Wow! Sorry this one took so long, but it was a real beast to get everything in order. So yeah, chapter four, in which a lot happens! Once again, thank you to everyone who has left reviews, I appreciate it so much and hopefully the new installment doesn't disappoint.
"Now no one after lighting a lamp
covers it over with a container,
or puts it under a bed;
but he puts it on a lampstand,
so that those who come in may see the light.
For nothing is hidden
that will not become evident,
nor anything secret
that will not be known and come to light."
o-o-o-o
"Sonic, if you insist on riding on the wing like a maniac, at least have the decency to sit still!" the princess shouted over the rush of wind and the hum of the plane's propeller.
"Don't blow your top Sal!" Sonic retorted, "Just keepin' the blood flowing; don't wanna get stir-crazy! Besides, this bird's only got two seats, so unless you'd like to hop up here, I got nowhere else to be!"
It was true, Sonic had been as fidgety as usual ever since the three took off en route to Angel Island. He'd spent the past ten minutes shifting from one side of the plane to the other, forcing Tails to make minute adjustments to their trajectory with each shift in weight. The pilot might have been annoyed if he hadn't been so used to it.
Tails let the two bicker amongst themselves; the reluctant android was currently more preoccupied with the semi-transparent display that currently framed his vision, visible to him and him alone. It showed him every minute detail of his surrounding environment. The exact amount of centimeters, to the thousandths decimal, between him and the waves below; the atmospheric pressure, cloud cover, and precise percentage of moisture in the skies above; and the biosignatures of any and all surrounding fauna, including his two passengers.
Except, that wasn't quite right. It wasn't really showing it to him, he reasoned, it was more accurately a display of things he himself was calculating in real time, nearly subconsciously. His brain was, in the most literal sense possible, a supercomputer, and now, without inhibition, it could finally operate as such. And what Tails had learned since delving into his digital nature was that he was far, far more advanced than any other software he had ever encountered.
This was all just passive calculation, things he could do instantly and without any real concentration. If he were to bear down and focus, he felt certain he could fly his plane through the eye of a needle. It was an overwhelming feeling of power. He should feel invincible; anyone else would. But the implications were heinous; he was encased in fear, and no small amount of shame. Taking even the slightest bit of joy from his abilities was impossible, because the kitsune knew very well where - who - they came from.
So he was thankful when the small, yet growing, shape floating on the horizon gave him something else to focus on. He closed his internal HUD and took in the surreal visage of Angel Island, hanging stalwart in the sky as if that was just where an island was supposed to be. Tails scanned the southern section of the landmass, searching for the best place to make his landing. The X-1 had a VTOL mode that made this kind of thing a lot easier, but with the biplane he'd have to manage the old fashioned way. It was really no problem, he knew the old girl could handle a grass landing.
"Prepare for approach!"
He found a nice spot next to a large pond with plenty of clearance, not far at all from the main temple, and radioed into Knuckles where they'd be touching down. In practically no time the echidna was standing nearby, arms crossed and looking more than a slight bit irritated, when the group made their descent. As revenge for Sonic's antics on the way over, Tails only jerked the controls a little during the landing.
"Well, at least you didn't bring the full cavalry," Knuckles commented as the trio exited the vehicle.
"Nice to see you too, Knux," Sonic replied with a snide grin, "That's what you call hospitality around here?"
"Well I don't exactly have any cookies and punch laid out; not like I was expecting company. To what do I owe the pleasure, by the way?" the guardian questioned.
Sally did a double-take. "What? Sonic didn't tell you?" she asked disbelievingly. She shot a stern glance over at the aforementioned hedgehog, "I thought you said you notified him!"
For his part, Sonic could only muster a sheepish smile and a shrug.
Knuckles angled his communicator toward the princess and Tails, displaying Sonic's rather middle-school caliber message. "Mr. Blue Streak over here ain't exactly a novelist."
Tails slapped a palm to his face as Sally cast her eyes skyward and let out a groan, "Un. Be. Lievable. Let's just...alright I...suppose we'll brief you here."
"Come on back to the temple then, I guess," Knuckles sighed as he turned around, "At least there I can get back to my rock."
The trio exchanged a few confused glances, but then dutifully followed their host into the forest.
The walk back to the weathered shrine perched near the edge of the island was short enough, as promised. Knuckles strolled his way over to a sturdy-looking rock by a nearby stream, and unceremoniously plopped down next to it, resting against the stone as naturally as if it were a well-worn recliner.
"Proceed," he droned, with a wave of his hand indicating for his visitors to find a seat.
Sally settled down on the grass as Tails perched himself on top of another rock closeby. Sonic, already in an impatient mood and unsatisfied by the echidna's disposition, elected to stand.
"Y'know, you should be more gracious, Knucklehead," Sonic chided, this time a little less jovially, "You're lucky we come by as often as we do, with you all the way up here."
"Well I guess bad luck is technically luck."
"Alright, wisegu-"
"Sonic," Tails chided, shooting a rather obvious "shush" look at the hedgehog.
"I think we're getting off-track," Sally interrupted, "Knuckles, we're sorry for the intrusion. Truly," she gave another sidelong glare to her hedgehog teammate, who responded only by folding his arms across his chest, "But circumstances are dire at the moment, and the kingdom needs your help."
General Penn stood atop a hill, surrounded on all sides by trees which hung a dreary canvas over his squad. Though it was just past midday, the leaves did a swell job of blocking out any light that might be useful for his team's current operation, and the thick underbrush wasn't doing their mobility any favors either.
It was going to be one of those missions.
Even his men at his side provided him less comfort than normal. Any military activity in or around Robotnik-controlled territory was, by necessity, predicated on stealth and flexibility, meaning Penn was joined today only by a small skeleton crew of four soldiers plus himself. He felt more like a special forces captain than a general, and if he were honest with himself, he didn't particularly mind. Charles in particular often gave him lighthearted grief for the amount of hands-on work he performed for someone of his status, but he couldn't help it; he was a man of action. He always had been.
"Howard," the coyote's voice was low, but sharp, "Countdown to engage?"
His second-in-command was beside him in an instant, "Should be any minute now. Previous patrols indicate about a two minute margin of error."
"Airborne, I assume?"
"Has to be. Too much coverage for anything else, and we'd notice if there was any sort of path cleared for ground transport."
Penn nodded, "Very well. Nothing for it, then, but to wait."
And with the waiting came reflection.
General Penn knew suffering. He'd experienced plenty of it himself and seen it tenfold in others on the battlefield; it was nothing unexpected. But there was something about a mother's tears.
His squad had arrived at the house the night before the excursion, a small shotgun shack on the outskirts of a rural village. It had running water, but not a whole lot else. A small black and white television sat in the corner of one of the home's three rooms, and a decrepit air conditioning unit that looked seconds away from falling out of the window did its best to keep the growing summer heat at bay. Its owner had graciously allowed them to stay the night, and the general had no intention of making himself or his men any more of an imposition than they already were.
He'd felt the distinct pain of a broken parent as the young cat sobbed and bared her soul to him. Told him how she'd wanted more than anything to move away from this godforsaken place but the money just wasn't there. Told him how she hadn't slept or eaten in days. Told him everything she could about her little boy, Ezra, and how she just wanted him back.
He'd been hearing far too much of that kind of thing these past few weeks.
"He's getting closer, isn't he?" she'd asked him, "The Doctor, I mean. They say he's trying to expand his territory."
"We're keeping close watch on Robotnik, miss. You needn't worry about that."
She hadn't responded, but he'd needed only to look in her eyes for a second to know that she hadn't believed him. He wasn't sure if he'd believed himself.
Snapping back to the task at hand, Penn was suddenly aware of a soft but steady vibration that slowly rose in volume, breaking him from his thoughts, and letting him know the time for action was upon his men. He readied his sidearm in one hand, and used the other to motion his squad into position.
Two soldiers positioned themselves approximately twenty yards away in either direction along the route; the remaining two took aim with their rifles and found their target: a lone hovering SWATbot. The machine deftly and unnaturally ghosted just above the treeline, making its way like clockwork along the patrol route that the recon crew had mapped. With a wave of the general's hand, two reports rang out simultaneously, and the robot took a swift dive into the treeline. The sound of a crash was unmistakable. Success.
He allowed a subdued smirk to spread across his features, and again motioned to his men, this time ordering them to follow him in the direction of their quarry. They hurried through the walls of green with practiced precision, and it wasn't long before they came upon the smoking remains of the machine, cradled gently by the thickets. Penn produced his trusty pocket knife and along with the two other men got to work dislodging the robot.
"Damn good shots, gentlemen," the general commended while studying the bullet holes, "Right in the vitals, and looks like no damage to the memory core."
"We're looking good on time as well, sir," one of the men, a wolf named Stanton, noted as they cleared the last of the thorns away from the husk, "The next SWATbot isn't due in the area for another twenty minutes."
"We'll be long gone by then," the general confirmed, "Stanton, you help me get back with this thing. Davies, you take point." They nodded in affirmation.
"Target down," Davies spoke into his radio, "Reconvene at our original coordinates."
Between the two trained soldiers carrying it, the weight of the SWATbot didn't slow the group's movement by any real measure, though the general would be lying if he said he hadn't wished for some luggage handles on the thing. Once they'd rejoined the others, Howard produced his own knife, along with a portable data processor and cable. With great care, he pried open the underside of the drone, and quickly located the memory core.
The information was obviously encrypted, but the boys back at the lab had been working many sleepless nights on that, and within a minute the security had been broken and the intel had been automatically transferred to the processor. With a quick confirmation that everything had gone through, the raccoon flashed the "okay" signal, and attached a small disc to what was left of the robot.
"Great work, men," said Penn, his eyes still scanning the trees surrounding them. All looked normal. "Let's clear out and head back. Remember: leave no trace."
The team kept ever vigilant the entire time they remained in the forest, only easing up the slightest bit once they reached the treeline about half a mile away from the scene of the operation. As the crew worked to remove their armored truck from hiding and begin their journey back, Howard was already checking the data they'd collected. Penn situated himself on the passenger side and, hoping to see the excitement of a successful mission on his comrad's face, spun around in his seat, only to be met with a glazed look of horror from his second-in-command.
"Howard, what is it?" the coyote questioned, unable to keep the concern from lacing his voice.
"Sir...the memory file, dated a week ago, corresponding to the report we received..." Howard was doing his best to keep his voice dry and clinical. It was only partially working.
Penn felt his spine turn to ice. He prayed that he was misreading the situation-that he had simply misheard his squad member. Anything to convince himself that their worst fears, the ones spoken of in hushed tones in the war room, hadn't been confirmed. He knew that was naive.
"You...you'll need to show this to the king," Howard continued, but couldn't bring himself to say any more than that. He quickly closed the laptop.
No man in the vehicle had ever heard a silence quite so loud.
"Davies," the general's voice was fire, and he had murder in his eyes, "Light the motherfucker."
Davies flipped the switch on his belt as instructed, and a distant explosion echoed through the trees. One SWATbot gone - a specter of what was to come.
"I hope you realize I'm doing this under protest, Princess," Knuckles stressed as Sally tucked the yellow emerald into her pack.
"Yeah Knux, we heard you the first three times," Sonic responded curtly from his seat on the temple stairs, his previous cheer now notably absent from his tone.
Knuckles spun around to meet his gaze, "Apparently you didn't, because you're still insistent on removing an emerald from the one person whose specific job it is to protect it."
"And that's what you'll be doing," said Sally calmly, before Sonic could respond, "Robotnik knows exactly where Angel Island is and what it's for. If he comes after the emeralds, this will be the first place he looks."
She finished buckling the compartment closed on the pack and looked up to Knuckles, sincerity in her eyes, "It's better to have it elsewhere for the time being, and once we determine a location for it and find the remaining emeralds, you'll be the first person we contact with their coordinates. I swear on my honor."
Knuckles eyed his three visitors with something less than anger but more than annoyance, before finally settling on the kitsune to his left.
"How 'bout you? You've been pretty quiet."
Tails tilted his head in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"You're the genius in this outfit, what do you think about the whole thing?"
"Not much else to say," Tails responded with a shrug, "The kingdom needs help, and we need to keep people safe. This really is the best option right now." The fox took a moment to ponder his next words. "Robotnik...I don't think he's playing games here, Knuckles."
The echidna paused, sighed, and threw his hands up in mock surrender, "Fine, fine. If it's that important to you, take it. But you'd better make good on that promise, Princess."
"I intend to," Sally responded confidently, "You are the emeralds' guardian, Knuckles. The kingdom hasn't forgotten that."
Knuckles offered only a nod, but it was a steady one. His countenance seemed to ease slightly.
"One other thing," Sonic said, rising from the steps. His mood appeared less standoffish this time around as well. "Last time I talked to you, you mentioned something about a new connection to the Master Emerald?"
Knuckles looked surprised for about half a second, and a bemused grin spread across his face, "What do ya know? You do listen once in a while!"
Sally tried, she really did, but it was no use. She covered her mouth as her chest heaved in laughter. Sonic merely waved off the echidna.
"Funny." He sounded less than impressed. "But seriously, you said you could connect with the emeralds mentally, right? Can that help us find them at all?"
Knuckles nodded once again; he'd obviously had given it some thought as well, "Yeah, it probably won't be a perfect science, but I bet I could get you a rough location."
"How rough?"
"Maybe…'bout a mile within each one?"
"That would help us a lot," Tails chimed in, "Sounds way better than what we've been working with, at least."
"Alright, well, step on up," Knuckles instructed as he began to ascend the mammoth stairset; the three Freedom Fighters followed closely behind. His demeanor was noticeably lighter and more congenial when dealing with matters related to either chaos energy or physical training, which was a welcome change of pace. Still not exactly friendly, mind, but less immediately threatening.
The mighty Master Emerald was waiting for the group at the top of the stairs, emanating a visible aura, proclaiming to anyone who laid eyes upon it that its verdant green held a power beyond understanding or time. Tails had long pondered the exact nature of the emeralds' power, and chaos energy itself. He'd conducted numerous experiments, all with Knuckles' blessing of course, and developed countless hypotheses and theories, his best guess being that it was a form of radiation augmented by some yet-undiscovered force. He'd spent many a sleepless night delving into dark matter, antimatter, multiverse theory, and even the works of old alchemists. Eventually he'd simply decided to let sleeping dogs lie. Whatever mysteries chaos energy held, he was content with knowing that it would most likely be forever outside of his or anyone else's comprehension.
"So, uh, outta curiosity, how's this work?" Sonic questioned as the group reached the top step.
"Well, there are different types of connections to the emerald," Knuckles explained, "I connect with it to guide the direction of the island, for example, and to detect disturbances in the chaos field.
"But learning new forms of interaction takes meditation and practice. This new link uses the Master Emerald as a sort of...hub to connect my consciousness to the other emeralds. Princess, you got a map?"
"Oh, right." Sally reached into her pack and produced a folded world atlas, including the Acorn Kingdom and all surrounding nations and territories. The kingdom's reach was wide, and there was a good chance most if not all of the emeralds would be located within its borders, but the planet of Mobius itself was grand and diverse as well. Their prizes could potentially lie waiting in any number of foreign lands, and if that were the case, they could only hope they were within nations in good standing with the Acorn Kingdom.
Politics: even more nebulous than chaos energy, Tails thought idly.
Knuckles gave the atlas a once-over, most likely for frame of reference, and approached the emerald, laying both his palms flat on its side. The echidna closed his eyes, and a low humming sound emerged from the gem like an electrical current flowing from a transformer. The green aura extended out to Knuckles, but it didn't seem to cause the echidna any undue stress.
"Got anything?" Sonic asked, his tone now entirely curious.
"Think so," Knuckles responded, "Yeah...yeah I'm picking 'em up…"
The three observed in reverent silence, enraptured as the hum began to gently pulse a steady frequency. None of them spoke, wary of the possibility of disturbing the guardian's concentration, so instead they waited, with only the sounds of the emerald and nature filling the air.
The pulsing slowly increased in frequency, then decreased, then increased again. Knuckles' expression didn't betray any sort of concern, so Tails assumed this was standard operating procedure. That was, until Knuckles' eyes opened rather quickly, and the hum rose into a booming whoosh. Then, as quickly as it happened, the sound was gone and the tranquility of the island was all that remained.
"Woah!" Sonic exclaimed, "You good?"
Knuckles staggered backward, still mostly stable, but it was obvious something unexpected had happened. His eyes darted back and forth, and Tails saw his face run through several emotions in the span of a few seconds as he got his bearings, before settling down into his usual semi-neutral frown.
"Yeah...no, yeah…" Maybe he hadn't completely gotten his bearings, "I'm alright, just kinda...balked on the dismount."
"Not gonna win any gold medals with it, that's for sure," Sonic said with a light chuckle, trying to lighten the mood.
"Right…right...uh, the map?"
Sally immediately handed over the atlas as well as a pen. Knuckles got to work circling the general areas he knew the remaining emeralds to be. As he marked, the trio felt a growing sense of relief when they realized that none of the gems were inside Robotnik-controlled territory - most likely intentional on the Master Emerald's part, Tails figured, to whatever extent a stone could be sapient.
Only one emerald appeared to be outside of the kingdom's borders, but thankfully it was located in the neighboring United Federation, which was a known ally. The President had actually been involved with drafting the Chaos Treaty some years ago, giving each nation party to the agreement permission to utilize chaos energy so long as it was approved by the guardian, A.K.A. Knuckles the Echidna.
"All things considered, this could have been worse," Sally mused, "Even the furthest one should be reachable within a day or two."
Sonic turned his head in Tails' direction, one eyebrow quirked, "Whatcha think? Might need more than one plane?"
"I was thinking about that earlier," the fox responded, staring at the ground in thought, "We have enough planes, but as far as I know only Antoine and I have flown in combat. I'd be worried about anyone else getting caught in a dogfight with a Robotnik drone."
"Well, how about this then:" Sally offered, "Two emeralds are within 200 miles of Mobotropolos. Sonic and I can form a ground team and recover those on foot, while you and the other three split up into groups of two and fly to the further ones."
"That can work," Tails responded, keeping his secondary mission in mind, "I could team up with Rotor and take the X-1 to the most distant emerald," he pointed on the map to the mark on the absolute other side of the kingdom, some 600 miles away, "And Antoine and Bunnie can take the Tornado I and track down the one in the U.F. They're good with diplomacy."
Sonic flashed a one-sided smirk, "Alright, it's a plan, then! Let's get a move on and maybe we can get this done before nightfall!"
Tails was relieved, or as much as he could be considering the circumstances. The emerald he'd be heading towards was the one closest to Robotnik controlled territory. Uncomfortably close, as a matter of fact, as the doctor's boundaries had slowly been encroaching upon it since the last time the emeralds were scattered.
Maybe, if he were smart about it, he could use it as an opportunity to work his way into one of the doctor's outposts to access a computer terminal. Of course, Rotor would be an obstacle, but it wouldn't be the first time they infiltrated an enemy facility; Tails could try to convince him that there was a viable reason to enter that wouldn't suggest an ulterior motive. More lying. It couldn't be helped.
The kitsune looked up to see Sally giving Knuckles' hand a firm shake.
"Thank you Knuckles; you've been an enormous help."
"Ah, it's fine," Knuckles replied with a somewhat unconvincing nonchalance, but then his gaze hardened, "Just make sure you keep me in the loop, and see that the emerald returns to the island once this all blows over."
"You have my word."
Knuckles seemed satisfied enough with that, but as the group made toward the plane, he caught Tails' attention on his way by.
"Hey," the echidna said, "I've been thinking about something you said the last time we had one of our little chaos energy experiments. Something about quantum physics?"
"Oh, yeah," Tails replied, his memory jogged, "My theory that chaos energy might be related to how conventional physics breaks down on a quantum scale. That was a while ago; I'm honestly surprised you remembered it."
"Right...well, I'm no physicist, but...I saw something that I think might be important in the temple."
"Yeah?" Tails' interest was piqued. It wasn't every day Knuckles wanted to talk shop.
"There are some carvings there, from the echidnas before me who built it. I was looking at them the other day and there are drawings there that look like they're showing a scale, and each drawing gets smaller the closer it gets to the Master Emerald shrine. Most of 'em look pretty...I dunno, science-y. Thought you might wanna take a look."
"Well, yeah, we can check it out," Tails said, slightly confused but also intrigued. He'd take any opportunity he could to learn more about the emeralds, especially now that it was pertinent to their mission. Sonic and Sally had noticed Tails' absence and had turned around at the bottom of the stairs.
"You guys go on ahead and get the plane started," Tails told them, "Knuckles and I are gonna take a look at something. Should just be a sec."
The two merely shrugged, and Sonic flashed a thumbs up before heading off into the forest toward the landing site.
Tails followed Knuckles into the temple, illuminated only by the sunlight filtering in from the tall ceiling in brilliant rays. The walls were alive with intricate carvings of all sorts, from ancient echidnas, to religious etchings, to soliloquies scribed in some long lost language. The fox could get lost in them for hours if time allowed, but unfortunately it didn't, and Tails noted a pointed lack of anything resembling what Knuckles had described.
He turned to face the echidna, hoping to ask him to clarify, but before he could get the words out he was met with a hefty punch to the gut. As he buckled over, he felt two strong hands grip his arms and he was shoved violently against the wall. His vision was filled by the face of an apparently furious Knuckles.
This was unexpected.
"What game are you playing?" the echidna growled, "Where's Tails?"
"What?" Tails responded, utterly bewildered, "I'm Tails! Why wouldn't I be?"
"Save it," Knuckle's voice increased in volume, and his right hand moved to grip Tails' neck, "You think I'm that stupid?"
"W-what are you...saying…" Tails choked out. He was rapidly becoming aware that not all of his functions were strictly cosmetic. It was readily apparent that the act of breathing wasn't simply an obfuscation to convince others; he needed oxygen. And right now, he wasn't getting any.
"I'm the guardian of the emeralds! Chaos energy flows through me! When I connect with the Master Emerald, I can feel the chaos signature of every living being for miles around. And just now, when I connected? Guess whose chaos signature was nowhere to be found."
Oh no.
"So who are you, huh?" he continued, "Or what are you, 'cause we both know you're not alive."
Being lifted by his throat and realizing his cover had been blown was bad enough, but ripping open that wound recently formed kick-started something in Tails. He knew, logically, that he had no adrenaline in his bionic system to initiate such a response, but something took hold of him in that moment.
The HUD flashed back into his vision, and with it, time slowed down. Just like in the plane on the way to the island, he was able to calculate everything from the exact force of Knuckles' grip on his throat, to the range of mobility in each of his extremities. With an adequate plan of attack now formed in a fraction of a millisecond, he sprung into action.
The kitsune lifted his legs off the ground and, now anchored to the wall only by Knuckles' grip, sent both feet straight on into his foe's chest with far more force than the echidna could have been expecting. Knuckles landed awkwardly on his back, and Tails knew he couldn't waste time recovering, he had to be on the offensive.
Knuckles kicked himself back onto his feet, and swung a hard right at his incoming adversary. Tails dodged easily, but was out of sorts and couldn't react to the following left jab, again aimed right at his stomach. The android dropped down to one knee, momentarily caught out, but he could sense what was coming next without even seeing it. He reached a hand out to his right, and grabbed the echidna's leg mid-kick. He slung the guardian around, and sent him flying into a nearby pillar.
Knuckles hit the structure hard, much harder than Tails had hoped, and fell to the ground. The fox was on him in an instant, holding him to the ground and staring his friend down. He tried to put forth an angry expression, but he was pretty sure he simply looked manic. Probably just as well.
"Listen!" he hissed, "I am Tails. I have always been Tails. The same Tails you've known all these years."
Knuckles stared up at him, rage still apparent in his eyes, but he was listening, that was something.
"Look, things have been weird lately," he began, wondering how in the world he was going to navigate this minefield, "I...I don't really understand everything myself, but I'm not who I thought I was. You're right, I'm not...I'm not normal. It's something that's only come to light recently."
"You're bullshitting me," Knuckles accused.
"I'm not. Please, Knuckles, you have to trust me. I would never betray you, or the Freedom Fighters, or anyone else. Please."
Knuckles opened his mouth to respond, but closed it just as quickly. The rage was simmering down into a suspicious glare, and Tails began to think he might actually get through to him.
"Not normal, huh? The hell does that mean?"
The two sat, unblinking, for a long while as Tails carefully considered his response.
"I...I don't want to hurt anybody, and I just want to make things right. That's what it means. I know I'm being vague but you just have to trust me, Knuckles. I'm begging you."
"What are you two doing."
It was phrased as a question, but spoken as a demand. And it rang like thunder across the walls of the temple in the voice of Sally Acorn.
Tails was off Knuckles in an instant. Standing upright to face the princess. He kept watch in the corner of his eye for any sudden movements on Knuckles' part, but the echidna merely got up with some difficulty and stood still as well. Tails inwardly grimaced; he really didn't mean to throw him that hard.
"Well?"
"Sally," Tails began, but he had absolutely no clue where to go from here, "Knuckles…"
"We were just doing some sparring."
Tails had to restrain himself from turning to stare at his friend in shock. He was...helping him? Why? He'd just attacked him!
"Sparring?" Sally responded incredulously, "Now? What on Mobius made you decide that right now was the appropriate time for roughhousing?"
"The emerald I'll be retrieving is near Robotnik territory," Tails jumped in, "I haven't fought in the field in a while; Knuckles just wanted to make sure I could still defend myself."
The princess eyed them both suspiciously. Tails could tell she didn't believe a word.
"That didn't look like sparring. It didn't sound like sparring."
"C'mon, Princess, so we got a little carried away. It happens," Knuckles countered. Tails still had no idea why the guardian was coming to bat for him like this, but he was immensely grateful either way. He tried his best to show it with his eyes.
"Tails, we really need to get going," she was practically staring daggers at the fox, but that wasn't where his concern was at the moment. He simply nodded, thankful for any excuse to leave the temple. He didn't know how he managed to worm his way out of that one, but he was certain it would be something that would hang over his head for a while.
As he and Sally descended the stairs, Tails didn't dare turn around. All the same, he could feel the echidna's eyes burning holes into the back of his skull. Yeah, this wasn't the end of it. He'd be naive to think otherwise.
"So, you still sticking to the 'sparring' story?" Sally asked him once they were in the forest en route to the Tornado.
Tails shot her a glare, "It's not a story; it's what happened."
"Mmhm."
Sally said nothing of the incident to Sonic upon their return to the plane, but it didn't take a sleuth to know that there was something hanging in the air. Sonic didn't pry, and Tails certainly wasn't about to offer the information willingly. He just had to hope that, when Sally inevitably mentioned it, his big brother would have enough confidence in him to trust that everything was under control.
Even though it definitely wasn't.
The three climbed back aboard the craft, and the silence followed with them. The only things that met Tails' ears were the drone of the propellor and the rush of the wind past the cockpit. Until about a mile out from the island, when his trance was broken by a single, two-word message from Knuckles vibrating his wrist communicator:
Thin ice.
Metal. That's all there seemed to be in this realm. The guards that carried the boy's limp, exhausted body were metal. Their heavy, ungainly steps clanged against a corrugated steel floor. The walls were tinted an unsightly gray, and were framed haphazardly by exposed conduit, pipes, and other mechanized miscellania. It was all metal.
The walls gave way to a gaping corridor lined on each side by what seemed like miles of vertical bars. He couldn't get a clear view beyond his hulking chaperones as they turned into the hallway, but he was pretty sure he could see movement from within each cell. What he couldn't have ignored even if he tried were the noises.
Groaning, yelling, screaming, crying, all reverberating through the iron chasm like Hell's amphitheatre. His innocent mind could barely comprehend it, but even if he couldn't appreciate the enormity of the situation, the boy had always fancied himself a clever child, and he knew this was no place for a youngling.
The captors threw him unceremoniously into an empty cell, and the door slammed shut behind him. He took a brief look around his new dwelling with what little strength he had left. His only comforts, it appeared, would be a worn-out mattress and a hole in the corner he guessed counted as the "facilities".
Soon another set of footsteps began stomping down the corridor, but these weren't metal. They sounded like...boots, and their pace was...almost leisurely. The voices from the cells seemed to follow the steps. Some begged, some yelled insults, some cried, some just screamed. But it was all because of those steps. Or, rather, whoever it was they belonged to.
He didn't have to wonder for long, as an imposing shadow soon sprawled across the floor in front of his cell. The man who cast it defied explanation. His gargantuan, round frame demanded the young boy's attention. A pair of dark goggles peered down at him, with only the faintest hint of the piercing corneas hidden beneath. A wild, frayed, and offensively orange mustache lashed out in either direction underneath his bulbous nose. How could someone have that much hair under their nose but none on their head?
"Ah, little one, how are we today?", his voice had the resonance of a lion, and the consistency of sandpaper.
The young boy was too terrified to respond. He could only stare meekly up at this demon man outside his chamber.
"Oh, not so talkative? It's okay, I understand. My friends were quite rough with you."
A sickening smile cracked its way across the man's face.
"I'll tell you what: in the interest of getting to know each other, let's start with names, hm? You do have a name, don't you, child?"
"M-my name...my name is Ezra."
"Well hello Ezra!" No man with eyes like those had any business trying to sound so chipper. "It's oh so very nice to meet you. My name's Ivo.
"And I think we're going to have a lot of fun together."