Beautiful Curse

Chapter 16

Sonic's Point of View

        The wind whizzes by at lightning speed, threatening to topple me over the edge of the biplane and fall 100 stories to the earth below. I stand my ground, with a grin fully intact, my fingers gripping at the blue and yellow wing. Right beside me is the pilot of the plane; my best friend, Tails. He's finally got this baby going. It's about time, I smirk to myself. He's been working on this thing for the best part of a month, nonstop talking about how he can't wait for it to finally get up in the air.

        I let out a surprised grunt as the Tornado II suddenly swerves to the right. "Tails! A little warning next time?" My buddy turns his head to see my tensed, crouched form clutching onto the wing for dear life. He laughs nervously as I raise a questioning eyebrow in his direction.

        "Sorry, Sonic! It's just that the radar has picked up the energy of the nearest Chaos Emerald." He gestures with a hand to the rectangular screen placed in the dashboard in front of him. I see some swirly lines and a few numbers. The numbers have no meaning to me, but I definitely know that when there are lines pulsating around a brightly colored dot, it's got to mean something important.

        "That's great! We're lucky to have somebody nifty like you around. Without your smarts we'd be running this whole area to the ground," I say, referring to the new and improved Chaos-tracking device that Tails had built, which is currently connected by a wire to the Tornado II's screen.

        "Heh, thanks," Tails meekly responds with an awkward smile. "It is a lot easier to find the location now—you know, instead of that 30-mile radius hitch. I'll tell Knuckles that we're nearing the emerald. It looks like we'll be stopping pretty close to the sea." Nodding, I twist around to angle my body down the long side of the plane's wing, putting my hands behind my head and kicking my feet up in a more relaxed position. Tails lifts a communication device to his mouth and repeats all that he had told me to the echidna on the other side of the mic.

        Oh yeah, Knuckles is here too, just following the Tornado II from the ground. Something about "getting motion sickness whenever Tails finishes a new project." What is that supposed to mean? Does seeing Tails happy make him want to throw up or something?

        The plane lurches again, at the same time the young pilot giggles in delight. My yelp is lost in the wind as I roll over the side of the wing, barely managing to grab hold of the aircraft's tail. Okay, okay! I see what he means! I suppose Tails can get a little excited about his new toys.

        A harbor creeps up through the distance. This must be the location that the tracker has been pointing us to. Gradually the altitude decreases until the biplane makes contact with the asphalt of a parking lot. "The emerald has got to be somewhere along the docks," Tails tells me and Knuckles. "It may be in the water, but it also may be on one of the boats."

        "For Sonic's sake, let's hope it's not in the water," Knuckles grunts in laughter, pointedly giving me a mocking stare.

        "For your sake, let's hope it's not," my smile twitches a little, "otherwise it's going to be you who has to dive down to get it." The guardian rolls his eyes and wanders away toward the docks, clearly having decided to search alone. A frustrated breath escapes from my nose once he's gone. It really irks me whenever somebody makes fun of my "problem" with water. "Hey, Tails, mind if I use your tracking-gadget-thing?" I ask my friend, distracting myself from the earlier conversation.

        "Sure, but be careful not to drop it. The wiring inside is a little iffy when it comes to rough treatment. I'll bet if even the smallest amount of liquid gets in the cracks it'll go up in smoke...along with your fingers."