Chapter 16: Treasure Hunters
Day 4 Mystic Ruins 10:11 P.M. Tails, Bunnie and Antoine wandered through the cave, Tails sweeping the floor with a flashlight. He pointed to the open end of the cave ahead. "Look! Someone's blasted through the wall there," Tails said. "Ah bet it was Knuckles an his gang," Bunnie said. "Oui, so very true," Antoine agreed. "So Knux maybe here?" Tails asked. "Yeah, looks that way," Bunnie said, as they stood on the cliff. Tails shined his flashlight into the empty darkness and it reflected upon some trees and some sort of building. "Zere ez a ladder here," Antoine said. "Let's go down and look for ze emerald." "Right, 'Twain," Tails said. The three crept down the ladder, and started looking around for a possible chaos emerald. It could be ANYwhere in a forest like this. "Dun look now, fellas, but we have company," Bunnie said, pointing across the wat. On the other side of a river they could see a light flickering with 5 figures. "Who goes there?!" one called from across the river. "Tails, Bunnie and Antoine!" Tails called back. "Oh hey, guys! What are ya doin?!" Knux called. "Lookin for Chaos Emeralds! You?" Tails asked. "Searchin for buried treasure!" "Good luck!" "You too!" Tails wandered further up the trail. And spotted it. "Oh wow! There's a chaos emerald!" Tails yelled to Bunnie and Antoine. "Well go get it, sugar!" Bunnie said. Tails walked over to get it. RIBIT. A green frog with a tail hopped across Tails' path, and grabbed the emerald in its mouth. "Hey! Come back here!" Tails yelled, running after it. "Stoooop!" Station Square 10:45 P.M. Sonic, Chaima, Chahura and Rupicha ran out, seeing Zero rushing out of Twinke Park. It was chasing something alright, and he bet it was Amy. Dropping the bear off at the hotel, Sonic and the guys searched franticly for the robot or even Amy. "Let's try looking there," Chaima said, pointing to a huge warehouse. "Good idea," Sonic said, walking over to it. Locked. "Open the stupid door!" Sonic yelled, kicking at it. They sighed. "It's no use. They won't let ME in...." Rupicha looked down and found some shiny plastic. "Ooo! Shiny!" he cooed, picking it up. "Huh? Lemme see?" Sonic asked. Rupicha handed Sonic the card. An employee ID! "Alight! We found some trasure alright!"Sonic chhered, passing the barcode of the card under the scanner. "Access granted," said a robotic voice. They ran in, but weird enough, there was only two elevators inside a small room. They looked at each other, shrugged and walked in, and the elevator went up to the 20th floor. When it opened up, it revealed a HUGE highway! "Whoa! Hedgehog, this MUST be your night!" Sonic said. "Hedgehog, Priotity one!" came the dreaded familiar voice. The boys looked up and saw what looked like police cars headed their way. "COP SPEEDERS! RUN!" Chaima yelped. Mystic Jungle 11:29 P.M. "Found it!" Knux said, coming back up with the statue. "Good, let's do what we're supposed to do, get those shards, and get outta here!" Jett said. They heard a scream nearby. Lauren. They ran back to where the first statue was and Lauren looked at the pedestal, startled. "What is it?!" Knux asked. "There!" Lauren pointed. On the ledge was a package. Knux took it. It was for him. But who sent it? He opened it, and found yellow Fighting Gloves. On a note it said, "There's a long fight ahead. I hope you will help stop it--QA" Knuckles gasped. "It's from the Queen!" "Whoa whoa whoa! The QUEEN? No way!" Jett said. "Way, Jett," Knux said, placing the statue on the pedistal. A light seeped through the grating between the pedistals. "What in the world?" Knux put on his gloves, then proceeded to investigate the light. As he stood on the grate, it gave way under him and he fell. "WHOA!" he yelled, falling into water. He was inside the pyrimid. "Hey dude! You okay?" Jett asked. "Yeah, I'm fine!" Knux called. He looked around. "Now, the million dollar question is....how do I get outta here?" Mystic Jungle near a cave 11:58 P.M. Tails, Bunnie and Antoine chased the frog into the cave, seeing it escape in a crack in the wall. "Hmm...looks like a door...." Bunnie noted. "We need a key to open eet," Antoine said. "Hmmm," Tails groaned. She sat on a rock, which suddenly sank from under him. The ground under them started sifting through the crack as the door started to open. A light flashed in front of their eyes. Next thing Tails knew, he was surfing on a sea of sand going down. It was like going down the Ice Cap Mountains, only it was a hot desert. Where WAS he anyway? Antoine and Bunnie jointed up with him. "Wowie, this is fun!" Bnnie grinned. "I am agreeing too very much!" Antoine said. Suddenly another hedgehog jointed them. It was Sonic! No....Sonic didn't look that old. "Hey! You guys look like freedom fighters!" he called. "Yeah we are!" Tails said. "Great! Catch!" he called, tossing Tails a purple medal. "What is it?" Tails asked. "It's a Rythm Badge! A sign to all freedom fighters!" he called. Then....he was gone. Next thing Tails knew was that he was at the bottom of the hill with the frog. He looked around. Where were Antoine and Bunnie? A shadow fell upon him and he turned, gasping. "It can't be...." he yelped, looking at the figure. "You're DEAD!" There was a bight light. And then...he was standing in front of a pyrymid. A young girl was nearby. He wandered over her way. "The servers are the seven chaos emeralds...." The girl turned, seeing Tails. "Hello friend! How are you?" she asked. "Um, what were you saying before?" Tails asked. "Huh? Oh, something my grandmother taught me, it goes something like this....The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart.....but I still don't know what it all means.... but the number 7 are the same as the number of emeralds there are." "Emeralds?" Tails asked. "Forgive me, but I don't think we ever met before. I'm Tikal, and you are...?" Before Tails could answer, everything faded away. He was back in the field, holding the frog, standing next to Bunnie and Antoine. "What happened, sugar?" Bunnie asked. "I dunno, Bunnie." "Oh NO! HE'S GOT my lil buddy!" a voice cried. There was an earthquake as a big cat came running at Tails. Three figures were chasing after him. Sierra, Cyrus and Trevor. "Big, wait! Stop!" Sierra cried. Big tripped and fell in front of Tails. "YIIIKES!" Tails yelped, letting go of the frog. It hopped out of his arms, bounced on Big's head and off again. Big got up and ran after the frog. "Wait for me!" Sierra ran to Tails. "Tails! Where's Sonic?" "Lost him," Tails said. "I'm going after Eggman." Sierra saw Tails' badge. "Tails? Where did you get that?" Tails shrugged. "Some guy. Why?" "That's an offical royal freedom fighter badge. You're an honorary member of the royal family, Tails!" Sierra gasped. "Wowie! Really?! I can finally be Sonic's lil brother!" Tails cheered. "See ya later, Tails. I gotta chase down my cousin," Sierra said, waving and ran off after Big. Tails shook his head. "Weird. Now where was I?" He looked at the chaos emerald in his hand. "Ah yes! The chaos emerald! PERFECT!" He looked at Bunnie and Antoine. "I'll see ya guys later." "Good luck!" Bunnie called. Tails ran off towards his hangar. Day 5 Speed Highway 1:30 A.M. Sonic, holding Rupicha and Chahura, raced with Chaima to escape the Cop Speeders. Those were Robotnik's thugs alright, and they were after him! As they raced through Speed Highway, a chopper followed them. Someone suddenly leaped out and started slicing the robots to pieces. Sonic stopped to help destroy the remaining bots. "In the chopper!" the figure ordered. Sonic nodded and got the chao in, then got in himself. The figure got in and the chopper took off. "Thanks for helping us," Sonic said. The figure took off the mask. Sonic stared. "Shalita?" "I heard what happened," Shalita said. "I needed to tell ya that I didn't kill Manic." Sonic nearly fell over with relief. He thought he misunderstood Tails. "What happened then?" Shalita sighed. "Tails was taking him to the police cause I asked him to, and he...well....fell out of the plane." Sonic stared. "THAT'S how my brother DIED?" Shalita nodded, quiet. Sonic leaned against her, sobbing. "I miss him," he whispered. Shalita hugged him tightly. "I know..." Sonic suddenly cried out. "AGH! My leg!" "Uh oh, the coconut milk worn out!" Chaima said. "Sonic, what's wrong?!" Shalita asked. "I think it's broken," Sonic moaned. "What?!" Shalita asked, hysterical. Outside, a missle hit the chopper. The chopped leaned to a side, with everyone sliding out. Shalita and thhe chao landed safely on the buildoing, Sonic fell upon a glass floor, out cold. "Sonic....." Shalita called. She heard cracking. The floor was about to give way... "Everyone! Downstairs! FAST!" Shalita called as she realized she needs to be there to catch Sonic.... As they ran down the stairs, the floor gave way and Sonic fell through the air down 20 stories. 15. 10. He fell through 3 more skylights as Shalita got to the bottom, catching him, and the glass raining down upon them. They ran through the rest of Speed Highway, finding the exit through City Hall. She carried the poor hedgehog to the hotel, and started doctoring him up, leaving Chaima, Chahura and Rupicha to wander Station Square, even while a huge robot lurked the streets. The Lost World 6:30 A.M. Knux, after sleeping off a few hours, found himself hunting emeralds again. He already found two shards and was looking for the last one inside the prymid. He discovered wall after wall of designs made by his ancestors. Ah hah! He found the last emerald shard he sensed between a crack in a wall. As he pulled it out, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He looked up, and gasped, clutching his chest. "Aw geez!!!! What's going on here?!" Before he could find out, there was a bright light, and suddenly he found himself before the shrine. "What happened? he asked himself. Ahead he saw the girl, Tikal again! And chao! All around her. He ran up for a closer look. "I beg of you, hear me now. My father is coming here soon, and I fear what may happen." Tikal started, addressing the Master Emerald. "I ask that you take everyone and get outta here.Oh please!" She listened to the quietness. "So you're saying you can't leave this place? I understand. Let me talk to my father again." She sighed. "There must be a better way to do this." The little chao that looked like Sonic's chao sighed as Tikal looked down to him. "Don't worry my friend, I won't let you down." "I believe in ya, Tikal!" it said. Knuckles eyes widen. There was something about those chao. The next thing Knux knew was that he was back in front of the shrine in his own time. "What? I'm back in front of the alter!" He looked around, and saw that the FFs were with him. "What happened?!" Jett asked. "This is beginning to blow my mind..." Knux siad. He perked up. "Wait a minute. I remember now!" He pulled out his emerald shards and they floated into the air, becoming part of the Master Emerald again. Knux sighed. It's still incomplete.
