Chapter 3: Meeting the Guardian

Donna and Tracy had been walking for a while, and the trees slowly started to move away from the path. The trail eventually started getting steeper, and the girls were getting tired. Buck panted heavily as he climbed up the hill.

"Don't worry Buck, we're almost there." Donna told the pup. 'At least I hope so…' she thought.

Finally, the girls reached the end of the trail, and realized they were at the top of a tall hill, just above a vast clearing. There was a small river flowing through the field, and several birds were singing as they flew down to the valley. There were only a few clouds in the sky and there was a breeze in the air. Donna closed her eyes and took a breath of air as she smiled.

'Wow, this place is pretty nice after all…' she thought. She re-opened her eyelids and looked toward her younger cousin, who was staring at the valley with a large grin on her face.

"This place is amazing!!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms in the air. She was about to run off into the valley, when she felt something grab her arm before she could. She turned around and saw Donna holding her arm. She frowned and raised her brow as she gave the teen an expression that said, "What's wrong?"

"Believe me, I'd LOVE to go down there and explore as well, but we have to find out WHERE we are before we do anything else." She explained.

The younger girl grimaced. She knew her cousin was right. Donna let go of Tracy, and they looked around, trying to spot a village, a house, anything that would give a sign that there were people nearby. Suddenly, Buck's ears lifted. He looked toward another, smaller dirt trail located down the hill, just beside the river. He started barking madly, and Donna accidentally let go of his leash. The Shi-Tzu raced down the hill like his life depended on it. Donna and Tracy, horrified by this, started chasing after the dog. Buck was one who easily got lost the woods, especially somewhere he had never been before. If there were any wild animals in the forest, he would surely get hurt.

"BUCK, GET BACK HERE YOU DOG-GONE MUTT!!!" Tracy practically screamed at the dog, but he didn't listen.

The girls followed the puppy, wondering what in the world got him to get so agitated like that.

"I'm SURE I heard someone screaming." Knuckles explained to Tails, who had landed his plane in front of the shrine a while ago.

"Seems to me you just imagined it, Knuckles. I don't see anyone here." The Kitsune said as he placed his hands on his hips.

"They must be further down the path. Let's keep- Huh?" Knuckles heard a faint barking sound, and a loud shout.

"BUCK, GET BACK HERE YOU DOG-GONE MUTT!!!" A feminine voice was heard from afar.

Knuckles and Tails looked toward where the shout was heard, and ran in that direction. After a moment of running, the couple arrived at a fork in the path. Unfortunately, they didn't know which way led to the owner of the voice. Suddenly, Buck came running in their direction, and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the oversized Echidna and Fox. He then started barking and howling at them. The two looked at the Dog and at each other with a confused look on their faces. Knuckles then advanced cautiously toward Buck and kneeled down next to him. Buck stopped barking, and Knuckles slowly began to pet his head. Buck looked up at Knuckles with a blank look.

"Where did you come from, little fella?" He asked the puppy. Buck then closed his eyes, sat down and started shaking his tail. Tails laughed at this.

"He must have gotten lost."

"Probably. Whoever owns him can't be too far." The red-head replied as he inspected his surroundings while scratching Buck behind the ears. Buck whimpered in joy at this, and Knuckles chuckled.

Meanwhile, Donna and Tracy quickly ran out of breath, and were slowing down fast. They eventually stopped and bent over with their hands on their knees, trying desperately to regain their breath. Donna growled in frustration.

"I swear… once we… get that dog… he's gonna… be in… big trouble…" She said between pants. Tracy nodded as she straightened herself up, her pants becoming slower and lighter.

"Why did we agree to bring him along anyway?"

Suddenly, they heard two voices, one deep and one a bit more high-pitched, as well as a barking sound. The girls looked at each other for a moment, and then speeded off into the direction of the voices. The girls ran for a moment and reached their destination, where they saw the Fox and Echidna standing beside their puppy. The girls went wide-eyed when they saw the two animals. Donna grabbed Tracy and pulled her to the side, hiding them behind a bush. Tracy yelped quietly, making sure she wasn't loud enough for the two animals to hear her.

"What the heck is an Echidna doing in the middle of the Temperate Forest?!" Tracy whispered.

"If I can remember my Geography lessons, Echidnas live in Australia, and a small part of the continent is covered with Temperate Forests. But Echidnas mostly live in deserts, so that still doesn't-" Donna explained to Tracy, but was cut off by Knuckles.

"Hey, did you hear that?"

Donna then raised an eyebrow and shook her head. She told herself she had probably imagined the voice.

'I must have hit my head harder than I thought…' she thought.

"I didn't hear anything." Tails replied.

Donna froze. She was sure she heard the two animals talking just then. Buck looked toward where the girls were, and barked happily. Tracy, startled by the dog's sudden bark, jumped and backed up, and accidentally snapped a branch. Knuckles frowned and advanced toward the bush where the girls were hiding. Donna's heart started beating faster with each step the Echidna took. With those spurs on his hands, that rodent could easily beat their skulls in. She had to think of something, fast. She then saw a hand-sized rock resting beside her. She looked at Knuckles, then at the rock. She made her mind up. She grabbed the rock and held it tightly in her hand.

"We know you're in there! So come out!" Knuckles told the girls. He thought maybe it was one of Eggman's robots, or just a plain trespasser. He didn't mind his friends coming to visit him once in a while, but if there's one thing he can't stand it's when a stranger comes on his territory.

"Hold it! I've got a weapon here, and I'm not afraid to use it!" Donna yelled at him as she stood up, revealing herself. She held the rock above her head, threatening to throw it if the other came any closer. Tracy saw Donna stand up, and figured she should do the same thing. She spun her head around and grabbed the closest thing she could, and stood up.

"Uh, y-yeah! And I've got a-" She then stopped to examine exactly what she grabbed. "…stick…" She said grimly. She then shook her head and mimicked Donna, and held the branch above her head.

"B-but it's a very pointy stick, s-so you b-better back off!" She said. Donna looked at her cousin as if saying "What the-a STICK?"

Knuckles and Tails then starred at the two girls, wondering where they came from.

"Who are you two?" Tails asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, and since when do you talk?" Donna said.

Knuckles held his hands in front of him in a defensive position.

"Look, we're not gonna hurt you two; we were just wondering who you were." Donna and Tracy lowered their weapons and slowly came out of the bush.

"Sorry, we're just not use to talking Echidnas and Foxes." Tracy said as she dropped her stick and rubbed her neck.

"Why not?" Tails asked as he came and stood beside Knuckles. Buck went over and jumped on Tracy's leg, begging for attention.

"It's kinda hard to explain… eh…" the younger girl scratched her head, trying to figure out a way to explain.

"My cousin and I were going somewhere, when suddenly we found some kind of blue crystal, then next thing we know we're laying flat on our faces in the middle of nowhere. Show them, Dee."

"Huh? Oh, right." Donna opened her purse and took the crystal in her hand. She then showed it to the boys, who went wide-eyed when they saw it.

"The Chaos Emerald!!" They shouted.

Knuckles took the Emerald from Donna, and the girls looked confused.

"A what?"

"A Chaos Emerald: They're gems of great power that was created thousands of years ago." Knuckles explained. "But what were you two doing with it?"

"Don't know. We just found it in the forest. We figured if it brought us into this world, we could figure out a way to get back."

"I see. Well, I think we might know a way to get you girls back, but I'm afraid it's not gonna be that easy…" Tails explained as he frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, how about we go back to the Ruins? We'll explain along the way."

After a while of explaining, the group finally arrived back at the Emerald Shrine.

"I see. So you're saying that the energy flow in our world is stronger than in this world?" Donna asked.

"Exactly. You may have been able to cause Chaos Control with only one Emerald, but here, if you want to go somewhere else, you need all Seven Chaos Emeralds."

"And so far we've only found three, including this one." Knuckles said as he flipped the Emerald in his hands.

"So how do we track down the Emeralds?" Donna wondered.

"There are a few ways, like using one of the other Emeralds: If it starts glowing, it means there's one close by."

"But before we start looking, I think it'd be best if you meet the rest of the crew first. Besides, Sonic's brother and sister came into town yesterday, and it'd be rude to not pay them a visit." Knuckles smiled warmly as he remembered his fun times with Sonia.

"Speaking of which, I don't think we've introduced each other." Tails said as he stood beside the plane. Donna looked at him with a blank look, and then slapped her forehead.

"Sorry; I'm Donna, but you can call me Dee if you want. And this is Tracy…" She said as she put a hand on her cousin's shoulder. "And Buck." She motioned her hand toward the Shi-Tzu. The puppy wagged his tail.

"Nice to meet ya girls." The Echidna smiled at them and held out his hand. "I'm Knuckles." The girls shook his hand, then shook Tails' hand.

"I'm Miles Prower, but everyone just calls me Tails." Tracy rubbed her chin and smiled.

"Miles… I've always liked that name."

Tails smiled nervously, a light blush spreading across his face.

"Hehe… thanks…"

"So, let's get going. I bet the others are wondering where we are."

"Right!" The rest said, and Buck barked.

Tracy took Buck into her arms as she got into the back seat. Unfortunately there were only two seats, so she had to sit on Donna, while Knuckles sat behind them, in front of the tail. Tails sat in the pilot seat, and started up the plane. The plane flew up, and the group headed off to Empire City.

END OF CHAPTER 3

Okay, so it's not as long as I hoped it would be... But hey, I spent over 4 hours on this, so... yeah.