The pressure gauge in front of Porker's eyes steadily rose as the sub
delved deeper in the darkness of the Mobian Sea. Rhythmic creaking sounds
provided the only distraction from the suffocating silence that enveloped
the tiny vehicle. The sub's lighting systems, some of the most powerful on
Mobius, seemed dim in this darkness, revealing only small portions of the
ocean floor at any time.
Small chunks of vibrantly coloured coral drifted into and out of the lights. Small shoals of Nebulae; the living creature that the Orbinaut Badnik Series had been based off; drifted past, thin lines of flesh connecting their huge spiked appendages to the small round bodies of the animals. Every so often the seafloor would be exposed and titanic Angler Fish crept through the circles of light piercing the darkness. Every so often the seafloor would disappear under them, and there would be a moment of confusion as Porker attempted to relocate the seafloor. Turning back towards the drops revealed a sheer cliff face pitted with cracks and craters. Then Porker would turn the sub and the monotonous journey would continue.
Every so often something would pop up to relieve the monotony: a colony of stromatolites, an underwater volcano spewing out smoke, a sparkling crystal bed. Then the sights would disappear into the gloom and the boredom would return.
Eventually, after what seemed like ages, Knuckles shouted for attention, pointing at something on the seafloor. There, clear as day, lay the severed head of one of the Floating Island's Guardian Robots, lying slowly rusting in the sand. Immediately afterwards the seafloor dropped away sharply and Porker brought the sub into a nosedive, turning the lights up to full.
There, illuminated in the darkness, lay the Floating Island. A shimmering sphere of energy surrounded the Island, distorting the view of the lush green forests and deep blue lakes. Damage seemed to be minimal, and the dome of energy seemed to be keeping the Island nice and dry. Sonic whistled and turned to Knuckles.
"Well old buddy, there it is. Looks like this trip was worth it after all." He frowned when there was no response. "Knuckles?"
The echidna jerked as if returning from a trance and looked over at Sonic. "Oh, yeah," he mumbled, then turned back to the window. Sonic frowned.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me the 'mighty Guardian of the Floating Island' is overcome with emotion." Knuckles laughed then turned to the hedgehog again.
"No, no. I'm just wondering how the Energy Shield is still working. The shields would have had some stored Chaos energy in them when the Island had hit the sea, but surely not enough to last it for two years." He turned back to the window.
Before Sonic could agree, there was a horrible snapping sound and the sub lurched, throwing its passengers against the walls. Their suits cushioned the impact, but the force had still been enough to hurt them. As the sub righted itself Porker dashed out of the cockpit holding one of the Chaos Emerald boxes under his arm.
"Everyone, abandon ship!" he yelled. Immediately Tails and Knuckles rushed for the remaining Chaos Emeralds, while Porker explained. "It looks like Claw's attack did more damage than I thought. The pressure's become too much and one of the damaged areas has given way. Water's flooding the engines and we're heading straight towards the Floating Island's side." Seeing his companion's questioning expressions he answered their most pressing concern. "Don't worry, the suits will protect you from the pressure. Now go!" he yelled, thrusting Sonic and Amy into the airlock and jettisoning it. As Knuckles and Tails appeared they entered the airlock and vanished as well. After taking one last look around the sub, Porker followed.
There was a rush, a whistling sound, and then Sonic found himself buffeted by the currents in the deep ocean. Looking around frantically he noticed his companions nearby. Amy was drifting towards the Island, Knuckles had the Emerald box strapped to his back and Porker was just exiting the stricken sub. As Sonic was about to breathe a sigh of relief he noticed Tails ahead of him, struggling to swim away. Sonic was puzzled and looked back at the sub. Suddenly, a huge force thrust him towards the sub along with Tails, who had finally given up from exhaustion. Trying to swim away, Sonic was horrified to find that he couldn't. As Porker, Knuckles and Amy followed Sonic realised what it was. The current made by the sub's movements was dragging them along with it. Looking around for something to grab onto he was again horrified. They were swimming in the middle of nowhere. The nearest solid ground seemed miles away, and slowly disappeared out of reach as the sub dragged them down into the murky depths. Sonic turned to look at the sub, and swore again. The side of the Island loomed ahead of them, the current dragging them in towards the sub as it began its death dive. The explosion would kill them. Just after Sonic realised this, Amy collided with him and the two blacked out.
There was a terrible crashing and smashing noise, a bright flash, then nothing.
Sonic woke up to the feeling of hard stone, and water lapping around his ankles. Slowly he opened his eyes and took stock of his surroundings. Beside him he could make out the mangled wreckage of their sub. The cockpit had been forced back into the storage areas at the rear of the craft, and sparks still leapt from its stricken form. Looking down he found a light brown stone slope. Getting up he saw that the others were already awake and were clustered around the sub.
"So, he finally wakes up," mumbled Knuckles, who was reading a scroll from the box of documents beside him. That thing always seemed to survive the most deadly situations. Wait.
Suddenly it hit Sonic.
"How did we survive?" he asked Porker. The pig nodded and pointed to a small hole in the side of the wrecked sub.
"That was actually down to luck. A small Nebulae tore a hole in the fuel tank while we were going down. The fuel leaked out before we hit. Plus, the sub tore a hole in the side of the Island, which cleared the way for us. So, we were lucky." Sonic nodded.
"Wait," he said. "You mean there's a hole in the Floating island?" He looked back to see a gaping hole in the wall behind. Water was gushing in, and already small fish had entered the area. "Where are we anyway?"
Knuckles smiled. "Don't you recognise HydroCity Sonic?" he smirked. Looking at Sonic's face he answered his question from before. "Don't worry. The ancient Echidnas just for this sort of situation built HydroCity. The entire island was once actually in the ocean after all, so they needed a draining system when they started making it their stronghold. It was only when it entered the sky that it assumed its current form as a water recycling plant."
Sonic sighed and walked to the water's edge, fishing out a small chunk of melted metal from the sub's remains. "But what does that have to do with us?"
Knuckles smiled triumphantly. "Well, as this was an important part of the Floating Island, it obviously had passages connecting it to the Island's hub. And, it also has a passage leading to the Lava Reef volcano and ultimately, the Emerald Chamber," he finished. Turning he walked over to a nearby wall and placed his hand on it. Light streamed over the complicated sculptures that were attached to the wall, and there was a rumbling from deep within the island. Slowly, a large rectangular section of the wall began to slide back into itself, revealing a spacious passageway through the wall. Gesturing for his friends to follow him, Knuckles stepped into the passageway and began to walk down its length. Porker sighed and hefted up the Emerald Containers, following through the doorway. Slowly the party picked up their belongings and followed the two. Sonic stayed for a moment and looked back towards the water's edge. Already the water had made it up the slope and was creeping along the flat polished marble towards him. Frowning, Sonic turned and ran into the passage.
Eventually the five companions exited the passageway. Sonic was one of the first to leave, and he recoiled at the sudden rise in temperature. It was boiling. Sweat streaming down his forehead as he realised they were on a ledge, seemingly carved out of the living rock, of which the chamber was made. Basalt by the looks of it. Basalt which glowed with a ghostly red light. Creeping to he edge of the ledge, Sonic peered over into the active crater of the Lava Reef volcano.
Knuckles pulled him back from the edge quickly and walked over to a door fashioned into the cliff-face. "I trust you remember this Sonic?" he called out, before pushing the door open. Sonic did. It had been the entrance Knuckles had used to access the old Emerald Chamber, back at the time of the Death egg incident. Following that little conflict, Knuckles had moved the Emerald from the Hidden Palace to the current Emerald Chamber.
Entering, Sonic was hit by a musty smell of rotting parchment. Knuckles wrinkled his nose and crawled through the cobwebs towards a small doorway, new in comparison to the rest of the chamber. Pushing it open he paused and turned to Sonic. Walking past the hedgehog he punched a hole in the wall, letting daylight stream through.
"Why don't you wait outside Sonic," he asked. "The surge of Chaos energy will be massive when we returned these Emeralds. We don't want you turning into Super Sonic, especially without Ebony or the Omni Viewer around." Sonic nodded in understanding and climbed through, marvelling at the shimmering wall of energy high above him keeping out the salty waters of the ocean. Smiling he rushed off, eager to stretch his legs.
After Sonic had gone far enough away, Knuckles turned to the remaining four and entered the new door. Emerging into the Emerald Chamber, Knuckles placed his burden down and ran to the consoles lining the room, pushing buttons and pulling levers.
"Right guys, I need your full concentration," he shouted back. "Take out the Blue, Purple and Red Emeralds." Waiting until they had done so, he pulled three of the levers on the console before him. Light shot from the round pit in the middle of the floor, connecting with the ceiling to form a column of energy. "Now, put these Emeralds into the energy stream."
Sonic laughed as he traced a path through the grassy plains of the Island, running up cliffs and leaping through trees. Pausing under a large oak he sat down and leant again the behemoth. He could wait here until the others were finished. Smiling, he nodded off.
He was awoken by the sound of a twig snapping in the undergrowth nearby. Spinning upright he looked around for the hidden foe. A Badnik? How could a Badnik have got down here? He turned as he heard a scraping noise behind him, and was hurled to the ground by his unseen attacker. He watched as a tomahawk rose above him, and fell.
Then he saw no more.
Knuckles paused and turned to watch as the Master Emerald slid into the energy stream, slowly spiralling upwards to take its place in the middle of the rest. Slowly, they each began to pulse, and a multicoloured band of light began to move from them both up the column and down it. Slowly the Island began to rumble, and the hiss of propulsion systems could be heard. Bringing up a screen, Knuckles was just in time to see the Floating Island emerge from the ocean, and ascend to its place in the heavens.
Knuckles began to laugh, and felt years of stress and anxiety slide off him. He was brought back to reality by a shout of surprise, and turned to see his companions wrestling in the iron grip of four shadowy, yet familiar figures. Slowly, one advanced on the surprised Echidna and extended its hand. Knuckles gasped as the figure came into the light.
"Hello Knuckles," said Pochacamac.
Small chunks of vibrantly coloured coral drifted into and out of the lights. Small shoals of Nebulae; the living creature that the Orbinaut Badnik Series had been based off; drifted past, thin lines of flesh connecting their huge spiked appendages to the small round bodies of the animals. Every so often the seafloor would be exposed and titanic Angler Fish crept through the circles of light piercing the darkness. Every so often the seafloor would disappear under them, and there would be a moment of confusion as Porker attempted to relocate the seafloor. Turning back towards the drops revealed a sheer cliff face pitted with cracks and craters. Then Porker would turn the sub and the monotonous journey would continue.
Every so often something would pop up to relieve the monotony: a colony of stromatolites, an underwater volcano spewing out smoke, a sparkling crystal bed. Then the sights would disappear into the gloom and the boredom would return.
Eventually, after what seemed like ages, Knuckles shouted for attention, pointing at something on the seafloor. There, clear as day, lay the severed head of one of the Floating Island's Guardian Robots, lying slowly rusting in the sand. Immediately afterwards the seafloor dropped away sharply and Porker brought the sub into a nosedive, turning the lights up to full.
There, illuminated in the darkness, lay the Floating Island. A shimmering sphere of energy surrounded the Island, distorting the view of the lush green forests and deep blue lakes. Damage seemed to be minimal, and the dome of energy seemed to be keeping the Island nice and dry. Sonic whistled and turned to Knuckles.
"Well old buddy, there it is. Looks like this trip was worth it after all." He frowned when there was no response. "Knuckles?"
The echidna jerked as if returning from a trance and looked over at Sonic. "Oh, yeah," he mumbled, then turned back to the window. Sonic frowned.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me the 'mighty Guardian of the Floating Island' is overcome with emotion." Knuckles laughed then turned to the hedgehog again.
"No, no. I'm just wondering how the Energy Shield is still working. The shields would have had some stored Chaos energy in them when the Island had hit the sea, but surely not enough to last it for two years." He turned back to the window.
Before Sonic could agree, there was a horrible snapping sound and the sub lurched, throwing its passengers against the walls. Their suits cushioned the impact, but the force had still been enough to hurt them. As the sub righted itself Porker dashed out of the cockpit holding one of the Chaos Emerald boxes under his arm.
"Everyone, abandon ship!" he yelled. Immediately Tails and Knuckles rushed for the remaining Chaos Emeralds, while Porker explained. "It looks like Claw's attack did more damage than I thought. The pressure's become too much and one of the damaged areas has given way. Water's flooding the engines and we're heading straight towards the Floating Island's side." Seeing his companion's questioning expressions he answered their most pressing concern. "Don't worry, the suits will protect you from the pressure. Now go!" he yelled, thrusting Sonic and Amy into the airlock and jettisoning it. As Knuckles and Tails appeared they entered the airlock and vanished as well. After taking one last look around the sub, Porker followed.
There was a rush, a whistling sound, and then Sonic found himself buffeted by the currents in the deep ocean. Looking around frantically he noticed his companions nearby. Amy was drifting towards the Island, Knuckles had the Emerald box strapped to his back and Porker was just exiting the stricken sub. As Sonic was about to breathe a sigh of relief he noticed Tails ahead of him, struggling to swim away. Sonic was puzzled and looked back at the sub. Suddenly, a huge force thrust him towards the sub along with Tails, who had finally given up from exhaustion. Trying to swim away, Sonic was horrified to find that he couldn't. As Porker, Knuckles and Amy followed Sonic realised what it was. The current made by the sub's movements was dragging them along with it. Looking around for something to grab onto he was again horrified. They were swimming in the middle of nowhere. The nearest solid ground seemed miles away, and slowly disappeared out of reach as the sub dragged them down into the murky depths. Sonic turned to look at the sub, and swore again. The side of the Island loomed ahead of them, the current dragging them in towards the sub as it began its death dive. The explosion would kill them. Just after Sonic realised this, Amy collided with him and the two blacked out.
There was a terrible crashing and smashing noise, a bright flash, then nothing.
Sonic woke up to the feeling of hard stone, and water lapping around his ankles. Slowly he opened his eyes and took stock of his surroundings. Beside him he could make out the mangled wreckage of their sub. The cockpit had been forced back into the storage areas at the rear of the craft, and sparks still leapt from its stricken form. Looking down he found a light brown stone slope. Getting up he saw that the others were already awake and were clustered around the sub.
"So, he finally wakes up," mumbled Knuckles, who was reading a scroll from the box of documents beside him. That thing always seemed to survive the most deadly situations. Wait.
Suddenly it hit Sonic.
"How did we survive?" he asked Porker. The pig nodded and pointed to a small hole in the side of the wrecked sub.
"That was actually down to luck. A small Nebulae tore a hole in the fuel tank while we were going down. The fuel leaked out before we hit. Plus, the sub tore a hole in the side of the Island, which cleared the way for us. So, we were lucky." Sonic nodded.
"Wait," he said. "You mean there's a hole in the Floating island?" He looked back to see a gaping hole in the wall behind. Water was gushing in, and already small fish had entered the area. "Where are we anyway?"
Knuckles smiled. "Don't you recognise HydroCity Sonic?" he smirked. Looking at Sonic's face he answered his question from before. "Don't worry. The ancient Echidnas just for this sort of situation built HydroCity. The entire island was once actually in the ocean after all, so they needed a draining system when they started making it their stronghold. It was only when it entered the sky that it assumed its current form as a water recycling plant."
Sonic sighed and walked to the water's edge, fishing out a small chunk of melted metal from the sub's remains. "But what does that have to do with us?"
Knuckles smiled triumphantly. "Well, as this was an important part of the Floating Island, it obviously had passages connecting it to the Island's hub. And, it also has a passage leading to the Lava Reef volcano and ultimately, the Emerald Chamber," he finished. Turning he walked over to a nearby wall and placed his hand on it. Light streamed over the complicated sculptures that were attached to the wall, and there was a rumbling from deep within the island. Slowly, a large rectangular section of the wall began to slide back into itself, revealing a spacious passageway through the wall. Gesturing for his friends to follow him, Knuckles stepped into the passageway and began to walk down its length. Porker sighed and hefted up the Emerald Containers, following through the doorway. Slowly the party picked up their belongings and followed the two. Sonic stayed for a moment and looked back towards the water's edge. Already the water had made it up the slope and was creeping along the flat polished marble towards him. Frowning, Sonic turned and ran into the passage.
Eventually the five companions exited the passageway. Sonic was one of the first to leave, and he recoiled at the sudden rise in temperature. It was boiling. Sweat streaming down his forehead as he realised they were on a ledge, seemingly carved out of the living rock, of which the chamber was made. Basalt by the looks of it. Basalt which glowed with a ghostly red light. Creeping to he edge of the ledge, Sonic peered over into the active crater of the Lava Reef volcano.
Knuckles pulled him back from the edge quickly and walked over to a door fashioned into the cliff-face. "I trust you remember this Sonic?" he called out, before pushing the door open. Sonic did. It had been the entrance Knuckles had used to access the old Emerald Chamber, back at the time of the Death egg incident. Following that little conflict, Knuckles had moved the Emerald from the Hidden Palace to the current Emerald Chamber.
Entering, Sonic was hit by a musty smell of rotting parchment. Knuckles wrinkled his nose and crawled through the cobwebs towards a small doorway, new in comparison to the rest of the chamber. Pushing it open he paused and turned to Sonic. Walking past the hedgehog he punched a hole in the wall, letting daylight stream through.
"Why don't you wait outside Sonic," he asked. "The surge of Chaos energy will be massive when we returned these Emeralds. We don't want you turning into Super Sonic, especially without Ebony or the Omni Viewer around." Sonic nodded in understanding and climbed through, marvelling at the shimmering wall of energy high above him keeping out the salty waters of the ocean. Smiling he rushed off, eager to stretch his legs.
After Sonic had gone far enough away, Knuckles turned to the remaining four and entered the new door. Emerging into the Emerald Chamber, Knuckles placed his burden down and ran to the consoles lining the room, pushing buttons and pulling levers.
"Right guys, I need your full concentration," he shouted back. "Take out the Blue, Purple and Red Emeralds." Waiting until they had done so, he pulled three of the levers on the console before him. Light shot from the round pit in the middle of the floor, connecting with the ceiling to form a column of energy. "Now, put these Emeralds into the energy stream."
Sonic laughed as he traced a path through the grassy plains of the Island, running up cliffs and leaping through trees. Pausing under a large oak he sat down and leant again the behemoth. He could wait here until the others were finished. Smiling, he nodded off.
He was awoken by the sound of a twig snapping in the undergrowth nearby. Spinning upright he looked around for the hidden foe. A Badnik? How could a Badnik have got down here? He turned as he heard a scraping noise behind him, and was hurled to the ground by his unseen attacker. He watched as a tomahawk rose above him, and fell.
Then he saw no more.
Knuckles paused and turned to watch as the Master Emerald slid into the energy stream, slowly spiralling upwards to take its place in the middle of the rest. Slowly, they each began to pulse, and a multicoloured band of light began to move from them both up the column and down it. Slowly the Island began to rumble, and the hiss of propulsion systems could be heard. Bringing up a screen, Knuckles was just in time to see the Floating Island emerge from the ocean, and ascend to its place in the heavens.
Knuckles began to laugh, and felt years of stress and anxiety slide off him. He was brought back to reality by a shout of surprise, and turned to see his companions wrestling in the iron grip of four shadowy, yet familiar figures. Slowly, one advanced on the surprised Echidna and extended its hand. Knuckles gasped as the figure came into the light.
"Hello Knuckles," said Pochacamac.