Chapter 2: Tails' Lab
The Woods family's car was driving down the road towards the woods. Arthur and Julia were in the driver's seat, with Sonic and Tails in the back. The blue hedgehog and the little fox looked out of the windows and marveled at the scenery, starting from the fields and ending in the forests.
"Julie, your state is very cool!" Sonic commented, turning his head towards Julia.
"Thank you." the red-haired girl said.
"It's true that Massachusetts is a very beautiful state," Arthur admitted. "Also rich in history. It was with him and several other states that America began!"
"You mean about this country?" Tails asked.
"Yes, but it's not an official name," said Mr. Woods. "The country you are in is called the United States of America or USA for short."
"You said that it was from this state and others that your country appeared?" the blue hedgehog asked Julia's father.
"Once upon a time this country was a colony of England, countries located beyond the sea," began Arthur. At that time, it was not as big as it is now. It consisted of thirteen colonies, including Massachusetts. When England made laws to get a lot of money, the colonists rioted about it and this led to the War of Independence. In the end, the Americans won and the thirteen colonies became one country. Over time, other territories joined it. They were taken either peacefully or by force. You know, we Americans and our country are not that far from ideal. In our history there were wars, slavery and all that. Fortunately, all of this is no longer in the U.S."
"Interesting," Tails said. "Can you tell us everything about America in more detail?"
"I can tell you, but we will arrive in 3 minutes." Arthur said.
"Already?" Sonic asked as he couldn't believe it.
"Yes," Arthur confirmed. "Time goes by so fast we don't even notice!"
"Though time can be fast," Sonic said with a cheeky smirk. "But I'm faster than time!"
Julia couldn't chuckle at his friend's self-confidence.
Soon they arrived at the forest. They parked at the side of the road. Sonic, Tails, Arthur and Julia got out of the car.
"It's here?" Julia asked.
"Must be," replied the little fox. "According to my navigator, my laboratory is somewhere in the northwest of the forest."
"Tails, can we just run to where you indicated the direction?" the blue hedgehog asked his friend.
"You can," Tails replied. "But I'm afraid you'll get lost."
"I won't get lost," Sonic said with a smug smirk. "But if I get lost, I'll be back."
"Okay, Sonic," the fox told him. "Good luck."
Sonic didn't answer. A second later, he ran in a northwesterly direction. Julia, Arthur and Tails walked down the path. Mr. Woods told Tails everything about their country: how society and government work, additional historical information, and so on. To some extent, it was like a school lesson of history and social studies. Julia just looked around and yawned, as she was bored. Soon the wind suddenly picked up and Sonic ran to them.
"Guys!" said the blue hedgehog. I found the lab!
"Where?" Julia asked.
"She's not far from you," Sonic replied. "It takes a few minutes to get there. But with my speed, we can get there even in seconds!"
"As you say," agreed Arthur. "But how do we..."
"Take my hands." said the blue hedgehog to them.
"What?" Julia's father asked, not understanding the meaning of Sonic's words.
"Just hold on to his hands, dad." the red-haired girl explained to her father.
"Um… Okay." Arthur said before he and his daughter grabbed Sonic's arms.
"Hold on!" Sonic said.
He started to speed up. A second later, he ran with Julia and Arthur towards Tails' lab. The little fox quickly flew after Sonic.
In seconds...
Sonic, along with Julia, her father, and Tails, arrived at Tails' lab. As it turned out, the laboratory was located next to a field full of flowers and various herbs. Luckily no one was using this field, so there were no people around. The plane "Tornado" was also here. Since Julia's father was not comfortable with Sonic's speed, so they had to hold him when everyone approached Tails' workshop. When they entered, they laid Arthur Woods on the boxes. The little fox looked to where the portal was. The portal itself was intact to some extent, but was slightly damaged. Tails walked up to him and inspected the damage.
"The portal is all right in general," he said. But there is some damage.
"How long do you think it will take to repair the portal?" the blue hedgehog asked as he approached Tails.
"About 2 hours or less." Tails replied.
Sonic turned his head to where the Chaos Emeralds lay. They were not there.
"And there are no Chaos Emeralds either," said the blue hedgehog. "I have one idea that they can be scattered either throughout this state, or across the country, or even around the world."
"And let's not forget that Dr. Eggman is here too and could be anywhere," Tails said. "I have a hunch that he is already planning to start hunting for the Chaos Emeralds."
"Tails is right," Julia said, fully agreeing with his thought. "He almost sucked the life out of me once for his own purposes. He can do it to other people if he wants to."
"We have to find the emeralds before the doc gets to them first." Sonic said. "But we need to operate in the shadows so that no one can see us."
"I agree with you in some ways, Sonic," said Arthur, who approached them. "If people find out that video game characters have crawled out of their video game world into the real world, then mass panic and hysteria can begin. I hope there won't be mass hysteria like during the Salem witch hunt."
"Witch hunt?" Sonic asked, since this was the first time he had heard this definition.
"I'll tell you later," said Julia's father. "Now we need to focus on the so-called Chaos Emeralds."
"Wow!" Sonic said with a smirk. "Julie, your dad is a great strategist."
Julia laughed a little at Sonic's joke. And Arthur himself and Tails were not against laughing. As soon as they were done, they immediately began looking for the location of the Chaos Emeralds.
Meanwhile…
Somewhere in an unknown place, Dr. Eggman was sitting on his Eggmobile. He managed to get into the world of Julia, but he did not have the Chaos Emeralds. But the mad scientist had a whole army of robots. He looked at the screen on the Eggmobile, looking for the Chaos Emeralds. Soon he got the signal. Dr. Eggman pressed a button and pictures of an unknown town appeared on the holographic screen. Above these pictures was the name of the town: Sherborn.
Looking at the name and pictures, the evil scientist laughed out loud and flew towards Sherborn, taking with him an army of badniks.
Next time... The hunt for the Chaos Emeralds begins!
