Chapter 9:

Continue the Search

Sonic woke up early the next morning. He normally didn't wake so soon, but he felt as though somebody were watching him. He looked up and saw Knuckles and Applejack staring at him.

"What?"

Knuckles glared at him. Sonic looked over and saw that Rainbow Dash was in his arms. Sonic let out a rather audible gasp. He tried to pull away, but she had him locked in a tight embraced. She mumbled and moaned when he disturbed her, but she quickly relaxed. Sonic was half sitting up. He looked over at Applejack, who was trying her best to hold in a laugh. Knuckles had begun to smile. Sonic was trying to figure out what to do.

"Uh… This isn't what it looks like. I had no idea…"

Knuckles couldn't hold in his laugh anymore. He and Applejack started to laugh hard.

Knuckles held his head. "Sonic… you… you really ARE a ladies man! The dimension over you're still pickin' up chicks!"

"Shut up!"

Applejack calmed down when she heard Tails shift himself.

"Alraght, luv birds. Tahm ta git headed."

Applejack walked off while Knuckles walked over to Tails. Sonic looked down at Rainbow Dash, who had a hint of a smile on her face. Sonic felt bad about waking her up, but he knew he needed her to help find the emeralds. He put his hand on her shoulder and lightly shook her.

"Dash. Hey, Dash."

Dash mumbled and stirred. She slowly opened her eyes.

"Nnn… Sonic?"

She looked up at him. She gasped and let go of him. She sat up and blushed.

"U- Uh…"

Sonic chuckled. He got up and patted her back. He walked away. Dash sat still, blushing hard. 'I- I didn't mean to have my arm around him! I just wanted to sleep next to him!'

Sonic put his hand on his hip and looked up at the sky. There were no clouds. Knuckles and Applejack walked back to them with Tails. Sonic turned to him. He wanted to stay with Tails but it tugged at him knowing that Rainbow Dash felt bad.

"Let's split up here. Tails. You head with Knuckles and A.J. I'll see ya later, kay?"

Tails nodded. They split up. Sonic was running at a moderate pace. Rainbow Dash was far behind him. She was still blushing hard. She couldn't help but think about how much she must have embarrassed him. 'Now he probably doesn't want to talk to me. IDIOT!'

Sonic looked back at her. He felt sorry for her. It was obvious she liked him and it was also obvious she was new to having a crush. Sonic slowed down to a slow pace. He eventually just walked. Rainbow Dash walked next to him.

"What's the matter? Did you sense something?"

"Nah. It's a nice day out. I think I'll slow down for once." Sonic strolled along the wide open field. There was one hill. Sonic walked up the hill, Dash standing at the bottom.

'He really is a wonder. Saved the world a hundred times and he's still so cheerful.'

Sonic puffed out his chest and closed his eyes. The tall grass felt good brushing up against his ankles. He could smell the grass. The soft breeze cooled his face. He had his left hand on his hip and he looked up at the clear blue sky. It was a beautiful shade of blue.

Dash stared at him from the base of the hill. She couldn't believe how calm he was in this most strange of situations. She felt the cool wind on her skin. She smelled the grass in the breeze. Perhaps… she could afford to slow down every once in a while. Sonic walked down to her. He tried to sense out the emerald. Dash looked away and blushed a bit.

"Um… Sonic?"

"'Sup?"

"About this morning…"

"Ah, don't worry about it. Ya can't control yourself in your sleep. 'Sides... Amy does it all the time."

"I know… but…"

"Just don't think about it. You'll forget by this afternoon."

Sonic felt a familiar tingle in his head. He opened his eyes. He felt it in the north, toward a faraway mountain. He smiled. He looked down at Rainbow Dash and nodded toward the mountain. They took off. After a few minutes, they reached the peak of the mountain. Sonic put his hand on his forehead, shading his eyes. He could sense the emerald, but couldn't decipher exactly where it was. He took out the gray emerald. It was glowing on the left. He turned left. It circled to the front. They headed down the side and reached an enormous cliff. Sonic backed up.

"Wait, Sonic, I can just fly you over!" yelled Dash.

Sonic ignored her and ran toward the chasm. He jumped up and in less than a second was halfway across the cliff. He arched and hit the wall of the cliff. He grabbed onto the ledge. He looked down the hole and saw no bottom. Falling down there would most certainly kill him. Dash flew over to the other side.

"Sonic! Grab on!" She extended her arm out. Sonic was about to reach up when the rock broke. He fell down the chasm. Dash yelped and flew down. She could almost see him when a ledge appeared out of the darkness and she collided face first with it. It knocked her out cold.

Sonic was looking around himself, thinking of what to do. He rolled up into a ball and zoomed toward the wall. He hit the wall and unfurled himself. He slid slowly down the chasm. He heard a loud crash above him along with the cracking and breaking of rocks. A few boulders fell down the pit. Through the darkness he saw a light blue figure fall in front of him. He jumped down and got out his emerald. It lit the deep cliff. He saw Rainbow Dash falling right in front of him. He reached out as far as he could and grabbed her. He guided himself to the edge again. Once again, he slid down the wall. He eventually saw a floor. He hopped down and landed safely, along with Rainbow Dash.

He carried her to the wall and set her down. He put the emeralds in a circle around them (Or a semi-circle, considering they're next to the wall with only three emeralds). Sonic sat down next to her. He tried to think of what to do next.

After a few minutes, Dash stirred. She slowly opened her eyes. She looked to her right to see Sonic… and Sonic… and another Sonic.

"Oh, good, you're awake," they all said at the same time. She tilted her head and stared at the clones. All seven Chaos Emeralds circled them and they turned into Super Sonics. Their fur was ruffled and clumpy. Their eyes were red spirals. Their hands were claws. "You're finally awake!" they all said in unison. Dash screamed as they slashed at her.

Sonic saw Dash stir. She gasped and opened her eyes wide. She jerked forward and immediately held her head. She started to moan loudly. Sonic inched toward her.

"Sit still for a minute," Sonic said. "Sorry," he started, "I had to use a piece of your shirt," he said as he pointed to her forehead. She had blue fabric wrapped firmly around her head.

She looked down and saw her shirt now went down to her diaphragm.

"If I didn't get you a bandage, you would be dead in a few minutes. Just gotta keep the pressure on it. The pain'll go away in a few minutes."

"How do you know?"

"I've had this happen to me a lot."

Dash chuckled through her nose. They leaned back against the wall. Dash sighed and looked over at Sonic. He looked at the many passages of the cave. He looked up at where they fell.

"Can you still fly?"

Dash lifted her wing. It was bruised.

"Nope."

Sonic looked down. He could maybe run up the side, but he couldn't see what was in front of him. He could feel that the emerald was close. He saw a dim light in one passage, along with the feeling that the emerald was there.

"Let's head down this way," Sonic said, standing up. He reached down and helped Dash to her feet. He grabbed the emeralds. He put one away and gave one to Dash. They walked down the faintly lit passage. The dim light got slowly brighter. They eventually got to a small cave. Sonic gasped as he saw a giant spinning ring. It was sparkling and it had a small vortex in the middle. He smiled. He gave the emeralds to Dash.

"Keep these safe for me. I'll be back in a minute."

"What are you doing?!" she said as he walked toward the ring.

Sonic gave her a thumbs up. "I'm getting' that emerald!" He jumped into the ring and disappeared. Dash gasped as Sonic swirled away. The ring evaporated. She was worried, but she knew Sonic had done this before. She knew that the ring would re-appear and Sonic would hop out with the emerald in hand. She was alone in the darkness, but she knew her Sonic would return safe and sound.

Sonic banged on the checkered floor.

"No! Why is it gone?! Where did it go?! No! I'm stuck here forever! Why?!" Sonic looked all around him. He was surrounded by blue and red spheres. He finally calmed himself. He thought for a while about what would happen. He figured he would just collect the blue spheres as he always used to. He ran around the yellow and purple- floored world and grabbed the blue spheres. They evaporated at his touch. He finally found the last one. He grabbed it and the pink Chaos Emerald appeared before him. He snagged it and the world started to spin. Sonic immediately got dizzy and fell to the floor.

Rainbow Dash blew a piece of hair out of her face. The ring suddenly re-appeared. Sonic was shoved out of it. He looked… odd. He was a dim gold with silver eyes. His spines looked the same but his fur was shifting around. He stood up and held his head.

"Ohh…" Sonic looked at Dash. She stared at him, wide-eyed. "What?" Sonic looked down at his body. "What the…?!" Sonic exploded in a bright light.

Knuckles lead everyone (they regrouped) through a valley. His yellow emerald suddenly glowed, as did Amy's green one. The gems disappeared.

Sonic was floating a foot away from the ground as the seven emeralds circled him. Dash had no idea what was happening. "What's going on?!"

Sonic disappeared in a white light which soon evaporated. The cave was still lit like it was in broad daylight. Dash stared in awe at the hedgehog. Sonic's spines were pointed up and his eyes were red. He had a golden aura around him and he felt better than ever. He had become Super Sonic.