War for Mobius
Chapter 21

Lightning flashes brightly, illuminating the skies above briefly before it fades dark again.  The wind and the rain beat down among the plant life as small creatures scurry about for shelter.  Waves crash against the shoreline, washing away anything not quick enough to escape their grasp.  
Knuckles the Echidna watches the storm assault his beloved island.  Angel Island has faced many storms as it traveled through the skies above Mobius.  The plants and animals have become used to the sudden changes of weather, climate, and location.
And yet without the Master Emerald, life one the island, now floating amongst the waves, seemed to be decaying.
The guardian lets the cold rain trickle down his long red dreadlocks and his face.  It is only a minor annoyance before what is to come…

Rain and wind batter futilely against the giant flying battle station as it flies through the air.
It does nothing to faze the crew inside.
Doctor Robotnik stands at the bridge.  Countless robots work tirelessly around him.  He had originally planned to crew the giant super weapon with Robians or Organics, but ultimately decided against it.  Organics couldn’t be trusted, and while Robians were ideal for labor, they weren’t the best suited for tasks such as piloting such a weapon as the Death Egg.
The flying fortress had been code named the “Death Egg,” named after a childhood nickname Robotnik had been given long ago.
Nobody would be laughing at him this time…
The overlander grins widely as he contemplates the looks upon the overlander nations as he, “Eggman” blast them off the face of Mobius, one country at a time.
Not all of course, there had to be someone left to rule when all was said and done.  And mobians are only entertaining for so long…
A flash of white fills the view screen as lightning strikes the Death Egg.  The machine shudders briefly but continues flying onward as if nothing happened.
But something did happen…
Robotnik scratches his chin.  The shudder shouldn’t have happened at all.  The shields around the craft should have deflected the lightning easily.  He presses a button on his control console, “Status Report.”
“Yes Doctor,” a small orb shaped robot pops up from the console, “All systems remain fully operational with no structural damage.  Shields are still functioning at ninety-seven percent.”
“Excellent continue….Ninety-seven percent!?” the overlander slams his hands on the console, “The lightning did three whole percent of damage to my shields?!”
“Yes sir,” the orb-bot continues, unfazed by his master’s outburst, “Other than that everything is functioning at ninety-nine percent.”
“And where did the percentage go!?” demands Robotnik.
“To recharging the shields of course.  Once the shields return to one-hundred percent functionality and power, the other systems should return to normal,” the robot explains.
“The shields should have much more power than that,” the dictator bellows, “We shouldn’t be effected by the weather at all!”
“Unfortunately, while the Master Emerald has the potential to provide unlimited power to the death egg, we can only tap into and utilize a small percentage of it.”
Robotnik sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers, “That’s what the Chaos Emeralds are for.  Just utilize the energy from them in the meantime.”
“Impossible sir.”
“You did say everything was functioning at one-hundred percent did you not?” Robotnik resists the urge to tear the robot from the console and smash it against the wall.
“Correction: everything is function at ninety-nine percentage,” the orb-bot replies.
“Then prey tell why it is impossible to make up the difference with the Chaos Emeralds!?” Robotnik roars, “It’s the whole reason we brought them with us!”
“They are not aboard the Death Egg,” the robot corrects.
There is a brief pause from the doctor before he can muster a reply.
“WHERE ON MOBIUS ARE MY CHAOS EMERALDS!?”

“Sir we’ve detected a large craft leaving the Eggman Empire!” the G.U.N. soldier at the computer calls out to his superior officer.
Commander Abraham Tower casually strolls over to the young operator, “What kind of craft?”
“Unknown sir,” the younger man replies, “But it is massive and moving rapidly.”
Tower watches the blip moving slowly across the screen, “Do we have any visuals on this thing?”
“No sir.”
“Do we have any operatives in close proximity?” the commander asks, turning to another operator.
“Commander Brass and Paladin Team Sigma Alpha 2 are in relatively close proximity,” she replies quickly printing out the report, “Captain Kalzier’s Spider Troop is also rather close.”
“The craft is going to pass over a small island,” Tower replies, looking over the report, “Have Spider Troop set up a base of operations.  We’ll have Paladin Team board and take the craft from there.”
“Sir,” the male operator interjects, “The Island is in Mobian Territory.  What if they run into any Mobian interference?”
The Commander considers this, “If the Mobians are hostile…”
“Take them out.”

“General,” a mobian beaver rushes over to his commander, “We’ve received an emergency transmission picked up by one of our scout teams.”
“What is it?” the General, a skunk ask.  He is much younger than the title suggests.
“It is a call for help to Knothole from one of their operatives,” the beaver explains, handing a hard copy of the message over, “We barely picked it up a few hours ago.”
“I see…” the skunk replies looking the message over, “Rather interesting.”
“Should we inform his highness?”
“No,” the General folds the note and pockets it, “I’ll have my team personally check this out.  Until we have confirmation that this is really from a Knothole Operative we tell no one.  Is that clear?”
“Yes General St. John,” the beaver salutes.
“Good, now let’s find out what’s going on at this island…”

Lightning once again illuminates the sky before Knuckles.  A tingling feeling in the back of his skull grows.
The Master Emerald was moving…it was returning to the Island.
The Echidna closes his eyes and reaches out with his mind.  
“Robotnik is coming back…”
His eyes fly open once more.
Turning his back to the sea the Guardian makes his way back the temple where he had last seen the Princess and the Hedgehog.
Normally he would have been excited for the opportunity to retrieve the emerald from Robotnik, but something inside his mind was screaming of incoming danger.  
Robotnik was coming back…
…to finish the job.  He was going to destroy Angel Island!