GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA
Characters © Respective Owners
Chapter Three: Bar Room Brawl
- South Island -
Shortly after escaping the castle, Gale, Riolu, and Zed went out towards the docks to find a ship that would help them chase down the Black Mist Crew that had recently kidnapped Princess Aleena.
As they went through the village, the female human citizen that we saw from before saw the three heading towards docks. "Excuse me?"
The three stopped in their tracks and turned to see the female human citizen approaching them. "I'm sorry if you are in a rush, but are you heading towards docks?"
"Yeah." Zed replied. "We're going to down there to steal a ship and go find Princess Aleena."
"I'm afraid that the guards down at the docks are not letting anyone permitting to leave. They said that they are going to take a ship to chase down the hooded figures themselves." The female human citizen answered.
That made things only worse for Zed. Even in the worse times of crisis, King Azreal didn't even council Zed as the one head in charge. He wondered why that was the case, seeing as how Zed was Aleena's royal guard? This made Zed growl in anger. "Now what do we do?"
Gale lowered his head in thought. Then suddenly, a smirked crossed his face. "I got an idea."
"You do?" Zed asked.
"Riolu, do you still have one of those 'special items'?" Gale asked his friend.
Riolu had a very good idea on what Gale was talking about. "I sure do."
"Good. Now I think we should give those guards a surprise that will make them want to jump out of their shells." Gale said.
At the docks, we see the guards have already boarded one of the ships in preparation to rescue Princess Aleena. The Guard Captain looked around to see that the preparations were already in good progress.
"Keep it up!" The Guard Captain shouted. "We must rescue Princess Aleena at all costs!"
As the guards responded with pride, Gale, Riolu, and Zed have already made it towards the ship. They noticed all the guards that were on the ship.
"Hey, pansy!" Gale called out.
Immediately hearing this, the Guard Captian turned around to see Gale, Riolu, and Zed looking up at ship. "Who goes there! What are you doing here?"
"I am Zed: Royal Guard to Princess Aleena. As her royal guard, I would ask that you permit us to take your ship so that we can go find Princess Aleena ourselves." Zed told him.
"By yourselves?" The Guard Captain noticed Gale and Riolu at his side. "I cannot do that. You may be Princess Aleena's royal guard, but there is no way I am letting you on. Especially with those two pirate thugs."
Gale sighed heavily. "That's too bad. Now I'm going to have to resort to crazy tactics."
The Guard Captain raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Gale pulled out something from his bag. It looked like a red round object with a fuse on it. "This here is a bomb, and if it goes off, I am pretty sure you and your guards won't see the light of day again."
The Guard Captain's eyes widened in horror. "E-Everyone! Abandon ship! He has a bomb!"
The guards wasted no time as each one of them ran towards the edge of the ship and jumped off towards the water, including the Guard Captain himself. Soon, all of the guards were off the ship as they swimmed towards shore.
When they were gone, Riolu smirked over at his friend. "They really fell for that one, didn't it?"
"You got that right." Gale said as he looked at the red bomb. "It's a shame for them that this was only a fake bomb. And I knew that this wouldn't let me down before." He added with a smirk.
"Now then, let's board the ship!" Riolu said.
Gale, Riolu, and Zed ran towards the plank of the ship that would lead them towards the ship. A minute later, all three of them were on board the ship. Riolu got into position of the sails, Gale got a hold of the wheel, and Zed had a hold of the map, just in case they needed it.
Gale felt the wind breezing over his head. "How goes the sail, Riolu?"
"Working like a charm." Riolu replied with a thumbs up.
"Excellent. Now it's time to set sail!" Gale shouted with a enthusiasm.
When the sail was in a good posiiton, the wind started to blow through it. The large ship started to move away from the docks of South Island as they headed towards the blue ocean, where they would be leaving behind South Island for quite some time.
Zed looked back at South Island one more time as the ship was already departing from the island. Gale looked over his shoulder and looked at the island himself.
"I can't believe I'm leaving behind this place." Zed said, a little depressed.
"Relax, my friend." Gale said with a smirk. "Now you get to learn the ways of the sea, which is what every pirate dreams for. And as for South Island..." Gale looked over at it once again. "Well... let's just say that we won't be going back there for quite some time."
Zed had a weird feeling that Gale was right. With what's been going on recently, it felt like South Island itself was responsible for Princess Aleena's capture. In a way, it was a good thing to get away from that place. And maybe...getting out at sea was also a good thing. Maybe.
One Week Later...
It had been over a week since Gale, Riolu, and Zed had departed South Island to search for Princess Aleena. It was a cloudy day, as our heroes were sailing across the sea.
On the ship, we could see Riolu scouting for anything at sea while Gale was busy drinking his rum while relaxing on a rail against the ship. Zed wasn't too far away as he watched Gale relaxing himself.
"Ah, nothing like a good taste of rum. The sea is calm, the wind is solid, and the sky is looking cloudy as ever." Gale said with a clam smile on his face.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching his direction. Gale turned his head to see Zed the Chameleon coming towards him.
"Gale, there's something I need to ask you about." Zed said to him.
"Well, this is interesting. Go ahead." Gale gestured.
"Back at South Island, you mentioned that those hooded figures that took Princess Aleena is called the Black Mist Crew." Zed explained. "How is it that you know these guys? Did you encounter them before?"
"Nope." Gale shook his head while rolling the bottle cap back on the rum. "I've only heard tales about them."
"What kind of tales?" Zed questioned.
Gale looked up at the cloud sky, as if he was inspecting something. "Well, there is a rumor that the Black Mist Crew consisted of dead pirates that are brought back from the dead."
"How is that possible?" Zed asked.
"I don't know." Gale shrugged. "To be honest, anything can happen when it comes to the Black Mist Crew."
"What do they do?" Zed wondered.
"From what I hear, I think they may be mercenaries." Gale thought. "But then again, I'm not exactly sure about that, either. I mean, if they were mercenaries, I think it would be odd for anyone to actually try and pay them so that they can do someone else's dirty work." He chuckled.
For some reason, Zed wasn't believing that Gale was telling the truth about the Black Mist Crew. It was like Gale was hiding something, but he wasn't exactly sure himself. "It sounds like your being dishonest about something."
Gale looked at him strangely. "Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly stupid."
Zed wasn't sure how to counter that statement. It just seemed all over the place. He decided to give up on it for now and leave it be.
As Gale looked at his bottle of rum and examined the glass all around it. "You know, I've been thinking."
"About what?" Zed asked.
Gale turned to Zed. "If we are going to go after the Black Mist Crew, I think it best that we round up a crew. Besides, the Black Mist Crew has probably an endless number of undead pirates."
"Hmm..." Zed thought about it. "I think that might be a good idea. If that's the case, we should probably had for Tortuga. We can hire the best men there and have them join up with us."
"Nah, that's too obvious." Gale shook his head.
"What do you mean 'too obivious'?" Zed narrowed his eyes at him.
"Think about it. Do you think these 'professional lackeys' have even heard of the Black Mist Crew? Do they have any fighting experience on taking on something that they've never heard of?" Glae questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Zed rethinked about his suggestion. After hearing Gale's opinion, he did raise a good point. And also, who the hell would believe them anyway? "Then where do you suggest we go?"
Gale had his smirk again. "Shipwreck Isle."
Zed raised an eyebrow. "Shipwreck Isle?"
"It's good place to start out." Gale replied. "I'm sure that there might be someone there that can help us."
As Gale and Zed were discussing about Shipwreck Isle, Riolu was still looking over the sea for any indication of an island that may have been nearby. Suddenly, his eyes were fixed on something rather in particular. "Gale! We found it!"
Gale quickly rushed over to where Riolu was looking at. Zed quickly joined in to see what Riolu had found. The two made it to Riolu's side and looked over to see an island that was ahead of them.
"What is that place?" Zed asked.
"That, my friend, is Shipwreck Isle." Gale announced with his smirk.
We zoom towards the island to get a better look at it. The island itself was filled with trees and sand. But in front of the small forest, we could see a large gray ship that was upside down, designed with round windows, and a wooden banner over the door that was painted Shipwreck Isle Bar.
A few minutes later, Gale's ship was docked near Shipwreck Isle as our heroes got out of the ship and landed on the sandy ground. All three of them looked around at the island that they were standing on.
"This looks to be the place." Riolu said. "Do you know who we are going to find?"
"I'm still thinking on that." Gale replied. "While we're here, let's go inside for a drink, shall we?'
"Right behind ya." Riolu nodded with a smirk.
- Shipwreck Isle Bar -
The scene shifts towards the inside of the bar. Inside, we could see a lot of anthro pirates dressed up in raggedy clothing. Most of them were sitting around tables drinking rum while telling stories, while another corner we see that there are a few whale violinists playing music, and the bar table was also filled with raggedy pirates drinking rum while eating a meal as well.
Over at the entrance, we see the door opening, revealing it to be Gale, Riolu, and Zed. The three walked inside the bar while the door closed them in. The trio looked around until they saw several empty stools near the bar table, so they made their way towards it and sat down. Gale gestured the waitress to come by, to which she did.
"What can I help you with?" She asked.
"Three large bottles of rum, miss." Gale answered with a smile.
Zed was abot to interuppt, but Gale stopped him and continued onwards. "If you please."
"Very well, It will be your way in a minute." She said before heading towards the shelves of drinks. She grabbed three bottles of rum from the cooler and made her way back towards the trio. "Here you go, that'll be $10 gold.
Riolu reached into his bag and pulled out a large bag of gold money and handed it over to her. "Keep the change."
As took the money, and left our heroes to themselves. When she left, Zed turned towards the two pirates.
"So what are we suppose to do here, anyway?" Zed questioned.
"We know someone here that can help us. We just have to find that person, first." Riolu replied.
As the trio were discussing about what they should do next, a brown cheetah pirate that was sitting next to Gale turned his head to notice the blue hedgehog. He raised an eyebrow. "Gale?"
Gale turned to see whom was talking to him. "And who might you be?"
"Don't you remember me?" The brown cheetah pirate asked. "I use to be a part of your father's crew, but I never got paid! And now I'm demanding that you pay me back right now!"
Gale seemed to remember this guy, so he tried to talk some sense into him. "Listen, the reason my father never paid you back was of your cowardice. You were always a coward when it came to fighting, and you never once took part in any pillaging that we use to do. So why should I pay you back if you never did anything for the crew?"
The brown cheetah pirate took thought in what Gale had told him. Now that he brought it up, he did seem to remember those times where he would run away from a fight and always hide in the deck of the ship.
Gale looked at the brown cheetah pirate. He believed that he was actualy consider this. But then, another random pirate came towards Gale and looked him in the eye.
"Hey! Aren't you suppose to be Gale, the son of Capt. Swift?" The black penguin asked.
"That, I am." Gale smirked. "And who might you be?"
"I was once a member of your father's crew, as well! I was suppose to be paid back years ago by you, but you never once did that! I worked hard for the crew, so I say that you pay me back!"
As Gale was trying to think of a way out of this situation, another pirate from a different table stood up from his seat.
"I happened to be a member of that very same crew, as well! What happened to my money? I was suppose to get paid!"
Another pirate stood up from his sea. "Me too! I never got paid, and I demand my money this instant!"
Soon, all of the pirates of the bar started to riot. Apparently, they were all a member of Capt. Swift's crew. Gale looked around, not too thrilled about the situation that grew even larger than usual. Riolu and Zed seemed a bit worried as well.
"What's going on? Why are all these pirates against Gale?" Zed asked him.
"I think Gale forgot to pay back for all the pirates that use be a part of our crew." Riolu realized. "And it looks like we aren't going to leave here anytime soon, either."
The three got together and decided that the only way out of this was the hard way. One of the pirates threw a right fist at Gale, but the blue hedgehog stepped to the side, letting the pirate miss his punch. Gale quickly grabbed the pirate and threw him over the bar table, letting him crash into the glass before falling towards the ground.
Riolu and Zed decided to split up from each other to try and take them out without them getting cornered as a group. With Gale, another pirate swinged his beer bottle at him, but missed as it smashed the table, breaking the glass while the liquid flew all over the table. Gale kicked the pirate in the shin multiple times before doing a missile dropkick to the stomach, sending the pirate flying backwards towards the ground. Another pirate tried to get him from behind, but Gale quickly used his right knee to smash the pirate in the stomach. Gale then grabbed the back of his head and smashed his head against his knee multiple times before grabbing the large bottle of rum he received from earlier and smashed it over the pirate's head, knocking him out to the ground.
"Aye, that's going to leave a mark." Gale thought to himself. "Maybe I should've gone for something softer...nah, that would be too obvious." He said while throwing the broken bottle away.
With Zed, we could see the red chamelon surrounded by four pirates. One of the pirates charged at him with his fist, but Zed quickly grabbed his arm and threw him over his shoulder, where the pirate landed on the ground with a thud. Another pirate came at him and tried to take him head-on. Zed blocked the punched with his elbows and retaliated by punching the pirate in the face, knocking him back towards a table. Another pirate had a bottle of beer in his hand and swinged it at Zed, hoping to smash him in the face. Zed quickly dodged to the side as the bottle missed him entirely. Zed quickly swinged his right fist at the pirate's face, knocking him backwards a couple of steps. The pirate soon recovered and got back into the action. He swinged his fist at Zed's stomach, but once again, Zed caught the pirate's arm as he got behind him while twisting his arm, making the pirate drop the beer bottle to the ground before Zed pushed him forwards.
The pirate was able to stop himself as he turned around and was about to get back into the action again. But the moment he charged at him, Zed had the bottle that the pirate dropped and smashed it over his head, knocking him out towards the ground.
Zed wanted to inspect his work, but he had no time for that. The pirate he knocked towards the table came back with a wooden chair in his hand. Zed's eyes widened as the pirate prepared to swing at him. Thinking quickly, Zed jumped towards the ground and used his left leg to sweep the pirate off his feet, making him drop the chair. The pirate was able to get back to his feet, but was met with another right fist to the face by Zed, which was able to knock him out cold.
Zed sighed in relief, but heard someone from behind him, trying to take him out. Zed grabbed the chair by it's legs, and quickly swinged it at the pirate, instantly knocking him out towards the ground.
Zed dropped the chair and looked around to see the pirates, either unconsious or still breathing. Zed had to admit, besides being a royal guard to Princess Aleena, this was pretty tough work.
Riolu was already in a brawl with a few of the pirates. One of them tried swinging a bottle of beer at him, but Riolu dodged to the side just to avoid it in time. Riolu thrusted his aura palm into the pirate's stomach, knocking him backwards. Another pirate came at him with another beer bottle in hand. However, Riolu ducked underneath the bottle before it could smash his head, and was able to retaliate by kicking the pirate in the stomach, in which, Riolu grabbed the bottle out of the pirate's hand and smashed it over his head, knocking him out towards the ground.
The blue dog-like creature turned to see a nearby pirate swinging his fist at his stomach. The punch connected, making Riolu stagger backwards a few steps towards where the whales were still playing the violin. Riolu looked over to see this and back at the pirate whom was ready to action again. He then looked back towards the whale again.
"Excuse, me, but may I borrow your violin?" Riolu asked.
The whale violin, surprisingly, handed him his violin. Riolu grabbed the violin and looked back at the pirate to see him charging at him again with his fists at the ready. Riolu smirked as he raised the violin in the air, and at the right time, he quickly slammed it down towards the pirates head. The violin smashed through the pirate's head, as the wood from the instrument broke as did the strings. The pirate was soon in a daze as Riolu finished off with an aura punch to the pirate's head, knocking him towards the ground.
For a moment, Riolu thought that he had time to rest. But then he saw two more pirates coming at him with beer bottles in their hands. Riolu created a dark ball of energy in his hands and prepared to counter the attack.
"Shadow Ball!" Riolu shouted, as he released the dark ball of energy towards one of the pirates. The attack connected, sending one of the pirates flying backwards until he crashed into a wall.
The other pirate was still coming towards him, but Riolu countered by thrusting both of his hands forward, creating a forceful attack that sent him flyign backwards towards a different wall, knocking him out as well.
Soon afterwards, all of the pirates had been taken out. Gale, Riolu, and Zed surveyed the mess that had occured here at the bar. Most of the pirates were knocked out, while a few of them were still slowly moving around while groaning in pain.
"Not sure I deserved that." Gale thought. "I mean, they attacked me because they thought I owed them money."
"Well, they seemed rather furious." Riolu pointed out before shrugging. "I guess they were drunk."
"That must've been the answer." Gale nodded once. "What do you think, Zed?"
Zed was about to reply, but before he could do that, a beer bottle smashed into the back of his head, knocking him out towards the ground.
Gale and Riolu were about to check up on him, but a couple of more bottles of beer smashed over their heads, knocking them out cold as they fell towards the ground as well. The figure from behind them dragged all three of their downed bodies towards an unknown destination.
Gale slowly opened his eyes. It had been a couple of hours since he, Riolu, and Zed had been knocked out by beer bottles. The only question was: who was it that knocked them out? Was it a pirate that they somehow forgot? He looked over to see that Riolu and Zed were beside him, but still knocked out cold.
"I see that you're finally awake." A female voice said. "It certainly has been a long time."
Gale looked up to who it was that spoke to him. His eyes widened at who it was. She was a tall cream-colored rabbit with orange patches over her eyes, forehead, and the tips of her ears. She was wearing a pair of black slacks with a black cape connected around the waist, a black sleeveless top with a diagonal cut in the back, black zipper shoes, and a pair of black gloves complete with silver ring bracelets.
"Vanilla!" Gale said out loud. But he soon paid the price when Vanilla slaps him in the face. Gale tried to speak again, but Vanilla slapped him again from talking. That second slap also made him drop one of his moslers.
"It's a good thing you came here, you strander!" Vanilla yelled at him. Obviously, she was angry. "So what the hell have you been doing since you left? Leaving behind more pirates?"
"Huh?' Gale was slightly confused.
Vanilla slapped her head in annoyance. "You left me stranded during our last job together and I was left wondering to defend myself! How the hell do you think I feel about that?"
"But-"
"Shut up!" Vanilla interuppted him. "Because of you, my life here is almost a wreck, whereas I have to deal and tend to other pirates like yourself who need to a drink so that they can satisfy themselves!"
"Vanilla, listen!" Gale shouted, making Vanilla stop talking for a moment. "I'm sorry for leaving you behind. It was my falut and I apologize for that. I promise to pay you back for everything to the last cent that I owe you."
Vanilla narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you being nice to me?"
Gale kept on a straight face and answered her. "Because I know what Craven wants." The blue hedgehog nodded his head over towards Zed.
Vanilla turned her head to see the fallen Zed. She noticed the red crystal pendant around his neck. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "Is that the...?"
"Yep." Gale nodded. "It's the Dead Stone."
Vanilla seemed to think that Gale was telling the truth. If Zed was carrying around this Dead Stone, this it may be very important. "All right, then. What has happened so far?"
"It's a pretty long story, so unless you want to use the bathroom, now is the time." Gale told her.
"I'm prefectly fine." Vanilla replied back. "Now tell me."
"Very well, then." Gale took a deep breath, as he prepared to tell the events of what has happened thus far.
An important clue lies within Zed's crystal pendant. Why does Craven want the Dead Stone? How does Gale know about the stone? And how will Vanilla react to all that's happened recently? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!
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