Dude, Worlds Are Gonna Collide (A Sonic-TMNT Crossover)

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

The silence that followed stemmed mostly from Kay's speechlessness, but it didn't last long.

"You know this girl?" Knuckles asked Amy incredulously.

"You don't?" Amy shot back. Then understanding seemed to dawn on her, and her gaze became sympathetic. "Oh...right. I guess only a few of us remember what Mobius was like before the reset thanks to Nicole..." She glanced at Kay briefly, then put a reassuring hand on Knuckles' shoulder. "I know you've been through a lot recently with the Master Emerald and everything, but trust me, if there's one person in the whole world we can trust even more than Sonic, it's Kay."

"A human?"

Kay lowered her gaze to the Emerald she held. Amy replied, "She wasn't always."

"Please, Kn-Guardian Knuckles," Kay spoke quietly, "I know how dangerous a broken Chaos Emerald can be. That's why I brought it here. I know you're the only one who can fix it."

"Are you the one who broke it?"

Kay winced. "It was an accident."

Knuckles scoffed, then snatched the gem from her before anyone could blink. He stormed away as angrily as he'd approached, muttering about the stupidity and carelessness of the human race and how the Mobians always had to clean up their messes. Kay wouldn't have argued with him if she could.

After a few tense moments, Amy said hello to Silver and Relic, then clasped one of Kay's hands in both of hers. "It's so good to see you again. It feels like it's been forever since you were here last."

"It has been," Kay replied, then clarified. "For me, anyway. It's been two years."

"Two years?" Amy took a longer look at her. "But you look like you haven't changed."

Kay shrugged, then smiled. "It's good to see you again, too, Amy."

The pink hedgehog bounced up and down excitedly. "Sonic will be really happy to see you, too, I'm sure. He's on his way right now."

Kay's heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"After Relic called us, Knuckles called Sonic and told him we'd found the seventh Chaos Emerald. Sonic is determined to get here before Eggman, of course." Suddenly her features grew worried and she glanced around. "You guys haven't seen any sign of him yet, have you?"

"Not yet," Silver replied.

I hadn't even thought about Eggman, Kay realized. He probably knew I was here before Knuckles did. Of course he'll be after the Emerald, too. I can only hope that he was further away from the island than Sonic.

"Well," Relic finally said, "I don't see any point in us all standing around out here. Why don't we go back inside my workshop? If any of Eggman's forces come near the island it will trip our alarms so we have a heads-up."

"The Sky Patrol won't trip the alarm, will it?" asked Amy. Relic shook her head in response.

As the others began to file back inside, Kay's thoughts drifted elsewhere.

I can't believe I didn't consider that Eggman might get here first. At least Knuckles has the Emerald now, and I know he won't give it up without a fight. But it does make me wonder...Tikal said I had to get the Emerald to Knuckles for him to fix, but she also said that the time to defend Earth is drawing near. If I need to defend Earth, I don't know how I'm going to get back there to do it now.

"Kay, are you coming?" Silver called to her. Kay gestured that she'd be just a minute.

Sure, another Portal might open, but they're too random and quick to keep track of. The chances of it leading back to New York at exactly the same time are practically nonexistent. But then again, I thought that about getting to Angel Island, and here I am.

Kay looked into the pure blue sky, took a deep breath of the fresh island air, and sighed contentedly. Here I am. And until I absolutely have to, I refuse to worry about Earth anymore. Human or no, this is where I truly belong.

~

Knuckles took longer to return than they expected, but then, the Master Emerald was scattered in pieces all over the planet. While they waited the small group took turns exchanging information, and at Amy's request Kay filled her in on everything that had happened to her since leaving. Kay noticed that the pink hedgehog never once commented about the fact that she was a human now.

"So when you went home nothing exciting happened to you? You just picked up where you left off?" Amy asked incredulously.

Kay nodded. "I mean, I had the Chaos Emerald. But until the past couple of weeks I really haven't done anything spectacular."

"And these turtle friends of yours aren't Mobian, but they were willing to help you protect the Emerald anyway?" Amy smiled. "I wish I could meet them and thank them personally."

For a moment Kay felt her heart ache as she remembered leaping through the Portal to return to Mobius, leaving the guys behind without so much as a goodbye. They really had been wonderful to her, despite their clashing opinions.

Just then the door to Relic's workshop burst open, and Knuckles marched inside with the Chaos Emerald clutched firmly in his grip.

"There. I fixed it," he grumbled. "I never want to repair a broken Chaos Emerald with a broken Master Emerald ever again. It's hard enough when the thing is in one piece." His hard gaze turned to Kay, and she froze. "Now, why should I give this back to you instead of keeping it to repair the planet?"

"I didn't expect you to give it back to me," Kay replied, a little surprised. "I assumed you'd keep it to restore Mobius. That's why I brought it here.'

Knuckles scoffed.

Silence settled over everyone for a few long moments, during which another thought occurred to her. Kay glanced down at her palm - the one with the mark that matched the Chaos Emerald's old scar. It was still there. Her brow furrowed as she contemplated what that meant, but a brand new voice brought her back into the present moment with such force that she suddenly found she couldn't breathe.

"You would not believe how hard it is to get to a floating island when the rest of the planet is floating as well," Sonic the Hedgehog announced as he strode into the room. Amy leapt up and ran to him, and they exchanged a brief hug as Kay struggled to breathe air into her lungs and lift her eyes to him.

When their gazes met her mind flooded with new information again. She gasped quietly.

Sonic grinned at her, winking. "Good to see you, Kay."

Kay laughed, though for the life of her she couldn't understand why. She felt like she was going to burst into tears from sheer happiness at seeing her beloved hero again. But she managed to keep herself together as she replied, "It's good to see you, too, Sonic."

As the blue hedgehog stepped further into the room, Kay saw other old faces as well as some new ones enter in behind him. Tails, Rotor, Cream, and even Princess Sally made their way inside, exchanging greetings with those already there.

"Sonic," Knuckles said, stepping forward, "I have the last Chaos Emerald."

"Great! Now all we have to do is put them in the Gaia Temples, and the world will fix itself. Right?"

Knuckles shook his head. "It's not that simple. I still have to find the rest of the Master Emerald shards and put them together, or the Chaos Emeralds will never have enough power to restore the planet. It's going to take a lot more than Chaos Control to save the world this time."

At that moment the scar on Kay's hand sent a bolt of pain up her arm. She hissed, clenching her fist and trying not to draw too much attention to herself, but it didn't work.

Sonic's eyes were on her instantly. "Kay? What's up?"

As the pain subsided she turned her head to tell him she was fine, but then she caught sight of the Chaos Emerald in Knuckles' grip and gasped. The others had already seen it, too, and they all either stood up or took a step back as the gem came to life on its own, pulling itself out of Knuckles' hand to hover in the air, glowing brighter and brighter by the minute.

Then, in the shocked silence, the faintest of voices whispered, "Chosen."