The wait for the Sonic 25th Anniversary games continues…but while I write these chapter's I wanted to inform you all of some upcoming fan related things if you don't already know about them.
First there's The Wrath of Nazo by Chakra X, Sonic: Twist of Fate by Sonicpox and Sonic Misadventures by Tails Channel? I guess? I'm not entirely sure but the last two are CGI animated and the first is just animation. All of the trailers and or promos for these fan made animations can be found on YouTube and I encourage anyone who hasn't seen them to give them a look see. (Now if we could just get Mark Haynes to come out with more Super Mario Bros Z...)
Oh and also you should check out Japan's Sonic 25th Anniversary Website. Just type in sonic sega jp 25 or go to TSSZ. It's all in Japanese but you should be able to left click and translate most things in the page. You should especially check out some of the fanart!
(They effing have a Sonic train car you can ride in. Effing Japan. Why can't America be as awesome as you...)
Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Sanctuary of the Queen
"Eww this is so gross. Couldn't the sewers be just a bit cleaner," Amy complained seeing the murky water and pinching her nose at the smell.
"Amy it's a sewer. What did you expect?" Tails said tapping buttons on the device strapped to his wrist. Including himself, Amy, Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles had all gathered to start the search for the missing Mobians. All six of them had entered the sewers just a few minutes ago and Tails was just about to brief them on a plan. "Okay guys I managed to get ahold of some blueprints of Station Squares sewers," he said as he looked at a holographic mini map. This is where we are and this is about where Sonic said he saw the strange mobian." Tails pointed out both locations as the other five mobians crowded around him.
"Alright so what's the plan?" the guardian asked.
"Well since Sonic said he heard the strange mobian going in the direction north of us, I say we should split up in order to cover more ground." the fox finished.
"I call dibs on going with Sonic!" the pinkette said quickly, grabbing hold of the hero's arm.
"Hey!"
"Then Rouge and I will go right," Shadow said.
"Now wait a second-"
"Guess that means Tails and I will take left then," Knuckles said.
"Oh c'mon!"
"Quit complaining faker someone has to babysit her, after you so kindly brought her along so it should be your responsibility," Shadow said staring into emerald eyes. He found the expression on his rivals face amusing and so did Rouge. Unfortunately Sonic did not and he took a moment stare back intensely into crimson eyes promising that he'd get his revenge in some manner or form. It wasn't his fault Amy had decided to drop by the moment he and Tails were leaving to meet up with the rest of the group. And it certainly wasn't his fault that the pink hedgehog had insisted on tagging along despite him trying to make the case this it would be dangerous. (Because Amy would follow Sonic to the center of the Earth while being chased by horde of robot dinosaurs with laser cannons and jet packs as long as he promised her a date...)
Before the sparks could really start flying, Tails cleared his throat signaling that he still had something important to say. "I made some extra tracking devices for everyone so we each have a way of knowing who is where and so that we can communicate with each other in case something happens." He held out the devices to which everyone took and placed on their wrists as well.
"If anything goes wrong just push the button on the side to send out a homing beacon so we can find you."
"And if we don't find anything within an hour, we'll meet up again to determine our next course of action," the dark agent said.
"Everybody clear?" the kit asked. With nods from every mobian in the group there was nothing more that needed to be said. "Alright then see ya in an hour."
Just as they stated before, Tails and Knuckles took the first right they came upon and Shadow and Rouge were about to take the first left. "Don't get too comfortable now you two," the ivory agent said grinning mischievously at the two hedgehogs before turning a corner. Sonic just paled at her words the realization of actually being alone with Amy hitting him like train wreck. I think my odds of surviving another sewer croc attack are better than having to endure Amy's clingyness.
Knuckles and Tails had been walking in generally the same direction from when they started. It had been about thirty minutes since the rest of their group had split up and the only thing they had seen was walls and more murky water.
"Hey Knuckles, do you really think we might have to fight a second perfect chaos?" the kit asked breaking the dreary mood. The eerie silence of the sewers was a bit unnerving and he felt a conversation might help to distract him.
"I don't know." The guardian had a strange feeling he wouldn't like what he finds when he encounters whoever or whatever is responsible for the strange vegetation. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important he should know but he couldn't figure out what it was. He was so deep in his thoughts he almost bumped into Tails who had promptly stopped in front of him.
"What's wrong Tails?" he asked. The fox didn't need to answer. Partially revealed by the mini flashlight ahead of them was a large scaly tail just peaking around the corner of another intersection. Knux immediately took a defensive stance in front of Tails, giving the other a look that said "Don't Move". Blue eyes watched as the guardian began approaching the corner cautiously. The thick scaly tail by then had disappeared completely from sight soundlessly. Knuckles put his back against the wall and slowly peaked around the corner. When he didn't see anything, he made a strange face. How could something like that just disappear? He thought remembering how Sonic had described the croc like creature he fought a few days ago.
"Is it gone?" Tails whispered when nothing jumped out to attack them after Knuckles checked the corner. Before the echidna could answer, a hand shot out of the water and grabbed the yellow kits ankle dragging him underwater in the blink of an eye. "Tails!" He ran along the murky flow of water as the croc tore through the water like a hot knife through butter. He followed the waves made in the water unable to outpace the large reptile. When the water became to shallow to swim in, it began a three legged run, a scared Tails still tucked firmly under its large arm. The large mutated mobian reached a ladder that it climbed quickly with Knuckles right behind it. When it stopped in front of huge open pipe, it turned around to watch a exhausted Echidna.
Knuckles panted hard as he heard the sound of something similar to waterfalls behind Tail's kidnapper. The aquamarine croc stood there at the front of the large opening scrutinizing the Echidnas posture with yellow slitted eyes. Tails struggled in his grip kicking and punching with all his strength but unfortunately not hindering the croc in the least bit.
"Put. Him. Down," after a moment of being able to catch his breath the guardian took a fighting stance ready deck the large croc and take Tails away from it the moment he has a chance.
The animalistic croc only gave him a crooked grin showing off fangs that looked like they could snap bones in two with one bite. Then to the guardians horror and Tail's fright, the croc leapt off the opening diving down 50ft into a pool of water below.
"Knuckles! Help!" the poor fox yelled voice cut off when he made contact with the water below.
"TAILS!" Knuckles ran to the edge of the opening only to stop at edge before peering down into the 50ft drop below. The opening had lead to a huge cylindrical space with larger pipe like openings on the walls. A heavy flow of murky water was flowing out of several of them into the pool below. He just managed to see the croc, still holding on to Tails, resurface and swim to a ladder right under one of the lower pipe like openings. Knuckles momentarily debated on whether he should continue to pursue or have the others meet up here before the pursuit could be continued. Luckily he didn't have to make that choice because just then the tracking device on his wrist started beeping. He looked down at the small screen on the watch like device as a yellow dot appeared. He allowed a bit of relief to seep through realizing that Tails sent the signal. At least now he and the others could find him. He pressed another button on the communicator allowing him to talk with the rest of the group.
"Hey guys, we have a problem. That croc Sonic fought before just made off with Tails..."
"Knuckles! What the heck were you doing?! I know you have problems watching a rock but how could you let that thing take Tails?! Sonic said a bit angry that the crimson Echidna failed to protect his little brother.
"Back off Sonic. You know I'd never let something like this happen if I could help it," he said a bit of a threat in his voice.
"Boys, settle down. You wouldn't want to waste your energy beating each other to a pulp when you could be wasting it on beating the thing that took Tails now would you?" Rouge said before her partners irritation with both of the other males encouraged him to get involved.
"Don't worry Sonic. I'm sure Tails will be okay until we find him," Amy said, the blue hero actually letting her words comfort him for once. He sincerely hoped that his little brother would be fine considering that the abducted mobians weren't killed on the spot. Because if Tails was hurt in anyway he's pretty sure that croc won't be the only animal to go beserk around here.
"Echidna, which opening did the croc escape into," Shadow inquired looking down over the edge into the large pool of water.
"The lowest pipe in the middle." Sonic came to stand by the agents side paling not at the drop but at the amount of water that would be surrounding him from all sides. It was almost enough to make him sick. Luckily in the next few minutes Rouge and Knuckles had glided the three hedgehogs down to the opening while the sound of pouring water roared all around them.
They continued their search in silence, alert to all the sounds around them. Imagine their surprise when at the end of the tunnel the cause for all of their trouble was standing statue still in front of two heavy looking doors like he had been waiting for them all along.
"Alright, Godzilla junior, where's Tails?" the azure hedgehog demanded while the others tensed beside him preparing for a battle. Unfortunately he went answered as the croc merely turned toward the heavy metal doors and pulled them open with great strength. What they saw was completely unlike anything they had ever seen. It was like a sanctuary.
A stone pathway from the door lead to the middle of the enormous space which formed a kind of circle where other pathways branched off to several door sized openings along a pathway. Clean water surrounded each pathway on every side and soft white flower petals and lily pads with flowers of their own floated on the surface. Vibrant ivy climbed the walls and hung across the top keeping the ceiling from sight. Lanterns hung from the strong ivy and vines, lighting the space and casting a vibrant aquamarine reflection across the clean water. In the center of the circular part of the path was a long dining table with a silky sea blue green and flower pattern table cloth. There were dozens of plates of fresh fruit spread across the length and seven chairs. Finally in the back behind the circular stone pathway was a waterfall. One could only guess that the water came from another pipe like opening above the vines but the water was also clean and pure. The five mobians who had just been traversing a dank, damp, dark disgusting sewer for the past hour were at a lost for words. They were so distracted by the elegance and beauty surrounding them that they hardly noticed the mutated crocodile Mobian dive into the sparkling waters surrounding the stone pathways. Compared to the rest of the sewers, this enormous and beautifully decorated place was like a goddess's sanctuary and completely and utterly out of place.
"Ah it seems my guests have finally arrived..." a mature female voice spoke which sounded as if the speaker possessed wisdom well beyond her years. The blurred reflection of a mobian stood just behind the waterfall before casually strolling around it to reveal herself. She was a frilled mobian with a short light blue piece of clothing that stopped a few inches above her naval. It was sleeveless but had vines twisting around her arms to her fingerless gloves. She wore a large sash around her waist that stopped before her ankles and the jewelry like anklets around them. She was barefoot, and held a staff with a teardrop shaped crystal a the top surrounded by a ring of metal. The mobians posture shouted confidence and a powerful presence.
"Please come in. I promise I won't bite," she said as if amused with some kind of joke that only she knew.
It took a moment before anyone had gathered their wits together to speak again. "I don't know who you are but where did that son a bitch take Tails," Knuckles demanded.
"The fox child is safe and that's all you need to know. I merely needed... some motivation to guide you here." She snapped her fingers and the sounds of heavy footsteps came closer and closer. Out of one the openings on the far reaches of the area was another strange creature unlike any the mobians had ever seen before. To put it simply it was a stone golem made completely of concrete. Jagged pieces of dark green shards jutted out from the sides of its arms and back and in its grip it held Tails who was smothered so tight against its body that he couldn't even think about moving.
Shadow observed with interest that this stone golem had an abnormal amount of chaos as did almost everything else in the sanctuary especially the frilled mobian. He was becoming unusually wary of it, his chaos senses starting to go a little nuts.
The moment the yellow kitsune was revealed, Amy had gasped and the blue hero had made a mad dash for his little brother only to yell out in pain when a vine had caught his leg causing him meet with the hard cold floor.
"Ugh" the blue hero groaned before checking his ankle and trying to remove the vegetation that seems to have shot out of the water.
"Tsk, tsk," the frilled mobian said taking a smooth stride toward the table in the middle of what could be called a lake. "I wouldn't try anything funny if I were you. My golem could snap his neck in an instant and that would be one less fox in the world." That seemed to get Sonic's attention, the last thing he wanted was the death of his little brother on his hands.
"Let me guess," Rouge started, looking the frilled mobian straight in the eyes, "There's something that you want in exchange for our friend."
"Nothing but a bit your time. So please have a seat. I didn't make preparations for your arrival for nothing. Allow me to show my hospitality by honoring you as guests." She gestured to the other six seats to which her guests merely stared at.
"What's wrong?" She asked as if genuinely bewildered why they hadn't taken up on her offer.
"No offense lady but we didn't come here to be in a tea party," Amy said pulling out her hammer. She wasn't too happy about the object her affection being tripped up.
"Amy is right. Whatever bait your throwing we're not biting," the blue hero said. He was particularly wary of any and all plant life in the room as he rose to his feet again. He sincerely hoped this mobian didn't have control over every plant in the room.
"I don't believe I remember giving you a choice. You either accept my hospitality or I kill your fox friend while you watch." And just to emphasize her point she looked to the golem holding Tails and the creature tightened his hold forcing a pained groan. Tails was struggling to breath in the death hug and thought any more pressure would surely start breaking bones. The other mobians in the room seemed to deflate a bit at the threat being made except for Rouge and Shadow who seemed to scrutinize the situation for a way out.
Sonic clenched his hands but eventually relented. It was so unlike anyone he had faced before to make him play their game. It was he who forced his opponents to make moves to deal with his speed and agility. The rest of the mobians followed suit behind the hero, Amy putting her hammer away, Knuckles glaring at the female lizard, and then finally Shadow and Rouge.
"Now see isn't this better?" She said looking at the frowning mobians with enthusiasm not shared by the rest as she took her place at the table. "Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Queen Ly-sa, mother nature's one true ambassador and I have invited you to my humble abode for a proposition."
"Proposition?" Shadow thought already contemplating the best possible action to take without Tails getting killed in the process.
"Some would say that Mobius is beautiful as it is now but I beg to differ," the queen began, pouring tea into a cup. "This city, this country, this planet could be so much more beautiful and the mobians who live here could be kings and predators, not tame animals coexisting with hairless apes."
The comment surprised nearly everyone at the table. There were very few mobians who hated humans enough to make a comment like that one but they were so few and far between that they were nearly forgotten amongst society. mobians who do hold such beliefs are certainly not sewer dwelling beings with a muscular bodyguard and henchman who looked like they were carved right out of the ground.
"I want to change all that to make a better world and the preparations for my plans are almost complete," she said taking a sip from her teacup as if she was some fancy rich noble at a business meeting. She took her staff and tapped on the ground a couple of times. Another golem had entered and this time it was carrying a cage. Inside the cage was the white female cat mobian that had went missing on the night Sonic and Tails patrolled the city. All pairs of eyes observed as the cat mobian snarled, her slitted eyes meeting each outside the cage with an intense need to challenge the beings they belonged to. Her fur looked unruly and wild and long claws had long torn through the gloves she wore. Sharp teeth peeked from behind her lips and saliva dripped down from her maw almost like a rabid animal. As the golem set the cage down the mobian inside continued to crouch on all fours, long white tail flicking back and forth in anticipation. She even rammed herself against the cage in a hiss rattling the metal in a manner that suggested it wasn't too happy to be put in a cage.
"What did you do to her?!" Sonic asked already beginning to feel guilty of the fact that he was unable to save the very same mobian a few nights back.
"I simply brought out her latent potential. Of course this is only the first phase of my plan. Each of the kidnapped mobians that you worked so tirelessly to find have each been injected with a little creation of mine called RHB-V1. Mutating strains of various rhabdoviridae allowed me to create a unique virus similar to rabies but not quite the same," she said gesturing to the mobian still snarling in the cage. "I have already placed each of the infected mobians in hiding places all over Station Square and at midnight tonight I will release them on the city where they will infect hundreds more mobians. It will be the first step in making a perfect utopia that embodies nature. Once the frenzied mobians have cleared the city my plants will transform it and then I'll move on to the next one."
"A perfect utopia? More like a bloodbath waiting to happen!" Knuckles responded.
"Ah but in order to achieve peace some blood must be spilt. Afterall isn't that what humans and Mobians done throughout history? Fight some war so that they can have peace in their own country? As a matter of fact isn't that what you do Sonic?" she asked smiling devilishly at the blue blur who gave a look of disgust.
"Don't compare my efforts to keep the world to safe to a mindless killing spree for a world you want to control," he clenched his fists on the table as he spoke the last few words. She chuckled at the angry look on his face genuinely amused.
"I think we've had just about enough of listening to your nonsense," Shadow said. "Why did you...invite us here?"
She paused a moment and set her teacup down and the feral mobian in the cage seemed to quiet down as well. "Because of all the Mobians on this planet none of them are quite as unique as this little group. The hero of mobius, the Ultimate Lifeform, the guardian of the Master Emerald, the spy/jewel thief, the child prodigy, you all have your own unique talents and it would be a shame to simply turn you into feral followers without giving you an opportunity to use them for something more constructive."
"Hey, what about me?" Amy said not appreciating that she was being ignored.
"What about you?" Ly-sa said coolly before turning her attention back to the rest of the Mobians. The pinkette was just moments away from pulling her hammer out again when Rouge placed a hand on her shoulder. "Not now pinkie," she whispered winking. The pink hedgehog calmed down again.
"Well I hate to break it to you Queenie but I think the vote against joining you in turning Station Square into a zoo is unanimous." He looked around the table to each of his friends to see they hadn't changed their expressions at all.
"Well I suppose there's no helping it then, but to be completely honest I thought you would say something like that. But I wanted to ask just in case." she stood from the table and tapped the butt of the staff three times. All the openings that circled the pool of water and the circle of cement centered in the middle were filled with noises that sounded like cement and gravel grinding against each other. Golems the same as the one that held Tails, started their heavy shuffle towards the group of mobians in the middle. The five of them stood up weary of the approaching danger.
"Capture them, All of them," the queen of the sanctuary demanded.
Queen Ly-sa's reign had just begun.
Not too much happened in this chapter but more is sure to come in the next chapter if this cliffhanger is anything to go by. Roxa814 out!
