Sunnyside Island; a luxurious and inviting tropical paradise. Located in the Eastside Ocean many miles away from Emerald Coast, it was the perfect place to spend a sunny day at the beach.
A short time had passed since the last fight with the evil Doctor Eggman and the mad scientist was licking his wounds somewhere in the world, wherever his villainous lair was located. With the world safe and in harmony, speedy hero Sonic the Hedgehog was eager for a vacation and didn't waste a minute of this opportunity as he traveled to this island in the few days after Eggman's defeat.
He sat on the beach under a palm tree on a sunny afternoon, wearing a red swimsuit with white-linings and black shades. The speedy hedgehog's quills were delicately combed and he was well-relaxed as he soaked in the rays of the sun with Sonic's arms glistening with sunscreen lotion.
Without a worry in the world, he listened as the waves rolled in and the seagulls chirped. Sonic picked up a cup of coconut juice next to himself and sipped it, drinking from the straw.
'Oh yeah...' The speedster thought, "This is happenin'."
Usually, a tropical vacation for a hero was relaxing like everyone else's vacations, but you may never know when trouble was around the corner. Just when Sonic was feeling very relaxed, he heard a rustling sound and raised his sunglasses, wondering what was going on. The ground under him shuddered and he caught his drink before it fell over, Sonic drank the rest of his juice as fast as he could.
No sooner than he'd finished his drink, a large mound of sand rose up and a cloud of dust went up into the air as the beach erupted. A huge claw emerged, followed by another and a stinger. Sonic shot to his feet, watching as a giant crab thing arose.
"What the...?" The hedgehog said with surprise, "You've gotta be kidding me…"
'KRAAAHHHWWW!' The crab roared; its scorpion-like stinger swinging in all directions like a whip. The beast glared at the blue speedster, clicking its pinchers in a menacing fashion.
"You may not be a robot..." Sonic remarked, "But I can tell that you're still a dangerous enemy I'm gonna have to fight. The sooner I beat you, the sooner I can continue my vacation in peace."
The crab snarled again, ready for battle and eager to rip Sonic to pieces.
Without another sound, the bizarre beast charged towards its latest prey, more than eager to rip apart and feast on Sonic. Always prepared for battle, the muscular blue hedgehog launched into the air right as the crab monster swiped viciously with its claws. Sonic ducked to avoid being hit by the creature's stinger, wondering how poisonous and lethal the creature's sting was.
Examining his new enemy, the crab appeared to be some sort of hybrid between a lobster and a scorpion. But how, did any members of two species mingle with each other at some point...?
'Ugh, I don't even wanna know.' Sonic thought, he sidestepped a claw swipe, ducked under an incoming stinger jab and then rushed at the crab thing. Even while he was barefoot in a hot beach area, the hedgehog was still quick on his two feet and was very powerful.
He curled into a ball and flew towards his opponent in a Spin-Dash, avoiding the pincher claws on the way. Sonic smacked the fearsome foe between the eyes hard enough to make it roar in pain, the crab monster stumbled backwards, rearing in pain and blinking very hard. Gleaming with confidence, Sonic stuck his tongue out and flexed his hands in a mocking manner, taunting his staggering enemy.
"You're too slow, you're too slow..." The hedgehog sang, "You're too... WHOA!"
Sonic's taunt was cut short as the enemy recovered its footing and launched another offensive, going at the smug speedster with its attacks on full-throttle. Claws swung like pendulums, sharp, menacing teeth gnashed and the crab's sharp-ended tail flew at the hedgehog. Sonic dodged as fast as he could, looking for an opening so he could end the battle quickly, but this was going to be very hard.
Left, right, up and down, jump and duck.
Sonic leaped, ducked and sidestepped out of the enemy's line of attack as quickly as he could. The attacks got faster, Sonic braced himself, preparing to launch his next attack as soon as the speedster saw an opening. The crab got closer, its claws and stinger swinging and...
"GAH!" Sonic cried out, wincing in pain as the crab pinched him in the leg.
He stumbled over, trying hard not to let the pain get to him. The crab gnashed its teeth and moved closer, Sonic tried to dodge with every ounce of adrenaline hitting him, only for that thing to bite his knee. And as if it couldn't get worse, the stinger flashed and Sonic felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. The thing had stung him, he fell over, the crab snarling and making strange noises.
A very surprised Sonic shook his head in disbelief. 'No.' He thought, 'I can't let a hurt knee, a bit leg and a sting to the shoulder slow me down.'
Having battled Doctor Eggman and his robot legions multiple times, fought alien invaders and gone head-to-head with Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic had never given up then. So why give up to that stupid crab thing and let it get the better of him now, what would the point of those battles be?
The ugly red mug clicked its pinchers, growling in a bestial manner, and observed its new prey. With great effort, Sonic stood back up on his feet in a confident and steady battle-ready position.
Despite the pain sapping at his body, a strong surge of adrenaline coursed through him, faster than the crab's vicious attacks. A strong heroic aura encircled Sonic and he faced his opponent with more determination than ever; ready for one last battle, ready to finish this.
Sonic's strange red-colored foe observed him, wondering what his next move was.
He crouched in a heroic stance, ignoring his injuries, his quills rippled in the tropical breeze and the waves rolled in like a tumbleweed passing by. The suspense grew, tension increased, and Sonic took off running faster than the speed of light. He set his strategy in motion, running in complete circles around the beast. Sonic ran as fast as he could, his movements generating a dust storm.
'Ok, this plan better work, Sonic.' The hedgehog thought.
WOOSH-WOOSH-WOOSH! He raced faster, his metabolism counteracting with the pain from the beast's bite and stings. The sand swirled around the creature, blinding it. The beast flailed it's claws and swung its stinger, moving wildly as it searched for its fast-moving foe.
Faster, faster, faster! More sand rose up from the spot and the beast stumbled, the sand began burying the monster and the crab-scorpion cried out.
Sand got in its mouth and the great red beast coughed, the hedgehog's plan was working. Sonic moved faster, curling into a ball and spin-dashing rapidly around the enemy. The beast was blind now, it couldn't see. Now was the time, the time for the final attack. Sonic veered around and headed right for his blinded opponent, launching himself at the big ugly crab thing…
And with great effort, he cut off the stinger and sent it flying very far away until it landed somewhere in the vast ocean. Sonic moved in for one last attack, he bashed up the creature over the head and rammed its side, completely tipping his foe over.
With a growl of fury, the crab lay on its back and flailed it's claws in pain. Having just been beaten by a strange blue hedgehog, all the beast could do was lay there and snarl furiously in pain, unable to move as Sonic then took out it's legs to humiliate it further.
"Oh yeah, who's number one here at the beach now, ya big red freak?" Sonic taunted, "Looks like you just couldn't handle the speed, I'd love to chat with ya, but I got a vacation to return to."
Feeling no shame for the creature that had attacked him, Sonic curled into a Spin-Dash and rammed the crab monster so hard, he sent it flying into the air and out of sight.
Just like that, the ordeal was over and Sonic could rest again.
He dropped to the ground, panting and wiping sweat off his forehead. And with all of that adrenaline gone, Sonic's body became sapped with pain again, the hedgehog had not forgotten that he'd been stung and bitten. That really hurt, it was like he'd gotten scratched and stabbed.
Sonic took his time to rest, riding out the pain until it passed. He flexed his muscular shoulders and rotated his arm, even as it ached from the sting. At least he hadn't been poisoned.
"Yeah, I could definitely use a good healing right now." The speedster remarked and pulled out a bag from hammer-space, "Tails did give me that item just in case if something came up. Now where is that...?" He started looking around inside the bag for the item of his need, it took a minute, but Sonic managed to find the item he needed; A gold ring, those were extremely useful.
Without a doubt in mind, Sonic held up the ring and closed his eyes, wishing for his injuries to heal. The artifact glowed with Chaos energy, shrouding the hedgehog in a gleam of energy. He opened his eyes, feeling that the ring's power had worked, all of his injuries inflicted on him were gone.
A relieved Sonic smiled with delight and flexed his muscles, he got back on his feet and stretched. With that pain relieved, the intrepid speedster could enjoy the rest of his relaxing vacation.
'Ok, then.' An optimistic Sonic thought, 'What could I do first that's fun than just tanning?'
His mind thought of many ideas on what to do, then it struck him like a flash of lightning. Sonic decided to make a sand-castle, people loved to do that and he hadn't done that yet. He started brainstorming on what to create, he was fast and could make a sand-castle in seconds, so what could the heroic blue speeder possibly whip up in a short amount of time?
Multiple ideas generated in his energetic mind and Sonic thought over every last one of those ideas until one clicked. He grabbed a pail and bucket from hammer-space and started racing around the area at lightning speed, spraying a few layers of sand in various directions as he got to work.
"...And this goes here, that's where it's supposed to be, some of this there..." Sonic said aloud to himself, "Over to the left, we go to the right and that goes on top. Don't forget this and BINGO!"
In the span of a second, Sonic finished his sand castle and stopped running around to look at what may as well have been a masterpiece. The sand cloud cleared up and now the hedgehog's work of art could be seen; A really big sand-castle shaped like Sonic's head with the ears serving as towers. Plus, it didn't look too bad from an artistic point of view, the hedgehog's castle looked like fine art.
"Yeah, baby." Sonic said with satisfaction. 'Now what's next that's fun to do?'
He looked around, wondering what to do, while listening to the sounds of seagulls and the rolling waves. As he continued thinking, Sonic soon spotted an exotic scene just a few feet away; Two girls playing volleyball.
'Oh, now we're talkin'.' The hedgehog thought excitedly, volleyball was fun, very fun. Without a second thought, Sonic zipped on over and skidded to a stop near the volleyball area.
"Sup?" He asked casually.
One of the girls, who was tan with deep-red hair, turquoise eyes and wearing a one-piece, leaped in alarm and nearly dropped the volleyball. "Oh my goodness." The girl exclaimed, "You gave us a scare there, a-are you Sonic the Hedgehog?"
"Yep, the one and only." Sonic quipped with a thumbs up, "Sorry if I started you, Ms...?"
"Joline." Joline replied, "Joline Wevers. This is my friend Del'ina Estrali..." She gestured to the blonde-haired and grey-eyed shapely woman wearing a purple string bikini.
"Hey, Sonic." Del'ina said with an excited wave, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's you. You're all over the news, people have talked about you so much and now we're meeting you. Wow, this... this day looks our lucky day with Sonic the Hedgehog popping by while we're having a ball game."
"You nice girls don't mind if I join in?" The speedster offered, "I got nothin' better to do."
"Gladly, Mr. Sonic." Del'ina nodded, "Besides, you look like a fun guy."
The girls passed over the volleyball to the hedgehog and the three got into position, ready for the new three-way ball game. Sonic took Joline's position with the redhead taking a new position on the right and Del'ina taking her own position apart from her friend and the blue speedster. Sonic was smiling, these girls were so nice.
Once the three were all set, Sonic made the first throw, tossing the volleyball towards Del'ina. Joline leaped forward to catch the ball, but at the rate Sonic threw it, the ball flew past the redhead and narrowly passed by Del'ina. It flew two feet and then made its landing, rolling away towards a tree.
"DON'T WORRY, I GOT IT!" Sonic yelled.
He zipped across the vicinity, spraying some sand on the girls' feet, and grabbed the ball in the span of seconds before throwing it to the girls. With fast and swift reflexes, Del'ina caught it quickly while Joline attempted to take it before she did.
The blonde threw the ball and Sonic zipped back over, leaped through the air and caught it before Joline could catch it. He spun the ball on his finger like a basketball, then the hedgehog threw it to the girls. And this time, Del'ina intercepted and nearly knocked Joline over.
"Wow, great catch with perfect timing!" Sonic commented.
"Over to you, Sonic!" Del'ina threw the ball with Joline attempting to catch it, Sonic leaped high and caught the ball… with his legs. The girls were astonished, Sonic picked the ball back up and threw it up and down, catching it in the palm of his hand.
"Since when did you learn to do that?" Joline asked.
"Heh-heh, I just did..." Sonic replied in a snarky tone, "Looks like I learn quick."
"Watching you do that just gave me an idea, Sonic." Del'ina said, "Throw the ball to me quick."
The hedgehog threw the ball and, to his and Joline's surprise, Del'ina did a handstand and spread her legs. As the ball came closer towards the blonde, she closed her legs and caught the ball between her ankles.
'Dang!' Sonic thought, 'That was... I didn't know she could do that.'
"Not bad, Del, that was quite good." Joline complimented.
Del'ina got back on her feet and handed the ball over to her friend, "Thanks, I had a lot of practice on the school team, not to mention that I just learned from watching Sonic."
"Yo, I ain't the one who did a handstand and caught the ball with two legs." The hedgehog called out sarcastically, "That was you, Del. As for that last bit with the exception of the handstand, yeah, that was totally me. Not even I knew I could catch a ball with my legs, that was an accident. Sort of."
"Well, thanks for the game, Sonic." Joline shook the hedgehog's hand and hugged him, "You were amazing, we should hang out again later. I'd love to talk about your adventures with you."
"Gladly." Sonic quipped, "I guess you girls are done and are gonna do somethin' else?"
"Oh yeah." Del'ina nodded as she put away the volleyball, "We were just about to go take a swim, then we were gonna hit the hot tub. See you later, Mr. Sonic."
Joline and Del'ina then headed off towards the ocean, giggling happily to themselves. Sonic grinned and headed off back to his spot under the tree, thinking about taking a nap. But just then, he remembered the handstand that Del'ina had done earlier and an idea clicked into his brain. Sonic wasn't finished having fun yet, there was so much to do here.
And without even blinking, the hedgehog curled forward and did a cartwheel. He flexed his muscles and grinned, having enjoyed that. Several seagulls chirped overhead as they flew by while the waves rolled in and people chattered in the distance, enjoying this serene paradise.
Sonic then did another cartwheel, following up with a somersault right past the sandcastle. He ran up the palm tree and did a backflip off it, landing on the ground perfectly before executing a front flip and pulling off a trio of more cartwheels before then doing a handstand.
'Du-du-dun.' Sonic thought with a smile. A pair of sunbathing bikini-clad women close by oohed at the hedgehog, one girl wearing sunglasses snapped a picture with her camera, it was clear to Sonic that he was unintentionally entertaining some of the beach-goers. The speedster just grinned casually.
Sonic then walked around his sand-castle and did another cartwheel, then he had one heck of an idea. Sonic reached into hammer space and pulled out a big hoop resembling a golden ring.
And then, to make sure the hoop was in place, the speedster pulled out a support cone and set it up. Sonic turned around and launched himself into the air, doing a backflip through the hoop. He beamed happily and walked back around towards the sand castle, then another idea sprang into mind; one more acrobatic trick.
The speedy blue hero stretched his legs and flexed his shoulders while doing a little cartwheel, warming himself up to ensure that he didn't pull any muscles that would hinder his flexible efforts.
Once he was ready, Sonic stood straight, bent down and did a firm handstand. The hedgehog moved a hand forward, followed by the next, until he was moving towards the hoop. Sonic moved slowly in a nearly dramatic way, looking up to see where he was going. He came closer towards the hoop and, very slowly, the heroic blue hedgehog bent his legs.
Sonic got ready, he stayed on his hands until his feet passed through the hoop. Knowing this was the moment, Sonic bent his legs through the hoop and then propelled himself to the other side, landing back on his feet in one dramatic and epic finishing pose.
'Ah yeah.' Sonic grinned as he flexed his muscles and dusted himself off, 'Now that was fun.'
He put away the hoop and sat down on the beach, laying down under the sun and slipping his shades back up, satisfied with his fun beach day and how his vacation had turned out so far. Sonic grinned happily, knowing that his sense of fun would never go away no matter what happened in life...
The End