Sonic Boom (Reimagined)

Rise of Lyric: Chapter Three

"It's just up ahead." Knuckles pointed to a temple out in the distance. On top of the stone structure was a tiger.

"Finally," Sonic sighed, happy to finally be at the destination, "that trip took forever."

Tails and Amy looked at each other before giving a shrug. The team of four approached the temple. The tiger glanced over in their direction before hopping up and landing on the dirt ground below. "Knuckles, shouldn't you be guarding your temple?"

Knuckles went on ahead to confront her. "I would be however someone stole the map from my temple." His fist smacked against an unsuspecting tree, taking it down trunk and all. Sonic and Tails flinched as it fell from the hit while Amy happily took notes on everything she could see.

"Who was this stranger?" Amethyst asked, her tail flicking back and forth as she placed her hands on her hips. The little golden hairpiece on her head glimmered in the sunshine as she gazed at the other three.

Sonic cleared his throat at Amy who seemed invested in taking in every detail of this new temple. When she wouldn't respond, he gave her a little nudge. She looked at him and furrowed her brow. Sonic sighed. "Show her the picture of Eggman you drew."

"You know, you could have just said that." She snapped. The pink hedgehog flipped through her notebook until she found the desired page. Once she did, she held it up to Amethyst so the tiger could take a look.

"Hm, interesting." Amethyst said as she grabbed the book from Amy. "This matches the description many of the other temple guardians have given me."

Tails looked from Amethyst to Knuckles and back again. "Other temple guardians?"

Sonic nodded. "Well yeah, there are plenty of other temples out there that need guarding. I've met some really nice guardians." He looked at Knuckles. "And some, not so much." He added.

Knuckles glared at him before looking away with a huff. "So, Eggman has been stealing from the other temples too?" He asked Amethyst, still glancing at Sonic every now and then with that glimmer of frustration in his eyes.

"Not exactly," the tiger replied, holding the notebook out a bit. "I believe he's looking for something."

Amy grabbed her notebook back and flipped to a blank page. "We already know that. We think it's the Chaos Crystals."

Amethyst's eyes went wide. She went over to Knuckles and glared at him. "You mean this Eggman stole that map?!"

"What other map would I have meant?" The echidna shot back. "Yes, I meant that map! Why else would we have come to you?!"

"Hey! Hey! Calm down you two!" Tails pushed them apart and stood with hands out towards both of them. "Fighting about this won't help us get that map back!"

Amethyst backed away and sighed. "You are right, young fox. I apologize." She went back toward her stone structure and began to pace a bit. "I am unable to leave my temple. I should be here in case anyone were to attack." She stopped and turned to face the four. "Why don't you head over to my friend, Cliff. He's an archeologist. I'm quite sure he could provide more insight on the map and the Chaos Crystals. Try heading down that path. You should find him in the canyon past the forest." The tiger pointed toward a long, grey pathway that seemed to stretch through the trees and bushes.

Sonic sighed. "More walking. Whoo..."

"Walking? Oh no, no, no," Amethyst shook her head. "You must hurry there. Look out for that Eggman if you can."

"Hurry? No walking?" Sonic stretched his legs a bit. "Now you're speaking my language!" He turned toward the group. "Come on, let's get going toward Cliff." He looked up at the sky. The sun was just starting to creep behind the trees. "It'll be getting dark soon and I like being able to see where I'm running." Without even an agreement from his team, Sonic headed toward the path, his brown bandana swishing in the fast wind he was running through.