Sage awoke to a sunny sky. As her eyes fluttered open, she realized she had been out cold the whole night. In fact, it would appear she slept into a decent percentage of the morning too. Usually this wouldn't be a problem. Except for one thing. Where was Sonic?
"Father!"
Sage looked to the lake. She knew Sonic couldn't be there. He couldn't swim, and he hated water.
Sage checked the tops of the oasis palm trees. He loved these, they reminded him of his home. Sage had even overheard him sleep-talking about styling her hair like the palm trees in Green Hill. Alas, he wasn't there. His fleet feet hadn't even left shoeprints in the sand. He wasn't in Cyberspace. He rarely entered his physical form to that dimension of his own volition.
"FAAAATHER!" Sage called, letting herself fall onto her back. Her heart began to race. She shouldn't have let him run off. Where could he be? Was he in danger? As the wind began to pick up, Sage felt her heart race faster. She only knew one being whose energy was this infectious.
"Gooooood morning, sunshine!" Sonic hollered, rushing past her and kicking up moss as he braked circles around her. Sage levitated and then landed upright. "Find a good route to Chaos Island yet?"
"Yes, I have. It should be our final stop before we sail to the mainland. The Titan there is capable of cleaving the ocean and clearing a path for us long enough to make it to Apotos. We just need to bait it," Sage smiled, ready to tackle the day she had simulated to near-optimization in her dreams. "First, there's vital information I must relay to you."
"Wuzzat?" Sonic asked. Sage smiled as she hummed, as if trying to remember. "C'mon! What's so gosh darn important?" Sonic asked, realizing he had caught a bad case of pure happiness from Sage. She then let out a burst of blue energy, rocketing into the air.
"I LOVE you, father!" Sage exclaimed, Cylooping him and pulling him into her arms with RED-CODE string. "Okay. Now it's time." Sonic held her like a princess, running out of the oasis. Blurring up the rocky cliffside and into the sky. As they began to fall, Sonic extended a foot and hit the ground. Sage's coltish screams turned to ecstatic laughter, seemingly indulging in and sharing Sonic's own adrenaline. This was all he needed. He burst forward at a brisk pace, down the bright and sunny canyon.
The two arrived at Portal Peak. "The Portal Gear that Crunk put here will tighten our bond with Cyberspace, allowing us to traverse that dimension safely. With any luck, we'll find our way to a portal on Chaos Island," Sage said. Sonic smiled, looking to the Portal and the huge snowy island visible through the eye of the structure, far removed from them in the physical world by the Starfall Sea.
"Heh, looks like he was good for something in the end," Sonic chuckled, holding his hand up to the distant Chaos. He looked to Sage as she drew something in the sand. "Hey, what's up?"
"Before we leave this place forever, I wanted to leave something behind. Proof of the adventure we had here," Sage sighed, drawing a perfect Sonic in the sand, down to the muzzle curve. Then herself, only with cooler hair. "The winds will sweep away this memento, the island will someday be consumed into the ocean. It'll all be brought to nothing." Sage smiled. "But our memory will remain. Please… remember this picture, Sonic." Sonic's newly fallen smile returned, and he nodded. He joined hands with Sage, and the two placed their free hands onto the gear. They were turned into data, integrated into Cyberspace. Knuckles was left alone, leaning on the other side of the Portal throne. He exhaled through his nose, smiling.
Sonic opened his eyes, face-down on hot gravel. He got up, and breathed in the ash. Sage followed suit as Sonic took in his surroundings. "How high up are we?" He asked, looking down into a crater that stretched eternally into a watery pit. Sonic became consumed by a feeling of sinking. His legs felt all wobbly, he didn't even trust himself to back away safely.
"What a find... This would seem to be a crater formed by the Fallen Stars' arrival on this world. It filled up with sea water shortly thereafter," Sage mumbled, looking down into the sloshing and gurgling body of boiling water. "Let's leave it be, father. I know you're afraid of that stuff." Sage grabbed Sonic's hand and pulled him in the opposite direction. "It always struck me as odd how you are scared of nothing but simple H20. Is it not just part of the natural beauty of this world that you adore otherwise?"
"Honestly, it just reminds me of being inside that Titan. I know that tank wasn't really made of water, but it sure felt like it. Also, nothing good ever came of it in my Cyber Dreams." Sonic sighed, looking up at the sky. It was blocked out by the third layer of clouds not too far above them. "Looks like a storm is on its way. Come on, let's find shelter." He looked around, seeing huge stone walls lining the edges of the island. "What's with all these barricades? This island is pretty high up, were they built so the Fallen Stars wouldn't… I dunno, fall any farther?"
"Kronos was a residential area. Ares was a military base. But as far as I can tell, this island wasn't for the Fallen Stars," Sage replied. "During the Ancient Period, this range was named the Devil's Gulag. It essentially acted as an asylum that ill Fallen Stars would be sent to after being exposed to excess amounts of the planet's Dark Energy. A metamorphosis which turned the affected into a subspecies called… The Black Arms. You may know them as their eventual evolution, the Zeti species. They also attempted to destroy this world during your lifetime. I'm not sure you remember anymore." Sage paused, visions of strange beings chained to wooden posts flashing across the landscape as thunder boomed over the Titanic Tides.
"This world's flora and fauna have grown alongside the planet's Light and Dark Energies. Most species benefited from both, but it was foreign to the Fallen Stars. So those who were unfortunate enough to be mutated by Dark Energy were treated as outcasts and prisoners whereas those subject to Light Energy were treated as social elites, even sovereigns. Four of these 'Masters' were tasked with piloting the Titans. All had one of the Ancients' Chaos Emeralds named after them." Sonic's eyes snapped open, he hadn't even realized he was dozing off. His head hurt.
"Chaos Emeralds, huh?" Sonic muttered.
…
Sonic and Sage eventually arrived at a refuge, a huge and hollow metal fortress. Sonic suddenly slumped onto the floor, clutching his arm as it convulsed with RED-CODE. "Father!" Sage cried, leaping to his side. "Oh no… your body…"
"Don't worry about it," Sonic wheezed. He took a deep breath.
"Ever since you absorbed the Enmity Medallion, the side-effects of RED-CODE have gotten worse. How could I not worry?" Sage pondered, holding Sonic's arm. "At least let me bond with you and mend your biodata, so the negative effects of RED-CODE can be suppressed."
"NO!" Sonic pulled away from Sage. His arm phased right through her hand, he began coughing in the opposite direction as his entire body flashed red and off-blue. "I need MORE of this stuff to protect you. I just need to run it off, that's all." Sonic smiled despite the strain in his voice and movements. Sage fumbled her hands, the violet glow on her fingernails fading.
"Very well… be careful, father," Sage said with a quick nod. She sat by his side as he breathed out RED-CODE dust.