The beast threaded in and out of the ice like lightning. It was obvious its goal was to make the ice sheet into more manageable floes so as to leave the group stranded.
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow cried. He aimed for the creature but it dodged the sparking bolt of energy by diving.
"Mayday, Mayday!" Eggman screamed into his gauntlet. "A wi-" he was violently cut off by being thrown at least one hundred feet into the air by the creature jettisoning itself from beneath the floe.
"I got you!" Sheptilah ran toward where she estimated he would fall. She caught him with a gust of air and softened his landing by quite a bit, but he was still stuck face-down in the snow with his legs kicking wildly.
A dazed Thunderbolt managed to sit up in her mecha. She then righted it and looked around to see where everyone was. The North Pole this time of year was always very dark with only the thin moonlight and aurora borealis to light the way.
Her mecha, luckily, did have built in floodlights. She activated them and looked around, breathing heavily. She spied rapid motion in the distance and ran toward it.
Sheptilah made an attempt to pull Eggman out of the snow but had difficulty trying to grab him by the ankle. She leaned down and gripped his thigh and trailed her hand up to his boot and pulled with all her might. The sensation of being touched there almost made him stroke out until he realized who it was and what she was doing.
Shadow teleported around the beast and used spin dashes to tear holes in it with little effect. He wanted to preserve his Chaos energy but found that brute force was not going to work with a monster so large.
"Tilly!" Eggman's voice was high-pitched with surprise. "You grabbed my thigh!"
"Yes, and?!" She was bewildered by his reaction. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the beams of the mecha lights flash followed by two small missiles whizzing just over her head.
The projectiles hit the creature head-on but caused more noise than it did damage.
"Tundra!" Eggman shouted. "For God's sake where are you?!"
"We're on our way!" The walrus was already getting his handful of troops ready for a rescue.
The creature roared and split itself into two smaller halves, one going for Shadow and the other for Thunderbolt.
The hedgehog teleported and shot a massive wave of Chaos spears at the beasts. Thunderbolt screamed as she shot the one that was aiming directly for her cockpit with alarming speed. At first she believed she made it dissipate but instead it dove down into the ice.
"Chaos spear!" Shadow cried one last time with what little energy he had left as the beast chasing him was hit. The smell of it was acrid. The hedgehog landed in the snow with a crunch and eyed the beasts as they retreated.
"We need to get off the ice." He stated the obvious.
"All the North Pole is is ice!" Eggman was brushing snow out of his hood. The sound of the ice sheets rubbing together was like nails on a chalkboard.
"They followed us here," Sheptilah spoke weakly, "In the water." She picked up Shadow and balanced him against her hip so he wasn't face-deep in the snow. He lightly gripped the neck of her cloak for leverage.
"Or they were hiding out here the whole time." Thunderbolt said as she rubbed the inside of the windshield clear of condensation.
"Shadow, can you teleport us back to the base?" Eggman said.
The hedgehog nodded, "I can try." He inhaled deeply but before the words could come out the ice floe they were on began to tilt downward at an alarming speed. The beast was pushing against the massive chunk of ice hoping to drown them.
They tried to climb up away from the water but the thick coating of fluffy snow acted like an avalanche, forcing them down into pitch black seawater.
Thunderbolt in her mech sank quickly while Eggman struggled to keep from inhaling the water as a reflex from being temperature shocked. Sheptilah, by virtue of being a shapeshifter, gave herself gills on the outside of her throat so she could breathe. So long as she didn't try to speak or breathe with her mouth she wouldn't drown. Eyes glowing to light her way, she propelled herself through the water to find the others.
Eggman allowed his body to float to what he hoped was the surface only to find that he hit solid ice. He attempted some fruitless punches but even with his mutant strength he was unable to crack it without leverage. His head filled with screaming panic when he felt something touch him only to be relieved when he saw those familiar lavender eyes staring at him like headlights on the highway.
She formed an air bubble around his head. He took in deep, greedy breaths and held onto her tightly. Her cloak was heavy when dry but soaking wet it nearly dragged her to the bottom of the sea if she stopped moving.
"I'm going to die of hypothermia," he said between shivers, "If we do not get out of the water immediately." Eggman's lips had already begun to turn blue.
She looked around for Shadow but because of his dark pelt it was nearly impossible to see him.
Shadow! She called telepathically, Shadow! Think at me - I'll find you!
Tilly? He thought back at her. Can you hear me? It sounded faint in her head. He was either very tired or very far away. She touched her Oracle Stone and pulled out a ball of raw energy and used it as a bright light source. Everything became clear to her: they were not that far from the seafloor as the thick ice sheet had pushed them down when it flipped. Shadow was struggling to pull Thunderbolt's mech free as it was wedged in a thin crevice.
The adrenaline rush was keeping Sheptilah alive and lucid enough to focus. She formed an air bubble around Shadow's head and then punched a hole in the glass of the cockpit, pulling a terrified Thunderbolt free and gave her her own bubble to breathe in.
"Where's the creature?" Shadow held onto the chinchilla's bubble.
I don't know, the witch's voice spoke.
"Holy fuck, are you a mermaid, too!?" Thunderbolt noticed the gills that looked like knife wounds on the woman's neck.
For the last time I am a witch!
"Tilly…" Eggman's voice started to drawl and his words slurred. "I don't...want to die."
"He's going to die if we don't warm him up soon." The hedgehog gripped her arm. She propelled herself forward where the gap between the ice sheet and ocean floor widened. Sheptilah was heading toward the open ocean.
A current pushed them forward as the witch-eater spiraled toward them from behind. Shadow had enough lingering energy for one massive Chaos Spear, but it would drain him to use it. He let go of Thunderbolt's bubble and waited for the beast to get up close enough so he couldn't miss.
"Chaos spear!" he said, throwing the massive bolt of energy like Zeus throwing lightning. The creature let out an ear-splitting howl before dissipating into nothingness. The shine from the spear was painfully blinding. They did not see that a few witch-eaters had split off the main amalgamation and fled.
Shadow was exhausted from using up the bulk of his Chaos energy and being submerged in the freezing cold water. Sheptilah was now becoming extremely uncomfortable in the water due to both people she was bonded to actively dying.
Please hang on, she spoke to them as well as herself, we're gonna be alright. Her vision blurred and she felt like she was struggling to stay awake. Please.
Her conscious self fell to the wayside and her Oracle Stone took over. It tracked the nearest form of life it could find: ringed seals. The small mammals were miles away but the stone warped to them nearly instantly; something Sheptilah herself didn't know how to do.
The curious and somewhat doofy creatures swam along calmly, digging their snouts in the sand and disappearing into the ice.
The witch's body followed the seals and saw they were going up into a cave. Unlike typical seal lairs this one was a naturally occurring cave and it was huge . The walls and floor of the cave looked like sea waves frozen in time except for parts worn smooth by the seals dragging their fat bellies across it. It was almost too dark to see.
The witch pulled her team through the opening and pushed them away from the edge. The frightened seals flopped away from the intruders, their barks of displeasure echoing off the walls. She immediately dried them all off by instantly evaporating the water, leaving a thin salty film on everyone but Thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt was the only conscious one. She ran to Eggman and frantically checked for a heartbeat. It was thready , but it was there.
"Help him," she begged, "He's dying."
I know, Sheptilah responded. She approached Eggman and pressed her bone-white hands to his cheeks and brushed the salt flakes away. She hummed quietly and repaired the damage done to him by the cold. She then turned to Shadow and was pleased to see he didn't need healing and was just very, very tired.
The Oracle Stone rescinded bodily and conscious control back to the witch.
"How…" She felt the fur of her cloak and was surprised that it was dry. "I…"
"Where am I?" Eggman's voice sounded hoarse. "Thunderbolt?"
The chinchilla hugged his head and rubbed her cheek against his ear. "I'll keep you warm!"
"If you had a twin I could make a decent pair of earmuffs from you. Have you sit on my shoulders and hug my head." He mused.
"I must get bigger so I can hug your whole head!" She was determined to be perfect for him.
"I try not to curse as it is rude but… fuck." Shadow's entire body ached. Laying on the ice helped to ease it a little.
"You're allowed to say fuck." Tilly spat salt out of her mouth.
"Fuck!" He groaned. Using up stored Chaos Energy was painful. Normally he had no issue with using the power lent by the stones but when so far from a Chaos Emerald things were much more difficult.
"Are you hurt? I can help you." Tilly felt around for where he was.
"Conserve your energy for now." The hedgehog warned.
Some of the more brave and curious seals slowly approached the strange group of visitors. Shadow looked around and was upset to see his bag was missing. He became panicked when he realized nobody had their packs anymore.
"How did… we get here?" Tilly looked to Thunderbolt.
"That rock on your chest brought us here. I have no idea where here is though, because it teleported us."
"I can teleport to unseen distances?" She shook her head. "I have no idea. I have no memory of it. I'm also very tired..."
"Why wouldn't it just teleport us somewhere else? Like the base?" Shadow's breath was shaky.
Sheptilah shook her head.
Eggman sat up causing Thunderbolt to lose her grip and flop onto the ice. He looked at his gauntlet and brought up a map. The ice was too thick for the gauntlet's GPS to show where they were.
"Tundra is never going to find us…" He sighed. "But if we find another way out of this cave we may be able to send out a distress signal." The screen of his gauntlet was fogged over from the cold.
Tilly moved over to the hedgehog, placed his head in her lap and stroked his cheeks comfortingly. Normally he would be annoyed with being touched like that but was too tired to argue.
"Thank you for saving us, Shadow," Tilly said.
The hedgehog closed his eyes and exhaled. "Sure thing." He then looked over at Eggman when he heard the Overlander thumping his palm against the gauntlet.
"Doctor… your eyes." Shadow said with concern.
Ivo felt his face and realized his glasses were missing and felt extremely self-conscious.
"They were always like this." He finally said.
"I love them," Thunderbolt chirped, "So devious!"
One of the smaller seals flopped up to Shadow, curiously sniffed him and then laid itself across his legs. Another came up to Sheptilah and tugged on her cloak with its mouth.
"Hi," Shadow sounded annoyed, "Can I help you?"
"Aren't you cute?" Eggman lightly pat one as it scooted by.
"Back off, back off!" Thunderbolt was tackled by one that wanted attention. One by one more of the herd emerged from what appeared to be a tunnel hidden behind an outcrop of ice.
"They're so fat!" Tilly was enamored and pet one. She was surprised to see that they felt like they were covered in wet dog fur and not soft like velvet. Ringed seals never grew bigger than the length of a labrador retriever so even the biggest of them was pretty small and endearing. Their wide, glassy eyes and kitten-like snouts betrayed their sharp, flame-shaped teeth hiding in their mouths.
"Are they stealing our body heat?" Eggman was a little irritated by their wet noses rubbing his face. He gently pushed it aside and it showed its displeasure by slapping its belly.
"We should get moving." Thunderbolt said. "We'll freeze to death if we don't."
"I saw the seals come out from behind some ice over there." The woman pointed.
"Then let's go." Eggman stood and stretched, his spine cracking.
"I don't think Shadow can move," Tilly frowned, "And not because a seal parked itself on him."
Shadow sat up defiantly and gently nudged the seal off of his legs. He then stood and took a few shaky steps. "I'm fine." Through gritted teeth he trudged a few feet before falling over.
The witch sighed and scooped up Shadow in her arms. She supported him with one arm and buttoned the cloak around him with the other, essentially making a papoose for him to nestle in.
"Like a little baby," she shook her head to brush some of his spines out of her face, "With built-in pricklies."
"Baby Mobian hedgehogs don't have 'pricklies'." He corrected her, yawning broadly as he did so. "I shouldn't be this tired." He rested his chin on her shoulder.
"I think it's the cold too; not just you using up your power." She had a good grip on him so he wouldn't slip. He limply wrapped his arms around her neck.
"Thunderbolt? Some light, please." Eggman looked down at her.
The chinchilla jumped up and activated her cybernetics so that it would give off enough illumination to comfortably see by. Eggman bent down and picked her up so that the light was at the Overlanders' eye level. Was he finally coming around to her? Her tiny rodent mind raced with the romantic possibilities.
The Overlanders, each with a Mobian in tow, made their way past the chunk of ice blocking the view of a natural path through the glacier.
"Next time I will bring a Chaos Emerald with me." Shadow was falling asleep.
"At least you have a cute lady to carry you," Eggman quipped, "I know for a fact you all would leave my bloated corpse behind with Thunderbolt fruitlessly trying to drag me across the ice."
"What? Of course not," Sheptilah furrowed her brows, "We'd eat you."
They wandered in the cave paths for hours. The only sounds were their echoing footsteps on the crunchy ice until Eggman led them to a massive cave where floor was coated in dry sand.
"Did you know that hedgehogs are likely to go into a kind of hibernation in the cold?" Eggman broke the silence.
"No, I didn't. We didn't have hedgehogs where I'm from. Most of the Mobians were pangolins, armadillos or hamsters. Typical desert animals, you know?" Sheptilah whispered so she wouldn't wake the sleeping hedgehog or cause a cave-in.
"There are desert hedgehogs;" he cocked a brow, "So you've never seen one before? That sounds like paradise."
"I guess I have not seen one, no." She shrugged.
"You can't open a portal here, can you?" Eggman kept his voice equally low. Shadow's ears twitched when the Overlanders spoke but he remained asleep. Occasionally he nuzzled his face into her collar, tickling her neck with his soft breathing.
"No. Without people coming and going there won't be many, if any, knots in the Universe I can pull open."
"It's obvious nobody has been here for many, many years." Thunderbolt said.
"Great acoustics, though." Eggman cleared his throat. "Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting..." His deep voice singing the lyrics to Here Comes The Sun echoed off the walls of the cavern beautifully. Shadow's ears twitched but he didn't wake.
Thunderbolt looked up at him and gasped softly. Who knew he could sing?
"Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear... Here comes the sun... doo doo doo doo." He grinned, satisfied with how he sounded. "With the right acoustics anyone can sound good."
"What song was that?" Thunderbolt said.
"Old Beatles song." He explained. "Really old."
"We should keep moving." Sheptilah adjusted her grip on her familiar. "I'm starting to fall asleep, too."
"Alright. Let's go." He began walking again and held up Thunderbolt like a flashlight when he picked up the faint smell of wood.
"Do you smell that?" He asked the witch. She shook her head. "Thunderbolt; turn up the wattage."
The chinchilla obliged and the cave brightened quite a bit. In the distance the image of a very old scuttled ship took shape. It was an explorer's vessel from at least two hundred years prior made entirely out of wood. The air around it smelled stale and earthy.
Painted on the hull was the ship's name: HIRMS Цветущий снег.
"His Imperial Royal Ship Blossoming Snow?" Sheptilah could read the Russian because it was hand-painted onto the hull.
"I'm not sure," Eggman cautiously approached the boat, "But I can guarantee you there are bodies in here."
Here Comes The Sun circa 1969 by George Harrison