Wretched Blessing

Chapter 10

Tails' Point of View

        "Are you ready? Jump!"

        Wind rushed into the plane as the door was wrenched open, Shadow and Blaze leaping out with spread arms and eyes focused intensely on the ground.

        "Close the door!" I yelled at Eggman, who hastily forced shut the portal door he had been standing behind just for this purpose. The man groaned under the weight of the blowing wind, bringing the door to a close with great difficulty for the second time today.

        We flew over the desert, only half a mile away from the city of Shamar. Shadow and Blaze were chosen to pursue the Chaos Emerald that landed there because they could withstand the heat better than anyone. Honestly, I thought the desert heat was a pleasant change from the frigid cold of Holoska. If I were to stay here for very long, however, I knew my mind would change when sweat soaked my fur and left me smelly, parched, and humiliated.

        With Amy and Silver searching for a Chaos Emerald in Chun-nan, after being dropped off over an hour ago, and Shadow and Blaze looking for theirs, only me, Knuckles, and Dr. Eggman were left in the Tornado III. The red echidna insisted on flying to Angel Island to see if it still floated high above the ocean, with the Master Emerald safe and protected from thieves. He had been gone for too long. 

        I turned my head and regarded Knuckles with sympathy, seeing him stare out the window with a concerned expression in his purple gaze. Hopefully, nothing bad had happened to Angel Island or the Master Emerald—both were supposed to be under his protection, after all, and leaving them behind to stop any plans of world domination had to have been stressful.

        "We're headed to Angel Island now, Knuckles. It should take about two hours," I said to the daydreaming echidna. He turned his head only slightly to show he had heard. "Once the others contact us after finding their emeralds, we'll come back and pick them up. After that, it's more searching."

        Before I had sent everyone on their search, I had given them new wrist communicators to contact me and each other with. When Amy, Silver, Shadow, and Blaze found their emeralds, they were to gather at one spot between their two locations of Chun-nan and Shamar. When I came to retrieve them, we'd then fly over to the Mystic Ruins where another Chaos signal had been captured. The remaining emerald lied even further away. 

        Around two hours later, after flying over land and the Atlantic Ocean at speeds faster than the average commercial plane, Angel Island came into view. It floated mysteriously and majestically, with its waterfalls dropping down and scattering into mist among the clouds that surrounded the island. The Master Emerald evidently had not been taken off with.

        Telling my passengers to buckle up, I landed the plane in a clearing of overgrown grass in front of the temple. "We're here," I said, getting out of the pilot seat and exiting the plane with the others. As I stepped outside, a wave of warmth and familiar scents tumbled over me. I inhaled deeply, relishing the jungle atmosphere. I wondered how Knuckles felt.

        Looking over at the red echidna, his eyes were closed as he took in the sounds of bugs and birds chirping, appearing to be at peace. When his eyes opened again, he stared at me with a sorrowful expression saying he wished he never had left. "You and Eggman stick around the temple, I'll check on the Master Emerald. I have it hidden somewhere safe," said Knuckles. He turned on his heel and strode into the dense forest.

        I peered up at the temple with curiosity, finding it strange to see the large, green, Master Emerald absent from its stand. Briefly, I wondered where Knuckles could have hidden it. If I powered up the Tornado III, I might be able to locate it on my energy scanner, but that would be intruding on the echidna's privacy. It was best the Master Emerald's location stayed a secret.