As the days passed, the lines on the map continued to merge together. Each time Sonic's line met another, I called to ask what he had found. Each time, he answered that it was a piece of the Master Emerald. Never a chaos emerald. Each time I found something, it was a piece. No chaos emeralds. Within a week, only three lines remained on my map: Sonic, Eggman, and the piece on West Side Island. There was nothing more to find, so I called Sonic, telling him to meet Knuckles and me at Angel Island.

Inside my plane were six pieces of the Master Emerald. Eggman had three, Sonic had two, and one was at West Side. We had found no more chaos emeralds, and that meant that Eggman had found them.

x

Sonic was waiting on the beach, the nearest point to the island. I flew low for him to jump onto the plane and flew to Angel Island. We landed next to the altar and had a meeting on top of it.

"Eggman has the other three chaos emeralds," I began. "But, we have two thirds of the Master Emerald. What do you think, Knuckles: should we try to charge up the pieces we have and do something with it?"

"We won't be able to do anything but talk to it without the whole thing, but yes. The Master Emerald knows all, and it'll be very helpful."

"On it!" Sonic sped down the altar stairs to the plane. He returned seconds later with two pieces of the Master Emerald. Repeating the process, he had all eight of our pieces on the altar in less than a minute. "Your turn, Knux!*

"Oh… Right… Do you two mind waiting down at the plane? It's hard to focus with others around." We nodded and returned to the plane. For the next several minutes, I could hear Knuckles's voice, but couldn't make out any words. When his chanting was over, we climbed the altar again, and the Master Emerald was shining a brought green. I couldn't hear the small noises that I normally heard from it, but I was excited to find out how it could help us.

"Is it ready?"

"Yes."

"Cool! Let's ask it something!" Knuckles shook his head.

"It's just gonna be hours of getting nowhere if we ask questions now. We need to wait until we have specific questions with specific answers."

"Oh, come on, Knux," Sonic said. "We've got a specific question! Hey, Master Emerald, how do we defeated Eggman?"

You defeat Dr. Eggman any way you please.

"Uh… How can we defeat Eggman?"

There are several ways in which you can defeat Dr. Eggman.

"What's the best way we can defeat Eggman?"

The best way for you to defeat Dr. Eggman is by taking his chaos emeralds and using their power against him.

"What's the quickest safe way to take Eggman's chaos emeralds?"

The quickest way to safely take Dr. Eggman's chaos emeralds is by force.

"By force, huh? I wasn't expecting that to be considered safe, but I'm all for it! Where is Eggman right now?"

Dr. Eggman is on a rolling chair. Sonic sighed.

"Where's the rolling chair?"

There are many rolling chairs in the world. The nearest rolling chair to you is in James Parker's study

"Ugh! Where is Eggman's rolling chair?"

Dr. Eggman has many rolling chairs. The nearest of Dr. Eggman's rolling chairs to you is under Dr. Eggman's bottom.

"See what I mean? You're not gonna get anything useful until you have a specific question with a specific answer." Sonic ignored Knuckles.

"Alright, then, Emerald, how about I-"

"Hold on," I interrupted. I prepared my GPS. "What are Eggman's coordinates?"

Dr. Eggman is at coordinates ninety-six point four two west, thirty-five point eight five north. I typed the numbers as they were spoken, then examined the indicated location.

"He's at his main base."

"Hm… How can Knuckles stand living with you?"

Knuckles does not ask vague questions, so he is not annoyed by vague answers. Likewise, I converse with Knuckles using specific, complete sentences.

"Okay, whatever… Oh! Can you show us Eggman?"

I can not create any visual images until I am whole.

"Oh… What can you do while you're unwhole?"

I can transfer energy to other pieces of myself and the chaos emeralds, and I can speak. That is all.

"Okay, what-"

"Sonic, that's enough questions!" Knuckles stood between Sonic and the Master Emerald. "We should get going already!"

We silently agreed. Knuckles loaded the incomplete Master Emerald while I started the plane. We were set and in the air in minutes. While we were flying, I had an idea.

Hey, Master Emerald! Can you hear me?

I can hear you. I wasn't very surprised, but I was smiling eagerly.

Cool! I have a question: what are those vibrations that I always hear from you? I don't hear them right now, but… what are they?

That is the sound of energy being transferred to the chaos emeralds and, at the moment, the rest of myself.

Oh! That makes sense… So… You're constantly transferring energy to the chaos emeralds? Don't they have a maximum capacity?

They do have a maximum capacity of energy, but they are almost always using some of it. The reason you can not hear it now is because of the set of ears you are currently using: they are far inferior to your own ears.

Oh… What are the chaos emeralds always using energy for? They're almost always hidden away from people, right?

They are, but one does not have to be holding a chaos emerald to receive energy from it. Do you wish for a more detailed explanation?

Yes, please!

I shall provide one, then. The chaos emeralds can sense all emotion throughout the universe at all times. By nature, the chaos emeralds are transferring energy to everyone in the universe who is feeling any degree of emotion. As you can see, distance does not prevent chaos emeralds from transferring energy, but it does limit it. One who is far away from a chaos emerald can not receive nearly as much energy as one who is near.

Okay… How much does the distance affect the energy transfer? It can't be proportional, so… is it the inverse square?

Correct. This can be represented as the inverse square of the distance multiplied by the degree of emotion squared.

How… How do you quantify emotion? Is that possible?

It is possible. Emotion is simply particular chemicals released into the bloodstream. The "degree of emotion" is the measurement of how saturated the bloodstream is with emotional chemicals.

Hm… That makes sense… Is that all there is to it?

You have heard the very basics, but have only scratched the surface of the nature of the chaos emeralds.

Oh…

x

The Master Emerald and I 'spoke' throughout the entire flight. We discussed many topics of mechanics and mathematics. I learned several things, but our time was cut short by our arrival at Eggman's base. I turned off the plane and blacked out.

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