Chapter 7 – The Aqua Realm

We slowly approached the lava bridge. I was surprised at how quickly it had set and gone cool. But then I reminded myself that this wasn't my world and things probably didn't work the same way. No kidding I thought to myself as I looked at my hands. A white fox with nine tails? How on earth…or should that be Mobius did I end up like this? I didn't deny it was cool. I had always wanted to be a Sonic character and at the moment I looked very similar to one of my fan characters. Kit Kat speaking broke me out of my thoughts.

"You sure this is ok?" he asked hovering his foot above the hardened lava.

"Yeah sure." Replied Klim, "This stuff is rock now, igneous if I remember correctly."

"The next Emerald is just ahead." I said half to myself as I stepped onto the bridge and took out my map.

We continued along the bridge and soon found ourselves standing on a lush jungle island. It reminded me of the jungle we had found Kit Kat in. I looked at my map and then up at Kit Kat.

"Well at least we shouldn't get LOST this time." I said with a bit of slight irritation.

"Hey give it a rest Lynx!" said Klim, "We are out of that problem ok."

I nodded and turned back to the path. Why was I so hostile at the moment? I didn't know. Maybe it was just the situation we we're in? My friends and family were probably worried sick about me. How long had it been? At least three days…maybe more. I needed a bit of space, a little air to clear my head. Hey that's it. I twisted my nine tails and spun then instantly producing a massive amount of lift. I was propelled three meters off the ground with just one spin, I was impressed. I must have been about 20 meters up when I heard a voice behind me.

"Yo Lynx! What you doing?!" cried Klim's voice.

"I just flew up here to get a better look at things. The shrine is just up ahead." I yelled back and flew forwards.

Yeah…a better look at the situation and a bit of breathing space to calm down. I must have been flying at a good 30mph. It wasn't long before I touched down in front of the shrine. For some reason flying just seemed natural now. I wondered how long it had taken Tails to learn to fly? With only two tails he surely mustn't have as much lift ability as me….listen to me. I'm talking as if THIS is normal. I shook my head and walked into the shrine. I was hoping to find another Emerald to add to my green one I already had. Sure the ability to heal myself was nice but I was looking for something I could use to attack. Klim had the yellow Emerald and could control lightning and Kit Kat had the red one from Rage Mountain, even though he hadn't used it yet.

I walked into the shrine not waiting for the others. They would catch up and besides I wanted this Emerald. As I entered I stopped dead. There was nothing here. The room was totally bare, not a single statue….or anything else for that matter. All that was here was a blue tile on the floor. I walked over to it and knelt down besides the tile. It looked a bit….odd. I reached forwards and put my finger on it. I got a shock as my fingers passed through it. My fingers started to feel wet. I didn't like it and tried to pull my fingers out. To my horror I couldn't. If anything I was being drawn in.

"KLIM! KIT KAT!" I yelled.

I wished I had waited now. Suddenly a blue light sprung up around me and I felt myself being pulled forwards. I suddenly felt wet……very wet! ARGH! I was underwater. I panicked slightly before I realised I was surrounded by a strange bubble that allowed me to breath. I relaxed slightly until I saw something heading straight for me. Three figures were approaching armed with large tridents. They were…..WHAT?! Mermaids?! Now I really freaked out. Three mermaids armed with tridents heading straight for me. There was only one thing to do. I drew my sword and spun my tails. They acted like a large propeller, churning up the water behind me in a massive vortex.

"KI-YA!" I screamed as I delivered the first blow.

My sword struck the trident of one of the mermaids and it split clean in two. The mermaid looked completely stunned. Bet you weren't expecting that I thought to myself. I spun catching the second mermaid in the vortex from my tails. She was flung backwards and out of the fight for a moment while I dealt with the third one. I'm doing pretty well to say I'm on my own I thought. Just then something hard hit me on the back of the head. I was stunned badly and stopped spinning my tails. The second mermaid had come up and clouted me across the back of the head with the blunt end of her trident. My head spun and I sat there doing nothing until I realised that the mermaids had grabbed onto me. The next thing I knew I was in a cage and my sword was missing. I took a hold of the bars and shook them hard. They didn't move.

"Let me out!" I screamed, "KLIM! KIT KAT! Where are you guys when I need you?! LET ME OUT!"

I continued screaming for a few minutes before anything happened. I saw a mermaid swimming towards my cage dragging someone with her. The mermaid stopped and then spoke.

"This fox has been screaming for you and some other person called Kit Kat." She said, "Do you know him?"

Klim! He'd get me out of here.

"Klim! I am I glad to see you. I….." I started to say.

"What mess have you got yourself into now Lynx?" said Klim obviously highly annoyed.

"So you do know him. Can you explain why he attacked three of our people then?" said the mermaid.

I turned round and crossed my arms.

"I didn't know….." I muttered.

"I'm sure he was just startled." I heard Klim saying, "We have never seem mermaids before and had no idea we would end up here in the first place."

I turned to see the mermaid nodding.

"Ok then you're free to go." She said unlocking my cage and looking directly at me, "You're just lucky you didn't hurt anyone or you would be in big trouble."

I swam out of the cage and turned to Klim.

"Thanks bud." I said.

"No problem." Replied Klim.

Just then we both heard a familiar cry approaching.

"ARGH! WATER! WATER! I HATE WATER! HATE IT! HATE IT! HATE IT! HELP! KLIM! LYNX!"

It could only be Kit Kat. Soon a mermaid appeared dragging the screaming cat behind her.

"I think he's a bit wrong in the head." She said to the other mermaid.

I almost laughed. The other mermaid nearly groaned.

"Go now, but tell me there are no more of you." She said.

"Nope. This is all of us." Said Klim.

"Oh by the way. You wouldn't happen to know anything about where the Chaos Emerald might be?" I asked casually.

The mermaid spun at me and for a moment I was unsure what she was going to do.

"What business do you have with the Chaos Emerald?" she shouted.

"Woah!" I said trying to back up, "We're not going to steal it or anything. We just want to stop Robotnik getting his hand on it."

"They are safe enough where they are." Said the other mermaid, "They do not need your protection."

"But Robotnik is even more determined than ever this time." Injected Klim, "Besides we already have three and we need them all to get back to our world."

"You're world? Explain." Said the mermaid.

Oh wait a go Klim I thought. Why not just tell everyone?

"There's a portal linking our world to yours. We need the Chaos Emeralds to close it." I said.

"Hmm….well in that case you should come and speak to our queen." Said the mermaid.

Queen? Oh great I thought. I wondered what trying to bow would be like underwater. The mermaid swam off and we followed. Kit Kat was constantly complaining about the water. He really was bugging me now.

We eventually arrived at a large hall and inside sat the queen. I couldn't help but stare. She was beautiful. Myself, Klim and Kit Kat spent a little while explaining our story in full to her after which she agreed to help us providing…..

"You must prove your skills to me. If I give you the Emerald it must not fall into the wrong hands." She said.

Alright, A fight. I could handle that. No problem. I had nearly defeated three of her people before and with Klim and Kit Kat it should be a breeze.

"No point in saying no." I said, "We have to get this Emerald."

"A fight! In the WATER! PERFECT!" whined Kit Kat.

He really was bugging me now!

"Are you ready?" asked the queen.

We nodded and she placed her hand on a small crystal on her throne.

"Then let's begin." She said and pressed the crystal.

Behind us a cage opened and I turned to see a shark darting out of it. What the? I thought we were fighting some of her people.

"ARGH!" cried Kit Kat as he pulled his tail out of the way of the oncoming shark.

The shark hit a column next to the queen's throne. Maybe he wasn't as annoying as I though he was. The shark doubled back and Klim launched himself forwards thrusting his spear out in front of him. The shark pulled upwards and Klim's attack missed by a few inches.

"Trained him myself." Said the queen smugly.

Really? Now I was even more determined to prove we could do it. I spun my tails creating another vortex behind me and shot at the oversized fish. I swung my sword round and time slowed down again. I locked my sight on the shark's tails and in a slow flowing movement brought my sword down. The strike hit slightly off but still cut deep into the shark's tail. The shark spun and shot towards me only to be hit in the chin by Kit Kat who had brought out his frying pan. The shark turned again and this time shot at Klim. I spun my tails trying to get to the shark before it got to Klim, but I couldn't. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kit Kat stop and draw something out of his pocket. It was red in colour and looked like…….a Chaos Emerald. He raised it in front of himself and closed his eyes. The Emerald suddenly glowed and I felt the water heat up slightly. I looked over at the charging shark. It had slowed and the water around it was glowing red. The shark itself then started glowing red and stopped. It rolled over and started to float upwards. I blinked. Kit Kat had just hot boiled the shark.

"I DID IT!" yelled Kit Kat ecstatically.

"Way to go!" yelled Klim.

I smiled. Kit Kat suddenly didn't seem so annoying anymore. I spun my tails and propelled myself over to the queen. She was staring unhappily at the boiled shark but handed over the blue Chaos Emerald all the same.

"Yo Lynx!" yelled Klim, "Since Kit Kat just saved my life why not give him the Emerald?"

"Alright." I said a bit reluctantly.

I gave the Emerald to Kit Kat. I had wanted this one but Kit Kat deserved it more than I did this time.

"That's odd." Muttered Kit Kat starring at the Emerald, "I don't feel as scared about water anymore."

"Perhaps you've gotten used to it being down here." I said.

"Or maybe it's something to do with that Emerald. It probably contains the element of water inside it." Said Klim.

Kit Kat laughed.

"Nice. When I catch up with my alternate selves I can soak them." He said.

"Kit Kat, the Emeralds are staying here when we leave." Said Klim, "If we take them with us who knows what will happen to the balance of this world. What would the Master Emerald do with out the Chaos Emeralds to control?"

I nodded.

"Yes I agree Klim. I just hope Sonic and Tails can guard them when we leave."

"Don't worry." Said Klim, "We'll be sure to give Eggman a good pounding before we go. We'll teach him not to mess with the power of the Chaos Emerald."

"Yeah!" said Kit Kat.

I just smiled.

"Ok then. Let's go." I said.

The mermaids showed us back to the point where we had entered their realm and we used the transporter to get back to the island. Crossing the lava bridge again I looked at the map and then up at the horizon. To the north of Rage Mountain was a set of jagged peaks covered in snow. The Frosty Mountains were our next stop.