Chapter 18

JJ: Cough, wow, it's dusty in here!

Josh: Oh, look who finally decided to show up again!

JJ: Hey, I've been busy with school! But I've been trying to write a ton! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you guys!

Josh: So you say.

JJ: Hey, you try juggling work, school, homework, and writing this, then come back and complain to me. Not to mention I got writer's block.

Josh: Whatever, just start the story. And get this dust off of me.

JJ: I'm sorry! '^_^

Hello again everyone, this is entry number four! Things have gotten pretty... exciting around here since the last entry. Very, very exciting. But, let's start at the beginning, shall we?

The sun filtered down through the curtains in our hotel. It landed directly on my eye. My eyes fluttered open, only to be blinded by a beam of golden light. I quietly grunted as I sat up and rubbed my eye.

"Morning." I heard Sonic mumble from the bed next to me.

"Hey." I replied. "What time is it?" Sonic picked up the small electronic clock on the table.

"Almost 11:00." Sonic said, placing the clock down and getting out of bed.

"Wow, we slept in." I chuckled as I rubbed the sleep and gunk out of my eyes.

"No doubt." Sonic said standing up. "Although, it's understandable, considering the night we just had last night, Mr. Hedgehog." We both smiled. Sonic leaned over and grabbed a pair of socks from a drawer.

"...Where'd you get those?" I asked, pointing at the socks.

"The drawer." Sonic said, like it was obvious.

"Well I know that!" I said, rolling my eyes. "I mean, where did you manage to get another pair of socks? You didn't put anything in my backpack did you?"

"No," Sonic replied, "These are my socks from yesterday."

"...Do you ever change them?" I asked, looking slightly disgusted.

"Nope. We don't need to, the clothes never get dirty here!" Sonic said.

"Really? How does that work?" I asked, still a little grossed out.

"I dunno, something to do with the fibers or whatever. It's the reason why everyone around here hasn't changed for over a decade." Sonic explained.

"So, they don't even get stinky?" I asked, curious about these new clothes.

"Never." To prove his point, Sonic lifted a sock to his nose and took a sniff. "Smells like a summer breeze. Want a sniff?" Sonic asked, flinging the sock at me. I tried to dodge, but it landed right on my face.

"..." I took a sniff. It did smell like a summer breeze! "...This is confusing, amazing, disturbing, and disgusting, all rolled up into one." I said, taking the sock off my face and throwing it back. Sonic laughed.

"My advice, don't think too much about everything here. What's normal for me may not be normal for you. I take it your clothes do get dirty?" Sonic asked.

"Yep, I have to wash mine pretty much every week." I said. Sonic went wide eyed for a moment before focusing on getting his gloves on.

"Well, how does breakfast sound?" Sonic asked, going over to his sneakers.

"Fantastic!" I said, as my stomach loudly growled.

"Seriously, when are you going to get that growling checked?" Sonic asked with a combination of concern and amusement on his face.

"Soon. Very, very soon." I said, looking down at my gut.

"...Come on, let's go." Sonic said, heading for the door.

"Wait!" I ran over to the night stand and grabbed the adoption slip. I quickly read my new name once more before folding it and putting it in my back pocket. I walked up to Sonic. "Ready." Sonic smiled and mussed up my hair before we both headed out.

…...

"Took you two long enough." Knuckles was leaning against a wall, near the entrance of what looked to be a small restaurant in the hotel. It was decked out very fancily. "Sonic made the reservation, so we need him to get in."

"Into the hotel buffet?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Zis is no buffet!" A proud looking husky stood at the door, dressed in a suit and bowtie, with black slacks, and a small white towel draped over his arm. "Zis is ze finest eatery in all of Casino Park!" He said in his thick French accent. His steel blue eyes leered at us through his grey fur.

"Sorry, he's new!" Sonic went over to my side. "Um, I believe you have a reservation in my name. It's So-"

"Sonic ze Hedgehog!" The husky finished. "We know who you are. Right zis way monsieur." The husky briskly walked off into the restaurant.

"...So you guys don't have buffets in you hotels?" I asked as we followed.

"Normally yes," Knuckles said, "But this is Casino Park. You either go big or go home here!"

"Which is why you lost all of your money, right?" I asked, using my innocent voice. Knuckles glared at me. I smiled. "Relax. I'm just teasing you, I would be pennyle-...er... ringless by this point too." Knuckles grunted, but seemed to calm down. The husky ushered us to our table, a small three seater, covered with a white linen tablecloth, and a small floral centerpiece in the middle.

"Your waiter will be here shortly. Here iz ze menu." The husky placed a large laminated page in front of each of us, before briskly walking off.

"...Sonic," I said, ducking down a bit. "I hate to complain, but everyone's staring at me again. Can I like go get a hat or something."

"They're not staring at you." Knuckles said from behind his menu.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Has anyone tried flirting with you since you've arrived here?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, one person." I said defensively, thinking he was trying to make fun of me. Knuckles peeked out from over his menu and looked surprised. "What?" I asked.

"Let's just say that the normal Mobian would not be giving you the looks that they're giving now." Knuckles said. I looked around to see girls fanning themselves a bit and talking excitedly to each other, all of them staring at our table. There were murmurs throughout the room, from men and women alike, as they all stole glances at our table.

"Why are they staring at you guys like that?" I asked quietly.

"Not us," Knuckles said, "Just him." He jerked a thumb towards Sonic.

"Come on, that's not true." Sonic said, blushing a tiny bit.

"You're famous?" I asked, not really surprised.

"We're famous." Sonic said, pointing at both himself and Knuckles. "Whenever we tend to beat Eggman, the news crews aren't very far behind."

"He's the most well known." Knuckles said, still looking at his menu.

"Says who?" Sonic shot back.

"Says the cover of every teen girl magazine out there." Knuckles smirked a bit.

"Wait," I said chuckling. "You're a teenage heartthrob?" I looked at Sonic, who just blushed harder.

"Um, hi!" A voice spoke up. A young chipmunk, probably 18 years old, stood at the table. "My names, like Brianna, and I'll be your waiter." She said, with a combination of nerves and excitement. She spoke in the way some teenage girls do, where their voice goes up at the end of a sentence even though their not asking a question. "So, have you, like, decided what you wanted, or do you need more time?" She asked.

"More time please." I said. Sonic just nodded.

"Um, okay, I'll be back in a bit! Oh, by the way, it's, like, super cool to meet you Sonic!" She dashed off on her tip toes, before joining a small group of girl waitresses across the restaurant, who all squealed.

"Glad that's not me." Knuckles said, putting his menu down and smirking. Sonic didn't say a thing.

…...

Sonic dashed out of the hotel, followed by me and Knuckles who braced ourselves against the door.

"Get out of here!" Knuckles yelled. "It's you they want, not us!"

"I can't just leave you guys, you'll be killed!" Sonic said back, as a rumbling sound coming from the hotel started to get louder.

"We'll be fine, just go!" I yelled. "We'll hold them off for as long as we can! Meet back at the warehouse we demolished!" Sonic hesitated, then nodded before speeding off. The rumbling started to get much louder.

"Here we go!" Knuckles said, pushing against the door as hard as he could. I did the same.

It did almost nothing to stop the giant mob of screaming fan girls who came pouring out of the hotel.

"Where'd he go?" One of the girls yelled.

"I don't know!" Another yelled. I quickly got an idea. I snuck my way into the crowd of girls.

"There he is, over by the fountain!" I yelled in my girliest voice. It did the trick, as the mob pushed their way towards a fountain in the opposite direction of where Sonic ran.

"Well, that was easy." Knuckles said, as he watched the crowd.

"I know, right?" I said in my girly voice again. Knuckles looked at me in disbelief.

"That was you?!" He asked, wide eyed.

"Like totally!" I exclaimed. I went back to my normal voice. "Come on, let's go find Sonic."

…...

"Sonic! You here?" Knuckles yelled out into the rubble.

"They're gone! You can come out now!" I called. Slowly and cautiously, Sonic crept out from behind a tree. When he was sure the coast was clear, he walked over towards us.

"Thanks guys." Sonic said.

"You're welcome tween dream!" I said, flashing a cutesy smile. Sonic slightly blushed again.

"So, what's our plan now?" Sonic asked, trying to casually cover his muzzle to hide the blush.

"We get out of here. Now." Knuckles said. "It won't be long before the mob finds us here."

"Well, actually, can we stay here for just a minute?" I asked. "I want to see how Jacob's doing real fast."

"Sure." Sonic said.

"Make it quick." Knuckles said. I nodded, then held my hand above my ring. I conjured up a mental image of the Green Chaos Emerald. After a brief flash, the Emerald appeared in my hand. I closed my eyes.

"I wish I could see what my brother has been doing." I said.

…...

I felt a brief sensation, like I was falling. "What was that?" I asked the Green Spirit.

"We are traveling back in time." She replied. When I opened my eyes, I was standing in the middle of what looked like a steam-punk mixed with junkyard version of a city. Blaze, Silver, and Jacob, who was still a cat, were walking down the street, looking somewhat cautious.

"Are you sure the Emerald's here?" Blaze asked.

"It's what it says on the ring." Jacob held his hand out, as a dark blue glow emanated from his ring.

"How could the Sol Emerald end up here?" Silver asked, looking around. "This place is a dump!"

"Well, you know what they say." Jacob replied. "One man's junk is another man's idea for a city."

"Cute." Blaze said, looking at Jacob, a small grin on her face. "Come on, let's keep looking."

The scene started to move in fast forward, as the group started to search in stores, in dumpsters, and down alleys. Soon things started to move so fast that I could only make out certain events. They found it, some guy transformed into a monster, Jacob was captured, monster was defeated, then-

"Wait, stop here!" I commanded. The scene instantly stopped. Blaze was holding Jacob in a tight hug, as Jacob buried his face in her fur. I couldn't tell if he was crying or just breathing hard, but he was definitely shaken up. Blaze's face was full of relief, as she comforted my little brother. The scene started to go in fast motion again, as it showed the group getting the Emerald, and Jacob making a wish and passing out. It stopped again when Jacob came to. Jacob looked happy.

"What?" Silver asked.

"Sonic just adopted Josh!" Jacob said happily. "Now he won't be so lonely!"

"Big deal!" Blaze said, sitting next to Jacob. "So Sonic adopted Josh. I can do you one better." I froze, not sure I liked where the conversation was going. I mean, I was happy for Jacob, but...

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, looking somewhat confused. If Blaze said what I thought she was going to say, that would mean that me and Jacob would be separated! But... why am I not feeling sad... or lonely...

"I mean, not only can I adopt you, but you'll be a prince, right along side me!" Blaze said.

Yep, he's getting adopted too.

"What do you think?" Blaze asked. She was answered by a happy squeal and Jacob leaping at her.

"ThankyouthankyouTHANKyou!" Jacob yelled. Blaze just laughed and sat herself, and Jacob up.

"Now, we can't do it yet, but when we find the Emeralds, we're going right over to see my parents!" Blaze said, sounding excited, which was weird for her, because I've never heard her excited. The scene slowly fizzled out, and a blinding green flash engulfed the place.

…...

I came to, feeling not exactly how I thought I would feel. I squinted trying to make sense of the emotion I was feeling.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked. He walked over to the tree I was sitting against.

"Blaze is going to adopt Jacob. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen, me and him getting separated." I said, frowning in thought.

"...Josh...I'm so sorry." Sonic sat next to me. "What do you want to do?" He asked.

"Nothing." I replied. Sonic looked at me.

"Nothing?" He repeated.

"Nothing." I said again. "For some reason, it's not bothering me..." I furrowed my brow. "I'm feeling something, but I'm not sure what."

"How can you not know what you're feeling?" Knuckles asked me. I shrugged.

"Maybe you just don't want to admit it." Sonic said. I turned to look at him, and he gave me a knowing look. "Just say it."

"...I feel... relieved." I said, placing a name, somewhat unwillingly, to my emotion. "Someone else is going to be taking care of Jacob. Someone I can trust."

"See, is being separated really that bad?" Sonic said, nudging me a bit.

"Well, yeah." I said. "I miss him like heck!"

"I meant him being adopted by Blaze." Sonic said, giving me a 'really?' look.

"...No... it's not." I said, allowing a smile to come onto my face. I sat in thought for a while longer before standing up. "Okay boys, let's get moving. Jacob already has two Emeralds, and I am not going to be beaten by my little brother!" I said in a commanding tone.

"Aye aye!" Sonic yelled. "Where to cap'n?" I held my ring out. The Purple Emerald was still a ways away, but it seemed that the Red Emerald decided to move much closer than it had before.

"East!" I said, pointing in the Red Emerald's direction. "Or whichever way that is!" Knuckles rolled his eyes before speeding off. Sonic started to grab my wrist, then stopped.

"Would your hand be more comfortable?" Sonic asked me.

"My hand?" I asked.

"When I run. Would it hurt less if I grabbed your hand instead of your wrist?" Sonic said.

"Um... I guess. Are you okay with it?" I asked him.

"You're my little brother, why wouldn't I be?" Sonic asked. "Are you okay with it?" I shrugged, then held my hand out. He grabbed it tightly enough so that he wouldn't let go, but soft enough that it wouldn't hurt, then sped off. "Ready?" I nodded. With that, he sped off after Knuckles.

…...

Believe it or not, the ride was much more comfortable. We stopped to take a break, and I only felt a slight ache in my hand. Beyond that, I was fine. The ache went away within seconds. We were once again running through a forest, but this forest had much fewer trees then the last one we ran through. I went over and leaned against a tree. I felt exhausted. Even though I wasn't running, trying to stay standing while moving at high speed was physically draining.

"How you feelin'?" Sonic asked, stretching out his legs.

"Pretty good actually. Just tired." I said, closing my eyes and feeling the warmth of the sun. I opened my eyes and took a look at my ring. The red glow was glowing about 30% brighter than the last time we saw it. Maybe enough to dimly light a dark room.

"Hey, you never made a second wish." Sonic said, walking over to me.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't." I said, staring at the small yellow jewel that sat next to the green jewel. "I figured I would use it in case of emergency. You know, in case one of us is badly injured and we need to get somewhere fast."

"Good idea." Sonic said. He studied the ring for a bit more. "What would you wish for though?"

"If I didn't want to keep an emergency wish?" I asked. Sonic nodded. "Hmm... I really don't know. Maybe I could just wish the other Emeralds to our location."

"You need to know where they are." Knuckles reminded me. "You can't just make something appear if you don't know where it is in the first place. Otherwise, we'd never worry about finding the Emeralds."

"Well, I could just wish that me and my brother were together." I said, thinking out loud. "That would make things a lot easier."

"Actually, you can't." The Yellow Spirit said.

"Your brother is in a different dimension." The Green Spirit said. "We cannot simply grab him, that would require bending time and space, which would require much more power. You need all seven of us."

"What'd they say?" Sonic asked.

"They need more power. Here, grab on." I said, holding out the hand with the ring. Sonic walked over and took it. "Wait... I don't need to find my brother anymore." I said, as a I slowly realized the situation we were in. "He's staying with Blaze. We don't need to go chasing after the Emeralds."

"Actually, we still do." Sonic said. "Remember, Eggman's still after them."

"Right." I said. "So, I kinda sorta understand why we have to collect all seven of our emeralds, but why do Jacob, Blaze, and Silver need to collect all seven of theirs?"

"We cannot simply release the energy we have contained in us. We were originally going to expel it by having you use Chaos Control to get back home." The Yellow Spirit explained. "But now that you are staying, we need some place to put our energy, someone to share our energy with."

"The Sol Emeralds." Sonic stated.

"Precisely." Yellow continued. "Instead of having you both use Chaos Control, we will simply transfer some of our energy to the Sol Emeralds."

"Is something bothering you Josh?" The Green Spirit asked. I was holding my head.

"I'm lost." I said.

"Allow me." Sonic said to the spirits. "We were originally going to have you and Jacob use Chaos Control to get home, but that would require the energy of all seven Chaos Emeralds for you, and all seven Sol Emeralds for Jacob."

"Okay, but, now that we're staying we just need to find all the emeralds so the Chaos Emeralds can transfer some of their energy to the Sol Emeralds?" I asked, starting to make some sense out of things. Sonic nodded. "Great!"

"Almost." Sonic said thoughtfully. "We still don't know why Eggman wants the Emeralds, or how many he has right now."

"...Well, let's think here for a bit." I said. "Eggman had the Emeralds so he could charge them up, make them stronger. Why?" Everyone went silent. "Come on guys, no idea's a bad idea, let's brainstorm."

"He could just be using them to make a machine stronger." Sonic said.

"But what machine...?" I pondered.

"Let's hope we don't have to find out." Sonic said. I nodded, but I was lost in thought. Throughout this whole conversation, one thing stuck with me, one thing that I hadn't really thought about before.

Jacob is staying with Blaze.

Yes, I felt happy for him. The two clicked. They were inseparable, like me and Sonic. But...

I would miss him.

Horribly.

If he really is in another dimension, I may never be able to talk to him again. My face clouded over, as the full realization of what Blaze had done hit me.

I was so grateful to her.

I hated her.

I was conflicted.

Sonic looked at me, confusedly, and was about to say something before-

"Hey, are you guys just going to talk to yourselves or are we going?" Knuckles asked, sounding impatient. I scoffed.

"Coming mother!" I yelled back. Knuckles glared at me a bit. Why was teasing him so fun?

Oh yeah, 'cause he can be a jerk at times. I nodded at Sonic, he grabbed my hand again, and we were off.

…...

It was just our luck. The weather decided to take a turn for the worse, and we were running in the pouring rain.

"We need to find shelter!" Sonic yelled over to Knuckles.

"Where? We're in the middle of nowhere Sonic!" He yelled back. We had made it out of the forest, and were now running through what used to be a sunny, grassy field. Now, the grass was sopping wet, and very slippery, making it very hard, and extremely dangerous to run.

"Guys, look!" I said, pointing my hand towards a distant building. My ring immediately reacted, flashing a bright red. "I think the Emerald's in there!"

"Emerald or not, we're going in!" Sonic yelled. He corrected his course slightly and sped off towards the building. As we approached, the building grew bigger and bigger. We quickly realized this wasn't just any old building.

This was a mansion!

We stopped in front of a large iron gate, cutting us off from the large white mansion. The front yard was filled with hedges, fountains, ponds, and gardens. A small walkway cut right through to the front door.

"Who's that?" Knuckles asked, looking up towards the sky. Me and Sonic looked up, squinting as the rain hit our face, to see a blurry figure flying up in the sky. The figure landed in the front yard.

"Is that Rouge?" Sonic asked.

"Great." Knuckles grumbled. Indeed it was. The white bat looked around, before running over to the side of the large building.

"Is she the one who's the treasure hunter?" I asked.

"Yep." Sonic said.

"She's after the Emerald. We gotta get in there!" Knuckles went up to the gate, and started to climb.

"...Wait, Knuckles!" I called out, but my call was too late. He touched a small wire near the top of the gate. We heard a quick yelp, then Knuckles fell to the ground with a thud.

"...Y'know, if you look close you can see little spirals in his eyes." Sonic said, putting a hand on his hip and tilting his head.

"The fence is electrocuted." I said quietly. Knuckles sat up and shook his head.

"Then how do you propose we get in?" He asked as he tried to get rid of some of the mud.

"We ring." I replied, walking over to an electronic doorbell on the gate. I pressed the small button.

"May I help you?" A male voice asked through a speaker.

"Yes, me and my friends just need shelter from the rain." I said.

"Come right in." A loud click sounded somewhere inside one of the columns holding the gate up, before it quietly opened.

"Thank you!" I quickly said, as our little group hurried towards the house. The front lawn was starting to flood, as water slowly ebbed onto the walkway, making it slick. I slipped and fell on my back in my hurry to get out of the rain. Sonic helped me up, and we continued to the mansion.

We stepped onto the porch, which was covered by a small outcropping extending from the wall. We gratefully received the shelter from the rain. We were literally dripping from all of the water. I turned to see a wall of rain coming down around us. I shivered a bit, as the coldness of the rain sank in. Sonic rapped on the door. A teenaged husky answered it, wearing a pair of Levi's and a black t-shirt.

"Please, hurry inside." He said in a kind voice. "Let's get you guys dry." I studied him for a moment.

"You don't happen to have a French brother in Casino Park do you?" I asked.

"He's not French." He said before ushering us in. I laughed a bit.

"I like you. What's your name?" I asked.

"Arthur, sir." The husky said. "May I ask yours?"

"It's Josh. Joshua Co-...I mean, Josh the Hedgehog." Arthur squinted a bit in confusion, but I didn't notice. I felt a small tickle inside of me. I just used my new name for the first time!

And it was awesome.

"I'm his older brother, Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic gave a thumbs up.

"Knuckles." Was all the red bore said.

"A pleasure to meet you." He took us down a long hallway, stopping about midway and turning into a room with a huge fireplace. "Feel free to warm yourselves up here. You seem to be about my size Josh, would you like a change of clothes?"

"If it's not too much trouble." I said, shivering even more now. My clothes were drenched, especially the back from when I fell.

"No trouble at all." He said, smiling. "I'll be right back." He quickly turned and left the room. I walked around, examining the place. The fireplace was large enough to light the room, casting a warm glow about the place. The walls were a scarlet color, with assorted nick-knacks from around the world. A postcard from a desert, a small windup monkey, a snowglobe with an ancient cathedral inside. The master of the house certainly got around.

"Josh?" Arthur called from the door, with a folded pair of jeans and a blue shirt. "Follow me, I'll show you to a changing room."

"Thank you." I said, following him out. We continued down the hallway. "So, who's the owner of the place?"

"My father." The husky said, leading me down. "He won it playing a game chess against a foreign king who came to visit."

"Wow. Lucky guy." I said, taking in the decor. The hallway was a forest green, with wood flooring. The ceiling was white, and strewn with lightbulbs. Looking down, I could see that this hall branched off into other halls, with those halls leading to different rooms. "Do you ever get lost in here?" I asked. Arthur laughed.

"I've been living here long enough to get used to it." He asnwered. A small ring from his pocket distracted him. He pulled out a small pager. "Sorry, my father needs me for a moment. Just continue down this hall, take the first set of stairs on the left, turn right, then go into the fourth door on your left." He smiled before turning and jogging off to who knows where. I continued down the hall looking for a set of stairs.

…...

"Did he say go left at the stairs, or go right?" I pondered. It took awhile, but I found the stairs. "I think he said, go left, then eighth door on right..." I did my best thinking out loud. I nodded, then headed left. Yeah, I'm not always the best when it comes to memory. I started counting out doors. "One, two, th-" My ring started to glow a bright red. I moved it around. I pointed it at the door right in front of me.

In there! I quietly grabbed the doorknob and swung open the door.

I looked in to see what looked like a game room. A pool table was lit by a large, hanging lamp, while the rest of the room was relatively dim. Many paintings depicting smokers playing various games hung around the room. But there was no sign of a Chaos Emerald. I held up my ring and started to probe the room, but to no avail. The ring was too bright for me to notice any changes. I grunted and dropped my hand down to my side, the glow immediately dimming. I looked around the room for a safe or a vault. The only thing I could find was a bar with a mini fridge full of beer. I turned around and surveyed the room once more. Something didn't feel right. I looked at each painting on the wall.

Two dogs playing billiards.

A small group playing poker.

Some cats watching a golf ball go into the distance. I tried to remove one of the paintings to see if it would come off, but it was bolted to the wall. They all were. Frustrated, I took a step back. I looked at each painting. There had to be something here!

Then I heard footsteps.

Coming from the hall.

I don't know why I hid, but I quickly dived under the billiards table.

Call it a lucky guess. 'Cause guess who stepped in?

Rouge.

She quietly entered the room before closing the door. She scanned the room, before heading towards the bar. After a quick look, she tried to remove the paintings, producing the same results I did. She seemed pretty irritated. She took a quick look at a small watch on her arm, and shook her head.

"'Course it doesn't work." She grumbled. She looked around the room once more before heading back to the bar. I heard clinking from behind the counter, as she moved bottles, glasses, and whatever else, in search of what I assumed to be the Emerald. I quietly stood up.

"You know, it's not nice to look through other people's stuff." I said. She jumped and turned to look at me. "Hiya." I said, smiling and waving. Rouge quickly bolted for the door, but I jumped in front of it. "Oh, leaving so soon?"

"Really? That's the best you can come up with?" She said, giving me an annoyed look and putting her hands on her hips. I blushed a bit, feeling embarrassed.

"W-whether you found the Emerald or not, I can't let you leave without at least showing you to Sonic. Breaking and entering is illegal." I said, crossing my arms. She sighed.

"Fine. Haven't seen Big Blue in a while anyway. Might as well say hi." She dropped her hands to her sides. "So, are you gonna let me out, or am I gonna have to kick you out of the way?" I stared blankly.

"Um... no resistance, no... you're just gonna go with me? ...Uh...o-okay." I slowly went away from the door, keeping a close eye on Rouge. She walked towards the door, opened it, then looked at me.

"Well?" She said.

"Uh, yes?" I asked, still very confused.

"You comin'?"

"...Yeah?" I said, coming to the door. Rouge smirked a bit.

"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies." She said as she left through the door.

…...

"Hiya boys." Rouge said, walking into the room Sonic and Knuckles were in. She made her way over to a red velvet sofa and sat down.

"Rouge?!" Knuckles yelled. "What are you doing here?!"

"She came in through the window, remember?" Sonic replied, sounding a bit tired.

"Aw, it sounds like you missed me Knucks!" Rouge turned herself to lay down on the couch and winked.

"Y-you wish!" Knuckles sounded a bit flustered. Rouge just chuckled. "So, who's your friend?" She asked, motioning to me.

"My little bro, Josh." Sonic said, turning to look at me. "...Who's still soaking wet." Rouge looked a bit confused.

"I'm adopted." I explained. She nodded. "Sorry, I'm going to go change right now, I just wanted to make sure you two kept an eye on her. The Emerald's here, she was trying to find it."

"Typical." Knuckles scoffed. I shook my head and walked off. This was going to be a long night.

"Uh, Josh, mind if I tag along?" Sonic said, looking at me. His eyes quickly darted towards Knuckles and Rouge, giving me the feeling he didn't want to be in the room any longer than needed.

"Of course not!" I said. "I might need some help finding the room anyways. I always seem to get lost when people give me instructions." Sonic quickly stood up and walked out of the room.

"Back soon!" Sonic waved before shutting the door behind him. He then pressed his ear to the door. I did the same. Sonic quietly held up three fingers, then two fingers, then one, the pointed to the door. At that exact moment, Knuckles started to yell, and Rouge started to laugh and talk back. Sonic rolled his eyes before smiling. "He's so predictable."

…...

It took a bit, but we finally found the changing room. ("How did you miss the sign?" Sonic asked, pointing to a sign on the wall that showed where everything was. I shrugged and chuckled.) I quickly stepped in and changed. It felt nice to be in nice, dry clothes, even if they did smell a bit like dog. I stepped out and looked at the sign.

"You know, we could just take a look around this place, if you wanted to." I said.

"If by that you mean 'Let's stay away from Knuckles for as long as possible,' then sure, I'm all for it." Sonic said smirking and looking up at the sign with me.

Kitchen →

Bathroom #06 ←

Bedroom #205-232 ←

Main Office ↓→

"Do you think Arthur's Dad will be in there?" I asked.

"Who?" Sonic looked at me.

"Arthur's dad, he's the master of the house. He won it in a chess game or something." I replied.

"A chess game? What would happen if he lost?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know, I want to find out!" I said, before hopping down the stairs. "Come on Sonic!"

…...

We came to a large oak door, with a golden name plate on the front of it, saying 'Paul Boddy.'

"So, it's the 'Boddy' family?" I asked, squinting. Something about that name seemed familiar...

"Strange name." Sonic said, before knocking.

"Come in!" A deep voice said. Sonic slowly entered the door, and I peeked through behind him. Sitting behind the desk was a husky in a suit and tie, wearing a pair of glasses. He looked a bit like Arthur.

Except he was tall. We knew that for a fact when he came over to greet us. He was a good foot higher than us, maybe even more! Not to mention that he was extremely muscular. Like, he could knock both of us out by just flicking his finger.

But he wasn't intimidating either. His eyes shone through his glasses in a friendly sort of way, and his smile was warm and inviting. He extended his hand out to us.

"Hello, and welcome to Boddy manor!" He said cheerfully. "Arthur told me all about your situation. You are welcome to stay here as long as you'd like." Sonic gratefully shook his hand.

"We appreciate your hospitality Mr. Boddy." Sonic said. "I'm Sonic the He-"

"Yes, I know who you are." Mr. Boddy chuckled. "You've been in the paper countless times, not to mention my daughter is completely head-over-heels for you." He lowered his voice a bit. "Might be best to keep your presence hidden for the time being." Sonic nervously chuckled. "Now, the real question is, who are you?" Mr. Boddy turned his attention to me.

"My name's Josh. Josh the Hedgehog if you feel formal." I said, shaking Mr. Boddy's hand. I just said my name for the second time today, and it still sounds awesome!

"A pleasure to meet you Josh." Mr. Boddy walked over to his desk. "Now tell, me, is this statement true?" He held up a bright neon magazine, titled 'Girlz Life.' On the front was a picture of Sonic and me, walking down the street in casino park. Under the picture was this caption:

"Sonic working with endangered animals?" I slumped a bit at that. I mean, yes, I stuck out like a sore thumb, but did people think I was some sort of creature?

"He's not an animal!" Sonic said, grabbing the magazine. "He's my little brother!" If Mr. Boddy had any question about that, he didn't show it.

"Well, the rest of the 'girl world' certainly wants to think he is. Either that or they just can't come up with anything more degrading to say about your brother." Mr. Boddy sat back in his desk. "The teenage girl can be quite vicious sometimes, even if it wasn't intentional." Sonic flipped through the magazine and started to read.

"Um, Mr. Boddy..." I asked. "You wouldn't have to have a red jewel in this house, would you? It's about as big as your fist, and looks like a really big cut diamond."

"Actually, now that you mention it, I do. I locked it up in my billiards room." Mr. Boddy replied. "Why?"

"I need it. It has powers, and we're trying to keep them from falling into the wrong hands." I explained. Mr. Boddy nodded, then stared at me dead in the eye. After a moment, he spoke again.

"Alright. I trust you. I had a feeling I needed to keep that jewel safe." Mr. Boddy smiled. "But we'll need to do it after dinner, the safe I put it in is on a time lock."

"A time lock?" I asked.

"It only opens at a time appointed by the user, in this case midnight." Mr. Boddy explained.

"Kinda inconvenient, don't you think?" Sonic said, giving Mr. Boddy a funny look.

"Somewhat. However, what it lacks in ease, it makes up for in security. All I have to do is stay near the safe until it's a minute past midnight, and I can sleep happy, knowing that whatever I put in the safe is, well, safe!" Mr. Boddy chuckled at his small joke before straightening some papers on his desk.

"...So we have to stay until midnight?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but that's unfortunately how it must be." Mr. Boddy said. "I'll have my butler prepare rooms for you. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy yourselves. Arthur can show you around." Mr. Boddy turned back to his desk. "Oh, and tell your bat friend that we do have a door." He added with a chuckle.

"How'd you-" I started to say, before Mr. Boddy interrupted.

"I installed sensors on all of the windows and doors. No one enters or leaves this house without me knowing." A little chime rang from the computer on his desk. He turned to look at it. "Speak of the devil. Someone just came in." He squinted at the screen. "Sonic... do you have another brother?"

"What?" Sonic walked over to the screen, and stopped cold. "...Trust me, he is not my brother." I slowly walked over to the screen. On it, was a video of a soaking wet figure standing at the front door. A green one.

Scourge

JJ: Now folks if you look right above me, you'll see a cliff hanger!

Josh: Why did you do that?

JJ: Because I thought it would be good place to stop, and it'll give me motivation to write another chapter quickly! Plus, it's a little fun to torture your readers.

Josh: You're so mean.
JJ: I know, aren't I? XD Tune in next time, where we see what happens when Josh and Sonic collide with Scourge, and we meet some of the other... interesting house guests of the Boddy Mansion.

Josh: That name still sounds familiar.

JJ: It should be, I'm drawing some inspiration from something.

Josh: What?
JJ: If I told you, it would spoil this section's plot twist! Trust me though, the further along we go, the more obvious it will get as to what I'm getting inspired by.

Josh: ...okay. Just write the next chapter faster, okay?

JJ: I'm writing as fast as I can. I promise, I'll do my best to make another chapter quickly but no guarantees.

Josh: If you say so.

JJ: ...Aaaaanywho, bye y'all, see you next time!