Rescue Manuscripts and Temples Part 2
Professor Pickle, Jade, Sonic, Sasami, Spyro and Sparx were just waking up from their slumber. It was daytime on the African plain when they had fully awoken from their slumber. Last night the group had ventured through some very unforgiving territory surviving a pack of enemies to save Professor Pickle while everyone else was fighting off an invasion at Section 13.
"Man talk about quite a night." Sonic simply stated not being bothered by last night's rescue mission.
"Well I could do without the monsters, the kidnappings and us having to fight something that massive." Sparx grumbled.
"Jeeze Sparx. Is there anything that you don't complain about?" Spyro replied to his adoptive brother.
"Now now let us not bicker. The good news is that we're safe from Eggman's forces for now." Professor Pickle noted
"The Professor is right." Sasami echoed "We can just enjoy a nice stroll back and study the Gaia Manuscripts later but for now let us return to the village."
Meanwhile in village, the inhabitants were surrounded by a platoon of robots. They were also accompanied by a pair of brown crab shelled elephants, and about 3 to 5 hairy grizzly bearlike creatures with fangs and teeth of boars. A whole squad of ape soldier of varying sizes that resembled the ones Spyro fought in the swamp of his foster home was also there. Sitting in the Egg mobile were none other than Dr. Eggman and Dr Neo Cortex themselves but they were not alone, Drago was also with them in his Sky Demon Chi form which simply consisted of him growing giant bat like wings that resembled his uncle Hsi Wu's wings only they were green around the edges to match his skin.
"Who are you people?" one villager asked pointing to the trio floating into the air. Eggman started to laugh in his usual manner clearly not intimidated, Cortex was also joining in the laughing with his own laugh while Drago just floated there flapping his wings every once in a while to keep himself in the air.
"Fear not good villagers!" Eggman spoke not trying to sound intimidating. "If you all behave we won't have to do anything nasty."
"My associate means to say is that all you have to do is tell us where the Temple of Gaia is." Cortex replied to the frightened villagers.
"Forget it!!" a female villager said
"We're not telling you anything!!" a young boy yelled and he threw a couple of stones at Eggman, Cortex, and Drago beaning them on their heads in that order while Ergo the Robot laughed in a mechanical voice. Drago instantly threw a fireball at the boy in retaliation for the assault scaring him in the process.
"That will be the last time you ever do that!" the son of Shendu yelled to the frightened crowd. "Now tell us what we want to know or I'll burn this village to the ground!" Just as the forces of darkness were about to attack a blue blur bounced off the robots knocking them out of commission followed by an orange blur that took out the Shellephants and reduced them to blue orbs while the apes were hit with a blast of flame that turned them into sprit gems of varying colors.
"Jade!" Cortex yelled in a mix of shock and fear.
"Sonic!" Eggman yelled in surprise as well.
"Oy! The pep squad." Drago growled in annoyance as the heroes made themselves visible to the villagers. Jade had taken on a new form by turning herself into a bandicoot that resembled Crash's sister only she was wearing her usual outfit, sporting the same black tattoos that Crash had on his arms and spoke human tongue. The rest of the team along with professor pickle had made it in once piece with Sasami helping the professor catch his breath
"Yo Cortex," Jade in her bandicoot form spoke calmly "Thanks for that little skydiving adventure the other day."
"It figures that Cortex couldn't finish you off you little pest!!" Drago responded in a more annoyed tone than before.
"What the hell are you doing out here anyway?" Spyro demanded as he glared at the green skinned lizard prepared to throw a fireball at him.
"I don't have to explain to a whelp like you." Drago responded "We're busy so farewell twerps." On cue he took off into the sky with Eggman and Cortex following him in the Egg mobile.
"Hey wait!" Sparx yelled "That's playing dirty! Come back here you cowards!"
"Just ignore them!" Spyro replied.
"Is everyone here alright?" Sonic asked the villagers as they thanked the heroic group for saving their lives.
"Hey what's with the racket? Is Cortex causing trouble again?" Yelled a new voice and there standing were 2 more bandicoots. One was a male bandicoot. He was very tall and very muscular with dark brown fur and wearing combat pants and boots. He had a tan stomach and a metallic right arm. The other was a female bandicoot with long black hair in a pony tail that looked very much like Jade did only she was wearing a white t-shirt, tight blue jeans, pink shoes, and a blue head scarf.
"Children lift with your legs not with your backs." The muscular bandicoot said importantly.
"Okay and who are you?" Sparx said only to be passed by Professor Pickle.
"Crunch, Coco." Pickle said with joy. "It certainly has been ages since we last met. Tell me what brings you over to Mazuri and how have things been for you?"
"Well Professor." The bandicoot known as Coco began. "Crunch, Crash, Aku-Aku and I were just chilling out after training Jade in the ways of mojo magic over here when suddenly we felt the tremors hit. Then last night some strange creatures began attacking our home. My big brother Crash drove most of them away but the sunlight defeated the rest of them. Then he and Aku-Aku suddenly vanished in a cloud of Green smoke but not before telling us that they were heading to Section 13. After that, we came here to see if we could gather more data on the situation and in the process we stumbled across this."
And sure enough in Coco's hands was half of what looked like to be a golden key. (Author's Note the keys here are going to look exactly like the ones from the 360 version of Sonic Unleashed which again I do not own.)
"Let me see that fragment. I believe that it may tell us something important." Said the professor and the bandicoot handed him the key and after a careful inspection he finally found an answer.
"Jade, this here is half of one of the Gaia keys." Professor Pickle explained to her as he gave it to her while the rest of the heroes listened with intent. "This key will take you to the path that will take you to the Gaia temple that is located in this piece of the planet."
"If Professor speaks truth, then other piece must be located somewhere in the savannah!" Shouted a voice that Jade instantly recognized. There in the sky was Uncle flying on board Ignitus as the duo made a soft landing with in the village square.
"Uncle, Ignitus!" Jade shouted with joy as the chi wizard hopped off the dragon elder.
"Yes Jade it is us and we're here to take Professor Pickle to Section 13." Ignitus explained.
"Jade, Normally Uncle does not trust you with chi spells but in this case you'll have to remove the demon chi powers from Drago should you run to him." Uncle responded handing a notepad with removal spells, blowfish, and Chi-O-Matic to Jade. "Tohru would be here to cast the spells himself but Elder Dragon over here was too lazy to carry Uncle's apprentice."
"Excuse me Chi Wizard." Ignitus huffed offended "But I'm as old as you are and may I remind you that even if I had my powers fully restored that it would be harder to carry someone of Tohru's size. Even Terrador would have a difficult time with that task considering he's the Earth Guardian and that he's stronger than most of us in battle I might add."
"Guys let's not start a fight." Spyro stepped in acting as mediator "we've got a temple to get to."
"Purple dragon is right." Uncle conceded "Every second we waste makes removing demon chi from gecko teen harder the longer he has it."
"Then what are we waiting for." Sasami shouted and was about to head off when she heard Uncle speak.
"One more thing," Uncle yelled. "Jade must return to human form since bandicoot form is not suitable for challenges in the savannah."
"Change me back." Jade yelled and with that she returned to human form.
"One More thing," Uncle yelled again "Uncle feels strange energy from aqua haired teen that may be connected to temple. She must go as well."
"Yes sir." Sasami saluted like she was in the girl scouts.
"One more thing," Uncle screeched for the third time Sparx was really getting annoyed from the one more things "Captain Black has requested that Professor Pickle and Gaia Manuscripts are to be taken to Section 13 at once."
"Then I will head there without more ado as soon as I get a ride to the next plane to the continent." Pickle said
"One more thing," This came from Ignitus, "That won't be necessary because I will be taking Uncle and yourself to Section 13."
"Well then let's carry on with the trip." Pickle said and with that Ignitus flew off with his passengers.
"Well that was interesting." Sparx responded. Spyro just sighed wondering about half the stuff that came out of the mouth of the little insect.
"You heard the chi wizard let's get moving." The purple dragon replied to his adoptive brother.
"Well where do we even start looking for the temple oh wise one?" Sparx replied in a sarcastic tone only to end up staring straight at another teleport pad. This one was next to the last one with and almost identical only the hologram was that of a yellow-orange sun with the number one on it.
"Well there's our ride." Spyro noted and with that the entire group consisting of Sasami, Spyro, Sparx, Jade and Sonic stood on the teleport pad and was transported to another part of the citadel they explored last night.
"Well this is new." Sparx said once the teleport sequence ended. The team had landed on a grassy plain about 3 miles away from the citadel.
"Well only one thing to do now." Sonic said and everyone knowing what he was about to say got ready to run as soon as he said those faithful words found in a race.
(Sonic Unleashed OST Savannah Citadel – Day Begins to play)
"Here…. We…. GO!!!!" Sonic yelled and with that everyone started running or flying in the case of Spyro and Sparx at their top speeds which were stunning considering that even without super speed the heroes were racing at breakneck speed through the citadel.
"Hey this is fun." Sasami giggled as she was having a wonderful time only to notice a whole pack of robots standing in their way.
"You think this something, watch this" Sonic responded as he ran faster than ever boosting into the robots shattering them creating a path for everyone else to follow.
"Nice skills but let me show ya how it's done." Jade replied as another set of robots appeared. Jade's tattoos changed shape into the forms of a rabbit and an ox head as she smashed through not only the robots but also another door in the path of the team.
"I have to say." Spyro yelled as he was flying over head "that was radical!"
The team came up to more robots and more obstacles but they overcame them with their speed and their agility. Jade and Sonic often saw rings and ran straight through them collecting them while giving them more energy in the process. Eventually Sparx noticed something up ahead in the distance of a few high tree tops.
"Is that the Goal Ring?" Sparx yelled nearly out of breath as his wings weren't made for flying at breakneck speeds. Everyone else looked while they were still running and indeed it was the goal ring. The only problem was just getting to the ring itself.
"Guys I see a path we can take to reach it." Sasami noted to the rest of the team and with that everyone followed the aqua haired girl along the rails and the wooden planks until they could see another teleport pad where the ring was. The group was beside themselves once they all stepped on to the pad and took a while to catch their breath.
"Woo. That was awesome." Sasami cheered in her usual excited self.
"Well at least I'm not the only one who found that interesting." The hedgehog hero exclaimed.
"Hey guys look what I found near the teleport pad." Sparx said in a serious tone and there next to the warp gate was another key fragment that looked identical to the one that Jade had in her back pack. Jade noticed this and took out the fragment she had in her backpack and connected the 2 fragments together making one whole key. It was golden with 2 prongs on either side with a wing on either end. When the key activated the teleport pad changed color. It was red with a wing on either side and had the shape of an oval with a dark circle in the center. Not wanting to question the even the team went ahead and stepped onto the platform which would take them to the Gaia temple.
(Sonic Unleashed OST Cutscene The Egg Beetle Plays)
When the light cleared the team found themselves on some sort of race track.
"Target Ahead." Sparx yelled and with that everyone raced to the direction of where Sparx was pointing.
Eggman was flying his Egg Mobile alongside a giant cross between a spider and a beetle like machine. With him were Uka-Uka and Drago and they too were flying alongside Eggman's creation. Jade and the heroes were racing to catch up and they to saw Eggman and his giant contraption.
"Eggman!" sonic yelled.
"How'd you get here so quickly?" Eggman yelling in actual shock
"Does it matter?" Drago asked in a bored tone and still in his Sky Demon Chi Form "Their road ends here."
"Indeed, Eggman deal with my pathetic brother's student and her friends." Uka-Uka ordered. "Drago and I will head back to base to power up." Aku-Aku's evil younger brother teleported himself and the demon child away leaving Eggman to turn around his newest robot. The heroes stopped right into their tracks just before colliding with the robot just as Eggman's Egg Mobile
(Song Ends)
"Behold! My new power!" Eggman proclaimed. "Egg Beetle Go!" and almost before he finished saying that last part the Egg Mobile attached itself into the open slot of the Egg Beetle to serve as the cockpit of the mechanical monstrosity. The sound of scissors could be heard as the Egg Beetle snapped its pincers preparing for the showdown.
(Sonic Unleashed OST Boss Battle Day Begins to play)
"You unsuspecting little weaklings! My Egg Beetle's Claws will tear you to shreds!" Eggman yelled as his robot raced backwards down the looped track tossing out bombs onto the pathway to slow the heroes but they dodged every set of bombs. The Doctor tried using it's pincers to lash out at them but they avoided the pincer attack so he tried using missiles but Spyro fired his flame breath at them eliminating them in the process. Jade seemed to notice that whenever the pincers were about strike the shield was down so thinking quickly she dashed into the pincers while activating the rabbit talisman powers with the tattoos on her arms changing into a rabbit and an ox head respectively allowing her to boost right into the cockpit sending the Egg Beetle into a tailspin and flipping it over onto its back inflicting some damage to it.
"Great work Jade." Sonic called out to the young girl but now was no time for thanks yet as Eggman continued to race away from the heroes by throwing more mines. Sasami decided to take a shot at the doctor by making him focus on her. Spyro saw what she was up to and instantly launched a storm of fireballs from his mouth that blasted away much of the Egg Beetle health sending it into another tailspin.
Eggman knew his latest machine was in critical condition so he started firing more missiles and sending more bombs in an attempt to slow the heroes down but to no avail. Sonic noticed a strange stone like temple in the distance was appearing and he knew that if he didn't finish off the robot in time the temple would fall so he charged right for the cockpit of the Egg Beetle and sent into a tailspin that caused it to hit the path causing it to explode. Eggman ejected his personal aircraft out of the machine before the explosion.
"Same as ever. All bark and no bite!!" Sonic proclaimed as he and the team skidded to a stop.
(Boss Battle Day Music ends and Sonic Unleashed OST Boss Stage Clear Music plays then ends)
(Sonic Unleashed OST Gaia Temple Music/Gaia Gate Music begins to play.)
"Hey guys is that the Temple of Gaia?" Spyro asked the group and they stared in awe at the stone structure that Sonic noticed before during the boss fight.
"Let's check it out." Sasami suggested. "It might give us a lead on what we do once we get in there."
(Song Ends)
Once inside the temple Sasami was the first to notice a pedestal in the center of the temple room. She went in closer to inspect and when she was in range the crystal hair beads on her head began to glow and in the process caused a hidden slot to appear from the center of the contraption. The team rushed over to Sasami to see if she was alright.
Jade looked at the slot out of curiosity and placed on of the drained emeralds onto it. In a second energy began to surround the jewel and the green Chaos Emerald regained its former glow.
"Well that explains why those vicious jerks wanted to take over the place." Sparx noted. "This HAS to be the Temple of Gaia."
Just then the place started to rumble violently.
"Hey what's going on?" Sasami asked worried.
"How should I know?" Jade responded.
Then all of a sudden the tremors stopped.
"Now that was freaky." Spyro said still rattled from the experience.
"HEY GUYS!!"
Jade spun around to see Coco along with Crash, Crunch, and Aku-Aku rushing into the temple holding what appeared to be a video camera.
"Guys!! The planet!! One of the broken pieces just returned to its proper place!!" Coco exclaimed and true to her words a video camera shoed the piece they were on moving back to its rightful place.
"The Professor Cucumber guy will tell us more about how to restore the planet back to its place." Crunch said mixing up the name in the process.
"I think he means Professor Pickle." Aku-Aku explained "Anyway, We need to get back to Section 13 right away. The others are getting worried sick about your safety young ones. I'll take us there straight away." Aku-Aku along with the group instantly teleported to Section 13 Headquarters with his powers and left behind the Chaos Emerald in the process.
Next Time
The Heroes find out more about Dark Gaia from Professor Pickle and the Manuscripts detailing the event. The forces of Evil are Preparing to deal a deadly strike to the team and get Dark Gaia into shape. Please Read and Review.