"Here we are, Resort Island."
"Its so pretty here!"
"It sure is, my love."
Sonic and Lara took in the scenery around themselves, it had been two months since the events involving the Ratakyan Statue and the two adventurers had been dating and often adventuring for quite a while now.
With so much happening and with a need to relax, they'd just arrived on Resort Island somewhere in the Atlantic for a vacation, luggage in hand. The two lovers couldn't wait to have all the time in the world to themselves.
Tails and Sarah were with them, given that they were the ones who flew Sonic and Lara here as their plane sat parked on the airport runway. A few airport workers were working hard to refuel the plane, surprised by its design.
While the two foxes went off to do some exploring and have some alone time, Sonic and his girlfriend headed for the hotel to check in. Of course, the nearest hotel that got their attention was none other than The Hundred Acre Hotel.
"Silly old bear never changed the name." The blue blur chuckled, seeing the hotel's name on the sign, which made him remember an old friend. In fact, Sonic had been here before a few years ago and had never forgotten it since.
"The Hundred Acre Hotel?" Lara remarked with a laugh, "Who decides to name it that, sounds like its run by somebody from a place called The Hundred Acre Woods, that sounds very interestin'."
Deciding on the hotel, the blue blur and the archeologist headed on over, passing by several other people who'd come here, including an eagle man who was just talking with a woman in a cat suit.
Breathing in the fresh air, Sonic and Lara walked through the front door and approached the front desk where the hotel's receptionist, a yellow bear wearing a red shirt the hedgehog knew so well, was waiting for them.
"Welcome to the Hundred Acre Hotel," he said in a voice that sounded warm and fuzzy, "How may we help you today?" Then he saw Sonic and he chuckled happily, "Oh my, Sonic the Hedgehog, long time no see, old friend."
"Hi Pooh!" Sonic said, "We're here to stay for a while and would like a room, something sweet and comfy."
Pooh noticed Lara and he giggled happily, "I see you brought along Lara Croft, the two of you fit together perfectly with your interest in fun and adventure. Ho ho ho! Would you like to have our hunnymoon sweet?"
"POOH!" The fastest thing alive yelled, his cheeks turning red and his girlfriend bursting into a fit of laughter, which attracted the attention of a man reading the newspaper who just rolled his eyes.
"I'm just kidding, blue boy!" Pooh explained, "I know you two don't have any, ah, gold rings on your fingers... yet. But when the big day happens, just let me know and I will happily attend. Ho ho ho, young love!"
"Can we have a room please?" Lara asked.
"Of course you can. Room 6-23, follow me please."
As he and Lara followed Pooh, something clicked in Sonic's mind. He remembered his last visit to the hotel, when he saw the Chao garden and the Chao living there, did the hotel still have that?
Then Sonic thought of when they were in Sha Guvara and when he thought of taking Lara to a Chao Garden. Thinking about it all, the hedgehog finally made his decision. He got next to Pooh and tapped him on the shoulder.
"What is it, Sonic?" The bear asked.
Sonic whispered in his ear as low as possible so he wouldn't give away his surprise for Lara, asking him about the garden. Pooh's eyes widened and he nodded before mouthing why do you ask...?
The blue blur silently told him that he wanted to take Lara to a Chao Garden and show her Chao, hoping she would be interested in the creatures and how fun it would be to raise and hang out with Chao together.
"Ah interesting." Pooh remarked. The yellow bear lead Lara and Sonic to a door with the numbers 6-23 on it and opened the door.
"Your room, dear Hedgecrofts." The bear said happily. The two vacationing adventurers were surprised to hear Pooh say "Hedgecroft" at first, but they just rolled with it and headed on inside the hotel room.
What awaited them was perfection: The walls were painted blue with bits of red, green and white in some areas. A picture of Sonic hanged on the wall over a large bed and a wide television set sat on the wall over a table nearby.
The blue blur and the archeologist took it all in, satisfied with their hotel room, smelling the sweet scent of sunflowers and green weeds along with the fresh island air that came from outside.
"What a lovely room." Lara happily commented, setting down the luggage before sitting down on the smooth and comfortable bed close by, "I think this will be the best hotel experience of all time, hel, I think it already is."
"You're welcome, Lara." Pooh chuckled, he looked at Sonic and said, "When you're ready to show her what you want to show her, just let me know. I will gladly lead you both to the lovely garden that people love to see."
Sonic shushed Pooh and mouthed, Don't spoil the surprise.
"Garden?" Lara inquired, "What garden? Is there something you want to show me, why a garden of all places?" The hedgehog turned to her and said, "Its something I've been thinking about showing you for a while."
"Why do you want to keep it a surprise, Sonic? Its not my birthday, not for another couple of months, so what's this about a garden you want to show me, there's no need to be so secretive with your girlfriend."
The hedgehog sighed, "Ok, if you wanna see the garden in a while, I'll show ya. But if you don't mind, since I want it to be a bit of a surprise for ya, we're gonna have to blindfold you. Is that ok, Lara?"
Lara laughed, "Come on, Sonic!" Admitting defeat, Sonic grabbed a sock, put it on over her eyes despite her protests and lead her out of the room, finding Pooh waiting for them just outside the door.
"I guess she wants to see it now then." The bear commented, "Alright, follow me." Sonic kept the sock tight around Lara's eyes as he lead her down the hallway, she was irritated at first, but she smiled and rolled with it.
Pooh lead them through the receptionist area to an elevator and Sonic led her in, knowing this lead to the garden on the upper floor. Sonic pressed the button that had an egg symbol on it and up they went.
DING! The doors opened and Sonic lead her out into a lush green, garden area with palm trees, rocks, a waterfall and a pond along with a fake blue sky. Well, because of the ceiling, the sky looked fake but it was real enough.
Because of the sock, Lara could hardly see what was around her, but she could only hear Sonic's voice saying "here we are" along with the rushing waterfall and a very familiar noise she had not heard in a long, long time.
Sonic walked off, found the thing he was looking for and returned to Lara, just as she walked 3 meters from the elevator, before having her hold out her hands before putting something smooth into it.
"Ok, time for you to look!" The hedgehog pulled the sock off her eyes and Lara's eyes widened. Sitting in her hands was a cute creature with a round body, legless feet, fingerless hands, a large water drop like head and blue eyes.
"Guess what the creature is?" Sonic said in a sing song voice, he was about to tell Lara but, to his complete surprise, Lara let out a fan girl squeal and exclaimed, "It's a Chao, YOU BROUGHT ME TO A CHAO GARDEN!"
She looked at the whole garden with utter amazement, seeing more Chao nearby, chatting away in their respective languages, playing or napping while eggs lay nearby, Chao Eggs that had yet to hatch!
"Yup!" Sonic lead his excited girlfriend to a palm tree where a group of Chao lay napping, "My surprise for you is a Chao Garden and, judging by your reaction, you've probably heard of Chao but never experienced this."
"I have!" Lara exclaimed as they sat down under the tree, "I learned about Chao when I was a little girl, my pop told me he once visited a garden full of these things. they're so cute, oh thank you Sonic, thank you so much!"
The Chao in Lara's hands cooed sweetly before flying around her and flew off to play with a group of Chao, the cuteness was almost enough for her to tear up and cry with tears of happiness.
"As you probably know," Sonic began to explain, "Chao have been around for a very long time, ever since the beginning of the universe, its theorized that they were among the first beings to come into existence.
"There are different kinds of Chao, there's normal Chao and then there's Light Chao and then Dark Chao. They way they act depends on who cares for them, their food diet can range from coconuts to anything else they like.
"As for their culture, they do have a deity named Chaos, I met that thing and he is somebody you don't wanna anger if something happens to the Chao. Last time the Chao got hurt, Chaos went ballistic and..."
"I believe I bloody know about the history of Chao and what happened with Chaos, Sonic!" Lara interrupted politely, raising her right hand while lovingly scratching a Chao's head with her left, "Thanks anyway."
"Wow," The hedgehog remarked, "I almost thought you never heard of Chao, but I'm interested in your fascination with Chao. Does being here bring back any memories from when you were a little girl?"
A tear fell down Lara's cheek and Sonic saw the sadness, understanding that she had not. As he listened, she explained that she had once owned a Chao when she was a little girl.
Lara's pop had brought home a Chao from an adventure in the mountains, the Chao took a liking to her and they'd spent every day together. Lara (who named the creature Chara was happy to have something like this, but then...
One day, Chara suddenly woke from a nap with a puzzled look on its face. Looked out the window and flew off into the sky as Lara watched, when Chara never returned, Lara was heartbroken over losing her pet.
"I think you're old Chao may have heard the calling of other Chao." Sonic commented when his girlfriend had finished her story, many Chao in the garden had gathered around, having overheard Sonic and Lara's talk.
"I don't know." Lara said solemnly, "But as far as I was concerned then, I would never see Chara again and probably won't. She might be long gone, I don't know where she is n… Wait, is that...?"
A Chao had stepped forward, this one different from the other Chao, it wasn't blue or green or dark or white, but it was half brown, half dark-green and had a peach tan color on its stomach and mouth area.
Lara took a good long look at the creature looking at her, then she let out a cry of happiness and hugged this Chao. "IT IS!" She exclaimed, "ITS YOU, ITS CHARA! SHE WAS HERE THE WHOLE TIME!"
Sonic watched the happy reunion, wiping a small tear off his face and patting his girlfriend on the back. "Looks like she must've heard the calling of many Chao from here all the way to your place." He said.
"Yep." Lara nodded, hugging Chara softly, "If only I'd known back then, I would've followed her instead of just mourning the loss and moving on. I should've gone looking for Chao Gardens years ago, but oh well."
"Ah don't fret, at least we're here, visiting a Chao Garden now. You've had this chance since you were little and, given that you have a big life ahead, this means you got plenty of time to do the things want to do."
"You're right, handsome hedgehog hero." The archeologist said with a nod, hugging her Chao close, "Plenty of time to do lots of things here and out there in the world beyond the land of Chao. And, of course, speaking of Chao..."
She set down Chara and gestured for the other Chao to back up just a bit, Chara backing a few feet from Lara. Sonic got curious and asked Lara why she was reaching into her pocket to draw a gun, completely surprised.
"I wanna test a li'l theory regardin' a Chao's immortality." Lara explained, "I'm just curious. I hear they can get hurt but can recover without suffering anything extremely fatal like all other beings do."
"Be my guest then." The blue blur said sheepishly, "If ya wanna shoot a Chao with a gun, go on a head. Not gonna stop ya, we all know what'll happen if ya hurt a Chao. People just love to test the waters."
Ignoring Sonic's warning, Lara aimed at Chara and pulled the trigger. BLAM! The gun fired and Chara fell over as the bullet went through her body, she lay sprawled on the ground, mouth open and eyes closed.
The other Chao in the garden watched with shock and confusion, completely caught off guard by what Lara had done. At first, nothing happened...
But just then, Chara's body began to glow and, in a bright flash, she was back on her feet and looking at Lara with a happy look on her face just as the British tomboy put away her pistol and smiled back.
"Well, since you missed Chara so much," Sonic quipped, "Why don't we keep her as a pet, eh? You raised her for a while and, now that ya found her again, I don't see a need for you two to be separated."
"That would be nice," Lara said thoughtfully as she stroked Chara's chin and fed her a coconut, "I've missed her greatly, it would be nice to let her be with us every day. I wonder what its like raising Chao outside a Chao Garden?"
"I do know some friends who've adopted Chao." The hedgehog replied, "Its actually sweet, keeping them as pets. As for if Chao would get along well with a cat or dog, it depends, but Chao have coexisted with other animals for years."
Just then, something watery sloshed and trickled close by, the two adventurers and all the Chao turning to take notice to a large green eyed being made of water materializing from the ground.
"Oh," Sonic said sheepishly, waving to the watery creature, "Hi Chaos. Sorry about that, Lara was experimenting and she wasn't really trying to be mean to the Chao, she really likes Chao and has one as a pet."
"That's the Chao deity Chaos?" Lara inquired inquisitively, "I thought he was trapped in some rock on some floating island. What's he doing out of his gemstone prison? Its kinda weird when ya think of it!"
Chaos waved to the smiling blue hedgehog in the red shirt and blue shorts before making a strange growling noise and pointed a finger at Lara, shaking its head and wiggling the index finger from left to right.
"Looks like he's not thrilled with you for shooting Chara." Sonic tried to translate what Chaos was trying to tell his girlfriend, he rolled his eyes, "If only we had the Miles Electric translator, I could understand what Chaos is saying."
"I can translate Chaos' language..." A ghostly voice said. A small red orb of light flew in, hovering over Sonic and Lara's heads for a minute, then it started hovering just three feet from where they sat.
Every Chao in the garden stopped what they were doing and started to kneel as the red orb changed and an orange female echidna wearing a gold crown, white tank top and skirt stood before them.
"Hey, its Tikal!" Sonic said with a grin, winking at Tikal, "Long time no see, how's it goin'? Nice of ya to come by and visit, how the heck did you and Chaos get out of the Master Emerald without it shattering at all?"
"I can leave the Master Emerald at any time without it having to shatter," Tikal explained, "My spirit doesn't have to be anchored to the realm within the emerald, as a ghost, I can move anywhere.
"But just as I have my freedom to either stay in the Master Emerald or go wherever I want, so does Chaos. He can sense when a Chao is hurt, but due to my presence, he cannot bring harm to the Chao's enemy.
"This is because he's calmed down thanks to Sonic's good heart, just don't bother trying to piss him off, ok. Nobody likes it when Chaos gets angry, I don't and I hate seeing Chao get hurt, the sight of it still haunts me."
"Blimey!" Lara exclaimed, "I'm so sorry if me shootin' Chara brought back bad memories of seein' your clan hurtin' Chao and angering your mayt Chaos. At least yer keepin' his temper in check so he won't hurt anybody again."
"Despite being blinded by his own rage, Chaos was only trying to protect the Chao from any harm and, due to not thinking straight thanks to anger, thought the people of the world were hurting the Chao too." Tikal explained.
Chaos nodded and started making some sort of strange, sloshing noise. According to Tikal, the sloshing was actually him trying to laugh. Either way, the watery being's lack of an actual voice was creepy to think about!
"Thanks for the advice!" Lara told Tikal, "I'll keep in mind that Chaos can't talk the next time we meet, if we were to meet again. You have a good day, Tikal. Keep lookin' after Mr. Watery here and make sure he's happy."
"I will," The orange echidna nodded, starting to fade as if she were about to vanish into non-existence, "Farewell, Sonic and Lara. May we meet again..."
Tikal faded away, Chaos disappearing too. The Chao in the garden went back to their activities and both Sonic and Lara looked at each other with a smile, holding hands and sharing a kiss as Chara the Chao cooed happily.
But just then, a groaning sound emitted from close by and Sonic spotted a Chao with its eyes closed, rolling around on the ground and flailing its arms before getting up and running about with its eyes still closed.
"Is that Chao having some kind of dream?" Lara asked, she had noticed and was curious about the sleeping Chao's behavior, letting out a gasp when the Chao punched a rock in two before leaping up and down.
"Yep!" Sonic chuckled, "Its dreamin', about being an awesome hero. I've seen this a few times, heck, a Chao tried to pull my nose off while it was dreaming about drinking Chao Soda."
"Well, this has been interestin'." Lara got to her feet, holding Chara in her arm, "It was fun hangin' out in the garden so why don't we head back to the hotel room now? We can't be here all day long, don't want cuteness overload."
"I'm happy to bring you to a Chao Garden, Lara." Sonic said happily. Waving good bye to the Chao in the garden, the two went back inside the elevator and headed back down to the main floor and back to their hotel room.