Hunt for Sol and Shard.

Knuckles watched her briefly and pulled back once she was up, but if he had anything to say about her state he didn't voice it.  Turning abruptly, he faced this inmost chamber, only to see that the frame of the entire structure here - made up of bare metal poles - was crackling both visibly and audibly: electrified to a dangerous extent.  The echidna glanced back just in time to see pieces of the shaft they just climbed fall loose, soon leading to its total collapse.  Although he paused a moment to close his eyes, his teeth grit and he growled...sure, he wasn't about to run into the electric fields, but he wasn't about to think through the obstacle either.

She blinked slowly as she watched the tube she had just been in completely collapse. "Good thing we got out of there. Though I'm confused as to why it was unstable.." She moved her gaze from the tube to the next obstacle in their way, and then the poles that were causing the problem. "Well, this could be a problem. Any good ideas you have for this one." She looked all around the room. "I suppose you could smash them if you want, if you don't mind getting zapped."

He didn't spare the collapsed tube much more notice, but looked on ahead to the next challenge.  He took a short look at his gloves and shoes...Tails had said he put something electricity-resistant in them, but that didn't count the rest of his staticy fur.  Grumbling, he walked around the rest of the circle of the room.  He found a bunch of control panels - maybe they were operated by robots before the massacre down there - but had no idea what they would do to the crackling poles.  When he had come full circle, he shrugged and just said, "I got nothing."  Then he stared at the poles, as though willing them to shut off.

Blaze glanced over at the control panels before bringing her hand to her head as she tried to think. After a while her hand dropped and she walked over to the panels, looking down at them. "Something on these things has to turn off the electricity." She looks over the various buttons. "But which ones do the job..."

Grumbling, the echidna edged closer to the poles.  With a crisp crackle, a tendril - or perhaps bolt, it was a sort of mix of the two - of the electricity reached out and snagged his dreadlocks.  Gritting his teeth, he backpedaled, but not without a black mark crossing his hair.  At least he didn't have a hat right now, or it probably would have caught fire.  Glancing sideways at the feline, he approached her in case she had any better ideas.  "Could just press all of 'em.  Got us through earlier."

The cat glanced up at the Echidna and then back down at the console. "No wonder the shaft collapsed. Nice burn by the way." She scanned over the various buttons for anything that looks like it could be related to the poles. She spotted a red button with a little electricity button above it. "Might as well." She said before pressing the button.

Crossing his arms, Knuckles glared...clearly, it was taking most of his considerable willpower to not engage the cat in further conversation.  Self-consciously reaching back, he brushed the ash of the mark out of his dreadlocks, rendering the burn invisible.  Though he looked over the panel, his interest turned back to the poles once she pressed a button.

Unfortunately, the poles started crackling more, sending off even more sparks and bolts.

Fortunately, this was followed by a slow dying down, though it would take a few moments to end safely.

Blaze blinked as the electricity sparked up and then started to die out. "Seems like I overloaded them. An effective use of this button. Though I did not expect that to happen at all." She took one last glance at the console before stepping out from behind it and towards the rods. "Seems like it's going to take a small while before it is safe to continue." She looked around. "Let's hope we aren't attacked again anytime soon."

Knuckles, watching the conductors with renewed interest since their outburst, approached again once the electricity died down.  "Hey, thanks.  It works.  Nothing else on the panel?"

Whether anything else was on the panel was rudely interrupted by the renewal of the alarm's blaring, red lights flashing across the room.  The Guardian almost grinned.  "That's our signal!"  Diving and gliding through, he bypassed what remained of the poles, heading in towards the heart of the tower.

Blaze sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything.." She quickly hopped over the first set of rods and followed Knuckles into the center of the tower. She looked around at her surroundings before turning her head to Knuckles. "We're getting closer. I'm starting to feel more of the energy from the Sol Emerald. I believe your shard is there as well. " She quickly looked around again. "There is the possibility the Shard and the Emerald are being used to power this tower. If we take them it could collapse, or explode, or various other bad scenarios."

The Guardian charged in towards the tower's center.  Finding a spiral incline, he began making his way up the slippery slope.  The sensible presence of the shard and the Emerald increased in the ascent - but meanwhile the alarm continued blaring in the background, and the tower started shaking again as it began...sinking?  Yes, if the feeling of gravity were right, the tower was sliding into the ground - and, as a result, from the lower levels up it was beginning to flood with natural water from the surrounding area.  Knuckles didn't notice this through the transparent floors from the elevated position; but the water levels, if left unchecked, would probably rise up through the fluidtight tower in a matter of minutes.

Blaze continued to run up the tower next to Knuckles. "For a friend of Sonic's, you don't move as fast as I figured you would." She could feel the weird sinking feeling as well, however she could also feel the emeralds power quite strongly. "They're incredibly close, we are almost there." She looked back for a second. "Could you pick up the pace please? I would prefer to escape this tower."

The Guardian growled and sped up, fast approaching the top of the tower.  "...same travesty as back on the Island with sinking things...was his fault then too..."  Towards the tip of the spiral he burst through a door into a chamber where both sought-after stones hovered in the air above short white pedestals.  Although both were shrouded in cases, he shattered each with well-placed punches, freeing the gems within.  After retrieving his shard, he glanced over to the feline while the tower shuddered.  "Guess this is it.  Until next time, then."