Chapter 7: The world of dinosaurs
This way of travelling the dimensions wasn't as bad as last time. Last time, he had to stay in his seat in the Arwing II and always seemed to feel close to throwing up. Now, it simply felt like he was running through a strong breeze.
"I think I can live with this." Link thought to himself.
As suddenly as it began, it stopped. They were on the ground of a lush, jungle planet that Link instantly recognized when he saw a familiar creature. It had a stout body, a birdlike beak, four limbs, and a thick tail covered in little horns.
"Welcome to Sauria, Sonic." Link said.
"You've been here before?" Sonic asked as he looked around.
"Yeah. This is where Fox and I went to find the Ice Sage about a year ago." Link answered as he took in the beautiful landscape.
"Wow. For a moment, I thought we went back to the time when dinosaurs weren't just confined to zoos…Well, we can sightsee later. Right now, we gotta move!" Sonic said as he strode into the dense growth.
Deep in the same jungle, another creature had arrived. It was none other than a Dragonoid and had obviously come here for a reason. This one wasn't red or black, but a kind of bluish silver. His snout was shorter than the other ones and he looked like a giant lizard and he had a straight row of spines that went down his back. He looked around and sniffed the air.
"Yes. This should be the way. First, I think I shall lure them in. Or if my name isn't Blue Firedrake." The dragon said as he strode off.
Then, there was a rustling in the trees and Firedrake looked at the spot. He grinned a fangy grin as he strode toward it.
"He'll make a perfect guard dog. Now, all I need is the bait." Blue Firedrake said as his big, orange eyes narrowed.
Link and Sonic walked through the forest until Sonic's tracker started going off. Sonic took the sensor out and inspected it.
"Hey, Link, I think we found the next Key Item. We gotta get going!" Sonic said.
"Wait. What's a Key Item?" Link asked.
"Tails did a scan on the Master Emerald and found that several other items across the dimensions have similar structures. He named these things Key Items and he believes that the Triforce that was stolen from your world was one of them." Sonic explained.
The blue hedgehog was about to run off when something moved. Both of them froze as Link slowly picked up a stick, extended it, and hit something near a large rock.
"OW!" The thing said.
The thing he hit came out from behind the rock and Link saw it wasn't a threat. The creature was a triceratops to you and me, but on Sauria, it was called an Earthwalker. It walked over to Link and spoke in a rather annoyed tone.
"Why'd ya' prod me that hard?" It asked. The thing's voice was adult, but it was somewhat boyish and still pretty young; probably a teenager.
"Sorry. We're a little hyper now." Sonic apologized as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Why, if Fox McCloud finds out you did that to me, I'm going to…" The Earthwalker began, but Link cut him off.
"Wait. You know Fox McCloud?"
Tricky shrugged in a manner, seeing as he was on four legs.
"Of course I know him. I'm his buddy Tricky. By the way, you wouldn't happen to know where he is, wouldja?" The dinosaur asked.
"Yeah. I'm afraid he's not here and he can't come." Link said.
"But I need someone to help the Walled City. There's a bunch of Dreadfin in there and I need help!" Tricky said, very worried.
Link flinched. He had been told about the Dreadfin and their fearsome reputation, but he had never seen one and didn't really want to. However, he had no choice otherwise and the universe WAS in peril.
Sonic thought for a while and then asked, "Can you take us there? I'm sure we can help since Fox isn't here."
Tricky was overjoyed to hear this and said, "Sure! Hop on my back. I know where to go!"
Link clambered onto the young dinosaur's back, but Sonic was pretty reluctant. In fact, he stayed right on the ground.
"Nah. I'll run, but thanks for the offer." He told them.
"Oh, okay. But you better be able to keep up." Tricky said as he looked back.
"Don't worry about him. He'll easily accomplish that task." Link assured as he patted Tricky's shoulder.
"You're gonna have to not do that. I'm not some beast of burden." Tricky said, glaring up at Link, "Alright. Now, let's get GOING!"
Tricky charged through the undergrowth, snapping small trees like twigs. Sonic sprinted behind the dinosaur; the blue hedgehog was a sprinter not a bulldozer.
It took them a few minutes and Sonic happened to notice that they were going toward a very strong signal. He took out his tracking device and they were getting closer by the second.
"Hmm…Why would these 'Dreadfin' be at Walled City like that?" Sonic thought to himself.
Just then, Tricky stopped, causing Sonic to collide with his behind. Sonic fell to the ground and rubbed his head in pain.
"Now what was THAT all about?!" Sonic asked impatiently.
"SSSHHH!!!" Tricky hissed as he crouched down in a fern bush.
"What is it?" Link asked in a whisper.
"Those." Tricky answered as he gestured toward the direction he was going.
There were six or seven spinosaurs wandering around a kind of ancient palace. Link remembered the redeye that came to Hyrule and his last journey through here. He then realized that these must be Dreadfin; the description was exactly how Fox told him. They were slightly larger than redeye, but they looked a little more lightly built with crocodile-like jaws and razor-sharp claws. They then saw that they had a kind of fin on their backs, hence their names. Just when Link thought things couldn't get worse, something came around the center palace and his eyes widened in surprise.