With another occupant in the car, they sped across the flat seas towards the site of Angel Island. Some sea-life encrusted trees and mountains grew in the distance, the remnants of the once lush floating island. The half submerged island approached, and Knuckles stared down at his shoes, still reluctant to believe what had happened. Tikal choked back a tear to see her home in such a state. Sonic just kept on driving.
He stopped the car next to what was once the peak of the mountain, just close enough to hop off. The once steep gradient was now so level that the car could be set down on it, in a centimetre or two of water. Sonic immediately hopped off and started to look around. Manic followed quickly, and Nailei after him. Knuckles steeled himself a bit, before hopping over the side.
"Coming?" He said to Tikal. She sat there in the car, shaking. "I guess not…"
"But Knux, we need a guide!" Sonic called back, surveying their potential route.
"You've been here before, you work it out!"
"But…"
"Go!"
"Looks like the blue man's our guide here," Sally winked, nudging Sonic slightly.
"Just shut up and let's go…" He set off through the angled forest, his party in close tow.
"Yeesh, Neptune really took a bat to this place…" Manic jeered. His attempted wit fell on deaf ears, as everyone was focussed on the mission. Neither Nailei nor Jakavi had ever been outside the forest before, and treaded cautiously.
"The emerald shard is probably at its altar, near the highest point in the island. Shouldn't be too far from here…" Sonic explained, not really talking to anyone in particular. The path led down in to a tunnel, which still held clusters of corals and other sea life in it. He skidded down the gradient towards, growing steeper by the metre, and kicked off it near the mouth of the cavern. Let's see if I can do this again… he thought to himself as he span himself in the air to land his feet on the roof. Closing his eyes to concentrate, he felt the impact on the soles of his shoes, and put one foot forward to start running again. With a gasp, it made contact, and so did the other when it went forward. Before long, he was confidently running on the ceiling. With one last flip, he curled up in a ball to land himself on the ground again. He opened his eyes again, taking in his new surroundings. "I found it!" he yelled out in joy. "It's just over there… across… that impassable cavern…" He continued, the elation fading from his voice with every syllable. Manic slid down (in a markedly less spectacular fashion) and stood beside him.
"Well that's what's behind door number one, would you like to stick or change?" He quipped. Sonic thumped him.
Back up at the mouth of the cave, Jakavi had begun his slow, clambering descent, while Nailei leapt from wall to wall in a more energetic approach. Sally simply stood and sulked.
"Well is nobody going to help a princess down?"
"Let me think about that one… NO!" Nailei jeered. "Make your own way down!"
"Goddamit… punk-ass foxes… or whatever the hell they are…" She muttered. Nailei only just caught that snippet, and looked up with a glare. She grabbed a good foothold with her legs and arched back, taking her bow in one hand and an arrow in another. With careful aim, she fired one in the direction of Sally, so that it whistled dangerously close to her head. This stunned her, and she turned and fell over. She began to tumble, head-over-heels down the cavern, towards Sonic and Manic. She rolled to a stop a metre or two behind them.
"We could… what was that?" The pair of them wheeled round.
"Augh… would you boys give me some kind of better treatment than this?" She groaned, brushing herself off. She had a couple of cuts and bruises, but nothing too serious.
"Still accustomed to the cream of the cake?"
"Manic, shut your cakehole. You were never funny."
"Aww come on, there's no need to be that harsh…"
"And you. Sonic." She pulled him closer by the coat. "Did you ever think that being nice to me all the time was ever gonna keep me interested?"
"But…"
"I have… well. Had, a legion of servants to be nice to me. I needed someone bad. Someone with balls. Someone that neither of you could ever be," Sonic displayed a confused expression. "Don't look at me like that!" She grinned. She turned and walked away, calling over her shoulder. "This is one cake neither of you are getting your teeth into," She chuckled and continued out of the cave. When she was out of earshot, Manic made a whipping gesture with his hand, with the accompanying sound. Sonic simply said,
"Did anyone tell her I wasn't interested in her anymore?"
The two of them put the strange episode behind them and returned to the problem at hand.
"I could probably jump it."
"You WHAT?"
"Remember when I made that jump to the helicopter?"
"That wasn't nearly as far as this!"
"I can still do it. Just watch me!" Sonic smirked, starting to remember some of the joy he found in adventuring. He took a few steps back, and took a running jump over the edge. He accelerated upwards a few feet higher than would normally be possible, and carried forward with unnatural speed. He began to drop a little earlier than he expected, and the ledge which he needed to grab slipped further and further away from him. Knowing that this might happen, he put a foot forward to catch on the cliff-face, and put all his effort into running on the wall again.
"Goddamit, quit showing off!" Manic shouted from the far ledge. Sonic simply laughed and carried on forward, flipping in the air and landing on his feet on the ground.
"Damn, that felt good!" He stood and panted. He hadn't had a rush like that in years. Eager to regain that sense of freedom he got from acrobatically defying gravity at ridiculous speeds, he took off again, bouncing from tree to tree and sailing through the air, becoming once again the blue blur that he had earned his reputation with.