After gathering the four Ratakyan Keys, a compass and the necessary weapons needed just in case, the group headed outside onto the mansion grounds where the Tornado II was waiting.
"Would you like me to tag along or do you mind if I stay here?" Tom asked as the adventurers climbed into the plane, with Tails taking the pilot's seat and the rest of the group in the back even as Sonic stood on the left wing.
"We're fine, Tom!" Lara replied, "Thanks' for askin', just make sure nobody attacks the mansion while we're gone, assumin' there are folks who think we haven't left yet and want to steal the scrolls and the keys, alright?"
The butler nodded, gave a thumbs up and saluted in a military like fashion, wishing the heroes the best of luck before heading back inside the mansion just as Tails started up the engines.
As the Tornado took off again, Sonic and Lara looked at each other with foreboding looks, pondering why they had the feeling this could possibly be the Tornado's last flight or the last time they would see Croft Mansion.
"I know," Tails said, taking notice to what was going on between the blue hedgehog and the shapely archeologist, "I'm getting an ominous sense of dread, worried about the plane and the mansion as well."
"Why the heck are we worried this is the Tornado's last flight or there's a chance somebody will blow up the mansion?" Sarah asked, scratching the back of her head while tying her hair back in a ponytail.
"Aye," Oskar shook his head, "Nothin' worth bein' nervous about, the mission will be a success and we'll get away with the treasure in hand. Besides, who's gonna try to shoot down the plane or blow the house up anyway?
"Is the GPS on?" Lara asked Tails, changing the sentence as the plane flew over the English coast and the British landscape got farther away again. "Its on." Tails replied, "I set the course to Libya after all."
"Did you install an ancient temple tracker feature in the GPS, buddy?" Sonic questioned curiously, "I wanna land somewhere near the temple without overshooting it or attracting unwanted attention from anybody."
"Got it covered, big blue." Tails said with a nod and a thumbs up, "After we got back from Yoha Island, I started updating my plane's GPS and my Miles Electric with a feature that will allow us to find ancient places."
"You're very resourceful, dear Miles." Oskar commended, "Always thinking ahead and trying your best to be helpful, there's no doubt that this is one of the main reasons why you and Sonic became friends in the first place."
"That's not the main reason why we became friends." Sonic stated, "When Tails and I first met, he was being bullied over having two-tails, despite being very smart and intelligent.
"Heck, the kid was just fresh off from dealing with an armada of world domination hungry crazy birds and had finished inventing a robotic fox dog he called Tails Pup, who's cute and lovable once ya get to know it.
"Thanks to my help, Tails was able to stand up to the bullies and we ended up bonding over adventure, planes and heroics. With his help, I was able to trash the mad doc's insane plot involving his dreaded space station of doom."
"You're talking about Robotnik when you say "the doc", right?" Lara asked, "I hope you're not talkin' about Professor Von Dumstein."
"Of course I'm talking about Eggman, who else?" Sonic retorted sarcastically, "I have no idea who Von Dumstein is, but he sounds like bad news."
"Did you expect us to talk about some power hungry genie?" Tails added, "Or maybe some diabolical magic king or a trans dimensional tyrant?"
The intrepid and fearless adventurers decided not to argue or discuss it further and just fly on, listening to the spinning motor of the plane and the pinging of the GPS as they flew over the ocean and neared Africa.
As the Tornado flew past Spain and neared the African continent, Sonic could smell the scent of Spanish food from below, remembering the time he'd visited Spain and eaten some Spanish Hot Dog Buns.
In fact, the food he could smell was Spanish Hot Dog Buns, yummy bread and delicious Frido Bandido chips. Spain and France both had a fine taste in tourist attractions, yummy food and so many attractive girls.
"Do you smell that?" The hedgehog asked his companions, "We're near Spain and I can smell some Spanish food. Mmm, yummy!"
"We already ate earlier." Tails said, rolling his eyes, "There's no time for food and we're not stopping by Spain or France to have any food."
"Maybe after we get the statue and return to England we can go to a British restaurant in London." Lara suggested, "What'cha think?"
The blue speedster's eyes widened and he gave a thumbs up, "That sounds ideal enough for a date, Lara. Excellent suggestion there, maybe we could go for some chili dogs. Y'know how much I enjoy chili dogs after all."
Tails looked over his shoulder and asked Sarah what food they should go for once the Ratakyan quest was over and, to the two-tailed fox's delight, she suggested that they have ice cream, which was Sarah's favorite.
"So?" Oskar quipped, "If the Ratakyan temple and statue are supposed to be in Libya, where is it located? Also, should we be practicing caution in that country, after all, its still a mess after the Libyan Uprising a couple years ago."
"Darn it!" Lara exclaimed, "I realized we're going into dangerous territory."
"But what about the location of the Yujunaka Temple?" Tails questioned.
"Its probably in the desert outside Benghazi. Do you have a talking GPS device pointing us in the right direction?"
"Did somebody have to ask?" A computerized voice said rhetorically.
"Who said that?" Sonic scratched his head, completely confused, "Am I hearing voices in my head or did I just hear a GPS speak?"
"I was talking, Sonic." The device replied, an onscreen sound wave bar appearing over the map, the voice sounded like Tails' voice.
"What a surprise!" Tails exclaimed happily, "Somebody has spoken, how are you today, my technological pal?"
"Perfectly fine. You are currently in Algerian airspace, please turn right and head towards Libya, would you like to know where to find the temple?"
The GPS stated that the Temple of Senga was located near Muhamanara, north of Sahba and then said, "If you want, we could land there."
"I like that," Lara said optimistically, "Whatcha think, Oskar?"
"We're may have to go to the temple by foot." Oskar replied.
"What are our transportation options?" Sonic asked.
"Camel, horse, car, bike? Dunno, I can't decide."
"I'd go with a horse." Sarah suggested with a giggle, "I like horses."
"But what about camels?" Lara grunted.
"Camels sneeze and are messy." Sonic stated, "I'm semi-allergic to 'em."
"Really?" Tails shouted, "You're allergic to camels? That's mean!"
"I don't dislike camels, its just their fur gets everywhere like cat fur."
"Allergic to fur, huh? Kinda ironic considering the fact you anthromorphic animal lot have fur on your skin." Oskar retorted with a laugh.
"HEY, don't even start!" Sonic yelled, "IT'S NOT FUNNY! I JUST WANNA AVOID GETTING SNEEZED ON, I HATE GETTING STUFF IN MY FUR!"
"Ironic considering that you, Tails and Sarah did get some bits and blood in your fur when we fought those monsters back in Brazil."
The Tornado biplane's GPS, which was actually the Miles Electric, began beeping wildly and notified the group that they were entering Libyan airspace and had flown over the Algerian-Libyan border.
Because the group had been caught up with their conversations, they'd been distracted and forgotten about where they were, Tails was the most thankful that his device had brought them back to reality.
The plane was so fast, it was easy enough to make it from point A to point B in twenty or thirty minutes. However, there was a technological feature Tails had yet to install: A device that kept track of flight time and flight distance.
Three minutes passed until the Miles Electric beeped and indicated that Sonic, Lara, Tails, Oskar and Sarah were close to the city of Muhamanara and it was time to slow and land the plane.
Moving the levers downward, tilting the steering wheel and activating the landing gear, Tails lowered the plane and they slowly descended towards the ground below before landing with a small bump.
As the Tornado halted and came to rest, Sonic jumped down from the wing and helped Lara as she climbed out, making sure not to forget her bag containing the Ratakyan Keys, her guns, dagger and grenades.
Oskar carefully exited the plane as Tails swept Sarah off her feet and carried her down to the ground as he used his tails. As the group assembled, they gazed upon the city ahead.
"Muhamanara," Lara commented as she put a hand to her hip and a hand to her head over her eyes, taking in the view, "Something tells me that the city was built by a Libyan sect of Ratakyans."
"Its incredible." Sarah breathed, absorbing the sight of Muhamanara with the marble buildings and crowded market places, just like Baru Sawaki in Egypt where they found they found the first to last key in the treasure hunt.
"But was it really built by a sect of Ratakyans here?" Tails questioned.
"Don't know." Oskar replied, he looked at Lara, "Why don't we find out?"
"Capital idea, dear boy." The archeologist clicked her fingers, "Lets do so."
The five adventurers approached the town, making sure to be on guard just in case if they ran into anybody who wasn't friendly. Hopefully the townsfolk were nice, maybe they could point them in the right direction to the temple.
Entering the streets of Muhamanara and taking in the sights around them, Sonic noted the lack of automobiles here, mostly due to the fact some areas in the Middle East or Africa didn't have cars or highways.
Why this happened to be the case was due the fact a handful of Middle Eastern people preferred the old ways with getting about on foot or riding horses. Camels were preferable, but cars or motorbikes were usually faster.
However, even when it looked like there were no signs of modern day transportation, a few motorbikes driving past along the road in an out of town or through town proved Sonic and friends wrong about their assumption.
"This town looks very peaceful and completely safe from anything fishy here." Tails said thoughtfully, "Nothing suspicious in sight, no nasty surprises waiting to jump out of the shadows at us at any second now."
"Can I help you with something, friends?"
A tall, brown-skinned man in Middle Eastern robes stood in front of Sonic, Lara, Tails, Sarah and Oskar, smiling at them sweetly beneath the veil over his mouth. He looked like a merchant, despite not carrying anything at this time.
"May we ask what your name is, Mr...?" Sarah asked.
"Rabaku, Rabaku Sunamun," Rabaku replied, bowing his head, "If there is anything you need from me, be sure to say so. Besides, you look like people who could use a ride and directions to get somewhere."
"We're looking for the Ratakyan Temple where the Yujunaka Statue waits." Sonic blurted out, he reached into Lara's bag and held up the four Keys of Senga, "We got the keys, which are needed to get inside the temple."
"You're in luck." Rabaku gestured for the group to follow him, "I know the way for its not too far from here. You know how to ride a horse, correct?"
"Thanks, Mr. Rabaku," Sarah said optimistically, "I think we're all capable of riding a horse. I learned to ride a horse when I was eight years old."
"Sonic and I went on a horseback ride once." Tails added, "It was fun, I know how to ride horses thanks to that experience."
"I haven't gone horseback riding since I was a wee lad." Oskar chimed in.
"I'm an ace horseback rider." Lara said, "I'm good at shooting at targets while on horseback, some of my friends are horseback riders."
"Then we should have no trouble riding my horses." Rabaku said happily as he led the group to a nearby open tent where three brown-colored horses with dark brown manes and eyes of different colors waited.
At first, the horses seemed to be sleeping. But when Rabaku whistled, the horses awoke and stood, neighing like all horses did. "You got some nice horses." Lara commented as she stroked a horse's chin and scratched its ear.
"This one reminds me of Samantha." Sarah said with a sweet giggle as she started to pet a horse that was sniffing and nuzzling its head against her, "Oh how I miss visiting the horse stables and helping feed the horses."
"What about the directions to the temple?" Tails asked, "I hope we're not forgetting anything very important regarding our journey."
"Do not fear." Rabaku assured, "I know the way for I have visited the temple many times before and I am of Ratakyan blood."
Sonic wasn't surprised at all that they were with somebody descended from a Ratakyan, this was because they'd met plenty of people of Ratakyan blood.
There was that old man in Brazil, museum curator Wilkson's Asian friend, Russian terrorist leader Solvetsky Romanov, those two merchants in Africa, Lara's friend Teresá and, now, Mr. Rabaku.
This world was full of surprises, well, some that weren't really surprising at all, mostly due to the fact that the surprises were expected whenever one big surprise twist unfolded one after another.
When it came to the legacy and bloodline of the long gone Ratakyans, while the tribe had been long wiped out, the lineage of the tribe-members' family always survived in some way, shape or form.
Regardless, it was comforting to know that someone of Ratakyan descent would be guiding the travelers to the temple on the final leg of their ancient treasure hunting adventure. Afterwards, they would be on their own.
Once they were in the temple, it was up to the adventurers to figure out where to go and find the statue as there was the chance the interior would be structured like a maze.
Getting lost was not an option, if they didn't get the statue or make it out, losing was not fair, humiliation was unfair as well and the idea of getting stuck in the temple forever would a nightmare.
No, the blue speedster of a hero thought as he mounted one of the horses with Lara, that will never happen. Nobody's gonna get lost in some temple labyrinth, nobody's gonna get stuck somewhere forever.
"You ok?" The attractive British accented voice of his archeology-loving girlfriend snapped Sonic back to reality, he noted that Lara had seen him shake his head as if he were trying not to think about something... not cool.
"I-I'm fine, lets ride like the wind and get a move on already." The hedgehog replied, "Just anxiety and concern, mostly because treasure hunters in the past almost got lost in ancient places forever."
"Who said anything about us getting lost in the temple, brother?" Tails quipped, he'd just mounted one of the horses with Sarah behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and resting her head against his back.
"Aye," Oskar chimed in, having just climbed onto Rabaku's horse with Rabaku himself, "Its pointless wastin' time while havin' discomforting and scary thoughts on the possibility of us failin' near the end of this quest?"
"There have been few who have gotten lost in ancient places in the midst of their quests, my friends." Rabaku said solemnly, "But in the end they always return, unfortunately, there is one who disappeared and never returned."
"Who was the adventurer who vanished?" A frightened Sarah asked.
"Dunno who it was and I don't wanna know right now." Lara replied.
"Lets get a movin' already," Oskar commented, "Lead the way, Rabaku."
With Rabaku and Oskar's horse at the front, the group took off across the desert, the horses galloping like the wind and creating a small dust storm caused by their feet kicking a bit of sand everywhere.
Sonic and Lara chuckled as they looked at each other, knowing full well that this was what it felt like to be with an animal that could run fast. Horses were very athletic, but if there was one creature that was fast, it was the cheetah
The brave heroic hedgehog hadn't seen any cheetahs in a while, the last time he'd met a cheetah, the jungle cat did not seemingly challenge him to a speed match like most cheetahs had done so whenever Sonic encountered one.
As for the idea of even riding a cheetah just like a horse or a pony, that was just silly. Try riding a lion, a tiger, a bear, a wolf or a dog, a lot of those animals were really not meant to give people rides unless they were trained to do so.
"HEY RABAKU!" Tails called over from his and Sarah's horse, "DO YOU HAVE A MAP ON YOU AND CAN WE AT LEAST HAVE ONE SO WE CAN KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING JUST IN CASE WE GET LOST?"
"The temple is not that far away, dear fox." Rabaku replied, "If it was somewhere else in some sort of canyon or valley or forest-ish maze, then yes we could use a map to somehow get there without trouble."
"By 'not that far away', you mean its close by?" Sonic asked curiously.
"Somewhere along those lines, yes. It's a one mile ride away from town."
"Well, at least we all know where to go. We trust you, Rabaku."
The group rode on, riding across the sand-covered plains, ignoring the boiling heat from the sun. Thankfully, before they got in the Tornado, Sonic, Lara and friends had already put on sunscreen.
Besides, who needed sunburn or wanted to get cooked anyway? The idea of the sun roasting the life out of you was way past uncool, it was like ending up inside a big oven and the heat of it roasting away at yourself.
Muhamanara got further and further away in the distance behind them and, when Sonic looked back to catch a glimpse of the ancient town, it seemed to vanish behind a heat wave caused by the sun.
"The Great Temple of Ratakya Yujunaka is just up ahead!" Rabaku hollered, "You can see the pillars and the symbol of the Ratakyans that stands atop the towering roof of the structure itself just over the sandy hill!"
Patting their horses on the back and galloping faster, the brave adventurers climbed the looming sand dune, seeing the top of a pillar and a gigantic stone-made version of the swirly symbol of the Ratakyan clan itself.
Reaching the top of the hill, the travelers called for their steeds to stop and the horses obeyed, allowing the two adventurous heroes, their friends and their guide to take in the view that lay just ahead them before their astonished eyes.
Half a mile away, made from blue-gray marble stone, standing tall as the Egypt Pyramids and surrounded by pillars, with the swirly symbol of Ratakya on its roof, the Great Temple of Yujunaka awaited.
"Look at the size of it!" Tails exclaimed, "Its nothing like the temple in Egypt or the shrine in the Brazilian rainforest, how many years did construction on this take and how much incredible effort was put into making the temple?"
"By my estimate," Lara commented, "It probably took two years."
"Actually, the Ratakyans made the temple well before the start of the calamity that brought about their destruction." Rabaku explained, "Construction started here a year after the Yujunaka Statue was created.
"It took three days to set up the pillar and then it took eight months to build the temple and the corridors before work on the exterior occurred over the course of a month. You could say it took a year and a half to build.
"By the time the Dark Day of Ragnarok began, the temple was already built and the founders had chosen the place to hide the statue behind locked doors, deciding it was the best option, before scattering the Keys of Senga."
"The Dark Day of Ragnarok?" Oskar was scratching his head, "Is that something to do with an apocalyptic/world-ending event where some dark force appears almost out of nowhere and devastates everything."
Sarah's jaw dropped, "Oh my gosh, I read about something like that while I was in school when I was ten years old. It was in a history class, our history teacher spoke of it. He was a creepy man who's eyes were just ugly!"
"A history teacher who was a creepy man with ugly eyes?" Tails inquired, "Who hires a teacher like that, where did this guy even come from and what in the science of Archimedes and Einstein was his name?"
"Whoever he was, I don't want to find out who." Sonic commented.
"Yeah, neither do I want to run into him." Lara said, shaking her head.
"Funny thing is, I think his name was Professor X." Sarah remarked.
"Why don't we worry about it another day and focus on the temple and the statue?" Oskar suggested, "Besides, we're at the end of our... journey and we're close to getting an important ancient artifact before anybody else does."
"If we're going to get to the temple and get inside," Rabaku said, "I suggest we be careful as there are others nearby, camped outside the entrance and these people have long known about the Ratakyans' legacy."
"Who, what?" Sonic and Lara were surprised, "Where?"
The Libyan guide pointed at the bottom of the hill and, when the five adventurers looked to where he was pointing, their eyes widened and their hearts sank with both shock and great terror.
Just down the hill, seven to ten meters away from the temple's entrance and well near the base of the small mountain, a group of archeologists, armed and masked men and nasty Arab-looking people were camped out.
Observing the scene and assessing everything, Lara looked at Sonic, Tails, Sarah and Oskar and they figured there was probably a hundred people here, all willing to try and get their hands on the statue as soon as possible.
"Montana Jane must be in that crowd." The nineteen year old archeologist growled, "Including most of me rivals. This is gonna be very complicated, if we try to make a beeline for the temple, we're gonna get caught."
"How are we gonna get over to the temple without being seen and attacked?" Tails asked nervously, "Besides, I can't just fly over there and we can't try to sneak through the encampment without things going awry."
"I could always zip over there on foot into the temple and you could sneak to the back of the temple and sneak around to the entrance unnoticed." Sonic suggested, climbing off his horse.
"Don't underestimate those rogues." Rabaku held up his hand, "I will think of a way to distract them while you make your way inside the temple. In the meantime, we might have to make a quick retreat."
"Or I could zip over right now?" Sonic suggested. Before anybody could stop him, he grabbed Lara's bag, which had the keys, revved up a figure eight dash and ran at light speed, straight towards the temple's entrance.
Within seconds, he'd made it through the open doorway and was inside the temple. The hedgehog chuckled quietly, knowing that nobody had seen him.
Sonic took in the temple's inner architecture with the towering stone pillars, multi-colored red and blue brick walls, a green carpet and torches that sat inactive as the sunlight poured in through the entrance.
Of course, the ancient Yujunaka statue lay in wait somewhere within this temple's chambers, untouched and gathering dust. It wouldn't be long now, today was the day somebody would see it for the first time in a long time.
The hedgehog spotted an altar on the other side of the room, two robed statues standing on the left and right, acting as immobile guards for whatever was sitting on the ancient dais, probably just another ancient McGuffin.
Wanting to find out, the speedy and heroic, spikey chick magnet walked across the room towards the altar, passing the pillars and walking up the small stone steps, passing by the statues until he stood in front of the altar.
Sonic looked at his surroundings, making sure nothing was coming to life or watching him from the shadows and preparing to pounce. He look a good look at the dais and saw a tablet with words inscribed upon it.
Insert three keys into the lock ahead to descend into the depths and let the shadows and torches lead your way to the artifact, the tablet read, May your journey be a safe one, ye who have gathered all of the four keys of Senga.
"Simple as that, huh?" The hedgehog commented, "Ok, no prob."
"Don't forget us, Sonic!"
"What the...?"
The hedgehog turned to see Lara, Tails, Sarah and Oskar, who'd just arrived inside the temple. "Oh. Hey there, guys." The speedy hero said with a wave and a smile, "So you managed to get here without getting caught, huh?"
"Yup." Tails nodded, "You think we were gonna stand back and let you take the statue all by yourself, we're in this together until the end. Also, we managed to get over here without getting caught."
"Before you even bother asking," Lara chimed in, holding up her hand, "We followed Rabaku to the back of the temple and we snuck around the side all the way here to the entrance, so here we are."
"I didn't mean to try and ditch you guys," Sonic said smugly, "Besides, where would I be without my tubular friends," he winked at Lara, "and my way past cool British-born archeology-themed, action-adventure girlfriend."
Lara giggled and her cheeks turned red as she blushed. "Oh, you over-the-top handsome hedgehog, no wonder you made yourself a chick magnet and how so many girls have been head over heels for you."
"Oi, lets not get distracted by Sonic's charm." Oskar cut in, "We know he's handsome and he's got a bleedin' snarky, cool, charming edge to himself, but can we wait until later to reflect on it, assuming everything goes well, eh?"
The group nodded and, with that settled, they made their way across the room towards what looked like a huge stone tablet that had three holes conveniently shaped like three of the Ratakyan keys as designed.
Upon closer inspection, Sonic realized that this was the lock that the tablet on the dais was talking about. He held up the Golden Satuyama Key and inserted it into the first lock, a mechanism clicked as the hedgehog did so.
Lara took the Green Key and inserted it into the next lock, causing another mechanism to click. Sonic gave the Sky Blue Key to Tails and he inserted it into the last lock.