Chapter 11

Hidden Palace

The tunnel opened out into a oblong cavern. It was about the size of a large garage and lit by glowing green crystals, like in Hidden Palace. But it was not the cave itself that was impressive-it was the far wall.

The wall had been carved and sculpted into a gigantic pair of gates. Wide stone steps led up to the tall doorway, and three massive pillars towered up on either hand. The cave was dusty and dry, as if no one had been there in years.

Sonic and Tails advanced to the temple-like entrance, staring. As they drew closer, they could see it was made of polished green marble, like the floor in the emerald chamber. The doors had rotted out of the frame long ago, but the sides and top of the frame were richly engraved with fine, scroll-like writing. The top was too far away to see clearly, but the left and right sides bore examining. On the left was the strange writing they had seen in Marble Gardens and Sandopolis. But on the right was readable text.

"Cool," Sonic muttered, aware of how his voice echoed. "Tails, listen to this. 'Today, March twenty-third, year twenty-four sixty- five, this Palace was completed. It is to be a gathering place for all Echidnas, and a school for those who desire to learn the uses of the power stones.' But look, down here it looks like they erased what else was here and wrote something else. Listen to what THIS says." He gingerly touched the cold stone, following the words as he read them.

"'This day, October nineteenth, year twenty-five ought-five, this Palace was hidden. The main entrance had been sealed and buried, and access is restricted to all but the current Guardians and their children. Because of the great evil the emeralds may produce in the wrong hands, all but one Echidna family have been driven from the Island. These few will tend it indefinitely. The prophecy must be fulfilled!'"

Sonic looked at Tails, who had been reading over his shoulder. "This place was only open forty years. Why? Did somebody try to take the supers?"

Tails shrugged. "You're askin' ME? I have no idea. What 'prophecy'?"

Sonic looked back at the inscription. "I donno." He sighed. "Well, let's go in."

As they stepped across the threshold, the blue hedgehog froze. "Uh oh. Tails, it said 'this Palace was hidden.' Hidden Palace! Is that what this place is?"

Tails didn't answer. Sonic glanced around and realized why.

Before them stretched a wide corridor of smooth stone. The walls and floor were black, but that only served to heighten the beauty of its contents. The place was a garden of crystals. Huge red, green and blue clumps shot up here and there like stone ferns, geometric and startling. Many had veins of light in their cores.

Sonic and Tails moved among them on a carefully maintained path, marvelling at the beauty and wonder. They noticed single formations, set apart from the other clusters, obviously specially grown. There were many different colors in a single cluster, and the very largest crystals had been sliced off at the base. The cave smelled of ammonia and sulphur, giving one a sharp feeling at the back of the throat.

The crystals were very much alive, as was shown by the pools of water around some clusters. They were formed by the chemicals and growing fast. And, as most bore light inside them, it was like walking through a neon-lighting display.

Dazzled and struck dumb by the strange beauty, Sonic and Tails reached the end of the passage and stepped into another cavern. It was not very large-perhaps twenty feet across-but had no roof. The walls simply climbed higher and higher, cathedral-like, lit with the green crystals all the way. Sonic and Tails tipped their heads all the way back, eyes travelling up. Far, far up-miles, it seemed-was a single bright patch of daylight. It gave them the sensation of being buried alive, enclosed and suffocated by tons and tons of black rock-

It wasn't worth thinking about. Sonic touched Tails's good arm and their eyes met. They were thinking the same thing; when would they ever get out? They seemed to have been in darkness for years ...

There was another passage in the far wall. They trotted over to it and entered, wishing they hadn't seen that daylight. It seemed to have dimmed their spirits.

But this low-ceilinged cave soon made them forget all but what it contained.

One whole wall was draped with a brightly colored tapestry. It only took them a second to recognize it; was the picture they had seen in Marble Gardens, the grey monster being confronted by the blue thing with the flame around it. But it was woven in cloth-it seemed the past guardians had been intent on preserving it.

In the middle of this room, fists raised, was the current Guardian.

If it took bare-fisted confrontation to stop those two, then I would do it. I could feel that old, horrible rage beginning to consume me, but swallowed it and remained calm.

Sonic raised one hand. "Knuckles." I took it he meant it as a greeting, but his tone was icy. His eyes were cold, too. He moved forward, putting himself between me and Tails. I remained in my fighting stance, ready for anything. In fact, I was welcoming anything. Sonic lowered his head. "It's come to this, has it?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

I nodded, my adrenaline beginning to rush. "Now we fight to the finish." I sounded detached-at least I still had SOME control over my voice. I kept going, finding it encouraging to speak my thoughts to my rival. "YOU invaded MY island. YOU stole MY emeralds. And now YOU'VE infiltrated MY Hidden Palace. YOU will pay MY price."

Sonic's stomach doubled into a hard knot. Now that it had come down to it, he was almost afraid. The echidna was stronger than he was, and- "Sonic," Tails whispered, touching his arm. "Sonic, what about the supers?"

Sonic glanced at his friend. "I can't use 'em here, Tails. What about my hands?"

"They didn't seem to matter when we charged the supers. C'mon. Just scare the jerk-he'll back down. Try it! I'll watch from the other room back there."

The fox scurried away to safety. Sonic turned back to Knuckles, who looked a trifle uneasy at being made to wait. "Well Knux, I guess if _I_ have to pay YOUR price, I'll do it on MY ground. Let's make this match equal." Sonic pulled out the seven super emeralds. Knuckles's jaw dropped as Sonic lifted them above his head, drew a deep breath, and clashed them together.

It seemed lightning had struck the cave. There was a blinding white flash and a buzzing roar, like a power arc. Tails ducked behind a protruding rock formation, and Knuckles shielded his eyes. The light vanished an instant later, and Sonic stood in the center of the room, transformed.

All the spines on his head and back stood up wildly, charged with energy. His entire body glowed and sparkled seven different colors. Large stars of energy soared away from his chest, spiraled above him, then faded away, some hitting the ground with a hiss.

Sonic stood stock-still, temporarily blinded, wondering what in the world had happened to him. After a second his vision faded back in, enhanced twenty times. His eyesight matched that of a hawk's; he could now read a newspaper from ten miles away.

He fixed his eagle-vision on Knuckles. "I donno what this is, but it's cool. Still wanna fight?"

I stared at him. His power far surpassed that of Super Sonic. Could it be that he was now Hyper Sonic? Very few of my clan had ever gotten the super emeralds to work on them before they had been hidden and decharged, and becoming Hyper was something of a legend.

But this was still Sonic. He didn't even know what he was doing. A sense of superiority came over me-I was still more experienced. And I had something that could challenge the power of the supers.

I pulled out the chaos emeralds. They had no longer been needed once the last super had been charged, and were now in my hands-all of them. I lifted them above my head and looked Sonic in the eyes. "You're on."

I clapped them together.

Knuckles began to glow brightly, like the red chaos emerald. Sonic noticed the emeralds in orbit around him-they did that for whoever used them. Knux advanced on Sonic, pounding one fist against his palm. "Payback time, you little creep-"

He jumped, Sonic blocked. They circled, shedding light on the floor and walls, watching each other. They clashed again, sparks flying in all directions as invincibility met invincibility. They separated, closed again, struggled, fought, then parted. Neither could hurt the other. The fight turned violent.

Tails watched from around the corner, wideyed, feeling very small and frightened. The two rivals were taking advantage of their powers and abilities, and were hard to follow. Knuckles could glide in all directions at once, it seemed, then smack into Sonic fists-first. Sonic would take the blow, right himself, then fling Knuckles against the wall. There would be a dull thud-if not for being super it would have killed him. Knux would bounce to his feet and tackle Sonic. They would go down and wrestle like a couple of wildcats ...

This struggle might have gone on indefinitely if not for a freak accident.

Knuckles's fist caught Sonic between the eyes and sent him flying. Sonic smashed into the rock pillar Tails was hiding behind, leaped to his feet with with a snarl and returned to the fray. Tails watched him a second, then happened to glance at the floor. Just in front of the pillar, where Sonic had fallen, lay the super emeralds. He had dropped them. They were glowing like live coals, still supplying Sonic's power. "What if Knux sees them?" Tails thought. On impulse he leaped out of hiding, snatched up the glowing gems and dodged back.

The little fox crouched in the dimness of the tall cave, light spilling out of Sonic and Knuckles's arena. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the emeralds in his hands. Each one shown with a living, vivid light, warming his cold hands and making them tingle. He sensed they had more power then they were giving Sonic. It was contained, under wraps, waiting. Waiting for what?

Tails had a vision of himself, powered by the emeralds; he could be anyone's equal, invincible, maybe even help Sonic! His shoulder wouldn't bother him ... Sonic always said you could feel no pain while you were invincible. Could he? Would it work for him?

The young fox drew a deep breath, took four gems in one hand and three in the other, then clapped them together.

Tails was jerked erect, power like he had never felt before flooding into his body, making him glow. It felt alien, as if something were consuming him from the outside in. He panicked and dropped the stones, gasping. He looked down at his arms and legs, noticing his fur and skin was glowing a bright yellow. Was this it? Was he hyper, too?

A sound made him look around. Far above, from the patch of daylight in the top of the cave, came four tongues of fire, streaking down at him. Tails covered his head and ducked, half wondering how invincible he really was. The flames drew nearer, hot yellow-Tails squinted. His keen eyesight strengthened by the power of the emeralds, he gazed at them. They weren't flames. They were animals of some kind ... small in size, but glowing as bright as Tails himself.

They shot downward, barely missed the floor and began flying in a tight circle around Tails's head. He stared at them. Birds. Something like cardinals, they all had thick beaks, crests on their large heads and bright black eyes. Their feathers shown like fire. Fascinated, Tails held out one hand. "Hi," he offered. Immediately the biggest bird landed on his arm. It wasn't heavy, but Tails could feel its power.

"Hello," the bird chirped. "We are the Power Flickies, called to your dimension by a novice using the super emeralds. We will aid you and keep you from hurting yourself."

"Cool," said Tails, carefully stroking its back. "Are you invincible?"

"Yes."

"Am I hyper?"

"Nope. You're Super-uh, what's your name?"

"Tails."

"Okay, you're Super Tails."

They were interrupted as Sonic and Knuckles slammed into the pillar Tails had been hiding behind. The blow shattered the rock, and the pillar collapsed outward. Tails leaped back as the rock clattered to the ground. The flickies, he noticed, moved with him. "Can you guys back off?" Tails asked them. "I'm gonna help Sonic. Knux is too much for him."

"Oh no you don't," another of the birds said. "You're only super, not hyper. We'll do it. Do you want us to break them up?"

"Yeah. They'll kill each other."

First, the four flickies swooped down and picked up the fallen super emeralds; three grabbed two apiece with their feet, and the leader picked up the last one. He began to shine blue as the super poured its energy into him. The others were flashing back and forth between the colors they carried. The leader chirped a command Tails couldn't make out, and they all swooped into the battle cave.

The floor was littered with rocks the dueling pair had knocked from the walls. They were hard at it, moving so fast it was difficult to tell them apart. The birds dove at them, mixing with the fray, the power of the supers giving them strength.

If we hadn't have been invulnerable, the fight wouldn't have been so long. But neither of us were hurt or even winded. I was getting discouraged. I mean, a fight is seeing how much damage you can inflict on your enemy before he gets in fair punch. Neither of us even had a scratch. If only he knew how much of an advantage he had ... he was handling himself as if he were still Super Sonic.

We had tangled for the hundredth time, our rage matching blow for blow. I threw him off, but before we could recover, a couple bright things dove into my face, striking me with their wings, driving me to the floor. They were hyper, whatever they were, and knew exactly how to use their power. They shrieked and made a lot of noise, their hard little bodies striking my arms and face. They were attacking Sonic, too.

Tails watched, clapping his hands gleefully. The power flickies were rapidly taking the fight out of the two. Soon both combatants were driven to the floor under the relentless assault. Knuckles tried to fight them off, but Sonic yelled, "Tails, help! These things are vicious!"

"Guys!" Tails called shrilly. "Leave Sonic alone and get Knuckles!" They obeyed instantly.

Tails rushed to Sonic and helped him up. Sonic stared at him. "Little bro! What happened to you?"

"I'm glowing with success!" Tails slapped his thigh. "Ha! That's a good one!"

"Why are you glowing?"

"The supers work on me. They called the power flickies to help me."

Sonic turned and gazed toward Knuckles, who was now under double the attack. "Power flickies. Oh, you mean they're birds?"

"Yeah. Um, do you think we should call them off?"

"See if they can get the emeralds away from him."

Tails whistled to get the flickies' attention. "Hey guys, get the chaos emeralds away from him!"

"Continue the assault once he is disarmed?"

"No, you'd kill him."

"Okay."

The little birds worked with unbelievable speed. In less than fifty seconds they had taken all seven of the emeralds, deactivated them and dropped them at the feet of their young master. Knuckles felt his power being stripped away and collapsed to the floor, waiting for the inevitable. He expected the birds to kill him as soon as he was normal, so it was a relief to find that they abandoned him as soon as he was helpless.

Silence descended over the cave. Tails handed the supers back to Sonic and took possession of the chaos emeralds. The flickies returned to their orbit around Tails's head, and together they stood and watched Knuckles.

I slowly sat up, feeling beaten and tired. My enemies were standing at the other end of the cave, looking like a power team. The glowing bird-things circled Tails's head protectively, all four of them watching me. I noticed Tails was holding my chaos emeralds. Sonic had all the supers, too ... they had finally proven themselves more than a match for me.

I suppose I would have gotten up and fought them to the end, but something happened that twisted my way of thinking inside out and upside down.

The entire Hidden Palace shook, and a rumble echoed through. Earthquake? I jumped to my feet. It came again, knocking dust from the ceiling. I looked suspiciously toward Sonic and Tails, but they were looking around at the walls, bewildered as I.

Then there came a crash from the cavern behind me. Now, if you were not the Guardian of the Floating Island, you would not have known there was a cavern behind me. The entrance had been sealed with a thin lid of stone, and all through our fight I had been careful not to let Sonic hit it. I ran to the wall in desperate silence and kicked a hole right through it. I took down the rest of it with my fists and leaped through.

It was the emerald cave that contained the supers and the Master emerald. One look around revealed the gaping black hole in the wall at the far end of the cave. Someone was in here. I felt a hot fear rush through me. Who? Who was it?

I got my answer as Dr. Robotnik's little utility ship swung up from behind the Master's pedestal. Attached to the bottom was a huge bronze clamp. He flashed a triumphant grin at me from under his mustache and hovered over the Master. Was he going to ...?

Yes, he was. I tore across the marble floor. Even as I reached him, the clamp lowered and attached securely to the Master emerald. I felt as if I were being torn in two. Doc had lied. He had lied to me all along! I bounded up on the pedestal and furiously attacked the clamp with my fists, screaming every name I could think of at Robotnik. It did no good. There was a sound like rock cracking (I can't tell you what it did to my already enraged system) and the Master emerald, bigger than I was, emerged from its bed of crystals. Ignoring me, Doc turned his ship and began to fly back the way he had come.

I leaped off the pedestal and ran alongside. He couldn't take it away. No! He couldn't! My island would sink! I jumped into the air. My hands caught the smoothly cut edge of the immense gem, and I hung on. If he was going to take the Master, he was taking me, too.

I felt the ship slow and hover in the middle of the cavern. I didn't know what he was doing, but I wasn't going to let go if _I_ could help it.

I didn't see the metallic robot arms emerge from the sides of the ship, although I heard Sonic yell for me to let go. I only felt the needle-sharp tips for an instant as they touched either side of my head; then-I guess he electrocuted me. Everything went violently black, then white. I saw bright stars, colored snow and sparks. After a second I blacked out.

Knuckles collapsed in a heap on the polished floor. Sonic, still hyper, leaped around him. "Get Robotnik, Tails!" he shouted wildly. "If he gets away we're history!"

Tails commanded the flickies to attack Robotnik's ship, then attacked, himself. Robotnik, seeing the two were invincible, high- tailed it out of there, back through the hole he had made getting in. They followed as far as they could, but the tunnel ended in a ventilation shaft, and the ship made it up and out.

Crestfallen, Sonic and Tails walked back into the emerald chamber. "Well," Sonic said glumly, "I guess it isn't hidden anymore."

Knuckles was lying where he had fallen. Sonic deactivated himself and knelt beside him. Tails did the same. The flickies' glow faded away, leaving them a deep blue. They perched on one of the super emeralds and looked on in silence.

Sonic felt Knuckles's wrist. "He's alive," he announced glumly. "I guess you could say we caught a minnow, but the big fish got away." His eyes moved to the Master emerald's empty pedestal.

Tails followed his gaze. "Sonic ... are we going to die?"

"No!" Sonic snapped. "Of course not! Just because the Master's gone and Knuckles is out of it, it ... it doesn't mean we're licked." His tone contradicted his words. He lowered his head.

Tails moved up beside him. "It's okay, big bro. We'll call Slash-she'll get us out of here."

Sonic looked up at his friend, tears glazing his eyes. "It's not that, Tails," he said, voice cracking. "I'm not worried about the island going down so much ... it's that we failed! Robotnik got the Master. Even with the supers, I-I couldn't stop him. I'm a poor excuse for a hedgehog if I couldn't even keep him from leaving the room ...!" Sonic closed his eyes and lowered his head. Tails didn't know what to say. His friend's sense of defeat was too great.

Knuckles began to come around.

My brain was a whirl of lights, colors and sounds. It seemed I was caught in a whirlpool of noise and couldn't escape. But slowly, steadily, I began to resurface. The sounds corrected themselves first: two voices, Sonic and Tails. Then the lights and colors shakily fell back into their correct places. I was lying on the floor in Hidden Palace. My head hurt on either side, where the charges had entered my body. I felt sick.

I lifted my head. Sonic and Tails, both quite normal-looking, were seated on the floor beside me. What had happened? I felt as if an eggbeater had been lowered into my brain and turned on. I looked at my former enemies. They looked very solemn, and Sonic's eyes were strangely shiny. Then I looked toward the Master emerald. The pedestal was empty.

In a flash I remembered. An animal-like cry escaped me, and I dragged myself to my hands and knees. Sonic caught my arm. "It's no use," he said flatly. "He's gone."

I sank back. Something within my chest was dying, sinking toward my socks. My island ... my island was doomed. As soon as the Master left the vicinity, it would capsize. I had failed as guardian. The most precious of all the power stones had fallen into the hands of a dangerous enemy ...

But as defeat overwhelmed me, the hatred of Sonic and Tails was vanishing. That red heat I had carried in my heart for so long was fading away. I had been wrong. Doc had lied to me. And, believing him, I had done terrible things to them.

I had to put things right, somehow. Even if the island was lost. I lifted my head and looked at Sonic and Tails. Tails returned my stare calmly, but Sonic was staring vacantly at the floor. His face reflected everything I was feeling-shock, fear, guilt, helplessness.

"Sonic," I began. Pain flashed through my head, and I closed my eyes a moment. When I opened them again, Sonic and Tails were both looking at me. "You guys," I began again. No pain this time. I continued. "I'm really sorry ..."

"I'm the one who should apologize," Sonic said quietly, dropping his eyes to the floor. "I could have stopped him, and I didn't. I didn't stop him ..."

"You mean _couldn't_," Tails corrected. "Sorry Knux, but we COULDN'T stop him. He was out before we got close."

I guess my face registered how I took that news, for Sonic elbowed Tails viciously.

An awkward moment passed. I gathered my thoughts and spoke them aloud. "I'm sorry. I didn't really believe Doc at first. I somehow thought maybe he was wrong, at first. I didn't want you to get hurt, really, I didn't." I glanced at Sonic's gloved hands, then at Tails's bandaged shoulder. "Sonic, I didn't mean to ... robotize ... you." It was still a new word back then. "I thought the beam did something else. I'm sorry." I kept my eyes on my folded hands as I said this, then looked up. He was staring at me, but not for the reason I thought.

"Can you un-do it?"

I didn't know, and said so.

His face fell. "Well, I guess this throws a major monkey-wrench in everything. I won't be able to so much as touch a chaos emerald again, ever."

I had felt bad before, and that made me feel worse. But before I could say anything, the floor beneath our feet trembled slightly. One of the power birds chirped from nearby, "We must flee this place. The great emerald is out of our reach."

We jumped to our feet. Tails looked frightened, but Sonic's eyes were dead. He moved slowly, as if his mind were far, far away. "I've killed the island," he murmured. "It's all my fault ..."

"No," I said with a sick feeling, "I'm the one to blame. I should have realized Doc was lying-"

"Look," Tails broke in, "I don't care who's fault it is. Let's get outta here! We don't stand a chance underground!"

He had a point, although I didn't have much to live for once the island sank.

I led them back through the hole in the wall. I felt as if I were moving in a dream-my body was doing the right things, but my head wasn't attached. Some sort of shock, I guess. Maybe exhaustion. Sonic still looked exactly the same-brain-dead, defeated. Tails was carrying the birds on his head and shoulders. I guess they had decided to come with us.

We stepped into the small cave with the distant ceiling. I glanced up at the point of light and said, "That's our way out."

They looked up in disbelief. Sonic's beaten attitude didn't change, but Tails was feeling far from whipped. "What do you want us to do? I can't fly that high."

"Nope. We'll use this." I was trying to be cheerful, but it was rather difficult. Before long I would lose everything. I was beginning to feel sick ... how I imagined the people on the Titanic must have felt.

I knelt on the floor, slipped my fingers through a niche in the stone and tugged. A light wood panel slid aside, revealing the reason the high cave existed. It was a specialized teleporter-a transporter. It would carry us up and out. I reached down along the side of the thick crystal lens and cranked a dial all the way to the right. "There," I said as I stood up. "Now only the sky's the limit."

We joined hands and stepped onto the lens.