"Sonic and his friends are not here yet," Ryusei looked at his watch as he spoke. "Should we go check up on them?"
"Don't worry about it," said Raidese. "They probably have a lot to catch up on,"
"Yeah probably," replied Ryusei. "Next thing we know, Sonic would probably burst into this room and say-"
"Hey, guys!" Sonic had just opened the room's door and entered it with his friends. The humans then began to look at the Mobians.
"Ah, they've arrived," Tetsuya said. He then noticed some of the Mobians looking a little exhausted. "Is something the matter? Some of you seem exhausted,"
"Oh, about that…" Rotor spoke. "Along the way here, we attracted a lot of attention. Turns out word about us fighting the monsters earlier had spread around Riksent. A lot of people crowded around us to get to know us. Some even tried to get our autographs!"
"We had to run away from them in order to get to the palace," Sally said.
"But, it was pretty cool getting all that attention!" Honey exclaimed with excitement.
"I'm not sure about that…" Amy sweatdropped.
"Yeah, especially since a lot of people tried to touch Tails' two tails at that time…"
"You didn't have to bring that up!" Tails was embarrassed by Rotor's words.
"Ah come on, Tails, there's no need to be embarrassed," Bunnie teased. "Yer had yer tail touched by Adzuki once, remember?"
"Bunnie!" Tails shouted as his face reddened. Some of the Mobians chuckled upon seeing Tails' reaction. Storm's eyes were covered by her hat's shadow upon seeing the hilarity of the situation.
"I… see that you had quite an experience there," Tetsuya stated. "That aside, shall we introduce ourselves? I believe not all of us know each other's names," Everyone then began to introduce themselves.
"Wow, we got quite an interesting group here," Ryusei spoke after the introductions were over. "We got three princesses, two ninjas, a speedy hedgehog, a fashion designer… It's like a line-up of characters from a fantasy role-playing game,"
"I can't imagine a fashion designer being a fighter though…" Ibis gave Honey a perplexed look.
"Well, as a lot of people would say, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover," Honey raised one finger while speaking.
"I guess…" Tsugumi said. After Tsugumi spoke, Blaze began to step forward.
"Now that we are done with the introductions, I would like to explain to all of you about an important matter. I have explained it to those among us from the Tesla Leicht Institute but, I shall do so again so as to enlighten the rest of us,"
"An important matter?" Raidese said.
"Yes," said Blaze. "It is something that you all might want to pay attention to. Especially the Freedom Fighters," The Mobians save Blaze looked at her curiously.
"Us?" Tails said.
"As I have mentioned earlier, I am the princess of the Sol Zone which is my home. In it, there exist mystical emeralds called Sol Emeralds that are guarded by me,"
"So, you're like... a guardian?" Blaze nodded at Adzuki's words.
"At times, I have fought to protect the emeralds from being misused by evil with the help of the Freedom Fighters. One day, I received a vision. A vision of an alien being taking away the emeralds and making them it's own. Realizing that the emeralds would be in danger again, I sought to find people who will help me guard them," Everyone listened intently to Blaze while she spoke.
"At first, I thought of asking the Freedom Fighters. But, I was afraid I would be troubling them as they would be busy with their own work. Hence, I decided to search for people aside from them. Through my search, I was able to get four people to join me. They are Knuckles, Storm, Lightning and Honey,"
"How did Honey end up getting involved in this?" asked Tails.
"Well, long story short, I just joined the group by coincidence," said Honey. She then added with a wink, "Plus, I entered into an agreement with the Raiju clan that they would help promote my latest Oriental Fantasy line,"
"Seriously?" Sonic said as he and the Freedom Fighters looked at Storm and Lightning. "Wow, I never thought you two were the modeling type,"
"As Honey had said earlier," Lightning smiled. "You should never judge a book by it's cover,"
"That's so like Honey…" Tails sweatdropped.
"Moving on," Blaze continued. "After I gathered my companions, I sent the five of us to the place where the Sol Emeralds were kept at. We guarded the emeralds and were prepared for anything that would come our way. Then, as foreseen in my vision, the being came to the emeralds. Without wasting time, we confronted and fought it,"
"What did this being look like?" Viletta asked.
"It looked similar to the ones we fought earlier except that it was purple in color. On top of that, it had some kind of killing intent emanating from him. It's killing intent was so strong that we could feel a great sense of dread welling up in us,"
"To put it simply, that being resembled a demon," Storm said.
"In addition, the being had the ability to heal it's wounds at a frightening pace," Blaze stated. "No matter how many injuries we inflicted on it, they just healed instantly. We even destroyed one of it's limbs, only for it to grow back," Blaze started to look upset.
"And then we realized we were tricked by that being. While we were focused on fighting it, it's companions came out from hiding and took the emeralds. We were fooled! Just like that, the being had got what it wanted. As it escaped into what appeared to be a portal, we gave chase, only for us to end up in this world,"
"Then, that means this being you're talking about could be the one responsible for bringing us into Earth!" Rotor said.
"I am not certain about that. But, I know one thing," Blaze lit a fireball in one of her hands and then added angrily, "The next time I see that being, I will burn it to ashes!" Everyone became astonished by Blaze's sudden outburst.
"You seem pretty concerned over the Sol Emeralds," said Shine to Blaze.
"Of course I am!" Blaze replied, her voice sounding desperate. "The Sol Emeralds are the lifeblood of my home world! Without them, the Sol Zone's stability will be endangered! In fact, there is a possibility that my home is eroding right now while we are stuck in this world!" Blaze's words caused the humans to be surprised further.
Blaze closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "I can't believe I was easily tricked by that being. If I was more careful, then, none of this would have-" Knuckles placed a hand on Blaze's shoulder causing the latter to stop speaking.
"Don't blame yourself too much," Knuckles said. "We understand what it's like to have a home in danger. But, if you continue losing your cool like this, we won't find a solution to this problem,"
"It is human to lose your patience especially during times of trouble," Sanger stated. "But, being too impatient can lead to one making hasty decisions that can endanger others,"
Cream stood next to Blaze and gave her a concerned look. Even Cheese had the same look on his face. "Miss Blaze, I understand that you are worried. But, please don't be like that. We'll help you find the emeralds and save your home,"
"We will assist the Mobians to the best of our efforts as well," Tetsuya said. "Not just in helping them return to their home world but, in finding the Sol Emeralds as well," Hearing this, Blaze turned silent for a moment.
"You're right," Blaze then sighed. "I apologize for my outburst. And thank you," She looked at Tetsuya and added, "Also, you need not trouble yourself too much about helping the Mobians return home. Once the Sol Emeralds are recovered, I can use their powers to transport us back to Mobius and repair any damage done to my home," Seeing that Blaze had calmed down, Cream and Cheese smiled.
"You can do that?" Ryusei said in surprise. "That's amazing," Blaze raised her eyebrows. "Why, yes, thank you," she then replied.
"Now that everyone here knows about the Mobians' situation, I should explain about something as well," Axel spoke. "This is about the monsters that attacked the city,"
"Yeah, speaking about them, you said they were called Einsts," said Honey.
"Eye-ins?" Big asked. "What kind of word is that?"
"It's spelt E-I-N-S-T-S, Big. One word," Nicole said while being humored by Big's question.
"Oh, okay," replied Big.
"Yes, that is what they are called. In truth, they are one of the few beings that attempted to invade Earth in the past. We defeated them and believed that they had been eliminated at least, until now," Axel stated.
"What can you tell us about them?" asked Sally.
"The Einsts were supposedly born from this planet. They have the ability to travel between dimensions and act as guardians,"
"Guardians? Of what?" asked Tails.
"Peace. Or so they claim. They are supposed to keep the peace in various universes. But, their idea of peace is not something every person would accept. If they deem a universe- or a world, in fact, to be overly laden with conflicts, they will destroy and reboot it to their liking," The Mobians were shocked at Axel's words.
"Mon dieu…" said Antoine.
"Why would they do that?" asked Amy. "That's just not right!"
"It's because that's how they are," Alfimi said with a sad voice. "My kind had been like that since the beginning,"
"Your kind?" Knuckles asked.
"Are you… one of them?" asked Nicole.
"You're correct," Axel said to Nicole. "Alfimi is actually an Einst herself. However, she defected against her own kind and has remained with us,"
"Well, ah'll be," commented Bunnie.
"The destruction of worlds for the sake of peace?" Storm said. "That sounds like the idea of one who is drunk on power,"
"Based on what we are discussing, it appears that our problems are connected," Viletta said. "In fact, the return of the Einst as well as the arrival of the Mobians at Earth are not coincidental. These events are most likely triggered by the Einst who stole the Sol Emeralds from Blaze's world. If nothing is done about them, not only would Earth be in danger but, other worlds as well,"
"That will include Mobius!" Tails exclaimed as he and the other Mobians realized the truth behind Viletta's statement.
"Then, shouldn't we start looking for whoever stole the Sol Emeralds now?" said Sleigh.
"But, even if we do so, we don't know where to look. The thief could be anywhere," stated Joshua.
"You're correct, Joshua," said Elzam. "As unfortunate as this may sound, I'm afraid to say that we do not have any leads at the moment," Everyone fell silent and began pondering about the current situation.
"Say," Honey broke the silence. "Why don't we take a break? I don't think any good will come from thinking too much about our situation now,"
"That sounds like a good idea," said Tetsuya. "What do you all say?"
"Yeah, that sounds great!" Sonic agreed. "It's good to unwind a little," Turning to the rest of the Mobians he added, "How about it, guys?"
"I'd say why not?" Sally smiled. The other Mobians looked as if they agreed with the idea of a break.
"If that's the case, I'll notify the ATX Team and Hiryu Kai, whom will be arriving here tonight, about our current situation. Together with them, we will come up with a plan in retrieving the Sol Emeralds tomorrow," said Kai. "For today, let us relax,"
"Alright, then!" said an enthusiastic Sonic. "So, what shall we do?"
"Well, I'm thinking of shopping!" said an excited Amy. "And perhaps a date with Sonic!" Sonic felt uncomfortable upon hearing those words.
"Um… I'll pass," Sonic raised a hand and sweatdropped causing all of his teammates save Amy to chuckle.
"Actually, I thought of testing my fighting skills against someone," Axel said. He then pointed to Knuckles, "And that'll be you. I'd like to see more of your fighting style,"
"A challenge, huh?" Knuckles smiled. "I don't mind at all,"
"A duel between two individuals who are similar to each other? How smashing!" commented an excited Honey.
"How are they similar?" asked a perplexed Eita.
"Well, Axel and Knuckles sound quite similar especially when they get worked up," Alfimi gave a mischievous smile.
"We're not similar," said Axel and Knuckles in unison. The two were then surprised and looked at each other. Even most of the others present in the room were surprised.
Sally started to giggle softly. The rest of the Freedom Fighters slowly followed suit. Soon, the Freedom Fighters then burst out loud in laughter. Even Ryusei and Honey joined in. Some of the humans along with Elias, Geoffrey, Blaze and Lightning were also amused by Axel and Knuckles' words. As for Storm, she appeared to be resisting the urge to laugh. She ended up bowing her head down and chuckling softly.
"Those two are quite similar aren't they?" Lightning commented about Axel and Knuckles with a smile.