Chapter 8 is here, and the heroes will be going to Blizzard Peaks, which beat out Sky Babylon in the poll by a score of 8-5.
Disclaimer: You all know it.
Chapter 8: Blizzard Peaks: A Cold Adventure.
Sonic, Tails, Marine, and Blaze had just returned from an intense exploration of a ship graveyard, recovering some Silver Materials as well as the yellow Chaos and Sol Emeralds. Now they could build a hovercraft in order to travel to other areas. Tails was already making a blueprint, Marine was checking the supply of Materials, Sonic was just standing in a corner, half asleep, and Blaze was thinking about something. Sonic noticed the expression on the cat's face, and he became concerned.
"Is something wrong, Blaze?" Sonic asked.
"It's nothing, really. I'm just worried about Silver." Blaze replied. "I don't know where he could be. And with those pirates out there, I'm worried that something may happen."
"I know. Before we contacted our dimension, I was worried about Amy, and I know she was worried about me." Sonic told her. "But I'm sure Silver's okay."
"I hope so." Blaze said.
Meanwhile, Tails showed Marine the blueprints.
"This is the design for our hovercraft, the Aqua Blast." Tails said.
"Nice design, mate!" Marine told him while carrying a bagful of the Materials they had collected. "I'm sure we have enough materials to build it. I know just where we can put it."
"Lead the way." Tails told her. Then he called Sonic and Blaze. "Hey, Marine knows a place we can put the hovercraft's docking area at."
Sonic and Blaze followed Tails to where Marine led them. It was on the southwestern side of the island, just slightly northwest of Seagull Beach. Once they had reached the area, Marine took the Materials and tossed them into the air, then she took the blueprints Tails had designed and tossed them into the center. The Materials started copying the blueprints, and a bright light emerged from them, causing the heroes to shield their eyes. Once it faded, however, the dock was covering the once empty area of the beach. They went inside, and found a boat that had a light-green dome, two angled wings on the rear sides, a booster in the back, and a red-and-yellow floatation device on the bottom. Below the booster was a hatch for the Wave Cyclone.
"Yay! The hovercraft's done!" Marine said excitedly.
"That's Tails for ya." Sonic said.
"This will allow us to expand our range of activities." Blaze commented. Then she thought about something. "Uh, Sonic, don't you think we should leave this one behind?"
"Huh? Which one?" Marine asked.
"You." Blaze replied as she turned to Marine.
"What!?" Marine asked in a shocked voice. "No way!"
"You know our conflicts with the pirates will intensify now that we can go farther out." Blaze explained. "It would be best if…"
"Nooooooooooooooooooo! No no no no no no! I'm goin' too, no matter what!" Marine declared. "My adventures have just started! They can't end here! I still need to see new thing and explore and encounter new challenges and overcome them! I want adventure! I NEED adventure!"
Blaze was surprised, and she was getting tired of this. "Okay okay, you can have your way! Just stop yelling!"
"But…but…" Marine tried to say something.
"You win. You can come. But in return, you must make a promise." Blaze said.
"What is that, mate?" Marine asked.
"You must promise to stay with us. No wandering off." Blaze stated.
"Is that all? No worries, then. I'm the captain, after all, right, mate?" Marine asked.
Blaze just sighed. She couldn't believe this girl. Sonic looked at her with an expression that told Blaze they would keep an eye on her.
"Orright, so now that that's settled, let's go, you lot!" Marine said as she started heading to the hovercraft.
"Uh, Marine, where are you going to go?" Tails asked. Marine hadn't thought about that.
"Well, uh…" Marine tried to say, but she couldn't get anything out. Then she pointed out in some random direction. "I'll bet there are heaps of them pirates out that way!"
"Wait." Blaze said. "I have an idea. To search for clues, we should head northeast or directly east. To the northeast lie the ice floes, the home of the Vikings. They had probably encountered and fought the pirates, so they may know something. And not much is known about the east, so it would be a perfect place for the pirates to hide."
"They both sound pretty interesting, don't they?" Sonic asked.
"It's your choice." Blaze said.
"Let Marine decide. She's more eager to get going than any of us." Tails suggested. "Where do you want to go, Marine?"
"What? Don't you trust your captain's hunch?" Marine asked. "Oh well. The ice area sounds more interesting, so I choose that place."
"Then it's settled. Let's go." Tails said.
The heroes entered the Aqua Blast. Tails started the engine, the doors opened and the hovercraft sailed out, went around the island until they were pointed northeast, and headed towards the icy area. It was a long trip, but there was no danger. They were about halfway there when the radar picked up something. Tails opened the top dome so they could look out, and saw a familiar red speedboat flying towards them.
"It looks like Johnny's found another emerald, because he's heading towards us." Tails said.
As usual, it was Johnny. He stopped just short of the Aqua Blast and held up a green gem. "I found another one of those emeralds during one of my high-speed runs, and I knew you all would want it, so I came over here. As usual, you have to beat me if you want to get it."
"I'll race you again." Sonic challenged.
"Good." Johnny accepted. "Now, since we're nowhere near an island, what should we do about our race course?"
"I've got it. There are some ice floes near where we're headed. How about the first one to reach the edge of the ice floes wins?" Tails asked. "We'll go on ahead to mark the finish line."
Sonic rode out on the Wave Cyclone while Tails and the others headed off to the edge of the icy area. Soon, Johnny and Sonic were ready.
3…2…1…GO!
As usual, Johnny started out with a boost, with Sonic following behind by drafting behind him. Johnny moved back and forth to avoid various obstacles in the water, all while keeping up his speed. Sonic was impressed, but he wasn't about to lose to this guy. He hit his own booster, and soon caught up to Johnny.
"You just don't give up, do you, Sonic?" Johnny asked.
"Not now, not ever." Sonic replied.
The temperature started to cool down around them, and they knew they were closing in on the finish line. Up ahead they could see the Aqua Blast in the distance, marking the finish line. They both kicked the booster and tried to cross the finish line first. At first Sonic edged out Johnny, then it was the opposite, and it kept going back and forth until they both crossed the finish. Tails had a small camera with him, and he snapped a photo of the finish line. It didn't take long for the photo to develop. Once it did, he took a look at it, and Sonic had edged out Johnny.
"Sonic, you won!" Tails said.
"Alright!" Sonic said with a smile on his face.
"Well, you won again. Here you go." Johnny said as he tossed the emerald to Sonic. "I don't need it anyway."
Johnny then sped off as the heroes continued on their way to the area. Along the way, Sonic wanted to ask Tails something.
"Tails, why did you name this hovercraft the 'Aqua Blast'?" Sonic asked.
"It has the same name as Basil's board. He's like an older brother to me." Tails replied. "I named it after him out of respect."
"That's nice." Sonic replied.
Once they passed over the ice floes, they saw a landing point. They landed the hovercraft and stepped out onto the snowy land. It was cold, but nobody seemed to mind. As usual, Marine was amazed.
"Whoooa! It's a huge field of white." Marine said as she took in the sights.
"Look at all this snow. This is cool." Sonic said.
"So this is snow, ay?" Marine asked. "I've never seen this before."
"Well, she looks like she's occupied." Blaze said to Sonic. Then she pointed out some ice houses down the hill. "See those houses? Those are where the Vikings live."
"They should be inside, right?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah. I see some lights on, so they should be around." Blaze replied.
"Really?" Marine asked after hearing that. "Can I go see them?"
"I guess so. Just don't do anything that will make them think you're an enemy and they won't hurt you." Blaze warned.
Marine then went off to see the Vikings. Meanwhile, Blaze suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong.
"Hmm? Is something wrong, Blaze?" Sonic asked.
"That's weird. The Viking village guard should have showed up by now." Blaze said. "They have outsiders on the premises. They should have come and check it out. Something is not right here."
At that point, Marine came running back to the others.
"Hey, guys!" Marine called. She had a worried look on her face. "Something's wrong. I checked one of those houses, and nobody's in there!"
"What?" The three asked in surprise.
"Yeah! I thought it was weird, so I checked the other houses, and they're all empty!" Marine told them.
"Okay, something's not right here." Blaze said. "I wonder if the pirates have anything to do with this."
"I saw a cave down at the bottom of a long path. It was small from where I was, but I'm sure there's something in there." Marine said.
"It'll be a good idea to check down there." Blaze said.
"In that case, take these." Tails said as he tossed a blue board to Sonic and a purple board to Blaze. "Use these and you can get down to the bottom. I also built a couple for me and Marine."
The four went to the edge of the village, where Marine saw the cave from, and saw that the slope was perfect for snowboarding. They jumped on the snowboards and started riding down the slope. Marine, who had never been on a snowboard before, easily got the hang of it. Along the course, there were some ice half-pipes, some icy rails, and a few ramps. The Vikings would usually use this course for racing. Once they reached the first icy half-pipe, Sonic and Blaze decided to have a race.
"Hey Blaze, you think you can beat me to the bottom?" Sonic called.
"You think I can't?" Blaze called back. "Bring it on!"
Sonic and Blaze then started racing down the slope, with Tails and Marine following behind. Marine decided she wanted to join in, so she entered the race as well. Tails just chuckled and shook his head, then joined the others. It was now a free-for-all snowboard race to the ice cave. As they neared the bottom, they heard a rumbling behind them. They looked behind them, and saw that an avalanche had started, and it was headed right for them.
"AVALANCHE!" Sonic called.
"We have to get to the bottom!" Blaze called.
They still decided to race to the bottom, but now the avalanche was technically a competitor. They picked up speed as the slope became a little steeper, and soon they were at the bottom. Unfortunately for them, the avalanche wasn't far behind them, and soon, everyone was covered in the snow. They popped their heads out of the snow pile.
"Is everyone alright?" Tails asked.
"I'm fine." Sonic replied.
"All okay over here." Blaze said.
"Yeah, I'm good." Marine replied.
They pulled themselves out of the snow pile and entered the cave. It was lit up for some reason, which meant that someone was here. They continued through the cave, and what surprised them was that the whole cave was lit up. As they reached the end, it opened into a very large chamber. It looked big enough to fit at least one whale, possibly two. The cave ceiling was painted black, with lighting in the artificial stars to light up the cave. Just ahead of the heroes was a large snow bar that could hold them all. But that's not what attracted their attention. Marine went over to what looked like a wall of ice, but when she got closer, she saw figures in there. They were white polar bears that had togas, shields, swords, and horned helmets. Marine thought the others should know.
"Sonic!" Marine called. "Look at this!"
Sonic, Tails, and Blaze ran over to where Marine was standing, and they couldn't believe their eyes.
"Th-there are people in the ice!" Marine said.
"Those are the Vikings!" Blaze said.
But the Vikings weren't the only ones that were trapped in the ice. To the right of who looked like the leader was a light-gray hedgehog that Blaze knew all too well.
"No. Silver!"
Silver had been trapped in the ice along with the Vikings. Blaze couldn't believe it. Whoever had frozen the Vikings had also frozen Silver as well. She felt her stomach boil with rage.
"Who could do such a thing?" Tails asked.
Just then, they heard a pirate laugh behind them. They turned around to see Captain Whisker.
"Ahoy there! Why, I could be doin' such a thing, of course! D'arr!" Whisker told them.
"I had a feeling you'd be behind this!" Sonic said.
"You monster! Not only did you freeze some of the best fighters in the world, but you also froze my boyfriend!" Blaze yelled in a rage.
"Why would you do something so awful?" Tails asked.
"D'arr, why indeed! Arr…why? Ah, yes, right!" Whisker tried to find an answer. He turned to Mini and Mum. "Mateys, why did I do this?"
"Because they were in your way, boss!" Mini reminded him.
"D'arr, yes, that's right! They were in me way, so I froze the lubbers solid!" Whisker told them. "You're lookin' at the scourge of the Seven Seas now, ye dogs! Now, mateys, since I ain't got a plank, what should we be doin' for our guests here?"
"Freeze them solid, boss!" Mini said. "Right into big ol' blocks of ice!"
"D'arr, frozen solid it is, then. Time for me to shiver YOUR timbers, landlubbers!" Whisker said before calling out, "Ghost Whale! Freeze these no-good pests solid!"
In the water nearby, the heroes saw something emerge. It was a pink robotic whale. This was the Ghost Whale that Whisker had called out. It was many times larger than the heroes, so it was surprising how it could fit in the cave.
"Blaze, here it comes!" Sonic said.
"I'm ready." Blaze said.
"Count us in, too." Marine said as she and Tails took positions beside them.
"Let's go!" Sonic said.
Blizzard Peaks: Ghost Whale
The battle started with the Ghost Whale circling around them, then backing off. The heroes were wondering what it was doing when it dove underwater, then started charging at the ice platform they were on. They backed off as the Ghost Whale took a bite out of the ice platform, but the ice was so hard that it was stuck to the platform. As usual, Marine was the first one to attack. She jumped to the large red node on the head and punched it, and the Ghost Whale reared back and opened its mouth, trying to recover.
"I'll bet the weak spot is inside it." Blaze said.
"I'll go in first!" Sonic said as he jumped inside. Once inside, he heard a warning timer.
"Warning! Unidentified object has entered interior. Thirty seconds to washout!" The voice said. He only had thirty seconds before the washout system would flood the whale and blow him out. He had to find the object quickly.
He found it near the center. It was a console that seemed to be controlling the washout system, as well as the other robot functions. He charged up a spin dash and bashed into it, busting the console a bit. The washout system then activated, throwing him out of the blowhole in the whale's head. He landed back on the ice platform as the Ghost Whale went around the platform, then backed off and charged again. Once it bit into the platform, Marine hit the weak spot again. The whale opened its mouth, and this time, Tails went in. Using his flying ability, he could reach the weak spot faster than Sonic could. He just flew over the obstacles in the way, and reached the console.
"This must be it." Tails said.
He flew at it, and slammed it using his tails. This busted the console, and the washout system kicked Tails out. He landed back on the platform as the whale started to repeat its earlier action.
"This is getting boring." Sonic complained.
"All it does is the same thing over and over." Blaze said.
It bit down on the ice platform again, and the result left only a little bit of it left. One more bite, and there wouldn't be enough for all of them to stand on. Then the Ghost Whale could eat them, spit them out, and they would land in the water.
"Now I see what it's doing!" Tails said. "It's trying to send us into the water!"
Marine hit the weak spot again, and the mouth opened up once again.
"Marine, this time, you go in!" Blaze said.
Marine jumped in, dodged the obstacles, and reached the center. Her path was relatively simple. She bashed the console using a two-handed slam, and the washout system kicked her out. Once she was back on the land, there was a warning signal coming from it. One more hit, and it would be destroyed. The whale had been knocked out of commission, so Blaze covered herself in a flame tornado, jumped at the node, and slammed into it. The resulting impact shattered the node. Sonic and the others quickly jumped off of the ice platform and back onto the shoreline near the Vikings as the Ghost Whale exploded. A bunch of light-blue crystals shot out from it, as well as a green square-cut emerald.
Ghost Whale: Destroyed!
Whisker couldn't believe it. The Ghost Whale had been destroyed. He needed to get out of there and regroup.
"D'arr, it be a wee bit chilly here." Whisker said. "Let's be getting back home where it be warm, mateys!"
"Aye aye, sir!" Mini and Mum said as they took off. Sonic and Blaze tried to catch him, but he was gone.
"Did he get away?" Blaze asked.
"Well, if there's one thing he's good at, it's slipping through our fingers." Sonic said.
"You're only just kenning that now, mate?" Marine asked. Then she noticed the light-blue crystals. "Look! More Materials!"
They gathered as much as they could, and Blaze went over to pick up the green square-cut gem.
"The green Sol Emerald!" Blaze said. "That's four of them."
"Come on, we have to help the Vikings and Silver!" Tails said.
"Okay." Sonic said. "Blaze, do your thing."
"Alright." Blaze said. "Stand back."
The other three stepped back, and Blaze started to raise the temperature around herself. She stepped close to the ice, and it slowly began to melt. She first started to melt the ice around Silver. Since the psychic hedgehog wasn't like the Vikings, Blaze was more worried about him. Once the ice around him had melted, Silver stepped out. He was cold from the ice.
"Silver!" Blaze said as she ran up to him and hugged him.
"Blaze? What are you doing here?" Silver asked as he returned it.
"I came here to check something out, and we noticed the Vikings were missing. So we came down here, and we found you." Blaze explained. "I'm so glad you're safe."
Blaze then raised her temperature so Silver could warm up. After a moment, Silver was no longer freezing.
"Thanks, Blaze." Silver said.
Blaze nodded, then she set about releasing the rest of the Vikings. Once they were free, the leader stepped up.
"Ohoo! We're saved." The leader said. "If you hadn't come, we'd've been done for, for sure, yup!"
"Oh, no worries, eh! My mates 'ere were able to handle it in a jiffy, yeah." Marine told him.
"It must have been terrible for you guys, though." Tails said.
"We tried to fight off the pirates when they showed up on our island." The leader explained. "The gray hedgehog, whom you call Silver, had seen the pirates headed toward us, and tried to warn us. But all of us got frozen by those weird machines they had, yup."
"Those nasty little buggers!" Marine said.
"Mr. Viking…" Tails began.
"Please, call me Norman." The leader said.
"Uh, Norman, do you know anything at all about those pirates?" Tails asked.
"Well, they say that they make their hideout in some ancient ruins from days of yore, yup." Norman explained.
"Ancient ruins?" You mean…" Blaze said.
"Blaze, do you know something about this?" Silver asked.
"Well, to a certain extent. The ancient texts speak of a city that existed on a continent in the sky." Blaze explained. "But one day, it fell from the sky and crashed into the ocean. I never paid the legend much heed, but…"
"Aye, neither had we. But the pirates spoke of it like it were real, yup, and so…"
"I see. Well, what do we do, Sonic?" Blaze asked.
"Well, this sure isn't much to go on." Sonic said.
"What's that you reckon, mate? Those pirates 'ave gotta be in those ruins." Marine said. "Think about it, mate: legends! When has a legend ever not been true, huh? HUH?"
"Okay, Marine, just…calm down, okay." Sonic said in an annoyed voice.
"How long have you managed to put up with her?" Silver asked Blaze.
"Longer than you know." Blaze replied.
"Well, for now, let's see if we can find any more info on the pirates." Tails suggested.
"Let's head east, then. Much that way is unknown, so we should learn something new." Blaze said as they turned to leave.
"Good luck, friends!" Norman called as they left.
"Thanks again, Mr. Norman!" Tails called back.
As they returned to the Aqua Blast, Silver asked Blaze something.
"Blaze, what are Sonic and Tails doing here?" Silver asked.
"They landed here somehow…" Blaze said as she began explaining the story. Tails started up the hovercraft, and they left the snowy region.
End of Chapter 8.
Sonic and the others have found Silver, who had been frozen along with the Vikings. Whisker has run off again, and there's no telling where he may be. Will they find him? How many times is Whisker going to escape? And will they find these "ancient ruins"? Keep reading the story to find out.
I know the boss battle wasn't that good, but the actual boss battle in the game is boring. Just bash the head, enter the whale, reach the…mechanism or whatever it is, get shot out, and repeat two more times, then bash the head once more to win. That's it.
Well, Read and Review.