.:Chapter 2:.

Heavy Hearts

"Who are they?" Nihara asked suspiciously, leaning over toward Sonic as Sally led Geoffrey and his troops to the main plaza.

"Commander Geoffrey St. John, Hershey and Valdez," he replied lowly. "Now Valdez and Hershey you can trust."

"I'm not so sure if I like the commander's eyes," said Nihara, looking hard at St. John. "There is a darkness present." Nihara, who had lived years on her own before she had met Sonic, had become an excellent judge of character, having to rely on the look in someone's eyes to determine whether they could be trusted or not. And as usual, she was right. There was a strange, ambitious glint in Geoffrey's eyes, and Sonic didn't like it either. Normally the commander acted polite and benevolent around his troops and his superiors. But Sonic had learned long ago what he was really like.

"Is he dangerous?" Nihara ventured.

Sonic shook his head. "No. His greatest weapon against an enemy is his crossbow. No, if he knows what's good for him, he won't get out of line."

"If he does..." Nihara hissed, drawing her swords. "I'll give him a good slashing."

Sonic smiled weakly at her, glad at least someone other than him felt the same about St. John.

Up ahead the village had gathered again, and now everyone was looking at the visitors anxiously.

"What else is gonna go on tonight?" Bunnie was asking in the center of the crowd. "Ain't no one gonna get a wink of sleep tonight the way things are goin'..."

"I'm sure it's nothing too serious, Bunnie," Rotor reassured her. "It's probably nothing we can't handle."

"Probably, sugah," she replied. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper. "But y'all know how ugly things can get when that Geoffrey St. John's around. He and Sonic ain't exactly two peas in a pod."

Rotor could only nod quietly and glance at Sonic as he strode into the plaza and made his way up to the podium where Sally, St. John and his troops were waiting.

Jessica was watching Sonic's every move now, for having become extremely adept at reading his emotions, she could sense the tension inside him. She understood the conflict between him and Geoffrey, as did many of the other Freedom Fighters. However, she was far too upset with Uncle Chuck's news to take part in the conversations that were going on. Natalie was experiencing much the same feelings, and kept equally silent. The only one that seemed particularly interested in what was going on was Kimberly. She watched the newcomers on the podium as Sally rose her hands for silence.

"Freedom Fighters," she began. "Please give your undivided attention to Commander Geoffrey St. John and his troops, Valdez and Hershey. They've an important announcement for us all." Then she stepped aside. "St. John."

Geoffrey stepped forward, the clunk of his boots against the wood making him sound heavier than he really was. Sonic pricked his ears, but his eyes remained narrowed. Close by Nihara sat with one sword in her lap, smoothing the blade with her fingertips and eyeing the commander coldly. Everyone else in the crowd craned forward, listening.

"My fellow rebels," said St. John. "My troops and I have very serious news to announce, and thought it quite serious enough to alert the Freedom Fighter groups. It may even be necessary to take immediate action. Just this morning my troops and I were called out far, far to the west to a small village well beyond the Great Mountains. The villagers seemed greatly disturbed about something, but we didn't understand what until the leader explained to us that strange sightings had been going on."

"Sightings?" asked Rotor.

"Yes, mate. According to the villagers, something had been raiding the supply holds. They never got a clear look at just who or what the culprit was, but they always discovered the doors torn clear off their hinges, and the supplies in the room thrown about as if the suspect was searching for something. When my troops and I examined the crime scenes, all we found were a few strange footprints, and the grass and wood by the holds singed slightly. Now as I have said, no one got a good look at the culprit. They only told us that what they did see were blurs of black in the night."

Now Sonic tilted his head. "Blurs?"

"That's right, mate," Geoffrey nodded. "Blurs and flashes. And it was always a dark silhouette they saw. They could never distinguish the suspect's features. So my team and I stayed in the village that night to investigate. We took a free hut and waited there until dusk, for the raids so far had only happened in the dead of night. Well, for hours we saw nothing unusual. The supply holds were padlocked and guarded, and the residents were going about their business without disruption. No, it was well after midnight until a sound from outside awoke me from my sleep. I thought I heard a quick rushing sound, and then a loud crash. I roused my comrades as quickly as possible, and in an instant we were outdoors, dashing toward the supply hold where we found the door mutilated, reduced to nothing more than a pile of splintered wood scattered on the ground. The supplies inside were strewn all across the room, but when we scoped out the area, we found no one in sight. The only thing we did discover about the crime, however..." St. John paused, his eyes becoming grave. "was that a Chaos Emerald had been stolen."

And at this the air was filled with gasps and worried murmurs. Even the girls looked up with startled eyes, for few things were more serious than the theft of a Chaos Emerald. Everyone knew that they possessed unlimited powers -- powers beyond the mortal imagination. And when all seven of them are collected, the power magnifies to biblical proportions. It was no surprise that many a dark soul saught out the seven Chaos Emeralds for the ultimate source of energy.

Sonic stepped forward, and now his eyes too were very grave. "Just one?"

"Yes, only one so far. But the point is, someone's after the power of the emeralds, and it won't be long until another one is taken." St. John looked carefully at everyone before him now. "You all know what this means, mates . . . We got ourselves an emerald crisis."

"Now we need to figure out who's stealing the emeralds and why." said Sally.

"I think it's pretty obvious why," Sonic muttered. "They're after the power like St. John said. And that's never a good thing."

"But why would they need that power?" Sally questioned.

"And just who is this 'blur of black' that's takin' it?" asked Bunnie.

"That's why we've come to you tonight, mates," said Geoffrey. "We need to figure out who the theif is, and just what he plans to do with a Chaos Emerald."

"Perhaps whoever's taken it doesn't necessarily want the power," Uncle Chuck spoke up suddenly. "Many people mistake the emeralds for nothing more than valuable jewels, on account of their size and brilliance."

"It's a possibility," came Geoffrey's answer. "but one I seriously doubt, mate. All the other holds were torn apart, with all the other valuable treasures that may have been found there untouched, so this fellow was lookin' for something special. Plus, many people wouldn't just take an emerald for its looks. No mate, they're after what's inside."

"Just where was this village located, St. John?" Sally inquired.

"About a hundred and twenty miles west of here," he answered. "just below the Floating Island."

Natalie lifted her head immediately. "The Floating Island?"

St. John turned to her, a glimmer of curiosity in his eyes. "So these are the three famous Overlander creatures?"

"They're humans, St. John," Sonic corrected, his ears lowering again. "Don't go around callin' 'em Overlanders either . . . Some people are ready to pounce just at the mention of that name."

"Ah," Geoffrey said quickly. "Begging your pardon then, miss. You've heard of the Floating Island?"

"Heard of it! I know that island from top to bottom!" Nat exclaimed.

"They know just about everything about Mobius," Sonic almost snickered. "You should have been there when we first met." He winked in Jessica's direction, but she still had her head lowered thoughtfully. Lowering his ears this time more in concern, he quietly turned back to St. John. "You were saying?"

"Ah. Yes. Just below the Floating Island it was, Princess."

"Quite a travel . . ." Sally whispered to herself. "No matter. We had better head out there ourselves too and investigate this."

"I agree, Princess," St. John nodded.

"Have you alerted in other Freedom Fighter groups?" she asked.

"No, Princess. We thought it wise to reach the leading group first. After all, we needed a great detective mind like yours, Princess." He smiled slyly and winked, and Sonic suddenly found himself clenching his fists.

Sally tried not to smile. "We'll let the others know, just to have them on alert. If anything else happens, we may need their help. In the meantime, we had better send out reconnaisance teams."

Geoffrey lifted his hat and bowed. "Allow me and my troops, Princess. We'd be honored to--"

Before he could even finish Sonic stepped up in front of him. "That would be for us to decide, St. John." There was something sharp in his gaze as he looked at the commander.

"Whatever you say." There was an attempt to sound unaffected, but St. John failed miserably. His pride would not be smothered so easily.

"Sonic," Sally whispered warningly. Then she looked back up at Geoffrey. "We'll have to discuss this further in the morning. We'll have to establish connections with these villagers in case something else happens. As of now, let's all get some rest. It's late, and if we really do have a problem at hand, then we had better save our energy."

With that the crowd began to disperse. The girls lingered where they were, and St. John would have done the same if Sally had no ordered him and the others to go with Rotor and try and contact the villagers. Once everyone seemed out of earshot, Sally turned on Sonic sharply.

"Is it too much to ask for you to just keep that ego of yours under control for two seconds?"

"Hey, I didn't do anything to him," Sonic retorted, his ears pinning again. "And if anyone needs to watch their ego, it's him."

"Sonic," Sally sighed.

"You know we don't get along, Sal. I'll be civil to 'im as long as he's civil to us, but if he's gonna start acting like an idiot, then I'm gonna put him in his place."

"You can't treat him like he's under you, Sonic. He's a commander, too."

Sonic rounded on her now. "Excuse me? I'm a leader, myself. As long as he's here, he's does what I say."

"That may be true, but I'm a leader too. And we should come to a decision as one, now shouldn't we? Now promise me you'll try and keep this jealousy problem of yours at bay."

Sonic was still angry, but perhaps Sally was right. Perhaps he was overreacting. Finally he unfurled his clenched fists and allowed himself to relax. "OK, OK . . . But let's not let him forget who runs the Knothole Freedom Fighters, hmm?"
Sally shook her head as she walked off, and as she passed the girls looked up curiously. While it was true that Sonic and Sally were both well-matched in willpower, and that they argued often, it was uncommon for them to argue as seriously as this. Jessica was concerned.

"Sonic, is everything OK?" she asked, putting her pervious fears aside for a moment.

"Yeah, don't mind us," Sonic nodded slowly. "Ya OK, Jess?"

"I'm worried, Sonic . . ." she answered honestly, lowering her head. "I-I don't want to go home . . . "

Sonic tilted his head and Kimberly stared at her friend.

"Don't want to go home?" Kim asked.

"Well . . . Not so soon . . . I don't know . . ."

Sonic sat beside her and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Jess. Like I said, no one's forcin' ya. Plus, with the Chaos Emerald problem, I don't think you'll have to worry about it now anyway."

"Sonic," Natalie said suddenly. "Are you guys going to head out to that village St. John was talking about?"

"Maybe," he answered. "if more things are stolen, which is likely. Why?"

"Could we come with you if you go?"

"Of course, Nat," he replied. "Y'all should know by now that it'd be impossible to have a good adventure without ya. Well, I'm gonna go help the others. Don't fret, gals, it'll be OK." He winked and headed off into the village.

Kimberly turned to Natalie. "What was that about, Nat?"

"The Floating Island," Natalie replied, as if the name explained it all. "Do y'all remember who lives on the Floating Island?"

"Oh," Kim nodded understandingly.

Jessica just sat quietly, thinking on all that had occurred in the course of the night, especially that strange vision. An adventure had indeed begun. But little did she and the others know, that it would be their greatest adventure yet.