Chapter 16

JJ: Hello again everyone!

Josh: Didja miss me?

JJ: No. It's time for the long awaited Chapter 16! Sorry, I really haven't been able to get to my computer a whole ton. I'm taking a bunch of college classes, and so, they come with college sized homework. Yaaaaay.

Josh: I used to do homework. Then I got sent to Mobius. You should try it some time.

JJ: Why would I? You're there!

Josh: Ooh, touchy!

JJ: OOOoooh, backspace.

Josh: Shutting up.

JJ: ...So, about Chapters and such. I promise, I will never quit on this story. This is my baby now. I love writing and seeing how you guys like it! (Thank you so much for the review by the way! They mean a ton!) However, the chapters will be few and far between. I really don't have much time for writing, so they'll be posted when they'll be posted. Just check back every now and then. Okay, that's enough from me, have fun guys!

"Wow, the place is packed!" Sonic yelled over the crowd. The circus tent was filled to capacity, with everyone, from the young to the elderly filing into the seats.

"Are you sure you've never heard of these guys?" I yelled back to Sonic.

"You've never heard of the amazing Blitz?!" A man in front of us turned and looked at us with shock. "He's only the most amazing magician to ever set foot on Mobius!" The man shook his head as if me and Sonic were living under rocks for most of our lives.

"To answer your question, no..." Sonic told me. "Although I'm getting the feeling I should have." We both awkwardly shuffled to a seat and sat down.

"Why haven't you heard of him?" I asked Sonic. "You've been everywhere, you should have at least caught word of him!"

"I don't know! Something's up!" Sonic scanned the increasing audience. Out of nowhere, a loud booming voice echoed across the tent.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages! Introducing, Blitz and his amazing traveling circus!" The crowd erupted into cheers as the lights dimmed. A thick layer of smoke filled the stage.

"That smoke..." The green spirit spoke up. "It's filled with Chaos Energy! Don't breath it!"

"Sonic, don't breath the smoke!" I yelled. He nodded, and we both held our breath. A mysterious music started playing.

"Welcome everyone." Blitz's voice filled the stadium. "I hope you've been enjoying your day," The tent suddenly went pitch black. "Because it's about to get a whole lot better!" Four spotlights turned on and swirled around the stage. I checked around to see if the smoke had cleared, which it luckily had. I took a deep breath, as did Sonic, and watched the spotlights. They all made their way to the center of a stage, but there was no one there. "Ahem, up here!" The spotlights all moved up to one of the upper corners of the tent. "No, here!" They moved again, focusing on the wall at our back. "Keep going." The spotlights slowly made their way into the audience. "Keeeeeeep going!" Blitz coaxed the spotlights on until they rested on me. I looked around, as the audience laughed.

"What's so funny?" I looked over to Sonic. He chuckled a bit and pointed up. I instinctively looked up and yelped.

"How ya doin'?" Blitz was hovering above me, hands planted on his hips. He winked at me before flying down to the center of the tent. He held his hands toward the audience. "How's everyone doing tonight?" He yelled, to which he was answered by thunderous applause. He turned in a slow circle, soaking in the energy of the crowd. "Are you ready for a great show?" He asked once again. The audience roared with excitement as the lights came on, revealing that Blitz was surrounded by performers and animals of all kinds. I tried not to be too enthusiastic, but I couldn't help but feel a bit caught up in the madness. It was all so glitzy! I found myself cheering for the charismatic ring leader.

"You must be careful!" The Green Spirit scorned. "I feel the same Chaos Energy from before inside of you! You must have breathed in some of that smoke!"

"I don't see what the big deal is." I thought back. "I'm not feeling any different."

"..." The spirit went quiet. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to the clown act that just started.

…...

"And now ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for!" An announcer boomed over the speakers. The audience screamed! The excitement in the air was electric! While I was not as enthusiastic, I still clapped and cheered with the audience. I felt Sonic touch my shoulder.

"Dude, calm down!" He told me. I looked at him like he was crazy.

"I am calm! I'm not that crazy, am I?" I asked.

"You kinda are." He said, sitting me back down... I didn't even realize I stood up.

"Sorry, I guess I got a bit carried away." I shook my head like I was trying to snap out of something. Blitz had long since gone to the stage and started to do a trick. He took off his hat and put a white handkerchief into it. He snapped his fingers, and a flock of doves shot out of the hat! It never seemed to stop spitting out the small white birds! "Woah! Are you seeing this?!" I yelled to Sonic.

"A dove flew out of his hat. I've seen it tons of times before." Sonic shrugged.

"Uh, more than a dove Sonic! More like a whole population!" I said, looking at all of the birds above my head.

"Josh, there's only one dove." Sonic looked at me with concern.

"No, there's-" The flock of doves seemed to almost glitch, as they suddenly disappeared, leaving a single dove in its place. "...What just happened?" I was astonished. "Is it part of the trick?" I rubbed my eyes and stared up again. Still only one dove. I looked around the audience to see if anyone else was as confused as I was.

"What's wrong with the audience?" Sonic looked with me. "It's like they've never seen a magician pull something out of a hat!"

"...That's not it." I had a feeling I knew what was going on. I leaved over to the man next to me. I tried to sound as amazed as possible. "How many doves do you think are up there?" I asked him.

"I don't know! Hundreds maybe!" The man gasped and held out his hand, as if he were holding something. "Look at that!" The man said, pointing to his empty hand. "How'd he train them to do that?" He asked a girl next to him. The girl laughed and shrugged her shoulders. The whole audience had their hands out.

"Everyone saw the same thing I did." I told Sonic. "An illusion that a whole flock of doves flew out of Blitz's hat."

"How? And why didn't I?" Sonic asked me.

"..." I thought back to everything that had happened during the show. Clowns, Elephants, Announcer, Smoke... Smoke! "Sonic, how long did you hold your breath?"

"Until Blitz appeared above your head. Why?"

"I didn't. Neither did anyone else." It all made sense. He had somehow made a gas that created illusions when breathed. "Sonic, describe the next few tricks to me. I think a dose of reality breaks the illusion."

"For my next trick, I need a volunteer!" Blitz called out to the audience. Sonic quickly grabbed my hand and threw it up in the air.

"What are you doing?" I asked a stupid question.

"Volunteering you!" I got a stupid answer. "You can get close and see where he hides his Chaos Emerald!" I nodded and waved my hand like I was super excited! It was hard to make it above the crowd, but I felt relieved when I heard Blitz ask for the young man in the white shirt. I made my way down, and the crowd went silent.

"Oh come now!" Blitz turned to the audience. "What's wrong? Why don't you applaud for this young man?"

"He's... weird looking!" Someone called out sheepishly. I blushed and looked down.

"What's with those blue circles around his eyes?" A lady called out. I self-consciously reached up and touched my bruises and black eyes.

"He's a freak!" One man yelled! "He's not like any of us! He's... furless!" The crowd followed the mans lead and started to call me all sorts of mean names. Had everyone thought of me like that when I passed them? I remembered back to when I first came here. Everyone usually did give me some weird stares. In the city, at the hotel, in Casino Park, around the circus... I was pretty odd looking. All I really wanted to do now was leave the tent and go find some place to hide myself.

"He is not a freak!" Blitz yelled to the audience. "He is a special guest. Show them your ticket." He instructed me. I pulled my ticket out of my pocket and held it up to the audience. The audience immediately shut up. After some silence, people started to apologize, until the whole tent was filled with applause.

"See? Just because he looks a bit different, doesn't mean he isn't a good person! Although, those bruises do make you a bit sore on the eyes..." Blitz waved his hands at me. A small puff of smoke came from his sleeves. I silently held my breath as the smoke enveloped me. When it cleared, the audience broke into thunderous applause. I looked at my body and gasped. Not only my injuries were gone...

I had fur.

I was covered with orange fur! I had on a new pair of white gloves! I looked behind me and saw a tail that looked a bit like Tails' tail. Blitz conjured up a mirror and held it up to my face. My hair stayed the same, but all of my other features were that of a fox. I turned to look at Sonic, who shook his head. The illusion glitched once again, leaving me the way I was, injured and furless. I looked at Blitz.

"What do you think?" He asked me. I considered telling him that I didn't see anything, but thought otherwise. If I told him, he might kick me out.

"I love it! I'll fit right in! I don't feel like a freak anymore!" I told him, trying to sound as excited as possible.

"I never considered you one!" Blitz told me. If I didn't know about the illusion, I might have believed that. However, under the circumstances, I noticed his voice sounded a bit too happy. His eyes shifted slightly to the left before focusing on me again. He didn't even look me in the eyes. He was lying. "Now, how about we get on with the show!" He conjured up a pack of cards. "Pick a card, any card!" He told me, handing me the deck. I looked through and chose one. The seven of diamonds. "Put the card on the pad here, this will project the image onto the tent walls. I'm going to blindfold myself so I can't see your selection." He put on a sleeping mask. I flicked my finger at his eye a few times to make sure he couldn't see, and I put my card on a small pedestal that had risen out of the center of the stage. A large projection shone onto the tent walls, showing my card. I took it off the pedestal and put the card back in the deck. Blitz took off his blindfold. "Well, I was going to tell you to put the card back, but it seems you're one step ahead of me. Alright, now I'm going to find your card."

"Okay, sorry to interrupt, but isn't this a bit small scale for a big circus like yours?" I asked him. The audience let out an oooh, as if I just insulted him or something.

"Not to worry my young friend. Bring out the wheel!" Blitz called off stage. A bunch of stage hands brought out a large wooden wheel with each card printed on one section. Blitz conjured up a throwing knife and made a go ahead motion to the stage hands. They all grabbed a peg on the wheel and gave it a spin. Blitz focused on the wheel for a bit before sending the knife flying at the wheel. The wheel came to a stop to reveal he had hit the seven of diamonds... but I knew better. I looked at Sonic, who once again shook his head no. I looked back at the wheel to see the knife had actually hit the Ace of Spades. The knife was embedded right in the center of the Ace though. Brownie points for accuracy. The audience suddenly erupted into cheers as another projection showed which card he landed on. The audience saw my card.

"Is this your card?" Blitz asked me. I started to scan his clothes, looking for any Chaos Emerald shaped lumps. Pocket... no. Vest... nothing. Shirt... zip. The only place left had to be... I suddenly had an idea. I was close enough, that this might work.

Actually, I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier.

I quickly held my ring up to Blitz. It glowed a bright yellow. "Uh, w-what are you doing?" He asked confusedly, with a hint of nervousness. I slowly brought the ring up to his top hat. The ring glowed the brightest it had ever glowed before. Bingo.

"Nope, that's the Ace of Spades. My card was the seven of diamonds." I reached up and knocked off the top hat, revealing the Chaos Emerald. It fell off and hit the floor. "You had me fooled when we first met. That was clever, trying to get me to focus so much on your pockets."

"W-what do you mean?" Blitz asked, backing away from me. The crowd was quiet.

"I mean you've been cheating. You aren't doing real magic. You're just pretending to. The Chaos Emerald you have there has been creating a mist that, when inhaled, makes people hallucinate."

"Stop right there!" Blitz yelled at me.

"I'm not finished yet." I told him, smirking.

"I said stop!" Blitz said frantically.

"Get it through your head, I'm not going to stop!" I said back. Blitz sighed.

"Audience, go home." He said dejectedly. As a group, the audience rose and started to leave the tent, all except for Sonic that is. I watched in awe and confusion as the audience left. They all had a blank look on their face. Sonic joined me up front while Blitz picked up his hat and the Emerald.

"Congratulations." He looked at us with disgust. "You've figured out my secret."

"Hypnotism?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, hypnotism." Blitz replied. "How long did it take you to figure that one out?"

"Look, Blitz, all we need is the Emerald. Then, when we're done, I can give it back to you, okay?" I said, trying to reason with him. Blitz shook his head.

"Do you think I would give this Emerald away that easily?!" He sounded like he was insane. As he talked, his voice got louder and louder. "I cheat people out of their money everyday, making them believe that I am a master magician! When really, all I need to do is some basic card tricks, and make a bunny appear out of a hat!"

"Yeah, why do you have to do that?" I asked.

"Don't interrupt me!" Blitz screamed. "The power only works if the audience sees something!" He was barely making sense. "Not only circus, but casino too! Just one whiff, and I won the lottery! I make people happy! I make me rich! No one can stop me!" Blitz started to rise into the air, laughing like a mad man. Funny thing was, he wasn't flapping his wings. "No one will take away my happy!" He sounded insane. He looked at me and Sonic with flashing yellow eyes. "No one!"

"He's filled with Chaos Power!" The Green Spirit shrieked. "He has unleashed a dark energy! You must be careful!"

"No really?!" I yelled back as Blitz swooped towards me and Sonic. We jumped out of the way as he pulled out two knives and swiped at us. Sonic managed to dodge it, but he managed to give me a small scratch on my arm. "Careful, he's good with those knives!" I yelled to Sonic.

"How good?" Sonic yelled back. I gestured toward the card wheel to show him where the knife was embedded. Sonic didn't look to impressed. "So he can hit a piece of wood. Betcha he can't get me!" Sonic gave me a thumbs up. I smiled, then looked back at Blitz... just in time to jump out of the way of a knife. It landed right where my right foot used to be.

"Yeah, but what about me?!" I yelled back in a slight panic. Sonic quickly look from Blitz to me before running over and grabbing me by the hand. He dashed off with me in tow as a barrage of knives came flying at us. I looked to see Blitz creating another knife out of thin air. "He has unlimited ammunition! We won't be able to tire him out!" I yelled in alarm.

"We'll worry about him later, let's just get you somewhere safe!" Sonic yelled to me. He started running for the tent flap.

"Wait Sonic, maybe I can help!" I yelled before we ran out.

"No, it's too dangerous!" Sonic yelled. Just before we made it out, a knife landed right in front of us. We both quickly got behind two of the wooden support beams that were holding up the tent.

"Sonic, I can do things!" I yelled, wanting to help.

"Like what?" Sonic yelled as his pole started to vibrate from the knives being embedded into the wood. Mine started to shake as well.

"I don't know!" I yelled back. Then, out of nowhere, a large knife sailed clean through the wood of my pole, narrowly missing my head. I stared at the hole in the tent the knife made before quickly running to Sonic's pole. "Bait maybe?" I asked as yet another large knife sailed through, just missing Sonic's arm. The pole snapped in half and fell over. Sonic quickly pulled me over to the next one. That's when I got an idea. "Sonic, I can be live bait!"

"What?! No way! I'm getting you out of here!" Sonic started to grab my wrist.

"No wait! If I get Blitz to-" We were interrupted by another large knife, this time going right between me and Sonic's faces. We quickly ran to the next one. "If I can get Blitz to snap all of the poles, the tent will fall on him. You can beat him up a bit beforehand to weaken him." I quickly grabbed one of the smaller knives littering the ground. "We can cut our way out then grab Blitz when he's covered in the canvas. It should be easy to get the Emerald at that point." I finished. Another large knife came through, flying right between Sonic's ears.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" Sonic yelled as he rushed into battle. I quickly got behind another column and peeked around. From the look of things, the larger knives took a while to make, as I could see on slowly appearing in the air beside Blitz. The smaller knives however appeared in a flash. Luckily, Sonic had no trouble maneuvering around them. Sonic quickly jumped up and performed a homing attack, hitting Blitz square in the head. The yellow bat growled before snapping his fingers. A large box appeared on the stage and Sonic was quickly sucked inside. Something told me this wasn't an illusion, as eight small slits appeared on each side, and a rather large sword started to materialize in front of one of them. I could hear Sonic beating the sides of the box as he yelled from within.

"Must destroy thief!" Blitz growled. "Will not take happiness!" He laughed maniacally before sending yet another large knife towards me. I ducked as the sword sailed past me, smashing through the pillar. I ducked behind the next one. I looked around the tent, taking a quick count. There were still at least five left! Looking around though, it didn't look like the tent should still be up the way it was. Normally, at least half of the tent would be on the ground, but it still seemed to be in perfect condition. I touched the walls, expecting canvas, but instead finding something almost like concrete. I looked around, as realization dawned on me. The tent was meant to be able to support itself in case some of the beams broke. Hopefully. It could just be the tent is supporting itself, but I certainly hoped not. Another knife whizzed past, this time finding its mark. It grazed my arm, drawing blood. I hissed in pain as I held my arm. I quickly made my way to the next column. Four more to go. I checked my injury. It wasn't too deep, but I might need some stitches after this.

I checked the box to see that the first sword cut into Sonic's box. I heard a small yelp. The second sword started to form. I held my breath, waiting for a sound to tell me that Sonic was alive. I was relieved to hear more banging on the box.

A small crumbling sound interrupted my thoughts. I looked up to see a crack form where the last pillar once stood. It increased in length a bit, causing some rubble to fall. If Blitz noticed it, the plan could be ruined. I quickly ran in front of the column and waved my arms.

"Hey, over here! I'm going to come take your Emerald!" I called out. Blitz stopped and looked confused. I sighed. "Your... happiness?" I tried, seeing if it would register. The sudden flurry of knives answered my call. I quickly got out of the way of most of the knives (two scratched me again and another drew blood) and hid behind the column again. Okay, showing myself to Blitz, not a good idea.

I heard yet another sword plunge into Sonic's box. I looked to see that the swords were appearing faster each time, yet the knives I was using to cut down the pillars seemed to be going the same speed as they were before. Luckily, he had just finished making the next knife, which came sailing at me. I dashed as fast as I could to the next column. Three to go.

A quick look at the box Sonic was in revealed we could be in trouble soon. Already five of the swords were sticking into the box, with a sixth on the way. From the look of things, Sonic would have to be very lucky to survive all eight. The sixth plunged in, accompanying with it a flurry of footsteps. He was still alive. I turned my attention back to Blitz. What was making those swords appear so fast? Did he consider Sonic more of a threat than me? If so, would making me more dangerous speed up his attacks at me and slow down Sonic's? Worth a shot! I quickly went around the column and did my best to taunt him.

"Uh, yeah, bat guy, come get me!" I yelled shakily. Okay, not a great first attempt, but it served its purpose. Many small projectiles came flying at me. I quickly grabbed two, one in each hand, and tried to hit Blitz with one. It sailed in the completely wrong direction. I looked at the box Sonic was held in to see that the eighth and final sword was quickly forming. I quickly dodged another barrage of knives (I was getting better at the dodging thing) and threw my other knife as hard as I could. The small silver blade flew through the air and hit Blitz's arm. It didn't sink in or anything, but it definitely cut him. He grabbed his arm and growled at me. Before I knew it, his barrage of attacks at me quickened, while the eighth sword, which was near completion, slowed down. I quickly got in front of a column and ducked, dodging the large knife as it whistled past my head. The column fell, as I moved to the second to last column.

"Come on, you throw like my great grandma!" I taunted Blitz. I was getting better. Pretty generic taunt, but it was a start. Blitz roared and sent thousands of tiny little needles in my direction. I quickly got behind the column, but not before feeling a couple of stings on my right arm. I saw that a few needles had embedded themselves in my arm. After a painful attempt to pull one out, I figured the best thing to do would be to let the doctor take care of this one. I was too busy viewing my various injuries to notice that the column had just crumbled. A large piece hit me squarely on the head. I got an extreme headache, almost to the point that I could have been unconscious. The world blurred a bit as I dizzily staggered to the last column. The loud cracking coming from above me confirmed that this battle would soon be over. I shook my head to snap out of my brief confusion and turned to Sonic's box. My eyes widened as extreme fear took over.

The last sword started to lower.

The world seemed to go in slow motion as instinct took over. I ran to the box as quickly as I could. Blitz called down a cascade of projectiles, ranging from incredibly tiny needles to daggers the size of my hand. I ran as fast as I could, as I heard and felt the weapons whizz over, next to, and into me. I didn't feel the pain. I had to get my friend out of the box. I took cover behind the box and took a moment to breathe. The world went back to speed as pain set back in. My hand instinctively went to the biggest source of pain, a large knife embedded in my side. I pulled my hand away to see that I was bleeding, pretty badly. I pushed past the pain as best as I could, and stumbled around the box, trying to find some way to open it. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, until a now familiar sound brought my attention to one side of the box.

The sound of metal sliding on wood.

I was too late.

I pressed my head against the box, listening for any movement. I tried to yell out to Sonic, but a sharp pain told me that it wasn't happening any time soon. I didn't hear anything. There was still a chance he was alive I reminded myself. Maybe he just couldn't move because he was pinned between the swords. He's fine. I staggered back into view of Blitz. I lurched toward the last column trying my hardest to run. Blitz saw me and once again started to fire at me. I felt more than saw many more projectiles embed into my body. My arm mainly, but a few needles landed in the side of my face. The large knife was almost ready, and you could almost guarantee he was going to throw that as soon as he got it. I kept my goal focused. I was close.

15 feet.

14 feet.

I took everything one step at a time.

10 feet.

9 feet.

I felt more pain than I ever had in my life. It was slowing me down.

5 feet.

4 feet.

Blitz grabbed the large knife and threw it.

3 feet.

2 feet.

I ducked as the knife flew over me and landed on the ground. I wasn't fast enough. I rushed as fast as I could the final foot to the column and hid behind it. I checked my arm. Luckily, I managed to miss the bigger knives and only got hit by the needles. However, there were more than I could count, and I was losing too much blood. I began to get light headed. There was no way I could hack through the wood on my own. I would have to wait.

"You are losing too much blood!" The Green Spirit cried. "You will be dead in 2 minutes! You must retrieve my brother and make a wish before that happens!" I turned and watched the large knife charge. It was close to being complete. Perhaps a minute more.

"I can make it." I told her, struggling to stay on my feet a bit.

"Are you sure?" She asked worriedly.

"I can make it!" I yelled a bit in my head. I looked around one more time, and saw the knife soar through the air. It crashed through the column. Then, a large crack spread throughout the tent, causing it to slowly crumble. As quickly as I could, I made my way to the exit, dodging falling debris. I turned to see Blitz about to throw a knife at me, when a large chunk of concrete hit him, knocking him to the ground and leaving him unconscious. I went outside to see not a crumbling tent, but a crumbling warehouse. The cobblestone walkways and shops that had once lined the outside of the tent had all vanished. Another illusion. There was never a circus. It was just a man who wanted money. I felt my face drain as my knees gave up and I fell to the ground. I crawled on all fours as I made my way into the debris to look for Blitz and the Emerald. It didn't take me long. Blitz groaned slightly as I pulled my way over to him. The life slowly drained from me and I felt myself losing consciousness. The world went from color, to black, to color again, as I got closer and closer to my goal. I collapsed next to Blitz and shakily grabbed his hat. I turned it over, and the golden Yellow Emerald fell out with a clink. It hurt too much to breath now. With one final gasp, I reached for the Emerald. It had rolled too far for me to grab, but if I could just touch it. I reached as far as I could before collapsing. I didn't know if I had touched it or not, but the last thought I had in my head before the world went dark, was "I wish I was healed."

The Yellow Emerald started to glow, as a soothing feeling rushed through my body. The world slowly came back, bit by bit, color by color. When the world seemed filled in enough, I looked around. I was sitting in a huge pile of gray cinder block. Well, crumbled cinder block, the whole complex we were in was gone. I looked to see Blitz, no longer yellow, but brown! He still wore all of his clothes, and he was still unconscious. I saw his chest slowly rise and fall, indicating that he was breathing. A quick check of his pulse revealed that he was alive.

Alive? Why did that remind me of-

Sonic!

I quickly ran over to the large box, and looked for a handle. I found one, and, after removing the two swords lodged in this side of the wood, opened the door as quickly as I could.

"Sonic!" I looked inside, fearing the worst.

"Josh! You're alive!" Sonic held statue still, balancing on only one foot, with swords barely missing him on all sides.

"Hold on, I'll get you out!" I quickly ran to each side of the box and pulled the remaining six swords out. After the final sword, I ran to the opening. Sonic quickly grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug, which I returned.

"I couldn't hear anything out there! I thought he killed you!" Sonic told me.

"I thought he killed you!" I said near tears. We held each other for a long time, both of us relieved that the other was alright. After a while, Sonic looked around.

"Josh, what did you do?" Sonic asked, sounding amazed.

"I collapsed a circus tent." I said, pulling away. "Well, it was actually a giant warehouse, but we were under the illusion that it was a tent. The whole place was fake."

"And Blitz? Is he...?" Sonic trailed off as a small moan came a few yards from where we were standing.

"W-what happened?" Blitz rubbed the back of his head, then looked around him. His eyes widened. "Oh no." He looked at us. "Oh no oh no oh no! What have I done?!" Blitz stood up and walked towards us. "I am so sorry! I don't know what happened! I just went berserk! Did I get you badly?" Blitz asked, looking at me.

"Does it look like you did?" I turned and showed him my body. Blitz sighed.

"I thought I landed a dagger in your side." He said, rubbing his temple as if he had a headache.

"A what?" Sonic looked at me.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." I told both of them. "However, you have some explaining to do. Why were you trying to cheat people out of their money?" I looked at Blitz sternly.

"I didn't start out that way!" Blitz sat down and put his head in his hands. "I just wanted to make people happy! But then I saw that I could make people see whatever they wanted to see, and make them do whatever I wanted to do! I got so much money! I started to cheat at casinos, swindling people on the streets, and, of course, setting up this circus. I got power hungry!" He shook his head. His voice was cracking, on the verge of tears. "I didn't want this to happen! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" He shook, as the tears flowed from him. He sobbed for a while before looking at us. "Will you please forgive me?" I looked at Sonic. He nodded.

"We forgive you." Sonic said.

"T-Thank you!" Blitz continued crying for a while, before standing up and abruptly flying off.

"...Well...that was...interesting." I said, thinking about the events.

"Okay, most of what he said made sense, but why did he turn into a monster?" Sonic asked.

"May I?" A new voice asked. The world suddenly disappeared in a flash of yellow.

…...

When everything cleared, I was standing in the middle of a theme park, full of happy children, teenagers, and adults. The weird thing was, there were both humans and Mobians running around.

"Over here." The voice called. I turned to see a white hedgehog with yellow stripes running through his quills. He looked at me with kind eyes before motioning me over to a small bench. I nodded and sat down. "It's beautiful isn't it?" He asked me, looking around at all the happy faces. His voice was sunny, kind, and joyful. "A place where everyone can be happy all the time. No one is sad in my domain." He exclaimed. A young boy, a human, barely four years old, approached the hedgehog and looked at him expectantly. The hedgehog smiled, and clapped his hands. A red balloon appeared in the boys hand. The young boy giggled and stared at the balloon as the sun shone through it.

"...Are you the spirit of the Yellow Emerald?" I asked, staring at the hedgehog with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. He nodded before sending the young boy off to his parents.

"Indeed I am. You must be Josh." The hedgehog turned back to me. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Now, onto more pressing matters." He swung one leg over the other and put his hands on his laugh. "What happened Blitz. That creature you saw was the embodiment of his selfishness. It was a projection of his desires. Since what he wanted was ugly and selfish, the creature was ugly and selfish."

"Why did it happen though? Did you cause it?" I asked.

"Yes and no. To make this easier to explain, think of the creature to be Blitz's 'super form,' much like how Sonic turns into Super Sonic. In a time of need, you can call on the power of the Emeralds to gain power."

"I thought you needed all seven for that."

"You would if we weren't supercharged with emotion. At that time, I was incredibly charged because of all the joy that Blitz was causing, even if it was in a state of hypnosis. That power was enough to cause Blitz to turn into 'Super Blitz,' albeit with weaker powers than if he did have all seven emeralds." The Yellow Spirit waved at a young chipmunk who waved back happily.

"...So, could I essentially have that happen to me?" I asked. "Could I be in danger of going berserk?"

"With you, I doubt it. Your goal in itself is pure, there aren't many ways you could put a selfish twist on it. So, unless you could find a way to turn finding your brother into something corrupt, you will be safe."

"What if I turned into a good thing, like 'Super Josh?'" I asked again, making air quotes in the air.

"...I doubt that will happen either. Your body simply can't handle Chaos Power of that extent. Your friend Sonic puts himself in danger when he turns into Super Sonic, as it slowly saps away his energy. If you were to put yourself through that, you would not make it for very long. Which is why you must avoid changing, whether for good or bad, at all costs." The Spirit stared at me firmly. "It would be catastrophic, not only to you, but to those around you."

"What do you mean, 'those around me?'" I looked at the Spirit confusedly. He sat quietly for a minute before answering.

"Let's hope you don't find out." He turned away from me, looking rather pale, which was saying something, considering he was already white. He was quiet for a moment longer before he spoke again. "Your wish to be healed will not count against you, so you will still have two wishes. However, you will have to give me some time before you make the wish. I am weary." He waved his hand and the world flashed away again.

…...

I awoke, expecting to be on the ground like last time. I was somewhat surprised to find myself sitting upright, leaning against a tree. Sonic stood nearby.

"You okay?" He asked when he saw I was awake.

"I don't have a bump the size of a volleyball if that's what your asking. Did you catch me?" I asked.

"What do you think?" Sonic replied.

"I think I levitated over here and plopped myself down next to this tree because you were too lazy to catch me." I said, crossing my arms teasingly.

"Oh gee thanks!" Sonic pulled me up and slugged me in the arm. I laughed as I rubbed the pain away. "So, what'd you learn this time?" Sonic asked me.

"Blitz turned into a manifestation of his own greed, I have two wishes, and I should never ever turn into Super Josh or a monster." I said, as if that made any sense. Sonic stared at me blankly. I laughed again. "I'll explain on the way back to the hotel." Sonic smiled.

"You're just gonna bring me trouble, you know that?" He said.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"It's barely been a week and you've already needed me to save you twice, gone unconscious for more than thirty minutes at a time, and come to you start rambling about monsters and wishes." Sonic crossed his arms and shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Oh come on. You know you love me." I flashed him a cheesy grin, to which he laughed at.

"Let's get out of here bud." He said. We both started walking back to the hotel.

"You still need to tell me about that 'dagger in the side' thing Blitz was talking about." Sonic said.

"Oh yeah..." I replied.

And so, we got our first Emerald! We're one step closer! Ooh, I'm so excited, I can't sleep! I know I need to, so I'll try. You know, eventually. Okay, I better turn this off. End of entry three!

Josh: Oh yeah! I beat up a bad guy, I beat up a bad guy!

JJ: Technically, the giant concrete building beat up the bad guy.

Josh: Well at least I was involved! Can you say you did that?

JJ: Backspace.

Josh: Shutting up.

JJ: ...Okay, so anyways, this week, I want to do something special. If you have any questions for me, whether it be about the story, my inspiration, myself, or whatever else pops into your head! Literally, I will answer almost anything! You can leave a comment, Private Message me, whatever! Have fun!

One more thing before I leave. Thanks to everyone who has left a comment! You guys are so supportive of me! You are a blessing!