Chapter 17

Sonic gazed up at the floating island. Suspended in the sky, the great chunk of land eclipsed the sun. Sonic had run almost a thousand miles before he remembered that he could not reach Angel Island on foot. The summit of a nearby ridge was the closest he could get but the island was still far too out of reach for Sonic to jump to.

He tapped his foot impatiently as he weighed his options. Waiting for Tails would be the easiest thing to do, but Sonic wasn't known for his patience. In fact, the challenge actually excited him. Sonic quickly raced up to the top of the ridge and surveyed the nearby slopes and ridges. In an exercise that Sonic had done a thousand times before, he swiftly charted a route that would maximize his momentum and climax at a slope that could propel him into the sky.

Once he had settled on his path, Sonic crunched down into a sprinter's stance. 1…2…3…Go! Pop! His burst of speed created a sonic boom which drove his acceleration and speed into overdrive. Dash, roll, corner the loop, press down, ready…Rolling at breakneck speed Sonic ascended the last slope and exploded into the sky like a rocket.

Wind whipped at his spines and he reached such a high altitude he felt a cold sting on his back. Sonic uncurled and stretched himself out. Angel Island was barreling towards him, narrowly beyond his reach. Below him was a turbulent sea. If he failed to reach his target he was sure to break himself on the waves below. But Sonic had not considered that. Failure was never a part of his calculations.

Again, his intrinsic belief in his own abilities paid off and Sonic landed with grace on a grassy plain only a few feet away from the island's edge. Sonic dusted himself off and took a deep breath. The aromas of the island transported him back to one of his greatest adventures. He had chased Doctor Robotnik from space, to Angel Island and back to space again in an epic hunt that stood out as an evergreen memory in Sonic's heart.

Feeling slightly sentimental, Sonic took his time running around the island stopping in places he had not visited in a long time, even enjoying a quick ride down the slopes of Ice Cap mountain. The reflections only served to add fuel to Sonic's fervor for new, fresh adventures. He raced towards the shrine of the Master Emerald and came to a screeching halt when he saw Knuckles snoozing on the top step of the dais.

Some guardian he is. No wonder Eggman always takes the emerald. Sonic tip-toed up the steps trying to be as quiet as possible. I'll just take this and put it out of sight. Sonic chuckled to himself as he imagined Knuckles's response. His hand was inches from the emerald when Knuckles spoke.

"Don't even think about it Sonic."

The hedgehog turned around to see his red rival awake with his fists raised. Sonic shrugged. "That's no way to say hello."

"Stay away from my emerald," Knuckles snarled as he quickly moved to place himself between Sonic and the great gem.

"I am just glad to see that it is still here. You lose it and break it so often I think it's the first time."

Knuckles growled and took a threatening step forward. "Do you want something or did you just come to insult me?"

"Take it easy," Sonic protested as he raised his hands in surrender. "To tell you the truth I'm here looking for Eggman. Tails hacked one of Egghead's satellites and it showed there was some massive power reading here on the island about four months ago. We were worried he had gotten ahold of your emerald."

Knuckles did not meet Sonic's eyes. He stared down at the ground and scratched the back of his head. "Hmmm…that's strange but as you can see he isn't here."

Sonic did not need to be a psycho analysis to tell Knuckles was hiding something. "He didn't try and take the Master Emerald or anything?"

Again Knuckles craned his neck so he did not have to face Sonic. "Well…he did come by and ask if he could…"

"He what?"

Knuckles hardened his expression and turned to Sonic. "Eggman came here asking if he could use the Master Emerald. He wanted to leave earth but his computer couldn't run data scans throughout the universe unless it had more power."

Perhaps for the first time in his life, Sonic was at a loss for words. He gaped open mouth at Knuckles. The echidna bristled with agitation and started to pace around the dais. "He came here with some transporter and I let his computer use the emerald. All it did was let him find the coordinates he powered his transporter with some ion things. A portal opened up and he walked through it. I haven't seen or heard from him since."

Sonic shook his head in disbelief. He was dumbfounded. "You…you what?"

"I told you," Knuckles snapped. "After he was gone I destroyed his transporter. There is no way he can return to earth. Eggman is gone, forever, and I don't have to explain myself to anyone, least of all to you."

Sonic rubbed his temple in frustration. "Knuckles…are you kidding me? You let him trick you again?"

"Trick me? What was the trick? Eggman is gone."

"And you have no idea where he went? For all you know he just zapped the emerald of its power and sent himself right back to one of his bases."

"Do I look stupid to you? The Master Emerald is fine, my connection to the emerald allows me to feel."

Sonic shook his head. "What did he tell you? What was his sob story this time?"

Knuckles folded his arms. "He said that he gave up. That he was done fighting you and that he knew he would never win. But he said that as long as he was still around and tempted, he would continue to fight. The only way for him to truly move on was to leave earth for good."

"And you believed him?"

"I did what I thought was right."

"This is Eggman we're talking about, helping him is never right!"

"That isn't what this is about," Knuckles deflected. "You don't care that I helped Eggman you're just upset that I've done what you never could, what you never would do."

"And what's that?" Sonic demanded aggressively. The hedgehog could feel his blood pumping in his ears and heat rising in his stomach.

"I got rid of Eggman. Permanently. He is gone and our world is finally safe."

Sonic scoffed. "I stopped Eggman more times than I can count."

"You can't count very high. And yes, you've stopped him plenty of times, but that is just the problem. You only stop Eggman, you've never put an end to his plans. And it isn't for some noble reason either, it's because you want him around, you enjoy fighting him."

Sonic felt like Knuckles had just gut punched him. He fumbled for something to say and his temporary inability to respond made Knuckles smirk. "What? Don't you have something witty to say to that? I bet you don't because you know it's true and whatever your faults you're not a liar."

"You don't get it. Eggman is fooling you! Like he always does!"

"Or maybe you just can't let it go! Tell me, how have the last four months gone for you? Have they been dull, boring, have you been pining for your next great adventure? Have you ever realized that you've never had one that wasn't instigated by Eggman? You want him around, you need him around. Without him you can't play the hero."

"And because of him you always play the fool."

Knuckles bared his teeth and held up his gloves. "Call me a fool one more time."

Sonic took a bold step forward. "You're a-" The punch came as expected and Sonic slipped past it with ease. Knuckles did not follow up with his usual frenzy of impotently slow attacks. Instead he stomped his foot down so hard the ground shook. Sonic stumbled backward and Knuckles used the distraction to tackle him. Together they rolled down the dais steps, each punching and kicking every inch of the other as they could.

"STOP!" The fighters disengaged to see Tails standing over them, his hands on his hips and his expression stern. "I asked for one thing. One thing. Don't fight."

Sonic pushed himself off the ground. "Knuckles let Eggman use his master emerald!"

"I got rid of Eggman!"

For the next twenty minutes, Sonic and Knuckles bickered back and forth, each pleading their case to Tails. The fox sat on the steps and patiently bore his friends' fractured attempts to clue him in on what had happened. After everything had been explained, Sonic caught his breath with his back facing Knuckles. The echidna did the same to him.

Tails sighed with exaggerated exhaustion. "You two are too much sometimes." Sonic risked turning back but even the sight of the red echidna made him irrationally angry. "So Eggman is gone and we have no way of knowing where in the universe he went?"

"His computer knows," Knuckles admitted. "Some talking device thing, an A.G 19 Genesis or whatever."

"The A.I. has the coordinates?"

"She said she did," Knuckles clarified. "But without his transporter there is no way to go after him."

"Tails could make one," Sonic said. "Right Tails?"

Tails shrugged. "Maybe, but I don't see why I would."

"So we can go after him."

Tails gave Sonic a weary look. "But why would we want to do that? I mean, if what Knuckles says is true, it sounds like Eggman is gone for good."

Sonic's enthusiasm wavered. "Tails…come on, this is Eggman. He hasn't given up or anything. He is probably just working on a new plan somewhere. We have to go after him and find out what it is. What if he has built another Eclipse Canon or something?"

Tails mulled that over and looked uncertain. "I guess he could be…but still…why would he go through all that trouble? I mean, if he just wanted to stay underground while he built something he did not need to cross the entire universe to do so."

"We won't find out for sure until we ask him ourselves."

Tails still looked unconvinced but he nodded. "Alright but we will have to get his location from Aurora. It wasn't on the computer in Hot Crater so I'm guessing it's stored on her central terminal. We will have to find out where that is." Sounding more and more confident as he spoke, Tails walked over to Knuckles. "If we are able to get the coordinates we will need the Master Emerald. I could create a transporter but I need a massive power source to fuel it."

Knuckles frowned. "And why should I let you use it? I don't want Eggman to be able to return." He gestured to Sonic. "He isn't worried about some doomsday scenario, he's worried about missing out on his fun."

Tails answered before Sonic could retort. "Sonic saved your island in the past and he's done more than enough to earn your trust. Listen.." Tails turned back and gestured to himself and Sonic. "We aren't saying that you made a mistake, we are just asking for you to help us make sure that Eggman isn't up to something."

Knuckles unfolded his arms and his expression softened. "I really don't agree with this, but if you're insisting then you can use my emerald."

"Thanks Knuckles," Sonic said, kicking the grass at his feet. "Does this mean we're cool?" The echidna, as stoic as always, nodded.

Sonic and Tails left the shrine behind and walked over to where Tails had parked the Tornado. "You still have your comm?" Tails asked. Sonic drew out the small metal device and planted it back in his ear. "Let's spread out and see if we can find out where Eggman's main base is. If either of us finds out, radio in and the other will meet them there."

"You have any ideas?"

Tails answered by pointing a radar within his cockpit. "I'm gonna search the skies for the Eggcarrier."

"You can't use a satellite like the one Eggman had at his other base?"

Tails shook his head. "Wherever this base is, it's hidden beneath a lot of interference, my guess is it's somewhere in the mountains or even underground. I'm hoping I can find some record of it onboard the Eggcarrier if I can track it down."

"Alright then," Sonic said, flashing Tails a thumbs up. "You search the skies and I will take the land."

Tails fired up the Tornado's engines and Sonic borrowed a ride back to the mainland. When they were close enough to the ground, he bid Tails farewell and leapt off the plane. Moments later, the Tornado and Tails vanished from view.

Sonic's smile faded. He had been pretending otherwise but now that he was alone, Knuckles's remarks returned to haunt him. They would not have bothered him at all, had he been able to deny them outright. During all his adventures and conflicts, Sonic had never considered whether or not he wanted Eggman to cause trouble. Eggman caused trouble seemingly without Sonic's input and the fact that Sonic got a thrill out of putting a stop to him never seemed to mean anything.

But now that the words were said, they could not be unsaid. "Without him you can't play the hero." Sonic paused. He could not remember the last time he had felt uncertain. Chasing after Eggman always felt so obvious, so beyond right and wrong. Now he wondered if it really was the right thing to do, did that even matter? Even as Sonic boosted into a run, his body felt slower and more sluggish. It felt like his lack of conviction was actively weighing him down. I won't know whether I'm right or not unless I find him first. But what would Sonic do if he found Eggman enjoying a peaceful retirement? How would he react if Knuckles had been exactly right about him? Sonic brushed those concerns aside and willed himself forward.

AN: Next chapter will be posted 3/29