Preface: Hello, again! That's right - two chapters in one week! This is me compensating for my slower uptake in uploads. If I were to divide Freedom Pack into three acts, then this chapter can be considered the conclusion to the second act. Hope you enjoy!
FREEDOM PACK
Previously...after discovering a strange vortex in the middle of the night, Sally Acorn, along with Sonic, Tails, and Rotor, investigated it, leading them to a strange world of small mobian-like creatures. After meeting the Pikwik Pack, one of the new worlds' residents, they set out to help deliver a package while also finding the red Chaos Emerald on a farm. When the group was forced to split, one party went to the Tangle Wood Forest, finding the yellow Chaos Emerald there.
Now...the other part of the team sails the high seas...
Roll Call
Sonic the Hedgehog - Issac Ryan Brown: Fastest thing alive. Hero of Mobius.
Rotor Walrus - Benjamin Diskin: Knothole's resident inventor. Mission control.
Suki the Hedgehog - Emma Ho: Pikwik Pack leader. Responsible boat driver.
Tibor the Hippo - Jacob Soley: Softy with a tough exterior. Train operator.
Chapter 5:
Swarm on the Seas
[Party Selected: Sonic, Rotor, Suki, Tibor]
[Current World: Pikwik Planet]
[Current Location: Ocean Around Tangle Wood Forest]
[BGM: Asher Lenz, Stephen Skratt - Suki's Hero BGM]
The smell of sea salt made Sonic feel a little nostalgic. It took him back to a couple of years ago, when he smelled the salt of the Peridot Beach Zone's water the day before his adventure in Whisker Haven happened. "I'm bummed I couldn't join in the truck," the hedgehog said, "but man, does that sea smell refreshing!"
Tibor reached out his nose and gave a deep sniff. "Yeah, it does!" the hippo agreed, but then he sneezed. "But it can make you sneeze sometimes!" Sonic and Suki chuckled.
"Don't get too comfy," Rotor said to Sonic from the Hover Bus. "My radar's telling me that there's a badnik in this lake. So keep an eye out for it!"
"Noted," said Sonic, nodding. Looking up, he saw Suki piloting the boat from the captain's seat. "Say, Suki, that was cool of you protecting your friends back there."
Suki looked down at the bigger hedgehog. "You really think so?" Sonic nodded. "Thanks. But I don't know what got into me. I've never done anything like that before."
"Hey, if someone was trying to attack my friends, I'd rush in to protect them," Sonic told her.
The word 'friends' rang around Suki's head. "Yeah. Friends," she said with an unusually insistent tone in her voice.
The tone got the others' attention. "Are you hiding something, Suki?" Tibor asked. "You've never called us your friends that way before."
That made Suki internally panic a little. She was busted, wasn't she? "Well, you see…" But her thoughts were interrupted by the strange sight of bubbles on the surface of the water. "That's strange…" she said. "I thought the water was supposed to be empty…"
Sonic glared at the water. "Oh, I think we might have an uninvited guest joining us…" Sure enough, a shadow slowly began to become bigger and bigger, before the culprit broke the surface. It was a giant blue whale-like badnik, hopping into the air before crashing back down. A giant wave appeared from the impact, sending the boat far towards land.
"Whoa!" shouted Tibor, holding onto the boat. "What was that thing?"
Suki put her hand above her eyes. "It looks like…a giant whale robot," she said. She began to pilot the boat closer towards the badnik, and when she got close enough, the whale blew a large gust of wind, creating another wave that Suki rushed to get away from.
"Alright, that's it!" said Rotor. He pressed the button that controlled the cloaking device, and the Hover Bus popped back into visibility. "Sonic, I'll distract the whale-bot! You take care of it!" Rotor piloted the Hover Bus over to the whale-bot and began to fly around it. "Come here, whaley! I know you wanna get me!"
Sonic stood on the bow of the boat. "Suki, keep yourself and Tibor away from the whale-bot! I'll take care of this!" Bravely, he hopped into the air, spun his legs quickly, and began to run across the water towards the whale-bot.
Suki watched Sonic fade from her view before obliging and turning the boat away from the whale-bot. Somewhere inside of her, she had the desire to help out more proactively, but she wasn't sure how she would do it.
Meanwhile, Sonic was slowly getting closer to the whale-bot. He watched as the badnik tried to blow the Hover Bus away, but Rotor was quicker and guided it away. "Okay, Sonic! I think I have it locked!" the walrus instructed.
"My turn!" Sonic gritted. He was about to launch into a Super Sonic Spin Attack, when something strange happened. A blast of water suddenly threw him up into the air, before the whale-bot turned to face him before spinning around. The badnik's tail made impact with Sonic before he hit the ocean, and the hedgehog felt himself fly through the air, landing on a wooden ship. "Okay, looks like we're gonna need a different plan," he said, standing back up, no worse for wear.
"Ahoy, matey!" he suddenly heard a voice with a bizarre accent say. "You didn't ask for permission to board!" Sonic looked over and saw a mobian fox wearing a captain's hat and a red sash wave at him from behind a steering wheel.
"Sorry! Didn't even know I would be boarding!" Sonic apologized. That's when something hit him. "Wait a minute! This is a pirate ship! Shouldn't there be a cannon somewhere?"
The fox shook her head. "Now why would I have cannons?"
"Well, there goes making myself a cannonball."
Rotor did a scan on the whale-bot's specs. "I may be able to hack into its mainframe and control it from here," he said, "but whenever it moves, I lose my readings!"
"Then we just gotta get it to stay still somehow," said Sonic. He looked around at his surroundings. "Say, ma'am, you think you could help us get that whale-bot?"
The fox grabbed a nearby rope and used it to hop up to the lookout nest. "Oh, wow! That is the biggest whale I've ever seen in my life!" she said.
"And if we don't get rid of it, who knows what will happen," Sonic added. "So whaddya say?"
The fox looked down and smiled. "Sure thing!" she said with a wink.
Sonic gave a thumbs-up. "Cool! I just need a couple of…" Just then, he noticed where the whale-bot was headed next: Suki's boat! Instinctively, Sonic hopped onto the water and began to run across its surface once more.
Meanwhile, Suki watched the horizon, keeping wary of the whale-bot's location. Out of nowhere, she decided to ask a question. "Say, Tibor?"
"Yeah, Suki?"
"Do you wish you were helping Sonic battle that whale robot?"
Tibor thought for a moment. "Maybe a little…" he confessed. "But we've never found a giant robot on our deliveries before. I don't know how we could help."
Suki sighed. "Me too, Tibor." Just then, Sonic hopped back onto the boat. "Sonic! What happened?"
"The whale-bot's on its way!" the blue hedgehog shouted. "C'mon! We gotta get outta the way!" He then sat on the back of the boat and began to kick his feet rapidly. Suki and Tibor held on for dear life as the boat sped away from the whale-bot's impact and stopped right near the pirate ship Sonic was on.
"Wow! What a rush!" said Suki, catching her breath. But when she looked up, she saw a familiar face. "Captain Kate?"
"Ahoy, Captain Suki!" the fox waved. "Your speedy pal was battling that giant whale thing and wants me to help!"
"You want Captain Kate to help you battle the whale-bot?" asked Suki, starstruck.
"No…" Sonic put his hand on Suki's shoulder. "I want her to help us! Here's the plan: that Kate lady will pilot the boat, Tibor, you keep an eye out, and Suki and I will distract the whale long enough for Rotor to hack into it."
The two understood most of the plan, except for one little bit. "Who's Rotor?" Tibor asked with a shrug.
"Oh, Rotor's the fella I've been talking to with this bad boy," said Sonic, pointing to his communicator. "Which reminds me…Rotor, once we get on board, have the whale-bot follow you again!" Rotor gave a thumbs-up he knew no one could see.
"Ohmigosh, we get to battle a robo-whale," said Suki, excited. "With Captain Kate!" She looked up at her hero. "Permission to board?"
"Permission granted!" called Captain Kate. She tossed down a rope that Sonic, Suki, and Tibor all grabbed, and with a mighty heft, all three of them were pulled onto the ship. "Perfect timing, too! That whale's almost here!"
[BGM: Tee Lopes - Ruby Delusions - Eggman Boss 1]
Sure enough, the whale-bot was splashing its way over to the mighty vessel that the heroes were standing on. Splashing into the sea, a wave crashed onto the ship that the four inhabitants were lucky to dodge in time. "Okay, everyone! Positions!" Captain Kate returned to the steering wheel, Tibor climbed up to the bird's nest, and Suki stood on the mast. Everyone shouted "Ready!" when they were in position. "And…go!" shouted Sonic.
On that signal, Rotor shot a laser into the sea, grabbing the whale-bot's attention, before piloting the Hover Bus further towards the middle of the ocean. The whale-bot began to follow the Hover Bus, and Kate spun the wheel, directing her ship after the badnik. Tibor kept watch from the bird's nest, making sure that they were at the right distance from the whale-bot. When they were close enough, Tibor called down, "Start circling!"
Kate gave a salute and turned the boat around, starting to circle around the whale-bot. On the mast, Suki looked at it dead in its eyes. "Hey, robo-whale! Look at me!" She started to hop up and down, trying to get the whale-bot's attention.
"Don't do it too much! He might knock you off!" Sonic called over. Sure enough, the whale-bot was just about to blow Suki off the mast. Without a second thought, Sonic hopped off of the ship, launched into a Spin Attack to deliver a hit and abort the blowing, and then hopped back onto the ship. "How's it going, Rotor?"
"Going good," Rotor responded. "Just a little bit more…keep the whale-bot still!"
"Uh, Sonic?" called Suki. "The robo-whale's about to start moving!" Sure enough, the whale-bot was catching on to the routine and was about to dive down to strike from behind.
"Not on my watch!" called the blue hedgehog. He ran to the back of the ship and dived into the sea. Putting his hands onto the back of the ship, he started kicking his legs once more, propelling the ship to a much faster speed.
"Whoa! All hands on deck!" cried Captain Kate. Suki and Tibor grabbed onto their places on the ship as it began to make circles at a tremendous speed. In its confusion, the whale-bot wasn't sure what to do and became dizzy.
"And…there we go!" shouted Rotor. Now that he was in control of the whale-bot, the badnik froze in place. "Alright, you're all good, Sonic!"
Sonic smiled, now knowing that the communicators were waterproof. "Gotcha, Rotor!" He charged up a Super Peel-Out and used it to climb back onto the ship. "Now there's only one more thing left to do…" Getting an idea, Rotor used his new control over the whale-bot to create a water platform for Sonic to run on, and the hedgehog used it to run to the whale-bot, jump onto its head, and charge up a Spin Dash. Before long, the whale-bot couldn't take the punishment and powered down. Sonic quickly jumped back onto the ship and watched as the whale-bot sank all the way to the bottom of the sea.
[BGM: Asher Lenz, Stephen Skratt - Suki's Hero BGM]
"Yeah! That was awesome!" cried Tibor, making his way down to the deck. "We were great out there!"
Sonic nodded in agreement. "Hey, sorry for stealing the captain's moniker from you," he apologized to Captain Kate.
"Well sometimes the crewmates can have just as good skills as their captain,' explained Kate.
"It's combining your skills that's important," finished Suki. She frowned. "Even though I wish I was able to actually fight."
Sonic looked down. "Hey, if you feel overwhelmed, that's fine! This whole thing's crazy."
Suki's mouth turned back into a smile. "I guess I just…want to protect my friends."
"I think you protected me alright," said Tibor, nodding. "And we're a team, remember? We all do our part."
Sonic nodded. But then he realized he forgot something. "Wait! We still gotta find that Chaos Emerald!" He pushed his communicator in. "Rotor, do you have its signal?"
"Uh…yeah…" said the walrus. "In fact, Captain Kate has it!"
Kate took out the green jewel she had in her hammerspace area. "I found this while preparing to sail back on Faraway Island," she said.
Sonic smirked. "Alright, what's it gonna take to get it back?" he said. "Sword fight? Scrubbing the poop deck?"
Kate shook her head. "Nah, if it's yours, you can have it back!" And she unhesitatingly put the emerald into Sonic's hands.
The hedgehog stared at the jewel, dumbfounded. "You're an amazing sailor," he said, "but a very lousy pirate."
"I'm a captain, not a pirate!" Kate insisted, and the four of them laughed.
"Well, we should probably be on our way," said Suki. But then she realized something. "Ohmigosh! I left my boat the middle of the sea!"
Sonic listened to Rotor's message before watching the boat materialize at the bottom of the ship. "Rotor picked it up. That Hover Bus is really overpowered."
Before long, Sonic, Suki, and Tibor were back on the boat, the Chaos Emerald safely in their hands. "Happy travels, Captain Suki!" Captain Kate called before setting back out on her way.
"Well, that was pretty exciting," said Sonic, smiling. "And we have the last Chaos Emerald! Now we just gotta get back to Sally and the others."
"Full paddle ahead!" called Suki. And with a push of the lever, the boat was back out on its way.
These events were witnessed by the same shadowy figure from before. "Those kids don't know when to quit, do they?" it said, both frustrated and impressed. "At least my powers have been proven to work. And now I just have to wait until they arrive on my doorstep…"
To be continued...and next time: delivery for the strange shadowy figure!
Next chapter: "Family Lost" At long last, the gang has arrived at Blackout Woods! But something seems off...especially about that strange shadowy figure! And what is up with the Chaos Emeralds and the package? All will be revealed in this chapter...
Postface: Chapter complete! I gotta say, I really hope I did the characters justice. That's a concern I've had fir the whole story, and this chapter is no exception.
Trivia time! The reason why I focused on Sonic and Rotor here was because I was worried that Rotor wasn't having a big enough role so far. My goal was to have him be a little more proactive, since he was one of the field people in the official media, and I hope I accomplished that. And this chapter's special guest is Suki's very own hero, Captain Kate! I partially based this chapter around Kate's debut appearance, "Suki's Hero", with some hints of her second major appearance, "All Hands on Deck". A bit interesting how the chapter is mostly set on water, which is Sonic's one weakness. Good to see he's not letting that stop him!
That should be it! Please read, review, and share around, and I'll see you all next time for...a lot of twists, that's all I'm gonna say. Stay diamond, everyone!
-Alfred
~The Pikwik Pack and everything related to them are properties of Guru Animation Studio, LTD. Sonic the Hedgehog and everything related to him are properties of Sega Corp. No copyright infringement with any of these companies nor financial gain was intended in the making of this story. Any resemblance to real-world people or events are either coincidental or done fictitiously.~
