Dude, This is No Vacation (A Sonic-TMNT Crossover)

Chapter One

Chapter One

She had been amidst the craziness and chaos that was New York City for a whole week now, and Kay still did not understand how city people slept.

Kay flopped down on the bed of her hotel room and stared at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of traffic and people talking drifting up six stories to where she was. She closed her eyes and let it all in. She was leaving early tomorrow morning and wanted to savor the last few moments of her vacation.

This trip had been a long time coming. She had always been interested in the larger cities, but it wasn’t until two years before that she finally decided to do the work and earn the money so she could take a one week vacation to the city that never slept – and didn’t allow for country people to sleep either. Kay breathed deeply and allowed herself a moment to think about the future. After returning home, she would have about a month left of summer vacation before going to college, and after that, she wasn’t entirely sure.

A particularly loud car horn beeped outside, and Kay climbed off the bed and went to the window, drawing back the curtains to admire the nighttime view of NYC. It really was amazing. She was in the heart of Times Square, Manhattan. The lights here were so bright it might as well have been daytime. Despite the late hour, hundreds of people walked about below, doing whatever it was they did around here. She shook her head in astonishment. The vacation had gone by too fast – she didn’t want to leave in the morning.

Then again, she was rather fond of a good night’s rest.

Kay let the curtains close again, stepped back, and retrieved her luggage from the corner of the room. Time to pack up. She didn’t want to do anything extra in the morning. Just get up and go, and hopefully get as much sleep as possible. She didn’t sleep well on airplanes.

As she folded up her shirts and jeans and began to pack them tightly into her luggage (knowing full well that airport security would ruin her organized bag tomorrow), Kay recalled the things she’d done while in this huge city.

She wasn’t like most tourists. She hadn’t taken a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, alternatively choosing to admire it from afar. She didn’t go to any Broadway shows. Instead, she had spent most of her days going to the different boroughs and seeing what daily life had to offer New Yorkers. From what she could tell, it was fast-paced, busy, loud, and stressful. She certainly wouldn’t choose to live here, but it was a sight to behold nonetheless. The buildings were so tall she couldn’t see the tops of some of them. She had hurt her neck several times trying to.

Kay walked amongst the other people who were all rushing to get to their destinations, only she took her time. She was determined to remember every detail, for she knew she wouldn’t be back here any time soon.

The traffic noises outside her hotel were constant and loud. Her head was buzzing so much she was sure there was excess Chaos Energy stored in her brain.

The thought made her stop what she was doing and stare at the opposite wall for a moment. She frowned slightly, then slowly moved around the bed to the other side, where her backpack sat propped against the wall. She grabbed it, opened the top flap, reached inside, and pulled out the Blue Chaos Emerald she had carried with her these past two years.

It looked the same now as it had the night she returned from Mobius. It shone brightly, its color deep and beautiful. Though it felt like glass, it was a Chaos Emerald through and through.

Kay remembered that night, and the nights following. When she saw the Emerald had returned with her, she had held it close, inspected it, wondering how on Mobius it could have happened.

Then the comics kept coming. She devoured the story of Sonic’s meeting Mega-Man, feeling a hurt unlike any other when Eggman completely changed the world. She watched as the friends she had shared adventures with just months before forgot who she was. They didn’t recall an Emerald’s Chosen. They didn’t remember Dark Enerjak, or the Prelates, any of it. Everything had changed.

Silver had said she didn’t belong in their timeline, but Kay was convinced that wasn’t true. She had been brought to Mobius, given the Master Emerald’s powers, defeated the greatest enemy the world had ever known, and then returned home with one of the Seven Chaos Emeralds. Why?

It puzzled her immensely. It took Kay months to readjust to human life, and even then she was not the same. She was sure she could never be the same again. Not after everything that had happened to her. She finished school and saved up enough money to make this trip to New York City – alone – but her accomplishments here paled in comparison to what she had done on Mobius. Her human self could never be that great, and as Enerjak had said, it burned.

Kay sighed, shook her head, and put the Emerald away again. Out of sight, out of mind.

She returned to her luggage, folding clothes and tucking away some souvenirs she’d picked up along the way. Nothing really special or valuable. Just things she knew she wouldn’t find anywhere near where she lived. As she worked, she tried not to think about how her Mobian friends had forgotten her, or that she had a Chaos Emerald but didn’t know why.

After everything but tomorrow’s outfit was put away, she placed her luggage on the ground, opened the curtains wide, and sat on her bed to take in the city at night one last time.

Kay had to admire the single-minded determination and focus that city people seemed to have. They knew what they wanted, where to get it, and how to get there. In contrast, Kay’s thoughts were scrambled, always alternating between human and Mobian, and she was going to college without knowing what she wanted to do with her life.

Well, she had the next two years to figure it out. Right now, it was time to try and sleep despite the noise from outside. She lay across the bed with her head on a pillow and stared outside. She would keep the curtains open tonight. She wanted that view to be the one she fell asleep and woke up to. She would be up before the sun tomorrow.

As Kay closed her eyes and tried to rest, she wished – not for the first time – that Eggman would fire up his machine again and take her back to Mobius, where she belonged.

It wouldn’t happen, though. It never did.