The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.

“Can we fight the world?
We must if we are to fight the Rings!
Rings are the world!
We are the Rings!
Cursed are the Rings!”

···

          ♪ ~ [The First Layer ~ Kevin Penkin ~ MADE IN ABYSS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK]

          ~There’s little point trying to fight the machine knights. It’s not that Sonic and I can’t beat them easy enough, Sonic way better than me, but they’re all over the place and nothing but trouble. They also are piloted by the fairies we free whenever we destroy them, so they’ll just go and get a new one.

          ~So, what have Sonic and I been up to? We~ll, this Zone is still corrupted by a Red Gear Ring, and all the fairies and even the wildlife are under Yolk’s control. I would be too because of the Red Gear Ring in my left eye, but Sonic shared a Ring Bond with me to share his ability to resist gods. It makes dowsing difficult though. But as long as I don’t drop my Rings, I should be okay.~

Yolk eclipsed sun and Red Gear Ring
Cloud strewn red sky
Phantom gears turning
Clockwork steam powered factories
Machine knights spilling from artificial coral
A waterfall curtained, labyrinthine canyon
Pipe, pipes, pipes
An artificial labyrinth
An ancient temple of stone
Overgrown in pipes and mushrooms
A cavernous nest holding a grave darkness

         “This isn’t what I was expecting,” Rosy commented as she poked at the corner of her mouth thoughtfully.

         “Says a lot about Eggs Benedict putting his troublesome Ring in a place like this,” Sonic remarked as he stretched a little and looked around. “It is down here though, isn’t Amy?”

         “It’s Rosy,” Rosy playfully corrected Sonic. “And as far as I can tell it is.

         “Ooh~!” Rosy whined and swayed her body to and fro with frustrated energy. “Dropping my Rings all the time isn’t helping at all!”

         “Well, try to hang on to them, we got company.”

         “Why can’t they just leave us alone!”

         It was far from just machine knights that moved in on Sonic and Rosy’s position, but also stone anchor-man and eye golems from the ruins. Having to lead as it was her dowsing with a held Ring that was leading them towards their destination, Rosy was forced to face her own lack of ability. Predicting her movements to make up for her shortcomings, Sonic moved to destroy any golems that threatened her from ahead and behind. With this arrangement the two of them ran into the mysterious flooded temple.

          ~At least Sonic looks like he’s having fun.

          ~Ooh~! It’s so unfair! And not to me, to Sonic. He shared his speed with me, but between my major memory loss and the Rings in the Far Lands constantly making it hard to hold on to any new memories I feel like I’m still not making any proper use of it. That Sonic can run circles around me right now is only really driving that point home. But I have to concentrate. I can’t get distracted by him. I can’t get distracted by the fairies hanging out in this temple’s tunnels and hallways. I can’t get distracted by that golem's fist in front of me.

          ~Oh~ no~!~

          The sound of Rings scattering filled the air and Rosy went flying backwards from the impact, yelling at the top of her lungs. “YOU JERK!”

         “You can forgive ‘em, Amy,” Sonic laughed as he scooped Rosy up before she hit the ground. “We’re here anyway.”

         Looking up as Sonic skipped across pillars jutting out of a natural moat, Rosy saw the heart of the temple. Four massive pillars held up an unseen ceiling and surrounded a series of massive, spinning cog wheels. At the heart of the gyroscopic display a massive crystal rose bloomed, a Red Gear Ring no larger than any common Ring in its center.

         “Finally!” Rosy cheered and threw her arms up, causing Sonic to dodge as best he could while holding her. “Now we can break it and save everyone. And my eye should turn back to normal too, right Sonic?”

         “It should,” Sonic agreed as he set Rosy down on the mist polished marble floor.

          ~Sonic doesn’t sound as happy as I am though. It’s like he’s distracted. What does he see?

          ~Oh!

          ~Maybe it’s that blue suit of armor.~

A clockwork skeleton
Blue armor like bubbles forged in steal
Massive like the great shield held in its right hand
Only darkness in the round helm’s visor
A sentinel long at rest
A symbolic vase for the crystal rose

         “It’s like a Light Bloom,” Rosy commented as she walked closer, skipping past the gyroscopic device, and ascending the dais the cog wheels spun around. She had to look back to see Sonic however who was uncharacteristically taking his time, his arms at his sides with fists clenched. “Is something wrong Sonic?”

         “They aren’t the first Machine Knight I’ve seen resting like this. Nor is this the first time I’ve seen ‘someone’ ‘resting’ with one of these arrangements.”

         “So that’s a machine knight too, huh?” Rosy queried, swaying her body from side to side and playful bending in half to look at Sonic closer as he climbed the dais behind her.

         “A Knight of the Sword they call themselves,” Sonic scoffed. “But of the ones I’ve seen, one is a traitor, one wants to lock you away forever, and the last tried to kill you. Don’t think you can be their friend if they wake up.”

         “You think they will,” Rosy prodded Sonic for more answers, falling into stride beside him as he caught up. “Well, they all sound pretty different to me. So maybe they’ll simply help us if we ask. We want to beat Yolk too, or at least avoid letting him wake up, right?”

          ~Unfortunately, the Machine Knight, Sonic puts so much emphasis on it when talking about this one, didn’t wake up. Sonic destroyed the Red Gear Ring with a single Spin Attack and the crystal rose shattered, the cog wheels flying apart and the bits and pieces wedging themselves into the walls of the temple. I’m kind of disappointed to be honest.

          ~What doesn’t have me disappointed though is that my left eye is finally back to normal. I can see it so clearly in the shiny floors. And that’s not all. As I race Sonic out of the temple and back to the surface, all the gears in the sky are gone and it’s blue again! Well, as blue as it can be with an eclipse going. But the Red Gear Ring behind Yolk is gone too. The gears driving the steam plants have also stopped working and have fallen apart so even the machine knights won’t be a big deal soon. It’ll just be the local stone golems. Tee-hee! They’re not a big deal though as breaking them nets me the world’s coolest flower bed, even if I have to break it to get out.

          ~But I kind of wonder about Light Blooms now. Down in the temple, whenever one bloomed, they were white and all ghostly. And I’m sure I saw ghosts too. They were people, I think. Like If plants were people.

          ~Hrm… maybe more like if seeds were people. The ones I got better glances at were all smooth faced except their eyes, and they had plant sprouts growing from their heads like horns. Sonic hasn’t said anything about them, so maybe I was just seeing things. I don’t know. I just know I’m so happy to finally be free of that Red Gear Ring!

~Hooray!~

···

         Perhaps it was simply Rosy’s attunement with the supernatural that allowed her to see the ghosts. They were few however in the temple she and Sonic left behind. But they did not linger where Light Blooms marked the fall of the golems that birthed them. Instead, they made their way quietly to the dais. As they arrived, a single blue light came to life in the armor’s round helm, like an eye opening after a long sleep. Standing to nigh two meters, the Machine Knight stretched a moment before rotating its shield bearing arm, as though loosening muscles which were not there.

         “Well, this is quite the scenario to wake to,” a cheerful woman’s voice chirped from within the armor. “Dreaded Yoluku has managed to procure a medium, and at least two of the number of the Sword Knights has failed to best them. Or is it the Ring Mage at fault here? He did destroy the Yoluku Device after all.”

         Turning to look behind her, the Machine Knight stared at where a crystal rose and Red Gear Ring once spun above her sleeping form. Only empty space greeted her now and she responded to it with silence. The amused laugh that came from her as she turned and descended the dais was not meant for that void however.

         “How curious. We have a traitor in our midst, a Ring Mage is traveling with a Medium of Benedict Yoluku, and they destroyed the Yoluku Device. So joyously even. Curious, curious.

         “The Medium seemed willing to talk though, a shame I could not properly greet her. My hospitality is simply lacking in this state. I wonder if perhaps she is starved in these accursed lands. Surely, she is only alive due to the will of the Ring Mage. Perhaps I might be able to bake cookies for our first meeting.

         “Yes! That would be delightful. Besides, sustaining herself only on Rings, surely Dreaded Yoluku has plans to act on that. Poor girl doesn’t realize how bad she has it. Fortunately for her, Shield the Blue has woken, alchemist of the Knights of the Sword, and she along with Ring the Yellow who turned Dreaded Yoluku’s power against him.

         “Before I meet with her though, I simply must get a lay of the lands. I believe I’m in the Far Lands I’m lacking a radio as well so I should be able to safely presume none of the Machine Gods have returned to the Far Lands. With a traitor in our midst however… A shame the Ring Mage did not name them. I will have to be guarded then…”

         Continuing to babble to herself, Shield the Blue strode from the temple, having no need to demonstrate to any golems or fairies who met her how her shield was a sword. That reveal would likely be saved for Sonic and Rosy.