"Where could that damned Chaos Emerald be?"
Over an hour since Shadow has finally found a signal in the neighborhood he's currently in and he can no longer track it as the strong signal from his radar has suddenly vanished. The best conclusion that Shadow can come up is that someone who's currently holding one of the seven Chaos Emeralds is out of the neighborhood for now. And that only makes the search much more difficult than it needs to be due to the fact that anyone returning from where ever they went could possibly be holding an Emerald.
Ugh! Right when Shadow found at least one strong signal from the Chaos Emeralds, the search for one becomes a chore to do. He didn't get out of his apartment on a blazing day without a strong wind just to find nothing! Maybe he should look somewhere else in hopes that-
"Out of the way!"
Shadow turned around to see a teenager riding an Extreme Gear at a fast rate, his winged necklace dangling on his neck. Fortunately, Shadow managed to dodge the incoming teenager by sidestepping to the left, avoiding any injuries that may happen to him. However, as the black-haired teen passed by Shadow, the latter noticed that the radar from his watch is beeping louder than before, meaning the Emerald is near-by. But suddenly right when the boy is out of Shadow's sight, the signal suddenly got weaker before the beeping grew fainter until it vanished.
"Guess I found it," Shadow said to himself as he's able to put the pieces together. It's simple for Shadow that the boy must have one of the Chaos Emeralds in his possession. The only thing Shadow needs to do is to find out where he lives.
But despite the boy not being in Shadow's sight, he can simply track the teen down no problem as the Chaos Emerald's energy signal will lead him to the teen's house. Seems simple enough. In a matter of minutes, Shadow will be in possession of two Emeralds no problem. Now all that Shadow needs to do is to convince the boy to give the Emerald to him without any arguments, or the worse case scenario, a fist fight.
Like that would be a problem for him.
~Meanwhile~
Hopping off of his Extreme Gear, Jet sighed loudly as he's able to return home as quickly as possible. And to his luck, no messages or calls from anyone in the past ten minutes; especially from his parents. That's the last thing Jet wanted as his parents, mainly his mom, would be calling him every five minutes if something horrible happened to him. The incident from HappyTea would most likely be in the local news, and the news could have possibly gotten footage of Jet chasing down the thief into Astra Park, along with the mysterious person named Silver.
Speaking of Silver, Jet is still in awe on how he Silver could have gotten his number in the first place. So far, there were no good conclusions the Filipino can come up with that didn't make Silver sound like a stalker that founded his phone number by pure coincidence.
Agh! Maybe he should ask Wave about it.
Jet opened the front door, slipping off his red shoes on the place mat, still carrying his Extreme Gear before he loudly announced to the house, "I'm home!", hoping to get an immediate response-
"Ikaw ay ligtas, anak!" Jet's mom hugged her son tightly, prompting Jet to drop his green board on the wooden floor.
"Inay, itigil," Jet can only utter in Tagalog, trying to free himself from his mom's hugs. Apparently, it usually takes Jet two or three tries at best to persuade his mom from releasing him from her hug, or the worse case scenario, ten times. At that point, "Mom, I'm going to lose oxygen if you don't let me go!"
No sign of his mom releasing him.
"For the love of the gods, I'm alright, mom!" Jet exclaimed, in hopes the third attempt would get his mom out of her 'smothering' mode.
But just like the last attempt, nope.
"Naylene, I think Angelo has had enough," another voice popped in.
Hearing the voice, Naylene released her son from her hug as she turned around to see her husband, Blake, carrying a can of mango juice in his hand. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear. Its just that when I heard a thief broke into the cafe and stole something from you and your friend, I was worried that-"
"I might have gotten hurt," Jet finished his mother's sentence, knowing the exact sentence structure that he has heard from his mother several times whenever his life might be at stake. "The thief kicked me in the stomach-"
"WHAT?!" Naylene yelled in horror that someone would hurt her little boy.
"I-Inay, I'm okay for the most part!" Jet reassured, shaking his hands. "Besides, I've got my necklace, along with Wave's."
"How did you get it back?" Blake asked his son. "Don't tell me you beat the ever living daylights out of that thief."
"Though I would like to, I didn't," Jet responded to his father while grabbing the can of mango juice from his father's hands. "Some kid named Silver ended up catching the thief with an electrical whip or something."
"Really? I would like to have something like that," Blake replied as he went into the kitchen, getting a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Yeah, but after I got what I needed-" Jet paused his sentence as he needed to pick his words carefully based on the events that happened this afternoon. There's no way Jet can't mention he's in possession of a laser pen. That would defiantly make his parents worry more, especially his mom since she considers a laser (not the pointer lasers) as a dangerous weapon. After thinking, he continued, "I just rode out of Astra Park and got home."
"So nothing bad happened to you?" Naylene asked her son.
"Nothing," Jet replied as he grabbed his board off the floor and started climbing up the stairs, chugging down the mango juice in one go. "By the way, did Wave happen to go upstairs?"
"Yes. Your future girlfriend is currently-"
"ARGHH! For the last time mom, she's not my girlfriend!" Jet yelled to his mother, annoyed that she still thinks that the two might be thinking of going out eventually. Just because Jet and Wave have been friends for years doesn't mean they'll automatically have a relationship most couples would envy.
Ignoring his father's laughter from downstairs, Jet reached the upstairs floor, or the play room as there's a TV screen primarily used for video games that Jet and Bean would often play, where he spotted Wave and Bean sitting on the light red sofa, playing the latest online first-person shooter game that gained popularity in just two months since its release date. And based on what he's seeing on the screen, Wave is dominating Bean's team thanks to her teammates buffing her character's defense and offense… Along with her team having better teammates than Bean. Really, Bean's best members includes a cyborg ninja and a gorilla scientist, while the rest of his members are playing characters that are designed for advanced players.
"Come on, just a little more," Bean muttered, focusing on his aim at the black hooded character with two shotguns. "That target point is mine!"
"You wish," Wave replied, smiling that the match is hers. "Besides, you know what time it is?"
"Oh no. Please don't tell me..."
It's high noon for Bean, Jet thought to himself as he tossed the can of mango juice into the trash, knowing his younger brother is going to lose the match.
Bean didn't finish his sentence when he spotted his character getting instantly killed by Wave's bullets despite having full health, along with two of his teammates.
"And that's game," Wave said as the timer reached zero, her defense team being the victor of this match. "You know what you have to do."
"Fine," Bean muttered as he tossed the controller on the rug before going downstairs, muttering angrily to himself, "Why did I chose that character in the first place?! If I had just..."
Picking up the black wireless controller from the rug, Jet asked his brunette friend, "What did you mean by that?"
"Well, Bean wanted to go against me at that game," Wave started her story as she declined for another match online, "And I told him I'd obliterate him and his team no problem. So Bean wanted to prove me wrong, and made things interesting. The team that loses must buy the winner candy of their choice."
"And you won..." Jet stated the obvious as he placed the wireless controller on a container where they keep the controllers on the gaming systems they own. "So that means, he has to..."
He didn't even have to finish his sentence as he knew what Wave wanted whenever she has the freedom to choose her sweets. Which means for Bean that he has to walk (or ride his Extreme Gear) to the convenient store where they sell that candy exclusive to that store. Poor him.
"While you're waiting for my brother to come back, we can go to my room since I remember you wanted to continue our conversation in private," Jet reminded Wave, his hand already on the pocket containing Wave's necklace. "And yes," the Filipino pulled out the red orb necklace from his left pocket and handed it to the brunette before concluding his sentence, "I didn't forget about this."
"Thanks." Wave smiled as she put on her necklace. "So, did you had any trouble getting that thief?"
"A bit, though. Someone named Silver happened to catch him with a whip that doubles as a taser."
"A taser whip? That's something you don't see everyday."
"I know! I wonder where he got it?" Jet wondered as he opened the door to his room.
As the two friends were entering the bedroom, Jet took off his plaid shirt and tossing it onto his laundry basket, leaving his white sleeveless shirt on. He soon laid on his bed after turning on the fan since his room felt very humid and hot, even though the air conditioning in this house is still working just fine. Wave could have pulled out the chair from his desk, but she choose to sit at the edge of the bed like she always would despite the fact that, besides the chair from his desk, there's a small couch that would fit three people.
As Wave took off her red Sperrys, she noticed a book on the floor and decided to pick it up, scrolling through the contents of it. Jet grabbed the book from Wave's hands and aimlessly tossed it back to his desk, though it landed on the laundry basket due to the lack of a loud 'thud' to indicate that he successfully did it.
"It's my book, not yours," Jet replied to Wave.
"I technically bought it for you. Remember?" Wave decided to answer back, hoping that Jet would remember that she gave it to him on his birthday a few weeks ago.
"Oh, well then, buy your own copy!" Jet corrected himself, both of his hands at the back of his head. "So, what did you wanted to talk to me about that you didn't want Storm to know?"
"Okay. But first, do you promise not to tell Storm ANYTHING about our conversation, even if he begs?" Wave questioned Jet, putting emphasis on 'anything'.
"I swear," Jet replied with three fingers in the air, showing in his language that he promises to do something such as keep vital secrets or be at a certain location for someone. "You won't hear me mutter a word about this to Storm."
"Good. Lord knows what would happen if I told this to him."
As in, the secret will be out in less than a half hour. Maybe two hours if he's lucky.
"Alright then, tell me," Jet stated, looking at Wave.
"Fine," Wave stopped to take a short breath before telling her black-haired friend, "The reason I'm not going to the birthday party tomorrow is that I have to go… Oh, gods do I dare say it… Please don't laugh on what I'm about to say, short-head."
"I won't." Jet again held out three fingers to Wave.
"You asked for it. I'm going dress shopping with my mom-"
"WHAT?!" Jet exclaimed in surprise, his head off his pillows and his back off the sheets.
"Let me finish!" Wave snapped back. "I'm going dress shopping with my mom because I'm going to a wedding in Paris on August 7th!"
After Wave revealed her reason on not going to the birthday party tomorrow, the room was in silence minus the whirling of Jet's ceiling fan letting out some cool air. Wave can understand why Jet wouldn't say anything immediately since he's receiving this news at the last minute. Well, the dress shopping anyway. Besides, her going dress shopping did came out of nowhere to Wave to be fair; she did get the memo on Tuesday. The news that she's going to Paris with her parents does give her some time to inform her friends (mainly Jet), but the dress shopping just came at the time where she has something going on (a birthday party to attend).
So after what feels like a minute to the both of them, Jet broke the silence by saying, "Really?"
"Sadly, yes," Wave responded, looking up at the ceiling fan. "My mom thought tomorrow would be a really good time to buy me a new dress for this occasion despite the fact I own a few good dresses."
To be more precise, dresses she wore to semi-formal occasions such as a wedding anniversary, and various of school dances she was dragged into.
"Hey, weddings require you to look a little sexier than usual," Jet replied as he looked out at the window. He swore he saw something on the tree close to his window. Could be someone's cat or that one kid that likes to climb on that tree.
"So what you're trying to say is that I'm not good looking all the time?" Wave interpreted Jet's comment.
Oh, gods. Not good!
Jet's focus on the mysterious stranger/object (he doesn't quite know) from outside his window is lost when he heard Wave's comment. He didn't expect Wave to say that! Now his face is turning a shade of red when trying to reply back to her!
"What?! N...no! You already look great..." Jet wished he didn't chugged his mango juice earlier. He really needs a sip of it now after saying that sentence! Or another can after he finishes his sentence that might make him faint. "But what I was trying to say… Uh… Gods, this sounded a lot better in my head."
"I don't blame you, short-head," Wave said. "I think I know what you're trying to say."
"Really? Oh, thank the gods." Jet heavily sighed. "That's one less thing I have to worry about today."
"Eh? What other things did you have on your mind, short-head?"
"Well..."
Jet did wanted to tell Wave about the laser pen and more info on Silver. Guess this is the right time to do it before Bean barges in and teases him and Wave like the immature little brother he is.
"Remember when I mentioned Silver earlier?" Jet started the conversation as he moved closer to where Wave is.
"Yeah." Wave nodded her head. "What about the guy that helped you earlier?"
"Well, for starters, his hair isn't exactly normal. It's like he dyed it… well… silver. Or a shade of it, I'm not too sure..."
"Really? Go on..."
"Second," Jet pulled out the pen he founded earlier, handing it to Wave.
"What's so special about it anyway?"
"Click it."
Wave did so, and in an instant, a laser shot out of it, hitting one of the sofa pillows. Luckily, it didn't damage it too much, only leaving some black markings on the white and blue pillow.
"Holy crap, Jet," Wave commented, handing it back to him after what she witnessed.
"My feelings exactly," Jet said, putting the pen back into his pocket. "I found it at Astra Park after getting our necklaces back."
"Who the hell leaves a random laser pen in a park anyway?!"
"My best guess would have to be Silver, though on accident. Which brings me to my third point." Jet pulls his phone to show Wave the text message with Silver's number on it. "Silver happened to get my number despite the fact I never told him it."
"Really? That's awkward. Did you ever met him prior to today?"
Jet shook his head 'no', placing the phone next to him, screen facing down.
"That's just it. I have no idea how he could have possibly retrieved it in the first place," Jet said, now lying back down.
Wave picked up Jet's phone and replied, "You want me to call Silver for a little investigation?"
"No way," Jet said, grabbing his phone from Wave's hand as he's now sitting back. "Besides, if it weren't for him, then we would've never gotten our necklaces back, along with the thief getting away with the stolen stuff."
"Alright. You made a fair point. Still..." Wave smiled as she slowly tried to steal back Jet's phone from his hands. "I promised to you I can call back your prank caller. Can I still do that?"
"Well..." Jet didn't have to think twice about it since that prank caller did call him fifteen times today. Yes, he counted. "Go for it."
Wave was about to grab it, but Jet quickly got out of the bed and held his phone up as high as he can, "That is, if you can get it from me!"
"Oh, you're so on!" Wave accepted Jet's challenge as she got out of Jet's bed and attempted to get her friend's phone. This should have been easy for her since she's easily taller than him, but to her surprise, she missed it at the last second due to Jet moving it to the left.
She tried grabbing aiming for the left, yet instead of Jet moving his arm to whatever direction Wave predicted, he suddenly dashed out of his room while screaming, "Catch me if you can, Winnie!"
"THAT DOES IT!" Wave snapped back loudly, barging out of Jet's room and chasing after her friend that leads to the game room, downstairs, and the kitchen. The two were lucky that neither Blake nor Naylene didn't scold them for running inside the house, especially Jet. In fact, Jet's parents are used to this type of action happening in the house due to Jet and Bean's bickering and shouting that lead to pointless chases around most of the house.
Jet was sure that he can avoid her, but to his surprise, Wave ended up snatching the phone from his hands while he wasn't looking. To be more precise, she was behind the couch and decided that chasing him just for a prank call was pointless. So the logical thing that Wave can do to prevent herself from getting exhausted from running around the house is wait until Jet is near the couch to grab his phone. The result: SUCCESS!
"I've got it fair and square. Now, let's see..." Wave smiled as she scrolled down to Jet's call history to find the prank caller, sitting on the couch. And to be honest, it's not that difficult when she sees the same number more than three times that doesn't have a name.
"You found the number al-" As he's making his way to where Wave is, Jet's sentence was cut off when he tripped on one of the legs from the glass coffee table, and ended up crashing to the couch. And if that's not enough, he also ended up on top of his brunette friend, brown eyes and blue eyes meeting.
"Uh…" both of them can only say as they process on what just happened, faces turning red.
Right when Jet was about to give space to Wave, he heard the front door opening and his younger brother saying out loud, "Hey, Wave! It took me a bit longer, but I got your chocolate covered gummy bea-" only to pause his sentence when he witnessed that his brother is on top of Wave on the couch.
This scene plus the immaturity of Bean can only result:
"Kuya, I didn't know you wanted to get into first base with Wave that badly!"
For Jet, however…
"BEAN!" Jet yelled as he got up from the couch and threw the closet pillow towards Bean, hitting him in the face. "It was an accident! I tripped on the table legs and fell on her!"
"Oh, sure it was..." Bean sarcastically replied while kicking the pillow, not believing his older brother. "I bet you did it on purpose."
"OH, THAT'S IT!" exploded both Jet and Wave, the latter snatching the pillow to toss at the fourteen year old.
"What?! I mean-"
"Shut the hell up, Bean!" Wave shouted as she jumped off the couch and started to chase after the annoying little brother, who immediately started to go upstairs and enter his room before he faces the fury of his brother's best friend.
He totally deserves that, Jet snickered in his thoughts.
You said it… another voice popped into the inner conversation.
Wait a minute… That can't be possible.
Wondering who in the right mind would've invaded his mind (if that's even possible), Jet turned around behind him to see someone taller (and maybe older) than him with blue short spiky hair, casually tossing a golden ring in his hands.
"Hey there!" the blue haired figure spoke, putting the golden ring on his wrist.
Jet could have said something like 'hello' or 'hey there' back, but Jet is far from fine when he's seeing a mysterious teen/man (still doesn't know his exact age yet) that's in his house! He didn't even see this blue-haired figure enter with Bean, nor did he exactly saw him prior to this moment.
Suspicious that this weird person might be a criminal that would rob his house, Jet snatched a pillow from the couch and started to back his arm for a little more force on the weird person. However, before he can even toss the pillow at the blue-haired figure, Jet witnessed the figure running quickly and taking the pillow from his hand! From Jet's perspective, that man was like a blur just from something like a sprint. And that man is far from normal…
"Just… who are you?" Jet asked, backing up from the blue-haired figure, eventually landing on the couch.
"Okay, I guess that needs to be cleared up before you toss any more stuff at me," the figure replied as he sat down next towards the shocked and confused Filipino. "So, I'm Sonic, though my birth name is actually Ryan Griffith. And the next part will probably shock you, but I'm-"
"One of the five heroes from 200 years ago," Jet concluded Sonic's sentence, remembering that from the book he read earlier. As he finished what Sonic was going to say, he grabbed another pillow and tossed it into the "hero's" face.
"Alright, I expected you to do that. But seriously, I'm telling you the truth," Sonic assured the teen and grabbing both of Jet's hands. "And don't you dare toss any more pillows or anything at my face at this point."
"Fine, I won't. But if you're the hero from 200 years ago, then..."
"I shouldn't be here is what you're saying, right?" Sonic concluded Jet's question, which the latter nodded in agreement. "Fair enough. Without boring you to death, I was sealed into an artifact called the Chaos Emeralds, along with four of my friends, right after my death."
"Wait..."
Realizing what Sonic had said, Jet checked his necklace to see if he has a Chaos Emerald on him due to the fact that it's the only accessory he had on him that has anything resembling a jewel. To his surprise, the small blue jewel next to the wing is glowing brightly when he touched it. Oh gods, he couldn't believe it! Prior to today, the jewel never glowed in front of Jet!
"No way..." Jet can only say, staring at the small blue Chaos Emerald and back at Sonic.
"Believe it," Sonic replied back.
"I remember my dad saying this necklace is special when he gave it to me on my birthday, but I didn't think he meant this!"
"What did you think he meant by 'special'?"
"As a good luck charm. Plus, it's been passed down by my family for years."
"Interesting. Can you explain-" Sonic was cut when the two heard footsteps from the stairs, along with a voice.
"Alright, that takes care of your poor brother," Wave commented as she sat down next to Jet, handing him one piece of the 'cavity bear' as he likes to dub it. "Go ahead and take it."
Instead of taking it like he would, Jet wonders if Wave has seen Sonic like he has earlier.
Curious, he asks, "Hey, do you see a person with blue hair sitting next to my left?"
Wave turned to see what Jet is talking about and responds to him, "Uh… No? What, are you suddenly seeing things?"
"N...No!"
How can any normal human being miss someone with bright blue hair?! Jet can physically see Sonic, snickering at what's going on.
"I swear, he was in the house a minute-"
It's no use explaining it to her, Sonic informed the confused Filipino in his thoughts.
What do you mean? Hurry up or I'll throw something harder than a pillow at your face!
Well, you can see me. Right?
Yeah? And Wave can't see you because… Jet paused his sentence in order for Sonic to finish the missing piece in his thoughts.
She has no access to any energy from the Chaos Emeralds. So in short, you got to own or at least harness some energy from it in order to see me.
I fall in section one. Correct?
Bingo! For the most part, your friends and family can't see me. And we can communicate with-
Our thoughts. I figured that part out, Sonic. Jet finished Sonic's sentence, chewing the cavity bear. So one more question before our mind conversation ends.
Fire away.
You think you can appear to everyone without access to energy from the emerald?
That's child's play to me! But, how about I do that tomorrow so I won't freak out your friend?
Fine by me.
Cool. Now, let's listen to your friend prank call the poor victim.
Jet witnessed Wave waiting for the prank caller to pick up the phone and laugh at what's going to happen next.
As he's watching the two teens engage at the prank call, Sonic spotted someone with black hair and red streaks staring at the window before he vanished from the ancient hero's green eyes. Sonic can only assume that guy was just passing by, but Sonic has a small feeling that the stranger passing down Jet's house didn't do this just by coincidence, but on purpose.
Why?
"Silver, it's Shadow. Get the others into the apartment in about ten minutes. I have news to share about the Chaos Emeralds. It's… special."
Author's Note: Cliffhanger! I know there's not a lot of action going on, but now you get to meet Sonic as a spirit! And before you ask, Sonic isn't transparent like most ghosts/spirits; he's viewed like if he were a human.
Also, I had an Overwatch reference since I briefly played it once at someone's house.
Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and I'll see you later!
gamerprincess13 ;D
