Series 3 - The Runes of Awakening
Episode 4
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Chip...chip...chip....CRACK..... "aaah, crud"
Knuckles the Echidna chiselled away at the Master Emerald's altar, a stone base he was modelling in the tradition of the Havoc Gem's altar on the Chaos Isle. The reason? He thought the idea was cool. And the emerald had nowhere else to go, now that Hidden Palace was somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, along with much of the rest of that side of the Floating Island. The Isle was now a "C" shape, due to Robotnik's work the previous year, forcibly blowing his way into the heart of it and shattering the Master Emerald into enough pieces to produce a glowing green jigsaw puzzle. But now the emerald was in one piece again (the only thing left of Chaos after he was sucked back into the Chaos Emeralds) and Knuckles was focusing his mind on fixing everything up. After all, the Floating Island wasn't just his duty, it was his pride and joy.
In one hand, he held a design he drew up with pencil, an intricate pattern of runes and hyroglyphs he found all over the island, describing the life and times of the emerald and his ancestors. The last few hyroglyphs he added himself - pictures of Chichi Bobo, echidnas in captivity, the great journey to Kha, and there was even a picture of Sonic in there somewhere.
As he chipped away at the stone, a wind suddenly picked up. Dust and fragments of stone chipped off the altar flew into the echidna's face, and when he reacted, he lost his grip on the sheet of paper with the pattern, which blew away into the trees.
"Great." Knux mumbled. He jumped to his feet and persued the sheet.
The paper came to rest in a tall oak, caught on a branch. Knuckles dug his knuckle spikes into the trunk and began to climb.
"Man, it's windy today." he commented. He climbed and climbed, tearing strips of bark off and leaving deep punctures in the tree. When he reached the branches, he skillfully jumped onto one and climbed his way along. Of course, his movement caused just enough of a jiggle in the branch to dislodge the sheet of paper, and it went flying off into the trees again.
"Aaaah DRAT." Knuckles cried. He jumped off the branch and spread his arms in a smooth glide. Or not so smooth, the wind was really causing him strife, and there were a lot of trees to avoid.
When he could see through the foliage, he was gliding three hundred meters above the ground.
He let out a shriek, and glided around back to the trees. Making sure he was above solid soil again, he dropped.
"Should have remembered there was a canyon there." he murmured.
Looking through the trees, he noticed a wooden bridge leading from one cliff face to the other. It was one of those unsturdy, rotting plank bridges tied with rope, which are so common in situations like this. And, lying on one of the ropes in the center of the bridge was the renegade sheet of paper.
Without thinking twice, Knux mounted the bridge, and began to strafe along, very slowly. It wobbled around dangerously in the wind. The sheet of paper flapped.
"Easy.... easy...." Knux whispered, afraid that anything above a whisper would somehow cause his demise.
At last, he reached the middle of the bridge, and reached out (slowly, ever so slowly) for the altar blueprint. His hand pinched around it, and he pulled it away from the rope.
"Phew.." he sighed. "Made it without a hitch."
As the hand grasping the paper came down, its knuckle spikes cut the rope. It made an ominous snapping sound.
"Uh-oh... that's not good." he exclaimed. Then he turned and bolted back to where he came from. The sounds of ropes snapping and coming untangled could be heard behind him. He was so close! But suddenly the bridge fell sideways, dumping him off. He grasped onto the planks with one hand, just as the snapping sound began to be heard from the other rope.
"This is going to hurt." Knux assured himself.
The entire bridge, only fixed on one end, went swinging into the canyon like Tarzan's vine, a screaming echidna attached to the loose end.
Knuckles was slammed into the cliff face at a high speed and stuck there. He made a pained little coughing sound as his body slid down to the rocky soil below. The sheet of paper delicately floated down and landed atop his head.
"I got it." he choked.
CHAPTER ONE:
Amy Rose looked into a disgusting bowl of gruel. It was grey and oily and like a cross between mouldy cream corn and jelly. She neither knew or wanted to know where it came from.
Amy had been one of the waitresses of the Arack Empire for about a month, now. Every day she served muck and drinks of dark red wine that were probably alcoholic blood to Mobians with too many legs. She detested her job, but she learned from it and did it well. That was how she came to be there at that moment serving the 'Five of Arack'.. a group of five dictators who ruled cities like Terantulopolis all over the continent. If she was born a spider, she would have been honored to the utmost. Being a hedgehog, she just knew it was another five spiders she'd have to labour for.
"Here's the last of the muck, Amy." the chef said.
Amy put the bowl on her tray, then loaded the drinks.
"Cover me, Mal, I'm going in." she announced.
The chef, Mal, laughed in reply.
Mighty "Mal" Armadillo was the only person in Terantulopolis who ever talked to Amy, and they quickly became friends. He was another of the unfortunate Mobians who ended up travelling to Terantulopolis from elsewhere (he originally owned a small restaurant in Casino City) and was snapped up by the spiders for his skills. He was now referred to mostly as "Mal the Preparer", a fact that made him laugh. He made the crud that the spiders choked down, and Amy never questioned its ingredients. Frankly she really didn't want to know, she doubted she could carry it around if she knew what it was.
The pink hedgehog in the black-and-white frock and apron carried the vile food into the dining hall. A huge, long table ran right down the center, lit with candles in chandeliers and candelabras, despite the fact the room was already illuminated. Around the table were five spiders dressed elaborately in robes and capes.
Clockwise around the table were Saddam Spinster, dictator of Terantulopolis, whose jolly face Amy would take great delight in sticking a fork into, Slobodan the Conquorer from some city with a name too long to remember or even be bothered with, Vlanmire Cartoche from the city of Wolven, Cromoshta Nixton of Fraguladesh and last, but not least, (in actual fact, he WAS the least, stumpy little dwarf of an arachnid as he was) was a little figure known only as Gux. If he had a last name, Amy didn't know it.
"...So anyway.." Saddam Spinster continued with a conversation Amy wasn't present for the start of, "..I said to him 'protection? You want protection?' and I stuffed him into an animal cage, where he still is today!"
The other spiders found this hilarious.
None of the Five of Arack took any notice of Amy as she walked around them, except to notice that she had food.
Cartoche, a pot-bellied terantula with greying hairs on his face, grabbed a goblet of wine from Amy's tray and began to gulp it down.
"So Spinster, you certainly have done a fine job on this city!" his voice boomed. "'Tis a kingdom surely fit for a king! But I happened to notice you have not built a battlestation in case of attack! Defences are extremely weak!"
"A situation I haven't overlooked." Spinster assured him. "I have made plans for a great defense station, possibly the greatest in all of Arack."
"Well, do tell us of your plan..." Gux said in a voice little more than a whisper. The dwarven spider sounded very old and creepy.
"Waitress!" Spinster called. Amy hurried over to him.
"My plans involve a base which will effectively float OVER the city and act as a lookout as well as a battle station and defense."
He grabbed a goblet of wine from the pink hedgehog's tray.
"I have the resources. I have discovered a floating island. Just over the ocean nearby."
Amy's ears pricked up.
"How it hovers I cannot yet define. I imagine there is a deposit of Class Beta Emerald on its surface, quite a large amount I imagine. If I could bring this island to rest over the city and build constructions on its surface.. think of the possibilities!"
Slobodan the Conquorer wailed in laughter. "You never cease to amaze me, Saddam! Such a construct would rank you highly within the Webb!"
Amy shrank back into the kitchen. "Oh dear..."
***
"Three broken ribs, one arm fractured in two places, knee twisted out of joint, bleeding from the head... It doesn't sound like you're FINE, Knuckles."
"I'm telling you, I'm FINE!" The echidna waved his left arm in expression and winced in pain.
"Face it Knux, if you try to get up you'll kill yourself or something." Sally assured him. "Lucky you had that radio with you. It still took us three hours to find you, and after that time you'd only moved four meters from your crash site."
"I'm Knuckles the Echidna! I LAUGH in the face of injury!"
"I dunno, you looked pretty close to crying when we found you."
Knux frowned. "Who's going to look after my island if I lie here on the mainland in a sling?"
"I think it should be alright for a little while." Sally assured him. "Maybe I'll go check on it in a week or so. But not for you, you're staying here until those bones have healed over."
Knuckles shook his head. "Not good enough." he replied. "The Floating Island needs constant attention.. It's times like these I really wish Sonic were here."
Sally nodded, flinching a little. All searches for Sonic the Hedgehog since his disappearance had turned up negative. He was presumed dead.. probably Saddam Spinster's mantelpiece trophy.
"There's Sage.." she suggested.
Knux's eyes lit up. "Sage!! Of course!! Bring him in here!"
The echidna in question just happened to be lingering outside the hut at that very moment. Sagittarius Echidna, born of the Chaos Isle in worship of the Havoc Gem, was aiming his long slender arrow into the forest. There was a piece of paper taped to a tree with a pattern of circles - a target.
Sage pulled back on the long bow which stretched from above his head to the ground. His long, thin but muscular arms held back as steady as the tree which he was aiming at... He squeezed one eye closed, and looked out the other as he aimed with precision.
"HEY FRIEND SAGE!!"
The echidna's hand slipped as he spun around, startled. The long arrow with its deadly sharp point whizzed through the air and hit somebody with a sickening 'splat'.
"Oh.... oh NO!" he shouted, rushing to find out who he had wounded. Luckily, the victim was a fish. A huge, fat bass already impaled on the end of a fishing rod.
Big the Cat stared at the fish with interest. Grabbing the shaft of the arrow, he tried to wrench it out.
"I, uh, came tuh show you what I caught, Friend Sage." Big announced. "This gives me an idea though, shish kebabs!"
"Big! Don't do that!" Sage shrieked.
"Uh, okay, scratch the shish kebabs." the cat replied.
"No, not that! I mean, don't sneak up on me while I'm practicing! You know how jumpy I am, I could have killed you!"
Sally poked her head around the corner at that moment. She grinned widely and waved at Big. The cat waved back.
"Hey Sal, how's Knux?" Sage asked.
"He's improving." Sally replied. "He wants to speak to you, have you got a moment?"
"Sure, I guess."
Knuckles looked up at his best friend, who stood beside the bed and scratched his head.
"Sage, this is your lucky day!" Knux announced. "I'm assigning you guardian of the Floating Island until I've recovered."
Sage dropped his bow on the ground. "WHAT?"
"You heard me. Can you start right away?"
Sage just stared for a while. His mouth opened and closed twice before he spoke.
"Knuckles, mate, the limit of my experience is minding your sandwich while you're in the john."
"Come on, Sage, it's easy!" Knuckles insisted. "You hardly have to do anything! Just make sure Hydrocity is pumping properly throughout the island once a week, and land it in the water if there's a heavy wind, to make sure it doesn't crash into the mainland or another island. Those are really all the important jobs, the rest is just plain fun!"
Sage considered this. How could it hurt? It did sound rather easy. Knuckles made it look like a walk in the park, he spent a lot of the time on the mainland mingling with the Freedom Fighters, anyway.
"Okay, I'll give it a shot." the echidna replied at last. He stood in place and scratched at the scruff of his neck.
"Cool. Can you start right away?" Knuckles asked.
"Is there some kind of initiation process?" Sage asked in reply.
"Huh?"
"I mean, is there some kind of ritual I have to go through?"
Knuckles looked across the room at Sally. She just shrugged.
"Close your eyes, Sagittarius." the injured red echidna commanded.
Sage did so.
"Turn around three times."
He shuffled his feet and turned in a crooked circle.
"Ooma gaga wazza hong hing wing wong ooga chaka." Knuckles chanted. He picked up a plank of wood, which was lying beside the bed, and slapped Sage over the backside with it.
"Congratulations. Now get outta here."
Sage winced in pain.
"Thanks."
***
"REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE BUILDING THE WEBB!" Saddam Spinster shouted. He stood atop a balcony and made his announcement to three teams of spider builders. Several gigantic ore trucks with eight legs each rather than wheels and painted jet black stood in the center.
"THE WEBB WILL CONTINUE TO GROW! IT SHALL EXPAND TO EVERY INCH OF THE GLOBE, STARTING NOW! GO, MY MINIONS! GO AND BUILD! GO AND CONSTRUCT!"
***
Sagittarius stood in the forest, his bow in one hand, his quiver of arrows in the other, staring at the lone teleporter which led to the Floating Island.
"What'cha doing, Friend Sage?" Big the Cat asked.
The echidna twisted around and faced the cat. Big took a step back.
"Oh right.. you dun want me tuh sneak up on yuh, right?" Big asked.
"It's okay." Sage said, shrugging it off. "I'm just on my way to Floating Island.."
"Without Knuckles? Doesn't he usually chuck a spaz when people visit his island?" came another voice. Big's smaller cousin Streak was standing behind the bushes, squinting in the sun.
"You're looking at the new guardian!" Sage replied, not sure whether he was proud or extremely nervous.
Froggy croaked and hopped around the teleporter.
"Say what?" Streak asked. "Oh, you mean you're Knux's caretaker? While he's not well?"
"As of now." Sage responded. "I hope I can do the job properly."
Froggy hopped onto the teleportation device. He croaked in approval.
"Hey, what could go wrong, right?" Streak asked. "It's a big island miles above the ocean with nobody on it but you."
"Still, I'd like a bit of help."
There was a huge flash of light and a terrified croaking sound. Big wailed in horror.
"FROGGY'S GONE!!"
Sage side-eyed the teleporter.
"Hope that frog doesn't mind heights."
"I HAVE TO GO SAVE FROGGY!" Big shouted frantically.
"He's not going to let up until he gets his frog back." Streak assured the echidna. "Need some company for a while?"
***
"I have never seen anything like this." Streak commented. His face was glowing a cool green as he stood in the shade.
"I've seen electricity shoot out of my fingers, and I've seen gigantic monsters made out of water, but I have never seen anything like this."
"It's pretty!" Big added, deciding it neccisary that he give his two cents.
"The Master Emerald." Sage sighed. "It's incredible."
The emerald which gave the island it's flying power stood atop an altar, which was still in the process of being completed. Runes and heiroglyphs covered the stone. The emerald itself, which gave out startling amounts of radiation, though all of it harmless, bathed the island in energy. Everything around it was lusher and more tropical as a result, and the elements all over the island were extremely potent. The entire inside of the island was laced with small chunks of emerald ore, which kept it stable, and this, the second biggest naturally forming emerald on Mobius before the Havoc Gem, shaped and formed by generations of echidnas, kept it afloat.
"I wonder if you'd float if you touched it?" Sage asked.
Streak looked at him strangely. "Excuse me?"
"Well, it keeps this entire island in the air." the echidna explained.
"When Robotnik took it last year, the whole island sank. And he took it once before and made his Death Egg float with it."
"That sounds mighty fun!" Big commented.
Froggy agreed, as usual.
"That would RULE!" Streak added. "Wanna try it?"
"Try it?" Sage asked. It had never crossed his mind to actually TRY it.
"Oh... I dunno, I don't think we should."
"Why not?" Streak asked. "What could happen?"
"That's what I'm afraid of." Sage replied. "The fact I don't know what could happen."
"Not as if you'll drain the whole emerald, or anything.." Streak pointed out.
"Go ahead, Friend Sage!" Big insisted.
Sagittarius looked at the glowing emerald with curiosity.
"I'll touch it." he announced. "I'll just put my hand on it.. for a moment."
He slipped his brown leather glove off his right hand, and nervously extended the arm. The two cats behind him stared motionless.
Sage squinted his eyes shut, wrinkled his face up, and touched the Master Emerald. One finger at first, then he slowly cupped his entire hand on it. It was ice cold, and the echidna instantly felt the power flowing through him.. calming him. But that was all.
"What do you feel?" Streak asked.
"It feels like..." Sage stammered. "It feels like static electricity. And I'm a little light-headed."
"You're not floating.." Streak announced, a little disappointed.
"Maybe if I touch it like this.." Sage suggested. He took his other glove off with his teeth, and leaned on the emerald with both hands. All his spines stuck out with static.
"Hey, you're all funny lookin'!" Big reported.
"Not much else is happening." Sage replied.
But then something DID happen.
"What was that sound?" Streak asked.
"What sound?" Sage inquired absently, eyes still closed.
"Sounded like a cracking sound...."
A pebble dropped away from the base of the Emerald, and fell to the bottom of the altar. It was followed by others.
"Maybe you should let go of the emerald now." Streak suggested.
Sage opened his mouth to ask why, but he never got the chance. His thoughts were drained out by a crashing sound, as the entire Master Emerald fell backwards off the altar and hit the rocky soil underneath. And it didn't stop there, it continued rolling - it crashed all the way down the rocky hill, gaining speed as it did. It hit trees on its way down, and eventually landed upside-down against a tall birch at the base of the hill.
"Crap." Sage choked.
"Whoa.. did the ground just move?" Streak asked worriedly.
"I dare say so.." the echidna replied. "That emerald stabilises the entire island, it probably prefers to be stable itself."
He stared morbidly at the upside-down green jewel, and added "Man, how are we going to move that thing back up here?"
"I'm pretty strong!" Big announced. "I can give 'er a shot!"
"Righto then, cuz, give it a try." Streak said, slapping the larger cat on the back.
Big wandered down the hill and stood beside the Emerald, which was only slightly bigger than he was himself. He put his hands against it and pushed. (His hairs all stood on end as he did so.) He managed it onto its side with a great effort.
"YEAH BIG!" Streak shouted down. "KEEP GOING!"
Big looked up and smiled, and then tripped over a loose rock.
The Master Emerald rolled on its side for a few metres, then came to a small cliff. It dropped off with a crash, and proceeded to roll down another hill, thumping into trees on the way down again.
"NOO!" Sage screamed, grasping his hair with both hands.
There was a dull, loud crunching sound as the island seemed to tilt to the left.. the direction that the emerald rolled. It wasn't enough of a movement for anybody to lose their footing, but it was a distinct sensation, like standing in an elevator.
"What are we going to do?" Streak asked nervously.
"I dunno..." Sage replied. "We're going to have to think of a way to get that thing all the way back up here and onto that altar before Knuckles finds out about it.."
"Ooops.." Big droned.
"Awwww, we can't move THIS!" Sage complained, stamping his foot.
The Master Emerald was lodged in a large pile of gravel, and was half buried in it. What's more, it had fallen three feet from a steep ridge which went as far as the eye could see in both directions. Bringing it back the way it came would be out of the question.
"This is going to take a lot of effort." the echidna said, after regaining his composure.
"What time is it?" Streak asked.
Sage looked up at the sun. "About.. five." he guessed.
"A quarter to six." Big corrected, squinting at the giant orb as it dropped behind the mountain range.
"Thank you Mister Sundial." Streak snorted.
"Well, the island seems pretty stable at the moment." commented Sage. "It's corrected itself, I think... we should give it a rest before we try moving it again.
"So we just leave it here overnight?" Streak asked.
Sage looked at the glowing emerald, once brilliant and clean, polished to perfection, and now dirty and lying on its side. He shrugged and scratched the back of his head.
"What could happen?"
Knuckles shot up a few inches in his hut, despite the resulting pain from his ribs.
"Knux, what's wrong?" Sally asked, rushing to his aid.
"I just had a really strong feeling, but it went away just as quickly.." the echidna replied.
"A feeling?" Sally asked. "What kind of feeling?"
"This is gonna sound stupid, Sal.." Knuckles said. "But it kinda felt like irony.."
CHAPTER TWO:
The night was long and eventless, or so the island's guardians thought. One echidna and two cats slept in a cave with a rock over the entrance (a rock that Big was very helpful in assisting to position). The knowledge that the Master Emerald sat nearby glowing steadily gave Sage a strange sense of comfort. At least it was nearby.
When morning came, it saw Sage walking along the beach at the rim of the island. The beach was rocky and unstable (get too close to the edge and great chunks would just come away and plummet you into the calm water below) but the echidna navigated with relative ease.
It didn't take long, however, to discover that something was drastically wrong with the scenery.
As he wandered, there was a strange whirring sound that got closer and closer. Eventually the sands of the beach ended with an enormous metal construction jutting out of the ground.
It extended beyond the outskirts of the island, and was fixed to the ground a fair way inland. Various pipes ran from the scrub into the machine, which was emitting a bizarre whirring. Further down the beach, another construction could be seen.
Sage looked to his left and noticed a purple figure weaving around the rocky cliffs just inland.
"HEY STREAK!" he yelled, cupping his hands. "STREAK!!"
The cat turned, saw him, and began walking towards him.
"What's this thing?" he asked.
Streak shrugged as he gazed up at it. "Looks like a big aircraft engine. REALLY big."
"An engine?" Sage asked. "What's going on?"
"Well, this IS a FLYING island, Sage."
"But it doesn't need engines!"
"Well, what else could this be?"
Sage's reply caught in his throat. It did appear, for all purposes, to be an engine. And the whirring inside could very easily have been the gears for an enormous fan which couldn't be seen from on the isle. But the island's flight feature was in no part mechanical, Knuckles had always made that clear.
"Maybe it's for backup." Streak said suddenly. "You know, in case something happens to the Master Emerald. It did crash in December, you know, maybe Knux decided not to take any more chances..."
"The Master Emerald!" Sage exclaimed in a tone which was almost a shout. Streak was quite nearly bowled over by the outburst.
"We left it lying around outside!" the echidna continued. "Hope it's still okay!"
"What could happen?" Streak asked.
"We'll have to get that back to the altar today." announced Sage, not answering the question.
"Yeah.. right. Big will help, I'll go get him."
The cat walked away, leaving Sage, the newly appointed and temporary guardian of the island, to look down the beach at another 'engine' which could be seen jutting out of the sand. He looked up the beach in the opposite direction, and lo and behold, there was a THIRD machine. There were quite possibly others, as well, that couldn't be seen from that particular angle.
What were they for?
Were they really for backup? Knuckles' protection against any future mishaps? The echidna was okay with computers, but he was no architect or builder, and these engines were huge.
Sage did the maths in his head. In December, the island had crashed. There had been no backup flight systems then. That was three months earlier. Assuming there were no more than three 'engines', Knuckles would have had one month to build each machine, and that was quite an effort for an unskilled echidna.
Knuckles was software, not hardware. He was the fastest programmer in Knothole, but he couldn't tell a cog from a sprocket if the difference meant his life. Rotor had always joked about that.
But here were three, absolutely enormous machines which would take a team of professionals a month or two of hard work each. Three in three months, even though Knuckles had spent every second day throughout most of February in Knothole, and in the rest of the time didn't even seem to be raising a sweat. AND he found the time to design and carve the elaborate Master Emerald altar somewhere in between.
That, of course, always presuming that they WERE backup flight engines. Streak the Cat wasn't exactly Mr Expert himself, he could have been completely one hundred percent wrong. The machines could have been power generators. They could have been ventilation systems. They could have been anything from perpetual motion machines to coffee machines to modern sculpture.
Right?
The loud buzzing sound on the side of the machine had gone unnoticed by Sage as he thought about this, but his mind snapped to it eventually. What WAS that noise?
A light on the side of the 'engine' was flashing on and off. The writing above the light said "KHASTRA : OPERATING".
He didn't know what 'Khastra' meant, but he was pretty dang sure he knew what 'Operating' meant, and he knew that the symbol above the light, the one with the little lightning bolt, stood for 'danger' and that a flashing danger light was the last thing he should be standing next to, contemplating deeply.
But time ran short right there. The whirring sound became louder and more furious, and flames licked the steel panelling of the 'engine' as it whirred and buzzed. The breeze on Sage's face became a gale as the sound of machinery grew almost unbearable.
And then the island moved.
Slowly, ever so slowly, but the movement was there. It didn't jerk foward, but it gently began to drift against the wind. The wind which was almost blowing Sage right off the beach and into the ocean.
He scrambled for cover, struggling to get further onto the land before the entire island dumped him and flew away.
"WHAT'S GOING ON??" he screamed into the open air for anybody who might hear him. He got no response, and he eventually found it easier to move - the wind was calming down as he wandered further from the beach. The trees provided protection.
Had he triggered some kind of mechanism? Had Streak? What had caused the engines to leap into operation? Sage had banned the mental inverted commas around the word 'engine' that he had been using, because there was now no doubt that they really were used to propel the land mass through the air, and it had happened so easily that there was also little doubt that there were quite a few more than three engines. But all the questions that this raised were thrown aside by one BIG question: Where was it going?
Around the island in all directions, the water stretched to the horizon. Was it drifting away from the mainland, or towards it? Telling north from south was impossible on an island which was completely free-floating, where the north side can become the south side in twenty minutes if the ocean wind is steady enough.
Sagittarius headed back to the cave where they had slept through the night.
The Master Emerald sat, still lodged in a pile of gravel, trying to glow through the thick layer of grey dirt covering it. Streak stood next to it, scratching his head.
"This could be tricky." he announced to Big, who was standing, fishing pole in hand and frog on head, on top of the pile.
"We, uh, need somethin' to dig with." Big pointed out.
"Ribbit." Froggy added matter-of-factly.
"I wonder if Knuckles has any tools?" Streak asked. "I'll go see if Sage knows."
The cat up and wandered down the rocky natural trail which went about a hundred metres and led to the cave. He was thinking all the way about a strange feeling he'd been having... like the entire island was moving and picking up speed under his feet.
"The Emerald just has to be stabilize, is all." he told himself. "We do that and everything's peachy."
He looked up ahead, and saw Sage running up the trail towards him, waving his arms.
"What's--" the cat began.
"The island's moving!" Sage shouted, panting.
"I was just thinking that." Streak replied. "It must be the emerald, it's--"
"No, no it's not." Sage choked. "It's those big machines. They started up, and the island's moving."
"They started up? Did you t--"
"I don't know which way we're floating!! We have to stop it before we get ourselves--"
"Bu--"
"--into trouble!"
"Do--"
"We might crash or something!! I d--"
"QUIT IT!" Streak shouted, and then he burst out laughing. "I can't get a word in!"
"Sorry.." Sage apologised.
Streak scratched behind his left ear. "I wonder." he said.
"What?"
"I thought about what they could be.. those engines."
"What??"
"Suppose they keep the island from drifting out to sea." Sage suggested. "Maybe they couldn't prevent a crash, but they might start up automatically and pilot the island back into 'safe areas' when the wind blows it past... past certain boundries."
"I guess it's possible..."
"It's all I can think of right now. Don't worry about it so much..."
"Don't worry?" Sage asked, in surprise. "Why shouldn't I?"
"Knux put them there for a reason, and I'm sure it's a good one!" Streak exclaimed.
"I'm actually not so sure Knux DID put them there." the echidna replied.
"Well, who ELSE did? You're not suggesting they appeared there overnight, are you? While we were sleeping deafly in a cave?"
A cricket chirped.
"Well... you're not, are you?"
"No.." Sage replied at last. "No.. no, of course not. Lets go back to the Emerald and try to get it out.
"Do you know if Knux has any tools? Like a shovel?" Streak asked.
"Don't think so..." Sage replied. "Heck, what would Knux use a shovel for? A lawn ornament? Have you seen him dig with those claws of his? A shovel would slow him down by a factor of ten."
"Right." Streak stated. "Looks like we're gonna get our hands dirty. C'mon."
When they returned, the Master Emerald was still lying half underground, and Big was missing. No, not missing - Sage spotted him rooting through the bushes and the scrub, as if searching for something.
"Hey big guy!" Streak shouted, cupping his hands.
"Hey little guy!" Big shouted back, not turning around.
"What are you doing, cuz?" Streak asked, running over to him.
"Looking fer the lil' black man!" Big replied promptly.
"Admit it, Streak, he's lost his marbles completely." Sage commented.
"What little black man?" Big's cousin inquired, looking in over his shoulder.
Now two cats (and a frog, of course, can't forget the frog) were searching madly for a little black man in the forest, while Sage looked on in awe.
"This isn't Where's Freakin' Waldo, you two! We gotta get this emerald out and up the hill!"
But Big was already wandering through the forest, and Streak was persuing him. Sage, with nothing else to do (he could start digging the Emerald out alone, and he could also take a hot shower while a bird pecked at the gravel pile, both options would gleam the same result) decided to go and bring them both to their senses. He meant to catch up with them quickly, but he tripped over a log and almost lost them completely. It took him a while to stumble after them.
"People, wait, please.."
"Shh.." Big hushed him. "Through here, I think."
As Sage caught up with the two cats, Big parted the bushes a little so they could see through.
The echidna's eyes grew to approximately the size of tea saucers.
"HOLY S--"
"--Suger dumplings." Streak promptly finished Sage's sentance while clapping his hands over his mouth.
"Please tell me that Knuckles hires these guys to mow the lawn."
They found their little black men, alright. All ten thousand and forty six of them, give or take. They swarmed over the island like ants over a carcass. Not ants, though. Not quite.
Spiders.
Perhaps the most disgusting genus of civilised Mobians, the spiders were almost silently swarming and crowding around a huge field. So quietly, in fact, that it was scary. They didn't talk, they just... worked.
"How in the name of the Sun God did they get here?" Sage whispered fearfully, taking Streak's hands away from his mouth.
"They sure didn't take the bus." Streak replied. "What are they doing?"
"Not sure..."
Amongst the crowd, several spiders erected an enormous panel of some kind of sheet metal using ropes. They bent it and shaped it using things that looked like large pliers, and proceeded to add bits to it, using some kind of glue. No hammering, no banging of any kind. They built in eerie silence. And so many of them worked at once on the smallest jobs.. they were so synchronised that they seemed to know what the other spiders were thinking, like they had built hundreds of thousands of identical constructions before, which they probably had.
They worked so efficiently that the construction almost seemed to grow out of the ground. Something which would take days of work for a skilled team of any other species was appearing right before their eyes.
"I just had a crazy theory about who built those machines on the beach." Streak announced.
"We're... we're being overthrown!" Sage stammered. "OVERTHROWN!"
"Pipe down." Streak urged. "They hear us, and one of those plier-things is going to be holding each of us over a fire before you can say 'knife'."
They could see now what the spiders were shaping. It was some kind of dome building.
Wandering amongst them now was a different kind of spider, a visibly different species. Long, wire-like legs moving rapidly, he seemed to be taking notes. Other spiders fell over themselves to get out of his way.
"The Arack Empire." Streak awed.
"We have to get them off this island." Sage added. "We have to get them off before Knux comes back."
"How do you propose?" Streak asked. "There are thousands..."
"We'll find a way." Sage assured. "Now come on. We have an emerald to extract."
Streak and Sage scratched the gravel away while Big pulled at the emerald. For a long time nothing happened, but then they began to make progress - tme huge gem was being uncovered. With a final yank, Big fell backward and the emerald rolled a few metres behind him. The island made a disagreeable rumbling noise.
"Back to the altar?" Streak asked, cocking his thumb up the hill.
"Heck no!" Sage exclaimed. "That'd be like putting it in a display case, we might as well advertise it! I don't know whether those spiders know about it or not, but I'm sure as heck not GIVING it to them!"
He scratched his head as he looked around.
"Down the trail." he said at last. "We'll put it in the cave. They won't see it there."
So they spent three hours getting it to the cave. During the course of this time, three constructions were visibly erected above the trees. Huge, pointed towers that looked like radio towers. Sage saw them rise over the forest right before his eyes.
"How do they build so fast?" he asked Streak, as Big struggled to drag the rock over the mouth of the cave.
"They're notorious for it." Streak replied. "Probably 'cause there's so many of them all dedicated to the job. That, and they can do up to four things at once, each."
There was a beeping sound, and both guardians looked around for the source. It was a small two-way-radio on the ground.
"I'll get it." Big exclaimed. He picked it up and put it to one of his massive ears.
Knuckles sat propped up in bed, bandages around his waist and head. One arm was in a solid cast, and the other was holding a two-way-radio to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Uh, heya there!" came the low, deep voice on the other end.
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "What? Who is this? Big?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Big? What?"
Big's voice became distant, like he was holding the phone out away from him.
"It's for you. It's Mr Echidemma."
Another, higher voice.
"Hello? Knux?"
"Hello?" Knuckles asked. "Hello, who am I speaking to?"
"Streak."
"Streak? What..."
"I'm here with Big, we're uh... *static* We're helping arrow-boy out a little."
Knuckles shook his head. "Well, okay then. I'm just calling to make sure everything's okay."
There was static for a long time.
"Well, I tell 'ya Knux, you're not gonna believe it! Everything here is completely.. *thump**static**fumble**static* ..fine, Knux, everything's... fine, just fine! Completely fine."
The last was spoken in a different voice.
"What? Sage? Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me."
"Where'd Streak go?"
"Uhh, he's here. He's uh.. want me to put him on? 'Cause I don't think he can speak, he's having a coughing fit, or something."
"I can't hear any coughing.."
"Yeah.. no.. no, he's gone for a drink of water. It's just me now, it's--"
"--still here--"
*static*"--n--"
"--y--"
*static**fumble*
"You there?"
Knuckles cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm here.."
"Ok good. It's all fine here, Knux, completely A-OK."
"Well, okay, uh, I guess. You sure you're okay?"
"Positive!"
"Okay then, keep up the good work."
Knux switched off the two-way radio with a confused expression.
"Geez Sonic, where are you?" he asked. "I hope those guys can hack it. It's a simple job, right?"
Streak snapped the radio out of Sage's hands when the line fell dead.
"Why'd you lie like that?"
Sage's expression was one of fear. "Wouldn't YOU?" he asked. "What was I gonna tell him? 'Oh don't worry Knux, everything's perfectly fine here, oh, except that we dropped the Master Emerald and it rolled practically from one side of the island to the other. Oh, but don't fret about that, it actually turned out to be a good thing! Because the ARACK EMPIRE TOOK OVER THE FLOATING ISLAND LAST NIGHT, KNUCKLES, AND THE PLACE IS SWARMING WITH FREAKIN' SPIDERS!!'"
"Well, he could have at least given us some advice on the matter.." Streak began.
"WAKE UP!" Sage shrieked. "If he didn't DROP DEAD INSTANTLY from THREE SIMULTANIOUS HEART ATTACKS AND A STROKE, which is QUITE likely, he'd get out of his bed no matter HOW many broken bones he has, and he'd embark on a quest to kill ME!"
"Alright, alright, don't snap!" Streak pleaded.
"I'M NOT SNAPPING!!!" Sage insisted.
"I AM EXTREMELY CALM!! IN FACT, IF I WERE ANY MORE CALM, I MIGHT BE MISTAKEN FOR THE FREAKING OCEAN OF BLOODY MOBIUS!!"
The echidna looked about to burst a capillary on his forehead. And at the rate he was breathing, he looked like he just ran an Olympic marathon. Streak decided it might be wise to change the subject.
"The island's still moving." he announced matter-of-factly. "It's probably safe to say the spiders are moving it, but where do you think it's going?"
Sage gasped and began to climb the small mountainous peak behind them. It led to a small mesa about thirteen metres up, where the beach and the ocean could be seen. The echidna shielded his eyes and looked out to sea.
"I can see land." he announced. "I couldn't see it before.. we're heading towards it."
Streak scratched his head. "They must be flying the entire thing back to Terantulopolis!"
"They're not going to get away with this." Sage growled. "Stealing Knux's island when he's not looking."
"Stealing an entire island, what an interesting development." Streak added.
Sage began to climb down again. When he reached the ground, he snatched up his yew bow and quiver of arrows.
"It's time for the pest control, Streak." he announced, strapping the quiver to his back. "First thing is we're taking out those rocket boosters. Then we're kicking those eight-leggers off this island!"
He marched into the forest. Streak and Big looked at each other.
"Oh dear." they said in unison.
Froggy croaked.
CHAPTER THREE:
Sagittarius had shot half his quiver at the rocket booster on the beach before he decided it wasn't any good. The arrows just snapped and bounced off the metal hull.
"There's gotta be some way to dent this thing.." he mumbled.
"Well, you're not gonna do it like that!" Streak retorted. "Look, I might be able to help. My electric shock power was a little.. damaged when I was swallowed by Chaos, but I think it's been getting better. Observe, if you will, the power of Streak the Cat!"
"Go little guy!" Big cheered enthusiastically. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Woohoooooooo!"
"Ehem... thankyou." Streak replied. He walked straight up to the booster and cupped both his hands on the surface, reclining foward a little.
"If I may have complete silence from the audience, please..."
Little sparks began to jump all over the cat's back.. there was a crackling sound, and suddenly an enormous charge of electrical current ran through the area. The rocket booster and Streak were both covered in an intense glow. After a few seconds of this, Streak began to scream, but mercifully, the booster began to show a visible decline in performance. Its insides probably melted and destroyed, the engine's flame shrank and then disappeared, the fan inside making a sick whirring-clanking sound as it slowed down.
Streak stopped creating the charge, and a lot of his fur was blackened at the tips. He took two steps backward, little whisps of smoke visible around his body.
"Better jolt than caffeine.." he announced. Then he collapsed backwards.
Sage ran over to him. "Streak! Streak! You did it, buddy!" he was shouting.
"Yeee-ah! Go Streak!" Big added, also thundering across the beach towards his cousin.
"Huh.. what?" Streak asked, opening one eye. He coughed loudly.
"You destroyed it!" Sage explained. "The booster! It worked!"
"Oh?" the cat asked.
"Yeah!" Big replied. "Now yuh gotta do it again fer ALL those others!"
He pointed down the beach at all of the other boosters, which were still working at optimum performance.
Streak collapsed again.
"Oh, hey, Streak, wake up!" Sage tried.
"Forget it!" Streak yelled back. "It can't be done! I'll get through another two of those and my new name will be Kitty-litter! Deep fried.. Kentucky style!"
"Let's get him back to the cave." Sage suggested to Big. "He can rest up. Maybe we can find another way to fix up this place."
Big nodded, and leaned over his cousin.
"Hey.. Big.." Streak mumbled. "Big.. BIG! Nononono..NO!"
Too late. The enormous cat grabbed Streak under one arm and slung him over his shoulder. Then he turned around and began to waddle back towards the cave, his cousin bouncing on his shoulder like a big freshly caught fish. Sage and Froggy followed suit.
They say you can feel it when you're being watched, but nobody in this party of four even suspected.
"Hey.. Streak.. wake up." Sage prompted.
The purple cat slowly opened his eyes. "Is there a doctor on the island?" he asked. "'Cause I think I got beat up pretty bad after the first few metres."
"You'll be fine." Sage said. "You've been asleep for an hour. Have any more ideas about how we can clean those spiders off the island? They seem to be building some kinds of gun turrets around the rim of the island now, and the mainland is closer."
"Can we go outside?" Streak asked. "I hate this cave."
Sage helped him to his feet, and the two began to walk towards the entrance. When they got there, they could see Big standing, facing outward, with both arms rigidly up in the sky.
"What's he doing?" Sage asked.
"God only knows, my friend, Big is a mystery of science. Hey Big! What'cha doing?"
Big turned around to reply, but the two were already outside and knew the answer before he did. Streak was first to put his arms in the air, and Sage did so as well, quite hesitantly.
"'Can we go outside' you reckon." he mumbled.
There must have been twenty spiders standing there. All terantulas, except the one in the lead, who was something completely different. A small, scrawny body floating in a maze of pipe-cleaner legs.
"Who are you?" the leading spider demanded.
"We could ask you the same question." Sage retorted.
The small spider scurried up to them. "I am Squit Is'sus!" he replied. "Honorable Advisor to the Throne of His Supreme Magesty Saddam Spinster! But the....uh....uh....the QUESTION here, my friends, is who are YOU? You've caused quite a stir here! We thought this island was...uh...empty."
"Well you thought wrong!" Sage replied. "So why don't you pack up your limbs.. all of them.. and go?"
"Not as EASY as that, I'm afraid!" Squit retorted. "You see, His Supreme Magesty has claimed Spinster Island under the rule of the Arack Empire! It is YOU who must leave!"
"WHERE DO YOU GET OFF?" Sage spat, suddenly. His arms lowered, but the spiders immediately raised their weapons. He promptly raised his arms again.
"Where do you get off, huh?" he repeated, less threateningly. "You think you can just.. RE-NAME the Floating Island and build things on it and kick people off it just because you stuck a flag in the dirt? I have some news for you, Mr Squit - THIS IS THE FLOATING ISLAND, whether you like it or not! And furthermore, and more importantly, I AM THE GUARDIAN OF THE FLOATING ISLAND!"
He smiled. He enjoyed saying that.
"I AM SAGITTARIUS, GUARDIAN OF THE FLOATING ISLAND! AND I COMMAND THAT YOU STOP--"
"What is that?" Squit asked. He was ignoring Sage completely and staring into the cave. The echidna turned around and looked. There was a green glow illuminating the cave.
"Oh.. oh that?" he asked, nervously. "That's nothing.. nothing at all.."
"Doesn't look like nothing." Squit replied. "It's a green glow."
"Radiation." Streak said promptly. Sage shot him a dirty 'what the heck are you talking about and how are you going to talk your way out of it' look.
"Yeah.. it's uh.. it's.. well, it's radiation." the cat repeated. "Very, very dangerous. You guys shouldn't be hanging around here. It could kill you."
"You're sleeping in a radioactive cave?" Squit asked.
Streak's mouth hung open.
"No.." Sage replied. "We...uh..."
"That ain't radiation, you guys!" Big announced, chuckling. "You're silly! That's the glow of th' big emerald, remember?"
Both Streak and Sage looked at him, amazed.
"BII-IIG!" the yelled in unison.
But Squit was already investigating. "Well! Uhh... would you look at THAT!"
***
Over the ocean, miles away in the dark city of Terantulopolis...
"PACKBELL!" Saddam Spinster screamed. "Packbell, get yourself in operation!"
An enormous computer screen flashed on at the side of the control room. It displayed the giant face of Commander Packbell. For, you see, Packbell, once Doctor Robotnik's high ranking officer and commander of the armies of Robotropolis, was now a Supercomputer. His mental self was inserted and programmed into what used to be Robotnik's main control system, and Spinster used him as his personal information source.
"Yes Mister Spinster?" Packbell asked, his voice booming through speakers around the room.
"Do you remember that island I asked you about?" Spinster asked.
"The Floating Island.. yes. What of it?"
"You didn't tell me the whole story."
"Oh?"
The former android's now digital face remained expressionless on the screen. He had very little respect for his new master. The Arack Empire has always disgusted him as far as his emotional programming would allow.
"You didn't mention it was inhabited, and you didn't mention any enormous emeralds!" Spinster growled.
"You didn't ask about them." Packbell retorted. His face vanished, and a picture of the Floating Island appeared.
"The Floating Island is a wonder of geology. Its soil is absolutely littered with the ore of class beta 'floating' emerald. This emerald ore is linked together and its power channeled directly through the controller emerald.. The Master Emerald.. which stabilizes the island and keeps it afloat."
"Can this emerald be used to my advantage?" Spinster asked.
A picture of the Master Emerald appeared on the viewscreen. "Of course!" Packbell replied.
"It's power is immense. Its uses innumberable."
"I can use it to power the weaponry on the island!" Spinster announced, a sparkle in his eyes. "I would be.. unstoppable!"
"There is one...." Packbell began, and stopped.
"What?" Spinster prompted.
"Nothing." the computer replied. "The Emerald's power is near limitless. Arack will be feared throughout the land like no other empire in existance."
"Excellent." Spinster growled. He walked out of the room. Packbell's face appeared on the screen again. He was grinning.
***
"Well THIS is a fine predicament!" Streak sighed. "I tell you, Big, I can't take you anywhere!"
"What are we going to do?" Sage asked, beginning to fret.
The three of them were tied up with rope against the side of the cave.
"They took the Master Emerald and now they're stealing the island. I failed as a guardian.. I am SO dead!"
"Don't worry!" Big insisted.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Froggy will save us!"
Sage looked at the cat strangely. "Big... it's a frog, mate."
"I know.." Big replied. "HEY FROGGY!"
The large nonsentiant frog's head poked out from the bushes.
"Froggy! Help us outta these ropes!"
The frog hopped across to Big, and seemed to sniff the ropes, and then hopped in a little circle.
"I'm afraid you may be putting a little too much pressure on this frog of yours." Streak admitted.
No sooner had he stopped talking, and Froggy began to gnaw on Big's ropes. Streak gasped.
"Does he even have teeth?" Sage asked in amazement.
Big chuckled. "You better believe it!"
One of the ropes snapped. Big flexed his left arm.
"I can't believe this!" Streak awed. "The Floating Island is in the hands of a frog! Hey Big, can you loosen my ropes?"
Big was already loosening his own ropes with the help of his pet frog. He shuffled over and began to untie the others.
"Reckon there's still hope?" Streak asked.
"I dunno, but I'm friggin' well gonna try." Sage replied.
"Hook it up to everything." Spinster's voice rasped over the radio.
"Uh, excuse me, sire?" Squit inquired. "Everything?"
"YES EVERYTHING!" the dictator commanded. "Run the entire power frame of the island off it! The computer tells me that it has more than enough energy."
Squit looked up at the crowd of spiders surrounding him.
"INSTALL IT TO THE POWER GRID!" he yelled. "RUN EVERYTHING OFF THE EMERALD!"
The spiders looked at their small leader with scepticism, but carried out their orders. Five extremely large terantulas lifted the Master Emerald and heaved it up a ramp. The ramp led to a massive machine that had been constructed in under a day by the Arack Empire builders. Cords as thick as tree trunks emerged from the machine and led all around the island. The spiders dropped the emerald onto it and began to fiddle with wires.
"So, what now?" Streak asked. "Do we try to beat up a hundred and fifty spiders and take the emerald back?"
The three guardians were hiding behind a thick section of scrub.
"I guess we wait." Sage replied. "We'll strike later, when they're gone."
He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Assuming there IS a later."
One of the terantulas stood up and nodded at Squit Is'sus. He nodded a reply.
"Okay then... uh... POWER UP!" he commanded. "OPERATE ALL WEAPONRY! SET ALL BOOSTERS AT MAXIMUM POWER!"
The spiders began to work again. Lights flashed all over the enormous contraption.
"Uh-oh." Sage muttered. "I don't like the looks of this."
There was a lous bang, followed by a sharp, whining noise. The Master Emerald seemed to glow incredibly bright for a moment, then faded. There was another bang. Squit appeared very worried as he stood atop a steel pedestal.
The island began to sink. There was a series of jolts as the land mass slowly drifted down towards the water.
"They're draining the emerald!" Sage yelled over the noise. "OH CRAP THEY'RE DRAINING IT! WE'RE GONNA CRAAA--"
He was cut off by an exceptionally loud ripping sound. Something glittering and angular flew overhead. Something metal. There was a fainter rip, and something else flew through the sky.
"SHUT IT DOWN!" Squit screamed, his command barely heard. But none of the spiders could go near the center of the contraption where the emerald lay. Metallic things flew through the air everywhere, to the confusion of everybody.
It was then that the most remarkable thing happened. The gigantic machine holding the emerald began to actually rise off the ground. It had weighed perhaps equal to several jumbo jet airplanes, and now was completely weightless. The sky a multitude of metal now, even spiders themselves began to be yanked from their feet and thrown into the air.
"What's happening?" Streak asked. "Somehow I doubt this was all part of the plan."
"Uhh, they're flying!" Big announced, pointing to the sky.
Squit let out a strange, squauking scream as his pedestal, the enormous machine and everything attached to its cords (which happened to be most of what the spiders had constructed on the island) was ripped from the ground with one final jolt and thrown into the air.
"Hey, the Master Emerald DOES make you fly!" Streak yelled, chuckling furiously. "Must not have touched it the right way, Sage ol' buddy!"
He slapped the echidna on the back hard. Sage just let out a relieved, crazy laugh.
With one burst of energy, the entire spider clan and most of what they had constructed was expelled forcibly from the island. The cloud of metal hovered a few kilometres away from the island before dropping into the ocean.
"That'll learn 'em." Sage smirked.
The Master Emerald fell from the sky and landed upside-down in the grass. The island stabilised itself.
EPILOGUE: ONE WEEK LATER
"Wow.. you're really keeping this place in shape!" Knuckles exclaimed, admiring his island. "It's better than when I left.. you're a natural, Sagittarius!"
"Well, I did have a little.. help." Sage replied, looking at the two cats. Streak grinned and waved.
"So, how are you coming along, Knux?"
"Strong as ever!" Knuckles chuckled. He tried to flex his muscles, but screwed his face up in pain. He quickly dropped his arms to the sides of his wheelchair. The echidna was still mostly bound in plaster.
"HEY SAL! I NEED YOUR LEGS AGAIN!"
Sally was standing a way off, smelling a cluster of particularly large flowers. She trundled back to her job of pushing Knuckles around, but not without admiring everything thoroughly on the way. This was the second or third time she had been to the Floating Island in her life, and it had never looked this beautiful.
Knuckles clapped his hands together. "To the Emerald Altar, Jeeves." he commanded.
"Yeah yeah." Sally chuckled. "Long as you show me the way."
Sage and Streak looked at each other and winked.
Spirits were not so high in Terantulopolis.
Squit Is'sus was recovering from a bad cold and, even worse, from a confrontation with Saddam Spinster as to exactly why he had failed to capture the Floating Island.
Spinster himself was playing a game of solitaire chess. He moved a rook in the shape of a spiked castle tower across the board three squares, and smiled, the hairs on his face twitching.
"First move towards checkmate." he snarled.
"Watch your backs. I'll rule you someday."
Laughter echoed through the halls.