The Fox and the Seedrian: Frontiers
by milesprower06
Chapter Four
Lily sat behind her dad as he flew the Tornado X3 west over the ocean towards Angel Island. Currently trying to shoo away the butterflies in her stomach, she glanced up and back, seeing Sonic outside on the hull. For a moment she wondered how he could tolerate the wind speeds out there, before realizing that he frequently ran faster than they were currently flying.
She believed she had prepared to the best of her ability; she had walked the ten miles from downtown Topaz Harbor back home, so her hiking boots were sufficiently broken in. She had six pairs of hiking socks; one pair for sleeping, and one pair for every two days they believed they would be out here. Each of them had a tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, water bottles, freeze-dried provisions, first aid, knife, headlamp, GPS, and a small repair kit. To split up the larger items, Sonic had the stove in his pack, Tails had the fuel, and Lily had the sun and cold protection such as goggles and scarves.
But still, there was a very small part of her that wondered if she was truly ready for this. Just as Knuckles didn't want her getting hurt exploring on Angel Island, she didn't want anything happening to her dad or to Sonic because she had wanted to come here and explore. She tried dismissing them as last-minute jitters, because she was truly excited about this. She had enjoyed reading and studying the history of the Ancients and the Chaos Emeralds, and due to the supernatural forces keeping Angel Island suspended in midair, she was going to be setting foot in places most historians would never get the chance to.
Lily felt the plane slow down and descend, and glanced out the left side of the glass canopy to see the fields and forests of Angel Island's south side. Tails had the plane landed a short distance away from the Altar of the Emerald in another few moments, and Sonic hopped off the top of the jet before Tails opened the canopy and he and Lily began to unbuckle themselves from their harnesses.
Sonic zipped up the steps of the altar and skidded to a halt in front of where Knuckles was relaxing against one of the broken pillars.
"Gotta hand it to ya, Knucklehead," Sonic greeted. "I was a bit surprised you've softened up a bit to let us take this trip. I've never known you to let anybody wander around this island."
Knuckles grunted in annoyance as he pushed himself up off the pillar he had been leaning against.
"You three aren't just 'anybody', you know," the echidna replied, coming up to Sonic. "For the record, I do believe Lily when she told me about the repetitive dreams she's been having about this altar. I wish I had the answers to give her. If the Master Emerald is reaching out to her, I won't stand in the way. I just hope whatever it wants with her, that it's good news."
"You got that right," Sonic agreed, glancing back at Lily and her dad back at the plane. "She's a good kid. I had hoped with Eggman gone, we could get away from the 'fate of the world' stuff. Can't argue with over a decade of peace, but I hope that Emerald of yours isn't sensing something malevolent that we can't."
"Mm," Knuckles agreed. "Just keep safe out there."
Down where they had landed, Tails had opened the cargo panels on the side of the Tornado X3, and was unloading the backpacks, giving everything a final inspection before they set off east into the jungle.
"Hey dad?" he heard Lily ask as she was making final adjustments to the straps on her pack.
"Yeah, Lily?"
"I just wanted to say thanks, again, for doing this. I know you're worried," Lily told him.
"You're welcome, hun. And yeah, I am a little worried. That emerald up there got us through a few impossible situations, and there's so much we don't know about it. I confess, I don't know what you're hoping to find here that you wouldn't have read in those history books already."
"Nothing in particular, dad," Lily replied. "The altar is the only thing that was in those dreams. I'm hoping at the very least, that just spending time here on the island, that maybe a new piece of the puzzle will be revealed, something to lead me in the right direction. If absolutely nothing else, I can finally get a taste of the adventures you and Sonic went on back in the day."
"Won't be much of a taste without hordes of robots either in the way or chasing us," Tails said. "But I get it. When I first met Sonic, I yearned for adventures like nothing else."
Sonic came zipping back down the altar back to the plane, and Tails pulled the hedgehog's pack out of the cargo space last of all.
"Got all of that out of your system for now? We should stick together from here on out," Tails told him, setting the pack down in front of the hedgehog who was currently doing some quick stretches.
"Well, if I take off again, you'll know I didn't," Sonic replied with a grin as he picked his backpack up and got it on his shoulders. With their gear squared away, they gave each other nods, then started towards the thickening jungle to the northeast, with Sonic leading the way. Lily and Tails each gave a last wave to the echidna watching them from up at the altar before they headed towards the treeline.
"So how often did you leave dad in the dust, Sonic?" Lily asked, with Tails shooting her a brief annoyed glance.
"Once or twice," Sonic said, chuckling. "But never for long, and never in the middle of a dangerous situation."
"Admittedly, it was part of the fun, trying to keep up," Tails chimed in.
"Likewise, it was awesome having someone to have my back, and also fly the plane. Gave me more time to take in the amazing views," Sonic added.
Once they entered the treeline, the trio lost sight of the altar in the clearing behind them. Tails brought his wrist-mounted projector up, and switched it on. It showed a blue hologram of the island, and their current position on the south side of the towering mountain in front of them. There wouldn't be an exact route, but Tails had pinpointed several points of interest before uploading the topography data to the projector.
"Alright, our first checkpoint is going to be the falls down into the waterways. If we keep a good pace, we should get close enough to make camp by nightfall, then head down before lunch tomorrow," Tails told the other two, before switching the hologram off.
"You said this section was firebombed? You wouldn't think so, it grew back awfully fast," Lily commented as she took a look around at the trees and shrubs surrounding them.
"Didn't it rain the first night, Tails?" Sonic asked. "I don't remember because I had gone down into the waterways in a mater of minutes."
"Yeah, he's right," the fox answered. "The fires didn't last long. I was on the beach with the Tornado, and there was a doozy of a downpour late in the afternoon. I remember covering the cockpit with a tarp and trying to get any sleep. Not the easiest task, because the rainfall against the tarp was nearly deafening."
"So you didn't tag along the whole way?" Lily asked.
"Nope. We had been chasing and fighting Eggman for days on end, and the Tornado was in dire need of maintenance. Once we had taken out one of his battleships, I barely got him up high enough to hitch a ride up to the Death Egg. I had to land back on West Side Island for barely long enough to refuel. I took off again just in time to get him from the falling debris field of an explosion that disabled the battlestation. It managed to stay airborne just long enough to land beside Angel Island, where he quickly set up another launch base to conduct repairs and take off again."
"This place wasn't floating in midair?"
"Knuckles saw the Death Egg fly overhead and took the Master Emerald from the altar. Whenever that happens, the island descends into the ocean. He took it down to the Hidden Palace. Unfortunately, Eggman got to Knuckles first and convinced him that we were the ones after the Master Emerald," Tails explained.
"The point is," Sonic interjected. "We can only go for so long before we need some rest. Even I had to pause every now and then in between fighting Eggman and trying to reason with Knuckles. I got your dad over the radio to help out with an airborne battle above a landslide, but other than that, I told him to get what rest he could and make sure the Tornado was ready to fly when we really needed it. Thanks to that, he was ready to snatch me and the Master Emerald out of midair when the Death Egg finally bit it for good."
"A shame about the Sky Sanctuary," Lily commented, noticing a nearly grown-over chunk of white stone over in the brush as they passed. "It must have been really something to look at."
"It probably would have been the most beautiful spot on the island, if it wasn't almost constantly crumbling under my feet after the Emerald had left the island," Sonic told her.
"So there's probably no chance of me seeing it outside of artist renderings, seeing that the Master Emerald has left the island a few times since then," Lily said.
There was almost no path to follow as they slowly turned to the north towards one of the smaller mountains that barely peaked above the jungle canopy, and they largely went off of Tails' topography data, weaving in between the steepest hills which would be the most tiring. They had gotten a late afternoon start, so they would hopefully get close to the falls which would be their access point into the waterways, and stop there for dinner, and for the night, before starting in the morning again.
"I think I hear the falls," Lily told the duo as they came to a clearing. They paused and surveyed the clearing, Lily noted the grassy craters dotting the landscape in a line towards the next treeline towards the falls.
"So I see those haven't quite disappeared yet," Sonic commented as they resumed walking.
"Bombs?" Lily asked.
"Bingo," Sonic answered. "One of Eggman's bombers passed over while I was headed towards the falls. Probably to try and keep me from getting to him before he got into the waterways."
They crossed the clearing and stopped at the treeline.
"Alright, I think this is the best spot for our first camp," Tails said, dropping his backpack onto the grass, followed by Sonic and Lily.
"Alright, how about I go gather firewood and rocks for the ring, and you two set up camp?" Sonic asked.
"Sounds good to me," Tails said as he and Lily were already in the process of unpacking their tents. "Chili dogs sound like a great first meal."
"Now you're talking. Be right back," Sonic said, before zipping off into the forest.
Sonic zoomed in and out of the treeline, and before the other two even had their poles assembled, Sonic had a fire ring built in a small patch of dirt on either side of Tails' and Lily's tent footprints. Once he had the tinder piled, and had a campfire going, Tails had his tent set up, and helped Sonic with his, as he had very little experience with one.
Due to the altitude, dusk came a little sooner than the rest of the area, and they had finished their dinner of two chili dogs each as the last of the sunlight disappeared under the island's horizon. Sonic and Tails were sitting by the fire after Lily had retired inside her tent, the first day's hike having tired her out considerably.
"Good first day, wouldn't you say?" Sonic asked the fox.
"I'm hoping it's not too much to ask that the entire trip is this uneventful," Tails answered.
"If that's the case, wouldn't this whole thing be a bit pointless?" Sonic asked.
Tails smiled softly as he glanced over at his best friend. Sonic had a point.
"Maybe I'm just hoping that no news would be good news," Tails told him, as he looked over at Lily's zipped-up tent.
"They sure grow up fast, don't they?" Sonic asked.
The fox scoffed.
"Like you have any room to talk; Aurora isn't even five yet," Tails said.
"I wasn't comparing her to Aurora. I was talking about you," Sonic clarified.
"What do you mean?" Tails asked, looking back at his best friend.
"You had to grow up fast when you started to tag along with me. Part of me always wondered if our adventures had robbed you of the last of your childhood," Sonic told him.
Tails was mildly surprised at Sonic's confession.
"They didn't. Have you forgotten that I had gone over the Tornado entirely and started to paint it by the time you showed up? I had to grow up long before we met, Sonic. At least you gave me a good reason for that; saving the world, rather than trying to cope with bullies. I never had much of a childhood, and you gave me the excitement I craved," the fox told Sonic, looking over at his daughter's tent again. "But I can't deny that that excitement hits a bit differently when you have a family to look after."
"Yeah, I get that. Amy warned me about getting too careless here with her and Aurora waiting for me back home. Our bachelor days are long behind us, I suppose," Sonic said.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to this trip down memory lane with you, in addition to seeing parts of the island that I haven't been to yet. I want Lily to find the answers she's looking for, but I don't want her to get pulled into anything disruptive," Tails told him.
"If she does, she'll have us right next to her," Sonic reassured his friend.
Tails sighed as he got up from his spot in front of the fire, and began walking back to his tent.
"Here's hoping. I'll see you in the morning, Sonic."
"Sleep well, buddy. See you in the morning."