Sonic and the Secret Rings, Volume Three(b)

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Haman had turned away from the group, seemingly reveling in his actions until an explosion and a clanging sound behind him caused him to turn back around. Badoura had used her power to get out of the cage, the somewhat burnt pieces of several bars lying on the ground with the princess standing over them, four fireballs floating around her in a circle as her hands glowed brightly. She glared, “Haman!”

The sorcerer merely smirked, “My, my. Looks like you’re not such a helpless, conceited brat anymore, Princess.”

Badoura let out a growl at that and began making her around towards him while the others got out of the cage. Aladdin was the first one out and he called out as he ran after her, “Wait, Badoura!”

Haman noticed this and held up his staff as he said, “You stay out of this, rat! The princess is giving me a private showing of her powers! You’re not welcome!” He then thrust his staff forward, “Get the point?” As he said this, multiple sabers materialized out of thin air and shot towards the white hedgehog, the blades flying over Badoura’s head as she leapt down to where Haman was. Aladdin froze as he saw the sabers rushing towards him and got pushed backwards moments later, two blades catching his vest and pinning him to the rocky wall behind him with the rest just narrowly missing him.

By this time, Sonic and most of the others had gotten out of the cage and had noticed Aladdin’s predicament and Badoura getting ready to engage Haman. “We’ve got to help Aladdin and Princess Badoura!” Twilight exclaimed.

As he started to move, Sonic called to Rainbow, “I’ll help Aladdin!”

The pegasus replied, “Right! I’ll help Badoura distract that creep!” Just as they were about to move to help, a stream of fire shot in front of both of them, stopping them in their tracks. They looked to see Haman holding his staff up, the sorcerer having launched the attack while he was leaping off of his cobra to dodge an attack from Badoura.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, my friends!” the man called, holding his arms up and out afterwards and creating a cloud of magic a short distance overhead. From within the cloud, multiple creatures that were mostly green in color and had angry-looking white faces came forth and shot towards the group!

“What are they?!” Shining asked.

“They’re djinns, spirits! They look like the ones that served Erazor Djinn! But how did he summon them…?” Shahra wondered.

When they got close to the group, several djinns that had red foreheads breathed fire at everyone. After he and Rainbow leapt back, Sonic turned back to the others and called, “Somebody do something about that cage! If they’re all this angry, we’re gonna need all the room we can get until we get past them!” Twilight and Cadance quickly complied, both of them grabbing the cage with their magic and lifting it up, breaking it down while Shining Armor and the others began to attack the Kri Ma Djinns.

Once they were done with the cage, Twilight and Cadance joined in while Shahra moved Fluttershy and Spike back, keeping them from getting hurt by accident. While Fluttershy and Spike watched the others fight back against the swarm of djinns, Shahra’s eyes wandered to Badoura and Haman, watching the cat stand her ground against the sorcerer and his cobra. As Haman raised his staff, Shahra eyed the crystal it was holding and raised an eyebrow. “That crystal seems familiar somehow…” she thought.

Haman fired a red-orange beam of magic from the mouth of his staff, hoping to catch Badoura off-guard while she unleashed a burst of fire on his cobra. The cat saw it out of the corner of her eye and performed a backflip, narrowly dodging the beam. She spun around when she landed and threw a fireball with her right hand at Haman. He stepped to the side to dodge it, but he looked back in surprise when it exploded against a rock. Badoura noticed and smirked, “Surprised, Haman?”

The sorcerer turned to her and smirked back, “Perhaps, Princess. I was just thinking, wouldn’t it have been nice to have this magic back then? Then again, I suppose your palace didn’t need any help burning down, did it?”

Badoura growled and, after dodging a snap from the cobra, leapt at him, “You dare mock me?!”

As he used his magic to levitate and avoid her tackle and deflect the fire she threw at him afterwards, Haman replied, “Oh, not at all, Princess! I have to admit, you’ve made excellent progress! You command your magic quite well! I guess you could say,” dodging one last fireball, he raised his staff and unleashed another red-orange beam from it, “it leaves me breathless!”

Badoura gasped when she saw the beam coming, but she wasn’t quick enough to dodge this time and it struck her. She shut her eyes when it hit, but she opened them again when, instead of being thrown back, she heard wind around her. A quick look revealed that she seemed to be at the center of a wind vortex. “What? What is this? What are you…?” She began to wobble, raising her right hand to her throat as she stammered, “Ack… It’s hard to… I can’t breathe…”

Back with the others, Sonic kicked away the last djinn in front of him, the swarm of Kri Ma Djinns having thinned out heavily, and ran towards Aladdin. Rainbow Dash was already at his left side, having taken advantage of a gap in the swarm a minute earlier, and had her teeth around the handle of the saber holding his vest against the rock, flapping her wings as she pulled at it. Sonic quickly grabbed the handle of the saber on the white hedgehog’s right side and began pulling it while saying, “Hang on!”

As he wiggled, Aladdin grunted, “Thanks. Hurry!” Sonic planted a foot against the rock to get better leverage as he pulled the saber, the others starting to move towards him and Rainbow now. As he wiggled, Aladdin looked forward… and his eyes widened when he saw Badoura fall forward onto the ground. “Badoura!” he cried, Sonic beginning to turn his head to look when the saber suddenly came loose and he fell onto his back with it in his right hand. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, glanced in the direction of the fight before flapping her wings rapidly, managing to pull the saber out in seconds.

Aladdin dropped down to the grass a moment later. His knees bent forward for a second before he reached down and grabbed the saber out of Sonic’s hand, standing up and running forward afterwards. Rainbow saw this and said (around the saber still in her mouth), “Hey, wait up!” She then flew after him while Sonic flipped himself over, standing up and running after the two with the others a second later, all of them seeing Haman standing over Badoura.

Haman turned his head to the right, seeing Aladdin and Rainbow Dash coming towards him. He looked back down at Badoura a moment later and then waved his staff in a circle, a red-orange sphere surrounding the still somewhat conscious princess and lifting her off the ground. “STOP!” Aladdin and Rainbow shouted, Haman turning slightly to see the two coming with their sabers. The sorcerer held out his arms in response, generating another red-orange sphere, this time around himself that both Aladdin and Rainbow Dash bounced off of. Haman then held his arms up and began to float up along with Badoura, the sorcerer’s barrier disappearing as he landed on his cobra’s head.

Aladdin looked up, first desperately at Badoura and then angrily at Haman. “What have you done to her, Haman?!” he yelled.

Haman smirked, “A little lack of fresh air to help her sleep, of course. I thought she could use it; she’s a bit high-strung if you haven’t noticed, Aladdin.”

Sonic, Shahra, Spike, and the rest of the ponies joined the two as Rainbow shifted her saber to her hooves and yelled, “Why don’t you just let her go?! You and your venom snake or whatever can’t handle all of us!”

Haman replied, “Yes, it would appear that the numbers are against me, aren’t they? However…” Before he could continue, everyone heard what sounded like a bird call coming from nearby. “Eh? What’s that?” Haman asked.

Sonic and the others looked towards the ledge where the group had entered the area and saw a familiar silver-white dinosaur come to a stop at the ledge. “Oh boy…” Sonic grunted as two more raptors appeared at its sides.

“The raptors! They tracked us here!” Shahra gasped.

Haman smirked, “Oh~! Old friends of yours? This works out perfectly!” He waved his staff in a circle, his cobra rising off the ground high above the group’s heads.

“Come back here!” Aladdin shouted, both him and Sonic jumping up after the cobra, aiming for its tail. They both were close to grabbing the end of the tail when it moved its tail up out of their reach, causing them to fall back to the ground front first.

“Rainbow Dash!” Cadance said as she spread her wings.

The cyan pegasus nodded, “Right!” She shifted her saber back to her mouth and both she and Cadance shot up after the cobra.

Haman saw them coming and pointed his staff down at them while saying, “Oh, no you don’t!” He fired a pair of red-orange beams from the staff’s eyes, both Rainbow and Cadance getting hit and being knocked back towards the ground.

“Cadance!” Shining cried as he dashed forward, diving to catch his wife. She landed in his forelegs while Applejack ended up catching Rainbow in a way when the pegasus crashed into her, both of them ending up on the ground as well.

Haman spoke, “Well, this has been a LOVELY get-together, but I’m afraid I’m a busy man. I believe I’ll be shoving off now!” He shook his head to his right, his cobra turning in that direction before it began to move.

“Haman, stop!” Shahra cried as Twilight and Rarity’s horns flared up, both of them releasing beams of magic up at the sorcerer. Haman barely noticed their attack, stepping out of the way before the beams could hit him.

As Sonic, Aladdin, Cadance, Shining Armor, Applejack, and Rainbow got up, Aladdin grabbing his saber as he stood, Haman said, “Now, now! Don’t be rude! Your old friends went to all this trouble of finding all of you and you’re just going to ignore them?” Sonic and Aladdin looked forward as one of the raptors landed a short distance away, letting out a shriek at them, causing them to start backing up.

Twilight looked to her right and saw that the other two raptors were once again moving around the group. “They’re trying to surround us again!” she exclaimed, causing the others to notice as well.

Shahra looked up at Haman as he spoke to Sonic and Aladdin, “Don’t disappoint me, rats. I’d rather not have to come all the way back here for you two… or call you up by accident.” As he finished speaking, Shahra noticed the crystal in his staff’s hands glint in the sunlight, and her eyes widened in realization. She didn’t get a chance to say anything before the cobra suddenly shot off into the distance with a crack of its tail, the sound being similar to the crack of a whip.

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Left alone with the velociraptors, everyone grouped together, the three velociraptors moving closer to them, one in front of them, one behind them, and the other on a rock off to their right. As everyone looked around, Fluttershy asked, “Wh-Why do they look so mad?”

Spike replied, “Uh, we might have had to… trick them… to avoid getting eaten by them?”

Aladdin added, “I might have run into them earlier when I was under Haman’s spell as well. My memory’s still a bit hazy, but… they look familiar.”

Rainbow spoke, picking up her saber in her hooves, “Who cares! Call up that rug and let’s go after that sorcerer creep!”

Shahra turned to look at the ledge where they’d found Aladdin, “I left it on that ledge! I’ll go get it!” She hovered above the group and began to move towards the ledge. As she did, the raptor on the rock realized what she was trying to do and crouched down, leaping up to attack her!

Rainbow responded by flying up to intercept it with her saber, managing to get the blade caught on top of the claws on both of its forearms. The raptor, however, responded with a caw and quickly moved its claws out from under the blade, bringing them above it and swinging downwards, knocking the saber clean out of Rainbow’s hooves! Rainbow’s eyes widened and she stopped flapping her wings, falling as the raptor brought up its hind legs to try to attack her with those claws! It missed and she hit the ground hard, but as she climbed to her hooves, she noticed that Shahra had gotten past the raptor.

That was only a small comfort, however, as the attacking raptor was now closer to the group, just about even with the ground they were on, and it was likely they were all more wary of any sudden movements. As he and the others were waiting for Shahra to bring the carpet around, Sonic suddenly felt the ground rumble slightly. Then again, though a little stronger. “Hey… does anybody else feel that?” he grunted.

There was another rumble a moment later, even stronger this time, and even the raptor behind the group seemed to notice it. “It’s, um… It’s an impact tremor, that’s what it is,” Twilight said.

Pinkie gasped, “It’s getting closer!”

Applejack grunted, “Well, if it’s gettin’ stronger, then whatever’s causin’ it probably is gettin’ closer, Pinkie.”

Pinkie replied, “No, I mean that raptor is getting closer!” Everyone looked over to see the raptor behind the group beginning to move towards them, its claws pointing towards them. A few seconds later, the raptor crouched down, everyone bracing themselves as it leapt into the air… and then suddenly it was caught by a pair of jaws full of sharp teeth! The group looked up in surprise to see a large biped dinosaur with magenta scales, short arms with two fingered hands that had sharp claws, and a number of horns sticking up on its head. They couldn’t see how big it was due to its legs being partially submerged in the water.

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As it dropped the raptor in its jaws on the ground between the group and where the land ended, Rarity screamed, “What in this world is THAT?!”

Sonic answered, “That’s the big dinosaur, the T-rex! It must’ve heard the commotion!”

Rainbow glanced around and said, “Looks like they’re more interested in it than us!” Indeed, the two remaining raptors had their attention focused on the rex rather than the group. She looked down and saw a circular slab of land near the rock the one raptor was standing on. It looked big enough for all of them and it was probably low enough for them to get out of sight. She pointed, “Quick, let’s get down there!” Everyone noticed where she was pointing and they all quickly got down onto the slab, neither the raptors nor the rex paying them any attention.

Looking up, they saw the other two raptors charging at the rex, the larger dinosaur letting out a growl as they latched onto it, one on the side of its head and the other on its neck, both on its left side. It began trying to shake them off, the third raptor trying to get up despite the injuries caused by the rex’s teeth. “What are they doing?” Aladdin asked.

“I don’t think they get along, but I don’t think that’s the only reason they’re fighting,” Sonic guessed.

Fluttershy nodded, “Exactly. It’s just like with the chupacabra and the vampiric jackalope: they’re fighting for dominance over the rights to eat us.” She smiled, “Nature is so fascinating…” Sonic and Aladdin glanced over at her with raised eyebrows while Spike and the other ponies morbidly watched the predators tangle with each other.

Shaking his head a second later, Sonic turned and called, “Shahra!”

Moments later, the genie came back to the group, guiding the carpet with her magic. “Sorry about the wait! Let’s get out of here and go after Haman!” Aladdin tucked his saber into his belt before jumping on the carpet, Spike and the ponies also jumping on save for Fluttershy, who Sonic had to drag away from the spectacle, and Rainbow, who again chose to use her wings instead. Once they were all set, they set out from the island, Fluttershy continuing to stare at the T-rex and the raptors until they could no longer be clearly seen.

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Rainbow Dash and the magic carpet were flying over the ocean, the carpet managing to keep up with the pegasus as they left the dinosaur island behind. As they were shooting across the ocean, Twilight pointed forward, “Look at that castle! Do you think that’s where Haman went?”

Sonic nodded, “Definitely. We found one of the World Rings there. Since he’s going after their Essences, that’s where the next closest one is!”

Aladdin grunted, “We have to hurry! We have to save Badoura from Haman and stop whatever he’s planning!”

Spike asked, “Sonic, Shahra? Do either of you have any idea what that guy is planning?”

Sonic shook his head, but Shahra responded, “I can’t say for sure myself, but that crystal his staff is holding… It’s involved in his plan somehow, I’m sure of it!”

Rainbow looked over and asked, “Why? What’s the big deal about it?”

Shahra replied, “I’ve seen a crystal like it before. I’m certain it’s part of a magical artifact from this world! Whatever he’s planning with the Essences of the World Rings, he’s going to need that crystal as well! If we can get it and the Essences from him…”

Sonic said, “Gotcha, Shahra. Don’t worry, we’re not gonna let him get away with this!”

Applejack nodded, “Yeah! No matter how much of a head start he’s got, we’ll get him!” Everyone nodded and faced forward, both Rainbow and the carpet putting a little extra speed in to get to the castle sooner.

After a short while, the exterior of the castle began to become clear, various details on its exterior becoming easier to see. “Okay, we’re almost there. Where did you find the World Ring, Sonic?” Shining asked.

Before Sonic could reply, Cadance gasped, “Oh no, look!” She pointed ahead, everyone seeing Haman’s cobra taking off from the palace and shooting up into the sky.

Sonic grunted, “It ended up right in front of the palace because it was inside a bomb! Of course it would probably be the easiest one for him to find!”

Rainbow said, “He’s heading up into the sky! Come on!” She quickly changed her course, flying up after Haman, the magic carpet’s trajectory changing to do the same.

“Where’s he going now?!” Aladdin asked.

“The next closest World Ring was on a Rukh!” Shahra said.

“Ooh! What’s a Rukh?” Pinkie asked. As she was speaking, both the carpet and Rainbow Dash burst through the cloud layer, and not long after that, they all began to see giant manta-like creatures flying up ahead, many with structures on their backs.

“Are those…?” Cadance started.

Shahra nodded, “Yes. Those are the Rukh. They’re living fossils.”

As they got closer to the school of Rukh, Fluttershy said, “They’re incredible…”

Twilight nodded, “They are, but… where was the World Ring up here?”

Shahra said, “It was on the back of one of the Rukh, but… I can’t remember which one…”

Sonic shook his head, “Me neither. But Haman’s gonna be looking for it, so let’s focus on finding him.”

Rainbow soon called, “There he is! He’s down there!” Everyone looked to see the cobra flying alongside one of the smaller Rukh, Haman’s head turned towards it. A second later, he faced forward and the cobra moved on, heading for a much larger Rukh. At this, Rainbow grunted, “Come on! Let’s knock him off that smug snake!” She then shot after Haman, Sonic and the others following behind her.

As he got closer to the larger Rukh, Haman glanced down at the cobra as it let out a prolonged hiss. Raising an eyebrow, he looked back over his shoulder and saw Rainbow Dash speeding towards him. “You again?!” he grunted, moving to the side slightly to avoid a collision.

Rainbow flew a short distance ahead, coming to a stop over a path on the Rukh’s back before she turned to face Haman. “Think you can keep that up, fat man?!” she called.

Haman growled, “I’ll have you know that I’m pleased to know you and the rest of your merry band are still among the living. At the other end of the spectrum, however, you’re starting to annoy me.”

Rainbow replied, “Then get ready to be REALLY annoyed! You’re going down!” She then shot towards him again.

Haman simply sighed, “This tired technique again? You should really try something new.” He raised his staff and unleashed a beam of magic from it, “It’s really not worth beating your head against a wall over!” As he was speaking, a stone wall formed floating in front of the cobra, Rainbow letting out a gasp at this and trying to stop, but to no avail. She crashed into the wall head first and, after a second, slid off it and fell down to the path below.

Chuckling, Haman turned around to face the rest of the group and said, “And here comes the rest. Like lambs to the slaughter.”

Pinkie heard him and gasped, “Lambs?! Where?! We have to help those poor lambs!”

Rarity sighed, “It’s an expression, Pinkie dear.”

Aladdin yelled, “Give it up, Haman! We’re obviously too much for you to handle!”

Haman replied, “Perhaps, street rat, but I’m afraid that simply won’t do. I’ve put too much time and effort into this plan for you to ruin it now.” He then thrust his staff forward and said, “Try not to go to pieces on me!” He unleashed another beam from his staff, but this one was aimed at the carpet rather than the group. When it came into contact with the fabric, the rug shook for a moment before suddenly turning into a sheet of glass!

“The carpet! No!” Twilight cried as its trajectory quickly angled downwards, crashing into the side of the Rukh. As soon as it did, the front of it shattered into shards and everyone was knocked for a loop, all of them save for Shahra starting to roll downwards. Sonic was the first to go over, but he managed to grab onto the side of the Rukh. When he saw the others coming, he reached out his right hand and managed to grab Shining Armor’s right hoof, both of them being held up slightly by the strong wind blowing and allowing Cadance to grab onto Shining’s hind legs followed by the rest of them.

“Sonic! Be a dear and PULL US UP!” Rarity screamed from further along the chain.

“Ngh…! Need my other hand for this, Shining!” the blue hedgehog told the stallion, Shining wrapping his free hoof around Sonic’s legs before the hedgehog let his right hoof go and he wrapped it around his legs. With both hands now grasping onto the Rukh, Sonic grunted as he began to pull forward, pushing against the wind blowing in his face.

Before he could make much headway, however, Sonic noticed a shadow appear over him and looked up to see the cobra leering down at him. Haman smirked cruelly down at him, “I apologize, my dear rat, but my pet here hasn’t had a single bite all day. I do hope you’ll forgive me.” With that, the cobra parted its jaws, its tongue flicking out as it leaned back slightly and let out a hiss. It then lunged downwards, aiming for Sonic (or rather his hands)! In desperation, Sonic let go, the cobra missing by mere inches as they fell behind the Rukh! Haman grinned widely as the wind carried them off, “Hee hee hee! Enjoy your flight of fancy, fools! It certainly won’t last long!”