The boat arrived at Angel Island at ten that morning. Tails, Sonic and Amy went aboard, which was tricky, as the boat heaved and pitched in the choppy water.
"Better get those life vests on!" called the captain. "This bay gets nasty during storms. You'd better finish your business by noon if we're going to make it back out here."
"No problem!" Tails exclaimed. "We're fast, aren't we, Sonic?"
Sonic bumped fists with him. "You bet!" Then they both gave Amy a skeptical look.
"I can shop fast when I have to," she said sulkily.
They pulled on their orange life vests, then sat down as the boat's engine revved. But before it could pull away, someone yelled, "Wait!"
Sticks came running along the dock in a flash of brown and white fur, lugging Tails's toolbox. She heaved it into the boat, barely missing Sonic's knees and Amy's feet. "Take this! You need it!"
"But Sticks," Tails protested, "I'm just running out to buy stuff. I don't want to lug my toolbox along."
"You need it!" Sticks repeated. Then she pressed a hand to her mouth as if stifling a scream-or tears-and ran away, back toward the island.
"That was weird," Sonic muttered.
"No kidding." Tails stowed the toolbox under his seat.
But Amy gazed after Sticks's departing figure, biting her lower lip, and fidgeting with the straps on her life vest.
Despite this disturbing send-off, the boat crossed the bay without mishap, although the waves jostled them as if driving down a rocky road in a truck with no shock absorbers. They reached Bygone Island and disembarked with relief.
Two hours of shopping, and the three met at the dock, all carrying armfuls of shopping bags.
"Hey, Amy!" Sonic said as the pink hedgehog approached. "I thought we'd have to wait ages for you!"
"Who, me?" She gave him a flashy smile. "I never waste time when it comes to spending money, Sonic."
"Well, don't blow your paycheck for the month," said Sonic. "Our commission for fighting Eggman isn't that big."
Tails said nothing, but busied himself with digging through his purchases, confirming that he had everything. One of the items was the robot-controlling device he had used on the dragonfly robots. Perhaps he could repair it using the island's plans or computers.
The boat chugged to the dock a few minutes later. The captain helped them stow their gear in a compartment under the rear seat, back by the engine. They donned their life vests and set out for Angel Island.
They had to circle the southern tip of Bygone Island before turning eastward for Angel Island. Here the waves grew larger, capped with white, as the wind sliced off the top of each swell. The passengers held on as the boat pitched and the engine labored.
The clouds of the next storm had engulfed half the sky, and lightning flashed along the horizon. Sonic watched it. "I hope we make it before that storm hits."
"We will!" Tails said, gripping the back of his seat. "Just think about all the things we can fix once we get there!"
Amy clung to her seat with her jaw clenched. "I just hope this doesn't get any worse," she muttered.
A shark fin surfaced in the distance. Sonic pointed at it. "Check that out, Aimes. Looks like it just got worse."
The fin knifed through the water toward their boat.
"Don't be silly," said Tails. "Sharks don't attack boats. They just follow them to see if they'll drop food."
Amy watched the shark fin's approach, her growing seasickness forgotten. "It's awfully big, you guys. Does Eggman have robot sharks?"
Nobody answered. Sonic and Tails watched the fin with new apprehension.
"It's silver," Tails pointed out. "Not gray."
The fin was still fifteen feet away when the shark's head exploded out of the water. The jaws opened wide enough to swallow a car, let alone their little charter boat. But the corners of the mouth were fastened with heavy, obvious bolts, and instead of flesh, the shark was thick plastic and metal.
Sonic curled into a ball and hurled himself at its snout, as the jaws engulfed the entire back half of the boat. Tails and Amy screamed. Tails grabbed Amy and threw her overboard, out of the shark's mouth.
Sonic hit the shark. The huge jaws snapped shut, the teeth shearing through wood, metal and plastic. The shark jerked its head sideways, and tore the entire back half of the boat off. It plunged into the water and disappeared into the depths.
The captain bellowed and leaped from the boat as it capsized. Without the weight of the engine, the cabin was now the heaviest part. The boat rolled over in the water, and sank rapidly.
Sonic, Amy and the captain floated in the choppy waves a short distance from the Bygone coast, panting and staring around.
"Tails!" Sonic yelled. "Tails! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, was he still on the boat?"
Tears streamed down Amy's face. "The shark got him, Sonic. I saw it. Him and all our gear."
Sonic gaped at her for a moment. Then he clenched his teeth and scowled. "It'll take him straight back to Eggman. If he's hurt, I'm going to-" he made a violent splashing motion.
"Let's get to shore," the captain called. "The tide is pulling us out to sea." Indeed, the rocky coastline was already twenty feet further away than it had been. They all set out, kicking and paddling, kept afloat by their life vests.
The windswept waves gave them grief, tossing them up and down, and splashing them unexpectedly in the faces. All three were glad to feel boulders underfoot, and to haul themselves up on solid land again.
Sonic pulled off his life vest, then offered his arms to Amy and the captain. "Hold on tight. I'll run us back to the village." They obeyed, and Sonic broke into a run.
Tails sat up in the darkness of the shark's belly. "Well, that sucked."
The shark's dive had thrown him around inside it, along with the debris from the boat, and Tails's whole body ached. But it had leveled out into a smooth underwater glide, and he dared take stock of his surroundings.
He tapped his wrist computer and activated flashlight mode. The screen blazed white, illuminating the shark's insides.
It was simply a long metal tube, about four feet high and at least as long as the boat had been. The boat's back half, complete with onboard motor, rested on the floor, along with several inches of seawater.
Being eaten by a shark, even a robot one, was a traumatic experience. Tails sat there for a moment, staring at the severed boat, with empty panic swirling through him. He was deep underwater, inside a robot.
A robot. He gulped and dragged himself out of his panic. It was just a robot, not a live shark.
Tails climbed over the ruined boat and checked the compartment where they had stowed their gear. Everything was intact and dry.
"Eggman wanted to steal our stuff," Tails mused aloud. "Why? To figure out what we're doing?" He looked worriedly at the shopping bags. Eggman would learn quite a lot, because Tails had bought very specific parts. The shark was doubtless returning to its master now. If only he could hijack its navigation somehow.
He rummaged around in the ruins of the boat, and stumbled across his toolbox.
His toolbox! Sticks had known this was going to happen, somehow. She was the island's Seer. Tails's respect for her climbed toward reverence.
Tails opened his toolbox, and picked up a cutting torch with an attached butane tank. Then he hesitated. The air inside the shark was already going stale. The flame would burn the rest of the oxygen.
He put the torch back, and selected an awl and a hammer. "Let's see what makes you tick." He began punching holes in the metal skin with the awl, close enough together that he could tear open the metal hull.
Knuckles was busy sweeping down the dust and cobwebs that blanketed the Master Emerald's sanctuary, when the door swung open. There stood Metal Sonic, and behind him, Sticks.
"They're in trouble," said Sticks.
Knuckles paused, broom in hand, and his gaze flicked from Sticks to Metal and back. Seeing them together like this, blue robot and brown badger, sent a little jolt of panic through him. "Who's in trouble?"
"Sonic, Tails, and Amy," said Sticks. "Especially Tails. Tell him." She poked Metal's shoulder joint.
Metal Sonic's flat voice spoke in Knuckles's head. "Ten minutes ago, I intercepted communication from Eggman. A submarine robot has apprehended Tails, and all the supplies they were carrying."
Knuckles stiffened, hands doubling into fists. "What do we do?"
Metal Sonic's red eyes glimmered. "I must go to Eggman's base and attempt to rescue Tails when he is delivered."
Knuckles observed that flicker of the robot's eyes. "Which means you might betray us."
"Not intentionally!" Metal Sonic drew himself upright and lifted his chin. "I will not destroy the delicate secrets of Angel Island. However, Eggman may deactivate me and download my memory. If he does, he will possess everything the Speaker gave me." He clenched a fist in front of his chest, as if protecting the heart he did not have.
"Well," said Knuckles, "I guess you'd better not go, then."
Sticks appeared to follow this conversation, despite being unable to hear Metal Sonic's voice. "I knew this would happen. I made Tails take his toolbox."
"You did!" Knuckles beamed. "Great thinking! Or seer-ing, or whatever." He turned to the Master Emerald. "Show me Tails."
A vision entered his mind-Tails in a dark place, working industriously on the exposed circuitry of a machine. As he watched, Tails connected a small screen to several wires. Then he cracked his knuckles, grinning, and began touching commands on screen.
"I think Tails actually just hacked the submarine," said Knuckles. "Sticks and Metal, go keep a lookout for him. I'll stay here and use the Master Emerald."
Metal Sonic hurried away. As Sticks followed him, she said over her shoulder, "That emerald will fry your brain if you're not careful."
"I'm always careful," said Knuckles without turning.
Sonic and Amy arrived at Bygone Village and dropped off the captain at the insurance office. The captain strode in, dripping and grumbling about all the paperwork this would cause.
"Now what?" Amy asked, combing her fingers through her damp, windswept spines.
Sonic clenched a fist and gazed north. "Now we go deal with Eggman."
There was a brilliant flash of lightning, a crack of thunder, and rain cascaded from the sky in a gray sheet.
Sonic looked at the sky and spread his arms. "Really?"
Amy towed him sideways under the shelter of a shop's awning, which had already become a waterfall from the runoff. She wiped water out of her eyes. "As if we weren't soaked enough! This was not the day I had planned."
"Me neither." Sonic leaned against the wall of the shop and glared at the rain, which splattered on the pavement a few feet away.
Amy shivered and hugged herself. "I could go for a nice hot cup of tea right now. And some cookies."
"I could run us back to your house," Sonic said doubtfully. "Maybe if the rain lets up a little."
Amy shivered. Sonic almost put an arm around her, but froze. Would doing that imply that he had feelings for her? No, no, he didn't dare. But seeing her shiver hurt him inside. Almost as much as his heart hurt over Tails's fate. But he had learned the hard way what happened when he tried running in a downpour-eyeballs full of blinding, stinging rain.
In the distance, the surf roared and foamed on the beach. Sonic watched it and his ears grew pointed. Stupid ocean. Hiding stupid robot sharks. If he had the chance, he'd-
His wrist computer chirped. "Hey Amy!" Sonic straightened. "I'm getting a message from Tails!" He tapped the screen.
It was audio only, but Tails sounded cheerful, almost giddy. "Hey Sonic! Guess what! I hijacked the shark!"
"You what?" Sonic began to grin, and so did Amy.
"I broke into its computer system and I'm controlling it, now. Where are you guys? Want a ride?"
"Sure!" Sonic exclaimed.
Amy nodded, hands clasped under her chin.
"We're in the village," said Sonic. "Down by the main square."
"Hold on, I'll beach the shark there."
Sonic and Amy peered through the rain at the beach. After a few minutes, a gray torpedo shape bullied through the surf, and nosed onto the beach. It opened its huge jaws, and Tails beckoned from inside its mouth.
They ran through the rain to their friend, and climbed over the teeth. Tails was unhurt, and a little damp, and flung his arms around both hedgehogs. "I'm so glad you're all right! I didn't know what happened after the boat sank. I know you can't swim, Sonic."
"Life vest," said Sonic with a wink.
Amy stepped around the remains of the boat. "Ick. This stinks like gasoline."
"Help me push it out," said Tails. "I got our stuff out, and now it's just in the way."
The three pushed and pulled the boat's section out of the shark, onto the rainy beach. Then Tails had everyone sit down. "It'll be tricky getting back to deep water. I might have to roll us."
Sonic sat down in the back and braced his feet against the corner. Amy sat back to back with him, braced in the opposite corner. "Tails," she said, "this thing needs seats."
"Tell me about it." Tails went to a gaping hole in the shark's metal wall, and pulled out a small handheld computer, which was wired in to the machine. At his command, the shark's jaws closed, cutting off the noise of the rain and breakers. Then the huge tail began to thrash back and forth, pulling them backward against the waves.
The tide was still going out, so after a few minutes, they were deep enough for the water to drag them clear. The shark pitched sideways for a moment, then leveled out.
Sonic had grabbed Amy's hand to keep her from falling. Now he released her and pretended nothing had happened. She gave him a wistful look, but addressed Tails instead. "Where are we?"
"About fifty feet below the surface," said Tails, his face lit by his screen. "We're headed back to Angel Island. It'll be about forty-five minutes, I think. We're doing about thirty knots."
"What's a knot?" Sonic asked.
"It's how they measure speed at sea," said Tails without looking up. "Think thirty-four miles an hour."
"Excellent. But slow." Sonic dug into Amy's grocery bags and produced a bottle of water and a box of cookies. He handed them to Amy. "Sorry they're not warm."
She beamed at him anyway. "Thanks, Sonic."
Sonic looked away, hiding a grin.