Chapter 61; discovery in Amazon
Sonic was trying to focus for the past few hours to make sure they wouldn't end up in a plane wreck but found it impossible. The thumbing pain in his mark wouldn't stop.
Knuckles came in the cockpit bringing some coffee.
"You ok? Here you need some."
"Thanks" Sonic said putting the autopilot and drinking some of it "but no I'm not ok. Ever since take off my mark has been killing me. I don't understand why."
"Maybe it's like a burden. The pain will follow you and possibly get stronger until we reach the tree. You need to hang in there".
"No. It can't be just that. Maybe it's all in my mind… but I fear something will go wrong with Amy's plane."
"Dude relax. I know that everything is on the line here, but let's be positive. I overreacted earlier but ok. We all make mistakes in life. I have already forgiven your ancient self, though I still believe he is an idiot. Anyway it'll all go according to plan. I'm sure of it."
"I hope you're right Knuckles. Because I'm worried." Sonic said giving him back the glass and focusing again on flying the plane.
At the same time while Miles and Sticks were slipping Marianna got up feeling nauseous. She went to the bathroom and tried to fight the urge but in the end she couldn't resist it and emptied her stomach. She started feeling relieved but then Miles knocked the door.
"Baby are you ok?'
Marianna hesitated for a while then answered "I'm fine Miles".
"Did you throw up?"
"….yeah"
"Is everything ok?"
"Yes… must have been the food we ate before departure. Get back to sleep. I'll be out shortly."
"Marianna… what are you not telling me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come out."
Marianna knew that most likely she couldn't avoid it and opened the door.
"The food we ate was just fine. My father wasn't affected and you know his stomach is kind off sensitive to this stuff."
Marianna remained silent.
"Babe what's torturing you?"
At that moment she could no longer hold back her tears and hugged Miles crying.
"Marianna you're crying?!" he said shocked as ever since his misadventure she had been able to keep her cool most of the time.
"Miles… I'm scared. We have only 7 days to stop Nibiru. I don't want our family to be killed."
"Hey" he said caressing her hair" it'll be ok. Our parents have dealt with life and death matters before. And this time we're with them. We'll make it."
"I'm talking about OUR family Miles" she said looking at his eyes.
"Our?"
"Yes. Me, you and…" she said looking at her belly.
Miles took a second to process the situation and then collapsed on the ground in shock trying to breathe.
"You… you're.."
"Yes… that's why I'm crying. I'm crying because I don't want this world to end before our baby comes to it".
Miles tried to stop his heavy breathing and regain control.
"We're gonna be parents?!"
"Yes".
Miles opened his mouth trying to speak but closed it again. Then he repeated this twice until he took a deep breath and relaxed.
"All the more reason to stop nibiru. And don't you fear baby. Our child will come to this world. We will make it. I promise."
Marianna looked at him happy and hugged him.
"What are you kids doing there?" they heard Knuckles who had just exited the cockpit and saw them on the floor hugging.
"Nothing. Miles wasn't feeling very well due to the food yesterday and almost threw up. Now I'm helping him back up."
"Whatever you say." Knuckles said laying again on his seat and falling asleep. Soon enough Miles and Marianna followed.
What no one noticed was Sticks' small laugh at Knuckles' falling for Marianna's excuse.
Meanwhile back home Luke and Ruff contacted Shadow Rouge and Storm and informed them of everything that happened the past 24 hours. The 5 of them located after a lot of searching Tails in an old building. Unfortunately he vanished before they could catch him. However they noticed a huge graffiti drawing at a wall of the room Tails was before fleeing.
"Did he draw this?" Shadow said examining the wall.
"Why would he?" Storm said scratching his head.
"Weird. It looks like a mishmash of colors. I don't think an ancient spirit would suddenly have artistic urges. Maybe he…" Luke said but then he noticed that the green part of the wall actually represented a forest. And then he saw something white amidst the green like a pillar covered in an orange color. Examining it better he noticed some spikes coming out of the pillar. But upon closer examination he realized in horror it wasn't spikes. It was wings. And that pillar wasn't a pillar covered in an orange light. It was a plane covered in flames.
"T-this thing!" he screamed pointing it to the others "it is a plane wreck!"
"He is actually right" Ruff said when he saw the painting.
"Why would he paint a plane wreck in a forest?" Storm asked them confused.
"Boys" Rouge said looking at the ceiling in horror.
"Mom what is it?" Ruff asked her and then saw what made her so horrified.
On the ceiling were painted with spray big black letters. Letters that went put one after another spelled the word…
"AMAZON!" They all said in shock. Luke immediately took out his laptop and attempted to reach Amy's cell phone.
"Tails rigged their plane! We have to save them!" he said typing.
Amy in the meantime was fast asleep along with the rest of her team. Her sleep was filled with nightmares of nibiru crashing on Earth ending all life. Suddenly she felt her cell phone buzzing in her hand. She had fallen asleep with it in her hands. She looked at the screen confused, sure she had put it to flight mode and saw she was receiving a call from Luke.
"Hello? She answered still sleepy.
"Aunt Amy! Are you all ok?!"
"Yes Luke just sleeping what's got into you?"
"We found a clue from Tails! He rigged the plane somehow! You need to land as soon as possible!"
"What are you saying?!" she said horrified.
At that moment she noticed a movement coming from the cockpit's direction. In horror she saw the pilot opening the door and jumping in a parachute!
"Guys wake up!" she screamed with all her strength.
Wave, the twins Jet and T-bone woke up immediately. At that moment they all felt the plane taking a steep turn towards the ground. The twins and T-bone hugged each other screaming in horror. Wave and Jet were trying to hold on.
"What is going on?!" Wave screamed trying to be heard above the sound of the wind.
"The pilot jumped off! The flight was rigged to kill us! I'll try to land this!" Amy screamed back.
She then made her way to the cockpit trying to breathe due to the low quantity of oxygen on the stratosphere. She reached the controls and not knowing what to do grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it towards herself. The plane stopped heading straight for the ground. Amy then noticed the Amazon jungle in front of her. They were directily above the river. However in just a few seconds the river would take a steep turn and they would crash on the trees which would be fatal. Leaving the controls again she made her way back to her seat and took her waterproof bag containing her deck and duel disc as well as some food and water. She then made it to the door.
"Jump in the river or we're dead!"
And before she could get an answer she jumped and dived into the river. Swimming back to the top she saw in horror the plane crashing in the trees right ahead.
"JET! WAVE! KIDS!" She screamed.
"No need to scream we can hear you" Wave said emerging from the water.
Amy turned around and saw her team safe and sound though totally soaked.
"Let's get out of the river" she said.
They all swam to the side of the river and got out. Aurora looked at her ruined her in disappointment.
"Come on I spent hours trying to get the last hairstyle.
"Rory now's not the time" Amy said. Jet, Wave how many supplies do we have?"
"Well the suitcases we stocked the food in are now in flames. And our backpacks only contain food for 2 days maximum." Wave answered checking the backpacks
"That's the least of our problems. We're in the middle of nowhere." Jet said
"We've got a compass. We're not lost." Evelyn said looking at it.
"He is right" T-bone said "what does it matter whether we have a compass or not. We don't know where we are in this jungle. The temple could be anywhere. And even if we find it we have only about 6 and a half days to return home and destroy nibiru."
"We've been here before T-bone" Amy tried to calm him "I remember where that guide took us with his boat."
"He didn't take us this way though." Wave said trying to identify any resemblance to the way they followed down the river during their last visit.
"We will follow the river. Try to find a part of it which we remember and hopefully someone to get us to civilization. Then we can resupply and get back out there as soon as possible to find the temple."
10 minutes later they were all walking next to the river looking at the plane wreck on the other side. Amy called Luke to inform they were ok and try to find their location through his laptop. However it was no use. The area they were in was uncharted. No paths no roads absolutely nothing. Their only choice was to go through the jungle to the west and try to reach a village which was somewhat close yet very far from their current location. They all mustered courage and headed into the wilderness.
At the same time on the other side of the planet Sonic's plane landed safely at the city close to the south start of one part of the great wall. However during a visit to a store to buy supplies for their long walk, Knuckles saw the plane wreck on TV.
"Oh no" he whispered in shock. Sonic was right to have a bad feeling, the plane did actually crash. He turned around to try and make them leave as to not see it just yet but he came face to face with Sonic sitting on his knees with his face being a mask of shock and tears streaming down his face.
"No….. Amy…." He said trying to keep his cool but it proved impossible as he screamed in anger and sadness drawing the attention of the shop owner and the customers.
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" he screamed as he punched the floor.
"I'm sorry Sonic. I should have believed you."
"It's over. My family is gone… Miles is the only one who remains…. But what does it matter… we lost… without them…. We can't save the planet. DARN IT ALL TO HELL!" he said as he kept punching his hand on the ground until it bled.
"I promised I would protect them… it's my fault… I told them to split up… now they're gone…"
"Snap out of it!" Knuckles said punching him "We haven't lost yet. We can still find the tree and the temple in time. We can do this!"
He helped Sonic back on his feet and paid for the supplies while the shop owner watched them leave in suspicion. They then informed the team of the wreck. However Miles received a phone call from Luke that changed everything.
"Dad, mom is alive. Everyone of them is. They jumped out before the plane crashed. They are safe."
Sonic looked at him in disbelief at first, then exhaled in relief.
"Thank god they're safe."
"Good but guys I think we need to leave for the great wall now. We drew too much attention in the shop. Tails will learn for sure there were no deaths in the plane wreck. If he finds out our exact location he could send assassins our way too." Knuckles explained.
"He is right." Miles said "Let's start".
And Knuckles wasn't wrong. Tails read about it online. His rage was out of his control.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" He said throwing a glass on the wall shattering it to pieces.
"I told you" the good Tails' voice echoed from inside his body "It'll take more than that to kill my friends."
"Curse you. Fine then. Plan b" evil Tails said leaving his hideout and heading for an unsafe part of the city.
Back in the jungle Amy's team had already gone through an anaconda encounter which Jet somehow miraculously decapitated with a machete he brought and running away from a poison dart frog they ran into by accident again miraculously unharmed. However their patience was running low.
"We won't make it into this jungle. We're just not prepared for this" Aurora said trying to breathe normally after their run.
"Aurora we have to keep going. We're wasting time. Even minutes matter when we're facing total world destruction" Amy tried to motivate her.
"Mom we're lost" Evelyn said "We've been on this way for so much time. We should've reached the village by now. We must have taken a wrong turn while running from the frog".
"Kids we have to keep going. Right Jet?" Wave asked him but he was looking at a bush.
"Jet?"
"Guys… no sudden movements…. We're being watched." Jet said trying to keep his cool but the tremble in his voice revealed his fright.
"Watched?" Amy asked him "By who?"
"Mom…." Aurora said in terror hugging T-bone in a protective way.
Amy looked at where her daughter was looking and saw a head emerging from the side of a tree and wild eyes on it.
"Oh come on… cannibals again?" she said scared.
"Guys we got no guns this time. What do we do?" Jet said taking out his machete.
At the sight of the machete though the man hiding behind a tree released a battle cry and emerged pointing a spear at them. The next moment about 10 more men and women charged from inside the wilderness and surrounded the group. Aurora felt she would cry of terror.
"I just want you to know…" Jet said holding his machete in front of him ready to fight to death "I love you guys".
Amy seeing no way out grabbed her daughters and drew them in her hug ready to feel the spear pierce through her. However she accidentally revealed her mark this way. The moment the jungle inhabitant in front of her saw it his eyes bulged from shock and started talking in a weird language. His fellow tribe members looked at him in shock first and then lowered the spears. The same man approached and tried to speak her language.
"You… singed?"
"Excuse me?" Amy said tying to process the situation.
"You… singed?" he repeated the question.
"Mom I think he is asking if you are a singed one" Evelyn said forgetting her fear. Amy looked at her first and then man.
"Yes. We singed." She said pointing at herself, Wave and Jet.
The man kneeled and ordered his tribe members to do so.
"What is going on?" T-bone asked confused.
"I think these people are some kind of a tribe that somehow has a connection to the lunar dragon" Wave guessed.
"Maybe they can help us" Amy said "can you take us to your leader?" she asked the young warrior.
He looked at her.
"You… meet… tribe king?"
"Yes."
The warrior ordered the others to get up.
"Follow" he said.
They all started journeying through the jungle, the tribe clearing any threat or wild animal in front of them. After a short walk they saw tents through the trees. They headed for the biggest one. Everyone of the tribe's people was looking at the newcomers. A middle-aged man came out of the tent and asked in the tribe's language who the newcomers were. The young warrior answered and then the leader looked at the team.
"What is your purpose here?"
Everyone was shocked by his ability to speak their language with this ease.
"You understand what we say?" Amy asked him.
"Yes."
"Who are you?" Jet asked him.
"My name is Tiger Fang. We are the jungle's protectors. Now answer my question. What is your purpose in our homeland."
"We came here in an excursion" Wave said "but our plane fell and crashed".
"We saw it. You may have alerted the outsiders to put out the fire. That causes a risk of exposing us."
"The outsiders?" Aurora said.
"The other people. The ones leaving in cities far away. The ones who never believed in our cause. On what we swore to protect in this jungle."
"What do you protect?"
"If I tell you then you can't leave."
"Please we have to know. It is a matter of life and death" Amy said holding her hands together in a way that her mark was visible. Tiger Fang saw it.
"This… this mark… so… you are.. you are the ones the prophesy describes?"
"The prophesy?"
"We saw the creation of this giant being in the sky this morning. We thought it was the prophesy finally coming true. And now maybe just maybe… it actually is coming true."
"What is this prophesy?"
"Let me tell you a story singed one. A very old story. Come to my tent".
They all entered his tent and sat down in a circle. Tiger Fang started narrating.
"Since the ancient times we have been worshiping an ancient deity that resided in the core of the very planet we live on. The blue dragon".
"We call it actually the lunar dragon" Jet interfered.
Tiger Fang was a bit annoyed by Jet's interference. However he continued.
"For centuries we have been trying to release the dragon from the core of the planet so it would punish non believer and guide us to an ascended way of life. But even after centuries of praying nothing changed. The dragon helped us build our civilization and live peacefully and in prosperity. But he was never freed. All changed when 6 young people from far away came to this land. They possessed the powers of the blue dragon despite never even having heard of it. Soon after that the dark times came. The son of our archpriest at that time wanted the power of the blue dragon for himself. When he saw that outsiders became the blue dragon's warriors he retaliated. He tempted another of the warriors who desired the leading position making him summon the same being that exists right now above us".
"Hold on" Amy said in surprise "You're saying he actually summoned Nibiru?"
"Yes. He invoked it declaring he would open the planet up and release the dragon to tame it. While the warriors tried to stop him we didn't let them. We believed that smashing the planet in pieces would finally release the blue dragon and grant us ascension. The warriors choosing the life of the planet over ascension destroyed our civilization with their powers then ended Nibiru and then faced their traitor comrade. The leader and the traitor were lost in that fight. Ever since then our civilization had been striving to survive and rebuild itself which never happened and eventually we reached into the small tribe we are right now".
"That is an interesting story. But we came here looking for a temple."
"You must mean the temple of the blue dragon. What do you want with it though?"
"We to know the story of the blue dragon. To know if Nibiru's crash is really his will" Wave lied.
"Hmmm…"Tiger Fang thought for a second "Very well. We could take you to the temple" he said. He called one of his subordinates and spoke with him for a while. He then turned to the team again.
"We're going now. It's a day's walk to the temple and back. And jungle in the night isn't safe".
"Ok" Amy said.
However during the preparation she texted Sonic to make sure she was safe and that they were on their way to find the answers. However due to no reception the message wasn't sent properly. Amy hoped she would have better signal somewhere else.
In the meantime Sonic and his team had found the start of the Great Wall and were walking on it looking with binoculars for the tree. They also asked every person they encountered if they had seen a giant tree in the distance but no one knew to answer.
"I don't like the start of this search guys" Marianna said "we're getting nowhere".
"Be positive baby. We'll make it" Miles said.
"I hope so" she said looking at the sky.
Nibiru was all over the news. A lot of people didn't know what it was so they were taking pictures with it. Sonic felt a burden in his heart. These people didn't know the end of the world was nearing. And it was on all on his ancient self's mistakes.
"Do you feel the guilt?" he asked him inside his head.
"Yes. I wanna scream that it's my fault. But who would believe me?"
"Indeed. It hurts more when they don't believe you for something you have done rather than being accused of something you didn't do. Especially when someone else is gonna face the consequences of your actions".
Ancient Sonic silenced. He couldn't bear to talk anymore. He only hoped he could change things when they found the tree.
Back in the jungle Amy's team headed off with Tiger Fang himself and a handful of his best warriors to find the temple. However shortly after they left the tribe's village Tiger Fang halted the group and turned to a bush next to him.
"Again with your tricks, Wild Flower?"
Amy and her friends looked at the bush and out of it came a ten year old girl looking grumpy.
"I want to come to the temple too."
"I said no Wild Flower. You know our tribe's traditions".
"But I want to!"
"Wild Flower don't raise your voice".
"Let her come" Amy interfered "I am one of the warriors of the blue dragon. If I say she can come then she will be accepted in the temple".
Tiger Fang looked at her in disbelief but then just ordered the team to move onward. After 10 minutes of silent walking Amy found Wild Flower next to her.
"Are you a goddess?" she asked Amy.
"No dear. How did that cross your mind?"
"You said you can allow me to access the temple of the dragon. Only a god could do that."
"No. I'm not a god. I'm a simple person just like everyone on this planet."
Wild Flower looked like she wanted to say something but she noticed her father looking at her in a strict way and remained silent. Amy found it strange but forgot it and caught up to her daughters.
After a lot of hours of walking they made it to the temple. It looked ready to collapse. They entered with a lot of caution. The lit the torches brought from the village and started looking at the inscriptions on the walls. One of them showed the lunar dragon alongside many human figures. Amy looked at it in awe as Wild Flower spoke.
"Look. They have summoned the dragon to aid them in their fight".
"Wild Flower don't speak words of blasphemy in this sacred ground."
"Why is what she said blasphemy?" Jet asked him trying to cut the vines from the walls to look better at the inscriptions "We summon the powers of the dragon to help us fight when we need help".
"It is natural. You are his chosen warriors. Common people have to pray all the time and have absolute faith in it to gain its favor let alone have power granted to them".
"I don't think this is right. One of our friend's son who is not a singed one managed to tap into the dragon's power once."
"I find that hard to believe" Tiger Fang said.
"Amy come take a look!" Jet's voice was heard.
Amy went to where Jet was standing with wave and saw a giant dragon figure carved on the wall. She raised her hand and saw her mark being a part of the dragon's body. So did Jet and Wave. That was the place where they got their powers as the memory they saw all those years ago showed.
"So much de ja vu" Wave said.
"Mom" Aurora called her.
Amy went to her daughter and saw a piece of the wall broken. It was lying on the floor. And ironically it was the last inscription on the wall. The previous one showed the earth and a giant circle moving towards it. They realized it was Nibiru. And that very tablet that now lied at their feet was light enough to pick but had nothing on it. A small phrase was inscribed on it.
"I can't read it. I don't know this language" Amy said.
"Neither do I" Wave also said.
No one in the team knew. Except..
"I can read it. It is my tribe's written form of our language. Hmmm…it says.."
"What does it say…?"
"It says that the secret of this piece of history will only be revealed to a chosen one. Only at full moon".
"Full moon is in three days" Evelyn said.
"Then I guess we have no choice. We can't take the tablet back. Could we stay at the village for a couple of days until we can read the tablet?" Amy asked Tiger Fang.
"I have no problem. It's an honor for our tribe. Let's head back though. It won't take long for the sun to set".
"All right let's go." Amy said exiting the temple and following Tiger Fang and his team back to their village.
At the same time on the great wall the search was still not bearing fruit. It made no difference whether they searched at night like at that moment as the moon and the stars shed a lot of light on the forest around the wall or daytime. Sonic's team was running out of patience.
"This is goose chase" Knuckles said yawning from exhaustion.
"I'm hungry" Marianna said.
"You just ate our last piece of food a minute ago. Generally you have been eating a lot more than all of us this whole night. Just how?" Knuckles said irritated causing Sticks to grin a little.
Suddenly, before Marianna could find an excuse, a ray of light hit Knuckles' face. It was weird that no light could be seen yet. But when they saw where it was coming from they all felt joy. It was coming from the sun's rays that went through the branches of a large tree.
"We found it" Sonic said.
"All right!" Miles yelled.
"Let's go!" Knuckles said jumping off the wall shocking everyone and crashing on the dirt.
"Knuckles there are stairs just on the next tower of the wall…" Sonic said in disappointment.
"Didn't notice don't mention it." Knuckles said pulling himself up.
"All right team. Let's go. Whatever it takes."
"Whatever it takes" they all said.
"Yes. Whatever it takes" a shadowy figure said from the top of the tower the team was heading to exit the wall "whatever it takes to finish you all."
