Chapter 3: A Meeting

"What is taking those two so long?" Knuckles growled. He, Rouge, Tails, and Cream were all hanging out at Tails' house, awaiting the arrival of the two hedgehogs.

"Beats me," Rouge said and shrugged.

"It's raining," Tails said evenly. "You know how much Sonic likes water."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. Sonic and his weird phobias. He looked back at Rouge, and her smile made him forget his anger for a second.

He never would have thought in a million years he'd ever end up falling for this girl, but he had. She had started out as a pesky thief always after his Master Emerald, but he'd grown to like her always flirting with him. She had this sense of mysteriousness. It didn't hurt that she was drop dead gorgeous, either.

It was hard for Knuckles to exactly put a finger on their relationship. Yes, she was his girlfriend. It was like they shared a mutual respect and affection for each other. Oddly enough, their contrasting personalities balanced each other out pretty well.

Rouge had even unofficially joined the team now. Knuckles was glad his friends were accepting her with open arms. Tails had even told him that he was glad that someone with her treasure hunting skills was around.

"All I'm saying is this had better be good," a familiar voice echoed through the room, breaking Knuckles' thoughts.

Knuckles, Rouge, Tails, and Cream all looked up at the soaking wet hedgehogs who now stood in the doorway.

"Aw, is it still raining?" Cream asked.

"Nah, we just went for a swim," Sonic joked as he put Amy back on her feet.

"Guys, this is serious," Tails said. How could Sonic be so carefree all the time? "We have big problems."

"What is it, Tails?" Sonic asked.

He sighed. "There's a huge tear in the space-time continuum. And it's growing larger."

The 5 of them stared at him blankly.

"It means," the fox continued, "that different dimensions and even time itself is overlapping."

"Is that bad?" Amy asked.

"Yes. If the tear keeps growing, time will either stop or collapse on itself," Tails told them in a grave voice.

"Is there any way we can fix this…tear?" Sonic asked.

"Well, we need to find out what caused it."

"Eggman," Knuckles said.

"Mmmm, I don't think so," Tails said. "Eggman doesn't have the power to distort the very fabric of space-time."

"What about the Chaos Emeralds?" Rouge said. "Don't those have that sort of power?"

"Yeah, but only if you bring all 7 together," Sonic said, and pulled out his 2 Emeralds.

Knuckles brought out his. "The most Eggman could have is 4. Not enough, right Tails?"

"Well, I wouldn't rule out Eggman completely, but I still think the disturbance is from the other dimension."

The team mused for a bit.

"Sonic, do you think that cat we saw on the way here may have something to do with this?" Amy said.

"A cat?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah," Sonic said. "Amy found an Emerald on the way here but before I could grab it, a purple cat named Blaze did."

"Another thief?" Rouge raised an eyebrow.

Sonic shrugged. "I have no idea. She was pretty rude."

"She said she was looking for somebody and something and wouldn't talk to us. She took off while you were calling us, Knuckles," Amy explained.

"That's another Emerald down," Tails said.

"So what's our next move?" Knuckles asked.

"I say we try and find Blaze again," Sonic said. "She's part of this somehow, I bet."

"I say we try and find as many Emeralds as possible," Tails said. "We may need them to repair the tear after all."

"Hey," Knuckles said. "Leave the treasure hunting to the professionals." He looked at Rouge. "We'll go and find those Chaos Emeralds."

"Then Amy and I will look for Blaze," Sonic said, and looked at Amy, who nodded.

"Tails, what about you?" Cream asked.

They all looked at her surprised. The rabbit had been quiet this whole time.

Tails shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'll stay here and try and figure out more about this tear. We're gonna need as much info as possible."

"You could come with us," Sonic offered, kicking himself for not including Tails earlier.

"Nah, I'll just slow you down," he said, which prompted them all to look at him a little sympathetically. "No, don't worry about me, guys. I'm over everything. I promise."

"Alright," Knuckles said. "Good luck you two." He nodded at Sonic and Amy and then headed for the door with Rouge. He opened the door, fully expecting pouring down rain, and blinked at the sunshine. "Hey Sonic, didn't you say it was raining?"

"You mean it's not anymore?" Sonic's eyes lit up.

"That's strange," Amy said. "It's been pouring all morning."

"It might have something to do with the dimension being unstable," Tails said.

"Well, I don't care," Sonic said. "It's not raining and that's good enough for me. C'mon, Amy."

He grabbed her and jetted out the door, with Knuckles and Rouge following.

"Tails, you're being way too hard on yourself," Cream told him when they were alone. "You do more for this team than just about anybody."

Tails smiled and blushed a little as he looked into Cream's dark brown eyes. "Thanks Cream."

"I'm not saying it just to make you feel better. I'm saying it because it's true, Tails. You're the brains of this team. We never would have known about the dimension being in trouble if it weren't for you."

Now Tails was really blushing. "Aww, it's nothing. I just try and do my part."

"Well, you do it well," Cream said, and smiled sweetly.

"Thanks," Tails said, and then turned back to his computer. And all of a sudden it was hard to concentrate.

I know, there's like hardly any romance in this chapter and a lot of dialogue, but I needed to develop the plot. But I'm sure the next few chapters will NOT disappoint. *smiles* And yes, I felt bad for Tails in my other story, so I'm pairing him with Cream now. They're just such a sweet couple!