We return to the exciting part of our teen queen's story.
"Topaz, you little sneak. What are you doing here?" Egglady persists as she approaches us with giant shotgun in hand.
I clear my throat, trying to keep composure despite how badly my plan is going.
"Why do you have that gun pointed at little ol' me for?" I ask, feigning nonchalance.
"Answer the question already you spy…ah!" she looks over the body of Mizuki, who is still convulsing with the Chaos Emeralds glued to her. "You wanted to steal my Chaos Emeralds right?"
"I was-"
"Well too bad, I only have six of them. Something wrong with your little friend here?"
I stand offensively, preparing myself for any kind of sneak attacks she's known for using. This isn't my first standoff with Egglady, but I gotta keep on my toes. With an calm demeanor, she watches Mizuki struggle. She reaches down to pluck one of the Chaos Emeralds and it instantly responds with a zap to her fingers.
"What did you do?" she asks accusingly, raising the gun at my forehead.
I guess I should tell her the truth-it'll probably save my ass. For a while, my radar in my pocket has been trembling like a freezing child. When I take it out to show her my true motive, it shatters under the pressure of the concealed gem inside-a yellow Chaos Emerald.
"You've had the last one all along, give it here-"
Before I can make a move, it sticks itself to Mizuki, making all the Chaos Emeralds fill the room with blinding light; that's the brightest I've ever seen a set of jewels shine.
"What…just happened?" I mutter as I open my eyes to an ineffable setting. There are glints of lights ubiquitously hanging in the blackness. My body's no longer in labor pain, but I'm not really sure if I'm in the laboratory anymore. What're these voices that I'm hearing? They seem so far away from here.
Silently, I track down the source of the muffled voices while glancing around at the different-shaped lights.
"Hello?" I call out to the muffled voices, lifting my head to the lights. They disregard me, continuing to speak amongst each other-but they're becoming clearer.
"…to handle this?"
"…time."
"Hey! Quit ignoring me! I know you can hear me."
I trip over something and scream as I fall down into the darkness. Miraculously, I land on some camouflaged gleams-of-light surface. I turn to see what I tripped over and I'm shocked to see who I stumbled over.
"Odri?" I hover over his floating body. Just like Leather Jacket Guy, Odri's passed out like Sleeping Handsome. What is it with hot guys and sleeping? "Do I leave you passed out like this or let you sleep?"
"I did not expect you to arrive here so soon," says a man from behind me. "Do not categorize as a 'man', young mortal."
"Well, you look like a man," I retort while scrutinizing him, "speak like a man, so what else could you be?"
"A-"
"Ok whatever, that's not important. Can you tell me where I am?"
The man, wearing a robe that emanates something bizarre, crossed his arms while his expressionless face doesn't even twitch.
"Demanding. The apple does not fall far from the tree, at least that is what you mortals say," he coarsely replies, turning away with an air of arrogance.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I follow him, not hiding my frustration. "I just want to know where I am."
The arrogant ass ignores me further as he walks along a swerving road of gleams of lights.
"You cannot even recognize my jewels," he comments condescendingly, as if reading my mind.
"Jewels…? Are you talking about the Chaos Emeralds?"
He stops and faces me with his arms raised to the gleams. "Look all around you mortal. My jewels are everywhere. You correct about the Chaos Emeralds, they are infused with powers of Time and Space-here."
He plucks one of the gleams, like picking an apple from a wide, vast tree, and holds it out to me. I suspiciously examine the glowing light, still perplexed about what it could be and what it could do to me. He shoves it closer to my face, and then I raise my hands to accept the light.
"Fine, fine-you better not make me," I place my palms on top of each other and squint at the light. "do something-I don't…"
Holding the light in palm of my hand makes my eyes widen-I feel so nostalgic and happy…and sad, and-
"A star," I wonder aloud in awe. "These are all stars."
"Correct."
The star moves from my palm into my chest, filling it with warmth and a plethora of emotions.
"Woah, what was that? That felt pretty, wow!"
We trekked down the swerving road in silence, while I plucked more stars from their place. Still don't really know where I am or why I'm following this random guy, but what else could I do? Hang out with Odri? Speaking of which, maybe this guy knows him.
"Hey, what do you know about that guy?" I curiously ask as I release the bundle of stars into the air.
"The sleeping one?"
"Yeah-hey!"
The stranger is walking upside down, almost on a sideways, spiral staircase, camouflaged in the sky. He casually strolls up/down the spiral staircase. How does he expect me to me to follow him?
"How am I supposed to do this?" I demand. "Quit ignoring me!"
I swear I'm going to go ballistic. Hastily, I run after him, and then suddenly, I'm pulled up and turned upside down. I precipitate on the invisible surface wobbly, not sure how to move while like this. Ok, ok, just chill out and move very, very slowly. Once I get one leg to move normally, I run along upside down staircase and then the spiral paths, finally seeing the weirdo in the distance.
"Hey, this is actually kinda fun," I quietly admit to myself as my hands dangle in the air. With ease, gravity changes and I'm running along the sides of whatever this place is. That's right, I still don't know what this place is.
The stranger makes a sound similar to a snort.
"You still haven't told me where I am! Hey, hey!" I yell at the top of my lungs. What is it with people wandering off and ignoring me? This is really starting to tick me off.
I catch up to him after ten minutes of maundering. It already feels as though I've been here forever...but why is Odri here? This arrogant asshole hasn't answered any of my questions!
After taking in a couple of breaths, I logically ask, "why were you ignoring me?"
He doesn't respond, offuckingcourse, and merely glances at me.
"Jesus, you're as rude as sleeping Odri back there! No fricken' different."
Abruptly, I precipitate to the normal surface roughly.
"Ow, what the hell…"
"Mortal."
The stars begin to convert to black dwarfs, fading into the darkness.
"Do not ever compare me to that abomination filled with endless Darkness," he eerily warned, but his apathetic face never changed.
I stood agape as I realize where exactly I am. Somehow, I've ended up in space, above Earth, above…everything. Far off worlds repose beneath my feet.