Chapter 41: Hydo
"Tangle's Space Log,
Yup, that's right! THIS IS A SPACE LOG NOW BABY! WE ARE IN SPACE!
… Though this is not the first time I've been in space… but still, first time we are actually EXPLORING space! Isn't that cool?!
… Oh yeah, probably should get you up to speed!
If you guessed that Eggman is up to no good again… you'd be wrong! Yeah! Ain't that a twist?!
It all started during that meteor shower a while back (it's been like, a week since then now). An alien girl name Cosmo crash landed nearby and we helped her out. Then, this evil space army called the Metarex invaded, stole something called a planet egg from our planet, and dipped. That egg thingy is SUPER important, and our planet is now DYING cause of it being gone! (What a bunch of jerks!)
So, between that, and because SOMEONE (Sonic) decided it was smart to scatter the Chaos Emeralds in space, we are now on a journey to save get the Planet Egg, find the emeralds and save the universe!
Oh! And Chris is here too! Yeah, remember him? He's all grown up now! Don't know how THAT works, but apparently it's been six years for him? Crazy stuff… he's also totally dating Helen now, but he denies it. It's obvious though.
So yeah! That pretty much sums it all up! I'm currently chilling in the bridge as everyone is prepping to land on a planet named 'Hydo.'
Sounds kinda like hydro… meaning water… though, that cosmic guidebook Cosmo lent Sonic says that it should be a desert planet. He seems really excited to just go for a run when we land too.
Makes sense, not really much room to do that on the ship.
Anyways, we're just now entering the atomsphere, so time to get moving! The first Chaos Emerald is here after all!"
Tangle closed her journal, and stood up.
"Atmosphere." Jewel said from behind her.
"Huh?"
"It's called the atmosphere, not atomsphere." Jewel explained.
Tangle just looked confused for a moment before realizing what Jewel meant.
"Riiiiiiight, ok." Tangle said, shrugging. "It's my private thoughts and log of our adventures, I'm allowed to make some mistakes."
Jewel couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey?! What gives?!" Sonic suddenly shouted.
Looking over to the hedgehog, they saw him looking out the window at the planet.
When Tangle took a look herself, she saw nothing but water.
"… Didn't that book say this place was supposed to be a desert?" Tangle asked.
"Yeah! Cosmo?!" Sonic asked, looking very worried.
"That is strange… I don't think it's ever been wrong for me before…" Cosmo said.
"Eh, is it really a big deal?" Tangle asked.
"It's a VERY big deal!" Sonic said before looking down, clearly upset.
Tangle just began smirking.
"Come on you big baby! I'm sure we'll find some nice dry land for you to sulk on while we go and save the universe!" She said in a teasing tone.
Sonic looked a bit annoyed at this.
"Hey! You wouldn't be making fun if we had to shove you in a tight space to find a Chaos Emerald!" Sonic said.
"Psh, like we'd ever need to do that!" Tangle said with a smirk.
Then, she noticed something…
Tails and Chris were looking at her with a look of… sympathy?
"Uh… what's up guys?" Tangle asked.
Tails and Chris just looked to each other, before sighing.
"So, we actually came prepared for a water planet…" Tails said.
"Ok, and?"
"Well…"
"OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Tangle shouted as she saw the, quite small, submarines that the group needed to travel in.
"Sorry!" Tails said sadly. "We figured if there was a water planet, there'd be a good chance the emerald would be under water! So we made submarines to explore the ocean floor!"
"But did you have to make them this small?!" Tangle asked frantically.
"They wouldn't have fit on the ship if we made them bigger!" Tails said. "I'm sorry, but we couldn't be picky about it!"
"No wayyyyyy…" Tangle said dejectedly.
Sonic saw this, and despite feeling that this was karma hitting her hard, he felt bad for her.
"Hey, guess we're in the same boat then, huh?" Sonic said. "Or uh… submarine…"
Tangle didn't respond verbally, and just nodded.
"Anyways, we figured Tangle wouldn't be uh… alright with these, so she's gonna stick in mine." Chris explained. "And Sonics is connected to it, so that'll take care of him too, alright?"
Sonic just laughed feebly at that.
Before long, everyone was in their submarines, and taking off into the ocean…
Tangle and Sonic were NOT having a good time.
Sonic had almost immediately gotten seasick upon hitting the water, and Tangle was curled up into a ball and rocking herself back and forth behind Chris…
It didn't help that, for a reason Tangle had no idea of, they completely lost control of the sub just a couple of minutes into the journey.
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING MEEEEEEEEEE!" Tangle and Sonic shouted at the same time.
Meanwhile, everyone else, minus Tails who had stayed behind, made landfall.
"Hear anything from them?" Amy asked Tails through her communicator.
"No, sorry. I'm sure they're fine though! Chris is with them, and I'm sure he'll pilot them to safety!" Tails said.
"Alright, guess we'll have to start looking without them then." Amy said as she hung up.
"So uh… is there really a Chaos Emerald here?" Cream asked Knuckles.
"Of course there is!" Knuckles said with confidence. "My treasure hunting instincts are never wrong after all!"
Everyone just stared at him, completely unsure whether or not they should believe his "Instincts."
"What about you Jewel? What do you think?" Cosmo asked.
Jewel looked like she was completely caught off guard by this, and jumped slightly at the question.
"Wh-why are you asking me?" Jewel asked.
"… I mean, your name is Jewel, I thought that meant you were good at tracking down Jewels…" Cosmo explained.
Everyone seemed to look surprised at this.
"… What makes you think my name has to do with any of that?" Jewel asked.
Cosmo seemed to be confused on why that was so… well, confusing of a concept.
"I mean, Knuckles has spiked knuckles, Sonic is fast, Tails has his tails… just seems to make sense I guess." Cosmo explained.
Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.
"I… Guess that makes sense… Jewel?" Amy asked.
"I… think I was just named this way because of my shell, nothing else." Jewel said sadly. "Sorry…"
Knuckles simply smirked at this.
"Eh, it's no problem. Not everyone has the instincts like mine!" Knuckles said as he pulled out his shovel claws. "Now, I'm gonna go and find that emerald!"
And just like that, he began rapidly digging.
Jewel just watched him dig off into the sunset… and began thinking.
'That's right… I can't fight, I'm not good with machines, I don't have a knack for finding treasure…
why am I even here again?'
Cream seemed to notice the sad look on Jewel's face, and pulled out a children's beach play set.
"Let's get digging too!" Cream said, handing Jewel a very small shovel.
Jewel couldn't help but smile at Cream.
It was clear she was trying to make her feel better.
"Right!" Jewel said, before the trio of Cream, Jewel and Cosmo began digging a very small hole in the sand.
"… I'm… gonna go look somewhere else." Amy said before walking away.
As she was digging, Jewel only had one thought.
'I hope Tangle is alright…'
"That… was awful…" Tangle said as she laid on her back, finally on dry land and out of the submarine.
Looking towards the submarine, she saw Chris supporting Sonic, who had just as bad of a time as she did during that whole… experience.
Suddenly though, she noticed a shadow covering her.
Chris and Sonic seemed to notice what it was, and suddenly looked ready to fight.
"… There's a Metarex behind me… isn't there?" Tangle asked.
Sonic and Chris both nodded at this, causing Tangle to turn around slowly.
There was a lot more than one… and they all looked like giant, robotic fish…
"… Ew…"
Springing into action, Tangle leapt into the air and landed next to Sonic and Chris, ready to fight.
"Ok, how do we handle this…" Tangle said, slightly worried.
Sure, there was a large number of them, but it wasn't anything she and Sonic couldn't handle normally…
However, the two of them were both still reeling from the submarine, so it wasn't really a guarantee they'd win this one.
"Don't worry about me, I can handle myself!" Chris said suddenly.
The other two looked at each other, before looking at Chris, doubt written all across their faces.
"I mean it! Tanaka taught me karate! I'm a black belt now!" Chris said, getting into a fighting stance.
"… Right, ok." Tangle said, clearly not believing him.
Chris seemed to notice Tangle's doubts, and stepped forwards.
"I mean it! Just watch!" Chris said.
One of the Metarex began to charge straight at him, but he was able to sidestep the attack at the last moment, something Tangle thought was at least a little impressive, and landed a strong blow onto its temple.
It was clear to Tangle and Sonic that any normal opponent would be reeling from a strike like that…
Unfortunately for Chris though, his opponent was made of solid steel.
"OWWWWWWW!" Chris shouted as he nursed his hand, which was red and pulsing from the strike.
"… Anyways, just stand back and let us handle this!" Tangle said as she stepped in and sent the machine flying with her tail.
"But…"
"Chris!" Sonic said as he was fighting, bouncing around the Metarex like a pinball. "We all have limits! Just leave the fighting to us!"
"But…" Chris started.
Tangle, deciding to focus on the fight, slipped in between the Metarex, tangling her tail between their legs, before using it to launch them into the air.
"Pull!"
Sonic, seeming to understand what Tangle wanted him to do, spin attacked the whole group, destroying all of them.
"And that! Is how it's do-" Tangle started before she got a look at Sonic…
Or rather, what was behind him.
Turning around, Sonic saw a much larger, much more threatening looking Metarex towering over him.
"… Hi?"
The Metarex responded by slapping him, sending him flying and skipping off the surface of the water before he fell in.
"Sonic!" Tangle and Chris shouted.
Suddenly though, more of the smaller ones came out of seemingly no-where, surrounding the two.
Looking around, she saw no way she would be able to beat all of them, plus the boss.
The boss that just used a net to fish Sonic out of the water, capturing him.
"Shoot… Ok!" Tangle said before using her tail to grab Chris.
"Wha-Tangle?!"
"YEET!" Tangle shouted as she chucked Chris towards the submarines.
"Whoa!" Chris shouted as he plunged into the water.
When he resurfaced, he saw Tangle struggling to fight off as many Metarex as possible.
"Chris! Go back to the ship! Get us some backup!" Tangle shouted.
Chris, who wanted to help himself, was about to swim back and help.
"Please! If you get caught, we're sunk!" Tangle shouted.
"She's right Chris! Go!" Sonic also shouted.
Chris stopped his approach, and gave the two of them a worried look.
Then, he nodded, before turning around and climbing into the submarine.
Before long, he was gone.
"Good… the others should be able to get us out no problem…" Tangle said.
Looking around, she saw that she was still completely surrounded.
"Tangle! You try and get out of here too!" Sonic shouted as he was being carried into a nearby building.
"Working on it!" Tangle shouted.
Suddenly, she noticed something.
A weird looking creature, probably one of the planet's inhabitants, was waving to her, probably signaling for her to go that way.
Deciding to follow their instructions, she used her tail to punch through a crowd of Metarex in that direction, before sprinting through the hole in the mob that she made.
When she got to where the creature was, she saw he was holding up a rock, revealing a cave underneath.
She quickly leapt inside, before the creature let the rock drop, concealing the cave entrance.
"Phew! You saved me there! Thanks man!" Tangle said to her savior.
"Oh, it's no problem strange creature!" The creature, presumably a man, said. "Anything for someone who could show those fiends what-for!"
Tangle couldn't help but smile at that.
"Yeah well, we are pretty cool." Tangle said. "Though Sonic kinda got caught…"
"The blue one? Yes… he does seem to be in a pickle doesn't he?" The man said. "Hmm… well, how about you come to our hideout, and you could figure out your next move there!"
Tangle, really didn't need to think about that.
"Honestly, I should just go and find my friends." Tangle said. "We'd be able to help him if we work together no prob!"
The old man smiled at her
"Oh, you mean the others that came in similar ships to yours? Well, they should be in the direction we are going so…"
"Right, to your hideout it is!" Tangle said as she gestured for the man to lead the way.
Before long, though, they saw another resident of the planet heading towards them.
"Dear leader! One of those creatures has found our base!" They said.
"No need to worry! I have confirmed that they are here to help us!" The man said, gesturing to Tangle who just gave them a wave. "Please, take us to them!"
They seemed to nod, before leading the way.
"Huh… wonder who it was that found this place… I'm guessing Jewel." Tangle said to herself.
It wasn't Jewel.
When the group approached the hideout, Tangle was very quick to notice pink quills, meaning that it could only be one person.
"Amy?!" Tangle shouted.
"Huh?" Amy said, turning towards Tangle. "Oh Tangle! There you are!"
Tangle quickly ran over, grinning from ear to ear.
"Thank goodness! Everyone else is alright?" Tangle asked.
Amy nodded at this, before pointing behind her.
"Yeah, they're at a beach over that way looking for the Chaos Emerald… wait, where's Sonic and Chris?"
Tangle just swallowed thickly at this.
"Weeeeelllllll… Chris went back to the Typhoon… and Sonic was… well…" Tangle said, trying to think of the best way to break the news to Amy of all people.
She decided to just rip off the band-aid.
"He got captured by Metarex…"
"… I see…" Amy said, looking down so a shadow was covering her eyes.
Before she looked up, a big smile on her face.
"This is PERFECT!" Amy said happily.
That caught Tangle completely off guard.
"Uh… what?!" Tangle asked.
"Ah, I can just see it now! I will…"
Suddenly, Amy was getting a call on her communicator.
"Oh… who's calling me at a time like this?!" Amy shouted before answering.
"Amy! Thank goodness!" Tangle heard Tails' voice say. "Listen, I got bad news, Chris just got back and…"
"Sonic got captured. I know!" Amy said.
"Huh? How did you…?"
Amy just turned around so Tangle was in view.
"Tangle managed to get away and filled me in! We're underground with some residents of this planet right now!" Amy explained.
Suddenly, Chris came into frame.
"Amy, I'm sorry… I couldn't do anything to help…"
"Ah, don't worry, this needs to happen every so often to teach him a lesson!" Amy explained.
Then… she began to "Amy" as Tangle began calling it.
Amy: Verb
To fantasize about Sonic falling in love with you even though it's the least likely thing in the world at the current moment in time.
She was then caught off from her Amy by Chris.
"Uh… any way that I can help?" Chris asked.
"NO! Don't you dare get in my way Chris!" Amy shouted before hanging up.
"… Uh…"
"And you can just go back to the others, I got this Tangle." Amy said as she pulled out her hammer. "Oh… and by the way, Jewel seemed a bit worried about something earlier… maybe you should talk to her."
That seemed to get Tangle's attention.
"Oh! Uh… yeah. I'll go do that." Tangle said.
"They're that way, good luck finding the Emerald!" Amy said with a point, before she went up to the man from before, who then began leading her with a group.
Deciding that Amy probably had things covered, she went in the direction Amy pointed towards.
One may call her foolish for having so much faith in Amy, after all, she was just one person…
But one thing Tangle learned since meeting the girl, was that if you were in between her and a slightly in danger Sonic…
There was no escape.
When Tangle was finally above ground, she began holding herself up with her tail, to try and get a better view of the area.
The first thing she saw was, who she assumed was Knuckles, digging around the entirety of the land at a rapid pace.
"Eh, probably looking for the Emerald." Tangle assumed.
Before long, she saw a small group digging in a more concentrated area.
She was very quick to notice Jewel's very colorful shell.
"Bingo!" Tangle said as she used her tail to bounce herself forward before jogging over to the group.
"Hey! You guys!" She shouted as she began to approach the group.
When the others saw her, she could visibly see the relief wash over them.
"Tangle! Thank goodness you're alright!" Jewel said happily.
"Hehe, sorry about worrying you guys!" Tangle said. "So, I'm guessing you're looking for the Chaos Emerald?"
"Yeah but…" Cosmo started before looking behind Tangle. "Where are Sonic and Chris?"
"Oh, Chris is back at the Typhoon and Sonic got captured by the Metarex." Tangle said bluntly.
One look at the groups faces told her that she probably could have been more gentle dropping that bit of info.
"WHAT?!" Jewel shouted. "W-We gotta go help him!"
"Amy's on it." Tangle quickly added.
At that moment, everyone, minus Cosmo, became a LOT less worried.
"Oh, well in that case, grab a shovel Ms. Tangle!" Cream said, handing Tangle a tiny shovel.
"Thanks Cream!" Tangle said.
And with that, the group went back to digging…
"Wait, that's it?" Cosmo asked. "Sonic's captured by the Metarex and only Amy is going to rescue him?!"
Everyone just looked to each other, before they all nodded at the same time.
Cosmo's face told a thousand words.
"Trust me… Amy's got this." Tangle said. "When she gets mad, and Sonic being captured is sure to make her mad… no Metarex is safe."
Cosmo seemed to be very confused about this, but decided to trust everyone's judgement.
Then, she realized something.
"Wait… if the Metarex are here… does that mean they have the Planet Egg?!"
That got everyone's attention.
Suddenly, they all put the side of their right fists downwards into their left palm.
"So that's why there's so much water!" They all said in unison.
Cosmo looked a little flabbergasted at their antics.
"Dude, relax! Like I said, Amy's got it covered!" Tangle said. "Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure Tails and Chris are gonna go and give her backup, even though she didn't want it."
This seemed to satisfy Cosmo, who finally calmed down upon receiving that bit of info… she didn't know Chris too well… but from what she saw, Tails was quite dependable.
"Alright… if you say so…"
"Great! Now, let's get digging!" Tangle said. "And don't worry, all that pesky water will be gone before you know it!"
Eventually though, Cosmo got tired, and began laying down, just enjoying the nice weather.
When she did that, Tangle had considered talking to Jewel about what Amy told her earlier, but decided against it.
She figured that Jewel wouldn't want to trouble the others with her problems, and with Cream still around, it would be harder to get her to open up.
She'll talk to her alone later.
However, while she was thinking about this, she noticed that the water began to recede.
"Boom! Told ya they'd get it done!" Tangle cheered.
Looking towards Cosmo, she saw that the girl was just waking up from her nap.
"Ah! I shouldn't be… wait, WHAT?!" Cosmo shouted as she saw that all the water was gone.
Suddenly though, Tangle heard Cream gasp as she began running towards a bunch of rocks.
When she got there, she grabbed and held up…
"Guys look! I found the Chaos Emerald!"
Everyone was incredibly happy about this, and began to cheer.
… Everyone except Jewel.
Tangle noticed this and made a vow in her mind.
She was going to get to the bottom of what was bothering her best friend, even if it was the last thing she did!
… But first, they needed to join back up with Sonic and Amy.
End of Chapter 41
Alright! First full chapter that I have written for this story besides the finale in over two years! Go me! In case you can't tell, I was able to make this one a bit more lengthy than the average chapter for this story. Guess that's probably due to me getting better at this whole thing huh?
Regardless, don't think the whole Jewel subplot there is gonna last too long, I plan on wrapping that up in the next chapter.
Speaking of though, it's actually gonna be a fully original one!
That being said, I can't completely guarantee that I will be able to get it out on time in two weeks. I'll do my best, but uh… I got sidetracked…
I'll just say it, I got a HUGE burst of inspiration for an arc in Act 2, and wrote all of it… all 20 chapters of it. Yeah, really been busy. For context, I think the largest story arc within one of my stores I ever wrote before was the SA2 arc at six chapters… This of course doesn't include full stories.
I will say this, I am really happy with how it came out, and I am 100% going to release it one day… even if one day I decide that I don't want to write this story any more (no intentions of that right now btw) and the same goes for the end of act 1. So don't worry, I'll at the very least be giving you all the ending to this story and that arc someday.
Enough about that though, now that it's done I am going to be full focus on Act 1, so I will do my best to get the next chapter up in time!
So, I'll see you all next time!