Sonic Series Fan Fiction / Sonic X Fan Fiction ❯ The Ultimate Adventure: The Mobius Saga ❯ Mobius, Part III: Releasing the Power Within ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and other canon characters are copyrighted by Sega and Archie Comics. The fancharacters used in “The Mobius Saga” are owned by me, and no one is allowed to use them without my permission.

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The Ultimate Adventure

Mobius, Part III: Releasing the Power Within

A think blanket of darkness filled the area. It was deep black, blacker than the nighttime sky. It had a tint of blue in it, but it was very faint. The thickness was incomprehensible; if someone tried to look at his own hand in front of his face, he would not be able to see it. What was more interesting was that the darkness had, thus far, lasted for some time, but it was unknown how long it had been this dark.

But the darkness was not going to last for much longer, when the darkness vanished and was replaced by sunlight. He squinted the moment the sun hit his eyes, for his eyelids have been shut for a while. He blinked several times and shook his head vigorously to better his vision.

After several seconds, he sat up and looked at the surroundings. The sky above him was baby blue and gold along the horizon, and a wind blew softly across him. In the background, several tall evergreen trees sparkled in the sunlight, their green leaves glistening brightly. On his right, the summit of Angel Mountain stood proudly in the sky, the marble body and the ice cap sunbathing.

When he looked down, he noticed that he was sitting on an old green cloth. It was long and wide, but very torn up, almost useless. The texture was thin, and old strands of yarn flapped in the waft, as if they were lighter than feathers. There were also holes in the fabric, exposing the ground underneath it. The blocks underneath looked like old stone and marble. It felt rough and cold, despite the zinc that glittered in the light.

Just as he finished looking at the surroundings, he clutched his head with his right arm and rubbed his scalp, groaning loudly.

“You okay, kid?” asked a teenaged voice.

Alexander, while rubbing his scalp, looked up from the ground and noticed three “animals” looking down on him. The one on the right was Sonic; the one on the left was Amy (in clad similar to her old ones, but neither torn nor burnt), and the one beside Amy was Tails.

Another groan escaped Alexander, but he still had enough energy for him to whisper these words, “Did anyone get that license place on that truck?”

The Mobians looked at each other and chuckled. Even though they did not know his name, they knew Alexander was going to be okay.

“How do you feel, kid?” asked Sonic to the child.

A low moan of pain escaped him. “Very sore,” groaned Alexander as he continued rubbing his scalp. “From my head to the rest of the body, I'm just completely sore, but other than that, I'm fine.”

“Well, thank heavens you are okay,” said Amy. “When we found you in the forest, you looked badly beaten up.”

Alexander looked down at his arms and turned them to check for any bruises. Sure enough, they were still there. One light one was on his right wrist, and another one was on the upper-left arm. Unlike the one on the wrist, this one was newer and more “black-and-blue.”

Curiosity building in his brain, he touched it with his right index finger and immediately winced. “Man, I just keep getting beat up by the minute,” he muttered.

Amy blew her bangs away from the middle of her eyes (with no success) and looked at his bruise with her big green eyes. Her irises acted like detectives, looking at where it was the most sore and where it needed no treatment. After some careful inspections, she looked at him straight in the eye.

“Don't worry,” she soothed. “Just some medical herbs will do away with it.”

Alexander nodded at her direction, blinking once while moving his head down. “Thanks, ma'am,” he said and squeezed it, ignoring the stabbing pain. “And I thought I'm gonna die from my injuries,” he added with mild humor, hoping to brighten the serious mood.

The three Mobians silently chuckled as they faced each other.

“I'll go get some herbs for him,” said Amy to her friends as she got to her feet.

Both Sonic and Tails nodded as Amy walked behind them and down a stairwell that was hidden from view.

When she vanished, the male Mobians faced Alexander again.

“Well, the thing is you're alright,” said Tails.

“I can agree with that,” said Alexander with a smile.

They stayed silent for a few more minutes as Alexander collected his thoughts. Even though he saw them for only a short amount of time, he recognized them before. As far as from what he recalled, he remembered seeing them, as well as a fourth one, battling Dr. Eggman. Albeit the hazy memory, he could detect it thoroughly.

The silence concluded when Tails spoke again.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” the fox enquired and turned around. “I think these belonged to you.” And he handed Alexander his bag as well as the treasure chest.

“Thanks,” said Alexander as he retrieved his belongings.

“No problem,” said Tails with a smile.

Alexander put his treasure chest down beside him and was about to touch the zipper of his travel bag…

SMACK!

“OW!”

…Until Amy's voice suddenly rang after hearing some sort of slap run across her face.

Alexander, Sonic, and Tails cringed at the sound of the crack.

“That must've hurt,” thought Alexander.

And he was right, because the moment Amy went into view, he noticed her clutching a red swell that was imprinted on the left side of her jaw.

That was not all she had. She was holding a slick white cloth and mint-like herbs in her right hand. And a bucket of water dangled on the same arm.

She also carried one more thing, and that was anger: She was very cross.

“Why that no good, trash-talking—”

“Are you okay, Amy?” asked Sonic as he went to her side.

“I'll be fine,” replied Amy crossly, her voice a little stuffy from the swell in her muzzle, “as soon as that hussy stops harassing me!”

Alexander put the bag down and looked at the pink hedgehog confusingly. “Who?”

Amy turned to Alexander with a frustrated look on her face.

“I don't know,” she replied. “She was moving too fast for me to get her full description, although I could vaguely tell that the Mobian was a female.”

“I'll go talk to her either tomorrow or the day after,” said Sonic.

“Mm-hmm,” Amy said solemnly as she passed Sonic and sat next to Alexander.

“Allow me to see the wound on your arm, Mr.—”

“Alexander.”

“Mr. Alexander,” finished Amy, not taking her eye off Alex's arm.

“No, no, no,” said Alexander quickly. “It's just Alexander.”

Amy heard him and nodded, before changing the subject. “I like to see your arm, please.”

Alexander complied and raised his left arm into the air. Amy reached behind her and grabbed the wet white cloth. The cloth was slick, and it glistened in a bright green gel.

“Um… Amy?” Alexander wondered, looking at the gel with an “I'm-going-to-be-sick” look.

Amy looked at him. “Yes, Alexander?” she asked.

“What's that lime green junk on that washcloth?”

Amy's eyes squinted awkwardly at Alexander before gazing at his bruised humerus again. “That `junk' on the towel is tree sap.”

“Sap?”

“Yes, sap,” replied Amy. “See those trees around the perimeter?”

Alexander looked at the evergreen trees on his right side. “I assume the sap came from those trees over there.”

“Exactly,” Amy nodded. “This is medical sap. It's used to keep wounds clean and closed.”

“Medical sap, huh?” thought Alexander with interest. He then jokingly added with a low mutter, “I have a feeling they don't use it on pancakes.”

Amy looked up at him. “What was that, Alexander?” she ordered.

“Never mind.”

Amy huffed and began to treat Alexander's wound. First, she grabbed the two leaves and placed them across his bruise. She, then, took the gel-covered washcloth and wrapped it around his upper arm, pressing the crease firmly on the towel the moment after the arm was bandaged. Once the cloth was completely compressed on his arm, she took off her right glove and looked behind her, where the bucket of water was sitting. Amy dipped her finger in the water and smeared it on the towel's crease.

“That oughta do it,” Amy said as she put her glove back on. She raised her head towards Alexander. “The sap and the herbs will make the pain in your arm subside. Keep it on for a week, and it'll be healed.”

“Got it,” Alexander said and got to his feet, groaning from the stiffness in his hips and leg muscles.

“I think you should go for a walk,” decided Sonic. “That way, you can get the blood in your legs.”

Alexander hummed aloud and nodded. “I can't argue with that,” he said and grabbed his supplies.

Just as he was about to climb down the stairwell, he looked at the three Mobians. “Say, you know something…”

The Mobians gave Alexander a questioning look.

“…I don't think we introduced ourselves, yet.”

The Mobians looked at each other, then turned back to Alexander again.

“Sorry, we forgot,” said Sonic. “I'm sure you know me already; I'm Sonic, and my friends behind me are Tails and Amy.” He pointed at the golden fox and pink hedgehog respectively.

“I'm Alexander,” the human said to them. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you, too,” said Tails.

Alexander smiled and waved at them as he walked down. “I'll be back before sundown!” he called and disappeared from view.

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The moment Alexander stepped foot onto the ground, he trudged across a dirt path and crossed over a little bridge that hovered over a small river. The bridge was made out of stone and clay, and it contained minerals of zinc and quartz. The floor of the bridge was a little rough. Loose stones scattered all over, and some of the structure on the top edges of the bridge eroded, making it look very old and very ancient.

Alexander stopped halfway across the bridge, accidentally kicking a loose piece of rubble in the process. Wondering what the scene behind him was like, he looked behind and stared at the holy place with awe. It looked like a shrine, a holy and religious shrine. It was tall and circular, and there were two landings. The top landing was completely made out of stone and marble, and it looked very round and very old. Old stones grayed and the blocks were cracked. Some of the creases were cemented together to keep the top of the altar from collapsing. The second ring was wider and bigger. It was made out of the same block of stones created for the first landing, only except they were bigger and rougher.

Connecting both of them was a stairwell. The steps were very flat and very smooth. It looked like someone had used sandpaper on them. They were made out of stone and marble, the same material that seemed to be used to construct the altar. Then, before the stairs reached the ground, a platform stood in its place. It was also made out of stone, but it had a brownish tint in it. About three yards from the main stairwell was a small staircase, but there are only had three steps in that one.

The altar's design was unique. On the top of the temple, six columns circled around the edge. They were very weathered; the tops of the columns were pointy and ragged, making it look like they were parts of a ruin. Around the base of the shrine was a stone ring. Many of the columns were chopped and ragged, looking very old and weathered. Some of them were so worn down, they were down to their last stone. Outside of that ring was another one, but it was bare and housed no columns whatsoever.

After he finished observing the architecture, Alexander walked over to his left and leaned his right arm on the edge of the bridge. He looked down and gazed at the calm blue water below. He could see his reflection. His face, his neck, even his bandaged arm, he could detect all the details about him, something that the waters from where he came from did not have.

A sigh escaped him as he looked down at his reflection. Then, without really thinking, he reached his right hand over the edge and dangled it. It was as if he was trying to touch it.

In fact, he was trying to touch it. Whatever the reason was, he felt like he had to do it. Like there was some kind of unknown force telling him to reach down beneath him and touch it.

And then… he did. His index finger grazed the water, and he twirled it in small circles. Small ripples resulted from the twirling, making his reflection scatter.

“Huh?”

But suddenly, he felt some sort of vibration coming from the left-hand side, like some shockwave hitting him. The thing was that it was not very violent; it felt… serene, like music reverberating off a string of a harp. It was soft, but it was enough to catch his attention. He slowly took his hand out from the water and looked at the altar again.

“What are you doing?”

But a male voice knocked Alexander out of that trance. Blinking rapidly, and with a glum expression on his face, he looked away from the altar and toward the edge of the bridge. Standing there, balancing the pointy tip, was the cyan Chaos Emerald, its aura glowing both quixotically and loosely.

“It's about time to see you out of my bag,” said Alexander to the gem.

“Well,” began the cyan Chaos Emerald, “I was worried for you, but I was also worried that Eggman was still around.”

“Sometimes, your way of worrying lacks common sense,” huffed the red Chaos Emerald as she landed beside her cyan companion. “Couldn't you have used some sort of power to know that Eggman was nowhere to be seen?”

The cyan gem's glow froze, as if it started to pale. “I didn't think about that,” he said meekly.

PLOP!

“Alright, alright. Quit arguing there,” interrupted Alexander as he placed his bag between them.

Both gems did not stay separated for long as they hovered to Alexander's eye-level.

“From what I've seen, you two just argue, argue, and argue. Heavens, you two act like you're married to each other.”

Both gems “looked” at each other before turning to Alexander again. “What's `marriage'?” they wondered confusingly.

Alexander sighed and collapsed his head onto the edge of the bridge. “Great, Alexander. What a good thing to say to them,” he thought sarcastically. “Never mind about that,” he said aloud and raised his head off the stoned edge, dismissing the old topic and going to a new one. “So, how was your stay inside my bag?” he asked them, his mind thinking mischievously.

The cyan gem growled. “You don't want to know,” he said, his voice full of detestation.

“What do you mean?” asked Alexander as he put the treasure chest inside his bag, then zipping it up securely.

“He's saying that he hated being crammed inside a hot, stuffed-up bag for two whole days!” exclaimed the red Chaos Emerald.

Alexander's eyes widened. “Two days, you said?”

“That's right, Alex,” answered the red gem, returning to her usual calm self. Then, after “seeing” Alexander's face become very pale, she asked him, “What's wrong? You look sick.”

“Darn right about that,” thought Alexander to himself before saying to her, “I was out for two days?”

The cyan gem floated in front of Alexander and said to him, “I'm not sure, but from how long we've been stuck in there, I have to say that, yes, you have.”

Alexander fell silent, but his reaction proved otherwise, for he looked green in the face.

“What's the matter, Alex?” the red gem repeated worryingly. “You look sick.”

Alexander wheezed and looked at the red Chaos Emerald with a cross expression. “Well, what do you think I was doing, acting it all out?” he retorted frustratingly, but he seemed to calm down after the color in his skin returned. “Sorry about that. I'm just under a little bit of stress right now.”

“It's alright, Alexander,” soothed the red Chaos Emerald and landed on the rim of the bridge, balancing her pointy tip on the stone. “If I were you, I'd probably the same way.”

“No kidding,” teased the cyan Chaos Emerald, who was floating alongside Alexander's right.

The red Emerald “looked” at he cyan companion and flared her red aura a little brighter than usual, as if she was giving him a glare.

It did no effect, however, as the cyan Chaos Emerald landed beside her, stifling a snicker. Alexander held back a chuckle, too.

“It looks like I was right,” thought Alexander. “They do fight like a married couple. The only drawback from this was that they're not real things… even though they cooperate like one,” he added teasingly.

Both gems seemed to have read his thoughts when they “looked” at him dumbly… again.

“Married couple? What's that?” they asked.

Alexander collapsed his head onto the edge of the bridge… again. “Nice going, you idiot!” he thought to himself.

“Never mind that,” said Alexander to the Chaos Emeralds after raising his head off the edge… again. “So…” he said, trying to think of something to converse, when he side-glance at the shrine behind him, “…that temple that I woke up in was the shelter you two were talking about?” He finished his stilted question by pointing at the shrine blindly with his left hand.

Both Chaos Emeralds cast a glance at the shrine before facing the human again.

“If you're mentioning the Hidden Palace over there,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald, referencing the altar as the “Hidden Palace,” “then, yes, it is. Why'd you ask?”

Alexander shrugged his shoulders. “Don't know. Just want to talk about something.” He exhaled longingly. “I'm bored. What can I do while I'm here?”

“You can explore the forest if you like,” suggested the red Chaos Emerald.

“Hmm, perhaps,” replied Alexander, but when he looked at the forest, he became doubtful, “but I don't wanna get lost. Besides, I promised that I get back to the shrine by nightfall.”

“I see,” pondered the red gem. Then, she turned to her cyan companion. “How `bout you?”

“I'm not quite sure myself,” the cyan Emerald replied, also in a thinking motion.

Their considerations would have to wait for a few moments…

WHOOSH!

…When a gust of wind suddenly brushed by them, narrowly missing Alexander by a couple of inches.

The Chaos Emeralds floated from the ground and hovered about six feet in the air. Alexander backed away from the edge of the bridge the moment he heard the wind.

“What was that?” gasped Alexander.

“I would call that a gust of wind, Alexander,” replied the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“Lay off the sarcasm,” scolded the red gemstone, “but I have a sneaky suspicion the wind wasn't natural.”

“I'll have to agree with you on that one,” agreed Alexander.

He was correct once again, when a quick burst of wind quickly zoomed by a surprised Alexander, narrowly missing his nose.

“Wah!” he yelled out and fell, back first, onto the ground.

“You're okay, Alexander?” asked the Chaos Emeralds simultaneously as they “glanced” down on his him.

“I'm fine,” replied Alexander and got back up. “I'm been through worse.”

“Oh, you have?”

All three spectators gasped at the eerie female voice that unexpectedly popped into the atmosphere.

“Okay, now, I'm getting scared,” said Alexander, panic creeping up inside him.

“Same here,” agreed both Chaos Emeralds.

“Good,” interrupted the bone-chilling voice again, making everyone gasp again. “That's exactly what I want.”

“Well, now, you have it,” thought Alexander and looked from side to side. Surprisingly, no one was in sight.

“That's weird,” wondered the human after looking around. “I could've sworn someone was here.”

“Correction,” boomed the female voice again. Then, coming from Alexander's right-hand side, her voice thundered crossly, “I am

here.”

Alexander gasped in surprise. “Wha…?” But the moment he looked to his right, his said no more.

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Mushroom Hill: a very quiet and peaceful place. Tall orange grass swayed in the wind. The dirt was wet and glossy, making it look like a swamp. Small ponds reflected the sky, showing off swirls of red, orange, and light violet.

However, the main spectacle to Mushroom Hill was… the mushrooms. Many of them ranged from six to fifteen feet, but some of the more healthy sprouts were higher than most sequoias. The stalks were golden, and they shined in the light. Many of the stalks were skinny, but some of them that were larger than most cars. The caps of the mushrooms varied in color. Most of them were red with yellow polka dots on them, while some of them were actually yellow with red polka dots on them.

Throughout the day, it was very tranquil. No noise echoed throughout the area, not even a buzz from an annoying insect.

But that was soon going to change, when a faint scream reverberated around the forest. It was barely audible, but it suddenly got louder, and louder, and louder. Then, it became so loud, it could be heard from two miles away.

It was like the panicked scream would last forever, but for some reason, it stopped…

SPLASH!

…Because the person who screamed crashed into a body of water nearby.

Just a few feet away from Mushroom Hill resided a calm stream. The water was crystal blue and very still. On one side lied the same red-and-yellow capped mushroom forest, but the other side was a little different. The stalks were golden, but they had a brownish tone in them, and they were not very sparkly. The caps were also varied in blue. Some caps were dark blue with bright blue polka dots on them, while the other caps were bright blue with the polka dots being dark blue.

In the middle of the stream, ripples were spreading out at a vigorous pace, and small air bubbles popped from the ripple's epicenter. Whoever that caused those air bubbles remained underwater for a couple of moments, when he suddenly sat up. The human had blond hair, a black t-shirt, and bandages on his upper-left arm and right hand.

Alexander spat the water out of his mouth and moved his air away from his turquoise eyes. His right cheek was bright red, and his eyebrows furrowed dangerously.

“Wait until I get my hands on her,” he growled, venom dripping from his enraged snarl. “Wait till I strangle that fat, ugly son of a—”

BONK!

“AHH!” Alexander cried out as his face and upper-body, once again, plunged into the water, courtesy of his travel bag crashing onto his head!

Groaning loudly, Alexander sat up again, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand. He then looked down on his right and noticed the strap of his travel bag. Grumbling crossly, Alexander picked up his bag and hoisted it over his right shoulder. But just as he did so, the cyan and red Chaos Emeralds crashed into the embankment where the red and yellow-capped mushrooms resided.

“Oh, great,” he muttered and dug the gems out from the mud.

“Are you all right, Alexander?” asked the red Chaos Emerald, her red glow radiating brightly.

“I'm okay,” answered Alexander, even though his head was throbbing rapidly. “That bag's gonna need to become lighter, though,” he added as he looked over his shoulder.

“Nevertheless, you're alive and breathing,” cut in the cyan Chaos Emerald. “Now, let's get outta here.”

“Good idea,” said Alexander, and he trotted into the yellow-and-red capped mushroom forest.

They all remained silent until Alexander reached the wide-open space of Mushroom Hill. When he looked around, he noticed that everywhere he looked, an array of mushrooms filled the flat stretch of land. Some were short; some were tall; and a couple of them completely towered above him.

But when he looked ahead of him, what he saw was a plateau. Instead of mushrooms, the ground was mostly covered by one-foot orange grass, with areas of emerald green sprouting around the area. It swayed and danced in the wind, like it was in a very happy mood. Only a few of the mushrooms sprouted upon the hill: Many of them were still young and were waiting for their time to shine.

The sky remained unchanged: A bright gold spread across the horizon, followed by shades of red, blue, and purple above the golden horizon.

Alexander looked at the place in awe, watching the beautiful scenery ahead of him.

The red Chaos Emerald could not help, but agree with him. “Mushroom Hill's a very beautiful place, isn't it?”

“It definitely is,” sighed Alexander. He then walked backwards and leaned on one of the mushrooms.

“Um… Alexander…” enquired the cyan Chaos Emerald as he floated in front of Alexander's face, “I think you should go back to the Hidden Palace. The others might be… worried… about… you…” But he was cut off when Alexander lifted himself off the trunk and began walking down the hill. “Hey! Wait for me!” And he floated after Alexander and the red Chaos Emerald.

Alexander walked down a slope and stopped once he reached the bottom, When he observed his surroundings once more, he realized that unlike the forest far in the background, there were only a few mushrooms along the plateau. Many of them were about four to eight feet tall, but they were more spaced out instead of being cluttered and crowded.

After scanning the mushrooms, Alexander walked past them and up a steady grassy hill. Neither foliage nor flora resided there, and the mushrooms at the bottom of the hill were now becoming nothing more than lines in the background.

After reaching the top, he looked at the mushrooms in the background and sighed at the scenery, allowing the sunlight to hit behind him. “Very nice view here, isn't it?” he told himself.

“It definitely is,” replied the red Chaos Emerald as she hovered next to the Halbery child.

The cyan Chaos Emerald, after catching up with the duo, responded with this. “Alexander, we shouldn't be here now. We have to get back to the Hidden Palace soon.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said Alexander dismissively, ignoring the warning. “But I cannot help but like this place.” But when he turned around, he gasped in awe. Standing about 145 yards away from him was a family of mushrooms. The group contained ten mushrooms; all of the caps were yellow and were stained with red polka dots. The stalks were shiny and golden, just like most of the other mushrooms along the hill.

The four short ones were only seventeen feet high, and the stalks were about seven feet in diameter. The caps were about 21 feet in diameter, and they were spread out to where they made an imaginary square, about seventy yards from one small mushroom to the other. The next four mushrooms were about 45 feet high, and the stalks were about 27 feet in diameter. Each cap was about 50 feet in diameter, and they stood between the other four mushrooms. Finally, the last two mushrooms stood side by side in the center of the pack. They were each about 71 feet tall, towering the other eight mushrooms below them. Both stalks were each about 40 feet in diameter, and they were shining in the remaining sunlight. The mushrooms' caps were each about 111 feet in diameter, and they both swayed gently in the wind, as if they were dancing quixotically.

“Wow,” Alexander gasped as he gawked at them. “Aren't they beautiful?”

“Yes, they are beautiful,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald, a tone that hinted that he had no interest of staying. “I think we were supposed to be heading back to Hidden Palace soon.”

“Like I said before, I know,” said Alexander, not taking his eyes off the group of towering mushrooms. “But the scene here is just breathtaking.”

The red Chaos emerald certainly agreed. “Me, too,” she said softly as she hovered next to Alexander.

“I know it is!” said the cyan gemstone impatiently, “but the subject at hand is to…”

SNAP!

Alexander and the Chaos Emeralds gasped at the sound of the snapping twig echoing throughout the area, and they turned to the hill behind them - where the sound came from.

“I think I know who's coming, Alexander,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald.

And he was right; when Alexander looked down, he noticed at a blue blur racing from the mushroom forest and right towards him.

If the blur was not evident enough, the calls of “Alexander, where are you?” echoed throughout the valley.

“Sonic's coming,” Alexander told the Chaos Emeralds.

“Uh-oh,” both gems quipped, and without another word, they dropped themselves to the orange and green grass below.

Alexander looked at the Emeralds and their antics. “Huh. That was weird,” he thought and picked them up. “I wonder why they did that?”

“Yo, Alexander!” called the teenaged male voice.

The Halbery child looked up and saw Sonic the Hedgehog standing before him, his arms crossed, and his right foot tapping impatiently on the soft grass.

“Where were you? We were looking all over for you,” said Sonic severely.

“Sorry, Sonic,” said Alexander to him. “It just that someone sped up behind me and punched me so hard, she sent me flying to this place.”

“I see,” said Sonic a little more leniently and put his right hand on his chin. “So now, this woman has attacked someone else. I'm going to have investigate the situation soon.”

“Sonic?”

The blue hedgehog snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the teenager once more. “Sorry, Alexander. I was just thinking about something.”

“Thinking about what?” asked Alexander.

“I'll tell you about that later,” replied Sonic. “But right now, we have to get back to the Hidden Palace.”

“How?” queried Alexander.

“With one of the Chaos Emeralds you have there,” answered Sonic and pointed at the cyan Chaos Emerald in Alexander's left hand.

“This…?” Alexander brought the Emerald to eye level.

“Exactly, but I'll have to borrow it, if you don't mind.”

Alexander looked down and handed him the Chaos Emerald. “Mm-mm, I don't,” he replied.

Sonic smiled and grabbed the gemstone with his left hand. “Thanks,” he complimented. “Now, grab onto my free hand here and close your eyes.”

Alexander grabbed Sonic's right hand and closed his eyes without speaking.

Exhaling loudly, Sonic raised the cyan Chaos Emerald high into the air. “CHAOS CONTROL!”

Once the command was handed out, Alexander and Sonic were both trapped into a ball of cyan light. It swirled around them like a planet revolving around the sun. It felt very tingly, but also very warm. Unlike the muggy summer environment, it was neither humid nor was it sticky. It was like being in front of a nice, cozy fireplace, the limbs, and head, of a person's body feeling the heat coming from it. It felt like it would last forever, when it suddenly consumed them, and an endless path of cyan blue light surrounded them.

Alexander opened his eyes and looked around. “Wow,” he thought. “What a nice place.” His eyes, then, felt like closing due to the radiation of his surrounding. “A very bright place, to be exact.” He sighed softly. “It makes me wish I had some sunglasses.”

“Alexander,” said Sonic softly, looking way from him. The moment Alexander faced him, Sonic replied with the following quote, “Keep your eyes closed; we don't to end up in the wrong place.”

“End up in the wrong place?” wondered Alexander, his face showing confusion, but he decided to let it slide for the time being, and he shut his eyes again.

Alexander kept them shut for about one minute, when Sonic chirped to him, “You can open you eyes now.”

Alexander cooperated and opened his eyes. He immediately squinted when the sunlight hit his eyes, but he slowly opened them a little bit more whenever the eyesight adjust to his sunlight when he was able to see clearly again, he realized that he was back on the bridge towards the Hidden Palace.

He gasped at this. What was the phenomenon that he just encountered… and how did he get back to the spot where he some walloped by some tail-whacking, temperamental old woman?

Alex wanted to ask him both questions right away, but he chose the one that came first into mind. “How did we get back here, Sonic?” he asked with wonderment to the blue hedgehog, who was facing away from him.

Sonic handed him back the Chaos Emerald, not taking his eyes off the shrine. “I used Chaos Control.”

Alexander's right eyebrow disappeared into his hair. “Chaos what?” he wondered.

“Chaos Control,” Sonic repeated as they started walking off the bridge and back to the altar. “It's a form of transportation by using one of the seven Chaos Emeralds.”

“I see,” said Alexander and looked at the cyan Chaos Emerald in his right hand and the red one in the other. “So, you can use any of the seven Emeralds to contribute Chaos Control?”

“That's right,” replied Sonic. “And Chaos Control, if done right, can also stop time.”

Alexander looked up from the gemstones and at Sonic, who was not facing him. “Wow,” he whispered.

Sonic turned around and formed a small smile. “I know,” he said simply and was about to walk ahead when Alexander stopped him.

“Sonic,” the child said.

Sonic stopped walking and tuned to Alexander with a calm smile on his face. “What is it?”

“During our brief teleportation, I got confused about something.”

“What about it?” asked Sonic.

“How were you able to find me in Mushroom Hill?”

Sonic put his left hand under his chin. “When I saw flying in the air and disappearing behind the treetops, I saw that you were heading towards Mushroom Hill, so I decided to make sure that you there.”

For some reason, Alexander broke a chuckle. “It seems that you've been thrown into the air quite a lot,” he hypothesized.

“You don't want to know,” laughed Sonic and walked ahead towards the altar.

As he raced ahead, Alexander decided to lag behind, thinking about a few things.

“I think that, from now on, whenever I travel to a different place, I'll be more careful and tell the others where I might go,” thought Alexander. His thoughts were such illogical to an extent, as well as being an oxymoron. “Of course, I'm never actually that careful, and I'll be more than likely that I'll have to face that Mobian again. At lest, I think it's a Mobian.”

That was he heard something silently move in the creek. “Speaking of the Mobian…” he added in thought.

Wanting to see who the Mobian who slugged him looked like, he tuned his ahead around and looked at the left side off the gully. What he saw were two small eyes that looked like an oval. The irises were dark yellow, and her long black eyebrows furrowed crossly. Between the eyes were four dark red bangs than drooped down, the tips already into the water. On the top of her head were two long dark red antennae, and her hair was thin and scattered. It swayed over her eyes, on the sides, and on the back of her head.

After a few tense moments, the female Mobian huffed and sank into the water, the ripples scattering and lightly hitting the shore.

Alexander remained expressionless as followed Sonic back to the shrine, deciding to forgo the other question he wanted to ask him.

--------------------------------------------------

Dr. Eggman's hideout was very dark and dim, the lime green light from the ceiling only a mere glow in the room. Eggman sat in his computer chair, his small head and big mustache slouching on the desk. A low grumble rumbled from his gritted mouth, feeling both agitated and very cross.

He raised his body up to where he was sitting upright. “Ugh! Sometimes, I cannot understand why I can't defeat that Sonic!” growled Eggman and slammed the side of his fists onto the desk. “I had the most calculated plan in store, and it failed…” Another angry growl erupted, causing some saliva to drip onto the floor, “…thanks to Tails and his power rings!” And he screamed loudly and frustratingly.

“Careful, Dr. Eggman,” said a female-voiced robot from the background. “You don't to suffer an anxiety attack from your antics, right?”

Eggman jerked his head to his right. “And I suppose you have suffered one, right?” he grumbled with minute sarcasm. He sighed angrily and stared at the screen.

“But what about the Chaos Emeralds?” asked the same female-speaking robot.

Eggman's head twitched slightly. “Good question,” he pondered. “I actually never thought of that.” He collapsed his head onto his left hand as he began to think. “Apparently, Sonic and the others were right; they didn't know about the Chaos Emeralds…” His frown changed into a sinister smile. “…But this anomaly does.”

The evil scientist used his right hand and pressed a huge red button that sat in the front of the desk. “Decoe! Bocoe! I need my cards right away!” He released the button before the response came.

He did not really need one, because the big doors behind him opened again, and walking towards Eggman were two robots. One was yellow; the other was gray.

Decoe, the three-foot-nine-inch yellow robot, had a long steel cap that looked like the front of a mini-missile. A smaller cylinder made of yellow steel represented his mouth. The black part of his face had small white eyes and black irises, plus one yellow bolt on each side of the face, representing his ears.

His neck was small and slender. The shoulder blades were long and pointy, sticking out and looking like triangles. The chest was yellow and very slim, and it has a black window with an upside-down “T” on it.

His waist was also yellow, with bolts around the area of the stomach. The only area of the upper-body that did not have metal was the area of where the naval should be; it was brown and elastic, allowing him to freely move his upper-body in all directions… the directions he wished to choose, that is.

His legs were quite long, about the size of his body and head combined. They were brown, with yellow spheres representing his knees. The feet were made of yellow steel, and it had a joint in the middle, representing his ankles. His arms were about as long as his legs; they were brown with a yellow knob as his elbows. His yellow hands were long, and his fingers were pointy.

Bocoe, the two-foot-ten-inch gray robot, was shorter and fatter than his “twin brother,” as what Eggman once described them the moment they were created. The gray dome looked more like a half-circle, and his mouth could be compared to the bottom half of a steel-gray hamburger bun. The black part of his face had gray mechanisms on each side of his face, representing his ears. His eyes were round, and they contained black irises.

His abdomen and waist looked very plump, and there was no brown elastic stomach on it, unlike his brother, Decoe. It was made entirely of solid gray steel, and the black window in front had the shape of a “U.”

The legs looked like gray opaque tubes. They were about as long as his long as his upper-body, and his steel gray feet were plump and fat. His arms had the same look as the legs, with one gray tube for each arm. His shoulder blades were round, and his hands and fingers were short and stubby.

With Bocoe lagging behind, Decoe sped up to Eggman with a blue plate in his hands. On top of the plate were cards that had the designs of robots on one side and a violet blank on the other.

“Thanks,” said Eggman and snatched the playing cards from the plate with his right hand. “Now, let's see…” He flicked them apart to where the cards looked like a shape of a fan. He looked at all the robots he could decide, but after a hand on the chin, and the phrase that he found to be very addictive, “I can't choose,” he opened a slot next to the big red button and placed the deck of cards inside. After closing the lid, he grabbed the latch with his right hand and pulled it down. Replacing the map was a huge screen that looked like a slot machine. There were three white sections, and they would show the final selection as to which robot Eggman would choose.

The machine's decision was a very quick one, for he found a match on his first turn. The robot's purple head looked like a half-sphere, and there was a white eye in the middle. The top of the head was a stubby black violet antenna that had a white ball on the tip.

The body was very tall and rectangular. It was violet, and it had four white slots on each side of his chest and back. In the middle of his chest was a red circle, protected by a black accent. The shoulder blades were violet, and they were round on top, flat along the sides. The arms were not segmented, and they did not contain an elbow. Representing each hand were five skinny gun barrels.

The waist was also violet, and it was separated from the upper-body by a white elastic stomach. The robot has no legs; it had two stubby feet. The feet looked like satellite dishes, with a flat bottom and a skinny top (representing the ankles).

When talking about the height, the robot was about ten feet high, seven and a half feet long, and five feet wide.

Eggman's smile widened from ear to ear. “Ahh, the Egg-Drill,” he cheered and clasped his hands. He quickly turned to Decoe and Bocoe. “I want him ready before sunrise tomorrow!”

“Aye-aye, sir!” obliged the two robots and scampered though the door and disappeared into the dark hallway.

Eggman returned his gaze to the screen, smiling admirably at the look of the violet robot. “Although this robot is strong and endurable, this robot will likely not kill Sonic,” he thought seriously. He touched his moustache for a moment before putting his hand down again. “Still, I've decided to temporarily forgo killing Sonic and retrieve any Chaos Emeralds that this mysterious being has.” He created a fist with his right hand, but his evil smile did not disappear. “And I want them fast.”

Afterwards, he looked down toward the capsule that he placed the cards in and put his right hand under his chin. “Nonetheless, this will be a fine robot to hold back Sonic and the others long enough so it could steal the Chaos Emeralds from them, and it's more than likely that this anomaly will be by their side.”

It looked like Eggman was about to laugh evilly, but he stopped short and his smile turned into a frown as more thoughts came into his head. “However, I have doubts that Egg-Drill can do the job alone. With his tendency to waddle and not escape any more powerful attacks in time, I believe that Sonic and the others will distract it long enough for the anomaly to escape the area.” He hummed subconsciously. “I'm afraid that it's gong to need some backup.”

That was when he had an idea as he stopped touching his chin and put his right hand on the lever again. “And I have just the creations for it,” he thought with an evil chuckle as he pulled the lever once again.

--------------------------------------------------

Nighttime at Hidden Palace could not have been any better than what it was right now. The stars slightly brightened the sky, giving it a dark blue tint, and the white moon slowly orbited Mobius, its aura glowing brightly.

On the ground, the cap of Angel Mountain glowed brightly, the aura from the moon reflecting it along the side. The leaves of the trees were highlighted from the glow, giving the leaves a teal-like color. The stones of the shrine were also given a little bit of a tint, as well, thanks to the moon's illumination; that and another substance that caused it. It was emerald green, and it shone brightly from the center of the shrine.

As for Alexander, he was lying on the stone on the top of the altar. His eyes were open, and he was staring at the moon above him. A couple of fast blinks occurred as he was concentrating on something. He knew where it was and what was there. He could see the superiority from them, from the height to the faint orange glow from afar.

He was dying to go there again, he was beginning to miss that place, even though he was only there for a half-hour. It just seemed very comfortable to him, like it was his own private haven. He tried to fight these thoughts off by closing his eyes and going to sleep, but he was restless; his eyes refused to shut. His mind was also refusing to shut down. The conscience from within was coaxing him to return there, and he knew it.

And it kept persuading him to where it became more of a nag rather than persistence.

“Stupid brain,” thought Alexander and rubbed his temple with his right hand. “You're givin' me a blistering headache!”

Unfortunately for him, his brain had no intention of “shutting up,” and it kept on nagging him, giving him echoes of “Go back! Go back!”

Despite trying to lock it in the background, the constant nagging within his brain was working, as he believed that it was worth going back there. But should he go back tonight or tomorrow morning? He was not sure when to go, but when he sat up to stretch the small of his back, his decision became firm. This time, there was no turning back… He was not going to turn back the clock, and he would make sure it stayed that way.

He got to his feet and grabbed his bag. As he reached the stairwell, he looked behind him and saw Knuckles sleeping on the grass. He then looked down and noticed Sonic, Tails, and Amy in separate sleeping bags on the grass. Smiling, he walked down the stairwell and exited the shrine. He kept trekking until he stepped foot on the bridge to where he encountered the tail-whipping female. He walked to the left and looked down at the dim-lit river, but there was no sign of her. However, when he looked on the other side, he noticed her antennae sticking out and air bubbles rising to the surface, but her eyes were shut: She was sleeping underwater.

“Good,” smiled Alexander and walked across the bridge and disappeared into the forest. The forest was very dark and very creepy. The trees blended in the dark background, except for a few highlighted limbs from the moon. The path that split the forest had a brownish tint in it, but it was very faint. As he turned left, the light from the moon was disappearing very quickly, thus making it hard to see.

Still, Alexander felt excited, especially since he was going to return tonight. After traveling far enough to ensure himself that no one would see him, he grabbed the bag and pulled the zipper. “You can come out now.”

Both Chaos Emeralds immediately zoomed out of the bag and hovered next to Alexander, their auras brightening the surroundings considerably.

“What are you up to now, Alexander?” asked the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“What else?” said Alexander. “I plan on going back to Mushroom Hill tonight.” He then lightly punched his forehead with his right hand as he irritably added in thought, “Because my brain won't stop telling me.”

Like the battle two days ago, neither gem seemed to hear his thoughts. This time, it was either that or that they considered what Alexander thought as irrelevant to the situation at hand.

“Tonight?” spluttered the cyan Emerald.

“That's right,” said Alexander.

“But what about the others?” quipped the cyan Emerald. “They'll be scared to death.”

“I know,” said Alexander, “but I'm starting to feel a bit… stuck inside. Besides…” he closed his bag, “…I'm starting to miss Mushroom Hill; the environment's just too comforting.”

“But couldn't you do it tomorrow, then?” asked the male-speaking Chaos Emerald.

Alexander sighed. “I had that thought, actually, but the more I was considering this, the more I wanted to go.”

“Then, we'll take you,” said the red Chaos Emerald before her cyan comrade could respond.

“WHAT?!”

“Shh!” hissed the red Chaos Emerald, flaring her aura a little bit. “You'll wake them up!”

“Good, I want them to wake up. Because I'm worried for Alexander's safety. You don't want him to get lost or get killed, right?”

The red Chaos Emerald's glow flared a little brighter, as if she was shocked by his short speech. “Wow. I didn't know you cared.”

“Hey, I should. Otherwise, what would happen to the deal between Alexander and I?”

At the mention of the deal, the red Chaos Emerald sighed incredulously and dropped herself to the ground. “Oh, vey,” she muttered, feeling extremely vexed.

“Ditto,” thought Alexander while shaking his head. Any mentioning, any hints, of the deal between the cyan gem and Alexander himself was becoming extremely annoying. They were wishing that it would just take a back seat for all eternity.

Then, he realized something and slapped his head for almost forgetting it. “Shoot! I forgot to write a note, saying that I'll be at Mushroom Hill.”

“I can help you with that,” said the red Chaos Emerald and floated on top of Alexander's left shoulder. “But first, do you have any paper so you can write on it?”

Alexander nodded and dug out four small, squared pieces of rough parchment from his right pocket. “Found them cluttered on my foot while walking back,” he explained. “Now, I need something to write on it, like tree sap or something.”

“Nothing to it,” said the red Chaos Emerald and hovered over the parchment. She remained in that position for a few seconds when she hovered away again. On each note was this phrase: “I'm at Mushroom Hill right now. Expect me to be back soon. Alexander.”

Alexander examined them to make sure they had the right message on each of them. “Good work,” he smiled. “Now, they have to be in a place where they can find it.”

The red gemstone immediately did just that as she let her aura snatch onto the notes before zooming off back to Hidden Palace, her red glow becoming extremely dim in the distance.

As she disappeared around the bend, Alexander and the cyan Chaos Emerald faced each other.

“Feeling excited, huh?” asked the gemstone.

Alexander clasped his hands and rubbed them together. “Got that right,” he said with an eager tone.

“Why's that?” the gem asked curiously.

Alexander sighed. “Other than my head pushing me to go, I'm not quite sure, as a matter in fact,” he admitted half-easily.

“You know any possible reasons why, then?” the cyan gem queried as he perched himself onto Alexander's right shoulder.

Alexander put his right hand on his chin. “Good question,” he pondered. “Maybe it's because it's a pretty comforting environment and that it's peaceful.”

The Chaos Emerald tilted forwards, as if he was thinking, too. “You seem to like nature a lot.”

“Yeah, I do,” said Alexander with a small smile, but it quickly faded. “But a new reason came to me, also.”

The cyan Chaos Emerald became curious at Alexander's abrupt announcement. “What reason is that?”

“I prefer it to keep it private for now,” replied Alexander, feeling a little uneasy. “At least until we arrive at Mushroom Hill.”

The cyan Chaos Emerald left it at that.

On the other hand, Alexander had other things in mind, particularly the Chaos Emerald's sudden interest in the forest. From how he had acted, he was more interested in the vow both of them made. Or, at least, the vow the gemstone made, since he literally forced Alexander into this predicament.

Before he can ask the Emerald, however, the red Chaos Emerald arrived, forcing his thoughts to be put on hold for the time being.

“It's done; I've put them in their hands,” she said as she floated in front of him and the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“Good work,” said Alexander. “Now, I think we use Chaos Control to go to the forest.”

“Right on that,” answered the red Emerald.

“Good,” said Alexander with a small smile, but it quickly faded. “But how do I use you guys to teleport there?”

“Simple,” said the red gem and floated into Alexander's right hand. “You use me. I'll tell you all the instructions that you need, okay?”

Alexander nodded.

“First, close your eyes,” said the red Chaos Emerald.

Alexander complied and closed his eyes.

“Second, picture the place you want to land on, and make sure that the picture is as accurate as you can. You have no idea how much trouble we have had whenever someone landed in a bad place.”

Alexander tried to do what he was told and allowed himself some time to picture the place he wanted to go to. He kept quiet for about one minute when he said to her, “Got it.”

“Next, raise the hand that's holding me high into the air,” continued the red gemstone.

Alexander, with his eyes closed, raised his hand high into the air.

“Now, say the command, `Chaos Control'!” she shrilled.

“CHAOS CONTROL!” Alexander shouted.

Once the command was issued, he felt like he was surrounded by a ball of fire. It felt tingly, but very warm, too. The fingertips that held the red Chaos Emerald were becoming very warm and numb. It felt like it would last forever, when it suddenly vanished.

“You can open your eyes, now!” said the cyan Chaos Emerald.

Realizing that Chaos Control was completed, Alexander complied and opened his eyes. But as he opened them, he realized that they felt a little heavier than usual. Perhaps, the Chaos Control he triggered made him temporarily weak, he thought. However, when he moved his hands, he felt something odd. It felt like… grass.

In fact, it was grass. He was lying on grass-covered ground. The leaves were about ten inches tall, but they were thin, and they did not feel like feathers in a pillow, either.

Groaning from the lack of energy, he slowly got to his feet and noticed the red and cyan Chaos Emeralds hovering around Alexander, as if they stopped orbiting.

“You look dazed, Alexander,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“Greatly,” groaned Alexander and collapsed onto one knee.

“This is the first time you triggered Chaos Control, and this is normal for first-timers,” explained the red Chaos Emerald and sunk to Alexander's eye-level. “The next time you trigger it, you're not going to feel very exhausted.”

“But don't overuse Chaos Control, Alexander,” advised the cyan Chaos Emerald. “Only use it whenever necessary.”

“Thanks for telling me,” sighed Alexander, and his body subsequently regained energy.

Once he got to his feet, he looked around and realized that he was on the bottom of the plateau of Mushroom Hill. Unlike Hidden Palace, he was able to distinguish the surroundings around him. The grass that he collapsed on was in its orange hue, but it looked light brown due to the nighttime sky.

But when he looked up towards the sky, he let his jaw drop to the ground.

The mushrooms were glowing! The stalks gave off a gold light that spread more than two-dozen feet in diameter. The caps either illuminated red or bright orange, letting off a very quixotic aura that filled the atmosphere.

The nighttime also allowed something else Alexander could see. Buried beneath the grass were small orange and brown-capped mushroom sprouts. The caps of the baby mushrooms retracted, wrapping the small stalks. Then, a few seconds later, they spread apart again, becoming small circular caps. Despite the size, they glowed very brightly as the caps acted like nightlights in a dark hallway.

Alexander, with a huge grin on his face, bent down and caressed a brown-capped sprout with his finger. “Hey there, little buddy,” he cooed as he tickled the cute but fragile stalk of the sprout.

The sprout responded by affectionately rubbing the side of Alexander's index finder. Not only that, it also started to purr softly.

Alexander smiled at the antics of the baby mushroom, but wondered about its mysterious purring.

The red Chaos Emerald detected his thoughts instantly. “She likes you,” she said as she and her cyan companion hovered over Alex's head.

“Probably,” smiled Alexander as he stopped scratching the sprout. “Perhaps that's why it was purring,” he thought as he walked away from the proud sprout. “Now, time to see the group of mushrooms on top of the hill,” he concluded as he started walking up the grassy plateau.

As he reached the top of the hill, he gasped in awe at the sight 145 yards away from him. Each mushroom was glowing brightly, the caps illumining bright orange, and the trunks glowing gold.

When Alexander walked closer to the mushrooms, he noticed that, like the smaller mushrooms in the background, the glow exposed the orange color from the grass. In addition, more brown and orange sprouts encircled the exotic fungi. The moment he stopped in front of one of four small fungi, he looked up at the two seven-yard mushrooms as they towered above him. “Wow,” the child gasped as he looked straight up.

“They look nice, don't they?” wondered the red Chaos Emerald.

“Without a doubt,” said Alexander, before looking down, courtesy of a purring orange sprout caressing his lower-right leg.

“Looks like he likes me, too,” the child said with a smile before walking under the canopy of mushrooms.

He kept walking until he was the center of the square. When he stood in between both mushrooms, he walked right and sat down on the grass, leaning on the mushroom in the process.

“Ah, this is the life,” sighed Alexander.

“No kidding,” said the red Chaos Emerald with a sigh.

“Can't deny that,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald.

The red Chaos Emerald immediately turned to her cyan partner once hearing that phrase. “You seem to have changed,” she said with surprise.

“I have?” wondered the cyan Chaos Emerald.

The red gem nodded. “A few minutes ago, you were so concentrated on the deal. And, now, you're acting like you don't care about it at all. Why is that?”

“I think I know why,” hypothesized Alexander in thought.

“Hmm,” pondered the cyan Chaos Emerald and tiltled downwards while remaining suspended in the air. “To be honest, I'm not quite sure why.”

“Such contradictions there,” thought Alexander slyly.

The cyan Chaos Emerald immediately grumbled upon “hearing” that. “You win, Alex,” he said begrudgingly. “I'll have to admit, I'm starting to feel a little stressed out about the deal. And I wanna relax for the time being.”

“If you can,” chirped the red Chaos Emerald as she balanced on top of Alexander's left knee.

“No joke,” agreed Alexander. “In fact, that's the reason why I wanna come here rather than stay at Hidden Palace right now.”

The red Chaos Emerald turned to him. “It is?”

“Well,” said Alexander, “one of them. I had only thought about it after walking away from the altar.” He then looked at the light blue Chaos Emerald, who was now resting on the ground. “I think I might've hinted you that.”

The gemstone slowly straightened up. “Yeah, I remember,” he said. “You told me about wanting to talk to me and her while away from the shrine while she was delivering Sonic and the others the message.”

“You did?” queried the ruby-colored Chaos Emerald. “But why here and not near Hidden Palace?”

Alexander looked down, his eyes showing glumness. “Well, the reason is this,” he said. “It started earlier this evening at the Hidden Palace…” And he began his tale.

--------------------------------------------------

Alexander was not far behind Sonic, but he still stayed a little behind. He looked at the surroundings around him. On each side of the path, huge pine trees towered above. They looked like they were about 100 feet in height. The bottoms of the trunks were very wide and very large: They seemed to be about four yards in circumference. There were at least 2,000 limbs on each tree, and they seemed to be strong and firm, even though they moved back and forth because of the waft that passed by.

“It looks like I haven't recognized the beauties of the forest as of yet,” Alexander whispered to himself, but it was low enough so Sonic would not hear.

“Beauties they are,” echoed the red jewel from within Alexander's head, agreeing with his statement.

Alexander jumped when he heard her voice shake from inside. “What are you doing here inside my head?” he whispered crossly.

“I want to contact you, but we cannot let them find out that we can speak,” said the red Chaos Emerald.

“Why's that?” wondered Alexander.

“None of your business,” snapped the cyan Chaos Emerald, his voice echoing inside Alexander's head, as well.

Alexander wanted to respond back, but Sonic's voice beat him to it.

“C'mon, Alexander!” the blue hedgehog called as he stopped at the first landing of the stairwell.

“In a minute!” Alex caught back, and Sonic walked ahead. As the blue hedgehog walked away, the Halbery child's scowl became more prominent as he had some cross thoughts on the gems' voices rumbling in his head.

“Great. Just great. Now, I have these voices from the Chaos Emeralds echoing in my head. I hope it's not everlasting.”

“Don't count on it,” the cyan gem hissed.

Alexander scowled for a moment before relaxing both his attitude and expression. He was about to continue walking when a sudden gust blew right at him, causing his hair to be blown in front of his face.

“Aw, nuts,” he grumbled as the wind smacked his face. But as he moved his air away from his turquoise eyes, something hit him in his right leg, and the wind died down afterwards.

“Hmm?” Alexander wondered as the mysterious object hit him in the right leg. He looked down and noticed four small, squared pieces of blank parchment lying messily on top of his shoe.

Alexander picked them up and looked at them thoroughly, and he noticed a small tear near one of the sides on each of the pages. He did not know why they were there, but he thought that they would be useful for later. As a result, he rolled them up and placed them in his pocket.

After placing the parchment away, he looked up and saw Sonic on the bottom of the stairwell toward Hidden Palace.

“I better catch up,” he thought and followed him, not even knowing that a nail was pinned on a naked tree nearby.

However, as he walked toward the altar, little did he know that he was about to receive an unwelcoming wake-up call…

“What do you mean you won't allow him to stay here?” exclaimed Amy.

“I do not want him to stay near here,” replied Knuckles, who was looking away from an argumentative Amy.

“What in the world's going on?” asked Sonic the moment he stepped foot on the walkway. He walked on the right side of the shrine and walked around until he was on the opposite side of the altar. That was when he saw Amy and Knuckles, who were in an argument. Tails was nowhere in view, for he went to repair the Tornado a little before Sonic went to search for Alexander.

“Knuckles will not let Alexander stay here!” cried out Amy.

“No surprise from that melodramatic reaction,” muttered Sonic to himself.

Knuckles glared at him; he heard what Sonic said. “I don't trust him so much,” he said to Sonic.

“Why shouldn't you?” asked Amy, her voice still a little high-pitched than her actual vocalization. “You don't know him at all!”

“I just don't,” said Knuckles; then, he leaned his head toward the edge and stared at Alexander, who had just stepped onto the pedestal at the bottom of the stairwell, “especially when he's near the Master Emerald!”

Because he was too far away, Alexander was unable to hear what the argument was all about, except for the part about the Master Emerald.

“Master Emerald?” he wondered to himself and he walked up the main stairs. “What's that?”

“I don't believe you were very observant while you were having your cuts treated,” snipped the cyan Chaos Emerald from within Alexander's head - Alexander groaned in disgust the moment his voice echoed, but the jewel ignored him. “See the mega-stone in the front of you?”

Although Alexander saw the artifact before while on the bridge, he never quite depicted the gem in vivid detail. But now that he was near, he could see what the Master Emerald actually looked like. While walking up the main stairs, Alexander gazed intently at the mystic artifact. The Master Emerald was about six feet in both height and circumference. The top of the Master Emerald was in an octagon shape, similar to the Chaos Emeralds. While the top of the Emeralds was the same, the sides were not.

On four sides of the Master Emerald, the top had the shape of a pentagon, reaching about one-third down the side. Along each angular side was one equilateral triangle, and in between was an isosceles triangle. The bottom half of these sides started with a diamond that was equal along all sides, and the sides of the top of the diamond were two small right triangles. Finally, along each side - as well as the bottom corner - of the diamond, a white scratch slid down to the bottom on the Master Emerald, which had the same point tip as the smaller Chaos Emeralds.

Between each of the sides were these. The top was rectangular, and it was about the size as the rectangular part of the pentagon. Below it was three triangles. One had the side facing the top and the point directing toward the ground, while two acute triangles (one on each side) connected the two angular sides while bordering the equilateral triangles on each side. Below the triangles was a pentagon that bordered the sides of the diamonds. Finally, below the pentagon was a triangle that slid down to the tip of the Master Emerald on the bottom, but not without a white line that split between the three-sided polygon.

“I can tell this is the Master Emerald,” thought Alexander after thoroughly examining the Master Emerald.

“What are you, blind?” said the cyan gem sarcastically. He was starting to become very impatient for reasons that were unknown to Alexander. “Of course this is the Master Emerald. This gem is the reason why this island floats in the sky!”

“Wow!” gasped Alexander the moment the cyan Chaos Emerald's voice told him the news. “I can't believe this Emerald can do such a thing!”

“It's a very powerful jewel,” said the red Chaos Emerald's voice - Alexander welcomed her interrupting the light blue Chaos Emerald… even though he detested their voices echoing in his mind. “This Emerald can not only keep the island afloat, but it can also neutralize us Chaos Emeralds.”

“It can?”

“That's right, Alexander,” replied the female-voiced jewel kindly.

Alexander let the words sink as he stared at the green Master Emerald in front of him. He could not believe that this Emerald was the reason why the island floated in the sky. Let alone keep the Chaos Emeralds' powers in check.

“Amazing that this Emerald can have so much power,” he thought ecstatically. “And I can feel the power coming from it.” He sighed quietly. “I wonder what it would be like if I can see what the power's like.” He kept walking up until he reached the last step. Once he reached the landing, he started walking down the stone path that led him to the big green gem. When he was at arm's length toward it, he stretched his right hand out and reached for the Master Emerald, hoping that he would be able to touch it, hoping to feel some of the power that it magnificently contained.

“HANDS OFF!!!”

Alexander was knocked back to his senses after hearing Knuckles's gruff voice echo throughout the valley.

The echidna ran from behind the jewel and threw a punch at him, but Alexander dodged it by rolling on the grass and jumping to the middle deck below him.

“NEVER GO NEAR THE MASTER EMERALD, GOT IT?” yelled Knuckles to Alexander, who was hiding in the shadows of the Hidden Palace.

“Enough, Knuckles!” scolded Amy and walked in front of the red echidna. “What's wrong with you?”

“He nearly touched the Master Emerald, that's what!” replied Knuckles angrily, although his tone was calmer (but not that calm).

“And you would think he would actually break this?” said Sonic as he walked toward them, a calm, cocky smile on his face. “This thing is too strong. It would take a lot of power to shatter this puppy up.” He tapped the Master Emerald lightly with his fist. “And besides—” he glanced at Alexander, who grabbed hold of the ledge near the stairwell and pulled himself up to the top landing, “—he's just a child.”

“A child that I don't trust,” finished Knuckles. “I won't allow him to stay near the Master Emerald.”

“But how will he be able to live?” asked Sonic. He quickly looked at Alexander, who was now sitting on the top step of the shrine. His body was facing away from the group, but he was hearing every word from the frolicking trio. “From how battered he looks, he's been traveling for miles, and he may be tired.”

“Plus, he might not have a home,” added Amy. “Do you think that he should stay for that?”

Knuckles closed his eyes and pondered after what Amy and Sonic said. He remained in that position for about two minutes when he opened his eyes and looked at Alexander again.

“I will allow him,” said Knuckles, “only if he's homeless,” he added before Amy and Sonic started smiling.

“Well, I'll admit, I do have a home,” said Alexander when he turned around. “I came from another world, but the portal I traveled to is no longer open.” He then quickly thought, “I hope.”

Knuckles pondered for a moment before interrogating him again. “Do you remember where it is?”

Alexander shook his head.

Knuckles pondered some more. He was quiet for a moment before he sighed and gave his answer. “Okay. You can stay here.”

Sonic and Amy smiled at each other, and Alexander sighed in relief.

“However,” Knuckles added, his voice becoming stern and almost like an scold, “once the portal reopens, then you, kid, will have to return home. I still don't trust you, and I'll keep an eye on you while you're here.”

The two hedgehogs sighed from this. Whenever Knuckles said something in that matter, his decision was final. And it was likely that he was not going to change his mind.

As for Alexander, the announcement made him look a little crestfallen as he turned away from the altar again.

Sonic felt sorry for Alexander and walked over to him, courtesy of some urgent gestures from Amy, who felt apologetic, as well.

“Don't worry,” said Sonic and patted Alexander's shoulder. “He'll get used to you.”

“It's okay,” said Alexander.

Sonic shrugged and jumped down to the ground below, hollering joyously.

Alexander smiled at Sonic's actions, and he looked up at the golden sky again. He thought about Sonic's words, and he thanked him for that. He was also thankful for being allowed to stay… but he wished that Knuckles could trust him.

--------------------------------------------------

“Knuckles's words must've hit you hard,” said the red Chaos Emerald after the tale ended.

“Mm-hmm,” said Alexander with a nod.

“He's just a little upset over the circumstances that had happened over the last few months,” sympathized the red gemstone.

“After having the Master Emerald shattered twice in the last nine months, as well as being the stubborn echidna that he is, it's bound to make him pretty upset,” added the cyan Chaos Emerald, explaining what his red companion was talking about.

Alexander nodded slowly and put his right hand under his chin. “Apparently, he's the one who guards the Master Emerald,” thought Alexander aloud. “No wonder why he's so worried about it.”

“Correct,” answered the cyan Chaos Emerald. “Don't let Knuckles's words get to you. Sooner or later, he'll learn to trust you.”

“I hope so,” replied Alexander with a small smile, but his smile quickly disappeared as he began rubbing his temple with his right hand. “Man, my head hurts,” he groaned.

Both gems looked at him with some concern.

“Feeling okay?” the red Chaos Emerald asked.

“I'll be fine,” said Alexander. “My head's throbbing a little after getting banged in the head with my travel bag earlier this evening.”

Both gems flinched but jittering up and down for a moment, as if they cringed.

“Ouch,” groaned the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“Tell me about it,” laughed Alexander.

Soon after, his mood changed as his grimace became a small smile. He stopped rubbing his forehead, also.

Afterwards, Alexander looked at the underside of the mushrooms above him and sighed. “Beautiful mushrooms, aren't they?”

Both Chaos Emeralds titled to where the top and bottom were parallel from the ground.

“They are beautiful,” agreed the red Chaos Emerald before titling downward again.

Then, out of nowhere, Alexander had something else to think about, especially since the family of mushrooms was different form the others in a unique way. “You know,” he pondered, “there's something interesting about them that stands out from the others.”

“What do you mean?” asked the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“Take a good look at the mushrooms we're `trapped' in,” Alexander said, pointing at the tall mushrooms that sat around them.

The gems skimmed a brief look at them, and then motioned Alexander to continue.

“And remember the forest that we crossed earlier today,” he continued and peered through the opening between the small and medium-sized mushrooms. While they were quite some distance away, the outline of several of the mushrooms could still be seen. “These mushrooms we're under now look very different, especially the height.” He then touched the gigantic stem behind him. “In addition, they look healthier. It's like they've been growing for a long time.” He stopped caressing the stem and looked at the cap above. “I wonder why.”

“The reason is because they're the oldest mushrooms in Mushroom Hill,” said a boy's voice.

Alexander gasped at the sudden vocality (the Chaos Emeralds immediately dropped to the ground). He turned to the other mushroom stem on his left and saw a small little Mobian sitting away from them. His height was about three feet, two inches, and he had a reddish-brown body. Red-brown hair drooped down his head, and two long antennae sprouted on the top of his head. His eyes were oval-shaped with a space in the middle, and he had mahogany-colored irises. While the view was obscure from Alexander's perspective, the Mobian's nose was beige, and it was both very long and very sharp.

His body was small, and he had two long transparent blue wings. His arms were red-brown, and they were quite long, almost as long as his body. On his hands were beige gloves, with the cuff being dark brown. Even though Alexander could not see it, the color of his stomach was light yellow, and it was in the shape of a diamond.

His long legs were bent to where it met his chin. His socks were beige, and they extended just below his knee. His shoes were brown, and they have both a white stripe in the middle as well as a gray sole on the bottom. Finally, his tail was as long as his legs, and it bent down before jolting diagonally upwards again; it looked a lot like a boomerang, compared to Knuckles's lightning-shaped tail. And just like his seven-inch nose, his tail was very sharp, for it was pointy at the tip.

From what Alexander could depict, the person was a Mobian mosquito.

“Excuse me?” wondered Alexander.

“This family of mushrooms here are the oldest throughout the entire forest, all four sections, to be exact,” replied the mosquito. “This family of mushrooms have been brooding for nearly a whole century now. The others are no older than 50 years old.”

“Wow,” said Alexander after hearing the explanation. “They're that old?” he added as he looked up at the tall ones above him.

“Yep,” said the mosquito. “They're very old. Because of this, this group we're sitting under now is known as the Royal Mushrooms.”

“Fascinating,” said Alexander, not taking his eyes off the two tall Royal Mushrooms. “How do you know about this?”

“Well, what else?” said the mosquito and looked at the human. “I live here, and my ancestors have been taking care of this forest for almost three hundred years now.”

Alexander's jaw dropped. “Wow!” he wanted to say (reiterating the same phrase that he uttered moments ago), but he was not able to thus time. But he kept gawking at the tall mushrooms all the same.

“Amazing mushrooms, huh?” said the mosquito, seemingly detecting his thoughts via reaction.

“Can't disagree with that,” replied Alexander, still looking up. But when his stomach growled, he turned his attention from them and held his stomach, a light blush tinted on his cheeks.

“I think that, because of my journeying, I forgot that I was hungry,” muttered the child to himself.

The mosquito heard him. “Hungry, eh?”

Alexander nodded, his cheeks reddening.

“Nothin' to it,” said the mosquito and looked at the stalk of the mushroom. Then, like the speed of light, he jabbed at the stalk with his pointy nose. Once he pulled his nose off the trunk, a rich yellow liquid sprouted from the opening from the trunk.

The Mobian insect quickly grabbed a couple of cups that he carried from parts unknown and put one of them under the liquid. Once the cup was full, he quickly placed the other cup under the “fountain,” and it reached the rim in a matter of moments.

After he pulled the cup away from the mushroom, the liquid slowed and stopped leaking from within the bark. Covering the hole now was a new coat of bark.

Alexander gasped from the trunk closing the hole, but the mosquito acted like what the mushroom did was normal.

“That's what will usually happen once there's a hole in the bark of a mushroom,” the insect replied. “They don't want their sap containing any kind of poison.”

“I see,” said Alexander.

“Here,” said the mosquito and handed the sap-filled cup to Alexander.

Alexander looked at the liquid like it was poisonous, but he received the offer nonetheless.

“Bottoms up,” finished the mosquito and drank the substance.

Alexander did not release his gaze from the liquid. He was feeling a little scared of taking. What if it was toxic?

The mosquito realized this. “It's all right, kid,” he said, causing Alexander to look at him. “It's not dangerous. It's actually more like sweet nectar, to be exact.”

Alexander raised his right eyebrow. “Nectar?”

“Mm-hmm,” replied the mosquito and continued drinking.

Alexander gulped, for he never liked anything containing nectar, but he closed his eyes and took a small sip. It felt very cold, like a juice that sat in the winter air for weeks. It tingled down his throat and into his body.

To Alexander's enjoyment, he actually liked it! With that, he took another sip, then another, and then took a large gulp.

“Very good,” smiled Alexander and licked his lips. The cup was now half-full.

The mosquito smiled. “I knew you'd like it,” he said and preceded to finish the rest of the nectar that was in the cup.

Alexander smiled and drank the rest of the liquid.

“Ah,” he sighed and gave the cup back to the mosquito. “Thank you. It made me feel much better.”

“Don't mention it,” the mosquito replied and put the cup away.

While he was doing so, Alexander looked at the gap between the small and medium-sized mushrooms and gazed at the glowing fungi in the distance. Just like the Royal Mushrooms, they, too, seemed to be swaying back and forth. Only that it merely rocked back and forth in a slow but steady pace.

“From what you said,” said Alexander when he faced the mosquito (he had already put the cups away), “you told me that there were four sections of the Mushroom Hill, right?”

“That's correct. What about it?”

“Earlier this afternoon, after I was punted to a brook nearby, I noticed that there was a forest containing blue-colored mushrooms. What are those?”

“The blue mushrooms?” asked the mosquito.

Alexander nodded.

“Those are called the Autumn Mushrooms,” the insect replied.

“Autumn Mushrooms?”

“Yes,” nodded the mosquito. “There are four kinds of mushrooms. The blue ones are Autumn Mushrooms. The orange ones we're in now are called Summer Mushrooms. The magenta-capped fungi are called Winter Mushrooms, and the Spring Mushrooms are the green-capped ones.”

“I see,” said Alexander and put his right hand under his chin. He was becoming very interested in exploring those regions of the forest. The only problem was that would his newfound friend go through the extremes to tour him throughout the forest. Moreover, from the nighttime sky - and the fact that the moon had already vanished - he wondered if it was becoming a little bit too late to go tonight. While he wrote a note to the others that he would be back, he was worried about the wrath he would have to face from Knuckles if he was caught sneaking off.

With that, Alexander turned to the mosquito. “Do you think we could explore the other regions of Mushroom Hill tomorrow?”

The mosquito turned to the human. “If I'm not busy, I wouldn't say it's a very bad idea.”

“Good,” smiled Alexander. “Where do we rendezvous?”

“How about here at ten o'clock tomorrow morning?”

“Not a bad idea,” said Alexander and got to his feet. “Well, it's a pleasure talking to you. What's your name?”

“The name's Roquefort,” said the mosquito and extended his hand while remaining on the ground.

“My name's Alexander Halbery, Roquefort,” said the child as the two shook hands. After grabbing his Chaos Emeralds, Alexander bid Roquefort the Mosquito farewell… for now and ran like the wind down the hill.

Roquefort smiled at the hyperactive human. “He's a very good kid, that Alexander,” said the mosquito to himself. He then opened his mouth wide as he yawned. “Time for me to sleep,” he muttered as he lied back on one of the stalks of the two tall Royal Mushrooms and closed his eyes.

What Roquefort did not know was that Alexander was leaning on a mushroom at the bottom of the plateau, watching him doze off.

“He's not that bad… for a mosquito,” he chimed to the Chaos Emeralds, who were floating at eye level.

“What makes you say that?” said the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“Because the mosquitoes from my world have bitten me like there was no tomorrow,” he said, his eyes narrowing.

“You're saying it like it's a bad thing, Alexander,” quipped the red Chaos Emerald.

“What'd you think?” said Alexander, annoyed. The last thing he wanted now was a discussion of the mosquitoes that he had encountered in his home world. “C'mon. Let's get outta here.”

The red Chaos Emerald floated above Alexander's right hand and landed softly into his awaiting palm.

“You know what to do, I suppose,” she said cheerfully.

Alexander closed his eyes and pictured the place he wanted to go to. He wanted it to be as perfectly detailed as possible. He did not want to be a part of a Chaos Control that went awry.

Finally, after picturing the place he wanted to go to, he raised the hand he had the Emerald in into the air.

“Chaos Control!” he shouted and was engulfed in a bright red light. He felt the warm surroundings for a few seconds when the warm, comfortable feeling he had vanished. Chaos Control had done its job.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed that he no longer tired. He was standing up; his eyes and limbs were not dangling; furthermore, he did not lose any energy.

“Told you you wouldn't lose your energy after a second time,” laughed the red Chaos Emerald, who was still in Alexander's hand.

The child laughed and looked around. He noticed he was in a valley. Tall, silhouetted trees enclosed the perimeter, and in front of him was a small stairwell.

Alexander smiled. If he knew what place this was, he would not have to regret fibbing to the others earlier that night.

“Where are we, Alex?” asked the red Chaos Emerald as she freed herself from Alexander's grip and floated in the air.

Alexander walked up the small stairwell and walked toward a small bush that stood in the center of the horseshoe. His smile widened. “If my calculations are correct,” he replied, “this was where I entered Mobius.”

“You entered this planet right here?” asked the red gem.

“That's right,” replied the cyan Chaos Emerald, who floating in the air next to his red companion. “Alexander walked up a ladder and entered through this bush we're seeing right now.”

“I see… Now, why did we travel here?”

“Just to take a close look at the portal,” answered Alexander. He bent down and dug into the plant with his naked hand. When he spread the leaves apart, he noticed that the ladder was missing. In addition, there was no well to camouflage it.

The portal was gone.

Alexander's smile spread from ear to ear. “Thank goodness,” he sighed.

Both gems “looked” at him confusingly.

“Why's that?” asked the red Chaos Emerald.

“Because I'm not interested in going back to my home for the time being,” replied Alexander. “Besides, I'm really starting to enjoy this place. I've made some nice friends while being here, and I've glad to have met you two on the way.”

“Aw, shucks!” blushed the Chaos Emeralds.

Alexander laughed. “Now, let's return to the Hidden Palace.” He closed his eyes, raised the red Emerald high into the air, shouted “Chaos Control!” and vanished in a ball of light.

He returned on the front steps of the altar and noticed that Sonic, Tails, and Amy have been sleeping for the entire time. In each of their hands was the note that the gem helped Alexander write in. Alexander bent down and grabbed the notes form each of their hands, while trying not to wake them.

“I better use them again before heading out tomorrow,” the child said to himself and walked up the stairs, where he retrieved the note from a snoozing Knuckles and went to sleep.

--------------------------------------------------

“Where is that kid?” grumbled Knuckles the following morning.

While the Mobians were snoozing the morning away, Alexander did as he promised by sneaking off and disappearing… again. The guardian was very upset that he was not able to keep a watchful eye on him. The moment he woke up, he looked around, and noticed Alexander had vanished from the area. As a result, the Mobian echidna yelled out in frustration. He had yet to trust the Halbery child, and it was very unlikely that it would happen anytime soon.

“I think we got our answer, Knux,” said Sonic as he walked to the top of the altar. In his right hand was a small piece of rough parchment with the same note that Alexander had from last night.

“Lemme see,” said Knuckles and snatched it away from Sonic's hand. He read the note two times, and he was not looking too happy as a result.

“Something tells me Alexander went off to explore,” said Sonic with a smile.

Knuckles's eyebrows twitched vigorously. “Once I find that kid…” he growled softly, “I WILL PUNCH HIS LIGHTS OUT!!!!”

“What's all the noise?” wondered Tails as he walked up to Sonic and Knuckles. Amy followed the two-tailed fox up to them.

“Alexander snuck off to Mushroom Hill,” answered Sonic. “And Knuckles ain't too happy about it,” he added with a laugh.

“You can say that again,” agreed Amy while looking at Knuckles, whose back was turned, sulking from the circumstance.

Before they could talk about it anymore, playful cackling echoed the area. It seemed to belong to a hyperactive adolescent boy.

“Where's that coming from?” wondered Knuckles, no longer in a bad mood.

“Don't look at me,” said Sonic.

“Well, I can tell you this,” said Amy and brandished her hammer. “That is definitely not the way Eggman laughs.”

All four Mobians backed up to where they met each other's backs. They were all in their fighting stances, preparing for an upcoming battle.

The cackle continued to reverberate around the area, and it became louder and louder little by little.

“This laugh is starting to give me some chills,” said Amy with a wavered voice, but she held tight on her Piko-Piko Hammer and kept her face of determination.

“Me, too,” said Sonic and looked back and forth to find the source of the voice.

Then, as if it would last forever… the cackle dissipated.

“Huh?” wondered all four Mobius simultaneously.

“That's weird,” said Knuckles.

“I can be sure that voice was coming from somewhere,” said Tails as he looked in the blue sky above.

“Agreed,” added Amy as she dropped her Piko-Piko hammer to the ground.

All four Mobians looked back and forth trying to find the source of the voice.

They were not able to find it, which was odd for them. They were more than positive that it was somewhere around the Hidden Palace, but why were they not able to find it? It left unanswered questions for them.

While they looked everywhere they could possibly think of, they forgot one place to search for the mysterious culprit…

“Hey, guys!”

…It was right in the middle of the pack.

All four Mobius screamed their heads off and collapsed, back first, onto the ground. In the middle was a small Payne's Gray robot. He was about one-and-a-half feet in height, and he was feisty. His head was big, and he had one upward hedgehog quill on each side of his head. On the top of his head was a gray outline. His eyes were green, and his mouth and tongue were bright blue.

His body and arms were also dark gray, with red cuffs as shoulders. His hands were covered with a white glove. A yellow “M” was the symbol for his stomach, and he carried a gray jet booster on his back. His legs were gray, and his boots were red and reached to his knee. Finally, in front of him was a green bag with the word “EGG” in yellow letters.

All the Mobians got to their feet and looked at the robot suspiciously.

“Who's this robot?” wondered Amy to herself.

“Good question,” replied Sonic.

The robot closed his eyes and put his right hand over the “M” on his chest. “My name is Bokkun, and it's a pleasure to meet you. I was sent here to you to give you a message.”

“A message?” said Tails quizzically.

“That's correct!” replied Bokkun and opened the bag. He dug into it and picked up a small yellow television. He set it down, and before he could be questioned, he flew down the path to the bridge and disappeared into the forest.

Sonic looked at the television with some suspicion. “I wonder what the message is…” Without giving any second thoughts, he pressed the button on the bottom left-hand corner, turning on the television.

Once the screen was turned on, they all yelped. Eggman was facing the screen with a smile on his face.

“Good morning, Sonic!” the scientist smirked.

Sonic was the first to pluck up courage. “All right, Eggman. What do you want?”

“Yeah!” snarled Knuckles. “Why do you want to fight us anyway? We don't have any Chaos Emeralds with us!”

“I know,” said Eggman, “but I believe that the anomaly that I tracked had it.”

“Anomaly?” puzzled Knuckles.

“Yes, stupid. Anomaly,” snapped Eggman. “He was on this island, and he had a Chaos Emerald in his possession. I plan on tracking him down and destroying the person who has them!”

“If it's an innocent bystander, we won't let that happen!” yelled Amy, grappling her hammer.

“You won't?” groaned Eggman with sadness and grabbed a tissue. “Well, that's touching.” He blew his nose, and tossed it across the screen. “Well, try as you might, because I will collect the Emeralds and conquer the world at last!” He cackled loudly before saying the words, “See ya later this afternoon.” Afterwards, the screen shut itself down.

Amy growled from the Doctor's remarks. “I'm really hating that Eggman.”

“Me, too,” said Sonic. He then put his left hand under his chin. “But I'm wondering what he meant by `anomaly.'”

“Good question,” pondered Knuckles as they all started thinking about the “anomaly.”

It would not last for long.

“Uh-oh,” said Tails.

Everyone looked at the two-tailed fox.

“What is it, little bro?” asked Sonic.

“Last night, I felt Chaos Energy coming from Alexander's bag,” replied Tails. “It was very faint, and I wasn't sure if my guess was accurate, so I ignored it, but I was sure I sensed it.” After saying that, his golden face started to pale. “If Alexander had the Emeralds, then that means—”

“—Alexander was the anomaly!” finished Amy.

Now, it was starting to make sense.

“So, that's why Eggman attacked the island earlier this week,” said Knuckles. “The kid possessed a Chaos Emerald.” He then grumbled softly and - with frustration - added in thought, “This kid is more trouble than I first thought.”

“Correction,” said Tails and flashed a “V” symbol with his right hand. “He possesses two Chaos Emeralds.”

“Two Chaos Emeralds?” asked Amy.

“Mm-hmm,” hummed Tails with a nod. “There was another form of very faint Chaos Energy coming from within his travel bag.”

“And, now, Eggman's trying to find them?” said Amy.

Tails nodded.

Amy growled contemptuously. “Why that no good son of a—” And she smashed the television with her hammer. Big mistake…

BOOM!

Once she destroyed the screen, the television exploded, covering all four Mobians with black dust. However, it would not be very long before they shook the soot off.

“We must warn Alexander and quickly!” said Tails.

“Right!” said Sonic and looked at the note in his right hand. “And I know just where Alexander might be…”

--------------------------------------------------

Alexander landed at the top of the plateau near the Royal Mushrooms after using Chaos Control with the red gemstone. His other Emerald was floating above Alexander's head and was looking ahead, even though he was still concentrating intently on the child under him.

“It seems that we got away from the group in time,” said Alexander as he stared at Angel Mountain in the horizon.

“Just barely,” replied the red Chaos Emerald as she shot from Alexander's right hand and floated in midair. “For I heard Sonic stir the moment we left.”

Suddenly, Knuckles's scream of frustration could be heard coming from the Angel Mountain area.

“And something tells me the others now know where we are,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“I had a hunch about that,” agreed Alexander and made his way to the Royal Mushrooms. He hoped that Roquefort would be there; ready to show Alexander the landscape. But after a thorough search, he noticed Roquefort was gone.

“Where could he be?” thought Alexander aloud.

“Maybe Roquefort went out for a walk,” suggested the red Chaos Emerald.

“Might be,” said Alexander.

“Maybe not,” interrupted a familiar masculine voice.

Alexander hummed, and the Chaos Emeralds, once again, collapsed onto the ground. The Halbery child looked up and saw Roquefort the Mosquito sitting on the edge of the tall right Royal Mushroom.

“Long time no see, Alexander,” joked Roquefort as he jumped down, zoomed through a hole between the gap between the mushrooms, and landed softly on the orange ground.

“How long have you've been up there?” asked Alexander after picking up the Emeralds.

“Since I woke up this morning,” replied Roquefort. “But never mind that. You wanted me to guide you through Mushroom hill, right?”

Alexander nodded.

“Then, in that case,” said Roquefort and grabbed a three-foot wooden stick from the ground with his right hand, “let's go.” And he walked down the hill.

Alexander smiled and followed the mosquito.

It would not be long before they encountered the same brook that Alexander fell into yesterday… all because the mysterious Mobian punted him there. Although he neither saw nor knew her, the mere thought of her made him very cross. He was now thinking of ways to get back at her.

Roquefort noticed this. “Are you feeling okay, Alex?” he asked. “You look very vengeful.”

Alexander quickly shook his head and turned to the mosquito. “It's nothing,” replied the boy sheepishly.

Roquefort looked at Alexander suspiciously, but said nothing about it and changed the subject. “There's a connection not far from here, we can cross to the Autumn Mushrooms there,” he said and walked left.

Unfortunately, Alexander was so concentrated on plotting revenge on the mysterious female Mobian, he did not recognize Roquefort passing him.

“C'mon, Alexander!” called Roquefort.

Alexander immediately snapped out of it. “Coming!” responded the human and followed the oversized insect.

While they rounded the bend, Alexander gazed at the water below. It was clean and sparkly, just like the bodies of water he encountered in Angel Island. Then, he looked up at the blue mushrooms. The stalks looked like a rusty bronze, and the caps were either light blue with dark blue spots or vice-versa.

“I can't wait to see what the forest looks like,” said Alexander to himself.

“You'll see in a minute,” replied Roquefort.

Nothing more was said until they finished rounding the bend. When they arrived at the connection, he noticed a path of rocks protruded from the water. At the end of the trail was a pathway that entered the Autumn Mushrooms.

“Look like we cross via the rocks,” observed Alexander.

“Correct,” said Roquefort. “Just step on the rocks, and follow me. But be careful; they can be very slippery.”

“I can guess,” added Alexander after observing the rocks a little more; the tops looked very glossy, and it made Alexander a little worried.

Afterwards, Roquefort stepped on the nearest rock before walking onto the next one.

Alexander gulped. He wished he did not have to walk on the rocks, especially since he had a tendency to be extremely clumsy. Nevertheless, he stepped on the first rock. Nothing happened. Sighing in relief, he stepped on the next one. Nothing happened. Then, he stepped on another and another; he did not slip.

“Thank heavens,” thought Alexander.

“Say, Alexander,” said Roquefort, who was standing on a rock three-quarters from the shoreline. “Why did you look so tense while stepping on the rocks?”

Alexander caught up with Roquefort and stood straight up, trying to keep his balance on the rock. “I can be pretty clumsy at times,” he admitted while tugging the collar of his shirt.

“I see,” replied Roquefort and stepped on another rock in front of him. “I hope he's careful; from the look in his eyes, he has a tendency to not watch where would be going.”

He was correct with his theory…

SPLASH!

Roquefort heard a splash, and he jumped over several rocks to one three feet from the shore. He looked down and saw Alexander lying face-first in the water.

“I think I found the proof,” concluded Roquefort in thought, his face looking very frozen. He jumped and landed in the shallow water in front of the Halbery child. “Are you okay?” he asked and offered his right hand.

Alexander, his face still in the water, grasped Roquefort's hand and was hoisted to his feet.

“Maybe, I should've walked on the water instead,” huffed Alex and squeezed the water out of his hair.

“I agree,” chuckled Roquefort as he aided Alexander to the shoreline of the Autumn Mushrooms.

“Do you think you'll be okay?” the mosquito asked Alexander as they stepped onto the riverbank. “Autumn Mushroom Hill can be a little bit chilly, mind you.”

“I'll live,” replied Alexander with humor.

Roquefort smiled as they walked down the path of the Autumn Mushrooms.

What Roquefort said was true to his word: The weather felt a little chilly, compared to his home in New York City and the beautiful sceneries in Summer Mushroom Hill and Hidden Palace. And it was definitely not compared to the muggy Cosmic Cave and the forest that led to Mushroom Hill.

“C-C-Cold,” shivered Alexander while rubbing his left arm.

“Maybe, you should bring out your jacket,” suggested the red Chaos Emerald's voice from inside Alexander's head.

Alexander groaned from the voice that rang in his head, but he obliged nonetheless by taking his sweater out of his travel bag and putting it on.

“Much better,” Alexander sighed.

“Told you so,” teased the red Chaos Emerald.

The child merely laughed and looked at the scenery around. Everywhere he looked, he saw blue mushrooms that varied in size. Many of the smaller mushrooms he saw were about three feet tall, while others varied from ten to approximately 45 feet tall.

“Wow,” gasped Alexander in awe after gawking at a 40-foot-tall, dark-blue-capped Autumn Mushroom that towered on his right.

“Beauties of nature, aren't they?” said Roquefort.

Alexander nodded and walked toward it. “You can say that again,” he responded and caressed the stalk with his right hand. Afterwards, he gave it a gentle pat and walked back to Roquefort.

Nothing more was said until they found themselves at an open stretch of land. Above them, the bright blue sky shone brightly, and thin feathery clouds wafted in the gentle breeze. On the ground, several blue-shaded fungi encircled the plateau. The caps were either light blue with dark blue dots or vice-versa, and they all varied in height. They were all spaced out to where not only the dirt was exposed, but also the roots. The roots were thin and small, but very sturdy and stuck in the rich soil, thus maintaining the occasional tall fungi from collapsing onto the ground.

Unlike the Summer Mushrooms, the Autumn Mushrooms surrounded the end of the plains with the shape of a horseshoe.

“Where are we now, Roquefort?” asked Alexander as he glanced at the mushrooms.

“We are at Horseshoe Gate: We're at the very end of the path,” explained Roquefort. “We just have to walk a little further until we gaze at the open plains.”

“Lead the way, then,” said Alexander.

Roquefort obliged and walked on, Alexander following him.

A few minutes later, Alexander and Roquefort walked to the end of Horseshoe Gate and stared at the plains ahead of them. The thin grass from the plateau swayed in the gentle wind, but instead of the grass being bright orange, it was ruby red. The grass was about one and three-quarter inches tall, and it sparkled in the sunlight.

There were still blue-capped mushrooms that sprouted here and there throughout the area, but they were smaller, scattered, and more spaced out than the mushrooms at the Horseshoe Gate.

Roquefort easily predicted Alexander's reaction from earlier; the Halbery child sighed in awe from the beauty that cast the Mushroom Hill.

“I suspect that you like the scenery,” said Roquefort teasingly.

Alexander said nothing as he gawked at the plains.

“I think he does,” laughed Roquefort. Then, he cleared his throat and tapped Alexander's right shoulder with his left hand. “Ready to go, now?” he asked.

“Hmm?” wondered Alexander after feeling Roquefort's gloved hand on his shoulder. He turned around and nodded.

Afterwards, Roquefort walked straight into the grassy field, Alexander not far behind.

As they walked on the plains, Alexander looked back and forth and noticed several tall, but vibrant, Autumn Mushrooms that towered above him. Although they were not as tall as the Royal Mushrooms in the Summer region, they were tall and gorgeous nevertheless.

“Seems like your ancestors have done marvelous wonders during their generations,” complimented Alexander

Roquefort looked behind him and smiled humbly. “Thanks, Alexander,” he said before looking ahead again. “I'm glad that you liked all the hard work that our ancestors have made.”

“And you should,” thought Alexander with a smile. He then looked toward his right and gazed at he underside of a 25-foot-tall, light blue-capped Autumn Mushroom. “Something tells me that this will be a welcoming haven anytime I travel here in the future.”

What he did not know was that trouble was about to brew.

WHOOSH!

A brush of wind zoomed by Alexander's left, almost knocking him to the ground.

“What the—” cried the child and looked behind him. What he saw was a querulous gray robot zooming into Horseshoe Gate and into the forest.

“What in the world was that?” exclaimed Alexander, his turquoise eyes widening out of surprise.

“Don't know,” replied Roquefort, shaking his head. “But from the jet, it looks like a robot.” Afterwards, he was about to continue walking ahead when he noticed Alexander standing still. “What's the matter, Alexander? You look like there's a problem.”

Alexander remained as still as a statue, but after a few quick moments, he sighed and turned to Roquefort. “Yes, there is a problem. There's something strange about that robot, and I don't like it one bit.”

“And you shouldn't,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald's voice through Alexander's head. “That was Eggman's messenger robot; trouble will be ensuing if we don't leave now.”

“He's right,” said the red Chaos Emerald's voice. “This is too dangerous. You must leave.”

“Why is that?” asked Alexander, not caring if the echoes in his head annoyed him or not.

“I'm not exactly sure,” replied the cyan gemstone, “but it seems that Eggman is after you.”

Alexander reacted with a frightful gasp.

“Alexander?” interrupted Roquefort and tapped his left shoulder, snapping Alexander out of it.

The human turned to the mosquito. “I must get out of here. I'm not safe here.”

“Why's that?” wondered the mosquito.

“I'm not sure,” said Alexander and stared at the sky; for some reason, he could not admit to Roquefort that the Chaos Emeralds were talking to him, so he quickly thought up a diversion to cover it up, “but I have a hunch that Eggman is now after me.” With that, he broke into a run toward the Horseshoe Gate.

“Alexander, wait up!” called Roquefort as his transparent blue wings started flapping rapidly. Then, in a burst of speed, he zoomed after the child.

“Alexander!” called Roquefort after landing in front of Alexander near Horseshoe Gate. “Where do you have to go?”

Alexander was about to answer, but the cyan gem's voice beat him to it.

“You must find Sonic alone. You can't let Roquefort see you.”

After the gem's words, Alexander gave him his answer. “No offense, but I have to go alone.”

“Why?”

Alexander sighed before answering. “Let's just say that someone is controlling my thoughts.”

Roquefort became crestfallen, but Alexander put his right hand on his left shoulder. “But I'll be back soon, if that's all right.”

The pre-teen mosquito smiled. “Gotcha.”

“Good,” said Alexander and ran into the forest as fast as he could.

--------------------------------------------------

Alexander ran as fast as his feet would allow him to, and it would not be long until he reached the creak again. This time, he jumped into the shallow water and jogged his way to the other side of the shoreline, nearly tripping over on the riverbank in the process. And after a few quick sprints, he was back at the path towards the Royal Mushrooms.

Alexander walked about halfway down the path to the plateau when he veered right and behind a yellow-capped Summer Mushroom.

“That was close,” panted the child and unzipped the travel bag.

Out came the two Emeralds as they hovered in front of him.

“You were lucky to escape from that persistent mosquito,” said the cyan Emerald. “Talk about a fast flyer.”

“Later,” snapped Alexander and waved his left hand to signal silence to the gems. “Now, what about that robot messenger that zoomed by?”

“According to my calculations, that robot was named Bokkun, and he carries messages to anyone who's one of Eggman's targets,” replied the cyan Chaos Emerald.

“Although he never gave you a message,” went on the red Chaos Emerald, “I suspect that whatever Bokkun did has something to do with you.”

Alexander slowly blinked and looked up towards the sky. “I wouldn't be surprised,” he drawled. “But I need to hurry and find Sonic. Can I use Chaos Control for this?”

The Emeralds shook their shells.

“I don't think so,” said the red Emerald solemnly. “I had a strange feeling that they went to find you already, and you're not experienced with Chaos Control as of yet; so, it won't be wise to use it without knowing where the others are.”

“Good point,” said Alexander observantly, still staring up at the sky. “So, I guess I'll just have to wait for them to find me.”

“And I assume they know where to go, too,” cut in the cyan jewel. “Those notes we helped writing might be worthwhile.”

“Might be,” replied Alexander after putting his head down and dug out the notes that were in his right pocket. He only had three of them compared to four that he had the day before.

“Good thing I wrote them,” he mumbled to himself after flipping through the notes. Nothing more was said for some time as Mushroom Hill became extremely quiet, but it did not feel very pleasant. Instead, there was an ominous vibe in it, and it started to make Alexander very uncomfortable.

“Is it me or does it sound a bit too quiet?” wondered the human.

The red gem observed the silence. “I'm not sure, to be exact.”

“You got me there, Alex,” the cyan Chaos Emerald replied.

“Well, it's just that I hunch that there's something coming,” admitted Alexander. With a shiver, he added, “And it doesn't look good, either.” His hunch was right…

CRASH!

…Because the ground violently shook when something crashed onto the ground.

“Me and my big mouth,” grumbled Alexander as his right hand became a fist.

“Save you mouth for later,” argued the red Chaos Emerald and peaked through the bushes. On her left, she saw Egg-Drill facing away, but it was looking back and forth to find the culprit, “Right now, we have to escape.”

“Good idea,” said Alexander. Then, after feeling the ground rumble underneath himself, he questioned to himself, “But how can we with these mushrooms crowding almost all space around us?”

After sneaking back in, the red gemstone flew silently towards the child. “It's unlikely we can use Chaos Control, either,” she replied solemnly. “Almost all of Eggman's robots can sense Chaos Energy, and I'm more than certain this robot can, too.”

“Darn,” muttered Alexander and stomped lightly on the ground with his right foot. “It looks like we must wait until the robot passes by.”

With that, they kept quiet as the earth-shaking robot stomped towards them. The machine was slow and it plodded a lot, but each shake was very violent because of its force.

“Roquefort's not gonna be happy once he sees that his territory was disturbed,” thought Alexander as the Egg-Drill waddled closer to their location. “But now, I must care less about the landscape and find a way to get outta here in one piece.”

The moment the Egg-Drill arrived at the area where Alexander was at, it stopped and turned its head, looking for the Chaos Emeralds.

Alexander could see its head as well as its mechanical eye, but it was very faint courtesy of the mushrooms' stalks that semi-blocked his view. Nevertheless, he could detect it; the strange whirring from the Egg-Drill's head gave him this hunch.

The child hid between the mushrooms, waiting for its predator to leave the premises. Alexander had a feeling that he was going to wait for some time, but as long as he would get out of Mushroom Hill in one piece, it would all be worth it.

His wait was long, about fifteen minutes long, to be exact, but it was worth it. Soon after, he heard a deep voice wobble through a radio, “It's not in this area, Egg-Drill. Let's keep moving.” And the robot walked away towards the creek.

Alexander sighed, feeling relieved. “That was close. I guess this robot was one of the few that's not sensitive to Chaos Energy.”

“Maybe so,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald.

Unfortunately, they did not know that they were soon going to be caught in Eggman's trap.

THWACK!

“GAH!” shouted Alexander as a mysterious robot clipped the back of Alexander's head, causing him to throw himself out from hiding and crash on the path.

The Chaos Emerald cried out and floated to his side.

“Are you okay, Alexander?” asked the red Emerald to Alexander, who was trying to get up from the ground.

“I'm fine,” groaned Alexander to the gems, even though he was looking down. “You don't have to be that dramatic.” Then, as he got into a crouch, he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand and said to himself, “What was that thing that hit me?”

“You're about to find out,” echoed a deep voice sinisterly.

Alexander gasped, and the Chaos Emeralds immediately dropped to the ground at the sound.

The Halbery child observed the scenario. “I have a very bad feeling about this,” he quivered and picked up the gems.

“You can say that again, kid,” said the same voice from above.

The child gasped again and quickly got to his feet. He then looked above, and noticed Eggman floating in his hovercraft.

“Eggman. I should've known it was you,” snarled Alexander.

“You seem to be very acknowledgeable to know me,” observed Dr. Eggman with an evil smile and furrowed eyebrows. “I have a feeling that Sonic and the others have told you what I'm capable of.”

“Hmph. You can say that,” said Alexander, not taking his eyes off the mad scientist. “Either that or that I observe your failure a few days ago.”

Eggman's eyebrows quickly changed from being furrowed to where they looked like arches. If there was one thing that would push his buttons, it was recognition of battles that he lost. Still, he was able to keep his cool as his brows furrowed evilly again. “Hand them over to me,” the Doctor ordered as he extended his right hand.

“Hmm?” puzzled Alexander.

“Hand the Chaos Emeralds over to me this instant,” commanded Eggman.

Alexander looked at his outstretched arms, gazing at the dimly lit Chaos Emeralds. Then, he turned to Eggman again with a cross look on both his face and eyes. “Forget it.”

“Hmm?”

“That's right,” said Alexander. “I will NOT let you take the Chaos Emeralds for your misdeeds.”

Eggman gasped at Alexander's rebuttal, but he was not going to back down. He was Dr. Eggman, after all. “Sorry, kid, but I'm not taking `no' for an answer.” After his statement, he brought his right hand towards him and snapped his thumb and middle fingers.

Alexander kept his focus on the Doctor, but he had a bad feeling about what he was doing and thought so.

“He's up to something. I know it.”

And he was right…

BOOM!

The ground rumbled again. This time, it came from behind.

“What the—” exclaimed Alexander and turned his back towards the creek.

Eggman's plan went all according to plan. And with Alexander's left hand outstretched, it was the perfect capture.

SWIPE!

“Hey!” cried a startled Alexander as something fast zoomed by his left hand. He looked down and noticed that the Chaos Emerald was missing. He had a feeling what happened and looked up at Eggman. That was when he gasped at a small black robot on his left shoulder. The face was in the shape of a sphere, minus the long beak and white eye in the front. The body was in the shape of a small triangular pyramid, and it had rectangular wings with a jet on the back. The legs were minute and stumped, but its feet were flat and contained small jets on the soles.

Also, in its beak was something that had an aura, a red aura, to be exact. It opened its beak, allowing the object to fall into Eggman's awaiting left hand. As it feel, Alexander came to realize one thing…

“The Chaos Emerald!” he exclaimed as the red gemstone fell into Eggman's grasp.

Dr. Eggman smiled and stroked the parrot-sized robot. “Remember one cardinal rule when preparing for an attack: never look away from the enemy. They can pull tricks up their sleeves.”

“I should know that,” said Alexander with a growl before looking up at the robot. “I have a sneaky suspicion it was that robot that forced me to your trap.”

Eggman's grin widened. “You're much brighter than I thought,” he answered. He then cackled loudly, chagrining Alexander greatly.

“This guy doesn't know when to shut up,” he thought crossly.

Dr. Eggman's cackle was short as he fixated his gaze on Alexander again. “Now give me the other Chaos Emerald like a good little brat.”

Alexander snarled at the Doctor, not taking his angry face off him. “If I had the power, I would crush this guy and take the Chaos Emerald back!” he thought with resentment. Afterwards, he looked at his right hand, which was in front of his chest. “And, I'm not about to give up the other Emerald, either, so he can forget about asking me.” He closed his eyes. “Looks like I have to take advantage of the `deal' that I had to make with this Chaos Emerald here.”

The child's eyes quickly snapped open and glared at Eggman. “I like to see you try to steal it!” declared the teenager and tried to run past Eggman.

“Big mistake, kid!” replied Eggman and snapped his fingers again. The small bird robot quickly zoomed off his shoulder and dove at the child.

Its speed took advantage of the opportunity as it zoomed in front of Alexander, forcing him to stop his brief run.

“Damn it!” swore Alexander. He tried to run the other way, but when he did, the robot zoomed around him, boxing him in.

“Great!” thought Alexander. “Now, I got nowhere to go!”

He was about to get into more trouble as one of the wings slit Alexander's right arm, causing it to bleed. It then flew pass the other arm, digging its sharp wing into Alexander's flesh.

He yelped because of the arm injuries he suffered from the robot, but the robot wasn't done. It zoomed by both upper-legs, cutting him open slightly.

“Ow!” yelped Alexander as he felt pain coming from his new wounds.

He was about to receive a little more punishment.

SWISH!

“Ow!” exclaimed Alexander as the sharp blade from the robot's wing dug into the left side of his jaw.

The machine then flew past his right cheek, but its wing merely scraped it, so it did not cause sudden pain.

But there was more to come…

SWISH!

“Ahh!” cried Alexander as Vamparrot's right wing blade sliced into his injured upper-left arm, causing him to bleed a little more than the other injuries that it caused.

More injuries were subsequently given as the blades dug into Alexander's left shoulder before inflicting cuts on the other shoulder.

The abuse was starting to take a toll on Alexander as his legs became wobbly, but he still had enough strength to stay on his feet as he kept glaring menacingly at the Doctor and the robot (who was hovering on the right side of the hovercraft).

“I usually don't like to do something like this,” said Eggman casually, “but when someone tries to defy me, I inflict some punishment.” He then looked at Alexander with a dangerous glimmer in his glasses. “Now give me the Emerald or you'll suffer even bigger consequences.”

Panting and groaning from the pain, Alexander's focused completely at Eggman, hatred etched on his face. “Drop dead.”

Eggman snarled at the phrase. “Alright! YOU ASKED FOR IT!” he roared angrily. “Now, you'll know what it's like when you cross the Doctor!” He turned to the robot, who floated on his left. “Vamparrot, make him suffer and take the Chaos Emerald in the process!”

Once the order was issued, Vamparrot, Eggman's bird-like robot, nosedived towards Alexander, and it was about three-quarters on the way when a blue light zoomed under the hovercraft and crashed into the robot.

Because of the ball of light crashing into it, Vamparrot's body was severely dented and battered, and it crashed into the ground in a crumpled heap.

“What?” shouted Eggman after seeing the blur.

Once Eggman exclaimed out of surprise, the blue blur dissolved in front of Alexander. And in its place was Sonic, who locked his eyes upon the Doctor.

“Are you okay, Alexander?” asked Sonic while in his fighting stance.

“I'll live,” replied Alexander with a groan. “But Eggman's got a Chaos Emerald.”

“And it'll be one that I intend to keep!” finished Eggman as he flashed the red Chaos Emerald in his left hand.

“Not if I can help it!” declared Knuckles's voice as jumped off a red-capped mushroom and onto the ground next to Sonic.

“Long time no see, Knuckles,” said Sonic jokingly and winked at him with his left eye. “I was wondering when you would show up.”

But his joke would be cut off when Eggman laughed sinisterly at their direction. “You may have your friends with you, but I still have the Emerald! Take a look!” He raised his hand into the air and pompously flashed the red gemstone again.

Knuckles gasped at the sight. “The Chaos Emerald!” he shouted.

“Correct, Knucklehead,” laughed Eggman and put the Emerald in a compartment in the front of his cruiser. “Now, I think it's time that I leave the area; my job here is done!” He then did a military salute. “Until next time, fools!” He snapped his fingers with his right hand and flew off towards the plateau.

“Shoot!” muttered Alexander. “He got away!” And he punched the ground with his left hand.

“Ow!” he winced as the punch injured his hand. “Great going, Alexander. You injured yourself even more.”

“Hey, Sonic!” shouted a female voice coming from the creek.

The trio looked up and turned towards the river. Running towards them was Amy, carrying her Piko-Piko Hammer; Tails followed her by flying with his two tails.

“What happened here?” asked Tails after landing on the ground.

“Eggman stole one of the Chaos Emeralds we had,” replied Sonic, his arms crossed. “He got away a little after we arrived.”

“Darn!” grumbled Amy and let the head of her mallet fall onto the ground. “But the good thing is we have the other.”

Knuckles looked down and saw the cyan Chaos Emerald in Alexander's right hand. “It's better than not having any,” he said. Then, he looked up at Alexander with a cross look. “You and I will have a long talk later,” he said sternly.

Alexander sighed sadly at Knuckles's scold; he wished that he could trust him. But receiving a lecture was better than receiving more punishment from Dr. Eggman.

“I understand,” replied the child, and Knuckles walked toward the nearest crater caused by the Egg-Drill.

“Are you okay, Alexander?” asked Amy when she walked towards him. “You look battered.”

Alexander tried to create a fist with his left hand, but he winced when he did. “Other than a robot cutting me open in several places, I'm fine.”

“Good,” smiled Amy and ruffled his hair with her hand. “I'll treat your wounds when we get back to Hidden Palace.”

Alexander nodded as they started walking towards the plateau.

Then came trouble…

CRASH!

…The ground shook violently, causing the group to nearly fall on the ground.

“What's going on!?” shouted Alexander.

He quickly received his answer as the Egg-Drill shot up from the ground - around the area Eggman was hovering over - and landed in front of them. The drills from the top of its head and the end of its arms stopped spinning once it crashed onto the dirt.

“I think we got our answer!” replied Amy as she raised her mallet and got into her fighting stance.

Once she said that, several robots zoomed around the trio, making several whooshing sounds.

“And I think backup has arrived,” said Sonic while wavering his eyes at the blurry robots.

The robots spun around the trio for several seconds when they stopped in front of the creak. The 100 robots all looked like the Vamparrot robot that Alexander encountered moments ago (in both design and color metal), but they were smaller than the original one.

“Yeah, lots of backup,” added Alexander with panic in his voice.

Nothing more was said and heard for several moments. The Vamparrots all floated in the air, glaring menacingly at the group with their white eyes. The Egg-Drill stood still as a statue, its tall, wide body and arms blocking everybody from turning to the creek.

It remained quiet until static came from a small radio that was attached above the laser of Egg-Drill's chest.

“What's going on with the robot?” wondered Alexander.

“Don't know, Alexander,” answered Sonic. “But I have a sneaky suspicion to what it's about.”

Sonic's hunch proved to be correct.

“Greetings again, my little warthog,” said Eggman's voice from the radio.

All four Mobians growled at the voice.

“You planned this, didn't you?” sneered Knuckles while in his fighting stance.

“And if I did?” said Eggman mockingly and snickered. “You all thought that I was actually finished with my job, did you? I'm surprised at your stupidity here. You should've been much smarter than that to detect my strategy.” He chuckled evilly. “Then again, I don't expect anything coming from you. HAAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAHH!!!”

“Very funny, Eggman!” growled Amy and gripped the handle of the hammer even tighter. “Then again, despite your weight, you were pretty light after I smashed your cruiser.”

Everyone chuckled from her crass remark, but Eggman was very cross and his growl proved it.

“Remind me to call yourself my next target the next time we ever meet eye to eye,” he huffed contemptuously. A cough soon followed. “But now, I want that other Chaos Emerald that you now possess.”

Before Sonic could make any rebuttal, Eggman bribed him.

“Look around you. My robots have boxed you in. My Egg-Drill can fire missiles and stalk you through the ground, and my Vamparrots can peck you and rip flesh like broken glass. Face it, Sonic. You're trapped, and there's nothing you can do about it. Give me the Chaos Emerald, and I might spare your pathetic life. If you don't… then, I'll just say that you'll look like a jigsaw puzzle that will be impossible to be put together.”

Sonic, as usual, did not think much of it and responded right away. “Sorry, Doctor, but that's not gonna happen.”

“And we'll make sure that won't happen,” added Tails bravely.

“You better,” said the cyan Chaos Emerald's voice through Alexander's head.

“Agreed,” thought Alexander with a determined look on his face; he did not care much about the voice ringing through his head right now. The only thing that mattered was to keep the Chaos Emerald and get out of this battle alive.

A hum came from Eggman via the radio. “Since you won't listen to my bargain, I might as well do what I have to do.” And a snap of his fingers could be heard.

Suddenly, all the jets from the Vamparrot's wings ignited, as if it was ready for attack.

“Alexander, you better get out of here and find some shelter,” commanded Sonic. “Leave the fighting to us.”

“Gotcha,” said Alexander and attempted to run past the Egg-Drill.

The Egg-Drill turned its head to Alexander and raised its big right arm as if it was going to fire.

CLANG!

“Not so fast, tin can!” shouted Amy after crashing the head of her mallet at its stumpy right leg. “You'll have to get through us first!”

The distraction was long enough as Alexander sidestepped the Egg-Drill and was several yards ahead of the robots once the chaos briefly subsided.

It would soon start up again as the miniature Vamparrots zoomed by the Mobians and darted after Alexander.

“Oh no!” cried Sonic and tried to run, but Egg-Drill's long right arm plowed itself into the ground, blocking him.

“You'll have to do more than that to trick me, fools,” said Eggman casually. “Attack them, Egg-Drill!”

“Acknowledged,” replied the robot in a monotonous male voice and lifted its arm off the dirt. The end of the arm then changed from three drills to six gun barrels.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” said Tails with some fear.

And he was right, for rounds of small bullets shot from the barrels and at the group.

The Mobians reacted quickly and were able to dodge the bullets without a scratch.

“You think that oversized refrigerator can beat us?” shouted Sonic, then dodged another round of bullets from the Egg-Drill's right arm.

“You'll have to do better than that!” replied Sonic and jumped into the air, curling himself up into a ball. He then aimed at the body, trying to do some damage.

CLANG!

It did not work as he bounced off him and landed on the ground, but not without rubbing his head.

“This robot has pretty tough armor,” he muttered, temporarily feeling a little woozy.

“Very observant of you, Sonic,” replied Eggman via the radio. “I built him with several layers of steel, so he can't get penetrated that easily.”

“Not if I can help it!” called Knuckles and jumped at the robot. “Take this!” he shouted and threw a punch at its face.

GONG!

Knuckles's right fist did no damage as it reverberated off the robot.

The echidna growled, “Why you…” and tried to punch it again.

GONG!

It did not work. So, he tried it again…

GONG!

…And again…

GONG!

…And again…

GONG!

…And again!

GONG!

None of his punches did any damage to its structure.

Knuckles's eyes looked like dinner plates after trying to penetrate it. “How's this robot capable of surviving such punishment?” he thought aloud.

The Egg-Drill finally had enough as the laser in its chest fired a red beam at Knuckles, and it crashed into his abdomen.

“Aggh!” he cried out as it threw him off the robot and onto the ground.

“Are you alright, Knuckles?” asked Amy as she went to his side.

“I'm all right,” replied Knuckles as he got to his feet, although his abdomen was a little cramped up.

“Face it, this robot is indestructible,” chortled Eggman through the radio.

“Oh, yeah!” challenged Amy and charged at the robot. “Not on my watch!” She then swung as hard as she could at the robot's right leg again.

CLANG!

But it only created a gong, and the shockwaves from the swing stung Amy's hand.

“Ouch!” she wailed and twitched her left hand. Unfortunately, she took her eyes off the enemy as the Egg-Drill punted Amy off the ground with its arm.

“AAAHHH!” she screamed as she was flung into the air. She then hit the ground in a heap.

“Amy!” cried Sonic and ran to her side.

“I'm fine,” Amy replied before turning to the Egg-Drill. “But this Egg-Drill needs a serious trip to the junk yard.”

“I agree,” said Knuckles and looked up at the Egg-Drill with a growl. “A serious trip.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA!” laughed Eggman evilly. “It seems like you're having a tough time with my robot. Well, there's more to him than just drilling and shooting things.”

The four Mobians looked at each other confusingly.

“What does he mean by that?” asked Amy.

“You're about to find out,” replied Eggman and cleared his throat. “Attention, Egg-Drill, I want you to squash them like a bug! And don't forget to use your ammunition in the process.”

“Acknowledged,” responded the robot monotonously. Afterwards, jets from the soles of Egg-Drill's feet ignited and it floated in reverse towards the plateau.

“What's that robot doing?” wondered Amy.

“I'm not sure,” replied Tails while looking at the robot. “But it doesn't look good.”

The two-tailed fox was right; the robot's jets stopped igniting and it crouched down towards the ground. Suddenly, it jumped high in the sky.

Everyone was confused what it was doing, but when they noticed that they were under its shadow, they reacted.

“Definitely not good!” exclaimed Knuckles and jumped out of the Egg-Drill's shadow towards the creek. “Get out of the Egg-Drill's shadow. It'll crush you!”

Knuckles's instinct was correct, for the Egg-Drill stopped hanging in the air and was about to land right on top of them!

“HEADS UP!!!!” shouted Tails as the others all split up and rolled out of the shadow.

They got out of the way just in time…

BOOM!

…For it crashed onto the ground with such force, a huge and deep crater was created.

“Damn this robot!” cursed Knuckles after seeing it crash to the ground.

“Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-HO! You liked what my robot did, eh?” laughed Eggman with minute sarcasm. “Then, I'll just let my friend have some fun while it's at it!”

“You forgot about one thing!” called Amy.

The robot turned its head and noticed that Amy was running towards the plateau.

Eggman had a feeling what she was talking about and was not about to let her slip away that easily. “Egg-Drill, don't let her escape!” he ordered through the radio.

“Acknowledged,” replied the robot and leapt into the air again.

Amy tried to run as fast as she could toward the plateau, but the robot beat her to it as it crashed to the ground, blocking her and creating another crater.

“Shoot!” grumbled Amy out of reaction. “But I still won't this robot stop me!” And she took another swing at the robot's leg.

CLANG!

…No such luck as the mallet reverberated off the steel.

“Ow!” wailed Amy as she twitched her hand again. But this time, she kept her sight on the robot as she ran back to the others. “How can we beat this tin can?” she asked them while keeping a tight grip on her mallet.

“I'm not sure,” said Sonic, “but we can't give up yet!”

“If I only made more Power Rings,” said Tails with a glare towards the robot, “then we could beat him.”

“Then, we'll have to think of a diversion,” replied Amy.

Eggman laughed loudly through the Egg-Drill's radio. “Try as you might, but you won't win. And I'll make sure that happens!” And he snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, the gun barrels retracted into the robot, and whirring could be heard from it.

“What's that robot doing now?” wondered Amy while keeping her glare at the Egg-Drill.

“You'll find out soon enough, my friend,” chortled Eggman and snapped his fingers again.

This time, the drills from the robot's other arm retracted and whirring could be heard from within it, too.

The whirring lasted for a few moments when both arms suddenly aimed at the Mobians.

“Remember about what I said about the Egg-Drill's ammunition?” cackled Eggman and snapped his fingers again.

That was when the whirring stopped and at the ends of each arm was three torpedo barrels.

“FIRE AWAY!!” shouted Eggman.

Suddenly, small torpedoes exited the barrels and aimed at the Mobians, but they took cover by jumping into the deep crater that the Egg-Drill created earlier.

“I got you now!” shouted Eggman through the radio and laughed sinisterly.

The torpedoes flailed wildly as they crashed into various areas of the path and the creek nearby, exploding on impact. The explosions caused a bunch of craters as well as messing up the beautiful scenery. They were also responsible for inflicting damage on several mushrooms as nectar spilled from broken pieces of bark and onto the soil.

While Amy and Tails sunk into the ground for protection, Knuckles and Sonic growled contemptuously at the robot for the damage the torpedoes caused.

“I've had enough of this fight!” exclaimed Sonic through the chaos. He exited the crater and ran right towards the Egg-Drill.

“Sonic, get back here!” called Knuckles, but Sonic ignored him as he continued charging.

Once he was close enough, Sonic jumped into the air and spun at the Armor's chest plate.

CLANG!

…But his attack failed as he bounced off the robot and landed on the ground.

“Well, well, well. So, you decided to get out of your little den, Sonic!” chortled Eggman through the radio. “Now, it's time for some real fun!” And he snapped his fingers again.

Suddenly, all the missiles that have yet to crash and explode nosedived at Sonic.

“Ah, shoot!” exclaimed Sonic as he started skipping in the ground, trying to dodge the missiles. He was hoping that they would either lose speed or explode in the air, but the missiles acted like they had a mind of their own. Wherever he went, the missiles swerved and continued to aim at the blue hedgehog, and he had to keep on sidestepping them to not get hit by them.

“This is not my day!” muttered the blue hedgehog as he continued to dodge them. “It's like they have minds of their own!”

“Correct, my little guinea pig,” replied Eggman joyfully over the radio. “It doesn't matter where you go, my torpedoes will follow you until they either plow right into you or if you're close enough to where they can detonate themselves.”

At the sound of Eggman's admission, Sonic grinned. “So, they'll detonate themselves when they're close to me, huh?” he thought deviously.

With that, he made a quick mental strategy, and he had a feeling that it was going to work. If not… he does not want to know.

With that, he stopped skipping when he was about 100 feet away from the Egg-Drill. “Yo! Torpedoes, try to catch me!” he taunted and flashed the bi-da gesture.

The torpedoes caught the voice and aimed right at Sonic, but he was quick to his feet as he jumped high into the air and dashed ahead, letting off his trademark blue light-trail.

Once he landed on the ground, he began running towards the Egg-Drill once again. This time, however, he was running slower to allow the torpedoes to keep up with him; but he kept a pace so they would not be close enough for them to detonate.

He kept running until he was about 25 feet from the Egg-Drill when he jumped and landed on the neck of the Egg-Drill. The robot turned its head to look at Sonic, only to see him smirking evilly. The hedgehog looked behind him then turned to the robot again.

“Bye!” Sonic said cheerfully and waved mockingly at it with his right hand. He then jumped high in the sky and landed about fifteen feet in front of the crater.

Once he touched down, he looked up at the robot, hoping to see if his plan worked.

It did…

BOOM!

The torpedoes collided with the robot and detonated on impact, and a ball of smoke and dirt billowed immediately after the explosion. Sonic loved every minute of it.

“Something tells me that Eggman's temper is blasting off right now,” he grinned as he stared at the ball of billowing smoke, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Sonic!” called Tails as he and the others exited the crater and ran to him.

“Are you okay, Sonic?” asked Amy as she put the head of her mallet on the ground.

Sonic shrugged and said, “Nothing to it. C'mon. Let's find Alexander.” And he plowed through the dust cloud and down the plateau.

“Wait for us!” called Tails and Amy and ran after him.

Meanwhile, Knuckles lagged behind to inspect the damage. Craters and damaged mushrooms filled the pathway. The nectar was soaking in the soil, and a few pieces of the Egg-Drill scattered all over the surface.

“I'm starting to get extremely tired of my island being vandalized,” he muttered, annoyed. He then walked over towards the area where the robot once stood. The stumpy legs were all that remained of it, but the metal was crumpled and dented from the explosion.

“Stupid robots,” grumbled Knuckles and kicked the left leg (or what was left of it), causing it to crash to the ground. He then huffed and ran after Tails and Amy, who were running up the plateau towards the Royal Mushrooms.

However, what the echidna and the others did not know was that from high in the sky, a small pod hovered above ground zero. It looked like a gray upside-down cone, and white propellers spun from the bottom. Moreover, a small black square hung from the cone's tip, and it had a lens on one of its faces.

From afar, Eggman - from his cockpit - had a miniature television in his cockpit, so he could watch the whole battle.

“Me and my big mouth,” he grumbled and pressed the “off” button that lied on the countertop. “Well, despite being a prototype, he was very useful. Oh, well…” He then grabbed onto the steering wheel and spun around before flying further into the distance. That was when Eggman's wide grin returned. “But that prototype - and the battle - gave me another idea for a new experiment.” A chuckle soon followed. “But first, I must find the other Emeralds as well as to wonder how my Vamparrots are doing with their chase.” He said no more from then on, as he continued flying west towards his hideout.

--------------------------------------------------

While the Mobians were battling the Egg-Drill, Alexander ran as fast as he could as he tried to escape the Vamparrots that were in hot pursuit. He was able to exit the dirt path and arrive at the edge of the plateau. Then, he ran onto the grass, sidestepped any mushroom that were in his way, and skidded down the first hill.

And during this short period of time, the Vamparrots - despite being a little slower than the bigger one - were able to keep pace.

“Stupid robots,” he muttered frustratingly as the Vamparrots kept chase. He stopped at the bottom of the hill then went up the hill in front of him.

That was when the first Vamparrot took action as it nosedived at his direction.

“Look out on your right!” shouted the cyan Chaos Emerald's voice from Alexander's head.

Alexander obeyed the Emerald's order and moved left, but the blade slightly scraped his right arm as the Vamparrot hit the grassy ground, smashing itself.

Alexander hissed as he got his skin cut open again. “These robots are making me sick!” He soon reached the top of the hill and continued running. Ahead of him was the family of Royal Mushrooms, the ones that Roquefort took pride in.

“I must not let the Vamparrots get near the Royal Mushrooms,” he said to himself as he kept on running. He quickly turned left and ran as quickly as he could. Then, when he was sure that they were as far away as possible, he ran at the fungi's direction and bolted past them.

“That should keep the mushrooms safe,” he thought to himself and sighed with relief.

But he was wrong; several Vamparrots zoomed right through the group, slightly cutting part of the stalks and releasing the nutritious nectar from inside.

“Damn it!” he roared as he noticed the damage on the trunks. “But, at least, they didn't cause much damage.”

But the damage was about to inflict on him instead as they were able to catch up to him; they were all about three feet away from him and were closing in fast.

“These robots just keep on coming, don't they?!” he exclaimed.

Suddenly, one of the robots from the edge of the pack started to nosedive at him.

“Move left, Alex!” screamed the cyan Chaos Emerald.

Alexander did not have to be told twice as he maneuvered left, sidestepping it completely. But the robot's reaction was quick as it pulled up just before it hit the ground and proceeded to catch up.

“Shoot!” exclaimed Alexander. He wanted to use a harsher word, but held it in… for now.

The run remained quiet for a few more seconds, except Alexander's panting and the roaring of the Vamparrots' jets.

The chase also led Alexander into some foreign territory as several more red and yellow-capped mushrooms popped up within his path, but he did not led their sudden appearances stop him as he sidestepped every one of them. And he was happy to say that the Vamparrots did not damage them; the robots did not care about nature. They want to follow their objective and that was to capture the other Chaos Emerald. Then again, Eggman's robots lacked care for any form off nature to begin with.

All silence ended once Alexander arrived at another hill that was steep and went up.

SWISH!

“Argh!” yelped Alexander as his upper right arm was cut by one of Vamparrot's blades. The robot crashed onto the ground, destroying itself on impact.

Despite the sharp pain, Alexander ignored it and kept running uphill. He nearly slipped on the grass a couple of times, allowing the Vamparrots to dive at his arms.

“Wah!!” cried Alexander and shifted himself to the right side, and the Vamparrot crashed into the ground.

But he had to act like he was dancing as he noticed another Vamparrot zoom at him.

Alexander reacted to the nosedive by moving left. The blade scraped his shirt, but not his skin; and the robot was history after it damaged itself on the ground.

Alexander cursed his footing and he ran up the hill again. This time, he ran a little quicker than usual.

“I hated these robots earlier, but I now DETEST them!!!” he roared in thought as he continued scampering up the hill.

“You're not the only one who hates them,” replied the cyan Chaos Emerald, his voice echoing in Alexander's head. “I want to blast them for stealing my Emerald friend.”

“Me, too,” agreed Alexander and grunted, but not out of pain. “Do you think that I should do part of our deal?”

“The deal?” wondered the Chaos Emerald out of surprise. “I'm surprised that you're talking about the deal, particularly in a chaotic situation like this. I thought you hate our bargain.”

“Correction,” disagreed Alexander. “I still loathe the deal. Besides, you still owe me for baiting me into this situation.”

The Emerald sighed with some satisfaction. “The good ol' days,” he joked. “Can't live with `em, can't live without `em.”

Their brief argument made them forget that they were being chased by the Vamparrots, and the robots made sure they got their attention and then some…

CHOOM!

Alexander looked up, yelped out of surprise, and sidestepped towards his right, missing a white laser that aimed right at him.

“Forget about the deal,” said the Emerald with panic, changing the subject. “Right now, we have to get away from Eggman's robots!”

Alexander obliged and ran harder, but his attention changed once he reached the top of the hill. The new section of Autumn Mushroom Hill was foreign to him. The grass was still orange, but each blade was only a half-inch long compared to the one-foot grass from the other end of the forest. The plains contained no mushrooms until about 1,000 feet ahead of him. The mushrooms in front of them were all yellow-capped with red dots on them, and they were very tall, about 20 to 30 feet in height.

Alexander ran a little more slowly and awed at the mushrooms in front of him, but the Emerald cut him off.

“Forget about the mushrooms!” he said, this time, not by telepathy. “Right not, we have to get away from the Vamparrots!”

Alexander gasped and shook his head. “Gotcha!” And he burst towards the mushrooms.

The gemstone snapped him out of it just in time.

CHOOM!

Alexander saw the beam, cried out, and moved left, sidestepping the white laser again. He then took a brief look at the other Vamparrots and noticed more lasers that were fired at him. But he now knew where they came from: The lasers originated from their one eye above each of their beaks.

Suddenly, the closest Vamparrot (one that was about a half-feet behind him) fired his laser at him.

Alexander sidestepped it by skipping left… but he did not maneuver quickly enough.

“Argh!” grunted Alexander as the edge of the laser mildly singed his right wrist. “Now, they're trying to burn me to a crisp!” he muttered to himself.

More lasers quickly fired at him, and Alexander had zigzagged several times to not be burned by them. Unfortunately, he was starting to get very tired.

“If I can only get away from them,” grumbled Alexander to himself, but he quickly had to shift right to prevent another laser from hitting him.

“Curses!” he muttered after circumventing the attack. Despite his fatigue, he continued to run as fast as could. Then, when he looked at the mushroom forest (a forest that was much closer than earlier), he saw a small opening in the middle. The path was a little narrower than the one towards the creek (about five feet wide), but it was big enough for him to enter.

“Perfect!” reacted Alexander with a small whoop. “This should give me some time to evade them!” And he ran harder and harder towards the entrance.

CHOOM!

A laser from one of the closer Vamparrots fired at Alexander, but he saw it and moved left, bypassing the attack. “Not this time, junk heads!” With a very small burst of speed, he disappeared into the dark, narrow pathway.

Once the Vamparrots arrived at the entrance, they noticed that Alexander had vanished and stopped flying. Several robots reacted to this by displaying high-pitched whirring, as if they were either panicking or feeling cross. Then, one Vamparrot from the back of the pack used a calm, deep mechanical noise to another one that was about five inches towards the entrance. It obliged and scanned for any traces of Chaos Energy.

While scanning, the eye that was used for its laser turned into a circular radar. Soft bleeps rang through the Vamparrot's mechanical brain, trying to find any source of Chaos Energy. Unfortunately, it was not able to detect it yet, so it kept scanning. Two more minutes passed by, and the Vamparrot had yet to detect any Chaos Energy. It whirred frustratingly from this, but it kept surveying nonetheless.

No such luck, however, as ten more minutes passed by with no detection for any Chaos Energy, and the other Vamparrots - as if they had minds of their own - grew very annoyed at the elongated search. And they showed it by either shaking with furry, charging of lasers, or whirring very loudly. It was like they were saying, “Find the stupid Chaos Emerald already!!”

The Vamparrot that was scanning for any Chaos Energy whirred in reply and kept scanning. This time, it tried harder to find any magical energy. It did not matter where it was, the robot just wanted to find it and complete its object.

Suddenly…

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

Bingo! The Vamparrot found Chaos Energy! It was faint, but the robot detected it. It was found at the top of the radar, and it was zigzagging southwest.

The Vamparrot gave a soft whirr, as if it told them to follow, and raced into the forest. The other Vamparrots had a guess what it was about and zoomed after it.

--------------------------------------------------

Despite being dark, narrow, and spooky, Ebony Trail was also very peaceful. Chirping of birds echoed the territory, and the floor was covered in darkness. Tall yellow-capped mushrooms towered the forest's trail, and they stood diagonally, blocking the sunlight above.

But the caps did not block the sunshine altogether. Some of the natural light escaped through various spaces between the fungi and hit the ground, exposing dirt that looked very sable and sooty. Small rocks embedded themselves in the moist, rich soil; and they glistened in the small gaps of sunlight. The light also exposed some foliage along the sides of Ebony Trail. Green triangular leaves sprouted from the bottom of the fungi's trunk, and the dew that coated the leaves shone in the sunlight. Finally, moss covered several of the mushrooms' roots, as if they were bathing in the richness of the soil.

Ebony Trail was known for its tranquility. Its serenity made it look so peaceful, even though it was dark there. However, the stillness within this environment was quickly disturbed by the sound of feet hitting the ground. It was faint at first, but it quickly got louder and louder.

Alexander rounded a curve and leapt over a mushroom that leaned left, then hit the ground, and ran some more. He slid down a small hill, crashed his feet into wet black soil, got up, and ran off again. He had been scurrying for some time now, and he was sure that he ran for several miles now. In addition, he started to feel more and more tired.

“I think I'm in for a break right now,” panted Alexander. He wanted to stop running, but his mind told him not to.

“But what about the robots?” asked the cyan Chaos Emerald, which was still in Alexander's right hand. “They could be nearby.”

“Can you scan the territory for any robots, then?” suggested Alex. “Besides—“ a loud pant escaped him as he stopped running and collapsed his legs to the ground, “—I need to rest for a few seconds.”

The Chaos Emerald had a feeling that what Alexander was right about the moment's rest; after all, he was human and could feel fatigue while the gem itself could not. “Okay, you win,” he said, giving up. “But I need you to let me go so I could scan properly.”

Alexander obliged and released the grip. The Emerald immediately zoomed a few feet away from him while remained afloat at eye-level.

“Scanning territory now,” said the Emerald and his aura glowed very brightly. During the stage, the glow exposed some parts of the forest. The green leaves and moss glistened in the bright blue light, its dew reflecting it back at it. The stalks of the mushrooms were no longer within the shadows as they became highlighted, exposing their rich golden color.

The aura remained bright for about 30 seconds when it dimmed again and the Emerald floated toward Alexander. “No detection of the robots in sight,” he announced.

“Good,” replied Alexander with a nod. “Now, I can get a bit of rest, as well as drink some of the mushroom's nectar.” He lightly gripped the Chaos Emerald and let the aura shine on the black dirt. “If only I can find something to slice through the trunks.”

“How about the saw leaves that are in front of you?” suggested the Chaos Emerald.

Alexander directed the Emerald towards the ground and noticed a few green triangular leaves growing near a yellow-capped Autumn Mushroom. “Those are the saw leaves, I assume,” he said and pointed at them with his empty hand.

“Correct. Those saw leaves can be used to cut things, hence the name of the plant.”

“I can use them for the mushroom, as well?”

“Correct. According to my calculations, even though the mushroom's stipe is flexible and strong, it's penetrable and can be easily broken with something sharp.”

“I see,” Alex said and walked towards the saw leaves. What he saw gave him a little bit of fear. The edges of the leaves were as sharp as an edge of a razor, and it looked a lot like the edge of a knife.

“Well, here goes,” gulped Alexander and reached out with his empty left hand. He grabbed the leaf and yanked it out of its limb.

“Got it,” whispered Alexander with a grin. “Now, I'll get the nectar out from the trunk.” He put the edge of the leaf on the stipe and began moving it up and down, as if he was sawing a log.

It turned out to be extremely easy to cut. The outer layer of the stalk was a bit difficult, but as he got a little bit deeper, it became much easier to cut. As he kept cutting into the humongous trunk, he felt liquid drip onto his hand.

“I'm getting a little bit closer,” he thought jubilantly. “I just need to cut a little bit more of the trunk.” And he kept cutting into the trunk, and when he felt the nectar flow onto his hand, Alexander realized that he had cut enough and pulled his hand - and his leaf - out of the trunk. Pouring from the stalk was vibrant orange nectar, and it flowed to the ground like a water fountain.

“Perfect!” cheered Alexander in a whisper and put his left hand under the liquid. He cupped some of it into his hand and put the contents into his mouth. Immediately after swallowing the liquid, he felt energy returning into his body. Therefore, he put the Chaos Emerald onto the ground and cupped more of the liquid into his hands before putting it into his mouth. As he swallowed the contents, he regained more and more energy that he lost earlier. And he kept drinking until the opening closed itself, its trunk mending itself with the rest of the mushroom.

After it closed, Alexander grabbed the Chaos Emerald with his right hand and stood up. “I'm finished,” he told the Chaos Emerald.

“Good timing,” said the Emerald. “Because I detected the Vamparrots' location while you were drinking: They're about one-and-a-half miles away from us and are closing in quickly.”

Alexander nodded and ran off again by running down the path and turning right on the corner. This time, he was more energetic and no longer tired.

The Chaos Emerald's prediction was right on target, because about five minutes after they left, the Vamparrots arrived at their location and zoomed after them.

Alexander slid down a small incline, letting the dirt roll down, before landing at the bottom. He then ran down the straight pathway and quickly leapt over another mushroom that leaned on its right before ducking one that tilted the other direction.

But he did not care about the obstacles now. He wanted to get of the forest as quickly as possible, even though he might lose more energy a lot more quickly than before.

“Any sign of the robots yet?” he asked the mystic jewel in his right hand.

“They're about half a mile behind us, Alexander,” the Chaos Emerald answered.

“So we're able to keep ourselves away from them for the time being,” enquired Alexander.

“For now,” said the Emerald with emphasis. “But the more you'll run, the more you'll fatigue, and the more ground Eggman's robots can gain.”

“I know,” said Alexander and ducked another titled mushroom. “I know.”

As he kept running, the cyan Chaos emerald was correct. Alexander did fatigue, and he was showing it as sweat dripped down his; but the robots also seemed to gain a boost of energy, for they were about 1,320 feet away from them and were getting closer and closer to them.

Alexander cursed after the cyan Chaos Emerald told him the news, but quickly wished he did so in thought. He then placed it in the back of is mind as he turned left, then right, and then left again, like he was traveling down a highway without the car to drive in.

As he rounded the corner, he started hearing their jets whirring. He knew they were closing in. “Why are they able to travel so fast?”

“I don't know,” interrogated the Chaos Emerald. “Only Eggman knows.”

“And I'm more than certain that he has no intention on telling us his secret, too,” retorted Alexander.

“I wouldn't be surprised,” finished the Chaos Emerald.

They would soon find themselves into trouble…

CHOOM!

A white laser zoom right by Alexander's left and it exploded once it hit the black soil ahead.

Alexander screamed out of reaction after the laser brushed past him. He looked and gasped in horror. The Vamparrots had already gained ground and were only ten feet behind him!

“The Vamparrots!” cried Alexander and veered right, missing another laser.

“I thought that they were about a quarter-mile away just a couple of minutes ago!” he exclaimed frantically.

CHOOM!

“Aaahhh!” screamed Alexander in fright and the Chaos Emerald as they barely dodged a laser that came from above.

“What the—” Alexander cut himself off when he noticed a Vamparrot flying above the mushrooms, and several more of the same robots followed it. He then looked down and noticed a few more flying through the thick areas of the forest.

“CRAP!” he yelled out. “The Vamparrots must've taken shortcuts to get to me!”

“I would not be surprised!” whimpered the Chaos Emerald.

CHOOM!

“Aaaahhhh!” screamed Alexander as another beam hit the ground, causing an explosion.

“Stupid robots!” thought Alexander angrily, using the same phrase from not so long ago. “If I had the power, I would FLATTEN `em!”

“As I said before, you're not alone,” agreed the Chaos Emerald, his voice echoing in Alexander's head.

More and more lasers fired at Alexander, and he was able to get away from them, but barely. Then more rounds fired, and he was able to dodge them, too, although they were too close for comfort in Alexander's point of view. Because of his constant dodging (and the fact that he tried to run harder than he usually could), he started fatiguing quicker and quicker, and he knew it.

“I… don't know… how I can… last much longer…” panted Alexander as he ran harder and harder.

“You'll have to continue running, Alexander,” said the Chaos Emerald solemnly. “And I know you can do it… SO KEEP RUNNING!” he finished with hysteria.

Alexander gasped and panted, “…Understood,” as he kept running.

Unfortunately, his fatigue exposed itself extremely quickly as more and more sweat fell from his face and he panted increasingly. He felt like giving up; he could not take much more abuse nor run much longer.

Finally, he hit his first bump in the road when he turned left and ran ahead. A few feet in front of him, a heavy black rock sat in the middle of the path. Alexander did not see it and his left foot got caught on it.

“Aaaarrgh!” screamed Alexander as he tripped over it, crashed to the black dirt with a hard thud, and rolled over twice.

Alexander groaned loudly and used his left hand to clutch his side, which got injured by the tumble. But when he looked at his right hand, he noticed the Chaos Emerald was still in his hand. Alexander sighed happily and contently, knowing that he still had it in his grasp.

CHOOM!

Alexander screamed startlingly as a Vamparrot's laser brushed past his head and exploded in the soil a few feet away from him.

The Halbery child feared the worst and looked up. All the Vamparrots circled him like buzzards scavenging a carcass. Alexander was trapped.

“Oh, no!” gasped Alexander in fear.

Then, a Vamparrot swooped down upon him and crashed into the soil, but not without sweeping his blade into the skin of Alexander's right arm.

Alexander winced as he started bleeding from his new cut.

The Vamparrots were not done as another one swooped down and met the ground, but not skin.

Alexander sighed in relief, but yelped again when a Vamparrot blade swooped and cut his left leg open.

The abuse continued for about a minute as the Vamparrot's blades opened up new wounds all over his body. And each wound was slightly deeper than the others. And the deeper the wound became, the louder the yelps and screams became. He tried to dodge them, but he was too fatigued to do so. His body had taken a toll and could not sustain anything anymore.

When the punishment died down, Alexander's body was covered with wounds. His cheeks and forehead was mildly scraped, but not bleeding, but the rest of the body was otherwise. His upper-right arm was covered with several scratches and his left arm contained a few deep but superficial slits. His entire left arm was covered with numerous slits. And his left hand had dried blood on it. His legs had several deep lacerations and rips in his pants. His lower-right leg had dried blood on it, while various areas of his left leg had specks of the crimson fluid stained on it.

His eyes were closed and his breathing sounded harsh. He barely had any strength in him. His lower body and limbs were compared to dead weight; he could not move them at all. His head rested on the rich soil like a baby's head on a pillow. His eyes refused to snap up. The vitality was not in it. But his brain was still active, although it was thinking very negatively.

“Maybe I should give up,” he thought. “Maybe I should give the Chaos Emerald to Eggman's robots. Perhaps, my life can be spared, although it's unlikely.” He inwardly sighed sadly. “This pain is just too much for me to handle, and I can't stand it… Maybe I can just rest away and let them leave me for dead. That way, I won't have to experience any more abuse.”

“But you can't, Alexander,” argued the Cyan Emerald's voice.

“Why should I?”

“Because it's not in your character,” the Emerald argued. “From what I saw in the few days I've seen you, you're very vibrant, and you never want to give up. Why do you think this is any different?”

“Because I feel like I'm dying?” asked Alexander dumbly.

The Emerald grumbled. “This is serious, Alex,” he said sternly. “You know you have the heart to beat those robots. You just don't have the courage to do so.”

Alexander sighed inwardly and said nothing.

“You said that you wanted to dedicate something to your family,” the Chaos Emerald continued, trying to bribe Alexander out of his negative thoughts. “Why not this battle?”

“This… battle?” wondered Alexander confusingly.

“Exactly,” replied the Chaos Emerald; the bribe seemed to be working. He just needed to make him gain the confidence as soon as possible. “Dedicate the battle you're involved in to your family. I know that you have a desire to fight back. So, pluck up the courage and go deep into your heart.”

Alexander sighed again, but it was not as shallow as before. Then, he decided to relax for a couple of moments, trying to recollect his thoughts and think about what the Chaos Emerald said.

As for the Vamparrots, they were still circling him from above. Faint mechanical noises could be heard from several robots, as if they were communicating to one another. It was like there was a squabble between them, and if there was, another miscellaneous Vamparrot stopped it, bringing peace to the group. So, they discussed in their own mechanical language, telling each other what to do. The conversation ended and they decided to do what their objectives were supposed to be.

Once they stopped circling, they all looked down at the unconscious Alexander and charged their laser beams. One of the Vamparrots in the pack was ready to give off the signal, and once their brief charge completed, the robot made the signal and they fired at him. The beams closed in fast at Alexander's body. It was just about over, the last seconds were about to pass and never return. Then, just before the lasers reached their target, Alexander's eyes snapped up and put his right arm over him.

BOOM!

The ground exploded, unleashing a ball off gray and black smoke.

The Vamparrots all hovered there, seeing their prey fall into their hands. Now, it was time to pick up the Chaos Emerald and return to Eggman, letting him know that their job was completed.

However, someone had other ideas…

WHOOSH!

The ball of smoke dissipated in an instant, and in its place was Alexander, standing tall and standing proud. Although his wounds remained and his eyes were closed, his spirit and strength returned. His body was covered with a cyan aura, and the Chaos Emerald in his right hand illuminated very brightly.

The Vamparrots could not believe it. Alexander was unconscious and was just about dead. How was he supposed to regain life?

A Vamparrot from Alexander's left thought this was all a joke and zoomed at him, trying to catch him off-guard. Big mistake…

WHAM!

Alexander opened his eyes - ones filled with contempt and anger - and swiped the robot with his left arm. The robot stood no chance as it crashed into the ground nearby.

The robots looked at him with disbelief, especially since he destroyed one of their comrades with ease.

Another decided to try and catch the Halbery child off-guard and attempted to strike him from behind.

Alexander caught it and swatted it, causing the robot to crash into two more robots next to him. The three robots quickly became obsolete.

After the display, several Vamparrots could not take it any more of their own kind being destroyed and fired their lasers at him.

Alexander glared at them with serious contempt. “Feeble robots,” he said with disdain (as well as in a deep, dark voice) as he extended his left hand and opened his left palm.

The laser bounced off the hand (and the aura) and directed it at many of the robots adjacent to him. The robots did not stand a chance as the lasers sliced them in half. He then turned the laser the other robots that were trying to burn them. Those robots stopped firing and whirred as if they panicked, but they were not shown any mercy as they were sliced in half. That was when he dropped his left hand… for a moment before swatting it into the dark areas of the forest on his right.

Once he took care of that robot, he looked above and saw the remaining twenty Vamparrots spinning above him.

Alexander shook his head. “Such a pathetic attempt,” he muttered in his unusual dark tone.

The robots' lasers charged and fired at Alexander below, but that only made him smile.

“They just never learn their lesson, do they?” he murmured with a dark smile and made a swatting motion with his left arm. The laser beams dissolved and a violent gust of wind smashed into the robots, sending them flying into a mushroom stalk about fifteen feet away.

Once the chaos died down, the aura vanished, and Alexander stood on the ground, looking very tired. He did not stay on his feet for very long as he fell onto the ground and lost consciousness.

As the chain of events unfolded, a mysterious figure, who was watching the whole battle, disappeared into the shadows of Ebony Trail.

--------------------------------------------------

“Alexander?” wondered a voice. “Alexander, are you okay?”

Alexander groaned loudly and opened his eyes, but he squinted the moment he did. The light felt very bright, like he was not used to it. He blinked a few times to regain his vision, and when he did, he tried to gasp, only ending up groaning out off pain.

“You look all beat up, Alexander,” said the voice. Sitting by his left was Amy, and she looked very concerned, despite her motherly smile. “Stay lying down,” she suggested. “You don't want to sustain any more injuries.”

Alexander did as what was requested and lied down again. When he became full aware of his surroundings, he realized that he was lying on the same old cloth from earlier, and he was draped with an opaque sheet from the neck down. Sighing in content, he let his arm collapse onto the ground. When he did, he realized that he was touching stone and rock, unlike the dirt at Ebony Trail. He was definitely not at Mushroom Hill, as what his instinct said.

Wondering where he was, he blinked and asked her, “Where are we?”

“We're back at the Hidden Palace,” Amy replied.

“Hidden Palace…” Alexander let the words sink in. He looked to his left and noticed the big green Master Emerald right next to him. Then, he looked to his right and saw the evergreen trees as well as the bridge. So, Amy was right, he was back at Hidden Palace, he thought. He sighed contently, but he quickly frowned. Something was not right, and he knew it, especially since the sky looked too golden for his tastes. “How long was I out?”

“About 17 hours,” was Amy's answer.

Alexander attempted to gasp, but Amy cut him off.

“Shh!” she hissed, and Alexander obeyed. “Let me give you some more treatment to your wounds.”

Because he started to become worked up, he forgot about his injuries. “Right,” he said and let his body relax again.

Amy grabbed the cloth and rolled it down to his navel, exposing Alexander's chest. Several cuts varied all over his abdomen, from small to large, from shallow to deep.

Amy cringed at the cuts. “No offense, but you're pretty lucky to have survived this many lacerations.”

Alexander did not understand what she was talking about. “What d'ya mean?”

“Take a look,” replied Amy while having her back turned.

Alexander complied and sat up. When he looked down, he noticed his chest was exposed! “Eep!” he squeaked softly and tried to cover himself up with the cloth again.

Amy heard him and started laughing. “You now realize, don't ya?” she guffawed.

“You can say that again!” exclaimed Alexander lividly and covered his chest.

“Don't worry, I won't do anything silly,” she said.

“I hope so,” murmured Alexander and lied down again, sighing.

“Well, you'll have to live with it for the time being,” said Amy sternly. “Your old clothes - including your jacket - are torn and stained with blood, and your other clothes contain irreparable holes and are worn out, so you won't be able to wear them anymore.”

Alexander sighed at the sorrowful news, according to his mind. “So, what will I be wearing a little later on?”

“You'll find out later,” finished Amy sternly, “but now, I have to tend to your injuries.”

Alexander did not reply to her statement, except sighing mournfully.

After soaking something with water and putting a gel on the item, Amy turned to Alexander again. In her left hand was a damp washcloth with the same medical sap from two days earlier.

“I need you to sit up for this,” said Amy.

Alexander obliged and sat up again.

“I need you to hold still and hold your breath; this might sting a little,” warned Amy.

Alexander gulped. He realized what she was going to do. Sighing, he took a deep breath. When the washcloth touched his cuts, he wanted to yelp in pain, but he did all he could to resist the urge.

“You were wrong about one thing,” said Alexander. “It stung… a lot.”

“Can't help it, unfortunately,” said Amy in a motherly tone and picked up a big roll of bandages that lied on the ground. “Let me put some bandages on you so the cuts absorb the medicine.” She covered the abdomen and chest with the bandages, and Alexander aided her with the medical process by helping her wrap the bandage around him.

“How does your stomach feel?” she asked once she finished wrapping his chest and stomach.

“Very tingly with the medicine and water,” shivered Alexander. “But it's better than getting no treatment.”

“Agreeable,” said Amy with a chuckle. “Now, let me treat your other wounds…”

Alexander complied and let Amy attend to his other cuts. She first aided his left arm, then tended to his right arm. Both times, there was no problem, but when it was time to take care of the legs, Alexander blushed and refused to let her take care of them, but she was able to convince him that she was not going to do anything stray and he rolled up the sheet.

The legs were all covered with deep incisions, dry blood covering part of his ankles and upper legs. Several scratches and shallow cuts were on Alexander's right knee and his lower left leg. The sight caused both the human and the Mobian to squirm; this was not a comfortable sight for the two of them. Fortunately, everything quickly calmed down as Amy wiped off the blood with a wet rag before covering the wounds with both sap-covered washcloths and flexible bandages.

After a few minutes, Alexander was bandaged from chest to toe.

“All done,” announced Amy.

“Finally,” sighed Alexander and looked at the bandages. “I look a lot like a mummy.”

Amy couldn't help but laugh at the joke. “Probably,” she chuckled and picked up the remaining bandages and cloths that lied on the marbled surface. She wanted to add something else, but decided not to follow it up.

While she was putting everything in a neat pile, Alexander looked around by turning his head and noticed something missing. “Where are your friends, Amy?”

After putting her medical supplies in her secret compartment, Amy walked towards him and sat down. “Tails is repairing the Tornado 2, and Sonic and Knuckles are with Roquefort at Mushroom Hill—”

“So, you've met Roquefort,” interrupted Alexander with a small grin.

Amy coughed. “Yes, we did,” she said, but she was no longer so cheerful. “They're currently helping Roquefort clean up the damage and saw off the mushrooms that died in the battle.”

Alexander sighed at the phrase “Dead mushrooms.” He really hated parts of nature dying. “I have a feeling that Roquefort's very upset about this.”

“Very upset,” sighed Amy sadly, “but he was happy that the offspring and the Royal Mushrooms were not badly injured. I wouldn't be surprised that he would go suicidal if the most of the young get killed by Eggman's battles.”

Alexander exhaled longingly. He did want to talk about that part of the conversation anymore. On the other hand, he was a little bit interested in the echidna's reaction to the battle.

“What about Knuckles? I bet he's also angry.”

“Pretty much,” replied Amy. “He has become extremely annoyed that Eggman's vandalizing his island.”

“I'm not surprised,” said Alexander matter-of-factly. “After all, Angel Island is his home, I assume.”

Amy nodded. “Don't tell Knuckles you said that. He takes his home with a lot of honor.”

“Sorry.”

“It's okay,” said Amy, and the subject ended…

…But not without Alexander making a quip. “I have a feeling that Knuckles still plans on talking to me a little later on.”

“Yes, he does,” said Amy, “but we convinced him to do so later. We don't think that you're ready to be interrogated yet.”

“Don't be so sure, Amy,” laughed Alexander. “He doesn't trust me yet, and I wouldn't be surprised if he actually attempted to banter me.”

And the subject ended. This time, it ended for real.

Afterwards, things became quiet as Amy took off her gloves and dunked them in the bucket of water to wash them off, and Alexander looked at the brook below. There was no sign of the attacker anywhere. She was probably not interested in beating somebody up, Alexander thought.

Then, when he about to look at a naked tree on the right side of the path, Amy interrupted.

“I should go thank Roquefort for finding you at Ebony Trail yesterday,” she mumbled.

Alexander, still sitting up, turned his head towards her. “Excuse me?” he wondered and scratched his head with his right hand.

“He saw you lying on the ground unconscious while walking in the forest and ran to us for help,” said Amy as she squeezed the water out of her gloves. “If it wasn't for him, we might not've located you.”

“So, Roquefort was watching me in the forest, huh?” thought Alexander aloud.

“Exactly,” answered Amy straightforwardly and put on her gloves. “And when we found you, you looked like you got run over by several cars. You were in pretty bad shape.”

Alexander grimaced. “I do not want to depict the scene,” he muttered.

“Neither do I,” agreed Amy.

The subject ended after that, but a new one quickly began.

“I will admit, that was very smart of you to tell us our location on the piece of paper. How did you do that?”

The color of Alexander's face almost drained. He forgot that the cyan and red Chaos Emerald aided him to write the messages for the Mobians. But he was able to quickly think of a cover-up. “I used a pen to write them down, and I ran out of ink afterwards.”

“I understand,” said Amy, although she looked doubtful. But she changed the subject… sort of.

“I want to ask you another question: Where did you find the parchment?”

Alexander told him about the parchment blowing against his legs.

Amy continued. “You see that stark tree by the river?”

Alexander looked at the naked tree and obliged.

“Well, I hate to surprise you, but those pieces of parchment belonged to me. Because of its rough texture, I planned on utilizing them as sandpaper so I could smooth out my hammer, as well as a few blocks of the shrine whenever Knuckles was not aware.”

“I see,” said Alexander, feeling a little glum after what Amy said. “Sorry about that. I should've asked you first before using them.”

“It's okay. You didn't know,” soothed Amy and patted his forehead. “Besides, I can always produce more.”

And that made Alexander feel better. However, he had to ask one more thing, and it seemed a bit personal than the others.

“Say, Amy?”

Amy, who was looking at the summit of Angel Mountain, looked down after hearing him. “Yes, Alexander?”

The Halbery child shifted a little so he could be comfortable while sitting up. “What did Roquefort see while I being chased by the Vamparrots?”

That was when Amy told her what Roquefort said. First, she told him about the robots slicing his skin up and causing him to bleed. Secondly, she mentioned to him about the lasers that were about to hit him, causing an explosion. Finally, she told him about how he glowed a bright blue aura as he manhandled the Vamparrots.

“…Then he saw you lose consciousness and he went for help, and that's where we came in,” finished Amy.

“I see,” said Alexander and put his right hand under his chin, as if he was pondering about something. “But to tell you the truth, Amy, I don't remember anything about me glowing and destroying the robots. The last thing I remember about the fight was that the Vamparrots beat me up to where I lost strength and everything went black.”

Amy played with one of the strands of hair with her right hand. “You remember nothing about it?”

Alexander hummed, “Mm-mm,” while shaking his head.

Amy placed her left hand under her muzzle. “Interesting, because Roquefort witnessed the whole thing.”

“No, I believe you,” stuttered Alexander. “I just have no memory of it, that's all.”

Amy hummed solemnly, but nodded. “I think you should tell Tails about this sooner or later. He knows a lot about Chaos Emeralds, so he may understand why you don't remember the end of the battle.”

“I don't know,” replied Alexander hesitantly. “Maybe, it's just a one-time event, and I'll be able to remember it the next time this happens.”

“Maybe,” said Amy. “It's your decision, not mine, and I respect that. But I do want you to talk to Tails if this keeps reoccurring.”

“I will,” promised Alexander with a nod.

“Good,” smiled Amy and ruffled his hair. “Now get some rest. Your body needs it.” With that, she got to her feet, hoisted the bucket of water onto her right shoulder, and was about to walk down the stairs when Alexander asked something else.

“Amy, do you know where the Chaos Emerald is?”

Amy quickly replied, “It's in your travel bag,” and walked down the stairs.

Once she was out of sight, Alexander looked behind him and grabbed the travel bag with his right hand. Once he unzipped it, the Chaos Emerald floated in midair.

“I heard everything that you said, Alexander,” he said as the human put his bag aside. “You remember nothing about what happened once the Vamparrots knocked you out?”

Alexander shook his head.

“Do you remember our little telepathic talk between us a little after you got knocked out?”

Alex shook his head again.

The Chaos Emerald titled downwards. “Strange that you don't remember it, because I remember everything.”

“I'm not surprised that you do,” murmured Alexander and covered his bandaged chest and legs with the sheet. He then sighed and lied down on the cloth. “Sorry about that. I'm just feeling flustered. How can everyone remember this and I can't?”

“I don't know, Alexander,” said the Emerald. “But I will figure this out.”

“I hope so,” said Alexander and blinked. “And I like to apologize for something else, as well.”

“What for?” asked the Emerald.

“For not being able to retain the other Emerald.”

“That's all right. You still have me, and there are five other Chaos Emeralds left. Plus, we can still get her back.”

“If we can, that is,” added Alexander.

“Don't worry. We will,” said the Chaos Emerald.

“But now,” the gem said, changing the subject, “I suggest you do what Amy said and get some rest. You've had a few rough days, and your body looks tired from all the exploring.”

Alexander nodded with a hum and the Chaos Emerald zoomed back into the bag.

The child smiled at the gem's actions as he sat up. He then grabbed the travel bag, zipped it up, and put it aside. Afterwards, he yawned, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.