Had to split this into two parts. ^^;

Reason? Writer's block. I should still be able to have the next part up soon once I get over that cursed obstacle.

Enjoy! :)

NOTE: I ONLY OWN MY OC(s)! EVERYTHING ELSE BELONGS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS!

CHAPTER 6: THE HUNT FOR THE EMERALD, PART 1

"WOO-HOO!"

The Tornado flew over the vast ocean carrying its eight passengers. Petri was bouncing in her seat like a kid on a sugar rush.

"This is amazing!" She shouted happily. "I never thought I would get to be in a plane and actually fly in it!"

Tails glanced behind him and smiled at the merterfly. "I'm guessing you don't have aircrafts?"

Petri shook her head. "Nope! I've been working on prototypes using books as a reference and trying to incorporate them underwater. Same for automobiles and trains."

"What about submarines?" Amy couldn't help but ask.

"Amy, we swim," Verde deadpanned. "We don't need submarines." She then looked at Petri. "And we especially don't need planes, cars, and trains."

"I beg to differ," Petri huffed.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh. "I like your spunk, kid."

"Thank you, Sonic," Petri smiled before giving Verde a sassy look. "At least somebody gets it."

The merchidna just rolled her eyes, but she still smiled at the merterfly's enthusiasm. She decided to check on Curry and looked down from her spot to see, to her amusement, the merhog clinging on the wing like his life depended on him.

She then got concerned when he started hyperventilating. "You okay, Curry?

Curry had his eyes clenched and held on tighter. "No, Verde, I am not okay!"

Knuckles also looked down from his spot, an agitated look on his face. "Don't tell us you're scared of heights?"

"Of course not!" Curry defended. "There's nothing keeping me from falling off! Not to mention we're not in the water!"

Selene overheard her brother and put her finger on her cheek in thought. "I guess we never had to worry too much about gravity since we live underwater…"

"THANK YOU!"

"I don't suppose you could fly us lower?" Selene asked Tails as she tried to look at him from her spot on the lower wing.

Tails nodded. "No problem. I want my passengers to be comfortable."

The fox lowered the Tornado until it almost touched the water and continued flying at cruising speed.

Curry slowly opened his eyes and was relieved to see that they were flying close to the water. He relaxed, even loosening his grip on the wing. "Thank you very—GAH!" He relaxed too much, for he slipped off the wing and fell into the ocean.

Everyone gawked at this, not sure whether to laugh or not.

Selene sighed. "I got him. Just keep flying." The merhog glowed and was back in her Mermobian form. She dived and swam off to rescue her brother.

Tails couldn't help but feel worried. "Should I slow down so they can catch up?"

"You heard the princess, keep flying," Verde said before giving the fox a sly smile. "In fact, go faster."

Petri let out a mischievous giggle, understanding what the merchidna wanted. Everyone except Verde gave confused looks. While everyone was distracted, Petri took out her cell phone and gave a quick text to Selene. She gave Verde a hidden thumb-up, making her smirk.

Selene swam to where Curry had fallen. To her surprise, he was still in his Mobian form flailing his arms and hyperventilating again.

Huh… It looks like we can still breathe underwater while in our Mobian forms, Selene thought. I wonder what other abilities we still maintain. She decided to worry about that later and swam over to her distressed brother. "Curry? Curry, calm down!"

Curry stopped flailing his arms and looked at his sister before taking some deep breaths. His body glowed and he's back in his Mermobian form; he even hugged his teal tail as a way of comfort.

"Much better…" He muttered.

"You okay now, Bro?" Selene asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

Selene smiled. "That's good." She then felt her phone buzz and took it out to see a quick text message from Petri. She read it and giggled before putting her phone away, keeping what the message said in mind. She went to grab her brother's hand. "Come on; everyone else is waiting."

Curry moved his hand away from Selene's, much to her confusion. "I don't know about them, Selene…"

"Sonic and the others?" Selene narrowed her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "Curry, they've dealt with Eggman many times and thwarted everything he threw at them! And they saved me before he got to me, so I trust them. You know that I am an excellent judge of character."

"Oh, like how you thought Duke was a decent guy before realizing he's a jerk?" Curry snarked. This made his little sister glare and growl at him, causing the yellow merhog to sweat drop. "T-Then again, you were still skeptical of him…"

Selene sighed and attempted to grab her brother's hand again. This time, he didn't pull away and let her hold it gently. "Look, I understand your concern, but they may be our best chance in stopping Eggman from unsealing the Leviathan. And…maybe bring our beloved guardian back to us…"

"What makes you think they can help us extinguish the Leviathan's wrath?" Curry asked skeptically.

"Chaos still had anger in him when he was freed from his prison. Sonic and his friends not only stopped him from destroying the world, but they also calmed him down permanently."

Curry looked stunned. "Wait, what?"

"I'll explain more later," Selene assured before gripping her brother's hand. "Now hold on tight; we got a plane to catch."

The yellow merhog grew nervous. "W-Wait, Sis, maybe we should take our TIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMMMMME!"

His sister took off like a torpedo. Poor guy held on for dear life, screaming his head off.

Sonic kept an eye out for the two merhogs. He then looked at Verde, thinking back to what she said about making Tornado go faster. "Yo, V! Why did you want Tails to fly faster?"

Verde blinked at the nickname but decided to answer him in a sly manner. "Oh, you'll see soon enough, mi amigo azul puntiagudo."

Man, she sure likes speaking Spanish, Sonic thought before smiling. Nice to know that I'm a friend despite only meeting her for a short time. His ear suddenly twitched, and he looked behind him to see something charging right at the Tornado.

Before the hedgehog knew it, a splash was heard, and Curry was back on the bottom wing below Verde and Knuckles. The merhog gripped the wing again, shaken by the speed.

Whatever dropped Curry off swam right past the Tornado and started swimming in all kinds of directions. They couldn't see in the water, but they could've sworn they spotted a hint of red.

Sonic widened his eyes at this. "Wait… Is that…"

Verde laughed. "Yup! That's Selene."

"Not sure if she mentioned it to you guys, but she's gifted with the power to swim faster than anyone in all of Mermobius," Petri said happily. "In fact, she's the fastest Moon Keeper in history!"

Tails couldn't believe his eyes as he watched Selene swim. "Wow! With that speed, she might be as fast as Sonic and Shadow!"

Petri and Verde looked at the fox in confusion. Both Sonic and Shadow have the same speed as their friend? Preposterous!

"And I thought Sonic liked to show off," Knuckles muttered.

Verde heard him and glared, causing him to sweat drop nervously. "Watch it, equidna."

Sonic was speechless. He never thought of meeting someone born with natural super speed like him. Sure, there's Shadow, but he firmly believes that his Air Shoes are the source of his speed. He couldn't help but smile; if Selene's fast in the sea, just imagine how fast she would be on land.

Amy noticed her hero's expression and her jaw dropped. The heck?! Since when is Sonic interested in someone who's fast like him? He should be jealous!

Another sound of splashing was heard, and Selene was back on the bottom wing below the two hedgehogs, wringing the water out of her quills. She thought about bending it off, but figured the wind would do the work for her.

Sonic looked down at the merhog from his spot. "That was amazing!"

Selene giggled. "Thanks. Were you surprised?"

Sonic gave her his trademark smirk. "Totally! We should race. I wanna see if you're also fast on land."

Selene smirked back. "Is that a challenge?"

"You bet it—HEY!" Sonic was pulled back, and Amy was giving him a disapproving look.

"There's a time and place for everything, but not now," she scolded.

"Killjoy…" Sonic muttered.

"What was that?!"

"N-Nothing!"

Selene couldn't help but sweat drop after hearing the exchange between the two hedgehogs. She's now unsure if they were even a couple like she originally thought.

"Guys!" Tails gained everyone's attention. "I can see Soleanna ahead. I'm gonna prepare for landing."

Putting pressure on the accelerator, the Tornado flew faster to the city. Everyone held on tight as they prepared themselves for the hunt ahead.

As the Tornado began its descent to Soleanna, Tails could see that the lush forest surrounding the city was far too dense for a safe landing. He had no choice but to land the aircraft just outside the city's bustling borders. The group would have to traverse the city and venture into Soleanna Forest on foot.

Not that they minded; after all, Soleanna's a beautiful city. The city's charms captivated each member, more so than others. Selene's gaze danced across the elegant architecture that blended so well with nature; it was like something out of a painting.

"Welcome to Soleanna, the City of Water!" Sonic announced happily to the gang.

"City of Water is right," Curry muttered in disbelief.

"So beautiful!" Selene gushed.

"We have to explore!" Petri exclaimed.

"Might as well," Tails said, taking the Miles Electric out of his two tails to look at its readings. "It's a bit of a walk to get to the forest, so we'll be able to kill two birds with one stone."

"Yay!" Petri cheered, causing everyone to smile at her cheery disposition.

As they all headed to the direction of Soleanna Forest, everyone took their time to look at their surroundings. Soleanna's mostly populated by humans, but there are some Mobians walking around, whether as locals or tourists.

Amidst the enchanting surroundings of Soleanna, Amy felt her phone buzz and took it out of her dress pocket to see a text message. A smile graced her lips as she started to read the message.

"Aww, Cream wanted to check in," the pink hedgehog said and continued reading the message fondly. Her eyes then lit up like a Christmas tree. "And Blaze is visiting!"

"Blaze?" Selene questioned; her head tilted in curiosity.

"She's the other princess I told you about," Sonic answered happily.

This revelation filled the merhog with a heightened sense of anticipation. "That means I'll get to see her! Awesome!"

Amy giggled as she began to send a text back, her fingers moving gracefully across the screen. "And I just know Cream's going to love meeting your brother and friends."

Selene smiled at the thought. She looked to see Petri and Curry looking at the canals, the merterfly's eyes glittering in happiness. The merhog giggled when she saw the look on her brother's face; he looked so tempted to jump in the water but restrained himself. She looked at Verde to see how she's doing. She frowned when she noticed the look of annoyance on the merchidna's face.

The reason? Knuckles was staring at her again.

She sighed at this. She might as well tell Verde why Knuckles is doing this; if he's not going to say anything, then she will.

The merhog jogged up to the green merchidna and gently grabbed her arm. "Verde."

Verde looked at Selene and smiled a bit. "Oh, hey." She gave another annoyed look at Knuckles, causing him to look away and blushed in embarrassment. "I don't know what is up with that guy. Why does he keep looking at me?"

Selene frowned. "I know why."

Verde looked at the merhog; her eyes widened a bit at the news. "Huh?"

"I found out something about him just before you showed up," the merhog continued sadly. She leaned into the merchidna's ear and whispered.

Verde's pupils shrunk and pulled away after Selene finished whispering in her ear. "¿Qué?"

Selene nodded sadly. "Sí, me sorprendió cuando me enteré."

Verde was left stunned, not sure what else to say after hearing the fact that there are no other Mobian echidnas left. No wonder Knuckles was staring at her… Being the last of your species must have been hard on him; and he has now learned that he's technically not the last of his kind anymore. Verde wasn't sure if he was going to say something about that, but now she won't be so hard on him when they bring the topic up.

"Hey, beautiful~"

The girls jumped and turned to see a Mobian dog; more specifically, a Labrador Retriever. Selene sighed in annoyance while Verde looked unamused.

"Can we help you?" The merhog asked flatly.

The Labrador smirked at Selene, not noticing the tone of her voice. "The name's Rocco. I was wondering if a pretty girl like yourself would be interested in a tour of the city. What do you say?"

They always go for the younger ones, Verde thought in annoyance. Not that she minded, but she does mind when boys get a little too close to her friend without permission.

"No thanks," Selene said and turned away, much to the dog's shock and the merchidna's amusement. "I already have a tour guide."

"Oh puh-lease," Rocco scoffed. "Who knows this city better than yours truly?"

"AHEM!"

The dog yelped and turned to see Sonic standing behind him with his arms crossed, and he didn't look happy.

Verde blinked. When did he get here?

"I would appreciate it if you would leave my friend alone," Sonic said in a stern tone.

Rocco stared down at the hedgehog, unnerved by his presence. "Well, well, Sonic the Hedgehog in the flesh. Look, man, you may be famous, but I bet you don't know a lot about my town."

The blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes. "I happen to know plenty. I'm fast, but I'm very good at paying attention to places I've traveled to."

Amy, Tails, and Knuckles watched the scene in complete silence, unsure whether to step in and help or not. As for Petri and Curry, they looked annoyed, as if they had seen something like this many times; although the latter looked ready to pummel the Mobian dog for getting too close to his sister.

"Whatever," Rocco huffed before wrapping his arm around Selene's shoulders, causing her to stiffen. "I still think I can give this pretty thing a better tour than you."

Selene could feel a vein throbbing on her forehead and glared at the Labrador. "You have exactly ten seconds to remove your arm before I break it in two."

"Oooooh, so feisty~" Rocco smirked and held her tighter. "I knew you were cute when I saw you on the local paper, but I didn't know you were hot!"

This made the merhog growl, though the dog didn't notice.

Sonic felt his eye twitch, anger bubbling in his chest. Man, no wonder Selene got annoyed when Amy mentioned admirers. Guys like him make me sick!

But just as he and the others were about to assist Selene, the sound of someone clearing their throat stopped everyone. The Mobian dog grew pale, recognizing the sound and turned to see a young adult human female with short red hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. What got Selene's attention was the outfit she was wearing. The outfit consisted of a feather crown, a white dress with a feather trim, silver earrings, a gem necklace, white evening gloves with a feather trim, tan pantyhose, and red and silver high heels.

She had her arms crossed and was giving the Labrador a stern look. "Getting into trouble again, Rocco?"

"P-P-Princess Elise!" Rocco stuttered as he removed his arm from the merhog. "I-I was just—"

"Making this poor girl feel uncomfortable," Elise finished sternly. "I would have hoped that you would stop harassing girls after I've told you the many complaints that I've been getting from everyone. Clearly that's not working."

"B-But—" Rocco felt a hand on his shoulder and paled when it was a Soleanna Royal Guardsman. Where did he come from?!

"Please escort him back home," the princess ordered. "I'll be there shortly with another lecture, especially if his parents are currently present."

"At once, Your Highness," the guard nodded before taking Rocco away, the dog hanging his head in shame.

Elise turned to Selene, looking remorseful. "I'm so sorry for the trouble he caused. My people are more civilized than that."

Selene jumped and waved her hands in front of her. "Oh, no, no, no, it's okay!" She then blushed and rubbed the back of her head. "I think I might have made the situation worse if you hadn't showed up."

Verde nudged the merhog playfully. "Yeah, getting the boys to back off is always entertaining."

Selene pouted; the blush deepened to the point where it blended with her fur. "Verde!"

Elise let out a giggle. "Still, I'm glad you're alright." She then noticed Sonic and blinked in surprise before smiling. "Sonic the Hedgehog; it's been so long."

Sonic smiled and did a friendly wave. "Hi, Elise."

Selene looked at Sonic with amazement in her eyes. "Wow, you know her?"

Sonic smiled. "Yeah. I came to Soleanna during a celebration. I ended up meeting the princess and we just hit it off." He then rubbed his chin, feeling another case of déjà vu. "Not really sure how…"

"Even I was puzzled on how we connected easily," Elise admitted. "Regardless, he's a joy to have around. What brings you all to Soleanna?"

Sonic looked apologetic. "I wish it was a social visit, but we are here on official business."

"Oh? What kind of business?"

"We're looking for the Chaos Emeralds," Tails answered as he and everyone else came over. "See, we picked up a Chaos Emerald signature in the forest. We were on our way there so we can get to the Emerald before Eggman does."

"Eggman?" Elise gasped. "He's back?"

At everyone's nod, Elise grew worried. She had heard of the Doctor's misdeeds through the other country leaders as well as from Sonic. During the war, her city was fortunate to not be caught in the crossfire. Nevertheless, she offered refuge to people who have lost their homes. Whatever plan Eggman's up to—and if the Chaos Emeralds are involved—then it can't be good.

The Soleanna Princess gave a determined look to the group. "Please allow me to point you all in the right direction to the forest."

"Really?" Petri asked hopefully. "That's so nice of you!"

"Of course," Elise pointed down the road. "Follow this road and you should see a gate. It's the fastest way to get to the forest from here. I only hope it's close to where the Emerald is."

"Don't worry about that," Sonic assured the princess. "With eight of us, we'll have a better chance at finding the Emerald."

"Still, if there's anything else I can do, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Will do," Sonic nodded to Elise then went onward. "Let's go, guys!"

Everyone quickly followed the blue hedgehog. Selene looked back and waved at Elise, who smiled and waved back. She watched them go before heading off to continue her royal duties.

Good luck, my friends, Elise prayed. And please be careful…

Translations:

Joven príncipe = Young prince

Mi amigo azul puntiagudo = My spiky blue friend

Equidna = Echidna

Qué = What

Sí, me sorprendió cuando me enteré = Yes, I was shocked when I found out

Might as well end the chapter with a cliffhanger lol. I want to give a shoutout to Assassin's Creed Master for giving me some pointers on how to be a little more descriptive. I will keep doing my best in that department!

I'm curious about what voices you picture for Selene, Petri, Verde, and Curry so far. I have some ideas on what voices I picture them with, but I'm curious about your opinions. I'll probably ask again when I introduce a few more OCs.

Also, I finally got a new iPad! I'm currently fiddling with Procreate and am working on a picture of Selene. Still deciding if I should post on DeviantArt or AO3.

I'll keep the poll up a bit longer, but I think I know what I'm going to do about the topic.

See you next time!