Chapter 11: Accused
An hour after the airship explosion…
"Shade, are you alright?" Knuckles asked the peach echidna that was tightly holding onto him.
"Yes." Shade nodded as she let go of the red echidna. "It's a good thing that you can glide like that. Although that updraft did seem to have come out of nowhere."
"You can say that again." Knuckles brushed some dirt off his arms. "But the important thing is that we are alive."
"Yes," Shade respectfully bowed her head slightly, "And…thanks for saving me back there."
"Uh, no problem." Knuckles blushed slightly before quickly looking away. "Um, where are we anyway?"
With that question voice, both echidnas looked around the area they had landed in. All around them were stone structures that were covered in moss and vines.
"I think we're in Mystic Ruin." Shade said.
Knuckles nodded in agreement. There was no denying that this was Mystic Ruin: the eroded echidna statues, the ancient structures that rose up to the sky, and other relics of the ancient Knuckles Echidna Clan that used to rule this area.
"Amazing how that explosion managed to blow us all the way here." Shade inquisitively pointed out. "It seems almost impossible, don't you think?"
"I guess so." Knuckles replied. "But since it's over, I'm not really going to argue about it. I'm just glad to be back on solid ground."
"So am I." Shade agreed.
After a few moments, Knuckles looked around again, suspicious about the state of the environment. Something wasn't right. The area was too quiet. Aside from a few common insect noises, there wasn't a sound to be heard. Shade sensed it as well and began to scan the area around them. When she spotted a stream of smoke coming up on their right, she nudged Knuckles in the shoulder and pointed.
The two echidnas carefully crept toward the hill, slowly crawled up the slope, and peeked over. On the other side was a large, metal structure. Around the perimeter was a large titanium wall with four large watchtowers on the corners and two electrical gates for entrances on the front and back walls. In the center of the barrier was a factory-like building with one large smoke stack near the far right corner, and the traditional Eggman logo was painted on the front wall.
However, the overall structure of the building was a hybrid between stone and metal. To add to its design, it looked like it was the shape of a pyramid.
"Wait!" Knuckles nearly shouted in outrage. "That's an ancient temple of MY clan!"
"What?!" Shade looked at him.
"How DARE Eggman destroy a part of my lineage!" Knuckles gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
The red echidna was about to get up and rush down the hill when Shade grabbed his arm and forced him back down.
"Knuckles, don't!" she ordered in a hushed voice and pointed. "Look!"
All around the base were swatbots. There were at least a thousand of them that were either patrolling the outer parameter, coming in and out of the gates, or inside the watchtowers.
"We can't take them all on," the Nocturnus echidna tried to calmly explain.
"Shade!" Knuckles snapped out of frustration and anger. "These rust buckets ruined a relic of my ancestors! I can't let that go unpunished, too!"
The red echidna then looked bitterly at his fist and clenched it so hard it began to tremble. "I failed to protect the Master Emerald!" Knuckles voice spiked with guilt. "I failed to protect this world! I…I can't fail my clan again!"
Sensing his inner struggle, Shade gently placed a hand on Knuckles's shoulder. Feeling the calming grip, Knuckles looked up into her violet colored eyes. For some reason, looking into those gentle eyes seemed to calm his emotional turmoil just a bit.
"I understand," Shade softly said, "however, you managed to retrieve the Master Emerald again, haven't you? Also, you stood up to Ix because you believed in your moral beliefs. I'm sure your ancestors would be proud of you for that."
Knuckles didn't say anything; he just stared at the peach echidna as he anger began to subside even more. He eventually dropped his gaze and pulled out the Master Emerald. He stared at the mighty gem with a solemn expression as the words his friend spoke began to sink into his mind.
"We'll get the temple back." Shade continued. "But right now, we need to find the others and figure out what happened in our absence. Everything will be all right, but we have to be patient."
Eventually, Knuckles let out a slightly defeated sigh, put the Master Emerald away and slowly stood up.
"Okay, you win," he said in a low voice. "But if we're going to do something about this, we should start now."
Shade acknowledged the statement by standing up and nodding.
With that, the two echidnas quietly walked back down the hill and away from the base. Staying on guard, they carefully made their way along a small path. Occasionally, they had to duck behind trees or bushes to avoid the swatbots patrolling the area. Fortunately, there was only a hand full of swatbots lurking about. So they didn't have too much trouble sneaking past them.
Still, the whole time they snuck through Mystic Ruin, Knuckles mustered up all of his self-control to prevent himself from rushing out and attacking. These bolt buckets were just walking around the area like they owned the place. Unacceptable!
"When this is all over," he determinedly thought, "I WILL have Mystic Ruin back and I WILL restore Angel Island! I swear on the Master Emerald that I WILL restore my ancestor's legacy!"
After about half an hour, the path eventually led the two wanderers past the swamp into the center of the ruins. All around them were a series of large, old fans that seemed to be set up in a specific pattern leading up to the cliff on their right. In the center of it appeared to be generator with cords that snaked across the ground, each connected to one of the fans. However, neither the generator nor the fans were activated. The contraption just sat in the middle of the ruin, serving no purpose at the moment.
"Was this always here?" Shade asked as they approached it.
"Not really," Knuckles replied, "but I do know it was here before the Nocturnus attacked."
After he said that, Knuckles saw out of the corner of his eye that Shade moved her head slightly. He looked at her and saw that she had turned away with a rather stiff expression.
"Oh!" Knuckles clenched upon realizing what he said. "Shade, I'm sorry! I didn't mean you, I just…!"
"It's okay, Knuckles." Shade sharply replied. "I know I'm of the Nocturnus Clan."
"Well, yeah," the red echidna shrugged, "but still, you're different from them. Plus you've…"
"Shh!" Shade suddenly jolted and whipped her head to the left. "Do you hear that?"
Knuckles looked in the same direction as Shade and listened for a moment. Near the base of an echidna statue, the branches were rustling slightly. However, their motion began to move more rapidly and the rustling noise was getting louder by the second.
Something was coming their way!
Not even saying a word, the two echidnas bolted to their right and leapt behind some bushes. Peering through the leaves and thin branches of the shrub, they watched as two humans dressed in black G.U.N. uniforms emerged with helmets covering their faces.
"Well, that was a waste of time," one of them grumbled in a deep, masculine voice.
"Oh, would you stop complaining?!" Another one snapped in a female voice. "At least we completed the mission."
"Yeah," the other on grumbled, "one of the most pointless missions we've ever been assigned! Not to mention dodging all of those swabots is getting pretty tiresome!"
As more soldiers in uniforms walked out of the tangle of vines, one voice from behind called out, "Break it up, you two!"
Knuckles jolted up when he recognized the voice. He could hardly believe his eyes as he watched a very familiar lilac cat push away the vegetation and step out.
"We finished the mission and that's what's important," she calmly said. "Efforts like this are what keeps Eggman at bay."
"Blaze?!" the red echidna whispered in a shocked voice. "What's she doing here?!"
"Oh, you know her?" Shade asked in a hushed voice.
"Yeah." Knuckles nodded as he got ready to stand up. "Don't worry, she's a friend. C'mon."
Knuckles then stood up and walked out of the bushes, much to the agents' surprise. Shade hesitated for a moment, but then followed Knuckles' action.
"Hey, it's Knuckles!" one of the agents almost shouted.
"Knuckles?" Blaze raised and eyebrow in surprise as the red echidna stopped in front of the group. "What are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, Blaze." Knuckles replied. "Aren't you supposed to be in the Sol Dimension?"
"Well, it's a complicated story," Blaze shrugged, "but I'm helping this world, too."
Blaze then looked past Knuckles as a peach echidna in a dark purple, full body armor suit with a headband that had a strange, bright pink mark on it walk up to the group.
"Oh, who's your friend?" the cat asked.
"This is Shade." Knuckles gestured to his friend, who respectfully nodded. "Shade, this is Blaze."
"Nice to meet you." Shade held out her hand.
"Nice to meet you, too." Blaze shook the echidna's hand.
"Wait! Shade?!" one of the male soldiers in the group shouted and pointed. "AHA! I knew it! You were with the Marauders!"
Shade nervously stepped back when she heard the man say "Marauders".
"That's right!" another one joined in with an angry tone. "It was YOUR clan that tried to destroy our world!"
"W-What?!" Shade fearfully stuttered. "N-No…I…!"
"Yeah!" another one shouted. "And thanks to you, Eggman took over!"
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Knuckles bellowed.
Everyone stepped back in surprised fear as Knuckles stepped protectively in front of Shade. He clenched his fist and stared at the squad with a severely angry expression.
"Shade had nothing to do with Eggman taking over!" Knuckles shouted. "She didn't even WANT to take over this world! IX wanted to! And Shade risked her life to help us save our world from him! She stood up to her clan to help us! So don't you even DARE say she had anything to do with this!"
Everyone fell silent as Knuckles continued to stare the agents down. Shade looked at her friend with surprise and slight admiration. While Knuckles had stood up for her in the past, this was the first time she really took a genuine notice in it.
"Calm down, Knuckles." Blaze stepped forward and slightly gestured with her hand. "I believe you. We'll discuss this when we get back to headquarters."
"Blaze! You can't be serious!" The soldier with the deep voice protested. "She's part of the Marauders!"
Shade shrunk back at the accusation while Knuckles scowled even harder.
"Be that as it may, Jason," Blaze sternly turned to the said man, "if she's with Knuckles, I highly doubt she's going to betray us. Besides, we need all the help we can get at this point. Now, not another word about the Marauders, understood?"
Jason sourly nodded his head and gruffly dropped his shoulders.
"Now come on." Blaze began to walk toward the rise of rocks on their left. "We've lingered here long enough."
Knuckles and Shade followed the agents up the rocks and into a small shrine. Two agents walked to the middle of the floor, grabbed onto two cracks in a large slap of stone on the ground, and yanked it up to reveal a dark opening with a series of steps leading downward.
"Follow us." Blaze commanded the two echidnas as she leapt down the opening.
Knuckles and Shade waited for a few of the agents to jump down before following. Once inside, they realized they were in a tunnel made out of metal. It was wide and high enough for even the tallest human to stand up straight.
Once Shade was in, an agent behind reached up and pulled on handle of the tile's metal structure and pulled it down with a loud "SLAM".
Blaze, being in the front of the squad, ignited a small fire in her hand and held it out like a lantern.
"This way," she ordered.
The group began to walk down the tunnel with the sound of their footsteps echoing down the passageway. The path gradually slanted downward and seemed to be in a spiral pattern. After about five minutes, the trail leveled out and they were soon walking in a straight passage.
All the while, Shade silently followed in the back of the line, looking down at the ground. She didn't want anyone to look at her with hateful eyes. Even if she wouldn't be able to see them, she knew she would still feel them if she walked anywhere in the front.
She rubbed her arm as an inner turmoil started to grow in her mind. She couldn't forget that it was her clan that brought this world into danger in the first place. If she and her clan never came to this world, would everything still be all right? Would Eggman not have expanded his power like this if Knuckles, Sonic, and the others were here to stop him?
"Was this really my fault?" She miserable thought, letting out a small, dreary sigh. "Oh, what does it matter? No one trusts me anyway. I can't go back to my clan even if I wanted to. I'm nothing but a traitor to them now. And the soldiers here just see me as an enemy. I guess…I'm all alone."
The moment she thought of that final statement, Shade felt something wet fall from her eyes. She lifted her hand and touched her cheek. She pulled it away and was shocked to see a streak of water across her glove. Crying, as a concept, was nothing new to the echidna, but she was surprised to find herself shedding tears. She clenched as she refused to let anymore fall. Although, the more she tried to resist, the more painful it became.
From where he was, Knuckles slightly looked back over his shoulder to his echidna friend. Although it was rather dark, he managed to see Shade forcefully wipe her eyes with her right fist.
