Pre-chapter Conversation
"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!" Alice screamed as she ran up to me and Izzy.
"What's she doing here?" The purple hedgehog asked with a seriously freaked out look.
"Well, she's a fellow fan character, so I thought we could use some company." I answered with a shrug.
"Let's start the next chapter!" Alice shouted, glomping Izzy.
"Help…" The male hedgehog breathed, struggling out of her grip.
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The Adventures of Izzy the Hedgehog
Chapter Seven
Save the Beach!
Later that night…
Izzy was snoring in a room on the second floor of the Surf Hut. Alice and Boomer had decided to let him stick around for awhile. There wasn't much to say about the guest room. Just a plain bed, chair, and desk took up some of the space. Seashells and pictures of waves decorated the walls. behind the bed was a window, which let in the moonlight. Standing in the doorway was Alice. She seemed to be looking at him, looking at the moonlight enhancing his features. She then shook her head.
'Come on, Alice. You need to do this. Focus!' She thought with a blush as she walked over to Izzy and shook him.
"Hey. Wake up." Izzy mumbled something as Alice kept rocking him. The male grumbled a bit more before his eyes opened and he sat up.
"Morning already?" He asked groggily. He rubbed his left eye sleepily. Alice giggled.
"No. It's still dark." She said before she put on a stern face. "I need your help."
"What's the matter?" Izzy asked.
"Remember when Boomer said that there haven't been any sharks before recently?"
"Yeah." Izzy nodded.
"Well, I think this all has to do with Mr. Peterson. He could be using the sharks to drive away business so that we'd have to close up."
"So you want to investigate?"
"You got it!" She said with a thumbs up and a grin. "If he IS behind the shark attacks, I'll beat him so badly, his own mother won't recognize him!"
"Hmmmm…" Izzy put a hand to his chin. "If he was behind the attacks, he'll likely have his place heavily guarded to protect his secret."
"Not a problem." Alice said, waving a dismissive hand. "Follow me." She started to walk out of the room. When Izzy got up and started following, she turned and stopped.
"Hey, aren't you gonna put on your shirt?" Izzy was just wearing his vest.
"Naw. That shirt was just a uniform. I might as well trash it now." He replied. Alice shrugged and continued on. Izzy followed her up the stairs and to the third floor.
Only one door resided at the end of a small hall. The two walked up to the door and Alice opened it. A bright light shone from the door. Izzy covered his eyes. When the light dissipated, he gasped at the sight.
Every type of gun imaginable was stored here! Rocket launchers, bazookas, machine guns, sub-machine guns, you name it! Izzy drooled at the sight.
"Now what to take?" Alice asked herself as she skipped merrily towards all the guns with a red purse in her hands.
She stuffed some handheld pistols, a machine gun or two, and surprisingly, a few rocket launchers and bazookas! She just somehow put it all into her purse and strapped it on. Izzy gaped at what she just did. The purse didn't even look like it contained all those weapons, let alone anything. Alice dragged him out of the room and closed the door.
"Where'd you get all those toys!.?" Izzy asked with a wide grin. Alice grinned as well.
"Oh those? That's just my personal collection. And keep it down! I don't want to wake up Boomer."
"He doesn't know you're going out?" Izzy whispered.
"He wouldn't let me go if I told him!" Alice hissed.
Izzy then noticed what she was wearing. A blue dress with tropical patterns adorned her body and she was wearing a pair of black sneakers. She still wore the green headband she had earlier. Two gold bracelets were on her wrists.
"Hey, stop gawking! We gotta go." Alice whispered. Izzy shook his head and followed her out of the Surf Hut and through the dark beach.
After walking for a bit, Alice stopped at a huge rock.
"This is the place. Keep it quiet." She told Izzy, who merely nodded. They both looked on the other side and gasped.
On a pier stood a man who was dressed like an animal trainer. Behind him was a huge aquarium. The man grabbed a whistle and blew on it. Within seconds, five sharks jumped out of the water and into the tank, one by one. Izzy gasped while Alice was positively livid.
"Oh hell naw! Just wait til I get my hands on—MMPH!.!.!" Alice was cut short as Izzy covered her mouth and pulled her back. The animal trainer looked up and shrugged.
"Are you nuts? You'll get us caught!" Izzy hissed as he let go of her.
"Did you SEE that!.? I'm gonna pump that fat bulbous pig full of lead when I find him!"
"Alice! CALM DOWN!.!.!"
°BOOM!°
A small explosion occurred in front of them, spraying sand all over. Alice and Izzy looked and noticed a small group of swat bots standing a few feet away. They easily towered over the two furries. They gulped as a raccoon in a black suit walked in between the robots.
"You trespassers are to come with me." The raccoon said.
"I think not." Alice refused. The raccoon smirked.
"Then you leave me no choice. Attack!"
The swat bots readied the lasers that were mounted on their left arms and started charging energy.
"There's no way I'm gonna back down!" Alice yelled as she took out a machine gun from her purse. She was about to fire when a green glow shone out of the corner of her eye. She turned at looked at Izzy. The Dragon Emerald was glowing brightly.
"The emerald!" Izzy said with shock. He then looked at the robots, which were getting ready to fire.
"Chaos Control!"
Time froze and he ran towards the group of eight. He jumped and delivered a kick to the one on the far left. He then used his Homing Attack on the other robots. As soon as he destroyed the fourth one, time unfroze. The four robots, which seemed to be unscratched, blew up. Izzy was still in the air when one of the remaining robots punched him, sending him to the sand.
"Are you alright?" Alice yelled. Izzy picked himself up.
"Ugh… Yeah!" He replied. He then looked at the Dragon Emerald.
'I guess I can use SOME power, but it's much weaker because it hasn't been twenty-four hours yet.' He thought.
"Eat lead!" Alice roared as she let loose a barrage of bullets that destroyed the last four robots instantly. She turned to the raccoon with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"You're next."
"MOMMY!.!.! AHHHH!.!.!.!" The raccoon screamed as he ran away.
"That was odd…" Izzy said as he walked up to Alice, who blew on her gun.
"Yeah... Works every time. Now come on! We gotta hurry before more guards come!"
"Right!" Izzy said as he followed Alice past the pier and towards a huge building. It was white and looked sorta like a condo.
The two snuck around to the back where two guards were standing by the service entrance.
"Now what? They'll see us for sure!" Alice hissed to Izzy.
"No prob." He said as the emerald glowed again.
Using Chaos Control, he knocked out the guards. He then grabbed Alice's hand.
"Let's go!"
And he zoomed inside. The halls of the building had bright blue walls decorated with different pictures and lamps. The floor was tiled. Strangely, no guards were present. Izzy and Alice went up a few floors. When they reached a fork on the fifth floor, Izzy skidded to a stop. He was panting as Alice was looking dazed.
"That…was…fast…" She said dizzily. She then shook it off and gave Izzy a confused look. "You can run like that!.? I thought only Sonic could!"
"Wait, you didn't notice me running like that at the beach?" The male gave her a curious look.
"Well, I WAS being chased by a freakin' shark, ya know!"
"And what about when I was telling my story?"
"You didn't say anything about running at the speed of sound!" Alice retorted.
"Ugh… Whatever. Let's go."
Just then, a glowing light was coming from Izzy's vest. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the green Chaos Emerald. It was glowing brightly. He held it towards the right. The emerald's glowing lessened. He then held it to the left. The emerald glowed brighter.
"Is it broken?" Alice asked. Izzy shot her a funny look.
"No… The emerald must be reacting to another one. Would you mind if we took a little detour?" He grabbed her hand.
"Well no, but—AHHHHHHH!.!.!.!.!.!" Alice screamed as Izzy zoomed down the left hall. They went on for a few minutes before he stopped. The Chaos Emerald was glowing immensely now.
"We must be close." Izzy said as he pocketed the emerald.
"Don't you ever surprise me like that again!" Alice screamed. Izzy shushed her.
"There may be guards nearby. Keep it down! And by the way, sorry." He smiled. Alice blushed.
They then tip toed down the hallway. They reached another fork and looked to their left. A pair of guards was fast asleep in front of a vault.
"This'll be tough. How will we—"
"HEY! Wake up!" Alice yelled. Izzy's eyes widened as the two guards woke up from their slumber.
"A-A-Alice?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you do that?"
"Well, we needed them to wake up." The female replied with a grin.
The guards started advancing with their guns ready.
"And now they'll kill us." The male said.
"Not if I can help it!" Alice yelled as she whipped out a machine gun and jumped in front of the guards.
°Ratta tat tat!.!.!.!.!°
The guards collapsed on the floor.
"ALICE!.!.!" He yelled with a shocked look.
"What!.?" She asked with an innocent grin.
"You just KILLED two people!"
"No I didn't!" She argued. "I just shot some blanks at them. They'll be knocked out for a little while."
Izzy sweatdropped and inspected the guards. They were indeed unconscious.
"Whew..." He sighed.
"What?.! Did you honestly think that I would carry REAL bullets with me!.?"
"Well the thought DID cross my mind." Izzy said before removing a red key card from one of the fallen guards. "Come on. This should open the vault."
He walked up to the vault and slid the key through a slot. With a ding, the metal door opened. The two teens gasped in amazement at what awaited them. A crimson glow filled the entire room.
"The red emerald." Izzy murmured.
"It's beautiful." Alice said.
"Two down, five to go." Izzy said as he grabbed the emerald.
As soon as he pocketed it, alarms started blaring.
"Oh great! NOW the alarms go off!" Alice yelled over the noise.
"We better get out of here!"
"No way! We still need to find Peterson!" Alice replied. Izzy growled, but gave up trying to compromise.
"Alright! Let's go then!" He grabbed onto Alice, but before he can start running, guard robos flooded the hall. "Aw man..."
"Leave it to me!" Alice said as she dug into her purse. "Now where is it?" Izzy fell over as the robots started to advance slowly.
"Uhhh... Alice... A little faster would be nice..." He said nervously.
The guard robos were getting closer.
"Hang on. I almost—there we go!" Alice pulled out a huge bazooka from her "tiny" purse. "Say hello to mah little friend!"
She pressed the trigger and her bazooka fired a missile at the closest robot.
°BOOM!°
"Alright!" Izzy cheered. Alice unloaded a few more missiles before she ran out.
"Out of ammo." She pouted as she put the bazooka away.
'Man! What a woman!' Izzy said in his mind before he shook his head.
"That's alright! You cleared a nice path for us. Let's go!"
He grabbed her hand and zoomed down the hall, dodging the robots' lasers. After about ten minutes of weaving around on the entire fifth floor, the two hedgehogs were able to find an elevator.
"Whew… That was close." Alice said after she got over her dizziness.
"Yeah..." Izzy panted. "I think some of my quills got singed."
"At least now we can get to the top floor." Alice offered as she pressed a button. The elevator started going up. It had a glass wall in the back so the two were able to look at a good deal of the beach from there.
"Wow… The ocean sure looks serene at night." Izzy said. The water reflected the moon's light perfectly.
"Now you see why I don't want them to build that resort." Alice said, looking out the window as well. "I love the beach. Although I wouldn't mind leaving this place, I wouldn't want it to be destroyed. I was born here." Izzy nodded.
"I understand."
°Ding!°
The elevator door opened and the two found themselves in front of a huge set of double doors. This floor looked much more luxurious than the fifth floor. The floor was marble. The doors were polished. The walls were painted green. The area was lighted with fluorescent lamps. There were no windows in the room. A secretary's desk was nearby, but no one was occupying it. Their ears perked up at the sound of voices coming from the door. Izzy & Alice walked cautiously to the door and listened in.
"So, is the plan working?" The two heard Mr. Peterson ask.
"Yes sir." Another male voice said. "Thanks to our sharks, those beach rats have been scared off."
"Excellent. All that's left to do now is wait for that trash heap of a restaurant to go out of business and we can begin developing." Mr. Peterson let out a short chuckle. "By the way, what about the two—ugh...—hedgehogs that got in here?"
"My men are dealing with it as we speak."
°SLAM!°
Mr. Peterson and the man he was talking to turned their heads towards the doors, which were just kicked open by a very irate Alice.
"You and me need to have a serious talk, Peterson!" She yelled as she walked in, followed by Izzy. She had a pistol in her hand.
"Your men are dealing with it, huh?" Peterson asked the other man with a glare. The man shrugged and whipped out a walkie talkie.
"Nice place you got here." Izzy said as he walked around the room, looking at the decor.
A bookshelf with a big screen TV in the middle stood against the right wall. Across from it was a huge window that took up the entire wall. At the end of the room was Peterson's desk. It had a polished wood finish that was decorated with paperwork and a reading lamp. Leather furniture was found all over the room. A couch here or there. A couple of chairs in front of the desk and one behind it.
"Why Alice, what can I do for you?"
"Oh NOW you call me by my name! What happened to you cringing every time you saw me!.?" She yelled. Peterson was sweating now.
"W-well…"
"Save it! I know about the sharks and your little scheme! Now call it off!"
Just then, a swarm of guard robos entered and surrounded Alice & Izzy.
"Hoo ho ho ho!.!.!" Mr. Peterson laughed, sounding more like Dr. Robotnik (I don't know how to type up his Sonic X laugh, but that was what I was going for). He sat at the desk.
"So you found out my little plan, eh? Too bad you'll never live long enough to tell the authorities."
"You'll never get away with this!" Alice yelled.
"That's where you're wrong, my dear."
With that, Peterson snapped his fingers. The robots started charging their lasers.
"Chaos Shield!" Izzy suddenly yelled.
The green emerald on his DE (That's what I'm gonna call the Dragon Emerald from now on) glowed and a green barrier surrounded him and Alice, blocking the robots' lasers. Unfortunately, the shield broke instantly.
'Damn! Still too low.' He thought. Peterson growled.
"Don't just stand there! Shoot those hedgehogs!"
The guard robos charged energy again. Izzy grabbed Alice's hand.
"Chaos Control!"
Time froze and he jumped over the robots. He ran up to the desk and time unfroze.
"What? How did you—" Peterson started, surprised that the two teens were now on either side of him. The robots turned towards them and got ready to fire. "Hold your fire!"
"That's right." Izzy said, leaning on Peterson. He glanced at Alice, who held her gun to the human's head.
"Wh-wh-what do y-y-you want?" Peterson asked nervously.
"Simple, fat boy." Alice said. "I want you to get those sharks and keep them out of the Emerald Coast!"
"D-done!"
"Also, I want you give up trying to get my restaurant to close down and do your developing elsewhere!"
"What!.?" Alice pressed the gun hard against Mr. Peterson. "Alright, alright! I give!"
"That's a good boy." Alice said sweetly. "While we're at it, do you want anything, Izzy?"
"No, thanks. I'm cool with what I got right here." Izzy replied slyly as he took out the red Chaos Emerald.
"MY EMERALD!.!.!" Peterson yelled with wide eyes. Alice jabbed him with the gun. "Ow!.!.! Ok!" He cried animé tears. "He can have it…"
"That's better." Alice said. "Well, we'll be going now." She and Izzy moved away from the desk. "Oh, before I forget, if you don't do what I told you to, we'll be back."
Izzy held up the red emerald with his left hand and grabbed held on to Alice's left hand with his right.
"Chaos Control!"
They both disappeared in a red flash.
Two days later…
Four furries; a kangaroo, an aardvark, a squirrel, and a frog, were surfing on a wave. They were each moving skillfully on the huge wave. After a few minutes, everybody except for the aardvark fell into the wave. He made it to shore. The crowd that was situated on the beach cheered.
"Give it up for Otto, the winner of the surf contest!" An announcer said.
Kids were seen happily swimming in the water. A bunch of people were playing Beach Volleyball. Others were simply getting a tan. Nearby, in one of the Emerald Coast's many fishing holes, we see the loveable Big the Cat and his pal Froggy catching up on some much needed fishing. It seems like everybody finally returned to the coast.
At the Surf Hut, business was booming! Customers filled in the tables left and right. A purple streak zoomed all over the place, placing food down, picking up dirty dishes, and getting tips.
"Order up!" Boomer yelled over the noise.
Izzy ran to the counter, grabbed the order, and ran to a table.
"Wow! It's only been two days and already we have enough to pay the bank!" Alice yelled cheerfully.
"See? I was right when I said we would bounce back!" Boomer replied as Izzy returned to the counter.
"Yeah! And it was all thanks to you!" Alice hugged Izzy tightly.
"Ack! No problem!" The purple hedgehog croaked.
Later…
"Tomorrow, I'm gonna leave and try to get the other five emeralds." Izzy said.
It was now sunset and he & Alice were standing on the balcony.
"So soon? Can't you stay a little longer?" Alice asked. Izzy shook his head.
"I'd love to, but if I don't hurry, Dr. Robotnik or Sonic could get them and I really don't want to fight any of them."
"Well in that case, I'll go with you!"
"What! You can't come with me! It's dangerous!" Izzy protested.
"Dangerous? And you don't call what we did two nights ago 'dangerous?'"
"Uhh well..." Izzy faltered. He then sighed.
"Fine. You can come." Alice's eyes lit up. "But what about the Surf Hut?"
"Oh that's no problem! Boomer can just hire some extra help while I'm gone!" Alice replied with a grin.
"I trust you'll take some weapons with you?"
"Of course. I wouldn't dare leave home without my babies." She said with a babyish voice. Izzy sweatdropped.
"Well, I guess all that's left to do now is wait til tomorrow."
They were both silent as they watched the sunset. Alice leaned against Izzy, who didn't seem to take notice. Behind them, Boomer stood, watching the scene with a smile.
The next day…
"Are you sure you have everything?" Boomer asked.
"For the hundredth time, yes!" Alice replied. She and Izzy were getting ready to leave. "Will you remember to lock everything up at closing time?"
"For the hundredth time, yes!" Boomer replied, mocking the hedgehog. They both laughed for a sec. "Hey Izzy!"
"Yeah?" Izzy asked.
"Good luck and take good care of her. I'm counting on you."
"Boomer!" Alice yelled, punching his shoulder. "I'm not a little kid!" The two males cracked up and started laughing. The female put on an exasperated look.
"I'm surrounded."
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"Come on! Don't be like this!" Izzy said.
He and Alice were walking down the beach. The female had her arms crossed and was looking the other way.
"Please?"
"I'm not speaking to you." Alice said.
"Don't tell me you're gonna be like this the WHOLE time!"
"Hmph!"
Izzy tried to get Alice to look at him, but she just wouldn't cooperate! He threw his arms up in exasperation.
"Fine! Let's just go!"
He stayed silent as the two continued walking. He was in a thinking pose, trying to figure out how to get Alice to talk to him. He snapped his fingers.
'The Chinese tickle torture! It always works.' He thought as he turned to her with his hands raised. He tackled her and started tickling.
"Tickle, tickle, tickle!"
°BLAM!°
"°Cough° So much for the tickle torture." Izzy groaned, his face black with soot. Alice put away the shot gun she just used. She started walking away. Izzy shook off the soot and followed.
"There must be something I can do." He muttered to himself.
"Have you tried apologizing?" Alice said. Izzy looked up at her with surprise.
"I thought you weren't speaking to me." He said with a smirk. Alice shrugged.
"Looked like you needed a gentle nudge."
"Well anyway, sorry about dissing you like that earlier."
Alice turned to Izzy with a smile.
"Apology accepted."
"Well that was easy." Izzy said with a chuckle.
"How can I possibly stay mad at you?" Alice gave him a loving look, which he shrugged off.
"Anyway, I just thought of something."
"What?"
"We have to pick what side we're on."
"You mean whether we're good or bad guys?" Alice asked. Izzy nodded.
"Yeah. We're kinda bad because we want to get the emeralds before Sonic."
"But we're kinda good because we're stopping Eggman from getting them." Alice supplied. Izzy snapped his fingers.
"That's it! We'll be neutral!"
"Neutral, huh?"
"Yeah. Sonic & his crew are good and Dr. Robotnik & his bunch are bad. We're smack dab in the middle, so we're neutral. That means that if we were to ever go to Chao World, our chao would be neutral instead of becoming dark or hero chao!" Alice sweatdropped at Izzy's proclamation.
"So we're neutral?" She asked. He nodded. "Alright then. Let's go."
"But we have no idea where we can find another Chaos Emerald." Izzy said, taking out the red and green emeralds.
"Well remember how the green one glowed before? Maybe we can just run around until it glows again."
"I guess it'll do." Izzy smiled at her before looking up with a stern expression.
"What is it?" Alice asked.
"Trouble." Izzy replied as he looked ahead of him.
A bolt of lightning was heading right for them! Izzy held on to Alice as the DE started to glow. The emerald's glow deflected the bolt and made it hit a nearby rock. Izzy and Alice separated and they glared at the one responsible for that attack.
A certain echidna.
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A/N:
Oooooh!.!.! The drama! What happen in this chance meeting? Will Izzy succeed in getting the emeralds or will he fail miserably? Find out next time!
