The group of friends were now just stepping out of the town and were heading towards the Desert area, Tails had picked up an Emerald signal there and they had set off in that direction immediately.
"So, that signal you picked up was in the east, right?" Sonic asked the young child prodigy who handled the radar.
"Yeah, it was over in..." Tails seemed to pause as he gulped and double checked the radar to make sure he read it right."...Pumpkin Hill." Tails said and everybody except Sonic, shuddered visibly at the thought of that accursed place.
"They say that dead spirits of ghosts roam freely around that place, plus all of its mountains have these creepy pumpkin designs!" Twilight stated and the others seemed to shudder more, Rarity even let out an audible yelp. Fluttershy was so scared she looked paralyzed from pure fear.
"Oh, who believes in any of that garbage anyway?" Sonic asked as he shrugged his shoulders and spoke again, "Ghosts aren't real, that's probably just some kid's scary story."
"W-Well, even if they're real, we have to find those emeralds before that fat Doctor, right?" Rainbow said as she hovered over the others.
"Rainbow's got a point there, we still have Emeralds to get! Who knows if Eggman has found any Emeralds yet!" Tails exclaimed as he looked to the others who had seemed to gain some courage and they headed out towards the creepy canyon.
On a floating island miles away from Sonic and crew's current location, a teenager with red dreadlocks, purple eyes, a red sleeveless shirt, baggy khakis, spiked gloves, and green, yellow, and red shoes with a metal plating on the top of each one. He was currently leaning back against a giant green Emerald with his eyes closed.
'Seriously, I wonder if there's a reason that I was chosen to guard this thing, couldn't it have been someone else, there's not a goddamn thing to do on this island and no one to talk to for miles!'
The red headed teen sighed as he uncrossed his arms and began to walk away from the Emerald. "I think I'll go take a nap for a while." After he said this though the giant Emerald began glowing brightly, he looked back at it and immediately had to shield his eyes from just how bright the emerald was glowing.
"What's going on right now!?" The teen shouted, he was shocked stiff at was happening and couldn't understand. Suddenly, he then heard a voice seem to whisper in his head. 'Guardian, approach the Master Emerald, there is an important task you must complete.' The voice sounded undeniably feminine, and the teen was able to put that much together.
"W-What task are you talking about!" The teen shouted at the Master Emerald as he approached it and it seemed to glow even brighter at every step he took towards it. "Don't you think it was enough of a task having me guard this goddamn thing in the first place!"
'Please, guardian, the balance between Chaos and Harmony seems to be on the brink of disaster.' The voice said in his head as he finally came to a stop in front of the Master Emerald. "Then what do you expect me to do about it?" The teen asked as he growled at the voice just seeming to be pouring information on him out of the blue.
'You must stop Chaos from colliding with Harmony, the results of this are too risky, either a powerful being of pure good and a kind heart or a tyrant of malicious and only evil intent will be born, we must stop the chance of the latter from happening by stopping this catastrophe!'
The teen just growled, another responsibility for him to undertake, but if the stakes were truly this high, then he would just have to accept. "Fine, but what am I doing to keep this from happening?" He asked the voice as he crossed his arms and waited for a response. He was then shown a vision in his head of a blue haired teen with a group of others walking through a canyon, seemingly looking for something. Next, he was shown the same blue haired teen, this time surrounded by seven colorful gems, which then let the teen explode with power before the vision went to black and he was looking through his own eyes again.
'That boy, his name is Sonic and he has been stated as the Element of Courage, one of the seven Elements of Harmony, but despite his title, he has a reservoir of untapped Chaos energy. Although, I see no evil in this boy, we still don't know if the power of Chaos could possibly corrupt him and turn him to the side of evil.'
"So, basically, you want me to go around and get those Emeralds before that guy does and keep him from interacting with all seven?" The teen asked and voice gave him a 'yes' as confirmation. "Alright then, I'll keep that kid from getting them!" The teen exclaimed as he ran to the edge of the island and leaped off and he began gliding in the direction of Pumpkin Hill, seeing as that was where he was in that first vision.
Sonic and the others arrived at Pumpkin Hill, the pumpkin faced mountains seemed to stare down at them and the sky seemed to grow a lot darker as they came into the place. Graves were scattered all over the place and it seemed that many people seemed to have come in but never came back out from what they saw.
"Tails, are you sure that Emerald was giving off it's reading here, maybe there was a mistake?" Twilight asked nervously as she was visibly shaking at being in this place and Tails just looked back at her.
"Trust me Twilight, this radar locks onto a reading as soon as it gets it, there shouldn't be any kind of mistake." Tails replied while keeping his eyes on the radar and upon seeing that they were closing in on the emerald he smiled. "Either way, the emerald is just ahead, so we can grab and be on our way." This got a sigh from most of the group.
(Music Insert: Dragon Ball Raging Blast- Raging Blast)
"I don't think so!" They heard someone shout as a red headed teen landed in front of them and the Emerald. "I can't let you take that Emerald!"
"Hey, who are you?!" Sonic asked the mysterious teen who had come between them and the Emerald. "And are you working with Eggman?"
The teen just gave a 'hmph' as he crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at the group. "The name's Knuckles and I don't who this Eggman is but I'm here to stop you from collecting the Chaos Emeralds!"
"For what reason?" Sonic asked as he began to sink into a fighting stance, he had a feeling that they weren't going to get that Emerald without going through this guy first.
"You can't be trusted with all seven, there's a chance you might unleash total chaos and destruction!" Knuckles yelled at him and Sonic growled, he didn't know what this guy was even going on about!
"How would that happen?" This time Tails asked him and Knuckles simply growled and pointed a finger at Sonic.
"Like I said, the balance between Chaos and Harmony is already on it's breaking point and if I let this idiot get the Chaos Emeralds, it could be the end of all of us!" Knuckles shouted as he then charged at Sonic, who flipped over his head and fully prepared himself into his stance.
"Alright then, if I have to beat you down to get to that Emerald, then so be it!" Sonic shouted as he ran at Knuckles, who barely rolled under a roundhouse kick from Sonic, he went in for an uppercut but Sonic leaned back away from it while doing a backflip.
Knuckles then jumped into the air and started coming back down with his right hand clenched into a fist and cocked back, Sonic sidestepped when Knuckles' fist collided with the ground and caused a giant crack in the ground to form. Sonic used this chance to give Knuckles a straight kick to the face which caused him to go tumbling over to the edge of the summit they were fighting on.
Knuckles picked himself up and then charged at Sonic again, he let loose a right hook followed by a left jab, Sonic ducked under the right hook and jumped over the jab, while in the air though he was left wide open and Knuckles delivered a powerful uppercut that sent Sonic flying upwards. Sonic grunted as he took the blow, 'Ouch, this guy doesn't hold back with his punches.' After flying about eight feet into the air, Sonic decided to take a skydiving pose and head back down towards Knuckles, after reaching just above him, Sonic flung his foot downwards in an axe kick, while Knuckles brought his arm upwards in another uppercut.
The force with which they collided caused an enormous shockwave followed by an earthquake to blow out, causing everyone else to stand their ground to not fall or get blown off the summit. Dust rose up and nobody could see either fighter until Sonic was seen flying out of it and over the side of the mountain, he managed to latch onto the side of the mountain.
"Idiot, you really thought you could take me on? Pathetic!" Knuckles shouted as he then turned to the rest of the group. "I don't suppose any of you would like to try to would you?" Tails growled as he heard this and charged Knuckles, he let loose swing with his twin tails which Knuckles grabbed and began swinging him around and let him fly, Tails straightened himself and charged at Knuckles again as Sonic began pulling himself up.
"You could have killed Sonic! I'll make you pay for that!" Tails said as ran up to Knuckles and gave a straight jab which Knuckles grabbed his fist and held it.
"Please that idiot, he's not worth it." Knuckles finished his sentence and was greeted to the sole of Sonic's shoe when said hero kicked him in the face with a flying kick and sent him flying back.
"C'mon, I ain't through yet!" Sonic shouted in Knuckles' direction, Tails smiled widely at seeing his brother alive.
"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed happily. Sonic smiled back at him, "Let's show this guy what brothers can do!" Sonic exclaimed as both of them sprung back into action and charged Knuckles who was standing up again, Sonic let loose a reverse roundhouse which connected and sent Knuckles to Tails who swiped at him with his two tails which sent him forward and onto his face. Sonic and Tails nodded to each other as Knuckles barely stood back onto his feet.
"I'll make you pay for that!" Knuckles shouted as Sonic and Tails vanished from view and Knuckles was dumbfounded and didn't know what happened to them.
"Whoa, where did they go!" Spike wondered aloud as he didn't know where the duo was either until Rainbow spoke, her eyes as wide as dinner plates, "They're moving so fast we can't even see them!" Everybody was left speechless, they knew they were fast, bit seriously!
"Amazing..." The girls muttered as Tails then reappeared behind Knuckles stretching his mouth and sticking his tongue out at Knuckles, outraged, let a punch loose at the young boy, which took his attention away from behind him where Sonic gave him a flying kick to the back of the head and Tails followed by punching Knuckles with a one-two to the face.
"Alright Tails, let's finish off this fool!" Sonic exclaimed and Tails nodded as both of them rapidly ran around Knuckles landing blows on him every few seconds and finally Sonic gave Knuckles a knee to the gut while Tails punched him in the face and both of them gave him a synchronized roundhouse that sent him flying out of Pumpkin Hill and into the distance.
"Damn you!" Knuckles screamed as he was sent flying across the sky, Sonic and Tails panted as they bent over from exhaustion, mostly Sonic. Their friends then came and congratulated them.
"That was amazing!" Pinkie Pie yelled with her usual enthusiasm, while the others agreed until Rainbow walked up to Sonic and Tails.
"That... was you guys' top speed right?" She asked and Sonic had a nice big laugh at the question.
"Not even close!" Rainbow gaped in shock while Tails just shrugged at her. "I was using about half of my top speed, for Sonic that's about ten percent." Tails stated matter of factly while Rainbow's eyes widened even more, how could she hope to win in a race!
"Anyway, let's grab the Emerald and go!"
Sonic picked up the Emerald and the group headed out and then Sonic turned to Tails. "Alright where to next?"
"The next Emerald is in the Casino not too far from here." Tails said and they all headed in that direction.
Ah, another chapter, I made sure to get this one up for you guys to make up for that month of no updates.
Made a couple references, hint: All of them are after the music insert and have to do with the song that is inserted, see if you find them, I'll reveal them next chapter.
Goodbye, remember to review, I love those things!
Stay tuned for next chapter!