Ch.3: Exploring Sandopolis

Two days later, Knuckles had a moment of peace on Angel Island. The Chaotix had got called down to the surface to work on a detective case, and that just left him and Dusk watching over Angel Island.

Just as the two were finishing up their breakfast that morning, a shrill ringing sound interrupted the silence. Getting up Knuckles went up over to the video link Tails had installed for him, pressed the recieve button, and was soon staring at the image of the twin-tailed fox.

"Hey Knuckles," said Tails.

"What's the emergency?" asked Knuckles, since that was either what Tails or Sonic called for.

"What do mean 'what's the emergency' ? " said Sonic, appearing on screen " don't tell me you forgot about the party tomorrow,"

"What party?" asked Knuckles, confused.

"Rouge's birthday party remember?" said Tails as Sonic smacked himself in the head " you said you come to her party,"

"Oh right, I remember now" said Knuckles, hiding a slight blush " don't worry I'll be there,"

"Good" said Tails " don't forget to bring a present,"

"Yeah Knuckles" said Sonic with a sinister smirk " you don't want to dissapiont your girlfriend do you?"

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLDFRIEND!" shouted Knuckles, before slamming his fist hard into the video screen.

"Great" said Knuckles, looking at the shattered shards of the device " guess Tails will have come up here and make me another one, again,"

"So what are you going to get her for her birthday?" asked Dusk, still sitting at the breakfast table.

"Knowing her it's got to be jewels" said Knuckles " I think there may be some in the ruins of Sandopolis, but I'm not sure,"

"Well" said Dusk, walking over to Knuckles " let's find out then,"

With that said the pair trudged off to Sandopolis.

In the first two days he had been here Dusk had been shown many wonderful places on Angel Island. He had gotten to see the beautiful Cyrstal Falls where Knuckles and his friends always took time to relax, the wonderful scenery of the Marble Gardens, and even the Master Emerald's shrine.

Compared to those places, Sandopolis was like a death trap. Knuckles had warned Dusk about the gaint worms that roamed the sands, but Dusk didn't expect to get up close and personal with these natural behemonths. If hadn't been for Knuckles, he'd probably be worm bait right now.

Avoiding any other 'sidetracks', Knuckles and Dusk finally made it to the Sandopolis ruins. It was a large and beautiful, stone-carved corridor, lit with torches, and ancient writing scribbled on the wall. Dusk tried his best to decipher the writing, but couldn't even get past the first word.

"What kind of lanague is this?" said Dusk.

"It Tori" said Knuckles " an ancient echidna tounge. It explains the tragic history of my kind,"

"Your kind?" said Dusk " what happened to them?"

"They're gone" said Knuckles, sadly " I am the only one left to carry on the Guardian's legacy,"

For some strange reason Dusk felt pity for the poor echidna. The torment that Knuckles had gone through had reminded Dusk about something from his past. In his mind Dusk could see clearly about a world consumed by flames.

Buildings layed in ruins, and barely anyone was left alive. For some reason a silver hedgehog and a cat were in his vision as well. What could they mean?

Shaking off his graphic thoughts, Dusk continued to follow Knuckles deeper into the corridor. Statues of ancient warriors and fierce animals greeted them as they walked, until both the echidna and hedgehog found themselves standing in front of a large, ornate, stone door.

"This must be the way to the shrine" said Knuckles, examining the door " but I don't see anyway to open it. It would take to long to punch my way through,"

"Well how 'bout we do this then," said Dusk, putting his hand on Knuckles shoulder.

Before Knuckles knew what was going on both he and Dusk disappeared in a puff of black smoke. When they reappeared, they were on the other side of the door. Knuckles looked around the treasure room, stunned.

A gaint gold statue of an ancient echidna warrior stood standing in the center of the room, with a spear clutched in his right hand and a sheild in his left. Two piles of treause decorated both sides of the small room, gleaming with gold and jewels.

Shaking off the splendor that stood before him, Knuckles turned and looked at Dusk.

"How did you do that?" asked Knuckles, reffering to the teleporting.

"I don't know" said Dusk " I just felt like I could do it,"

"Well, whatever you did" said Knuckles " it helped us get past the door. Look around and help me search, there's got to be a few jewels in here,"

With that said, Knuckles and Dusk split up and searched the room, Dusk to the right and Knuckles to the left. Dusk hadn't found anything of interest in his search so far until a captivating purple glow caught his eye.

Digging deeper in his pile, Dusk extracted the purple glowing object, and was soon looking into the majestic beauty of the purple chaos emerald. Dusk could feel it in his veins that this gem in his hands held limitless power, and without telling Knuckles, slipped it into his invisble pocket to keep for himself.

"Now this is perfect!" said Knuckles, excitedly.

Dusk turned around to see what Knuckles had found, and was impressed to see that it was large, flawless, diamond that twinkled with fiery brillance in the dim light of the torches. A perfect gift for a former jewel thief. But that wasn't all Knuckles managed to find.

"Come on" said Knuckles, putting on the Shovel Claws he had found " it's time to get out of here,"

Putting the diamond inside his invisble pocket, Knuckles dived into the ground, and with the help of the Shovel Claws, was able to quickly dig a tunnel to the other side of the door. Once complete Dusk followed after Knuckles, and soon both explorers were tracking their out of Sandopolis. Ready to rest and relax before the party tomorrow.

Oh, if they only knew what horrors would await for them that day.