Chapter 1: Sapphire in Charge

"But dad, I can do it!" Willow pleaded to her father as he walked over to the fridge and grabbed a plate of cold pizza and a soda pop.

"For the thousandth time Willow, no. I don't want you to go out and get hurt again."

"Come on! It was barely a scrape, and it was because of Dash. It's been two months now and..."

Shadow slammed his plate down on the counter. "We'll, you're not going. You have big shoes to fill when I pass."

"When will that happen? We live forever." She complained.

"Willow, don't test me. You're not going." He said as he sat down at the counter, facing his daughter.

Willow's finger bounced on her lip until an idea popped in her head. "How am I going to prove to you that I have good leadership skills?"

"You've already tried, and failed." Shadow said with a mouth full of cold pizza. "You can't change my mind."

"What will I have to do to get you to change your mind then?" Willow said as she gave up.

He wiggled his piece of pizza in the air as he thought. "You will have to do this mission with your sister."

Willow's eyes rolled. "Are you kidding me!? Her?" She shook her head as she covered it with her hand. "We never see eye-to-eye."

"That's because you're an inch shorter than her." Willow glared at her father at that remark. "She will also be leading this mission."

"Absolutely not! If I am going to have HER on my team, then I am going to be the leader."

"Pick your poison, Willow." Shadow said as he stood. He then walked over to the sink to put his plate away. "Did you take your medicine this morning?"

"Oops, almost forgot! Thanks for the reminder." Willow walked over to her father who held the bottle of pills. She took the bottle from his hands and twisted the child proof cap off and popped two pills in her hand.

"The second Chaos Emerald is in the desert of Dust Hill." Shadow said as he leaned up against the sink facing Willow. "So, what will you bring today?"

Willow put the pills in her mouth and swallowed them, giving her time to think. "Definitely bringing plenty of water, a compass, a map... anything else?"

"Bring a communicator, your medicine, and your sister."

"Yea, yea, and..." She sighed. "Yea. You know I can do this without her." She said as she set her bottle of pills on the counter.

"We'll see. You didn't do too hot on your last mission."

"The emerald was in the volcano and Dash kept teasing me to jump in! Thankfully, the emerald was on a ledge near the opening to where I could lay out flat and quickly snag it. I just can't believe that Dash, while fighting against Jasper's team, nearly pushed me in."

"Like I said before, if he had, he would also be in that volcano."

The front door opened and a familiar black hedgehog walked in. "So, having another private meeting I see." Sapphire said as she glared at Willow.

"You're leading the next mission with your sister." Shadow said to Sapphire. Willow lightened up. She got to lead the mission, like she wanted, but with the cost of working alongside Sapphire.

"Ooh, goody me." She said as she cheered. "So dad, where's this place at?"

"In Dust Hill." He responded.

"Then I'll need my hat, sunglasses, sun lotion..." The list trailed on and on as Sapphire exited the room to go retrieve her items.

"You're going to have the time of your life." Shadow said as he took a sip of his pop.

"Really funny dad." Willow then turned to go out the door to head to her room. "Real funny."

"Hey." Willow stopped and turned around to see her father. He walked over and placed the bottle of pills in her hand. "Stay safe. Don't do anything too risky and if you need help, use your communicator to contact me. I'll be there."

"Dad..." She choked on her words. She wanted to say that she really didn't want to work with her sister, but if Willow had said that, she might have not gotten to go on the mission. "Thank you for this opportunity. I won't' let you down." Willow turned back around and exited the kitchen.

Willow twirled the bottle in her hand as she walked down the hall. Why is it that every time I get in trouble, my punishment is always has to deal with... her. Just then, Willow looked up to see her sister in a large yellow sun hat with large red sunglasses. She also wore a deep blue tank with bright red shorts and matching sandals.

"That was quick."

"Will you get out of my way?" She snickered.

"It would be my pleasure your highness." Willow said as she bowed.

"That's more like it." Sapphire responded in flattery as she walked past her sister.

When Sapphire was walking the other direction, Willow stood, rolled her eyes, and began walking down the hallway. She squeezed the bottle in her hand, nearly breaking it. Oh, how she gets on my nerves.

Willow kept on walking until she came across her bedroom. She opened the door and stood, staring at her reflection in a mirror that was directly across from her. Looking in that mirror made her remember about what happened two years ago. Why, even that fateful night where she got her first kiss... and sent her sister to the hospital. Every time Willow would look into a mirror, really anything that casts a reflection, she would remember who she used to be and who was on the other side of the mirror.

Willow shook her head and went over to her dresser to change. Instead of wearing her normal red, white, and black striped suit, she picked out a light blue sports bra and gray shorts. In her closet, she grabbed a black pair of hover shoes and put them on. As she stood in the doorway of her closet, she smiled at the fact that every pair of shoes she now owned was hover accessible. She closed the closet door and went over to her bed and began to fill up a dark blue backpack with tons of water bottles, her compass, map, and communicator. She placed her medicine in the side pocket of her bag. She swung the bag on her back and walked over to her full-length mirror. "Let's just get this over."

[Outside The House]

"Is everyone ready?" Willow questioned. Everyone looked down and about themselves to make sure they had not forgotten anything.

"I think I might put on another layer of sun lotion." Sapphire said as she grabbed her large gallon-like bottle of sun lotion out of her handbag.

"With as much lotion you have on, you can block out the sun." Dash said as he shook his head.

"I can't wait! This will be my first mission with you Dash!" said a small rabbit who approached Dash.

"I know Scott" Dash said as he gave him a noogie. "It's been a long time since we've seen each other. I'm just glad your parents decided to take another vacation down here for the summer."

"Yea, it's good to see you again. Now, do we have enough water, because if not, I have plenty." Said another black hedgehog.

"Yes, Cole," Willow reassured him. "I have plenty for everyone. It's good to know that we have plenty of water." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Dash butted in, "It's good to have everyone together like this. It'll be like the good ol' times, plus Scot, we'll get this emerald for sure."

"You said that the last time. We lost the emerald and you nearly killed Willow." Cole said as he crossed his arms.

Dash quickly sped over to Cole and whispered. "Can you not bring that up?" The two looked over at Willow who was covering her face in embarrassment.

Willow sighed and uncovered her face. "Is the van almost ready Flint?"

"Just about!" He said in response. "Lemmie just put in more gas."

"Alright everyone," Willow announced. "Turn on your communicators and hop on in."

"I call shot-gun." said both Willow and Sapphire.

"As leader, I should sit in the front seat." Willow said.

"You mean assistant leader?" Sapphire reminded Willow. "As your big sister, you should sit in your booster-seat in the back row."

"Alright ladies, alright." Dash said as he butted in. "How about we give the seat to Dash."

"Dash," Willow began. "Stay out of this."

"For once, we agree." Sapphire said.

"Ugh." Willow shivered. "It feels weird."

Sapphire hopped up and sat down in the front seat. "What if I sit here on the way there and on the way back we can switch."

"O-Okay." Willow said. As she sat behind Sapphire, Willow pondered. Why was she being so nice... wait! She did it to make herself look good. That little... Willow leaned over to the side to see Sapphire looking out the window with a large smile on her face. Willow sat back and pouted. Nice move sis.

Everyone was now piled up in the car. "Ready to go?" Flint said as he turned to see everyone buckled in. "Okay! Onward to Dust Hill."

[~*~]

The ride up to Dust Hill was absolutely horrible. Being stuck in a cramped car with your childhood friends for five hours can get on anyone's nerves. The AC stopped working at hour three, the windows couldn't roll down and Sapphire began to whine on how her makeup was running.

For once, Willow was thankful she let Sapphire sit in the passenger seat. Sapphire held up and electric fan to her face and occasionally Willow would get some cool air, while, at the same time, getting a big whiff of Sapphire B.O. Dash, who sat next to Willow, kept falling asleep on her. She would have to constantly push his sweaty body off of hers as she tried to get some of Sapphire's cool wind. At times, Cole, who was sitting on the other side of Dash, would push Dash back to Willow.

Every so often, Cole and Willow would have silent arguments against one another.

"You know," he whispered. "He's your boyfriend."

"But... he's so gross!" Willow whispered back while shoving Dash back to Cole.

Cole then immediately started laughing. "He's going to be so mad when he wakes up!"

"Oh my... You got to be kidding me!" Willow looked down at her left shoulder to see blue dye stains. She quickly tried to wipe away the dye marks as best she could, but it didn't help much.

"Good luck with that!" He said as he shoved Dash on Willow. She then started to laugh because Cole had the same blue stains along the right side of his arm. "Yea, he's not going to like this."

Willow looked down at Dash who snored loudly as he slept on her. His natural pink quills were quickly showing because of how fast the blue dye was coming off from the massive amount of sweat. Two large pink spots on his head showed because that's where he had rested his head upon Willow and Cole.

Willow looked over to Cole to see that he had his hands behind his head and relaxed. Willow got his attention and whispered to him. "I'm team lead- Co-leader; I shouldn't be treated this way!"

"Then just wake him up."

Willow rolled her eyes and cupped her hands around Dash's face; her eye's fixated on him.

Dash jerked awake. "Hello Will's. Nice to see you bright-n-early." He said as he stretched. "Why are you in my house?"

"Dash, we are still in the car on our way to Dust Hill."

"Oh, I'll just go back to sleep then."

"No!" Cole and Willow yelled.

"Dash, just switch seats with me." Cole said.

"Okay." Dash said as he unbuckled. As he stood, a puddle of water laid where he sat.

Cole glared at Willow. "You owe me."

"Not this time." From the side of her seat, she pulled out a yellow towel and placed it over the puddle of sweat. "Problem solved." Cole smiled.

In the back of the van, Scott, who sat alone, was playing on one of his handheld consoles. He was a tough fourteen year old. Everyone enjoyed his company. He's wicked smart like his father and kind-hearted like his mother. He mostly resembled his mother, but had his father's colors, and two small bunny-tails. During the first four hours of this mission, he has not said a word, or even let out a peep. They all forgot he was in the van until he asked for some water.

"Yea little bud. I'll just... Grab you..." Cole's entire arm dug into his bag. "My water is gone."

"Here, I'll give you some. I'm getting a little thirsty too..." Willow reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of sun lotion. "Sapphire, where is all of our water?!"

"I got rid of it to make room for more lotion." She said happily.

"W-when did you even have time to switch out the stuff?" Sapphire shrugged and caked herself in sun lotion. "Great! Fantastic!" Willow said as she threw her bag to the ground.

"Sapphire, do you really think that was a good idea?" Cole wittily said.

Sapphire turned around. "You know what, Cole, I'll make sure you will not be included in the next mission."

"Yea, if we don't die from dehydration." He said in response. "Who made you the leader of this mission? Such a dumb move."

"Yea, I wonder who?" Willow added.

"You shut your mouth." Sapphire pointed angrily towards Cole. "Willow," Sapphire began. "Wait till we get home. I'll tell father what you did."

"What did I do?!"

"You are harassing me!"

"You're such a freaking tattler!" Willow yelled. "I wasn't even harassing you in the first place!"

"Sapphire," Cole butted in. "You just took out one of the main resources for survival. If we don't make it out alive, it will all be put on you. Wait till your father hears about the big mess up you made. He'll never let you on another mission again because of your stupidity."

"Alright!" Flint yelled. "Cut it out already! Everybody needs to chill out." Everyone got quiet. "Sapphire," He said calmly. "I am going to have to report you on this when we get back."

"But-"

"But nothing. Cole is right. Even if you are the leader, or even a teammate, you should have never done that. You never think of others, you just put yourself first, and that needs to change." Sapphire hung her head low and had not said a word.

Willow took a deep breath and turned around to face Scott. "Sorry about this."

"It's okay I guess..." He said as he sank in his seat, face covered by his video game.

Willow's stomach dropped. She felt bad that she couldn't do anything to help him. Willow rubbed her throat and her mouth began to get dry. "How much longer till we get there?" She asked.

"About an hour left."Flint responded. "Everyone in the car cheered. "This horrid trip will finally come to an end. Once we get the Chaos Emerald, we can just teleport home!"

"I can't wait to have the ground beneath my feet." Cole said in excitement.

Willow pressed her head against the back of Sapphire's seat. She began to feel cold sweat run down the back of her neck. Willow pinched the back of her right hand and saw that it stayed a light color for several seconds. I'm becoming dehydrated...

"Willow, would you like something to munch on? You don't look to hot."

"N-no, I'm not hungry... Thanks though."

"Anytime." Cole said as he looked out his window.

Willow rested her eyes. All the sounds in the van sounded comforting to her, even Dash's snoring. Willow then began to daydream that she was in a large light blue pool. She just swam laps around the pool. She would occasionally do back strokes and breast strokes. "This is fantastic..." She said to herself. Willow got out of the pool and wrapped a towel around herself. She then went over by the pool and sat down, dipping her feet in the pool. A light breeze brushed against her skin, giving her tiny goosebumps. Willow had a gigantic smile on her face. "This feels so~ good..." Willow's nose crinkled. A horrible stench crawled into her nose. When the wind died down, so did the bad smell. "I've never smelt anything that horrible in my life! Where could it be coming from?" She asked herself. She began to look up and about for the smell around the in-ground pool. As she lifted up some pool noodles, she heard a small motor boat sound. "Must be the hot tub turning on." She turned around to see that there was no hot tub. The sound began to get louder and louder.

Willow jerked awake; her head still up against her sister's seat. Willow's arms wrapped around her stomach. She lifted her head off her sister's seat and slowly placed it in her hand, her arm now resting up against the door. As she relaxed in her seat, she thought she heard a familiar motor sound coming from outside the van. Willow looked out her window to see nothing was there. "Where is that noise coming from?" she said to herself.

"Umm, guys. You might want to see this." Scott nervously said.

Willow quickly unbuckled, crawled over the seat, and plopped herself next to Scott. A gigantic red and yellow airship was heading directly towards them. "Everyone get ready." She turned around to see everyone doing what they have been told. Flint pressed a button to cover the entire van with a tank-like armor. Sapphire was layering even more sun lotion, and Dash was sound asleep. Willow slapped the back of his head, which woke him up.

"Where did the sun go?" Dash said.

"Jasper's here. Do whatever to get ready to fight." Willow looked down at her mechanical arm and began to switch her settings. As soon as she was done, everyone had unbuckled and was ready for impact.

Flint announced, "We should almost be there." He looked down at his G.P.S. to show that they were close. Everyone in the van was quiet. The sound of the airship grew louder and louder. The sound then began to get quieter. Flint pressed the button to turn the shield off. The airship was now far ahead of them.

Just then, small square doors opened from the aircraft. Missiles flew out from the square doors and headed directly toward the van. "Everyone, bail!" Willow demanded. The crew did so and rolled out of the car. Willow quickly got to her feet and began to glide upon the sand with her hover shoes. "One, two, three, four, five... Who am I missing...?" Willow then counted again. "Oh," she frowned. "It was me." She never had forgotten to count herself, even in serious situations. She then skated towards her teammates. "Everyone holding up alright?" She asked.

"We're fine." Cole announced as he was checking up on everyone.

"Let's get that pin head." Dash said as he quickly ran on ahead.

"Dash, wait!" Willow yelled as Dash ran.

"Just let him do his thing." Sapphire said as she approached Willow from behind.

"If we don't get our act together, we might as well as give Jasper the Chaos Emerald."

"Well, what I say goes. I am the-"

"Co-leader." Willow finished her sister off. Willow sighed. "We have to work together. So..." Willow held out her hand. "Truce?"

"Temporary truce." Sapphire said as she shook her sister's hand.