Chapter 2: A New Face

The cat's golden eyes studied the hedgehogs curiously as she clutched onto the green emerald. Sonic and Amy both gaped at the newcomer as well. Who was she? And were those flames?

"Who are you?" Amy finally asked.

She didn't answer immediately, but just kept staring at them, as if trying to decide their character. The rain had quieted down a little, making it easier to see, but the cat didn't really have much time or desire to study them.

Sonic cocked his head at her silence. "What's the matter, never seen a hedgehog before?"

The cat raised an eyebrow at that and hinted at a smile. "My name is Blaze the Cat," she said quietly, but with dignity.

"Hey," Sonic said and grinned. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and this is my girlfriend, Amy Rose. You're not from around here, are you?"

Blaze held up her hands. "I'm sorry, but I don't have time for this. I'm looking for somebody." Her head snapped from side to side really fast, scanning the terrain as if that person could be here any minute. "And something."

Sonic and Amy exchanged glances.

"We could help," Amy offered.

"No, no, I don't need help. But thank you." Blaze suddenly took off in a burst of flames.

"Hey!" Sonic yelled, and then raced after her without another thought.

He had gone about 30 feet when he realized he was leaving Amy behind, in the rain, after he'd just dumped her in the mud. Ah, I'm gonna get a hammer whack for this one, but she'll be fine.

It was no problem for Sonic to catch up to Blaze and eventually overtake her, although she was no slowpoke. He stopped right in her path, forcing her to stop.

Blaze looked at the hedgehog with a start, shocked at how fast he moved. She tried to go around him to the left, but he was there in flash, cutting her off. Trying again to the right, same response. He stood firmly in her way, a firm gaze tugging at his face. Blaze tried to fake him out a few times, but he matched her every move, seemingly before she made them. Blaze sighed.

"Look, Sonic, is it? I'm sorry, but I really don't have time for this."

He folded his arms. "Just tell me what you're doing with that Chaos Emerald."

Blaze looked back at the Emerald in her hand. Chaos Emerald? It was so close, but not quite. She turned her eyes up to meet Sonic's green ones. The pink hedgehog, who for some reason was covered in mud, had caught up with them and was now standing a little behind Sonic. Sonic shot her an apologetic look.

Oh, what was she doing just standing here?

"Frankly, this is none of your business," Blaze said coolly.

Sonic was taken back by her rudeness. He scowled.

"Well, if it deals with the Chaos Emeralds, it is my business," Sonic shot back.

"Yeah! Who do you think you are anyway?" Amy backed him up.

Blaze glared back at them. Who did they think they were, just trying to barge in on her business like this? She really didn't want to fight them right now, because they seemed like good people. But how could she ditch them? Blaze had to find Silver. Hopefully he'd been transported here, too. If he hadn't, she'd have to find the Sol Emeralds on her own. And then what? No, Silver had to be here. Wherever here was.

Sonic was getting to a not-so-rare point of losing his patience. He'd been interrupted too many times today. The rain, the thunder when he was about to kiss Amy, Knuckles calling him, slipping and dropping Amy in the mud, and now this. Some purple cat with an attitude almost worse than his stealing a Chaos Emerald from under his nose.

"Yeah, you're probably working for Eggman, aren't you?" His wrist communicator buzzed. Again?

"What?" he demanded of the device. Knuckles' face in the monitor was a bit taken back, but then he scowled.

"What do you mean what? Where are you guys?"

Sonic sighed, frustrated. "We are in a bit of a situation here, ok?"

"Situation? Eggman?"

"No," he said, and then realized Blaze had taken off. "Ah, wait!" he watched as the flames disappeared, leaving a smoky trail in the midst of the rain.

"Sonic?" Knuckles asked through his wrist comm, confused at the outburst.

"Ur, never mind. We're coming." He closed the communicator and tried to get a grip on his frustration. It's not that big of a deal, he told himself. Chill out, blue. We'll see Blaze again. This isn't anything we can't handle.

Sonic then turned to back to Amy. She looked understandably upset. Amy's had a bad day, too. Thanks to his antics. He would have to be strong for her.

"Sorry for leaving you back there," he said a little sheepishly, letting a red sneaker create a trough in the squishy ground.

She shook her head, waving off his apology. "I'm used to it."

Ouch.

It was impossible for Amy to stay mad at Sonic for very long. Especially since it wasn't completely his fault. "But know how you can make it up to me?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

Sonic scooped her up and grinned, thankful her temper did have its limits. "By getting us to Tails' place faster than the speed of sound?"

"No. Take me back to my house so I can change."

Oh yeah. The mud thing. "It doesn't look too bad," Sonic said, antsy to get to the team meeting.

"Son-ic," she whined. "I'm covered in mud!"

"Heh heh. Sorry 'bout that. I'll let you change."

"And don't slip this time, ok?"

He didn't think that there was any danger of that, as the rain had slowed down considerably, although the dark sky offered them no hope as to it stopping completely. Sonic still took extra care as he ran back towards Amy's house. Man this had been a long day already. And he figured whatever Tails had for them couldn't be good.

They got back to her house, and Sonic waited outside her door (like a perfect gentlemen) as she got all the mud off her face and changed into a clean dress. Once she came back out, Sonic smiled at her, trying to make both of them feel better.

"There, now you look pretty."

Amy blushed a little. She knew Sonic was trying to make her feel better. Well, it'd worked. "We better go before Knuckles calls you again."

"Yeah. And they say I'm impatient," he muttered.