Chapter 3

Marble Gardens

The ruins of Marble Gardens were quiet that day. It was on the south side of the Floating Island. Only a mile separated it from the burned quarter, but for some mysterious reason, Robotnik had not destroyed it.

The inlet from Hydrocity had not been used in years. The opening was filled with drifted sand and grass. Suddenly a rumbling filled the air, shaking the ground. Water flooded out of the pipe, driven by the fierce pressure below. Dirt was forced out of the opening, allowing more water through; the pipe was blocked a few feet below.

Then the water exploded into the sky. The geyser rose ten feet and hung there, then sank down, pressure relieved.

As the water flowed into the nearby dry riverbed, two figures dragged themselves out of the deposited mud and water. They looked half drowned.

Sonic reached the higher ground of the grass a few feet away and stood there, hands on his knees, gasping. After a moment he straightened up and wiped the water from his eyes. "Tails!" he called.

"Over here!" came the reply. Tails was sitting in the grass near the pipe, watching the water ebb.

Sonic trudged over to him and flopped down. "Well kid," he said, "I guess this is the 'S' in Disaster."

Tails looked at him, his fur plastered to his body. "Where are we?" he asked.

Sonic rose to his feet and peered around. They were in a flat grassy plain. It stretched away into the distance for as far as they could see. To the right the ground sloped away toward a dry riverbed that now had several feet of run-off in it. Hazy purple mountains towered up in the distance. As Sonic shaded his eyes and stared southward, he saw smoke drifting into the blue sky. They were back on the Floating Island.

Sonic ran a hand over his wet head and turned. "Looks like we're back where we started."

"What?" Tails climbed to his feet.

Sonic pointed into the distance. "See? Smoke from the burned part. We're back on the Floating Island."

Tails groaned in mock horror. "Oh no! Not here again!" He shook himself like a dog, spraying water in all directions. He stood up and grinned, his fur sticking up in patches. "It wouldn't hurt to explore, I guess."

Sonic lowered his arms and wiped the drops of water from his face. "I wish you'd warn me before you do that. Let's head out."

Tails cocked his head. "Where to? Back to the burned forest?"

Sonic shook his head. "No-to the whatchamacallit over there."

On the far side of the dry streambed, parked on a couple rocks, was a flat, blue thing. "What IS that?" Tails said.

The thing was five feet across and painted a light blue. The only hint of its unusual qualities was the shiny band around its edge. It narrowed to a point at the bottom-a very broad, oversized top. Sonic rapped his knuckles on it and announced, "Ceramic."

Tails ran a hand over the rough top. "Hey Sonic, look. The top turns but the rest doesn't, like a pottery wheel. What do you think it's for?"

Sonic shrugged. "You're askin' me?"

Tails jumped up on the contraption, failing to notice the rotating surface punched in half an inch under his weight. Nothing would have happened if Sonic hadn't said, "I wonder if it's stuck in these rocks."

He shoved the top. It slid off the rocks and began to drift away, hovering an inch above the grass. As it moved, the plate under Tails's feet revolved. Tails walked in place, looking first at the thing under his feet, then at Sonic.

Sonic walked beside the slowly moving top. "Cool! How's it do that?"

"I donno-I wanna get off."

In reply, Sonic pointed over Tails's shoulder and yelled, "The blimp! Run!"

Startled, Tails broke into a run, spinning the plate beneath his feet. The top shot away, leaving Sonic bent double, laughing his head off. Tails, realizing it had been a joke, tried to jump off, but found his feet confined to the plate. A magnetic field held him there. "Sonic, I'm stuck!" he cried.

"Then get off," came the humorous reply.

"I can't! I'm stuck!"

A second later Sonic came bounding up. "Hang on little bro, I'm comin'." Before Tails could say anything, Sonic vaulted up on the top beside him. But, because the top was still moving, his feet became confined to the area of the plate. "Hey, what gives?" he said. He moved across from Tails and began to run.

"What are you doing?" Tails yelped, struggling to stay upright.

Sonic flashed a grin. "Remember when Slasher told us about the time she saw Knux shooting over the ground on a UFO? It was this thing! C'mon, help me. Let's see how fast this thing'll move."

Tails began to jog on the spinning treadmill. Sonic, on the other hand, began to pour on his blinding speed, his sneakers becoming a reddish blur. The top shot away, zig-zagging over the hilly terrain as Sonic figured out how to steer. Neither of them were affected by the sharp turns; the invisible forcefield had magnetized their bodies, so every atom on the top travelled the same direction.

"Slow down, you juggernaut!" Tails cried, frightened. "You're gonna kill us!"

"Aw, lighten up, little bro!" Sonic shouted back, breath coming in jerky gasps. "This is fun!"

"Then I'm gettin' off!" Tails jumped, ducked his head and summer- saulted off the contraption.

"Ta-ils!" Sonic yelped, looking back. He turned the top around. The orange fox was dusting himself off. He looked up as Sonic bore down on him and stood his ground, making Sonic swerve around him. As the top flew past and swung around, Tails yelled, "Last one to the ruins is a rotten egg!" He took off, a white-tipped streak, Sonic and the top hot on his heels.

Robotnik let me have it, all right. Chewed me up one side and down the other, and bit my head off so well I was surprised to find it on my shoulders afterward. Doc was furious! Turns out I had broke the propeller machine, and totally short-circuited his controls. Not to mention Sonic and Tails had been blasted out. I didn't think they would have survived, but Robotnik didn't agree.

I was back on my island, standing beside the remains of the pipe. The water had made it through, but had the two creeps it contained? I didn't see their dead bodies anywhere.

I crossed the streambed toward where I had parked the hovertop, scanning the soft ground for footprints. Sure enough, they pointed in the direction of-I looked up. The hovertop was gone. Why was I not surprised? I looked around the hilly, green countryside for the top. They couldn't have had it long enough to leave Marble Gardens, could they? Wait a minute. The ruins! That's where they were; I could bet on it.

I started walking. I didn't expect them to be friendly, but maybe I could find out where they got more emeralds.

The ancient ruins of Marble Gardens had rotted away or been swallowed by the deep grass. Pillars stood here and there, pointing toward the sky like fingers. A few half-destroyed buildings stood here or there, defying the years of decay. The ground was rough and uneven, the grass having grown over old foundations and piles of rubble.

Sonic left the top beside a chunk of rock and walked with Tails into the ruins. Unaware they stretched for miles, they vowed to explore it all. "And maybe find a ring teleporter or two," Sonic added with a grin.

I found the top where they had left it. They hadn't broke it, like I'd expected. Jerks. I didn't feel the sullen anger toward them as I had before, but my heart still held a tasteless dislike.

I climbed up on one of the stone blocks and looked around. Not seeing anything unusual, I held my breath and listened. I picked out the sounds of two voices talking. I slid off the rock and started in their direction. By my guess, they were somewhere to the north of me.

Suddenly a new sound met my ears, drowning out all others. A rumbling, groaning sound, from somewhere far below my feet. An earthquake on a floating island is not good news, but I wasn't worried. The Lava Reef caves were down there, and often this part of the island got shook up.

What bothered me was the way it felt. It wasn't a vibration. It felt like when magma forces its way toward the surface. If so, then this was the first of many.

"Whoa, did you feel that?" Sonic asked Tails, hands out for balance.

"Uh, yeah. Was it an earthquake?"

"I think so. I hope nothin's wrong with the island."

"That'd be awful, wouldn't it?"

"No kidding. It stopped. Wanna check out the palace-thing over there?"

"Sure."

The 'palace-thing' was the ruins of an ancient temple. Most of its walls were still standing, but the roof had collapsed long ago. Pillars jutted up here and there, looking grim and out of place.

The fox and hedgehog made their way up the cracked stone steps, heading for the interior. They didn't see Knuckles watching them from behind a distant pillar. He knew the ruins like the back of his hand, and knew that Sonic and Tails would probably get lost.

"Perfect," he muttered.

As Sonic and Tails entered the first roofless room, a ring teleporter blazed into sight before them. "All right!" Sonic yipped. "C'mon, Tails! Let's go get another emerald!"

"Right, Captain!"

The two of them joined hands, ran forward and leaped through the ring. It disappeared after them.

A moment later, Knuckles stepped into the room. He knew it was a dead end, so they couldn't have left it ... but where were they? The rectangular room was empty. He made his bewildered way into the room. There was nowhere for them to have hidden. He looked up at the roofless walls. Maybe Tails had air-lifted Sonic over it. Yeah, that must have been what had happened.

Knuckles walked out. The ruins were quiet for a long ten minutes, the only sound being the occasional chirp of a bird.

Suddenly Sonic and Tails appeared out of nowhere. Sonic was grinning, and Tails was jumping up and down. They had won three emeralds. As they earned the first emerald, they changed places before the pods could shut down. This triggered another round. When they beat that one, the computer announced they had a perfect score and could play the last level. They now had all the chaos emeralds.

"I don't believe we did it," Sonic gulped, looking down at his handful of emeralds. The green one was now glowing. There was also a yellow, a dark blue, a white, an orange, and a light blue.

"Oh yes," said Sonic. "Super Sonic again! But not around Knuckles."

"No, no, not around Knuckles," Tails agreed. "Gonna do it now?"

"Naw, I'll wait until I need to. C'mon, little bro, let's keep exploring. Hey, I wonder how the top would handle Super Sonic?"

The two left the room, chattering and climbing over piles of rubble. Knuckles could hear them, but couldn't seem to track them down.

Sonic and Tails entered one of the few structures that still bore a roof. The walls and supports on one side had sank into the ground. "Weird," Sonic commented, looking down at it. "I wonder why it sank here and nowhere else."

The room had several adjoining chambers, and they looked around each one. One of them contained a gigantic mural. Its colors were faded and peeled in spots, but the picture was legible. It showed a polygonal creature with sharp features and claws. One of its hands was curved around a green diamond shape. Flying toward it from the opposite direction was a spiky creature painted blue, with a sheet of yellow fire around it.

"I wonder what this is supposed to be," Tails wondered aloud.

Sonic brushed a hand across it. "It's really strange-looking," he said, "not to mention old. I wonder if it happened."

"This place is so old, who knows. What are those things?"

"You're asking me? We should ask Knuckles. He probably knows."

"On your life."

They were interrupted by a low rumble. The ground quivered underfoot. "Another quake," Tails murmured. "Sonic, let's get out of here. I'm scared."

"Fine with me, little bro."

The made their way toward the main building. The vibration continued, rattling the stone walls and sifting thin sheets of dust from the ceiling. It would either let up or get worse.

It got worse. The floor began to lurch, making them stumble against the walls and each other. Fifty pounds of dirt fell into their hallway, and cracks snaked across the ceiling. "The whole place is gonna go!" Sonic shouted, panicking. "Run, Tails!" But the quake seemed to know they were in danger. It heaved the ground up and down, forcing them to a staggering walk.

Somehow they made it to the oblong entrance room, hands and knees scratched from hard falls. Dust filled the room, dimming the light. All the world seemed to be in motion, with even the rock walls pitching and tossing. The noise of the groaning walls and rumbling earth was like something out of a nightmare. The confusion was disorienting. Where was the door?

With a crash a huge chunk of the stone ceiling fell to the ground, letting in light from above. It surprised Sonic and Tails. Neither could see the other, so Sonic yelled, "Run, Tails, get out as fast as you can!" Tails's faint acknowledgement reached his ears, so he turned and stumbled through the doorway.

As Sonic tumbled out of the building, there was a colossal cracking sound. He turned to see half the building collapse on itself, and a gust of dust puff out the doorway. He stood there a moment, watching and feeling the earthquake subside beneath his feet.

Tails hadn't come out.

The earthquake was one of the worst I had felt in a long time. I stood in an open area until it wound down, then headed for the old meeting hall. I was sure Sonic and Tails were there-

I rounded a bend just in time to see the roof collapse, taking most of the walls with it. Yeah, that building had been due to go any time.

I noticed Sonic standing before the entrance, alone. He was staring through the doorway, stock-still. Had he lost something? He leaped back into the building, and I heard him scream Tails's name. Tails was in there? Then he was dead. The whole building fell on him. Deep down I felt a sort of disappointment. Now only Sonic was left.

A moment later he re-emerged, wiping his eyes with the back of one hand. He took out something shiny in either hand and clapped them together. I jumped as his blue flashed to hot yellow. Super Sonic? He had all the emeralds? Why that no good- But he was going back into the ruined structure. Still looking for Tails, I guessed.

Super Sonic charged into the rubble, breath catching in his throat. Tails!" he cried. He threw chunks of rock right and left, strength unlimited. He expected to see his friend's gold and white fur beneath each boulder he lifted. As he worked his way into the ruins, he saw one of the walls was still intact. It had fallen across a pillar section, leaving a narrow wedge-shaped space underneath. Oh, if only Tails were safe beneath it! What would he do without his sidekick?

He had cleared enough away to see into the two-foot gap between the fallen wall and the ground. He flung himself to his knees and peered into the dark gap, his yellow glow like a torch. His enhanced vision picked out rocks, crumpled plaster, a boulder-

"Tails!" he cried, near tears. If the fox wasn't under the wall, he was dead. There was no answer. Sonic stood up, chest heaving, looking around at the rubble. His bright eyes spotted Knuckles, fifty feet away, watching from behind a low wall. "Help me!" the hedgehog yelled at him, angry that Knuckles had been there the whole time. The echidna didn't move. Why bother?

"Sonic ..."

The voice was a whisper, but Sonic's ears caught it. He dropped to his hands and knees, peering under the wall again. "Tails?"

This time there was movement. One of Tails's hands came into view from behind a boulder. "Sonic," he whispered again, "I'm stuck."

Sonic's relief was overwhelming. He felt like laughing and crying at the same time, but instead, crawled under the wall.

He wormed his way to the boulder. Tail was pinned behind it, where the wall met the ground. "Can't breathe," he whispered to Sonic. Sonic took his hand and squeezed it. "Hang in there, little bro. Have you out in a jiffy."

He braced himself against the wall, set his feet against the boulder and pushed. The rock slid a few inches, and Sonic heard Tails suck in a breath of air as he was freed a bit.

"Think you can wiggle out?"

"No-still stuck. Another six inches."

Sonic moved the boulder a little more. Tails coughed and dragged himself out.

A moment later he and Sonic were outside. Tails's right side and arm were bruised from crushing against the rock, but other than that he was unhurt. Sonic became normal and put his arms around the little fox. Both were trembling, both were glad the other was alive, and neither wanted to spend another minute in the ruins.

It was about four o' clock by the time they left the ancient city. They were shaken and weary, and decided to rest for a while. They sat down with their backs to a low wall. The wall was only thirty feet long, as if intended to be the border for more buildings. Tails rested his head on Sonic's shoulder and closed his eyes. Sonic put an arm around him and tilted his head back against the cold stone.

They sat there for forty-five minutes. Sonic let Tails sleep, and dozed a little, himself. At last he realized his left arm and foot were asleep, so he edged away from Tails, lowering the fox's head to rest on the grass. Tails didn't stir. Sonic climbed to his feet and walked up and down, limping on his numb leg.

The sun was sinking toward the west. They had another two hours of daylight, Sonic thought. They could spend the night here. But what about dinner? He was starved, and knew Tails would be, too. Well, they could always call Slasher ...

He turned and looked at Tails, still asleep on the grass. His eyes lifted and traveled over the wall idly. It was painted with lettering and pictures in the style of the mural they had seen earlier. Suddenly he realized this was a mural, too-a continuation of the first one. He walked to the left end and studied the pictures.

The blue creature was depicted in a fighting stance, facing a red one he hadn't seen before. The next picture showed both of them with yellow flames around them, and the green diamond shape above them. There was a series of four more panels, showing them fighting. The last one depicted a yellow creature, also with a yellow flame around it, driving the two apart. Then the three stopped and faced right, toward an apparent polygonal explosion. Sonic recognized the spiky, sharp featured-creature from the other mural. It took the green diamond-shape and departed. Now the red, yellow and blue creatures seemed to help each other. They were shown in most of the pictures for the rest of the wall, but the paint and colors had worn off most of them. The last picture was a smaller copy of the first one, of the blue creature confronting the grey spiky one.

The mural stopped there, and the wall had never been finished. Sonic looked at it, wondering. Had the guardians of the Floating Island warred among themselves for possession of the emeralds? Who were the red, yellow and blue creatures? They seemed to have battled, but then joined forces to attack the grey thing. Strange. Slasher might know, and if she didn't, she could probably find out for him. Sonic touched the silver whistle that hung at his neck. Well, not just yet.

Tails's soft yawn made him turn. The fox was sitting up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Sonic walked over to him. "Hey, Tails. Feel better?"

"Oh yeah, lots. You sleep?"

"A little, I think."

"What do we do now?" Tails climbed to his feet and stretched.

Sonic gestured to the wall. "Get a load of that. It's a whole story."

They looked at the pictures together. Tails said, "Well gosh, it could be anything. We don't know anything about the island's history- maybe there was a battle or something."

Sonic's reply was interrupted by an earthquake-like rumble below their feet. They looked at each other in terror, then around to make sure nothing would fall on them. The open area posed no threat. The two braced themselves to keep from falling and looked around in a secure, fearful curiosity. Suddenly Tails said, "Sonic, it's coming from over there. It's not a quake, it's-"

The grass bulged upward, and a gleaming silver spike thrust through the soil. It was followed by the small craft that carried it. Sonic and Tails stared at the hovering ship. It was Robotnik's little warcraft, the doctor himself inside. It bore a sort of heavy armor around the top half, and poised above the bubble windshield was a huge, dirty drill.

He didn't notice them at first, as he was checking his instruments. After a moment he looked up, and they saw him grin. "Uh oh," Sonic muttered. "Trouble." They watched as the heavy drill swung around to the front of the hovercraft and began to spin. "Scatter," Sonic murmured to Tails. The two waited until the craft started forward, then bolted in opposite directions.

To their surprise, Robotnik didn't pursue one or the other. Instead he smashed into the mural wall, leaving a great hole in it. Sonic felt a queer lurch in his stomach. Those pictures and symbols had stood for something. He and Tails watched as Robotnik swooped back and forth, running his drill through the bricks, destroying them.

At last only one section was left; the one with the copy of the first picture. Robotnik hovered over it, flashed a smile at Sonic and Tails, then pointed his drill downward. "No!" Sonic cried, but it was too late. The drill and craft smashed down on the remains of the wall. Then the ship pulled up and roared away westward.

Sonic looked at Tails. The fox's flattened ears and bared teeth showed he felt exactly as Sonic did. "Let's get him," the fox snarled.

"Right," Sonic agreed. But first he turned, stepped back to the remains of the wall and picked out a sliver that bore a single word written in a strange language. He thrust it into his glove hem with the emeralds, then said, "Okay, I'm ready. "Let's go get the creep."

Tails took off running, Sonic behind him. The fox twisted his double tails together as he ran, then unwound them with a snap and leaped into the air. His tails, now spinning like helicopter rotors, lifted him into the sky. Sonic leaped up at him from below, hands outstretched. Tails caught him. They had done it so often the process was routine.

Tails lifted into the air, his tails an orange blur above him. The ground fell away below, and Robotnik's ship became visible ahead against the blue and pink evening sky. "I think he's slowed down," Sonic said.

Tails nodded. "I can catch him now. Hang on!"

Robotnik wasn't paying attention to them. He slowed down and disarmed the drill, retracting it into a protective holder. Sonic and Tails exchanged a wink. They would catch him off guard this time.

"Stay low," Sonic commanded, "or he'll see us." They were now close enough to see the bolts in the silver armor plating. "Up quick," Sonic said. Tails spun his tails a little harder, and they floated up above the craft. Sonic swung his feet forward and let go of Tails, landing on the sheathed drill. With a mischievous grin he pulled out his emeralds, selected the red one, and dropped it into the drill's power insert. He pocketed the rest, then jumped off, catching Tails's hands. "Slow way down," Sonic instructed, "and let's watch the fireworks."

Robotnik's hovercraft pulled away from them. With each foot, the red chaos emerald's glow increased, heat growing. The metal inside the drill began to burn and melt, dripping into the wiring. The back end began to smoke. They watched as Robotnik looked back in surprise. He shook a fist at them, then gunned his engines and roared away, unaware that was the worst thing he could have done. Sonic and Tails watched gleefully as dark smoke began to billow out in clouds.

"Betcha he blows up," Tails said.

"Betcha he don't," Sonic returned. "He'll ditch the drill and leave. Just watch."

Sonic was right. A moment later there was a whine of machinery, and the drill and armor plating fell to the ground with a clang. "Down," Sonic said, eyes on it. "We gotta get the red."

Tails obeyed, beginning to pant. They hit the ground running, Sonic with the green emerald held high. He tossed it into the pile of smoking metal. The stone bounced to a stop next to the red, cooling it instantly. Sonic snatched them up, then cried, "C'mon Tails, we can't let him get away now!"

"Sonic, I can't fly fast enough to keep up, and you know it."

Sonic huffed loudly, gazing after the retreating ship. "Well then, I'LL carry YOU."

He struck the green and red emeralds together, changing his dark blue to a hot yellow. He knelt on the grass. "Get on, little bro, and hang on!"

Tails jumped on Sonic's back and wrapped his legs around his waist. "Don't go too fast," he begged, but his plea fell on deaf ears. Super Sonic was in a racing crouch, one hand on the ground, muscles tense. Then he was gone like a bullet from a gun.

What happened next was too swift for Tails to grasp. He had vague impressions of blurry ground, things flying by he thought were trees, and a dark patch overhead Sonic seemed intent on following. Tails couldn't understand what Sonic was saying to him over the roar of the wind, but he seemed to be sidestepping the cries to slow down. More trees, closer together. Bright lights ahead ...

Then Sonic jumped, soaring into the air. Tails hung on with the feeling he was astride a rock fired from a slingshot. They came back to the ground after an eternity, and Sonic skidded to a stop.

"You can get off now, little bro," Sonic said as his yellow glow turned green and faded to blue.

Tails couldn't move.

"Get off!" Sonic exclaimed impatiently, looking over his shoulder.

"I don't know if I can let go," Tails said through clenched teeth.

In reply, Sonic grabbed Tails's legs and pried them loose from around his waist. Tails finally let go.

All Tails's fur was blown backward. The long fur on his forehead was sticking straight up. His eyes were wide open, teeth locked, hands still curled into fists. Sonic couldn't help but chuckle as Tails looked at him.

"I told you-don't go so fast!" the fox gasped.

Sonic smiled. "Sorry. I couldn't let Robotnik get away, and then I had to jump the wall." He gestured to something behind Tails, who turned and looked.

It was a towering twenty-foot brick wall, with coils of razor wire on the top. It looked like a prison barrier. Tails blanched. "Uh oh. Sonic, I'm almost afraid to ask-where are we?"

"See for yourself."

Slowly, Tails did.