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Sonic and Sash: Tides of Chaos 3
Phantom Worlds
Act 3

Chapter 17: Search for the Shrine


Everyone in the base seemed to be in a state of shock as those words left Shade's mouth. A way to counteract the Phantom Ruby? Meaning a way to finally stop the war for good? It almost seemed too good to be true...

"How exactly do you mean this?" Amy asked.

"I have some crucial information." Shade answered. "Crucial information that can help you win this war and take out that hound before any more damage could possibly be done."

"..." Amy was unsure of what the echidna was saying. "Explain what you mean then."

Shade nodded, soon tapping something on her wrist unit and ejecting a small USB Drive from it, soon walking over and inserting it into the main computer, soon bringing up old manuscripts of the Knuckles clan.

"We use Chaos Energy against them." Shade spoke.

"And... how exactly is that going to work?" Rouge asked. "Bear in mind two of our Chaos Emeralds are already corrupted by that Ruby's energy, so if it can neutralize the Chaos Emeralds, we're kinda. y'know, shit outta luck."

"That's where this one bit of information I have comes in." Shade spoke, pulling up more of the manuscripts. "Lost to your world's history is an aspect regarding the Chaos Emeralds and their connection to the Master Emerald. A 'missing link' if you will; a level between the two completely lost to time..."

"...?" Everyone seemed to be intrigued about what Shade was talking about. Shade would pull up another manuscript image with what appeared to be the Emerald Chamber of Angel Island... only now the pillars had large diamond-cut gemstones on top of them, each one matching each of the Chaos Emerald's colors.

"These..." Shade spoke. "...are the Super Emeralds. Mythical Chaos Relics lost to time from the echidna tribes of the past. And with them... they might just be our ticket to winning this war against the one you call Eggman."

Shadow would be tapping his foot. "Then may I ask exactly how the hell we are supposed to summon them?" He said. "I don't know if you've noticed right now, but we're currently in the middle of a war here."

"I'm getting to that." Shade spat back. "Now, in order to get them to summon proper, we'll need to place the Master Emerald back into an Emerald in a Hidden Palace, and then place all seven of the Chaos Emeralds into the surrounding pillars. After that, Knuckles will need to recite the seven Chaos chant, and summon the Super Emeralds into their pillars. They just might be enough to turn the tides of this war."

"Well, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but how exactly are we gonna get that hunk of rock back into its shrine?" Tangle asked.

"Tangle holds good point." Whisper added. "With how thick Eggman's forces are, it would be impossible to get Master Emerald back to Angel Island. Even if we did, the resurge in Chaos Energy pushing the island back up into the air would surely give our position away to him..."

"Ah, but I said a Hidden Palace, not the Hidden Palace!" Shade countered. "There's more than one way to skin a cat, or in this case, summon the Super Emeralds. Knuckles's tribe has had a history of sporting multiple Emerald shrines across several other islands or Angel Island itself, though most were destroyed after the Perfect Chaos incident that nearly destroyed the tribe itself..."

"But where's this other one?" Tails said. "You'd think we would have found it by now..."

"Well, Knuckles' tribe may have have been warriors, but their tacticians were cunning." Shade spoke. "They put their other primary shrine on an island where they knew it wouldn't be able to float... the other Hidden Palace is located on what you would call Westside."

"I-I-It's on Westside Island?!" Tails exclaimed in shock. "Wh-where?!"

"That I cannot say for sure, but if the one on Angel Island is to be believed, it may be deep within the island itself." Shade spoke. "However... when we still had the Nocturnous allied with his Empire, he already has several of his troops crawling across the island itself, as well as several of the Zones under his control. That's not even mentioning the surge in volcanic activity that had surfaced there."

"So what you're saying is Westside Island is a complete death trap?" Carol spoke.

"It may be, but it's the only chance we've got." Shade spoke, looking to the rest of the group. "We've got multiple Zone fronts to look at for any sort of way underground that currently aren't fully Eggman-controlled. Anyone have suggestions for which zones we should check?"

Silence.

"...no one has any sort of suggestion at all?" Shade asked.

"...I might have one." Tails spoke, as everyone turned to the kitsune. "Hear me out on this... but back when Eggman had the first Death Egg crisis, Sonic and I had basically ran all the way across the island in order to give chase to him... and I think I might have an idea on where to start searching."

"Where?" Whisper spoke.

"Yeah Tails, fill us in here!" Tangle said.

"...Mystic Cave Zone." Tails said. "It's deep within Hill Top Zone, and I don't know how heavy the volcanic activity might have shifted the island's climate... but it's our only shot we have."

"Very well." Shade spoke, looking to Knuckles. "Do you agree with this?"

"What other choice do we have that doesn't involve us risking our lives with Eggman's robots?" Knuckles spoke. "Westside's Hidden Palace might be the only chance we've got."

"I still think it might be best to spread our searches to the other Zones though." Zeena finally said. "After all, if the increase in volcanic activity is anything to believe, that probably means he's crashed Lava Mountain down onto Westside Island as well."

"Good point..." Tails spoke. "We'll need proper teams; let's give ourselves an hour to rest up and have the Empire get off our backs for now. I'm sure with the stunt Classic and Cyclone just pulled the entire Empire is going to be on high alert, especially since we've now got four of the Emeralds."

Shade nodded. "Amy, do you approve of this?"

The hedgehog nodded. "We'll lay low for a while. If we try going now, Eggman might be having his forces swarming for us."

Shade nodded. "Alright, let's rest."


Meanwhile, back at the main Eggman fortress located on Westside Island, the doctor was angrily pacing back and forth, not exactly too pleased that the plan of ringing in the Nocturne had backfired horribly. His mustache twitched slightly as soon Orbot popped into the room.

"Uhm, sir, I-" Orbot spoke before Robotnik interrupted.

"What do you want?" He growled, not exactly too pleased he was being interrupted.

"Well, we have updates from the others." Orbot spoke. "All the other prisoners are secured down and locked tightly, meaning they will have no chance at escaping. The other three Chaos Emeralds have been securely locked down on the bases on the other points of Mobius and Avalice; we've taken these precautions ever since Charyb and Scylla were destroyed and their Emeralds were lost. Speaking of the Nocturnous-"

"I saw the whole thing." Robotnik growled, slamming his hand down on the table. "I'm disappointed in the Nocturnous's performance to say the least. And with that past Sonic now with them, and having the power to go Super because of the Master Emerald, and Ix now merely a stain on the Empire's name, needless to say, I'm rather livid right now."

"We're still trying to keep everything under control sir." Orbot answered. "Rest assured, the troops are going to be ready for their full-out assault on Empire City within the next 24 hours."

"Good." Robotnik growled. "Do not forget to eliminate any sort of Resistance that might try to stop us."

"Yes, sir." Orbot said before popping out of the doctor grumbled to himself as he paced back and forth in anger, soon twidling his mustache as he checked back to his monitor. He was somehow losing ground to the Resistance, and he needed to catch back up...

"Infinite!" Robotnik barked, the hound soon materializing in the room.\

"Yes, doctor?" The hound spoke, already knowing what he was going to say.

"When the assault on Empire City happens, you are to head there too." Robotnik spoke. "If anyone interferes, kill them."

"As you wish." The hound responded before warping out of the room, leaving the doctor to himself.


The female echidna was silent to herself as she came back into the main hub, feeling a bit refreshed and ready for the expedition to Westside. Wanting to start new and fresh after the Nocturnous had lied to her for her lifetime, she abandoned her old bodysuit and boots, only keeping her headband, blades, and bracelets. Her new outfit had her consisted of a tight-fitting dark magenta turtleneck vest, black shorts, new black gloves, white sweatpants leggings bound by sports tape, and makeshift sandals with sports tape as well. She gripped her hands tightly, her eyes looking around at the area...

"You alright Shade?" Knuckles said, walking up next to her.

"Y-yeah..." Shade sighed. "I'm alright..."

"We'll do this." Knuckles said, looking over to Tails and Amy. "Alright, so what teams are going where?"

"Well, we've already decided to have you and Shade go to Hill Top to get down into Mystic Cave." Tails spoke. "We're planning on getting the Jackal Squad out to start combing over the deserts of Mirage Saloon, and I'm planning on having Classic and Cyclone head out to the Chemical Plant next to see if we can find a way to knock down their defenses a few pegs; namely the Death Egg. If we can take that thing out, we'll be in a much better position for an assault on his main base."

"And what of the wolf?" Shade asked.

"She and Tangle are going to be investigating out near Oil Ocean." Amy spoke. "We've picked up from one of our allied field agents that there's troops of Eggman's using it as a hideout for the time being. We're going to make sure that he can't use his resources."

"Ah, deprive of him of vital oil for his machines." Shade spoke. "Rather cunning Rose."

"And I'll be doing a bit of recon myself!" Sven said, pulling out his RC remote again as a Crabmeat would scuttle out from behind the workbench. "Since everyone else is gonna be recon on Westside, why not join in on the fun myself and spy on them directly under their noses?"

"A risky move, but very rewarding if you can pull it off well." Shade spoke.

"Oh!" Tails said, soon handing Shade a small pack filled with electronics. "One more thing, and I'll be giving these to the Jackal Squad too, but if you guys manage to find Westside's Hidden Palace, set up this teleporter so we can have direct access to it when we need it the most."

Shade nodded, slinging the pack over her back. "Is that why Knuckles is leaving the Master Emerald here?"

"For the most part." Knuckles answered. "If I try hauling that thing along with me, we'd be a massive sitting duck from hauling that much Chaos Energy on my body. Best to keep it off the radar down here until we find that Palace."

"...very well." Shade spoke. "Shall we be off?"

Knuckles nodded. "Tails, get the teleporter fired up."

"Right." Tails said, typing into the main keyboard console. "I have it linked up with my old workshop on Westside. I'm uploading the coordinates to Mystic Cave on your comm tablets right as we speak; good luck you two."

The two echidnas nodded before stepping through the teleporter, leaving the base. Soon the two would arrive in what appeared to be an abandoned workshop, dilapitated from lack of use and from the war.

"Alright..." Shade said, activating the visor part of her helmet from her headband. "According to the information Tails gave, Mystic Cave appears to be fourteen miles due north of here..." She spoke, soon looking out of the workshop in the direction of the coordinates signal, seeing the towering cliftops of Hill Top. "Looks like his money is right on the ball."

"Well then, looks like we've got a bit of a trek ahead of us." Knuckles spoke. "And a dangerous one too; all that ash spewn about in the air means the island's volcanic activity has increased severely."

"We'll need extra precaution then; any wrong move could cause us to be boiled alive." Shade answered. "You wouldn't happen to have any Flame Shields, would you?"

"...shit." Knuckles cursed. "I forgot to ask Tails about them before we left."

"Well, no harm no foul in that case..." Shade spoke. "We'll just have to keep our precaution up."

Knuckles nodded. "Let's go then." He spoke, before the two took off against the volcanic landscape of Charred Emerald Hill. Whatever palm trees that hadn't been burned up in the lava were converted into self-pump stations for magma itself, the piping running through the now charred grey hills with burnt grass. The two would keep their cover low as they crept across the charred landscape, the machines pumping away at the magma...

Shade grit her teeth at how this land was being torn apart by the unnatural volcanic disasters happening, but she couldn't allow herself to get distracted; she needed to keep a level head.

"Hey, Shade!" Knuckles called, a bit ahead of her. "I think I've got a visual on a group of Eggman bots!"

Shade took a deep breath before rushing up to the echidna, laying low with him as he looked over the edge of the small cliff. Several other badniks would appear to be communicating with eachother through beeping, some pointing towards Hill Top...

Without another sound the Badniks would be moving out off towards Hill Top, giving the two echidnas some breathing room.

"Looks like they know something's up." Shade spoke. "I'm betting one of the other Nocturnous spilled about the multiple Hidden Palaces."

"Then let's get up that mountain." Knuckles said. Shade nodded in response before the two took off for the heights of Hill Top.


As the stone hard fists drove into the rock wall as they climbed, Shade could start to feel a bit of vertigo inside her stomach as she looked back down from where they started climbing. It was a long way back down...

"You holding up okay down there?" Knuckles asked, looking down at the female echidna.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine." Shade said, a bit unsure of herself. "How close are we to the clifftops?"

"Shouldn't be too much further hopefully." Knuckles said, continuing to climb as Shade followed behind him, soon pulling herself up onto a patch of dead grass. Looking around, Shade would soon see the height of Hill Top's sheer magnitude. The dead grass covering the charred grey rock peaks, the dead fir trees lining the area, the large mechanisms for extracting even more magma for the doctor to power his geothermal machines... even the gondolas that would ferry between peaks were converted into some sort of machine for Eggman's benefit. Truly, this was a Bad Future for this Zone.

"Yikes, this is worse than I thought..." Knuckles said. "Well, we can't worry about this right now. How close are we to Mystic Cave's entryway?"

Shade would check her visor again. "Eight-hundred feet to the northeast from this clifftop."

"Alright then." Knuckles said. "I can glide over there, what about you?"

Shade shook her head. "Gliding is not exactly my specialty. I'll have to look for another way around."

"I'll meet you over there then." Knuckles said as he lept off the cliff face, using his dreadlocks to catch the air as he started to slowly glide towards another cliff face. Shade could feel the sweat running down her face as she soon started to lower herself down the wall past the gondola; with how modified it was, she wasn't even going to risk trying to take it out of concern there might be detection sensors in it or the thing outright collapsing into the lava below. She could feel the heat growing as she descended ever so closer downwards...

She was now only five feet above the surface of the lava, and that's all the closer she wanted to get. Swallowing hard, she'd plant her feet hard into the rock wall before she soon let go, firing off her legs like an engine cylinder and latched onto the wall opposite of her. Sighing in relief, she'd start climbing the other wall back up to where the gondola would have taken her, soon pulling herself up onto the dead grass again. She looked ahead, soon taking a quick dive-roll down the slight slope before coming to a ducking stop behind the rock.

Peeking over the edge, she'd see the Zone would still be mostly unattended, not much going on around it... aside from the magma flows and shifting rock islands in them. Clenching her fists, she'd soon roll over the rock and swiftly leap from shifting island to island, soon coming to a grip on the wall on the other side. Keeping her composure she would climb up the next wall before meeting up with Knuckles at the cave entrance.

"Well, good thing you made it." Knuckles said. "How bad's the Zone been terraformed?"

"Not terribly... but it's still rather a pain to navigate." Shade spoke. "This the entrance to Mystic Cave?"

Knuckles nodded, soon getting into the minecart on the tracks at the entrance. "It's an old mine from what Tails had told me. I think if we go deep enough, we might be able to find the Palace."

"Let's hope..." Shade spoke, stepping into the cart. "I'm almost certain this is the only shot we have."

"Hold on then." Knuckles spoke as he released the brakes to the cart, the two echidnas soon plunging into the depths of Westside Island itself, the shaft growing darker... and darker...

Shade noticed something immediately wrong when there was a light glowing brighter at the end of the tunnel. This was supposed to be an abandoned mineshaft... right?

"Knuckles, bail out!" Shade screamed as she pulled the echidna out of the cart with her as the minecart soon crashed through the wooden barrier... and splashed straight into the boiling water lake. The cavern was sweltering, the heat waves coming off the water as the abandoned mineshaft had now become a boiling cavernous lake. Shade swallowed hard; she didn't think the volcanic activity would disrupt the island's ecosystem this badly!

"Oh jeez..." Knuckles spoke. "Since when did we get to Lava Reef?"

"Well, I guess that narrows down the clues as to why the Palace would be here..." Shade spoke. "Where should we start looking?"

"Well, no clue." Knuckles said. "Let's just start looking around..." The two would set off into the mineshaft cavern, now having seen the added hazard of the boiling water, lava pouring in from the ceiling points above and solidifying on the lake itself. Knuckles would be gliding across the larger boiling gaps of the cave system while Shade had to utilize the internal mechanisms of the cavern to lower down the bridges to progress. Oddly enough the cavern was... devoid of most badniks, mostly just finding the scrapped remains of Flashers and Crawltons lining the area.

"This... doesn't seem right." Shade spoke, before hearing what sounded like robotic sounds. "We have someone up ahead, get down!" She said as she and Knuckles ducked behind one of the support beam poles for the cavern, peeking around to see none other than the group of Badniks from earlier. This time Shade was able to get a better view of them; it appeared to be two Egg Flames, an Orbinaut, and three other Egg Fighters. They seemed to be chattering to eachother at some sort of indecipherable chattering, something Shade couldn't understand.

Then, without warning, the Egg Flames would waddle over and activate, immediately blowing their hot flames onto the support beams of the cave. Shade's eyes widened.

They were going to take down the cave entirely.

"Code red!" Shade yelled, grabbing her blades. "Knuckles, take them down!"

"Right!" The red echidna said before leaping out, soon his fist caving in the head of the one Egg Fighter. The other robots would start to panic and start to close in onto the red echidna before the peach echidna had come in and slashed through the other Egg Fighter. Soon enough it became a brawl as soon the Egg Flames had rushed over to try and light the two on fire. Shade wouldn't have it as soon she slashed through the Badnik's circuitry, disabling its flame properties before knuckles delivered a smashing punch straight into the center of the Badnik, sending the Egg Flame hurtling straight into the boiling lake, exploding on impact with the overheated water. Soon enough the same fate befell the other Egg Flame, leaving the two in a ring of scrap around the area. Shade sighed in relief, soon sheathing her two blades.

"Let's keep searching." She spoke, the two echidnas heading deeper into the cave. Passing what appeared to be an old signpost, the two would soon come to a rather large pit with spikes at the bottom... but something didn't feel right.

"Something's up with this pit..." Shade spoke, peering down into the black abyss. "It doesn't... feel right..."

"Should we try the rock test?" Knuckles asked.

"The what?" Shade asked in return.

"The rock test. Y'know, drop a rock down there, see if it makes a hollow sound that something's on the other side?" Knuckles said.

"Well... I suppose we could try." Shade said, soon grabbing a small rock and tossing it down the pit. Missing the spikes and colliding with the ground directly, both Shade and knuckles would hear a bit of an echo at the bottom of the spike pit.

"Well, that confirms something is definitely on the other side..." Shade spoke, turning to Knuckles. "So now wh-" She interrupted herself as she saw Knuckles ripping a chunk of earth out of the wall. "Uh... what are you doing?"

"Well, we got confirmation something's behind that pit floor." Knuckles said. "Now we just gotta bust it open."

"...if you say so." Shade spoke as the echidna threw the massive boulder down the pit, the large mass crashing through the floor and down into the pit below, revealing an open passageway downwards...

"Well, looks like we've got one way to go..." Shade spoke. "Let's go." She said, as the two dropped into the pit below...


The sky was filled heavy with toxic smog as the machines worked away at the oil pumping, the lemur and the wolf making their way through the heavily guarded zone with extreme caution, making sure they didn't slip into the disgusting murky ink below. Tangle had to hold her breath, which really started to ache her lungs, while Whisper had the luxury of her mask to filter the air for her. Octus units would be hovering from platform to platform as they swiveled around, acting as some sort of makeshift turret system while the Aquis badniks kept flitting around the Zone's airspace. Whisper internally sighed in relief; thank goodness the smog was actually helping cover for them for the time being.

Looking through her mask's information receptacles, the scanner on it would soon pick up a point of interest: what appeared to be a ship soon coming in from the skies as it touched down into the oily sea. She could make out the figure of what appeared to be holding a sceptre at the front of the boat, soon jumping off onto the docks... though not without a cough.

"What did I tell you incompetent fools about not clearing the smog out of the air here?!" The figure said. "Get the fans running, now!"

"R-roger boss!" An Egg Pawn said before running over and jumping onto a handle, pulling it down as gigantic fans scattered throughout the zone began to churn, soon blowing the smog out of the surrounding area, making the view of everything clear. Tangle let out a loud gasp as she took in the new fresh air before Whisper quickly clamped her hand over the lemur's mouth, not about to let their prying eyes be found by the enemy.

"There we go. Now then," The figure said, turning out to be Heavy King. "The supplies are in along with the last of the renegade aliens Master Robotnik wanted. Under no circumstances are those nuisances to be freed until they serve no more useful purposes, understood?"

"Roger roger!" Another Egg Pawn said as he flagged down more of his kind, now the Octus's on high alert as they kept wide eyes for intruders. Heavy Shinobi would soon leap out of the ship itself, standing next to Heavy King.

"Now then, now that that's underway," King said, looking to Shinobi. "We need to make sure nothing is in here, understood?"

Shinobi merely nodded.

"Good. "I'm going to go get the Mega Octus fired up." King said, moving away. "You patrol the surface of the ocean. That's an order!"

"Very well." Shinobi spoke as he soon lept to a nearby boat, several shadow clones of himself spawning as soon his sword slashes started propelling the boat away from the docking at a rather quick pace.

Whisper grit her teeth, soon releasing her grip on Tangle. "Looks like we've got objectives." The wolf quietly said to her partner. "And see where they are going."

Tangle would look to see the Egg Pawns were hauling off the supplies... as well as the Wisp capsules... towards what appeared to be a rather large elevator of sorts, loading into its large holding space. Whisper motioned to the lemur to follow her lead as she soon darted from cover to cover, taking care for the Badniks not to see her...

...before she dodge-rolled behind a piece of machinery right next to the elevator. Keeping her figure as low to the ground as possible and her tail completely motionless, soon Tangle would join behind her as soon the elevator button turned green again.

"Tail." Whisper spoke quietly. "Call for it." Tangle nodded in response as she stretched her tail and hit the call elevator button with one of its furry fingers, then pulled back as the two waited in silence for the elevator to come...

Soon enough a ding would be heard as the elevator doors opened and several Badniks would be stepping out, not seeing Tangle and Whisper's hiding spots as they darted into the elevator, hitting the button as the door closed behind them without the robots knowing. Tangle breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator began its slow descent.

"That was too close for comfort." Whisper spoke. "We were almost caught when you let out that gasp."

"Can ya blame me?" Tangle spoke. "I don't have lungs of steel! I don't have the kind of mask you have!"

"That still doesn't excuse it." Whisper spoke. "What if they had heard you? If it weren't for my reaction, you'd be dead!"

"I could take them." Tangle countered.

"A horde of Pawns, maybe, but not an entire legion of them, plus two of Robotnik's highest ranking generals in the entire empire." Whisper countered, before looking out at the ocean now that they had passed the several meter-thick oily surface... seeing the underwater base coming into view, the lavender and gold metallic outer shell pumping down the oil from above as several larger machines capped the underwater thermal jets, harnessing the heat from the volcanic activity for power in the base.

"Looks like this is going to be a rather large search..." Whisper spoke.

"Remind me what exactly are we looking for?" Tangle asked. "I doubt it's gonna be that Hidden Palace thing at this rate because of this whole monster..."

"Miles needed us for searching the large energy signal, no matter what cost it is." Whisper spoke. "So let's start searching."


Soon after reaching the bottom of the pit, Knuckles and Shade would soon find themselves not in the same cavern they were in before; gone was the charred rocks and mine aesthetic, now adorning the walls were green and lavender colored jewels, seemingly pulsating from their own energy. The walls and ground were made from an extremely hard brown-colored jewel-like substance, covering the entirity of the floor and ceiling. Off in the distance of the cave the magma would be slowly flowing in from the ceiling, soon hitting down on the much cooler water of the cavern and causing steam to rise up into the air.

"So..." Shade breathed. "This must be the Hidden Palace..."

"Looks like it." Knuckles said. "Let's find that shrine so we can get that teleporter set up."

Shade nodded in response before the two set off into the cavern itself, seeing the untouched landscape as they trekked across its uneven landscape and the occasional emerald walkways that comprised its interior. Soon enough they came close as they soon were descending a staircase deeper and deeper into the island... spiraling downwards...

...before it finally came to an end of a long hallway adorned with murals, much like the ones of Angel Island. As the two silently trekked down the corridor, Shade had a chill run up her spine in anticipation. This could be exactly what they were looking for...

The two would reach the end of the corridor, a central light pouring out of an open hole of the ceiling onto a large altar in the middle of a lake. Seven pillars surrounded the center altar and from the emerald symbols on the pillars themselves, the two finally knew...

They found it.

Knuckles smiled, starting to get the stuff out of the pack. "Alright, we found it!" Knuckles said. "Now to just get that teleporter set up..."

Shade however was speechless as she wandered across the altar in awe, gazing at the serene calmess of her surroundings. She hadn't even realized how much time had past until she had heard the distinct whirring sound of the teleporter, looking back to see Knuckles had just gone through back to base. Shade held her breath, still looking around in awe at the surroundings of the Hidden Palace just as Knuckles came back with the Master Emerald.

"Still looking around?" Knuckles asked, snapping Shade out of her trance.

"Y-yeah..." Shade spoke, turning back to Knuckles. "Ready?"

Knuckles nodded in response, soon setting the Master Emerald into the center pillar of the altar as its green energy soon sent a glow through the rune-like patterns on the floor, connecting to each of the seven smaller pillars in the room.

"We... we did it." Shade spoke.

Knuckles nodded in response. "All we need now is to find those last Emeralds..."


With Hidden Palace uncovered and the Master Emerald secured in its new temporary home, Knuckles and Shade have successfully completed their mission of the search. But what of Whisper and Tangle? Where are they headed out at Oil Ocean? Find out next time in Chapter 18: "20,000 Leagues under the Oil Ocean"...