New chapter! R&R and be nice.

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Tales of Soleanna

Chapter 21: Battle on the High Seas Part 3: Sonic's Revenge

Everything had gone completely still. Even the wind wasn't blowing. Everyone stood there motionless, waiting for something to break the silence. After for what seemed like forever, Sonic spoke again.

"You're my brother?"

Strike was also in shock. He walked closer to Sonic and looked at him. For a moment, a picture of Jules came to mind. Strike didn't know what to do next. He had found his brother after all these years but now that the time had come, he didn't know what to do.

He never got the chance. Before he could speak, Axel had grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him into a nearby wall.

"I'll say it again. Stay away from him!" he snarled.

"Why don't you make me?" Strike challenged.

Before either could make a move, Amy yelled "STOP!"

Everyone obeyed.

"Good" she said, calmly. "Now, how about we get a few answers, mostly for Sonic."

Sonic turned to Aleena and asked "Is Strike my brother?"

His mum nodded.

"How?"

Aleena sighed. She had hoped this would never happen.

"Sonic, before I tell you, I want you to know that your father loved you with all his heart. But, he wasn't perfect" she said.

Sonic didn't know what she was getting at, so she began to explain.

"A month or so after you were born, your father and I got into an argument. He had done some things with the royal treasury that I didn't agree with. Anyway, he stormed out of the castle. I had no idea what happened to him until the next morning. He came back, apologising for what he did and swore he'd always be truthful to me."

Sonic still looked confused. "So what if you had an argument. Everyone does" he said but Aleena was shaking her head.

"There's more to it. Several months later, an old beggar woman, who was also a hedgehog, came to the door, carrying a young yellow hedgehog. She said that it was Jules' son. He didn't deny it was his and said it must've happened after our argument. At first, I didn't think I could trust him again but we managed to stay together. As for the baby, we couldn't accept it and turned her away."

Sonic was even more speechless than before. His dad had cheated on his mum and, what's more, had an illegitimate child.

Strike decided to step in. "When my mum died, a year ago, I found out who my dad was and came to the castle. There, I met your mum and Sally and Axel. When they found out who I was, Axel told me to leave the island and never come back. Aleena and Sally didn't resent me, not blaming me for what happened and they told me I had another brother out there. That was all they would tell me, so I set sail looking for him, or should I say, you."

Now, Sonic understood. But he didn't know how to react.

Axel began to speak.

"Sonic. This guy isn't your brother. He's a mistake. He doesn't deserve to exist!" he yelled.

"Axel! Don't dare say that!" Aleena retaliated.

"Why not? He's no brother of mine and no brother of Sonic's. Ain't that right?" Axel turned to Sonic.

Sonic just stood there, not entirely sure what to say. Before he could, Omega began to yell.

"Pirates detected! Pirates detected!"

The team turned and saw a fleet of pirate ships approaching.

"OK, guys. We all know the plan" said Silver. "Let's get those cannons ready!"

Once the cannons were loaded, they began to fire. The ships were too slow to move out of the way and were so big, they were easy targets. Soon, only Rotagilla's ship remained.

As it got closer, Rotagilla fired his own cannons after turning the ship to the side. With no time to lose, Shadow used Chaos Control to take him, Sonic, Axel, Silver and Knuckles to the ship. The others stayed behind, wishing them luck. Strike, on the other hand, was in his own world. Did Sonic think he was an abomination too? Only one way to find out. While the others weren't looking, he jumped into the sea and began to swim towards the ship.

On said ship, Sonic and co. had just arrived and found themselves face-to-face with a huge amount of pirates. Behind them was Rotagilla, holding the Jewelled Sceptre in one hand and a sword in the other.

"Lads, take care of those bilge rats! Except for Sonic. He's mine!" he ordered.

As the team dispersed to fight the pirates, Sonic stood opposite Rotagilla. The captain smirked as he tossed Sonic the sword and pulled his own out.

"Let's see if you inherit your father's sword skills. Cos if you do, killing you will be easy" he mocked.

Sonic gritted his teeth and charged. Rotagilla swayed to the side and easily dodged the attack, before hitting Sonic in the back with the hilt. Sonic was knocked over but quickly got back up and made another dash. This time, Rotagilla blocked the attack and the two were pushing against each other. Sonic had both his hands on the sword but Rotagilla was using only one and was even yawning.

"This is too easy" he smiled. All Sonic could do was keep pushing.

Meanwhile, Strike had climbed onto the ship. Looking around, he saw Axel swiping his sword about, knocking pirates back. Silver was picking them up and throwing them at others. Knuckles was busy giving one a noogie. Shadow was throwing punches and kicks but he occasionally let his guard down and got hit. It looked as if he was put off by something.

Strike then turned and saw Sonic losing to Rotagilla. Sneaking up, he tried snatching the sceptre out of the croc's hands. Unfortunately, Rotagilla saw it coming and shoved Sonic back in time to spin around and kick Strike across the floor. Strike tried to get up but found Rotagilla's sword pointing at his throat.

"You mess with me, you end up dead! It's about time I got some young blood."

Before he could do anything though, Sonic kicked him in the side of the head, causing him to drop the sceptre which landed in Strike's hands. He looked at Sonic who held his hand out.

"Thanks" Strike said.

"Sure" Sonic replied with a smile, "What are brothers for?"

Strike smiled back and grabbed Sonic's hand. Once he was up, Rotagilla had stood again, with several mad marks on his face.

"Ready, bro?"

"Sure thing, bro?"

The two hedgehogs charged at the captain. Sonic thrust his sword out, which Rotagilla blocked. However, Strike had jumped into the air and brought his foot down on Rotagilla's head. With the croc distracted, Sonic began to spin in place. Strike filled his hand with electricity and zapped Sonic with it, causing Sonic to shoot into Rotagilla with even more speed, slamming him into the side of the ship. Rotagilla was in no fit to fight and Strike took his sword and threw it away.

"Please, don't kill me!" Rotagilla wimpered.

"I won't do that. That would be cowardly, your kind of cowardly. But I'll make sure you stay behind bars for life" Sonic smirked.

Several hours later, the sceptre had been returned, Rotagilla and his crew were behind bars and Sonic and co. were preparing to leave. Aleena had arranged a boat to take them back to Soleanna.

At the moment, Strike and Sonic were talking.

"Come on, Strike. We could use your help against Eggman" Sonic said.

"Sure. I've got nothing better to do. Plus, I need to pay Eggman back for what he got me to do" Strike smiled.

The brothers shook hands until Strike saw Aqua walking on to the boat. He waved to her but she immediately blushed and ran on to the boat. Strike was confused but walked onto the boat.

Before Sonic went on, he gave his family one last hug.

"I'll miss you guys. But I won't forget you" he said.

Aleena and Sally smiled and Axel pulled something out from behind his back.

"Here. Take this" he said, handing Sonic the yellow emerald. Sonic nodded his thanks and waved once more before getting onboard. However, Axel was busy thinking.

"Strike. You better not show up again. Sonic may accept you, but next time I see you, you will wish you'd never been born!"

Back on the boat, Sonic saw Shadow looking over the side. He seemed to be disturbed by something.

He went up to Elise and asked her what was wrong with him.

"Well, that Oracle woman said 'Beware Shadow'" she explained.

"You don't think Shadow thinks he's gonna do something bad?" Sonic asked.

Elise herself didn't know but decided not to dwell on it. Right now, they had to get back to Soleanna, with another emerald and teammate in tow.