(Sorry about another long wait. I just recently refound my own N64, and I was playing it a lot for insperation for this next chapter. I just never got around to getting it done until now. Just like the first one, this chapter will still be in Sonic's POV, and I recommend you play the video mentioned with the letters ASR *ASR=AstrothSounds Remix*. For this one, the ASR is Tropen Trupel, or Jungle Japes. DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely nothing mentioned in this story except for my OCs.)
Chapter 1: Jungle Japes & A Caged Ally
When I hit the ground, I was dazed for a couple minutes before I shook the dizziness in my head away. I looked around and saw a munch of tall palm trees, a big tunnel with a caged-off entrance, the world's biggest hornet flying overhead and a massive beaver with fur as blue as the sky.
"Oh, lord. Where am I?" I thought, and I shakily got to my feet. As soon as I did, the beaver came at me "Bicky-bickety-bickety-bicky-bickety-bicky!" it cried as it came at me. I gave it a good kick, and it collapsed. I looked up at the giant hornet, and it didn't seem to notice me. Then I jumped at one of the trees and shimmied my way up until I was standing in the leaves. That's when I noticed the many floating vines, leading up to a small indentation on the cliffside above the cave door. Instinctively, I lept from the tree and grabbed one of the hovering vines, then swung my way over to the indentation. There, I saw a big switch on the ground with my face on it. "Hmm, that's kinda strange." I thought out loud. I gave the switch a good stomp, then I heard the wooden cage-gate lifting from in front of the cave mouth, so I could pass through.
"Sweet!" I said. I swung across the path the floating vines made, slid down the tree and raced into the cave. I came across some more beavers and bees, ignoring the bees and kicking down the beavers. I also saw some strange crocodiles. They weren't Mobians, but they were human-animal hybrids of some kind. They just looked like green-skinned humans with croc heads and tails, and they wore black leather jackets with skulls and crossbones on them. They looked at me weird as I passed, but they didn't really bother me that much.
When I came out of the other end of the cave's winding tunnel, I was at the edge of a cool, deep lake with another cave opening at the other end. There were more cliffs, and a big stem growing on one that looked sturdy enough to climb up. I saw something that looked pretty odd: It was a giant floating barrel with the faces of me, Shadow, Silver, Tails, and Knuckles in the side, and 4 odd question marks, each one looking like an animal tail. 2 of the question marks were lizard tails, 1 was a cheetah tail and the last one was some weird monster tail with a pair of fins at the end. I came up to the odd barrel and jumped in the open bottom. Inside, I could see the faded images of my friends, and the question marks were now 3D, and they were kinda creepy.
I quickly lept out of the barrel and raced along the edge of the lake until I ran into yet another one of those annoying beavers. A quick kick, and he was gone. Since the cave near me was blocked off with a switch that had a picture of a feather on it, I decided my best move would be to cross the lake and climb up the stem to see where it lead. I took a few steps back, then ran at the lake. When I reached the edge of the shore, I jumped at the stem and grabbed it. Then I climbed up it. When I got to the top of the cliff where the stem had led me, I saw a strange hut that looked like a snake's head made out of rock, with the word 'ARMORY' engraved at the edge of the snout. The mouth was open, and a pair of swinging doors was inside the mouth where the throat would be on a normal snake. The eyes were made out of some kind of red crystal, and they had a very creepy feel to them. "Ok, that's not creepy at all." I said.
After that, I saw some more floating vines leading to another cliff nearby, and I swung across them to reach it. There was a big cannon on the platform I landed on. I jumped into the cannon, and it blasted me onto the higher platform. "WHOOOOOO!" I screamed as I flew up.
On that platform was a small little indent in the side of the clifface, and there was a big wooden gate in front of it and three big wooden panels with red feathers on them. Inside this kind of cage, there was a femaleMobian lizard. She had a metal collar around her neck, and she looked pretty worn out, like she had been trying to break out of her cage for a long time. Her scales were lime green, and her eyes were the same color as flames. She had three long, curved blades that made me think of a shark's fin attatched to each forearm, and her tail had about 10 long black spines with a faint greenish shine at the end.
She looked up at me. I could see pain, fear and hatred in her eyes, but I also saw bravery, honor and hope. "You've come to rescue me, no doubt." She said. There was a tint of shyness in her voice. "If it wasn't for this stupid collar, I'd be able to get out myself." She gave the collar a small tug, and she winced, as if the collar had zapped her a little. Then she mumbled, but I couldn't hear what she said. She looked at me again. "My name's Sonya, but just call me Blade." "I'm Sonic." I told her. She smirked at me. "Nice name. Now get me out of this cage!" I looked up at the panels again. "I'm guessing those panels have something to do with it?" I said. She nodded. "They light up when a switch is activated. You can activate the switches by shooting feathers at them. They're positioned all throughout this area." She told me. "But how do I shoot at them? I mean, where could I get the thing that shoots the feathers at the switches?" I asked. "Go talk to Solaris about that. You can't miss his store. I have a feeling you passed it on the way up here, didn't you?" She said. I then remembered the stone snake head I passed. "Yeah. I'll got talk to him, you stay here until I come back." I told her. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Duh. I can't leave." She said.
I lept down onto the platform with the cannon on it and swung over to the stone snake head. I noticed something, bright blue and glistening, in the grass next to it. I went over and saw that it was three large blue coins, each one with my logo on it. I picked them up and slipped them into my glove, so they'll be easier to get to. (A/N: That's actually a pretty conveniant way to store money!) I then walked into the open serpent mouth and went inside the swinging doors.
(How about that, huh? Pretty good chapter, right? Just wait until you see what's in store for the next chapter! Until them, read, review and favorite this story!)