Disclaimer on chapter 1

Chapter 6: Why did it have to be water?

Sonic woke up to find his back damp. Damp and cold. As if that wasn't enough right as he opened his eyes, a drop of water fell right into one of them.

"ACK!" he yelled in discomfort as he got u quickly trying to wipe the water out of his eye. "Gees! That's uncomfortable!" he slowly opened his eyes to find he was in a dark corridor, the bottom of which was ankle deep in water. There where a few torches, and the way he came in was not an option, as it went straight up. He sighed and continued onwards. He figured this would be difficult to get out of. Unlike the Marble Ruins, these ruins had very little light, making it hard to see…

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

"What the?"

Another badnik came up behind sonic from out of the stone, it looked like a red and blue mole with a cap on, a drill for a nose, and caterpillar tracks for legs.

"BURROWBOT UNIT 105 REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE SURRENDER AND TO HAND OVER THE THREE EMERALDS IN YOUR POSSESSION" it stated mechanically.

"You have got to be kidding…"

"BADNIKS DO NOT "KID""

"...You have a drill… for a nose"

"…RELEVANCE?"

"You have a drill… for a nose… "

"…REPEAT… RELEVANCE?"

"That's… stupid"

The badnik seemed angry at Sonic's statement. "RETRACT STATEMENT OR FACE EXECUTION FOR MOCKERY OF DR. EGGMAN'S WORK!"

"No way man! What possible use could you have for a drill nose!"

"WILL DEMONSTRATE!" it cried as it trundled towards him, its nose began to spin and it lunged headfirst at Sonic…

…Only to find he wasn't there anymore and that it had been swivelled to have its nose stuck in a wall.

"ERROR…ERROR… NOSE STUCK IN WALL! REQUEST A…" The Burrowbot didn't get to finish its sentence as Sonic smashed It., allowing a little white walrus to put out and run away.

"Ok, maybe the nose DOES have SOME uses!" he grinned he walked on trying to find his way out of the long narrow, damp corridor he now stood in. After a while he came across a problem and groaned. What lay in front of him was a wall. He walked slowly up to it, reaching to touch it to look for a button or something for it to open up.

That's when it happened

"WHAT TH- GLUB!"

SPLOOSH!

He was now a good few feet under water, barley able to see as fire did not burn underwater, and finding that he could not swim, that he didn't even float all that well as he was on standing on the ground below the water surface.

That was not his only problem as he heard another kind of badnik whirl its way towards him. He was barely able to dodge as the water slowed him down so much, and found that the badnik had rammed into the wall near where he stood and smashed itself.

There was nothing else for it now. He couldn't swim and the ledge was too high up, he had to make his way through the watery ruins to find another way out. And fast before his air ran out.

XOXOX

"Are you Serious!" Eggman asked excitedly

YES DOCTOR, HE FELL INTO THE UNDERWATER LABYRINTH, WE DETECT NO AIR DEVICE ON HIM. Responded Unidus unit 90

"Excellent news! Without any breathing apparatus he will surly drown!" Eggman snickered to himself "Be Sure to get those Emeralds off of him when he dies!"

PROBLEM WITH THEORY DOCTOR…

"What do you MEAN there's a problem with the theory?" asked the doctor suspiciously

THE PROBLEM IS…

XOXOX

Sonic breathed in deeply as another crack in the stone floor seeped an Air bubble, allowing him to get more much needed air. It was something he first thought would be a stupid idea, but he was desperate to breath, and so had gulped down a bubble, and found his lungs filled with air as he did so. Since it had worked so well the first time he did it again when he needed air, and again, and it sustained him as he explored the flooded ruins.

He had found another type of badnik down here; an odd planet shaped one, surrounded with spiked balls which it threw at him. Of course due to the water, the balls where slowed down a bit, but one had cut his arm, and as they where underwater, it stung like heck.

It wasn't long before Sonic had found one way out. Pointed out to him by a fish like robot which had missed him by inches and blew up as it hit the ceiling. He used this opportunity to get out of the water, jumping on various platforms stuck in the walls to get up to the tops of the tunnel. When he got out he breathed fresh air and exclaimed "FINALLY!"

He wasn't too happy when he looked around however. All he saw was another dead end. And this time the floors of the corridor where dry so no hidden downward exits. He walked towards the wall and looked at it for a short while as he let it sink in that he would need to go back into the water.

"… Dammit!" he growled as he punched the wall. At which point his fist sunk into an alcove and the wall slowly slid up. It was then that the jewels began to glow again.

"… I can't have found another one… could I?" he asked himself. He was answered in a few seconds as a green glow came to meet him. What stood in the room was another jewel. He laughed out loud as he picked it up.

"A GREEN chaos emerald… and here I thought the Chaos EMERALDS where all anything but green!" which had an element of truth to it. So far he had found blue, yellow and magenta. If Sonic hadn't found the picture back in the Marble Ruins, he would have thought that there was no green emerald and that this one would have been a different colour, like orange maybe. He looked up to be greeted by another picture, similar to the one from the marble ruins before. It had a similar demonic looking creature in the middle. However these ones seemed to be more exact. It looked like a spiky rodent. Almost hedgehog like. But the face shape was all wrong. Its muzzle was more elongated, and its nose was more triangular than oval, being a point to its muzzle. It also had a mass of ruined buildings behind it and again, surrounding it was the same stones. Yet they looked slightly different. They had a shape more like a large diamond, almost like a heptagonal pyramid. And yet they where the same colours as before. Blue, Yellow, Magenta, Green, Red, Grey and Cyan.

"What could this mean? Some demon powered by these things destroyed the ancient world… or will destroy the modern one?"

The picture suggested there, on one side the buildings where of shapes similar to temples, pyramids, even old wooden huts. On the other stood decimated sky high buildings, buildings that looked like half a circular prism, big square buildings that spewed smoke. These could have been taken for pictures of sky scrapers or factories, seen by people of millennia ago, to someone who thought about it closely enough.

"I don't like this…" Sonic said to himself "It could mean that, while these things are in my possession, I don't only have to protect these from not only a would be dictator, but some white, red eyed demon too?" He shivered.

He took another look around and saw there was a hole in the ceiling above him, one he was able to reach when jumped on the pedestal that the green emerald had been on. But before jumping upon it, something caught his eye. There was a note resting on the pedestal where the green emerald had been. He felt he needed to read it. If for nothing else, then just to satisfy his curiosity.

To Whom It May Concern it read

Those five years that I knew him, which I had spent with them had been the best in my life. That is why I have to do what I am now doing. Thanks to our enemy, if our friend is to be released, he will bring destruction upon us, as his memories are not as they should be. He will need to take the emeralds to complete the plan. So now I place them where they where found. This way only those with great skill can find them again, and hopefully only those with true intentions. I start with this Emerald, his favourite, the green emerald which he always had with him. If you are of true heart and strength, I whish you luck on finding the other six, especially the grey, yellow and cyan ones I was able to collect to hide.

Sincerely the Master Hunter

Sonic Whistled. Someone had gone to large lengths to hide these things, especially this one as it was not only hidden behind a false wall but in an underwater maze. Sonic admired this Master Hunter's resolve. But it made him shudder at the thought of whoever this friend of him was that needed the jewels hidden so toughly. Was it the Demon depicted in the picture?

Another shiver came over Sonic, this time not from the thoughts he was having but more that he was cold. So he continued on, wanting to get defeat Eggman before this demon appeared.

XOXOX

"What do you mean the green emerald is moving!" Eggman roared

THE SIGNALS FROM THREE OTHER EMERALDS ENDED UP IN ITS LOCATION AND NOW ALL OF THEM ARE MOVING TOGETHER DOCTOR

"That means he has another Emerald! Now he has most of them! This failure is completely unacceptable! And on top of that, we haven't found where in the Starlight Highway the Red Emerald is and have no idea on the location of the Grey Emerald! At this rate he will get all of the other six!"

"That's the plan doc!"

Eggman froze and turned. There behind him was Sonic. This time the Hedgehog had caught HIM without a plan! Not good.

"Y-you!" Eggman Stuttered.

"Yup! Me! What's the matter? Not ready this time!"

"Blast… all I have is my basic Eggmobile! Looks like I have to go with the backup plan…" Eggman pressed a button on his Eggmobile and a glass shield covered the open part of the machine. At this point, mechanical stoppers he had made had sprung shut and the waterfall leading into this room began to fill it with water. It was already at Sonic's ankles. At this point Eggman began piloting his machine up a large skylight in ceiling behind him. Sonic quickly followed suit so not to drown, jumping up platforms on the way. It was not an easy climb. There where stone gargoyles the doctor had placed laser shooting cannons in, spears that sprung out to impale passers by, not to mention the water rising rather quickly behind them both. Sonic would drown if left to long in the water as there where no damaged tiles to give out Air, and the doctor was in no better position as he had limited air Left in his machine. The dome was only to keep out water, making sure it didn't damage his instruments, if he had to be under it for a limited period of time. However both eventually made it to the surface. Unfortunately, Eggman kept flying up in a straight line, using cloud cover to hide, making it impossible for Sonic to follow. All that was left was for Sonic to press the button on the containment unit in this area and try to run off in the direction of the closest town to find out whether they had seen Eggman or not…