Chapter 5: Trust

"Amelia's been gone from school for quite some time," Miles said as he and Sonny walked to class after lunch. "It's starting to worry me."

"I'm sure it's no big deal," Sonny responded. "How's that detector-thing coming along?"

"Pretty well, actually. With an actual Chaos Emerald in our possession once more, I've been able to implement more data into the machine about the gemstone's properties."

"Chaos Emerald?"

"That's what the robots called it when we ran into them at that clearing last week."

"Right. Something about that name seems fitting, though I'm not sure why."

"Yeah, same here."

After Sonny left Miles, he walked past the fitness room which was next to the gymnasium. Inside, there was a single boy about his age with long red hair wearing a red shirt and matching boxer shorts. His hands were covered in large white boxing-gloves and he was rhythmically hitting a punching-bag on the far side of the room. But what caught Sonny's attention more was a single red gemstone lying on a bench near the boy.

It looks the right shape, so it's got to be a Chaos Emerald, Sonny thought as he stepped into the fitness room.

The red-haired boy didn't seem to hear him enter, and so Sonny attempted to approach the bench with the red gemstone on it. Then the warning bell rang, which caught Sonny off-guard and the red-haired boy. He broke from his concentrated boxing and looked toward the door where he saw Sonny.

"What are you doing here?" the red-haired boy asked.

"I uh, have to go," Sonny said, and left the fitness room.

In response, the red-haired boy pursued Sonny. "Hey, wait, you didn't answer my question!"

Sonny flinched and, noticing that no one else was in the hallway, used the Sonic Phase to get away from the red-haired boy. He got out to the football field in time just as Mr. Chaplain was doing roll-call. You know what, I'm actually starting to get the hang of this Sonic Phase, Sonny thought to himself.

It was then that Sonny remembered something, though the memory was not his own. He saw Miles standing next to him, only his eyes were differently shaped, and he had a pair of fox ears sprouting from his head. In his hand he held a yellow and red walkie-talkie, where a voice spoke from it. Then Sonny's hand took the walkie-talkie away from Miles and the voice was much clearer. Though as the memory started to fade the voice became more distant, except for one word that stuck to Sonny's mind: Robotnik.

"Are you all right, Sonny?" Mr. Chaplain asked, approaching Sonny as he was holding his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sonny responded. "I just have a slight headache."

###

Later that day, Sonny met up with Miles on the bleachers next to the football field and told him what happened before gym class.

"If you saw me with fox ears, then that means you were remembering something from your transformed self," Miles said gleefully. "This is great news."

"But that doesn't explain how I remembered it," Sonny responded with his arms folded.

"Maybe the further we master our new abilities, the more memories we regain while we're transformed."

"Yeah, let's hope you're right." Sonny looked over his shoulder and saw the red-haired boy approaching him still wearing his boxing gloves. "Uh-oh, here comes the guy I was telling you about."

Miles noticed the red-haired boy as well, and stood up. "Well, I'll let you handle this one. I'm going to go look for a Chaos Emerald with my new detector."

"But Miles, shouldn't I come along in case Dr. Robotnik's robots show up again?"

"I'll be fine, Sonny. I trust that my transformed self will protect me."

Then before Sonny could protest, Miles took off down the bleachers.

Meanwhile, the red-haired boy caught up to Sonny and stood firmly with his arms folded. "I've been looking all over the school for you, Sonny Hedge."

Sonny flinched. "You know my name?"

"I asked around and you seem to have gotten pretty popular with the freshman since those miraculous laps you ran in gym class on the first day. Four laps around the football field in five seconds? Give me a break! Either those freshman were exaggerating or you were using some kind of enhancement drug."

"No way! I've never used enhancement drugs in my life."

"All right, then, prove it by running around the bleachers in one second."

"Look, buddy, I—

"What's the matter, Sonny? Too chicken to run?"

Sonny hesitated, then he sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. But don't be surprised if I get back sooner."

While the red-haired boy took a stopwatch from a pocket in his shorts, Sonny stretched his legs and arms for a bit. Then when the red-haired boy gave the signal, Sonny ran. The Sonic Phase kicked in immediately, and Sonny went all the way around the bleachers and back in less than the blink of an eye. When the red-haired boy stopped the watch, he was stunned by the numbers.

"Wow, you really are fast," the red-haired boy said. "It took you exactly one second to run around the bleachers."

"Oh, man, I really am getting good," Sonny said to himself.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing." Sonny cleared his throat and said, "So, uh, what did you want to see me about?"

"I wanted to know why you showed up in the fitness room early today."

"Well, I wanted to ask you about that red gemstone I saw on the bench."

"You mean this thing?" The red-haired boy reached into his other shorts-pocket and pulled out the red gem that Sonny eyed before. "I found it in the pond by my house, and I've been using it as a good-luck charm since."

"I see. Could I, um, borrow it for a bit?"

"What for?"

"For a…science project. My science class is studying minerals, and I need to present something next week or my grade will suffer."

The red-haired boy looked down at the gem, then back at Sonny. After a brief sigh, he tossed the gemstone to Sonny, who immediately caught it. "Fine, but be sure to give it back no later than next week. I'll be needing it for my next match."

"So you're a boxer?" Sonny said as he pocketed the red gemstone.

"I thought the gloves and shorts would give it away. I'm Chuck Kidman, head of the school boxing club, but my nickname is Knuckles."

"Knuckles…" Sonny suddenly remembered one of his nightmares, which he had been having less frequently now, where he called that name out to a figure with a zig-zag tail and large fists who was fighting against the silhouette with the spikes and red eyes. Then he shook his head and said to Chuck, "I like it."

###

"You said his nickname was Knuckles?" Miles asked on the other end of Sonny's cellphone. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"I don't know, and that's what bugs me," Sonny replied as he skateboarded home.

"Maybe Chuck's someone like us, and our other selves know it."

"Yeah, but we won't know unless we talk to him."

Then Sonny heard the sound of jets on the other end of his phone, followed by Miles' scream.

"What is it, Miles?" Sonny asked.

"Dr. Robotnik's robots…they're everywhere."

"Where are you?"

"North of the town there's a waterfall, and beyond that there's a lake. I'm on the western shore by a rock formation that looks like a loop-the-loop."

"Okay, I'll be there."

After Sonny hung up, he skateboarded towards the waterfall north of town. Once he got there, he noticed a hiking trail leading up to the top of the waterfall, and decided to leave his skateboard with a stationed park ranger. Next, Sonny did some stretches, and took off up the trail. The Sonic Phase not only got him up to the waterfall top but also the western shore of the large pristine lake that reflected the orange and purple clouds where Sonny saw the rock formation Miles was talking about. It was brown with a row of grass on top and really shaped like a loop-the-loop. He was just about to stop, when Sonny noticed the blue aura cloud his vision and found himself running towards the rock structure.

Sonic ran the loop-the-loop, and the rock formation surprisingly held strong. At the end of it, Sonic found a broken machine that looked like a handheld radio and a small note with a greenish-blue Chaos Emerald attached. He examined the machine and found the green Chaos Emerald he and Tails found on the beach inside a hidden compartment. Next, Sonic picked up the note, reading it out loud:

Dear Sonic,

I'm getting tired of waiting for those Chaos Emeralds, so I thought I'd up the stakes a bit. Your friend Tails is safe with me, but if you don't want him and Amy to be roboticized, then you'd better do as I say. The Chaos Emerald that is attached to this note is the one Tails found and assuming you found the red one that now leaves you with three Chaos Emeralds. Unfortunately, the last two will be tricky to obtain because they're locked inside the G. U. N. base. So I've left a list of instructions I want you to follow on the back of this note. Best of luck.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robotnik

"I swear, Dr. Robotnik," Sonic said, picking up the cyan Chaos Emerald that was next to the note. "When I get my hands on you, I'm going to make you pay for all the trouble you've caused!"

Then Sonic knelt down on the ground, and temporarily blacked out.

###

Sonny woke up, and found himself next to the lake just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon. He held a cyan-colored gemstone in one hand and a note in the other. Then he noticed the broken machine with its battery compartment open, revealing the green Chaos Emerald inside. After reading the note, Sonny picked up the machine and turned it on. The computer screen went on and off, but after Sonny shook it a little bit, the screen stabilized revealing a gem-shaped icon and a small beeping noise came from the machine. He waved the machine over the cyan and red gemstones, and to his surprise the machine beeped more quickly before the screen went black.

"So they were Chaos Emeralds," Sonny said, and put them both in his pockets along with the note. He gripped the useless detector in his hands and murmured, "I'm going to save you, Miles, Amelia, and all the other people who were imprisoned by Dr. Robotnik, if it's the last thing I do."

To be continued…