Sally: The Arctic Quest fanfic by Daniel Wheeler Prolog> The Entrance of Queen Iciena One day, in the Great Taiga, an eskimo was traveling up the mountains to look in the caves. When he entered, he noticed a white diamond and a statue. The statue was that of a beautiful woman, but it radiated bad magic. The eskimo, unfortunately, thought it was paranoia and placed the gem in the statue's forehead. The statue shed its stony shell, revealing the woman trapped inside. She said in a booming voice "I am Queen Iciena, ruler of the Dark Taiga! I shall soon summon my husband King Frostheart, and thus release the rest of the Shadows of Dark Mobius!" At hearing this, the eskimo got into his plane and headed for Mobotropolis to get help for the situation at hand. Chapter 1> Sally's Call to Battle Sally was helping her father, King Acorn, with some work in the palace one day, when the eskimo dashed to the gates and breathlessly asked for entrance. Sally came to the gates and asked "What's wrong?" The eskimo told of how he inadvertly released Queen Iciena and how she threatens to bring her husband in from Dark Mobius. "Queen Iciena and King Frostheart?!," Sally gasped in fear. "You know them, Aunt Sally?," Tails asked upon hearing her fearful proclamation. "Yes," she replied. "Like Thundros, who we met earlier, Queen Iciena and King Frostheart are Shadows of Dark Mobius. Frostheart was sent to the Dark World, while Iciena was imprisoned in a statue. At least, she WAS imprisoned, when our friend unintentionally released her." "Gee, what are we gonna do?," Tails asked. Sally told Tails to tell the Mobotropolans to remain calm, while she would go to face Iciena. Rosie, protective of Sally as usual, asked "Are ye sure that be a good idea?" Sal replied "Hey-- I almost met death before and escaped its clutches. If I must, I will risk death again for the sake of my people!" Chapter 2> The Journey to the Great Taiga Geoffrey St. John awaited Sally when he learned that she was going to the Great Taiga. Geoffrey asked "So, luv. Where to exactly?" Sally said "The eskimo said that he found Iciena in a mountain area in the Great Taiga. He showed us the place in a picture he took prior to entering the cave." With this information, Geoffrey flew Sally to the area she mentioned. Along the way, they met with some nasty weather and had trouble getting to their destination. Soon a giant hailstone hit one of the wings. "Hold on, princess, we're going down!," shouted Geoffrey. The plane crashed about five miles from the mountain. Iciena, noticing that Sally was going to threaten her dominion, sent some Ice Warriors to stop her. Chapter 3> The Trek Begins "Geoffrey," Sally asked, "can you fix the wing?" "I'm not sure, luv," said Geoffrey. "It may be a while. But I'll do the best I can." Sally sighed. "I guess I'll have to go on foot," she said. So she set out to get to the mountain, her equipment ready to face anything. She was glad to be ready, because the Ice Warriors jumped onto the hapless princess. But Sally brought a simple hand warmer that repelled the monsters. Geoffrey noticed the Warriors attacking her and aided her with a flamethrower, melting the menaces. "Here, princess, take this flamethrower in case you meet anymore of these beasts," Geoffrey adviced. "Thanks," Sally mumbled as she put it on her and went off. Iciena sent off some flying Snow Beasts, armed with icicle spears. Sally managed to master the flamethrower just in time, because the monsters were headed right for her! She managed to melt the gliders and the Snow Beasts crashed into the snow. Iciena then sent an Ice Medusa. She froze Sally with a Ice Glance, which froze all except her head. She hopped around until the ice broke, then melted the medusa with her flamethrower in just four blasts. Chapter 4> The Steppes Of Snow Sally then entered the Steppes of Snow, where Iciena's Frost Sentries had terrorized the villages shortly after the frozem queen was released. One sentry was beating up on a kid. Indignant, Sally yelled "Back off the kid or get melted! Which shall it be?" Envoked, the sentry called his buddies to attack her. Evidently, the sentries lacked intelligence, because they walked right into range of the flamethrower. This made it easy to melt the enemies in one shot. But the Major, seeing his forces depleted, got into a Snow Tank and charged at Sally. She noticed that the tank was made of tightly packed snow. It would be hard to melt it. But the village wizard cast a Fire Blaze spell that melted down the tank bigtime. This allowed Sally to melt the Major in eight blasts. The villagers thanked Sally for saving the boy and the town. They invited her to stay for some cocoa and a briefing of Iciena and the past. Chapter 5> The Legend of Selira As Sally drank her cocoa, the wizard tells of some of Iciena's toughest warriors. "The Yeti has been assigned to guard the bridge to her palace. The Ice Troll is quite the fighter in the palace. And the Ice Dragon is second only to the queen in power. Only one weapon is powerful enough to stop them and Iciena." "What?," asked Sally, still shivering a bit from the cold after being outside. The wizard answered "The Light Sword of Selira. Selira was a warrior woman who imprisoned the monster long ago. But during that battle, before Iciena was trapped in the statue, she was dealt a mortal blow. So, with her last breath, she used a Stone spell to trap Iciena. Her sword now lies on her grave in Canvala, near Iciena's palace." "Thank you for telling me," said Sally, with a tear in her eye from the story. "Before you go," said the wizard, "here is Selira's Armor. It will protect you from the cold weather and any Ice Magic." "Thanks," said Sally as she put it on and set out for Canvala. Chapter 6> The Journey to Canvala Sally, after receiving a map from one of the villagers, set off to find Canvala. But Iciena wanted to prevent her from getting the sword of the one that imprisoned her so long ago. She sent some Snow Knights to impede her progress. The Snow Knights picked some places to ambush her along the way to Canvala. There were five ambushes total. The first ambush had four knights to past. "Pushover", thought Sally as she melted them with the flamethrower. The second ambush was a little tougher, but was still easily defeated. The third ambush really picked up the pace with Arctic Sprays. But the armor reduced the damage and Sally toasted them with the flamethrower. The fourth attack was led by the lieutenant, who had an icicle gun. Though it stung a little, Sally recovered from a shot and melted the lieutenant with two blasts, causing the other soldiers to retreat. The fifth Snow Knight ambush was lead by the Major General, who was armed with an Ice Lance. The armor, however, gave way with six fireball shots from the flamethrower. The Major General tried to retreat with his troops, but Sally manage to melt him in two blasts. The path was now clear. Sally contiued to Canvala. Chapter 7> The Sword of Selira Sally had finally entered Canvala. The villagers, recognizing her face and her royal blood (her hand was still bleeding after the ambushes), invited her to stay and have supper with them. As she ate with the city governor, one of his servants bandaged her wound. "Sir," Sally addressed him, "I am seeking the Sword of Selira." "Ah, the magic sword", said the governor. "Well, it is right in the town square, where we built a memorial to the great warrior woman. It always glows at night, as are the doors of Iciena's palace open." The servant who bandaged Sally's wound said "Sir. The clouds are lifting a bit. It seems that the cause is in the town square." "The sword is glowing. Sally, you must be the one chosen to use the sword and vanquish Iciena!," the governor joyfully announced. He arranged a cart to escort Sally to the square. As Sally approached the sword, the ghost of Selira appeared before her. "Sally," Selira said, "I am one of your ancestor's middle sisters. I knew that one day, someone would release Iciena, and that you would defeat her once more and forever. Now, my great niece, take the sword, and go to Iciena's Palace, where you must fight her! Finish what I have started! Do it for your friends... and for me!" Sally obeyed, and the sword easily pulled out of the gravestone of Selira. The final conflict with Iciena was about to begin! Chapter 8> The Way to the Palace Sally travelled to Iciena's Palace with the Light Sword in hand. Iciena, noticing that Sally is about to cross the bridge, sends her Yeti to stop her. The Yeti was Iciena's closest friend and, so far, her only assistant. He confronted Sally at the icy bridge connecting the mainland across a great chasm to the Palace. "Ya ready to rumble?!," challenged the Yeti. "You bet I am!," responded Sally. The fight soon began. Sally almost fell off the bridge when the Yeti threw a turn punch, but she grabbed on a piece of loose ice and got back on before the ice broke off. She then threw a thrust that sent the Yeti falling into the crevasse. The impact from the landing caused the ice bridge to collapse, so Sally had to hurry across. Chapter 9> The Ice Troll of Iciena's Palace Queen Iciena, furious because of the fallen Yeti, conjourned up her Ice Troll and sent him to stop Princess Sally from getting to close to her. After saluting to his mistress, the Troll went into the major portions of the palace to hunt down the princess and take her out for good! Sally was in the grand hall on the first floor, when she heard footsteps coming toward her. She decides to race up the stairs and try to hide so she'd be in a safe place to see who it was. Sure enough, the Ice Troll was hunting her down. As soon as he spotted her, the Troll began to persue her. The Ice Troll pursued Sally to the door leading to Iciena's ritual chamber. The Troll tried to charge at her, but Sally sidestepped out of the way and dealt a slash that vanquished the Troll as soon as it landed from the charge. The Troll also inadvertly openned the door, revealing the icy queen herself. Epilog> The Fall of Iciena As soon as Sally entered the door, Iciena's Ice Dragon attacked. This was intended to distract Sally as she would summon her husband. But Sally's magical sword let off a spark that sealed off the portal. It seemed that the sword had a mind of its own, and wanted to buy Sally some time. "Crush her, Dragon!," shouted Queen Iciena. "Make her pay for thwarting my plans!" But Sally noticed a weak spot on the dragon's chest, right on the left pec (on Sally's right). She thrust the sword into it and slew it. "Noooo!," cried the cold queen. "You have destroyed my spell and my dragon! Now you shall be destroyed!" She cast a spell that bound her in "snow rope", so that she could strike the killing blow. It seemed that all was lost. But Selira's ghost freed her from her bonds and placed her hands on Sally, giving her extra power. She fired a spark from the Light Sword at the gem in her forehead. The jewel shattered and she was again trapped in stone. "Finish her off!," Selira cried. And Sally did thus, slicing the statue in half. The rubble soon vaporized, and Selira took her out of the palace seconds before it collapsed. Selira said "Farewell. Now I no longer am with unfinished business, I can pass on to the afterlife. Goodbye, and thank you." Then, she disappeared in a star twinkle. Geoffrey arrived moments after Selira left. "Princess," he said "I just finished repairing the plane when the snow melted and the palace collapsed. Are you o. k.?" Sally replied "Yes. Let us say goodbye to our friends here and go home." They did so and, as soon as they got back to the Acorn Palace, they were greeted by Sonic, the King, and the rest of their friends. Meanwhile, in a dark version of Mobius, a dark spirit looked into his crystal ball and said "So, you have beaten my first legion of monsters, eh? Well, brace yourself; four more years of tribulation will come, then I WILL COME! HA HA HA..." The End (For Now) :)