Chapter Twenty
Kay got to her feet. She never tore her eyes from the gem hovering among them with a will of its own. She had definitely heard someone call to her, and by the looks of it, everyone else had, too. Some eyes turned to gaze at her while others' stayed glued to the Emerald.
"Okay, is this seriously creepy to anyone else?" Relic asked.
No one answered her question.
Kay suddenly felt a pull on her chest, urging her forward. She began walking mechanically, not entirely aware of her own body, and it only slightly surprised her to see that the gem began to move forward in unison with her movements. Those who weren't already staring at her definitely were now. As she neared the doorway of the workshop those standing closest to it stepped aside to let her through. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sonic hold out his arm to keep Knuckles from charging forward after her.
The Chaos Emerald was now out in the open air of Angel Island, and so was she. Silently Kay followed the gem's path as it led her away from the workshop and further out into the open. It wasn't long before she saw the Shrine Isle and realized that was most likely their destination.
As they moved further onward she noticed the Sky Patrol parked on the edge of the island, standing proudly in the sun. Then she took a closer look when she realized the front hatch of the ship was vibrating slightly. Unable to bring herself to stop her forward momentum, Kay kept her gaze trained on it as long as she could before she was forced to look away - but not before she saw the door slide open and the remaining six Chaos Emeralds emerge on their own, hovering in the air just like the one before her.
Behind her Sally exclaimed, "The Emeralds!"
Kay glanced over her shoulder as she walked. The others were following her, of course, with Sonic and Knuckles in the lead. While the blue hedgehog only seemed puzzled by what was happening, the echidna was clearly unhappy that the Emeralds were reacting this way to a human.
At last Kay and the Emeralds reached the Shrine Isle, but she was forced to stop while they went on ahead, as the bridge that usually connected the smaller chunk of earth to the mainland was gone. The others came to a stop a fair distance behind her, and everyone watched as the Seven Chaos Emeralds assumed their places around the shrine and finally came to a halt. For a long moment everything was still. Then, from the pit where the Master Emerald usually sat, a familiar figure materialized before them, gazing down right into Kay's eyes.
Her heart began to race as she started to realize what all of this meant. The Emeralds never behaved this way on their own; Tikal had to be controlling them.
The ancient echidnan princess held out her hand in a welcoming gesture. "Come."
At first Kay hesitated. There was no bridge. She couldn't just walk across the open air to reach the Shrine Isle. But then she remembered the scar on her hand, and what it symbolized. She did contain some Chaos Energy now, so maybe...
She took a deep breath, braced herself, and then put one foot over the edge of the island to stand on thin air. As the crowd behind her began to shout their protests, Kay let her other foot leave the mainland.
She did not fall.
The protests stopped, replaced by a stunned silence. Kay glanced back over her shoulder at them all, sharing in their surprise for just a moment before returning her attention to the spirit before her. She finished the brief walk to the Shrine Isle as quickly as possible. However cool it was to be able to walk on air, it still scared her a little.
Once at the base of the steps leading up to where the Master Emerald usually sat, Tikal again gestured for her to come closer. She was about halfway up when she sensed movement behind her and looked back to see that Knuckles had brought Sonic over to join her on the isle. They remained at the base as she journeyed the rest of the way.
Finally standing face-to-face with Tikal, Kay met the spirit's gaze and felt her heart lurch. Something big was about to happen, and she sensed it involved a massive amount of Chaos Energy.
Tikal stepped back, out of the pit, and gestured for Kay to take her place. Kay glanced down, noticing that whatever shards of the great gem Knuckles had collected were already placed there - though she doubted that he had been the one to return them so early. She wondered if he even knew they were there.
Careful not to step on the shards, Kay took her place in the center of the shrine, and that's when Tikal finally spoke again.
"Welcome back to Mobius, Emerald's Chosen," she said. "But I'm afraid your time here will be short. The time for you to defend Mobius has come and gone. Now you must defend your home world."
At last Kay remembered she had a voice, and she used it to express her confusion. "Earth?"
Tikal spread her arms out to her sides and continued, "The Master Emerald once again offers its power to you for use in times of battle. However, be warned...while your spirit may be Mobian, your body is not. Should you choose to walk this path, you will not be walking it very long."
The cold reality of her words slammed into Kay. She staggered a bit, felt her heart pound desperately. If I do this, I'm going to die, she thought. As reality sank in, she voiced the words aloud. "I'm going to die."
The echidna closed her eyes and nodded once, slowly. Then she gazed at the hedgehog with new solemnity. "The choice is yours, Kay."
Kay tore her gaze from the spirit and looked around at the world around her. The sun was beginning to set on Mobius' horizon, reminding her of all the continents that should not be floating right now. The colors overwhelmed her, the absurdity of it all trying to drown out her determination. Is this really worth it, to give my life for a world that was never kind to me, when I could stay here and fight Eggman? Why would I want to die for Earth when Mobius could easily be my second home?
Because I'm a human being, she realized suddenly. She held up her hands in front of her, took in the view that she had hated for so long. I'm a human being, and I owe it to my race to sacrifice everything if it means keeping them alive. Because if I don't do it, Mobius will never exist.
That one thought hit her hard - hard enough to make her decision obvious. In all of her adventures these past two years, the fact that Earth - the planet she hated so much - would evolve into Mobius thousands of years in the future had never crossed her mind. But it was true. Despite how she felt about her home world now, it would become her beloved Mobius years and years down the line. But not if she sat back and let it fall now.
Kay brought her gaze back to Tikal, who seemed to sense her newfound determination and held out her hand. This was it. As soon as she put her palm in the echidna's, she would be sending herself down a path that would lead to her demise - but Mobius' survival. She reached to do just that, but then...
"Kay!" Sonic's voice called up to her sharply, diverting her attention. She turned around to face him, saw the horror and fear in his eyes. "You don't have to do this."
He has no idea what is really at stake here, she thought. But as she looked at her hero, she began to wonder if maybe he did. And still he was offering her a way out.
"If I don't do this, then who will?" Kay replied gently. "I'm the Emerald's Chosen. I'm the only one who can fulfill this destiny." She knew that if their places were swapped, he would say the same thing to her, and that sealed her resolve to see this through. "This is my choice."
And with that, she turned back to Tikal and took her hand.
It was overwhelming. The power that shot through her arm was white hot and raw. Even as she commanded Chaos Control to defeat Dark Enerjak so long ago she had never felt anything like this. It didn't stop there - once it passed through her arm it spread out all over her body, making her heart race and her nerves scream. She could feel it in every vein, in her heart, in her head - it was infusing itself into every inch of her body, storing itself until just the right moment. Most of all, though, Kay could feel it behind her eyes. Her vision clouded and then went completely white for several long seconds, the burning in her eyes unbearable.
Then, finally, it stopped.
As the total, raw power of the Master Emerald settled into its new home, Kay came back to reality gasping for air, unable to draw in more than a small gulp at a time. She stood in Tikal's firm grip for what felt like an eternity, hyperventilating as her body adjusted to what had just happened. Slowly she began to breathe in larger gulps of air, and then everything felt completely normal again. But she knew the power was there. She could feel it in the deepest parts of her, dormant until called to rise again.
Tikal drew away from her, allowing the Emerald's Chosen just a moment to herself. Kay was trembling uncontrollably - the only side effect left from the massive adrenaline rush she'd just experienced. As she struggled to regain control, she again looked at her hands. The scar was still there.
Her attention was drawn back to the echidnan princess as she knelt at Kay's feet. Kay was surprised. It had been so long since the last time a Mobian had bowed to her. She was just opening her mouth to tell Tikal she didn't have to do that when the spirit began to fade away bit by bit, until nothing but the memory of her presence was left.
For a long time all Kay could do was stare out at the world before her. Every last, crumbling, floating bit of it was more beautiful to her now than ever before. She wondered if that was because she was seeing it as the Master Emerald did, or if it was because she knew it would be the last time.
A voice from below called her name quietly, as though it were far off in the distance instead of directly at the foot of the shrine. She turned around, and every Mobian gathered there gasped in unison. Though she didn't yet know what exactly, Kay felt certain that some physical part of her had changed dramatically in the last few minutes.
It was a sign that the Emerald's Chosen had risen again.