NIGHT 02: Hot Rocks

That night, I left the desert behind and found myself in a mountainous region full of lava. Now this was a great spot for a picnic! The hot air, the smell of sulfur! Well, maybe that last part wasn't so great, but it was a small price to pay for the view.

There was a sizable volcano deep in the Mystic Jungle where I had found Quartz. That and being a dark chao accounted for her extra mischievousness in comparison to domestic chao. Though, being a two-tone purple chao, it was likely that she was at least partly domestic. Perhaps someone's pet chao got lost in the jungle and found the wild colony living in the volcano. That particular colony of chao was specially adapted to handle the harsh conditions of the volcano though they still required the same clean water that all chao do.

Which was how Quartz was able to join me in playing in a pond of lava like it was a swimming pool. My Flame Ring protected me from the heat. It was like a hot bath that was just almost scalding but not so hot to actually burn.

Unfortunately, the robots from earlier were here as well and we had to fend them off again. I attacked with fire-engulfed kicks and punches while Quartz dive-bombed them. After they were dispatched, we had our picnic inside the volcano. I used the lava to heat up my food and threw the trash away to be burned.

We managed to find our way out of the volcano, though I wished I could stay for longer. The path through the mountains led us to a grassy area where I could see over the edge of the island into the sea below. I wondered how the view from there looked when the island was airborne.

Spying a bridge connected to a smaller island, I crossed it, making sure to stay in the middle. I couldn't fly so a fall would mean certain doom, but I had to know what was over there.

What I found was an old shrine, in the same condition as the ruins in the jungle, same design too. At the top of the shrine was nothing but some glowing green rocks, broken remnants of something larger. I could feel energy emanating from them, but it was faded. This had to be the Master Emerald! …or what was left of it. I had read about it in my research on the ancient echidnas and seen depictions of it in the jungle.

This was why the island had fallen! Who or what could have broken it? What happened to its guardian? Did it have a guardian? The echidnas were extinct or so everyone said. I always wondered if it was really true.

That was when a strange red light appeared and hovered in front of me. "What is this-?" Everything went white and I thought I was blind. Then my vision returned, and I was somewhere else. I also seemed to be some-when else as it looked like artists' depictions of the Knuckles Clan back in its heyday. There were echidnas walking around all-throughout the city.

Taken aback from how astonishing it was, I was suddenly concerned for my safety. I was a fox in an echidna city back when interspecies relations were strained. I thought to pull my hood up to cover my head, but my tail still would've been a dead giveaway, so I didn't.

Oddly, no one seemed to be bothered by my presence at all as if I wasn't even there. Still nervous, I decided to duck out of the city through a tunnel and then across a bridge. I immediately recognized the shrine though it was in perfect condition and the Master Emerald was intact. Hearing chao, I looked to the base of the shrine. There was a small colony of the tiny creatures, singing peacefully. Quartz poked her head out of my hood to watch but didn't join in.

"Hello," a young female voice greeted. "I see you've already befriended one of these peaceful creatures." The girl, an echidna, looked down at them. "I only wish more people would understand…"

I only nodded, not sure what to say or even if this was really happening.

"…then their guardian wouldn't have to worry."

I watched the chao, wondering what she meant. There seemed to be a presence in the waters running off the fountain, but I couldn't tell what it was. Then my vision began to fade again, and I was back at the ruins of the Master Emerald shrine and the remnants of the Emerald itself.

"What in the world just happened? Did you see that too, Quartz?" My chao nodded her head. At least I wasn't alone in the leave of my senses. "I think it's time we got back home. I need a nap after that."

We crossed back over the bridge and hung a right, leaving through a big door that led to a cave. We passed by a door made of ice, which I decided then I wasn't going to open. I drew a line at adventures that led to the snowy unknown. Lucky for us, that tunnel led right out at the train station. It seemed that something or someone had blown a hole in the mountain to make traveling to the island easier.

As I rode on the train back to Station Square, I couldn't help but think about that strange vision and the state of the Master Emerald. I felt that big forces were at work and that things would not be the same, but I didn't know at the time just what that would mean for the city.