Chapter 14: Gem Collecting (Part I)

Wario's Gold Mine: Entrance

"Whoa!" Rouge squealed in delight, looking around her. "This place is the JACKPOT!"

"Just remember I have my eye on you." Knuckles reminded her.

"Hmm," Mario mused. "I'm surprised that we haven't been approached by Wario yet."

"Yeah," Luigi nodded. "It is strange that he hasn't appeared."

"We should split up." Tails said. "I'll go with Sonic and Knuckles."

"I'll go with Luigi!" Mario suggested.

"I'll go by myself." Rouge said, her eyes twinkling.

"No!" Knuckles snapped. "You will go with Omega!"

"What!?" Rouge countered, disappointed.

"DON'T WORRY." The robot promised. "I'LL KEEP MY EYE OUT FOR THE EMERALD."

Vector stepped forward. "We Chaotix will go together." He suggested.

"Let's go!" Tails said. The teams then went their different ways, each looking for the Chaos Emerald.

With Rouge and Omega:

"I'm already in love with this place!" Rouge exclaimed, looking around her. "Look at all the gold and jewels here!"

"DON'T FORGET." Omega reminded her. "WE ARE HERE TO LOOK FOR THE CHAOS EMERALD, NOT FOR SIGHTSEEING."

Rouge rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever." She retorted.

With Mario and Luigi:

"Hmm," Mario said. "No sign of the Emerald over here."

"I'm worried about the princess Mario." Luigi suddenly said. "Do you think this is a waste of time?"

Mario shook his head. "I trust Sonic." He said. "We need these emeralds to defeat Bowser."

Luigi nodded slowly. "I guess you're right." He said. "Let's find those emeralds and teach that crummy Koopa a lesson!"

"That's the spirit!" Mario exclaimed, slapping Luigi on the back.

With the Chaotix:

"Let's see," Vector said, looking around. "If I was an emerald in need of finding where would I be?"

"Well," Espio retorted. "We know that YOU could be anywhere."

"I was thinking." Vector said as they continued walking. "Are we doing the right thing letting Eggman keep those girls prisoner?"

Espio shrugged. "I'm not sure." He said. "But we need the emeralds to defeat Eggman and Bowser. So I suggest we get moving."

"Yeah!" Charmy sang, bouncing on a mound of coins. "Pile of gold! Pile of gold!"

"Charmy!" Vector snapped. "We're not here to play! We're here to look for that emerald!"

"Fine…" Charmy groaned as he climbed down.

With Team Sonic:

"Any signal coming from the scanner Tails?" Sonic asked.

Tails nodded. "Yeah, but there's a lot of static right now."

"Heh, go figure." Knuckles shrugged. "Hey!" He suddenly tripped on something. "Found it!" He held the emerald in the air.

"Awesome!" Sonic exclaimed. "That gives us three emeralds!"

"Shadow and Eggman have one more." Tails said, not knowing that they had in fact had more than that. "So that leaves three left to find."

"Then what are we waiting for!?" Knuckles snapped. "Let's go get them!"

"I don't think so." A strange voice said from behind. The trio turned around and saw a short, fat man walking up.

"So, you're Wario?" Sonic asked.

"Whatever you find in my mine belongs to me!" The fat man known as Wario announced. "That means THAT," he pointed to the emerald that Knuckles had in his hand. "Belongs to me!"

"You'll have to take it from me!" Knuckles challenged.

"You don't want me too!" Wario shouted angrily. "I can squash all of you like little bugs!"

"Yeah, because you're so fat!" Knuckles insulted.

"Hey!" Wario shouted, insulted. "No one calls me fat except for me!" He runs at Knuckles, only to get punched in the stomach. "Oof!"

"Sonic! Tails!" Knuckles shouted. "Get out of here! I'll take care of the fat one! Here!" He threw Sonic the emerald. "Get out of here!"

"Hey! Give that back!" Wario said, trying to catch it but failed.

"You got it Knuckles!" Sonic said. "Come on Tails. Knuckles has this one."

"Right behind you." Tails nodded. The two run to the entrance of the mine to gather up the rest of the heroes.

..

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To be continued...