Author's Note: We're getting pretty close to the end of the first arc of this story, and then we reach the second and final arc! Though there's still about maybe four more episodes before we reach the beginning of the ultimate trial. Let's do it to it!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 22: The Cruising Nightmare-Part 1.
A week has passed since the race as well as Jerome's dismissal due to his actions in wanting to keep his job only to lose it entirely, and things were relatively back to normal for Sonic and his friends. Though while they were still nowhere near closer to locating Cream's mother or the Iron Empire's secret base, the group knew they only needed to find two more Chaos Emeralds.
As apology for Jerome's actions and Nelson Thorndyke's assistance, the young heroes and Chuck were given tickets for a vacation cruise on the latter's big yacht despite the blue hedgehog's concerns that the Iron Empire could attack, so he had no choice but to accept...
Except one small problem. It's already been four days and it was going to take another four to get to Eastside Island, which is said to be similar to Westside Island and has beautiful beaches and villages with friendly people.
"Four days!?" Sonic exclaimed in horror, once he was told how long it was going to take. Meaning that he will be trapped on this boat, in the middle of the ocean with no escape, and be a nervous wreck.
"So we're only half way there, huh?" Tails remarked, surprised.
"Yachts sure do go slow, don't they?" Cream said.
By then, the panicking hero of Mobius knelt beside Chris who was relaxing on a beach chair dressed in summer clothes, ready to cry in fear. "Gimme a break, will ya'?"
In fact, as Chris laughed nervously while remembering that the fourteen year old can't swim and had aquaphobia, the teenager was practically pleading for mercy.
"Come on, pal, I don't take to water. Can't you see I'm getting seasick here?" Sonic was so upset that his emerald green eyes were watering with tears, and going for a hysterical break down due to not just being stuck here, but also fearing for Cream and Cheese' safeties. "Please, I'm beg you! I'm going crazy! Get me off of this thing!"
He then ran all over the ship, not knowing what to do.
Later that night, most of the children and Chris' grandfather were in one of the interior cabins relaxing on the couches and chairs as Chuck, feeling seasick for a different reason, had just taken the seasick medications.
"There, I feel much better now." Chuck sighed in relief.
"Did you take the seasick pills the doctor gave you?" Chris asked, curiously as he was worried for his grandfather's health since the elder Thorndyke wasn't a spring chicken anymore.
"I sure did, my boy. And now that old Grandpa's feeling better, we're going to have a lot more fun!" The kind scientist laughed as the others agreed, right before he slumped against the couch and instantly fell asleep, making his grandson and the Mobians sweat drop a little.
"Chuck sure is enjoying himself." Amy remarked.
"I've never been on a cruise ship before." Tails spoke up, changing the subject. "I'd like to try out the surf simulator on the deck."
"Me too! Especially since Sonic's been teaching us how to do that as well as snowboarding." Chris happily agreed.
"Yeah, plus it'll be good practice to try out the Extreme Gear someday with Sonic and maybe enter the Grand Prix races with Manny." The two-tailed fox added.
"That sounds like fun!" Cream beamed, with Cheese chirping with excitement, just as Sonic came dashing by to try and take his mind off of being stuck on the board and keep his legs moving as much as possible.
"Well, I want to relax getting a tan and go swimming in the pools." The pink hedgehog declared smiling.
"It was very nice of Mr. Thorndyke and the President to let us have some fun here." Tails stated happily.
"And Mr. Thorndyke let us use this yacht out of the goodness of his heart. He's such a very nice man." Cream nodded in agreement, and the others all nodded in agreement.
"Except one problem. I'm worried about Sonic." The twelve year old boy murmured, quickly earning slightly confused and concerned expressions from his younger friends.
"Is it because he can't swim?" The five year old girl asked, worriedly.
Chris nodded. "Yeah, but also quite a few things. I think he feels trapped and...He's worried about if the Iron Empire would attack. Eggman he can take down since that guy shows up and always loses, but Julius is a different story."
The others saw the point and Cream lowered her gaze in concern, as well as growing guilt. She didn't think that her and Cheese's safeties really made Sonic fear for their lives considering how the two were the main targets for the Iron Empire. At the same time, if the blue hedgehog didn't come with, he must be scared that anything could happen while trying not to be overprotective.
Her thoughts were interrupted slightly as the hero of Mobius came rushing by for the second time...or perhaps it was the fifth time this evening.
"Here we comes again." Cream muttered, before the blue hedgehog dashed by once more repeatedly, back and forth.
"I've seen Sonic go stir-crazy before, but I've never seen anything as bad as this." Tails blinked, worried for his big brother's well-being.
Amy on the other hand, very annoyed by her 'boyfriend's' behavior and overreaction, decided to take matters into her own hands. "Okay, it's time for a meeting."
With that, she marched to stand in front of his path in front of the group and held out a hand, saying loudly. "Halt!"
It worked, as Sonic, a bit surprised, came to a screeching halt and stood still in an unintentional attention.
"Alright, Sonic. Let's have a little talk." She demanded, glaring at the older hedgehog.
"About what?" Sonic asked, confused while still in a panicked daze.
"About you."
"About me?"
Amy gave him a glare, her hands on her hips as she told him sternly. "Yes, and about the way you're acting. I've never seen such immature behavior. You're fourteen years old and you're growing up to be a man. We're on this ship for 10 more days and 10 more nights. Get used to it!"
'TEN MORE DAYS AND NIGHTS!? Oh! No no no no no no!' Sonic, horrified to hear this and feeling like he was about to lose his mind, panicked frantically like a lunatic before letting lose waterworks as he clasped his hands together while silently praying. 'Oh, please! Lords of all good things above! Spare me and my friends from this nightmare! Please don't let the Iron Empire attack us! I wanna go home!'
While he panicked, his self-proclaimed girlfriend continued firmly while attempting to encourage him. "Be brave! And just remember, bravery is not the absence of fear, but the facing of it. Nobody wants to see their hero carrying on like a big crybaby. They thought of him to meet every challenge head-on. Remember that, Sonic."
By then, the blue hedgehog curled up slightly onto his hands with his head down, seemingly allowing the words sink in, while their friends gazed at the pink hedgehog in awe and slight fear.
"You think Amy got to him?" Tails whispered to Chris, who shrugged, having no clue.
"Now go for it, hero, and keep your head held high!" Amy declared, as Sonic then stood up and began to walk off.
The teenage Mobian then paused as the feeling of uncomfortable hopelessness surged right to the core. It was easy to ensure that his friends would be safe on land since he can easily get back to them very quickly. But it was comes to the air and especially water, his worst fears and nightmare, unless he stayed and made sure nothing happened, there wasn't a thing he could do. But if he had denied it, Sonic would be a complete worry-whale with fears that Robotnik's evil brother could attack from the ocean again.
Either way, Sonic knew he wasn't going to be able to relax until they got home.
"I'm...gonna go to bed. Night, guys." The blue hedgehog sighed, waving them off and walked away to head into one of the bed cabins and leaving his friends behind.
"Guess he's feeling tired." Amy blinked, surprised before sighing. "I must be overwhelming."
"Maybe he's feeling sick." Cream wondered in deep concern.
"Maybe we should send him home. Just in case." Tails suggested.
Chris nodded in agreement, feeling sorry for the hero of Mobius. "Good idea. I'll call Dad."
Unaware that while he did want to go home, Sonic had no intentions of leaving until he knew they were all back on the mainland. Plus, he wanted his friends to have fun and make sure that he can do something to protect them, especially Cream and Cheese. Amy's words rang in his mind even as he entered the bedroom and laid down, staring up at the ceiling with a sad sigh.
"Amy's right. I can't be a crybaby. But I can't get over my fears, either. I've gotta relax somehow, or else it'll ruin everybody's vacation." Sonic whispered to himself, placing his hands behind his head with a groan. "I'm only fourteen years old for crying out loud, yet I'm starting to feel like a parent."
Who knew that worrying about kids over potential dangers could really bring a person down? No wonder his own parents constantly worried about him and Tails. Well, maybe not their Dad so much since Jules knew that Sonic and his little brother can take care of themselves. His mother on the other hand...well, it was a natural thing for Bernadette to worry. Most mothers do.
"Think I'm starting to act like my Mom." The blue hedgehog sighed, before closing his eyes to hopefully try and get some sleep.
Little did everybody know was that the yacht was being spied on by the Iron Empire's fish robot which recorded their movements, it's red eyes blinking before diving back under the sea to continue following it. It's goal was to ensure Julius would use this opportunity to capture Cream and Cheese and destroy Sonic at the one place where the blue hedgehog can't escape.
The ocean, and this time, it would not be a repeat on what happened in the Grand Blue Sapphire Sea.
The next morning, Sonic has had a restless sleep as he ended up having nightmares, whimpering and clutching the bed sheets, unaware that Chris came tip-toing towards him.
"Sonic? Hey, Sonic. Wake up." The twelve year old boy whispered, gently shaking his older friend's shoulder, only to jump startled when the fourteen year old jolted awake in fear.
"AAAAH! It's Ebirah the giant sea monster! He's gonna attack us!" The blue hedgehog screamed, panicking before he panted and his vision cleared. He looked around in disoritention while beginning to realize what happened.
"Calm down, Sonic. There's no sea monster. You were having a bad dream again." Chris gently reassured, feeling sorry for his friend. Being on the boat really must be frightening his friend so much that he's having nightmares.
Now feeling embarrassed for screaming out, Sonic groaned while placing a hand to his head while turning to his friend. "I think I've gotta stop watching all those Godzilla movies for a while. Especially when I'm out at sea."
"Well, there's no need to worry about that anymore. The ride's almost here." His human friend told him sympathetically, much to the blue hedgehog's confusion as he blinked.
Out on the helicopter landing pad on the deck, Sonic was surprised to see the very craft land with his friends behind him.
"You called your Dad to take me back home?" The hero of Mobius asked, bewildered. He had to admit he did act like a misbehaved young child last night, but he wasn't expecting his friends to actually call in for a helicopter.
"We thought that you were feeling unwell, Mr. Sonic, since you don't like being in the water." Cream softly explained.
"I don't think he's sick. He looks fine to me." Amy pointed out, once again her hands on her hips.
Chris shrugged, stating. "It's okay. After all, why make him stay on the boat if he doesn't want to?"
Even though Sonic was grateful for having brought him a ride back to the mainland, he felt very uneasy as for the first time in his life, he was really worried. Normally things like this shouldn't even borther him, and he really didn't want to stay, but his stomach churned over the unusual anxiety, feeling guilty for messing up his friends' vacation.
Whether he liked it or not, he would not feel comfortable until his friends were safe and he would feel more at ease when the Iron Empire were found and locked up in prison for the rest of their lives. So, despite his legs feeling like jelly over the idea of spending another ten whole days trapped on the boat, hoping against hope that the Iron Empire were not around and would attack, he had to man up and maybe pretend they weren't in the middle of the ocean.
"Hmmm...Nah, I'll stick around." Sonic casually waved, which surprised his friends. "What's the rush?"
"Sonic...are you sure you're okay?" Tails asked, a little uneasily.
"Don't you want to go home?" Cream added in concern.
"Chao, Chao?" Cheese blinked, confused.
"Well, I do, but I'd feel bad about messing up your vacation. I'll just...try and stay well away from the water." The blue hedgehog shrugged awkwardly, making his younger companions stare blankly. "Anyway, thanks for the ride, Chris, but I'll give the pilot some tip as an apology for coming all this way for nothin'. Maybe tell him to take some time off too."
But just as the doors opened and Sonic was about to step in to make his apology, he gaped in utter confusion and shock when he and his just as surprised friends see not only a group of senior people who looked like they were here for vacation from their retirement village, but also two familiar blue hedgehogs that were younger than the humans that stood behind them, but older than Sonic: Jules who was now wearing a cyan blue shirt with palm trees and sea gulls on it, a pair of thongs and sunglasses, and Bernadette who was wearing a white flower dress with a matching sun hat, and sandels while carrying a knitted hand-bag.
"Hey there, kiddos. Surprise!" Jules greeted, grinning much like Sonic would while lifting his shades to his forehead.
"Mom!? Dad!?" Sonic and Tails both chorused, their minds going blank upon seeing their parents having come aboard the ship.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog?" Amy blinked, stunned.
"Sonic! Tails!" Bernadette greeted happily, racing over and hugged her bewildered eldest son who just stood there, frozen, and then her youngest adopted son who went over, surprised before joining in. "Oh, my beautiful brave boys! I've missed you so much!"
"Um, i-it's great to see you too, Mom, but, what are you and Dad doing here?" Tails asked, a bit awkwardly to see his adoptive parents.
"We're here for vacation, of course." The female hedgehog smiled brightly, before gazing at the youngest female hedgehog in the background. "Amy, it's so good to see you again."
"Same here, Mrs. Hedgehog. I didn't expect to see you." Amy greeted back, smiling happily. She always did like Sonic's parents. They were such very nice people since they not only adopted Tails willingly even under Sonic's request, but they also treated her like she was a daughter to them.
"Wow!" Cream beamed happily, as she and Cheese excitedly ran over to greet the two hedgehog parents while Chris stood there, shocked. "Hello! Are you Mr. Sonic's Mommy and Daddy?"
Noticing the adorable little girl with them, Jules and Bernadette nodded with older male hedgehog responded. "That's right. I'm Jules, and this is my wife Bernadette, who I call Bernie."
"You must be Cream and that little munchkin is Cheese, right?" Bernadette greeted back.
"Mm-hm! I heard a lot about you, Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog. You're really nice." The five year old rabbit girl nodded, and then said to Sonic's mother. "And you look very beautiful."
"Oh, what a cute little sweetheart. Thank you." Sonic's mother smiled warmly, her and Jules' hearts melted over such polite, well-mannered and very well behaved young girl.
"And you must be Chris. Pleasure to meet you." Jules then turned to the human boy who, a bit awkwardly, nodded back.
"It's nice to meet you and Mrs. Hedgehog too, Mr. Hedgehog." The young Thorndyke responded, before noticing the elder humans and asked. "But um, who are these people?"
"Yeah, Dad. What's going on here?" Sonic added to his father.
"Well..." The older male hedgehog began, but was cut off by another familiar voice behind him and his wife.
"Good morning. Nice day." The voice belonged to none other than Tanaka who also stepped out, smiling warmly while the senior people began wanting to get up close to Sonic who flinched blinking, and Jules looked at them, unimpressed.
"Mr. Tanaka? What are you doing here? What's going on?" Chris asked, now even more dumbfounded.
"These people are joining us from the Silver Star Retirement home. It is Mr. Thorndyke's hope that you and your friends will learn from them as well as from Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog. They will be your coaches, you see." Tanaka explained calmly, though it didn't sound like it was Nelson's idea to begin with.
In fact, it was secretly Tanaka's who suggested his boss to hire some coaches after hearing Sonic's anxiety.
"With all due respect, Mr. Tanaka, I only heard Mr. Thorndyke in allowing my wife and I come here and it was your idea to bring in these people." Jules however pointed out, more than a little annoyed.
"Coaches?" Chris raised an eyebrow.
"It wasn't Mr. Thorndyke's idea as we knew you kids would be fine relaxing-except for Sonic-" Bernadette began, and gave a knowing look at her son who couldn't help but grumble, knowing that she was right but didn't want to admit it. "But Mr. Tanaka insisted on these kind people to teach you how to relax properly."
"You see, they have all worked hard for many years and now the time has come for them to relax. They will teach you how to as well." The kindly butler added.
Chris though didn't seem to like this idea, as he held up his hands. "No thanks, Mr. Tanaka. I just wanted the helicopter to take Sonic back to the mainland."
"Chris, I told ya', I'll-"
"He will remain here!" Tanaka declared sternly, startling almost everyone at his sudden command, before explaining more dramatically with movements which only made the kids and the two Mobian adults sweat drop. "Even a great warrior needs his rest. Constant battle not only exhausts the body, but also the mind. The warrior must relax and be rejuvenated so that when next he goes to battle, he is mightier than before!"
He then pointed at Jules who flinched, while adding. "The same goes for his father who has yet to fully learn how to relax as he has returned from his days as the finest soldier of the King of Mobotropolis of South Island! Sonic is his warrior son and it runs in the family dynasty to follow in his footsteps and surpass him!"
"No, it doesn't." Sonic facepalmed himself, very embarrassed. "Sure, I take after my parents when it comes for caring others, but the main reason why I became a hero was because I was the only one fast enough to stop Eggman at the time. I didn't even want to become a soldier like my father. My dream was to be an adventurer, make friends and see the world."
The fourteen year old quickly turned to his father, saying. "No offense."
"None taken. It wasn't my place to force you to do anything, anyway. I wanted you to live your own life." Jules replied, before whispering to his son uncomfortably. "But is there any explanation why your friend's butler is acting this way?"
"Too many kung fu movies." Sonic answered, exasperated.
To make things worse, while he was happy to see his parents again, now because of him his friends' vacation just turned into an early retirement boat schooling, not being able to have fun at all with all the other activities the yacht has. Instead, they're all stuck getting lessons from these old people.
Which would only increase the teenage hedgehog's anxiety.
Shortly after Tanaka left in the helicopter after having forced Sonic to stay anyway to teach him how to fully relax, the group attempted to renew their vacation with both the hero's mother and father and the senior people joining them. Sadly, it wasn't going as well as one would hope as the elderly adults just simply didn't allow anybody to relax on their own. Tails attempted to read while relaxing on a beach chair, but an elderly lady attempting to make him look up at the sky and clouds instead.
Another lady kept asking Chris the same question on how he met Sonic over and over again, and Amy attempted to play shuffleboard with another person only to get into her mind that her 'boyfriend' may have charming effects on other girls.
Luckily Cream and Cheese didn't have any problems as they were already bonding with Bernadette who surprisingly revealed quite a few things.
"You really been to Floral Forest Village, Mrs. Hedgehog?" Cream asked, curiously.
"That's right, sweetie. I've been there once when I was a little girl myself, close to around Tails' age." The female hedgehog nodded. "I used to go play in the beautiful flower fields since it was one of my favorite places to be."
"Wow! I love going there too. I would pick the most prettiest flowers and I even made my mother a flower crown." The young girl remarked, even though it brought back the reminder of how she was still motherless at the moment, but she still had faith in Sonic even though she felt terrible for putting him through such stress.
"I bet your mother really loved it. I'm just sorry for what has happened. It's so terrible that she has been kidnapped." Bernadette replied, as given what she has heard, she still felt her heart break for the young child having gone through the loss of her only family.
Cream couldn't help but lower her gaze in sadness, muttering. "I still really miss her, but I feel awful because Mr. Sonic tries so hard to find my Mom. I didn't mean to make him feel so terrible since he hasn't yet and now I just want him to be happy and not worry. I also think that he can't relax because he's worried about all of us because of the Iron Empire."
"Chao..." Cheese mumbled worriedly as he gazed at his best friend.
"Oh, sweetie." The adult female hedgehog whispered, gently rubbing the young girl on the head. "It isn't your fault. My Sonic only wants to make you happy and safe. It's always been in his nature to think of others first before himself. He takes after not just me, but also his father and uncle. He also worries because he deeply cares about you and your friends."
"You think so?" The five year old asked, looking back at the hedgehog mother who, like Lindsey, was a loving parent and reminded Cream of her own mother just as well.
Bernadette nodded. "I know so. A mother knows a lot of things about their children, after all. I have faith that your mother will be alright and she is thinking of you every single day, and one day soon you two will be together again."
Feeling faith renewed and attempting to find ways to make Sonic feel better, Cream nodded her thanks, understanding why her older friend was so fond of his mother. She was just as kind and caring.
Sadly for both Sonic and Jules, neither one could relax at all as the former felt just as nervous and worried now that he had even more people to worry about, while the latter was grumpy due to Tanaka's ridiculous beliefs and behavior, especially towards his son.
"I know that your uncle once told me that I had high anxiety problems when I was kid whenever something stresses me out, but I think you're even worse at it than I am." Jules sighed, leaning against the wall as Sonic paced back and forth in front of him.
"Sorry, Dad. I can't help it. It's just that you know what I'm like when it comes to water and I really do wanna get off of this boat, but at the same time I can't leave 'cause the Iron Empire could use this to their advantage to destroy it and kidnap everybody on board. Especially Cream and Cheese since they're Julius' number 1 targets." Sonic responded, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to relax now.
"Didn't you consider in telling them this was a bad idea?"
"I sorta did, but I didn't want to ruin the others' vacation. Plus the President did give this out as an apology even though I can't swim." The younger paused, realizing now how stupid he was and sighed, placing a hand to his face. "I should've told him to come up with an alternative that was on land, so I wouldn't worry so much. What was I thinking?"
The oldest hedgehog paused, before realizing what was going on and approached his distressed son, whispering. "You really care for Cream and Cheese, don't you? You love them just as you love Tails, Amy and your other new friend, Chris."
"How could I not? Cream's like a very sweet little sister and I wanna make her happy. I've been trying so hard to find her Mom, but each time I failed and let her down. It's my fault I couldn't find Vanilla yet, and if anything...if anything happens to all of you, especially Cream and Cheese...I'll never...I'll never forgive myself." Sonic whispered, even more stressed even though he forced himself to try and stay calm. "What kind of hero gets scared and let's people down?"
"Sonic, even heroes have certain fears, and you shouldn't think that you're not allowed to express your feelings." Jules gently but firmly pointed out, placing his hands onto the teenager's shoulders once he knew that the younger hedgehog wouldn't be pacing again. "Here's a piece of an advice. To relax, try and think of something that isn't just one thing only. Imagine yourself a calming place with other hobbies you like to do and it will set your mind at ease, distracting you from the things you're afraid of the most."
As Sonic listened to his father's words, even though he didn't feel like anything was going to help him right now for the next nine days, he began to think of other things he liked to do besides running. Hanging out with his friends, seeing different places, eating delicious food(especially Chili Dogs) and once in a while play with his guitar as that always made him go with the wind-
The thoughts of his guitar made him freeze up his thoughts. 'Wait a second. Isn't there a rental music room with all kinds of instruments on this boat?'
"Dad..." The fourteen year old began, his eyes widening. "I think you just gave me an idea."
All he had to do now was check and see if this boat had what he needed.
Meanwhile, in the underwater Iron Empire base, Julius was monitoring every movement the yacht was doing for the last couple of days and grinned wickedly.
"Sir, we have reason to believe that the ship Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies are on is heading straight towards Eastside Island, the tourist destination of the ancient writings foretelling of the secrets of Chao and the Chaos Emeralds." One of the assistants reported.
"All in the right perfect time. Finally, we're getting very close." Julius snickered evilly, before making his commands. "Be ready to launch Tenta-Code-1 and attack that ship in the next few days."
"Yes, sir." All of those under his command responded, leaving the room and their leader who began chuckling darkly to himself.
"Very soon, little girl. You, that Chao and those Chaos Emeralds will be mine, and so will the secrets of Eastside Island." The Leader of the Iron Empire whispered, before standing up as he approached the window with his hands behind his back. "That foolish child Sonic will never stop me, because once I get all of those secrets, all of Mobius will bow to the Iron Empire."
Yet Julius Robotnik frowned as he knew there was still one other problem to his plans that he must get rid of sooner or later.
Dr. Ivo Robotnik.
Another couple of days passed and soon everybody began to really relax and have fun. Except Sonic who was still attempting to calm down despite his fears of water as well as keeping an eye out on any Iron Empire attacks. He was bored, so he decided to try and figure out how to pass time by going for what his father suggested.
The blue hedgehog had been practicting on something, and it wasn't until he went to the instrument rental room that he finally made his choice.
"Will this be all, Mr. Sonic?" The musician clerk asked, as Sonic was renting out an impressively electric guitar that was surprisingly on board all things considered.
"Yep, this will do." Sonic replied proudly, paying for at least a week's rent until he and his friends and family got back home.
"I'm impressed. You never cease to amaze anybody in your life style." The man stated, smiling.
"Yeah, well, what can I say? I have a taste for pretty good music." The hero of Mobius smirked back. "I'd play my own guitar, but I left it at home."
"Well, hope you enjoy playing it, just as long as it's not loud rock 'n roll."
"Don't worry. Already got that covered." The teenager winked.
Minutes later, Sonic was on top of the roof near the entrance of the insides of the ship's mall hallway, safely from the water as far as he could with his rented Opal green guitar. He let the sun's warmth and the salty sea breeze soak him while thinking of the song he'd planned on playing without killing everybody's eardrums.
Normally he'd go for electric songs with great singing, but as the yacht had people who would prefer peace and quiet, he opted for a more gentle song instead. So the cobalt speedster began strumming on the strings with a gentle, soft and lovely melody filling the air. He wasn't a good musician or singer, but at least he can try, right?
Then Sonic softly sang, his eyes closed as he played, while listening to the music, the wind and even the seagulls squawking in the sky.
Yet he was unaware that everybody who were doing fun activities heard the gentle music and, wondering where it was coming from before hearing a young male sing a very lovely tune, one by one the people followed the sound of the beautiful song. By then, Cream and Cheese, Chris, Tails, Amy, Chuck, Jules, Bernadette, and the seniors and even the captain and crew came out to see Sonic the Hedgehog play and sing, much to their surprise.
The hero of Mobius continued singing and felt as though he was speaking with his heart.
"Wow..." Tails, Chris, and Cream breathed in awe while Amy felt her heart flutter, her eyes sparkling and a blush forming on her muzzle with her hands clasped together. Everyone felt touched by the song and some even began to sing along in their thoughts.
And the more he did, the more his unexpected audience felt soothed and becoming more relaxed at just how calm he really looked playing with the guitar that no one wanted to interrupt him.
After he played the guitar in silence, it's almost like he was in a peaceful valley of a green field with the fresh air's wind blowing against his face and quills, leaving him in calming peace. For the last part of the song, Sonic trailed the lyrics slowly with a last soft strumming of the guitar and concluding his performance.
This was met by a cheerful applaud, cheers and whistles which brought Sonic out of his calm and for once relaxed position. Confused as he murmured an 'Huh?', the blue hedgehog looked down and to his surprise and complete embarrassment, all of his friends, his family and the seniors had heard the whole thing and were holding smiles on their faces.
"That was very beautiful, Mr. Sonic!" Cream cheered, amazed as her heart melted for the song and for her older friend's wonderful singing.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese clapped excitedly.
"I didn't know he could sing!" Chris remarked in awe.
"He does, but I've only caught him singing once or twice. Sonic doesn't usually do it in the public." Tails explained, finding the song to be his new favorite.
"Extraordinary! I never knew Sonic would have such talent." Chuck stated over the teenager's skills in almost anything.
"That's our son." Jules smiled proudly.
"I'm so proud of him." Bernadette beamed happily.
Amy, while having half-thought the song was romantic and was disappointed that it was really about friendship and not love, felt soothed and clapped the loudest. "Yeah! Go, Sonic! I love your singing and that song was just magnificent!"
By then, everybody was making their own compliments on their positive thoughts on Sonic's talent, while the blue hedgehog blushed sheepishly, scratching the side of his face.
"Aw, c'mon, guys. It was nothin', really." The bashful fourteen year old said. He didn't think he was that good of a singer, because in his mind, he sounded terrible. "I'm not that great."
"You shouldn't underestimate yourself, young man." One of the elderly women said warmly. "Your wonderful singing has made not just yourself relax, but it relaxed us all in the most unexpected and beautiful way. Even the lyrics has a meaning to being calm."
"She's right, Sonic. You've got a really great singing voice." Tails agreed happily.
Even though Sonic didn't agree he was that good, he just smiled in a goofy way, muttering awkwardly. "Oh, man. This is embarrassing."
Despite all of this, Sonic began to realize that this was his way of being calm and relaxed and that maybe playing music to keep his mind off of stress and being stuck in the middle of the ocean wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Unbeknownst to everyone, the Egg Fort was parked underneath the ocean near the Eastside Island, where Robotnik, Decoe and Bocoe were scanning around searching for yet another Chaos Emerald that was unexpectedly detected.
"Those dimwits think they can get all of the Chaos Emeralds before me, but what they don't realize is that I'm already one step ahead of them yet again this time." The evil scientist was grinning to himself, pleased with the fact that he was ahead of Sonic in finding one of the last two Chaos Emeralds.
"I'm surprised that a Chaos Emerald is on an island which is the opposite of the Westside Island." Decoe remarked as he and Bocoe followed their boss close behind with the metal detectors in hand.
"That is true, but we can't forget that Sonic and his friends have four and we have none." Bocoe pointed out. "Then again, we're not sure if either Knuckles or the Iron Empire have any yet either."
"That's why we must make haste before those brats and Iron Idiots do!" Robotnik shouted. "Not to mention I'd built another secret base beneath the sea just recently. In a much better condition than the one near Soleanna."
"Huh?" The two dumbots gaped in shock.
"How come we never knew that, doctor?" Decoe asked, surprised.
"And if there was one in Soleanna, why not go back there?" The shorter robot questioned, curiously.
"Because if I told any of you, it wouldn't be a secret! Heh, it's required of all evil geniuses to be smart as well as sneaky!" The mad doctor cackled. "I've even come up with names with three new flying fortresses, one for each of us."
"You mean we get our own flying fortress each?" Bocoe asked, he and the taller yellow robot's eyes widened in surprise. That was probably the nicest thing their creator has ever given them.
"Wow! That's very generous of you, Dr. Robotnik! You really outdid yourself." Decoe remarked. "I cannot wait to see the look on Sonic's face when he sees our own powerful new Decoe-Bocoe XL Super Ultra!"
That didn't please Robotnik as he interrupted his lacky angrily, much to the latter's confusion. "Hold your horses, you dolt-headed donkey! Who gave you permission to name anything around here? I'm the boss, I'll do the naming!"
"You named them already?" Bocoe wondered.
"Of course I did!" The mad scientist smirked. "There's Decoe 2, Bocoe 2, and best of all, the XL Super Ultra Robotnik Extreme!"
That didn't please the two robots at all as the shortest one angrily commented. "I do not like those names."
"Neither do I!" The taller robot complained loudly. "Why do our sections get boring names and your section gets a big long fancy one with cool words like Super Ultra Extreme?"
"We should be able to name our own sections!"
Robotnik growled in sheer annoyance over that. "Well excuse me! I thought I was doing you a favor by naming them for you!" He then pulled out a book out of nowhere.
"Maybe you should've asked us first." Decoe stated.
"Alright, alright! Don't get snippy! I've written some second and third choices in here. What about Ace, Jack, King?" The evil scientist looked into his book...which pretty much made his two minions stare at him dumbfounded.
"Nope." Decoe shook his head.
"I don't even play cards." Bocoe commented.
"Rock, paper, scissors?" Robotnik suggested, a bit awkwardly.
"You can't be serious." Decoe grumbled in a deadpanned tone.
Now finding himself lost and awkwardly failing to come up with good decent names to make his robots happy, Robotnik continued suggesting. "Erm...eeny, meeny, miney? Eh, X, Y, Z?(1) How does egg, egger, and eggy scramble sound? I think that could work."
That only made the two robots sweat drop over the ridiculous names their creator has even come up with. Just where did he get all of those lame ideas?
Before Robotnik could continue however, they then heard a bit of a rumbling sound which made him, Decoe and Bocoe nearly jump in fright while the evil scientist demanded nervously. "What's going on now!?"
"Oh no!" Bocoe suddenly shouted when he and his companion looked towards the shores of the beach of the island.
Becoming emerging from the water was another giant robot which strangely enough looked identical to Octoron before Sonic destroyed it several weeks ago, only it had four metal like tentacles on it's squid-like body, beady black and red eyes, four thick strong legs, an extra eye on top of it's head with an in-built camera, and the unmistakeable logo of the Iron Empire, ready to storm the island and locate it's secrets.
"It's the Iron Empire, and they stole Dr. Robotnik's designs!" Decoe screamed hysterically, nearly breaking apart in panic.
"How dare that infuriating brother who keeps on stealing my ideas!?" Robotnik shouted, furiously. "I made Octoron first!"
"Never mind that! We better hide before that thing decides to crush us like insects!" The shorter dumbot exclaimed fearfully.
Seeing the point and realizing they were at risk of being spotted, Robotnik nervously decided the best course of action was to try and hide somewhere on this island. "Excellent idea...RUN FOR IT!"
Quickly running away in fear since they were too far from their main ride, the bumbling evil trio quickly attempted to hide to avoid in Julius killing the evil scientist and smashing the two robots into junk heap. Panting and wheezing already, Robotnik, Decoe and Bocoe, accidentally dropping the metal detectors along the way, quickly spotted the entrance of a cave and at the doctor's orders, attempted to go faster before practically leaping inside and went deeper just in case.
Keeping quiet, they sighed in relief that they seem to be safe for the time being...except they found themselves in another problem.
"We're trapped, doctor. If they find us here, we're all doomed." Decoe moaned in hopelessness.
"Quiet!" Robotnik hissed, quickly covering the robot's head with his hands and shoving him to the ground. "They'll hear us! It's clear that they know that the Chaos Emerald is located on this island and will come for it."
"Not if we figure out how to get off with it first." Bocoe whispered all of the sudden, as while his companion and creator spoke, he felt he was sitting on something hard and looked underneath him to see something white and shiny. Having been surprised that it looked odd, he silently dug it out of the ground.
When the other two looked to see what he was talking about, the grey robot held out, to their surprise, the white/silver Chaos Emerald, which unbeknownst to them all and to Sonic's group, was the last emerald itself, meaning that they were all finally found.
Sonic's group had four, and now Knuckles, Robotnik and the Iron Empire had one each.
"Yes! Finally! Another Chaos Emerald!" Robotnik whispered in glee, snatching it from Bocoe's right hand. "And now it's all mine!"
"Hey, look, doctor!" Decoe whispered, pointing in front of them.
Briefly snapped out of his marveling of the Chaos Emerald, in annoyance, the evil scientist looked up and what he and Bocoe saw made them all realize they were inside a temple, with ancient writing of a language long lost and neither could understand without decipering with a code or a translator. It even had quite a number of pictures which made them realize it foretold more untold stories of the origins of the Chaos Emeralds, as well as pictures of Chao, some surprisingly surrounding a little girl who, much to their shock, resembled to Cream, a figure which looked horrifically like Julius, and as the murals went further down into the tunnel, more Chao surrounding the Master Emerald shrine.
"I can't believe it..." Robotnik whispered in shock, standing up as he went for a closer look. "So this is what Julius is after. That little Creamy Dreamy girl is connected to all of this...and very possibly...my own brother himself."
"But that's impossible. Julius only a few years older than you." Decoe pointed out in disbelief, standing up with Bocoe.
"Maybe it's family relation which would make both Cream and Julius identical." The shorter robot suggested.
"It could be. But I need to deciper this even further. With this, I could use it against my brother and his ridiculous cohorts. But from the looks of things, it doesn't look very pleasent even to my taste." The evil scientist hummed thoughtfully as he studied the pictures with his evil mind.
True to his word, there was an image of the very same evil man that resembled to Julius, all giant with the Chaos Emeralds surrounding him and the little girl and Chao in his clutches, with a golden small figure that looked like a hedgehog fighting him.
"Or perhaps this could be an ancient prophecy related to Sonic's power." Robotnik continued, and at his two minons' confusion, he continued. "The first prophecy foretold the legend that a true chosen one would harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds with a strong heart and mind, and that chosen one is Sonic himself. If he has all seven, he can transform into an nearly unbeatable powerful form called Super Sonic. I had that experience of being defeated by him in that form more times than I can count."
"Then, that means..." Decoe trailed off in horror.
"Julius Robotnik could try and solve this mystery with the Chaos Emeralds and the Chao as well as the Master Emerald to grow into a giant!?" Bocoe whispered, terrified.
"That would make him just as unstoppable. I must get the Chaos Emeralds first before either one do...Oh?" Robotnik, just as horrified, trailed off when he noticed the other paintings close to the ones foretelling the dark future.
One that held an unusual liquid-like creature in a short humanoid form seemingly inside the Master Emerald, a female echidna doing some sort of prayer with Chao, and fallen echidna soldiers lying on the ground with the Chaos Emeralds surrounding them. What was more strange was that the figure in the giant Emerald had some sort of blob in it's head that looked like...it's brain?
"What's this?" The evil scientist murmured, curiously. The more he studied this one, the more another realization and an evil idea formed into his mind.
Well...it seems he found a lot more than what he bargained for.
Back on the cruise liner, more days passed and Sonic, while still worried that the Iron Empire would attack and wishing to get off the boat, finally began to relax by playing music to himself to kill time, run around the ship without hurting anybody and even had fun chats with his family and friends who were pleased that he finally calmed down enough to enjoy himself.
"Who would have thought it'd take music to get Sonic to relax?" Chuck remarked, seeing the blue teenager having fallen asleep on the deck chair under the shade.
"My son's just full of surprises. You wouldn't believe what he would go through even at such a young age." Jules chuckled, smiling softly. "I remember one time when he woke up early in the morning and attempted to wake my brother up so that he wouldn't get into trouble with Bernie."
"Why do you say that, if you don't mind me asking?" The elder Thorndyke asked, curiously.
The adult blue hedgehog smirked. "Charles would most of the time end up falling asleep in his lab and get scolded. Even Sonic knew not to mess with his mother."
That made the human man laugh. "He sure is bright alright."
"Yeah. Sonic's a brave kid and while I do worry about his safety, I know that he can take care of himself. His heart will always be in the right place." Jules nodded in agreement.
While the two men talked, Sonic was softly snoring when Chris called out to him and the others, making the blue hedgehog blink his eyes open. "Hey, guys! Come and see this!"
"Huh?" Curious, Sonic got up before joining his human best friend and the others to the railing while attempting to avoid in looking down into the water. "What's goin' on, Chris?"
"Look at that!"
When the teenage hero's group did, they gaped in surprise to see a whale jump out of the ocean, blowing water out of his blowhole. Though it was smaller than the one they saw back at the Grand Blue Sapphire Sea, it was still an amazing sight, and near by was an approaching island that looked lush and green.
"Whoa!" The group murmured.
"It's Eastside Island!" Chuck exclaimed in awe.
"I've heard of it." Jules smiled. "Legend says that it holds untold secrets of a past connected to something very important, related to a young girl who would visit just as secret places to play with it's friendly inhabits and would call upon a hero to save the world from an evil being and it's ultimate god-like powers."
"Man! I wish I can go to that island. It looks like a fun place to run and explore." Sonic said excitedly. Just seeing the island now made him long for getting his feet back on dry land.
"Nevermind that, even if it's beautiful, I'm more interested in whale-watching!" Amy remarked.
"Oh, look! There's another one near the island!" Cream pointed enthusiastically, noticing something coming out of the water.
But when her friends did notice, Chris saw something very unusual about it and felt a bad feeling form in his stomach. "Uh...I don't think that's a whale, Cream."
Indeed it wasn't, because as the cruise sailed towards Eastside Island, that thing that emerged wasn't a whale. Instead, to everybody's shock, it was a giant robot which, unbeknownst to them, Robotnik's group saw earlier. The group gasped as it stood and floated dangerously close to the land itself.
"What is that!?" Bernadette shrieked in horror.
"It's Eggman's robot!" Amy exclaimed in dismay.
But as Sonic, who was smirking for a brief moment to finally have some excitement, instantly frowned in horror with another gasp as he recognized the logo which didn't belong to his arch enemy, but the guy's twice as evil relative.
"No, wait! That's not Eggman! It's the Iron Empire!" The blue hedgehog cried out, masking his fearful expression with a look of determination as his worst predictions had actually come true. Something that he dreaded a lot for a week now.
The robot which caught the attention of the people on board the yacht saw them approach, had it's monitor scan them with the zoom function close in on Sonic, his family and friends and the retirees, most of them looking on in fear.
Within the cockpit of the machine, the Tenta-Code-1, Julius was watching the whole thing and was pleased with the results that not only his young enemy was trapped by his greatest weakness, but now the evil leader of the Iron Empire had them all where he wanted. The ultimate plan was simple: Kill Sonic as well as Robotnik who was reported to have been seen sighted on the island, and then capture everyone else on board, especially Cream and Cheese and then force the rest to give him the remaining Chaos Emeralds before going to find Knuckles to claim his gem.
"This is the end of you, Sonic the Hedgehog. Soon and everyone on board will be mine!" Julius declared with the other members of the Iron Empire taking in the controls and waiting for his orders.
"What in the world is that thing!?" Jules exclaimed in shock.
"It looks kind of like Eggman's robot back at the Emerald Coast Resort." Chris stared worriedly.
"Which is something I'm gonna be busting into junk heap!" Sonic declared bravely, getting ready to fight despite that there was one huge problem and he knew that he was in for a really tough time.
They were all trapped in the middle of the ocean. Will Sonic be able to defeat the Tenta-Code-1 and stop both Julius and Robotnik from fully claiming the Chaos Emerald? Or is he about to get all washed up?
To be Continued!
A/N: Like the couple times before, I had to split this episode into two parts due to the length of it. I'll try to post the second part as soon as possible and move onto the other most-wanted chapters I've been meaning to do. At first I was going to go straight to the part where Sonic is running out of control, but then I realized a few problems since it was too early due to the last chapter.
(1) Even though Sonic X came out years before, I couldn't help but notice this was sort of referenced to the Pokemon X and Y games and the Pokemon XY&Z anime, lol.
As for the song that Sonic sang, I made up even though I don't write music.
(Assuming my computer doesn't die on me before hand) Hopefully I'll be able to get on with part two of The Cruising Nightmare.
See you later!