Author's Note: Sorry for the delay of this story again. I know that neither of my Sonic stories have been progressing well lately and 2020 is really taking a toll on pretty much everyone. Anyway, here's another long awaited chapter.

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. The franchise belongs to Sega. I only own Sun the Hedgehog and Kaiser the Myth Hunter.

Chapter 11: Not Yeti Ready.

The next morning, after having breakfast and then bidding Amy, who had been amazed by how Sun looked so much like Sonic after the transformation from Werehog to Hedgehog, and Professor Pickle goodbye for the time being until they got back from Holoska, Sonic, Chip, Sun and Tails once again took flight in the youngest Mobian's plane where they took to the skies. Even though the teenage hero still felt guilt over what's happened, and fear of the beast inside of his rival-turned-friend, Sonic felt a lot better after last night's emotional episodes.

While he could've just sat in the passenger seat as Sun and Chip were with Tails flying, the blue hedgehog was more than content to keep on standing on the Tornado 1's wing, enjoying the breeze that crossed his face and quills, and while he still felt terrible and horrified over the planet's current condition, Sonic focused on the blue skies and enjoying the ride.

Or at least he would've if Eggman's flying robots hadn't been trying to down them. Fortunately, Sonic and Tails took care of those even though they and their two new friends almost crashed, but luckily, they managed to hover over the continent of their destination which resembled to Alaska and the North Pole.

"Sonic, I think I'm gonna need to find a safer place to land and see for a few repairs. If I land around here, we're as good as stuck in Holoska for the rest of our lives!" Tails announced once things had calmed down, his ears drooping in disappointment, more to himself as he hadn't even seen this coming.

"Hey, don't worry about it, little buddy. Sun, Chip and I can jump and head over to the Temple on foot. You go see to the repairs and be careful, 'kay?" Sonic reassured, giving his best friend his trademark thumbs up and wink, which lifted the young fox's spirits up a little.

"W-wait, when you say jump, you mean...from this height!?" Chip exclaimed in wide-eyed disbelief, looking at the teenage hedgehog as though he was crazy.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Sun asked, also thinking that Sonic has simply lost his mind.

The cobalt teenager shrugged, "Not the first time this happened. Worse case scenario is that we just have a headache and a bit of a frost bite if we crash land in the nice, soft but freezing snow."

The dark-blue hedgehog sweat dropped with a skeptical brow raised. "Don't you mean the best case scenario?"

"Nope! The best case scenario is we land in the nice, soft but freezing snow without landing head first and halfway deep!" Sonic laughed optimistically. "Trust me, I've lost count of how many times I've landed half buried in the ground; whether it's the beach or in a forest or just dirt all together. Most of those times, it was all Eggman's fault."

Sun thought about on what Sonic told him, before his mind flashed back to his own unexpected, and humiliating, crash landing on the first day of their adventure together, back when his earliest memories so far was being a Werehog.

The Werehog fell further away and screamed himself and crash landed just over a cliff and onto the sand half way with his legs sticking out. On the beach just below the cliff, the Werehog, briefly unconscious, finally woke up and swung around his legs until his arms were free, and he was able to pull himself out after a couple of struggles. The beast stumbled a bit and groaned, holding his head.

"...I see your point." Sun grumbled, folding his arms.

"Be careful guys. The storms pretty thick, and I can't fly any further in." Tails warned.

"Right. You be careful too. We'll see ya later!" Sonic told him, and ignoring Chip's rant that they were going to die, the blue hedgehog grabbed hold of him as best as possible, while Sun stood up from his seat, and with a nod, though the darker hedgehog was slightly hesitant, the little pixie-dog was quivering like a leaf, and with the fifteen year old Mobian giving the two-tailed kit a two finger salute, the trio jumped off the plane and descended down towards the snow.

The three companions landed safely in the snow. Or at least, Sonic did with Chip in his arms. The blue hedgehog landed safely in the soft ground, but shuddered as the icy artic blast of wind blew against his entire body, hugging both his smallest friend and himself against the cold. Sun in the meantime unfortunately, ended up losing his position and screamed before landing face first into the snow the same way Sonic would sometimes end up when it comes to crash landings.

"Brr! I-it's c-colder here than i-it is at the I-Ice Cap Z-Zone!" Sonic shivered, his teeth chittering.

"It's f-freezing!" Chip exclaimed, shivering more violently against the cold than his friend was despite being in the blue hedgehog's arms which provided some warmth.

Sun pulled his face out of the snow and yelped as an even bigger icy gust swept through, quickly leaping to his feet and hugged himself, shivering before grumbling. "I-I think I preferred to have l-landed o-on a b-beach! At least then I-I wouldn't be turning into a popsicle!"

"We should get going before we all turn into popsicles." The teenage hero of Mobius advised. "I wouldn't wanna be a frozen hedgehog here."

"Do we even have a clue where the Gaia Temple is?" The dark-blue hedgehog asked skeptically. "For all we know, it'll take us a week to get there, and we're in the middle of a blizzard."

"Well, we won't know if we stand around here and freeze." Sonic pointed out with a smirk, holding Chip in one arm and taking Sun's hand with his free one. "The faster we get somewhere, the better."

Knowing instantly what this meant, the dark-blue hedgehog groaned in dismay. "Why meeeeeeee-aaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

He screamed the moment he was pulled along with Sonic who immediately ran into the best direction he picked towards where they needed to be, and hopefully somewhere to warm themselves up before they continued their journey to find the next Temple of Gaia.

It hadn't taken long for Sonic and his friends to reach their destination which thankfully wasn't that far to find, though they still had to find the Temple of Gaia. In fact, it might've probably taken three days in normal pace from where they landed, but for the fastest thing alive, it was only half an hour. Because by the time the cobalt hedgehog skid to a stop, they were already at the entrance of an oddly quaint but nice looking village.

It was rather small, populated with humans in a small family group, all rugged up in warm winter-all-year-round coats, and everybody's homes were all igloos.

"I can't believe people here live in all of these ice blocks. How can they stand it?" Sun asked, once he recovered from his unexpected ride from his fellow hedgehog companion.

"Once you were born and pretty much live your whole life in one single place, people tend to learn how to live in certain enviroments growing up." Sonic explained proudly.

"What about you, Sonic?" Chip asked, curiously.

The blue hero shrugged. "I grew up on South Island since I was born there, in Green Hill Zone. Started my worldly travels after my very first adventure in kicking Eggman's butt."

The dark-blue hedgehog couldn't help but snort in amusement, "I'm gonna go off the limb here and say that it was when you first called him Ro-butt-nik."

"Bingo!" Sonic replied happily. "You just became today's winner of the 'What was Eggman First called?' Contest!" He added jokingly.

"Why did you first call him Ro-butt-nik, Sonic? I thought he was always Eggman?" The little pixie asked, puzzled as Tails didn't mention anything to him about that.

"Oh, right. Guess I kinda didn't mention it to you when I told you guys how Amy wrecked Egghead's robot yesterday." Sonic sheepishly rubbed the side of his face, his muzzle turning slightly pink of embarrassment, before explaining briefly. "See, his real name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but when we first met, I used to call him Ro-butt-nik, or just Buttnik for short. But after a while, when he first released Chaos, I kinda grew tired of calling him those two names and decided to start taunting him by the fact that he's shaped like a giant talking egg and called him Eggman. Funny thing is, he's gotten so used to it by now he's officially changed his name to just being Dr. Eggman for life."

"Well, at least you can still taunt him by calling him Egghead." Sun shrugged.

"Oh, believe me, Sun. I still call him by many names that starts with an egg. Eggster, Eggy, Egg-Brain, that sort of thing." The fifteen year old replied smugly. "Plus, he mostly names most of his toys or fantasy empire after eggs anyway."

"For an evil scientist, he's seriously unimaginative when it comes to naming things." His rival said dryly.

"Unimaginative and dumb." Chip added.

"Unimaginative, dumb and lame." Sonic nodded in agreement. He and his two companions shared a laugh which faded as the teenager then gestured them. "C'mon. Let's go find that Temple. I bet the people around here know where it is."

However, just before the trio were about to fully enter the village, there was a sudden monstrous air that filled the air that made them stop in their tracks, and pretty much everyone stop what they were doing. It echoed through the chilly air as, while it was only lightly snowing in this area since Sonic, Sun and Chip made it out of the worst of the blizzard, sounded pretty loud but distant, yet it was pretty close the louder it got. The villagers, looking all friendly and happy just moments ago, now looked fearful and began shivering not in the cold, but in fear, which to the travelers, it was odd considering it was still daytime.

"What-?" Chip began, nervously.

"Shh..." Sonic shushed him, whispering, quickly on high alert as he tried to listen for where the noise was coming from. "Keep it down."

"Now what?" Sun whispered in annoyance as he too became alert.

Near them, was a man who was shaking near a pile of lumber, trying not to drop any he was carrying despite that how terrified he looked. He was almost as pale as the snow as he whined in fear. "Oh no...Not again."

'Again? What again?' The blue hedgehog to himself, wondering what was it that got everybody so scared. Could it be one of Eggman's robots from the last week? That seemed logical. If that was the case, then it's related to what's happened to the world. That instantly placed guilt into the pit of Sonic's stomach, but he tried not to let it get to him and instead braced himself for another robot butt kicking fight.

On the other hand, the roar didn't sound like one of the evil doctor's toys, unless he designed one after-

Sonic's thoughts were cut off when charging from out of nowhere and passing by the village of igloos with some already getting damaged, was a huge monster about 25 or maybe 32 feet tall, roaring like mad, with the villagers already frozen in their place-no pun intended-and didn't dare to move. It stopped in the middle of the village that wasn't that far from where the blue hedgehog and his friends were as they too didn't move, too shocked, and in Chip's case, terrified, to even do so as they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

It looked a bit like Sun's Werehog form in build, but it lacked shoes, the hands were human like but with sharp nails, it had the head of an ape with thick fur like an aging man's long white hair and long beard, sharp teeth and black void-like eyes. People screamed but again, no one moved.

"Whoa!" Sonic yelped with a nervous sweat drop, his eyes wide with a scared expression of his own. "An Abominable Snowman! I thought those things were just stories."

Sun held a total look of disbelief and bewilderment, almost falling over in shock as his mouth was gaped open, almost speechless. "Y-You've gotta be kidding me!"

"An Abo-what Snowman?" Chip asked, shaking like a leaf as his heart stopped for a second or two. Monsters that were seemingly related to Dark Gaia, and Sun's Werehog form were bad enough, now this white hairy thing?

"Everyone. Do. Not. Move. Remember, the Yeti can pick up our movement." Another man, appearing in his mid thirties, whispered to the citizens, the two hedgehogs and the little pixie who, not knowing what else to do even though Sonic felt the need to move and drive this monster away, didn't move at all as the Yeti leered around for any movement of anyone and anything.

No one moved even as the cobalt young hero really wanted to move, feeling himself twitch and fidget while trying to stop himself from doing so since standing still was never his thing. Good news is, what suddenly alerted the Yeti wasn't the fifteen year old hedgehog.

Bad news is, it was the man who was holding the pile of wood in his arms, as his arms unconsciously fell to his sides with a terrified expression, too late to realize as the lumber fell freely onto the pile of snow and cluttered onto each other, causing the snow beast to turn sharply towards the sound and movement, glaring at the man. His eyes widened as he realized that he accidentally did this, while the Yeti roared and everyone flinched, before the citizens, and even Sun all glared at him, though Sonic and Chip both flinched before the former facepalmed himself.

"It was an accident." The unfortunate man squeaked apologetically with a nervous shrug.

"Way to go, ice man." Sun congratulated in heavy sarcasm, rolling his eyes in irritation.

The Yeti then charged straight towards the people who, left with no other choice, ran out of the way as it began smashing crates and scattering piles of lumber all over the place. The citizens screamed in terror as the snow monster stomped towards the man who accidentally alerted it. Sonic wasted no time in using his speed to move the man out of the way while Chip screamed in terror himself, and he and Sun, who flinched, jumped back to avoid the Yeti's wrath.

"You okay?" The blue hedgehog asked the terrified villager who whimpered but nodded. He then winked at the man with a thumbs up and smirk, "Don't worry. Leave him to me!"

Sonic stood up before dashing off quickly to face and battle the Yeti who was on a rampage as it attempted to grab hold of anyone it could reach. Sun, seeing this and while not having the same speed as the blue hedgehog, raced over to help. The teenage hero saw a young girl who was cornered by the monster, whimpering in fear and calling out for her mother. Sonic dashed by, scooping up the terrified child before the Yeti could even grab them both. He then set the child near a safe corner with other people who were attempting to hide near a still intact igloo.

"Mommy!" The little girl cried as she noticed her mother who, much to her relief, hugged her as the child began to cry in relief and fear.

"My baby!" The woman sobbed in relief, holding her distraught daughter in her arms, before gazing gratefully at the heroic hedgehog. "Thank you."

"No problem, ma'am." Sonic replied with a thumbs up, before dashing back towards the Yeti who was now about to target another man while Sun only had enough time to direct two other people into another igloo, before the fifteen year old skid to a stop and called out to the monster. "Hey, Snowball! Over here!"

That got the Yeti's attention, as it paused in what it was doing, before slowly turning to face the teenager who stood there confidently with a smirk, looking forward in teaching the snow beast a lesson. "I don't know what your problem is, pal, but I don't like it when people get hurt by creeps like you. How 'bout you pick on somebody who can fight back?"

"RWWWAAAAAARRRR!" The Yeti roared loudly, charging straight towards Sonic who waited, before leaping out of the way at the last second when the monster attempted to whack him with a thrust of it's arm. He then Spin Dashed into it's side hard, causing it to crash onto the ground without hitting anything. It roared in pain and in fury, before getting up and made to grab him. But again the blue hedgehog was too fast for it and he jumped.

"Come on, slow poke! I've faced robots faster than you!" Sonic taunted, laughing as he charged himself, zig-zagging in avoiding the arms that were attempted to either grab or punch him, before the blue hedgehog Homing Attacked the monster squarely into the chest, causing the monster to stumble back and fly backwards by the force of the Mobian no where near it's size, and yet was strong enough for it to be sent crashing into the snow, hitting a large rock close by.

Despite the pain in it's chest and back due to what happened, the Yeti growled before pushing itself up, roaring skyward which rocked the area that even made the young hero of Mobius jump slightly before recollecting himself, glaring hard with determination. The monster then made to attack again, picking up a large rock before tossing it straight towards Sonic who flinched at this.

"Incoming!" The blue hedgehog cried out to everyone who, hearing seeing and hearing this, moved out of the way as did he, all narrowly avoiding the boulder which smashed into an igloo which crumbled and shattered, much to an elderly man's dismay, making Sonic wince when he saw the damage.

"My house!" The old man wailed, falling onto his knees as he sobbed. "I just had it rebuilt last year!"

"Uh oh. Hope it wasn't too expensive to fix." The fifteen year old hero muttered worriedly with a sweat drop, feeling sorry for the guy. He turned back to the Yeti, now angry with the severe damage and grunted. "You'd better pay for that, you over-sized Snow Cone!"

The Yeti just roared in response before tossing other random smaller but still large rocks, forcing Sonic to smash them with his karate kicks and punches, and then he charged himself again while dodging each throw, leaping high into the air before Homing Attacked on the face so fast that the monster couldn't catch him, forcing it into the snow once again and the blue hedgehog purposely stomped right onto the back of the head, the soles of his shoes shoving the Yeti's face deeper into the cold icy ground.

Sonic then quickly somersaulted up and away into a safe distance, landing expertly before standing in defense. To his shock and everyone else's horror, the Yeti wasn't quite finished yet, as it growled despite it's injuries done by the young hedgehog, before it pushed itself up and snarled furiously at the teenage Mobian, standing up while hissing in pain, then roared loudly once more. However, Sun, who had been trying to get into the battle to help out, only being able to get a few people away from the battle scene and feeling a bit out of sorts for being left out of the battle again, raced up before leaping high and punched the monster squarely in the face in a similar way Knuckles would. The Yeti roared and stumbled before the dark-blue hedgehog gave it several more punches which forced it to crash into another work, then he jumped and raced over to Sonic who let out an impressed whistle.

"You could've left me some of the action." Sun couldn't help but grumble.

"Sorry. Had to stop this guy fast." The blue hedgehog shrugged sheepishly. By then, Chip, believing that the fight was over as the Yeti seemed to be too exhausted to continue fighting and rested a hand onto it's head, flew over to his two hedgehog friends in relief.

"You really showed that Abo-whatever Snowman Yeti guy a lesson, Sonic, with Sun giving him a real knuckle-sandwich!" The little pixie celebrated happily, to which Sonic gave his friend a thumbs up and a wink while Sun just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Thanks, Chip. But We're not out of the woods yet." Sonic said with caution, only to gasp in shock when Chip didn't hear him and had already brought out his camera to take a photo of the seemingly defeated Yeti, which Sun knocked and flinched in horrified realization.

"I gotta take a photo of this!" Chip exclaimed, only for both Sonic and Sun to grab hold of him and the camera to stop him from doing so, much to his confusion. "Wha-what gives!?"

"AH! Bad idea, Chip!" Sonic warned in panic, remembering the last time his friend took a photo back at Spagonia which caused the monsters to form from the possessed dancers.

"The last time you did that, you almost got us killed!" Sun scolded.

Chip, hearing this and almost instantly remembering how the last time he took a photo did almost gotten himself and his two friends killed, froze and gulped nervously. He looked at both hedgehogs sheepishly and apologetically for having that slip from his mind. He muttered an apology, only to yelp as he, Sonic and Sun then heard the Yeti growl again, and when the trio looked up, as did everyone else who all gasped in horror, the monster had stood up and was now charging straight towards them.

"Man, this is one stubborn monster!" Sonic exclaimed, quickly standing in front of Chip, holding out an arm protectively to shield the pixie as did Sun who stood ready. "Quick, Chip! Hide!"

"AAAAAHHHHH! He's gonna eat us!" Chip screamed out hysterically, figuratively frozen in mid-air as his body refused to listen to him or heed the teenage hedgehog's command. The only thing he could do was cover his eyes and braced himself, while Sonic and Sun grunted and prepared themselves to continue the fight.

But what no one had even noticed was that the green orb on the little pixie-dog's necklace began to glow in warm, green light, the same way it did when it's mysterious power rose the pillar inside the Temple of Gaia in Mazuri. When it glowed a bit brighter, it was then that Sonic and everybody else except for Chip noticed and gaped in confusion and awe and to make things more strange, the Yeti stopped in it's tracks upon seeing the light and it hissed at the blinding light, being forced to shield it's eyes with it's clawed hand.

"Chip! Your necklace is glowing!" Sonic cried out, pointing at the orb which made the aforementioned pixie hesitantly lower his hands and, seeing what was going on, noticed as well and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"Whoa! You're right, Sonic! What's going on?" Chip exclaimed, bewildered.

"Uh, guys?" Sun muttered, a bit dumbfounded as he noticed something else odd; the Yeti lowered it's hand slowly and just stood there. When Sonic and Chip looked up to see, they noticed that the monster strangely didn't have it's hostile expression, and while it still looked dangerous, it gazed at them now with a seemingly confused expresion.

Or mainly at Chip who gulped and hidden himself partially behind Sonic who quickly stood in position to protect his friend from the threat. The Yeti eyed the small Mobian, before turning it's gaze to the blue hedgehog with a thoughtful frown, and then at the dark-blue hedgehog who stood in defense. Then, much to the bewilderment of everyone in the village, the snow beast simply turned and then ran off, passing by the humans who leaned back, fearing that it could attack them and Sonic was about to follow. But it just ran away without harming anyone or causing anymore damage.

"What the...?" Sonic muttered softly, now really puzzled.

"Uuuuuhhhhh..." Sun murmured, dumbfounded. "Can somebody please explain to me what just happened?"

"I wish I knew." The blue hedgehog replied, just as clueless. By then, Chip's necklace stopped glowing which the trio noticed and were even more confused.

"That was just...really crazy." Chip muttered, unable to believe what just happened himself. "I can't remember if this always happened or not!"

Even though Sonic wanted to know the answer of this latest mystery, he decided to worry about that later as the villagers began to slowly move away from their hiding positions, before asking the crowd. "Everybody okay?"

The citizens all replied that they were fine and thanked the young hero and his friends for saving them. The little girl that he rescued earlier ran up to him happily, and gave the blue hedgehog a hug which caught him by surprise. Thankfully it wasn't anything like how Amy would nearly knock him over or squeeze him, but it was still unexpected.

"That was great! Thank you for saving me, Mr...Um..." The little girl trailed off, feeling embarrassed for not knowing his name.

"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic introduced himself, adding. "And you're welcome, kid. I'm glad that you're okay."

"You and your friends were so cool, Mr. Sonic! You saved us!" The girl squealed happily, nuzzling her hooded head on top of the teenager's which made him laugh at the tickling sensation. Chip chuckled at the cute scene and to Sonic's embarrassment, the pixie took a photo, while Sun shook his head once more.

"Awwwwwww..." The crowd all murmured at the scene, which made the teenage Mobian blush in further embarrassment. Thankfully, the girl then let go, much to his relief as he cleared his throat to try and stop himself from looking sheepish, before introducing his two companions and the people once again thanked the trio.

"Hey, sorry about your village. Did what we could to drive off that Abominable Snowman and stop him from hurting everyone." Sonic announced apologetically, once he, Chip and Sun then noticed the damage the Yeti had caused and left behind.

"Please, Mr. Sonic. There's no need to apologize." The girl's mother, who had approached with a kind smile and in gratitude. "What you did prevented our home from needing to be fully rebuild for the umpteenth time in many years."

"Huh? Really?" The blue hedgehog asked, surprised as he, Sun and Chip hadn't expected to hear that.

The woman nodded, "Yes, unfortunately. We wish to thank you for saving us all and having saved our village from complete destruction."

The words complete destruction unfortunately made Sonic think back of how the world ended up split apart, the destruction caused by Eggman who had trapped the heroic hedgehog and used him and the Chaos Emeralds to cause this mess. The fifteen year old's heart sank, knowing that despite his friends' full support last night at Spagonia, he was partially, if not fully responsible for the near destruction of the entire planet. Now that he thought about it, how could anyone be thanking him for saving them from things like a Yeti, when he couldn't prevent the evil scientist from doing all of this?

His stomach twisted into a knot in unbearable guilt, and suddenly he didn't feel like he deserved a hero's welcome or gratitude from these people who apparently already had enough problems with a snow monster terrorizing their town. Plus, given how the old guy just lost his home again after having it rebuilt from last year's attack, it made the teenager feel even worse. Then quickly realizing that he was slowly or quickly becoming miserable again, the blue hedgehog mentally swallowed and forced himself to not think about that, and instead focused on the present.

"Hey, it's what I do. No reason at all." Sonic replied, scratching his head with a smile. "Plus, I had help from these guys."

"You did most of the work." Sun pointed out, skeptically.

"I didn't do anything at all." Chip added, shrugging. "I don't even know why my necklace glowed like that. Or at least I don't remember anything much about it at all."

"You can't remember?" The woman's daughter asked, shocked and with sympathy, as were her mother and everybody else.

"We're both suffering from amnesia. Neither of us remember even our real names, so Sonic here called this little guy Chip and me Sun." Sun replied, shrugging.

"I'm helping them to figure out how to get their memories back, and, well, there's actually a main reason why we came here today, even though we didn't expect to see a giant snow monster terrorizing your home." The aforementioned blue hedgehog explained.

"Perhaps I can help." The girl's mother kindly offered, causing the trio to gaze up at her. "Think of it as our gratitude for saving us all, and we can discuss over some soup."

"Really!? Yeah, alright! Some nice, warm, hot, steamy soup in Holoska! Yeah!" Chip cheered happily, flying around which made the little girl giggle, and Sun rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Don't you need help in cleaning up the mess the monster made?" Sonic asked, shrugging. "We can help with that."

The woman shook her head with a kind smile, one that reminded the teenage Mobian of how Cream's Mother Vanilla would look. "You three did more than enough. We are capable of fixing up our home."

"Kinda makes me feel bad for not helping, though." The fifteen year old muttered, feeling uncomfortable to leave these people to fix up the damage the Yeti made. He liked helping others when it felt really necessary. Plus, given what's happened, it also gave him some bit of an illusion of atoning for these people had gone through with Mobians being in pieces, slowly being put back together.

"Aw, it's okay, Mr. Sonic." The little girl reassured, taking hold of Sonic's hand to tug him along, adding. "And you all need to warm you. You're gonna get really cold. My Mommy makes the best soup in Holoska."

"Please." Sonic half-whispered, almost begging as he gently resisted the pull. "I really appreciate the offer, but I can't just sit around doing nothing when everybody still need my help. I don't mind, really."

"Are you sure?" The woman asked, surprised by the teenager's request to keep helping by helping to fix up the mess. Sonic and even Chip nodded, while Sun looked a bit hesitant, but in the end knew it was two against one and decided not to argue. She and her daughter smiled, as did everyone else. "Thank you."

She then turned her attention to the man who had accidentally alerted the Yeti, "And you. You know better than to carry wood and not control your fear when the Yeti comes."

"Sorry, ma'am." The man muttered guiltily, and cringed nervously when almost everyone else in the village all glared at him. He smiled sheepishly.

"This is the second time in two years you alerted that thing! Just look at my house!" The old man from earlier shout angrily, pointing at the ruins of his home. "Now I'm stuck with my cousin for another year-again!"

Sonic cringed at the anger of the man's tone, feeling just as guilty for having let the Yeti toss the boulder which smashed it and now felt fully responsible. He was about to make his apology when the old man angrily turned his gaze to the blue hedgehog which made him flinch in fright, shocked at how furious he was.

"And YOU! I don't care if you have saved our lives, hedgehog! I want you and your friends OUT of our village and go back to where you came from! NOW!" The old man shouted, glaring hard as everyone stared at him in shock. "Every time we have visitors, something happens! I say we make a vote and border up Holoska! I'm through with outsiders!"

The blue hedgehog was left speechless, his pride stung hard, his heart hammering as his fears from what Mnyambo's people would reacted with Sun, now was becoming a reality for a very different reason. He was shaking, and not because of the cold weather, but the heated hatred despite having done the right thing.

"I-"

"GET OUT! NOW!" The old man practically screamed in anger, picking up a piece of wood, making to toss it at Sonic, Sun and Chip, the latter two bewildered at the man's behavior. The man threw it at the blue hedgehog's chest, causing him to stumble over and hit the ground, not having the heart to even dodge or move.

"SONIC!" Chip cried out worriedly as he, the little girl, her mother, and even a few other people raced over to the now distraught teenager's aid, while other people then turned their attention to the old man with looks of disbelief.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean-" Sonic tried again, but was cut off for the third time.

"Sorry's not good enough!" The old man hissed furiously. "GET! OUT!"

"Okay! Okay! We're going!" Sonic exclaimed, stumbling to standing up, quickly asking. "We just wanna find out where the Temple of Gaia is to solve another huge problem and-"

"NO! NO EXCUSES! JUST GET OUT AND STAY AWAY FOREVER!" The old man screamed, scaring Sonic who felt weak in the legs, his heart breaking over this, unable to believe that he'd just failed. Failed in restoring the world, all because of what happened here. Chip screamed in fright and hidden himself behind the devastated cobalt hero, his resolve starting to crumble.

"Seriously, what's your problem? We just saved this village from a mutant snowman, and this is how you thank us?" Sun grunted, really angry with the treatment the old guy was giving. "You need to work on your anger management, old man."

"Sun, don't." Sonic pleaded, placing a hand onto his rival-turned-friend's shoulder, making the dark-blue hedgehog glance at him. " Don't make things any worse. We'll have to find another way to the Temple later. Let's wait for Tails and go back to Spagonia. I'm sure Professor Pickle can lead us to another one somewhere."

"YOU'RE NOT WELCOME BACK TO HOLOSKA!" The old man screamed once more, scaring the trio even more, before he turned to the villagers. "Listen, everyone! These boys are more trouble than the Yeti! They need to be punished for invading our home!"

Sonic and Chip both gasped, before the former quickly stood in front of the latter and the even more shocked Sun while leaning back in fear, unable to believe that this was happening. It was really happening. People of a foreign place were really going to prevent visitors from coming due to what's happened.

"Please...! We don't want to be any trouble." Sonic softly pleaded.

"STOP IT!" The little girl screamed at the old man, her voice echoing through out the area. She glared up tearfully at him, unable to believe just how cruel he was. "You should be ashamed! Mr. Sonic didn't do anything wrong! You're hurting him and his friends!"

"Ayla is absolutely right, Joseph." The girl's mother agreed sternly. "You are blaming a young teenager who has saved us with the aid of his friends. Yes, Joe has made a mistake again, but there is no need to blame someone who clearly has a strong heart. It is the Yeti who has caused your home to be destroyed, as it always has. What happened today was no different."

"HE COULD'VE AT LEAST PREVENTED IT!" The old man, Joseph, pointed out, and Sonic felt a huge stab of guilt in his entire torso, like a giant sword plunging straight through. "I'm sick of having to rebuild my house ever since the Yeti has started to terrorize our village! This is the last straw!"

"I'M SORRY!" Sonic cried out, collapsing onto his knees and was unable to hold back his emotions anymore. "You're right. It's my fault. I'm so sorry that your home was destroyed. I should've prevented it. I'll leave. Just...just let the three of us find the Temple, please."

"JUST GET OUT!" Joseph screamed, only to be grabbed by two men who held him roughly by the arms and began to drag him away. "GET OFF ME! I'm a villager!"

"That's it! We've had it with your attitude, Joseph!" One of the men grunted angrily. "You've really crossed the line with your stupid superstitions."

"The whole village is tired of your hatred and selfishness, so if anyone's going to leave and never return, it's you!" The other man agreed, and there was the chorus of utter agreement from the rest of the villagers, which stunned Sonic who looked up hesitantly as he, Chip and Sun glanced around.

The woman stormed up to Joseph and glared at him. "Joseph, for 30 years, you have always treated visitors like it is an invasion. For five years, ever since the Yeti first came, you have only gotten worse. All you ever cared about was your home, never bothering to help rebuild anyone else's and even then, you hardly even rebuild your house. You bark orders as though you are the leader. This is exactly why you were never voted as such."

"It's bad luck for a woman to be a leader." Joseph growled. "You are far too kind for your own good, Sierra."

"And you are far too cruel for your own good." Sierra, the woman, growled back angrily. "You leave me with no choice but to banish you from Holoska, for the rest of your life."

"You can't do this!" The old man shouted, horrified upon hearing these words. He gestured at Joe with his head. "Banish him! He's clumsy!"

Sierra ignored the protest, and told the two men that was holding their prisoner, "Get him out of our sight. Help him pack his bags, and make sure he's taken to another village where the hospital will deal with him."

"Yes, ma'am." The two men immediately agreed wholeheartedly, and began pulling and dragging the protesting old man away with everyone else watching and the villagers glaring at him, and the little girl, Ayla, giving Joseph a raspberry.

"That big bully." Ayla muttered, turning her attention to a shocked Sonic before she approached him worriedly. "Are you okay, Mr. Sonic?"

"Uh...Y-yeah. I'm fine." The blue hedgehog muttered, feeling even worse despite that he stopped himself from breaking down. He hesitantly faced everyone who turned their attention to him. "I-I'm truly, deeply sorry. Look, if you want me to leave, I'll leave."

Sonic slowly stood up and began to walk away back to the entrance, gesturing both Chip and Sun to follow him. "Let's go, guys."

"Wait, Mr. Sonic." Another man, about in his mid forties, gently called back, making Sonic pause in his steps. "It's as Ayla says, you didn't do anything wrong. You and your friends have saved us, and prevented our village from being completely destroyed. In fact, you prevented anyone from being kidnapped this year. Last time this happened was two years ago."

"And the Yeti only comes by once every year, even without kidnapping anyone." Another man added.

"You don't have to apologize, Sonic." Sierra added kindly as she approached the young Mobian who slowly turned around with a hesitant expression. "If you wish, you're more than welcome to help, and please, feel free to come and visit and stay as long as you want. Same goes for your friends as well. You can even invite your other friends."

"Are you sure?" Sonic asked, nervously. The woman nodded, before her daughter went up to him and gave the teenager a comforting hug which surprised him again before he noticed tears leaking from her very young eyes.

"We're sorry, Mr. Sonic." Ayla sniffled. "We didn't mean to hurt you."

Sonic's heart ached at just how someone so young could apologize for something that she didn't do, and he smiled softly before gently hugging her back, both to comfort her and welcome the kindness as well.

"It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong, either. Thanks." He whispered.

It warmed the villagers' hearts at the scene, while Chip sniffled as he began to bawl his eyes out, before taking out a handkerchief from nowhere and blew his nose, and Sun felt a few heart-strings tug painfully. It peeved him that one old, cranky guy could blame Sonic for something that he didn't do, and then he thought back to how he blamed his fellow hedgehog for what's happened when the fifteen year old had only been trying to prevent it. In this case, he saved the village with a little bit of his help and Chip's necklace, and while some damage had already been made, it wasn't like it was completely destroyed, and no lives were either kidnapped or lost, and one man had the nerve to play the blame game.

'The lady's right. Sonic does have a strong heart. That's why he didn't get turned into a Werehog like I did at night. He's mentally too strong for that.' The dark-blue hedgehog thought to himself, very relieved that it had been him, and not Sonic, to be cursed by Dark Gaia's influence.

After the heated accusement from the old man, Sonic, Sun and Chip helped the villagers to clean up the mess and fix up the damage as much as possible, as everyone was more than grateful for his heroics, before the most of it was done and the villagers thanked them again, saying that they can handle the rest after an hour, before trio followed Sierra and her daughter into the largest Igloo the teenager has ever seen in his entire life. It was shaped like an oval house and was the size of one as well.

Stepping inside, it was just as homey on the inside as it was on the inside. It had a lot more stuff than anyone outside of this village could ever imagine. It actually had rooms and hallways that lead into two separate bedrooms, comfy looking seats with a small table that was used as a dining table, cushions used as seats, a kitchen with a large pot with ingredients to make soup, and other warm liquids all year around, everything.

Even the living room was comfy looking. To say the least, Sonic, Chip and even Sun were impressed with this place. It was even nice and warm, and after being out in the cold weather since arriving, they really felt chilled.

"In all the events that's happened, I forgot to introduce ourselves." Sierra suddenly remembered while she and her daughter lead the trio over to the table. "My name is Sierra. I'm the leader of our village."

"I'm Ayla!" Ayla, added excitedly, taking off her coat and revealing that she was wearing a nice lavender warm thick dress with warm pants underneath, dark boots which she took off and slipped on warm winter indoor boots, and her dark hair went down to the upper part of her back. She was no older than six years old.

Sierra, taking off her coat, wore a deep opal green long dress with dark pants and boots, her hair matching that of her daughter's, and she looked to be in her very early thirties, but beautiful no less. She then gestured to the trio after they gave their friendly greetings, "Please, make yourselves at home while I prepare the soup."

She turned to her child and gestured, "Ayla, will you help me in the kitchen?"

"Yes, mommy!" Ayla nodded happily, waving a quick goodbye to the Mobians before following her mother into the kitchen. Sonic, Chip and Sun settled into their selected seats at the table and waited, even though the blue hedgehog couldn't help but sigh, placing his arms onto the table and rested his head onto them.

"I have to admit, this place is nice, considering that it's an igloo." Sun commented, resting his elbow onto the table as his head rested onto his palm.

"I really like it! It's nice, and warm, and cosy, and-" Chip said happily, looking all around, and continued saying on how he really liked the place.

Sonic didn't pay attention. While he did agree that it was the nicest igloo he'd ever seen, the teenage Mobian couldn't stop feeling useless right now. Yes he had saved the villagers and most parts of their home from the Yeti, the fact that Joseph had blamed him for something he tried to made him feel terrible. Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero of Mobius, and yet he had no idea about any of this. Not to mention that Chip's necklace somehow tamed the monster which made him think that it was Dark Gaia related, and that made him feel worse.

The blue hedgehog glanced over at the entrance to the village outside, wondering how Joseph was going to react in another village that could take weeks to get to.

'Maybe this is what Mnyambo saw, or it's just me making a bigger mess than I already did.' Sonic thought miserably, looking away and resting his head onto his arms once more, closing his eyes with another sigh.

"Sonic?" Chip spoke up, noticing the blue hedgehog's silence.

"Hey, what's with you?" Sun asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry. I just feel awful." Sonic replied. "How can I be a hero if I made a total mess, and already there's one person who hates me for just being in his home? I should've even known that there'd been a snowman attack for the past five years. If I'd known a lot sooner, I would've prevented it from happening."

"It's not your fault. You were on another continent." Chip pointed out comfortingly, hovering over and patted his blue friend on the head, which made the teenage hedgehog smile sadly.

"He has a point." Sun agreed. "Seriously, Blue. Why do you take the blame over something that you didn't do, or were trying to stop?"

Sonic leaned up a bit, his smile fading. "Because I have to be the hero everybody wants. Plus, I hate letting people down. Not just my friends or family, but pretty much everybody on Mobius. Plus, the world is the only place we can call home. If Eggman takes it over and turns it into a giant floating iron ball with nothing but robots everywhere, then it's not a place to live or be free. It's a machine that'll eventually breakdown and just be a floating piece of junk heap for the rest of eternity. I feared in seeing such a thing ever since I saw the planet from high up in space for the very first time a few years ago."

The blue hedgehog leaned back a bit with his hands supporting him, gazing up at the icy block ceiling with a content smile on his muzzle at the memory. "It was when I was stopping him again, when Tails and I were on our very first adventure together. Seeing the world, all blue and green, and other colours, the sun shining upon it like it was glowing, it was the most beautiful view I've ever seen, and no matter how many times I'm up there, it keeps on gettng better. At least I think so. Seeing the world like it was, I loved it even more, and I still so."

"Wow...I wish I could see the world like that." The little pixie muttered in awe.

"I don't see why Eggman wants to change it to his liking." Sun stated with an raised eyebrow. "He seriously has no imagination. What'd he do, read too many Industrial Magazines growing up?"

Sonic shrugged, leaning up again. "He might've. Then again, he could've read so many bad magazines that he thought were great or good looking. C'mon, that guy's idea of fashion makes him look like a clown in a badly designed Ring Master's outfit."

That made both of his companions try hard not to laugh, with Chip covering his mouth with both hands, and Sun facepalming himself, the latter saying. "Yep. Eggman really has no imagination."

"Or tastes." Sonic chuckled in agreement, before becoming sullen a bit again, gazing at the table again, determination rising once more. "That's why I won't stop, until the world is saved, and I beat Eggman again. I'll keep fighting him for the world, and everybody's freedom. Forever if I have to."

"Don't you mean until he retires?" Chip asked curiously.

The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes. "Sorry, buddy. But Eggman will never retire. He's as stubborn as me."

"And stupid." The dark-blue hedgehog commented.

The conversation then came to a halt when Sierra and Ayla emerged from the kitchen with two trays, one with five mugs of steaming hot soup which, at the scent from it, the trio felt their mouths water and stomachs growl since it smelled delicious, and the other with two large plates with freshly baked loafs of bread. The two set them down onto the table.

"Here you go. Help yourselves." The kind leader of the village offered.

"You're gonna love 'em!" Ayla added.

"Hey, thanks." Sonic replied, wishing Tails was here to try some of this as both Chip and Sun said their thanks as well, before selecting their cups of soup. The fifteen year old blew at the hot liquid to avoid in burning himself before taking a small sip, and immediately he moaned in pure delight the moment it hit his taste spud. "Really tasty."

"I love it!" Chip exclaimed, after doing the same and drank more.

"Your Mom sure knows how to cook, kid. You're pretty lucky." Sun commented, finding himself enjoying the soup as well.

Sierra and Ayla both giggled as they took seats on the other side of the table and began having their meals as well, before the kind woman asked. "Sonic, if you don't mind me asking, you said that you were looking for this 'Temple of Gaia', yes?"

"Yep. We sure are." The blue hedgehog nodded, hesitating a little, before admitting. "Not sure if you noticed, but, well, it's very important to find it in order to set things right. See, this evil guy named Dr. Eggman did something really horrible, and he wants to take over the world. We think that he wants to destroy the Temples all around the world to stop us from stopping him."

"He sounds like an awful man." Ayla said, shocked and little bit scared.

"Yeah, he sure is. He's been trying to take over for four years now. Luckly, I'm always there to stop him no matter what he does." Sonic said, taking another cautious sip from his cup of soup.

"Hmm...There has been an earthquake recently that has broken the block that prevented anyone from entering where the ancient shrine is, which it may be the Temple of Gaia you're refering to." Sierra said thoughtfully. "Now that I think of it, some say that the Temple has a legend regards to our village, and the Yeti."

"Whaddya mean?" Sonic asked, curiously. "No offense, but I thought the Yeti didn't exist."

"It's understandable. Most outside of Holoska wouldn't. However, the Yeti have been said to exist for thousands of years, living in a cave which is one of the routes leading to the Shrine. Most wouldn't dare to enter, as they say that there were spooky happenings going on." The kind woman nodded.

"I've been into haunted houses filled with ghosts, and they never scared me much." The blue hedgehog commented, recalling his adventure with Tails and Knuckles on their three day quest to stop Metal Sonic, and how the red echidna had been really scared due to his fear of ghosts. Tails had been scared too, but not as much.

Chip flinched in fright, almost dropping his cup in shock. "What!? You've been into scary houses filled with ghosts!?"

Sonic winked, "Yep! It was like Halloween, but they didn't cause too much trouble. They just liked to play around by scaring people."

"Oh please. There's no such thing as ghosts." Sun scoffed, sipping through his soup.

"Whatever you say, Sun." Sonic shrugged, continuing to enjoy his soup as well.

"Even so, there's no telling." Sierra continued. "No one really saw the Yeti in person, because no one distrubed it's habitat. However, all of that changed five years ago, when he came."

"Who?" Chip asked, curiously while disappointed to find that he already drank all of his soup and attempted to look into it to see if there was anymore.

"A mean Leopard who tried to hurt us when he came to our home. I was just a baby a long time ago." Ayla spoke up.

"He calls himself the Myth Hunter." Sierra added.

That made Sonic splutter and choke on the hot liquid upon hearing both the discription and name, coughing and wheezing as the soup went down the wrong way. He coughed to get air back and stop himself from drowning, while Chip accidentally dunked his head into his now empty cup and gotten it stuck in shock, and Sun froze, his eyes wide, almost dropping his cup in sheer disbelief and a bit of horror.

"Say what!?" Sonic exclaimed once his coughing fit ceased, looking up at the two in horror, his eyes wide in disbelief. "The Myth Hunter!? No way!"

"Oh, great. I should've known that Myth-loving creep was here already, and being the main cause for the Abominable Snowman crisis that's going on." Sun groaned in dismay, memories of Kaiser keeping on believing that his Werehog form is a Werewolf form.

"Help! Help! I'm stuck!" Chip cried out, trying to get the cup off of his head but couldn't. Fortunately, the cobalt hedgehog, while still in shock, grabbed hold of him and pulled the mug off, making the pixie-dog sigh in relief. "Thanks, Sonic."

"No problem, buddy." Sonic replied, before turning back to Sierra and Ayla, asking, still horrified. "But seriously, Kaiser was here?"

"Have you met him?" Sierra asked, concerned over the trio's reactions.

The blue hedgehog and his two friends shared worried glances, before turning back to the mother and daughter, as he answered. "Yeah, we met the guy last night, back in Spagonia. I actually heard about him from a friend the other day and, well, you probably already noticed, but he's very dangerous. I'm gonna take a guess and say that he was after the Snowman, right?"

"Yes, he attempted to destroy our home as he demanded we reveal the location of the Yeti. No one believed that it actually existed, but we directed him to the cave and hoped that he wouldn't come back. Yet in his efforts in ending it's life, the Myth Hunter was forced away, because no one saw him since then. It was a day later that the Yeti has arrived and began to make it's own tradition to destroy our home and kidnap any people it could." The woman said gravely, rubbing Ayla's back when the little girl huddled close to her mother for comfort.

"Guess that explains why Joseph hated outsiders even more since then. I can't believe Kaiser was the main cause for all of this, all trying to kill the Snowman." Sonic realized, clenching his fist in anger over Kaiser's actions. It was because of the evil leopard that Holoska had to go through five years of terror of the Yeti, mainly because, the blue hedgehog thought about it, the Myth Hunter drew it away from it's home where it made no human contact up until then.

"Hey, I'm wondering if the Yeti guy is only attacking because it doesn't want anybody to attack it anymore." Chip commented thoughtfully and worriedly.

"Considering that the Yeti's still alive, I wouldn't be surprised that Myth Hunting loser was sent flying like Sonic did to him last night." Sun shrugged.

Sonic thought about it, and almost instantly this reminded him of how Tikal's father and soldiers have knocked her and the Chao down just so they could use the Chaos and Master Emeralds for their own gains, which angered Chaos into going on a rampage himself, to the point of killing them before being sealed away by the Princess at the cost of her own freedom and life. Could that be why the Yeti kept on attacking? Because it's heart was filled with anger and hate? Considering how it never attacked anyone until five years ago, the blue hedgehog began to think that it may be the case.

"I think you're right, Chip. It does make sense." He agreed thoughtfully, placing his finger and thumb under his chin. "But the question is, how did your necklace make it calm down? I mean, sure it's the key in solving the mysteries in the Temples, but if it could do that, then it must be more powerful than we thought."

"Didn't Mr. Mnymabo say that I could be the opposite of that Dark Gaia thing?" Chip remembered.

"Oh, come on." Sun told the little pixie-dog. "I still don't believe in that. I think it's more of the case that your necklace has some sort of magic you don't remember of having."

"I never heard of Dark Gaia, but I do recall hearing a legend of a Light Gaia." Sierra spoke up, getting the attention of the trio once more.

"Light Gaia?" Sonic asked.

Chip blinked in confusion, but then he felt some kind of weird blink run through his mind, a jolt within his heart as suddenly in his mind's vision, he saw a floating figure stand in the middle of a broken area. The figure then raised it's arms and glowed in green light, and in a flash, the area was restored into a beautiful meadow, the sky turning from darkness to light of blue, the sun shining down. The figure then vanished. Then, as soon as the vision started, it vanished and he returned to reality.

"Huh? What was..." The little pixie muttered, a sense of familiarity and deja vu sweeping across him.

"Chip? Chip, you okay?" The teenage hero, noticing his friend's somewhat blanked daze, quried a little worriedly.

"Weird. I just had a daydream, and this Light Gaia stuff sounds so...familiar. Even what I just saw gave me some weird deja vu that doesn't make sense at all." Chip murmured.

"Was it a memory?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know." Chip shook his head.

"Well, what did you see?" Sun asked, somewhat impatiently.

"I saw this broken land, and this guy, but he was all silhoutte, so I couldn't see him right. Then he raised his arms, and whoosh! The whole land recovered and it became a beautiful meadow on a bright sunny day, and the guy just...disappeared." The pixie explained, puzzled.

"It could be that you have a connection with Light Gaia, Chip." Sierra suggested thoughtfully.

"Me?" Chip asked, pointing at himself.

The kind woman nodded, "They say that Light Gaia is the healer of the world. It heals the world whenever it is in danger, but no one knows how or why. It holds a great power, the power of nature, protection and healing, and it's gift bestows those who are worthy in helping others who protect the earth from many, many dangers. In a way, you may have encountered Light Gaia, giving you your necklace, because it has seemed to have calmed the Yeti, and not even attacking Sonic or Sun when they fought it to protect all of us."

"The power of nature, protection and healing..." Sonic murmured, before gasping softly to himself as he suddenly recalled the green light that protected him from being eaten by Sun in the latter's Werehog form when they first met, and having somewhat broken their fall.

Suddenly, just as the Werehog was about to take a bite out of Sonic's head, a green flash of light surrounded both of them which made the monster stop and looked around in confusion. The light not only distracted the Werehog and saved Sonic from being eaten, but also made both of them float in midair. The hedgehog, once realizing that he was still alive and in one piece, hesitantly opened his eyes and also noticed.

"Huh?" He muttered, surprised. Sonic then felt the grip of the claws loosen and that the Werehog, also stunned, let go of him which irritated the beast, but even he couldn't not admire the unusual event.

"Whoa! So that's what it was." The blue hedgehog softly exclaimed, turning to Chip as he said in realization. "Chip, your necklace must've been using it's power to save me and Sun when Eggman threw us off from his Fortress."

"Or maybe using it's power that belongs to this Light Gaia thing must've had a side-effect by making you lose your memories after seeing that we were in trouble." Sun suggested with his own theory, careful in not mentioning on how he tried to eat Sonic as a Werehog.

"You mean, like I saw you two guys to save you, but had to lose my memories?" Chip asked, and the dark-blue hedgehog nodded. "I guess that makes a little bit of sense."

Sonic let out a whistle. "Well, even if you don't remember, you saved us twice. Thanks, Chip. That's one powerful necklace ya' got."

"It that's the case, then the legend must be true." Sierra stated with a smile, gazing at the young hedgehog, adding. "Sonic, since you fight this Dr. Eggman to keep the world safe, it seems that you are the one who is worthy of helping Chip in this quest to protect it with the gift of Light Gaia."

"I am?" The blue hedgehog blinked, surprised.

"Well, you do use the Chaos Emeralds to save the world." Sun pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm not only one who can use their power once in a while, and at the moment I can't until all of them turn back to normal in the Temples." Sonic pointed out, admitting as he scratched his head. "And after what's happened lately, I don't feel worthy. The best I can do is fix things up and stop Egghead, which the latter part is nothing new."

"Which is what you three are doing. Sonic, if anyone can solve this mystery, it's you." Sierra encouraged kindly. "Joseph was always such a horrible man anyway, and he is always upset to never have been voted as leader of our village. Don't let his cruel words get to you. He doesn't believe in the good of the outside world. You and your friends have proven to us that there are still good people out there, just as many other visitors before and after the Myth Hunter's arrival have done."

The cobalt young hero blinked, before these words reminded him of what Mnyambo, and all of Sonic's friends have been telling him in the last week. He smiled and nodded, his resolve renewed and while he still felt guilty for what's happened, it was comforting to know that everyone still believed in him, because of his heroic deeds, being of who he is.

After the nice warm meal and conversation, Sonic, Chip and Sun were at the other entrance of the village with Sierra and Ayla along with a few other people who still wanted to thank them for everything despite that the mystery was still yet to be solved.

"Beyond this path is where you should find the Temple of Gaia. Pass through the shrine, and into the cave of the Yeti. But be careful, because even with Chip's necklace, the beast is still a threat." Sierra informed the traveling trio.

"Thanks Sierra. Leave the rest to the three of us." Sonic replied.

"Thanks again for your lovely meal, Mrs. Sierra! It was great!" Chip said happily.

"And thanks for letting us warm up a little." Sun added.

"My pleasure." The female leader nodded.

"Please be careful and come back safe, Mr. Sonic." Ayla told them.

"We will, I promise. And, you can just call me Sonic." The blue hedgehog nodded, giving the little girl a wink and a thumbs up. "See ya later, everybody!"

The villagers said their goodbyes to the trio who waved before taking off into the mountain path to continue onward on their journey towards their next destination.

Fifteen minutes later...

Sonic, Sun and Chip were racing through the snow and mountain, and while the blue hedgehog focused on the task and adventure ahead of them despite how cold it was after having such warm soup and freshly baked bread, the dark-blue hedgehog, being forced to hold onto Sonic's hand since he couldn't run or fly as fast as the duo, groaned as the pixie couldn't stop complaining about how cold it was and how hungry he was.

"Ugh! Will you please just shut up!? You already ate about an hour ago!" Sun yelled in frustration.

"I know, but all of this cold and flying is making me hungry again!" Chip whined, panting and feeling the need to eat again already creeping up.

'Oh, Chip.' Sonic shook his head, trying to drown out the complaints and argument, and kept on racing forward. He really liked the little pixie, but there was always cons and pros when it comes to friendship. But that's what he liked about people, humans, mobians and even animals alike. All different personalities with different interests, while sharing the same but not exactly the same. It made meeting new people more interesting, exciting and also knowing who he can trust and who he had to be careful with.

Though sometimes it didn't always work out for him.

The fifteen year old was about to check up on Chip when he, and Sun who sighed in relief as the pixie finally seemed to have fallen silent, noticed that their smallest friend wasn't flying anymore, forcing Sonic to skid to a stop, and nearly making his fellow hedgehog fly forward.

"Chip?" Sonic muttered, seeing that his friend had landed onto the cold snow, groaning in hunger, making the cobalt hero and the dark-blue hedgehog approach him.

"Oh...hungry." Chip groaned, before remembering his chocolate bars. "Oh! I know!" He pulled out one which strangely looked to be covered in white frost. The pixie, ignoring this fact, took a huge bite onto it...

Only to remain the way he was for about three seconds before flinching, his body creeping up in pain before he tossed it away and flew around all over the place, holding his mouth.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! My teeth!" Chip screamed in pain, flying around like crazy while the two hedgehogs watched him.

"Come on, you big baby. It can't be that hard." Sun rolled his eyes.

Sonic blinked before picking up the frozen treat that landed in front of him, and when he gave it an experimental knock, it made a clanging noise, not even cracking and almost as though it was a frozen steel instead of chocolate.

"Whoa!" The blue hedgehog yelped in shock with a huge sweat drop, his eyes widening in disbelief, while the dark-blue hedgehog flinched with a sweat drop of his own, dumbfounded. "It's hard as a rock!"

"...I take that back. It can be that hard." Sun muttered, as he gazed at Chip who was still screaming in pain due to having biting down onto a super hard chocolate that was no longer edible. At least not in a place like this.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!" The little pixie yelped and cried.

"Think we're gonna be avoiding in having chocolate around here, unless you wanna try melting it back at the village and pour it onto some snow to make chocolate flavored Snow Cream." Sonic muttered half-jokingly, scratching his head with an raised eyebrow.

That only made the dark-blue hedgehog roll his eyes over the comment, before Chip literally dove into the snow and dunked his head into it, and then the latter sighed in relief as he gulped down a large clump of snow. Sonic and Sun both stared at him awkwardly, before sighing in exasperation, and in the latter hedgehog's case, annoyance.

"You feeling better now?" Sun asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, I think so." Chip moaned.

"Sorry, Chip. We'll get something to eat as soon as we find the Temple, 'kay?" Sonic shrugged apologetically, tossing the frozen solid bar over his shoulder. "Let's go before we end up turning into frozen ice blocks."

The other two agreed, before Chip rested onto the blue hedgehog's head while the latter held onto the reluctant dark-blue hedgehog's hand, and then Sonic sped onward.

Yet what they didn't realize was that from a pathway cliff on a mountain near where the trio were running, was the Yeti from before as it leered down at Sonic and his friends. It wasn't alone, because two more Yetis stomped up and stood beside it on both sides, watching the group despite them being a blur of blue, dark blue, and burgundy red.

A/N: Again, I am so sorry for the lateness of the chapter, but I just thought I'd add in the twist of the Yeti into this story. The next chapter will be a bit more perilous hopefully for Sonic and his companions.

See you later!