Cannonballs whizzed by and struck the desert floor, blasting large amounts of sand into the air. Sonic, unfazed, quickly dashed through the sandblasts and closed in on the ship.

"Don't let 'em get near the ship boys!" Risky yelled. "Activate the secret weapon!"

One of the Tinkerbats nodded and scurried back deck to a wall of levers. He appeared extremely confused, the grabbed a lever and pulled it.

At that point, the large jaw of the ship dropped open, and a large wooden barrel fell into place and was held there. "No, you idiot!" Risky cried. "Wrong lever!"

"Sonic, get me close!" Shantae said.

"Are you crazy?!" Sonic yelled. "We'll get trashed!"

"Just trust me! I know what I'm doing!" She said. "Otherwise we won't get anywhere!" Sonic hesitantly nodded before gunning it for the barrel.

"What do you mean it's jammed?!" Risky yelled at one of her Tinkerbats. She was so distracted with yelling at her Tinkerbats she didn't notice Sonic and Shantae getting close.

"Only got one shot with this... hope this works..." Shantae thought, before whipping her hair forward at the barrel. The sharp collision of her hair with the barrel created sparks, which caused it to ignite. Sonic backed off just before the barrel exploded in the jaws of the mech.

"You see what your idiocy gets you? Now pull the right lever this time!" Risky yelled. A few seconds later a large cannon appeared in the jaws of the ship's hull. "Now!" Risky called, drawing her sword and pointing it at the two. "Open fire!"

"Sonic, watch out!" Shantae cried, pointing at the large cannon in front of them.

"Huh?" Was all Sonic said before the cannon fired a large, drill-like anchor at the two. "Whoa!" Sonic yelled as he dodged to the side, narrowly missing the anchor. But Shantae was not so lucky. The sharp anchor whizzed by her and grazed her arm, cutting into her skin. She let out a sharp cry of pain before gripping her arm where she was grazed. Searing pain shot up her arm as the crimson liquid dripped down her arm.

"Shantae?!" Sonic cried, before seeing the red liquid seeping in between her fingers.

"I'll be fine," she said, wincing. "Let's just get Risky out of the way!"

"So, give up yet?" Risky taunted. "Just submit, and I can promise your demise will be swift and painless."

"Like I'll ever submit to you, jerk!" Shantae yelled. "You've caused too much misery to the people of this island!"

"You had your choice," Risky grinned wickedly. "Tinkerbats, fire the weapon again! And don't miss this time!"

The jaw of the ship's hull opened again, and another barrel fell into lock. "I said the weapon, you dolt!"

"Man, her Tinkerbats are seriously incompetent this time around," Shantae remarked. Now, Sonic, get me close." Shantae asked again. Sonic shook his head. "I got it this time."

"What are you..." Shantae asked, before Sonic took off so fast she thought she was going to fly off. Tears formed in her eyes as Sonic's speed increased. 'Oh god, why?!' She thought to herself as she held on for dear life with one arm.

Sonic noticed a horde of Nagas up ahead. He smirked to himself as he activated his boost powers and blasted crashed into the horde of Nagas, sending them flying into barrel at high speed, causing it to explode.

"Stop pulling that lever!" Risky yelled, gritting her teeth. "Don't make me come back there! I will not hesitate to kill you along with them!"

Risky pressed a button on her cuff, and then two cannon-like weapons extruded from the sides of the ship. She smirked. "Let's see you try to dodge this!" She yelled. Then in an instant, two giant, super-heated lasers fired from the devices. The desert sands where the lasers hit fused to glass, and started closing in on Sonic and Shantae.

"Oh jeez," Sonic said. "Gotta move!" Then he dashed forward at the hull of the ship.

"She seriously wants us dead..." Shantae said to herself. "I guess she is going power-crazy.."

Sonic thumped the hull of the ship, and a liquid started leaking from the hull of the ship. An idea formed in Shantae's head.

"Sonic," she said. "Get her to fire her lasers at whatever that liquid!" Sonic nodded and backed off from the hull of the ship.

"Give up already!" Risky yelled. "Otherwise I'll make sure you're both extra crispy!"

Shantae stuck her tongue out a performed a raspberry. Risky's face turned red with anger. "Fire the lasers, and make sure they're both ashes when this is over!"

The lasers struck the desert floor again, and Sonic lured on of the lasers over the trail of liquid. The trail caught on fire and soon caught up and went up into the ship's hull, followed by a series of explosions and black smoke billowing from the hull of the ship.

"What?!" Risky yelled, stamping her foot. "Now the engines are failing!" She turned and glared coldly at the two. "Mark this you two, this is only the beginning." She said coldly. "Any more interference, this entire island meets a watery grave." Her ship then turned and took off away from the two.

"Yeah!" Shantae said, looking off in the direction of Risky's ship. "That'll teach you to mess with us, blueskin!"

"Man, I guess some of my personality is rubbing off on you eh?" Sonic said. Shantae blushed, then smiled. "I guess so." She replied.

"Well, that wasn't too hard." Sonic said, grinning cockily. "You ok Shantae?"

Shantae nodded. "It's only a cut. I'll be fine." She then pointed out near the edge of the desert. "That's Oasis City!"

"Well, we're on the right track!" Sonic said. "Let's go!"

The desert palms seemed to stretch into the sky as the heroes entered into Oasis City. Even though the hot sun still bore down on the trio like in the desert, the city was significantly cooler that the desert itself.

"Not bad," Sonic said, observing the city. "Shame it's gotta be out in the middle of the desert."

"Eh, it serves as a traveling waypoint for those passing through the desert." Shantae said, still holding her injured arm. "Sky's place should be around here somewhere.."

"First things first, let's get you fixed up." Tails said, taking a bandaging kit out of his backpack. "Can't have you walk around with an open would exposed to the desert."

"Look, I'll be fine" Shantae said.

"Shantae, just let me see the wound." Tails said. "The last thing we need is for you get sick out here."

Shantae sighed. "Fine.." She removed her hand from covering her wound. Tails took a closer look. "Good lord, Shantae, it's worse than you think." He said, bandaging the wound. "If that shot came any closer, it probably would have severed your arm." Shantae shuddered at the thought.

After a short wait, the gash where Shantae was hit on her arm was bandaged up. "Ok, so where's this Sky person you mentioned?"

"The hatchery for her war birds should be around here somewhere..." Shantae said, looking around the city. "That looks like it right there!" She pointed to a large building with a bunch of nests around it. "That's the hatchery!"

"Hey, Sky, you here?" Shantae called inside. The inside was filled with the incessant chattering of birds, some even larger than Sonic or Tails.

Inside stood a girl about the same age as Shantae, wearing long, skintight white pants, and long brown boots. Around her waist and chest was a dark lavender tubetop, bound together in the front by satin cord. Most of her golden hair was covered up by a cyan bandana, along with a dark lavender hood and cape, aside from long sideburn locks and two large bangs in the front of her head and wore cyan and lavender egg-shaped on her wrist, protected by a leather glove, was a lavender falcon with blue wings.

"Oh, hey Shantae!" She said, turning to the three. "Been a while since you came out here. Give me a visit every now and then, huh?"

"Yeah, I'll see to that later." Shantae said, rubbing the back of her head.

"What happened to you anyways?" She asked. You look like you got in a fight with about ten Nagas or so."

"Make that one blue one. Piloting a giant flying ship." Sonic said. "Sonic's the name, by the way."

"Nice to meet you." Sky said. "So, my guess is Risky's back in buisness?"

Shantae nodded. "And if we don't find the Chaos Emerald, things could get disastrous."

"Chaos Emeralds?" Sky asked, looking confused. "First time I've heard of those here.. What are they?"

"Let me explain," Tails stepped in.

"So, Risky's using these for world domination?" Sky asked after Tails finished explaining.

Sonic nodded. "If we don't find those Chaos Emeralds, every single one of our worlds is done for."

"Well, that meteor shower had some meteors striking the desert." Sky said. "In fact, I think one struck the Golem Mine just this recent shower."

"Chances are, that's where the Emerald is." Sonic said. "We've got no time to lose. Let's get moving."

"I'm coming with you." Sky said. "After all, who said I couldn't join in on the fun?"

"Sky.." Shantae said.

"C'mon, let's go!" Sonic said. And thus, the four took off into the desert for the Golem Mine...