Author's Note: Okay, this is definitely the last chapter of 2020, I'm certain of it this time. I found the time to do it before New Years Eve, and while I do hope 2021 will be a little bit better, anything could happen so it's best to prepare ourselves.
Anyway, enjoy reading!
I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. The franchise belongs to Sega. I only own Sun the Hedgehog and Kaiser the Myth Hunter, Keith and Master Koga.
Chapter 18: The Shamar Treatment.
When Sonic and his friends arrived at Shamar, not only it was on the other side of the planet even though it was daytime there too, surprising the group as Sonic, Chip and Sun had been asleep during the trip there, but also that it reminded him of the Arabian Nights, a desert with palm trees, an Oasis, intense heat, and sand. Lots, and lots of sand. The four friends hopped out of the Tornado 1 and walked along the streets as they gazed around in awe, though both Tails and Sun felt more than a little uncomfortable with the heat.
"Phew! It's really hot here." Tails panted a little, wiping his forehead.
"Ugh. The heat in this place is worse than in Mazuri. What is it with people in places like that and this and in Holoska being able to cope when it's either too hot or too cold?" Sun groaned, doing his best to ran himself with his hand.
"Like I said before, Sun. They adapt in it since they were born in places as such." Sonic explained smirking, before gazing around as he muttered, more to himself than to his best friends. "Now, where can we find anybody to direct us to the Gaia Temple?"
"The first thing to do is to find Professor Pickle's research facility here. I'll wait there while you guys ask around for where the Temple is." The two-tailed fox reminded.
"Sure thing, Tails. We'll meet you there as soon as we find whoever can direct us to the Temple." The cobalt hero winked, giving his adoptive little brother a thumbs up.
"I wonder if anybody would know where the Professor's new lab is?" Chip muttered, glancing around as he tried to find anything that proved to resemble to the University or something similar.
"It'd never hurt to ask." Said Sonic as he shrugged.
"It'd never hurt to ask for shade, a glass of water and maybe some air conditioning either." The dark-blue hedgehog grumbled. "Or at least a hat and maybe a pair of sunglasses."
The blue hedgehog smirked. "Don't worry, buddy. I'm sure the marketplace has plenty of that sort of thing. Hey, maybe it's a good place to ask for directions for the places we need to get to as wel."
"Good idea!" Tails and Chip both chorused happily.
So the foursome heroes ventured around Shamar's streets, down the small water filled path and across the city which Sonic thought was bigger than Holoska and Chun-Nan. As he and his friends walked and searched, he felt vibes of familiarity kick in, even with a few people staring at them as the two hedgehogs, two-tailed fox and little pixie walked, which began to eventually make them feel more than a little uncomfortable. Eventually they found the market place, which had tons of stores selling Shamar-Fashioned everyday items.
Even with the money they saved up, the group still felt stares right at them, but Sonic, Tails, Chip and Sun were doing their best to ignore them and instead asked around for any directions of Professor Pickle's research lab, and the directions leading to the Gaia Temple. During that time, Sun, unable to stand the heat any longer, headed over to an accessory shop that sold doo hickeys and, to his relief, pairs of sunglasses of all kinds, though most of them looked too silly and ridiculous. They had frames of either heart shapes, pineapple shapes, shark shapes, anything that would make him feel too embarrassed.
'Ugh, come on. Isn't there a pair that won't make me look like an idiot?' Sun groaned in his mind, getting more and more irritated. All he wanted was to avoid going blind and to cool off for crying out loud!
"Fresh fish!" One of the vendors suddenly called out from behind him, causing the dark-blue hedgehog to yelp in fright as he spun around, and saw that a human man was holding out a dead fish to a couple of customers, who were a couple well into their late thirties, but still looking quite young.
And like him, they had been unexpectedly startled as they both backed away.
"We catch 'em, you buy 'em!" The vendor continued loudly, and too enthusiastically.
"Uh...no thanks." The man, another human said uneasily with an awkward smile.
The woman, apparently the man's wife, backed away and accidentally bumped into a Mobian Lizard who was happily sipping some juice, causing him to gulp it down the wrong way and choked a bit, causing the couple to notice and wince.
"Oh, excuse me." The woman muttered.
Suddenly the Lizard let out a huge belch which created a stream of bubbles that emerged like a flame thrower, much to the bewilderment and disgust of all three of them. The poor guy tapped his chest to get air back into his lungs.
"Okay, that was pretty disgusting." Sun remarked, cringing.
A bit ahead of them, Sonic, Tails and Chip heard the commotion and looked over their shoulders. While they noticed the dark-blue hedgehog cringing away after deciding to simply give up on getting himself a pair of sunglasses, he blinked on what was going on.
"I am deeply very sorry, sir." The female customer apologized as she and her husband moved away.
Sighing and deciding that he wasted enough time, Sun just sighed while shaking his head and walked away to rejoin his friends who noticed he was empty handed and still grumpy over the heat he had to endure around here.
"No luck in getting shades, huh?" Sonic remarked, his hands on his hips.
"There's plenty of them, but they all look too stupid that would make me feel like a clown." Sun grumbled, his eyes closed in annoyance. "Who would ever want to wear a pair of sunglasses with frames designed from a pineapple?"
"It's for fun fashion, Sun. It's called being creative." The blue hedgehog shrugged with a smirk.
His friend gave him a deadpanned look. "Did they hire a six year old to do that?"
"I'd be careful with your attitude, dude. 'Cause you never know, a six year old kid would be very upset and I happen to be friends with a sweet, and very polite little girl of that age, and saved her and her mom from Egg-Brain." Sonic said knowingly, still smirking.
"Can we just get going and find the temple and the lab already? I'm hot, thirsty and more than a little cranky here!" Sun half-shouted impatiently.
"Okay, okay. To be honest, I am gettin' kinda thirsty too. We're probably gonna need heaps of water or whatever to keep our fluids up. I have a feeling we'll be crossing the desert just to find the Temple." Sonic chuckled, leading his three friends over to a fruity juice stand.
"Me too, and we still haven't found the new lab either." Tails added.
"I'm so thirsty I could drink a river." Chip panted, which made the dark-blue hedgehog snort in amusement, even though he felt like doing the same thing.
The four of them got into line as the vendor was selling tons of fruity drinks from pineapples to grape fruits and guavas, every fruit that was native to Shamar and people of all around were flocking to have some. Sonic and his friends got to the counter in a matter of minutes.
"Well, hello there. What can I do for you, youngsters?" The vendor, a man in his mid-fifties greeted.
"I'd like four super special orders of fruity drinks pronto, thanks." Sonic replied.
"You're in luck, son. I know just the thing that makes everybody's day here in Shamar!" The man replied with glee, already getting to work with the drinks.
"Cool!" The blue hedgehog chuckled.
"Cool and refreshing."
'That was cheesy.' Sun thought to himself, shaking his head while Sonic, Tails and Chip laughed.
Though as the four friends were just waiting for their orders, Sonic caught something with the corner of his eye and gazed to his left curiously. What he saw made him shocked; two children, a little girl no older than seven and a four year old boy, clearly her younger brother, looked like they had just been knocked over by a couple of older kids who had stolen their money and greedily ran off after using the girl's savings to buy themselves heaps of fruit around the corner. The little boy began to cry while his older sister, very upset herself, tried to comfort him.
"I'm sorry, Oli." The girl sighed. "Come on. Let's go home and have mom make us drinks."
"B-But Mommy gave us the money. She promised w-we could buy the super special f-fruity drinks today!" Oli, the little boy, sobbed into his older sister's chest. "It's my birthday, and I wanted it for months."
"I know...Maybe next year." The girl soothed as best as she could, though she held a very sad and guilty look for not being able to fufill her brother's birthday wish.
Seeing the scene made Sonic uncomfortable, and it broke his heart to see how such creeps would ruin a kid's birthday wish. Clearly they had a life that wasn't easy and they couldn't buy drinks whenever they wanted, only on a rare occasion, especially in a place like this. Plus, he hated seeing people cry and the little boy and his older sister just had their money stolen from bullies who clearly had no heart or care.
He knew what he had to do as his eyes narrowed with determination.
"Make that six of those fruity drinks." Sonic re-ordered as he turned back to the vendor, confusing him, Tails, Chip and Sun who blinked at the blue hedgehog's sudden slight change of order.
"Uh, alright. Six super Pineapple and Grape Fruitys coming right up." The Vendor replied, getting straight to work on the teenager's orders.
"Sonic, what's going on?" Sun asked, raising an eyebrow. "You can't be that thirsty."
"You'll see." Was the blue hedgehog's reply as he waited somewhat impatiently, keeping his eye on the two upset children and hoped that they would still be there by the time the drinks are done.
Fortunately the guy did it in impressive speed, though not as fast as the fastest thing alive, but close enough and handed out six of the refreshing juicy cold drinks and as Sonic paid for them with the help of Tails, the blue hedgehog had his best friend hold his own, and picked up the two extras, thanking the guy.
"I'll be back in a jiffy." He told his friends, and without waiting for a response, he hurried over to the two children, which the other three Mobians finally noticed and blinked in surprise.
As Oli's crying rendered to a tearful sniffling, his sister was about to lead her very upset and disappointed brother back home when the blue hedgehog approached, greeting. "Hi there."
"Huh?" The young girl looked up, as did her brother, and blinked with slight apprehension. "Um...H-hello?"
"It's okay, kids. I won't hurt you. Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear what was going on and I felt bad about it. So I decided to give you two something really special." Sonic said with a compassionate smile. He handed over the promising drinks carefully to the children who stared at them in surprise, with Oli's eyes all lit up excitedly. "Here you go."
"For us?" The young girl asked, suspiciously though a strong part of her was saying that this unusual visitor was indeed to be trusted and very kind.
Sonic nodded with a wink. "Mm-hm!"
"Um...but why?" She asked, hesitantly.
"I don't need a reason to help out other people. I just like to do it." The fifteen year old replied. "How could I ignore others in need?"
"Um...T-thank you, Mr..." The girl replied, carefully taking one of the drinks, while her brother took the other happily.
"Just call me Sonic." Sonic replied.
"Oh, wow! Thank you, Sonic! This is the best birthday ever!" Oli cheered happily, already sipping on the drink longingly and moaned in delight. "Yummy!"
Sonic laughed as the little girl, realizing now that the blue hedgehog was indeed a very nice person and to be trusted, smiled happily. "Oh, thank you so much, Mr. Sonic. You've made my brother's dream come true. He's always wanted this for his birthday for ages."
"No problem. Always happy to help." Sonic replied, giving the girl a thumbs up, before carefully patting her and the little boy on the head which made the children giggle, before he said to Oli. "Happy Birthday, kid."
The children beamed happy smiles once more, and surprisingly hugged the blue hedgehog who blinked a bit before smiling once more and gently rubbed their backs, relieved to have made their day and having cheered them up, especially the young birthday boy, while Tails, Chip and Sun stared at the scene in surprise, making the two-tailed fox and the pixie-dog beam bright smiles over the heart-warming scene, and the dark-blue hedgehog gaze on in awe. To see how Sonic was showing off such generousity towards other people he barely knows, to those in need, it was...amazing.
Sonic really had such a strong heart, and it made Sun smile softly as he felt touched by what he was witnessing as well. After Sonic and the two children stopped hugging, they thanked him again and waved a goodbye as they headed for home, while he waved back with a chuckle before rejoining his friends, pleased with himself as the two-tailed kit handed him his drink back, to which his older brother thanked him.
"That was very nice of you, Sonic." Tails said happily.
"I just wanted to make that kid's day." Sonic shrugged with one shoulder, before taking a sip of his own drink and moaned happily. "And I can see why he wanted it so much. This Super Pineapple and Grape Fruitys rocks!"
"It's so delicious and refreshing, and what you did was just as sweet and generous, Sonic!" Chip agreed and praised, sucking away his drink only to pause after half way before winching with a yelp when he ended up getting a brain-freeze.
"Shoulda warned ya' to slow down before ya' got a brain freeze, Chip." The blue hedgehog softly chuckled, though he couldn't blame his friend for enjoying it so much, and both Tails and Sun were enjoying theirs as well.
"Ah, that's much better. It's delicious and cool." Sun sighed, before saying to his fellow hedgehog. "Seriously, though. The way how you helped out those kids, it was...well...very nice."
"What can I say? Birthdays should never be ruined." The cobalt hero winked. "Now then, let's keep on finding the lab and that Temple, shall we?"
"Did I hear you say...lab and temple?" An unfamiliar female voice questioned behind the group, who spun around in alarm as neither of them even heard the person walk up to them.
When Sonic and his friends saw who it was, it was a female Mobian Guana with yellow skin, deep jet-black eyes with thick eyelashes, wearing a red robe, about in her mid-twenties from the looks of it. The appearance of her and the way she smiled gave the four Mobians the chills, as Chip gulped nervously before hiding behind the blue hedgehog, shivering.
"Uh, yeah?" Sonic said, slowly and feeling some bad vibes coming from this woman.
"Well, aren't you all a bunch of adorable boys? Really plump and ripe and quite lively. If there is a lab and a Temple you need to find, you can come with me and I'll will help you children to find your way." The Guana Lady chuckled, making the four flinch in fear, and the stares around them worsened. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of you."
"Thanks, but no thanks, lady. We can take care of ourselves." Sun replied, glaring at the suspicious woman to hide the fact that he was terrified.
"Are you certain? You're all welcome to join me in my humble home." She replied, reaching over.
Feeling the vibes grow worse, Sonic and his friends knew that this lady meant trouble and since that they were in a crowd who didn't seem to be doing anything, or just simply didn't care while the vendor gulped before ducking behind the counter in fear, they were in the risk of being kidnapped and held against their will.
"Sonic, I'm little scared." Tails whispered, holding onto his best friend's/big brother's arm.
"Don't be afraid. Why don't you join me for a nice, freshing meal?" The Mobian Guana offered, which set the group off.
"RUN!" Sonic screamed, making sure Chip held onto tightly onto his head while grabbing Tails' left arm and Sun's right arm before dashing away using his speed to quickly get away from the dangerous lady who simply stood there, as the crowd stared at the Mobians that were running away in fear.
She stood there in silence before pouting, folding her arms. "What is it with tourists running away from me? What do I look like, a wicked witch?"
The Guana Lady then gazed around at the crowd who all gulped nervously, and instantly turned around, minding their own business and some of them actually moving away. Sighing, she then turned and began to make for home, hissing to herself. "Hmph! No sense of entertainment."
"Halt!"
Freezing in her tracks, the Mobian Guana turned around and saw, to her dismay, a bunch of men with clothes that resembled to that of guards from the royal Palace and soon surrounded her and blocking off every way for her to escape.
"We've got you know, Mistress Guana. You're under arrest, and this time, you won't get away with plots of kidnapping, attempted murder and for cannibalism." The head Guard declared, glaring at the woman who hissed again, before groaning.
"Finally caught, and because of four children being immune to my spell." Mistress Guana sighed in humiliated defeat, just as she was then tied up in rope and lead away by the guards. Everyone else who saw this all sighed in relief before giving out cheers for the criminal's arrest at long last.
Once in a safe distance away from the crazy Guana lady, Sonic stopped near an alley, and let go of two of his friends who, feeling dizzy for having been dragged so fast, sighed in relief as did Chip, and all four of them panted in relief.
"Oh man! That lady really knows how to creep people out." Sonic breathed, one hand to his chest as he leaned against the side of a building.
"I was worried that she was going to kidnap and then eat us." Chip shivered, still clinging onto the blue hedgehog's quills without hurting him.
"It's almost like she was trying to hypnotize us." Tails said, still feeling pale from the terrifying experience.
"So much for finding the Temple before Professor Pickle and Amy get here. Where are we, anyway?" Sun sighed, wiping his forehead.
Realizing where they were, the group looked around to find that they were in an unfamiliar part of Shamar, far away from both the market place and the Tornado 1. They could be anywhere, but given how big this place is and they still haven't found the exit, they realized one thing.
"Uh...Oops. Guess we're lost." The blue hedgehog shrugged sheepishly. That made Tails facepalm himself, Chip gasp in shock, and Sun to groan loudly.
"Just great! Now how're we going to find the stupid lab and that temple!? This just can't get any worse!" The dark-blue hedgehog exclaimed in frustration.
"Hey, how was I supposed to know this place had a creepy lady out to trick people and eat them?" Sonic pointed out, glaring at the other hedgehog. "It's not like I got us lost on purpose. That lady just...really creeped me out and that's saying something."
Tails, not wanting an argument break out, suggested. "Maybe if we went back the way we came, we'll be back in the market place and keep on looking for someone to ask for directions."
"Yeah, before we end up in real big trouble." Chip nodded in agreement, flying off of the blue hedgehog's head and looked around nervously.
"I'm sorry, guys. I've never felt so scared of anything much before." Sonic sighed, realizing how much trouble he put his friends into. He rubbed his right arm as he lowered his gaze, his guilt over the situation rising up again. "I have no idea what's wrong with me."
While his adoptive little brother and pixie-dog friend gazed at the blue hedgehog worriedly, Sun's expression softened as he lashed out at him for no reason, letting his anger and frustration get the better of him, where he should have been grateful that Sonic had saved them from the potential threat of being lured into a trap by a crazy Guana Lady. He then felt a sharp pain in his chest, and winched while trying not to make it known.
"Ah, his guilt has grown. Which means we are growing stronger. Perhaps now you will see that he has no need for you. Once night comes, devour Sonic." The voice of the beast said in his mind, and what frightened the dark-blue hedgehog was that he could practically see it smile evilly in his mind's eye.
'Put a cork in it, Hair-ball! I told you, I am, not, going, to, eat him! Leave me and my friends alone!' Sun mentally snapped, refusing to obey the evil monster's command.
"Halt!" Another unfamiliar voice shouted, causing the group to gasp in surprise, before gazing over while the voice continued. "Do not move!"
Sonic, Tails, Chip and Sun all gasped in shock and confusion as a group of guards, armed with spears and swords, began approaching them and as the four bewildered friends backed away, they found themselves trapped at the dead end. The number of guards is nine and they were quite serious on making sure the group didn't escape.
"We're in real big trouble...!" Chip quivered, gulping nervously.
"You are all to come with us, for trespassing an restricted area." The head of the Guards declared.
"Wait! We didn't know this was restricted and we didn't do anything wrong! My friends and I are visiting here and we just got lost!" Sonic protested, holding his hands up in defense and surrender.
"We're just trying to find Professor Pickle's lab, and the Temple of Gaia, honest!" Tails added.
"Look, we'll leave straight away. Just let us go. None of us want any trouble." The blue hedgehog continued, with a hint of pleading in his voice.
"The King will be the judge of that, brats!" The Guard grunted, before ordering the other eight men. "Take them away to the dungeons, and inform the king to give these intruders their sentence!"
"SENTENCE!?" Sonic, Tails, Chip and even Sun exclaimed in horror.
"No, please! I beg you!" The hero of Mobius pleaded. He didn't want to fight and end up in the same situation as he had gone through when he was mistaken for Shadow. He didn't want to go through the nightmare of being a fugitive all over again.
"SILENCE!" The Guard shouted, as the men moved in to arrest the group with both Tails and Chip hiding behind Sonic who did his best to shield them, and Sun glared hard at the men.
The next thing the four of them knew, they were hand-cuffed with shackles and ropes, even though the pixie-dog ended up having his waist cuffed due to his hands being too small, but was then attached to Sonic's left arm. All them knew that because of an accident, they were arrested and ultimately doomed to be sentenced by the King of Shamar.
Around forty-five minutes later, Sonic and his friends were all locked up in the dark dungeons of the Palace of Shamar which rested just outside of the City, on the other side from where Tails parked the Tornado 1, unshackled but now trapped and waiting for their sentence. The blue hedgehog had repeatedly been calling out for him and his companions to be released, but they were ultimately ignored.
"Hey! Let us go! None of us did anything wrong! You can't just lock us up just because we got lost! It's not fair!" Sonic screamed, pounding on the door. He didn't want to run the risk of a jailbreak as he knew it would only make things worse, and then they still wouldn't be able to get to Professor Pickle's new Lab or even to the Temple of Gaia.
Luckily, the dungeons weren't dark enough for Sun to end up turning into a Werehog, but if this keeps up, they knew that if the King saw him as a beast, they were definitely going for a sentence worse than they would've liked. Speaking of the dark-blue hedgehog, he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, while Tails was sitting on the edge of the wooden, uncomfortable bench that was used as a bed for prisoners, swinging his legs in hopelessness, and Chip was flying around, panicking.
"This is horrible! Why would they arrest us just because we went to a place we didn't know that we weren't meant to go? What if we're locked up for the rest of our lives? Or they won't let us come back or even allowed to get to the Temple of Gaia? Or worse? What if they kill us?" Chip ranted frantically.
"I don't get it. We only wanted to find the lab and the temple and now we're stuck here." Tails sighed, shivering as he rubbed his arms as the pixie's words made him increasingly scared, which decreased their chances in saving the world from Eggman. It was becoming so hopeless.
"Sonic, just stop. They're not going to let us out unless it's to see their king, and even then, I'm not getting my hopes up that he'll believe us." Sun sighed, getting a headache and knowing that what his friend was trying to do was futile.
Despite that he wanted to keep going, Sonic, in guilt, fear, sorrow, anger and exhaustion, knew that his friend was right. He finally stopped, slowly lowering his hands and thought about what was going to happen to them. To think that they only just arrived in Shamar and one step closer in restoring Mobius, now because of some lady that frightened him and his friends, they ended up lost in an restricted area, arrested just for that, doomed to be sentenced by the city's king who was probably just as cruel and not one to listen to as the guards, which made it more sense on how the people in the streets had been staring at the four friends since they got here, and because of that...
Mobius is doomed. Doomed to be turned into Eggman's giant fortress, doomed to be ruled by the evil cruel man, everyone doomed to spend the rest of their lives as his slaves, and with the power of Dark Gaia, easily overwhelmed and killed. Sonic's nightmare would come true, the world will never be fully restored, and even if he had given Shadow the remaining Chaos Emeralds, he still needed Chip's necklace, so it wouldn't do any good since both the Emeralds and the gem were here.
"We failed...I failed...!" Sonic whispered, his voice cracking with tears. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling weak on his legs, and not paying attention to Sun, Tails or even Chip(who noticed and paused in his panic attack) muttering his name, the fifteen year old hero fell onto his knees, and his hands on the ground.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed, tears stinging his eyes, as he then pounded the ground hard with his fist in frustration and sorrow. "IT'S NOT FAIR! How could I have let this happen!?"
"Sonic...!" Tails whispered, but knew that there wasn't a thing he or the others could do, as tears formed in his eyes before a few slid free. He'd never seen his older brother so helpless before, but if the blue hedgehog was feeling this way, then all was ultimately lost this time.
Eggman has truly won.
'It's all my fault...It's all my fault...! The world's like this, Eggman's gonna take over, Dark Gaia's gonna destroy everything, Sun won't be able to be cured, the monster's going to kill him, take over his body, turn into a giant monster like in my nightmares and then eat me, and kill everyone...and Chip...he'll never get his memories back, because of me...! What'm I gonna do?' Sonic thought helplessly, tear droplets falling onto the ground unconsciously.
For the first time in his life, Sonic felt true crushing defeat, all because of his carelessness.
"It's all my fault...Eggman defeated me. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm sorry, guys. I let you down. I let everybody down. We've lost...!" He muttered softly, in guilt, defeat, and sorrow. The crushed hero then sat on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest, unable to look at his friends whom got captured because of him. "It's hopeless now...What're we gonna do?"
"W-what?" Chip asked, shocked as he, Tails and Sun stared at their friend in disbelief.
"Sonic...You're not giving up, are you?" Sun asked, glaring in disbelief.
"What else can I do? It's over! Don't you see? Eggman won because of my stupidity! It's all my fault! I have no idea how to fix this mess! I want to keep going, but I have no idea how! We're locked up and most likely either spend the rest of our lives here or-or something even worse!" Sonic almost shouted and screamed, glaring over his shoulder at the other hedgehog.
"Sonic...!" Tails muttered.
Unable to look at his friends any longer, the blue hedgehog looked away and continued in self-disgust. "We were so close...so close! Only three more continents...now they're never be fixed! Maybe I'm not a hero after all...I'm just...I'M A HEDGEHOG OF DISASTER!"
Sonic buried his face into his arms, his heart breaking into pieces, which broke the hearts of Tails and Chip who began to softly cry themselves, not knowing what to do. Sun on the other hand, unable to cope with Sonic's sudden surrender and defeat, Sun growled angrily before yelling, marching over while forcing his friend up and unexpectedly punched Sonic on the side of the face, causing the blue hedgehog to stumble back and fall onto the ground, hissing in pain as he placed a hand onto his left cheek that would be bruised for a while yet. Sonic stared up at his rival-turned-friend in shock.
"SONIC!" Tails and Chip both shouted in shock, unable to believe what just happened, but as they wanted to race over to the blue hedgehog to see if he was alright, the invisible aura of anger from Sun made them stand back, worried that he might turn into a Werehog or the beast was taking over.
"Listen to yourself! You're giving up just because of this!? Is this what everybody would want? For you to give up that easily!? I don't know about Tails or the squirt, but I sure as heck won't let you give up, Sonic the Hedgehog! What happened to your determination!? I don't remember much, I don't know if I'm a clone or not, but even I know the fact we can't just give up like this! So suck it up, grow up and stop acting like a baby!" Sun yelled.
That stung Sonic's pride as he felt hurt. He looked away in shame, knowing that Sun was right. When was the last time he felt like this? When he was little, he cried when he accidentally broke his mother's vase that her mother had given her years ago, and retreated to his room as self-punishment, believing that his parents would be so angry that they would stop loving him. He had admittedly planned on running away until his parents and uncle came into his room, disappointed that he broke the vase, but when he profesly apologized while crying, saying that he didn't mean it, they saw just how upset he'd been with himself.
Sonic's mother, realizing how much he felt so guilty and had locked himself up in his room as punishment before she would tell him to do so, approached her son and hugged him, allowing him to cry in her chest as she gave him comfort, and when he pleaded her not to hate him, Bernadette gently told him that she would never hate him, that ever since she learned she was pregnant with him, she loved him much more than the vase and that he was more important to her, that she would be devastated to lose him as vases can be replaced, but families and friends were not, and cautioned him to be more careful. It was then he realized how much he'd been loved and vowed to be more careful in the house, which had his father Jules and Uncle Chuck to join in for the group hug.
And Sonic knew, with his friends around, none of them would ever let him give up. When the guilt-ridden hedgehog looked up at the dark-blue hedgehog, his eyes widened as he saw tears begin to form in his violet eyes, as Sun breathed in and out heavily.
"I'm sorry, Sun. You're right." Sonic replied, sighing as he stood up slowly, rubbing his sore cheek. "I know wishing and what-ifs won't make any difference, but I wish I could turn back time and stop myself from making the biggest mistake of my entire life. That way, you and Chip wouldn't have lost your memories, you wouldn't have been turned into a Werehog at night or having the thought of you being my clone, and...we wouldn't be locked up in this dungeon."
Sonic gazed soley into Sun's eyes, before throwing himself into the latter's chest and hugged him tightly, surprising the dark-blue hedgehog who blinked, before sighing and hugged the distraught blue hedgehog back.
"...Sorry for punching you like that." Sun whispered.
"It's okay..." Sonic sniffled. "I deserved it. I hate to admit it, but...I'm scared."
"Oh, come on. Anybody who says they're not scared of anything is an idiot." His rival-turned-friend pointed out, smirking a little, which made Sonic chuckle, the two moving back to face each other once more.
"That's true." The blue hedgehog replied, smiling softly before wiping away his tears.
"Sonic, even though we are locked up, you always never gave up. We're still here, aren't we?" Tails said softly, once he and Chip felt it was alright to approach the two hedgehogs.
"Yeah, and if we have to, we could bust ourselves out." The pixie-dog added, which made the other three gaze at him slightly incredulously, making him shrug. "Well, it's an idea."
"But that would only make us fugitives, Chip." The eight year old cub pointed out.
"He's right, buddy. Plus, I don't want to go through the Shadow Scenario all over again, not like this. If we do, then there's no way we'd be able to move around and in and out of the Professor's new lab here freely like we did in Spagonia." Sonic agreed, sighing as he ran his hand through his quills. "I just hope the king will listen to us if we told him the truth."
"Maybe some chocolate will make us feel a bit better." Chip said, pulling out four bars after restocking earlier, and handed the other three to Tails, Sun and Sonic who smiled softly after the other two thanked him a bit awkwardly.
"Thanks, Chip." The blue hedgehog replied, sighing. "I'll bet Amy and Pickle are wondering where we are and probably be asking around but end up getting the same staring treatment we got earlier."
"Probably." The two-tailed fox muttered, only for him and his friends to hear footsteps and when the four of them looked up with Sonic turning around to see what was going on, their hearts stopped as the guards that had locked them up had returned, unlocking and opening the door.
"You kids, come out now. The king and his two guests are waiting for you." The head Guard ordered.
'Oh, great. Who else wants to-' Sonic paused in his thoughts as a horrifying thought came into his mind, his eyes widening in panic. 'Oh no! Don't tell me Eggman's behind the treatment! That would explain why we were stared at before being arrested!'
None the less, without a way to fight their way through without making themselves look like they were bad guys, the teenage hero and his friends had no choice but to obey, and followed the guards who surrounded them, though they didn't cuff them up this time which was quite odd. As they walked, Soinc couldn't help but think that this place almost resembled to Erazor Djinn's palace in the world of the Arabian Nights, and as Tails found himself holding onto the older Mobian's hand, the blue hedgehog gave the younger Mobian's a gentle and comforting squeeze.
As they walked closer to the throne room away from the dungeons and through the hallway, windows viewing the landscape of Shamar's desert and the far view of the city, Sonic felt his anxiety over facing the possibility of Eggman being in the room, having convinced the King with more lies, swallowing fearfully over the thought of Sun being handed over while the blue hedgehog and his two friends would be sentenced to life in the dungeons...
Or possibly beheaded. That thought made him touch his throat with his right hand, horrified over this as he tried to force back the urge to whimper in fear. Knowing the evil doctor, he would enjoy having the moment of Sonic losing his head and it made him feel nauseous.
'Oh, please. Don't make us lose our heads...!' Sonic pleaded in his mind, only vaguely aware of the leading Guard ordering the other guards to open the doors, making the announcement of entering.
Following the man almost automatically, the blue hedgehog squeezed his eyes shut as he found himself unable to bear in seeing Eggman's appearance and twisted evil grin of victory, and attempted to block out the man's annoying and sickening laughter. In fact, he was so focused on blocking out the vision and sound of reality that he failed to hear the surprised and relieved sounds from his friends, until he heard something, or rather, someone he'd least expected to hear, and not who he thought he'd be facing.
"SONIC!"
"Huh!?" Snapping out of his nightmarish thoughts, Sonic opened his eyes and looked up. To his surprise and relief, the guests of the King, who was an aging man in royal Shamar garments sitting on the throne with crimson hair and sapphire-green eyes, were not Eggman or one of his robots. Instead, it was Amy, who had screamed out his name, and Professor Pickle who was greeting Tails and Chip in relief.
"Amy!? Professor!?" Sonic exclaimed, bewildered yet very relieved. So much so that he didn't even wince or flinch as his self-proclaimed girlfriend leaped into his chest and hugged him tightly, though he was startled and cringed just how tight she was holding him.
"Oh, Sonic! I was so worried! When the Professor and I heard those mean guards arrested you wrongly, I thought I would never see you again!" The pink hedgehog exclaimed, as she began to cry which made the blue hedgehog uncomfortable, but he did smile and for once longed for her embrace. So much so that he returned it, holding her close to him.
"Take it easy, Ames. I'm alright. Don't cry." The fifteen year old whispered, feeling hope return, and that everything was suddenly all right again. After being locked up in that dungeon, Sonic felt his courage and determination return, and that they still had a chance in restoring Mobius, curing Sun and helping him and Chip remember their pasts.
While Sun was still in disbelief on the situation, he noticed both Sonic and Amy hugging each other, and despite the blue hedgehog's continuous denial, he couldn't help but smirk just how relieved and happy his friend was. But he decided to let it slide and let the two 'lovebirds' have their moment and turned his attention back to Pickle, wondering if the old guy knew the King in front of them.
"Oh, thank heavens, you boys are alright. I was deeply worried when Tails didn't find my research lab." Pickle sighed in relief.
"We're sorry, Professor. We got lost, and we had to run away from this scary Guana Lady who wanted to kidnap us." Tails apologetically replied.
"We ended up in this restricted area we didn't know about and were talking about heading back to the market place to find the lab and the Gaia Temple." Chip added.
"I take you young ones are speaking of the ancient Temple that has not been visited in centuries?" The King spoke up in a deep voice, making all five Mobians to look up at the king who stared back. "I heard what Professor Pickle has said, and while that area is restricted, I deeply apologize for the treatment you all have been given. In fact, I wish to thank you for your help."
"Huh? Oh, um..." Sonic, realizing that he and his friends, who realized the same thing, didn't bow, quickly did so and knelt down onto their knees to show their respects, before he asked. "Um, how did we help you, your majesty?"
"Because you are the first to have not fallen victims into Mistress Guana's treachery, it was easy to arrest her as she has been kidnapping people by luring them into her home and attempted to devour them. Some managed to escape, but others...could not. Yet she could not be captured as she always changes her appearance up until today." The King of Shamar replied.
"Wait! Are you saying she really is..." Sonic trailed off in horror.
"A...Cannibal?" Tails finished, feeling sick to the stomach and his face beginning to turn green.
Amy gasped in horror as she covered her mouth with her hands, while Sun cringed and Pickle looking just as horrified.
"Um...mixing the two together, does a cannibal mean people eating other people?" Chip asked, turning as pale as a ghost.
"Close enough, little one. It means not just people eating other people, but Mobini animals eating their own kind." The King grimly replied.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The pixie-dog screamed, before falling onto the floor and fainted, which his friends stared at him with sympathy and concern, yet feeling how he felt.
"Now I'm really glad I got us away from that crazy lady. She wanted to trick us into revealing where we could find the lab and the temple by offering us to join her for lunch." The blue hedgehog shuddered slightly.
"If you let me ask my question, your royal highness, why wouldn't your guards believe us before they dragged us off to the dungeon?" Sun asked, raising an eye-brow skeptically.
"We had to take safety precautions, especially with what has happened twenty years ago, when the cruel Mobian who hunts for myths and kills without mercy came, wishing to prove the myth of a cave that does not exist. We have been cautious for visitors for two decades since that day, and our people are suspicious of outsiders." The Shamar King explained.
"Kaiser..." Sonic muttered angrily, narrowing his eyes while gritting his teeth. "That's why everybody's been staring at us because of the fear that monster's caused. I should've known...!"
"Great...First Mazuri, Spagonia, Holoska, then Chun-Nan, now Shamar. Where hasn't that Myth-Hunting loser threatened yet, a Beach?" Sun groaned in frustration, facepalming himself.
"So you have met that foul murderer." The King surmised.
Sonic nodded, "Yeah, we met him. He threatened to kill my friends Amy, Sun and Chip and just the other day, he brutally wounded four people in Chun-Nan, but we managed to stop him twice and cleared up a misunderstanding in Holoska due to the horrible things he did."
"Even though he's another horrible man, that Cheetah almost killed Dr. Eggman ten years ago too." Chip added.
"Even Eggman almost got killed by the Myth Hunter?" Amy asked incredulously, and Sonic nodded to confirm it.
"I see." The King hummed, deeply concerned. "And given what the Professor has informed me, the world has been split by Dr. Eggman, and you, Sonic the Hedgehog, have failed to stop him from doing so."
Hearing these words made Sonic feel like he was stabbed in the heart by a knife, and he lowered his gaze in guilt. "I'm sorry, your majesty. I tried, I really did. It...it wasn't enough."
"Sonic..." Amy whispered, worriedly.
"But...that doesn't mean I won't stop in saving it." The blue hedgehog continued, forcing himself to push down his guilt and gazed back up at the king before him with determination. "We managed to put four pieces of Mobius back together, and we've only got three more to go. That's the reason why we're here, to place this continent back to where it should be, and restore the Chaos Emerald. I won't stop until the planet is saved and Eggman's defeated again!"
As Amy, while still concerned, smiled in relief over her 'boyfriend's' renewed confidence and determination, Tails, Chip and even Sun smiled in relief to see Sonic back to his old self(well, mostly anyway), Pickle smiled approvingly and the King stared at the young cobalt Mobian in thought. He could see hurt and guilt in the teenager's eyes, but those green pupils also held determination, courage, compassion, and strength within his heart.
"Then I will not stop you or your friends from accomplishing this difficult trial. The Ancient Temple you seek lies in the heart of the desert. However, because of the evil Dark Gaia's influence, it is guarded by a Dark Guardian who will stand in your way. Be vigilant as it only appears at night. During the day, well, I can't be certain for that." The Shamar King encouraged. "You and your friends are clear from all charges and welcomed to return here as many times as you want."
"We'll handle this guardian!" Sonic declared, smirking as the excitement in kicking another Dark Gaia monster's butt filled him as he stood up along with his friends. "You can count on us!"
Sun, who wasn't looking forward in having to go to the temple at night, and Chip stood and nodded in agreement.
"Very well. Go forth, young Sonic. The world's fate lies in your hands." The King replied.
"Thank you." The blue hedgehog nodded, bowing to the king as did the others. He then turned to Amy, Tails and Pickle, and told them with a wink and a thumbs up. "This time we'll head to the Temple and then meet up with you guys at the lab later."
"Go for it, Sonic!" Tails cheered.
"You can do it!" Amy cheered on happily.
"Safe journey, Sonic, Chip and Sun." Pickle informed them.
"Yeah!" Sonic gave the trio a two-finger salute.
"Right." Sun nodded.
"Roger!" Chip saluted with determination.
With that in mind and thanking the King for understanding, relieved that they weren't going to be sentenced after all and they still had a chance to save Mobius, Sonic dashed out of the Palace with Chip and Sun(who screamed as usual) towards their destination, determined to find their way.
On Angel Island, which was in the process of rising to the sky again before coming to a stop back to it's original position now that the Master Emerald has been restored, Knuckles and Shadow watched as the island was beginning to float away from the region of Apotos where the Echidna's latest journey began, and were in deep in thought on the situation.
Unfortunately for the Guardian, Rouge had been waiting for him and despite the black hedgehog's disapproval, she hitched the ride and thus was told of what was going on, but told her to not reveal anything about Sun's origins and condition in fear of GUN doing something more brutal about it before Sonic could cure the dark-blue hedgehog.
"Well, I've heard of Kaiser, but I didn't think we'd end up encountering him. He's definitely brutal and has been on GUN's most wanted list for decades." The bat thief remarked, as she sat on the steps of the shrine.
"Brutal is an understatement with that guy." Knuckles grunted, his arms folded to his chest, his eyes focused on the Master Emerald now that it was back to it's original state, yet he was well into the conversation. "I couldn't believe what he just did that night. It's worse than what Tikal's father had done 4,000 years ago. As Sonic would describe him, the Myth Hunter is a monster."
"And the fact that the cute dark-blue hedgehog comes from Sonic? He's too different to be anything like him." Rouge continued.
"Tell me about it." The red echidna agreed.
"Even so, it is a possibility." Shadow spoke up, gazing over the horizon in the same posture as Knuckles. "There's also the concern of the beast inside Sun's body. If Dr. Eggman attempts to use him, it's going to be dangerous."
"Yeah, well, that guy was crying not long after you left." Knuckles pointed out, sighing as he cringed over the memory. "And Sonic..."
"...Thanks, Sonic." Sun whispered, finding himself hugging his friend back as tears leaked and to Sonic and everyone else's concern, he began crying.
"Shhh...It'll be okay." The blue hedgehog whispered, gently rubbing his friends back to comfort him. "Don't cry."
But Sun continued to cry, and all Sonic could do was try to support him, and was soon joined by Tails and Chip who hugged the upset dark-blue hedgehog, the four friends hugging each other in a heartbreaking embrace. Knuckles and the Chaotix could only gaze on with worry.
"I knew he wouldn't want to accept it, especially since it was the monster inside of Sun that you and I were feeling uneasy with, and I think Sonic sensed it too without even knowing. If Sun is a clone...then Dark Gaia will get him." He continued, uneasily.
"Sonic is determined to find out the truth and protect him. Days ago, he didn't trust that new hedgehog. Now the two of them have become close friends, along with Chip...whatever he is." Shadow muttered, closing his eyes deep in thought.
"Poor things." Rouge sighed, sympathetically as she rested her chin in one hand. "Eggman really must be losing it if he's willing to split the world apart and summon an ancient giant ugly monster just to build is dumb old Empire."
"Which is why I have informed GUN to let me know where the doctor will be heading next or if there is any sign of him. The three remaining continents are Shamar and two others." The Ultimate Lifeform said firmly.
Knuckles nodded, turning around. "Tails called me a little while ago with his new Miles-Tech or whatever it calls it and told me that he and the others are headed to Shamar for a new base as well as locating the fifth Gaia Temple."
"Ugh. That place. Nothing but sand everywhere." The white bat groaned in disgust.
"You just don't like it because there aren't any jewels or other kinds of treasure there." The red echidna scoffed, which earned him an angry and insulted glare from the thief/spy, and to his horror when she turned around quickly, she stormed up to him and bashed him hard on the head that he collapsed onto the ground. "OW!"
"Oh, so I'm not allowed to not like a place for anything other than it doesn't have any valuables, huh!?" Rouge snapped angrily. "Well, you could've fooled me, Knuckie!"
"Oh yeah!? Prove it!" Knuckles roared angrily as he stood up, glaring right at her face with a large bump on his head.
This lead to a cloud of dust war as the two Mobians then attempted to overwhelm each other in a fight and bickering, even though Rouge was more bashing him up due to Knuckles(even though he didn't want to admit it) somewhat going easy on her, thus he was being left with more bruises than necessary. Shadow watched the performance and rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh before shaking his head.
"Unbelievable." The black hedgehog muttered under his breath, just as his communicator rang, and he answered immediately. "This is Shadow."
He listened into the conversation while trying to block out the noise in the background. It was from Agent Topaz. "Shadow? Do you read me?...And what's that noise?"
"Yes, I can hear you. Just Rouge and Knuckles fighting again. We're still on Angel Island. Is there any sightings of Dr. Eggman?" Shadow replied, while mentally wishing for Rouge and Knuckles to shut up as their yells and punches were too loud.
"Again? *Sigh* Those two are worse than a married couple." Topaz groaned in exasperation when she heard her partner and friend fighting the red echidna again.
"Tell me about it." The black hedgehog grumbled in agreement.
"Anyway, we've located Dr. Eggman. He's in another fortress robot that looks like an Eagle, and is heading towards the still broken continent of Shamar." The GUN agent continued.
"Shamar!?" Shadow whispered in shock, his heart stopping for a moment. Given that Knuckles just told him and Rouge of Sonic's current whereabouts, he mentally cursed at Eggman's bad timing to pick a region to go to next...unless he has been keeping an eye on Sonic and Sun since Chun-Nan, which seemed more logical.
Which means that Sonic and his group were in grave danger.
"Understood. I'm on my way. Shadow out." The black hedgehog declared and hung up, before storming over quickly to his two squabbling companions who by then stopped fighting, with Rouge on top of Knuckles's back once again while the sixteen year old tried to get the bat thief off of him.
"GET OFF! OR I'LL MAKE YOU!" Knuckles screamed angrily.
"I think you're starting to lose your touch, sweetheart." Rouge smirked cheekily.
"WHY YOU CONNIVING-!"
"ENOUGH!" Shadow shouted loud enough to get the two to glance up at him, a bit surprised but mostly annoyed. "We have a situation. I got a call from Agent Topaz. She's found out where Dr. Eggman is."
"Where?" The other two Mobians asked.
"The same place Sonic is currently at." Was the answer.
The eyes of both Rouge and Knuckles especially widened in horror the moment they heard that, while the black hedgehog continued. "The doctor was spotted in a giant robot Eagle and is heading towards Shamar as we speak."
"Uh-oh...That's not good." Rouge said worriedly as she immediately stood up and letting the red echidna go, while the latter stood up quickly.
"Then we'd better get there and stop Eggman before he attacks Sonic and kidnaps Sun!" Knuckles declared.
"You're right. Let's go." Shadow nodded in agreement.
"Mind if I come along?" The white bat volunteered, and when the two males glanced at her, she shrugged. "I happen to like Sonic too, you know. Besides, Sun does sound really interesting to get to know, and if Dr. Eggman thinks I'm going to let this slide, he's got another thing coming."
Despite that Knuckles had his suspicions that she wanted to come along mainly just to find anything valuable from the evil scientist, he decided to not argue the point as Sonic's group were in danger. So in the end, he and the black hedgehog just nodded, before hurrying to the latter's plane he had been using through out this situation.
Once all three of them boarded, they(as much as the red echidna didn't like the idea of leaving the Master Emerald on it's own but was worried about Sonic, Tails, Chip and Sun) then flew off from Angel Island and towards Shamar, hoping that it wasn't too late.
Unaware that they weren't the only ones going there.
A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger, but hopefully I'll be able to get around to the next chapter after New Year's Day(assuming my computer doesn't die on me or fanfiction is still around).
As such, the dangers in Shamar have just began and it's only going to be even more dangerous.
See you later and Happy(well, kind of) New Year!