Chapter 12
Hello everyone! I'm back from the dead!
Josh: ZOMBIE! QUICK GIMME MY BAT!
OW! Stop that, I'm not a zombie! It's an expression!
Josh: I know, it's just fun to pester you.
…
Josh: So, where have you been?
Oh, well, I had a really fun weekend! I went to my family reunion up in-
Josh: Zzzzzz...
...Here's a new chapter.
I rummaged through my newly acquired backpack to make sure I had everything I needed.
"Sleeping bag, food, water, cash card... That's it." I zipped up the bag and headed out of my room. Sonic was munching on a chili dog, waiting for me to come out.
"You ready?" He asked, finishing up his last bite.
"Yeah. Is that all you eat?" I asked him back.
"No, but I'd like to." Sonic opened the door.
"Wait, I gotta say goodbye to everyone." I said, turning around.
"I know, they're all outside, waiting for you." Sonic said as he walked out of the house. I followed suit.
Everyone was outside the door. Amy looked a little misty eyed, but she seemed to be holding up pretty well.
"Thank you. All of you." I looked from Amy, to Tails, to Cream and Cheese, to Knuckles. "I don't know how to thank you for all of your support."
"You can go out there and find your brother." Tails said. I chuckled a bit and nodded. Amy walked up to me and smiled.
"You be careful, okay? I want to hear all about your adventure." Amy smiled a bit. I hugged her.
"I promise." I said. I gave her a quick squeeze before moving on.
"Are you taking care of her?" Cream asked worriedly.
"Yes, I am. I promise." I told her, showing her my ring. She smiled before handing me a small flower. I held it to my nose and sniffed. "Thank you. It smells nice."
"You're welcome." Cream said, curtsying a bit. I smiled again, then looked at Knuckles.
"Thank you for helping us." I said, smiling.
"I didn't really do anything." Knuckles said, shrugging.
"Well, all the same, it was nice meeting you." I said walking over to him.
"Hey, you can't get rid of me that easily." He replied. "I'm coming with you guys."
"You are?" I asked.
"I can't be everywhere at once, so Knuckles will help protect you." Sonic said, walking over towards me.
"Yeah, and I feel kinda bad for how I treated you at the Master Emerald." He said a little quietly.
"Don't worry, you were just doing your job." I said, smiling. He smiled back.
"So, you got everything?" Sonic asked.
"Right here!" I patted my backpack.
"Alright, where are we going?" Knuckles asked.
"...Well... my brother went like this..." I said as I held my ring out in front of me and waved it around. "...It's not doing anything..."
"What? What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
"I mean it's not saying anything, I'm not feeling anything, nothing!" I said, focusing on the ring. All it did was change color in the sun... unless. "Wait..." I held it out in one specific direction. It glowed a soft red. I held it in another. It glowed a bright purple. As I held the ring around, it glowed the six remaining colors of the Chaos Emeralds. Some of the colors shown brighter than the others. I smiled a bit.
"Guys, let's go." I said, going in the direction of the purple glow. "We've got an Emerald to find." Knuckles dashed forward, as Sonic grabbed my wrist and sped off with him.
…...
"How much further?!" Knuckles yelled over the wind. I checked my ring. It only glowed a little brighter than the last time we checked, about 3 hours ago.
"I don't know! This isn't really a GPS, I only know that we're getting closer!" I yelled back.
"By how much?!" Sonic asked. I checked again. Only a little brighter.
"Not a lot!" I yelled back. "Can we stop?! I think you popped my wrist out of place!" I yelled. My wrist had been in pain for a while. Sonic and Knuckles both nodded and slowed down. We came to a full stop, as Sonic let go of my hand. I felt my wrist. It didn't feel any different. It must have just been sore.
"Are you sure that purple Emerald is the closest?" Sonic asked me. I held my ring out in front of me and waved it around.
"It's gotta be. No other color shines as brightly as the purple emerald." I said as I put my hand down and faced the two.
"Do you think they flew off of the continent?" Knuckles pondered.
"I hope not, I really don't want to run all the way back to grab the plane." Sonic said, stretching his arms a bit.
"No kidding." I said as I rubbed my wrist. "Can't we just use Chaos Control and teleport over there?" I asked. Knuckles shook his head.
"You need to know where you're going." Knuckles explained. "If you use Chaos Control without a specific place in mind, the Emerald takes you somewhere at random."
"Well, what if I used a wish?" I suggested.
"Worth a shot." Sonic said. I nodded and held my hand over the ring. After a brief flash, the Emerald was in my hand.
"Oh Master Emerald!" I shouted to the heavens. "Show us the way to the Purple Chaos Emerald!"
Silence.
I shook the Emerald a bit.
"Hello?!" I shouted into it. "Green spirit? We need you to grant me a wish!"
"I cannot grant a wish to you at this time. While my emotions are still strong, my power is drained. If you can find one of my brothers, I am sure my powers will be restored." The spirit said quietly. I rolled my eyes a bit.
"Looks like we're just going to keep running." I said.
"Not so fast!" A voice called from behind us. We whipped around to see who was talking to us.
"Eggman!" Knuckles growled. The portly scientist was sitting in his hovering Egg-mobile thing, sneering at us.
"Hey Eggy! Looks like you put on some weight since the last time I saw you!" Sonic teased.
"What do you want?" I asked as menacingly as I possibly could... which wasn't very menacing.
"Hmm, where to start?" Eggman said. "To rule the world, to finally get rid of Sonic, and, oh yes, you!" Eggman leaned over his control panel.
"What do you want with Josh?" Sonic asked, putting a protective arm in front of me.
"Well, I really just want his ring, but it seems that the two come as a set package." Eggman replied.
"What do you mean?" I asked, confusedly.
"Have you tried to take it off yet?" Eggman asked, sounding a bit bored and annoyed. I reached down to take the ring off, but it was stuck on.
"How did you know?" I yelled.
"I have my ways." Eggman retorted nonchalantly. "Now do you want to be a good boy and come quietly, or do we have to do this the hard way?" I barely had time to respond before Knuckles charged at the aircraft and gave it a solid punch.
"How about the easy way where we beat you to a pulp?" I said, smiling. Eggman grunted and pushed some buttons. To panels opened up on each side of the craft, revealing some deadly looking rockets.
"Fire!" Eggman yelled as he slammed down a big button. The rockets shot off. Each one spiraled in the air for a while before finding their target.
Me.
I leaped out of the way as the rockets exploded where I just stood. I covered my head as bits and pieces of earth, dirt, and rock rained down on the group.
"Josh, go take cover! We'll take care of him!" Sonic yelled over to me. I nodded and hid behind a rock. I peeked over and watched the fighting. I snickered as I quickly realized that Eggman didn't stand a chance against both Sonic and Knuckles. That's when I felt something tap me on the shoulder.
"Freeze human!" A tinny voice said from behind me. I turned to see one of Eggman's red robots standing right behind me with a gun to my forehead. I glared at him, then reared back to punch him.
"This is for my brother!" I yelled as I punched the ball of tin.
I didn't even faze it.
"...Ow." I said, pulling back my hand and cradling it in my other. Knuckles suddenly punched the robot from the side, successfully dismantling it.
"Maybe you should leave the punching to me." He said before taking off to fight some more. I watched him go, feeling strangely sad. Why was I sad? Just because I couldn't defend myself? Why would that make me sad? These two have proven that they would be more than willing to protect me. And yet... I'm putting them in danger.
"Now do you want to be a good boy and come quietly," Eggman's voice came drifting back to me, "Or do we have to do this the hard way?" The world sort of dissolved as I sat in deep thought. What could I have said? If I went quietly, Sonic and Knuckles wouldn't be constantly babysitting me. They could go find the Emeralds themselves, right?
...No. We need the ring. If Eggman had it, he could find the Emeralds quickly, and his evil plan would be realized.
"You can come out now Josh." Sonic called over, breaking me from my trance. I stood up and walked over.
"So how'd it go?" I asked.
"You know, we threw a bunch of punches, he tried to hit us back, he failed, we chased him off. Same as usual." Sonic shrugged. I laughed a bit.
"Does this happen every day?" I asked through my laughter.
"It sure feels like it." Knuckles said, somewhat grumpily.
"Well, he's tenacious, you gotta give that to him." Sonic pointed out. "I mean, he's been going after me ever since I was born." "
And that was, what, 25 years ago?" I asked. Sonic nodded
"He's never given up." Sonic said. "Ever." He laughed a bit. "I think his first plan was to try to poison my binky."
"...You have to wonder why he was trying to get rid of you from the beginning." I said, pondering.
"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked.
"Well, how would Eggman know that Sonic would be the very scourge on his existence?" Sonic stopped and thought about it as well.
"Y'know, I never really thought about that. Eggman just became a normal part in my life, so I really just ignored it." Sonic crossed his arms. "Do you think it has something to do with the Time Eater?" Sonic looked at Knuckles.
"I'm sorry, Time Eater?" I cut in.
"On my 25th birthday, Eggman took control of a beast called the Time Eater. Eggman was going to try and use it to go back and get rid of me." Sonic explained. "It never really occurred to me he would have gone back that far."
"Of course it wouldn't. When he went back, the rest of time changed. You wouldn't know the difference." I said. "You're a different hedgehog." Sonic smiled.
"Well, no harm done I guess. No matter how many times Eggman tries to stop me, he'll always fail. And with the Time Eater out of the way, I don't have to worry about any more changes to my past." Sonic said.
"Are we just going to stand around and talk, or are we gonna get going?" Knuckles asked impatiently.
"Actually, I think we should set up camp for the night." I said. "It's getting dark out." I looked up to see that the sky was already pretty black. "I'll go find some firewood." I said, heading out into the forest.
"I'll go with you." Sonic said. "You never know what's lurking in these woods." Sonic stood next to me. I smiled.
"Thanks. Knuckles, you wanna set up the tent?" I turned to look back at the echidna. He nodded. I took off my backpack and set it down. "Should be in there somewhere... maybe..." Did I even pack a tent? I hoped so, it was turning out to be a cold night. I don't sleep well when it's cold. "...If it's not in there, don't worry about it."
"Did you pack it?" Knuckles gave me a 'you ditz' look.
"Maybe." I quickly said before scurrying into the woods.
…...
"So did you, or did you not pack the tent?" Sonic asked as he grabbed another small branch.
"I don't know, I forget. I am a blonde you know." I said, getting somewhat annoyed by the conversation. "Can we just drop it please? Look, if I didn't bring it, I'm sorry, you'll just have to sleep outside."
"I really wasn't planning on using the tent." Sonic replied. "I sleep outside all the time. It's what I'm used to. And Knuckles... I don't think he ever sleeps..."
"It could explain why he's so irritable." I said, grabbing a small log. "What do you think, is this enough?" I looked to Sonic expectantly.
"Looks good to me." Sonic replied. "Let's head back."
And so, here I am, huddled around a fire, tent-less. I knew I forgot something. I guess as long as I stay near the fire, I'll be fine. I hope. ...Anyways, end of entry two.
Josh: I hate you. Are you gonna make me freeze or something?
Possibly. Stop hitting me with a bat and I might not.
Josh: Fine.
Thank you. sniffle
Josh: Are you sick?
Yeah, I have a cold or something. I got it after my family reunion at-
Josh: No one cares.
...Why do you hurt me so?
Josh: Because you took my little brother away from me.
I thought you were over that!
Josh: Not anymore! I miss him again!
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