Chapter 3: Stolen Emerald

Emporium San Francisco, CA 11:45 AM

Inside the arcade game, Sonic was playing a racing game while a couple of kids and teens were watching him. He didn't really mind, he liked them just fine and they were always kind to him. He was pretty confident in his skills as a racer, having been playing racing games for years on the side. He won the race at the finish line with the fastest time record ever, making the crowd cheer loudly and excitedly. The little group laughed amongst themselves happily, Sonic himself being one of the people laughing along with them. He looked towards the screen, seeing how high his score went up, making him happy.

"Wow, dude, you're so awesome," the teenage boy exclaimed proudly, standing beside the green hedgehog. "How long have you been playing?" He asked curiously.

Sonic shrugged, "Not long, actually. I started around three months ago." He answered, "It's fun when you're doing it right. You can't really make mistakes if you're good."

"Whoa," the teenager said quietly, impressed at what Sonic said. "So how do you even know about all this stuff?"

The hedgehog looked thoughtful, "Well... I guess there is this one place I went to that taught me about racing games. It sounds crazy, but... it really helps. When you learn how to play well enough, it seems like things come easier for you. And when I learned how to ride a roller coaster."

The teen chuckled, "Man, you sure are lucky. My friend and I are going to try riding a roller coaster together next weekend. We wanted to invite you to go with us but we figured..." He trailed off, embarrassed. Sonic smiled reassuringly and shook his head, "No problem at all. I'd love to see that."

After that, Sonic exited the arcade game and the teens waved goodbye to him before moving away. The blue hedgehog ran down the sidewalk in the direction of home, humming happily to himself and smiling slightly to himself when he thought back on the experience. His heart was filled with excitement and contentment. It had been a very long time since he went out and played with children, especially younger children like these ones. Sonic knew how much he could have grown up without the company of other kids.

A police car approached Sonic from behind suddenly. His ears perked up and Sonic stopped walking abruptly, tensing up. He was surprised when he saw the cops pull into a driveway near him and park their cars before jumping out and rushing toward the hedgehog. They held out their guns in his face, causing him to jump in surprise. The green hedgehog stood still and raised his arms up slowly.

"Don't move," one of them demanded sternly, looking him up and down with narrowed eyes. There was a tense silence between them before a loud siren sounded nearby.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, you're under arrest for stealing the gem from the Museum of Art," another officer declared with an authoritative voice.

"Wait, what? Stealing? Hold on, there must be a mistake of some kind-"

"You are currently being detained at headquarters until the end of your trial," a second police officer said, his dark eyes never leaving the hedgehog. He seemed to be trying to find any weakness to exploit. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

*Meanwhile*

Angel Island 1:35 PM

An anthropomorphic white bat who wore a strapless pink heart-shaped chest plate with white trim, revealing her cleavage a bit, black leather pants, she had white, long gloves and high-heeled boots along with pink cuffs. Her boots were featured with hearts on her toes. She wore pink lipstick and blue shadow to make her look attractive.

Her name was Rouge the Bat, she arrived at the temple in the middle of nowhere where no human has ever been, in search of a powerful object. She saw a ginormous, emerald-green gemstone atop the temple.

Her teal eyes lit with pure excitement as soon as she spotted the gemstone, it was the largest and most beautiful jewel she had ever seen in her life, it had the shape of a giant emerald, diamond, crystal, or ruby. It was the size of a football field, it glistened with a bright light and shined beautifully. Rouge was absolutely convinced it was meant to be hers alone. As soon as she found a chance, Rouge was going to steal the gem from the temple, but suddenly there was a red echidna halted the bat thief.

"What are you doing here?" The echidna asked, glaring at Rouge. The bat tilted her head questioningly.

"Um... Well... I was coming to pick up some stuff from my master for Christmas..." She explained, "I was hoping that I wouldn't run into anyone else here, I'm usually not fond of humans."

She then proceeded to turn and leave, however, the echidna grabbed her arm again.

"You're not stealing that emerald! I'll give you a month. If you don't leave the island within the time, I will hunt you down and take it from you!" Knuckles threatened firmly.

Rouge's eyebrows furrow, "Hunting me down would mean death to everyone on this island!" She protested, trying to get free of his grasp but failing horribly. "And who says that you have to give it to me anyway? Why should I believe that you won't kill me if I escape?"

"Because I am the keeper of the treasure here!" Knuckles said angrily, yanking her closer to him as he spoke. "You would be stupid to attack me now, don't forget that you're a thief. You're nothing more than an annoying bug that needs to die. Now I've wasted enough time here on you."

Rouge smirked lightly, "Oh really, you've wasted enough time on me? How about I make things interesting?"

Knuckles froze briefly, his expression becoming serious, "Oh yeah, and what might those 'interesting' items be?" He questioned curiously.

Rouge leaned in close to him and whispered softly, "... The moonlight."

Knuckles twitched slightly in surprise, not expecting something like that to come from her lips.

Rouge took this opportunity to finally shake herself free from his grip. Suddenly the crane claw machine snatched Master Emerald from the temple, Knuckles and Rogue looked up in shock, there was Dr. Eggman hovering an egg mobile above them and grinning smugly.

"What the- Dr. Eggman?!" Knuckles said angrily, glaring angrily at him.

"Why hello Knuckie~" Eggman said happily, chuckling, "How are you?"

"How do you think! Release the emerald! Now!" Knuckles snapped impatiently.

"So that's Dr. Eggman," said Rogue in awe, watching the doctor curiously.

Knuckles nodded, crossing his arms as he glared at Eggman, "Release the emerald at once or suffer the consequences."

Eggman gave a mischievous chuckle, "Ohoho ho~ You got balls to challenge me! But what's stopping me from killing you here and now?! Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Knuckles gritted his teeth, glaring furiously at the doctor. "If that's the case, fine by me! Come at me, Doctor! Let's fight to the death!" Knuckles challenged, stepping forward aggressively.

Eggman chuckled, "Ah, such a child. So brave, though I wish I could enjoy it more. You should see your face. As long as I'm taking this emerald, you'll stay my captive forever. You and your little friends. No way out for you, kiddies." He grinned happily and began to fly away with the emerald.

"You're not getting away!" Knuckles took flight and shattered the emerald and causing Rogue screamed in fright.

Dr. Eggman growled and turned around. "How dare you shatter my precious creation!?" He yelled indignantly, "I will get these Choas Emeralds and destroy your whole island!"

He fled from the island and flew away, completely disappearing from sight. Knuckles landed and felt roughly grabbed the chest, Rogue was really pissed.

"What was that all about?! Look what you did to my emerald!" Rogue exclaimed angrily, glaring angrily at the echidna.

"Calm down, girl, calm down," Knuckles stated, placing his hand gently on the bat's shoulder. "It was an accident. Eggman doesn't actually intend to harm the emerald. In fact, I doubt he wants to destroy our island so badly... I think I broke his mind with that crazy story. I guess I scared the hell out of him, even if he tried to threaten us. He knows what he's missing."

Rogue narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "You're lying to me," she accused him with a stern glare.

Knuckles shook his head, "I'm not! Trust me, okay?"

The bat huffed slightly and rubbed the back of her neck in discomfort, feeling uncomfortable for believing the echidna in the first place. She sighed, "Fine."

"I'm going to find these shards and restore the Master Emerald. And this isn't your emerald, so don't worry about me losing it."

"That sounds dangerous," Rouge commented worriedly.

Knuckles gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I've got experience with these shards. I just need the right tools to repair it... And maybe some new gems."

Rouge smiled, "Well, thank you, um..." She paused momentarily thinking of his name.

"My name is Knuckles the Echidna,"

"I'm Rogue the Bat. Well, Knuckles, good luck finding these shards." she winked and smiled, and she flew away with her bat wings.

"She is really obsessed with the jewels. I have to find these shares myself, and the Master Emerald will be repaired." Knuckles muttered to himself as he walked away from the cliff edge.

*Meanwhile*

San Francisco, CA 3:25 PM

The military helicopter flew above the city of San Francisco as it made its way through the clouds over California. The pilot was on the walkie-talkie, informing the other pilots of their destination and making sure everything was in order.

"Sigma-Alpha 2 heading due south over the city. We're en route to our final destination." A pilot said.

"This is control tower. We have you on our radar. Report Cargo status of captured hedgehog aboard, over." Another pilot reported back.

"That's a 10-4. Cargo secured on board and... What the?!" Sigma gasped in amazement as he realized the hedgehog manage to escape from his handcuffs, and he was gone.

"Didn't copy that, over?" Pilot repeated into the radio.

"The hedgehog is gone, he's taken out everyone aboard and..." The voice trailed off.

"What's wrong?! Come in, over!" Pilot cried out desperately.

"What the hell?!" The pilot swore in disbelief as he watched the hedgehog break the door open and jumped out of the pilot's plane and held onto the wing.

"Freeze! What do you think you're doing?! Get that hedgehog!" he ordered angrily.

Sonic climbed up the wing and break it to pieces, and glared at the soldiers. "Talk about low-budget flights, no food or movies... I'm outta here. I like running better."

He placed his feet on board and jumped off the helicopter. He grinned as he flew down and spinned with his board.

"Yeah!"

*Meanwhile*

Amy was shopping at the mall for new clothes and bought something nice gift for Sonic, she smiled happily as she headed towards the shoe department. As she entered the department, she bought the red high-heel boot with a pink bow that she wanted and continued her shopping journey toward the cashier.

After she finished shopping, she walked out of the store with her purchases, and as she exited the building, humming happily.

As she walked down the street, the citizen watched the TV through the glass of a shop window. She wondered what

they were showing on the screen since it was broadcasting live footage that had been recorded before the incident. Amy tilted her head curiously, wondering why they were talking about that.

"We interrupt this program to bring you this report from a local news station. According to sources, the police have confirmed that the young hedgehog who stole a gem from the mall in the middle of the night in San Francisco, California is believed to be the one known as Sonic the Hedgehog! The hedgehog is responsible for numerous crimes that involve property destruction, theft, and vandalism. Authorities have already arrested the suspect, who was seen fleeing through a nearby alley in which a group of armed guards managed to catch him. Sonic has also escaped from jail and has yet to be found! However, we will continue to update you regarding our current investigation into this case, over and out!" The reporter spoke.

'What? Sonic would never do that. It must be some kind of misunderstanding.' Amy thought as she started walking home.

'I need to call Tails.'