𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖊𝖆 𝖘𝖍𝖊-𝖍𝖊𝖉𝖌𝖊𝖍𝖔𝖌

      The mermaids dragged Silver with a bubble on his head to the black tower and locked him there. The hedgehog was thrown into an empty room with a single bed and the doors were locked. He gets up and swims, slowly hitting the door due to the pressure of the water, unable to knock it down. — LET ME OUT OF HERE!!! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO HOLD ME HERE!!! — BE SILENT!!! — one of the mermaids, looking like a black hedgehog, hissed. She hissed, sticking out her tongue and showing her teeth. Silver was frightened by her and jumped back. — If you continue to show off, you will die quickly. So be an obedient boy and behave here if you want to live longer! With these words, she closes the window on the door and floats away, taunting him with her sister: — How ugly this man is. — Agree! Especially ugly is the fool who was once our little sister. — Who is she? — she asked her in response and they laughed at this. King Tiraton himself swam up to them and said: — O! There you are! Tell everyone at sea to invite many guests to join us tomorrow at sunset. Everyone is invited, swordfish, sharks, hammerheads, killer whales, seahorses, and many, many others. There will be a make-believe wedding with an ugly man, after which he will be killed the day after the wedding, and the bride will immediately become the new queen of our crystal palace, after the wedding and the death of the groom. — Yes, daddy. — they answered at the same time, bowed to their father, turned around and swam. The sea king himself swam to Biara's bedroom and knocked on her door. — Swim in! The king opens the door and, by coincidence, he swam in when Biara had already taken out and tried on a wedding dress made from the scales and skin of old pink stingrays. The size of the dress reached the tip of the fishtail. — You look great in this dress, little Biara! — the king praised his daughter, to which she smiled angrily in response and said: — I’ll also have to prepare snacks for the guests, a wedding cake, and one single figurine of me. And may my figure be gray on the throne! — Certainly. Everything will be the way you want. This day will be only for you, my dear! — the king answers and takes his daughter lightly by the hands. — Just think about it! Eighteen years ago you were born from the smallest red egg and grew up to be so big, smart, cunning and evil, just like me. I'm so proud of you, Biara. This is exactly what I dreamed of one of my sons and daughters. Right now I’m imagining you as a baby and I want to cry. — the king cannot stand these words and cries with joy, releasing bubbles from under his eyes in the water, which contained tears inside. Following him, Biara became sad: — Please, daddy, don’t cry, otherwise I’ll cry too! — I'm sorry!... I... I can't! — Tyraton answers through tears and hugs with Biara, who also cried and hugged poor daddy.

***

      At the same time, in the kingdom of Prince Sonic, the latter, together with Princess Sally, went out to the people to announce a very important speech: — Dear people! — Sonic began. — I have some terrible news to tell. One of ours... Was kidnapped... By some dark forces and carried out to sea... Because of this, Sally and I cannot get married yet and decided to postpone our wedding. Until we save our comrade and return him home, we will not be able to get married. Tomorrow at dawn, the largest combat ship, armed to the teeth, should be ready. We will also need the help of all those who are brave and ready to go into battle to save our comrade, giving their lives for all of us. The rest who do not want to fight should better stay here and wait for our return. The situation is much more serious. It concerns the life and death of our best and faithful friend — Amy Rose! — the prince introduced the hedgehog herself. All the people, when they saw her, immediately recognized her and were very glad to see her. “She wants with all her might to save Silver the hedgehog, who was kidnapped, because she loves him. If she doesn't save him in time without our help, she might die. — everyone gasped in excitement when they heard it. Although in some places Sonic did not say anything. Perhaps because if he himself talks about mermaids and so on, then no one will even believe him. Only Sally mentioned them: — Amy Rose, this is the mermaid princess. Evil mermaids have kidnapped Silver and are keeping him in an underwater kingdom on the open sea. If you don't believe us and think we're joking, then what do you say to that? — she asked, pointing to Rouge, who this time was not shy about her tentacles, walking out with them in front of everyone. The people gasped again when they saw her and were almost afraid. - Do not be afraid! She is on our side and also wants to help this unfortunate girl! — Sally pointed at Amy. — You believe us! — asked prince Sonic. All the people looked at each other, thinking questioningly. However, looking at the strikers who joined the prince and princess in advance, although they had been on strike all day against them and their system of life, inspired by them, they also decided to join. And someone even answered out loud that they agreed. Sally continued her speech: — Then it's decided! Tomorrow, by dawn, a combat and reliable ship must be prepared before departure. The battle will be for life and death. Every helping hand will be important and every life will be more valuable than any other. We need not only strong guns, but also strong muscles and smart heads. If you want, you can even take strong and independent women to help too, if they want. Although they are not required! Who is with all of us! — WE!!! — everyone answered in unison. — AND WE ARE WITH YOU!!! — the strikers also responded in unison. — Great! Go to all bed and get ready! Tomorrow we will have a very hard and stressful day. — prince Sonic finished and, together with Sally, turned around and walked away. Amy, Rouge and Robotnik followed them, and the rest went home and began to prepare. Sonic at this time whispered in Sally’s ear: — Besides, this will be a good reason to delay our wedding until later, because we are not yet completely sure that we are ready to get married. — Certainly. — Sally answers him. — Are you sure that we will win together? — Rouge asked them, a little doubting the success and help of the landmen. — I don’t argue that you are advanced and cooler than sea creatures. It’s just that the sea king Tyraton has very powerful weapons than yours. A magical trident with which he can easily incinerate and turn into ashes even the great Kraken. With him he is so omnipotent and almost invincible. — Hm-m. Our civilization has not yet reached such technologies. — suggested Robotnik. — “I know it seems impossible to defeat such a cruel and all-powerful tyrant. But if we all work together, don’t conflict or quarrel, and help each other in everything, then we will succeed and we will defeat him, since he is the only one with his magic weapon.” — Amy Rose suggested, also using her mind-reading hat, which translated her words into ear: — This is real team spirit! — Sally sharply extended her fist forward in confirmation of Amy’s thoughts. — This is how a real queen of the kingdom should be. — she added and extended her hand forward. — Everything is affected! — I support! — Sonic answers, placing his hand on hers. — And me too! — Robotnik joined, placing his hand. — Go! — Rouge joined, placing her palm. — Yes Yes! Certainly! — the chef also said. — Hooray! — All that Maria could answer, placing her palm. The penultimate, but this time, Yuki stood up silently on his hind legs and placed his front-right paw over all the other palms. Everyone standing in a circle with their palms looked at Amy and waited for her to join them too. The former mermaid, a little hesitantly, but also smiling, first raised her hand, and then put it on the rest of her hands. Everyone was gathered inside the circle and at once raised their hands with their heads up.

***

      The next morning, early at dawn, everyone who had agreed on everything and decided was going to a ready-made large and combative frigate, armed with cannons and even firearms, like shotguns or powder pistols. Some even said goodbye to their family and told them they loved them in case they didn't come back alive. Prince and Princess Sonic and Sally, along with their loyal soldiers as guards, also headed to the ship, followed by Uncle Robotnik, Amy, Rouge and dog Yuki. Even Hans the badger, Knuckles the echidna and Tails the fox themselves headed over. The three of them carried Tails’ new invention on board the ship, which Hans even asked about on the way: — Do we have to drag this thing with us, Tails? — Certainly! I invented it a year ago and still couldn’t test it. But now I hope that it is there in battle, on the open sea, that I will finally be able to test it. It will help us win. I'm sure! — the fox assured him. — We trust you, Tails. Considering that hat you gave to that mermaid princess that reads her mind. — Knuckles answers him. — Thank you. Truth be told, I honestly didn’t know that this hat could still read the thoughts of animals, translating them into our human language. — the fox explained. — So you didn’t test it on any of us or on the animals themselves. So I wasn’t convinced. At this rate, you might even create a machine that can read the minds of the dead. For example, it will be possible to read her thoughts from an ordinary naked, boiled or fried chicken, how she feels in such conditions. — Knuckles dreamed, to which Tails laughed and said: — Who knows! Maybe someday I will come up with and create something similar. But maybe not. It’s still a pity that after this there will be chickens or the same pigs that we cut for meat. — Yes, and fish, too, as it turns out, have their own soul and feelings, since mermaids still exist, as I proved to you. And you didn't believe me. — Anderson said. — Well, forgive us, Mr. Anderson! — Knuckles grumbled and placed Tails' device on the side of the ship after finishing carrying it. — For. Gi. Ve! We have already apologized to you a hundred times for this. Let's forget about our differences this time and let's work together for now and just not pester each other anymore! Still, we will soon have a battle against the great sea king. — Knuckles is right. — Tails supported him. -— So let’s finally forgive us and forget all the grievances against us because we didn’t believe you earlier. — Okay. — Hans rolled his eyes and went to Princess Rose herself. — Princess Rose! Princess Rose! — the hedgehog was distracted by the badger’s voice and approached him. — Sorry for distracting you from your thoughts! From the very beginning I knew and believed that mermaids existed, but I never had the opportunity to meet them and get to know them better. Could you at least describe to me in more detail about your race? Maybe in the future, based on your knowledge about mermaids and about you, I will write an instructive book. Let the whole world know the truth about your existence and about what a peace-loving people you are in general, which only our people were afraid of. She-hedgehog nodded, hugged Hans by the shoulder, and the two of them headed to the captain’s cabin to discuss all this in private. Everyone gathered on the ship, armed themselves and set sail. The ship set sail from the shore and headed out to the open sea. On the way, Rouge stood near the railing, resting her elbows on it, looking into the water, thinking about something. She could not even think that sooner or later she would return not just to the sea, but to where the crystal palace with King Tiraton was located. Robotnik himself also stood next to her and watched the sea. He liked to just watch the sea. However, he could not even imagine that he would ever return to the sea, not just to admire the sea, but to fight with someone from the underwater world. They even glanced at each other a couple of times until Robotnik decided to move to the helm to replace the navigator. On the other side of the ship, Sonic and Sally also had their elbows folded on the railing, watching the sea. Sonic really liked watching the sea, and Sally always dreamed of being on a ship at sea. However, she did not think that she would go to the sea to also fight with someone from the sea. A sea witch on her tentacles approaches them and asks: — What are you thinking about? — Yes, well. The sea is beautiful. I always loved watching him when I went swimming. But I never thought that one day I would go to sea to fight sea creatures. — the prince explained. — And me too. — added the princess, taking the prince's hand. — But I’m glad that you decided to take me swimming, even though it’s dangerous. — She is right. You could just leave her on the shore to wait for you. Why did you decide to take her with you? — Rouge asked. — At first I wanted to refuse to take her with me and leave her in the castle until I returned, but then I thought that she would be offended by me for this or decide that I did not trust her, that she could can't stand up for herself. Plus I love her and I couldn't refuse her. — Sonic explained. — And that’s why you took her with you. — the witch noted, and then turned her gaze to Sally. — Do you trust him? — I? — Sally didn’t understand the question. — Do you believe that at least he can stand up for himself? — So, I... — the chipmunk’s cheeks turned red and she didn’t know how to answer this. — This is our personal topic. I'm just a little afraid for him. What if he disappears without me, just like when he almost drowned. — But Amy Rose saved him when she was a mermaid. He is lucky that sometimes there are women nearby who can also help men. — Rouge explained. — You, too, can save him at any time when the time comes. Otherwise, he can take care of himself for now if you trust him and don’t interfere. If you want to work in a team, learn first of all to trust your partner and negotiate with him. — Yes, we are aware. We sometimes come to an agreement with each other. — Sally explained. — But that Sally and I can’t agree on the wedding. — Sonic added. — I understand. You are afraid that your wedding may not lead to good things and that the kingdoms will not want to unite... It is your internal fears and doubts that prevent you from getting together and doing what you seem to really want, but cannot and are constantly putting off.. But I'll give you some advice. If you put something off too often, you will never do it at all. And when you probably grow old and die, it will be too late to do that very thing. — With these words, Rouge turned around and only took a couple of steps when Sally asked: — What if nothing works out? What if, on the contrary, we make everything worse and everything will only get worse after our wedding? — If you don’t try, you won’t know! — the witch answered them and walked on her tentacles to the other side of the ship. Sonic and Sally continued to stand in the same place with the railing and thought about Rouge's words that she was probably right and they should still try to get married after they save Silver and immediately return home. They thought like this all day until it was almost sunset.

***

      And in the crystal palace under water at that time everything was prepared for the wedding. Five blue Cork pipits threw sea flowers like rose petals over the head of the mermaid Biara, in her wedding dress, who was holding a dagger in her hands instead of a bouquet of flowers. Silver himself stood near the arch, next to King Tyraton. He was all tied up and hanging on a rope tied to the floor, and a starfish was glued to his mouth, because of which he could not help but scream. What can we say about the fact that it is impossible to free yourself, untie yourself and float away. There were more than enough witnesses at the fake wedding. Like mermaids with mermaids, and many species of fish, from herbivores to predators. There are even a bunch of crabs and starfish. Biara swims to the arch and hugs Silver, who sometimes twitches and still tries to escape. — Damps and wets! We have gathered with you to unite this beautiful beauty in marriage! — the king paused for the witnesses to gasp with emotion, which they did. — And this terrible land monster! — after these words, the witnesses began to boo and yell at Silver. Then they fell silent and continued listening. — Do you agree, Biara, to take this freak as your husband? — Yes. I'll take it. — Biara answers. — And you, freak, are you taking my beautiful daughter as your wife? Silver began to shake his head in response, saying that he was refusing. However, the starfish, which kept his mouth closed, answered for him, but in reverse: — He agrees. — Fine. I announce you... — the sea king did not have time to finish, when suddenly they heard some kind of explosion sound. King Tiraton froze in place and asked: — Didn’t you hear anything? Biara, Silver and the rest of the witnesses listened and looked around. Suddenly, a cannonball fell onto the carpet, falling and leaving a hole. — What hunchback? — Biara cursed. Again the sound of a shot was heard and immediately a couple more cannonballs flew from above. One crashed into the black tower and blew it into pieces, which crumbled and slowly floated down, and the other fell on the golden statue of King Tyraton and blew it into several pieces. — INVASION ALARM!!! PEOPLE ATTACKED US!!! — one of the seahorses shouted and all the witnesses began to blur in panic, in all directions. Even the starfish peeled off from Silver’s mouth and swam away in fright. Only a few remained and simply hid under the chairs, and some of them remained and dared to swim to the surface to try to fight. — WHO???... WHO DARE TO ATTACK MY UNDERWATER KINGDOM??? WHO IS NOT AFRAID OF THE WRATH OF KING TYRATON??? — the sea king shouted in anger, took his trident in his hands and also swam to attack. — Only you and I are left! — Biara whispered threateningly to Silver, clasping his left hand around his neck and placing her dagger near his throat, preparing to kill him at any moment. — Don’t rock the boat without tricks, otherwise you’ll die! — Amy! — all that the hedgehog said out loud when his mouth was freed.