Sonic Runaways

The door slid open to a deep, dark pyramid. A cold breeze floated out into the hot desert air. "Are you sure we have to go in there?" Amy asked, cowering and holding onto Sonic's back. "It's so dark…"

"Knuckles said this is a good entrance to Lava Reef, and by extension, Hidden Palace," Tails replied, turning on his Tails Electric's flashlight and pointing it forward.

"Guys… this totally reminds me of the Palace of Wr---" Sonic started.

"Don't," Tails interrupted. He stepped inside. Sonic followed, Amy being dragged along in the sand as she whimpered and tried to get him to stop walking.

After a few minutes of navigating the treacherous, sandy pyramid, Tails pinpointed a rusty pull chain switch hanging from the ceiling. He looked to Sonic, nodding and awaiting his vote on what to do. Sonic nodded in turn, and Tails obliged. He reached for the switch, pulled it, and as the light flickered to life…

It broke off. The light diminished.

"Tails? I think this thing is busted," Sonic stated, in complete darkness other than the dim small flashlight.

"Yeah. It must have been here quite a while," Tails observed, shining his flashlight over the disintegrating piece of fossilized switch as he and the others walked along.

"This place could use a cleanup," Amy followed up. "The pyramids in the city were prettier, and things weren't breaking."

"Could this be another Babylonian structure like Marble Garden?" Tails asked, theorizing and connecting pieces in his mind.

"What makes you say that?" Sonic asked, glowing light blue. He gazed at the misty azure shine on his arm. "Oh."

"Well, aside from that, these pyramids aren't structured like the ones in Echidnaopolis. Almost like they were built by different cultures entirely. Notice how these ones are more triangular than the others. They also look as old as history itself," Tails answered.

"I thought history was Ata's thing," Amy replied.

"And tech is mine. This stuff is way too advanced to be anything from Erius at the time these pyramids must have been built," Tails retorted, carrying the ancient light switch. "Notice the actual wires as opposed to an analog rope coming from this switch. Babylonians had some pretty advanced tech, like the Spinning Top from Marble Garden. Don't you think this could be another example of that?" Tails thought on it some more. "But then again, I don't know why the machines in Marble Garden lasted so much longer than the ones here, especially considering they're more exposed to the elements outside."

The door shut behind them.

"Huh?" Sonic asked, shocked. "Damn! I knew this was another one of Knuckles' tricks." Sonic heard a jumble of whispers behind him. He turned around, but saw nobody there. Not even Tails. No… it wasn't Knuckles. It must have been something entirely different. The whispers were getting closer, and closer. They were in a language Sonic hadn't heard for a long time. Then, Sonic saw many translucent, faintly white shapes moving towards him. They all had two dots each which suggested eyes. "What? No! Get away!" Sonic yelled out in fear as they completely enveloped him.

Meanwhile, Knuckles was catching his breath and watching as Ata surfaced from Azure Lake with a shard of Master Emerald. "Jackpot!" Ata exclaimed, holding the shard over her head proudly.

"Yeah, jackpot," Knuckles replied, atop a barely above-water piece of land that was once the tallest tower in Launch Base. It was where the rest of the few shards they had collected were kept. "Don't get any ideas. I'm not letting you keep it."

"Drat," Ata mumbled. "You sure that thing won't attack us?" Knuckles looked to Chaos as it pounded against the mountains with blasts of water strong enough to shatter an entire layer of the range. It shrieked as lava erupted from the eroded mountains.

"Not positive," Knuckles growled, gazing at the deity. Then to the water it controlled as it rippled. "It's definitely aware we're trying to find the emerald shards to trap it again. But it's more concerned with breaking through Red Mountain and spreading to the ocean. We're basically just unimportant ants to it."

"That's a little terrifying to think about," Ata mumbled, climbing onto the tower and handing Knuckles the shard. He placed it carefully into the others, and the Master Emerald became a little more complete. Knuckles smiled a little. "You really care about that thing, don't you?" Ata asked. "I can see why. It's still beautiful even though it's in pieces."

"Yeah," Knuckles replied. "I still can't believe Pachacamac would shatter it like that just so he could take more power. I refuse to believe that I'm a traitor to the clan just because I want to protect what brought us together so many eons ago." Knuckles put his arms on his knees and his head in his hands as he gazed off into Azure Lake. "I know Pachacamac wanted power, I know my brethren just want power. But all I want is for my little green island and emerald to be safe." Knuckles sighed shakily. "What do I do now? Even if we stop Chaos, I'll have nowhere to go. I'll still be banished. I'll have to abandon everything I know and go somewhere else, won't I?"

"Sonic and Tails did that, and they ended up fine," Ata tried to cheer him up. "Maybe you can go with them." Knuckles looked to the ground. This only seemed to make him more upset. He punched the tower, leaving two bullet hole-like stabs in the stone. Ata immediately felt guilt dry her up from her very Core.

"We'll figure something out," Ata sighed. "I can't exactly see the future, but I have a feeling you'll be okay."

Sonic reappeared in a dark void. Darker than the pyramid in Sandopolis. "What the---?!" Sonic asked. Last time this had happened, he had a heart-to-heart with his own heart. The eighth Chaos Emerald, the source of his electric powers. But… what could he be doing there again?

"Sonic," a voice echoed from nearby. "Come here, Sonic. I have waited so long to see you again." That voice…

"Longclaw?" Sonic asked. He approached the voice, and saw a large owl-like silhouette glowing with a brilliant light. "What are you doing here? I thought you were gone!"

"They killed me, but they never destroyed me. Yet, since my corporeal body was reduced to ashes, my spirit has been cursed by rot. This curse has spread through the pyramid where my ghost, the reflection of my spirit situated in the realm of the living resides," Longclaw responded, her voice more ethereal and mighty than Sonic had remembered. "But I digress. Welcome to the Spirit Realm, Sonic."

"Spirit Realm? After all I've seen in the past year, I would believe that such a place exists, I'd believe it from just about anybody," Sonic muttered. "Except you." The light faded a little, but soon regained its glow. "The whole time I knew you, you were only after my power. You didn't care about me at all!"

"I know that you learned of the prophecy in the Labyrinth Zone of South Island," Longclaw stated. Her voice had a sliver of remorse in it. "Though I believe you should trust me more than you should many people in your life, I will not attempt to clear my name with my own meaningless words. From your perspective, I am no better than that awful dictator who destroyed our home. I have told you time and again how much I care for you, but I understand that you feel it was always a lie. It pains me, and my words cannot save me now that they have been tarnished with untruths I never intended to tell. I do not expect forgiveness when I do not deserve it."

"Good, because you're not getting any of it," Sonic growled, turning away.

"However, I believe I can still help you get the full picture. It is my greatest desire as your former guardian," Longclaw replied. Sonic glanced back at her. "Paths will meet, and in some cases collide harshly in the Hidden Palace, your destination. When they do, speak to the girl who needs no vision, the one you trust to always speak the truth, and tell her this phrase…"

"... Don't give up on the sun, don't make the sun laugh at you."

There was a blinding light and a ringing in Sonic's ears. When the light faded away, he found himself on his side on the sandstone ground of the Great Pyramid of Sandopolis.

"Sonic, what happened?!" Tails was shouting as Sonic opened his eyes. Amy was there too.

"Eugh…" Sonic groaned, getting up. "Ahaha, I was on a snooze cruise, I guess!" Tails looked at him worriedly. Sonic averted his eyes. Maybe it had just been a dream. But he didn't often remember his dreams when he woke up. But right then, he felt like he couldn't get Longclaw's words out of his head.

"Do you think me kissing his mouth brought him back to life?" Amy asked.

"You what?!" Sonic asked, flustered. Tails and Amy laughed. However, he was distracted by a wispy orb of some kind slipping through one of the cracks of the pyramid. He looked on as it disappeared into the ceiling.