Chapter 3: An Object of Mystery

The world was a blur, speeding past at a rate unbelievable to mortal standards. However, this was only a cruise for one who could track a lightning bolt's electric strand across the sky. One whose fascinating speed was adored, admired, and appreciated amongst Freedom Fighters around the entire globe. Stationed at the local village-base, Knothole, only a few seconds trip (for our blue, speedy friend here) from Robotropolis, Sonic the Hedgehog was on his way to a good friend's (and superior's) hut, on her order. However important this meeting was, he was "sure as sugar" that the preceding mission was no problem for him.

The squirrel-chipmunk was waiting, foot tapping, for him as her portable super-computer, Nicole, sat on the table beside her, "What took you so long? That was 1067 milliseconds too slow, by my standards," she glared at him, crossly.

"Why, my dear Princess Sally," Sonic began, "I'm sure you know the drill: rain fell last night creating slippery mud, Freedom Fighters walking by I must avoid, Tails calls me over to ask a question," He sighed in mock sincerity, leaning on the table, "really, Sal, I might as well be expected a nanosecond after you request my presence."

The girl smirked at Sonic's cocky, joking, "Okay, Sonic, these reports from Rotor's Scout-bots say that a short jog to the east of here, high emissions of energy output from under ground are radiating around this spot."

"Hmmm, I can think of only two things that output high amounts of energy: Power Rings and Chaos Emeralds."

"Correct," Sally said, "whatever it is that is there must be found out before Robotnik, just in case it is another source of Power Rings or something."

With that, a quick scouting party was organized including Sally, Bunnie Rabbot, and Sonic. Tails was allowed to go after much debate, seeing as the mission was not a dangerous one. It was morning in the Great Forest, a good time to start a fifteen mile walk east to the object to be discovered. They all put up a good start, and after eight miles everyone was allowed to rest.

"Oh, Sonic," Tails complained, "how much longer do we have to walk like this?"

"At least another half hour," Sonic answered, also tired of walking.

The twin tailed fox sighed, contemplating the boringness of this "mission". The blue-eyed fox sat on a stump, and drank gratefully from the canteen being passed around. At only eight, Miles Prower (referred to as Tails for his extra tail) was an intellect; a young prodigy in study under the also very smart inventor, Boomer (who would rather be called, Rotor). He has a unique ability to rev up his tails like a helicopter, and fly quite fast.

The mid-day sun shone through the trees as he looked up at it resting on the stump. Sonic, Bunnie, and Sally were jabbering about a map, when suddenly the sun was momentarily blocked out by three hover vehicles that resembled Robotnik's. They were coming from where the group was heading, and flying toward Robotropolis.

"Look!" Tails shouted, pointing at the sky, "Three crafts, they look like Robotnik's!"

Before anyone else could act, Sally put Nicole into Sonic's hands, "Take her and get to the canyon. Analyze the area, then hurry back here and make your report."

"Of course," Sonic obliged, "be back in a few."

Hence, he was out of sight before one second followed.

The two minute run the rest of the way to the canyon was relief for his legs. Sonic was not used to walking long distances. Walking to him is a human equivalent of just standing for a really long time. The tree cover lessened as he reached the crevice, and when he got there, it was quite a sight. Although the whole thing was a little more than a football's field in length, it was twice that in depth.

"Scanning," Said Nicole's voice synthesizing algorithms. It took about ten seconds for her to finish, "though there are some traces of the object's power lingering, no significant energy waves give proof of the object still being here."

"And there are not any more than one?"

"Negative," Nicole answered, "however, my scanners indicate traces of jet engine exhaust fumes to your ten."

"I should have known," Sonic sighed with scorn, "the ol' 'Buttnik always two steps ahead of us," he turned to head back, "Oh well, just another routine trip into Robotropolis."

The beaten earth scorched under the friction of the soles of Sonic's shoes. Deep within the cavernous trench, not an hour earlier, Robotnik had defiled the canyon with his presence. The partially robotic, fat, humanoid left his trail straight to his home in his city of robots and metallic buildings. Within this crazed man's clutches, he possessed a prized artifact he decided was worth researching for its power.

Robotnik placed the gold plated staff into a large analyzing container. The staff was hand-hold diameter and about five-and-a-half feet long. It had a fancy slot on the top that seemed to imply that it would fit a large gemstone. The pair was in a kind of laboratory, surrounded by metallic walls, and various instruments.

"Now, Snively," the deep, sinister voice croaked, "just what makes this stick so powerful?" The short, large nosed minion adjusted controls on a panel, and activated the machine. The console screen wrote up a property list for the object.

Snively's voice was nose-plugged and often annoying, "Significant elemental percentages, sir: seventy-eight percent iron, eleven percent steel composition, six percent gold, and five percent mercury, sir."

"Mercury?" Robotnik echoed, "Hmmm… It must be inside, in a hollow section, eh, Snively?"

"I suppose, sir," he shrugged. A moment passed while the doctor scanned the read-out.

"Put it under X-Ray."

Night started falling on Knothole Village. The spring air felt chilly, but promised better weather for the next day. In the comfort of Sally's hut, Sonic, Tails, Bunnie, and she discussed what next move they were to take.

"Ah just don't unnerstand whai that thing is so important to you, Sally-girl," Bunnie stated in her southern accent. Sally had just finished explaining the plan that she had to retrieve the item from Robotnik. Bunnie just wanted to leave the whole thing alone.

"I don't want Robotnik to figure out whatever he just dug up in that canyon. If that object really does have some unexplainable power source, I do not want him to unlock its secrets and have a potentially unlimited source of energy." Sally defined her reasoning with logic, "And, tonight, we must devise a plan for salvaging it, under he cover of night, you, Sonic, and I."

"–But!" Tails cut in. He hated being left out and missing all of the action the Freedom Fighters had.

"Sorry, Tails," Sally sympathized, "we let you go with us toward the canyon, but dropping into the heart of Robotropolis just isn't the same thing," she checked Nicole's on-screen clock, "I understand how you feel, but you only will be a burden for us. Now, it's getting late for all of us, and you should be heading to bed, Tails."

He shuffled out of the room, mumbling that he was afraid she might say something like that, and shambled to his hut. Tired as he was, Tails wouldn't have been kept down by drowsiness. The warm sheets against the spring air proved his thoughts otherwise, though, as he dulled his mind and drifted to sleep on fluffy clouds.

His slumber was uneasy and stirring as visions of the Ancient Walkers–spiritual deities presenting themselves as a trio under tribal masks–passed in and out of his visions. Sonic getting beaten fairly hard while trying to get back the object came into view for a few seconds; the object appearing to be a golden staff. The dreaming wore on, seeming to get dull, but then, Sally came into view with an incredibly stern look on her face, confronting Robotnik. She said something vaguely, something one would hear in a dream, and forget, for something to trigger its remembrance later on.

The Power Ring Pool distributes Power Rings to the village, and a careful vigilance is kept by a Freedom Fighter in order to collect rings that surface. One such Freedom Fighter isn't as vigilant as he should be, however, and dozes off at times, especially since he is on the early morning shift.

A bright, yellow glow filled the water's sub-surfaces, and soon the whole area was awoken by a golden, phosphorous glow. The emanation came from a single ring, about a basketball's radius, hovering horizontally above the pool's surface as if a creature's ghost would accompany it upward to the heavens. The radiant, glimmering of the ring caused Antoine to come alert, grab his prodding stick, and used it to recover the ring, seconds before it was to fall back into the pool.

"A-ha!" He exclaimed, triumphantly, "zought you could catch ze magnifeecent Antoine napping, eh?" he told the ring in his French accent, "Well, not today, my–"

Antoine froze when a rustling in nearby shrubbery cut his boasting off. A thud came after the rustling, then thuds of foot-fall faded into the forest. Antoine's face was white and his body rigid with fright. The ring dangled, nonchalantly from his stick, and his whole respiratory system stood still in horror. He was speechless when a low groaning spoke for him, coming from the estimated location the thud was heard from.

The blue uniform clad coyote came to his senses, and his Freedom Fighter courage took over. He marched over to the bushes and brushed aside the leaves to find Sonic and Sally laid out in the dirt.

Glancing up at Antoine who gasped, Sonic looked the worse, "You?" his eyes glassed over, and he fell unconscious.

Tails awoke to a disturbance to the peace. It was early morning, but still dark when he heard men yelling from a distance. The orange fox jumped out of bed to find that he had muscle aches and a few bruises that hadn't been there before, but he shrugged them off and hurried to see what was wrong.

Out in the brisk air, a crowd of Freedom Fighters had gathered around Antoine helping him carry Sally and Sonic to the infirmary. Bewildered at such a predicament among such a powerful team, Tails followed the gathering just outside the medical hut.

A sensible person exclaimed over the low murmur of the baffled crowd, "Listen, not everybody can fit into this shelter so return to your own huts and you'll be educated about this tomorrow morning." Tails listened to reason and wearily, went back to bed.