He walked through the corridors of the temple's under levels, his footsteps echoing through the halls cross every wall. The only light in the darkness came from lit torches, lit torches that had remained lit after countless years.
This place was truly like a maze, so huge and nearly impossible to navigate, but it was close by, the door and, beyond it, the prize that had waited there for thousands of years for somebody to claim it.
Ghostly voices whispered, echoing through the darkness, saying things in an ancient dialect. The adventurer could make out one word the spirits were saying, "Danger, danger. Danger is close by. Danger!"
He turned a corner, walked a few more paces and there was the door, tall and metallic with a key hole in it. No, two holes. The brave hero reached into his pocket and pulled out two of the keys he hadn't used yet, knowing what to do.
Inserting the ancient keys, he allowed the mechanisms to turn on their own as the door unlocked and creaked open, paving the way for entry into the tall room ahead, covered in webs with shadows moving and, just ahead, the statue.
It sat upon a dais, gold and shiny with small patches of dust after sitting there for years, untouched and not held by hands in a long time. Despite looking at it from a distance, it still looked like a small gorilla.
The spikey adventurer walked forth, eager to get the statue, even as small, black and furry creatures with glowing eyes emerged from the shadows, mewing and purring for attention as some rubbed against the hero's legs.
How long had these animals survived down here without food, they looked healthy and fine, who had been feeding them and why would cats be left inside a temple for centuries, alone and uncared for?
Knowing what he had to do and promising to take care of the felines, the hedgehog continued walking across the room, getting closer and closer to the statue just sitting on the dais like the scrolls and the key.
A few more steps remained, the distance between him and the statue closing until it was in his reach. Reaching out his hand, he checked his surroundings to make sure there wasn't any traps in sight, about to stop him.
Without any hesitation, the intrepid adventurer grabbed the statue and held it in his hands, regarding the beauty of its design and blowing off the dust upon it until the statue was clean and shinier than it had been in years.
Turning to leave the room, the brave hero remembered that he had to take care of the cats that were here, glowing eyes staring into him as he began to think of what to do and how to get all of these animals out of here.
Footsteps echoed as somebody else approached and a low chuckle filled the room, soon changing into maniacal, ominous laughing and then a villainous cackle as a tall, rotund man with orange hair stepped from the shadows.
"Hand over the statue to Kidarn Tombort." The man demanded, "You have done well, but it is mine in the end. Hand it over now! Obey the wishes of the brilliant Ovidrocot Toborkin, you foolish rodent."
"No, the statue is mine, whoever the heck you're supposed to be." The hero replied, shoving the statue into his pocket, "After all, I got the statue and beat so many others to it. I'm the one who found the keys, so its mine."
"We shall see." The man discarded his orange hair and his scraggly beard, which turned out to be wigs, and tore of his cloak, standing there in a red and black uniform with a yellow cape before removing his blue-colored sunglasses.
The villain's dark-red eyes glowed like flashlights as he began to cackle again, drawing a ray gun. The hero knew who this was, he should've known those two names were anagrams, anagrams for his own nemesis.
The mad doctor fired his ray gun and the hero attempted to dodge, but his legs had suddenly frozen. The laser bolt struck him and the darkness began to engulf the adventurer, his insane and unhinged foe laughing with glee...
Sonic woke and sat up, eyes wide with shock as he took a minute to take it in and think of what these dreams were trying to tell him, just why was he having these nightmares and what was waiting for him at the temple?
Recovering from the terror of the dream, the blue hero remembered that he was at Croft Mansion back in England, having just returned from Yoha Island along with his friends, Lara and her pal Oskar.
Also, he was in the living room, napping on the couch. In fact, the others were taking naps as well as part of their little "rest up before going after the Yujunaka Statue", which they needed after days of pursuing keys.
"Man, that dream sucks..." The speedy adventurer muttered, rubbing his head, "I gotta chill, nothin' too bad is gonna happen. We just grab the statue and get outta here, its that simple, the doc's not gonna come and snatch it."
Climbing off the couch, he decided to go to the kitchen and get a drink, hoping that it would calm his nerves. The hedgehog needed to relax and not worry, nobody was going to take the statue but him and his friends.
As far as he was concerned, the doc was not going to show up. But still, could it be possible, that Kidarn Tombort and Ovidrocot Toborkin were anagrams for none other than...?
No, Sonic thought, shaking his head, It can't be possible. Could it?
"Mr. Sonic?"
Soon as the blue hero had entered the kitchen, he bumped right into Tom, who'd obviously had not expected to find Sonic awake from his nap. The hedgehog looked at the butler and chuckled, "Didn't expect to bump into you."
Tom smiled, "Nobody expects to bump into anybody unless its important that you bump into somebody you know and trust, my boy. Did you have some sort of dream while you were napping that made you wake up?"
As Sonic got himself a drink of milk from the fridge, he began to explain to the forty year old butler about the dream where he encountered a certain mad doctor while in the Ratakyan Temple, getting the Yujunaka statue.
Once the explanation was done and the hedgehog had said that he'd experienced the dream before, Tom scratched his chin and told Sonic, "I get the feeling these fever dreams of yours are some sort of warning."
"Really?" The speedster commented after sipping a bit of milk as he sat at the table in the dining room, "How so? I was confident that we would get that statue and get outta here without somebody coming in to snatch it away."
"Well, something tells me that, while you will get the statue, you probably might not walk away with it without a fight." Tom replied, "Many people want it and this villain you see in your dreams might be waiting in the shadows."
"Obviously wanting to get the statue, but whomever this... Ovidrocot Toborkin or Kidarn Tombort fellow is, he's bad news and my gut instinct tells me that he could be associated with Doctor Eggman."
"While I wish you and Lara good luck on getting the statue, I advise you to be on alert at all times, the darkest of secrets hide in the shadows, waiting to emerge. Some things might not be always what they seem to be."
"Huh, fair point. Thanks for the advice."
"I'm always will be of assistance required by Ms. Croft and any of her friends."
"Is everything ok?" A familiar female voice asked, "We heard voices from down the hall and wanted to see what the problem was."
Sonic and Tom turned and saw Lara, Tails, Sarah and Oskar, they'd just woken from their naps in the living room. That's right, they were having their naps in the living room just like Sonic.
"We're cool." The blue hero replied, "I just woke up after a little, uh, fever dream. It wasn't too bad honestly, but still, it was enough to make me wake up and get a drink so I could calm my nerves and not be a damn worry wart."
"A fever dream?" Tails asked, "Are you saying you had a nasty nightmare? Sorry to hear that, its probably nervousness getting to you."
"Either way, its just like one of my previous nightmares that I had while we were on our way to Egypt, a certain somebody showed up and attacked me."
"That sounds wee ominous in my opinion." Oskar commented, "Nothin' like me nightmares where a giant horned snake monster with red eyes shows up."
"Really, a giant dragon snake monster with horns and red eyes actually shows up in your nightmares from time to time?" Sarah asked.
"Aye, a hideous giant snake monster thing. It was hideous I tell yeh, it still is. Dunno what me dream is sayin', but its probably a warnin' of what's ter come."
"That does sound ominous." Lara commented, "I dunno, Oskar. Somethin' tells me that these nightmares are warnings of things that are coming."
"My suggestion is not to worry about it." Tom said calmly, "Its going to be a long time before we ever encounter whatever that creature is."
Oskar nodded, "Aye, nothin' to be too worried about for now. The only thing we must focus on is the temple and the statue as well as making sure nobody gets it before we do, so we might as well get goin' since we're awake now."
"Splendid idea, buddy." Sonic gave a wink and a thumbs up, "I think we're well rested up enough to get goin'. But first, lets get the keys and gather any other necessary supplies includin' weapons, we need 'em just in case."
Lara snapped her fingers, "Spot on. I'll grab a couple guns, lemme grab a dagger, just in case if me guns aren't enough."
"Eh, why do you have to use a dagger when you're good with guns?" Tails quipped, "Besides, I had a bad encounter with a couple knife wielding psychos when I was very young and it was traumatizing"
"Well," The female archeologist pat the shivering two tailed fox on the head as if he was a little kid, "This time, the knife wielder you're gonna be with is very nice and promises not to hurt anybody and that person using a knife is me."