Let me try to give you an impression of how absolutely gigantic the Master Emerald is. Imagine a basketball player that's roughly about 6 feet, something inches tall. The Master Emerald would beat that player by about 3 feet, easily. And at the Emerald's thickest, if you held the basketball player horizontally, they'd still be shorter by... a foot probably, maybe more! And it would take four of them hugging the gem to make a full loop around the outside.

If you're still have having a hard time imagining it, think of that boulder from Indiana Jones, and decrease the diameter by... two feet? Yeah, two feet...

The Master Emerald was a brilliant shade of, believe it or not, actual emerald green, probably the most natural looking color I had seen out of all the gems. And the cut was absolutely flawless... totally straight lines, no dents, bulges, scratches... the moment I saw it, I had to stop for a moment just to take it in.

And the power...! I could just feel it radiating out, it made all the hairs on my arm stand on end. I stood next to Knuckles, just staring at the Emerald for a while, taking in its beauty. After a few minutes, the only thing I could say was "woah." Knuckles nodded.

"Yeah. Woah." He stared down at me, chuckling at my expression for a moment before walking over to the Emerald and placing a reverent hand on it. "...I've watched over the Master Emerald, as well as this island for... as long as I can remember. Trying to keep them out of harm's way." He closed his eyes, a small smile on his face. "It's my sacred duty..." He turned to look at me. "Do you believe in spirits, Josh?"

"Um... I'm religious if that's what you're asking," I replied, shrugging a bit, "So, I guess?" Knuckles motioned me over to him, taking my hand once I was close enough and placing it on the Emerald. The gem was cool to the touch, despite being in the sun.

"I believe that, in this Emerald, there's a powerful Spirit that's been watching over Mobius since... forever," He said, rubbing the Emerald's side a bit. "And when I pray to it, I believe it listens, and it even answers." He looked over at me. "...reason I wanted to bring you up here was actually because I wanted to pray with you, see if we could get any help for you. Is that okay?"

"Knuckles..." I was at a bit of a loss for words. From what I knew from video games and first impressions, I thought he was a gruff, tough, non-social type guy... not this... "Of-Of course, I'm... I'm honored." Knuckles smiled and nodded, standing back and telling me to stand beside him. He walked me through the process slowly and carefully, both of us taking a moment first to kneel, bowing our heads. We said a few phrases in the ancient language Knuckle's clan used, which were basically meant to say thank you for the many things the Spirit of the Emerald had provided to the planet and its many people, as well as a few other things that Knuckles, sadly, didn't know the meaning of. We then began to walk around the Emerald, one time for each of the Spirit's closest servants, the Chaos Emeralds.

"Do you have to do this every time you pray for help?" I asked quietly, not wanting to break the reverent atmosphere.

"Technically no, but every time I am able to, I do," He replied. "It shows the proper respect, and it's good preparation for me to make sure I'm in the right mindset. A time to reflect and meditate, and to ponder on what I'm asking about, to make sure it's really something worth asking."

"Is... is this worth asking?" I asked. Knuckles looked over at me, smiling.

"Of course."

Once we finished the seventh lap, Knuckles stopped in front of the Emerald again, guiding me to his right side and instructing me to kneel. "When you're praying, only the person offering the prayer stands. As soon as that person finishes, they kneel down again, to show that we're all the Master Emerald's humble and willing servants." I nodded, watching as Knuckles closed his eyes and raised his hands into the air, tilting his head up a bit. His voice took on a different tone, something official, full of power. "Oh Master Emerald, we come before you humbly, seeking your help and guidance. This young servant has been separated from his little brother. He seeks comfort in knowing that his brother is safe, and knowledge in where he is. Please, great Master, grant us this wish." Knuckles quickly knelt on the ground, dropping to a knee and bowing his head. A reverent silence filled the space as I stared down at the stone floor... but after a while, I began to wonder if anything was supposed to happen. I was about to ask, when I felt... something. A tugging... not like something physical, but like... in my heart. I looked up at the Master Emerald, feeling that tugging get a bit stronger. I slowly stood, not really controlling my movements but just letting them happen as I drifted forward. The Master Emerald began to glow, and the world around me darkened, tunnel vision making the Emerald the only thing that really mattered. As I got close, I was vaguely aware of a voice behind me, a concerned one, but it quickly disappeared as I raised a hand and made contact with the Master Emerald's glassy surface.

...

...

...

Where... where am I...?

This isn't my old house...

This isn't my room...

I blinked a few times. This wasn't a ceiling I knew. I slowly sat up. Man, I was sore...! Why was I sore? Why was I in a hospital? What happened?

Stop. Think. What was the last thing you remember?

...We were running from Eggman robots...

...we hid behind a building...

...we started to use Chaos Control...

...Josh was...

I felt my blood run cold. Josh was taken by those robots! When I felt him get ripped away, I stopped thinking of the old house and panicked, and ended up...

...here. In... this place. Which was...

Well, it was a hospital. Been in those enough times to recognize one. But it was usually because I've had a broken bone from longboarding, but those were always in and out... I've definitely never just woken up in one. Weirdest thing, I couldn't tell what was wrong with me. I mean, yeah, I hurt like crap all over, but... no wounds, nothing broken, no bandages or anything. I wasn't even in a hospital gown! I was just dressed how I was before... black t-shirt with my favorite rock band and some jeans.

Ok, focus Jake. There's an easy way to get answers. I swung my legs over the side of the bed (oof) and stood (ouch), slowly walking to the door (ow) and opening it, looking outside.

I said a bad word.

The attention of a dozen Mobian doctors and nurses turned towards me. Holy crap they were tall! Sonic X taught me that these guys would probably come up to my knee, maybe a little higher... Obviously, they were wrong. I was still grappling with the fact that MOBIANS ARE FREAKIN' REAL when I heard a really familiar voice.

"You're awake!"

I turned and said another bad word, in my head this time though. Silver the Hedgehog was beaming at me, quickly standing and walking over to me.

Marijuana Hedgehog is a tall boi (And if you don't get why that's funny, look up a picture of Silver, it'll take you about 5 seconds to get it), standing at least... I dunno, a head taller than me. But he looked exactly like how he did in the video games... but... furrier. HD. He tilted his head.

"Hey, you ok?" He asked, his smile quickly turning to a worried frown.

"You're real...!"

Smooth Jake.

Silver squinted a bit, before letting out a confused chuckle. "Uh... y-yeah, I'm real. Maybe we should get you back in bed-"

"N-No, sorry, I... I'm fine, it's... there's... um..." I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts in some kind order. "What's going on?"

"Well, what do you remember?" Silver asked, moving over to a chair and pulling another in front of him, inviting me to sit. I did. "Tell me as much as you know, then I'll pick up where you left off." Fair enough.

"...Well..."

Over the next 15 minutes, what started as me just trying to explain the day's events ended up with me pretty much telling Silver my life story due to his questions. What my name was, my birthday, my family, how I ended up in an orphanage (glad I was too hopped up on adrenaline to be emotional), the robots, the kidnapping, and-

"You're all video game characters on my planet." I blurted out. I thought that maybe I shouldn't blow his mind, but it kinda just... slipped out. He definitely looked surprised for a moment... until a wide grin spread across his muzzle.

"...I'm in a video game?" He asked, leaning forward a bit. "Am I popular?"

"Uh... y-yeah, pretty popular, at least among fans." I replied. It wasn't a lie. I think.

"And is my game fun?"

"Er... w-well, n-"

"Silver!" Another voice came from down the hall, again, very familiar. I looked past Silver to see a purple cat hurrying down the hall, a cup in her hands. "I told you to come get me when he woke up!"

"Blaze...!" I gasped, standing up quickly (OW). She was, again, quite tall, just a little shorter than Silver, but not by much. And so fluffy... Blaze looked over at me, scanning me up and down.

"Sorry Blaze... I just got a bit excited..." Silver rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. Blaze shook her head at Silver for a moment.

"Are you alright?" She asked me, gently pushing me back down in my seat.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, just really sore." I replied, unable to take my eyes off of her. She commanded the attention of the room... her aura, her presence, how she spoke... She certainly acted like royalty. She nodded to a doctor, who handed her a pill. She held it out, as well as the cup.

"Take this," she said. I took the pill, quickly swallowing it with the water in the cup. I nodded, thanking her quietly before looking at the two of them.

"...so... why am I here?" I asked. "...is my brother here?"

"Brother?" Blaze asked, looking over at Silver. He sadly shook his head.

"...we saw a bright flash of light in the mountains... when we investigated, we found you passed out in the snow, which is why we brought you here. We thought you might have hypothermia..." He sighed a bit, his golden eyes leveling with mine. "...but we didn't find anyone else... we checked to make sure. You were alone..."

I went quiet. No one spoke for a while. I stood up again.

"Eggman took him." I said, looking at the two. "Not your Eggman, Sonic's Eggman. Which means..."

"...you're in the wrong dimension." Blaze finished quietly. I nodded, clenching my fists and digging my nails into my palms. Josh was in the clutches of a bad guy... a bad guy that wasn't anywhere near where I was, no matter how far I traveled, no matter where I looked. My only family was about as separated as two people could be... and I didn't know what to do.

But I had to do something.

"Ok... so what can we do?" I asked, "How do we get over there? The Sol Emeralds?"

"How do you-"

"We could, but we need to go find them." Silver said, standing up as well. "They've been scattered. We haven't really had much reason to find them until now."

"Excuse me-"

"Great, let's go!" I said excitedly.

"Silver-"

"Slow down, we need to get you discharged from the hospital fir-"

"GUYS!" Silver and I jumped and looked at Blaze, who was looking equal parts confused and frustrated. She turned and looked at me. "Who are you, how'd you get here, and how do you know about the Sol Emeralds?"

The sun bore down on us as we walked out of the hospital out into the parking lot. And it was a parking lot. Like, a normal parking lot. With cars. Not cars you would recognize from Earth of course, these looked like they were made of solar panels or something, but cars. It didn't look radically different from Earth... but at the same time, I can't say it looked at all the same. As I looked down the main street, it was lined with buildings that looked like they came out of Sherlock Holmes or something, but with modern amenities built into them... holographic signs for shops, vents pumping out mist to keep people cool, lights, music... it was an amazing combination of old and new.

"I'll be back just as soon as I can," Blaze said, nodding at the two of us. "Stay together, I'll call you if something happens Silver." Silver nodded, and stood back a bit, pulling me with him. Blaze quickly turned, and her FREAKING FEET CAUGHT ON FIRE as she blasted off down the road, heading up a hill towards...

...woah...

At the top of a hill lined with more buildings, as well as a few tropical looking trees, was an amazing castle, straight out of a storybook. Sparkling white walls, red trim, and the whole thing seemed to be shining in the sun. It was perfect.

"Blaze... lives there?" I asked.

"Yup," Silver smiled, putting a hand on his hips. "It's a pretty awesome place if you ever get the chance to go in. But, usually, the only way you can get in is if you're part of the royal family, or if you're invited." He shakes his head. "I mean, I'm one of her best friends and even I've only been in once or twice."

"Dude, really? That sucks..." I frowned... I wanted to go in that castle so bad...

"Security has to be tight up there," Silver started walking in the opposite direction, towards a bunch of shops. "Especially with Eggman Nega running around somewhere... you never know..." Silver grit his teeth a bit at the mention of his arch nemesis... but it was gone the next second as he let out a puff of air. "Sorry. He makes me a little mad... you know about him, right?"

"Yeah, of course," I nodded. "He's like Eggman if he shopped at Hot Topic,"

"Er... s-sure..." Silver obviously didn't understand my joke, which... makes sense, they probably don't have Hot Topic here...

"Sorry, dumb joke," I laughed, following Silver down the street. "So, once Blaze gets back, then what?"

"Then we go Emerald hunting," Silver had an excited grin on his face. "Another big adventure."

The adorable bean. His excitement was contagious! It did feel like he might have been playing it up a bit to make me feel more relaxed about the whole thing, especially when he started going on about how he was going to show me around their world, take me to some islands... but it was nice of him to do it. And it really did make me feel pretty excited! I mean, it's not every day that you get to go adventuring with Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat!

I mean, they were no Sonic, but I'll take all the help I could get. But thinking of Sonic made my thoughts drift to Josh... what was he doing... was he okay?

As much as I hated to admit it, I couldn't help but imagine him just going along with whatever Eggman wanted of him... before our parents died, he was pretty independent and outspoken, even had a bit of a temper (I got that from him). But after... he's just shut down... I mean, we both did, but...

Sonic... wherever you are... please, help my brother before... before...

"Jake?" Silver snapped me out of my thoughts, holding out a styrofoam cup filled with, what looked like, soft serve ice cream, topped with some small, red berries (I think), and a wedge of fruit (I think?) that resembled pineapple (I think?). I took the cup, and a plastic spoon Silver handed me as well.

"Thanks," I said, taking a bit of the ice cream onto the spoon. "What is it?"

"Tropical Fruit Freeze," He replied, taking a large spoonful from his own cup. "Just what you need on a hot day." I watched as he practically glowed after the first bite, his eyes closing.

The. Adorable. Bean.

After watching him for a few moments, I popped my own spoonful into my mouth... and was relieved it tasted familiar. It was pineapple. And those "berries" were just those bursting boba thingies Josh always liked to put in his frozen yogurt. But man did it taste good... I quickly wolfed down a few more spoonfuls, ignoring Silver's laugh.

"Do you always eat like this?" He asked, taking another small morsel of his treat. I nodded.

"Especially when I'm hungry," I said after swallowing what was in my mouth. "Feels like I haven't eaten at all!"

"Why didn't you say so," Silver quickly took my arm, pulling me further down the street to a much more open area, a park by the looks of it. And the smell...

"Oh... gosh..." My eyes actually fluttered shut. My body shivered. When I regained control, I just stared. Food carts, as far as the eye could see... As we strolled through the park, gazing at everything that was being offered, I felt my stomach growling.

"See anything you want?" Silver asked, clearly amused by my expression.

"All of it..." I muttered, slowing as I stared at a fox carving meat off a large skewer to make gyros... He looked up at me, smiling and waving a bit. Which was a nice gesture, but it made me think of something... "Hey... do you have any other humans like me here?"

"Humans? Aside from Nega, no." Silver waved back at the fox, pausing to see if this was what I wanted. I did. I really really did.

"It's just... people don't seem all that freaked out by how I look." I continued as we walked up to the stand, Silver ordering for us. The fox actually answered me this time.

"We get all types around these parts. From all over actually." He began preparing the gyros, looking up at us occasionally. "You're the first human I've really seen in person, but I usually see something new every week."

"Er... yeah, what he said," Silver nodded, paying the man with... some kind of material... "You never know what you'll see when you live here... you're pretty par for the course honestly. Not in a bad way!" He quickly corrected. "Just... you'll fit in just fine." He handed me the food (it was so gooood...), and we were on our way again. Silver lead me through the park a little more before finding a shadier spot underneath some trees. We sat and ate quietly for a while, before he looked over at me. He seemed hesitant to speak... I knew the look all too well.

"Wondering what happened to my parents?" I asked, looking over at him. He nodded. "...Well... I'm sorry but... I just don't want to talk about it right now," I looked forward. "It's... still pretty fresh, you know?"

"Can I ask how fresh?"

"Less than a year."

"Wow..."

There was silence once more before I turned to look at Silver again. He looked like how most people do when they ask and I tell them what I did: Guilty. Like they just found out they killed my dog or something. I nudged him a bit.

"Hey... don't feel bad," I said as reassuring as I could. "You didn't make me feel bad or anything. I just don't want to talk about it right now, you know?" I leaned back a bit. "It makes me sad talking about what happened, and... I just don't want to be right now."

"But... you're doing ok?" He asked.

"Yeah. Most days." I shrugged. "But now I have a question for you."

"Oh, uh, sure!" Silver sat up a bit. "What's up?"

"Can you really... you know..." I held my hand out and wiggled my fingers, pretending to levitate something. Silver smiled, finishing up his gyro and crumpling up the paper it was served in... It suddenly started to glow blue, and Silver let go. The wrapper was suspended in the air, and slowly started floating over to a nearby trash can.

"Woah..." I said quietly. "And... can you do that to anything?" I got an answer when I felt my butt leave the ground. I was almost half expecting to feel some kind of weird fuzzy aura or something surrounding my body... but it was nothing like that, just the sensation that I was floating off the ground. Silver slowly lowered me again, a confident smile on his face. "...woah."

"Right?" He took my trash and simply tossed it into the can this time. "I try not to rely on them too much though. I don't want to get lazy." He stretched his arms a bit... gotta admit, I was surprised. In the games, his body just looked kind of bean shaped, smooth, but up close, I could see he was build a little more... I don't know, I don't want to say he just looked like a guy in a furry suit (I mean, how weird would that be? Hahahaha...), but he had muscle... I could see the places where his fur contoured and bulged out a bit. He had a runner's body, that's for sure. He lowered his arms, and his body was back to normal. He stood, holding a hand out to me. "Wanna look around some more?"

"Duh!" I eagerly took his hand, letting him help me stand up (I wasn't sore anymore, but I was pretty stiff), and looking around. "Lead the wa-"

My eyes darted around, scanning everything around me.

White stone temple.

Master Emerald.

Purple eyes-

"Josh!"

I felt myself get shaken a bit.

"Focus on me, c'mon!"

I felt my breathing slow back to normal as I stared into Knuckle's eyes. I felt him release his grip on my arms, taking a step back. "You ok...?" He asked me quietly, looking me up and down. I wasn't sure. I felt out of breath, my heart was beating a mile a minute, I was sweating, I felt like I wanted to cry...

"...J...Jacob..." I muttered, looking back at the Master Emerald again. "I-I saw... I saw Jacob..." My mind was spinning... it wasn't like I just saw Jacob, it's like I WAS him for a little while. I saw as he saw, felt as he felt, spoke as he spoke... the taste of meat and feta cheese was still on my tongue. He was... he was so close. I practically lunged at the Emerald again, pressing my hand to the firm surface... but nothing happened. I slow dropped my hand. Knuckles was silent as he slowly walked up to me.

"...Josh...?" He spoke quietly, as if he was afraid I was going to suddenly snap. I didn't really say anything. I didn't know what to say. Jake was here... and then he was gone just as quickly. He was so close... and then he became so incredibly far away. I could go anywhere, to any planet, as far as I wanted, and he wouldn't be there.

Knuckles put a hand on my shoulder, gently pulling me away from the Master Emerald, guiding me towards the stairs, and sitting me down. I felt the wind blow against my face... it helped a bit. "...Josh, what did you see?" Knuckles asked, sitting next to me. I pressed my lips together for a moment.

"...can... can I just... tell you guys at once?" I asked, already feeling my throat tighten a bit. Knuckles nodded.

"Think you can walk down the stairs?" He asked, standing me back up again. My legs were shaking, but not enough that I couldn't walk. I nodded, and the two of us started back down the stairs, Knuckles keeping close watch on me. The long walk gave me some time to calm down, assess what I saw. Jacob was in another dimension, but he was being helped, just like the fortune teller said. I recognized Silver and Blaze from Sonic Generations, when I watched Jacob play, but I didn't really know too much about them... I could only assume he was in good hands.

He told them about our parents... Maybe... I could...

No. No one needs to know. I didn't want to talk about it. The less I thought about it the better.

I thought I heard Knuckles groat just a bit as we finished our descent and began walking towards everyone... Sonic had joined Amy and Tails. The small group didn't notice us coming down, too involved in a conversation, but Tails perked up when he saw us touch ground. He waved a bit as we got close.

"Hey, how'd it go?" He asked, Amy and Sonic stepping out of the way a bit to let us into the little circle they had formed.

"Uh, it... it was..." I licked my lips. How to put this... "...interesting."

"Were you crying?" Sonic squinted, leaning a bit closer to me. I started to shake my head as I reached up to touch my cheeks... only to find that they were actually still a bit damp. I even found a small, lingering tear...

"...I...guess I was..." I said quietly, feeling a blush rise to my face. I quickly wiped my eyes. "Sorry, I... I don't really... um..." This wasn't helping me... my emotions already felt so ragged... now I was embarrassed for apparently crying again in front of people I respected. "I... it... it was all kinda confusing..."

"Here, sit down again..." Knuckles suggested, gently pushing me down to sit in the soft grass. Everyone did the same, staring at me, waiting for some kind of explanation... I did my best. I told them everything I remember, right up to touching the Master Emerald, where Knuckles took over for moment. Apparently, when I touched the Emerald, I just freaked out. I stopped moving, I began to breath fast, I began to sweat and overheat... but it lasted for only a few seconds before Knuckles pulled me away. I then told my part... everything I saw.

"Well, you won't have to worry about him not being protected," Sonic smiled. "Sounds like he's in good hands."

"What do we do though?" I asked, looking over at Sonic worriedly. "He's... I mean, he's in a totally different dimension, can the Chaos Emeralds get us over there?"

"Absolutely," Sonic said. "Do you want to give it a shot now? We already have one, and that was all your brother needed to get over there."

That's right... maybe we were closer to getting home than I thought! I nodded quickly, standing up. Knuckles reached behind him and pulled the yellow Chaos Emerald I stole out from... somewhere... and handed it to Sonic. Sonic motioned me over to him as he stood, taking me a few feet away from the rest of the group. He held the Emerald in both his hands.

"Put your hands on top of mine," He instructed. "I don't know if we need to be touching, but let's not take chances." I nodded, placing my hands on his large gloved ones. Sonic closed his eyes, and I did the same, thoughts of my brother filling my head. Sonic took a deep breath in. "Chaos Control!" He shouted, his yell echoing across the clearing...

We both opened our eyes... nothing happened. He frowned a bit.

"...ok, you hold it this time. Maybe it'll respond to you better, since you know more about where your brother is and what he looks like." Sonic suggested. I shrugged before nodding. Worth a shot. Sonic held the Emerald out to me, placing it in my hand.

The moment he placed it in my hand, there was a bright flash!

...and the Emerald was gone...!