It was amazing how quickly the climate could change on Mobius. One second, you could be running across more grassy hills and lush forests... then boom. Desert as far as the eye could see. The sun beat down on us, made that much worse by the sand radiating the heat back up at us. The first moment I could, I put on Tails' "tank top" pin.

"We almost there?" I asked, wiping the sweat from my forehead. Sonic and Knuckles, oddly enough, seemed totally unphased by the heat. He even seemed to enjoy it a bit!

"Yup, it's right up there. See it?" Sonic crouched a bit so we were eye level and pointed out into the distance. A black dot rested on the horizon, the intense heat making it look like a wavy mirage.

"...That's Casinopolis?" I asked, looking skeptically at Sonic. "It looked more... colorful in the games..."

"You'll see," Sonic patted me on the back and held out a hand again. "Ready?" I took his hand and nodded, starting into a slight run before he did. We discovered it was a bit easier to get up to speed if I started off, Sonic didn't have to wait to speed up as long as he normally did. The wind helped cool us off as we accelerated towards our destination, the black dot slowly getting bigger and bigger…

The "dot" was actually a city sized dome, made of some kind of smooth, black rock. And I do mean it was city sized. Miles upon miles high and wide... it was incredible! Sonic slowed to a stop about a mile out, noticing that I was trying to take in the view. He smiled, putting a hand on his hip.

"Wait so... is everything in there?" I asked, looking back up at him. He laughed softly at my amazed expression.

"Yup. You know how most casinos don't have clocks or windows in them so you don't know how long you've been in there?" He motioned towards the dome. "Same deal, just on a massive scale."

"You ever gamble before?" Knuckles asked. I shook my head.

"I'm not old enough to go into the casinos on Earth," I said.

"Well, want an old pro to teach you?" Knuckles smirked, obviously a bit proud of himself, until Sonic scoffed a bit.

"Old pro? Last time you were here, you didn't have enough rings to afford a ride home, and too drunk to walk," Sonic shook his head. "Don't waste your time in there Josh. There's plenty of other things to see. Besides, we're looking for the Chaos Emeralds, remember?" Sonic looked pointedly at Knuckles, who just crossed his arms and huffed.

"You're just sour because you lose all the time."

"Everyone loses all the time, that's the point."

"I don't lose."

Sonic rolled his eyes before looking down at me. "C'mon, let's get you out of the sun, you're starting to burn,"

"Please," I nodded, already seeing my arms starting to turn a tell-tale shade of pink... We started to run again, but had only gone a few seconds before I suddenly lurched forward. I let go of Sonic's hand, stumbling to a halt as the other two skidded to a stop ahead of me.

"Did you trip?" Sonic asked as he began to walk towards me.

"I'm not doing this!" I yelped back as I took a few more lurching steps forward. It felt like something was forcefully pulling me, and as much as I tried to fight back, whatever was doing it was pretty much in control. My hand was forcefully yanked up, the ring pointing towards the air above the dome, as it began to glow a bright red. We all started as the glow got brighter and brighter, before a blast of light shot out of it, like a missile, the force of which sent me falling onto my rear. The light missile sailed upward, until it stopped right above the dome, and burst, a wall of light radiating out from it and falling around the dome. The light slowly dissipated, until all was quiet again. Sonic, Knuckles, and I didn't say a word for a moment, just staring at the dome, and where the light once was, before Sonic quickly ran over to me, helping me up.

"...what was that?" Knuckles asked, looking back at me and pointing up.

"I-I don't know, I... I just..." I tried to find words, but everything had happened so quickly and suddenly, it was hard to fully process everything.

"Are you ok...?" Sonic asked worriedly. I nodded, looking up at him.

"...it was like... something was making me do that," I said, holding up the ring. "It was like someone was pulling-"

"Josh..." Sonic wasn't staring at me anymore, but at my hand. I looked down at my ring, immediately noticing what he did.

The ring wasn't made of glass anymore. Not as far as I could tell. It looked like it was made of red emerald, the sides smooth and blocky rather than rounded like it was before. Inscribed in the top was a bunch of characters that looked like what were on the temple of the Master Emerald.

"...Knuckles...!" I hurried over to the echidna, showing him my ring. "Can you read this?" After taking a moment to just stare at my new accessory, and a moment more to examine the words, he shook his head.

"...it's a name, but... that's all I can tell you..." Knuckles replied, looking back up at the dome.

"So... what... what does all this mean?" I asked, looking between the two. They both shrugged as Sonic walked over to me.

"Whatever it is... looks like we might be staying here a bit longer than I thought..." Sonic stood next to me, sighing. "...stick close to me in there, ok?"

Casinopolis was a city of never ending nightlife. All the buildings were covered in twinkling lights and neon tubes that blasted color out onto the streets 24/7. The city was teeming with people, all of them in various levels of dress (or in some cases, undress), as they streamed in and out of casino after casino. You were constantly being jostled this way or that by someone or another. It was the total opposite of the city Amy took me to. That city was simple, clean, almost peaceful. This... this was neon colored madness...

Sonic slowly uncovered my eyes after making sure the flasher that jumped in front of us to show us his business had left. Ever since someone had tried to grab me away in order to "pet the fleshy," Sonic kept me right in front of him, a hand on each of my shoulders at all times. He guided me through the crowd, finally pulling me down a practically empty side street, devoid of the brightly colored lights. The owners of the buildings put a lot of into the fronts of their casinos, but the sides or the "hidden" areas of the building were much less showy. Graffiti and posters, some new, some faded, and some torn apart, littered the walls. Dumpsters and bags of garbage hung off to the sides. An employee was leaning on a wall, smoking a cigarette, staring at his phone, paying us no mind.

"You doing ok?" Sonic asked, moving in front of me. I nodded.

"It's a little intense..." I mumbled. Trying to walk through the streets was a bit like trying to swim up a really powerful stream. Not to mention, everyone seemed to be at least as tall as me, if not taller.

"Well, let's just sit down for a second," Sonic nodded to a wall, walking over and sliding down it, landing on the ground with a soft thump. I did the same, landing next to him. I saw him close his eyes and lean his head back against the wall, taking deep breaths.

"Sonic...?" I asked quietly. He cracked an eye open. "...You ok?" He gave me a small smile and closed his eye again.

"Yeah... this place is just... taking it out of me..." He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "Nowhere to run here, you know? Makes me feel... I don't know, cooped up."

"Are you claustrophobic?" I asked, leaning forward as well. Sonic shook his head.

"No... don't think so anyway," He replied. "I'm not like... scared or super nervous or anything... but it's really hard for me to feel like I couldn't start to run in case there was danger. It's just like... I'm always on high alert."

"Because of Eggman?"

"Him. And anyone else that might hurt you," He stood up and stretched, groaning a bit.

Hurt me? Me specifically?

"...I didn't know you were so worried about me," I said quietly, standing as well. He looked over at me as he raised his arms over his head.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Sonic asked.

"...you don't know me that well..." I shrugged. "I'm... some random guy you rescued."

"Seems reason enough to me," Sonic looked up into the air, up one of the walls.

"But I mean like..." I struggled to explain what was in my head. "...you're... like... being really nice."

"Do you want me to be mean?" Sonic chuckled, looking over at me with an eyebrow raised and an amused smile. "Friends are supposed to be nice to each other."

"N-No, I know that, it's… it's like…" I sighed, grasping at the words I needed. "People don't usually... go this far for random strangers..." Sonic paused for a moment mid-stretch before lowering his arms, leaning over to touch his toes.

"I don't think you're a random stranger," He said casually, switching to a different stretch. He shook out his limbs for a moment before turning to me. "You're a friend I just met," He smiled and held out his hand. "Right?"

I stared at his extended hand for a moment before taking it. "...Right." Sonic grinned wider, showing me his teeth, before looking back up into the sky again.

"Hang on tight, ok?" He instructed, pulling me forward to start a run. Before I could even question what was going on, he shot forward, quickly planting a foot on the wall in front of us... and running right up it.

I may have screamed, I don't remember. We were going very high, very fast, and the only thing below me was the ground, getting further and further away. Gravity tugged at my back, which was... terrifying to say the least. Sonic was immediately apologetic when we somehow got to the roof of whatever casino we scaled, putting a hand on my back and leaning down to meet my eye.

"Sorry... probably should have warned you huh?" He said. I nodded, taking a deep breath to try to calm the jackhammer in my chest. I half expected Sonic to be at least trying to hold in a laugh, but he looked... genuinely worried.

"I-I'm ok Sonic... r-really," I did my best to reassure him, standing up straighter. "You just surprised me, that's all..." I smiled shakily, which did very little to calm Sonic's nerves. "I just... need a minute..." He nodded, taking a step back and stretching out again. "Why'd you bring me up here anyway...?"

"Well..." He gently took my hand again, walking me forward. "I figured we could avoid most of the crowd by walking up here," He stopped a few feet from the ledge of the building. "Not to mention... this view is amazing,"

It was.

The neon lights that were so bright and garish from the ground were beautiful from up above. They almost seemed to dance in the air itself, the colors flashing and swirling around between the casinos lined down the street. And if I squinted, I could maybe see a reason why...

"Is there... smoke in the air?" I asked, pointing down. Sonic nodded.

"They have fog machines at street level that go off every now and then. It makes the lights pop that much more. They do stuff like that for concerts too," he explained as he pulled me away from the sight a bit. We started to walk along the roof, taking looks over the edge every now and then, Sonic pointing out some of the cooler landmarks, different shows, fountains... this place was like Las Vegas if Las Vegas was designed by Walt Disney; It was colorful, high energy, and even just a bit nonsensical at times with its architecture. Everything was made big and grand for no other reason than just to be big and grand.

I loved it. At least... I loved it from a distance. I don't know, something about being above all the craziness and chaos below made me feel... I don't know, removed from it all, like I was somewhere different, somewhere safe. Which was odd, feeling safe in what was essentially Las Vegas 2.0 but... I don't know... something just felt good about where I was...

I felt Sonic jump a bit and reach behind him, pulling out his glass phone and swiping at it with his other hand. "Wondered how long it would take him to notice we're gone..." He muttered, typing in a reply to someone I assumed to be Knuckles. "If he asks, just say the crowd pulled us away from him."

"Got it," I said, nodding distractedly as I watched a large fountain show for a moment. My gaze wandered across the city tops, until I came across an... odd shape. One that wasn't flat. "...Sonic, what's that?" He followed my gaze, and smiled before looking back at me.

"Probably the one place here I can stand," He replied, gripping my hand tighter. "C'mon, you'll love it!" I grinned, feeling giddy, ready to start running... but stopped short as I caught a glimpse of my other hand, and the ring on it. I felt a bit of guilt well up in me... was I really about to just go sightseeing, while Jacob was still out there doing... who knows what at this point.

"...Sorry..." I slipped my hand out of Sonic's. "...maybe another time... right now though, I just... I want to focus on finding the Emerald while we're here..."

"Oh..." He rubbed the back of his head. "Right... sorry, I... kinda got carried away..." He laughed half-heartedly. "Crazy what this place does to you..." An odd silence fell between us for a few moments before he broke it. "So... what does your ring say?" I held it up and waved it around.

"...it's not really changing..." I squinted at it, holding it closer to my face. "Wait... it's..." Sonic walked closer, squinting as well as he drew close.

"...it's losing its color," He said, tilting his head. "It's like it's draining out the bottom or something..." I quickly felt along the bottom of the ring... all dry, no holes, nothing red smudging on my finger. It was so weird, the ring by this point was mostly clear, the bottom third of it still clinging to that bright red color.

"...does that mean we're doing something right?" I asked, trying to shake it to see if the color would move at all... it didn't. "I mean, that light show outside, that was saying the Emerald was in the dome, right?"

"That's what I thought..." Sonic mused, standing up and tapping his chin a bit. "Does it refill if you walk the other way?" We experimented for a few minutes, walking in all directions... nothing seemed to happen, aside from the ring's color draining more.

"...Do you think it's a timer?" I asked.

"A timer to what? Counting down to when we find the Emerald?"

"...or a timer for when the Emerald would disappear," I looked up at Sonic, feeling panic rise up in me. "Like the yellow Emerald back on Angel Island." I paced along the roof, my heart picking up speed as fear began to gnaw at me. "That'll just take us longer, Eggman could get ahold of them, w-we'd be chasing down just another Emerald and-"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Sonic grabbed my wrist… I'd started to reach up and pull my hair without realizing. "Breathe Josh, breathe!" I stared up at him, into his eyes… Still a deep Emerald, still glowing just a bit… "There you go… easy…" Wow… I… Wow…

"How'd you do that?" I asked.

"Do what?" He slowly released my hand, as I let them drop to my sides.

"...I…" I tried to figure it out. One moment I felt like the world was falling around me… the next…

"You ok?" He gave my shoulder a small shake. "We still got time, ok? Let's just… follow our hunches."

"...hunches?" I laughed a bit, in spite of myself. "Is that how you usually do things? You follow a hunch…?"

"All the time," he winked at me and clicked his tongue before holding out a hand again. "C'mon, I got a few friends here that we can call on, and I can guarantee you, they're gonna be… right over there." He pointed over to the strange shape he was wanting to go to. A gigantic circus tent…

"...wait, are there gonna be clowns?"