Chapter 43
Cream helps lower Blaze down into the unknown ruins upon Angel Island as they land in the dark. Blaze lights her hand to have a look around. They were alone in a place that looked like a carved-out cavern. "Where are we?" Cream asked,
"I'm not sure, but It doesn't look like the others fell in this area." Blaze said,
"There must have been other caverns they fell into." She said,
"Yeah, let's have a look around. Keep an eye out, Eggman's robot fell somewhere down here too." She said as they walk forward. Blaze stops as she realizes what she's seeing ahead, "Cream, don't be scared. But it looks like we fell into a crypt…"
"Oh no…"
Amy wakes up on the ground in the dark, the last shing he remembered was the floor collapsing beneath them as he attempted to reach for Tails. "Tails?" He called out but received no response, "Tails!" He yelled trying to get to his feet tripping on the loose rubble beneath his feet.
"H…here…" Tails said, He moves towards her voice and can see her outline in the dark. Tails struggles to pull out a flashlight and turns it on as Amy could see her head bleeding,
"You're hurt…" He said helping her sit up,
"A rock hit me when I was trying to stop us from falling… lot of good that did us…" She winces in pain.
"We gotta stop the bleeding." He said,
"There's a small first aid kit in my pack." She said, Amy riffles through the pack and pulls out the kit.
"Looks like you're prepared for any situation." He said,
"Someone has to be when Sonic jumps headfirst into things." She chuckles and Amy starts cleaning the wound. "Ow!"
"Just manage it for a little bit, we don't want it to get infected." He said, "But I think you have a concussion."
"Must have been a large rock." She joked as Amy bandaged her head,
"We can't wait here," Amy said grabbing Tails' pack and kneeling next to her with his back facing her, "You need to take it easy; I'll carry you."
"I'm fine to walk." She struggles,
"Don't be stubborn! You shouldn't even move at all, but the others might be in trouble." He said as Tails lets out a sigh and wraps her arms around his neck and he carries her. "Try not to fall asleep yet."
"Okay… thanks Amy." Tails said as they begin to move further into the ruins.
Knuckles landed in a wider opening realizing that none of his friends fell in the same area. He looks around and sees a bit of the blue light that was coming from the braziers earlier. He walks up and sees they were bioluminescent stones. A type of stone he's never seen before. He picks up a few to help him see as he looks around.
"Hello?" He calls out but doesn't hear a response. He was on his own, and he knew he needed to find the others as soon as possible. He follows a wall seeing more carvings on them. He starts to get distracted as he begins to read, it was describing something about an alien race.
"Hello Knuckles," He hears as he turns his head to see the large robot spider in the center of the room.
"Eggman…"
"I'm sorry about earlier… I wouldn't have jumped down had I known the floor would collapse." He said. The metal spider stepped a little closer to him as Knuckles looked at the spider confused; the way he spoke reminded him of Professor Ivo.
"You may not have meant it but that doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't be down here." Knuckles said crossing his arms. "Are you going to hide inside that robot this entire time?"
"Oh, I'm not in the robot. I'm just controlling it remotely. If you remember, my asthma wouldn't do well in a musky place like this." The spider moved closer again.
"That's right, I forgot about your asthma…" Knuckles said looking sad thinking back to his time in school with Professor Ivo and how good of a person he was. But then he remembers all the times Eggman hurt his friends especially that he hurt Sonic. "You being friendly doesn't mean I trust you. And if you're not in there I don't have to feel bad destroying this hunk of metal." He said getting ready to fight.
"And here I thought you were going to make this easy. Very well Knuckles, let's see how long you last on your own!"
Sonic attempts to try and climb out of the but only stumbles unable to see. "Shadow?" She calls out. The last thing she remembers was the two of them falling and her using Chaos Shield to protect them from the impact.
"Here, hang on." Shadow said as she concentrates Chaos energy as it swirls around her hand like a green flame. "You okay?"
"I'm fine, but it looks like we got separated from the others." She said as Shadow reaches her hand out and helps Sonic out of the rubble.
"How the hell did Robotnik know we were here?" Shadow said,
"No clue, after all the crazy things that happened, I don't believe in coincidences anymore." Sonic said trying to look around. "Looks like we got one path." She points at the doorway in front of them.
"We should hurry, the others could be hurt." She said,
"Yeah," Sonic said as they get to the door and the hallway goes to the left and the right.
"This is going to be annoying." Shadow said with a sigh, she noticed Sonic was looking down the right corridor. "Sonic?"
"I can feel a shard of the Dark Chaos Emerald…" She said,
"Shit, you gotta be kidding me!" Shadow said,
"We gotta go get it." Saya said,
"We need to find the others first. The shorter amount of time you're in close proximity of the shard, the better." Shadow said grabbing Sonic's hand pulling her in the opposite direction.
"Okay…" She said as they go down the left corridor.
"Cream, I know you're scared but you need to keep your eyes open. I don't want you tripping." Blaze said as Cream slightly opens her eyes holding onto Blaze tightly, trying not to look at the mummified corpses displayed on the walls.
"It's so scary!" Cream whimpered,
"Just look at the ground, we'll get out of here." Blaze said continuing forward.
"Do you think these are the people that wrote on the room above?" Cream asked,
"Probably, but why have a crypt down here? Usually that means they were buried for a reason…" She said,
"Maybe if we find more glyphs Knuckles can figure it out." Cream said.
"Maybe… for now let's just try to find the others." Blaze said, They enter another open room where there was a strange pedestal in the middle and something strange on top of it slightly giving off a similar blue glow to the room above.
"What is that?" Caroline asked,
"Be careful, there could be traps." Blaze said looking around. They cautiously move forward towards the object. As they can see it more clearly. "Is that an egg?"
"It's not just an egg Blaze… It's a Chao egg!" She said as they both look at each other surprised.
Knuckles dodges an attack from one of the metal spiders legs as he attempts to make sure it doesn't hit the walls. He swings to strike it, but it moves a lot faster than what he was expecting. "I made this to fight against Sonic, this will be a piece of cake."
"Quit your yammering!" He grabs a large boulder and throws it at the head as it slightly dents. The spider lunges forward at him as he rolls out of the way, "It's like you're not even trying." Knuckles taunted.
"That's because I'm not trying to kill you Knuckles. Now that I know you can read this ancient language; I need you alive." He said as the mouth of the spider head opens revealing a cannon. An orange ball comes firing out and almost hits him.
"Like I'd help you." He said taking another swing and hitting the leg denting in.
"Ga! Hold still!" He said turning again shooting again, Knuckles starts to realize the thing he's shooting at him is some sort of glue. Eggman hits one of the walls destroying it causing Knuckles to stop worried he was going to destroy all that remained of his Echidna heritage as Eggman fires again and it hits his foot gluing it in place.
"Crap!" He said trying to pull himself free, but the glue was a lot stronger that it looks. "What is this even made out of?" He's hit with another in the chest as it coats over his chest and arms.
"This is an adhesive material I created to contain all of your unnatural strength." Eggman said, Knuckles struggles trying to move but the way his arms are pinned made it difficult to use his full strength. "Now, let's find a way out of here."
"You won't get away with this." He continued to struggles as two smaller legs come out of the robot coming closer to him, "The others will…!" The leg grabs the adhesive and covers his mouth silencing his outburst as all that could be heard was muffled sounds of resistance.
"We'll be long gone before they even know you've disappeared." He said pulling Knuckles off the ground and sticking him to the spiders back. Then it begins climbing up the wall as Knuckles tries to struggle free.
Amy continued to walk down a hallway carrying Tails as he begins to notice mummified corpses decorating the walls. "Okay… I really wish we didn't come in here…" Amy looks back at Tails, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm a little dizzy…" She said,
"Hopefully, we can find the others soon." Amy said as he looks ahead and sees a light, "Looks like we're in luck." He continued forward into the next room as he sees Cream and Blaze in the center.
"Amy," Blaze sees them enter.
"Am I glad to see you two!" He said walking over,
"What happened?" Cream asked running over to look over Tails.
"I took a rock to the head… Amy patched me up." Tails said with a weak smile,
"I think she's got a concussion." Amy said,
"We need to hurry and find the others." Blaze said,
"I'll be okay…" She said,
"What about the egg?" Cream asked,
"What egg?" Amy asked,
"There's a Chao egg on the pedestal." Cream pointed out.
"I'd say we bring it with us but I'm afraid trying to do so will harm the Egg or there may be a trap." Blaze said,
"But if Eggman brings anymore of the ceiling down it might crush it." Amy said,
"I'm bringing it!" Cream said sounding panicked hearing Amy say that running back over and grabbing the egg.
"Cream, please be careful!" Blaze asked as Cream places her hands on the egg and it glows brighter for a moment as she picks it up, it felt warm in her hands. She pauses for a moment waiting for something to happen, but nothing does.
"Blaze, I think this is why we're here. To help this Chao." She said with a smile.
"Maybe," She said patting her head, "Now we're going to need your hearing to help us find the others." Cream nods. They head down another path as Cream tries to hear the sounds of her friends.
Sonic and Shadow continue to walk forward unknowing where they were headed. Sonic stops suddenly. "What's wrong?" Shadow asked,
"I… don't know… something… something doesn't feel right." She said grabbing her chest, Something was wrong, but she didn't know what.
"Is it because of the Dark Chaos shard?" Shadow asked as Sonic shakes her head,
"I can feel the Dark Chaos, this is different." She said,
"Stay close." She said as Sonic looks down at them still holding hands.
"D… Don't think that will be difficult." She chuckles as Shadow looks down; the green light couldn't show how red her face became at the realization. She quickly let's go.
"I'm sorry!" Shadow said looking away,
"No, no it's fine!" Sonic waves her hands, "Honestly, it was calming" She looks away feeling her face become warm not realizing her face had also turned red.
"Oh… Um, you can still…" Shadow said holding out her hand,
"Thanks…" Sonic said taking her hand, the moment she held her hand again she felt calm. Why did this make her feel so calm? They turn the corner and get to a dead end; the room was lit with the same blue illuminated stones from the first room. "Well this isn't the way." She chuckles turning around as she steps on a pressure plate and the way they came in closes.
"Damn…" Shadow said as they hear running water behind them.
"That is literally the sound in my nightmares." Sonic said as they turn around to see a wall fountain. The water reflected at them like a mirror. "Okay that's not so bad."
"We gotta find a way to open the door, we can't break through it without potentially causing another collapse." Shadow said,
"Let's look around." Sonic said letting go of her hand and they both start looking around the walls.
The others continue down the corridor as Cream starts hearing what sounds like metal from the next room. "Up ahead, I think I hear Eggman's robot." Cream said pointing at the next room.
"Be on your guard." Blaze said as Amy summons his hammer,
"I can walk…" Tails said,
"Don't push yourself." Amy said letting her down,
"I won't," She said standing up. They cautiously walk inside looking around but don't see anything.
"I'm not seeing it…" Blaze said as Cream focuses on listening again. She hears just the slight sound of metal and what sound like something muffled. She looks straight up and points.
"Up there!" She said as Blaze throws up a ball of fire illuminating the ceiling. They see the robot with Knuckles attached to its back still struggling to get free,
"He's got Knuckles!" Tails yelled,
"Blast that cursed Rabbit!" Eggman said as he crawls across the ceiling down another hall.
"We can't let him get away, after him!" Blaze said as they begin to chase after him.
Shadow starts searching the walls for any hidden pressure plates while Sonic attempts to do the same on the opposite side of the room but constantly looks over at the wall of water. It made her extremely uncomfortable. The longer she looks at it she starts to notice that Shadow's reflection was still looking at her even though Shadow's back was facing the water.
"Uh… Shadow?" Sonic tried to get her attention,
"Did you find something?" Shadow asked still looking around,
"S… Something…" Sonic steps away from the wall, walking closer towards Shadow, "Your reflection is still looking at you…" She said as Shadow looks at her confused.
"What?" She looks back at the wall at her reflection, everything seems normal. She walks up closer trying to get a better look.
"I don't think that's a good idea…" Sonic said,
"This isn't Chaos," She said turning to look at Sonic and then back at the reflection as she sees her reflections eyes turn solid black. She jumps back as Sonic looks at her own reflection as she sees her reflections eyes turn red.
"No…" Sonic said sounding frightened as Shadow sees the reflections eyes and quickly turns back to Sonic, but her eyes are still green.
"Sonic, it's alright you're not Dark Sonic right now your eyes are still green." Shadow moved over to comfort her, but Sonic was frozen in place. Her reflection grinning at her sinisterly. "Don't look at it, it's trying to scare you." Shadow turns her away from the wall,
"Oh but what's the fun in that?" Shadow heard her own voice coming from the water as the images appear to be walking towards them.
"This can't be real…" Sonic said, her ears lower in fear,
"Oh it's real alright," She heard her own voice as Sonic covers her ears cowering. "You can't block me out this time." They both walk out of the water, their forms taking on a watery sheen for a moment before returning to looking like Shadow and Sonic.
"Sonic we need to…" Shadow was still trying to snap Sonic out of it when the mirror Shadow warps next to them and kicks Shadow away from her.
"You're playing with me." The mirror said as the Sonic's mirror slowly walks towards her,
"Stay away from her!" Shadow yelled as her mirror blocked her from the Sonic mirror.
"What's a matter Shadow? Too afraid to deal with yourself?" The mirror said as Shadow didn't know how to react to that question.
"How can you be a hero when you can't even come to terms with me?" The Sonic mirror said as Sonic steps back only to hit the wall behind her. In a red flash her mirror was in front of her. "What happened to your fight when you were trapped inside?"
"Sonic don't listen to them; they're trying to confuse us!" Shadow said struggling against herself. But Sonic was already petrified, she didn't know how to react to what looked like Dark Sonic in front of her. The Sonic mirror starts to reach out for her, "Chaos Spear!" Shadow throws a spear at the Sonic mirror as it jumps back. The Shadow mirror kicks Shadow to the ground and pins her down.
"If you're going to ignore me then you can sit and watch." She said as Sonic snaps out of it after seeing Shadow hit the ground.
"Get off me!" Shadow yelled struggling against her doppelgangers grip,
"Shadow!" Sonic said as her mirror image grabs her by the wrist and twists it behind her. "Let go!" She winced in pain,
"There's that fight!" She chuckles, "Too bad it won't save you." The mirror Sonic said as it starts dragging her closer to the wall of water.
The others continued their chase after Eggman's robot but weren't able to keep up the pace they needed. "Where the heck are Sonic and Shadow? We could really use their speed right now." Amy said,
"I have an idea; can you throw me with using your hammer?" Blaze asked,
"Definitely," Amy stops moving and holds his hammer behind him in full swing as Blaze jumps and crouches on top of the hammer. "Here we go!" He swings forward at full force propelling Blaze forward at high speeds as she uses her flames to rocket herself forward. She gets up to Knuckles and touches the glue as she hangs there by her now stuck hand.
"Tails, be ready to catch him!" Blaze said,
"On it!" She starts flying up as Blaze starts heating up her hand. The glue loses its stickiness as Knuckles rips himself free and they both begin to fall. Tails catches him as Blaze uses her flames to slow her fall enough for Amy to catch her.
"Damn you! I was so close to finding a way out of here." Eggman said, Tails lands Knuckles next to Amy as Blaze helps get the glue off of his face.
"Eggman!" Knuckles raged, as Alan puts his hand on Knuckles' shoulder.
"My turn." He smiles. Knuckles smiles back as he takes Amy's hand and spins around throwing him at the robot spider as he strikes it downwards causing it to fall off the ceiling. "How about one more!" He swings using the momentum of gravity to crush the head of the metal spider destroying it.
"Wow…" Cream said surprised,
"Amy are you okay?" Tails called out,
"That was awesome!" He cheered climbing off the destroyed robot pumped up on adrenaline.
"How about you Knuckles, are you alright?" Blaze asked,
"Other than my pride being bruised for needing the rescue," He said with a huff as Blaze helps get more of the adhesive off of him. "Thanks guys,"
"We're just glad you're okay." Cream said as Knuckles notices the egg in her hands.
"Is that… a Chao egg?" He asked looking amazed as Cream nods,
"We need to find Shadow and Sonic." Tails said,
"Let's keep moving, are you feeling okay Tails?" Amy asked,
"I'm okay, but I'll let you all know if I start feeling unwell." Tails said as they all nod and continue forward inside this ancient labyrinth, not knowing the trouble the two hedgehogs had gotten themselves into.