Chapter 2: Volcania

"So let me get this straight… some intergalactic warlord is going around some other galaxy, destroying planets and powering himself up, and you need the Chaos Emeralds to go and try and defeat him…" Eggman said through the screen of one of his abandoned bases.

"Yup, and Sage already clued us in on the fact that you have two of them." Tails explained.

"… Sage…" Eggman growled out.

"I only told them about this because I believe this to be a grave danger to your future empire father." Sage explained. "If this Red X gathers enough power and comes here, then even with the Chaos Emeralds we may be in grave danger."

Eggman just groaned at this.

"Alright… fine." Eggman said. "I'll give you the Emeralds under two conditions."

"Name em." Sonic said.

"First, I want my two emeralds back when you are done." Eggman said.

Sonic just looked at him.

"Hey, you're not in the position to bargain!" Eggman shouted.

Sonic just groaned. "Fine… and the other one?"

"… Sage and Metal Sonic accompany you." Eggman explained. "Just to minimize the chance that you lose and give this guy the Emeralds!"

"… Will Metal behave?" Sonic asked.

"I'll make sure of it." Sage said.

Tails then called Sonic over to a huddle.

"If Metal Sonic and Sage are with us, it means that Eggman can't cause nearly as much trouble while we're gone… not to mention we could use the help." He reasoned.

"… Right, yeah." Sonic said, before turning to Eggman. "Fine, we got a deal."

Eggman smirked.

"Good! I'll send Metal Sonic and Sage to the base you are calling from tomorrow morning." Eggman said before hanging up.

Sonic and Tails just looked to each other and sighed.

"Great… just great." Sonic said. "Hopefully they actually DO behave."

"I trust Sage to keep Metal Sonic in line… to an extent." Tails said. "Still though, that makes six Emeralds… just Shadow's left."

"… Right… let's go talk to him." Sonic said.

"Think he'll be willing to give it to us?" Tails asked.

"Oh absolutely!"

"Absolutely not." Shadow said before turning to walk away.

"Oh come on! Why not?!" Sonic asked.

"Cause I don't trust you with it." Shadow said.

"Then come with us! We could use the help!" Sonic said.

"Pass."

Sonic just groaned at this.

"Don't take it personally blue, you know how he is." Rouge said.

Suddenly though… Tails got an idea…

"You know Rouge, this is a planet inhabited by rock people." He said. "I'm willing to bet they have some really pretty gems there that they'd let you mine if you, say, helped save the planet from destruction?"

"… Did you really just steal Tangle's idea?" Sonic asked.

At that moment, Rouge had stars in her eyes, before flying over to Shadow and dragging him over by the quills.

"We're in!" She shouted.

"Wha- DON'T SPEAK FOR ME!" Shadow shouted.

"Oh hush." Rouge said. "Think about it! If we don't stop this guy now, it'll be much more of a headache later, don't you think?"

Shadow just growled at that.

"Fine…"

"… Oh wait, does this mean Omega is coming?" Tails asked.

"… Yeah?" Rouge said confused.

"… That may be a problem on account of Metal Sonic and Sage coming along…" Tails admitted.

Rouge and Shadow looked to each other and glared at Sonic.

"It was the only way Eggman would give us his emeralds, and honestly the help will be nice." He explained.

"… Fine, whatever." Shadow said. "They cause trouble, it's your responsibility."

"Deal."

"And I'll have Omega stay behind… tell him it's in case Eggy causes problems." Rouge said.

Shadow then turned and began walking away.

"See you tomorrow boys!" Rouge said.

"Later!" Sonic said with a wave. "So uh… we got a lot of backup…"

"… I hope Magnus' ship is big enough."

"I'm sure it is." Sonic said with a smile.

"Yeah… my ship is not big enough." Magnus said sadly.

Everyone just groaned at this.

"Welp, guess Tangle is staying behind." Lanolin said in a teasing tone.

"WHAT?!" Tangle shouted, accidentally dropping all the bags she packed.

Sonic just laughed nervously, before turning to the group.

The group WAS kinda large, consisting of himself, Tails, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Tangle and Metal Sonic, with Sage being kept in Tails' Miles Electric.

But still, if he could help it, he'd want the whole group to come along to help…

"Well, good thing I planned for this." Tails said.

Everyone looked at the boy surprised.

"Just, follow me." Tails said before walking towards a nearby mountain.

Everyone just shrugged, before following.

When they arrived, Tails opened a secret keypad, and entered a code, before a door opened.

"… Wait, this mountain…" Sonic said suddenly, realizing something.

"Bout time you noticed." Tails said with a smile.

When everyone got inside, they were flabbergasted.

"I just finished the repairs last night… say welcome back to the Blue Typhoon!"

Everyone just looked on in awe, especially Magnus.

"Wait, you designed this ship?!" He asked.

"Yup! Tails said happily.

"That's incredible!" Magnus said.

"Hehehe…" Tails said, his tails wagging behind him.

"… Tails… I thought you scrapped this thing after… you know." Sonic said sadly.

"… I didn't have the heart to tear it apart." Tails admitted. "Too many precious memories, even if there's one… bad one…"

"… Gotcha." Sonic said. "… Wait, how much sleep did you get last night?"

Tails then looked worried.

"… Enough..."

Now it was Amy's turn to look worried.

"Tails…"

"… Two hours…"

"… Sage is piloting it while you take a nap." Sonic said sternly.

"FIIIIIIIINE!" Tails said as he opened the door to the Typhoon.

This seemed to amuse Magnus.

"All that intellect, but caves under one command by Sonic… fascinating." He said. "Anyways, I assume this ship has warp drive capabilities?"

"Yup, it should be up and running." Tails said.

"Very good, I'll give you the coordinates and meet you on Terrasta." Magnus said.

Tails nodded, before leading him inside.

After plugging Sage into the main computer and getting the coordinates, Tails retired to his room to get some rest.

"Think you'll be able to fly this thing Sage?" Sonic asked.

"Affirmative, father's data on the Blue Typhoon is rather detailed, so flying it should be no issue." Sage answered.

Sonic didn't really want to ask about WHY Eggman had that data, so he decided to leave it for now…

He'd address that once Tails was well rested.

"However, there's the issue of power…" Sage admitted.

"Right… be right back!" Sonic said before speeding away.

A moment later, he was back.

"That should do it!" He said happily.

"Ah, you put the Chaos Emeralds where the Master Emerald used to be." Sage pointed out, noticing the surge of power coming from the engine room.

"Yup, figured he'd have that set up for Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic said. "Now, is everyone ready?"

"YUP!" Tangle said, rushing over to the window.

Everyone else just gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright Sage, take us up!" Sonic said.

"Roger." Sage said, starting the takeoff procedure.

Sonic then walked over to Tangle and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Better brace yourself, the first time going into space is a doozy!" He warned.

"Psh, I'll be fiiiine!" Tangle said with a cocky smirk.

At that moment, the ship shot forward, causing Tangle's legs to give in from under her as she fell to the ground.

A moment later, they were out of orbit.

"… You good?"

"Y-yeah! Totally meant to fall over like that!" Tangle said, using the wall to support herself as she climbed back to her feet.

When she got up, she got a look outside.

"Whoa…"

"Heh, yeah, space is pretty cool." Sonic said, looking out.

Tangle pulled a camera out of her tail and took a picture, before putting it back.

"Whisper is gonna love that one!"

Sonic couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Just remember, this isn't a vacation. We've got work to do!"

"Yes sir!" Tangle said with a salute.

Sonic smiled, before turning and walking away.

"Activating the warp drive now." Sage suddenly said.

"… Wait, is that gonna be as crazy a-"

And just like that, they were warping through space, and Tangle was taken off her feet and pinned against a wall.

A couple of hours later, Tangle was thankfully not a pancake, and the Typhoon was landing on Terrasta.

After retrieving the Chaos Emeralds from the engine room, Sonic went to Tails' room to check on him.

Opening the door and peeking inside, he saw that the fox was out cold, sprawled across the bed.

Smiling to himself, he closed the door.

"He could use the rest, we'll get him up to date later."

He then disembarked the Typhoon, to see Magnus and the others waiting for him.

"Where is Tails?" Amy asked, handing the Miles Electric to Sonic.

"Still asleep, figured we could just get him up to date later." Sonic explained. "Now come on, I assume the Queen wants to see us?"

Magnus nodded.

"Indeed, follow me."

And with that, he began to lead the group towards a large building in the distance.

Looking around, Sonic saw that their landing attracted quite a crowd.

"Huh… they really are all made of rocks…" Sonic said to himself, also noting that they were all of varying colors.

"What, you thought I was the only one?" Magnus asked.

"Nah, just kinda wild to think about." Sonic said.

After a bit of walking, the group arrived at the Palace, and were lead inside.

Before long, they were in a throne room.

Looking up at the throne, they saw who was certainly the Queen, accompanied by a smaller figure wearing a mask that covered her whole head.

"Hello, you must be Sonic the Hedgehog." The Queen said. "I am Queen Volcania, it truly is a pleasure to meet a hero such as yourself."

"The honor is all ours your highness." Sonic said with a bow.

Volcania looked around, and looked confused.

"If I'm correct, Magnus informed me that there was a two tailed fox that built your ship accompanying you… but I do not see him." Volcania asked.

"Yeeeaaaah… Tails kinda spent the whole night working on our ship, so I decided to let him get some sleep while we got the details on what's going on here." Sonic explained.

The smaller figure seemed to look down, sad about this reveal.

"Ah, that's a shame. My daughter here seemed excited to meet him." Volcania explained.

"Oh really now?" Amy asked with a smug look.

The girl in question seemed shocked about this, and slapped her mother's arm.

"Oh come on Lavi! You know it's true!" Volcania said with a laugh. "The way you are always at the hangars examining the crafts our scientists build, you really are a tech head!"

The girl, apparently named Lavi, turned her head away.

"So, this is the Princess?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, this is my dear daughter, Lavi." Volcania said.

Lavi responded by waving, not saying a word.

"Uh… hi." Tangle said, waving back, though confused by the silence.

Volcania seemed to notice this.

"You'll have to forgive her for not saying anything, she's… well… mute."

"Oh geez, that has to be rough…" Tangle said.

Lavi responded by pulling out a whiteboard and writing on it, before turning it towards the others.

"It's fine, I get by just fine." It said.

"Well, that's good at least." Sonic said.

Volcania then descended the stairs.

"Now, you all must be tired from the journey, so please, go and get some rest and we will discuss things in the morning." Volcania said, gesturing towards the guards.

"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna go for a run around." Sonic said, before turning to leave, handing the Miles Electric (with Sage) to Amy.

However, he then took a look at Shadow and Metal Sonic and smirked.

"Wanna race?"

"No." Shadow growled out.

Metal Sonic stayed silent.

"Fine… cowards." Sonic said before walking towards the exit.

The two hedgehogs looked to each other, before a fire lit in their eyes.

It. Was. ON!

And with that, the three of them were gone, leaving just the girls behind.

"… Boys." They all said together.

Lavi seemed amused by this.

"I wish they'd take this more seriously…" Sage said sadly.

"Yeah, but we should have expected this." Rouge said.

"Now come on! I've always wanted to have some girl time with you Sage!" Amy said with a smile.

Sage seemed excited by this, and smiled before nodding.

"… I'm actually gonna go look around too." Tangle suddenly said. "Sitting around in some room painting nails and stuff isn't really my style."

"… Yeah that checks out." Amy said. "Have fun, and swing by the Typhoon when you're done and bring Tails here."

"Gotcha!" Tangle said with a pair of finger guns, before walking towards the exit.

Amy then turned towards the guard, and nodded, before he began leading the three girls away.

However, Amy noticed Lavi looking at them.

"Want to join us Lavi?" Amy asked the girl.

Lavi looked both ways, before pointing at herself.

"Yes you! Come on!" Amy said. "We're supposed to be protecting you, so I'd like to get to know you!"

Lavi looked to her mother, before writing on her whiteboard.

"May I?"

Volcania smiled at this.

"Of course sweetie, have fun."

Lavi nodded, before walking over and joining her new friends.

Later

"No way, Metal Sonic likes classical music?!" Rouge asked.

"Affirmative, I hear him listening to it all the time." Sage said with a slight laugh.

"Oh that is so funny." Amy said. "And the complete opposite of Sonic, he's more of a rock fan."

Sage rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Metal Sonic told me it was intentional." Sage said with a laugh.

The girls all enjoyed a nice laugh, however they noticed that Lavi couldn't even do that much.

"Gosh, I know you said you get by just fine, but it must really be tough sometimes huh?" Amy asked.

Lavi nodded.

"She says that her lack of speech is the least of her problems." Sage suddenly said.

Everyone seemed shocked by this, before Lavi wrote on her whiteboard.

"I am able to read your brainwaves, and know what you are thinking." Sage explained. "It's a new feature afforded to me by Tails' device."

"Wow… that's so cool!" Amy said happily.

Sage seemed embarrassed by the praise.

"Oh, it's just a modification of his Wisp translating program, that's all."

Rouge however, seemed weirded out.

"… You can read our minds too?" Rouge asked.

"Yes."

"…My mind is off limits." Rouge said sternly.

"Noted."

Amy just laughed at that.

"So Lavi, tell us about yourself! And take that mask off already!" She said. "I wanna do your hair!"

"…"

"She says that it is tradition for the princess to keep her face hidden to anyone outside of her family." Sage explained. "Says it's for her own protection."

"Aww…" Amy said sadly. "Alright, then tell us about yourself."

Lavi just looked down sadly.

"Oh… she says that she doesn't remember much, that she lost all memories of the time before her mother took her in."

Amy and Rouge's eyes went wide at this, completely caught off guard by the admission.

"Oh my gosh! Is that what you meant when you said being mute is the least of your problems?!" Amy asked.

Lavi nodded.

"Gosh… that must be terrible, not knowing who you really are."

Lavi shook her head.

"It does have it's challenges, but bits and pieces are still present." Sage translated. "For example, my interest in technology, even if I don't understand it much."

"Well, that's good at least." Amy said. "How did all of this happen? Any idea?"

Lavi shook her head again.

"All I know is that my mother found me badly injured, and when I woke up, I was without a past, or voice." Sage relayed. "The doctors can't find out for sure what's wrong with my voice… but they think it's trauma based."

"I could imagine, gosh whatever happened to you must have been terrible…" Amy said sadly. "If you remember anything while we're here, please, we'll be happy to lend you an ear."

Lavi nodded.

"Thank you. You really are kind Amy." Sage relayed.

Amy smiled back…

…

"Are you SURE you can't take that off?" Amy asked.

Lavi nodded… but…

"Well, no-one has to know, right?" Sage relayed.

Amy smiled widely at that.

"Our lips are sealed!" Amy said happily.

Lavi nodded, before reaching up and grabbing her mask…

And at that moment, all hell broke loose.

End of Chapter 2

Queen Volcania is based on, you guessed it, Volcano or volcanic rocks. It really is that simple.

As for Lavi… well, you'll have to wait one more chapter on that… it'll become apparent why then. Here's a hint: Lavi is actually short for something ;)

I completely forgot to do this last time, but Terrastian's are an original alien species I created for this story. To describe them, they are basically rock people. Mobians are animals, Seedrians are plants, and Terrastians are the earth. They come in all different colors, as you saw this chapter, and with varying hair colors. Aside from the queen, who is purple with red, long hair, they typically have shorter hair.

Trained warriors and members of the military are capable of controlling the earth itself... think earthbender from avatar, it's pretty much the same.

And that just about does it! See you next time!