Hero, that phrase echoed in my mind over and over again. Such a word shouldn't be used to describe me at the time, especially after what had happened at the prison base. Speaking of which the refugees were still clamoring about and giving their words of praise and thanks, although some of them had moved around Tik'al and were giving her the usual 'princess' this and 'your majesty' that. I glanced around and counted them all and noticed that quite a few of them were missing, possibly from being captured or worse yet killed. Though being killed might've been the most painless fate since the captured were taken back and transformed into machine slaves. I guess it was best not to think too much about it.

"I was wondering," I said looking to one of the prisoners, "There more of you than this when you were escaping, what happened to the others?"

"They...didn't make it out of the base with the rest of us, most were killed or too wounded to continue and were most likely retaken prisoner." He said sadly

'Just as I thought,' I frowned at the thought of those that didn't make it being shot down and it made me cringe, 'I probably could've saved them had I taken the time, or at least taken them with me when I took Tik'al instead of letting them run off in a frenzy.'

"I think we should get going before we get some unexpected company." I said turning to Tik'al

"Alright, everyone follow me." She said motioning for everyone to gather up and follow

We began walking back through the trail we had came through back to the ship when I had noticed that during all my thinking the forest had become unusually quiet. No birds, no animals, not even the slightest sound save the footsteps of our group.

'Strange reading detected, closing fast'

I looked around but didn't see anything at first, but I started to get a bizarre feeling, something like a chill going through my spine.

"Phoenix, what are you looking for?"

I heard Tik'al's voice but didn't answer her at first I was still getting some ominous feeling shooting through my whole body.

"Phoenix, can you hear me?"

"Something's coming, but I'm not sure what it is."

"What should we do?"

"You should keep walking with the rest of the group and take them back to the ship, I'm going to handle whatever this is."

"Alright, if you're sure, just don't get yourself hurt."

"I'll do my best." I said walking off toward where I think the enemy was

I walked for several minutes looking around and listening to my computer informing me of something moving around in my general area, but I couldn't find anything on the ground or in the brush.

'If there's something out here I should've seen it by now' I thought, 'the only place I haven't looked would be the...trees.'

I looked up and was immediately slammed into by some large heavy object dropping from the air and rolling away from me. Had I been someone else that might've killed me, luckily I was a bit more resilient than most.

"What the hell was that?" I thought sitting up and looking around

To my right I saw a figure standing in the light, right in the path of the sun and making it hard to make out the form. At first I saw an outline, it seemed to be the hedgehog I met earlier, the light reflecting off his body made it hard to see.

'Wait a minute, light doesn't reflect so blindingly off skin' I thought holding my hand up to my face and squinting harder against the glare. It was a robot.

'Target identified as Metal, anti-Sonic combat unit used to seek and destroy Sonic, has since been reprogrammed, current objective unknown, behavior suggests the capture or destruction of unit Phoenix.'

I stood up and looked over my attacker from a less blinding angle. The machine was a almost an exact copy down to the last detail physically, aside from the dead black and red eyes that stared back at my solid blue ones. He seemed to be looking me over just as I was doing him, most likely preparing to attack. I decided to open up for conversation and get some answers.

"Who are you?" I said breaking the silence

I was returned with was the same never ending silence and incessant staring.

"Are you here to destroy me or just take me back to that filthy prison?"

The figure just stood motionless and silent.

"Can you even talk at?" I said slightly annoyed

"Yes." It said in a rather metallic voice, there was also some static present, but too little to notice very well, it was like a radio transmission clicking on and off

"Well how about answering me? What do you want?"

"I am here to take back the emerald that's inside of you." His voice clicked

"I suppose the doctor wants me back dead or alive, correct?"

"Your return isn't of any concern to anyone, my primary objective is the emerald."

"I hope you don't mind me defending myself." I said shifting my body to a combative position instinctively

"It will be a futile effort." He said taking a similar position, almost mimicking me

We just stood at first, waiting for one another to make the first move. I assumed it would be him, but he just remained motionless. It was silent enough to even hear the servos in his eyes focused his sights on me. I decided that sooner would be better than later in striking so I quickly charged him. I thrust my palm at him and was met with a mirrored strike of his own, I tried to thrust my claws at him with my other hand and was countered once again with his own claws, sparks flew from the contact of my sharp claws against his metal hand. I jumped back and he did the same, it seemed as if he knew exactly how I fight. We fought for what seemed like hours, strike after strike he matched me and repelled my fastest hits and most skilled blows, this fight was going to drag on eternally, unless I did something different, something that he couldn't do; then an idea hit me. I swung my foot for a high kick to his head and as I expected he did the same, both of our legs hitting together, then I swept my tail at his still grounded leg and knocked him off his feet and then, using a great deal of strength, I continued my kick but instead striking down towards his off balanced body and slamming him toward the ground. The advantage seemed to be mine until he stopped his fall and did a handspring back up and kicked me squarely in the chest with both of his feet, sending me backwards several feet into a tree. He charged again before I had a chance to regain my composure and slammed the back of my head into the solid bark and held me in a chokehold.

"As I said a futile effort." He clicked applying more pressure to my throat and lifting me up several inches off the ground

I tried to force him off but was unsuccessful, though our strength seemed even he had more leverage than I did, still having his feet firmly planted on the ground. My vision began to go blurry as it got harder to breathe; I began to have another vision like before, the island in the ocean, the temple, this time I saw myself out in a field it looked like I was with someone, they were impossible to make out but I could hear a conversation.

"You must concentrate if you want to harness the energy, it's not about strength of body but of the mind."

The first voice seemed familiar but was still a mystery to me

"I understand, but how am I suppose to will it to do what I want?"

The second one was easy enough, that was the sound of my voice

"It's nearly impossible to completely control it, for it has a will of it's own so to speak."

I wonder what energy I was talking to this guy about?

"You talk as if it's alive or something."

"Perhaps it is, no one knows for sure."

"I'll try again then."

I saw the image of myself holding out his palm and then a strange light seemed to form around it, it glowed slightly, then the image of me held out his hand towards a large boulder and the energy shot forward and smashed it to pieces.

"Very good, you're learning." Said the mysterious voice

My mind wandered back to reality and to my dire situation, I was still being held in a death grip by my enemy and was still more or less helpless.

'I wish I had some of that energy I just saw in that vision' I thought to myself, 'Wait a minute, the emerald inside of me, it's full of it. Maybe I can use it just the same, Chaos energy is still energy.'

I closed my eyes and began to concentrate, I felt a warm feeling flowing over me, I could feel a tingling sensation in my arm traveling down to the tips of my fingers and gathering in my palm.

"Prepare to die." I heard Metal say as I opened my eyes to his free hand pointing towards my heart. A panel in his wrist slid back and a weapon of some sort popped into view; I could hear the sound of it humming to life and saw his eyes glowing a brighter red light, I felt the heat from his hand against my skin and realized it was now or never.

"I have a better idea." I said slamming my palm into is chest and straining under the thunderous blast from my hand and wincing from the burn where a laser blast from his weapon had seared my flesh on my chest, away from my heart luckily. I fell limp against the tree and he fell several feet from me on the ground. His body was sparking with the strange newfound energy that I had hit him with and my chest was smoking from the burn that I had received. I managed to stand feeling lightheaded, whether it was from using that energy or from being suffocated for the last several minutes I wasn't sure but didn't care. Metal got to his feet and looked himself over noting the damage, then at me noticing my injuries.

"So you've remembered." He said

"What are you talking about?" I asked puzzled

"We shall continue this when I have made repairs, but rest assured you will die." He said turning and slightly limping back a few steps

"Wait, what did you mean about that 'you've remembered' remark?"

He simply glared at me once again and then moved his hand away from his chest and I saw it, a chaos emerald, a green one.

"You have one as well?"

He looked up at the sky then back down at me for a moment.

"Till' we meet again...chaos control!" I shielded my eyes as he vanished in a flash leaving nothing more than a pair of footprints in the dirt of the forest floor.

I decided that it was time to get back to the ship before he decided on a rematch and quickly limped off towards the clearing where everyone was. With much effort I made my way back and saw Tik'al still standing around outside of the ship.

"Phoenix what happened? You've been gone for more than a while."

"I had a little bit of a fight with someone, but I'm fine." I said falling down to one knee

"You've got cuts and wounds all over, let me help you up."

"No, it's alright, I just need to get my second wind."

"Looks like that got knocked out of you a long time ago." She laughed

"Yeah that's just what I need after a life threatening battle, a nice healthy dose of sarcasm." I said struggling to my feet again

"Well I'm still going to help you inside." She said helping me steady myself

"If you insist." I said as she helped me to the door of the ship and we walked inside and were greeted by one of the pilots.

"Princess what happened out there?"

"Well..." she started but I cut her off

"Nothing, it was nothing."

He eyed me a bit looking over my injuries; I could still feel the burn from the laser blast, which was the most painful nothing I've ever been hit with.

"I know what happened," said one of the survivors, my eyes darted towards him, hoping he was just making it up. The ship was quiet with anticipation, for his next words, "The swatbot patrols caught up with us and attacked but he put himself at risk to save us, didn't you?"

Everyone looked to me for a response, "Yeah, I fought them off."

"Princess shall we leave?" asked the pilot from before

"Yes, let's." she said escorting me to a seat

I sat down gently and she took a seat next to me; the ship began to power up again and take off, I began to drift off to sleep hoping those wounds would heal by themselves like before. As the ship lifted higher into the air I felt something warm resting on my shoulder, I opened my eyes a bit and noticed that Tik'al had rested her head on me and was sleeping herself.

'Maybe I can be a hero after all.' I thought as started to close my eyes when I felt that strange chill again, 'Feels like something is still following us.' I thought giving into my fatigue.

The night seemed to pass rather quickly as the rising sun's rays washed over my face and stirred me to consciousness. I looked out the window and saw the sun peeking through the clouds, lighting up the sky with several different shades of red, yellow, and orange. I leaned closer to the window and noticed that we seemed to be rather close to the ground, I squinted a bit and noticed that there was a large land mass underneath the closest layer of clouds below the airship.

"We're finally here." I heard Tik'al say looking out the window as well

"Almost where? That's still looks like the ground from here." I said a bit confused

"That is the ground, more or less."

"Don't tell me that's Angel Island."

"Yes, what did you expect?"

"Something that doesn't look like someone just sliced off a piece of the ground a placed it in the sky."

The ship started to descend through the clouds towards the supposed island and gave me my first good look at what the big mystery was. As it came into view I began to see that it was a breathtaking sight to behold, it was dotted with many impressive looking structures that appeared to be temples and such; even from this height it was easy to tell that they were well crafted. The ship continued it's path and flew towards one of larger buildings and began to slow; I looked down and could see the inhabitants of the island, they walked the stone streets back and forth some standing in small clusters and gathering around our landing point.

"What's this building here?" I said pointing to the majestic structure

"That would be the palace." Tik'al said sitting up

"I see, and all those people out there must be your followers, right?"

"Well, yes and no."

"Hmm?"

"Nothing."

"Well at any rate I guess we should be getting off, I just hope I'm not going to cause a problem by being here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's pretty obvious that you don't get many guests up here in the sky, am I right?"

"I see what you mean."

"Which makes me wonder if I should even be walking around with you anymore."

"Why?"

"Well I'm assuming you've got guards around here somewhere don't you? Everyone might find it a bit unsettling to have a stranger following their beloved leader around, don't you think?"

"Well I insist that you stay with me, you are my personal guard, and besides, we're good friends now, right?" She said getting up and pulling me along

"Can't argue with that." I said following out into the sunlight

The ship had been surrounded soon after it landed and everyone filed out of it, happy to be safe and sound. I looked around as she lead me and everyone else up numerous steps, waving and greeting the other echidnas that gave her small bows and such, and giving me strange looks, probably wondering who I was or something.

"Well this is going better than I hoped." I said as we came to the large doorway inside of the palace and went inside

"So where are we going to go?" I asked as we continued down a wide hall lined with what I thought to be guards

"I have to go meet with the council elders."

"And they would be?"

"The ones who are actually in charge around here."

"Hmm, well then now might be a good time to let go of my hand then."

"Oh, sorry." She said letting go and continuing with me following

We came to yet another large door at the end of the hall; two guards were standing a diligent watch in front of it.

"I'm here to see the elders." She said

They stood silent for a minute and looked at me, then back at her.

"He's my guest, he's coming with me."

They nodded and pulled open the doors and let us through; we walked into the dimly lit chamber that was lined with torches and the walls adorned with elaborate tapestries. In the middle of the room sat a set of ornate throne room chairs, and in them sat three echidnas. It was easy to tell that they were of great importance; their grand garments were proof of this.

"Council Elders I have returned from my trip." Tik'al started

"So it seems." said the male one in the middle

"You little trips to the ground are becoming quite the problem as of late." Said a female

"Well I thought it was important to keep good relations with..." The third member of the council cut her off before she could finish

"Well it isn't, and we can't have you getting into that barbaric war going on down there." The male in the middle, possibly the lead member, seemed to take over the rest of the talking from that point

"If we only gave them our help then the fighting could be stopped, Robotonick's terrorizing everyone down there while we just sit up here and turn a blind eye to everything that's going on."

"It is because of that very reason we are safer up here than down there."

"But for how long? We can't hide up here forever, whether we want to or not, we're soon going to be playing a part in this war."

"Such words might be considered treasonous, you should watch your tongue."

"Why is wanting to help such a bad thing?"

"You are too young to understand."

"So you think that my youth makes me ignorant?"

"No but it makes you foolish; putting yourself in danger constantly, sympathizing with the plight of those on the ground."

"But..."

"No! And it is because of this that the council has decided to ban you from leaving the island until further notice, maybe then you'll come to appreciate life up here." His voice echoes throughout the room

"I understand." She said sadly

"Which brings us to another matter, who is this with your?"

"He is a friend of mine, we've been traveling together while I was away."

"Stranger what is your name?"

"Phoenix." I stated, "And about what you said earlier about this place being safe, I think you should know that you are wrong."

The room became unnervingly quiet all of a sudden, save the burning of the torches.

"And what would you know about anything that goes on up here?"

"I know that this place isn't exactly as well hidden as you think."

"Are you to tell me that after thousands of years of this island being safe from harm, you believe the princess here and agree that suddenly we're in danger, is that correct?"

"I'm positive of it."

"Princess I believe that your guests should leave as soon as possible and not return, especially this one." He said pointing at me

"Yes elder." She said leaving I looked back at them for a moment myself

"If I remember right, this place has fallen from the sky more than once, you people have a strange definition of the word safe." I said following her out the doors, as they were pulled shut behind us.

"I think he is one of them." Said the female

"I thought they had all died out in the incident from before." Said the second male

"Apparently one of them survived." The female said again

"Order the guards to keep an eye on him until he leaves...and if need be, kill him if necessary." Said the lead elder

Well I finally updated, wasn't here to write before since I took a trip out of town for a week, luckily I got a bit of inspiration and managed to write this in two days, 3615 words is a bit of typing, oh well. Read and review, or just review since you had to read to even get to the part down here anyway