Chapter 47: Memory

"How much further do we have to go, Omega?" Shawn asked as he ran at a steady pace with Rouge and Omega on either side of him across a grassy butte that overlooked the Lost Jungle area which they had just traversed as the noon sun shone overhead.

"My internal receiver is picking up signals from Dr. Eggman east of here at an increasingly further distance," Omega answered. "We must pick up our pace if we're to intercept the Egg Fleet."

"Wait a minute, boys," Rouge said as she put a hand up to her left bat ear. "I think we're being followed."

So the three of them climbed up the cliff-wall in front of them and waited on a small ledge. A few minutes later, some of Eggman's robots appeared and aimed their lasers upward. But then there was a flash of blue, yellow, and red and the robots were completely dismantled. To Shawn's surprise, it was the blue-haired boy who was apparently named Sonic and his two companions with the fox ears and zigzag tail respectfully.

"It's Sonic," Shawn said nervously.

"Rats," Rouge said to herself. "If they get involved, my plan is ruined."

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed pointing up to the ledge. "Look up there!"

"No way," Knuckles said, noticing Shawn. "Is that Shadow?"

"It can't be," Sonic said. "That guy doesn't have the hedgehog ears and tail."

"Hey," Shawn said walking to the edge of the ledge and pointing at Sonic to get his attention. "What do you know about Shadow?"

Sonic scuffed. "Shouldn't you know since you're his host?"

"His what?" Shawn felt his hands go numb.

"Oh, so you don't remember anything that happened while you were possessed?" Sonic looked up at Rouge with an angry frown. "I'm surprised Rouge hasn't filled you in yet."

"Leave her alone," Shawn said defensively.

"Okay, boys, let's not fight over me," Rouge said, putting a hand on Shawn's shoulder and peering down at Sonic. "We're kind of in a hurry to catch up to Eggman, so if you could kindly shove off that would be great."

"Excuse me?" Knuckles said, glaring up at Rouge.

"Well, that's funny cuz we have urgent business with Eggman as well," Sonic said folding his arms.

Shawn did the same. "If you want Eggman so badly, then you'll have to get through us."

"I don't want to fight you, man," Sonic responded, changing back into Sonny. "You're just like me. We're both humans possessed by beings with powers that defy the laws of nature."

"Enough talk," Shawn said, and leaped down from the ledge. "Now let's fight!"

###

"I think we're lost, Vector," Charmy said, looking at the canopy that surrounded him and his companions on all sides.

"There's a grassy butte up there," Espio said, pointing to a cliff which three figures were currently climbing. "And it seems we're not alone."

Vector looked at the climbing figures and said, "Let's catch up to them. Maybe they know a way out of here."

"If you say so," Charmy said, and flew after Vector and Espio who were already running toward the cliff.

###

Amy heard sudden footsteps behind her and turned back to see what the noise was. At the edge of the butte she and her friends had just climbed, the Chaotix Detectives appeared only they looked slightly different. Apart from the slanted pupils they all had, the one on the left had a purple chameleon tail curled behind him, the middle one had a crocodile tail, and the one on the right had bee wings and antennae.

"Well, if it isn't Amy Rose," Vector said trying to sound casual. "This is an unexpected surprise."

"Indeed," Amy said mildly surprised. "My host heard about you guys from Knuckles' host Chuck, but I didn't think I'd see you again in person."

"Yeah," Vector replied. "It's funny that we ran into you three today when we ran into Rouge yesterday."

"Rouge?" Amy's ears perked. "Where?"

"Back at the Power Plant in Grand Metropolis," Espio answered. "She seemed intent on preventing us from going after Eggman and so we fought her group and unfortunately lost."

"She had this really big robot on her side that nearly creamed us with its cannon arms and a guy who reminded me of Shadow for some reason," Charmy added.

"What did he look like?" Amy asked.

"He wore a black jacket lined with white fur, had spiky black hair with red highlights, black jeans, and white sneakers lined with red," Espio said. "There also seemed to be golden rings attached to his ankles and wrists, which I found odd but I didn't get close enough to him to examine them more carefully."

Amy rested her gloved hand underneath her chin nervously and then she asked, "Did this guy happen to have the ability to teleport whenever he wanted?"

"Yes, and that's how he beat me," Espio said lowering his head.

"Um, Amy, shouldn't we be following Sonic?" Cream abruptly asked, tugging the skirt of Amy's dress.

"Right, I almost forgot," Amy said and waved at Vector before leaving. "It was nice seeing you again, Vector, but we've got to go!"

"Hey, wait up!" Vector said running after her. "Do you know how we can get out of Lost Jungle?"

"No, but Cheese knows," Big said and he and Cream ran to keep up with Amy.

"You mean the Chao that's flying next to Cream?" Vector asked.

Cheese nodded in response.

"Then you wouldn't mind if we borrowed him?" Espio said running towards Cheese with his hand outstretched.

"No!" Cream said, grabbing Cheese before Espio had the chance to snatch it. "I'm not giving Cheese up to anyone and we need him if we're going to get out of this jungle before sunset."

"But we need him too, so can't we just share?" Charmy said flying in front of Cream and facing her.

"Quit bugging her, you two," Big said, picking Charmy and Espio up by the collars of their shirts mid-run and tossing them back in Vector's direction.

The two collided with Vector, and they all toppled down in a heaping mess while Amy and her group ran onward.

"Wow, what a jerk," Charmy said getting up and flexing his wings to make sure they weren't broken. "We didn't mean to bug Cream, but we needed that Chao."

"If memory serves me right, Big is not very bright," Espio said crawling off of Vector. "Now if they're not going to give up the Chao, then our best chance of getting out of here is to follow them since they seem to know where they're going."

"Good idea, Espio," Vector said getting to his feet. "But we can't let them know we're following them, so we'll have to be extra quiet."

"Yes, Vector!" Charmy shouted, which caused Espio and Vector to glare at him. Then he said in a lower voice, "Um, yes, Vector."

"Good," Vector said giving Charmy a thumbs-up. "Now let's go."

To be continued…