Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic Underground, or Ed, Edd, and Eddy but I do own the crew, Shelby the Hedgehog, and Topaz.
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"Release all sails!" Garin ordered.
The sails were released and the strong wind was caught up in them. Double D watched in awe, as everything was set into motion. He looked over the port railing and could see several waves coming in their direction. He looked up to the wheel and saw Garin, Shelby, Knuckles, and Shadow. Shelby was showing them all of the routes that had taken her the closest to the island, by how much, the flows of the currents, and all of the known whirlpools.
"Couldn't we try that direction?" He heard Knuckles asked, pointing to the map before them.
"No, that's where one of the largest whirlpools rests, it comes and goes you can't time it." Shelby explained.
"What about the other side of the island?" Garin questioned.
"For some reason, the storms are worse on that side of the island, I have yet to find a single "eye". We could be risking everyone's lives if we try to go through that way."
"Well, what do you suggest?" Shadow asked.
"Well, Topaz can control the wind so we could try to get through a storm but we'd be in danger of the whirlpools, and rocks. We could use the Chaos Control to stop the whirlpools for only a few moments but it's risky, if one goes unseen, we could end up sailing right into it."
This whole thing sounded risky to Double D. He turned his attention to Talaka, who was talking with Eddy. Topaz, Tails, Sonic, and Manic were playing a card game in one corner.
"Three ace!" Manic said and placed three cards face down on a pile.
"Not cheating." Sonic said.
"Not cheating." Tails agreed.
"Cheating!" Topaz accused.
"How'd you know?" Manic asked as he took the pile of cards and placed them in his hand.
"I have my ways." Topaz said with a sly look on her face.
"What are you four doing?" Double D asked.
"We're playing Cheat!" Tails said.
"What's Cheat?" Double D asked, sitting down.
"It's a card game that Shelby came up with." Topaz explained. "The rules are a little complicated so listen carefully. The point of the game is to get rid of all of the cards in your hand first. To do so, you have to have to put your cards into the pile but to do that you have say what number card you have and how many of them you have and put them in the pile. The highest number of cards you can put down is four though. Now this is where it gets tricky. Each player gets thirteen cards because there can only be four players. You can also lie and say that you have a certain number of cards but you really don't. Like this. Lets' say I put down four threes when I'm actually putting down two ace and two threes. It's okay to cheat but if someone catches you cheating, the whole pile goes to your hand but if they're wrong and you're not cheating, the pile goes to their hand. It's the same way if you say someone's cheating. If you're right, the pile goes to their hand, if you're wrong, it goes to yours."
"I think I understand." Double D said.
"It's pretty easy when once you get the hang of it." Manic said.
"If that's what you wanna call it." Sonic said.
Double D sat down and watched a few games before he started to play. Soon, he took Manic's place and started playing a few rounds. He wasn't very good at it but for some reason he enjoyed it. After about ten rounds Double D noticed Eddy heading for the front of the ship. Deciding that he was up to something, Double D folded his cards and went to see what he was up to. Eddy climbed onto the figurehead and stood at the very edge.
"I'm king of the world!" He said loudly, but not loudly enough for anyone farther then the mast to hear.
"Please, you're not even king of the cul-da-sac." Double D said with a laugh.
"Oh, so your world has kings and queens?" Nova asked.
"Not exactly Eddy had us run an election to determine the 'King'."
"But kings aren't-"
"I know, but it was impossible to talk Eddy out of it. He did everything to win, even get the 'dirt' on the only other one running and he still lost…and to a wooden plank."
Nova giggled a little.
"Shelby says we shouldn't be reaching the island for a few days so I was wondering if you could tell me about your adventures, you know, to pass the time." Nova said.
"Why, I would be thrilled to do so." Double D said.
The two quickly made their way below deck and Double D told Nova about their first adventure with Ed's sleepwalking and sleep eating problem.
"So, we follow him up the stairs and to the back door in time to see him jumping the fence. We look over and he's standing on a peg on the neighbor's clothesline, trying to get an apple out of a tree. When he did so, he slid down the line and it caused a pair of underwear to fly off the line and then it sent Ed back up and he managed to grab onto the underwear with his teeth and then used them as a parachute, sending him into the air and floating in the breeze."
Nova giggled laughed at very thought of someone being able to do that.
"And how do we get him back? We use his shoes as bait."
The two laughed as a certain blue goat glared at Nova, HARD!
"She-who-is-evil shall not try anything funny while Rolf is on guard." He growled and then looked at Shadow. "Nor shall he. No one is safe as long as they are around. Their lies shall not fool Rolf."
Kevin looked at his friend, confused at his behavior.
"He's a freak sometimes." Kevin grumbled under her breath.
"So, it's settles then." Nazz heard Shelby say. "We sail into the storm, have Topaz clear the way, I use Chaos Control to stop the whirlpools, and we make it to the island and in hopefully one piece."
"Sounds risky." Knuckles said.
"Well, whoever said that this was going to be easy?" Shadow asked.
"Besides, my crew could use the challenge." Garin said.
"There's still a chance that we might not make it." Knuckles said.
"Yeah, but that just makes it more challenging." Shelby said.
Knuckles just groan slightly and headed below deck. Rolf continued to watch Shadow he wasn't going to let him out of his sights.
Later…
"The next thing I know, I'm half naked." Double D said, telling Nova about the incident with the boomerang.
"Oh dear." Nova said, struggling not to giggle.
"Indeed, I still don't know how it happened though." Double D said, blushing.
"Who knows?" Nova shrugged.
"Yes, but I do wonder how long it will take us to get to Castaway Kay?" Double D asked.
"Shelby says it's going to take at least four days." Nova explained.
"Four days?" Double D asked in shock.
"According to her, the strongest winds are the ones that surround the island, and the ones we're sailing on are pretty weak." Nova explained.
"Oh." Double D quietly said.
"Listen, there's something I need to tell you." Nova said. "I'll get Shelby, she needs to know this too."
"Of-of coarse." Double D said, watching the yellow hedgehog run up to the blue one.
Nova quickly returned with Shelby in tow.
"What is it, Nova?" Double D asked.
"I can't tell you, not here." She quickly said. "Come with me to my quarters, quickly."
The two looked to each other and then followed the yellow hedgehog under the deck and straight into her quarters.
"What' this all about?" Shelby asked.
"I'll explain." Nova said, locking the door and pulling the curtains over the window. "Okay, now for your questions, I need Double D to remove his hat and Shelby to take off the necklace around he neck."
"Are you sure?" Double D asked, grabbing the rims of his hat and he noticed that Shelby seemed to be gripping something that was under her shirt, near her chest.
"Yes, I must explain, what they are if you show them to me." Nova said.
The two looked at each other, worried looks on their faces. Shelby sighed, reached into her shirt, and pulled out a small necklace. It was on a white string, it had a small yellow pendent on it that was in the shape of a sort of tag, in the very center, there was a pink line and a closer looked revealed a small pink flower like design but the pedals were sharp and they weren't even touching the center, Double D made a quick count and there were eight pedals that were sharp at both ends on it. It was very strange indeed.
Double D, inspired by her courage, took off his hat and looked at Nova. The small metal item that was imbedded to his head was shaped just like Sonic's medallion only his was red with a strange green jewels implanted were Sonic's eyes would be if it had his face on it.
"I thought so." Nova said.
"You thought what?" Shelby asked.
"Listen, I know what those things are and you should know too." Nova explained.
"You mean you know what these things are?" Shelby asked.
"Yes, the one Shelby has is called the Crest of Light, while Double D's is the Medallion of Music." Nova explained. "Now, what you should know is that those two items have the same origin."
The two looked at each other in shock.
On deck…
"Sis, what's with the flowers?" Manic asked, noticing the large number of roses in her arms.
"Oh, Manic you're never going to believe it!" Sonia said. "Someone on this ship has a crush on me!"
"What?" Manic asked in shock.
"He left these roses on my bed and a card. He calls himself Sarrow." Sonia said with a dreamy look on her face.
"Oh great." Manic grumbled.
This was going to be at least boy number four that she's had a crush on, including, Knuckles.
"Well, good luck with him." Manic said with a shrug.
"Thank you." Sonia said.
Manic just sighed as he watched his sister dancing off. She was hopeless sometimes and this was one of those times. He knew it was impossible to talk to her now. Even if you told her something totally funny, she would still be thinking about her 'crush'. Manic just shook his head and started to look for Sonic, to tell him the news.
"Hope this one lasts." Manic mumbled.
Rolf watched as Manic went below deck to find Sonic and just started grinding his teeth. Rolf continued to Shadow and shook his head. How could the others trust him and Nova? He just shook his head again and headed below deck. He continued to grumble under his breath as thoughts from his past flooded his mind. As he walked he lost himself and where he was going. He suddenly found himself almost falling on top of Eddy, who was looking through the keyhole in Nova's door.
"What is no-neck-ed-boy doing?" Rolf asked.
"Quiet!" Eddy snapped. "This is getting good! They're talking about Medallions of Music and Crests of Light!"
"What?" Rolf asked in shock. "Out of the way!"
Rolf pushed Eddy out of his way and looked through the keyhole.
"Double D-ed-boy has his hat taken off! The medallion!" Rolf then noticed the necklace in Shelby's hand. 'THE CREST OF LIGHT!' He screamed in his mind.
"So, the evil monster was destroyed at first thought but it was only his body that was destroyed. In reality, his soul was too powerful to be destroyed so the spell casters used their most powerful spells to seal him away, never to be awakened." Nova said, finishing her story.
"That much I understand, but what I don't get is what these things have to do with all of this." Shelby said.
"You see, the monster created those items along with eleven other crests to alert him when one of those things that they stand for would become too powerful. They would glow to alert him and he'd then use his powers to take the pure energy that came from it until there was hardly any left. The Crest of Light glowed often, because the other eleven purities powered it." Nova explained. "Like, if there was a lot of music in the world, it would glow, and the monster would use his powers to destroy the music and the medallion and the crest would stop glowing. Or the Crest of Courage, when people gathered a lot of courage together, the crest would glow."
"I think I understand." Double D said.
"Yes, but what I don't understand is how the Medallion of Music got imbedded to your head." Nova said.
"It is indeed weird." Double D said. "I've had it since my toddler years and I've never had any contact with this world before."
"Well, after the monster was stopped, the twelve crests were scattered and would remain dormant until the proper heirs revealed themselves. However, the Medallion of Music was sent to another dimension, in hopes that it would never be used again." Nova finished.
"Well, what do the other crests look like?" Shelby asked.
"I'm not sure, I just knew when I saw it hanging around your neck." Nova said. "But how did you ever get it in the first place?"
"I haven't the slightest clue really. It sort of slipped into my mind one day and then I started thinking about it more and more until, one day I woke up and it was there, hanging around my neck. When I first saw it, I didn't much of it, I just looked at it and smiled, like it had always been there and I had seen it a thousand times before." Shelby explained.
"That is strange." Double D said.
"I think they are somehow connected but I'm not sure how." Nova said.
"Very odd." Shelby agreed.
"Well, we best be getting back to the deck, the others will start to worry." Double D said.
"Agreed." Shelby nodded. "Lets' go."
Nova was about to open the door when Shelby sensed something…something wrong.
"I'll catch up with you guys later." She quickly said and pulled out the black gem that she had used at the old clock tower near Sanctuary! Before Double D or Nova could stop her, Shelby cried something out.
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
In a flash of light, she vanished!
On deck…Shadow stood alone. Everyone else was below deck, the wheal was tied down and they had set anchor so everyone could have something to eat, they'd all of their strength if they were going to get to Castaway Kay in a few days. Shadow had already eaten and was looking to the horizon.
"Maria would have loved this." He whispered.
His ear twitched at the sound of someone coming on deck. He paid whoever it was little head, thinking they had come to see the sunset. But oh, how wrong he was. Shadow kept his eyes on the orange sky when he sudden felt something grab him around his neck! He suddenly felt them tighten their grip greatly! He was then lifted in the air! He was being strangled!
Shadow kicked his feet wildly, not knowing where the attacker was other then behind him. He could feel his face building up with pressure, the lack of air getting to him! His whole head was in pain! In a few seconds, he would be dead if something didn't happen!
"LET HIM GO!"
Both Shadow and the attacker felt to the floor. Shadow looked up in time to see Shelby, she had charged the attacker! They both looked in time to see the attacker run below deck, his entire body hidden in the shadows.
Shelby scrambled to her feet and ran to Shadow's side. Shadow was holding his throat, coughing and wheezing with tears in his eyes.
"Shadow, come on, I'm getting you to the medical room." She said, scooping him up.
She raced below deck with the injured hedgehog in her arms.
"Thank you, Shelby." Shadow whispered in a raspy voice from the attack.
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Well, guess you didn't see all of THAT in one chapter. A secret crush, ancient medallions and crests, and a straggler on top of all that! Anyways, you know the drill, people the more reviews I get, the sooner a new chapter will come up. R&R please.