It was a slightly odd feeling, being the prisoner of a bunch of short, tin people. I could easily see over the heads of my robotic captors as I was marched up even more stairs. My legs felt like they would give way at any minute as we climbed what were, by my count, 16 flights of stairs and at least 5 more half sets, plus a couple of random single steps scattered throughout a couple of the long corridors. But we finally made it up to a large room, where dozens of the little robots dashed from one place to another, checking panels, adjusting levers, pushing buttons, all sorts of busy tasks. The room dropped about a quarter of the way through to reveal a sort of pit, full of even more screens, buttons, levers, and worker-bots, all of them busily attending to their various tasks. A large pane of glass covered the entire front of the room, almost like a windshield on a car, showing what I can only describe as dozens and dozens of stars whizzing past us. And over it all, on a slightly raised platform, was a large red chair, matching the hue of the rest of the room. Though its back was to us, I felt a shiver run down my spine, knowing who was most likely sitting in it.

"Excuse me, who is this?" A soft, polite voice asked from somewhere in front of us. I stood on my toes, trying to see who spoke, but stopped as I felt the gun barrel press a bit harder into my back.

"Caught this kid poking around down below. He's an intruder!" The monkey pushed me forward a bit, the crowd of robots parting to make room for us. They revealed yet another red robot standing at the front. Well, standing wasn't very accurate… it was hovering above the ground somehow, it was honestly really cool to watch. The robot looked like someone built it out of Tinker Toys, it's arms and body were all just a bunch of black sticks connected to round joints. Its head was a red half-sphere, with two blue eyes and more of those blue teeth, and its bottom was the bottom half of the sphere, albeit in black. Its large red hands were clasped together in front of it as it stared at me curiously… I think. It didn't really show any expression. It looked like it was about to speak, but a sudden jolt from the ship stopped it. I watched as the stars disappeared to be replaced by blue sky and white clouds… it was almost like when someone disengaged from hyperdrive in Star Wars.

"Well done." The floating robot finally said. "He's a funny looking thing, isn't he?" I wasn't sure why, but I felt a blush creep onto my face. I looked down, avoiding eye contact… "Well, I'm sure the boss will be happy to hear this! Come on!" I felt myself being pushed by the monkey once again, this time towards the giant chair. I stared up… even if it was just the back of the chair, I started to feel a sense of trepidation slowly creeping up my spine. I knew who would be sitting in it.

The chair was tall. I don't just mean like a couple of inches taller than me, I mean a full couple of feet tall. If you include the platform it rested on, I would have to guess it was at least 3 or 4 feet taller than me. I felt myself tremble as I tried to imagine the figure that rested just beyond the cherry red plastic back of the chair. The gangly sphere robot cleared its throat.

"Boss, we've got a prisoner here if you'd like to take a look." He gestured to me in a sort of "ta-da" fashion, and I could almost swear he was smiling despite his ability to form any expression. There was a slight shuffling sound, and I could see a pair of shiny black boots shuffle below the chair. Slowly, the chair turned, revealing bit by bit the owner's profile. First, his nose, long (very long), angular, with a point so sharp you could poke holes with it. His portly body next, vested in a red coat with yellow buttons. His large bushy mustache that shot from out of each nostril, measuring at least 2 feet long total. He brought a pair of white-gloved hands to his lips, pressing his fingertips together and crossing his slender legs, made even more slender in the black leather pants he was wearing. He stared at me, examining me from head to toe, his eyes unreadable behind his dark spectacles. I may not know by heart the names of every character from the Sonic games, but I knew this man's name well: Dr. Eggman.

After what seemed to me like hours, the Doctor finally spoke. His voice was low, and gravely, as if he was literally gargling gravel as he spoke. "Who is this?" He asked, turning to look at the spherical bot.

"It's our prisoner." The robot looked at me and lowered his hands. "It looks like he was trying to guard the emerald, so the ground forces took him as a prisoner to prevent any resistance." Dr. Eggman stared at the orb robot for a while more before sighing and reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"...Does he look like he'll cause trouble?" He asked, sounding very tired all of a sudden. The orbed robot looked at me again, then looked at the monkey behind me, then to the mass of red robots behind him. He looked back at the Doctor and shrugged. "I just wanted the Emerald. I never asked for anyone to take any prisoners." He turned back to me, relaxing a bit and shaking his head. His voice took on a different tone, something light and conversational. "I'm sorry about all of this… Good help is hard to find these days."

I found myself just staring back up at him, my ears hearing but not really understanding. I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open a bit as well. Eggman regarded me a bit funnily for a moment. "...you can speak, yes?" He asked. I quickly shut my mouth and nodded.

"Y-Yes, yes sir, I can!" I quickly replied. He chuckled, a rather ugly sounding thing, and shook his head.

"You don't need to be nervous, I won't hurt you!" He exclaimed as he stood and shooed away the other robots. It took me by surprise how tall he really was compared to me. Even as he stepped off his podium, I only reached to about his midriff. It was slightly unsettling, looking up into this villain's glasses and having him smile down at me. "This is just an error in communication… which will be fixed shortly." He shot a look at the small army of robots behind us, who all simultaneously flinched. He stared back down at me, smiling once again. "I'm really sorry about all of this, but don't worry. I'll take you home just as soon as I succeed in my plans!" The way he spoke just made it sound like I had accidentally taken the wrong train somewhere, not just been through what could easily be the second most traumatic experience of my life. But I just found myself nodding again as I stared up at him. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "...not much of a talker are you?" He didn't give me much time to respond before continuing on. "It's no matter! In fact, I could use someone like you to give me a hand. Would you mind terribly?" He clasped his hands together, looking like he was begging… it seemed almost childish in a way.

I know I probably should have said no. He was supposed to be a villain after all, why would I help him? But at the moment, all I could do was continue nodding, like a stupid bobblehead. The Doctor seemed thrilled, placing a large hand on my back and whisking me out of the room and down a few hallways. I was dragging my feet so much you could almost hear my shoes constantly skidding across the floor.

"I want to show you my latest creation!" He said excitedly. "It's rare I get to show my things to other sentient people!" Why was I going along with this? Why wasn't I trying to resist? If Jacob were here, he would have been punching and kicking, and here I was, agreeing to help this guy. I felt my heart drop a bit… I could almost sense my little brother's disappointment in me, almost hear him saying to me "What are you doing? You need to stop him!"

And yet… as I looked up at him, watching him giggle and mutter excitedly to himself, I had to stop and wonder. This is hardly how a villain acted. He almost seemed happy that I was there and willing to have some company. Could I be wrong about him? Maybe he isn't as bad a person as the games had made me believe he was...

We rounded a corner and turned sharply, walking through a door. And just like that, all my doubts left me.

Inside the room was a large, silver pillar covered in wires, lights, and buttons, connected to seven large tanks that looked to be filled with gases of various colors. It was simple, rather rudimentary, looking just like something you'd expect to see in a cartoon. But the sudden pound of my heart, the sweat forming on my palms… this thing was causing my creepy senses to go haywire, to the point where I even began to feel a bit light headed. I could only stare, transfixed in sheer terror.

"Now, in a few minutes, I'm going to be having a little rendezvous with a certain nemesis of mine." He explained to me as he eagerly pressed a few buttons, flipped a few switches, turned some knobs… "I want to practice what I tell him so he'll be intimidated. I usually do this in front of one of my robots, but they don't give the best feedback." Bobblehead, Bobblehead, Bobblehead. He cleared his throat and looked at me. "Just so you know, I'm going to call you some mean things… they are not meant for you." He nodded at me. Bobble, bobble, bobble. He cleared his throat one last time before cackling.

"You're too late you miserable hedgehog!" His voice instantly took on a different tone, something much more dangerous sounding. "Everything is going according to plan! And, with the final Chaos Emerald in place, nothing will stop me!"

Eggman cackled again and pulled something from his pocket, a yellow gem that looked almost exactly like the green one my brother had. He quickly jammed it into a socket in the pillar that seemed perfectly shaped for the Emerald. He began to cackle harder before stopping himself and looking at me. "This whole thing is going to be full of Emeralds like this one." He said in his more relaxed tone, motioning to more sockets, six others, in the front of the machine. "Then the machine will start, the tanks will empty, bla bla bla…" He muttered, as if he were just practicing a PowerPoint for a presentation. "He'll ask what I'm doing…" He cleared his throat and gave a short cackle to finish the one he started. "I figured out what gives the Emeralds their incredible power! Pure emotion!" He looked at the tanks, motioning to all of them. "And I've just injected twenty times the amount of emotion the Emeralds normally hold into them. With these, I'll be unstoppable! I'll destroy you, then take over all of Mobius! OHOHOHO-"

In spite of the fact that I was there, hearing Dr. Eggman speak, feeling terrified beyond all measure, and everything that had happened before then, some part of my brain just couldn't accept that this was real, that I was in any real danger. It's like when you go through a haunted house, you're terrified, but you're willing to just go along with whatever is happening because deep down you know that it's all just for fun, that neither you nor anyone else would get hurt... But hearing the Doctor explain his plan made reality sink in. I could see the mania in his face, hear the utter insanity in his voice. I watched him scurry around the room, waving his arms wildly, saying something or other to me, but I couldn't hear him anymore. All I could hear was my heart pounding in my chest.

This was a man on the edge. And he was going to take over a planet. He was real, and it looked like he could actually do it. I felt myself start to sweat a bit, felt my hands tremble. I had met some mean people, but never have I met someone who was actually, truly evil. The fact that he could hide it behind a cheerful facade, that he wasn't trying to just kill me right off the bat somehow, made things even worse. What was funny was that this plan seemed no different than any of the other plans Eggman made in the Sonic games I watched Jacob play. But this time, we weren't playing a game. This was real. And if someone didn't do something, this could mean… well, I didn't know what it could me. I didn't want to know.

I bit my lip as I heard my brother's voice in my head again.

"You need to stop him!"

"Uh-oh… was that bit not good?" I snapped back to focus to see Eggman mid-pose, staring at me. Normally, Sonic but be the one saving the day, but Sonic wasn't here right now. I was. And it sounded like by the time Sonic got here, it would be too late. I needed to do something… anything…

"Oh, no, i-it was fine, I'm just a bit… confused." I replied, doing my best to keep my voice steady. I needed to stall to come up with a plan… "This gas is… emotion?" I looked at one of the tanks, staring into the swirling green contents.

"Yes, and it took quite a while to gather enough to fill those up," Eggman replied, sounding a bit winded as he recalled the process. "Each one contains pure concentrations of emotions everyone feels. For example, the blue one over there is sadness, the red one, anger, that green one you're next to is fear, and so on and so on." I nodded a bit.

"So… those are going to go into that rock thing you put in the machine?" I asked, pointing to the yellow Emerald as I strode over to the machine.

"Yes. That 'rock thing' is called a Chaos Emerald." Eggman pulled the Emerald out of the machine and handed it to me, trusting me enough to touch and handle it apparently. "These gems hold a lot of power within them… they can allow people to do incredible things, like teleport, or gain amazing strength." I gazed down at the yellow gem in my hands, almost entranced by the slight glow it gave off.

"...And you're going to put all of those into this one Chaos Emerald?" I asked, trying to drag this out as much as I could. I needed to remember as much as I could from the games.

"No no, that would never work!" He replied, "Each Emerald draws its power from one specific emotion. Trying to fuel the blue Chaos Emerald with anger for example just wouldn't work." I nodded, though I didn't really hear him. An inkling of a plan began to form… I needed to get him to leave the room.

"...can I see them…?" I asked sheepishly. "I mean… this one is just so pretty looking and… well, I want to see what they look like while they're in the machine."

"Well… I don't know…" Eggman rubbed the back of his head… he looked torn between wanting to keep the Emeralds safe and wanting to show off to his new passenger… I could work with this.

"Aw, please?" I made my best puppy dog eyes, a tactic I had gotten good at after years of having to compete with a little brother. "I bet your big machine looks so cool with all of them in it!"

Eggman took just a few seconds to crack. "...alright." He relented with a smile and turned. I looked back at the tanks… this was my chance. I could use the Emerald I had to break them open and release the gasse- "Here they are!" Eggman turned around again, carrying a cardboard box with "Emeralds" crudely written on the front in marker. There went that plan. Eggman immediately began placing Emeralds into the machine, one after the other. My mind raced, trying to come up with something… I could try to use Chaos Control, but that would leave Eggman with all seven Emeralds, and even I could tell you that would be a no-no… not to mention Jacob would kill me if he found out I let Eggman win. I had to destroy the machine, but how…?

Wasn't there a Sonic game Jacob had where the main guy could make explosions? But… it wasn't a Sonic game...

"There, what do you think?" Eggman waved a hand at the machine, now stuffed full of the other Chaos Emeralds: Green, Blue, Turquoise, Red, Purple, and a Whitish-Grey. I nodded, going to automatic bobble head mode again. The game wasn't about Sonic, it was about another hedgehog, Shadow… and yes, he could make explosions in the game I think… Chaos Blast or something...

"It looks amazing…!" What if the explosion wasn't big enough to do any damage though? "But what if that hedgehog guy you were talking about tries to destroy it? Like blow it up or something?"

"I've built this machine to be virtually indestructible!" Eggman smiled widely. "Not even the power of a Chaos Emerald could destroy it!" He chuckled before adding, "Unless it was already supercharged I suppose…" I still wonder if this was a Freudian Slip or some bizarre, real-life version of Deus Ex Machina, but at the time, I considered it a miracle. If I activated the machine and used the supercharged Emeralds...

Well… it was risky… but I at least had a plan. I acted almost on instinct, my hand shooting forward and jamming the Emerald into the machine. Eggman didn't react immediately as the machine turned on, the lights in the room flickered, and a loud hissing sound filled the area. The gas began to drain, flowing through pipes into the machine, the Emeralds glowing brighter and brighter. And all the while, Eggman only stared, for at least three seconds, before reeling back and letting out a shriek.

"W-What are you doing?!" He yelled as he tried to yank out one of the Emeralds. It held fast within its confines… looks like it wasn't supposed to come out until the process ended. "We're supposed to wait until Sonic gets here, you're ruining my menacing monologue!" I didn't respond, watching the tanks slowly empty until there was nothing left. As soon as I saw Eggman fly back, the Emerald he held popping out of its slot, I grabbed the yellow Emerald back. It felt different in my hand… it was almost vibrating, as if the energy it contained was trying desperately to get out. "P-Put that back in!" Eggman yelled, pointing to me as he stood back up. "We need to drain them out again."

I stared back at him, clutching the Emerald to me tightly. My heart was racing, adrenaline pumping through my body. Everything was moving so fast… there was just one more thing to do. I took a deep breath and conjured up an image of an explosion in my head.

"Chaos Blast."

The Emerald shook as it grew blindingly bright. I felt energy course into my body through my hands, filling every part of me, until it felt like I was glowing. Then, in a sudden rush, all the energy emptied out of me. The world around me went white, and a loud explosion made my ears ring. It was all I could hear as vision returned. I felt weak, almost too weak to remain standing, as I looked around. Though I was seeing spots, I could see that the room was damaged beyond repair. The glass tanks were in shards on the ground, the large pillar was snapped in two, half of it lying on its side, teetering on the edge of a large hole I had blown in the wall, showing the blue sky outside… the wind tore at me, threatening to suck everything out of the large ship. I looked around a bit more and saw Eggman, slumped in a corner of the room, dazed, but still alive from the looks of it.

It took a moment to regain my senses, but I couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride in me as I looked around the wreckage. I did this… I ruined Eggman's plans. I just saved the world. I felt myself smile just a bit before focusing back on my task. The job wasn't done yet. The Emeralds… I had to get rid of the Emeralds. They were scattered here and there, but I quickly gathered them up in my arms. They all clinked and clattered against each other, each one vibrating slightly, just like the yellow one. I stared down at the colorful hoard of gems I carried, admiring their beauty for a moment. They were surprisingly light, each surface completely smooth to the touch, unmarred by the rather violent explosion I had created. I had never seen a perfect gem like this before, one of such rare beauty and power… and hopefully, I never would again. I went over to the new hole I had created and stared out, careful not to get too close to the edge. I looked down at the ground before staggering back, unconsciously letting out a squeaky whimper. I figured we had to be high up but… this took vertigo to a whole new level. I don't think I'd even been in an airplane that took me up this high. Taking a deep breath, I slid a foot to the edge, careful not to look down, and swung my arms, tossing the Emeralds out. They glinted as the sunlight hit them before they fell, gravity pulling them down to the world below. I closed my eyes a bit, panting, realizing just how exhausted I was… that Chaos Blast must have taken quite a bit out of me. I slowly turned to make my way back to the ship, hoping to now find an escape pod.

Eggman was awake. And he looked pissed.

He began to march towards me, and I suddenly found myself frozen. He was saying something, but I couldn't quite hear him due to my ears still ringing, though I could easily guess. He got closer and closer… panic began to well up in me. I could make out two words on his lips as he balled his fists up.

"Destroy you."

I was dead.

I was so dead.

My heart began to pound again, harder than before. I wanted to move back, to get away from Eggman, but I was right up against the edge of a long fall with a very quick stop. Neither was looking like a great option. My eyes scanned the room for some escape, but I realized it was pointless. Even if I got around him, which I probably could, there was a ship-full of his robot henchmen out there that would stop at nothing to find me. There was no escape for me here… my choices were to get killed at the hand of a mad scientist, or jump and hope it wouldn't hurt too badly.

I had wondered one time what it would feel like if you knew you were going to die. I wondered if maybe you just felt calm, full of acceptance. I assure you… it was nothing like that. My head hurt. My hands felt clammy. My mouth was dry, it was hard to swallow. I couldn't move. And the whole time, I found myself only saying "I'm sorry." Mostly to Jacob. Telling him that I was sorry I couldn't get to him. Sorry we were going to be separated forever. Sorry that he would have to grow up alone. I couldn't move… I couldn't breathe…

The ship suddenly shook violently and pitched forward, causing us both to stumble. Eggman fell to the ground a few feet from me. I felt my foot slip, and on reflex, I moved my other, stepping back to try to regain my balance. I found only air. I felt myself fall back, my hand flailing to grab onto something that wasn't there. It's an odd feeling, falling, knowing nothing is going to catch you. You know that feeling when you're walking upstairs in the dark, and you think there's one more stair when there isn't, so it just falls a foot before hitting the ground? That's what this felt like… except it didn't just feel like that for a few seconds.

People always talk about this moment by saying it goes in slow motion, or their life flashed before their eyes. Neither of those happened. The fall was fast, terrifyingly so. I was uncontrollably backflipping through the air, falling without any sense of control. First I saw the ship, then the ground, then the ship again, though a lot smaller this time, then the ground again, though a lot bigger this time, then the ship… I shut my eyes. I didn't want to know…

I guess I was crying. I'm pretty sure I was screaming. Someone even told me later that I had wet myself. I couldn't really tell you. The only clear thought I could even muster was that I was dying. My mind couldn't even process it really. To my brain, death had only been a concept, not my reality. I guess that's why it started to shut down… it just couldn't handle the truth.

Now, if you've known anyone that has ever passed out, they will tell you, it's not a pleasant feeling. It's not like falling asleep, where you don't realize it happened until you wake up the next morning. You are aware of everything that happens. I felt dizzy, both from the prospect of being a splatted mess on the ground and from the sheer sensation of falling. I started to feel my eyes roll back into my head. I even felt like I wanted to puke. The ringing in my ears began to fade as the world around me slowly turned dark.

The last thing I could remember for sure was feeling like a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around me and held onto me tightly. A slight warmth filled me before everything went black.

Hi everyone! So, I promise, I'm not going to do a whole ton of these author's notes (I find them a bit childish), but I felt the need to address something here really quick: I'm taking a few liberties here as far as Sonic Canon goes. First, I understand that this isn't actually where the Chaos Emeralds draw power from, but I like the idea of this, so I'm keeping it. I also understand that the Emeralds don't actually drain energy from you, in fact, it's been brought to my attention that when Sonic uses them, he has described it as actually energizing him. To that, I say that maybe it affects humans differently? And even if it doesn't, I'm going to pretend it does. If it bugs you, feel free to tell yourself that this happens in an Alternate Universe or something... because, technically, I guess it kinda/sorta does.

Hope you guys enjoy the update, and I hope you'll continue to follow and support My Brother's Keeper Re:Tuned! If you like what you've been reading so far, please leave a review, and tell your friends about it! The more people read and leave reviews, the more motivated it makes me and the better my writing will be!

If you don't like what you've been reading, please leave a review as well, if it's something I can and am willing to change, I will! I'm always open to criticism.

Thanks guys!

-JJ