Chapter 4:

      Sally sat down on her bed.  Rotor stood by the door to her hut.  And,
  in the corner against the window, Sonic leaned against the wall, eating a
  chili dog.  The beams of light from the midnight moon streamed in through
  the window.

      "I don't know HOW you can eat those things at this hour," Rotor said
  to Sonic, shaking his head.  "Hey, we gotta be thinking straight during an
  emergency meeting, and chili dogs are brain food!" Sonic said, holding the
  dog aloft in the air with his right hand as though it were Excalibur.
  "Besides," he said, continuing, "I had one major midnight munchie attack."
  "I still don't get it," Rotor said back.

      Now listen to me," Sally said.  "What I'm about to say does NOT leave
  this room, got it?  This is between the three of us, and that's as far as
  it goes.  As far as anyone else is concerned, it never happened.  I don't
  want anybody in the village worrying themselves over -- "

      "Over WHAT?!" Sonic managed to say between bites.

      Sally shot Sonic an annoyed look.  "I do NOT want interruptions," she
  said with anger, and continued on.  "Now, I've already showed you the
  ring.  This is the letter that explains it," she said, waving the yellow,
  wrinkled peace of paper through the air.  "According to this, the ancients
  buried this chest there millions of years ago.  It was found and dug up
  about 150 years ago.  Back when Knothole was originally settled."

      Sally noticed chili dripping onto the floor from Sonic's chili dog.
  She shot him another annoyed look.  "What?" Sonic asked, as though shocked
  and hurt.  "What?"

      Sally sighed, and again continued, "it was then that the significance
  of the ring was discovered.  Each of these seven hexagon-shaped holes,"
  she said, poking her right forefinger through one of them, "is meant to
  hold one of the chaos emeralds.  Now, this ring is black.  There is
  another, somewhere on Mobius, that's white.  If the chaos emeralds are
  placed into the white ring, the power of the emeralds can be united for
  good.  But if placed into this black ring, their power can be united for
  evil.  This is known because, after the chest was dug up 150 years ago,
  someone placed one emerald into the ring.  He became possessed by evil and
  killed two people before he was stopped.  And that was with just ONE
  emerald.  That was when this letter was written.  As a warning."

      Sonic and Rotor stared at the ring, fear in their eyes.  Sonic spoke
  up, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!  You mean to tell MOI that there's SEVEN chaos
  emeralds on Mobius?"  Sally nodded grimly.  Sonic dropped his chili dog
  onto the floor in astonishment.  Sally glared at him.  "You're picking
  that up, you know" she said in a rather angry tone.  Sonic looked down
  upon his lost snack with sadness.  "Aw, man... " he muttered.  All fear
  left Rotor's eyes, and he chuckled to himself.

      "So what do we do with it?  Bury it again?" asked Sonic.

      "But where could we put it that we'd be sure no one would find it?"
  asked Rotor back.

      "How about underneath Ant's hairpiece?" Sonic suggested with a sly
  smile.  Rotor chuckled again.

      "No... " Sally said coldly, sounding as though her mind were distant,
  staring at the ring.  "I'll take care of it."

      "No offense Sal, but are you COMPLETELY out of your mind???" Sonic
  shouted.  Rotor shushed him.  "That thing is really dangerous!  What're
  you gonna do, shove it under the bed?" Sonic asked, quieter now.

      "Don't worry, I can handle it," she said.  "And you both are
  dismissed." Sonic and Rotor glanced at each other.  Rotor shrugged, and
  they both walked out, heading back to their huts to get back to
  sleep.

      Outside Sally's hut, on all fours underneath her window sill, Tails
  stared straight ahead, petrified by what he had just heard.  He was about
  to get in bed after arriving back home when he had seen that Sally's light
  was still on in her hut.  And when he later saw that Sonic and Rotor had
  come over to talk to her - at this hour of the night- he knew that
  something was up.  That's when he had snuck over to the window sill to
  listen in.

      Then he heard something.  A voice.

      "Miiiileeessss... "

      It was coming from inside the hut.  Tails got up on his knees and
  peeked over the windowsill.  Sally was on the other side of the room now,
  her back to the window, but the ring was lying on a table right next to
  the window sill.  And was whispering Tails' own name to him.  How did it
  know his name?  It was as if it had just pulled Tails' name right out of
  his mind.

      Tails turned and ran.