Three~
Three hours. He sat there for three hours.
As much as his legs were kicking to get on the move again, he didn't want to risk going somewhere else and running into trouble. Not in this place. Not now. The name Mephiles kept ringing in his head over and over again. The way everybody talked about him just made him feel uneasy.
Fifteen more minutes passed and Sonic began to grow uneasy. He sat perched on the edge of the roof, looking down into the alley below. Finally, the back door opened and Hazel cautiously stepped out, pink emerald in her hands.
He jumps down and lands with a soft tap of his shoes in a crouch, and flinches guiltily when the panda jumps, holding her chest. "Chaos, hon! You 'bout scared the life back into me!"
He chuckles, standing straight to his feet, stepping over to her. "Heh, well wouldn't that've been a good thing?"
She sighs and holds out the emerald. "I suppose so~"
He smiles and takes the emerald, looking at it curiously. He's never seen a pink emerald before...
She tilts her head. "The Spirit Emeralds look a bit different then the Chaos Emeralds, huh?"
He nods and rolls it around in his hand. "Yeah, but they feel the same."
She studies him for a moment, before sighing again. "Listen, hon, be careful, alright?"
He looks up at her and smiles. "Of course!"
She shakes her head. "I know, but Mephiles is...well... I'd just hate to see another friend fall because of him is all. The most of us just wish the best for each other, but that demon has corrupted many of us as well. He can see through their eyes, hear through their ears..."
Sonic frowns at that, letting the emerald dissolve into his hand as he absorbed it and its energy. "I hear ya..."
She smiles. "Good luck, hon. Stay safe, and-"
"Be careful?" he finishes with a lopsided grin. "I know."
Hazel laughs, pushing him away. "Yeah, yeah. Now go on! Get a move on before someone decides to check you out."
"Wouldn't be the first time," he says with a shrug as he turns and begins to make his way out of the alley. "Thanks for the help!"
She smiles brightly and waves him off. "Of course, hon!"
He jogs slowly out of the alley, takes a look up and down the street, before he takes off at a run that seemed too slow for himself, but only a flash of wind to everyone around him.
He decided to go back to Locke's field, just for safe measures. The elder echidna was waiting there for him, as was Aurora, sitting on the front steps of the small house the guardian lived in. They both stood up once they saw the flash of blue, both eager to hear his news and see if he was alright. The hedgehog stopped abruptly in front of the pair and held up the pink emerald, a proud grin over his muzzle.
"Well?" he asks, almost mockingly. "Whaddaya think?"
Both echidna's were startled by this sudden display, their eyes widening in shock. It only took a minute however for Locke to smile and bring the hedgehog into his arms in a tight bear hug. "Amazing!" he cheers, and Sonic laughs at his enthusiasm. Aurora smiles and hugs him as well, once Locke let go of him. "That's wonderful, dear!"
Sonic tosses the emerald up and catches it with his other hand. "One down, six to go!"
Locke nods and takes the hedgehog's free hand, pulling him back into the house. "Then you are ready to see this. Come on, now."
Sonic blinks, but follows right behind the guardian as he pulls him through the living room, down the hallway, and into an office on the right. Aurora follows the both of them, closing the door behind them as they entered. Sonic blinks again, taking in the large office with curious, child-like eyes.
There were two large, dark brown bookshelves on the far wall, filled to the brim with journals and encyclopedias and many more books of all kind thrown a bit lazily on the shelves. To the right was a window, and two green chairs on either side of it, and a small table in between them. To the left of the room was a large desk, with a wide map hanging above it with different pins and marker circles covering specific spots on it. There was a wide variety of papers and books and pencils and rulers and such scattered messily across the desk, picking at the hyperactive hedgehog's OCD. Behind them on the wall were necklaces and strange tribal trinkets hanging on the wall, as well as another smaller bookshelf with picture frames and other valuable items sitting on it. The walls of this office were brown, and the carpet was the same green color as the chairs by the window. Besides the mess, the room was relaxing in a way. It made the cobalt blur miss Knuckles.
Locke was going through the mess on the desk, muttering to himself about 'it being here somewhere...' Sonic could feel the sweat drop from his head, looking back at Aurora with a raised brow. She giggled and winked at him. 'It bothers me too,' he could practically hear her say.
"Ah, here!" Locke exclaims, lifting up a folded, thick sheet of light brown paper. He unfolded it, and laid it out on top of the clustered desk, before motioning for Sonic to join him.
The sapphire teen stands beside the elder echidna, looking down at what appeared to be another map. The same circles were drawn out over this one, but it looked a lot neater and nicer than the one hanging up.
"Here," Locke points. A pink circle was drawn over a particular spot on the map, and he looks up to Sonic. "That's where you must put that emerald. You cannot just put any emerald in any temple you wish."
"Ah..." Sonic mumbles. "It's not like the Gaia temples then."
Locke's eyes widen. "You've been to the Gaia temples?"
Sonic chuckles. "Yeah it's...a long story."
The echidna waves him away then, nodding in understanding. "Anyhow, take this map with you. It's important if you want to stop by the temples while searching for emeralds. That's how I recommend doing it, if you happen to have the emerald on you while searching for the others."
Sonic nods. "Alright, sounds like a plan."
Aurora places her hands on her hips, speaking up. "Wouldn't it be a good idea of him to try and send a message to his friends?"
Locke pauses, his brows furrowing in thought. "Hmmm, maybe." He looks at Sonic. "How is your Chaos energy?"
Sonic frowns and lifts up his arm, looking at the dial on his wrist. The small needle was pointing all the way down. When he sees this, he smiles. "Good!" he exclaims, showing the echidna for himself. Locke smiles at that, nodding. "Alright. I guess I can show you how to travel to Mobius. Are you ready?"
Sonic nods enthusiastically, wanting to see his friends more than anything. And see if Eggman is still...
"Okay now," the previous guardian of the Master Emerald starts, taking Sonic's hand. "You have an emerald, which might, no, should help you out some with this. Just focus your energy like you would with a Chaos Control, but picture Mobius. Think about a particular spot, if that helps, just anywhere and anything about Mobius and focus your energy there. Got it?"
Sonic nods. "I think so..."
He does as he's told, closing his eyes, picturing the meadow outside his and Tails's home. He pictures it perfectly; the large, magnolia tree that should have bright pink blossoms all over it by now, the lush green rolling hills that waved in the wind, the dark trees scattering the plains, shadowed by the sun as it soared across the sky. The Great Forest surrounding it on all sides, its trees thick and full of dark green leaves, birds landing on them and singing peacefully.
With this perfect image in his head, he holds the Spirit Emerald up, feeling both his energy and the emerald's spiralling around each other. "Chaos-!"
Tails leans back in his chair and rubs his sore eyes. They hurt from hardly any sleep, crying, and the unusually high amount of caffine he had consumed within the past month. Sonic's Chaos energy had risen and fallen, risen and fallen, in a seemingly steady pattern that would fool anyone into thinking he was simply sleeping. Maybe he was? Tails hadn't any clue, but he could only hope it was a good thing.
They had all pitched in with helping, whether it be Rouge and the Chaotix hunting the Chaos Emeralds down, or Amy, Cream, and Vanilla helping Tails around the house and lab. Knuckles had moved Angel Island close by, where he was studying old scrolls and notes from his father that could tell him anything about Sonic that would help.
The two-tailed kitsune himself was usually at his desk, at his computer or going through papers Knuckles had given him, trying to locate emeralds and figure this mess out. A yawn takes ahold of him, and he has to rub the tears out of his eyes, his yellow ears flattening to the sides of his head. Vanilla told him he needed sleep, but he couldn't. Not yet. Not when Sonic needed him so badly.
He sighs and opens up his laptop, opening up the writer so he could jot down his notes. He turns and reaches for the papers, yawning again...
..and then the papers went flying across the room.
"Shoot!" Sonic exclaims, a hand flying over his mouth as he watched all of Tails's precious work scatter across the lab. The fox in question just sat there, frozen, his arm extended half way, his mouth dropped open and his eyes wide in shock.
Sonic couldn't help but hurl over in laughter.
Locke hadn't been kidding when he said something as simple as picking up a pencil would be a difficult task. Just trying to lift one piece of paper had drained a bunch of his Chaos energy, and left him with quite a shock from his fingertips, all the way up to his arm and chest. The sudden pain had caused him to freak out a bit, and in turn send the papers flying across the large room like a tornado had whisked by.
The mischievous hedgehog had always wondered what he would do if he were a ghost, and what trouble he would get himself in. He always thought about scaring Tails or Knuckles, or haunting Amy's house, or simply making a book float in the air and freak anyone out that walks by. Of course, he felt sort of bad for it, but he had to admit, it was funny watching Tails go from drowsy and tired, to wide-eyed and surprised in less than a second.
The two-tailed fox was now running around the room, picking up the mess of papers, his eyes still wide. When he was done, he holds the papers in a stack in his arms against his chest, looking around the room frantically. It wasn't like there were any open windows.
Sonic chuckles. "I guess we're off to a good start."
...but how exactly was he supposed to do this?
He watches as the now spooked fox kit takes his papers to his desk, setting them there neatly beside his laptop.
The laptop.
He could type with the keys!
Tails turns and takes one last look around the room, before breathing in deeply and sighing. Sonic gave him a sad look, wanting to talk to him, tell him it was going to be alright; the fox just looked terrible.
The golden mobian rubs his eyes, before turning around about to sit down at the desk.
"Hey, Tails!" Knuckles's voice sounds from outside in the living room. At the call of the echidna's voice, Tails hops up and runs out of the room, eager to hear if the guardian had any good information. Sonic could feel the lump in his throat grow, wanting to see Knuckles as well, but, alas, he had a job to do, and with very little time.
With a nod to himself, he turns around and eyes the laptop. He reaches forward and tries pressing a key...
It wasn't easy.
It felt like he was trying to push a large rock into a hard patch of clay dirt, and using a lot of Chaos energy doing so. He shakes his head as he finally gets the letter "t" to appear on the screen, running his hands through his quills. He hunches over the keyboard now in determination, his mind set on getting a message to his friends. He wouldn't give up.
"Alright, Tails. Let's see if you remember our secret code..."
The fox sighs. "It's better than nothing, I guess."
Knuckles frowns sheepishly. "I tried my best, but I can't find anything else. I'll look again, but..." Tails holds up a hand to cut him off. "No, it's fine. Let's just get the Chaos Emeralds and then figure things out from there."
The echidna swallows and nods, following Tails back into the lab. "Have you heard from anyone?"
Tails nods as he sits in his chair. "Rouge thinks she may be close to an emerald. The Chaotix have one already."
Knuckles nods and crosses his arms across his chest. "That's good, I guess. Anything about Eggman?"
Tails shakes his head and swivels around in his chair to face his laptop, which was currently displaying the screen saver. "No, but since we couldn't find him there, he either got away or..."
"Was fried to bits?" Knuckles asks. The fox yawns and stretches, before swiping his finger on the mouse pad.
He freezes.
"Wh...what is...what is this...?"
Knuckles raises a brow and steps over to the fox, leaning forward to take a look at the screen.
"tis, tk te rd eead 2 pit: V9 C3 788. se yu tee"
Knuckles blinks. "What is that?"
Tails was frozen, his mouth hanging open in shock. "Sonic..."
The echidna blinks and looks at the fox with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
The fox shakes his head, writing down the words on a piece of paper. "Sonic and I made up this code a long time ago when we first started fighting Eggman. We used it to send messages back and forth to each other in case he managed to tap them."
Knuckles blinks. "So...what is this?"
The fox's heart was pounding. "Knuckles, this page was blank when I left the room. It says; 'Tails, take the red emerald to point: V9 C3 788. See you there.'"
The ruby mobian stares dumbfounded. "Where do you think it came from?"
The fox bites his bottom lip, staring at the computer screen with tears forming in his eyes. "Knuckles...Sonic and I are the only ones who know this code..."
"And... What? You think ghost-Sonic did it?"
Tails turns and looks at the echidna with a small smile across his muzzle. "I'm not sure, Knuckles. We still don't understand why he still has Chaos energy in him but...this right here," he points at the message, "has Sonic written all over it. What if he isn't really gone, Knuckles? What if he's still here, but..."
The echidna looks at the computer monitor with a blank expression. "Tails...if this were anyone else, I'd say you're crazy but...Sonic is known for his miracles..."
"So, we take the red emerald and go there?" The fox sounded hopeful. Pleading.
Knuckles smiles softly. "We might as well, and be ready for anything I guess."
Author's Note:
What would you do to your friends and/or family if you were a ghost? Hehe, I'd get revenge...