Sonic and Co. © Sega

Chapter 12: Whisker's Titanic End

Sonic, Tails, Blaze, Silver, and their new ally, Johnny, who had betrayed Captain Whisker, were chasing Marine as she was chasing the not-so-good pirate. Marine, who had stowed away on the Deep Typhoon, had showed up wanting a chance to prove that she could hold her own. But the others knew that that would only lead to trouble.

They were chasing Marine, who had just disappeared. They were near some giant volcanic reefs on Captain Whisker's lead ship, the Big Swell. The weather had turned from clear and sunny to large volcanic clouds.

"I could have sworn she went this way." Sonic said. "Where could she be?"

"Marine, where are you?" Tails called out, but there was no response.

"If I know Whisker well enough…" Johnny began. "…he would have her trapped right about…"

Just then, Blaze caught a glimpse of something. It was Marine. "There she is!"

Marine had been caught, and Whisker was holding her in the air with one hand, and he was laughing.

"…now." Johnny said, finishing what he was saying earlier.

"Arr, what do we have here?" Whisker asked. "A wee lass thinkin' to sneak up on me, it seems!"

"N-no!" Marine yelled. "L-let me go!"

"Arr! Yer a feisty little sea dog, then, aren't ye?" Whisker asked.

"You…BUSHY-FACED FREAK!" Marine insulted. The other five heroes laughed at that, but Whisker was furious.

"B…BUSHY-FACED!?" Whisker yelled as he shook Marine violently. "I think it's time you learned to watch that tongue of yours, lass!"

Marine was trying to break free, but Whisker's grip was too tight, and she was beginning to get scared.

"Arr, let's see…how best to teach ye that lesson." Whisker pondered. "Ah yes! Mateys, bring out…the device!"

"Of course!" Mini and Mum said together. "The device!"

Now Marine was scared. "Wh-what are you going to do to me!?"

"Ahoy! This here be a gift from me boss, the most torturin' of tortures!" Whisker said. "I call him…Mr. Tickler!"

Just then, a large red, white, and black robot appeared from the hangar of the ship. It had two arms, could hover, and had a large blue node on its head. Other than that, there was nothing big, except for a launcher on its back.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Whisker said. "This thing, despite the name I've given it, doesn't tickle anyone. Instead…it shocks them."

"NOOOOO!" Marine yelled. Over where the heroes were, they couldn't believe this.

"What!?" Sonic asked. "He's going to shock her?"

"We can't let that happen!" Blaze said.

"Man, he's never gone this low with his other prisoners!" Johnny said, surprised at what his former boss was doing.

"Now, I do hope ye be ready for the torturing of a lifetime!" Whisker said menacingly.

"NO! Anything but that!" Marine pleaded.

"Silence!" Whisker demanded. "Now, mateys, pilot the robot and do what you're supposed to!"

Sonic and the others had had enough of this. They jumped up to the deck just as the robot grabbed Marine and hoisted her up.

"Marine!" Silver yelled.

"Y-y-you guys!" Marine called in an excited voice. "You came for me! I knew you would!"

"Didn't we tell you not to run off on your own?" Blaze asked.

"Look! I'm sorry! For everything!" Marine apologized.

"Come on, Blaze!" Silver said. "We'll talk later!"

"Whisker, let her go!" Johnny demanded.

"Sorry, traitor!" Whisker said. "It'll take more than that to get me to bend! If ye want her back, all of ye swear a pirate's oath to me! Or else…she leaves this place for good!"

Just then, Tails had a plan. He talked with the other four for a few seconds, causing Whisker to wonder what they were up to.

"Speak up, landlubbers!" Whisker demanded. "I can't hear ye!"

"Leave it to us." Johnny said.

"Right!" Sonic replied. "Silver, Blaze, let's go."

Sonic, Blaze, and Silver started to move away as Tails caught Whisker's attention.

"Aha!" Tails exclaimed. "Johnny's got the Jeweled Scepter!"

Whisker turned to see Johnny holding something behind his back. What it was, he couldn't tell, but he thought it was the scepter.

"What!?" Whisker asked. "How'd it get…D'arr!"

Whisker started to chase after Johnny, who started to run around in circles. The pirate captain tried to grab him multiple times, but the green robot just dodged him using his speed. But all of a sudden, Johnny stopped after a minute.

"You want the scepter?" Johnny asked. Whisker nodded. "Well, I'd give it to you…IF I had it!"

He then tossed out a simple cane. Whisker fumed with anger. He had been deceived. "D'arr! You double-crossed me! But wait! If you don't have it, then that means…"

Whisker then turned around to find Sonic, in ball form, heading right for the large robot's hand. He was thrown by Silver, and hit the hand, releasing Marine. She fell down towards the deck until Blaze stopped right under her and caught her. Whisker was enraged. He had been tricked.

"D'arr, I'll show ye all!" Whisker said as he called the robot down. The head opened up and the bad captain got in and closed it, taking control of the robot. "I'll show ye not to mess with me!"

Blaze put Marine down as Sonic, Silver, Tails, and Johnny joined her. The robot rose up into the air and backed away.

"Marine, stay back for now." Blaze said.

"Right." Marine agreed. She had learned her lesson. She backed off as the others jumped up onto the platform. It was metal with two cannons, one on each side.

"Everyone, here it comes." Silver said.

"Let's finish this!" Sonic said.

Big Swell: Ghost Titan

Whisker switched the robot to manual control, then started the battle by shooting four green missiles out of the cannon. They shot towards the heroes, and then slowed down, moving toward them from the side. The heroes were wondering what to do when Silver saw that they were able to hit the missiles. He hit one, and it shot toward one of the cannons, which were being protected by a force field. Once the missile hit, the force field came down, and the cannon started firing at them. Silver reacted quickly, though, and unleashed a Psycho Ball, which popped the turret off of the cannon, leaving a hole.

"I think I know how we can reach it." Silver said. He jumped into the hole and turned the cannon so that it was facing the Ghost Titan, then fired himself at the node. He hit it, then grabbed on and started punching it with psychically-charged punches. He kept up the flurry of attacks until the robot plucked Silver off of him and threw him back to the others. Luckily for the psychic hedgehog, he could levitate, so he landed back on the platform without any damage. Once he landed, he saw that the cannon had been restored.

"Well, now we know how to damage it." Silver told them. "Get rid of the force field, jump into the cannon, launch yourself at it, then grab on and beat the hell out of it."

"Simple enough." Sonic replied. "Now it's my turn."

Sonic waited until the robot fired more missiles, but the robot fired one red missile along with a few green ones. Sonic hit the red one, thinking it would do more damage, but it didn't head for one of the cannons. Instead, it headed right for the robot and damaged the node.

"The red ones damage the robot!" Sonic called out, letting everyone else know as he hit a green one, which destroyed the force field surrounding the left cannon. Sonic hopped in, aimed, and fired himself at the robot. He hit it, then went into a spin charge and kept hitting the robot, attack after attack, each one hitting the node, until Whisker threw him back.

"D'arr! I'll show ye some real power, ye scurvy dogs!" Whisker said.

Whisker piloted the robot right near them, and pressed a button inside it. A machine gun below the torso opened fire on the heroes, and they jumped over them. Silver created a barrier, however, and the others got behind it to avoid being hit by the bullets. Once the machine gun had run out of ammo for the time being, it started to move back. Johnny wasn't about to let this happen, however. He charged up a dash, and flew towards the node on the Titan's head. He bashed it at such a high speed that the robot shot back towards the rear of the ship.

"D'arr! Curse you, Johnny!" Whisker yelled.

"Same to you, Whisker!" Johnny replied while giving him a thumbs down.

"Now you've really made me mad!" Whisker yelled.

The robot then aimed its arms at the heroes and launched them. As they got close, Silver grabbed them, Blaze covered them with fire, and Tails redirected them. Sonic and Johnny then got behind the arms and charged up their respective dashes, then bashed into the arms, sending them towards the node. The force of the arms hitting the robot's node crushed it, and the robot was sent on a rampage.

"If I can't win, then I'll take ye all with me!" Whisker declared.

The robot then fired a rope, which snagged all of the heroes. The rope was impervious to their attacks or anything they did, so there was no escape. The robot then descended towards the heroes and started to fire two laser beams that closed in on them, and with no way to escape the rope, there seemed to be no hope for them.

"What do we do?" Sonic asked.

"We can't do anything!" Silver said. "It's over."

"Much as I hate to agree, I think it's true." Johnny agreed. "He was too smart for us."

Meanwhile, Marine was watching the whole battle, and was horrified when she saw what was happening.

"I can't let that pirate kill them!" Marine said to herself. "I hope I can do something."

Just then, Marine charged at the robot. She jumped up onto the platform where the robot was. The lasers were almost at the heroes, who could feel the intensity of them. But as the robot's lasers got closer, the robot started to lose the leverage, and fell closer towards them. Once the lasers were almost at the heroes, Marine saw her chance. She jumped at the Ghost Titan, pulled her hands behind her head, and slammed them down on the robot's head at full force, more than anyone had ever exerted on the robot. The robot fell backwards as Marine fell back with the heroes. The robot started to spark as Whisker tried to initiate the auto-repair.

"Come on, you blasted machine!" Whisker demanded. "Activate auto-repair!"

But it was too late. The robot started to flash, then from the center, a large explosion occurred. The explosion overtook the robot, then reached the cockpit, where Whisker was.

"What? No!" Whisker said as he tried to eject. "No! Let me out! NOOOO!"

Whisker was caught in the explosion and perished immediately, along with Mini and Mum. Then the explosion got larger, starting to overtake the whole ship. The others knew what they had to do. They had to get out of there.

"ABANDON SHIP!" Johnny called.

The others didn't need to be told twice. They ran towards the bow of the ship and jumped into the water, leaving the ship as it exploded. Silver extended a psychic barrier, catching all of them just before they hit the surface, and started moving toward the Deep Typhoon, which was sitting in the water nearby. Once they were on it, Silver dropped the barrier, allowing them to land. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The volcanic clouds above the area cleared away, revealing the sun and the blue skies. It was finally over.

Ghost Titan and Whisker: Destroyed!

Sonic and the others had done it. Marine was saved, Whisker was destroyed, and everything was returned to normal.

"Well, that's finally over." Sonic said. "Oh, and look what I snagged before we abandoned the ship."

He pulled out an purple square-cut emerald and a purple gem-cut emerald.

"The Chaos and Sol Emeralds!" Blaze exclaimed.

"Just what's so special about those anyway?" Johnny asked.

"They have limitless power." Tails explained. "In the right hands, they can do a lot of good. But in the wrong hands, they can bring about the end of the world."

"Whoa! I never knew those were so powerful." Johnny said.

"Well, at any rate, we can finally put an end to this trouble." Silver said.

"Speaking of which…" Sonic said before they all turned to Marine. "Marine!"

"Wh-wh-what?" Marine asked.

"Why were you chasing down the pirates all by yourself?" Silver asked.

"Yeah, Marine!" Tails agreed. "That's way too dangerous."

"Well, I mean, I just figured since…well, I'm the captain and all…" Marine tried to explain. "I thought I could have my big moment, and if I just did a little bit more, then…"

"Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?" Blaze asked. Marine was instantly insulted.

"Worried about me? Why were YOU worried about me?" Marine asked, pointing at Blaze. "YOU were the one who called me a nuisance!"

Blaze was about to say something in retaliation, but Sonic, Tails, and Silver looked at her. It was then that she realized it. She had said it, and there was no denying that because the other three were there when she said it. She walked up to Marine, knowing what she had to do.

"Listen, Marine." Blaze said as she placed her hands on the raccoon's shoulders. "I…just want to say that I'm sorry for calling you that. I know I said it out of anger, and I guess that I was just concerned about you that…I didn't want you to get hurt."

Marine just looked at Blaze. "Do…do you mean…?"

"Yes, Marine." Blaze said. "I care about you. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"Aw, thanks, Blaze." Marine said as she gave the cat a hug. Blaze returned it.

"Well, isn't that cute?" Johnny said.

"Don't start that." Sonic warned.

"Well, at any rate…" Silver began. "…what counts is that it all worked out in the end."

"Yeah, Silver's right." Tails agreed. "But you really do need to be more careful in the future, Marine."

"Aw, well, all right." Marine said with a little chuckle. "I guess I can do that. A little."

Everyone laughed a little bit. Then Sonic wondered about something.

"Hey, Blaze." Sonic said. "What about the Jeweled Scepter?"

"It probably sank along with the pirates." Blaze told him. "That would be my guess."

"Well, there may be some way for us to find it." Silver said.

"I appreciate the sentiment…" Blaze began. "…but it must be on the sea floor by now."

At that moment, Marine started to laugh lightly. The others noticed.

"What's so funny, Marine?" Tails asked.

"Are you talking about THIS scepter?" Marine said as she held it out. "Ta-daah!"

"The Jeweled Scepter!" Everyone exclaimed.

"The one and only!" Marine said. "I nicked it while I was captured, when ol' whiskers wasn't looking!"

"Way to go, Marine!" Silver said.

"Yeah! Great job!" Johnny added.

"Aw, heh heh! No drama!" Marine said. "Anyway, 'ere you go, Blaze; one Jeweled Scepter!"

Marine handed the scepter to Blaze, who gladly accepted it.

"…Thank you." Blaze said.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Marine said, pulling out a cyan square-cut emerald. "I also managed to get this!"

"The last Sol Emerald!" Tails exclaimed.

"I believe that this also belongs to you, Blaze." Marine said, handing it over.

"Thank you." Blaze said. "But what if we had failed? What would have become of you then?"

"Marine, don't put yourself in such danger next time." Silver said. "You understand?"

"Y-yeah." Marine said.

"Well, we do have to give her some credit." Johnny said. "After all, she did save us."

"Right." Sonic agreed, as well as everyone else. "Come on, everyone. Let's go back to Windmill Village."

"Good idea, Sonic." Tails said.

"Yeah!" Marine agreed. "I can't wait until I get home and tell everyone about all my ripper adventures!"

Everyone headed off to return to the island. Marine stopped for a minute, though, and thought about something.

"Of course, no one's going to believe that part about my getting the scepter back." Marine thought to herself. "Still, I guess it can't be helped so long as I'm still a kid."

Just then, Johnny saw that Marine had stopped, and went back to get her.

"Hey, Marine, what's up?" Johnny asked.

"Oh, nothing!" Marine replied. "I'm coming!"

Johnny then headed off to catch up with the others. Marine started to go along with them.

"Just you watch, mates!" Marine said to herself. "I'll become a captain for real!"

Marine then caught up with the others as they all got into the Deep Typhoon and left the area.

A couple of hours later, the Jeweled Scepter was back at its altar, guarded by three of Blaze's best guards.

"So, you think anyone will try to steal it again?" One guard said.

"I doubt it." A second one said. "With the pirates gone, I don't think there's anyone else."

"Uh, guys!" The third one said. "Look!"

Someone was approaching the altar with a gun. The figure shot the three guards before anyone could raise an alarm, and walked up to the scepter.

"Well, if it isn't the Jeweled Scepter!" The figure said. "With this, I'm one step closer to my goal! Mwahahahahahaha!"

The figure then walked out of the chamber with the scepter in hand, leaving the guards' bodies where they were shot dead.

End of Chapter 12.

Someone has stolen the Jeweled Scepter, but with Whisker gone and Johnny with the heroes, who could it have been? Will Marine ever become a true captain? Will Sonic and Tails ever get back home?

Well, if you've played the game, then I think you know the answers.

Read and Review. Only three chapters left.