Sonic Gem EP1: A Whole New World

A Whole New World (Also called "My Name is Sonic" in the beta phases) is the first episode of the first season of Sonic Gem.
== PART 1 ==
Wake up … 
Wake up …
…
*HONK* *HONK* "HEY, GET OUTTA THE WAY!"
It took long enough, but the sounds of the invasive honks finally brought him back around, springing him up and stumbling to his feet. He only saw darkness for a good while since however long he was laying there, but now bright eyed and up, he got a good look around wherever the heck he ended up. He found himself standing in the middle of a four-way intersection, at high time traffic no less! He looked back and forth, each lane with cars, trucks, and who knows what else, all stuck and honking good and loud trying to make him move out of the way. The brightened lights of the city streets were also blinking and shining around him, the stop lights dangling overhead as if to advertise his presence there. As for everyone else though, crowds of people look to him with curious interest, but the drivers weren't caring why he was there, they just wanted him to get out of the way before they're late for their own lives.
"GOT LOST, STREET CLOWN!" shouted one of the drivers.
"THIS AIN'T HALLOWEEN, CLEAR OFF!" shouted another.
"I GOT PLACES TO BE, YOU KNOW!" shouted yet another.
These voices though didn't get him to move right away, this whole place captivating him at least somewhat, trying to get his bearings. This place seemed familiar, but at the same time, completely foreign to him. 
"Ok. Where the heck am I?" he thought. Unfortunately, the busy streets weren't going to give this guy the chance to just yet. He must've been there longer than he thought, because another sound of wiring sirens began to overpower the sounds of honking horns. He turned around, and sure enough, there stood a few sets of police cars, officers out and ready to confront the "street clown". Seeing them, while intriguing to some and worrying to others, he just felt more curious if anything. What were these guys thinking they're gonna do to him? As for the cops, they looked just as confused as anybody else was seeing him standing there. They took a moment to look to one another, but they began working the crowds first.
"Everyone, calm down! We'll take care of it," one of the cops announced. Not that it seemed to make anything better though. As several officers handled that, a few more got around him, keeping on all sides so he won't be able to just take off on them. This didn't deter him though, but he didn't look like he was enjoying this advance either, his eyes down in a scowl with his arms crossed.
"What exactly is it?" one of the officers asked, not sure how close they should be to him.
"Whatever it is, we better get it out of the city before it causes any more problems," the more professional officers suggested. Not a bad idea, but their adversary wasn't thrilled about it either. Especially with what they tried to do next …
One of the officers went right up to him, and kneeled down to his level, with a more comforting expression on his face. This only made him feel confused, but -
"Easy there buddy, easy," the officer said, saying it nice and slow so the animal could understand him, "You wanna go for a ride to the station? You wanna? Come on, it'll be fun!"
"… Is he for real?" thought their adversary.
"You sure you should be that close to it?" asked another officer.
"Don't worry: I have three pet kitties at home, surely I can handle whatever animal this is," the officer insisted, going as far as to bring his hand out and urging him to come with them. Ok, NOW it was getting too weird, so he did something he probably should've done at the start: speak.
"Hey, buddy. I'm a Hedgehog, not a Cat."
IMMEDIATELY, the officers jumped back.
"I-IT CAN TALK!" the officers gasped.
"Yeah, because that's obviously the weirdest thing about this," the "Hedgehog" thought. He better set things straight before things get any worse, because just talking was making these cops troubled. Well, at first anyway. However, the officers quickly got themselves composed and approached him differently.
"Ok, so you're not some mutant animal. Mind explaining why you're running around in that costume out here in the street?" the chief officer asked, firmly this time. The Hedgehog now was finding this dumb.
"Costume? Chief, I told ya, I'm a Hedgehog!" The hedgehog insisted. Looking at their faces though said that they don't exactly believe him. Who could blame them though: Hedgehogs aren't blue, aren't able to stand on two legs, NOR are they capable of talking. Not to mention everything else about him.
"He must be a little ill. We better get him out of here before he hurts himself," one of the officers suggested, quietly of course. The chief took mental note of this.
"Now, whatever you are," said the chief, speaking calmly so as to not trigger the "hedgehog", "you need to come back with us to the station. You're causing a public disturbance standing out here in the road."
The Hedgehog wasn't blind though, and shook his head.
"Eh, sorry, but can't make it; I need to figure out where I'm stuck in before I do anything else. I'll get out of the way, but I'm going my own way, thanks," the Hedgehog made clear. This didn't get the cops to back off though.
"That wasn't exactly a request, "sir". You better come with us before you hurt yourself," the officer insisted, once again the officers surrounding the Hedgehog. This time it was painfully obvious these guys weren't giving the Hedgehog up without a fight. He took a moment to check each and every single cop around him, one after the other. Eventually, rather than coming quietly, the Hedgehog began stretching his legs a bit, as if getting himself ready for some action. One of the officers must've caught on quick to the Hedgehog's plan.
"WHOA WHOA, don't try to run! We're trying to help you," the cop insisted.
"Geesh guys, I'm fine, honestly. If you're all gonna cry about it, I'll just go," the Hedgehog insisted. He didn't wake up in the middle of a 4 way just to scare the cops, but once again the officers didn't give him room to just leave.
"That isn't how this works," the chief of police stated, "You're coming with us for your own safety, buddy."
The Hedgehog straightened up, brushing the side of his nose. Maybe he knew they would say that, maybe not, but no matter the case he was ready to go.
"Well, in that case … See ya later!"
All the cops jumped at him, but at the last second - the very millisecond even - the Hedgehog bolted away! All the cops found themselves in a pile, as the Hedgehog was making a beeline away from the scene! What was crazy about this though is the speed of this Hedgehog: it only took him a literal second to race above the cars, and reach the end of the next street! The Hedgehog then, probably to show off, raced straight up the nearest streetlight, standing at the very top like it was nothing. The Cops were taken right aback by this sudden speed, but they weren't gearing to just let him race around the city like this. The hedgehog could barely make out the chief of police bringing out his radio as the other cops began to give chase.
"And … I'm out," the hedgehog decided. Jumping off of the streetlight, and booking it right from there.
The police sirens blared behind him, good and loud as the cars were giving chase as best they could through such crowded streets. However, thanks to his own speed rocketing him down the road, those sirens quickly quieted down in less than half a minute - no time at all for this Hedgehog. Even without the cars being in view, he continued racing through as many of the streets as he could, making sure he didn't race into any cars, or knocked anyone over as he went through this big new city. He didn't have any time to figure anything out though before he suddenly found himself in the middle of a spotlight. The Hedgehog glanced up pass his shoulders and, sure enough, there flew a police helicopter overhead. Even with the towering skyscrapers alongside, the chopper had no issue keeping up with him from the air.
"Guess they won't give me up after all," the Hedgehog thought, bemusingly, "They better bring their A-Game if they're gonna catch me!"
He quickly kicked it up a notch, and started increasing speed, eyes locked ahead and dashing side to side to avoid traffic and citizens. Even with the speed though, the helicopter had the whole skyline to keep an eye on where he was going. As the pilot kept the helicopter steady following the Hedgehog, the co-pilot called to the ground patrol.
"Calling all cars: suspect seen heading inland down 18 Eiffel Rd, just passing Le Hotel, and closing in fast. All units prepare a barricade to halt the pursuer, over."
"Copy that, over," replied the officer on the other end. The Hedgehog meanwhile was trying his best to give these guys the slip, but it was surprisingly harder than he first thought thanks to that stupid chopper: no matter how many turns and spins he took, it always seemed to be just high enough to catch where he was going. He raced through at least several stoplight crossings, skidded by ten sharp turns, and STILL it wasn't good enough. It also didn't help with how many people he had to dodge as well. His mad running did manage to get him outside of the busier parts of the city and onto the city's outer highways. Good thing too, with more room to maneuver and more space to see. The bad news though was that his helicopter still loomed overhead. As long as that saw him, those police cars weren't gonna lose him anytime soon. Not to mention the distance sounds of police sirens were still just audible over the sounds of traffic a few streets away.
"Dang it, they're STILL after me? Ok, gotta - WHAT THE?!"
Before the Hedgehog finished his thoughts, he looked back ahead to a sight that was just enough to make the Hedgehog brutally skid to a halt. SOMEHOW, the police got ahead of him, and not only that, an entire barricade was lined up and waiting for him. Police cars, barricade cones and walls, even a few large trucks were blocking his way, all with officers at the ready to catch him the moment he slowed down. This halt didn't give him time to turn either, as he also saw the other police cars catch up to him, blocking his way. 
"HEDGEHOG!" shouted an officer, "THIS IS THE EMPIRE CITY POLICE! WE GOT YOU CORNERED!"
The Hedgehog paused for the first time all night, with that word "empire" floated in his head for a moment as he checked all of the enforcement surrounding him. Something began to seemingly click inside the Hedgehog's mind, as a smirk began to form on his face.
"Oh, I see what this is now," the Hedgehog concluded, "I was gonna make it easy on you, but OK."
He began to lower himself, hands touching the ground. "You asked for it!"
He began to run in place. Keeping his hands firmly on the ground, his legs began to race behind him like wheels on a car. They went faster, and faster, and FASTER, to the point when they're nothing but red blurs, tearing the asphalt and concrete under him and kicking up a strong dust cloud. And only THEN did he raise his hands, and charged forward!
The police hardly had any time to prepare for the oncoming Hedgehog once this blur made his approach. They were expecting this speed demon to dive to the side, or race through them, but all this Hedgehog did was line himself up, and made one GIGANTIC leap straight into the air. The cops below tried to do something against the Hedgehog, but this blur wasn't having any of it. One dive down from above, and suddenly the Hedgehog was bouncing off of all the cars; denting doors, and blasting off tires, and even knocking off the back end of one of the large trucks - clean in half! All of this, and the most the cops could see was nothing but a line of bouncing blue light. One moment they had an entire barricade, and by the time the Hedgehog felt good and rocketed away, they were left with just heaps of wrecked metal.
"H-He … He plowed through us," murmured a cop.
"I CAN SEE THAT!" snapped another cop, just as one more tire finally popped off one of the cars, making a few of them jump.
They got a LOT of payment to cover on this one.
----
As for the Hedgehog, although the police stopped chasing after him long ago by now, he made sure to put enough distance between himself and Empire City as he could before he decided to finally slow himself down a little bit. The area he felt good enough in was a more forested spot a good mile away from the city. His exact stop in this forest landed him over on a taller hillside, with the city lights glistening off in the distance a good mile or two away. The Hedgehog stood there for a moment, arms crossed again, but more relaxed this time since nobody was trying to arrest him right now. At least now he can actually start thinking a little bit.
"City's not so bad from over here," he noted. His smile though was short-lived as he continued pondering. "But still … where exactly is here?"
His eyes wandered around the night forest, the only main sounds now being the wind and  the rustling of the trees. Sure it was dark, but the sight of the trees, bushes, and of course the distant stars and moon were more welcoming than any police. Soon though, his eyes met with the moon itself, right above him.
"At least the sky looks the same … I think - the moon looks kinda funny," the Hedgehog concluded. As far as anything living was concerned, the most he saw was a single small bat fluttering through the air by the moonlight, before landing in a nearby tree. The Hedgehog watched it for a brief minute before he decided to so some pacing. It was better to help him think anyway.
"Come on, don't get all hung up," the Hedgehog told himself, "Ok, you don't know how you got here, but you can get yourself back, no sweat. All I gotta do is … is …"
Blank. GREAT. He tried to recollect what exactly happened to him, or how he ended up in this place before waking up nearly as roadkill in the city, but everything was just so hazy. It was enough to even give the Hedgehog a bit of a headache. He even tried thumping his head with his fist, but that didn't do well either.
"Ow," he muttered, rubbing the side of his head. "… Ok, so remembering isn't on the list right now. Maybe it's not so bad - they could be just a hop away. Let's have a look shall we?"
His way of looking was similar to before, though instead of a streetlight he ran right up the nearest tall tree. It barely took him a few seconds to get right to the top, balancing at the very tip of the tree. He brought his hand up to eye level and got a good look around.
With his back away from the city lights, the Hedgehog's view could only make out so much thanks to the moonlight. Sure there was still a few streetlights along the high ways towards the city in the distance here and there, but most of it was just straight roads with some patches of trees leading off inland into countryside.
"For being part of the empire, it looks surprisingly green out here," the Hedgehog noted, even if mostly dark blue and black thanks to the night. The Hedgehog turned back towards the city, seeing the lights of the settlement flicker like the stars.
"The city doesn't look half bad either. …"
The Hedgehog gave a quick huff before jumping down from the tree. "Well, I'm not gonna figure anything out standing out here. Time for a good country run. That should kickstart my memory."
And run he did.
It barely took him much time before he got himself outside of the city limits, and away from the concrete roads and bridges. The fields of the night time countryside gave this Hedgehog much more legroom, sprinting through the night with as much speed as there was silence. He couldn't help but smile as he continued doing this nighttime jog, but no matter how far he went along or how much he kept his mind busy, he still couldn't seem to shake over what happened to him or how he even got here.
There were images showing up in his mind, sure, but they were all too blurry to make out. All the Hedgehog could do was give a grunt and continue his run.
"Come on, give me some kind of clue here," the Hedgehog noted, "Ok … so … I was running, I KNOW I was running. Running towards … something. Yeah, ok, a-and my friends were saying something. What was it? -"
*SCRRREEEE*
Just loud enough for the Hedgehog to stop on a dime. With a dustcloud kicked up from his shoes on halting, his ears stood at attention to pinpoint the sound. The exact spot he found himself was basically out in the open. The screech sounded somewhat animalistic, but it definitely didn't sound like any normal creature the Hedgehog had heard of before. It sounded gurgly … sounded rough. Almost sickly. The Hedgehog was only briefly conflicted about the idea though. Sure, he had no clue what it was or what was wrong, but after hearing some more of the pain-filled grumbles, he simply HAD to go and see what was wrong.
It would feel wrong not to.
The noise led the Hedgehog away from the open fields of the farmlands and over towards the sight of a small copse: a few clustered trees with a stream flowing between it. Of course, the darkness made it difficult to see anything inside as the Hedgehog moved branches and shrubs aside so he can get through.
Soon, he found it.
*RRAAHH!*
"…Yep. I'm definitely NOT home anymore." the Hedgehog humbly gulped.
He was right about one thing - this was NOT any creature he had ever seen before. The creature was large for a start, plenty bigger than he was, but the body didn't have much fur or feathers, instead having a smooth coating of sorts. Its skin, though he could barely tell in the moonlight, was slightly greenish and almost reflective. The thing that stood out the most though was its face … or lack there of. no visible eyes, no ears, only a thin needle-like beak.
The Hedgehog kept his distance for a moment or two, but once more, it didn't take too long for him to realize the situation: this creature (whatever it is) got its wing stuck inside of a bear trap! The dirt had been kicked up around it, telling the Hedgehog this thing was struggling for a while from this vice.
"Yeee," the Hedgehog groaned, cringing at the sight, "Take it easy there buddy, I'll get you out of that in a second."
However, the creature gave a shrilling chirp at the Hedgehog when he got too close, as if telling the Hedgehog to back off. He easily dodged the attempted peck though, landing on his feet in an easy hop. He just delt with the cops, this wasn't gonna make him go away.
The creature chirped and shrieked at him, forcing the Hedgehog to take a less standard approach to this problem. He eyed the beartrap for a moment before he began to rev himself up again. THIS rev was less with the feet, and more involving, well, everything else: he curled up and spun in place like an actual spinning tire. The beast meanwhile flapped its free wing like mad to try and make the Hedgehog stop, but it wasn't working. The Hedgehog, fully revved up, blasted right forward -
*CLANK!*
… Just like that, it was done. The animal felt its pain soften, and feeling as well that the wing's vicegrip was now nothing more than smashed pieces on the ground. The Hedgehog stood nearby, at a safer distance again with a smile on his face. There was no blood, or any major damage aside from some dents to the wing, so the Hedgehog felt confident that it'll be okay.
"There you go. Now scamper on out of here before you find any other beartraps to fly in," the Hedgehog advised. The creature was reluctant at first, humbled perhaps but mostly unsure if it can fly well with the wing. It took a few flaps to be sure and, while still sore, it was just well enough to get a move on.
Right over the Hedgehog.
"WHOA!" luckily the animal didn't feel in the mood to pummel him, and it was quick to make a run away from the copse as fast as a bird beast could manage. The Hedgehog only needed a second to sit back up, getting the dust out of his quills.
"You're welcome," he sighed. He had other things to worry about though, so as the creature went off on its own way, the Hedgehog turned and made his own run to who knows where … or rather, that's what it felt like at first.
The Hedgehog went on out of the copse pretty quickly, but even with this running at such top speed, the Hedgehog quickly began to feel something else. That kind of feeling he felt while that helicopter was chasing him back in the city, only without the spotlight on him here. While making his run through the night countryside, he took a glance up behind his shoulder.
The bird was following him!
Even at such a high speed that would've left many of the police cars in the dust, this fast flying hummingbird was keeping up with him easy, its wings in as much of a blur as the Hedgehog's feet. It didn't seem to want to hurt him though, otherwise it would've done so already. Even so, the Hedgehog did start slowly down a little bit, only for the bird to do the same and land nearby him.
"Now wait a minute," the Hedgehog said, "You're free to go, that's enough thanks for me. Now go on, I'm sure you got a lot more uhh … bird things to do than to -"
The bird stopped the Hedgehog by nuzzling up against him like a pet would do, giving a sweet chirp or two. The Hedgehog smiled, gently pushing the bird away a bit.
"Yes, yes, you're welcome again," he chuckled, "Now, I better get going. I need to figure out where I'm at."
The Hedgehog gave a wave and prepared to make his run, but something else seemed to make him stay put. He was expecting the bird to just fly off, but instead the big bird just sat there looking at him. Even without eyes, the Hedgehog began to feel like there was more to the bird than simply thanking him for the beartrap thing. The Hedgehog's running stance turned into a simple casual stance as he turned to the bird.
"Waaaait a minute … you wanna tag along with me, don't ya?"
The bird perked up. Figured: you save a animal's life, then they wanna go home with you. Not that the Hedgehog minded though.
"Well, if you wanna come along, you're gonna have to keep up with me. I'm not really known for slow speed. Something tells me you won't have a problem with that though," the Hedgehog said, which he was correct on when the bird already began hovering around the air above him. With a smirk, the Hedgehog took off running again, this time with the hummingbird following close behind.
It felt familiar almost.
And he's perfectly fine with that.
----
The hours ticked by, and the miles between the Hedgehog and the city continued to lengthen into the morning light. As the night time was mostly the same as he once knew it, so too was the light of day over the countryside, alongside the few morning clouds scattered about in the blue sky. With the light, the Hedgehog got a better idea of where he exactly was, though he still needed some more time to know where in full of his location.
As for the running, neither he nor the big bird following him were remotely tired from their tag-team race and were making beyond express time across the country, though neither really had a destination in mind. Even so, the highspeed run turned into more a jog after a good while so the Hedgehog can better explore than just zoom by everything.
Just as well, their running couldn't go on forever. The cops weren't chasing either of them anymore, and with a whole night's worth of traveling handled, the Hedgehog took some time to give his legs a rest by taking a nap up a tree. Not a typical bed, normal Hedgehog or this one, but he was alright with it with his arms behind his head and a leg kicked up.
"So far, so good," the Hedgehog pondered, "I've got someone not willing to turn me in to the empire, so that's something. I just gotta know where the rest are, figure out where I am, and I'll be back in full action."
As he took some thought on the matter, his bird friend perched on a nearby tree branch, looking around from the treeline to the landscape around them as birds tend to do. The Hedgehog may have found a way to relax, but the hummingbird seemed to be on high alert still, as if expecting a bigger falcon to just swoop down or something. The Hedgehog didn't even bother worrying about it though, even as the bird, time and again, hopped down to the Hedgehog as if to try and get him to stay awake and alert.
It was only when the bird started pecking at the Hedgehog's head did he FINALLY spring up.
"Hey, HEY!" he snapped, waving the bird back as it fluttered to a nearby branch again. The hedgehog groaned a little.
"Okay I'm up, see? Like you wanted. Now what's the hub-bub about before you try to drill my head again?" the Hedgehog questioned, annoyed. The bird hopped from one branch to the other, chirping so the Hedgehog can keep an eye on it. What could this bird want now? Curious, the Hedgehog made some similar hops up the tree until he was eye-level with the bird too.
The Hedgehog and the Bird could see a lot of the landscape from up there, as the tree itself was out in the open rather than in a cluster of em like before. They both saw hillsides, some farmland to their left, clear skies all around. Nothing weird from what the Hedgehog could see.
"O … K … so what's the problem?" the Hedgehog asked. The bird meanwhile tried its best to aim the Hedgehog in the right direction, but the Hedgehog just didn't really seem to see anything out there besides -
The Hedgehog paused. Something glittering caught his eye. It was faint, but the bird knew it was there no doubt, since it tried to hide behind the Hedgehog upon both of them seeing it.
"What is that? …" the Hedgehog squinted, eyes locked onto this strange target, whatever it was. It remained still for a little more, until suddenly it disappeared behind the hillside. Whatever it was, it was alive and moving. This made the bird panic even more, not knowing where it was gonna come from.
"Ok, just relax, it's gone now - hey!"
No good: the fear overwhelmed the bird. Just enough to make the speedy creature take off out of the tree and into the air. Anywhere was safer than there far as it was concerned. The Hedgehog meanwhile just looked on confused, if not a bit annoyed. As it tried flying away …
*CHIRP* *CHIRP* *CHIR-REEEE!*
"WHAT THE -?! BIRD!"
Even a speedster like him wasn't quick enough to realize what just happened: something whipped out from the hillside, wrapped around the screeching bird and yanked it right out of the sky! This was enough to make the Hedgehog leap out of the tree and race over to see if it was alright, the sounds of screeching and other voices telling this Hedgehog that it flew right into an ambush.
The Hedgehog leaped pass the next hillside, only to find exactly that! By the time the Hedgehog got there, he saw this bird was being restricted not by one, but three different people.
All woman, might he add: One was fairly thin, almost rail-thin with light pale skin with light peach to her hair, with an outfit that vaguely resembled that of a ballerina, transparent silk ballet skirt included with a sleeveless light blue top and salmon pink leggings. Another one looked much shorter, more full-figured, and a lot more purple to her skin and lavender hair, wearing a more casual bit of clothing in form of a lavender oversized tank top with black bra strap exposed, along with black leggings and white boots. The third and tallest one was almost red in skin color, her hair in a prominent big square, with her outfit more of a full bodysuit that mixed black and red along with gloves along her arms. Her eyes, unlike the others, were more hidden behind a pair of visors.
The Hedgehog also noted the weapons they all had: one a spear, one a whip, and one apparently just using her arms to grapple hold of the struggling bird. He didn't need anymore convincing - he knew what he was gonna do next as he eyed the crowd.
"This one's flighty. Better make this quick," the tallest woman instructed, the other two ladies armed at the ready to seemingly finish off this bird.
"Right. PLEASE don't try and miss this time," the thin one said.
"I got it, I got it," replied the short one.
"NO YOU DON'T!"
BAM! In almost to time at all, the Hedgehog suddenly bee-lined through with lightning fast speed. So quickly that all the girls saw was just a blue blur zoom by them, the tallest one suddenly finding her arms empty! Next thing they knew, the bird was brought right to the next hill with the Hedgehog standing right by it.
"There it is!" shouted the short one. The Hedgehog did then see that each one of these ladies had some form of star on them: one on the chest, a pair on another's knees, so on. These three were together. Three against two.
"Anybody told you hunting season's over? This bird's gone through a bit of a tough night, so why don't you lay off for a while. Like, forever?" the Hedgehog instructed confident, as the bird stayed right behind him for protection.
The three just kinda stared at the Hedgehog for a moment.
"……. What the heck is that thing?" the thin one asked bluntly. 
A question that went through everyone's mind seeing this thing: a humanoid creature with blue spiked fur, red shoes, and two green eyes that seem to fuse together? Weird. Still, the tall one spoke up.
"Doesn't matter - he's got our target," the tall one said firmly, fists up and at the ready to apprehend as the bird meekly hid behind the Hedgehog some more like a scared puppy. The Hedgehog stayed firm though, fists also up for a tussle. The short one though wasn't having it.
"Hey man, give that back! I've spent all night trying to catch that thing!" she shouted angrily.
"AHA! So you're the one that left the bear trap!" the Hedgehog revealed. The other two turned to the purple girl.
"What?"
"A Beartrap? Really, Amethyst?" the thin one scoffed.
"Hey, Pearl, that wasn't my idea! If I wanted to use those things I would've brought em with us!" retorted the short one, Amethyst apparently. Well the Hedgehog knew two of the three by name, but that wasn't important as the tallest one moved in between the two, confronting the Hedgehog head on.
"Earth Creature! Step away from the monster! You're putting yourself in harm's way," she instructed, good and firm so none of her words missed. The Hedgehog though didn't budge, simply standing there with his arms crossed, glancing around for this so-called monster only to find nothing.
"Monster, what monster? All I see is a bunch of jerks trying to chop up my friend here! Sorry ladies, but if you wanna stop me, you're gonna have to catch me first," the Hedgehog made clear, fists clenched and confidence in his smirk at the end there.
That response though only gave this Hedgehog another surprise. Standing at the ready, the tall one clenched her fists, but this suddenly made both fists flash a quick hue of white before something formed around them. Next moment, the fighter suddenly had a pair of gauntlet gloves on, each one as hard as a rock and looking strong enough to crush him … if they could land him, that is. After this, the tall one stared the Hedgehog dead in the eyes.
"You have no idea what you're up against." she warned, slow yet firm.
The Hedgehog smiled, also locking gaze with her. He made his own conclusion again.
"I should be the one telling you that." the Hedgehog warned right back.
That was enough to get the fight started. Quick dash away from the bird later, and the three girls raced right towards them. Nothing new.
"Okay pal, you fly on ahead, I'll keep the trio busy," the Hedgehog said. The bird wasted no time in getting a headstart before the Hedgehog raced off towards them. All three of them weren't expecting a full blown battle with another creature, but this will need to be done now. The Hedgehog made the first strike, rolling into a ball and zooming right through them like they were bowling pins. Amethyst landed roughly, but the other two were quick to recover and start fighting back … at least, that's what the Hedgehog through they were gonna do, until they raced off after the bird!
"Amethyst!" shouted the tall one. As the Hedgehog readied to go after them, he suddenly found himself wrapped up tightly in Amethyst's whip!
"Take my kill, will you," Amethyst commented smugly.
It didn't take much to know what happened next.
"WHOA!" The Hedgehog started running, Amethyst suddenly flying behind him while she held onto the whip! It was like holding onto the end of the fastest speedboat, Amethyst off of the ground and flailing about as she tried to stop this crazy Hedgehog. The best she could do was stick her feet into the dirt and hope it'll be enough, which of course it wasn't.
Oh, and scream, that's also a thing she did.
It didn't take long for Pearl and her taller friend to see what was going on, but seeing was all they could do as the Hedgehog pulled a trick of his own: he jumped and spun in the air in a corkscrew. The momentum was just enough to make Amethyst on the other end spin as if she was holding onto a top, slamming her right into the other two hunters, and sending them flying. A few more spins in the air and the whip was unraveled from him as he landed right on his feet.
"And Kids, this is why you don't use whips to catch Hedgehogs," the Hedgehog commented, before taking off to join his bird friend. After a crash like that, there's no way they're gonna catch up to them. He was feeling pretty good about this, and so was the bird as he caught up with it.
Until he looked back.
The other two were far behind, but the tall one was suddenly right on their tails! SOMEHOW the fastest Hedgehog was being challenged in this race, and the bird, panicking, flew even faster. As for the Hedgehog, he tried to do the same, but this one-woman wrecking crew got one extra trick. ROCKET FIST BOMBS!
*BOOM!* "WHAT THE -" *KA-BOOM* "- Lady what's your -" *BOOM**BOOM* "- IT'S JUST A BIRD!!"
Of course she didn't stop right away, and she wasn't really aiming for the Hedgehog anyway - she was targeting the bird, the Hedgehog was just in the crossfire. Both of them dodged as best they could manage, the Hedgehog sliding, hopping and side-stepping as the bird zoomed, zipped and weaved. Either the Empire was THAT desperate, or this woman was dead set on this bird. The Hedgehog was actually starting to lose some speed, just enough for both runners to be side-by-side.
The Hedgehog wasn't gonna watch her take out this bird: side-by-side, they both began fighting then and there, all the while still running to keep pace with the bird. The Hedgehog tried his best in his kicks, punches, and occasional spin dashing, but this opponent always somehow blocked him one way or another and countered with longer-ranged swings of her fists or legs.
"You're pretty fast," the Hedgehog commented as they ran.
"So are you. We're not here to fight you though, so just stay out of the way. You're safer that way," she instructed as a final warning.
The Hedgehog responded by running ahead, racing right in front of her … running backwards! Might as well show off a little before ditching these girls.
"And let you turn this bird into cooked chicken? Not happening on my watch, lady!"
The woman kept up with him, but seeing him do this gave her a up-close chance to lock her gaze with him, closer than the first time. As she did, something felt different. Sure, he clearly didn't look like an earth creature she'd seen before, but … there was something else about him. …
She shook the feeling off.
"… Fine."
Now it was the woman's turn to kick it into overdrive. She'd been keeping a steady pace before, but now with one mighty lunged, she charged right pass the Hedgehog, actually making him lose his step for a moment or two. He WAS running backwards after all. Still, he gained his footing faster, and got up to speed even faster. As for the bird, all it did was screech in fear as the woman finally got toe-to-toe with it. The woman leaped up an impressive height, and made one final aim of her gauntlet rockets. This time, the bird was too close and the aim too well to avoid.
A direct hit.
*POOF*
Too late. Shockingly enough, too late. The Hedgehog skidded to a stop when he caught up, seeing four different things appear and fall after the cloud of smoke spread out above him: the woman who took the bird out, a TON of feathers (somehow), a large white, star-spotted egg, and … a small gemstone, glittering in the light. All four of these things fell right down to earth, the woman landing hard with feathers all over her from the explosion.
"WHOOP! GOTCHA!"
By this point the other two finally caught up with them, Amethyst diving to catch the falling giant egg, just barely making it.
"Thank goodness!" Pearl sighed in relief, only to urgently ask right afterwards "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. And I got the Gemstone. We're done here," the tall one replied, now holding the gemstone in her hand as she got up off the ground as Amethyst held the egg up high like over her head like a piece of treasure.
"Aww yeah, SCORE!" she beamed, "I can't wait to cook up a big ol' omelet with this baby!"
"Amethyst, please focus. And put that egg down, we don't need it," Pearl instructed.
"Come on, I worked hard today! Gotta get somethin outta this," Amethyst said, holding onto the egg as their attention went back to not the Gemstone, but to the Hedgehog nearby. To say he looked shocked outta his mind was an understatement.
"Did … did you just turn my friend into a rock?" the Hedgehog asked. Again, he expected just a flopped, knocked out budy, not a tiny little rock. Before they could answer, the tall one then began doing some more magic nonsense by summoning a bubble around the gemstone. She was just about to tap on it when the Hedgehog sprung into action, snatching it away before she could do anything else.
"Hey, at least ANSWER me!"
Clearly fighting wasn't getting anywhere here.
"Listen, that "friend" is not your business, it's our business," Pearl said, losing patience, "Now if you'd kindly hand over the gemstone, we can stop fighting."
"OR you can just go back to your empire and leave us alone, that's also an option. … Seriously though, what did you do to it?" the Hedgehog said, glancing back at the gemstone he was holding in the bubble again. The tall one stepped forward again, looking down at the Hedgehog this time.
"Pearl's right, it's not your business," she said. She paused though and added, "But I'll tell you this. That creature your holding is in a bad state. This is better for her."
The Hedgehog huffed. "Oh yeah, right, hunting her down and blasting her into confetti CLEARLY made her feel better."
"Yes, it did. She'll be safer with us," the woman said, bluntly this time. In response, the Hedgehog popped the bubble, and held onto the gemstone tightly.
"Okay, now that's just stupid. And a bit sick. I'm outta here!"
Before anyone could say anything else, the Hedgehog revved up, and rocketed away out of sight. Pearl, spear in hand, readied to go after him, but this time the tall woman actually held her back. The woman didn't say anything for a moment or two before she began walking away.
"Come on, team. We'll have to handle this some other time," she instructed.
"What? B-But he just ran off with our target, it'll just try to attack again later," Pearl retorted. 
"So, we'll deal with it later," Amethyst said, walking by with the giant egg cradled in hand. Pearl wasn't amused at all.
"Okay, are you really bringing that home?" Pearl asked.
"Jealous?" smirked Amethyst.
"No I'm not!"
The trio began heading off on their way. They had other things to worry about anyway.
== PART2 ==
Farther away, the Hedgehog continued his mad dash across the countryside much of the day after, the gemstone held tightly in his grip the entire time he did so. He wasn't sure if they were still chasing after him or not, but he didn't want to take any chances this time, not with his friend stuck in a rock for all he knew. The question of what they exactly did to her was still running in his mind, and even moreso, how can he fix this? Also the question of who, or what, those ladies were also ran through his head, thinking about the tall one in particular since she actually kept up with him of all things.
"Don't worry buddy, I don't care what those ladies say, you're safe now. It must be pretty cramped in there. No way are you feeling better stuck like this," the Hedgehog thought, looking to the gemstone in his hands as he continued running along. There still was a shimmer of light inside that gemstone from what he could see, but nothing more beyond that. Seeing this though only made him a little more frustrated. His friends weren't there with him, at least one of them should have SOME idea on how to fix this. But no, he was on his own, he had to figure this out. However, something else clicked in his head.
"So I delt with cops in Empire City, and NOW these ladies out in the country chasing me. He's gotta be tracking me somehow," the Hedgehog began to conclude. As he kept running, he then began spotting something further ahead of him. Or rather, he began smelling it first before seeing it:
water. Seawater.
"The ocean again? Must've got turned around, but, oh well. Let's see him track me through this," the Hedgehog decided … as much as he REALLY didn't want to.
"Here goes nothing."
That was all he could do once his feet touched water - he had to. His high speed made navigating the water no problem for him, but rather than swim, he just ran on top of it. Thanks the stars that the water wasn't too rough, otherwise he'd be in even more trouble. Still, it didn't take him long until dry land turned into deep blue sea as he made his way further and further off shore. The Hedgehog though didn't dare to even look back on how far he went, or look down to how deep the water was.
"Don't sink, don't sink, don't sink, don't sink," he thought to himself. He just kept straight ahead, and kept the gemstone locked in his hands and making sure he was fast enough for a stream of water to shoot out from behind as if he were an engine on a speedboat. This was the Hedgehog at full throttle, no stop, and at maximum speed.
His racing across the ocean though, with no land in sight on the way, the Hedgehog began to notice one teeny little thing. Not land exactly, but it seemed as if the ocean was being drained into something. Something big, and something deep.
It was a little too late when the Hedgehog realized it was a deep hole. And he was suddenly running on nothing! Looking down this time, he saw … well, a giant building! Who'd of guessed? And he was shooting right towards the top of it!
"No problem. I'll just fly right - … across?" suddenly something made him stop dead cold. Something held him in the air for a brief moment, like some kind of gravity beam or something. Whatever it was, the Hedgehog was not moving.
"Uh … oh …" Not saying he didn't try to defy gravity and make it across by madly running, but alas, gravity doesn't work that way. All he could do was throw the gemstone ahead of him onto the top of this building to get her to safety before - "See ya."
And boy did he go down! It was less like him just falling and more as if something was sucking him down! The Hedgehog tried his absolute hardest to grab hold of something, ANYTHING, but it's as if someone tied a anvil to his chest. His arms flailed about, until finally he found a rock wall just barely close enough for him to get an actual grip onto. His fingers skidded and scraped against the rock until he got a firmer hold, making him finally stop. Taking a breath, he looked down, and found the drop off just lead down into the ocean again.
"PHEW. Way too close," the Hedgehog said.
Then came the part of climbing. With this sudden gravity shift, the Hedgehog REALLY had some trouble pulling himself up the cliff next to this giant building. Challenges weren't anything new for him, but still it was brutal for him to just straight up climb the clifface. Grunting, groaning, and kicking like a madman all the while, he slowly made his way upward. It really didn't help either that, as he did this, he heard and saw a huge chunk of the building crumble and fall right by him, splashing hard in the water below. He sped up his climbing after that, not even acknowledging the sound of a magical beam going off just nearby …
Nor the eerily familiar voices as he climbed.
"The Sea Spire!"
"Oh my. It wasn't like this 100 years ago."
"I'm sensing structural instability."
It was only by this moment that the Hedgehog FINALLY hauled himself onto the flat ground above. Tired, but triumphant. It was also this point that he heard the sound of breaking ground off to his right.
"Oh yeah, that's never good," said someone else. Happening to be standing on said breaking chunk of ground! Although tired, the Hedgehog sprung to his feet, and dashed for him!
"LOOK OUT!"
A second after the shout, the Hedgehog got whoever it was outta the way, just seconds before the ground underneath broke off and plummeted right to the sea below. A second later and he'd probably go down with it.
Now to actually LOOK at said person. This time, rather than a hunter, the Hedgehog was looking at a kid. About the same height, a pink shirt and blue pants, salmon-colored sandles, brown hair, and overall … well, just a regular kid far as the Hedgehog knew. As for said kid, he looked more surprised than scared seeing the Hedgehog standing there.
"You okay, kid?" the Hedgehog asked.
"Whooooa. A talking Hedgehog!" the kid said, starry eyed. The Hedgehog actually found himself smirking.
"Well, thanks kid for being the first to actually figure that -"
Then he saw his company.
As in: Pearl, Amethyst, and their tall friend.
…
"WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE?!?!" Pearl and the Hedgehog yelled, pointing at eachother. Shocked would be an understatement for both of them.
"No, no, I asked you first!" Pearl snapped.
"No you didn't, I did!" the Hedgehog snapped back. The kid though actually got in between the two before anything could go wrong, though less about worrying for a fight, and more about asking questions.
"STOP! … When did you guys meet eachother?" the kid asked. Rather than letting the woman speak, the Hedgehog spoke first.
"Just this morning they were trying to hunt down my friend! What, you come back for round two?" the Hedgehog accused.
"What? No, how did you even get here?!" Pearl asked, not as freaked out but still wanting to know this information.
"I ran here. You know, speed?" the Hedgehog said, as if it was a no-brainer, even doing that running motion with his fingers. The others didn't seem to believe him though. It was still unbelievable to them, but the Hedgehog still wasn't done talking to them, and added "Now it's your turn."
"Oh, we warped here," answered the kid.
"You what-now?"
"Over there," said the tall one, a thumb pointing behind her. The Hedgehog then saw what she was talking about: a round platform right on the ground.
"Well … isn't that convenient," the Hedgehog remarked. However, the tall one moved forward towards the Hedgehog, not threatening but still not showing any fear despite what happened earlier.
"The gemstone," she simply noted.
"This again? I already told you -"
"You don't have it on you," the tall one cut in. The Hedgehog paused, but sighed as he turned back to the tall building, looking up to the top. The Hedgehog though just stood in the way again, prepared for another fight.
"Alright, maybe I don't, but I ain't telling you where she is. Why don't you tell Eggman he'd be better off hunting me if he's looking for fancy animals? Which of course, is impossible, but hey he'd have better luck," the Hedgehog advised.
They simply had one thing to say after that warning.
"……. Who?"
… What? The Hedgehog paused. Now it was his turn to get confused.
"Umm … Doctor Eggman? Big guy, tall, ugly, too big mustache? The guy who … you know … created you? … Is any of this …" the Hedgehog said, just as dumbfounded.
They all just looked to eachother for a moment.
"We have no idea what you're talking about, dude," Amethyst said, hand on her hip and looking to the Hedgehog as if he were nuts.
"And We're not robots," added the tall one, adjusting her visors.
Okay, NOW it was getting weird. These three chased after him but NOT working for this Eggman guy? The Hedgehog wasn't too sure about it though either way, beginning to walk back and forth with this new information. He needed some things cleared up.
"So … you don't know Eggman. …"
"Nope," said Amethyst.
"… and you weren't chasing that bird to shove her into a robot, or drain her energy or whatever …" 
"Of course not! That's just crazy. And a little bit morbid," said Pearl, taking a moment to think on it. The Hedgehog paused his pacing by that point.
"AND I'm gonna assume "Empire City" doesn't mean it belongs to the Eggman Empire. Right? …"
"… No. No it does not," the tall one said.
"Who's this "Eggman" guy?" the kid asked. Amethyst just shrugged, never having heard of that name before. As for the Hedgehog, this … well, it confirmed a few things, to say the least. In the end, his hand slapped his forehead. He ran from the cops for nothing? That didn't mean he was gonna let them off the hook just yet, arms still crossed as he checked them out again.
"Okay, so clear one final thing up for me: why ARE you chasing after my friend earlier, if that's not what you're doing? You acted way too desperate for it to be for nothing," the Hedgehog asked.
Before they could answer him, they heard yet another large chunk of the Sea Spire plummet down from behind them, dangerous close no less, smashing against the rock before landing in the water. It was enough to make the Hedgehog jump away at least, but this also made Pearl pull the kid back. It was getting too bad.
"Okay, this was a bad idea, we're taking him home," Pearl said, referring to the kid. But then, as she held him tighter -
*oooohhh my stomach*
"Geesh, how hard is she holding him?" the Hedgehog wondered. However, the voice wasn't coming from the kid, but instead from what seemed to be his backpack … which was shaped like a cheeseburger for some reason. Instead, the kid pulled out what looked like some kind of doll. Not a fancy looking one either, just some ragged doll with a digestion track on its stomach.
"Aww, Mr. Queasy," the kid chuckled, holding him like any young kid would as the guy kept making queasy noises.
"Steven!" Pearl snapped (finally giving the kid a name as far as the Hedgehog knew), "Listen, this is part of your heritage! I want you to come, but if you're going on this mission you have to take this seriously! Can you do that?"
"You got it, dude!" Steven replied, a big thumbs up … and tongue sticking out. Not the most convincing face there ever is out there. They got their own problems though.
"Enough. We need to move," instructed the tall woman.
"Oh, uh okay. Thanks for saving me, by the way," Steven said to the Hedgehog. The Hedgehog gave a thumbs up himself, but he was still trying to think on how to approach this to give any verbal response. That was, until he saw where they were actually going.
The Hedgehog sprung into action once again, arms spread out as he blocked them from continuing once again, this time standing right at the edge of the cliff. Then again, he might've not needed to do that since the leader raised her hand to make them stop anyway.
"What's the prob now?" Amethyst asked.
"Hold up there, you're not thinking of jumping through that are ya? Sorry, but you're just gonna get sucked straight down if you do that," the Hedgehog warned, remembering his own experience.
"What do you mean? It looks close, we can jump it, can't we?" Steven asked.
"Yeah, I already tried racing across from up there," the Hedgehog said, pointing to the top of the sea, "but something just grabbed me and yanked me down here."
"That would be the vortex surrounding the Sea Spire," the leader explained, "it keeps the ocean from flooding the structure, but it also makes a force that will pull anything down that gets too close."
Then, as if to demonstrate, she went over and grabbed a huge boulder, and chucked it right towards the building. As it did with the Hedgehog before, the rock halted mid air, shuttered for a bit, before just dropping straight down into the water again.
"Well that explains it," the Hedgehog replied. "So what do we do to get across?"
"Wait. You're coming with us now?" Pearl questioned. The Hedgehog turned around to face the Sea Spire.
"Well, yeah I am. I'm not leaving my friend behind, and you guys apparently know this thing better than I do," the Hedgehog said, which was true. There was some skeptical thinking amongst the group, but it seemed only Pearl had some visible thinking.
"Eh, he did just save Steven from dropping like a rock, why not?" Amethyst remarked. Pearl looked to Garnet, who all she did was give a shrug. Two to one it seemed, so Pearl just sighed.
"Oh, alright, just try not to get in the way this time, okay? We're trying to SAVE this place, not destroy it," Pearl made perfectly clear. The Hedgehog was only after his pal anyway, so that didn't bug him much either. As they were talking though, Steven was actually already coming up with a solution.
"I got it!" Steven finally said.
"Got what?" asked Amethyst. It was then that Steven showed them what he meant: he showed them off what seemed to be a pair of sweaters, only one of the sleeves was tied to eachother.
"Okay guys, at first these were just to keep us warm, but check this out." Steven, without hesitation, went right over to the edge of the cliff, and rather than just blindly jumping across he threw one of the ends of the sweater rope, wrapping it firmly around a hole on top of one of the Spire's doors. The Hedgehog brightened up.
"Hey, I know what he's doing. Hey, Amethyst is it? Let me see that whip you got," the Hedgehog said, hand open for the whip. Amethyst, despite just only now working with him, brought out the whip for him.
"Here ya go."
"Thanks!" the Hedgehog readied to join Steven, but he paused briefly. "… Ehh, you can make another one of these in case this backfires, right?"
"Yeah?"
"K, cool." The Hedgehog swung the whip forward, and got it wrapped around the same spot Steven had the sweaters.
"Ready? ……. GO!" Steven and the Hedgehog exclaimed, as they went right off the edge!
"Steven!" Pearl gasped.
"They're getting sucked down!" added Amethyst, and it wasn't long until she was right. Just as before, the gravity was pulling on them, and pulling down hard. However, thanks to this grand idea Steven had on the fly, they actually managed to hold themselves on! Steven and the Hedgehog began to pull themselves up one step at a time.
The Hedgehog, although Steven didn't ask him too, saw how he was struggling so he grabbed hold of Steven by his arm to help pull him up. Did this put more strain on him? Yeah, but that didn't matter - he didn't want him to fall into the ocean. It took a surge of energy from the Hedgehog, but sure enough, the two were on the other side, safe and sound … and maybe a bit winded but fine all the same. Steven just stood there to take a breather, but the Hedgehog took that same whip and tossed it right back to Amethyst, the end still wrapped around the door.
"SWEET, STEVEN! Come on guys," Amethyst said. She grabbed hold of the other two, and basically did the exact same thing as they did. Only difference is that it was just a basic swing instead of a pull forward. After regaining their composure, Pearl looked to Steven.
"Ok, I gotta admit. That was pretty great. ……. Never do that again."
"Thanks, and sorry," Steven replied.
"Alright, we're in. Now to go right to the top," the Hedgehog decided. The sooner they get going the better. He was just about to get started, but this time it was the leader woman who actually got in his way. At first he thought she was gonna question him again, but looking up to her, she was actually smiling.
"We saw what you did down there. Thanks for not letting Steven fall," she said. Her voice wasn't as firm as it was before, but still as calm as the Hedgehog remembered. The Hedgehog smiled back, rubbing the back of his head.
"Eh, don't sweat it, it's what I do. I wouldn't be much of a hero if I just left him hanging eehh …" he then suddenly realized something. "Hold on. We've ran around all day and I never got your name!"
"Oh you're right!" Steven said nearby, overhearing the conversation. "You've met them before, do you know them by name?"
The Hedgehog paused as he checked them.
"Well sort of: I got "Pearl" and "Amethyst" and, well, you, but I never got the very tall one," the Hedgehog said. The figure smiled.
"I'm Garnet. Leader of the Crystal Gems," she introduced. "And now it's your turn."
The Hedgehog smiled right back with a wink.
"The name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!"
----
After getting introduced, the group of four-now-five began to make their way upwards from there. Garnet kept the lead as Pearl, Amethyst, Steven and Sonic strolled on behind. Steven and Sonic kept themselves alongside throughout this stroll, Sonic watching outside at the flowing waterfall of the sea with mixed emotions on it, as Pearl was constantly pointing out how ruined everything looked.
"Oh, the water damage. … that pillar. … Oof, is that - eehh." Comments like that continued as they went along their way, but at this point they kinda shutted em out of earshot. Steven was surely enjoying the walk up though, looking around the ancient ruins of the Sea Spire as if it were some grand museum or something. As they kept going along, Sonic's eyes glanced over to the backpack Steven was carrying around.
"Ehh, hey. So why does your backpack look like lunch?" Sonic asked, pointing the backpack out.
"Oh, this? It's my NEW awesome Cheeseburger Backpack," Steven said, showing it off to Sonic as if he was displaying it, "State-of-the-art storage and the coolest design in the world. Look, each layer is a pocket - even the cheese!"
"No kidding?" Sonic asked. Sure enough, Steven showed him exactly what he was talking about, showing each and every single pocket on the backpack, and once more, just how much stuff was in there. Sonic leaned forward for a closer look during this.
"Boy, you got a lot going on in there," Sonic said. "What can't you fit in that thing?"
"I know, right? I got my sweaters in the tomatoes, there's an inflatable boat in the Lettice, I got some snacks in the cheese, and most important right in the main patty -"
Steven stopped talking when he opened it up. He saw the doll he had earlier, but that wasn't what seemed to be the thing that made him stop talking. Soon he began checking the rest of his pockets in the backpack.
"Your … doll? … Steven, you okay?"
"Yo, come on you two! We got an issue here!" called Amethyst. Sonic would have to ask later, and both he and Steven quickly caught up with them.
"What's the problem?" asked Steven.
"That," Garnet simply answered.
Looking ahead, they all saw an opening in the path that looked like a gazebo of sorts, old and ancient like everything else in the Sea Spire. The walls were cracked, some seaweed was left all over the place, but while that was gross in of itself, that wasn't the main problem. The ground all around seemingly was littered - no, infested with some kind of weird creature. These things were fairly big, one eye at the front, ande their bodies encased in a crystalline shell that looked as sharp as glass. These creatures crawled about all over the place, squirming around the seaweed and rock. None of the animals seemed to know they were there, but that didn't make this any better. If anything, it probably made it worse.
"Crystal Shrimp," Pearl murmured in disgust, "T-They're everywhere."
"They must've settled here over the last 100 years. We need to get through them to get to the top," Garnet made clear. Although they looked weird, the task seemed simple enough as they began going closer to some of them.
"Then let's just push em out of the way. That doesn't sound -"
"Don't touch them, Steven, they're deadly sharp!" Pearl quickly said, grabbing and pulling Steven back before he could do anything. The same couldn't be said for Sonic the Hedgehog, marching right up to one of the shrimp to have a go at it.
"Sonic, I wouldn't," Garnet warned. 
"Don't worry," Sonic said, "I've stood toe-to-toe with you three already, why not a bunch of shrimp? This'll take a second."
If only it were that simple. The Crystal Gems with their experience knew these things, and the moment Sonic began actually touching one of them. The moment Sonic grabbed hold of one of them, the spines of the glass-coated shrimp immediately began to sting. Sonic gritted his eyes and his eyes shot open on the sudden pain, which only got worse as the shrimp wriggled itself in Sonic's hands. It was like if someone was swiping knives on his hands! Sonic finally relented and tossed the shrimp away.
"Okay, shrimp, time to clear out!"
"Sonic, wait!" Garnet shouted. No luck though as Sonic rolled right in.
…
Seconds later, sonic walked back, small cuts all over him.
"… Yeah. Those shards sting. … bad," Sonic murmured. Pearl pulled Sonic away so she can better work things out. Looking at the situation, she began to work out a plan that hopefully won't involve touching any of them. Steven looked at one of the Shrimp for a moment, and saw that it was munching away on some seaweed …
"Let's see now, hmm … Alright: Garnet, if you could aim your rocket gauntlets on this area of the ceiling, and if Amethyst can move to the inside, using her whips in a cyclone formation, then I could -"
"Hey guys, it's lunch time! Who's hungry?" Steven suddenly cut in. Before any of them could do anything, Steven got out the snacks he was talking about and threw them out of the way: one to the far right, and one to the far left. Sure enough, the second the Crystal Shrimp noticed that, they just crawled right outta the way. Just like that.
"Brilliant," Garnet said.
"Well look at that. Nice job, kid," Sonic complimented.
"Yeah, score no.2 for the Ste-man," Amethyst added. Steven smiled brightly, but Pearl was dumbfounded.
"Well, if I were a Shrimp, that's what I would do," Steven simply said. Pearl, who was left dumbfounded by what just happened, couldn't really bring herself to criticize this turn of events. It definitely made it easier, she could give him that much.
"Just so everyone knows: MY plan would've worked too."
~~~
The Crystal Gems had little problems on their way up from there, the stairs spiraling up the main side of the tower. This time the group was more grouped up, with Steven and Sonic in the middle as Pearl stayed in the back and Garnet at the front with Amethyst. It wasn't one of Sonic's better moments, and those small cuts more than proved it, but even so he kept it from making him stop altogether during their stroll. Going up the next flight of stairs though, while at first seemed simply normal. No Crystal Shrimp, no notable cracks or wet moss, just a standard extra room before the final flight of stairs.
"Alright, easy mode. Let's go," Sonic said, taking the lead again. Sonic and Steven began to make their way over, but the Crystal Gems then began hearing the sound of creaking concrete. …
"COME BACK!" Garnet suddenly shouted. The group stopped -
*CRASH*
The room had a wall that was proving just too weak for the flow of water of the ocean, and as such it cracked open like an egg! Sonic found himself standing directly in the path of the raging river, but lucky for him, Sonic raced forward and shoved Steven aside, both of them just barely making it over before the raging river could sweep them away.
The team was now split.
"Steven! You alright?!" Pearl shouted, panicking.
"I'm fine," Steven called back, "just a little wet."
The Crystal Gems sighed, but they now had another problem with this sudden seawater river in between them.
"Well, come on, just jump over!" Sonic called. Surely that seemed easy enough, but they didn't do that at first, remembering the vortex problem at the start of this trip. Garnet thought a little bit, and decided to test it out: she found a piece of a broken up pillar nearby, and she threw it towards Sonic and Steven … only for it to drop like a rock over the river.
"It's no good. We'll be swept away the minute we're over the water," Garnet concluded.
"So what do we do now?" Amethyst asked.
Garnet thought briefly, but there seemed to only be one option. She looked across the raging river to the Hedgehog and Human duo standing there.
"Steven. Sonic. You're gonna have to go on ahead without us."
"What?!" Amethyst and Pearl exclaimed.
"Really?" gasped Steven.
"You have the Moon Goddess Statue," Garnet explained, "Get to the top of the Sea Spire, and get it on the pedestal. That should restore the Sea Spire to its former state. We'll meet you on your way back down when you're done. Remember: got it there BEFORE the moon's overhead!"
Steven surely didn't expect to go it alone this trip, but when he looked over to Sonic, he felt his confidence go up a bit. Sonic saved him twice now, so he knew he'll be alright. He still felt a little unsure though when he gave Garnet a soldier's salute.
"I'm on my way!" Steven said, before turning and making his way forward.
"Don't worry, you guys, I'll watch over him," Sonic also promised, before following on after him. Five down to two in a matter of seconds, but at least they got the important stuff with them.
The stairs did take a bit of time since they went around the outside of the spire a few more times, but other than that there wasn't anymore nasty surprises for Sonic or Steven. The worst that happened was that Steven did tire out a little bit, but that was about it once they made it to the top of the Spire. Steven was completely new to this, but Sonic actually knew this spot from earlier. Not to mention the gemstone he already chucked onto it. Sonic looked around for it, but after a quick check, he found … nothing?
"I saw it land on here, where'd it go?" Sonic wondered. Nothing around aside from that pedestal Garnet mentioned. However, seeing that thing reminded Sonic why the others were here in the first place.
"Okay. Fix the tower now, find the gemstone later. Okay, Steven, let's see that -" *thump* *oooo kid, don't shake me*
Sonic's sentence was cut short thanks to Mr. Queasy hitting his face. Sonic got him off, but then he saw that Steven wasn't actually doing so good, tossing different things out of his backpack in a bit of a frantic state. There wasn't that much left in the backpack, but he still was looking through one pocket after another.
"What's wrong?"
It was then that Steven finally said it. Scared.
"… I don't have it."
"Don't have what?"
"The Moon Goddess Statue," Steven gulped in a cold sweat, "I-I was so excited to go - I must've left it on my bed!"
Sonic took a moment to realize what this means for him. He was out in the middle of the ocean, lord knows how far away from any shore so this was the only piece of dry land he knew. And without that statue to keep this Sea Spire up and running …
Sonic shivered, looking to Steven with a smile of complete freakout mode.
"Please tell me that's a joke. Please?" Sonic murmured shakenly.
Steven was shaking the backpack wildly for something to fall out by that time. NO, it was not a joke. They both looked straight up.
The Moon was high in the sky.
"Oh snap," Sonic gulped.
"W-Wait, backup plan! Maybe!" Steven quickly said. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Mr. Queasy was indeed that desperate measure. Sonic didn't even want to question if this was gonna work or not, whatever it'll be to avoid any swimming.
Steven went straight to the pedestal with Mr. Queasy in hand, and ever so gently placed him right on top of it. Mr. Queasy just sat there, flopping over as Steven backed up until he was right next to Sonic. Sonic meanwhile had both fingers crossed tight, hoping this would work.
A light began to glow. The Pedestal, sensing something on it. The beam of light, a bright shade of light blue, went directly up. From any angle, it almost seemed like the moon was drawing in the beam of light, the beam aiming right at it.
Mr. Queasy slowly rose up …
… and exploded!
"No no NO!"
The ground began to shutter. They were out of time.
As Steven and Sonic tried to at least keep their footing on the unstable ground, the entire ocean around the tower slowly began to make its advance straight towards them! From every angle, every which way, the once open grounds of the Sea Spire was quickly losing the fight in keeping the ocean back. The tower itself was feeling even worse with this tremor, the very vibrations making many of the floors underneath it crumble and fall below.
A huge chunk of the tower suddenly broke off, splashing and shattering into the sea, but this revealed more than the instability of the tower.
"GUYS!" Steven shrieked.
Looking down, the two saw that the Crystal Gems were in just as much trouble! The room they were standing in had completely broken off, leaving Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst holding on by only a whip grabbing hold of a broken piece of the wall, and even then who knows how long that'll be! Falling rocks nearly pummeled them as they dangled in the middle of the air. Amethyst and Pearl held on tight to Garnet, who only had the whip by one hand.
"Stay here, Steven, I'll get them!" Sonic said, without any hesitation.
They did NOT have any time to argue. Steven, trying to keep himself steady on the platform, could only nod and hope Sonic can do something for them as the Hedgehog dove right off the side towards them. Rocks fell everywhere around Sonic, the speed demon dodging them as easily as he did Garnet's gauntlet rockets, but with addition to having to avoid tripping over rocks and crumbling ground with that. Sonic's rapid speed though meant he got right back to the trio in no time at all, seeing them just barely holding themselves on.
"Sonic! Where's Steven?!"
"He's on top still! Keep holding on, I'm gonna try something!" Sonic called, having to avoid two falling pieces of the ceiling just standing there. It's now or never: As the whole room was crumbling, Sonic raced up and around the back wall so he was on the other side without falling into the even more rampit river. Once he got himself behind them, he reeved up one more time for as much speed as he could do, and he launched himself straight into them! The Trio yelped in quick pain as Sonic slammed straight into them, knocking all three of them to the other side and out of harm's way.
But it didn't get Sonic himself out of the way. Sonic glanced down and, freaking out, tried running forward but quickly realized if that didn't work before, it ain't gonna work now. Even if it could, he didn't have any time to, as the surging water build up in the river suddenly swelled up and spewed right into him!
"SONIC!" the others yelled. Sonic the Hedgehog got swept up in the river, being launched too far away from the Crystal Gems for them to do anything for him. Sonic thought for sure he was gonna get stuck at the bottom of the sea now, and he was too far away to actually grab hold of anything to save himself this time.
Or so he first thought.
*SCREE!*
His bird friend was back! Sonic found himself landing right on the bird's back as she flew right by to rescue her friend from his watery fate. Sonic took a second to see who caught him, and his surprise quickly turned into a bright smile.
"Alright, bird! You're back in action!" Sonic said. The bird chirped and flew lightning fast around the Spire, as the other Crystal Gems raced along the sides of the remaining tower to reach Steven. The bird did see them racing up the remaining bit of the Spire, and flew further away quickly just for Sonic to pat her on her back.
"Whoa whoa, hold it, I need a hand with this, they're gonna get stuck here if we don't get em out," Sonic quickly explained. The bird did NOT buy that and just rocketed upward to get out of the ocean's way, Sonic holding on tight so he won't fall off. The bird turned her head to "look" to Sonic. He had to do something here or they're goners!
"Bird, I know they hunted you down this morning," Sonic said, "Trust me, I wasn't all thrilled with them either, but right now they're the ones in trouble! Just help me out here, and I'll make 100% sure they won't blast you anymore, okay?"
The bird kept "looking" to him for a moment more, Sonic keeping his gaze locked onto her own.
…
The bird looked on ahead again, and much to Sonic's delight, she made a U-turn straight back to them.
"LET'S GO!" Sonic beamed, fist in the air as she dove right back. Good timing too, because by the time the Crystal Gems finally got back to Steven, the ocean was practically on top of them, the Sea Spire only a flat rock now! The waves slammed hard against the rock, shuttering and swaying the remaining bit of land they had left. It didn't take them long to see Sonic with his bird friend flying towards them.
"Anybody want an air lift?" Sonic called.
"Sonic. Amethyst, whip, now!" Pearl said, as the waves slammed once more. This was an all-round assault, walls of water coming every which way!
"One lifeline coming at ya!" Amethyst shouted, her whip out as she threw it directly up in the air.
With a brave shrill, the bird dove right down towards them. Garnet wrapped the whip around herself as she grabbed Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven under her arms, Amethyst under one arm, Pearl under the other, and Steven holding onto her shoulders. The bird, with seconds to spare, grabbed the end of the whip with her beak, and in one fine yank, everyone got out of the way just in time!
The Sea Spire was gone. Destroyed. But at least they were all safe.
----
After everything had calmed down, they all gave a sigh of relief that no one was hurt at the end of it all, as the bird began to steadily fly on her way to … well, anywhere else but there. During the flight, Sonic looked down to them, a grin on his face as they all looked up to him.
"So, you guys glad now you didn't finish her off?" Sonic asked smugly. They took a moment before at least one of them replied.
"… Alright, you got us there. Thanks, Sonic. You too "bird"," Garnet admitted. She knew when she was wrong. The bird didn't respond, but that was good enough for her. She'd probably drop them if she answered anyway. Sonic however just chuckled, giving them a finger gun gesture with a wink and a smile. Still, Steven felt a bit down after all was said and done, something that didn't go unnoticed for long.
"Oh, Steven, you're not still sad about what happened are you?" Pearl asked.
"That was all my fault. I … I wrecked it. All because I got too excited and left that stupid statue! Why'd I think Mr. Queasy could fix it?" Steven said in grief. Thye didn't need Steven to come back miserable on his first true mission.
"No, Steven, it's okay. The Sea Spire was in bad shape when we arrived anyway, it wasn't your fault it couldn't hold together. Besides, you did excellent throughout the mission: you kept calm, and you helped us out throughout so much of it," Pearl said.
"Yeah," agreed Amethyst, "I mean, that shirt idea AND those snacks - that's 2 outta 3 ideas that worked! I'd call that a win."
"You did great, Steven. Even for a failed mission, you still passed," Garnet concluded.
Steven paused, but then smiled again.
"Yeah … I guess you're right. Thanks guys."
Sonic had heard much of the conversation, and only when they were done (or when it felt good to but in) he looked down to them, upside down from their view.
"Hey, by the way, where do you guys live exactly? I know how to pilot a bird, but, I really don't know where I'm goin."
Understandable.
"Simply fly west," Garnet said, "You'll know when you get there."
"Heh, good enough for me. Let's -"
"And Sonic?" Garnet cut in, before he could sit back down. "… Thanks for your help too. We would've been stuck there without your help. And we're sorry for what happened earlier today."
Sonic and his bird friend glanced to one another, but it seemed neither of them held any ill-will to them at this point.
"Just promise you won't try hunting season with her again, okay?" Sonic said teasingly. Garnet couldn't help but give a chuckle herself. Maybe she could remained outside a gemstone for a while if she wasn't attacking them anymore, or anyone else for that matter. Sonic sat down on the bird's back as they went along. Well, they at least knew where they were going.
Sonic meanwhile took this time to reflect on what happened to him, looking back up into the sky and moon.
"Not so bad for my first day here. It ain't half bad, and there's always something to keep me busy," Sonic thought. However, there still was one detail he had to think about, as he looked to the Crystal Gems underneath him. "… But there's still MY home to get back to. If I'm going to get back, I'm gonna need to figure things out first."
He reached his conclusion. He had a lot to find, but he needed to get his bearings first and foremost. He knew just where to start too.
"They probably won't mind me sticking around for a bit."
Category:Sonic Gem