"So, what is that gem Shadow found? It sure looks beautiful," Cynder asked as Tails hooked the gem to various wires. Skyfire had lost interest, not quite as enticed by the gem's flames, seeing as he could create his own.
"If you'll just give me a second, this machine will tell us what it is. I just hope that if it doesn't, Knuckles might be able to explain," Tails answered, watching numbers and letters flash across the screen before the machine completed the analysis. "Hmm, an elemental shard? What's that?" Tails asked himself, surprised the scanner could only find the name of it.
"Did you say...elemental shard?" Skyfire asked, taking an interest in the gem almost immediately.
"Yeah, why, do you think it could be important?" Tails asked. Skyfire hesitated saying anything, not sure if he should tell anyone else about his powers. To be fair, he let Tails do a bio scan, so it would be best to tell the kitsune everything.
"Maybe, though could we take the gem outside a second?" Skyfire asked.
"Um...okay, if you're sure," Tails said, disconnecting the wires before handing Skyfire the gem. The three of them went outside to see Shadow and Miranda standing there, Shadow looking stunned while Miranda looked like she always did, eyes piercing and giving constant venom tipped dagger death glares.
"If you'll all stand back," Skyfire said, holding the gem the same way Shadow held a chaos emerald before Chaos Control. The gem glowed brighter as Skyfire concentrated energy into his free hand before firing a blast of flames into the sky. The red/orange flames reached a mile high, everyone feeling the heat from where they were standing.
"Whoa, that was incredible! How did you manage such a fire blast," Tails said like an excited kid, taking the gem from Skyfire.
"A better question would be, how well you can defend against my robots?" a familiar voice said as the hovercraft flew up from behind the cliff, and the shout of "Eggman" erupted from Tails and Shadow.
"Now then, the fire ruby, if you please Tails," Eggman said as robots fell from the sky, surrounding the five of them. All guns were aimed and ready to fire.
"No, now you see how well I do without that gem," Skyfire said, executing a spinning kick similar to Sonic that sent a wave of flames at the robots in front of him.
"So you want to fight eh? All robots, open fire!!" Eggman yelled, flying away to a safe distance.
As soon as the first shot was fired, Cynder and Skyfire had their wings out and took off into the sky, leaving Shadow and Miranda to fight on the ground.
"Tails, go get Knuckles and Rouge!" Shadow yelled, cursing under his breath when robots blocked the fox's route.
"Hang on," Miranda said flatly, grabbing Tails and disappearing into a black mist. As soon as she got past the robots, she re-emerged, leaving a slightly creeped out Tails before becoming a black mist again.
"I've been waiting to do this all day," Cynder said as she power dived towards the robots, firing waves of deep pink energy that caused most robots to short circuit, allowing Cynder to power dive slash them upon landing. Skyfire meanwhile was dealing heavy robot casualties, his lightning powers causing most to explode or short circuit.
"How many robots did he bring with him?" Shadow muttered to himself, dealing punches and kicks to any robot that came too close. When some of them snuck up behind him, they were all blown back by Miranda rising from her black mist. Now the hedgehog and echidna were fighting back to back almost like they were a well oiled combat team.
"Grr, that hedgehog's destroying my robots as if they were toys. How am I supposed to steal that ruby now that Tails' gotten away with it. All units RETREAT!" Eggman yelled, leaving the scene of destroyed robots followed by any robot who'd survived.
"Now that was fun. I mean, apart from the fact Egghead's evil, he knows how to keep a girl entertained," Cynder said, simply glad to have had a chance to use her powers. Skyfire and Cynder high-fived in the air while Miranda stood there almost like nothing had happened. Shadow simply stood there wondering if he'd ever understand them until Knuckles arrived, ready for a fight.
"So, where's Eggman? I wanna give him the old one-two knuckle sandwich," Knuckles said as Rouge and Tails caught up.
"Eggman fled like the coward he is after we totalled his robots," Miranda said, her voice causing Knuckles and Rouge to feel shivers. Knuckles kept glancing at Miranda mainly because of the fact she was an echidna.
"He came because he wanted this. He called it a fire ruby, and when Skyfire used it, he could send up a fire blast about a mile high," Tails said, gesturing to Skyfire when he said the hedgehog's name.
"So, you're the dragon hybrids. Name's Knuckles," Knuckles said, noticing Skyfire and Cynder for the first time.
"I'm Rouge, and if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even have that gem in your hands," Rouge said, sensing Miranda glaring at her. When she looked at the black echidna, she saw her violet hue eyes burning through her black hair.
"So your name's Miranda. I didn't know there were other echidna's besides me. Could I possibly meet your parents, if that's okay?" Knuckles asked.
"You don't want to meet my father. He pretty much wants to kill me," Miranda said, looking down at her feet.
"Really? Why would he?" Knuckles asked, surprised. He jumped back when Miranda glared at him, eyes glowing and black mist around her hands.
"What makes you think I'd want to tell you?!" Miranda almost shouted before turning away and storming off, leaving everyone shocked, even Skyfire and Cynder.
"I just asked her a polite question. Why'd she explode like that?" Knuckles asked, clearly shocked.
"Believe me, you don't want to know why," Cynder said while Skyfire flew after Miranda.
In the forest
Miranda didn't have a clue where she was going, only that she wanted to be far away from everyone. She eventually found a large tree and, being an echidna, it was easy for her to climb it to find a hole large enough for her to sit in at the top. She hadn't noticed the hut at the bottom, or just didn't care it was there.
She just sat there, fading into a black mist when she heard the familiar beat of wings overhead. She didn't look up, only waited until she was sure Skyfire or whoever was looking for her had gone before she climbed down, greeted by a large purple cat. It was then that Miranda noticed the hut.
"Um...sorry...I didn't notice the hut..." Miranda stuttered, uneasy at having to confront the cat.
"You seem sad," the cat said plainly and slowly. Miranda stood there, not sure how to respond. She simply nodded slightly before being picked up in an almost bone-breaking bear hug.
"Cheer up. No reason to be sad today. It's a great day!" Big said as he danced, still holding Miranda in a hug. Froggy was also hopping around happily. Miranda was too busy trying to breathe to do anything. After a few minutes, Big stopped dancing and put Miranda down, sitting down and pull out his fishing rod.
"Um, that was...different. Aren't you scared of how I look?" Miranda asked, still not sure how to react.
"Should I be? Froggy likes you," Big said. As he said it, said frog jumped onto Miranda's head, making the gothic echidna giggle a little. She could tell Big wasn't the smartest cat around, but she could also tell Big really enjoyed the simple life and wasn't worried about what she looked like. For some reason, she couldn't be her usual self around him.
"No...I guess not. Do you think I could come fishing with you sometime?" Miranda asked, really wanting to get to know Big better.
"Sure new friend!" Big said excitedly.
"My name's Miranda," said echidna said, a small smile hidden behind her hair.
"I'm Big," Big said as Miranda left. As she walked through the jungle, Miranda thought about the short amount of time she'd spent with the huge cat. She hadn't expected Big to simply accept her like he did, and certainly didn't expect to have asked to go fishing with him. She hadn't felt this happy since the first time she'd met a certain hedgehog.
Outside Tails' workshop
Everyone was taking an interest in a different thing. Skyfire, Cynder and Tails were wondering where Miranda could be while Shadow, Rouge and Knuckles looked over the gem. Everyone jumped when a familiar creepy voice said "Miss me?"
"Miranda, where did you go, I flew over the jungle and couldn't find you," Skyfire said, trying not to sound too freaked out.
"I just needed time to think. I'm still the same old me," Miranda said before getting tackled to the ground in one of Cynder's hugs.
"As long as you're safe," the cat/dragon hybrid said, hugging Miranda like she was a long lost sister.
"And you won't be if you don't get off of me," Miranda said. Cynder got straight up, not sure if Miranda was joking or being serious. Skyfire couldn't help but chuckle silently at their "tender" moments. Tails also chuckled silently.
"So, who's going to keep this thing?" Knuckles asked, constantly dodging Rouge trying to steal the gem from his hand.
"I still need to run some tests on it. I'll keep it in my lab for now," Tails said, much to a certain bat's disappointment.
"Well, it's getting late. I think we should be heading back to Station Square before the last train leaves," Skyfire said, knowing this would apply to everyone but Tails and Knuckles.
"Sky guy's right, we should be going. See you around Knuckie," Rouge said, making Knuckles' muzzle turn a shade of pink. Shadow rolled his eyes as he left with the three teens with Rouge close behind.