Author's Note: The first chapter of this story for 2022 has finally arrived! The story continues and things are about to become a bit more intense as the adventure progresses.
Let's do it to it!
I do not own any rights to Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the related media. All rights go to Sega.
Chapter 10: Seaside Fun.
Back in Chris's Dimension-One year and a half since Chris' disappearance:
It was becoming more and more clear that no matter where they looked, Christopher was no longer on Earth. His cruel family had been searching for almost two years now and yet there were still no sign of him. Taking drastic measures into their own hands, the Thorndykes had to hide any evidence of him running away and made it as though he had been kidnapped. But as the people of New York were becoming more and more suspicious, they had been left with no other choice.
The moment the door was knocked and Linsdey, being home for the week due to what was going on, opened it up while she held some sort of remote behind her back as voices from outside could be heard.
"Thorndyke Residence? This is the FBI. Let us in!" A male voice commanded sharply.
The famous TV actress smirked cruelly as she pushed the button behind her, which above the man along with two other FBI agents stood ready as they had been getting very suspicious with the Thorndykes' behaviors as well as why their son hadn't been found in almost two years, was some sort of flash device as the moment the mother of Chris pushed the button, it suddenly flashed purple causing the men to scream in alarm and attempted to shield their eyes.
But it was too late, as the effects of the flash then faded...but the three men appeared to be in some sort of trance with their eyes seemingly blank and almost completely lifeless, as though their minds were not their own. By then as they stood up straight, Lindsey opened the door looking quite innocent and friendly, putting up the perfect act she was known for.
"Oh, good afternoon, gentlemen. I was not expecting to see you today. Please, right this way." The actress gestured as she opened the door wider to allow the FBI agents in.
"Thank you for your generosity...Mrs. Thorndyke. You are so kind." The three men responded in a monotone trance, stepping inside as they were no longer in control of their minds. As Lindsey closed the door, she grinned wickedly before following the men.
Things were slowly but surely coming along nicely, though if only her only son was here. But as her father in law would say, they will bring him back. Until then, they will finally do what their ancestors had predicted many years ago.
'Pretty soon these mindless people will finally learn that there are no such things as compassion or freedom. They will understand that we, the Thorndykes, are the true human species of this wrenched planet after the calamity almost destroyed us all, all those years ago.' Lindsey thought to herself darkly, chuckling in her throat.
Back in Sonic's Dimension-One and half months since Chris' arrival...
Three weeks have passed since the Music Fair and while Sonic and his friends were still trying to figure out the meaning of Chris' new abilities which a few times during a couple of more attacks from Eggman who was still oblivious to the whole thing, and both Sonic, who had been somewhat training the human boy in how to defend himself with Amy's help, and Knuckles having in and out odd dreams that made them a bit uncomfortable and wondering what was going on, did help out. None the less, things have been going quite peacefully and the young Thorndyke was really settling in quite comfortably that he was doing quite well with his grades at school.
He played with his human and Mobian friends like going to the park, hanging out with them in each of their houses once he was comfortable enough to visit other people which he had been never been able to do back on Earth, and tried out cool things like video games with Danny, sight-seeing with Sonic who had become his best friend along with Tails, and even learned how to bake with Cream and Mrs. Vanilla. Now today he and the group were going on another fun activity;
The beach!
"Okay, everything's all set and ready to go. One short flight will lead us straight towards the Emerald Coast." Tails announced after he made the last few adjustments on the X Tornado, while Chris, Amy, Cream and Cheese were putting in all of the beach and swim gear into the plane's compartment storage.
"I've never been gone swimming at the beach before. I've always wanted to, but, well..." Chris trailed off, which made him pause before sighing as he didn't want to ruin the Mobians' moods.
"Your Mommy and Daddy never let you, Chris?" Cream asked, a little sadly.
The twelve year old boy shook his head. "In Dad's words, the ocean would make me get sand 24/7 like a fish. Some sort of crazy theory. The closest I got was swimming in swimming pools but that's pretty much it."
Just then, Sonic came breezing in and stopped at short notice, saying. "Don't worry, Chris. You've got a great opportunity to play at the beach now."
"How'd you know what we were talking about, Sonic?" Chris asked, surprised that the blue hedgehog whom he saved his life and became his very first friend had caught onto the conversation so quickly.
"I've always been able to do that for some reason. Never figured it out, though." The fifteen year old hedgehog replied, as he went over the compartment to put in the beach chair and few of his beach stuff into it as well, not that he planned on going swimming. Nope, not even in a million years. No siree.
While he hadn't been looking forward in going to the beach since water was his second worst enemy of his entire life besides cleaning himself with it and staying hydrated, he didn't want to spoil anybody's fun. Especially Chris'. Plus, Sonic can just relax and sunbathe instead, listen to the radio, drinking nice cool juicy drinks in the shade, and maybe even build some sand castles and go for a run. But there was no way on Mobius/Earth he was going into the water.
"We're going to have lots of fun." Cream said happily, and then turned to her Chao. "Are you excited, Cheese?"
"Chao! Chao!" Cheese chirped, very excited.
"The Emerald Coast is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. You can swim in the crystal clear waters, go snorkling, dine at the restaurant to watch the sunset, and collect sea shells to make beautiful necklaces or bracelets. Even at night, you can watch the moon and the stars reflect on the water." Amy explained, clasping her hands together as she sighed dreamily. "Oooh...It's so super romantic...!"
"Do people go surfing too?" The young Thorndyke asked.
"All the time." Tails replied.
"Cool! Maybe we can try out surfing, Sonic." The Earth-Boy suggested excitedly.
However, that only made Sonic flinch in fright over the horrendous idea and sweat dropped nervously, before keeping his cool, calm and collected manner, responding. "Sorry, Chris. But I'm not one for surfing."
That only made Chris surprised, given how the hero of Mobius was so flexible in riding on the wings of planes and being super fast. But for Sonic not being one for surfing...?
"You're...not?" The twelve year old said slowly with a blank look.
Sighing as he quickly realized that it wouldn't be fair to leave his human friend out of the loop, especially when Tails, Cream and Cheese held sympathetic looks and Amy looking quite annoyed but also knowing his history with the liquid, Sonic shrugged with a sheepish defeat. "Okay, you caught me. The thing is, I hate water. Majorly because I can't swim, or even float."
"Wait, you can't?" Chris was now even more shocked. "But, I thought all hedgehogs could. At least back at home and even here."
"Yeah, well, sadly for me, I'm the only hedgehog in the whole universe who can't. Whenever I go into water where my feet can't touch the bottom, I end up sinking like a rock and you would think that as fast and light as I am, I'd be filled with hot air. But nope, no such luck." The cobalt quickster explained with a nervous chuckle. "To make things worse, I can't even run fast if I'm underwater, so that's a huge disadvantage."
Chris now felt really sorry for Sonic, especially when he was the only known hedgehog on both Earth and here in Mobius to not being able to swim at all. The human boy smiled sympathetically and placed a hand onto his friend's shoulder.
"Sorry, Sonic. Guess I should've known. But don't worry, not everybody can swim. I've seen a couple of guys back on Earth at boarding school who can't swim either." The twelve year old reassured, deciding against mentioning how a couple of those other boys would really freak out if they had to take swimming lessons.
He even mentally cringed over the memory when he had to take swimming classes and three boys ended up either fainting, screaming and running away, or had to go to the boys' room and ended up losing their lunch. Chris just hoped that Sonic wasn't that bad when it comes to hydrophobia.
"They have my sympathy." Sonic smiled weakly as he already felt sorry for those other human kids. He then smirked and said. "Doesn't mean I'm missing out on the fun. I can do other stuff at the beach as long as I avoid the water."
"Yeah, you can go run on the shores, Sonic. Nothing to worry about." Tails encouraged.
"Already got that and sunbathing in mind, li'l bro." The blue hedgehog reassured.
'I wish Sonic would play with us in the water. Even though it's going to be really fun with him around, there's gotta be a way to teach him how to swim or even play in the water.' Amy thought to herself, disappointed that her 'boyfriend' was missing out on one of the most fun parts of going to the beach.
After promising Vanilla that they would be careful, the group of friends flew over towards the Emerald Coast to spend their fun day there. As Danny was visiting his grandparents for the weekend and Franchies was out birthday shopping for her mother, it was just the four Mobians, one little Chao and one human boy to enjoy the beach, the ocean and the tropical sun.
By the time the five friends arrived, Tails had parked the X Tornado at an perfect clearing where they virtually had the beach all to themselves since they didn't want to bring in a crowd, especially given Sonic's reputation and for the past few weeks, his friends had been getting more unwanted attention. Even Chris had gotten a bit uncomfortable due to his talents, so the Mobians kept him as much out of sight as possible while helping him to still enjoy as normal of a life as he could.
"Beautiful day. Couldn't ask for a better weather than this." Sonic stretched his arms out, after he set up his beach chair and umbrella far from the water's edge of the shore.
"Wow! This is much better in real life than in the pictures or even on TV." Chris breathed in awe as he set foot on the sand, gazing at the georgous crystal clear blue sea water with the sun's reflection shining brightly.
"It's always much better than even in the magazines." Amy agreed as she and the others were setting up their beach gears as well, before exclaiming happily. "I can't wait to go scuba diving!"
"Let's go over to the shack and get ready." Tails gestured to the nice cosy looking cabin nearby, big enough to fit ten people. As the two-tailed fox happily lead his friends towards it, Chris couldn't help but gap in awe as it looked like his current home at the Mobian Village, but also like a beach house at the same time.
"You guys have beach cabins too?" The twelve year old boy asked, surprised.
"Well, it's Tails' cabin. The two of us did build it together one time not long after we met Amy." Sonic sheepishly explained, while his aforementioned adoptive little brother blushed bashfully. The blue hedgehog smiled warmly with his heart melted over the fond recollections of their times together and despite that he never liked going to the beach much, especially in the water, he did grow to love at least the sandy beaches and the beach house itself.
Sonic's Flash-Back: A long time ago...
He remembered the happy days when he and his three friends were a bit younger, happily playing on the beach, Sonic sleeping under the shade of the palm tree while Amy and Tails would play in the water, and then later after drying off would join him getting a tan, building sand castles, playing with the beach ball, exploring the tropical forest and being marveled over the beauty of nature with all of the little critters and hibiscus flowers that grew.
At one stage, Sonic sniffed at one of the flowers and moaned happily at it's sweet scent, while Tails took photos of more happily laughing, and Amy picked a red one before carefully placing it between her right ear and head band to make it stay.
"Sonic!" Amy called out in a sing-song tone, getting not just her 'boyfriend's' attention, but also Tails', causing the boys to look up and blinked in surprise. "Well, how do I look?"
"Wow, you look great, Amy!" Tails remarked.
"It really suits ya'. Makes you look like a Tropical Girl." Sonic grinned as even he had to admit that his self-proclaimed girlfriend did look pretty and while he would never admit it aloud, even to himself, he always thought that rose-red, and even the hibiscus red matched the pink hedgehog in colouring and made her really pretty.
Amy beamed happily as she giggled, twirling around as she teasingly replied. "Call me Amy Rose, the Hibisbus Princess!"
Sonic and his two-tailed best friend couldn't help but laugh as they knew their friend was only teasing.
Sonic even remembered the night of hanging out with his friends after returning to the Beach House, feasting on freshly cooked oysters and fish they found and caught earlier along with fruit they plucked from trees, and then sat on the towels gazing at the moonlight sky and stars reflect on the ocean's waters, making it even more magical. The blue hedgehog laid on his back with a sigh, his hands behind his head.
"This is great. We should do this more often." Sonic said, feeling complete peace, so happy to have such great company of Tails who was his best friend and little brother, and Amy who, while a bit crazy with her love towards him and scary when she was angry, but a good person to hang out with. Either way, he didn't feel so lonely anymore. Sure he still liked to go out on runs and explore, nothing made him more happy than finally having actual real friends.
Friends he could talk to, to spend time with, that can keep up with him, and shared his interests while having interests of their own that made him quite curious to learn about.
"Yeah! This is so fun, I wish we could stay like this forever." Tails wished blissfully, smiling happily as he gazed up at the beautiful stars.
"It's so beautiful. It's like this place was made just for us." Amy said happily, then clasped her hands together as her eyes sparkled like the stars and a pink blush forming on her muzzle. "Ooh...So lovely and happy and...romantic."
While neither one had parents to share this moment with, Sonic, Tails and Amy were all so happy to have found each other in their lives, coming together as a family strong with their bond of friendship that the trio felt would never be broken.
Just then they all saw three white streaks fly in the starlight sky and they all beamed in awe with Sonic sitting up in excitement.
"Wow!" Sonic breathed.
"Oh, cool!" Tails exclaimed.
"Shooting stars! Quick, let's make a wish!" Amy said excitedly, clasping her hands together and closed her eyes, silently making her wish.
While Tails did the same, Sonic just smiled and watched the stars as he memorized the shooting stars, remembering when he was just a little hoglet he made one wish that he knew had finally come true. To think that as he grew older he stopped believing in the silliness of making wishes, but now as he gazed at his two companions, he couldn't be any happier. Maybe it was just pure luck during his adventures, but either way, he decided to not spoil his family's fun.
By the time Sonic's friends finished making their wishes, they turned their friend expectedly only for them to gap worriedly at him which made the blue hedgehog blink in confusion, unknowingly shedding tears that had formed in his eyes.
"Sonic, what's wrong?" Tails asked in concern.
"Say what?" Sonic muttered, only for his little brother to point at his face and, suddenly feeling his face a little wet inside in not having gone swimming earlier, he gently touched his cheek and found his gloved fingers a bit damp. Surprised and confused, not to mention slightly embarrassed as he realized he had became so emotional that he actually cried, he quickly wiped away his tears to get a hold of himself.
"Sonic? Are you okay?" Amy asked, worriedly.
"Yeah, sorry. No idea where that came from." The blue hedgehog apologetically replied, clearing his throat a little, before deciding to tell his closest friends the truth as they were, in his opinion, his younger brother and sister.
"Did the shooting stars make you cry? What did you wish for just now?" The two-tailed fox spoke softly.
"Not really. To be honest, when I was a little kid, I made a wish when I saw a shooting and for a long time, I waited for it to be granted." Sonic explained, smiling warmly once more. "And now, months ago, it finally came true."
"You mean you made one wish and hoped it would come true after all these years?" Amy asked, surprised and beaming despite her concern for her 'boyfriend'. "What was it?"
"Yeah, Sonic. Tell us what you wished for and how it came true? What was your wish?" Tails added eagerly.
Sonic's smile became even more fond, as he gently placed his arms around his friends' shoulders, bringing them closer. "You guys. I wished to have real friends...and a family. Like you."
That touched the hearts of his best friends who beamed emotionally and hugged him back, forming tears of their own as what he wished for was what they wanted in their lives as well. All three of them laughed happily.
"Oh, Sonic!" Amy said, snuggling against the boy of her dreams.
"We love you, big bro!" Tails sniffled.
"I love ya guys, too." Sonic replied, as he and his close friends embraced, not wanting this moment to end before they all gazed at the beautiful night sky, together in each other's arms.
A moment that would always cherish in their hearts forever.
End of Flash-Back:
"Every summer since we did, we would come here to spend time together. So many great memories." Sonic explained as he and his friends had set up everything inside the beach house. He was pretty sure that Amy had told Cream and Cheese and Mrs. Vanilla since the little girl and Chao were very excited to share happy memories with him, Tails and Amy as well.
Chris felt his heart feel warm over the brief story that Sonic told him, wondering what kind of fun times the blue hedgehog, the two-tailed fox and the pink hedgehog had shared even before meeting their youngest friend, her Chao and her mother who had become a mother figure to all three of them given their lives as orphans.
"That's why we brought you here." The fifteen year old continued at his human friend. "Since you didn't have all the fun back on Earth, I figured you could use some. C'mon, I'll show you around."
As Sonic showed the Earth-Boy around the beach house, including the kitchen, the BBQ, the balcony/porch which viewed the ocean with a outdoor dining table with extra two seats to the original three, a sun room, a bathroom, three bedrooms to which Tails added more beds in one of the rooms in case they had more friends coming over, so Amy, Cream and Cheese will be sharing one with two beds, and the two-tailed fox would be sharing with Sonic and Chris as the other room had three beds, a dressing room to change, the girls were already getting into their swimming suits ready to play.
All in all, it was another great place. Not too fancy, but not too simple either. It was much like being in a vacation home that was similar to Cream's house.
Half an hour later, the six friends, with the boys(except for Sonic who remained in his red and white shoes and white gloves) having changed into swimming trunks and tongs, they all began relaxing and playing on the beach and in the water. Cream and Cheese were both playing with a boay giggling as they floated about, while Tails was splashing about laughing and Chris was swimming along. Sonic was on his beach chair with the umbrella shading him, wearing a hot orange, reclining as he listened to the radio.
Amy was scuba diving among the beautiful reef, gazing at the schools of fish and other sea creatures as she was a really good swimmer herself. She then floated about and looked around see cute sea horses, making her beam a smile before it swam away.
'How cute.' She thought to herself happily. She loved coming to the Emerald Coast. It was one of her favorite places to be. The twelve year old pink hedgehog then saw something briefly shine near a rock and smiled even wider, noticing a beautiful pink seashell resting nearby.
Then she noticed further deeper of the reef canyon below, to her surprise, a giant clam shell slightly opened up. Amy's eyes widened in awe behind her goggles, not having seen that before. Though she knew they were to be dangerous, so she decided to gaze at it from where she was until she decided she needed to resurface and swam back up, gasping slightly for air as she swam closer to her friends.
"You guys should see all the pretty shells down there. It's unbelievable!" Amy remarked excitedly, removing her scuba diving gear.
"That sounds really fun." Cream said.
"I've never seen real seashells before." Said Chris, as he stood in the shallow waters beside two of his Mobian friends who stopped playing once the pink hedgehog girl resurfaced and told them of what she just saw.
"I keep forgetting that there are still so many things we haven't seen yet around here." Tails smiled. "Good thing I bought all of us scuba diving gear just in case."
"Even for Sonic?" The twelve year old boy asked chuckling in surprise.
"Well, as much as Sonic hates water 'cause he can't swim, sometimes he does go under it if he has to. But only if we have to deal with Eggman and those water fighting times are rare." The eight year old cub explained.
"Does Eggman ever even take a vacation from being evil?" The Earth-boy asked a little uneasily with a sweat drop.
The others paused on that as even Cream and Cheese looked at the two older Mobiains curiously.
"That's...a real good question, Chris." Tails eventually replied.
"If he ever did, I bet it's usually in his stupid flying fortress and never at the beach." Amy sighed in exasperation.
"It's really sad that Dr. Eggman never likes to be nice or have fun. He always likes to cause trouble." Cream murmured sadly.
"Chao, chao." Cheese chirped in agreement.
Chris couldn't help but think of how Eggman's idea of vacation may be very well like his parents, because as far as he could tell, Nelson and Lindsey hate the beach and would rather go to expensive hotels with swimming pools, room service and act like they own the place. Whenever he tried to have fun playing the pool, he would be dragged to seat in the spas and was told that he was only ever allowed to swim during school lessons for survival. Not that he was allowed to have vacation either.
Flash-Back: Seven years ago on Earth...
"Children do not have vacations, Christopher. Only Business people, scientists and actors and actresses get time off. The rest of humanity are meant to work hard for their lowly stores and never even take weekends off. Children must also work hard to make themselves useful. Is that clear?" Nelson growled at his son who asked for going on vacation and yet was denied.
"Y-Yes, father." Chris murmured sadly.
"Good, now go to your room and finish your homework. Or else you will be grounded for three months and you are NEVER to speak of these 'vacations' or time off ever again. You are to be my successor, a scientist and an actor someday. THAT is your purpose." His father ordered darkly.
Nodding, the five year old boy hurried to his room, and locked the door while shedding tears. It was late, and he just had dinner. He had already finished his homework, but his family told him to keep studying until ten o'clock. It wasn't fair! Why can't he go outside and play? Why can't he go around exploring?
Sighing and left alone, Chris went over to his balcony and gazed up at the sky before he noticed a bright star and smiled. He knew what it was. He had heard brief stories from other kids about the Wishing Star, and when the little boy asked his parents about it, they just scoffed and told him that it was just a planet really far away shining brightly because of the other stars which were just other planets or suns across the Universe. But that didn't make him give up on that thought.
Remembering what he heard and looked around carefully, Chris clasped his hands together and looked up, whispering. "Starlight, Starbright, First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, to have this wish, I wish tonight. Please wishing Star, can you make my wish come true? I wish I could make real friends and have a family who will love me for what I wanna do."
End of Flash-Back:
"I don't think I wanna find out." Chris finally muttered, shuddering at the thought while trying to forget about the time his family would force him to grow up quickly and be just like all three of them combined.
"Yeah, let's forget about that and enjoy the rest of the day to ourselves." Amy declared, and the rest of her friends all agreed.
While the group were talking, Sonic, seemingly sleeping, opened his eyes to see that his friends were enjoying themselves which made him smile, content and happy to see them have fun. To see them smile made his heart melt, and that even though Tails was intelligent enough to outsmart Eggman in technology and all of the other science stuff, it was easy to forget that his best friend/little brother was still just a kid.
Not that Sonic was that old either. Heck, he's a teenage hero for crying out loud! But that didn't mean he can't help others and have fun at the same time. As far as the blue hedgehog was concerned, he can do whatever he wanted. Plus, hanging out with his friends was one of the best parts of his life.
Also, what made Sonic happy was that Chris was having a field day. Swimming and playing, the human kid was really having the best time of his life.
"Sonic."
"Hm?" Blinking, Sonic sat up slightly to see that Cream and Cheese were approaching them with a small toy bucket and spade in their hands. "We're going to make sand castles. Do you want to join us?"
"Chao, chao, chao!" Cheese squeaked excitedly.
"Sure. Count me in." The blue hedgehog smiled, getting as he could finally do something fun, childish but fun, with his friends that didn't involve in getting wet.
As Sonic and his friends began to make sand castles with Cream teaching Chris, who had never even made them before, how to do so which he quickly got the idea and was enjoying it. The Mobians, seeing this, couldn't help but wonder if the human Earth-boy was even allowed to paint in colouring books or even draw pictures when he was younger.
What they didn't even know was that right where the giant clam was, as schools of fish swim by, hidden between the rocks is something shining in blue light, that of a Chaos Emerald, waiting to be discovered and found.
Also unbeknownst to the young heroes, the Emerald itself was bring tracked by Dr. Eggman who had once again been scanning for weeks on end since his last defeat at the Music Fair, getting a sudden reading that the Chaos Emeralds were slowly being activated.
Now he found one after a few mishaps and errors.
"Well, well, well. The Chaos Emerald is hidden beneath the water. No wonder it was hard to locate this one and it's the first to be close by. This makes the search for my Emeralds much easier than before." Eggman remarked to himself with a nasty grin. "And I have just the perfect robot to claim it."
Immediately knowing what to do, the evil scientist stood up and as Decoe and Bocoe handed him his deck of cards, placed them into the slot and pulled the lever, as the machine slotted revealing an octopus like robot with two rubber tentacles and six mechanical legs.
"Heh heh heh heh heh...A perfect choice. Now, time for some swimming, my Octoron." Eggman declared, pushing a button to summon the robot.
The hatch underwater beneath the surface of his secret base, the robot was launched and began swimming it's way straight towards the Emerald Coast, while the roof of the base opened up and Eggman flew to follow it with his scanner in his Egg Mobile.
"The best part of this evil scheme is that the Chaos Emerald and my robot will lure Sonic into my trap, so I can finally capture him like a helpless fish on a hook...Only he will be put into the sea instead of a bucket to be cooked. Mwahahahahah! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Eggman laughed manically which echoed into the air.
After having some fun in building sand castles and then collecting some seashells, the group decided to go fishing(though Cream was reluctant about that due to her young age, but her friends told her that it was alright and that they can find oysters and pick fruit like mangoes and bananas). While the girls and Cheese went into the tropical forest as their spot was a little bit far from the main part of the coast so that they wouldn't get crowded with crazy fans, the boys carried fishing rods and buckets to find a decent spot to catch some fish.
First they attempted to find some Oysters which Tails and Chris collected as the latter knew about them, while Sonic was looking for his favorite spot that he and his best friend/little brother would go fishing all the time. As the blue hedgehog was doing so, he noticed something wriggling from the sand. Curious and confused, the teenage Mobian went up a bit closer to investigate while being cautious at the same time.
"Hm? What's this?" Sonic murmured to himself, crouching a little to see what was coming out from the sound. Was it a sea worm, a fish, or something else? He then gaped in shock when he saw two small flippers of sorts coming out of the sand, along with a very tiny head, emerging with a shell.
It was a newly hatched Mobini baby turtle. The fifteen year old softly gasped in awe before a warm and bright excited smile lit up his eyes and muzzle. While it was unusual for a baby turtle to hatch during this time of day, as they usually hatch in the late afternoon or during the night, the sight of the little one melted his heart. The baby, oblivious to the Mobian, wriggled out and began to awkwardly crawl it's way towards the sea where the waves would take it and it would begin it's life for the very first time.
"Hey, little guy. Welcome to the world." Sonic whispered softly. While he wasn't an expert of babies of all kinds, even he wasn't immune to the cuteness of children and infants. He then noticed that the sand moved again and a bit surprised, he saw that more and more of the baby turtles began to hatch and crawl out to reach the water. "Wow!"
"Sonic!" Chris' voice was heard, making the blue hedgehog to look over his shoulder to see two of his friends approach. "We've come some oysters!"
"Hold up, guys. This will take a few minutes." The hero of Mobius called back.
"What is it?" Tails asked.
"Take a look at this." Sonic told them, pointing downward as he gazed back at the dozens of babies hatching and making their way towards the ocean, much to the surprise and delight of the younger boys who approached to get a closer look.
"Whoa! Turtle hatchlings!" Tails softly exclaimed excitedly as he and the young Thorndyke stood beside Sonic as the three of them all leaned forward to watch the miracle birth happen right before their eyes. "I haven't seen this in ages."
"I've never seen anything like it. How cool is that?" Chris breathed in awe. He has read up about how baby turtles hatch within the sand and dig themselves out to reach the sea, but he never even seen it on TV since his parents and grandfather thought it was a waste of time and that they claimed that turtles 'abandon' their young like dinosaurs in the jurassic period.
"But, don't they usually hatch during nighttime or something?" The twelve year old boy asked, slightly confused.
"Most of them do, but these guys are the star turtles." Tails explained.
"The Star Turtles?" Sonic asked, sounding astonished before his two-tailed fox friend pointed at the back of the shells.
"Look there. Do you see the star-shapes on the back of the shells?" The young cub said, and when the blue hedgehog and Earth-Boy did, their eyes widened in surprise and awe.
"Whoa! Never thought I'd be seeing them in real life, especially around here." The cobalt speedster softly exclaimed.
"But, why do they have star shapes on their backs?" Chris asked.
"Well, you see Chris, these Star Turtles are a very rare kind of species that aren't seen that often, except once every 100 years, depending on what time-frame they were born in, so now it will be another 100 years before the next generation lays more eggs, because once the babies go under the sea, they hide in a very secret place nobody can find, even with submarines." Tails explained.
"Or maybe even more, 'cause some sea turtles live up to a little over 150, don't they?" Sonic added, to which his two friends nodded in agreement, even though Chris was still amazed as he and the two Mobians continued to silently watch the baby Star Turtles waddle their way towards the ocean.
They then noticed that the very last one ended up rolling over and onto it's shell, flailing around helplessly as it looked like it was about to cry, which made the three young boys feel their hearts ache a little before Sonic quickly walked over and ever so gently picked it up held it in his gloved hands carefully the right way up.
"Hey, little fella. Don't cry, it'll be okay." He softly soothed it, gently stroking it's tiny little head with one finger as the baby laying flat on his palm looked up at him curiously, calming down slowly but surely as the newly hatched turtle begins to sense that the blue hedgehog means no harm to it.
As Tails and an amazed Chris watch Sonic care for the newborn, the blue hedgehog then approaches the water a little and gently sets the baby turtle down and gently gives it an encouraging nudge to continue on it's journey.
"There you go. Be careful out there." Sonic whispered, smiling softly as the baby Star Turtle, realizing that he had helped it to reach the sea, smiled back before waddling the rest of the way as it allowed the waves to carry it and it's hundreds of siblings into the ocean where it would be their home.
"Wow, Sonic. The little baby turtle seems to really like you." Chris remarked brightly. The more he saw of his Mobian hedgehog friend's gentle and caring side towards others, the more he knew that Sonic really is a brave and generous hero of Mobius.
"I just wanted to help the little guy to get home. I might not like getting wet as much, but even I know that there are creatures that need to adapt in the ocean or rivers." The blue hedgehog shrugged modestly. "C'mon, let's head over to my favorite fishing spot so that way we won't run into any of the cute little guys."
As Sonic led Tails and Chris away carefully from the spot where all of the baby Star Turtles hatched, none were aware further into the ocean in the distance, a huge thing that was round, revealing to be Eggman's robot, Octoron, was swimming towards the spot where they were and to the Chaos Emerald which was being more revealed as schools of fish big and small kept swimming by, the larger ones causing the rocks to tumble and sink away, slowly but surely freeing the Emerald which was shining even brighter.
"Well, here we are. The perfect fishing spot." Sonic announced as he came a stop at a cliff side near a cove which still viewed the entire ocean in front of them.
"So this is where you guys catch fish every time you come here?" Chris asked as he looked around. Unlike the fishing spots he read up in books and on the internet which some were good and some were bad, this one took the cake of being a perfect fishing location.
"Yep. It's our secret spot. Sonic and I come here all the time. We'll catch plenty a fish by the end of the day." Tails confirmed.
"There's no better spot in the whole planet to catch fish than right here. Except maybe a few I haven't seen before, but hey, nobody else has found it as far as we know." The blue hedgehog added as he shouldered his fishing rod, before he and his little brother got to work in hooking up fake worm lures, then gazed over to Chris who stood there, not sure what to do.
Another moment of realization surprised them before the two brothers remembered.
"Oh...Buuuuut, I'm guessing that your parents wouldn't allow ya to go fishing either, would they?" Sonic shrugged sheepishly.
"No, we usually buy fish at the local expensive billionaire fish store. At least Mom and Dad's servants would. Miss Ella would make smoked salmon and trout flambe for Easter. I never even tried grilled fish and chips at the Crab's Sea-Food Takaway Store either." The twelve year old boy shrugged awkwardly in return.
A moment of silence, save for seagulls squawking in the air occasionally as Sonic and Tails just stared at their new friend blankly.
"Boy, you really missed out on a lot, huh?" Tails remarked sympathetically. For a long time he had thought his history was bad before it all changed when he first met Sonic who, upon their first meeting, had been so kind to him and was the very first person in the world to show him generousity and support, helping him in his time of need especially when he had been injured by the locals and bullies.
But for Chris, it was even worse, so to speak.
"That's just how it usually was, Tails. They told me that you have to sign up for a Fishing School you want to be a fisherman, and nobody else should do it just because they want to, and they said that there's no such thing as fun." The Earth-Boy explained with a soft sigh.
"More like they don't know anything about what fun is." Sonic folded his arms, once again angry over how the older Thorndykes would treat life on Earth.
"Yeah, that's what I thought, and another guy at school mentioned something like that a few years ago too." Chris agreed, recalling the time when he was forced to keep studying at a corner in the playground while the other boys at the All Boys school could take breaks while he wasn't allowed to.
They all had mentioned about how he to keep studying and studying with only food breaks and bathroom breaks. The other students would often tease him behind his back even though he would overhear them and would feel very upset and disheartened. The twelve year old boy felt sad over the memory, and both Sonic and Tails felt their chests ache as they both shared a concerned gaze over Chris' bad family history over what he had to go through.
Poor Chris had been very lonely.
"Well, they're wrong. Your family, I mean. 'Cause fishing can be fun when you think about it." The blue hedgehog smiled softly, and winked. "And we're gonna teach ya'. Right, Tails?"
"Right! Here, let me help you with the lure and hooks." The two-tailed fox nodded, and approached the boy before helping him with the hooks, showing Chris how it's done and also to be careful in not to hurt himself. Since they had lures that didn't acquire hooks, it was safer and easier to use.
As Chris was admittedly impressed and amazed at how easy and fun it was, Sonic smiled warmly, happy that in circumstances, the human kid was now finally experiencing life that he missed out on, having fun and learning new things the fun way and having friends that he had been denied of for so long. The blue hedgehog was also happy that Tails was happier than he ever been before meeting the hero of Mobius. The only thing that made lots of people's lives miserable, even before he fixes it up almost straight away, was the one guy who loves to ruin people's lives.
Eggman.
"Alright, Chris. You're all set up. Now, here's what you do." Sonic announced once Tails taught Chris about the lures and the teenage Mobian cast his lure out with perfect cast.
"Uh...Like this?" The Earth-Boy awkwardly copied his friend, as he never tried this before. None the less, while it was half way off the mark from where Sonic's lure hit the water and a little bit too close to the shore, at least it was in the water. "This is harder than I thought."
"Don't worry. It takes people a while to get the hang of it. You just gotta keep practicing." The cobalt hedgehog reassured, welling in his lure slightly and stood waiting.
"Right." Chris nodded, doing the same just by an inch while Tails cast out his lure as well. "So we just wait until the fish come to us?"
"Yep. If you feel the hook and line tug, just well in, lean back and pull up as hard as you can."
"It's all about the timing, but it also requires patience as well." The eight year old cub added. "The fish can also be kinda hard to well in depending on how big they are."
"Timing and patience. Got it." The twelve year old boy repeated.
As the three friends waited, it was only about five minutes or less later when one by one each of their lines tugged before the lures sank and were being pulled.
"Hey, I think got one!" Sonic cried out, quickly wheeling in his catch as he pulled.
"Me too!" Tails added.
"I think I got one too!" Chris added, feeling excited.
"Ready? Pull as hard and high as you can." The blue hedgehog instructed with a smirk as he wheeled in his catch.
His two younger friends nodded and almost copied him, with a slight difficulty on the human boy's part, but he was trying his hardest. Sonic pulled hard and yanked his out and held up his catch which was a pretty good sized fish as it wriggled in front of him.
"Ha-ha! Got one!" The blue hedgehog laughed victoriously. "One Tuna on the house!"
"Whoa! Check this out!" The young fox cub exclaimed excitedly, holding up his catch which was about the same size as Sonic's.
Chris pulled hard and held his arms up with a grunt and finally pulled out his catch, his eyes widened in awe at the size of it, which was surprisingly two inches bigger than the ones both Sonic and Tails had caught. "Whoa...! I really...caught one!"
"Whoa! That one's even bigger!" Tails remarked.
"Way to go, buddy!" Sonic praised, thoroughly impressed as well. "Great job for your first catch."
That made the young Thorndyke blush over the compliment as he smiled happily. Not only he impressed his friends, but he was also praised by it as well, before the blue hedgehog told him to put the catch into the bucket of water which his and Tails' new friend did, and soon they were ready to try again and keep going and the more they did, the more Chris had tons of fun, laughing and catching fish, talking to Sonic and Tails, all three of them having fun through the whole thing.
But as the trio were doing so, the twelve year old boy's heart unknowingly glowed faintly again, while underwater, the giant clam that Amy discovered was opening and closing in slow process as more and more fish unknowingly cause more rocks to move and the Chaos Emerald starting to move as well, being shifted by the water's currents, rolling over before stopping at the edge of a cliff, perilously just above where the sea creature was.
While neither of the young heroes noticed the glowing, Chris suddenly felt a strange surge of warmth tingle in his chest, sending in small waves through his entire body which made him stop.
"Huh?" The boy muttered, pausing as he felt the unusual wave in his chest, but as he placed a hand onto it, the strange feeling is gone as the Chaos Energy within him faded a little.
"Hm? Chris? What's up?" Sonic looked up to his friend as he and Tails noticed.
"Are you alright?" The two-tailed cub asked, blinking.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just thought I felt something weird in my chest. Probably just imagined it." Chris shrugged, not sure what it was. Though he did think to himself in confusion. 'That's weird. I could've sworn my heart felt kinda tingly. Maybe it was just my imagination.'
Even though the young Thorndyke did look fine, Sonic and Tails couldn't help but feel concerned. Just then, the blue hedgehog felt a familiar tingle himself and looked out to the ocean. He knew that feeling, as his own Chaos Energy was strangely reacting to it, but he wasn't sure what it was. Maybe he was imagining things.
Meanwhile, walking through the jungle area hidden from the people lounging about at the main tourist part of the Emerald Coast, were Shadow and Rouge who for weeks on end tried to get to Sonic but each time the teenage blue hedgehog was either someplace else or had a hard time in tracking him. Or rather, the white bat attempted to get the amnesiac black hedgehog from confronting the cobalt hero with force.
"Are you sure confront him for answers is not a better option, Rouge?" Shadow grunted in annoyance as his patience was running thin. He really wanted to know the answers of his lost memories, but each time he came close in getting to Sonic the Hedgehog, that blue boy always slips out of his gloved fingers.
"Trust me, Shadow. If you want to ask Sonic, the best thing to do is be civilized and not attack head on demanding for answers." The bat thief told him sly with a smirk.
"And if Sonic attacks me?" The ebony hedgehog questioned skeptically, still thinking about the single memory he has of Sonic. "Because he seemed to be picking a fight while calling me a fake."
"Give back that Chaos Emerald you stole, you fake hedgehog! Who are you, anyway?" Sonic demanded, glaring at him.
"He said that I stole a Chaos Emerald. Do you think it's wise to ask him if he sees me as a threat? What exactly is it that I do?" He questioned, furrowing his brows, feeling very uncomfortable. What if Sonic attacked him first upon first sight? Shadow felt that it was just only a tiny piece of the mystery puzzle he had yet to put together, alone and useless.
The other is...the gruesome image of that Maria girl's death.
Rouge hesitated a little, not sure on whether she should just tell him the whole story as much as she knew or not. She did give out a few hints and bits and pieces, having hoped that it would at least trigger something. So far nothing helped, which made the albino bat realize that Sonic was the only one so far that could trigger more of Shadow's missing memories.
"Well, for one thing, I can stay that you...didn't turn out okay at first. But eventually after you had a change of heart, you helped Sonic to save the world, and when we all thought you were dead, even he was pretty upset that you were gone." Rouge finally explained a little, smiling softly at her companion.
"I...helped save the world?" Shadow paused, slightly caught off-guard. Why did that sound so familiar?
Suddenly, he felt a strange tingle in his body like a wave of energy flowing through his veins, causing the ruby eyed hedgehog to softly gasp as he looked around, wondering what this feeling was and why did it feel like...like he felt with that boy that Sonic was with but only stronger and in different shape and form.
'What?' The black hedgehog thought, looking to his right sharply where he could feel the unusual energy spark and grow.
"Shadow? What's wrong?" Rouge asked, worriedly and confused.
"I don't know. I can feel something...something as though it is calling me." The Ultimate Lifeform muttered, narrowing his eyes.
His companion's eyes widened in shock and further confusion, but before she could ask what he meant, Shadow declared. "I'm going to take a look."
With that in mind, he activated his jet shoes and began skating away to follow the Chaos Energy feeling, thinking that it could lead him to Sonic despite Rouge's protests. By then, Shadow was gone, leaving her on her own.
"What is it with him and Knuckles leaving me behind? Ugh! Men!" Rouge grunted angrily with a vein squeezing on her head, before she took flight to follow the black hedgehog so that she could figure out how to keep him out of trouble.
By the time the sun was setting, Sonic and his friends had caught a lot of fish that they decided that it was time to head back to the beach house, the three boys carrying their buckets of at least six fish each, enough for themselves, Amy, Cream and Cheese to share, plus with the fruit the girls and little Chao would pick and then some.
"We have more than enough." Tails claimed happily.
"I can't believe we've caught so many." Chris remarked in amazement.
"We'll have plently of seafood, that's for sure." Sonic smiled happily.
"You were right, Sonic. That was fun!" The twelve year old boy said, having had the time of his life once again.
"Told ya' so. You sure got skill, pal." The blue hedgehog winked. "Not to mention you caught a really big one at your first try."
Chris just smiled in embarrassment, surprised that he had gotten used to it before admitting. "Guess I'm a fast learner."
That made the two Mobians chuckle, before they heard Cream calling out to them and the human boy who looked up ahead to see her, Cheese and Amy waving over to them with baskets full of fruit.
"Hiya girls and Cheese." Sonic called back as he, Tails and Chris hurried over to meet with the rest of their friends.
"We've brought lots of yummy fruit!" The little rabbit girl called out.
"Chao chao!" Cheese chirped.
"Yeah, you're gonna love the best fruit salad we'll be making!" Amy added.
"Great! Looks like we're in for a tropical dinner tonight." Sonic praised.
The girls giggled before the pink hedgehog replied. "I can't wait!"
"We should put all of these into the cooling containers so the fish will stay fresh." Tails suggested.
"Yeah, good idea." His older brother agreed.
Though as the group were heading towards back to the beach house, deep underwater, the giant clam was still eating away the sea bed when another school of fish were swimming away in panic due to a larger fish chasing after them for an easy meal, they swam so fast that the currents was stronger than before and caused the Chaos Emerald to lose it's balance and sank deeper just as a small portal formed under the sea, and a small camera like object with some sort of serum contained swam straight towards it...and both landed right inside the giant clam which closed shut, swallowing them whole. While the Chaos Emerald landed softly, the small device began to shut down and break, sparking electricity before it died out, and the serum within the tiny tube broke into pieces, causing the yellow-like liquid to pour out and onto the digestive part of the clam that swallowed the sea bed.
This caused a reaction as the clam suddenly made groaning noises, beginning to rock back and forth as though it was in pain while the Chaos Emerald glowed more brightly, and the robot getting closer stopped, before it began to swim up towards the surface.
Unaware of the danger heading straight towards them when Sonic's group headed inside, put the collected food side the coolers and refrigerator before showering to clean off and changed into their normal clothes(though Sonic just showered since he wanted to feel cool despite he still hated getting wet but he wanted to stay clean) before getting ready for dinner, they were just preparing when Chris suddenly felt the same jingle coming from below and gazed out towards the ocean.
"Huh? Hey, Chris. What's wrong?" Sonic asked as he and the others noticed before approaching him.
But as the fifteen year old was placing a hand onto his friend's shoulder, he felt a very similar thing that made him softly gasp before Sonic and even Chris both felt a tingle within their bodies. Then he heard the same jingle that sounded familiar, and felt his Chaos senses flare up, both coming from his friend who also looked up to see what was the sound which confused the others, and looked out to the balcony that viewed the ocean.
"Do you guys hear that?" Chris asked, puzzled.
"I can, but it kinda's faint and blocked somehow. I gotta feelin' I've heard it before." Sonic narrowed his eyes, though he did wonder what he just felt form his human friend at the same time. Could it have been some sort of chain reaction or something?
"What do you mean, Chris?" Tails asked, worriedly.
"I'm not sure, but it kinda sounds like...like a chime dinging or something. I'm even getting this weird tingle in my chest and my body feels like I'm underwater. Not sure why." Chris looked at his arms after gazing out towards the ocean. "It kinda feels like...like when I discovered my new healing powers."
That surprised and shocked the Mobians as Sonic and the others began to wonder if their friend's powers are already increasing by a new development.
"I don't hear anything." Amy said.
"Me neither." Cream added.
"Chao." Cheese chirped.
"Does it feel like it's coming from the ocean?" Tails questioned curiously.
"Come to think of it, yeah." Chris replied, starting to get a little uneasy.
While neither of the Mobians understood how or why the human boy was feeling this way despite that perhaps his Chaos Energy was starting to make him more aware and gaining another new power, Sonic narrowed his brows thoughtfully before deciding to try something out. Being one of the few chosen to have the ability to use the Chaos Emeralds due to his own powerful Chaos Energy, even though he couldn't sense them that much if they were really far away and he would have to focus in order to do so, he stood gazing out before closing his eyes and concentrated.
"Sonic?" The twelve year old boy blinked, wondering what the hero of Mobius was doing.
Sonic didn't reply, instead focusing on what his friend could feel and hear. Not much of an expert in channeling his own energy, he did have a good idea in some cases. Using his inner senses, it was then he heard it and felt it; the glimmer of energy coming from a Chaos Emerald, but mostly blocked due to the water, and the faint sound of the Emerald's chiming. What really shocked him was that Chris can actually hear and sense it too.
"There's a Chaos Emerald out there." Sonic announced after snapping his eyes open, gazing firmly across the ocean.
"Huh!?" Everyone else gaped in shock and surprise before they all gazed out to the ocean once more.
"You can tell?" Chris asked, bewildered.
"Not that much, but it's kinda like a sixth sense. It's pretty faint to me, and when the Chaos Emeralds are under water, it makes it even more tricky." Sonic explained, then shrugged in disbelief. "I can't believe that you can sense it now too, pal."
"I...never thought I could. Does that mean my powers are getting stronger?" The young Thorndyke replied, becoming a little more uneasy by the minute.
"It must be, because Sonic has to focus on sensing a Chaos Emerald, but only when we already have one. Normally we just use the Emeralds themselves to track the rest since they grow stronger when they're all in one place. But with you, you can hear it and sense it without even trying." Tails explained in shock and awe.
A moment of pause.
"So I'm like the Chaos Emeralds which are like really powerful magnets? Or even a radar?" Chris raised an eyebrow, dumbfounded.
"Yeah, exactly." The two-tailed fox answered.
"And if there's a Chaos Emerald out there, that means it's somehow connected to you now, Chris." Amy added as she, Cream and Cheese gazed out to the ocean as well.
"Yeah, but something's wrong. Not just because it's underwater. I can't explain why, but it's almost as though...something's got to it and it's definitely not a robot." Sonic said, then gasped when he saw something in the distance flying towards them above the water, oddly shaped and awfully familiar. "Now there's someone coming straight towards us!"
"What!?" Everyone gaped in disbelief.
Sonic then raced off into the house before coming back with a pair of binoculars and peered through it, gritting his teeth as the sight of Eggman in his Egg Mobile came into view, and the evil scientist seemed to grin but now strangely looked shocked and frustrated.
"S-Sonic?" Chris asked, uncertainly.
"What it is?" Cream asked, fearfully.
"Not what, but who." The blue hedgehog grunted, lowering the binoculars. "It's Eggman."
The group gasped in shock and dismay, before Chris groaned slumping with a sweat drop. "Again?"
"He must've known about the Chaos Emerald being here. Why else besides causing trouble as usual?" Sonic responded, just as annoyed.
"Ooh! I wish Eggman would just go away!" Amy hissed angrily, furious that not only Eggman was here for the Chaos Emerald that even she didn't notice, but now the evil scientist just ruined their vacation.
"We have to stop him before he gets to the Emerald, Sonic." Tails quickly informed firmly.
"Right!" The blue hedgehog agreed. "Prep the X Tornado. We're gonna fight in air, 'cause I have a feeling he has a robot in the water."
His little brother nodded, and it wasn't before long that the two-tailed fox had it ready, and Sonic leaped onto the plane's left wing while Amy and Chris, who both wanted to come and help despite the blue hedgehog's worries, seated behind Tails since they knew that Sonic needed help with this one. Eventually the fifteen year old agreed and smirked with a thumbs up, before they took off to fight against Eggman, while Cream and Cheese stayed behind in the beach house.
"I hope they'll come back safely." Cream murmured worriedly.
What Sonic and his friends didn't know was that they were in for a dangerous battle and more shocking revelations that was coming straight towards them.
A/N: I would have updated this sooner, but writer's block, things going on and finally starting on a long awaited fanfic I wanted to write for years now finally being put up got me side-tracked. But now finally a new chapter has been completed and hopefully the next one will come sooner.
I know this is late, and we're still not out of the woods yet of this worldly crisis we are still facing, but I hope this chapter will make it up for it and again, Happy New Year everyone!
See you later!