SEASON 2 CHAPTER 17

Tails felt a hand on his shoulder shake him awake, stirring him from his dreamless sleep. Agnès was standing over him, with Saito, Louise, and Professor Colbert standing behind her.

"Hey, Miles, get up. I got permission to go hunt down this library. I figured you would want to see it, since it's underground, apparently."

"Whaaa…" Tails replied sleepily, refusing to wake. "Yeah yeah, sounds like fun. Just a few more minutes of sleep…"

"Now or never, Miles. Miss Tabitha is already awake and waiting on you now."

"Fiiinee…" Tails moaned. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes until he was able to force them open. He stood up and gave a quick stretch, forcing himself fully awake. When he was done, the group filed out of the room, headed to the central tower.

"We need to make one more stop to pick up another member of our party. Miss Eleanore is apparently skilled at picking magical locks, so we'll bring her in case we face issues with entry," Agnès stated. The group made their way through the central tower to the dining hall, where Eleanore was ordering Siesta around to do certain chores.

"Miss Eleanore! We are ready to go," Agnès called out.

"Fine. Siesta, come with us. You'll be needed to help us carry books," Eleanore stated. Siesta dropped what she was doing and ran over to the group, coming to a halt by Saito's side.

"Alright, Colbert. Lead the way," Agnès said. Professor Colbert nodded, watching her with a frown. "Right this way."

Professor Colbert led the group again to the base of the stairwell to Headmaster Osmond's office. He reached for a different brick this time, however, pressing gently on a brick in the central pillar of the spiral staircase. The wall disappeared once more, revealing another staircase lit with magical torches. Professor Colbert gestured for the group to enter, shutting the portal behind them. Tails lagged behind the group to talk to Professor Colbert.

"Isn't this leading to the vault that Headmaster Osmond wanted to keep secret?" Tails whispered.

Professor Colbert's eyes lit up. "I'm glad you asked! No, the entrance we just came through is linked to multiple underground chambers, activated by touching different stones. Only Headmaster Osmond, Professor Cheveruse and I have access to them, so knowing which stones to touch would do an intruder no good without us. It also won't open without a conscious magic impulse from us – an intruder could force us to touch the correct stone, but it won't open unless we use magic."

Tails let out a short whistle. "That's pretty complex."

"It's the product of the highest levels of magic. Only a group of the finest magicians could recreate it."

A thought crossed Tails' mind, causing him to freeze in place on the stairs. Professor Colbert looked back at him in curiosity. "Is something the matter?"

Tails resumed walking, processing what he had just heard. "Professor, is that false wall truly teleportation?"

"Yes, it is. Even with the power of all of the magicians involved in building this Academy, it is only capable of short-range teleportation. Less than a mile, I'd guess."

Tails deflated a little, but regained his energy. "Is there any way to improve it's range? How is distance defined in terms of teleportation range?"

Professor Colbert rubbed his bald-topped head in curiosity, as if trying to scratch out an answer. "The magic used for creating these was lost a long time ago. I suppose if it were to be found anywhere, it would be in this library we are visiting. I don't quite understand what you mean by "defining distance", but it's based on literal distance."

"Well, distance measurements in meters don't apply over dimensions," Tails began. "One spot in one dimension is at the exact same spot in another dimension. We might be able to use the portal here to create a path home if it can jump dimensions."

"Interesting. I've never heard of it, you and Saito ARE living proof that it is possible in one method or another. To think of the possibilities!" Professor Colbert began. "Anyways, we are almost there, so I should take the lead."

Professor Colbert headed to the front of the group, leaving Tails behind to catch up with Saito. The stairway gave way to a long, unlit tunnel that echoed with the sounds of water dripping from the ceiling and running down the walls in some places. The air was damp and cold, but it didn't bother Tails in the slightest. From the golden light of the magical flame spewing from Professor Colbert's staff, he noticed Saito was eyeing Siesta closely whenever Louise wasn't watching him. Tracing the boy's line of sight, he noticed Siesta was wearing a weird uniform, something like but not quite identical to the Academy school uniform.

"Hey Saito," Tails whispered, nudging him with his elbow. "What's with her clothes? That's something from your world, right?"

Saito grinned, giving Tails a thumbs-up. "I found it at a merchant in town. It must have been warped here like that LAW we used. It looks good on her, doesn't it?"

Louise looked back at the two boys with a devilish look in her eye. "And what might you be discussing about Siesta?"

"Nothing!" Saito yelped.

Derf slid out of his sheath a ways, poking up over Saito's shoulder. "Yeah, right," the enchanted sword said with sarcasm dripping from his voice like water from the ceiling. "You know you didn't buy that outfit for Louise. That requires what she SORELY lacks-"

Saito hastily crammed Derflinger back into his scabbard, but it was too late. "Saaitoooooo!" Louise furiously yelled, whipping out her wand in a frenzied fury. A quick blue flash, and the light of Colbert's staff disappeared behind a wall of smoke and debris. When the dust had settled, a wall of rubble lay between them and the stairs, blocking the exit they had just exited, with water running over the rocks from the broken tunnel roof.

Eleanore darted over to Louise while no one was looking, grabbing her by the cheek. "NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID, YOU LITTLE RUNT!" she screamed, raising her hand to slap her little sister across the face repeatedly.

Colbert rested his face in his hand, thinking things over. "Lady Eleanore, please stop!…well, I suppose we press on and get the information we need, first," he said. "We'll focus on getting out of here when we return."

The group continued down the long cave hallway in total silence the tension between Eleanore, Louise, and everyone else nearly palpable. Tails observed silently, watching light from Professor Colbert's magic flame reflect off the rivulets of water flowing along the walls. It almost gave the cave a crystalline appearance, striking him as rather beautiful. "Maybe a small water fountain to generate some white noise for the workshop would be nice," he thought.

After a bit of walking, the cave finally opened up into a large chamber. Tails could make out a stone bridge over a massive chasm, with a magical-torch-lit structure built into the wall on the opposite wall. Professor Colbert and Agnès began making their way across the bridge, with the rest of the group following slowly behind. Eleanore and Professor Colbert stood before the door, as if they were reading something written on the door. Eleanore produced a wand similar to Louise's and began chanting a spell, causing some symbol to appear on the door in a glowing blue light. A rumble shook the room momentarily, followed by an audible groan of metal hinges as the door slowly swung open. A wave of sweet, musty air wafted out of the dark room, forcing Tails to take a few steps back from the sheer, smothering strength.

"Well," Professor Colbert said, his voice echoing many times in the library. "Shall we?"

Agnès rushed inside, looking for the first sign of any reference materials to use in her search. In the meantime, everyone else began fanning out through the multitudes of aisles, checking for anything that piqued their interest. On the far left aisles of the monstrous room, Tails perused the older novels on the higher shelves by flying, kicking up a cloud of dust as he went. His eyes widened in surprise as he caught sight of a few titles in English, drawing them from their spot in the crammed bookshelf. He dropped to the floor and took a seat on a stack of unshelved books, taking a look at the covers of his selections and listing them off mentally.

"Let's see… 'How to cook with Bacon'? Useless... Some college physics textbook? Professor Colbert might like that one. I'll save it for him. 'Basic Engine Repair'? Might be good to have Saito use this incase he needs to fix the Zero while I'm busy. An armorer's gunsmithing reference manual? Sorta cool, but I don't need guns with my T-Buster, and Headmaster Osmond didn't want me sharing this kind of stuff. Maybe I'll keep it, just for kicks. Could also be useful if one of the Zero's cannons breaks down."

"I found it!" Tails heard Agnès' voice cry. He quickly slapped his books shut and took off down the aisles, looking up and down the aisles for her. He found her sitting on the lower rungs of a steep ladder, paging through a torn and battered book. Further down, Colbert was busy reading through a book of his own. Tails walked up and took a brief look at Agnès' book, but she gave him a death glare and hid the book's contents from him. He backed off quickly, spewing apologies.

"Well, if you've gotten what we need, let's leave," Colbert said, shutting his own book. "This place is loaded with magical traps, as per the door's inscription. It's best that we don't accidentally trigger one."

Eleanore's head popped around the far end of the bookshelf. "Are we ready to go yet?" she called.

"No! All of you, shut up for a moment. I'm trying to read!" Agnès yelled. "I'm not leaving this place until I find the answer. It should be in this book, but if it isn't, I'm staying until we find it."

Eleanore gave an indifferent shrug. "Whatever. I will start cleaning up so we can be ready to leave once you find it." She stepped into Agnès' aisle and set her books down, drawing her wand. With a quick flick of her wrist, she levitated the books up to their higher shelves, not bothering to use the ladder this time. With a roaring groan, the library suddenly shook like an earthquake, shaking loose books from higher shelves down into the aisles.

"Miss Eleanore, what did you do?!" Professor Colbert called over the deafening rumbling. "EVERYONE, RUN!"

"No!" Agnès yelled back hardly ten feet away from the man. "I haven't found it yet! It should be here!" She refused to move, bracing herself against the vibrations as she frantically scanned the pages. She flipped the page and continued scanning for what seemed like an eternity, until finally she found it.

"Any luck?" Tails yelled, the vibrations becoming more intense. He could hear crackling wood throughout the library, followed by loud crashes as the ancient, rotting wooden bookshelves began to fall over or simply split apart under the violent shaking.

"It's been torn out!" Agnès yelled back. She looked up at the entrance to see the Professor Colbert, Tabitha, and Eleanore making a dash across the stone bridge.

"RUN!" Agnès called to the fox, sprinting for the entrance. Tails was close behind, books in hand as he used his tails and rocket shoes to quickly pick up speed. For all his speed, he could see Saito, Louise, and Siesta beat him to the entrance, just starting to cross the stone bridge. With a sharp, deafening crack like a gunshot, the stone bridge began to fracture as cracks ran through the stone like lightning. Siesta and Saito had just made it across in time when the bridge collapsed, falling out from under Louise when she was just a meter or so from the edge. Tails pulled out in front of Agnès as he exited the long bookshelf aisle, launching himself into the air over the chasm and coming to a halt to face Agnès. "Come on!" he yelled, waving for her to jump.

"Got it!" she yelled, sprinting for the chasm. With an unfeminine grunt, she threw herself out into the chasm, latching on to Tails' extended hand.. The recoil of her leap pushed the two clear across the gap, slamming them into the ground on the other side just beyond the shattered, missing bridge. Saito had successfully pulled Louise up with the help of Professor Colbert and was dusting himself off as the group turned to face the two.

Agnès let out a few short hacking coughs, spitting out a bit of dirt. "Thanks for that, Miles. I owe you one."

Tails got to his feet and rubbed his head, checking for cuts from the rocky cave floor. "It was nothing. I'm just glad we made it. Saito, Louise, you two okay?"

Saito gave a thumbs-up, still being clung to by Louise. "Yeah, we're good. She's a little shocked, but we're otherwise fine."

Tails noted that the cacophony of noise had stopped, and that the library door was shut once more. He turned to face the dark cave ahead of them, remembering that the cave was sealed shut ahead as well. The group began walking slowly back into the cave, with Professor Colbert lighting the way again.

"Well, although Agnès didn't find what she was looking for, I'm sure it will turn up somewhere," Siesta offered politely. "Should we get headed home now?"

"Yes, but we'll need a way out," Professor Colbert stated. "The cave was sealed shut."

Everyone simultaneously turned to face Louise, as if to remind her of her guilt. "Hey! It wasn't my fault!" she cried. "Saito was the dog chasing Siesta that angered me, so blame him!"

"Actually, I have an idea," Professor Colbert said with a smile. "Why don't we simply have you blast the rubble away?" Everyone nodded in agreement, but Tails intervened.

"Wait a sec, guys, that's a REALLY bad idea," he began. "See all the water running along the walls here? That means that a water source can't be too far above us. Blasts that strong could cause more collapse, possibly with flooding. I don't even have any bombs on me, but even if Agnès had black powder on hand, blasting is a bad, bad idea."

Agnès shook her head. "No-can-do. I knew we wouldn't be in a fight, so I only brought a single shot." The rubble wall came into view just ahead of them, exactly as they had left it. Suddenly, an idea flashed into Tails' head.

"Wait a sec. If we dig the rubble out, we might be able to do it, but that would leave the cave structurally weak. What if we simply carved a new doorway, leaving the rubble in place?"

Professor Colbert gave Tails a quizzical look. "Wouldn't removing only lower sections of rubble cause the upper ones to collapse?"

Tails shook his head with a grin. "Not if we reinforce it. If you use your fire magic to heat it up, and Tabitha with water to cool it, we can reform it into a single solid slab of rock. I can then use my T-Buster's plasma cutter function to carve a new door. Effective, no heavy lifting for anyone, and it could be reused as a defensive measure if you were to add a real door."

Professor Colbert nodded. "A sound plan. Miss Tabitha, do you mind giving me your assistance?"

Tabitha shook her head, planting her staff firmly on the ground. Professor Colbert let loose with a torrent of red flame, heating the loose rubble to a nearly molten state. As soon as it began to melt, Tabitha used her magic to draw water off of the surrounding walls, creating a high-speed torrent of water to soak the heated rubble.

Pushing against the wall of the tunnel, Tails used his spinning tails to clear away the burning-hot steam so they could see what the two magicians were doing. After a few cycles, the wall had taken on a solid, lumpy-looking mass, ready for carving. Tails engaged his T-Buster and began carving away at the stone. When he had completed a large circular cut, he began to push against the wall as hard as he could. With Saito and Professor Colbert to help, the stone budged out of its hole, slamming flat on the ground on the other side of the door. Tabitha gave the still red-hot stone a final douse, waiting for the steam to clear.

"A very good idea, Miles. I will ask Headmaster Osmond to repurpose this stone as a rolling door for re-use. We can leave it here for now," Colbert stated. He continued up the stairs with the group following closely behind, happy to finally leave that dangerous library behind.