Author's Note: The hardest part in how to continue this story is how to make it fit and where the characters should go next and whatnot. My deepest apologies for the long wait, but a new chapter is finally posted.
I was going to post it yesterday to celebrate the release of Sonic Frontiers, but then I got caught up with stuff and the internet connection was having trouble, so I had to post-pone it to today. (Shrugs)
I hope it will be alright, as it is a loose adaption of Sonic 06. Anyway, happy reading!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Chapter 8: Jungle of Trouble.
Back on Mobius with Sonic, Amy and Elise...
After the nightmares each of them had due to the curse of the Sun Stone's shattering, the Nightmares of Flame, and discussing the next course of action which would lead them to hopefully Kingdom Valley where the next shard was, Sonic and his two friends, with the blue hedgehog once again donning his own disguise with Elise putting her "Elena" persona, managed to have breakfast and heaps of coffee before the they and Amy left the hotel and New City all together.
Once they were safely out of town and out of sight, the blue hedgehog dropped his disguise and thanks to his self-proclaimed girlfriend, managed to find a cart with seats which would easily be suitable enough for him to carry while the two girls would ride in it.
"Once we get to Kingdom Valley like this, it'll be like a breeze." Amy stated happily, as she stepped into the cart moments after Elise, with the two hedgehogs kindly allowing her to step on first due to being royalty and the goodness of their hearts.
"A-Are you sure you can handle this, Sonic? What if this is too heavy for you? The cart, I mean." Elise asked, worriedly as she held onto the side of the ride with the pink hedgehog taking a seat next to her.
"Sonic may be fast, but he's also pretty strong without much of a worry." Amy reassured with a beaming smile, before looking at her 'boyfriend' who grabbed hold of the handles. "Right, Sonic?"
"Yep, I may not be Knuckles, but I can get by. This is too easy." Sonic agreed with a smirk, getting ready to speed off towards their next destination.
"Well...If you say so." The Princess murmured, sinking into her seat a little but with a nervous yet hopeful smile. The teenage hero of Mobius never ceased to amaze her since more than just 24 hours ago. Actually, not that she thought of it, it may come pretty close to being almost 48 hours since the cobalt Mobian saved her life.
Sonic just winked at his passengers. "You ladies just hang on tight and let me do all the driving. I promise that I'll be careful." He then chuckled while teasingly made an announcement. "Welcome aboard to the Sonic Bus Express: Please keep your hands and feet inside the cart at all times, and enjoy the spectacular view of your speedy surroundings, the breeze of the wind and warmth of a bright new day. Next stop, Kingdom Valley!"
"Oh, Sonic! You goof!" Amy giggled at the blue hedgehog's humor, which also made Elise cover her mouth to muffle her own laughter.
The fifteen year old joined them, before crouching low slightly as he held a tight grip on the handles, while his two friends made sure to not fall off. "Alright. Here we...GO!"
With that, Sonic sped right off which made the two girls yelp a bit, before they almost instantly began to enjoy the ride while the speedster welcomed the feeling of his ability to run at at least 300 miles per hour since he didn't want to accidentally make Amy and Elise fall right off. Dashing away from New City and returning to the fields the hero and the Princess left earlier, and thanks to the map they and their newly joined companion(well, new to the seventeen year old, but still) had read, they didn't have to worry about getting completely lost.
As Sonic ran to his heart's content, closing his eyes for a brief moment to welcome to breeze of a new day since coming here to Soleanna, before opening them to focus on the path ahead, Amy began to squeal excitedly as she too was bliss with the wind blowing against her, and while Elise still wasn't quite used to the huge amount of speed, placing a hand to keep her new hat from falling off, she felt a sudden surge of excitement prowling into her heart as well.
The amount of freedom to feel the wind, see new places without the constant company of her bodyguards or maidens, instead with the company of people who treated her normally as a friend, it was a life-changing experience for her. Not being isolated within the Palace Walls, or constantly going to places just for business with no time to even admire the scenery, or even sworn to simply do what she must do in a single place without the luxury of being around people just for fun, even in her childhood.
'I've never felt so alive...so free. To see the outside world as a normal person. It's...a breathtaking experience.' She thought to herself, her heart hammering away with growing excitement, giving her such an immense feeling of it all.
"Sonic!" Amy called up, after having a few squeals of excitement even more, hoping to get Sonic's attention even as he continued to run. "I think there's a short-cut to the left on the opposite side of Castle Town, but we'll have to cross the Tropical Jungle to at least get to Kingdom Valley."
"Roger that, Ames!" Sonic agreed, taking off in a fast but careful course towards the path his friend had pointed out.
As they raced towards their destination by passing the same green hill the blue hedgehog and Elise had been teleported to yesterday, and in the fair distance he could make out the Sunflower Paradise Field, thoughts ran through his mind over the situation he has found himself into. Originally he came here for a vacation, to have fun and relax, to share memories of Soleanna with his loved ones through photos and souvenirs, without a single new threat to worry about.
But lo and behold, evil has arrived once again to crush the moments of peace and freedom, bringing Sonic the Hedgehog back into action to save Mobius. Only this time unlike the incident back in Tesrod Village, it was more catastrophic than a simple scepter giving those with dark, evil hearts the power to mind-control those who don't have much of a way of a strong will at the cost of being turned into a giant until a person with a benevolent heart, namely the teenager himself, would destroy the Scepter of Illusions and free Noah the first wielder who sacrificed himself to save the land at the time, being imprisoned for centuries.
'Some vacation this turned out. I wish the world could have a break from bad guys for at least maybe, oh, I don't know, a million years.' The blue hedgehog thought, feeling his chest ache a little again before he mentally shook away those negative emotions.
Now wasn't the time to mellow through his emotions. He had a job to do, and that required in helping his new friend to save the world. Yet there was something in the pit of his stomach that was warning him to take extra precautions. Sonic thought back to how Elise unleashed that sudden Pyrokinesis ability she gained from absorbing the Sun Stone Shard. He frowned over the thought as, besides wizards he thought only existed in fiction, or in the alternate Camelot's case, real life but then again Mnyambo had the power of Future-Sight, so the kind Elder Shaman was an exception, humans don't have any forms of Chaos Energy because they are not linked to the Emeralds or any other supernatural items or events.
Not that he knew of anyway. But there was still something about the Stone itself that made him feel like there was something missing. Something that Angalf wasn't mentioning.
'Hmmm...Come to think of it, that guy was pretty suspicious as well, and besides my gut, Kronah told me to be careful of someone who is after Elise and the Sun Stone besides Snakehead. I don't trust Angalf. He's hiding something, I just know-'
"Sonic, look!" Amy and Elise both cried out, bringing the hedgehog out of his musings and made him look up with a gasp before he quickly slowed and skid to a stop. What Sonic and his companions saw made them gap in in disbelief and shock.
There before them just below the small hill was a huge jungle that looked pretty deep, but that was no problem. The vast trees, vines and such with caves known due to the towering amass of rocks looming over the dense of the zone, things that Sonic and Amy(with her experience a few times before including when she teamed up with Cream and Cheese and Big), were used to.
"That's gotta be Tropical Jungle." Amy remarked, amazed.
"Sure looks like it." Sonic agreed, blinking. He then gave out a small wiry smirk. "Kinda of reminds me of Frog Forest, but at least there won't be any giant frogs that make rain this time, right?"
"Giant Frogs? Frog Forest?" Elise asked, puzzled as she wondered what the blue hero was talking about.
"It's a long story." The two Mobians sheepishly chuckled in unison.
"I...see." The Princess blinked in confusion, before deciding to worry about that later and gazed at the jungle itself. "If calculations are correct, this path as Amy has mention leads a shortcut to Kingdom Valley, but I don't know much about what lies within this place."
"Well, according to the guidebook and the map, the jungle is pretty off-limits to anybody, but seeing how much closer it is to Kingdom Valley, it's our pretty safe bet." Amy read through the aforementioned documents. "Plus, it would be safer if those S.N.A.K.E.S creeps and monsters don't see us in the thick trees."
"I don't think even that's gonna help." Sonic pointed out with a shrug, an uneasy feeling seeping through his skin which earned him a confused murmur from his self-proclaimed girlfriend. "Yesterday, one the Heli-Monsters managed to find us the woods when we were trying to get away from it."
The blue hedgehog then gazed firmly at the jungle while adding. "Our best shot is to go through the shortcut as fast as we can without those creeps even knowing we're here."
Realizing what he meant, as while Amy softly gasped in horror over the terrifying thought of helicopters turning into giant monsters, Elise's eyes widened as memories of being captured by the massive creature even traversing through the forest came back to her. She lowered her gaze, before squeezing her eyes shut and shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts.
"Ready, guys? It's gonna be pretty intense." The hero of Mobius asked, raising his guard up. When the two girls nodded, attempting to steel themselves even though the Princess was nervous but tried her best to hide it, he nodded in return before racing into the Tropical Jungle, running through the trees in the opened area as much as possible.
Unfortunately, neither one anticipated that there was hill of wet, soft moss right in front of them, because the next thing Sonic, Amy and Elise knew, the fifteen year old slipped with an alarmed yelp and ended up briefly flung into the cart and into the arms of both young women who cried out in fright while their ride quickly rolled down the hill.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The trio screamed as they held on for dear life, with a bit of a bumpy ride, continuing to dash out of control even as they reached the bottom while passing by the lush greenery of the beautiful jungle.
"Why didn't anybody say something about a hill covered in moss!?" Sonic exclaimed frantically.
"Because it didn't say so in the books or the map! You'd think there'd be a little MORE of a warning!" Amy shouted, clinging onto her 'boyfriend's' left arm fearfully.
"It is off-limits, so maybe this is the reason why!" Elise pointed out, holding a fearful tight grip on the blue hedgehog's right arm. Yet what she wasn't aware of was that she held on too tightly.
Which made Sonic mentally gasp in shock, his heart freezing as he squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment. While the hand felt different on his arm, warm and smooth to the touch and he could feel his new human friend's fear which he and Amy shared, it somehow jolted unbidden memories...Memories of when he first met his former clone and new brother, Sun the Hedgehog, who in a Werehog form with a terrifying blood-thirsty beast within him, tried to eat him and a few times attempted to bite his right arm off and held it tightly in a cold, monstrous and large grip that made him frightened to the core.
'No...No, not again! It's not like...It's not like the last time!' The hero of Mobius frantically forced himself to shove away those unwanted flashes of deja vu, focusing more on what was happening now and that Elise would never hurt anyone, not even a beautiful little butterfly.
"SONIC!" Amy screamed out in horror, causing the blue hedgehog to snap his eyes open with a gasp and he along with his two friends let out another scream when they all saw they were approaching a giant mobini gecko lizard who noticed them and hissed.
It was about to open it's mouth to eat them whole when Sonic had an idea and told the two terrified girls. "Lean to the left!"
Heeding his words, the trio used their combined weight to try and maneuver the cart, narrowly avoiding the huge lizard and continued down towards another path. The huge gecko let out a snarled roar as though to either say 'stay away' or 'come back here!'
"Heh, sorry!" Sonic called out apologetically once he and his friends repositioned the cart to roll on two wheels again.
"Sorry!" Amy added quickly.
"We're deeply sorry!" Elise exclaimed, a bit nervously.
When Sonic looked up ahead, he gasped in horror when he realized they were approaching a fairly large spider webs with massive bear-sized black and red creatures ready to ensnare any kind of prey. His eyes widened in sheer horror with his pupils shrinking in terror. Oh, Chaos, this was not going to end well!
"Get down!" The blue hedgehog suddenly screamed out, causing the pink hedgehog and the Princess to notice and gasped in terror, before all three of them crouched as low as they could with him covering his friends as much as possible while their cart sped straight through the web, thankfully not getting stuck or caught. Instead they virtually ended up wrecking it to the point that the giant spider ended up tangled and ensnared itself.
Dazed while comically seeing stars circle around it's head for a moment, the spider then regained it's senses and waved an angry upper left leg at the rolling away travelers.
"You girls okay?" Sonic asked, sweating a little over the intense crazy ride and was relieved when the piko-piko wielding hedgehog and the Soleannan ruler responded that they were fine, just shaken and frankly he shared that feeling while smiling softly which they returned.
Sadly when they looked up ahead, they gasped in horror when they were then sent flying over trees once they reached the incline before descending towards the ground, screaming loudly. They briefly came out of the jungle and into the clear blue sky which the trio marveled in a mixture of shock and absolute awe.
"Oh, look! There's a rainbow!" Amy exclaimed, pointing up ahead in the sky, causing Sonic and Elise to turn their gaze at what the pink hedgehog was looking at. True to her word above the white fluffy clouds was the most beautiful, bright and colourful rainbow any of them has ever seen.
"Wow...! That's what you call of pretty view." Sonic remarked after whistling.
"It's so beautiful..." Elise murmured excitedly. It reminded her so much of when she would see rainbows with her father as a child, even from the balcony of her home. Memories of the late Duke carefully lifting her up into his arms and shared the father and daughter moment of love came back the teenage Princess. Something she missed since his passing.
Though the three of them are quickly reminded of where they were and felt gravity pull them straight back down to earth with Sonic murmuring an 'Uh oh', causing the friends to scream once more.
"Hold on tight, we have to jump!" Sonic quickly instructed, taking hold of Amy and Elise in both arms while his friends did as he was told, nervously before he leaped off of the cart which it continued to fall and hit a stump and smashed into pieces.
The hero of Mobius in the meantime made sure his companions were safely secured before they all landed on an unexpected spring, bouncing and landed swiftly on his feet on the ground with a bit of a stumble but thankfully without a crash landing on his face, safe once more. They all breathed a sigh of relief before he gently set the young woman down as they gazed at the now useless cart which was only useful for...maybe fire wood at this stage.
"...Well, there goes the carriage ride." Sonic awkwardly shrugged with a sweat drop, thinking sheepishly. 'Oops...'
Looks like they're going to have to make a long trip out of Kingdom Valley, or he would have to drag his friends since he can't carry both at the same time as much as he would like.
After their no so grand entrance to the Tropical Jungle, Sonic, Amy and Elise decided to take a bit of a breather to calm themselves down from the unexpected roller-cart-ster ride before continuing along their journey. However, it was quite a bit of a hike since they ended up getting a little bit lost due to how thick the jungle was. So it was agreed that they would stick onto the path in hopes of finding a way out and into Kingdom Valley.
But the sudden movement of voices and metal clanking was quickly sounded from around the corner of trees, making the three travelers gasp which forced Sonic to skid to a stop. He carefully made sure his friends were alright before shushing them, and then they leaned against the towering rock. The blue hedgehog, his self-proclaimed piko-hammer-wielding girlfriend and the Princess slowly and with caution peered around the corner and to their dismay, about at least nine soldiers that somehow got ahead of them, along with unaffected robots that were scouting the area under Julian's orders.
"Master Julian's orders. Scout every inch and grove of Tropical Jungle. Search for every path for Kingdom Valley for the Sun Stone's shard, and if you see any sight of the Princess and the blue hedgehog, capture them. But the girl is to be unharmed." The head transformed soldier, who was the head of this scouting squad, yet his head looking a bit like a cobra's, ordered sternly.
"Sir!" The other eight soldiers saluted, while the seven robots bleeped in response, preparing to begin their mission to locate the two of them. Unaware that their targets were right behind them to which the hero of Mobius's group quickly hidden themselves again to avoid in being seen.
"Looks like we've got ourselves a road block." Sonic whispered in sheer annoyance, gritting his teeth since this was a huge problem. "There's gotta be a way to get through those guys."
"But how can we get through without them seeing us? There's too many of them." Elise pointed out in a soft tone, her heart hammering with fear as she felt that with so many of the transformed men and robots, there was no way for any of them to get through. 'This is all my fault. I wish there was something I could have done to prevent all of this.'
"I don't mind smashing those robots into pieces and those creeps might be monsters now, but I've had it with running away from them." Amy narrowed her eyes with pure determination, so much so that after a terrible nightmare last night, and having to have been forced to run away from the S.N.A.K.E.S soldiers and monsters, now that she knew what was going on she was more than willing to be by Sonic and Elise's sides to help in saving the world without fear.
To the point that her eyes were flaring up with imaginary fire.
As though reading her mind, Sonic knew then that there was one real solution to all of this. He smirked and turned to his close friend. "Well then, guess we'll have to do this the old hard fashioned way. Wanna help give these creeps a little revenge for being on the wrong side, Ames?"
Hearing this made Amy's heart leap to be joining forces in a fight with the man of her dreams once again, and she returned his smirk. "They won't know what really hit them!"
"That's the spirit!" The blue hedgehog praised with a thumbs up and a grin.
"Are you sure you can handle this, Amy?" The Princess hesitantly asked, worriedly. She knew that Sonic can take care of himself and has already proven to be confident, fast, strong and very brave, but she has yet to see the pink hedgehog in action.
"I've dealt with more robots in my lifetime." Amy confidently replied, her hands on her hips. "This will be, as Sonic would say, a cinch!"
"Not only that, Amy's the best hammer wielder in the universe, she's even more skilled than a giant monster who can't swing one to save it's life." Sonic added, thinking back of the Dark Guardian he and Sun defeated three months ago. That compliment, as usual, made the aforementioned Mobian girl gleam with joy as she tried very hard not to giggle out loud. "Trust me, Elise, you'll be seein' her in action."
"Well...Alright. Please be careful." The seventeen year old reluctantly muttered, earning a promise from the two hedgehogs that they will be alright.
Then, just as the soldiers and the robots were about to take their leave, Sonic casually out away from the hiding place, and whistled out to get their attention. Startled slightly by the sound and realizing they weren't alone, the nine transformed men and the seven robots spun around to see the blue hedgehog they were ordered to find.
"Hi there." Sonic calmly greeted, smirking. "Lookin' for me? You guys sure look pretty lost in this jungle."
"It's him! Sonic the Hedgehog!" The leader of the group shouted, shocked before hissing and turned to his men. "Get him! He must have the Princess hiding somewhere, and make sure she doesn't escape so easily this time!"
Little did they know was that not only Elise was hiding even further behind the rock, but Amy silently crept around while Sonic got their attention solely onto him.
"Heh, you heard him, ya' bunch of cater-slithers! But don't think you can catch me, or even avoid in getting a headache...or maybe a lot of nasty bruises. Then again, you really deserve it for all the trouble you caused, especially towards girls." The hero of Mobius taunted, grinning with a chuckle.
"Cater-slithers!?" One of the soldiers shouted, feeling insulted. "I'll show you bruises, you porcupine!"
"That's hedgehog to you, worm-head! Geez, don't you people know anything about geography?" Sonic grunted, narrowing his eyes as he folded his arms.
"That's it! I'm gonna make you eat those words before I decide to eat you...like a real snake!" The soldier growled, making to attack and kill the blue hedgehog.
But before he and the other soldier could do anything...
WHACK!
"UGH! Oooh..." The two soldiers yelped in agony and surprise, before falling onto the ground unconscious for being smacked hard on the head single-handedly. Startled the other men and even the robots slowly turned around to see who attacked them from behind.
"Who dares to help the enemy!?" The head soldier demanded angrily, narrowing his slit-eyes that were orange with green surrounding the inner layer.
"I dare!" A young girl's voice declared boldly.
Startled once more at the unexpected and unfamiliar voice shout behind them, the group of fourteen whirled around to see Amy standing there with her Piko Piko Hammer ready, a gleam of determination in her eyes.
"You mock my boyfriend or even try to hurt him and royalty, you're gonna have to mess with me!" The twelve year old girl added, positioning herself for a fight.
Despite the sudden appearance of another Mobian hedgehog who claims that Sonic is her boyfriend(much to the teenager's embarrassment as he softly groaned to himself while rolling his eyes with a sweat drop, thinking to himself, 'Amy, not now...'), the snake-men seem to find this amusing since they didn't fully believe in Amy's strength and began to laugh.
"That was lucky shot, little girl. But do you really believe you, a weak, delicate little flower such as yourself will be able to defeat us? The ultimate soldiers of all of Mobius?" The Leader mocked with an evil grin while sticking his snake tongue out.
"Weak, delicate little flower?" Amy repeated, almost immediately insulted by that mockery. Sonic flinched in fright while Elise risked in peeking from the corner of the rock and she blinked in surprise at just how angry the pink hedgheog suddenly was.
"Here we go..." Sonic whispered to himself, nervously before he quickly got into position to help his self-proclaimed girlfriend with these creeps. Though he had to admit, it angered him that people would call the people he loved so much and had come to know as his best friends and family for almost five years and ongoing weak, when they were anything but.
"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT THIS DELICATE LITTLE FLOWER CAN DO!" The young hedgehog girl shouted in fury, surprisingly glowing in pink and white aura which made her hammer suddenly grow to be almost as big as her, much to everybody else's surprise. With a loud yell, she charged.
"Get her, and get that blue hedgehog as well!" The Leader of the squad quickly shouted, to which his men and robots did, splitting up with two men joined by two robots each.
"Not if we get to you first!" Sonic declared, charging as he sped up towards his opponents. The robots opened fire with laser machine guns forming on their arms, but the blue hedgehog was too fast and easily dodged with in a zig-zag style.
Wasting no time, he leaped and used his Homing Attack at the two robots, axe-kicking right at their heads at each time they attempted to attack him. One of the snake-men hissed before whipped at his tail to capture the fifteen year old. Yet Sonic sensed the movement and grabbed hold of it with his gloved hands, yelping a bit when the soldier who grinned, attempted to toss him away. But this only gave Sonic another idea and he smirked with a chuckle.
"So, you wanna dance, huh? Alright then, let's Jungle Boogie!" The cobalt speedster jokingly said, and as he spun his legs in mid-air while the now confused S.N.A.K.E.S soldier blinked while still trying to toss or coil Sonic, the hedgehog smirked when two of the other attempted to capture him with their tails. But he kicked them back with great athele speed. He then let go and Spin Dashed along the first soldier's body, bashing him straight in the face.
"Omph!" The soldier grunted in agony, stumbling back.
But Sonic wasn't finished as he spun around in a curled up form, using his Spin Jump combined with his boost to bash the other horrified soldiers who comically screamed with their eyes almost coming out of their heads, sending them towards their comrade and were flown into the air when they struck a vince which catapulted them, screaming while vanishing in a twinkle.
In the meantime, Sonic then grabbed hold another vine hanging from above and swung towards the two robots who were wrecked and attempted to recover while he gave out a Tarzan-like holler before letting go and finished them off with another Homing Attack, smashing them into pieces where they exploded. He landed safely with a grin.
"Too easy." Sonic remarked to himself. This was going a lot better than he thought.
Meanwhile, Amy jumped when two the soldiers attempted to coil her with their snake tails, and smacked them hard which resulted in the enemies getting a taste of their own medicine, whacked on the faces by their own attacks.
"Huh!?" The other four soldiers gaped in shock.
"Ha! Now have a taste of this!" The pink hedgehog grunted, swinging her twice as large hammer with a powerful thrust, bashing both of the soldiers who screamed in fear and pain, while the other remaining soldiers yelped panicking before they ducked just in time to see their comrades crash into the bushes and rolled down the hill close by, getting all tangled up in the most impossible knot in the existence of history, landing in the large lake of mud with a huge splash, defeated and humiliated.
She then turned her attention to the two robots who seemed to be frightened of her unbelievable strength with sweat drops forming on their heads, before Amy charged straight towards them. "As for you two dumbots! Time to say goodbye!"
With having done some training herself as she wanted to help out Sonic and the others in future adventures just in case, Amy gave an impressive leap to dodge the firearms of the robots that tried to shoot her, but switching hands with her hammer, she summoned another one and tossed them both at the two robots, destorying them almost instantly once they were bashed so hard that they exploded.
As Elise watched on in awe, her eyes widened at just how well not only Sonic fought, but also Amy as well. To think that she was worried about the pink hedgehog Mobian that she failed to understand the girl's incredible abilities of magically summoning more than just one hammer and having such strength to take out her opponents. It was utterly amazing how Sonic and his friends can fight with such determination and will power.
"Got seven more of these losers to take out, Amy!" Sonic informed, smirking proudly at his close friend's successful achievement.
"You got it!" Amy nodded in agreement, summoning another hammer and ready to strike.
"Get them! We must bring the Princess back alive and kill the hedgehogs!" The S.N.A.K.E.S squad leader snapped furiously, already getting agitated with how the most finest and evil soldiers on the planet could be beaten by mere Mobian children.
The other three soldiers, having watched their comrades get knocked down to unconsciousness and hearing their panicked screams once they realized far too late just how super fast and shockingly strong the two hedgehogs were, especially when they were already taking down their numbers without even trying. The three remaining robots though opened fire with shockingly electrical surges, much to Sonic, Amy and Elise's dismay.
"Amy, look out!" Sonic cried out, speeding over towards his 'girlfriend' who gasped in horror.
She was about to try and dodge, but to make things worse the electricity transformed into some kind of net which captured and electroducted her. Amy screamed in pain, trapped as the prisoner of the organization with the leader grinning wickedly and the hero of Mobius and the Princess of Soleanna horrified.
"Hey! Let her go!" The blue hedgehog shouted, narrowing his eyes furiously as he quickly Spin Dashed into the robot and destroyed it instantly, but not before getting zapped by the electrical surge himself and he winched in pain But he ignored it, making way to get to his friend who slumped a little before Sonic scooped her up into his arms and dashed to the side, avoiding the other remaining robots in attempting to attack them.
"Are you okay?" Sonic asked, worriedly as he felt horrible for being unable to prevent his friend from getting hurt.
"I-I'm fine. Just a bit zapped." Amy replied a bit shakily, but besides the shock she gotten, she seemed to be okay and still in fighting spirits. That made her 'boyfriend' sigh in relief and he offered her a soft, warm smile which made her heart leap once again in pure absolute love.
Seeing Sonic the Hedgehog smile at her and care for her safety made the pink hedgehog love him even more. He was wild like a hurricane, but also gentle like a lovely, soft breeze on a nice, sunny day.
Once he carefully placed her down and making sure she was alright, the blue hedgehog was about to tell her to leave it to him but upon seeing that she was still willing to fight and was recovering somewhat already, and knowing her strong determination, he bit his tongue and held back whatever he was about to say.
Instead, the two turned their attention back to the remaining robots who along with the still nervous but now foolishly overconfident soldiers came to corner them, much to Elise's horror as she nearly made to scream at Sonic and Amy to make a run for it. But they both shared a knowing grin with the pink hedgehog readying her hammer once again.
"Ready, Sonic?" She asked, knowingly.
"Ready when you are!" He replied, smirking.
"There is no escape, hedgehogs. Surrender and tell us where you are hiding the Princess! Our orders are to bring her alive and your dead corpse to Master Julian." The scouting leader commanded, grinning evilly of that of an actual snake.
"Hmmm...Lemme think about it." Sonic replied sarcastically, pretending to think before responding. "Nope! Not happenin'!"
With that, he spun into a tight ball before Amy bashed the blue hedgehog super hard, sending Sonic to smash the robots into pieces and to the horror of the S.N.A.K.E.S soldiers including their leader who attempted to whack and smack him but missed, not even their firearms could do anything to stop the teenage heroic hedgehog, hit them one at the time that like their earlier comrades met the same fate and were sent flying into the air, screaming away.
"You will pay for this, you braaaaaaats!" The squad leader shouted in pure hatred as he and his remaining soldiers disappeared into the distance.
Sonic by then uncurled himself with a smirk and landed neatly on the ground, calling out the enemies even though he knew they wouldn't hear him. "Bye-bye!"
By then, once they all knew that the enemies were gone for now, Elise hurried over to the two hedgehogs asking. "Are you both alright? Those people almost killed you!"
"We're okay. Nothing we can't handle. Right, Ames?" Sonic replied, and his self-proclaimed girlfriend, a little winded from the fighting, nodded in agreement, much to the Princess's relief as Elise sighed with feeling.
"Grr...I swear it's one thing to handle robots, and fighting evil aliens is another, but to fight mutated people and not just those Hybrian creeps? What is this, Halloween all year long this year!?" Amy hissed softly in anger shortly after, panting a little once she and her 'boyfriend' had successfully managed to defeat the first round of their enemies for the day, because the two hedgehogs and the Princess knew there were more of them yet to come.
"Must be, although we have been fighting a lot of crazy enemies in the last couple of years. Guess Julius and Chaos were just the trigger of it." Sonic scratched the top of his head, having wondered the same thing for a while. "I'm more worried about facing more of the snake monsters."
'Or even facing more of those Solar-Beasts guys, like Kronah. If there is one in Kingdom Valley, I just hope that it's not as deadly and at least a little more reasonable...but that's probably not likely.' He thought to himself as the memories of trying to escape the rock monster in the Dusty Desert Ruin's Temple came back to him. The blue hedgehog fought off the urge to shudder.
"When you said that even the jungles and forests won't help us in staying safe from those guys, you weren't kidding." The twelve year old girl sighed, leaning against her hammer she briefly placed onto the ground. "It makes me wonder why Julian wanted to do this in the first place."
"My guess? 'Cause like Egghead, his crazy brother and even that stupid wolf cleaner guy wanted things to go their way and hates the way the world is, Julian is a cruel, selfish and stubborn kind of guy." The hero of Mobius shrugged, exasperated.
"It still leaves the problem of how Julian and his organization came to know about the power of the Sun Stone but not realizing he cannot fully take it." Elise muttered in deep concern, her hands clasped together which made her two Mobian friends gaze at her. "For years, only my family and those in the Kingdom know as much as we do about it, even visitors were not meant to know of it's origins."
"So how come you told me and Sonic?" Amy asked, confused.
"I think it's because of the Flame Ritual and what's goin' on that it's much of a secret anymore. Plus, even though it's supposed to represent the Light of Hope for the Kingdom, the way how Solaris tried to destroy the world a long time ago and was sealed up inside the crystal leaves me pretty uneasy." Sonic pointed out, gazing at the ground worriedly. "Not sure why, but I could sense it before those creeps showed up."
"I...have to confess but I felt the similar way for years." The Princess reluctantly admitted which surprised her companions as their eyes widened in shock. "Ever since my father told me the story, and showed me the Sun Stone for the first time ten years ago, I was...so afraid a disaster could happen. But I had hold onto the belief that everything would be alright and as ruler, I must do what I can to set things right."
She then gazed at her hands, remembering how she saved Sonic from being caught by the giant flying snake monster, the power of flames coming from her. "This power I possess, ever since I absorbed the first shard...I'm...so afraid what it could do to me...and to everyone. Especially the both of you."
"We'll figure something out, Elise. Don't you worry. Even if it could take the Chaos Emeralds to fix this mess up as an added bonus, there's no way I'm gonna let those guys win or Solaris have a wake up call." Sonic reassured, giving Elise a thumbs up and a wink. While it was true that the fire powers within his friend due to the shard gravely made him so worried, he wasn't going to give up on her or anybody else.
Not by a long shot.
"And if anybody tries to get to ya', they'll have me to worry about!" Amy declared boldly with a smug smirk, and a glint in her beautiful jade green eyes.
"Trust us, Ellie. We'll be by your side no matter what!" The cobalt teenager continued with a brave and determined smirk.
'They have been through much just to help me, and they are not afraid. I really wish I could repay them.' The Princess thought to herself, and smiled warmly at the young hedgehogs. It gave her heart such warmth of light, far more peaceful and full of hope than the Sun Stone ever did. Perhaps the real Light of Hope was not the crystal holding the Flames of Hope at all.
But it was Sonic the Hedgehog and all of his friends, considering the many times they saved the world from one disaster after another. They were all heroes of the planet, saving many people including strangers none of them have met, but were willing to risk their own lives for the world and all of the inhabits.
"Thank you, Sonic and Amy. You're both so brave." The Princess nodded, earning a giggle from the pink hedgehog who beamed happily, and an slightly embarrassed blush and sheepish grin from the blue hedgehog who scratched the side of his face slightly.
"Well, we'd better get going. Wouldn't wanna spend all day standin' around here with the creeps coming out to play." Sonic declared, gently taking hold of Elise's right wrist and Amy's left. "Sorry about the cart, but this is the only way to go."
Once he was certain that his two friends were ready even though they were nervous, and vowing to take extra care with them, the blue hedgehog then once again dashed off into the grove of the trees, passing by cliff-sides and rocks, and as Amy and Elise held on tightly, Sonic jumped over large roots with excellent maneuvering abilities and speed, and when they reached the edge of a cliff, the trio noticed a vine hanging and having an idea, his friends held on tightly before he took a few steps back before he made a daring leap over and into the air, reaching out his hands for the vines.
"Got it!" He cheered, gripping the vine tightly and told his friends to hold on. Sonic swung with Amy and Elise crying out in excitement and alarm and he laughed in the thrill-seeking glee. "WOOO!"
With a good swing, the trio made it to the other side where they noticed another transformed snake-machine monster waiting for them. But Sonic simply just jumped right onto it's head and kicked it backwards while it stumbled onto it's face, hitting a rock and rendered unconscious. The blue hedgehog then took off once again with him snickering at just how stupid it was.
'Heh, just like any ol' Eggman robot, only it's Sneakhead's dumb toys and soldiers.' The teenager thought to himself, though that suddenly made him realizee something as he lowered his gaze.
If things were to go back to normal, would Julian and all of the S.N.A.K.E.S supporters that transformed will return to their human forms?
"It's so beautiful here." Elise remarked, gazing around their surroundings even as Sonic went really fast. "The lush trees, the lakes and waterfalls, and the butterflies...It's amazing!"
"You really don't get out a lot, do you?" Amy asked, curiously.
"Not really. Even during my royal duties, I don't get enough time to see much."
"Which is a pretty big bummer." Sonic carefully remarked, feeling sympathy for the Princess. "The whole world has a lot to see and there are still places even I haven't been to, like the rest of Soleanna for example."
Realizing that Soleanna was one of the many places Sonic had only just heard of recently and planned on seeing it with his very own eyes, including the Festival of the Sun which was the reason why he was there in the first place, the young Princess lowered her gaze since her failure to do her duty and the attack which had forced him to cut his adventure short was all her fault. Her heart ached for ruining the cobalt hedgehog's peaceful fun.
"...I'm so sorry, Sonic. It's because of me that your adventure has changed, to save me and getting you involved into all of this." Elise somberly muttered.
Seeing that she was going into her guilt trip again which made him flinch, realizing that he just said something that made her feel like his vacation was ruined, Sonic began to mentally panic as he tried to think of a way to not let her end up...like he had been through.
"Come on, Elise, how could be your fault? Heck, even I didn't know those guys even existed. Besides, it's not the first time I had to go be a hero during a vacation or fun adventures." He quickly reassured, thinking back to when his vacations turned into a lot of adventures which earned him quite a number of friends.
Tails on Westside Island, Amy on Little Planet, Chris, Cream and Cheese in Station Square, even the two times on Seaside Island, though the first time was trying to locate the Iron Empire's secret base where everybody including Knuckles met Manny Milestone and encountered living and breathing dinosaurs, and the second time involved ghosts. Not to mention the Tesrod Village incident.
"Sonic's right, Elise." Amy added, smiling softly. "Some people like Julian and Eggman are just too rude and cruel for their own good."
'Thanks, Amy.' Sonic mentally sighed in relief, knowing that his friend knew what he was talking about and that like him, she was involved in vacations or fun adventures getting ruined. "You don't have to worry about it. The two of us and the rest of our friends are used to it. In the end, it all turned out okay and it'll work out this time."
"Even no matter how dangerous and frightening they are?" The Princess blinked in surprised, amazed just how her two companions were able to manage to keep on looking on the bright side of things.
"Yeah...Exactly that." Sonic answered after a moment of slight hesitation, which again made him think about his previous adventures that were the hardest of them all that nearly shattered him into pieces inside out: The Arabian Nights, Dark Gaia, Eggman Interstellar Amusement Park, the Camelot adventure. All of that wrecked his confidence like no other in his whole life.
There were actually quite a few things that could make Sonic the Hedgehog scared to death, leaving him to fear that he would fail his friends, family and the entire world because of it. Which was why he promised to never allow his overconfidence and cocky behavior blind him from what was really important ever again and focus on his goal.
Amy didn't miss the slightly scared and uncertain look on her 'boyfriend's' face and felt her heart ache a little, making her frown in deep concern. To see her dearly beloved's confidence rendered to that of nearly zero and every single new terrible incident Sonic was unaware off made him believe he was at fault for not knowing frightened her, realizing that he wasn't invisible and that even he had his own limits. She thought back to how he confessed to Tails his fears of the Werehog, how he feared in losing her due to his actions even though he was not at fault, she made a promise to try and slow down and be there for him.
While her overwhelming love for the blue hedgehog continued to rise her true feelings for him, Amy Rose had promised herself to grow up a bit more, become more mature and actually be there for him when he needed the most. Tails and the others, even Knuckles surprisingly enough, all agreed to stop really depending on the hero of Mobius and vowed to do more to help their friend, since he needed them as much as they needed him. They were all family after all, their bond of friendship and love made Sonic strong within his heart.
'Oh, Sonic...I wish there was something more I could do to help you. My sweet, brave hero.' Amy thought to herself, resisting the urge to try and make Sonic stop so that she could at least hug him. Gently this time.
Eventually they came to a stop when near a cave and Sonic skid to a stop once again, carefully setting Amy and Elise onto the ground as the three of them stared at the entrance. Inside looked pretty dark, and the cave itself had a haunting look as though it resembled to the face of a giant skull.
"Sure is a kinda creepy place." Sonic couldn't help but remark, feeling on edge due to the dark atsmosphere this place had. He wasn't sure why, but the blue hedgehog could sense dark, brooding sense of wrongness.
"I don't think this is even mentioned in the guide book or on the map." Amy shivered a little, quivering as she tried to hide her sense of fear of what could be lurking inside the cave.
"I think this is...the Cave of Fears." Elise began, nervously.
"The Cave of Fears?" The blue hedgehog asked as he and his 'girlfriend' gazed up at the young human woman who shifted a little, more than just a bit uncomfortable.
She nodded, and explained. "I only heard of the terrible stories and no one knows if they are true or not. But while some believe it is called that to frighten away those who wish to enter and risk in finding Kingdom Valley. Others, however, say that a monster lives deep inside. Legend has it that you could hear a deep rumbling of a roar, as though it is thriving for meals to devour...human or...or Mobian flesh." Elise shuddered while rubbing her arms a little in fright. "They always give me nightmares...!"
Hearing the story itself from their friend was enough to make Amy coping her, she and Sonic both feeling chills run through their spines and their skins crawl at the very thought of a terrible creature hoping for anybody foolish enough to enter it's dormain to eat. However the blue hedgehog attempted to hide his own unease as he didn't want a repeat of what happened with the giant Werehog problem, both in reality and in his hallucinations.
"I hope those stories aren't really true...!" Amy whimpered, rubbing her arms as she felt even more scared.
"Yeah, no wonder they call this place the Cave of Fears. Might as well call it the Cave of Nightmares, if ya' ask me." Sonic agreed, trying his best not to sound too shaken. He had enough nightmares of getting eaten by giant monsters in his lifetime, and being swallowed up twice by a giant whale, even though the gentle sea animal let him go since it wanted to help him, was a scary experience as it was.
"GGGGGRRRRRRR..." All of the sudden, a very deep, low and terrifyingly hungry-sound-like growl echoed.
"AHHHHH!" Amy and Elise screamed in fright as they all ended up clinging onto the blue hedgehog's arms while Sonic gave out an 'WHOA!' as he jumped slightly. The growl was then heard again, echoing from the cave and into the air from the entrance.
"W-What's that!?" Amy cried out, fearfully.
"Don't know." Sonic replied, feeling his heart rate increase despite trying to remain calm for his friends' sake, narrowing his eyes with a sweat drop even though he was starting to get quite nervous himself but he refused to let fear overcome him again.
Not after what he's been through
"But I don't think the cave is empty as we hoped for." He added, shrinking back a little, worriedly.
"Oh my goodness...Y-You don't think...it's the terrible monster from the stories, do you?" Elise asked, feeling even more terrified.
"I certainly hope not!" The twelve year old hedgehog girl said.
"Whatever it is, sure hope it doesn't sound hungry." The hero of Mobius blinked, deciding nervously. "Maybe we should try another safer path to Kingdom Valley, just in case."
But before the two girls could even agree with him, there was another dreadful sound which made them and their heroic friend to gasp and spun around to where they came from, gasping in horror when they saw another giant lizard stomping towards them, making the ground shake like a tremor, letting out a roar of it's own.
"MAYBE NOT!" The trio screamed, panicking.
Realizing that they were trapped unless Sonic bashed this thing away to unconsciousness, yet he felt terrible just for thinking about it, the trio knew they had no choice but to risk in going into the Cave of Fears and hopefully find a way out, the blue hedgehog then had an idea and turned to them.
"Get inside, quick! I'll distract this thing!' Sonic instructed firmly.
"But what about you!?" Elise cried out.
"Just go!"
"Be careful, Sonic!" Amy exclaimed, and only felt a little bit better when her 'boyfriend' gave her a reassuring thumbs up, before she grabbed hold of the Princess's wrist, quickly leading her into the cave's entrance.
Once he was certain that they would be cave for now, the hero of Mobius turned to the giant lizard who stomped closer and closer, foolishly deciding that the blue hedgehog would be it's next meal for the day, or at least until something else tasty would come along. The blue blur stood his ground with his fists clutched tightly, raising his guard.
"Alright, lizard-head! If you're that hungry, I've got something that'll knock ya' out for a while!" Sonic declared bravely, smirking as the giant reptile snarled before flicking it's tongue out to grab him.
But being the speedy hedgehog that he was, the teenage Mobian leaped away to safety before landing and then he dashed around the huge lizard who attempted to catch him off guard with either it's tongue or claws. Yet it couldn't even get a lick out of him while Sonic increased his speed, even by leaping and hopping from one tree to another, and by the time he was like a spinning circle of glowing blue, the lizard held a dumbfounded expression when it couldn't figure out which way he was going and by then it became completely dizzy with it's eyes swirling. Once Sonic sensed it was dazed, by the time he came to a stop the giant lizard onto it's chin with a moan.
"Heh, sorry, Scales. But there aren't any chances of you getting free lunch today." The blue hedgehog chuckled apologetically, sensing that the reptile would be out cold for a while.
With, he raced into the entrance where his friends where waiting and grabbed hold of Amy and Elise's wrists, telling them to hold on despite their growing anxiety, before Sonic dashed straight into the entrance of the cave, easily avoiding the giant lizard tongue as it's head was too big to even fit through anyway.
By the time it would wake up, the trio would be deep into the cave and it would be forced to walk away in sheer annoyance.
Sonic, Amy and Elise continued onward before the cobalt hedgehog slowed to a stop, and the three of them sighed in relief at the close call.
"Oh...man...!" Sonic breathed, his hands on his knees. "Now I know why nobody even comes to the Tropical Jungle."
"I thought it was bad enough to face things like those creeps that turned into snake monsters or robots, and even poisonous spiders and reptiles, but giant ones are even worse." Amy panted, shuddering over the sights of the giant lizards and spiders.
Elise panted, her hand placed to her chest as she said. "I always thought there were no such things as giants, but the creature in the temple ruins yesterday made me rethink of those beliefs."
"You're not the only one thinkin' that, Elise. But now thanks that great big lizard, we'll have to take it very carefully in this cave. And I got a feelin' it won't be as easy as we think." The hero of Mobius said with a serious expression, gazing around their surroundings which had his two companions look as well, making them even more nervous.
The cave definitely lived up to it's name. All around Sonic and his friends was the dark rock formation of the cavern they found themselves in, already very uninviting, rows of stalactites hung from above and some stalagmites rose from the floor, occasional dripping of water echoed and the terrifying growls of the creature deep within somewhere...waiting to find them in the darkness and catch them off-guard.
"It's so dark in head, I can't even see my hand in front of my face." The blue hedgehog remarked once he attempted to make double check, before turning to Amy, asking. "Hey, Ames. You wouldn't happen to have a flash-light on ya', do you?"
"Luckily for us, I do." Amy replied, smiling as she ruffled into her dress pockets and pulled out a cute light-blue metal flash-light and turned it on to give a bit of a more promising light, passing it over to Sonic who smirked.
"Thanks, Ames. Now this is more like it." Sonic then shone the light at the cave more clearly, looking around until he spotted something in front of him. Three tunnels leading from left, to right, and right in the middle. He narrowed his brows thoughtfully. "Hmm...One of these have gotta lead a way out somewhere."
"Which one should we take?" Amy asked, worriedly. "They could lead to a dead end or something we don't want to know."
"Or even the giant monster..." Elise added, gazing solely at the two tunnels.
"Guess we'll just have to take a look at all three and see which one they lead to. I'd say we'd split up, but now's not a good time to do that." Sonic shrugged.
Before either girl could make any suggestions, all of the sudden the Princess of Soleanna felt an intense heat and pain surge up inside her chest which made her give out a small pained cry. She winced and quickly places her hands up while sinking to her knees, her eyes squeezed tight to the alarm of both hedgehogs who gasped softly, and stood by her side in deep concern.
"Elise, what's wrong!?" Sonic exclaimed, carefully placing his hands onto his friend's shoulders. Though the moment he did he gasped again with his eyes widening. Before he could touch Elise with no problem, but now...now her body felt uncomfortably hot but not burning enough for him to yank back in defense. Was she running a fever all of the sudden?
"Elise? Are you okay? Please, say something!" Amy begged fearfully.
"I...I don't know...I...I think it's...the sun...the Sun Stone Shard..." Elise managed to say, her voice strained, her breathing hard and difficult as though she was losing air. Her vision blurred for a bit and for a brief moment she thought she was hallucinating, seeing auras of fire surround her. She nearly let out a scream when her chest then glowed of fire, making Sonic and Amy fear for their friend's welfare even further.
The Sun Stone Shard sleeping inside her heart glowed, until the Princess then saw everything zoom forward as though she was running in super fast speed just like Sonic, only she didn't feel any movement on her body. Instead, her mind was showing her fast past ways through the tunnel until the end of it came into view, with the ruins of another old temple, covered in years of grove and vines, wild flowers and deep inside was a small chamber surrounded by thick tree roots and more greenery, and floating in the middle...was a familiar shard glowing, waiting for her to answer it's call.
"Elise...ELISE!"
Sonic's voice screamed out to her, as he and Amy both shook their friend who's vision returned to normal almost instantly, and the seventeen year old young woman gave a sharp gasp, the ache in her body slowly easing away. She panted, placing a hand to her forehead, breathing in and out to regain her composure.
"You alright?" The blue hedgehog asked, getting more and more scared by the second even though he tried to hide it. But Elise wasn't fooled. When she turned to face the teenage Mobian, she could see it in his beautiful, emerald green eyes. He was terrified.
"S-Sonic?" Elise half-whispered, shaking her head. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to worry any of you?"
"What the heck happened to you? You spaced out on us." Amy asked, even more scared than her 'boyfriend'.
"I...spaced out?" The Princess was confused. That vision...that hallucination...the shard shown in her mind...could it really be?
"You had us totally worried there. What's going on?" Sonic responded, carefully rubbing the human girl's back and found that he didn't feel the heat as bad as it was a few minutes ago...but it was still there. Could the Sun Stone Shard inside her body have anything to do with it?
At first Elise wasn't sure how to answer, but then she remembered how the legend went on their quest, and as far as she could tell, the locating of the rest of the pieces did tend to let out a signal and her eyes widened in realization. Now she half-understood.
"The Sun Stone Shard...it was pointing me to where the next one really is." She answered, much to their confusion. "I saw something. Sonic, when you run really fast, does everything seem to go in a...erm...a blur to you until you get to certain places and slow down?"
"Yeah, all the time. That's how it looks to me but I always manage to get a glimpse of the cool scenery. Why do you ask?" The blue hedgehog shrugged, not understanding what she was talking about.
"It was exactly like that, only, as strange as it sounds, it was almost like I was running but I wasn't even moving." The Princess explained, turning to the middle tunnel. "I think this area is where the second piece really is since it's close to Kingdom Valley. Through that tunnel, and on the other side is another temple and inside it's chamber is the second shard itself. At least...that's what I thought I saw."
"You what? How does that work?" Amy blinked, totally dumbfounded over this explanation.
"Hmmm..." Sonic frowned deeply over this, remembering how his friend mentioned the Sun Stone Shards would lead to the rest if the giant fiery crystal was shattered and then realized what the Princess meant. "You know what? I think you're right about the shard piece inside ya', Ellie." He turned to the middle tunnel, adding. "And if that's true, then we're on the right track and the second piece could be inside there."
"Say what? You mean the second piece is actually here and not even close to Kingdom Valley?" Now the twelve year old girl was stunned. Even though she has heard of everything the fifteen year old hero and the young ruler had gone through in the last two days, she was a little skeptical on how the Sun Stone shards could give out a magic signal similar to how the Chaos Emeralds would work.
"Only one way to find out. Let's take a look, and stick close. Who knows what else we'll find." The cobalt hedgehog declared, determined to get to the bottom of this. He held the flash light in his right hand, and then Amy's right into his left, and his self-proclaimed-girl did the same with Elise who, once they both knew she would be alright, held onto the pink hedgehog's free hand.
Despite the concern of what they will find, and with the deep growls echoing throughout the Cave of Fears, Sonic took the lead with a vow to protect his friends and get to the bottom of this once and for all.
Neither one knowing what was within this tunnel, and whether they would find the shard first...or the mysterious terrifying monster would find them.
A/N: The next chapter will have Sonic and his friends traverse through the Cave of Fears, which I pretty much made up and hey, for a jungle in this world, a temple inside a cave is an interesting idea to hide, right? Also, I may also be able to have Tails and Sun continue their search for another Chaos Emerald as well as another returning hero enter the story.
Don't worry, I will eventually get to bring in Shadow, one way or another. Still trying to figure out how to that.
See you later!