Sonic Gem EP4: Team Hunt

Team Hunt is the fourth episode of season one of Sonic Gem.
==Plot==
How much could he remember?
A fox was rushing through the thicket of the forest, something in hand, and trying his absolute hardest to get away from his pursuer. Rain poured down all around him dirty making him keep his head down in his running, his orange fur soaked and dirty and his tails spinning like mad, as he could barely keep himself from slipping in the mud. His heart racing, his mind all over the place trying to think of what to do while the attacker wasn't giving him much time to actually figure anything out.
One blast to his left, followed by another blast to his right, both shaking the ground around him as he ran as fast as he could. One strike was just too close, making him stumble and landing hard in the dirt. In his fall, the object landed not too far away, just out of arms' reach. He could just barely pull himself over, his fingers just brushing against the object before his attacker grabbed hold. He felt something conceal him, lifting him off of the ground and away from the object.
His attacker wanted it, and he wasn't gonna get away with it.
The last thing that came to his mind was a big, blue fist.
~~~~~~
...
"....... Hello? ... Little buddy? ..."
The voice itself may be a bit muffled, but it was unmistakable for his pointed ears, which flicked ever so slightly on the voice as he woke up. His eyes needed some more time to come around, blurry at first, but soon his vision was met with a strong shade of blue. He finally got his senses together with a quick shake of the head.
"... Sonic? ... SONIC!" As if he hadn't been knocked out cold for who knows how long, he sprung right up, and was soon wrapping his arms around Sonic. Sonic was just as glad, laughing with this hug.
"Sonic, you're alive after all!"
"Great to see you too, Tails," Sonic beamed, not even caring that his pal's hug actually made him stumble back onto his tail. As great as this was though, Tails' head suddenly began pounding on him, reminding him that he wasn't in the best of shape. Sonic got Tails off of him, but it wasn't actually him that helped Tails back onto the nearby couch.
"There you go," said Garnet, "You better stay put."
"....... Wha?! - ow! ow."
Tails stayed quiet. Staring. But with that, he actually started looking around more notably: he was inside the Beach House, and with Sonic, were basically the rest of the Crystal Gems. Sonic's Fox didn't know what to think seeing all of them there, but he didn't waste any more time.
"S-Sonic, what's going on? Where're we?" Tails asked, hand by his head, which by the by he found wrapped up in bandages.
"Take it easy, Tails, you're not in any trouble anymore," Sonic said, "You're in Steven's house."
"Who?"
Before anyone could answer, they all began heard a loud *ding* nearby. Sure enough, there was Steven coming over to Tails. Steven, who actually was wearing a fake nurse's cap, had a nice cup of hot chocolate with him for Tails.
"Oh, good job, Steven," Pearl complimented, "Nice of you to give him ... umm ..."
"Hot cocoa. It always helped me when i get a headache. Here ya go, Tails," Steven said, giving Tails the hot chocolate. Tails placed the cup down on the coffee table though, his mind trying to comprehend things.
"Okay, wait a minute. I'm glad everything's fine, but I ... let's start with who you guys are, please?" Tails inquired, again rubbing his head. Understandable considering he just woke up.
"Alright, sure," Sonic said, being the one to address the others with a presenting hand, "Tails, these is the Crystal Gems: Amethyst -"
"Yo," Amethyst said.
"- Pearl -"
"Hello, Tails," Pearl stated.
"- Garnet -"
Garnet simply nodded.
"- and Steven."
"Hi!" beamed Steven.
Tails looked to each of the Crystal Gems for another moment, but his eyes were a bit more curious if anything else. He never seen creatures like them before, at least not like this. Tails brought a hand to his chin this time. He thought for a short bit, and eventually nodded a few times.
"... Yep. We're in a completely different world. Maybe even another universe!" Tails concluded.
The others were taken aback by the Fox.
"That was fast," Garnet said. Tails smiled, though a little embarrassed.
"I've kinda had that idea for a while now," Tails admitted, taking a sip of his hot chocolate for his headache. Not even a moment after sipping that, his eyes quickly lit up, a shiver running down his tails. "WHOA, this is very sweet!"
"It's the Universe secret recipe," Steven said, feeling pretty good about it himself. Sweet or not, his headache did start to slip away, which was a plus for this Fox. He needed his head for some better use that hurting himself anyway.
"Feeling better?" Steven asked.
"Yeah, I will be. Can somebody catch me up, please? What happened while I was out?" Tails inquired.
The two-tailed Fox sat there and waited for an answer, though before any of them could Garnet got Amethyst and Steven to move back a bit as Sonic got in position himself, a smirk on his face.
"I thought you'd never get to that part. Alright, sit tight Tails, I'll catch you up," Sonic said, confidently.
"Ehh, Sonic, why don't I tell him what happened instead?" Pearl suggested. Sonic crossed his arms. Sonic just glanced over to Pearl, giving her a look ... a "you kidding me?" look. ... Sonic just went on talking anyway.
"Anyways," he said, giving a few stretches, "So, these guys gave me a place to stay here, and Pearl decided to be my teacher while I was here. Since Pearl was being boring -"
"Uncalled for," Pearl cut in.
"I spiced it up by giving us a good ol jog," Sonic continued, as he began to run in place. ...
--(flashback)--
Sonic was REALLY enjoying himself. A nice steady pace through the bright forest, breathing in the cool air as the sunlight danced about in the shade of the leaves never failed to give the Hedgehog a smile. He saw a few birds flying by the trees, a squirrel or two in some branches - 
"SONIC!"
And one bird being stuck behind him. Sure, Sonic wasn't at top speed by any means, but what he considered a simple jog was Pearl's top speed. The hedgehog did stop himself on a nearby rock, his arms already crossed and foot impatiently tapping the rock as Pearl caught up with him.
As for Pearl, she simply looked to Sonic with "I'm mad at you" written all over her face, accompanied by a groan.
"What your problem, Pearl? Can't keep up with me?" Sonic said.
"THAT, and what does this have to do with teaching?" Pearl questioned. Sonic began jogging in place for a bit to keep his energy up.
"Come on, Pearl, nothing keeps the brain bright and focused than some good ol leg pumping," Sonic explained, hopping off of his rock and jogging a few circles around Pearl while doing so - backwards no less, "Why're you complaining anyway? I thought you guys said Gems don't even get tired, or something."
Pearl did finally stop Sonic for a moment, a hand grabbing him by his own quills.
"For one: you have no idea where you're going. And two: I can't teach and run at the same time! What was wrong with MY teaching methods?! They're so superior than anything else, and I expect you to do as I say!" Pearl retorted.
--
"I DID NOT SAY IT LIKE THAT!" Pearl snapped outside of the flashback.
"In my world, you did," Sonic retorted back, also outside the flashback.
"That's it - I'M telling it," Pearl said, clearing her throat. "ANYWAY -"
--
Back to the flashback, Sonic got his quills out of Pearl's grip with a good yank.
"Nothing! ... Well, okay one thing: it's not MY thing. I'm not the kind of Hedgehog to sit still unless I'm catching Z's," Sonic made clear.
"Excuse me?"
"Sleeping."
"Oh." Pearl just found herself rolling her eyes. This whole jog was less of a teaching method and more of an excuse as far as she was concerned. With all that said, Sonic gave a few more stretches before beginning to jog down the path again, Pearl racing behind him to keep up as best she could do. Unfortunately for her, Sonic's "jog" was simply quicker than her full run, and even at her top speed, she could only JUST keep with him. She wasn't even being graceful in her running - she was going full throttle at this point!
"Is he even jogging?! Sonic, I swear, if you don't slow down - OOF!"
He slowed down. In fact, he stopped so abruptly, Pearl actually tripped over him! The impact got Sonic rolling on the ground, but Pearl quickly found her footing, narrowly avoiding tasting dirt alongside the hedgehog. Despite being covered in dirt, Sonic hopped right back to his feet, a spin dash to get off the dirt midair.
Pearl was ready to call him out, but Sonic was already preoccupied with ... something. He looked right back to a thicker part of the forest, the shade just dark enough to make sight a little hard for both of them to see into it. Pearl didn't see anything out of the ordinary though, but as for Sonic ...
"Where'd it go?"
"Where'd WHAT go?" Pearl questioned.
"I thought something was over there," Sonic said, scratching his head. Sonic squinted a bit, trying to make sure nothing was there, but whatever he saw just ... was gone. Nothing.
"Seriously Sonic, you're just as bad as Amethyst," Pearl groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"Hey, I'm being serious, something was -"
*bwooomph*
Both Gem and Hedgehog halted everything on that noise. It sounded almost like a large water droplet, but it had some sort of pained, echoing moan mixed into it. Sonic and Pearl looked right back towards the darkened forest.
This time though, the two did begin to notice something within the thicket, looking right back at them. The shadows of the forest made it a bit rough to make out details, but they did catch sight of a pair of eyes piercing through the shadows, both giving off an eerie green glow. A slight breeze began going through the forest, and in the flickering of the sunlight through the shadows did they actually get a far better picture of what they were seeing ...
"... That's made of water," Sonic gulped, feeling a shiver run down his back on sight of the creature. Pearl quickly drew out her spear weapon in sight of the creature, but the sight of the spear didn't faze this thing or got any reaction for that matter.
Until he shot his arm out at them, that is! Sonic and Pearl jumped aside as his arm extended FAR beyond any physical sense, just narrowly missing both of them. Sonic screamed in panic, terrified by the attack of water -
--
"Whoa, hold on pause," Sonic snapped, again them outside the flashback, "I did not SCREAM like a crazy kid! You're making that up!"
"No, I'm not: I'm just making sure to keep the story as accurate as possible," Pearl said ... though she did sneak a smirk in there.
"This is a stab for earlier, isn't it?" Sonic spat. Pearl was ready to snap back at him, but Tails got in between them.
"Guys, GUYS -" Tails paused when his headache got back to him again, "Ow, ow, ow. I don't want to be rude, but can someone just get to the point please?"
"They fought a water monster, and found you after they were done. It got away, but they brought you back first since Sonic didn't want to leave you," Garnet said, plain and clear.
"Oh. ... Really?"
"Yep, that about sums it up," agreed Steven, Amethyst nodding in agreement. 
Sonic and Pearl just stayed quiet after that. So much for a good story. 
Tails was fine with it though, and smiled while rubbing his head and looking up to the Crystal Gem leader. On mention of it though, it did get Tails thinking again as a question began to float about in his brain.
"How long was I out?" Tails asked. The others were a bit hesitant in answering, some looking away while others just stayed quiet. In the end, Steven sat down next to him, as Tails' headache got him to drink another sip of his hot chocolate.
"Well Tails, you were -" Steven was ready to say it, but Sonic quickly covered his mouth.
"Not yet," Sonic said. Sonic watched closely as Tails kept drinking the soothing hot chocolate, though he did pause when he saw what the blue Hedgehog was doing.
"What? Is that a bad question?" Tails asked, setting the cup down. Only then did Sonic let Steven's mouth go, sigh of relief before just answering.
"Nothing, I just didn't want a spit-take all over their coffee table. Tails? ... You've been out for ....... a week."
"A WEEK?!"
Almost as if his entire body forgot it was in pain, Tails jolted into the air, his two tails spinning like mad and getting him flying off the ground, a look of shock on the fox's face. The wind blown up was enough to knock Steven and Sonic back into the kitchen, and knocking the hot chocolate on the floor. Steven got caught by Pearl as Sonic slammed into Steven's window, going through the mesh.
"Yep," Sonic replied, thumbs up from the window. Only after seeing that did Tails drop to the ground, though this did catch the Gems' attention.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no. We've been here for a full week?! B-But the base, The machine - what if he's finished with it already? He said he was 70.5% done when we showed up, but if we were gone for that long -"
"DUDE, chill!" Amethyst said, "You're not getting attacked, everything's fine. ... Now what the heck are you talking about?"
"Yeah, and maybe fill me in too, pal? I got a slight case of "I-forgot-everything" when I got here," Sonic added, picking himself up from the blowback.
"You don't remember, Sonic?" Tails asked in disbelief. Sonic got to his feet, and walked in through the front door.
"Yeah, not a thing," Sonic said, "I mean, I know a few small details. We were running, umm ... You were saying stuff. Something ... blasted me and ...... yeah, that's it. I guess it blasted you too?"
That didn't make Tails feel any better, and now with an entire group to catch up with, Tails had to quickly get his act together (at least before his injuries catch up with him). Tails hovered up towards Steven's bedroom so he can basically have a podium to explain things. It'd probably be for the best either way.
"Okay, look," Tails began, "obviously we're not from this world, wherever this is. Back on our planet we were in the middle of trying to break into the main base belonging to the evil madman, Doctor Eggman."
"Eggman, again," thought Steven.
"But before we could stop him, he thought it'll be "fun" to try his latest invention on us. It looks like that invention made us travel through the very fabric of time and space, and ended up here on your world. ... Or it just got us in another dimension where Eggman's species existed in mass, whichever works."
The whole group needed a minute to take this info dump in.
"Any of this ring a bell, Sonic?" Amethyst asked. The blue Hedgehog thought for a moment, but the more those details came in, the more he suddenly began getting his pieces together. In the end, his eyes opened wide, as if a switch had been flipped in his brain. He didn't need to say anything for Tails' story to be confirmed.
"So ... this "Eggman" is a Human, you're saying," Pearl said.
"I mean, I guess so. If that's what you call someone like him," Tails shrugged. Steven looked surprised on this news, but the Crystal Gems looked ... well ...
"Literally impossible."
"Excuse me?" Tails questioned, almost insulted.
"Come on now, I know you and your blue friend are from another world and all, but humanity has NEVER built any technology that would even remotely come close to interdimensional travel. Not to mention anything close to what OUR kind made," Pearl explained, almost jokingly towards the end of that statement.
"Well, Eggman IS, and we have to get -" Tails' headache finally caught up with him, making him winch up a little bit again. Sonic bolted up and got Tails laying on Steven's bed before he could hurt himself any further.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Sonic said, "Tails, you just lay down here and heal up. Steven, sorry for taking the bed."
"It's cool," Steven said. He probably would've done the same anyway.
"Thanks. Now, if you excuse me, I gotta run," Sonic finished. The blue Hedgehog hopped down to the main level of the house, before getting to the door.
"Where're you going?" Pearl asked, just getting to him as Sonic got outside.
"I got some more friends to find. If Tails ended up here, maybe the rest of my friends ended up here too. I'll be back later," Sonic explained. On finishing that up, Sonic wasted no more time in jumping off of the front porch, and racing on down the beach. Steven raced up towards the edge, but the hedgehog was far gone by the time he got there.
"Does he even know where he's going?" Steven asked.
"That's just Sonic," Tails shrugged.
~~~~~~
As for Sonic, his lightspeed quickly got him right out of Beach City, and off back inland from there. He knew for sure none of his friends were anywhere in town, so that was out of the question for now. The speeding Hedgehog easily made a good ten miles after the first half an hour, though he could've gone faster if he wasn't checking every inch of the acres within said farmland nearby. Sonic checked wherever he could with even more determination than before, making sure every tree he found he made good use of by climbing to the top and checking the areas from there. He found an especially nice tree alongside a farm fence to check the area out at the moment.
He saw a few big fields, a farm or two, but he didn't see that much living beings besides a few distant cows.
"Where are you, guys? Pearl and I didn't teleport THAT far away, did we?" Sonic wondered, trying his best to find any clue of any more of his friends. Plenty of room to run, but that was the best he could say. After another minute of this, Sonic hopped right down from the tree and onto the ground, getting a few leaves out of his hair upon landing.
"There's one good side: I know FOR SURE that they're on Earth now. I just need to know where on Earth," Sonic concluded. Couldn't be too hard. He got himself down, hands to the ground and beginning to rev up his speed again, his feet kicking up dirt and grass.
"One good speedboost should get me to the next county. Hang in there, guys."
It hardly took him time to reach maximum rev speed, and the second his hands left the ground, off he went in a cloud of dust. With the entire field to check, Sonic made sure every single inch of it, top to bottom. He made sure to climb up every rock, and go up every tree along the way, but no matter where he looked there wasn't any sign of anybody else.
This speedy search kept up for another good hour or two, Sonic zooming across another good 30 miles of farmland and countryside, narrowly avodiing any people or cows in the area all the while. His eyes locked ahead, his ears up and at attention, looking back and forth.
Then it hit him.
A feeling. A sort of odd, yet familiar feeling. A feeling that told Sonic that something, or someone, was keeping a close eye on him. The feeling made him skid to a stop, his heels digging into the fields of green.
"This ... this feeling ....... Oh boy. ..."
Sonic looked every which way, almost frantic to find the source of this feeling. At first, all he saw was a bunch of hills and grass. His muscles tensed, his fists clenched, his eyes darted every whichway, as if something horrifying was about to come after him. Did that water beast come back? Something worse?!
...
"SONIC!!!"
"GAH!" Not even Sonic's super speed could get him out of the way fast enough from his sudden tackle. The force sent Sonic rolling a good five times before he landed right on his back, with his attacker ... hugging him tightly.
"OH SONIC, I thought It'll take forever to find you again!" the "attacker" beamed, cuddling up to him and NOT letting him go.
It barely took Sonic much longer to realize who was on top of him, his green eyes meeting with her light blue eyes. Hugging him tightly was another Hedgehog like him, only her fur was a light pink instead of a deep blue like his was, and she was wearing a sleeveless red dress with a white outline along the rim of it, and red heels with a white stripe along it to complete the look.
"Amy Rose. Of course, she'd find me first," Sonic thought. All Sonic could do was sigh; it's hard for him to actually be mad at her, but the hug just didn't cut it for him. He managed to get up while she kept her grip on him, arms wrapping around his waist like a needy kid and with the biggest smile on her face.
"Yeah, thanks ... you can let go now."
"Nope: you'll just run away from me," she protested.
"Not this time. I'm actually happy to see you've made it here," Sonic said. Just hearing that made Amy's eyes glitter and beam, though after Sonic managed to pry Amy's hug off of him before she could crack his back, Amy snapped out of it.
"Really?" she beamed.
"Yeah, Tails told me you guys got stuck on this planet too. Something about Eggman and a new machine blasting us? Well anyway, I thought I was the only one who made it," Sonic explained. Amy shook her head.
"Sonic, you didn't really think I would be taken down THAT easily, did you? No way am I gonna lose you like that!" Amy said, arms crossed looking almost upset with him. Sonic stepped back, hands up.
"Okay, okay, sorry. You didn't happen to see anyone else on your way back to me, did ya? I'm in a rush here," Sonic inquired. Amy took a second to think, though it didn't seem to make her feel that much better. In fact, she just huffed and turned her head.
"Well, if you HAVE to know," Amy scoffed, "I had to be stuck with Knuckles since I woke up here, and all he did was complain about everything being YOUR fault!"
Sonic raised a hand, but rather than feel insulted, he actually seemed a little amused hearing that.
"Did he now? Hold on, let me guess."
Sonic suddenly brought his hands up and brushed his hair back and down, now having an OVERLY serious look on his face.
"I'M SO MAD," Sonic said, his voice lowered and more "serious" sounding, "That stupid blue Hedgehog ran in like a complete idiot, and now he's gotta drag my pointy butt away from my home YET AGAIN. OH I'm gonna kick his tail the next time I see him! GIVE ME MY PUNCHING TREE, I GOT ANGER ISSUES!"
Amy couldn't help but hold back her laughing, hand to mouth and everything as Sonic shook his hair back into its spiky shape. "Y-Yeah, you got it."
"Gotcha. Soooo where's he at? You said he was with you."
"Yeah, he was with me, but that jerk just left me alone out here! All because I kept telling him to quit blaming you for all of this. It's not like you WANTED us to be sent here! NO WAY!"
"Well okay, where'd you guys split up then?" Sonic questioned. Amy turned away, and pointed off down the next field or two.
"I think we split up a quarter mile that way," Amy said. Not really far at all for the blue Hedgehog as he readied his legs for a nice sprint. Nothing's gonna stay far from him for too long. Before he could rocket off though, Amy got in the way.
"HOLD IT YOU, you just said you wouldn't run off on me!" Amy snapped, arms spread out.
"I'm not, I'm not!" Sonic insisted.
Amy just had to stare at him though for about, oh, five seconds.
"... Okay ... maybe. Amy, just head over that way and I'll meet with ya later," Sonic said, pointing off back where he came from, "Just keep running that way a good half an hour til you reach the ocean, head to the end of town, and stop inside the next Beach House. Tails is there, so you won't get kicked out."
"Oh, OK I'll -" Amy stopped before she could go, "wait. Half an hour YOUR run, or MY run?"
Sonic realized exactly what she meant. Amy was for sure NOT a speeding Hedgehog like him, especially in high heels.
"Ehh ... it's half an hour if you just reach the barn."
"Sonic!" Amy snapped with a stomp of her foot, "Listen here, don't think for a second you're the only one looking for everybody, so, since you're doing the same thing, I'm going with you or I'm staying right here!"
"Great! You wait right here, I'll be right back!"
"WHAT! No, Sonic, I didn't mean it!" Amy yelped. However, Sonic readied himself to take off, waving back to Amy Rose before he could make his getaway. Or, he would've taken off if he didn't see the admittedly defeated look on Amy's face. She JUST found him, and the first thing he wanted to do was leave her?!
Sonic just rolled his eyes and sighed.
...
Well it was no contest. Sonic began making leeway towards the last spot where Knuckles was spotted, but this time he had to slow himself down so Amy can keep up with him. It was a waste for him, but at least it made Amy happy, the pink Hedgehog smiling as she ran behind him. A run with Sonic was just the thing she needed.
"So," Amy said as they were running, "You said Tails is with you?"
"He's hanging out back at the Beach House, he'll be fine," Sonic assured. At least, he hoped Tails would be fine.
~~~~~~
Speaking of which, while Sonic was gone doing that, Tails was having his own issues back at the Beach House. Sure, it was nothing physical or anything, but as far as doing anything goes ... well, there wasn't that much to do in a standard Beach House other than just sit there. Not that Steven didn't try to give him some company and some activities to do. In fact, Steven and Tails were in the middle of their own game.
A game of checkers. And it was Steven's turn.
"Okay, dude. Just one more piece, and you got the next king," said Amethyst, who was sitting nearby. Steven strained his brain to figure out his next move, though Tails seemed a bit more lax about this than they were, only his tails flicking a little bit. Then again, he did have more taken pieces than Steven did. Still, Steven wasn't gearing to give up. FINALLY, he found his next spot.
"AHA! King me!" Steven announced, bringing his piece forward.
Only for Tails to get his piece and jump over five other pieces, AND trapped his king all at once.
"I win," Tails said.
"WHOA! how did you - that's the tenth game! You're really good at this," Steven said, dumbfounded.
"Thanks," Tails said, though the two-tailed Fox was feeling more casual about it than they were. At this point, the Warp Pad activated, and soon Pearl came back to them with what looked like another gemstone in hand, bubble formed around it.
"Pearl's back! What'chu got this time?" Steven asked, eagerly waiting for an answer as Pearl looked over to them.
"Oh, hello Steven. You're ... still playing that old game," Pearl noted, seeing the checkers board.
"We're on our eleventh game if you wanna jump in," Steven said. However, as she tapped the bubble to teleport it to who knows where, Pearl shook her head. While it wasn't a big deal for Amethyst and Steven though, the fact she did teleport a bubble away with a tap of her fingers definitely got Tails' attention. The curious fox wasted no time.
"How'd you do that?"
"Do what?" Pearl questioned. Tails got to flying so he was eye-level with Pearl.
"That bubble trick just now. Did you create that bubble, or did you get that from somewhere? Where did that even go, anyway?" Tails' questions were almost rapid fire as his curiosity was peaked. He already had the idea that these people weren't anything from his world, but magical creatures were a whole new ballgame. This sudden excitement made Pearl almost jump.
"O-Oh, it's not a big deal. I mean, all Gems can do it. It's just a matter of -"
"Wait, before you continue!" Tails cut in, before he suddenly began looking around the place for something. A surprise? Sure, but it must be big since Tails was smiling the whole time looking around Steven's place. Eventually, Tails came back to her with the only few items he could snatch up: a pencil and a notepad.
"Okay, I'm ready. Tell me, do these bubbles you create come from a notable resource on this planet, or do they naturally conjure up from the user?"
"What're you doing, dude?" Amethyst asked. Tails smiled.
"It's my first time being on a new planet entirely," Tails explained, pretty hyped, "If I'm going to stay here, I gotta know as much information as I can. Besides, how often do you actually find a whole new magical sentient species?!"
Tails got so excited, he got starry eyed about the whole idea.
"Oh, you wanna know more about Gems too? Sonic was doing that for a bit, but he never got that far with it," Steven said.
"Let me guess: basic teaching method with a chalkboard?" Tails assumed. They didn't need to answer him for that to be right. Pearl actually felt flattered by the fox's eagerness to learn about her and her kind.
"I guess I can include you too, if you'd like. You're already better than Sonic at the listening part," Pearl admitted, though she kept the second sentence to herself. Tails was too eager to really care that she insulted his friend, though even if he did notice ... well, it was true.
"Sweet! So, where do we start?" Tails asked, so excited he was wagging his two tails like a happy dog.
Amethyst and Steven shrugged to one another, as Pearl smiled in glee. At least here her teachings would stick to ONE of these creatures.
~~~~~~
*mooo*
As the afternoon sun soar overhead as it did with any other day out in the farm fields, a lone herd of cows were peacefully grazing the day away. The grass was green and fresh for the taking, as the sows and their calfs were being kept eye on by the herd's leading bull. Strong, young, and alert, the herd's leader kept head count over each member as well as keeping his position on top of the nearby hill. He kept a calm stance for a good minute, only looking away when taking a bit of grass from by his hooves, until his ears perked up on the sound of a new noise.
Footsteps.
Small footsteps at first.
Then brush rustling.
The bull turned to the threat with a loud snort, horns down and at the ready for a good ol charge. Whoever was coming though didn't even break stride in spite of the bull's warning, enough so that the bull readied himself and charged right towards it!
... Just five seconds later, the bull was off of the ground, upside down, and being held up by one VERY POWERFUL Echidna.
"Don't try it, beef, I'm in no mood," the echidna huffed, just before setting the bull down behind him and continued walking ahead. The bull was just speechless as the red echidna continued.
If it wasn't obvious enough, this was no ordinary Echidna, but rather a humanoid one: his hairstyle going down his head in pointed ends, a white crescent mark on his chest and violet eyes looking ahead to his objective whatever that may be. His shoes were tough and his hands were protected under a sturdy set of white gloves, spiked on each of them for some extra damage.
His name? Knuckles the Echidna.
"I can't believe this," Knuckles thought as he marched through the herd, some of the cows moving aside. Knuckles only stopped his march forward when a pair of calfs trotted by him. They didn't bother with him all that much, though they were a bit close to trotting on Knuckles' feet. Not that it would be the worst thing for him right now.
"This is the last thing I need. Sonic decides to go for kicks against Eggman, and now THIS happens. Where even am I anyway?" Knuckles thought, looking all around him. The grass felt familiar, the sky looked the same, but at the same time it just felt completely foreign to him. It was enough to leave Knuckles clenching his fists, but these thoughts were also leaving him a bit distracted from a particular set of figures coming in from the next hill.
"YO, KNUX!"
His fists clenched tighter.
Sure enough, there was both Sonic the Hedgehog, and Amy Rose coming towards him. Knuckles needed only one look at them to A) see that Sonic had to slow down A LOT because of Amy, and B) realize it wasn't just him and Amy that got dumped onto this planet. With the herd moving away from them, Sonic and Amy went right over to Knuckles, who was just standing there with arms crossed.
"Sonic," Knuckles sniffed.
"Knuckles! Good, you're alright. Amy said you'd be wandering around here," Sonic replied. Knuckles though wasn't in the mood.
"Yeah, you found me. Amy more fights you're going to drag us into?" Knuckles questioned. Sonic felt his mood damper a little, but Amy spoke for him.
"Knuckles, stop it, it's not his fault! Besides, he's not afraid to fight unlike SOME Mobians I know," Amy said.
"HE only fights just to get his kicks! He didn't need to bring anyone else into his stupid games!" Knuckles snapped back. Sonic got in between the angry Rose and Knuckles before it could get any worse, pushing them back.
"Guys, GUYS! Before you two fight over me, can we continue this back at the Beach House? At least we'll be in one place," Sonic suggested, though he had to say it quick before Knuckles could swing a spiked punch at him.
"The what?" Knuckles asked, bemused as ever.
"Yeah, I got my own digs here thanks to some of the locals. They're kinda expecting me back soon, so if you guys just follow me back we can -"
Knuckles was already walking away when Sonic and Amy noticed.
"Knuckles!"
"Oh no you don't: you've put me in enough trouble, I'm not going anywhere else with you. I'M getting back to MY home," Knuckles made perfectly clear, not even breaking his stride. Well this wasn't any good: how were they all gonna get home if the Echidna won't even come back with them?
"KNUCKLES!" Amy shouted. That didn't get him to even flinch. Sonic had to think of something to bring him back around. He got his thinking cap on, his foot patting the ground at 200 taps per second. It was then after about 1,000 taps did Sonic come up with his brilliant idea ... that kinda worried Amy.
"Sonic?"
"He won't resist this," Sonic said smugly, "thirty seconds, time me."
Oh boy.
As Knuckles kept going, Sonic ended up following him in his own stroll, clearing his throat.
"Okay, fine," Sonic said, good and loud so Knuckles could hear, "Looks like it's just you and me going back to the Beach House. Not like ol Knucklehead's gonna be that much help anyway!"
Knuckles stopped.
"YEP. I mean, come on, I've already saved our world how many times now? All you got is guard duty, and HOW many times did you fail at that again? Good thing I was around at the first time, otherwise you'd be looking for a new day job."
Knuckles felt his teeth grind together, his fists trembling.
"Come to think of it, wasn't it you who kept getting dooped by Eggman, even AFTER he tricked you the first time? Seriously, his brain is slower than his feet!"
That did it.
"I'LL CLOBBER YOU, SONIC!"
"That's my cue."
Just like that, Sonic was on the run. After he grabbed Amy and began carrying her, he rocketed off with a very angry Echidna on his tail. Sonic had to slow himself down so he can keep up, but he made sure to keep out of the way of Knuckles' fists, each one flailing to try and land a punch on him. Some punches even made the ground shake!
"Yep, worked like a charm," Sonic said.
"THIS was your idea?!" Amy yelped, covering her head as Knuckles nearly smashed the two to the dirt.
"Of course: nothing gets him riled up more than me. I just gotta get him back to the Beach House now, and we're all set!" Sonic replied.
They just gotta hope he doesn't land any hits on them along the way.
~~~~~~
"So ... Mobian, is the word?"
While it was plenty of fun for Tails to learn about Gems, their time of teaching ended up turning into a learning experience from the other way around: Tails having the chalk for the chalkboard as the Gems were learning a thing or two about his kind and where he came from. The drawings were a bit meek, but Tails made sure to get the point across: a circle with a few spots had the word "Mobius" next to it.
"That's right," Tails explained, "It's what Sonic and I are."
"You BOTH are? So, is that name just from the planet or ...?" Pearl wondered, scratching her head.
"Well, yes and no," Tails said, as he then drew out himself and Sonic side by side, again a bit simplified like he did with the planet, "Sure we look different, and we refer to eachother as different types, but genetically speaking we all are the same species."
Pearl still didn't seem to get it, eyebrow raised in confusion, but Steven (who had a small notebook and pencil in hand) on the other hand was the first to put 2 and 2 together.
"OOHH, so like dogs!"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, people have tons of different dogs, and they mix all the time but we always call them dogs! At least, that's what Connie told me," Steven said.
Tails was about to correct them, but then he actually thought about it. Dogs were technically the same species genetically but with so many breeds and cross breeds and mongrels out there ...
"... You know, that actually sums it up pretty well, thanks Steven," Tails complimented. Steven wrote it down quick there. Or rather, he just drew Sonic next to a dog and wrote "same thing" in between them. Simple, but he got it. The only one that wasn't thrilled though was Amethyst, who at the moment was ready to fall asleep.
"Well that's neat. Can we do something else now?" Amethyst asked, bored out of her mind. If it were Pearl talking, she would be a bit peeved again (which she was anyway) but Tails had this rodeo before with Sonic, so he just had to get a few ideas going in his head.
"Okay, if you don't want to know about our powers, then that's your business," Tails said casually with a shrug.
"Powers?" Amethyst and Steven asked.
Got em. Getting their attention, Tails erased some bit of the chalkboard, and began to draw something else out on there. However, as he was drawing himself out on the board, the whole beach house stopped what they were doing as they felt a tremor come up from out of nowhere. Almost like something just struck the beach side.
The tremors were enough to bring them outside, but they didn't even get off of the front porch before they looked up the beach towards town. Sure enough, just coming in from up the beach, there was Sonic racing right towards them!
"MOVE IT OR LOSE IT, PEOPLE!" Sonic shouted, Amy trying her hardest not to fall off as Knuckles was still giving chase after the two even after such a long run, Knuckles' fists waving in the air like some crazed brute.
"Who's that?" Amethyst asked, referring to the red Echidna.
"Sonic," Tails sighed. Guess this was a little too familiar for the fox. Tails didn't have too much time to answer, Sonic racing right up to the porch with Amy Rose, only NOW deciding to let her stand on her own.
"GET OVER HERE, HEDGEHOG!" Knuckles shouted. Not even thinking about anyone else around, Knuckles jumped high into the air, both fists clenched tightly and he shot down to pummel the blue pest. Everyone braced for the oncoming hit, until ...
"STOP."
The shockwave left from the sheer force of that punch shook up the ground a little, but rather than punching Sonic in the face, Knuckles instead got his fist grabbed by Garnet's hand, protected underneath her gauntlet. It was a tough punch, but Garnet remained firmly between the echidna and everyone else. Knuckles dropped down onto the porch, but kept his fists up and ready for a fight.
"Out of my way you, this is between me and the Hedgehog," Knuckles warned. Garnet however didn't budge, and instead just casually stood there. Rather than answer to Knuckles though, she turned to Sonic instead.
"You two know eachother," Garnet stated. Sonic shrugged.
"Yep, but hey, now that we're ALL here, kindly get him to calm down before he decides to trash the place, K?" Sonic asked.
They all just looked back and forth between Knuckles and Sonic for a moment. 
"Sonic, what did you do?" Tails asked, bemused.
"WHAT? Nothing!"
"NOTHING?!" Knuckles snapped, getting right in the Hedgehog's face, fist trembling, "You call all of this "nothing"?!"
"It could be worse!" Sonic replied, taking a step back. Before another fight could break out though, Garnet yanked Knuckles back again.
"Everyone stop! ... Start from the beginning. Tell us what's going on," Garnet instructed firmly. Knuckles was more obliged to answer for all of them.
"I'll tell you what: That blue pest not ONLY dragged us all off on some crazy game and dumped us all here, but THEN he thinks it'll be fun to mock my lifelong job, and THEN drag me all the way out here without putting up a single punch!" Knuckles explained.
"It's was the only way to get you to follow me, okay?!" Sonic protested. Before this argument could go any further though, another thought crossed their minds.
"About that, Sonic ... you didn't happen to go through town to get here, did you?" Steven questioned.
"Yes, Sonic. That would be nice to know," added Garnet, arms crossed.
"Wellllll ..."
Cut to a part of the boardwalk, now completely damaged with punched holes all over the place, a bent light pole, several destroyed benches a particular Fry Bit stand now with a smashed-up counter, and even a back building dumpster being completely split in half (with said owner freaking out about it).
Cutting back to Sonic ...
"On the bright side nobody got hurt, right? It could've gone that way, but it didn't, so that's good."
...
"You can have him," Garnet said.
"Wait, wha?"
The door was shut behind Sonic.
"Hey! Guys, it's not my fault he went berserk on the boardwalk! I know you can hear me - I CAN SEE YOU THROUGH THE MESH DOOR!" Sonic shouted, but it was no luck. Steven would go and bring him in, but Amethyst (under instruction) gave him the courtesy of covering his eyes to not see the upcoming carnage. Sonic meanwhile had a VERY ANGRY echidna to deal with now. All by himself.
"Ehh ... so, Knuckles," Sonic said, sheepishly, "A-About what I said back there -"
Knuckles cut him off when he grabbed his face.
"Hold that thought for the next thirty seconds," Knuckles growled.
Uh oh.
So as Knuckles was beating the daylights out of Sonic outside, Amy was safely brought out of harms way as Pearl and Garnet met up with Amy Rose inside.
"Everybody, this is Amy Rose," Tails introduced, Amy extending her hand for a handshake. Pearl was happy to oblige.
"Oh, so you're one of Sonic's other friends?" Pearl inquired.
"Oh, he told you about me? What did he say? Did he miss me?" Amy inquired, excited to hear that. However, Tails chimed in, hand on Amy's shoulder.
"Umm, actually, I did Amy," Tails admitted.
Amy felt disappointed, pouting a little.
"Oh." she groaned. So much for Sonic thinking of her while they were apart.
This conversation didn't last very long though, because not a moment afterwards the door was opened up, revealing Knuckles standing there with a ... very pulverized Sonic next to him. Knuckles had to hold him by the hair just to keep him standing up, the Hedgehog dazed and in pain with all the bumps and bruises to prove it. Knuckles didn't even look at him.
"You good over there, man?" Amethyst asked.
Knuckles karate-chopped Sonic in the back of the head.
"Now I am."
"You guys all suck," Sonic groaned, laying in agony on the floor.
It took Steven and Tails a few minutes, but eventually Sonic was about again, though Steven and Tails did help him out by wrapping up his bumps and bruises. This just left Sonic with bandages all over his head and arms. All Sonic could do was just pout sitting there. At least this moment gave Knuckles and Amy time to catch up to speed on what's been going on.
"So we ARE in a different world? I mean, I thought it looked different from Mobius, but, seriously," Amy said.
"Yep, but Earth's not so bad when you get used to it, right Sonic?" Steven said, trying to lighten the mood. Sonic, in spite of his injuries, just shrugged and smirked. However, Knuckles' groan didn't make things better.
"You mean you've been here the whole time and DIDN'T find a way back yet?" Knuckles questioned.
"I'm working on it, I just need to figure out these Gems first. They're the ones in charge here," Sonic said. Knuckles and Amy looked to the trio of Gems, though Knuckles looked more like he was judging them if anything.
"Wha?" Amethyst said.
Knuckles didn't even hesitate, and went straight to Garnet, looking right up to her with that same judging eyes. "Let's just get to the point, since clearly someone's not in a hurry to leave: We're not from this planet, and we need to get back home. You have a way to do that, or not? Because if you don't, then this is all just a waste of time."
Pearl and Amethyst couldn't believe their ears, as a cold shiver ran through the room. No one ever DARED to enforce Garnet like that. As for Garnet, she just stood there with a rather blank expression. She didn't look overly angry, or irritated, or anything, though it was hard to tell behind her visors.
The silence lasted for a while as the two judged one another, as if they were trying to each one another's thoughts. All the others could do was stand/sit there with baited breath.
"....... No."
Knuckles went right to the door.
"Wait, don't go! you just got here," Steven said. He went over to him, but Knuckles shoved Steven back with a simple raise of his hand.
"I got my own problems to worry about, kid. Sonic, you guys can stay here all you want, but I need to get back," Knuckles made clear, swinging the door wide open and marching right out. Before anyone could stop him, the Echidna jumped right out, landing down onto the beach and walking away without a second's pause.
"He's not gonna stay? But why not?" Steven asked.
"That's Knuckles: he always does things HIS way," sighed Sonic.
It did feel like that was that, but very second that everyone went back inside the beach house, Knuckles stopped and looked back to the Beach House. He only saw them one time, and already he felt something off with them. Something that was just leaving him with a slight shiver in his fur.
Something for him to think about.
"They better keep out of the way," Knuckles thought, before going off again.
Category:Sonic Gem