After walking for a while Knuckles brought them to a building that looked like it was about to collapse. Tails was a bit nervous to enter but seeing as Knuckles and Sonic went in without a second thought he followed only to see that the building was a library.
Sonic and Tails were amazed by all the books that were on display. Sonic then had to ask, "Even with all these books you still didn't know what a fox was?"
Knuckles only coughed and said, "I only research information I can use. Knowing the characteristics of other creatures did not seem useful." Sonic let it go seeing as he spent his whole life on the island and probably never expected to leave or meet anyone else. He still found it a little funny though.
Meanwhile, Tails got so mesmerized he flew to the shelves and looked at all the book titles. He wanted to read them all since the amount of knowledge he had access to on his island was close to none. He was able to learn to read but that was about it. He really wanted to expand his knowledge of the world further.
"Twin-Tail! You can look at any book, just be careful." Knuckles said, seeing the young foxes' enthusiasm.
Tails excitedly nodded his head and flew off to find the books that seemed most interesting.
Meanwhile, Knuckles told Sonic to continue following him. After a bit more walking they came to a specific shelf and Knuckles took a brief glance at the books and then pulled one out. On it was a gold ring that Sonic thought looked familiar.
"Is that a book on the power rings?" He asked.
"You heard of them?" Knuckles said.
"Yep but I thought they were made up," Sonic said playfully.
"Oh, they are real. They are not as powerful as the chaos emeralds, but if controlled by the right person they can still be very powerful."
Sonic thought about it and said, "Well seeing as the chaos emeralds are a thing I shouldn't be surprised they are too. So where are they?"
Knuckles sat on the ground and opened the book. Sonic watched as he flipped through the pages trying to find the right information. Through skimming some of the pages Sonic was able to see that the rings were indeed used during ancient wars and used by strong leaders. However, what confused him was that it seemed like not everyone can use them.
"So can only certain people control these things?" Sonic asked.
While still looking through the book Knuckles answered, "Yes but it is not clear what traits an individual needs to use them."
"So what makes you think I can use them?" Sonic asked.
"I don't. I just think it's worth a try seeing as I don't want you to continue using the emeralds." Knuckles said bluntly. Sonic could only groan in annoyance and stopped talking.
After a bit more searching Knuckles finally stopped flipping pages. Sonic looked at the page and instantly got worried.
"It looks like they are at the bottom of this lake in the hidden forest." Knuckles said. He looked over at Sonic and noticed his unamused face. "What?"
"Yeah…How to say this… I can't swim?" Sonic said, chuckling.
Knuckles was not impressed and said, "Not my problem. I helped you find a way to get an alternate power source now you have to find it."
"OH! Come on!" Sonic said, a little annoyed. "How do you expect me to get these rings and what happens if I can't use them? Eggman will eventually get another emerald and will cause havoc. You have to assist us to get these if you can't let us borrow the emeralds."
"I will retrieve the emeralds before this Eggman can even find them." Knuckles said with determination.
"And if you fail?" Sonic said, causing Knuckles to get angry.
He grabbed Sonic by the neck and said in a harsh tone. "I. Do. Not. Fail."
Tails stopped his search and watched the two fight but couldn't bring himself to get close.
"But can you really do it alone?" Knuckles froze. Even he had to admit he wasn't sure. With his lack of knowledge of Eggman or the outside world even he could see a slim chance of losing. "We can help you succeed but you need to help more than this," Sonic said with a serious look.
Knuckles let Sonic go and said, "Fine I will assist you in locating the rings. However, I will not promise to work with you after that."
"Good enough for me.," Sonic said happily.
Tails then came up with 3 books in hand. "I have a question. Who will protect this place while you're gone? Aren't you protecting it?"
"Not to worry Twin Tail. I lightened the defense system so I could meet the person who was using the emeralds." he glared at Sonic who just chuckled. "Before leaving I will make sure no one but me can find this place again."
Tails was happy to hear that. "Great." he then looked over to Sonic and asked, "So when do we leave? The plane is fixed so we can leave whenever you want."
Sonic wanted to leave immediately but after seeing Tails excitement about all the books and seeing him carry 3 of them he said, "We will rest for today then head out tomorrow."
Tails accepted this with no questions asked and went off to begin reading. Knuckles and Sonic just decided to relax for the remainder of the day. The fight they had before was actually quite tiring for both of them so, even if neither admitted it, they wanted a day to relax.
The next day the gang began to pack up the plane for the days of flying. Lucky for them there was plenty of fruit to stock up on food. However, once they were ready to go they came across a problem.
"Where am I going to sit?" Knuckles asked after seeing that the plane only had two sets.
"Not a problem. I can just hang out on the wing." Sonic said cheerfully.
"Isn't that reckless?" Knuckles asked in confusion.
"Yeah but he does it anyway." Tails said, making a sigh. It was clear he had given up on trying to keep Sonic in the set. "Besides…" Tails took out the map he originally gave Sonic and opened it. "...if I am right we are here…" he pointed to the map. "...so we should find land soon. If we need to, we can land at that time."
"OK." Knuckles did not sound too convinced. He just couldn't believe the hedgehog was going to do something so dangerous.
"Well, let's get going. Onward to…" Sonic said before pausing. "...where are we going again?"
Knuckles looked at the map and then did some mental thinking. Then he pointed to an island that was quite a distance away. "Here. The hidden forest should be around here."
"Not so hidden if you can find it," Sonic said jokingly.
"Only my clan knows of the location. We discovered it many years ago but seeing as it was meant to hide the power rings we told no one. Until now at least." he explained.
"Well, thanks for that buddy," Sonic said, patting his back.
Knuckles stopped Sonic's hand and then said harshly, "I am not your buddy and it's not like I have much of a choice. It's either, lead you to the power rings or risk you using the chaos emeralds and possibly leading to the world's destruction!"
"Wow. Calm down. Even if we're not pals we are teammates. Right?" Sonic said, reaching his hand out to knuckles.
Knuckles just looked at it. "For now." He then climbed up the plane to take his seat.
Tails and Sonic just looked at each other. Both were nervous about whether they would be able to even work with the guy but for now, he was needed so they had to hope it would all work out.
Sonic climbed onto the wing which he found now as a strap and a harness. When Tails got into place he explained, "I figured this would happen so I made a safety harness for you. Just in case."
"Thanks, buddy. Not really needed but thanks." Sonic said. He put it on but he and Tails both knew eventually he would take it off but as long as Sonic was careful there shouldn't be any problems.
Once they were all set, Tails started up the engine and the propellers started to spin. They slowly inched forward while picking up speed and finally they were in the air. Sonic was just loving the wind in his quills again as he stood on the wing. Tails noticed that Sonic had not taken the harness off yet so he was happy about that. He then looked behind him to see if Knuckles was having any trouble seeing as he never left the island before but to his surprise Knuckles was calmly looking around. If Sonic or Tails didn't know better they would say he was actually excited but Knuckles did his best to hide this fact.