Chapter 14 - Sea of Sorrow

Having crossed the unforgiving corridors and met more horrors in the way than it was necessary, the hedgehogs managed to arrive back at the top where everything started. It took them a great deal of time getting up numerous stairs, since the blue hedgehog wasn't in any shape to take simplest of jogs at this moment. At the same time, Shadow couldn't even count how many times he refused his help with the same old sentence he had heard all too much for his liking, ''I'm fine… really! I can walk by myself,'' only to look at the Blue Blur with the most dubious expression the Ultimate Lifeform ever developed on his face.

Sonic kept moving upwards with a downed head whilst keeping one of his hands on the rail to preserve his balance. Shadow was almost awed he didn't break under immense pressure right about now, what with various misfortunes pilling up on his back all of a sudden. It appeared as if the island itself was taking tremendous pleasure in torturing the younger hedgehog with anything it could think of. Even at this stage, none of them could predict what would be the next horrible thing thrown at them with great force. They haven't found out anything useful or insightful about the so called Christmas Island, but if those bones were any indication, they were hedgehogs living on this land a long time ago. Now they only needed to figure out what happened to them and why.

The older mammal wasn't going to make any conclusions in his mind until he figures out what they're up against this time. However, he felt a certain disdain toward anymore information about this place. It's not that he didn't want to find out anything about the island or its civilization, but this land wasn't exactly what you would call a welcome home. He hoped his blue counterpart thought or at least considered the same, since the darkest secrets of this building might not be exactly what Sonic hoped for when he decided to come here, even though he should've known by now there's nothing that could possibly make the situation seem any better. In fact, it may even be worse than the last thing they saw.

If he knew the emerald eyed hero any better now than anytime before, he might be able to handle whatever comes at him next time… would he really? This unfortunate adventure is a lot more personal than anything else the blue wonder must have been dealing with in the past.

The black hedgehog scoffed at himself in pure sarcasm, thinking over the well-mannered intentions in his mind. He was actually worried for Sonic's wellbeing, if only because the situation isn't going to look any brighter in his favor. Whatever they find here, it's something he'll need to live with for the rest of his life, knowing the ugly details of his forgotten past and whatever horrible things happened in this place that turned it into such mess.

Even the blue hedgehog said it himself he had no time looking back and thus didn't worry about it. Perhaps he did make a humongous mistake of coming back here in the first place, but can you really blame him? To have such opportunity rise right out of nowhere and it's exactly about that one thing you thought was lost forever to the flow of time…

Shadow would probably do the same if he was in his place. Actually, he did it when it proved to be his only chance to figure out the real truth.

With no obvious direction of where to go next, the black mammal decided to lead them back into the room where the insane robot attacked them and self-destructed upon defeat. He was curious about that particular machine. He wasn't sure just how it was going to help them both, but he was out of any other options at the moment and the building might hold more secrets than it appeared. Arriving to their destination at a leisure pace, the room was the same the black one left it after he went to look for the Blue Blur. Large debris of the mechanical beast laid spread out, some of which were thrown into the walls and the ceiling with such force they left a permanent mark. The black hedgehog was quick to search through them, with the blue one leaning against the wall to take a short breath from the seemingly endless stairs.

''Huh…'' Sonic gaped at the room with an open mouth as the hazy visual memory of events here started to unclear themselves, ''I'm surprised it didn't blow the roof off after all that.''

Hearing him, the Ultimate Lifeform commented with relief as he came across the gigantic but completely torn torso of the robot, ''At least it's not getting up ever again,'' and continued to overturn various bits and pieces of the mechanical beast.

There was one question he wasn't going to regret asking, ''Just what is it doing here?''

Instead of just standing around and doing nothing, the blue hedgehog decided to help and look. He couldn't even imagine what Shadow was searching for, but he guessed anything at this point would come in handy. Almost tripping over the small debris in his way, he approached what he believed was a horribly mangled clawed hand. He whistled with a cocky tone once he noticed just how utterly wrecked it was. Its belongings were completely shattered into tiny little pieces and sprawled all over the floor, even in the tiniest places where it would be impossible to reach them. It would take ages to find all of them and put them back together.

Most likely the worst jigsaw puzzle anyone would ever like to deal with.

Coming across the robot's destroyed head and gaining a bit of power into his foot, Sonic overturned it slightly to the point it was firing sparks at him and knelt beside it with curiosity. He squirmed in discomfort when he noticed a strange transparent liquid dripping out of its shattered eyes, but it didn't smell like oil. It didn't smell like anything to be completely honest. However, it didn't stop him from looking at it a little closer. The Blue Blur noticed something under the heavy dust clinging to the back of its head and lightly brushed it away, only to reveal an interesting symbol of sorts.

''Shadow?'' folding his arms around his chest and staring at the thing with a tilted head, the emerald eyed hero called for the black hedgehog who was minding his own business further away. The blue one started pouting when he tried to make out the words, but as soon as he leaned closer to get a better look at it, his vision suddenly blurred out and his head started to hurt again. He was considering two options at this moment; either he needed glasses or he'll drop to the floor in a few minutes. Feeling dizzy, the Fastest Thing Alive decided to sit down for a short just so he wouldn't fall over and waited for the other to come by.

When the black one joined his side, he sighed quietly but the blue wonder was completely unfazed by it when he questioned, ''What?''

Poking the robotic head out of curiosity and boredom with his finger, Sonic replied with a shrug, ''There's something written on it.''

Stepping closer and kneeling next to the informed hero, Shadow took a closer look at the machine's head. It was harder to make out what it was saying due to the text being burned out by the massive explosion. By running his fingers around the letters he could already tell what the words were supposed to spell out without actually seeing them. The edges of these particular words were sharp but clean, as if to emphasize that one clear distinction between hedgehogs and other animals. Either that or it was just a major coincidence on someone's part. To better familiarize himself with the text, he took one long look at it before nodding in acknowledgement.

''GenEXE?'' the black hedgehog quietly added to his observations, making out the strange name in one quick breath, ''What is that supposed to mean?''

The blue mammal immediately came up with an idea, ''Maybe it's the name of a robot factory?''

It was possible that the building itself was one. Nodding negatively toward the Blue Blur, Shadow thought otherwise with a dubious tone when he put his hand on his chin, ''It sounds like a program.''

Sonic snorted as he looked over to his counterpart, ''What, a program is trying to kill us now?''

''It could be the name of a self-defense mechanism we probably triggered by accident…'' the Ultimate Lifeform theorized with no exact specifics in his mind, but it seemed to fit as long as he was concerned, even if the younger hedgehog was still in doubt over it, ''And it unleashed this thing on us.''

''What kinda paranoid self-defense mechanism uses robots?'' the blue hedgehog replied in question as if it was the most ridiculous idea anyone ever thought of. However, then he remembered the basic idea behind the entire sections of the good old Doctor's Egg Pawns and various other charming contraptions that liked to destroy, chomp and stomp on everything in its path, including the Blue Blur himself.

Sonic dropped his eyelids halfway down in a short sarcastic episode as he sighed out, ''Oh, wait… nevermind.''

Standing up immediately and offering his blue counterpart a hand, the black hedgehog replied on a more positive note, ''If we want to find more about this, we'll need to find the main computer first. If there's anything that can tell us more, any remaining data in this place might be our only chance.''

Repositioning himself and clapping his hands together, the blue wonder grinned at him with a lifted finger, ''Alright, sounds plausible. Mission objective: find the computer room!''

Twitching his eye slightly in sheer discomfort, the Ultimate Lifeform glared at Sonic when the storm outside decided to flash a lightning and lastly grumble terrifyingly in his favor. Shadow quickly informed the shrugging hero as he leaned forward with an annoyed appearance, ''For everything that you hold sacred, please, never say that line again in my presence.''

With that out of his system, the black hedgehog turned away and moved on, leaving the confused speedster behind, ''Uhh, okay?''

As the investigation continued throughout the building, the ferocious torrent outside wasn't going anywhere for a very long time. It appeared it was going to stay here for as long as it was needed to prevent their escape. It was just a matter of time how or when they were going to leave again or see another familiar face that wasn't of their own. However, as long as they pushed forward, the better it was for them to finally end this complication and find whatever they can about this place. They both wanted to go home.

With various electric, boiler and other computer based rooms it was almost difficult to determine which could've been the right one. At this point it was best to look for an office or something similar instead, considering this place even got one by some coincidental chance. However in Shadow's opinion that was their best bet anyway. Anything important about this place would be most likely saved on only one significant place.

''Do you even know where you're going?''

The black hedgehog was interrupted out of his thoughtful trance when the other mammal sighed out completely. Shadow quickly admitted with no hesitation, ''No. But we'll find something eventually,'' overall, the Ultimate Lifeform stayed positive for both of them just in case, even if it wasn't his shtick. He wasn't about to quit knee-deep in this mess and finish the job while there was still some vague trail to follow through.

It was only when his sharp ears stopped hearing the younger one's approaching footsteps behind him that he finally stopped and turned around with a slightly puzzled question meant for his blue counterpart, ''Is something wrong?''

With a hand on his forehead, the Blue Blur didn't respond for a while until he lifted his head again with a grin, ''Nah, I'm fine.''

Not risking anything with him at this point, Shadow walked over to the Fastest Thing Alive, ''We can stop for a while, if you want.''

''No, it's okay. Let's just go and get this over with…'' the blue one refused right away with a waving hand and tried to walk past his darker counterpart, only to stop in his track immediately a second later. He continued to stand there with widened eyes and slightly agape mouth, puzzling the older mammal even more until he finally decided to speak out again. The blue hedgehog started rubbing his ear, ''Did you hear something?''

Shadow listened in despite all mechanical contraptions in the area disturbing peace and quiet. Other than that, there was nothing unusual about the sounds, ''… no.''

''I thought I did…'' the blue hedgehog gripped his forehead again and leaned on his knees when his vision started to blur out again. As if the headache and blurry vision wasn't bad enough, now he started hearing things for no real reason than to confuse him. He couldn't even tell what the noise was at all. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his finger to it. It wasn't the sounds of machines, he was sure of it. It sounded melodic, like a whisper. However, a soft melody in this desolate place sounded incredibly jarring. The Blue Blur was starting to wonder if this building was having its final laugh at him.

The black hedgehog joined by the younger one's side, his voice seemingly worried, ''Are you alright?''

''It's nothing,'' he claimed and picked himself back on his feet with no real hesitance and ready to move on. Sonic wasn't about to let himself be swayed that easily, ''Nothing to worry about! I'm a-ok…''

The emerald eyed hero smirked at him alongside his respective hand gesture, only to finally realize he wasn't going to last standing up anymore in this situation. As soon as the lighted environment before him straightened out once more, it was right back to the blurry oil painting where he couldn't make out anything, barely even his own rival's face for that matter. The melody skipped a few notes unexpectedly and ended abruptly, never to be heard again. Despite telling himself a thousand times that this wasn't the time nor the place for such unannounced actions, the younger hedgehog suddenly drew a blank in his head and stumbled backwards when the world around him went out of focus.

Quickly realizing what was going on and widening his crimson eyes, the black one tried to stop him but missed him completely when the blue wonder collapsed entirely under his weight. Kneeling by his side, the Ultimate Lifeform propped him up on his knee, his emerald eyes still half open that stared blankly into the ceiling. They began to look deader than anything in this place. Shadow tried to get his attention as he shook his counterpart's shoulders roughly, ''Sonic? Sonic!''

Yet the only thing he managed to accomplish by that was gaining an empty stare from the Fastest Thing Alive until his pupils rolled up in the back of his head and dropped to the side.

As much as the black one raised his distressed voice upon him, the blue hedgehog was still and limp, devoid of any ability to speak or awaken at this time, ''He's out cold,'' frustrated once more, the Ultimate Lifeform was getting more and more impatient with this place and the Blue Blur, ''Dammit… this is just going to slow us down.''

However, Shadow couldn't leave him here just like that. He was ultimately positive that every inch of this building was a death trap waiting to happen and none of them were safe from whatever it had to offer. At this point, even the torrent outside that continued to topple trees and discharge its lightning force upon the land seemed like the most sensible idea to run into, but he wasn't going to risk it for anything in the world. With Sonic finally out for the count, he will need to rethink this one out. As bad as this was starting to look, the black hedgehog was going to get them away from this island… no matter what the cost.

Immediately deciding his next destination, he scooped the limp hedgehog up in his arms, ''Better find that room quickly.''

XXX

''He's been in there forever…''

Ever since the dreaded report of the mysterious island disappearing off the radar and taking the two supersonic hedgehogs' very existence with it, the entire G.U.N. base was more than confused about the whole ordeal then they should have been in such cases. In these situations it was their duty to find out background information about the current events, but considering how little anyone actually knew what was going on at this very moment, it wasn't helping them in any way. Rouge led the yellow furred pilot and the red guardian right into the main base and quickly went on by herself to explain the situation to her superior.

One phone call from the President later and Tails was allowed into the extensive archives. He stayed there for what it seemed like an eternity for Knuckles, although seeing the gigantic shelves and thousand upon thousands of paperwork should have triggered a few warning signs the first time around.

Nearing the annoyed echidna who continuously tapped his foot against the floor, the thieving batgirl returned from the command center. Looking over to him, she shrugged with her bright lips curved up in an uncomfortable way, ''Tails?''

Knuckles shifted slightly in his place as he waited outside the archive room, ''I'm getting sick of waiting.''

Smirking slightly, Rouge leaned in with a teasing disposition and whistled, ''I guess even geniuses need to take their sweet time once in a while.''

''Anything new, bat?'' without even looking at the white female, he wanted to get down to business as soon as possible. The red furred echidna wasn't all too happy about being copped up in this strange military base and waiting for the yellow furred fox's return or dealing with the thieving agent. However, if she knew or found out anything that could be important, this was the best time to talk it over.

''Nothing,'' folding her arms around her chest with a heavy sigh, she turned toward the direction of the command center where the white bat was just a moment ago. The coordinates of the unknown island seemed to be intact as far as they were concerned, but there was no land to be found there. One thing they did find was a gigantic storm twirling around that one specific place as if to hide something from the outside world. Nobody was able to explain why or how such a weather format existed and if it did, it must have been extremely rare.

Rouge eventually replied with a disappointed voice, ''They're still trying to track down the island but the equipment keeps failing due to outside interferences. If it is how Tails said, it might not be an ordinary storm after all.''

Still getting annoyed by the wait, the echidna growled out at her for wasting his time, ''Tell me something I don't know.''

''You don't have to act so rude toward a lady,'' the female bat immediately burst out in sheer annoyance. She was extremely irritated by the fact that Knuckles never appreciated and showed no respect for anything she did or said for that matter. For now, she was in the same bucket as everyone else in this base.

''Lady? Hah!'' grunting out significantly, he only tilted his head to the side, ''I'll do whatever I want.''

''How about I kick you out of the base first?'' Rouge the Bat was more than glad to take this outside since the G.U.N. base wasn't exactly the best place for such heated arguments and it would get her in trouble with her superiors as well. She pouted slightly in sheer mockery, ''Then we can do whatever you want in that little forest of yours.''

Pushing himself away from the wall with a loud stomp, the red echidna glared at the female, ''You wouldn't…''

''Wanna bet?'' she asked with a teasing wink and wiggled her finger in front of him.

With no intention of ever doing something like that again with the white furred batgirl, the red guardian leaned back against the wall with a mumble under his breath, ''It's bets with you that keep getting me in these situations…''

First of all, it was her idea to dump the blue hedgehog's team based entirely on the fact that Rouge believed he was nothing without his two color coded companions. Somehow along the way and countless hours spent just to retaliate against a vague conclusion like that, the two decided to make a bet instead. The date part was only a part of it due to batgirl's amusement. It was possibly the biggest and worst mistake Knuckles ever let happen to him, but it was already too late to make it any different.

''Would you rather be out in the middle of nowhere with Sonic?''

She only seemed to realize it now, but if it wasn't for her in the first place, it would have been Knuckles stuck on that island instead of Shadow. In some way she was glad, but at the same time the batgirl felt like she unintentionally screwed up the black hedgehog's weekend and put him in danger. However, she focused on the red guardian first, ''You wouldn't last a day out there considering the circumstances right now.''

He quickly decided to counter her claims, ''I come from an island myself! I'd sooner turn yellow then let some bad weather have its way with me.''

''Don't say what you can't fulfill, echidna,'' as much as he was getting irritated by her, she pushed further anyway for the sake of having a little fun with him.

''Are you saying I'm weak?'' his fists were clenched so tightly he could easily plow through an entire building in this very moment.

The G.U.N. agent cupped her cheeks in her hands and pouted as she left out teasingly, ''Oh no... you're just too easy to tease.''

''Bat, stay away from me,'' the red guardian pointed at her with his fist until he drew away into the corner with a scoff on his face, ''Go bother someone else.''

She wasn't done yet, ''But you're so cute when you're mad.''

''What? What!'' Knuckles flushed slightly as he tried to hide his muzzle from her, only for the female bat to be always right up and personal in his face for no good reason than to confuse and toy with him. He was on the edge of turning into another gibbering angry wreck and held his head tightly in irritation, ''You… you… you… arghh!''

After the echidna's supposed freak out and one massive punch into the wall later, a heavy reply followed from the background, ''Agent Rouge…'' prompting the suddenly aware Rouge the Bat to turn around with a quick salute out of a common militant reflex. A rather large human in a military uniform with gray hair and striking mismatched eyes held the most ridiculous yet entirely convincing facepalm the batgirl had ever seen on him, making her chuckle in slight embarrassment. He replied with a deep sigh as he nodded, ''How many times do I have to tell you?''

''I know, Commander…'' the white furred female finished her salute and snickered lightly, ''The base is not my personal make up place. Storing lockers aren't a good place for a nap. Don't hog the mirror in the bathroom. All shiny objects must be returned to their rightful place by the end of the day.''

The G.U.N. Commander nodded again when he finally removed his hand from his aging face, ''Correct.''

In a quick realization, the thieving bat widened her eyes at him as if in a form of hope, ''Has anything come up?''

''No sight of Christmas Island as of now,'' the human G.U.N. leader wasn't glad to be saying something like that and kept his arms on his back, ''Our radars and planes can't get through the thick storm and it doesn't seem it will clear out anytime soon.''

Overhearing them, the red echidna became enraged once more as he started banging his fist against the archive door, ''Tails! Hurry up already!''

Exhaling heavily, Rouge looked up to her superior with a shrug, ''Isn't there anything we can do?''

Inside the room, the yellow furred pilot continued onwards with his investigation through a massive amount of paperwork, books and folders as fast as he could. When he finally realized just how large the G.U.N. archive was in reality, Tails started losing hope of ever finding anything. It was practically a paradise of lost, forgotten and hidden treasures that piled up during the military's activity. Even if there was anything that could possibly tell them at least something about the mysterious island, the chances of finding it were very low. It was no wonder the President himself insisted that nothing was available, the only information that was any good was found only in recent days.

Finishing another shelf unsuccessfully, this day in particular was beginning to look very grim. The extensive lines were arranged by alphabetical order, but that wasn't helping him in the very least. Some of the boxes had no appropriate tags or contained little to do with the actual subject, old history and geography books were ready to crumble into dust by merely looking at them, badly done translations of no worth and various scribblings that made no sense even to him. The two tailed fox kept looking anyway, as this was the only way to somehow help the trapped hedgehogs. Based on the fox's observations, G.U.N. had no intention to go any further into the storm as they were powerless against its intensity. Merely approaching it was already dangerous enough, with machines acting out on their own will with no exact explanation and causing them to almost crash into the ocean.

Dropping to the floor with a sigh, Tails took a short break to compose his mind before taking the nearest box from the lowest shelf into his lap. Opening it only revealed more parchments and various plastic bags that looked like useless junk in his eyes. The pilot was getting impatient. How long is he going to put up with this? Honestly, he couldn't even remember how long he's been checking out this particular place. He only needed to hurry up, but it looked so pointless and time wasn't something he had plenty in this situation. The hedgehogs didn't have much of it either.

Standing up and kicking the box aside, the yellow furred pilot felt angry and disappointed at himself when he rubbed his sweaty forehead. Squirming, he knelt back to the ground with an unsatisfied grunt and swore to himself that if he doesn't find anything this time around, he might as well admit defeat and try to think of something more productive. He looked over the same shelf again, finding old folders with various doodles and scribblings in weird stylized calligraphy that made no sense to him the first time around. Then the yellow furred pilot remembered they looked similar to the ancient murals back at Angel Island. It was mildly surprising to find such obscure information, but it gave him the drive to continue searching onwards in hopes of finding something that was even more mysterious. As interesting the Echidna writings looked right now, search for information about Christmas Island was his top priority.

He put the folders aside, grabbing the decaying brown book instead as carefully as he could and positioned it in his lap. It started out a little vague as to what the various paragraphs were implying or talking about. As the pilot quickly started scanning the words, the specific sentences that caught his eyes either hinted about lost or ancient civilizations, islands or hedgehogs. Whatever seemed plausible enough, he checked them out as fast as he could.

''Christmas Island? Christmas... hedgehogs…'' Tails thought to himself, hoping to find these words together in at least one sentence.

A few of those numerous paragraphs included those words at least once. It took him a lot longer to realize the information wasn't all that small or short either. The pilot's baby blue eyes watered slightly once he was actually sure that this was what he was looking for. Standing up quickly and tightly holding the book with both of his hands like it was some sort of ancient artifact, the yellow furred fox quickly approached the hallway door with a smile on his face. He opened them with such force that the pissy red echidna, who kept banging on the door with his fists, was knocked right into the opposite wall and almost squashed in-between those two objects.

''Everyone, I found it!''

Both the human military leader and G.U.N. agent Rouge simply stared with blank and almost awkward expressions on their face as Knuckles slid down the wall. He eventually picked himself up on his knees, ''Watch where you're going!'' he muttered out loud and rubbed his head.

''I hope you have something useful, fox boy,'' the smirking batgirl approached the pilot and dragged him off to the command center much to the two tailed fox's surprise, interested in what he might have found in the archive room.

In the meantime, the G.U.N. Commander approached the open doors and peeked into it, widening his eyes upon seeing the massive mess Tails left behind, ''What the… not again! Who's going to clean this up?''

XXX

Arriving into the exact same room the white furred female had seen so many times before, the yellow furred pilot quickly but carefully laid the old book onto the table and waited for the other three to join him. The command center was a fairly large room with massive monitors installed on every wall, with at least two or four people monitoring each wall and keeping an eye on the world that has been devastated by numerous battles and irregular weathers before. One of them in particularly showed the immense storm taking place in the area where the ever so mysterious Christmas Island was supposed to be, but whenever the cameras would zoom in or get anywhere close to it, the entire system jittered, jammed and shook beyond belief, giving them no chance to get even an inch closer. It seemed impossible to ever get a clear picture of what was happening there.

''I was right,'' Tails started announcing his observations as he began flipping the pages of the book and quickly skimmed through the text in hopes of learning anything they haven't already knew. Stopping on a particularly interesting page, he propped his hands on his sides, ''Christmas Island does exist after all, just like Sonic said.''

''So, it's really his home?'' Knuckles asked aloud as he folded his arms and leaned against the nearby wall.

''Yeah…'' the child prodigy nodded and continued to flip massive but bleak and boring paragraphs of writings with a heavy sigh, ''This information wasn't easy to come by. But the pages have been ripped out and the book looks like it's about to disintegrate into dust.''

''What did you find out?''

Quickly scanning anything important as much as he could, the pilot came upon at least some interesting conclusions that told them about the unknown island. The paragraphs seemed to talk about as if it were an ancient myth, ''According to these writings, Christmas Island was a secluded island where a large amount of hedgehogs once lived'', the yellow furred fox pointed out for a short reminder to everyone in the room. That much they already figured out on their own but Tails found the faded ink to be harder to decipher much to his displeasure as he found out in the next few minutes. As much as he was happy for any sort of information about it, books like these really needed a very good restoration procedure, otherwise they're doomed to fall apart.

''I can't read much right now, but apparently they were highly advanced even by today's standards,'' Tails continued and lowered his voice, ''However, the island one day simply… vanished.''

Rouge found herself propped against the table as she snapped her fingers, ''Just like that?''

''Yeah.''

With a hand on his chin while venturing back to the table, the G.U.N. Commander grunted out thoughtfully as he asked, ''If they were so highly advanced, could they have created anything so powerful that would by any chance mess with the weather?''

''It's possible,'' the younger fox nodded, ''My plane managed to gather some interesting data before I was forced to leave. And the way it acted was very suspicious as well. The storm has a high count of electromagnetic particles that are unnatural for that kind of weather. Whatever's making that storm it has to be a machine,'' the yellow furred pilot theorized purely out of his head, still hopeful they might find a plan to override it completely.

Standing up from the table, the thieving agent looked toward her superior, ''Is there any way through it?''

''Not by natural means,'' the human male nodded negatively as soon as possible, ''We would need a powerful force field to withstand it.''

Grunting out with a saddened voice, the two tailed pilot wasn't completely sure of that idea at all, ''But it would take months to build something like that from scratch. I don't think Sonic and Shadow have that much time…''

In that exact moment, the command center fell into an eerie silence again, devoid of any voices other than constant clicks and jittering computer screens that shook and turned to static the second they approached the point of no return. Tails needed to figure out something that would help them get through the storm and find the missing hedgehogs before anything bad happened to them. However as of now, the situation was beginning to look hopeless. Most of the planes were affected greatly by specific weather conditions, particularly this one. It would take a pretty good plan to work this one out.

''You said the storm was rotating around the island, right?''

Hearing the red guardian break the silence between the small group, the yellow furred pilot replied with a somewhat confused disposition when he turned to face him, ''Yeah.''

''I was wondering something…'' Knuckles continued onwards as he waved his hand in the air, having noticed something that seemed like a meaningless idea in his head but he needed to say it aloud ever since it popped up in his mind, ''When a tornado moves around, it looks like a funnel. Would a storm have something like that?''

''I see. Like a cyclone…'' a sudden but particularly clever brainstorm hit the fox's mind, bringing some new hope into this conversation after all. He smiled toward his red companion who only gained a puzzled expression as if Knuckles just said something incredibly enlightening to the proclaimed genius, ''Thanks, Knuckles, that's a great idea!''

Blinking with sheer interest, the white batgirl wanted in on whatever the youngster was thinking at the moment, ''What? Do you have an idea?''

''I think so. If we could fly above the storm... if it really is rotating around the island, that would mean it has an eye,'' Tails quickly explained his plan, ''If that's the case, one way getting to the island would be by flying right inside the eye.''

''Would that work?''

Nodding to Rouge immediately, he explained further, ''In theory, the eye of a tropical cyclone is usually completely shielded from the weather, even its own.''

Pushing himself off the wall and pumping his fists into the air, the red guardian suggested with a simple shout, ''Then what are we waiting for? Let's fly in there!''

''Not with the current Tornado,'' the yellow furred pilot disagreed right away since the only thing coming out of it would be a crushed biplane and at the moment that was the last thing the fox wanted out of this situation. It's been a while since Tails updated his plane and now he started regretting the decision to leave it alone for a while before conducting anymore tests or various experimental machines on it.

''There's no way it could survive the pressure or the heavy winds.''

''Our fighter planes are some of the best in the world,'' the G.U.N. Commander mentioned, ''They can't get through the storm, but they should have better chances going around it.''

The two tailed fox quickly agreed to his offer, ''That's what we need. The only problem is that even if we do approach it from above, the controls might still get messy.''

''It would take a really good pilot to handle such a task,'' the odd-eyed male mused further, ''Unfortunately, most of my better pilots are on worldwide missions and might not be back until months later…''

Hearing that particular sentence in the Commander's thick voice, the child prodigy pushed himself away from the table and quickly approached the leader of G.U.N. who instead held a slightly puzzled look in his eyes. The pilot only now realized the sheer size difference between his tiny body and the large human when he proposed to him, ''Let me try it.''

The female bat shrugged with slight doubtfulness in her tone, ''Tails, do you really think that's a good idea?''

''The last time you were there you almost crashed,'' as soon as the red guardian walked closer to the desk, he punched a small hole into it which vaguely annoyed the rest in the room.

''I left them there, it's my responsibility to get them back home safely,'' the two tailed fox insisted with all his heart, still beating himself over the fact that he shouldn't have left his companions on potentially dangerous land for any cost. He looked up toward the military man with a hopeful expression, ''May I, Commander?''

''Mr. Prower, you know I can't let just anyone without official military training on any of those planes.''

Upon hearing a slightly disappointed but largely ordering voice from the G.U.N. Commander, the yellow furred fox's ears fell flat against his skull and his pupils turned to stare at the floor as if too afraid to face the older male any longer, ''But… I can fly. I know enough to get through with little problems if I have the right equipment,'' Tails replied with an almost heartbreaking tone of voice anyone has ever heard in their lives which didn't help a lot with the tense atmosphere in the base, ''I was scared off the first time around but I won't do that again.''

''Commander, can't you make an exception?'' Rouge the Bat stood up from the table as she decided to convince him otherwise for the hedgehogs' sake, ''It is for our agent after all.''

''A civilian doing military work is not a particularly good idea…'' the human male raised his voice once more, adopting a strict look on his face that didn't seem all that foreign on him and it showed well. Thinking that this conversation might be the last rusty nail in the coffin for the missing supersonic mammals, the red echidna and the white bat sighed out significantly, only to receive one last piece of information from the leader which immediately inspired curiosity, ''Although there's always room for voluntary agents…''

Blinking in sheer disbelief, Tails' ears quickly repositioned back onto its rightful places as if to ensure that what he just heard right now was true. He gaped at the human in amazement as he asked quietly, ''… really? Can I do that?''

''That's one way of dealing with lengthy procedures,'' propping his hands behind his back once more, the human male nodded in approval, ''And of course, a recommendation from a current G.U.N. member would be necessary.''

Grabbing the opportunity the moment she got one from her superior, the G.U.N. thief launched herself into the air and landed softly next to the yellow fox's side much to his immediate surprise. The cheeky female replied with a confident tone, ''Let me handle that, Commander. This little pint has all the necessary abilities the job needs.''

''Rouge…'' if the two tailed fox wasn't in public right now, he would probably blush like crazy.

Nodding at the white bat, the military man grunted out as he held out his hand at the fox, ''So, it's settled?''

''Thank you so much,'' Tails shook the Commander's hand with utter excitement in his voice and turned to the agent on his left, ''You too, Rouge.''

The white bat merely wiggled her finger at the pilot and puckered her lips, ''Now, now, I'd usually ask for a ruby or two in exchange but since it's you-

''WHERE IS SONIKKU!''

Interrupted by what it seemed like an extremely loud earth shattering kaboom, a shadowy silhouette surrounded by a blinding light coming from beyond the doors gasped for air and held a very pissy look on her face. Knowing who and what it was most likely about, other people in the room could only facepalm in sheer annoyance.