GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA

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Chapter Two: Invaded Again

- South Island -

The scene shifts towards the jail cell of the South Island Kingdom. Inside one of the cells, we could see Gale the Hedgehog, whom was relaxing against the wall while the leader of the interrogators, whom was a young female red cat wearing glasses and wearing a formal suit. This was Rias. She was sitting on a chair with a notepad in hand while three guards were waiting outside.

"All right, I'll ask again. What reason did you invade South Island?" Rias asked. "What were you trying to achieve?"

"Who knows?" Gale shrugged. "I don't even remember invading South Island seven years ago."

"But you were on that pirate ship, right?" Rias asked.

"No one has any proof." Gale replied as he yawned. "Personally, I think your just taking this too seriously."

Rias was able to keep a cool-head among herself before continuing. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

"It's Gale." The blue hedgehog smirked. "The greatest pirate of the sea!"

Rias raised an eyebrow. "If you are a pirate, then that means that you would have some connection with that ship."

"What ship are talking about again?" Gale asked, pretending to be confused.

Rias shook her head in disbelief. "Mr. Gale, could you please be serious?"

"I am. I'm giving you honest answers." Gale told her. "I don't remember invading South Island, and even if I did, that lazy king would have search for proof on me."

"Was there anyone with you? What about that...blue dog?" Rias asked, not exactly sure what to call Riolu.

"Blue dog?" Gale raised an eyebrow, pretending that he had no idea what she was asking him about. "You know, I've seen weird stuff before. The Lochness Monster is one thing, but a blue dog? Clearly, you've never been to Singapore."

Rias sighed again. She was really getting nowhere with this. She got up from her seat and decided to take a break from her conversation with Gale. "I think we'll have to continue this tomorrow. I...thank you for your time." She then walked towards the door and walked out of the cell.

Gale relaxed his arms at the back of his head. "That wasn't so hard, after all. Maybe I should do this more often."

The scene zoom towards the throne room. We could see Zed talking with King Azreal about the crazy events that took place today.

"And how is my daughter doing?" King Azreal asked.

"The doctors said that she will need to rest in bed for a while. The arrow did not pierce her chest, although I think the fall she had taken might've caused all this to happen in the first place." Zed answered.

King Azreal sighed, as if all of this was starting to bother him, which it was. "It's a good thing my daughter is going to be OK. But what about that hedgehog?"

"Nothing so far." Zed replied. "We're still trying to get some information out of him."

"Very well, Zed." King Azreal said straightly. "You may leave."

"Just one thing, sir." Zed raised a finger. "What do you want us to do with that blue hedgehog after we're done with him?"

"Do what you want with him. I care not." King Azreal told him. "However, make sure he disappears from South Island for good."

"As you wish, your Majesty." Zed bowed before leaving.

King Azreal relaxed back on his throne and smirked. "After tonight, all of my worries will be no more."

It was night time at South Island. Everyone around the village was getting ready to pack up their stuff and head inside for the night to rest so that they can be ready for a new day tomorrow.

As they started to pack up, a strange cloud of purple mist started to surround the island. The citizens didn't worry about, though, because they thought it was nothing important. But suddenly, the mist started blend the island deeper, making the citizens view to be blinded.

A male wolf decided to call out to make sure everyone was OK. "Are you all still there?"

"I'm fine!" A nearby female citizen shouted. "But this mist is all over the place! I can't see a blasted thing! What the devil's going on around here?"

As the citizens were in a slight state of panic, there were footsteps being made as they passed by the village, leaving the citizens completely in the dark as to what's going on. But even though they couldn't see what was making the sound, they could hear it.

"Who's there?" The female citizen asked. But she didn't get no answer. All she could hear was the footsteps passing by without even acknowledging her presence.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Another male citizen asked.

"I don't know for sure, but it looks like someone or some people are headed for the castle." As soon as she said those words, however, a horrible feeling dawned on her. "No...the castle! We're being invaded!"

When she stated those words, the citizens began to scream in panic.

"Everyone, calm down!" The male wolf called out. "We have to warn King Azreal before it's too late."

"But how?" Another male citizen asked. "We can't see through this fog!"

That only made things worse for the citizens of South Island. How were they suppose to get to the castle with this fog in the way?

Back inside the castle, Zed notices the fog as well from a window of the castle. He could see that the whole island was covered with this strange purple fog. He could tell that this was not a natural occurrence.

One of the guards, whom was also with a pack of six guards, approached Zed from behind. "Commander Zed, we have an emergency! There's been a break-in! Someone's trying to invade the castle! What do we do, sir?"

Fearing the worse to happen, Zed turned to the guard. "Get in battle formation. We meet the enemy head-on! Let's stop them before it's too late!"

"Yes, sir!" The guards saluted as they gathered up their spears and shields.

Zed pulled out his sword and called out to his men for the charge. Zed and the guards charged across the hallway to where they would meet the enemy in a battle confrontation. As the large group was running down the hall, they passed by windows, in which one of them crashes in front of the guards. We could see a group of hooded warriors, obviously disguised, as they met face to face with Zed and the Royal Guards.

Zed narrowed his eyes at the hooded warriors. "Who are you and why are you attacking the castle?"

The hooded warriors did not respond to his question. Instead, they got into a fighting stance. Zed seemed to think that these guys did not want to waste any time.

"Very well, then. Guards, attack!" Zed shouted loudly.

Zed and the guards charged after the hooded warriors, easily cutting them down before they had time to react back. Three more hooded warriors crashed through from the other windows. Thinking quickly, Zed charged after them with his sword in hand. One of the hooded figure prepared to strike him with it's bow, but Zed quickly slashed him down by the chest area. He looked over to the next hooded figure and slashed at it's lower regions, knocking it down to the ground. Zed looked over to see one more already getting it's bow out. But like before, Zed charged after him and took him down with his sword, knocking the hooded figure to the ground.

As Zed took the down the last remaining hooded figure, he looked over at the other hooded figures, whom surprisingly, got back to their feet, despite the fact that Zed took them down. How the heck could they have gotten back up so quickly?

As the guards prepared to take action, they were suddenly knocked out from behind by three more hooded warriors that appeared from out of nowhere. Once the guards were taken out, the hooded warriors turned towards Zed, whom wasn't exactly liking the odds.

But knowing Zed, he didn't care about he odds. He gripped his sword and quickly charged after the hooded figures. And much like before, Zed was quick on his swordplay. Zed slashed at the nearest hooded figure, taking him down. He turned towards the next one and slashed the next one, taking him down as well. Two more tried to get in his way, but Zed quickly slashed at the upper areas of each of them, already taking them down. Another hooded figure attempted to take him down, but Zed saw this coming, as he leaped towards the hooded figure, taking him down in the process. The last three tried to gang up on him, but Zed wouldn't let his guard down now. Zed thrusted his sword forward, taking down a hooded warrior whom landed on his back. Before the other two could react, Zed quickly sliced near their neck areas, taking down the remaining two hooded figures.

Zed took in a couple of breaths, all nine of the hooded figures were able to get back to their feet. Zed couldn't believe what he was eeing. How were these guys able to get up again? Just who were these guys anyway?

"This is getting bad. I don't know how long I'm going to keep this up." Zed gripped his sword and was prepared to fight again. But unknowingly, someone knocked him in the back of the head, making Zed fall towards the ground, where he fell into unconsciousness.

The one who knocked Zed out looked similar to the other hooded figures. However, the only thing different about this one was that he was wearing a black mask featuring purple eye lines surrounding the eyes. This must've been the leader of this hooded army. The black masked figure noticed the red crystal pendant around Zed's neck. After taking notice of this, he gestured the others to follow him towards another area of the castle. The hooded figures complied as they followed their leader across the hallway, making their way to an unknown destination.

Princess Aleena was in her room. She was currently relaxing against her bed, although she wasn't in her bed and she didnt have the covers over her. She stared up at the ceiling, mainly because she wasn't feeling tired. She had woken up an hour beforehand, sometime after being shot in the chest by an arrow. Luckily, she survived that nasty confrontation and avoided death.

As she was relaxing on her bed, the door was plowed open thanks to the two guards that had once guarded it. The guards were already on the floor, dead. Aleena was shocked to see this as she looked over at her doorway to see the leader of the hooded figures walk towards her. Aleena was getting nervous by this point.

"W-Who are you?" Aleena demanded.

"My name is Craven." The leader introduced. "And I take it that your Princess Aleena of South Island?"

"Yes...wait! How do you know about me?" Aleena asked.

"You are popular among South Island. It's hard not to know who you are." Craven answered.

"All right, then. Let me ask you this, Craven: Why did you barge in here like that? What are you after?"

"I'm here for you, Princess. Your coming with me." Craven told her.

Aleena shook her head. "Fat chance. I'm not going with someone who wears a bathrobe."

Craven, despite not seeing his face, was somewhat amused by this. "You have guts, I'll give you that. However, I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter. You are coming with me, whether you care or not."

Before Aleena could react, Craven went out and grabbed Aleena and placed her over his shoulder. Aleena tried fighting him off, but it was of no use. Craven's grip was just too strong, as the dark hooded figure made his way out of the door with Aleena over his shoulder.

Back at Gale's cell, the three guards that were once watching over Gale were killed by three hooded figures that had entered the prison. Gale notices them approach the cell and stare at the blue hedgehog, whom only smirked in return as he approached the bars, right where the hooded figures were at.

"Thanks for the help, there. For a moment, I thought those guards were going to beat me in a three on one staring contest. Let me tell you, if I had eyes at the back of my head, I was fairly certain that I would win that contest." Gale told them, as he stares at each one of them. "But what's with the silly costumes? Is this Halloween or something? Or are you guys here to film corny horror movie that looks as ridiculous as you do?"

One of the hooded soldiers was offended by this, as he tried to grab Gale through the bars. But Gale was fast enough to jump backwards to avoid getting grabbed. Gale retaliated by swinging his fist and slams it into the chest. But surprisingly, the fist of Gale was able to punch the soldier's ribcage, where he felt something rather sticky and wet and pulled it out from his chest. It felt like a beating heart, which disgusted Gale.

"OK...that was disturbing." Gale said lowly. "I wonder if that's how all these guys feel?"

The other two hooded soldiers pulled out their arrows and attempted to kill Gale through the bars. But just as they got their aiming ready, there was a signal being made in their minds. It was their leader: Craven. It seems as though he was trying to communicate with them telepathically. The hooded soldiers were hesitant at first, but they did not want to anger their leader, so they lowered their bows and quickly headed out the door.

"Well, that was weird." Gale thought to himself as he looked at the beating heart he secretly stole. "Perhaps this thing would be considered good luck."

As if on cue, someone else entered through the door. For a moment, Gale thought it was the hooded soldiers, but it turned out to be Riolu, Gale's friend.

Riolu looked glad to see. "Gale, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, of course." Gale replied. "What about you? How did you get passed those hooded soldiers?"

"You know me, Gale." Riolu smirked. "I have my ways of staying in the shadows." The blue dog-like creature saw Gale's predicament. "It looks like you need to get out there. Let me help."

Gale stepped backwards, knowing what was coming. Riolu created a dark wave of energy in his hands.

"Shadow Ball!" Riolu shouted as he thrusted his arms forward, sending the Shadow Ball towards the bars, instantly breaking them into piece. Gale stepped outside of his cell and stretched his legs.

"Thanks, Riolu." Gale nodded at his friend. "Now, what do you say we get out of this dump?"

Riolu nodded, as he and Gale ran out of the jail cell, leaving it behind and heading towards the exit.

Zed was able to get back to his feet after rubbing his head in pain. He looked around to see that the guards were still knocked out and he was the only one standing.

"I guess those hooded figures did a number on me what I least expected it." Zed thought to himself. He looked around at the window and noticed that the purple fog around the island disappeared. "That's strange. I guess those guys left. But I wonder what they were after?"

As he looked around for any signs of the hooded figures, Gale and Riolu also arrived at the same time that Zed was looking out the window, causing them to stop. Zed turned around to see the two, which caused his eyes to narrow.

"You! How did you escape?" Zed questioned angrily.

"That would be my friend there, but don't blame him." Gale said. "Blame yourself for being a lazy guard to your princess."

When Gale mentioned the princess, Zed lowered his guard. "Aleena...I have to find out if she's all right!"

"Actually..." Riolu paused for a breif second before continuning. "I saw those hooded figures take her."

Zed's eyes widened in shock. "What? Princess Aleena's been kidnapped?"

"When I made my way to break Gale out, I noticed one of the hooded soldiers grabbed Aleena over it's shoulder and took her away from her room." Riolu explained.

Zed couldn't believe what he was hearing. "No...! No! Princess Aleena's gone! How am I suppose to find her?"

Gale had a thought on his mind. "I think I know one way."

Zed looked up at Gale. "You do? How?"

"I didn't notice it at first, but those hooded soldiers looked strangely familiar." Gale thought. "I think they might be known as the Black Mist Crew."

"Black Mist Crew?" Zed questioned. "What do they want with Princess Aleena?"

"Who knows?" Gale shrugged. "But I can tell you that those guys are nothing but trouble. My father had encountered those guys before, and if I know the Black Mist Crew, then your princess might be in danger."

"What do we do, then?" Zed asked.

"We'll have to take one of your ships and use it as our own if we're going to be able to find them." Riolu suggested.

At first, Zed didn't like this idea at all. But he was Princess Aleena's guard, and he would do whatever it takes to protect her. "All right. Follow me. I know where to find a good ship, anywhere."

After saying these words, Gale, Riolu, and Zed quickly traveled towards the docks to get themselves a ship that would help them find Princess Aleena.

Princess Aleena has been captured by these strange hooded figures known as the Black Mist Crew. How will Zed be able to co-exist with Gale and Riolu? What is the reason for Princess Aleena's kidnapping? And where is the Black Mist Crew located at? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!

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