GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA

Characters © Respective Owners

Prologue: South Island Invasion

- South Island -

The scene opens at South Island. And on the island, we could see a party that was taking place near the docks. But this wasn't an ordinary party: It was Princess Aleena's eleventh birthday. Everyone on the island was happy as they were singing songs, drinking some rum, or having a good time eating food and drinking more rum at the same time inside the castle of South Island.

However, not everyone on the island was happy.

We move towards the island to get a closer look at everyone. We see one figure sitting on his throne chair. He turned out to be a tall crimson hedgehog with seven quills that were pointed straight from his head. He wore a flowing violet cape that had the symbol of South Island: an orange phoenix wrapped in a circle of red flames, bronze boots, that matched his eyes. And he also carried wore a bracelet that resembled mostly red shiny jewels. This was King Azreal, father to Princess Aleena. And right now, he looked kinda pissed.

"Argh...where the heck is Aleena suppose to be?" King Azreal grumbled angrily.

"Is there a problem, Your Majesty?" Lady asked. She was a violet hedgehog with green eyes. She wore white gloves, sparkling brass bracelets, blue glass heels on her feet, and she wore a thin light-blue dress that would flow easily like Azreal's cape.

"It's Aleena. She's not here for her party." King Azreal complained. "Where could she be?"

"I'm sure she's just running late, Your Majesty." Lady replied.

"I highly doubt it. She should've been here thirty minutes ago." King Azreal shook his head and smiled proudly. "Never mind. It's her loss. A king shouldn't feel bad on a special day, anyway."

But to himself, he still felt angry about Aleena. He wanted her to have a lot of responsibility, devotion, and dedication to her duties as the future Queen of South Island. However, Aleena's friends all had freedom, fun, laughter, and did anything what normal person would do. And Aleena always wanted to be like them, and not caring about her duties in the slightest. And it always angered King Azreal that his daughter never took things seriously.

For many centuries, South Island had a monarchy tradition. The firstborn child would always be known as the head king. But however for him, he had never had a son. Instead, his wife produced a girl, which was Aleena the Hedgehog. And even though he didn't expect this turn of events, he still wanted his daughter to be a responsible Queen of South Island. But much to his dismay, Aleena always tried to get away from those kind of duties, so that she wouldn't be tied down to that kind of life.

King Azreal decided to stand up from his seat and grab some rub to get that low feeling off of him. He went over to a nearby keg and popped some rum from the keg and gulp some of it down from his glass mug.

"Ah! Nothing like a good drink to wash down all your worries." King Azreal said with a grin. "It's good to be the king."

The scene shifts towards a cliff-side of South Island. We see a lone figure standing at the top of it. She was a young violet hedgehog who had short purple hair and jade eyes that gleamed brightly. She wore a gold headband on her head, a white tank-top that had a symbol that resembled South Island, blue clean slacks, and white and red tennis shoes. And she also wore a silver coin around her neck as a necklace. This was Aleena the Hedgehog: Princess of South Island.

Right now, we see Aleena with a calm smirk on her face as a calm breeze passed through her hair, letting flying across the wind.

"Ah, it feels good to get away from the guards." Aleena said happily. "There's no way anyone will find me up here."

"Are you sure about that? Because someone nearby could hear you." A familiar voice noted.

Aleena knew that voice all too well. She turned around to see another figure standing there with a small smirk on his face. He was an adult crimson chameleon with a black horn, as yellow eyes stared a few feet away from her. He wore a black training outfit, brown slacks, brown boots, and white gloves with a small symbol on the palms that resembled South Island. And the most noticeable thing about him was that he was wearing a red crystal pendant. This was Zed the Chameleon, whom was a guard in training. Aleena smiled nervously.

"Uh...hello, Zed?" Aleena greeted sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Zed replied as he stood a few feet away from Aleena. "You do realize that the king is looking for you, right?"

"Really?" She shrugged like nothing happened. "Who knew?"

"I did." Zed answered. "He wants you to come back down to the party."

"Why? So my father could just get drunk in front of me?" Aleena asked rhetorically. "Besides, there's nothing to do down there. I'd get bored easily."

"I'm sure the King would think differently." Zed said. "Getting away from your duties is one thing, but why one run away from your own party?"

"It's just everyone having fun at one place. I don't want to hang around there and accidentally getting drunk myself!" Aleena groaned at that thought. "I want to be myself. Not some washed-up princess staying in a castle room all day long."

Zed noticed the odd expression on her face when she made that statement. "You know, you are kinda acting jumpy today."

"I'm not jumpy, I just don't want to be around everyone else." Aleena told him. "I want to live freely. Live normally, like any other person could."

"While it is a nice dream, you have to face the reality of the facts. And the reality is that you are going to be-"

"I know, I know. Be the Queen of South Island, take things seriously, blah, blah, blah." Aleena mocked, not really wanting to talk about that subject. "That's what my father wants, and I know he doesn't care about what I want."

Zed realized now that this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would be. She was a tough girl, that one.

As Zed was still trying of a way to convince Aleena to come with her, we see a shady cloaked figure hiding in the shadows of the trees. The figure sees it's target as it pulls out a silver bow and pulls out an arrow, trying to take aim at the princess in an attempt to kill her.

"Well, you can't just stay up here forever." Zed said to her.

"I could." Aleena smirked. "Or I could just make a run for it."

"You better not..." Zed narrowed her eyes at her. "I'm your personal guard."

"Then why don't you try and keep up with me?" Aleena challenged as she prepared to jump off the cliff-side.

Just then, they heard a loud commotion coming from near the docks. Even the cloaked stopped himself when it heard the commotion, as well.

"Invaders! Pirates have invaded South Island! We must warn King Azreal at once!" One of the guards shouted.

Up on the cliff-side, Zed quickly pulled out his binoculars and viewed the scene at a closer look from the lens. Aleena looked concerned.

"Do you see anything out there, Zed?" Aleena asked.

After getting a good view, Zed pulled down his binoculars and turned to Aleena. "Oh yeah. There are definitely pirates heading towards this island. And the flag of that ship is lead by Captian Swift."

"Him?" Aleena raised an eyebrow.

"Quick!" Zed pulled out his sword. "Find a way back to the castle! I'll go distract the pirates. Just get to safety!"

"All right. Be careful." Aleena told him as she turns the other way and runs down the cliff, while Zed jumps down from the cliff-side and heads towards the docks to prepare for the on-coming pirates.

From the shadows, the cloaked figure watched the two depart until they were out of sight. Thinking the same thing, the cloaked figure disappeared from within the shadows.

Back inside the main room of the castle, everyone was in a panic when they heard from the guards about pirates invading South Island.

"Everyone, do not panic." King Azreal pleaded calmly. "I am aware that there are pirates heading towards South Island for an invasion, but we cannot be feared by such an invasion. We will stand tall and deal with this issue. So please, do not be alarmed. Everything will be perfectly all right."

"But they could pillage our homes!" One of the male citizens complained.

"Yeah! And they might even burn them down if they feel like it!" Another citizen added. "We can't just let them get away with it!"

King Azreal did not feel panicked by the citizens reactions. "Like I said before, everything will be all right, I assure you. Just remain calm, and this situation will be sorted out easily."

Some of the citizens had doubt on their faces, but if their King was telling the truth, then I guess there was no need to worry at all.

"Sire, what do we do against these pirates?" One of the guards whispered.

"Leave that to me." King Azreal whispered back. "I got it all planned out. Do you know who flags that ship?"

"From what our scouts could see, it looks like Captain Swift will be arriving on the island shortly." The guard replied.

"Very well, then. Wait for me near the docks. I'll be there shortly." King Azreal ordered.

"Yes, your Majesty." The guard nodded before leaving the scene.

King Azreal then made a sinister smirk on his face. "Oh, Captain Swift. I promise that you our confrontation between us will be your last."

We cut the scene towards the pirate ship, as we see it heading towards South Island. The pirates on the ship looked ready as they prepared to storm the island the moment they landed at the docks.

On the ship, we could see Captain Swift, whom was the head of the pirates. He was a tall dark blue hedgehog wearing a black coat, white undershirt, a red sash across his waist, a sword brandished at his side, and black tattered boots.

There were also two extra members standing near him. One of them was a blue hedgehog, whom had six contour quills. He wore white gloves, old brown tattered boots, a dark blue coat, a black sash around his waist, a red bandanna over his head, and a simple rope bracelet around his waist. And the most noticeable thing about him was that he had wore a blue crystal pendant around his neck. This was Gale the Hedgehog, son of Captain Swift.

The other figure was a small blue dog-like creature with red eyes. It's legs and torso were colored black. It's tail was blue and also had a yellow collar. There were rounded bumps on the backs of the creature's forepaws. As for it's attire, it was wearing a red bandanna around it's head, a tan coat, and yellow bracelets around it's wrists. This was Riolu. A friend and member of Captain Swifts pirate crew.

"So, what are we going to pillage today, dad?" Gale asked with a smile.

"Anything that we find, my boy." Capt. Swift replied with a smirk. "In fact, I have a special assignment for you."

"Really?" Gale's eyes lightened with interest. "What might that be?"

"I want you and Riolu to go and sneak around the island. Once you're there, I want you to go to that castle and take anything that you see." Capt. Swift told him. "And while you are in there, us pirates will be out pillaging the village."

"But what about the guards?" Riolu asked. "They won't be happy once we reach the island."

"That's exactly what I'm after." Capt. Swift said as he turned to his two crew mates. "You're not worried about me, are you?"

"No way." Gale shook his head. "I know you too well."

"That's what I thought." Capt. Swift grinned. "Now you better get going. We'll reach the island very soon."

"Right." Gale and Riolu nodded before running off towards a nearby boat and got on. The boat dropped towards the sea as they both began to swim towards a different location towards the island.

When they were gone, Capt. Swift turned towards South Island. Indeed, they were very close towards the island now. Any minute now, they would reach the island.

Back near the docks, Zed was able to make it along with a band of the guards that had just joined him. The guards were dressed up in silver armor while brandishing swords and shields.

"Get ready for an attack, everyone!" Zed warned them.

The guards got into stance as they braced themselves for the pirates arrival. After a short minute passed, the pirate ship landed next to the docks as the pirates began to rummage down towards the wooden planks, each one brandishing swords while having grins on their faces. And the last one to drop was Capt. Swift.

Zed growled angrily as Capt. Swift walked a few steps towards the chameleon before stopping.

"Ah, Zed. It's good to see you, my boy." Capt. Swift smirked. "How's it going, rookie?"

"Don't call me, rookie!" Zed narrowed his eyes. "And don't try any pleasantries, because you are not welcome here."

"But we're pirates." Capt. Swift replied with a wave of his finger. "We take whatever we want, whenever we want, and however we want. That is the one and only rule about pirates. Now you could either try to understand that, or-"

"Enough!" Zed fired at him. "Guards, attack!"

"Hold it!" A voice commanded.

Zed and the guards turned around to see King Azreal walking towards the confrontation. Zed was confused to see him out here as the King of South Island stood at attention for the guards and Zed.

Capt. Swift smirked grew wider. "King Azreal."

"Capt. Swift." Azreal greeted casually. "Are you here to try and pillage my very own island?"

"Of course. It's what us pirates do." Capt Swift replied with a shrug. "You got a problem with that?"

"As King of South Island, I obviously have a problem with this." King Azreal answered with his eyes narrowed. "Especially when it is my daughter's birthday."

"Oh really?" Capt. Swift raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't even bother to invite me?"

"You did get one. It must've went to the wrong address." King Azreal replied sarcastically.

"Oh well, bakers can't be choosers. What can you do about it?" Capt. Swift. shrugged.

To King Azreal's eyes, he knew exactly what he had in mind for Capt. Swift. And it wasn't some invitation that he was thinking of, either. It was something very...different.

Over at the forest, Aleena was still in the woods, trying find a safe place so that she could get away from the pirates that had already arrived on the island. But she didn't look worried in the slightest. In fact, she was enjoying herself.

"Well, this is fun." Aleena said with a smirk. "Nothing like a pirate invasion to help me have some fun for myself. In fact, I wouldn't mind letting this happen everyday."

As Aleena was in her own thoughts, she suddenly bumped into something in front of her. This impact caused her to fall down on her back. The thing, or rather the person she bumped into also fell on it's back. The violet hedgehog was able to get back to her feet while soothing the pain.

"Man, did I just run into a tree?" Aleena asked herself. "I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

But unknown to her, the person she bumped into was Gale the Hedgehog. Riolu was also with him as the dog-like creature helped his friend back up.

"Are you all right, Gale?" Riolu asked.

"I'll be fine, Riolu." Gale replied as he picked up his bag that he had dropped a moment ago. "But what the heck just bumped into me?"

Riolu could do nothing but stare at what he saw, and without blinking. "Uh...Gale, you might want to look in front of you."

Gale looks up, thanks to Riolu's word. However, what he saw really took him by surprise, as did Aleena. The two hedgehogs stared at each other wide-eyed.

"Who are you?!" Aleena asked nervously. "Are you one of those pirates?"

'Who, me? Why, yes." Gale smirked triumphantly. "My name is Gale the Hedgehog: the son of my father Captain Swift!"

Aleena grew worried when she heard Gale mentioned those words. "D-Don't you dare try to hurt me! I'm a girl, you know! You can't hit a girl!"

Gale's smirk disappeared when Aleena was in a defensive stance. "Hold on, there. I do not mean any harm. Honestly."

Aleena didn't believe him, because of the pirates own nature. She looked around to find something to defend herself. That's when she noticed a bottle of rum on the ground that had not been opened yet. She quickly reached down and grabbed it by the neck area. "I'm warning you! Don't try to hurt me or you'll regret it!"

Gale reacted when he saw the bottle of rum in her hands. "Oh crap. I must've dropped my rum without even noticing it." The blue hedgehog moved around while Aleena threatened him with the bottle, forcing Gale to move backwards a couple of steps. "Lady, can we talk this out? I seriously am not going to hurt you!"

But Aleena still didn't believe him. And in a moment's haste, Aleena swinged the bottle of rum at Gale, smashing it over his head while the liquid from the bottle splashing all over himself along with the glasses that clattered all over the ground.

"That's not very nice..." Gale mumbled, as he stumbled backwards from the blow, and unknown to him, he was about to fall down a small hole that no one expected to be there.

"Gale, look out!" Riolu shouted.

Thinking quickly, Aleena reached out and tried to grab him by the blue crystal pendant around his neck. Unfortunately, Gale's weight was too much for Aleena, as the blue crystal pendant snapped off from around him while Gale fell to the ground before crashing.

"Gale! Hold on, I'll help you out of there!" Riolu, being worried about his friend, jumped down the whole and went to grab Gale and get him out of there.

While he did this, Aleena looked at the blue crystal pendant that she had accidentally tore off from Gale. She wondered why Gale was wearing this. Whatever the reason that was, it sure looked pretty. So she decided to hide it under the chest of her tank-top so that Gale wouldn't find it.

Back at the docks, Capt. Swift and King Azreal were still eyeing each other. Neither one had made a move since the two encountered each other.

"I am willing to give you one last warning." King Azreal told him. "You may either leave this island peacefully, or I will have no choice but to send out my military and have you killed."

Capt. Swift looked at the situation in front of him. He had to admit, the military of South Island looked ready to fight and he was outnumbered. What was he to do? Fight or flight? That was the question. The expression on his face seemed a little uncertain at this moment. "All right, fine. You win. I'll take my crew and leave at once."

"That is a wise choice." King Azreal smiled darkly. "However, you should have made that choice earlier. In fact, I have already ordered an all-out kill on you and your crew."

"What do you mean?" Capt. Swift questioned while narrowing his eyes.

His question was answered when a large sound of rotors were hovering from the sky. Everyone looked up to see a two helipcopters heading towards the island. We could see that the flying transportations were colored black. And we could see the letters G.U.N. on the sides of choppers. And inside the choppers, we could see a horde of G.U.N. soldiers all weilding sniper rifles. And all of them had their weapons aimed at Capt. Swift an their pirates.

"All right, men! Lock on and fire!" The G.U.N. soldier in charge ordered.

Without warning, the G.U.N. soldiers all fired their sniper rifles at the pirates. Each bullet made contact on every pirate, including Capt. Swift. This attack came by so unexpected, that Capt. Swift or his crew didn't have any time to retreat from the island. The G.U.N. soldiers fired a second time, killing the crew and gunning down Capt. Swift.

King Azreal walked towards the downed form of Capt. Swift. "Well, Capt. Swift. Do you have any last words?"

Capt. Swift slowly glanced his bloodshot eyes at King Azreal. He sneered at him. "Yeah...you are nothing but a corrupted mad King who thinks of no one but yourself..." With one last breath, he slowly closd his eyes and fell to the ground, where he finally died.

King Azreal narrowed his eyes a bit at the dead form of Capt. Swift. He remembered the last words that he spoke to him before dying. Corrupted mad King? Those words angered King Azreal as he lifted up Capt. Swift's dead body and threw it into the sea, leaving the pirate leader to be swept away by the ocean seas.

Over at the forest, Aleena, Gale, and Riolu had heard the gun shots coming from the harbor. Gale's eyes were salted with tears and Riolu seemed to notice this.

"Dad...he's dead!" Gale said sadly, as he saw King Azreal walk up to one of the G.U.N. soldiers and thanked him for his assistance. Gale's eyes narrowed in anger at King Azreal. "He's not going to get away with this! Not by a long shot. Not on my watch!"

"Gale, stop!" Riolu urged, trying to hold him back. "I know that your angry that Capt. Swift is gone, but we can't take on King Azreal right now. Especially when we are out-numbered." He added.

Aleena couldn't believe what she just saw. Her father ordered the G.U.N. soldiers to have the pirates killed? Why in the world would he do such a thing?

"Aleena, I found you!" Zed shouted from a distance.

Aleena turned around to see Zed the Chameleon approaching her from the forest. "Zed! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Zed added as he looked over to see Gale and Riolu looking at him. Zed quickly got into stance with his sword. "Who are you?! Are you a part of those pirates?"

"That, I am." Gale smirked. "I am Gale the Hedgehog. The greatest pirate in all of the seas." The blue hedgehog looked up and down at him. "And who the heck are you suppose to be?"

"I'm Zed. A bodyguard to Princess Aleena and I'm not going to let you harm her!" Zed noted.

Gale looked over at Aleena. "That's the princess? My, I had no idea how beautiful you looked."

"Try not to hit on me, buster." Aleena replied with her arms crossed. "I'm not interested in getting a boyfriend."

"Whoever said anything about that?" Gale asked with a shrug. "All I wanted was to compliment on how beautifully attractive you are."

Offended, Aleena swiftly kicked Gale by the shin, causing the blue hedgehog grip his leg in slight pain.

"That wasn't very nice." Gale said, before recovering from his attack.

"Enough of this!" Zed said, as he gripped his sword and prepared to strike Gale.

Thinking quickly, Gale quickly rolled underneath the attacking blade before standing up and delivering a roundhouse kick to the back of the head, knocking Zed to the ground. The red chameleon got back to his feet and prepared to strike him again. However, Gale jumped backwards from the strike before kicking Zed in the stomach with both of his feet, knocking Zed backwards onto his back. Zed, still feeling ready to fight, got back up and charged after Gale again. He swinged his sword, trying to cut Gale down to size. However, Gale was still being fast to avoid the strikes as he quickly sweeped Zed off his feet while kicking in in the sides, knocking Zed to the ground again.

Zed, feeling hurt at this moment, slowly got back to his feet. "Blast you...who the heck do you think you are?"

"Didn't I just tell you? I'm Gale the Hedgehog! The greatest pirate in all of the seas." The blue hedgehog smirked.

Zed growled angrily and prepared to strike at him again. However, Aleena stopped him.

"Zed, don't hurt him! We need him alive!" Aleena told him.

"Why? He is a part of those pirates." Zed fired at her.

"But he might-"

"Forget it, Aleena. For King Azreal, it is my duty to protect you." Zed moved Aleena to the side an prepared to strike at Gale again. However, the moment he did that, Gale and Riolu had both disappeared. "Huh? Where did he go?"

Aleena and Zed both looked around to try and find out where Gale and Riolu had disappeared too. It was like they just vanished from sight. After a moment of looking around, Zed sheathed his sword and turned back towards Aleena.

"Well, they're gone for now." Zed said. "Come on, let's head back to the castle."

Aleena, deciding that was the only idea for now, followed Zed as they both headed back to the castle.

Up in the trees, we could see the coaked shadowy figure from before as it watched both Aleena and Zed heading through the forest.

"For now, Aleena, I'll let you live. But next time, you won't be so lucky." The figure said before disappeared from within the shadows.

Suspense brews as Gale and Riolu escape quietly after the confrontation from Princess Aleena and Zed. Where did Gale and Riolu disappear to? Who is this shadowy figure? And will Gale be able to get his revenge on King Azreal for killing his father? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!

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