Chapter 3: "When God says 'Move!'"
Rain. Out of all the days it could have rained, it was raining on the day of training. Thankfully our training was indoors… somewhat. Knuckles had taken us to the Master Emerald Chamber to show us how to command it. Well, to show Silver how to command it. I just stayed to help Silver. Being his fellow protector, I help balance Silver's ability to control chaos energy, and he shielded me from too much chaos. A fair trade.
Tails and Dr. Neuron had put a shelter up outside so they could still work on the Portal. They said that nothing would stop them from starting.
Hours passed and Knuckles had us break for lunch. So, since it was still raining outside, we had a picnic in the Emerald Chamber.
Silver had brought the basket and we had turkey sandwiches. This was a treat, seeing as Knuckles didn't like poultry enough to raise a flock, so even store bought turkey was nice.
Silver ate his turkey sandwich and looked at the Master Emerald. I look over at him as he shakes his head. "What?" I asked.
"It's still hard to believe that I'm the apprentice of the Guardian of Angel Island," He said, not looking away from the Emerald. "More so I'm going to be the Guardian someday."
I smiled. "And with how well you're coming along in your training," I said. "I have a feeling that you're going to be great. If the Emeralds don't vanish on you like with Knuckles."
"Hey!" Knuckles said. "I resent that!"
Silver and I laughed. It was fun to tease each other. The Chaotix and I often did the best pranks. Mostly on Knuckles. I lean back and smile as I eat my sandwich. My mind wandered over past adventures; Meeting the gang, coming to Angel Island, accidently throwing fruit on Sonic's head and him chasing me for it. I smile at these memories, glad to have met these guys.
Suddenly the Emerald brightened and my spine tightened. I almost drop my sandwich and shiver.
"Em!?" Silver asked before his fur stood on end. This sense came from being Knuckles' apprentice, telling him something wasn't right on the island.
Knuckles apparently sensed it too. "Tails!" He said. "And the Doc!"
We all get up and race outside. The rain had worsened into a thunderstorm. I never liked lightning; after being caught in a storm like this, I never wanted lightning to come that close to me ever again.
We raced to where the portal was and found that chaos energy that was making it work was going haywire. Tails and Dr. Neuron were working at getting it under control, but it seemed useless.
"What happened?!" Knuckles shouted over the storm.
"Lightning struck!" Dr. Neuron answered. "It's overloading the system!"
Silver and Knuckles instantly got to work trying to control the energy. Metal soon came out to see what the commotion was. "Operative M?!"
I look up just as a bolt of Chaos Energy struck out from the portal and nearly hit Metal. This caused some of his systems to malfunction and he lost balance. I soon noticed that the wind had gotten stronger, and blowing toward the portal. I moved forward to balance Metal and realized that the portal was sucking anything close to it inside the vortex. And Metal and I were caught in the cyclone.
"SILVER!" I shouted, fear gripping my heart as Metal and I slid toward it.
Silver looked up and eyes widened in fright. "EM!" He shouted as he used his ability to catch Metal and me, but it was clear that using his ability for two different things where wearing him out quickly.
Dr. Neuron noticed and used his own psychic abilities to try and pull us out of the cyclone. The Chaos Energy was draining me quickly, and making my back very tight and sore. Memories of old fights flash in my mind, and somehow Ryan comes to mind and stays there. I remember thinking that I owe him a new suit, then I blacked out, feeling like I'm falling before landing on the hard ground.
I woke up a while later, feeling dizzy, sore and cold. I slowly open my eyes, and I'm met with a blur of color and sounds. I close my eyes again for a moment and moan. Where was I? I open my eyes again and my eyesight had cleared a bit. A forest. I was in a forest. And from the colors, I thought it was fall. But the musty, dead smell told me otherwise. Looking at the leaves, I saw that they weren't fall colors or orange, red or gold, but brown.
I moan again and push myself up to a sitting position. Soon, I grip a limb and hoist myself to a standing position, but I held onto the tree, feeling dizzy and unsteady.
"H…hello?" I ventured, my voice sounding weak and tired. "Silv?... Metal?... Anyone there?"
No answer.
I sigh and wander forward, using the trees to keep me upright. I continue to call out for help as I wandered. I was frightened, alone, and in a strange place.
"Anyone?..." I called.
Soon, I couldn't walk anymore, so I just held onto a tree, forcing myself to stay up. My eyesight was fading again, so I forced myself awake by biting tongue.
"Hello?"
I looked up wearily at the voice and saw a mobian hedgehog. He was a darker blue than Sonic, but he had red shoes, white streaks, and green eyes. Beside him was a Mobian leopard that looked like a Mobian-styled Indiana Jones.
"You need assistance?" The hedgehog asked.
I nodded, my legs trembling and almost falling.
"Whoa, easy there kid." The leopard said, coming over to my side and holding me up.
The Hedgehog took my other side as I sag into their arms. I looked at the hedgehog, thinking he looked very familiar. I noticed a confused and worried look in his eyes before I black out again.
Voices. Someone was talking in the room I was resting in, but I was too tired to open my eyes to see who it was. Their voices sounded echoy and contained, not like in a normal room.
"How she doin' Doc?" Said a voice that I didn't recognize.
"She'll be waking up soon, I'm sure." Said a voice that new better. It was Jonathan. He was here, so I must be somewhere safe at least. But, where was Silver? I didn't hear his voice among the others.
"Tell us again how it is that you and your companions came here." Said a more technical voice.
"I was working on a portal with a friend of mine, but it was storming." I heard Jonathan say. "It was struck by lightning and the system overloaded. Apparently it activated and connected to this place and pulled us through. Have you found Silver?"
"Not yet, But Yoster and Sleek are looking." Said the first voice. "But, it'll be interesting seeing Silv."
By now I wanted to wake up. Slowly I open my eyes to see where I was. It looked like Eli's home, but larger. Much larger.
"Hey, she's waking up." Said the first voice.
Next thing I knew there were four faces looking down at me. I flinch and look up at them. "Um…" And that was all I could say.
"Kyler, Sleek, back up." Said a voice that sounded like it belonged in a city and a black fingerless-gloved hand pulled the faces back.
"Are you alright Emily?" Jonathan asked.
"I… I think so…" I answer, working at sitting up.
"Easy Emily," Jonathan said, gently helping me up.
My head was still spinning, but I was awake enough to see who where in the 'room.' A hedgehog, one was a leopard and the other was a brown Echidna.
The hedgehog seemed to be in his late teens. His light blue quills were up like when Sonic went super, but were shorter, and he had locks of blond hair. His dark blue eyes watched me with curiosity as he grinned a very familiar grin. He had black fingerless gloves, black shoes, a grey sleeveless shirt and light blue jeans. I also noticed a wooden cross around his neck.
The Echidna was light brown with striking grey eyes. His gloves looked like Knuckles, but the cuff was grey with a red stripe. He wore cargo pants and a black tank top, he also had a pair of goggles on his head.
The other was the leopard from earlier. His Indiana-like aura was still there, especially with a glock pistol.
The three looked at me until the hedgehog nudged the leopard. "Go get Andy and Kayla."
The leopard nodded and left, his thin tail snaking behind him.
Soon, I spoke up. "Um… Doc? This isn't Angel Island isn't it?"
Dr. Neuron shook his head. "No. I'll explain everything when Kayla and Andy get here. In the mean time, meet Jason and Sleek."
The hedgehog, who I presumed Jason, grinned and came forward. "Hey, welcome to Ironlock Base. Home of the Freedom Fighters. I'm Jason Hedgehog, part of the recue team. And this is my friend, Sleek."
Sleek nodded and offered a hand to shake. "Nice to meet you." He said as I took his hand. His grip wasn't as strong as Knuckles, but it was still strong.
"Ironlock…" I said, thinking about when I visited there. "But, there was a village here."
This time Sleek spoke up. "That village was destroyed three years ago. The refugees are in the lower levels of Ironlock Prison."
"The fifth level down actually." Jason said. "The safest level. We're on the third level down, the medics."
"Destroyed?" I asked.
Both Mobians nodded.
"Knothole?" I ask, afraid of the answer.
"I'm afraid so," Sleek said. "Everyone made it out though, and we made this our home and base."
I look down, sorrow for the beautiful village of Knothole growing. I then look up at them again. "What about the original freedom fighters? Sonic, Sally, Knuckles, Tails…"
I trail off as Jason and Sleek start laughing.
"They're fine," Jason said chuckling. "My old man can get out of any trouble after all."
I blink at the hedgehog. "You're… Sonic's son?"
Jason nodded. "I may not be able to run at the speed of sound, but I find other ways to help in the fight."
"That's an understatement."
We all turn to see the Leopard had returned with the dark blue hedgehog and a woman that looked almost exactly like my mom. Her hair was braided back, she wore dark green cargo pants, a black T-shirt and a brown coat with several pockets.
The woman stared at me, and I couldn't help but feel like I knew her from somewhere. Her features were so familiar, it was like she was a character from a half-remembered dream.
"Emily Bridgstone." Jonathan said, causing me to look up at him. "Meet Kayla Stone, AKA, Emily Bridgestone."
