The Fox and the Seedrian: Frontiers
by milesprower06
Chapter Thirteen
Tails wasn't all that eager to descend into the island's lava reef, so he was quite content to spend two hours after breakfast the next morning manning the pull-chain keeping the wall torches lit while Lily took images of every set of hieroglyphs on the walls of the pyramid, as she carefully searched for the answer to a brand new question:
"Set who free?" She had asked when she had woken up early last night. Even with this new info she had been given, she had surprisingly little difficulty getting back to sleep and getting a full night's rest. But come morning, she was awake, alert, and very inquisitive.
"Any luck?" Sonic asked her as she snapped another image with her datapad, which cross referenced the hieroglyphs with the information already in the memory banks.
"None so far," Lily began. "I'm really wondering what those spirits could have been talking about. I don't remember reading anything about anyone being captive on this island, at any point in time; even before it was an island. And after, it's been considerably more difficult to gain access to this place. The echidna wanted to keep everyone else away, and I don't think they'd risk keeping any intruders here. And that's another mystery… Who could be old enough to need freeing, that these spirits would remember them?"
"I've been all over this island, and I don't remember seeing any kind of prison. You're right about Knuckles and his ancestors wanting to keep everyone else away, so I don't think they'd risk confining anyone here," Sonic agreed.
Having not gotten any answers from the hieroglyph research, Lily returned her datapad to her pack, and began to roll up her sleeping pad.
"I know this is the riskiest part of the trip, dad, but think we could go down there after lunch?" Lily asked.
"As long as BD says it's safe," Tails told her, as he started to get the camping stove ready to boil some water for their freeze-dried lunches.
"It wasn't exactly pitch black down there my first time through, but it did darken considerably when the reef cooled. How are our batteries?" Sonic asked.
"Sixty percent battery remaining in this lantern, and we've got two backups in our packs, fully charged," Tails replied as he turned to glance at the battery indicator, before turning his attention back to the pot of water on the burner.
"What about BD? Is he in any danger of needing a recharge?" Lily asked.
"He's got one of my most advanced power cells. He can operate continuously for nearly a week before he needs recharging," her dad answered.
Once the water came to a boil and everyone got the appropriate amount into their pouches of freeze-dried food, Tails consulted his holographic map.
"I really would like to make it to the Hidden Palace by the time we have to make camp. It's the only area down there that I consider safe," the fox told them.
"And what about our exit strategy?" Sonic asked. "If I remember correctly, that teleporter under the shrine leads up to the Sky Sanctuary, and that doesn't exactly exist anymore. And if it doesn't work, do we have another way out?"
"The way Knuckles made his way around, I'm sure there's more than one way in and out of there. Especially considering that he moved the Master Emerald down there," Tails offered.
"It might not be that simple," the hedgehog countered. "There were those giant ring portals that led right into Hidden Palace shrine, and ol' Knucklehead probably knew exactly where they were at all times."
"Yeah, come to think of it, I haven't seen any of those around this time," Tails admitted.
"I'm not quite sure how they work. When they were all over the island the first time, all seven chaos emeralds were here, and that's before they were temporarily super-sized."
"Yeah, I'm kinda wondering if I'll get any answers as to how and why that happened only that one time," Lily began, as she unzipped the food pouch, and watched as steam billowed out after the boiling water had cooked the meal in a matter of minutes. "I mean, of all the stories you've told me of your adventures together, I'm not sure I'd put your fight against Eggman here even in the top three most dangerous. Top five, even."
"Yeah, our adventures had a way of getting more and more dangerous for a few years there, higher and higher stakes," Tails agreed, knowing that his daughter had a point. Eggman's gargantuan battlestation had been a serious threat, by far one of the largest contraptions he had ever built on Mobius. But when it came to threats like Perfect Chaos, the Ark, and not to mention the Meterex, the Death Egg held a candle, but not much more. So why whatever ancient forces had supercharged the chaos emeralds that one and only time, was quite the mystery.
The conversation had quieted down for a few minutes as the trio started into their meals. Lily was first to finish, as she was undoubtedly eager to finish and get to descending into the lava reef. As soon as Tails was done, he licked his spork clean, stowed the camp stove along with the empty food packet, and Sonic was ready and on his feet just a few moments after.
Tails reached into his pouch and once again came out with BD. He turned the drone on, and it floated out of his palm.
"Proximity and illumination modes, BD. Keep scanning for hazardous fumes and gases, and let us know if the ambient temperature gets too unsafe," Tails instructed.
Getting beeps of affirmation, the three of them went to the very back of the room where the fox had set up the rappelling ropes.
"Check to see if it's safe all the way down, BD. We don't want to get halfway down just to have to climb back up," Tails instructed.
The drone once again gave off beeps of understanding, before floating above the pit, and slowly dropped down. As they were already hooked up to the harnesses and ropes, the trio was able to safely peer over the edge. Normally, they would have lost sight of anything more than twenty feet down, but due to the green glow of the LEDs on BD's casing, they were able to keep an eye on him as he slowly got smaller and smaller.
Two minutes later, the drone's lights got brighter and bigger as he returned back up to their level, giving the fox another set of chirping beeps.
"That means it's all clear. Ready to go?" Tails asked his daughter and best friend. He got nods from both of them.
"Alright," he said, turning his back to the pit, grabbing the rope, and leaned back, letting his weight shift, and went over the edge, followed by the other two in short order.