Chapter 16 - Secluded Stronghold

''Did you find it already? Is that supposed to resemble anything? So… what's up with you anyway?''

After the small talk they exchanged previously, Shadow eventually agreed to show his blue counterpart what he found about this island. He only skimmed through the numerous files the first time around, so this was an opportune time to get through these logs and writings more thoroughly with the Blue Blur. Of course, Sonic would start to bug him when he didn't open up the files at least a millisecond quicker than the blue hedgehog was used to, twitching and rocking all over the place. He shouldn't be surprised anymore that the younger one was still filled with positive energy after so many terrible things happened to him, which would put other luckier people into a deep coma and out of commission forever. He guessed that any information found here should give him the last bit of drive he needs to move on.

''Sit down already,'' the Ultimate Lifeform was beginning to get annoyed and pointed downwards, ''Do you want me to tell you or not?''

With a sardonic whistle and an eventual pout, the blue mammal dropped down onto the nearby chair with an unsatisfied grunt. Folding his arms around his aching stomach while his rival searched on the computer in the most boring way possible, the younger hedgehog noticed a peculiar picture appear on the screen. He quickly nudged himself forward, slightly pushing his darker counterpart out of the way much to his displeasure, ''What's that?''

''It's the main core of the building,'' Shadow explained hastily while typing with one hand and nonchalantly pushing the blue annoyance back to his seat with the other to keep him from hogging up the entire screen.

Meanwhile, a wire frame presentation blinked into existence onto the giant monitor and explained the entire building from inside out like a handy map, spelling out the names of important locations and various rooms one at the time. Only later did it finally stop at what it seemed to be the very power source of all the commotion, ''GenEXE... it looks like this is what kept the city alive without any outside help.''

Widening his emerald eyes, the Fastest Thing Alive quickly remembered, ''GenEXE? That's the thing…''

''I know… the robot. I was right about it being a security measure,'' the black hedgehog answered and tried opening some important looking files, only for the computer to buzz angrily at him and informing him he has no access there without a proper identification code. While he believed at first only a few documents were locked, many other system and execution files were most likely under a direct watch of the core and thus remained under tightest security at all time. If GenEXE faced an immediate shutdown, there was no way the building itself or the entire town as it turned out, could even survive without its energy source. Cutting off the core would be cutting off the power supply for these things to run after all.

After a few more clicks and blips, he eventually gave up with a heavy sigh and leaned backwards in the chair. The black hedgehog didn't really have time to be hacking into this machine or try and sever the core's security. Moreover, Shadow wasn't all that skilled with such things like some other thief he thought of in this very moment, ''Some of these documents are blocked by that thing. Let's hope there's any useful information elsewhere.''

''So if I getting this correctly…'' Sonic scratched the back of his head, ''The core is controlling this?''

''Seems likely. It must've thought of us as trespassers,'' the older mammal theorized boldly with a hand on his chin.

Whatever that thing in the center of the building was, it was probably monitoring their every move ever since the lights turned on. It must've sent that enraged robot on them as well, but it didn't seem to do anything as of now. Did it lose its track or was it preparing for something much bigger to crush them completely? Without any knowledge of how the core operated and with no access to its files, they might not figure it out, but they need to be prepared if it will intend to attack the supersonic mammals once again.

The Blue Blur eventually interrupted his thoughts with a poke to his shoulder, ''Yo, did you find anything about this place?''

''I did,'' the Ultimate Lifeform nodded immediately as he opened up a random file full of photographs of several locations on the island, showing what it appeared to be a group of hedgehogs traveling from one research area to another, taking pictures of jungle plants and other forms of life, as well as excavating marvelous caves and conquering the mountain tops. If anything, they seemed to be pretty active for such an isolated location. This island was big enough to remain under investigation for many years as it held many interesting secrets in its depths.

He turned his head toward his blue counterpart with folded arms, ''Seems like you were right. This was once a place of the biggest hedgehog civilization, advanced but isolated. Actually, the only official one if these writings are something to go by.''

The younger mammal tightened his fists and smirked roughly, ''I knew it…'' after so many mistakes and unconvinced judgments, it was now entirely cemented that this island was his home years ago, even if he couldn't remember it in any possible way. However, what happened to it? Why did it become such a depressing ghostly mess? There had to be a reason for such a prosperous and seemingly happy civilization to just tear apart like that and make everyone disappear into nothingness.

''Maybe I can find a log or a diary,'' the older one shrugged with no intention, ''There's got to be something to keep track on that thing and its functions.''

Sonic snickered lightly, ''Like why it's trying to kill us?''

''I believe this is it,'' the black hedgehog found a certain document he only slightly glanced at just a moment ago and noticed the date, ''The last entry is about 15 years old.''

Upon hearing that fact, the Blue Blur snorted out with a slight shiver coming down his spines until he finally bowed his head and folded his arms around himself. Noting his immediate hesitance, Shadow started coursing through the pages backwards just as easily as flipping strangely durable pages of an old heavy book, ''Let's go back a few days…'' the document itself had a very obvious and sophisticated diary layout that wasn't all that foreign to him as he spend numerous days just to get through Professor's diary in one sitting. The writing itself was also filled with various techno babble and excitable titles, but was otherwise typed by a fairly educated mind from the looks of it.

''It's signed somebody by the name of Sage…'' he happened to stumble upon the actual name of the writer while scanning one of the pages. An appropriate name… if you happen to be a stock character in a role-playing game. Another name was just as bizarre once it rolled off his tongue, ''Gens? That thing has a pet name now?''

Jumping on his feet again, the younger mammal brought his face right next to the screen with obvious interest, ''What does it say?''

''Could you please stop that?'' the black hedgehog tried to push him away again, but the other refused to budge from his spot. Sighing out, Shadow brought himself closer to the monitor as well and ended up brushing himself against Sonic's spiny head the entire time. To keep him from continuously pushing him to the side with a smirk on his face, the older mammal trapped the blue annoyance into a choke-hold. When the Fastest Thing Alive didn't manage to escape, he started pretending he was choking himself to death but quickly realized it didn't work on him, so the Blue Blur merely pouted out in discontent and decided to deal with it when he gets a better chance at it.

Snorting down at the younger one and lifting his eyes, Shadow finally started reading the entry, 'Gens is operating normally for the time being…' the older one interrupted himself in mid-sentence and scrolled down a bit with his free hand, '… after removing the Chaos Emeralds. Even with such everlasting power, they only manage to stay in one environment for only so long when this close to one another.'

''Chaos Emeralds?'' the Fastest Thing Alive hastily removed himself from his hold and the computer screen, making his darker counterpart stumble back to his seat almost immediately, ''But I didn't sense anything.''

The Ultimate Lifeform nodded in return, ''Neither have I.''

If there used to be a flow of Chaos energy in this place, it was probably thoroughly dispersed or spent somehow, otherwise at least one of them would be able to sense it, even if it couldn't be detected by the strongest machines in the world. When hunting for Chaos Emeralds, the powerful energy inside of them was very sensitive to their noses, attracting them like bees on honey. It's the kind of addicting feeling that only comes up when you're nearing the extraordinary gem at some point, although even a strong lead of one might take you a few days until you actually find it at the exact spot miles and miles away… maybe even a whole continent away if the smell is still strong enough in certain region. The green Emerald he left at home still had a fresher scent than anything in this place.

Maybe that's why Rouge is obsessed with gems so very much (besides being shiny).

They smell nice.

Gaining control of the computer once more now that the blue hedgehog backed his head away, the black mammal continued to read, 'Due to a high concentration of Chaos energy made by Gens in process of refining it into useful expendable power, everyone in the city gained exposure to it across several months. Several officials are petrified by the current investigation, but there is no proof that Chaos Emeralds are in any way lethal to organic beings. However, it's been noticed in newly born hoglets that the concentration of Chaos energy is much higher than those who were merely exposed to it, possibly adopting a genetic mutation. Still, this hasn't been disproven yet nor is considered to be dangerous.'

Upon reading that out loud, the older hedgehog only mildly shifted his slanted glance over to his younger rival who apparently listened in while his gloved finger continued cleaning his ear with the most irritating squeaky sound effect ever produced by nature.

It took him a while to realize that Shadow was staring at him and asked with an oblivious shrug, ''What?''

''… are you the… there is no way you could…''

After consulting with his own mind, Shadow brushed the thought away and turned back to the screen with a grunt, ''… nevermind.''

''Wait, what is it?'' the Blue Blur was completely dumbfounded.

The other hedgehog merely nodded, ''Let's move on,'' and scrolled further down until another thing caught his eyes.

'Gens has been acting weird lately. Could it be due to Emeralds' removal? It's a known controversial fact that some machines simply cannot adapt to another power source if fed too long on one alone but nobody wants to hear of it. They just want us to fix it. However, that's not the only thing. Gens… is talking to us through the core,' even Shadow himself was mildly baffled by that claim but continued onwards nonetheless even when the blue one began going cross-eyed at him for some reason.

'Of course not in a language we speak, but in a complicated binary code. Is it… no, it might just be a malfunction.'

''Can the Emeralds grant sentience now?'' he mentioned sarcastically with a harsh sound. The crimson eyed agent knew just how irregular and uninvestigated Chaos energy and the gems were, but this would be an achievement even for them, ''What else are they going to come up with?''

''That can't be it,'' Sonic disagreed with a slight pout on his face, ''Tails used to power the Tornado with one of those and it never tried to murder us.''

In an agreement with his younger counterpart, the black hedgehog reconsidered differently, ''Maybe it's not the Chaos Emeralds… it could be the program's faulty design,'' it was possible the core itself was too imperfect to handle sudden changes like that and the gems had nothing to do with it.

''A machine addicted to Chaos energy?'' the Blue Blur snickered out and grabbed a nearby dusty pen from the table which he began twirling in-between his fingers, ''Maybe I should write this stuff down, this can go for a reasonably bad sci-fi movie.''

However, the Ultimate Lifeform only listened to his real questions, ''It is considered an option. Whatever that thing wants, it probably wants it from us now,'' if the core of this building is able to think in some way and can detect Chaos energy of any sort, then that means it will come after them anytime soon. Which in his mind was made up all the more horrifying since the older one could only imagine what happened to all those unknowing hedgehogs here…

''Oh, yeah? What would that be?'' the blue one shrugged with a brush against his cheek and balanced the pen on his nose until it eventually fell down and landed on his lap.

As if he needed to reinstate his own being once again, Shadow pointed at him with a tilted head, ''If you have forgotten already, I was built with the intent to carry massive amounts of Chaos energy, more than any other known creature in this world,'' so much in fact that without his special bracelets the black hedgehog was constantly in danger of spending all of it in one single attack and leave himself vulnerable against further enemy attacks. They helped keeping his power in check and in the worst case scenario, his last resort was to use any power that had remained under the limiter's restrictions.

''And it says here the machine works on Chaos energy,'' he knocked on the glass monitor and expected him to figure out on his own, ''There are no Emeralds here at the moment, so…''

As he twiddled his fingers in slight thoughtfulness, the Fastest Thing Alive only needed a short moment to put one and one together. He pouted out with displeasure, ''So, we're considered walking batteries as far as it knows. That's just… fantastic.''

''And you were born here which would mean…''

If there was anything the black hedgehog knew about, it was the fact of science. Falling asleep in midst of dictionaries and textbooks later than he was supposed to and then getting berated for it in the early morning didn't sound like a bad idea any longer. Whatever or whoever Sonic actually is, this is an incredible discovery in itself. Maybe Shadow wasn't all that wrong when he considered the blue hedgehog to be his only rival in the world that can match him, ''If this research is correct, your affinity for Chaos energy is a genetic defect, passed down from your exposed parents and implanted right into your gens.''

''Can't just anybody use it?'' the Blue Blur didn't really seem to be shocked or even care about it. He even yawned as a result, ''I thought it was natural.''

He quickly explained with a nod to share his findings, ''They can, but it's dictated by the amount of experience and energy the user can hold. Just because one has access to the energy, it doesn't mean they can control it,'' the older mammal learned the same thing by himself one time as his Super transformation involved a lot more strength and mind power in comparison with anything else he could create easily, ''But it would explain so much. Your natural compatibility with Chaos Emeralds…''

''Oh, tell me about it,'' the blue hedgehog smirked lazily.

''Your speed…''

''Heh, that one's easy. I was a Formula racer in my past life.''

Shadow squinted at him, ''If you were ever a Formula racer, then I am a turtle.''

''Well, you do like to reel in enough problems already, so…''

''Forget it.''

As far as normal Chaos powers were concerned, they needed a perfectly concentrated mind to mold them into something more destructive, such as was the well known Chaos Spear. It was pretty basic but strangely effective, and thus ridiculously fun to spam all over the place. Just as well was the fact that by merely snapping his fingers he could fling somebody into the nearby wall so hard they couldn't make any sense of it even after they had picked themselves up. The Ultimate Lifeform did regret spending so much of his precious energy on that robot alone without thinking at all. However, he came out looking so incredibly angry at both the distraction in his way and the Fastest Thing Alive, so he spent way too much time on it than he would have in a regular battle.

''I don't really see any use in it anyway. What's wrong with good old-fashioned boosting through obstacles?''

It's at this point that he really wanted to question Sonic about those facts as well. Wherever it was true or not, the blue hedgehog before him had all the necessary abilities for the same exact powers but didn't cash in on them at any time, even in the middle of a losing battle. It seemed like such a waste of talent and potential. He understood the notion of sticking to what you know, but new abilities would only increase his fighting choice in battle. Then again, the younger one did solve problems by impulse rather than choice.

''Seems like we're more equal to each other than I thought,'' their similarity was almost undeniable when he replied out with a snort, even if it didn't seem like much at the moment. At this point the black one still didn't want to think about it… if he really was what he believed him to be.

''Except color wise,'' the Blue Blur grinned lightly. Just how could anyone, especially in broad daylight, managed to confuse them both for one another was anyone's guess. Everyone just saw what they wanted to see.

Shadow wasn't about to stop right there as he folded his arms tightly. It was pretty pointless to be bringing up stuff like this right now, but he did wonder about it far too much not to, thinking about the possibilities of this sudden discovery. He started wondering if his younger counterpart ever thought of it before as he pretty obviously implied, ''Maybe I was right about you. Could you be the answer to the theory of the Ultimate Lifeform? One that formed in nature?''

The black hedgehog noticed that the younger one looked through his very soul with a squint, before he brushed it away with an honest smirk, ''Sounds like an accident to me.''

''Even if unintentionally…''

''Keep the title, it's rightfully yours,'' Sonic smiled at him, pulling his thumbs up on him a second later as a quick reassurance, ''One Ultimate Lifeform is enough for me.''

XXX

After traveling a great distance through frozen ice caves, flying bases, hot sandpits and lava filled mazes with his Chaos Emeralds stolen by Doctor's new dreadlocked buddy, the blue mammal and the yellow furred pilot finally made it inside of what it seemed to be an ancient sanctuary of some sort, possibly built by a civilization that used to live on this so called Angel Island. It was a different sight from the previously red and extremely hot interior of the Lava Reef, having been replaced by calming tones of blue and violet with a cold breeze running through it like a soft yet ancient memory. Extremely gigantic and sealed perfectly inside a huge mountain, just what purpose did this place have for anyone other than to keep long forgotten secrets from the rest of the world?

Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails finally managed to catch up to the sneaky echidna, demanding the Emeralds back and a quick explanation for the fat egg's schemes this time around. Of course, they only ended up in a full blown fight with the red guardian as none of them would comply with any of the orders. However, as soon as it started, the imminent battle was already over, irritating the Fastest Thing Alive more than the loss of the rainbow colored gems.

Standing up on his knees and breathing heavily, the echidna punched the floor with all his might at his easy failure, ''This can't be… how did I lose?''

''That's all?'' the Blue Blur was either on the edge of laughter or tears at this point as he could barely believe what just happened, ''I just spent this entire time running after Eggman's little partner in crime and he goes down in a couple of seconds! Would it hurt you to give me a little challenge?''

''Hey, Sonic! Look at that,'' catching something incredibly imposing and colorful on the wall, the two tailed pilot brought his attention to it out of sheer curiosity.

The blue hedgehog shrugged lightly as he twirled over to the wall in one quick succession, ''What?'' and upon seeing it, he widened his emerald eyes at the sheer majestic sight the strange mural radiated. With a whistle coming out of his mouth, he reached toward it with no concern as he was completely mesmerized by the picture, ''So cool… what is this?''

''Hey!'' picking himself up from the floor with a grunt, the red guardian prevented him from doing so, ''Don't touch that!''

With a laughable snort, the grinning mammal turned toward him immediately, ''You still wanna fight?''

''I'll pummel you into the ground, hedgehog!'' the echidna threatened with a clear intention while pumping his fists into the air confidently, ''Do you even realize what this place is? This is a sacred sanctuary of my ancestors, the place of the planet's past and future!''

Tails scratched his head, ''Ancestors?''

Completely taken over by a strange feeling in his mind and heart, Sonic continued to stare at the mural as if he were possessed by something. The more he looked into it, the more it became familiar in some way but he couldn't put his finger to it. The blue hedgehog could only mildly hear what the pilot and the guardian were conversing about in the meantime, but he didn't really care at the moment. He wasn't all too sure what the picture was supposed to represent, but the bigger beast on the left was holding something… or rather, stealing a very large green Chaos Emerald and tried to get away with it as soon as possible by flying away. On the far right, there was another creature covered in a yellow fire as it fought the one on the opposite site. As if it were telling a great story of a battle that took place in a far distant past and somebody decided to recreate it in this sanctuary, but the outcome wasn't present anywhere or even hinted at. Maybe it was left up to interpretation of an individual?

The emerald eyed hero only then heard the red one yell again in an ordering voice, ''The ancient Echidnas, one of the greatest civilizations of this world. I'm the last one of them, brought up to protect the Master Emerald no matter what and you two aren't getting near it!''

Pulling himself away from the mural, the younger hedgehog asked calmly, ''If they were so great, then why is there only one of you left?''

''You question their legacy?'' the guardian was enraged just hearing those words, ''I'll beat that nonsense right out of you!''

Before the mammals could strike at each other once more to start a new battle, the two tailed pilot got in the way of them to stop the two from dueling it out once and for all, ''Wait a second, you got it all wrong! We're not here for the Master Emerald. We don't even know what that does…''

''Shut up!'' he shouted instead and refused to listen to them, ''I know what I've heard from that flying man!''

''You mean Dr. Eggman, right?'' the yellow furred pilot sighed out heavily when he wanted to explain everything to the red mammal as clearly as possible, ''You can't trust him! He's gonna backstab you at the first chance he gets!''

The other merely folded his arms and laughed it off as a fluke, ''Hah, what a bunch of lies! You can't fool me.''

''This guy's unreal,'' the blue one shrugged.

Tails immediately turned to his speedster buddy, ''I don't think he even knows who Eggman really is…'' but when the earth shook angrily, the fox already knew what was coming next. He pointed toward the pedestal not far away from them as a clear warning, ''Sonic, look!''

The Fastest Thing Alive shouted at the clueless red guardian as soon as he saw it, ''Hey, your Master Emerald is flying away!''

''What?'' turning around swiftly on his heels, the echidna finally saw that the hedgehog and the fox might have been right after all much to his surprise. The overweight human he was trusting this entire time ripped the Master Emerald out of its resting place with his floating machine and threatened to fly away with it. Quickly, the red guardian launched himself up the pedestal with a shocked expression as he tried to make sense of this, ''D… Doctor, what's going on? I thought we had a deal!''

The fat man in the Eggpod merely laughed out loud as he stopped in midair to taunt him, ''Ohohoho, you really are a twit, Knuckles! But a useful one nonetheless!'' he then waved at the three in a quick farewell and prepared himself for a quick launch out of the mountain, ''Sayonara, imbeciles! I don't think we'll ever see each other again!''

''Wait!'' Knuckles the Echidna jumped onto the old man's machine, trying to stop him as the other tried to fly away.

''You idiot!'' with a heavy sigh left on his lips, Doctor Robotnik was sick of the insolent duo always getting in the way but as of now this may become a triple problem with both the blue and yellow coming to help out. If he doesn't do anything quickly, he'd be defeated again but this time he wasn't going to let them take him down that easily anymore. With an eventual big grin on his face, he brought out his little secret weapon to help him incapacitate the anthropomorphic vermin as humanly possible, ''I'll deal with you myself then!''

As the duo approached the fat flying egg, the Blue Blur called out, ''C'mon, Tails! Let's bring him down right here, right now!''

However, even with the combined strength of the three mammals, they barely scratched the good old local mad scientist, much less prevent him from taking the Master Emerald. Before the red echidna could even climb up toward the human's cockpit and preferably punch him out of it, he was quickly electrocuted by his little weapon stored away in the Eggpod and dropped to the floor like a fly. The two friends lost their chance as well before they could hit him again, resulting in Eggman's escape and causing another brief shake of the mountain, as if the giant gem itself held it from breaking apart. It seemed his flying fortress was up and ready to fly up into space once more and conquer the world from then on.

Eventually, Knuckles came to with a slight headache, ''But why?''

''It's Eggman. Does he really need a reason?'' the blue hedgehog replied with a tightened fist and turned his head up toward an opening where the scientist just disappeared. The sun continuously lost its light as it was overshadowed by a great big orb lifting up in the sky like an early eclipse, ''We need to stop him before he gets away.''

Approaching the downed and slightly embarrassed echidna, the yellow furred fox asked with a tilted head, ''Is there any way we can reach Eggman's fortress from here?''

Thinking about it for a short bit, the red guardian sighed out with widened eyes as he seemed to recall one specific location that nobody but he had the access to. However, since the Master Emerald was in great danger, he needed to do something quickly and he might be too weak to handle it by himself, ''There is one way… Sky Sanctuary. It's the only route possible if you want to reach the Death Egg.''

''I wonder what he plans to do with it…'' Tails began said out loud, more to himself than anything else.

''The Master Emerald holds incredible amounts of energy,'' Knuckles quickly explained as he lifted himself from the floor, ''It's what keeps Angel Island in the air.''

Tapping his foot angrily against the echoing floor, the pilot sighed out with a slanted look in his eyes, ''He probably wants to harness that energy for his own good. Nothing new for Eggman right there…'' but he immediately noticed that his blue buddy wasn't listening entirely as he kept staring back at the picture in the distance and didn't say a word. Tails approached him from behind and called out to the speedster, ''Sonic?''

Without turning around, Sonic kept his eyes in place and asked anyway, ''What's the story behind that mural?''

''That? It's an ancient legend of my tribe,'' Knuckles replied as he leaned against the wall with a tired breath. He heard the story so many times before that he could recite it completely word by word. He kept it short for convenience, ''It was said that one day the one who possesses the true potential of Chaos Emeralds will be able to protect the Master Emerald and then the entire world… or destroy it. Whoever that was supposed to be, he was always well respected but feared at the same time.''

When the Blue Blur said nothing, the red echidna motioned for the two to come with him, ''Come on, I'll show you the way!''

''Sonic?''

Hearing Tails' calling, he said hastily, ''I'll be right there with you…'' the yellow furred fox only hesitantly ran after the guardian.

After finally turning around but taking another good look at the distant picture on the wall over his shoulder, a strange feeling still coursed through his entire body, something he couldn't really explain at the moment. It was a powerful feeling, as if something should be done about it as soon as possible. It called to him to take the initiative and begin anew, as if time and place didn't matter anymore. Ever since they arrived to Angel Island by sheer coincidence, he felt as if he was summoned here for a reason, to help and figure out his fate in this world. Was it his future that the island foretold and wanted him to follow it as such because it was destiny? If this was really what he thought it was, he must've come across a turnabout of his life. A significant moment to devote his entire life to something he didn't exactly understand or even knew about it.

However, his last action was to grin widely and reply to himself with a mocking nod, ''… nah.''

XXX

As the Master Emerald was finally brought to safety from Eggman's grabby robot hands, Knuckles worked quickly to put it back to its righteous place in the middle of the altar. Relieved that everything was okay with it after the space battle, Angel Island slowly started to lift from the sea amongst the white clouds where it belonged in the first place. Even after the unusual landmass was high up in the sky to the point you could barely see it from the ground, the red guardian kept repositioning the giant green emerald as if it needed to be in the exact same place as before, ignoring both Sonic and Tails for the time being as they stood to the side.

''It's fine, really. No need to thank me or anything…'' the blue hedgehog sighed out sarcastically when the last living echidna didn't turn to them at all, gaining an eye roll from the Fastest Thing Alive, while the two tailed pilot chuckled out awkwardly.

Exhaling heavily and leaning his hands softly against the Master Emerald, Knuckles started wondering, ''Has everything I've ever been taught true?'' sidestepping over to the two mammals he had previously labeled as his enemies, the knuckle barring guardian widened his violet eyes at the younger hedgehog, ''Just who are you anyway?''

''We've been through this already,'' the Blue Blur shrugged with his shoulders, ''I'm Sonic the Hedgehog.''

The echidna nodded immediately, ''No… who are you really?''

''What are you on now?'' scratching his spines with a dumbfounded appearance, the Fastest Thing Alive didn't have any clue to what he was talking about.

''It was just like it was said…'' Knuckles lifted his hands up in the air, clearly astounded by the entire thing as he started to ramble, ''The Chaos Emerald's powers turning into pure light, the golden glow leading up into the sky and the Master Emerald safe from harm!''

Noticing that both the hedgehog and the fox held quite uninterested and largely confused looks on their faces, the red guardian's hands turned back into enormous fists and spilled out with a straightforward remark as he stared into the speedster, ''You were the one foretold to come here! You saved Angel Island and the Master Emerald! You used the light of the Chaos Emeralds to turn into a golden glow!''

Leaning forward with a blink, the younger mammal just had to ask, ''… did that electric shock fry your brain or something?''

''Don't you understand what this means? Your arrival here was not unintentional,'' he tried to make him understand, ''You came here because you were guided here.''

When those words left the echidna's mouth, this was Sonic's opportunity to interfere into the conversation as quickly as possible to inform him that wasn't the case with him. He only came to this island because he and Tails took a wrong turn somewhere and this was the only thing that looked somewhat bearable than the deep blue seas below their feet. He brushed his finger under his nose, ''The only thing that guides me is the wind that blows free. Besides, what's done is done.''

''But…''

''I need to go for a run,'' interrupting him again with a large grin on his face, the Fastest Thing Alive jumped into the opposite direction and waved back for a short second, soon leaving a long trail of smoke behind him. His voice echoed toward them like a faint memory of his existence, ''See ya guys later!''

Chuckling out a bit, the two tailed pilot turned over to the red guardian, ''Sorry… he's always like this.''

''Ugh… am I wrong again?''