Sailor Moon is owned by Takeuchi, Toei Animation and Viz Media ©.
Sonic the Hedgehog is owned by SEGA/Sonic Team (c).
Chapter 6: Search for the missing elder
Mobius, Chun-Nan…
BGM: Sonic Unleashed Ost- "Chun-Nan Hub Night"
By the time our heroes finally reached Chun-Nan, it was already night time, which was unfortunate for Sonic, who had transformed into a Werehog. While the transformation was not as painful as it was previously, it wasn't any less annoying. Landing the plane outside of the village entrance, Sonic immediately jumps off while snarling in annoyance.
"Man, the sooner we get the planet back to normal, the sooner I can just go back to being me," said Sonic as he looked down at his clawed fingers.
Tails walks over to his older-brother figure and places a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Sonic, we'll get the planet back together soon." he said reassuringly.
"Just leave it to us, and you'll be back to your old self before you know it." Jupiter affirmed with a wink.
"I sure hope so," Sonic sighed before glancing at the girls from the corner of his eye.
'And once we put the planet back together, we can find a way to get you girls back home.'
Sailor Moon, Venus and Chip, meanwhile, were too busy admiring the scenery of the village. There were lanterns, small huts, food stands, gardens with wide varieties of flowers, a few small bridges, and a huge waterfall.
"This place is gorgeous!" said Sailor Moon. "Look at all the pretty lanterns!"
"And there's a waterfall too~!" Sailor Venus said with stars in her eyes.
"The flowers here are beautiful!" Jupiter said in awe.
Chip sniffs the air, the sweet aroma of food filling his nostrils. "Mmm~! And the food smells so good~!" he moaned blissfully, drooling a little.
"We're not here to check out the local cuisine, you guys," said Tails.
"Tails is right," Mars added, folding her arms. "Sonic's home-planet is at stake, we can't afford any distractions."
"Yeah, yeah, we know," Venus turns to Mercury. "Mercury, see if you can pinpoint the Gaia Temple's location."
The Mercurian Soldier pressed one of her earrings and used her visor scanner to pinpoint the Temple's location. However, she wasn't picking up a signal.
"Strange, I'm not getting a signal…" She frowned, pressing her earring to make her visor scanner disappear.
"It must be really secluded," said Tails. "That's why you're not sensing anything."
"Well, looks like we gotta do this the old fashioned way," Mars sighed and turns to look face the others. "Let's look around and see if any of the villagers know of the Gaia Temple's location, or at least heard of it."
Nodding, they all enter the small village and went around to ask the villagers if they had any knowledge of the Temple of Gaia's location, while Tails decided to stay behind and make adjustments to the Tornado. Some of the Villagers heard of it, but didn't know the location. Some of them were even under Dark Gaia's influence. Thankfully, Chip flashed the camera at them, returning them back to normal. As they continue exploring the village, Sailor Moon and Chip passed by a food stand and were immediately entranced by the exotic cuisine. But they were dragged away from it by Sailor Mars, much to their dismay. Finally, they were able to get a lead. A Taoist monk told them that they should find the Gaia Temple if the followed the path called "Dragon "Road". The group wasted no time and rushed up the stairs that lead to Dragon Road. All of a sudden, they skid to a stop when a man abruptly stepped in and blocked their path.
"What the?!" Jupiter exclaimed.
"What are you doing?!" questioned Sailor Moon.
"STOP! Go no further!" The man said sternly.
"Sir, please, we need to pass! This is urgent!" Mercury pleaded with urgency.
The man shakes his head. "No, you can't come through here without Lin's permission! The entrance to Dragon Road too far dangerous!"
"Look old man! We don't got time for this! The entire world is at stake!" growled Sonic.
"And the longer we wait, the faster Dark Gaia will awaken!" Sailor Venus pointed out.
"We can't afford to waste anymore time! So let us through!" yelled Sailor Mars.
"I said NO!" He shouted.
Feeling his patience finally reaching his limit, Sonic lets out out an animalistic growl, with his fangs bared and his fur bristling with a menacing purple aura emitting from his body. He was about to take a step towards the man, but was stopped by Mercury who grabbed his shoulder.
"Can you tell us where this Lin person is?" asked the Mercurian soldier.
"Well, she should be in one of the Buddhist temples in the village," the man replied.
"Thank you sir!" Sailor Mercury bowed. Everyone turned around and walked down the stairs back to the village. The aura around Sonic disappeared and he calmed down a bit, much to everyone's relief. Entering one of the temple's, they spot a short elderly kneeling in front of a Buddhist statute, praying while holding a Jìngxiāng.
"Hey, you think that's Lin?" Sonic whispered to Mercury.
"I don't know, lets go ask her." answered the Mercurian soldier as she and the others approached her. "Uh, excuse me miss. Are you Lin?"
The elderly woman and children ceased her prayers and turned to see them walking towards her.
"Why yes, I am! Welcome to Chun-Nan!" She greeted with a small smile.
"Arigato gozaimasu!" The girls bowed.
Lin chuckled a little before a sad smile graced her wrinkled face. "I only regret I am not able to give you a proper welcome."
"Why, what's wrong?" Sonic asked.
Lin let out a somber sigh. "You see, the village's most precious treasure is missing. The village elder, Zen, went in search of it and has not returned ever since. We would go search for him, but monsters lurk outside the village."
Everyone was shocked by this.
"Oh no! That's terrible!" gasped Sailor Moon.
"Don't you worry! We'll find your elder!" Sonic declared, earning a surprised look from the old woman.
"Y-You would do that?!"
"Yeah! Just leave it to us!" Venus said with a wink an a peace sign.
"Oh, fortune has indeed smiled upon us!" Lin beamed with joy before wiping her tears. "Oh heavens, look at, getting all misty-eyed! Please, you must head to Dragon Road at once!"
"Okay!" Nodding, the group rushed out of the Buddhist temple and ran back up the stairs that lead to Dragon Road.
"Sir, we found Lin! She gave us permission to pass through in order to look for the elder," Mercury informed the man.
"She did? I see. Dragon Road is just through here, you can't miss it. Good luck to you all! Please find the elder."
They all nodded as they passed the man, entering the entrance that lead to Dragon road. Once they've passed through, they were in awe of their surroundings. There were bamboos, lanterns, and a large pond. Up ahead was a large red shrine.
"Well, this is the place you guys," Sonic said.
Sailor Venus turns to face her friends. "Alright everyone, we don't know what kind of danger awaits for us in there, so don't even think about letting your guard down, even for a second. And be sure to be on the lookout for the elder. Got it?"
Everyone nods in affirmation. "Yes!"
Venus smiles. "Okay then, let's go!"
The Venurian soldier wastes no time and rushes inside the shrine, with the others following.
BGM: Sonic Unleashed Ost- "Chun-Nan Dragon Road Night"
Once they've arrived in the shrine, they surveyed their surroundings for any sings of Dark Gaia creatures. So far, nothing too out of the ordinary, at least not yet. The waters were calm and the light of the full moon was shining over the lake.
"No sign of any of those monsters so far." said Sailor Moon as she looked around.
"Don't get to comfortable, they could appear at any given moment." Mars pointed out.
Shortly, the others begin to notice Sonic sniffing the air.
"Uh, Sonic? What are you going?" questioned Chip.
"I'm trying to track down the elder's scent," the Werehog replied as he crouched down on all fours and starts sniffing the ground, causing everyone to give him strange looks.
"Uhhhh..." Jupiter trailed off, dumbfounded.
"Hehehe..." Mercury, Moon, and Venus laughed nervously, sweat dropping.
Sailor Mars sighs, shaking her head. "Sonic, you're not going to find the elder by-."
"Alright, I got something!"
The Martian soldiers eyes became wide like saucers. "...I stand corrected..."
The Werehog continues sniffing the trail of the elder's scent until he perks his head up and points it to his left. "The trail leads this way!"
He quickly takes off down the pathway that lead to the trail of the elder's scent, the girls following him and Chip not being too far behind.
"How were you able to pick up the elder's scent, Sonic?" asked Chip as he flew alongside Sonic, who was running on all fours.
"Well, I've noticed that my sense of smell is stronger while I'm in this form, I figured that I'd track him down by his scent."
The girls sweat drop a little at his explanation.
"Well, whatever the reason, make sure you don't lose that stench trail!"
Everyone, even Sonic, gave Sailor Venus deadpanned looks.
"Venus, it's 'scent' not 'stench'." Mercury corrected.
"Oh..." Venus looked away, blushing a little.
"How close are we?" Sailor Moon questioned.
"Close, his scent is very strong." Sonic replied. All of a sudden, they run into dozens of Dark Gaia creatures and, much to the horror of Sailor Moon Chip, and Venus, the wasp-like Dark Gaia monsters that they've fought back at Mazuri.
BGM: Sonic Unleashed Ost-"Werehog Night Battle Suite"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH~! THE BEE MOSNTERS~!" The trio cried as they hugged each other in fear.
The others got into a fighting stance.
"Not these guys again!" Mars glared up at the Wasp-like creatures, recalling on how they were fast enough to evade their attacks.
"We don't got time for this!" Sonic growled.
"You take the ones on the right, and we'll take the ones on the left." said Jupiter.
"Okay!" The werehog nodded as he took on the one on the right while the girls took on the ones on the left.
"CRESCENT BEAM SHOWER~!" Venus bellowed as she shot several beams of light at the Dark Gaia creatures, incinerating them.
"MERCURY AQUA RASPHODY~!" Mercury summons her water harpy and shoots projectiles of freezing water at Dark Gaia's minions, freezing them solid and shattering them into a million pieces. Unbeknownst to her, the wasp-like Dark Gaia creatures were behind her, preparing to impale her with their barbed stingers. However...
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE~!"
"Huh?" hearing the sound of pain-filled screeches, Mercury turns around and saw the wasp-like creatures as being electrocuted, before dropping lifelessly to the ground and dissolving into purple mist. Mercury turns to Jupiter, who was panting slightly.
"Thank you Jupiter."
The brunette smiled weakly. "Don't mention it."
Sailor Mars was narrowly dodging the rain of deadly stingers that the wasp-like monsters were launching at her. She grimaced when some of them managed to graze her. Growling, the Martian soldier prepares her counterattack.
"BURNING MANDALA~!" She howled as she launched several rings of fire at the Dark Gaia wasps. Though she managed to hit some of them, most of them fluidly dodged her attack, much to her frustration.
'Damn it!' She thought before jumping back to avoid another one of their attacks.
Meanwhile, Sonic was violently tussling with several of the Dark Gaia creature's. They were viciously clawing and biting at each other like a pride of Lions. You could see dust kicking up and bits of fur flying.
CHOMP!
"RAUGH!" The Werehog roared in pain as one of them bit him on his left shoulder. Snarling, he kicks away the other Dark Gaia creatures. Then, he grabs the one that bit him and flips it over its shoulder, slamming it to the ground. Climbing on top of a boulder, he jumps off of it and WHAM! Drives his right elbow onto the monster's skull, killing it almost instantly.
"You got 'em!" Sailor Moon cheered while Sonic smirked, then turned and growled at the other Dark Gaia creatures, which all backed away slightly.
"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!" Sonic howled, ferociously before he charged on all fours!
The screen pans up and you could hear the blood curdling screeches of agony, followed by the sound of fangs and claws tearing through flesh.
BGM End
Sonic panted as he was hunched over, surrounded by the dead bodies of the Dark Gaia creatures, which were slowly dissolving into purple mist.
"Man...that felt GOOD," he said with a grin.
"Whoa...!" Sailor Moon said in awe.
"Unreal!" Venus exclaimed in amazement. "I wish I had a camera!"
BGM: Sonic Unleashed Ost- "Chun-Nan Dragon Road Night"
Sailor Mars and Jupiter panted, wiping some sweat from their bow as the corpses of the Dark Gaia wasps littered around them dissolved.
"Man...those bugs were a pain to deal with."
"Tell me about it..." Jupiter agreed.
Chip peeks from behind a Buddhist statue. "I-Is it over?"
The Martian soldier turns to Chip with a smile. "Yes Chip, it's over. You can come out now."
Upon hearing this, Chip lets out a sigh of relief and flies from behind the statue.
"Sonic-kun, which way is the elder's scent now?" asked Mercury.
"Hmm, let's see..." Sonic crouches down on all fours and begins sniffing the ground before lifting his head an pointing it straight ahead. "That way!"
They turn to see him pointing down a path which was blocked by boulders.
"Huh? But it's blocked!" Chip pointed out.
"Not a problem," Sonic stands up and turns to Jupiter. "Mako, do your stuff!"
The Amazonian brunette nods and charges up her attack. "SUPREME THUNDER~!"
She fires a bolt of lighting at the boulders and BOOM! Blows them to bits!
"Wow...!" Chip said in awe.
"Nice shot," Sonic complimented, earning a fist bump from the Senshi of Lightning. They then proceeded to follow the path that lead to the elder's scent trail, running into tougher obstacles and battling more Dark Gaia's minions along the way. Our heroes later find themselves climbing up a rocky mountain, with the exception of Chip since he can fly. Sonic uses his elastic arms to grab onto out of reach ledges while using claws and cleats to keep himself from slipping and falling
As Venus was climbing up, she yelped when her foot nearly slipped off of the ledge that she stepped on. Fortunately, the Venurian Soldier quickly caught herself before she could fall.
"Venus! You okay?" Jupiter asked with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Venus replied and resumed climbing. "Some of the ledges are slippery, so be careful and watch you step!"
The others nodded and continued to climb, albeit more carefully not to slip and fall. Sailor Moon has slipped and fell a few times due to her clumsiness, but thankfully Sonic was able to catch her using his elastic arms before she could hit the ground. Finally, the team made it to the top of the mountain.
Sailor Moon collapses to her knees, panting. "Finally...!" she sighed with relief.
Sailor Mars groans as she stretches her body. "Man...that was one hell of a climb...!"
"I'll say." Sonic agreed, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. He gets back down on all fours and resumes following the elder's scent, with Chip and the Inner Senshi following behind. However, the trail of the scent ended right by the edge of a riverbank, much to the Werehog's dread and misfortune.
"You've GOT to be kidding me...!" Sonic blanched.
"Wait, so did the elder cross this river?" pondered Chip.
"Most likely, yes," Mercury eyed the boulders across the river. "He must've hopped on those boulders in order to get across."
"Wow~! That's amazing!" Sailor Moon said in awe.
"Alright, so all we have to do is cross the river and get to the other side, Sonic can probably pick up the elder's scent there." Sailor Mars wastes no time and begins hopping from boulder to boulder to cross the river, with the other girls doing the same, though Sailor Moon nearly slipped and fell on the first try. Meanwhile, Sonic didn't move from his spot and Chip, who was next to him, noticed this.
"Hey Sonic, aren't you going with them?"
"Huh?" Sonic snapped out of his trance and turned to Chip. "O-Oh, y-y-yeah! I just...gotta find another way to cross the river!"
Chip looks at him confused. "How?"
"Uh, well...uh..." The Werehog looks around to find some other way that he can cross the river without having to worry about falling in and getting himself wet. Just then, his emerald green eyes locked onto a pole not too far from him. A light bulb appeared over his head as an idea clicked. He grins impishly.
"I think I've got an idea..."
Meanwhile, as the girls were hopping on the boulders to cross the river, Sailor Moon shrieks as she almost lost her balance when she hopped on another one.
"Phew...that was close...!" The Odango-haired teen sighed in relief.
"Careful Sailor Moon! The rocks are slippery, be sure not to slip and fall." Mercury instructed, jumping onto another boulder.
"Easier said than done..." Sailor Moon thought to herself, sweat dropping.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!
"WHOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!"
The girls cease their leaping when they heard the shouts of screaming and shouting. Looking up, their eyes nearly jump out of their sockets when they saw Sonic and Chip flying right over them at breakneck speeds!
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH?!"
"What the hell?!" Mars questioned.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS AWESOME!" Sonic laughed as he flew across the river, with Chip clinging onto his back looking ready to lose his lunch.
"Totally sick!"
"I know! Isn't this great!?"
"NO!" Chip shouted. "I'm gonna be totally-!" suddenly, his stomach begin gurgling. "Oh no...!"
"Don't lose your lunch yet little buddy! We're almost-!"
THWACK!
"UGH!" Sonic cried when he and Chip smacked face first into a rocky wall. "There...!"
The duo fall off the wall and onto the ground.
"SONIC/SONIC-KUN! CHIP!" Worried, the girls begin leaping across the boulders at a faster pace to the other side. Once they've made it, they run over to Sonic and Chip, who are both lying on the ground with swirly eyes and stars spinning over their heads.
"Sonic-kun! Chip! Are you okay?!" Mercury asked worriedly.
"Ugh..." Sonic groans as he slowly sits up, shaking his head. "Yeah, I'll live."
Chip, who also recovered, stood up dizzily with his face slightly green.
"Ugh...I-I don't feel so...!" Suddenly, his cheeks puff out as he clamps his hands over his mouth.
"OH GEEZE!" Reacting quickly, Sonic quickly picks up Chip and stretched his arms to place him behind a statue.
"BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGHHH~!" Chip wretched.
"Phew! Close one." The Werehog sighed in relief.
"Sheesh, poor guy..." Jupiter sweat dropped, watching Chip spill out his lunch.
"I know." Mars agreed, but then shakes her head and turns to Sonic. "Wait a minute! Sonic, what was that all about?"
"Huh?" Sonic turned to look up at the Martian Soldier. "What're ya talking about?"
"You know, the part where you practically flew over us!" The raven-haired teen clarified. The Werehog blinks a few times before his eyes go wide out of realization.
"Oh, right! Well, it kind of started off like this."
Flashback to earlier...
Sonic is pulling the pole far back, while Chip who was sitting on his head, watched apprehensively.
"Uh, Sonic...are you sure this would work?"
"Trust me lil' buddy, you'll thank me later." Sonic replied. "Now hang on tight!"
"Why-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH~!" Chip asked, only to shriek when Sonic lets go of the pole, causing them to be launched in the air at high speeds.
Flashback end...
The girls looked dumbfounded by Sonic's explanation while Chip, who was finished barfing, walked back over to them while rubbing his tummy in content.
"Ahhh..! Much better." Chip sighed in relief.
"Wait, so THAT'S what happened?" asked Sailor Moon.
"Yeah, that's basically the long and short of it." The Werehog replied, scratching the back of his head. Sailor Mars sighs as she folds her arms, looking at Sonic with a deadpanned stare.
"Sonic, you know you could've just hopped on the boulders to cross the river, right?"
"Well...yeah, but I figured I could make it to the other side faster that way."
'And I didn't want to risk falling in and drown.' Sonic thought to himself.
The girls looked at Sonic and grinned mischievously.
"Sonic-kun, you're still not scared of water, are you?" Sailor Venus asked coyly.
Sonic freezes. "U-Uh...n-no! I'm not scared, I'm just-"
"What is she talking about?" Chip chimed in.
Sailor Moon's grin widens. "Oh, Sonic-kun is afraid of water due to the fact that he can't swim. But when he met us back at our home-world we kinda solved that problem. Wanna know how?"
Sonic's eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. "NO!"
"We put cute floaties on his shoulders!" Sailor Moon takes out a photo of the girls' time at the pool. As Chip sees the girls standing in the shallow water, he sees Sonic, in his normal form, standing in the middle wearing floaties.
"Oh, Sonic, you look very cute in this picture!"
Venus giggles. "Thanks, I've picked out the floaties myself."
Sonic's face turn beet red out of embarrassment.
"How embarrassing! LETS GO! I THINK I FOUND THE ELDER'S SCENT!"
Sonic rushed down the trail of the elder's scent and the others watched him, laughing before following behind. Along the way, they've run into not only Dark Gaia's creatures, but Eggman's robots and drones, which of course they defeated. They leaped from the shrine rooftops and even ran across paths that are built in large images of red Chinese Dragons, while avoiding being shredded into woodchips by buzz-saws. Whenever they came across large gaps that are too far for them to jump across, Sonic has taught them how to launch themselves off of poles to get to the other side. Sailor Moon and Venus have fell in the water on their first try, but they gradually get better.
The team is currently walking across a sandy beach.
"Sonic-kun, how close are we?" asked Mercury.
"Very close, the scent is getting much stronger," answered Sonic. Up ahead, they a doorway that lead to their final destination, which was unfortunately being blocked by dozens of Little Rexes and a Big Mother enemy.
"AAAHH! I-It's one of those big monsters!" Chip shrieked as he quickly hid behind Sonic out of fright.
"Great...now we gotta get past THIS overgrown blob...!" Sailor Jupiter groaned.
Sonic just smirks, cracking his knuckles. "Not a problem. You girls take care of the little guys, I'll deal with the-"
However, before he could take a step forward. Sailor Mercury grabs his shoulder.
"Sonic-kun, wait!"
The werehog turns to look at her. "Huh? What's the big idea Ami?!"
"I have a simpler solution," She replied. Sonic looked at her in puzzlement for a minute until he nods and steps aside. Getting down onto one knee, Sailor Mercury places her hand on the ground and closes her eyes, concentrating while inhaling deeply. Then, once she exhaled, the ground started freezing over and the Dark Gaia creatures were suddenly encased in ice!
Sonic and Chip looked on in shock and disbelief.
"What the-?!"
Mercury turns to Sailor Venus. "Sailor Venus, now!"
Venus nods. "Right! VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!"
The Venurian Soldier lashed out her light chain and WHAP! SMASH! Destroyed their frozen enemies, shattering them into millions of pieces.
"There, that should do it." said Sailor Mercury as she got up.
"Wow...!" Chip said in awe.
"Ami, where the heck did you even learn a move like that?!" Sonic questioned in shock and amazement.
"It's an ice attack I've developed during our Sailor Senshi training," Mercury clarified. "Not only can I freeze the ground upon contact, but also my opponents if I want to quickly dispatch of them."
Sonic whistled, impressed. "I gotta say, that move sure came in handy." he looked down the now cleared path.
"Come on, let's hurry. The elder shouldn't be too far." said Sailor Mars as she walked down the clear path with the others following behind. Sonic grabs a nearby lever and pulls it, opening the door to allow themselves to walk through.
BGM End
Rushing through the doorway, the team arrived at a wide circular area. Up ahead, they saw the Temple of Gaia, and down below, they saw an elderly man lying on the ground motionless.
"That must be the elder!" Sailor Moon gasped. Wasting no time, the jumped down and rushed over to help him. Sailor Mercury crouches down to check for the elders vitals.
"Is he...dead?" Chip asked worriedly.
Sailor Mercury shakes her head. "No, he's not dead. He's just unconscious."
Everyone was relieved by this.
"Thank goodness..." Sailor Moon sighed relief.
All of a sudden, Sailor Mars lets out a sharp gas when she feels a strong chill rushing down her spine. This didn't go unnoticed.
"Rei, what's wrong?" asked Sonic.
"GET DOWN!" She shouted, tackling the others to the ground as a massive shadowy figure swooped down at them at high speeds. Getting up, they couldn't help but gasp at what they saw. Soaring through the air was a huge purple phoenix around 12 meters tall with it's entire body engulfed in flames.
"W-What is that thing?!" questioned a frightened Chip as he watched flying around in circles.
"It's a Phoenix!" answered Sailor Mars. Landing on one of the pedestals, the purple phoenix spreads its wings and lets out a loud, monstrous screech.
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!"
Its screech was so powerful that it caused the ground to tremble.
"Quickly! Get the elder out of harms way!" Venus told Jupiter who nodded.
"Right!" Jupiter picks up the elder and carried him out of harms way. Sailor Mars gulps, a bead of sweat running down her cheek as she stared down at the fiery behemoth standing before her. Something tells her that this fight wasn't going to be an easy one.
Review, please! Sorry that I took so long to update. There's been a lot of things going on and I was sick. Also, I've been having a lot of problems with my computer, and I've been feeling out of it lately. I am gonna try to update more frequently. And I gotta say, doing this chapter was pretty tough. Also, I apologize if this chapter seemed rather short. The next chapter will be featuring the Boss Battle. Until then, be patient.