Chapter 3: Fall of the Island
Wechnia was close to the island now. What only moments ago had been a speck on the murky horizon was now a huge form in the sky. It was a pleasant island in appearance, with lush forests, green plains, crystal-clear rivers and huge, snow capped mountains. How the island was kept in the air without falling to Mobius was a mystery to many, but the secret was quite simple. Upon this island were seven legendary gems; the Chaos Emerald. The unimaginable powers contained in these ancient gems, primarily the Master Emerald, kept the Floating Island aloft.
Thousands of years ago, an alien species known as the Drakon empire came to Mobius. They had created an unstable energy source known as Chaos. Then a way was found to contain and control the energy. It was siphoned into the emeralds found in the sacred mines of the echidna race.
It is a complicated story that led to the end of the echidna race. The echidnas stole the Chaos Emeralds back from the Drakons, summoned Sonic from the future, who learned that his friend Knuckles had existed all these millennia ago. Then, by pure accident, one of the Drakon Prosecutors became fused with Chaos energy and was morphed into the being known as Chaos. Sonic had to be transported back to the future when Chaos was about to kill him, and then the Great War broke out. Details are sketchy, but whatever happened, it resulted in the loss of the echidnas. They were either wiped out, or left Mobius of their own accord. Only three now remain; Dr. Zachary (a rogue echidna who worked with Robotnik), Tikal (the daughter of Pochacamac, the leader of the ancient race) and of course Knuckles, the guardian of the Floating Island and the Chaos Emeralds.
How those three came to exist in the present is unknown. Well, Tikal was sealed with Chaos in the Master Emerald for an unimaginable length of time, and was then transported to the present, in an unhinged state of mind. Chaos' fear effect had driven her mad, and Ebony the Cat had to erase her memory in order to make her sane again. As for Zachary and Knuckles, there is no knowledge of how they were brought to this time as even they do not know. Currently, Zachary's whereabouts are unknown, but Knuckles and Tikal are on the Floating Island, guarding the Chaos Emeralds together.
In the Emerald Chamber, Knuckles was observing the radar (as the Island was so high up, possessed a protective field, and also, the machines in the Chamber were ancient technology, they had been isolated from the strange pulse that had caused everything else to malfunction). Knuckles was red, with long dreadlocked spikes. He wore white, spiked gloves that could dig into many surfaces. His socks were yellow, and his boots were red with a green buckle. Knuckles' silhouette was very similar to Wechnia's.
He had noticed an anomaly on the screen; something unidentifiable was approaching the Island at rapid velocity.
"Tikal!" called the red echidna. Tikal quickly ran over. She was a lighter red than Knuckles, but had similar hair. She bore a golden band around her forehead with a sapphire encrusted in the centre, and a necklace with another jewel. Her dress was green, decorated with red and white diamond shaped patterns. She wore bindings around her feet. Her gloves, unlike Knuckles', were not tipped with spikes, but she wore golden bracelets. Her regal appearance was only fitting for the chief's daughter. Thanks to her memory being erased, Knuckles was still no closer to solving the mystery of his people.
"What is it, Knuckles?" she said.
"What do you make of this?"
"Oh my gosh! It's coming to the Island! I've never seen something so fast..."
"Heh, don't say that to Sonic!"
However, she was right. Whatever was advancing to the Island was incredibly swift. It was already on the brink of the aerial landmass.
"No worries!" said Knuckles confidently. "The Island's force field will protect us from it! There's no way it can reach us."
"Uh, are you sure?"
The shape had broken right through the barrier and was heading to the mountain range, under which the Hidden Palace and the Emerald Chamber were hidden.
"Whatever it is," growled Knuckles, "I bet Robotnik's behind it." He pressed a key on the console that sounded an alarm. "Guard robots! Into position!"
Multiple robots with large yellow heads and black bodies with long arms marched into the Chamber and stationed themselves around each possible entrance. Unfortunately, Knuckles had no idea what the current threat was capable of...
He returned to his radar to find it malfunctioning. The screen was overloaded with static.
"No!" he cried, bashing his fist on the console. "I need this computer!"
There was a sudden crash behind him. He wheeled around to see his guardian robots sprawled on the floor.
"This effect is like the electromagnetic pulse that wiped out all of Robotnik's machines..." he said, "only that couldn't harm my ancient technology... this is really strange."
"What're we going to do, Knuckles?" said a terrified Tikal.
"We're gonna stand and fight, whatever this thing is. It's my life to protect the Chaos Emeralds."
He looked over to the column of light in which floated the Emeralds. The largest one, the green Master Emerald, was in the middle of the others. Each Emerald had its own unique colour. Only recently had they been returned here. After Chaos came to the Island, Knuckles had been forced to eject them, and the entire isle then fell into the ocean below and sank without trace. Finally, the Emeralds were reclaimed and returned to their rightful place, and Knuckles' home again rose above the clouds. The echidna had protected the gems as long as he could remember, since the memory of his life in the past had escaped him.
"The alarm should be sounding," said Knuckles. "That must have been knocked out too."
"You needn't have an alarm for little me..." a harsh voice spoke from the main entrance. "I'm not that dangerous..."
The air in the Chamber became as still as death the moment that Wechnia entered. The deadly creature had an empty grin etched onto his cold face as it edged towards Knuckles. The stone in the room seemed to be turning rather grey, and the air was becoming quite dusty.
"Who the heck are you?" demanded Knuckles. Normally he'd be excited to see a new echidna, but he knew that this was no normal creature.
"Haha... Well Knuckles, I am Wechnia..."
"What are you?"
"That isn't very polite... I am artificial life created for one purpose... The destruction of Mobius is my goal... I expect you know why I am here..."
"No, I don't."
"I want the Chaos Emeralds... They can amplify my powers and quicken the pace of the planet's demise..."
"And you think I'd let you just take them? You've got another thing coming!"
"No, I didn't think that... I know everything, Knuckles... I know your weaknesses..."
"I have no weaknesses, creep!" Knuckles leapt up and charged at Wechnia, raising a fist. He was about to deliver the blow when Wechnia rolled away and reappeared behind the overaggressive echidna. The white echidna instead dealt the punch, sending Knuckles sprawling across the stone floor.
"Your first weakness is your overconfidence..." murmured Wechnia. "Your second is your inability to counter speedier opponents..."
"You've gotta be kidding me..." groaned Knuckles as he climbed to his feet.
Knuckles dug quickly into the floor, which seemed to be very dusty and less solid than usual. He burrowed until he was directly below Wechnia and rapidly resurfaced with a rising uppercut, but his opponent was gone. Knuckles quickly scanned the room, but saw no sign of Wechnia.
Suddenly, he was knocked down. Wechnia had been hiding on the ceiling and had just drilled down and into him.
"I really do not have time for this, Knuckles... As much as I would love to stay and continue our battle, I have a planet to destroy..."
"NO!"
Tikal leapt out from where she had been hiding. She was carrying her ancient staff, which was sparking. She shot a purple beam at Wechnia, but she missed as the creature leapt over it. He pushed her over, but was then brought to the ground himself by a furious Knuckles.
"So, it takes two of you to cause me a tiny bit of damage..." Wechnia said. Where Knuckles' fist has crashed into him, Wechnia's face seemed to be dented. In seconds, it was fully healed.
Wechnia pounded the floor, which triggered an avalanche in the Chamber. Nimbly dodging the huge rocks that plunged to the ground, he made his way to the column of light, his red eyes fixed on the Emeralds. Knuckles jumped to his feet and rushed at his foe, who was expecting it already. Wechnia held out a balled fist that Knuckles just ran into before being able to react. The creature now took the Emeralds from their rightful place, and they began to float around him. The entire island shook.
The exits were all now sealed with crumbling rock. Wechnia looked up, then launched himself into the air, ripping apart the stone in front, allowing him to make his own exit. At his command, the seven emeralds followed him. In seconds, he had broken through the mountain and could see the stormy skies again. Just then, he began to plummet to the dying fields directly below him. Knuckles had escaped the Emerald Chamber via the Zoom Tube system and had found the exit near where Wechnia had come out of the mountain, simply by luck. Tikal was not far behind, and she jumped out of the exit, and landed smoothly on the plains. As Wechnia and Knuckles impacted the ground, she prepared to stop the Emeralds from doing the same, catching them with some kind of magic. She muttered some words in the ancient tongue and the Emeralds disappeared.
"No... it cannot be..." gasped Wechnia. All of that work had come to nought.
"I have destroyed the Emeralds, you vile creature," said Tikal. "You can no longer use them in your evil plot."
"Destroyed them...?" said Wechnia, almost laughing. "Of course you haven't... You've merely transported them to various locations around Mobius..."
"How... no, I did what I said."
"You cannot lie to Wechnia... I know all..."
The evil one took flight again, no doubt to hunt the Emeralds down. Tikal pulled Knuckles out of the crater that had been made when he and Wechnia had fallen into the ground.
"Look at the grass," she said. "It's dying..."
"You're right," said Knuckles. "It must be what that creature does."
He had a poignant expression on his face. He had failed his ancestors again. The Emeralds had been removed from the Floating Island, which was now beginning to fall to Mobius' surface. The decent was slow due to the Emerald power still contained in the Island.
"Don't worry," Tikal told him. "We should get down to Mobius and warn people what is about to happen."
"I just realised, we don't know where the Island is going to crash!"
Knuckles ran in the direction of the Marble Garden Zone which was close to the edge of the island. He needed to know where his home was going to land, for he was going to return here with the Emeralds once Wechnia was defeated... he hoped.
Once he and Tikal reached the edge, they looked below.
"Some kind of high-tech city..." said Tikal.
"Ultimatropolis..."
Upon this entire continent had been built this great city. Ultimatropolis was perhaps the only place that was more advanced than the Metropolis Zone. Despite the incredible development here, the atmosphere was still amazingly unpolluted and clean.
Unfortunately, it would be the last place Knuckles would want his Island to fall upon. There were thousands of people probably directly below who would be crushed by the landing.
Tikal knew what to do. She raised her staff again, and called out a chant. She and Knuckles were instantly warped to the city below. There was some state of panic already. Citizens were dashing away from the area, desperate to get away from the doom that was impending. Police were on the streets, issuing warnings on megaphones.
"Well," sighed Knuckles with relief, "I guess the police are sorting out the problem."
The Island was starting to increase the velocity of its decent. Clearly the Chaos Energy had almost been drained out of the soil and stone.
"There's not much time, Tikal! Run!"
And run they did. In mere moments, the Island hammered down upon the tall structures of the city. The damage was in fact very limited. Somehow, the Emerald forces had cushioned the blow and it had now come to rest between four large buildings, acting as pillars to support it. Small chips of stone and cement fell from the buildings, but that was all...
"Unbelievable!" breathed Knuckles.
However, they were now about 18,000 miles from where they needed to be – South Island. He voiced this to Tikal, who just winked and did the spell to transport them there. The torrential rain that had been up at Ultimatropolis and over the Angelas Ocean was here too...
"You're good at that," said Knuckles with a wry smile.
"I know!" said Tikal. "I've used that spell a lot. Come on, where is it we need to be?"
"Emerald Hill Zone. By the looks of it, we're near it. I think this is the Jade Hill Zone. I've been here before. Wow, I wonder what happened here..."
The entire collection of hills and mountains had come down on itself, leaving piles of red and yellow rubble. Only few hills remained, and they looked to be collapsing on themselves as well. The foliage around them was wilting. Already, Knuckles realised that Wechnia must have been here.
"Come on, I want to speak with Sonic."
"Sonic? I've heard that name before..."
Wechnia was close to the island now. What only moments ago had been a speck on the murky horizon was now a huge form in the sky. It was a pleasant island in appearance, with lush forests, green plains, crystal-clear rivers and huge, snow capped mountains. How the island was kept in the air without falling to Mobius was a mystery to many, but the secret was quite simple. Upon this island were seven legendary gems; the Chaos Emerald. The unimaginable powers contained in these ancient gems, primarily the Master Emerald, kept the Floating Island aloft.
Thousands of years ago, an alien species known as the Drakon empire came to Mobius. They had created an unstable energy source known as Chaos. Then a way was found to contain and control the energy. It was siphoned into the emeralds found in the sacred mines of the echidna race.
It is a complicated story that led to the end of the echidna race. The echidnas stole the Chaos Emeralds back from the Drakons, summoned Sonic from the future, who learned that his friend Knuckles had existed all these millennia ago. Then, by pure accident, one of the Drakon Prosecutors became fused with Chaos energy and was morphed into the being known as Chaos. Sonic had to be transported back to the future when Chaos was about to kill him, and then the Great War broke out. Details are sketchy, but whatever happened, it resulted in the loss of the echidnas. They were either wiped out, or left Mobius of their own accord. Only three now remain; Dr. Zachary (a rogue echidna who worked with Robotnik), Tikal (the daughter of Pochacamac, the leader of the ancient race) and of course Knuckles, the guardian of the Floating Island and the Chaos Emeralds.
How those three came to exist in the present is unknown. Well, Tikal was sealed with Chaos in the Master Emerald for an unimaginable length of time, and was then transported to the present, in an unhinged state of mind. Chaos' fear effect had driven her mad, and Ebony the Cat had to erase her memory in order to make her sane again. As for Zachary and Knuckles, there is no knowledge of how they were brought to this time as even they do not know. Currently, Zachary's whereabouts are unknown, but Knuckles and Tikal are on the Floating Island, guarding the Chaos Emeralds together.
In the Emerald Chamber, Knuckles was observing the radar (as the Island was so high up, possessed a protective field, and also, the machines in the Chamber were ancient technology, they had been isolated from the strange pulse that had caused everything else to malfunction). Knuckles was red, with long dreadlocked spikes. He wore white, spiked gloves that could dig into many surfaces. His socks were yellow, and his boots were red with a green buckle. Knuckles' silhouette was very similar to Wechnia's.
He had noticed an anomaly on the screen; something unidentifiable was approaching the Island at rapid velocity.
"Tikal!" called the red echidna. Tikal quickly ran over. She was a lighter red than Knuckles, but had similar hair. She bore a golden band around her forehead with a sapphire encrusted in the centre, and a necklace with another jewel. Her dress was green, decorated with red and white diamond shaped patterns. She wore bindings around her feet. Her gloves, unlike Knuckles', were not tipped with spikes, but she wore golden bracelets. Her regal appearance was only fitting for the chief's daughter. Thanks to her memory being erased, Knuckles was still no closer to solving the mystery of his people.
"What is it, Knuckles?" she said.
"What do you make of this?"
"Oh my gosh! It's coming to the Island! I've never seen something so fast..."
"Heh, don't say that to Sonic!"
However, she was right. Whatever was advancing to the Island was incredibly swift. It was already on the brink of the aerial landmass.
"No worries!" said Knuckles confidently. "The Island's force field will protect us from it! There's no way it can reach us."
"Uh, are you sure?"
The shape had broken right through the barrier and was heading to the mountain range, under which the Hidden Palace and the Emerald Chamber were hidden.
"Whatever it is," growled Knuckles, "I bet Robotnik's behind it." He pressed a key on the console that sounded an alarm. "Guard robots! Into position!"
Multiple robots with large yellow heads and black bodies with long arms marched into the Chamber and stationed themselves around each possible entrance. Unfortunately, Knuckles had no idea what the current threat was capable of...
He returned to his radar to find it malfunctioning. The screen was overloaded with static.
"No!" he cried, bashing his fist on the console. "I need this computer!"
There was a sudden crash behind him. He wheeled around to see his guardian robots sprawled on the floor.
"This effect is like the electromagnetic pulse that wiped out all of Robotnik's machines..." he said, "only that couldn't harm my ancient technology... this is really strange."
"What're we going to do, Knuckles?" said a terrified Tikal.
"We're gonna stand and fight, whatever this thing is. It's my life to protect the Chaos Emeralds."
He looked over to the column of light in which floated the Emeralds. The largest one, the green Master Emerald, was in the middle of the others. Each Emerald had its own unique colour. Only recently had they been returned here. After Chaos came to the Island, Knuckles had been forced to eject them, and the entire isle then fell into the ocean below and sank without trace. Finally, the Emeralds were reclaimed and returned to their rightful place, and Knuckles' home again rose above the clouds. The echidna had protected the gems as long as he could remember, since the memory of his life in the past had escaped him.
"The alarm should be sounding," said Knuckles. "That must have been knocked out too."
"You needn't have an alarm for little me..." a harsh voice spoke from the main entrance. "I'm not that dangerous..."
The air in the Chamber became as still as death the moment that Wechnia entered. The deadly creature had an empty grin etched onto his cold face as it edged towards Knuckles. The stone in the room seemed to be turning rather grey, and the air was becoming quite dusty.
"Who the heck are you?" demanded Knuckles. Normally he'd be excited to see a new echidna, but he knew that this was no normal creature.
"Haha... Well Knuckles, I am Wechnia..."
"What are you?"
"That isn't very polite... I am artificial life created for one purpose... The destruction of Mobius is my goal... I expect you know why I am here..."
"No, I don't."
"I want the Chaos Emeralds... They can amplify my powers and quicken the pace of the planet's demise..."
"And you think I'd let you just take them? You've got another thing coming!"
"No, I didn't think that... I know everything, Knuckles... I know your weaknesses..."
"I have no weaknesses, creep!" Knuckles leapt up and charged at Wechnia, raising a fist. He was about to deliver the blow when Wechnia rolled away and reappeared behind the overaggressive echidna. The white echidna instead dealt the punch, sending Knuckles sprawling across the stone floor.
"Your first weakness is your overconfidence..." murmured Wechnia. "Your second is your inability to counter speedier opponents..."
"You've gotta be kidding me..." groaned Knuckles as he climbed to his feet.
Knuckles dug quickly into the floor, which seemed to be very dusty and less solid than usual. He burrowed until he was directly below Wechnia and rapidly resurfaced with a rising uppercut, but his opponent was gone. Knuckles quickly scanned the room, but saw no sign of Wechnia.
Suddenly, he was knocked down. Wechnia had been hiding on the ceiling and had just drilled down and into him.
"I really do not have time for this, Knuckles... As much as I would love to stay and continue our battle, I have a planet to destroy..."
"NO!"
Tikal leapt out from where she had been hiding. She was carrying her ancient staff, which was sparking. She shot a purple beam at Wechnia, but she missed as the creature leapt over it. He pushed her over, but was then brought to the ground himself by a furious Knuckles.
"So, it takes two of you to cause me a tiny bit of damage..." Wechnia said. Where Knuckles' fist has crashed into him, Wechnia's face seemed to be dented. In seconds, it was fully healed.
Wechnia pounded the floor, which triggered an avalanche in the Chamber. Nimbly dodging the huge rocks that plunged to the ground, he made his way to the column of light, his red eyes fixed on the Emeralds. Knuckles jumped to his feet and rushed at his foe, who was expecting it already. Wechnia held out a balled fist that Knuckles just ran into before being able to react. The creature now took the Emeralds from their rightful place, and they began to float around him. The entire island shook.
The exits were all now sealed with crumbling rock. Wechnia looked up, then launched himself into the air, ripping apart the stone in front, allowing him to make his own exit. At his command, the seven emeralds followed him. In seconds, he had broken through the mountain and could see the stormy skies again. Just then, he began to plummet to the dying fields directly below him. Knuckles had escaped the Emerald Chamber via the Zoom Tube system and had found the exit near where Wechnia had come out of the mountain, simply by luck. Tikal was not far behind, and she jumped out of the exit, and landed smoothly on the plains. As Wechnia and Knuckles impacted the ground, she prepared to stop the Emeralds from doing the same, catching them with some kind of magic. She muttered some words in the ancient tongue and the Emeralds disappeared.
"No... it cannot be..." gasped Wechnia. All of that work had come to nought.
"I have destroyed the Emeralds, you vile creature," said Tikal. "You can no longer use them in your evil plot."
"Destroyed them...?" said Wechnia, almost laughing. "Of course you haven't... You've merely transported them to various locations around Mobius..."
"How... no, I did what I said."
"You cannot lie to Wechnia... I know all..."
The evil one took flight again, no doubt to hunt the Emeralds down. Tikal pulled Knuckles out of the crater that had been made when he and Wechnia had fallen into the ground.
"Look at the grass," she said. "It's dying..."
"You're right," said Knuckles. "It must be what that creature does."
He had a poignant expression on his face. He had failed his ancestors again. The Emeralds had been removed from the Floating Island, which was now beginning to fall to Mobius' surface. The decent was slow due to the Emerald power still contained in the Island.
"Don't worry," Tikal told him. "We should get down to Mobius and warn people what is about to happen."
"I just realised, we don't know where the Island is going to crash!"
Knuckles ran in the direction of the Marble Garden Zone which was close to the edge of the island. He needed to know where his home was going to land, for he was going to return here with the Emeralds once Wechnia was defeated... he hoped.
Once he and Tikal reached the edge, they looked below.
"Some kind of high-tech city..." said Tikal.
"Ultimatropolis..."
Upon this entire continent had been built this great city. Ultimatropolis was perhaps the only place that was more advanced than the Metropolis Zone. Despite the incredible development here, the atmosphere was still amazingly unpolluted and clean.
Unfortunately, it would be the last place Knuckles would want his Island to fall upon. There were thousands of people probably directly below who would be crushed by the landing.
Tikal knew what to do. She raised her staff again, and called out a chant. She and Knuckles were instantly warped to the city below. There was some state of panic already. Citizens were dashing away from the area, desperate to get away from the doom that was impending. Police were on the streets, issuing warnings on megaphones.
"Well," sighed Knuckles with relief, "I guess the police are sorting out the problem."
The Island was starting to increase the velocity of its decent. Clearly the Chaos Energy had almost been drained out of the soil and stone.
"There's not much time, Tikal! Run!"
And run they did. In mere moments, the Island hammered down upon the tall structures of the city. The damage was in fact very limited. Somehow, the Emerald forces had cushioned the blow and it had now come to rest between four large buildings, acting as pillars to support it. Small chips of stone and cement fell from the buildings, but that was all...
"Unbelievable!" breathed Knuckles.
However, they were now about 18,000 miles from where they needed to be – South Island. He voiced this to Tikal, who just winked and did the spell to transport them there. The torrential rain that had been up at Ultimatropolis and over the Angelas Ocean was here too...
"You're good at that," said Knuckles with a wry smile.
"I know!" said Tikal. "I've used that spell a lot. Come on, where is it we need to be?"
"Emerald Hill Zone. By the looks of it, we're near it. I think this is the Jade Hill Zone. I've been here before. Wow, I wonder what happened here..."
The entire collection of hills and mountains had come down on itself, leaving piles of red and yellow rubble. Only few hills remained, and they looked to be collapsing on themselves as well. The foliage around them was wilting. Already, Knuckles realised that Wechnia must have been here.
"Come on, I want to speak with Sonic."
"Sonic? I've heard that name before..."