Sonic and the Power of the Chaos Emeralds

Blue is for Bravery

The ICU is always under a spell. Everything here moved slow. Even Sonic seemed to be a little flat-footed. You couldn't blame him though. He had a knack for messing up everything around him when we goes full-throttle. In the ICU, there are things that just can't be messed up, for the sake of the patients.

"Sonic, why do we have to come here?"

Sonic held his finger over his mouth signaling for Emily to be quiet. Then he pointed to a bed. The third bed on the left, wrapped by curtains. Emily dreaded what would be on the bed behind the curtains. She called this place the Death Egg Zone for a reason. This is where people came to die. Only rarely did anyone beat it and escape from doom. Sometimes, for the very unfortunate, they would have to come back again. And only one time did Emily ever hear of a boy who beat the ICU twice. If Emily remembered correctly, his name was Toby. Emily herself spent a long time in the hospital, so if she heard that it happened once, then it really did only happen one time.

Nothing felt more wrong than walking through the Death Egg Zone. The place haunted Emily in her dreams. Especially after she visited a girl up here. One of her friends from the ward downstairs had been sent to the ICU because off an infection. However, due to her other health conditions, she was not able to fight of the infection. When Emily came to visit, she looked so pale and weak that Emily could hardly look her in the face without crying. But she kept her tears in because she promised. She wanted to be strong for her friend. Now, everytime she thinks back, Emily can see her own face there. It terrified her. And the more she learned about her own disease, the more she had to worry about.

Three years ago, Emily was diagnosed with Leukemia. In her case, it was a rather aggressive form but the doctors felt like they would be able to manage it. The treatments were cruel. Emily felt like she was cursed, but she had never done anything to deserve it. Overtime, she got used to it, and soon the nurses started to tell her that she would be able to live normally. This time she was in the hospital because of a virus. The doctors wanted to keep her in the hospital for a week in case of any complications. If everything went right, she just had one more line of treatment left.

That hope fled from Emily while she stood at the corner of the ICU bed as Sonic slide open the curtains. He revealed a boy about Emily's age with an oxygen mask on his face. He didn't look well at all. But he opened his eyes when Sonic came by the bedside and smiled.

Sonic brightened up when he saw the boy look at him. "Hey Toby"

"It couldn't be." Emily whispered under her breath. But to her horror, there wasn't any doubt as to this boy's identity. He was the same boy who already escaped from the ICU twice. Now he was here a third time to face the Death Egg Zone.

"Sonic!" Toby tried to speak as loud as he could, but his voice barely reached Emily, only a few feet behind Sonic.

Sonic then remembered that Emily was with him. "Oh, I brought a friend with me today. I thought it would be cool for you to have someone else to talk to when I'm not here."

Emily sort of bowed her head and waved. "Hi, I'm Emily" She tried her best to smile. Maybe she pulled it off, but she certainly wasn't something you would see on a toothpaste commercial. Then she noticed that Toby had a blue wristband on his arm. All the patients wore yellow wristbands with a list of their allergies, and a lot of the old people wore white ones, but Emily never saw a blue wristband before. She wanted to ask him what it was for, but Sonic jumped back into conversation mode.

"You should've seen me back there. I whooped butt. Those bots never even saw me coming. It was way past cool."

"Awesome, Sonic." Toby endearingly listened to all of Sonic's words. He genuinely enjoyed hearing about Sonic's exploits in the Sky Sanctuary. Of course Sonic left out the part where he set off the smoke alarm. And the part where he crashed into the boxes in Emily's room.