Chapter 9

Sandopolis

"Man, just how big is this desert?" asked Tails as he walked along side Sonic. The two of them had been walking for about half an hour, but still didn't seem any closer to reaching the far side of the desert.

"I don't know, but I say we've been going too slow for too long. You up for a little jog?" asked Sonic.

"Do you honestly think you could stop me?" asked Tails as he took off, his tails twirling behind him, adding to his speed. Sonic smiled as he took off after the young fox, quickly catching up to him. The two of them cruised along the sandy desert floor at over 90 mph, kicking up a huge dust cloud behind them as they ran.

**********

I was really getting annoyed with just about everything as I walked about the desert of my island. I was annoyed with Sonic and Tails for destroying Flying Battery and coming back to the island. I was annoyed with Metal Sonic because of the way he kept getting on my case no matter whose fault it was for what happened around him. And I was annoyed at my own home for how huge the desert was. I sighed and looked up into the sky. How could my simple lifestyle be turned upside down in just two days? But something was weird about the sky. I frowned as I looked at it. It wasn't clear like it was supposed to be. It was slightly darker than it was supposed to be.

"Now what in the world is causing that?" I said to myself as I watched it get slightly darker, then begin to clear up. I returned my attention to the desert, only to see a giant cloud of dust moving slowly off in the distance. *Now what could be causing that?* I wondered. There was no wind blowing, so it couldn't be one of the dust storms that frequented the desert. Then it hit me. I knew exactly what was causing it. I took off after the cloud, kicking up my own as I followed it.

**********

Sonic and Tails had been running for only a few minutes when they suddenly stopped and found themselves in the midst of the ruins of some ancient city.

"Boy, this place sure looks old," said Tails. They walked along what appeared to once have been a street, looking at the various stone buildings. Some looked as though they might at the slightest touch, while others looked as sturdy as any building constructed today.

"Yeah," said Sonic as his eyes wandered about the ruins. "Kind of reminds me of some of those ruins we saw when we met Vector and Charmy." Tails was about to say something when he tripped over the tip of a stone in the ground and went crashing into the side of a stone building. Pieces came loose as Tails started to get up. But Sonic motioned for him not to move. Tails' eyes looked up to see probably a couple dozen scorpions staring out of the freshly removed stone. Each one had it's stinger ready to strike at the slightest movement.

"Now what?" whispered Tails.

"I guess I could speed in there and grab you and run out before they can strike. I know I'm faster than they are," said Sonic. Tails nodded ever so slightly, causing the scorpions to flick their stingers in anger. Tails closed his eyes as he saw one of them flick its stinger towards him, ready to pump its poison into him. But the sting never came. Tails slowly opened his eyes to see he was in one of the stone buildings.

"Told you I was faster than they were," said Sonic. Tails looked up at Sonic, who was smiling. Tails was about to say something when something shining in the back of the building caught his eye.

"Hey Sonic! Another ring!" said Tails. Sonic looked back to see the glowing ring floating in the back of the room, casting its warm glow throughout the room. Sonic and Tails ran over to it and jumped in. As they disappeared along with the ring, Sonic could have sworn he heard someone shout no.

**********

I had followed them into the ruins, watching them from various places where I knew I could watch them and they would never see me. I watched as they looked about the stone buildings, sometimes taking a peak inside one of them. I leapt from roof to roof, not making a sound as I spied on them. Then I saw Tails trip and fall, knocking off some of the siding of one of the buildings. I also saw the huge nest of King scorpions he had uncovered. I watched them move slowly down the side of the building towards Tails, then saw Sonic zip in and pull Tails out of their just a split second before one of them struck. I suddenly realized how tense I had become watching that. But why was I tense. I shouldn't be. After all, they just caused damage to one of my island's oldest patch of ruins. I jumped down off the roof and silently moved over next to the entrance to the building that Sonic had sped into. I listened to them as they talked.

"Told you I was faster than they were," said Sonic's voice. Then I heard Tails.

"Hey Sonic! Another ring!" said Tails voice. Ring? Why would he sound so excited about a ring. I suddenly looked up as realization hit me. He meant one of my ring teleporters! I ran into the building, and saw Sonic and Tails get up right next to the ring and bend down as they prepared to jump into it.

"No!" I yelled as they jumped into the ring, it disappearing along with them. I quickly pulled out my miniature, rubbed my hand over it and threw it to the ground. Normally, a ring would appear, but it didn't. I tried again, but still nothing happened. Just as I had feared. The channel was occupied. It would take them to Hidden Palace and back before it would become open again. I picked up the miniature and put it back in my shoe. I could feel rage building in me. They had gone to the one place on the whole island that was off limits to everyone but myself! The small flame of my rivalry with Sonic started growing, turning into a raging inferno in a matter of seconds. I smiled evilly to myself. I would make them suffer for going to Hidden Palace. And I was going to make it painful as well. I stood up against the wall in the shadows, waiting for the ring to bring them back.

**********

*What is that echidna up to?* thought Metal Sonic as he tracked the elusive echidna through the ruins. He had lost him twice now, only to pick him up seconds later way out in front of him. He had picked up Sonic and Tails on his radar once they had arrived in the ruins, but he refrained himself from attacking them. To reveal himself to them would be to reveal himself to Knuckles. So he stayed a good distance away from the three of them, tracking them with his radar instead of his own eyes. Suddenly, he lost Sonic and Tails on his radar.

*Now what?* he thought. He tried resetting his systems, but Sonic and Tails were still missing. A few minutes later, they reappeared again. Mecha moved silently towards the building they were in. Just a few seconds before he reached the building, his radar recorded a sudden drop in all three of their altitudes. Then Sonic and Tails signals went to the left sharply, while Knuckles signal went to the right sharply. More confused than ever, he looked into the building. But no one was in there. But that didn't make sense. He was still getting their signals from somewhere. It was then he noticed that their was a hole in the floor on the right side of the room. He hovered off the ground and went over to the hole and looked down it. He couldn't see any light, but using his infrared vision, he spotted Knuckles form rapidly falling diagonally to the right. He couldn't see Sonic and Tails anymore. Probably something blocking their heat from showing through. Metal Sonic sighed to himself, then hovered down into the hole after Knuckles.

**********

A flash of white light filled the room as Sonic and Tails reappeared. They had just charged both the red and yellow supers and recovered the two Chaos Emeralds of the same color.

"Well, two left to go," said Sonic as they started to walk towards the entrance to the building. But they had only taken a few steps when something jumped out of the shadows at them, letting out a yell of rage.

"What in the…" was all Sonic got out just before a fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him back a few feet and to the ground. Tails ran over to his side.

"Sonic! Are you okay?" he asked. Sonic slowly sat up, rubbing his aching jaw. He looked up to see an enraged Knuckles standing on the other side of the room.

"Hey Knux! What was that for?" yelled Sonic. Knuckles clenched his fists.

"How dare you act like you don't know," he said as he started walking towards them. "You know perfectly well you have trespassed on sacred ground! Hidden Palace is off limits to all but me!" Knuckles picked Sonic up by the fur on his chest. "And for that, you are going to pay dearly," he said in his lowest voice. Tails just stood there in place, frozen with fear.

"I'd like to see you try," said Sonic. This made Knuckles even more angry, if that was even possible at this point in time. He pulled back his fist, and thrust it forward. But Sonic ducked his head under the punch, causing it to hit the wall behind them. But for some reason, the part of the wall Knuckles punch hit went inwards. Suddenly, the part of the floor they were on crumbled out from underneath them. They then fell into the hole, falling for just a few seconds before they hit a slope of some kind They began to slide down the slippery slope. Suddenly, Knuckles course shifted as he was swept down a different slope. Further down the slope they slid, almost falling off as they hit a sharp turn in the slope.

"Kind of like a big slide, huh?" yelled Sonic. Tails was still too frightened to answer as they continued to plunge deeper into the darkness. After about a minute, they suddenly hit the bottom, rolling across the sandy stone floor as they came to a stop.

"Man, what a ride," said Sonic as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"I'll say," said the frightened voice of Tails.

"What's the matter little bro? Scared of the dark?" asked Sonic.

"No way! Why would you think that?" cried Tails. Just then, something tapped him on the shoulder. "Cut it out, Sonic." Sonic looked over towards Tails' voice. What was he talking about?

"Uh, Tails. I'm over here," said Sonic. Tails froze in place.

"Well, if that's not you, then what is it?" asked Tails weakly. Sonic reached into his pack and pulled out the blue Chaos Emerald, its light driving away part of the darkness surrounding them. Sonic lifted the emerald towards where Tails voice was coming from. And what he saw surprised him more than anything. Tails saw Sonic's jaw drop, and he couldn't help but turn around. And what he saw sent chills of fear shooting though his body. Floating in front of him just a few inches from his face was what looked like a white sheet with horns. Its black eyes stared emotionlessly at Tails. It then let out a high-pitched giggle, scaring Tails silly as he ran back behind Sonic.

"It's a g…g…ghost!" cried Tails. The ghost let out another high-pitched giggle as two more ghosts appeared next to it.

"Ghosts eh? Well, I'm not afraid of ghosts," said Sonic. As soon as he said that, the ghosts grew to three times their size, making them the same size as Sonic. They then charged Sonic, their high-pitched giggling having turned into a terrifying growl as they flew towards Sonic. Sonic leapt forward at them, going into a spindash. But just before he connected with them, they disappeared. Sonic uncurled, looking around for them. The ghosts then reappeared above and behind Sonic. They once again let out a loud growl as they dove at him. Sonic tried to spindash them again, but with the same results. Another three times the same thing happened. Tails watched the ghosts as they repeatedly dodged Sonic's attacks. Suddenly, the whole place lit up. Tails and Sonic were blinded by the sudden brightness. They both closed their eyes tightly, hearing an ear piercing screech come from the ghosts. Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they noticed the ghosts were gone.

"Well, that was sure different," said Sonic as he walked over to Tails.

"What were those things?" asked Tails.

"Those were spirits of past Guardians, still trying to protect this island from outsiders," said a voice from behind them.

**********

I tried to grab Sonic as we slid down the slope, but just before I could, I was swept down in a different direction. I cursed under my breath. I had lost them again! This was getting redundant. I slid down for about a half a minute before I hit the end of the slope I was on. I rolled across the stone floor, slamming into the side of a wall. A pain shot through my side from the impact, but I fought the pain. I had been in pain many times in the past, and I was used to dealing with it. I stood up, brushing the sand out of my fur. I was so busy fuming over loosing Sonic and Tails that I didn't even notice Metal Sonic hover down from above and take refuge behind a nearby statue.

"Well, that's just great!" I said to myself. I took a step forward, and was rewarded by having my head strike something hanging from the ceiling. I reached up and pulled on whatever it was above me. Suddenly, the whole room filled with light as torches all along the walls lit up. I knew instantly where I was. We had fallen into the underground pyramid that my father had told me was under Sandopolis. I suddenly heard a high pitched screech from down below. I looked down to see Sonic and Tails standing about fifty feet below me. I smiled to myself. I hadn't lost them after all. They were right in front of me. I jumped off the ledge I was on, gliding down towards them. I heard their conversation as I grew closer.

"Well, that was sure different," said Sonic's voice.

"What were those things?" I heard Tails ask. I landed silently behind them. I thought very briefly about attacking them from behind, but I didn't like that idea. While I was now 100% against them, I still had a sense of honor that I never lost. And I knew what they had seen. I had seen them a few times around the ruins of Sandopolis when I was walking on the surface with my father.

"Those were the spirits of past Guardians, still trying to protect this island from outsiders," I said. I watched them turn around. Tails looked very shaken, and Sonic looked a little worn out.

"What do you want, Knuckles? Haven't you done enough?" said Sonic.

"Actually, I've only just begun, hedgehog," I said as I advanced towards him. But Sonic stood his ground, looking as though he was set in stone, not a single muscle moving on his whole body. He then crossed his arms and shook his head.

"Knuckles, I do wish you would open your eyes to the obvious," he said. I stopped in my tracks. Was he making fun of me, or was this some sort of trick?

"What do you mean?" I said. He looked up at me.

"Can't you tell?" he asked. "Robotnik's playing you for a fool. He's using you." I clenched my fists.

"That's not true!" I yelled at him. "I choose to join his side by my own free will!" Sonic just shook his head again, making me even angrier.

"True, but I'll bet you all seven of the Chaos Emeralds that none of the rubbish he said to you was nothing but lies," said Sonic. I was really angry at this point.

"It doesn't matter at this point. You trespassed in Hidden Palace. That is something that I cannot forgive," I said.

"Knux. If you knew what we was doing in there, you'd thank us a thousand times over," said Sonic. I frowned at this statement. What had they been doing in there? I closed off that thought. It didn't matter what they had been doing, they had still gone there without my permission.

"It doesn't matter now," I said, once again advancing on them. "You still trespassed without my permission, and that is something I cannot forgive!" With that, I lunged at Sonic, knocking him to the stone floor. I pulled back to punch him, but he pushed me off him with his feet, knocking me back into a wall. I jumped to my feet, anger now fueling my body. I rushed Sonic, a punch aimed right at his head, intent on knocking him out. But I never reached him. I suddenly got entangled in something. I realized that it was Tails who had tripped me. He had swung his body around and had hit my legs with his tails, getting them entangled in them.

We both flew forward, knocking into Sonic. All three of us slammed into a wall, which must have been a secret passage from long ago as the wall turned against our combined weight. The only problem was that there was no floor on the other side. Nothing but a long drop. I dug my knuckles into the rocky wall, stopping myself from falling. I looked down to see Sonic and Tails continue falling into the blackness below. I sighed. That had been a close one. Suddenly, a terrible odor hit my nose. I sniffed the air, then realized what it was. It was the smell of sulfur dioxide, and there was only one place on the island where that smell came from. And that was Lava Reef.

END OF CHAPTER 9