"So… I'm Josh."
Those were the first words I said to everyone. And those words have never sounded stupider together. I immediately felt another blush start to come to my face before Tails gently tugged my wrist.
"Here, come sit down." He said, pulling me towards a couch and offering me a seat before sitting next to me. Everyone gathered in the suddenly warm room stared at me with curious, searching eyes.
The first I had already met. Knuckles stared at me with a bit more concern than last time, now that the Emerald wasn't his primary concern. "How're you feeling?" He asked. His voice was hushed, much less gruff than I first heard it, which was honestly quite welcome. I shrugged just a bit.
"...fine…" I couldn't help but shrink a bit in the seat… with everyone staring at me, I felt like a bug under a microscope. "...just a little pain… that's all…"
"He needs to get something to eat before I can give him the pain meds," Sonic shook the pill bottle he was holding. "You guys got the food, right?"
"It's on its way," Knuckles replied, not even looking at Sonic. "Hope you don't mind pizza." I shook my head. "Cool." Knuckles leaned back in his seat, his gaze never leaving me, as if he were trying to figure out if I was a threat or something.
"...so, you aren't going to introduce yourself or anything?" The other person with us asked Knuckles, a pink hedgehog in a red skirt and headband who I recognized almost as instantly as I had everyone else. She turned back to me and smiled. "Amy Rose. It's a pleasure to meet you." I nodded a bit.
"And you," I smiled. "My name's J-Josh." Once I start to stutter and stammer a bit, it's all downhill from there. "I mean, you-you already knew that, I said… that… already…" I fizzled and sunk into the now familiar couch cushions once again, my face reddening for what had to be the hundredth time that night. Amy giggled a bit.
"Just take a deep breath, Josh," She said, leaning forward. "No reason to be nervous around us."
"Sorry," I clasped my hands together and twiddled my thumbs. "...it's all a bit… overwhelming…" I sighed, closing my eyes a bit, hoping everyone would just stop staring at me. I felt a light touch on my arm.
"Just relax," Tails said quietly. "You're safe here."
"O-Oh, no, it's not that I don't feel safe," I turned to him, looking into his baby blue eyes (adorable!). "It's just this whole situation I find overwhelming, you know? Getting kidnapped by evil scientists and everything…" I folded my arms, looking down at my shoes. "…Not to mention, I haven't really been this far away from my little brother before."
"What happened to your brother?" Knuckles asked, sitting up a bit. I opened my mouth to speak before a soft chime rang through the air.
"That's the pizza," Sonic stated as he hurried to the door. "Eat now, talk later! You're gonna be wanting those pills pretty soon here."
….
A belly full of pizza and a couple of ibuprofen, or whatever this planet's equivalent was, later, the attention was back on me. I did my best to calmly tell my story, but it was so much harder this time. Before, with Sonic one-on-one, I guess I must have been pretty drugged up and emotionally numb still, the events on Eggman's ship still fresh enough that I was still trying to process everything. Now though…
"I'm sorry…" I said quietly, wiping my eyes. I had just finished telling them about Jacob teleporting away. "We just… haven't been this far apart for this long since… ever…" I sniffled. "And… and I'm just… I… don't know what he's doing or if he's ok or-" I sobbed, a shudder rolling through my body. I blushed and shut my mouth, trying to take in deep breaths through my nose, shutting my eyes so I wouldn't have to see the look I knew was on everyone's faces... The funny thing was, I wasn't even sure why I was crying. Jacob was smart, I knew he was safe. He could have walked back to Ms. Hannigans, or called her to pick him up. Yet there was this little nag, this dark feeling in my gut, that told me something was wrong. I wasn't sure if it was my "creepy senses" or not. I didn't want to know. I hoped it was just indigestion from being in a strange new world, surrounded by people that, while I knew their names, their faces, and even their personalities, I didn't really know that well. I felt a pair of hands clap onto my shoulders, and looked up to see Sonic smiling at me.
"Don't worry dude. We'll get you back home!" He flashed me a thumbs up as he moved and sat back down in a plush recliner. "I'm sure wherever he is, he's doing just fine." I felt a little hope enter my core, helping me calm a bit. I wasn't sure how… or why… but for some reason, Sonic made me feel better. Like everything was going to be alright when he was around. I nodded a bit, settling back a bit into the couch. Tails settled next to me and looked up at me.
"Do you think you can keep going with your story?" He asked, nibbling at another slice of the pizza. "I wanna hear how you blew up the ship." I had to admit… it made me laugh softly, the way he asked. It made me sound like I was a hero telling a story to a group of wide-eyed fans. I wiped my eyes.
"Um… well, Eggman's robots took me on the ship, and Eggman showed me his machine that was supposed to make the Chaos Emeralds supercharged or something." I almost felt the mood change as Amy, Knuckles, and Tails sat up a bit. "Um… he said he found the source of their power, emotions or something, and he had collected a whole bunch of emotions so he could fill the Emeralds with them."
"Wait, he collected emotions?" Amy squinted a bit. "...how does that work?" I shrugged a bit.
"He had these big glass containers with gasses in them that… I don't know, I guess they were emotions… I think." I stammered slightly as I stumbled through an explanation, trying to answer any questions that came my way, mostly from Tails, who was asking for specifics that I had no answers to. Sonic finally stepped in.
"Look, the point is, he had a big machine, the Emeralds got supercharged." He said. He nodded to me to continue.
"Well… after that, I uh…" I paused a bit. "...I don't know really, I used Chaos Blast or something like that, grabbed the Emeralds and threw them out the side of the ship… aside from the yellow one, I guess."
"And then you jumped out of the Egg Carrier?" Tails asked, almost bouncing in his seat next to me.
"No, no, I-I didn't jump… I just kinda… fell." I shrugged a bit. "Eggman backed me up against the edge, the ship kinda lurched, and I fell out. After that, I… blacked out. I woke up in the hospital." I thought for a moment. "Sonic said I was floating when you found me… is that right?"
"You don't know?" Knuckles asked. I shook my head. "We think the power of the Chaos Emerald was helping you float down. We assumed you were doing it, and that you passed out from energy exhaustion." I shook my head again. "...come by Angel Island tomorrow, I want to show you something." He stood up (he was tall too…) and started for the door.
"Wait, you're not leaving already, are you?!" Amy stood as well, looking just a bit angry.
"I've been away from Angel Island for too long, I have to get back."
"But-"
Knuckles didn't say another word, simply turning and walking out the door. Amy huffed a bit and crossed her arms. She grumbled something under her breath that I'm pretty sure wasn't rated E for Everyone. She shook her head before looking up at a wall clock. She sighed softly. "...I actually need to go too… audition tomorrow…" She gave me an apologetic look. "I'll come back tomorrow to take you to get some new clothes, how does that sound?"
"T-That would be nice… t-thank you, Ms. Amy." I said. She gave me one last quick smile, before looking at Sonic and giving him a cutesy wave and walking out the door. Sonic rolled his eyes a bit when she was out of sight, before settling back into the chair a bit, closing his eyes, a soft, satisfied smile on his face. I turned to see Tails was in a similar state, relatively calm and tranquil, almost falling asleep. I tried to hold back a yawn, but couldn't do much to keep it from rising up. Sonic cracked an eye open and chuckled before standing with a slight grunt.
"C'mon, your bedroom's upstairs." He said, twisting a bit to stretch his back. There was a soft pop, and he let out a small sigh of contentment before holding a hand out to me. I nodded and gratefully took it, letting him pull me up. Though the pain was largely gone, there was a certain stiffness to my body, like it knew that I shouldn't move it around too much. After making sure I was stable on my feet, he nodded towards a set. "First door on the right."
"You're sleeping in my room." Tails jumped up from the couch, looking a bit excited. "Hope you don't mind. Sonic just… doesn't really… have a room for you to take." He looked over at the hedgehog, who simply shrugged. "He prefers the couch."
"The couch?" I looked over at Sonic now, who just shrugged again. That just seemed fitting for him. He was always on the run, always trying to go somewhere or do something… of course he would take the couch. It wasn't a place to stay for long. It was for someone who was passing through, just staying there temporarily. Even is this was his home, Sonic's real home was wherever he happened to be, whatever adventure he happened to be right in the middle of. Tails smiled and waved a hand, telling me to follow him. I nodded. As I watched him walk away, I had to admit, seeing his two tails in real life… I guess I could maybe understand why people would have made fun of him as a kid. Jacob told me the kit's story… I had to admit, it was pretty heartbreaking what happened to him. Being bullied, just for being different. But looking at him now, there was something about his two tails that did seem unnatural. They looked thinner than a normal tail should have been, almost weaker in some way. The base especially… they seemed a bit twisted up and crooked, almost the way an underdeveloped limb might look. Come to think of it… the way Tails walked… it almost looked like it hurt just a bit. I frowned as I followed him up the stairs and into a room. Tails' bedroom was littered with various bits of machinery, posters, blueprints, everything a little mechanic could dream of. Part of the room looked cleaned up, a mattress on the ground, covered with a comfortable looking blanket and a soft pillow. I smiled and sighed happily, letting myself fall onto the mattress. It was warm, cozy, and… honestly, I was almost about to fall asleep when Tails shook me a bit.
"Hey, you're not sleeping there, you got the bed." He said, chuckling again. I quickly sat up.
"N-No no, I can't, I… that's your bed!" Tails laughed a bit more.
"Hey, relax! You just got out of the hospital, so you should sleep in a bed to make sure you don't get hurt more." Tails pulled me up to my feet again… he was strong for being so small. He pushed me to the bed, practically making me fall onto it. There was a bit of pain there, for sure. "Get some rest, ok?" I looked back at him to try to argue, but he was already resting on the mattress, his tails curled around himself like a makeshift blanket. I finally decided to get comfortable on the bed, covering myself with a few blankets. I did my best to let my eyes drift closed, to try to sleep… but after all the excitement, I wasn't sure if it was going to come easy. I looked over at Tails to see if he had already drifted, only to see two softly glowing blue eyes looking back at me. The eyes glow a bit here, apparently.
"...are you going to tell me to go to sleep again?" I asked quietly. Tails chuckled and shook his head.
"Guess not. Can't sleep?" He asked, sitting up on his arm. I shook my head. "I mean, I totally understand, but… you should at least try."
"I know… I… usually when I wake up, I can't go back to sleep," I sighed softly, leaning up on the bed, mirroring Tails. "Especially not with everything else going on…" I drifted off a bit in thought. Thinking back to my nightmare.
"...else?" Tails sat up a bit. "There something else that happened today?"
"Oh, no, sorry." I shook myself from my trance. "Just… meeting you, kidnapped by Eggman… that else." Tails nodded.
"I'm sure it's a lot," he said, somberly. "You ever thought you would be this far from home before?" I shook my head. "I know you're probably a bit scared-"
"Not yet…" I admitted. "...The adrenaline is still kinda… pumping through me."
"Well… if you do get scared, don't be. We're gonna get you home," Tails perked up a bit. "And in the meantime, we're gonna make sure you have a good time here. It'll be like an adventure!"
"You mean a vacation?" I asked, laughing a bit.
"I don't think you'll be doing a ton of relaxing here!" Tails smiled. "You'll see. With Sonic around, it's pretty much action 24/7."
I felt my pulse pound a bit. I couldn't help but smile just a bit wider, feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. This was going to be quite the adventure… and as long as the adrenaline was pumping through me, I was ready for the ride.
Of course, the thing about adrenaline, it doesn't last forever. Tails and I spoke for a while more, me asking him questions about the new world I was in, him trying to assure me that everything was going to be ok. But eventually, he fell asleep, leaving me alone to my thoughts. Like I said, once I was awake, I had a hard time going back to sleep. And that night, I didn't sleep at all. At first, I was excited. Look where I was! Sonic's world! And I even met the blue blur himself! And Tails and Knuckles and Amy and…
Eggman… I shuddered again, something that was becoming a regular occurence I noted. I never thought that meeting the admittedly comical villain in the video games would be so terrifying in real life… I almost died…
And then there was the matter of Jacob. Sonic assured me he was safe at home, that he made it back to the orphanage with Ms. Hannigan… but…
I felt my stomach churn a bit. This time, without a doubt… my creepy senses were acting up. Hard. I knew, I just knew… something was wrong. And the fact that I couldn't see what it was made things all the worse. I was used to seeing the trouble, used to knowing, or at least having an inkling, of what was going on, like… really vague Spider Senses. There was trouble million, if not billions or more miles away from me, and I couldn't tell what it was, just that it concerned Jacob in some way. And unless I could somehow figure out some way home, I never would.
What if I never made it home…
I felt my heart stop for just a moment before I shoved the thought away as quickly as I could. I was going home. I had to. The question was, how? Chaos Control, sure, but… it seemed like I would need more than just one or two Emeralds… all seven… why did I have to throw them, I had no idea where we were flying over. And for all I know, we were so high up, the wind could have scattered them even further! They could have fallen in the ocean, or someone could have stolen them, or-
It took a second to realize I was pulling on my hair until I felt a tugging pain in my skull. I dropped my hands down, covering my face. Everything was feeling so… overwhelming. I could feel tears start to form, the walls closing in on me. I quickly pulled the covers of the unfamiliar bed over myself, shutting my eyes tightly. I knew I wouldn't sleep. But I could try. Or pretend. Pretend that I wasn't softly sobbing to myself, biting a knuckle to keep myself quiet. Things would be better when the sun came up.
At least… that's what I always told myself. I prayed it would be true today. It was really all I could do.