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By morning, Shadow's swelling throat had gone down some but he still had a big ugly bruise. Everyone else on board was keeping an eye opened for someone who could have snuck aboard, well almost everyone. Sonia was too busy trying to find out who "Sarrow" was but she still kept her eyes open.
"Sonia, how can you even be sure if this Sarrow guy isn't the attacker?" Manic asked after a while.
"Call it a feeling but I just know that Sarrow isn't the attacker." She said.
"Yeah, that's what they always say and in the end it's never pretty." Manic said in a rather annoyed tone.
"Oh get over yourself." Sonia said.
A blue streak of light flashed as it ran by them.
"Man, Sonic's been like this ever since we got on this ship." Manic said.
"I've seen people go stir crazy before but I've never seen anything as bad as this." Sonia admitted.
"He's just lucky that Amy Rose isn't here." Shelby said, walking up to them.
"Why's that?" Sonia asked.
"'Cause she'd give him "the lecture"." She said, watching as the blue hedgehog ran past again.
"Some people can't even relax for a minute." Sonia said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You think this is bad, you should have seen Weed and the others when we were going against Hougen." Shelby said, watching as Sonic ran by again.
"Who?" Sonia asked.
"Weed's a friend of mine." Shelby explained. "I haven't seen him since last winter."
"Why's that?" Manic asked.
"His father, Gin, created a paradise a long time ago but it was attacked by a monster years ago, Gin had one of the commanding officers, Smith, take his wife, Cherry Blossom, away from the area because the monster was merciless. After a while, Smith lost track of Cherry Blossom. A few years later, Smith finally found them but it was too late for Cherry Blossom…"
Shelby looked to the floor and her ears fell. She didn't need to say anything they could tell that it wasn't good news.
"Afterwards, Smith, Weed, and their new friends, GB and Mel, set out for the paradise, for Ohu. But when they got there, things were looking grim. They fought the monster and won but what they didn't know was that, Gin and two of his followers John and Akame had been captured by an evil wolf named Hougen who wanted to take over Ohu, he had Gin and John badly beaten when they captured them while Akame made a run for it, on Gin's orders. Akame reached Ohu and told them what had happened. Weed and his friends left Ohu to create an army and stop Hougen's crazy plot. I don' really know what happened next though."
"What? What do you mean?" Manic asked.
"The Freedom Fighters called me and Topaz back, we didn't want to go but we had no choice or say in the matter and it was right before the final battle." She said.
"What about Gin?" Manic asked.
"I'm not sure how but they somehow managed to save Gin, stop Hougen, and save Ohu but there were some who didn't make it."
"Like who?"
"John."
Sonia and Manic looked at each other.
"What happened?" Sonia asked.
"Hougen's followers happened." Shelby answered. "And he wasn't the only one. We lost Toube, Jerome, and a countless number of soldiers."
"Who were Tube and Jerome?" Manic asked.
"Toube was once a follower of Hougen but when he threw Toube off a cliff, we came to his aid, he died fighting, standing straight up, his whole body frozen solid by the time they found him. As for Jerome, Hougen threw him into a raging river. He could swim, of coarse, but Weed went in after him, Jerome gave his life to make sure that he was going to survive."
Sonia and Manic could tell that she was going very deep into her story.
"I heard about what had happened about a few months later, although I never learned the details. I learned that Ohu had been won back, Weed was united with his father, what happened to Jerome, Hougen was defeated, harmony was restored, and life goes on."
"Sounds pretty deep." Manic said with a whistle.
"You think that's deep, you should have seen some of the wounds the others got during the fight." Shelby said.
"I'd rather not." Sonia said, in grimace.
"Whatever." Manic said with a shrug.
"Yeah well, aren't we supposed to be searching the ship for an uncounted passenger?" Shelby asked.
"Yeah, yeah, we're going." Manic said, walking off.
Shelby just grumbled under her breath and rolled her eyes. She didn't know why but she felt like she had to find whoever attacked Shadow. She just went with the idea that she wanted to finish what she started and stuck with it. But something was still nagging her like crazy. Something she couldn't shake.
"Guess I'm just thinking too much about Ohu." She mumbled to herself. "Oh well, might as well keep searching."
Out of a corner, Garin watched the blue hedgehog and sighed.
"What am I doing?" He asked himself. "I'm supposed to be a pirate, I'm not supposed to be like this, caring. I guess I'm just different…too different."
Even as a child he had always been a little different from the other kids, he was always looking for adventure and he sometimes went to extremes just for kicks. He closed his eyes and remembered one of his most dangerous adventures. He had climbed up a most covered cliff, there were even several signs warning people just how dangerous it really was. Garin had ignored all of the signs and climbed it, he had almost reached the top when he lost his footing and fell, he managed to grab onto the edge but he wasn't strong enough to pull himself up. Jacques ran into town for help while Shelby urged him to hold on. As he held on for life he looked down into the water below and saw a beautiful cat bobbing in the waves. Her stare gave him the courage to hold on. Jacques arrived with help, a group of adults, they managed to safely make it to where Garin had slipped and pulled him to safety. He looked back to the water again to see the young cat but he looked just in time to see a long aqua green fishtail disappear under the water.
Garin later met the same cat when Scar Blade stole is ship. It turned out she was a mermaid, or mercat as she called herself. She took him to her underwater city where he could stay until his wounds had healed. Her name was Isca and after a while, he realized that he had a crush on her, which later turned to love but he had left her for pirating, he doubted that she would ever forgive him. He just shook his head, he seemed so pathetic to himself sometimes. Why would someone as beautiful, special, and gifted ever like someone like him? He just sighed and the image of the beautiful cat appeared in his mind.
"Garin?"
The brown hedgehog was snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing the voice.
"What is it, Shelby?" He asked.
"You seemed lost in another world." She said.
"Just thinking." He said, looking away, already knowing what she probably going to say.
"Did it hurt?"
He knew it!
"Very funny." He said.
"What? No punch to the arm? Now I know you're thinking about Isca!" She accused.
"How'd you guess?"
"I can tell that you like her. I've seen that look in your eyes before."
Garin just turned away, blushing.
"Garin, there's nothing wrong about being in love." She said, taking his chin under one finger. "I've seen a lot of people who are in love and they're very strong, because they have something to fight for. I actually found that those who are in love are stronger then those who aren't."
Garin just looked into her eyes, something was telling him to believe her.
"I guess you're right." He said.
"Now, are we looking for a stowaway or lovers?" She joked.
"Stowaways." Garin said with a laugh.
"Come on, I'll race to the cargo hold."
"You know you're faster then me!"
"Tell you what, I bet I'll beat you on one leg, going backwards, eyes closed and holding my breath, heck I'll even give you a head start, that should make it about even if I go at half speed."
"I KNOW I'll beat you under those conditions." Garin said.
"Is that a fact? Then why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" Shelby asked.
"Okay." He said in a challenging voice.
"READY SET GO!" She said almost at once.
Garin took this as no surprise and took off charging at top speed in less then a second. He had to use all of his speed if he was to beat her, and he'd have to use every second that he had. He was running as fast as his legs could carry him. If he won, this would be the first race against her that he'd probably ever win. He was almost half way to the cargo hold! Had he lost her along the way? A blue streak suddenly dashed past him! Nope. He still couldn't beat her in a race even if he tried or was given a head start with crazy odds that make racing a normal person cinch.
He quickly arrived at the cargo hold and looked around.
"With those reflexes, it's no wonder Benny the Blade managed to get you."
He looked to a large crate and sitting on it was Shelby, swinging her leg.
"Funny." He said.
"Come on, Garin." Shelby said. "Where is your of humor?"
"I think I left it back on land." He joked.
"I'd think otherwise." She said.
"Come on, with all this stuff down here, a stowaway could easily hide here." Garin said.
"Right behind you." She said and jumped from where she had been sitting.
The two spent the next hour or so searching the cargo hold, still cracking jokes.
"Is that anything to say to the person who saved your life?" Garin asked.
"If he was half as cocky as you? Nope. But for you, I'll make an exception." Shelby joked.
"Well, we've pretty much turned this whole room up side down and then some and still no stowaway." Garin said.
"Yeah, we might as well go back on deck and see if anyone else has had any better luck." Shelby said, closing another crate.
"Wanna race again?" Garin challenged.
"Even when I beat you going backwards, on one leg, eyes closed, holding my breath and with a head start you wanna race me?" Shelby asked.
"You know giving isn't my thing." Garin shrugged.
"Okay, but this time, I'll give you an even bigger head start." She said, leaning against a wall.
"Alright." Garin said.
"READY SET GO!"
Garin took off in a flash he was almost as fast as a shooting star but he knew that Shelby was just as fast, maybe even faster. He was almost out onto the deck! Maybe he could win this one! A blue streak of light flashed by! Nope. He wasn't going to win.
"Beat 'cha again." Shelby said, leaning against the mast.
"Very funny." Garin panted.
"I thought so." She said.
"Come on, lets' see if Jacques found anything." Garin said, pushing her.
"I'm going, I'm going." She said.
From where she was watching, Topaz glared hard at Garin.
"What's wrong, Topaz?" Tails asked as he walked up to her.
"Look at them." She spat.
"Shelby and Garin?" Tails asked. "What about them?"
"That used to be me, Tails." Topaz said. "I used to be the one Shelby messed around with."
"Yeah, but Garin's closer to her age so she can be a little tougher and Garin's one of her best friends, and your one of hers as well but she gets to see you all the time but Garin doesn't get to see her every single day. Maybe they just wanna spend as much time together before he leaves again. I mean they haven't seen each other in about five years so they must have really missed each other. They just want to see as much of the other better Garin has to go. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"I…I think so." Topaz said.
"Okay, so are you gonna go a little more easy on them?" Tails asked.
"I guess so." Topaz said.
"Okay, come on, I was going to check out the kitchen for the person who attacked Shadow, wanna come with?" Tails asked.
"Okay." She said.
The two foxes took to the air and flew below deck. But all the while, Rolf watched with great hate. He looked at Nova and Double D, who where discussing the most likely places for someone to hide.
"I think that the quarters are the best place to hide." Nova said. "With all of those room and how much stuff's in them someone could easily hide there."
"Yes, but they wouldn't hide somewhere where a lot of people sleep, they could be caught." Double D said. "They would hide somewhere dark and where hardly anyone goes. Like near the lowest levels on the ship."
"Maybe." Nova said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Rolf just growled at Nova. Why would anyone care about her or Shadow? And after what they did? It was just ridicules! Rolf then watched as Shelby told Garin something. Rolf just shook his head in disgrace. He still couldn't believe that he had been so blind. Why hadn't he seen that Double D ed boy had the Medallion of Music? Or Shelby, why hadn't he seen that she had the Crest of Light? It was so foolish. But now they were helping those two! Rolf almost spat! He growled and went below deck.
But unseen by all on the ship, a large red ship was STILL following them! But just ahead, there was an even greater danger waiting for them to arrive on the island.
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Sorry that it's a little late and a little short. Well, review if you want to see more (I only got two reviews for the last chapter).