Chapter Text
Jewel always enjoyed how peaceful Restoration HQ was this early in the morning. Hardly anyone was up yet, and the few who were had a mutual understanding to be quiet as can be. With the cool morning air seeping through the skylights, it all made the place feel so cozy. It was a wonderful feeling that made the incoming long day of work feel so much less daunting.
She buzzed up to her office, warm cup of hot coco, courtesy of Bark, in one hand and a clipboard under her arm. She reached into her pocket for her keys, and, after missing the lock twice, precisely inserted one into the door. With a click and a creak, it gently swung open, revealing the dark room inside.
Jewel reached over and flicked on the lightswitch. As she fluttered over to her desk, though, something caught her eye. An envelope sat smack dab in the middle of her desk, on top of her laptop. She looked around, seeing if she could spot any sign of a break in. Finding nothing, she nervously walked up to her desk. Setting her other items aside, she gave the envelope a hard look.
While the envelope itself was all white and blank, it was closed with a pink heart shaped sticker. Jewel blinked, but then snickered to herself. It felt so obvious now.
“Oh, Rouge,” she sighed, picking up the letter, “You’re so sweet…”
She gently pulled off the sticker, and opened the envelope. Inside, as she expected, was a letter. What she didn’t expect was the paper to be old, yellow, and crusty. Jewel’s smile fell, and she gingerly pulled out the paper. It crinkled like gift wrap as she unfolded it, careful not to snap it clean in half. Once she had it fully formed, she began reading.
---
“Dearest Heroes,
I write to you on behalf of the people. On behalf of the world. A great evil is soon to be awakened, and only you can stop the calamity it shall bring.
Atop the ruins of an ancient castle on an island to the west of your lands lies a gem known as the Beautiful Benitoite. This cursed gem was once docile, but from a surge of energy that scoured the land it is threatened to be reawakened, and bring about the great evil within.
Cities will be leveled. Landscapes reformed to its will. And all who stand in its way will be eradicated.
There is only one way to stop this calamity from occurring. To destroy the Beautiful Benitoite, you need the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds,
And the purest soul you can find.
Someone who is full of endless joy, endless vigor, endless love to give. Someone pure of heart, mind, and soul. Only the greatest of kindness can dispel this darkest of evil.
I know it is a tall order, but bring these to the top of the castle, and use their energy to stop this great evil from ravaging your land.
Signed,
A friend.”
---
Jewel pulled the paper down from her face and looked between the members of her audience, all gathered in the conference room.
Amy sat closest to her, hand over her mouth and eyes wide. She glanced at Knuckles, who had his arms crossed. He looked back at her, and shook his head in dismay. Tails glanced between him and Team Dark, sitting across from everyone else. Shadow had a similarly hard look, glaring at the letter in Jewel’s hand. Rouge…well, Rouge had been smiling ever since she heard the word “benitoite.”
“Wow!” she purred, “A gem with ‘beautiful’ in its name must be worth a fortune! How much do you think it’ll go for if I put it on the market?”
“Rouge, this is serious!” Jewel chastised, “Whoever left this letter made it very clear that this stone would bring disaster! And we can’t let that happen! Not after all the trouble the Amnestic Amethyst caused us.”
Rouge rolled her eyes, but conceded with a nod.
“Yes, but that leaves the question of this mysterious ‘whoever’, doesn’t it?” Shadow huffed, “It’s simply just signed ‘a friend’?”
Jewel looked down at the letter again, then nodded. Shadow’s scowl worsened.
“If they were really a friend they wouldn’t be so cowardly to leave themselves vague, now would they?”
“Doesn’t really matter who signed it,” Knuckles shrugged, “All that matters is they warned us of a crisis before it can happen. So we’re gonna stop it.”
Shadow glared at the echidna, “Can you treat this with even the hint of scepticism?!”
“I mean…I dunno, Shadow,” Tails pondered, “This can’t be Eggman. He’s sent us letters before-”
“That was Metal Sonic,” Knuckles cut in.
Tails paused, glancing at the echidna for a moment.
“…But, this isn’t like him at all. I mean, warning us of something bad before it happens? He’d only do that if he thought he’d already won. And in way more of a bombastic tone.”
Shadow had to admit the fox was right, and nodded slightly.
“I still don’t trust it. If not him, who else would sign it so vaguely?”
“You think it’s some other party trying to get one over on us?” Rouge asked.
“It can’t be Clutch,” Amy said, “He’s stuck in Everhold. Wouldn’t be the Deadly Six either. Or, pssh, Rough and Tumble are out of the question.”
“Well, if we’re out of villains, then it sounds like we’re in the clear,” Knuckles scoffed.
“Not necessarily,” Tails cut in, “It could be someone we don’t know about. Or maybe even- oh gosh, don’t tell me Starline is back.”
“Ugh, please no,” Amy, Rouge, and Shadow said in unison.
“Who’s Starline?” Knuckles whispered to Amy.
“I don’t think it particularly matters who sent it,” Jewel said, “I called all of you up to see if what this letter says is true in the first place. I combed through as many files, maps, and resources as I could, but none mentioned a castle on an island to the west.”
“Not that I wouldn’t want to do this for you, Gemstone,” Rouge purred, “But isn’t that more of a job for Tangle, Whisper, and them? Your ‘Rapid Response Team’?”
“Or the Chaotix,” Knuckles added, “Investigations are their speciality.”
“I think matters that involve the Chaos Emeralds fall more into the hands of experts, like you all.”
“Oh? So we’re bringing those too?”
“If this gem is real, we might as well be prepared to get rid of it.”
Sonic, who was sitting with his eyes closed and feet kicked up onto the table, pulled one hand out from behind his head and flicked his nose with his thumb.
“Sounds like a great adventure to me. I’m in!”
Everyone glanced at him, then back towards Jewel.
“WILL THERE BE ROBOTS TO DESTROY?” Omega asked.
“Uhh…N-Not likely, no.”
“I’M OUT,” he slammed his hands on the table, and began to stand up.
“No you aren’t,” Rouge said simply, grabbing the robot’s wrist and pulling him back down into his seat.
“Well, we have the Chaos Emeralds already. We just have to ask Tikal if we can borrow them,” Tails rubbed his chin, “But who would be the ‘purest soul we can find’?”
“Tails, buddy, come on,” Sonic reached over and slung an arm around his shoulders, “I think we all know who that is.”
His eyes slowly looked past the fox. Tails turned to follow his gaze. Everyone looked at Knuckles, but then the echidna turned and saw Amy leaning forward. When all eyes landed on her, she blushed and giggled.
“Aww, Sonic!”
“Pure of heart? Endless affection? Endless joy and love and all that?” Sonic listed off, “This mission was made for you, girl.”
Amy giggled some more, pressing her palms against her cheeks.
Jewel smiled, “I think that’s settled then. If any of you need it, I can lend you a shuttle so you can find the island more comfortably.”
“Thanks, Jewel, but we won’t need one,” Tails said as he stood out of his chair, “I always have the Tornado ready and waiting for situations like these!”
“And I can fly my boys no problem,” Rouge smirked, “I’m very strong, Gemstone~”
Jewel blushed, but giggled as she pulled on her collar.
“W-W-Well…I-I’ll leave it in your hands, then! Good luck!”
Rouge blew the beetle a kiss, as Amy and Tails waved her goodbye.
**********
Everyone walked out into the plaza. The hustle and bustle was in full swing by now, but everyone stood aside and made way for the band of heroes as they walked.
They could hear them whispering and gasping in awe. Sonic shot a few winks and finger guns their way, while Amy waved and Rouge blew more kisses.
Soon, they reached the Chao Garden. Team Dark, Tails, and Knuckles waited outside, per Amy’s instructions. Tikal was already standing close to the entrance, though had her back turned to it. She held Shadow’s Chao, Mar, in her arms, playfully rubbing her nose against their face. When she felt a finger poke her shoulder, she turned around quickly and beamed when she saw Amy.
“Good morning Amy! Sonic! Are you here to see the little ones?”
“ ‘Fraid not, Tikal,” Sonic said, “We’re here on business.”
“Business?”
“We need the Chaos Emeralds,” Amy explained, “Jewel found this note someone left on her desk this morning, and it talked about a gem that would bring some evil inside it, or something.”
“Oh dear!” Tikal gaped, “I-I suppose that explains why Shadow left Mar here. What was this gem called?”
“The, uh…Beautiful…Beautiful Benitoite,” Sonic snapped his fingers, “You heard about it?”
Tikal pondered, then shook her head, “No. I can’t say I have.”
“Well, we’re gonna stop it!” he winked, “But we need the Emeralds, and a pure soul for that! We got the pure soul right here…”
He gestured to Amy, who made a cute pose.
“But, we need you to hook us up with those Emeralds.”
“Oh! Yes! Of course! Here, follow me.”
Tikal led them over to the corner of the room where the pond resided. She pulled her arms away from her chest, gently coercing Mar to flutter out of her grasp.
Lifting up her arms, she levitated the water out of the pool, and held it to the side. Sonic and Mar were flabbergasted, while Amy watched in awe. Tikal reached down into the pool, opened a secret hatch on the bottom, and lifted out a briefcase.
“Here you are,” she said, turning around and letting the water fall back down, “I think you’ll find everything to be in order.”
Amy took the briefcase and flicked it open. Sure enough, all seven Chaos Emeralds sat inside, glowing with their power. Both hedgehogs grinned, and nodded to Tikal thankfully as they closed the case.
“Thanks a million, Tikal!” Sonic saluted, “Talk to ya later!”
“Thank you, Tikal!” Amy waved.
“You’re very welcome! Safe travels, and good luck!” she waved back, while Mar rested on top of her head.
**********
The gang was soon in the air. Sonic and Knuckles rode on the wings of the Tornado, with Tails in the cockpit and Amy sitting behind him. Rouge wasn’t far behind, carrying Shadow and Omega under her.
The others were worried if she could really carry them very far, but both the bot and hedgehog helped make themselves a lighter load by boosting themselves with their thrusters. That being said, Rouge could clearly be seen straining after a short while.
They kept flying west for a few hours before they reached the sea. From there, it was hard to tell where they ought to be going in the endless plain of blue water. Everyone kept their eyes peeled for any sign of land. At least, land they didn’t recognize. Knuckles got excited when he saw Westside Island, but Sonic and Tails shot him down pretty quickly.
They flew over Westside, and simply kept going. Tails was starting to worry if they’d have enough fuel for a round trip. And Rouge was ready to consider dropping her boys into the ocean, just to give her poor wings and arms a break.
Finally, though, just as Westside disappeared over the horizon line, Sonic spotted something dead ahead.
“Land ho!! Laaand ho!!” he called, pointing at a huge island peeking over the top of the ocean.
Tails perked up, leaning up and looking over the windshield to get a better look. Amy leaned over and looked around the fox, while Knuckles smirked and pounded his fist into his palm. Rouge, far behind, breathed a sigh of relief, and ordered her boys to work double time.
In no time, Tails landed on the beach, and Rouge dropped Shadow and Omega while they were still about ten feet in the air.
“Oh god, finally,” the bat sighed, “Any more and my arms would have fallen off…”
Shadow slowly pulled his head up from the sand. Grinding the grains of sand between his teeth, he stood up and dusted off his shoes.
“We could have taken a shuttle. Or even Amy’s car. But you said you could fly us here, so you can only blame yourself.”
Rouge huffed haughtily, “You should be grateful for some free transportation. Next time, I’ll just leave you two home!”
“THIS IS AN ACCEPTABLE TRADEOFF,” Omega pulled himself out of the crater he made upon landing, sand flowing out from his bits.
Rouge rolled her eyes. Sonic only snickered, then scanned the landscape ahead of them. Compared to the lush Westside Island, miles away, this place left a lot to be desired. No jungle or impressive landmarks. There were just some sparse palm trees and beachgrass on the shoreline, and a hill blocking their view into the rest of the island.
Knuckles walked up next to him, arms crossed as he observed the mile long beach.
“So…what should we call this place?”
“Huh?”
“This is a new island, right? We’ve never been here before, so we’re, like, pioneers or something. We gotta name this new place.”
“If there’s a castle here, we’re definitely not the first people to be here,” Shadow huffed as he marched by.
“Well, if it’s uncharted, then it still counts!” Knuckles argued.
“I don’t think it does, Knux,” Sonic chuckled.
“But it does mean we’re the first to rediscover it!” Rouge cut in, getting between the boys, “Which is a wonderful new footnote in my career.”
“Exactly,” Knuckles grinned, “So, I hereby name this island…uh…West Westside Island!”
Knuckles held his fist up triumphantly. It took him a moment to realize the others were eerily silent. He glanced over to them, seeing their faces turning almost as red as him as they held their breath.
Rouge put a fist to her mouth, and held Sonic’s shoulder with her other hand. Sonic himself was leaning against her, trying not to fall down. Knuckles continued to look at them funny until they both burst out laughing.
“Pffft!! HAhahahaha!!!” Rouge guffawed, “W…West- Westside Island-aaaahahahaaa!!!”
Sonic leaned harder against the bat, wheezing. Knuckles clenched his fists and grit his teeth.
“What?! What else are we supposed to call it?!! Benit-land?!?!”
Sonic and Rouge only laughed harder. Knuckles, realizing he wasn’t going to get anything out of them, fumed off. It took another moment for the hedgehog and bat to calm down, finally wiping away the tears in their eyes.
“Ahhh…Oh god…” Sonic sighed, “Oh, holy shit…I love West Westside island…”
“Hoof…I’m…I’m quite the fan of ‘Benit-land’ myself,” Rouge chortled, “It’s a rather…snrk…beautiful name, wouldn’t you say, Blue?”
Sonic laughed without making any noise, pushing against Rouge. Tails watched the giggling duo walk up the hill, having just completed one last check over the plane. Amy hopped out of her seat, briefcase in tow, and walked past the fox.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked worriedly, hurrying up beside Amy, “Shadow’s right, this is all really fishy. It might be dangerous, especially for you.”
“Don’t you worry, Tails!” Amy pat his head, “I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. We’ve got a stacked team on our side, and all seven Chaos Emeralds to boot. If worse comes to worse, I’m sure Super Sonic and Super Shadow can handle it.”
Amy presented the briefcase to him, knocking on its side. Tails stared at it for a moment, before he felt his hair being rustled again.
“You never have to fear when Amy Rose is here!” she teased.
“Alright, alright, I get it!” Tails shoed her hand away, “Just be careful.”
“I will,” she winked.
“AND IF THERE ARE ANY ENEMIES IN OUR WAY, I WILL BE SURE TO EVICERATE THEM FOR YOU WEAK FLESHBAGS.”
Tails and Amy turned and gawked slightly at Omega. He stared back, seemingly a little confused at their reactions.
“…Uhh…yeah…thanks, Omega,” Tails thumbsed up.
With that, they wordlessly followed, and caught up with the rest of the group inland. The wider grasslands were unsurprisingly not nearly as pleasant a sight as the beach. It was a vast field of nothingness, as far as the eye could see. Dead patches of grass were more common than live ones. Sporadic trees stood in a few sparse places, but most of them were leafless and dead.
Rouge stared off at Shadow, who was far ahead of them, and had stopped on the crest of another hill. She could tell he was looking down on whatever lay on the other side.
Sure enough, when everyone caught up with him, they found a village sitting in the valley. Everyone marveled at it for some time, eyeing up all the buildings sitting below.
“Looks like we’re on the right track,” Sonic grinned.
“I don’t see a castle, though…” Knuckles observed.
“This is still something,” Shadow said, “Let’s investigate.”
“Yeah! Come on, everybody! It’s ‘splorin time!” Sonic cheered.
He sped down the hill, and into the village itself. Tails and Amy laughed, quickly following him down. Knuckles nudged Rouge in the side, bringing her attention to him.
“First one to find some treasure in this old place is the best treasure hunter?”
The bat smirked cockily, “Oh, you’re on, handsome.”
The two of them jumped off the hill and glided smoothly into the village. Shadow watched them go, shaking his head lightly. He motioned Omega to follow him, and the pair cautiously walked down the hill.
They quickly found Amy, who was staring at one of the bigger buildings standing at the edge of town. Shadow stopped next to her, taking in the structure. It was made of stone bricks, with some wood sticking out as the framework. Dried up vines hung from between the blocks, with dead bushes and weeds having attempted to grow out from under the foundations.
Amy and Shadow looked up through the top windows. They could see the blue sky underneath, meaning the roof must have caved in. Unsurprising, given the front door was blocked off from rubble. Amy sadly walked away, with Shadow following her.
They looked between each house and building they passed by. All of them looked roughly the same. Cracked stone, weeds growing out everywhere. Some were lucky enough to still have their wooden roofs, but the wood was all rotten. Stands with cloth tarps collapsed in on themselves, the cloth torn and hiding whatever was once being sold.
They split off at an intersection, Amy taking a right down the dry, slightly overgrown dirt streets. She soon found Tails, inspecting the remains of a wooden cart sitting on the side of the road. One of the wheels had split off, making it sit at an odd angle. He glanced up at her as she stepped alongside.
“…Whoever once lived here sure left in a hurry…” he sighed.
Amy frowned. She turned and looked at the houses sitting behind them. Or, what was left of them. They were all completely demolished, with one only having the front wall still standing.
“Do you think there was a battle here?” she asked.
Tails glanced up at her, then at the ruins she was staring at.
“I doubt it,” came a voice.
Rouge and Knuckles appeared out from around the corner, solemnly walking up to the pair.
“This place has been completely cleaned out,” the bat shrugged, “Not even a coin leftEveryone must have packed their bags and moved elsewhere. Must not have been a popular place to live.”
“Explains why no one talks about it either,” Knuckles crossed his arms, “This place is ancient.”
“Ancient?” Amy questioned.
“Well, no, not ancient ancient. But…really, really old. It’s no wonder no one knows about it if everyone who lived here got lost centuries ago.”
Rouge nodded, “Reminds me of medieval architecture. But my guess is this place is even older.”
Amy nodded. Tails stood up, and scanned the surroundings.
“We still haven’t found a castle in all this,” he said, “I’ll fly up and see if I can spot anything in the air.”
Rouge nodded, “Alright. But where’s Blue? Couldn’t he zip around the island in a nanosecond and tell us if he found anything?”
Tails made a face, and rubbed his arm.
“He’s been really…quiet since we got into the town itself. I think all the dead plantlife and ruins are getting to him.”
Rouge and Knuckles gave each other slightly concerned looks. Amy put a hand to her chest, but nodded sadly, and looked around the area.
“Where’d he run off to? Maybe I can cheer him up.”
“He went off to check out that mountain,” Tails pointed to the cliff face to the west, “He said he saw something at the base of it.”
Amy nodded thankfully, and hurried off towards it. After a few blocks, she made it to a tiny sliver of open countryside between the town and the mountain. A few steps, Amy passed by rusted through minecarts, half buried in the ground. Old rails sat to her left, with more worn carts standing atop.
Sonic could be seen, plain as day, standing in front of a boarded up mineshaft. Amy nervously walked up beside him, and put a hand on his shoulder. He calmly turned to face her, then went back to looking at the mine.
“I guess this is how they got all that rock to build their houses,” he shrugged.
Amy didn’t look at the mineshaft, only gently squeezing Sonic’s shoulder.
“Sonic? Are you alright? You’ve been…a little out of all of a sudden.”
Sonic didn’t reply for a second. He looked down at the dirt ground below, then up at the towering mountain.
“I dunno…I feel fine, it’s just…”
He glanced back at the village.
“Those old ruins…something felt…kinda nostalgic about them. Like I’ve seen a place kinda like this before…Definitely not this worn down, but…y’know…”
“Well…you’ve run through a lot of places before. It’s kinda your thing. You’ve probably run through a village like this.”
Sonic shook his head, “No, not like this one. The closest place I can think of that resembles this place is Spagonia, but, like, the city’s way nicer than this…”
They both turned and stared at the eerily empty village. A soft wind blew from the east, making their quills sway as the breeze whistled against the mountain.
“Ah well, it’s probably nothing,” Sonic waved off, “I’m honestly more curious about this mine than anything. Think there’s a chance the gem we’re looking for is in here?”
Amy stared at the boarded up entrance. A ‘no entry’ sign hung on the old planks by one nail.
“I dunno. The letter did specify a castle.”
“Could be a cool, underground castle,” Sonic smirked, leaning against Amy, “Like a dungeon.”
“Pthththt,” Amy spat, pushing his head away, “We’ll explore that possibility when we don’t find a regular, above ground dungeon, mister adventure!”
They laughed together until they heard a familiar whirring sound. Turning just in time, they saw Tails fly in from above.
“Guys! Come quick! There’s another village around the side of the mountain!” he pointed.
Sonic and Amy looked at each other. With a smirk, Sonic held out both of his arms in front of him, as if he was about to smugly catch someone. Amy realized what he was proposing instantly, and jumped into his arms with a gleeful smile.
“Let’s go!” he shouted as he peeled out.
Tails watched them zoom off, then followed in the air. The edge of the first village ended about half a mile before the mountain. Sonic drifted around the rocky formation, and sure enough, about a mile away were the ruins of another town.
Sonic stopped at the edge of town, finding Knuckles and Shadow were already there, and let Amy back down onto her feet. Scanning their surroundings, they saw that this village was in a much worse state than the first.
There were hardly any structures still standing. The stone houses were nothing but piles of rock, like the spoils from the mine they just left. Except they were blackened, like charcoal.
Amy turned worriedly to Sonic, who had regained a grim expression. Tails landed behind them, and walked down the dirt path further into town. Shadow followed him, leaving the others to stare at the destroyed building.
“Sheesh…” Sonic hissed, “Not the kind of neighborhood I’d wanna grow up in. I’m starting to get why everyone dipped now.”
Knuckles stepped up to some wooden framework, in the mere outline of a house. The wood was blackened, on top of being rotten.
“A fire’s certainly enough to get people to move out…but that doesn’t explain the first village.”
“Yeah, that one was just old,” Sonic put his arms behind his head, “This is old, and overcooked.”
Knuckles put a hand to the wooden frame. It collapsed almost immediately with a loud, harsh crunch. Dust and splinters flew up everywhere. The echidna stepped back, then whipped his head towards Sonic and Amy. Everyone’s eyes were bulging, but Knuckles was the only one who started blushing.
Down the street, after glancing back to see what the noise was, Tails and Shadow reached an intersection. More ruins as far as the eye could see lay to the right, with the first real forest they’d seen on the island far off in the distance.
While Tails stared off into the village, Shadow eyed the church on the street corner to his left. It was the only building still left standing, despite the gaping hole where one of its walls should have been. The belltower stood high and proud over the remains of the town. From where Shadow was standing, the spire seemed almost as tall as the mountains.
He trudged forwards, keeping his eyes glued onto the church. That was until he spotted something behind it. Something glimmering in the afternoon sun. He hurried around the building and leaned over to get a better look. His brow furrowed.
“Bingo,” he muttered.
Tails’ ear flicked, and he turned to see Shadow glaring at something behind the church. He walked up beside him, then gasped.
“Guys!!!” he shouted down the road, “Come over here, quick!!! We found it!!!”
The call echoed all around the island. Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles instantly saw Tails waving at the end of the block, and scampered up next to him. Rouge and Omega were not far behind, and everyone stood in the intersection for a moment, just staring.
A castle stood on the hillside behind the mountain. It was all white, with what looked like golden lining around the edges of all the walls. Four towers stood at each of the corners of the structure, though the front one on the far side was partly collapsed. The structure itself had three square layers to it. It was rather small for a castle, but still imposing as it overlooked the village.
The heroes stared at it for what felt like an eternity. After a moment, Amy put on a brave face, and tightened her grip around the briefcase.
“Let’s go.”
Everyone bolted out of the town, and across the prairie until they reached the castle’s outer guarding wall. While the main structure looked impeccable, time had clearly not been as kind to the wall. The once white brick was weathered, looking more like the stone blocks used to make the towns. The golden lining had rusted away, leaving nothing but brown and black marks. Vines and moss grew from between the bricks, making themselves right at home.
On top of all of that, it was doing a poor job of being a guarding wall. The gate was up, sure, but everyone just walked over the collapsed remains of the section right next to it. The inner courtyard was nothing special either. Just a blank hill with an overgrown path in the middle, leading up to the castle.
Everyone marched until they reached a moat. At least, what should have been a moat. It was all dried up, so it was more like an empty ditch. Knuckles stared at the pulled up drawbridge blocking their way. Its wood was rotten too, only being held together by the golden shackles hooked to chains.
“Shoot!” Sonic hissed, “Anyone got a key?”
Knuckles squinted. It looked a little crooked.
“I could fly up and see if I can get the winch working,” Tails pointed, “Though it’ll take a lot of oil. And…I didn’t exactly bring any.”
Knuckled glanced to the left, and saw the chains on that side handing down in two split sections.
“I WILL CREATE A SUFFICIENT ENTRYWAY!” Omega announced, loading up a rocket.
“No, you idiot!” Rouge blurted, “We’re not sending this beautiful golden castle sky high just for an opening!”
Knuckles looked to the right. The chains were still holding.
“Look, if the front door’s a bust, we can find another way in,” Amy proposed, “I’m sure Tails and Rouge could fly us up to the roof so we can…”
She trailed off, noticing Knuckles getting low. The echidna pounced up, and dug his spiked knuckles into the bridge. He climbed up to the top right, and with a grunt, snapped the chain with a chop.
The bridge came down with a mighty groan. Knuckles jumped off before it hit the ground, and kicked up dust everywhere. He wiped his hands, then looked back at the others.
“Unlocked.”
With that, he walked inside. Sonic chuckled after a second, and shook his head as he and Tails followed. Amy walked in after them, but Shadow stopped Rouge and Omega from going in.
“I want you two to stay out here,” he ordered, “Keep watch for anyone or anything that comes to spy on us while we’re here.”
“Ah! Shadow, you can’t do this to me!” Rouge spluttered, “This is a castle lined with gold! There’s bound to be treasure inside!”
“You can help yourself to whatever you find after we’ve ensured nothing nefarious is going on here. Understand?”
Rouge scoffed, and pouted, but relented.
“Fine! But if that knucklehead walks away from this with more loot than me, I’m gonna pound you!”
Shadow rolled his eyes, then glanced at Omega.
“If you see any Eggman robots, you know what to do.”
“AFFIRMATIVE. I LOOK FORWARD FOR A POINT OF INTEREST IN THIS DULL MISSION.”
Shadow nodded, then turned and walked over the drawbridge.
Inside, Tails pulled the Miles Electric out of one of his tails, and turned on the high beam flashlight. There were no windows in the boxed in foyer, so the only natural light source came through the front door.
Shadow heard glass crinkling along the floor, and noticed reason number two as to why this room was so poorly lit. A chandelier sat shattered in the middle of the room, littering glass all over the stone floor and red carpet running through. Sonic was sliding some shards along the ground with his shoe, while Amy kneeled down to get a closer look at the bent up golden frame.
Shadow’s footsteps echoed all around the chamber. Like the clicking of a ghosts’ high heels bouncing off the walls. He glanced over at Knuckles. The echidna was gently caressing his hand down one of the six pillars adorning the room. Given they were the only point of interest, let alone the only things in the room beyond the chandelier, Shadow only nodded when he looked back at him. Knuckles nodded too, and watched Shadow step further into the room.
“Listen up!” the ultimate lifeform barked.
Everyone turned to face him. He beckoned them to come closer, and the five heroes made a pseudo huddle in front of the chandelier.
“I want us all to stay together. No splitting up, and absolutely no wandering off. Exploration can happen after we’ve done what we came here to do.”
Amy, Knuckles, and Tails all nodded. Sonic, of course, scoffed.
“Pfft. Who quit and put you in charge, Shads?”
Shadow squinted his eyes at Sonic.
“Don’t start with him, Sonic!” Amy jabbed a finger in his face, “Shadow is just making sure we’re all on the same page, and that we’re all taking this seriously!”
“I’m not trying to butt heads,” Sonic held up his hands, “Just tryna keep this adventure from being too…rigid, y’know? An alternate path never killed a hedgehog.”
“Sonic, you’re outvoted four to one!” Tails huffed, “Stick with us, or you can stay outside with Omega!”
“Oooooo~!” Rouge cooed in the distance.
“Alright, alright, fine,” Sonic snickered, “What’s the plan beyond that?”
“The letter said the gem was ‘atop’ the castle, right?” Knuckles said, “So I say that means we go up.”
“Good idea. Just one problem, Knux.”
Sonic jerked his thumb backwards. No one saw anything until Tails shone his light to reveal a stairway at the back of the room. It was in a ‘T’ shape, or at least it would be if the first set of stairs wasn’t, just, gone.
“Stairs are out of order. I’m sure there’s more, but we don’t exactly got a map. Or a tour guide.”
“The watchtowers at each of the corners have to have stairs!” Tails proposed, “And the one to the left of the entrance looked okay from the outside.”
“Good enough for me,” Knuckles cracked his knuckles, “Let’s move.”
“Sure, but, what if it isn’t good enough for the rest of us?” Sonic asked, “As in, it looks better on the outside than it does the inside?”
“Will you stop being a negative nancy?!” Amy lightly smacked his shoulder.
“What?? It’s a legit question! This place isn’t exactly up to code, so we may need some contingency plans.”
“Eh, worse comes to worse Amy whips out her hammer and we break through a few ceilings,” Knuckles shrugged, walking to the wooden door in the leftmost corner, “We’ll explore that option when we know the stairs are bust.”
He held out his hand, and gently placed it on the door to push it open. There was a tiny crack, and then a groan as the door fell off its hinges and slammed onto the floor. Knuckles flinched back, and after a moment slowly turned to face the others. They all stared, wide eyed, at the door-turned-doormat.
“Speaking of bust…” Amy giggled.
Tails covered his mouth so he didn’t laugh.
“Geez, Knux! Show some respect to these old ruins, would ya?”
“I didn’t mean to do that!!! Everything here’s rotten or rusted!!! It just-! I didn’t-! YOU-!!”
Shadow pushed him aside, and marched through the doorway. Knuckles spluttered for a few more seconds, before haughtily growling at his giggling friends walking past him and following Shadow. They all walked down a long, blank, thin hallway crammed between the outer wall and the rooms within. They passed a few sparse doorways, but didn’t bother with them.
Luckily, the spiral staircase up the interior of the tower was completely intact. Better still, the tower had windows looking out into the valley. Plenty of light to tell if the steps beneath your feet were really there.
The top of the stairwell led straight to a doorway back outside. It took everyone a second to readjust to the light. With the shimmering gold and all white bricks, it made the sun all the brighter. Like it was reflecting off of snow and freshly cleaned cars.
Once their eyes readjusted, everyone saw that they were on top of the first tier of the castle. Another doorway, held wide open by a set of double doors, could be seen ahead. Inviting them into the second tier, like a beckoning hand.
They all immediately made a b-line for it, but on the way Amy looked out towards the island. From this height, she could see the sea. More than that, though, she could see another village to the north, sitting directly on the beach. A primitive lighthouse, tilting to one side, sat on the shore next to a series of docks. Amy could tell that at least one had collapsed in the middle, and was being battered by the ocean.
Tails, on the other hand, looked up at the remaining two layers of the castle. Each one smaller than the last, like a cake, yet still just as towering and imposing as each other. Something glimmered at the top of the third and final tier. Tails couldn’t quite make it out, but it glistened just like the gold bans lining the rest of the structure.
Shadow pulled the double doors fully open, and stepped inside the room within. As the others filed in after him, all glanced around the hall in both awe and fright. It was another room like the foyer, with pillars holding up the low ceiling, and little light coming in from the doorway and front facing windows. But it was far less empty.
Picture frames and paintings lined the walls, but they depicted nothing. If they weren’t empty, they were torn beyond recognition, or even burnt. Several were tipped over, lying face down on the floor, or haphazardly left leaning against the walls. Between the pillars in the middle of the room, stout square bases stood, also broken and lifeless. Sonic deduced they must have been for statues, as one still had the bottoms of feet stuck to it.
“Hoof…” he sighed, “This place sure could use a face lift. Someone call the redecorator.”
His quip didn’t ease any tensions. Everyone continued down the red carpeted path in the center of the room, silently. The door to the next room had kindly already fallen off its hinges, and revealed the space inside to be a conference room of some sort. A huge round table stood in the center, though completely lopsided, with chairs in varying states of decay around it. Bookcases and cupboards sat in each of the corners, but were completely barren. Doors to adjacent rooms sat in all directions.
“This way,” Shadow nodded, walking around the table and through the doorway at the back of the room.
The next room was another hall much like the first, full of disheveled paintings and ruined statues. However, Shadow instantly clocked tiny cutouts at the back of the room, as opposed to regular corners. Upon inspection, it was another stairway. On the left were stairs that went down, but the right ones went up.
Shadow hastily beckoned the others towards him. Sonic rolled his eyes, but followed the others who complied without any sass. The narrow stairway went up sharply over a short distance, then flattened out as the group walked down a raised balcony over an adjacent room. Sonic looked down over the wooden railing, seeing nothing but a dusty table sitting in the center, and a bar pressed against the wall.
The stairwell became cramped again, with everyone having to move up the staircase single file so that they didn’t get stuck. The stairs made a full one-eighty with a landing in the middle. Once at the top, Shadow stopped everyone. After a moment, he waved his hand towards himself, and got the gang moving again. Sonic scoffed silently to himself.
The hallway greeting them was slightly less narrow than the stairwell. Not by much, but enough so that Sonic could squeeze past all his buddies and walk up behind Shadow.
“Welp, we’ve made it all the way up without finding even the tiniest sign of life. I think it’s safe to say we can drop this stealthy act, eh Shads?”
“No.”
“Ugh! Come on man!” Sonic whined, “This place is clearly deserted. We’ve got a big evil rock to find, and at this pace we’ll be lucky to stop it before it…does whatever the heck it’s gonna do.”
“We’re in uncharted lands, in an evil entity's lair. Unlike a nimrod like you, I exercise caution in these sorts of situations.”
“You’re sucking all the fun out of exploring a huge castle! You know how impressive of a feat that is? Making that boring?”
“Don’t start with me,” Shadow waved off.
Tails, Knuckles, and Amy all gave each other knowing looks. Sonic grinned and swiped his thumb across his nose. Shadow paused at a doorway, carefully peeking his head around. Sonic sped around him, and cockily started walking backwards into the room.
“I get that this place is a little gloomy lookin’, but you could lighten up a little, y’know? Or did you only agree to come with us to rain on my parade?”
Shadow grit his teeth slightly, “Are you a child? This isn’t a vacation, and this isn’t about you.”
“Well then why did you agree to tag along? With your whole squad too? We usually only bump into each other by chance.”
“Jewel called Rouge specifically. She came straight to us, knowing we’d be professional enough to handle a situation as delicate as this.”
“Ohhh! So you’re here because Rouge dragged you out to impress her girl. I getcha, I getcha.”
Shadow glared coldly. Behind him, he could hear Knuckles snickering.
“Hey, don’t give me that look, Shad,” Sonic shrugged, “You couldn’t help it. Trust me, and I mean this genuinely, I know that what Rouge says is law. You don’t go against the bat que- WOAH!!”
Sonic tripped over something and fell backwards. He grunted, and rubbed the back of his head as he leaned back up. Begrudgingly, he looked back up at Shadow, knowing his expression would be a coin toss between total smugness or utter contempt.
Instead, Shadow was looking slightly to the side, horrified. The others held similar expressions, with Amy covering her mouth, and Knuckles looking easily the least put off. Sonic slowly followed their gaze. He shrieked, and rapidly scooted himself backwards.
A suit of armor sat slumped against the wall. Rust had eaten away at its once grand shape, leaving nothing but jagged holes. Inside, a human skeleton could be seen, mouldering. Sonic had tripped over his outstretched leg.
No one said a word for almost a minute. The only sound to be heard was Sonic swallowing a lump in his throat. Finally, he got to his feet, still staring at the skeleton. Shadow finally glanced at him. His expression didn’t change, nor did it need to. Sonic only nodded, then turned and walked away.
Shadow followed him, carefully stepping over the corpse. Tails and Knuckles walked around it, keeping their distance. Amy kneeled in front of it, and looked sadly into its cold, hollow eye sockets. She glanced down, and noticed a sizable hole in its ribs. Not one that was a result of time, no. It looked like it had been stabbed.
Amy gave the skeleton one last sad look, before she stood up and left him behind.
Sonic pushed open the large pair of double doors at the end of the room. They creaked loudly, making a sound like a foghorn. Amy winced. It sounded like they were in pain. On the other side was what looked like a throne room. At least, that's what everyone gathered from the charred remains of a big seat sitting in the corner.
More empty and torn paintings lined the walls. As Tails slowly moved his eyes over them, scanning each one, he noticed a circular hand crank stuck on the far wall. He approached it, seeing rusty chains coming out of small holes in the floor and ceiling. He silently pointed at it, looking back at Shadow. The hedgehog glanced up, and saw part of the ceiling cut out in a square. He nodded to the fox.
Tails tried to turn the handle, but it would hardly budge. It made an awful sound, like creaking metal fighting against years of rust. Knuckles pushed him aside, and gave it a go. After a shuddering *CRACK*, the thing turned easily. Everyone watched, as the chains moved up and down, and part of the ceiling was lowered to the floor. Sunlight shone down through the hole, finally bringing light into the room.
It was a tight squeeze, but everyone managed to get on the platform at once. Another crank stood on a pedestal. The elements had not been kind to it. Knuckles tried it, but found it impossible to move. He grunted, and put both hands on it to try and get it to turn.
*SNAP*
It broke off. Everyone stared at the item in Knuckles’ palm for a solid thirty seconds. Sonic looked up through the opening, and jumped through it. The others stared up after him.
“Yo! Guys! Up here! It’s up here!”
They all gasped. Shadow kicked off the wall and shot through the ceiling. Knuckles and Tails jumped up after him. Amy made sure the briefcase was shut tight, then jumped up after the boys.
The rooftop was wide, expansive, and mostly empty. Half of it was caged in by a tall golden fence, extending higher than the top of the mountains.
In the center of this golden gate was a pedestal. Lined with gold like the rest of the castle, but with ornate lining and patterns along the sides. And on this pedestal, where the lining extended down from like veins, was a floating, pink stone.
It was shaped like a heart, with sharp angles and no rounded edges. Its left side was split, forming an alarmingly large crack that slithered down to its center. A faint aura surrounded the rock, pulsing and fading in and out of sight.
Amy gulped.
“Yeah…that looks about right…” Knuckles frowned.
“Sure does…” Tails muttered, “What now?”
Sonic glanced at Amy. He offered a hand to her, which she accepted. They walked in tandem, with the others following close behind. They stopped a few yards from the pedestal.
Amy kneeled down, and set the briefcase in front of her. After flicking open the locks, she opened the lid and carefully pulled out the Emeralds. Sonic helped by grabbing a few when her hands got full, and dumping them in her arms.
She glanced nervously at Sonic one last time. He gave her a confident smirk, then a wink. She smiled, then put on a brave face herself, and stepped closer to the Benitoite. She was cautious, and methodical with her slow steps. Soon, she was about six feet from the gem. Nothing was happening.
She looked back at the others, “How do I do this?”
The boys looked between each other. Knuckles rubbed his neck while Tails tapped his chin.
“Maybe just, uh…hold out the Emeralds?” Sonic suggested, “They probably know what to do…somehow.”
Amy turned forwards, and did exactly that. She held out her arms, and just sorta stood there dumbly for a second.
The Beautiful Benitoite shuddered, and a few pink bolts of energy zapped between its jagged crack. The Chaos Emeralds slowly floated out of Amy’s hands. They started spinning around, first around the Benitoite, and then around both Amy and the Benitoite. They spread out more and more the further they went from the two. Amy looked back at the boys again, worriedly.
“What do I do now?!”
“Uhh…I dunno! Uh, try sending good vibes their way, or something!” Sonic shouted, “Just, uh…try and be a pure soul!”
Shadow gave him a strange look. Sonic just shrugged, making a face himself.
Amy nodded firmly, though, and turned forwards. She gave the heart shaped stone a hard look, before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.
She thought back to when she first used the power of the Sol Emeralds, and became Ashes Amy. Her hands lifted upwards, like she was the conductor of an orchestra.
The Emeralds around her started to spin faster.
She lowered her arms down softly, like she was getting ready to bow. Then, she clasped her hands together, and held them to her mouth like she was praying.
Waves of color began to trail the Emeralds, as they went even faster.
Amy began muttering under her breath. No one could hear what she was saying, but it seemed like it was working. Sonic and Knuckles smiled broadly, watching the Emeralds spin so fast they became nothing but streaks of colored light around Amy. Tails was bouncing up and down in excitement, and Shadow, despite his crossed arms, held a proud smirk.
The Beautiful Benitoite shook more and more. More pink lightning bolts struck within its gaping hole. The Emeralds spun at mach speeds! The Benitoite shuddered violently! The lightning bolts started to strike out from the shell! Faster and faster the Emeralds moved, worse and worse the Benitoite shook! It all built up until-
*POW*
A lightning bolt thicker than the rest shot out from the Benitoite, and struck Amy square in the chest! Before she, or anyone could even react, a blinding pink light emerged from the pedestal. The boys shielded their eyes, and the color of the Emeralds was lost in the sudden sea of pink.
When the light finally died down, Sonic and the others opened their eyes. Jaws dropped, and all looked on in shock.
Amy stood there. But she was different. Very, very different.
She stretched over twice as tall as before. Her pink fur was much paler, despite her red dress staying just as bright and her skin remaining the same. The quills on her head hung down much lower, and the hair on her forehead stuck up much higher.
But those were hardly even noticeable compared to the rest of her. Her boots now sported high heels on the back. Her headband was covered in spikes, as were her wrist gauntlets. Her skirt was thicker in the waist, like it was held up by a crinoline, and curled upwards at the hemline. A strange pink ring was clamped in the middle of her body. The spines on her back suddenly curled upwards, and she had poofy shoulders with lightning shaped cracks going down them.
The worst part was that everything, from her fur to her dress, was angular and jagged. Just like the Beautiful Benitoite. She shimmered under the sunlight, looking like a piece of jewelry on display.
After standing still for an agonizingly long time, the Amy shaped rock looked down and lifted up her hands to inspect them. Every slight motion was accompanied by an ear grating grinding, like rocks rubbing together. Amy(?) slowly balled her hands into fists, and chuckled hoarsely to herself.
Sonic looked between the others. Shadow and Tails glanced back nervously, while Knuckles’ horrified eyes were glued to the back of the crystal hedgehog’s head. Sonic cleared his throat, and took a shaky step forward.
“A…Ames?”
“Amy” lifted her head back up, still facing away from the others. She lowered her arms, and slowly began turning. Her feet made mighty clomps as she stepped around.
Tails covered his mouth. Knuckles’ jaw dropped further. Sonic nearly fell backwards again. Shadow’s ears tilted down.
Turning to the side, the beast resembling their friend revealed her diamond shaped nose, wide smile with a set of razor sharp teeth, and beady red eyes with pulsing red rings surrounding the pupils.