An Elemental Secret

Chapter 4

"Sonic!? Sonic!" Tails's voice echoed in his mind.

His eyes slowly opened as he groaned painfully. Two blurry figures were in his vision, one he knew was Tails, and the other looked like Knuckles.

"He's waking up!" Knuckles commented.

Sonic groaned as he sat up. "T-Tails? Knuckles? Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine." Knuckles said, helping Sonic stand. "I'm surprised we didn't drown. We've just been carried to shore like it was nothing."

Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Buziba that you both are alright..."

He froze as his friends stared in curiosity. Knuckles seemed more shocked though. "Bubiza? How do you know about him...?"

Fear filled the blue hedgehog. "I-I... uh.... Hey, nevermind that! We should go see Shadow and make sure that Heolstor guy hasn't gotten him yet!"

Knuckles seemed suspicious, but nodded anyway. "I wonder why the spirit of darkness would want him..."

"Wait... is this about that ancient religion that your race studied, Knuckles?" Tails asked.

"Yeah." Knuckles nodded. "I don't know exactly why this is all happened, though... I have a strange feeling that it has something to do with Farah, the spirit of happiness. It has been said that she would resurrect... Maybe... that's what Heolstor is doing..."

"Farah's being resurrected!?" Sonic suddenly blurted out, joy and surprise filling his emerald eyes. At the weird stares his friends gave him, he immediately looked away. "So, uh, how's Shadow involved in all of this?"

"Sonic, why have you been acting so weird?" Knuckles asked, Tails tilting his head in confusion.

"I'm fine!" Sonic quickly replied. The other two gave him one look, and he quickly interrupted whatever they were going to do. "Really, there's nothing wrong!"

Knuckles crossed his arms, still looking suspiciously at him. "Fine. We should see what's going on with Shadow."

"You're right!" Sonic said. "We should see if he's okay."

"You two go and check on him. I'll go back to my lab and see if I can find where Heolstor went." Tails said. Sonic and Knuckles nodded, running off towards Club Rouge.

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"Sonic? Knuckles? What's going on?" Rouge asked once she opened the door.

"Is Shadow okay?" Sonic got straight to the point.

"Well, yeah, of course. He's still sleeping on the couch. He's been sleeping a whole day! Can you believe it? Anyways, why are you asking?"

"You remember that old religion I was telling you about yesterday?" Knuckles asked. Rouge nodded. "Well, Heolstor, the spirit of darkness, is looking for him."

"Why?" Rouge asked, looking back to what they presumed was Shadow.

"That's what we're trying to figure out..." Sonic said, thoughts swarming. He then heard a voice. It was soft and gentle, but most of all, it was hers...

"Mahkah! H-Help!"

Ignoring everything else, Sonic rushed to where he heard her voice, which happened to be inside. He looked around desperately, searching for any sign of the one he loved, but all he found was a sleeping hedgehog who was tossing and turning on the couch, ears flat against his skull. It was a rare sight for the blue hedgehog, but he could care less at that moment.

"M-Mahkah..." He heard his name again, but this time, it was from the voice of the sleeping hedgehog. He finally looked at Shadow, who looked as if he was having a nightmare.