"Hey there, fellas. Do we have a problem here?" Sonic greeted with a grin.

"That depends. It would seem the priestess has allowed outsiders onto holy ground without royal permission." Captain Striker said as he and his guards point their weapons at them.

Razor confronted Captain Striker.

"Like that ever mattered in the past! Coral has better authority to decide who visits the temple than the king or queen anyway!"

"Ever quick to defend her honor, eh? Or are you covering for your failure to secure this place?"

"What?! I didn't fail—!"

Rotor quickly stopped him before he could make things worse.

"Let it go, man. He's just trying to get you in trouble."

"This is why defense should be left to the professionals, not boys playing at being heroes."

"Excuse me?! I'll have you know, Mr. Crab, we never play at being heroes! We act like one!" Y/N glared straight at Captain Striker, getting into his face.

"How dare you call me that?! I'm a shrimp, you know!"

"Don't care!"

Y/N and Captain Striker gave each other a death glare with lightning strike on their head. Coral quickly intervened.

"G-Good morning, captain."

"Is Mr. Personality a regular around here?" Sonic asked, not liking this guy already.

"The magic rings here power the city, so they visit every morning. I'm sorry, captain. I—It was too late last night..."

"No one is to break curfew while the monsters roam the night waters. Although I supposed we all know why that is, hm? Speaking of your duties, the temple's patron Chao was due to reincarnate. Where is she?" Captain Striker said.

"Aquarius... um... hadn't emerged from her cocoon yet..."

"The evolution ceremony takes minutes. You're telling me...?"

"S-She's ancient. Maybe it's... just taking longer this time...?"

"Spare me your excuses. That Chao is central to our way of life! City guard! We're bringing this charlatan and the trespassers before the king and queen!"

One of the Meropis City Guard grabbed Coral's arm.

"'Taking'? Oh, you can try, buddy. We could be invited to join our buddy Coral and come along quietly." Sonic smirked, crossing his arms.

"She's not going!" Razor protested, defending Coral.

"Razor—Please! Captain, I'll go, but there must be someone to attend the temple at all times!"

"Your call, cap'n. Casual stroll or international incident?"

Y/N proceed by bringing out her crystal ice katana that brought out snowflakes, ready to freeze him to death while Kirby growled at Captain Striker. He had a thought for a moment before he pointed at Pearly who's being protected by Amy.

"You there—You're the apprentice, correct? You've trained in the rites?"

"Y-Yes, sir! I-I can stay if it'll help..."

"Good. Then that's settled. You four and that weird little three eyed friend of yours will be escorted to the city. You can state your business before their graces and beg forgiveness for breaking protocol."

"Heh, sure. We can work with that."

"That's good enough for me." Y/N said, still glaring.

"I'll stick with Pearly and keep her company. It'll give me time to keep researching this place." Rotor said.

"Does that work for you, cap'n?" Sonic mocked.

"Hmph. Echo, you stay here and keep an eye on things." Captain Striker said.

"Sir!" Echo saluted.

"Now let's stop wasting daylight and head for the city."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meropis Underwater City

"I wish we were here under different circumstances—This place is amazing! And just think—this is only one city in the whole, wide ocean! I wonder if the other underwater cities are this gorgeous?" Amy exclaimed in awe.

"Dunno. Probably just as wet. Y'know... being under all this water." Sonic said.

Y/N noticed Mobian fish folks are looking at them with judgmental look. 

"Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone we pass looks kind of..."

"Cranky? Disapproving? Less-than-pleasant? I guess we stand out a bit, but c'mon..."

"It's not you. Ever since the earthquakes, the waters have gotten murkier and the citizens... nastier." Razor pointed out, grimacing.

"I wonder... Well, first, we'll talk to the royal whoever's and get this all straightened out!" Sonic winked.

"I don't know..." Y/N said, knowing he's going to jinx himself for this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Royal Audience Chamber

"Unacceptable!"

Sitting on two thrones are a humanoid pufferfish of short stature, only being just about half the size of his wife. He has indigo skin/scales with thistle spots around his body and a thistle belly and muzzle. He possesses small round fins on his ankles and arms, a medium-long tail fin, no toes, and two small nose holes. He also has thick eyebrows around his eyes and a blue spike each on his chins and jaw. He wears a golden spiky crown and a yellow cape which is held together by a blue treat. His name is King Puff.

Besides him  is a humanoid anglerfish and slightly taller than most other of her species. She has green skin/scale, a white muzzle with no nose, and has long green spikes on her head tied together with a deep pink hair tie. She also has an illicium on her forehead, small round fins on the sides of her head and short sharp teeth. As attire, she wears golden forehead jewelry around her illicium, a segmented white belt with a golden strap and a deep pink dress. This dress has a white rims with shoulder straps on the top, loose sleeves hanging by the side and two extra layer on the bottom which are colored pink and white respectively. She also wears deep pink lipstick. Her name is Queen Angelica.

"It's unthinkable! Insufferable! You can't just let anyone stamp around the temple grounds! We weren't even consulted! I'm so mad I could—!"

King Puff puffed out like a balloon.

"Well... he seems reasonable..." Sonic deadpanned.

"Y-Your graces, I-I-I-If I may explain..." Coral stuttered.

"Explain? What is there to explain? Due to your failures, Meropis has endured darkening waters and earthquakes—and monsters keep us trapped within our homes all night! And now—!" Queen Angelica glared.

"Can I stop you right there, queenie? Hi there—Sonic the Hedgehog, and this is my sister Y/N the Hedgehog, greatest heroes of the world and Dr. Eggman's number one pain in the butt. How's it goin'? So... What's this about Coral not doing her job? 'Cause to me, she seems pretty devout."

"Yeah. What's the big deal? She's clearly trying her best." Y/N added.

"Ah... So you two are the famous Sonic and Y/N? Guards, stand down. Know this—in addition to allowing unauthorized foreigners into our most sacred grounds, because of Coral's failings, things started going bad a few months ago. The water got really polluted. The city shield barely kept it out, which we could manage. But then the shield, sustained by the magic of her rites, began to weaken, exposing us to the noxious waters, and then there were earthquakes. That's when the night-monsters started coming out of the rift. The guard is scared of them because we have enough concerns, what with Ahklut and his Egg Army menacing the Great Blue Realm! And now Aquarius hasn't been reborn. Here for generations—ever since she taught the first settlers how to do the rites!"

"I-I know the fates have not been kind to us, and I have been... strained... lately... But my commitment to my duties, my city, and my people hasn't wavered. I swear it!" Coral said.

"Okay, back up a step. No one's saying this bad stuff didn't happen, but I can explain. It's not Coral's fault. Doctor Eggman is to blame. See, he tried to use the Chaos Emeralds to change reality. I stopped him, but before I could fix things, he made it all worse. All the energy wound up shattering the planet and letting loose some kind of dark power from its core. That's where all your earthquakes and monsters are coming from. It's not just here. That's why we're here—we're looking for a way to fix things!"

Queen Angelica and King Puff stare at Sonic for a moment until King Puff blurted out in anger.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Of all the idiotic, outlandish moronic—!"

He puffed out into a balloon again.

"I will not dispute that Dr. Eggman is a monster. Everyone knows this. But shattering the entire planet? That's ridiculous. The oceans would have drained if what you claim is true." Queen Angelica said.

"I don't have all the answers, lady..."

"But we saw it, your grace!" Amy said. "We were flying above it all—"

"Hahaha! Now you can fly as well! With what? Your tails? Your ears?" Queen Angelica mocked.

This made Amy angry along with Y/N.

"As a matter of fact—!"

Sonic quickly calmed Amy down by grabbing her shoulder.

"Let's not go there. It's not going to do us any favors right now."

"It's gotten worse, your graces. The Chao under this fraud's care, the being responsible for our very way of life, has not been reborn." Captain Striker said, making Y/N want to punch him for calling Coral a fraud.

"I... It's... It's just taking unusually long time..."

"...You lost Aquarius?" Queen Angelica questioned in shock.

"I—Is that even possible? The sacred Chao has blessed our city with protection for generations..." King Puff said, deflating himself.

"Your graces—please, listen! The spirit came to me and told me these land-walkers would come and help us! You must give me more time to set things right! To ensure things do not get worse!" Coral begged.

"Enough! You have done enough without bringing the wrath of the spirits with your desperate lies! Priestess Coral—for your failures to perform your duties and thus endangering Meropis, you are hereby stripped of your title and privileges! Gather whatever belongings you have. This will be your last night taking up space in the Eusebes Temple."

"WHAT?!" Y/N exclaimed in disbelief.

"But you need her!" Sonic exclaimed.

"We need a competent priestess. A replacement priestess must be found immediately—if there are any former candidates left who aren't shamed by the title." Queen Angelica said.

"If only our darling princess wasn't abroad. She studied the rites... and yet you were chosen instead..." King Puff added with a sadden look.

"As for our... visitors. Night will be upon us before you can reach shore. You may stay the night in the temple. If you haven't found what you seek by morning, that's simply your problem, not ours."

"Thanks. You're so gracious." Sonic glared.

"Some king and queen you guys are! Our king is much more farrier than you two! At least, learn not to judge things without seeing it and getting to know them." Y/N glared while purposely pushing past Captain Striker by the shoulder, knocking him off balance as she had noticed him giving them a smug look before doing that.

They then left while comforting the crying Coral who's in shock and disbelief that they would treat her that way when she's been trying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon—at the Eusebes Temple Ground and Chao Garden

"—And then they took away her title! Poor Coral could barely walk! I mean—swim! Whatever!" Amy said, explaining what happen earlier to Rotor.

"Yikes. I guess that's it for our research here, then."

"It's so unfair! I just wanna—RRRGH!"

Amy whacked the palm tree with her hammer in pure anger, scaring the Chao and bringing those oranges down to the Chao as they caught it and were delighted to see food.

"Yeah! Who do they think they are?! So high and noble!" Y/N exclaimed with a mocking tone.

"Pooteetah!" Kirby agreed, angrily kicking the sand.

"It ticks me off, too, and while I love a good scuffle, we can't take on the entire city." Rotor said.

"Right. So we've got to think of something. Find a way to convince them—" Sonic said, but Rotor cut him off.

"No, first we have to keep working on how to save the whole world."

Sonic leaned his ear out.

"Uh, sorry? I couldn't hear you over your total lack of sympathy."

"Don't give me that! Arguing with some royal jerks doesn't help Coral, let alone everyone else! It stinks, but saving the world needs to come first."

"If we're not out to help everyone, then who are we fixing the world for, Rote?! Should we just skip over the people in trouble while you focus on the big picture?"

Y/N went in between them.

"That's enough! You two need to calm down! Arguing isn't going to help!"

"Sorry." Rotor snorted.

"Yeah, you are." Sonic said.

"Sonic!!" Y/N smacked his harm hard.

"Ow! Fine, me too."

"If we can't help Coral now, maybe she can join us on the Sky Patrol? It'd give her some space, and then we could help her sort things out later." Amy suggested.

"That's a good idea." Y/N said.

"Pooteetah." Kirby nodded.

"Maybe. We've got the room." Rotor said, thinking.

"Yeah. But do we have the water?" Sonic asked.

What they didn't know is that Pearly overheard everything they said before going back inside the temple. Razor and Crusher then walk out of the temple with a hint of sad aura.

"Hey." he greeted with a wave.

"Hi, Razor. How's Coral doing?" Y/N asked.

"She's really shaken—and because we wasted all day getting yelled at in the city, she doesn't have much time to do the rites."

"Well. It's real classy of her to do it anyway." Sonic said.

"I'll stay with her. See if I can help." Amy said, heading inside the temple.

"Cool."

"Listen—I know we've all just met, but you're all welcome to come to the Sky Patrol with us. Y'know—give things time to cool down." Rotor said.

"Really? Me and Pearly, too?"

"Sure! That is, if you'd want to. Coral seems pretty tied to this place." Y/N said.

"She is, although the time away could do her some good. I'm not originally from around here, and I wouldn't mind putting some leagues between me and Meropis."

What Razor didn't notice that Crusher tried to attack Sonic again, which he quickly dodged him. Y/N grabbed Crusher and gave him a squeeze with a sneer.

"Eh—We'll see what she says. I swore I'd look out for her. I'll go if she goes."

"You really care for her." Y/N said, still holding Crusher.

Razor smiled at Y/N.

"Yeah. She's like a sister to me."

Suddenly, they saw dark monsters coming out of the water and they got into their fighting stance.

"Hoo-boy... Alright, guys, it's going to be a long night!" Sonic grinned in excitement.