Chapter 11: Always Be Prepared

06231991

"...Uhh…Are we dead?"

"Heh, not at all Sonic. In fact, we're very much alive"

"But that fireball hit us dead on Tails! How are we not in the ocean?!"

"C'mon, you think I wouldn't have beefed up the Tornado 3's plating compared to the previous models after all of Eggman's plots to take over?" Tails turned his head back at his hedgehog best bud and smiled as the white aircraft leveled out over the waves.

The fox wasn't kidding, after making a 90 degree turn so the bottom of the Tornado 3 is what was hit, the aircraft showed almost no signs it was in danger, gauges and display indicating that minimal damage had been taken, impressing the blue blur.

"Dang, I really gotta stop thinking that your tech is something to snuff at" Sonic admitted, a smile creeping onto his face as he peered out over the Tornado 3's seat to catch a glimpse of where it was hit. Much to his amazement, the spot that was hit did indeed seem just fine, not even a scratch or any signs of blackening from the fireball's impact. "Guess it's my own fault for not learning after you clearly did."

"Yep, even the Tornado 2 I bet would have held up to that blast! But with this baby it's like it never even happened!" Tails laughed at how well his newest creation was fairing, proud of his work on the aircraft as he set the controls to autopilot, letting the plane fly itself for now as he turned back to look at Sonic. "So, what's our plan of action, Sonic? We gotta let the others know about this for sure, but where do we start?"

"Good question bro. I suppose we could make for Angel Island to check in on Knuckles, but the others you got about as much info on as I do. Last I heard Amy and friends were out on a getaway, and I couldn't even begin to tell you where the likes of Shadow is these days." Sonic put his hands behind his head and sighed, a bit sad knowing many of the people he considered friends he wasn't really all that aware of the location of these days.

"Well, Angel Island is as good a start as any! Plus, it'd be nice to have the three of us back in action together, been awhile since we did something as a team" Tails added, recalling the trios team up against Eggman from back in the day, one that ultimately had them fighting the mad doctors malevolent metal mirror of Sonic, Metal Sonic.

"I suppose you're right little bro. Plus I bet that knucklehead totally misses us given he tends to be stuck all by his lonesome on the island. He'll be thrilled to hear that someones trying to take over the world again!" Sonic smirked at his comment, confident that he knew the red echidna well enough that his prediction would at least be close to how Knuckles would react once they got to him.

"Pffffffft, maybe!" Tails replied, the two of them laughing at the idea as the Tornado 3 altered its course for Angel Island, ascending higher into the sky to find the floating island. Their old rival turned friend Knuckles was the lone guardian of the island, being assigned by his tribe the task of guarding it and the coveted Master Emerald from outside threats. Though a bit gullible due to his years of isolation protecting the Emerald and his home, Knuckles had grown much more friendly with the two and others over time, happy to help protect the world when the need arose.

The trip to the Island was a relatively quiet one, the Tornado 3 having little issues with turbulence and its radar not detecting any oncoming threats. Even those invading turtles seemed unable to pursue them so high into the clouds, with neither Sonic nor Tails catching any glimpses of the reptiles behind them in their travels.

"Well, they are turtles…You know, SLOW." Sonic quipped, making Tails chuckle. "Though the fact some of them had wings was a bit alarming…And so did some of those…uhh…brown things. They looked like angry mushrooms with legs, any ideas what they might have been, Tails?"

"No idea, but I do wonder where those invaders came from…Guys like that I would have heard about if they had appeared elsewhere, but they seemed like they knew about Mystic Ruins as well…They didn't show any signs of confusion when they got here, so they must have been at least a little prepared…" Tails put a gloved hand to his chin, lost in thought as Sonic peered over at the fox.

"What's on your mind bro? You got some guesses brewing about those invaders maybe?'

"Possibly…You remember that hole we saw them coming out of? It almost seemed like a rip in reality…If it was and I can get some sort of device setup that can scan for spatial anomalies, maybe I can pinpoint that rift and find out where they're coming from. But if that's true…Then we just experienced interdimensional contact!"

"Huh…That would honestly be kinda cool if they weren't, you know, invading our home and looking ready to take over." Sonic mused, admitting it was at least a novel thing for the duo to imagine they had just made interdimensional contact, as even their numerous battles against Eggman had not crossed such a threshold before. It had taken them beyond the stars and even across time to see fragments of their past encounters, but this was on another level.

"Yeah it sounds pretty bad when you think about it that way. But that also got me thinking…Oh! We're here!" Tails announced, swerving the Tornado 3 as a familiar floating island came into view for the duo.

The floating isle known as Angel Island was a small piece of land, towering high above the clouds under normal circumstances. While not exactly a large island, the island's significance was nonetheless important, being the home of the guardian echidna Knuckles, and the illustrious Master Emerald, a large green emerald resembling a diamond in shape. Already a highly valuable gem, the Master Emerald also was notorious for being one of the few things in existence capable of counteracting the powers that the Chaos Emeralds carried, often making it the target of thieves, including Doctor Eggman and the treasure hunter, Rouge the Bat.

As Sonic and Tails flew in close on the Tornado 3, they could see that the Master Emerald was safe and sound for once, perched atop the Altar of Emerald in the center of the island, a stone structure built by the ancient Echidna tribes to house the Emerald for worship. Sitting atop some of the steps at the base of the pyramid like Altar, the two were also able to see their old friend, the red echidna, Knuckles, his spiked fists being pressed against one another as he gazed up at the aircraft.

Swerving the Tornado 3 downward to land, Tails activated the plane's landing gear, bringing them out from its underside storage as the plane made contact with the floating Earth, before seamlessly gliding to a stop near the edge of the circular island. "Smooth! Phew, I was worried that since I hadn't gotten to test the landing gear outside of simulations we were gonna crash, but it seems the sims were accurate" Tails said as he hopped out of the plane, spinning his two tails to float down to the ground.

"Wait, you didn't actually know if we were gonna land right at all?" Sonic questioned as he also hopped out, Glad to be on solid ground once more. He raised an eyebrow at the orange fox, who tried to play it off smoothly by laughing, but before the blue blur could press the issue further, the guardian of the island came into view of the two.

"Guys? I wasn't expecting guests, and that normally doesn't mean anything good if you two show up. What did Eggman do this time?" The Echidna pondered, arms crossed as he looked over to each of them. Sonic turned his head to Tails, who did the same, before they both shrugged at the question.

"Well, I got good news and bad news knucklehead." Sonic answered. "The good news is, it's not Eggman this time." Knuckles raised an eyebrow at that, not knowing many other entities who would encourage his friends to drop in unannounced. "The bad news is, well…" Sonic decided it was best to cut to the chase, so he discussed all that he and Tails had dealt with, the friendly visit that turned into an ambush by an army of turtles, as well as nearly getting blasted out of the sky during their escape. As he went along with the retelling of events, Knuckle's eyes widened in alarm, as he seemed on edge once Sonic finished.

"Did any of them follow you two here?" The echidna asked, prompting both of his friends to shake their heads no. This made him sigh in relief as he turned his head back towards the Altar of the Emerald. "Good…Does anyone else know about them so far or am I the first?"

"We knew where to find you so we came here first" Tails explained, stepping closer to his friend. "Amy is out with Sticks and Cream as far as I know, and we don't exactly keep in contact with the Chaotix crew or Shadow these days…So it made the most sense to warn you first."

"Hey, the more people we can warn, the better, right?" Sonic added, smirking. "Especially since we're getting the weakest link strengthened first~" The hedgehog teased, getting right up in Knuckles face for it.

"So you're admitting you came running to me for help because you were the first to see them?~" Knuckles countered, mirroring Sonic's cocky expression. Before the two could escalate their battle of the sass however, Tails intervened and pushed the two apart.

"Alright, break it up you two, we have more important things to worry about! Now, I told Sonic my worries about those turtles, but you didn't hear it, Knuckles. If possible, could I maybe try and borrow some of the Master Emeralds power for something?" The fox asked, confusing the Echidna.

"You need the Master Emerald? What for? You guys already got one of the Chaos Emeralds for your plane, why need the Master's power?" He replied, a spiked fist resting just below his chin as he tried to figure out the answers in his head.

"It's of my belief that the invaders Sonic encountered aren't from our world and came from another dimension. If we wanna stand any sort of chance at understanding them, I think we also need to understand more about interdimensional travel. And the Master Emerald might be the only power source I know of that could let us see across realities." Tails answered, nearly making Knuckles fall over at such a revelation. The echidna's eyes widened in shock as he looked over at Sonic, who merely shrugged.

"If Tails thinks he can learn how to do what they did, then I say we give it a try. What's the worst that could happen, we accidentally revive Chaos or something?" Sonic joked.

"Don't even joke about that, the last thing I want is for that big drip to come back and get mad at us for waking it up from the afterlife." Knuckles groaned at the thought before turning his attention back to the young fox. "...Are you sure about this idea? Can you try using the Chaos Emerald in the Tornado or something instead?"

"I've run the numbers in my head, but if you want I'll give that a try first. Though I don't have the highest hopes for it working…"

"Grrr…Fine. If it doesn't work with the Chaos Emerald you can use the Master Emerald. But I better not wind up combing the ocean floor for shards of it should you wind up needing it." Knuckles begrudgingly replied, exciting the young inventor fox.

"Excellent! Thanks so much Knuckles, you can count on me! I'll have us peering into worlds we never would have thought possible!"