Ch. 2- The Search
Sonic the Hedgehog © Sega
Ace the Chao © Me
"Tails, I thought we were in a hurry! Why are we in the house?"
"Just gimme a minute, Sonic! Uh…where did I put that thing? Hmmm…oh, wait is this…? Oh, no. Just a flashlight."
CLANK! CLUNK! CLACK!
Various objects were being tossed outside of Tails' room while Sonic sat on the sofa, his head propped up on the arm and his feet on the coffee table. The hedgehog huffed in impatience as he waited for his little brother, not that anyone could blame him. The longer they waited, the bigger chance Eggman had of finding another Chaos Emerald.
Plus, Sonic tended to go a little stir crazy if he sat down for too long.
The hedgehog glanced over at Ace, who is munching on a papaya as he too waited for Tails.
"What's going on with you, Ace?" Sonic asked.
"Chao-Chao," Ace squeaked with a shrug before he continued his lunch.
"Found it!" Tails' voice called out as he exited his room, holding some sort of device in his hand. It looked like a computer screen with a yellow frame and two handles.
"What's that you got there, little bud?" Sonic asked.
"I call it the Miles Electric!" Tails answered. "It's a handheld supercomputer I made!"
"That right?" Sonic asked, giving an impressed grin. "What'd you bring it out for?"
"Well, I've been thinking," Tails started, "since we're going to be searching for the Chaos Emeralds, we're gonna need a little help, and then it hit me! The Miles Electric is synced up with the signature of a Chaos Emerald, so we can use this as a radar to track them down!"
"Tails, old buddy, you did it again!" Sonic said as he stood up with his hand on the fox's shoulder. "Seriously, where do you come with this stuff?"
"Chao! Chao-Chao-Chao!" Ace cheered, flying around his guardian's head.
"I have my moments," Tails said, beaming with pride as he held the Miles Electric in his hand. "You know, I made this using some old computer parts I found in the junkyard? I mean, who'd be stupid enough to throw away a perfectly good-"
"Ahem!" Sonic cleared his throat. "Tails, I hate to interrupt your 'techno-babble', but shouldn't you be tracking a Chaos Emerald?"
"Oh, right!" Tails said before he typed on the touch-pad screen. "Hmm…just a few calibrations and…oh! Found one!"
"That was fast," said Sonic. "Where is it?"
"Located somewhere in Windy Valley," Tails replied. "How about that? There was one close to where we live this whole time!"
"So that's why Eggman was here," Sonic noted, "and he might still be here looking for it! We got no time to lose!"
"Then let's roll!" Tails exclaimed. "Ace, you look after the place until we get back, okay?"
"Chao!" Ace saluted.
On that, the hedgehog-and-fox duo left the house, heading off to Windy Valley.
"How long has it been since we've been to Windy Valley, anyway?" Sonic asked as he and Tails walked down the stairs.
"Gee, when I think about it, I guess it's been about a month," Tails answered. "Running over hills and jumping on bridges, running with the wind, jumping into killer tornados…wait, what did I just say?"
THUD! Suddenly, Tails tripped on something as he made it to the bottom of the stairs, landing snout-first in the grass.
"You okay, bud?" Sonic asked.
Tails pulled his face out of the dirt, spitting out grass and bits of gravel before he looked back and found some sort of green stone.
"Huh?" the fox muttered as he picked it up. "What's this thing?"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Sonic spoke up. "Isn't that the keystone to the tunnel that leads to Windy Valley?"
"Oh, yeah, it is!" Tails answered. "What's it doing all the way out here?"
"Must've been dislodged from its pedestal," Sonic replied. "Well, there's only one thing to do."
"Yep!" Tails agreed as he and Sonic headed off, running along the wooden plank bridge that covered the large fissure in the ground before entering the cavern that led to Windy Valley, the one with the strong updrafts. Sure enough, they found a pedestal with a familiar groove in it: the place where the keystone once sat.
"If you would be kind as to do the honors, Tails?" Sonic asked.
"Why, I would be delighted, my good Sonic," Tails replied, chuckling at their banter before putting the keystone on the pedestal. In doing so, the updrafts grew even stronger, pushing up the debris that blocked the hole where it was coming from.
"And away we go~!" Sonic shouted before he jumped down into the hole, cheering all the way.
"Hey, Sonic!" Tails cried as he jumped in after him. "Wait up!"
XXX
Windy Valley: the windiest, craziest place in all of the Mystic Ruins…and Sonic loved it.
"WHOO-HOO!" Sonic hollered, picking up a trail of rings as he ran down the path while Tails flew up in the air, flying through some large metal hoops that were floating in mid-air.
"You just gotta love these Dash Rings!" Tails exclaimed as he raced through the air.
Sonic smirked before he ran up and bounced off a few springs, sending him higher and higher until he reached a chunk of land and ran along the metal bridge. As he did, a few Spinner Bots stood in his path. The hedgehog smirked before he jumped up, using his Homing Attack to smash the robots and free the animals trapped inside before continuing on with Tails flying next to him.
"Man, Eggman's robots are pretty much everywhere these days, huh?" Tails asked.
"Even if he's not even here, himself," Sonic quipped before he jumped up and smashed another robot, this one looking like some sort of purple serpent with fire jetting out from its side, thus releasing a tiny parrot inside. "See what I mean?"
"Sonic, look out!" Tails cried, pointing ahead. "Cliff!"
Unfortunately, it seemed Sonic heeded Tails' advice a bit too late, for he ended up stepping off the edge of a cliff and causing him to plummet down towards the bottom…or so it seemed. Just as Tails was ready to scream out his older brother's name in horror, the blue hedgehog suddenly floated up on an updraft.
"Huh!" Tails gasped, both in relief and surprise.
"What?" Sonic asked. "We've been here before, Tails, remember? Should've seen this coming."
"I-I know," Tails answered, turning his head away and crossing his arms, trying to look as cool as possible. "I wasn't worried. Not for a minute."
"Right," Sonic smirked before he literally ran on the updraft. "Now you coming or what?"
Tails rolled his eyes before he followed after the hedgehog, using the wind to push his ascent skyward, as well as going through several Dash Rings to use as a bit of a shortcut to solid ground. Sonic appeared behind him not long after before speeding on ahead of him. Tails seemed to pout for a moment, but then he spotted something up ahead that made his heart sink into his chest: a humungous cyclone, spinning around uncontrollably…and Sonic was headed right for it.
"Uh…Sonic?" Tails asked, sweat-dropping. "I don't think that's a good idea!"
"Ah, c'mon, Tails!" Sonic replied. "It's not every day a cyclone appears in Windy Valley! Don't be such a worry-wart!"
"Uhh…I'm not sure about this," Tails muttered. "Maybe we should find another-"
"Less talk and more action, I always say!" Sonic interjected, grabbing the kitsune by his wrist. "So let's go!"
"Mommy…!" Tails squeaked before the due jumped into the cyclone, the fox screaming bloody murder the whole time.
XXX
The whole world was spinning around his head…literally. What would you expect if you were inside a giant cyclone?
"Get me outta here!" Tails cried as he was tossed around helplessly like a rag doll in the wind. It felt like that Whirl-And-Hurl ride that the carnival had last year, only there were no bars to hold him against the rotating walls. The poor fox covered his mouth, his stomach heaving and his face turning a sickly green color.
"Oh, boy," he gagged, but as he looked down, he soon overcame his nausea when he spotted Sonic, laughing wildly as he was also spun around by the wind before he landed on and ran along some debris, collecting the floating rings as he went.
"Sonic!" he called out. "Wait for me!"
On that, Tails sped off after him as fast as his namesakes could spin, using the Dash Rings to propel him forward. Before too long, he caught up to Sonic, shooting him a disdainful glare.
"Ah, c'mon, bud," Sonic said. "You aren't sore at me, are you? You gotta admit, it was a pretty fun ride!"
"Fun for you, maybe…" Tails muttered, rolling his eyes.
As the duo ran, Sonic soon found himself standing before a golden panel with the number 1 on it.
"What's this thing?" Sonic asked.
"Dunno," Tails answered. "Never saw it before."
Suddenly, a familiar little red ball of light appeared, floating towards Sonic's ear.
"Jump on Panel No. 1," she said. "It will take you two Panels 2 and 3. Jump as soon as you land on a panel, or else you'll fall."
"Huh?" Sonic murmured as he looked around, but saw nothing. "Hey, Tails, you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Tails asked.
"…You know what? Never mind," Sonic answered before he backed up a bit before jumping on the golden panel, which abruptly caused him to jump on a second panel that was on a wind turbine, then a third, followed by a fourth, and then a fifth until he landed once again on solid ground.
"Well how about that?" Sonic asked.
"Whoa!" Tails exclaimed as he floated up beside him. "How'd you do that?!"
"I…I dunno," Sonic replied, "but no time to think about it now. We gotta motor!"
"Right!" Tails nodded before they both ran off. After passing the checkpoint, the duo soon came upon a trampoline. Curious, but not one to ask questions, Sonic just jumped up onto it, and once he gained an efficient height, he landed on a bridge which took him on the path to a spring, upon which he soon jumped, and soon after, he was sent bouncing across many more springs through the air until he ended up going out through the eye of the storm and into the blue, cloudy skies, filled with soaring eagles.
"Ahh…!" Tails sighed. "Finally out of that mess!"
"You enjoyed it," Sonic quipped. "Admit that you did."
"Yeah, right!" Tails replied before he looked down and saw another one of those viper robots. "Oh! I got this one!"
Using his Spin Dash attack, Tails slammed into the robot, smashing it into pieces and freeing the little gorilla inside of it.
"Seriously, though," Tails said. "It's like Eggman's robots are everywhere, even though he's not here!"
"Maybe he saw us coming and took precautions," Sonic replied. "Wouldn't put it passed Egghead."
They pressed onward, with Sonic destroying a rock wall in their path before they sped down, down, and down into a winding corkscrew before jumping off more springs (which didn't help quell Tails' earlier nausea). As they passed another checkpoint, Tails decided to take this moment to purge his stomach of its contents. After that, they continued onward, riding the updrafts and using them as invisible bridges…plus, it was just fun. As Sonic ran through loop-de-loops Tails kept using whatever Dash Rings he could find to get further ahead.
Then, as they neared one more corkscrew, they both something at the very bottom: a blue gem with a mystical glow.
"There it is!" Sonic exclaimed. "The Chaos Emerald!"
"Hey, Sonic!" Tails spoke up. "How about this? Whoever gets it first wins!"
"You're on, little bud!" Sonic answered.
"Okay! GO!" Tails shouted before he dove down to get the Emerald. Sonic, not one to lose a race, soon sped after him, running around the corkscrew with a determined grin, but as he got closer, he suddenly looked over at Tails, who had a determined expression of his own.
'…Maybe he won't notice…' the hedgehog thought to himself before he suddenly stuck his foot out and wobbled a bit.
"Whoooooooaaa!" Sonic cried, flailing his arms about before he hit the ground, face-first. "OOF!"
Soon, Tails flew up to the Chaos Emerald and picked it up.
"Yes!" he exclaimed. "I got the Chaos Emerald!"
"Good job, buddy," Sonic said, dusting himself off. "You beat me."
"Yeah…I never saw you trip like that, though," Tails replied. "You didn't do that on purpose, did you?"
"What?" Sonic asked. "Nah, you must've been seeing things. Come on, let's go."
With that, the hedgehog walked off while Tails watched him, his ears drooping sadly.
'Sonic…I almost think that you're not taking me seriously,' he thought.
"Uhh…hey, Tails?"
"Yeah, Sonic?"
"I was just thinking…HOW ARE WE GONNA GET DOWN FROM HERE?!"
Tails sighed in exasperation.
XXX
Later on, Sonic and Tails have made it safely back into the Mystic Ruins.
"…Well, that was weird," Sonic spoke up.
"Yeah, how'd we make it back, anyway?" Tails asked, only for Sonic to shrug in response. "Jeez…this feels almost like some kinda video game."
Sonic blinked at this.
"What?" Tails asked.
"Uh…nothing," Sonic muttered.
"So what now?" asked the kitsune.
"Hmm…" Sonic hummed thoughtfully before he grinned. "Tails, are you a betting man?"
"Am I a betting man?" Tails asked. "Well, no, I wouldn't say I…wait a second."
"Casinopolis, anyone?" Sonic asked.
And so, after momentarily going back home to get Ace, who had been surprisingly well-behaved, the duo headed to the train station to head back to Station Square.
XXX
Concurrently, in said city, a certain red echidna had just entered the city himself. Knuckles looked around as he walked down the street, feeling somewhat out of place…and by somewhat, this writer meant very out of place. Seeing so many people at once in such a big city like this was certainly something new to him. Knuckles had only heard about Station Square, but truth be told, this was the first time he actually entered the city. However, right now, the echidna's mind was elsewhere.
"I have to find the missing pieces of the Master Emerald," Knuckles thought aloud. "It won't be easy. Pieces flew off just about everywhere! Now…where to start is the question."
Suddenly, Knuckles bumped into a gray wolf with golden yellow eyes, four long bangs sticking out of his forehead, a white muzzle, chest, stomach, and tail tip, and wearing a brown trench coat, a pair of black fingerless gloves, and a pair of black boots with two gray straps that were fastened by two silver buckles.
(A/N: OC cameo! XD)
"Hey!" barked the wolf. "Watch where you're going, fool!"
"Well, same to you, buddy!" Knuckles barked back.
The wolf scoffed before he kept walking, his hands shoved in his pockets.
"Jeez," Knuckles muttered. "Is everyone who lives in the city like this?"
As he walked, the little ball of light floated up to him from behind.
"Knuckles, you should be able to get into City Hall," the ball spoke before flying off again, just as Knuckles whirled around to see where the voice came from.
"…I must be hearing things," the echidna muttered as he turned around and flew off, "but just in case, I think I'll check out this 'City Hall'."
Easier said than done. Due to it being his first time in the city, Knuckles didn't even know what City Hall was, let alone where it was or what it looked like. At first, he considered asking directions, but then he gasped silently as he looked down and spotted a bunch of policemen surrounding a huge building…the very building where Chaos 0 was first seen attacking.
"Is that it?" Knuckles asked before he landed on the ground and walked toward the police tape.
"Hey, buddy!" shouted an officer. "What do you think you're doing?! You can't go in there!"
"Just watch me," Knuckles said as he tore the tape off.
"Hey!" the policeman barked as he grabbed the echidna. "I just told you, you can't go in there! I don't care if you're one of Sonic's little pals! No one is allowed beyond the police tape!"
Knuckles growled at the policeman before he grabbed him and tossed him across the street to another building.
"Don't. Touch. Me," Knuckles hissed before he went on to enter City Hall. "I got a job to do and I can't have you guys getting in my way."
The other officers looked at their comrade in shock before their eyes went back to the red echidna that just threw him.
XXX
"Just as I thought…I sensed shards of the Master Emerald here."
Knuckles looked, standing on the roof that overlooked Speed Highway. He looked down, watching the cars drive by down below. Deciding he wouldn't find the shards of the Master Emerald just sitting around, the echidna jumped off the roof and glided through the sky, scanning his surroundings, but then, he spotted one behind a glass window that led into the corridor of an office building.
"Found it!" Knuckles exclaimed as he glided towards the building. Using his spiked gloves, he easily clung to the wall before he scaled up the height of the building. Then, as he reached the window, he pulled his fist back and punched the glass before grabbing the shard. Thankfully, no one was present at the time he shattered the window.
"One down, two to go," Knuckles said before stashing the shard in his dreadlocks. Then he leapt off the building before gliding off once more. He then sensed another shard coming from somewhere nearby. "Man…I'm really good at this, huh?"
"You're not just good at it," said the little ball of light, floating about his head. "You've been with the Master Emerald for so long, you've become used to its aura. You can sense whether or not it's nearby."
"Uh, yeah!" Knuckles replied. "Whatever it is you said…wait, who said that? Who are you?"
"In time, you'll know, Knuckles…in time…"
On that, the ball floated away, leaving Knuckles confused.
"…Okay, I think I've been sitting on that island for way too long," the echidna muttered, "and yet…it kinda was talking sense…wait a minute, what am I doing?! I'm wasting valuable time, talking to myself!"
He soon found another shard embedded in a statue fountain. Someone must've found it first and thought it would make nice decoration of some sort. Knuckles soon landed in the pool surrounding the fountain before pulling the shard out.
"Two down," he said before he flew off once more. "Now, where's that third shard?"
He soon got his answer, for he once again sensed a third shard somewhere on the roof of another building. As he ascended, he spotted a billboard with an advertisement for Chao Cola and a certain blue hedgehog holding a bottle of said soft drink while winking.
"Is that…Sonic?" Knuckles asked. "If this is what he looks like now, he sure has changed…although with that smug look of his, I don't know if he's changed for better or worse."
Suddenly, his inner Master Emerald Detector kicked in again, and then, SMASH! The billboard came flying off the building, which Knuckles easily dodged, but as he looked down, he gasped and saw that the billboard was heading right for a woman and a young girl, walking down the street. The girl shrieked as she spotted the falling billboard, prompting her mother to shield her from the sign, but just as it seemed they were about to be flattened, the billboard suddenly stopped in midair. Confused, the mother and child looked up to see Knuckles, holding the billboard above his head.
"Don't just stand there!" Knuckles shouted. "Get going!"
"Thank you, Mister Mole!" answered the little girl as she and her mother ran off.
"I'm an echidna…" Knuckles murmured under his breath, but then he turned and tossed the billboard away, but in doing so, he was suddenly tackled into a building by a large robot: more than likely one of Eggman's. It was big and round, almost like the shape of an egg, but it had a rather intimidating appearance, like glowing red eyes and a gruesome smile. As it pinned Knuckles against the building, the crimson-furred echidna felt his senses going crazy. As he looked down at the robot's chasse, he could make out a familiar glow in the tinted black window on its chest.
"There it is!" Knuckles shouted before smashed his fist right through the robot, destroying it from the inside-out and grabbing the shard to boot. Soon, the two plummeted down to the ground, causing a cloud of dust to form, but as it dispersed, it is revealed that Knuckles stood over the destroyed robot, triumphantly while holding three of the Master Emerald shards.
"That's all of them here," Knuckles said before he began to make his exit. "That was surprisingly easy…but I know that the other shards won't be so easy to find."
TO BE CONTINUED…
For those wondering where One Piece: Unlimited Adventure is, don't worry, it's coming tomorrow.
Thanks to Ego-Man25 for giving me help on this chapter. :)
Also, the wolf in the trenchcoat that Knuckles bumped into is my OC, Dodger the Wolf. He won't have much relevance to the story, but he will have his own one shot when Sonic Adventure is finished. He'll only make small cameos every now and then.
Review please!
