(Ok, we're just going to leave Sonic's part of the story hanging for now, and I believe it's time to check up on how Silver's doing. And, as such, this one will be told entirely from Silver's point of veiw. ASR=Angry Aztec. *Version 1 suits this chapter better than version 2* And, since I've already mentioned the disclaimers in the previous two chapters, I feel no need to mention it again, so let's just skip it and get on with the story, shall we?)

Chapter 2: Angry Aztec and Imprisoned Friends

When I came to from my long fall, I was in a big, aincent-looking tunnel with torches along the walls for light and a big sand pit with floating vines above it. I also noticed I had the very gross taste of sand in my mouth. I got up onto my feet and looked at the sand pit for a little bit. It didn't look like quicksand, so I wondered why the floating vines were there. Of course, I didn't need them. But, more to the point, I bent down and put my hand in the sand.

Big mistake there.

My hand felt like I had just stuck it into a bonfire, that sand was so hot. I quickly yanked my hand back and waved it around a little to cool it off. Once that little ordeal was through, I lifted myself up with my telekinesis and followed the tunnel to wherever it lead. Along the way, I saw those crocodiles and hornets Sonic mentioned in the previous chapter, but no beavers. I was able to get away from them before they could hurt me.

I finally reached the tunnel's end, and I was standing in a big, plaza-like area. There was a small island with that floating barrel on it in the middle of a small pool of that lava-sand stuff. There was also a temple of some sort near the corner, and seperated by another sand moat with floating vines above it, there was a big building that looked like a bongo drum. There was a big metal musical note handing above the door, and it made loud squeaking sounds when it was blown around by the sandy desert wind. And, at the other side of the plaza, there was another tunnel opening. And that's when it hit me.

I was in Angry Aztec, my specialty level on Donkey Kong 64!

"Awesome!" I said to myself. I then ran over and through the other tunnel and I ended up in a different area, with a big stone totem pole thing in the middle and a hell of a lot more of that superheated sand. Around the area, I saw shiny silvery coins with my own logo on them, so I picked them up, knowing they would be very useful. I made my way around the area, knocking out crocodiles as needed, until I came to that big snake head. I went inside, thankful to get away from the blistering heat and sandy wind.

"Hey, dude! Looking to buy a new ssssssshooter?" I heard someone yell at the back of the store. The shopkeeper then emerged from a hallway, holding a big ray gun. He was a big Mobian snake with golden scales and a torn, black leather vest. He had spiked bracelets around each wrist and a dog collar around his neck, which was also covered in spikes. (A/N: I always see Mobian snakes having arms, but no legs, so that explains the whole 'holding the gun' thing.) When I saw that blaster, I had a feeling I was gonna get shot at, so I entered a battle stance. The snake saw my stance and quickly held up his hands in surrender. "Woah, chill out dude. I wass jussst trying to get you interesssted in a sssssspecial pissstol I think you would like." He told me.

I exited my battle stance and gave him a good, long stare. His eyes were covered with very dark sunglasses, so I couldn't tell what color they were. But I knew he was staring me right in the eye, and it ade me quite uncomfortable. "So, you were going to sell me a gun?" I said. "Oh, yesss. Pleasse wait here a sssec." He said. He slithered to the back of the shop pretty quickly, for a snake, and he soon came back with a futeristic looking pistol that was pretty cool-looking. "How much for it?" I asked. The snake grinned at me and said "Jussst 3 of thossssse sssshiny coinss you have." "It's a deal." I said. I gave him the coins and he gave me the gun. "Now remember, just walk into the ammo boxess if you're running low on shotssss. Or, if you can't find any, come sssee me. I'll max out your ammo for not cosst." He said. "Thanks...um..." I said, at this point feeling like a dumbass. "I never got your name." "Oh, it's Solaris." He told me. "Ok, thanks Solaris." I said, then I left.

I decided to give my new gun a try. I was able to aim it at one of those little bees that's always buzzing around, and then I shot at it. I was very suprised at what the ammo was, though. It wasn't a laser, or a special bullet, or anything else like that.

It was just a plain old, run-of-the-mill celery stick.

I decided now wasn't the time to be ranting sbout being cheated into buying a gun that shoots a vegatable as ammo, so I went back to the first area and ran up to the temple. There was a switch with a peice of celery on it above the door. "Great. Now it's mocking me." I said to myself, then I shot at the switch. Sure enough, the door opened and I was able to enter.

Once inside, I was able to take out all the enemies around me with my knew celery shooter as I went from corridor to corridor. I heard a male's voice cry out, "Help! I need to get out of here!" from deep withing the temple. I followed the voice until I came to a room with a makeshift cage built into one wall. Inside that cage there was a male Mobian lizard, with head spines that looked like my own quills and emerald green scales. His eyes were the same orange hue as a sunset, and he had black leather gloves with shiny metal claws on them. His boots were knee high, and had spikes at the bottom. His tail had a large battle-ax blade at the end. He had a robotic shock collar around his neck.

He looked up at me and said, "Thanks for coming to rescue me. I thought I would never get help." I saw one of those celery switches right next to the cage door, so I shot it and the cage door lifted. I also saw the collar around his neck disappear. "Again, thanks for that. But I won't be getting in the tag barrel yet. I still have to find my sister. After I find her, that's when we'll join you." He told me. "Wait." I said. "Before you do that, I should at least get your name." He nodded his head. "That's reasonable. The name's Evan, but just call me Claw. And I know who you are, Silver." He shook my hand. Considering that I was famous, I didn't need to ask how he knew my name. "At any rate, I should probably be headed off now." His tail flicked, and the ax blade at the end actually retracted into his tail. He looked back at me, then looked away as he spread his arms.

That's around where everything started to get freaky. His arms were getting longer and his fingers were all fusing together until he had a pair of long, handless arms. Then, his skin began to stretch over those arms until he had a par of pteradactyl wings. His tail became longer and the axe blade came out again, but it changed into a bony rudder-like pad at the end of his tail. "Well, while you're here, you may want to take a look around Angry Aztec to see if you can find Mystic." He said. "I don't know about you, but I'm out of this dusty old desert!" He then took a running start, and jumped. With his new wings, he was able to soar effortlessly out of the temple door and from the desert level, leaving me to wonder.

Who is this Mystic, and who is Claw's sister?

(Well, I'm gonna leave this one as a cliffhanger, too. Tell me what you think, but please, no flames.)