Chapter 6: Another way
Knuckles' eyes fluttered open as he came to. He saw an elf dude, Sonic, and Vector with a few bruises, too.
"Mornin', Sleeping Beauty!" Vector said, heartily.
Knuckles shot into a sitting position, but fell back down and clutched his arm, which was in a cast. Espio came into the picture and leaned Knuckles back into a comfy position. The chameleon was also battered and bruised and so was Charmy, who was right behind him.
"Take it easy, old friend. That dragon broke a few bones in your body, so I think it's best to say you shouldn't move for a while." Espio said as he took his hand off Knuckles' chest.
Knuckles simply pounded the mattress with his uninjured hand. It was obvious that the battle didn't just hurt the red echidna physically, but mentally as well.
"That dragon took the Master Emerald! I can't let him get away with this!" Knuckles said, very frustrated.
"Knuckles, we know he did that. We tried stopping him too. As you can see, you're in worse shape than we are." Vector said, showing Knuckles a few bruises, lacerations, and gashes on his back.
Sonic nodded and said, "He's right, Knucks. You need rest. If anyone's gonna find the Master Emerald, it's going to be me and Link."
Link could only nod to that comment.
Sonic then took out all seven Chaos Emeralds and they began to circle both him and Link. They were going to find this Ryu guy and stop him once and for all. However, the Dragonoids had other plans for the travelling pair.
Universes away, Ryu held the newly found Master Emerald in his hand as though it were a kind of unique animal. He then looked into a kind of crystal ball and saw the Chaos Emeralds circling the blue hedgehog.
"Not if I can help it. This emerald is not just a key item, it is going to be a nice tool." Ryu said in a very confident tone.
Ryu then belched dark blue flames onto the Master Emerald and the great gem seemed to glow. Finally, the great gem produced a bright red light and Ryu smiled as he awaited results.
Back at Sonic's world, the Chaos Emeralds were just about to give off their energy when they suddenly lost their glow and fell to the ground.
"Oh no! They're using the Master Emerald to block Chaos Control! We may be trapped here!" Sonic said as he picked up the now useless emeralds.
"WHAT?! That's impossible! I'm the only one who can tap into the Master Emerald's power!" Knuckles said in surprise.
"You mean…I'm stuck here with THOSE GUYS?!" Link asked, pointing at Vector, Espio, and Charmy.
"Hey! Are you saying you're not happy to see us after all these years?" Vector asked, pointing at Link.
"Vector, I think he just might." Espio said as he glanced at his roommate.
"You just might be stuck here unless you find another way." Jet said as he entered, also wearing an arm cast.
"Oh, great! It's birdbrain again!" Knuckles said in a mixture of anger and sarcasm as he sat up.
"Oh, stoppit, you red mutt. You could ask Tails or Wave to do a bit of science for you." Jet suggested as he passed Knucks' bed.
"I thought of that long before you did, Jet." Sonic said as he looked the bird in the eye.
Sonic then turned to Link and held onto his arm.
"Hold on." Sonic warned before he took off at top speed.
When Sonic disappeared, Knuckles sat up a little slower than last time as he pointed his free fist at Jet.
"Did you call me 'RED MUTT'?" He asked as he put it closer and closer to Jet.
"Oh, uh…Sorry?" Jet apologized, sweating.
"Guys, I think we should get outta here before this gets messy." Vector said as he inched away.
"Yeah. Let's get outta here before I get clobbered." Charmy said.
"That's pretty much what he said, Charmy." Espio commented.
"Oh." Charmy said with a "boy do I feel stupid" look.
Then, Knuckles started beating up Jet with his uninjured hand and the Chaotix walked away without even looking back.
Sonic was running so fast, Link felt like they would time warp. It was like that time when Sonic came to Hyrule to help out with Concolor. He was going to speak up, but Sonic broke the sound barrier and Link's speech was messed up a bit.
"I dunno what you just said, but I think you mean it." Sonic said as he continued to rush on.
The minute they arrived at Tails' place, Tails already had some things for them.
"Hey, guys! I knew that the Chaos Emeralds wouldn't work once those dragon guys got the Master Emerald, so I whipped up these." Tails said as he held them out.
These items were a kind of tracking device and a new pair of shoes. The shoes were more like a combination of boots and track shoes and looked built for high-speed as well as good traction.
"These shoes are for you, Link. If you wear them, you'll be able to go as fast as Sonic." Tails explained as he handed them to the hylian hero.
"Well, that's a relief. Now I won't have to grip Sonic's midsection all the time." Link said as he slipped them on.
The new shoes bore little to no difference to Link's boots and Link decided to take them for a spin. Link took off at his usual top speed, but instead of his usual speed, he was speeding so fast that a rock in front of him was gone in less than a second. He raced back in an equally fast amount of time. Tails then put his finger up and continued explaining other things.
"That's not all, I've equipped Sonic's shoes and your new boots with special sensors. Once you reach supersonic speed, you can travel the dimensions. Luckily, I made it special. If you don't want to warp, they won't do it. If you do, they will. Oh, and this…" Tails said as he held up the tracking device.
"I did a little scan on the Master Emerald as it was stolen. This device will allow you to find any key items. I don't know what these dragon guys are, but they're obviously not friendly." Tails said as he handed Sonic the tracker.
"Wow, Tails, you come prepared as always. Thanks, buddy." Sonic said as he gave the thumbs' up.
"Alright, if anything pops up, you can come here and tell me. Okay?" Tails asked.
"Alright, let's go, Sonic." Link said as he walked out the door.
"Good luck, Sonic!" Tails shouted as he waved.
Sonic and Link took off at the speed of sound and vanished in green light.