Miles squinted through the spray as he followed Sonic's flailing form down the length of the waterfall. He was focused on little but his partner, so he barely noticed the change in the environment as they fell. Eventually, the hedgehog hit a large pool of water, and a couple of seconds later, so did the fox. The former didn't sink too far before the latter grabbed one of his hands and used his tails to jet them back to the surface. His eyes darted around until he spotted a ledge several meters up, making his way over. He set Sonic down, the both of them panting a little as they shook off their soaked fur.

Now that he had a moment, Miles took it to view where they had ended up. The area appeared to be encapsulated within a huge open temple that was long abandoned, seeming to collect all the water deposited by the island, as there were many more falls near and far. Dimly lit purple stone pillars and brick work was etched throughout the place, with some candle-lit displays here and there. The ground was composed of mostly warm yellow gravelly bricks, with some green, brown, and purple mixed in, and thin yellow road laid over it all. The green-ish water below was dark and murky, and the shadows near the high ceiling obscured more images that had been carved into the stone. In addition to the cracking support pillars, there were also strange cylindrical structures that contained pendulum orbs, though they apparently served as little more than decoration, from what he could tell.

"This is incredible," the fox breathed out, already drawing out the Miles Electric and using it to record some footage of their surroundings, "J is going to have a field day if there's more like this to find."

Sonic regarded the water above and below, then turned back to his partner. "I don't see a way out, but maybe we'll find one further in. What about the Emerald?"

Miles cut the video short and changed to his multitool's Radar, unable to get a more detailed layout due to not having a map of the area. Even with the old grid view, he could still determine the elevation and distance to their next target, and had a handle on it within a few seconds.

"It's a good way east of here, and slightly higher up," he informed the hoglet, putting his device away and starting to walk forward, "if we tread lightly, I'm sure we can stay above–"

He was stopped short when a section of the ground shot up under his feet and began spinning around like a gear. The fox was about to jump away, only for a mechanical hand to grasp onto his head and hold him in place, forcing him to sprint. He tried to pry it off, but it was tightly clamped, and he soon started to have to use his tails to keep up with the rotation. Miles was just about ready to ready into his pouch to blow the arm away when it suddenly let go and the dial receded. He let out a yelp as his feet hit the ground, accelerating at a pace he wasn't used to and gaining even more speed as he went running right downhill. In a blink, he'd gone up an opposite slope and hugged the curve of a loop that sent him up further, before a strange red spring at the end of the path sent him flying upward.

"Wow, that looks fun!" Sonic exclaimed.

He copied his partner and soon joined him at the top of the route. From there, the two Rolled down into another loop, then scrambled up the side of a tall wall to reach a ledge and a different path. Eager to go ahead, Sonic triggered the same sort of "trap" that they'd encountered a moment ago, letting out a whoop as the momentum carried him through numerous twists and turns. Miles was hot behind his heels, the pair being propelled by springs into higher reaches of the temple, where they had a better view of the layout.

It was up there, however, that the obscure figure in the ceiling carvings they'd seen earlier was now clear, and the image made Miles stop in his tracks. It was a vague likeness, but there was no mistaking who the Animal in the pictographs around here was supposed to be. A fox had seemingly been purposefully hewn into the warm yellow bricks, one that sported a trio of prominent bangs, familiar markings on the ears and limbs, and most notably, two tails. He had a menacing expression on his face, but there was otherwise nothing else that stood out in the image.

"You think this is what that guy was talking about?" Sonic wondered aloud.

Miles wasn't convinced. "He said that I would bring ruin to the island, and he did mention a mural. I doubt this is the same one."

"Worry about it later, then," the hedgehog suggested, "let's find the Emerald and get out of here. All this water's making me antsy."

The fox allowed himself a teasing grin, but didn't comment on his partner's discomfort. They carried on past a few more openings and descended a set of slopes until they came to a spiraling path. Both of them shot through the spray of a tumbling current, the momentum from their nearly nonstop sprint allowing them to run over a broad stretch of the surface of the underground reservoir. The moment they reached the other side, though, they had to duck down as a blur nearly crashed into them. Whirling around, they saw a metallic blue goose with a black head and neck, save for a yellow "chinstrap", yellow under-tail "feathers", and orange LED lights for eyes. Its webbed feet were tipped with razor sharp claws, with its bill looking just as fierce, and it disturbingly sported wings more appropriate on a dragonfly. Three more buzzed onto the scene, each of them glaring down at the duo.

"As if the real birds weren't mean enough," Sonic quipped.

They honked in much the same way real geese would, only with a tinny filter, diving at them with their bills raised and necks poised to strike. The hedgehog hopped over one that came his way and twisted his body out of the path of another, curling up into a ball. Rather than Rolling along the ground, however, he instead used it to spring high into the air and intercept the third robot, breaking it with what he'd taken to calling a "Bounce Attack". Miles let the last one lunge his way, waiting for it to outstretch its neck at him to make his move. Once it did, he swiveled his body so that its beak didn't even so much as graze him, then grabbed its elongated neck and swung it into one of the others like a club. Both were wrecked at once, leaving the remaining unit to attempt to get the drop on the fox, but the teen needn't have worried. Before the last goose could get close, it found itself cooked, or rather ground up, by a well-aimed Rolling Jump.

Having dealt with them, Miles and Sonic used the Spin Dash to scale a couple of steep inclines, coming to a loop at the crest of the second one. In front of it was a dark red and yellow hermit crab robot with a spiny cone on its back and two pairs of tracked wheels, with the front ones larger than the rear. The shell rocketed off its spine and screamed towards them like a missile, while the crustacean construct did an about face to get away from them. The projectile wasn't equipped with a tracker, and thus the heroes were able to lose it with a quick sidestep, then ran down the now helpless robot. They were ready to progress through the loop, until the hoglet pointed out a road connected to the top of it that went up a different path. The fox's two tails took them that way, where they happened upon what seemed to be a dead end.

That was when Miles triggered yet another running device, though in addition, the wall in front of them slid open, revealing a ramp that led to a wide open area. Sonic's feet transformed into a blurred wheel as he blitzed on ahead of Miles, though the fox was right by his side once the "trap" receded. They both had to put on the brakes only seconds later, preventing themselves from going over the edge of a walkway that overlooked a huge circular whirlpool. The teen went to scope it out, flying above the center of the vortex to get an idea of where it went, if anywhere. From what he could piece together, the water dropped far below into a massive chamber, though he couldn't make out any details beyond that. A quick check of the Emerald Radar showed the target gem at about the same elevation as him, but there was no straightforward route to get to it.

"Looks like we'll have to take a leap of faith," he told his younger partner once he rejoined him, retrieving the disc-like device that Gizmo had handed him and the hedgehog, "you remember how to use it from what I showed you?"

Sonic flipped his own like a coin and balanced it on his index finger. "Yeah, I got the gist of it."

"Alright then!" Miles declared, taking out one of the Rings they'd been collecting, "let's put the Elemental Shield Projector to the test!"

Miles popped open the back of the disc and inserted the Ring into a groove that had been clearly made for it. The front of the device lit up, showing a simplistic LED of an orange flame against a black background. He turned the dial around the edge, changing the image to a white lightning bolt, and then a blue water droplet. He pressed into the picture with his thumb, a transparent and pale-blue bubble soon enclosing itself around him in a perfect sphere. With a grin, he jumped high into the air to initiate a Drop Attack, the bubble bending and warping when he hit the ground again. It did not break, however, but made him bounce back upward to nearly the same height he'd leapt to before.

"The Water Shield, or alternatively, the Bubble Shield," the fox stated proudly, "it helps protect from high falls, enemy projectiles, and a certain amount of overall punishment, not to mention provides a potentially offensive bounce." He held up a finger. "But the most important feature is that it provides an effectively limitless oxygen supply, while also conveniently keeping the user dry."

Sonic smirked as his own personal shield conformed to his proportions. "Definitely handy for this place. Can't wait to see the other shields in action, too!"

"I'm sure we'll be using them before long," Miles replied with both anticipation and a little anxiety.


"Hey, Big," Gizmo said, trying to make conversation as she followed her newly made acquaintance through the jungle, "how long have you been living out here?"

The cat curiously looked back over his shoulder at her. "I've been here my whole life."

"I figured, but how old are you?" she asked, wanting to get more definite information.

Big balled up his free hand into a gentle fist and rested his chin atop it. He hummed and for a few moments, and then smiled at the wolf.

"Well, I was born in early winter," he explained, causing his companion to quirk her brow, "and Knuckles taught me some things, like counting. This winter will be my eighteenth, so I'll be turning seventeen."

The fact that Big was familiar with the echidna they'd had a run in with piqued Gizmo's interest, though she couldn't help being a little skeptical too. "Sounds nicer than the Knuckles I met earlier. He was shouting something about a prophecy with my little brother in it, then attacked him!"

The bulky feline made a noise, as though he wasn't surprised to hear that. Rather than answer, though, he simply kept trodding down the path they'd been taking, leading them over a fallen log to cross part of the river. They followed the shore in silence for a short while, eventually coming to one of the many waterfalls in the area. Gizmo watched as Big tightened the lure on his fishing pole around the shaft, then put the grip between his teeth so both his hands were free. She found herself surprised that, despite his build, he began to scale the cliff with ease, reaching the top of the falls within seconds. Given her own experience climbing around Mt. Pori Pori, it didn't take her too long to catch up.

"I don't like it when Knuckles gets violent," Big said suddenly, though his tone suggested he'd given the teal wolf's statement some thought, "but he just wants to keep the Master Emerald safe. He's been more tense than usual, ever since some things in the stories he told me started happening, like the Dragon's Egg coming down last week."

Gizmo slowed her pace at that. Miles had mentioned something about that legend during the days leading up to the expedition to this island. How he'd related it to the murals he'd seen in the depths of the Hill Top Peaks, and then picked up a theory from J.P. Cross during their meeting together. Something about the Battle Moon being the Dragon's Egg from the prophecy, and that this newly discovered place was the Floating Island from the same tale. The date that the cat brought up also matched when the space station fell back to the planet. Assuming the aforementioned theory held water, did that mean that the Battle Moon "hatching" was the completion of an even more terrible weapon that the Kukkus were working on? And if the Stone of Power, or rather the Master Emerald, was indeed real, then it was only natural to assume they would be after it, likely to power said creation.

That aside, it was apparent that Big, and perhaps Knuckles, were convinced that the station was the genuine Dragon's Egg. That meant that whatever the echidna was on about earlier must also be rather important. Was it really as straightforward as the Guardian claimed, about Miles bringing ruination? If the guy with her had heard him talking about these sorts of things, perhaps she could get some more insight.

"Well, I've heard a lot of stories, too," Gizmo said, pushing foliage out of her way as they went off the beaten path, "but I'm not familiar with the one about the two-tailed fox."

"Oh, yeah, he's been really concerned with that one after those birds showed up," Big answered a little glumly.

Once again, he just sort of let the conversation hang. They continued on until they could safely descend down the other side of the ridge, once again getting back on track when they found the river. The wolf and cat traveled upstream, coming upon a simple wooden hut with three walls and a slanted roof, with its only furniture being an equally basic bed fit for one Big's size that had little more than a layer of straw to serve as cushioning. All of that was set atop a massive tree stump, likely to keep it above water if the river flooded. While she hadn't wanted to make any assumptions about the larger Animal, Gizmo had to admit that she had expected something like this for his home.

Big searched around his shack, letting out a quizzical grunt after a couple of minutes. The lady lupine guessed he'd been looking to see if his friend had been home, but she couldn't be sure. More so when he prepared his rod and took a seat between his hovel and the river. With a practiced fling of the arm, he cast his lure out into the calmer section of the stream and took hold of the pole with both hands. Much as this perplexed her, Gizmo sat down next to the feline and folded her legs, patiently awaiting what he had to say next.

"There's this neat picture in the Hidden Palace," he went on, as she'd predicted, "one that shows the two-tailed fox and this giant bird, with the Master Emerald between 'em. Knuckles thinks the fox is trying to take it, but, I dunno...the bird looks like the bad guy to me. It's bigger and scarier, or at least I think so."

Gizmo giggled upon hearing that reasoning. "Trust me when I say that Miles is a sweet boy, and that he wouldn't hurt anyone that didn't deserve it."

"I hope he's nice like you," the cat told her, which made her pause and glance his way more intently, "you're helping me find Froggy even though we just met. You're a nice lady, Giselle."

The wolf cleared her throat, trying not to let his compliments get to her head despite her rosy cheeks. Best to steer the conversation in another direction before he got the wrong idea...assuming he knew anything about Animal body language.

"It's no big deal, kid. But, speaking of your friend," she segued, "why did we stop to fish when we're supposed to be looking for him?"

Big held off from answering her as he noticed his bobber disappear beneath the surface. He flicked his wrist and swiftly started a rhythm of tugging and reeling, expertly fighting against what was on the line. Within seconds, he wrangled in a catfish that was more than half as long as the wolf herself was tall. The cat beamed at his catch, then unhooked his lure from its maw and chucked it into a basket he had next to his hut.

"I just love to fish," Big replied simply, "it's relaxing, but it can be exciting, too. It also helps me think when I'm having trouble trying to figure things out."

She supposed that it made sense. The first place to search for his friend had been their home, and now that it was apparent that Froggy wasn't there, he was doing what best helped him cope with stress. With a calmer mind, he could better determine where the little amphibian could possibly be. It was an interesting way to handle things, but she wasn't about to knock it if it got them results.

Once he'd hooked a handful of fish, Big made his way back to his hut and moved his bed aside with one hand. He opened up a panel built into the tree trunk and reached in, gathering up a big fistful of sea salt and spreading it over his haul to preserve it for later. When he went to grab another helping, Gizmo noticed him stop part way and look down into the hollow. His eyes lit up after a second, with his free hand snatching up a different object instead.

"That's right, Froggy and I found this the same day that the Egg fell," the large Animal said as he turned around and showed it off, a cheerful grin on his face.

The wolf had to rub her eyes to make sure she was seeing things right. Nestled between a few of Big's fingers was a familiar blue and yellow tool that her brother wielded on occasion. Miles had lost it during his fight on the Battle Moon, and since the station had crashed here, she supposed it wasn't out of the question for that to land here as well.

"The Pikkon Hammer!" she exclaimed as she jogged over to the cat's side, "we thought it might've sank to the bottom of the ocean, but here it is!"

Big smiled down at her warmly. "Oh, if it's yours, you can have it back. It's a bit too small for me, anyway."

Gizmo was a tad bemused that he would hand it over so easily, but she took the hammer nonetheless. She gave it a few swings, happy to feel the light, but powerful weapon in her hands again, then slipped it into her belt.

"Thanks, Big, Miles will be happy to see this," she said appreciatively. Another thought crossed her mind as she recalled what he'd just said. "Do you remember where you found it? Maybe Froggy might be around there."

The husky mammal let out an "ah" of realization at the idea, nodding his head. "Hmm, I remember. It's not too far away from here." The wolf was raring to go, just about ready to run off to their next destination, only to notice Big start to gather up the fish he'd brought in a few minutes ago. "We should have a snack first, since we're gonna be doing a lot more mountain climbing."

Gizmo felt her enthusiasm deflate at the news. Not that she wasn't up for the challenge, but that hadn't been what she expected when she heard that their destination wasn't "too far away".

'And here I thought things would be easy,' she thought to herself as she volunteered to help gather wood to build a fire so that they could cook the fish, 'oh well, free food is nice, and I've already been working up a bit of an appetite.'

Due to being distracted by their task, neither of them were aware of a set of deep blue eyes watching them from the cover of the jungle.


It was an odd feeling, having the air rush across his face even though he had a barrier around him. Even so, Miles couldn't help but feel the thrill of excitement as he and Sonic plunged through the eye of the whirlpool and dove towards a colossal pool. A few seconds later, they splashed through the surface and sank several meters, landing on top of a "hill" made from the surrounding bricks.

Sonic was a little nervous with all the surrounding water, but he was certainly thankful that he had a supply of air. To help get his mind off of the situation, he tested to see how well he could move around. It wasn't much different from trying to walk through water normally, just with significantly less resistance than one would expect. He estimated he could probably move at about a quarter of his full speed if he pushed himself, maybe half if he got a good head start from above water.

"I'm glad you came up with this, Tails," he commended his partner, "I don't have to rely on you lugging me around while you're swimming!"

Miles smirked. "Can't hurt your hedgehog pride this way. Still, it's not impervious, so don't get too careless."

"Okay, big bro," Sonic said snarkily as he thumbed his nose, getting a snicker from the fox.

From there, they went around the outer rim of the hill, moving down until they came across opposition. On the one hand, there were shark-themed torpedo robots with blue bodies and silver underbellies, with bolts for eyes, the typical dorsal and anal fins, as well as a four-winged propeller in the back. And on the other, there were pink manta ray constructs with gray undersides, cyan eyes, and small mouths. In addition, they had orange and pink turbines between their "wings" and bodies, and holes on their bellies, which the fox assumed was for releasing explosives. A trio of the former initiated their thrusters and swam at the heroes, sporting toothy grins like their organic counterparts. Sonic went into a Rolling Jump, proving that even while he was slowed by his surroundings, his quills were sharper than the sharks' fangs. He tore through one after the other, drawing the attention of one of the rays to him, which worked out in Miles' favor. He zeroed in on the Badniks from behind and slammed through one with his own jump, then turned around and flung a handful of waterproof bombs at the rest.

There appeared to be no easy way out of the pool, but an odd silver glint caught the corner of their eyes. The two discovered what looked like a simple floor switch, and upon pressing it down, the nearby wall slid open to reveal a passageway. They followed it to the end, coming upon a series of fans that stirred up the current and brought them along for the ride. It was only a few seconds that they were out of the water, heading up a ramp before they were forced to take the plunge again. A group of fish like the ones they'd seen in the Aquatic Ruin Reserve charged at them once they hit the bottom, but the two were wise to their tricks and design, taking them out with little effort. Beyond them and around the corner, they went up two more inclines and emerged onto dry land, only to run into even more Badniks. The rays and sharks were apparently capable of floating through the air as well as the water, and their numbers were backed by the Aquis and Octus robots from the Oil Ocean Refinery, as well as the spine-spewing Asterons they encountered in Metropolis.

As much as Sonic was raring to fight the lot of them, Miles saw a different way out of the situation. There was a gradual curve that led up the back wall, and when his eyes followed the path, he spotted a loop high above their position. Judging from its trajectory, it went out onto a platform and further into the temple. All they had to do was get past the numbers here and they'd be in the clear, for the moment.

"Let's break through them, Sonic," he proposed, kneeling down into position for a Spin Dash, "we're here for the Emerald, not these scrap heaps."

The hoglet copied his stance, lining himself up with as many of the oncoming bots as he could. "I hear ya, big guy. Not like they could keep up with us anyway!"

The two of them balled up, screeching as they gathered the energy needed to make it up the wall and deal with these mechanical menaces. Just as most of the Badniks got close, they took off, slamming through several sharks and Octus. The spikes from the Asterons narrowly missed them, while the bombs dropped by the rays were blown away by the wind of the boys' wake, flinging them into other Badniks. Right as they were about to hit the ramp, Miles and Sonic uncurled from their Dashes and shot up the wall, their vision spinning for a moment as they went through the loop at the top. Just as the fox had predicted, there was a landing for them to move around on, and two paths for them to choose from. One went down into the depths, while the other went even higher thanks to a series of suspended platforms presumably made for those with flight.

The signal from the Radar pointed to the latter as the preferred route, which worked out for them, as less water meant less of a pain, especially for the hedgehog. Miles conserved his stamina as he carried Sonic up, using only enough to reach each stop along the way and taking a moment before moving on. At the top, they ran over a much smoother and more gradual hill, which fed into an aqua blue half-pipe slide. Once they got to the bottom of that, they proceeded through a thin waterfall and had to stop themselves from nearly barreling over the cliff just on the other side of it. To both their left and right, there were more platforms and pipe slides, though they each went off in their own direction, and the Emerald Radar couldn't indicate which would bring them closer to the gem. With a shrug, Sonic used his shield projector as a makeshift coin and flipped it as high and fast as he could, leaving their choice up to chance.

"Heads we go right, Tails we go left," he called out.

Miles watched the device intently. "Tails is the side with the button?"

"Yep," Sonic confirmed, reaching to snatch it and bring it face-up on his palm.

Tails. With that decided, the two of them took several paces back to give themselves a proper head start, then ran and jumped out to the left route. They didn't stop after hitting the first platform, springing past the next one and straight into a pipe slide. They dipped a few times on the otherwise straight path, then headed left onto a walkway that had steel mesh mixed in with the bricks, a few small fountains of water coming up through the holes. The boys wound around the edge and broke down a few more Badniks along the way, going up a ramp to a narrower road. It took a sharp right after several meters, bringing them to a loop that sent them running down a wall, then to a decline that went into the water.

In the dark and murky water, Miles could just make out a duct to the right, where he and Sonic contended with a few seahorses and sharks as they ascended a few giant steps. The passage opened into a chamber that was walled in on all sides, but a set of fans in the back center provided a way out. The heroes rode the air currents up into a mesh cylinder, popping out onto a pipe track and taking it through a short tunnel to a platform. The water around them churned more violently than any other part of the temple here, so much so, that they couldn't see beneath the surface of the swirling green.

"Let's not take a dip around here," Miles advised, "that current looks strong enough to turn someone into paste if they smack into a wall."

He got a nervous gulp in response, which would have amused him if he wasn't also rather wary of the hazard. More mindfully than before, they hopped and hovered across a couple of gaps to an incline up the wall. Instead of going straight, the duo ran along the side until they reached the far corner, soaring above and beyond a loop to a mostly open area. Aside from the pillars, candles, and metronomes that decorated the path, there were also floating blue and purple cylinders, patterned arches made from the bricks and stone, and a bridge of blue stones similar to the green ones they saw in the old ruins on West Side Island. And thankfully, the place was currently devoid of Badniks, allowing them a small respite.

One thing that stood out, now that they had a moment to explore, was that there were a set of cylinders that rose and fell at set points, with one of them near the ceiling of the back wall. That certainly seemed suspicious. The fox whipped out the Miles Electric and aimed it in that direction, a smile crossing his muzzle at what it showed him.

"The Emerald is up there, Sonic," he pointed out to the hedgehog, "want me to grab it?"

"Nah, I got this," the kid told him confidently, stretching his arms and rolling his neck a few times, "just sit tight!"

He sprinted and Jumped on top of the first one, trotting against its rotation as he eyed down the second one. As soon as it was safe to do so, Sonic transferred to the next floating platform, and then the one after that, gradually progressing further up into the chamber. Once he got to the last one, he appeared to slip right through the wall, but Miles knew it must've been a space that wasn't visible from where he was. And after a few more seconds, the blue boy bounded back down, using the Bubble Shield to cushion his stylish three-point landing.

"Check it out, Tails," Sonic said with a smirk, holding up the faded yellow Emerald, "with this one, we've already got three again!"

The teen came over and knelt down a little bit to give him a high-five. "Nice one, bud. Now let's look for a way out of this place."

The only option they had was the blue bridge in the corner, and so they crossed it. The two of them noticed a blockade at the end of it, but paid it no mind and simply smashed through it, though they almost immediately regretted it. They fell some ways onto a second bridge, only for that to collapse under them a moment later, causing them to splash down into a fairly deep pool. They were swept up by a current that was created by a large turbine, and it was only thanks to their reflexes that they weren't dashed against the walls, or the spike traps that had been set in place. They floated out with the draining water into what had to be the main hall of the temple, as the ground was flat as far as they could see.

The heroes were given but a brief rest when two long and skinny black legs with a triad of talons touched down near them. They were attached to a towering mech that was based on a great blue heron, with the signature blue-gray coloring on its wings and a lighter gray body. It sported black eyes that looked more at home on a shark, and a long, sharp yellow beak that, when it was ajar, showed a turbine in the back of its gullet. And plastered on its forehead, as if there were any doubt, was the rooster skull insignia of the Battle Kukku Empire. The thing glared down at the two of them and spread its mechanical wings in a threatening posture, letting out a distorted recording of the bird it was based on.

"That certainly looks more formidable than anything we've faced so far," Miles commented, peering over at his partner with an assured grin, "but compared to the Grand Kukku Mobile Suit, it's like a chick. And with two of us, it'll be a cinch."

Sonic chuckled and got himself ready to brawl with the big robot. "You've got that right. Let's show that thing what we can do!"

The pair split up as the heron drove its head down to peck at them. Rather than retract itself, the robot's bill opened and the turbine in its throat started up. Within seconds, the water in the arena grew choppy, and a column of it was drawn up into the construct like a vortex. Sonic put his legs to work and fought against the current to avoid being sucked up, while Miles flew around, trying to find any weaknesses. The bird noticed what the teen was up to and backed off its efforts on the hedgehog to attempt to swat him back down. While it was occupied, Sonic did an 180 and went full tilt in the direction of the fading waterspout. He sprang out of the water and used the Bubble Shield to bounce off the crest of the vortex, slamming into the side of the robot's head. It let out a surprised cry and nearly lost its balance, but managed to catch itself before it could take a tumble, albeit clumsily.

With an angered squawk, the heron took to the air with powerful wing beats, retreating to the perimeter of the chamber and then coming in for a pass. As it did so, numerous ports opened under its wings and across its breast, and a plethora of mines rained down. Sonic waded through the shallow water as best he could, but he couldn't outrun all of the explosions with how he was weighed down. The Bubble Shield absorbed the majority of the blasts, bursting apart as the shock created a column of water that flung the hoglet into the air. The mech swooped in with its beak wide to catch the boy, only to be foiled by the fox using a Drop Attack on one of its wings to divert its course. Miles caught Sonic and saddled him onto his shoulders, keeping tabs on the Kukku creation while he treaded air.

"You good, partner?" he inquired, watching the heron get ready to make another run.

Sonic stood up on the teen's shoulders and braced his hands between those triangular ears. "Yeah, I just wasn't expecting that. How long until I can get the shield back up?"

"There's a ten minute cool-down between uses, regardless if it's ended voluntarily or through damage," the fox explained.

"Good to know," the boy mumbled, "got any idea how to best take this thing down?"

"If we can knock out those wings, it won't have as much mobility," Miles replied, "aim for the joints there and in the legs, and we should be able to take it out."

With their plan decided, the fox made a beeline for the bird at the same time that it rushed him, feeling the hedgehog's heels digging into his shoulders. When they were a handful of meters apart, Miles went low to dodge a peck from the bot, while Sonic leapt high above and curled into a ball. Utilizing his Bounce Attack, the kid redirected himself straight down, striking the spot between the thing's left wing and its main body. The heron screeched and stumbled as it extended its legs to catch itself, wheeling around to lower its beak and use its suction ability from before. With its turbine exposed, the fox allowed himself to be dragged closer to its maw, then decided to spring his own trap by hurling a handful of Dummy Rings at one of its knees.

It screeched and whipped its head around as it tried to maintain its balance, managing to catch Miles with a lucky shot. Though he felt fine aside from some disorientation, the sudden lack of oxygen clued him in to the fact that his own Bubble Shield was now disabled. Seeing how dangerous its quarry was turning out to be, the heron distanced itself, and with a flap of its wings, hurtled a fresh volley of explosives their way. With the both of them better prepared for that attack, Miles gauged the gaps between the projectiles, then gave Sonic a boost. The hoglet gracefully sailed through the air until he was above the mines, timely bursts of water propelling him further up and preserving his momentum. With a flourish, he caught one of the bombs and, with a quick handful of spins, chucked it right back where it came from, causing one of the weapon ports to collapse and burst into flames.

While the robot reeled from the serious damage, the teen dove down and revved up a Spin Dash, releasing it just as he spotted the last of the prior salvo coming down. Like his partner, he Jumped and rode the columns that plumed up from their detonation, though with his speed, he didn't gain as much height. This worked out in his favor all the same, as he rammed right into one of the heron's knees, a horrid buckling groan resulting from the solid hit. Just as he'd thought, the plating was thin and weak there compared to other spots.

'And here I thought the doctor actually learned something from the GKMS," he thought as he put some distance between himself and the falling robot, 'but nope, still predictable in some respects.'

Miles and Sonic regrouped, watching the bird strain to support itself on its damaged leg and ultimately having to favor the one that was unharmed. It made some show of its wings and opened its bill as if to threaten them, but neither of them budged. If anything, they were amused at the display.

"Looks like it's out of tricks," the hedgehog commented from atop the fox's shoulders, thumbing under his nose, "I thought it'd be a bit more fun than this, but whatever. You wanna just end this, big guy?"

The teen rubbed his scruffy chin for a couple of moments, then nodded to his companion. "Yeah, we really don't have time to mess around. We should still finish it in style, though!"

"Of course!"

The heron was hardly given any time to stand straight again when a handful of bombs were chucked at its other leg, causing it to wobble and flap its wings. Rather than risk toppling over, it went into the air once more, and out of desperation, decided to attack with everything it had. While it hovered in place, unleashing yet more of its payload, it used its gullet turbine to stir the water up, several waterspouts trailing up to its beak thanks to the mines. Miles vaulted out of the water and put his tails into high gear, zipping behind the bird's head and grabbing its attention. Sonic used the distraction to hop from the tip of each waterspout and like he'd done earlier, Jumped right into the side of its face. Its head lolled to one side and then was whipped back when the fox came down on one wing joint with a Drop Attack, forcing it to lose altitude. The hoglet Bounced off of the other, watching the heron splash down and beginning to spin around as fast as he could.

"Heads up, Tails!" he called to his partner, dropping straight towards the teen's outstretched arms.

Miles caught him, his hands blurring as he maintained the boy's rotation, keeping an eye on the big bird as he canceled his flight and let gravity take hold. The heron saw this as its chance to take them both down in one go and lunged for them with its beak wide open. The fox grinned and tossed the blue "ball" into the air, turning about and twisting his body into doing a soccer-style backflip kick.

"Thunder Shoot!" the teen shouted as his shoe connected with Sonic.

The boom of the broken sound barrier echoed throughout the chamber as Sonic shot through the giant bot's mouth in the blink of an eye. In that same instant, he shredded its internals and flew out the back of the thing, where he was intercepted and halted by Miles so he didn't go too far. The heron let out a distorted cry as it went limp, thudding into the pool and sliding for many meters. The surface bubbled and quaked from the electricity arcing across its form, and the construct sank into a deeper section. The commotion died for a few seconds, only to be shattered as a tremendous geyser of water erupted so powerfully, it broke through some of the old stone and bricks in the ceiling. Thereafter, the rest of the voluminous tide spiraled away down the newly formed drain, courtesy of the heron's destruction. Peering up where the temple had been worn away, the two heroes could see sunlight shining through, which made them both smile.

"Ace finisher, quality explosion, and making our own way out of here," Sonic listed off, giving his buddy a thumbs-up, "I'd say we wrapped up pretty good."

Miles returned the gesture with his usual peace sign, then started to carry them up to the hole. "We sure did, now let's go dry ourselves off and check in with the others."


"Hmph, they are persistent," Knuckles grumbled to himself as he watched the pair through a well-hidden slit in the walls.

He'd been observing their progress through the temple from a comfortable distance, using paths known only to him. Them finding the Chaos Emerald was a point of frustration, as was the ease which they bypassed both his traps and the doctor's mechanical creatures. The setup to get them in that arena was his idea, while the bird robot had naturally been the old owl's contribution, who'd assured him that water was the blue one's weakness. Despite that, he and the two-tailed fox had handily beaten the overgrown heron, and made a convenient exit for them to boot. Perhaps taking a more indirect approach and leaving things up to his new ally hadn't been the best idea, but he wasn't willing to abandon this course of action just yet.

That aside, there was something else that had been bothering him since around the time the Egg fell. After he'd gained his bearings from Angel Island crashing, he'd detected a strong presence that he picked up through his natural Chaos Energy sensing. At first, he'd mistaken it for one of the Emeralds, but after feeling out the state the gems were currently in, he knew it couldn't be them. He also knew well that it couldn't be the Master Emerald, as that was where it was supposed to be, and hadn't moved once in all the time he'd watched it. Another notable trait was that the amount of Energy he felt from whatever this thing was fluctuated from time to time, meaning it wasn't boundless like the stones were. It was still powerful, nonetheless, and quite difficult to track because of its discordant nature.

But, what disturbed Knuckles the most was the fact that he could determine it was alive. All living creatures contained a measure of Chaos Energy, with some species being more predisposed to having high amounts of it. Moreover, in especially powerful people, they had a signature that was as unique as they were, something that would allow other sensitive individuals like himself to tell them apart. He hadn't had a chance to acclimate to the newcomers so he could better track them, but this other one pricked at his senses even when he tried not to give it any mind. On a basic level, it was like many others he felt here and there he'd passed over as the island moved through the sky, ones he didn't have a name for, as he'd never seen any of them firsthand. But, aside from that and its power, it felt vaguely ancient in a similar respect to the ruins around his home, though it clearly wasn't an echidna.

His rumination was put on pause by a beeping from his left wrist cuff. He pushed it forward to unveil a simple black communicator with a single red button, which the doctor had told him was for answering and sending messages on the device. Figuring that it was the owl that was hailing him, he pressed the button.

"Knuckles, this is the doctor," he heard Dr. Fukurokov say from the other end, "I'm calling you to let you know that our Radar has picked up a Chaos Energy signature south of the Kukku Launch Base. I suspect it might be related to that presence you informed me about."

That did sound rather tempting to pursue. At the same time, however, there was still the matter of the interloper and his friends.

"Should we not focus on the fox?" Knuckles inquired, "he has already recovered two of the Emeralds I took, as well as destroyed your metal water bird."

There was a growl on the line, though the owl swiftly stifled it. "That is to be expected, unfortunately. And let him chase after those gems, my boy. So long as I hold one of them, he will inevitably make his way to me, and we can plan accordingly."

The echidna did see the logic in that idea, but he still worried about what Miles would do if left unchecked. The engineer was the one with prior experience facing him, though, so if anyone knew how he operated, it would be him. He supposed that he would just have to trust the doctor's judgment and allow his other creations a chance to try and stop the vulpine, or at the very least, slow him down so they would have time to prepare. And perhaps if he was quick enough, he would be able to track down this mystery being and discover their intentions.

"Very well, doctor," he answered after thinking it over, "I will make my way over to the western jungle."

"Once you've finished with that business, rendezvous with me at the Base," Fukurokov told him, then cut the line.

With a grunt of acknowledgment, he covered up the comm and hooked the spikes on his gloves into the wall, making his way to the shortcut that would bring him nearest to his new destination.