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Sonic the Hedgehog: Mystic Isle
Chapter 4: Endless Mine
The being was concerned.
It seemed foolish to have an emotion like that, or to have any emotion at all. Still, for better or worse, "concerned" was how it would describe itself. Concerned that its badniks at Carnival Night weren't responding. Concerned that the Guardian was responsible. Concerned that if the Guardian continued to act like this, the rate of robot loss would exceed that of production.
And above all, concerned that its proximity sensors were sending a message to it. Sensors that were at the entrance to the Endless Mine. Sensors that were also near visual ones. Visual sensors that made it even more concerned.
The Guardian had arrived.
The sun had risen...and it wouldn't do him any good.
Knuckles hesitated at the threshold between light and darkness, between the world of the surface (well, the surface of Angel Island anyway) and the gloom of the Endless Mine. Not out of trepidation, but out of weariness. The sun was merely a reminder of how long he'd been active. He'd spent the better part of a day getting to Casino Night from Azure Lake and he'd spent the better part of a night heading across the island again to the Endless Mine. Even with peak physical endurance, not even the Guardian's supply of energy was endless. The only reason he hadn't simply sat down right here, right now was that time was an unknown quantity in this. A few hours of rest could end up with him being put to rest in a much more permanent manner.
And with him, the island.
For some reason, Knuckles's line of thought didn't include his low chances of success. Maybe it was his victories against his foe's badniks, maybe it was Park's words, but either way, he felt more...resolved, somehow. He had a job to do, so while he knew he was liable to fail at it, he at least accepted the necessity of the task. And if such a task involved him forsaking both rest and sun for an abandoned mine shaft, so be it.
No torches shine, no pick-axe falls, the darkness dwells from shaft to walls. Tread not with caution, and you'll know, that you won't come up from what's below.
The Guardian allowed himself a small smile as he descended into the shaft, passing the lamp-post that marked the mine's entrance. It was an old child's tune, dating back to when the old echidna civilization had closed the mine after depleting it of metal ores and sought to keep their children safe. By Knuckles's time as the last Guardian (and last echidna for that matter), it was really nothing but apocrypha-a footnote in limited annals of history. Until now, the Endless Mine might as well have not existed at all.
But Robotnik found it...the echidna reflected bitterly. In some ways, he knows this island better than I do...
The Guardian shook the thoughts away. They wouldn't help him down here. Especially with the ground suddenly collapsing...
Shit!
Pulling a similar trick to the one he had at Azure Lake, Knuckles slammed a fist into one of the sides of the vertical shaft. He didn't know whether it was a trap or simply the signs of age, but he knew that if he'd let himself fall, he probably wouldn't have been left alive long enough to find out.
But maybe I should go down there...if this shaft is linked to a base, wouldn't it be as deep as possible?
Perhaps...and as Knuckles glanced around the gloom of the mine, it was only now that he was beginning to realize how large it was. Carved out rock, rails for carts no longer in function. Heck, the only thing that was functioning was a security camera further down on the right path that led...
Wait a minute...
The echidna slowly approached the camera, taking note to stay out of its field of vision. He knew what such a device was, but only through his interactions with Robotnik and the presence of similar devices at the launch base. Granted, Knuckles doubted whether flybot767s would be summoned if it spotted him, but either way, he wasn't going to find out. And as he jumped into the air, smashing the camera into tiny pieces, he reflected that that was just fine with him.
Sonic might have just zoomed past it, the echidna reflected, examining the torn metal in his hands. But sometimes the direct approach is the best one.
So with that being said, the Guardian continued down the path.
Two paths diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both...
Knuckles shook it off. More poems, this one from Robotnik as an example of his people's culture. How such people could have given rise to a madman such as him was a matter of contention, but if there was one thing the Death Egg saga had taught Knuckles, it was not to judge the apple by its skin.
It had also taught him about tunnelbots. Such as the one that nearly skewered him as it burst through the floor with an almighty crash, Knuckles flipping backwards, kicking off a wall and tearing through it as he glided being the only thing preventing his heated blood being splattered on cold stone.
Poems...Knuckles reflected wryly. Must have been more psychological warfare on Robotnik's part.
Or not. Because the tunnelbots were but one example of Robotnik being able to wage war in far more direct ways. They were meant to be assigned to the Marble Gardens, to stop the "thieves" in their tracks, but it seemed that at least one had made its way down here. A simple design, consisting of nothing but two drills, a booster and connecting metal, but a potentially lethal one.
So then. Upwards and onwards.
Literally, as the case was. Because as a red spring up ahead demonstrated, Knuckles would indeed have to head upwards to progress. No doubt an easy way to let his people get to the shaft above. Granted, Knuckles could have just as easily climbed up, but sometimes the fastest way was the quickest. A quick hop, a quick spring and he found himself in an upper shaft. And as something tore through the roof, as the echidna dived to the ground to avoid it, he also found another tunnelbot waiting for him. A tunnelbot that altered its drills to a horizontal orientation and began to slowly make its way towards him.
Oh, bollocks...
Knuckles turned the other way and ran. He couldn't fight a tunnelbot in such narrow quarters. Not with its drills pointed right at him and all the dust they were generating. He'd be shooting blind, where any miss would end up with him losing an arm, then the rest of his body. Unfortunately, it might well come to that. Because as Knuckles discovered to his horror, this shaft was a dead end. Both figuratively and literally.
Empty mine shaft my red ass...
Knuckles glanced around. Going back wasn't an option, nor was going up. Going forward might have been one, but even if he could punch through solid rock, he wouldn't have a chance of doing it faster than the tunnelbot could move. And heading downwards presented the same issue. Even if the rock was yellow, and patched together. Rock that, come to think of it, looked nothing like the rest of the rock in the rest of the mind.
Yellow rock...could that be sulphur?
Trying his best to ignore the tunnelbot of doom, Knuckles summoned what he knew of basic chemistry. Sulphur was a basic element, found in volcanoes and metal ores. But the Endless Mine was nowhere near the Lava Reefs and it was concentrated on its own here rather than being in layers with the rock. It was almost as if it had been just dumped here. And if it had been dumped rather than forming naturally...then that meant it would be easier to get through.
Guess I'm going down then...and hopefully not down and out.
Humour...it was all he had right now as he pummelled through the yellow rock, doing his best to ignore the tunnelbot making its way towards him. Without pride, without purpose, just humour...and his strength. Strength enough to carve through the final layer of rock and fall through as the tunnelbot passed overhead.
Problem was, he kept falling.
But then again, as he was caught by a fan-based platform and slowly transported downwards, with rock giving way to steel, the Guardian reflected that might not have been such a bad thing.
As the platform descended further down, the surroundings became brighter. Yet Knuckles felt he was descending into darkness all the same.
There was nothing...natural here. Even the Endless Mine, carved through the bowels of Angel Island, had at least been carved by hand. But here, the rock had been removed completely. Rock with steel, darkness with glaring lights, anything living replaced with circuits...it was a nightmare. It was an aberration.
It was the type of thing that Robotnik would have created. And the voice only served to emphasise that.
"Well, well, well...welcome...to my lair," it sneered.
"I'm not feeling welcome," Knuckles murmured, staring around the installation for some indication as to where the booming, artificial voice was coming from...and failing.
"You've proven to be quite an annoyance...but even so, all ants must returned to the hills that spawned them."
"I wasn't spawned here."
"Perhaps. But my actions have brought you here nonetheless."
Knuckles remained silent as the lift drew to a halt. To the right was a wall, to the left was a walkway. A walkway that led to a series of terminals, albiet only one of which was active.
"Anyway, I'm afraid this is the point where I'm going to have to kill you," the voice declared, with as much emotion as one showed when burning their garbage. "Just come over here, sign some non-disclosure forms, and I'll make it as painless as possible...for me."
The Guardian walked over to the terminals. He wasn't searching for the sound anymore-he'd realized that its source was from all around him. Sound could do that. But sight? He'd have to have something to focus on. And his gut feeling was that the terminals were to provide the means...even if all he would get from them was a non-disclosure form...whatever that was.
Luckily, he didn't get that. Rather, he recieved a glowing red eye on them instead.
"My name is Norton," the electronic voice boomed. "And now it's time for you to die."
A/N
Endless Mine was my favourite multiplayer stage of STH3 back in the day, even if the yellow rock barrier was a pain in the arse. More often than not my friends and I would arrive there at the same time, and end up arguing who was going to jump first. Considering that whoever smashed the rocks would be at a disadvantage after the other player ran through the newly opened gap first, it wasn't an easy discussion.
What also wasn't easy was writing this chapter. It used to have far more traps and the like, but I found this gave it too much of a stop-start aspect, so cut it down. Least I got Norton to do a Wheatly impression though. 0_0
