Chapter 6: Nightmare Cavern
Space Colony ARK, in orbit around the Crossroads of Dreams
When Doctor Eggman entered Rayman’s prison, Rayman didn’t stir, keeping his eyes firmly locked on the metal ceiling.
“Ah, so we remain uncooperative, do we?” Eggman said, turning to an electronic map of the planet below. Shown on the map were seven gem-shaped markers. One was hovering beside the planet, to show that the Emerald it represented was beyond the Crossroads’ atmosphere. Two of the markers were overlapping, and another was very close. “Hmmm,” Eggman hmmed, stroking his massive moustache. “So Sonic and Shadow have joined forces with your lovely daughter, are in possession of two Emeralds, and are very close to finding a third,”
Rayman smiled slightly. “That’s my girl,” he muttered.
Eggman saw this. “Proud of her, are you? Well, fear not. You shall be reunited with her shortly,”
He pressed a button, and the table Rayman was bound to rose so that he was in a vertical position, facing the wall.
“I will return you to the Crossroads on one condition, my extension-challenged friend. You will collect the Emerald, and return them to me. I have one already, so that leaves you six to find,”
Rayman, his head lowered, not making eye contact with the Doctor, spat “And what makes you think I’ll do as you say?”
Eggman chuckled. “Ah, you and Sonic are very much alike. Very well,”
He pressed another button, and a panel in the wall Rayman was facing slid away to reveal a window that showed another room.
Rayman’s eyes widened. “No!”
Eggman smiled. “I thought that would motivate you. Now, you must do as I say, or she dies,”
In the other room, strapped to a steel table in a similar manner to Rayman, was Ly the Fairy.
Entrance to the Cave of Bad Dreams, Marshes of Awakening
“You must know the name of this place to enter,”
Jano shook his skull-headed staff at the two Hedgehogs and Raylina.
Raylina was taken aback. “Excuse me?”
“If you do not know the name of this place, then you must leave,” growled the cycloptic Guardian.
“We don’t have time for this,” Shadow said. He leapt into the air, curling into a ball as he did, and shot straight at Jano’s eye in a Homing Attack. The ancient monster was quick, however. He blocked Shadow with a flick of his staff, and Shadow landed on his feet, ever graceful, sliding to a halt.
But the sudden movement had unbalanced Jano’s hat. The great, purple top hat fell as if in slow-motion, landing on the damp, mossy ground.
And all seven eyes fell upon the purple Chaos Emerald that rolled out of it.
Jano was the first to break the silence.
“I see all!” He proclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the trio. “Do you think I do not see the looks of greed in your eyes? You want to take it! My gem! You shall not have it! It is mine! It belongs to me!”
Jano picked up the Chaos Emerald, cradling it in his bony fingers. Its purple light was reflected in his single, large eye, as well as a look of intense jealousy. Mad jealousy.
“My...precious,”
Sonic and Shadow were both in unspoken agreement; this creature, if not already so, had been driven insane by the Emerald’s power. Both fell into a combat-ready stance. But as they began to strike, reality unfolded around them.
The world dissolved into a swirling vortex of yellow light, transporting them to a place where Gods fear to tread.
The Yellow Portal is one of the most efficient means of transport throughout the Crossroads of Dreams. Used almost exclusively by the Teensies, who are amongst the only ones who can open them, a Portal can be used to transport one directly to their destination, or to the Hall of Doors, the great hub of Portals that leads to anywhere and everywhere, and can only be unlocked by the Council of the Teensies.
Amongst the others who had power over the portals was Jano, Guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams.
The Cave of Bad Dreams
Raylina stared around in shock. She was in what appeared to be a cave or large tunnel. The walls were of a sheer, grey stone, which appeared to have bones embedded in it. She was standing on what looked like the spine and ribcage of some colossal dead creature, likely a snake, protruding from the wall for fifty metres. The floor below consisted of a convoluted mass of inanimate Thorn Roots, underneath a thin layer of putrid water. Images of white, ghostly spirits floated up through the floor, their mouths twisted in expressions of eternal agony. It all reminded her of something... Something she’d heard when she was young.
This place brought back old nightmares, memories of childhood fears. It got inside her head,made her shrink away from the thought of doing anything remotely heroic, anything dangerous.
And Sonic and Shadow were nowhere to be seen.
Shadow looked around, unimpressed by the grandiose attempts at horror within this cave. He had long ago come to terms with his inner demons, and so the psychological effects of the Cave did not bother him.
He cursed, realising his Chaos Emerald had been taken from him. That freak show monster must have it, he thought. I can still warp away from this place, at least.
Shadow reached for the power of Chaos Control within himself, feeling for the energy, only to find that it wasn’t there.
“Damn,” he cursed aloud. This Cave must prevent me from using Chaos Control, he realised.
So he began to move deeper into the Cave, in search of the three Emeralds that were now in Jano’s possession.
Sonic ran through the Cave, leaping from rock platform to rock platform, sometimes running along the walls. Fear boiled within him, but he kept it firmly under wraps. Fear for Raylina. Fear for his friends, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, left alone and unprotected on Mobius. Fear for this world, under the new threat of Eggman, which he suspected had followed Sonic to the Crossroads. Fears which hadn’t really bothered him before, until he entered this Cave. So he did the only thing he could think to do: He ran. As he had once told Elise, the Princess of Soleanna: “If you have time to worry, then run!”
Raylina jumped back in revulsion as she realised what the round, white platforms floating in the Thorn Roots were: huge skulls, large enough for several people to stand on. She would have to act fast: the skulls were sinking slowly through the water, and were the only way forward for her. She screwed up her courage, and leapt high in the air, curving her body into a somersault as she did, and landing perfectly on the first skull. She continued, jumping from skull to skull, until she reached a wall. The wall was covered in bones in what appeared to be a ladder. She shook her head in disgust, and began to climb.
Shadow was moving along a narrow, stone tunnel, skating on his hover skates, when a massive, bony fist reached out from a near invisible hole in the wall, and stopped him in his tracks. It wrapped its four fingers around him and lifted him into the air, dragging him back towards its hole. Shadow, winded by the sudden stop, was momentarily stunned. But only momentarily. He activated both of his skates, twisting around so that the jet outlets on the soles of his shoes were both facing the wrist of the skinny, brown arm. Flames leapt from them, burning straight through the arm. The hand flopped off, still with Shadow in it, and the stump that was once an arm retreated soundlessly into its hole. But the hand was still alive. It had dropped Shadow, but was scuttling around on the floor like a spider. Shadow hit it with a homing attack once twice, three times, until it lay still, fingertips twitching.
“This is one messed up place,” he said to himself.
Sonic leapt onto an outcropping, protruding from a cliff, to find two creatures that looked like miniature versions of Jano staring at him with their single eyes. They were bouncing up and down on the spot, arms held in vaguely horizontal positions. Their mouths were closed. For now.
Sonic barely had time to react as both monsters opened their mouths wide and spewed a stream of fireballs at the blue Hedgehog. He rolled underneath the flames, and bounced off the floor, still curled into a ball. He homed in on the first creature’s eye, hitting hard. The monster bounced backward, spinning in circles. Sonic turned to the second creature, which was already opening its mouth for another fireball. Sonic began to spin in a ball on the spot, aiming directly at the mini-Jano. He released the brake, so to speak, and shot forwards at a tremendous speed, canon-balling precisely into the monster. The monster was thrown backwards, dropping into the mass of Thorn Roots below. It sank quickly, one arm raised above the surface until the end.
Sonic homing attacked the other one twice more, until it fell apart before him, arms coming clean off, and turned to dust.
Raylina found herself on the edge of a great chasm. She looked down, and there was nothing below but darkness. There was an outcropping on the other side, well below her level, but it was way too far to jump.
She shivered. This is all very well for Sonic and Shadow, she thought. But I’m not used to this adventure stuff,
While she was busy thinking, Jano’s gruff voice came from behind her. “Die, thief!”
And without warning, she was pushed over the edge of the chasm.
She fell for several metres, sheer terror running through her, but then her instincts suddenly kicked in. Power ran through her body and manifested itself in her scalp, flowing into her long hair. Her hair suddenly stiffened, pointing out from her head in a circle, and began to spin like a helicopter’s rotor. She gasped as she began to hover, as her father often did, slowly floating downwards. She shifted her weight forward, and so she began to move forward as she slowly fell, heading straight for the outcropping below. She turned her head carefully to look at Jano, and saw him looking at her with a calculating gaze, skull staff in hand.
She raised her hands to her mouth, stuck her tongue out, and waggled it at him.
Shadow was in a dark tunnel, having dropped into it from a hole in the ceiling. Before him was a stick with a skull on the end, poking out of the ground, and a slope, with what looked like a very slippery surface. He walked towards it, gazing down it. In the way were many gaps and pillars, but they could easily be avoided by jumping while sliding.
Behind him, the skull-stick began to move. It rose out of the ground, followed by two arms, pulling an enormous, round body and a purple, star-and-moon patterned top-hat behind it.
Jano.
A roar shook the tunnel, and Shadow span around to see Jano, jaws wide open, clutching the purple Chaos Emerald in his fist.
“This is where your journey ends, Hedgehog!”
Shadow, with nowhere left to go, leapt onto the slide.
Sonic stepped to the very edge of the tunnel he was in, to see Shadow fly past at lightning speed, with Jano in very close pursuit, roaring. Sonic leapt after them immediately, jumping onto the slide. He aimed a homing attack at the monster as he slid, bouncing off his thick skin and returning to the slide. Jano roared and slid around, mid-slide, and struck at the blue hedgehog. Sonic jumped over his arms and bounced off the wall with his legs, spinning towards Jano’s hat. He grabbed onto the top, and clung on for dear life. Jano shook himself, attempting to dislodge the spiked blue creature. While he was distracted, Shadow struck several times at his arms in quick succession, landing on the same side of him. Jano roared in anger.
They were speeding towards a very wide gap. Before Jano realised it was there, they were right on top of it. Shadow jumped from the slide, and, drawing a knife from Polokus-knew-where, drove it into the wall. He continued to slide downwards as Jano fell into the gap, his momentum carrying him to slam into the opposite side. Sonic just managed to leap off the hat, and continued sliding on the other side.
Jano fell past Shadow, and Shadow let go of the knife, jumping from wall to wall to slow his fall.
Sonic ran down the slope, finding a tunnel that branched off. He leapt into it, and ran down it as fast as he could, hoping it led to Shadow.
Raylina emerged into a wide, open space. She had fought several of the mini-Janos, and had found her way to this room. At the end of the room was an opening, and from the opening came a faint, yellow glow.
She stepped towards it, only to have Jano fall with an enormous thud right in front of her. She jumped back in surprise and horror. He had grown enormous, far bigger than he was when they met outside the Cave.
He looked momentarily stunned, but then noticed the Ray standing before him. He swiped at her, picking her up and raising her above him in one hand. He laughed. “You think to steal from me? The Guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams? Ha ha ha ha ha!”
“Put her down, Guardian,”
Shadow dropped to the ground in front of them, crouched on his hands. Jano eyed him. “Certainly,”
And with a flick of his wrist, he tossed the daughter of Rayman against a wall.
“No!” yelled Sonic (who had just appeared from a side tunnel) and Shadow in unison. Shadow leapt at Jano, eyes burning with rage, but Jano disappeared into the ground, cackling.
Sonic ran to Raylina’s side. She was fine, just a little stunned.
“Wow,” grinned Sonic. “You’re almost as resilient as we are!”
Raylina smiled in answer.
The three, reunited, made their way towards the opening on the other side. When they reached it, they entered without hesitation.
Inside were mounds upon mounds of gold coins and diamonds.
“Incredible,” said Shadow, flicking a coin in his hand. “It’s all gold!” said Sonic.
Raylina only stared. They walked into the centre of the treasure, gazing around in awe.
With a clink, a coin rolled down between them, falling down in front of them. They spun around, to see Jano atop a mound of treasure.
“Did you know,” he said, eye closed. “That your father once faced the same test in here, Raylina?”
He opened his eye. It was completely bloodshot, and the pupil had turned deepest red. “Do you want to know what he decided?”
The three Chaos Emeralds, yellow, purple, and green, appeared hovering around his body.
“You shall not live to find out,”
Jano’s entire body burst into flames, flames which did not harm him. He grew, grew to a massive size, and roared with all his might.
Battle was joined.
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