A/N: At long last, I give you...the final chapter in Pirates!

Chapter 6/Epilogue: Home Again

The sun was just beginning to come out over Station Square, but already there was a huge group of people standing at the dock.

A few hours ago, despite it being five in the morning, the captain of the G.U.N. boat had notified the mayor of their coming, with Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles on board. Despite the early hour, news travels fast when it comes to heroic deeds, and now, only two hours later, fans were lined up and down the coast and the dock, waiting for their heroes. They kept their eyes peeled for any sign of the boat, but it was hard to see through the morning fog.

Now that the sun was beginning to burn through the clouds, they could see a small vessel off in the distance, not too far from shore. A figure emerged from the cabin, standing proudly on the deck in a heroic position. The crowd went wild, certain it was their hero, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Naturally, they were surprised when they saw who it really was: Knuckles the Echidna.

A murmur went up in the crowd. What happened to Sonic?

No sooner had they asked the question than it had been answered; a blue blur came rushing up onto the deck. The crowds cheered for their hero, but he hardly noticed. He was not coming up to see his fans.

He was coming up because he was seasick.

Knuckles woke to the sound of plates and dishes clattering and the smell of eggs on the griddle.

An officer greeted him as she was coming up the stairs. "Ah, good morning, Knuckles. I was just about to tell you that breakfast was ready."

His stomach rumbled. "That's good; I'm hungry," he said with a slight chuckle.

Following the officer back down the stairs, he saw Tails and Amy sitting down at a table in the kitchen. "Hey, Knuckles, just in time! You have to try these eggs!" Tails called to him, waving and pointing to a bowl of said eggs.

"Mmm, smells good," he said, taking a plate of his own. He tried the eggs. They tasted as good as they smelled. "Has Sonic tried these?"

As if on cue, the said hedgehog raced up to the table. "Ooh, great, eggs!" he said, and began shoveling food into his mouth.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Feeling better, huh?"

Sonic stopped eating to look at Knuckles, as if just acknowledging his presence. "Oh, hi, Knuckles," he said, mouth still full of egg.

He rolled his eyes again, making Amy and Tails laugh.

Soon after, the crew joined them at the table. "Would now be a good time to explain fully what happened?" the captain asked.

And so, they did explain just about everything they had experienced on this adventure, from the pirates landing on the ship, to finding the Chaos Emerald, to Sonic's battle with Black Eye, each of them giving their own point of view.

They were about halfway through the battle with Black Eye when Knuckles stood up to announce, "I'm going to get some fresh air." Everyone nodded, and he took his leave up on deck.

He climbed the stairs back to the cabin and opened the door. Ah, fresh air. The cool morning mist felt good on his face, and he stepped out onto the deck to look out over the water.

It was foggy, and he could just barely make out Station Square's dock, off in the distance. He wondered if people were standing there now, waiting for them.

The sun was beginning to burn off some of the mist, and now he could see people standing there. They were waiting for somebody.

I bet they're standing there waiting for Sonic, he thought. Waiting for their "hero" to come up on deck and receive the glory. He cast a glance around the deck. No Sonic yet. He was probably still down there, chowing down on those eggs.

I don't think it will hurt if I get some of the attention first, the egotistical echidna thought. So he propped one foot on the rail, stood tall, and positioned himself in the most heroic position he could, smiling his most winning smile.

Then, as the mist cleared, he could hear cheering. Yeah, I'm better than Sonic! They were cheering, cheering for him…

"Comin' through!" a voice cut through his daydream, and he caught a flash of blue tearing across the deck at breakneck speed. So Sonic decided to show up for his fans after all…

He wanted to shove Sonic back below deck for ruining his moment, until he saw the reason he had come up on deck.

He hadn't come up to steal Knuckles' glory. No, not at all. If anything, he was ruining his own glory, because this was probably one of the worst ways to present yourself to your fans.

Head bent over the rail, gripping it with his hands, face green: Sonic was seasick again, and it was not exactly a shining moment for him.

"Ohh…" He gave a lurch, and Knuckles grimaced at the sight.

"Sonic! How many times do I have to tell you to eat slowly when you're on a boat?!" Amy and Tails came running up on deck, accompanied by a few crewmembers. "Has being on a cruise ship for a week taught you nothing?" Amy looked peeved at Sonic's apparent ignorance of the rules of seasickness.

"Like I said, Amy, I'm going to take a vacation somewhere else next time," Sonic replied weakly. He'd lifted his head, and Tails was rubbing his back with a gentle hand. "I won't have to deal with this."

She rolled her eyes at him and sighed, and Knuckles laughed.

"Shut up," he said, but it didn't have a very good impact, since he said it with a slight grin on his face and left out some of the vigor.

"Well, almost home, everybody!" the captain interrupted. "That'll be a good thing for you, Sonic. And I think you have some fans waiting for you, too."

Sonic looked up to see the crowd of people that had gathered on the dock. He waved a hand, then turned green again, needing to put his head back over the rail for a second round.

Tails frowned. "Maybe you should've waited until we got back to eat, Sonic." He rubbed Sonic's back again. "Come on, let's go below deck so you can lie down for a bit."

He pulled the seasick Sonic back below deck, a few officers following to help, leaving just Knuckles, Amy, and the captain on the deck. They soon followed suit. Only another fifteen minutes until they could be back on land.

As the minutes ticked by, both the people on the shore and Sonic were getting antsy. The former, so they could see the heroes; the latter, so he could go back to running on solid ground where he was comfortable, and not constantly wobbly over the uneven surface of the water. Even the mayor had shown up at that early hour to welcome them back.

The boat got closer and closer. Almost back to land. Almost there. After a while, Tails gave up trying to make Sonic lie down, because Sonic was almost squashing his face against the glass in anticipation.

Finally, after what seemed like several agonizing hours to Sonic (in reality, it was only a few minutes), the boat was docked onto the pier to the sounds of cheers from the crowd. The gangplank was lowered, and now, nothing was between Sonic and the land he loved so much.

Any seasickness he had been feeling was replaced with elation, and he rushed so quickly up onto deck that he, with his wobbly half-formed sealegs, tripped, and he went sprawling down the gangplank into the dirt. He didn't seem to notice any of the people that were looking at him; he didn't answer any questions, return any questioning looks. He just lay there happily in the dirt until the others came down the gangplank. They had to step around him to avoid stepping on him.

The mayor stepped forward, wondering to himself how Sonic could not be embarrassed at the spectacle of tripping down the gangplank like a drunken sailor. It seemed a bit awkward, talking down to Sonic's head like that, but he smiled and began, "Sonic the Hedgehog, let me be the first to say, welcome—"

Sonic suddenly jerked his head up. But he wasn't looking at the mayor; he was looking beyond the mayor.

"Um," the mayor continued awkwardly, turning around to see what Sonic was looking at. "What are you—"

Without even acknowledging the mayor, Sonic jumped up and ran to what he was looking at: a large rock.

Everyone's eyes, even those of his friends, were on Sonic. Why was he so interested in a rock?

Sonic didn't seem to notice the extra attention. He was too busy hugging the rock.

Quizzical expressions were on everyone's faces as he ran to another rock, and hugged it too. Then a tree, a lamppost, and the side of a building. He twirled in place, arms out to the side, for a minute, then dashed off without further explanation.

Everybody stared, dumbstruck by the strange behavior.

Knuckles was the first to recover. "Guess he's not seasick anymore."

The mayor regained his composure after that blunt statement and said, "Er…would you like to come into my office to explain?"

The three of them nodded, eager to get away from the awkward stares of their fans on the dock.

EPILOGUE

And so, our heroes (sans Sonic) walked into the mayor's office and proceeded to explain everything that had happened on the cruise ship, which is, actually, what you just heard about, dear reader. When they finished, they explained that the pirates were tied up in a lifeboat attached to the G.U.N. boat they had arrived on, and that they needed to be dealt with.

They were quite busy for the next few days after that.

Knuckles' hands healed quickly, and he soon went back to Angel Island, back to guarding the newly-acquired Chaos emerald and the Master Emerald, which, ironically, was also green, but much, much bigger.

Amy went to do some shopping with her reward money, since she wanted to replace the clothes she had lost due to the cruise wreck. She also got a massage, because fighting pirates and hanging from a mast can make you really stressed.

Under Tails' instruction (for he had a good nautical sense of direction), the wrecks of the pirate ship and the cruise ship were salvaged. The treasure that was stolen more recently was traced back to its rightful owners; however, since much of it was stolen generations ago, it was impossible to trace it back to its owners. This treasure was split up evenly and sent to the treasuries of all the nations of Mobius and to various organizations.

The pirate ship itself was turned into a floating museum for tourists and any other "landlubbers" to come see what pirates lived like. As tour guides…well, who would be better than the pirates themselves? Under strict supervision, the pirates reconstructed their pirate ship, and the top ranking ones told their tales of wonder to the viewers who came to listen.

The other pirates, after the pirate ship was reconstructed, built a new cruise ship (also under strict supervision), one much more seaworthy and beautiful than the one before, much of it due to Tails' unique redesigning. The passengers of the crashed cruise ship were each offered a chance to be on its maiden voyage, and it wasn't long before many other people bought tickets to be onboard too, although Tails, Amy, and Knuckles declined. It was called The Blue Fist, in honor of both Sonic and Knuckles. The two of them were supposed to break apple cider bottles on the ship to send it off, but as Sonic had still not returned, and they had no way of contacting him, Knuckles gladly broke his bottle for him.

And as for Sonic…

Despite their best efforts, nobody saw him nor was in contact with him for three weeks after their return, no doubt making up for lost time on land, running like the wind, as usual.

Tails returned to his workshop one day during that fourth week, and there he found the hero, crashed out on his couch, fast asleep. He smiled, leaving the hedgehog there. When Sonic woke the next morning, Amy and Knuckles had also shown up, and he told his friends of the many travels and adventures he had in the past weeks they had not seen him.

But I think we'll save those stories for another time, shall we?

THE END

A/N: Many, many thanks to those of you who have stuck with this story, the first complete multi-chapter fic I have uploaded to FFN! Although I know I have improved much since writing this over a year ago, it makes me very happy to hear from readers, letting me know that old stories are not a waste!

I hope you all enjoyed this story-I had lots of fun writing it with my friend! Please leave a review, and I hope you will stick with me for my new stories!

-Blurry

werewolf lover99: Thanks. :D I'm always happy to hear positive feedback from people. As to your OCs, I MIGHT work them into "Player Two", but I have to have Noah's bio for reference. If you could send that, I'd really appreciate it.

cari: Ha, "more than expected"... Well, good! I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed the story!

That being said, I hope you read (and enjoy) my other stories as well!