Author's Note: Sorry that this was a bit late. Kind of hit of a writer's block and I've been busy in the last couple of days, but finally the new chapter is here! Hope's okay, but I'll do my best in the future. Happy reading!
Heads up: There are a few spoilers for the future chapters for my still in progress story "Sonic DX Adventures".
I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Chapter 5: A Strain of Salt.
Sonic and his friends raced through the corridor of the Jelly Castle, which was the dungeon parts of it, keeping their eyes and ears open(though how Jade-Ghost Wisps can see and hear, the Mobians didn't know) for any signs of more dangerous Food-Monsters as well as Wisps that need their help. The area they had been locked up in around fifteen minutes ago was just the one section of the dungeons, but luckily Tails had managed to scan the castle's corridors and such so that they wouldn't get lost.
Yacker had Speed and Lily to safely have the other captured Wisps teleport out to safety while Cutie and Ghostly stayed behind with the group to free more of their friends before they would all leave the Jelly Castle to continue investigating the transformed Sweet Mountain.
"This place sure seems deserted. I don't see any of those monsters lingering around." Sonic remarked while keeping his voice down in cause he jinxed himself and the Jade-Ghost Wisp.
"(M-Maybe they're hiding somewhere, since the castle is really big...)" Ghostly said, quivering in fear despite trying to be brave herself.
"She's right. There could be more around for all we know." Tails stated. "In any case, there's at least three cells in total and we could find more of the Wisps locked up right around the corner."
"Probably." The blue hedgehog agreed. "Stick close. Who knows what we'll find..."
The moment he said that, as soon as he and his companion turned around another corner, they quickly skid to a stop and Sonic gasped in horrified shock while Tails froze in horror, Amy, Cream and Star softly gasped, the eyes of Knuckles and Sun widened before narrowing in anger, Yacker and Speed(who returned to help) were dismayed, and Cheese, Cutie and Ghostly nearly squealed in terror at the sight before them. A large group of the Food Monsters locking up helpless Wisps of Laser, Boost, Drill and Rocket kind, along with a couple of Hazel-Purple Wisps, inside cells that had barricaded doors, not like the one Sonic and his friends were locked in. Acting quickly before the monsters could see them, the blue hedgehog grabbed hold of Ghostly and covered her mouth before hiding around the corner with the rest of the group.
"Shhh..." He shushed softly to his friend who squirmed a bit, before the little alien quickly understood what the hero of Mobius was doing and tried to stay silent.
Staying silent while attempting to figure out what was going on, the group waited while their hearts broke at the horrified sounds coming from the other trapped Wisps which horribly reminded Sonic of when Eggman captured the gentle aliens inside capsules against their will and having their powers sucked dry to the point of becoming Nega-Wisps. The Monsters then began marching away through another corridor, like they really were soulless abominations.
"Those poor Wisps..." Cream whispered almost tearfully.
"This is horrible. How could they do such a thing?" Amy whispered in anger and sorrow.
"How are we going to get them out without making too much of a noise?" Knuckles whispered, grunting in anger over the treatment the small aliens were given.
"Yeah, even with the Drill Wisps here, or us breaking these doors down, we can't take the risk of getting ambushed." Sun agreed, narrowing his eyes. "There's gotta be a way to do this."
"(I have an idea! I can help get through!)" Ghostly suggested, earning confused expressions from the Mobians and Cheese. "(We Jade-Ghost Wisps not only turn invisible, we can also pass through places even through each other too.)"
That surprised the group as Sonic whistled. "I didn't get to experience that part before. You sure you're up to it, Ghostly?"
The Jade-Ghost Wisp nodded, and as everyone shared glances before coming to an agreement that the blue hedgehog was their only hope along with the well-behaved aliens, and they all nodded.
"Alright. Let's give it a shot, but be careful, okay? I don't want to use up too much of your powers." The hero of Mobius finally said, reluctantly.
Ghostly nodded, before dissolving into energy and merged herself into Sonic's body while he closed his eyes bracing himself, feeling the familiar power from a couple months ago, the need to not only turn invisible and float, but also to go through things freely without hitting anything.
'JADE-GHOST!'
With a mental shout and transforming into his ghostly form, much to the shock of his friends as they never saw this before, the blue hedgehog then floated around and as silently as he could, flew towards where the other Wisps were trapped in and easily passed through the strong chocolate door inside the cell.
As Sonic then returned to normal while Ghostly once again emerged from him, there huddled up in a group were the Wisps, a total of at least eleven Wisps, two Hazel, two Rocket, one Drill, three Laser, and three White, quivering and shivering in fear of being locked up once again, this time unaware that it was one of their own's doing and not Eggman. But when they heard the transformation jingling sound, the imprisoned little aliens looked up and their eyes widened to see not only Ghostly who flew over to embrace her friends, but also their hero who saved them from 'Baldy Nosehair', Sonic the Hedgehog.
"(Ghostly! Sonic! You came to save us!)" The Wisps all exclaimed in relief, embracing their very relieved Jade-Ghost Wisp friend, while Sonic quickly shushed them to remind them that they were all trapped inside the cell and that their outcries could alert the Food Monsters.
"Hey, guys. I'm glad you're all okay, but we can't alert the mon-whoa!" The hero of Mobius yelped when the familiar Wisps, even the two Hazel-Purple Wisps, having heard stories and instantly knew who he was, all few around him and hugged him happily, making him try not to laugh aloud, but they were all huddling him at his ticklish spots. "H-hey! That tickles...! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Thankfully the Food Monsters didn't hear them as the cells with barricaded doors were strangely sound proof, so Sonic and his friends were alright for now, before the reunion between himself and his older alien friends and getting to quickly know the two new Wisps who were thrilled to meet him for real, soon stopped and the Wisps let him go.
"Okay, okay...Listen, I know you're happy to see me, but we can't alert the monsters that locked you guys up. My friends and I are here to save you and solve the mystery on how to turn this place back to normal." The blue hedgehog informed them as softly and gently but firm as possible.
When Ghostly confirmed this by making a gesture to shush the relieved Wisps that had been locked up in this cell, the rest of the little aliens all quietened down and all nodded, before Sonic explained as quickly as possible on what was happening and that they had to get out and rescue the other Wisps as well.
It wasn't until a Hazel-Purple Wisp then remembered something. "(Mr. Sonic. Those awful monsters have gone almost everywhere here, catching all of us and putting us in here. We all heard awful stuff about them wanting to keep us here and take us to their 'master' who would decide what to do with us...)"
"Yeah, we heard a little bit about their master too, but what kind of stuff did they say about the guy?" Sonic asked.
"(We're not sure, but before we got caught, I saw something shiny and bright like a hole or something up at the big mountain that used to be made of sugar, but now it's...uh...all green with black stripes and shaped like an oval, I think?)"
"A shiny and bright hole? That sounds like a portal of sorts." The cobalt speedster muttered with a sweat drop, while Ghostly and the other Wisps blinked in confusion. "And it sounds like the mountain that used to be made of sugar is now a giant Watermelon."
"(What's a Watermelon?)" Another one of the Hazel-Purple Wisps asked, curiously.
"It's a piece of fruit that's all sweet and juicy, but at the same time there's no sugar in it. It's kinda hard to explain, but it can be pretty tasty, hard on the outside since you're not supposed to eat the green and black part, but inside is a sweet, watery red fruit with little black seeds in them, and if you plant those seeds, new watermelon will grow. Kinda like your fruit back in your world." Sonic explained as best as he could.
The Wisps were amazed, and they all wondered if Sonic was telling the truth in regards of a watermelon, before he continued. "Anyway, I'll see if I can investigate all of this, but first we gotta get you guys and the rest of yours friends outta of this giant Jelly Castle. I need your help though, if you're willing to help me."
Of course, that left another problem he suddenly realized. He can get through silently without any trouble, but since this cell's doors were locked up and no bars, he couldn't see or hear what was going on outside, and the blue hedgehog began to worry that this could take forever to get everyone in here out while Tails and the others were waiting for them as well as avoid in getting caught again.
Just then, his CWS made a beeping noise which had Sonic blink in confusion before answering it as it was also a communication. "Hello?"
The little screen turned on to reveal Tails' face as the two-tailed-fox said in a frantic whisper. "Sonic, we have a problem! There's more of those monsters coming and they're giant marshmallows! They're going to barricade the door! You gotta get out of there!"
"What?" Sonic softly exclaimed, only to hear a muffled thud and bang, causing the blue hedgehog and the Wisps with him to gasp as they all turned back to the door.
Too late as Tails had called Sonic after the former and the others saw two half-giant Marshmallow monsters approach with a giant wafer which was then split open into two pieces before the Marshmallow guards slammed both onto the chocolate door side to side, blocking it and sealing up the Wisps and, unknowingly to the monsters, the blue hedgehog, even further, leaving Sonic and the little aliens trapped. The rest of the group softly gasped in horror when they saw this happen which made things even more difficult to keep silent in breaking out the Wisps and unless they did something, now Sonic was once again imprisoned with Ghostly and even if the two did get out, it still left the remaining aliens inside.
"Oh no! They sealed the doors with a giant wafer stick! That will only cause more noise if you break it out!" Tails exclaimed in a whisper to Sonic who looked panicked now himself on the WCS's screen.
"AHH! Just when things couldn't get any worse!" Amy softly exclaimed while trying not to be too loud.
Within the cell, Sonic gasped in horror while Ghostly and the rest of the Wisps screamed in dismay before the aliens began to panic. The blue hedgehog then tried to come up with a new plan and said, "Guess we'll just have to go with plan B and do this the old fashioned way. You guys try and distract those monsters while me and the aliens break our way out of this room. I don't think we're going to doing this quietly as we hoped."
"(But what about the rest of our friends?)" Cutie asked as she hovered over to the screen, looking quite upset.
"Don't worry, we'll save the rest of your friends and figure out how to turn Sweet Mountain back to normal and beat these monsters. Right now, we have to save everybody here in this cell and escape." Sonic promised.
"Leave that to me!" Knuckles declared, and before anybody could stop him while ignoring their protests, the red echidna ran out from the corner and shouted at the two giant Marshmallow monsters who had been using icing sugar to glue the doors shut. "Hey, you!"
The Food Monsters paused in their work before turning to see the red echidna and made snarling angry noises, which the Guardian of the Master Emerald narrowed his eyes in return.
"I'm about to turn you two into S'mores!" He grunted, before charging with his fist raised. Knuckles leaped and made to punch the one on the right and his hand made contact...only that it just went through and just sank without causing much damage, but it did make the Marshmallow Monster growl in discomfort and anger, much to his and the others' shock. "What!?"
Unfortunately this had Knuckles distracted as the other Marshmallow Monster grabbed hold of him with both hands and held him tightly after pulling his fist out of the other monster's body, which made the echidna to try and break free, grunting and squirming with his arms pinned to his sides, but he couldn't escape.
"There goes Plan B..." Sun deadpanned. Some of the Wisps nodded in agreement with the same expression as the orange hedgehog held.
"Knuckles went up ahead without thinking, didn't he?" Sonic inquired as he heard what happened, also holding an exasperated and deadpanned look on his face.
"And now he's captured by the two giant mean Marshmallows." Star confirmed.
"We have to help him or else he'll be locked up again." Cream said worriedly and urgently, with Cheese squeaking in agreement. "But we could get caught again if we try to fight them."
"Cream's right. Those giant Marshmallows are so soft I don't think even your attacks can break through, Sonic." Tails agreed worriedly.
"Not attacks that aren't my Spin Dash or Homing Attack, you mean?" The blue hedgehog suddenly smirked as an idea formed in his mind, knowing that he had to do something and, remembering how his axe-kick couldn't break the hose-like tentacle of Eggman's Octoron robot before it trapped him with it's tentacle, he hoped that his attacks with his quills would do the trick.
When the others heard this, they knew what he had in mind and all sighed, before wishing him luck and as Sonic and Tails hung-up, the former turned to the aliens and told them to stand back. Wondering what the blue hedgehog had in mind, Ghostly and the other Wisps did as they were told before hovering back to the wall, while Sonic used his Spin Dash to burst his way through the chocolate door and giant wafer and smashing them open, sending pieces of chocolate and wafers all over the place and made an opening, causing the two giant Marshmallows to notice while Knuckles still attempted to break free.
Sonic stood up with his arms folded and smirked at the bewildered monsters before he and the other Wisps, seeing how they were free, stood ready to fight and save the older teenager which made the enemies sweat drop, now pretty nervous before they heard Amy clear her throat, and turned to see the pink hedgehog along with the rest of the group all holding smug expressions as well since the time for being quiet has indeed passed.
The blue hedgehog then used his Homing Attack to attack the monster that held Knuckles and despite that it was actually squishier than he thought, it did make the giant Marshmallow roar in pain and being forced to let Knuckles go, the red echidna dropping to the ground while Sonic landed safely himself, and soon Sun and the others joined in to attack the Food Monsters, even the Wisps who used their powers of Laser and Drill to zap or dig into the monsters, and the combined attacks of the heroes who used as sharp attacks as possible since the Marshmallows did seem to be tough on the, uh, skin, and the aliens made the guards, who were big but also really slow despite them attempting to punch, swipe or grab at them or even stomp them.
Yet even with the combined attacks and narrowly avoiding the Food Monsters' attacks with the red echidna quickly joining in again, to the group's shock unlike the other monsters which seemed to be easy, each of their attacks kept on mostly bouncing off even with Sonic and Sun doing well in using their Spin Dashs and Homing Attacks, and even Tails and Cheese had trouble while Amy was thrashing her Hammer as hard as possible but it became briefly stuck before she was forced to pull it away to avoid in ending up the same situation as Knuckles did.
"Ugh! These guys are too squishy and rubbery!" Sonic grunted, leaping back a little as he tried to come up with a way to defeat these monsters once and for all.
"There has to be way to defeat them!" Star exclaimed as she and Sun leaped back to avoid in getting caught or attacked themselves.
Amy smacked the large fist one of the Marshmallow Monsters attempted to punch her with her Hammer, before she tossed it into it's opened mouth when it roared to shut it up, making it nearly choke as it tried to get it out, while it's companion made to do the same. Suddenly having an idea, she summoned another one before tossing it into the other monster's mouth who ended up in the same sticky situation, much to the amazement of her friends and boyfriend, and the shock of the Wisps who didn't see this coming.
"(Whoa! How does she do that?)" Speed exclaimed in shock, blinking while bewildered.
"(She has more Hammers than Baldy Nosehair's robots!)" One of the Rocket Wisps exclaimed with a sweat drop, now nervous of the pink hedgehog's magical power to summon the Piko Piko Hammers.
"Nice shot, Amy!" Sonic praised his girlfriend with a thumbs up.
"Thanks, sweetie...AAAH!" Amy suddenly screamed as she pointed behind Sonic who, blinking in confusion on what got her so scared all of the sudden, he turned and saw to his and everybody else's horror, the two Marshmallow Monsters, now more furious, began fusing together like melted marshmallows that they were coming together and grew five feet taller, the two mouths forming into one.
"Get back!" Sun instructed, as he and the others quickly backed away to avoid in getting caught by the transformation as the two Marshmallows became one, nearly touching the ceiling and even swallowed the two hammers the thirteen year old hedgehog had tossed.
Everyone sweat dropped, bewildered and frightened at this sight.
"This is bad!" Tails exclaimed in horror.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese screamed.
"What do we do?" Cream asked, frightened.
The giant fused Marshmallow roared which made all of the Wisps, Cream and Amy scream in fear while Sonic, Tails, Sun, Star, and Knuckles jumped slightly before they all leaped away when the Food Monster punched at the ground, causing the Jelly Castle to wobble which made everyone lose their balance and fell. Knuckles grunted before standing up and then attempted to try his luck again.
"I'm gonna poke this thing right in the eye!" The red echidna roared, jumping up and made to climb up the monster's body, only to find, to his shock, that he was stuck due to the sticky white stuff. Sonic and the others made to try and save him, but the monster stomped and made them lose their balance again and even the Wisps had trouble attacking it without getting stuck themselves.
Then to everyone's horror, the giant Marshmallow then began absorbing Knuckles who, struggling to break free, screamed as he was then being sucked into it's body.
"KNUCKLES!" Sonic screamed, devastated in having to have helplessly watch one of his best friends getting absorbed like that.
"T-The giant Marshmallow is absorbing Knuckles!" Cream tearfully screamed, beginning to cry as she was unable to believe that a food source had eaten up one of her friends.
"(I guess this means the Food Monsters here plan on eating us for revenge!)" A Drill Wisp exclaimed, shivering in horror and fear, while everyone else were dismayed and devastated of the echidna being swallowed up by a giant Marshmallow Monster.
"Let him go!" The blue hedgehog shouted, horrified and furious just as a Rocket Wisp, seeing there was only one solution into this, hovered to him it then suggested to let it have Sonic use it's power first, which he reluctantly agreed. So the orange alien flowed right into his body as he faced the giant monster while the others moved back and out of the way.
"ROCKET!"
Transforming into the rocket form, Sonic flew up and burst straight up towards the giant monster, careful in avoiding in hitting his echidna friend before struggling to burst right through the giant monster, but as everyone stood in worry while the huge Marshmallow grunted in agony, the blue hedgehog went straight through without being absorbed himself and it roared in agony when it suddenly began to glow in orange before it simply exploded on the inside while Sonic and the orange alien flew right back out on the other side, making it disappear which freed the red echidna who began to fall. Sonic returned to normal and free-fell before grabbing hold of his friend and the two landed safely, the seventeen year old Mobian wincing, while the Rocket Wisp flew out of the sixteen year old's body and hovered by the two rival/friends' sides.
"You alright, Knux?" Sonic asked as he helped his older friend to stand up, with the others gathering around worriedly for the echidna's welfare.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just annoyed that none of my attacks got through." Knuckles grumbled, folding his arms while muttering under his breath. "Show-off."
The blue hedgehog chuckled and patted his friend on the shoulder while teasingly said. "I heard that, ya' Knucklehead. Glad to see that you're okay. Boy, I was worried that the Stay-Puffed-Marshmallow-Man's evil twin brother was gonna eat you."
"Very funny." The red echidna replied sarcastically.
"I think the lesson here is learned that you shouldn't try and attack opponents that are really tough like that." Tails suggested in a hint of sarcasm of his own.
While Knuckles began to get irritated by the teasing he was getting, Sonic couldn't help but correct his little brother. "I wouldn't call it tough, li'l bro. More like super soft like a pillow that wouldn't even break an egg."
"Will you knock it off already?" The Master Emerald Guardian growled.
"Okay, that's enough, boys." Star scolded with a giggle while Amy, Cream, Cheese and the Wisps tried not to laugh, and Sun shook his head in amusement and exasperation.
The Wisps who had been captured and trapped in the now second broken cell then began cheering and celebrating to be freed before they all flew out and circling around their heroes, thanking them as Sonic chuckled in relief, glad that he managed to free them with the help of his friends who he thanked.
However, the noise of the crash alerted the Food Monsters, because as Sonic's ears twinged at the sound of rapid footsteps, his eyes widened before he and the rest of the group turned around the corner to see the evil army return, this time looking angry and the group gasped in shock.
"Whoops! Here they come!" Sonic yelped in fright.
"Oh no!" Cream screamed, with Cheese doing the same.
"Can't they just leave us alone!?" Amy shouted in fear and frustration.
"Let's get outta here!" The blue hedgehog instructed his friends who, despite the nelwy freed Wisps not wanting to leave, knew that he was right and at Ghostly's urging, they ultimately agreed.
They then heard more thunderous footsteps and the Mobians, Chao and the Wisps saw approaching shadows of even more different kinds of Food Monsters begin to run towards them, their hearts skipping beats in fear as they knew that they were running out of time and that they were really out numbered.
"RUN!" Sonic screamed, and he and the others immediately ran to try and free more Wisps that were trapped here while attempting to find a way out and hoping to avoid anymore confrontations of the Food Monsters.
As Sonic and his friends ran through the dungeons to free more Wisps that were locked up in two more cells while attempting to find a way out, they kept at it while rescuing the aliens before making their way to the next exit of the halls, taking out certain groups of Food Monsters that didn't come in large numbers. Thanks to Tails' Miles Electric and the Wisps that did see where the monsters had taken them, they finally managed to find the exit and headed up towards the stairs with the blue hedgehog taking the lead.
"Do you think we've lost them?" Amy asked, nervously.
"Hope so, but let's take it in low and try and figure out how to find that shard while getting out of this place." Sonic replied in a serious posture. "I miss the sweetness of Sweet Mountain, 'cause this is now a real strain of salt."
"Don't you mean grain of salt?" Sun asked half-sarcastically with a raised eye-brow.
The hero of Mobius smirked and explained. "Nope, strain of salt because we've been strained so much since coming here and the new environment is too salty for the planet."
"Well, there is plenty of salt around, that's for sure." Tails remarked as he gazed out of the window which viewed a forest of french fries in the distance.
As the group passed through the passageway of the Jelly Castle with standing posts made out of honeycomb, vases made out of cakes and M&Ms with flowers that were actually normal-sized doughnuts with strawberry icing and rainbow sweet sprinkles, one of the Hazel-Purple Wisps noticed this before it's eyes glittered with stars in delight before it took one of the flower-Doughnuts and ate it, happily enjoying it.
"Hey!" Knuckles scolded impatiently, glaring at the Hazel-Purple Wisp that wasn't Ghostly. "We don't have time for a snack. We have to get out of here."
"(Awww...)" The little alien moaned in disappointment but followed none the less, disappointing the other Wisps while making the other Mobians sigh despite that they knew that the red echidna was right, but that didn't mean he had to be so mean about it.
Sonic sighed while grumbling under his breath. "What a party pooper. Can't he just enjoy a little break and fun once in a while?"
Just then, they heard more noises coming from both outside and from up ahead, making the group stop in their tracks and looked to see more shadows approach from the corner in front of them from the left. They then looked out of the window couldn't see anything even in the distance far from the French Fries Forest and while the noise was distant, they could still hear it. Sonic and the others felt nervous and while they gasped in shock that they were in trouble, Cheese then noticed something behind them and squeaked in fear.
This made Cream look over her shoulder and gasp fearfully, softly crying out. "Mr. Sonic! The monsters!"
Sonic looked over his shoulders as did the others and they all gasped in horror and shock when they saw the shadows of their pursuers that they had escaped from began to quickly approach, leaving them all stuck in the middle and soon to be cornered, quite possibly to be locked up somewhere else.
"Dang, these guys just don't quit, do they?" Sun grunted in frustration.
"That's just great. We're trapped!" Knuckles growled in dismay.
"Not if I can help it!" Sonic declared, knowing that they had to leave now and there was only one thing left to do. So he instructed his friends still trapped inside their cell to step aside, which they quickly did and turned to the Drill Wisp who, having the idea on what he was thinking, nodded and flew right into his chest where he quickly focused on getting his friends out of there since he didn't want to waste anymore of the Rocket Wisps' powers.
"DRILL!"
Transforming into his drill form, Sonic spun and drilled his way through the jelly wall of the castle, sending tiny pieces of the wobbly jelly all over the place until a hole large enough for everyone to escape through and then some was made, emerging outside of the castle where a trail leading up to the forest. The blue hedgehog returned to normal as the Yellow alien came out before telling everyone to run.
"C'mon! Let's go!" He shouted, waiting anxiously for all of his friends to race out of the castle to freedom before they all made a run for it as quickly as possible in hopes to escape their pursuers, making sure he didn't accidentally run up ahead since he wanted to make sure everyone would be safe and catch up to him.
By the time the food monsters reached the corridor and saw the hole in the wall, Sonic and his friends were all gone, having managed to escape. Seeing this, the Food soldiers shared a glance before splitting up, one group to try and catch the young heroes and the aliens, while another went back to their mindless duties to capture more aliens for unknown causes.
The group ran as fast as Sonic allowed them since he had to keep steady pace and not leave anyone behind, escaping the horde of Food Monsters before eventually arriving in the Forest of French Fries and stopped where they all panted in relief with the blue hedgehog wiping his forehead while his friends panted in exhaustion. There were more Wisps including Lily who hovered over and frantically asked if they were okay, to which Yacker responded that they were all just fine, much to her relief.
"Phew...That was close. For a second there, I thought those monsters were gonna get us again." The sixteen year old hedgehog sighed, still feeling the adrenaline run through his body and he was certain that his brothers, girlfriend and other friends felt the same.
One by one, all of his friends began to recover and calm down. Cream then said while sighing. "I just hope we can save the other aliens before they end up caught by those awful Food Monsters."
"Chao..." Cheese whimpered.
"Well, at least we should be safe for now, but there could be more of those monsters created by the Lunina Comet's Shard infusing Sweet Mountain and using all of the sugar from the planet to create the Jelly Castle." Tails muttered worriedly.
"They don't give a guy a break, do they?" Sonic remarked, looking back down the path where the Jelly Castle is.
"Well, at least they're not following Ro-butt-nik." Sun pointed out with a shrug. "Can you imagine what it would've been like if he gained control of the Lunina Comet if it passed by Mobius?"
That made everyone frozen in fear at the thought, as Sonic softly gasped while realizing that his brother was right. He lowered his gaze at the terrifying thought, imagining if Eggman was still alive. In the blue hedgehog's mind, he could see his late nemesis using some sort of machine to absorb the Lunina Comet's power, once again kidnapping the Wisps while powering up yet another giant robot that would spread across the entire planet despite the teenage hero's efforts to stop it. In fact, despite that the evl scientist will not be able to escape the Prison of Evil, there had been nights when Sonic still had nightmares of Eggman being alive and he still couldn't get that annoying but haunting laughter out of his head.
Not to mention that even three weeks on, he still couldn't stop thinking about just how lucky he was considering. Sure Eggman was cruel and evil, but as far as Sonic was concerned, he and his Robotnik self in Young Sonic's world were nothing compared to some of the other, more twisted versions in a couple of other realities he'd seen in White Space; four who had been just as dark, evil and twisted, two of the four died and one of them being replaced by the fourth one who permanently took his place, but all had one thing in common; Taking over the majority of the planet, roboticizing many civilians, forcing three other versions of the blue hedgehog to fight them...and one of those three was temporarily roboticized himself before returning to normal.
Plus Sonic himself, as well as Young Sonic, Scourge, and another Sonic, one who lives in a dimension where humans and Mobians both live in two separate worlds which were pararell to each other as well, and who had been unaware of what was going on, were all immune to the roboticizer, and like Sonic and Young Sonic, his world's version of Eggman was similar to the one here before he died, only without a Metal Sonic.
'Guess we are pretty lucky since we don't have Eggman here anymore. But I do hope he can at least be remorseful enough to be allowed to go to Heaven and finally meet his grandpa and Maria. It's so sad that he'll never fully change, no matter what I did or do.' Sonic thought to himself, feeling upset and still feeling despondent over his actual last confrontations against the mad doctor.
He then thought about all of the other evil people he encountered and stopped when Soloman took him into the Prison of Evil, before the blue hedgehog then remembered there had been one person he hadn't thought of in ages and mentally gasped; There was one man who, now that he thought about it, the two alternate-versions of Robotnik looked identical to, but had a different first name and was the pure-evil brother of Eggman.
'Wait...Julius...He died too, and he didn't show any remorse either.' Sonic thought, remembering what Soloman told him before he confronted Eggman for one last time.
Flash-Back: During the events of "Sonic's Space-Time Adventure"...
Just as Sonic finished up on defeating another villain who was taken away by a couple of Octosaurs, Soloman stood by his side while the hero of Mobius muttered. "You guys sure are pretty busy in trying to keep these losers in line."
"It was never this busy before the Time Eater and Cormain have managed to escape. But yes, it is, well, not quite lively as one would put it." The High-Guard admitted.
"No offense, Soloman, but I don't like this place. To me it has an aura of evil, and not just because of how many bad guys there are around here. I can see why nobody who are in Mobodoon even borthered in coming out here in fear of getting attacked or killed by these monsters that roam." Sonic confessed, trying to supress the urge to shudder.
"I take no offense in your words, young hedgehog." Soloman chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Before our arrival, the Executioner would roam freely to devour any evil who would become trapped here and in an dangerous attempt to escape but failed. The elders agreed to keep it contained and built the city into what it is today."
The blue hedgehog gasped at that, now unable to hold back his fear and gulped nervously before rubbing his arms, shivering. "That's horrible. I don't wanna find out who created that thing in the first place. By the time my family and friends and I get back home, I'm gonna be having nightmares for weeks just like my little brother Tails."
The Octosaur could see the fear in Sonic's eyes and even sensed it, as he continued. "As for the monsters that still roam, as I said before, it is our only food source, which while it took us a decade in getting used to it, especially when we had to learn how to use what remaining power we had left to grow in size, eventually we've come to accept it. We agreed that feasting on the purest evil was not an option and we refused to feast on those who have been wrongly imprisoned and were placed in Mododoon for their safety."
"I'll bet the good people who might've seen you or the other Octosaurs freaked out like I did and thought you guys were gonna eat them." Sonic carefully remarked, still a bit terrified in his first encounter with the High-Guard.
"Indeed they were, but we have reassured them as I have done to you, Sonic. But you must remember; it is a cycle on both sides. You yourself know this." Soloman reminded.
"Yeah, I know. It's just...I've been swallowed whole alive and managed to get out a few times, and the only exception in not fighting against the one who eaten me was the giant Whale who let me go because the big guy just wanted to help, not planning on having me for dinner, and I don't wanna be dinner. But I've forced myself to face that nightmare; Chaos in his Perfect Form, when I fought a dragon in King Arthur's world, and when I had to rescue Red since that dragon who ate him was really delicate, except on the back." The sixteen year old sighed.
"It is rare for people to survive in being swallowed whole and escape." The High-Guard remarked, before chuckling. "You must be a delicious hedgehog if many go for you."
Sonic gasped and backed away a little, sweat dropping in fear, unable to stop himself from whimpering. "I-I hope you're kidding on that, Soloman! Y-You're not p-planning on-on eating me, are ya'? I don't wanna be your dinner!"
Soloman laughed before reassuring the increasingly terrified teenage Mobian. "My apologies. I was merely joking. As I have told you before, if I wanted to eat you, I would have done so the moment we met. You can relax, young one. The King only wishes for your freedom and safety."
"Phew..." The blue hedgehog breathed a sigh of relief, placing his hand on his chest before glaring up at the Octosaur. "That's not funny. I've spend two months still being scared of a dead giant Werehog that wanted to have me for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even dessert. Let's do ourselves a favor and stop talking about the fact that I unfortunately taste good."
"Agreed." Soloman nodded, pushing back his amusement for the time being.
Shaking his head, the hero of Mobius then thought of something as a memory came back to him. "You know, I just realized something. This place is for dead bad people who become trapped and can't get back to their worlds, right? I mean, Kaiser was definitely one of them, and Eggman's around here somewhere for three months."
"That is correct."
"I just remembered...there was another Robotnik who did things just as awful as he did, and I'm not talking about his grandpa who lost his mind in grief for what happened to Maria, or Ro-butt-nik that Scourge's teamed up with. There was another. One who killed Eggman's dad, and kidnapped my friend's mother for Chao, who used the power of special kinds of Chao to also grow into a giant, before Chaos came into the picture..." Sonic explained, folding his arms before looking up at Soloman. "You wouldn't happen to have dealt with Julius Robotnik too, would ya'?"
"...Yes. Julius Robotnik has also been brought here, how very dangerous he was towards your entire planet. When he arrived, he was still in a giant form by the misused power of the White Chao as well as the Chaos Emeralds, and we agreed almost immediately that he was far too dangerous to even be allowed to continue to exist." Soloman explained after a moment of silence.
Sonic lowered his head, "So he's been executed too?"
The High-Guard nodded. "His mind and heart were as black as even Black Doom."
The blue hedgehog shuddered, knowing that Soloman was right. He remembered that time when he and his friends made to rescue Vanilla, Cream and Cheese and the Chao, how Julius absorbed those powers to grow into a giant, holding Sonic himself within his clutches and how scared the back-then-fourteen year old had been. Even Eggman had been horrified by his brother's abuse of power and despite that he still wanted to take over Mobius, he would rather do it without infusing himself, terrified of the body-shaping ability. Gosh, the evil scientist was scared of Sonic whenever the blue hedgehog transformed into Super Sonic who would use his power for good.(1)
End of Flash-Back:
Thinking about what he and Soloman talked about now made Sonic shudder slightly, hugging himself while rubbing his arms when he felt the goosebumps crawl into his skin again. Abuse of power can make everyone do all sorts of crazy things, and even today the blue hedgehog still feared even himself to certain extent. Maybe he shouldn't find the Chaos Emeralds and just focus on saving the Wisps while trying to talk sense into Spirit. Even now, the hero of Mobius was still hesitant and worried in even burrowing just a little bit of the aliens' Hyper-Go-Ons.
"Sonic? Sonic!" Tails then called out, shaking the blue hedgehog slightly on the shoulder.
"Huh? What?" Blinking as he was snapped out of his thoughts, Sonic turned and saw that his family and friends were gazing at him worriedly which made him realize that he had been really deep into his mind that he hadn't noticed that he zoned off.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" The nine year old cub asked, concerned.
"Uh...Sorry. Just thinking. Nothing to worry about." Sonic reassured, mentally shaking off the chilling memories of the horrible times he'd rather forget. "It's a good thing Egghead's gone and we don't have to deal with him. Besides, there's no point of worrying about what he would do if he was still around since it'll never happen."
"Are you sure you're okay, Sonic? You look kind of scared for a moment." Amy asked worriedly.
While he didn't want to talk about, he learned from his lessons on keeping most important things to himself from the people he deeply loved ever since the Dark Gaia crisis. Sonic sighed before scratching the top of his head. "Okay, you got me. I was thinking about what Sun said and that really freaked me out, and how lucky we are since Eggman's gone. It also...made me remember what Julius did before he died."
"(Who's Julius?)" Yacker blinked, confused as he never heard of that person before. The Mobians and Cheese whoever, despite that both Sun and Star weren't there at the time either, all shared worried glances as they too still didn't forget about that time.
"He was Dr. Eggman's very horrible brother who took away my mother and tried to take me and Cheese two years ago." Cream explained in sadness.
"Chao, chao." Cheese murmured with a frown.
The Wisps all gasped in shock while Sonic continued the explanation. "Not only he tried to do that as well as kidnap all of the special kinds of Chao like Eggman kidnapped you guys, but Julius Robotnik was worse than he was, and just as ugly too. Long story short, he died when he let power go over his head and I had to stop him from destroying the world."
"(He sounds more scary than Baldy Nosehair...!)" Cutie shivered, making Lily, Amy and Star attempt to comfort the young yellow-haired Wisp.
"He was one of the worst nightmares any of us have come across." Knuckles agreed with his arms folded. "Sure glad he's gone."
"What scares me the most is what could have happened if Eggman was still around and, as much as I hate to say it, but it's for the best that he's done." The blue hedgehog continued, before sighing and forced himself to calm down and said. "Like I said, we shouldn't worry about that since him coming back will never happen."
Just then, they heard more noises which made the group notice more Wisps and to everyone's surprise and confusion, there was a small lake made out of tomato sauce where more Jade-Ghost Wisps that were seen pulled off the branches of the Potato-Chip trees and dunked them into the lake before eating them, savoring the deliciousness while getting some sauce on their faces, making the girls giggle at the silly sight and Sonic and Tails chuckle softly.
"(Wow, that sure looks pretty yummy!)" Lily remarked, her eyes twinkling a little.
"I'm getting hungry just by looking at them eating those chips in tomato sauce." Amy admitted.
"(Me too, even though I wish there was a chocolate cake with custard.)" A Laser Wisp admitted, moaning in delight at the image of a piece of a giant chocolate cake covered in vanilla custard.
"That sounds delicious." Tails thought with a small smile and sweat drop, slightly embarrassed to admit it.
"With any luck, when this place turns back to normal, you can have that cake and custard on top that you want." Sonic promised before saying seriously. "But still, with all of these monsters around, it's gonna be tricky in finding that shard and we still need to rescue the rest of the aliens that are trapped in that Jelly Castle."
"It would be faster if we split up into groups, if you're alright with that." Tails hesitantly suggested, and while some of the others were wiry over this idea, all of them saw the logic in the young fox cub's words.
"If that's the case, then let's do it." The hero of Mobius declared, before making out the teams that were going to be formed. "Amy, you lead Cream, Cheese and Star and help find and save the Wisps near the mountains and watch out for the monsters. Tails, Knux, Sun, you guys are with me. Yacker, Speed, you take Cutie, Ghostly, Lily and everybody else someplace to hide and help your buddies, but don't get captured by the bad guys. We'll keep track with each other with whoever finds a clue or the Lunina Comet's shard."
"You got it, Sonic! Team Rose, at your service!" The pink hedgehog declared with a smirk, holding her Piko Piko Hammer over her shoulder as she winked at her boyfriend who smiled proudly and gave her a thumbs up in return.
"This will be like the team the three of us and Big went on our adventure, Cheese!" Cream said excitedly to her Chao who chirped happily, before the young seven year old rabbit girl turned to Star. "Isn't this exciting that we're all going together, Ms. Star?"
"Yeah, it'll be an all-girl and Chao team!" Star agreed excitedly.
"It'll be just like old times." Tails said, smiling at his big brother despite the worry, but since there weren't any Eggman robots or Eggman himself, and while the situation was still troubling, it wasn't as bad as the previous adventures.
"Yep!" Sonic said, as he felt that despite the worries over his friends and girlfriend, it wouldn't be super hard. "Team Sonic is back in action, with Sun added to the crew!"
"I've actually kind of missed hanging out with you guys when it was just the three of us and I like hanging out with Sun." Knuckles admitted with a smirk, looking rather excited himself despite the annoyance of being a world that was literally made out of food, sugar or not.
Sun smiled, stating to the cobalt hedgehog. "It'll be like how the two of us, Tails and Chip traveled together, only with Knuckles."
"(Wait, Sonic. Maybe some of us should go with you and Amy's team.)" Speed spoke up, surprising the Mobians and Chao who glanced up at him, with Cutie, Yacker, Ghostly, and Lily nodding in agreement. "(That way, it'll be easier to find our friends with our power to sense them.)"
"Well, if that's the case, then I guess it would be a good idea." The blue hedgehog decided after a moment or two. "Alright then, welcome aboard, Speedster!"
"(Right!)" The cobalt Wisp nodded. "(I ain't afraid of no Food Monsters!)"
"(Yeah, right. You were screaming out loud earlier.)" An orange Wisp scoffed sarcastically.
"(Was not!) Speed denied, pouting.
"(Alright, alright. No fighting.)" Yacker said while floating between the two other Wisps who quietened down.
"(Miss Amy...)" Cutie surprisingly began as she shyly over over to the pink hedgehog who blinked in confusion. "(I know I haven't been much of a help yet, but may I go with you, Miss Star, Cream and Cheese, please?)"
Surprised by this geniue request, Amy smiled softly and nodded. "Of course you can, Cutie. Just try and be careful, okay?"
The yellow-haired Wisp nodded happily and nuzzled into the thirteen year old hedgehog girl who giggled, and Cream, Star and Cheese smiled at the adorable scene which melted their hearts as well as the hearts of the boys who all smiled warmly. Even Knuckles felt soothed by this.
"(I'll go too. That way each team can have a Jumper of us each.)" Lily declared, hovering over to Team Rose.
"Great, then! Let's get to it!" Sonic declared, before adding. "Just be careful, okay?"
Everyone each made a vow that they will be careful as Yacker, while concerned for four of his brothers and sisters, knew that they would be safe with the two teams of Mobians(well, one team had a very cute Chao, but still), hoping to find more of their friends and leading the Wisps to safety as well as investigate Sweet Mountain themselves, saluted to his friends who nodded, and Sonic received a gentle kiss on the cheek by Amy, making him smile a little.
Tails then spoke up once more, "By the way, our WCS can also link a map of our whereabouts and pin-point on where we are, so if you get lost in this place, you'll be able to use that to find your way back to us."
"Now that's what I call thinking way ahead. I knew I wouldn't doubt ya'." The blue hedgehog said proudly.
"I aim to please." The two-tailed fox mimicked what his older brother had told him a couple months ago, feeling quite proud of himself and happy by the compliment.
Sonic laughed and teasingly mimicked back on his little brother's words. "Well, I'm very pleased. Anyway, let's meet up where one of our teams find the shard."
"(Be careful, Sonic. There are still monsters around and they might catch you again.)" Yacker advised.
"Only if they can catch me." The blue hedgehog reassured. "We'll be fine. Those monsters don't stand a chance."
With the plan all sorted out, and everyone sharing a brief farewell, Team Sonic, now added with Sun, Ghostly and Speed, headed off towards the Watermelon Mountain with Sonic taking the lead, Tails flying with his namesakes, the two Wisps also taking flight, and both Sun and Knuckles hurrying to keep up with their fast friends(Sonic being the fastest, of course), while Team Rose with Star temporarily taking place of Big the Cat, and Cutie and Lily joining in, headed towards another part of Sweet Mountain's transformed state, and Yacker lead the rest of the Wisps and gathered around the other Wisps who noticed and prepared their own departure to find more of their kind and possibly the shard in case the two Mobian teams are unable to do so.
Despite the dangers that lied up ahead, Team Sonic and Team Rose were already preparing themselves for their quests.
Meanwhile, back on Mobius in Station Square, GUN had their hands full a little as they kept on trying to figure out any sort of clues on anymore misbehaving Wisps that were on Spirit's side to 'liven things up', and some of the Wisps that they helped to save after cleaning up the city went with the organization to help solve the problem.
Well...sort of.
In Commander Tower's office as Shadow, Topaz, Omega, and even Rouge who gave out her report on Sonic and Tails' plans to visit Planet Wisp in the future before any of this started, had all returned to confirm that things had seemingly calmed down, some of the still misbehaving Wisps were making quite a mess, like a couple of the Hammer Wisps flinging paper-work all over the place, some of the Star-Beam Wisps bouncing up and town on the couch nearby, and two Jade-Ghost Wisps were spinning on one of the wheel-computer chairs so fast that they were getting dizzy, all the while six White Wisps, three Laser Wisps and two Hover-Wisps tried to get their mischief siblings to stop playing around roughly, and even Topaz tried to help.
"Well, this is the most lively meeting I've ever been in since joining." Rouge remarked with a sly smirk, glacing around while a couple of Star-Beam Wisps happily hovered around her. "Just what this place really needs."
"I disagree. These aliens are a problem of constant distraction." Omega muttered in what sounded like sheer annoyance.
"At least not all of the Wisps are a problem, but it is starting to give me a headache." Shadow grumbled, rubbing his temples that began to throb.
"In hindsight, has there been any more reports on serious incidents since these aliens arrived to our planet?" Tower questioned while trying to ignore the fact that he felt like the GUN has suddenly become a Daycare Center for adorable Wisps.
"Don't touch that!" Topaz cried out to a Hammer-Wisp who was about to touch the button of a paper-shredding machine, but she and one of the White Wisps grabbed hold of it, before the sheepish agent replied to the Commander. "There hasn't been any serious injuries or incidents since this morning, Sir. Unless the giant Lunina Figurine toy to which Sonic the Hedgehog has taken care of counts as serious..."
"If I didn't know any better, Topaz, I'd say you'd make a great babysitter at a Childcare Center. You look so cute handling those adorable little aliens." Rouge teased with a smirk.
The dirty-blond-haired woman glared at her white-bat partner in annoyance. "That's not funny, Rouge."
"Relax, hon." The bat thief shrugged. "If you can handle Chao, you can handle Wisps."
"I thought we agreed to never speak of that incident again!" Topaz grunted, her face flushing red in embarrassment, which confused the White Wisp and the Hammer Wisp who, while having struggled in the grip of the human woman, stopped and the two little aliens blinked.
"I'm not going to even ask." The black hedgehog muttered, exasperated over the two women's bickering while thinking to himself. 'Women...I will never understand them.'
"Alright. Keep an eye out on anymore...minor problems across the world. There's been a report that mysterious portals have been located in different parts of the planet, but orders have been issued to prevent anyone from entering them." Commander Tower began, attempting to avoid in sounding or even feeling rather awkward about the playful mess that was going on in his office. "I want you all to check them out and see if there is a way to block them off. I will not take any chances on what is happening, especially when the day the Lunina Comet is about to pass Mobius."
"Yes, sir." Shadow, Rouge and Topaz, who finally had some relief when two White Wisps began scolding the Hammer Wisp after taking it out of her hands, saluted.
"Affirmative." Omega replied.
All of the sudden, there was a flash of light and a sound of screaming in the middle of the room which alerted the occupants in the group, with Team Dark and Topaz quickly getting into positions while Tower stood up quickly, and the Wisps in the room squealed in fright before hiding in everywhere they could spot, like the lockers, under the furniture, even making a messed pile of paperwork. Yet when the light faded since it wasn't so bright, it materalized into a young man in it's twenties who was also a GUN soldier with a Jumping Wisp hovering beside him. The man, who had short brown hair and blue eyes, blinked in bewilderment while holding a paper bag of Take-Out food from the Meh-Burgers.
Topaz, Rouge, the little aliens who peeked out nervously, even Tower, Shadow and Omega all blinked in equal confusion with sweat-drops.
"Agent Neku?" Rouge asked, surprised.
"How did you get here?" Topaz asked.
"Huh? Uh..." The young man, Agent Neku, realized where he was and what was going on, saluted quickly before apologetically explaning. "Sorry to interrupt, sir. But I was taking a bit of a break for lunch before realizing I was about to be late to report and then suddenly this little fellow used some kind of magic and the next thing I knew, well...here I am."
'Well, that explains a lot.' Shadow thought to himself with a dull expression.
"Well, at least you don't have to worry about being late now, and you brought yourself lunch along with it." Rouge teasingly shrugged. "Those little blue aliens come in handy, don't they?"
"Uh...Y-yes, Agent Rouge, ma'am." Agent Neku shrugged sheepishly, while the Jumping Wisp saluted playfully and proudly, the other Wisps all giggling, Omega saying anothing and Topaz sighing.
Tower stood there for a moment, before he slowly returned to his seat and sighed, placing his hand over his face. "They're more of a handful than my daughter was when she started to learn how to walk."
Now he really felt like a babysitter, surrounded by Wisps that acted like children.
A/N: I used the idea of how the Wisps would be in the GUN office that you suggested to me, TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3 and thought that it would be cute as an ending segment for this chapter. So now the next chapter will have the two teams explore more of Sweet Mountain and Team Sonic will discover something that will connect to what Tower had talked about. Will Sonic and his friends save Sweet Mountain and find the Lunina Comet Shard? We'll have to find out next time!
(1) Mentioned in "Sonic DX Adventures", and the idea of the Julius confrontation is based on Robotnik/Eggman using some sort of alien power in the Sonic the Comic issue 173/174.
See you later!