"Metal Sonic?" I asked. "As in, a metal Sonic?"

"Yeah," Tails said. "He was built by the guy in our world. Here they come."

Sure enough, the dust cloud got bigger, getting closer and closer. "Look out!" I yelled, jumping out of the way. Metal Sonic slowed down, running Sonic's face through the ground. It left Sonic in the ground, swirling into the air and looking down at us. Sure enough, it was shaped just like Sonic, its eyes red and seeming to glow with an anger that would never cease. After looking across all of us, it turned away and flew back toward the sun.

We watched as Sonic got up slowly, brushing little rocks off of him. "I wonder what that was all about," he asked, looking at his trail.

"What happened?" Tails asked.

Sonic held up a finger for a few seconds, then spat out a tooth. "Man," he said. "I need those."

"I wonder why he took off," Tails said. "You're the only one in this group that knows how to fight him. He could have taken you on pretty easily."

"I'd win," Sonic frowned. I saw the hole in his mouth where his tooth was, though it was barely noticeable from the angle I was at.

"Sure," Tails nodded, a sympathetic smile on his face. "But he sometimes gets lucky with his hits."

Sonic folded his arms. "I guess Vlad's roped him into working together somehow."

"He's not supposed to obey anyone but Eggman," Tails said, frowning with his hand on his chin. "That doesn't make sense."

Sonic shrugged. "I'm finding that a lot of things in this place don't make sense."

"But..." Tails continued. But he shook his head, looking up at Sonic. "You're right. Maybe Vlad reprogrammed him or something."

"So..." I said, "this robot works for Vlad now?"

Tails nodded. "It looks that way."

"I hate to be that guy," Tucker said, a bit of panic in his voice as he pointed at the ship, "but if that robot knows where you are, Vlad might not be far behind."

Sonic sighed, looking super disappointed. "You're right. Let's get out of here."

We all went back into the ship, Tucker getting us into the air quickly. It wasn't long before we were sailing just over the landscape again, the sky blue above us. Sonic sat and leaned against the wall of the ship, looking bored, while Sam, Tucker and I sat in the front, keeping our eyes open for any sign of anything dangerous.

"This isn't how I planned to spend my spring, you know," Sam said, annoyed.

"This wasn't on my bucket list either, Sam," I told her.

"I don't really mind it," Tucker shrugged.

"Wouldn't you rather be at home on your computer?" Sam asked.

"I mean, sure," Tucker said. "But I've never really seen any of the world."

"Are you forgetting that we're running from an evil mastermind, Tucker?" I told him. "Not really a great time to be sightseeing."

"There's also all the food," Tucker said, ignoring me. "I've only tasted the food in Amity Park. I've heard the fried chicken down south is amazing."

"Have you ever eaten anything remotely healthy, Tucker?" Sam asked. "At the rate you're going, you'll die when you hit twenty."

"You only live once!" Tucker protested. "Besides, I'm not fat or anything."

"Makes me wonder how your parents have lived this long," Sam muttered.

"I wonder how they're doing," I said forlornly. "I wonder if the Men in White did anything because I was living in their house."

"Your parents?" Sam asked, her expression quickly turning from annoyance to sadness.

"They didn't even know," Tucker said. "Your parents have been trying to catch you for almost a year now. Those agents aren't the smartest, but they don't really have a reason to do anything other than question them. The agents aren't that unreasonable."

"And what if this isn't like the time Freakshow took over?" I sighed. "What if this time... they don't accept me?"

Tucker looked at me sideways but didn't say anything, which made me nervous. Sam came up behind me, a hand on my shoulder. "They love you, ghost or not, Danny," she said, climbing over and sitting next to me. "Besides, you were just trying to help them when you got turned into a ghost. They'll understand, just like they did before."

"I-I'm still only half ghost..." I said, scratching my head. "It would still be nice to see them, whether or not they accept me. Them and Jazz. Make sure they're okay. And grab some weapons."

"We didn't have any time to grab any," Tucker shook his head.

"What kind of loser parents don't love their kid for who he is?" Sonic said, a frown over his closed eyes.

"You were listening?" I asked, turning back to him.

He pointed at his ears. "Ears like an animal," he smiled. "I hear a lot I don't care to."

"You don't understand," I sighed. "My parents hunt ghosts for a living. They hate them. Sometimes, I wonder if they live for anything else."

"So?" Sonic said with an angry look. "Do your parents love you?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Then maybe they should stop looking at the world in black and white," he replied. "Because in my time, nothing has ever been that easy."

I was surprised, but hearing him say that gave me some confidence. I smiled, feeling a little better.

"What are you supposed to be?" Sam asked. "Some magical hedgehog of wisdom?"

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked, a smirk on his face. "I told you I'm the coolest thing alive. You should believe me."

We passed a city as the sun started to set, a huge commotion going on in a big building on the other side of town. I frowned, Danielle making the ship invisible as we passed over the large town. 

"Something about that gives me a bad feeling," I muttered. "Look at all those people!"

As we circled around, I saw that it was a stadium absolutely overflowing with people. Its roof was slightly open, the seats completely filled from what I could see. It looked like people were spilling out of the entrances, the entire city seeming to be inside. It felt familiar somehow; I had seen something like this before.

"Let's find somewhere to land," I said, teeth gritted. "I'll check it out after I know you're all safe."

We parked far away from any houses or highways, and I felt confident that we would be safe, I looked toward the town. I couldn't hear anything from so far away, but for some reason, I didn't have a good feeling. Leaving it alone wouldn't be good either, though. I got out of the ship, my hand painfully gripping the Fenton Thermos.

"Ready, Danielle?" I called. She flew to my side, an uncertain frown on her face.

"I guess," she said. She didn't look like she felt the same nervousness that I did; if she did, her face betrayed her.

I heard footsteps behind me, Sonic folding his arms as he looked at me. "You look pretty nervous," he said.

"I'm not sure why," I said, rubbing my arm. "But you're right."

"I'll come with you," Sonic said. "And before you tell me not to, I'll just run after you anyway." He pointed to everyone behind me, Tucker looking bored out of her mind as he laid on the ground, sprawled out and looking at the sky. Sam leaned against the ship, looking at me anxiously. "They'll be fine. Having more people never hurts, right?"

I decided not to mention the hundred times Jazz accidentally got in my way during ghost hunting missions. "Alright, fine," I rolled my eyes. Having him with us might make things easier, though I was always tense when he went into danger. "If something happens, though, you run. Got it?"

"Crystal clear, sir," Sonic said with a salute. I jumped up into the air, flying off toward the city. Danielle followed close behind, Sonic running along on the ground, kicking up dust behind him. Looking down at him, even though I had seen him run before, I was still so confused and shocked to see how fast he was. It looked like a giant cloud of dust was trying to catch him from behind until he got to the streets. I shook my head, bigger things to worry about in front of us.

The city felt like it was deserted, no cars moving in the streets. The city wasn't some huge capital, but it was clearly nothing to laugh at. We rushed to the stadium, the crowd outside of it even larger than I had thought. The people in the line to get inside were packed closely together, everyone wearing the same dazed but happy expression.

Sonic stopped a ways from the people, folding his arms and frowning. He looked up at the top of the building before looking back in front of him. "There's no way I'm getting inside."

"Oh, well," I said, smiling as I flew toward the building. "Guess you'll just have to wait out here."

He looked annoyed, Danielle flying next to me as we left him. "You're not very nice," she said.

"Yeah, well," I sighed, "at least he'll stay safe."

Danielle didn't say anything, but I felt her uneasiness. As we flew into the stadium, though, I heard a familiar yelling that put me at ease and almost made me laugh.

"Who's ready for more?" the voice yelled.

"Hey, isn't that the singing ghost?" Danielle asked.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "I should've guessed."

I flew into the heart of the stadium, people absolutely packed into the benches. People even sat on the stairs, watching Ember on a little makeshift stage. I gasped when I saw her, though; she had a massive blue fire behind her, larger than I had ever seen. Her eyes met mine, and she showed her teeth in a vicious smile. I grabbed Danielle's arm and flew out of the stadium. The top of the structure exploded, little pieces of debris still flaming with fire falling onto the ground. Ember hovered over the top of the building, her hands resting on her guitar and her eyes on me. From so far away, she was still instantly recognizable.

"This isn't good," Danielle said as we went back to Sonic. "How did she get so much power?"

"Sonic, you need to get out of here," I said. "Ember's a familiar ghost, but there's-"

"Look out!" he yelled, pointing behind me.

I turned, but it was way too late. A giant, blue hand came from behind Ember, trapping me in her grip. One grabbed Danielle too, and I couldn't phase out of it. I tried to pull my arms out, but they were glued to my sides. Only my head was free, turning to watch Sonic.

Ember flew down to us, Sonic looking unusually serious with his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Well, well," Ember said, a curious look on her face. "You seem to match the description. A blue hedgehog with an attitude."

"Where'd you get the Chaos Emerald?" Sonic asked.

"She has one?" Danielle asked.

"It was a gift," Ember said with a smile.

"Probably stole it," I muttered.

She squeezed me tighter, frowning at me with venom in her eyes. "I'm not talking to you, punk."

"Vlad gave it to you, didn't he?" Sonic asked. "A little incentive for catching me?"

Ember grinned. "Do you have any idea what he's paying for you?"

"It's hard to put a price on something this cool," Sonic smiled.

Ember didn't look amused. "I've spent the last few days imagining all the things I could buy..." she sighed, a smile on her face. "I could buy entire cities and force them to listen to my music. I could buy my way into radio stations and play my songs on every station in the world. And talk about a killer guitar! It's a dream come true!"

"Once again, it's all about the money," Danielle said. "Is that the only thing that makes you guys happy?"

"Oh, but it's not just that," Ember laughed, looking down at Danielle like she was a child who knew nothing. "Vlad has some serious skills coming up with inventions."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Can we just get this over with? I don't really care about hearing the life you have to buy in order to be happy."

Ember frowned, the fire around her burning brighter. Sonic's eyes widened for a moment, but he stood his ground. "You don't understand how much power fame and money gives you. Just being able to fight won't get you very far in life."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I don't need to make others suffer in order to have a good life."

Ember looked from me to Danielle, then back to Sonic. She turned a knob on her guitar, raising her arm into the air. "Get him."