Chapter twenty-one: "Bad Luck"
The pale mist that always hung in morning the air of the swampy forest was suddenly
broken as a blue streak raced down the thin pathway, swerving back and forth and up and
down to avoid the trees and other various obstacles. The morning light played through the
drooping leaves of the foliage and created pools of light on the moist ground, giving the
track a rather unnerving peaceful feel. The wind was blowing, a gentle breeze, but when
you're running a top speed, the breeze became a buzz in your ears.
But Sonic wasn't worried about becoming distracted by the light or wind. He was as
confident as ever as he easily maneuvered at a sprint through the course. He was way ahead, he
knew it, and was cruising. This was going to be an easy win.
He rounded a corner and was faced a series of huge logs laid out on the ground like
hurdles. Sonic just smiled, and ran faster, preparing to jump easily over them. He reached the
first jump, and cleared the log with ease...
...Only to fall into a six-foot pit filled with thick black mud.
"What the--?!" He yelled in surprise as the swamp suddenly swallowed his legs.
Panicing, he struggled and only sunk deeper. He tried to spin, but that only made
things worse. The mud was up to his middle now. He stopped to think for a second.
Suddenly his opponent, a skinny cheetah female in black running shorts, came vaulting
over his head, her log black-tipped tail flying behind her. She continued on towards the finish,
her spotted back to him, hopping from one log-hurdle to the other and avoiding the pits. Before
she jumped off the last one, she turned around and blew him a kiss. Then grinning, she sped
off again.
Sonic panicked again, and squirmed in the mud to no avail. He had to get out of this
hole fast and win this race. He couldn't lose! Not in a race! That was his specialty! Besides,
if he lost, Sally would kill him.
Ater a few more seconds, a thought came to him. A power ring! He hit himself in the head
for not remembering it before. He had almost forgotten that he had brought one along on the
trip. He hurriedly reached down and pulled the golden treasure from where he had hidden it
in his sock. It expanded to it's full size at his touch as he tugged it out of the mud,
glittering in the light that came through the trees. He grasped it tightly in his right hand
and concentrated. The small ring began to glow, and suddenly he felt energy and power surge
thoughout him.
In a spilt second he was out of the mud and back into the race, in a golden blazing
glory. The cheetah shrieked as he sped past, practically scaring the spots off her. He tore
down the track, splattering mud in his wake, all the way to where everyone was gathered at the
finish line. He came to a sliding stop as he passed the mark, and stood triumphantly in front
of the throned queen.
She just scowled down at him.
The Freedom Fighters began to clebrate.
The cheetah girl came trotting in after him, and fell on her knees beside him, panting
heavily. Sonic grinned down at her. She sneered, black lips pulling back to reveal sharp,
white incisors. He stepped back a little.
The cheetah caught her breath and began to ramble in another language to her queen, and
in between gasps for air she would turn back and point at Sonic and the dull power ring he
still held in hand acussingly. The queen's dark scowl slowly began to turn into a smile.
Sally, who was trying to congradulate Sonic from a safe distance away from the stench
of the swamp mud, saw this change in expression of the queen and became a little worried.
"Is there something wrong..." Sally began then swallowed and tried not to grimace,
"... Your Higness?"
The tigress turned to her, still smiling with satisfaction. "Oh, no. Nothing wrong.
Just that your team has just lost to us again."
Sonic, hearing this, wheeled around and gaped at her, "Say what??"
The queen's smile widened at this reaction. "I so sorry." She purred, "But you are
disqualified."
"What?!" Sally asked, "How...?!"
"No way!" Sonic yelled, shaking a fist at her, "I won fair and square!"
"I think not." The tigress said evenly, standing up to her full, towering hight as if
to seem even more impending, "You are disqualified. Because of your use of magic."
"I didn't use any--" Sonic began, then stopped when Sally grabbed his arm.
He turned a questioning gaze to her.
She sighed, and shaking her head, pointed to the now powerless ring he still held in
his hand. "...Magic?" She finished for him.
He swallowed and continued, "But that's not... But it's... Not... Uh..."
Sally sighed again.
"It works in Robotrobolis." He grumbled.
* * * * *
Knuckles strode down the streets with an air of purpose. He wasn't letting the buildings
streets and crowds get to him this time. He tried not to think of his mother. He tried not
to think of Julie-Su. He tried no to think of Shelia. It was just too, too much for him. He
had to get things worked out. He had to understand. The city, his mother, his father... How
many lies had he been told? He felt angry and sad at the same time. But most of all he felt
confused...
He cleared his mind and all there was around him was trees and the quiteness of the
forest. Only trees and nothing else... Only his objective. To do his duty. To protect this
island and whatever or whoever was on it.
He stopped suddenly, realizing that he now stood in front of a huge marble statue in the
middle of a large, empty courtyard. There was a sidewalk path leading around the statue in a
circle, then in a straight line to a wide, white building with stone stairs leading to the
huge oak double doors at the entrance. But Knuckles wasn't interested in the building at the
moment.
The statue, one of it's arms been broken off in the diaster, still resembled it's
subject: A tall, dashing male echidna holding an emerald in one hand. He looked young and
strong and confident....
What Knuckles noticed most though was that on the statue's chest was a familiar, white
crescent mark.
'A guardian...?' Knuckles thought, then his eye caught something written on the base
of the monument.
"Sir Hawking Echidna, 45th Guardian of our beloved city, genius, savior, and creator
of the Hyperzone Protector...." Knuckles read aloud.
He stared up at the statue again for a moment. Then, he carefully climbed over the
wreckage and what was left of the statue's other arm and made his way towards the capitol
building.
He ascended the stairs and looked around. No one was in sight. It was kind of a
disturbing contrast to the chaotic streets. Taking one last glance around he hesitantly pushed
through the doors and into a empty, expansive fourier, with a marble floor. There was an empty
desk in the center of the room and a doorway behind it.
Seeing nothing of importance, Knuckles continued on and went through the door behind the
desk into a long hallway.
He blinked. The hall was empty too. There were dozens of doors lining the hallway leading
to another huge set of doors at the end. Nothing else. Only green carpet and the hall.
Empty.
Knuckles shook away the creepy feelings and gathered his confidence. He walked down the
hallway towards the doors at the end. Someone had to be here who could tell him what was
going on... And if not, he'd just snoop around until he found out himself.
He reached the door and pulled the knob, but it held tight. It was locked. Knuckles
sneered. He was tired of not knowing what was going on. He wanted answers. Now.
So he simply punched the door down.
The door clanged loudly as it hit the metallic floor of the new room. Knuckles entered,
feeling only half-satisfied, to find a team of echidnas in white lab coats staring at him in
surprise.
Knuckles stared back them in equal surprise.
"Ever heard of knocking, boy?" A old voice asked, from behind the group of scientists.
The group parted, and let a winkled, eldery echidna male in a wheelchair through.
"Uh..." Knuckles gulped, "I'm sorry, I thought this room would be empty."
The old echidna sighed. "Don't worry about it. I knew you would come like this."
Knuckles stared at him. "...You did?"
"Yes, of course." The old echidna replied, then turned to his assistants. "Put that
door back up."
"Yes, Sir." They echoed, and did as he commanded.
Knuckles watched all this silently, his confusion mounting. He looked around the room
and took in his surroundings quickly. There were computer screens everywhere, keyboards and
piles of papers strewn about. In the center of the room was a pedestal, and floating above
it was a small spherical green ball of light, surrounded by bands of metal. It was spinning,
backwards and forwards and left and right, all at the same time, it seemed. But it looked as
if something was wrong with it. The green light seemed to sputter and spark and then grow
dull suddenly, then light back up again.
The elderly echidna noticed Knuckles' point of interest. "Yes," He said as if answering
the question in Knuckles' mind. "That is the Hyperzone Protector. At least part of it. The
heart of it."
Knuckles looked back at him, surprised. He stared. The old echidna stared back, over
his small, square spectacles through tired eyes.
"Who are you?" Knuckles asked finally.
The old echidna smiled slightly. He pulled down his coat to reveal a white collar mark
under his neck. "Oh?" He asked, "You don't recognize me from my statue out front?"
Knuckles was frowning, and the statement took a few seconds to register in his confused
mind. "...Hawking?" He said finally.
Hawking nodded slowly.
"...B-but that can't be." Knuckles said, "That would mean that you're over a hundred
years old!"
Hawking frowned. "That's correct. You do not have to rub it in. Did your father teach
you no manners?"
Knuckles took a deep breath to steady himself. He didn't mean to be rude, but he had
to know. "...But how...?"
"I was the subject of one of my own expieriments, a formula to prolong life." Hawking
explained, still frowning, but lighter. "It was a failure."
"Failure? But--" Knuckles began.
Hawking cut him off, "Have you not noticed my wheelchair, boy?" He asked almost bitterly,
"That experiement half-paralyzed me."
Knuckles features softened. "Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't realize..." He said softly.
"I suppose you didn't." Hawking snorted, then continued in a more understanding tone,
"That was nearly fifty years ago... I was impetuous like you once too... I should have known
not to tamper with the essence of life..."
Knuckles felt rather insulted at being called impetuous, he had simply
thought the wheelchair was needed because of age, but let the old echidna
have his kicks. He needed information now, and not about Hawking's
failures...
"Sir, I am Knuckles, Guardian of the Floating Island, I have come to ask of the
earthquakes..." He began, trying to sound more polite.
Hawking turned his wheelchair around and began to roll past the machinery and to a small
set of silver doors at the far end of the room. "I know who you are and why you have come."
He said in his deep, hard voice, his back to his descendant. "Follow me. I'll show you. Come
on now, boy..."
Knuckles, who had just been standing there watching the old echidna move away from him,
started after him. 'Yes.' He thought, 'Show me. I want to understand.'
The silver doors slid open slowly and revealed a small circular room about five feet in
diameter. Knuckles cautiously stepped inside after Hawking, and looked around. The only thing in
the room was a set of buttons with numbers on them in a vertical line beside the doors they came
in through. Hawking reached over and pushed one of the buttons. The doors closed behind them
slowly.
Then everything was silent.
"We're in an elevator." Hawking said.
"Huh?"
"An elevator. It will take us to another floor in the building."
"...Oh." Knuckles mumbled. He found it incredibly unnerving that the elderly echidna
seemed to be able to know what he was thinking.
After a few more seconds, the doors they came in through slowly opened again. Knuckles
followed Hawking into the new room, in awe. It was dark, the only light eminating from about
half a dozen small round orbs connected with wires and tubes to a metallic column in the center,
to where it ran up to the ceiling. The light from the orbs was a familiar green hue...
Knuckles looked closely, and sure enough, inside was contained a pale chaos emerald.
"We're underneath the main laboratory now. That column there runs up to the main
computers." Hawking said.
"The HyperZone Protector is powered by chaos emeralds, then?" Knuckles said, half to
himself, as he walked around in a circle, inspecting each of the glass spheres and their
precious contents. The emeralds were real, all right. But something was wrong...
"Yes... This room is normally much brighter, though..." Hawking said, adjusting his
glasses.
"Something is wrong with the emeralds." Knuckles said quietly, stopping in front of
one of the caplues and kneeling down to stare intensely at the jewel.
"Yes. I know." Hawking said slowly, as he rolled his chair over beside the younger
echidna. "They've never done this before. No one understands it. I thought perhaps you could
explain it."
Knuckles snapped out of his trance. "Me?" He asked.
"Yes you, boy." Hawking answered, frowning. "You know the Master Emerald, don't you? I
haven't seen the real thing in, well... A very long time. These smaller emeralds run off it's
power, right?"
Knuckles stared for a moment, then nodded slowly.
Hawking waited. "Well..." He said, "Do you know what's wrong with them?"
Knuckles sighed. "I... I'm not sure."
"Not sure?!"
Knuckles stood up, feeling more than a little embarassed. "Well, it's like this--" He
began, preparing to relate his unknowing exierience with the power of the chaos emerald, but
was interrupted as the lighting suddenly began to flicker, and finally the tiny dying emeralds
sputtered out, leaving them in darkness.
Knuckles tensed, and another earthquake came.
* * * * *