Chapter 8 - Rescue

Sonic and the others finally found the fortress. "What the.. It's deserted!" Sonic exclaimed. The fortress had been built into the cliff so it was difficult to find. It had been only been Knuckles's keen eye that had spotted the doorway. There was a few windows carved into the rock, some of the windows had bars of fire on them, but Sonic guessed most of the fortress had electrical lighting. The strangest thing was that there were no guards in sight. This left Sonic confused but he wouldn't back down now. He was so close to finding Tails and Shadow, he couldn't give in because of his suspicions of there being a trap.

"Come on, We have to keep moving. If Shadow and Tails are in there, now is the perfect time to get them out," Knuckles said impatiently.
"Relax, Knuckles. Look," Aeronniell said pointing at the main door. A large group of soldiers were leaving through the front door. They walked quickly like they were eager to leave.. Or to get somewhere.
"That's the last," A short hedgehog called. Aeronniell recognised the hedgehog. It was Conrad.

"What abouwt the pwrisoners?" A large hedgehog called.

"Stephenson?" Aeronniell whispered, clearly disappointed.
"Huh?" Sonic asked. Aeronniell shook her head.
"Nothing, it's just another one of my friends that's betrayed the forest,"

"Our orders are to leave 'em 'til we get back. It's not like they can get out anyway," the Conrad replied, laughing at his remark.
"Now's our chance,"Aeronniell whispered. "Let's go," Aeronniell exclaimed.

After quietly running towards the fortress, Sonic, Knuckles and Aeronniell entered. "Keep alert," Aeronniell warned. Sonic took the lead and quickly began to make his way through a series of hallways. The hallways were made of metal, which caused an annoying echo as they ran. The only light came from electrical lights that were on the ceiling, like Sonic guessed. But now the lights flickered and dwindled.

"How do you even know where you're going?" Knuckles asked.
"This is one of Eggman's bases, he always has the prison cells on the middle floor," Sonic explained.

Sonic would stop and peer around every corner. His good hand would often wander towards his injured arm. It was like he expected The Hyrda to be around every turn. Sonic still had his bad arm in a sling but he didn't really have to drink the juice of the health berries as much, as his arm didn't hurt anymore. Yet Aeronniell insisted that he needed to kept the sling on for at least another week.

"Heads up," Sonic whispered, peering around the corner. Three large robots were standing on guard but there was only a few buttons on a metal wall to protect.
"We need to get rid of them," Sonic whispered "But as you can see, I'm sorta out of action for a while," he sighed, pointing at his arm. Knuckles rolled his eyes and suddenly ran forth. With one big crash, the robots were gone
"Piece of Cake," he smirked.

Sonic ran forth and looked at the controls. "These are definitely prison cells, but they're a lot more advanced than before," Sonic reported.
"So can you get in or not?" Aeronniell asked. Sonic shook his head.
"Not without the key," he replied. Aeronniell looked at the keyhole. It was a thin rectangular shape and somehow Aeronniell knew that Karn's necklace was the key. Perhaps my half of the necklace will work, Aeronniell thought.
"Keep watch, I'll try to get us in," Aeronniell explained.

As Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other and we're pretty confused but they turned around anyway. Aeronniell took her red necklace off and put it into the keyhole. Just then Sonic turned around and spotted her necklace. He instantly realised that it was very similar to the necklace Karn had been wearing, but he decided to say nothing. Maybe it was just a cultural thing, Sonic wasn't so sure. The wall suddenly began to slide away. Once the wall was gone, Sonic and Knuckles got the shock of their life.

Behind the bars of the cage, Shadow was lying face down on the floor, Sonic guessed he had collapsed. Tails was asleep on the metal bed, large beads of cold sweat covered his face and he shivered under the blankets.

"Tails, Shadow.. What happened to you guys!" Sonic exclaimed. Aeronniell opened the door lock with her dagger and then rushed inside to help. Shadow slowly gained consciousness and looked at Aeronniell who had crouched down beside him and turned him over to he could see her. Aeronniell kept hold of him, as he looked to weak to sit up

"Who are you?" Shadow croaked as Aeronniell used her water powers to distinguish the burning shackles.

"My name is Aeronniell, now come on let's get you out of here," Aeronniell smiled. Knuckles was standing watch and Sonic was stood next to Tails, trying to wake him up. "Those burns are pretty bad, when we get out of here I'll heal them for you," she smiled. Shadow quietly thanked her before she went to quickly check Tails. Shadow sat himself up on the floor so he could fully come round. Aeronniell checked for Tails's pulse. It was strong and regular. "He'll be alright once we get this wound sorted," Aeronniell explained before picking Tails up and carrying him outside the cell.

"Need a hand?" Knuckles asked coming into the cell and helping Shadow to his feet. Shadow tried to stand up by himself but he crumbled back down again. Knuckles caught him and put Shadows arm around Knuckles's neck so that he could help him walk. "Shadow, lean on me, stop trying to do this by yourself," Knuckles said firmly after a few steps. Shadow was too tired to disobey or argue so he leaned on Knuckles a little bit more.

"Let's go," Sonic said as he held the door for Knuckles and Shadow. Aeronniell was still carrying Tails but she had left the blankets on him to try and keep him warm as they quickly fled. Tails groaned and clung on to Aeronniell's sleve.

"It's alright Tails, I promise," she gently whispered ...

This story isn't finished, there are 15 chapters in total.