Chapter 3: Meta Junglira
A day has passed since the last chapter. Sonic and Knuckles are still sleeping in their normal spots on both sides of the tree. The sun is out and is shining brightly through the clouds on this glorious day. A very gentle wind is blowing which is cause the leaves in the tree to sway and fro. The clouds are moving across the sky and blocking the sun creating temporary shade across the landscape. Sonic flips over on his in the middle of his sleep in order to reposition himself, but he is not prepared for his rude awakening. The second of half of the Rings of Fate breaks through a window in order to get out of Tails' workshop. It seems like the 24 hours are up. The second ring which is connected to the star band is open on one side to form kind of a grappling hook. It hooks itself to Sonic's wrist. The star band now beings to reel Sonic into the workshop to Tails. It lifts the hedgehog into the air at an incredible speed. He is still sleeping while in midair. The star band sends Sonic through the other window this time and that causes him to wake up. His eyes are open wide with shock.
"Waaaa," Sonic screams as the star band carries him through the ground. It apparently has the power to go through things. Tails is done with the modifications to the jet and managed to get a few hours of sleep in his workshop with his head on his desk. His arm which has the other Ring of Fate attached to it is currently suspended in the air because it's stretched but he doesn't notice it. He's still sleeping like a baby. Sonic appears through the ceiling while still screaming and waving his arms around frantically.
"Tails, wake up," Sonic orders loudly, but Tails is a very deep sleeper so this doesn't end well. Sonic puts his arms in front of his face in order to guard it. He collides with Tails head on causing the fox to fall out of his chair and hit the ground with Sonic landing on top of him. He rolls to the side and shakes Tails who has been knocked out for a little while but wakes up after a few minutes of shaking. Sonic was actually preparing to backhand slap him.
"I'm okay," Tails says nervously as he guards his face. "My head hurts. What happened?"
"The Ring of Fate broke through one of your windows and latched onto me then carried me down here," Sonic explains. "I screamed for you to wake up, but you didn't move. You're a deep sleeper."
"I guess so," Tails says. "The 24 hour period must be up."
Sonic helps Tails up and then he runs around the new and improved jet in order to inspect it and to get a good look at it.
"Is it done," Sonic asks. "It looks bigger."
"Yeah, I made it bigger and added a storage area with some bedrooms and such. I also prepared it for space travel, but we'll need the Master Emerald to power it this time," Tails explains. Knuckles comes running into the place from the stairs to the left.
"Tails, it looks like someone broke into your house," Knuckles screams.
"Uh, that was me," Sonic says. He lifts up his arm to show that the bond has returned.
"I wish I was awake to see that," Knuckles says with a laugh. "Oh yeah, I overheard that you need the Master Emerald to power this new beast." He pulls it out and tosses it to Tails. "There you go. I trust you with it."
"Thanks," Tails says. He uses his tails to fly to the top of the jet in order to put the Master Emerald in a glass compartment in the top that will give energy to the engines and the batteries. "Alright, we're set now."
"Wait, we can't go until Amy and Cream get back, remember," Knuckles says.
"They're coming too," Tails asks. "Why?"
"We told them what happened to you and they want to help," Sonic says. "That should be enough, right?"
"I guess so. Alright, I'll wait for them," Tails says.
"Er um, we never asked you this yet, but how do feel about this situation," Knuckles asks. He continues to question Tails. "Do you still have any idea as to who did this to you? Are you scared or something?"
Tails picks up his chair and takes a seat in it again. "I don't know who did this to me. You guys are the only people I'm actually in contact with. I'm not afraid or anything, I just want to unmask this mystery person as quickly as possible and find out their reason. There has to be an explanation since no one would just do this to me for no apparent reason. Those are my only concerns," he explains.
Sonic is standing in the corner with his arms crossed and his back against the wall with his eyes closed. "I think that it must be someone we know in order for them to enlist the help of Shadow and give him his memory back," Sonic says. "But who do we know in space?"
"Maybe it's someone that know us, but we don't know who they are," Knuckles explains. "Someone could possibly just be forcing Tails to collect the Chaos Rings and in the end they will take them from us to do something with them leaving Tails to be stuck with Rings of Fate forever."
"That's possible too," Tails says. "Either way, I'm not worrying about that right now. We should just find the first Chaos Ring. That's the only thing I care about right now."
"That's the spirit. Before you know it, we'll be done in no time," Sonic says. "Now if those two would just hurry up. I'm getting tired of waiting."
"Wait no more," Amy says as she swings open the door to the right with Cream right behind her. "Ready to go? I'm hope I'm not late. By the way, two of your windows are broken."
"The Ring of Fate forced the bond between them and carried Sonic through the window," Knuckles says with a smile. "I wish I was awake to see that."
Cream is looking at the star band between Sonic and Tails. She touches it and it bounces back like rubber. "This is pretty," she says. "How do these things work?"
"Well, I don't know too much about them yet, but I know a few things," Tails says.
"Here we go," Knuckles says unenthusiastically. He takes a seat.
"The star band is kind of like the rope that connect Sonic and me. It stretchable and gives us the power to go through tangible objects such as walls and stuff. Because every stretchable object have a limit, we can only be so far from each other until the star band pulls in. I'd say a good 50 feet is the limit. We can also use this to propel ourselves into the air or get a really big speed boost," Tails explains. He finishes his speech. "I think that it's not that bad especially since Sonic and I get along well."
"Back, back, back, back, what, give me 50 feet," Knuckles says.
"Well put," Tails says.
"Can we go now," Sonic says while tapping his left foot.
"Alright," Tails says. "Enter through the ramp right there."
Tails is the last person to walk into the jet. He closes the ramp behind him. The first place they come in contact with is the control room which contains a total of six chairs. Tails didn't know that Amy or Cream was coming, he just went all out for the sake of it. Tails takes a seat in largest chair which is the captain's chair. Sonic takes the chair all the way in the back. Knuckles was order by the captain to take the stairs and go to a glass compartment that protrudes from the ceiling, kind of like a skybox, in order to talk to the Master Emerald from there to power the ship. That place was made especially for Knuckles. Amy and Cream are sitting in the two seats to the left and right of Tails respectively. Amy handles weapons and shields while Cream is to keep an eye on the monitor. Cheese is sleeping in her lap. The coordinates to the first Chaos Ring have been put in already. Tails looks up at Knuckles and gives him a thumbs up. Knuckles is relaxing in a lounge with a TV on the other side of the wall in case he wanted to watch TV and a computer to his right in case he wanted to surf the net. To his left is the microphone which Knuckles can use to communicate with everyone in the control room or to talk to the Master Emerald directly.
"Hey, Tails," Knuckles says through the microphone. "Thanks for the setup up here. I like it."
"Uh, start the emerald off please," Tails requests.
"Oh right," Knuckles says. After a few minutes, he gives Tails the okay to start the jet. It works and jets takes off into space. Tails is ecstatic about this and so is everyone else.
"Alright, I've set the jet on autopilot to the coordinates given to me by the Master Ring," Tails says.
"Now what do we do," Amy asks.
"Er um, nothing," Tails says "We just wait until the radar picks up something."
"So, how will we pass the time," Amy asks.
Tails thinks for a moment. "That's the main thing I forgot to add to the jet, something for recreational purposes. I feel stupid now," Tails says sadly. "Oh well. Sonic, through the wall powers please."
"Why, you got something to do," Sonic inquires.
"The engine room is right under this room so I want to get down there and see how things are running, perform maintenance, ect," Tails says. "It's just right below so I won't pass the 50 feet limit."
"Ok then I guess. Let me see if I can remember how to pull it off. It was a spur of the moment type thing," Sonic says. "I think I got it now. Grab my hand." Tails holds Sonic right hand. Sonic thinks for a second and Tails begins to blink then eventually disappears. Sonic throws him through the floor. "I did it, alright! Now to take my seat until we get to that planet."
"Uh, could I talk to you before you go to sleep again," Amy asks.
"Uh oh," Knuckles says through the microphone.
"Stop spying," Amy screams. The sound causes Knuckles to ears to hurt.
"Lesson learned," Knuckles says.
"What's wrong Amy," Sonic asks with his arm over his head. He still remembers being hit by Amy's hammer.
"I'm sorry for hitting you with my hammer the other day. I was just caught off guard by what you told me," she says.
"Ah, don't worry about it," Sonic says with a smile. "It didn't hurt that much. So, you're not mad at me anymore?"
"Nah, not anymore," Amy says.
"Alright," Sonic says. Amy walks back to her seat and Sonic falls asleep in his chair once again.
We shall now return back to the original planet for a bit. Shadow is skating along on the sand in the desert where the Ring Mountain is supposed to be located. He's not trying to activate it or anything, he just has to meet a person here. Shadow stops once he comes in front of the giant ring. He pulls out the red Chaos Emerald he found and start to play a game of catch with himself by repeatedly tossing it in the air in anticipation for his friend that gave him his memory back and ordered him to set up Sonic and Tails. This person appears a few minutes later out of nowhere through a portal and lands right on the side of Shadow. This person is covered head to foot in some kind of robe in order to hide the identity. Only the eyes are visible.
"So, are we even now," Shadow asks this strange person.
"Yes, I just came to thank you for all of your work. I shall take my leave now," this person says.
"Wait," Shadow says. "Before you go, I have one last request. I demand that you reveal yourself to me!" He goes for the robe and pulls it off. This person was completely caught of guard by Shadow's quick thinking and movement. His eyes are wide open at the sight of this person.
"You look like," Shadow says. "You look like..."
The person grabs the robe out of the sand and recovers herself as quickly as possible. "Never speak of this to anyone," the person screams.
"I won't. I just wanted to know who you are. I'll be going," Shadow says. "Wait, one more thing. Why did you make me set up the yellow one earlier?"
"I need the powers of the Chaos Rings in tandem with the Chaos Emeralds and the Rings of Fate to revive someone," the person says.
"Ah," Shadow says. "Well, I'm off."
"I may request your help later," the person says.
"Whatever," Shadow says. He runs off in the direction from which he came. "Maybe I should warn the smart one," he thinks. "I'll go see if he's at his place while searching for the remaining Chaos Emeralds."
Back in space, Sonic is sleeping and so is Knuckles. Tails is finished with maintenance so he sitting in the captain's chair doing nothing. Cream is sleeping. Amy is reading a book. The alarm for the radar beings to go off and this causes Cream to jump out of her chair. Cheese falls off of her and hits his head on the metal floor. Cream looks at the radar. It shows a ring icon on the next planet that's straight ahead. It is in plane sight already. Tails thinks about waking Sonic and Knuckles up to tell them, but he decides against it. The planet seems to be mostly water with huge landmasses very similar to original. There is only one problem though. Tails doesn't know how the land is on the planet. He'll have to land in the water. He deploys the special landing gear he made for this purpose. Tails lands in the water off of the coast of the one of the landmasses. He wakes Sonic and Knuckles up and they all go to the top of the jet. The place is really sunny and sky is cloudless. The sun is reflecting off of the water and the hull of the jet. In the distance to their right is some land.
"Why did you land here," Sonic asks. "I'm not a big fan of water."
"I didn't have a choice. I don't know the geography of this place which means the land features won't show up on radar. The radar will only tell us where the Chaos Ring is and nothing more," Tails explains. "I can fly us over to the land. Knuckles can glide it."
"I can carry Amy, maybe," Cream says.
"What's that supposed to mean," Amy asks.
"Nothing," Cream says.
"Yeah, I can glide this no problem, but I'll swim it instead," Knuckles says. "What's with the weird looks? I like to swim." He dives into the water and swims to the coast. Tails carries Sonic and Cream carries Amy with Cheese flying behind her. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Cream lands on a cliff which extends out into the sea. Knuckles beat them here already. In front of them lies a jungle, but it won't take much trouble for them to navigate with the radar. As a matter of fact, the Chaos Ring is supposed to be close. After taking a few steps through the jungle they come across a golden path. The path moves on its own kind of like a conveyor belt. It takes them on a fixed path through the jungle and empties them out once the pass two very large metal gates. It seems as if they came across some kind of advanced civilization. The buildings are shaped in domes for the most part with metal cylinders and glass tops. Plants and trees dot the place all over though. It still seems like some sort of futuristic society, but there is only one problem. No one is anywhere to be seen. The place is deserted, but the surroundings have been kept intact.
"This place seems weird," Knuckles says. "Where are all the people? Something seems off here."
"I know that we should be worried, but this makes obtaining the Chaos Ring easier," Sonic says. "Point the way, Tails."
"No need to," Tails explains. "It's in the building on the right."
"Really," Amy asks. "I wanted to do some actual exploring after being stuck in the jet forever."
Sonic takes off running and Tails decides to run with him this time. He kicked his tails into the gear and managed to keep up with Sonic. The door to the place is locked. Knuckles pulls out his shovel claws and knocks the door open. The light in the room turns on automatically. This room is a very huge dome with an opening in the top. In the middle of this room sits a very large tree. It's so tall that it extends out of the top of the room. There is a sign on the wall to the left that's supposed to say what this room is, but it's in a completely different language which renders it useless. Tails points to the top of the tree.
"The Chaos Ring should be at the top of it. It's too high for me to fly up it and carry Sonic," Tails says.
"Leave it to me," Knuckles says. "I'll get up that tree in no time." He glides towards the tree and latches his knuckles on to. He climbs up the tree as fast as possible. He reaches the top in about 5 minutes, grabs the green Chaos Ring and throws it back down to Sonic. Sonic dives in order to catch it. When he touches the ring, the Rings of Fate glows for a bit then turns into the color green. They revert back into the gold color then the Chaos Rings shrinks into a size that's similar to a ring that fits on a finger.
"Finally," Tails says. "One step closer to solving this."
"Let's get going back to the ship then," Sonic says.
"Wait," a voice screams.
Everyone turns around slowly. They look around, but don't see anyone.
"I'm not the only one who heard that," Knuckles says.
"What was that," Amy asks.
"Um, hello," Sonic says. He has uncertainty in his voice.
"Yes," the voice says.
"What in the world is going on here," Knuckles says. "Who's talking?!!"
"I'm right in front of you," the voice says.
"No way," Cream says. "A talking tree."
To be continued....
So, the person behind the matter has been revealed sort of, and the reason why too (well I didn't get into why Tails was chosen, but that's coming up soon.) I already gave two hints to the gender of the person (one in chapter 1 and one in this chapter. Reading comprehension ftw.)
Next Chapter: Hero or Villain