Chapter 21 Island in the Sky (Mobian Year: 1388)
On a small island-continent in the far south, the most advanced of races lived. Echidnas had been an inhabitant of Mobius since as far back as anyone could tell. Having designed and built flying vehicles and skyscrapers far before Robotnik had arrived on the planet, the echidna civilization lived in total peace with all other beings of the planet.
Towering over the capital of Downunda, a single observatory reached beyond the clouds. High up in the observatory, a young echidna couple were busy charting the stars with the aid of the people's most powerful telescope.
"Two more degrees and we'll have charted the entire Alpha quadrant!" The head of the observatory said to his wife, who was busy plotting where they had already looked.
"All these years to learn space is a whole lot of nothing. Wish we'd discovered something spectacular!" She said, not looking up from her charts.
"Be careful what you wish for... you just might get it. Or even worse, it might get us." Her husband exclaimed holding her shoulders. Quickly snapping a picture of what they had found, they rushed down through the observatory to the prestigious Hall of Learning where a dire announcement was made.
"Citizens... members of the scientific elite. According to our calculations, Echidnapolis is doomed! Within a month, possible only a week, this great white comet will come crashing down upon us!" She quickly explained pointing to the picture they had taken of the comet. Out in the audience, a little girl spoke up,
"Can anything be done?"
"Perhaps. I have a daring plan..." The astronomer's wife answered before launching into her idea to save the population. When she was finished, the populace of Echidnapolis filed out of the city intent not on evacuation, but excavation. Together, they scoured the countryside in search of the rarest of commodities. They were searching for Chaos Emeralds, the most potent and most rare form of energy on the planet.
As they worked and worked, the threat loomed large over the head of each and every echidna; both the tall and the small. As the comet neared the city, a dozen of the largest and most flawless emeralds that they found were delivered and then placed within the cavern underneath the city.
"If I'm right, the energy from the emeralds should resonate throughout the city's infrastructure severing the gravimetric lines of force." Turning, she watched the emeralds glow and shimmer as the energies poured through the cavern and broke the city free from its ties with gravity. As the city rose up, the comet came crashing down right next to them.
"That was almost the end!"
"But, thanks to you m'love... it wasn't! Our world is safe... for the next generation."
"Funny... even though we're taking it with us, I feel as though we're leaving home."
Many generations had passed in the years since the island escaped the grip of gravity. During that time, the echidnas learned to adapt, though many yearned for the planet and the days of society's youth.
"Finally! Thought we'd never get clear of that underbrush!" Dimitri said, swinging a machete to cut through the bushes and saplings that had grown over what they were looking for.
"There it is, Dimitri, directly ahead of us… the zoot chute! And through it, easy access to our most secret of places!" Dimitri stated as he pulled open the chute. Climbing into it, he and his brother slid down into what was below it.
"The chaos chamber… and the emeralds that lay within! Our great-great grandmother was the supreme technologist of her era… she knew these crystalline walls would enable the chaos emeralds to negate the force of gravity… and lift Echidnapolis to lofty heights!" Dimitri's brother said, checking the emeralds with some computerized instruments.
"Agreed, brother Edmund. But should we succeed in this venture, our names will be held in even greater esteem!" Looking from his brother to the instrument he held in his hands. "Uncanny! After all this time, the gems' energy output remains constant! Surely these twelve chaos emeralds hold within them the key to limitless self-perpetuating power!" Dimitri exclaimed, reading the readings on the instrument.
"Perhaps, Dimitri… but you mustn't lose sight of our goal; the liberation of our displaced race! Since the coming of the great white comet, echidna science has strived to regulate the effect of the emeralds; that we might again become one with the land! Or have you forgotten… our presentation is today." Edmund reminded his brother. Dimitri began putting away his instruments in the bag he had.
"My apologies, Edmund… I've already collected the readings we need. I was merely… lost in thought." They climbed back out of the chaos chamber and walked to the Hall Of Learning where history stood poised to repeat itself, although with several twists and turns. The hall was filled to capacity with most everyone from the city.
"Citizens! Members of the scientific elite! Behold… the chaos syphon! As you are aware, removing the emeralds would cause our island to drop like a stone. Instead, my brother and I intend to train this device upon them… gradually absorbing their energies until Echidnapolis is once again joined with the land." Edmund explained to the congregation, while pointing to the appropriate display. His brother Dimitri came over to him.
"Well spoken, brother! Our proposal is elegant in its simplicity! The elite will have no choice but to…" The Magistrate interrupted Dimitri,
"… Deny the petition!" The Chief Magistrate spoke as he banged his gavel.
"What? Chief Magistrate… you can't!"
"Hush, brother… hear him out!"
"Despite your conclusions, we dare not risk the safety of the populace on untried theories! Such tampering with the forces of nature could prove disastrous… the decision stands!" The Magistrate explained, rapping his gavel again. Dimitri turned on his heel and stormed out the door of the hall,
"Weak-willed fools! You'll be sorry once the facts have proven me right!"
"By your leave, Chief Magistrate. He's taken this badly! We'd pinned our hopes and dreams on… the chaos syphon." Edmund said as he walked towards the labs where he saw Dimitri headed. The chaos syphon had been standing inside a glass tube locked with a digital combination lock, which only Dimitri and Edmund knew what the combination was. "It's gone! 'Once the facts have proven me right!' I knew he was headstrong, but this…" Edmund said to himself as he walked to the zoot chute where he knew his brother was. He slid down the chute as he had done earlier that day and arrived in the chamber.
"In the name of reason!" He shouted at his brother as he arrived at the bottom of the chute. Dimitri stood amidst the twelve emeralds operating the syphon that he had planned to use on the emeralds with the Magistrate's permission.
"Reason? Reason had its day, brother!" He said, momentarily pausing the siphoning process. Starting the syphon again, Dimitri went back to draining the power from the emeralds.
"And, what has begun…" As he continued the process, the alarms on the syphon started going off, "cannot be undone!" He stood there shaking his fists at the ceiling as the syphon began cracking. All at once, the syphon exploded, the concussion wave knocking Edmund against the wall. Hearing the explosion, the Magistrate and one of his assistants came running to the chamber.
"Edmund! Are you alright?" The Magistrate asked, helping Edmund up.
"I think so, Chief Magistrate. But, Dimitri upped the absorption rate past the syphon's tolerance level! He… he never had a chance!"
"Neither did these gems." The Magistrate said, looking down at where the emeralds rested.
"Nothing but charred, blackened husks!" Edmund observed, kicking at a piece of broken emerald.
"Then… why aren't we falling?" The Magistrate's assistant asked.
"There's your answer! The last of the chaos emeralds!" The Magistrate said, pointing to the last remaining emerald.
"But… can only one uphold the entire island?" Edmund asked. Behind him, a green glow appeared from nowhere.
"Of course! It's power is infinite!" The green glow spoke, its voice echoing through the chamber.
"Dimitri?" Edmund asked, turning to look at the being.
"Far more O once and former kin! The energies of eleven shattered chaos emeralds howl within me! Power enough to lay worlds to waste! Or re-fashion them… in my own image!" As Dimitri spoke, the green glow around him seeming to pulsate and the ground began to shake violently.
As he spoke, the ground twisted and heaved. After a few moments, a massive dark tower erupted from the planet's surface. The shadow of what would become Mount Fate spread across the land, heralding the fall of echidna civilization. Edmund, the Chief Magistrate, and his assistant were thrown against the walls of the chamber and knocked unconscious.
When they awoke, they were shackled to the walls of Mount Fate.
"So… you awaken! Good… that is as it should be! Conquering a world is scarcely worth the effort without those who dared thwart my will in attendance! The elite deemed the chaos syphon too dangerous, but the facts have proven me right! Our island endures and through a bizarre twist of fate, infinite energy is mine to command!" What had once been Dimitri spoke, his voice echoing through the mountain.
"Your ego has betrayed us, Dimitri! You're not the brother I knew!" Edmund shouted down to his brother from where he was shackled.
"Correct, Edmund. I am far, far more! Immortal, eternal, a living chaos emerald and the mightiest echidna in the universe!" The glowing echidna said.
"Your brother is mad with power… for the good of all, he must be stopped!" Chief Magistrate said, more to Edmund than anyone else.
"Mad? Men always think their superiors mad! But, it's too late to stop me, for the deed is done. Already, Echidnapolis has fallen. A subtle re-programming of our mecha-nauts command code has bent them, and through them, the citizenry to my will! And, once sails have been mounted atop the city's highest towers… the isle, like some great ship, shall traverse the globe… bringing 'enlightenment' to the dwellers below. Only this fortress, which has been strengthened with a fraction of my limitless power, can resist my staggering might! It's walls are proof against any attack!" Dimitri said, throwing a ball of his energy at the wall next to Edmund.
"Except… fire ants?" Edmund looked next to him where Dimitri hit the wall, it crumbled under his might, letting a group of fire ants through. The ants chewed their way through the walls that held Edmund and the other prisoners.
"We're free!" Edmund almost cheered as he and the others pulled at the shackles and broke free.
"The ants have eaten into the towers foundation! It's collapsing!" Chief Magistrate shouted as the tower began collapsing, chunks of stone falling from the ceiling all around them.
"Quickly, brother… we must escape before…" Edmund pleaded with his brother.
"This cannot be… phenomenal power bested by…" Dimitri was crushed under the falling avalanche of rocks.
"Dimitri!" Edmund shouted over the noise. "Brother… I'm sorry!" He said quieter. They ran from the tower as it imploded on itself in a cloud of dust and debris. Once the dust and debris cleared, they all gathered around the remains of the tower.
"'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider his ways, and be wise.' It seems we owe our very future to the humblest of God's creatures." Chief Magistrate quoted from an ancient echidna text.
"My brother… nothing could spare him from his fate! Nothing… and no one." Edmund quietly said.
"A tragedy, Edmund… all the more, should we fail to learn from it. By placing trust in science, our race has committed an act of hubris… arrogant pride… and innocence has paid the price. We must make amends as best we are able." The Chief Magistrate said as he removed his judicial wig and robe. In the shadow of the fateful mountain, the echidnas renounced technology, tore down their city, and to ensure history not repeat itself, they appointed a guardian to stand watch over the chaos emerald. Edmund was the first to bear that mantle, a sacred trust passed on generation to generation.
Though the echidnas were filled with remorse, they could not bring themselves to deny society's achievements. They gathered together examples of their advanced culture and hauled them across the island and buried them in a vast underground city beneath Mount Fate. Edmund was the first of the Knuckles Clan to stand watch over the emerald and throughout the centuries, his children, and his children's children stood watch over the emerald, never leaving the island in case someone would try to steal the emerald.
Since the rise of Robotropolis, the youngest of the Knuckles clan, appropriately named Knuckles, saw the fall of Acorn Kingdom and the overnight rise of Robotropolis. Ever since then, Knuckles had stayed close to the emerald for fear of its safety. Having never left the island, he did not know what all had happened to Kingdom Acorn. He just knew that a new city had sprung up where the castle used to be. With no clue as to what happened to the King and his family and no idea what this new city was doing there, Knuckles slept nervously every night in case someone tried to get to the emerald.
(End of Chapter 21)