Chapter 11: Under the Sea Pt 2: Mystic Mayhem
Naugus is in his lair trying to find the hidden echidna city of Albion while talking with Breezie on a hologram. "Boss, I got word of a set of echidna ruins in Downunda which the humans in the ancient past used to call Australia. The first-ever colony of Albion is called Echidnapolis, your first stop," Breezie said.
"Thank you Breezie, this was useful. Keep tabs on your contacts," Naugus said as Breezie was confused by his requests but she was gaining a ton of money from the chaos via news broadcasts making Sonic and the others look bad.
"Anyway, go about your business," Breezie said to cut off the hologram with Naugus being curious about something.
"Metal, Breezie talked about the Metarex before. Who are they?" Naugus asked.
"They are a group of males of an alien species called the Seedrians who are plant-like humanoids who come from a planet within the Milky Way Galaxy. They were powerful foes that Sonic and his friends along with Eggman fought against over 2 years ago," Metal said as Naugus was bewildered by all this.
"I never heard of this from my dimensional zone," Naugus said as he seemed very curious about this.
"Don't hold your breath. Due to strife, war, and the battles against us, all known members of the Seedrians have gone extinct including the rouge Metarex members and a young woman named Cosmo," Metal said.
"Were you fighting the Metarex with Robotnik?" Naugus asked as Metal Sonic nodded his head.
"Yes, it was very interesting. The leader of the enemy Dark Oak was strong enough to best Sonic in his Super Form and almost managed to destroy the universe in his bid for the destruction of all non-plant life in the cosmos," Metal said as Naugus grinned very impressed by this.
"Very interesting, Very few are a match the Quickster in raw power when he is in his Super-state. What an interesting fellow this Dark Oak is. How did he pull this off?" he asked.
"He used Planet Eggs, a crystal that contains the life energy of a planet. Once one takes a Planet Egg from its resting place, the planet soon slowly withers until it dries completely," Metal said as Naugus is deeply interested in this.
"Tell me more about these Planet Eggs," Naugus said.
"You do know if you take the Planet Egg. The world dies taking everyone else with it," Metal said as Naugus gave Metal a devilish grin which made even Metal feel unnerved.
"Does this face show a sign of caring about these pathetic newts?" Naugus asked with a cruel smile.
"No sir," Metal said as he gained a newfound respect for this ruthless wizard.
"If this Planet Egg has all the life energy from Mobius that would include the energies of Dark Gaia and Light Gaia as well. This could be quite useful. Metal do more research for the Planet Eggs for me within Robotnik's databases," Naugus said.
"Yes sir," Metal said as he flew away.
It would be useful to maintain my ultimate form. If I can keep my Ultra state permanently then I would be unstoppable and thankfully this Sonic doesn't have a stronger form than Super. Unless he has a trump card I don't know of but Metal said he always used his Super form. Oh well, another stage of the plan I need to think about later," Naugus said as he began to look at Downunda to search for the lost city.
Elsewhere Tails wakes up from his sleep to see Cosmo's seedling begin to glow. "Cosmo, your plant is glowing. Thanks, Hope for those Chaos Drives," Tails said as he was beyond happy about this.
Within the lounge area, Mina, Shade, and Amy trying to cook up some breakfast for everyone with Nicole aiding in checking the cooking is on point. "Gee, at least we can work within the borders of this nation but most of it is a blue ocean," Amy said.
"I heard about a temple which the Meropis citizens go to worship their guardian deity Aquarius," Nicole said.
"Who is that?" Amy asked.
"She is an Angel Chao who is immortal and is very magically gifted," Nicole said as Amy was disappointed by this.
"They worship a Chao?" Amy asked.
"You do know Chaos used to be a Chao right and look how strong he is," Mina said as she reminded Amy how strong Chaos became during their fights with him.
"Oh yeah," Amy said.
"It's quite interesting. Both the Princess and Coral are priestesses who take care of and worship Aquarius while she gives her magical blessing throughout the lands until something is making Aquarius feel weird," Mina said.
"We need to look into that. It would be the beginning of something awful like a full-on invasion by Naugus's forces. Since they wanted to kill the royal family to send the city into chaos," Shade said.
"That was what I was thinking," Nicole said as the guys came into the lounge with the girls putting food on the table.
"Morning guys, we made breakfast. Dig in, we got a lot of work ahead of us," Mina said as they looked at Tails holding Cosmo's seedling which is glowing quite bright.
"Hey girls look at this," Tails said placing it on the table as the girls looked on with excitement except for Shade.
"What is the big deal?" Shade asked.
"That used to be Tail's special female friend Cosmo. She helped us a lot when we went into space fighting the Metarex," Sonic said.
"Sonic saved a piece of her when she gave her life to stop the evil aliens from blowing up the universe. I held hope she can come back and now her seedling is glowing," Tails said as Shade remembers a while ago Knuckles telling her about their adventures in space.
"Oh yeah, I remember now. One of your many space adventures if it's involving Eggman or space aliens," Shade said.
"Right, that is one bit of good news," Knuckles said.
"Now, we can get busy with finding that Chaos Emerald. I and Nicole will use the Mantis Ray to scout out the area along with the Meropis militia. Everyone should gather intel within the city and get used to the culture," Tails said.
"Indeed," Sonic said as Mina had an idea to head for the temple.
Everyone departs with Mina and Sonic heading for the palace to meet with Princess Undina. "Why are we heading for the palace?" he asked.
"I want to talk with Undina to take us to the temple," Mina said as Sonic looked uninterested in this.
"Oh okay, I think you can handle that on your own. I am going to hang out with Knuckles and Shade to help them out," Sonic said as Mina kissed him on the lips.
"Okay, I am a big girl. I can handle this. See you soon," Mina said as they separated with Mina going to Echo the Dolphin who was standing guard. "Hello there Echo," he said as Echo sharpened her trident to prepare for another fight.
"Hello Mina, you need something?" she asked.
"Do you know where Princess Undina is now?" Mina asked.
"She is in her room, why do you ask?" Echo asked.
"I wanted to help since I heard your guardian Aquarius is not feeling well," Mina said as Echo had a look of concern on her face.
"Yes, our goddess is not doing the best these days. We don't know why but if you are willing to help. That would be very helpful," Echo said as she took her to the princess's room inside the palace to see it quite modest compared to the rest of the luxurious palace.
"Princess Undina, I want to help you solve your problem with Aquarius," Mina said.
"Oh yes, she is feeling pretty ill lately. It could be related to a weird black pillar under the temple," Undina said as Mina was confused.
"What black pillar?" she questioned.
"I will take you to the temple. We can get there via the teleporter in the main chamber," Undina said as she donned her priestess robes to let Echo and Mina follow her. "It pulses with dark magic but we don't know where it comes from," Undina said as Mina thought it could be Naugus.
"It's he is doing alright?" Mina thought as she looked at the color arm cannon module. "I hope Wisp powers can negate dark magic," Mina thought as the three women got onto the teleporter to head over to the temple of Aquarius to aid them with their problem.
Elsewhere Sonic, Knuckles, and Shade are eating some good food as they meet Captain Striker greets them. "Hell there, thanks for the assistance from before," he said.
"No problem, we are just enjoying your local bounty of good food here," Sonic said as he bit into a chili dog he got from one of the food stands.
"As you should but we still have those two assassins lock and key in their cells waiting to be executed," Striker said.
"Execution," Sonic said.
"Yes, they tried to kill our leaders. Only the harshest of punishment is needed to show them as examples," Striker said.
"I see, can we talk with them?" Shade asked.
"This is why I am here. You can talk to them if you know what their plan was," Striker said.
"Cool, this would be interesting," Sonic said.
"So how are you able to hold them in jail?" Shade asked.
"We use inhibiter rings to block their ability to use powers," Striker said as they headed into a prison complex to be onto the highest level of security. They go to the cells to see both Bunnie and Ether inside the cell with dull brown rings on their necks blocking their powers.
Bunnie is missing her robotic arm leaving her only the organic arm. "Hey there handsome, come here to see little o' me," Bunnie being flirty as Sonic is not amused by this. "Gee, get a sense of humor," she said.
"Well, why did you attack the royals huh?" Sonic asked as Bunnie laughed at this.
"To make chaos within the streets before we hit you where you hurt sugar hog," Bunnie said.
"You think this is some sort of game?" Shade asked as Bunnie had a cheeky smile.
"It is fun," Bunnie said.
"Cut it out, what is your goal?" Knuckles asked.
"Guess and find out," Bunnie said.
"They are here for the Chaos Emerald and the city is just window dressing to them. You are screwing with them," Sonic said.
"Of course, the city is getting in the way of us finding the emerald. This place needs to go," Ether said.
"Yes and we got a few surprises involving your temple and its Chao," Bunnie said as Striker bangs onto the cell door.
"What did you do to the Guardian Deity?" Striker demanded as Bunnie showed a smirk.
"That is a secret and I doubt your priestess can do anything about it. Those pillars are filled with dark magic which can't be destroyed by normal means," Ether said.
"I doubt you can break them," Bunnie said to mock them.
"Well, this isn't good," Knuckles said.
"Did Mina go to the temple?" Sonic thought.
Back on the surface, the Chaotix are searching for the Master Emerald shards on the emerald coast with Espio, Mighty, Vector, Charmy, and Ray on the beach looking for the green shards.
"Okay guys, spread out and find those shards. The radar shows they are around here somehow. Get the digging and Charmy and Ray take to the skies to find anything shiny," Vector ordered as everyone splits up on the beach with Espio finding a shard on top of a tree.
"Got one boss," Espio said with Charmy tracking a shard on top of the roof of a snack bar.
"Oh vector, I found one and the snack bar," Charmy said as she licked his lips at the sight of corn dogs and ice cream scoops.
"Charmy stay focused, we get food later once we get all the pieces within the area," Vector said as Charmy nodded his head.
Mighty punches the sand for it erupts a plume of sand into the air. Mighty finds a shard to see Ray gliding in the air. "Hey Ray, watch out for those rocks," Mighty said on the radio.
"Yo, I got this," Ray said as he turned his attention away from his gliding. Mighty braces to see his friend slam into a large rock face as he falls into a bush.
"Ray!" Mighty shouted as he spots the flying squirrel poking out of a bush holding a master emerald shard.
"I got it," Ray said with a goofy grin on his face as if nothing had happened. Mighty takes a sigh of relief at this.
"Cool," Mighty said as they reported back to Vector with them having 6 shards of the master emerald in total within the area.
"Cool, cool. We managed to clear this place of these headaches," Vector said as he got a call from Rouge.
"Hey Vector, I heard you guys are seeking out the master emerald pieces?" Rouge asked.
"Yep but I don't think Knuckles wouldn't like you looking for them," Vector said.
"Of course, he wouldn't but now I am not. I am too busy but people are seeking them out as well," Rouge said.
"That wizard?" Vector asked.
"Well, there is Eggman's biggest fanboy Dr. Starline and Eggman's twisted nephew Snively is seeking them out as well," Rouge said.
"This is going to be problematic," Vector said.
"I know everyone wants a piece of something, good luck out there," Rouge said to cut off the phone line.
"Gee, boys we got some nasty people seeking these things out. Be careful out there," Vector said.
"Roger that, they will not get in our way," Espio said as they headed back to their hotel to prepare to travel to another location to seek out more Master Emerald pieces.
Back with Mina, Echo, and Undina teleporting to the temple deep within an underground cavern. Mina looks at the temple, quite dumbfounded by the sheer height and beauty. It's modeled after a conch shell. They see a ton of priestesses roaming the grounds wearing coral-based blue silk robes.
"Hello there Mina, welcome to our wonderful temple," Coral said as she came to them with her donning light blue silk robes. She has Pearly beside her donning a blue robe like the other priestesses.
"Hey there Mina, I heard you saved the royal family from bad people," Pearly said.
"Yes they did, they were quite impressive. Living up as heroes on the surface," Undina said as Mina blushed from embarrassment.
"Oh, I am just doing my best," Mina feeling humbled by all this praise.
"Of course; but you are here to solve our problem but first let me guide you to Aquarius in her chambers," Coral and Pearly take Mina along with Undina.
"I will be outside to watch the perimeter," Echo said wielding her trident to stand watch. The four enter into the beautiful halls of the temple. Mina took in the lovely halls of white marble making it look like an underwater cavern.
"It's more impressive inside," Mina said as they saw statues of their goddess Aquarius all over the place. "That is an Angel Chao," Mina said.
"Aquarius has been with us since the beginning of our city. Reincarnation over and over again until she became immortal guiding us in dark times and good times," Coral said as they went into the deepest part of the temple to see it's a Chao Garden housing the holy Angel Chao Aquarius.
"She is so cute," Mina coos at the little holy Chao for she is in the middle of a field of coral within a pool of water. Aquarius looks over to the group to spot Mina.
"Hello madam, this is Mina. She is a special friend of Meropis, she is here to solve our problem that is making you feel ill," Coral said as Aquarius floated over to look over Mina. The Chao senses Mina has a pure heart and is someone who she can trust. Aquarius floats up to her forehead and calmly places her hand on it giving her a warm glow.
"Oh, she has taken a liken to you," Undina said.
'Yes, she sees you as a good person and someone trustworthy," Pearly said as Mina felt honored to befriend a divine Chao like this one.
"Thank you," Mina bows her head in respect as Aquarius floats out of the door.
"Seems like she wants to show you the dark tower," Coral said as the four girls headed outside to follow Aquarius around the corner to spot a looming dark tower. They noticed the Chao was getting weaker when it approached to float down onto the ground.
"It's this blasted thing, poor Aquarius struggles to even lift her wings within its presence," Undine said as she picked up the Chao to hold her gently.
"We tried everything and nothing is breaking it," Coral said as Mina looked at the dark tower to feel her body shaking from its presence alone.
"No joke this is bad news," Mina looks down onto her Wisp arm cannon. "I wonder if the power of the Wisp can destroy dark magic like this," Mina said as she conjured the arm cannon into her right hand to aim at the dark tower.
"What are you doing?" Pearly asked as Mina looked very confident about this.
"Just a thought, Burst," Mina fired a fireball infused with Hyper Go On energy into the tower to see break apart from the fiery blast. The three priestesses were speechless about this.
"How did you do that?" Undina asked.
"Hyper Go On energy made from the Wisp. Very powerful stuff, seems like that is enough to destroy something like strong dark magic," Mina said amazed by the power of the Wisp and their potent energy Hyper Go On.
"Interesting, well you were the woman for the right job. Aquarius is detecting three more towers within the deep caverns of this area," Coral said.
"Perfect, she is pointing me in the right direction and I will blow them up," Mina said.
"How are you going to do that?" Undine asked as Mina turned her cannon into a drill.
"With these Wisp powers, I can move around pretty easily," Mina said as she pulled out her backpack. "Aquarius, go into my backpack and you can point me in the right direction," she said as the Chao went into her bag as Mina got her first direction. "Drill," Mina transforms into a drill to launch herself into a wall to plow the rocks.
"I knew these people would be a great aid to us all," Coral said.
"You nail that one on the head," Echo said as she witnessed this being pretty amazed by Sonic and his friends' talents.
Mina is grinding through the rocks to enter into an air pocket to see the second tower there as she fires a fireball to destroy it. "Good, two more to go," Mina said as she transformed into a drill to head for the next tower.
She pops out of a wall to be in the water as her drill form is easily moving through the water. She pops out of the water to be on solid ground. Aquarius felt uneasy as they heard a roar nearby. "What's wrong?" she asked as a huge mutant eel appeared to leash out balls of lightning.
Mina rolls out of the path of the attacks with her firing fireballs and electro orbs. "Well how did something like this get down here," Mina said as the eel blocked her energy attacks with its tail. The beast unleashes a beam of electricity. "Quake," she slams her arm cannon onto the ground to summon pillars of stone to block the incoming energy beam.
Aquarius points to the tower and the beast. "Oh, you think this monster is created by this black tower," she said as the Chao nods her head. "Interesting," she sees the monster lunging at her as Mina uses Drill to stab into the head of the eel to pierce its skull making it scream in agony.
Mina aims her cannon into its opened mouth. "Rocket," she fires multiple explosive projectiles into its mouth to blow up its head with guts and brain matter.
"I hope I don't have to fight a 50-ton shark in here," Mina said as she fired at the tower to destroy it. "Only one more left," Mina said as she drilled herself to the last one to move through the water.
Mina is out of the ground to see the last dark tower with another mutant eel guarding it. "Oh, not another one of these things," Mina said as she summoned pillars of stone to block incoming electric beams. She uses her speed to avoid incoming energy blasts with her combining Drill Bomb as she fires a drill from her arm cannon to cut deep into the side of the beast.
Lots of gore bursts apart from the explosion within its body as the water begins to turn red. "Drill," Mina turns into a drill to go into the ground to hide from the sight of the monster. She pops out of the ground to fire a fireball into the back of the giant eel.
The eel swings its tail as Mina dodges the tail to pepper the beast with fireballs. "Spike," Mina fires razor discs that slice up the tail of the monster eel. "Spike Bomb," Mina fires explosive discs to dig into the head and body. Then they explode blowing off chunks of flesh from the monster until it's nothing but a pile of gore in the water.
"Well, that's that," Mina fires a fireball to destroy the last tower for the unnerving pressure from before is gone. "Well. are you feeling better?" Mina asked as Aquarius nodded her head looking better than before. "Good, let's get back," Mina said as she appeared back at the temple with Aquarius in hand.
"You managed to destroy the dark towers?" Coral asked as Mina nodded her head.
"Of course, we manage to destroy the towers and this place is not corrupted by dark magic anymore," Mina said as she handed the Chao back to Coral.
"I must say, Mina. You have done us a great service. We are in your debt Mina Mongoose," Coral said as Coral, Undina, and Pearly bowed their heads for her.
"I am just doing my job being a heroine," Mina said.
"That Hyper Go On energy is amazing," Undine said.
"Indeed, I fought some mutant eels deep underground. They must have been local fauna reshaped by dark magic," Mina said.
"It's very concerning. Hopefully, no more pop-ups," Undine said.
"I knew it was the right thing to bring you here. You have made holy ground pure once again," Coral said.
"Are you going soon?" Pearly asked.
"Yep, I need to head back to the sub. I need to lay down and rest," Mina said.
"Oh, we will see you soon," Undina said as the girls waved goodbye for now. Mina returns the wave as she heads for the teleporter.
"Is your business done here Mina?" Echo asked.
"Yes, I managed to clear up the dark towers," Mina said.
"Oh, I am impressed. We threw anything at it and nothing was doing real damage," Echo said.
"Well, I managed to find an answer to your problem," Mina said as Echo patted her on the back.
"You are okay in my books Miss Mongoose. You guys have done a lot for our city here, you earn some rest," Echo said as she took Mina away back to the city.
Elsewhere Sally is setting up an invasion force led by Metal Sonic to distract the defenses of Meropis City while she uses the Egg Leviathan to seek out the Chao Emerald which she pinpoints in the ancient supervolcano near the city.
"Time to put things into action. Team Hooligan go find Bunnie in the chaos and bring her out of here," Sally said as Fang was on the radio.
"Of course, we will get Ether as well. he is still useful to us," Fang said as they went into a mini-sub which they went through the chaos.
"Time to put this all into action," Sally said as she piloted the giant Egg Leviathan to head for the old volcano while the army of Badniks began their assault on the domed city.