Chapter 2

Hydrocity

The pipe snaked back and forth like a water slide, half full of salty water. Sonic and Tails were swept along in the wet darkness, fighting to keep their heads above water.

The pipe swept straight down, and they splashed into a tank. Sonic hit first, and Tails landed awkwardly on top of him, driving him in deeper. They clawed their way free and surfaced a short distance apart. "You okay?" Sonic spluttered to Tails, who nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Are YOU okay?"

Sonic nodded. "I guess I'm all right, nothing broken anyway. There's a ladder over there."

The two swam to the ladder and hauled themselves out of the water, streaming. They stood on the edge of a big square water tank. It filled the little room, its metal sides against two brick walls. A deck had been built out from the edge of the hallway entrance. They could see the opening in the ceiling they had came out of, and could hear a faint whirr of generators somewhere. Everything smelled mouldy.

Sonic pulled off his gloves and wrung them out. "Bet I get sick from all the sea water I swallowed."

"Yeah," Tails added. "I won't need a drink for a week." He sat down on the yellow brick floor and took off his shoes and socks. They sat there a moment, wringing out their gloves and squeezing out their shoes.

After a few minutes they were ready to face Hydrocity. Feeling soggy, they stepped into the hallway outside the holding room. A breeze wafted through, touching their damp bodies. It carried the smell of slime and grease. "Yuck," Tails commented. "This place stinks."

Sonic nodded. "No kidding. What's that on the wall down there?"

The two walked down the hall for a look. It was a large plastic map in a dirty glass case. Its colors had faded and the corners were speckled with decay, but it was still readable. It was a floorplan of the waterworks.

It took a few minutes to decide where they were, but after a short, heated argument they figured it out. "Okay, we're right here," Sonic said, pointing to a square in the bottom of the map. It had a symbol above it, marked 'intake'. "We're on sublevel 1A. It looks like the only way out is on the next level up. So we gotta find some stairs somewhere."

Tails traced the green-marked hallway with one finger. "Maybe we could find somebody to help us. I mean, a factory has gotta have some workers, right?"

Sonic nodded. "Right, little bro. Let's see. Think we could find anybody in this room over here, the one marked 'DESAL'? It looks like it has machines and stuff in it."

"Probably. Let's go."

They walked down the hallway. The breeze in their faces was sour, as if dredged up from the depths of the plant. The corridor was made of yellow brick, and black mould grew in the cracks.

"I don't think I'll be able to drink the mainland's water again, after seeing this," Tails complained.

"Kinda turns your stomach, don't it?" Sonic agreed.

Tails looked toward the ceiling. "How do they keep the ocean out? Water's kinda heavy, ain't it?"

Sonic nodded. "The roof's pry ten or twenty feet of cement."

They walked along in silence. Tails sighed. "Why do you think Knuckles threw us down here? I mean, we didn't do anything to him."

Sonic shook his head. "I know. All I did was try to get the emeralds back. I guess the guy is just territorial. Viewed us as trespassers."

Neither spoke for a moment.

"Sonic, is Knuckles designing robots, do you think? 'Member on the radio, 'Come out here to-somewhere-and design ANOTHER robot'?"

Sonic looked keenly at Tails. "Ya know, I'll bet he is. If Robotnik got him like I think he has, then Knuckles might be doing anything. You know that saying, 'Bad company corrupts good morals.' If we don't do something, Knuckles will be handing over the title deed to Floating Island. Maybe let Robotnik use him as an experiment, even!"

The radio buzzed in my hands. I adjusted the tuning knob and tried again. "Doc, ya there?"

Robotnik's voice came through loud and clear. "Read you now, Knuckles. What were you saying?"

"I said I got Sonic and his friend off the island. They're in Hydrocity."

"Good." He sounded pleased. "Is there any way for them to return?"

"Nope," I replied. "I'm disconnected from the waterworks, and you know what happened to their plane."

"Yes," Robotnik purred. He was thinking. "Sonic still has the chaos emerald."

"Why don't you send out the new robot to get it from him?" I asked. I was curious to see our newest creation in action.

"No!" Robotnik barked. "It's too early. I don't want Sonic to know about it."

"Well," I suggested, allowing a bit of irritation into my voice, "why don't you go down and get them?"

"Oh, I don't think I can, Knux," Robotnik replied. "I've never been to the waterworks. If you took the emeralds once, you can do it again. I'll keep an eye on the island for you."

I paused, considering. It didn't feel right, somehow, leaving my island in the care of somebody I hardly knew. But what could it hurt? After all, if it hadn't been for Sonic a quarter of my island wouldn't at this moment lie in smoking ruins. If not for him, Dr. Robotnik and I would have all seven of the chaos emeralds. I couldn't think of anything I would take more pleasure in than punching Sonic out.

"Okay," I told Doc. "I'll hunt him down and get that emerald."

"Right," he replied through the radio. "I'll meet you in the level 1 intake/holding area. Out."

As I clicked off the radio, it occurred to me that for someone who had never been to Hydrocity, Robotnik knew the best place to get in. Maybe he had meant he had never been all the way through the place. Level 1 is a public area.

I touched the spikes on my knuckles for which I had been named. I couldn't wait to drive them into my rival's face ... but I would have to find him first.

"Uh, Sonic, shouldn't we be there by now?"

Sonic paused and nodded. "Well, yeah. But we haven't seen the next hallway yet."

Tails looked back. "Maybe it was that door back there."

"The map said it was a hall, not a door," Sonic insisted. "Let's keep going."

The two kept walking down the dirty corridor. Sonic was getting impatient. "It didn't look that far on the map. Are we caught in a time warp or something?"

Tails shook his head. "No, I'm telling you, we passed it already."

Irritated, Sonic turned on him. "Look-"

"Lookit!" Tails interrupted, heading off an argument. "What's that in the floor?"

Sonic turned to look. There was a big metal grate in the brick floor, and the edges met the wall on either side. The roar of water passing beneath reached their ears.

"Is it a canal?" Tails asked, looking through the grate into darkness. Sonic stood beside him. "Maybe," he offered, "but it could be anything. A pump outlet, or a well, or-" He stepped into the middle of the grate and peered downward. A rush of cool, an updraft from below met him. It was too dark to see the water.

Something struck the underside of the grate with a clang. Startled, Sonic leaped off the metal. He and Tails jumped back and stared at the grate.

The clang sounded again, softer this time. Then a pair of fingers curled around the mesh. Over the sound of the water came a throaty chuckle. Then a voice called, "Hey, anybody out there?"

Sonic answered, "Uh, yeah."

"Ah," said whoever-was-behind-the-grate. "Can you open the grating? I'm stuck down here."

Sonic and Tails walked to the grate and peered through it.

Hanging from the mesh was a crocodile. He was wet and shiny, and his eyes gleamed as he looked up at them. "Hi," he said, and gave them a toothy smile. "Open the grate, will ya?"

"Uh, how?" Sonic asked.

The crocodile nodded toward the left edge. "There should be some clamps on that side. Flip 'em up, then lift the grating."

Sonic waved Tails back and mouthed, "Stay here."

"Why?" Tails mouthed back.

"I don't trust this guy," was Sonic's silent reply. Then he clanked across the grate and crouched down next to the six-inch clamps. They were rusted solid. "The only way I could open this is with a sledgehammer," Sonic said.

"I guess I'm stuck here," the crocodile said glumly. "The current's too strong to swim any further upstream, and the exit downstream is blocked by a gate."

Sonic looked at Tails. Tails looked at the floor, thinking. Suddenly he looked up at Sonic, his eyes alight. "The emeralds!" he mouthed.

Sonic grinned as the same idea struck him. He turned to the crocodile. "Uh, would you mind turning the other way? I'm going to use a secret I have to open the latches."

"What?" the crocodile said. "Oh, I get it. If you tell me you gotta kill me, right?"

"Right," Sonic answered.

The crocodile turned his back. Sonic dug out his two emeralds. He set them both on one of the clamps, then picked up the green and backed away. The red, left without its neutralizing companion, began to glow, its heat level skyrocketing.

The metal began to sizzle and burn under the fierce heat. "Not hot enough," Tails murmured.

"Yeah it is," Sonic countered. "Wait a second."

The top layer of rust curled away like a rotten orange peel. The metal beneath glowed a dull red. "What kind of metal is this?" Sonic asked the crocodile.

"Iron," he replied without turning. "You guys burning through it?"

"Something like that."

After a few moments Sonic said, "I think it's mutilated enough." He walked up to the red emerald, now sitting in a puddle of molten metal, and dropped the green emerald on it. The red's star-like glow faded to a hot glimmer, cooling instantly. Sonic nudged the two gems out of the way with the tip of his toe, then picked them up. He set them both on the second clamp and repeated the process.

The tunnel smelled of hot metal by the time the second was melted. Sonic picked up the emeralds, then he and Tails pulled the grating open.

The crocodile gratefully climbed out of the slimy shaft. They closed the mesh with a clang, then turned to the crocodile.

He was a head taller than Sonic. He was green with a yellow belly, and a watertight cannister hung around his neck. "Hi, I'm Vector," he said. "Thanks for gettin' me outta there."

"Um, you're welcome," Sonic said. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and this is Tails. What were you doing down there?"

Vector looked down. "Well, I wasn't supposed to be. I was checking on the canal, and the pavement was wet. I fell in, and the current swept me away." He looked at them. "What are you two doing down here? Nobody but personnel is allowed lower than level 1."

Sonic and Tails did their best to explain why they had fell down the pipe, but Vector was suspcious. However, when Tails asked him to show them a way out, he complied.

He marched them back down the hall to the door they had passed. "See, I told you," Tails muttered to Sonic. Vector opened the door, and they all stepped through.

The room was the same size as the one with the holding tank. But this room was scrubbed clean as a whistle. Florescent lights glared down from the ceiling. But it was what was in the room that grabbed their attention.

Four gleaming copper stills sat against either wall. They connected to a metal pipe on the ceiling that ran the length of the room and disappeared into the wall.

"What's all this?" Sonic asked, gesturing to the humming stills.

Vector looked around. "This is one of the desalination rooms. Contrary to popular belief, we do other things down here than just desal. Our biggest thing is reverse osmosis, but you never hear about that."

"What is it?" Tails asked.

"I'll tell you as we walk," Vector replied. "We've got a ways to go."

They passed through the room and entered the dim hall on the far side. It turned left and went straight for a good distance.

Vector bored them for some time with an involved explanation of how desalination and reverse osmosis worked. When he finished, Sonic asked, "Does Knuckles buy your water? You're pumping a lot up to him."

Vector shook his head. "Nope. You see, our machinery is starting to take up more space than our holding areas. A lot of times we end up with more water than we have room for. Poor management, ya see. We'd been putting it back in the ocean until Knuckles came along. He's been kind of a godsend."

"You ever met him?" Tails asked.

The crocodile shook his head. "Nope. Like to. Like to see the Floating Island, too."

Sonic had another question. "You work down here?"

Vector shrugged. "Yes and no. I'm only here for the summer. I hang around Maintenance. They let me do the underwater repair stuff."

The three walked along in silence for a while. After a moment, Vector unscrewed the thermos-like container that hung around his neck, withdrew a walkman and headphones, and put them on. After that, if Sonic and Tails had tried to talk to him they wouldn't have gotten an answer.

Thirty minutes later found them standing on a ledge next to a water chute. The chute was half-full of dark, oily-looking water. "The water's been treated with chemicals," Vector explained. "Not safe for drinking. Follow it to where it meets the canal. Follow the canal left until you find some steps. Go up those, and you'll be on level one. You'll be able to find your way out from there." Vector fingered his headphones and looked down at the water. "The current gets really strong once the other chutes meet it, and the canal is plain deadly. Stay out, stay alive, ya know?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I know. Thanks."

"Hey, no problem. Got stuff to do, now. See ya!"

Vector left them. Tails stepped to the edge of the walkway. "Too bad it's so dangerous. Looks like it'd be fun to swim down."

Sonic, arms folded, said, "Yeah, too bad. Let's go."

I had met Robotnik in level one. He had said he would get 'set up', so to make sure Sonic and Tails ended up in the level one holding area. He had given me a nifty little radar device. It was a box with a screen, and it used radar to scout out your surroundings.

Nobody had seen them on level one, so I went down to sublevel 1A. It was deserted as usual, so I turned the radar up full blast. No sign of them. I actually began to worry. I knew they could both swim, but nobody could fight a current like the ones down here.

I was relieved when I picked up two blips. It looked like they were following the main waterway out to the canal. I didn't think there were any stairways down there. I had to get to them before they got to where they were going.

I pocketed the radar detector and began to run. I wasn't far from them, and if I hurried, I could reach them as one of the smaller waterways intersected the main one. Murderous thoughts filled my head. And anger. Oh, those horrible feelings! They consumed my mind and heart until I could think of nothing else. I suppose it's a good thing Sonic did what he did ...

"Remember her face when she first saw us doin' stunts on the bi- plane?"

"Oh yeah. Man, was she freaked." Tails sighed. "Too bad about our plane."

"Yeah, I know. I can't believe it burned up. Not a bit left."

"Musta been the chemicals in the bombs."

"Yeah, maybe. If the bombing was the D in disaster, then that was the I."

"Uh-huh. What do you think the other letters will be?"

"I hope we don't get to find out." Sonic slowed to a walk. "Well, here's the first intersection. Heavy current from here on out."

Two narrower channels joined the larger one. The churning water below looked more dangerous. Sonic and Tails jumped over the smaller chutes and walked on, talking. They didn't notice the figure entering the passage behind them.

Knuckles slunk along, thinking of the best way to get the emerald. He decided deception was the best course.

"Hey Sonic!"

Sonic and Tails paused and looked back. "Knuckles," Sonic growled to Tails. Aloud, he said, "Uh, hiya Knuckles."

The scarlet echidna hurried up. "Boy, am I glad I found you guys. It's really dangerous down here."

Too friendly, and he didn't look them in the eyes. Sonic and Tails' mental red flags were up and waving. Sonic cut to the heart of the matter. "Is this about the emerald?"

Knuckles hesitated, then nodded. Sonic's answer was cold and measured. "No, Knux. It's mine. Forget it."

Knuckles's reply was instanious and physical. His fist caught Sonic on the nose. Sonic fell back, eyes blazing from the pain. Knuckles moved closer, fists up. His face was dark with anger. He swung again, but Sonic dodged.

Sonic wiped his nose, and with a shock saw the red streak across the back of his hand. "Hey, you're bleeding!" Tails said, startled. "He got you! Oh Sonic-" Furious, Tails thrust his slight body between Knuckles and Sonic. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size, jerk?"

Knuckles smiled. "Like you?"

He drew back one arm, But Sonic grabbed Tails and shoved him sideways. Tails stumbled, trying to duck Knuckles's punch, and tumbled into the water chute. Sonic went with him.

The water was only three feet deep, but the current was powerful. It carried them away from their attacker. "Run, you cowards!" he yelled. "I'm gonna get that emerald if I have to kill you both!"

Sonic looked at Tails, the blood running down his chin. "He's lost his mind." Tails nodded, and they knew that jumping into the canal had been the only thing they could have done.

I stood looking after them in the same stance as Sonic when I had stolen the emeralds-back straight, head down, hands clenched. My teeth were clenched as well; fury I had never known gripped me. I began to pursue them. I had to know where they would end up.

Sonic and Tails were dog-paddling a keep their heads above water. Sonic kept ducking his head, trying to stop his nosebleed.

The water swirled them past an adjoining waterway, and the main chute deepened. "Do you think we should get out?" Tails called. Sonic pulled himself up in the water and looked back. "Nope. Got the Red Fury on our tail. Let's get as close to the canal as we can."

Tails looked back. Knuckles was trotting down the walkway ten feet to their rear, eyes fixed on them.

"Sonic, uh, maybe you should give him the green emerald."

Sonic shook his head. "No way. The red one would go nuclear on us. Then he'd know we'd found a way to get more emeralds."

Fifteen minutes and three waterways later, with the water growing dangerous, Sonic said, "Okay, I think we'd better get out now." He grabbed at the top of the chute. He found a fingerhold somehow and pulled himself out, then looked around for Knuckles. He was nowhere in sight. Relieved and uneasy he turned to help Tails.

Tails had grabbed the edge, but wasn't strong enough to drag himself up on the walkway. Sonic pulled him out, and they looked around. The hall was empty, and the only sound was the rushing of the water in the chute.

They began to walk down the passage, their feet squelching in their shoes, ears tuned for any sound behind them. A tense thirty seconds passed.

A sharp patter of footsteps behind. They turned to see Knuckles running at them. He tackled Sonic like a football player and knocked him to the floor. Sonic went down in surprise, but didn't stay there long. He fought like a pinned wildcat, clawing, kicking and hitting. Knuckles couldn't keep him down, and in another instant they were on their feet, glaring at each other.

Tails stood against the wall, watching with fear and anger. Knuckles jumped forward, shoved Sonic backward and tripped him with a well-placed toe. Then Knuckles was on him, using his heavier body to pin his rival to the floor, blocking Sonic's wild blows while dealing them out himself.

Tails saw his chance and kicked Knuckles in the ribs, knocking the echidna sideways. Knuckles turned and carelessly socked Tails in the stomach. Tails slumped against the wall, the breath gone from his body.

In the instant it had taken, Sonic sat up, planted both feet in Knuckles's chest and kicked. Knuckles fell into the water chute with a splash.

Sonic jumped to his feet, blood running hot with battle. Knuckles was out of the fight for the time being, struggling against the current, subdued by his danger. He was swept downstream like a twig.

Sonic helped the gasping Tails to his feet. "You all right, kiddo?" Tails nodded, unable to speak. Sonic stood with him, gazing after Knuckles. As soon as Tails regained his breath, they started in that direction.

After a few minutes, their ears caught a vague roar of falling water. As they drew closer, they saw the hallway joined a long corridor. The water in the chute poured into a cement canal. Sonic and Tails stepped down into the lower room. The canal ran under the wall to the right. "Do you see Knuckles?" Sonic said to Tails. "I'd feel really bad if he drowned."

Tails looked at him. "Are you kidding? After what he just did to us?"

"C'mon, Tails, I want him to leave us alone. I don't want the guy to get killed."

Tails realized Sonic was right, and grudgingly turned to scan the canal. After a second he said, "There he is."

"Where?"

"There! See him?"

Knuckles was half in the water, the claws on his knuckles stuck in a crack in the cement. As they watched, he began to drag himself out, one fisthold at a time. "Uh oh, Tails," Sonic said, "we'd better go. Looks like he's gonna be another Red Devil."

Tails pointed and said, "Hey Sonic, there's the stairway Vector told us about!"

There was a metal staircase leading up through the ceiling. "C'mon," Sonic said. The two dashed to the stairs and clattered up them. At the top was a heavy steel door marked 'Level 1'. Sonic twisted the handle and threw his weight against it, but the door wouldn't budge. "It's locked, Tails," Sonic said grimly. He glanced at his sidekick, but Tails hadn't heard. "Tails!"

The fox jumped. "What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Sonic, a teleporter just appeared down there!"

"Where?"

"Right at the foot of the stairs-don't you see it?"

"I don't see nothin', kid. You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, TEENAGER. Let's warp!"

"But I don't-"

Tails grabbed Sonic's hand and dashed down the steps. "Quick," he yelled, "before Knuckles gets out!" The little fox spun his double tails and jumped the last six feet, dragging Sonic. Sonic felt the teleporter catch his body and hurl him upward. The golden, sparkling light surrounded them.

The next instant they found themselves in the cockpit room. It was shut down as before. Tails turned to Sonic. "Toldja I saw one."

"Oh, knock it off," Sonic replied. "It's not my fault I couldn't see it-it was the teleporter's. Take player one. I'll be player two this time."

The two climbed into the pilot seats. Sonic handed the chaos emeralds to Tails, who placed them in two of the seven holes in the control panel. The room lurched as the power activated, and the cockpit shield opened to reveal another maze. The floor colors were blue and dark green this time, and the spheres were arranged differently.

"Two players," Sonic sang out, and waved to Tails as the panel closed between their seats. A moment later the intercom crackled to life. "Sonic, you there?"

"Sure. Where do you think I'd go?"

"Hey, the big pod is a lot nicer than the little one."

"Tell me about it."

"Yep. Okay, I'm gonna go this way. You can go that way, and don't hit the reds."

"Yes, mother."

"Oh, shut up."

The two pods split up. "Let's break the tie," Sonic said. "I didn't hear the computer for this level. How many rings for this level?"

"Uh, seventy-two."

"Heck, another even number! Oh well. I'll bet I can beat you."

"HA! You're on."

The red pods cruised around the maze, turning the squares of blue spheres to rings and collecting them into the pods' holds. They nearly wrecked collecting the last fourteen spheres, and with relief watched the red spheres fly up off the board and out of sight. The two pods reconnected, and the panel between the seats re-opened. "Who won?" Sonic asked.

Tails shrugged. "I donno yet. Oh, wait a minute, there it is."

The computer tallied up their scores and showed the results on the little screen. "Player 1 = (45+32)= 127. Player 2 = (27+32) = 59. Winner = Player 1."

"See?" Tails said. "I won.

"Yeah, yeah, but I'll win next time.

"Fat chance. Here comes the emerald."

One of the empty slots next to their emeralds began to glow. Then the light resolved itself, and there was the gold chaos emerald. The green emerald's glow was still dim, but a brighter than before.

The little screen blinked, but instead of displaying the teleporter co-coordinence, it said, "Loading level 3."

"Cool!" Sonic said. "We get another level! Hang on, Tails-here we go again!"

Dripping and cold, I hauled myself out of the canal. I was still raging mad. I crawled away from the edge and stood up, shivering. "I'm gonna get you, Sonic," I muttered. I wiped the water out of my eyes, shook it out of my hair, and started forward. I hadn't known about the access stairway to level 1, but I knew Sonic and Tails must have. I clanked up the metal steps to the door at the top.

I turned the knob and pushed. The door wouldn't budge. "They locked it," I thought hatefully. "That won't stop me-" Putting all my emotion energy behind it, I swung one fist at the doorknob. My fists had ploughed through ten feet of solid rock before, and I wasn't about to be foiled by a mere metal door. About the fifth hit the knob broke off. I stuck my hand through the hole and twisted the deadbolt gears. The lock snapped open. I pushed open the door and strode into the hall beyond. They wouldn't escape THIS time.

The red-orange light faded away, leaving Sonic and Tails standing at the foot of the grey metal stairs. Sonic said, "Well, that was convenient. Two emeralds for the price of one."

"Yeah," Tails added. "That was fun. I still can't figure out how you got more rings, though."

"Elementary, my dear Tails."

"Sure. I think you cheated."

"How could I cheat? I can barely drive!"

"Right. Well, let's get outta here."

The two clanked up the steps, only to find the previously locked door standing open, knob missing. They stared at it. "Well, I think we can safely assume Knux was here," he mumbled. "But where is he now?"

Tails shivered. "He's such a grouch, he might be anywhere, waiting for us."

"We'd better keep going. Maybe we can get out of Hydrocity without meeting him."

The two set out. The first floor was cleaner and better lit than the floor below, and only an occasional metal pipe snaked across the ceiling. The plant seemed deserted, but the further they went, the more people they saw.

Sonic stopped and asked a busy secretary how to get out of the factory. The cat was icily polite, as if she hated to be disturbed. She told him to follow the hall all the way to its end and turn right. At the end of that passage was an elevator. Sonic thanked her and he and Tails departed, slightly ruffled.

They followed her instructions, but instead of finding an elevator, there was a pair of swinging doors marked 'Personnel Only, Do Not Enter.'

Tails looked at Sonic, who shrugged and said, "She lied."

"Maybe she meant a left turn."

"Maybe." Sonic looked through the glass window in one of the doors. "It looks like some sort of processing center," he said. "The floor is about two stories down, and I think it's full of water. There's a walkway all the way around it."

"Anybody in there?"

"Just one guy. Looks like he's talking to somebody below the walkway."

"Maybe he could show us how to get out of here."

Sonic pushed the door open and stepped onto the walkway. He walked up to the lone figure, tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, could you tell us how to get out of Hydrocity?"

The person said without turning, "Authorized Personnel only. You shouldn't be here."

"I know, but I can't get anyone to-"

The person whirled and his teeth flashed in a smile. "Hi Sonic, you want to get out of here, huh?" Knuckles. He was wearing a coat with a hood.

The blue hedgehog moved back a step, pushing Tails behind him. "We meet again, Knux," he said, trying not to show how it had startled him.

Knuckles folded his arms. "You want out?"

"Yeah."

"Give me the green chaos emerald and I'll show you."

"No."

"FINE!"

Knuckles stepped forward, grabbed Sonic's arm and shoved him against the railing. Sonic tried to struggle, but Knuckles twisted his arm up between his shoulderblades. Sonic stopped moving.

"Like it?" he hissed in Sonic's ear. Sonic could only gasp in pain. The larger echidna leaned against him, pressing his neck against the top bar of the railing. "I want the emerald," Knuckles snarled. Sonic felt him turn and growl, "Keep back, fox. I'll break his arm."

"Tails!" Sonic gasped. He was strangling, darkness beginning to close in around him. Wildly he weighed the consequences of giving Knux the emerald and being done with it.

I felt Sonic shudder. He would faint in a minute. "Weakling," I snarled. "Give it up."

I couldn't see Sonic's face, but Tails could. He was five feet away, indecision written all over him. I sneered at him. Sonic struggled weakly, wheezing a little. "Okay, I'll ... give ... you ..."

"NO!" Tails screamed. He hit me broadside, his shoulder in my ribs. I staggered, off balance, letting Sonic off the railing. I was dimly aware of his gasp, but my attention was directed to Tails. The little fox should have been a cougar. No, strike that-if he had been, he would have done me a lot more damage. He was kicking hitting, scratching, his ears flat against his skull, teeth bared. I couldn't fight back with my hands full of Sonic, so I grabbed Sonic's shoulders and shoved him over the railing.

I looked at Tails, only to have the little creep grab my arm and bite me. I knocked him to the ground in rage. He bounded to his feet, snarling. "Cool it," I said to him. "This isn't your argument."

"It is now," he snapped. "You'll never get our emeralds, you hear me? NEVER!" Tails grabbed the top of the railing and vaulted over.

[Expletive Deleted], his teeth were sharp! The bite wasn't bleeding, but I would have the half-circle mark for days. So, now it was Tails, along with Sonic, I needed to get rid of. Well, I could arrange that. Without bothering to look over the railing, I crossed the walkway to a control panel in the corner. I pulled down two levers and waited. What would happen next would be fun.

Suddenly it struck me. Tails had said emerald's'.

The water was only twenty feet below the walkway. It was fresh from the ocean. Sonic was still gasping as he trod water, eyes roaming around the pool. There was no way out; the water level should have been fifteen feet higher. As Sonic was observing this, Tails was swimming back and forth, adrenaline still pumping. "You sure you're all right, Sonic?" he asked for the third time.

Sonic looked at him. "Tails, if you ask me again I'm gonna dunk you. YES! My body is functioning properly! That includes breathing."

"Well, if you're not, I'm gonna tear Knuckles apart."

Sonic was inclined to agree with him. "No you're not. We still need to tell him-"

He stopped as the water began to swirl and churn as if fanned by a propeller. The water vibrated faintly, as if machinery were operating in the bottom of the pond. The two were swept apart.

"What is this?" Tails called above the sloshing of the water.

"I donno. The first thing that comes to mind is a shark feeding frenzy, but I don't-"

"Sonic! You really think that?"

"Naw. Try to stay above water."

The water had a definite motion-rotating clockwise in the tank. Its speed increased. The center dipped down and down, and the edges splashed up against the walls, higher and higher. The hum of machinery grew louder. Sonic and Tails were forced toward the sinking center. "Stay out of the vortex!" Sonic cried to Tails, trying to keep near the walls. Tails tried to reply, but caught a wave in the face and coughed.

Robotnik was sitting in the bottom of the tank, operating the pumps and propeller from inside his little underwater craft. He kept me filled in on the radio. "Yes, it's working, Knuckles. You're a genius. In a few minutes they will be drawn into the center."

"Then what?"

"We'll hold them there until they drown."

I rubbed the bite on my arm. "Good."

I couldn't help but think of what Tails had said. "Emeralds." Plural. It worried me. How could they have got more? Really, the emeralds themselves played in who retrieved them-usually one had to complete a sort of game or maze to earn one. But how did they do it?

I walked to the edge of the walkway and leaned over the rail. The whirlpool was going nicely. The funnel in the center was ten or fifteen feet deep; I could see the rotating blades below it. Sonic and Tails were being sucked into it. I folded my arms on the metal bar and rested my chin on them, watching. How had they got more emeralds, and how many did they have?

I lifted my radio in one hand. "Doc, they, uh ..." Something stopped me. A protective instinct, maybe.

"What was that, Knuckles?"

I cleared my throat. "They're almost to the center."

"Ah, good."

As the two were sucked closer to the vortex, my uneasiness increased. I fought it, but it just didn't seem right. I told myself I wasn't worried about them, just the emeralds. But my conscience, way down where I had buried it, was still prodding me.

They were only a couple of feet from the dip. "Doc," I said, "we shouldn't go through with this. They've still got information."

"I'm not stopping now. Only a couple more minutes and Sonic will be vanquished."

"But Doc! They-"

"You're not turning chicken on me, are you?" My face burned with shame. I shut up.

Then they were sucked below the surface in the. As they went under, I remembered the time I had found a drowned cat washed up on the beach. It was stiff and cold, and so pitifully lifeless ... I had been sick for days after I had buried it. Well, here I was, helping drown two people I knew, that I had talked to. The horror of what I was doing came over me. And I knew I couldn't do it.

I whirled and ran back to the control panel in the corner. I pushed up the two levers, then reset a few other things. Stop the propeller! No, better yet, reverse it!

The machinery roared below, and the sucking sound of the whirlpool was replaced by a huge splashing. Suddenly, the vortex turned upside down. A huge column of water shot out of the tank, bursting the grating the ceiling.

I had no idea that we were below the island, or that it was connected to that particular outlet. All I knew was, as I watched the fountain, was that Doc would not be happy.