McGremlin: Thanks :). I feel like the lore (and this chapter...) is totally predictable, though ^^;. .And yes, you guessed right. I'm missing on a sleep whole different level right now xD.

Chapter 18: Can't Cross the Pond (II)

Old man hurried ahead through the jungle on smooth steps, apparently drawing from an energy reserve Sonic hadn't thought he had in him. Ian grumbled as they went after him.

"So, you two are guardians, huh? How's it like?" Sonic asked, lightly pacing beside him.

Ian snorted. "Well, if you enjoy memorizing old tales by heart instead of just writing them down, or wanna learn an ancient language that you never use, and then go 'on patrol' in the middle of the night when you could be out partying with your friends—then it's great fun."

Sonic chuckled. "You still stuck with it, though."

Ian rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but—It just sucks when you can't tell anyone about anything, even though everyone kinda knows anyway and teases you about it, but then you don't even really know something that they don't and… oh, whatever. You don't even get to be smug about it, you know?"

"Well, you got me happening now." Sonic grinned.

Ian seemed to walk a bit straighter after that. "Yeah. Don't mess it up now, man!"

"Me?"

"For some reason gramps now thinks you're 'the one', or something. And I think he's making a mistake. I mean, I get that he's been waiting for this day for all his life, but even I can tell that you don't fit the description." He slowed a bit, examining Sonic for a moment before picking up the pace again. "Well, not exactly anyway. Considering he's so nitpicky about everything all the time, this seems kinda rash."

"You could still stop him. If you're really guarding what I think you're guarding then even I'd stick to the plan."

Ian's face went through a couple of grimaces. "…I finally wanna see that stone for myself," he admitted a bit sheepishly. Then his voice became firm again: "But if you try to do something stupid, I'm gonna take you out."

"Ha!" Sonic rubbed his nose. "Challenge accepted."

#

They arrived at a wide, overgrown boulder in the middle of the jungle. Old man stopped to peer at the night sky, producing a small watch and checking it. Sonic didn't have the best sense of direction in the jungle, but he was fairly sure they'd rounded the area of the five temples and were now close to the one he'd seen from afar when watching Mobius rise.

»Why did we stop?« Ian asked his grandfather.

Old man ignored him, looking concentrated for a moment longer, then he seemed to have spotted the part of the sky he'd been looking for and nodded to himself. He turned sharply, probably on purpose to make his robe flare out. Then he pointed two fingers at the stone. »Watch,« he said.

He touched the stone face with both fingers and slid them rapidly across in an angular pattern. The moment he was done he stepped back, tense with anticipation.

The static of Chaos energy crept under Sonic's fur, momentarily overwhelming his senses. It almost felt as if he'd touched a ring—only… outside of his body instead of inside. The energy rolled off again as if seeping into the ground beneath his feet. Then the boulder rose into the air, revealing a square opening underneath that it had sealed like a roughly mushroom-shaped plug. It stayed in midair just a bit above Sonic's height.

Ian gaped.

A soft light lit up beneath the stone, illuminating the opening from below. A polished looking metal ladder went straight down from the boulder's cube-shaped plug-underside, leading in. Nice.

Ian stepped closer and poked the stone with a finger. It stuck in the air like a glitch in a video game and didn't even sway under his touch. He rounded it twice, checked the air above and below, then tch'ked in disbelief and ran a hand through his hair. He exchanged a look with his grandfather who simply stood there, smugly stroking his chin.

Ian's eyes latched onto Sonic as he pointed his open palms towards the boulder. "Am I the only one noticing there's a flying rock beside me?" he asked.

"Eh, 's not that special," Sonic said stepping closer to peer into the hole. "There's a whole valley with stones like this where I come from. They don't come down unless you break them up or something." Sonic knocked at the stone's underside, causing Ian to flinch. "This one's reeeally stable, though," Sonic said.

Ian snorted. He came closer and got into a semi-crouch to peer into the hole as well. "They could've made it fly a little higher while they were at it," he mumbled.

Sonic straightened, easily fitting underneath its hood. "Guess they didn't have you guys in mind. …Or it's low on energy."

Ian paled, apparently fighting the impulse to crawl backwards on his behind. Sonic broke into a grin.

Old man had crossed his arms, meanwhile looking just a little bit impatient. »Are you done behaving like a scared cat or do I have to find a new successor?« he asked.

Ian swallowed and corrected his posture, then he crouched forward underneath the rock and sat down at the edge of the opening. He placed his outstretched feet on one of the suspended ladder's struts and pulled himself across. Beneath him, the shaft went down for about three stories then connected with a corridor that emitted a softly wavering, blue-ish light. He hesitantly began to climb. When he finally set his feet onto the ground below and poked his head into the connecting corridor, he whistled softly, then he seemed to compare the ceiling height with his own. He walked out of sight a moment later, briefly obscuring the light coming from the tunnel entrance.

Meanwhile, old man had stepped beside Sonic, watching his grandson set foot into the underground tunnel. He gestured for Sonic to go next.

Sonic hopped onto the ladder, then pressed his hands and feet against the outside of its stringers and simply slid downwards. At about halfway he began inwardly cursing himself for giving unnecessary strain on his shoes. At that rate his barefoot-trip was coming up a lot faster than necessary.

The ladder vibrated as old man descended after them. Sonic stepped out of the way, taking a first look into the tunnel opening that turned out not to be a tunnel opening but only a short passageway. Behind it, a handful of steps led further down into a large, square chamber supported by pillars in two rows left and right. Most of the floor was covered with shallow water, shimmering blue like a swimming pool, but at its center a wide, stone footbridge lead straight across and towards another, closed passageway on the opposite side. Along the pillars, on parts of the walls, and along the edges of the footbridge, mosaic-like ornaments emitted a soft blue light, making the chamber look and feel perfectly tranquil.

…Save for a single, polished looking human skeleton in one of the pool's corners, anyway.

At the center of the chamber the footbridge widened into a circular platform that gave room to the one thing that had been nagging at Sonic ever since he'd arrived at the ruins: a Star Post. He pushed past Ian standing halfway on the stairs leading down, then hesitated on the verge to the footbridge. The Star Post wouldn't go off now of all times, would it? Talk about the worst spot to place one of these things. He'd never pass on a chance to get home, but then missing out on potentially finding a Chaos Emerald? Damn. Sonic swallowed.

Behind him, old man softly stepped off the ladder and joined them at the stairs. He swiped his fingers downwards across what looked like a blank slab of stone in the wall and the stone plug above them sunk back into the ground. When it closed with a soft thunk the lights in the chamber lit up just a little brighter, making the stone walls and pillars shine like polished ceramics. The air down here was strangely refreshing.

Ian shivered.

»Go ahead,« old man said to him. »I will teach you all about this very soon.«

His grandson nodded then reverently stepped off the stairs and towards the Star Post. Two people could easily fit side by side on the footbridge, but walking one after another was just fine with Sonic right now.

Ian paused at the Star Post (unaffected by it like anyone else, apparently), curiously tapping at it with a fingernail and causing a faint ting. The post was strangely taller than the ones Sonic had seen so far—the topmost sphere easily reaching above Ian's head—and its paint-job was still perfectly intact. For some reason it also managed not to stick out like a sore thumb in its otherwise archaic surroundings.

Sonic took in the brightened room for a second time. There was nothing particularly revealing about its construction: The wall's blue ornaments were shaped similar to glowing windows, and the ones circling the pillars could be seen as snakes or the like. But there was nothing clearly 'mobian' or 'human' about them. He had no idea whether that was a good or a bad thing. But what clearly was a bad thing, was that a large portion of the chamber was covered in water, and that the footbridge resembled the only dry path to get to the other side. If Sonic wanted to avoid getting close to the Star Post, he'd either have to wade through that chest-deep stuff, or… maybe zig-zag a couple of jumps between the wall and pillars? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. Like an amazing idea, in fact. In case he wanted them to instantly forget all ideas about showing him the Emerald in the first place.

"Walk." Old man interrupted Sonic's train of thought. "Please."

...Right, the guy was all business.

Sonic hesitantly placed one foot on the footbridge. Was there a way to avoid the Star Post going off? He'd never tried. But then he'd also never had to do the opposite. It seemed as if the Post automatically got into his head the moment he crossed some kind of threshold. Maybe he could balance along the edge of the platform…

He reached the blue ornament that formed a wide circle around the Post. It actually looked a bit like something that would mark its range. Unfortunately there was barely a hand's width between it and the actual edge. Sonic could sense old man hovering behind him.

…Oh, what gives. Sonic put one foot inside the ring, then the other, mentally preparing for the blackout that was about to come.

Nothing happened.

He blinked. No vision.

Sonic took a step closer to the Post, then another one, anticipating, but nothing happened even after he'd gotten as close as arm's length. He took a step backwards again to get a better look at the thing. Maybe it was just a mockup? Something to decorate the chamber with? It was taller than the ones he'd seen before, and the bottom cage was decorated with bumpers painted with a large yellow star. But the mechanism and the overall material did look like the real thing…

He went and laid his hand across one of the bumpers and tried to give the cage a spin. It was stuck, of course. As always.

Sonic took a deep breath and slowly let it out again. This had better been just a coincidence and not a permanent change. Being completely shut off by these things would be way worse than simply not having them work the way you wanted.

Old man passed both Ian and Sonic and began working his swiping magic on the door at the other end of the footbridge. If he'd been fazed by stuff not happening, he didn't show it. On his command the two parts of the stone door defied all stone-grinding temple clichés and parted with a noise much like that of a super market sliding door. Old man placed himself on one side of the entrance like a castle guard.

The inside of the small chamber he had opened was wrapped in a soft green light, emitted by a diamond shaped stone in a size that would fit a grown person's hand. It floated above a bed of stone-carved leaves that decorated the tip of an otherwise plain pedestal.

»Whoa, that's—« Sonic realized his mouth stood open and he quickly corrected himself. It had been a while since he'd automatically lapsed into Mey.

He started walking, drawn towards the pedestal, and with Ian on his heels. Old man followed them with his gaze as they entered the chamber, then planted himself into the open doorway, staff to the side. The chamber felt full with only the two of them, even though it was at least twice as wide as the footbridge.

The Emerald slowly revolved around its own axis, its deep glow just at the right intensity for its cut to be still visible. A strangely elating energy filled the room and Sonic had to resist the impulse to smooth down his fur. It didn't stand; it only felt as if. His entire body felt light and powerful in here, and he wondered if the others felt it, too. His hand reached out for the stone, and he heard Ian draw in air through his teeth. Sonic drew away his fingers before they could touch the Emerald, a sudden reverence overcoming him.

»Have you touched the stone before?« Ian asked, his voice seemingly way too loud even though it was only slightly more than a whisper.

»No. It is not our place to touch it.« Came old man's voice, sounding full of dignity.

Ian's eyes widened in a good mix of surprise and disbelief. Then old man chuckled softly. »Of course I have. You can't guard a stone like this and never touch it!«

Ian seemed to relax but kept shaking his head as he stepped closer to the pedestal. He hesitantly stretched out a finger to poke at the Emerald. When his finger connected with the stone, he shrank back as if hit by electricity, disturbing the Emerald's hypnotizing spin for a moment and rubbing his fingertips. He approached it again prepared, then lightly ran his fingers across its surface and underneath until it almost looked as if he held the Emerald in the air above the altar instead of its energy itself. When he drew back his hand he inspected his fingers, tapping them against each other. "Well, that was weird," he said. Old man nodded knowingly, even though he probably hadn't fully understood his grandson's words.

Ian stepped aside for Sonic as if to say, 'your turn now'.

Sonic reached out again, only now noticing that, while Ian had to bend forward to properly touch the stone, the Emerald floated at just the right height for him to touch. He tipped his finger at the stone in the same probing manner Ian had. There was a small jolt when his finger connected, but it wasn't the kind of electrical feeling Sonic had expected. It was more like… soft electricity, but that didn't make any sense. It was as if it was electrifying, but in a pleasant way.

…Just as Chaos energy should be.

One after the other, Sonic slid his fingers across the Emerald's surface, taking in the sensation before fully enclosing the stone with his hand. For a moment it felt as if some kind of fog lifted off his mind. Then the room lit up like a frickin' casino. A spiral of light streaked from the altar across the floor and into the walls, washing over their startled shapes and eventually lighting up a series of colorful murals just below the now glowing, dome-shaped stone ceiling.

The upper part of the room had been so dim before, the now-murals had appeared as blank slabs of stone. Now, they were glowing from within, depicting various stylized scenes—from scarcely but colorfully clothed humans looking skyward at a flying island, to people of different shapes and sizes erecting a temple. Sonic wouldn't have been surprised if the images on those slabs began moving any moment.

Two murals opposite each other stood out with less mundane scenes. One showed an oddly vivid view of Mobius and Earth facing each other with the Solar System as their backdrop, and the other showed some kind of giant, human-like machine handing out what appeared to be the Chaos Emerald to some blue… person engulfed in a yellow bubble. It was either supposed to be a glowing hedgehog with short wings, or a human in very funky clothes, which—judging by Mayan fashion—was just about as likely.

The others were just as absorbed by the sight as he was. Even old man looked like he'd never seen those murals before. Sonic didn't dare to remove his hand from the Emerald.

Old man stepped by Sonic's side and fell to one knee.

»It appears this is the end of our guard,« he began in the language of their first meeting, unfazed. »You may take the stone as you please, and relieve us from our duty.«

Ian seemed to need a moment to process his grandfather's words.

"Wait, what? No."

He positioned himself in the doorway, trying to take up as much space as possible. »Gramps. I'm sorry. I know this is an important day for you, but I'm trying to be as attentive as you taught me to be. I believe he's from the right place, but not from the right people. If he was 'the one' he should've known about us, about this. We can't just give him the stone.«

Sonic craned his neck to follow the conversation—for whatever it was worth, since he still didn't understand any of it.

Old man's face took on a pained frown, seemingly stuck between the desire to do the right thing, and the knowledge that this might well be the closest he'd ever get to be the one that fulfilled the duty of his family. He shook his head and leaned on his staff to get to his feet again, facing Ian. »Don't you think this is a sign?« he said, gesturing broadly at the murals. »He came here the way the tales predicted. He could be an emissary, lead here on the same mysterious knowledge that we have to live by.«

Ian shook his head as well. »Maybe, but—« He paused, licking his lips. »No. If he was, he should've said so right at the start. He needs to at least prove that he came here the way he claims.« Ian said firmly.

Old man looked thoughtful, then nodded. He seemed to think about his next words.

"Uhm, guys?" Sonic said, carefully lifting his hand from the emerald and feeling its energy sizzle out of him as he turned towards them. They watched the room dim only slightly. "Care to let me in on what you're discussing here?"

Ian nodded, then had another quick exchange with his grandfather. They seemed to agree on something.

"What are you planning to do with the Stone after we let you take it?" Ian asked.

"I—uh," Sonic frowned. What was he going to do with the thing anyway? Nothing here on Earth, that much was sure. And if he ever got home…? Nothing much either. Tails'd probably want to research it like crazy, but if anyone ever found out what they had, the kid'd never know how to deal with all the attention. Then everyone else would want to research it, too, and Sonic would have to explain how he got the thing and everything would become complicated. No one needed complicated. Nah, it was probably best to leave it here for now and try to figure out where the rest was located now that he knew they were real. If those seven Emeralds couldn't take him home, nothing could.

…Before that, though, he had to at least check whether holding this particular Emerald did something about the Star Post out there. No way the Post was just dead or even decoration in a place like this.

»See,« Ian broke into Sonic's thoughts as he spoke to his grandfather again. »Nothing about returning it to the Sanctum of the Seven, or using it for the greater good (however that's supposed to work, anyway).«

»But also nothing about unleashing their rage or awakening the Chaos. I want to see him prove what you suggested before making a decision.«

Ian sighed. »Alright…« He switched to English again. "Okay, listen: We've decided that we want some proof. If you're the one my grandfather thinks you are, you'll be able to use the Star Post in the antechamber."

What? Sonic's eyes widened, thoughts grinding to a halt for real now. Hadn't the guy heard that he wasn't able to do that? What was he trying to achieve?

"You already know that I can't." Sonic said. He shook his head. "Keep the Emerald. I don't even know what to do with it." He made a step towards Ian blocking the entrance, but instead of stepping aside Ian just squared up a little more.

"Sorry, I can't let you go without it, either. We need a way of judging you, now that you know where to find the stone."

"Tch. You don't think I'm 'the one' no matter what I do." What was wrong with that guy now?

Ian puffed out some air, exchanging a quick glance with his grandfather.

"It's—Look, there is this part of the tale that requires us to lock anyone 'unworthy' in here to slowly rot and die. (I think this is salt water, by the way). So… maybe if you tick enough boxes we can pretend you were close enough to let you go again instead…"

Sonic let out a humorless laugh. Consider zero boxes ticked, then. Should it come to it, he knew he'd have no trouble knocking out Ian, but then he'd still need to get out of the chamber again, and he wasn't exactly ready to force his way past old man for that.

But if he had to, he was going to take the Emerald with him, that much was sure. Too bad he couldn't talk to gramps directly…

"…Alright. I'll humor you," Sonic said eventually.

Ian nodded and lead the way back to the Star Post until they were all gathered just before the supposed threshold.

Sonic's gaze automatically traveled back to the Emerald still floating inside the small chamber. The moment when he still could've asked to 'borrow the thing real quick' seemed an eternity ago. All he could do now was get this stupid 'test' over with and then, well, get out of the place one way or the other.

Sonic stepped across the threshold before Ian could prompt him again. For a tiny moment he expected the the Star Post to react this time, but again there was nothing. …Not that it would've helped anyway. Even if he did see another vision now, what good was it if he couldn't share it with anyone?

He looked the Post up and down, licking his lips. If this wasn't a fake, he really couldn't see anything that would be wrong with the thing—nothing… chipped off or whatever it could be that prevented it from working. …Maybe it wasn't supposed to be surrounded by water, or the Emerald routed all the energy away from it…? Sonic shook his head. Nah, that didn't make sense. But he couldn't just stand here without at least trying something.

He knew how he felt when the Star Post activated—a certain cold creeping up his neck, and just the faintest hint of nausea. Sonic closed his eyes, trying to recall the feeling as closely as possible, picturing those weird, cold tendrils up his spine, trying to envision himself floating above the chamber—

Then something occurred to him, causing him to open his eyes again.

"It's off," he said.

Ian made a face. "Would've said that, too."

Old man nodded as if he'd just been waiting to understand this one sentence. He paced towards yet another blank slab on the wall and swiped in a difficult looking combination. Sonic's vision blanked out in an instant.

»Wait. So it really was off?« Ian's voice faded out in the distance. »Why do you get to be smug about this stuff and I—«

Sonic looked down at the empty chamber, floating right beneath it's roof. It didn't look any different from it's real-world counterpart, save for the now empty corner that was missing its skeleton. At the right end of Sonic's view, a glowing green bar marked that this Star Post had to have the strongest 'battery' level he'd ever seen. At the left end, some text was running through, bottom to top, but he didn't bother to pay attention. He knew that stuff by heart now. Yada, yada. Always the same sequence. Then he was out again.

—Except, he wasn't.

The font to his left turned green, pulsed briefly, then disappeared along with the gauge to his right, leaving an unobstructed, aerial view of the chamber. Sonic turned his head, and just as naturally as looking around, his view shifted with it. A chill ran down his spine, making his body feel almost as cold as his brain. This was new. This stuff had never happened before. Now how the heck did he get out?

He was back standing in front the Star Post the moment the thought crossed his mind and he mentally cursed himself. It'd be really nice if at some point in his life he'd learn not to mess up moments like these with rash thinking…

Sonic took a deep breath then rubbed his face for good measure. The others looked at him in a mixture of curiosity and expectation. Well, they were up for an 'amazing' show.

Sonic enclosed one of the Post's bumpers with his right hand, poising himself for a bone-rattling non-spin of the bottom cage. But the thing gave way almost instantly, smoothly revolving for a bit when he withdrew his hand with a startle.

No way.

No way!

Sonic fumbled for the bumper again, suddenly on wobbly limbs. When he had a firm grasp on it, he spun the cage, hard. All three of them instinctively stepped backwards as the Star Post geared up from there, crackling and hissing with energy. Within moments, a portal opened above their heads, accompanied by a soft shing. It gave way into a world that looked like a starry night sky, only in shades of yellow. The portal made a quiet tinkling noise as it stood open.

Sonic felt as if his knees could give way any moment now as he stared into the endless, unreal world spreading out above him.

It worked.

It frickin' worked.

This was it. This was his ticket home.

Why was he still standing here? Why the heck was he hesitating for even a fraction of a second? Why did it feel as if his body was glued to the ground and his mind just couldn't will it to move? He had to get in there. He had to go. Now.

The portal shrank and something twisted inside him as a decision set.

Sonic sped up, ran up the length of the post and slipped through the closing portal last second, faintly hearing a yell from the people outside. Now he hung there, weightless in complete silence and with twinkling nothingness around him.

All the things he'd already set out to do once he got back piled up in his mind. Check to see if Tails was okay (and show him that he was, of course), make up with his foster parents for running off like a damn idiot all the time (and afterward live with the fact that there were some other important people he now hadn't properly said goodbye to), finally get some new shoes! …And then for a while just… be a part of life again instead of looking at it from a distance.

Around him shapes of more and more places appeared, revolving around him just like the first time he'd been in this space. Like… location suggestions or something: A familiar crag high up in the mountains, a forest of giant trees he'd been to months ago, and a natural, cavernous lookout he'd discovered above a small town recently.

Then he recognized the pattern of a loop-de-loop that stood somewhere near Metropolis—depicted in pale, clean stone like something from the past—and his heart began to beat faster. If he managed to turn up there, he wouldn't be particularly close to home, but at the moment even an island on the opposite side of Mobius would feel pretty close by comparison.

Wait. Stop. No thinking of islands. Not this time.

An image of Jen trying to get him a new pair of shoes popped into his head and Sonic wedged his eyes shut. No. Not this one either. Screw you, brain!

Before he could begin focusing on Metropolis again, the portal opened below him, sucking him through. Sonic vaguely recognized the glowing temple floor when his feet heavily hit the ground. He reflexively rolled once to ease the drop, then stood, instantly feeling light-headed. He managed one more step then everything went dark.

#

Sonic lay on some kind of blanket when he awoke. He seemed to be on a kind of veranda draped with insect screens, right in the middle of the still nightly jungle. A constant buzz surrounded him.

No. He sat up with a start.

Ian and his gramps sat on weathered logs, eating face to face at a simple wooden table on the other end the veranda. The scent of food and of an extinguished fire hung in the air.

He was still here.

Crap. What had he done?

He'd been so close to seeing everyone again, so close to life where he belonged, so, frickin', close to a way home. How could he have messed it up? How could he, half a year ago, leave everyone on a frickin' whim and now he was holding back?

Because of Jen?

She knew he'd leave eventually. She wouldn't like it, of course, and she'd never find out exactly what had happened, but, unlike everyone back home, she was prepared, wasn't she?

…But if he'd had an idea what he'd get himself into that day, maybe he would've hesitated then, too…?

Yeah, crap, no. Of course he would've done the same. Sonic buried his face in his hands.

Apparently the only way for him to do things right was doing them on impulse.

Ian's words tore into his thoughts: "You're welcome," he said between a mouthful.

Sonic shot him a bewildered look. "What?"

Old man had his back to Sonic, apparently ignoring the exchange. Ian shifted a thin, folded piece of bread between his fingers. "I carried you here. You're heavy." He used his teeth to pluck a piece of what appeared to be vegetable filling from his thumb and added: "Also, congratulations. The stone is yours."

Oh, right, there was that.

Sonic scrambled to his feet, already halfway to where the insect screen parted. "You can keep the damned thing," he said. "Tell me how I get back to the chamber. I need to know if it's gonna work again. I need to—"

"Calm down," Ian said. "We'll get there. But gramps isn't gonna interrupt his dinner because of you now, and he's the only one who knows how to lift the rock."

Sonic felt his jaw clench. He'd waited so frickin' long for this, how was he supposed to do nothing, now? Why, of all people, couldn't he talk to the old man directly?

Said old man turned to face him and patted the spot by his side. "Come. Sit, eat," he said.

"I—" Sonic sighed. Seeing the man's relaxed expression made him lose all steam. Apparently the guy didn't need words to follow a conversation.

…Maybe, an hour or two longer didn't make much of a difference, after all.

#

Back at the chamber, Sonic let Ian and his grandfather, whose name turned out to be Eduardo, pass the Star Post first, then he stepped into the circle himself, holding his breath. In a not-so-cool moment of nothing happening—again—he realized Ed must've deactivated the Star Post earlier.

—Or so he hoped, anyway. Otherwise he was going to tear his quills out as soon as the guys weren't looking.

Ed and Ian were talking about something in Spanish, as they'd told him the language was called, and Sonic was torn between interrupting them to ask, and maybe not needing an answer right away.

When they sat together before, Sonic had taken the time to gather his thoughts. He couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened to him the moment he'd touched the Emerald, and that that something had changed the way the Star Post reacted to him. But then there could just as well be something different about this particular Post, or maybe all the others had just been partially off, too, and all he had to do was find a touch-swipe stone-thingy to activate them…

No matter what it was in the end, if he could really get back home through the Post right before him, he'd stay there this time, and not get within a hundred pace radius of one again.

This time he was prepared, too. He'd explained a bunch of things to Ian, then given him Jen's number (which she'd made Sonic memorize first thing after teaching him how to read numbers…), and asked him to call her in a couple of days. It wouldn't be a proper goodbye, but at least she'd have some sort of closure. At this point Sonic still had a chance to call her in person, of course, but he didn't want to needlessly upset her in case couldn't make it home now after all.

…And, admittedly, he didn't want to needlessly upset himself by talking to her now…

Ed went and opened the door to the Emerald chamber, then turned and shot Sonic a questioning look.

Sonic lightly shook his head. All the thoughts he'd had earlier about things getting complicated if he took the Emerald hadn't changed. Of course, it'd be awesome to be the guy who made the discovery. But a few days of fame could never outweigh all the stuff that came with it: Everyone would want the thing. And while Sonic wouldn't care about being the one who had the Emerald (if he was somehow allowed to keep it as the finder after all), he definitely cared about who could have the Emerald. Which meant he'd have to make sure it was safe, and he already knew he'd be doing a shitty job at it. In the end, someone would get their hands on it, and they'd find a way to use it for their gain. And Sonic didn't want to be the guy responsible for that.

"I really think the Emerald is better off if it stays here," he said, then paused as Ian translated. "I wouldn't know what to do with it, and I could never guard it the same as you guys. So, if you don't wanna quit your guardian job today, I hope you can hold out for a while longer." A thought struck him. "If I ever find that flying island though, and those Echidnas really are gone, I think I'm gonna get back to you." Sonic grinned.

Ed's face grew a thoughtful smile during Ian's translation and he turned to lock the Emerald chamber again, slowly shaking his head. Then he activated the Star Post. Sonic felt a prickle down his spine.

When Ed joined Ian again, he clasped one hand around his grandson's shoulder in silent agreement.

Sonic gave them a nod. "Thanks for giving me another chance, guys. I hope this is gonna be it!"

He gently took hold of one of the bumpers, feeling a wave of excitement as it instantly gave way under his touch. It was so easy to spin the thing now, he had trouble imagining how it couldn't have worked before. A moment later the Star Post was fully geared up and the portal ready to go. Sonic took a deep breath as he looked up into the void, then faced Ian and his grandfather one last time. "Good luck guarding the place. And see ya!" He saluted, then leaped into the portal.

This time, he'd frickin' focus.