#sonic rush adventure
In a vast open area with the start of a new day apparent by the fact that there were several clouds drifting across the sky, oceans seemed to stretch out as far as the eye could see with the surroundings appearing to be nothing but open water, with the exception of a small island that seemed to be located right in the centre, simply known as Southern Island. On the outskirts of the island where a small dock was sighted, a small water bike, also known as the Wave Cyclone was taking off with three passengers on board and one of them in charge of piloting: the three being Sonic, Tails and Marine. At the moment, the trio were on the search for islands that they could sail to so they could find new materials to build themselves new vehicles, and Marine had managed to spot one that she insisted that they go and explore for themselves. As the water bike sped across the surface of the ocean, Sonic turned his head to Marine so he could be certain he had this right. “So, where did you say this island you found was, Marine?”
Standing just behind him struggling to stand upright on the water bike without losing their balance were Tails and Marine, with the female raccoon standing in the middle so she could address Sonic. “It shouldn’t be too far now, mate! Just follow my lead and we’ll be clear on our way there in no time!”
From where he was standing behind Marine at the back, Tails tilted his head to her so he could try to clarify something. “Um, Marine? You do know that Sonic’s the one in the lead at the moment, right? After all, he is the one who’s driving this water bike.”
Marine turned her head to him in surprise at his comment before she showed a big grin, evidently unfazed by the correction. “Oh, of course I know that! But don’t forget who your captain is here, cobber, cause she’s the one who’s leading the way!” She then turned her attention back at the expanse of the ocean before her and raised a fist into the air, her cheerful cry prompting Sonic to jump from shock. “Full speed ahead, adventure is waiting for us!”
After managing to recover from the sudden shock he received from one of his back passengers, Sonic raised a hand over his chest to make sure he hadn’t suffered a heart attack before looking back at Marine with a look of annoyance. “Well… I don’t think we’ll be doing a lot of adventuring if I end up falling off this thing, and I’d prefer for that to not happen if it’s not too much trouble…”
Marine blinked a few times before she gave a nervous smile. “Oh… hee-hee, sorry about that, mate. It’s just I get so pumped at the thought of getting to see new islands. Blimey, it makes me so glad I met both you and Tails! Then again, I am the one who did save you two when you crash-landed on my home out of nowhere.”
Sonic and Tails stared in stunned silence for a few moments before they let out resounding quiet sighs. They really liked having Marine come along for the ride, but sometimes she could be quite a handful. As Sonic turned his attention back to the area in front of him so he could be certain they were heading in the right direction, he noticed that slowly coming closer into his line of sight was a small island filled with lush green forests, and he turned his glance back to Marine. “Hey, Marine! Is that the place you said to look for?”
Marine leaned her head to the side to take a look for herself and a wide smile came to her face before she nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, mate! That’s the one! Let’s speed up and see what’s waiting for us there!” With her calls in mind, Sonic placed his foot down on the thrusters so they could pick up speed and make their landing.
A little later, the three had set foot to the island and they were beginning their exploration as they were looking around at the sights surrounding them. With a smile of awe crossing her face, Marine turned her head to her teammates. “Wow-wee, look at all of this! This place is filled with forests as far as the eye can see!”
Sonic and Tails weren’t paying much attention to her outburst of excitement as they were taking in their surroundings. “Wow… this island is so small, but it feels so much bigger than it really is.” Tails commented, turning his head back and forth to notice how vast the island appeared to be for its small size. Sonic seemed to notice this as well as he slowly nodded in agreement.
“No kidding… I guess that means we won’t have to worry about any of those ghost machines coming to attack us…” While he was saying this, it was obvious that Sonic was thinking about his battles with the Ghost T-Rex on Plant Kingdom and the Ghost Pendulum in Machine Labyrinth. He didn’t expect to have those encounters, but looking on the bright side, they did supply him and the others with a good amount of Materials they could find on those islands. But after those encounters, having a small island to explore with nothing to worry about seemed to be a welcome relief.
“Hey, Sonic, Tails! You blokes aren’t gonna believe this!” Then again, in the place of those intense battles was a small, yet more worrying problem, and that quickly showed its face as Marine came running back towards Sonic and Tails with a huge smile on her face, clearly enjoying herself being on this small island. “This here island’s got more of those mushrooms we saw back on that first island, but they’re smaller. I reckon we could grab a few and bring them back home with us. Doesn’t that sound a ripper idea to you fellas?”
Sonic and Tails fell silent for a few moments, keeping their attention on Marine in uncertainty as they were starting to wonder if she was going to get this carried away everywhere they went, before Sonic was the first to speak. “Marine, you shouldn’t go wandering off on your own. We don’t want to end up losing sight of you again.”
Tails nodded in agreement as he was listening to what Sonic had to say, taking note of the firm tone in his voice before he continued. “That’s right. Don’t you remember what happened while we were at that island full of machinery?”
Marine stared at the two in disbelief before she showed a confident smile, evidently looking none too fazed by their warnings. “Oh, don’t chuck a wobbly, fellas! Keep in mind that I’m an adventurer myself, so that means I need to be able to see everything on every place we sail to. Isn’t it just the most thrilled thing ever?” Sonic and Tails both blinked a few times in silence seeing Marine’s immense delight over the sights around her and then they turned their heads to each other in worry, silently wondering what it would take to calm her down. As Marine was continuing her sightseeing, her eyes fell on the sight of some large mushrooms out in the distance. “No way… it’s got those giant mushrooms too! Come on, let’s go check it out!”
She then began to rush off ahead while Sonic and Tails watched in alarm before Tails reached one hand forward. “Marine, wait up! Didn’t we just say for you not to go off on your own?”
As Marine was happily rushing off ahead, she turned her head to Sonic and Tails as they were running behind to try and catch up with her. “Don’t worry! I’ll just have a look and then we can get going.” However, as she was running, she didn’t pay attention to the fact that she was fast approaching a ledge and as she got close, the ground under her feet collapsed and she let out a cry of alarm as she could suddenly feel herself dropping down below.
Sonic and Tails let out gasps of shock in unison as they stopped dead in their tracks. “Marine!” Sonic gasped. With no hesitance, Tails began rapidly spinning his tails and zoomed forward over the ledge to get to Marine and reached to grab one of her hands in his, with the raccoon having shut her eyes tightly before she slowly opened one to find that she wasn’t falling any further and she slowly raised her head to be met with Tails having managed to grab hold of her hand and was keeping the two of them airborne with his tails. While she was staring in amazement, Tails looked down at her.
“Whew… are you alright, Marine? That was close.” Tails sighed, a smile of relief on his face at the fact that Marine wasn’t hurt. After a few seconds of silence on her end, Marine gave a bright smile before nodding, her eyes wide in awe at what she was seeing.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me. But strewth, Tails, you can fly? I had no idea you could do that! How come you didn’t say anything about it?”
Tails looked down at her in surprise before realising what she was saying and gave a shy smile. “Oh… well, it’s nothing too big, really.” As the two kept their gazes on each other, they were soon met with Sonic’s voice calling from up above and the two looked up to notice that he had arrived at the ledge and was looking down at them.
“Tails! Marine! Are you two okay?” While Sonic kept his attention on the two with an expression of concern, Tails waved up to him with a reassuring smile, allowing him to show a smile of relief.
“Yeah, we’re good, Sonic! We’re on our way up right now.” Once he was certain he had things clarified with Sonic, Tails turned his head back down to Marine. “Come on, I think it’s time we got out of here.” But before Tails could start making his way upwards, he and Marine were met with an unwanted surprise as they could see that the earth holding the rest of the ledge together was starting to crack. The pair felt their eyes go wide in worry at the sight. “Uh-oh… that can’t be good…” Tails was immediately proven correct as the earth cracked a bit more before collapsing in a large pile of soil and dust, plummeting straight down towards Tails and Marine. The two let out screams of alarm and before they could have a chance to react, they found themselves getting caught under the pile and sent plummeting towards the ground.
As he was watching up top, Sonic let out a gasp of horror at the sight. “Tails! Marine!” Without a moment to spare, Sonic leapt up to his feet and sped off to find a route towards the lower ground. Once he arrived at the area he was searching for, Sonic came to a sudden halt as he was standing in front of a large pile of earth and soil, with the dust cloud it had gathered slowly clearing up, but there was no sign of Tails and Marine anywhere. The moment this sunk in, Sonic felt his eyes go wide in shock. “Tails… Marine… where are you two?”
Underneath the large pile that had gathered, Tails and Marine were lying on the ground of what seemed to be an underground opening. As the two appeared to be motionless, Tails was the first to regain consciousness as his eyes slowly flickered open and he began to push himself up so he could sit up and regain his bearings, placing one hand to the side of his head as he did so. “Ugghhh… well… that wasn’t quite the adventure I was hoping to have…” As he began to rub the side of his head, he darted his head back and forth upon realising that someone wasn’t with him. “Marine? Where are you?” He was met with his answer when he spotted Marine lying not too far beside him and she seemed to be motionless. “Marine!” Tails immediately got up on his feet and rushed over to her before bending down and placing one hand on her, slowly shaking her. “Marine, are you alright? Can you hear me?”
Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait too long as Marine let out a groan before she began to sit up, shaking her head rapidly as she did so. “Yeah… I’d say I’m none the worse for wear…” Tails showed a smile of relief once he was certain that Marine was okay, while she was slowly looking around upon realising where they were before turning her head back to Tails. “Uh… where are we, exactly?”
“Hmmm…” Tails raised his head to have a look at their surroundings before looking back at Marine. “It looks we’re in some kind of small underground area. I guess this island goes deeper than we thought.”
Marine felt an expression of surprise cross her face while she was listening to this. “Huh… go figure on that…” She then felt her eyes go wide upon realising something. “Wait a second, how are we going to get out of here? I don’t think I want to spend my time on this island exploration being stuck in this place.”
Tails looked up to notice the large pile of earth covering their opening and he showed an expression of worry before looking back down at Marine. “Uh… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t think we’ll be able to go anywhere anytime soon.” As Marine showed an expression of alarm as she wanted to know what Tails meant, she could see him with his gaze turned upwards and she looked up with him to notice that the pile of earth had completely blocked their way out. “That pile of earth has our exit completely blocked. I have a feeling that means we’ll be stuck here for a while.”
“Wait… so you’re saying we’re trapped in here?” The moment Marine realised what she had just said, it suddenly seemed to sink in as she felt her eyes dilute in horror and she clasped her face in her hands. “Oh no… I don’t want to be stuck in this place! There’s still much for us to explore, so much I want to do! This can’t be the end of Captain Marine’s adventures!” She then took a few rapid breaths as she was struggling not to lose it and then she rushed over to Tails before grabbing hold of his shoulders. “What are we going to do?!”
Tails stared in surprise at Marine’s panic attack before he reached over to remove her hands from his shoulders with a reassuring smile. “Calm down, Marine. I’ll let Sonic know where we are so he can find a way to get us out of here.” He then looked down to search through a small bag of necessities he had packed in case they ever needed it before grabbing out a small wrist communicator. “It’s a good thing I made sure to pack this before we left Southern Island.”
As he went to strap it around his wrist, Marine watched with her eyes wide in delight. “Blimey, you think of everything, Tails!”
Tails turned his head up to her before nodding in agreement. “I just make sure we always come prepared. Knowing Sonic, he’ll be sure to have his on as well.” He then proceeded to press a few buttons on the small screen in the centre before it started to dial to call Sonic, Marine leaning forward to listen in while the two of them waited.
Back up top, Sonic was still looking on at the pile of earth in silent horror, and he seemed to be at a loss of words as he slowly dropped on his knees. “What could have happened to them? There’s no way they could be…” The moment the one thought he never wanted to imagine crossed his mind, Sonic clenched his fists tightly as he placed them against the ground before lowering his head. ‘No… that can’t be true… They had to have made it out of that. Please, Father… tell me it’s not true. Tell me they’re alright…’ Sonic then shut his eyes, this desperate prayer being the only thought in his mind. After a few seconds of silence passed, Sonic was met with the sound of his wrist communicator going off and he turned his head to it before pressing one finger against the centre to answer it. “T-tails? Is that you?”
“Sonic! Can you hear me?” At the sweet sound of his little brother’s voice reaching his ears, Sonic felt a smile of immense relief come to his face as the despair he had been feeling just a few moments ago seemed to dissipate almost immediately.
“Y-yeah, I can hear you clearly. Are you and Marine alright?”
“Yeah, we’re okay. We’ve ended up in this small underground area.”
Sonic breathed a sigh of relief, placing one hand over his chest as he was still trying to absorb the sudden wave of joy and relief he was experiencing that his prayer had been answered. “Oh, thank You for Your mercy, Lord…” His relieved whisper didn’t go unheard by Tails as he proceeded to giggle from his end of the line.
“Sorry for making you worry like that. Unfortunately, we’re trapped and I don’t think I can see a way out.” While Sonic was listening to what Tails had to say, he was met with a surprise as Marine’s voice rang over the other end of the line.
“You’ve gotta get us out of here, Sonic! I don’t want to spend the rest of my life trapped in here! I think I’m losing my mind!”
Sonic cracked up in laughter for a few seconds upon hearing how much Marine wasn’t enjoying her predicament before he calmed down to give his reply. “Don’t worry, I get the message. You just sit tight, you two. I’ll see if I can find a way to catch up with you.”
“Okay! We’ll leave it to you.” Tails replied. With everything cleared up, the two proceeded to hang up with Sonic showing a confident smile as he got up on his feet, knowing exactly what to do now.
“All right, so if Tails and Marine are in there, that just means I’ll need to find a different entrance so I can catch up to them. Guess that means it’s time to start searching!” With his plan in mind, Sonic began to speed off so he could find a route that would lead into the underground area that Tails and Marine had ended up in.
Back underground with Tails and Marine, things seemed to be under control as Tails hung up his wrist communicator before looking over at Marine. “Well, it looks Sonic has everything all figured out. There’s just one thing to take care of first.” He then stood up and began tapping one fist against the earth pile while Marine looked on, showing a look of confusion.
“Uh… Tails? Didn’t you just say that we would be stuck in here? Are you trying to mess with my head or something, mate?”
Tails looked over at her with a smile of amusement before giving his reply. “No, of course not. I’m trying to see if I can make us an opening big enough so we’ll get some fresh air.” He then turned his attention back so he could resume doing just that while Marine watched in amazement. Here she was feeling close to losing her mind from being stuck down here, yet Tails seemed to have everything completely under control while she didn’t know what to do. After tapping a few more times, a small pile of earth dropped into the small area, allowing a medium sized hole to become visible and sunlight to filter into the small area, to which Tails nodded in satisfaction. “There we are! All right, I’ve got us our opening.” He then walked over to sit down beside Marine. “It’s not much, but it should hold us over until Sonic gets here.”
Marine was staring in silence at how well Tails was handling their situation before she managed to find her voice. “Crikey… I don’t believe this, Tails. While I’m over here bouncing off the walls, you’ve been keeping yourself busy making sure we’re okay until we can get out.” She then raised a finger to tap it against the side of her head as she continued. “How are you not going completely bonkers?”
Tails turned his head to her while she spoke and he gave a shy smile as he started to rub the back of his head. “Well… it’s quite simple, to be honest. I know that there’s no reason for me to panic.” He then rested both hands on his lap and lifted his glance to look at the sky through the small opening. “Whenever I end up in a situation like this, I always remind myself that I’ll be okay because God is watching over me, and He’ll keep me safe through any peril.”
Marine’s eyes went wide and she felt a silent gasp of awe escape her lips as she was listening to what Tails had to say, and then Tails turned his head to her as he continued. “And the way I see it, this is no different. I know it seems terrifying, but really, there’s no reason for us to be afraid.”
Marine gave a few silent blinks while she was paying attention to Tails’s explanation and then she showed an impressed smile. “Well, how about that? You know, you and Sonic tend to talk about this guy quite a bit. I swear, it feels like you know him or something.”
Tails showed an expression of surprise as he was starting to wonder what Marine meant, and then it suddenly made sense: this wasn’t the first time he and Sonic had done this since their arrival on Southern Island. He then showed a smile of amusement as he was more than happy to help Marine make sense of things. “Well… Sonic and I do it so often because it’s how we show our faith. We both hold Him close to our hearts and we like to make sure we never forget that.” As Marine was listening in silence, Tails rested a hand over his heart as he continued. “And we aren’t the only ones; quite a few of our friends back home share our beliefs. We all know that He’s always looking out for us, no matter what comes our way.”
Marine then showed an expression of puzzlement as something didn’t make sense to her. “Hold on a second. If you and Sonic ended up here, wouldn’t that mean your friends would be asking why this happened to the two of you? I mean… you did wash up on my island and I doubt they have any idea what happened to you.”
“Well… I guess that would be true.” Tails lowered his glance to think over what Marine was saying before he looked back up at her as he seemed to have an answer. “But I’m sure they know that there’s no need to worry. After all, nothing God does is without reason. You’ve wanted to explore outside your home for a long time, right?” Marine slowly nodded in agreement, silently wondering where Tails was heading with this. “The way I see things, I think He heard your wishes and decided to bring me and Sonic to where you were.”
“So, what you’re saying is because I’ve always wanted to do that, the response was for you two to suddenly crash-land on my home?”
Tails gave a nod in confirmation upon seeing that Marine was looking even more puzzled than she already was. “That’s right! And now look what’s happened since we arrived: you’ve been able to see what’s been hiding from you beyond Southern Island, and Sonic and I have gotten the chance to see places that we never even knew existed. I mean, Sonic and I do miss our home, but seeing you so thrilled to explore these islands makes what we went through to get here worth it.” He then lifted his head up, clearly remembering how he and Sonic were lost in that harsh storm before they arrived on Southern Island, yet they managed to make it through unscathed. Marine was left in stunned silence for a few moments before she showed an awestruck smile, clearly allowing Tails’s words to sink in.
“Wow… so it’s thanks to Him that I was able to meet you two; the best crewmates I’ve ever had…” The smile she was showing was quickly replaced with a look of puzzlement since there was something she still didn’t understand. “Hold on a second… Tails, you’re supposed to be this technological genius, right?” Tails looked over at her in surprise before nodding. “Well, if that’s the case, how does it make sense for you to believe in this God?”
Tails let out a laugh as he had a feeling that Marine would be wondering about that. “Yeah, I know… you’re not the first person who’s asked that question. Just looking at me, you wouldn’t expect to hear everything I’ve just said from me. And if I’m being honest… I was very much the same way when Sonic was first introducing me to all of it. I mean, it didn’t make sense to me in the slightest; how am I supposed to put my faith in something I don’t understand?” He let out a sigh as he could still remember what he was like at first before he showed a bright smile. “But nowadays… that’s the last thing I ever think about. There are still times where I feel uncertain, but compared to back then, those moments are few and far between. I know it seems scary to believe in something you don’t understand at first, but… the more time goes by, the less you think about that. Now… I don’t think I could ever imagine going without my faith.”
Marine showed a smile of understanding as she was starting to get what Tails was saying, but then the two were met with a shock when they suddenly heard the sound of spinning coming their way. “Huh? What could that be?” Tails asked, him and Marine turning their heads to their left. The two were met with their answer as the wall of dirt suddenly shattered, revealing Sonic standing there.
“Hey, guys! Hope I didn’t keep you two waiting too long.” Sonic greeted, giving a wave to the two while he spoke. Tails and Marine both showed matching smiles of delight upon seeing that Sonic had finally arrived.
“Sonic! You’re finally here, mate! I was starting to think we’d be stuck in here forever.” Marine happily cheered. While she spoke, Tails jumped up on his feet and ran over to Sonic before wrapped his arms around him, which Sonic showed no hesitance in reciprocating. After a few seconds, the two let go to keep their glances on each other.
“How’d things go, Tails? Were you and Marine alright in here?” Sonic asked, showing a smile of relief that his little brother had been alright this whole time. Tails showed a big smile before nodding.
“Yeah, we’ve been okay.” He then showed an expression of worry and lowered his glance while Sonic watched him in concern, wondering what was wrong. “I’m sorry I made you worry so much.”
Sonic kept his glance on Tails in surprise before he showed a reassuring smile and slowly shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. If anything, I’m just glad that you two are safe.” Tails lifted his head back up to Sonic with a smile of relief before the two proceeded to share another hug. As they did so, Sonic lifted his head up to look to the sky with a grateful smile. 'Thank You for keeping my little brother safe, Heavenly Father. I’m so glad he’s okay.’ After a few seconds passed, Sonic and Tails let go of each other before Sonic was the one to speak. “Come on, what do you say we get out of here?”
Tails eagerly nodded in agreement. “That sounds good to me.”
Marine proceeded to nod as well with a relieved look. “Same here, cobber! I think I’ve had enough adventuring for one day.”
Sonic and Tails let out chuckles of amusement in unison before they could calm down, and so the three began to make their way through the small tunnel Sonic had created so they could head back up top and find where they parked the Wave Cyclone so they could start heading back to Southern Island.
As the three were walking, Marine lowered her head with a thoughtful expression on her face, since she was recollecting everything Tails had said to her before wordlessly nodding to herself. It seemed that Tails’s words had begun to give her something to think about.
