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"Then she just…disappeared!" Shelby said, finishing what had just happened.
"Mother's here! On the island!" Sonia said, not even trying to hold back her tears.
"But that's not the strangest thing." Shelby said. "According to Queen Aleena, she didn't send the message!"
"What?!" The triplets asked in shock.
"That's right." Shelby said, nodding her head. "And we've got a mile long list of bad guys who could haven sent it."
"Then we came here for nothing?" Manic snapped.
"Maybe, but good does some times come from bad some times." She continued.
"Seriously?" Sonia asked.
"Yeah. There have been a bunch of times when things go from sour to sweet for us!" Topaz said.
"So true." Shelby agreed, nodding her head. "But we've got to get this info to the others! We need to get off the island like bloody heck."
"What's wrong?" Topaz asked.
"Scar Blade's followers are here, so he can't be far behind!" She quickly said.
"SCAR BLADE IS ON THE ISLAND?!?" Topaz cried.
"'Afraid so." Shelby said. "Those flames are his followers. I saw them transform."
"So we're stuck on an island in the middle of no where that's infested with GHOSTS?!" Topaz cried.
"GHOSTS?!" The others asked.
"That's right. Scar Blade, his ship, and all of his followers are ghosts!" Shelby said. "How else could they have gotten to the underwater city?"
"I think I'm going to faint." Sonia said, placing her wrist on her forehead.
"I've got cha!" Eddy and Knuckles said at the same time, trying to catch her only to charge right into each other.
"Now there's no time for hysterics." Shelby said, placing her fists on her hips. "We've got to get off this funny island!"
"What about Mom?" Sonic, Sonia, and Manic all asked together.
"She has her ways of getting from place to place, now let's scram before something else happens!" Shelby said.
"We'll never be able to get back without being jumped!" Double D said.
"Then how do we get back?" Ed asked.
"And where are we to go if we get back?" Nova asked.
"We're stranded!" Tune added.
"Perhaps they who are evil can get us off this cursed land." Rolf growled.
"Are you suggesting that we work with the crew of Scar Blade?" Shelby asked. "Nu uh, no way, not happening, now way, no how!"
"What's wrong with them?" Sonia asked.
"Do you know how fast they'll have us cut to pieces? Now I say unless you want to be sleeping with the fish tonight, I suggest we move it!" Shelby said.
"And how do we get to the camp?" Sonia asked.
"We could try Chaos Control!" Topaz said.
"Problem, the ghosts snatched it before I even knew what was happening, they have it now." Shelby explained.
"So those…things have the black chaos emerald?" Topaz asked.
"I'm afraid so." Shelby said.
"This jewel you had was a Chaos Emerald?" Knuckles asked.
"Yeah, it was." Shelby said, nodding her head.
"But that's impossible, Chaos Emeralds are green!" Sonia said.
"Only one of them is green, the others are all different colors." Topaz said.
"What? That's ridicules! We've seen two of them and they were both green!" Manic said.
"And I'm the guardian of the one on the Floating Island!" Knuckles said.
Shelby and Topaz looked at each other for a few seconds and burst out laughing!
"What's so funny?" Knuckles demanded.
"That's not a Chaos Emerald on the Floating Island!" Shelby laughed. "It's the Master Emerald!"
"Master Emerald?" The others all asked together.
"You don't know what the Mast Emerald is?" They both asked. "Where have you been living all your lives? Under a rock?"
"That's what I asked these guys when they didn't know who Robotnik was." Sonic said, pointing to the eds.
"What's the Master Emerald?" Sonia asked.
"It controls the Chaos Emeralds. The guardian just has to say the incantation and tell it to do whatever he or she wants to but it's only to be used in an extreme situation! Such as stop the Chaos Emeralds from using their power and such." Shelby explained.
She and Topaz then realized that the others were looking at them like they were crazy.
"What? It's true." She said.
"Where did you learn all of this?" Knuckles asked.
"An echidna named Locke." Topaz said.
"But I'm the last of my kind!" Knuckles said.
"Not true because an extremely large number of echidnas moved to the underground chambers under our hometown." Shelby said.
"What are you? The founder of the place?" Manic joked.
"Yes." Shelby said.
The others looked at her in surprise.
"They're still loyal to Queen Aleena as well." Shelby continued. "They even have a statue of her in their town square and it's made out of pure gold."
"You said that there's only one green Chaos Emerald, care to explain?" Sonia asked.
"Well, one is green, one is purple, one is dark blue, one's light blue, one's purple, one is silver, one's yellow, and the last one is red. You already know of the black one." Shelby said.
"So all of the Chaos Emeralds come in those colors?" Sonia asked.
"Duh, there's only eight of 'em." Topaz said.
"THERE'S ONLY EIGHT CHAOS EMERALDS?!?" Sonic, Sonia, Manic, and Knuckles cried.
"Dude, I knew they were rare but not THAT rare!" Manic said.
"But about that one that Sleet and Dingo broke a while back?" Sonia asked.
"You mean when the whole world seemed to be coming to an end?" Topaz asked. "That's what that was?'
"Uh huh." They said.
"Uh oh." Shelby and Topaz both said.
"What?" Sonic asked.
"That wasn't a real Chaos Emerald, it was a fake our friend made." Topaz said.
"A fake?" They asked.
"Yeah, she makes them to power machinery when we need the real ones." Shelby explained. "They have the same wave lengths and properties but are less powerful, and some are designed to reverse the power inside the real Chaos Emeralds and blow up! They are so real even machines can't tell the difference."
"Whoa!" Sonic said.
"Man, we need to get our hands on those!" Manic said.
"Sorry but Shurie is the only one who knows how to make 'em." Topaz said.
"Shurie?' Sonia asked.
"That's the name of our friend who makes the fake Chaos Emeralds." Shelby said. "But there's a major flaw: she can't copy the black emerald."
"Why's that?" Sonic asked.
"It's because it's so powerful. It's so powerful that most who try to tap into its energy are sent flying across the room! So far, I'm the only one who can control it." Shelby said.
"You are?" Manic asked.
"Why's that?" Sonia asked.
"We're not sure." Topaz said.
"Wait, back it up a few pages." Knuckles said. "You said that it was an echidna who told you about the Chaos Emeralds, right?"
"A few actually but we learned most of what we know from one." Shelby said.
"You said his name was Locke, right?" Knuckles asked.
"Yeah." Topaz said.
"He's red, with a small white beard, right?" Knuckles asked and Shelby noticed that he had tears in his eyes.
"How'd you know?" Topaz asked.
"Did he ever mention a son?" Knuckles asked, tears starting to fall.
"What are you getting at?" Topaz asked.
"I think what he's trying to say that he thinks that the Locke we know is his father." Shelby said.
"That's what I'm trying to say!" Knuckles said.
"So you're the son he's always talking about!" Topaz said.
"It IS him!" Knuckles cried. "I can't believe it!"
"Let me guess: you've thought he was dead, didn't you?" Shelby asked.
"Yeah, pretty much. But something kept on telling me otherwise! I just can't believe that he's alive!" Knuckles said.
"Wait, if you're the guardian of the Master Emerald, then why aren't you doing your job?" Topaz asked.
"Because the Chaos- I mean MASTER Emerald was stolen." Knuckles said.
"By who?" Shelby asked.
"Sleet and Dingo." He said.
"We know them." Topaz said. "They sometimes come after us, usually when they think we're going to meet with the queen."
"What does that mean?" Sonic asked.
"Queen Aleena sometimes comes to us, to warn us of approaching danger." Topaz said, tapping her head.
"But what they don't know is that she doesn't come to us when we're awake and someone can see." Shelby said. "She comes to us through our dreams, while we're asleep so no one can know what we're talking about."
"She uses some kind of magic to do it." Topaz said.
"We're not sure how but she can enter how people's dreams. Our friend, May, has been looking into it." Shelby said.
"Whoa, this is a lot of info." Sonic said.
"How do we get off the island now anyway?" Manic asked. "We learn all about the Chaos Emeralds and we don't have a single one!"
"Well, you're medallions are giving off some sort of Chaos Energy." Topaz said.
"Chaos Energy?" The siblings asked.
"That's the power that the Chaos Emeralds give off." Knuckles said. "My dad told me so before he…vanished."
"He had to leave you Knuckles, otherwise you wouldn't become the great warrior you are now." Shelby said, swinging her arm around his shoulders.
"Yeah, if we introduced you to May, she'd fall for you in a heartbeat!" Topaz joked.
"Shouldn't we be getting back to the others?" Double D asked.
"Oh man! I forgot!" Sonic cried.
"Shelby, do you think you could use Chaos Control with one of the medallions?" Topaz asked.
"I don't think they have enough power and I don't wanna risk it at a time like this. Who knows what'll happen?" Shelby said.
"Good point, we better go by foot." Sonic agreed.
"Then let's move it!" Shelby said just before taking off.
"Right behind ya!" Sonic said and ran off after her.
"SONIC, SHELBY! WAIT UP!" The others called after them and took off running.
As they left, three forces watched them. The first was a pure of heart one, who only wanted her children. The second was dangerous and wanted to capture them, knowing that their payment was within them. And the final one was the most dangerous of them all. He glared hard at them. His eyes glowed blood red and looked at Shelby. He knew she'd be coming back with the others to get the emerald back, and when they did, he'd be ready.
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Now the next few chapters are gonna be good. Who are the forces that were watching them? What do they want with them and who is the most dangerous one? Read the next chapter to find out. R&R please.