Author's Note: Spoiler warning-Parts of the Sun the Hedgehog story will be mentioned here. If you wish to avoid spoilers, you're welcome to do so. Other than that, happy reading!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Chapter 4: Quest for the Sun Stone.
Even though Soleanna had been evacuated and news went everywhere that their Princess is missing, hopefully taken to safety by the rumored sights of Sonic the Hedgehog who prevented an ancient curse from spreading according to Maidens and staff of the Palace, the city was already taken over by the transformed organization known as S.N.A.K.E.S, now more fitting for the short version of their name.
In the search for Princess Elise, as well as where the Sun Stone could be, Julian Fredrick wasted no time in storming the Palace, which as his men scouted the building, it was virtually empty. Outside were the newly created Flying Snakes that used to be helicopters, fused with the unfortunate pilots inside, now having become monsters.
Julian glanced around the throne room, scoffing to himself as he slithered across the empty area. To think that he had come so close in gaining what he always wanted, only to have been denied by not just the fact that he wasn't of a royal blood, or that the Sun Stone had cursed him and his men, but also that his beautiful queen, Princess Elise, had been wrisked away by that infuriating young hero of Mobius, Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Sir." One of the former human soldiers spoke up, still adjusting into having become a Nega, as he and two others stood behind their leader. "Reports say that everyone has evacuated, the Princess and the hedgehog are nowhere in sight. However, there are sightings of the Sun Stone shards seen in Dusty Desert Temple, the Jungle Temple and the Ocean Temple 100 miles away from the Border."
"I see. Bring me the Shards back, as well as the Princess. Kill all who oppose me. This includes Sonic the Hedgehog. I want his body served, and make sure he is fresh." Julian commanded calmly and darkly.
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers saluted, and while they began to think that their leader was more insane than they thought, they dared not to anger Julian, or else they'd face the dark penalty. So they slithered off to begin their task in locating the Sun Stone and Elise, as well as kill anyone who resisted, and bring Sonic alive for their now even more corrupted leader to have.
Julian did not turn to watch them go. Instead, he simply slithered over to the throne before taking a seat, one that would normally be seated by those of the royal blood. Now it was his for taking.
"The age of freedom will soon be over. Once I gain the power of the Sun Stone, as well as Princess Elise's life, Mobius will be mine. As will that little hedgehog. He may have overcome many obstacles, but soon, I will have him in my hand..." Julian hissed to himself, clenching his metallic hand tightly as it made a clinking noises when he did.
He will get what he wants. He will make certain of it.
The moment Sun the Hedgehog left the suspicious Harutio's cave home, the former Werehog tried to enter Soleanna, but it was blocked off. So he decided to try his luck in the nearby town which would take about at least a day or two without flight, or both Sonic and Shadow's speed. The tangerine hedgehog did envy his brother and friendly rival, and sometimes wished he was gifted with supersonic speed as well.
"This is gonna take me forever. I wish I could at least have a flight plan." Sun grumbled, his hands on his hips as he tapped his foot in frustration. "And that Harutio guy...how much does he know about all of this? What does he actually want?"
Luckly he did find a refegee camp set up for the people who had escaped, and began asking them questioned including a family of three squirrels, which the youngest, the daughter who was no more than five years old or something, had the previlage of getting Sonic's autograph last night, but so far they only mentioned what has happened which didn't help out at all, but some people do believe that the hero of Mobius saved the Princess and taken her to safety, and were waiting for their return.
No matter who he asked or where he looked, Sun knew he had to locate the Chaos Emeralds and find Sonic and Princess Elise.
"Hey, Sun!" A familiar boy's voice called out, causing the orange hedgehog to look up to see, to his surprise, his other brother flying towards him via twin tails.
"Tails?" Sun blinked in surprise, yet he felt relief to see his other brother and smirked before approaching the eight year old cub who landed on the ground. "Nice to see you again, kiddo."
"Yeah, you too!" Tails replied happily. "I didn't know you were here too."
"I just got here last night, and, I'm gonna guess that you know that Sonic was here, saving the Princess and what's going on." The orange hedgehog responded.
Tails nodded, frowning a little in concern. "Yeah, Sonic came here for another adventure and vacation. But then when I watched the news last night, I saw parts of what happened and I knew that something was wrong. So I came here to find him and see if I could help with what's going on."
"Well, I haven't seen him yet, since I came when the crisis just started. But now that you're here, I might need your help for transporation and Chaos Emerald searching." Sun replied.
"Huh?" The young kit blinked, confused.
Sun explained to Tails what he heard last night while saving the evacuating people, meeting the suspicious human name who called himself Harutio Salamous, and who had seen the two of them and Sonic in Isalenna, and everything the guy told him about including the legend that involved the Chaos Emeralds in order to prevent Princess Elise from dying once she performs the Flame of Hope ceremony, the mysterious organization and parts of the dark side of the legend of the Sun Stone.
"So the Sun Stone's curse has spread out and turned all of those bad people including their leader into Snake-like monsters." Tails surmised thoughtfully, his finger under his chin. "And the Chaos Emeralds are involved with all of this."
"That reminds me. How is it that you, Sonic and everybody else never knew about all of this? Aren't you guys the experts in using those things and how they work?" The tangerine hedgehog asked, a bit dumbfounded.
"Well, we only know what the Chaos Emeralds can do with certain things, but there's still so much about them we don't know yet, and sometimes it's best that it's not found out. I mean, I've only used the Chaos Emeralds once with Sonic and Knuckles a long time ago. The better people to ask would be Sonic or Shadow." The two-tailed fox shrugged sheepishly.
"That explains Dark Gaia." Sun grumbled, facepalming himself.
"Well, there's that, and then there's what Tikal's father and his people tried to do with the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald 4,000 years ago." Tails pointed out knowingly. "Not to mention that they are what created our people here in Mobius much longer ago than that. Or at least, that's what the theory says."
"And that explains Ro-butt-nik." The orange hedgehog added, shaking his head.
"Anyway, if the Chaos Emeralds really are involved in all of this, I have a bad feeling those guys might know of the legend too."
"That's the problem. I don't trust that guy. There's something about him that rubs me the wrong way, and Eggman's stupid fan were after the Cosmos Sapphires." Sun sighed, folding his arms. "Either way, we need to find the Emeralds and at least tell Sonic about all of this."
"No problem. I can fly us all over Soleanna in the Tornado 1 and with the Miles Electronic, we can find the Chaos Emeralds by detecting their energy." The two-tailed fox reassured happily.
That made the former Sonic clone relieved as he smiled. "If you ever grow up to be a good scientist or inventor or whatever, I'd say Sonic would be proud of you."
Tails rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, maybe so, but I still wanna be just like him."
"Because he's your role model, right?" Sun guessed.
"Sonic's the first and the best best friend I've ever had." The young cub explained. "To be honest, I'm his first ever close friend too. Not sure if he's told ya, but he grew up playing with all the Mobini animals before Eggman showed up."
"I think he's told me that once. Another cool reason why you guys are pretty close." The orange hedgehog stated, before sighing. "Anyway, as much as I'd hate to ask, but would ya' help me find the Chaos Emeralds and Sonic?"
"I came here to find Sonic, remember? Plus, this is a real mystery that needs to be solved, so you can count on me, Sun! I'll do my best." The eight year old said, clutching his fists with determination.
If there was one thing even Sun the Hedgehog knew of ever since his first month of existence and his first adventure, was that Sonic's best friend/little brother was such a great ally, assistance and great friend. How could anybody not like the kid? Just because he had twin-tails didn't mean that he wasn't like everybody else in spirit. Besides, those two fluffy tails of his made Miles Prower even more cute.
'Cuter than one-tailed foxes.' Sun thought to himself. He'd met a couple of them in his travels, actually, and most of them on Westside Island before his crazy adventure involving the Hybrians, if not the entire population on the island itself full of different times of Mobians, were just too superstitious, crazy, cruel and plain rude.
With that settled, Sun followed Tails back to the Tornado 1 and it wasn't long before the two got settled in and took flight, determined to find Sonic, Princess Elise and the Chaos Emeralds before the S.N.A.K.E.S did.
They just hoped that it wasn't too late.
Meanwhile, Sonic raced through the Dusty Desert while making sure not to fall into any of the quick sands or traps, with Elise firmly in his arms as they followed the light that hopefully was one of the three Sun Stone shards to return everything back to normal.
The trip to the light was fairly easy enough, considering. No Egg Drones or any kinds of robots that stood in the way. But Sonic knew he had to be careful, because Julian could have sent out a search party to find them, and capture Elise as well as the Sun Stones. The closer the duo got, the brighter the light became, and from what the blue hedgehog and the Princess of Soleanna could see, it matched that of the actual Sun Stone from the festival last night.
Soon Sonic braked to a stop right in front of the slightly caved in entrance of the ruins of a large temple, the light seemed to be shining from within, because it shone from somewhere from the roof.
As the fifteen year old gave a whistle of awe, Elise whispered in amazement. "The Ruins of Dusty Desert."
"You think that's the Sun Stone Shard in there?" Sonic asked, curiously, as he gently set his new friend down, allowing her to stand up.
"I believe so. Legend says that the Sun Shards would become brighter only when the one of royal blood reaches it. Or, so I was told." The princess replied.
"It's best to be careful. Even with this place empty for who knows how long, it could have traps or deadly critters lurking inside. If anything comes jumping out, I'll protect you. But I need you to stay close, okay?" The cobalt hero instructed firmly, not wanting to take any chances.
While surprised by his serious demeanor, the seventeen year old young woman nodded, and followed Sonic closely as he walked up to the entrance of the temple. He peered inside, scanning inside with his emerald green eyes for any potential signs of danger, before glancing back at her and gestured her to follow him. Elise did so, and sticked close while Sonic stepped inside, holding out his hand to help her.
"Shh..." He softly shushed, silently telling her not to make any loud noises. Sonic gently helped her through and over broken rubble and scanned the dimly-lit entrance once more.
The inside didn't seem that bad, but Sonic knew from experience that there could be traps and enemies lurking deep inside. He kept his eyes and ears open for any potential threat, before the blue hedgehog nodded to the Princess and the two began carefully trekking through the dusty, debris hallways of the Ruins. While it was dark and Sonic did wish they had a flash-light or at least a torch, and it didn't help that the place was like a maze, it was becoming increasingly warm and Elise tried to keep her eyes peeled for the Sun Stone Shard's light.
'Sure is kinda creepy in here. Hope they're aren't anything too dangerous like evil ghosts, or pit fall traps, or even Mummies.' Sonic thought to himself, before realizing what he was thinking and smiled softly, mentally chastising himself. 'Yeah, right. Aliens are real, yeah. Enemies with the Black Arms and friends with the cute and gentle Wisps. Encountered ghosts and freed one, totally. But Mummies? No way.'
Suddenly there was an unusual sound further up ahead, which brought the fifteen year old hedgehog out of his thoughts and came a stop. He looked up and his eyes widened when he spotted something within the darkness up ahead. Elise, seeing her savior and first friend come to a stop and stared up ahead, paused as well and despite that she intended on asking what was wrong, she remembered his soft warning to not make any loud noises and, seeing how he was silent and looking rather tense and stiff, made her wisely remain silent as well.
And good thing too, because the duo heard a very deep and low moan and growl that made Sonic softly gasp and Elise frightened, covering her mouth with both her hands. Acting on his instincts, Sonic gently scooped up the Princess and hurried over to the hole in the wall where it lead into another dark room. The blue hedgehog then hid himself and his new friend behind a large broken piece of debris about the same height as a tall human man, five feet away from the entrance and gently set her onto the ground where she sat against the wall, and he did his best to shield her while eying the light and shadows from where they came from.
In the hallway just moments after Sonic hidden himself and Elise in the hole, a huge towering rock-like creature with fiery lines like veins all over it's body, standing at least 100 feet tall given that the ruins were close to 200 feet, it's face shaped like a medieval helmet but with it's mouth shaped like a shark's, bulky arms, horns on it's head, being all sandstone coloured, emerged from the darkness and began marching forward. It's footsteps made the whole place shake with each step. It was slow, but frightening. Neither Sonic nor Elise dared to make any sound.
Sonic couldn't help but mentally gulp as while he put on a brave face, determined to keep the terrified Elise safe as he carefully held her in his arms while they both stayed low and he was crouching and saw the giant monster's shadow cover the light that it was so big that it blocked out their exit the moment it was passing it, he couldn't deny that he was scared himself.
'Man, I knew there'd be deadly critters in here, but I wasn't expecting something like this. Whatever it is. I can't see it without risking in looking and that's a pretty bad idea. Been getting pretty acquainted with a lot of giant monsters and species lately.' The cobalt teenager thought to himself, sweat dropping nervously, but refusing to let fear get to him. He had a job to do, and he was going to fufill it, for the sake of the world, for Soleanna, and for Elise.
'What is that thing? Father never told me anything about this. Could it be something that I failed to understand?' Elise thought to herself, fear gripping at her heart and despite on what Sonic told her earlier, she was afraid. Yet, seeing the look in the hedgehog's eyes, she could tell that he was frightened as well, yet he was fighting down that fear for her sake and despite being small, he was strong and fast and noble.
And he was very brave and caring.
Unfortunately, the moment the rock-giant stepped in front of the hole that Sonic and Elise went into, the footsteps stopped and their way out was blocked by it standing, and it made a deep breathing sound as it turned to gaze at where they entered. The hedgehog and the princess's eyes widened as they knew almost instantly that they were trapped.
"WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?" The giant beast growled darkly and sternly.
"Uh-oh. I think he spotted us." Sonic whispered worriedly, so soft that only Elise could hear.
The rock-monster though then sniffed the air, before bending down as low as possible and as Sonic pushed Elise and himself further behind the boulder to avoid in either one being seen, it's black-slit eye opened to reveal it's cat-like red and yellow pupil and glanced around for them, before sniffing the air inside once more. To the blue hedgehog, his heart hammered as memories of when the Werehog attempted to eat him resurfaced. Elise, despite trying to be brave, couldn't help but bury her face into his chest, to which Sonic, a bit surprised, held her closer to him and looked over his shoulder, praying and pleading for the giant to go away so that they could find the Sun Stone Shard and then get out of this horrible place.
"...I SMELL A HUMAN GIRL, AND A MOBIAN HEDGEHOG. TWO PURE HEARTS. A ROYAL BLOOD, AND A CHOSEN ONE HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE CHAOS EMERALDS." The giant continued, causing both Sonic and Elise to softly gasp in horror.
"Sonic...!" Elise whispered, terrified as she held onto the blue hedgehog fear.
"Oh, great. Not only he can sniff us out, but he knows about you being a Princess and I can use the Chaos Emeralds. He must be a psychic or something." Sonic whispered with a grumble, yet deep down he was scared out of his mind.
"What do we do?" The seventeen year old young woman asked.
"We'll find a way out and we'll figure things through." The fifteen year old hedgehog reassured, even though deep in his mind he was silently praying. 'Please don't eat us, please don't eat us, please don't eat us.'
Just then as he was trying to figure out a way for both of them to escape, Sonic noticed something on the wall in front of him and his new princess friend. Even with the light slightly blocked before the rock-giant stood up, letting in a bit more light, the hero of Mobius could tell that there was something sticking out and while he wasn't a secret door expert when it comes to ancient ruins, he hoped that it lead to somewhere and towards the Sun Stone Shard.
"Sonic?" Elise whispered, noticing what her first friend and current protector was looking out and thinking.
"Shh..." Sonic softly shushed, then pointed at the wall which made his friend gaze at it before he whispered. "I'm not sure if I'm right, but with any luck, it could lead to a secret door or somethin'. At least, that's what I'm hoping."
Before the Princess of Soleanna could respond or even think of what the cobalt Mobian had in mind, the giant monster placed a hand onto the wall above the wall, it spoke of something in an unusual, ancient language neither Sonic nor Elise understood. Then, to their shock, confusion and horror, the wall disappeared into sparkles of dust, letting in some more light despite it still being dark, but now it was like there had never been a wall there, but just a huge gap in the hallway. This is further proven as the two saw the monster's shadow on the wall in front of them.
On top of that, as Sonic and Elise looked up, both of them flinched in fright when they saw the giant monster lean forward and easily spotted them when it towered over the blue hedgehog and the princess. The latter couldn't hold back her terrified scream, her heart hammering in her chest, while the former, feeling like screaming himself, narrowed his eyes with a glare as he held his friend closer to him in an effort to protect her.
When it then reached it's massive hand out to grab them that made the two teenagers gasp in horror, they knew in that instant on what was going to happen.
"Sonic! It's going to eat us!" Elise screamed, blurting out on what the blue hedgehog hoped wouldn't happen.
"Not if I can help it!" Sonic declared stubbornly, reluctantly letting go before leaping up and then Homing Attacked the giant monster, easily passing it's huge hand and hitting it's chest as hard as he could. To his surprised, for something that was made of rock, it was somewhat easy but painful. Not as fragile as Eggman's robots, but it was still strong enough to cause the beast to roar in alarm and pain, stumbling back and hitting the ground hard.
Sonic landed back on the ground before hurrying to his new friend and again scooped her up in his arms before telling her to hang on and then made a run for it towards the wall and silently prayed for the secret door to work.
"Here goes!" Sonic grunted, positioning his hold onto the Princess and used his other hand to push the 'button' on the wall. The entire place then shook which made the blue hedgehog and Elise cry out in alarm. Luckily this wall opened by sliding upward and revealed a secret passage. The giant monster, stunned and dazed by the young hedgehog's force and speed, snarled before roaring and then gave chase after him and the princess before it would close.
Wasting no more time, the teenage Mobian held the human girl in his arms with both arms and ran straight in and to his left in another tunnel which lead downstairs. But to their horror, the staircase was destroyed and in it's place were fallen pillars that made up like giant grind rails. Sonic skid to a stop and he and Elise gazed down in horror, before the princess looked over her and Sonic's shoulders and gasped in fear which, followed by the large quaking vibrations, caused the fifteen year old to do the same and he failed to stop himself from crying out in fright when they saw the giant monster's shadow shockingly getting closer and it sounded very angry.
"Hang on tight! This is gonna be a bumpy ride!" Sonic instructed quickly, and once the terrified girl did so, he jumped and grind his way down while she screamed, squeezing her eyes shut.
It felt like forever, but eventually the duo made it to the bottom where the hero of Mobius made leapt from the fallen stone and landed on the ground before taking off once more, not willing to stop now since it wasn't really much of a point now that they had a dangerous and potentially hungry giant monster out to get them. He raced through the tunnel and jumped and leaped over gaps and holes on the ground, hopped over and onto stones that were once a bridge which crumbled a long time ago and made it to the other side and just kept going.
"Remember what I said about this place being full of traps and deadly critters?" Sonic asked Elise as he ran, and when she nodded, he continued. "This, I have to admit, is taking deadly critter traps to the next level, so there's no point in being quiet now!"
"I heard of the Ruins of the Dusty Desert, but I never heard my father say anything about giant monsters being in here. All I heard was that people never attempted to go in and those who were brave enough did never came out, and no one knew why." Elise admitted.
"When we get outta here, they certainly will." The blue hedgehog decided, before gasping as he saw something that made him skid to a stop. In front of them was a fork in the road, two simple pathways leading left and right. "Bummer."
Just then the two heard a furious roar which made Sonic gasp as he and Elise looked behind them again, wondering how in the world did that thing manage to catch up to them, or at least was catching up.
"Uh, should we go left or right? Your call...!" Sonic asked with a sweat drop. The giant rock-monster must be furious in having intruders it was no wonder no one any attempts to come here.
Elise didn't know. She was in a state of panic, and she didn't want to make the wrong decision and end up going the wrong way. But then she and her 'bodyguard' noticed something shining from the left path, making the two glance at the warm and familiar light. It was coming from there, and in that instant, she and Sonic knew what it was given what they saw earlier.
"To the left!" The Princess instructed quickly, pointing at the left path.
"Okay!" Sonic smirked, immediately agreeing and sped off down to the left, thankfully in a good distance from the rock-giant who apparently couldn't even fit through and was smashing it's way just to get to the duo, crumbling everything which shook the entire place, but being the fastest thing alive, he easily dodged every fallen rock and kept his balance along the way.
As Sonic ran closer to the light, he and Elise saw that the giant couldn't be seen anymore and he grinned. "Heh. Looks like the big guy decided to quit. He's faster than I thought, for a rock."
"The light's getting brighter. I think we're almost at where the shard is." Elise remarked, pointing up ahead as, true to her word, the golden light was indeed getting brighter. Meaning that the legend was true and that her presence was giving out the signal as she is of the royal blood.
"Looks like you were right about the legend, Elise. We'll be able to save the world and put the Sun Stone back to normal in no time." The cobalt teenager replied as he focused on getting himself and his friend towards the shard, though it left the problem on how they can carry it and get out of this place without getting caught.
Finally after what felt like an eternity and Elise dreading that they wouldn't make it despite holding onto the feeling of hope that Sonic would get them there, they made it into a large room with patches of sunlight coming through from the walls and ceiling the closer they got to the Sun Stone's shard, which, to their shock, was filled with untouched treasure such as gold, jewels and diamonds beyond imagination. There were even disturbingly stone statues that looked like random people and explores and, even more horrifying, bitten parts of skeletons of humans and Mobians scattered as though they'd been partially eaten. The treasure in the room was beautiful, but the rest of this place looked like a nightmare.
"Uh...Elise?" Sonic began, nervously. "You wouldn't happen to have been told of this temple's secret treasure, have ya?"
"No. All I know is that it had some sort of secret no one was allowed to touch or take." Elise shook her head, just as frightened. "Some say that it was some sort of glittering that got people's interests, but I never paid much attention to that."
"Well, if that's the case, I'd say there's something wrong with all of that treasure, and judging from those guys holding some of 'em, I have a pretty good guess that we don't wanna be touching them and I have a bad feeling the skeletons were...actually, never mind. I don't wanna find out." The blue hedgehog guessed, getting bad vibes about the treasure. "No wonder the big guy doesn't want anybody to come in here."
The Princess had to agree. If this was the case, then the Dusty Desert ruins was very dangerous. She and her companion then saw the light grow stronger and look up ahead to find what they were looking for; the first of the three pieces of the Sun Stone, resting on a pile of rubble created when it crashed through the ceiling of the ruins itself. It glowed in warm but eerie light. It looked smaller than when it was completed, maybe about half of Sonic's size, but still seemingly and strangely alive.
Sonic and Elise shared a glance with the former nodded, before he carried the latter and ran straight towards the shard, completely ignoring the statues, skeletons and the treasure that was scattered all over the place and avoiding in even touching them, as though he was paranoid that the shiny things(not including the Sun Stone Shards even though that was dangerous as well) were cursed.
Once they were standing just a few feet away from it, the Sun Stone Shard began to glow brighter and brighter, as Sonic gently set Elise down, while the Princess, not sure what to do, hesitantly approached. She tried to remember the legend and what her father had taught her to do in order to make it right and restore the Sun Stone before it was too late. The blue hedgehog stood there, anxious and worried on what would happen while he kept his guard up to sense any more potential danger.
'You know what? The more I hear and gaze at the Sun Stone, I can't help but feel like that maybe it should've been buried instead of being kept within the Palace and dangerously close to the royal family. Especially with Solaris causing destruction.' Sonic thought to himself uneasily.
He then blinked in confusion as his new friend was bending onto both knees and clasped her hands together, making the blue hedgehog murmur. "Elise? What're you doin'?"
"I'm going to try and pray for this piece of the Sun Stone to restore itself." The Princess replied.
"Shouldn't we find the other pieces first? How can you restore it now if this is just the first one?" Sonic asked, dumbfounded as he shrugged.
"I...have a hunch that there is a way, but I've never done this before." The seventeen year old Princess admitted uneasily.
"Huh?" The fifteen year old hedgehog didn't understand, but told his friend worriedly. "Well, then...just be careful."
Elise nodded, somewhat nervous before she turned back to the Sun Stone Shard and closed her eyes, and began to pray. "Oh, Light of the Sun Stone, scattered by the dark heart of the man of pure evil and not of royal blood...Please hear my prayers, and I promise you, you will be returned as one once again."
Hearing her prayers, the Sun Stone Shard glowed even more brightly which stunned the two teenagers who gaped and stared in awe before they were forced to shield their eyes as it began to blind them. But when Elise looked up, she gasped as the Shard seemed to dissipate and disappear, only to transform into spiritual streams which then flew right towards her which made her scream and Sonic to look up and he too gasped in shock and horror as the streams of the strange energy absorbed themselves into her body, causing the Princess to scream in agony.
"NO! ELISE!" Sonic screamed, reaching out for his friend as the energy and the Sun Stone Shard vanished, and the Princess began falling backwards.
Horrified, he quickly ran up to her and caught her in his arms and cradled her as best as he could, kneeling on one knee so that the human girl could be more comfortable, fear, worry and dread filling his senses.
"Elise!? Elise! Are you alright!?" Sonic cried out, shaking his friend carefully, but all she did was moan and flicker her eyes a little, much to his dismay. "No...No, please, no!"
"INSOLANT LITTLE MORTALS!"
Startled and nearly jumping out of his skin by the loud booming voice of the giant that not only sounded like it was coming from in front of them, but it also echoed around the inside of the ruins, Sonic gasped in horror when he saw particles of sand and dust appear, forming the giant he thought they got away from.
"OH NO!" Sonic shouted in dismay, beginning to panic despite attempting to remain calm, for Elise's sake despite the fact that she was a little bit lucky to not see it again, yet he hoped that she would wake up soon.
He desperately tried to look for a way out, and found that the ceiling above him was their only exit, and Sonic, holding the unconscious Princess in his arms carefully, tried to run underneath the beast's legs, but it stomped to stop him, forcing him back and onto the pile of debris since he was too scared to even step onto the treasure. He glared up at the giant monster that had him and his friend trapped, feeling fear strike into his heart.
"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE." The giant monster spoke darkly, as Sonic slowly backed away with his friend in his arms, his heart hammering away in fear and guilt. "YOU DARE TO INTRUDE THIS SACRED PLACE, LITTLE ONES.THE ANCIENT TREASURE IS NOT YOURS TO TAKE."
Sonic masked his fear by glaring harder at the rock-giant, with every effort to protect Elise and get them both out of this place, while demanding as bravely as possible. "Who are you? Let us go!"
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF AND THE ROYAL CHILD, LITTLE HEDGEHOG. TO THE MIGHTY KRONAH." The giant, known as the Kronah, responded.
Even though the teenage hero wasn't certain if he could fight this guy without causing a cave-in or getting his friend hurt, Sonic gently placed the unconscious Elise onto the pile in a more comfortable position and protectively stood in front of her with his arms spread out.
"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of Mobius." Sonic replied boldly as he normally would, determined to protect Elise at the cost of his life. "I don't care about your treasure! I'm only here to help and protect my friend Princess Elise of Soleanna to gather and fix up the Sun Stone that has been scattered by the real enemy who calls himself Julian Fredrick. He's the one who wants to use the stone to take over the world, and he caused the Flame Ritual."
The Kronah stared down at the small Mobian and the unconscious human, and to Sonic's horror, reached out with it's right hand, and without further choice, the blue hedgehog tried to use his entire body as a shield while hugging Elise to his chest in a futile effort to protect her, squeezing his eyes shut while bracing himself. Both of them were quickly engulfed and clasped tightly inside the enormous hand that held them captive and trapped.
"Hey! Put us down!" Sonic cried out, then blurted out as he quickly began to lose his courage. "Don't eat us!"
When he didn't get a response, the cobalt speedster wished he had a Chaos Emerald to teleport himself and the unconscious Elise to safety, and pulled her closer to him and shivered. The rock-giant lifted them to it's face before it stopped and opened up it's hand, staring down at the duo who laid on it's palm, still hugging each other and shivering with Sonic doing his best to protect Elise.
A few intense moments of silence, Sonic was the first to notice that they were still alive and not held tightly within the grasp he feared they would remain before the giant would eat them. The blue hedgehog hesitantly opened his eyes and found that they were sitting on the palm of the beast's hand, then sat up slowly. Sonic then looked up and he gasped, seeing just how dangerously close they were to the giant's face.
To his surprise, Kronah stared down at the young hero and the young princess for another few moments, then it gave a soft expression before bowing it's head before them in respect.
"FORGIVE ME FOR FRIGHTENING AND CAPTURING YOU AND THE PRINCESS, CHOSEN ONE." Kronah responded respectfully.
"Huh?" Sonic blinked, not expecting this kind of treatment.
"I SENSED THE SUN STONE SHATTERING ACROSS THE LAND, THE SHARD YOU SEEK IN THIS TEMPLE AWAKENING ME FROM MY SLUMBER. ONLY THOSE OF THE ROYAL BLOOD, AND ONE WHO CAN HARNESS THE POWER OF THE CHAOS EMERALDS, USING THEIR POWER FOR GOOD AND TO DRIVE AWAY THE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS OF CHAOS, BOTH WITH PURE HEARTS, SHALL ENTER THIS TEMPLE." Kronah explained.
"Wait a sec. You know Chaos?" The blue hedgehog asked, surprised.
"YES, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. YOU MUST HAVE DRIVEN AWAY THE NEGATIVE EMOTIONS FROM HIS HEART AND SOUL." The giant replied.
"Yeah, I did. But the reason how he got out of the Master Emerald was because Eggman wanted to use him to take over the world. If it hadn't been for Tikal, I wouldn't even have a clue on what happened to Chaos." The fifteen year old replied. "I knew that sealing it back inside would only cause history to repeat itself, so I had to do my best to make his pain go away."
"YOUR HEART IS PURE, JUST AS PRINCESS ELISE'S, LITTLE HEDGEHOG. YOU TWO ARE WORTHY TO BE IN THIS TEMPLE AND LEAVE TO SAVE US ALL." Kronah nodded, sastisfied with the teenage Mobian's honesty.
"So, does that mean you're not gonna get rid of us? We're only here to find the first piece of the Sun Stone so that we could find the other two pieces and put it back to normal to save the world before Julian ends up turning into Solaris's body hotel." Sonic questioned, skeptically.
Kronah nodded once more, before he raised his hand with Sonic and Elise still on it and brought them to the hole in the ceiling, revealing that it was the ground level on the surface just behind the ruins. Sonic, finally relaxing a little as he sighed in relief, his heart still hammering from the scare he and his friend experienced, scooped up the still unconscious Princess and jumped off the giant palm and onto the dirt ground while the giant rock-monster lowered his hand back to his side.
"Hey, by the way!" Sonic called down to Kronah, relieved that he and Elise weren't going to be squashed, crushed, turned into stone or eaten, but now very worried that the Princess still hasn't woken up. "Will Elise be okay? She did kind of absorbed the Sun Stone shard."
"THE PRINCESS STILL LIVES. BUT YOU BE AWARE OF THE MAN WHO SEEKS THE SUN GOD SOLARIS." Kronah replied. "FAIR THEE WELL, OH, CHOSEN ONE."
With that, Kronah then vanished into dust despite Sonic's protests to wait, leaving the blue hedgehog stuck as he gazed in grave concern over his friend and whispered, his heart aching in guilt and the rising fear that something horrible happened to her. "Elise...please be okay."
"The Princess's quest has fully began." An unfamiliar voice out of nowhere, startling Sonic who spun around and saw the owner of the voice that, unbeknownst to him and Elise, was the same man who noticed them earlier. "Yet, it will not be an easy road, even with your help, child."
"Who are you?" Sonic asked, getting bad vibes from this strange human guy. Despite that this man seemed to be harmless, experience taught him long ago to trust his gust instincts and right now they were screaming at him to be extremely careful with the man.
"Do not be alarmed, young hedgehog. I mean you and Princess Elise III no harm. Come with me. The girl needs her rest." The man told him.
The blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes suspicious, only to cry out in alarm when the man raised his staff and found himself, the guy and Elise surrounded by gold glitter. Then the next thing he knew, he found that they were somehow in a medieval like room with a large comfy looking bed and decorations that matched that of what he saw in the Festival of the Sun back in the Kingdom.
"Whoa! Where are we?" Sonic exclaimed, looking around before staring at the strange man who approached the bed and pulled back the covers and blanket.
"Rest the Princess here, young hedgehog. Do not worry, she will awaken soon enough." The man told him, gesturing the blue hedgehog to do as he is requested.
Still suspicious and didn't like what he was feeling, Sonic hesitantly decided that his friend did need a nice warm and cozy bed right about now, so he slowly approached and placed Elise onto the mattress, and with the man's help placed the covered up to her chin. Next to the bed was a chair which Sonic instantly sat on and gently moved a fringe of her hair from her face.
"Elise?" He whispered pleadingly.
"Let her sleep, young man. You should get some rest as well." The man advised, now standing behind Sonic who couldn't help but gaze at the unconscious Princess in grave worry and guilt.
Still, he quickly masked it and gazed at the unusual magical human, half-guessing that this guy was a real sorcerer or something here in Mobius connected to the Sun Stone. "I'm not leaving Elise's side even after she wakes up. She's my friend and I'm going to help her and keep her safe."
"A very wise and brave decision, little one." The man nodded, as though respecting the teenage hedgehog's choice. "But do get some sleep."
"It's only like, what, two in the afternoon." Sonic pointed out. "Who are you anyway?"
"I will tell you once the Princess awakens. Her journey will not be easy. Be best you keep her safe, child." The man in the golden coat replied, and without saying anything further, left the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Sonic and the unconscious Princess on their own once more.
Feeling like they were in somewhat more danger than ever before, the blue hedgehog sighed before gazing back at his unresponsive friend who was thankfully still breathing, as though she really was merely fast asleep.
'I'm sorry, Elise.' Sonic thought to himself miserably. 'I wish I stopped Snakehead from touching the Sun Stone, and then none of this would've happened. You wouldn't be like this and...and Mobius wouldn't be put into danger.'
Feeling terrible for the last several hours of crazy events, as what would've been his vacation since coming to the kingdom suddenly turned into yet another saving the world adventure, this time with no Eggman around, whether the evil scientist was the cause of the event or just caught up into it. Not even an other-worldly counterpart of him was around, the blue hedgehog rubbed his right arm before realizing he was doing it again, and quickly shook those thoughts of negativity away.
He gazed at his friend again and narrowed his eyes with determination. 'I don't care what it takes, I'll figure this out and protect you, and save Mobius, and stop those crazy S.N.A.K.E.S guys. I promise!'
Sonic knew, now more than ever, this was another serious journey and little did he know, he and Elise weren't the only ones getting involved with all of this.
A/N: I've been struggling with this chapter for ages and while it's still not that great, it's the best I can do and I'll try to do better in the future. With Sun now traveling with Tails, and both Sonic and Elise found the first Sun Stone Shard, the adventure is about to become more dangerous along the way.
See you later!