Chapter 4: Discovery

"I can't believe it," Sonny said a few days after Dr. Robotnik's robots attacked Amelia's house. He was on the school rooftop with Miles and Amelia, the latter of whom had brought a picnic-style lunch to apologize for the pictures she didn't remember taking. "First, those G. U. N. guys confiscated those gemstones from us while we were unconscious and then it turns out we've all been experiencing lapses in memory lately."

"Then based on Amelia's pictures, it seems you and I grew animal ears and tails during those memory lapses," Miles said playing with his plastic fork. "Though it does explain the embarrassing tears I've been noticing on my clothes these past few days."

"Yeah," Amelia sighed.

Sonny rolled his eyes. "So what are we supposed to do about all this? G. U. N. had no right to take the gemstones."

"But they weren't ours to begin with," Miles noted. "And it was because of those gemstones that my house and Amelia's got attacked by Dr. Robotnik's robots in the first place."

"At least the gems will be safer with G. U. N.," Amelia added. "Though I don't understand why Dr. Robotnik went through all the trouble of trying to obtain them."

"I don't know, but it can't be good," Miles said.

"Do you think there are other gemstones like the ones we found?" Sonny asked.

Miles shook his head. "It's hard to say. I wouldn't be surprised if there were, but if that's the case then more lives could be endangered if anyone else finds them."

"Then we should find the other gems before Dr. Robotnik does," Sonny said as he ate the last two finger sandwiches.

"Or we could just do nothing and let G. U. N. handle it," Amelia said.

"How can you say that, Amelia?" Miles folded his arms. "We've been confronting Dr. Robotnik's forces ever since he started attacking South Island, even though we can't remember doing it, so we're involved in this whether you like it or not."

"Well, I'm not," Amelia replied. "Now can we please talk about something else?"

"Fine, have it your way," Sonny said mockingly.

###

Later after school, Sonny was planning to meet up with Miles but he was being cornered by Zak, Zaz, and Zom near the football field. They looked unhappy and had their fists out. Sonny gritted his teeth, and ran towards them. To his surprise, the Sonic Phase activated and Sonny managed to get Miles away from the bullies before they could lay a hand on him.

After Sonny had stopped a ways from the football field, Miles slowly spoke. "Sonny, did you just—

"Do the same thing I did when Amelia's house was being attacked? Yeah, I've been meaning to tell you about it for a while," Sonny replied. "But let's keep walking."

Miles did as Sonny said, and the two walked on while the bullies were still wondering what happened.

Sonny took a deep breath and explained, "Ever since the first day of school, I've been able to run faster than a normal human. I'm sure where this power came from, and I don't know how to control it either. So that's why I declined to join the track-team, and I'm sorry I didn't let you in on this secret sooner."

"No, you don't have to apologize," Miles said assuredly. "You weren't sure if you could trust me or not."

"It's not that I didn't trust you, Miles. I just didn't know how you'd react."

"I can relate. In fact, I've developed an unusual power too."

"Like what?"

"Well, remember when I fixed your skateboard for you? I don't know how I did it. Lately, I've been able to solve problems or fix things that I have never solved or fixed before."

"Do you think it might have something to do with our lapses in memory and those transformations?"

"Possibly, but we won't know unless we test these new abilities."

"That's what I've been doing for the past two months, but I feel like I haven't gotten anywhere."

"So you need my help?"

"Yeah, but I'll help you if you're willing."

"All right, Sonny, you've got yourself a referee." Then after Sonny and him shook hands, Miles asked. "By the way, what do you call this new power?"

"Um, I've decided to call it the Sonic Phase. Yours?"

"I call mine the Tailspin Moment."

###

In the following weeks, Sonny and Miles got together on the weekends and went to a secluded area surrounded by palm trees and boulders a few miles from the town to practice their abilities. While Sonny ran, Miles used the stopwatch to calculate how long it took Sonny to activate the Sonic Phase, the duration of the Sonic Phase, and how long it took for Sonny to get out of the Sonic Phase. Then when Miles was solving different equations in a handbook and/or fixing broken machines he stole from the town's junkyard, Sonny would use the stopwatch to calculate the same things. They also used this time to try and find more gemstones similar to the ones they had previously, but Sonny and Miles always came up with nothing.

"This is hopeless, Miles," Sonny complained one day. "We'll never find those gemstones before Dr. Robotnik strikes again."

"This would go a lot faster if we had some way to detect them," Miles said. Then he snapped his finger. "That's it! I'll build a detector!"

"But how?"

"When I had that yellow one in my possession, I studied it quite thoroughly and took a lot of detailed notes. Maybe I can use that data to implement into a machine that will pick up the energy that seemed to emanate from those gems. Now if only we knew what to call those gemstones."

"Chaos Emerald detected."

Sonny and Miles looked up and saw Dr. Robotnik's robots hovering above. They didn't seem to notice the two boys, and flew southward. Once they had gone, Sonny was about to run after the robots when Miles stopped him.

"We can't go after them, Sonny," Miles said firmly. "Not until we figure out how to unlock those transformations."

"But now's as good a time as any to try it out," Sonny replied.

"And what if it doesn't work? We could get captured by those robots, or killed."

"Then stay here if you're so worried about getting hurt."

Sonny wrenched his hand out of Miles' grasp, and took off in a blue blur.

###

The robots arrived at a beach on the other side of the island outlined by palm trees on one side and a clear blue sea on the other. They hovered above the sand and combed the beach thoroughly till something shiny lying underneath a dead palm tree caught their eyes. But as they flew towards it, a blue blur ran past them and got to the dead palm tree first. It was Sonic, and he picked up a large green gemstone from underneath the dead palm tree just as the robots aimed their lasers at him.

"Hand over the Chaos Emerald, Sonic, or we will shoot," one of the robots said.

"So you finally remembered my name?" Sonic said gripping the green Chaos Emerald in his palm. "Congratulations, tin-can."

Before the robots could fire, Sonic jumped into the air and rolled up in a ball. He managed to destroy three robots in a row by hitting them over the head in ball-form, causing children to emerge from them. The rest flew back to get a safe distance from Sonic, but he was faster and got two of them in one run. Then one of the robots flew out toward the water, and Sonic tried to follow but he found himself stop at the shore-line suddenly.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Sonic said to himself. "I can't swim."

The robot fired at Sonic a few feet from the shore, forcing Sonic to dodge the laser shots but he did not dare to leap towards the robot out of fear of falling into the ocean. Then Tails came flying over the treetops and rammed himself into the airborne robot by curling into a ball himself. But when the robot was destroyed, a small child fell into the water. Fortunately, Tails flew down and picked up the child to put him with the others who were looking around in confusion. Three other robots remained, but before Sonic and Tails could lay a hand on them, they took off in the opposite direction.

"Let's go after them, Tails," Sonic said.

"Yeah," Tails responded, nodding.

But along the way, Tails saw something and forced Sonic to stop. In the sand lay a small walkie-talkie that was red and yellow. Tails picked it up and a menacing voice came from it. "Hello, is this Sonic?"

"Yeah," Sonic said taking the walkie-talkie from Tails' hands. "Who wants to know?"

"I am Dr. Robotnik. We've not officially met, but I know a great deal about you."

"What do you mean?"

"If you wish to know, then I'll need a small favor in return for my information."

"Such as?"

"Find the remaining Chaos Emeralds that are scattered about this island and bring them to me."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then your girlfriend will be robotized."

"Amy? Why you—

The walkie-talkie exploded in Sonic's hand, causing him to flinch before he slipped into unconscious followed by Tails.

###

When Sonny and Miles woke up, the sun was lying low over the horizon across the ocean. With the green Chaos Emerald still in hand, Sonny rubbed the back of his head. Miles did the same, and then he sighed.

"Can you remember anything?" Miles asked.

"No, but we should take those kids back to town," Sonny said, pointing to the group of children gathering near the fallen palm tree. "They look lost."

To be continued…