Knuckles was getting a little tired when he finally caught up with Sonic, he was exhausted. Knuckles was built for strength, not high speed, long distance running. Sonic only stopped when he had reached the Shrine of the Master Emerald. The shrine was in a small clearing in a forest. The Master Emerald shone brilliantly, a huge, green gem. It was about four feet high, and 4 feet wide. Sonic looked around it though, and saw something that was not quite right. Around the master emerald were seven gray, gem shaped stones. Sonic gasped, those where supposed to be just as brilliant as the Master Emerald, instead the Super Emeralds were dull and dark. Knuckles finally arrived, panting, and said, "Sonic, some huge disturbance must of happened, nothing else, save for the Master Emerald, can cause the Super Emeralds to shut off."
A new voice spoke, mystic and old, "That is true, and I know which power was disturbed." Sonic looked around and said with puzzlement, "I know that voice, I heard it a long time ago." While Sonic was looking around he spotted Tails and the others approaching. "There has been a large surge of the ring energy on the planet," The strange voice continued. It suddenly dawned on Sonic who was talking; he smiled and said softly, "Tikal."
Between Sonic and the emerald a shape was forming, fading in. It took the shape of a tan colored Echidna. After she appeared she remained transparent. Knuckles said with a crocked smile, "Tikal, I'm not surprised you're here. You're the original of our race to be a guardian." Tikal's transparent head nodded, "I have been dead for thousands of years, but the trouble from the Emerald calls me like it was yesterday."
Knuckles himself nodded, "If you weren't dead Tikal the easy way to restore the emeralds would be open. But as such, we are one short." Tails ventured a question, "What can be done then?" Knuckles was deep in thought. Finally he ventured to speak, "For now there is only one option, we must hope that the Master Emerald can restore the super emeralds." "Its our only chance!" Tikal exclaimed. "Everyone get back, away from all the emeralds," Knuckles said in a very stern voice. Knuckles walked up to the Master Emerald, the ghost of Tikal standing on the opposite side. Knuckles held his hands up, facing the emerald.
Knuckles eye's closed as his hands stayed up, as if he were lifting something. Eyes still closed he began to speak, his voice both soft and loud, gentle and stern, a sort of mystic quality was in it. "Since the dawn of time the balance has stayed. For eons there has been no disturbance. The eternal balance has ended. The energy of the rings now dominates the emeralds. The end of everything will follow. The balance must be restored, all life off this island depends on it." Knuckles eyes opened and the emerald started pulsing. Green light intensified and dimmed at an increasing pace. "The emeralds of power are now inactive. Eternity rides on the balance. Now you, the emerald controller, must use your power to restore the emeralds." Then in a gentle voice he said, "Go."
The great pulsing action speeded into a constant shine. A bright green wave of light started from the bottom and proceeded up the outside of the emerald. It continued up the emerald until it collected on the top. The sky darkened. Then from the whole of the top of the emerald came a great beam of green light. The beam sot up into the sky far above them. About a mile above their heads the beam splintered into seven rays. Those rays came down and stuck each of the stone gray Super Emeralds. The effect to one far away was a giant, green water fountain. Sonic and Knuckles looked around at the super emeralds hopefully. There was a pulse of light from each of them. Knuckles face broke into a hopeful smile.
The super emerald he was looking at had a faint red color appearing. Then the color abruptly vanished. Even under the full power of the Master Emerald the super emeralds would not reactivate. A vein on Knuckles's head throbbed as he frowned. "It ain't working," he growled. In frustration he punch the Master Emerald. Beam still shooting, the emerald rotated. The beam lowered and struck the ghost of Tikal. Somehow or another, it hit! Tikal screamed.
Everyone looked in shock; a ghost was filled with pain! The force of the beam threw Tikal off the shrine. The beam still followed. Tikal's ghost was lying on the ground, face down. Knuckles finally pulled himself together and shouted to the Master Emerald in a desperate tone, "Emerald! STOP!" The beam faded out, but a bright glow still surrounded Tikal. Sonic ran over to Tikal and Amy gasped. The glow started to fade. As the glow faded Tikal became less transparent. When the glow faded, no one could not see through her at all. Tikal lifted her head, "That was a very painful experience." Then she gave a start as she realized something.
"What in the world!? I can feel!" Tikal exclaimed. She stood up slowly, and on her knees was some dirt. Looking very surprised she stared at the many eyes of everyone except Knuckles. Knuckles was looking at the Master Emerald. "Hmm," he said, "there have been stories of the Master Emeralds full power being able to restore life. But I've never seen it happen before. And it is not recommended to do it." "I can tell you that," Tikal said, picking herself up. She swayed on her feet. A hand clutched her forehead, "The pain for the one being restored is intense, usually the pain will kill them again. I think I'll live though." She collapsed back onto the ground, dizzy, but alive. Tails helped her up. "Come on Tikal, let's get you somewhere you can rest." They traveled back to the city, all except Knuckles. Sonic called back to him, "Hey Knucklehead, you coming?"
Knuckles seated himself on the Master Emerald, "Go on without me, I got a job to do." Sonic shrugged and ran to catch up with the others. They went into one of the houses in the city, and laid Tikal in a bed. Amy stayed with her while Sonic and the others went to what had to be the dinning room. They sat around the big table in there. Ashura spoke first, "The question is, what are we going to do now? We can't restore those super emeralds until Sonia gets here. If she gets here. We are still one short."
Tails eyes lit up, "Wait a second, we do have enough people." Three pairs of eyes stared at him. "Tikal, she can help us." Tails finished. Sonic looked thoughtful for a minute, then he spoke, "The question is, is Tikal strong enough to help. Either way I'm going to talk to Knuckles." Sonic left the room and ran off towards the shrine.
In the evening Sonic hadn't returned. Tikal had woke once and nearly fell over. Now she was back in bedm awake and dizzily in pain. The effects of being restored by the emerald were being made real to her. Amy stayed with Tikal and helped her. Tails had brought the Cyclone next to house and had been working on it most of the day. Ashura and Manic had gotten a tennis game going using the sofa as a net. Both of them wonder if Sonia and Tikal would be ok.
Night fell on the floating island with storms below raging. The doors and windows in the house were left open when Tails turned out the lights. A cool breeze was flowing through the house when he went to sleep. Tikal was asleep again and Amy had fallen asleep in a chair nearby. Ashura and Manic quit there game and curled up on the couch. Tails climbed into a bed in another room and slept all night.
As Tails was going out he was wondering what that large object had been. It had looked like Metal Sonic, one of Eggman's robots. A thought slowly occurred to him as he fell asleep, Eggman must be back.