knuckles," he purred. He was too close--within arm's length. I tried to step back, but my foot encountered thin air. I was on the very edge of the platform.

He stared straight into my eyes with an intensity that was frightening. He was going to kill me, I was sure. I had helped build him. I had co-programmed him. And I knew an enemy when I saw one.

Slowly he lifted one hand, curling his silver fingers into a fist. I knew what he was going to do, and acted first.

I drove one fist into his chest, the other into his eyes. Unprepared, he staggered backward. I leaped around him, away from the edge of the platform. To my surprise he lunged with me, grabbed me by the arm, whipped me around him like in 'crack the whip', and sent me sailing over the edge of the platform.

It happened too quickly. I saw the sharp brink, outlined against the blue-green ocean. Then I was over, the platform rising rapidly above me, nothing around but empty air. I was falling sideways. I thrashed around, trying to get into my gliding position. There! I felt myself grab the air, my descent slowing. I looked around. I was below all the platforms and clouds. I would have to glide until I either reached the ground (which, incidentally, would have to be the Floating Island), or find an updraft. At least Metal Sonic couldn't follow me.

Well, it wouldn't be the first time I had been wrong. I heard the cursed robot's engines as he dove off the platform. I glanced over my shoulder. He was flying upright with his hands at his sides, head turned in my direction. "Prepare to die, vermin!"

Mecha's preferred method of combat was hand-to-hand, but he also had some pretty nifty weapons at his disposal. He proceeded to use them on me.

The first round of rockets missed by a hair. They passed so close I felt the heat from their jets. I banked to one side, even as I felt myself break out in a cold sweat. He was shooting to kill, and gliding is not exactly the most maneuverable way to fly.

Lasers cut the air around me, thick and fast as hornets. I wove and ducked, praying he would miss.

The lasers did.

The missile didn't.

He must have realized he couldn't hit me directly, so he shot a missile right by me and detonated it.

The concussion struck me from the side and literally blew me out of the sky. I was stunned, toppling end over end like a piece of paper. I couldn't move or think--the world was a spinning blur and rushing wind. I knew I was falling.

Something dark whizzed by me. I thought it was Mecha, but couldn't be sure. I didn't know which way was up, and my body wouldn't obey my commands. I was curled in the fetal position, limbs stiff. I couldn't breathe.

A very large object struck me from above, grabbed me and checked my fall. My teeth came together with a snap. The only thought in my head was that Metal Sonic had decided to attack a different way. I wanted to struggle, but could not. I couldn't move at all.

What happened next is hazy and jumbled. I guess the missile blast had almost killed me. I remember being laid down gently on a mossy platform, and feeling a pair of hands massaging my stiffened limbs. Its face was not that of a robot--it was rectangular, like a lizard's, and had dark green eyes. They were the color of the Master emerald, I remember thinking. It was speaking to me, but I could not understand it. I couldn't understand anything.

As if from a distance, there came the sound of metal on flesh. The lizard pitched forward and vanished from my range of vision. Then Mecha Sonic was kneeling over me, raking my body with his scanners. He spoke aloud, but, like the lizard, I couldn't understand him. I felt his arms go under me, then lift. Where were we going? The motion made the world pitch and rock again. Then all sound faded away, and everything went black.

* * *

I wasn't entirely unconscious. I knew I was being carried very rapidly though the air. I knew when we entered a dark, cool place. We passed under roaring fans. A space of time after that, Mecha tossed me on the floor like a sack of grain. I was aware of the dull clang my body made as it struck the floor. It hurt a little. Then I was alone, staring through half-open eyes at the mesh ceiling.

I lay there for a long time. The chill of the metal floor worked its way into the backs of my arms, legs and shoulders. Cool air was moving over me. I didn't move, think, or even breathe much. I dimly knew that I was cold, but didn't care. I had a concussion, and my brain wasn't working properly.

Someone knelt over me. In my mind, it was my father right after I had nearly destroyed the island. I was eight years old again, suffering from the only broken leg I ever had. As it lifted me, I moaned, "Dad, I'm sorry--I shouldn't have tried to fly the island in that storm!"

It's arms encircled me in a big hug, and a voice that was not my father's crooned, "Oh Knuckles, you are hurt worse than I had thought. That robot ..." I could understand it, although what it was saying did not register. The voice was strangely familiar.

Another voice began to speak, sometimes coherently, sometimes in gibberish. I wished he's shut up; it was drawing me out of the comfortable numb place in my head. Sometimes I understood what he said--other times I didn't. I wondered if whoever was holding me could hear it. He never answered. He just rocked back and forth with me. It was oddly soothing.

It wasn't until I awoke that I realized I was the one speaking. Abruptly I closed my mouth. What was I saying? Had I spilled my guts without knowing it? I had been betrayed once today--I didn't feel like going through it again. I felt the figure stroke the side of my face. It had been doing it for a while--I hadn't noticed it until them. I looked up. The green-eyed lizard. Funny, I had seen those eyes before, somewhere.

"How do you feel?" it asked.

My head ached a little, and I told it so. It gazed into my eyes. "You looked better, anyway."

I stared back into its face. It had big brown patches around its eyes and along its muzzle. My first question surfaced. "Who are you?"

"Slasher," it replied.

"Have I ever seen you before?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Carnival Night."

Those eyes! That's where I had seen them--the creature that had stalked me through the darkness. I felt the impulse to run. Instead, she held me a bit tighter and whispered, "Shh. A robot is passing by." I froze. I could feel her heart beating against my cheek. After a moment I felt her relax. "There, it's gone. Can you stand?"

She set me down. Yes, I could stand, but the action sent a surge of blood to my head. I held on to her arm until the nausea passed, then said, "Where the heck are we?"

"Death Egg," Slasher replied simply. "Mecha wanted to test the latest robotizer prototype on you."

I felt sick. That was what I had unwittingly done to Sonic. "What goes around comes around," I mumbled. But I thought of the island, and my fear of death faded. I guess I must have wilted, because Slasher looked at me strangely. "Whassamatter?" She sounded like Sonic.

"I've failed as Guardian," I said. I didn't have the energy to explain, but she seemed to understand.

"Ah. The Master is gone, correct?"

I nodded.

"Have you ever read about the super emeralds?"

"No."

"If you had, you'd be a little more optimistic."

"Why?"

"Because--"

A laser bolt struck a beam just above my head. We both ducked. For the first time I realized we were in a sort of jail cell. The front was all bars, but the back wall had a panel taken out and slid aside. She grabbed me around the waist, lifted me off my feet and dove for the loose panel.

It was dark. It took my eyes a few second to adjust, but I could feel we were jumping around, almost at random. Slowly I began to distinguish shapes. We were in the steel framing of the outer hull of Death Egg. Slasher was sure-footedly leaping from cross-beam to cross- beam. I looked down and felt my stomach lurch. There was no floor--just the skeletal structure of the ship ... miles and miles of it. If we fell, we would drop through that steel jungle, striking every beam in our way, until we reached the round underbelly of the ship.

The velociraptor's movements were fluid and quick. I could feel her massive strength with each leap, and could hear the chink of her claws on the framing. My head was clearing quickly now, and the questions were coming. Where were we going? How had she got here? Why had Metal Sonic left? Why had she decided to help me when she had terrorized me in the Carnival?

We were moving along the length of the Death Egg's hull. I couldn't see how she kept from slipping in the darkness, but guessed her night-vision was sharper than mine.

"There."

I saw it--a light shining across the framework.

"How I got in," she said, voice clipped.

One problem--it was on the INSIDE wall.

A few more leaps and were were there. She stepped out, head jerking this way and that. I looked around as well. It was a little storage room, nothing special. There was a broken security camera on the floor (she must have found it on her way in), and the lock on the door had been forced.

She set me down on my feet. I still didn't feel very well, but I could move all right. Standing beside my rescuer, I was struck with how big she was. Everything about her was big--eyes, wide chest, wings folded to her sides, legs, claws, tail--she stood five feet high at the hip, and her head and neck added a good foot and a half to that.

She must have noticed my stare, for she chuckled. "Pleased to meet you, too, Knux. C'mon, let's get outta here. I gotta get you back to your island." Slasher stepped up to the door, swung it open a bit and looked out.

"But hasn't it sank?" I protested.

"Keep it down," she hissed. "No, it hasn't."

"But won't it?"

"Hush. There's no time for questions right now. We're in too much danger. C'mon." She beckoned to me, and we slipped out the door.

Outside was a long, narrow corridor. I could see robots in the distance, but they didn't seem to be moving toward us. Quietly Slasher began to walk in the other direction. I followed her, wishing MY feet were padded. "Where're we going?" I whispered.

"Back to the secondary docking bay," she whispered back. "It's closest."

We crept down the hall, turned a corner, entered a machine room, crossed that, and entered another hall on the far side. There were no robots. I saw nothing wrong with this, but it worried my escort. "Too quiet," she murmured, looking around the empty hall. "Something's up. Best get on my back, Knux. If we need to run, I can carry you."

She crouched and lowered one wing. Clumsily I climbed up and sat astride her back. Somehow, the way her wing muscles connected to her shoulders gave a really good place for a kneehold. I buried my feet beneath her warm wings. When she stood up again, I felt as if I were riding a tank.

We had only been on the move a few minutes after this when Slasher stopped and said, "Hsst." I followed her gaze. Something was going on at the end of the tunnel. Laserblasts flashed, and voices shouted. A mob of robots were barreling in our direction. "Better run," I whispered.

"In a minute," she replied.

We sat there in the middle of the hallway, watching. I was pretty much oblivious to the danger, until a laser struck one of the wall struts a little ahead of us. We both jumped, but Slasher didn't seem ready to run. I crouched low, wishing I could burrow into her feathery wings and hide. More lasers zipped by, and the approaching noise grew louder. "Run!" I whispered frantically.

"Not yet," she replied.

Suddenly two things flashed by us, going about the speed of a bullet. I twisted around and stared after them. "What the heck was that?" I said.

"Who do you think?" was the reply. Then Slasher whirled, opened a door to our right and dove through it.

"Sonic?" I asked, hanging on for dear life. We were really hauling down this new hall. I could hear her long claws clicking on the floor. "Yes," the raptor said, glancing over her shoulder. "I would lay down flat if I were you."

"Why?" I looked back. The big robots (and Metal Sonic) who had been chasing Sonic and Tails were now after us. I leaned forward and clung to Slasher's neck. Great. Now WE were in trouble.

I heard Mecha's voice cry, "The reptile is taking the traitor! Kill them! Kill them!"

Slasher heard him, too, and growled resentfully, "I'm not a reptile, stupid."

That was easy for HER to say. I WAS a traitor.

Laser beams ripped past us. I felt Slasher pull her wings in tight against my legs, trying to make herself as small as target as possible. I was already lying as flat as I could, and there wasn't much else I could do.

Then she did the last thing I expected. Slasher stopped, whirled, and charged into the oncoming robots. Ever tried to ride a bucking horse? That's the closest I can get to describing it. She reared up, kicked out with her powerful hindlegs, turned and lashed her long tail, then pounced and kicked again.

I would have fallen off if my legs hadn't been anchored beneath her warm wings. Even so, I was suffering from severe whiplash by the time she finished. The entire squadron had been leveled. Metal Sonic was gone--I assume he fled. I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. Slasher looked back at me. "You okay?"

My neck hurt too much to nod, so I said, "I guess so. I see where you got your name."

She smiled, showing her long white teeth. "It fits, doesn't it? Hang on, now. The docking bay is just around the corner."

It was. We stepped through a large steel door and stood on a large windy platform. There were two long stalls stretching out into space-- places for big hovercraft to dock. We were a long ways up; the air was thin and cold. Slasher opened her wings, hitting my legs with a draft of cold air. Suddenly I wasn't so secure anymore. I dug my knees into her flanks. "Good," she said, "you know more about riding than you think. Put your arms around my neck and lay flat again." I obeyed. "There, now you won't lose your balance when I take off. Hold on tight."

I felt her muscles surge, and she began to run toward the edge of the empty docking bay. My stomach twisted. It was like sitting at the top of a rollercoaster, waiting for the moment you pitch forward and the ride begins.

One moment there was solid platform below--the next there was nothing but space. I saw the big wings begin to flap, and felt the muscles pump. We were airborne.

I dared not sit up for a long time, but I did manage to turn my head and look around a little. I saw Death Egg's ugly side behind and to our left. We were far down, near it's underbelly. I saw the ground far below, hazy blue with distance and clouds between us. I couldn't tell if we were above ocean or land. All I would hear was the roar of the wind in my ears and the steady whoosh, whoosh of Slasher's wings. It was cold. The air chilled my back, but my front was pressed against Slasher's warm back, so it wasn't too bad.

We were descending. Going down doesn't take as much energy as going up, and often Slash would stop flapping and just glide. We didn't say much until we had dropped below cloud level, the wind had slacked and it was warmer. "You can sit up, now," she said over her shoulder. "Take it slow and keep your balance.

I sat up very, very slowly. It was kind of fun to look around properly. We were still a long ways up. The ocean spread out below, a solid blue-green. As I looked at it, my enthusiasm faded. The island ... the Floating Island wasn't in sight.

I guess Slasher knew what I was thinking. "Oh, it's still afloat," she said. She dipped left and pointed. I looked, and with relief saw the little green-and-brown patch that was my home. It had descended into the ocean and was floating in the water. "How come it hasn't sank?" I asked. "I was always told the island would collapse if the Master emerald was stolen."

"Well," Slasher answered quietly, "you have Sonic and Tails to thank for that. They used your teleporters to go to Hidden Palace and used the chaos emeralds to make the supers appear. They've been hidden for centuries, you know."

I nodded. "I know my history. I knew they had brought them back, but I didn't know the chaos ..."

"Sonic and Tails charged each super," Slasher told me. "Which is why they were so exhausted during the last leg of their journey. They were drained seven times of their energy."

I thought of Sandopolis and watching Sonic and Tails come out of the teleporter and collapse. I was ashamed. Sonic had told me that if I knew what they were doing I would thank them a thousand times over. And he was right.

As the island grew below us, I thought about everything that had happened. I had been tricked and worked with one of the most dangerous scientists on the planet. I had helped construct Metal Sonic. I had willingly allowed part of my island to be burned. And I had fought Sonic and Tails all the way down the line, thinking that somehow THEY were responsible for MY bad decisions. Come to find out that not only had I been on the wrong side, but Sonic and Tails were working to save my island. If not for them, who knows where I'd be right now.

We were quite low by this time. "Where do you want to land?" Slasher asked me.

I considered. Someplace open, where we could watch the sky. Marble Gardens was the closest. "Marble Gardens," I said, pointing down and right. Slasher banked right and we dropped sharply. At the last second she flared out her wings, and we landed as gently as a falling leaf.

I slid off her back and nearly fell over. My legs were cramped and felt like blocks of wood. I stretched, then stamped around to get my blood flowing again. Man, it was good to be on solid ground again-- and to know my island wasn't going to sink. The dull misery I had felt since leaving Hidden Palace was gone.

Slasher lifted one wing and ran her teeth through the feathers at its base. "Boy, what a flight," she commented. "I hope I don't have to do it again."

I looked up at her curiously. "Do it again?"

She cocked her head and looked up at the sky. "You weren't the only one on Death Egg."

That's right. Sonic and Tails were still up there, and so was the Master emerald. I looked up, too, but the only things in the sky were a few wispy clouds.

The big velociraptor settled herself on the warm grass, spread a wing and began to straighten her feathers. She acted as if nothing were wrong. It wasn't until a long time afterward I learned to read her, and realized she was as worried as it it possible to be. But at the time she seemed very calm, and it steadied me.

I stood and watched her preen a moment. She seemed to be in no hurry to go anywhere or do anything. There was nothing to do but wait, anyway. I sat down on the grass and looked up at the sky. Maybe if I looked hard enough--ah, that was hard on my neck. I lay down. That was better. Now I could view the whole wide sky--

Before I knew it, my eyelids had sneaked shut on me, and I was sound asleep.* * *

Slasher's voice talking to somebody was what woke me up. I sat up, rubbing the haze from my eyes. "Sonic and Tails back yet?" I asked.

"Nope," she replied. "Just Espio."

Espio! I had forgotten all about him. What would have happened if the island HAD crashed, and ... Was he mad at me? I stood up. Gosh, I must have slept a long time. The sun had moved and the shadows had changed. I felt rested and ready to go.

Espio, a dark jungle-green this time, was sitting next to Slasher, talking. I noticed both her wings were immaculate, every feather in place. "C'mere, Knux. We were watching Death Egg."

I walked up to them. "Death Egg? Where?"

Both lizards turned and pointed north. I looked and looked and finally spotted it. It could have been a distant hawk, but for the plume of brown smoke trailing it. I shaded my eyes with both hands to see better.

"It was really high," Espio said. "We thought it would have gone down by the time you woke up."

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," I said, sitting down beside him. "Sorry I sort of abandoned you."

"That's okay," he said good-naturedly. "Slasher, here, has been telling me about your exploits."

I rolled my eyes. "You mean about how absolutely stupid I was."

"You weren't stupid," Slasher said quietly, folding her arms and gazing directly at me. "Just deceived."

"Yeah," I said ironically, "and I got what I deserved. If I hadn't been so dumb, Sonic and Tails wouldn't be up there right now." My eyes sought out the dark speck in the blue sky. Espio and Slasher followed my gaze.

It was at that moment the Death Egg erupted into an orange and white fireball. The speck enlarged to about the size of a golfball held against the sky, the edges a deep red. It slowly faded, a cloud of smoke rising from it, stuff that looked like dust settling downward. We knew that had to be the debris. We heard nothing of the explosion.

Involuntarily we all looked down. "Well," said Espio, "that's the end of the Death Egg."

"I hope they weren't on it," I said. I had a terrible suspicion they were, though.

"They've had plenty of time to get away," Slasher said reassuringly. "And I don't think it would have blown up if they hadn't done something. Like taking the Master emerald."

I looked at her with sudden hope and relief. "You think so?

She bobbed her head. "Battlestations like that don't blow up without a very good reason."

We all sat in silence for another moment, watching the colors of the explosion fade from the sky, leaving a smoky shadow behind. A meadowlark sang. A breeze touched my face. The island was safe, I knew, but at what price? Were my friends dead somewhere up there?

Abruptly Slasher lifted her head and gazed south. A second later she jumped to her feet, said, "Excuse me, please," spread her wings and was gone. Espio and I watched her go. Man, she could fly fast. She was out of sight in a moment. "Boy, what's the rush?" the chameleon muttered. He turned a hot pink all over, then turned to me. "So, where you been?"

I looked at him a little curiously. "Slash didn't tell you?"

"She told me about you and the island, not what's been going on. C'mon, spill. Why were you bemoaning your stupidity?"

Slasher hadn't been putting me down, as I had thought. She had left it to me to explain myself to my friend. Wow. She actually cared about my self-image!

I gazed off in the direction she had gone, wondering how to begin. But as I did, I noticed a winged shape coming back. Espio saw her, too.

"Gosh, that was quick," I murmured. "I wonder what--" I stopped, my eyes riveted on the thing flying along behind the raptor. Then Espio and I were on our feet, staring in surprise.

A certain shiny red bi-plane, well known to me by now, was slowly flying in. As it drew nearer, we could see Sonic, glowing brightly, seated on the upper wing, arms wrapped around the glowing Master emerald. It was about as big as he was. He saluted me as they flew over. I saluted back.

I can hardly describe my feelings. I don't suppose everyone has had a precious treasure returned to them. I suppose you could say I was jumping around, cheering wildly.

Anyway, Tails finally landed the plane. (Slasher had landed, too, but she was standing back watching us.) It had hardly stopped before I had scrambled up on the wing with Sonic, looking at and touching the Master emerald.

"Wait a minute, Knux," he said, chuckling. "Get down and I'll hand it to you." I obeyed. He lifted the immense gem easily, crouched and lowered it. I took it with a grunt. I'm pretty strong, but hoo boy, we're talking heavy, here! I couldn't even support it and had to set it down. Sonic must be very strong as hyper.

He jumped down beside me. Tails climbed out of the cockpit and went straight to Slasher. I hardly noticed.

"Hey, Knux," Sonic said. He sounded tired. I looked up at him from my examination of the emerald. He bent down, rolled the Master over on its side and indicated the bottom tip. I stared--the tip was gone. About three inches had been cut off cleanly. I touched it gingerly, as one might a wound.

"Robotnik did it," Sonic murmured. "He cut it to get it to work in his laser. Metal Sonic had the piece, and used it to become super--or something like it. We tried to get it from him, but he threw it off the edge of the Death Egg. Sorry."

I had never heard Sonic sound so low, even in Hidden Palace. I went over the Master again with a fine-toothed comb. When I looked up again, Sonic had decharged himself. He looked a lot smaller normal--and he also looked totally exhausted. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his head drooped. "My legs hurt," he muttered. "I gotta lay down somewhere ..." He turned away from me.

Sonic's attitude and the missing piece of the Master sort of sobered me. I couldn't budge the Master by myself, so I left it by the bi-plane and joined the others.

Sonic flopped down unceremoniously and closed his eyes. Tails, Slasher and Espio were a few feet away from him. Espio was just sort of standing there, watching Tails. The fox had his arms around Slasher's neck, crying fit to beat the band. Slasher just held him comfortingly, but looked a little bewildered. "What's wrong with him?" I asked. Slasher shook her head, then said, "Stress."

Not knowing what to do, I sat down beside Sonic. He opened his eyes and looked at me, then folded his arms behind his head.

"What's wrong with Tails?" I asked him, concerned.

He gave me a weary look and said flatly, "Remember the four flickies of his? They killed themselves keeping him alive."

I gave Tails a pitying glance. "Poor kid."

"Yeah." How could Sonic be so callous? Didn't he care?

Well, Sonic did care. Very much. But at the moment, Slasher had things covered, and he was too tired to push himself anymore. (He told me this afterward.)

Gradually Tails's sobs subsided, and he was able to recount the death of the flickies. I think that was the only time he ever talked about it. He never mentioned the subject again if he could help it.* * *

Well, Sonic fell asleep for a couple hours. Tails asked for something to eat, but by the time I got some stuff and came back, he had flaked, too.

Me, Espio and Slasher took the opportunity to get the Master emerald back where it belonged. It took all three of us to lift it, lug it through a teleporter I made, and heave it back into its pedestal. By the time we finished and warped back to Marble Gardens, the sun was setting and we were all hungry. Sonic, who woke up when we got back, suggested a hotdog roast; I assume so he could use the cans of chili he found stashed in the bi-plane. It was fine with everybody else, so Sonic and I wandered off to find some firewood.

There's only scrub brush in Marble Gardens, and it doesn't burn too well. We hiked out to the carnival and found some wood in the trees nearby.

As we selected the driest sticks we could find, I asked, "Whassamatter, Sonic? Heck, you're always a lot livelier than this." I spoke from experience.

He nodded and looked away. "Yeah. It's just--" He conveniently bent to retrieve a small branch.

"Just what?" I prodded.

He stood up, eyes on the sticks in his arms. "Oh, lots of things, Knux."

I snapped a dead limb off a tree. "Like what?"

He turned and looked me full in the face, as if about to give a confession. I faced him as well and waited. "Knuckles, we lost the flickies. We lost a chunk out of the Master emerald. The flickies took Tails's chaos emeralds. And--" He shifted his load to one arm, stuck his free hand's fingers in his mouth, bit down and pulled his hand out of his glove.

The shock of seeing his robot hand was almost as bad the second time. It gleamed dully in the fading light, each joint plated individually. "And this," he finished almost angrily. "I'm doomed to be part robot for the rest of my life. Mecha said it's permanent. Now you see why I've been brooding?

I had to look away. The guilt was still fresh, and the horror of the metal clinging to his fingers. He didn't put his glove back on, and I heard the muffled clanks as he picked up wood. I sneaked a look at him. The sudden anger had passed, and he appeared totally depressed. Wearily he stood up and looked at me. "I think we've got enough wood now."

For the first time I noticed we had about as much wood as we could carry. I nodded. "Yeah. Let's head back."

Sonic moved slowly, heavily, eyes on the ground. I watched him as we walked. Something had gone out of him. I didn't understand until he lifted his bare hand, glanced at it and hurriedly dropped it to his side. Then I knew. It was as if his body had been violated. His hands no longer belonged to him.

We were about halfway back when the idea hit me. I stopped. Sonic noticed and did, too. "What's wrong?"

I set my load on the ground. "Sonic, let me see your hands."

He dumped his wood on the grass, pulled off his other glove and held out his hands. I suppressed a shiver as I touched them--the metal was warm. I forced myself to examine them closely with a mixture of revulsion and excitement. "Sonic," I said, taking ahold of a metal segment and wiggling it back and forth, "does this hurt?"

"No."

"What about this?" I yanked a wire.

"No. Ow, yes! What'd you do?"

"Where did it hurt?"

"It pinched the side of my finger." He jerked his hand away and rubbed it. "Don't do that."

My excitement was growing. "Sonic, know what this means?"

"A new torture method?"

"No ... that stuff can come off!"

He stared at me in disbelief. "You're kidding. But Mecha said--"

"Forget what Mecha said!" I interrupted, a wide grin taking over my face. "Doc reverse-engineered the robotizer from a prototype he stole from an inventor in Mobitropolis. He didn't have it completely figured out yet. All it did was put a sort of electronic covering over your hands. Like gloves. It didn't penetrate your skin. And I can take it off!"

He didn't believe me. "You sure?"

"I'll prove it! When we get back, I'll get some of my tools and cut it all off. I'm sure I can!"

Sonic slowly pulled his gloves back on, turning this information over in his head. He didn't say a word until we had picked up our armloads of sticks and had resumed walking. Then he looked at me and said bluntly, "Knux, you're a genius."* * *

I proved my ingenuity that evening after dinner. I got out my wirecutters, screwdriver and pliers, and in three hours time Sonic's hands were de-robotized.

We talked as I worked. "You know," Sonic said, "you've got a monster in Sandopolis."

I looked up at him, startled."What?"

"Yeah," Tails chimed in. "It chased us through the pyramid, then opened the floor and dropped us into Lava Reef."

I smiled ruefully. "Did it have a hood and cape, and it's face was like stone?"

Sonic and Tails exchanged a glance, then nodded. "Yeah. How did you know?"

My embarrassed smile widened to a grin. I ducked my head and mumbled, "That was me. Sorry."

I guess their surprise was so great it was comical. Espio burst out laughing, and even Slasher cracked a smile. "You--you mean YOU were that thing?" Sonic asked incredulously.

I nodded. "Yup. I wanted to give you a scare."

"You sure did that!" Tails exclaimed. "Did you drop us into that shaft on purpose?"

"No." I shook my head and returned my gaze to Sonic's hand. "I climbed the wall to glide after you, and my foot touched a loose brick. I guess it was a trigger."

We didn't say anything for a long time. I had a question for them, but couldn't remember it at the moment. After a while it came to me. "Hey Sonic, what did you guys do in Lava Reef before I got there?"

Sonic looked at Tails, then me. "Do? What do you mean?"

I lifted my head and looked at him. "C'mon. You two were down there twenty-four hours before I got to you."

"We were?" Sonic looked blank. "It didn't seem that long ... we woke up when the lights came on, and--"

"I turned the lights on when I got there," I interrupted. "You slept the whole time?"

He and Tails looked at each other. "I THOUGHT we slept a long time," Tails said, eyes narrowing.

I didn't understand. "What? Were you hurt or something?"

"No," Sonic said slowly, pulling his hand away from me and looking at it. "I remember smelling something ... like gas. It made me sleepy."

Ah, that was it. I stabbed my screwdriver into the grass thoughtfully. "That's why the secondary lighting wouldn't come on. All the gas must have leaked out. It's kind of like chloroform--breathe it and you're out. It's called oxymoro--oxmorobi--bi--it's about this long." I held my thumb and forefinger three inches apart.

I took Sonic's hand again as he said, "Well, that explains it. No wonder we had such a time balance to recover."

An hour passed. I finished his left hand and was setting to work on his right. He kept looking at his freed hand and touching things, amazed he could feel them.

Espio and Tails were asleep by then. The sky was covered with stars and the moon had risen a ways. Slasher kept tossing wood on the fire so I could see what I was doing. We had all been quiet for a while--Sonic's attention was fixed on what I was doing--but Slasher broke the lull.

"Sonic," she said softly. I had my back to her and was facing Sonic, so I saw him look up, then lift his left hand and catch a small object. He held it so I could see it. A flake of stone with a strange word written on it. I recognized it as a piece of the devestated mural, not far from where we were camped.

I snipped a wire as Slasher said, "Finally got it translated."

Sonic's eyes brightened. "Yeah?"

I heard Slasher shift positions. "The language is Old Mobian. Let me tell you, I had to do some serious studying to figure out that little word. Turns out it means speed, swiftness, or--get this--the speed of sound."

"Sonic," I and the hedgehog breathed simultaneously. He looked at me--something had clicked. "Knux, Slash--that mural was about US! The blue figure was me, the yellow one was Tails, and the red one was you, Knux. That last picture--the tapestry in Hidden Palace--was when I became hyper, chased down Robotnik and got the Master back." He drew a breath, eyes moving from me to Slasher and back again.

I stared at him vacantly. I had often looked at that mural, wondering what it meant. I knew the pictures by heart. It all fit ... our battle in Hidden Palace ... Robotnik stealing the Master while we fought ... Sky Sanctuary, where I helped them board the Death Egg ... and Sonic's solitary battle with Robotnik in the sky. It was all there.

"Well," I said slowly, trying to remember the history of the island Dad had taught me, "I've heard that the first guardians were time travellers of some kind. Maybe ..."

My eyes met Sonic's. He shook his head a bit and breathed, "Coolll ..."

No more was said for a long time. I worked on Sonic's hand uninterrupted. By the time I finished, he had climbed into his sleeping bag and was half-asleep. As I put away my tools and picked up the bits of metal and wire, he said sleepily, "Knux, this time yesterday you hated my guts. I never thought ..."

I brushed my dreadlocks out of my face and smiled. "Me neither, Sonic. Me neither."* * *

But as the five on the Floating Island drifted off to sleep, another crucial scene was being played out on the Flying Battery blimp.

"Doctor, your left arm is in critical condition. Neither I nor a professional could piece it together again."

Robotnik's knuckles whitened and he gripped the arm of his chair with his right hand. His left arm, fingertip to shoulder, was heavily bandaged. "Metal Sonic, I can't afford to lose this arm. Isn't there anything you can do?"

The blue robot, hands clasped behind his back, shook his head. "No. The burn, together with the circulation being cut off when the cockpit was dented ... Gangrene is inevitable. Your limb is dead."

Robotnik glowered at his arm, as if it had done it on purpose. "Mecha, I have to have both hands to work on my machines. I can't have it simply amputated!" He pounded his good fist against the arm of his chair in helpless anger.

A moment later he looked at his henchman and growled, "Do you have any suggestions, bright boy?"

Metal Sonic didn't answer. Instead, he shot a wicked sidelong glance at a machine in the corner.

Robotnik followed his gaze, then recoiled. "No. No, I won't do that."

"You said yourself that the robotizer can save injured limbs," the robot said pointedly. "Besides, you don't have anyone to test this version on. Wouldn't it be imposing for the overlord of Mobius to rule with a literal iron fist?"

Robotnik weakened. Perhaps Mecha had a point. He had always been curious as to robotization, anyhow, and--

Ten minutes later, Robotnik stood before a map in the control room of Flying Battery, left arm clad entirely in metal. This type of robotization, however, was different from Sonic's. It was the tried and true version he would use in later years--the one that filled the limbs of victims with wiring instead of remaining external.

With his gleaming silver hand, Robotnik pointed to a spot on the map. "Target: Mobitropolis. Capital of the world. I'm already on good terms with the king--under the alias 'Julian', of course--and with a little maneuvering, I'm sure we can get that little political misunderstanding to flare into a war. And then--"

"The first step in ruling Mobius," Metal Sonic finished. The two exchanged an uproarious laugh at the simplicity of their plan--an evil laugh.

And the rest is history ...

The End