Sonic

Chapter 19
Puzzle, Puzzle, Who's got the Puzzle
Can I Take a Rain Check on that?

The gang proceeded down the street heading to a statue but as they turned the corner, they found themselves in one of the halls of the school. "Woa, how did we end up here?" asked Tommy. "Looks like the space continuum has been altered," said Emeral backtracking their steps, finding the hall connected to the street they were just at. "This is going to be fun," said Joe sacasticly looking ahead. Following the hall, they found themselves in the market street. Everyone was inside, since the blizzard was cold and the sun was hot, "Lets go down here," said Ranma pointing to a back ally. It didn't take them long to hit another facture, as they now found themselves on top of the Tendo Dojo. "We better not take directions from Ranma again," said Akane giving an ugly look at Ranma. "Hey, it isn't like I have a sense of direction like Ryoga or anything," yelled Ranma.

After going through hell, the gang finally made it to a statue, although it wasn't the statue they initially intended to find. "When this is all over, remind me to beat the crap out of whoever did this," said Ranma walking up to the statue. Emeral walked up but before she could reach the statue, a small barrier blocked the discs she carried, and 30 puzzle boxes showed up, with Kasumi's face on it. "What does this mean?" asked Emeral a bit confused backing up, which removed the puzzles. Katarina picked up one of the discs, and took it to the statue, but was unable to get the disc past the barrier. This time only one puzzle box appeared, with Kasumi's face on it. Katarina sat the disc on the ground right on the barrier, then backed up, "Any ideas?" she asked.

The rest looked at the puzzle, pondering on why Kasumi's face would be on a puzzle that was on a barrier blocking them from the statue. "Maybe..." started Colonge, "Maybe this means only Kasumi can enter the barrier." "That sounds possible," said Katarina, "But can we get to Kasumi?" "Leave it to me," said Akane, "I'll go get my sister." "Yea, after you get lost for 2 hours," said Ranma holding his hands above his head. Akane gave an ugly look, than smashed his foot, then proceeded to the Dojo.

*2 Hours Later*

Akane and Kasumi walked up to the statue, while everyone else was sitting by it waiting for them to return. "I brought Kasumi," said Akane, "About time," said Ranma. Kasumi smiled at the two arguing, then looked at the puzzle. "Oh my, what's this puzzle doing here?" she asked. "We don't know, but since it had a picture of your face, we thought you might be able to go through he barrier," said Emeral. "My Face?" said Kasumi, "The puzzle doesn't have my face, it has *Screwed up Mumbling Jumpoling* on it." Everyone just looked blankly at Kasumi, "What was THAT?" asked Tommy. Kasumi had a clueless expression on her face, "I was just describing that this puzzle looks like *Ditto*," she said. Joe smacked his hand with his fist, "I get it, she can see a puzzle which she needs to solve, but is unable to describe it to us," he said. "Kasumi, could you please solve this puzzle for us?" she asked. "Well, I have to go make lunch real soon, Akane," she replied. "This is more important then lunch, solving this puzzle will help stop this crazy weather," answered Akane. Kasumi thought about it, then agreed to solve the puzzle.

After about 15 minutes, Kasumi solved the puzzle and the barrier allowed the disc that was by the ground to go through. Emeral once again went to the barrier, but triggered 29 more puzzles. "So we have to solve a puzzle for each disk?" she asked. Kasumi gave a worried expression, "Oh my, this might take a while," she said.

*Another Hour later*

Kasumi had solved all the puzzles, and each disc was by the statue, Emeral proceeded to figure out which three pieces went onto the statue. After carefully examining the statue and the dis cs, Emeral choose three discs and installed them. Two discs instantly turned blue, while one remained gray. "Guess I got one wrong," said Emeral taking off the gray one, and trying another. She stepped back as the third disc turned blue, which made the statue turn blue. "I think that's one down," said Joe smiling. "Shall we find another statue?" said Emeral looking over at Joe. "The quicker, the better," he replied.

After another 30-minute journey through the space maze of the town, they arrived at another statue. Just like before, when Emeral brought the discs near the statue, a barrier blocked them. However, this time, one of Akane's friends face was on the disc. "Hmmm, looks like each barrier is going to require a different person," said Colonge. "This is going to take a long time," said Kalshion.

*Several Days Later....Sunday*

The gang had been at this puzzle/disc routine since Wednesday, and they only had one more statue left to solve. They had found the last statue and retrieved the person who could solve it, who turned out to be Sasuke. Being very hesitant, Sasuke was taking his time, solving the three puzzles.

"When we are done retrieving the Aura, I think we need a vacation," said Joe quietly to Emeral. Smiling, Emeral replied, "We haven't been to Risa for a while, how about there." Joe blushed, "You sure know how to pick vacation spots," he said. Emeral taped him on the nose, "Of course I do," she said smiling.

"How's it going?" asked Kalshion walking up to Sasuke. "I have solved two puzzles already, and I think I'm almost done with the third," replied Sasuke. "Great, keep up the great work Sasuke," said Kalshion. Sasuke smiled humbly, "Not at all, when Master Kunou was younger, he had me solve his puzzles all the time, so solving them isn't a problem for me," he said moving a puzzle peice over, finishing the puzzle. "I did it!" he said happily. "That's great Sasuke," said Emeral walking to him, and kneeling so her face was level with his, placing her hand on his shoulder, "Thank you." Sasuke blushed, "Not at all," he said not sure how to handle being treated nice by a pretty girl like Emeral. Emeral smiled then got back on her feet and proceeded to the statue.

Emeral placed two of the discs on the statue and was about to place the third one, which happened to be the one they took from Happosai, when a blur went buy snatching the disc from her hand. "What the?" said Emeral looking at her hand. A familiar old man laughed from behind them, "I told you no one can have my disc!" said a voice.