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It was a sunny August afternoon, with more people than you could count littering the long beachfront, with even more enjoying the gentle waves of the sea for themselves. Sonic was not one of those people, he had instead settled on a small pier at the edge of the beach and far from the crowds of people. The pier itself had been here for longer than Sonic could even remember and had aged like a drowned book. It was thin, soggy, and croaked with every movement made on its boards. Sonic shuffled to sit at the end of the pier. He let his legs dangle off the edge, allowing only his toes to touch the surface of the sea. His eyes slowly wondered to the horizon where the sky and the sea met.
The ocean is one of the Earth’s many mysteries. A massive body of salty water that covers the Earth’s bed, connecting everything and everyone together. The home to millions of creatures and the supporter of all the mammals crawling on the land, like you and me.
Water was certainly never one of Sonic’s strong suits, a topic that seemed to never be dropped recently. Amy was insistent on teaching him how to swim and no matter how much Sonic attempted to reason with or discourage her, she simply wouldn’t budge. The idea was then set in stone when Tails suggested to make the day a beach day, so everyone had a chance to go out and enjoy the sun together. Sonic was destined to suffer through swimming lessons while everyone else got to have a relaxing day off. He did attempt to play along with the lessons for a while. Yet, he would barely last more than a second in the water without doing an unhealthy amount of splashing. The prospect of an ice cream break appeared on the scene after way too long. Sonic took his chance immediately and fled from the water, as Amy had predicted.
The silence on the pier was peaceful, Sonic decided, as he glanced over to his friends in the distance. They were now passing a beachball in the water. He locked eyes with his reflection below him. He looked exhausted for someone who has spent a maximum of half an hour in shallow water.
Suddenly a rush of black flashed past from underneath his reflection. Immediately Sonic retracted his legs, tucking them up into his chest to gawk at the water below him. It’s too shallow for there to be any kind of sharks, right? A dark barking laugh came out of the water along with what looked to be the head of a black hedgehog. He was quite a bit away now, with his chin just dipped under the water level.
Despite only really being able to see the dark figures head, there was much to focus on. His quills were pushed up, with thick red stripes covering the top of them and leaking onto the fur of his face. His muzzle was an even tan colour with fur that looked to be slightly longer than on his head, closer to matching the fluffy white tuffs of fluff that emerged from his ears. Overall, he actually looked surprisingly dry.
The stranger blinked at Sonic before looking away, instead glancing over at Amy, who was on the chase for a beach ball as a wave pulled it away. Had he been watching him earlier?
When Sonic looked back over to the hedgehog, he was already staring back. He had started to drift ever so slightly off to sea though it didn’t seem to bother him at all. If he really wanted to, Sonic could do that too, easily in fact! He could swim if he really wanted to! The swell of his hurt pride screamed in Sonic’s chest as he scoffed. “That was just a refresher, I can swim perfectly fine!” The hedgehog raised his eyebrows, disbelief clear on his face.
No was Sonic’s immediate answer to the silent challenge and it must’ve been clear on his face as the stranger’s expression morphed from disbelief to unimpressed or possibly disappointed. Sonic screwed up his face. He could swim well actually! He wasn’t afraid of water. Amy was just being nice because he wasn’t confident, he could do it!
He hissed at the hedgehog before him, “I’ll prove it.” Sonic pulled his sandals off his feet and placed them next to him on the pier. He glanced into the sea as he moved back to dangle his feet over the water. He was perfectly capable of this. Gently, Sonic pushed himself off the boards of the pier. Every muscle in his body immediately tensed at the cold hug of the sea as his toes dug into the sand of the seabed.
In an effort to adjust, Sonic wiggled and lifted his chin just a bit to allow the water level to sit against his neck. The stranger seemed to have pulled away from the pier edge by quite a bit. He watched Sonic from afar as he slowly shuffled closer as if he had lead glued to the bottom of his feet. When the water level was just under Sonic’s nose, he decided that now was the time to pounce. Sonic speedily shuffled his feet, locked his eyes on the black hedgehog in front of him and dashed for him.
Though slowed down by the water, it didn’t stop Sonic’s pure determination as he flapped and splashed in an attempt to revitalize his ego. The stranger simply watched on, clearly amused with Sonic’s flailing until he was nearly close enough to start actually covering the dark hedgehog with water. It was a miracle he even made it this far. “I told you I could swim perfectly well!” This would’ve sounded convincing out of Sonic’s mouth if it wasn’t for the fact he was quickly sinking back down to the seabed. Immediately he began to gasp and flap his arms about desperately trying to stay above the water.
The stranger firmly grasped one of Sonic’s hands along with one of his wrists. His chin was now just above the water, and he was mere inches away from the face of this stranger. Ruby red eyes bored into Sonic’s as if to still him into place. Sonic mumbled a small thanks as the air in his ego fully deflated.
“Sonic!” Amy’s voice rang through the air as she ran up the beach towards them.
Hands tentatively left Sonic’s wrists as the stranger ducked into the water. Not even a moment later, a firm hold was on Sonic’s right ankle. Sonic began to panic, splashing water everywhere desperately attempting to kick off the guy holding him. He heard Amy call out for him again until it was cut off by the sea water filling his ears.
Face-to-face with him again, just like a moment ago but not. The dark hedgehog looked so different underwater, yet the same. He kept the same fluffy exterior as when he was above water, but he was glowing, somehow. A black and red hand grabbed at Sonic and without any hesitation, the dark hedgehog twirled Sonic round on the ballroom floor that was the seabed and shoved him forward towards the beach.
Strong arms wrapped around Sonic and launched him much further towards the beach. Instinctively, Sonic pulled his knees into his chest. He mentally noted how much more comfortable it was to be launched into the air then to stand in the sea. With a puff of sand, Sonic landed on the beach and allowed himself to ungracefully unravel.
“Sonic!” Both Amy and Tails were standing over him, eyeing him over. Relief washed over them both when they realized he was completely fine. Tails sat down next to him to watch Knuckles emerge from the sea like he was in some superhero movie while Amy exploded into a worried lecture about water safety when you can’t swim.
Who the hell was that by the pier? Now that Sonic thought about it, he’d never seen them before, and no tourist was going to be on the empty side of the beach on their own. And was he going crazy or did that guy have a tail fin?