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It was a sunny day in Los Angeles, California. Even more so at the Malibu beachfront, where they were having their annual surfing contest. People were either partying on the beach or riding the waves.All except Sonic.He had just turned sixteen and all his friends wanted him to conquer his biggest fear, water."Come on Sonic, you're sixteen!" Amy exclaimed as Sonic sat back and relaxed in his deck chair on the beach."So?" He shrugged."So it's about time you master your fear, what's the worst that could happen?" Tail asked with a smile as he dragged the blue hedgehog off the deck chair."Let's see, I could drown, get swept out to sea, get attacked by a shark; just to name a few." He glared."Relax Sonic, there are life guards all around the beach and the ocean, if there was a problem one of them would come to help you." Knuckles smiled at his blue friend.Sonic thought about it for a moment before smiling and grabbing his blue and white surfboard... Sonic took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he sat on his surfboard. He was floating in the middle of the ocean with the other surfers who had also entered the competition."Next up is Sonic T.Hedgehog!" The announcer called to everyone on the beach and ocean.They all cheered, but Sonic gulped. He knew that the next wave was the one he had to ride and he was dreading it. Suddenly his smart watch beeped, meaning that he was getting a call.He answered in and Tails' face popped up with Amy and Knuckles at either side of him."So what do you think Sonic, ready to have some fun and conquer your fear of water?" The fox grinned. Just then the next wave came and Sonic nearly fell off his board.It was huge!Sonic decided to shallow his fear and paddled out to the wave. Back the surface his friends watched him in shock."No way, are you crazy?! That wave will crush you into tiny blue pieces!" Knuckles exclaimed, but Sonic had already turned the watch off.It a matter of moments Sonic was riding the wave.He was a bit nervous at first but after a few moments he started to relax and forget about the water all around him; to him, surfboarding was kinda like skateboarding."I don't believe it!" The announcer shouted. "That hedgehog is totally taking this wave!""You're the King of the Waves!" Amy shouted as Sonic did a few, small flips."Go Sonic!" Tails cheered as Knuckles ran to the announcer's booth.When he returned the announcer started a song that had been requested by them to play for Sonic. It was their own little weird way of cheering for their blue friend. He's ready, he's steady He's up on his feet Dancing on the water To his own kind of beat. He's in it; he's on it He's rockin' the skills, Tearin' up the current Like the boy's got gills. From out in the ocean Sonic heard the song and smiled. For the first time in his life he actually enjoyed being in the water. Pop up Leanin' side to side Laid back, hang ten Go for a ride Catch that curl Get into the tube Do the mahi, mahi Make your tail fin move! Sonic smirked before doing a full 360 degree turn in the air. He could hear the crowds going wild on the beach and that only fed his ego.
He's the King of the Waves!
Check it out he's spinnin' That board around.
King of the Waves!
No one's gonna Take away his crown!
Surf's up, bow down.
He's the King of the Waves!
As he continued to preform cool twists and turns on the wave, some ocean water splashed onto Sonic's spines and body, which he promptly ignored.He also didn't notice that the tips of his ears, head spines and the two spines on his back turn a dark yet slightly faded black colour. He also didn't noticed the black streaks that formed on both sides of his hips, the sides of his face, up his legs and the ones that travelled down from his shoulder blades to his upper elbows."WHOA!" The announcer suddenly shouted into the mic. "Check out Sonic's body! It's changed colour!""What?" Sonic said out loud, and he looked at his arms and legs, shocked to see it the black streaks, not the azure blue he was used to seeing every day in the mirror."Black and blue?" The announcer was talking to himself but he had left his mic on. "What is going on here?"Sonic panicked and he quickly surfed into the tube to avoid anyone else staring at him. Once he was in the tube he properly looked himself over."What's going on?" He said aloud, something he often did when trying to solve a hard problem."Sonic's time is almost over." Sonic heard the announcer threw the wave. "But he has to get out of the tunnel first, and I want to get another look at that gnarly fur!"Sonic's breath was caught in his throat.He couldn't explain what had happened. The end of the tunnel was coming quick. He could ride out of the tunnel, finish his surf and then try to explain what had happened, or he could-"Whiteout!" He thought, dove into the back off the wave."OH!" The announcer shouted as Sonic's board flipped above the wave. "Looks like Sonic has wiped out!"Amy, Knuckles and Tails looked at each other. They knew Sonic had done that on purpose. Looking back out to the water where Sonic's board was, they waited and breathed a sigh of relief with everyone else as Sonic waved from behind his board."Don't worry everyone, he's okay everyone." The announcer confirmed for those who couldn't see. "Just a reminder that Sonic is in the finals tomorrow. Now the rest of you surfers, come on in!"Suddenly Sonic realised that he was in deep water and he didn't know how to swim!Before he could do anything he found himself quickly sinking below the water. Just before his head went under he took a big gulp of air and he started flaring his arms around, trying to get back to the surface."Let's go." Tails said as he, Amy and Knuckles looked at each other again. The grabbed their boards and went out to where their friend's board was. They started to panic when the couldn't find him... Under the water, Sonic had sunk down to near the sand. He stopped struggling and looked at his body again his hair again. What was he going to do?Suddenly he noticed the shadow of something swimming in the water, coming straight at him.Sonic let out a frightful yelp when he thought it was a shark coming to eat him!However, his fear faded when the shadow got close enough for him to see that it was actually a cute, little purple dolphin. The sea creature circled him and chirped happily."Uh." He was speechless for a moment. Then he realised he was breathing out his air. His hand quickly flew to his mouth, not wanting to lose anymore precious oxygen.The dolphin looked confused before it swam over and pulled Sonic's hands away from his mouth.It was then that the blue hedgehog realised that he was breathing underwater.All of a sudden he felt a pair of strong hand wrap around his shoulders and pull him up to the surface. As his head broke the surfaced, Sonic gasped in fresh air on instinct. He looked over his shoulder and saw it was Knuckle's who was holding him"Sonic." Tails said, relieved to see his friend. "You're okay.""Whoa." Knuckle's eyes went wide when he got most of the salt water out of them. "Radical fur dude.""Knuckles." Amy scolded as she leaned over and smacked him upside the head."Well it's true." Knuckles protested. "And weird. cool weird, but weird.""It's okay guys." Sonic said, stopped his friend from smacking the red echidna again as he rested his arms on his surfboard that was floating next to them."You feel okay?" Tails asked, concerned. Sonic would usually protest when Tails or himself said something like that."Yeah." He said unconvincingly. "Some weird things just happened.""Like your fur." Knuckles said as he climbed onto his own surf board."Yeah, but this was a bit weirder." Sonic said, and they all stared at him with full attention. "When I was underwater, I was breathing. And then a purple dolphin was swimming around me, like we were best buddies or something."The others looked at each other then back at Sonic."I just became insane, didn't I?""Maybe." Knuckle's answered with a shrugged."Mysterious coloured fur, breathing underwater, and a new pet dolphin friend!" Amy listed off as the grin on her face got bigger. "There is something deep and intense going on here.""Yeah." Tails agreed. "Like a deep, intense concussion.""I'm fine guys. It's just been a long day." He said as he pulled himself onto his board. "I'm going to head home.""Okay." The fox said. Still unsure if his friend had badly hit his head, he called after him. "But if you get sudden blurred vision or a killer headache, have Uncle Chuck take you to the doctor!"Sonic just rolled his eyes and continued to paddle to the shore...
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Sonic lived with his Uncle Chuck at a small house not far from the beach. Sonic was currently sitting in his bedroom, which had posters of rock bands and his track and field trophies all over the place. His comforter on his bed was a custom blue design.Right now though, Sonic was looking at his unexplainable, colour changing fur with a mirror."How am I going to explain this one?" He wondered as he tossed the mirror onto his desk and flopped back onto his bed."Sonny-Boy, I'm home!" Chuck called."I'm in my room." He called as he pulled the covers over his head. He wasn't ready for 20 questions just yet.Chuck came into the room.Charles was a Mobian middle-aged hedgehog who bared many physical similarities to Sonic, such as blue fur, although Chuck's is a few shades lighter than Sonic's. He had a thick, grey moustache that obscures his mouth, as well as similarly thick, grey eyebrows, arching over his blue eyes. For attire, Charles wore maroon coloured, slightly pointed shoes with two dark yellow straps and and white cuffs, and, like most other of his species, white gloves."I heard about what happened at the competition today." He said. Sonic felt his heart stop. "Too bad about the wipe out. It can happen even to the best surfers."Sonic relaxed and his heart started again."Uncle Chuck," He started, trying to figure out how to word his dilemma. "Have you ever had something odd or weird happen to you before?""Do you mean odd or weird like 'whoa.'?" He asked his whoa sounding a bit breathless. "Or 'whoa!'?" This 'whoa' sounded a 'that is so cool!' whoa. "Or maybe even a 'whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!'." The last group of whoas sounding like a "whoa! Slow down a minute!'."Well," Sonic didn't think any of those 'whoas' were it. "Something like this." He sighed in defeat and came out from under the covers, revealing his now changed fur."Whoa!" Chuck exclaimed, this 'whoa' was an 'I'm surprised because I didn't expect you to do this'. "You dyed your fur?""No." He replied in a neutral, well he hoped neutral, tone of voice. Chuck, however, caught the small bit of underlying desperation. "It happened during the competition. I was surfing when my fur just suddenly changed colour.""Really?" Chuck asked, his full attention on the recently turned 16 year old teen."Yes." He said a bit exasperate. "I didn't and still don't know what's going on. Anyway, I sunk under the water, where I thought I was breathing. And then a dolphin came up to me and started acting like we were old friends."At these words, Chuck sat down on the edge of the bed."Whoa." He said, this 'whoa' being the breathless one."Uncle Chuck," Sonic turned to his guardian with fearful eyes. "What's happening to me? Am I going crazy?""No, you're not going crazy.""Then what's going on?" He asked as he sat up. "What is happening to me?""You're growing up." He answered with a weak smile."Growing up? That's it?" Sonic couldn't believe his ears. He was growing up? For crying out loud, his fur had changed colour!"Sonic, this may seem off topic," Chuck said and he looked a little fidgety, "but, do you remember what happened to your parents.""Sure," He said with a shrug. "They died in an house fire when I was a baby.""Well that is only half true." The older hedgehog said, shocking his nephew. "Your father died in a fire.""But then what happened to my mother?""I'm getting to that." He sighed. "Now, your father was one for telling stories. So when he told me he had fallen in love and married a sea fae (also known as a mermaid), I thought it was another one of his tall tales." He chuckled. "But then almost three months after the fire..."
Flashback
Charles sighed as he worked at upgrading his boat, trying to get the image of his only family member left being lowered into the ground out of his memory."Chuck?" A soft female voice asked from the waters behind him."That's me." He replied, not turning around. He assumed it was another person who wanted to 'offer their condolences for his loss'."I'm Aleena." The female continued. "I believe Jules told you about me."Chuck spun around so fast that he slipped on the slippy docks. He looked out to the water and saw her swimming up to the docks.Aleena was a quill-less hedgehog with dark purple hair, thistle pink fur and blue eyes. Her crown and the slightly thick piece of cloth at the front end of her cloak was gold. While the armour covering her body was white, the jewel on the middle of it was cerise.She also had a large, red sling that went around her stomach and over her shoulder.The Mobian looked and saw that instead of legs she had a dark purple tail with lavender fins.He couldn't believe it. What his brother had told him was true.Aleena came as close to the docks as she could. Thankfully it was shallow water so Chuck jumped down and met her halfway, with the ocean water up to his waist. Aleena smiled and pulled the sash away from her stomach to reveal a small baby hedgehog sleeping peacefully against it's mother's abdomen.The baby had sapphire blue fur and a peach muzzle and chest. For now, the little hedgehog had no quills yet.To Chuck, the baby was the spitting image of Jules."Jules died before I had a chance to tell him I was pregnant with his child, I had this little one about a month ago; his name is Sonic." She explained with a smile."No tail!" Chuck gasped as he looked at his nephew and saw a small pair of blue legs."Yes." Aleena sighed sadly. "He looks exactly like a Mobian. That is why it is not safe for him in the ocean.""Why not?" Solomon asked."I may be the queen of the sea but having any contact with the surface people is forbidden, there could be rebellion. It is not safe for my son to be there, if any found out that he is half Mobian they will surely kill him." She glared, but it melted into a look of sorrow. "So, I have to ask. Will you raise him? He'll fit in better here and he'll be safe.""Of course." He said without any hesitation; he loved him the minuet he saw him.Aleena smiled before she carefully removed the sling that her son was sleeping in and placed it around the Mobian's neck before taking a locket from a pouch in her belt.It was a golden shell with a pale blue pearl in the centre, on the back was some writing the Chuck couldn't understand."This will keep him safe from harm." She said as she placed the necklace over her son's head, and placed a teary kiss on the baby's forehead before diving back into the depths of the sea...
End Flashback
"After that I never saw your mother again." Chuck finished his story.Sonic dropped his gaze to the locket around his neck. He had it for as long as he could remember."I know it's a lot to take in." The older hedgehog said as he looked at his nephew. "Are you okay?""Yeah." Sonic growled sarcastically, leaping to his feet as his voice rose. "I'm fine. I just found out that my Mom is a mermaid, I'm half merhog and I have a magical necklace to protect me, along with an insane uncle!""Sonic, I'm telling you the truth." He said as he rose to his feet as well."Yeah." He said with an eye roll. "So what is my father? Big foot?!""Sonic, when have I lied to you?""Pretty much my whole life!""Sonic...""I need some time to think." He mumbled angrily as he tugged on his sneakers and where he revved down to the beach sand, where he activated his video watch. "Tails, Amy Knuckles, we still good for the cove?""Last time I checked, yes." Amy answered."Out of dumb curiosity, why?" Tails asked."I need a major reality check." He answered with a sigh and took off for the meeting place... "… And that's what he told me." Sonic finished with a heavy sigh. "Now I know I'm losing my mind, because craziness clearly runs in my family!"The four friends were currently sitting up on a tall rock. Sonic was looking down at his feet, which were dangling off the edge of the rock. Amy had her iPad out and was looking for info on sea fae. Knuckles and Tails were looking at the back of Sonic's head."So," Knuckles said slowly, "Your uncle said that you are half fish, your mom is not dead and she gave you a 'protective necklace'?""That's about it." He nodded. "He's crazy, and now I am to.""Craziness doesn't explain your fur." Amy said. "But being half merhog might.""Sea fae." Tails corrected."Ah-ha!" She cried."What?" The fox asked as they turned to her."This website says in that in mythology, when sea fae reach the end of puberty, they go through final changes such as 1-2 tone tail scales or hair/fur that changes style, length or colour, sometimes all three. This proves it!""Yeah." Knuckles said with a smirk. "It proves you can make up anything, and put it on the internet.""Oh come on. This is real sea fae fact." Amy protested. "Sonic is living proof of this.""Well, the fur changing colour is hard to explain." Tails agreed."Guys!" He stood over them and glared. "I'm not proof! I came to you so you could talk me out of this craziness, not dig me in deeper. For Chaos sake, I thought I was breathing underwater and a purple dolphin was trying to play with me!"Suddenly something splashed some cold sea water and Sonic's back, making him gasp as he turned, looked down, and saw the amethyst coloured dolphin he had met.The dolphin clicked and chirped happily."Awwwwww!" Amy squealed. "You didn't tell us it was so cute!""This cannot be happening." Tails said in shook as he took a step back."My thoughts exactly." Sonic agreed."Well I'm sold on you being a fish." Knuckles shrugged."What?!""We're talking to a purple dolphin," He shot back."This is so cool." Amy giggled"No it's not." Sonic growled "If this is true, why am I finding out now?""Because you've come off age." Tails said. "Your merhog has resurfaced.""I don't believe any of this! I don't believe that I am half sea fae!" He shouted as he snapped of his shell locket, "or in some mermaid mother and her so called 'protective necklace'!"As he finished his rant, he threw the necklace down onto the rock, shattering it; but no one expected what happened next.Blue, sparkling mist rose from the shards and just floated in front of the four teens.Suddenly it shot straight into Sonic's chest, knocking him to the ground with a thud.All he could register was his friends panicked cries before he passed out..
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When Sonic woke up he felt like the tips of all of his nerves in his entire body were on fire. He groaned as he sat up and saw that he was in his room. For a moment he thought it had all been a horrible dream.But then he saw his reflection in the full length mirror across from his bed.He still had the black markings in his fur. He growled and fell back in his bed in annoyance. Just then his bedroom door opened and Chuck and Tails came in with worried looks on their faces."So, I guess I'm not imagining it then?" He sighed."Sorry Sonny-Boy, after you passed out your friends carried you home and told me everything, I sent Amy and Knuckles home but Tails here refused to leave until he knew you were alright." His uncle chuckled.This got a small smile from the blue hedgehog."Are you OK?" Tails asked in a worried tone."Yeah Tails, I'm fine." He reassured with a grin and the kit sighed in relief."Um, I gotta get home, my Mom's probably worrying about me." He said before giving his best friend a hug and leaving the room. Once he was gone there was an awkward silence in the room."Uncle Chuck, I'm sorry about what I said early." He said with a sigh."It's alright Sonny-Boy." He smiled."No it's not, I said some horrible things!"Chuck just smiled and gave his nephew a hug."Just get some sleep, you've been through a lot today." He said before leaving the room.Sonic sighed and snuggled back into his bed for a good night's rest... The next morning Sonic was woken up by the smell of chilli dogs. He looked at his alarm clock and gasped when he saw that he was late for school! He quickly shot out of bed and dashed down stairs."Whoa Sonny-Boy, where you off to?" Uncle Chuck called when he saw his nephew rushing around looking for his school bag."I'm going to be late for school!" He cried."No you won't." He smiled and Sonic froze. "I called the school and said you were very sick and I don't know when you'll be back.""What, why?""Because you need time to take in this new information about your mother, and about yourself."Sonic sighed and slumped on the couch. Chuck smiled and sat next the the speedster. He pulled out a piece of paper and a letter before gave it to him. Sonic looked and saw an address and a name."Emma Nets? The creepy old cat that owns the antique and book store?" Sonic asked with confused look on his face."Yeah, when your mother gave you to me she also gave me that address and a said that I should take you to her and give her this , but when I did she said to come back some other time." He shrugged. "She might be able to help.""Help with what?" Sonic asked. "All I have are some weird marks that anyone can think is tattoos and I can breath underwater; but as far as I'm concerned nothing has changed." He said and went upstairs.Chuck sighed and went back to making some chilli dogs...
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The next day Sonic was back at school. He had just finished first period and he still hadn't seen his friends yet. As he was walking down the hall to his next class he internally groaned when he saw Scourge and his girlfriend Fiona walking towards him."Party time people, no excuses!" He grinned as he passed out flyers for his pool party to everyone he walked by. "Oh blue-boy, I sure I have one for you somewhere." He snickered.Sonic just rolled his eyes."I don't he'll come anyway, he doesn't like getting wet." Fiona laughed as they continued walking.He glared at them and continued walking down the hall... After school Sonic finally met up with his friends at the juice bar near the docks. They could tell he didn't want to talk about what had happened the other day so they didn't want mention it."So are any of you guys going to Scourge's party?" Amy asked excitedly."Not me." Sonic said, much to the others' shock."But if you miss one of Scourge's parties he'll never ask you again!" Knuckles exclaimed."So? That's a plus for me." He shrugged with a smirk."It's pool party, if you go you could stay underwater for hours and really show Scourge who's the best, he's always bragging about how he could beat anyone anywhere!" The echidna smiled, only to get hit in the back of the by Amy."I'm not going to that stupid party." Sonic growled and walked away.Tails and Amy sent Knuckles a death glare before running to catch up with their blue friend... The next day was a sunny Saturday, which meant that not only was it a day off school but it was also Scourge's pool party. Almost all the kids from school were there, including Tails, Amy and Knuckles."Well, well, look who decided to show up." Scourge suddenly chuckled as he exited his house.Everyone looked and they were all shocked to see Sonic following Scourge. The blue hedgehog thought about what Knuckles had said and it would be great to make a fool out of the green jerk for once.Sonic glanced to the water and a sudden shudder came over him, but for some reason he didn't feel fear.The green hedgehog noticed the small shudder and laughed."What's the matter blue-boy? Scared to mess up your new tats?" He mocked as everyone but Sonic's friends started to surround the blue hedgehog, they all had nasty grins on their faces."Go away Scourge." He glared as the other hedgehog came closer."Aww don't be like that Sonic we just wanna have a bit of fun." He chuckled.Suddenly he shoved into Sonic and sent the blue blue straight into the deep end of the pool!"Don't you even have a brain?!" Amy glared as she and the other two walked over to help Sonic out. He was holding onto the edge of the pool and he was struggling to keep his head above the water.Scourge just shrugged and he and everyone else went inside for some drinks.Once they were gone Tails and Knuckles bent down to help Sonic out of the pool.But Sonic didn't reach up for their heads. He felt very tingly and weird all over, but at the same time it felt kind of... natural?All of a sudden the water around him started to fizz and bubble, almost as if it was boiling. Before anyone could do anything Sonic felt a sudden cold, flashing feeling from the waist down and when it was over in a matter of two seconds he started to panic when couldn't feel his legs.He looked up at his friends and saw their frightened and shocked expressions.He looked down at his legs and screamed.Instead of a pair of blue, skinny legs he saw a long mermaid tale!The others immediately reacted to the situation. While Tails and Knuckles started to pull his out of the pool Amy quickly ran to the glass, sliding door of Scourge's house.She looked inside and saw everyone drinking and laughing, thankfully the pool was out of view from the door. The pink hedgehog quickly grabbed a chair and used it to jam the door so that the guests couldn't get out. Once that was taken care of she ran back to the pool just as Knuckles was picking up a still panicking Sonic bridal style.Back in the house Fiona wanted to go back to the pool, but when she tried the sliding door it was stuck."Scourge!" She called. He came over and tried to open the door but it was jammed. He growled and started to body slam the door as he continued to try and pull the door open until the chair finally fell and the door swung open.Everyone ran out to the pool but they found that it was empty... When they made it to Sonic's house they ran passed Chuck, upstairs, and placed Sonic on top of his bed. Sonic quickly looked down and got a proper look at his tail.From the waist down there were smooth, shiny, dark navy blue fish scales instead of his usual cobalt fur and sprouting out of the side of his hips were a pair of small sea green fins. At the end of his tail was a wide webbed fin with black ribs, the webbing started as cobalt yet as it got to the end it faded into a soft sea green colour.His spines were also more slack and droopy than they normally were and his gloves and brown neck-scarf had vanished into thin air."What's with all the worry- Oh dear." Chuck gulped when he walked into the room and saw the long tail."U-Uncle Chuck... w-what... what happened to me.." He whimpered, still in shock."I'm not sure Sonic, but I think I know someone who does." The older hedgehog said and quickly ran out the room.After another three minuets of waiting steam suddenly started rising from under the scales of Sonic's tail and circling him. Everyone gasped when the stream covered Sonic completely.When it faded Sonic gasped when he saw that not only had his gloves and neck-scarf returned but so had his legs!Just then Chuck returned."Glad to see you've dried out." He smiled. "I've just been to talk to Emma Nets, she said that whenever you get wet you'll change into a sea fae and will change back to a Mobian when you've dried out; she also wants you to come down to her store as soon as possible." He explained.But before anything else was said or done Sonic shot out of the room and locked himself in the bathroom...
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It night now and everyone had either gone to bed or were relaxing at home. Amy was washing dishes since it was her turn while her parents, Frank Rose and Jane Rose, were watching a documentary about sharks. Amy was very scared of sharks and had been ever since she was a little kid.Frank Rose was a crimson red hedgehog with jade green eyes and a tanned muzzle. He owned his own fishing company that brought in most of the town's fish supply.Jane Rose was a white mouse with snowy white fur, a light peach muzzle and blue eyes. She own a small florist store in town called 'Rose Petals'."Nasty." Frank frowned when a great white shark came onto the scene. "You don't want to mess with one of them.""Have you ever seen a great white?" Jane smiled as she cuddled closer to her husband."Only once, took half my catch for the day and shredded my net." He glared. "You don't wanna mess with them, they'll rip you into tiny bits; Amy, come here and check this out."Amy quickly walked into the living room and her dad pointed at the TV."This is the best part, the feeding frenzy." He grinned as multiple sharks attacked and ate a large school of fish."How can you even watch this stuff?" She glared in disgust and stormed out the room.She really hated sharks... Early the next morning Tails and Knuckles got on their wet suits and diving gear before they went diving off the coast of town. They were searching for some sea shells for Amy so she can finish a dress she was making.They loved all the fish that swam around them and all the beautiful corals.By the time they were done they had a bag full of gorgeous sea shells for Amy... That lunch the four friends went to meet up at their favourite juice bar by the docks. Amy, Tails and Knuckles were sat in their usual booth as hey waited for Sonic to join them."You guys these shells are amazing, they're just what I need!" She grinned as she looked over all the shells t hey had got her. She then noticed Sonic walking towards them."Hey Sonic, look at all these shells they brought me.""Cool." He said as he sat next to her."You should of come with us." Knuckles said. "You could of gotten way more better ones 'cause you're a... you know.""So has anyone been able to finish that calculus homework?" Sonic quickly asked, changing the subject. "Question seven's a pain in the neck."The others sighed. Sonic still wanted to ignore the fact that he was a sea fae, well, half one at least."And that project on Biology is in Thursday, we really need to get together on that one.""Listen Sonic, whatever's happened to you is incredible, you've got to get to the sea 'cause the water is amazing." Tail pleaded."I'm not doing it OK?!" He snapped. "I didn't ask for any of this to happen to me so stop bugging me about; I've never liked the water and I never will!" He glared and revved out of the bar."Wonder what's up with him." Scourge mocked from across the bar. The three friends ignored the green hedgehog and went back to their drinks. The barmaid suddenly turned on the radio.
"...and in local news there have been reports of nesting sea turtles being caught in fishing nets off the coast, authorities are reminding fishermen it fish away from the nesting grounds."
"Those poor turtles." Amy sighed sadly."You're such a hypocrite." Fiona glared at them."What do you mean?" She asked."Ain't your Dad a fisherman?" Scourge asked with a grin. "I bet it's his nets that are catching the turtles."... That night it was just Amy and her Dad in the house. Her mother was out with her friends."Here you go flower." He smiled and handed her a mug of hot chocolate. She took and looked down nervously."Dad, have you ever caught any sea turtles?" She asked, unable to get Scourge's words out of her head. He looked at his daughter with a confused and slightly hurt look on his face."What kind of a questions that?" He asked."It's important; have you ever caught a sea turtle in one of your nets?""Amy you know me, I do everything by the book, we have nets with grids in them so if a turtle comes in it's directed to an opening, plus we fish miles away from the nesting grounds." He explained."But some of the turtles are still being caught.""Not by me and not by any fishermen around he, we respect the environment and we follow the rules."... Meanwhile Tails and Knuckles were back in the ocean get a few more shells for Amy. While they were collecting the shells Knuckles looked up and was confused to see a fishing net being dragged through the water.They knew that there should be any fishing around here so why was it here?Tails' eyes widened and he pointed at the net. There were two sea turtles trapped inside. The two boy sprung into action. Tails quickly swam to the surface where he saw the two fishermen walking below deck.The kit quickly but carefully climbed onto the boat and started looking for something to free the turtles. He spotted a knife by the edge of the boat, he grabbed it and jumped back into the water just as the two fishermen returned.Once he was back in the water Tails and Knuckles started cutting away at the net to free the two sea turtles."Come on Jake, we won't meet quota if we don't move it!" One of the fisherman shouted to his companion. Jake pulled a lever and the net started rising out of the water.In the water Knuckles and Tails had big grins on their faces as they looked at the giant hole in the net while the two turtles swam away... That afternoon Amy met up with the others at the juice bar like always. But when she got to their usual booth she noticed the worried looks on Knuckles and Tails' faces."Hey guys, what's going on?" She asked as she sat down."Hey Amy, you'r Dad's on TV!" The barmaid said and turned up the TV."Local fishermen today have been confronted by a possible menace from the deep, commercial fishermen have reported incidents that may be involve a rogue shark and although the fishermen received no injuries there was severe damage to the net and they lost almost all their catch." The report explained before the camera turned to Frank by his boat."I've fished in these waters for a long time and there's only one thing that causes damage like that, a large, rogue shark." He glared."Poor Dad!" Amy gasped. Tails and Knuckles looked at each other and sighed."Sorry to have to do this Amy, but your Dad didn't catch a shark, it was two turtles." Tails explained. "Me and Knuckles cut the net set it free.""No, my Dad would catch turtles." She glared.Tails sighed and pulled out the knife he took from the boat, but Amy shrugged."So you found an average fishing knife, hundreds of fishermen use these!" She snapped, but her anger turned to horror when the fox revealed the writing engraved on the handle: Property Of 'Frank's Fishing'... As soon as Amy read the writing she shot out of the bar and went for the docks. She needed to have a talk with her father. When she walked onto the boat she saw her Dad crawling out from under the wheel with a wrench."Amy!" He smiled when he saw his daughter. "I haven't seen you down here in ages, did you see me on TV? Did I look OK? How about that shark?" He asked her, but she just stood there with her arms folded and a scowl on her face."You don't know the things that get caught in your nets do you?""Is this about that turtle thing again?" He sighed."Yes.""Amy, we use the right nets and we fish in the right places, it's the law and we don't break it." He insisted.Amy just glared at him and stormed off.Frank just sighed and was about to leave when one of his employees walked in."Oh boss, I didn't know you were back." He smiled."Well it started to look like I shouldn't be away.""Sorry I lost half the catch boss, the net was shredded.""Don't worry about it, no one can predict a shark attack Eddie, not even me." Frank reassured his before his eyes narrowed slightly. "Where is that net anyway?""I dumped it." Eddie shrugged. "What's the point of keeping a wrecked net?"Frank just nodded and left the boat... Amy sighed sadly as she sat on a bench by the docks. She could believe that her dad would deny everything despite the evidence against him. She felt so betrayed.Just the she felt a gust of wind and looked up to find Sonic standing next to her with a warm smile."Is this seat taken?" He smiled and sat next her. "You wanna talk about it?""You mean about my Dad being a criminal?!" She snapped, before taking a deep breath. "What would you do?""Well I would change my name and move two towns over to make a fresh start for myself, but that's just me." He joked with a grin, but Amy didn't look amused at all.He sighed and they continued to watch the sunset in silence... "Are you going to catch that shark tomorrow honey?" Jane smiled at her husband. It was night now and the Rose family were gathered for dinner."Maybe." He smiled at his wife. "The government's putting out a bounty, everyone's gonna be looking for it and if we do run into it we'll pick it up." He explained."What's wrong Amy?" Jane asked when she saw that her daughter hadn't taken a bite of her food."I'm not hungry." She sighed."It's fish!" Frank exclaimed. "Come on and eat it, I caught it this morning fresh from the Esmeralda.""The Esmeralda?" Amy asked. "I thought you were on your own boat this morning?""Well you're wrong, when you've got three boats you gotta be flexible Amy." He replied. "Gus is in hospital so I'm skippering the Esmeralda until he's back on deck.""So you weren't one you're own boat this morning?""That's what I said!""So you don't really know what it's been catching or where it's been fishing?""Eddie's skippering for me and I trust his judgement, he wouldn't do anything wrong."Amy just looked down at her food, lost in thought... That morning Sonic was doing his usual morning run around town. He was coming up to the docks when he saw Amy heading there. He quickly went to catch up with her."Hey." He smiled as he ran beside her. "What you doing out this early.""My Dad's not the one catching those sea turtles! It has to be that creepy Eddie guy!" She exclaimed as they ran to the docks. Once there they hid behind some barrels and watched her Dad's boat.They saw Eddie and another one of her Dad's workers named John getting ready to go fishing."Hurry up! I don't want to be the last ones to leave again!" Eddie shouted at John. "We gotta make up for the catch we lost yesterday so we gt a big day ahead of us, we're heading to Preston's Beach.""Preston's Beach is a no go zone." John said."I'm using the old nets too, you gotta problem with that?" He glared."Yeah, the boss won't want that.""There's only one boss on this ship and that's me." He snarled as they pulled out of the docks. "Just be quiet and do your job.""Did you hear that?!" Amy cried once the ship was out of earshot."Yeah, and I'm gonna stop them, go get the others." Sonic glared.Before Amy could say anything else Sonic jumped off the docks and into the water. She gasped and quickly ran to get Tails and Knuckles... Under the water Sonic was freaking out. After almost ten seconds of being in the water his legs changed into a tail. He started flaring his arms and twisting his tail as he tried to swim but it was hopeless.He almost smacked himself for not thinking this all through.Suddenly his webbed fin opened up like a hand fan and he felt an urge to move. He started to move his tail up and down like a dolphin and was shocked to find his body moving forward.He was swimming!He couldn't explain it but it just felt right about him being in the water. It wasn't long before he caught up with the boat.However, he was so busy enjoying the water that he didn't notice the fishermen getting ready the drop the nets. He noticed a faint shadow above him an when he looked up he gasped.He attempted to swim away but he quickly found that the lower half of his tail was tangled in the net.He tried to escape but he only got more entangled i the net until his own body was stuck. He could feel the ropes of the net digging into his flesh and some of it wrapped around his neck!He tried to turn on his smart watch be he was too tangled.He was slowly choking... "Guys! GUYS! Sonic needs help!" Amy cried as she ran up to Tails and Knuckles. She had found them in Tails' garage while the kit was working on his plane."Where is he?" Tails asked."He's... in... the water." She panted as she tried to catch her breath."At last." Knuckles grinned."No! He's in the water! He's gone after my Dad's fishing boat!"... Back at the boat John was keeping an eye on the net in case Eddie caught the shark. He suddenly noticed a shadow tangled in the net. It was certainly big enough to be a shark."You've got it Eddie!" He called out. "The shark's in the net!""Get it up before it rips that net to pieces and all, it's not getting away this time!" Eddie called back as John pulled the lever.Under the water Sonic could feel his body being lifted up to the surface by the net, but he was ready to pass out due to lack of oxygen.Just before he was lifted out of the water he felt a pair of hands grab hold of him. He opened his eyes a fraction and saw Amy and Knuckles in their wet suits trying to free him.Knuckles quickly pulled out the knife that him and Tails took and started cutting the net open.Once there was a big enough hole he and and Amy reached in and pulled Sonic out. They quickly swam him to a nearby beach where Tails was waiting for them next to his plane."Are you guys OK?" He asked when the collapsed on the beach in exhaustion."Yeah, thanks guys." Sonic said and he gasped to get back some oxygen."That's what friends are for."... When Eddie and John returned from fishing Eddie want to hide all the evidence. The last thing he wanted was for Frank to find out what he had been doing those last few days."You got rid of the net?!" He growled at John."What net Eddie?"Eddie whipped around and his blood turned to ice when he saw a very angry Frank standing in the doorway."Didn't you hear me Eddie? I said what net?" He growled but Eddie just looked to the ground in fear. He didn't know what to say."John!" Frank called and John walked over to them. "Why don't you tell me what's been happening here?""Gladly." John replied as he sent a glare at Eddie... "I fired him." Frank told his family that night at dinner. "I trusted Eddie and he broke every rule in the book, I couldn't keep him on after that." He glared as his wife and daughter set the table with food."You're so tough Dad and I'm sure the turtles will thank you for it, and I'm sorry for doubting you." Amy smiled and gave him a kiss on the head."How did you know he was fishing with the wrong nets and in the wrong areas?" He asked her."I heard a whisper." She smiled. "The sea is full of mystery."...
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Tails sighed as he shifted in his chair. He and Amy were in the library doing some research on sea fae. While Amy was talking to the librarian about taking some of the books home Tails was reading a book about mythical sea creatures.Almost as soon as they left the library Amy's phone started to ring.She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Sonic who was calling her."Hey Sonic, what's up?" She smiled.
"Just keeping in, started my new job today."
"You're new job? You mean the one at the dolphin tank at the marine park?!" She exclaimed."The what?" Tails hissed as his eyes widened in shock.
"Yes, I know the tank's full of water Amy, last I check dolphins lived in water and yes I do remember what water does to me but I'm not gonna let that run my life; I gotta go."
And with that he hung up the phone.Amy and Tails looked at each other and sighed... When Sonic hung up in his friend he sighed and put it on one of the high shelves. He then went to get on his rubber gloves. The only parts of his body that weren't covered up were his face and a bit of his arms.As he was carefully putting some fish into the buckets his boss came in."OK Sonic, all you have to do is give the buckets to the trainers and that's it for today, you're new and we think you should start slow." He explained with a smile."Right, ready when you are." He smiled and grabbed the two buckets.He took a deep breath as he stepped out into the light. He saw a large pool of water with a few dolphins swimming around and a large crowd of people cheering on the other side.He gave the buckets to the trainers and went back inside.He quickly started filling another bucket. But he was careless this time. The tweezers he had been using slipped from his hand and fell into the bucket of water, creating a big splash.He gasped when a few water droplets fell onto his exposed arms.He quickly started looking for a towel but he could find one."Try this." Someone said and tossed him a towel. He caught it and immediately started to dry himself off. Thankfully he didn't transform. He looked at the doorway to see who it was and gasped.It was Emma Nets.She was an old cat with green eyes and although her fur was black it had grey hairs in it. She wore a breezy, purple summer dress with sunflowers printed onto it and light purple flip-flops."That was good timing, wouldn't you say?" She smiled at the teen."Y-Yeah, good timing." He muttered, not taking his eyes off her. "Why are you here?""That's a bit rude boy, one might question your upbringing." She chuckled. "If you must know I come here to see the marine life, loving creatures, don't you think?"Sonic nodded slowly."Then I saw and I thought I'd come have a chat with you." She said as she took a seat. "I've been waiting for you to come down to my shop for a while now about this sea fae business and yet you haven't turned up, why's that?""I just want to get on with my life." He replied."I do understand that but there a some very important things you need to know, not just for your safety but that of those around you." She explained. "I want to see you at the docks first thing tomorrow, alone."Before Sonic could ask her why his boss walked in. He looked back at the cat but she was gone... "So what did she want?" Knuckles asked the blue hedgehog. They were all hanging out in Tails' room. While the kit was bringing in some spray bottles filled with different liquids Sonic was telling them about Emma Nets."That she wanted to see my at the docks tomorrow.""So did you get any water on yourself?" Tails asked."Yeah, but it was only one drop and I wiped it straight off!" He quickly replied. "I can do this job!""I knew it." Amy scoffed. "I knew you should of thought about this more clearly.""What would that prove?" He glared. "I'm not going to be scared of every drop of water I see!""Calm down guys." Tails sighed as he picked up one of the spray bottles. "I think I've just about figured out which liquids won't turn you into a sea fae." He explained before suddenly squirting Sonic's arm with the bottle.After a few seconds of silence nothing happened."Mostly vegetable oil, no change." He muttered to himself as he wrote it down in a journal."Why does she want you at the docks?" Amy asked as Tails squirted him with another bottle but nothing happened again."I don't know, but I know that she wants to help me so I'm going." He said.He suddenly cried out in shock when he transformed. He looked at Tails to see him holding another bottle."That one had a 32% water content." He smiled as he grabbed his journal. "Also it took you ten seconds to change, just so you know.""You OK?" Knuckles smirked."Fine, thanks buddy." He growled at the fox... The next morning Sonic got up and revved straight to the docks. When he got there the place was almost empty, except for a few early fishermen. He got to the end of docks and saw Emma on a small motor boat."Glad to see you listened to me." She smiled as he climbed onto the boat, making sure not to get any water on him."So why did you want me here?" He asked as she handed him some large towels. "What are these for?""You don't want to get wet do you?" She asked and he started wrapping himself in the towels. "And to answer your other question, you need some where more private to train and that's where we're going." She explained and pointed out to see.He followed her gaze and saw what she was pointing at.Pistris Island... It took them 10 minuets to reach the island on the boat. As soon they pulled up on the beach Sonic jumped out and onto the dry sand, away from the small waves.Emma quickly followed.Before he could say or do anything else she suddenly stood up straight and started stretching. Sonic grimaced as he heard her bones crack. When she was done she had a smile on her face."That was just what I needed." She sighed and grabbed her bag."So where are we going?" He asked as they hiked through the jungle. She smiled and pointed up to the volcano. The Pistris Island use to be an active volcano until it went extinct about three hundred years ago."There's something very special to sea fae in that volcano, and it's also very private."Soon they came in a small hole in the ground near a waterfall. It was well covered by the thick jungle plants."Come on then." Emma smiled at him before getting on her hands and knees and crawling into the tight hole. Sonic looked around nervously before following her in.It was a tight squeeze but he could fit.As he was crawling towards the other end he suddenly cried out as he slipped and started sliding down the tunnel. He coughed when he fell face first into the cold sand.Sonic quickly sat up an saw that he was lying in a small cave. He also saw Emma standing in the entrance to another chamber."This way." She said and went into the other chamber, out of Sonic's sight.He quickly got up and followed her into the other cave. He looked around and gasped.The cave was quite large. While half of it was a sandy ground the other half was a pool of beautiful blue water. Sonic looked up and above the pool was the volcano's opening which revealed the blue sky."Beautiful, isn't it?" Emma smiled. She was sat on a large rock in the corner."Yeah, what is this place?" He asked breathlessly."It's the perfect place for you to practice with your powers; now, tell me everything you know so far.""Well, I know I can breath underwater and when I touch water a transform and I can only change back when I've dried out." He explained and she hummed in thought."It gets better, did you know you can control water?""What? Really?""Yes, now, I want you to follow my movements and listen to my words very closely." She said as she stood up and starting moving in a way that reminded Sonic tai chi.He quickly started to copy he as best as he could."To control water you must first find it's qualities within yourself as like you it is strong and fluid; water is the element of change, it's greatest strength is it's great versatility." She explained. "Now I want you to close your eyes and feel the energy flow through your body."Sonic closed his eyes and continued to do the moves she was doing."I also want you to think about what you love, what keeps you bound to the land, and remember to let it flow."He started thinking about Uncle Chuck, his friends and being free before letting all those feelings flow through his body. He was a go with the flow guy anyway."Very good Sonic." She said and opened his eyes.He was shocked to find some water from the pool streaming around him, moving with his body. His body became ridged with fear and before he knew it the water suddenly turned into solid ice and fell to the ground, shattering."That's enough for today, Sonic." She sighed and stood up. "Now which way do you want to go?" She asked."W-What do you mean?""You see that opening down there?" Emma asked and pointed at the pool. Sonic looked closely at the pool and saw a tunnel just under the water at the other side of the pool.He nodded."It leads to the ocean, you can take it and swim back home.""Why couldn't I do that before?""Because you didn't know where it was and I didn't want you swimming aimlessly around this island as there are a few sharks in these waters." She explained with a smirk. "Now, you go for a swim and I'll take the boat back to the town, I'll see you back here tomorrow after school."And with that she started climbing up the tunnel to the jungle.Sonic looked at the pool and took a deep breath before jumping in. After a few seconds he transformed. His tail fin opened up and and he swam for the exit tunnel.Soon his was in the open ocean.He quickly rose to the surface and saw where home was before diving down and started swimming towards it. He saw a few sharks but none seemed to take an interest in him.When he got to the shore he went in a hidden beach to dry off...
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The next morning Sonic met up with his friends at school and told them about what Emma Nets had taught him. Knuckles wanted him to so them some moves but the hedgehog refused."But it'd be so cool." The red echidna pleaded as they reached Sonic's locker."Not here, and I don't know how to control it, that's why I'm going to Emma Nets so I can learn." He explained."Learn what? How old a teapot is?" Someone snickered.They turned around and saw Scourge standing behind them with a cruel smirk on his face. Sonic just rolled his eyes and turned back to his locker."Go away Scourge." Amy glared at the green hedgehog."Stay out of this pinkie." He growled and pushed her to the side.Sonic growled at him in anger as his fists clenched tightly. They all failed to notice the water in the water dispenser start to bubble and boil. He was about to lunge at Scourge when a teacher suddenly burst out of a classroom.He took one look at them and rolled his eyes."Scourge, in my office, now." He glared as he grabbed the green teen's arm and dragged him down the hall... After school Sonic went with his friends to the juice bar near the docks before he had to go see Emma. He and the others sat in their usual booth while Knuckles went to get them some drinks.Suddenly Tails felt something splash against the back of his head and down his neck.They turned around and saw Scourge glaring at them with murder in his eyes."You're gonna pay blue boy." He snarled at them. "I gotta a month's detention 'cause of you!"Sonic gulped nervously. He was angry at Scourge for what he had done to Amy and now Tails but he was scared of what he could do to the bully.Scourge lunged at him.Suddenly almost all the drinks in the juice bar exploded and shot at the green teen in a hot and cold combo. Sonic cried out in fear when some splashed on his chest.He shot out of that bar faster than a bullet and ran straight for the docks.He only just made it to the waters before he transformed by the skin of his teeth... As he swam to the island he could feel that his tail was getting stronger every time he swam. He quickly found the underwater entrance. When he resurfaced in the pool he saw Emma waiting for him patiently."What's wrong Sonic?" She asked when she saw how upset he was."I just attacked a jerk from my school with my powers!" He exclaimed as he climbed out of the pool and sat in the sand, waiting to dry out. "I didn't mean to do it but all the water just shot at him!"She sighed."Tell me Sonic, what were you feeling at the time?""What?""What were your emotions?""Well, I was angry at him for hurting my friends and I wanted to get back at him for it but a was scared of what could happen, you know, with all the drinks there." He explained."Sonic, your powers are currently linked to your emotions, what ever you are feeling they will react with it." She explained and pointed to a puddle next to them. "Concentrate on that puddle and think about what scares you."Sonic extended his hand out to the puddle and thought about his fears.He thought about Uncle Chuck and his friends and about him losing them and not being able to stop it. He gasped when the puddle suddenly turned into solid ice."Very good Sonic, now, think about what makes you angry."He nodded and thought about what made him angry. He thought about how much he hated Scourge and how much he hated being controlled and not being able to run free.He could feel his hand clenching into tight fist.Suddenly the puddle started to steam, bubble and boil."I was right, looks like your powers are linked to your emotions." Emma said as she stood up."But how can I un-link them? I don't want to burn someone's face of every time I get angry!""Eventually they will be tamed and won't have to rely on your emotional state, but that will only happen the more you practice, I suggest you go home and practice more there but for know, I can see this has been a big scare for you so no training tomorrow." She smiled.He groaned and turned to his tail, still waiting to dry."You want to know something great?" She asked with a grin. "I want you to focus your anger on your tail."He gave her a nervous look before doing exactly what he did before but on his tail. Thick steam started sizzling from his tail. He hissed as it started to sting but continued.His eyes widened when his tail vanished and his legs returned...
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"The Miss Sea Queen Pageant?" Tails asked as he looked at the flyer. They were all in the juice bar when Sonic showed them the flyer that had been posted up at the marine park."How sexist can you get?" Amy glared. "Who would want to enter that?""Her." Sonic said and pointed to Fiona Fox. "I saw her name on the register.""Your not thing of entering are you?" Tails asked Amy as she looked at the flyer."No! Why would I want to do that?!"... Back at Tails' house his father was reading a book while his mother was vacuuming. There names were Amadeus and Rosemary Prower.Rosemary was a 38 year old brown/orange fox with baby blue eyes and crimson red hair. She also wore a simple dark purple dress with a yellow shoulder covering.Amadeus was a 47 year old fox with brown fur and a blue eye, the left he lost during his time on the battle field. He wore a blue shirt, black boots and white pants."Mom, have you seen Tails?" There daughter, Sticks, asked when she walked in.Sticks was an 11 year old badger only slightly shorter than Amy. She had orange fur with long thick hair on the back of her head, which she kept in two locks with auburn strings, and two brown stripes across each of her eyes and bushy round ears that reach the end of her hair. She wore a tube top and a skirt with an auburn rope belt, each made of worn-down grey fabric stitched together, and tan fur-skin boots.She was the Prower's adopted daughter before they had Tails."I think he went out." Rosemary replied."He's never here anymore." She glared."I'm sure he'd make time for you if you asked him to hang out with you." She said."I just want my rat traps back, those things are sneaking around my room again, plotting something." Sticks grumbled as she went back upstairs. She quickly sneak into Tails' room and started trying to find her traps.She opened the closet and moved the clothes but they weren't there.She opened the draws and started routing through them. She may not have found her traps but she did find a journal at the bottom of the draw. It read: 'The Sea Fae Mystery'.She sat down on his bed and opened it.She tilted her head in confusion at the scientific notes and the strange drawings and diagrams in the pages. They looked like fish tails... That afternoon Sonic was working in the snack bar at the marine park as Amy tried to talk to him. But he suddenly shut up when he saw Fiona and her friend Breezie walking up to them."Give me your moth expensive, low fat ice- Oh! It's you." Breezie grinned when she noticed who she was talking to."Flavours?" He asked in a bored tone."You choose, I'm feeling spontaneous." She smiled. "I've also finished the preparations for the competition, I've a costume that's to die for."Amy just rolled her eyes as he made the girls their ice creams."I also saw the register not at my level." She said as he handed her the ice cream. The green hedgehog gave him the money before she and Fiona walked off with big grins on their faces.As soon as they left Sonic's boss walked up to them."Sonic honey, we're short staffed at the Miss Sea Queen Pageant, can you do nine to four on the snack bar?" She asked with a friendly smile."Sure thing." He replied."Actually, I was wondering if I could enter the pageant too?" Amy suddenly said, much to Sonic's shock."Oh lovely, I'll just go get an entrance form." His boss smiled and walked away."What are you doing?" Sonic asked her."Someone needs to bring those two down a peg."... Back at Tails' house Sticks came down from her brother's room after reading his journal and went into the kitchen where her mom was ironing."Mom, do you think Tails has been acting weird? Like he might be in some kind of cult?" She asked and Rosemary gave her a funny look."Sticks, I know your a bit paranoid but your brother is a good boy, he wouldn't get involved with a cult." She smiled and went back to her ironing. She the noticed the journal in her hands."What are you reading?""Something interesting." The badger replied... After talking with her mom Sticks went straight to Amy's house. When she knocked on the door Jane answered."I came to see Rosie." She said as the white mouse like her inside. When she entered the living room she saw Amy, Tails and Sonic sat in the couch going over Amy's costume for the pageant."Rosy, come down here!" Jane called and a little girl came downstairs.Rosy was Amy's younger sister.She was an 11 year old hedgehog with pink spines and green eyes. She wore a yellow ruffled skirt, a white shirt with puffed green sleeves, white and blue running shoes with orange shoelaces, white gloves and a red hairband.Her and Sticks met in therapy and became buddies."What is it?" She asked her badger friend."I need to tell you something, privately." She said as she gave Sonic and his friends a quickly glance. Rosy quickly lead her into the kitchen. Once they were alone Sticks pulled out the journal."I have reason to believe that your sister and her friends are fish people, read it." She said and gave it to the hedgehog.Rosy started to flip through the pages."They could just be doddles." She said when she saw the pictures. "I like to doddle.""Rosy, I know it's crazy but if I'm right they even have weird powers over water." Stick whispered with wide eyes.Just then Jane came in to get some water."Don't mind me." She smiled as she put the glass on the counter and went to get something to eat. Sonic then came in."Hey Mrs. Rose, can we get some more sodas?" He asked politely."Of course honey." She smiled as she walked back over with a loaf of bread. But when she put it down she accidentally knocked the glass of water over as well and it splashed all over Sonic's front.Sonic's eyes widened in fear and he ran for the bathroom.The girls shared a look before following him. They saw Sonic run into the bathroom and try and shut the door. But just before he could fully shut it he transformed.The girls only caught a glimpse of his fin hitting the floor before he slammed the door shut and locked it.They stared at the door with wide eyes before running into Rosy's bedroom and quickly locking the door shut."What do we do?!" Rosy whimpered fearfully."J-Just calm down, we need to think about our next move." Sticks said, even though she was shaking in her boots. "One thing we know for sure is that they ain't normal, they're like aliens, they can't be reasoned with and they need to be stopped.""How?""They take their true form when their wet." She smirked. "I say we expose them."... The next morning Rosy wanted to find out for herself if her sister was a mermaid. While Amy was sat in the living room reading a magazine her little sister came in with a glass of water."What're you doing?" Amy asked her when the younger girl stood right next to her."Nothing." She replied quickly. "What are you doing?""Just reading.""You want some water sis? I'm happy to share." She smiled. "In fact, I share everything with you 'cause your my sister and all I get in return are secrets and lies." She glared."What lies?""Why didn't you tell me you were a mermaid?""Why would you think I was a mermaid!?"... "Are you crazy?! You wrote a journal?!" Amy screamed at Tails. After managing to get away from her unstable little sister she went straight to Tails' house to see what he had to say."Just a little one, for scientific purposes." He gulped. If there was one thing that could scare anything it was Amy's temper."With every detail about Sonic's sea fae powers?!""I'd never let anyone see it." He assured her and went to the draw where he usually kept it. He searched for it but stopped and turned back to Amy with a look of dread on his face."It's gone."... Tails and Amy immediately called Sonic and Knuckles over to the juice bar to discuss the situation."I found the journal in Sticks' room." Tails sighed after Amy was done explaining. Sonic looked across the room of crowded people and saw Sticks and Rosy staring at them."How much do they know?" He asked his friends with a worried look on his face."Pretty much everything." Amy glared. Tails just hung his head in shame."Relax, everybody knows Sticks is really paranoid and Rosy, no offence Amy, is just as much of a nut job; no one's going to believe what they say." Knuckles reassured.But they didn't look convinced... That afternoon Rosy and Sticks where sat in Sticks' tree house. They were trying to plot a way to stop the so-called 'Mermaid Apocalypse' from destroying all life on land."OK, tomorrow Amy's going to be at the 'Miss Sea Queen Pageant' at the marine park, the perfect time to expose them." Sticks grinned as she pulled a map of the stage out from her bag."This is gonna be so cool." Rosy giggled."Listen closely, you will be by this fire hose back stage and on my signal you will turn on the fire hydrant and angle it over this wall; the water will flood the stage, turning Amy into a mermaid and us into heroes! Any questions?""Yeah, what if we fail?"Sticks quickly jumped out of the tree and lead her friend into the shed. Once there she pointed to the small door i the ground."If we fail and the apocalypse happens will hide down in this emergency bunker until they return to the sea, I've got enough supplies down there to last us three years."... The next day the marine park was full of excited visitors. They were all gathered for the pageant."Next up, we have Bunny Rabbot as a starfish and what a beautiful starfish she is!" The manager announced as Bunny walked onto the stage. The audience applauded as she stood with the other contestants.Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were also in the crowd to support Amy.Since Amy was his friend Sonic's boss let him have the day off so he could support her.Back stage Sticks and Rosy were setting their trap from Amy."Now our next jewel of the sea is the lovely Amy Rose!" The manager announced and everyone cheered as she walked onto the stage.She was wearing a short, soft pink sheer dress with white tights and rose pink kitten heels. She was holding a pink umbrella with glittery, curly streamers taped to it."As you can see Amy Rose has come dressed a beautiful jellyfish!" The manager smiled as everyone applauded the pink hedgehog. "And now last, but certainly not least, it's Breezie T. Hedgehog!"The boys groaned in annoyance.Everyone watched as Breezie was wheeled out in a very well detailed mermaid costume.
"Breezie you look absolutely wonderful, tell me, did you make this yourself?"
"Yes, most of it's hand made." She smiled."Now!" Sticks called to Rosy. The little hedgehog suddenly turned on the hose and almost everyone on stage screamed as the got soaked. Thankfully Amy's umbrella kept her dry as a bone.Sticks smirked and stepped onto the stage.But she was shocked to see that Amy hadn't turned into a mermaid like she had thought."What?!" She exclaimed. "But your suppose to be a mermaid!""It's a costume contest you stupid girl!" Breezie glared as her mascara ran down her face."No, her and her friends are mer-freaks! They want to destroy us all!" She cried.Suddenly a security guard came from backstage, holding a struggling Rosy in his grasp. In a last ditch effort to prove she was right Sticks soaked her hand with water and flicked it in Amy's face.There was a few seconds of awkward silence, but nothing happened."B-But..." Sticks stuttered, but she couldn't think of what to say and her embarrassed parents dragged her and Tails back home.Since her costume was the only one not ruined by the water Amy won first prize, mush to Breezie's anger... That night Sticks was confided to he room until further notice. Tails quietly snuck into the badger's room and saw her lying on her bed."Sticks." He said quietly as he sat on the bed. "I know you stole my journal, is that where you got those ideas from?""Dad says I'm not aloud to talk to strangers." She glared at her little brother."Sticks, that journal was an English project." He said with a small smile. "We had to rewrite fairy tales and I choose 'The Little Mermaid', it's fiction.""But what about Sonic's tail?" She asked and Tails felt his stomach drop. "He had one at Amy's house, I saw it.""Uh, t-that was Amy's first attempt at a costume for the pageant, she wanted Sonic to try it on so she could she how it looked but it didn't turn out great so she scrapped it." He quickly explained."I'm such an idiot." She groaned as she slumped onto her pillow. "As if you or your friends could be sea people, Sonic can't even swim."Tails just smiled and left the room...
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Amy sighed in irritation as she watched her little sister tying up balloons around the house. It was their Dad's birthday and she wanted everything to be just right for him."Make sure you tie those tight, it has to be a double knot." She explained, but she quickly glared when she saw that they were black balloons. "We can't have those!""Sorry." Rosy sighed."It's a party Rosy, a happy and cheerful party!" She ranted. Just then the front door opened and Knuckles and Tails walked in."I can't believe you organised this whole thing by yourself." Tails said as they walked into the kitchen."Have I told you about the sea food?""Only twenty five times." Knuckles shrugged when he saw the buffet on the kitchen counter."My Dad got it fresh, and it's his very best stuff." She smiled but frowned. "Where's Sonic, isn't he supposed to be bring his uncle's best chilli dogs?""Oh yeah, he's at work right now, but we'll meet him in the bar later."...Sonic sighed happily as he listened to the families enjoying the rides, animals and the warm sun while he worked the snack bar. Just as he was done serving another family some chilli dogs when his boss walked over."Hey there Sonic, some old lady came around the office earlier and told me to give this to you, said it was urgent." She said and handed him a note and a notebook before walking away.He looked at the note and recognised it as Emma Nets' handwriting.
-Hello Sonic, sorry to dash off like this but I'm going out of town for the next three days. I just wanted to give you a very important warning: Don't ever talk to sea perch, you can't trust those fish; now this is the most important one, you must not look at the moon's eye or it's reflection, the full moon is dangerous for young sea fae like yourself and when it's out get somewhere wet, like a bath or pool.
Sonic looked confused by the letter but just went back to work..."This makes no sense." Sonic told his friends when they met up at the juice bar. He had just finished telling the about the note while Tails was reading the book, trying to find answers.Unfortunately it was in a language he had never seen before."Why does it say that you shouldn't talk to fish and the moon's dangerous?" Knuckles asked."Maybe she's had a bit too much sun; what do you think of these?" Amy grinned as she reached into her bag and pulled out a red shoes with multi-coloured gemstones on the front."Cool." Sonic shrugged...That night everyone were gathering at Amy's house for the party. The place was covered with confetti, streamers and balloons. While Amy was greeting people at the others were fidgeting in their outfits.Sonic was wearing an open, light brown jacket in addition to his regular attire, with the exception of his brown neckerchief.Tails wore a yellow and black-striped butterfly.Knuckles was wearing a white jacket with a bolo tie.Amy wore a soft purple tiered dress with light purple circles on it, a light purple waist band, white evening gloves, a small purse, and black medium-heeled shoes.Sticks wore a black one-shoulder dress with white hemlines and black medium-heeled shoes.Rosy was wearing a sparkly, green mini-dress with long white sleeves."This monkey suit is choking me." Sonic whispered to Tails as they went upstairs. Amy had asked them to get some party poppers from her room. Tails rolled his eyes and started looking for the party poppers.Just then the full moon's bright rays poured in through her slightly opened blinds.Tails jumped when Sonic suddenly cried out in pain...Amy looked around the living room and smiled. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and she was very proud of her self.Suddenly Tails came running down the stairs with a panicked expression on his face."Uh, hey Amy, c-can you and Knuckles join me upstairs for a minuet, there's a bit of a problem I really need your help with, like right now." He shook nervously. The two friends quickly followed the fox to her room and were shocked by what they saw.Sonic lying on the ground in his sea fae form!"How did this happen?!" Amy hissed."I-I don't know, one minuet we were looking for those party poppers, the next he's transformed!" Tail cried."Guys, I *gasp* can't breath!" The blue hedgehog wheezed up at them. Amy quickly ran into the small bathroom that was joined to her bedroom while Knuckles carefully picked the gasping merhog up bridal style.He was almost as dry as a bone.He quickly ran into the bathroom and saw Amy had run a bubbly bath. They both carefully lowered him into the bathtub and he sighed in relief, able to breath again.The thick bubbles were able to cover most of his tail but his webbed fin still hung over the other end.Just then Tails came in with the notebook."I think I get what Emma was trying to say." He said and started flipping through the pages. "This language is based on a root dialect, once I figured that out I was able to translate some of it.""So what did it say?" Sonic asked as Amy pulled the shower curtain over, covering his fins."When the full moon rises it doesn't matter if you're wet or dry, you'll still transform, and when you've completely dried out you won't change back, instead you'll start to suffocate like a full-blood Sea Fae." He explained. "You should be able to change back once the sun rises in the morning.""What about not looking at the moon?" She asked."Sorry guys, I haven't translated that far ahead yet." He sighed. "Which means you should stay in the bathtub until morning.""Sorry for ruining your Dad'd party Ames." Sonic sighed.Suddenly they heard Amy's bedroom door open and they all froze. Thankfully the bathroom door was shut."Amy, are you in here?" Jane called."Uh yeah Mom, just had a bit of a makeup malfunction!" She called back quickly."OK, but here up, you're father's here." Jane said before they heard the door closing."You better get going to your Dad's party, I'll be fine." Sonic reassured with a smile. They smiled back before slowly leaving the room.Once they were gone however, Sonic looked up at the mirror on the wall opposite him and his eyes widened when he saw the full moon's bright reflection shining back at him.As he started at the reflection his usually emerald green eyes started to glow a moon blue colour...The next morning Amy went to check on Sonic in the bathroom. He had to spend the night in there since they couldn't get him out passed all the party guess that also decided to stay the night, including Tails.When she went into the bathroom she found that Sonic was still fast asleep in the bathtub."Did you sleep?"She quickly turned around and saw a very Tails in her room."No." She yawned.Suddenly the morning sun shined through the bathroom window through the cracks in the blinds. They heard Sonic wake up. He yawned and sat up."Hey there sleepy-head." Amy smiled as Sonic crawled out the bath and started to use his boiling powers to dry his tail faster. "You OK?""Oh I'm fine." He smiled as he stood up. "Everything's just fine."...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next day at school the principle had gathered everyone in Sonic's grade in the gym to watch Scourge street dance. While everyone was watching the green hedgehog Sonic was rocking in his seat with wild eyes."Sonic?" Tails asked his best friend.All of a sudden he shot out of his seat and ran onto the stage.Everyone watched to shock and amazement as Sonic not only started street dancing, but his moves beat Scourge's by a land slide. Amy looked closely and gasped when she saw Sonic's eyes changed to blue for a second before turning back to normal."Did you see that?" She whispered to Knuckles and Tails and they nodded...After the street dancing show Sonic was pulled into the hallway by the principle. While the other students walked past them the principle was giving Sonic a very long and boring lecture."Sonic Hedgehog, while it may have been entertaining your behaviour is totally unacceptable, acting out like that is not cool." He glared."That was cool Sonic." Breezie smiled as she waked past."Yeah, nice one." Another classmate, Mighty, grinned."You're walking on very thin ice young man." The principle glared before walking away. Sonic just smirked as Amy walked up to him."What was that all about?" She glared."It was just a bit of fun." He grinned back."But was up with your eyes? And how can you street dance without practice?""I guess we just have a knack for it."... Later that day Sonic was at his locker, getting ready for next period when his locker door suddenly slammed shut. He looked to his right and saw Breezie smiling at him."Hey, how's it going?" She grinned."It's fine." He replied, wondering what she wanted. "How are you?""I'm good, that was amazing what you did earlier, had no idea you were into street dancing.""Yeah, I'm into that stuff a moment.""Sweet, I was wondering if I could possible get a lesson sometime?" She smiled as she played with his neck scarf."I-I don't if I could teach you anything, it's all kinda instinctual.""That's fine but if you change your mind." She grinned and handed him a piece of paper with her number on it. "Call me."... That afternoon Sonic was making some kakavia when Fiona and Breezie came over to him. The teacher was watching them closely in cause he had to stop a fight."Scourge was wondering if you could come to his party, it's gonna be huge Sonic, it's on his parents yot." Fiona smiled. Sonic looked over his shoulder and saw his green lookalike glaring at them."Everybody who's anybody is gonna be there." Breezie added."OK." He smiled."Great, it's at 8:30 on Friday, be there before 10 'cause that's when the yot sets off." The fox said before going back to her boyfriend with Breezie following her. Sonic shrugged his shoulders and went to the counter where his friends were."That was weird." He told them. "I've just been invited to one of Scourge's parties.""How come they didn't invite us?" Amy whined."Are you going?" Tails asked.Sonic just shrugged before without warning he picked up and piece of uncooked fish and ate it... That day after school Sonic finally met up with his friends at the juice bar. He had just been talking with Scourge and Fiona and he had a nice big smile on his face."Guess what, we've just asked Scourge and he said you can come to, it'll be fun.""Yeah right." Amy scoffed. "Scourge doesn't like you, especially after what you did this morning.""That's not true, he just invited me to his party.""Only because everyone in school thinks your so cool." She glared. "Don't be so naive, today they think you're cool, but tomorrow you'll just be plain, old Sonic again.""Well this 'plain, old Sonic' is gonna go to that party!" He growled before storming out of the bar... When Sonic got home he slumped onto the couch and watched TV. He seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face."How was school?" Chuck smiled as he exited the kitchen with a cup of coffee."Whatever." Sonic mumbled."Someone's grumpy." He chuckled."I'm not grumpy, so stop talking to us like we're a baby!" He shouted before storming upstairs and slamming the door shut.When he was in his room he looked himself over in the mirror and glared... "So what do you think's up with Sonic lately?" Knuckles asked as they sat in home room. "He's been acting really weird lately.""Don't know, Tails, anything in the notes Emma Nets left him?" Amy asked."Sorry but I haven't been able to translate anything useful yet, her handwriting isn't very neat." He reminded them.Suddenly the hallway doors burst open and Sonic walked in. When his friends saw him their jaws dropped to the floor in shock.He was wearing a black leather jacket with black leather pants and a ripped, navy blue shirt. Instead of his usual brown neck scarf he was wearing a black belt choker and had sliver rings in his ears.But what confused them the most was how his eyes were now blue instead of green"Ah Sonic." The teacher said as he took his seat. "Who dressed you this morning, Edward Scissorhands?""Who dressed you this morning? You're grandma?" Sonic casually remarked, causing most of the other kids in the class to laugh. His friends looked at him like he had grown two heads."Get out of this classroom right now." The teacher hissed with a face of fury. Sonic rolled his eyes as he stood up. "You can also take those blue contact lenses out as well!"... Soon Sonic, Tails and Amy went for their science class. While most of the students were doing their work Sonic was messing around with a test tube full of green goo."Now I'm really worried Tails." Amy said to her fox friend. "He's never acted like this before, it's like his a different person.""Sonic." The science teacher suddenly said. "This is chemistry, not a circus.""Yeah, I'm testing gravity." He laughed and tossed the tube into the air but made no move to catch it. It shattered on the floor with the green goo spilling everywhere."You can clean that up and come and see me for detention after school." The teacher glared... At lunch Knuckles, Tails and Amy went to their table at the back of the lunch hall. When they got there they saw that Sonic was already there but he was hanging out with Scourge and the girls instead."Have you guys figured out what's up with him lately?" Knuckles whispered to they and him and Amy looked at Tails for answered."Alright, I've managed to translate a few phrases that mention looking into the moon's eye." He explained and pulled out the notebook. "From what I can gather the full moon not only acts like a boost for a sea fae's powers, but for young sea fae it can affect their mind.""How?" Amy asked."Basically it's like getting a personality transplant, they could turn nice, aggressive or... that." He said and motioned to Sonic. "But that only happens if they stare at a full moon or it's reflection, and last I checked he was facing away from the window in your bathroom.""Oh no." She muttered. "He wasn't facing away from the mirror that points at the window!""Great, so now we know why he's acting like this, how do we change him back?" Knuckles asked."That part I couldn't find." Tails admitted. "Emma might of forgot to write it down, but either way, it'll either wear off or he's stuck like this, we just have to keep an eye on him.""Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means." Amy pleaded... "Well look who decided to show up." Scourge smirked as Amy, Tails and Knuckles boarded the yot. There were a lot of bright lights, loud music, delicious food and people having a great time."At least you look decent." Fiona smirked."Where's Sonic?" Amy growled."Somewhere around here, I think he went off with Breezie." Scourge shrugged and he and Fiona walked off."Let's split up and find him." Amy old them before walking away. Tails quickly went around to the back of the boat. He froze when he heard strange sounds coming from the storage room.He opened and saw Sonic and Breezie break apart."What do you want?!" Breezie snarled as Sonic tried to fix his shirt. "Can't you see we're busy!""I-I uh...""Aw, does little brat not understand?" She cruelly mocked as she backed the two-tailed fox into the wall. "Maybe I should dumb it down a notch for you to understand.""That's enough Breezie!" Sonic suddenly shouted as Amy and Knuckles arrived. He then moved and stood between Breezie and his best friends. They looked at his eyes and saw that they were back to emerald green."What did you say?""You heard me, leave my friends alone!""Whatever." She scoffed and pushed pass them and went back to the party."Are you OK?" Amy asked the blue hedgehog."I think so, let's go." He smiled and they headed for the exit. But Sonic suddenly stopped and looked at the group of people. They followed his gaze and saw Scourge and Fiona making out.Sonic suddenly smirked and extended his hand.He concentrated and froze Scourge and Fiona's lips together using their saliva!The two lovers started to panic but when they tried to pull apart the slipped and knocked over the whole buffet table. The four friends quickly got off the boat moments before it left the docks."That was funny!" Knuckles laughed."Yeah, did you see their faces?!" Tails gasped as they walked home."Uh guys." Sonic suddenly said. "Why am I dressed like Scourge?"...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sonic sighed as he, Tails, Amy and Knuckles walked along the rocky, sandy beach. It had been a week since he had snapped out of his full moon funk and he was still getting a bit of unwanted attention from his classmates."OK, I have been working all day, everyday and I think I might be getting close to figured out what your transformation is all about." Tails smiled at his blue brother."Thanks Tails but I think I've figured it out for myself." He replied."Yeah, for me it was the tail." Amy laughed."Science is the key that unlocks the door to the mysteries of life and... you don't care, do you?" He groaned in defeat as the others shrugged. "Look guys, today someone's coming to our town to do research at the marine park, her name's Dr. Maria Robotnik, her grandfather was a great scientist who opened up more amazing possibilities in the scientific field and the doctor herself is brilliant in almost anything science!" The kit explained."And how are you going to get access to her lab?" Amy frowned."I have my methods.""No way! You're not gonna tell a real scientist about Sonic are you?!" Knuckles exclaimed."Guys, relax, I trust Tails." Sonic smiled before turning to his friend. "But seriously be careful, she can't know about me.""What if she wants to dissect him? Or go public on him?" Amy glared the fox, thinking it was too big a risk."She's a great scientist and she'll have all this equipment that'll make the stuff at school seem like toys." He argued. "I need access to it and her research on cellular mutations.""And how are you going to do that without spilling your guts about Sonic." She asked."Amy, come on, I'd trust Tails with my life and this way I can get some answers about my sea fae side." Sonic reassured."But why can't Emma tell you that stuff?""I meant about the scientific and genes side, last I checked she isn't a scientist." He sighed before dashing off to work... Later that day Tails came to the marine park and asked Sonic to take him to the dolphin exhibit. Since there wasn't a show today the dolphins were just swimming around their large pool, enjoying the cool water and summer sun.Tails quickly went over to a small building at the end of the exhibit."Tails we're not supposed to be here!" Sonic hissed as they walked into the building.Inside were beakers, tubes, computers and lots of other scientific equipment all over the place. Tails walked around in awe."Can I help you?" A gentle voice suddenly said from the door. They both turned to the door and saw a young woman looking at them.She was a youthful and slim human girl, who looked to be in her early twenties and was about two heads taller than Sonic. She had neck-long and voluminous dark blond hair, light skin, large blue eyes and pink lips. Her hairstyle was wavy and held back with a blue hair band. For clothes, she wore a dark blue top with short puffy sleeves and light blue endings, a light blue dress and slipper-like cobalt shoes with low heels.She also wore a white lab coat over her outfit."Are you Dr. Maria Robotnik?" Tails asked nervously."Yes, and you are?" She smiled as she extended her hand for a handshake."I'm Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails." He replied, returning the handshake."Are you here for the research assistants position?""Yeah, um, this is my résumé." He said and handed her a file. "And this is my best friend Sonic, he works here at the marine park."Sonic just gave her a smile as she looked over the file."It's nice to meet you both, and Miles, I find your attitude admiral." She complimented. "I'm a bit busy right now but I will take a look at your résumé and get back to you." She said as she lead them out... Later that day it was just Amy, Sonic and Knuckles at the juice bar. Tails was nowhere to be seen."So what's this doctor like? Is the one who gives you those nasty shots but then gives you candy if you're good?" Knuckles asked excitedly."She seems nice." Sonic shrugged."I Googled her and she writes good papers on biology, physics, chemistry and is one of the leading scientists in cellular mutations and genetic illnesses; her grandfather was a good scientist also and there have been rumours that he found a cure for 'Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome', but died before he could share his knowledge." Amy explained.Just then Tails came in and sat down."So what are you going to say to this lady Tails?" Amy questioned."Have a little faith in me, all I want is access to her lab, that's it." He replied just as his phone buzzed. "It's from her!" He gasped before walking out to take the call."He's got her number in his phone already?!" She hissed but Sonic just rolled his eyes... The next day Tails went straight to Maria's research shack in the dolphin exhibit. He had been given the assistants job in a heartbeat."Dr. Robotnik?" He called as he knocked on the door."Miles!"He turned around and saw her in a wet-suit with the water up to her naval as she was examining one of the dolphins. He walked over to the edge of the balcony as she walked over with dolphin."Hey Dr. Robotnik!""Please, just call me Maria; Miles meet Marge, she's helping me out with some research too." She smiled before holding a large, underwater camera up to him.He got the message and took it off her.She quickly got out the water and got out her wet-suit. After getting changed she showed Tails where he would be working."Incredible." Tails whispered as she showed him around the lab."Excuse me?""This equipment, I've read about it but it's... whoa." He breathed."Well this is what you get when people throw money at your next research project.""It's fantastic; so what am I doing?" He asked as he examined the electron-microscope, the ion evaporator and the atomic absorption photometer with excitement.He felt like a kid in a candy store."You start with the mop." She giggled and passed him a blue mop.And all that excitement went out like a light... "You mopped floors all day?!" Sonic and Knuckles laughed. They were at Sonic's house for a movie night and he just finished had told them about his first day as Maria's assistant."And that helps Sonic how?" Amy asked."Guys, I know what I'm doing, I have access to her lab." He glared at them. "All I need now is a fresh DNA sample, like a toe nail clipping." He smiled innocently at his blue brother.Sonic sighed before revving up to his bathroom... The next day Tails went straight to Maria's lab with the DNA sample. When he arrived he saw her in the lab filling out a chart sheet."Oh hey Maria." He smiled, not expecting to see her there. "I'm just gonna clean some of the bench tops if that's OK?""OK, well I'm kinda of in the middle of something today so after you're done you can go home." She explained before leaving.As soon as she was gone he quickly rushed over to the electron-microscope to start examining the toe nail clipping Sonic gave him. He cut and placed half the nail on a glass plate before putting it under the microscope while he put the other half in a plastic tube.He was just about to add water when Maria walked in."Having fun?" She asked and the kit jumped back in shock."Oh... I was just...um.""Hey, relax." She reassured with a smile. "I knew you couldn't resist, so what are you looking at?""It's nothing really, just something that I found at the beach like sand, it's nothing that special." He quickly explained."There's no such thing as nothing special, everything has it's own story to tell." She told him."I-Is that the time?" He asked nervously as he looked at his watch as he grabbed the plastic tube off the counter. "I gotta get home, my Mom's probably worried." He said before quickly dashing out the front door, forgetting the sample under the microscope.Once he was gone Maria walked over to the microscope to see what he was examining.She looked through it and saw normal, Mobian cells. She arched an eyebrow in confusion before she noticed the syringe full of water. She carefully administered a few drops pf water onto the sample and looked through the microscope again."Oh my Chaos!" She gasped... Tail smiled as he walked to school. But when he was halfway home he reached into his pocket and froze. He started patting himself down but his heart started to freeze in fear.He had left the sample back at the lab!He quickly used his tails and flew as fast as he could to the lab.When he opened the door to the lab he saw Maria sat next to the microscope, writing something down in a notebook. She smiled when she saw him."Maria, I think I left my-""You're slide?" She asked and held up a small white box. "I know it's not sand Miles, in fact I'm not sure what it is." She said and gave him the box."It's a... private project." He stuttered as he put the box in his backpack."OK, that's fine." She smiled. "Listen, I'm doing another dive tomorrow and I need some assistance, feel like doing some work experience?""Yeah, that sounds cool!""I'll see then!" She called as he left. Once he was gone she opened a small white box to reveal a glass slide wit the sample on it... That night Amy was furious with Tails. They were all in the kit's room when he told them what had happened."She saw the sample?! How could you?!" She shouted as they all cowered at her anger."You're not getting the big picture!" He argued. "It was an accident, and besides she's a scientist, this is what scientists do!""Sell out their best friend?!" Knuckles glared."No, compare notes, that's the thing about us, our need to know is what drives us, believe me, she's cool.""What if her need to know ends up with her dissecting Sonic?!" Amy hissed."She's not like and I want you guys to go." Tails glared before pushing them out his room... The next day Tails was at the harbour. He was helping Maria get ready for her dive."Science isn't just about satisfying curiosity Miles, it has to have a purpose, it has to be better for everyone." She suddenly told him."I understand, only science can change the world." He replied as they carried boxes onto the boat. "So, do we need all this stuff?""Yep.""So where are going?""I was thinking Pistris Island.""W-What?" Tails gulped, almost dropping the box he was carrying. "Uh, that's not a good idea, there's nothing to see and it's full of sharks!""Come on Miles, don't tell me you're afraid of sharks." She smiled."Me? No, not at all, Pistris Island's fine." He gulped.The other's were gonna kill him... Sonic laughed as he swam the blue waters around Pistris Island. He had actually broken the sound barrier under water! Emma told him that it was a basic sea fae power and that's where he got his super running speed from.He tore through the water like a torpedo and left a foamy trail of bubbles behind him before it faded away after a few seconds.He slowed to a halt however when he saw a boat on the surface nearby.He swam a little closer before ducking behind some rocks.He saw Maria and Tails in some diving gear, examining a nearby reef. Sonic couldn't believe that Tails let the doctor near the island. He didn't want to be seen so he started to swim away.Unbeknown to him, Tails looked around and saw his tail fins disappear behind some coral... That night Tails went to Sonic's house. He was furious with his best friend, thinking he was spying on him. When Sonic opened the door the kit pushed his way inside."Did you really think I wouldn't notice you spying on me?!" He glared at him. "I mean, where's the trust?!""First of all I wasn't spying on you, I was going for a swim when I saw you giving the good doctor an underwater tour of the island." Sonic hissed. "And I think the trust died when you gave her my DNA; you've gone too far Tails.""After everything we've been through you seriously don't trust me, even after I've been working so hard to find answers about for sea fae side?!""It's my life Tails, I'm being careful and maybe you should start being too."Tails just scoffed and stormed out the house... Maria was baffled. She was at her computer, watching the cells from the sample change but she just couldn't explain why. Just then there was a knock at the door and Tails walked in."Oh Miles!" She smiled and closed he file before he could see it. "Back again? You really need to get a life." She joked."Me? What about you? You're always here.""This is my life." She replied."One day I hope it's mine too.""Maybe sooner then you think.""What?" He asked. Maria looked at him with an excited smile."Miles, I have just received a very large research grant from a large corporation to do a six months scientific survey on an area of my choice." She explained happily."Really? Congratulations!" He smiled, very happy for her."I want you on my team." She suddenly said. "It'll mean full time work, a lot of travel and maybe even international, what do you think?"Tails was speechless... Later at the juice bar Tails told his friends about the job offer. They were shocked and happy for him."Whoa, that's amazing." Knuckles said once Tails was finished explaining it to them."Yeah buddy, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity." Sonic added with a smile. "What are you gonna do?""I don't know, I'm so happy that she thinks I'm smart enough to do the work." He sighed, stuck on what to do."Do you really think she wants you there for your brain?" Amy frowned. "What if she's just after another cell sample?""She's forgotten all about that, what do you guys think I should do?" He asked his friends.They just shrugged... The next day everyone was enjoying the dolphin show. While Maria was out Sonic decided to sneak into her lab to see what she was after. When stepped inside the place was empty.He took a seat and opened up her laptop.Instantly a file opened up with a scientific document. It was named: Just Add Water: The Phenomenon Of Spontaneous Cellular Mutation"Oh no." He gasped.All of a sudden the door swung opened. Sonic quickly closed the laptop as a security officer walked in."Sonic, what are you doing in here?" He asked as the hedgehog shifted nervously in his chair."Just looking for a friend." He quickly lied."Sorry Sonic, this area's off limits, Dr. Robotnik's orders." The guard said as he escorted Sonic out the lab... That afternoon they all met up at the juice bar. Once they were all there Sonic told them about what he had found at the lab."It looked like an article for a scientific journal or something." He explained. "It's the same stuff you keep blabbing about Tails, it proves she's still got the DNA sample, it was in a little white slide box.""Well Tails?" Amy glared."She wouldn't!" Tails denied."It looked like she'd been studying it, doing tests.""She's not like that!""Face facts Tails." Knuckles said."Facts? You don't have any facts!" He glared before turning to Sonic. "Sonic, you read a bit of an article you don't understand.""I understand enough to know it's the same stuff you say!"Tails glared at them before storming off... The two tailed kit went straight to Dr. Maria's lab to confront her about the DNA sample. When he arrived he saw her on the docks by the water, reading some notes."Oh hello Miles." She smiled when she saw the young fox."Dr. Maria, can you be honest with me about something?" He asked as he walked over to her. "Did you hold onto that slide of mine?""Yes." She smiled, much to Tails' shock."What?!""It's right here with all our other research and I'm hoping someday Miles you'll be more forthcoming about where you got it." She said. "You've got something extraordinary here, cells that completely change their molecular structure on contact with water.""It sounds impossible.""It is impossible, but here it is." She smiled. "I can't explain it, we need to do a lot more tests.""You stole it from me." He frowned."Miles, I'm sorry I deceived you but I have no intention of ripping you off, why do think I want you on this trip with me?" She asked.He just shrugged."Do you think you could get more samples like this?"... The next morning Sonic, Amy and Knuckles were sat in the juice bar. Today was the day that Tails went away with the doctor and her team and he had made it clear to them that he didn't want to see them."Do you think she'll eventually get it out him? You know, about where the DNA came from?" Amy asked Sonic."Tails wouldn't sell me out completely." He glared at her lack of trust."But are we really gonna let him go like this?" Knuckles asked."Like what?"They all looked up and gasped when they saw Tails walking up to them with a smile on his face."You didn't go?" Amy asked in disbelief."Nice observation Amy." He grinned and held up the slide and a pen drive."You got the slide back?" Sonic smiled as the fox sat next to him. "But what about her records? All the stuff I saw?""When she opens the file I think she'll find that it's recently been erased and I've saved a copy of it onto my pen drive, the doctor takes great notes." He grinned."Nice job buddy."...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sonic and his friends were sat in the juice bar, watching the small TV with all the other kids in the town. On the TV was a pair of boots running across a sandy beach.The camera then moved up to reveal a little toddler in the boots before ending."'Big Boot's To Fill' by Miles Prower and the winning entry for last year's junior film makers contest." The bartender chuckled as he turned the TV off and started handing out flyers for the contest."If we're going to win this thing we need to know all the rules." Amy said."Forget the rules." Sonic grinned. "It's a short film contest, we make a short film, how hard can it be?""Last year they rejected an entry 'cause it was seven seconds over three minutes." Tails replied and Sonic's smile dropped."OK film makers, this year's theme is: Heroes!" The bartender announced to the crowd. "And thanks to Sally Acorn's father, the very generous and wealthy Mayor Nigel Acorn, this year's prize money has doubled!"Sonic looked over at Sally.Sally was a 17 year old brown chipmunk with dark auburn hair that connected to the stripe going down her back and ending on her tail. Her face had a lighter brown patch in which her large blue eyes were settled. She wore black shorts with white rimming, dark blue boots with white outlines on the buckles and white gloves. She wore a closed blue vest with a black crop-top hidden underneath. Her tan-coloured underbelly could be seen in the her midriff."So your Dad's judging and sponsoring? I wonder who's gonna win?" Scourge sneered."If you're implying that you're an automatic loser then I'll second that." She grinned at him."Why does Sally's Dad gets to judge?" Amy glared. She never really liked the chipmunk and this wasn't helping."Probably because he's putting in all the money, and he's a local hero too." Tails said and pointed to the yellow windsurfer hung up on the wall behind the counter."Oh yeah, that's the windsurfer Nigel Acorn used to sail all the way to Pistris Island, all the way around and back in record time and the record's stood for 15 years." Sonic explained...When Sally got home that afternoon she saw that her mother was out and her Dad was in his office, talking to his secretary. She took a deep breath and walked in."Hey Dad, I've got you something." She smiled and held up a disk, but he just put his hand up to silence her.She sighed and went over to the TV nearby and put the disk in. He hung up when he saw some pictures of him and all his achievements appear on the small screen."I tracked down some old photos and articles of the day you sailed around Pistris Island." She smiled when she saw she had his attention. "It wasn't easy finding these.""To beat that record I had to dodge stingrays, sharks and total exhaustion; I broke it by thirty-five minuets." He smiled, ignoring her again."I got these paper articles from the library archives, took me hours." She said, her smile slowly fading."Can't beat natural grace." He continued with a smug smirk on his face. "You know my record will still be standing in the next 15 years.""Somebody might brake it.""There's no way; Pistris Island is a shark breeding ground these days, no body will ever brake my record and I'd kiss the feet of anyone could pull off what I did then and keep all of his limbs intact."...The next day the guys met up at Sonic's house to talk about their movie for the contest. Amy was running late so they started without her."OK, I've spent half the night watching movies about heroes and what do the people love?" Tails grinnedThey shrugged, confused."Action and thriller, and I've got the best idea." He smiled and pulled out an underwater video camera from his backpack. "We get some real life footage of the sharks around Pistris Island and use that as our hook to draw the audience in!""Great plan Tails, but how are you gonna get the video?" Knuckles asked.Tails smirked and looked at Sonic."Me?! No way!" The blue hedgehog glared at his best friend. "You're asking me to swim in a group of hungry, Mobian eating sharks just so you can get some good footage?!""Come on Sonic, we'll lose otherwise!" He whined."And if we do this I'll be a shark's dinner!""Please!" The fox pleaded as he put on his best puppy dog face. Sonic winced and looked away...The blue hedgehog felt like punching himself in the gut. He was currently swimming to Pistris Island with Tails' underwater camera in hand. He just couldn't say no to that face.They decided to not tell Amy because she would freak out, or worse, tell Uncle Chuck.Suddenly his watch beeped.He answered it and Tails' face popped up."Hey Sonic, how's it going?" He asked with a smile."Oh great, other than the fact I'm about to be shark bait so you can win the competition again." He growled as he swam forward and hung up. He was almost to the island.He soon found himself in front of a small group of sharks calmly swimming around.They didn't seem interested in him but he still took cover behind some rocks and started filming...Amy smiled as she walked along the warm beach, collecting shells. She didn't know where the boys were so she decided to take some time to herself. She groaned internally when she saw Sally walking up to her with a big smile."Hey Amy." She smiled."What do you want?" The pink hedgehog glared."I know we haven't always seen things eye to eye in the past but I have an idea." She said. "I take my Dad's original windsurfer, I reenact his trip around Pistris Island, I break his record and you film the whole thing.""A reenactment? So it's not even original?" Amy smirked."It's a tribute; you'll be capturing a moment in history, especially if I beat his record; can you just do me this favour?""Me doing you a favour? One problem, I don't like you." She said coldly."Fine." She snarled. "If you do this I will give you all the clothes from Honey the Cat's newest collection, which has yet to be released to the world."That got Amy's attention...The next dawn Amy and Sally were on the beach, getting ready to make history. While Sally was getting ready Amy was attaching a camera and a tracker on her Sally's father's windsurfer.Sally didn't tell Amy how she got the windsurfer from the juice bar."What are you doing?" The chipmunk asked when she saw Amy attaching something to the windsurfer."Tails showed me how to do it." She replied. "This waterproof mini-camera is gonna send images directly back to me in the boat.""Good, I don't want the filming to slow me down." Sally smiled as she got suited up and Amy climbed into a speed boat."Let's do it!" Sally exclaimed with a wide grin as she took off on the windsurfer. Amy gave her a bit of a head start before revving up the engine and following her to the island.However, just as they were halfway to the island Amy cried out when the engine to her boat came to a stop and she fell forward. fter a moment of frozen fear she sat up and saw Sally still heading for the island.The pink hedgehog tried to call her but the earpiece was busted.She tried the engine but it wouldn't start.She was stranding in the middle of the ocean...Sonic sighed in boredom as he swam to the island. Tails had sent him out to gather more footage for their shark movie. Once again the sharks didn't give him much thought, but he was still very nervous.As he was filming he noticed the shadow of something moving along the surface.His eyes widened when he realised it was a windsurfer."Who the heck would be surfing around the island at this time of year?!" He thought to himself. But his confusion turned to utter horror when he saw one of the sharks swimming towards the windsurfer!He gasped when the shark hit the end and the person fell into the water!It was Sally Acorn...Up on the surface, the chipmunk took a few seconds to comprehend what just happened.One minuet she's beating her Dad's record, the next she's falling into the ocean. She attempted to contact Amy but all she got was static. She growled in annoyance and looked around for the boat.All she could she was ocean and skies.Just when she was about to give up see thought she saw something moving towards her and she smiled, thinking it was Amy in the boat. But all colour drained from her face when she saw a dorsal fin of a shark slowly circling around her and the windsurfer.Suddenly the shark lunged at her!The petrified chipmunk moved out of the way just in time. The shark just missed her and bit down on her father's windsurfer, braking it in two, before going back to circling her."SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE!" She screamed to the heavens as tears fell from her eyes. "SHARK!"...Upon hearing Sally's screams for help and seeing the shark try and attack her, Sonic rushed to the rescue. He had to think fast. He couldn't let her see him but he could let that shark eat her either.He swam up to her and stayed just under her kicking feet.He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He focused on what Emma had been teaching him and extended his arms. He opened his eyes and smirked as he created a protective ring of boiling water around him and Sally.The sharks quickly retreated back towards the island.Satisfied that the sharks were gone, Sonic gave Sally one last look before swimming away...Up on the surface Sally was in shock. She honestly thought that she was gonna be shark food when, out of nowhere, a circle of boiling water surrounded her, scaring the sharks away.As she tried to get her head around what had just happened she heard a boat engine nearby.She looked over and saw Amy coming towards her. The pink hedgehog had only just gotten the boat's engine working again and was on her way to catch up with Sally.She was shocked to find her in the water, scared half to death."T-T-There were s-s-sharks everywhere! I thought I was gonna die!" She sobbed as Amy helped her into the boat. Amy looked around in confusion as she grabbed the pieces of the windsurfer out of the water."I don't see anything?"...It took them nearly an hour but they finally made it back to the docks. When they finally made it back to Sally's house and calmed the terrified chipmunk teen down the two girls decided to take a look of the footage from the windsurfer.Sally had changed her clothes and was snuggled in a blanket while drinking some hot chocolate.They were in Sally's room, watching the footage.Unfortunately the camera had fallen off when Sally fell off and it didn't catch any sign of the shark fin in the water or when the shark attacked her and destroyed the windsurfer.All they saw was Sally freaking out in the water.Suddenly Nigel Acorn burst into the room with a look of fury on his face."I've just spent the last hour talking John down at the juice bar, he was ready to go to the police." He glared."It's your windsurfer, not his." Sally growled back."Wait, you stole it?!" Amy gasped in shock, before grinning. "OK, maybe you should of asked first but this footage fantastic, it'll make a great film.""You can't do that!" Sally exclaimed."I sponsor that competition!" Nigel glared. "Do think I want my daughter on public view looking like a fool?!""There was a twenty foot shark out there Dad!" Sally defended."Did you see anything?" He asked the hedgehog."Well, no but-""Didn't think so." He huffed. "Sally created this charade because she knew she could never really beat my record, now get rid of that tape!" He ordered."Oh I don't think so Mr Acorn, I shot that footage, so technically that disk belongs to me." She grinned before grabbing the disk and walking out of the Acorn's manor...After she had left Sally's house, Amy ran straight to Tails' house. Once inside she saw the boys editing some video and when they saw her they closed the laptop before she could see it."Hey guys, I just got the best footage ever!" She laughed."Cool! We can splice it with our shark footage." Tails smiled and showed her the footage that Sonic had taken on the kitsune's laptop."It does look pretty cool, but if it's better than a professionals how are you gonna explain how you got it without arousing suspicion?" She asked and the boys froze.They hadn't thought about that.All Amy could do was laugh...On the night of the competition, everyone in town was gathered in the juice bar to see what all the contestants had come up with. They were all laughing as they watched the finally video.It was Sonic and his friend's video of Sally freaking out.While they may have used Amy's video footage, they had added the theme from Jaws and every so often the video would cut to a clip of a goldfish swimming around.Everyone couldn't stop laughing.Sally was beyond embarrassed as some of the audience members would turn to look at her. Her father kept giving Amy and her friends a death glare as everyone laughed at the footage of his daughter.Sonic turned to glare at Amy."You think that's funny?!" He hissed in a whispered voice so no one would hear them."I think the audience is the best judge." She chuckled with the crowd laughed."Amy, I was there." He confessed, much to her shock. "Who do you think scared away the sharks that were gonna eat her? Sally isn't acting." He said as the film ended and everyone applauded.But Amy wasn't smiling anymore."So, congratulations to you all for another fantastic effort! Now it's time to announce our winners!" John the bartender smiled into the mic as one of the judges handed him a sticky note.
"And the winners are: Miles Prower and his friends!"
Everyone in the bar applauded them as the four friends stood up from their table to collect their awards. Instead of smiling, Amy had a guilty look on her face as she kept glancing to Sally.As they sat back down the judges handed John another note."And the award for best actor goes to: Sally Acorn!" He announced.Sally silently got up to accept her trophy. But once she had it in her hands, instead of sitting back down, she quickly walked out of the bar, much to everyone's confusion.Sonic gave Amy one last glare before going after the chipmunk...That night Sally was standing in the moonlight at the docks, glaring at the trophy in her hands. She was debating whether to keep it or throw it into the cold ocean below.She was so caught up in her thinking that she didn't notice Sonic casually walking up to her."You were good." He smiled, making her jump, but she quickly recovered."Acting you mean?" She glared."No, I meant all that stuff about surfing around Pistris Island and everything else." He replied with his usual grin. "It a lot took guts.""Well, you're the only one who thinks so." She smiled weakly.He gave her one last smiling before dashing back home...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sonic groaned in boredom as he sat in the kitchen, waiting for Uncle Chuck to finish making breakfast. He was sat at the table, looking over his maths notes from school.It was exam week at school."So, you feeling confident Sonny-Boy?" Chuck smiled as he flipped the pancakes."No, I hate maths." He mumbled."No you don't my boy, you'll walk through these exams." The old hedgehog smiled as Sonic gave him a glare. Chuck just laughed and handed Sonic some orange juice.Suddenly the frying pan Chuck had left on the stove set on fire.Chuck cried out and fell back, almost getting burnt. Sonic was quick to react. He concentrated and the tap in the sink suddenly burst off. He quickly aimed at the burning stove and pt out the fire.Unfortunately they were now stuck with a broken tap that was flooding the kitchen... When Sonic arrived at school he saw hundreds of students running around at the front of the school. He just wanted to get inside and get these exams over and done with."Hey Sonic!"He turned around and saw Sally running up to him. Ever since the film competition he and Sally had been getting a long really well and spending more time together, much to Amy's anger."What happened last night?" She asked."What do you mean?""The English exam, you were meant to come to mine last night so we could study together but you never showed up.""Oh right!" He exclaimed. "Sorry, something came up, the exam ain't 'til tomorrow so we can study at lunch if you want?" He grinned."Sure."... That lunch Amy, Knuckles and Tails were sat at their usual table, waiting for Sonic to come in. They hadn't seen him all day and they were getting really worried that something was wrong."Where is he?" Knuckles asked."I don't know, but he better get here soon or else we won't be able to study." Amy frowned as she flipped through her book."Uh guys." Tails said and pointed across the cafeteria. Their eyes widened when they saw Sonic sitting at a table with Sally Acorn, laughing and studying with her."What is he doing?" Amy glared."Studying I think." Knuckles shrugged.After a few minuets Amy quickly went to the ladies room and Knuckles went to get more food, leaving Tails alone. The kitsune sighed and poked at his food in boredom.Suddenly Sticks sat next to him."Hey Tails, I need your help."... After lunch everyone gathered in the gym for their maths exam. While everyone was happily chatting away Sonic just couldn't still. The exam hadn't even started yet and he was already on edge."Alright everyone, take your seats." The teacher said as she came into the gym.Everyone quickly sat down and started their exams. Sonic gritted his teeth as he scratched his head, tapped his pencil against the deck and flipped through the exam paper but he just couldn't focus.He took a quick glance up at his friends.Amy was two rows ahead of him with her head down, writing on her exam paper. Tails and Knuckles were sat at either side of him, also concentrating on their own exams.No one noticed the water dispenser start to bubble and shake ever so slightly.Sonic grabbed his head and hissed in pain as he was suddenly hit with a strong, painful headache. By know Knuckles, Tails and a few other students had noticed and were eyeing him strangely.Even the teacher looked up from her desk.Suddenly almost everything from the water dispensers, the student water fountains and the fire sprinklers on the room in their section of the school burst, flooding the whole area.Sonic gasped as he was soaked with the cold water.He immediately dashed into the hall and the teacher ordered all the students to make their way outside. Sonic tried to find someplace to hide but with hundreds of students running through the flooded halls it was difficult.He ran into the nearest restroom.He dashed into the stall and locked a second before he transformed. He sat on the toilet and groaned. His tail was so long that the fins poked out under the stall down.He took a deep breath before attempting to dry himself off... After he was dried off Sonic climbed out the window so he wouldn't get wet in the still soaking halls. He ran around the school and joined the rest of the soaking wet students in the school yard.When Amy saw him she almost charged at him, with Tails and Knuckles following."What the hell was all that about?!" She snarled, but thankfully none of the other students heard her. "You are nuts Sonic! Just because you can't do the exam and want to waste your own time doesn't mean you get to waste everyone else's!"Suddenly the head master came walking out."Can I have everyone's attention?! Due to recent events I'm afraid that we will be closing the school for the rest of the day, your exams will restart tomorrow morning so be sure to revise!" He said before walking back into the school.Amy sent Sonic one last glare before going home."So... what did happen in there?" Tails asked as they walked home."Honestly, I don't know." He admitted. "But I think I know someone who does."... Emma Nets sighed happily as she sipped her tea. She was sat in her antique store, just enjoying the lovely peace and quiet. But that peace was shattered when the door suddenly burst open.She looked up and saw that it was Sonic."Is that you Sonic? What's wrong child?" The old woman asked when she saw how upset he was. "I thought you weren't coming back here until tomorrow night.""Emma, something's wrong with me!" He exclaimed.After explaining what had happened at the school, she sighed heavily. She then stood up, locked up the store and led Sonic around the to back. Once there she pulled out an astronomy book."What's this?" He asked when she showed him a page on the moon."Sonic, every new moon all sea fae loose their power on the water and are left incredibly weaken without the moon's power and for you, not only will you lose your power over water but even if you get wet you won't be able to change your form, but you should still be able to breath underwater.""OK, but what does that have to do with why my powers are acting up.""This is your first new moon drain, the events leading up to that is different for all sea fae who have come of age, some find their powers have weakened or increased in power.""But the new moon is only four days away.""Yes, and until it passes you need to remain as calm as possible; one wrong move and you could flood the entire town!" She exclaimed and Sonic gulped in fear."That's gonna be hard with my exams this week!""Calm down, I have just the thing." She smiled and opened a draw, pulling out a small brown vial. "Whenever you get stressed just dip three drops of this under your tongue, it's keep you calm and it'll repress your powers, it's the last bottle I have so don't lose it!"Sonic just sighed and placed the vial in his back.This was gonna be a long week... The next day Sonic felt very awkward and worried. He was so scared that he would flood the school again and that he'd be found out and end up either on a lab table, a circus or a sushi bar.He was surprised that the school was even open.Although the staff had managed to repair everything fairly quickly they were unable to find the cause of the accident. The school was now on high alert, causing Sonic more anxiety."Hey Sonic." Sally smiled as she came up to him."Oh hey Sally." He smiled back. Over at the school steps, he saw Amy glaring at him before walking into the school...All day, instead of doing the exams, the teachers decided to reschedule the exams for next week to be safe. Instead they made the students study some more for their exams.Soon everyone had left for home.Well, everyone but Sonic and his friends. Amy and Knuckles were in the library studying while Tails was in one of the science lab with Sticks, helping her study for her exams.Sonic was just walking around the halls, trying to calm his nerves.He had used nearly half of the potion Emma Nets had given him but it wasn't helping him. Amy was still angry with him and Knuckles was to busy studying to really talk to him.So he was looking for Tails... In the science lab, Tails was sat at a desk next to Sticks with an open text book between them. Sticks had asked her brother for help because she knew that if she failed these exams there would be consequences.But she was starting to get bored."Hey." She suddenly said, causing the kitsune to look up and almost knock his water bottle over. "They left the chemicals closet open, let's do some really studying." She said and ran into the closet and grabbed some sodium and potassium."Sticks, no!" He glared."Why not? It'll be cool.""We're gonna be in trouble, put them back!" He glared."No way!""That's it, fail your exam for all I can!" He growled and stormed out the lab to go meet up with his friends in the library... Sonic growled as he walked around the empty halls of the high school. He had looked all over the school for Tails but he didn't know where to find the young kitsune.Just then he remembered that Tails said that he was helping Sticks today.He dashed down to the science labs but was disappointed to find Sticks alone instead of his little buddy. He was about to leave when he noticed he was mixing up some chemicals."Uh Sticks, what are you doing?" He asked.His voice caused her to jump slightly, making her knock the water bottle and the cold water spilled into the beaker of sodium and potassium. No one seemed to notice the contents of the beaker start to bubble."Nothing important." She quickly replied."You seen Tails anywhere?""He left a bit ago."But just before either of them could do anything else the beaker suddenly let out a large, purple explosion!They both cried out in shock and pain as Sonic was blasted to the door and Sticks to the back of the class. The badger hit her head on a table and fell to the floor unconscious.Sonic immediately sat up and gasped.A large fire was spreading through the classroom. He looked up and noticed that the sprinklers hadn't turned on, even though the fire alarm was echoing throughout the entire school.Because of the accident the school had cut off most of the water.Sonic narrowed his eyes and focused power. The sprinklers suddenly burst and the water crashed down on the flames and on Sonic, but it wasn't enough but out the growing flames.Sonic cried out as he changed into his sea fae form.But that was the least of his worries right now. He quickly sat up again and focused all of his power on the spraying water still flowing from the broken sprinklers.He aimed at the flames closest to Sticks.As he used his powers to put out the fire, he failed noticed Sticks regaining consciousness. She slightly opened her eyes and looked at Sonic. She gasped slightly when saw thought a fish tail flopping through the thick smoke.But she lost consciousness again due to the smoke.Sonic coughed as the smoke started to fill his lungs and he eyes started to water. He swayed slightly as his vision blurred. He heard the water stop and he fell down.Then everything went black... Tails sighed as he entered the library. He started to look around and soon found Amy and Knuckles sitting at the far end of the library, studying for their next exams."Hey Tails, what you doing here?" Knuckles smiled as Tails sat with them."Sticks is just being a pain in my butt, she asked me to help her study and then she decided that instead of reading our books to study she raided the chemicals closet." He sighed in annoyance."Tails that's not safe, maybe we should check on her." Amy frowned as she stood up.The boys sighed in annoyance as they stood up and followed her to the door. But as soon as they stepped out the doors the fire alarm started ringing loudly in their ears.Tails felt his stomach drop and he took off towards the science labs with the others.He quickly opened the lab door and cried out in a panic when he saw the fire. He looked inside and saw Sticks and Sonic unconscious on the floor of the burning room.He didn't expect to see Sonic in there."I'll get Sticks and Sonic, you two get help!" Knuckles shouted as he ran into the room. Tails ran to get a teacher while Amy ran the other way to find a fire extinguisher.When Tails returned with the principle he saw Knuckles carrying Sticks and Sonic on his shoulders like potato sacks.Amy then returned and used the foam fire extinguisher to put out the fire as Knuckles carefully placed the hedgehog and the badger on the floor. The heat of the fire had caused Sonic to change back before the principle saw him.Tails looked them over and saw that other than some singed fur they were OK."Uh... what happened?" Sonic groaned as he sat up with Knuckles' help. He looked around and as he looked at their worried faces it all came back to him in a tidal wave.They all looked back at Sticks as she started to wake up.As her brain started to wake up the first face she saw was Sonic's. Her eyes flew up and she gasped and sat up. Sonic and he friends shared nervous looks before looking back at her."Sticks, you're OK now." The principle soothed as he helped the two students to their feet.Sticks just kept staring at the blue hedgehog... The next day things seemed to return to some kind of normal at school, despite the flood and the fire. Sticks was suspended from school for a week because of her actions and the fire.When they heard what had happened, people hailed Amy, Tails and Knuckles as heroes.Sonic and his friends had patched things up, even though Amy was still silently jealous of him hanging out with Sally. As he walked up to the school steps he took out the bottle Emma had given him for a few drops."Ew that stinks."Sonic quickly wiped around in a slight panic attack, but relaxed when he saw that it was just Sally. He chuckled nervously and quick put the vial back in his backpack."Just something to get me through the day." He smiled."So it's not mermaid potion then?" She laughed, but Sonic was laughing. He felt like he had just been punched in the gut by Knuckles and Amy's hammer combine."W-What?" He gulped."Sticks' new theory? You haven't heard?" She asked in shock and he shook his head. "Yeah, apparently she keeps saying that she saw you transform in the fire." She shrugged before walking off.As soon as she was out of sight Sonic took out the bottle and gulped almost half of it down...
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Chapter 14: Dark Moon
Sonic groaned in pain and exhaustion as he sat up in his bed. He felt like he had been in a boxing match with Knuckles and then been run over by an eighteen wheeler truck. He remembered that Emma had said that he would feel bad one today. The day of the dark moon. The day where all his sea fae powers and his ability to transform; the only thing from sea fae side that he kept was the ability to breath under water.He slowly got out of bed and stumbled down the stairs, still in his pyjamas. Down in the kitchen, Uncle Chuck was humming to himself as he set the table from breakfast. When he saw his nephew wasn't ready to go to school he frowned and crossed his arms."Why aren't you ready for school?""Uncle Chuck, I don't feel right." He moaned as he slumped into a chair."Sonic, you can't just decided not to go to school because your powers are drained." He frowned. "It'll be like this every month, and if you keep taking a day off school once a month eventually someone will notice."Sonic wanted to argue but he knew Chuck was right. With another groan he got up and went up to get changed..."Whoa, you look horrible." Amy grimaced when she saw the blue hedgehog. His clothes were crumpled, his normally neat quills were a mess and his was sweating like a pig."Shouldn't you be in bed?" Tails frowned."I wish, but Uncle Chuck said if I kept taking a day off school every month someone would notice." He yawned as he rested his head on his desk. Amy and Tails sighed as Sonic started to fall asleep. Suddenly the teacher burst into the classroom with the bang. He saw Sonic asleep on his desk and frowned as he walked over to him.When he still got no response his slammed his books on the desk, scaring poor Sonic half to death."Stay awake please Mr. Maurice." He said before walking awake...Later that day, everyone was gathered in the drama hall for their lesson but Sonic still felt terrible. As the day had slowly progressed he started to feel extremely dizzy, tired and increasingly light headed. His friends were getting worried and said he should go home, but he was adamant that his was fine and he could last the day.Just as he was about to fall asleep again, the drama teacher burst in with with smile on her face and a spring in her step. She seriously wasn't helping Sonic's headache."Alright now children, today I want you all to partner up and start role playing." She happily chirped and everyone groaned. She didn't seemed to notice however and pulled out a box of cheap costumes and told them all to grab a costume and begin. Sonic pulled out a dog costume, Amy a nurse, Knuckles a wrestler, Tails a mechanic, Scourge an officer, Breezie a princess, Fiona an angel and Sticks as a caveman.Their drama teacher told them to partner up. Amy with Tails, Knuckles with Breezie and Sticks with Fiona. Sonic groaned as he was forced to partner up with Scourge, who just smirked."Alright mutt, get down and beg." He mocked as they began. Sonic responded with an angry growled, which earned him a smack across the muzzle."Bad mutt." Scourge laughed, but the smack seemed to be the tipping pointed for Sonic. His vision became very blurred and everything seemed to be spinning rapidly. The green hedgehog frowned in confusion when he saw the dazed look on his face and he started to sway slightly. He gasped when Sonic suddenly collapsed to the ground with a thud."SONIC!" His friends cried as they rushed to his side and the teacher called an ambulance...The young blue hedgehog groaned in pain as he returned to his senses. He slowly opened his eyes but quickly closed them again with he was blinded by a strong, white light. As his eyes adjusted to the light he saw that he lying in a hospital bed with an IV in his arm. He looked around and saw his friends standing by the door and a doctor was hovering over him."Good to see you're awake Sonic, you gave us quite a scare." He smiled as he wrote on a clipboard. "I'm Dr. Quack, I'll be in charge of your care while you're here.""W-What's going on?" Sonic asked as he slowly sat up."You passed out at school and they brought you here, we've tried to call Uncle Chuck but there's no answer." Tails explained as he shifted nervously. "They've also taken a sample of your blood." He added."Don't worry Mr. Maurice, it's just a necessary precaution, we'll be doing some tests to found out what caused you to faint and how we can prevent it in the future." The doctor explained with a smile as he got back up. "I need to go check on my other patients now, but call me or one of the nurses if you need anything." He said before leaving.Once he was gone, his friends almost pounce on him."We need to get you out of here, now." Amy hissed as she dragged Sonic out of the bed."Why?" He asked."Because they've got your blood! If they examine it they'll find out about for fishy side!" Knuckles exclaimed as he and Amy tried to pull Sonic to the door, only to be blocked by Tails."Wait! Let's just think about this; if they have Sonic's blood, it won't matter if he runs away or not, they'll still find out about his sea fae side and they who knows what they'll do to him.""Probably send me to a zoo, or dissect me." He grimaced before calling Emma Nets to see if she could do something. After about eight rings the call went to her voice mail. He sighed and hung up."So what're we gonna do?" Amy asked."We need to get my blood back before they can test it."...It took them a long while for them to come up with a decent plan to get Sonic's blood back before the doctors found anything suspicious. It had taken some debating but they all agreed that this plan was better than just asking for the blood back. The plan was for Amy and Knuckles to distract the doctor while Sonic and Tails snuck into to lab to get the blood.As Amy and Knuckles got ready to distract the doctor, Sonic got dressed in a porter's uniform with a mask as Tails climbed into a laundry cart."Alright let's go." Amy sighed and she and Knuckles walked up to Sonic's doctor. "Excuse me Doctor, me and my friend was just wondering what it takes to become a great doctor like yourself." She smiled nervously."Well young lady, I would love to explain the ins and outs of medical school with you and your friend but I'm afraid I need to see how Sonic's doing." He smiled and headed to Sonic's hospital room. She and Knuckles tried to stop him but it was too late. He entered the room and was shocked to find it completely empty.He quickly turned to Amy and Knuckles with a small glare. The two teenagers only gulped in fear...As Amy and Knuckles kept the good doctor busy, Sonic casually walked down the hospital halls with Tails in the laundry cart. A few porters, nurses and doctors gave him a few funny looks but shrugged it off as a new employee who just started today. Sonic followed the direction signs nailed on the hospital walls until they came to a door locked with a key code combinationAs Tails cracked the code Sonic kept watched for anyone coming. The doors beeped as they opened and Tails scoffed at the pathetic excuse of security. Once they were safely inside they ditched the uniform and the cart and made a dash for the door. When they entered the lab they saw computers, test tubes and rakes full of small tubes of blood."Can I help you?" A voice suddenly asked, causing them to flinch. They quickly turned and saw a woman in a lab coat eyeing them suspiciously."Y-Yeah, my blood was taken here for testing and my friend here loves all things scientific and wanted to see how blood gets tested; Dr. Quack gave us permission." Sonic quickly lied with a casual grin. The woman continued eyeing them for a few minuets before smiling."Oh, what's your name then?""Sonic Maurice." He replied and she typed the name up. She walked over to one of the racks and picked up a small test tube full of blood and handed it to Sonic."That's your blood Mr. Maurice, now just give me a second and I'll show how we test it." She smiled and went over to the computer. Once her back was turned, Sonic and Tails shared a look before the hedgehog let go of the tube and left it fall to the fall. But their eyes widened in fear and confused when the tube harmlessly bounced off the floor with a clink."Oops, don't worry boys." The woman smiled as she picked up the tube. "That's why we put them in thick plastic, I'm always dropping them." She smiled and put the blood back on the rack. Sonic looked to Tails with panic, hoping the kitsune had another plan. But the look on the boy's face told him he didn't. Before they could do anything else, however, the lab doors burst opened and Sonic's doctor walked in with a fearful Amy and Knuckles behind him."What are you two doing here?" He glared."They said they wanted to see how blood was tested, they also said that you gave them permission." The lady frowned in confusion."I did no such thing." The duck glared, but before he could say anything else there was a beep from the computer and a sheet of yellow paper slid out of the printer."Ah, that'll be your test results Sonic." She smiled."Wait! It's done already?!" Sonic cried in fear as the doctor picked up the sheet and started reading it silently. Tails, Knuckles and Amy all shared panicked looks as Sonic looked ready to run at any moment."Huh?" Dr. Quack muttered in confusion and Sonic broke into a cold sweat as the doctor looked at him. "It seems that you're a B- blood type, it's very rare, but I can't seem to find anything unusual here, you're completely normal."Sonic just sat there, dumbfounded."Is there any reason you can think of that could cause you to faint the way you did?""W-Well, I've been staying up late studying and maybe I skip a few meals." He lied with a nervous grin as the other let out a silently sigh of relief...After getting a long, boring lecture about how there bodies needed a proper sleep and eating scheduled, Sonic and his friends were finally able to leave the hospital. Now Sonic was able to get a hold Emma at her store. As he spoke to the old, crazy cat lady on the phone Amy called them a cab to take them all home.It was now getting dark and they all knew their families would probably starting to get worried."So what she say?" Tails asked when he saw Sonic walking over to them."Apparently when the moon's completely covered not only do my powers and ability to transform disappear but so does any trace of sea fae in my DNA; nice of her to let me know." He glared as they chuckled."So, you guys wanna get a movie?" Amy asked as they climbed into the cab. As they drove away from the hospital, Knuckles and Tails nodded in agreement and they turned to Sonic to see what he thought. But they all burst out laughing when they saw the hedgehog had fallen asleep...
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Sonic smiled as he breathed in the fresh salty air of the ocean. He was walking down to the dock on a nice, warm, sunny Sunday. He was going to meet Emma Nets on her houseboat so they could continue his training and so she could answer any questions he had. As he got closer he could hear some kind of commotion coming from the other side of the docks.He soon found Emma's boat among the countless others and saw that it was in desperate need of repair. The paint was faded and chipped, the metal was rusted and he could see a few old dents and scratches on the sides of the boat. When he turned the corner, he was shocked to see Sally's older brother, Elias Acorn, shouting at Emma.Elias Acorn was a 21 year old brown Mobian squirrel with blue eyes and auburn hair. He wore a blue collared shirt and boots, all trimmed in yellow, and dark red pants."You shouldn't be here! You're a menace!" Sonic heard Elias shout at the old cat. "Your docking line broke because it's aged through!""I'm sorry, I didn't know." Emma replied calmly as Sonic walked close to them."Wake up lady! Get with the times!""Hey Elias, don't be rude." Sonic glared as he stepped in between them. "Why don't you giver her a chance to speak?" He suggested and they both turned back to her."This old freak's boat got loose and crashed into mine and scratched up the whole side of it!" He shouted and pointed to his jet ski, which Sonic now noticed had a large, messy scratch carved into the side."She said she's sorry." Sonic counted."It's not going to pay for the damages is it? I bet she doesn't even have insurance." He glared at her. "This boat shouldn't even be here, it's an ugly embarrassment, just like her!""Dude, you're over reacting, even for you." Sonic glared."I am? We'll see what the harbour master has to say." He glared before storming off."Don't worry, he's all talk." He reassured once the squirrel was out of hearing shot."Thank you Sonic, why don't you come in?" She smiled and helped him into her boat...It had been half an hour since the encounter with Elias and now Sonic was sat inside Emma's boat as the old cat made him a cup of tea. He looked around and saw wind chimes, nick knacks and other strange items around the 'living room' of the boat. Just then, Emma sat next to him and gently pushed the cup in his hands."Souvenirs from my travels." She suddenly said when she saw him looking at all her stuff."I didn't know you lived on a boat.""Not many people do, but truth be told I think that's because I haven't had anyone the 'Siren' in 18 years." She admitted as she seemed to drift off in to her thoughts."Miss Nets!" A voice suddenly called. They both looked out the window and saw the harbour master walking up to the boat with a smirking Elias in tow. The two of them quickly went outside to see what he wanted."Aw, hello Mr Henry, here for some ice tea?" Emma smiled, but the harbour master's frown didn't falter."You know why I'm here Miss Nets, another complaints been made against you." He replied in a cold voice."Are you going to evict her or what?!" Elias suddenly barked, only to shut up when all three of them sent him threatening glares."Miss Nets we've spoken on many occasions, the last one was about unpaid fees that go back five years and before that you've been reminded time and time again to maintain your vessel according to regulations.""I really need to read those letters." Emma smiled."Your getting evicted lady! Now hurry up and move!" Elias sound off again."Do you mind?!" The harbour master glared."You're taking to long.""Why're you doing this?" Sonic glared as he stepped off the boat. "You can't throw her out!"But before anyone could say anything else, there was a pained gasp from Emma and they turned around in time to see her crumple to the ground, unconscious..."You'll be alright, do you want me to come to the hospital?" Sonic asked as a barely conscious Emma was lifted onto a stretcher by two paramedics and they started pushing her off the docks to where the ambulance was waiting, with Sonic, Elias and the harbour master keeping pace."They want my treasure." She replied in a pained whisper as Sonic looked at her in confusion. "Please don't let them get my treasure." She pleaded as she was lifted into the ambulance and driven off."I-I didn't mean to give the crazy cat a heart attack." Elias told the blue hedgehog nervously."Maybe you should tell her that." He growled before dashing off...The next morning Tails and Amy went over to Sonic's house to see if he wanted to hang out. Instead, they found themselves in his kitchen with Chuck, enjoying some of the older hedgehog's famous chilidogs."So, where's Sonic?" Amy asked Chuck."I'm not sure, he said he was going out for a bit but he should be back any minuet now." He replied."What's with all the construction stuff?" Tails asked as he looked at the neat pile of construction tools and tiles near the basement door."Ever since Sonic's incident with the full moon I decided to make a pool for him in the basement; he'll be safe and hidden and there's no chance of moonlight getting in there." He explained just as the front door opened. Amy quickly went to see if it was Sonic and smiled when she saw the blue hedgehog, but her smile quickly dropped when she saw Emma Nets following close behind..."You had no right going over there upsetting that poor old woman!" Sally shouted at her brother, who rolled his eyes in annoyance. Elias had to endure the humiliation of being dragged back home by the harbour master, who was greeted by his sister. When the harbour master explained what had happened Sally was less than happy."That freak scratched up my jet ski!" He shouted."It's one little dent, and if you think Dad's gonna pay for the repairs after what you put that woman through then you've got another thing coming." She glared before storming off."Oh don't worry, I know how to pay for the repairs." He mumbled to himself...After taking Emma's bags, Sonic left her and his friends alone in the sitting room while he and his uncle went to the kitchen to make some snacks and to 'talk'."You should of asked." The older hedgehog frowned, not looking up at his nephew."You would of said no." Sonic sniped back. "Uncle Chuck, she's homeless now and if she lived here with us she could help me with my training.""Funny, she wasn't so eager to help when you were little." He huffed."What do you mean?""It doesn't matter." The older hedgehog sighed before heading back into the sitting room. "Miss Nets, come with me and I'll show you to the spare room." He said and they head off upstairs...That evening Knuckles came around to see where everyone was and he too was shocked to find Emma sitting on the couch, telling Tails stories about the 'old day' as she put them."You know, my husband and I bought the 'Siren' many, many years ago now, he died 18 years ago." She sighed as the other three teens took a seat around her and the fox. "Still, I couldn't get rid of the boat, we had such happy memories aboard."Suddenly Chuck came into the room with the phone in hand and a stoic look on his face."It's for you, it's the harbour master." He said and handed the phone to the old cat. As she listened to what the harbour master had to say, Sonic frowned at the sad, worried look on her face."What's wrong?" He asked when she hung up."They-They're saying I can't use my boat anymore and they're taking it away because it doesn't meet with their silly regulations." She explained as her voice began to crack. "It's all I've got and they're taking it away."...The next morning Sonic rounded up his friends and they headed straight to the docks armed with tools, paints and brushes. When they finally found Emma's boat they saw that the harbour master had wrapped hazard tape around it. Knuckles almost laughed at the sight of it."Dude, you can't be serious." He said to the blue hedgehog."Come guys, Tails and Amy can fix it's engine or whatever and me and Knuckles can give it a good paint job, it'll be good as new." He tried to explained when he saw the harbour master walking up to them."Even if you kids did try and fix it up it wouldn't make a difference; the boats interior is almost completely rusted over, she's not sea worthy and it's already been impounded by the water police, now you kids better run along before a arrest you for trespassing." He warned and walked off. They all glared daggers into his back before heading back home...That evening the docks was dead to the world. The only sounds coming from it was the gently splash of the still ocean and the occasional squawking of seagulls.Everything was secure; or so it would seem.Emma Nets silently crept along the dock to her boat and climbed aboard. She quickly made her way to the controls and smiled when she turned it on and the motor started purring like a kitten.As she started to make her way out of the docks she frowned when she started hearing a loud, scraping sound coming from outside.She quickly looked out the window and almost cursed when she saw that she had just ran into Elias' jet ski... again. But she couldn't stop now. She had no choice but to floor it and speed out of the docks and into the endless night...The next morning Uncle Chuck was in the kitchen making breakfast when Sonic came rushing over to him in a panic."Have you seen Emma?" The teen suddenly asked before his uncle could get a word out. "She's not in her room and all her things are gone."Chuck just shrug and Sonic groaned before dashing off. He ran to the only other place he knew she'd be. When he arrived at the docks he found that not only was Emma's boat gone but Elias and Sally were there, staring at Elias' half submerged jet ski."She did this." Elias seethed in anger."You don't know that." Sally tried to reason but her brother wasn't having any of it. He jumped onto a nearby motor boat and Sally went after him to make sure he didn't cause trouble."Sal, wait!" Sonic called but it was too late, the two Acorns were already out to sea by the time they even noticed him. Sonic was now stuck. He wanted to go after Emma but now he couldn't swim there because Sally and her idiot brother were hunting down the old lady too."What's up?" A voice suddenly said and Sonic turned around to find Knuckles behind him with a cowboy hat and some fishing gear with him. That's when Sonic remembered that Knuckles had a small fishing habit and a boat to go with it...Emma smiled happily as her boat seemed to glide across the ocean's surface. She didn't really know where she was going but right now she was just enjoying the salty sea air and the gently rock of the waves and the boat. But her content smile quickly dropped when she heard the sound of a motorboat close behind her boat.She looked outside and frowned when she saw Elias and his sister following her. She tried to speed off but a feeling of dread settled in her stomach like home when she realised that the engine had stopped running and she was now stranded in the middle of the ocean."You can't run old lady!" Elias called as he got closer to the boat. "No one wrecks my jet ski and get's away with it!""Get away from me!" Emma cried as the enraged squirrel jumped onto her boat and snatched the keys from her."You wrecked my boat and I want compensation." He glared as Sally struggled to get onto the boat."I don't have money.""Don't lie me, I heard you tell Sonic you had treasure here somewhere." He smirked before he started tearing the boat apart, looking for her so called 'treasure'."You can't have that!" She cried and grabbed his arm, only for him to push her. But he froze when he saw her clutching her chest with pained expression before collapsing on the ground."ELIAS, WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Sally cried when she saw the unconscious cat on the floor and rushed to her."I-I..."Suddenly there was the sound of another motor outside and they both turned around to see Sonic and Knuckles pulling up along side the boat and climbing on board."What happened?!" Sonic cried when he and the echindna climbed inside."She just collapsed, I think she had another heart attack." Elias finally said, still in shock."We gotta get her to a hospital." Sonic said as Knuckles carried her out to his boat. Elias breathed a sigh of relief, until he saw Sonic glaring at him with pure anger. "If she dies, it'll be on your head." He spat before following Knuckles."We'll follow you." Sally called as Knuckles started his boat. Once they were gone she went back inside and glared when she saw her brother rummaging through the old lady's cabinets. As he did this, no one noticed the small oil lamp he was knocking about was dripping oil down into the engines."What are you doing?""Trying to find that cat's treasure." He explained."I don't believe this!" She shut the door, not letting him leave until she talked some sense into him. "You've cost that woman her home, given her another heart attack and now you have the nerve to try and take her things?!""She needs to be taught a lesson!""Do you hear yourself right now! I'm ashamed to call you my brother!" She screamed.Suddenly an explosion from down in the hull rocked the boat so hard that it flung the two Acorns into a nearby wall, knocking them unconscious. Smoke quickly filled the boat as did sea water.The boat was starting to sink...As they made their way back to shore, Sonic kept looking over his should and was growing more worried when he couldn't see or hear Sally's boat following them."What's wrong?" Knuckles asked."I'm not sure, I'm just going to make sure everything's OK." He said and got ready to dive in the water."Wait, won't they see you!?""Not if I'm careful." He said and suddenly found Emma clutching his wrist."Please... find my locket... it's t-treasure... don't let them take my treasure." She begged in a frail voice. He didn't say anything to her and dove into the ocean...Sally and Elias both burst from the water, coughing and gasping as they tried to remember what just happened. Elias was the first one to recover and quickly went for the door, but started to panic when he found that it was jammed shut. He quickly looked over at her sister and saw that saw starting to panic as the continued the rise.By now the boat was completely submerged into water and soon so would they.They both took a deep breath just before the water swallowed them up whole. When they opened their eyes again it was dark and blurry but they could still see each other just fine. They both quickly tried to pull the door open again but it refused to budge. They kept trying to open the stubborn door for about five seconds before they both realised that they were running out of precious energy and air with no hope of rescue.They both looked at each other as they sank to the floor of the boat, ready to accept their fate...When Sonic made it to the sinking boat he took a quick glance through the one of the windows. He started to panic when he saw Sally and her brother sitting almost lifelessly in the boat. But he then felt relief when he noticed they both had their cheeks puffed out with air, but he knew that time was quickly running out.He swam over to the door but found it sealed shut.He thought for second and the grinned when he thought of something. He started slamming his tail into the door as he could and almost cheered when he saw large dents appear in the door as it started to become loose. What he didn't know was that Elias and Sally were still conscious, just barely, and they heard the thuds on the door.As the door hung loose, they caught a glimpse of the end of Sonic's tail before they lost consciousness once again...Elias and Sally coughed and spluttered as they woke up again. They were lying on the sandy beaches of Pistris Island; the were soaked through and covered in sand. They looked around, trying to figure out where they were when they noticed Sonic sat on a rock nearby."It's alright, you both floated up and I dragged you to shore." The blue hedgehog explained as he got closer, but refused to touch them since they were soaked to the bone.Sally looked around and saw their motorboat a little further down the beach."B-But we went down and we couldn't get out." She muttered, beyond confused."Somehow you did.""There was something down there." Elias said as he stood up. "Did you see anything?""No." Sonic quickly said."Yeah, well we saw something, and I'm going to find out what it was." Sally said as she and Elias looked out towards the ocean...The next afternoon, Sonic went to visit Emma Nets at the hospital. She was still a bit fragile but the doctors expected her to make a full recovery so long as she took her medication."I got you something." Sonic smiled as he handed her a tiny box. She opened it and gasped when she saw her locket inside. It was a silver teardrop shaped one with a white pearl in the centre."My treasure." She smiled and clutched it close to her."It wasn't easy to find, it's pretty dark down there now." He explained. "I'm sorry about the 'Siren'.""I was just a boat, the real memories are all in here." She smiled as she pointed it her head. "And... in here." She smiled and opened up the locket for Sonic to see.He gasped when he saw a small picture of a younger Emma, a jackle about her age and to hedgehogs on their left; Sonic's parents...
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Sonic shifted anxiously as he stood outside the room that Emma Nets now slept in. It had been three days since she had been released from the hospital and had come to live with Chuck and Sonic. Disgusted with his son's behaviour, Nigel forced Elias to work off his debt to the old woman by working at her antique store as well as selling his precious jet ski.It was a dark, stormy day so Sonic couldn't leave the house because of the rain.Sonic had been meaning to ask her about the old picture in the locket but he didn't know if he'd be raking up any bad memories. Just as he was about to leave, a pair of suddenly grabbed his shoulders and he let out a yelp. He quickly turned around and glared when he saw Tails, Amy and Knuckles laughing at his expense."What are you guys doing here?" He hissed."We've got nothing better to do so we thought you'd wanna go to Pistris Island." Amy smiled."Thanks, but I've stuff to do." He replied."Really, like what?" Tails asked."I-""He wants to ask me some questions." A voice suddenly chuckled. The four teens let out a scream when they noticed Emma standing in the doorway, smiling sweetly at them."Geez lady, are you trying to kill us?!" Knuckles glared, only for Amy to elbow him in the ribs."Sorry Emma, we'll get out of your hair." Sonic said and tried to usher his friends out the house."No sense Sonic, how about you get some warm drinks and I'll tell you all a story."...Sally sighed as she walked around their cold, seemingly empty mansion. She wanted to go out with her friends but because of her involvement with the incident involving Emma Nets' boat their father decided to ground her as well. He knew that Elias was really the only one who had done anything wrong but he couldn't be too sure.She didn't really mind getting ground; it was better than what her brother got.Her brother wasn't too happy about working at Emma's store and was even more upset and angry when he heard about Dad selling his jet ski. As she walked back to her room she passed by the small library they had and stopped. Inside, she saw Elias with his read in a book, along with a few other open books around him, and the laptop was on next to him.He didn't seem to notice his sister as he flipped through the book and typed on the laptop."What are you doing?" She suddenly asked, causing him to jump. In that time Sally snatched the book from him to see what he was looking at and she sighed when she realised that it was a book of sea creatures."This again?" She asked as he took the boat back."There's something down there Sally, and I'm going to find it." He glared."Elias, it was dark and we were both low on oxygen, for all we know it could of been a dolphin." She tried to reason, only for her brother to hand her a rough sketch of the tail they had saw that he had drawn."Does that look like a dolphin tail?"Sally didn't say anything and headed off to her room...Sonic sighed as he and his friends snuggled under a large blanket on the couch with mugs of hot chocolate in their hands. Emma was sat at in an armchair across from them, caressing the locket with her thumb."So you want to know my story?" She smiled with a soft chuckle. "Well, it goes back to when I was about your age in 1955; I had just turn sixteen and was facing my first dark moon and I was nervous as it would be my first since my powers had awoken.""I know how that feels." Sonic shivered."Yes well, I thought I was ready for my first moon drain but I couldn't be more wrong; the second the last glimpses of moonlight disappeared over the horizon I almost fainted when not only did I feel my powers go but so did my tail and I found myself with a pair of legs!""WHAT?!" The teens cried out in shock."My mother immediately hid me in our house and explained it all to me; it appears that my Dad was a Mobian she spent one night with and never spoke to again, but unlike you Sonic, I was born with a tail." She sighed, then laughed. "I was so angry and upset that I just wanted to swim away but I didn't know how to swim with legs.""Who's the jackal?" Tails asked."That's my husband, Richard." She smiled. "A few weeks after I found out I started going to the surface every dark moon, I enjoyed the sights, the sounds and the people were always so nice; one day I had the joy to meet a young, handsome Richard Nets, he only had a job at a car wash and bike to his name but he and I hit it off instantly and I loved him with all my heart, we dated for two years until he discovered my secret during a full moon.""How'd he take it?" Amy asked."He was shocked and upset that I hadn't trusted him with the truth, I was so scared that I went back home and we didn't see each other for a month; when I did return I quickly found out by the townspeople that he spent all day on the beach, waiting for his love." She sighed with a loving smile. "I ran to the beach and the minute we saw each other he scooped me into a hug and asked me to marry him before giving me this locket he had made instead of a wedding ring.""That's so romantic." Amy smiled and the boys rolled their eyes. Emma just looked down at her locket sadly."Yes it was, we married in front of the whole town on the beach, but it proved to be my biggest mistake. During the ceremony my mother had followed me to the surface to see why I had been coming up here so regularly and she was horrified by what she saw; when I returned home to finally tell her I found the king's guard waiting for me, it turns out my mother had told the king, you're great-grandfather, that I had been going up to the surface and had revealed myself to the Mobians." She glared."Why did she do that?" Sonic asked."She thought that she was protecting me and that the king would just give a good scare to keep me down in the ocean with her, but instead I was put on trail for treason and my marriage as well as hybrid status was brought to light, the kind called me a traitor and said that if I loved the land so much then I could spend the rest of my life there." She sniffed as tears welled up in her eyes. "With his Triton he used his magic to strip all traces of my sea fae DNA away forever and I was banished to the land.""I'm so sorry." Sonic said as Amy pulled the crying woman into a hug."After I returned to my husband and he found out what happened he sold his apartment and his bike and bought the 'Siren' so I could at least feel some connection to my old home; we had many great years on that boat and even had two daughters, Gracie and Karen.""Gracie Nets? Where have I heard that name before?" Tails wondered out loud."You'd probably know her as Gracie Simmons, or as Scourge's grandmother." Emma chuckled."Wait! You're related to Scourge?!" Sonic exclaimed."Yes, he's my great-grandson, though he doesn't know it, thank Gods, he's a little brat that deserves a good whooping." She frowned and they all laughed."How did you know my parents?" He asked."I met your mother after she and Jules became best friends, she had heard about me from other sea fae who once knew me and thought I knew of a way that she could be on land.""And did you?""Yes, but it only worked on the dark moon; she and Jules grew closer and the two of them seemed to look to me and Richard as proof that land and sea can co-exist peacefully." She sighed. "But when Jules died it really hurt all of us, we never saw your mother again until Charles came to my door when you were only a baby and explained what Aleena had told him; I was still hurt from losing two of my closest friends and at the time my husband started to grow ill so at the time I didn't have the time to help with your sea fae side, that and I wanted you to experience the joys of your childhood before having all this dumped on you; I thought keeping my distance until your powers awoke was the right thing.""Well you're to help me now and that's what's important." Sonic smiled as Emma opened the locket and took the small picture out."This locket was given to me by my husband as a sign of his love to me, your mother enchanted as a sign of our friendship, it's a combination of both land and sea, just like you." She smiled as she knelt down in front of Sonic. "It's because of that I wish to give it to you." She said as she fastened it around his neck."W-What?! But I can't take it!" Sonic exclaimed."I want you to have it, I want you to make sure it sees many more wonderful times." She smiled. Sonic looked from her to the tear shaped locket before looking back at her with a smile."Thanks."...
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Amy smiled as she wiped down the counter at the Juice Bar. It was her first week at her new job there and she was having a great time as it got her out of the house and it took her mind off somethings. As she continued cleaning tables and completing orders, John the manager was watching her very closely, and he was impressed by what he saw."Amy." He smiled as he walked over to her. "I'm glad I took you on for this job, your organisation skills are just the thing I've been needing to keep this place running smoothly.""Well, I'm very good at organising." She smiled."Listen, I need to head out of town for a convention for the weekend and I was wondering if you'd be able to hold the fort until I get back?""A-Are you serious?!" Amy smiled. "Yes! Yes, I would love to do that!""Good, and if you feel like you might need to hire someone to give you a hand then feel free.""Oh that won't be necessary John, I got this."... That afternoon they all met up at Amy's house to hang out and watch movies together. As Sonic and Knuckles made themselves some pot noodles in her kitchen, Amy and Tails were in the living room picking out movies and talking about her new 'promotion'."Does this mean you can give us free smoothies?" The kitsune smiled innocently."No, it means you get a small discount." She giggled. "And I feel honoured that John's letting me handle everything by myself.""So your going to be managing it all on your own?""That's what I just said.""I know but he really expects you to get up at like 7am to manage the deliveries, maintain the cafe, deal with the finances, take care of the customers and get all their orders right and then finally lock up at like 10 as well as balance out you school work, all on your own?""I-I hadn't thought about that." She admitted, she may of liked responsibility but this was pushing it. "I guess I have no choice but to call John and tell him I can't do it.""Wait! Why not let someone help you, since your the manager now can't you hire somebody?""Well, yeah, but who am I gonna find on such short notice?""You could ask Sonic." Tails smiled. "With his speed and powers over water he'd be a great employee, he can handle the orders and the stocks while you deal with the rest.""Well that's a good idea but... does Sonic have full control of his powers yet, it's that with what happened at the exams I don't want it happening at my new job.""Relax, he's come along way and what choice do you have?" He asked as Sonic and Knuckles came back."What you guys talking about?" The blue hedgehog asked as they sat down."Amy's decided to take you on for the weekend." Tails smiled as Amy glared daggers at him."Really?" He asked and Amy looked up at him. She couldn't just shoot him down like that and he really need a distraction as much as she needed it."S-Sure." She forced a smile."Cool." He grinned before the movie started... The next morning Sonic and Amy were up bright and early to get to work. Everything seemed to be going smoothly at first, the customers were happy as they chattered and drank their juice, the freezer in the back of the cafe that was full of juice and ice creams was working fine and, much to Amy's relief, Sonic's powers had cause little to no problems.As the lunch crowd walked in, Amy was cleaning tables while Sonic was taking orders. As he moved to his next table, he groaned internally when he saw Scourge and his friends waiting to be served."Hey guys, what can I get you?" He said with the best fake smile he could muster."I thought you worked with goldfish." Scourge laughed."I wondered why it started to stick around here." Fiona smirked as Sonic gritted his teeth. Fearing what he could unintentionally do to them, Amy quickly grabbed Sonic's arm and dragged him outside."You can't lose your temper at customers like that." She scolded."I'm sorry Ames, but you know how much Scourge get's under my skin!" He glared."Yes, but you need to rise above it." She insisted before sighing. "If it's really that big an issue then I'll take there orders and you can stay out here cleaning tables." She said before swapping his notepad and pen with her dish cloth and went back inside.Sonic didn't say anything and get to work... The next morning, Sonic was back in the cafe with Amy and groaned when she pointed him towards the table where Breezie and Fiona sat. He tried to find Amy but saw she was outside dealing with a customer. He had no choice but to suck it and put on a fake smile as he walked over to the two girls."Why isn't Amy serving us?" The fox frowned."She's busy, so what will it be?" He glared."I'll have a banana smoothie." Breezie smiled."I'll have a mango mint smoothie." Fiona huffed. "Don't mess it up.""I'll do my best." The blue hedgehog growled before heading towards the back room. When he returned he placed a strawberry and banana smoothie in front of the girls."Uh, what's that?" Fiona glared in disgust. "That's not what I ordered, I asked for mango mint!""No, you asked for strawberry." He replied, trying to contain a smirk."I'm allergic to strawberry! If I drink this I'll swell up like balloon and explode!""I'll get you a straw." He smirked and Breezie burst out laughing."What?!" She snarled as Amy looked over at them with a worried frown. Sonic noticed this and took a deep breath."I'll get you what you ordered." He smiled and went through to the back to make her another. Once he was gone Fiona angrily turned back to a still snickering Breezie."What the heck is his problem?!" She hissed and Breezie shrugged before looking down at her phone. Fiona growled in frustration before turning to the large doors that led to back room. A sinister smile crept across her face as she turned around to make sure no one was looking before she sneaked into the back room.Once she was there she saw the large metal door that led into the freezer and across from her was a small opening where the kitchen was and she could her Sonic in there. The fox teen quickly walked into the cold room and saw shelves full of ice cream, frost and other frozen ingredients. She looked to the small dial on the wall by the door and smirked before turning it, causing the power to the freezer to shut off.Suddenly she heard Sonic coming back and hid behind one of the frozen shelves, just out of sight... When Sonic came back he saw that Breezie and Fiona were gone. The strawberry smoothie was still there but he saw that Breezie had drunk her's before they left and had left the money on the table. Sonic just shrugged before taking the glasses and the money."So did Fiona and Breezie like their drinks?" Amy glared when she suddenly appeared by his side."I'm not sure, they left before I came back, at least they left the money so no harm done." He replied casually, but her glare did falter."Sonic, we need to have a talk about your attitude." She frowned as she took the glasses from him. "You can't just get a customer's orders wrong out of spite, it gives us a bad image.""It wasn't out of spite, it was an accident." He glared. "And who cares if I did? You don't like Fiona anymore than I do!""That's not the point! I don't want you lose your temper because of... you know.""No I don't. so why don't you tell me?" He glared."It's your powers, I don't want you to lose it in case you harm someone." She whispered so no one could hear them."Oh so you don't think I have any control and that I'm going to boil someone's face off?!" He hissed in a similar hushed tone.""No! That's not-""You know what, maybe you're right." He glared. "Maybe I should just go home since I can't be trusted!" He snapped before heading to the back room to get his stuff, leaving Amy alone.Just as he entered the back room, he noticed a flashing red light coming from the freezer room rushed into the room. Fiona saw him entered and quickly pressed herself against the wall, luckily he didn't notice her. Instead he was too busy looking at the mess the freezer had become. Everything was starting to defrost and water was dripping from the shelves, onto the products.As annoyed at Amy as he was, he didn't want her to lose her job because of an accident. He extended his arm out into to freezer and focused his powers on the water and the ice. He smiled and cheered internally when he saw the water freeze up again and more snow and ice then before accumulate in the cold room.After he was done, he reset the dial and went to get his stuff.What he failed to notice was that he has accidentally froze Fiona solid... The next morning, Amy rose up bright and early to open up the juice bar again. She was still feeling bad about what happened with Sonic, she hadn't meant to accuse him of potentially causing harm to the customers when she had no proof of that, but she didn't have time to find him to apologise and decided she'd talk to him later.Tails did urge her to make peace but she stood her ground.She hummed a happy song with a small smile as she put the chairs in their place, wiped down the tables and went to the back freezer room to collect some tubs of ice cream for the counter. As she bent down to pick up one of the tubs off the bottom she frozen when she saw a pair of boots against one of the far walls.She slowly walked over to the far wall and looked behind the shelves.She screamed... Knuckles and Tails groaned as they walked into the juice bar. They both weren't use to getting up so early but when Amy called them she seemed very scared and upset so they got up. As soon as they entered the cafe Amy almost pounced on them. They could see that she had tears running down her face and was pointing to the back room, not able to make a sentence.By now the fox and the echidna were wide awake and rushing to the back room and into the freezer.Amy pointed them towards the far corner and when they saw what it was she was pointing out they almost screamed. They saw Fiona standing stiff against the wall with her eyes closed and an expressionless face, with frost and ice all over her body. Tail gently tapped her cheek and gulped when he realised that she was frozen solid."What do we do?!" Amy cried."H-How did this happen?" Tails asked as calmly as he could."I don't know! I just found her like this!" She exclaimed in a panic. "Maybe I should call an ambulance!""Amy wait!" Knuckles suddenly said. "Do you think that's smart?""What do you mean?! She's a frozen statue!""Exactly! How did she get like this? 'Cause I don't think spending a while in a freezer would do this to you, so how'd this happen?" He asked and realisation hit Amy and Tails like a ton of bricks."I TOLD YOU!" She shouted at the kitsune. "I TOLD YOU THAT HIS POWERS WOULD CAUSE TROUBLE BUT NO, YOU SAID 'OH DON'T WORRY, HE'LL BE FINE' AND NOW HE'S FROZEN FIONA!""I'm sure it was an accident; and if we want to revive her we need to call Sonic." Tails reassured."NO!" She hissed. "This is his fault, he'll just make things worse!""I already called him but he isn't answering and he wasn't at his house either, his uncle said he left early this morning." Knuckles explained."You called him?!" She glared."Amy, if we want to save Fiona we need Sonic and I've got a good idea where he is." Tails frowned. "Knuckles, I need to borrow your boat."... Tails panted as he hiked through the jungle of Pistris Island. A few weeks ago Sonic told him about the moon pool where he came to relax and to practice his powers. He groaned as he followed Sonic's directions to the small waterfall and started looking for the entrance to the chamber. He suddenly cried out when he fell down the hole and started sliding down.He fell face first into the sand with a thud.The young kitsune sat up and spat out the sand before looking around and saw the light bouncing off water behind the wall. He walked over and saw Sonic lying in the pool with his head resting on his arms on the edge with his tail mindlessly bopping and floating behind him in the water. It seemed like he hadn't noticed his best friend's entrance."Hey." Tails smiled as he walked up to the edge of the pool and sat down."Hey." He mumbled. "How'd you find me?""You told me this is where you come when you want to have some time to think.""So why you here ruining the moment?" He grinned."Amy needs your help fixing a problem you accidentally caused.""What is the great responsible, organised Amy Rose accusing me of now?"... "Wow." Was all Sonic could say when he stood in the freezer, looking at Fiona's frozen body. "I did this?""Yes, you did." Amy glared. "Why?""I-I didn't know she was in here, I only used my ice powers when I saw that the power had been shut off and the ice was melting!" He replied. "She must off turned it off and then hid in here.""So Sonic, with your powers you should be able to revive the bod- I-I mean Fiona." Tails chuckled nervously under Amy's glared. "You should be able to heat her up and then use your power to get the body's fluids circulating again, and if there's a problem you can cool things down." He explained."I've never done anything like that before, I might be able to do it." Sonic frowned as he fidgeted nervously."And what if he boils her alive?" Amy frowned, ignoring Sonic's angry and slightly hurt look."Maybe like we can do a trial run and something like flesh... like...""Tofu?" Knuckles suddenly asked, holding up a bag of tofu. The four friends moved to the front of the cafe and placed some tofu on the counter."OK Sonic, your going to slowly heat up the tofu, every five seconds you will raise the temperate 1 degrees." He explained as Sonic focused on the small piece of tofu. After about a minuet they could see a bit of steam coming off the small block of tofu."This is hopeless and we're wasting time!" Amy suddenly exclaimed and Sonic roasted the tofu into a melted mess."Heated to fast." Tails mumbled as Sonic turned to the pink hedgehog."That could have be Fiona." She glared."It was working until you distracted me!" He growled."Oh, it's my fault, everything in the whole world is my fault!?""Amy ,why don't I get you a juice?" Knuckles smiled and dragged her into the back. When they came back Knuckles was carrying Fiona and Amy was anxiously sipping on a smoothie. At Tails' instructions, Knuckles gently placed her on the floor and pulled a towel over her."Alright, we are gonna heat the bod- I mean Fiona 1 degree every 5 second until she wakes up, Sonic, once you've start you can not stop you can't break concentration or..." The fox flinched."OK, I'm ready." He said and took a deep breath before focusing his powers."Slowly, slowly, that's good, that is good." Tails smiled as he placed a small device on her to monitor the temperature.All of a suddenly there was a loud banging on the front door. Tails, Amy and Knuckles shared a panicked look while Sonic frowned as he tried to focus."It's the police!" Amy hissed."Amy, go and answer the door like nothing is wrong." Tails ordered. The pink hedgehog gulped before forcing a smiled before going to see who it was at the door, but her smile dropped when she saw it was Scourge."Sorry, we're not opened." She glared and went to shut the door, only to have Scourge block it with her foot."Well too bad, I'm looking for Fiona." He glared and Amy felt her stomach drop. "Apparently she didn't come home last night, her parents blaming me.""Sorry, she's not here." She quickly said."Hang on, Breezie said she went into the back room here.""She's not here Scourge." Knuckles glared as he came up behind her for support."What's going on?" He glared."We're just helping her to get the place open on time." Tails joined in, holding a broom. "You're welcome to stay, as long as you pitch in." He grinned."I've got better things to do." He scowled before storming off. Once he were gone they closed the door again and rushed back to Sonic and saw that almost all of the ice had melted off Fiona and was pooling on the floor."She's almost thawed out." Sonic called over to them."OK, can you start getting her bodily fluids moving, please?" Tails asked and Sonic started moving his left hand in a slow circle motion."Ew, it feels weird." He winced."The cafe should be open by now, there will be customers waiting outside what should tell them?" Amy growled."Tell them you'll be opening late." Sonic muttered as he tried to keep his focused."Amy, what's going on? Why aren't you open?" A voice suddenly called from outside."John!" Amy hissed in fear, before gently pulling the blinds away, just a little. "Uh, t-the door got stuck, no idea how." She chuckled nervously."Why are all this food sitting outside?" He asked and held up the boxes full of food that had just been delivered."Flu fly!" She quickly exclaimed. "It's contaminated with flu fly and it's very dangerous!""Her temperature's normal, so why isn't she waking up?" Sonic muttered to Tails in frustration."This food looks fine to me." John shrugged after examining the boxes."So, how come you're back early from your conference?" She asked."It got cancelled." He sighed before frowning. "Amy, what is happening here?""Nothing!" She cried, only to gasp when he pushed the door open and was shocked to see the boys in the cafe."What's going on Amy, and tell me the truth." He scowled, taking note of the lump on the floor under a towel."Alright." Amy sighed in defeat and was about to confess when Fiona suddenly shot up with a strangled gasp, scaring everyone half to death. She blinked sluggishly as she cautiously looked around."Is this some kind of weird party?" She finally asked. Relieved that she was alright, Amy ran over and crushed to shivering fox in a bear hug."Oh Fiona, it's so good to see you" She happily exclaimed."Since when?!" She cried as she crawled out of the pink hedgehog's grip."Will someone tell me what is going on?!" John scowled."Well, Amy found Fiona unconscious in the cooler room; she must have slip on some ice and hit her head, we were just helping her; in fact we should probably take her to the hospital." Tails smiled."No... but... wait... you..." She muttered as she looked to Sonic."Fiona, you're busted." He glared as Amy and Tails tried to smooth things over with with John. "We know what you were up to so if I were you, I would just leave quietly." He smirked.Fiona gave a panicked look before scurrying out of the cafe... That night the four teens met up at Amy's to talk and hang out for a video game's marathon. Thankfully Fiona didn't remember anything after turning the power off and the doctors confirmed that she was suffering no permanent damage from being frozen solid."So you didn't get fired?" Knuckles chuckled at Amy."No, he just gave me a lecture about how disappointed he was with me and how I'm on a warning." She sighed, before turning to Sonic. "I'm really sorry Sonic, I shouldn't of just jumped to the conclusion that you or your powers would wreck things for me in that job, you really impressed us when you revived Fiona; I promise never to be a perfectionist control freak again.""Yes you will." The boys said and they all burst out laughing."And I promise not to lose it with you again, you were just making sure your job was safe." Sonic smiled at her and she blushed."W-Well I'm going to ring us a pizza." She smiled before dashing off...
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Tomorrow was Valentines Day and everyone was getting ready for the festival. Every year, on Valentines Day, the entire town held a festival and a big dance for someone to find and enjoy the day with their special sweet heart. Amy Rose hummed a happy song in her head as she tried to pick the right outfit to wear for school.She finally settled on a pink mini dress with black laced sleeves, hot pink high heels and dark pink lipstick. As she went down stairs she saw her parents and annoying little sister sat at the table, enjoying their breakfast."Oh Amy, you look beautiful!" Jane smiled and gave her daughter a big hug."Why are you all dressed up?" Frank frowned slightly."She's trying impress someone." Rosy snickered under her sister's death glare. "Someone weird, smells like salty water and blue.""Shut up!" Amy growled and gave her a swift kick under the table."OW! MOMMY! AMY KICKED ME!""Girls enough!" Jane frowned before smiling. "I think Sonic is a nice boy, I hope it all goes well."...Sally hissed in frustration as she rummaged through her giant closet, trying to find something to wear. With the festival being tomorrow she was hoping that she and Sonic could go together but she just knew that Amy was on the same mission as her, so she had to be smart. She picked out a glittering baby blue tank top with black pants and navy blue shoes.As she exited the closet she cried out when she suddenly tripped on a marine biology book. Ever since the incident with Emma's boat, she had been having nightmares of being trapped in that boat and seeing that tail fin again."Sally, breakfast is ready." Nigel called down and she quickly rushed downstairs. When she entered the kitchen she saw her brother with his nose in a computer and her father serving up some eggs and bacon. When Nigel saw what his son was looking at he scowled."Are you still looking up fish?""There's something out there Dad, it saved me and Sally when we were trapped in that boat!" Elias argued."Oh yes, and I suppose it wasn't dark and you two weren't low on oxygen?""Well... I...""I rest my case!" The older male glared before storming off to see to work. Sally just kept her head down and ate her breakfast silently...That afternoon Sonic and his friends were in the school cafeteria, trying to enjoy the slop they were served. While Sonic was in the line, Amy and Sally took one look at each other and a silent glaring match instantly began. Tails and Knuckles shifted nervously in their seats, unsure what to do. The second Sonic sat down the girls stopped and smiled at him."So, you guys looking forward to the festival tomorrow?" Tails quickly asked."No." The blue hedgehog glared at his lunch tray."Why not?!" Amy exclaimed."Uncle Chuck's setting me up with a blind date with some friend's daughter or something, I think her name's Elise Hope." He sighed."I know her, her Dad's one of the leading minds behind the science committee, I met her once when I was a kid at a charity ball but she was really shy and spent most of the day glued to her Dad's side." Sally added, deep in thought."Great." Amy mumbled as she took a bite of her lunch.Only now eating was the last thing on her mind and she stood up to go dump it in the trash when suddenly the skirt of her dress got caught on something and she tripped, spilling her food all over Sally's head. The red head chipmunk let out a scream and rushed out the cafeteria.Everyone, believing she had done it on purpose, turned to glare at Amy."What the heck Amy?!" Knuckles exclaimed."I-It was an accident, I swear!" She cried and turned to Sonic with pleading eyes.But the blue hedgehog didn't say anything and dashed off after Sally. He quickly heard her sobbing in a nearby restroom as he heard the sound of running water. Knowing he can't go inside, he gently knocked on the door and the sobbing stopped."Hey Sal, you OK?" He called and the door opened slight to reveal Sally with wet hands and soaked hair."I'm fine." She sniffed."Come on Sal, you can't fool me, I'm sure it was an accident." He grinned."I guess, but I think she really hates me." She sighed as she stepped outside, causing Sonic to back away as to not get any water on him."Why?""Because I think she knew that I was planning on asking if you wanted to go to the festival with me." She blushed, but her's was no where near as bad as Sonic's was."Y-You were?" He gulped and Sally took note of the water on her getting a bit hotter but ignored it."Yeah, but I guess there's no chance of that happening now, you know, since you've got a date all ready set up.""Oh yeah, that." He frowned slightly, cursing Uncle Chuck for even arranging that date without even asking his nephew. "For what it's worth Sal, I was planning on asking you until Uncle Chuck sprung that surprise on me.""R-Really?!" She gasped, looking deep into his eyes."Yeah, I mean, we're good friends and I like hanging out with you." He blushed madly. When Sally didn't say anything he looked up and his blush was redder than Knuckles when he saw her walking closer to him, ready to kiss him.Just when their lips were seconds away, he closed his eyes and waited... but nothing happened.Suddenly there was a cry of pain and when Sonic opened his eyes he was horrified by what he saw. He saw Sally rolling on the ground in pain with hot steam coming off her body. The sudden fear he felt caused the few droplets of water still o her body froze, cooling her down ever so slightly. He quickly picked her up, thankful that the water was gone, and dashed her to the nurse's office..."OK... thanks Sonic... tell her we're think of her." Tails smiled as he hung up and turned to his other two friends. After school they went to the kitsune's house to help his family out with the festival's preparations."How is she?" Knuckles asked."Just some minor burns and the nurse said they should heal within a few days.""That's good." Amy mumbled."I'm surprised you care." Knuckles glared."How many times do I have to say I'm sorry and it was an accident!" She cried."Oh come on! You don't want her and Sonic to spend time with each other anyway, why don't you just admit your jealous?!""I'm not jealous!" She screeched. "I admit I don't like them spending time together but I'm just worried about Sonic and his secret; what if he tells her and she doesn't take the news well and tells the world about him?!""Do you seriously think she'd do that to him?!"Tails just groaned and went back to helping his mother...Sonic sighed as he lay against the sandy floor on the moon pool. He was relieved that Sally was going to be OK but he couldn't help but he couldn't help feeling guilty for Sally's burns.He wanted to go see if she was alright but her dad wouldn't let him within 10 feet of his little girl.He had no choice but to retreat to Pistris Island to try and clear his head. He suddenly flinched when something scraped against his tail. He quickly sat and ran his hands through the loose sand until he suddenly felt something hard hidden just under the sand brush against his hand.He lifted it out of the sand and up to his face and saw that it was was a rugged clam.He jumped slightly when it suddenly snapped open for him but his surprise turned to wonder when he saw what was inside. Inside was a beautiful pearl the size of a grape, but what got Sonic was the colour.It was a gorgeous moon blue colour not to different from his cerulean blue fur.He smiled as he took the pearl and swam back home...Emma sighed as she watched Chuck talk on the phone with his old friend. She didn't really agree with the light blue hedgehog's 'grand' plan but she could understand why he was doing. Just as he hung up, a sonic boom echoed in the distance and seconds later his nephew burst into the house."Hey guys, check this out!" He grinned and showed the the blue pearl."Oh my." Emma breathed as the teen sat next to her. "You know Sonic, sea faes believe pearls symbolise wisdom acquired through experience; they are believed to attract wealth and luck as well as offer protection, they can also balance one's karma, strengthen relationships and keep children safe." She explained."Really?" He asked. "I was planning on giving it to Sal, you think she'll like it?""Give it to me and I'll turn it into the most captivating thing she'll ever lay her eyes on." The old woman smiled before he handed it to her and she went up to her room."Now Sonny boy, Elise's father is gonna drop her off here for half six so you can take her to the festival." Chuck smiled."About that Unc, I was thinking of taking Sal to the festival instead.""What?! But you can't!""Why not?!" He growled. "It's my life and my choice, if I want to take Sally Acorn to the festival then I will!""You can't because you could end up hurting her!""W-What?" Sonic froze and his uncle sighed."Sonic, when you scalded Sally earlier today do you know why?" He asked and the teen shrugged. "It's because you love her Sonic, and those feelings you're feeling is causing your powers to go out of control! Imagine the damage you could do to her if you went on a date with her on the most romantic night of the year!""B-But I..." Sonic stammered with a look of defeat."I'm not saying you can never love someone, I'm just saying wait a little until you've gotten better at controlling your powers." He quickly reassured. His blue nephew could only nod in sadness and understanding...That evening Sonic was getting ready for his blind date with Elise Hope and just hoped he didn't end up regretting it. He was dressed in black pants, plain black shoes and a loose fitting white shirt. He was slowly getting annoyed with Chuck's constant hovering, making sure everything was perfect for Elise's arrival.Suddenly there was a knock at the front door."Oh that's her, now remember Sonic, best behaviour." He uncle said before answering the door and Sonic could only stare in shock.Elise was not what he had been expecting. The seventeen year old human was just taller than Knuckles with pale skin, blue eyes and short red hair. She was wearing white feather hair pins, earrings, a gem necklace, a white dress with feather trim, white evening gloves with feather trims, pantyhose and red high heels."Hi." She smiled sweetly."H-Hey." He gulped nervously, causing her to giggle."Well, you kids have fun!" Chuck smiled before pushing the two teens out the door...When Sonic and Elise arrived at the festival, they were starstruck by what they saw. Red, pink and white glittering streamers hung around the entire board walk with dozens of red rose petals scattered all across the floor, lanterns and candles giving it a warm glow, the sweet scent of vanilla and chocolate hung in the air and soft, romantic music played in the background."This is beautiful." Elise said out loud as they walked together."Yeah, it is." He smiled."So, what do you want to do first?" She asked and he smirked...It had been an hour since they had arrived at the festival and despite Sonic's best efforts he couldn't help but keep an eye out for Sally. Elise knew this but she didn't mind, instead she chuckled, catching the hedgehog off guard."Sonic, tell me the truth, you'd rather be here with someone else wouldn't you?" She asked and he sighed in defeat."I was hoping to come her with Sally, but my uncle thought I should take you instead; b-but don't think I don't like you! I just-""It's OK!" She laughed and he sighed in relief. "Go find Sally and spend the rest of the festival with her, I really don't mind.""You're the best Elise, thanks!" He smiled before giving her a big hug and dashing off to find the chipmunk.It took him at least 10 minuets but he found her sat alone on a bench, watching couples walk pass. He couldn't help but marvel at her. Her hair was done up, lovely makeup all over her face and she wore a formal, purple maxi dress."Hey." He smiled as he stepped up to her. "Is this seat taken?""No." She sighed and he quickly sat down. "I thought you were with Elise?""I was, but I guess she figured out I'd rather be here with... someone else." He smiled and he reached into his back pocket."Really? Who?""I'd rather be here with you." He replied and showed her a box made to look like it'd been perfectly wrapped. She opened and gasped when she saw a blue pearl on a wire with a smaller white pearl on either side of it."It's beautiful." She gasped as Sonic gently took it out of the back and placed it around her neck."I thought so, I found it in the waters on Pistris Island.""But I thought you hated water?" She frowned, causing Sonic to panic when he realised his mistake."W-Well I do, I just went 'cause Uncle Chuck was getting some samples and he's not as young as he was so...""It's fine, I love it!" She laughed and he blushed.She started leaning in again to kiss him and Sonic felt his cheeks burning. Just as their lips brushed against each other, Sonic saw that all the liquids within 5ft was starting to boil. As soon as he pulled away from her he saw that the drinks returned to normal; he looked back at Sally's confused face, then at the bandages around her hands.It was than he realised that Chuck was right.He couldn't date Sally until he got better control over his powers, for her sake as much as his own."Sonic? What's wrong?" She asked, slightly hurt."I-I'm sorry, I can't..." Was all he could force out before he suddenly dashed away, leaving a heart broken Sally in his dust...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sonic smiled as he took a family's picture for them in front of the dolphin exhibit while he waited for Tails. He had just finished his shift and was waiting to meet up with his best buddy but the kitsune seemed to be running late. Just as he snapped the picture he felt someone tap his shoulder and smiled when he saw his best friend grinning at him."You coming?" The younger boy grinned and they started heading for the exit."Sonic, wait!"They quickly turned around and saw Sonic's boss jogging over to them."I was hoping to catch you before you left." She smiled. "I was hoping you'd be able to cover for Jake later today?""Sure." He replied."I knew I could rely on you Sonic, you're very reliable with no surprises." She smiled before quickly leaving to see to some other stuff."Was that a compliment, or an insult?" The blue hedgehog asked once she was out of sight. Tails just shrugged and they continued on their way...Later that afternoon, after hanging out with Tails, Sonic was walking along the beach. All around him were families and friends running around, enjoying the sun and the waves. Just as he turned away from the sea, he saw Sally sat on a deck chair nearby, just staring out to the ocean."Hey Sal!" He smiled as he ran up to her, as he got closer he felt a sense of joy when he noticed that she was wearing the pearl necklace he had given her at the festival. "What ya doing?""Thinking." She frowned."About what?""Just some stuff." She sighed. "Like how you keep thinking I'm a fool.""What do you mean?""One second you and I are best friends, the next we're nearly dating, and then we're almost strangers!" She glare."Sal, I want to date you but I've got a lot on my plate right now." He tried to reason."Like what?! You're the same, ordinary kid! The only thing that's changed is the black marks you dyed in your fur!" She glared before storming off. Sonic just sighed and headed off home..."Are you sure about this?" Amy asked nervously as she and Sonic came into her bathroom. When Sonic came to her with an insane request she was very worried but slightly honoured that he had come to her and not Tails; although she doubted the kitsune would understand how to use dye."Yeah, even Sally said I was a boring, ordinary guy, but something she said about me dying these marks into my fur, so I want to add some colour to my coat." He frowned as he saw on a high stool and she wrapped a towel around him."I know you want I change, but this is a bit extreme!""Ames, please, just do me this little favour." He pleaded before she eventually gave in and got to work. Within twenty minutes there was a sudden knock on the door and they both froze."Who is it?" Sonic asked and they both were ready to run with the door opened, but they both relaxed when they saw it was just Knuckles."If you're going to ask who it is you should consider locking the door, especially when you look like that." The red echidna suggested and pointed to the blue hedgehog's tail that rested against the bathroom floor."Yeah, sorry, I forgot there was water involved." Amy smiled nervously."It's fine, let's just get this over with." He groaned as Knuckles examined the box of hair dye that Amy had already applied to Sonic's fur, they were just waiting for it to set."Are you sure you want to go this colour: Hot Pink?" He asked."WHAT?!" Sonic cried as Amy snatched the box back."It's the only hair dye we have." She gulped. Knuckles couldn't help but chuckle...Tails smiled as he entered the juice bar and looked through the menu, trying to decide what crazy combination he could order. After lacing his order he looked around and saw Sally looking up something on one of the cafe's computers. He liked Sally and didn't know what Amy had against her; he quietly stood up and walked over to the chipmunk.He took a glance over her shoulder and saw her Googling Emma Nets' name."Miss Sally, what are you doing?" He asked innocently, causing her to jump slightly."Oh Tails, you scared me." She smiled before turning back to the screen. "You're a smart boy, what do you know about Emma Nets?" She asked."Nothing, no one does." He replied quickly. "Why are you Googling her name?""Because I'm sure she has something to do with that sea creature." She replied as she clicked on a video. It was an old black and white video of a news clip from the 50s. On the screen was a handsome jackle standing by a bike."I hit something under the water, something big, I feel in the water and I'm telling you I thought I was goner 'cause I'm a terrible swimmer but then something grab me just as I passed out and next thing I know I'm on the beach." The man explained"I thought you were looking at Mrs. Nets?" Tails asked."I am and this came up." She explained. "This guy is Richard Nets, her late husband, I'm guessing this was before they were married.""Is this just an excuse to get back into your monster hunting?" He asked."For your information there were other witnesses to this guy's story!" She frowned in offence, but stayed focus on the screen.""Mr. Nets was thankfully saved and drag to shore by the town's new comer Emma." The reporter smiled and turned to a nervous Emma who looked to be in her late teen. "How does it feel to be a hero, Emma?""I don't feel like that, I just saw him in the water and dragged him to shore." She explained, trying not to look directly at the camera.
"Mr. Nets told us something big, a monster, saved him, but his boat sank about 20 miles from shore, how did you make it back?"
"I'm not sure, but I didn't see any sea monster out there." She answered and the camera panned away from her back to just the reporter."Mr. Nets provided me with the drawing of what he saw." He said and held up a black and white photo of a large fish like tail. Sally quickly pulled out a quick sketch of the tail she and Elias had seen and saw that they were almost exactly the same, with a few minor differences in the fins."It's her, isn't it?" The chipmunk mumbled."What?" Tails asked, slightly nervous."Emma Nets, that's her." She said before standing up and looking the fox dead in the eyes "I'm on to something, Tails, this is big." She added before running out of the cafe...Amy and Knuckles were at a lost for words as they gazed at Sonic. The dye had finally set and they were very, very worried about Sonic's reaction; Amy was more hesitant to tell him than Knuckles."Well?" The hedgehog asked nervously and his two friends shared a look."Well, you're about as pink as Amy." Knuckles suddenly blurted out, only to cry out when Amy jabbed him in the ribs.Sonic quickly grabbed a nearby hand mirror and almost screamed. All his fur was blossom pink yet his tail scales were still blue, horribly clashing with each other, even his black marks were gone."I'M PINK! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" Sonic screamed."Look, we have to dry your fur and get back you to normal as soon as possible, it was suppose to dry lighter." She offered weakly as she grabbed a hair dryer of the shelf."It'd better!" He glared. "I wanna change but this is!"Suddenly there was the sound of Amy's front door opening and someone walking towards the door."Amy, are you home?" Her father called up. The three friends shared a look of fear before Amy handed Sonic the hairdryer before she and Knuckles ran out to distract her father."Hey Dad, what you doing home so early?" Amy smiled as she and Knuckles stood on to stairs, blocking his path."It's one of the harbour master's surprise inspection days so no boats are allowed to leave." He explained, but frowned when he heard the sound of a hairdryer coming from the bathroom in Amy's room. "Who's in your room?""Oh that's just Sonic." Knuckles smiled before Amy gave him a kick to the knee."Why is there a boy in your room?!" Frank glared as he pushed pass the teens and stormed upstairs."Wait Dad, it's not what you think!" Amy cried as she ran and pressed herself against the door. "Sonic just spilt some... sauce all down himself so he's just washing up."Frank didn't look convinced and reached for the doorknob went it suddenly swung open and a fully blue Sonic stepped out."Sorry sir, I just got something on me and Ames let me use her bathroom." He quickly said. Frank continued to glare at him but said nothing and walked away."What happened to the pink?" Knuckles asked as Sonic's phone beeped."I don't know, but I gotta get to work, we'll talk about it later." He said before dashing off...Sally sighed in frustration as she walked though the marine park. She had been looking all over town for Emma Nets but it seemed that the old cat had vanished off the face of the planet. She had heard that she had been living with Sonic so that's why the chipmunk was trying to find him at his work to see if he would help her.Just as she arrived at the dolphin exhibit she was surprised to see Emma standing by the railings, watching the water mammals flipping in the water.She frowned as she got closer to the old woman."i know your secret, Emma." She said as Emma turned to look at her. "In the 50s, you rescued Richard Nets from a boat wreck, back then you said you didn't see anything but you did, didn't you?""I saw you and your brother sink my boat." The cat glared just as Sonic came out a small shack with two buckets of fish."Stop playing games, you know something about the creature, you've seen it too!" Sally exclaimed, starting to get annoyed."I know a lot of things, but you don't, you're young and stupid." Emma replied calmly as Sonic rushed over."Sal, leave her alone, you're scaring her." He frowned."I'm just asking her questions." She replied. "I need answers, this is all I can think about she knows something about the sea creature.""I want you to leave her alone." The blue hedgehog said and glanced towards a security office eyeing them closely. Sally noticed the officer as well and glared at Emma."Fine, if you don't want to talk to me, then I'll just have to have an enough look at your boat." She growled and stormed off. Once she was gone, Sonic turned to the old woman."Are you OK?""She's going to my boat." She muttered as she started in the direction Sally had gone."But there's nothing on the boat, is there? She'd be wasting her time, right?" Sonic smirked, but it dropped when Emma remained silent. "Right?"..."There are photos?" Tails asked his best buddy. They were all in Sonic's room, discussing what to do about Sally Acorn."Yeah, and stuff like books and jewellery from the sea fae city where Emma grew up in with proof that she once had a tail, it's in an old middle chest." Sonic explained."So that doesn't mean she's gonna be able to open it." Knuckles shrugged."Do we really wanna take that chance?" Amy frowned. "What are we gonna do? I gotta get back to work and we need to find Sally."...Sonic and Tails were walking on eggshells as they snuck their way through the docks to the Acorn siblings' boat. While Amy went to work Knuckles was given the task of finding Sally and distracting her while Tails slowed down her boat. As the fox knelt down by the motor, Sonic was anxiously looking around to make sure no one was coming.Suddenly the boat gave a small jolt and Sonic saw Tails standing up with three small wires in his hands."What did you do?" Sonic asked."Know anything about motors?" The kitsune grinned."No." He replied and the fox's grin faulted slightly."Well then, think of it as magic, this is only gonna delay Sally for a while, so you should get going." He explained and Sonic nodded before jumping into the water...Sally sighed as she attempted to convince her brother to help her dive down to Emma's boat to investigate. But it seemed that the older Acorn was not as excited to return to the wreck."Sally, there's no proof that there is anything on the boat, and even if there is it's probably been badly water damaged or washed away by now." He sighed as he took another gulp of his juice."We don't know until we try." She argued before leaning in. "Look, I'm on to something, something big; and remember when you were looking through the boat the first time and saw all those weird things?"He turned to his sister to tell her no again but saw that she was serious and seemed to have a desperate look in her blue eyes. Truthfully, he was still thinking about the creature that saved her and he thought that a quick look in the boat again couldn't hurt."Alright." He sighed in defeat. "Let's give it a try."...Sonic kept his eyes peeled for the boat on the ocean floor as he grew closer to Pistris Island. As he tore through the water he glanced at his arms and came to a sudden stop when he saw that his fur was pink again. He growled in anger but decided to do something about it later. He looked down and smiled when he saw Emma's boat sat on the rocky sea floor.He looked around to make sure there was no one around before diving down.As he came up to the doorway he had broken he saw that inside the boat was like it had been frozen in time. Everything was exactly like he had last saw it with a few broken plates and broken windows. He moved toward the small bedroom and saw a metal chest with strange symbols engraved into it with a padlock on the front.He smiled when he saw the chest."Jackpot."...Sally groaned in frustration as Elias tried to get the boat started. They were all geared up for their little dive when her brother said the boat's motor was playing up. She grew to annoyed with his attempts and pushed him out of the way."What are you doing?" He frowned as he watched her probing the wires in the motor. She didn't say anything to her older brother and focused on the task at hand. Just then the motor loudly purred to life and the chipmunk smiled with pride as she sat back.Elias didn't say anything and directed the boat towards Pistris Island.Using only their blurry memories they eventually came to a stop around the area they believed the boat sank. They quickly geared up and shared a look before diving into the icy cold ocean. After the foamy bubbles cleared from their sight they looked around and saw the old boat on the sea floor directly below them and Sally cheered internally as she and her brother swam down towards the wreck.Suddenly Elias grabbed her arm and started shaking and pointing towards a few silhouettes of sharks in the distance, swimming at them.As they got closer however, the siblings realised that they were harmless Caribbean Reef Shark. After calming down, they turned back to the boat and almost cried out at what they saw. They saw a pink Sonic casually swimming out of the boat with a chest in his hands, but thankfully he was facing away from them so they couldn't see his face.As they examined his figure they immediately recognised the tail fin as the one that saved them.Suddenly Sonic dashed through the water and disappeared in the watery distance, leaving only a faint, bubbly trail behind him...Back in Sonic's room Emma had given them the key to unlock the chest and see what was inside. They found some old, thick books that Tails was reading as well as some seashell jewellery, weapons made out of shells, metal and fish bones and black and white photos of Emma and Richard as teenagers, some of which showed Emma with a tail."Do you think she looks happy?" Amy asked as they looked through the pictures."Spectacularly, stupidly happy." Knuckles replied."Do you think we ever look like that?" Tails asked."Hope not." Knuckles said and went back to looking at the old weapons."What do you think it was?" Sonic suddenly asked. "You know, that maybe her trust that he wasn't going to tell people about her secret?""Not sure, why are you asking?" Amy asked, a slight shot of fear in her."Nothing." He quickly dismissed. "It's just that, secrets can tear people apart and I've all got secrets.""Well you know can trust us, right?" Tails asked."Yeah and people who trust each other do things with each other." The blue hedgehog smirked."I smell something coming." Amy sighed."I want my fur back to normal!" He exclaimed."No one even knows you're pink, it's only when you're a sea fae." Knuckles laughed."Yeah, I know, but that's enough for me, I hate it!""What about change?" Tails grinned and Sonic sent him a death glare."Change is overrated."...It took an hour but they were able to reverse Sonic's pink fur to his beautiful blue colour. As they made their way towards their usual hangout at the juice bar Knuckles couldn't stop cracking jokes about Sonic's pink fur, this of course earned him death glares and the occasional slap upside the back of the head from either Amy or Tails.Thankfully he stopped by the time they arrived at the cafe, and it's a good thing too.When they entered they saw that everyone was gathered around Elias and Sally, listening to their latest find at Emma's wrecked boat. The gang didn't think anything of it and got their usual drinks and sat in their booth at the other end of the cafe, listening in from afar; but what they heard next shook them to their core."I'm telling you this was more than just a shape or shadow, I saw him as clear as day, a merhog with pink fur with this long blue tail." Sally exclaimed as everyone in the bar look spectical.The gang looked at Sonic and saw the poor blue hedgehog was on the verge of a panic attack. The blueberry smoothie in his had had turned into solid ice and his hands, their glasses as well as the table were starting to form frost.Luckily no one seemed to notice."We're going back out there." Elias added with a determination that scared Sonic. "This is real, now, there is a merhog out there and I'm gonna prove it who's coming with us?""A merhog?" Scourge laughed."Have you gone completely insane?" Fiona cruelly added."So what exactly did this merhog look like?" Jet asked."He had pink fur." Sally replied"Was he cute?" Breezie asked."Old or young?" Bunnie added."I-I don't know, I didn't see his face, but I'm told you there was something about that old cat." The chipmunk frowned."Emma Nets has black fur, Sally, she's not your mermaid." Mighty called out."Yeah, maybe not, but she's somehow connected.""I think the oxygen got cut off through your brain." Scourge laughed and Sally stormed out. Once everyone went back to doing their own thing, Sonic and his friends leaned in to discuss."They saw you, how?" Amy hissed."Must of been when I was coming out the boat, I was careless and an idiot." He groaned."Hey, don't beat yourself up about it." Knuckles reassured. "I mean look around, no one's gonna believe them.""They're not gonna let it go either." Amy frowned."Alright, look,as long as you don't go in the water, they can't find you." Tails suggested. Sonic didn't say anything as he set his icy drink down and suddenly dashed out the bar, startling his friends...Sonic ran as fast as he could until he found Sally on the boardwalk, staring out into the ocean again. He came to a sudden stop and almost slammed right into her. When she saw who it was she turned to walk away."Sal, Sal wait!" He called out."What?" She glared and he flinched slightly."Look, I wanna go out with you." He started and he saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "But the merhog talk stops, that's the deal, take it or leave it." He said and he could almost hear the gears turning in her head as she thought about his offer."OK, no merhogs." She smiled before pulling him into a kiss...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sonic and Sally laughed as they walked through the mall with their ice creams. The two of them had been happily dating for two weeks and people were shocked by this news. Most of the other kids at school and her own brother couldn't understand why Sally, a rich and popular girl, was dating a 'nerd' like Sonic.Sonic's friends, mostly my, were worried that the red head would figure out he was the sea fae she saw and tell the world about their blue friend.But Sonic dismissed their fears. He was enjoying his time with Sally and he truly felt like a normal teenager again. Sally suddenly leaned in for a kiss, only for them both to freeze when the heard a splat. They slowly looked down and saw that Sonic's strawberry ice cream and collided against the chipmunk's purple blouse.Sonic panicked at first, but it melted away when he heard her laughing."Bad move." She laughed as she wrapped one arm around his shoulders and playfully raised her own ice cream up to his face. "Say you're sorry.""No." He laughed as he leaned away from the icy treat."Then accept the penalty!""No!" Sonic laughed again as he broke free and the two ran around the mall until their ice creams had melted and they quickly threw them out."So, what are you doing later on?" She asked and he just shrugged. "Do you wanna come out on the boat?""Maybe another day." He replied with a nervous chuckle."You always say that." She frowned before smirking. "You never know, we might see a merhog.""Sal, forget about the merhog, I'm not coming out on the boat!" He glared."Why?" She growled. "What is it with you? Why you always so secretive?""I-I just don't like water." He lied to his girlfriend when his phone suddenly beeped. "I gotta go, I'm supposed to be at work now." He said before dashing off...Amy Rose frowned as she made her way towards Sonic's house. She was angry and worried when her blue friend told them that he and Sally Acorn had started dating. She had been worried because of the chipmunk and her brother already claiming to have seen the blue hybrid when he was in his other form and believed that he was being reckless and stupid.When she knocked on the door she was surprised when Emma Nets opened the door."Hello Miss Rose, to what do I owe the pleasure." She smiled."Is Sonic home? I want to talk to him." She replied and the older woman chuckled."You mean you want to talk him out of dating Sally." She corrected and Amy dropped her head in shame. Emma didn't say anything and let the pink teen inside and into the living room."I-I know I should be happy for him but I'm worried for him." Amy sighed."I know the feeling." She replied and pulled out one of the old books they had found in the chest. The old cat flipped through the pages and stopped on tow pages that should two girls around Amy's age. One was a tall, black jackal and the other was a yellow cat."Who are they?""My daughters Karen and Gracie." She replied with a sad sigh. "They had inherited my sea fae powers, as well as tails, they were just like Sonic and you kids, it was exciting, unbelievable, magical; they shared the secret and the adventure, I don't have to tell you how special it is." She smiled at the teen, who smiled back..."So how are things between you and Sally." Tails smiled as Sonic walked through the marine park with two buckets full of fish for the dolphins. While Tails was worried about his big brother dating Sally, he knew that Sonic was stupid and would be careful."It's great, I don't think I've been more relaxed since learning about my Mom's secret." He replied. "...and I told her I was her 'merhog saviour'.""WHAT?!" Tails cried, but flinched when few people looked over at them."Kidding." The blue hedgehog laughed."That's not funny." Tails frowned."Why not, it's my secret!" Sonic growled just before he felt someone grab his arm and pushed him into the railings of the dolphin exhibit. He looked up and saw Scourge smirking at him with Fiona and Jet."So blue-boy traded up, is it true ya dating the Acorn babe?" The green hedgehog laughed.Sonic glared at his lookalike but didn't say anything as he picked up the buckets and began to walk away. This angered Scourge and he pushed his in the back, causing him to stumble."Hey! I'm talking to you!""Don't you have a test to fail?" Sonic hissed, causing a few people to chuckle.Scourge bared his unusually sharp teeth and moved to hit the blue hedgehog once again, only to cough when he was suddenly splashed with a wave of icy water. Everyone looked into the dolphin exhibit and saw two of the dolphins whistling and clicking at Sonic. Shortly after he had gotten his job, Sonic had discovered that most of marine life seemed to really like him.Everyone else thought that the dolphins were acting up as Sonic's boss pushed through the crowd to see what was going on. After Tails explained it to her, she glared at the dripping wet hedgehog."You, get out of my park, your banned." She hissed.Scourge just huffed in annoyance and turned to leave, only to cry out when he suddenly slipped and fell face first on the floor, causing everyone to burst out laughing loudly. Tails looked at the ground and saw that Sonic had froze the wet ground under the bully's feet.He sent his best friend a disapproving look but the other just shrugged...Back at the blue hedgehog's house, Amy was still sat in his living room with Emma Nets, listening to the story of her two daughters."So, what were they like?" The pink teen asked as they flipped through the pages."Well, like sisters, they didn't always get along, so times they argued, sometimes they even lie to each other and to me and Richard." She sighed. "Karen was very headstrong, like Sonic.""So, she could be a pain?" She grinned."Oh, they both were but they were always close, until we found out that she had a boyfriend and she wanted to tell him everything." She sighed. "We tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen, she threatened us and there was nothing we could do because she was too powerful.""So who was this boyfriend?""His name was Karl, he was smart, funny, rich, a bit of a bad boy, but really good looking." She chuckled, bur frowned. "She told him everything; at first, he was very upset and he wouldn't see her at a long time; then one day he called, wanted to meet, we begged her not to go but she thought she could trust him, she thought he understood she's so terribly happy and so terribly wrong.""What did he do?""He wanted to expose her to the whole world; she went to meet him on the docks in her sea fae form, only for Karl to surprise her by pulling out a camera and snapped some photos of her, planning to expose her. Luckily, Gracie, Richard and I arrived just in time and threw the camera into the water, putting a stop to Karl's plan." She glared. "He tried telling everyone about us but people made a mockery of him, no one believed him. Karen closed up after that she never really got over the betrayal; I think it was some sort of eye opener for her." She admitted as she drifted off into her own thoughts."Do you think the same thing will happen to Sonic?" Amy asked fearfully."I don't know." She admitted. "But I do know that he needs you and the others, he doesn't know how much but he does, good luck."Amy smiled before giving the old woman a hug and ran off to find Sonic...Sonic and Sally laughed as they sat outside the juice bar with Tails sat nearby, feeling like a third wheel. He didn't know what to do other than looking around, trying to find away to escape. It was then he noticed an angry Scourge storming over to the happy couple. Before the kit could say anything, the green hedgehog violently grabbed the hybrid and dragged him away from the cafe."What the hell Scourge?!" He snarled as he pulled himself free."Ya made a fool of me at that freak show you work at!""You did that to yourself." Tails glared. Scourge hissed at the fox kit and turned to Sonic, only to smirk when an evil idea formed in his mind. He grabbed hold of the locket around Sonic's neck and snapped it off."I thought girls wore lockets." He laughed as he dangled it in front of the blue teen."Give it back Scourge!" Sally shouted as a confused Amy Rose came up to them and stood by Tails."Sure." The bully smirked and extended the old locket out to him, only to pull it back seconds before Sonic took it and flung it into the water below them with a cruel laugh. "Oops, now no one can have it." He smirked before pushing passed them.The four friends looked down into the dark water, but couldn't see the locket. Sonic made a mental note to get it later."I'll get it for you." Sally suddenly said and started taking of her jacket and shoes."Sal, what are you doing?" He asked, only to gasped when she suddenly jumped into the water!"What the heck is going on?!" Amy exclaimed as they all looked down at the water. The chipmunk suddenly burst out the water, gasping for air as she held up the locket with a smile."I got it!" She called up as she crawled out the water and ran over to her boyfriend. She happily held out the dripping wet locket to him and he went to grab it, much to Amy and Tails' shock."Sonic, it's wet." Amy whispered, but he ignored her. The second Sally let the locket go, he pulled his hand away and let it drop to the floor. His friends smiled in relief as he knelt down and, unbeknown to Sally, used his powers to evaporate the water on the locket."What's going on, you're all acting weird." Sally asked as he stood up and put the locket back on."Nothing, nothing at all." He smiled at his girlfriend. "Thanks."...Later that day, Sonic was sat in his room with Tails and Amy, laughing and joking about the day's events. Amy saw Emma looking in on them and the old cat gave them a knowing smile before walking away."You didn't honestly think that I was gonna give my secret to Sal, did you?" He asked them and they both shared a nervous look, causing him to laugh even harder. "You did? Come on guys, where's the trust?"All Amy and Tails could do was laugh with their friend...
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Sonic Maurice yawned loudly was he and Tails carefully hiked through the thick jungles of Pistris Island. Ever since Emma Nets had allowed the kitsune to examine and learn from the sea fae books Sonic had recovered from her boat, he had been trying to get Sonic to perform some of the techniques. Today the fox insisted that they needed to find a quiet spot full of nature, so they went to a stream not far from the beach."So, what we doing here buddy?" The blue hedgehog asked as he stifled another yawn."Well, according this book it's called 'Eolas'." Tails explained as he show Sonic the page he was looking at; Sonic copied the picture as he knelt down and placed his hand into the dirt. inches away from the water."It says you can't just look, you have to feel." The younger male added and Sonic nodded. "Feel what's under you, feel what's around you; if you can you'll connect to your oldest instincts, your primal nature, and then you'll know what Eolas is.""I'm trying to focus here." He snapped as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.He gasped as he felt a sudden jolt go through him as his eyes snapped open and his eyes started moving in all directions. Tails gasped when he saw that instead of green he was looking into moon blue orbs."Are you OK?" He asked as a smile spread across his friend's face and he was looking around in all directions."I can see everything, hear everything." He muttered as he looked to the left and saw a momma bird feeding her babies on the other side of the island and when he turned to the right he saw a fisherman's boat miles of the coast of the island."This is amazing." He smiled as he stood up, still in a trance.All of a sudden he took off running back towards the beach, laughing as he ran.Tails gasped and ran after his best friends. Sonic may of been the fastest thing alive but with so many trees and rocks blocking his way he couldn't build up enough momentum, but Tails was still having trouble keeping up with the blue hybrid."Sonic! Sonic, wait, not that way!" Tails cried, but he wouldn't listen as he disappeared into the green jungle. "Sonic, please wait! Sonic!""Whoo!" Sonic laughed as he ran onto to beach. He suddenly cried out in pain as he fell to the sandy floor, clutching his head tightly. He looked around and saw an abandoned lighthouse on the edge of a cliff a few feet away from him."Sonic! Snap out of it!" Tails screamed when he finally caught up with his friend. "You're too near the lighthouse!" He noticed when Sonic suddenly went limp in his grip. Tails looked down and panicked when he saw Sonic had passed out due to the pain."Sonic, please wake up!" He begged as he felt tears in his eyes. Sonic suddenly sat up, gasping for air. Tails sighed in relief when he saw that his best friend's eyes had returned to green."What just happened?" He asked as he started to get a dull migraine."The electrical signals in the lighthouse must of interfered with your powers." Tails concluded as he helped Sonic stand up. "You've got to be careful with this stuff." He added and Sonic could only nod..."You did what?!" Chuck shouted. Sonic and Tails had just gotten back to the blue hedgehog's house and explained to his uncle and Emma about what they had been doing."I don't see the problem, Unc." Sonic smiled. "It's amazing!""It's not amazing, it's dangerous!" Chuck glared."How would you know, if you've never tried it?" The younger hedgehog argued."That's not the point!""I'm sorry about this Uncle Chuck." Tails muttered. "It just went a bit wrong.""A bit wrong? He passed out!" Emma exclaimed."That's exactly why we didn't want you finding out about this nonsense." Chuck added."But I think Sonic's right, I think it was my job to tell him." Emma suddenly said calmly. "I've been there, I've done that.""You've used Eolas?" Sonic asked in shock."I dabbled a bit when I was younger." She chuckled."Emma!" Chuck glared at the old woman."What? It was fun, as long as you keep it in the wild." She shrugged. "He only passed out because of the electricity coming from the lighthouse, it's no-one's fault." She said but Chuck turned to glare at the boys."I think you better go home, Miles." He said. Sonic wanted to argue, but the yellow fox stopped him."See you tomorrow, Sonic." He smiled before leaving. As soon as they heard the door shut, Sonic turned to glare at his uncle."Well, that was rude." He hissed."I don't want you messing with it again, do you understand?" Uncle Chuck growled as Sonic stood up and made his way to his bedroom. "Eolas wrecks families, lives!""The only person wrecking things, is you!" Sonic shouted before running upstairs and slamming the door."Nice job, very supportive." Chuck growled at Emma...Sonic groaned as he calmly walked through the boardwalk. It had been a day since he had discovered the incredible Eolas and things at his house were very tense. That night he had heard Chuck and Emma arguing and he kept hearing them say something about 'Eolas' and 'Karen'. He hadn't used Eolas since yesterday but he really wanted to go back to Pistris Island and give it another go.He looked towards the beach and frowned when he saw Emma Nets sitting on a bench, staring out towards the ocean. He quietly walked over to her and sat down."Emma, are you OK?" He asked."Just lost in my memories." She sighed"Emma, how old were you when you first learned about Eolas?" He asked."I was around thirteen.""Why did you stop?""I met Richard." She smiled. "After we got married he was always one for emphasising the need to fit in with Mobians, for my own safety, and he was right about that; it's up to us to fit in, not the other way around.""I don't see why we can't fit in and be special." He frowned. "Can't you use it anymore?""I haven't been able to use any of my powers since the king stripped me of my sea fae side.""That's awful.""Well, it's not like I need them anymore." She sighed. "Before electricity, most sea faes lived in villages of the coasts of land and Eolas was just taken for granted; it was a way to stay connected to their homes when they got lost and it was also used to see danger such as sharks or fisherman.""So, why are you and Uncle Chuck so dead set against me using it?""Because it's supposed to be addictive and it doesn't work in the modern world, after land-dwellers moved closer to the sea and technology was installed into boats most sea faes had to abandon their homes to move deeper into the depths and some were in so much pain when they did use it that they would be unable to be aware of their surrounding so when danger was near... well..."Sonic shivered at the thought."Some people also say it drives sea fae mad." She added."Do you agree?" He asked and she sighed."I've seen it happen, but maybe it affects some more than others." She replied. "Like some people can control their emotions and appetites more than others can."Sonic just nodded and turned to the sea...When Sonic and Emma returned home, they were surprised to see Chuck packing up all the sea fae related items Sonic had recovered from the sunken boat into boxes."What are you doing?" Sonic asked."You're not to research anything on sea faes any more." He glared, much to their shock. "You're not using this stuff again until you promise me to my face that you'll never use Eolas ever again.""How dare you talk to me like that!" Sonic shouted. "I'm a sea fae! I'm allowed to know more about my heritage if I want to!""In my house, under my rules, you are a child and you'll do as you're told!""By sea fae standards I'm an adult! Not a child! And Eolas is mine to do what I want with it!" He shouted before running back upstairs."Sonic! Get back here! I am talking to you!" He called after his nephew, but all he got was the sound of a door slamming."You handled that well." Emma sighed."Yeah, well somebody had to!" He growled. She just sighed and walked away...Tails yawned as he groggery woke up to a thumping sound. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around his dark bedroom. As the fog cleared from his mind, he realised that the sound was from small rocks being thrown at his window. He went over and saw Sonic in his backyard with a rucksack on his shoulder.The fox opened the window and used his namesakes to quietly fly down to the blue hedgehog."What's happened?" He asked."Uncle Chuck." He growled. "Can you put us up for a few days?""Can I what?""Please buddy, he's driving us mad! I can't live with him any more!""Oh yes, because he'd never be able to track you back to my house, what was I thinking?" The kitsune replied with an eye roll. "Maybe you should just knuckle under and wait for him to calm down.""What's wrong with everyone?!" Sonic hissed. "All I want to do is live my life as a sea fae, which I am! I'm sick of being lied to and manipulated!""You know your uncle cares about you.""He don't care about us, he's just scared of me learning about my powers.""Sonic, it's two am." Tails groaned. "Stop being such a pain and go home.""Right." He huffed. "Well, thanks for all the support." He glared before turning to leave."It'll work out, you know it will." The fox called after him. "Where are you going?""What do you care?!" He growled before dashing off into the echoing night...The next morning Uncle Chuck went upstairs to see his nephew. He and Emma had waited for almost an hour for the blue hedgehog to come down stairs for breakfast but there was no sign of him. When he realised the teen wasn't in his room, Chuck began to tear the room apart"Some of his clothes are gone." He frowned."Maybe he just didn't feel like having breakfast with us." Emma shrugged."And his rucksack." He panicked. "Do you think he-""What? Run away?" She glared. "Can't say I'd be surprised."...After realising Sonic wasn't anywhere near the house, Chuck and Emma went looking for Amy, Knuckles and Tails to see if they'd seen him. They found the trio hanging out in the juice bar, but Sonic wasn't with them."Have you kids seen Sonic?" Chuck asked the second he came up to the table."I haven't seen him since late last night." Tails replied"You saw him last night?" Amy interrupted."He came to mine, but I told him to go home and he left.""We haven't seen him either." Amy added and Knuckles nodded in agreement."Don't worry, he's making a point." Emma said to Chuck. "We'll find him somewhere, cooling off.""We'll come with you." Knuckles said as he and Tails stood up."No! I'll find him." Chuck frowned."Chuck, please, their young and will be able to keep up with Sonic." Emma soothed. Chuck thought about it before sighed and the boys took off, leaving the girls alone...Emma and Amy decided to return to Sonic's house to see if the blue hedgehog had returned home, of course, he hadn't. They were currently sat in the kitchen, enjoying a nice cup of tea."Why is Uncle Chuck so scared of Eolas?" Amy suddenly asked and Emma sighed in defeat."Do you remember me telling you about Karen?""Your other daughter who moved away when she was a teenager?" She asked and Emma closed her eyes."She didn't move away, she ran away.""Why?""Because she discovered Eolas." She sighed. "It was all she talked about, all she cared about. She didn't have any time for me any more, or her family. She was playing truant every day and then she just vanished. Me and Richard had no choice but to call the police. As far as they were concerned, she was just another missing young girl, she still is, but we knew better.""What happened to her.""She swam out into the sea to live as a sea fae." Emma replied as her voice cracked. "As far as she was concerned the land-dwellers were cruel and heartless beasts and so she fled to the only place where she truly felt at home.""So Chuck's worried the same this will happen to Sonic?" She asked and Emma nodded. "Why did you never tell us this?""Because I keep thinking that she's going to come back." Emma sobbed as tears started streaming down her face. Amy felt her heart ache as she went over and pulled the old woman into a hug...Sonic giggled to himself as he swam through the waters around Pistris Island. He was happily using Eolas again and was enjoying the feeling, all the things he could see and everything he could hear. As he swam, he suddenly frozen when he saw Chuck, Tails and Knuckles nearby on the echidna's boat, obviously looking for him."Where could he be?" Chuck mumbled when the boat suddenly lurched forward to a stop."Stop traitors!" Sonic's suddenly growled, but they couldn't see where it was coming from. "You're supposed to be on my side! Our side!" He shouted angrily to his two friends."Sonic! You don't know what you're doing!" Knuckles exclaimed."No! You don't know what you're doing, helping him! This is who we are. This is what we're meant to be!""Sonic, listen to me!" Chuck pleaded."No, you listen! You lied to us! You knew about Eolas and withheld it from us! You withheld my birthright!""I'm sorry! It's my fault! Come out and we'll talk about it." He begged"That's all you ever do! Talk. To control and manipulate us.""Sonic! That's not true." Tails argued."How would you know?!" The hybrid snarled."You don't understand, Sonic! Eolas is dangerous, it's addictive!" Chuck cried."More lies! Eolas is our birthright, and I'll use it how I please.""Well, that's just it. You're not using it, Sonic, it's using you." Knuckles said."Come and get us then." He mocked before it went quiet again and they could see a clear foamy trail, showing the way Sonic was going.Knuckles immediately attempted to start the boat again, yet it wouldn't move. Tails went to check the rotor and growled when he saw that Sonic had frozen the rotor...Sonic laughed heartily as he left his uncle and best friends stranded in the middle of ocean with a frozen rotor. He quickly went back to exploring the bright, lively corals and playing with the dolphins.He was having the time of his life.He didn't know what Emma and his uncle were so worried about, he loved the ocean and his new powers, especially Eolas. If he could he would live down here forever, with no rules and no responsibilities.He was a sea fae and he deserved to live like one, in the ocean where he belong.Suddenly he screamed when pain unlike anything he'd ever felt before started ringing in his brain. He clutched his head and tried to focus on where the pain was coming from, but that seemed to make the pain worse.The last thing he felt was the feeling of dozens of fish swimming passed him before everything went black...The first thing Sonic felt when he finally regained consciousness was the sharp ringing pain that was pounding around like a hammer in his skull. It was bad enough to make him throw up and pass out again. It was a miracle he remained conscious. The second thing he noticed that he was surrounded by dozens of panicked fish, who all seemed to be crammed into a ball of somesorts around him.He tried to swim out of the school when his fingers suddenly became tangled in something.He gasped when he realised that it he was trapped inside a fishing net. He then saw that it was one of those illegal fishing nets. The blue hedgehog began to panic as he twisted around, pulled and bit at the thin wires of the net, which were starting to cut into his fingers and the palm of his hands. He knew that he was in terrible danger.Up on the surface, the fishermen were checking the nets when they saw Sonic's shadow in the water.Thinking it was some sort of shark or a dolphin, one fisherman quickly grabbed his spear gun and shot into their large catch. Sonic tried chewing threw the nets but that didn't help either He suddenly let out a cry of pain when he felt the spear clipped the right side of his tail, close to the fins, and the water around him started to turn red with his blood.The fishermen frowned when the blood clouded the waters, blocked their view of the creature.All they could make out were the smaller fish. The other fisherman decided to pull the nets up to see what they had caught and his partner held his spear gun at the ready. Sonic went into a full blown panic mode when he felt the net slowly being lifted out of the water. He tried to move but he had little room and his tail was really hurting.The fish were becoming more frantic when they sensed his blood.He started having flashbacks to when one of Amy's Dad's employees were illegally fishing sea turtles and he end getting caught up in the nets. Except this time his friends weren't there to save him. As the net rised out of the sea, the fishermen's widened when the saw an unusual, bloody tail franticly swishing around through the net.As they were about to drop the net onto the deck, boat suddenly lurched forward and fishermen fell to slippery floor.Sonic also felt the sudden thud but he couldn't see anything through the fish. They sat up and their eyes widened when they saw an angry Knuckles, Chuck and Tails jump onto their boat. The fisherman holding the spear aimed at them, but Knuckles quickly grabbed the gun and punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.The other fisherman pulled out a small knife and started swinging at Chuck and Tails.Tails quickly used his namesakes to knock the man's legs out from under him. As soon as he fell to the floor, Chuck kicked the knife out of his reach and before he could react, Knuckles quickly grabbed him by the neck and dragged him down below deck with his unconscious partner. As soon as they were out of sight and Knuckles returned, Tails pulled the lever and the net dropped onto the deck with a loud thud.The fish scattered around them and Sonic, still in a panic, curled up into a defencive ball and puffed out his spines."Sonny-Boy, it's me." Chuck smoothed and Sonic looked over his shoulder as he uncurled."Uncle Chuck." He whispered in relief as he jumped onto the older hedgehog and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry." He sobbed."It's OK, lad." He reassured as he hugged his nephew even tighter. "You're safe now."Tails and Knuckles smiled as their friend pulled away from his uncle and gave him a teary smile."I am never using Eolas again."...
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Sonic and the gang laughed and joked as they sat in their usual booth in the cafe. Ever since the incident with Eolas, Tails had rarely asked Sonic to show him anymore of his sea fae powers, feeling guilty for Sonic's sudden wild act."So, have we decide what time is the party tonight?" Sonic smiled and Amy glared at him, which he just smirked off. "Ames, this is a tradition we're talking about.""I know, but I just don't see how we can have the party this year not with the recently developments." Amy replied as she gave him a nervous glance."What party?" Knuckles asked."Every year my Mom throws a party for me, only this year it's not happening because Sonic can't come; can't have heaps of people and drinks filling and tails appearing." She explained as she avoided Sonic's glare."When was this party suppose to be?" Tails asked."Tonight." She sighed."Look Amy, I know your scared for me, and 'cause of that you're scared of having your own party, I'm not scared of every drop of water I see and I can handle it, if I haven't been caught at work where I'm surrounded by water everyday then I can handle a party." Sonic reassured his friend.Amy stared at him for a moment, thinking, before she smiled and pulled out her phone."Hi Mom, I need you to start texting the invitations yes, all the people in the list." She smiled. Within a minute, almost all the teens in the cafe were looking at their cellphones and chatting about the invitations they had gotten."Hey, party at Amy's, did you get one?" Breezie asked Fiona, who was glaring at the gang from the otherside of the cafe."Why would I go to her stupid party anyway?" She growled before an idea and a sinister smile crept onto her face. "Why don't we go, you and me?""I don't think you're invited." Breezie pointed out."Come on, who needs an invitation?"...That evening Sonic and the boys went over to Amy's house to help her get ready for the party. When they got there they saw Amy and her mother preparing the food for the party."Are you sure people are gonna go for these?" Sonic asked as he held up one of the dozen of sealed plastic bottles."Sure, people will love them, individual bottles and it's lid will mean no spills." She smiled as her mom left."And these?" Tails asked as he pointed to the piles of towels all around them."I'll just say my Mom was doing the washing." She shrugged as her mother returned."The room looks great." She smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hang around.""Thanks Mom." Amy smiled."I'll make myself scarce, you have fun." She smiled as she left upstairs and seconds later the guests began to arrive.Amy smiled and happily greeted them as they started to flood the downstairs. Sonic and his two best friends just laughed a little before going to help themselves to the food. As the last of the guests started to get settled in the living room, Amy was about to shut the door when someone's boot suddenly blocked it.She opened the door again and groaned when she saw it was Breezie and Fiona."Breezie, fancy seeing you here, it's a delightful surprise and Fiona, I haven't see you in ages." She said with a forced smile. As they walked into the crowd, Amy went to find the boys. She found them in the kitchen, glaring daggers and Fiona and Breezie."I can't stand party crashers." Sonic glared as Amy joined them. "Do you want me to kick them out?""Forget it, I don't wanna make a scene in front of my Mom and what about you?" She asked. He just shrugged before Sally caught his eye."Hey Sal!" He smiled and he ran over to his girlfriend. Amy sent them a small glare, not remembering inviting Sally Acorn to the party, but her face quickly smoothed into a smile when she saw the couple walking over to them."Hey Amy, I just wanted to thank you and your mom for inviting me." The chipmunk smiled. Amy just nodded before excusing herself from the group and went to look for her mother upstairs."Mom, can I talk to you." She asked as she stepped into her parents bedroom. "Mom, Sally and Fiona weren't invited.""Well they're here now and I know you and Sally might not get on the way you used to be but she's a family friend, you should try and patch things up with her." Jane urged. "She's a lovely young woman, now you should get back to your party."Amy just growled and stormed off...Sonic and Sally laughed and happily drank their drinks as they enjoyed the party. Knuckles and Tails had decided to go and see if there was something to do, leaving the two love birds away. At the other end of the room, Fiona couldn't stop glaring at them, annoyed that no one at the party seemed to notice her but yet those two were having good time.She watched as Sonic took off his locket and gave it to Sally so she could have a proper look at it. Fiona smirked as she stood up and went over to them, ready to have a laugh."Hey, Sonic, why don't you show us your necklace?" She laughed, grabbing everyone's attention. Before anyone could react, she snatched the locket from the chipmunk. "It's beautiful." She smiled before he grabbed it back."What's your problem?" Sally glared."My bottle is just about empty." She smirked as she held up one of the sealed bottles Amy had set up.Fiona suddenly shoved the bottle forward and the juice flew out and all over Sonic's front. The hedgehog gasped as he dropped his locket and dashed into the closet under the stairs and shut the door seconds before he transformed. After getting over the shock, he moved to use his powers to change back, only to freeze when there was a knock and the door."Are you OK Sonic?" He heard Sally ask through the door."Yeah, I'm alright." He called back."Hey Sonic, the party's out here! He heard another guest called out and the handle to the closet began to turn."Are you sure your OK-" Sally started, but froze when she found Sonic bundled in one of Amy's large sleeping bags. "What are you doing?""Uh, just got a chill." He nervously chuckled.Jet suddenly appeared and pulled the blue hedgehog out of the closet and out into the crowded living room, where everyone was watching. Knuckles and Tails could only watch in horror as their friend was thrown to the wolves."Oh come on, I knew you were weird but I didn't think it'd be that bad." Fiona laughed cruelly as a few of her friends bent down to pull him out of the sleeping bag. Sonic closed his eyes tightly as he waited for the inevitable."AH!" Everyone suddenly screamed. Sonic opened his eyes and was shocked but relieved when he saw that he had accidently caused all the drinks in the room to explode just as Amy came back downstairs. It only took her a few seconds to work out what had happened."Oh no, not again." She quickly said with a nervous smile. "Every time this room gets hot and full of people something just happens to the air pressure and bang! There go the drinks.""Well those drinks just ruined my new top!" Fiona screamed as she was soaked from head to toe. Everyone just stood there laughing at her.As everyone was distracted, Knuckles quickly picked up Sonic and snuck upstairs to Amy's room. As Amy and Tails got everyone settled and cleaned up the mess Fiona sulked in the corner as she was still dripping wet. As she looked around miserably she noticed Sonic's locket on the kitchen counter by some towels.She wasn't lying when she said it was a beautiful necklace.After making sure that no one was watching she crept over and snatched the locket. Making sure that the locket was secured in her pocket, the fox started to make her way towards the front door, only to find Amy Rose standing in her way, glaring at her."Give it back." The pink hedgehog glared."Give what back?" She nervously asked."You know what I'm talking about." She hissed as she held out her hand. Fiona snarled before pulling out the locket and dropped it into the other female's waiting hand."Get out of my way, I've got better things to do with my time." She huffed as she pushed pass the pink hedgehog."Thief." She spat, causing the fox stop and turn back to her."Get over it, it's your word against mine and no one's gonna believe you; hey, some people might even think that you took it." She laughed before leaving, making sure to slam the door on her way out...After the party had ended and all the other guests went home, Sonic and the others were sat in Amy's living room, trying to relax. After finding out that Fiona had tried to steal the locket, Sonic wanted to go confront her, but Amy stopped him."Ames, I'm sorry about what happened." Sonic sighed."It's not your fault that you got wet." She smiled."No, but it's my fault you had the party, I was the one who talked you into it.""I'm glad you did, otherwise I'd be stuck in my room, watching TV all night.""At least you'd be safe from juice. right Sonic?" Knuckles laughed."Fiona's got some nerve taking this." The blue hedgehog frowned as he looked to the locker around his neck."Should we tell someone?" Tails asked but Amy shook her head."There's no point, like she said, it's my word against hers." She sighed."Thanks for getting it." He smiled as he and the boys decided to go home...
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Sonic smirked as he quickly hid behind some corals as he watched Tails paddling around, examining the reef. When the kitsune said he wanted to examine some of the reefs and fish around Pistris Island, the hedgehog happily agreed to come with him. He waited until the fox was distracted by some turtles happily paddling passed before the hedgehog suddenly lunged forward and grabbed his best friend by the shoulders.Tails wiped around and was ready to swim away, think it was a shark or something, but glared when he saw it was just Sonic laughing at him. The younger male quickly swam to the surface with his friend following close behind."Caught you!" Sonic laughed as Tails removed his snorkel mask."Did you now?" He frowned but started laughing with his friend."Wanna go to the moon pool?" Sonic asked as he looked to the island."Sure, I'll just get out and walk around." He smiled and went to put his mask back on before Sonic stopped him."I know a shortcut." He smirked before diving down.Tails quickly put his mask back and followed his buddy. As they swam, Tails kept a good grip on Sonic's shoulder as the blue hybrid swam through the small entrance under the water. As soon as they surfaced in the moon pool Tails quickly pulled himself up and at on the sandy floor next to the pool as Sonic leaned against the edge.The two best friends laughed, joked and splashed each other before they decided that they'd had enough. After using his powers to dry Tails and himself off and regain his legs, Sonic walked with Tails back to the beach where the kitsune's boat was docked."So, you got everything you need?" Sonic asked as Tails put everything in the boat."Yeah, that and a heart attack." He glared."Uh, yeah, sorry about that buddy." He chuckled nervously and Tails looked like he was about to say something when he stopped and looked to the sea behind Sonic. He quickly pulled out a pair of binoculars from his bag and looked out to a boat not far from the coast."That's Maria Robotnik's boat." He gasped...Immediately after they made it back to the town, Sonic went to tell Amy and Knuckles about Maria Robotnik's return while Tails went to confront the blonde doctor himself. Sonic soon found them hanging out in Amy's living room, playing video games."About time you guys got back; where's Tails?" Amy asked as they paused the game."OK, I don't wanna alarm you, but we've got trouble." Sonic growled. "What's-her-face is back in town.""You're gonna have to be a more specific." Knuckles frowned."You know, the blonde human who ran off into the sunset with the sample of my DNA, the marine biologist!" He exclaimed and the other two Mobians shared nervous looks."So what's Dr. Robotnik doing back here?" Amy asked."I don't know, but her boat was anchored off Pistris Island this afternoon." He sighed as he sat down, thinking...Tails anxiously swallowed the heavy lump in his throat as he walked through the docks, towards Maria's boat. He hadn't had any contact with the scientist since he had deleted her research on Sonic's DNA and she'd left the town. As he stood by the boat, he saw the human woman taking plenty of notes as she watched as screen.When she noticed the kitsune she smiled and put the notepad down."Miles." She smiled as she let the fox onto her boat."Dr. Robotnik." He smiled back as they shook hands."It's good to see you.""Yeah, likewise, what brings you back this way?""Oh just research, coral analysis, fish population counts, pretty boring stuff; why? Are you interest in some work?" She smiled as Tails took a look at her charts and notes."No, it's not really my thing." He chuckled nervously."Yeah, I guess it'd be very dull compare to that cell sample." She smirked and he felt his heart dropped into his stomach."What cell sample?""Oh, you know with the groundbreaking cell sample that I experimented on only to have you to delete the results.""Oh right, that cell sample.""I'm sure you only did it because you know a scientific breakthrough when you see one.""No, I did it because it was my property." He glared."Fair enough, I'm too busy with all my highly paid, boring research anyway." She shrugged."OK, well I gotta get going, see you." He quickly said and speed walked away...After speaking with the doctor, Tails sent a quick message to Sonic, Amy and Knuckles to meet him at the juice bar to talk about Maria. Within ten minutes they had arrived and were interrogating the poor kitsune. After a minute of twenty questions he raised his hand to stop them"It sounds like a standard environmental research." He finally said."And if it isn't?" Knuckles asked."She has no reason to lie and I've seen her charts, and it just looks like basic statistics, you're safe, I'm sure." He reassured his best friend."As sure as you were when she almost saw his DNA, or surer than that?" Amy frowned."What Ames' trying to say is that it's not exactly a warm and fuzzy feeling having a marine biologist poking around Pistris Island." Sonic said, but they all froze when they saw Elias Acorn walking over to them."What's this about Pistris Island?" He asked."Nothing." Knuckles glared."I heard you talking about Pistris Island, something about a marine biologist." He pushed."Yeah, there's just some hot short marine biologists poking round out there, nothing special." Scourge shrugged from the other side of the cafe. Elias frowned before dashing out...Elias Acorn quickly made his through the docks towards Maria Robotnik's boat. When he got there he saw a large human man examining some samples on a lab table."Dr. Robotnik?" He asked and the man looked up at him."No, I'm Greg." He said as Maria stepped up from the stairs."I'm Dr. Robotnik." She smiled."You're Dr. Robotnik?" He asked in shock."That's right, and you are?""I'm Elias, Elias Acorn.""Ah, Elias Acorn, I've heard about you and your sister." She smiled. "You two are the ones obsessed with mermaids?""That's me.""I see you're not shy about it.""Why should I be?""Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but mermaids don't exist.""They're real." He glared. "I've seen one with my own eyes.""Oh, really?""I'm used to people not believing me.""Science's about observable fact, Elias, not fantasy." She smiled."Exactly, keep searching around Pistris Island, you might be surprised by what you observe." He said before leaving."Thanks for the tip." She laughed before getting back to work...Back at the cafe, Sonic and his friends were still debating what to do about Maria Robotnik. Even though he knew that Tails was probably right about the doctor, but he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling."She's just taking water samples and counting fish populations." Tails repeated. "There's nothing dangerous to you.""I just have a bad feeling about it." He sighed."That's all it is Sonic, she's got a reputation to look after and the concept of mermaid hunting is a little far fetched." He smiled and Sonic just sighed...Back with the doctor and her assistant Greg, they were swimming in the waters around Pistris Island, setting up small motion cameras. With these she could get an accurate count of fish.As Greg continued setting up the cameras, Maira swam around until she found herself face to face with the dark entrance to the moon pool.She motioned for Greg to follow her inside. Once they surfaced in the cavern, Maria was in awe of it's beauty. As she and Greg climbed out the pool, Maria suddenly noticed something small shining on the edge of the pool.She bent down when she realised that it was a dark blue fish scale. As she carefully picked it up, Greg came over."What is it?" He asked. "Some kind of fish scale?""I've seen an awful lot of fish scales, Greg, but never one quite like this." She smiled...As soon as they made it back to the lab on the boat, Maria quickly placed the scale on a slide as she carefully started to dry it off."Now, once I've dryed it completely,we'll take a small sample." She explained to Greg as they started watching the scale. After it was completely dry, they froze when the scale suddenly transformed into a small piece of skin with tiny stubs of blue fur peeking through."Is that skin?" Greg asked in shock."Quick Greg, pass me the scalpel and tweezers." Maria said and quickly cut a small piece of the sample off and placed it on another slide. and under the microscope, showing the sample's cells on the computer screen. "Now we just add water." She said and used a syringe to drop of few drops of water onto the sample.Ten seconds later, Greg and Maria watched in stunned silence when the cells on the screen suddenly changed their structure."It's amazing, it's entire structure changed on contact with water." Maria grinned from ear to ear."That's impossible." Greg muttered in shock. "I've never seen anything like it.""I have."...Back at the cafe, Maria walked inside and started looking around until she saw Sonic and his friends, talking in their booth. When her and Sonic's eyes met, the hedgehog froze and pointed her out to his friends as she walked over to them."Miles, I'm sorry to interrupt but can I have a word?" She smiled."Uh, yeah, sure." He gulped as he stood up and they walked to a quiet corner of the juice bar. As they walked away, Sonic and his other two friends shared nervous looks."I like you, Miles, you're smart." She started, but Tails just rolled his eyes."Can you please just cut to the chase, doctor?" He frowned and she sighed."OK, I need to know about that cell sample you had last time I was in town.""No, I don't have time for this." He glared and moved to leave when she stopped him."Well I've found something similar, on a big fish scale from Pistris Island from some strange pool it the volcano." She said and Tails felt his heart turn to ice as it dropped to the ground. Seeing his reaction, Maria smirked."Good to see I finally got your attention; see, the cells that I extracted from the scale are too similar to the cells from your sample, there's no way it's a coincident.""Well, I got mine from seaweed on the beach." He quickly said."I don't believe you.""Believe with what you want, I can't help you." He glared at her."Alright, sorry for the interruption." She glared before leaving. Once she was gone, Tails quickly went back to the booth. As soon as he sat down, his friends pounced on him."What was that about?" Sonic asked."What did she say?" Amy frowned."Do you think she's pretty?" Knuckles grinned, but flinched at the glares he received."There's a possibility that she may have... uh... well... she hasn't got anything,but she found this cell sample from your tail." He shook as he shifted away from Amy."What?!" Sonic cried."From the moon pool." He added."This is really bad." Amy glared."Look, I know it looks that way, but let's just think about it." Tails tried to reassure."She has unusual cell samples!" Knuckles exclaimed."She can't link that to Sonic!" He promised. "We just have to make sure she doesn't find out about his sea fae side.""Hope so, buddy." Sonic sighed...At the Acorn Manor, Sally was happily swimming in the pool as Elias was sunbathing in on of the deck chairs nearby. As they relaxed, their father Nigel came outside with his briefcase."Right kids, I'm off." He said before glaring at his two children. "Why are you lounging around? How about you clean the pool or do something useful for a change!" He growled before leaving.As soon as he left, Sonic walked though the get. The blue hedgehog want to have little breather with everything with Dr. Robotnik going on. When Sally saw him she smiled and swam over to him. As she climbed out the pool, Sonic was careful to keep his distance as she reach for a towel."Have you seen the marine biologist?" She suddenly asked."Yeah, I met her lat time she was here, jealous?" He smirked."No, just curious." She smiled."She's just conducting research, counting fish, that sort of thing, nothing interesting." He shrugged."Really?" Sally frowned. "I heard she was on to something big.""What?" Sonic panicked, not because of what she had said, but of Elias, who had heard what they had said and was coming over to them."She told me she didn't find anything, she told me she was just counting boring fish." Elias glared before turning to his sister. "What have you heard?""She could be wrong." Sonic quickly said, earning a glare from his girlfriend."I knew it, she just try to rip me off, she knows something about the mermaid!" He growled."What? Really?!" Sally gasped, slightly hopeful."Sal, why can't you just let that go?" Sonic frowned."Because it's real!" Elias challenged, but Sally quickly got between."I'll talk to you later Sonic." She quickly said before she and her brother quickly left to find Maria...Back in Amy's room, Sonic was just sat by her window, staring outside as he thought about what to do about Sally. He wanted so badly to tell her about his secret but he couldn't help but feel scared about her reaction. He kept thinking about what had happened with Emma Nets' daughter and how her boyfriend had betrayed her.He just didn't know what to do."Dr. Robotnik is definitely up to something." Amy glared. "She told two different things to Tails and Elias, she obviously lying to one of them.""I knew she was a trouble." Sonic mumbled, loud enough for them to hear. "She's gonna catch me and study me like a freak put me in a tank and see if I can talk to fish! Then cut me up into tiny bits and pieces and put me in the glass jar!"Sonic, calm down!" Knuckles exclaimed."Sorry." He sighed."Look, we need to find out exactly what Maria knows and I think I know where to start." Tails sighed...Sonic groaned as he swam as fast as he could though the ocean towards Pistris Island. Tails figured that if what Maria had said about finding the moon pool was true, then they'd have a better understanding of how close she was to discovering the secret.As island came up in his vision, he slowed down and started swimming at a normal speed.It was a bit dark down there but thankfully Sonic knew the area enough to know where the entrance was. However, as he swam into the cave, he failed to noticed the small, motion activated camera pointing directly at him...Maria sighed as she went over all her notes on the sample she had found in the cavern. She just could think of where it had come from, it was unlike anything she'd ever seen."So what have you found?" A voice suddenly demanded. Maria turned around and saw Elias and Sally standing there."I don't know what you're talking about." She shrugged."I've heard you got something big, and we wanna know what." Sally glared."Who told you that?"We know everything in this town." Elias smirked."I don't think so." A voice said. The two Acorns turned around and gasped when they saw their father glaring daggers at them."Dad?!" They exclaimed."Good afternoon, Mr. Acorn." Maria smiled."Wait, you two know each other?" Sally asked."What are you two doing here?" Nigel asked his children."What are you doing here?" Elias glared."Business now why don't you run along find something expensive to do?""Wait, I gave her a solid of lead and she knows something!" His growled."Let's get this straight, I have been funding Dr. Robotnik for an environmental study of Pistris Island." He explained."Daddy, this is bigger than that." Sally argued. "She's getting close to the mermaid!""Sally, this has nothing to do with you or your brother's crazy ideas." He growled before pushing passed them and walk to Maria. "Sorry about that, my children have some fanciful ideas, ignore them." He smiled, much to their annoyance. "Now, I hope your results are proving favorable.""Everything is pretty much what you've expected, although I did find something curious." She said, catching the Acorn siblings attention. "It's a cell sample I found in the area.""Where did you find the cell sample?" Sally asked."Really Sally, this is none of your business." Nigel glared, but Maria raised her hand to silence them all."I'm not sure what it came from, but I found it on Pistris Island." She explained.As she and the Acorns continued to argue about the sample, the computer suddenly bleeped as an image started to form; it was pictures from the camera outside the cave. When Greg saw what it was he could only stand there in shock."Dr. Robotnik, you might wanna take a look at this." He finally called and they all crowded around the computer. They all started in shock as the picture of Sonic in his sea fae form, swimming into the cave at different stages, appeared on the screen. Thankfully he was facing away from the camera so no one could see his face."We knew it." Sally gasped as she and her brother smiled in satisfaction."How's that for observable fact?" Elias laughed as Maria stared at the screen in shock...Back in the silence moon pool, Sonic could only stare on in cold horror as he looked at all of Maria and her assistant's footprints imprinted into the cold sand all around the pool. After a moment trying to take it all in, Sonic finally turned on his communicator watch and his friends' faces popped up on the small screen."She's been in here." He said as he felt a knot of fear form into his stomach. "That woman has been in here.""This is dangerous, she's too close." Tails said, nervousness heavy in his voice."You can't go there anymore, not now." Amy instructed."But this is my place, my special place." Sonic mumbled."Not anymore." Knuckles sighed."Knuckles' right, you have to keep a low profile, that means total locked down." Amy said."So no more coming here? No more swim with the dolphins? No more midnight swims?" Sonic whimpered."Nothing!" Amy growled. "No sea faes.""For how long?""As long as you have to, OK?" Knuckles asked."OK." Sonic sighed in defeat before hanging up. But before he left, he relaxed in the pool for a moment, trying to get everything down in his memory...Back on the boat, Sally and Elias couldn't stopping looking at the picture that Maria had just printed out. Finally, after all the laughing and jokes at their expense, they finally had some proof that they weren't crazy. Meanwhile, their father and Maria were examining the charts and discussing of what to do next about the 'mermaid'."We all need to keep quiet about this, the last thing we need is to have the media swarming along on Pistris Island." Nigel started before turning to his children. "Sally, Elias, can you keep this as a secret?""As long as there's credit where credit is due." Sally frowned. "We told you they were out there.""I know and I'm sorry I doubted you two, I was wrong and for that, I apologize." He sighed with a weak smile. Sally and Elias smiled and gave their father a hug before Sally left to go find Sonic"Remember Sally!" Nigel called."Yeah, I know, keep the secret." She laughed before she was out of sight. As soon as she was gone, Maria walked over to Nigel and Elias with another photo in her hand."Have a look at this." She said and handed the photo to them. "Another camera picked this up a mile off the coast of the island."They looked and could believe what they saw. This camera had a direct view of Sonic's face!"Unbelievable, I know this boy." Nigel gasped before looking to where his daughter had walked off. "I don't think we should share this with Sally."...
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next day, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles and Tails were sat on Sonic's deck with Emma Nets. The old cat just sighed as she stared out to the ocean that was pretty much Sonic's backyard."Pistris Island was here long before all of us, even before this town, and will be here long after we've all gone and long after this full moon." She said as Sonic groaned."Oh yeah, full moon time again tonight." He sighed. "Is it gonna be as bad as it was last time?""The full moon is a powerful force." She smiled softly. "But this time, however, it's even more so.""Really? How do you know?" Amy asked."I know." She chuckled."Not everything can be explained." Tails suddenly said. "Something's need to be taken on faith, right Mrs. Nets?""Right, Tails!" She smiled and the teens turned back to to ocean. What no one realised was that in the bushes nearby, Greg was quietly hidden as he took close up pictures of Sonic...Sonic sighed as he walked around the park, trying to clear his head. He hadn't been for a swim or used any of his powers since he'd gotten home and it was driving him crazy. What also had him on edge was the fact that Maria Robotnik was still hanging around, even though he was sure Tails said she would be done by now.Suddenly he felt someone grab his shoulders, making him jump. He whipped around and saw Sally laughing at him. He made a mental note to apologise to Tails for the trick he pulled the other day."I've been looking for you." She smiled as she hugged him. "You are not going to believe this.""I thought you told me to leave you alone." He frowned in confusion, but she seemed to ignore him."There are mermaids, I've seen the photo." She squealed like a kid in a candy store while Sonic felt his chest constrict in fear."W-What?" He forced out. "Where did these photo come from?""Dr. Robotnik, she's got these underwater motion activated cameras to count fish." She explained. "I was there when she downloaded the big one." She added as Sonic was starting to find it hard to breath."Look, we can't tell anyone yet." She said but smiled at her boyfriend. "But I had to tell you, isn't it great?""Yeah! That's amazing." He chuckled nervously. "Congratulations!"...Immediately after he and Sally went their separate ways, Sonic sent a message to his friends for an emergency conference at Tails' house. When they got there, they were horrified at when Sonic told them."There was a camera?!" Amy exclaimed."I didn't see it when I was swimming in." Sonic replied as he kept looking at the ground."It mustn't have been a very good photo, otherwise they would've recognise that it was you." Tails offered with a weak smile."Are you complaining about it?" Knuckles glared, but before the kitsune could say anything, his cell phone rang."Hello?" He asked, but frowned when he realised who the caller was. "Oh, it's you, why would you... can I call you back?" He panicked and hung up before looking at his friends. "That was Dr. Robotnik, she wants to meet me.""You're not going to go,are you?" Sonic asked."Sonic, I don't see why not, I mean, what do we got to lose?""You don't have a lot to lose, I have plenty!""Maybe if I talk to her, I can find out what she does know and what she doesn't." He offered but his friends didn't look convinced...Back on Maria's boat, the blonde scientist was looking through the photos her assistant had sent her and she was worried. She was currently looking at the recent photos of Sonic and Sally in the park. It was no secret that the two were a couple but that was what really worried Maria."Did you get the photos?" She said to Nigel Acorn on the phone. "Good, this presents a problem." She frowned when she noticed Tails walking towards her boat, but he wasn't alone. Amy and Knuckles had decided to come with their small friend for backup; but Maria decided not to make an issue of it, it wasn't really a problem."No, I don't think she know either, you should have told Sally about him." She hissed into the phone, then rolled her eyes. "Fine, you want to handle Sally yourself, be my guest, she is your daughter; later, Nigel." She groaned before she hung up and turned to the teens as they stepped onto the boat."Well, you certainly know all the tour spots." Tails smiled, trying to ease the tension."I like it here, there's no one from miles." She smiled as Greg handed her a photo. "So, Miles, you don't have that little cell sample anymore? The one that mutates on contact with water?" She asked as the kitsune took a seat."No, actually I lost it." He replied."Really? You wouldn't be holding out of me, would you, Miles?""Of course not." He said as Amy and Knuckles shared nervous looks, not liking where this was going."You know, sometimes I think you and your friends here actually know a little more than you're letting on, like your other friend for example, Sonic?""What about him?" He frowned."He's very interesting.""Yeah, well, you could say he's good company." Amy butted in with a cold, terrifying glare, but the doctor didn't seem fazed."That's not what I meant." She smiled as she opened the folder and Amy, Tails and Knuckles could only look in horror when they saw it was the picture of Sonic facing the camera in his sea fae form."O-Oh, it's a fake." Tails laughed but by now he was sweating a river. Amy slowly reached for her phone to warn Sonic, but Greg snatched it away without the boys noticing."It's nothing personal, Miles." Maria said. "This is business and this thing could be worth a fortune.""Well, you know it's been very nice chatting to you, but I should be getting home." Tails said and quickly stood up to leave, only to be shoved into his seat by Greg. He quickly looked over at Amy and Knuckles and gasped when he saw them being restrained by two other of Maria's assistant.So much for back up...Back in his bedroom, Sonic couldn't stop pacing frantically around as he kept glancing outside, hoping to see at least one of his friends coming to his house, but no one was there.He couldn't help thinking something was wrong, but then he remembered that Knuckles and Amy had gone with Tails. With them with him, he knew his best friends would be fine.Suddenly his cell phone beeped and when he looked he saw Tails had just texted him.
-Meet us at Pistris Island, urgent!
He frowned in confusion as he read the short text. What were they doing on Pistris Island? His eyes widened in fear, believing something had gone horribly wrong with the doctor...Back on Maria's boat, Tails, Amy and Knuckles glared up at Greg as they were sat in a small safe room below the deck. While Knuckles was securely bound to the ground, the other two were just handcuffed.Greg gave them a cruel smirk as he sent Sonic a text from Tails' phone."Nice phone." He laughed before locking the heavy steel door and went back up to the deck.About a minute later, there was a beeping noise coming from the radar. When he saw what it was he smirked."Dr. Robotnik, we got a shape on radar moving fast towards Pistris Island!"...Sonic swam as fast as he could toward the moon pool, still fearing the worst for his friends. As he swam through the entrance of the cave, he failed to notice two of Maria's men swimming down with a barred slab the size of the entrance. The quickly drilled into the side of the cave opening and attached the cage onto and firmly sealed it with a heavy duty padlock.As Sonic surfaced in the pool, he frowned in confusion when he saw that the cave was empty."Tails, Amy, Knuckles?" He called out, his voice echoing through the barren volcano. "Are you here?""Glad you could come, Sonic." Maria smiled as she and Greg stepped out of the shadows.Sonic almost screamed when he saw them. He quickly dove back to to the entrance and was horrified when he saw the cage, trapping him. Out of desperation, he grabbed onto the bars and started pulling and shaking them but they wouldn't budge. He growled as he left the bars and swam up to where Maria was waiting for him."I think it's time that we talked, don't you?" She smiled.Sonic glared at her before he used his power to rise an orb of water from the pool. Maria's eyes widened in shock as Sonic turned the water orb into a solid ball of ice and launched it at the scientist and her assistant. But they dodged it just in time, allowing it to shatter against the stone wall. Maria was stunned before she turned back to the hybrid."Before you do something you will regret, you should see this." She growled as she showed him her tablet and his eyes widened when he saw his friends locked away on Maria's boat. "Your friends won't be safe if anything happens to me.""What do you want from me!?" He cried."Dr. Robotnik! Dr. Robotnik!" A voice called from the other chamber and Maria smirked."Over here!" She called and turned back to Sonic. "You're just in time, you can meet the man who's been funding this." She smiled just as Nigel and Elias stepped into the light."Extraordinary!" Elias smiled as, much to Sonic's horror, Sally followed them in, excited to see what they had found; but her smile vanished when she saw Sonic's green eyes staring back at her."What is this?" She asked in shock before turning to her boyfriend. "Sonic?"The blue hedgehog didn't say anything and just lowered his head in shame and fear. Maria nodded to her men and they started bring in all the equipment, some tables and large lights. As the doctor and her family were distracted, Sally knelt down by the pool, causing Sonic to glance up at her for a brief moment before turning away."I... this... is not my fault." She finally said, still in shock."I wish I could believe that, Sal." He glared as he looked up at her. "But I don't.""H-How is this even possible?""It's a long story.""You could have told me." She sighed, hurt evident in her voice."See, that's where you're wrong." He growled. "You and your brother were the great mermaid hunters, shooting your mouth off about mermaids every chance you got, telling you wasn't an option." He sighed. "I thought we had something Sal, something bigger than this, but obviously I was wrong.""No, you weren't." She replied."Then do something." He glared."I can't, it's too late." She sighed as she looked to make sure no one was looking. "Daddy, Elias and Maria won't let this go now, it's out of my hands.""Fine, forget it." He hissed."Sonic-""Don't, right now you and all your friends disgust me." He snarled as he dived down into the depths of the pool to trying and get some privacy. Sally frowned in hurt, confusion and anger before she stormed out...On the boat, one of Maria's assistants was keeping watched over the boat as well as their little prisoners down in the bunker. As he paced around the boat, bored out of his mind, he frowned in confusion when he saw Sally Acorn coming over to the boat on her family's motor boat."I just need to get some more information from our guests." She said as she climbed onto the boat."No, I haven't been told about this." He glared as he grabbed her arm."Look, things aren't going according to plan,OK! Dr. Robotnik needs this badly, do you want to be the one to interrupt her?" She glared as she held out her phone.The assistant gave her a brief glare before handing her in key to the bunker and pointing her down below deck. As soon as she opened the door and stepped inside she could feel the rage coming from the three teens."We should've known you would be involved." Amy snarled as Sally shut the door behind her."Guys, you have absolutely no reason in the world to trust me right now, but-""If there was a 'stating the obvious' Olympic, Sally, you'd win the gold medal." Tails glared."You Acorn's are dirtbags, and you always were." Knuckles hissed."Look, I've done it really, really dumb thing, OK!" She cried in desperation as she picked at the locks of their cuffs. "But Sonic's in danger right now and I need your help!" She exclaimed as the cuffs fell off...Up on the deck, Maria's assistant was getting worried when he couldn't hear anything from the bunker. He wanted to call his boss to ask her, but he didn't want to disturb her from her work.After a minuet of debating calling Maria, he made his decision and reached for the radio.However, just before he could put the call through, there was a sudden thud and scream from down in the bunker. He quickly shot down and just as he opened the steel door Knuckles threw it open and punched him in the face, knocking him out cold.The second he hit the floor, Amy and Sally dragged him it the bunker.As they did that, Tails quickly ran up to the deck and worked to erase all evidence of Sonic's powers from the boat. He also downloaded a little surprise for Maria when she returned.After securing the assistant and clearing all information on Sonic, they rushed to save the blue hedgehog...Back in the moon pool Maria and her team were just finishing up as the marine biologist was getting ready for her experiments on Sonic. The blue hedgehog himself was anxiously waiting for the inevitable."We'll start with the basic physical for him." Maria explained to the Acorns as she organised her tools."What if he won't come out of the water?" Elias asked."We'll make him." She smiled, only to have Nigel grab her arm and lean closer."I don't want any harm to come to this boy, understand?" He glared. He and his son wanted answers as much as she did but they remembered that Sonic was still just a teenager as well as Sally's boyfriend."Of course, but we'll do what it takes to get what we need, Nigel." She replied as Sally walked back into the cavern."Glad to see you return, Sally." Her father smiled. She didn't say anything as she leaned down to the blue hybrid."We have known each other since we were five years old, Sal, how could you do this?" He glared, but she just smiled at him."Get ready to leave." She smiled and Sonic gave her a look of confusion.Unbeknownst to anyone, just off the coast of Pistis Island, Tails and Knuckles were removing and destroying any nearby underwater cameras as Amy hooked a thick, sturdy chain around the cage that trapped Sonic.Once everything was set, they made their way back to the boat and waited.Back in the moon pool, Sonic couldn't stop glaring at Sally, his trust in her almost completely gone."This better not be some trick." He glared."No trick." She reassured before jumping back as Maria and her family walked over to the pool."Ok, Are you ready Sonic?" She smiled as Greg came over with one of those animal control leashes; but Sonic didn't say anything and just stayed silent as he waited.Back on the small motor boat, Tails and the others were sat, shivering in their wet fur, as they waited. Just then Tails' watched beeped and he started the boats engine. Amy and Knuckles watched as the chain attached to the boat pulled and pulled but the boat didn't go any further. Tails gritted his teeth in frustration as he turned in motor up to the max.The boat suddenly shot forward as the cage was ripped from the cave with a loud metallic bang. The bang was so loud it echoed through the water and all the way into the cavern."What was that?" Maria asked as Sonic smirked."That was the sound of 'Goodbye'." He laughed as he dived down and dashed as far away from the island as he could get.Back in the cavern, Maria, and her team could only stare at the now empty pool where their most prized subject once was. As Maria tried to get her head around what had happened she noticed Sally just stood there, smiling at the pool; and that's when it suddenly clicked."You did this?" She growled as everyone turned to look at her. The red head didn't say anything as she just kept smiling. Nigel glared as he walked over to his daughter."What you've done here is unforgivable, you're a fool, Sally!" He shouted, but she just scoffed."You spent half of your life criticizing and patronizing me, have you looked at yourself lately?" She snarled as he froze. "When did you and Elias become liars and thieves?" She sighed before turning to leave, only to have Elias grab her arm with a face of fury."Do you understand what we've both lost?!""Do you?!" She hissed back as she pulled her arm back. "I'll tell you exactly what you two have lost, you've lost me." She spat before leaving...As soon as Sonic got home he found his friends and Emma Nets waiting for him. After explaining everything to the old woman she just sat there in thought as the hybrid paced back and forth."If I had stay I'd been in a circus by now, or sushi!" He cried. "What should I do? Do I have to leave town?!""We've really gotta help him, Mrs Nets." Amy added as the old cat sighed."Yes, and you're right Sonic." She said. "Those people are never going to let you alone.""So it's hopeless." He sighed. "There's nothing I can do.""I don't believe that." Knuckles growled. "If we can fight, we should fight!""Or, maybe you should just give up." Emma shrugged. "Your powers, that is, and being a sea fae.""What? I can do that?!""Only at special times, special moments, like tonight, as I say it's not just any full moon." She smiled as realisation hit Tails hard."Tonight's a lunar eclipse." He said."Exactly, the full moon is one thing, but the lunar eclipse makes it very special." Emma smiled. "If you were in the a place highly charged with potent sea fae magic, like the moon pool, during the eclipse, it will draw away your powers, forever.""No way, that isn't an option." Sonic glared. "I haven't gone through everything I have just to throw it all away!""I understand, but without you powers, you will be no use to those people, will you?""She is right." Amy sighed. "You don't have a choice."...Back on her research boat, Maria Robotnik was absolutely furious. The minuet she had returned she had tried to transfer all the data that she had gathered on Sonic's abilities onto the main computer with the rest when she was suddenly attacked by a powerful virus. It erased all her data and pictures and when she checked all her DNA and cell samples were gone as well.There was no evidence to back up her claims that Sonic was a sea fae.The only thing she had were her notes from last time she was in town but without proper physical evidence they were just as useless as her word. As she and Elias went over what was left of her research, Nigel suddenly walked over to her."I'm pulling out." He said, much to Elias' shock."Well, if you do that you won't be getting any royalties from the mermaid research." Maria shrugged, but deep down she was worried. Without Nigel's funding it would make capturing and containing Sonic much more difficult."I don't care." Nigel glared."Dad, have you seen Sonic?" Elias asked. "His powers are incredible!""Yes, I have seen what he can do, but I've been blind to other more important things, you and your sister for example." He sighed as he placed a comforting hand on his son's shoulder. "I think my energy is better to spent in putting things right, please son, leave this.""I-I'm sorry Dad, but I've been waiting for a moment this for months, a chance to prove I'm something, just think, me: the one who discovered mermaids, I'll be a legend! I can't just up and abandon that now." He said and Nigel sighed in defeat."Boss, there's an object moving fast, heading for Pistris Island." Greg suddenly said."Get him out here." She glared a Nigel as she, her assistant and Elias got ready to leave. "Let's move!"...Sonic took deep calming breaths as he dusted the sand off him.It was now turning dusk, the full moon would be rising soon. He walked over into the moon pool chamber and just stared at it as millions of thoughts circled in his head. He prefered swimming in but he was worried Maria had set more cameras or traps underwater. He looked around the chamber and all he saw were a few small lights she had left behind.It honestly looked like she had given up, but he knew she wasn't the type.He knew she'd always be hunting him, so that's why he had to do this, even if it was the last thing he wanted. He looked up to the dark, starry sky though the top of the volcano. Not too long from now, he'd be a normal teenager again, just like he once wanted when he first found out about his powers. He almost laughed, thinking this would last forever.He started thinking about what he'd miss the most about his powers.He thought about how he could swim through the water without worrying about drowning like he had feared when he was a child. He'd miss how he could make water to do anything he wanted. But if he being honest, he'd miss how cool it all was. He could feel tears in his eyes as he thought how he was about to give up the only real connection to his mother.Suddenly, near the underwater entrance, the water started to bubble and ripple.He frowned in confusion, not knowing if that was supposed to happen. But his confusion suddenly turned to fear when he saw Maria, Greg and Elias surface in their scobbergears."Stay right where you are." Maria ordered as they removed their masks and climbed out the pool. "We don't want to have to hurt you.""I wish I could said the same." He snarled as he extended his arm out to the pool.A tentacle of water slivered out the pool and shot at Maria, knocking to the ground, hard. Greg immediately climbed out the other end of the pool and charged at the blue teen, but Sonic moved his arm to the human man, causing at the water on his wetsuit to turn to ice, stopping him in his tracks. Sonic then turned to a fearful Elias and raised his hand to attack."Enough!" He suddenly exclaimed as he raised his own hands slightly, in a surrender gesture as Maria recovered and stood up. "I want you to consider an offer." Elias smiled."It's too late." Sonic snarled as the full moon moved directly over the top of the volcano, beaming it's bright light down into the pool and only the pool.They all stood their in shock as the pool started to glow and bubble, almost like it was water boiling in a pan. Sonic then took a deep breath before turning to glare at Elias and Maria."I'm giving my powers up." He glared. "When I enter the water, I'm giving up everything.""But why would you give up being a mermaid?" Maria asked in confusion."Because of people like you." He spat. "There will always be people like you trying to explored me, the only thing left to do is to give this all up." He sighed as he started to walk towards the pool."No, you can't!" Elias cried."Yes, I can." He replied, not even looking at them."Please!" Maria begged desperately. "If we work together-""Not interested." He growled seconds before he slowly leapt into the pool of water.When he surfaced again he was in his sea fae form but he noticed that he felt different, almost warm and tingly. He looked up to the bright full moon as it started to go get covered, leaving the cavern in darkness. Seconds later, as soon the first, ray of moonlight hit the pool, the cavern was suddenly engulfed in a blinding light. When Sonic opened his eyes again, he saw that he was underwater, he had a pair of legs instead of a tail and he couldn't breath!He desperately paddled towards the edge of the pool and pulled himself out of the still water.As he collapsed onto the sand floor, he coughed and gasped for much needed air. Elias and Maria just looked at him in shock and defeat. After he caught his breath, Sonic stood up on shaking legs and glared at them with tears gleaming in his green eyes."It's over, why don't you just go home?!" He shouted before walking away. Elias looked at the moon pool and then up to the opening of the volcano out of desperation.But all he saw was a starry night sky...The next morning Sonic just wanted to curl up in his room and disappear, but Uncle Chuck had other plans. He managed to convince his young nephew to at least see Sally as the chipmunk had been called the house ever since yesterday. Sonic knew his uncle was right, he and Sally needed to talk things through and clear the air.After shooting her a quick text he met her on the beach."I wanted to thank you for helping me." He said after they had been walking around for around five minutes in an awkward silence."It's the least I could do under the circumstances." She smiled before sighing. "It's over, isn't it?""The eclipse took away my powers forever, so yeah I guess this little adventure's over." He sighed."No, I meant us." She said and they stopped to look at each other. "Tell me the truth, did you just go out with me because you wanted to make sure I wouldn't find out your a 'sea fae' or whatever it's called?""No, Sal, I've had a crush on you since we were kids." He blushed. "I do love you but right now things are just too awkward between us.""I know, that's another thing I'm sorry about.""It's not your fault." He sighed. "Maybe we can just start over, as friends, and then when all this is far behind us we can try again?" He asked hopefully and she smiled."Maybe." She replied just as her phone buzzed with a message from her dad."So, you speaking to your dad again?" He grinned."Yeah, he's making an effort and so am I." She smiled."What about Elias?""He'll get over it, and so will the crazy doctor lady." She reassured before looking out towards the water. "You wanna go for a swim?" She asked but frowned when Sonic blushed and looked away. "What's wrong?""W-Well... funny thing... I-I never learnt... to swim with legs." He admitted and she just giggled."I could teach you if you want." She offered. "You should learn how to swim with legs, besides, it's very relaxing." She smiled. He smiled back at her and nodded. She quickly grabbed his hand and led him to a secluded part of the beach. They both quickly took their shoes off and laughed as they stepped into the water and the sand tickled their feet.But Sonic should felt a familiar sensation come over him as cried out as he suddenly fell forward. He looked over his shoulder and gasped when instead of legs his tails was gently splashing the soggy sand. He looked over at Sally and saw that she was just as shocked as he was."B-But how?" She asked."I-I don't know!" He blurted out. "Emma was clear, I gave away my powers!""Only for twelve hours."Both teens quickly turned around and saw Amy, Tails and Knuckles smiling at them, though Amy sent Sally a glare."What do you mean only twelve hours?!" Sonic cried."It's temporary." Tails smiled. "During a lunar eclipse the moon pool draws away your powers for twelve hours.""She didn't say that." He glared"She did to us, she said if you believe that your powers were gone forever, so too was Dr. Robotnik and Elias." Amy explained."It's funny because she told us not to tell you." Knuckles laughed, but he and the other two froze when they saw the look Sonic was giving them.Seconds later they suddenly found their feet encased in ice!"Come on, you can't do this!" Knuckles cried as Sonic used his boiling power to dry himself off."Next time you'd better remember who your friends are." He glared before turning to walk away with Sally."Where you going?!" Tails cried as he tried to fly away, but the ice was too heavy."A few hours here might teach you, no one messes with a sea fae." He laughed as he and Sally left the three stranded on the beach...
THE END