Wretched Blessing

Chapter 12

Rouge's Point of View

        The Master Emerald made for a beautiful sight when it shone, sparkling particles falling from it like magic. It was magic, a magic I wish I held in my own hands, but I knew the echidna standing by it would never allow me to touch the thing again.

        Knuckles took his palms off the large gem, the glowing light dimmed to its original brightness. When he turned to look at us, his mouth set in a grim line. "Sonic's emerald is definitely not on Earth anymore," he said, eyeing Tails. "It looks as if Mephiles created his own personal dimension to bring them to."

        A whole other dimension? I didn't know much about what went on with that creepy demon-hog, but I certainly never expected him to wield enough power to create an entire dimension himself. "Will it actually be possible to get to this dimension?" I asked with a tentative approach.

        The echidna grunted. "Probably. But it will take a few Chaos Emeralds to make a portal, along with the Master Emerald to direct the portal's location. While I checked the emeralds' locations, I saw where the last two are. One is in the Mystic Ruins and one looks like it dropped in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I think we should bring all the emeralds with us when we go to Mephiles' dimension. He appears to be more powerful than before, and the only way to take him down might be through super forms."

        Tails nodded, agreeing, and Eggman groaned as he remembered the times he had been defeated by his enemies' overpowered forms. I, however, was skeptical. "Is that really a safe idea, hon?" I said to Knuckles. "We'd practically be handing the emeralds straight to Mephiles."

        "Only if we manage to lose possession of them, which we won't," said the echidna with furrowed brows. "Anyway, I don't see you jumping up with any ideas. That's just as well. All you know is stealing things that don't belong to you—and after you do that, you don't have a clue what to do afterward."

        I shrugged and turned away, not letting him see the flash of hurt in my eyes. As much as I didn't want to believe so, it was true. My schemes revolved around being sneaky and snatching precious items out of places they were meant to be protected. After I obtained those items, I put no thought into how I would use them, especially when I had a Chaos Emerald in my clutches. I didn't have power over them like Shadow did, I could only put them on display and gaze at their beauty until someone else came along to take them back. It was a constantly repeating cycle.

        "I'll play along for now, Knuckles, but if I have a better suggestion I'll be sure to let you know about it." Bending my knees, I leapt off the top stair of the temple and flapped my bat wings once, allowing myself to glide to the bottom step.

        Tails followed at a much slower pace, meeting me by his new flying contraption. "Why aren't Knuckles and Dr. Eggman coming?" I said as I looked up at the echidna and human watching us from the temple.

        "Knuckles is going to stay on guard over the Master while we get the rest of the emeralds," said Tails. "After we pick up Shadow and Silver and the rest, we'll only have two emeralds left. There's enough of us to go searching for them. And Eggman, well, he won't be of much help to us right now."

        I smirked, the kid did the same, and we climbed into the plane.

        Soon, the aircraft filled with chatter from four anthros we picked up. Shadow and Blaze had gotten the cyan emerald from Shamar, and Silver and Amy had gotten the yellow emerald from Chun-nan. Tails turned the plane toward North America. "Before we go after the Chaos Emerald that landed in the ocean, I need to stop at my workshop to get scuba supplies," he said. "Some of us can go after that emerald, while the rest search the Mystic Ruins."