Chapter 14: Pandora's Gate
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Back in the past, Silver and Blaze were having no success navigating the labyrinth of the White Acropolis base. It was a big surprise they had not been sighted by the patrolling robots. Either Silver's fur or Blaze's was colored in any sense for camouflage so both stood out like neon lights on the outside of a casino. They had been wandering through the din of a base on high alert for upwards to an hour, but now the sirens have stopped. To Silver and Blaze however, they might as well keep going as the noise was now burned into their brains and still sounded like the alarms were still going.

By now, Silver was irritated that they have seen hair or hide of the Iblis Trigger, who only Silver knew to be named Sonic the Hedgehog. Blaze didn't seem all that perturbed, but she usually didn't show much emotion in anything for that matter.

"Don't you think we should have seen him by now?" Silver said, his irritation showing very well.

"Maybe, maybe not," Blaze said coolly. "I know we have to find him quickly, Silver, but getting irritated isn't helping."

"I know," Silver said somewhat resignedly. "But it's still irritating."

Blaze didn't have an answer for that, so didn't say anything in reply. Silver's frustration was understandable after all with their commissioned task, coupled with the fact that they were wondering through a base blindly.

Silver was beginning to feel as if he was being targeted. So far, almost everything that could go wrong had indeed gone wrong. Logic dictated that he was just being paranoid, but it felt nice to blame all these problems on something.

Suddenly, there was a dull rumbling noise that rolled through the base, quickly followed by the floor rumbling. Silver and Blaze braced the wall for support. "What's that?" Silver said, obviously surprised. "An earthquake?"

"I don't know," Blaze replied.

A computer voice blared through the hallways again. "Hanger Bay cleared for EG-Carrier launch. Commencing launch procedures. Launch gate opening."

"Hey," Silver said. "It's not an earthquake. Something is taking off!"

Blaze, ignoring Silver's statement of the obvious, looked around. "What do you suggest we do?"

"Let's find it!" Silver said. "The Iblis Trigger might have stowed away on it."

"It's already started launch procedures. Do you think we'll get there in time?"

"One way to find out," Silver said, and he took off down the hall.

"Hey!" Blaze called out. "You don't even know where it is!"

Despite the truth of this statement, Silver kept going, obviously driven on the small possibility that the Iblis Trigger is on that "Carrier-thing." Blaze sighed and took off after him. They had more chances of completing their task by sticking together.

Silver didn't really know where he was going, but he figured he might stumble on it. All reason dictated otherwise, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't get on board before it lifted off. That wasn't enough to stop him though; the Iblis Trigger was close, he could feel it, so he must try.

"Testing engine function. Confirmed. Thruster function. Confirmed," the voice droned on, giving a progress report on the ship's launch preliminaries.

I don't have much time, Silver thought. I have to find it.

He soon came to an intersection with a large gate-like door. Now that looked like a door to a flight hanger if he ever saw one. Running up to it, he saw a problem almost immediately: the door was locked with an electronic lock, which demanded a coded password, one obviously neither the cat nor the hedgehog knew.

Thinking quickly, he placed his hands flat against the door, as if he was going to push them open. Closing his eyes, he concentrated his power of the mind into the door, and poured his power into it; the door began to glow a greenish-blue. He tried forcing it open on its hinges, but could not; they were locked down tight. Perhaps he could bend them open? Pulling with his mind, he removed his hands out the door, palms upwards. He slowly curled his fingers into his hand into fists and pulled. There was a groaning of metal, and Silver opened his eyes.

"It's working!" Silver cried, and doubled his efforts.

Despite using psychokinesis, prying open a large metal door was difficult, especially if one was trying to open them contrary on how they were meant to open. These doors were meant to slide open and disappear into the walls, but Silver was pulling them open. The metal groaned and gears ground in protest, but Silver was not paying attention. He wanted through the door and by golly he was going to get through.

"Engine activated. Thruster output at maximum. Launch gate fully opened." The computer voice droned further.

I need more time! Silver's mind screamed. The door was only pried open about six to eight inches. Blaze could probably fit, but Silver could not. He poured all his energy reserves into one final pull on the door. He could feel sweat trickling down his face from all the work he was doing, but he didn't care. With one last cry, filled with the strain of desperation and exertion of energy, Silver pulled with all of his mind's might, hoping he would not break. The door gave with a loud groan another couple inches.

There was no time for another try. Blaze squeezed her slender body through almost effortlessly. Silver felt the juices in head spin from all the work he did and he was exhausted. He stumbled his way through the not-quite-foot-wide gap in the door and stumbled onto the floor after squeezing through. There was an incessant buzzing in his head like his head had turned into a hive of mad hornets.

Silver managed to look up to see that they were in the biggest room he had ever seen. In the center, slowly advancing towards a large opening on the far end was the EG-Carrier, the same gargantuan metal beast that he had seen when he first jumped back into this time. Blaze had seen it before as well, but didn't seem impressed with it. It was already launching, snaking forwards towards the entrance. They were too late.

Silver knew that he could probably fly towards it with his psychokinesis, all the time carrying Blaze, but his head was buzzing so much that he found he couldn't concentrate. Without concentration, there was no using his power. It was too dangerous otherwise.

Blaze looked at Silver for the first time when they got into this room. "Silver, are you okay?"

Silver had to breathe a few times before answering. "Kind of," he gasped. "That door took it out of me."

Blaze looked at the Carrier, now about halfway down the long hanger. "It looks like we're too late, but we can at least find out where it will be going." Without another word, Blaze took off at a run after the ship.

For no one special, chasing after a ship with dozens of flaming thrusters from behind was suicidal, but Blaze was invincible to fire. She didn't fear it; it was a part of her. If she got caught in the backwash blast of the thrusters, she might be thrown for a loop, but not burnt. The ship accelerated, leaving her behind. She was a swift runner, but she was no Sonic the Hedgehog. The ship easily outraced her to the gate and through.

Racing the ship wasn't Blaze's intention; it was to find out where it was going. She ran outside and look towards the ship, which was slowly gaining altitude. Summoning her sense of direction, she continued to watch as the ship lifted higher and higher into the night sky. It didn't seem to change direction, and if her sense of direction was correct, it appeared to be heading south...towards Soleanna.

Blaze turned right around and raced back to Silver, who had not moved from his position on the floor and seemed to be battling intense vertigo. A flicker of apprehension sparked to life in Blaze's heart. That door was almost too much for him. Curiosity about the door's metal makeup made Blaze venture towards the door. A quick inspection confirmed her suspicions. Silver didn't open one door; he opened three. There was the regular door, then two blast shield doors on either side. Blast shield doors were meant to withstand awesome amounts of force, even excessive amounts of heat. Blaze couldn't even begin to torch through it, and even Iblis would have a hard time. She glanced at Silver once again; that took a lot of willpower to open a door THAT strong. Silver earned some serious respect.

Silver in the mean time was trying to muster the strength to get up, but found that all of his strength had vanished. He could barely remain on hands and knees.

Blaze walked up to the exhausted hedgehog. "Silver, the ship is moving south, towards Soleanna."

Silver didn't answer right away. "Ok...should we go?"

"You are in no shape for travel and you know it, Silver." Blaze put her hands on her hips.

"But the Iblis Trigger--"

Blaze cut him off. "If you faced the Iblis Trigger now, you couldn't do anything if he resisted. Look at you! You can't even stand up."

Silver knew she was right, but he was so close! That was the third time an opportunity slipped him by.

"Come on, we'll find you a place to sleep. We'll go to Soleanna in the morning."

Blaze kneeled down to help Silver up. When he stood up with the cat's assistance, he found that he was incredibly tired. Blaze was right; he was in no shape to face the Iblis Trigger, let alone travel. Blaze took point and led Silver through the broken door and through the halls, looking for a place to stay for the night. They went down several halls until they came upon Cell-Block C-17, and here they found a cell that was filled with plushy furniture, as if it was a bedroom for royalty (and Blaze was right).

This seemed to be a good place. He helped Silver into the bed and the hedgehog was out like a light. He was so tired that he didn't even know his boots were still on his feet. Blaze looked at him, then around the room. Was this Kintobor's bedroom or just a converted cell? Either way, they were using it. Blaze would keep watch tonight. She wasn't tired even with all the traveling and battling she had done.

- - - - -

Sonic was hot on the heels of a white hedgehog, a black hedgehog and a purple cat. They had left the city already and were trekking north. Interestingly enough, he himself had traveled south with four others to get to the city. Now the three he was trailing were headed north away from it. Interesting, he thought.

The landscape was very little better then the city. The city apparently was the focal point of the Flames of Disaster, and from then on afterwards, it spread to the area around. There were no plants or animals around, and it felt utterly dismal. Sonic never paid attention to nature, but he could see why people loved it now. A world without nature was dismal and lifeless.

He had encountered more lava flows in deep gorges, and even found an abandoned castle standing tall over a lava lake. It looked black against the orange glow of the lava, but Sonic could see it well enough. It must've been awesome to see in its glory days long gone.

He had to pass it by to keep on after his targets. None of the three were nearly as fast as Sonic, but he had to admit they were agile. The cat and the black hedgehog seemed to move as if they could fly, leaping gracefully over every obstacle with insane balance, like Shadow could, but he was the ultimate life form so he sort of had an excuse. Silver used his psychokinesis to keep up so his show of suave and grace was more cheap, Sonic would think.

Upwards to an hour past, and Sonic found that they had apparently had arrived at their destination, which was to what Sonic thought as a great irony, the former White Acropolis Base. At first, he expected them to bypass it, but when he espied them entering into the main building of the base, he knew that they had reached their destination.

"Now to find out what's up..." Sonic thought aloud, and then dove into the base, intent on seeing what this "truth" that this mysterious black hedgehog spoke of.

Stalking three people through a maze of hallways was difficult and Sonic nearly blew his cover once or twice, but was able to remain undetected through out the labyrinth. Every minute felt like an hour, and Sonic wished that they'd hurry it up already.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Sonic found that they had entered the computer room that was just adjacent to the room that he, Tails and Knuckles had appeared in once they came out of the time warp. Gee, thought Sonic. It's like I'm going in one huge circle.

Sonic stayed outside the door, tuning his ears for any future conversation. He didn't have to wait long. "Where are we?" said one voice, which Sonic recognized to being Silver's.

"The ruins of Acropolis, more specifically a base of a great scientist," said a deep, cold voice. The black hedgehog guy. "Over two hundred years ago, a brilliant human by the name of Dr. Albus Kintobor had mastered the technology of robotic industry, far more then anyone at his time. Technology was literally at this command. While the scientists at the time mostly were studying through alchemy, Dr. Kintobor broke tradition and made many scientific discoveries. However, his brilliance got to his head and he soon turned from scientist to dictator, threatening to rule the world, and with an army of powerful robots at his disposal, he would've succeeded."

"No way!" Silver blurted out.

Sonic blinked. That certainly was an impressive way to describe Dr. Kintobor. What kind of name is "Albus" anyway?

"Indeed," continued the black hedgehog. "Then, he met resistance in the form of a person, who could run faster then sound itself."

Sonic blanched. Did that mean...

"He was able to stop this dictator, but in a rash move, released Iblis. I do not know if he knew what would happen if he did release him, but it destroyed the world. To fix this world, you must change the past."

Sonic suddenly had a huge feeling where this was going. The pieces were falling together, and Sonic wasn't sure if he liked the big picture.

"But that's impossible!" Silver again interjected. "Nobody was ever to be able to do anything like that, not in a million years!"

Well, that eliminates the possibility of a time machine in this world, Sonic thought. Kintobor must not have shared it.

"With my help, you can..." The hedgehog turned to Silver. "As you possess the power of the mind, and Blaze the power of flames, I, Mephiles, possess the power to travel through time."

"Really!?" Silver exclaimed.

"Indeed."

Ah, finally a name! Sonic thought. Mephiles, huh? Not a bad name. Better then Albus anyway...

"I can take us back over two hundred years ago, before the Day of Disaster. To change the past, we must eliminate the person responsible for this catastrophe. Once this is done, Iblis remains sealed away, and the Flames of Disaster will not occur." A pause, and Sonic held his breath. "This is your task, Silver and Blaze; you must go back and eliminate the one who released Iblis, the Iblis Trigger."

Oh, snap! Sonic thought in protest. They're pinning the blame on him! That dang Mephiles guy! Why I oughtta...

Silver interrupted his tirade of thoughts. "Eliminate that guy, the world will be saved..."

"Correct. Take this."

Sonic leaned over to peer inside the door, just in time to see a talisman being placed into Silver's hand. It looked just like the Talisman of Fire he had back in the present (or right now, the past), but it had a black jewel instead.

"Wha--?" said Silver in surprise.

"Look into the widest facet of this jewel. If you need to find the Iblis Trigger, you must know what he looks like," the hedgehog, Mephiles, continued.

Sonic saw Silver look into the jewel for what looked to be a brief second, then he acted as if he saw something surprising, for he reeled back and looked around the room. Sonic hid behind the door, hoping Silver didn't see him.

"I saw someone!" Silver exclaimed. "Is that blue hedgehog the Iblis Trigger?"

That confirms it, Sonic thought. This Mephiles guy set these two up to kill me...but why?

"Blue hedgehog..." said a high, female voice. Sonic guessed it was the cat whom Mephiles called Blaze.

The black hedgehog spoke again. "I will take us over two hundred years before now, at the time the Iblis Trigger was alive. Once you two get there, begin immediately. Time is of the essence."

Sonic dared to sneak a peak again into the room, and saw that the black hedgehog used the talisman to create a portal. It was black as sin, and gave Sonic the creeps. He watched as all three were sucked into it, and the portal itself melted into a black mist. Sonic was all alone now.

He stepped into the room, ignoring the black mist that was slowly fading but still ominously present. The computer was on and displaying documents regarding events two-hundred years before. Sonic read them over, trying to find some critical information. He stumbled upon one article regarding his daring rescue at the Festival of the Sun. He glanced over it and felt his ego build. Shaking off his glory a little bit, he looked on through a few other articles that day, and then some strange curiosity dictated that he should look a few more days down the line and see what happened. What he would find would be appalling.

Two "days" after the issue with the article about Princess Elise's rescue at the hand of a blue wind, the headlines read four words, and these four words made a rock settle in Sonic's stomach.

"Princess Elise is Dead."

Sonic stared at those four words over and over, and each time his blood chilled even more. "What happened?" Sonic thought aloud. He looked at the article and read part of it aloud:

"Princess Elise is Dead: Soleanna Mourns the Loss of Their Young Sovereign.

"Princess Elise III was killed in a tragic accident aboard the EG-Carrier, a battleship of Dr. Kintobor's design. Eyewitnesses claim they witnessed the tragedy unfold in the skies over the historic Kingdom Valley. A tour group interviewed witnessed in horror as they state that the EG-Carrier started what one tourist claimed to be experiencing engine failure, as the thrusters on the ship and various parts of the hull on the rear-side of the ship exploded in flames. The ship drifted out of sight and the witnesses claimed it crashed into the cliffs near the sea, exploding on impact. Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the site, and after a successful valiant attempt to extinguish the flames, fire crew and paramedics stormed the wreck to find any passengers. In the cockpit, they found two bodies, hideously burned. Both were identified as Dr. Kintobor and Princess Elise. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Investigations are in progress to determine the cause of the explosion, but authorities have not released any information as of today.

"The Royal Parliament has not made any decision on who will succeed the throne. Preparations for the memorial service of the deceased sovereign have begun. She will be laid to rest in the Halls of the Honored Dead, in the Sepulcher of her father, Duke Argus and mother, Duchess Elizabeth."

Sonic collapsed to his knees. So that's what happened to Elise after Sonic had been erased from the past. Something terrible had happened, and he was unable to save her. Sonic blinked away the sudden wetness building up in his eyes, and told himself, "No, that's not how she will die. I now know what happened, and when I get back into the past, I will save her from that terrible fate. I will save her, or die trying. I swear it."

There were no witnesses to this vow except the dead ruins, but it didn't matter. Sonic didn't need the encouragement. There was a life on the line, and he would not let it expire.

His eyes fell onto his hands, and darted to the wrist communicator that he had received on his fifteenth birthday, literally the day before all heck broke loose on the Space Colony ARK. Pressing a button, he spoke into it. "Tails. Tails, ol' buddy. Can you read me?"

Static. Sonic tried again.

"Tails, pick up. Tell me where you are so I can get to ya."

More static. A few seconds later, a voice came though. "Sonic?" The static effected it, so it was somewhat hard to hear.

"Yep," Sonic replied.

"Where are you?"

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you," Sonic said, grinning. "Where are you?"

"Somewhere northeast of the city. We've found a Chaos Emerald, but we can't get to it. It's on the other side of some gate."

"Gate?"

"Yeah, it's so strong that Knuckles' can't punch through. It's not metal, but it's made out of some black stone. It's got all these inscriptions all over it."

"Weird."

"You said it."

"All right, I'll come on down there then. Later..."

Sonic lowered his wrist (bearing the communicator) from his mouth, and turned to stride out the door. Before doing so, he sneaked one last look at the article on the computer, proclaiming the bad news. Sonic knew that article was now burned into his mind like a brand; it would not fade from his memory any time soon...if ever.

- - - - -

The sun rose over the glistening city of Soleanna, and flocks of birds chirped their salutations at the celestial orb. The cool air brought a sense of refreshing to the world, promising a gorgeous day. Wondering the streets undisturbed was a pink hedgehog in a red flannel dress and a human girl dressed in a silken silver dress, the latter the image of royalty. The human girl was carrying a silver winged talisman, housing an ocean blue jewel.

Amy Rose and Princess Elise had managed to slip out of the White Acropolis base without being caught, despite a close call or two, and had obtained the Talisman of Water as a prize, per se. After arriving by the robot freight in Soleanna, both Amy and Elise had found that getting past the robots there had been just as easy as passing the robots back in Kintobor's base. The robots did not pay attention to them, so Amy realized that she never had to sneak in hiding inside a box, much to her annoyance. Now they were wondering through Castle Town, heading towards the castle on the hill overlooking Soleanna.

"Thank you for saving me," said Elise to Amy.

"You're welcome," replied Amy. "I didn't even know you were there. Were you kidnapped by Dr. Eggman?"

"What?" Elise said, but then remembered that Sonic had called Dr. Kintobor "Eggman" once in a while. "Oh, Dr. Kintobor. Yes, I was."

"I wonder why..." Amy said.

Elise could see that Amy did not know nor understand what was at stake, but perhaps ignorance was bliss.

"Oh, well. At least I helped you get out of there." Amy said, then recalled something. "Oh, my gosh! I don't even know you name, and you don't know mine! I'm sorry, I'm Amy...Amy Rose."

Elise smiled. "My name is Elise."

It took a second for the name to register to Amy, but when it did, she looked Elise up and down, then it dawned on her. "You mean THE Elise, the Princess of Soleanna?"

Elise smiled again. "Yes, I am the Princess."

"Oh my goodness! Why didn't I see it before!? I mean, you look like a princess. I should have guessed!" Amy gasped. "That means, oh, I'm sure someone is already on their way to rescue you, El--I mean, your Majesty!" Amy did what she imagined was a courtesy worthy of a princess.

"Well, I suppose so," Elise said. "But someone I know once told me this: nothing starts until you take action, so if you have time to worry, you have time to run. So, I decided to take his advice. I was escaping on my own when I ran into you, Ms. Rose."

"Oh, please, call me Amy." Amy turned redder then her dress.

"If you will call me, Elise,"

"Deal, your--Elise." Amy figured it would take a while for her to get used to addressing a Princess on a familiar basis. Then her mind snapped to the saying that she quoted from that someone. She hadn't heard it before, but something about it was familiar. Someone she knows, huh? I wonder... Amy thought. "About that person..." Amy began.

"Yes?" Elise said.

"Do you have feelings for him?"

Elise was taken aback. "What? Uh--no! Of course not"

Amy apparently didn't pay attention. "It's ok! Love changes everything!" She walked a short ways away from Elise, absorbed in the moment. It feels like every moment in your life when you see him is huge and shines out like a shining star! Doesn't it?" Amy spun around to Elise, her eyes simply sparkling at the prospect.

Elise was starting to feel uncomfortable. Amy was completely oblivious to who Elise had referenced to and turned it into a love game. But the thought of her...and her rescuer...in love? God forbid... Elise didn't know what to say without feeling even more awkward.

Amy mistook Elise's reluctance to talk as shyness. Amy probed further. "So, what does this guy look like? Is he super cute? Tall? Handsome? Have you asked to go on a date with him?"

"Uh, well, no! I really...haven't..." Elise replied, careful to phrase her words. That was the truth...partly, and Amy didn't need to know the details about who this was yet.

Amy clasped her hands to her mouth. "Oh! He doesn't even know you like him, doesn't he? A one-way love!" Amy squirmed. "Oh, that's so romantic! Oh, come on, there's no need to be shy..."

If only you knew..., Elise thought.

"Listen, Elise. You are a Princess and are beautiful to match. If anyone, HE'S the lucky one. You will do fine, but I wish I could see his face once he finds out. Oh, but I won't tell anyone. This will be a surprise." Amy closed her eyes, trying in vain to contain the building bubbly feelings inside her. "I too know someone who I really admire, and he's really cute. I dream one day that I can marry him, but I don't want to rush him after all. Love makes him really nervous. He's so cute when he's nervous." Amy spun back to Elise and grasped Elise's hand, mildly surprising the Princess. "For both of us, I wish us luck."

Elise nodded, deciding to play along.

Amy giggled and let go of her Elise's hand. "Well, I'm going to look for my friends; I left them here in Soleanna. I'll see you later, Princess Elise!" Amy spun around and ran off, away from Elise.

"Bye," Elise said quietly, waving her goodbye as well. "And thank you again."

Elise watched the pink hedgehog go, wondering mildly if she would laugh at this "love talk" later. These people were strange, but were kind and helpful. The Princess looked towards the castle, shining as if it was made of silver. It was cross-shaped and had many buttresses. Elise always thought it looked like a majestic cathedral, but she guessed that just added to its beauty. She began journeying towards it. It'd had been two days since she had been in last in her castle; the longest she had ever been outside it (not counting the times she went on visits to neighboring states). She had missed being here; it was home to her for as long as she could remember.

Several uneventful minutes later, Elise reached the castle. Almost immediately when she entered, she was surrounded by her hand-maidens. They had been worried for the last few days; that Dr. Kintobor dared to attack on the night of the Festival of the Sun after all. Elise said that she was all right and that Dr. Kintobor had not harmed her in any way.

She suddenly remembered that she was bearing the Talisman of Water. The Talismans of Essence were a royal treasure, and when found, they are usually taken straight to the royal vaults and locked away. Then, she wondered if Sonic would appreciate a gift for rescuing her. She had to remind herself that, as far as she knew, Sonic was trapped somewhere in time. She told herself that Sonic would find a way to get back; he always seems to come to pop up somewhere, plus he has had all those adventures.

Before she would forget, she went to the porter at the gate and told him to give the Talisman of Water to a blue hedgehog, who calls himself Sonic. The porter was initially confused, but obeyed the Princess without a spoken question. To anyone, it would have sounded very odd, and the Princess knew that, but sometimes, the truth was much stranger then the strangest fiction.

Feeling fatigued from her escape the previous night, she opted to retire into her chambers for the day and catch up on some much needed rest. In the cross-shaped castle, the princess' chambers were located on the "left" wing of the castle. The castle itself was in reality five buildings connected by covered walkways, each elegantly decorated with twisting pillars, amaranth-red velvety carpeting and gorgeous canopies. The castle had an artist's touch.

It was on her way to her chambers when disaster struck. She was half-way down the walkway, when seemingly out of nowhere, the black-and-white colored AK-10 drones dropped from above, barring her path. Elise gasped, obviously startled, then turned to retreat back into the Great Hall which she just left, but almost on cue, two more drones dropped down, barring her retreat. Two more drones hovered in from the side, prepared to intercept Elise if she dared a flying leap, even though she would likely die if not be severely maimed.

A few seconds later, the hovercraft that Elise was all too familiar with lowered down on the other side, which was still open. In it, was Dr. Kintobor, who interestingly was bearing a bemused expression.

"Ah, you've come at last, Princess. I've been patiently awaiting your inevitable return, and here you are..." Dr. Kintobor sounded pleasant.

Elise couldn't believe it: kidnapped while at her very home. Half of her wanted to say it was a dream, but she knew it wasn't. Dr. Kintobor had predicted her and was on the spot correct. There was no escape now.

Sonic, Elise prayerfully thought. Come quickly...

- - - - -

Darkness was settling upon the ashen remains of a world gone by, and the smoke-washed sky reflected the red and orange glow, emitting from the blood of a dying world. How did it come to this? That was precisely the question a bi-tailed fox and a red heavy-browed Echidna were bending their minds around. At the same time, they were trying to make sense of the runic language etched into a basalt-black wall. There were no seams on it that either could see, but the way it sat between two cliffs clued the two that it was some sort of gate.

The gate itself was blacker then the darkness that was gathering, and etched in was paragraphs of a runic language, as previously described, but dominant was a large circle in the middle of the gate. More or less a pentagram, it was decorated with various runes and symbols that were completely meaningless to the two. Just the same though, it gave them the creeps.

Of the two, it was Knuckles who was the most interested. He couldn't read any of the runes, so he tried to make sense of the circle. The Echidnas, past and present, never focused on any other science as a main source of study besides the study of Chaos energy, but this Echidna had done a lot of studying in his lifetime. After all, being a lone guardian of a ten-thousand square mile floating chunk of real estate can give one loads of free time.

In his occasional studies, he had found a study that involved circles like this. He couldn't remember the exact term it was called, but it was in the end condemned by the Echidnas over a thousand years before, under the surmise of it being witchcraft. However, Knuckles was under the impression that it was more or less just illegalized because the Echidnas found it inferior to Chaos energy and a waste of time because of it. The focus was to be on Chaos energy and that alone. Knuckles had to bite his lip to keep from smiling. The Echidnaen people may have been master at Chaos energy use and war, but when it came to logic, they sucked outright.

Knuckles stroked the gate's surface again, looking the circle up and down. If he could only understand what those symbols mean. He could guess that they stood for something bad, but his curiosity was driving him nuts. The more he looked at it, the more his curiosity burned. His head darted from side to side, as if he was looking for some clue. His eyes fell on two arms leading from the sides of the gate. They weren't that special, and weren't even decorated with anything. What looked interesting were the tops of the arms: the arm on the left had a pitted circular area as if it would contain something; the other was the opposite, a circular rising area, marked with an identical circle on it.

Knuckles strode towards it, and soon found that it was made of black onyx, the circle itself carved with a pearl-like substance; but something happened when Knuckles got closer to it. It started glowing, albeit however faintly. It was so faint when he first saw it, but when he came closer, it glowed a fraction more hotly.

Just as it glowed more hotly, so did his curiosity. Something inside of him wanted to touch it. For a moment, a flicker of apprehension flushed through his veins, warning him and demanding that he not touch it, but...it was like calling him.

He cast a furtive glance at Tails, sitting with his back facing the Echidna, completely oblivious to what was going on behind him. Was it a good idea to touch that circle?

He was distracted when a green flash appeared a distance away, catching both Tails and Knuckles by surprise. Tails expected it to be Sonic, somehow, but soon saw that it was a black hedgehog with red highlights on his spines and limbs, accompanied by a white bat, garbed in tight violet leather. Shadow and Rouge.

Striding towards them, Knuckles and Tails watched as their gaze soon drifted from them upwards to the gate. Understandable; it was certainly something to look at.

"Ah, so that's the gate," Rouge said as she closed the distance between her and the basalt monument.

"And a Chaos Emerald is somewhere beyond that?" Shadow said, looking the gate up and down.

In response, Rouge whipped out her Chaos energy tracker and spent the next few seconds trying to pinpoint the Chaos Emerald. The results were puzzling.

"No, that's not possible!" the bat exclaimed.

"What?" Shadow asked, followed by Tails and Knuckles.

"The Chaos Emerald is the gate, but just beyond the gate...there's nothing! No land!"

Shadow had to see that for himself. A quick peek over Rouge's shoulder confirmed it. Sure enough, the land seemed to fade out of existence on the display. Where they were, the land showed up as clear as day, outlined in the digital display. Beyond the gate, it was blank as a clean slate.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shadow breathed.

Tails and Knuckles by now had taken a peek themselves. "Could it be the Chaos Emerald be screwing it up?" Tails suggested.

"Unlikely," Knuckles said. "A Chaos Emerald doesn't affect electronics from this far away. The Red Chaos Emerald may be the most unstable, but warping land out of existence is out of its power."

"Rest assured," began Rouge. "it's not the red one. It's the dark blue one."

"The second most stable one," Knuckles said, not looking at Rouge. "So, is it the gate?"

No one could answer affirmatively, so no one said anything.

A rolling boom echoed through the desolate valley, and just as quick, a blue blur split the air, stopping on a dime right beside Tails, who had leapt back in pure reflex. Sonic was usually good at sudden stops, but if he tripped, the results were disastrous.

"Hey, guys!" Sonic said. "Long time no see!"

Knuckles and Shadow said nothing, Tails picked himself up and Rouge said, "My, my, Sonic. For someone of your reputation, you're incredibly slow."

"Oh, I had to get a rock out of my shoe." Sonic looked around, shortly stopping at the gate. "What the heck is that?"

"The gate," Knuckles said.

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that, but what gate?" Sonic said. "It's gotta be special. Just looked at that freaky circle!" Sonic looked back at Shadow and Rouge. "How'd you guys get here anyway?"

Shadow lifted the Chaos Emerald, which Tails and Knuckles had not noticed him holding until now. Sonic's mouth formed a perfect o.

"You already found one?" Tails exclaimed.

"Of course!" Rouge said. "I know I don't look it, but I am in fact a REAL treasure hunter...much unlike a certain ECHIDNA I know..." Rouge looked at Knuckles.

"Ha!" Knuckles said, back turned to Rouge.

"So," Sonic began, changing the subject. "The Chaos Emerald is behind that?" The hedgehog pointed towards the gate.

"You mean we have to go through that?" Rouge said, half-joking but all the same veiling her apprehension.

Knuckles spun to face Rouge. "You are perfectly welcome to stay here..."

"You've GOT to be kidding!" Rouge said. All jokes aside.

Sonic strode up to the basalt wall-like gate. "How do we open this honkin' thing?"

"Sonic," Tails said, a touch of nervousness edging his voice. "There's nothing behind it. No land, nothing..."

Sonic looked back at the bi-tailed fox, his namesake appendages bristled in flat out fear. "Say again?"

Knuckles explained that the Chaos Emerald tracker had indeed found a Chaos Emerald, but as far as its location, it was undeterminable because it appeared to be on nothing at all. There was no detectable land behind the gate. Sonic listened, clearly fascinated.

"Well, that's interesting, but we need to get that Chaos Emerald. It's got to be sitting on something. It wasn't floating, was it?"

Rouge shook her head.

"Well, that means it has to be sitting on something, so unless we're going to hunting for a different Chaos Emerald, we're going to have to get through this thing." Sonic motioned towards the gate.

"But how can we get through it?" Knuckles asked. "It's slicker then ice so climbing is out of the question, and my punches can't knock a dent!"

Sonic didn't answer, but looked at the gate. "Open sesame?" he called. Nothing happened. "Well, it was worth a shot..."

Knuckles strode forward, towards the right-side arm, the one with the onyx stone with the pearl carving of the circle on the gate. "What about this?" Knuckles pointed towards it, noticing that it began glowing very hotly.

Sonic looked at it as well. "What is it? Some kind of button?"

By now, Shadow, Tails and Rouge had crowded around the blue hedgehog and red Echidna, looking at the new curiosity. "Hey," Tails said. "It has the same circle like the one on the gate."

"Should we touch it?" Knuckles said, feeling his own curiosity pushing him to do such a thing, but his wariness told him "no."

Sonic had no such restraint however. "I'm sold," he said suddenly, then placed his hand on it.

There was something like a massive cracking sound, as if the stone was cracking. The five retreated to what they thought was a safe distance away. They watched as the circle on the gate itself glowed a deep blood red, and almost immediately, the gate (which if you remember was seamless before), cracked open in a straight line right down the middle. Slowly opening, the five gazed in, and saw a blackness that made the darkness around seem a lot brighter then it was. The gate was open, and whatever it contained was now revealed.

"Wow, that's dark..."

"Look!" Tails said in horror.

All saw that the darkness was a heavy mist, seeping out along the ground. It must've been a very heavy gas, for it barely even stirred. It poured along the ground like liquid, spreading in all directions, including towards the five. All watched in a fascinated horror as the darkness seeped towards them, and all felt the temperature fall, provoking goose bumps to rise underneath their fur. Whatever this darkness was, it was undeniably evil.

"Wow, what is that stuff!?" Sonic said, watching as it now seeped about their ankles. It was so heavy that it wouldn't even raise higher then any of their shoes, but they could feel that it felt icy.

"It's evil," Knuckles said. "No doubt about it."

"The gate is open," Shadow said. "Dare we enter now?"

Sonic looked at Shadow, and wordlessly the answer was clearly expressed between both of them. "Don't be late now," Sonic said, striding towards the dark gate.

"Same to you," Shadow said, following him.

The three looked after them for a half-second, then followed closely behind. Sonic's Crystal Ring that he had worn for six years glowed hotly blue and Shadow's Chaos Emerald glowed an even hotter green. Both would serve well to combat the darkness.

With one last look into the dark gate, all stepped in, unknowing where they would end up...and later, they wished they never had to know.