Chapter 4 – First Battle

"You are more powerful than you know."

"How?"

"You will find out….soon!"

I woke with a start and sat up. The sun's first rays were just starting to break the horizon. A smell of pollen and dry earth filled my nose. For a brief moment I thought I was still in a dream but soon snapped out of it. I slowly pulled myself to my feet and looked around. I blinked and stared at where Kit Kat had been sleeping the night before. He wasn't there.

"Yo Kit Kat!" I cried as loudly as I dared as so not to wake Klim.

There was no response. I shrugged to myself.

"I wonder where he went. Maybe we went to get some food?" I said to myself.

Just then the sun's rays broke the horizon and hit me. A strange feeling swept over me and I gasped. It was like I had just stepped into a hot shower. I became aware of a gentle hum by my side. I looked down. My blade was glowing an icy blue colour. I took it out of its sheath and looked at it. It had definitely not done this before. What was different about now? Then it hit me. The Chaos Emerald! I took it out and my blade glowed brighter. I moved the Emerald closer and my blade started to glow bright green instead of blue. I took the Emerald away and it reverted to its blue colour.

"Wow! That was weird." I said to myself.

I studied my blade closer. It really did feel as if I'd had it all my life. I felt I knew everything about it but I couldn't remember. It was if someone had taken all the knowledge about it and locked it in a safe. I knew it was there but couldn't get at it. I took a step back and cut downwards. The blade glowed blue again. I continued to practice a few moves with my sword for a while. I must have lost track of time as the next thing I knew Klim was talking to me and the sun was high in the sky.

"Morning Lynx." Said Klim with a yawn, "You seen Kit Kat this morning?"

"No." I replied, "He wasn't there when I got up. Maybe he went to get some food or something."

Klim nodded and then noticed my blade.

"You been practising?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's funny you know. I know there is something different about this sword. It feels like I should know too. It's as if I've owned it all my life."

"I know what you mean. It's the same with my spear." Replied Klim, "Everytime I use it I feel as if I could take on the world."

"That's just how I feel." I replied with a nod.

I took out the map and looked at it.

"Looks like this is the nearest Emerald from here." I said, "It's in the Desert of Doom. We should make tracks as soon as Kit Kat gets back."

"Sounds like a friendly place." Said Klim sarcastically, "Speaking of places. Have you noticed that none of these places so far have been in any Sonic game or cartoon? What are they?"

"I don't know. Mind you the Sonic universe is pretty varied. Some times he's on Mobius and lately in Sonic Adventure he was on Earth. I think this is some other world….possible created by us."

"This is doing my head in. You think were in the internet now or a real world orbiting a star in our night sky?"

I was starting to get annoyed at all of Klim's questions.

"How should I know?! I have no clue about anything here. I just want to get out of here!" I shouted at him.

"Woah……sorry guy! We'll find a way out."

"Yeah…….mind you I have thought about staying a few times."

"Me too. I mean this is a real adventure. No-one else has had anything like it apart from Kit Kat and the rest of the 'World Beyond Me' guys. Saying that we need to find a way out so others don't get trapped here. And we can't go messing up Sonic and Tails lives. They have enough problems with Eggman around."

I groaned in my head. Why did Klim have to go off into these long speeches?

"Eggman's a jerk." I replied, "Even with an IQ of 300 he acts like a kid!"

"Well this warp idea was one of his. Don't forget that."

I nodded at Klim. He had a good point there. I looked at Klim's spear in its pouch.

"Care to practice?" I said suddenly.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" asked Klim a bit surprised.

I shrugged at him.

"Well ok then." Said Klim, "But only if you use the blunt side of your sword. I'll use the other end of my spear too."

I nodded at him and turned my sword over. Klim took his spear out and flipped it around. Suddenly he charged at me and brought the end of his spear upwards. I leapt backwards and spun my tails. I had been practising using my tails like Tails did and could now hover a little bit. I hovered just out of range of Klim's attack range and then leapt forwards myself with a horizontal slash. Klim ducked the attack and thrust forward with his spear. It hit my in the leg and knocked me over. A second later I was on my feet and blocking Klim's next attack. I swung my tails forwards and knocked the feet out from under Klim. He fell down but was instantly on his feet. I was about to attack again when a large purple blob shot past us and hit the ground a few meters away. I glanced over to see that the grass was melting into a liquid where the blob had hit.

"What going on?!" yelled Klim as he ducked to avoid another blob.

I looked to where the shots were coming from. At the edge of the jungle sat a large round purple blob. It was at least four times the size of me. It fired two blobs at me and I leapt to the side to avoid them.

"What is THAT?!" I yelled.

"Where's Kit Kat when you need him?" said Klim as he raced towards the blob.

I watched as he thrust forwards with his spear. It went into the blob and left it with a 'splosh' sound. The attack made the blob shudder didn't appear to do anything though else. It was then that I noticed a small sphere in the centre of the blob.

"Hey Klim. Aim for that sphere thing. That could be the weak spot!" I yelled at Klim.

"I see it!" replied Klim as he thrust forwards again.

The attack was dead on target and hit the sphere. The blob shuddered again and Klim cheered. Just then the blob began to shiver.

"LOOK OUT!" I yelled as it started to throw small purple blobs all over at an incredible rate. I tried to dodge them but there were too many. I was hit several times. Several blobs hit my tails ripping one off completely and shredding several others. I screamed as I collapsed to the ground. The pain was incredible. I hadn't felt anything like it. Just then I felt a strange sensation run through my mind. An image of the green Chaos Emerald came into focus. My mind was suddenly fixed on it and……

I opened my eyes. I was standing on my feet holding the green Chaos Emerald in my hand. The pain was gone. I looked behind me to find that my tails were completely healed, even the one that had been ripped off. Klim was staring at me in disbelief. Just then it struck me.

"So the Emerald does have healing powers!" I yelled.

"You can use the Emerald?!" yelled Klim totally amazed.

"It would seem so…..woah this is weird."

"Yeah….but think of this." Said Klim, "You said healing powers. It can't help if you're dead."

The idea made me slightly queasy. I didn't like that thought.

"What do you think would happen if we died?" I said, "You think we'd end up in our world again?"

"I don't know…..but my instincts say no. Let's just say I don't plan on finding out." He replied.

I nodded and looked back at the jungle. I suddenly went pale and spun back to Klim.

"….Do you think that thing got Kit Kat?" I said a bit shakily.

The idea made me queasy again. It looked like it did the same to Klim too.

"No time to dwell on it." Said Klim suddenly, "We have to find the Emerald before Eggman."

I couldn't believe how harsh Klim was being. Kit Kat was our friend. But he was also right. If he was gone there was no point to dwell on it. The longer we hung around the more chance that more people would be dragged into this world. I nodded slowly and we set off.

A little while later we were walking along in the 'Desert of Doom'. The name almost made me laugh. There wasn't anything doom like here. The sand was a bit weird though. It was a dull brown colour and the whole place was depressing.

"You sure there's an Emerald here?" asked Klim.

"Yeah. Well according to the map there is." I said looking up.

Klim was walking in front of me acting like a windbreak, diverting all the sand and wind around me so I could read the map. He must be having a hard time I thought. Suddenly Klim pointed to the side.

"Look there it is. The shrine." He said excitedly.

I stared at the map and then at the shrine.

"No it's not. That's a mirage. The shrine is straight ahead of us." I replied.

Just then the image disappeared and Klim nodded.

"Looks like you were right." He said, "How much further is……ARGH!"

I looked up just in time to see the top of Klim's head disappearing down a hole in the ground. I raced to the hole and looked in. Inside all was dark and I couldn't see anything.

"KLIM!" I yelled.

I looked into the hole again and then at my tails. I wrapped them up and looked back into the hole.

"I hope I can do this." I said to myself as I leapt into the hole.

I spun my tails trying to form some lift. I wasn't ready for it though and I lost my flight almost at once. I started to fall. I looked up as the light marking the hole got smaller and smaller until it vanished from view.