Guest: I'm sorry, but the answer is no, Emma Nets' long-lost daughter will not be in this book. Thanks for the review! :)
Chapter 8: Greed
Amy sighed as she stood on the deck of her house, staring out to the ocean. It had been a while since they had heard anything from Sonic and she and the others were getting worried for their blue friend. Knuckles and Sally had to go home but made sure the pink hedgehog and the kitsune would tell them if Sonic contacted them again.
A cold breeze suddenly blew in Amy's face and she quickly went back inside. She saw Tails sat on her couch, looking something up on her laptop.
"Are you OK?" She asked the boy as she sat next to him.
"I was just reading the latest sea reports."
"What are they about?"
"They measure things like the local fish population and how healthy the coral reefs are as well as how much pollution in the water." He explained with a worried expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, according to this, the fish population as well as the welfare of the ocean has dropped greatly just this week!" He exclaimed.
"But why? I knew that it was getting worse but I didn't think it would drop that quick!"
"With what Sonic told us about this 'merillia' stuff and how it keeps the ocean alive, if he fails to do something, it could have a disastrous effect on the whole planet!"...
Sonic and his friends shivered as they swam through the freezing cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. All around them was nothing but ice and cold. Silver told them to keep moving so that they muscles wouldn't cramp and they wouldn't freeze to death. The Guide suddenly came to a stop right in front of a giant wall of ice and snow.
As they looked at it in confusion, Silver noticed something engraved into the ice, hidden under the snow. He gently wiped the snow away and saw that it was a message written in ancient Atlantian carved into the wall.
"Take whatever you need, but never from greed." The ivory merhog read out loud.
Suddenly a tunnel with smooth walls of ice formed into the wall, illuminated by glowing blue symbols on the walls. The group shared a look before swimming inside the icy tunnel. When they exited the tunnel they found themselves in a large, dark ice cavern. Silver quickly used his power to light up the area, but there were too many passages.
"Which way do we go?" Sonia asked fearfully.
"How about there?" Manic suggested and pointed down a darker passage. The others looked to where he was pointing and saw that there was a faint shimmering light at the far end of it. Sonic gave him his signature grin and thumbs up as they swam towards the light. As they swam, Sonic couldn't help but shivering.
This water was freezing!
He also noticed the light starting to fade.
"H-Hey Silv... c-could you, uh...give s-some lights-s?" He asked through chattering teeth as he looked over to the ivory merhog. But he gasped when he saw his friend slowly sinking to the icy floor. He dashed towards him, followed by the others, and held him up.
"A-Are you O-OK S-Silver?" Sonia asked as he struggled to stay awake.
"I-I-I don't know, I'm s-so cold." He whimpered.
"I'll look after h-him, you guys-s go on." She said.
Sonic and Manic gave them a look before nodding. Sonia smiled at them before lifted him up and swam towards the entrance. Sonic and Manic swam towards the light, which was much harder to see without Silver's powers. Sonic frowned in confusion when his muscles started to tremor. He felt himself slowly down in the water.
Manic slowly down when he could no longer hear Sonic swimming beside him.
He turned and gasped when he saw what was happening. He went to swim to his friend but Sonic shook his head.
"G-Go..." He mumbled, barely able to keep his eyes open.
Manic wanted to go after the blue hybrid but he knew he was right. If he got the Chaos Emeralds then maybe everything would be alright. Give his friend one last look, he swam for the light. He could feel the cold on his body but unlike Sonic and Silver, who had spent all their lives in tropical waters, he and Sonia had been all over the world so their bodies were more adapted to climate change.
When he reached it, he felt like he'd died and gone to heaven!
The entire cave was full to the brim with dozens of shining, different coloured gemstones. It was a good thing Sonia wasn't here, he doubt she'd be able to handle all of these gorgeous jewels; heck, even he was struggling to control himself. There was just one problem, they all looked exactly like the Chaos Emeralds.
He had no idea which ones were the real Chaos Emeralds.
He knew that he had to be very, very careful; the warning on the entrance kept repeating around in his freezing brain. Take whatever you need, but never from greed. One wrong move could spell disaster for him and his friends, but if he wasn't fast enough, Sonic could freeze to death. He looked around the cave and wanted to scream, this is one of those times he could really used Sonia's 'woman intuition' she keeps bragging about.
He continued to look around and stopped when he saw something.
A light blue and green gems placed among the mountains. What made these gems stand out was that these were much more duller compared to the others, even duller than the other Chaos Emeralds. A part of him wanted to keep searching, but he knew he didn't have time, he had to have hope. Taking a deep breath, Manic grabbed hold of the two gems.
After a few moments, light suddenly flooded the cave, blinding the green merhog.
When he opened his eyes he was shocked to find the mountains of jewels had turned into ordinary rocks and the two Chaos Emeralds in his hands were shining brightly and were quickly warming him up. He grinned as he swam back to Sonic. As the green and light blue light filled the cavern, Sonic slowly woke up as his body started to warm up.
He looked up and Manic and smiled...
"You did it!" Sonia cheered as her brother and Sonic swam out the ice caverns. She quickly hugged them as Silver took the emeralds from the green merhog.
"I did." Manic smirked. Sonic just rolled his eyes before turning to the guide.
"So where's the next Chaos Emerald?"
"It is with your heart's deepest desire, it is only when you realise what that truly is then the light will be revealed to you." The guide replied as he started to fade away. "Call for me when you need help."
"Wait!" Sonic cried but it was too late, the guide was gone.
"So... what now?" Silver asked.
"Now all we have to do is get Bernadette's protective necklace." Manic reminded them. "Piece of crab cake."
"How are we going to do that? We're going to need to get really close her." Sonia said.
"You can't get close to her unless you're one of her guards and we know that Shadow won't do it." Manic glared.
"Or you're called upon to prove your loyalty and devotion to her." Silver added.
"I think I have an idea." Sonic suddenly said.
"What is it?" The ivory merhog asked.
"When's the next Queen Festival?" He grinned.
"This evening." Manic replied. "In a few hours."
"Good." He nodded. "Now, I only have one other question. Can you dance?"...
