-Chapter 198-

Day at Emerald Coast

Emerald Coast

A week after the EX World Grand Prix, one sunny day found the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix, along with several of their friends, gathering in Emerald Coast. Sonic was less than thrilled to be there.

"Sal…" he began. "how in Aurora's name did you talk me into a day at the beach?"

"We've been working nonstop for weeks now," Sally replied. "That, and we did a poll, and beach won."

"Yay for democracy I guess…" Sonic muttered. "But why did I have to come?"

"Because you can sunbathe, and make sandcastles. That, and in case you're forgetting, this beach party is for you. We're celebrating your Grand Prix victory, remember?"

"Of course not. Well, might as well make the best of it."

Sonic began setting up a beach chair and sun umbrella as the group spread out across the beach. Cosmo shyly approached Tails, who was tinkering with something as Johnny looked on.

"Uh, Tails…"

He looked up, and immediately blushed at the sight of her in a yellow one piece, rubbing her arm shyly.

"K-Kat told me to ask you... what do you think of my bathing suit?"

Tails stuttered for a bit until, for his sake, Johnny discreetly kicked him in the shin.

"You look great!" he blurted out.

"Subtle," Johnny whispered.

Tails shot him a look before getting back to it.

"What's that?" Cosmo asked.

"My latest invention," Tails held up a blue-and-yellow board with what appeared to be thrusters on the back. "A jet-propelled surfboard. Just finished it a few days ago."

Johnny looked it over. "Jet-propelled, eh? Going the Tom Traynor 'more power' route (1)?"

Tails just shrugged.

"It works," he turned to Cosmo. "Wanna come?"

After a minute, Cosmo nodded. They headed out to the surf as the others looked on.

"So he's finally making a move," Knuckles mused. "Thought we'd have another Chris-Helen routine on our hands."

"You know I'm two feet away, right?" Chris deadpanned.

Helen looked up from where she was helping Cream and Cheese make sandcastles. "He's not wrong."

Chris turned beet-red at that. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side."

"I am, but he's right in this instance," Helen said simply.

-X-

On the pier, Keith and Kat were with Big, the latter having been invited by Amy and Cream. The cat had his pole ready, while Kat was showing Keith the ropes of fishing.

"You need to give the pole a good toss, making sure you get far enough into the water to catch something," she explained.

Keith nodded. "Got it."

"And don't be too squeamish with the worms."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Kat, with all the crazy crap we handle on a daily basis, I can handle a little worm."

"I know I used to be squeamish," Kat said. "Then I starved and stopped being squeamish."

At that moment, Big got a tug on his line.

"Something's biting!" he declared.

"Yes! Yes!" Kat cheered. "Pull!"

Big did his best to reel in his catch. Kat and Keith came to join him, helping him pull on the pole. Eventually, they pulled out the fish, grinning.

"It's a big one!" Big exclaimed.

Suddenly, a Mobini shark popped up, stealing the fish with a huge crunch before splashing back down. They stood there in silence, taking in what happened.

"Well…" Keith said at last, "guess that's the one that got away."

"Oh, no," Kat stood up, stretching her arms. "The hell it is."

She immediately dove in after the shark. Everyone watched as the water churned before the shark broke the surface, Kat holding onto its fin and punching it before going back under.

"So…" Sticks began," Kat versus shark. Two Mobiums say the shark wins.

Julie-Su scoffed. "Ten Mobiums says she kicks the shark's ass."

As if on cue, Kat popped out of the water, holding Big's catch in one hand and the shark in the other.

"Who wants shark steaks?" she declared.

Sticks let out a grumble before handing over the money as Kat gave Big back his catch.

"Here ya go, Big," she remarked. "I'm gonna go make some steaks and sashimi."

She started dragging the shark off. After a moment, Sam broke the silence.

"She… scares me sometimes."

"She scares all of us," Hope deadpanned.

"Not me," Keith chimed in.

"That's because you're weird," Chris replied, getting splashed in return.

-X-

As Kat got to work, the group mingled, going about having fun. Charmy buzzed around, a pirate hat on his head and a toy sword in his hand that he playfully waved around.

"I'm captain of the party boat!" he declared. "Moist the main snail! Keel the port blubber! Arr!"

Saffron laughed, while Team Chronic and Cheese looked at him blankly. Chuckles turned to the other Chao, making a cuckoo sign with one of his nubs (2). Chails and Chronic all nodded while Cheese just bopped the red Chao, chirping at him in a chiding way. As all this went on, Amy, Tekno and Mina were shoveling sand onto a sizable pile when Julie-Su approached.

"Hey, have you guys seen Knuckles?" she asked.

The girls exchanged awkward looks before snoring reached their ears. Julie looked on the other side of the pile to see Knuckles' head sticking out of the side, fast asleep. She snorted before letting out a laugh.

"How in the world did you manage that?" she asked.

"Time and patience," Tekno replied.

"Well, you have my admiration."

At that moment, Knuckles snorted, stirring before beginning to open his eyes.

"Uh-oh!" Mina exclaimed.

"Run," Julie urged.

The girls scrambled to get away as Julie-Su crouched by Knuckles' head.

"Comfy?" she asked.

"Actually, yeah-" That was when he looked down and saw he was buried up to his neck. "What in the name of Tikal?"

Julie cracked up as Knuckles started squirming, trying to free himself.

"Whoever did this, you better pray to Aurora I don't get out!" he shouted.

Sonic turned to him, lifting up his shades. "Where's your sense of humor, dude?"

"Did you do this?!" Knuckles demanded.

"As if I would ever stoop so low. Anyway…"

Sonic replaced his shades before kicking back in his chair. As Knuckles dug himself out, Sam turned to Hope, who was busy applying sunscreen.

"Can't say I'm surprised Shadow didn't join us," he remarked.

"C'mon," Keith said. "Does he really seem like the type to have a fun, relaxing day on the beach?"

"Actually, to be honest, he doesn't seem like the type to have fun, period."

"Go easy on him," Hope urged. "He's trying. Besides, there was a mission today, but Shadow convinced Tower to give me the time off. Something about how I'm 'just a kid and a kid needs a chance to be one'."

Rotor looked up from his sunbathing spot. "Which is why all of us are here in the first place."

"Agreed," Porker said, hunkering down under his umbrella. "In fact, I don't think there's a single adult in this merry band of ours. Just teenagers and little kids."

"I'll have you know I just turned twenty-two!" Vector objected.

"Like I said, not a single adult," Porker insisted, ignoring him.

"Hey!"

The others shared a laugh at that as Johnny approached, holding a watermelon and a stick.

"So, I looked up some Yurashian games we could play. Mix it up a bit," he explained. "Ever hear of watermelon splitting?"

"Can't say I have," Bunnie replied. "Hey, Kat!"

"Place the watermelon on the ground, blindfold someone, spin them, direct them like with Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and have them hit the melon," Kat listed off without looking up from the grill. "You can use my bat."

"So... this is basically what people in Chun-nan use for piñatas?" Cream questioned.

"Actually, those originated in Soumerca," Keith interjected. "I don't think they're really found in Yurashian culture."

"Still sounds like fun," Tails remarked. "Who wants to play?"

"I'll give it a shot," Cosmo decided.

"You sure?" Charmy asked. "I mean, watermelons are plants."

"That doesn't mean anything, Charmy," Cosmo said, seemingly offended. "Yes, I'm a plant, but I'm not a watermelon. What, are you saying all plants look and act the same?"

Charmy immediately got nervous, stammering and pulling at his collar before Espio grabbed him by the shoulder, leaning to his ear.

"Say 'no'!" he hissed.

"Uh…" Charmy chuckled awkwardly, "no?"

Cosmo giggled, much to Charmy's relief. "Relax. I'm just having fun with you."

Bunnie held out a handkerchief for a blindfold, Cosmo holding still as she tied it off. Antoine fetched Kat's bat, helping Cosmo hold it. With that, Bunnie spun the young Seedrian around, and Cosmo began stumbling as the others shouted directions.

"Go a little farther right!" Antoine instructed.

"No no, too far!" Shorty chimed in.

"Forward! Forward!" Saffron called.

"Careful, too close," Espio cut in.

"One step back…" Sally nodded. "Okay, you got it! Swing!"

Cosmo raised the bat and swung down, managing to crack the melon. Kat slipped out from behind the grill, quickly bringing her fist down on the crack so it split all the way. Everyone cheered, Kat bolting back behind the grill as Cosmo lifted her blindfold.

"By Aurora…" she gasped. "I did it on my first try!"

"Sure did!" Kat smiled. "Good job!"

As several people took watermelon slices, Knuckles finally dug himself out, dusting sand off himself.

"So... while we wait for Kat to finish grilling, anything else we can do?" he asked.

"I can think of a few things," Tails began. "Beach volleyball? Sandcastle contest?"

"Volleyball does sound fun, but we've managed to avoid serious injuries so far, so I better not play." Knuckles said. "Sandcastles could be good, and I do owe some little girls a butt kicking for burying me."

Amy, Mina, and Tekno were looking everywhere but at him, whistling innocently.

"Can I build one too?" Cream asked.

"Absolutely," Tails smiled as Team Chronic chirped and cheered, already grabbing buckets and shovels. "And it seems you'll have help."

"Alright, sandcastles it is," Sally decided. "I'll be the judge."

"Knuckles, we are going to kick your butt," Mina vowed.

"As if," Knuckles smirked. "This time, you'll be the ones buried."

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Sonic remarked.

-X-

The group split into teams and got to work, digging up sand, piling it up, and smoothing it out. Eventually, they were done, Sally looking them over one by one. The first one she looked over was Team Sonic's. It was a basic sand castle with a small tower surrounded by a sandy wall. It was well shaped, almost geometric. Sonic and Tails were kneeling behind it, beaming.

"Nice job, you two," Sally remarked.

Next on the list was Knuckles, who had just made a simple pile of sand with a few sticks that he refused to look at.

"Just… don't say anything," he muttered.

Julie-Su raised an eyebrow. "Did you even add water?"

Knuckles perked, then groaned before facepalming.

"Dude, sandcastles need water," Kat said matter-of-factly. "That's sandcastle 101!"

"In my defense, I've never made a sandcastle before," Knuckles pointed out. "The closest thing Angel Island has to a beach is Sandopolis."

Sally just moved on. What she found was not a sand castle, but an entire sand bunker. She peered over the edge, where she saw Sticks inside, hoarding oyster shells and wearing warpaint on her face.

"Well… yours just screams 'fun'."

Sticks hissed like her Mobini counterpart, covering the oysters with her body. Sally just backed away. She approached Amy's team, who had made a castle very similar to Sonics. It was a bit less geometric, and a bit smaller, but was clearly well put together.

"Not too shabby. Nice work."

Finally, she approached Cream and the Chao. Their sandcastle was a large one, very well put together, and big enough that the Chao themselves could go in it. All four were inside, waving from various windows and balconies.

"It's… amazing," Sally said in awe.

"It was a team effort," Cream insisted.

"No contest. Cream wins." Sonic decided.

Murmurs of agreement sounded, but Sticks was quick to object.

"What? Hey c'mon, that's not fair!"

"Sticks, look at that castle," Sally gestured to it. "Can you honestly say it doesn't win?"

Sticks looked it over herself. "I'll admit that it's good."

"Also, it was a sandcastle contest," Tails pointed out. "You made a sand bunker."

Sticks raised a hand, opening her mouth to object, before giving in.

"Yeah, that's a good point," she conceded. "Well made."

"We won!" Cream cheered, hugging the equally joyful Chao.

"Soup's on, guys!" Kat called. "Come and get it!"

They immediately ran for the grill, plates in hand. She started doling out the steaks, also adding some freshly rolled sashimi.

"Everyone enjoy!" Kat declared. "And know that there are seconds if anyone wants some."

They all sat down. Mina took a bite, eyes widening at the taste.

"This is delicious!" she exclaimed. "Where'd you learn to cook like that?"

"My village was a cooking one," Kat explained. "And there's a ton of fishing and foraging on Angel Island."

"It's true," Espio chimed in. "Her sushi is to die for."

Kat blushed, rubbing the back of her head. Once they were done eating, the group kicked back, looking at the surf and listening to the seagulls.

"Well, guess that's about it," Sonic mused. "Anything else for us to do?"

"Well, we could go wading in the water for a bit," Sally offered.

Sonic immediately stiffened at that.

"Oh come on, Sonic," Sally insisted. "You're just getting your feet wet. It's not gonna kill you."

"No!" Sonic jumped to his feet. "You'll never take me alive!"

He took off running across the beach, kicking up sand in his wake. Everyone watched him go, laughing loudly as Sally just shook her head.

"What am I gonna do with that hedgehog…"

Author's Note:

(1): The Mobian version of Tim Taylor from Home Improvement

(2): Making a circling motion of the index finger at the ear or temple, signifying that that the person "has a screw loose".

There we go. Fun little filler after the Riders arc. Next issue, things get a bit more serious. Stay tuned...

Please R&R. Until next time!