The Gems in Us All (HIATUS)

The Trouble Continues

"Sonic!?" Tails blinked, making sure the hedgehog was really there. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be resting at-"

"Amy's." Sonic finished. "S...Something happened, and I need to crash for the night."

Tails opened his door wider, letting Sonic enter and collapse on the couch. "You wanna talk about it...?"

"...She doesn't want me to finish finding the Amethysts. She says it's too dangerous. We had a fight, and..."

"I see..." Tails handed him a blanket from the closet and sat down next to him. "She's just upset about you getting hurt."

"I know that...but I can't give up, Tails. I mean, we've only got seven of us, out of twenty! I can't leave the other thirteen to fend for themselves."

"I know...Too bad you can't just get a list of all the keepers and then keep an eye on them until they manifest...can you?"

Wind gave him the answer, and he shook his head. "No..." He pulled out the compact mirror he'd bought, so he'd always have one for when he needed to make a conference call with Wind. "Wind, who all do we have left?"

The mirror flashed, then out of it came a hologram of a list of names. "Three Autumns down, plus one Holiday, one Summer, one Spring and one Winter. Autumn Harvest is the last Autumn left. He gives the gift of Geokinesis."

"Earth Control...because after the food's harvested, all that's left is dirt!" Tails deduced, getting a nod from Wind. "And Autumn Leaf is healing because leaves are often used for medicinal purposes?"

"Yes. She also has sleep inducement. Some of you can also combine your powers to make new attacks."

"Any ideas on who might be next?" Sonic asked.

"...I'd say another Spring. But I'm not sure."

"Okay, one more question. How did Chaos know about us...?"

Wind sighed. "...You know how I mentioned Queen Hope chose another suitor and started the war?"

"Yeah...wait a minute, are you saying that was Big Drip!?"

"I am... Queen Hope and Dominus are mutated hero and dark chao."

"Whoa..."

"This fight is more personal to Chaos than any of us, and if we can finally beat Dominus..."

Sonic clenched a fist. "Then we have to win...for Chaos."

...........................................................

Amy knocked on Sonic's door, Cream by her side. "Sonic?...Sonic, please open the door. I...I'm sorry for making you feel...I don't know. Talk to me...please."

"Maybe he's not home yet." Cream suggested.

"Where else would he be...?"
Suddenly they heard movement, and Amy looked around. "Sonic!?"

She pulled her hammer out as she saw not Sonic, but large robots come out of the trees. Wrong guess...!

Cream lifted her hands, the sprinklers activating and soaking the robots, but they didn't stop. "Waterproof!? Eeek!" She jumped back as one of the robots made a swing at her.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Amy shouted, swinging her hammer at one. She yelped as it caught the mallet with one hand, lifting Amy off the ground. "Let go, you big piece of software!"

Cream struggled to get her mysterious powers to work again, but they only seemed to spit out little sparks of blue light. "Augh! Amy!"

Amy struggled as they put her under one arm, pinning her against their side. "Ow! Lemme go! Soniiiiiic!"

Sonic decided to arrive just then, but he was caught off guard by the springers. "Wha-Awk! Puh!"
His distraction was enough for the robot to take off into the sky. "No! Amy!"

"Soniiiic!" Amy screamed, her voice fading into the distance.

"Amy! Ugh...no...!" Sonic fell to his knees. "No...!"

Cream hurried to him. "We'll get her back, Mr. Sonic...Let's get you inside right now."

Sonic nodded, though wanting to go after that robot like nobody knew...

.........................................................

"Eggman's got Amy...?" Rouge asked. "Don't worry, we'll get her back."

Sonic sighed. "It's not helping that I can barely run and do errands without nearly passing out."

"You need to rest, Sonic." Knuckles replied. "So far, all you've done is run around and take short breaks to talk to people."

"I don't like feeling weak and useless...!"

Tikal nodded. "I know...But it don't help any of us if you're out of steam."

"You know...Tikal could use her sleep power on Sonic, and he'd get more rest that way."

Sonic crossed his arms, imitating a toddler. "But I don't wanna take a nap!"

"Do you want to save Amy?" Shadow asked.

"Yes...but-"

"Sleep."

Sonic sighed, then watched Tikal's eyes glow orange as she stepped towards him. He hadn't been conscious to see her manifest before, so it startled him a little. "Okay..."

Leaf held out her hands, orange sparkles floating about them, then she placed her hand on his forehead, and he shivered as he fell into the darkness.