Chapter 4: I'm Just Gaw
Not too long after Sonic, Selena, Tails, Honey, and Knuckles defeated the Wood Golem and received the first orb at the top of Treesun Village. The gang were back in the air heading to the next spot where the second orb was using Tails' Tornado as their transportation. Selena was holding out the green orb looking at it as it was flashing giving directions where the next orb was at it as the green orb was their own personal radar, saving them a lot of time.
Before hitting the road, the gang went back to Skelf village and the people of Treesun Village were secure, now that the Wood Golem was defeated. The gang brought many smiles to everyone that day knowing they could go back to their homes thanks to the help of Sonic and the others. The group stayed a bit to help the villagers of Skelf village and Treesun village settle back in their homes and were told they were welcome at any time if they wished to visit after their adventure.
The gang found themselves back in the air, riding the Tornado. Tails piloting the plane, Honey on the passenger seat enjoying the view of the land below her, with Sonic, Knuckles and Selena on top of the wings of the plane enjoying the breeze. Selena watched the orb carefully on her hand as her hair flowed in the wind as Tails flew the plane carefully not wanting her to lose focus on their destination.
Below them was a rocky area of the land, no trees and grass could be seen below for they were miles away from the gang's view. Because of that it was easy to see that there was no one in the area other than the possible wild animals that inhabit it. Sonic, Honey,and Knuckles were keeping an eye in case any weird monsters tried to attack the plane from above as Tails kept his focus, keeping the plane steady before looking at the female hedgehog.
"Any luck where the next Orb might be Selena?" Tails asked before shifting his blue eyes back to the air.
Selena looked at the green orb carefully. "Yeah, I believe so. I think we're above the area it might be." She said, looking at the ground below and put the orb back in her hammerspace.
"Gotcha!" Tails said, giving a thumbs up. "Hold one everyone, I'm gonna find a spot to land."
"Finally some adventuring on foot." Sonic said, happy to be on the ground again.
Sonic, Knuckles, and Selena held on tight on the wings of the plane as Tails began circling around the area until he found a good spot where he landed the Tornado. Thankfully it didn't take long for the area to be pretty wide open for Tornado to land on.
Once the young fox landed the Tornado and the propeller finally stopped moving with the engine turning off. Tails and Honey jumped out their seats while the rest jumped off the wings. Selena pulled out the green Orb once again and began leading the gang through the area.
They group kept walking until Selena came to a stop when she almost fell off a cliff. She put down the green orb as she and the others saw in front of them from the other side of the cliffside, a rocky area with multiple cave entrances.
Selena looked back down at the orb and saw it flashing rapidly. "Looks like this is the place." She said, putting away the orb.
"Looks like people have been here before." Sonic said, looking at the cave entrances.
"Probably some explorers looking for diamonds or relics." Knuckles said.
"I'm curious to know what monsters lurk in those caves." Honey said, interested because she wanted to fight them.
"I see a bridge nearby that leads to the other side." Tails said pointing at the bridge.
The group saw the bridge and went towards it as Tails flew beside them having no need to walk on the bridge with his feet. The bridge was made mostly out of rope and wood planks, much to everyone's surprise and was very sturdy. Sonic and Selena weren't scared of the bridge falling down because they knew their friends had flight abilities to save them. Although Knuckles was kinda hoping Selena would accidentally fall through the bridge so he can go down and rescue her to win her love. Just thinking about that scenario made Knuckles have a goofy look on his face and blushed.
Sonic and Selena frown seeing the look on Knuckles' face as they continued forward through the bridge. Everyone made it through the bridge and found themselves near the rocky area with the cave entrances. Before entering the first cave entrance, they saw a sign with the name on it.
"Wind Cave." Selena said, reading the painted sign.
"Must be windy there." Honey joked.
The gang walked in the cave carefully, keeping an eye out for any monsters coming out at them. The cave was narrow at first but as the gang kept walking, the cave was beginning to get wider for them to spread out giving them a lot more room to walk and not feel cramped together.
They finally reached the end of the entrance and saw the inside of the cave was massive. What took them by surprise was the handmade structure that was inside in this part of the cave. Multiple crafted pillars that look ancient and even some bridges. Surprisingly there were lights inside in the cave but not much for each pillar with torches were far separate from each other keeping the majority of the place covered in darkness.
"I wonder who made the area look like this?" Honey asked, while touching one of the pillars.
"Perhaps there's still some people living in these caves." Sonic replied, thinking of the reason.
"They might possibly be thieves and bandits, places like these are usually the perfect hideout for them." Knuckles said, looking all over and kept his guard up.
"Maybe they somehow got their hands on the orb." Tails said, thinking of that scenario.
"Well we'll just snatch it from them." Selena said, smirking.
As the group kept walking deep in the cave, they were unaware that a small round creature with large wings was looking at them from far away, hiding behind one of the rocks. The mysterious creature was giving the gang a cautious look, checking on them carefully to see if they had any evil ambitions. The weird round creature kept looking at them Selena until finally notice they were being looked at. The moment she turned around the creature disappeared from sight.
Selena gave a curious look at the spot where she felt like she was being watched, before meeting back with the others as they ventured forward. The gang continued to walk cautiously, they didn't want to accidentally fall off a draft inside the cave that might get them lost.
"If there were only lights in these caves so we can see where we're going." Tails said, flying a bit in the air.
"If only Blaze was here, she could provide us with some light. She's usually our life size torch in places like these." Sonic laughed, making a fun joke about his cat friend.
"Yeah, but she's with Vanilla and Cream enjoying her time with them." Honey said, smiling at the thought of Blaze being happy with the two rabbits.
"There's gotta be a way to bring some lights here." Tails said, thinking of a way to bring some lights.
As the gang walked, a burst of flame from beside Sonic, almost hitting him for he was close to it. The fire burst was so bright that it helped light up the place a bit more than a couple of seconds. During those seconds, the gang saw the burst of flame coming from a creature that almost resembled that of a turtle. However it looked undead, for its head was a skeleton with black empty eye sockets. Instead of a shell, it was every pointy with spikes on it. The body of the creature had an orange color to it.
The spiky undead turtle then let out another burst of fire aiming at Sonic from its mouth, trying to burn him alive. Sonic backed away in time before the stream of fire could hit him. Though it was slow, the Spike creature continued to walk towards Sonic and others, getting ready to shoot another stream of fire as the inside of the mouth began glowing. It wasn't the only glowing light they saw, for more started to appear around the gang as more Spikes showed up to help get rid of Sonic and the gang.
"It looks like there's more light around here." Said Sonic, as he and others prepared themselves.
"Let there be light!" Selena said, smirking while gripping her sword with one hand and holding a throwing dagger with the other hand.
The spike creatures then let out their stream of fires at the gang. The group scattered to avoid the incoming attacks. The whole cave area was brightened up due the amount of burst of fire. Sonic dashed and carefully timed his homing attacks and spin dash trying to hit the orange skull of the Spikes. Honey attacked with her low kicks making sure to aim for the heads, seeing it was their weak spot. Knuckles and Tails decided to do a little team up, Knuckles would dig underground and attack from underneath and send the Spikes into the air where Tails would whack and destroy them with his tails as he dashed around the area in the air. Selena was using the throwing dagger that Tatt gave her.
Selena aimed carefully and shot the dagger, hitting Spike's orange colored skulls straight on their faces destroying them in one shot. She was destroying left and right, throwing the daggers with one throw as she backed and front flipped around as she avoided the stream of fires. The moment the gang were defeating the Spikes, they quickly disappeared in a small purple cloud as they disposed of them.
The group gathered together once they took care of the last of the Spikes. "Everyone all right? No serious burn bruises." Sonic asked, looking at his friends carefully for any burn marks.
"Nope. We're all good." Honey said as the others nodded at the hedgehog.
As the gang were looking at Sonic, Selena then noticed something watching them. She was quick this time and caught what was staring at them. The small round creature was shocked that he was caught by Selena. The small creature hid his appearance in the shadows as the only thing visible was his silhouette. Sonic and others also took notice of the mysterious creature looking at them as Selena carefully walked towards it. Selena could tell that the weird creature wasn't an enemy for she could tell that the creature looked frightened and cautious by his body language.
"What is that thing?" Tails said, looking at the silhouette, trying to figure out what it is.
"It doesn't look like those spike creatures we just fought." Knuckles said, looking at the creature carefully.
"Selena be careful. Whatever that thing is, it could be dangerous." Sonic said, keeping his eyes on the short round creature.
"Don't worry I got this. Something tells me this guy isn't our enemy. He would have attacked us if he did." Selena said, smiling at her brother.
To show she means no harm or danger, Selena carefully put down her sword on the ground and raised both hands in the air. She gave a caring smile and looked like the round creature who was hiding behind a rock in a childlike manner. Selena got down to one knee while still giving a caring look as the small creature looked like it was ready to run away.
"Hey little fella! Don't run away. I won't bite." She said, in a playful and teasing tone.
The round creature didn't respond as he just stared at Selena.
"Do you mind leading us through the cave? Me, my brother and our friends are trying to get through. We're on a quest to get rid of the monsters you just saw. Those ones that went poof in a purple cloud." Selena said, as the Sonic and the others nodded their heads to show they were friendly.
The creature still said nothing.
"What do you say? Mind helping us out? You seem to know the area if you live here." Selena asked while extending her hand out.
The creature just stared at Selena and others for a moment. He then started to back away from the female hedgehog and others as they watched. He gave one finally stare at her and Sonic and company. He then jumped away while keeping his appearance hidden in the dark parts of the cave, he did this using the wings on its back. He looked back at the group and finally spoke, his voice sounded a bit high pitched.
"Gaw!" Said the creature.
The creature then started waddling away as the gang watched him go. Honey couldn't help giggling seeing the creature's funny walk. The rest of the gang were confused by what the creature said to them as it kept walking away from them.
"Gaw?" Knuckles said, scratching his head.
Selena picked up her sword from the ground and put it back its sheath. "Come on you guys, I think he's leading us somewhere." She said, looking at everyone .
"We have no other options, let's follow that little guy." Sonic said, smiled at his sister.
So the gang quickly ran as they began to follow the creature who was already ahead of them. As they ran through the cave, they had to platform themselves up some structures inside in the wind cave. It wasn't an easy trip because they encountered more spiked creatures on the way. It was more of an issue for they had to time their jumps to get up because the Spikes were on the platforms waiting for the Sonic and the gang to hit them with their fire streams.
That wasn't the only problem that they faced in the wind cave. In some parts of the cave, they were some weird flying butterfly creatures which at first glance looked harmless. That is until it started spreading its dust from the wings as they hover back and forth, making the gang hurt their body from it. Selena quickly disposed of them as she threw her daggers at them from a long range whenever they encountered them.
There were also usually bat enemies that lurked in the cave, but they were bats in skeleton form much the Spikes creatures. They were small but they came in large group numbers. The bats fly down there to attack Sonic and his friends with their boney teeth whenever they get near them.
They came across a bridge where underneath it was a large body of water. Crossing the bridge was fine until they were attacked from below. Attacking them were odd looking blue fishes spitting water from their mouths. These Spitt Fishes were causing trouble for they almost saw Sonic and Selena fall off the bridge as they attacked and destroyed the wooden planks they walked on.
The group managed to get across the bridge with no damage and found themselves getting near the exit of the cave. They got there and were greeted by bright sunlight that hit their eyes. The gang looked around and saw they were at the upper level of the canyon for they saw the first cave entrance to the wind cave down below.
"We made it out, but we're back outside?" Honey said, looking at the canyon.
"Did that weird make us go in circles?" Knuckles said, ready to get mad if that was the case.
"I don't think so, look!" Selena said, pointing out something.
Everyone looked to see the wing of the creature sticking from a nearby cave entrance on the same level they were on and quickly ran towards it as the creature went into the cave. Before entering the cave entrance, there was another sign next to the entrance, giving it out the name of the area known as Fossil Rock.
After reading the sign, they entered the area known as Fossil Rock, as they continued to follow the creature. Unlike the wind cave from below, Fossil Rock was more visible to see where to go.
"I wonder why this place is called Fossil Rock?" Sonic asked.
"Perhaps some archaeologists were here long ago, looking for fossils and they found some. You see how old those structures were back in the wind cave." Tails answered.
The group came to a stop when they encountered a large body of water. They looked to see some small platforms that lead to the other side. Before they make their way and jump on the platform to reach the other side. Something was floating up the water from below. What was coming up, is a strange white jellyfish looking monster.
When it came to reveal itself, it started to burst some electricity from its body like an eel. But wasn't the only one for more of them started to float up and started electrocuting the water around the gang. Both Sonic's and Selena's water phobia were kicking in to see the deep water below them, knowing they would be in some major trouble if they took one misstep and fell in. Both Sonic and Selena swallowed their saliva in nervousness as they tried to start calm.
"Okay let's go at this carefully. Nothing like electrifying jellyfish that can easily kill us in seconds." Sonic said, nervously.
"This is like dropping a hundred toasters in a large bathtub." Honey said, looking at the electric covered water.
"Jeez, put more pressure on us. Why don't you?" Selena said, giving Sonic and Honey a glare.
Tails was the first as he started to spin his tails. The fox flew into the air and made his way to the other side with ease without using the platforms. Both Knuckles and Honey use their glide abilities to reach the platforms before gliding again to reach the other side safely. Tails walked towards them as the three of them high five each other.
"Yeah! Flight powers rule!" The three of them said at the same time.
They looked over back at the hedgehog twins who seemed to be struggling. Sonic and Selena wish it was a deep dark pit instead that was below in case they fell so their friends could jump in to save them. Just one wrong step and they'll be in the water drowning and get electrified by the jellyfish in seconds.
"Come on you two! Don't keep us waiting!" Honey yelled at the twins.
"J-Just give us a moment will ya!?" Sonic yelled back as before looking back at the water of electric jellyfish.
"I think you should go first." Selena suggested.
"No way, ladies first." Sonic offered.
The twin hedgehogs then began to look at each other with a serious look. They both knew what to do in a situation like this and started to raise one of their hands up in their hair. The twin hedgehogs kept their eyes on each other as their lower hands
"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!" The two yell at the same time.
They looked down to see it was a draw for they both picked rock.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!" The two yell again at the same time.
It was paper they both picked and ended in a draw again.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!" They repeated once more.
It ended up in another draw again for they picked scissors.
Everybody watched as the two hedgehogs played their game of rock, paper and scissors. At first, Tails, Honey, and Knuckles were impressed by how both Sonic and Selena kept ending in draw, but it quickly got boring to the point they started dozing off.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!" Sonic and and Selena yelled once more
Sonic's eyes widened and gasped for what he saw with a dramatic look. He looked down to see that Selena picked rock while he picked scissors. Sonic looked up to see his twin sister giving him a smirk seeing that she won.
"Rock beats scissors. I won." Selena said, with a grin.
"Dang it! Oh well." Sonic said, upset that he lost.
Sonic turned to look at the platforms ahead of him. He took a deep breath and began to carefully jump the first one. Sonic had to be careful to not overshoot his jump or he could miss or slip off the platform and into the water. He managed to reach the first platform safely and quickly jumped to the second platform keeping with the rhythm of his jumps.
By the time he got to the third platform, Sonic looked back and saw Selena jumped forward and landed on the first platform and then the second platform. Tails, Honey and Knuckles watched as Sonic and Selena jumped from platform to platform avoiding the water and the deadly jellyfish.
Sonic with one last jump, made it to the other side and joined his friends who gave him a high five. Selena looked at the rest of the gang who waited for her to join them. Selena prepared herself as she dash towards the ledge of the platform.
Just as she set foot on the ledge of the platform, part of it broke off making her trip and jumped off incorrectly. Everyone was stunned and surprised to see this and quickly panicked seeing the female hedgehog in danger.
"Selena!" Sonic yelled.
As she was falling, ready to hit the water. Selena saw the top of the jellyfish's head sticking out from the water and saw how big it was which gave her an idea to save herself. With quick thinking, Selena curled up in her ball form and quickly got out of it to position her body correctly. She used the head of the jellyfish to use as a quick platform to jump off with her foot. It held her up but only for a second before it sank down into the water. A second is what Selena needed as she jumped off it and landed where the rest were at.
Everyone was relieved and impressed that Selena made it. Selena fit her heart pumping after what happened but quickly calmed down once the gang checked on her.
"You alright Selena?" Knuckles aske, worried about the female hedgehog.
"Yeah I'm fine. Thankfully that jellyfish's head was big enough for me to step on." Selena said, getting back on her feet.
"Let's get to the adventure. I'm sure that creature is waiting for us." Selena said to the group as they nodded and continued their way together.
After the whole platform fiasco, the gang continued to walk. They haven't seen any sight of the weird creature that was leading them. As they were looking around they stopped when they saw a human shaped skeleton on the ground. It was just laying there and next to it had a sword in his bone hand.
They were shocked to see the skeleton here in the wide open and were curious to know how it ended up here. They figured that the skeleton must have been here ages ago when people were living here or the person just had a really bad day. Nonetheless everyone was giving their take on how the skeleton ended up in their way.
Sonic walked towards the skeleton and nodded at it. "Poor fellow, was probably fighting for his life here." He said to the skeleton body.
"Or maybe he just had an accident that he wasn't prepared for. You see how these caves are designed." Tails answered.
"Maybe he slipped on a banana?" Honey said, trying to give everyone a funny perspective.
Everyone just gave Honey an awkward look at her interpretation of the fallen skeleton warrior. "What? Slipping on a banana can sometimes lead to death, despite how funny it looks in the old cartoons." Honey said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Or perhaps it was the weird creature we're following. Probably hate the skins off the person." Knuckles said.
Selena nodded her head to disagree with Knuckles. "Can't be, I don't think a little fellow would eat this person in the first place. Otherwise it would have tried to eat us." She said, giving her take.
Sonic turned away from the skeleton to look at his friends. "Can you imagine if this guy just started moving? Crazy right? Maybe he could tell us some bone jokes hahaha!" Sonic laughed.
As the hedgehog was laughing, the rest of the gang then looked below near Sonic's feet. The skeleton on the ground behind him started to shake slowly as parts of its body started to float. Everyone was speechless and stunned as Sonic kept laughing who was still unaware that the bones of the skeleton were moving behind him and forming together.
There stood the Skeleton, standing tall behind the blue hedgehog. Sonic stopped laughing when he saw the looks on his friends' faces, all of them looking at something he wasn't aware of. Sonic just frowned and sigh sadly as he took a guess at what just happened.
"The skeleton came alive didn't it?" Sonic asked, blandly.
Everyone just nodded at him. The skeleton raised its sword up ready to strike the hedgehog with his rusty sword. "Sonic! Duck!" Honey yelled at her brother.
Sonic quickly answered to Honey's warning and ducked like she said. The attack from the live skeleton missed as Sonic ducked and rolled away from it to be back with his group. They watched the skeleton walking towards them as it moved with his boney legs. It had an awkward walk as I forgot to walk properly after being dead for so many years.
It wasn't alone, for the gang looked at the ground and saw more skeletons coming out from the ground. Their boney hands would pop out like zombies and then shortly after the rest of their bodies would pop out. They were coming out of the ground in many directions as the gang kept looking. Soon they were surrounded, as the skeletons slowly began walking towards them. The gang huddles up in a circle together as their eyes scan around.
"Maybe these skeletons are the dancing ones? I don't see them holding any weapons of any sort." Honey said.
The skeletons quickly responded to Honey's question as they all randomly pulled out swords and knives.
"Nevermind." Honey said, getting in her fight pose.
The skeletons charge in as fast their boney legs could make them. They took a swing at the group with their swords. Sonic dodged using his spin dash and speed boost to maneuver his way around. He jumped in the air and did his trademark homing attack, timing them perfectly hitting the heads of the skeletons before they swung their swords at him.
Selena was holding back the attack of three skeletons using their swords. She was being pushed back because she was outnumbered but quickly activated her speed boost to push back the skeletons away from her. While in her speed boost form, Selena dashed around and sliced the skeletons with her swords as they fell one by one.
Honey used the powers of her kicking attacks and deflected the sword attacks aimed at her. She would time perfectly making sure her foot doesn't get a cut or worse, sliced off. Honey would also dodge the blades by ducking and flipping her body around and punch or kick the skeletons bodies as they fell apart.
Knuckles easily overpowered them with his strength as he rushed the skeletons as they flew into the air and broke into pieces. He jumped into the air and did a power smash using his fist making the skeletons' bodies rattle until they broke off. Knuckles uppercut and punch the skull parts of the skeleton, pushing them away as they tried to outnumbered, but were no match against Knuckles' fist.
Tails flew around avoiding the knives being thrown at him. The fox would throw one back if you managed to catch one. Tails would fly around making a group of skeletons chasing, only to trick them into falling off the ledge where they fell into a large pool of water in the cave where they're bodies collapsed on impact.
Though fighting the skeletons was easy to beat, it wasn't too easy. As soon as the skeletons' bodies collapsed into many bones, their bodies began to reform again as it was and started attacking everyone. That's when the gang figured it out that they had to really beat their skeletons by destroying their bones completely. With the help of Knuckles's fist and Selena's sword managed to crush and slice the bones into many tiny pieces.
The planned work for the skeletons started to disappear in a purple smoke, signifying their defeat. Selena sliced the last skeletons multiple times into tiny pieces and it disappeared afterwards. The ground high five each other over their victory continued their way to the cave, where they encountered another bridge and safely crossed it. After crossing the bridge, the gang kept walking until they saw a wooden sign pose rooted to the ground. The gang walked towards the wooden sign post and read it carefully.
"Gaw Village. Monsters stay away." Selena read out loud.
"So there are people living here in the cave." Tails said, fascinated.
"I wonder what they look like, for some cave people." Knuckles said, curious.
"At least we have a place to rest a bit after that skeleton battle." Sonic said, stretching arms.
"I hope they have fish. Regular looking fish that is." Honey said, rubbing her hungry belly.
Everyone nodded, accepting their next course of action. The gang continued as they walked past the sign, heading to what's known as Gaw Village as their pit stop. The gang were very curious to know what lies ahead and hope they can rest their bodies for a moment without some weird monsters attacking them.
As they kept walking, a familiar small round shape figure was in their way. The small round creature seems to be unaware of their presence for it had its back turned. In the distance they saw a beautiful waterfall with a village built beside it. There seems to be more round like creatures walking around but their appearance was hard to tell their distance the gang were standing from.
Selena walked towards the round creature with a friendly and spoke softly. "Hey little guy, is this your home?" She asked.
The wings of the creature twitched hearing Selena's voice. The creature turned around to reveal itself to be some sorta weird dragon-like being. It had two small feet attached to its round shape body, a light yellow belly, a blue scale body, a pair of light yellow claws, two wings, and two big red colored eyes. The little creature also has two little sharp teeth sticking out from its mouth.
The creature looked at the group with a surprise look as the gang also gave it a surprise look back.
"Woah is that a dragon?" Tails said, surprised.
"Who knew a dragon was living here in the caves." Honey said.
"The world is a big place of mystery huh?" Sonic said, smiling at the little dragon.
"W-who are you people?" Said the little dragon with an almost high pitched voice.
"Hey it talks." Tails said, very fascinated.
"That's awesome!" Honey said excitedly as her eyes sparkled in fascination.
"Don't you recognize me? We met back near the entrance of the wind cave?" Selena explained.
The dragon creature just scratched his head with his claw. "Sorry lady, but I'm afraid I don't have a clue what you're talking about gaw?" He said, in a confused tone and ending his sentence with the word "Gaw".
Just before Selena could say anything to remind the creature how they met. In came another dragon creature that looked exactly like the one that's standing in front of the group. The gang were shocked to see another as the two stood next to each other.
"Another one?!" Knuckles said, surprised.
"What seems to be the problem here gaw?" The other dragon said.
"I think these guys are mistaken for somebody else. They said I met them near the wind cave entrance." Said the dragon.
The other dragon then looked at the group carefully. "They don't seem like our enemies. I do believe they are friendly folks. They must be a tough group if they made it to the village with the monsters roaming around gaw." Said the other dragon.
"Mind telling us what's going on and where exactly?" Tails asked.
"Of course, follow me!" Said the short dragon.
With the little dragon leading the way, they enter the village the little dragon seems to be from. Upon entering they saw the same looking dragon creatures, all of them having the same voice and sometimes ending their sentences with the word 'gaw'. They also gained many eyes from the other little dragons for they are guests to the village.
The little dragon stopped and turned to look at the gang once they reached the center of the town. "Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Gaw and welcome to Gaw village!" He said, happily.
"Gaw huh?" Sonic said, looking at him.
"Eeyup! That dragon you met over there is also named Gaw." Gaw said.
"His name is also Gaw?" Knuckles said, confused.
"Yes! Everyone's name here in Gaw village is Gaw!" Said the dragon.
Gaw then started pointing at everyone at the village.
"He's Gaw!"
"Sup!" Said a Gaw.
"That's Gaw!"
"That's my name!" Said another Gaw.
"Gaw is that guy!"
"Y'all better listen to him." Said the Gaw, calmly.
"There's Gaw!"
"Don't you forget it!" Said a different Gaw.
"We're all Gaw!" All the little dragons said at the same time.
"Why are you all named Gaw?" Selena asked.
"Well a long time ago we had different names, but it became very difficult trying to identify ourselves since we look and sound the same. So we all decided it would be easier if we called each other Gaw." Said the dragon.
"Although it is a pain to be a page!" Said one of the Gaws.
"Jeez, ever heard of a name tag?" Sonic said.
"A long time? When was that?" Tails asked.
"Oh I say that was about like 1,000 years or so ago gaw?" Gaw explained.
"A 1,000 years ago!?" Honey said, shocked.
"We Gaws have a pretty long lifespan, and we're still young hahaha gaw!" The little dragon chuckled.
"Since the introduction is done, mind telling us where we could grab a bite to eat and rest a bit?" Selena said.
"Sure! You must be exhausted fighting all those monsters on the way here. Just head straight from here you'll have a resting place for your needs." Gaw said.
"Thanks Gaw." Sonic said, thanking the dragon.
"You're welcome!" All the Gaws responded at the same time at Sonic.
"They really need some name tags." Said Sonic to his friends as they walked away.
After everyone settled, all the Gaws went back to their daily routines. Sonic and the gang look to see what the lives of the dragons looked like. They look to see some Gaws having a fire breathing contest to see who can last the longest. Another pair of Gaws were having a slapping contest to see who can slap the hardest on the faces. There were some that were just lazy and slept on the floor on random spots which made Sonic and the gang watch their steps to not bump into them for they were in the way.
There were Gaws flying in the air who greeted Tails who was also flying in the air to get a better view of the village. Over by the waterfall, some Gaws swam in the water and relaxed while some were fishing with their fishing rods.
As the gang walked they overhead two Gaws talking to each other which seems to be a topic of fish which really caught Honey's attention as they walked past the water that was connected to the waterfall.
"Fish heads! Fish heads…..that fish there is going to be our dinner! Oh I can hardly wait! Yum, so fresh!" Said the Gaw, licking his lips.
"My favorite drink is fish frappe! Ahhh! Frosty cups of foamy whipped fish guts! Ohhh...heaven!" Said the other Gaw, rubbing his belly.
"Eww." Sonic and the rest said, hearing about the fish frappe.
Except for Honey who's mouth watering about the fish frappe. Just the mere thought of it made her very curious as an image of the drink was playing in her imagination. While thinking about the fish frappe, Honey quickly snapped out of it and remembered what the other Gaw said about a fish he wanted.
She looked down and saw the fish the Gaw talked about. At first view Honey's eyes widened, the fish it stuck out from the water for its fish scales were pure white as if it came from heaven itself. Honey got a really good view as the white scale fish jumped out of the water. Honey glanced as the fish flopped in the air and back into the water where it swam around while still in Honey's view.
Honey was in love with hunger filling her stomach, she wanted to eat the fish so badly that she started to reach for it in the water. Before her hand could touch the water to grab the heavenly white fish. A Gaw stood beside with an angry look at her.
"Hey! Get back! I saw that fish first! It's mine! GAW!" Yelled the Gaw at Honey.
"Oh alright," Honey said, defeated and walked back with the others. "But if you don't eat that fish soon then I'll eat it!"
Shortly after Honey regrouped with the others after her fish fiasco with the Gaw. They finally reach the resting place. They opened the door and upon entering they saw a Gaw at the counter, however this Gaw was very different from the ones they had seen so far. This Gaw is a female, for she had pink scales, white claws, and a white cute apron on her round body. Around the shop, they saw more Gaws sitting on the tables enjoying their food, drinks and playing poker.
The female Gaw looked delighted seeing Sonic and the gang and went to greet them for she was very curious about. "Oh I never seen you like any of you! I love when we get visitors at least when we get some hehehe gaw." She said, giving the group a beaming smile.
"Aw this one is adorable." Honey said, as Selena agreed with her.
"Aw thanks dear!" The female Gaw said, blushing. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is…."
"Let me guess, it's Gaw isn't it?" Sonic said, trying to beat her to the punch.
The female Gaw giggled at Sonic's answer. "No but you're close. My name is Lady Gaw-Gaw." She answered.
"Don't let her adorable face get to you. She has quite the Poker Face when she plays against us in a game of cards." One of the Gaws said, from the table he was sitting at with the others.
"Of course she does." Sonic said, blandly as he looked at the viewers reading this.
"Well don't you all look a bit worn out. Come! I'll serve you something good." Gaw-Gaw said.
The gang nodded as they followed the pink dragon over to the counter. As they arrived, Gaw-Gaw handed them a food menu. The menu was mostly fish based meals but some of the appetizers involved cooked rats, which Sonic and the gang quickly skipped over. They all picked the normal looking fish meal that looked good to them.
Once they all placed their orders, Gaw-Gaw put on a little chef's hat and brought out a kitchen knife in one hand and a frying pan with the other. The gang watched and were surprised by how fast Gaw-Gaw was cooking. She was cutting fruits and vegetables with one hand and cooking the fish in a frying pan with the other. She would switch positions by turning around and continue cooking without being slowed down.
In the matter of minutes, Gaw-Gaw placed everyone's order on the table in front of them. Sonic, Selena, Tails, Honey, and Knuckles looked down at their plate as it was steaming some smoke showing it was hot and ready. Everyone looked at each other and grabbed a fork.
They all took a bite of their food at the same and their eyes bursted out as they instantly sparkled in delight. They began eating their food to savor the taste of fried fish. Honey, on the other hand, was enjoying it more than the rest as she demanded another plate of fried fish, which Gaw-Gaw was happy to make her.
"Wow! This is so good!" Tails said, before taking another bite.
"How can you cook so fast and still make it good?" Sonic said, while munching his meal.
"Well you live in the village of Gaws, you need to prepare yourself for them. They get crazy hungry during the lunch hour." Gaw-Gaw answered.
Sonic then reaches for something from his hammerspace. He pulled a handful of rings and placed them on the tables towards the pink dragon
"Will you take this as payment? I'm not sure what you guys here accept as payment here." Sonic asked, sliding the gold rings.
Gaw-Gaw took one of Sonic's gold rings from the table. She looked at the gold ring carefully, examining every part of it. The small pink dragon then took a soft bite on it and smiled at it.
"Sure! These will work as payment!" She said, taking the rings off the table.
With their meals paid off thanks to Sonic, everyone continued to enjoy their meals to their heart's desire, especially Honey who was already her fourth bowl of fish. Everyone had a smile except Selena who was frowning as she carefully ate her food. Despite being deep in her food, Honey was quick to see the worry look on the female hedgehog's face.
"Is something wrong Selena? Are you not enjoying your meal?" The cat asked, making everyone else look at Selena.
"No, the meal is great! Really good indeed." Selena said, giving Gaw-Gaw a smile.
"Then what's wrong?" Tails asked.
Selena frowned again. "It's just I'm worried about the Gaw we met when we first arrived in the wind cave. I haven't seen him anywhere in the Gaw village." Selena explained.
"Hey yeah, what happened to that guy?" Sonic said, remembering the Gaw from before.
"We have to thank him for leading us here. Otherwise we wouldn't be here eating these delicious dishes." Honey said, wanting to thank the little dragon.
"You saw a Gaw near the wind cave?" Gaw-Gaw said, surprised.
"Yeah, he was watching us fight off the monsters to get here." Selena said. "But we haven't seen him since we entered the Fossil Rock entrance."
"That can't be right. No Gaws are allowed to leave Gaw Village until further notice." Gaw-Gaw said.
"How come?" Knuckles said, wondered.
"The area has recently been overrun by these monsters. The same ones you fought to get here." Gaw-Gaw said before giving a mean frown. "It's because of him."
"Who's him?" Sonic asked, curious.
"Go-"
Before Gaw-Gaw could answer, a Gaw bursted in the place with a worried look. "Everyone! Can I have your attention! A Gaw has been found and it's calling out for help! The Boney Rubbler has captured some Gaws and is holding them hostage! Gaw!" Said the blue dragon.
All the Gaws in the building began to panic and began to worry about their Gaw brothers. They started running around not knowing what to do, except for who was switching his poker cards for better ones while others were busy panicking. Gaw-Gaw was crying as she bit her white apron fearing the lives that the Boney Rubbler captured were in danger.
"Oh those poor Gaws! How is the Boney Rubbler near! I thought we blocked the upper entrances!" Gaw-Gaw said, scared.
Sonic jumped off his seat and made a loud whistle noise. The whistle was loud enough to catch everyone's attention and calm them down. They turned to look at Sonic who was waving his hands in the air to get everyone's attention.
"Well I'll help you get the Gaws back!" Sonic said, offering his help.
"You will?" Said one of the Gaws.
"Sure, it's the least we could do after you guys invited us to your village to rest and eat. Besides, we got to burn these calories off from our bodies and the fighting this Boney Rubbler guy will do it." Sonic said, smirked.
The rest all stood up next to Sonic and agreed to help to fight the Boney Rubbler. "Just take us to the place and we'll take it from there." Selena said, looking at her twin as they both nodded at each other.
"Oh thank you! The Bone Rubbler has been causing us trouble the moment he arrived here! He's been hunting us non stop since then! Gaw!" Gaw-Gaw said, crying tears of joy and did the other Gaws who cried.
Sonic and the others smiled as a group of Gaws decided to help by leading where the lost Gaw were. As they left, Gaw-Gaw and the rest of who stayed behind all clapped and cheered for Sonic and the gang.
"Good luck! Give that mean old Boney Rubbler a beat for everyone for Gaw village! Gaw!" Gaw-Gaw cheered.
The gang left Gaw Village, leading the way were two Gaws. They walked behind the two small dragons as they walked in front of the gang. Everyone prepared themselves in case any enemy tried to sneak up and attack them. Sonic and others were amazed by how the Gaws were able to navigate through the cave purely by instinct which is not surprising considering this was their home.
They kept walking until the two Gaws came to a stop. The group stepped forward and looked down below. They saw a deep draft in the cave that looked like it led to the lower part of the area, lower than the wind cave.
"Is this the place?" Knuckles asked.
The two Gaws nodded their heads. "Yes, we heard a fellow Gaw brother yell for help down there about the Boney Rubbler gaw." Said one of them.
"We were afraid to go down for we thought it could be a trap set up by the Boney Rubbler gaw." Said the other Gaw.
"Understood, get back to the village. It's best you guys stay safe just in case." Selena said.
The two Gaws nodded and began making their way back home, hoping that the group of heroes could rescue their friends and defeat the monster causing them harm. Sonic and the gang jumped down the deep draft because they wanted to save the Gaws as soon as possible.
Before Sonic and Selena could touch the ground, they grabbed Tails and Honey gently grabbed them and placed them on the ground to avoid any fall damage. Knuckles glided down to meet with the rest.
Upon landing on the ground and looking around. A Gaw's head appeared from behind a rock looking at the group. Selena saw the Gaw and smiled, seeing it was the same Gaw they first met from the wind cave for it was giving that same mean glare from the rock he was hiding from.
"Oh hey! There you are! I've been looking all over you! You really had me worried you know! I'm glad to see you're safe." Selena said, giving a caring smile to the Gaw.
At first, the Gaw just stares at Selena with his mean glare. His face then started to tear up and frown as he bit his lips to fight his emotion. Not being able to hold it in any longer, Gaw then ran towards Selena and jumped towards her.
Selena was quick to react and caught Gaw in her arms. Gaw just held Selena tight as his small hands could as he cried on her.
"Ooohhh! You have no idea how good your pasty blue face looks to me right now!" The Gaw said, making Selena chuckle and patted the head of the little dragon.
"Thanks to you, we are able to make it your village." Honey said, smiling.
"Yeah, thanks a lot." Sonic said, giving thumbs up.
Gaw gave a smile at the rest before looking up at Selena's emerald eyes. "My friends are up ahead, in Boney Rubbler's prison. You gotta help them ! Gaw!" The Gaw said.
"No need to worry, we're already on it. We're happy to know you're okay. The rest are waiting back in Gaw village. Think you can get back there while we fight the Boney Rubbler?" Selena asked.
"I can't at the moment. I hurt my wing when the Boney Rubbler was chasing me down here." Gaw said, showing his injured dragon wing. "Without my wings in good condition. I can't fly my way up the draft gaw."
Selena turned to Knuckles, "Hey Knucky, can you help carry Gaw up the draft so he can get back to the village?" Selena asked the echidna politely.
Knuckles couldn't help but blush hearing Selena call him Knucky, it almost made him lose balance to stand up straight as his heart beat in joy. He quickly got a hold of himself and kept his cool.
"Of course, I'll help the little guy get back." Knuckles said.
"You're a great friend Knuckles, thank you." Selena smiling at the echidna.
Before Knuckles could take Gaw up the draft. Selena gave one last look at Gaw and smiled at him. "We'll get your friends back. I promise." She said.
The Gaw nodded and smiled at the blue female hedgehog. Selena then went Knuckles and placed Gaw on his back. Gaw grabbed a hold of Knuckles' back tightly as he started to climb up the draft with his fist. The gang waited for Knuckles who quickly came back after a minute of waiting.
Knuckles smiled, "He's safe, the little guy is gonna be alright." He said.
"Great! Let's beat this Boney Rubbler!" Selena said, getting her sword ready.
They started running, feeling a little bit less stress they saved one of the Gaws before the Boney Rubbler could get him. They kept running until they reached the end of the straight pathway.
The place was wide and mostly empty, not a single enemy in sight. They stood still in case a skeleton enemy would randomly pop from the ground to attack them. Their eyes turned over to the other side where there was another entrance which was a large dark hollow cave. A loud neigh sound was then heard from the other side of the area and then followed by a loud clopping sound that echoed the area.
On the other side of the area, a pair of red glowing eyes was visible in the dark cave. It wasn't the only one because another pair of red eyes appeared on top of it. Slowly coming out from the other entrance was a skull of a horse and attached on its back was a torso, a skeleton shaped man who was holding a long white sword with its left hand.
The size of the horse and skeleton were much larger than the skeletons they fought in the cave. The skeleton torso looked at the gang with its red glowing as and ready his white sword. The skeleton horse just gave a loud neigh sound ready to battle Sonic and his friends before charging in at them.
The Boney Rubbler ready got his big white sword ready and swung it with great force at the gang. They dashed back from the attack, but despite avoiding it they could feel the amount of pressure it gave from just one swing.
The huge skeleton then laid his eyes on Selena since she was the one with a sword in her hand. He swung his sword at her as Selena swung back. The two were put in a sword fight as they both deflected their attacks. Selena had to be careful and hit her attacks perfectly as she reflected that one mistake would lead to a bad injury. At the moment she wished for a shield to help block the attacks.
While the Boney Rubbler was busy attacking the female hedgehog. Knuckles was gliding in the air and aiming for the head of the skeleton to save Selena. The Boney Rubbler saw the echidna coming from his blind spot as he spun his skeleton head in a 360 rotation and split his body apart from the horse to avoid the attack.
Everyone was stunned, the horse skeleton was using its front legs to stand while the torso part of Boney Rubbler was using the horse's back legs as his own two legs to stand. Rubbler and his horse spread out and attacked the group.
The horse head was trying to stomp and bite Sonic, Tails, and Honey. The horse was trying to stomp Sonic with his skeleton hoof while trying to catch and bite Tails and Honey who were in the air. Sonic dashed towards the skeleton horse and gave a strong homing attack to its face. Tails and Honey quickly followed and both attacked the skeleton horse on the head as it neighed in pain.
Over to where Knuckles and Selena, the torso part of the Boney Rubbler took a tight grip of his long sword with both hands. He looked at Knuckles and went a powerful down swing, aiming to cut Knuckles in half in one blow. Knuckles prepared himself as he held back the attack, clapping his hands together on the base of the blade before it hit him.
Using his strength. Knuckles did his best to hold back the attack as the Skeleton tried to push down his sword. Knuckles smirked, as he saw Selena jump into the air and attack the Boney Rubbler's face with her sword. The huge skeleton yelled, feeling the pain from the sword, giving Knuckles the chance to make his move and punch the Boney Rubbler on his leg to make it fall to one knee before it rapidly recovered.
The skeleton and the horse then quickly rejoined their bodies back into one and started to run in circles around the area to recover to think of a new plan. Everyone else did the same things as they watched the Boney Rubbler and his horse go in circles, anticipating the next move.
The fight between them went on as the group would keep attacking the heads of the Boney Rubbler and his horse. They had to defeat him while he separated from his horse; it was only then that they became weaker in that state with less bones on their.
Before the Boney Rubbler and his horse Skeleton could merge back together. The gang quickly went in for one final attack. Sonic, Tails, Honey jumped on the head of the skeleton horse and started to redirect it away from the Boney Rubbler and made it start running faster. Meanwhile, Knuckles and Selena were trying to beat to make sure the Boney Rubbler was keeping his eyes on them to distract him.
With one attack to both of them, the Boney Rubbler and his skeleton horse were defeated as the horse skeleton dashed forward to the Boney Rubbler with great force. On impact their bones completely shattered into pieces as the area started to rain from their bone fragments. Both their bodies disappeared from their view in a purple smoke. There was no orb however, but they figured there might not be one with the Boney Rubbler who was easy to defeat once they knew how to beat him.
Once the body of the huge skeleton disappeared, the gang quickly ran to the other side of the area to rescue the kidnapped Gaws. It didn't take long for them to find a couple of Gaws locked away in a room, looking very afraid as they looked at the gang.
"It's okay, no need to worry. We defeated the Boney Rubbler." Selena said, to calm down the small dragons.
"We're here to rescue you, after some Gaws told us you were kidnapped." Honey said, offering a hand.
"It's true. You can head back to Gaw village. Everyone is waiting for you guys." Sonic smiled.
The Gaws couldn't believe what they were hearing as they smiled. "At last! We were beginning to think we'd be here forever! Oh, thank you!" Said the Gaw.
"Oh it was nothing, are you guys okay?" Tails asked.
The Gaws nodded, "Yeah. We're all fine now. Come down to the village so we can thank you all if you properly gaw." Said one of them.
Once they gather all the Gaws, everyone is able to get it out until they reach back to where the draft is. The Gaws didn't think their wings could take them up the draft, but Knuckles offered to carry them on his back while Tails and Honey flew up and Sonic and Selena wall jumped their way up. Before they started climbing the draft, a long rope ladder then appeared. Then a voice can be heard from the very top.
"Hey! If you can hear me! I went back to the village and got a rope ladder! I hope it helps gaw!" Said the blue dragon above them.
Everyone smiled and quickly grabbed the rope ladder to climb back to the top. Once they reach the top. It was smooth sailing from there. It didn't take them long to reach Gaw Village again for the Gaws helped Sonic and his friends lead the way. Once they arrived, all the Gaws and Gaw-Gaw cheered and clapped once they saw the gang set foot back in the village with the missing Gaws that the Boney Rubbler kidnapped.
As Sonic, Selena and the rest were being cheered and praised. One of the Gaws stepped forward and smiled at the gang. "You guys did it! You saved the Gaws and beat Rubbler!" Said the Gaw.
"We're glad we could help." Honey said. Smiling down at the short dragon.
"However!" Yelled the Gaw.
All the little dragons stopped clapping and cheering as they looked at the Gaw looking at the gang with a serious look. Sonic and the gang grew curious about the little Gaw wanted to say. Despite defeating the Boney Rubbler, there still seems to be an issue at hand that has yet to be resolved.
"What's up? Is something wrong?" Selena said.
"May we ask for one more request for you heroes gaw?" The Gaw asked.
"You got it." Honey answered as the rest nodded.
"You may have defeated the Boney Rubbler, but he was just one part of a huge problem we're dealing with here in the caves." Gaw said.
"The Boney Rubbler isn't the thing causing you trouble?" Knuckles asked.
"He wasn't working alone. He was working with someone more fierce than him." Said the Gaw.
"Who?" Said Honey, wondering what the next bad guy is like.
"We want you to defeat a bad dragon called Goradus." Said Gaw.
All the Gaws and Gaw-Gaw gasp hearing the name. The name itself caused the Gaws to look at each other and worry. Some started shaking in fear while some just covered their ears not wanting to hear the name.
"Goradus is big!" Said a Gaw.
"Goradus is scary!" Said another Gaw.
"Goradus huh? Can you tell us more about him?" Tails said, rubbing his chin.
"Goradus is the main reason why all these monsters showed up in our caves. All the Gaws tried to take him down, but we are no match! Gaw!" Said the Gaw. "The Boney Rubbler was a lackey of his that only caused us even more trouble."
"Where is this Goradus?" Sonic asked.
"He's currently living on Panic Peak, the very top of these caves outside. Right now he's sleeping but news of the Boney Rubbler's defeat is surely gonna wake him up soon gaw." Explained the short dragon.
"Goradus huh? Fine then, we'll take care of this bad dragon for you guys." Selena said, making all the Gaws smile.
"Thank you! We know you guys are the ones to handle Goradus! Beating the Boney Rubbler was proof of that gaw!" Said the Gaw.
One of the Gaws from the crowd flew over to the gang. The Gaw went to Selena and gave her what seems to be a scroll of paper and a key.
"What's this?" She asked.
"We made you guys a map of the caves so you don't get lost in them. The key there is needed to open the door to the hot springs which you all need to get through to reach Panic Peak. We locked the entrance to prevent more monsters coming to us gaw." Gaw said, smiling at the female hedgehog.
"Hot springs!?" Both Selena and Honey said, excitedly as they looked at each other happily and imagined themselves soaking their bodies in nice warm water.
"Thanks! That Goradus is probably the big boss we really need to beat to get what we came for." Sonic said.
"That second orb is soon ours." Tails said, as he and Sonic smiled.
"I can't believe I'm gonna punch a huge evil dragon today." Knuckles said, excitedly. "This adventure keeps getting better."
With that Sonic and the rest said their goodbyes to the Gaws and left Gaw Village once more. Tails was handed over the map he flew in front of the gang as their navigator. The gang travel around the caves taking the correct paths to help avoid the danger and save time from getting lost.
They managed to reach the locked door that Gaw mentioned they have to lock in the monsters in the hot springs. Using the key that was given to them. Opening the door, the hot spring area was crawling with monsters. Selena quickly locked the door behind her to make sure no monsters got through the door.
The hot springs were crawling with skeletons, spikes, Iron Butterflies, and bats. Sonic, Tails, Selena, Honey and Knuckles wanted to waste no time trying to slay every monster they saw. They rushed towards the place as they tried to get to the next area. Sonic would speed boost his way over them. Selena sliced her way through with her sword. Honey kicked the heads of the skeleton to delay them from attacking and chasing. Knuckles punched his way through the enemy.
They all fought their way as they followed Tails who was still leading them in the air. Tails couldn't fight back at the moment because he had to look at the map. All he could do was avoid the bats and iron butterfly that tried to attack him.
Fighting their way through got to the hot springs area and made it to the Deviant Den, where they encountered more the same monsters, but there were many platforms and ledges they had to climb up to. They had to be careful because there were some monsters that were waiting for a sneak attack as they climbed up.
From there it was nothing but climbing, fighting and taking the right path that Tails and the map were leading them. The area was getting brighter as the end of the cave entrance was getting near. Tails put away the map, seeing that they are near their destination.
Leaving the exit, they were greeted by the bright sun that was still high in the air. Their eyes were more hurt by the bright light after being in the cave for so long that it stunned them a bit, but quickly adjusted to the light.
Once they got their visions back, in front of them was a long and wide rocky hallway. At the very end of Panic Peak they saw the fearsome dragon known as Goradus, who was still sleeping. The dragon was huge, a bit bigger than the Wood Golem from Treesun Village. Goradus' scales were green and had a yellow belly scale as his stomach. A sharp pointy horn on the tip of his nose.
The dragon was sleeping the same way a cat or dog would as it curled up its body to sleep comfortably. Goradus was letting out puffs of white smoke clouds every time it snored, which was very loud as the gang could hear it from where they were standing.
The snoring was so loud and powerful, small chunks of the rocky hallway fell from the ceiling. Even the ground shook from the snoring. Just by the snores only, they could tell Goradus can cause major trouble or damage, not only to them or the Gaws from Gaw village. To anyone if Goradus decided to leave the area cause mayhem to the world.
The group slowly approached the dragon trying their best not to make any unusual sounds that might wake up the green dragon, tippy toeing carefully. The gang would quietly whisper to each other, as they made their way towards Goradus who was still sleeping, peacefully.
"I know he's a bad guy and all, but I don't want to disturb his sleep. He looks kinda adorable in that way." Honey said, whispering to her friends.
"Don't get soft Honey, remember this big dragon is the reason why we came here to get the second orb." Knuckles whispered back.
"I know, but as a cat myself. I know what it's like to have a good nap." Honey said, quietly answering.
"Since it's still sleeping, maybe we can strike him down in one attack and while his defense is down." Tails suggested.
"I don't know, it seems kinda cheap? Don't you think so?" Knuckles said to Tails.
"Attacking someone in their sleep just feels unfair, you know?" Selena said, somewhat not liking the idea.
Tails raise an eye at the red echidna and female hedgehog. "We're talking about a large dragon you know? A dragon that can literally eat us in one bite if he catches us." Tails said, trying his best not to sound loud.
"I suppose you're right. The sooner we beat this guy, we go get the next orb." Selena said.
"What do you think we should do?" Sonic asked.
"Aim for the weak spot. Selena, use your sword and stab the dragon on its forehead." Tails whispered to her as she nodded.
As the crew got closer, they had to stay completely silent and rely on hand signals to speak. Selena stepped forward and continued to tippy toe her way towards Goradus. She began to slowly take out her sword and held tightly to make sure she didn't drop it. The rest stayed back, watching the female hedgehog go.
Selena was feets away from the dragon, she did her best to deal with the white smoke that was around the around due to him snoring it out. She ready her sword and aims for the forehead, hoping it would defeat the dragon in one shot or give it a big disadvantage if he wakes up and they have to fight it.
Right as Selena was about to stab the dragon, the tail of Goradus went up and slammed down the ground to find a more comfortable spot to lay on. The power of the tail caused the ground to shake hard, Selena in her position couldn't keep her balance as she fell to the ground. Sonic and others quickly worried, fearing Selena's fall would wake Goradus.
Selena and others looked back up and saw the dragon to still see it sleeping peacefully. All of them quietly sigh in relief, however Selena quickly panics once more when she sees something on the floor. On the ground was the green orb that she had in her hammer space and it was rolling over to Goradus.
Sonic and the others panic once more seeing the green orb roll towards the sleeping dragon. Selena, having no choice, but to leap forward and grab the orb in time before it touched Goradus. She sighs quietly as the orb is back into her hand. Just as she thought it was over, Selena then noticed that her sword was poking the nose of the dragon.
Selena made a hard gulp noise from her throat and the others started panicking again. Goradus slowly opened his eyes for he felt Selena's sword poking his nose, slowly waking up from his slumber. Selena backed up and went to group with the others with the green orb in her hand.
Goradus stood up on its two feet, his eyes still half closed for he was still drowsy. The dragon stretched his arms before letting out a loud and strong yawn that pushed the crew back a bit from where they were standing. The dragon then scratched his nose where it felt something that woke him up. As he was scratching, his vision was getting clear and saw the gang standing in front of him.
At first he gave a curious look to why these five strange individuals had come to him during his sleep. His eyes quickly widened when he saw Selena and saw what she was holding in her hand. The female hedgehog was holding the green orb, the orb that belonged to his comrade the Wood Golem.
It took a moment for Goradus to realize that the gang in front of him were planning to take his orb and were enemies to the Masters of Evil. The dragon fully woke up as he gave a ferocious look. The top of his head became red, showing that the dragon was furious at the gang, not only because they woke him from his sleep, but also had defeated his ally the Wood Golem and the Boney Rubbler if they made it this far.
Gordaus then opened his mouth wide open, Sonic and others prepared themselves as they backed away from the dragon. The inside of the dragon's mouth started glowing. In the matter of seconds, a huge big ball of fire was shot out and headed towards Sonic and the crew.
With seconds to spare, the gang avoided the attack as they jumped out of the way. They looked back to see Goradus slowly walking towards the gang, shaking the ground as it walked. The heroes quickly got back up and prepared themselves.
"Looks like we're gonna fight this guy." Knuckles said, his fighting stance.
"For a wingless dragon he's quite something." Honey said, also her fighting stance.
"We can do it. I know we can." Sonic said, smiling.
"It's time we earn ourselves the title of dragon slayer." Selena said, smirking.
Goradus stopped walking towards the group. The huge dragon then raised his foot and stomped on the ground. The ground shook violently as if an earthquake was the cause of it. Sonic then looked up and saw some huge falling rocks coming down from the ceiling of the rocky hallway.
"Everyone! Watch out!" Sonic yelled, pointing up.
Everyone looked up to see numerous big spiky rocks about to pour on them. The gang split as they did their best to avoid the falling rocks. All the huge rocks splattered down as they made impact. They did their best as they dash and jumped around avoiding the rocks. All except Knuckles who stood his ground and punched every single rock that was falling on him, knowing they were easy to break with his fist.
Goradus was able to get close enough to the group while they were distracted. As it wasn't bad enough for the gang, the large green dragon sent out another large fireball from its mouth. However, the huge fireball then split into small multiple fireballs, giving the gang more pressure as they now have to avoid the falling rocks from above and fireballs heading towards them.
The falling of the rocks soon came to an end and all was left were the fireballs the gang had to avoid. Goradus grew an evil smirk seeing the looks the gangs' faces were making when trying to avoid the rocks. The huge dragon was planning to do it again as he started to raise his foot.
Sonic gritted his teeth at the dragon and quickly activated his speed boost as a blue aura covered his body. Building enough speed, Sonic dashed towards Goradus, jumped in the air, and hit him on the chest with his sound dash. It prevented Goradus from giving a hard stomp on the ground and pushed him back. It also almost made him fall down to his back, but the dragon kept his balance.
Goradus looked back up and saw the gang running towards him together at the same time. The dragon prepared himself, ready to take down this group of heroes and hopefully please his masters and earn himself a long sleep he hoped to have after all this.
Sonic and the gang all jump and attack the dragon. They hit the dragon in all different areas of his body, legs, chest, face, and arms. Goradus doesn't seem to be fazed by any of their attacks as he took their attacks because his body was very sturdy because of his scales. The dragon uses his raw strength to push back the gang away from him.
The gang split as they dash and flew around the dragon. Goradus would try to stomp Sonic and Selena his feet, but would miss due to how fast the town hedgehog moves. Tails and Honey would attack from the air, but Goradus would either try to bite them or shoot multiple fireballs. Knuckles would try his best to punch the dragon, but his attacks would be blocked by Goradus' stomach which was hard as a shell and would try to uppercut his chin when he could.
Seeing that their attacks weren't working, Knuckles thought of something that might give him and the rest advantage in the fight. While Goradus was busy defending himself against Sonic and the rest. Knuckles carefully walked around the dragon to get behind him.
Knuckles stood behind the dragon and saw that his tail was wide open, as it wagged left and right to help with his movement. Knuckles dashed towards the dragon's tails and tried to grab it as it wagged left and right.
He grabbed the tail once he saw the chance. With the tails on his grip, Knuckles was planning to give Goradus a spin and slam his body around. Goradus quickly saw Knuckles behind and immediately pulled his tail up just before Knuckles could swing him around. With enough force, Goradus flung Knuckles off his tail and made him crash against the wall.
Knuckles yelled in pain on impact and fell off to the floor. The gang got worried seeing Knuckles in pain and Sonic quickly dashed over to check on his friend while Selena, Tails and Honey kept the dragon busy away from Sonic and Knuckles. Sonic helped get the rocks that were on Knuckles and helped him get back to his feet.
"You alright?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Been hit harder than believe it or not." Knuckles said, stretching his back.
The echidna continues to stretch his back as he watches Goradus fight the rest of the gang on his own. "That dragon may be big, but he's quite smart." Knuckles said.
"There has to be a way to beat that guy, nobody is completely invincible." Sonic said, as he and Knuckles examined the dragon from where they were.
Knuckle's eyes then shifted to some shiny on the ground. He looked carefully at what it was. Upon further examination, it looked like a scale that belonged to Goradus that was shining the sun's light. Sonic and Knuckles looked back at the dragon with a more careful look as they looked at him from different angles.
When Goradus looked up tried to bite Tails in the air. That's when both Sonic and Knuckles noticed something. Under where the chin was at, they found an exposed part of the dragon's skin that wasn't being shielded by his scale. It was hard to tell because the skin was green and blended in his green scale body. Knuckles realize that the uppercut he gave earlier might have been what caused the scale to fall off.
Now realizing this, Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other with smirks, seeing they had a chance to beat this dragon. The two ran back towards their friends to share the information to them.
"Guys we got some news to beat this dragon!" Sonic said, as he kept his eyes on Goradus.
"Well you better tell us quickly! I don't think we can last any longer!" Selena yelled as she avoided a fireball.
"We have to attack its weak point!" Knuckles said to them
"A weak point? You guys found one?" Honey asked.
"More like Knuckles made one." Sonic answered.
"Right under its chin, he has an exposed spot that isn't covered by his scale after I uppercutted him. It's small but we should be able to damage him." Knuckles pointed out.
Selena, Tails, and Honey looked carefully at the spot where Knuckles mentioned and saw it. Like Knuckles said, it was small which made it almost unnoticeable if the Knuckles didn't tell them. The three smiled now knowing what to do and nodded.
Tails and Honey flew into the air, while in the air the two taunted Goradus by blowing a raspberry. Goradus got easily annoyed by this as the top of his head turned red in anger and raised his head up to shoot multiple fireballs at them.
While looking up, Goradus' neck was wide open for an attack. Sonic, Selena, and Knuckles quickly took the chance to attack the weak spot. Sonic went in and did his homing attack. Knuckles was next and punched Goradus' exposed skin, and lastly Selena used her sword to give the dragon a slash with it.
Goradus' eyes widen and roar, feeling pain he received by three as they attack his neck. Even more furious, the large green dragon started to head charge towards Sonic, Selena, and Knuckles. He kept doing that so he could prevent them from attacking his neck.
It was troublesome, for Sonic and the others had to dodge the attacks and time it. There were small glimpses where Goradus would leave himself wide open for a few seconds giving the gang to attack. The dragon would often attack with his tail making sure they don't attack him where it hurts.
Sonic then thought of an idea that could help finish the dragon. Sonic ran towards the dragon and stood behind it. From there he started to run and climb the dragon's back and reach the top of his head.
The hedgehog made himself visible as he showed himself between the dragon's eyes as he sat on his head. The dragon was caught by surprise to see the hedgehog sitting on his head. Sonic then teases the dragon by pulling his eye down and sticking out his tongue in a teasing way.
Goradus got mad right away that the hedgehog was mocking him. He tried to use his arms to reach for the hedgehog but couldn't his hands couldn't reach his head.
"Aw what's the matter? Those tiny arms of yours can't reach me?" Sonic teases, giving a baby face.
The dragon got more furious and tried to shake Sonic off his head. Sonic held tightly as he did his best not to be thrown off. The rest of the gang knew what Sonic was doing by riding on the dragon's head. Goradus was currently blinded by rage that Sonic was causing and he kept trying to get off his head.
Doing so the neck area was completely exposed once again. Everyone prepared themselves once more as they went for one last attack together. Tails threw a flying punch, Honey went for a dive kick, and Knuckles with a strong uppercut.
Selena was the last to attack, she bursted out in the aura of her speed boost and position herself. She dashed off in a blur and went for a powerful thrust, stabbing the dragon's neck deep with her sword. Goradus felt great pain and as the strength of Selena's attack combined with her speed boost made him fall on his back but not before letting out one last roar of pain.
Goradus' body hit the ground as Sonic jumped off his head before it did. Selena was still on the dragon's body as her sword was still stabbed inside the neck. Selena twisted her sword and stabbed the dragon deeper with it as much as she could.
Selena then pulled out her sword from the neck and jumped off the dragon. She regrouped with the others as they watched Goradus lay on the floor. They all kept their eyes on him for a moment until they saw his hand twitch.
At first they thought the battle wasn't over for Goradus was getting back up but instead the rest of Goradus's body started shaking uncontrollably. Goradus' body began to glow bright and then the next everyone knew was his body then bursted out in a large purple smoke.
Sonic quickly ran around and created some soft winds to blow the smoke away from everyone. When the smoke finally cleared, everyone looked back to where the Goradus was once laying and saw a glowing yellow orb on the ground.
Everyone sighs in relief seeing they have finally defeated the dragon. Selena walked towards and picked it up as she smiled at friends and showed the orb up close to them.
"We did!" Honey said, happily. "We did it again!"
"At least we can rest up a bit." Tails said, not worrying to fight at the moment.
"That's two orbs, just two more to go!" Sonic said, getting pumped.
"The adventure continues." Knuckles said, smiling.
Selena put away the orb in her hammer space and smiled at Knuckles. "Awesome job Knuckles! Without you making that weak spot for us. We have been roasted alive and be Goradus' afternoon lunch." Selena said, praising the echidna.
"Yeah Knuckles, you really help us there." Tails said, smiling at him.
"You're the man Knuckles!" Honey said, praising her friend.
"Not bad man, not bad." Sonic teased, nudging his elbow on echidna.
Knuckles smiled at the praises, "Thanks everyone, I'm just glad we're able to beat that dragon." He said.
"Let's tell everyone in Gaw Village the news. I'm sure they will be thrilled." Selena said, ready to head back.
"It should be a breeze getting back there. With Goradus defeated, the monsters in the caves should also disappear." Tails said, feeling more relaxed getting back.
"Let's not keep the Gaws waiting then." Sonic said, as he and others started making their way back.
Back over to Gaw village, all the Gaws were gathered around in one place. Many of them were scared and worried since Sonic and the others decided to take on Goradus. Some were playing possible scenarios on their heads that the gang got eaten alive and Goradus was preparing to go on a rampage around the area they live.
Some thought the monsters from the caves were heading there to the village to invade them. Some Gaws were debating leaving the village for they didn't want to be anywhere near the danger that Goradus might cause. One of the Gaws that Selena met in the wind cave was very worried about her and was hoping she would come back safe.
As the Gaws kept waiting, they heard footsteps from the entrance of their village. They looked over to see five mysterious figures walking towards the village. It was quickly revealed to be Sonic, Selena, Tails, Honey, and Knuckles walking towards.
While they were relieved to see him back, they have yet to receive the news about Goradus if they haven't beaten him. They got their answers as Selena then pulled out the yellow orb and showed it to all the Gaws.
"Goradus is no more!" Selena yelled out loud.
The Gaws instantly smiled and cheered as they jumped up and down. The gang smiled seeing the Gaws be happy, knowing they can live their lives normally and walk around the caves once more with no monsters around. Selena was then tackled by the Gaw she first met and gave her a happy look as tears of joy dripped from his eyes.
"You guys did it! You beat Goradus! We finally have our home safe again! Gaw!" Gaw said, crying.
"Told ya, we'll beat him." Selena said, giving a wink and thumbs up at the little dragon.
One of the Gaws then stepped forward, looking at the group with a big smile. "This calls for a celebration!" Said the Gaw.
"Come join us for a bit! We know you have a journey! But let's have a little fun before you guys leave! Gaw!" Said the small dragon.
"Yeah why not? It's not everyday you get to party with some dragons." Sonic shrugged his shoulders as everyone decided to stay for a bit and rest their bodies.
The Gaws in the village then started to play some music that made the others Gaw start dancing happily. Some were using instruments while others were using their stomach to make a beat. It was surprisingly catchy to the ears as Sonic and gang danced to the rhythm.
Sonic was dancing next to his sister Honsy as they two enjoyed themselves. Close to them were Tails and Knuckles, Tails dancing in the air with the other Gaws flying next to him and Knuckles doing simple dance moves. Close by was Selena who was dancing with the Gaw she was mostly attached to, the two danced next to each other. Selena used the green and yellow orb that she got from the Wood Golem and Goradus as her glowing party sticks as she danced.
Everyone kept partying as Sonic, Selena and the gang prepared themselves for the next part of their adventure where the yellow orb will lead them. Fully confident they can get the next orb together as the group they are, but little did they know the next part of their quest was gonna be the toughest one yet to obtain the third orb.
End of chapter 4