Chapter 10: Unearthed

At the bottom of the hole, Sonny and Chuck found themselves in a dark tunnel. Moving along the sides, the two eventually came to a dead end marked by a large boulder.

"Hold on, Chuck," Sonny said and stretched his legs. "I've got this."

Taking a few steps back, Sonny poised his feet and then ran into the boulder that blocked their path. It didn't break, and his head felt sore after the impact. Concerned, Chuck propped Sonny against the side of the tunnel and flexed his fingers.

"You know, speed isn't always the answer," Chuck said, clenching one fist. "Sometimes, a little punch is all it takes."

Thrusting forward, Chuck punched the boulder so hard that it crumbled into smaller pieces. Amazed, Sonny stood up and saw that the tunnel let out into the open air once more where a large wooden structure stood.

"We must be further down in the pit," Sonny guessed, rubbing his forehead. "This place is crawling with Lyric's robots."

"A perfect playground for us, then," Chuck remarked and turned to Sonny. "Unless you're still recovering from hitting your head against that boulder."

"No, I'll be fine," Sonny assured.

"Then let's go!" Chuck said as he slapped Sonny on the back so hard that he nearly fell over.

The two made their way down from the tunnel's entrance and up to the wooden structure. After taking out several of Lyric's robots, the two eventually met up with Amelia and Miles in a fenced off area with a circular floor.

"About time you guys showed up," Miles stated. "Amelia and I went on this awesome mine cart ride that took us all over the pit."

"Yeah, and not a single one of Lyric's robots noticed us," Amelia added.

"That's cool, but I got to punch a boulder after Sonny got tuckered out," Chuck bragged, flexing the arm he used for punching.

"Which happened after we destroyed a giant robot that was digging a hole in the ground," Sonny reminded wearily.

"That's odd," Miles scratched his chin. "What could be here that Lyric would go through all this trouble to dig up?"

"Maybe another Chaos Crystal," Amelia suggested. "He's probably still looking for them despite not having the map."

Just then a low but growing hum caught everyone's attention. They soon noticed a giant fan on the other side of the fenced off area which started spinning. As it spun faster, the four felt a strong gust of wind that was pushing them backwards.

"Hold on, guys!" Sonny said, reaching his hands out. "I think we're gonna—

The gust suddenly turned into a gale, which sent Sonny and the others flying through a tunnel that suddenly opened up behind them. They fell through a pipe and landed on a mine cart rail with neon arrows along the track.

"Good thing this was here," Amelia noted as she got up slowly, looking over the edge nervously. "Or we would be goners."

"No kidding," Miles nodded as he helped Sonny up.

While Chuck sat up and rubbed his head, something burst from the rock wall nearby. Startled, the four looked and saw a giant mechanical worm wiggling out of the hole it created before setting its green eyes on them.

"Run!" Sonny cried, dashing forward.

The others followed his example and ran along the mine track while avoiding the mechanical worm which kept popping out of the ground.

"Where did this thing come from?" Amelia asked as she kept running.

"I bet Lyric sent it to finish us off, or look for a Chaos Crystal and we're just in its path," Miles guessed as he activated his propeller apparatus.

Then as the mine track came to an abrupt end, Sonny and the others found themselves falling again. They landed on a ledge containing a structure where a red heart-shaped crystal floated.

"Look!" Chuck pointed. "I think that's another Chaos Crystal."

"Sure looks like one," Sonny observed. "But we'll find out soon enough."

As Sonny walked forward to grab the crystal, the mechanical worm suddenly appeared right below the structure and used its pincer-like mouth to swallow the crystal whole.

"Well, that's just great!" Chuck snapped, and noticed some floating robots heading toward them. "And more of Lyric's robots just showed up."

As the four attempted to fend off the floating robots, the mechanical worm opened its mouth to suck air in before striking the platform with its pincers. Fortunately, everyone evaded the worm's attack but this gave Miles an idea.

"Guys!" Miles shouted. "We need to throw the smaller robots into the worm's mouth with our Ener-Beams! It'll shorten its circuits and slow it down faster!"

"Gotcha!" Sonny acknowledged and lassoed the nearest robot with his Ener-Beam. "Chuck and I used the same technique to defeat the big robot we encountered earlier."

"Except we threw the robots at its arms and not its mouth," Chuck corrected before lassoing a robot himself.

Amelia and Miles did this too, and they threw the robots they caught into the worm's mouth which it sucked up before striking them. After doing this several times, the robot hung its head in a limp manner.

"Okay, now grab its pincers!" Miles ordered and shot his Ener-Beam at the nearest pincer.

The others followed Miles example, and together they pulled the worm's head down towards them. Then they took turns destroying the worm's green eye, which caused it to erupt in sparks and become completely dead. After that, the crystal floated from its mouth and hovered close to Sonny and his friends.

"We did it," Sonny said as he grabbed the crystal. "Now let's get back to Cliff and find out where the next gate is."

###

At the excavation site, Cliff told them that the red crystal was known as the Flame Crystal and the gate for it was located near Doc Ginger's tent. So the four went there and after putting the Flame Crystal in the slot, the gate opened revealing a metallic wooden road similar to the ancient ones they had been following. They then followed this road, which took them to a circular structure where a blue and gold-colored biplane stood with propellers sandwiched between the wings instead of having one in the front.

"Not too shabby for being buried a thousand years ago, huh?"

The four turned around and saw Cliff walking up to them, though he looked to be out of breath.

Looking between the biplane and Cliff, Miles said, "Did you—

"I thought this might help you four get around a little faster," Cliff explained. "So the miners offered to finish digging it up as a way of showing their gratitude for what you did in the Mines."

"Well, that's…awfully nice of them," Sonny admitted.

"Now the next Crystal is supposedly located across the sea from here," Miles remembered. "So we could definitely use this biplane to get there."

As Miles prepared to run over toward the plane, Cliff held him back.

"You may be familiar with planes, Miles, but I'm pretty sure you're not familiar with Ancients' technology enough to fly one of their devices," Cliff warned. "Now I'm coming along to teach you, and then I'll drop you four off once we reach the Crystal's location. Sound good?"

"Oh, all right," Miles agreed reluctantly.

While he got into one of the cockpits, Cliff sat in the other. As for Sonny, he stood on the plane's front while Amelia and Chuck held onto the wings. After Cliff gave Miles brief instructions, he started up the plane and sent it flying into the air.

To be continued…