"You cannot recall much," Knuckles said to himself. "You remember running to the House of the relic as the fire began to spread—You remember pain and darkness. When you awoke, there was that furless, metal monster. He questioned you about the relic, but you remained strong." Knuckles laughed and let out a triumphant sneer that echoed through the cave. "No matter how many times he sent lightning into your veins and struck you with his fist of rock, you held fast, as a true Guardian should. As any of your forefathers would have done. My impassive Strength shielded me from the full effect of the torture—nothing can sway Knuckles, Guardian of Angel Island…" His tone darkened. "…that much I will say for myself."

He sighed.


"Dr. Ivo Nik—I mean…Robotnik," Rotor said. "He kept asking the echidna qu-questions…questions about something he called an Emerald."

"An Emerald?" Bunnie's limp ear lifted in surprise. "Whah…a little stone? Ah've never pictured Robotnik the type of fellah who'd be into jewelry, Rotor…"

"N-No, no," Rotor shook his head, his eyes wide. "N-Not that kind of Emerald."


"But what else was I to do?" Knuckles murmured. His purple eyes flashed as he paced. "Betray the greatest Gift the Mobian people have ever received? A gift given to us since the dawn of time? A gift so precious none would dare to look upon or touch it…and yet, that foul, furless giant," he snorted hard, grinding his fists against the ground. "Despite my warnings and attempts to free myself…he dared to do so. And may he suffer for it..."


"It was a terrible Emerald. I-I heard the echidna shouting about it. He shouted about h-how it had been given to the Mobian people…as a promise." Rotor's eyes darkened. "A promise t-to be only used at the end of time by…by the One Who created Time itself."

Bunnie's eyes widened.

"Rotor? The end of time?" Bunnie said. "When all things will be set right again an' restored? What we celebrate at every Light Vigil every winter, what we've been waitin' for all these years? The echidna was guardin' somethin' meant only for-" Bunnie cut off. "Bless mah stars."

Rotor avoided her gaze. He shuddered. "It's a powerful stone. The—the Echidna said the person who 'took the Emerald to their heart' would receive all the Mobian Gifts. Strength, Speed…and-and beside that—they would n-never die."


"It was never to be touched!" Knuckles swung his fisted hands. "There is only One Who is meant to receive it! And Who is that, Knuckles? The One Who had created power and life itself—Who left the Emerald here in the first place and wrote the promises for it and for our universe and planet—everything that is written into the ground and sky agrees with it. Such power was never to be used by any mere being. At least you can rest knowing they will reap a just reward for dishonoring it and its promise. In time, such power will kill them. That's what was written on the island, and that's what will come to pass…"


"'S-seems f-funny that you Mobians could have t-taken this power any time you wanted,' Robotnik said." Rotor kept his head down, quoting the human. "'Instead, yo-you lock it up on an island…S-So this Person gave you this thing just so you could keep an eye on it? And, is this Person immortal already, isn't He? Why would He need it? If-if no one is supposed to use it, th-then why p-put it here at all? The whole thing sounds f-fake. J-just like back on Earth.'" Rotor quoted. "'Th—this is obviously a superstitious legend. A j-j-j-jo—'"

"A joke?" Bunnie blurted, her eyes flaring.

"Yes." Rotor nodded. "Then Robotnik said, 'But…you do have some awfully nice rocks on this planet and j-just in case these idiot legends have something to them, I gu-guess I might as well check out what this Emerald can do for myself….'"

Bunnie hesitated, her eyes dim with thought. "Ah suppose…" she finally whispered to herself. "That Robotnik only believes in things he can see an' take apart an' run tests on." Her eyes darkened. "But everythin' has a side to it that you can't see…everythin'."


"You tried your best to escape, but you failed in that too, Knuckles," the creature shook his head to himself. "You tried to tell the other Mobians—the slaves there. They did nothing. Fools!" He voice echoed through the cave. "I told them to release me! To get help! To find the spike-ed blue Ringweilder and summon him."

Sticks' jaw dropped and her ears flattened.

"For though he is ignorant and stupid, he is—" Knuckles paused. "Well. You would never say it to his face, of course. But his Speed is impressive and you know he would help. Even as much as you'd distrust him with the Emerald, anything would be better than that metal monster-"

Sticks' eye twitched.

She knew only one spike-ed blue Ringweilder and if this fellah knew him too, then she definitely should have let him stay stuck in her trap—

You'll be glad you helped him, Sticks.

"Uuuuurgh," she hissed under her breath.


"The ech-echidna…he actually grabbed me once when he tried to break loose and he t-told me to find Sonic...he asked me to help…" Rotor glanced down. "But there was nothing I could have done…"

Bunnie frowned.

"S-so…" Rotor took a shaky breath. "They t-took him to the lab…and shut the door."


Sally slipped another spoonful of soup into her mouth, her gaze riveted to the feed as if her life depend on it. A knot turned in her stomach, just the sight of the lab sending dread coursing over her. And, yet, it was somehow scarier to look away. Crème wasn't in the room. The Underground was dark.

She had to keep watching. She had turned it on fast forward so the picture wouldn't be as clear. The static in the picture was somehow calming.

All was clear until red and large metal figures blurred across the screen. Some sort of strange light filled the lab room.

Sally froze, her gaze fixed on the feed. She rewound.


"Where were you, Knuckles?" Knuckles said to himself, rubbing his jaw. "You must remember…it could be important…Oh, yes." He dropped his hand. "Yes…Then they took you into an evil looking room, strapped you to the wall, and brought in the Emerald. Where you had to watch that metal human touch it. You dared not look, for the sake of respect, but its light filled the room. You know he touched it. He must have worked on it for hours."


Light reflected off of Sally's eyes. She watched, her lips parted.

Strapped to the wall, in metal restraints, the echidna fought and shouted with all his might. Finally one of the combots gagged him.

Sally's eyes flashed. She may have never met the Guardian personally before, but she recognized him from Sonic and Tails' description.

The strange glow filling the lab came from a large jewel Robotnik took from a jar with tongs. It was green, but almost an iridescent green. The colors shifted when Robotnik moved it.

Sally narrowed her blue eyes as she stared at it. Even through the faded lens of the camera feed, she knew this was no ordinary stone…

Her brow narrowed.

Was…was this the relic the echidna had been guarding on Angel Island?


"Me and some of the other Mobian slaves there…we were evacuated to another part of the building." Rotor gave a heavy sigh, glancing downwards. "We…we just waited. We could still h-hear something though." A glassy look passed over his eyes and he rubbed his hands together, murmuring. "I've never heard a sound like that before…I d-don't know how to describe it…like glass breaking…stars, singing, light, a door opening on a squeaky hinge—"

Bunnie smirked behind her shock of blonde curls. "Sounds nahce, Rotor…."

The sea lion stopped, blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry I…I like poetry a little. It was the sort of sound you felt."

Bunnie grinned. "Well you ain't so bad at it…you're making me wish I could have heard it-"

Rotor shuddered. "N-no, it wasn't a nice sound. We couldn't stop shaking after it finally stopped."


Sally winced against the blinding flashes striking across the screen.

On the screen, Robotnik kept hitting or trying to cut the Emerald. He shouted out an order to one of the combots. In a little bit the combot returned with machinery and great vials filled with mixing, multi-colored, glowing liquids.

Sally's ears flicked back, and her eyes widened.

The way the colors mixed, as if just freshly poured into each other…the almost filmy look, as if there were still pieces of tissue or webs that hadn't been removed yet…the small specs of dark red streaking across pockets of clear fluid-

Sally closed her eyes, fisting her hands.

Somehow she'd started shaking again. A dark, hidden fear preyed at the back of her mind. She hated death. Maybe she shouldn't have watched this.

It was Mobium. Fresh Mobium from Mobian bodies.