This is a fanfic that takes place in what you could say is an alternate version of the Sonic universe. It's basically what would happen if the Sonic characters were placed in a situation similar to that of the movie, "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom." I do not own the rights to any of these characters, games, or movies, nor do I intend to profit from this story. This was merely born from an idea I had, that I thought could be turned into a fun and exciting story. Enjoy it. Plus, I'm not really too familiar with pieces of the Sonic mythos, so cut me a little slack in that department if you could.

A shadow crawled over the ocean as a plane flied above it, containing its pilot, Miles "Tails" Prower, and his partner and mentor, Sonic The Hedgehog. The two had just finished some exercises on an island and were now headed to the area where their friends, Amy Rose and Cream The Rabbit's family resided.

"Hey Sonic" Tails gleefully shouted in the plane. "I'll bet you Amy will greet us like 5 seconds after we've landed!" Sonic looked over and scoffed. "Ah, come on Tails. Amy may be an obsessive admirer of me, but she's not THAT quick to catch on that I'm in the area. I'd say 15 seconds!"

"Wanna bet a chili dog on that?"

"Anytime, little buddy!"

"All right! You're on!" Tails reached and shook hands with his hedgehog friend.

Several minutes later, they finally saw the landing point they were looking for. But something seemed a bit off about it from a distance, a fact that wasn't lost on Tails. He quickly was able to see what looked like smoke coming from the land, and billowing up into the sky.

"Sonic! Can you see that?

Sonic peered out into the sky to see the same thing. "Yes. Yes I can. Very strange."

"You don't think Eggman attacked this place, do you?" Tails' face showed quite a bit of concern.

"Oh god, I sure hope not." Sonic looked on, his eyes searching for the source of the smoke, before pointing to where he thought it was coming from. "Land right over there. We can take a closer look right after we get out that way."

Tails wordlessly nodded, swerving the plane to get a good angle as he began the plane's descent. The smoke was faint, obviously the remnants of a fire that had occurred in this area not too long ago, but had since been extinguished by the locals. But both of the adventurers were now merely hoping that all of the locals were doing well.

Even as they touched down on the ground, Sonic and Tails could tell that something was not right. Many of the animal inhabitants were wandering around, many with despairing looks on their faces. Some of the females were sobbing too, on the ground as if looking for something they had all lost, while some of the males made sure that the fire was completely out.

Sonic was very concerned now as he stepped out of the plane, followed by a frightened looking Tails. Some of the locals were already walking up to the two heroes, grasping at their hands and begging. About what, the two had no idea. Everyone was talking so quickly and so frantically that not one intelligible word could be deciphered from the mess.

Suddenly, another hand came out and pulled Sonic away from the group. Tails quickly followed as Sonic looked over to see who had done it.

"Amy?"

Amy gazed at sonic, with a sad and confused look on her face.

"Sonic! Thank god you and Tails are here."

Tails stood still as a hysterical female had him by the shoulders, saying odd things to him as Sonic took a look around at the smoking land and it's frightened inhabitants. "Amy, what's going on? What's happened here?"

Amy looked away. "Something terrible..."

Sonic looked around. "It looks like a fire broke out in this area. Is that what happened?"

Amy looked at him with a worried face. "That was only part of what happened. You see, the fire was set intentionally."

Sonic grabbed her shoulders with a look of growing worry in his eyes. "Intentionally? Who set it then? Was it Eggman?"

Suddenly, another familiar face came forward. It was Cream's mother. "No. It wasn't him. There were no robots, and no machines, except for this submarine they came in on." She had a much more worried and saddened look on her face than Amy, but tried hard to maintain her composure.

Sonic looked between the two, trying to get a straight answer. "If there were no robots, then who did it all?" Amy just looked at him and answered, "They were animals, like us. Only they were dressed in these weird clothes. And they all had this creepy look in their eyes."

Upon hearing this, Cream's mother began to break down and sob. "It was horrible. They acted with no mercy or compassion whatsoever. They set the fire, and while I was out here trying to help put it out, they came into my home and took her!"

"Took who?" Sonic asked with wide eyes.

"Cream!" She wailed. "They stole my little girl!"

Amy quickly added to it. "It's not just Cream, Sonic. They stole all the young children. Every single child in the village is gone. I was able to fight off some of them, but I just couldn't get to Cream in time." She looked away shamefully.

Tails looked all around, and then back at the group, overhearing this conversation. "This is terrible, Sonic. We have to help them." Sonic nodded "Yeah. Robots or no robots, Eggman still has to be behind this somehow. The only problem is going to be tracking him down in that submarine you mentioned, and finding out where he put all of the children."

Amy looked at him urgently. "Well what are we gonna do? We can't just leave this all alone, and leave children in the hands of whoever did this." Sonic quickly quieted her "No. No we can't. I wasn't suggesting that at all. I think the best thing for Tails and I to do is to get in the plane and start following whatever leads we can."

Tails helped to comfort Cream's mother as Amy boldly looked at Sonic. "I'm coming with you." Sonic looked at her sternly. "You're upset, I understand that. But I don't think now's a good time to be putting yourself into a potentially dangerous situation." Amy just looked back at him. "Don't you worry about me, Sonic. I can handle myself." She picked up her mallet, which was lying nearby. Tails looked back at him as he calmed Creams mother, making a face as if to say, "Just let her come." Sonic sighed a bit and nodded. "Ok, you can come. But I still don't think it's such a wise idea."

Suddenly there was a stir in the group. One exhausted looking mother fox came out from nowhere, holding on to her young son. Everyone rushed up to see her, as Sonic pushed through the crowds to get to the young mother, who apparently was somehow able to keep her child from being captured.

"Are you all right?" Sonic asked the mother, looking very inquisitive and concerned. The mother nodded. "I'm fine, especially now that my child is safe." The little boy, who had obviously been crying from this terrifying experience, was still clinging to his mother as she comforted him. She looked up at Sonic and explained, "They couldn't get me to let go of him, so they tried to take me too. We were on their ship for a moment, before I caught one of the captors off guard, and escaped from it."

Sonics eyes grew wide. "You saw the people who did this? Tell me; was that Dr. Eggman with them? Did you see him, or any of his robots?" The mother furrowed her brow. "No, he wasn't with them, and I didn't see any of the robots. All I remember seeing were the stones?"

"The stones?" Sonic looked even more curious now.

"Yes. Three colorful stones, set into a weird shrine of some kind. They looked like big emeralds."

Sonic pulled back a little. "Emeralds?"

Tails' ears perked up? "Emeralds?"

Amy thought to herself. "Could it be?"

Sonic looked over at Tails. "Please tell me you brought the emerald tracker." Tails nodded quickly. "I did. I'll go get it!" He quickly ran off to the plane as Amy walked up to Sonic, while the young mother took her son home. "Do you really think they may have three of the chaos emeralds?" Sonic looked off into the distance. And sighed a bit. "Who knows? I'd love to know how they found them, they've been scattered for some time. Even Eggman hasn't been able to find them since we last dumped them into the uncharted territories."

Tails came back with the tracker, frantically. "Sonic! I'm picking up three signals!" Sonic instantly locked his eyes on the tracker screen. "Where are they headed?" Tails took a long look at the direction the objects were moving in. "From what I can tell, they seem to be headed..." he paused for a moment. "Straight into the uncharted territories."

Everyone froze when they heard this. This was serious. There was a good reason behind why the emeralds were thrown into the uncharted territories. Many people, who went into that section of the world rarely, if ever, came back out. Its clouded rainy atmosphere seemed to be an ominous indicator of what lay beyond the borders between it and the rest of the world. But they all very well knew that they couldn't leave an incident like this alone. Whoever these people were, they had stolen all of the children, and apparently now had three of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Clearly they needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Sonic looked over at Tails. "Get the plane ready, Tails. We're leaving as soon as it can fly again. Tails nodded and ran to the plane as Amy followed Sonic to it. Sonic looked back to her and said, "Are you sure you still want to go with us? Once we're in the uncharted lands, there's no telling what may happen to us." Amy just nodded calmly. "I'm aware of the dangers that may come, but I need to help you guys. I'm not going to rest easy until all of the children have been brought back, especially Cream."

She ran to her home nearby, and packed her mallet, as well as some books from her own little collection that she thought may be useful in going into the uncharted lands. She Ran back out as Tails finally revved up the engine on the plane.

"Everything's all set to go!" Yelled Tails, as Sonic climbed aboard. Amy took a look at the locals as they waved, wishing them all well on their quest, Cream's Mother in particular, her hands folded as if in prayer. Amy waved back as she boarded next to Sonic. Sonic looked around and gave the thumbs-up to Tails. "Ok, buddy, take her up!"

Everyone crowded around and waved as Tails took off with the others in the plane, zipping up into the sky as they immediately got themselves going in the direction of the signals given off by the emerald tracker. They passed the sea below them as they flew, while Amy took out one of the books from her bag.

Sonic looked at the book and then at her. "Bored with the traveling already?"

Amy shook her head. "These are a collection of legends regarding what lies in the uncharted lands. I thought they might be of some use to us." Tails quickly looked back at Amy. "How are a bunch of old stories and folklore going to help us?" Amy retorted, "Well, it's better to have at least some information rather than nothing at all." Tails shrugged as he continued to fly, hot on the trail of the signals.

A while later, Tails saw another pillar of smoke billowing up from another island. He pointed to it and called to Sonic. "Take a look at that!"

Sonic and Amy gazed over it, as Sonic furrowed his brow. "Did they strike someplace else already?" Tails swerved the plane a bit. "Hold on, I'm gonna go take a closer look."

Their eyes widened as they saw the source of the now relatively weak line of smoke. It was now clear that whatever happened here, was before the events on Amy and Cream's home. Tails lowered the plane around the smoldering object in the ground, which became more and more familiar in appearance as they got closer. Once they reached the ground, what they saw was unmistakable. It was the remains of Dr. Eggman's transport vehicle!

Once they landed, Sonic immediately rushed in for a closer look. Tails walked in with a look of utter disbelief on his face. "This is just amazing. You almost never see Dr. Eggman apart from this machine." Sonic just gazed at the wreck and puzzled. "It's clear now that Eggman is somehow involved in all this, but in what way? It's all so confusing now."

Tails surveyed the area of the wreck, before making a startling discovery. He pulled out what looked like a red cloth, almost like a long scarf. "Look at this! It has some kind of weird writing on it. He took the scarf up to Sonic for him to examine. Sure enough, there were all sorts of odd, almost otherworldly, symbols written across the scarf. "Let me have a look" Amy piped up, walking over and going through the symbols with her fingers, looking them through, before going to the plane, and taking out one of her books. "I knew this would come in handy."

Sonic turned his head to Amy. "What? Found something in that book of legends?" Amy slowly nodded, and pointed to one symbol in particular. "Kali."

Tails quickly spun around. "What?"

Amy opened her book to one particular page. "That's what this particular symbol stands for. It's right here in this book. You see, according to this one legend from a nearby island, the uncharted territories were once the domain of a dark and malevolent goddess named Kali." She pointed to the symbol of Kali in her book. "As you can see, this scarf carries her sign."

"So?" Sonic shrugged. "Couldn't that just be a coincidence?"

"I'm not sure" Amy flipped through more of the book. "Apparently something happened on the same island a while back. They said that some of the locals were seduced by Kali's power, and left their homes, to go worship her in the uncharted territories. Years later, they returned to the island, and to other places, slaughtering people, burning down villages, and taking back prisoners to be used as live sacrifices for their goddess. They were called the Thuggee. And they terrorized many lands for years, before an alliance of animals from numerous islands, including some good natured locals from the uncharted lands, finally vanquished them."

Tails listened curiously. "So if they were all wiped out, than they should have nothing to do with what's going on here, right?" Amy furrowed her brow. "I don't know. I'm not sure if I even want to know. It makes my blood run cold just to think that such ruthless and brutal people may have actually existed."

Sonic walked back to the plane. "Well, we can stand here all day and make up theories about what happened here, and what Eggman and this Kali character have to do with it, but we still have children we need to save, and emeralds to take back.." He glanced at Tails. "Do you still have the signals?" Tails looked at the Tracker. "They're getting faint but I still have them." Sonic rushed to the plane, "Then we'd better get moving fast before we lose them". The others leapt into the plane and took off after the signals, moving over more and more Blue Ocean.

Amy read more of her books; refreshing her memory of the old legends surrounding the uncharted territories as Tails paid attention to his flight path, staying on course to where the signals were headed. Sonic simply lay back in his seat and closed his eyes. Wherever they were going, he thought, he'd better get rested up for it.

Time passed by as Amy read, Sonic slept, and Tails flew. The sky above them began to get a little cloudier as they flew closer to the uncharted lands. Mists began to fill the air, and the scent of a fresh rain permeated the environment. Tails' grip on the controls tightened a bit as he called to the back of the plane. "I think we're close to crossing over now."

Amy heard this and nudged Sonic a bit, waking him up as he stretched and yawned a bit. "We there?" Amy nodded as she looked over the cockpit, watching the forbidding landscape of the unknown territory creep towards them slowly. Sonic looked around too, and then at Amy. "You sure you're ready to do this? This is going to be new for all three of us." Amy slowly nodded, nervous, but determined to learn more about what had been going on. Tails swallowed, and took a deep breath. "Ok. We're going in."

As Tails swerved the plane slightly, and went straight into this new unknown world, it was as if they had just crossed a visible border, from the bright and welcoming light of their own world, and into the dark and mysterious hills and mountains of the uncharted territories. The air was cool, and carried with it a sense of risk, as the trio flew deeper and deeper into this new and almost unholy feeling soil.

For miles and miles they flew, passing over almost nothing but trees, rocks, and lakes. Uncertain of what may have lay deeper in these territories, but always keeping themselves alert for any sign of life as the emeralds stayed in the sight of the tracker.

Then it happened. They saw it. Something in the distance that naturally grew larger as they flew closer to it. At first it looked like nothing more than an odd collection of mountains, but as they drew nearer, it was definitely much more than that. It was a beautiful collection of towers and minarets, painted a brilliant red and white as lovely trees and streams surrounded it.

Tails slowly spoke up. "I'm gonna land here, if there aren't any objections". The others simply nodded as he lowered the plane. It was a given that after seeing a place like this after passing through so many empty hills and valleys, that this location simply cried out to be investigated.

Amy looked around as the trio stepped out of the plane and walked on the smoothly paved walkway. "This place is beautiful. It almost has no business being in such an empty and desolate area." Sonic looked up at the towers and shivered just a little, as if something about this palace was off. "I don't know about this. If there's one thing life has repeatedly taught me, it's to never be fooled by appearances." Tails scampered along next to Sonic. "Well, whatever this place is, the tracker's telling me that we're very, very close to the emeralds now. If they aren't in here, I'd be really surprised."

Sonic looked over at him and Amy. "If the tracker's right, and the owners of the emeralds are here, then we need to be careful. We'll tell them that we're explorers, and we'll casually bring up the subject when the time is right. We don't want to make it look like we're aggressively pursuing what they have. Got it?" Amy and Tails nodded as they moved towards the entrance to one of buildings.

It was then that the figure of a lizard wearing a casual suit walked out of the palace, followed by two guards wearing red and black suits, complete with turbans. "I should say you three look rather lost" the lizard spoke up. "For I know not where in this else in this part of the land you would call home."

Sonic looked up at the lizard as he walked down from the steps. "We're not lost. We're explorers. For years, we've wondered what lies in the uncharted lands, and we've finally set out to investigate them."

The lizard looked over all three of them and nodded with a smile. "In that case, I welcome you all to Pankot palace." He extended his hand to Sonic. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Chattar Lal. Prime minister to his highness, the Maharajah." Tails made a confused face. "Ma-ha, what?" Lal chuckled and smiled to Tails. "He's sort of like a king in this area." Sonic shook lal's hand cautiously. "I'm Sonic. That's Amy, and this is my pilot, Tails." Lal tilted his head towards Tails. "Aren't you a bit young to be flying?" Tails shrugged and twirled his two tails. "I've been doing it since I learned to walk." Lal smiled and nodded and politely kissed Amy's hand. "Welcome to Pankot, miss." Amy blushed and giggled. "Umm, thank you. I guess."

Lal smiled slyly and walked back up the steps with the guards. "Come, stay with us for a while. You are just in time for our little banquet for the evening. And with any luck, our map room will be able to provide you the information you need to explore this land even more thoroughly." The trio slowly followed Lal up the steps and into the palace itself. As his back was turned to them, Lal's face now had a slight look of unease.

Sonic, Amy, and Tails all walked into the dining hall with Lal, finding the inside of the palace to be just as nice as the outside. In the background a band using drums and bells was singing a lively little song in a foreign language that Amy recognized a few words to.

"What language is that?" Tails asked, scratching his head. Amy looked back and answered. "It's called Hindi. It's the same language of the people in that legend I told you about earlier." Sonic kept an eye out for anything suspicious as he heard this, before a group of female dancers in exotic dresses suddenly passed them, startling Tails a bit as they twirled about.

The three were led to two separate rows of big pillow seats, with a long adorned table in between them. They stood near their seats politely with other figures dressed in small turbans and robes, as Lal walked to the head of the table. The band immediately stopped playing as Lal began to speak.

"His supreme highness, guardian of our traditions, our faith, and our land, The Maharajah of Pankot. Zalim Singh."

The doors opened behind him as the form of a young feline boy walked out, with two guards at his side, wearing a small turban and regal jewelry. Sonic, Amy, and Tails looked on in wonder as he sat at the head of the table, prompting the others to sit in their seats as well. Sonic quickly sat down with the others, not wanting to appear disrespectful.

The music played softly from the band as some food began to be placed on the table. Sonic noticed that there was a ram in a style of clothing different from the other guests sitting near him. Lal took notice and spoke up. "Ah yes. I forgot to mention that you three are not our only guests tonight. May I introduce to you Captain Khan, representative from our neighboring kingdom of Lahma Jat. Khan extended his strong right hand to Sonic with a small smile. "Pleased to meet you, sir." Sonic grasped it with his right hand and was surprised slightly by the powerful handshake. "Likewise."

Sonic turned his attention to Lal. "Well, we've never been this far into this part of the world before. But my friend here, Amy, was just telling me some of the stories about this place, and it's relationship with the neighboring islands." Lal smiled slightly. "And what stories have you heard about this land?" Amy and tails tried to get a look at what all they were serving when Sonic responded, "Well, if I remember correctly, a group calling themselves the Thuggee came from this land."

Lal's smile faded as some of the other guests stared at Sonic. As this happened, a servant carrying a plate with a dead lizard on it placed it near Amy and Tails, as guest next to Amy smiled. "Ah. Iguana surprise." Amy just stared at it and whispered, "What's the surprise?" The servant answered her question when he reached down and sliced open the side of the lizard with a knife, causing dozens of tiny live nightcrawlers to ooze out. Tails' Jaw dropped as he saw this, a look of disbelief in his face at the idea that anyone would want to eat this.

Lal calmly responded to what Sonic had just said. "I know you're new to this area, Mr. Sonic, but I can assure you that the Thuggee have been extinct for centuries." Khan slowly nodded as he sipped his drink, "Yes. The Thuggee were an obscenity, who used to run things right out of this old palace, and worshipped Kali with living sacrifices." He set down his drink. "A coalition that eventually included my kingdom nicely did away with them".

As this was going on, Amy and Tails both looked on wordlessly, as a few of the guests picked up the live nightcrawlers and ate them. Sonic looked around and said, "I guess stories of the Thuggee die hard." Lal slowly nodded, "There are no stories anymore." Sonic gazed at him, wondering if this Lal could be of any help in tracking whoever they were after. "I'm not so sure. We just came from two different areas, both of which were ravaged by fire. One of the places had piece of cloth, branded with what appears to be a Thuggee symbol." Lal Sat up upon hearing this, looking rather interested.

It was then that the second course came around, and Amy and Tails' stomachs churned as they wondered what would be coming this time. A servant carried a plate towards approving guests, which carried what looked like big spiders on leaves, filled with an odd brown jelly. Guests took them one by one and peeled off their abdomens to lick at the gooey innards as Amy stared at one guest in particular. He looked up at her with a light smile and chuckled, with some jelly hanging off his chin. "What?..you are not eating?" Amy just quietly responded, "Uh...I had bugs for breakfast." The guest chuckled and licked as Amy looked over at Tails. "Give me your bowl..." Tails gripped his empty bowl and cocked an eyebrow. "Why?" Amy quickly retorted, "Cause I'm gonna puke in it!" Tails covered his bowl hearing this, as the guest finished his bug and belched rather audibly.

At this moment, Amy got one servant's attention, and asked if they had anything a bit simpler to eat than the bugs. Just away from the table, a servant, a young rabbit, just about Sonic's age, looked on at the unexpected guests closely. It was as if he knew the trio from somewhere. He was also peeking from behind the column, apparently hiding from someone.

Captain Khan spoke up at Sonic, "This does sound very familiar. Tell me, when these fires were set, did the invaders take anything with them?" Sonic looked over at him. "Yes. All of the children in one area were stolen." Captain Khan's expression grew cold as the rabbit servant's eyes grew wide, making him run off silently. Kahn responded, "That was exactly what the Thuggee used to do. They would raid villages and capture children to use as slaves, and eventually some would be sacrificed when they were old enough." He gave Lal a look of suspicion. "Are you sure you know nothing of this? They DID used to operate from this palace." Lal simply folded his arms. "Now captain, how do you think you're serving your kingdom when you come here and insult your hosts. Besides, how do you know these aren't just copycat groups working from elsewhere." Sonic glared at Lal a bit as Khan quickly retorted, "Oh come on, why would anyone else want to steal children for slave labor? Why don't we ask some of your younger servants around here if they know anything?"

Lal came very close to having Khan thrown out before the young Maharajah raised his hand. "I have heard the stories of the Thuggee cult." Everyone now turned to face the young ruler as he spoke. "I thought the stories were merely folklore, meant only to frighten children. Later I learned that the Thuggee were once real, and did of unspeakable things. I'm ashamed of what happened here so may years ago, and I promise each of you, that this will never happen again, in my kingdom."

The room was silent for a moment, before Khan calmed himself and slowly broke the silence. "If I have offended you, then I am sorry." Everyone now went back to eating as Lal turned to the Maharajah, and bowed his head slightly, with a light smile on his face. Khan slowly looked to Sonic, whispering as he barely moved his lips. "I think we may be on to something here...something my Kingdom should know about. Meet me in the courtyard tomorrow morning." Sonic nodded lightly.

Amy and tails looked on as a servant brought what looked like cool butterscotch pudding, and placed it in front of them. They each took a spoon, and ate it quickly and greedily as the guest across from them looked on. "I take it you enjoy our 'Bach Natzal'." Tails looked up and swallowed. "What's Bach Natzal?" Amy shook her head at Tails, her mouth still full, as she didn't want to hear what was in it. The guest didn't notice and answered with a smile, "Bach Natzal is the chilled and whipped remains of the un-hatched eggs of a bullfrog." Tails' face quickly turned greenish as his eyes went wide. Amy froze upon hearing this, before she rolled her eyes and passed out, falling over backwards.

Time passed, the dinner ended, Amy was taken to a room, where Tails later joined her. A while later, after Sonic walked around the palace, looking for clues, he walked towards Amy and Tails' room carrying a plate filled with fruit. He knocked on the door as Amy, not in the best of moods, opened it up.

"What is it?" Amy asked in a slightly touchy way. Sonic held the plate behind his back; "I've got something for you." Amy scowled a bit, "There is nothing you have, that I could possibly want." Sonic sneered, "Right." He turned his back to her and took a bite out of an apple. Amy heard the noise, perking up as she walked over and saw the apple, she moaned happily as she took a bite from the same apple, as Tails heard the crunching, walking over and snatching some grapes.

"Man this is place is so weird." Tails managed to mumble between bites as Amy munches on her apple. "Yeah. This place looks pretty on the outside, but the inside kinda makes me shiver. Or maybe that's just the Bach Natzal." Amy shivered as Sonic chuckled, while Tails stuck out his tongue a bit. "Eww, don't ever mention that stuff again, ok? Yech."

Sonic nodded with a smile, pushing around an ugly old clay pot used for lord knows what. "Well, I suggest we turn in soon. I'm gonna meet up with Captain Khan first thing tomorrow morning, then we'll figure this whole thing out." Amy gazed at Sonic "Do you think you can trust the guy?" Sonic nodded "I think so. When he heard our story, I could sense a lot of sympathy under that tough exterior."

Amy nodded softly as the three got ready to sleep. Unbeknownst to them, somebody was watching quietly from a trapdoor in the corner, partway open. While they prepared to sleep, the door slowly closed, not making a sound.

Moments later, the figure watching them, a rat dressed in the same black turban and red suit came up from another trapdoor outside the room, finding a waiting Chattar Lal. It quietly whispered what it heard to Lal, as he nods slowly.

"Is that so? Well then, we can't very well have them messing things up, now can we?" The rat thought of something else. "What about Captain Khan? What should we do about him?" Lal smiled "Don't worry about that. We can't kill him as well, or else the lords of Lamah Jat would be at our backs. All he knows anyway are the little bits of the legend we all know. We will tell him they simply stole items from our art gallery, and made off like thieves in the night." The rat chuckled and nodded. "An excellent plan, sir." Lal nodded modestly and walked off, to arrange everything, before turning back to face the rat. "Oh. Has tonight's sacrifice been prepared?" The rat simply nodded "Yes sir. We shall be ready in just a little while." Lal walked off slowly, cleaning the dirt out between his fingernails. "Good. I shall see you then."

Later, back in the room, Sonic sat on his bed as he watched Tails, sound asleep in blankets on the floor, and then watched Amy asleep on the other bed in the circular room, the low glow of the lantern the only illumination now as night had fallen, the carpet soft beneath his feet as he thought to himself "Why? Why'd she have to come along on this trip? Is she THAT obsessed with me?" He looked around the room, uneasily. "She shouldn't have done it. There's something about this place I don't like. If the emeralds, and all the children really ARE here, then I'd hate to meet the one who orchestrated it all." He then cocked his head and chuckled to himself as he thought. "Or if it's that slipperly Lal who runs everything, then we should have no trouble pulling off a rescue. He doesn't seem like the type who can lead things too strongly under pressure." He sat in his bed, relaxing, unaware of the figure crawling down the wall into the bedroom behind him, a rat in the same red and black clothing as the last one. Sonic thought to himself "Well, I may be stuck with Amy, but at least I have good old reliable Tails at my side too, so I guess it balances o-".

Sonic had no time to finish his thought, as the rat suddenly took off its scarf, and wrapped it around Sonic's neck from behind, choking him with it! Sonic could barely make a sound as he kicked and struggled with the rat on his bed, the rat holding firm and staying silent with a cold look in it's eyes. Sonic kicked, unable to spin, as his feet touched something. It was the ugly clay pot he remembered from earlier. He quickly gripped it with his feet and threw it up with them, promptly smashing it on the rat's head!

The sound quickly awoke Tails and Amy, both bolting upright as Amy gasped and Tails yelled "Sonic!" Sonic was still struggling with the rat, who, despite his slightly bloodied face, still kept a hold of him, choking him. Sonic managed to sit up and flip off the bed, knocking the wind out of the rat as he fell with him. Sonic rolled away from the rat, catching his breath. The rat slowly stood up near the balcony, taking out a curved dagger, ready to finish the job until out of nowhere, a mallet struck him hard in the chest! Amy pulled back her weapon as the blow sent the rat falling backwards, and tumbling right over the edge of the balcony as he fell to his death!

Tails patted Sonic on the back as he caught his breath "Are you ok?" Sonic gasped a bit as he began to breathe normally. "Yeah. I'm ok. Just glad to get air moving through here again." Amy smiled a bit as she twirled her mallet a bit. "See. I always come prepared." Sonic nodded a bit, thinking now that maybe it was a good idea to bring her after all, as Tails chuckled a bit and walked to the door. "Ok. I say we get out of here now, and rethink our strategy." He tried to turn the knob, but it wouldn't move. "Hey. It's stuck!" Sonic stood up, shaking his head. "It's not stuck. They locked us in!" Amy lifted her mallet. "Don't worry. I'll send this door crashing down."

Sonic quickly stopped her. "No Amy! If we try to escape that way, there could be more of those assassins out there waiting for us." Tails quickly looked to the balcony. "Then let's go down this way. I can fly you down!" Sonic took him by the arm. "Fly BOTH of us down?" He motioned to Amy. Tails, too used to carrying only sonic in these situations, quickly froze and nodded. "I see your point".

Amy looked around and back at Sonic. "Well what are we going to do? We can't stay in here the whole time." Sonic nodded "I know, I know, just let me think" He searched around the room, looking for any other doors he may not have seen before. The trap door was latched shut from the inside, so it could be found or opened. As he fumbled around the room, he noticed something on one section. Something was blowing the flowers in the pot around a little. He walked over and held his hand out next to the flowers, and discovered that there was a draft coming into the room, but not from the balcony. He slowly went over to a section of the wall that the draft seemed to be coming from as Tails and Amy looked on. He tapped on the wall, finding it to be hollow from inside as he looked around for some way to open it up.

Amy sat down on the bed as Tails Sighed, and muttered "We're never gonna get out of here." He reached up, bored, scratching some dirt off a lantern nearby. He saw some more dirt further on up the lantern, so he reached up to get at it, inadvertently pulling it down. The chain that was holding up the lantern was apparently attached to something, because once he pulled it down, it made a snapping noise, setting something off as he jumped back. Sonic looked at Tails, and then back to the wall as it suddenly pulled back to reveal a dark passage!

"There we are!" Amy smiled as she got up and walked to the passage. Sonic smiled back at Tails. "You've made yourself useful yet again little buddy." Tails blushed and scratched the back of his head as he grinned sheepishly. "Just doing my job." He said as he walked to the entrance of the passage with the other two.

Sonic peered into the passage, seeing a glimmer of light ahead. "I don't like the look of this place, but it seems to be our only real way out of here, so I guess we should take our chances here, since we know we shouldn't try to get of the room directly."

It was at this point that tails heard beeping from the tracker. He quickly whipped it out and looked at it. "It's picking up the signals of the emeralds again." Amy Looked to Sonic. "Do you think they could be at the end of wherever this passage goes?" Sonic furrowed his brow. "I don't know. It's likely I guess. Wherever they are, lets hope the children aren't far off from their signal. I don't want to spend too much more time in a creepy place like this." Tails quickly bounded next to the two as they started down the path. "You said it, Sonic. This place gives me the willies!" Amy walked carefully as the room got smaller behind them "It's not so much the place that bothers me. I just want go somewhere where they have edible food." She shivered a bit as she took out a pear from her bag and munched on it, while Tails grabbed a few more grapes.

As they walked, Tails carried the lantern from earlier, which he had grabbed on the way out, illuminating the walls, which were covered in ancient writing, some of it fading from years of decay. The farther they walked, the more the heat in the passage seemed to increase, first only casually noticeable, but soon outright obvious. Amy waved her hand in front of her, trying to cool herself "Whew! Can you feel that?" Sonic wiped some sweat from his brow. "Yeah, I can. It's getting hot." Tails panted a bit, a bit overwhelmed as he kept the lantern up as best he could.

The trio saw a light at the end of the passage, a ghastly red/orange glow as they walked closer, albeit a little hesitantly, to where it emanated. Amy tiptoed around the numerous bugs in the passage, as Tails stepped on some of the ones in his way, crunching them as Amy shuddered. "Quit doing that." Tails shrugged and apologized as he carried on with sonic, with Amy quickly moving away from the bugs as the finally reached the exit from the passage.

What they saw from here on astonished them. A single pathway made of stone stood in front of them, as lava flowed freely along both sides of the passage, heading downwards somewhere, giving the room and the passage the immense heat they were feeling. Amy took a water canteen out and sipped it, handing it to Sonic and Tails. Sonic grinned as he sipped. "Wow. You DO think of everything don't you" Amy giggled a bit before looking on.

"Do you think we should go any further?" Sonic looked back to the sloping passage. "It's a long way back up." Tails walked down the path a little more. "Yeah. We've come this far. We should go a little further. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?" Sonic smiled and nodded as he walked to Tails, joining him as Amy reluctantly checked her bag, and headed off to join them.

The path took them to some dusty old stone steps, which seemed to go quite a ways down. Amy looked down and gasped a bit at the height as Sonic moved her head up, and wordlessly motioned for her to keep it up, and not look down. Tails steadied himself, getting his tails ready in case him or one of them fell accidentally, and slowly began to descend with the trio.

As they walked down, Amy began to relax. "Well, this isn't so bad" she smiled and walked down more confidently, before one of the stones on the step, which she walked on, gave out underneath her, falling into the lava below! She screamed and flailed as Sonic grabbed her, and pulled her upright on the next stone. Amy clutched at him, smiling at him and blushing a bit as Tails tried to hold back a chuckle at what looked like a practical embrace between the two. Sonic simply looked at her. "Don't get any ideas". He let go of her, as she blushed harder, walking down with him and Tails some more.

Tails suddenly leapt up and floated on his whirling tails as another rock gave out from under his feet. Sonic kept moving, making sure Tails was ok, before another rock gave out from under him. He almost fell to the Lava, before Tails quickly moved over and grabbed him in mid-air, carrying him back to safety.

Amy looked on, perplexed. "How many more of these steps are weak?" Sonic scratched his head as he pondered that question, while tails carefully reached out to touch another stone step. Once his foot touched it, the entire row of stones suddenly gave out, leaving a gap between them and the next set of steps! Tails looked down at the lava, and to the gap. "awwwwww man."

Sonic sighed, readying his feet. "I can see there's only one way to get out of this alive." He suddenly grabbed Amy and Tails' hands. "Hang on!"

Before either could protest, Sonic leapt over the gap, pulling the two along with them, and landing on the other side, as he took off running, full speed as the stones behind them began collapsing in random spots, some stones falling, while others remained. He ran with all his power, as Amy pumped her own feet as hard as she could with him, and tails whirled his two appendages behind him to give the trio extra speed. The stairs ended, leading to another path as they raced down, as stones continued to fall from under their running feet, plummeting into the lava.

Sonic kept a good hold on both Amy and Tails as the path suddenly took another sharp downward slope, the stones giving out much closer to their feet in more and more random spots, as they fought to keep from plummeting with them, the vibrations from the fast running and falling stones dislodging some overhanging rocks as well, falling onto the path in front and in back of them as Tails whirled along, and Amy kept a hold of sonic and her bag at the same time.

Sonic ran and ran with them, not giving up as he saw what looked like an exit from the path, heading straight to it. At that moment, a big rock came down on the last part of the path, taking out a huge chunk of it, and making an enormous gap between them and the exit. Sonic would not give up though. He ran and ran and ran, increasingly faster, as Amy and Tails looked on in terror at what he was about to attempt.

Sonic finally took off from the edge as Amy screamed, and Tails held on tight, knowing he couldn't carry them both in mid-air if this stunt should fail. Sonic flew through the air, looking determined to reach the other side as the lava flowed below them, a threatening reminder of what they were now facing as they coasted through the hot sky.

Sonic threw the two forward as they tumbled down onto the other side of the gap successfully, and he then rolled as he barely hit the other side as well. They had made it.

Sonic got up, caught his breath, and dusted himself off as a relieved Amy walked over and hugged him. "Oh wow! That was an amazing save! Thanks Sonic!" Tails giggled as Sonic blushed, and gently pushed her away. "Now, what did I just tell you on the stairs? Don't get any ideas." He huffed and walked into the next passageway, leading the other two as Amy smirked a bit. "It's not MY fault that you're giving me those ideas." She giggled and picked up her bag as she joined Tails in following Sonic.

Something was a bit different about this path. It was less hot than the last one, but not by much, as the trio strolled down. Eventually they began to hear noises coming from one area, as they moved slowly in the direction of that area. Sonic readied himself for just about anything as he moved closer with Amy and Tails, as the sound grew louder, sounding almost like singing, but a distorted, and unholy sounding song in a strange language.

"Oh, ne pe shaka go ra ten. Eh peesh ray ba-be che gram, che gram!"

A loud bell chimed, along with a drum, startling the trio as they began to peek over the side of the ledge they were on, above the singers.

"Oy a pe baba ga te see gam! Ah na mez sanna ga-le pan me!"

The bell chimed in with the drum once more, louder than before as Sonic looked down to where the singing was coming from. The sight was incredible and terrible. There were a collection of rats, all wearing black and red uniforms and turbans, separated from a groutesque altar by a gap in the rock in front of them, leading straight down into a fiery pit of lava. In front of them stood a frightening statue of a female figure with a decaying face, it's arms holding out two skulls as it also wore a necklace of bones, and a skirt made of rotting leg bones.

The worshippers sung again "Ish-a malestes un ga prum-la! Con gru a shes frua paralama washatawa!"

The Bell chimed louder as the drumbeat hit with a sickening thud, while Amy and Tails looked on in horror. Amy quickly remembered something as she whipped out her books again. It was then that the singers hit a frightening cadence, while steam and sickening smoke rose from the pit below.

"SAY A PREE BE GEH BE OHN TEY YAMBO! RIGA YAN PAHN CONNA YA SE TAMBO!"

Tails shivered and whispered. "What in the world is this?" Amy read through notes she made of the legends, and looked coldly out as she clutched the book close to her chest. "It's a Thuggee ceremony." Sonic quickly looked to her. "Are you sure?" Amy nodded slowly. "It's like they described in this book. They're worshipping Kali." She pointed ominously to the statue.

Sonic looked around the area some more, and saw a couple more things of note. The "Maharajah", the young cat boy they met earlier, was sitting in the front row of worshippers, seemingly hypnotized by all this as his eyes looked cold and glazed over. Chattar Lal was also there, on the altar, dressed in ceremonial garb this time, as a door opened, and a figure dressed in black and red robes stepped out. The three were shocked to find that this figure was an echidna, like Knuckles! But he was different from knuckles. His eyes were sharp and fierce looking, with black fur streaked red in some spots, a look of sheer malevolence in his face as he was also dressed in ceremonial garb, complete with an elaborate headdress which had two long horns protruding from the side, and decorations including a shrunken head above the brow. He stood out, looking at the worshippers, flashing an evil grin to the seemingly indifferent Maharajah.

Sonic, Amy, and Tails looked on in sheer awe, unaware that what they would see next would utterly and truly shock them more than what they had seen so far.

They heard yelling in the background somewhere, as a larger figure, an alligator dressed in uniform, was trying to drag out a yelling, unwilling sacrifice for Kali. Seconds later, it was revealed that the sacrifice being dragged to the altar was DR EGGMAN! He was bound, covered in ritual paint, and utterly humiliated in this condition, trying to fight off the much more powerful alligator, but it was no use. The worshippers began singing again as Eggman was shoved into small, cage-like restraint by the gator, and two other echidnas, twisted looking and covered in white face-paint. The gator slapped the two shackles over Eggman's wrists as he stepped aside, and the smaller, but more frightening figure of the Echidna priest, whom the others referred to as "Mola Ram" slowly walked towards the frightened Eggman.

Amy watched silently as Tails leaned over to Sonic. "How do you suppose they were able to catch him?" Sonic shrugged and leaned over a bit more. "I don't know. But if these guys could defeat Eggman so easily, then we may all be in bigger trouble than I thought." Tails shivered a bit at the thought as he watched with the other two.

Back down at the altar, Mola Ram ran his large hand along the side of Eggman's face as it sweated In fear, lightly chanting. "Bunno lak te. Bunno lak te Kali ma." Mola Ram's expression was icy, with a hint of anticipation. "Uk tee deh dee, Kali-ma." He reached his open hand up to the statue above him and the cage. "Kali-ma." He chanted, almost trance-like. "Kali-ma!" His hand trembled a bit as Sonic looked a bit closer, wondering what was about to happen as Tails and Amy sat behind him.

Mola Ram chanted louder. "Kali-ma, shuk tee deh!" he began to lower his open hand as he eyed Eggman's chest. "Oh-nee-jerado, beh-beh ah geh." The faint sound of a heartbeat could be heard, as Mola ram suddenly took his hand, and plunged it into Eggmans chest!! Eggman screamed in pain and terror, as Mola Ram pulled back out, displaying Eggman's large heart, still beating in his hand!! The crowd let out a loud series of chants as this happened, which covered up the defeaning scream from Amy as she witnessed this! Tails sat as he gasped at the sight, his mouth wide open as Sonic quickly scrambled, and put his hand over Amy's mouth, silencing her as the chanting quieted down.

Eggman, still alive, looked down as the wound in his chest suddenly healed up, while Mola Ram held the still beating heart up for the crowd. "Oh bes ke ban, beh-beh no jee-deh hei!" The crowd stood and cheered their approval as Mola Ram repeated the phrase more loudly, "Oh bes ke ban, beh-beh no jee-de hei!!" Eggman panted hard, yelling "Why are you doing this to me?" as Mola Ram shouted "OH BES KE BAN, BEH-BEH NO JEE-DEH HEI!!!!"

Sonic looked down at the altar as Amy panted lightly from terror, her eyes wide open as Sonic looked back at the other two. "He's still alive." Tails furrowed his brow as Amy stammered, "How is that possible?" Tails looked to Amy "Doesn't your book say anything about it?" Amy slowly shook her head as they watched.

Eggman looked around desperately as he yelled out. "Why did this have to happen? I had just found three of the emeralds using my new detector in these lands, and suddenly you all had to come and steal my submarine, and shoot me out of the sky when I tried to escape. What do you want with me anyway? Give me my heart back!" The pleas were met with deaf ears as the two face-painted echidnas moved the cage he was in, attached to chains that were hooked to the statue from above. The echidnas flipped the cage, so he was now facing down, as Mola Ram nodded to Chattar Lal. Lal promptly pushed a lever as two doors below Eggman opened, revealing a swirling pool of lava below. The realization hit Eggman as the cage slowly began to lower itself into the pit.

The trio watched in horror from above as Eggman shouted "NOOOOOOOOOOO!", slowly descending into the pit as the crowd chanted "KOR-RAM, KOR-RAM, KOR-RAM SUR-RAM! KOR-RAM, KOR-RAM, KOR-RAM SU-RAM!" The song swelled and swelled as Amy clutched the book harder, and Tails and Sonic looked on in amazement and horror, as the drums began beating harder, and parts of the crowd began throwing in some chants of "CHOY-HUP! CHOY-HUP! CHOY-HUP! CHOY-HUP!" it became faster and faster as Mola Ram held up the heart, which was beating faster, and beginning to smoke as he chanted "Oh-nee-jerado! Oh-nee-jerado! Oh-nee-gerado! Oh-nee gerado!"

At this point, the drums beat at a rapid pace, the chorus reaching a fevered pitch as Mola Ram held out the heart. Eventually, the scream of Eggman finally hitting the lava below was heard throughout the temple, his body catching afire as his heart began to go ablaze in Mola Ram's hand. Mola Ram held up the flaming heart, beginning to laugh triumphantly as Eggman finally disappeared below the lava, dead!

Sonic could only watch with the others in disbelief, as the enemy he had known and fought for such a long time now, had been killed! Mola Ram held up the villain's flaming heart for all to see, his bone chilling cackling resonating throughout the temple walls. He then tossed the heart into the fiery abyss below as the crowd chanted softly, walking off the altar, saying "Kali-ma." a few more times.

As the crowd continued to chant, Amy saw something and pointed it out. "Look over there." Sonic and Tails glanced at three echidnas in skull-like face paint, holding three objects under pieces of cloth. As the chorus hit another high note, the cloths were pulled off, revealing three shiny gems. The Chaos emeralds!

The rats stood and cheered again, with a refrain of "Kor-ram, kor-ram, kor-ram sur-ram." The three echidnae then slowly brought the emeralds together as they glowed. After a minute of admiring the gems, they gently placed them into a shrine shaped like a giant skull, putting two in the eyes, and one in the nose. They slowly backed away, bowing to the shrine as the crowd began to disperse, the chanting growing softer as the rats all left, heading back to wherever it was they came from, some of them probably back to the upper level of the palace.

This left Sonic, Amy and Tails alone in this frightening place. Sonic shook his head softly. "This is bad." Tails' ears perked up. "What do you mean? I know it was unpleasant to look at, but those guys did us a favor. Dr. Eggman is gone!" Amy jumped in. "Yeah, but look at who finally got him!" Sonic nodded. "Amy's right. These Thuggee guys shot Eggman down, using his own weapons, they have three of the chaos emeralds, and they probably have all the children around here someplace too. And they're all animals, like us, not brainless machines! For all we know, these guys could turn out to be even worse than Eggman if we don't stop them now!"

Tails looked to him, worried. "So how do we stop them?" Amy looked to the temple. "Well, I think it's a little early to think about stopping them altogether. But we can at least get the emeralds back and free the children somehow. That should take the wind out of their sails for a bit." Sonic nodded "That's right. That's what we need to do. Then we can gather everybody, and decide what we're going to do about the Thuggee before they become an even bigger problem."

It was at this moment that Amy saw something out of the corner of her eye. She looked down towards the altar, as she saw a figure in a cloak walking into the room. "Sonic." She whispered. "Someone's down there right now." Sonic looked over, crawling slowly along the side of the wall, his back against it as he looked down, and Tails watched him with Amy. Tails looked at the cloaked figure, whispering, "What's he doing?" The cloaked figure produced a sack, and lifted one of the emeralds, placing it inside.

"He's taking the emeralds." Amy said, a bit louder. Sonic sneered and edged along the wall some more. "Not on my watch!"

Sonic then sprang from the wall, spinning as his momentum carried him across the fiery chasm, onto the altar. He ran up to the figure as it took the third emerald. "Ok, buddy, hand them over!" He yelled, only to receive a hard punch in the face for his troubles from the figure as it whipped around. Sonic tumbled down as the figure stared at him. He looked up and rubbed his cheek, very familiar with the punch. "Knuckles?"

The figure pulled back it's hood, revealing the face to indeed be that of Knuckles. Knuckles scowled at Sonic. "What in the world are YOU doing here?" Sonic slowly got to his feet. "I could ask the same of you." Knuckles dusted off his hand and checked the emeralds in the bag. "Well, I started having these dreams back on Angel Island. Visions you might call them. I felt the presence of an ancient evil force in this land, and that it possessed three of the chaos emeralds. I also felt the presence of the fallen one."

"Fallen one?" Sonic scratched his head.

"Yes. I believe you saw him earlier. He was the one with the horned helmet, who ripped out Eggman's heart."

"Oh yes. It's kind of hard to forget that guy." Sonic looked into the pit where Eggman had been sacrificed.

Knuckles nodded slowly. "He is the fallen one. His name is Mola Ram. He was once a respected figure in my tribe, but was seduced by the power of this wicked goddess called Kali, and now uses simple creatures as puppets for his schemes. Believe me, he's a creature you do NOT want to fool with."

Sonic breathed hard. "Believe me, after seeing what the guy can do, that's the last situation I want to find myself in." He looked around the temple some more. "I think they also might have stolen a lot of children. Have you seen any around here?" Knuckles nodded slowly. "Follow me." He headed into a passageway as Sonic followed suit, leaving Amy and Tails to fend for themselves for a moment.

Amy looked on from the ledge as the two walked off together. "Where are they going?" Tails smiled and sat back. "Oh, don't worry about Sonic and Knuckles. They can take care of themselves. They'll be back to pick us up in no time." Amy nodded slowly as she leaned over the edge a bit to take a closer look. Suddenly, a rat in a uniform popped up, hissing at her! Amy screamed and fell back, fumbling for her mallet, but ending up in the rat's arms as she struggled, while Tails was grabbed from behind by another rat, struggling before a knife was put to his throat, quickly calming him as the same was done to Amy, trapping them.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Knuckles walked along another passage, before Sonic heard a crack, and the wailing of a child. He gasped, and crawled over to the hole nearby, where he could see.

What he saw below him was from a nightmare. Children right and left, in shackles, carrying rocks and pushing carts as rats lashed at them with whips to go faster. He looked down to see a familiar face, Cream, who looked exhausted as she carried rocks with other children. At one point, she stumbled, and dropped a few rocks, prompting another familiar figure, the big Alligator from earlier, to ready his whip for her. At that moment, the same older rabbit servant, who had been spying on the dinner earlier, rushed in and pushed Cream out of the way, acting as a brother to her apparently. The angry Gator shoved the boy down onto his stomach, and raised the whip high, lashing him!

The sight of the whipping made Sonic sick to his stomach. The Gator lashed the boy a second time, as the boy took it with a look of defiance. Just as the Gator was about to lash him a third time, Sonic picked up a rock, and threw it down towards the Gator, hitting him on the head with it!

Knuckles rushed over. "What are you doing? Are you insane?" He yelled, as The Gator looked up and pointed to the hole above him, yelling "Shao-leeka-lo!" Sonic quickly got up as he and Knuckles ran for the exit, only to find numerous rat guards waiting for them, with their swords drawn.

And with that, we are now at the end of Part 1 of this fanfic. Stay tuned for part 2, where we WILL have, among other things, the famous mine cart chase, with a few Sonic twists, of course.