The Twilight Realm was much as Midna had described it, looking very similar to Hyrule when under the blanket of the twilight. It seemed slightly darker, but as all the structures appeared to be made of dark stones it seemed more like a trick of what little light there was.
Dotted about a central platform there were several creatures that resembled the Shadow Beasts, each one almost completely still seeming almost to be staring into space.
There were many structures scattered about the realm itself but only three close by that seemed likely to be important, each of them somehow floating on what looked like a cloud. The one right before them seemed to be blocked off by a waterfall made up entirely of the strangely glowing clouds.
While Midna looked wistfully around to get her bearings, Tails shared out the various weapons he'd picked up along the way. Jet held on to the bow, though like Knuckles he didn't have much confidence in his skill with it. Knuckles just took the clawshots, insisting he needed nothing else, leaving Sonic to once again take up the sword Rusl had forged.
"Midna?" he called to her.
"I know, wolf boy," she replied. "It's just..."
"We'll put things right," he told her. "You, me, all of us. We'll work together, and not even Zant will stop us."
Midna jumped to his shoulder with her usual grin. "I guess we'd better get started then, right? Just don't worry about these Twili here – they're no threat to us. You can tell, their markings are still green like mine. Red means they follow Zant. Go east first."
She opened the glowing door for them as it wouldn't respond to any of them, leading them inside the squat structure. The familiar sight of Twilight Baba Serpents and Keese were about the room, though they all seemed to carefully avoid another fall of black fog.
Jet started shooting down the Keese, though his aim was as bad as he'd predicted. After a few shots he seemed to get the hang of it until he decided to try flying and shooting at the same time.
Sonic naturally just dashed through the Baba Serpents, using the old Ordon sword to hack them on the way past usually before they even realised he was anywhere near them. Those he missed were caught by Knuckles simply delivering stunning blows or Tails with the Master Sword.
Waiting for them at the far end of the room was a hovering mask that resembled the helmet Zant wore, occasionally shooting a ball of energy at them. It appeared unable to tell the difference between them, aiming indiscriminately at whichever of them was nearest to it.
Sonic shared a look with Knuckles, nodding in unison without needing words to know what to do. Sonic attracted the attention of the mask, always staying just ahead of it so Knuckles could go in and defeat it without having to worry.
"You know Tails, if your friends keep this up they'll put you out of a job," Midna observed as a chest appeared.
"Like you said yourself," he replied. "Means I'll have more energy for taking out Zant."
The chest contained a small key, convenient as the door ahead had a lock on it. Tails and Jet flew up the ledge to reach the door, while Knuckles climbed up. Then, grinning broadly, he used the clawshots to haul Sonic up after them.
In the room beyond the next door there was another Zant mask waiting for them, but this one was partially hidden a low bank of black clouds.
"Crystalized Twilight," Midna identified it. "The same kind of stuff that's in the shadow gem that changes your form."
"Safe for them to enter?" Tails asked.
"I don't know. You're the only one who's ever come in contact with it. Better be safe and avoid it just in case."
"Wait, back up a moment," Knuckles interrupted, holding up one fist. "Change form? Change into what?"
Sonic gave him an odd look. "Didn't he tell you why Midna keeps calling him wolf boy?"
"Or show you, for that matter," Jet added as he shot the Zant mask.
"No," Knuckles replied giving Tails a hard look. "He didn't. Just what is this about, Tails?"
"Oh, nothing. I imagine you'll see when I enter that stuff to finish off the mask."
Knuckles watched with interest as he dropped down to the floor below. Just as he thought, when he entered the fog he was forced down on all fours as he shifted back to the familiar form of the wolf.
"God!" Knuckles exclaimed. "He is a wolf!"
Tails grinned to himself at that, lunging for the mask. It vanished before he reached it, but reappeared again not far away. As he had with many other enemies before he leapt on, dug his claws into the tough hide of the mask then bit down hard and jerked his head from one side to the other to tear into it.
When it fell at last there was the sound of a chest appearing from either end of the room. Without even bothering to ask Midna to change him back he headed for the one nearest the entrance to nudge it up and open with his paws.
"Didn't know he could do that," Jet murmured to the others. "I thought he had to change back to do that."
"He told me it's a Hero thing," Knuckles shrugged as Midna took the compass out of the chest.
"Now really, who put that there?" Midna demanded indignantly. "Does someone think I don't know the way around my own palace?" Then rather grudgingly she examined it and added, "Go fetch the key from the other chest, wolf boy."
"How are we meant to get to the other side of the room then?" Sonic called down. "If that fog is in the way..."
"Well I can just take the walls again, and Jet can fly," Knuckles said. "I'm sure I can bring you along somehow," he added, hefting one of the clawshots.
Sonic grimaced, "Me and my big mouth. Are you sure I can't just take a chance here?" he asked Midna plaintively. "Maybe I'll become a wolf too?"
"Maybe, but you don't have a shadow gem like he does," Midna replied. "I'd have no way to change you back."
"Can't I borrow his?"
Midna shared a curious look with Tails, changing him back. He waited until his usual self fully reasserted itself then answered, "I don't think it'd work. I had to use the Master Sword to restore my form the first time, remember. He can't use it, so if he did get changed we might have no way to change him back anyway."
"That's a shame," Jet murmured. "I was almost looking forward to seeing Sonic the Werewolf."
"I don't see you having to get dragged across the room by a clawshot," Sonic retorted.
"You could stay here and wait for us instead," Tails suggested.
"In this creepy place? Not a chance. This is where that Zant guy tried to recruit me. I'm not sticking around to give him a second chance when you're the only one who can defeat him."
Sonic didn't seem entirely happy about having to be dragged after them through the clawshots, but he didn't make any further remarks about it as they headed on to the next chamber.
This door locked behind them, barred off with the same barriers that had held him in when fighting the Shadow Beasts before. The rest of the room appeared empty at first glance, empty except for a large black fist holding onto a brightly glowing crystal.
They cautiously dropped down to the lower floor of the room, passing a small circle depression in the middle. Before they got all the way to the hand though more barriers appeared to bar their paths, and a filmy blue image of Zant flickered into life in front of them.
It flickered out again when Tails launched himself for it, appearing in a distant corner of the room where it threw a crackling red orb upward that opened a red portal, dropping out not Shadow Beasts but Twilight Keese.
"Leave them to me," Jet said, already loosing arrows to pick them off.
Sonic headed after the Zant image looking unusually grim, maybe because of what Zant had done to him before. Knuckles used the clawshots to drag the image toward them, allowing him and Tails to join the fight. The image was oddly solid for something that was partially transparent.
The image disappeared yet again, reappearing as far away from them as it could to send another red energy ball into the portal. This time it dropped a mass of Baba Serpents across the room, which Jet continued to pick off from a safe distance.
"Wolf," Tails barked sharply to Midna, who reacted without missing a beat. Once he'd changed form again he made use of the better turn of speed he had to catch up to the image, then relying once again on the typical wolven tactic of digging the claws in while tearing at the image.
As Jet finished off the last of the Baba Serpents he dropped down to slam into the image from above, stunning it long enough for them all to get in more blows that finished it off entirely, causing the image to explode into a mass of the black fog they'd seen before, rapidly settling on the ground. Sonic dragged Jet and Knuckles clear of it before it caught them, not taking any chances after the discovery that there might be no way to restore their forms.
Tails was already a wolf though, so was able to calmly make his way out again untroubled. Midna changed him back as he approached the now unblocked route to the hand and crystal.
"That's a Sol," Midna explained. "They're what illuminate our world, like your sun does. Its the source of life here...a source of pure power. This should be able to drive away that black fog, and maybe even restore my people to their real forms."
Sonic looked sceptical. "Yeah, but how are we meant to get back that way? There's no way back up to the door we came in by."
"Well, wolf boy?"
Tails considered it, then used his sword to prise the crystal out of the giant hand's grasp. It was surprisingly light to carry. He took it back to the depression he'd noticed on the way in, the black fog vanishing as the Sol's light touched it. When he set the Sol into the depression part of the floor rose up to form stairs.
"Tails," Knuckles pointed warningly behind them. The hand was now covered in glowing red lines and was floating after them.
"Everyone up there, quickly," Tails ordered them. "I'll deal with this thing!"
"You can't destroy it," Midna warned him. "It looks like it's some kind of extension of Zant himself."
Tails ignored the comment, leaping up to strike the hand repeatedly until it hung limply in the air.
"Now Knuckles, drag it up their with the clawshot," he commanded, already flying up to join them. The stairs retracted as soon as the Sol was removed from the depression, but as he could fly it made no difference. "Midna, if you'd care to open the door for us?" he asked.
"Want the Sol back?" Knuckles asked.
"Keep it for the moment in case that hand comes after us," he replied.
Just as it had before, the light of the Sol banished the black fog, allowing them to cross the room without a problem. The hand followed, coming through the wall above the door through some kind of red markings.
Without bothering to consult Tails, Jet turned and started loosing arrows at it again. After three shots it hung limp again.
The Sol revealed another depression in the floor which again raised steps for them to leave the room by. Sonic headed up first, making quick work of a sudden swarm of Twilight Rats, closely followed by Knuckles and Tails. Jet hovered in the air with the bow already drawn in wait for the limp hand to start to persue them again, shooting another volley at it just as it awoke to stun it almost immediately.
Once they were all up Knuckles retrieved the Sol again and they moved on again. This time the hand passed through the wall almost immediately after the door had closed. Tails stabbed at it to stun it this time.
"There's something behind that wall of black fog," Midna said as they passed through the room. "The Sol should dispel the fog so you can take a look. Whatever it is, it's not like anything I've ever come across though. It feels strange."
"Feels?" Sonic asked sceptically. "If you can feel it, how come you can't tell what it is?"
"I can feel its presence, Sonic," she explained patiently. "I can't feel its shape. Go fetch it."
Knuckles held the Sol close to what had first appeared to be a fall of fog to dispel it while Jet kept his vigilant watch on the hand. Sonic glanced in then stood to one side.
"Your show," he told Tails. "There's more of that fog again."
Curiosity aroused he headed in to take a look. At the far end of the narrow corridor just beyond some fog was a chest that was oddly red instead of the usual blue. Inside was a glowing red stone that he instantly identified as the Chaos Emerald he had used to power the teleporter that had put him in this situation.
"I wondered what happened to this," he mused on the way back to the others. "I couldn't find it just after I got here when Rusl helped me tidy up my workshop. I wonder how it ended up here?"
"Who knows?" Midna replied. "Probably about time you found it though. Now, how about getting that Sol back outside?"