Sorry for the wait, folks. What with school, holidays, family matters, computer troubles, and new games (Final Fantasy XII RULES!! ahem), I just haven't been in a writing mood. I hope this chapter makes up for the delay. Enjoy!

Return of the Elders

Changes

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Your Majes... I mean, Blaze?"

Blaze the Cat blinked slowly and shrugged. "I was going to ask you the same question. You were found lying in the altar room, and I want to know why." Seeing my confused expression, she gave a more detailed explanation. "As the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, it is my duty to find and eliminate any threat to them or my people." As if to emphasize her point, the edge of the bedspread nearest to her spontaneously burst into flame.

Blaze sweatdropped as she furiously beat out the fire. "Sorry about that," she grinned sheepishly. "I got a little carried away."

"That's okay, stuff like that happens to me all the time. Why, just the other day…" I shook my head. "Never mind. To answer your question, I don't know why I'm here. One minute I'm fighting a giant robot, the next I'm lying in a bed chatting with the queen of an entire country." I wasn't entirely sure if I could trust her, so I conveniently 'forgot' to mention the fact that I wasn't alone in the fight, as well my encounter with the entities Siegfried and Artimus. I wonder what happened to the others?

A tingling sensation ran down my spine and I shifted uncomfortably.

"If I might ask, why did you suspect me?"

Blaze's ears drooped. "The healers informed me you were talking about Robotnik and the Chaos Emeralds in your sleep. How do you know about the Chaos emeralds?" I thought franticly to come up with an excuse. Hmm, that might convince her. I cleared my throat and prepared to tell her my story. "I found an old tablet while digging in some ancient ruins to the south. It foretold of an evil man named Robotnik who would wreak havoc upon the world with the power of the Chaos Emeralds. I was rushing to tell someone when the robot attacked. There was a flash of light, and then I woke up here." It wasn't exactly a lie, as I had certainly found my fair share of artifacts digging in the Mystic Ruins. (Usually face-first, after tripping on a root or something at high speeds.) Besides, you didn't need to be a prophet to know Eggman's gonna try something with the Chaos Emeralds, which was exactly what he was trying to do when I used Chaos Control to bring us here.

I was about to say more, but the itching I'd been feeling in my leg intensified and I frowned. A moment later it solidified into a more recognizable sensation. Something soft and furry was wrapped tightly around my leg! And what was more, I could feel my leg through whatever was wrapped around it! I yelped as I literally leapt out of bed and landed lightly on my feet, my new appendage sticking out straight. "I have a tail!!"

Blaze seemed amused by my reaction. " Of course you do. All cats have tails." I stared at her incredulously. "But I'm not a cat! I'm a hedgehog!"

"Funny, you look like a cat to me." Blaze replied sassily.

"How could this happen?" I muttered to myself, as I examined my new self. Blaze, overhearing me, gave a suggestion. "Perhaps that tablet transformed you."

"Hmm?"

"Only the Guardians are told of the Emeralds. Finding that tablet must have been a test to see if you were worthy to become one of the new Guardians!" I absent-mindedly ran my hands through my headfur as I pondered this, noting that the barrier that normally dulled the sensations I felt was gone. I held my hands in front of me to determine the reason. My gloves had changed, shifting from the style Sonic and the other Mobians (Sonic had once explained to me that they originally came from a planet called Mobius, but they were transported to Earth when Chaos Control merged the two worlds) wore, into a pair of dark green fingerless gloves. Probably to let my claws through. I extended one experimentally before retracting it to continue my examination.

The Ancient Bangles had disappeared, but there were a pair of golden metal plates bolted to the back of my gloves.

"But why am I a cat?"

Blaze crossed her arms. "Felines are most attuned to the voice of the Emeralds. Because of this, the guardians have always been cats." I nodded. "That answers the why, but how did it happen?"

Blaze just gave me a 'you're an idiot' look. "I thought that was obvious. The Emeralds did it." I sweatdropped, both at the look, and her reply. 'The Emeralds did it' was THE most abused phrase in the entire Sonic fanbase. It was used for everything from... No, scratch that. It was used for EVERYTHING. Although, after all my first hand experience I could believe most of it.

"Okay... So what does this 'guardian' thing include?"

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Meanwhile, in the city...

"Remind me again why we're wasting our time searching for Ashura? He's more than capable of protecting himself." Knuckles crossed his arms. They had spent the past hour and a half searching the city, but they were no closer to finding Ashura or the source of the Chaos energy than when they started.

Tails, who had been examining the local architecture, gave an answer. "Because, none of us can use Chaos Control to warp between worlds. Wherever we are, this isn't Earth."

"Yeah Knux, even I got that!" Sonic quipped. Knuckles grinned evilly and Sonic sweatdropped. "I just set myself up, didn't I?" Knuckles just nodded. "Anyway…" he continued, "has anyone else noticed something strange about Ashura? Something's just not right about him." Amy's ears perked up. "I know what you mean. Whenever I see him he's always staring off into the distance and mumbling about the 'weird dreams' he's been having."

"Umm, guys?"

"Exactly! And his skill with the Emeralds is unlike any I've seen. Not Even Shadow can dish out the kind of damage he can!"

"Guys? People are staring..."

"And during the ARK incident, he transformed without the aid of the emeralds. Sonic's right, Ashura's definitely hiding something from us." Knuckles banged his fists together, glad to finally express his suspicions.

"SONIC!!"

Sonic, having been completely engrossed in the conversation up to that moment, turned around. "Tails? What's...?"

His sentence trailed off at the sight of the armored soldier with his arms wrapped around Tails' torso, and the half dozen soldiers arranged in a circle around the group, spears at the ready.

They were trapped...

A/N" Ooh! A cliffhanger! Sonic and co. are getting suspicious, and what about these strange dreams of mine? Why am I asking you guys? I'm the one writing this!

Again, I apologize for the delay. From here on I'm going to try to update at LEAST once a month.

And now on to story comments. I think this is my best work to date. I was originally going to reveal my connection to Sonic and the gang to Blaze, but I figured I could draw it out longer this way. There were several versions of this chapter in the beginning, but this one worked best. This story arc is about 1/4th to 1/3rd the way done. After that, back to the Elders.

Next chapter: Our heroes are in trouble, and I learn what being an Emerald Guardian is all about.