Sonic and Ecco
Tides of Chaos
Story by Okura - Art by Lizsama
Chapter One
Fissure
“Scan the area. Is this the location of the abnormalities? And the location the tablets described?”
“Affirmative Doctor,” a computerized voice replied.
“Excellent.”
Glancing about the area from his floating pod, Dr. Eggman stroked his crazy moustache gingerly, thoughts racing about his brain excitedly as he snickered to himself. Steering his Egg-pod through the temple, Eggman eyed about it, his beady eyes hidden behind his glasses.
The bad doctor was wearing his traditional black trousers, with his large red overcoat as he began to adjust his gloves a little, letting the auto-pilot take charge. Easing back in his seat, considering the possibilities here, the overweight doctor scratched at his bald head a moment as he began to ponder all the facts he’d gathered once more.
The Ocean Palace was an interesting set of ancient ruins that had been built upon the tropical island chain known as Seaside Hill. It had intrigued many a person the purpose of the ruins, their origins lost long, long ago when they had been built. It was believed they predated perhaps even the ancient Echidna race.
But the reason Eggman had been so intrigued at it, was the fact there was something more about it all… He’d always felt that there must be a reason for all the ancient statues of whales and dolphins throughout the ruins. And then there was the fact that the live whales and dolphins seemed to feel an affinity to this location as well…
There had been a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that there had to be something more here than at first appeared.
So the doctor had started to search up any details he could find out about the ancient structures and their possible purpose. After extensive searching and scanning the ruins, Eggman had come to two big leads.
The first lead was an odd energy reading emitting from the heart of one of the main temples. It was hard to pinpoint the type of readings, but Eggman had come to the conclusion that they were similar in ways to the energy of the Chaos Emeralds.
The second was some odd hieroglyphs on several ancient tablets that Eggman had stolen from a museum several weeks earlier. It was difficult to decipher any meaning from the tablets, other than the images from them.
Frowning to himself, Eggman reached for a small card on the dash of his Egg-pod. Holding it up, the holographic card presented several holographic diagrams scanned from the tablets. As Eggman studied them again, his brows furling over his goggles, the doctor rubbed his chin with his free hand, thinking.
The ancient scrawls showed the temple and several small gems he recognized. But then, there was a larger gem he didn’t recognize. He was certain it wasn’t the Master Emerald based on its shape, so he assumed this was something else completely.
But then, something about the whales and dolphins all congregating at the temple with… something, was the best word to describe it, inside the ruins that Eggman couldn’t make out.
But it intrigued him nonetheless.
The holograms fading away again, Eggman glanced about his current location as he set his pod to hover. He was inside the temple’s shrine, with the old ruins worn and weathered by the elements. He had to hand it to whomever built this place; not only had it lasted the test of time, but there was little water damage to it as well from the millennia of being partially submerged.
Before him now, was a large altar constructed of three dolphins all leaping and pointed in towards a central stand in the middle. It floated in the centre of this camber, being watched by the many different statues of stone whales and dolphins, all focused to the altar.
There was evidence that something was supposed to be there in the central stand, but Eggman had no idea what it was, despite him searching.
If anything, maybe it was that large crystal that was shown on the tablet, but regardless of his searching, he’s not been able to find something that would fit it.
But there were seven smaller alcoves on the central altar, each with the slot for what appeared to be a gemstone. Smirking his sinister grin beneath his bushy moustache, Eggman knew clearly what those were for.
Pressing a button on the dash of egg pod, the small craft descended towards the altar, the obese scientist hauling himself from the vehicle and started towards the altar to examine it more closely with his own eyes.
Strolling forward on his long legs, Eggman paused, turning back to listen. He’d thought he’d heard something, but no… It was just the faint dripping of water from the outside leaking into the shrine. Still, could never be careful with that blasted blue rodent…
Shrugging, Eggman approached the altar once more, beginning to examine the shrine, he tapped at one of the dolphin statues. Made of marble and painted markings with a red dye that so many of the effigies all about these parts had. All the whale and dolphin figures had such markings, but these ones seemed to be more lovingly detailed.
Then, something caught his eye, as Eggman looked back to the altar. Raising an eyebrow, Eggman lifted a small device up from his pocket to some pattern of star markings that appeared to be chiseled into the central altar. “Computer. Scan these star markings. Report if they mean anything,” Eggman’s dominating voice echoing the silent chamber.
“Scanning…” came the automated response, followed a few seconds by, “Stars are in the shape of the constellation Delphinus. Named after dolphin. Found in the northern sky, close to the celestial equator. Said to be--”
“Pfft,” the doctor sneered. “Yet more porpoise nonsense,” waving dismissively.
Returning the scanner to his pocket, Eggman reached into the opposite pocket, this time drawing out a red gemstone. To the untrained eye, it may have seemed like a large ruby, but Eggman knew so much better after all his attempts to gather them.
This was one of the seven Chaos Emeralds, a gem with amazing powers. He knew; he’d used them many a time to power his diabolical machines…
And just as many times had them used against him by his irritating pincushion of a nemesis.
Carefully placing the gem into the slot in the altar, Eggman watered as the small alcove began to glow, red markings appearing down the side, written in an ancient, long since forgotten language glowing gently.
The meaning didn’t matter to Eggman as he laughed manically, “Ohoohoohoo! Yesss… The Chaos Emeralds are the key. At least one of them…” as he turned back to his pod, parked on the edge of the altar.
Pressing a button on the dash, a small flap opened on the side and Eggman’s ominous grin grew wider as the glow illuminated from it. Inside the small compartment, were six more identical gems, of varying colours; yellow, green, white and more.
“Ah, perfect… All seven of the Chaos Emeralds. If this doesn’t do anything particularly spectacular, then at least I can always use you in some sort of doomsday weapon. Maybe another massive robot to flatten cities to dust,” Eggman mused to himself, as he pulled out the blue emerald, holding it up and smiling at it, underneath his crooked moustache.
Meanwhile, in another place, another time…
Deep within the sunken halls of ivory marble, Atlantis, the City of Forever, the fish darted out of the way, escaping the sounds that they heard, fleeing the terrifying predator the was possibly after them, fleeing through gaps in the decaying city.
Clicking about, a bottlenose dolphin began to scout about the area, his eyes narrowed as he looked about and his hearing sharp for the shape of the world about him. As the sound echoed back to him, the dolphin mapped out the world before him by the sound waves.
Flicking his tail, the flukes propelling him along some more, the dolphin wriggling his fins and tilted his body to steer through the ruins, between the rocks and brick that littered the shattered ruins.
The dolphin’s body was sleek and strong built. Several markings were upon the skin as the dolphin had seen his fair share of battles.
And boy, did he know battles.
As the dolphin looked about, his eyes not able to see as clear in the darker depths of the ruins, but sharp enough to see closer to him, the markings upon his melon were shown to all about. Many a time in his younger years, the others in his pod would comment ‘The marks on your head look like the stars in the sky’.
Back then, none had thought anything of it, but long since then, the dolphin, Ecco as he was known, had learnt that they did mean something special. And he had been a special dolphin to work towards saving the seas from a greater threat.
Some time ago, a violent storm had struck his home and all life had been stripped bare, leaving only himself alone. Ecco had journeyed long and far, gaining strength to survive in the harsh oceans without the support of others. All of his skills had been tested as he’d come face to face with a threat greater than any of the sea bar one, ever recalled, save for the oldest creature within the seas, known only as the Asterite.
An ancient race of creatures from beyond the sea of skies had taken his family and Ecco had eventually confronted them, destroying their hive. But it had not been over, as their Queen had followed him back to their waters, in the desperate attempt to feed.
After learning much about the past, present and futures of his world, Ecco had led his kind and their brothers and sisters in a charge to defend their world, destroying the Vortex kind before the Queen had taken root.
But the Asterite had advised Ecco to travel to the sunken city once more to destroy the time machine, and forever defeat the Vortex kind.
Or so they’d thought…
Where are you? Ecco frowned to himself, chittering again to map out the world about him, all the crumbling ruins and shapes about confusing him slightly.
Upon entering the ruins, Ecco had encountered several Vortex larvae attempting to feed and grow in the waters, devouring the plentiful fish in these waters. At least it was cooler waters here; warmer waters would have made them grow faster. At once, he’d set upon them, killing those he was able to corner, but one had managed to get away, fleeing into the ruins.
They were a few larvae and without their Queen, Ecco had been assured that the Vortex race was finished… But something was nagging to him. If just one of those larvae were an infant Queen and it took root somewhere, then the whole horror would just start once more.
I can’t afford to take any chances, Ecco thought to himself as he swept about again, looking for the larvae that had escaped him, when he’d killed the others. I have to destroy that thing or it’ll just happen all over again…
So now, Ecco was chasing the infant Vortex deeper and deeper into the ruins, along pathways he’d never taken before. Thankfully, there were plenty of air bubbles scattered over the place, from when the city had violently sunk into the ocean from the violent attack of the Vortex, thousands of years prior to Ecco’s time.
It made the young dolphin curious how any of them had survived to use their time travel technology to escape. Perhaps they were out there, somewhere, sometime…
In his travels, Ecco had visited the dark future, a grim and bleak place, devoid of life, the seas and land stripped bare, the Vortex having devoured everything upon the planet. He knew the price of failure and he knew that he couldn’t risk that larvae getting away or—
Suddenly, it shot out, jetting away from Ecco. Almost jellyfish like, a large opaque body of an odd gelatinous origin, the larvae lunged at Ecco. Squeaking in shock, the dolphin rolled as the larvae lashed out with its two massive tendrils its maw wide open.
At the size this one was, he wasn’t worried about being devoured alive, but it struck at his skin with the tendrils, Ecco’s skin burning, as if on fire. Squealing in pain, the larvae took this chance and jetted off the way Ecco had just came.
Creaking in irritation, Ecco fought through the pain, attempting to ignore the numbness it made him feel. The dolphin knew it would end soon enough and he couldn’t afford to let that Vortex get away, as he began to pursue it through the broken walls and about the statues.
Shrilling his own battle call at it, the infant Vortex hissed back at Ecco as it fled through a crack in the marble wall, its spineless body squeezing through the tiny gap. Clicking his frustration at it, Ecco began to click madly through the wall’s hole. There was no way he could fit through that to get at the larvae now but he…
Something responded to Ecco, a low humming vibration, as the dolphin’s eyes lit up. Glyph! He thought to himself as he could feel the crystal within responding to his own call and the pained hiss of the Vortex inside.
Excellent! If I can just follow that… Ecco thought to himself again as he began to race about the walls, feeling the vibration of the glyph within helping to guide him. After a few moments of following the vibrations where they were their loudest, Ecco found a fallen wall with a big enough gap for the dolphin to force his way in. Lifting his head at the air bubble, Ecco took a breath and refilled his lungs with stale, but clean air.
As he began to sink into the shrine, Ecco wriggling his fins and tail, the dolphin looked about this chamber that he was in, becoming aware it was some sort of shrine. It was… Different from the rest of Atlantis ruins. The dolphin statues here in the shrine looked a different style and there was a golden ring within each dolphin’s mouth.
As Ecco investigated the chamber more, there was a crystal glyph in the centre, but it was a darker purple than the usual clear crystal of the others. These crystals had aided Ecco before, with how they responded to certain sound frequencies, namely the ones dolphins and whales used. The glyphs would vibrate back communicating in ways to them with messages that the ancient Atlantean people had encoded to them.