SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic characters, just the OC's
Chapter Twenty-One: Pirate Problems
It has been a week since the Iblis incident and the heroes have seen the Dark Rulers at all. They did have a few encounters with Eggman's black clones, but they weren't any problem. Earlier today, Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles were asked to act as guards for a new prisoner being transported to the newly constructed Prison Island. Now normally, the heroes wouldn't accept a job like this, but Sonic insisted on it. The three were currently waiting as the boat arrives at the island harbor.
"Exactly who are we supposed to be guarding?" Knuckles asked.
"Some guy named Gale." Shadow explained. "He is rumored to be the King of Pirates."
"Pirates still exist?" Knuckles asked.
"Yes, especially in the Caribbean." Shadow said. "I can't believe we got stuck with guard duty."
"Then why did you accept it?" Knuckles asked.
"I didn't, Sonic did." Shadow said as he looked towards his best friend. "But the question is, why?"
Sonic seemed extremely serious as opposed to his usual carefree attitude. Something about this 'Gale' guy was bothering him. The ship finally came into harbor. Ten G.U.N. soldiers lined up as the commander walked up to the trio of heroes.
"Nice to see that all of you were able to come." The commander greeted.
"Yeah, that's nice. Where's that pirate guy?" Sonic said impatiently.
"Be warned. This isn't just any pirate. This is the king of pirates." The commander expressed. "He cunning, he's crafty, and he's..." the commander was interrupted when one of the soldiers walked up to him. The soldier whispered something into his ear and he yelled. "Gone?! What do you mean he's gone?!"
"Just as it sounds like." Shadow smirked.
"Don't just stand there! Find him!" the commander yelled.
The soldiers scrabbled around in search of the pirate. While everyone was running around, Shadow saw something move through the water. Shadow called for Sonic and Knuckles attention and pointed to the water. There they saw something moving under the water, using a straw to breathe in air. Knuckles moved in closer to the straw and reached behind his back to pull out a bottle of flaming-hot sauce.
"Why do you carry a bottle of hot sauce?" Sonic asked.
"I don't know." Knuckles said.
Knuckles poured the bottle into the straw and waited for a reaction. The water around started to boil until the pirate king jumped out screaming. The pirate king a blue hedgehog that looked to be in his late thirties. He had six contoured quills and wore white gloves, brown tattered boots and coat, a red sash, and a red bandanna on his head. The pirate jumped onto the beach and started licking the sand. He had suddenly realized he was surrounded by soldiers.
"Uh...Parlay?" Gale asked nervously. The soldiers aimed their guns until. "Look! Over there!"
The soldiers were stupid enough to look behind them, allowing Gale to make a break away.
"I can't believe they fell for that." Shadow commented.
As Gale made a run for the jungle, he looked back to see that Knuckles was chasing him. Knuckles jumped forward and threw a hard jab towards Gale. The pirate hedgehog quickly jumped out of the way and Knuckles bashed his fist against a tree. Knuckles turned to Gale with a glare. Gale smirked and pointed to the side. Knuckles looked over just in time to see the tree he hit crash on top of him. Gale chuckled for a moment before turning to run away. Unfortunately his path was blocked by Sonic. Gale looked shocked at the sight of the hedgehog.
"What are you doing here?" Gale asked. Just then, Shadow and the soldiers caught up to him. Acting quickly, Gale pulled out a pistol and held it to Sonic's head. "Nobody move or the rat gets it! Now, hedgehog, if you will please move." But Sonic didn't. "Please move." Sonic stood where he was. "I don't want to do this, Sonic."
But Sonic remained stern. Suddenly, a coconut dropped out of nowhere and landed on Gale's head. The pirate then dropped unconscious.
"Well that was anticlimactic." Shadow commented.
"Men, taking him to the prison. We have a lot to catch up on." The commander said.
The soldiers grabbed the unconscious Gale and dragged him to the prison in the center of the island. Sonic watched them carry the hedgehog away with a sad expression on his face. Shadow walked up to him.
"Come on, let's go." Shadow said.
"Ok." Sonic said. Sonic the two walked along with the soldiers, Sonic suddenly asked. "Do you feel like we're forgetting something?"
"Help?" Knuckles muffled voice asked.
Later, the three heroes joined the commander in a court room inside the prison. Gale stood in the center, handcuffed, as one soldier began reading from a prewritten document from the president.
"Gale the Hedgehog." The soldier began.
"Captain." Gale whispered. "Captain Gale the Hedgehog."
You are charged with the following:" The soldier continued. "Smuggling, forgery, looting, poaching, brigandage, depravity, vandalism, impersinating a cleric." Gale smiled at that one. "Arson, kidnapping, piracy, perjury, and over all wrong doing. As such, you are to be shot to death at noon tommorow."
"Well, can't say I didn't live life to the fullest." Gale chuckled.
"You will be kept under constant watch until noon tomorrow." The commander said. "Take him away."
Two soldiers grabbed Gale by his arms and dragged him away to his cell. As they pasted by, Gale shot Sonic a smirk, which Shadow saw.
"Do you know that guy, Sonic?" Shadow asked suspiciously.
"Eh, we met once or twice." Sonic smiled.
Shadow knew Sonic was hiding something. The scene turned to midnight on Prison Island, which meant they were only twelve hours away from the execution. But surprisingly, Gale did not seem worried. He was lying in his bed, whistling 'A pirate's life for me' to himself. He stopped once the guard started banging against his cell.
"Keep it down it there!" the guard yelled. "I would be worried if I was you."
"Eh, I've died before." Gale said calmly. "Not a very pleasant experience."
"Freak." The guard commented.
Gale went back to whistling, which really began to irritate the guard. Suddenly, Sonic walked up to the guard and said.
"Hey, it's my turn to take over."
"But I don't get off shift for another twenty minute." The guard said. Gale continued to whistle. "Good luck with that."
Sonic watched as the guard walked down the hall and disappeared out of sight. Sonic turned back to the cell and curled into his ball form. Sonic performed his spin dash attack and busted down the cell door.
"Well it's about bloody time." Gale said while sitting up. "You know, for the fastest thing alive, you are slow."
"Listen, do you want to escape or not?"
"Escape. My two favorite syllables." Gale said.
Gale ran out of the cell with Sonic following behind. Gale stopped them for a moment to let two guards pass by. After they had passed, Gale took them quickly around the corner. Unfortunately, they had the displeasure of running into two more guards. Once the two saw the hedgehogs they quickly reached for their guns. Unfortunately, the two fumbled around and dropped them on the ground. The two reached for them and bang their heads together. Sonic and Gale sweat dropped at the sight.
"Who are you two?" The first guard asked as he held his gun.
"Are you new here?" Sonic asked.
"Yes, actually we are." The second guard said.
"Don't tell them that." The first guard hit him over the head. "Now tell us who you are. And no lies."
"All right, I must confess." Gale said. "I am Captain Gale the Hedgehog, scourge of the Caribbean. I have a $600 million bounty on my head and I am mostly referred to as the Pirate King."
"I said no lies." The first guard said obliviously.
"I think he's telling the truth." The second guard said.
"If he was telling the truth, he wouldn't have told us." The first guard said.
"Unless he knew you wouldn't believe the truth, even if he told you." Gale interjected.
"Yeah, yeah, he...what did he say?" The first guard asked.
"Oy, my brain hurts." The second guard said.
"Listen, why don't you two fine gentlemen take the night off?" Gale said. "We'll show ourselves out."
"Ok." The first guard waved to Sonic and Gale. "Nice man."
"I see you haven't lost your touch." Sonic smiled.
"You could learn something from me." Gale returned.
Sonic rolled his eyes before following Gale out. After avoiding the sane minded guards, the two blue hedgehogs had finally found the exit out of the prison. Check to see if the coast was clear, the two swift exited through the door and closed it behind them.
"And that is why no one can catch the infamous Captain Gale the..." Gale was interrupted when Sonic started poking his shoulder. "What? I'm in the middle of my monologue." Sonic points forward and Gale looks. "Oh, bugger."
Waiting just outside the gates of the prison was Shadow and Knuckles. Ever since the trial earlier, Shadow has been suspicious about Sonic and suggested that he and Knuckles stand guard. Obviously, he was right.
"Hey, guys, whatcha doing?" Sonic asked nervously.
"The question is what are you doing." Knuckles said.
"Uh..." Sonic had nothing.
"We suspected that you were assisting in an escape attempt." Shadow explained. "We were sent here to make sure he was properly dealt with. Knuckles, you take care of the pirate. I'll handle Sonic."
"Gotcha." Knuckles smirked. "Payback time."
Gale and Sonic exchanged glances for a moment before Gale made a break for it. Knuckles followed, leaving Sonic with Shadow.
"Shall we get going?" Shadow questioned.
Shadow turned and ran into the jungle with Sonic following. Back inside the prison, Gale quickly ran into the laundry room and dived into one of the carts of laundry. Unfortunately, he handed into a pile of the guards shorts
"I think I'm going to be sick." Gale whispered, looking ready to puke.
Knuckles smashed the door wide open and stomped into the room. His eyes scoured the entire room in search of the pirate king.
"Where are you?! I know you're here!" Knuckles shouted. Unbeknownst to him, he passed the cart that Gale was hiding in. Gale quickly jumped up and slung a pair of shorts over Knuckles head. "AAH! Get it off! It burns!"
Knuckles ran back and forth in the room until Gale tripped him. The red echidna flew into a washing machine and Gale pressed the start button.
"At least he'll go home clean." Gale joked.
Outside in the jungle, Shadow stopped near a lake bed and Sonic soon followed after.
"Do you remember this place?" Shadow asked. Sonic looked confused for a moment. Shadow moved towards a tree and leaned against it. "I know you're not talking about me, faker."
"Now I remember." Sonic suddenly realized. "This is the place where you and I fought and I used the Sonic Wind for the first time."
"A battle we never finished." Shadow said as he moved to his fighting stance. "But that can be properly arranged."
"Bring it." Sonic challenged.
Sonic and Shadow jumped to the air a collided their arms together to try and push each other back. Sonic was successful, but this was apart of Shadow's plan. As he fell, Shadow summoned a wave of arrows to his side.
"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow shouted.
Sonic was quick to react and formed his signature technique into his hand.
"SONIC WIND!" Sonic shouted.
The two attacks collided and created an enormous shockwave that push the two hedgehogs away from each other. Shadow landed on his feet near the lake bead and Sonic landed into one of the trees.
"Looks like he's finally starting to get serious." Shadow smirked.
Back at the prison, Gale ran out a random door and found himself on the roof tops. Not far behind, an angry, but squeaky clean, Knuckles was rampaging behind.
"Get back here so I can kill you!" Knuckles yelled.
"You must get all the ladies with that line." Gale said sarcastically.
Unfortunately, Gale was not watching were going and his landed in a random bucket. The pirate tripped and fell over on his face. But by sheer luck, Gale's foot that had the bucket on smashed up against Knuckles chin. The bucket flew off Gale's foot and flew into the air. Knuckles was becoming very ticked off and moved in for the kill. Just then, the bucket landed on Knuckles head. Knuckles ran around flailing his arms around until he ran smack-dab into the wall.
"I guess he's the comic relief." Gale said as he stood up. "You will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Gale the..." he was interrupted again as he accidentally fell over the wall and plummeted to the ground. "Ow."
Back at the real fight, Sonic seemed to be holding the advantage. It was true that Shadow was most powerful of the two, but even Shadow had to admit that Sonic was the faster one. Shadow summoned up another barrage of chaos spears, but Sonic was accustomed to avoiding them. Shadow was about to attack again when Sonic came up out of nowhere and kicked him across the face. Shadow tumbled back and landed inside the lake.
"Hah! Too slow!" Sonic boasted.
Suddenly, the lake water turned red. Sonic looked quizzically until Shadow started to rise above the water. A red aura surrounded him and he began laughing.
"Oh, you're in for it now." Shadow said maliciously. "CHAOS BOOST!!!"
Shadow's fur turned bright red. Sonic started to panic when he realized what was happening. He knew that once Shadow used chaos boost, he abilities were increased by five times. Shadow stared down at Sonic for a while before he completely disappeared. Sonic searched left and right, but couldn't find him.
"Where did he go?" Sonic questioned.
Unfortunately, his question was soon answered. Shadow came up behind Sonic and grabbed both his arms to pull them back. To make matters worse, Shadow prodded his knee onto Sonic's back and forced him to his knees.
"All right, Sonic, time to answer some questions." Shadow said as he turned to him normal color. "Why are you helping that pirate?"
Sonic was in agonizing pain with Shadow's knee in his back and his arms being pulled out of their sockets. Sonic knew that he had no choice but to tell him.
Back with Gale, the pirate king was just pulling himself out of the hole he created.
"I thought that only happened in cartoons." Gale said. just then, Knuckles approached him. "Oh, hello. Lovely day; isn't it."
"It's over, pirate." Knuckles said as he raised his fist. "This time, no holding back." Knuckles was ready to hit when someone grabbed his wrist. He looked back to see who it was. "Shadow? What are you doing?"
Shadow had grabbed Knuckles to stop him. Just then, A blue blur passed by and Gale went missing. They knew it could only be Sonic. as he carried Gale to the shore, he called back shouting.
"Thanks, Shadow!"
"Shadow, what's going on?!" Knuckles exclaimed. "We have to go after him!"
"Our mission was to escort the pirate to prison." Shadow said. "After that is none of our business. Besides, Sonic and Gale deserve one more chance together."
Knuckles was really confused now. But he made no arguments and let Gale get away. Down by the shore, Sonic and Gale stopped by a single sail boat that Sonic had prepared earlier.
"Here's your stop." Sonic said. "Your ship is ready for cast off, captain."
"A bit small for a grand pirate such as myself." Gale said unappreciatively.
"Just be glad you got something." Sonic remarked.
"A being the case I shall take my leave." Gale said as he pushed the oat out into open water. "But before I go, I have something for you."
Gale quickly reached into his coat and pulled out a pistol aimed for Sonic's head but surprisingly enough, Sonic was also holding a pistol aimed for Gale's head.
"Swiped it off those guards from earlier." Sonic explained.
"Just as I taught you." Gale laughed as he retuned his pistol to his coat. "It's good to see that you have not forgotten the lessons you've learned."
"It's hard to forget lessons like those." Sonic chuckled. "So...how's mom?"
"Eh, you know. The usual." Gale said bored. "Ruling her country, helping her people, what usually queens do." Gale began to chuckle. " It's funny. The benevolent Queen Aleena and the nefarious Pirate King Gale producing the world's greatest hero. Who would have thought?" Gale turned to Sonic. "I'm really proud of you...son."
"It's great to see you again, dad." Sonic hugged his father. "I missed you."
"I know, son." Gale returned the hug. "If I could, I would give up everything to be with you and your mother." Gale separated the hug. "But I can't. I am a wanted man. I would never want you to end up with the same fate as mine."
"I don't care." Sonic started to tear up. "I just want us to be a family again."
"I do too, son. But we can't all have our ways." Gale said. "Just remember, your mother and I love you, always." Gale turned away and jumped into the boat. "Of course, you could always join my crew."
"No thanks. I prefer to stay close to land." Sonic said nervously.
"You're just like your mother when I first met her." Gale chuckled. "Now I am off to Tortuga to round up my crew...again. And perhaps I'll pay a visit to your mother. But before I go, here's a gift."
Gale reached into his coat and tossed something to Sonic. Sonic caught it and moved his hands to see. In his hands was a small black box trimmed with golden edges. Sonic looked shocked at the object he was holding.
"But...this is your..." Sonic was interrupted.
"Not mine, yours." Gale said. "I figure you could use it more then I. And thus, I bid you farewell."
Gale released the sail and floated away from the island that nearly killed him. Taking a moment to look, Gale showed great pride. Not of his escape, but at how his son had grown. Sonic watch happily as his father, the King of Pirates, made his getaway. But even if his father was still alive, he was sad to lose him again. A single tear escaped from his eyes and he wiped it away. He remembered his father's words and smiled. Then suddenly, he began to hum.
"...And really bad eggs..." Sonic sung. He opened the box his father gave him and smiled even bigger. "...Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho..." he finished as he snapped the box closed.
The greatest bond is between father and son. What does the black box contain? And will Knuckles ever learn? Find out on the next Sonic Heroes.