FOR YOUR HEART-BOOM

☆Ch8

Knuckles picked Shadow up and carried him in his arms, since he was physically the strongest of them all. Even though, Amy could really do some competition with him, because over time she became decently strong too. That aside, Sonic, for a moment, had a weird feeling of being watched by someone, but didn't notice anything out of the place. He wondered, if it was the said writer of that book. Perhaps the legend might be real after all. Whether he wanted or not, he started getting curious about the Amber and wanted to learn more about it and the story behind it. To see it with his own two eyes, which were often hungry for adventure.

"So... where should we start?" he asked afterwards, while Tails pressed a button on his suit's wrist, where it had inbuilt communicator.
"Hold on a sec," the fox scanned the area with a thin layer of laser and then a scheme of the entire island slowly grew above his wrist in form of hologram.
"There, right on top of the tallest mountain on the north side of the island, should be a hidden cave with the crystal inside. However, the path leading towards it is dangerous, slippery due to the ice underneath the layer of snow and many blizzards rage all around the place. This is going to be a real challenge," Tails pointed towards the said spot, everyone following that direction with their eyes.

"Well, it's not time to chicken out now, we can make it through, right?" Amy gained determination in her core, Sonic being the first one to agree with her.
"Ames is right, we are already here, so, we should get going. Shadow's life might be at stake right now," he supported her and glanced at Shadow in the echidna's arms.
'Hang on, Shadow,' he sent a mind message to him before shaking any unwanted thoughts out of his head and focusing on the task ahead.

The group started walking through the unfriendly environment of the snowy island, Tails being in the front, Sonic right behind him while Knuckles' position was in the back of the group, so he would keep an eye on everyone, including the sick hedgehog in his arms. He also noticed, how his weight became lighter, which indicated Shadow growing weaker with the passing hours. It brought worries to the echidna, yet he kept going, not giving up so easily, especially after getting to such unwelcoming place.
"Careful here now, we need to cross this ice desert in order to get on the north side," Tails stopped walking and squinting his eyes he looked through the seemingly clear area in front of them. It was like an open field covered by a thick blanket of snow and who knows, what was hidden underneath.

"Any signs of some living lifeforms?" Sonic asked as he looked around, feeling an eerie atmosphere looming over the entire location and again, having the odd feeling of being watched by someone. He wondered, was he the only one feeling it?
"Not any I could detect," Tails shook his head, yet wasn't stupid and counted with some lifeform(s) living even in such inhospitable place like this.
"Still, let's stay sharp," Amy piped up and everyone agreed as they started slowly walking further across the said desert. At one point, they could sense some sort of weak vibration beneath their feet and it made them all pause and freeze in spot.

"Don't move," Tails said carefully now in quiet tone, perking his covered ears he listened the best he could to their surroundings. For a long minute there was no visible action and for a moment the mobians assumed, that it was just a vibration caused by the unfriendly weather ruling the entire island. Wrong they were though, right as Sonic made a careful step forward, the ground under their feet shook again, this time with higher intensity and afterwards a terrifying screech echoed through the area along with something huge coming from underneath the snow-covered surface.

The mobians watched it in pure terror and had to tilt their heads back in order to see the giant lifeform properly. The creature looked like an oversized rattlesnake mixed up with frilled lizard, since it had a wide membrane around its neck, a pair of thick plates on top of its head and a rattle on the tip of its long tail. It towered above the group of mobians, who looked so tiny compared to this creature.
"Uh oh... what now?" Sonic whispered towards Tails, who turned pale in his face, not really expecting such creature to live here.
"I-I don't know... but running would probably be a bad idea," the fox boy whispered back and just now noticed the white-scaled creature lacking any eyes, instead having a thin black line leading all around the circumference of its head and mouth.
"I suppose it can't see us?" Amy wondered, as she noticed the same detail about the creature. Which, after scanning the group for a moment, let out another unnatural screech and opened its neck membrane widely, most likely to scare off the intruders of the island.

"Nevermind, run, run!" Tails was first to react after they all screamed in horror and afterwards, they started running across the icy desert, where more of these snake hybrids came out onto the surface, trying to catch the heroes with their sharp black teeth.
"AAAAA! JUST WHAT ARE THESE?!" Sticks screamed loudly and threw her boomerang towards the nearest enemy. Unfortunately, the weapon only bounced from the creature's incredibly strong scales and flew back towards its owner, who skillfully caught it while getting utterly shocked.
"Careful!" Sonic quickly speeded off towards Sticks and the creature clapped its jaws empty thanks to the fast hedgehog saving the badger.
"Thanks!" she yelped in rush as she followed the rest, Sonic running right behind her and occassionally spindashing toward the creatures to slow them down, so his friends could safely get on the other side of the desert.

Moments later, the group ended up in safety spot and watched those giant hybrids from afar, panting heavily due to the rushed action.
"Everyone good?" Sonic asked his friends, the rest giving him a brief nod. The blue hero approached Shadow, who was laid on the ground, since Knuckles needed a moment to calm down and relax his arms from constantly holding the ebony hedgehog.

"Come on, we need to keep going, if we want to help him," Tails placed his hand on Sonic's shoulder, trying to comfort him the best he could.
"Yeah, I know. He just.. looks paler now," Sonic replied in worried tone while examining the dark hedgehog's condition. Tails crouched down as well and quickly scanned the unconscious hedgehog.
"His temperature is now decreasing, maybe that's why," he announced quietly.
"Wait, what? Is he..." Sonic widened his eyes in shock, feeling like Shadow is fading away right in front of him and without the crystal there isn't any other way how to stop the process.

"I don't know.. his pulse is slower than usual, we should hurry!" Tails replied in slight panic and Sonic was then the one lifting Shadow up to his arms, having a tight and steady grip on him he continued moving further through the frozen land of the island.