So far so good.


Chapter Eleven: The Impetus

"The ship's all ready to go!" Tails announced, wiping motor oil off his hands with a cloth as he walked onto the deck. He went up to Shadow. "I fixed the engine as best as I could, but I'm afraid we'll sail a tad slower."

Shadow was staring at the sea and didn't respond at first. "Huh? Oh. Yes. That's fine." he said absent-mindedly.

Tails looked closely at Shadow's face. "Are you all right, Captain?"

Rouge noticed Shadow's focused expression. "What's on your mind?" she asked.

Shadow glanced at her. "It's just...the fourth map piece...it doesn't make sense." He looked at the crusty paper in his hands. "It says the location of Eggman's hideout is...the northern part of the sea." He saw his crewmates' puzzled expressions and he showed them the map piece. The dotted line led to an Eggman symbol near the top of the outline of the sea. There was no land whatsoever.

Vector looked over Shadow's shoulder and scratched his head. "What could that mean?" he wondered.

"Maybe it's fake?" Silver suggested.

"I knew it!" Charmy piped up. He added sadly, "It's all a lie."

Espio looked deep in thought. "We have to consider every possibility."

"You could do that, or…"

Everyone looked at Sonic, who had just leapt up on deck from his boat. The blue hedgehog leaned against the main mast and finished, "…you could go to that spot right now without wasting time, and figure what it means on the way there."

The crew looked at Shadow, awaiting his instructions.

The black hedgehog studied the blank spot on the map for a second longer. Then he glanced up at the others and nodded. "We'll do that. Thank you for your all your help, Sonic. If there's anything you need-"

"Well in that case, I'd like to come with you!" Sonic cut in, grinning.

Shadow was fairly surprised. "Really? You wouldn't mind?"

Sonic shrugged. "Got nothing better to do, these days." He smiled cockily. "'Course it'll be hard for you to keep up with my Super Sonic Boom."

"I'll be setting the pace." the captain reminded firmly. "And you'll follow my orders exactly, as you are now under my command. Is that clear?"

Sonic waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, sure."

Shadow sighed inwardly. He didn't exactly admire Sonic's charisma or ego, and he doubted he'd listen to his instructions. But the sailor had saved his life; the least he could do was let him tag along. He might even be useful again. "Everyone," he addressed, "prepare to set sail immediately!"

It wasn't long before they were out in the open water. The wind at their backs, they sailed farther away from Lost Jungle. Shadow watched the island get smaller and smaller until it was a tiny dot on the horizon. A gust of salty tang blew into Shadow's nose and he sighed deeply. He had grown accustomed to the scent of the sea, and he thought of doing more sailing once this was all over.

They are still alive…for now. Snively's words clutched Shadow's heart. How much longer did he have? Would he be too late? And just why had Eggman kidnapped Gerald and Maria in the first place? He fidgeted impatiently, scowling at the slow speed they were moving at. He wished they could all pile in Sonic's boat, but it was too small and had only a few cannons. He glanced at the afternoon sun and sniffed.

"You must really miss her." Rouge said softly, coming up beside him.

Shadow turned his head to her. "She was like a sister to me. When I was down, Maria did everything she could to bring me back up. She was so optimistic." He looked out at the water and chuckled to himself, as if reliving a memory. It didn't last long: the sky quickly got darker as thick clouds blocked out the sun, and the air turned chilly.

Charmy buzzed up to Shadow, nearly flying into him. "Captain! Fog ahead! You want us to steer clear of it?"

Shadow looked and saw a dense cloud of fog not far in the distance. "Better check with Omega first." he said, but the robot was already coming up to him.

"Captain, if we avoid the fog we will be straying off course." Omega told him.

"Then we'll continue on course-"

"However, my sensors seem to be malfunctioning. I cannot detect if there are any obstacles in the fog. It could prove to be dangerous."

Tails ran up to them, adding, "Something strange is happening to our instruments too. Look!" He held out his compass. To everyone's surprise, the needle was jerking in different directions randomly.

Shadow frowned, wondering if it was worth the risk. Of course it's worth it! I have to save Maria and Gerald! He nodded. "We're going in." Despite the members of his crew giving him whole-hearted salutes, Shadow felt a pang of guilt. What if he was being reckless, putting his crew in danger like this? But they didn't have time to spare: they would have to risk it.

Tendrils of mist seeped around the boat as they sailed blindly into the fog. On deck, the wisps swirled like ghosts, and Shadow could see why anyone would be too afraid to chart this area. It was also eerily quiet. There were no seagulls calling, no rolling waves, not even wind. Only the gentle slap of water against the hull broke the silence. Everyone was keeping a watchful eye on all sides of the ship.

The last thing he wanted was to crash into hidden rocks, so Shadow leaned over the starboard side and called out to Sonic, "Here's your chance to go faster. You will sail ahead of us and let us know if there are any other problems."

The blue hedgehog gave him a thumb's up. "You got it!" The Super Sonic Boom speed off before them, disappearing into the fog. It seemed agonizingly long before Sonic called out, "All clear! Literally!"

Shadow realized he could now see Sonic's ship ahead of his, as they left the fog behind. When he caught up with Sonic, he understood what he meant. They were in a clear, circular area with the fog surrounding it.

Omega suddenly reported, "Destination reached."

Shadow looked at him quickly. "Are you sure?"

"Affirmative. This clearing has enabled me to regain my radar."

Shadow ordered for the engine to be turned off. There was no need to weigh the anchor, as there was no wind. But when he looked across the clearing, he saw nothing. Just the stretch of water leading to more fog in all directions. "This…this can't be right." Shadow studied the map again, staring hard at it. "We must've missed something…" But no matter how long he looked at it, it didn't reveal anything new.

Vector tried to sound hopeful as he said, "Maybe once all this fog clears up, we'll be able to see Eggman's hideout!"

Charmy joined in, "Yeah! That's it! We'll just wait for the sun to come out."

But Shadow shook his head roughly. "We don't have time to wait!"

"Don't worry, Shadow." Silver said encouragingly. "We'll figure it out."

The captain's heart was heavy. "What if we don't?" he murmured bitterly.

Rouge insisted, "We will."

Sonic jumped on deck. "There's gotta be something more! Maybe another clue or-"

"What if there aren't anymore clues?!" Shadow snapped, surprising everyone. "What if this is the end of the line? Maybe the map's not even real; it was just a trick to divert us!"

"But-"

"No! That's it! It's over!" Shadow angrily turned away from everyone and leaned over the railing with his face in his hands. How could he be so foolish? He fell right into Eggman's scheme. The evil pirate was exceptionally smart, so of course he would know to trick him with a fake map. And now he came all this way for nothing. "I'm a failure."

"Hey! You most certainly are NOT a failure," Vector spoke up. "Who came up with the plan to successfully usurp Sam Speed?"

Espio added, "Not to mention fight off Snively more than once."

"And save Soleanna's treasure," said Silver.

"You also managed to pillage someone's ship, make him a slave, and sell all his possessions!" Charmy quipped.

Chris glared at him. "Hey…"

Tails pointed out, "Look at how many more sailors joined this crew since you became Captain."

Omega stepped forward. "Your leadership skills have proved to be most effective."

Shadow felt Rouge touch his arm. "We'll get through this together," she encouraged.

Even though he was touched by everyone's positive words, he still couldn't shake the responsibility weighing on his shoulders. "I don't know what will happen..." he admitted, tears forming in his eyes.

Rouge held his face in her hands comfortingly. "If anything happens, it's not your fault. You've done everything possible to get this far." She smiled warmly. "No matter what, I'm proud of you, Shadow."

Her sparkling sapphire eyes calmed Shadow down and for a moment he felt a spark of hope. He let his gaze drift to the rest of them. They were smiling at him confidently, some giving him thumbs-up while others nodded in respect. They were ready and willing to follow him to the end. He couldn't have asked for a better crew.

No, they were more than a crew.

They were part of his family.

Shadow allowed himself a little smile and tipped his hat at them in silent thanks.

The moment was short-lived, however, as the ship slowly started to rock back and forth; the wind was picking up again.

Espio spoke up, "Captain, should we weigh the anchor now?"

Shadow glanced out over the sea, but with the incoming storm clouds he couldn't get a clear view of the horizon. "No, we'd better keep going."

"…Oops," came Charmy's reaction, followed by a splashing noise. Everyone turned their heads to look at him and he grinned sheepishly with his hands behind his back. "I, uh, though he would say 'yes'."

Vector sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. Then his eyes shot open and he asked in alarm, "Are we tipping backwards?"

Everyone else suddenly felt it. Slowly at first, but then quickly, the bow of the Black Revenge was rising above the horizon with the stern plunging into the water.

"We're sinking too!" cried Chris as he tried to balance himself with a broom.

With his brain on high alert, Shadow dashed towards the stern and noticed the anchor had run out of rope, which most likely meant the water was unusually deep in this spot. But the ship was heavier than the anchor, so it shouldn't be dragging it down, should it?

Unless something was pulling it...

"Aah!" Rouge gasped and leapt into the air. She grabbed Omega's hand as he almost fell and hovered above the uneven deck. The others were also struggling to stay upright.

Shadow saw the only way to save them would be to cut off the anchor. He drew his saber and whacked at the rope. It was a thick, braided cord, but he persistently sliced at it until the last few threads broke apart by themselves. The severed piece whipped past him and disappeared over the edge. The bow fell back down on the surface of the water and sent everyone jolting forward. Knocked down on the deck, Shadow allowed himself a moment to relax.

Tails lifted his head up and asked nervously, "What was that?"

"I'm not sure." Shadow peered over the railing. "But whatever it was, I'm going to find out."

"How're you gonna do that?" questioned Sonic. His eyes suddenly widened. "You're not gonna make us swim down there, are you?"

Shadow replied, "I see no other option." He saw Sonic's uneasy expression and noted that this was the first time the blue hedgehog lacked any confidence. Shadow wasn't exactly thrilled about swimming either, but he didn't know how else to move on. He announced, "Prepare to dive!"

Shadow arranged for Rouge, Sonic, Silver, Espio, and Vector to accompany him. The rest would stay on the ship. As Shadow was getting the necessary weapons and equipment, he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

"Uh, 'scuse me, Captain?"

He turned and saw Sonic clutching his weight, looking very nervous. "What's wrong, Sonic?"

Sonic glanced from side to side, as if he didn't want anyone else to hear. "Nothing's wrong, per se… I was just… Er… See, haha, I don't exactly know…how to swim."

"What?" Shadow responded in disbelief, whirling at him. "You sail the seas all the time and you never learned how to swim?!"

"I can't help being hydrophobic, ok?!" Sonic countered, louder than he had wanted to. He glanced down at his shoes in embarrassment.

Feeling a little sorry for yelling at him, Shadow sighed and told him, "Fine. You can stay on the ship."

Sonic nodded in relief. "Thanks, pal. I promise I'll take good care of her. Not a scratch!" he said proudly.

When everyone else was ready, Shadow stepped onto the railing and looked back at the others. They gave him a salute, and he returned it. Then, with a nod at those going with him, he held his breath and leapt off.


End of Chapter Eleven