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Chapter 4 – Emeralds, Apologies, and the Plan

When the two went downstairs, they found Tails and Cream kissing passionately on the couch, who were oblivious to the hedgehogs watching them. Sonic, not understanding what was going on, made his way to the bathroom. Amy smiled and thought Aww good job Cream, you finally got him all to yourself…you two make such a good couple.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Seeing as those two were caught up in the moment, Amy decided to answer it herself. Knuckles and Rouge were there, each carrying a Chaos Emerald.

"Wow you guys got the Yellow and the Blue? Nice work! Where did you find the Blue one, Rouge?" Amy asked.

"Turns out the jewelry store where I shop at frequently just happened to have it. The manager thought it was an extremely large sapphire, so he attached it to a ring. I didn't tell him what it was, but since I buy a lot of jewelry there, he gave me a large discount on it," Rouge said. Then she came up to Amy and whispered, "I'm thinking of using the ring as a wedding ring if Knux and I ever get married…" Her eyes twinkled brightly at the thought.

Knuckles spoke up. "So where are Tails and Cream?" Then he saw them on the couch and, not being a very good romantic, shouted, "YEAH Good Job Tails!" This, of course, startled the two so much that they moved to opposite ends of the couch, their faces each a burning red.

Rouge slapped Knux playfully on the arm saying, "Knuckles do you understand the word 'privacy'? The way you just blurt out whatever comes to your head makes me think otherwise…."

Tails forgot his embarrassment and noticed they had two Emeralds with them. "Nice, you guys got the Blue also! We're off to a good start, but we aren't done yet! We still need the Light Blue, Red, Purple, and Silver Emeralds."

Just then, Sonic stepped into the room, done with his potty break. Knuckles and Rouge stared at him before Knuckles asked, "Whose kid is that?" Amy sweatdropped, distinctly remembering that she told him what happened with the machine…and hoping he told Rouge before he forgot.

Apparently he had. "Knuckles, you must have short-term memory or something! Amy told you this when you were on the phone! I'll spell it out for you though," Rouge said playfully, while Knuckles blushed. She turned his head towards the royal blue hedgehog and said, "THAT IS SONIC!"

Knuckles looked confused still, so Rouge sighed and picked Sonic up. "Does he remember us, Amy?"

"We have to assume that he doesn't, since he hasn't shown any signs of it yet," Amy replied. "He can't even talk normally anymore, although he seems to have learned one word—" Amy was cut off as Sonic remembered his new word again. "Amy Amy Amy Amy Amy Amy Amy Amy Amy!" He finished, and everyone looked at him, then at Amy.

Rouge grinned. "Aww that is so adorable!" She handed Sonic to Knuckles, whose face scrunched up, as if he were eating something sour. Sonic looked at the face of his holder, then he pulled on one of Knuckles long dreads.

"AAAAHK!!" Knuckles shouted as intense pain hit his head. He dropped Sonic out of sheer shock. "MOTHER—"

Sonic, thinking he had done something wrong again, began to sniffle. Knuckles let loose a long string of cuss words that earned him a good shout from Rouge. Amy tried to calm everyone down, but to no avail. Tails and Cream were trying to stay out of it by sitting on the couch, quietly. All of the yelling made Sonic feel worse, and he began to cry again.

Rouge shot a look at Knuckles. "Now look what you did, Knucklehead, you made him cry!" She picked Sonic up and rocked him gently, but the crying continued. "Knuckles, apologize to Sonic for dropping him and shouting at him!"

He moaned, annoyed. "Do I have to?" "YES" Rouge said to him forcefully.

"You do realize this is still the same, cocky, loudmouth Sonic we all know, right?"

Rouge gave him a death glare. "Knuckles……."

He sighed and picked up the toddler. "I'm sorry Sonic. I didn't mean to drop you and yell at you." Sonic stopped crying and hugged Knuckles neck, which caused an Aww from Cream, Amy and Rouge.

Tails spoke up. "If we are done with this drama, can we continue with the plan?" Everyone nodded. "Alright, here's what I think we should do. So far, we have the Green, Yellow, and Blue Chaos Emeralds. These scanners show that the Red Emerald is on the top of the Empire State Building in New York City. Rouge, Knuckles, since you two can fly, that one is up to you. The Silver Emerald is in France, it looks like it's in the Louvre. Amy; you and Sonic will go get that one. The Purple Emerald is in a restaurant in Northern Italy. Cream, you and I will go get that one. The Light Blue Emerald seems to be on a mountain in Utah somewhere. I don't notice any ski resorts or anything up there, but the Emerald did look like it was moving a while ago. I can only think of one reason that would be. Eggman must have a base up there."

Everyone became silent at the mention of Eggman. If he had an Emerald, he could be planning something bad for the rest for the world.

Tails continued, "I don't think any one group alone is strong enough to take on the base, so we will regroup here and then head out to Eggman's base. Any questions?" The room was silent. "Good. We'll rest up today and move out for the different Emeralds tomorrow. I suggest you all get a good night's sleep."

What happened next, absolutely nobody was ready for. Sonic, being the curious hedgehog that he is, grabbed the Yellow Chaos Emerald off of the table. He closed his eyes and next thing anyone knew, there was a bright flash of light and Sonic was gone.

R&R!