Chapter 4
"Alright…last chip replaced and…done!" cried Tails as he looked up from Nicole's inner working for the first time in nearly an hour. He had been hard at work ever since lunch had concluded fixing Nicole's holographic interface, the last and most difficult part of the repairs as the hour was nearing six o'clock in the evening. Punching in Nicole's reboot command, Tails waited with baited breath as Nicole's power indicator light switched on, her screen lighting up.
"So glad to not be shut off anymore," said Nicole.
"Yeah…Sorry that took so long," said Tails.
"It's okay. It was necessary. I'll run a systems check right now to see if everything's in working order," said Nicole. She then started beeping as she ran the check. After about twenty seconds she stopped beeping. "Systems check finished. All systems are fully repaired and in the green."
"That's wonderful news," said Tails as he slumped on his stool, a little exhausted from all the concentration he had been enduring for the last few hours. "Let's run a field test. Show me a random image. You pick."
"Really? Is it okay if it isn't random?" asked Nicole.
"If you had something in mind, that would be fine," said Tails.
"Alright. I've been working on a surprise while I was in the darkness of being shut down. I think it's ready, but I'd like a second opinion on it before I finalize the program," said Nicole. Tails cocked an eyebrow at the statement.
"What kind of program were you working on?" asked Tails.
"You'll see," said Nicole. Her holographic software then started up as what appeared to be a solid image of a late teenage female lynx dressed in a purple toga with green eyes and average length black hair with a single longer beaded strand extending on both sides of the head. The image then moved of its own accord, clasping her hands together as a smile spread on her muzzle.
"Who is that?" asked Tails, not recognizing the person Nicole was displaying.
"It's me, silly. Or at least what I decided I wanted to look like if I were flesh and blood," said the image.
"That's you?" asked Tails. He studied the image for a short time before nodding his head. "I like the look a lot."
"Thank you. You don't see any flaws I didn't detect, do you?" asked Nicole's image as she looked over herself.
"Not that I can see," said Tails. "So can you see through the eyes of the image or just through your screen still?"
"Both actually. Though I think it makes more sense to use the image's point of view since that's what people are looking at," said Nicole.
"Probably a good idea," said Tails. At this point a smile formed on his muzzle. "Now I've got a surprise of my own that I set into motion during lunch. I'm going to go check to see if it's ready now, then come back for you."
"What kind of surprise?" asked Nicole, her face taking on a curious look.
"It's a good one, don't worry," said Tails as he ran out of the workshop. A couple of minutes later he returned, a smile still strong on his face. "Alright. It's all ready to go. If you wouldn't mind shutting down for two minutes please so it doesn't ruin the surprise."
"I don't like being powered down very much…" said Nicole, frowning at Tails as she crossed her arms.
"It's only for two minutes," said Tails. "Also, immediately project your image and have it facing in the same direction as your screen is when you power back on." Hearing this, Nicole's frown lightened up.
"What in the world are you planning?" asked Nicole.
"I told you, it's a surprise. And it's one I'm sure you'll love," said Tails. Nicole gave a sigh as she unfolded her arms.
"Alright. I'll give you two minutes exactly, then I'm powering back up whether you're ready or not," said Nicole.
"Fair enough," said Tails as he looked down at his watch. "On my mark. Three…two…one…mark." Instantly Nicole's power indicator light switched off as her image faded. Tails quickly picked up the small computer and ran out the workshop, twirling his double tails together as he took to the air in the direction of the commons area of Knothole. The trip only took him half a minute, and he was still amazed by the sight that greeted him as he entered the commons. Nearly every mobian and free minded robian in the village had gathered in the commons at the request of Tails, Cody and Lily. Landing about twenty feet away from the group of people, Tails quickly set up Nicole on the ground so that she was facing directly at the group. Once she was in place, Tails ran over to join Cody and Lily.
"How much longer do we have?" asked Lily, causing Tails to glance down at the watch on his left wrist.
"We have forty three seconds till she powers back up," said Tails.
"I'm actually curious to see her like this," said Cody, the robian hedgehog not having interacted with her since the incident had happened.
"All I know is she'll definitely be surprised by all of this," said Lily.
"That was the plan," said Tails. He then twirled his tails together as he took to the air in front of the crowd, turning to face them. "Now remember everyone! As soon as she projects her image, we'll give her the best greeting she'll ever receive!" Everyone hollered out a voice of agreement as Tails landed again and turned around to face Nicole. As soon as the three second mark hit, Tails gave the signal for the countdown. "Three…two…one…!" As soon as the time hit zero seconds, Nicole powered back up and instantly her image began to display for all to see.
"Welcome to Knothole Village Nicole!" shouted everyone in unison, causing the lynx image to instantly cover her mouth with her hands.
"Oh my gosh! I...I'm speechless…Thank you everyone!" she cried back to the group.
"No…Thank you Nicole," said Tails as he walked in her direction. "Everyone here owes you their lives. If we didn't have you around, the war would've been over long ago with our defeat."
"He's right, you know," said Lily as she walked forward as well. "You got Sonic and Sally through a number of tight spots where you were the difference between them succeeding or failing in a mission."
"And as such, all of us would like it if you were to become an official member of our community and a full-fledged member of the Knothole Freedom Fighters," said Cody as he walked up next to Tails and Lily.
"I…I don't know what to say…" said Nicole, tears forming in her image's eyes. "Of course I'd be more than happy to accept that offer."
"We thought you would," said Tails, a smile spreading on his muzzle. Nicole suddenly perked up, her eyes going wide. "What is it?"
"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt the moment, but I'm getting a high priority transmission from Floating Island," said Nicole.
"Wonder what Knuckles wants?" asked Cody, looking over at Tails and Lily.
"I don't know, but he wouldn't be calling with a 'high priority' anything unless it was something serious," said Tails.
"Should I patch it through?" asked Nicole.
"Please do," said Tails. Instantly Nicole's image was replaced by a somewhat worried looking image of Knuckles. "Hey Knuckles. What's the big emergency?"
"Sorry if I caught you at a bad time," said Knuckles, noticing the large group of people behind Tails and the others.
"It's alright. What's going on?" asked Cody.
"Have you heard from Sonic or Sally in the last few hours? They were supposed to check in with me every couple of hours using the Tornado's radio, but I haven't heard anything from them since they went down to the temple," said Knuckles. Tails looked back at Cody, who merely shook his head before Tails returned his gaze to Knuckles' image.
"No. No one's heard from them here since they left yesterday morning," said Tails.
"I don't like it guys…Something might've happened to them," said Knuckles.
"Or maybe they just lost track of time. Being inside of a temple like that you probably couldn't keep good track of the time," suggested Lily.
"Well, I can believe that both Sonic and Sally would lose track of time, but I doubt Kirrand did," said Knuckles. "No…I think something happened."
"You're being paranoid," said Cody.
"I am not!" shouted Knuckles angrily, crossing his arms as he closed his eyes. "I'm giving them another half hour, then I'm landing the island in the ocean and going ashore to go to the temple and check in with them in person."
"If you think you must," said Tails. "Still, Sonic's with them. I doubt they're in any trouble."
"Sonic being with them is part of the reason I'm worried. Trouble seems to follow him like a lost puppy," said Knuckles. "Half an hour, then I'm going to find them." Instantly, the image cut out, Nicole booting up her image again after the transmission ended.
"He seems a little uptight," said Nicole.
"He usually is, but he means well," said Tails.
"You don't think something is wrong, do you?" asked Nicole.
"Even if there was, we can't do anything about it with them on the southern continent," said Cody.
"He's right. Let's get back to what we were doing so we don't think too much about it," said Lily.
"If you say so," said Nicole.
"So you've also become the legendary hyper form and saved the Master Emerald from this Dr. Eggman guy as well?" asked Kirrand as Sonic finished recounting the events of his first encounter with Knuckles nearly two years ago.
"Yeah…Lost that ability a while ago though. I had to dump the minis into the Void or else risk the whole planet becoming a permanent resident in that terrible place," said Sonic. Hearing that made Kirrand wince a little.
"I'm beating Knuckles wasn't very happy to hear that news," said Kirrand.
"He wasn't, and I only made the news worse after I said a few things I regretted saying that caused him to break ties with us for several months till we patched things up a couple of weeks ago," said Sonic.
"Okay guys…I think I finally have the safe route figured out," said Sally's voice, causing the two to look up from their corner towards the ground squirrel.
"That's good to hear. I was running out of stories to share," said Sonic as the two of them got to their feet and began walking towards the tile touching the base of the wall, Sally following close behind them.
"So what's the path?" asked Kirrand.
"It's left, left, right, left, right, right, left, right, right, and finally left," said Sally with confidence.
"I'm not gonna remember that off the top of my head," said Sonic with a frown.
"I'll remember. Just follow me as we go," said Sally as she stepped onto the tile and began walking up it. Kirrand and Sonic both looked at one another, then each gave a nod before following Sally up the wall. As the minutes ticked by and they came to each intersection of tile, they picked the right path as they continued to slowly scale the walls of the room. Finally, after nearly fifteen minutes of maneuvering across the tiles, they finally reached the last line that led onto the platform at the top of the room.
"See. I knew you could do it Sal," said Sonic as they reached the end and stepped onto the platform.
"I didn't doubt you either Sally," said Kirrand.
"Thanks guys. I was worried I would screw this up somewhere along the path and we'd have to start completely over again," said Sally.
"So that's it then, right?" asked Sonic.
"Should be," said Kirrand. "We passed all three trials. So I'm guessing in the next room will be whatever it is that tells us about this 'greatest threat' to the planet."
"Should be," said Sally.
"Then let's go," said Sonic as he started walking into the corridor, the two girls following him. Nearly half a minute after walking into the corridor, a large number of stone steps greeted them. As the trio walked up the touch lit steps, a brighter glow coming from the exit to the corridor nearly a hundred steps above them caught their eyes.
"Think that's it?" asked Sonic, looking back at his companions.
"I'd be willing to bet it is," said Sally. As they finally reached the top of the steps, they entered one final room that had no exit from it. In the center rested a teleportation orb like the ones found on Floating Island that allowed for quick travel across its areas.
"Guess that's our exit from this place," said Sonic, immediately taking note of the orb. But the two girls had barely noticed the object. Rather, their attention was focused on a set of four giant murals on the far wall.
"Are those murals what the ancient echidnas left behind to tell of the Fall and the threat?" asked Sally, walking in their direction along with Kirrand. Sonic looked up at them as well, immediately noticing something about the first one.
"Chaos is in that first one," said Sonic, seeing the same depiction of the giant sea dragon that was on the giant mural they had seen at the start of the day, the two girls eyes being drawn to look at that one more closely first. However, unlike the one they had seen before, this one showed him attacking the temple they were now inside of. But he wasn't the only person being shown on the mural. Off to its side was what appeared to be a rainbow furred hedgehog child with red eyes that was battling the watery beast.
"Who is the person he's fighting?" asked Sally, looking at the mobian child with interest.
"Not sure, but I'd be willing to bet whoever it is is battling Chaos in their hyper form," said Sonic, taking notice of the rainbow fur. His eyes looked underneath the mural, spotting what he was hoping he'd see. "Can you read what the text under it says Kirrand?"
"I'll check," said Kirrand as she walked up to the wall and looked over the text. It only took her a few seconds before she turned around to face the other two mobians. "It's depicting the fight between Chaos and what the echidnas simply called, 'Child of the Wind'. It says that the fight ended abruptly when both opponents exploded in a flash of white light, vanishing after it was gone along with any trace of the echidnas that hadn't fled from the war."
"That would explain why the echidnas were nearly wiped out," said Sally.
"Probably, though I thought Chaos was solely responsible for that happening, but apparently this kid was part of it as well," said Sonic. He then looked over at the second mural. "So what's this one showing?" The second mural showed another hedgehog child, although this one was depicted as causing death and destruction as was evident by the lifeless echidna and chao bodies laying at its feet. The child looked exactly like the one in the other mural, but this one's fur was a bright green with blue eyes. Kirrand walked over to the text underneath it and began to read it.
"That's odd," said Sally as she looked at the depiction of the child.
"What's odd about it?" asked Sonic, looking over at her, Sally turning her gaze to him.
"That child's fur and eye color is an exact flip flop of yours," said Sally.
"Coincidence maybe?" suggested Sonic.
"I'm guessing so," said Sally as Kirrand turned back around to face them.
"So this one's telling how another child appeared immediately following the Fall, only this one was the exact opposite of the Child of the Wind. A person of great power with a purely evil heart. The echidnas named him 'Scourge', for that was what he was to the planet. He began to kill anyone he came across and destroyed everything in his path," said Kirrand.
"That's disturbing, but he must've been defeated a long time ago. Otherwise I doubt any of us would be here," said Sonic.
"I think the next mural might have a clue to that," said Sally, looking over at the third mural. The other two looked over at it as well. This one depicted a fight between Scourge and a yellow furred, red eyed female echidna wielding a sword. Above the two combatants was what appeared to be a black gemstone that bore a striking resemblance to a Chaos Emerald. Kirrand quickly read the ancient text underneath the mural, then looked back at the other two.
"Okay. So this one shows of the battle between Scourge and one of the last surviving Nocturnus echidnas. The text doesn't give a name for the echidna, however, which is odd considering they've named the other two mobians up to this point. But that aside, it says that the echidna went into battle wielding the seven Chaos Emeralds and a special sealing sword crafted by the echidnas and imbued with a small portion of the Master Emerald's power thanks in part to a chao they called Artemis," said Kirrand. Immediately Sonic's ears perked up.
"Artemis? I've heard that name before. I was apparently Artemis during Tikal's visions that I saw," said Sonic.
"Does it say anything else?" asked Sally, to which Kirrand nodded.
"Yeah. It says that the echidna was mortally wounded during the battle, but succeeded in striking Scourge with the sword, causing the child to be sealed inside of what it calls the 'Black Emerald', which was then hidden by Artemis", said Kirrand.
"So…This Scourge character was sealed away five thousand years ago," said Sonic, crossing his arms over his chest as he frowned. "I'm wondering whatever happened to that Black Emerald…"
"All I know is I've never heard of it or Scourge before today," said Kirrand. She then turned towards the last mural, walking over and leaning down to start reading the text as the other two walked over to look at it. This one showed the Black Emerald shattering at the very top, with the world at the bottom of the mural on fire with an adult version of Scourge hovering above the world.
"I don't like what I see on this one," said Sonic.
"Neither do I," said Sally.
"This one isn't telling us of the past," said Kirrand as she looked up from the text and turned to face them. "This one's a prophecy of the future."
"Which I always hate those cause the echidna ones always seem to bring about something bad," said Sonic.
"What does it say?" asked Sally.
"It says 'Fifteen years from the day the Conqueror begins his campaign, Scourge will be set free, bring about the darkest hour of Mobius," said Kirrand.
"'Fifteen years since the Conqueror begins his campaign'…" repeated Sally.
"You think you know what it's referring to?" asked Sonic.
"Well…Mobius has lived in relative peace for thousands of years. In fact, the only war I can remember is…No…" said Sally.
"What?" asked Kirrand.
"Our war with Eggman…I think he's the 'Conqueror' the mural is talking about," said Sally.
"It would make sense," said Sonic, crossing his arms over his chest. "But our war with him started nearly twelve years ago."
"Which means if this mural's prediction is true, we only have roughly three more years till this Scourge person escapes the confines of the Black Emerald," said Sally.
"What should we do?" asked Kirrand, a nervous look appearing on her face.
"I don't think there's anything we can do at the moment," said Sonic. "This prophecy's pretty slim in the information department. Doesn't tell us how he gets free or where he'll appear first."
"Should we tell the world about this so that we can be ready for him if he does show up?" asked Sally.
"I don't think that'd be a good idea," said Sonic.
"Why not?" asked Kirrand.
"Right now the world is pretty much at peace. If we let out that it's all about to go to Hades in three years, it'll cause a worldwide panic that might cause just as much damage," said Sonic.
"You're probably right about that," said Sally. "While I'm willing to bet the mobian population could probably take the news okay after everything Eggman's done, the humans might do something rash."
"Like turn on us because this Scourge guy is a mobian," said Sonic.
"That's what I was thinking might happen too," said Sally. "We aren't exactly friends with the human leadership at the moment, though I'm hoping our trip to Zephyr City with Tails to meet their president will improve our relations somewhat."
"So we shouldn't tell anyone about this?" asked Kirrand.
"It's for the best I think," said Sonic. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to start doing as much research into this as we can, maybe figure out a way to stop the prophecy now that we know about it in advance."
"You really think we can stop it?" asked Sally. Sonic sighed, then shook his head.
"Honestly…I'm not sure. These prophecies the echidnas made all those centuries ago always tend to happen, but then again the ones that I'm aware of we didn't recognize the signs before they came true. Maybe with this advanced knowledge we can stop it."
"I hope so," said Kirrand.
"Same here," said Sally.
"Alright…We may not have gotten an answer to my question, but we did discover something a lot more important in the end. But frankly, I'm ready to get out of here," said Sonic as he started walking towards the teleportation orb.
"I can definitely second that thought," said Kirrand as she joined Sonic. However, Sally held back for a few seconds longer, looking back over at the first mural and its depiction of the Child of the Wind.
"Coming Sal?" asked Sonic as he looked back at her. Noticing where her gaze was now focused, Sonic looked back over at the same mural. "What's wrong?" A few seconds later, Sally turned around, shaking her head.
"It's nothing. Let's get out of here," she said as she walked over to the others. Each one placed their hands on the orb, the device starting to glow before the three of them disappeared in a small flash of light. Outside, a small flash of light burst out of thin air before the three mobians reappeared at the foot of the stairs leading into the temple.
"I'm glad to be out of that place and back in the sunlight," said Kirrand, a smile on her face as she gazed up at the mid-evening sky above them.
"There you guys are!" shouted a voice from off to their left, all three mobians turning to the source to see Knuckles rounding the corner of the temple, an angry look on his face. "What the heck happened to checking in with me every couple of hours?" The three of them looked at one another before Sonic looked in his direction.
"Sorry Knux. Guess we lost track of the time," said Sonic.
"You're lucky I don't beat the tar out of you for making me worry most of the day," said Knuckles as he walked up next to them. "So, did you find the answers you were looking for?"
"Unfortunately no. Still, the experience was…interesting to say the least," said Sonic.
"Never thought of you as enjoying ancient history," said Knuckles.
"Anyways, I'm sure I'm not the only hungry one here. How about we all head back to Floating Island to get something to eat," said Kirrand.
"That's actually a very good idea," said Sally.
"Alright. We'll meet back up on the same beach again," said Knuckles. "But I swear the next time I ask you guys to check in with me, do it!" He then started in the direction of the coastline where Floating Island was now resting in the ocean.
"Promise," said Sonic before the trio started back towards the Mystic Ruins Airport.
Two days prior to when Sonic, Sally, and Tails were to travel to Zephyr City, somewhere on the southern continent, deep within the secret facility where the Egg Fleet was in its final stages of completion, Eggman sat at the controls of one of the many computers that filled the control room of the base as he tried to hack into the human military's classified files on Prison Island, the human's most advanced military research facility on the planet.
"So the Egg Fleet will be ready in five more months…" said Eggman to himself as he continued to key in commands to the computer. "While I'm confident my fleet would decimate anything the humans can throw at me, I did sell them some rudimentary robot designs under a different name to get the capital I needed to fund the fleet's construction. It won't hurt to take a look and see if they made any improvements to my designs." Suddenly the screen lit up with a series of pictures depicting various robots, some humanoid in shape, others looking like orbs with a fin going all the way around the mid sections of their bodies, and a few that looked like two legged walkers of sorts. Off to each picture's side was design schematics. "And I'm in! Excellent!" As Eggman looked over them, he suddenly realized that these prototype robots were on the road to becoming on par with his own creations.
"Hmph…Guess I have to give the idiots some credit. Seems they did a good job reverse engineering the original plans I sold them. Still, doesn't mean I can't crush them underfoot now that I have their design specs," said Eggman. As he perused over the files, a name he had all but forgotten about suddenly caught his eye appearing on a top secret file simply called "Project Shadow". "Professor Gerald Robotnik…I had all but forgotten about both my grandfather and my old name, but seeing this…I wonder what sort of connection he had with this project." As soon as he tried to open the file, however, he was blocked with a password prompt.
"A password? Seems like a childish attempt to stop someone from seeing the file this day in age. Still, with a little bit of time I'll bet my decreption software could crack it," said Eggman to himself. Suddenly he perked up with an idea as he remembered how close his grandfather was to his granddaughter. "No…No that's silly…It couldn't be that simple, could it?" He then entered a five letter word into the password prompt. Immediately, he was rewarded as the file opened up. "Ha! It really was that simple! Let's see just what my grandfather was working on for the military." As Eggman began reading over the files, the project kept referring to something called the "Ultimate Lifeform".
"Well now this is interesting…" said Eggman to himself.
"What is interesting, sir?" asked Snively as he walked into the room.
"My grandfather apparently worked on some project nearly fifty years ago that claimed to have created the 'Ultimate Lifeform'," said Eggman. "Apparently the military grew concerned he would unleash it upon the world, so they captured the creature and have kept it in suspended animation on Prison Island ever since."
"Why not simply kill the beast?" asked Snivel.
"That is something I'd like answered as well. I suppose I'll find out when I meet the creature," said Eggman.
"You're not seriously thinking of waking that thing up after what happened with Chaos, are you?" asked Snively.
"If I want your opinion, I'll ask you for it. Five more months is too long in my opinion to take over the world. And besides, if Sonic tries to destroy the fleet with the Chaos Emeralds, this creature just might be my trump card against him," said Eggman. He then entered the command to download all of the data for Project Shadow before erasing the files from the military's database.
"But sir, you said yourself that the creature is on Prison Island. You'll be walking right into one of the most heavily fortified military bases on the planet," said Snively.
"I'm well aware of that, Snively. But my new walker model should be able to handle anything I come across. Especially now that I found a Chaos Emerald to power its primary weapon," said Eggman as he got up from the computer and walked out of the room, laughing as he went.
The End