Chapter 3: The Message

Sonic, Tails, Justin, and Chris were walking alongside of a lake that could easily span the length of at least six football fields.  What was surprising about this was that the "lake" was referred to as Mint Pond.

Justin had a black, oblong package strapped to his back.  After everyone asked what it was, he just replied that it might come in handy.

"Your sure that we can come along with you guys.  After all, this "Knuckles" character said that the two of you are to come.  He never mentioned any overlanders."

"For the third time, YES you can come," Sonic responded in a rather irritated tone of voice.

"Ok, ok, I'm just checking."  After a few more minutes of walking, the foursome was in the shadow of the Floating Island, staring up at the land mass.

"My GOD, that thing is enormous!" Chris said with a look of awe on his face.

Tails looked around.  "Didn't Knuckles say that he'd be here to meet us?"

"Yep, coulda sworn that's what Rotor said," Sonic confirmed.  Behind the foursome, a figure landed from above without making a sound.  Only Chris could sense it as he spun around to look at a red figure with long, red spines dangling from it's head and a white crest around it's neck.  He sported a brown leather vest, brown boots, and a brown hat with stars around it.

"Lemme guess, you're Knuckles," Chris asked.  Sonic and Tails also turned to look.

"Chris, I swear that you have eyes on the back of your head!  Knux landed not making a sound, and you can still tell!" Tails said astounded.

"Hey, forget what I can do?" Chris shot back.  Sonic was already greeting his longtime friend when Tails and Chris were 'arguing'.

"Hey, blue!  How are you doing?"

"Always great, rad red"

"That's great.  Anyway, who are your new friends here?"

"These two are Chris and Justin.  They came from that world where we went to recover the Master Emerald, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Knuckles, along with so many others before him, looked to notice that Chris was hovering off of the ground.

"Hmmm, interesting.  What makes him hover like that?"

"He's psychic," Sonic answered.

"Really? Well, that's a first for me," Knuckles said, devoid of any astounded or surprised facial expressions.

"So, why did you want to see us?" Tails said.

Knuckles looked around as if searching for something. "I think we'd better discuss this on the island."

"Why do you say that?" Justin asked.

"I'll explain everything when we get on the Island," He repeated, ignoring the question.  Knuckles stood out in front of the other four and moved his arms in an outward motion, which looked to the overlanders as if he was parting the Red Sea.

"Who are you?  Moses?" Chris said sarcastically.  Knuckles shot him a glare as a rift opened up that seemingly split the very being of reality, and he jumped in.  Chris and Justin were astounded.  Even though they used portals to travel to other realities and worlds, they used a "Trans-dimensional portal" as Justin called it.  They had never anticipated that a living thing could do that.  After all five had passed through, they found themselves on the outskirts of a large, futuristic city.  The sign that happened to be nearby read, "Welcome to Echidnaopolis".

"C'mon, my place is this way," Knuckles gestured toward a thick growth of jungle.

"What was that thing with 'Moses'?" Sonic asked.

"Ah, some old religious person who, according to the Bible, parted the Red Sea with God's help," replied Chris.  After what seemed like an hour, but was only about twenty minutes, they reached a cave with a makeshift door on the front.

"Well, here we are,"

Justin looked puzzled "Here?  You live in a cave?"

"It's a lot better looking on the inside, I assure you," Knuckles confirmed.

He opened the door and picked a small box on a small stool nearby.  It was too dark to tell what it was, but after a few 'swish' and 'scratch' noises, it turned out that the box was a box of matches.  Knuckles then went around the room and lit several candles, which brightly illuminated the area.

"So, you mind tellin' us why you said for us to come here?" Chris asked.
"I was thinking about what rotor said, you know, the staff, so I decided to contact the Brotherhood, arranging the use of a device that measures Chaos Emerald power.  When I used it on the Master Emerald, I found something astounding."

Sonic was anxious, "And that might be...?"

Knuckles sighed a sigh that said something wasn't what it was supposed to be.  "The Master Emerald has the power of only one emerald, not fourteen like it's should."

"WHOAT?!?!?" Tails had an amazed statement.  "How's that possible?!?"

"This is just an educated guess, but I think the Master Emerald only has the substance of fourteen emerald fused together, but the power of only one."

Sonic guessed, "So your thinking that the staff that's Mammoth Mogul's has the power of the Master Emerald, correct?"  Knuckles nodded.

"Well, that explains a lot," said Chris, "So what do we do about it?"  But Knuckles was looking straight ahead, at nothing.  Then he spoke in words that were not of his own.

"The staff is of power, the shield of might
Many perils you will fight
On your journey to recover the lost
There are chasms that you must cross

On the trials of nature's fury
There are times where you must hurry
On the plains of spirits not rested
There are enemies that must be bested

On the puzzles of times long past
There are places that will be masked
On the long and difficult trail
There are ways that you can prevail"

"Jeez, I HATE it when he does that," Sonic complained.

"What the..." Justin and Chris were puzzled.

Knuckles was back to his normal self again, "It looks like we have been sent on a journey."

"The Ancient Walkers contacted him again."

"Ancient Walkers?"

"They're these old, God-people that tell you what you need to know, in a roundabout sort of way."

"I hate it when people do that," Chris mumbled.

"So, where to start?" asked Justin.

"I got it all down here," Tails was holding up a pad and pencil he found on a shelf.  "It looks like there are five parts to the quest, all things like enemies to beat, things to cross, puzzles to solve, and nature to get by.  But I can't figure out the last one. "On the long and difficult trail, there are ways that you can prevail."

"There are five parts, and five of us.  Maybe there's a connection between that." Sonic suggested.

"Tails, what was that about a shield?" Chris said.

"It said, "The staff is of power, the shield of might," why?"

"I think," Knuckles said, "That the staff is far older than we anticipated, and Mogul found it, not made it.  And the shield has some way to counteract the effects of the staff's power."

"So where to start, as I said earlier," repeated Justin.

"Start?  We start at someone who knows ancient echidna artifacts the best," Knuckles replied.

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