The Five Elements

A story by Space!Pirate09

A/N: Well, I guess it's time for me to introduce myself. My name is Sanna and I'm seventeen. Yeah. And recently I've become slightly obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog, and since I have a pretty long history in fanfiction I thought, why not write a Sonic fic while I'm at it? I've tried everything else. So, here I am. I hope you'll all enjoy this little story of mine!

About this story: Yeah, just a few minor things about this fic; it's a continuation of the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog Next-Gen and the third season of Sonic X. I'll try to keep as canon as possible. Characters that are included in this story are: Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, Cream, Amy, Shadow, Blaze, Silver, Tails, the Chaotix, and a few others. I'm not going to write which pairings I have included, though it will be romance! But, as I said, I'll stay canon...

Well, I guess that's it! Read and review, people//Sanna M

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, or any of the other characters mentioned in this fictional story. This is purely fan-made. Everything is (c) Sonic Team, Sega and 4kids.

"He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me…"

One by one the rose petals fell to the ground. Amy Rose sighed as she removed the last petal from the flower.

"He loves me…not," she whispered solemnly and sighed. She watched the wind pick up the petals scattered in her lap and spread them across the meadow. Amy closed her eyes, picturing Sonic before her, the source of her affection. He was like the wind in many ways, and she was like the petals, following the wind wherever it went.

The playful summer breeze played with Amy's pink quills. She slowly stood up from the rock she had been sitting on and looked around across the meadow. It sure was a beautiful sight, like something from a painting.

Hundreds of colorful flowers grew on the meadow, making it look like a patchwork from a distance. In the middle of this serenity sat Vanilla the Rabbit and her little daughter, Cream. They were picking flowers together like an ideal family, with Cheese the Chao playing around in the grass around them, completing the painting. They were a complete unit, Amy thought, and the unit did not include her.

Every so often Cream would stop picking flowers and stand up to call for Amy to join them. And every time she did so, Amy would tell her no. Amy knew this made her young friend sad; she knew both Cream and Vanilla had walked the extra mile to make her feel like a part of their family, but so far it hadn't helped.

Amy certainly did not feel like picking flowers right now. So far the flowers had done nothing but upset her.

"He loves me not," she said quietly to herself once more, this time a little more confident. It was time to let go.

And so the breeze swept across the valley, picking up petals and other things on its way. Soon, the breeze had reached Miles Prower's workshop. Miles, or Tails as the two-tailed fox liked to be called, didn't quite enjoy the breeze as much, and walked over to close his window; after all, too much draft could hurt the plant.

Tails was usually not that interested in plants or flowers like Vanilla or Cream, with the exception of this plant. It wasn't just some sprout he had planted in a pot; it was all that was left of Cosmo, an alien plant he had met in outer space last year and befriended.

He had grown quite fond of her, but she had sacrificed herself to save the galaxy. That was only a few months ago. A seed was all they could find afterwards. Tails had planted the seed, and it had started to grow. This kept Tails' hope up; maybe there was still a chance that they could bring Cosmo back to life!

Maybe.

Meanwhile, the breeze traveled on across the planet of Mobius. It grew into a strong wind as is made its way across the ocean around Angel Island. It made its way back to the mainland to serve as support for something else; something blue and fast. A blue streak sped by, traveling faster than the speed of light.

Sonic the Hedgehog focused all his energy he had left on maintaining his supersonic speed. He kept pushing his limits, testing himself. It was all he could think of as he ran across the acres of turf. This was the very reason he ran; his way to rest his mind was to make his feet to the job for a while. This took his mind off other things, like how he had neglected Amy completely for the past month, or like how he had failed Tails in an attempt to save Cosmo.

Sonic felt the guilt catch up with him. He knew what we had to do; outrun it. So he picked up more speed. He kept going faster until his lungs burned and he felt the taste of blood in his mouth. Every breath he took, every inhale, was more painful than the previous, and it felt like his pumping heart was going to rip his blue chest apart.

But it took his mind off Tails and Amy. It was better this way. Still, he knew that something wasn't right. It felt like he had forgotten something. Something very important. Why couldn't he remember what it was…?

He felt empty. Like he was missing something. But what? Sonic decided that it was nothing to speculate about. Instead he continued to run across Mobius, his mind blank once again.

Far away, in the kingdom of Elisha, princess Blaze the cat was currently experiencing the same type of emptiness as her blue friend. She hadn't seen Sonic in almost a year when he had helped her defeat Eggman Nega. It had been an amazing adventure, something Blaze would always remember and look back upon. Sonic had taught her the importance of friendship. She had also been allowed to be something other than a princess for a change, she had liked that.

Sighing, Blaze gazed longingly out through the castle's window. Being a princess could get very lonely at times, but Sonic had promised that they would meet again. She would make sure that his promise was kept.

The only one who had a problem with Blaze's little adventure last year was her father. After Eggman Nega's defeat, Blaze's father had chosen one of the best fighter's in the kingdom to protect his daughter and make sure that she was safe at all times. He had chosen a hedgehog in Blaze's age, named Silver. He had psychokinetic powers, and had sworn to protect the princess.

Blaze had found this extremely stupid and unnecessary. Her father knew very well that she could take care of herself with the help of her pyrokinetic abilities. She didn't need some hedgehog to look after her. But she had found something else in Silver than just a bodyguard. She had found a friend. Something she really needed, and for that she was thankful to have him. Truth be told, she was more the one looking after him than the other way around.

Suddenly Blaze's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door.

"Yes?" Blaze called out.

"It's time, my princess," she heard one of the servants say from the other side of the door.

Blaze sighed once more. This was the part she hated about being a princess. She and her father were to make a public appearance today, something Blaze despised. She hated how everyone looked at her, worshiping her. They didn't even know her! Know one did! She was trapped in her luxurious prison with no way out. She wished she was free. She cast one last glance out the window, watching the leaves on the trees moving in the wind. This made her think of Sonic again. She wished she was free like him.

She turned around and left the room before Silver would come and look for her to see if she had escaped through the window. She wasn't far from doing so, though.

Far away on Angel Island, troubled with a completely different problem, Knuckles the Echidna sat on the stone steps that led to the shrine where the Master Emerald could be found. Or rather, what was left of it. It had shattered while helping to save the galaxy. That was a few months ago, and it still hadn't restored itself. This made its red-furred guardian worried. He knew that it had broke for a good reason while channeling a lot of power, but Knuckles just wished that he could hold someone responsible for it. Someone he could blame this on. Someone he could hit and take out all his frustration on.

Ironically, this was the time that one of the echidna's enemies, Dr. Eggman, chose to make his appearance, approaching the shrine in his usual Egg-Mobile. As he hovered closer, Knuckles stood up with a slight grin visible upon his lips. Finally someone he could hit, but the doctor didn't seem to be there to fight. Eggman raised his hands in surrender, which made Knuckles lower his abnormally large fists as well, looking questionably at his enemy.

"Now, now, Knuckles. I'm not here to fight." The doctor said in his usual sincere tone. Knuckles huffed.

"Then why are you here?" the echidna wondered, crossing his arms over his buff chest.

"I am here concerning the Master Emerald." Eggman said, his hands behind his back.

"What about it?" Knuckles demanded.

"I am sure you must be worried about it. It should've restored itself by now, don't you agree?"

Knuckles closed his eyes. Deep down he knew this was true, which is why he let Eggman continue.

"I was testing an invention of mine earlier today and picked up some rather interesting spatial distortions."

"Meaning…?" Knuckles wondered.

"What I'm trying to say is that someone has made a rip in the time and space continuum. To explain it so you will understand it means that someone has tampered with time." Dr. Eggman told him.

"Uhuh, and what's that got to do with the Master Emerald?" Knuckles asked, growing impatient and was getting rather annoyed with the doctors patronizing tone.

"You dumb echidna; a rip in time affects everyone and everything! I don't know when this distortion was caused, or what caused it, or how dangerous it is, but this I know; until the rip in time is fixed, your precious emerald will remain in pieces."

With those words Dr. Eggman turned his hover vehicle and left the floating island. Knuckles was left alone once more, now with even more problems to worry about. What Dr. Eggman had told him was just too confusing; he couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"I need to find Sonic," he thought to himself. But knowing Sonic, who usually was everywhere at once, he decided to take the problem to Tails' workshop first. He left the shrine, knowing that Chaos would guard it while he was away.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading this and please review and tell me what you thought about this first chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to update frequently seeing as I have the whole story already plotted out. I'd like to hear your opinions on this first chapter, though. The first one is always the most important! Again, thank you for reading!

Cheers//Sanna M