Chapter 30

The moon cut a thin sliver of silver light through the dark expanse of the sky. No other light could pierce the oppressive blanket of thick clouds gathered over Angel Island. Knuckles stood atop his shrine and gazed up at the moon. A sense of dread and trepidation had led him to seek the comfort of his lunar companion, but she hid herself from sight. Whether she fled from him or the danger gnawing at his heart, Knuckles could not tell.

The echidna possessed no human televisions nor any other means of staying up to date on the news. He had no idea how the human world was responding to Aurora's attack and the disaster at Hot Crator, but, if the sinking feeling in his stomach and the bile in his gut were any indication, something was brewing on the surface below.

Knuckles had long expected that the fragile peace between the human world and the green world would one day shatter. He had hoped he would not be there to witness the fallout but now he could not escape the feeling that the doomsday clock had been artificially pushed forward. Naive as he was of the wider world, there were some things that Knuckles understood. Destruction would lead to fear and fear would lead to desperation and desperate people would seek power, the glass shield of false security.

Knuckles looked away from the veiled moon and leapt down from the top of the shrine. He faced the Master Emerald and held out his hands to its warmth. There was no power on earth greater than that of the Master Emerald. His proximity and familiarity with it had taught Knuckles a valuable lesson; power was not measured by how much one controlled, but by the grace and restraint one demonstrated when they learned to let go. Power was often portrayed as a sword, but its true nature was that of a mirror. The more potent and pure the power source, the more clearly it presented to the beholder their true selves, and limitations. It was then the duty of the wise to accept what they saw.

"Are you pondering, brooding or drifting off to sleep again?"

Knuckles groaned internerly at the sound of Sonic's voice. He spun around to see his friend stretching at the base of the shrine's steps. "Whatcha think?" Sonic lifted his leg to display his sparkling new shoes. Knuckles didn't care but was surprised to see that Sonic had switched from red shoes with a white stripe to purple and white. "Pretty sweet huh? Tails made these for me. Super heat resistant so they should hold up for a while."

Sonic was a power all onto himself, Knuckles observed. Yet the universal principles of power did not apply to him. He was neither a sword nor a mirror. Sonic could not be controlled nor did he desire dominion. Instead of humbling his observers he often inflamed and challenged them, causing the flames of their passion to spark. Knuckles likened Sonic to the wind. No one counted its comings and goings and it answered to no master. But its gales were unruly and were as likely to bolster a raging fire as they were to put it out.

"I assume you're here because it's time?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, Tails is on his way with the transporter machine thingy."

Knuckles had prepared a final appeal to try and convince Sonic to stay but now the time had come he found his throat constricted. It was not in the echidna's nature to seek the aid of others. Though he sensed danger in the days ahead, his pride had not so crumbled as to beg Sonic for help.

Knuckles chewed on the inside of his lip as he wrestled with his indecision. Sonic seemed no less comfortable. He was more fidgety and restless than usual, but whatever was going on in his mind, physically it appeared as though Sonic had made a full recovery after the incident at Hot Crator.

Knuckles could still hardly believe that Sonic had held back a nuclear blast with just the awesome force of his speed. It was a feat worthy of legend but one shrouded by tragedy. When Tails had brought Sonic's unconscious, burned and weather beaten body to the island, Knuckles had feared that it really was the end. Tails pleaded for Knuckles to heal Sonic with the Master Emerald, forgetting in his heartbreak and trauma that the emerald did not always respond to a direct command. All the echidna could think to do was bring Sonic close to the emerald and hope that the strange connection Sonic had always enjoyed with the emeralds would help him in some way.

The brush with death had clearly left an imprint on the hedgehog, even if Knuckles knew Sonic would never admit it. Something about his easy going and flippant smile that night felt more forced than usual.

"It's Tails!" Sonic announced, pointing into the sky.

Knuckles heard the rumble of an engine and squinted up to see a gray bi-plane gliding down towards the island. Unlike the Tornado 2, this plane flew without any semblance of grace and landed with a dull thud onto the flat stretch of land leading up into the shrine.

Smoke billowed out of the plane's hull and Tails coughed out smoke. Sonic raced over and helped pull his friend out of the cockpit. Tails tossed his goggles aside and wiped the sweat from his brow.

The fox looked more worn down and haggard than Knuckles had ever seen him. His fur was matted and filthy and he had bags hanging under his eyes. Knuckles wondered if he had slept at all since the battle with Aurora.

Tails brushed himself off and unhooked a chain attached to the rear of the plane. He had been towing a large, familiar looking device. The set of concentric circles were slightly different from the one Eggman had made, but the design principle was clearly the same.

"Are you sure that will work?" Knuckles asked suspiciously. Tails's inventions generally displayed a high degree of polish, but this work appeared almost half finished and hastily thrown together.

Tails shot Knuckles a steely glance. "It will work. I've done hundreds of simulations," He reported in affronted tones.

"Tails has been working super hard," Sonic said with a smirk.

Usually Sonic's praise elicited a response from Tails, but the fox ignored him. Knuckles did not need to guess as to why Tails had thrown himself so eagerly into his work, and it was not to please his friend. No doubt tinkering with the machine and having a project to absorb his mind, kept him from dwelling on Hot Crater.

Tail's grim mood kept Sonic and Knuckles silent as the fox set up his machine. Just as Eggman had done, Tails set a platform between a set of interwoven brass rings. However, instead of powering his machine with two great batteries, Tails ran a cord from his platform over to the shrine and attached a strange cystralline tube to the Master Emerald.

"What kind of crystal is that?" Knuckles asked as he examined the connection.

"Alexandrite. I used some in my experiments with Chaos Emeralds. It helps regulate the output so I don't override my system. I'm hoping it will have a similar connection with the Master Emerald." Knuckles was impressed but Tails was not in the mood to gloat.

A quiet, slightly awkward hour passed as the fox set everything up. When it was ready, Tails set himself up by a console and typed in some inputs. Sonic kicked a tuft of grass and waited for the go-ahead. Knuckles walked over to Sonic. "Have you talked to him?"

Sonic continued to kick aimlessly at the grass. "I've tried to."

"He is clearly hurting, Sonic."

"I know…" Sonic picked his head up to gaze over at Tails. "He's hurting because of me."

"He's hurting because he's hurting," Knuckles corrected. "Not everything has to have an easy explanation. He's just a kid Sonic, he isn't fit to handle everything he's been through. What happened with Aurora is one thing, now his best friend is abandoning him."

"Tails is stronger than you think."

"And not everyone recovers as quickly as you do," Knuckles shot back.

Generally, Sonic never lost his edge in a conversation. It was slightly unnerving to see him drop his head and accept Knuckles's rebuke. "There are no easy choices."

"But there are certain answers."

Sonic turned back to Knuckles. Not for the first time Knuckles felt the barrier that separated them. Their plausibility structures, beliefs and attitudes were so starkly opposed that sometimes it made it impossible for one to understand the other. What was clear to Knuckles, concealed itself from Sonic. What motivated and prompted Sonic was foreign to Knuckles. Knowing it was pointless for him to try and dissuade Sonic, Knuckles instead offered out his hand. They may not always see things eye to eye but Sonic had more than earned the echidna's respect.

"It's ready, Sonic," Tails announced. His voice cracked slightly when he spoke. Sonic did not go straight for the platform, instead opting to walk over to Tails. Knuckles kept his distance so as to not eavesdrop on what was said. The exchange ended with Tails enveloping Sonic in a hug.

With their goodbyes said, Sonic untangled himself from Tails and approached the platform. Tails wiped away his tears and typed on his console. "Coordinates set. Firing up the transporter now-" He froze before pushing the button. Knuckles saw a look of horror wash over the fox's face. "O no…" He whispered. "I…I was so busy I hadn't thought…" Tails turned to Sonic. "How will you get back? I was so focused on making the machine I hadn't thought…"

Tails pulled at his fur as his fatigued mind whirred into overdrive. Whatever calculations he was making, Knuckles knew they were futile. He saw the expression on Sonic's face and knew what he would do before Sonic even moved. "Sonic, I'll have to come with you, I could maybe make the machine again I-" There was a blue blur of motion. Sonic rushed past Tails and pressed the button.

The brass rings flashed white and started spinning dizzyingly fast. A white mist of void formed between the rings. Knuckles wondered if he should move, but he felt frozen in place. Tails was on the grass with his hand stretched out. Sonic stood in the glow of the light and smiled at them both. "Sorry Tails, I can't risk you getting stuck with me. I'll find my own way back. You're much stronger than you think. The earth will be safe in your hands." Sonic turned over to Knuckles and gave him a small smile and a two fingered salute. "Take it easy, Knucklehead." With that, Sonic dashed into the void, was absorbed by the mist and disappeared.

As soon as he was gone the rings stopped spinning and the mist faded. Sonic was gone and the night was utterly still and silent. Tails was too stunned to respond. He stared at the empty space with an expression of one facing an expanse of endless distance.

Knuckles walked over and pulled Tails to his feet. The stunned fox clung to Knuckles for support as his legs wobbled beneath him. "Why don't you stay here tonight," Knuckles suggested. "You're exhausted." He walked Tails over to the shrine and deposited him on the bottom step.

Tails gazed at the ground with a stare that dug straight through the earth. "I didn't think…I was so focused on copying Eggman's design I never considered that it was a one way ticket."

"You were thinking like Sonic," Knuckles pointed out.

"Without the coordinates…even if he somehow came across the transporter there is no way he can come back. The chances of finding the earth again are…" Tails trailed off, but Knuckles knew the fox was trying to calculate an exact number.

After a few minutes, Tails sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I just don't understand…"

"I'm not sure we're meant to. Wherever he is, whether he comes back or not, it makes no difference. What comes will come and we will have to face it." Knuckles left Tails to his thoughts and started walking to the edge of the island.

It was not difficult for him to accept what had happened. Sonic was never meant to stay in one place. His leaving was as certain as the dawn, but Knuckles was still troubled. Only a few months ago he had witnessed a similar event. The chieftain of evil had left the world but his mantle had been taken up to even more calamitous results not soon after. Evil was a hydra, sever one neck and a dozen more erupted to take its place. Did good work the same way? With her greatest hero gone, would the earth pay witness to the advent of a new champion? And on the flip side, what new evil would slither to the throne of darkness now that Aurora was defeated?

A wind as cold and bleak as his thoughts blew across Angel Island. Knuckles shivered.

THE END OF PART ONE