"We have to find out for certain!" The fox all but shouted, flicking his tails in such agitation that he was close to rising off the ground where he stood. "They could be caught or injured somewhere or..." He cast about for some other calamity short of death, and then deflated and settled for, "We have to find out, that's all."
"I don't disagree, Tails." Amy was maintaining her own calm with difficulty. "But we can't just waltz in to Robotnik's fortress without a plan."
Tails waved a hand dismissively. "I told you, I saw it, it was dead quiet. There--" He screwed up his face at realising what he'd said and faltered.
Amy leaned forward to squeeze his shoulder. "We'd have heard if they were dead, Tails." She bit her lip uncertainly. "We would."
She shook her head briskly. "Anyway, we should check the Floating island first."
"Amy--" Tails started to protest, still eager to go direct to what he saw as the source of the trouble.
"Robotnik's experiment was using the Emeralds he'd captured, right?" Amy reasoned aloud. "They may have needed the support of the Master Emerald to stop it. And if there was--" she hesitated, "--a problem, that's where they'd fall back to. It's more defensible, and it wouldn't risk leading Robotnik here."
Tails nodded, unable to argue with that logic though his reluctance was obvious, he clearly didn't expect to find anything on the Island.
They ran outside to where the Tornado sat on the grass.
Tails was silent during the flight up to the Island, though he leaned forward slightly in his seat, as though urging the aircraft on. Amy stared at his back and tried not to speculate about what they would find. She had another reason for coming here. One she hadn't voiced to Tails. Would Knuckles have come to them if anything had happened to Sonic? Would he not consider securing the Emeralds more important than involving anyone else or dealing with the emotional entanglements of breaking such news? She suspected so, but it seemed such a cold attitude that she hadn't mentioned it.
The Island looked as empty as ever as Tails set down gently on the grass. No watchful echidna descended on them from the clifftops or dashed up from one of the tunnels that riddled the place.
Knuckles' absence had Amy convinced within minutes that he wasn't here. He'd always seemed to have a sort of sixth sense for when people arrived on the Island.
"I don't think they're here," she said.
Tails looked at her quizzically, "Well we're here now. We should check, they could be underground, or in the Emerald Chamber."
"Alright," Amy allowed. That made sense after all. If the Floating Island was the fallback position the Master Emerald Chamber itself had to be the fallback of the fallback.
"Can you remember the way?" she asked.
"Ye-es," Tails said hesitantly, "But I've only ever been there with Knuckles, except that first time with Sonic. There's kind of a lot of stuff Knuckles knows how to work that he never showed us. Some of the security stuff is pretty dangerous, we only just made it on our own. If he's really not here--"
"We'll manage." Amy tried to sound confident. "Like you said, we're here now. We may as well check."
Tails shrugged. "Alright. Robotnik's fortress might have been the safer option though." He shivered suddenly. "Is it colder than usual?"
Amy looked around. "I didn't think the weather changed here."
A chilly wind swept down from the volcanic hills ahead.
Tails shrugged off the weather and pointed. "There's caves in the hills that lead down to the tunnels."
A deep chasm separated the gently sloping grass where they'd landed from the foothills. A rock bridge spanned it, the boulder-sized stones apparently floating unsuspended in the air.
"I don't like that look of that," Amy said.
"Well the whole Island floats, after all," Tails said, uncertainly. "No reason a little bridge shouldn't."
"Easy for you to say," Amy muttered. "Some of us can't fly if it all falls down."
She ventured a foot onto it as she spoke. Then stepped out a few paces, staying within grabbing distance of the edge. Tails didn't even attempt it, instead hopping into the air and hovering nervously alongside Amy as she walked cautiously out.
"Should I carry you?"
"Actually I think it's--" Abruptly the rocks tumbled away. Tails dived and grabbed both Amy's wrists before she could even cry out.
"On second thoughts, yes, I think you better had," she gasped. She twisted to look over her shoulder where, behind them, the boulders were slowly floating back to their original positions.
Tails lowered her back to solid ground and let go. She sighed with relief and rubbed her wrists. "No wonder Knuckles doesn't get many visitors."
Tails smiled but it turned into a frown as he headed towards the partially concealed cave entrance. Heat wafted out, a sharp contrast with the cold breeze. Amy wrinkled her nose at the sulphurous smell, and this time it was Tails who stepped forward first. He grabbed a branch of the stunted tree which half hid the mouth of the cave and snapped off a good length. Then he stepped inside.
He led the way through the twisty tunnels, albeit hesitantly, stopping frequently to peer down one turning or another or to probe the ground ahead with his stick.
The first time this caution triggered a dart to hurtle from the wall, they both jumped, then giggled at their own reaction, like kids in a haunted house. The danger didn't seem quite real.
That was, until the ground gave way under them.
Even Tails fell this time, twisting in the air in an attempt to catch his balance enough to fly. Before he managed it they both hit a flight of steps below.
"Ow," Tails managed, indistinctly.
"Ow," Amy agreed, picking herself up. "What a place to call home." She looked up at the hole through which they'd fallen, then along the passageway ahead. "So do we try to get back up or go on from here?"
"Back up I think," Tails said. "I haven't been down here before. That didn't happen last time I was here." He touched the walls curiously. They were oddly smooth, and when Amy reached out a hand to see what had caught his attention she found them warm.
"It must be cooled lava," Tails said. "I wonder--"
Something rumbled from above and a sudden hot air flow made the sulphurous smell stronger.
"--how it got like that?" Amy grabbed his arm. "Run!"
Tails shot one glance at the red glow now coming from the hole and broke into a sprint. Seconds after they started running a torrent of magma flooded through the hole.
They hurtled down the passageway, grateful for the slight slope which slowed the flow and kept them just ahead of it. After a breathless few seconds, they reached another flight of steps, this one leading upwards and bounded to the top.
"It's not rising any further." Tails said, watching it while he caught his breath.
In fact the lava was already starting to ebb away.
"Maybe another hole opened," Amy speculated.
Tails looked alarmed. "Well I'm glad it waited until we were past!"
The two of them looked around. Now the lava level had dropped, the area where they stood was noticeably cooler than it had been since they'd entered the tunnels.
"I think we're close," Tails said. "I remember the Emerald Chamber being the other side of the active part of the volcano."
The steps continued upwards and they were breathless again by the time they reached the top. No further traps or wards hindered them though and from the tunnel ahead a watery green glow was visible.
Amy caught her breath as they entered. She hadn't been admitted here before and hadn't been prepared for the size of it. The Emerald sat in the centre of the room, slightly raised on a dais of sorts, and the light from it filled the whole chamber, pulsing gently.
Tails though shook his head. "That's not right. It was brighter than that before. It looks..." he paced around it. "I don't know--sort of washed out."
Amy drew her eyes away from the gem. "Are you sure? It looks pretty bright to me."
"I'm sure." Tails nodded. "Something's wrong."
He walked around the room, peering into corners as if he somehow expected to find Knuckles there after all.
"He's not here," Amy said, watching him. "We wouldn't have got this far without him finding us if he was."
Tails visibly wilted. "I know," he said. "I didn't really expect them to be. It's just, after you said, I sort of hoped..."
Amy cast a last quick look around. "So we go with your idea, and check out the fortress," she said, trying to sound as positive as possible at that prospect. "I suppose going out will be easier than coming in at least." She looked back at the passage to the stairs. "I hope."
Tails grinned. "Oh, much!" he said. "Look."
He darted across to a carving in the wall and made to push at it. Before his fingertips had even touched the stone it slid aside, revealing daylight beyond.
Amy followed him out into the sunshine. "You couldn't have taken us this way in the first place?" she asked quizzically.
Tails shook his head. "Look."
Amy turned back. The doorway, or what had been the doorway, was now distinguishable from the rockface only by a faded engraving.
"It does open from this side, but Knuckles never told anyone else how to do it."
"Trusting soul," Amy commented wryly. "Let's get back to the plane then."
---End Part 11---