A Merhog's Tale: Book 2

Greed

Amy sighed as she stood on the deck of her house, staring out to the ocean. It had been a while since they had heard anything from Sonic and she and the others were getting worried for their blue friend.

It was night now, but Amy didn't want to go home.

Knuckles and Sally had to go home but made sure the pink hedgehog and the kitsune would tell them if Sonic contacted them again. A cold breeze suddenly blew in Amy's face and she quickly went back inside.

She saw Tails sat on her couch, looking something up on her laptop.

"Are you OK?" She asked the boy as she sat next to him.

"I was just reading the latest sea reports."

"What are they about?"

"They measure things like the local fish population and how healthy the coral reefs are as well as how much pollution in the water." He explained with a worried expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, according to this, the fish population as well as the welfare of the ocean has dropped greatly just this week!" He exclaimed.

"But why? I knew that it was getting worse but I didn't think it would drop that quick!"

"With what Sonic told us about this 'merillia' stuff and how it keeps the ocean alive, if he fails to do something, it could have a disastrous effect on the whole planet!"...

******

Sonic and his friends shivered as they swam through the freezing cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. All around them was nothing but ice and cold. Silver told them to keep moving so that they muscles wouldn't cramp and they wouldn't freeze to death.

The Guide suddenly came to a stop right in front of a giant wall of ice and snow.

As they looked at it in confusion, Silver noticed something engraved into the ice, hidden under the snow. He gently wiped the snow away and saw that it was a message written in ancient Atlantian carved into the wall.

"Take whatever you need, but never from greed." The ivory merhog read out loud.

Suddenly a tunnel with smooth walls of ice formed into the wall and led into the ice, illuminated by glowing blue symbols on the walls. The group shared a look before swimming inside the icy tunnel.

When they exited the tunnel they found themselves in a large, dark ice cavern.

Silver quickly used his power to light up the area, but there were too many passages.

"Which way do we go?" Sonia asked fearfully.

"How about there?" Manic suggested and pointed down a darker passage.

The others looked to where he was pointing and saw that there was a faint shimmering light at the far end of it. Sonic gave him his signature grin and thumbs up as they swam towards the light.

As they swam, Sonic couldn't help but shivering.

This water was freezing! He also noticed the light starting to fade.

"H-Hey Silv... c-could you, uh...give s-some lights-s?" He asked through chattering teeth as he looked over to the ivory merhog.

But he gasped when he saw his friend slowly sinking to the icy floor. He dashed towards him, followed by the others, and held him up.

"A-Are you O-OK S-Silver?" Sonia asked as he struggled to stay awake.

"I-I-I don't know, I'm s-so cold." He whimpered.