Friend in Need, Friend Indeed (also simply called "Friend Indeed" in the beta phases) is the 15th episode of season one of Sonic Gem.
Plot[]
"This is it. The moment of truth," Tails stated, adjusting the goggles on his face. "Days on days or work, leading up to this ... Steven, if you would do the honors?"
The two-tailed genius passed a remote control over to Steven (who was also wearing goggles). After getting it, he brought his finger to the sky.
"With pleasure. Ready ... get ... activate!"
He swung his finger right down on the green button AAAAAAND ....
... zzzt ...
"....... That was disappointing."
Another attempt and another failure to mend the warp pad. Tails, Steven, and Pearl were standing in the main room for some space in case their latest attempt went all haywire on either of them, but the small fizzle of the wires on said warp pad did little to nothing. Not even a glow emitted from the machine.
"I told you that wouldn't work," Pearl reminded, "It takes far more than simple electrical currents and filling in the spaces with solid cement to activate a warp pad at this current state."
"It's called "CONCRETE", not cement," Amethyst remarked from Steven's bedroom.
"Cement creates concrete when mixed, so it's technically the same thing," Pearl retorted.
Amethyst just shrugged.
"But what is it we're missing? We filled in all the cracks, it looks so much better now," Steven wondered, his hand rubbing against one of the filled in cracks.
"Like I was trying to explain," Pearl said, her hand also being placed on the warp pad, "the inner workings of a warp pad are entirely complex for even gems to comprehend. This cement isn't going to do the job, and it needs a material that will better compliment the teleportation."
To prove the point, she summoned out her spear and used it to pry a chunk of concrete out of the crack, the process a little too easy to do, with the chunk falling on the floor.
"And one that won't just fall off like that," Pearl added.
"Okay then, so what's the warp pad made of? Some type of tungsten? A durable glass? Or is it some kind of extraterrestrial alloy?" Tails questioned, bringing over his handheld computer for some extra notes.
"I ... don't. Know, actually. Architecture's not my uhh "cup of tea"," Pearl admitted, a slight blue blush on her face. This admitting didn't go unnoticed for too long, the purple gem nearby rolling off the bed and looked over to the others upside down.
"Ooooo, what's that? There's something in the world you DON'T know about? OH GASP!" Amethyst teased.
"It's not like YOU came up with anything in the last hour," Pearl said back.
"Yeah but I'm not the "smart one" of the team, am I? I'm the brawler gem, you're the techy egghead, it works out."
Before either one of them could argue about it any further, the door to the back of the room opened up, showing both Amy and Garnet coming in. No surprise seeing Garnet come through, but seeing Amy come through now did turn some heads.
"Any luck on the warp pad, you guys?" Amy asked.
"No, it's still not activating," Tails said, "The concrete didn't work even when in the proper shape, and direct electricity didn't do anything either. Had any of you mended these before?"
"Something for later," Garnet stated, "Right now we have a new mission. A BIG one."
"How big are we talking this time?" Amethyst questioned. To answer that, Garnet went over to the fox.
"Tails. The chaos emerald."
...
Everyone else waited over by the kitchen as Tails just got finishing up an extra detail to his portable computer. The chaos emerald, glittering red in the afternoon sunlight, sat there on display on the coffee table, resting on a pillow.
The red chaos emerald.
"That should do it. Alright, stand back," Tails instructed. Everyone kept away from the object in question. Keeping the portable computer up at the gemstone, Tails quickly gave the item a good scan for a good few seconds, making sure his device had the chaos emerald fully examined. Once that was done, the device began going over more of the results, some of the others checking the screen themselves. The picture it first showed mirrored that of the chaos emerald, only splitting up into seven of them instead of just the one.
"Aaaand THERE." With some typing and a click of the screen, the picture shifted into a map of the eastern coast of North America. Many of them stuck around the general area, not many going further than the central united states, but a fair amount still kept to the coast with others more inland.
"Is that all of the emeralds?" Steven asked.
"Yep, all seven. It seems like the chaos emeralds are scattered all around North America according to these energy readings. At least it's on the same continent," Tails noted.
"Hmm, well if these spots are accurate, we could be able to teleport to at least several of those locations ... if the warp pad was functional," Pearl noted, her eyes glancing to the still broke warp pad in the other room.
"We really need to fix that at some point," Amethyst remarked.
"You haven't done anything to help at all," Tails said.
"Again, something for later. Some of those are closer by, we can make it there by car. Come on, team," Garnet instructed.
"Wait, what about Sonic?" Amy asked.
"Oh ... he's out on a run again," Steven said.
"AGAIN? What count is it this time? Fifteen? Eighteen?"
"It's his twentieth," sighed Tails.
"I need to talk to him about that. ..." Garnet added.
Speak of the devil. Seconds after thinking about it, the door swung open, and there stood the blue mobian in question.
"I'm home," Sonic announced.
"About time you came back," Pearl said, "You have time to listen or are you going to run away again? We got a new mission for us."
"Hey, I gotta get my jog in. Besides, I'm sure Tails will catch me up, won't you buddy?" Sonic said. Tails checked his notes.
"Uhh, yeah, I just got done going over the chaos emeralds, and we got their locations. Here, check it out." Tails showed Sonic the map in question. Sonic checked the map over himself, but rather than comment, his eyes glanced over to the clock before giving the device back to Tails.
"You know, I've been wondering when we were gonna come back to these again," Sonic remarked. "So when's this big mission starting?"
"Right now. As soon as we get to the car," Garnet answered.
Sonic ... froze, oddly enough.
"Oh. Ok then, well, have fun with that."
"Wait, you're not coming?" Steven asked.
"You have to," Garnet stated. Sonic raised an eyebrow for a moment but then raised his hand.
"Eh, I'll pass. You guys got this one," Sonic simply said. Before he could get out the door though, Amy got in front of the door, her hammer ALREADY out and blocking the way.
"Hold it right there," Amy said, "this is the twentieth time you've ran off this week. What's gotten into you, hedgehog?"
"What? Nothing, I'm fine," Sonic insisted. He tried leaving a different way, but this time Amethyst and Pearl blocked his way.
"Fine enough to not complain about going on a mission, Sonic?" Pearl questioned.
"Nothing personal, but it wouldn't hurt to know where you're running off to," Amethyst added, more casual about it.
"Ok, what's with the judgement all of a sudden? I'm not doing anything different," Sonic questioned.
"Well," said Steven, "You have spent a LOT of time away from the house lately. Except when you sleep, but I keep finding you not on our roof in the morning. Did you find a new place to live without telling anybody?"
Before Sonic could answer, he checked the kitchen clock for the time. Seeing the time there and then actually made Sonic feel a bit less casual about the situation.
"Can we talk about this later?"
"Sonic the Hedgehog, you're NOT getting out of this. Start talking," Garnet stated firmly.
Sonic tried over and over again to find SOME way out, but this time everyone kept all the exits blocked. He wasn't willing to pummel anyone just to get out of there, and with his eyes looking over to the nearby clock yet again, all the blue hedgehog could do was groan.
"ALRIGHT, FINE. Fine. ... I planned to go hang out with Helen today, and crazy as it sounds, I'm going to be late for her."
There was a somewhat long pause. Surprise to most of them, but Amy Rose immediately felt on edge hearing the mention of "her" in that sentence. It didn't take long until she moved in eerily close to Sonic, smiling on the surface but her eyes said a completely different mood.
"THAT'S interesting. You never mentioned anything about "HER" before," Amy said, a slight tighten to her teeth on the last few words in that sentence. Sonic pushed Amy back a bit for some space.
"I didn't think I HAD to tell you guys about her, but then you guys held me hostage at the door so here we are," Sonic sighed, tapping his foot.
"Well go on man, who's Helen?" Amethyst asked, genuinely curious.
"Yeah, is she your friend?" Steven added.
"You can say that: she's a friend of mine from out of town. We've been keeping in touch now and again whenever I run by her place."
"A likely story," Amy thought.
"That will have to wait, Sonic. We have a mission to do," Garnet stated again. Sonic though didn't budge.
"Sorry, not happening, you'll have to go without me. I made my promise, and I'm not looking to break it," Sonic stated back, arms crossed and everything.
"Promise? What promise?" Pearl questioned.
Sonic leaned back on the kitchen counter.
"It started a week or two back. ..."
--(flashback)--
Another day, another run through the countryside. A nice clear day with the open path in front of him, at a speed making only a gust of wind the thing sticking to one place for more than a second. Not that it would bother someone like him running through, so long as nothing was in the way. On his run through the small woods and fields, he eventually found himself racing along sides of a large, crystal blue lake. One of many on this continent for the blue blur to pass on by. He took the time to check out the lake in his run, taking in the scenery of blue water and greenery of the trail.
"Just like back home. First thing I do when I get back is do a run through green hill, it's LONG overdue," Sonic thought.
Well, almost like back home. As he went along, something just by the shoreline caught his attention enough to make him stop.
A girl. A fairly young girl, early teens by looks of it, blonde hair too. If that was the only details, Sonic wouldn't pay it too much mind and continued on, but there were two details about this girl that made him reconsider. For a start, she wasn't standing on her own two feet, instead sitting on a wheelchair. The second one, and this took a second or so to notice, was that this girl wasn't going anywhere. She tried to move, pulling on a lever to get the back wheels moving, but the back wheel was stuck in a divot of dirt. Sonic waited for someone to show up, but she didn't seem to have anyone around to lend a hand here.
So, what's a hedgehog to do?
"Allow me." In no time at all, and not at his lightning speed to not freak her out, Sonic went right on down and gave the wheelchair a good push. It was a surprise for someone to show up out of nowhere, but she wasn't complaining for someone to get her out and moving again.
"Oh, thank you - ... hey, you're Sonic aren't you?"
Sonic paused. "You've heard of me?"
"Yeah: one of my friends said you saved his dog before. It was in the newspaper," she explained.
"You don't say?" Sonic said, a grin on his face and a chuckle to add to it. "Glad I left an impression. So, what's your name?"
"I'm Helen."
"Glad to meet ya, Helen."
Sonic checked around the place for a moment or two, again waiting for SOMEONE to show up. But again, no such thing happened.
"So what're you doing out here? You by yourself?" Sonic asked.
Helen's smile softened a bit. "Yeah, it's just me. I wanted to look at the lake today, so I came out here, but ... well, you saw what happened."
Sonic looked around again, but then he noticed a hill along the same path he was taking. It curved along the edge of the lake and stood tall next to it. Seeing that gave the hedgehog an idea, and soon he was off and moving, taking Helen with him. Helen kept herself steady in the sudden speed boost, soon finding herself on top of that hill, looking out to the lake.
"There, how's that?"
"Wow, thanks," Helen said.
Sonic gave her a wink and a smile - one of his typical go-to's for gestures these days. With that done, they both took the moment to take in the scenery around them, Sonic resting his arm on the handlebars of Helen's wheelchair. A moment of quiet never bothered the hedgehog before, taking time to check out the scenery and watching the birds.
As he continued doing this, the two looked off towards the center of the lake, finding that there was a small island off the shore a bit. Not that many trees or as much grass as the area around the lake, but it still stuck out all the same since they both could see a small glimmer of white among the green.
"Check that out: are all of those flowers over there?" Sonic commented. Helen looked over to the island, focusing her eyes a bit.
"Hey yeah, I can see them," Helen said. "... I wish I was over there."
"What do you mean?"
"My parents always talk about how beautiful the flowers are over there, especially at night," Helen explained, "They tell me how they shine like stars at night. They keep promising me that they'll take me there, but they're always so busy. ..."
Sonic shrugged. "I wouldn't sweat it too much, Helen. Adults always like to be busy. It's almost like their go-to."
"... But they're busy because of me. My legs ..."
Sonic didn't need to hear the rest to figure out the rest. Sonic looked back between the island, and then back to her. It hardly was much of a contest for him to think about.
"... Say. You still want to go to that island?" Sonic asked.
"I really do, but ..."
"... You want me to take you?"
Helen turned to the hedgehog. "What? You'd do that for me?"
Sonic looked back to the island, but before he could answer, they both began to hear what sounded like vibrating from some kind of machine. Sonic reached in his quills, pulling out a small device from it.
"Rude much," Sonic remarked, "Uhh, just a sec Helen."
Helen sat there patiently as Sonic took the call. The call itself didn't take, luckily, and after a few spare words, Sonic went back to Helen.
"You have to go, don't you ...?" Helen asked. She half expected him to just go off with that, and just waited for those words to come, but instead she was met with Sonic's assuring grin.
"Yeah, but I'm not giving up that fast. Tell you what, we'll meet up later and we can work out a day we can head out to that island, and we'll head over then."
Helen was taken aback by the confidence in Sonic's voice for, what she felt, was something so simple. Did he really mean that? She looked back out to the island again. Thinking about it a little bit, Helen brought her hand out to him, her pinkie finger out.
"You promise?" Helen asked.
Sonic simply brought his pinkie finger out and wrapped it around hers.
"I promise," Sonic replied.
--(End Flashback)--
"So after a small chat," Sonic continued, "We decided to meet up with eachother today, and that's the whole story."
The others took a moment to take this information in from the blue hedgehog in their own ways (some taking the info different from others, naturally). The first to speak up was Steven, walking up to the blue mobian.
"Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm sorry for doubting you. You go and keep that promise!" Steven encouraged, thumbs up and a wink to boot.
Unfortunately for him though, despite Steven's support, some of the gems weren't as moved by it.
"Oh sonic, this can happen at any time of your species' lifespan, it can wait until after our mission is done at the least," Pearl insisted, "Besides, it's just a land mass surrounded by freshwater, it can be found anywhere on the planet."
"But he pinkie promised," Steven retorted, "and you NEVER, EVER break any promise, especially to your friends."
"It's not that big of a deal. I mean, it's not like she's going to move away or die by tomorrow, right?" Pearl joked, throwing in a laugh or two. However ...
"Actually that's exactly why I need to go."
"Wait, she's going to die?!" Steven exclaimed.
"What? No!" Sonic cleared up, "But she did talk about her family moving to a new place soon. Something about business or whatever, but the point is if she doesn't go out to that island now ... she might not get to at all."
Steven turned to the others. "See? Now you HAVE to let him go!"
"Ehh, no offense, but they're just flowers. What's the big deal?" Amethyst questioned, scratching her head.
"The BIG DEAL is that Helen might never see those flowers ever if she can't go out now. That would be terrible! He can just join our next mission later, that's not so bad right? The chaos emeralds aren't going anywhere ... maybe. ..."
It sure was getting harder to argue with him, at least on a moral level. Pearl looked over to Garnet to say something about this, the leading gem having been quiet since Sonic first spoke up with the meeting between him and Helen, and even now still had her mind in the middle of her thoughts. ...
"Please, Garnet? Just this one time ...?" Steven asked once more.
Garnet stayed quiet. Seeing the clock and tapping his foot once more, Sonic got one more thing to try.
"Ok, I know you got some issues with this so, let me sweeten the deal: I'll go out with Helen and have a good time, and if I HAPPEN to find a chaos emerald out there, I'll keep it and bring it back when I'm done. Throwing in work and play at the same time. How's that?"
Garnet still didn't say anything. However, she did walk over, getting down on one knee so she was more eye-level with him.
"... Go around back. You'll find a boat there."
"AND two life jackets?" Sonic asked.
"They're on the deck."
"Perfect."
Sonic zoomed right out the door, this time not being stopped by anyone as he rushed to fetch the items in question. Garnet stood back up and adjusted her visors before starting off outside herself.
"Amy, get the car warmed up," Garnet instructed.
"Okay, but we need to talk about gas milage sometime this week," Amy said.
~~~~~~
It took Sonic a good hour of running from the beach house, but eventually the hedgehog found himself back at the lake in question, the Gem Sloop sailboat with him and the life jackets all ready to go. The lake was just the same as last time he got there, the same tranquil waters and the same greenery all around it - the picture of nature as before. The only thing different currently was there wasn't anyone stuck anywhere today, and while that was good in general, that also meant that Sonic was basically by himself for the time being.
So there he waited, the Gem Sloop along the shoreline and himself laying there with the lake water brushing against his feet and his eyes staring off across to the island before him, nothing but he, himself, and his own thoughts.
Some thoughts more so than others.
"So let's see now. There's me and my friends. Doctor Eggman - obviously. That small spirit orb thing. That freaky water monster. And now ALL SEVEN of the chaos emeralds too? Geesh, how much more stuff did you decide to pop over here, egghead? ... However he did it, it's gotta be a one-way trip otherwise he'd be gone by now. ..."
Sonic closed his eyes. As his memories began to come back around to him, running through the numerous things and people involved here, there was actually one more person he hadn't thought about in quite a while: a flash of one particular young girl with white hair came to mind. It was enough to get him sitting up.
"Wait, oh yeah ...! Dang, I forgot all about her. What's her story? She couldn't have known me before I showed up on her island. Does that mean ... SHE'S from Mobius too ...?"
*quack* *quack*
The thoughts were cut short thanks to the sound of ducks right next to him. Not many, only three, but still enough to at least get the hedgehog to move a bit.
"Sorry, I don't got any snacks for ya this time," Sonic remarked. The ducks of course didn't understand him and continued to just hang out by him. Still, it was a good thing that Sonic had something to snap him back to the moment, because seconds after that he began to pick up on something else moving around nearby one of the trails.
"Sonic!"
Helen.
"You got plenty of time to think about it later. Just enjoy the moment, Sonic," Sonic thought.
So he did. Sonic caught sight of her coming in, waving to him from one of the trails with what looked to be a basket on her lap. It was just the invitation he needed to get up and head on over to her.
"See? Right on time, just like I promised," Sonic said, "So, you ready to go?"
Helen nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready. I even got a picnic for us."
"Good thinking. Alrighty, let's hop in and set sail," Sonic decided. As the hedgehog pushed her along towards the shoreline, Helen's eyes immediately locked onto the fancy, almost crystalline boat they were getting to go into. She half expected something smaller like a rowboat, but this was by FAR more extravagant than she prepared for. It was enough to leave her gasping in surprise.
"Is that YOUR boat?" Helen asked in amazement.
"Eh, kind o. My friends own the boat, but they let me use it after I told them about our hang-out time. Then again, I do live with them now so ... yeah, guess this is my boat," Sonic explained, as he got the picnic basket and placed it in said boat.
"T-That's amazing."
"Yeah it's pretty cool. And IN WE GO." Sonic picked up Helen off of her wheelchair, and got her into the Gem Sloop, sitting her down comfortably before going and grabbing her wheelchair as well. Sonic hopped right up, sitting across from her, and soon after a few good gusts of wind hit the sails, the two were off on their way.
It hardly took them much time to get them a good swim away from the shoreline and, for a lack of a better way to say it, out in the middle of the lake. The wind was slow for the sail, but they still kept themselves on course to the island ahead of them. Sonic sat firmly in the center of the boat, his eyes focusing directly on Helen rather than ... well, anywhere else.
"Sonic ...? Are you okay ...??"
"Yep, fine, totally," Sonic said. Though it didn't help that some of the waves did make the boat rock a little bit with the wind kicking it up. Helen felt okay, but Sonic gripped the sides of the boat rather quickly.
"Just keeping it steady, that's all. ..."
Helen glanced down into the water then back to Sonic.
"Sonic. Are you ... afraid of the -"
"NO!" Sonic snapped. A little too harshly. "E-Er, I mean, no I'm good. Just don't want you falling in -"
Sonic felt the boat rock again, making him grip the sides again to "keep it steady". It was impossible for him to really hide it, if he was trying to hide the fear.
"We're good, we're good. Stupid boat. ..."
"If you're uncomfortable, we can do this another time," Helen reminded. Sonic though gave her a thumbs up, trying to at least look less worried than he currently was. He couldn't do this.
"Ok, I admit it, I'm ... not a fan of the water. NOT scared of it, let's make that clear right now."
"Uhh, o-ok."
"But that doesn't mean I'm going to ditch you. You said you wanna see that island and those flowers, I promised to take you there to see them, and that's what I'm gonna do. Trust me, I'm not one to break the promises I make ... especially a pinkie promise." Sonic threw in a wink at the end of that little explanation with a smile, though this smile was less cocky and more comforting. Helen still felt taken aback by the dedication but couldn't help but smile herself.
"T-Thanks. ..."
"Something up, Helen?"
"It's just ... I mean, we practically just met, and you're doing a lot for me. I'm just surprised you'd -"
"Help out a stranger like they're my best friend? Yeah, I get that a lot," Sonic admitted, "I guess when you spend a lot of time playing the hero, helping out people just starts coming naturally to ya."
"Hero? You must do a whole lot then."
"Oh yeah, for sure," Sonic said, "If I had a chili dog for every animal I saved from inside some nasty robot -"
"Sonic, the shore -"
Before they realized it, the ship had hit the side of the island, rather abruptly too. Luckily for them both the water was plenty shallow, so none of them had to worry about swimming anywhere. Sonic checked up on the actual boat itself, and there didn't seem to be any scratches or marks on the crystalline surface.
But then came the island itself. Sure they are on the shoreline, but they were met with a very tall wall of rock, easily twice as tall as the beach house just going straight up.
"Land ho, Helen. Ready?"
"But we can't climb that."
"Just leave everything to me. Hold on tight." Helen found herself being placed in her wheelchair again, the picnic basket on her lap again and Sonic behind her. The mobian moved closer to the edge of the boat, lining up the front wheels to the cliff itself first and leaning Helen back so she faced the sky. Helen made sure to keep herself from falling over or the stuff from the basket from spilling.
Then came the actual climb: Sonic started with a jump upward to get both sets of wheels on the cliffside, before digging his toes into the dirt. It took some kicking and digging, but soon the blue blur got a good enough footing to start racing up the cliffside much to Helen's surprise. It as if gravity itself was pulling them up the cliff, Helen left astonished they were even doing this at all and at a speed so great that by the time they made it to the top, they still got at least three feet off the ground before finally landing down on flat earth.
It was sure something for a girl like her to go through.
"There we go, right at the island. Just like I -" Sonic paused seeing Helen, seeing her looking down to her feet, her arms almost shivering over something.
"Helen? It's alright, we're at the top now," sonic assured her.
Helen then started to laugh.
"Sorry, it's just that - well, I feel so alive! I never thought somebody like me could have such an adventure!"
Sonic smiled.
"Well we're not done yet, we still got the rest of the day -"
*crack*
Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to stand so close to the cliff edge.
*splash*
"Sonic?" gasped Helen. She heard a rush of air pass her as Sonic rocketed back up to the island again. This time though, despite doing his bets not to be, he was covered head to toe in water, his quills a bit of a mess too.
"... That didn't just happen," Sonic simply stated.
Helen just smiled.
~~~~~~
So, after getting themselves settled on the island, it was just Sonic and Helen enjoying the afternoon. Time ticked on by at a surprisingly quick pace as they both enjoyed themselves, the afternoon turning into sunset as they took the time to just enjoy the island and what it had to offer them: strolling through the forest, checking out some birds, even just relaxing by the lake. During this time in particular the two took the moment to have that picnic together, finding the perfect spot along the lakeside - the island had a beach after all - and a packed-up picnic blanket laying out by the sand and grass just tied it all together.
As Sonic took the time to chill out by the shore, holding a flower and enjoying the scent of summer from it as Helen sat there looking out to the lake with a cool breeze passing by the both of them.
"Flower, Helen?" Sonic offered, holding a daisy for her.
"Thank you, Sonic," Helen replied, happily taking the flower and enjoying a smell of it.
"You know, even if it's just a relaxer day for me, this isn't so bad," Sonic admitted. "The island's not a bad place either. So, how's it all for you?"
"I had lots of fun today, Sonic! I've never been so excited in my whole life! I just wish my parents could be here," Helen said. Sonic smiled to her and looked up to the clear sky.
"How much time do they leave you alone for? ..." Sonic asked.
"Huh? No, it's not that," Helen explained, "It's just they do so much for me, just to make sure I'm comfortable. They do all sorts of things for me, they brought me the best doctors they know, and I'm sure this wheelchair is very expensive to keep. But ... more than anything, I just want to spend more time with my mom and dad."
Sonic paused for thought.
"Don't worry about it too much, Helen. Who knows, maybe they'll surprise you one day. Even if they like being busy they wouldn't just forget about you, right?"
A pleasant thought. As the two enjoyed a few more minutes with this all in mind, Helen continued checking around the water some more. As she did this though, something just along the shoreline no more than ten feet away caught her eye. Something that she never thought they could find anywhere near this area.
"Hey, Sonic, look over there," Helen encouraged.
"What's up?" Sonic followed Helen's gaze to the object in question, the object by this time having reached far enough on the shoreline to only barely be touched by the waves of the lake water. He could make out a slight green color to the shining object, and if it wasn't shaped like a rock he would've mistook it for a glass bottle or something.
"No way. Hang on a sec." Sonic took little time to go over there, got said item, and brought it right back to them.
"It's a gem," Helen said, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the gemstone. To the hedgehog though, the sight of this creation was unmistakable, especially considering what they all were talking about earlier that day. Topping that off this one was a vibrant green, making it the third of its set that Sonic knew for SURE were on this planet.
"Bigger than that, this is a chaos emerald," Sonic concluded. "Who'd of thought ...?"
"A chaos emerald? What's that?" Helen asked. Sonic took a second to spin the end of the emerald on his finger. As he did this though, his eyes glanced out to the water ...
"Just something special that came here with me. I have a feeling we're both in for a little more excitement."
"Hmm?"
With a knowing smile, Sonic glanced back out to the waters of the lake, Helen following his gaze this time for the same thing. The chaos emerald wasn't the only thing that was left out in the water that day. It took a moment of checking, the sunset light leaving the water kinda dim a bit, but a shape soon began to present itself as it moved in closer and closer to the shoreline.
Sonic knew this water being. He knew what it can do.
"Long time no see, water boy," Sonic remarked, "You come back for round two for the chaos emerald? I'm gonna tell ya, I've rested up and I've been itching for a good challenge all day."
But of course, the water being didn't answer him, his focus primarily on the chaos emerald in Sonic's hand.
"What're you doing? You want him to get mad at you?" Helen asked, worried. Sonic just gave some stretches.
"He's here for a fight anyway. I've fought this guy before, trust me, this'll be easy. Here, you can keep a hold of this," Sonic said, giving Helen the chaos emerald in question. Can't really fight at his full one hundred percent with an emerald in hand. Helen moved back a bit in her wheelchair as Sonic prepared for the upcoming brawl. The water being just stood there at first, "allowing" Sonic to begin charging up his speed for a good first hit. At least Helen was far enough away so the kicked-up dirt didn't hit her anywhere during Sonic's charge-up.
In a sudden release of tension, Sonic ran forward in a blinding line of blue, directly at the entity ... only for said entity to go right through him. Not pass him, not jump above him, but RIGHT THROUGH HIM! Sonic ended up with a face full of water, tripping and stumbling into the lake!
"GAHHH! HELP! Help I -"
... Sonic stood up in the ankle-deep water.
"Nevermind."
"Sonic!"
Sonic spun around, fists raised for a fight but what he saw instead was the water being slowly walking right towards Helen. Even after the strike, the entity didn't seem to even notice Sonic in the slightest, its eyes focusing right on the chaos emerald sitting on Helen's lap. Helen began to move back slightly, the small whirring of the wheelchair wheels matching the sloshing sound of the creature's feet. Sonic bolted back over, getting right in between the two.
"Hey, you forgetting who you're fighting here? It's me you're after, leave her outta this. So come on, water boy, put em up! I'm ready for - GAK!" The entity grabbed Sonic by the head, and simply threw him away, the hedgehog hitting a nearby tree. The entity had only one thing on his mind, and Helen had it in her hands. Helen moved back faster, but the entity wasn't going to give her the chance to get away, its watery arms reaching out and grabbing the wheelchair's arm rests. Helen wasn't going anywhere.
"BACK OFF YOU!"
Who knew what the entity would've done if not for Sonic kicking the creature square in the brain. The entity stumbled and collided into the nearest tree.
"You sure got a one-track mind. Fine, we'll fight some other time, don't call me I'll call you," Sonic said, getting up and grabbing Helen's wheelchair by the handles.
"Ready for another adventure, Helen?"
"You bet. Go!"
Sonic didn't need any more convincing, and as Helen held on tight, Sonic rushed off into the forest. The entity wasn't about to be shown up by the hedgehog for a second time, and with a new level of anger, it too began to rush into the forest. Unlike sonic, who kept to basic running on the ground, the entity took to the trees themselves and raced through the branches in an orb of water. Sonic kept rushing back and forth but the entity had the maneuverability to Sonic's speed, leaving them both fairly even.
"This guy just won't quit this time," sonic remarked.
"You think we can handle him?" Helen asked.
"Piece of cake. Now hold on tight!"
Sonic poured on the speed and rushed forward that bit faster, leaving the water entity a bigger gap between them he had to catch up to. Even so, that didn't mean the entity didn't give Sonic and Helen a few close calls in the chase, its arms stretching and extending out every now and then to try and grab them only to miss by inches. The most damage the entity could do with this move was strike down a tree or two, but it didn't get any damage on Sonic, fortunately for them. Whatever it needed the chaos emerald for though, it sure was determined to get it.
"Does he really think he can catch me?" Sonic wondered, amused in his run as they managed to find a clearing in the woods.
"Sonic, look out!"
Sonic dug his heels into the ground just in time. Going any faster without looking and they would've slammed right into a waiting rocky cliff!
"Close one," Sonic muttered. They hardly had the time to figure anything else out though, the water entity finally catching up to them, blocking off their only other way out of there. Immediately Sonic stood between the entity and Helen again, arms stretched out this time.
"Ok, this is going to go one of two ways: we fight it out now, or I'll give you a rain check for some other time. Your choice," Sonic offered.
Again, the entity remained silent, but rather than just charging in again, he remained eerily still by the edge of the forest. At first his focus was on the emerald again, but something just kept him from going any further. Something ... familiar, but uninviting. Something strong.
Something like another fighter coming in from the forest.
*SLAM*
the entity bolted away from the forest, a sudden explosion leaving him caught off guard. The owner of this explosion stepped out of the debris and dust, hardly rattled if at all from the attack she just tried to make on the being. The only reveal of any debris on her was some dirt on her square afro, which she just brushed off as she confronted the creature.
"Away from the hedgehog," she stated firmly, her gauntlet gloves at the ready.
She wasn't the only one either, the entity able to see other shapes coming in from the forest. The hunter had suddenly become the hunted, and he wasn't going to stick around just to be pummeled. A strange sound emitted from the being, almost sounding like a groan, before it suddenly rushed into the forest again, disappearing from sight.
"He ran away. ..." Helen said.
"Yeah. Running away again," Sonic sighed, disappointment lingering in his tone. It was then that the others began to come out of the forest, both mobian and crystal gem groups now making themselves known to both Sonic and Helen.
"You guys okay?" Amethyst asked.
"Yeah, we're fine. You didn't need to come by, I could've handled it," Sonic insisted.
"No you wouldn't," Garnet simply said.
Sonic didn't bother with an answer for that, but another one quickly came to mind. "Wait a sec, what're you guys even doing here?"
"Well Sonic, there IS a chaos emerald right behind you. We did say we were going to start looking for them, so here we are," Tails explained. Sonic glanced back to the chaos emerald in Helen's hands. Speaking of Helen, the others did take a moment or two to see her as well, one in particular.
"Oh, right. Everyone, this is Helen," Sonic introduced, getting that out of the way before anything else. "Helen, say hello to the Crystal Gems, and my mobian friends."
"Oh ... you're Helen? You're a human," Amy stated.
"Well yeah, what did you think I was talking about?" Sonic questioned.
Amy blushed and turned away. "... Nothing. Nevermind."
None of them wanted to continue on that one. but for the leader, there was the bigger problem with Helen here in general, the tall gem looking down to her.
"Helen. You need to leave here. It's not safe for you," Garnet said, right to the point.
"What?"
"Yeah, it's for the best. We've fought that uhh ... thing before, and it'll be better if you didn't just stay on this island while it's roaming around here," Pearl explained.
Helen looked up to the gems for a moment or two, her cheery face before now replaced by a saddened sigh. ... That was, until Sonic stepped in again.
"Don't you guys start that. She wanted to stay and see the flowers, I'm making sure she does."
"Sonic, that entity is roaming the area, it's not safe for her here. As soon as we're done, then maybe she'll come back," Pearl explained.
"Oh, what? You all suddenly OWN the island now that he's here? You suddenly can tell who can and can't be here just because you showed up?"
The gems actually got a bit quieter after that. Garnet stared down at Sonic for a moment or two, seeing Sonic's unnerving expression as if he was the one staring her down instead. Comparable to Knuckles before him, but this determination wasn't for anything against them per say, but rather elsewhere more noble. ...
"... Just promise you won't fight him while she's with you, and you got a deal," Garnet decided.
Sonic and Helen both smiled as Garnet turned to the others nearby. "Come on everyone. We got the chaos emerald, but it's best to check the area. We got to make sure that thing really is gone."
"Sounds good to me," Amethyst said.
Most of them started to go, though Steven did stay back for a moment or two.
"Wow, Sonic, you're really getting good at this," Steven pointed out.
"Thanks."
~~~~~~
So, time continued on by, and it didn't take much longer before day gave way into night. With the Crystal Gems checking the area around the place, while unexpected for the two, did at least gave them some safety against this entity wherever it went to. The gems kept up their search throughout the night, as the mobians stuck around mainly by Sonic, Steven, and Helen. During this time, just as the sun left the sky fully, was when the Crystal Gems returned.
"You guys took a while getting that done," Amy said. "The flowers are going to bloom soon."
"We would've been done an hour ago, but Pearl wanted to check the area again. FIVE TIMES," Amethyst asked, worn out by that point and just about ready to fall asleep there and then.
"There's nothing wrong with making sure you got everywhere covered. Besides, you hardly looked anywhere," Pearl retorted. Amethyst just rolled her eyes. Regardless of how they felt though, Garnet had one more thing to get from them.
"The chaos emerald," she said. Honestly it was all she needed to say.
"Hold on, do we have to leave right now?" Steven asked.
"Steven, we got what we came here for. The entity's gone, we can leave now. Some other time," Garnet replied, reaching out for the emerald in question. Helen looked down to the emerald for a moment before looking up to the gem leader. She was just about to give the chaos emerald right to her, buuuut ...
"Catch!"
Sonic gave the chaos emerald a kick and basically launched it away somewhere else.
"SONIC!" the gems yelled.
"Well, come on, it's getting away!"
"You little -!"
So much for an easy leave. Sonic of course ran ahead of them after the gemstone he just kicked, everyone else going to catch up with him. This quick dash got them over to a clearing amongst the forest again, but not the same one they were earlier, and as they caught up it didn't take them more than a second to see why. ...
"Sonic ... look. ..."
There were the flowers.
In that same clearing, Sonic and company found themselves in a sea of the white flowers, each one blossoming in the nighttime light, almost glistening in the moonlight. A slight breeze going through the fields did gently lift up some petals but aside from that nothing in the field was touched by any creature. The only exception was that chaos emerald, but it landed just in front of the field with only a single flower petal on it, Steven being the one to pick it up.
"They really do shine like stars at night," Sonic said.
"They're so beautiful ..." added Helen.
"Here, Helen, let me get one for you," Steven offered. He prepared to reach down and pluck one up, but Helen spoke up again.
"Wait, don't."
Steven stepped back. "You sure you don't want something? I thought you were going to move soon."
"I am, but I want it to stay just like it is. Even if we move away, I hope that maybe someday if we come back ..."
"Then it'll be just as beautiful then as they are now," Sonic finished.
Just the hope Helen was wishing to get. She could already see it: her with her parents seeing the same fields of flowers as she is now. It was too bad all the same for the business her parents have to do for her. Garnet stepped forward, placing a hand on Helen's shoulder.
"I'm sure you will get the chance," Garnet simply said.
"Thank you ... Who knows? Maybe we all can come here together some day," Helen said.
*splash*
Hours of disappearing, and that similar splash told them all that a particular water entity had returned for the second fight of the day. The group looked back, and sure enough, there he was.
"Him again? Didn't he take the hint earlier today?" Sonic questioned.
"THIS is why we double-check the area," Pearl stated to Amethyst.
"Oh no, if he gets here, he'll destroy the flowers!" Helen said in worry.
"Well, we can't have that," Sonic stated.
But there was one more surprise in store. ...
...
"I'LL BE TAKING THAT!"
In a sudden swoop, a mechanical arm reached down from absolutely nowhere and snatched the chaos emerald right out of Steven's hands! Not even Sonic or Garnet with their heightened speed were enough to get it back. The closest anyone got was Tails flying up to grab it, but a secondary mechanical arm was at the ready and rushed in after the flying fox. It was just too fast for Tails to react, and he was struck down to the ground too. Sonic managed to catch him just in time, but only then did the group took a good look at their latest adversary.
For some the sight was all too familiar, but many others needed a moment to take in what they were seeing: above the water entity's head hovered a peculiar round machine. A type of aircraft as it were, and its rounded shape could not be ignored especially when its shape matched the pilot riding it as he held the chaos emerald proudly in his own hand.
"Did you miss me, Sonic?" the man mocked.
"W-Wha-whaa? Wait, is that a -" Pearl couldn't even get the words out, so the man helped her out with that.
"Allow me to finish your blabbering: I am Dr. Eggman! The greatest ingenuous mind in all of the world! The greatest mind of all time!" Eggman announced. He even went as far as to stand on his flying mechanism as if posing for a camera or something.
"Give that back you, we've been looking for that all day!" Amethyst shouted, already getting her whip out before any of the other gems (surprisingly enough). Garnet followed along but Pearl was still trying to comprehend things.
"Pearl, snap out of it," Garnet said, nudging her.
"B-But another gem? There couldn't be more ...!" Pearl said.
"Eggman's not a gem!" Tails said.
Pearl couldn't believe her ears.
"... Huh?"
"You heard the fox, Pearl, what you see is all human," Eggman revealed, arms outstretched.
"I-Impossible! You can't be a human! You must be half-gem or something, no human in history could make anything like - THAT! -" before Pearl could continue, a mechanical arm shot out and grabbed her by the waist and yanked her right up to the ship. Pearl suddenly found herself face to face with the doctor, her reflection gazing back at her from his glasses.
"What's the matter? Dumbfounded that a "simple-minded" human can build technology BETTER than a gem like you?" Eggman challenged.
"... Maybe?" Pearl muttered in a cold sweat. As she was held there though, she took a glance at the interior of Eggman's little ship, noticing a little something hidden just beside the main seat. Eggman though was quick to catch her staring and followed it to the next big surprise.
"Oh, seeing my extra surprise?" Eggman said, taking it out to show -
"HE'S GOT A CHAOS EMERALD ALREADY?!" Amy gasped.
"No," Garnet said sternly, "he's got OUR chaos emerald."
"Absolutely," Eggman said, "I'd like to take this moment to thank all the little people who made sure I'd get it too. Or rather, the one little human boy."
It didn't take a second for them to figure out what he was talking about.
"Steven ...? What's he got to do with this?" Sonic questioned. Eggman held both the vibrant green and blue emeralds up for all to see.
"THIS little rock was in YOUR basement. All he had to do was unlock the door for me, and I took it from there," Eggman revealed. "Didn't the boy tell you to "help me"?"
"Don't lie Eggman," Amy yelled, "Steven would never be gullible enough to -"
... Steven stayed eerily quiet.
"... HOLY MOLY - you actually let him in there?!"
"WHAT?! Steven, how could you?" Amethyst snapped.
"I-I mean, he said the chaos emeralds were his, I -"
"No, I mean literally, how'd you even open the door? Did you finally figure out how it worked or what?" Amethyst questioned.
"No, no, better question: why didn't you tell us Eggman came into OUR HOUSE?! A stranger came in and you didn't tell us IMMEDIATELY?!" Pearl shouted, still being held up by the mechanical arm.
Steven felt on the verge of panicking, "E-Err, well you all were gone, he told me they were his, but Sonic came in after he left, and then Connie, then the gem monster and ... I kinda forgot."
Everyone stared at Steven for a moment or two, quiet enough that a cough was heard in the distance. Not that he could blame them. Sonic for a moment went up to him, arm around his shoulders.
"Steven. Buddy. Chum. Now, you're still new to things, I get where THIS is from buuuuut Eggman lied to your face. But hey, it happens. Just ask Knuckles, he'll tell you."
"Well it worked," Eggman reminded, "and NOW, I can keep going with my own plan. So you all best NOT interfere!"
None of the crystal gems had time to discipline Steven now. Seeing the mobians and gems prepared for a big fight just made Eggman, in a strange way, all the more excited for what he had in store for them.
"Okay, eggy, what happens if we do?" Sonic questioned smugly, as if he had to ask.
The doctor's smile stretched across his face, holding both emeralds up so they all could see once again, but this time the view was also in sight of the entity by them.
"I'll show you. CHAOS!~ Lunch time!~"
"LUNCH TIME?!" the others gasped.
Lucky for them though (maybe) that Eggman didn't mean then as the food in question for Chaos. No, it was something just as bad, as he didn't hesitate for a second to tossing both chaos emeralds right towards the being. Garnet reacted first and jumped to try and catch them, but Chaos somehow got to the punch a bit quicker: one arm grabbing Garnet while the other grabbed both the chaos emeralds.
"Ah ah ah, don't interrupt the deity while they're eating, my dear," Eggman remarked, just before the mechanical arm holding Pearl became alive again, swinging her around and slamming both gems aside.
"You don't know what kind of power that has!" Garnet snapped.
Eggman just laughed. "Ohohoho, but I do. Just watch."
"U-Uhh, guys ...?" Steven muttered.
The chaos emeralds themselves started to glow within the watery body of Chaos, a vibrant mix of deep blue and harsh green, spinning in place inside Chaos' body. As for Chaos, the water entity could feel the shift in energy flowing inside of him, causing the entire form to jiggle, shift, and shake like an earthquake went off in Chaos' being. As this continued on, the light of the chaos emeralds flashed white, making most of them turn away and shielding their eyes during the transformation.
Chaos started to grow taller, bulkier with a muscular chest, and his arms began to lengthen and stretch for the liquid muscle building up inside each bend of each arm. The locks of "hair" shifted into a set of side-facing, rounded horns, his head now mirroring that of an arrow, his visible brain floating at the center of the point. The biggest change of all came the arms interior: little by little, something solid shown within each length of the arm, snapping and stretching into place. The liquid began to form sturdy, if not simplistic, sets of skeletal arms, the bones grey and worn away as if they were themselves artificial. Each chaos emerald sat within each hand.
From a mobian-sized combatant, to a Garnet-sized brawler in a matter of seconds. Chaos straightened his back, his eyes now easily matching up with Garnet and even then, his muscles made it seem to dwarf her. Seeing sight of this left Eggman laughing.
"OHOHOHOOO YES!" Eggman beamed, "It's just as the stone tablets predicted! With each chaos emerald, all of its energy is absorbed into him! When I get all seven of them into him, Not even you Sonic can stand up against me!"
"Keep dreaming, egghead. And as for you water boy, I'm guessing you're not here just to chat. So, you up for round two?"
Chaos of course didn't speak, but a nod of the head was all they needed to know. Chaos clenched his new fists for the fight, with both mobian and gem up and ready to go against this strange being. They knew what he could do WITHOUT the chaos emeralds, just what could they expect with the being now having the power of TWO of them?
Well, they were about to find out.
"Steven, take Helen out of here," Garnet instructed.
"But what about -"
"GO!"
"O-Ok! Come on, let's go!"
*SPLASH*
The first move of the fight and it was already a low move, as sight of the fleeing humans made Chaos turn to attack: His arm stretched out, but the bones curled into a ball and the arm attacked them like an iron flail. Steven shoved Helen out of the way, diving down just fast enough before the watery weapon struck either of them, striking down a tree in the process in one hit! Garnet was quick to grab the tree before it could even have the chance to land on them, and with the giant weapon in hand she swung it directly at Chaos, the entity simply using the same flail weapon to smash it into stray wood and leaves.
"He got THAT powerful...?!"
"YESSS! Now THAT'S impressive. And to think this is only two of the chaos emeralds! Makes you feel humble, doesn't it?" Eggman mocked, all giddy about the fight before him.
"I dunno eggy, why don't you see for yourself DOWN HERE?" Amethyst shouted.
"Nah, you can have all the fun."
"AMETHYST, FOCUS!" Pearl shouted, lunging and tackling her out of the way of Chaos' hit. Another attempted hit by Chaos was stopped thanks to Pearl's spear chopping the water arm in two though that hardly seemed to even phase the creature. During the mayhem, Tails got out his portable computer for a scan of Chaos, as well as a two-tailed fox could manage to get in the middle of a fight. What he saw on screen made him feel cold.
"What's the status on this guy, Tails?" Sonic asked.
"Eggman wasn't lying: the chaos energy inside of him has increased his own physical attributes by nearly four times! With how strong he was last time ..."
"We got to get the emeralds out of him. Amethyst, restrain him! Sonic, help her!" Garnet instructed.
"Spare whip, please?"
"Knock yourself out."
Amethyst summoned a whip for both her and for Sonic, and soon the two went and got to work trying to keep the thing still (both spin-balling it no less). Chaos kept punching the ground around him, but both Amethyst and Sonic simply dodged the hits as the gem ropes wrapped tighter and tighter around him. The bony arms felt the strain of the rope the most of his watery body, and as he tried to get himself free, the solid parts found themselves stuck in the mix of rope.
"We got him guys! Go in!" Sonic shouted.
Chaos wasn't gonna make it that easy. As Pearl and Garnet rushed towards him, the newfound strength built up and he swung around his arms good and wide. Amethyst and Sonic both grabbed hold hard, but they ended up finding themselves being swung around instead. The two could only scream before they both slammed into Garnet and Pearl. Garnet and Sonic were thrown into the forest as Pearl and Amethyst tumbled nearly off the cliff.
"GUYS!" Steven yelled. He tried getting over to them but Tails couldn't help but pull him back.
"Steven, don't go over there! They wouldn't want you getting hurt!" Amy said.
"But what about them?!"
"COME HERE YOU!" Amethyst shouted, going all out on the entity, joined by Pearl soon after. It was rough keeping up with both a brawler and a sword specialist at the same time, Chaos feeling bits and pieces of his watery form get cut and knocked off of him in the barrage.
"ALMOST...! GOT IT...!" Pearl's spear was cutting in VERY CLOSE to the chaos emeralds, even going far enough to scrape the bone inches from the target. One more good swing -
"Not so fast!"
One shot of the mechanical arm and Pearl was suddenly unarmed!
"HEY!"
"What? I'm not going to let you win THAT easy," Eggman said.
The moment Chaos needed to strike: Pearl and Amethyst both were snatched up, one in each hand, lifting them both off of the ground and digging his fingers into them like blades. No matter how much either of them struggled, Chaos wasn't letting any of them go. Chaos swung his arms up good and high, stretching them for good measure, just before swinging them both right down into the ground ...!
*POOF*
"YESS!" Eggman beamed, going as far as to applaud Chaos.
"NOOOOOO!" Steven screamed. Finally Steven forced away from the others, rushing to get the gemstones that now laid on the ground. Pearl's gemstone appeared fine, but Amethyst's gemstone wasn't so lucky, stuck with a nasty crack from the direct hit to the floor. Steven however ran right in sights of Chaos and got himself caught instead in a single snatch.
"Alright, you asked for it!" Sonic said, revving up his speed with his feet digging into the dirt. By the time Chaos turned to face him, Sonic was rushing right at him in a sonic spin. Chaos did have enough time to catch him like a ball, but feeling the sharp quills spin into him like a saw blade splashed bits of water all over the place. Chaos dug his feet in, forcing Sonic to jump back again. The hedgehog ran around Chaos a fair bit, attempting at least five times to strike him where it hurt but Chaos wasn't budging an inch for him thanks to the added muscle. The sixth attempt to strike him down didn't do so good, and Chaos had the blue hedgehog right by the head. Normally a grip like this would be mildly annoying if not for the fact his hand was completely engulfing his head with water...!
"Get your freaky hands OFF THEM!" Garnet managed a majorly good hit this time with her hammer, right in the brain too, sending the mutant flying out of the way as Sonic fell flat on the ground. Chaos slammed into the nearby trees again, the force enough to knock him through one small tree and smash into a large one. It also added to the pain that the small tree landed on top of him too.
With all the previous pummeling he got, this was the breaking point for him. After all, he made his point more than clear with the loss of two gems on their side. Garnet attempted to grab him after checking the others, but Chaos in his watery state simply slipped by untouched, almost slithering like a snake before reaching back to the doctor.
"Let that be a warning to you! Interfere with me again, and I won't let him go so easy on you. Come along, Chaos, we got more emeralds to find."
With that threat hanging in the air, along with a maniacal laugh, Eggman activated the thrusters on his machine and began to fly away with Chaos in toe. And, just to make sure they weren't followed, Eggman grabbed a few small objects from the ship and tossed them down to them, each one exploding in a flash of light. It was just the distraction they needed for Eggman to make his getaway, and soon after they were done exploding, the mad doctor was more than gone.
Only when everything finally calmed down did they all come out into the open.
"You alright, Helen?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but are they okay?" Helen asked, shaken but uninjured.
"I ... I don't know, I ..." Steven couldn't really put it together but Garnet picked up the gemstones and checked them over.
"It'll be okay, Steven, they'll be fine," Garnet promised.
"But what happened to them?" Amy asked.
"Sometimes when our bodies are badly damaged, we release our physical forms and retreat into our gemstones to regenerate," Garnet explained.
"So, they're going to be ok?" Steven asked. Garnet paused and looked to each gemstone, checking the damage on them.
"....... Yes."
"That ... took you a while to say, are you sure?" Amy asked.
"Yes, they will be," Garnet repeated, a bit quicker and "confidently" this time, "we'll talk more about all this later. But first ... let's take Helen home."
"I'll handle that, G, you guys go on ahead, I'll catch up later," Sonic decided.
"You sure, Sonic?" Tails asked.
"No sweat. Ready to go, Helen?"
All Helen did was nod, and gave a wave goodbye to everyone else just before Sonic gathered his speed and went off on his way. While Helen was off with that, the main problem still stood.
"We have to get the emeralds before he does. ..."