Author's note (10/21/2012) : I brushed up this chapter a bit, and tried to make it so the chief didn't trust them after one sentence. It still seems short, but ehh, I think it's fine for now. I also tried to rearrange some of the sentences so that the whole chapter flows a bit better, and I decreased some of the chunky chapters.

"What are they?" Sonic inquired.

Luigi didn't know what they were so he just shrugged his shoulders. Both of them continued to watch the ceremony with intrigued looks. They focused their gazes on these creatures that lay inside of the crater. These things wore face masks that covered their entire heads, and their bodies were very frail. The masks held intricate paintings on them and in the middle were two differently sized paintings of eyes.

In their chests were cores of some sort. It obviously was something that was crystal based, but it seemed to glow with life force. The core seemed to be a living organ for these creatures just as the crystals themselves were alive. Just then the music stopped and out from another path on the other side of the cave stepped a larger creature that was 4 times the size of any other creatures around the area.

"That must be their leader!" Sonic thought.

Seconds later something grabbed both Sonic and Luigi by the shoulders. It was two of the creatures and soon they were dragged out into the crater and thrown before the bigger one.

"Loepoe loe bayruu oe?" The chief spoke to one of the tribesmen.

"bayzhoeen loepoe bayruu" One replied.

"I don't understand a word they are saying!" Sonic told Luigi.

"Silence! You have interrupted our most sacred of rituals, what do you have to say for yourselves?" The chief commanded. "Speak wisely or else face a most cruel fate at the hands of my people."

Luigi freaked out at his words and quivered while Mario was still past out and right next to his side. Sonic then knew it was up to him to explain their situation to the chief.

"My name is Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, These are my friends, Luigi and Mario. We don't come from your world, but we do not seek out trouble." Sonic began to explain.

"Surely you didn't think that you would just wander into our territory and not cause problems did you?" The chief stated.

"It was never our intention to interrupt your ceremony, We are deeply sorry about that. Our reason for entering this cave is because some dude was chasing us. Hunting us down for a few rings that we happen to come across."

The chiefs expression changed as soon as he heard them talk about their rings.

"You have come into possession of the sacred rings told of in legends?!" The chief quickly asked.

"Well, yeah, I found one and my red pal over there has one as well. I'm not sure what they are but in any case they are extremely powerful." Sonic continued.

"Indeed they are." The chief eyed Sonic and the plumbers from head to toe. "You don't seem like you have intentions of the evil sort, Though I don't trust you fully yet. For now you are safe from any sacrificing by my people. My name is Ugling and we are Zhoegonglien, an ancient tribe that has inhabited these crystal lands for centuries."

The chief relieved the two tribesmen standing next to the group and then ushered Sonic and the plumbers to follow him. He took them past a lake that had a waterfall emptying its contents into said lake. They departed from the main room and down a dark passage until they reached a room that had an entrance made of crystallized vines.

"Let me share with you the history of what you now possess." Ugling said to them as he entered into the room. He stood near a pedestal that had a crystal orb sitting on top of it. "Please enter and take a seat, for knowing about the rings is important."

"What are these rings anyway? Why do they contain such power?" Sonic inquired.

"Do not test my patience, blue one. You shall learn in due time." The chief replied in a rather harsh tone.

Just as the chief was about to answer that question, Luigi interrupted them and started to ask the chief about his brother. He was wondering if there was anything that could wake him from his slumber.

"Your kind must have no manners, nevertheless, I do have something for him." The chief then skittered out of the room and returned minutes later with a crystallized flower of some sort. He gave the flower to Luigi and instructed him to administer the flower orally to his brother. Doing so Luigi watched as Mario began to spring back to life. He hopped up from the seat and yelled "Yippee!". After that, Sonic filled Mario in on what was happening, and as soon as he was caught up to speed the chief returned to Sonic's earlier question.

"Those rings were supposedly a myth passed down since ancient times from my ancestors. No one has seen any rings of stories told until now. It is said within the legend that the rings lay hidden until the day that she is said to return to the land to free it from an age of tyranny and chaos."

All of them listened intently as Ugling explained to them what the rings were. Luigi was starting to get a bit bored, he was never that interested in history anyway. As soon as he would start to fall asleep Mario would punch him in the shoulder to keep him awake.

"Who is this she that you speak of chief Ugling?" Sonic asked.

"The goddess depicted in myths, Tsukiyomi. She is the one said to have created the world and everything that resides within it." The chief said with much zeal. "I insist that you know more of the goddess, for she is inherently connected to the rings."

All of them including Luigi were intrigued by this Tsukiyomi woman.

"It all began when a goddess appeared. This was at a time when the universe was but a mere speck of dust in the world." Ugling began. "She was a being that was very kind-hearted but also loved a good battle or two. No one knows for sure what compelled her to make our universe into what it is now but as the myths say she was trying to escape a great evil.

This evil, was of course, bent on controlling the ultimate power that Tsukiyomi possessed. Tsukiyomi knew she was not strong enough to combat him. So perhaps she used the world as a means of hiding in."

"No surprise their." Stated Sonic. "Villain's are always after power." He knew all too well about the motives of villains.

Ugling was just baffled at the rudeness of the heroes, He had never had guests this rude before that he didn't just sacrifice or used as food for a banquet. Clearing his throat he then continued his story.

"Yes, it was a typical villain's plan, He nearly succeeded too." Ugling continued. "At the last final struggle between the two entities Tsukiyomi Sacrificed her body and transfered her power into 50 separate and powerful rings. These rings were said to have scattered to the far ends of the universe that was created at her hands."

"As the legend states, Tsukiyomi will return to life when all of the rings are united as one." The chief stated. "Tablets in our ancient mother tongue spoke of this and foretold that when the great evil returned that only heroes with the ability to wield such rings properly could help the goddess restore balance and vanquish the evil once and for all. It also states that should the rings fall into the wrong hands that the world would plummet into eternal despair."

Mario and company listened to the chief's words and feared for the worst of the world. It then struck them instantly when they thought of the world, or more so about their own worlds. How were they suppose to even return to their own homes? This thought lay heavily on their minds alongside the history lesson the chief was giving them but decided to wait until he had finished telling his story.

"That is all that the legend tells us of." Ugling concluded.

Mario then raised his hand to try and show some respect to the elder instead of interrupting him this time.

"I appreciate the newfound respect. Now what is your question?" Ugling asked.

"Well, We-a don't come from-a this world, and we-a were wondering how-a we can-a get back to ours." Mario said.

"We would if we knew how..." Sonic added.

"The-a only thing that we-a know about, is-a how we even-a got here in the-a first place." Mario began to explain how him and his brother ended up in this strange new world. "It all-a started with this-a strange stone that-a glowed. It-a just sucked us in and-a dropped us off right-a in the jungle."

The chief looked very intrigued by Mario mentioning a stone that glowed.

"The same thing happened to me in my own world of Mobius." Sonic added.

"Hmm, Very intriguing indeed. This is spoken of in a side tablet." The chief responded excitedly. "The myth states that the ones meant to bear the rings and fight side by side with the goddess are to be visited by rocks that glow with power."

"Is there a way to return to our worlds then chief?" Sonic asked quizzically.

"I don't have the answer to that one, but you may find information on the subject in the Iron Hill Dunes to the south of the crystal tropics." The chief stated.

After having learned that these heroes were possibly the chosen ones he changed his view upon them. He came to the conclusion that they were not enemies, however they were very rude. He would aid them nevertheless and a funny feeling told him that he could trust them. Assuming this was the spirit of the goddess rendering this message unto him, he did just that.

"I think I can trust you now, as much as I dislike your rudeness, I will trust you and I hope that this history lesson will aid you in your journey." He told them.

Just as they were about to finish up their discussion there was a loud crashing sound coming from the main chamber. All four of them rushed to the scene to investigate. When they arrived, Hyotai was standing near the crystal spire with one tribesmen clutched in his hand.

"Where are they?!" Hyotai bellowed. "I know you are harboring them somewhere in here."

"Hey Gem-head! Looking for us?" Sonic called out. "Why don't you pick on someone else instead?"

"Heh, you should have stayed in hiding, because I won't just pick on you, I will pick you apart as well." Hyotai told them. "I owe you payback for escaping back there in our last fight."

Mario, Sonic, and Luigi were prepared to fight Hyotai, but they realized they had to get out of the cave before it turned into a desolate wasteland of a battlefield.

"Chief, we'll lead him out of here." Sonic reassured the Chief. "Thanks for your all your aid and knowledge. Hopefully we will meet again."

"You are welcome, Now, get that thug out of my people's home!" Ugling told them with a slight lacing of imperativeness in his voice. He then rushed to the scene to direct tribesmen out of the area.

"Let's-a go beat this guy-a up!" Mario added.

As they said that both the Mario brothers and Sonic began to speed out of the tunnel guiding the crystal block-head out of the tribe's home.

"Trying to pull a fast one on me again? Not on my watch!" Hyotai roared as he gave chase.

They dashed out of the cave and along the side of a nearby lake until the came to a hilly clearing. They turned to face their enemy, standing their ground against him. Hyotai was quick to find them as he was in hot pursuit.

"You shall die here, and the rings will become mine." Hyotai stated as he blasted his full power. From it's current position his frame pushed off and ran at Sonic and company. They moved as quickly as they could, both Luigi and Mario doing back flips as they jumped. This was followed by them hopping forwards and propelling themselves from the ground at Hyotai's face. With their legs extended, they were ready to slam their feet into him.

Hyotai raised both of his arms and blocked the attacks. As their kicks impacted a sound emanated that represented the pure power of Hyotai. Just him blocking was enough to push back the plumbers and send them flying. As they were in the air Hyotai ran at them with such speeds that it seemed as though he just vanished completely for a split second. His body then appeared behind the plumbers facing away from them.

Locking his elbows into a karate stance, he then thrusted at the incoming brother's backs. Both of them felt the nerves in their spines burn with sharp pain upon the impact. He then quickly towards them and wrapped his hands around both of their necks, and ascend high into the air. Sonic knew that he had to do something and he had to do it fast.

Thinking fast he bolted into the air quickly. He came head fist at Hyotai, and as he got closer he started to curl his frame into a spin wheel formation. The blue ball that was now Sonic smashed into the crystal beast's body. Upon impact Hyotai relinquished the Mario brothers. The plumbers then fell to the ground. From the quick glance he got of them they appeared to be unconscious.

As always, remember to give reviews on anything grammatical and anything relating to how you feel about the plot. If you like the story, tell your friends about it, spread the word. I want to get a lot of input from various sources.