Disclaimer: You all know it.

Note: I decided to stop the author's notes at the beginning of each chapter. If something comes up, I'll post it at the beginning, but other than that, the only thing above the title of the chapter will be the usual disclaimer.

Chapter 9: Sky Babylon Garden.

Sonic, Tails, Blaze, and Marine had just returned to Southern Island after freeing the Vikings and Silver, who had been trapped in ice in the Blizzard Peaks. Now they were ready to move to the east, into the unknown area. What would they find there?

They were about to leave when they heard someone calling them.

"Hey, Blaze!" The voice called. They looked behind them to see another koala. This one was in a guardsman's suit, which was blue. He was wearing brown shoes and a blue guard's cap. In a sheathe on his left side was a sword.

"Gardon? What are you doing here?" Blaze asked.

"You know this guy, Blaze?" Sonic asked.

"Gardon is my personal guard and informant. He's helped me through countless battles here." Blaze explained.

"Personal guard? I don't get it." Tails said.

"Well, uh…you see…I'm a…a…" Blaze couldn't get it out.

"She's the princess of this dimension." Gardon finished.

"A princess?" Silver asked. Blaze blushed slightly. "I don't believe this. I'm in love with a princess."

"Wait! You're in love with Blaze?" Gardon asked. Silver nodded. "Well, this is certainly a surprise."

"Uh, Gardon, whatever your business here is, make it quick. We've got to go somewhere." Blaze urged.

"Right. Well, I'm sure by now that you've noticed that the Sol Emeralds have been missing." Gardon said.

"Yeah. We've recovered four of them." Blaze replied.

"Four of them? That's amazing." Gardon said, surprised that more than half of them had been recovered. "Well, I was out spying on the pirates, and I saw them inserting one of the Sol Emeralds into a robot that they had made. They were also taking some jewels that were scattered around the lands and using them to build the robots."

"That must be why Sol Emeralds and Materials have been popping out of the robots we destroy." Tails remarked. "The pirates have been using them to build the robots."

"So, what do we do?" Silver asked.

"Let's continue onward. I think we'll find something." Blaze said.

"Good luck, Your Highness." Gardon yelled.

"Please don't call me that." Blaze said. "And thank you."

They hopped into the Aqua Blast and headed towards the east, where they were going to continue their exploration. As they passed the ship graveyard, they saw an island to the southeast of it. They decided to land there. Maybe someone on the island would have some information. They landed on the island, only to find a deserted island with a home.

"Where are we?" Tails asked.

"What a tiny little island. Do you think it's deserted?" Sonic asked.

Unfortunately for them, it wasn't. Sonic jumped back just in time to avoid a hammer coming down on him. He recovered to see who his attacker was. A koala (yes, another one), came up to them. He was wearing a purple shirt, had his hat behind his back, and the usual sandals. He wasn't too happy with them on his island.

"Orright, who's there?" He demanded.

"What?" Tails asked.

"Okay, you lot, spill it! What're you doin' here on my island!?" The koala asked.

"Who are you?" Sonic asked.

"I guess this island isn't so deserted after all." Silver said.

By this time, the koala was getting angry at them for not answering. "Come on, then. Out with it! What's the big idea, settin' foot on my island!?" He demanded.

"He seems to think that we're his enemies." Blaze said.

"And just where the heck did you lot come from, anyway?" The koala asked.

Marine walked up to the koala, as if she remembered him.

"Oy, this bloke's a riot. I say we add him to our crew!" Marine said. The koala seemed to recognize her.

"Ahhhh! You!"

"Whaaa! Who…who are you?"

A few minutes later, everyone had come to an understanding.

"My name's Daikun. Pleased to meet ya." Daikun introduced himself. "Sorry about earlier, you lot. I didn't realize you were all cobbers with Marine."

He then turned to Marine. "You didn't recognize me at all, did ya, Marine? Forgot all about ol' Daikun, I bet."

"No worries, though, yeah?" Marine said. "I was only an ankle biter back then, after all."

"So, what was that you were saying before?" Blaze asked.

"Hm? Oh yes. There's an island to the east of here." Daikun told them. "Every so often, I'd hear some real weirdo sound comin' from way off in the distance. It was all a bit too noisy, so I went to see just where the heck it was comin' from."

"And it was to the east?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah. I just came back from the same place, and I saw you guys, and I thought you were intruders. That's why I kind of attacked." Daikun explained. "By the way, I found something interesting while I was there."

Daikun then pulled out a gray gem. Sonic recognized it immediately.

"That's a Chaos Emerald!" Sonic exclaimed.

"A what?" Daikun asked.

"A Chaos Emerald. It's one of seven. When used together, they can do who knows what." Tails explained.

"Well, if you need it, then here you go. I have no use for it anyway." Daikun said as he handed it over. "Anyway, as I was saying, that island seems like the ground is shakin' or something like that."

"The ground is shaking, huh?" Sonic asked.

"But there are no volcanoes in this region. That sort of thing shouldn't be happening." Blaze said.

"Which means that something fishy must be happening on that island." Silver said.

"You're right." Tails said. "Let's head east and check that island out."

"All right, let's set sail!" Marine said. "Thanks for the help there, Daikun."

"Aw, don't mention it." Daikun replied.

Sonic, Tails, Blaze, and Silver headed back to the boat, but Marine stopped to tell Daikun something.

"You should come back to the village sometime, mate. It'll be great." Marine said.

"I might." Daikun replied.

They continued to the east, where Daikun said the earthquakes were supposed to be happening. It wasn't far from Daikun's island where they landed. The island had a large hole in the center of it, yet sunlight was entering it.

"Wow, talk about a weird island." Tails commented. "It's like the entire island is hollow, with that huge hole and everything."

"Caves so deep, where you can still see the sun…it's amazing and scary all at once." Blaze said.

"Aw, quit yer fussin'!" Marine said. "I think the sunlight makes it a fair bit safer, if you ask me."

"She does have a point." Silver said.

"Well, that may be so, but these holes just can't be natural." Tails said.

Just then, Marine noticed something. "Hey mates, take a gander at that!"

"Wh-whoa, what the…?" Tails wondered. "It looks like some sort of statue."

"This could be some huge treasure!" Marine said, in her usual excited tone. "Think we oughta nick it, mates?"

"No, Marine, just leave it alone, okay?" Tails requested. But Marine, of course, wouldn't listen.

"Aw, but this 'ere could be the discovery of the century, don't you reckon?" Marine asked.

"These ruins are valuable historic relics. Stealing from them is a criminal act." Blaze said.

"Aw, how come I'm getting the rough end of the pineapple from you?" Marine asked. "I'm not gonna get my paws all over it TOO much."

"Marine, stop!" Blaze said. "I said don't touch it! What if you break it?"

"Come on, Blaze." Marine said. "No worries, really."

"MARINE, STOP!" Silver yelled, but it was too late. Marine tried to pick it up, and it moved. There was a low rumble. Everyone waited for something to happen, but nothing did. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, that does it! Marine, be more careful next time!" Silver said. He wasn't too happy with Marine.

"I'll say. Every one of us could be endangered by your thoughtless actions." Blaze added.

"You understand, Marine?" Sonic asked. "We just don't want anyone to get…"

Just then, a noise came from out of nowhere.

"Did you hear something?" Sonic asked.

Then a rumble occurred, like an earthquake. Soon, the heroes felt themselves rising into the air.

"Whoooooa!" Tails yelled.

"What's happening!?" Marine yelled.

Soon, everyone had landed on the ground. But they weren't on the island anymore.

"Owowowowowow…What the hell was that?" Sonic asked.

"Is everyone all right?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, I…" Blaze began, but stopped when she looked over the edge of the cliff. "Sonic, look down there!"

Sonic and the others, who had recovered by this time, looked down with Blaze, and saw that there were clouds below them.

"Strange as it sounds, it looks like we got blasted off of that island and ended up here." Tails concluded.

"It…sure looks that way." Blaze said, nervous for some reason. "Guess that, ah…it must've, y'know, been set so that…"

Silver looked at Blaze, concerned. Blaze had never been nervous like that before. Blaze then turned to them.

"Hey, g-guys? Why…why don't we just back away from the edge, here…yeah?" Blaze asked.

"Blaze, is something wrong?" Marine asked.

"No, no, come on." Blaze declined. "We just need to back away, and everything will be fine."

Blaze started moving everyone away from the edge. Once they were out of range of the edge, Blaze calmed down. Silver was concerned, however.

"Blaze, why did you get so nervous all of a sudden?" Silver asked.

"No reason." Blaze replied, a little too quickly.

"Blaze, are you afraid of heights?" Silver asked. Blaze immediately blushed.

"What? No, I'm…" Blaze tried to say, but she knew he had figured it out. "…okay, I guess I am."

"Blaze, it's okay." Silver said, giving her a hug. "Everyone's afraid of something."

"I hate water." Sonic said. "Marine's afraid of ghosts…"

"HEY! I am not!" Marine declined. "I just got startled a bit, that's all."

"I don't know what Tails is afraid of." Silver said. "And I'm afraid of losing you."

"Aw, Silver." Blaze said as she gave him a quick kiss. Then she put on a straight face. "Okay, so where are we? We know that we got launched someplace high up, but…"

"Aw, now she's flipped back to her normal self…" Marine said. Blaze quickly blushed. Having reacted that way in front of her friends wasn't something she liked.

"Right." Sonic said, changing the subject and calming Blaze down a little. "I mean, if we're on the other side of the clouds, we're pretty darn high up."

"Also, the buildings here look really old. I'd almost guess that they're ancient." Tails commented.

"Well, there are tales of a continent in the sky…" Blaze mentioned. "Supposedly, it's the last remnant of an ancient civilization. Which means that…"

Just then, they heard a familiar "D'arr har har har!"

"C…Captain Whisker!" Blaze said.

"Oy, it's that bloke with the face fuzz again." Marine said.

"You!" Silver said. "You were the one who froze me in the Blizzard Peaks!"

"I never thought I'd be seein' yer faces here, landlubbers!" Whisker said. "Ain't the place for visitors. I'm impressed at yer bein' able to make it up to this place."

"So, these ruins here are really…" Blaze began.

"D'arr har har! You be knowin' the story then, I take it?" Whisker asked. "The ruins of…arr…The, arr…ruins of…"

"Sky Babylon, captain!" Mini finished.

"D'arr, yes!" Whisker said as he remembered. "Welcome to Sky Babylon, ye scallywags!"

"Sky Babylon!" Blaze exclaimed. "So it really does exist, just like the legends said!"

"You know, that's actually pretty cool." Silver said.

"Right, then! C'mon, mates!" Marine said. "Let's get ourselves on a walkabout 'ere, yeah?"

"Marine, we didn't come here for sightseeing." Blaze told her.

"Alright, alright." Marine said. "You know, you could talk the leg off an iron pot, you know!"

"Say what?" Blaze asked. "You want to go at it!?"

"Bring it on!" Marine challenged.

Before they could start fighting, a trail of fire came between them. It originated from Whisker, who wasn't about to let them ignore him.

"Arrr, mateys! Pay attention back up here!" Whisker demanded. "I'll not be ignored by the likes of you yet again!"

"Don't worry about that." Silver said. "I'll make sure you're busy."

"D'arr, then let me show ye just how much attention I warrant, ye rascals!" Whisker said. "Ghost Condor, get them!"

Just then, a large green flying robot appeared. It had green-and-yellow "teeth", a long green tail, a red diamond on its head, and two platforms surrounding it.

"I'll take this thing on." Silver said.

"Alone?" Blaze asked.

"It's in my best interest to get him back for freezing me." Silver said. "I can handle it."

"Good luck, Silver." Blaze said as Silver walked up to it.

Sky Babylon: Ghost Condor

The battle started with the Ghost Condor firing some red mines out from its tail cannon. They headed right towards Silver, and these were homing mines, so they had locked onto him. Silver quickly dodged to the left and right to avoid them, but he waited until the last second to do so, because these mines would lose their lock-on if they missed their target. The robot then fired some green mines. Silver jumped from one to the other to reach the platforms surrounding the robot. He thought he was safe on those platforms, but the Ghost Condor fired two missiles from its tail cannon which homed in on the psychic hedgehog. He knew he had to do something, and he knew he couldn't dodge them.

Then he remembered. He had psychic powers. He jumped, grabbed the missiles with his psychokinetic powers, and launched them at the red diamond on its head. One of the missiles missed the target, but the other hit dead on.

"I guess the red diamond is its weak spot." Silver said to himself. "But just using its own missiles against it isn't going to work."

He then saw the Ghost Condor drop to his level and start spinning. It was going to charge at him. He waited for the right moment, and moved left as it started charging. Once it was close, he quickly shifted to the right, which allowed him to dodge the attack. The Ghost Condor then returned to its original position, then sent down one of the platforms. The platform went to Silver's left side and started moving towards him. Spikes came out of the side, ready to impale him. He quickly ducked, and the platform passed over him.

Meanwhile, the other platform had appeared above him, and spikes came out of the bottom, ready to drive him into the ground…permanently. Silver saw it above him, quickly got up, and moved to the side. However, the platform stayed with him. As it started spinning and coming down, Silver stepped back, allowed it to drop, picked it up with his psychic powers, and aimed it at the red diamond.

"I think this belongs to you!" Silver said as he threw the platform back. The platform slammed into the diamond, and caused the Ghost Condor to start shaking violently. He then covered himself in psychic energy and started spinning towards it.

"PSYCHIC SCREW!" Silver shouted.

Silver charged at the Ghost Condor, altering direction enough to keep on track with the diamond. It was hard, but he was able to succeed. He busted through the diamond, then through the Condor itself, emerging on the other side.

Ghost Condor: Destroyed!

The Ghost Condor exploded into large amounts of gold crystals, as well as a gray square-cut emerald. Silver went over and picked it up.

"This is the gray Sol Emerald!" Silver exclaimed. He tossed it to Blaze while Sonic, Tails, and Marine gathered up the gold crystals. Then they all turned to Whisker, who couldn't believe that his robot had been destroyed.

"Arr, this wind be rufflin' up me whiskers something fierce!" Whisker said. "Let's get back, now, mateys."

"Aye-aye, sir!" Mini and Mum replied as the three of them took off. They started chasing him, but he had already disappeared.

"Don't tell me he ran away again." Sonic said.

"Those guys just will not sit still." Blaze said.

"Well, if you were a bad guy, would you sit still and get beaten?" Marine asked.

"She has a point, you know." Silver stated.

Just then, Tails noticed something over to the side. It was a large purple stone slab with some ancient writing on it. "Hey guys, check this out."

Sonic, Marine, Blaze, and Silver walked over to where Tails had noticed the slab.

"Hm? What's this? Some kind of monument?" Sonic asked.

"Something's written on it." Tails said. "I can't read whatever language it's in, though."

"Orright, then, chums, step aside and let Captain Marine take a butcher's at this 'ere." Marine said as she looked at it.

"Marine, you can read this?" Tails asked. Unfortunately, she couldn't.

"Hmm…Uh-huh…?" Marine thought to herself. "Crikey, this don't make a lick of sense! I'm really up the gumtree now!"

Blaze was tired of everyone not being able to understand it, so she finally stepped up. "Out of the way! Let me see this."

"Oy, howzat?" Marine asked. "Don't be such a stickybeak, Blaze!"

"This is some pretty ancient writing, all right." Blaze said, ignoring Marine's comment. "Let's see what it says…"

She studied it for a moment, taking in every word she read, until she finally realized it.

"I know why the pirates came here!" Blaze said, catching everyone's attention. "They wanted to destroy this place!"

"What do you mean?" Silver asked.

"This writing talks about ancient ruins." Blaze told them.

"You mean the ruins that the pirates are supposedly using as their hideout?" Tails asked.

"That's got to be it!" Sonic said. "Blaze, what does the writing say?"

"It says, "To reach our homeland, head north along the shallows, and you shall find it there." Blaze told them.

"North, eh?" Marine asked, pointing south. "That's that way!"

"Um, Marine, north is THIS way." Tails said, pointing north.

"Yes, well…" Blaze began, but she couldn't find out the right words.

"What's wrong?" Silver asked. "You still look worried about something, Blaze."

"The problem is how we'll get in." Blaze said. "It seems that the entryway is on the sea floor."

"An underwater entrance?" Sonic asked.

"Hey, that's what it says. I wasn't the one who wrote this." Blaze snapped.

"Jeez, sorry." Sonic said.

"Underwater?" Marine asked. "How the heck are we supposed to get down there?"

As usual, Tails had the answer. "That's no problem. I'll just build us a submarine."

"Are you serious?" Sonic asked.

"Sure!" Tails replied, holding up a few Aqua Materials and some Gold Materials. "With the Material from Blizzard Peaks, and this Gold Material we got just now, it'll be a cinch."

"You're the best, Tails." Blaze said. "Those pirates will never know what hit them."

"Right, now what's all this yabber about a summerine?" Marine thought to herself, though she didn't show any signs of misunderstanding.

"First, let's head back to the island." Silver said.

With that, they took the emeralds and Materials and returned to the island.

End of Chapter 9.

Five of both emeralds, and more Materials, have been collected. And the heroes are getting ready to begin their "quest" for the pirates' base. Will they succeed? Keep reading the story to find out.

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