Lava Reef Zone 1

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" The team screamed as they fell down the pit as the light filled the way around them it became clear that they were no longer inside the Pyramid. The surroundings were pure rocks and stones. Many streams of metal pipes were installed along the walls. The team had a sort of safe landing as they landed on a slanted, smooth rock surface and they all kept screaming as they all slid down the pit. Frightening as this is, at least they'll have a safe landing. Wherever it may be.

The sliding seemed to go one for several minutes and the curves went on many nauseating twists and turns.

"Ohhhhhh, I'm feeling sick." Sailor Moon whined.

"BOTTOM!" Sonic called to them at the top of his lungs as they slid more towards the bottom of the slide. With a rough crash they all hit the bottom of the pit. Slowly they groaned and picked themselves up and dusted themselves off. Sailor Moon fell down on her bottom as she tried to shake off the dizziness of the slide.

"Let me help you!" Sailor Mars said as she grabbed her and lightly smacked her face. Sailor Moon's face returned to normal.

"OW!" She cried. "You're so mean! Why'd you hit me!?"

"Calm down!" Sailor Mars scolded, rolling her eyes. "That was only lightly compared to what I could do! Besides, I knew it would refocus your eyes!"

The others just giggled at the whole thing, Sailor Moon just started whining.

"Everyone is so mean to me!"

"Guys look!" Sailor Venus said as they all looked around to get a better grip of their surroundings. Even Sailor Moon seemed to instantly stop crying. It's clear they were in a cave, the reason why it's no longer dark is because there are glowing pits of molten hot magma all over the place. You'd really need to watch your step to not get burned.

"Where are we?" Sailor Moon asked. Tails smiled and answered her.

"We're in the volcano! The mines on the inside!"

"I can tell. It's like an oven in here!" Sailor Venus sighed as she wiped the sweat on her head. The atmosphere wasn't as harsh as the desert, but it was still pretty warm for obvious reasons.

Artemis smiled big as he noticed something really good.

"Not only that! Look guys!" He pointed his paw towards a passage that was deep into the mines and the large spherical structure they were after was lodged into the rocky ceiling of the mines.

"The Death Egg!" Sailor Moon cheered.

"We're almost there!" Sailor Mars said happily.

Sonic's face remained serious. "Don't get too cocky." He warned. "Once we get there there's gonna be several obstacles and enemies in our way."

"Let's move." Tails suggested. "We don't know how far along he is in repairing it. If he's almost done we gotta hurry."

The team pressed on. They had to be careful because as they passed by a few magma pits, the magma would sometimes explode up like a geyser. Sailor Moon let out a loud 'yelp' everytime it happened. Sailor Venus calmed her down by rubbing her shoulders.

Sonic had to explain something. "As we were saying, this place is a mine, so be aware of any machines or devices that could block our way."

The team froze as they heard loud chipping. Really fast and loud chipping. Rapid like chipping as if someone was using a jackhammer. The team paused and looked around. They noticed in the diagonal direction behind them, in the shadows of a nearby rock column, a digging robot with several pics on the left and right side of its body. The pics were intensely digging into the rocks with incredible speed. The team didn't attack it because the robot didn't seem interested in attacking them. They stopped and observed it because they weren't sure why.

"It hid itself well." Luna said. "We didn't see it in the dark at first."

"What's it digging for?" Sailor Moon questioned.

Sonic thought for a moment until he figured it out. His eyes bugged in panic.

"RUN!" He shouted. The team didn't know why but didn't question it. They instantly turned around and started running for it.

The ground beneath them began to crack up and it caused a fissure which creeped up to the team with near lighting 's eyes bugged out as the ground beneath them gave away and crumbled opening up a great chasm beneath them.

"NO!" Sailor Venus cried. The team all like crazy flail their arms about as they tried to grip on the falling ridges of the ground but it was no use. Any rocks they grabbed all broke and fell with them. They all plummeted and down the chasm even the robot that was digging.

Sailor Mars saw down below as they fell, it was a giant lake of magma waiting to burn them alive. The robot, being so heavier than them, fell into the magma faster and sank a few feet before exploding. Sailor Mars saw their only hope, a small island of stone in the center of the lake.

"Everyone! Air swim towards the center!" She called her instructions. The team quickly followed orders and all safely but barely landed on the island. Luckily this wasn't as deep as other falls they recently had so the landing was rough. It wasn't enough to seriously injure or kill anyone.

"Eggman's getting much bolder." Luna said. "That robot basically suicided itself just to try and kill us."

"Our current situation isn't much better." Sailor Venus added. "We're trapped." Sonic noticed something ahead, a tunnel going deeper inside and a rather risky way to get there.

"There's our way forward!" He pointed to a trail of single stones lined up in a way to form a path forward and to safety. Sailor Moon panicked looking at it, the others gulped at it.

"No way!" Sailor moon objected. "I'll stay here until the lava cools!"

"We're in a Volcano." Tails pointed out. "It either won't happen or not for a very long time."

"It's not hard." Sonic smiled at her. "Just a simple hop, skip, and jump." Without another word, Sonic dashed forward and made it to the otherside easily.

Sailor Mars rolled her eyes. "Sonic, must I point out we can't go as fast as you?" Sonic rolled his eyes in response.

Sonic thought to himself. "Yeah I had to slow myself down just to stay with you guys to keep you safe."

Tails just spun his Tails and flew over which caused Sailor Mars to roll her eyes once more.

Sailor Mars refocused and inhaled in and slowly exhaled to relax herself. Like a game of hopscotch she quickly jumped one by one, on one leg on the stones and made it to the other side with Sonic and Tails. The others noticed that the stones slowly began to sink into the magma as Sailor Mars stood on it. Clearly they couldn't spend too much time on the stones.

The cats jumped next. Luckily since they were practically weightless and very fast, and very light. It was little trouble for them.

Sailor Venus was shaking and knew it was now or never. She turned to face Sailor Moon and held her hands and stared into her eyes and tried to calm her down and help her.

"You go first I got your back!" She said to her. Sailor Moon calmed down some after hearing her friend's support. She slowly stepped towards the edge of the island. She looked ahead and saw her other friends at the side, doing gestures to encourage her to be brave and to give it a try.

Sailor Moon repeated what Sonic said earlier.

"A hop, a skip, a jump." She focused her vision on the other side and attempted to jump across the stones similar to Sailor Mars had.

"WAAAA!" Sailor Moon cried, as she made it to the middle stone and lost her balance as she waved her hands about. Her eyes bugged out as her head faced the magma. Sailor Venus was behind her and grabbed her left arm and pulled her back so she could regain her balance. Sailor Moon smiled at her. She really does have her back, not that she ever really doubted her. She was more relaxed now and she and Sailor Venus managed to get to the other side.

Sailor Moon sighed in relief. "Thank you all for supporting me."

"You're the Moon Princess. We'll always stand by you!" Sailor Mars smiled at her.

"And I'm your knight!" Sonic winked. "It's my duty to look out for you."

The team shared a laugh and continued down the tunnel. They paused as they came to a wall. Tails however pointed out that there was a button above the door and Sailor Venus pushed it and the wall moved up. It was actually a door.

On the other side was a clear path forward. The team moved and once they were halfway through, several rocks raised up and grew robotic eyes underneath.

Tails noticed this and the rocks suddenly began to glow and beep, as if counting down the beeps happened faster and faster.

Tails instantly shouted. "RUN! BOMBS!" The team rushed forward as one by one, the eyes on the rocks bulged out, and the rocks blew up and dangerous rock chunks flew everywhere as they exploded.

"Ouch! Ah!" The Sailors cried in pain. The team managed to not get seriously hurt but the rocks were cutting and scratching their legs, arms and their outfits. They made it to the other side and ducked as the remaining bombs exploded. Once they were safe the Sailors sat on their bottoms and checked themselves. Sailor Moon had a cut on her left leg and right cheek. Sailor Mars had two holes in her skirt and a cut on her left forearm. Sailor Venus had a cut on her right leg and right arm.

"He…..almost got us." Sailor Mars panted.

Sailor Moon thought about their missing friends. "If Mercury were here she'd have bandages for us!" Sonic smiled at her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"We'll get them back soon. I promise!" Sonic smiled. They sat for a moment to catch their breath and rest. Sailor Moon and Sonic worked to look at each other, and everyone's wounds. Sailor Mars stretched, she was the first to stand up.

"We should be ok". Let's move. She instructed. The rest of the team moved forward.

Sonic and Tails came up to a large stone wall that was a smooth stone slab. An obvious stand out from the rest of the rocky landscape. The corridor surrounding them started to narrow the deeper they went in.

"Well, looks like we're stuck again." Sailor Venus sighed.

"Not quite." Sailor Mars said, touching the rocky walls surrounding the slab. Her eyes caught a small brown rock that was smooth and flat, being curious about it, she pressed it like a button.

Her instincts were correct, that rock was a button. It clicked and the stone slab moved up. Opening the way forward. They came to another wall, however there was a way forward, although it was a way up. They noticed an elevator connected with two steel chains. The device to operate it was operated by two cogs connected to the chains on the platform. The rest of the team climbed onto the platform and thought for a moment.

"How are we supposed to use this thing?" Sailor Moon wondered. Sonic eyed the cogs for a moment and snapped his fingers.

"Sit back and relax. I got this." Sonic jumped into the space in between the cogs and began to spin. This caused the cogs to travel up the chains which lifted the platform up. After a couple of minutes the platform reached the top and the team was able to continue. The team slowed down some as they heard steam hissing. Unfortunately they were still in a narrow hallway. They looked behind them and the way behind the elevator was a solid wall.

Luna was close to the wall as many small holes that were all over inside the wall suddenly began to glow red.

Luna gasped. "DUCK!" The team instantly dropped to the ground and several fireballs shot out and shot many flames.

"Crawl!" Artemis instructed. The team stayed low crawling on the ground and moved forward. They tried to avoid the flames.

Eggman built flamethrowers into the walls! Tails said.

"Ouch!" Sailor Venus winced feeling a small pebble scratch her knee. Sonic laughed.

"Guess these places aren't ideal for wearing leotards and skirts!" The Sailors simply rolled their eyes.

Luckily they got out of the hallway and avoided the fire. Once they were able to stand back up. They dusted themselves off.

"Eggman's really been going to work on this place." Sailor Venus observed.

Sonic pointed out. "There's not much left standing between us and the Death Egg. He's gonna really try to stop us."

They came out into a wide open area. As they moved across a seemingly open area with no danger. Something started to happen. The area slowly began to fill with grey smog.

"Woah, what's this?" Tails wondered as the team looked around, but didn't notice anything. More and more smog filled the air. Luna and Artemis, being smaller, were covered by the smog, and immediately began to cough.

"'Cough'...'cough'" Artemis went with Luna. "Run! This is very heavy smoke!"

The team dashed forward, with Sailor Moon picking up Luna and Sailor Venus picking up Artemis, saving them from the smoke. However the smoke was climbing very fast. It was up to their knees and still climbing.

Sonic and Tails looked up once they made it to the end of the open area, this led into yet another narrow passage. They noticed there were steel pipes with angry eyes staring at them. Five in the ceiling and another five in the ground. They had open slits, made to look like mouths under the eyes, they were blowing out smoke at a very fast pace.

"Toxomisters!" Tails called out their names. Tails flew up to go get the badnicks the smoke already covering the others. The team dropped to their knees and started violently gagging and coughing.

"Tails….'cough' 'cough'...stop them." Sonic gagged as he curled up in pain. The Sailors soon did the same thing. Tails worried for them, he knows he has to hurry.

He flew over to the badnicks and immediately spin dashed to smash them all to bits. Once they were destroyed Tails flew in a circle overhead fast, in a circle to clear the smoke away. He succeeded and he flew down to make sure everyone was ok.

"'Cough'...Way to go Tails!" Sonic praised as the team took a break for safe air to fill their lungs.

The team rested for a couple minutes and once they could breathe normally they went to the otherside of the open area which went to another narrow hallway. Unfortunately they came to a rock wall that seems like another dead end.

"What can we do?" Sailor Venus asked. They looked around to find a possible button to open the wall. Unfortunately there was none to be found. Sailor Mars tapped the wall and put her ear against it to hear any hollows, there were none.

However there was something else.

"Guys! I hear something!" She called, silencing the others so she could concentrate. The sound was very fast chipping, almost like someone was operating a jackhammer like the hammering robot from earlier. It was getting louder, and louder. The ground began to shake.

"What's happening?" Sailor Moon asked. Sailor Mars figured it out.

"RUN BACK!" Sailor Mars screamed. The heroes all turned around quickly and rushed back the way they came. They put some great distance between themselves and the wall when it burst open. A large iron ball, bigger than any of them, covered in spikes chipping away at the rocky ground and barreling towards them with great speed.

"Another trap!" Sailor Venus shouted.

"Run faster!" Sailor Moon shouted as the distance closed between them and the ball. The group tried their best, even managing to make it to the end of the hallway but it wasn't enough, for the ball was a mere three feet away from them. Seeing this, Sonic reacted quickly. He achieved his great speed that he's been holding back during this journey he shot with his great speed, during this, it seemed for Sonic, time slowed to a crawl. He scooped up the cats and Sailor Moon and tossed them around the bend then did the same for Sailor Venus and Mars. They all landed comically on their rears or backs. He and Tails moved around the corner of the back entrance they just came in from as the ball shot past them and crashed into a wall stopping upon making a giant dust cloud surrounding it.

Sailor Moon rubbed her back as she felt the rocky ground stick into her.

"Ohhh that hurt." She groaned. The rest stood up and did the same. Except Sailor Mars rubbed her rear as the cats stretched their bodies. Not feeling good after their feline bellies landed on the rocks. Sailor Mars shot Sonic with an angry look.

"That hurt Sonic!" She scolded. Sonic rolled his eyes in response.

"Sorry but if I hadn't done this, you'd be as flat and have as many holes inside you as a simple slice of swiss cheese!"

Luna coughed, and then spoke. "At least the way forward is open now. Thanks to that ball."

The team continued back into the passageway as they moved past where they encountered the ball.

Almost immediately after they went deeper into the tunnel as the area lit up bright red. It opened up to another wide area. They came to a wide bridge and began to pass over it. The bridge was over a large lake of magma and to the right of them was a waterfall of magma, flowing slowly.

Sailor Venus observed it and paused. She spoke to the others. "You know if it wasn't the fact that that fall could incinerate us. This would be a beautiful sight to behold."

Sailor Moon whipped her head as she was sweating quite a bit.

"Who knew I'd miss being at D-point freezing after being in this hot place!"

The march came to a stop.

Artemis sighed. "The way forward is cut off!" The bridge came to a large pathway of rock, however several feet away. The path ends and it goes straight into the magma. The team stopped and rested, they had to think of a way forward. Sailor Mars looked around, as did Sonic and Tails. Nothing was found.

Sailor Mars closed her eyes and sat with her legs crossed, her eyes closed and her hands folded.

"What's she doing?" Sailor Moon asked.

"She's meditating." Sonic answered.

"Yeah but, why?" She replied.

"Shhhh!" Sailor Venus silenced. "She needs to concentrate! Maybe it can help us!"

"Spirit of Fire! Guide us!" Sailor Mars said in her head. Her eyes popped open as the team looked around as the magma surrounding them on both the right and left sides began to boil and bubble.

"An enemy robot!" Sailor Mars announced. "It's manipulating the magma in this area! We got to destroy it! If we do, we can advance!"

The group stood back to back in a circle and faced both sides. Soon two large metal spheres with several holes, attached to two long flexible metal poles. They swayed around like snakes ready to strike. The heroes stared at the machines awaiting whatever they would attack with.

The two spheres fired large bullets at the team from their holes. The team was able to easily dodge them. Unfortunately the spheres were too high up so Sonic and Tails couldn't attack them directly.

"It's all you guys!" Sonic called to the Sailors. They all nodded to each other and they leaped around to avoid getting shot, they combined their attacks to one of the machines.

"Moon Tiara Action!"

"Fire Soul!"

"Crescent Beam!"

The attacks combined and slammed into the sphere on the right. It successfully destroyed the sphere, which sent several explosions down the pole, blowing it up.

"Alright!" Sailor Moon cheered. The second sphere clicked several times, for it ran out of ammo. It sank back into the magma behind them and they heard a loud 'whoosh!' They quickly turned to see a large metal hand, bright red from the heat of the magma. It stood up straight looking like it was ready to crush them.

"Jump!" Sonic shouted, the team leaped away when the hand swatted down and missed as the machine smashed down on the rocks like someone trying to crush a bug.

"That would have been ugly." Sailor Moon cried as she patted the small fire out as it seemed, the machine managed to touch a small part of her skirt.

"For a machine, it seems to have superior reflexes." Sailor Mars observed. The hand retracted back into the magma and the sphere from before crawled out from the magma again. It clicked and was ready to fire more bullets.

"Attack now before it fires!" Luna instructed. The Sailors acted immediately.

"Moon Tiara Action!"

"Fire Soul!"

"Crescent Beam!"

The three combined attacks also successfully destroyed the sphere, sending more explosions down into the magma. Immediately the big hand appeared out of the magma. It stayed above the team for a few seconds and Sonic intervened, he shoved them out of the way when the hand slammed down onto the rocks. The team fell on their behinds and backs, but were luckily not flattened.

"We gotta take that thing out!" Tails called.

Sonic noticed the metal was still very bright red. "It's still too hot for us to touch! Girls, it's all you!"

"Now Sailor Moon!" Sailor Mars called. She nodded and took her tiara for another attack.

"Moon Tiara Action!"

"Fire Soul!"

"Crescent Beam!"

The strengthened tiara flew and smashed into the hand causing many dents and cracking the shell.

"We got it!" Sailor Venus cheered.

"Not quite!" Sailor Mars said. "We damaged it, but we gotta hit it again!"

"Hate to say it." Tails interrupted. "While Mars's fire does appear to make the Tiara disc stronger, adding heat to it may not be very effective against this foe."

"If it makes our attacks any stronger though I gotta keep trying." Sailor Mars argued.

"No worries just leave this to us!" Sailor Moon said with confidence.

Sonic and Tails moved the team around as they watched the movement of the metal hand it raised up and followed them before slamming down again. Thanks to Sonic and Tails the Sailors avoided getting crushed again.

"Now! Hit it again!" Luna called.

"Try to hit the cracked spot again!" Sailor Mars instructed. Sailor Moon again took her tiara and threw it. Venus and Mars put their attacks into it again. Sailor Moon successfully hit the cracked section again and this time blew a big hole into the hand.

Sonic and Tails found their opening.

"Now Tails!" Sonic called. Tails quickly joined hands with Sonic and performed a double spin dash. Thanks to the Sailors they smashed open a hole so it wasn't too hot to attack.

Sonic and Tails smashed into the hole destroying the inner components and blew up the hand. It sent more explosions into the main part of the machine, still inside the magma and destroyed it. The explosion of the main machine shot up a geyser of magma. The team took cover behind a bolder as drops of magma splashed onto the rock.

The team came out of cover once it ended and noticed something odd about the surrounding magma.

"It's dropping in color!" Sailor Moon said.

"It's cooling down somehow." Luna explained.

Tails had a theory. "Perhaps that robot must have been manipulating the lava by keeping it warm so we'd be stuck here. This may have been a dormant part of the volcano."

"The way forward is open!" Sailor Venus said. Pointing to the path that was the flow of magma cutting off the way forward. The Magma finally cooled to a dark black color and was safe to touch. The river became a safe path to walk on.

Back at the Death Egg. Scratch, Grounder, Metal Sonic, and the Cyber Sailors have returned.

"It took you two making a second trip to bring us here." Scratch said to the Cyber Sailors.

Grounder added. "Now that we're back. We gotta work fast to fix the Death Egg, get it back into space quickly. The Doctor said that Sonic and the Sailors are getting very close here."

"We need to work fast!" Scratch squawked, getting a hammer and screws. "Let's get to work!" Scratch, Grounder, Metal Sonic and the Cyber Sailors, as well as many remaining robots all immediately began work on finishing repairs on the vessel. They already had a start since the Death Egg crashed. Will they finish before the heroes can reach them?

With Tuxedo Mask. He entered an area surrounded by crystals and sparkling rocks.

"I think this is it." He thought to himself. "I gotta catch up with the others."

A/N Sorry about the delay for this update. A big personal problem occurred that damaged my computer and I needed it repaired. Unfortunately the way things are in the world right now. It took longer than it should have to fix my computer. In the meantime though, see you next time.