Your POV

I shrieked and flung myself back, landing on my bottom. The thing/person emerged from the sewer with a turquoise Chaos Emerald in its hand. Whatever it was appeared to be a female.

"Ah, finally! I've found you, my lovely jewel! The fact that I went into the sewer for you-" she looked at me and shrieked. I shrieked back, scooting farther away from her.

She held her hand to her chest, breathing heavily. "Hon, you almost gave me a heart attack! Are you okay?"

I yelled, "Who are you?! What are you?!"

She smiled warmly at me, "I'm Rouge the Bat! The greatest treasure hunter in the world! I'm even better than that dreadful echidna!"

Echidna? What is this lady even talking about?!

"How about you?"

I stuttered, "U-Um..I'm (Y/N) the Hedgehog.."

Rouge giggled, "You remind me of a friend of mine-"

"I do not look like Shadow," I snapped. Seriously, why does everyone keep thinking that?

She looked at me up and down. "Oh, so you're the sassy type? I can handle that! Say, do you happen to have any of the Chaos Emeralds with you?"

That's none of your business!

At least, that's what I wanted to say, but I had to keep my cool. As much as this lady was secretly driving me nuts. I decided to play completely clueless.

I tilted my head to the side innocently, "Chaos Emeralds? What's that?"

She gave me a poker face. "...Do you really not know?"

I shook my head. She sighed.

"Hon, this is a Chaos Emerald!" She held up the turquoise emerald to my face.

"There's six more of these that I must find so I can go back to my home planet. I currently work for the president, and as a treasure hunter, it is my duty to-"

"Could you put a hold on that thought? I have to go meet up with someone, so, I'll...I'll catch up with you later!"

With that, I quickly ran off. I have to tell Sonic and the others! And quick!

I ran back to the amusement park, where I find everyone searching for me. The first one to tackle me in a hug was Cream, crying in my chest.

"Mrs. (Y/N)!! I was so worried about you!"

I smiled at her nervously, "I'm so sorry, Cream! I got a bit lost!"

The next to nearly tackle me to the ground was Amy. Although I know who she really is, she knows that she has to keep up her good-girl act. Thankfully, Cream quickly moved out of the way before she could be tackled, too.

"Oh, (Y/N)! Where were you?! I missed you so much!"

This time, I smiled sadly, knowing that she's only pretending to be my friend. "Y-Yeah.."

Third was Sonic. He gave me the best hug out of all of them. It was one of those cuddly, non-tackling hugs that caused my face to heat up intensely.

He buried his head in my shoulder, which made me hyperventilate a little. He said softly, "Don't ever run off like that again. Okay?"

I nodded. I didn't think that Sonic, of all people, would be this worried about me..

I didn't hug him back, because I was so in shock. He slowly pulled away with an adorable, crooked smile on his face that made my breath hitch in my throat.

What type of emotion is this? And why am I feeling it..?

"...What exactly did you run off for, anyway?"

His question made me snap out of my thoughts, "Oh, I, um, I sensed a Chaos Emerald!"

Everyone replied in unison, "Huh?"

"I sensed a Chaos Emerald! And..And this lady has it! I think..I think she said her name was..Rouge the Bat?"

They all gasped slightly. Tails added, "Oh! Rouge! I think she somewhat associates with Shadow!"

I raised a nonexistent eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yeah! Well, there's our third emerald! Thanks to (Y/N) wandering off!" Tails chuckled teasingly. "We just have to find out how to get it!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Sonic protested, "(Y/N)...You can sense the Chaos Emeralds?"

I shrugged. "Um, I guess I can..!"

Then Sonic smiled, "That's awesome!!" He gave me a high five that caused me to giggle. I heard a low growl come from Amy, and I heard Cream sigh at Amy's ridiculousness. Tails gasped, which caused Sonic and I to turn around and face him.

Sonic asked, "Tails, are you okay?"

He nodded, "Knuckles is returning from Angel Island!"

"He is?!"

"Yup!

I shook my head in confusion, "Wait, who's Knuckles?"

Sonic turned to me, "He's a friend of ours! Don't worry, you'll love him!" He snickered at the last part, causing me even more confusion. Was that supposed to be sarcasm?

We left the amusement park shortly after that conversation. After a few debates, we all decided to walk home, since it was a nice night out. The stars were shining brightly and the sky was clear. The sun was still setting, so the sky was a pretty blue and purple color.

I was walking side by side with Sonic behind everyone, and we laughed and talked. Amy was looking behind her at us, throwing me threatening glances, but I didn't care.

I thought back on how Shadow had called me a human. Why not bring up that subject?

"Hey, Sonic..?"

He continued staring at the stars, "Hmm?"

".. That day that Shadow had pushed me off the wheel.." He tensed up a bit, "He said something.. That really makes me wonder what I really am.."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"... He called me a human.."

He stopped walking altogether, which caused me to stop, giving him a worried glance.

I looked down, "I don't know what to do...every time I try to remember something, my head hurts...maybe we can-"

"(Y/N)."

I looked back up at him. He walked closer to me and smiled, stopping right in front of me.

"..Just so you know, if you really are a human, you'll still always be my friend."

I smiled sadly back at him. Why does my chest hurt so much? Being called a friend should be a good thing...

.... Right?

Just as I thought this, the ground started to shake violently, making me lose my balance and fall. I quickly tried to get back up, only being able to make it to a kneeling position. I looked up at Sonic in concern.

"Sonic, what's going on?!"

"Nothing much! It's just Knuckles, coming down onto earth! Whoa!" He also lost his balance.

I gave him a look of surprise. "Knuckles causes all this?!"

"Yup! He caused meteors to fall, too!"

"WHAT?!"

I looked up at the sky, only to see meteors falling in our area. I switched my gaze to the others, seeing that they've already taken cover. I sighed in relief, until I heard Sonic yell,

"(Y/N), WATCH OUT!!"

I looked up again to see a meteor about 10 feet from landing on me. I covered my head, feeling myself being pushed out of the way by Sonic, who moved out of the way with me.

We dodged the meteor, but there were still more falling. We both took cover behind a rock until the meteors died down. When they did, Sonic emerged from the rocks.

He sighed, "Jeez, Knux! Do you have to make such an entrance every time you land?"

I peeked around the rock to see a red creature emerge from another pile of rocks.

It grunted, rubbing its head a bit, "Tch, what do you care?"

Sonic chuckled, "It's good to see you too, Knucklehead!"

"ENOUGH WITH YOUR LOUSY NICKNAMES, HEDGEHOG!"

Oh. Anger issues, much?

"Yeah, sure! I want you to meet someone!"

He tilted his head a bit, "Who?"

Sonic came back to the rock I was hiding behind, grabbing me by the hand and pulling me out in the open. I blushed, realizing that he grabbed my hand.

"This is my friend, (Y/N) the Hedgehog!"

Ugh. There's that word again.

I tried to ignore the pain in my chest again, "N-Nice to meet you.."

"I'm Knuckles the Echidna. Nice to meet you too, Shadow's doppelganger." He grinned. Sonic and the others, except for Amy, were giving him the 'you shouldn't do that' look.

Oh! Is this the echidna Rouge mentioned? I already want to punch him in the nose!

Amy groaned, "Can we continue this when we get home? I'm tired of being here already!"

I felt her shoot me a death glare, which actually caused fear to rise in my stomach.

Knuckles nodded, "Yeah, what she said."

And with that, we all went home. After talking for a bit longer, Chris got Knuckles a guest room and we all set off for bed. After showers, of course.

I was just dozing off when I heard movements from the corner of my room, making me jolt up.

"I told you to stay away from Sonic."

(A/N): This chapter was a bit longer than most of them, but I hope you liked it anyway! My goal is to usually type about 1,000 words, but sometimes I tend to go a bit overboard! This one was a total of 1,558 words! So, sorry! Until next chapter~!

--PoisonHeart2003