Chapter 6: Nile Adventure

As Sonic lead the Great Hurricane to the next destination, the newcomers were at the rec room. Naruto was having fun hanging out with a group of cute girls as he played a few games. His favorite had been the motorbike racing game. Right now, he was playing another lap with Gin, both neck to neck on their bikes as the girls cheered on.

Well…almost all the girls. Raye was staring at Naruto with a neutral gaze. As a priestess, she was relatively weaker than Kagome and Filia but could outmatch them when it came to reading auras. She could feel a powerful demonic aura coming from him, but what set him off from the other demons housed with them, was that it felt like the demonic aura was being hidden inside of his human one. Something about him made her feel strange, but she knew it wasn't right to discriminate him because he had a demonic aura. Especially since some her allies and friends were demons themselves.

Speaking of which, what's Laharl and the others up too?

Shamar....

"Here ya go, kid. One fine glass of orange soda." The waitress said as she gave Laharl his orange soda. "Thanks." Laharl nodded as he drank his orange soda and stared at the ceiling. It's been two nights since he and his crew arrived back in Sonic's world.

'Huh. I wonder what the hedgehog is doing?' He thought to himself. Suddenly, he heard a crash.

'So much for my orange soda…' Laharl sighed as he saw his friend and rival, Mao grabbing a waiter by the collar.

"I said I wanted meat!! Can't you idiots get it right?!" Mao yelled into the waiter's face.

"Mao! Please calm down!" Raspberyl, Mao's childhood friend (hint hint) girlfriend pleaded.

"Oh, good grief…" Overload Priere, another ally of Laharl sighed and sweatdropped.

To put it short, after arriving back in Sonic's world, they were hungry, so after exploring the town, they went to an inn but unfortunately, their currency didn't work here, so thanks to Etna, they were working for two days and managed to get some cash.

"Ok, take it easy, Mao!" Adell winced.

"Yeah, knock it off you dummy!" Etna scolded. Mao glared at Laharl.

"Hey Laharl! Where's the legendary guy who defeated Nazo the Ultimate Evil?! What's his name? Sonic the Porcupine?" Mao demanded.

"Sonic the Hedgehog…" Laharl face palmed.

"After hearing that Tails was missing, I was shocked! I hope he is alright." Flonne said worriedly.

"Ah don't worry, the fox is ok. He's a tough kid." Rozalin assured her.

Suddenly, they heard very loud snoring. "What on earth? Where is that snoring coming from?" A waiter asked.

"We'll go check it out." Laharl volunteered.

The Demon Overload and his motley crew went upstairs to find the source of the snoring. It was coming from Room 125. Carefully, Etna used the cardkey the innkeeper gave her and opened the door, they peeked through the door, Laharl and his crew except for Mao, Raspberyl and Priere recognized a familiar face. It was NiGHTS! And apparently she was sleeping with a snot bubble forming on her face.

"Wow, for a Dream Jester, she really likes to sleep a lot." Rozalin blinked.

"You know this weirdo?" Mao asked.

"That's NiGHTS. She's an ally we met while dealing with an evil genie named Erazor Djinn." Adell explained. "She's a Nightmarean, a demon that can create nightmares. She's a rebel though."

Suddenly, the bubble on NiGHTS' face popped and she woke up with a start. She noticed Laharl and co. before yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, hey. You back here again?" NiGHTS said, still sleepy.

"Yep." Flonne nodded.

"Well, welcome back." NiGHTS smiled as she hopped of the bed and hovered inches from the floor. "And who are you three? I don't believe we've met."

"I'm Priere. And that's Mao and Raspberyl."

"Hello there. I'm called NiGHTS." she smiled as she bowed.

"So anyway, what's this about an evil genie, Laharl?" Mao asked. "You never mentioned anything about that."

"Sometime after Nazo was defeated, Sonic found himself in a dimension of Arabian Legends." Etna said. "He had to defeated an evil genie that threatened to weasel his way to out worlds. After the first time, Erazor managed to break into this world and tried to get to all our worlds again. But the only way he could do that is if he killed us. So, we raced against him, finding the artifacts that we need, and then we found out that genies were space aliens from the planet Babylon."

"What?" Raspberyl's eyes widen. "But genies can't be aliens! That isn't possible!"

"That's what we said." Rozalin continued. "But it was true. So, in the conclusion, we chased Erazor to a spaceship called Babylon Garden and fought him to the finish. A killer black hole was made but he managed to get his senses back to save us by giving his life."

"Whoa, this needs research." Mao blinked.

Suddenly, the heard a ruckus down stairs, the group went down and found a gang of thugs tearing up the place. One thug had a waiter by the collar.

"I won't ask again! Where is it?!" the thug demanded.

"I'm telling you, I don't know!"

"Leave em. We know where to look anyway." another thug told him. Growling, the thug dropped the waiter and the left without another word.

"What the hell is that all about?" Laharl asked as they came down.

The manager came out of his office. "They were after the map to Anubis' Bracelet. The tomb isn't far from here, so I have a bad feeling that the thugs may find it." He gave Laharl a map. "This is what they were looking for. You need to go through the Valley of the Kings to get to the tomb quickly."

"Alright, thanks." Adell nodded.

Priere gulped as she scratched the back of her head. "Going into an Egyptian tomb... Fun. Sounds like... a whole lotta fun."

The group snuck out of the inn through a back door and went into the Valley of the Kings. Thanks to the map, they didn't have to go very far. It was a short time that they took when they reached the tomb.

"This must be it." Laharl said as he looked up from the map.

"Then what are we doing staying around here for?" NiGHTS asked.

Everyone walked closer to the tomb, everyone but Priere who lingered back. "What are you doing?" Flonne asked.

"Ummm..." Priere gulped as she gave a nervous laugh. "Uh, why don't you guys go on in? You don't need me for this one, do ya? Hahaha..."

"What is it?" Laharl asked impatiently.

"That tomb's full of mummies... and I, uh, think I'm allergic to dead guy brains."

"The Ancient Egyptians removed the brains from the mummies and threw them away," Raspberyl pointed out.

"You, a Demon Overlord, are afraid of mummies?" Flonne asked.

There was an awkward silence. "...I'm still not going in," Priere retorted.

"Oh, come on." Mao frowned as he grabbed Priere's arm and started dragging her towards the entrance.

"Agh! No, I'm serious! I really, really hate ghosts and mummies and zombies and any creepy, crawly undead things!"

"You'll have to get used to it." Rozalin said as they followed.

The party walked through the tomb before the came across a dead end. "Huh? This can't be right." Etna blinked.

"Maybe we went to the wrong tomb." Laharl frowned. "Damn!"

"Oh, well," Priere said as she chuckled oddly. "I guess that means we can turn around and leave, huh?"

"Wait a minute..." Rozalin said as she looked at the wall closely. "There's something printed here..."

"What do you mean?" Adell asked.

"Look," she said she rubbed some sand off of the wall. Several strange pictures appeared on the stone surface.

"Those are hieroglyphs!" Flonne gasped.

"My Egyptian is a bit rusty, but I think I can give it a shot." NiGHTS said as she went up. "...'Lean on me when you're not strong, and I'll be your friend and help you carry on.'"

"The hell?!" Mao growled. "Those are song lyrics!"

"Yes, that doesn't make any sense!" Rozlain muttered as she put her back to the wall and folded her arms. Suddenly, the wall behind her rumbled backwards until a doorway appeared.

"...Huh?" Etna wondered.

"Of course!" Raspberyl pointed to where Rozalin was leaning on. It was a hieroglyph depicting Anubis, the Egyptian lord of the dead. "That must have been what the hieroglyphs ment!"

"Look's like we can go further," Laharl grinned.

"Great..." Priere grumbled as the continued.

Just as the party started in towards the entrance, an armed thug leaped around the corner. "Hey, what are you kids doing here?" he snarled, training his arm gun on the group.

"GYAAAAHHHH!" Priere screamed, instinctively whirling around and roundhouse kicked the thug though a wall. Judging from the force, he wouldn't be getting up for a while.

"I think we should worry more about the live dangers," Adell said as he looked at the hole in the wall. "They must know Anubis' Bracelet is here too."

"I hope we took him out before he called for reinforcements," Raspberyl said. "No one's noticed us yet. Let's keep it that way!"

The party moved into a long maze of hieroglyph-decorated hallways. "Why'd they have to build this place like a labyrinth?" Etna grumbled as they moved. "It makes getting around practically impossible."

"That's the point," Rozlain answered. "The Egyptians didn't want anyone getting in and swiping the treasure."

"Well, it doesn't exactly work, does it?" Laharl answered. "The bandits got in, didn't they?"

"Speaking of them..." NiGHTS narrowed her eyes, suddenly stopping and motioning for silence. The sound of approaching footsteps echoed from around the next corner.

"What do we do now?" Flonne whispered.

"We should sneak up on the guard and pump him for info," Mao said.

"Num skull. They're headed right for us!" Laharl hissed.

Rozlain noticed some sarcophagus' embedded on the wall. "I have an idea, but it won't be pretty..."

Moments later, the two thugs came around the corner and looked around. "I could've sworn I heard some voices here," the first thug said.

"One of them 8 Wonders just had to be from Egypt," the second one huffed. "At least we're getting paid for this."

As soon as the guards turned away, the wall coffins flew open in a blast and the party leaped out. Laharl clubbed the second guard out cold and slammed the first one into the wall.

"What do you know? It worked!" Rozlain smiled.

"A little disturbing, but effective," Etna grumbled as she made a face and shut the sarcophagus. "Where's Priere?"

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" Priere screamed as she catapulted out of the last sarcophagus and charged frantically around the hallway with a rotting mummy clinging to her back. "GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!"

"Look's like you went to far back, didn't you?" Adell said, running up and pulling the piggybacking carcass off of her. She fell flat on her butt as she wheezed on the floor.

"Alright," Laharl said as he held a strong grip on the thug. "Where's Anubis' Bracelet?"

"Down in the lower levels!" he choked. "It's something you'll never miss! Heh... but you'll never make it out with it! Even if you do, my pals are still around here!"

"Thanks," Laharl said before bopping him unconscious with the end of his sword. "We'd better go."

Priere was still sitting on the ground with wide eyes and rapid breathing. "That mummy really gave you a scare, huh?" Rozlain asked as she walked up.

"Uh-huh... But I think I'm better now."

"Here, let me give you a hand."

"Thanks," Priere nodded as she reached up and grabbed a withered-feeling hand. With one tug, the hand crumbled into dust, and she screamed in horror again.

Rozalin's fangs glinted in a slick smile as she kicked the corpse aside. "Hand, get it? Sorry, couldn't resist," she chuckled devilishly as she walked after the others.

"Ooh, you are SO gonna get it when we get out of here..." she fumed as she got up and followed.

The party raced down the hall until they came to a long, wide, empty room. "Hmm... What could be here?" NiGHTS wondered.

"An empty chamber?" Raspberyl blinked.

"Hey," Laharl said as he looked at the left wall and saw a scroll of paper wedged in a hole. He gently pulled the papyrus out and looked it over. "This looks like another map."

"What for?" Mao asked.

"It' must be for this room." Laharl said as he walked forward. "Why for just this room, I wonder?"

"Why only for this room?" Rozlain asked Adell.

"It must be there to look for-"

Suddenly, a row of sharp spears thrust out of the floor right behind Laharl and plunged into the ceiling.

"...Booby traps."

"Laharl!" Flonne cried.

"Let's see..." Laharl began as he continued walking. He turned the map sideways and veered left just as a giant ball of fire seared the ground on his right. "Or is it this way?" he said as he rotated the map and took a step forward just as the floor and ceiling blocks smashed together. "That's not it..." he frowned as he flipped the papyrus over and missed falling into an opening pit of cobras. The only thing that got him was a pole; he tripped on it and fell on his face. "Damn it!" he groaned as he got up. "I don't know why those idiots have a map here." He looked up and found everyone with eyes and mouths wide.

"What?"

The party continued through the maze and finally found themselves at a door. After imputing the password from the map, the door opened and the found a black and gold bracelet on a pedestal.

"This must be it." Etna said as the walked closer.

"We got what we came for," Mao said as he grabbed the bracelet from the pedestal, "So let's go!"

Suddenly, the tomb began to rumble. Then something seemed to sank through the ceiling above them. It fell to the ground with a crash and was reveled to be a golem with floating hands and feet that didn't connect to its body. It had the head of a sphinx.

"This must be a guardian," Adell frowned.

"Look's like he doesn't want us to leave," NiGHTS added.

"Finally, a little combat to get my mind off the mummies," Priere grinned as she cracked her knuckles.

PHARAOH GOLEM (Theme: Masters of the Desert from Sonic Adventure 2)

The Pharaoh Golem fired laser beams at the party. "Demon Barrage!" Mao yelled as he ran full speed at the Pharaoh Golem and punched it 8 times. The Pharaoh Golem swiped him away. "Dream Rocket!" NIGHTS transformed into a rocket and rammed into it, causing more damage. Priere jumped up and gave the Pharaoh Golem a good kick in the head. The guardian tried to get the party with punches and kicks, but they dodged most of them. Then it summoned a line of sarcophaguses and made them dash at them, but they mnaged to crush them to dust. "Rose Petals!" Rozlain fired her guns at the Golem, causing more damage. "Love Barrage!" Raspberyl transformed into a huge hammer and Mao grabbed it and whacked the Golem really hard, Etna threw her spear at the Pharaoh Golem , causing more damage. The Pharaoh Golem brought out two patches of earth from the ground and threw them. Priere managed to kick them away. The Laharl and Adell got out their swords and got ready. "X Strike!" They both yelled as they turn into blurs and slashed the Pharaoh Golem 5 times. "Heaven's Arrow!" Flonne yelled as she fired a arrow of light at the Golem's head, it started to crack so are its body parts, then it broke.

"Heh, that wasn't so hard," Mao smirked as the walked out of the arena.

"Huh, never thought that you kids could get past the golem," a voice sneered. All of the thugs came out of the corners and surrouned them.

"Alright, who do you work for?" NiGHTS demanded.

"None of your beeswax!" the lead thug snapped. "Now hand over that bracelet!"

"Come and get it!" Mao shouted as he slipped it on. Suddenly, it flashed in gold light and mummies came crawling out from the floor and walls.

"Oh carp!" Priere swore.

"This must be the bracelet's power..." Mao spoke as he observed it. Then he looked at the thugs with a grin. "Give them a spanking!" he ordered. The mummies charged.... and did just that.

"Hey! This is so wrong!" the first thug yelled.

"Damn you brats!" the another one shouted.

"Ha ha! I can get used to this!" Mao laughed.

Suddenly, the tomb began to shake. "Ah! The tomb is giving way!" Flonne gasped.

"Forget the bracelet! Let's get out of here!" the lead thug yelled as he ripped away from the mummy. The other thugs followed suit.

Laharl and the other went down another path and found some hovercrafts at a river. "This must be how the thugs got in!" Raspberyl observed.

"Whatever, let's get on it!" Laharl shouted.

The party jumped into the boat and speed through the river, evading the falling rocks that crashed into the water, making it harder. Going through some strange sections, they continued their way through until they saw daylight.

(With Sonic and the crew)

It was dawn. Sonic, Zoey and the Koi Koi 7 and Tetsuro got out of the Great Hurricane after it landed near a pyramid. Suddenly, they saw a blast of dust followed by Laharl and crew on a hovercraft jet out of the pyramid's entrance through the Nile River.

"Whoa! What happened?" Zoey asked.

"We just got away from a tomb hazard," Etna explained.

"And look at what we found," Mao said as he took of the bracelet and held it up.

"That's Anubis' Bracelet!" Sonic gasped. "Trista said that it give's the user the power to control the dead!"

"We should get out of here, Rozalin said as she stepped out of the hovercraft. "We'll explain everything..."

TBC

Next Time: Thunder Park