Sonic hunched over the green grass on all fours. Coughing he cleared out as much of the water from his lungs as he could. He rolled over and sat up muttering to himself, "well that plan could've gone better." Clutching his head, he looked around, and found himself in a familiar landscape.
"You're lucky you were upstream," Tails joked.
Sonic said nothing, still in a state of shock over it all,"What happened to the emerald?" he asked tentatively.
"It's in a safe place," Tails said, "what happened to you?"
"Knuckles lost the emeralds; we ended up fighting over that emerald. Punched me into the river," Sonic shook his head, he could feel a headache coming on after that last punch of Knuckles, "Still, I got away with the emerald," he smirked.
"He lost them?" Tails said, "what about the Floating Island?"
"I can't remember what he said, something about reserve tanks, it's hazy," Sonic said getting up. Sonic ached slightly after being thrown in the river, it was quite a punch Knuckles had hit him with, and the force of the water hadn't helped much, "what do we do about the emerald situation then?" Sonic asked Tails.
"Well I still have that Chaos energy tracker from few months ago. In fact I made a second. We could both take one and go searching," Tails smiled. Sonic was apprehensive about this, he wouldn't say it aloud, but he didn't want Tails to get hurt, and after seeing Knuckles' reaction Sonic didn't want to think what anyone else would try if the young fox tried to take an emerald from them. It was only when Tails pointed out the urgency of the Death Egg situation that Sonic relented.
"I can take care of myself Sonic," Tails said, reminding Sonic of all the difficult situations he and Sonic had been in against Robotnik in the past.
"Alright, we'll split up," Sonic relented, "you go get the emerald which this tracker says is in the Spring Yard Zone, while I'll get the one in the Casino Night Zone. Tracker say's that ones only a hundred miles further away from here than yours, so I should still get it before you get yours."
"Not if I have anything to say about that," Tails said, jumping up into the air and spinning his tails in flight, ready to go.
"Bring any emeralds you get back here!" Sonic yelled as Tails flew off. Sonic stood looking at the Chaos tracker in his hand for a moment, then turned towards the great continental bridge that spanned the ocean between the Green Hill Zone, and the Emerald Hill. With the blink of an eye, Sonic was gone, and all that was left was a faint blur on the horizon, and all the dust he'd kicked up sprinting away.
Sonic had made it to the right building in Casino Night Zone, he was sure of it. The place was a well known hologram facility, allowing users to, for a rather pricey fee; enjoy any number of hundreds of virtual worlds. Sonic had never been in this building before, mostly because he couldn't afford to go. He walked into the lobby, and wandered round, ignoring the few people who gave him glances. Sonic wondered if his fame would allow him to search the building without paying. A quick conversation with a one of the rhinoceroses guarding the place however proved otherwise.
"But I need to get in to find an emer… something important," Sonic hesitated, not wanting the guard to become aware of a very valuable gem that was in the building. It was generally a good idea not to mention too many people that a gem the size of your hand was nearby, as they tended to grab it to sell it. Very few people got how the Chaos Emeralds worked, and even fewer could tell the difference between them and a regular gem.
"Look I'm sorry Mister Hedgehog," the rhino said looking down at Sonic, "I'm not allowed to let anybody in without a pass. I know you've saved our lives on several times from that madman," he continued, shuddering, "but I can't change the rules for you."
"Fine, forget it," Sonic said. He didn't have time for this, and would simply find another way past the guard. Sonic remembered a pair of air vents, and considered climbing through them for a moment. Sonic dismissed that idea when he remembered the last set of vents he'd got into had ended abruptly with a giant rotating blade.
"You want in Sonic?" a familiar voice beckoned. Sonic turned round to see a pink hedgehog in an only slightly lighter pink skirt, with a green jumper, and blue sneakers. It was Amy Rose, more commonly known as Rosy the Rascal, also known to Sonic as 'that girl who stalks me all the time'.
Sonic hesitated slightly, before realising he didn't have much option, "How do you intend to get us in? You don't have the kind of money that could…" Sonic trailed off as Amy produced more money than Sonic had ever seen, "Okay, where did you get that much money?"
"I'll tell you later. First Sonic, if you want into that building you'll let me have a date with you in a setting of my choice in there." Amy said, blinking her eyelids several times, her eyelashes fluttering at him as they did.
Sonic sighed, and relented. He was after the Chaos Emeralds, not a date, but he didn't have much choice. With any luck he could get this over with quickly, snag the emerald, and meet Tails back at the workshop. With the current speed of emerald getting, he might even get the fifth one by the time Robotnik was ready to activate the Death Egg, Sonic thought.
After buying a pair of platinum passes, for an amount which was almost trivial for the money she had on her currently, Amy and Sonic proceeded past the rhino guard into the building. Sonic took a moment to glance at the Chaos Tracker, but didn't register his position in relation to the emerald when Amy dragged him into a room. Sonic looked about it, inside it was just a giant metal grid, no bigger than the Tornado's hanger in the workshop. Amy looked at a console in the far corner, and began tapping stuff into it. Before Sonic's eyes, the once grey room changed.
Sonic found himself stood with Amy on a very large flying carpet. Around them, a bunch of pyramids decorated the ground bellow, and there was the odd cat like sand monolith with Sonic's head carved into it. Sonic had to admire the view for a moment, before he remembered who he was sharing it with.
"What do you think Sonic? Isn't it romantic?" Amy asked.
Sonic chose not to answer the second question, "It's nice. How did you afford this anyway?"
"I found two of these," Amy said, grinning as she produced a pink glowing gem. Sonic recognised it immediately as a Chaos Emerald. It glowed slightly brighter nearer to him, though Amy hadn't noticed this, "I had a green one as well as this yellow one, but I sold it."
"You sold it?!" Sonic yelled both angrily and surprised.
"Yeah, I only needed one gem really, and yellow's not my colour," Amy answered.
"Amy you idiot," Sonic yelled, "We need those emeralds to save the world from Robotnik!"
"Then you'll have to give me a second date for this one then." Amy answered, failing to see the threat.
"Grow up Amy, this is serious," Sonic answered, "You can't demand that in return for an emerald that's not even yours."
"It is too mine. I found it, I get to keep it."
"Amy just hand over the emerald, I've got a planet to save."
"No Sonic," Amy yelled, "you promised me a date, and you're not going until it's over."
"I'd rather date Robotnik," Sonic said, "At least he has some style, and isn't an idiot all the time,"
The first blow from Amy's Piko Piko Hammer made contact with Sonic's skull, and took him entirely by surprise. As he fell to the floor Amy lined up another shot with her hammer.
