Author's Note: Again, sorry that this story is a bit late and not as great as I hoped as I've been trying to make a loose adaption of the anime as well as both Sonic Advance 2 and lead on to Sonic Adventure 1 arc.
I will do my best with it and in the meantime, here's a new chapter/episode of Sonic DX Adventures.
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 13: Lake Troubles.
It was a nice day at Chris' house, especially when it's been a week since Dr. Robotnik's base had been destroyed by not only the efforts of the Military, but also Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends who now have three of the Chaos Emeralds. Yet despite the success of all of these, there was still the dangerous threat of the Iron Empire who still had Cream's mother Vanilla, the Floral Forest Villagers and the Master Emerald within their grasp, seeking out to kidnap Cream and Cheese as well as locate the Chao Colonies all over Mobius.
None the less, Sonic refused to give up, but despite his attempts to rescue Cream's mother, everyone including the young five year old child advised him to take it easy for a little bit. So he complied but only using his free time in running around as it always calmed his nerves. As the fourteen year old hedgehog sped off from the mansion, Chris walked outside.
"Hey, Sonic! A letter came for ya'!" The twelve year old boy called out, but by then the teenage Mobian was already gone. So the human boy, knowing that his friend would be back shortly, but with a bit of guilt as he knew that reader other people's letter's wasn't right, he turned it around to see who it was from...and gaped in surprise.
"It's from the President!" He cried out.
A few minutes later, Chris gathered his grandfather, Amy, Tails, Cream and Cheese in the living room where Chuck opened up the letter since it was important and read it aloud. ""You are cordially invited to a black-tie charity ball."...Hmmm, Sounds interesting." He commented after that.
"It also says right here that you can bring as many friends as you want." Chris remarked as he noticed that piece of information as well. Plus it was very rare to see the man in charge of the country, not even his parents had the previlige.
"Well then, in that case, I say we dust off our best party duds and make it a date." Chuck declared with a form of excitement, and he and the young children all cheered.
Amy then began to daydream at the party's banquate. "I bet they'll serve lots of yummy food there. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Ahhh..." She sighed in a somewhat dream-like trance that even her mouth started to water.
"Me too..." Tails piped up, even though he felt a bit awkward upon seeing the pink hedgehog like that.
"I wonder if we can invite Helen after our day trip tomorrow." Cream spoke up thoughtfully, which while Amy blinked in realization in rememberance, Chris was surprised.
"Oh!" The eleven year old hedgehog girl snapped out of her daydream. "That's right! I almost forgot about the promise we made to her."
"Helen? You mean the girl from my class?" The young Thorndyke asked in surprised.
"That's right. She's a new friend of ours." Amy explained.
"I didn't know that."
"Miss Amy, Cheese and I met her when we went for a little walk a few days ago." Cream explained sweetly, thinking back on the meeting.
Three days earlier...
While being told to be careful since the Iron Empire was still on the loose despite Robotnik's apparent defeat, Amy and Cream decided to have a fun dayout together with Cheese while Sonic and Tails dropped them off and said that they would be back later to pick them up. The two Mobian girls walked happily hand in hand.
"It's such a really beautiful day, isn't it?" Amy said happily, wanting to soak in the warm sunlight and the gentle cool breeze, and breathe in the fresh air.
"Yeah, we should come out here again for a picnic with all of our friends." Cream agreed cheerfully.
"Chao!" Cheese chirped in agreement, before he noticed something from the left up ahead and stopped in surprise and concern. "Chao, chao!"
"Huh?" The two girls paused and turned to their little friend.
"What's wrong, Cheese?" Cream muttered, before she and Amy looked and they gaped in surprise then they saw a young human girl, Helen, who was close to Chris' age with blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a pink and white dress with matching slip-on shoes, and is wheel-chair bound, which was stuck in the mud no matter how many times she pushed the lever.
Stunned, Amy was the first to react quickly and hurried over with Cream and Cheese following, the pink hedgehog pushing the wheelchair to the more drier ground. "There you go." That surprised the girl who realized what happened and smiled.
"Thank you." She said gratefully, before realizing who she was talking to and said in delightful surprise. "Oh! You're Sonic's friends, Amy Rose and Cream and Cheese, right?"
"You mean you've heard about us?" Amy asked as she and her friends were equally surprised as well.
"Of course! I couldn't help but overhear my classmates Chris, Danny and Francies and I've heard so many nice things about you." Helen replied.
"Wow! That's great." Cream remarked, with Cheese chirping in agreement.
"I'll say. What's your name?" Amy agreed happily.
"My name's Helen." The human girl replied.
"So nice to meet you." The two Mobian girls greeted, with Cheese chirping in greeting as well.
After getting to know each other, Amy and her three friends which now included Helen, stared off over the lake where a small island rested, as the human girl explained to the two Mobians and little Chao. "I come out here a lot. I love to look at that island."
"That island over there?" Amy queried.
"Wow, it looks really pretty." Cream stated, as she held Cheese in her arms.
"Mm-hm, and my father says it's filled with the most beautiful flowers. All different kinds." Helen explained. "He always promises he'll take me there, but he..." She then hung her head in sadness. "He's always busy."
"Aw, really?" The little rabbit girl asked in sadness.
"Oh, I'm sure you father will take you there one day. You just gotta be patient." The pink hedgehog reassured.
Despite the support and comfort she was getting, Helen was doubtful with Amy's claims. "I don't know. My dad doesn't seem to ever have enough time for me. I'd go myself, but..."
While Cream felt a pang of sadness over the reminder of being motherless at the moment, she didn't want to lash out on Helen because number one, the human girl wasn't angry and didn't have to heart to do so, and number two, as she, Cheese and Amy saw their new friend gaze at her legs which were paralyzed meaning that she could never walk, which made the little girl feel even worse. At that moment, she wanted to do something to cheer her up. From the looks of it, Helen really wanted to see the island and see the beautiful flowers.
Apparently Amy came to the same conclusion, because, as she knew that if Sonic were here, he wouldn't hesitate in volunteering to help the young human child to make her dreams come true. The pink hedgehog then made up her mind.
"Helen, if you really want to go see that island, then I'll take you there." Amy vowed with determination.
"Ah! Really? You would?" Helen asked, surprised.
"I promise." The pink hedgehog declared.
"Cheese and I will go too. We want you to be happy, Helen." Cream added kindly, and Cheese perked up in agreement.
Helen was surprised by the kindness of the two Mobians who were younger than her, but already she felt a deep bond with them. So she smiled and expressed her gratitude as all four of them shared a handshake of a promise.
Back in the Present...
"A promise is a promise, and Sonic taught me to never break them." Amy concluded the story she and Cream shared.
Before anybody else could respond to that, the aforementioned blue hedgehog stepped through the door, announcing. "I'm back."
Seeing the hero of Mobius, Chris hurried over to reveal the news. "Hey, Sonic! Guess what? You won't believe it! The president's giving a party and you're invited!"
"I am?" Sonic asked, genuinely surprised.
"And all of us get to go too! It'll be fun!" The human boy replied.
"When is this party?"
"On Thursday."
Sonic blinked, then nodded. "Sure, I can come. But I might have to leave early if I can't finish up my own investigation tomorrow."
That made everybody surprised, as Chris asked. "Investigation?"
"You mean you didn't hear the News or anything like that? Silver Valley's closed up for a little while." Sonic explained with a one-shoulder shrug.
"Closed?"
"Yeah, 'cause apparently there's a monster in the lake."
"A monster? In Silver Valley Lake?"
"I rescued a guy who almost drowned the other day." The hero of Mobius responded.
Two days ago, with Sonic...
Ah, life. It was such a bliss, even though there were continuous threats of Robotnik who was out of commission, at least for now, and the dangers posed by the Iron Empire, and the kidnapping of Vanilla. None the less, while Sonic felt the need to keep looking, he decided to take it easy for a little bit and relaxed.
"*Yaaaaaaawwwwn* What a beautiful day." Sonic yawned as he stretched out on the tree branch he'd been lying on near the lake in Silver Valley, having decided to come out here for a little relaxation. "I could get used to this."
'This is great. Nothing could possibly ruin a day like this. Yep, not a single bad guy or robot. No siree.' He thought to himself, smiling, feeling like he could just lay here all day and still feeling sleepy since the breeze was lovely and the sun was nice and warm, it was enough to lure him back to sleep...
Until...
"HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPP!"
"Woah!" Sonic yelped, jolting upright by the cries for help, looking around before gazing to his right where the lake was and saw a man in a row boat fishing...but the boat was rocking back and forth and the water was making very rough waves. "What the!?" He exclaimed, seeing the performance.
The blue hedgehog then gasped when the boat capsized and the fisherman was thrown overboard, where the unfortunate human was thrusting about begging for help. "HELP! A Sea Monster! Help!"
"I spoke too soon...and I can't even swim. Guess I gotta do this the hard way." The teenage hero groaned, knowing that he had to come up with a difficult decision to rescue the poor guy or else he would drown.
Narrowing his eyes, he leaped off the tree and putting his legs into full speed, Sonic sped across the water while hoping to not end up drowning himself or falling in, catching a glimpse of something huge beneath the surface and mentally gulped fearfully, but focused on the man.
"Gotcha!" Sonic snatched the man quickly and raced back to the shore while praying not to get caught in the waves which was making him almost fall in as well. Sweating nervously as his aquaphobia kicked in, fortunately he and the fisherman made it and he skid to a stop far from the water and near the forest.
Panting at the close call and silently thanking every deity he could think of, the cobalt speedster set the traumatized man gently onto the ground. "Phew...That was close. You alright?"
"Y-Yes, thank you..." The human man quivered, soaking wet but thankfully still alive, panting and wheezing.
"What happened?"
"I was just fishing one moment, and the next thing I knew, a sea monster begins rocking my boat! It's about 69 feet along! It's humungous! I thought I was a goner for sure!" The fisherman exclaimed, throwing his arms to make effects of his story.
Sonic blinked, dumbfounded. "A sea monster?" He turned to the lake in shock and confusion. "Right here in Silver Valley Lake? That's unusual."
"I know! I've never seen anything like it!" The man agreed, whimpering as he gazed back at the lake where his now sunken boat was. "After that, I'm never going fishing ever again!" He shuddered as now he had to find a new hobby, fearing that if he wasn't careful, he would really be monster food.
The fourteen year old narrowed his eyes in suspicion, wondering if there really was a Lake Monster, since it sounded silly to call it a Sea Monster considering that this was a lake, not the ocean, or it was another robot from the Iron Empire. The latter sounded more like as it was far too soon for Robotnik to make another attack, and his base was nothing more than a giant pile of junk.
Looks like he's got some investigating to do.
"We'd better tell the authorities to close this place until something is figured out. It might be a really big fish, but I'm not taking any chances." Sonic said with a serious tone.
The man nodded in agreement, and the blue hedgehog helped him to stand up and made their way out, just as the area suddenly became very foggy which was also very unusual. That didn't sit right with him, and no robot could do that, unless there was another one making the effects more scary. Something was seriously wrong.
Back in the Present...
"I've decided to investigate and help the authorities to get to the bottom of this. Not that I would go underwater, but I bet it's just another one of the Iron Empire's robots." Sonic concluded.
"Hmmm...let's see." Chuck murmured firmly, not sure what to make of the teenager's story, but decided that it was best to be safe than sorry. True to Sonic's words as the elder man turned on the TV, news reports were showing the foggy area of Silver Lake with Scarlet Garcia reporting.
"Sightings of a mysterious Lake Monster at Silver Valley has the authorities on edge, and anybody who attempts to go there are ordered to steer clear until the situation is solved. It could also be the awakening of the Legendary Water Creature the Gonloon, a monster that is said to only awaken once every 60 years. Today marks the week-long awakening and people are urged not to go near the lake." Scarlet reported, which stunned the group, even Sonic.
"Gonloon? I thought it was just a myth." Sonic remarked, folding his arms as he heard stories of the said creature from his father and Uncle Chuck when he was about Cream's age.
"What's a Gonloon?" Cream asked, a little frightened.
"Chao, Chao?" Cheese chirped nervously.
"It's a legendary Lake Monster just like the news just said. My Dad and Uncle Chuck told me about it when I was your age, but nobody's ever seen it alive before, so it was thought to just be a story." The blue hedgehog explained, before thinking about and added. "Which I think it still could be and it's another one of the Empire's super suspicious scheme." He placed his fingers under his chin in thought.
"They say that the Gonloon is so mysterious and scary that nobody's dared to go near it." Tails added, before saying. "But Sonic's right, it could be just another robot for all we know."
"It still sounds very scary." The five year old girl muttered.
"Well, it's a good thing the lake we're going isn't at Silver Valley, so I don't think we have anything to worry about." Amy reassured. "Plus, I think the whole Gonloon thing is just silly."
"You're going to a lake?" Sonic asked, surprised.
"Mm-hm. Cream, Cheese and I are gonna hang out with our new friend Helen to an island that is said to be filled with the most beautiful flowers." The pink hedgehog nodded, before blinking. "Hey, we still need a boat and some life-jackets."
While the fourteen year old wasn't too keen on the girls going off to an island with the threats still out there, even he couldn't deny just how strong his self-proclaimed girlfriend was, and maybe it would be okay. He just hoped that there wouldn't be any problems.
"I'll go get them for ya." He volunteered, then asked the human scientist. "Hey, Chuck. Where do ya' keep the stuff Amy and Cream need?"
"Check over in the storage room." Chuck replied, and with a quick thanks, Sonic speed to the back door.
"Do you think the Gonloon is real?" Cream wondered, still a bit nervous.
"Nah. It's probably just the Iron Empire's robot or maybe it's something as simple as a great big fish." Tails reassured smiling.
"Tails is right, Cream. There's nothing to be scared of." Amy agreed.
"Okay." Cream finally replied, after a moment and decided to place her trust in her friends.
But all of them were unaware that Chris felt concern as while he didn't believe it was the Gonloon either, he thought deeply before a risky and crazy idea formed in his mind. No one was going to like it, but he had to take the risk.
Which wasn't the best idea in the world.
Meanwhile, while everyone in Station Square celebrated the defeat of Dr. Robotnik and Sonic's heroic actions, Julius was still fuming in his secret underwater base that had many of his soldiers on edge with fear. So much so that they steered clear from him as much as possible, and he was running out of patience.
"That little blue brat...!" Julius hissed darkly, watching the news conference which still rambled about Sonic's heroic victory over defeating his brother and to make things worse, now the blue hedgehog had three Chaos Emeralds. "He has crossed me for the last time, and Ivo Eggman may have lost for now, but he too will be back. I hate them both...I really hate them...!"
The evil man then stood up and stomped around his office before smashing the cabinet and virtually almost everything in the room, roaring like a ferocious monster and once again squeezed the Sonic doll tightly pretending to hear the teenager's cries of agony and for help that would never come.
"I HATE THEM!" He shouted loudly, punching the wall which made yet another hole in it. Julius breathed heavily and darkly in an attempt to calm down, but a hesitant slow knocks on his door didn't make things any better as he snapped. "WHAT!?"
The door opened slowly as a couple of terrified men peeked through it, quivering as they felt that maybe they should just come back later.
"Uh...S-Sir? Sorry t-to disturb you, but th-the...the..." One of the soldiers began weakly.
"THE WHAT!? Can't you two numbskulls see that I'm in a really foul mood!? I don't have time with whatever it is you want to show me, unless it's good news, and it had better be good, or else I will toss you both into the sea and let the carnivores eat you alive!" Julius roared, which made two his of Iron Empire soldiers squeak in fear as they held each other.
"W-We're sorry, sir! But t-there have been re-reports of a-a monster in Si-Silver Valley, and it's be-believed to be the legendary Gonloon!" The first soldier exclaimed, then bawled like a baby as he and his partner feared that even this was going to have them both put into their untimely demise.
That caught their boss's attention as he allowed the words to register into his mind. In his rage, he had been too far back into listening that all he wanted was to get what he deserved. But when he finally heard what he actually wanted to hear for first time in a month, his anger began to fade.
"The ancient Gonloon, you say?" Julius questioned, a wicked and hideously terrifying grin returning to his face.
"Y-Yes, sir...!" The first soldier nodded in a high-pitched tone, gulping nervously.
"A-and Silver Valley is closed off for-for safety measures...!" The second soldier added, shaking violently.
That was what Julius wanted to hear as he dropped the two men who yelped and landed on the floor hard, while the man in charge began to laugh manically. "So the legend is true. Perfect. Once we get that creature and mind-control it to obey me, I shall use it to destroy Sonic and use it to locate where that child and her Chao are. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!"
As the leader of the Iron Empire then picked up the Sonic doll, giving it another squeeze, he whispered to himself. "Just you wait, boy. Soon you will be giving into your worst fears and be mine...!"
While he then stormed off to see the end result, both men just sat there in bewilderment, before they gave out great big sighs of relief that they were spared from their impending doom.
"That was close." They both muttered simultaneously.
The next day, while Sonic did want to get started on the investigation, he felt that it was better if he helped out Amy and Cream in getting them and Helen to the lake they were going to first.
"Thanks for taking us on short notice, Sonic." Amy said happily, though while she did wish he could join them, she did promise it would be a girl's day trip despite that Cheese was a male himself.
"It's was really nice of you, Mr. Sonic." Cream added.
"Chao, Chao." Cheese squeaked.
"No problem." Sonic replied, having had all of them ride in the wheel chair and despite the discomfort, he could tell that even Helen had lots of fun going fast. "You all stay here. I'll go get the boat, okay?"
"Thank you, Sonic. You're really sweet." Helen said gratefully as she and the others nodded.
"Don't mention it." The blue hedgehog winked, before speeding off to get the group's boat.
As the girls and little Chao watched the hero of Mobius leave to get their boat, Amy couldn't help but clasp her hands together while saying happily, madly in love as usual. "Oh...He is so generous and heroic..."
She then began to daydream once again, as an image of herself taking a boat ride with Sonic to the island, exploring it's forests and finding what she thought was what the beautiful flowers looked like, with the imaginary blue hedgehog handing her a bouquet a flower necklace and even placing a white rose on her headband.
"You look more beautiful than ever before with these flowers, Amy Rose. The most beautiful girl in the world. No, the universe even." Amy imagined Sonic say, making her dream-self sigh happily and hug him, as they gaze out at the water outside of the private island together.
"Going to the island with Sonic one day...It would be absolutely romantic...!" Amy continued to herself, with the background glittering with flowers and stars twinkling behind her, which only made Helen, Cream and Cheese stare at her in confusion.
"I think Amy really likes Sonic." Helen whispered to the young five year old and Chao who both giggled.
"Yeah, she really does." Cream whispered in agreement.
"Chao..." Cheese murmured.
The whole scene was like a crime scene, with tape wrapped around the area to the entrance of the Silver Valley Lake, and even a closed sign in the middle of the road. Yet there wasn't even a single sight of police cars as they haven't arrived. Thus no one was even aware that Chris had arrived earlier while Sonic had taken the girls and Cheese to the Island Lake, and while the twelve year old boy knew that this was a risky idea, he had to see for himself on whether the stories were true or not.
'Guess it's a good thing they didn't close up the boat renting, and that there's two lakes close by.' Chris thought to himself, trying his best to sneak towards the Lake where the supposed monster was. He hoped that he'd be able to figure this out before Sonic would get here, or else he would be in real big trouble.
By the time he got to the place, in the same area where Sonic and Knuckles fought weeks ago and Robotnik trapped Chris himself, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese inside that robot, but to his surprise, while it was the same as always, it was really foggy, which described on what the hero of Mobius mentioned yesterday.
"When Sonic said that it was foggy out here, he wasn't kidding." The young Thorndyke commented, now getting pretty nervous and wondered if this was such a good idea. It was unusual for the area to be foggy naturally, and he didn't hear any sounds of robots since they did make a lot of noise.
'Unless they're underwater and it is the Empire's doing.' He thought to himself, gazing at the water warily.
Either way, the only way to tell for sure was to see for himself and hope for the best.
Little did he know that something was lurking and moving underwater, something huge and...very alive.
Meanwhile, Julius' aircraft flew after emerging from the ocean and headed straight towards Station Square with the evil leader of the Iron Empire at the higher level of the cockpit with several men at the controls.
"Activate the Invisibility Shield." Julius commanded, his hands behind his back.
"Yes, sir." One of the soldiers replied, pressing a button which then suddenly turned the entire giant flying fortress invisible, which would also protect the Iron Empire from being detected from the satellite and the Government's radar.
"Good. No one would suspect a single thing upon our arrival." The evil Leader grinned wicked, only for the radar to pick up something.
"Sir, we're picking up movement at the speed at approximately 400 miles per hour." One of the pilots reported.
"What!?" Julius growled, before commanding dangerously. "Show me the footage!"
The crew did as they were commanded, revealing near-satellite images of Station Square, and then suddenly a familiar blue streak was racing across the streets and heading towards the highway, which didn't take long for any of them to figure out who it was, and the Leader of the Iron Empire was more than furious and that's saying something!
"That blue child again...! Where is HE going?" Julius hissed darkly, before quickly commanding. "Never mind. Make sure he doesn't reach the lake and knock him out! Send out the tranquilizer bot and capture Sonic, NOW!"
"But sure, we need it to monitor-"
"DO AS I SAY OR ELSE!" The Iron Empire Leader roared, scaring his men who quickly did as they told despite that the tranquilizer bot also acted as the ship's only source of tracking anyone who would stand in the way.
The hatch underneath the ship opened up to reveal another robot that looked like a mixture of a helicopter and a smaller version of Robotnik's destroyed E-18, maybe about the same size of a helicopter itself. It then flew down with rocket jets on it's back to find Sonic who was speeding towards the highway, carrying two boats piled up top of each other with four oars and four life jackets. One for himself, and three for Amy, Cream and Helen.
When the blue hedgehog's ears twitched at the sound of a jets coming closer via air, he glanced up and saw to his annoyance and shock that it was an Iron Empire robot with it's side opening up, almost matching him with speed. Seeing what it was about to do, he skid to a stop just as it fired a tranquilizer missile straight towards him. Not having any of it, Sonic jumped while still holding the boats and with a grunt he kicked it away where it headed straight back towards the robot with the missile exploding and destroying the core from within as well as causing the robot to malfunction and descend, crashing into the ground where it exploded harmlessly in a river.
"So it was the Iron Empire. I'd better make this quick before they find where Amy and the others are, and maybe I can lure it away before Eggman's Ro-butt-nik brother finds Cream and Cheese." Sonic grunted narrowing his eyes as he quickly ran away once more, hoping that the enemies wouldn't find him at the moment, believing that they were behind the ruse of the Gonloon mystery and stop him from exposing the truth.
Within the invisible vessel, the monitor that could at least give them highlights to where Sonic would go was cut off and left in static, much to the dismay of the Iron Empire, the soldiers and assistants left in shock and Julius in rage.
"Blast that hedgehog!" He growled, before punching the arm rest of his chair and damaging it to the point of breaking it apart. "Head straight to Silver Valley before he gets there and if he does, make sure he drowns!"
Back at the lake, Amy, Helen, Cream and Cheese were waiting as they gazed at the island in silence until they felt a whoosh for a split second and Sonic appeared with the boats.
"I'm back." He announced with a smile. "You girls and Chao ready?"
The girls nodded with Cheese chirping.
"By the way, Sonic. How come you've got two boats?" Helen asked, curiously as she noticed the second boat.
"Uh...I've got an important job to do today, which thankfully is over at another lake." Sonic nervously replied, rolling his eyes a little as he thought to himself with dread. 'Not that I'm looking forward in going fishing for an Iron Empire robot in the lake. I wish I had a diving helmet and a floating swim suit or something.'
"Mr. Sonic is going to Silver Valley to find out if there is a monster in the lake there." Cream explained, not realizing what the teenager intended on doing to avoid in frightening the human girl, thus she didn't even notice him beginning to panic.
"You mean you're going to see if the legend of the Gonloon is true?" Helen asked, surprised.
"Yeah, he and another guy he saved the other day who noticed it and almost drowned were there when whatever it was almost made the fisherman fall overboard." Amy explained while Sonic, putting the boats down and tried to silently gesture them to stop, panicked and then clasped his hands together in a prayer, tearing up in fear for being forced by his self-proclaimed girlfriend to go with her and the other girls instead, and while he thought it would be better to stay to keep them safe, he was worried that the Iron Empire could launch another attack from Silver Valley Lake itself. "But some of us think it's either a really big fish or, well something else a bit more scary which you don't have to worry about."
To the Mobians' surprise, Helen didn't seem frightened or disappointed in Sonic leaving them for the time-being at all. Instead she said. "Wow! If it's really the Gonloon, then my late grandmother might be right all along!"
Sonic, Amy, Cream and Cheese all blinked in surprise.
"Wait a sec. You mean your grandmother actually saw it?" The blue hedgehog asked, confused. If that were true, then that would mean that the Gonloon was actually real?
"No, but her best friend Lillian did and told her all about it. While my Grandmother never got the chance to see it and many people believed her friend was dreaming or hallucinating, Mrs. Lillian went to the lake one day and around this time of year, the Gonloon would wake up. While he seemed to look scary in appearance and scary when angry, hurt or upset, she actually helped him when he got hurt one time and became friends. Lilian also that he was gentle and kind to those who he trusts in helping him and will help them in their time in need." The twelve year old human girl explained.
"Wow! I didn't know that." Cream exclaimed in awe, with Cheese chirping in agreement despite that the little Chao was a bit nervous, while the two hedgehogs shared a glance with Sonic giving Amy a clueless shrug.
"Well, I guess your grandmother's friend must've seen it because they say that the Gonloon appears once every 60 years." Amy remarked.
"Only one way to find out." Sonic decided, now determined to get to the bottom of this. "You girls have fun and be careful. Mr. Tanaka will pick you up and I might be back in time to help out too." With that, he dashed off to head over to Silver Valley Lake.
'Could it really be that the Gonloon is real? If that's the case, then it's not the Iron Empire after all?' Amy thought to herself as she and her friends watched her 'boyfriend' take off.
Sonic in the meantime raced in high speed towards his destination, glancing at the sky with narrowed eyes as he knew that somewhere up there or possibly coming up really soon was the Iron Empire vessels. 'If what Helen says is true and the Gonloon is real, then the Iron Empire isn't behind all of this...but they could be planning on capturing it and using the monster to cause more chaos! I've gotta hurry and stop 'em!'
"Shouldn't Chris be back by now?" Tails wondered back at the Thorndyke Mansion, as he was working on analyzing the three Chaos Emeralds with Chuck.
"He did say he was going to visit Francies and Danny and hang out together today. Which is a little unusual, but I suppose he's bored since he couldn't go with Sonic to investigate the mystery at Silver Valley Lake, and I doubt he would want to go with Amy and the girls to see the flowers." The elder Thorndyke recalled, though this was starting to make him worried over his grandson's unusual behavior.
"I just hope the Iron Empire doesn't find out about any of this, or if they are causing trouble at Silver Valley. Though I'm really surprised that the Gonloon would actually have it's location there since we didn't see it when Eggman tricked Knuckles." The two-tailed fox muttered.
More than anything, he was worried about what Chris might actually be going, considering that the dangerous enemies were still out there, and the seven year old cub couldn't help but remember what Sonic told him, Amy, Chris and Francies back out of the field the other day.
"Still, you guys gotta be careful. It's not just Eggman to worry about. The Iron Empire are still out there."
Tails still felt terrible for losing both Chaos Emeralds he and the others retrieved even though they got them back, and while no one blamed him besides Knuckles, especially Sonic who had always been forgiving and supportive towards him, the two-tailed kit couldn't help but feel responsible for Robotnik in claiming the Emeralds in the first place due to not being careful enough.
"They say that the Gonloon appears at this very week around this time of year every 60 years, so it could be that it was sleeping and not even Robotnik would've woken it up on purpose. On the other hand, seeing that it hasn't when all of you were there, it probably merely was a large fish or perhaps another one of the Iron Empire's threats." Chuck stated. "As much as I hate to say it, but I have a feeling it's more of the latter than the former."
"Me too, especially if the news broke out already." Tails agreed, grimcing. "Plus, since Sonic can't swim, maybe I should go out and find him just in case." He lowered his head in realization and renewed guilt. "I should've gone with him to begin with."
"Then perhaps you should get going before he runs into trouble. I'll stay here and wait for Chris and the girls to come home. In the meantime, it's probably best for Tanaka to pick up the girl as well." Chuck declared.
"You're right. Sonic needs help!" Tails narrowed his eyes, knowing that his friend was right. Sonic was getting himself into a serious danger that not even his speed can solve.
He knew what he had to do.
As the day was already drawing to an end, Amy and her friends were already seated in the boat as the pink hedgehog was now rowing towards the island, the three of them wearing life jackets.
"Just a little further and we'll be at shore in no time." Amy announced.
"Wow! It's more pretty up close." Cream remarked happily.
"Chao chao!" Cheese cheered.
"I'm so excited, you guys! I've dreamed of seeing this island for so long!" Helen clasped her hands happily, only for her happiness to fade as her thoughts returned to her father and how he was always too busy to take her. She lowered her gaze thinking about him. "I wish my father could've come with me. If only he didn't have to work so hard, we could be together more."
At the local grocery store, a man in his mid thirties with brown hair and wearing a green shirt and dark pants, his mind on working hard as he was determined to earn enough cash to ensure his daughter's health and not fully realizing that by doing so he was spending far less time with her as he didn't even think of her happiness. He moved several boxes of fruit and such until his boss came up to him holding a pen and board.
"Listen Doug, you've been working a lot of hours lately. I could hire someone part-time, to make it easier." The manager suggested as he didn't want his employee to overwork himself.
"No need to, sir." Said Helen's father as he looked over his shoulder. The very thought of not working as hard to earn the much needed money for support would mean it would only decrease the young girl's chances of survival. "I don't mind the hard work. Plus I need the hours."
Despite his efforts, the Manager just smiled awkwardly. "Alright then, they're yours."
"You can count on me, sir." Doug winked despite that he was pushing himself to his limits. For his daughter's sake, he had to do this.
Back at the lake, Helen continued to think somberly, while Cream and Cheese gazed at her with sympathy and sadness.
"Aw, Helen..." Cream murmured, feeling sorry for her.
"Chao..." Cheese murmured, before he hovered over to the human girl and landed on her lap, nuzzling at her to try and make her feel better. Surely enough as he had hoped, the twelve year old girl smiled gratefully and gently patted the little Chao on the head.
"Are you trying to make me feel better, Cheese?" Helen asked.
"He is. Chao can make anybody feel a whole lot better whenever they're sad." Cream explained, smiling softly.
"Well, it's already working." The blonde-haired girl replied, giggling. She then muttered to the sweet little Chao. "Thank you, Cheese."
"Chao! Chao!" Cheese chirped.
"I swear Chao are like therapy sessions that magically make people feel better instantly." Amy remarked with a smile, as she felt sorry for Helen as well and was happy that Cheese managed to brighten the human girl's mood. "Anyway, we're almost there."
She gazed at the island with a smile, and it wasn't long before they made it to shore, and with Cream's help, they pulled the boat onto land and tied it up so that they wouldn't end up stranded and carefully pulled Helen and her wheelchair out and onto dry land.
"I can't believe it...we're finally here!" Helen said happily, excitement growing so much at she began to laugh, confusing her friend slightly. "Sorry. It's just, being here now with all of you makes me feel so alive. I never thought somebody like me could ever have a little adventure."
"Glad you're enjoying yourself." Amy said happily, as she then began to push the wheelchair. "Are you all ready for another adventure?"
"Yeah!" Helen and Cream both chorused with Cheese cheering.
"Alright! Here we go!" The pink hedgehog declared, as she and her friends then traveled into the forest to find their final location; the beautiful field of flowers.
Back in Silver Valley, Chris was rowing in the boat he rented out himself, with only an old lantern lamp he burrowed just in case, getting more and more nervous by the second, but tried to be brave and look out for any signs of danger. He paused and found himself in the middle of the lake, but it was so foggy that all he could see was a large rock close to the small waterfall where both Sonic and Knuckles fought on briefly weeks back.
So far, everything seems quiet...maybe a little too quiet.
"So far, there's nothing." The twelve year old boy muttered to himself in a whisper, as though afraid to awaken or alert whatever's underwater.
But just as the words escaped his mouth, there was a huge loud roaring which seemed muffled and gurgling and, to Chris's horror as he quickly gasped in alarm wondering what it was, underwater and right beneath his boat. As he risked to peer over the edge, he saw something huge swim and make it's way towards him.
"AAAAAHHHHHH! It's the monster!" Chris screamed out in horror, before crying out. "HELP! The monster's after me!"
But no one could hear him, and the lake monster, or giant robot, or whatever it was, like it did to the fisherman's boat three days ago, knocked at the boat a few times despite the young boy's attempts to hold on and it capsized over, throwing him overboard. He splashed and flailed calling out for help, before quickly swimming over to the rock as his only hope in avoiding in being pulled underwater, and climbed up to the top which wasn't that big. Just large enough to fit at least four people at the least. Panting at the close call, Chris then saw that the monster wasn't willing to let him go as it began to circle around the rock like a shark stalking it's prey.
He was trapped.
"HELP! Somebody help me!" Chris screamed out, now knowing that he had gotten himself into a large mess. "SONIC! HELP!"
His only hope now was for Sonic or at least the authorities to come and save him.
Back with Sonic, the blue hedgehog had met up with the police who were arguing who should go to the lake to investigate and who should stay behind, which the argument lead the hero of Mobius to try and tell them that he will go and check it out since he was one of the two people who reported it. But he was ignored, much to his annoyance.
"I'm not goin' in there! What if the legend's true!?" One police officer shuddered.
"Come on, you big baby!" A second officer scoffed, despite that he was terrified himself. "It's probably just a great big fish for all we know."
"Well, then, why don't you go and check?"
"It's uh...It's too foggy!" The second officer shrugged, clearly making up and excuse to avoid it.
The more the police argued, the more Sonic, who tried to intervene, was left in the loop until he shrugged with an exasperated sigh and headed over to the boat renting hut. As he did, he saw that there was only one boat available waiting outside, much to his confusion.
"Wonder why there's only one boat here? I sure hope nobody's decided to try and go fishing at the lake today. Unless they want to the other lake closeby." The fourteen year old muttered, before he headed inside to meet with the keeper and greeted. "Hi there."
"Oh! Well, as I live and breathe. Sonic the Hedgehog! What can I do for you, son?" The renter, who was a man in his late fifties, greeted happily.
"I'd like to rent out a boat, two oars and a life jacket, please." Sonic politely replied. "I'm here to investigate the monster in Silver Valley's lake."
That made the man suddenly pale and his heart go up into his throat. "Y-You mean, you wanna go back there a-and see th-the legendary Gonloon?"
"I just wanna make sure that it isn't anything too dangerous." The teenage Mobian answered, before asking. "By the way, how come you only have one boat? I know that you usually have at least two or three."
"Well, a guy wanted to rent out a boat for a movie set in town, and a twelve year old kid came here earlier today claiming that he wanted to go fishing at the other lake close by, and he seemed pretty disappointed that the Silver Valley Lake is closed." The man explained.
"Wait a sec. A kid came here earlier?" Sonic blinked, shocked as a sense of sudden dread began to form.
"Yeah, he's about twelve years old, ginger hair, blue eyes, and he kinda reminds me of the famous movie actress Linsdey Fair Thorndyke-" The man explained, unaware that the cobalt speedster's eyes widened in horror as realization formed into the young hedgehog.
Sonic recalled from Tails and Chuck earlier that Chris went off to visit his friends Danny and Francies for the day since the blue hedgehog himself was busy, and Amy's group were on the small island by now looking for the beautiful field of flowers. But if Chris came here all by himself, claiming to go fishing...
Oh no...He lied. Chris was going to try and join in on the investigation while risking his life recklessly!
"How much to do I owe ya? I need to get to the lake right away!" Sonic quickly questioned, holding out the Mobidums and Rings that he had.
"Uh...actually, it's all free for charge for you, kid. Besides, it's not like-"
"Please, let me give you something. I don't wanna be ungrateful by not giving you any money." The blue hedgehog interrupted desperately.
Seeing how the young hedgehog was desperate to not leave without paying, the man relented and said. "That'll be $10, Sonic."
"Thanks!" Sonic handed out the said cash with extra two rings, giving the man a two-finger salute and raced out as he knew what he had to do; he had to rescue Chris.
But as the blue hedgehog picked up the things that he needed and raced towards the lake, he is unaware that the same white chao that had lead him to the Chao Colony in the Mountain and had given him the strange dream, hovered above the roof of the hut with a concerned expression. It knew what it had to do to help the young hero. So it began to follow him, both unaware that the Iron Empire's Fortress was creeping closer to them while still invisible.
'What in the world was Chris thinking? I can't believe he lied to everybody to try and solve this himself. I appreciate the help but this sort of thing is too dangerous!' Sonic thought to himself, and hoped that nothing bad happened to his human friend, and began to fear for the worst.
"Help! Someone help me!" A familiar boy's voice cried out in the distance which quickly got louder, and the blue hedgehog gasped as he instantly recognized it.
"Chris!" Sonic exclaimed, finding himself back at the lake where the fog still lingered, but he could at least see the shiloutte of his friend trapped on a rock in the middle of the lake, and something large encircling it.
But there was one problem; it was too foggy, he wouldn't be able to see where he would go, and as the hero of Mobius nervously gazed at the water with a soft whimper, he began to become really scared himself. What if he ended up rowing in circles and become a victim of the Lake Monster? What if the boat capsized and he ended up drowning before the Gonloon, assuming that it was real, would get to him?
Yet it was another cry of help that made him make up his mind and he knew that in order to rescue his younger friend, he had to face his fear and hope for the best. "Sonic! Help me!"
"Hang on, Chris! I'm comin'!" Sonic called out, before he quickly set up the boat and put on the life-jacket.
Hearing the teenager's voice close by, Chris looked up and, despite knowing that he was in big trouble, felt relieved that his hedgehog friend was here to save him. "Sonic! I'm over here!"
"Just keep calling out and I'll come for you!" The blue hedgehog called back, positioning himself to row with strong determination to rescue the boy, though he couldn't help but grumble. "Man, it's so foggy here, I wish I had a lantern to see."
Just then he heard a familiar high-pitched chirping which made him look up and as he muttered, "Huh?" to his surprise, a familiar small flying figure appeared glowing slightly; It was the white and blue Chao who flew over to him.
"Hey, it's you!" Sonic exclaimed in disbelief upon seeing the 'ghost' Chao. "What're you doin' here, little guy?" When the little white Chao chirped gesturing at the lake, he blinked. "You wanna help me to save my buddy?"
The White Chao nodded and it curled up before it glowed brighter than usual with a hint of yellow and then hovered behind Sonic, gesturing him to where Chris was and he realized, to his amazement, that it indeed wanted to help him.
"Well, that works. Thanks, little guy." Sonic muttered, then nodded and quickly began rowing with the White Chao being the light that he needs, making it easier for him to see.
"Huh? Where's that light coming from?" Chris wondered as he noticed the light, before jumping slightly when the monster began to sprout water into the air and then, in fear once more, cried out. "Help! Please, Sonic!"
"I'll be there shortly, Chris! Just try and stay calm!" The blue hedgehog instructed as he followed the White glowing Chao, focused on saving his human friend and getting to the bottom of what the monster was really doing.
Meanwhile, as night had fallen on the small island, Amy, Helen, Cream and Cheese took a small break in the middle of the forest as they had another friendly conversation.
"I really do love my mom and dad. They're so good to me. That's why they work so hard, so that I can have everything I need. They make sure I have the best doctors, the best medicine, even this wheelchair must've cost 'em a lot of money." Helen explained to her new friends, though her heart sank as she confessed. "There's only one thing I want more than anything, though, and that's to spend more time with them and have more fun."
"I'm sure your parents want to spend more time with you too, Helen." Amy assured with a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah." The young girl nodded in agreement as she smiled. "And I had lots of fun with you, Cream and Cheese today, Amy. I've never been so excited in my whole life!"
"Having fun with friends is always exciting, Miss Helen. Miss Amy, Mr. Sonic, Mr. Tails, and Mr. Chris made me have lots of fun too." Cream agreed, before suggesting. "Maybe you should tell your Mom and Dad about what you did and that you really want to spend time with them."
"I agree." The eleven year old hedgehog nodded, gently placing a hand onto Helen's shoulder. "It's important for parents to really understand their children on their feelings as gently as possible as well as appreciate everything they have done for them. Sonic and Tails told me that once."
Helen thought about it, and realized that maybe they were right. She did appreciate everything her parents had done for her, but not once did she mention just how lonely she felt without them around most of the time. Maybe she should do that and hope for the best.
"You know what? You're right. I'm gonna talk to my parents after I tell them about our adventure today." She decided, which made her friends beam happily. "It thanks to you guys and Sonic that I've had fun. Thank you."
"It's what friends are for." Amy beamed happily with Cream giggling and Cheese chirping in excitement.
Just then, the little Chao perked up as he, unknowingly to everybody else, sensed the White Chao's presence and the full Moon seemingly glowing which made him blink, as though hearing a voice call out to him. Suddenly he also noticed a near see-through image of a young rabbit girl, same age as Cream but in a different dress, unknowingly it was Camellia, the one from Sonic's dream, among the trees waving at him.
"Chao?" Cheese chirped.
"Cheese, what's wrong?" Cream asked, puzzled as she and her friends noticed her Chao's odd behavior.
Cheese perked up pointing up ahead, but while he could see the ghostly form of the little girl in the forest and his Mobian best friend noticed and softly gasped in wonder and confusion, both Amy and Helen were left confused as they couldn't see Camellia who gestured them to follow her and skipped into the woods giggling.
"Huh? Who is that?" Cream wondered in confusion.
"Who is who, Cream?" Helen blinked, wondering what the little rabbit girl was talking about.
"I don't see anybody except the four of us." Amy shrugged, wondering if Cream and possibly Cheese were seeing things.
"Chao chao! Chao!" Cheese chirped, flying to follow the ghostly Camellia.
"Cheese! Wait for us!" Cream cried out as she reached out for her precious friend, and ran to follow as well.
"Ah!" Amy and Helen both gasped, before the former quickly pushed the latter's wheelchair to follow.
"Cream, wait!" The pink hedgehog called.
As the three girls followed Cheese who seemed to be the only one to fully see Camellia who smiled and continued to gesture them to follow her up on a hill as they approached the opening and a huge cliff in the middle of a canyon, she lead them up a rock path slope which wasn't deep. The little Chao, curious and desperate to follow the unusual girl 'ghost' who strongly resembled to Cream, continued to fly after her while Cream continued to hurry after him calling out his name, and Amy and Helen both following.
By the time they reached the top, Camellia seemed to disappear just as Cheese made it to the top and looked around, confused and wondering where she could have gone, just as Cream made it to the top herself, and Amy and Helen a few seconds later.
"Cheese! Why did you fly away up here?" Cream asked worriedly.
"Chao, chao, Chao! Chao, Chao, Chao-chao-chao." Cheese chirped as he tried to explain what he just saw, much to her surprise.
"So you did see her more clearly than I did?" The five year old asked, surprised.
"See who, Cream?" Amy asked as she knew that Cream could communicate with Cheese due to their strong bond that matched that of Sonic and Tails.
"I didn't know you could understand Cheese. What did he say?" Helen asked, amazed.
"I learned to pick up the language of Chao since Cheese hatched and understand him." Cream answered and explained. "He said that he saw a girl that looks just like me. She wanted us to follow him and I could see her too, but she looked so faded that I couldn't see her at all."
"You mean...like she's a ghost?" The pink hedgehog asked, blinking in surprise along with the human girl. "How come we couldn't see her, and are you sure you two weren't seeing things?"
Cream nodded, and was about to continue when Cheese turned to look ahead and squeaked in awe, making her and the others turn to see what he was looking at now. When they did, all three of them gasped in awe as they realized that whatever brought them here...had brought them straight at the very meadow of flowers they had been looking for. There were so many that it looked like it went for miles and miles, all beautiful as none of them had seen anything like it.
"Dad was right, you guys." Helen said with a bright smile of happiness and awe. "They're the prettiest flowers anywhere!"
"Wow! I've never seen anything so gorgeous in my whole life!" Amy exclaimed, her eyes sparkling at such a sight. It was much better than what she had imagined, and knew in that instant that Sonic would love it too if he was here with them.
"They're so beautiful!" Cream breathed, her eyes also twinkling.
"Chao chao!" Cheese chirped in agreement, as the full bright moon seemed to make the flowers glow, and some of the petals flew away which made the experience more magical and wonderful.
"You wanna pick some to take home?" Amy asked.
"Yeah!" Cream nodded. But as she and Amy went to pick some, Helen stopped them.
"Don't!" She said, making them stop in confusion before she explained. "Leave them just as they are. I want to come back someday with my mother and father."
It didn't take long for her friends to realize what she meant and backed away.
"That means they'll be more beautiful the next time around, right Helen?" Cream said in understanding.
"I think it's a wonderful idea." Amy agreed, smiling.
"Maybe someday I should come here with Mama after we save her." The little five year old added and while she still missed her mother, the idea of bringing Vanilla to this island to see the flowers sounded like a fun experience.
They all smiled as they continued to gaze at the flowers for a while longer despite that it was getting late, knowing that they would have to return home soon and while they wondered why they were brought here by the mysterious image of Camellia, they were all glad that she did. At least Cream and Cheese thought they saw the strange ghostly but helpful and friendly girl.
"Amy!" Suddenly Tails' voice called up from above, making the pink hedgehog and her friends to look up above and behind them and saw the two-tailed fox in the X-Tornado.
"It's Mr. Tails." Cream muttered in confusion.
"Chao?" Cheese chirped.
"Tails! What's going on? You sound all worried!" Amy called up, cupping her hands around her mouth.
"Chris is missing and Sonic needs help!" Tails exclaimed as, having spotted his friends on the island that he was passing and decided to pick them up during the flight to find Sonic, flew over to them and was amazed by the sight of the flowers. "I'm beginning to think that Chris went to find Gonloon and he and Sonic might be in trouble!"
That made the girls and Chao gasp in shock and worry. Instantly they began to fear for the safety of the two other boys.
While Amy's group had such a wonderful time where they were, Chris and Sonic were having the opposite, as the boy was still trapped as the monster continued to sprout water and roar.
"Oooh...Why did I think this was such a good idea? I should've just listened and stayed home." Chris moaned in fear and guilt. He was scared out of his mind and began to feel like it was hopeless despite putting all of his faith into Sonic.
"Chris!" Sonic's voice called up, now much closer than before. This made the boy look behind him and saw to his relief that the blue hedgehog made it to the rock and stood up, guided by a strange orb of light, holding out his hands. "Chris, I'm here now. Come on."
"Sonic!" The twelve year old boy exclaimed, carefully standing up before climbing down to his friend, then frantically apologized in guilt and relief, struggling not to cry. "Sonic, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to worry you. I just wanted to help!"
"Don't cry, Chris. It's gonna be okay. We'll worry about that later. Right now, let's get you home." Sonic said comfortingly, bringing his friend into a warm embrace after Chris threw his arms around him. While he did intent on lecturing his friend for recklessly coming here, he was utterly relieved that the human boy was safe.
But as Chris smiled in relief, he then noticed something and gasped and pointed just as his friend heard it before he cried out. "AH! L-L-Look out!"
Sonic gasped as he spun around just as something huge, towering about at least 55 feet tall even in the deep water, emerged and towered over him and his friend with glaring white eyes. It was shaped like a dragon but without wings, hair on top of it's head, fin-like arms and a long tail that resembled that of a dinosaur. It roared monstrously which made the two friends jump in fright before the blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes.
"Stay behind me, Chris!" Sonic ordered as he stood in front of his friend with his arms spread out and Chris was too scared to even make any attempt to disagree.
Just then, the 'Ghost Chao' suddenly appeared once more, but what made Sonic more surprised was that the twelve year old boy asked in wonder. "What's that white orb thing?"
"Huh? You mean you can't see what it actually is?" The fourteen year old asked, puzzled at the fact that he's the only one who can see that it's actually a White and Blue Chao, and Chris shook his head 'no'. 'Huh. I guess to everybody else this little guy takes shape of an orb. But, why can I see that it's really a Chao?'
The 'Ghost Chao', glaring at the monster that was really Gonloon, then brightened up once more which made Sonic and Chris wince before shielding their eyes, but the large creature ended up blinded and had to cover it's eyes too late, wincing and moaning in pain.
"I think that bright light distracted it. It doesn't look like a robot." Chris realized as he and the blue hedgehog looked up and saw what happened.
"So it really is the Gonloon. The Legend was right." Sonic muttered, before deciding to bravely take a few steps closer and demanded to the huge monster. "Alright, big guy. Why were you behaving so badly in the last couple of days?"
The Gonloon, recovering and now regaining it's senses and having a dark green scale colouring with white and black eyes, surprisingly lost it's terrifying anger and instead whimpered in unusual language, tearing up as though it was in more pain than just simply being blinded. That made the two young boys become less and less scared and more and more concerned. It then drew out it's tail and then immediately the hero of Mobius saw the problem. He gasped at the sight of a boat's hook somehow ending up stuck painfully into it.
"So that's it. Poor guy." Sonic said, feeling sorry for the poor creature. Remembering what Helen told him and the others earlier, he nodded and leaped closer before gesturing. "Here, let me get that out of ya. I won't hurt ya, I promise."
Despite that it attacked people earlier and had almost drowned both the human boy and the blue hedgehog, the Gonloon, somehow understanding him and remembering it's previous friend 60 years ago, held out it's tail and Sonic then carefully but forcefully pull it out with a yank before he gently rubbed and patted the sore spot to soothe the ache.
"There you go. You're all better now." He said calmly, while Chris watched on in amazement.
With it's tail feeling all better now and now once again happy and friendly, the Gonloon smiled as it felt pure trust in the kind and gentle young Mobian before it leaned over and gave him a thank you kiss by licking him on the left cheek, making Sonic laugh. It then waved a goodbye to the young friends before diving back into the water, and as it did, the fog cleared up to reveal the lake once more, and the bright full moon in the sky with stars twinkling, making the two friends smile in relief, even as the 'Ghost Chao' vanished, waving at the blue hedgehog who, noticing that it was gone, felt relieved and mentally thanked it for helping him to rescue Chris and help the giant Lake Creature.
"Looks like Helen was right. The Gonloon's no monster after all. He was just a friendly guy needing help." Sonic smiled, glad that the mystery was finally solved.
"Huh? You mean Helen knew about it?" Chris asked, puzzled.
"When she found out what I was gonna do, she mentioned that her grandmother's friend helped the big guy out exactly 60 years ago and told me, Amy, Cream and Cheese that he was friendly." The blue hedgehog explained.
"Wow...Guess it's a good thing she was right then."
But as the two talked, they were unaware that high above them in the invisible Fortress, Julius and his men heard everything and growled in anger.
"So it wasn't a monster after all, but a friendly creature who awakens once every 60 years..." The evil Leader hissed, before declaring. "Well, two can play at that game. Send out the Hypnosis Mech!"
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers saluted.
Just as Sonic and Chris boarded the boat and began to row their way back to the mainland, they suddenly both heard movement and looked up. To their dismay, the Fortress suddenly reappeared and the hatch opened up to reveal another large robot, with Julius and two other men riding on it's back as it resembled to a dragon and a bird with arms and legs and hawk-like wings.
"It's the Iron Empire! So they are after the Gonloon!" Sonic exclaimed in anger.
"They must've found out too!" Chris exclaimed, just as he and the blue hedgehog then had to lower themselves slightly when the robot got closer, causing powerful gusts of winds that began to rock the boat and create dangerous waves on the water's surface.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I bet you didn't expect to see me, Sonic! Having a nice midnight boat trip? Well, I'm afraid it's past your bedtime, children! Or should I say, your DEATH TIME!" Julius greeted evilly.
Sonic grunted before he screamed in terror as he held out his hand, trying to get them to wait despite knowing, to his horror, that the evil Organization wouldn't listen. He knew that if they got closer, they would tip over the boat and he and Chris could easily drown.
"Send them overboard!" The Iron Empire Leader commanded gleefully as he enjoyed the fear the two young boys were displaying, just as he wanted, especially from the hero of Mobius.
But just as the Hypnosis Mech was about to do so and both Sonic and Chris were about to fall over, while they did land in the water, suddenly the water became more rougher as they quickly found themselves on top of the Gonloon's head, the Lake Creature emerging and roaring, glaring at the enemies who caused harm to it's new friends. Both of them gazed at the gentle giant in amazement.
"Sonic! The Gonloon just saved us!" Chris exclaimed.
"Hey, thanks, big guy!" Sonic said gratefully to the Lake Dragon who smiled at him, with a blink to indicate to say 'you're welcome, young friend'.
Julius on the other hand, was utterly shocked to see what happened while three of his men were horrified as they screamed in horror, panicking.
"I-It's-It's the monster!" One of the Soldiers stuttered.
"It's huge!" Cried the second one.
While Julius was admittedly intimidated by the large creature, he grinned as he ordered the Hypnosis Mech. "There's my Gonloon. Go, Hypnosis Mech! Control that beast, so I can command it to destroy Sonic the Hedgehog, find the Chaos Emeralds, capture the little girl and her Chao and rule the planet!"
"Sonic, it's gonna do something!" The twelve year old boy exclaimed as he and his friends saw what the large robot was about to do.
"Brace yourselves! Close your eyes!" Sonic quickly instructed as he, Chris and the Gonloon squeezed their eyes shut to avoid in getting brainwashed.
But just as the robot was about to blink it's red eyes brightly, suddenly there was familiar sound of a plane coming in, causing everyone including Sonic's group to look up and saw the X Tornado with Amy, Cream who was on the pink hedgehog's lap with Cheese, and Helen who had her Wheelchair stored into the plane's storage that Tails built for emergencies, fly in towards them.
"What now!?" Julius grunted.
"It's the plane that little two-tailed fox controls, sir!" A third soldier exclaimed.
"Not that fox again!" The Iron Empire Leader hissed.
"Tails!" Sonic and Chris both exclaimed in relief.
"Hey, Sonic! Here!" Tails cried out while Amy and the others were stunned to see the giant creature that they realized that Helen was right, before the young cub began shooting at the Hypnosis Mech on the side, damaging it and forcing Julius and three of his men to scramble and stumble to avoid in getting hit. Unfortunately for them, the X Tornado's laser missiles hit the controls and causing it to spark, smoke and malfunction, much to the dismay of the soldier that was piloting it.
"The controls are damaged, sir! We're sitting ducks!" He exclaimed.
"NO!" Julius growled.
"Alright, Tails! Now, time to finish this!" Sonic smirked, relieved for the perfect timing as the Gonloon then gestured at him and it's tail and while Chris was puzzled, the blue hedgehog understood what the giant creature wanted to do. "Here we go!"
The blue hedgehog then slid down to the tip of the Gonloon's tail as it then flipped up high into the sky and straight towards the robot and the evil men who flinched and Sonic taunted. "Bye-bye!" He then curled up performing his Homing Attack, smashing straight into the body of the robot and bashed his way until he found the Power Core and smashed it as well before he spun straight out and landed onto the shore to the left.
Julius' creation in the meantime, much to the man's horror, sparked and exploded causing him and his three men to scream before plummeting towards the ground and crashed landed. While the heroes and their friends cheered in victory, Julius coughed and groaned, wincing in agony over the humiliating loss he just endured.
"Curse you, hedgehog...huh?" Julius trailed off when a large shadow suddenly loomed over him and he then stood frozen in sudden fear.
"Ugh...Are you alright, sir?" One of the soldiers asked, only for his superior to silently point up and when he and the other two men looked, they all gasped in horror to see the Gonloon loom over them with an angry glare. And without a robot to save them, plus the Fortress not being able to carry another robot since it was too far away from where they were, they were at the disadvantage.
"This isn't over, Sonic the Hedgehog! I will return!" Julius declared at the blue hedgehog who stood by with a smug grin on his face, before the man gulped nervously as the Gonloon lifted it's foot to stomp them and he quickly made a run for it, screaming at his men. "RUN!"
They narrowly avoided in getting squashed as the Gonloon stomped on the ground and the villains ran away, with everybody else on the Fortress seeing what happened and ultimately decided to simply pick up their leader and fellow comrades before making their escape. Quickly using cables to grab hold of their leader and the other three men before pulling them inside, the Fortress turned invisible once more and flew away.
"I'll be back, you brats! Mark my words, you will be destroyed, by the Iron Empire!" Julius vowed just as he was pulled in the hatched closed up, before the Fortress made it's escape back to the secret base.
Leaving everybody alone once more.
While Sonic was miffed that he lost his chance to get information out of Julius again, he was glad that everybody was safe and sound. A few minutes later, the X Tornado landed and everybody was close to the Gonloon who smiled at them.
"Thanks for all of your help, guys." Sonic said to his friends which included the giant Lake Creature who beamed happily.
"I can't believe we're actually meeting the Gonloon for real! Today's been so exciting!" Helen remarked, unable to believe her luck.
"Mr. Gonloon really does look very nice." Cream said, not afraid anymore as she and the others heard what had happened.
"I'm so glad that you helped the poor thing to get the hook off of it's tail." Amy said happily.
"Me too." Chris agreed.
"Now that the Gonloon's all better and the Iron Empire's gone away, everything should go back to normal now." Tails stated, smiling.
Sonic nodded, gazing up at the giant creature. "Yeah. This is really cool. It's not every day you get to make friends with a Lake Monster who turns out to be really friendly. Maybe we'll see it again in the next 60 years, 'cause I'll be remembering this for the rest of my life."
The Gonloon, while sad that it would have to leave it's new friends behind and that it's old friend Lilian had passed, it was happy to have made friends with the blue hedgehog and the rest of the group, before nuzzling at them after having apologized to Chris who didn't blame it at all, and then dove back into the water to sleep once more, and the young heroes and their friends waved a goodbye, as it waved back with it's tail before pulling it underwater.
Sonic, Chris, Tails, Amy, Helen, Cream and Cheese all smiled happily and shared a laugh over today's exciting experience, one that they would always remember for the rest of their lives.
Later on, Helen was dropped off home as she told her parents of her exciting adventure to her parents at dinner.
"And then we were exploring when Cream and Cheese thought they saw a ghost of a girl that looked just like her, and she lead us through the forest. So there we were, in the middle of all of these beautiful flowers." Helen continued her story. "All of the sudden, their friend Tails came flying in the X Tornado, the plane he built and told us that Sonic and Chris needed help, so we all went-Oh?"
As she was retelling her adventure, the young girl then realized that she finished her stew and requestingly held out her now empty bowl to her mother. "Mama? Could I-"
"Alright." Her mother replied, taking the bowl as she giggled while standing up and headed to the kitchen to serve more. "I don't think I've seen you eat like this."
Helen smiled, before she turned to her father and was about to continue when Doug interrupted a bit awkwardly while standing up. "Now now, hold on, honey. I'm gonna get a refill too. With a story as fascinating as this, I'm gonna need my energy."
"Hurry back, Dad!" Helen called out. "And I'll tell you all about the X Tornado! Amy and Tails let me ride in it."
"Alright, alright." Her father chuckled as he joined his wife into the kitchen and stood next to her, remarking. "Our little girl's had quite the adventure."
"Did you hear? She's so changed. She sound so...so happy." Helen's mother said, tears of happiness at first, before her expression changed into sadness and guilt as she and then her husband realized how they spent too much time working for their daughter's health and less time being around her for support and happiness. "I just want...to be there for her. Spend more time with her."
As she then began to cry, Doug, feeling the same guilt as the realization had hit him so hard, replied and then suggested. "Yeah, I've been working too many hours lately. I haven't spent enough time with the family. Let's plan a day trip to that island Helen loved so much. What do you say?"
That made his wife beam happily over the wonderful idea.
"Mom, Dad! What's taking so long?" Helen called out.
"We're coming, honey." Doug replied as he picked up two bottles as he and his wife then returned to the dining room.
"Sorry, dear." Helen's mother apologetically responded. "Your father and I were having an important discussion."
Helen beamed as she continued. "Hurry, I'm coming to the exciting part! Anyway, Amy and Tails let me ride in the X Tornado plane-"
"The X Tornado? That sounds like an exciting name." Her mother interrupted curiously.
"And I'll bet you rode it straight towards the lake and saw the Gonloon with Sonic and Chris." Doug said, sounding amused.
"No fair, Dad! You're ruining my story!" Helen playfully pouted.
All the while the family were unaware that Sonic, who was reclining in a tree branch just outside of the house, and Amy who, wanting to check up on her new friend, sat beside him, were watching and listening with warm smiles on their faces, having secretly arrived earlier while Chris, having had a lecture, was at home with Tails, Cream and Cheese.
"It looks like Helen got her wish after all." Said Amy, smiling with feeling. "I'm so happy for her."
"Yeah. It was really nice of you and Cream to encourage her, Amy." Sonic agreed with a warm smile.
His self-proclaimed girlfriend giggled, winking at him. "I just did what you would've done, Sonic. If you think the flowers are beautiful in the story, wait 'til you see them for real!"
"Sounds like my kind of thing." The blue hedgehog smirked, winking back as he gave her a thumbs up. "I'd better go see for myself one day."
While she blushed at the silent compliment she got, normally Amy would've flirted with him, but it was late, she didn't want to have Helen and her parents hear them, and decided to try her luck tomorrow. So instead, she responded. "It was so sweet of you to help the Gonloon. I'm just glad that he was so friendly after all."
"Yeah, and a big hero, too. I think Julius nearly passed out in fright." The hero of Mobius teased, making his friend giggle while he laughed, before they turned back to the family home with smiles.
Today had been such an adventure, and Sonic just knew that there were plenty more to come in the near future.
A/N: This had been a difficult episode to write as I've been struggling with what to do with it, especially when I didn't want to end up making another two-part straight after the two previous chapters. I've written two other versions of this, but felt that they were too long. So I redid the original Sonic X Episode 14 with a story based on that as well as that of another TV show I used to watch when I was younger. Let's hope the future episodes won't be as hard(If I'm able to).
Until then, please be safe, and I'll try and update again if my computer doesn't cause me any problems. But I'm not sure at this point and I'm really worried. Guess we'll wait and see what happens.
See you later!