Author's note: Would you believe- Sonic Rush came out the other day! It's already in stores, but I don't have it yet, and my story is my story, so I feel an obligation to continue.
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Chapter 4: Yes, let's go!
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Sonic, Blaze, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and Amy stood on the outskirts of Emerald Town. "Blaze," Sonic finally asked, "about this Kettia place. Did you say it was in another world or something like that?"
"Yes, that's right," Blaze confirmed.
Now even Knuckles was interested. "Who exactly lives there?"
"Well, as I said earlier, my mother, the queen, lives there, as do I. There's also Scholar Hawk, one of the most intelligent citizens of Kettia, not to mention a personal friend of mine. If I was compared to you, Sonic, Scholar Hawk would probably be Tails."
Everyone listened intently as Blaze continued. "There's also Marcus Tiger, the martial arts master. I think he would be able to take down even you, Knuckles, in battle."
Tails stepped forward. "Wait a minute. Allow me to jump in. So far, it seems like my theory proves correct. If you really live in a world parallel to ours, Blaze, then there are many similarities between them. You know, Scholar Hawk and me, Marcus and Knuckles …"
Hearing this, Blaze snapped her fingers. "Ah! I know what you mean. Scholar Hawk researched that subject once. Now I remember it. He said that if even one resident of one world is somehow moved to the other world, such like what happened to me, then that causes a flux between the worlds which …"
"… which sometimes causes changes to one world to be reflected in the other," Tails concluded. "I studied that once, too. Looks like there are surprises wherever you look."
Blaze laughed a little. "Indeed. Come on, those Sol Emeralds won't find themselves."
"And chances are, Dr. Eggman might be looking for them as well," Sonic added.
"Dr. Who?" Blaze wondered.
"Dr. Eggman," Amy explained. "His name is Dr. Robotnik, but we call him Eggman. You'll know him when you see him; he's fat and bald, and has a mustache. He's always up to something mean, and it's our duty to get in the way."
"Sounds like a mean guy," Blaze commented. "I'd hate to have a tyrant like him show up and try to ruin Kettia. …Huh?"
All attention suddenly turned to Blaze. "What is it?" Sonic asked.
"I sense something," Blaze explained, "but I don't have enough energy to figure out what. Quick, Sonic. Four rings."
"Four rings," Sonic confirmed, counting out four rings and dropping them in Blaze's hand one by one. Taking them, Blaze began to focus her Gold Magic energy. The rings were quickly absorbed into Blaze's body.
After a few seconds, Blaze raised her hand and pointed at a bush. "Something about that bush," Tails figured. "I'll go check it out."
Without warning, Tails rushed up to the bush and gave it a strong kick. His foot connected with something hiding in the bush.
A small scout robot jumped out of the bush. It had a yellow symbol of some kind adorning its head. Its cover blown, the robot tried to flee.
Blaze held up two fingers, and Sonic handed over two rings. She used the energy from these rings to trap the yellow robot inside a ring of energy. Try as it might, the robot could not get out of the ring.
"This show's mine," Knuckles decided, jumping forward fists first. WHAM! Knuckles drove the robot's head in with a strong punch. Its systems hummed for a moment longer, then shut down for good.
"Way to go, Blaze!" Tails cheered, high-fiving her. "Oh! Just a moment. I'll be right back." He ran off.
"I wonder where he's going," Blaze finally said.
"Maybe he forgot something," Cream added.
About a minute later, Tails rushed back. He was holding two devices that looked like walkie-talkies. "Blaze, take one of these, and Sonic, take the other," he requested. Both complied.
"What's this about, Tails?" Sonic asked.
"With these high-tech things," Tails explained, "you'll be able to stay in contact with each other at all times. Even if one of you was thrown back to Blaze's world, you'd still have perfect reception of each other."
Blaze clutched the walkie-talkie in her hands. "It's amazing what's possible with technology sometimes. If technology can't do something, you aren't trying hard enough. That's what Hawk used to say."
The group of them all laughed. Knuckles cut the laughter short with a wave of his hand, and walked ahead of the group. "Something wrong, Knuckles?" Sonic inquired.
"I sense a strange energy reading from over in those woods," Knuckles explained, gesturing at a patch of trees in the distance. He would've pointed, but that's kind of hard to do when you're wearing mittens.
As the group approached the woods, Blaze suddenly remembered something. "This is where I landed after that odd flash of light," she mentioned, snapping her fingers. "Remember what I told you guys, about the flash of light when I was polishing the Sol Emeralds?"
"And that must be what you landed through," Amy added, pointing. She was pointing out an odd sphere of light, about five feet in diameter, hovering a few feet above the ground. It was impossible to tell what it was.
Tails snapped his fingers. "Aha! That must be some kind of portal to Blaze's world. I guess you can return to your world anytime, Blaze."
"But not yet," Blaze explained. "I still have to gather the Sol Emeralds."
"Say, Blaze," Cream finally thought to ask, "when exactly did that flash occur?"
Blaze thought about it for a moment. "It was about three and a half hours ago."
Tails nonchalantly checked his watch. "I guess that was about one in the afternoon. Wouldn't hurt to make a note of that time; we might get a clue about how you got here, Blaze."
Sonic stepped back. "Stand back, everyone. I'm going to try to jump through this portal-thing!"
Everyone cleared the way. "Sonic," Blaze advised, "be careful!"
With a short running start, Sonic began to pace at top speed toward the sphere of light. At just the right time, Sonic's feet left the ground, and he curled into a tight ball as he sailed through the air.
Everyone flinched as Sonic entered the portal. Upon contacting it, Sonic appeared to evaporate. The crowd was silent for a moment. Amy was the first to break the silence. "Sonic… I hope you're okay…"
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I hope he's okay as well. Then again, I'm the author. It's my job to make sure he's okay. 'Course, I didn't exactly do that job in that other story, did I?
And yes, Tails has a watch. How else would he always know how much time was left in Sonic Heroes?