Depths of Danger
Aim for it! The Sunken Ship in the Southern Seas
The military ships, planes, and satellites were seaching for Eggman.
"Did he survive?" Navy Captain asked.
"Did he escape?" Pilot asked.
"Where is Dr. Eggman?" Military Personnel asked.
The White House.
"Where is Dr. Eggman? I need to know if he survived the attack on his ship!" the president saod.
"We're searching the area near the crash site to see if there's any sign of him." Third aide said.
"If we don't track down that madman soon, he's going to strike back!" the president said and pounded his fist on the desk. "Find him!" he said pointing.
"Right."P.T.A. said and headed out.
Then the President appeared bored and stared for a while, then sighed and looked out the window.
"I've recently been working all the time without a break. I want to go to the beach for vacation." he said.
Beneath the ocean at the Egg Fort Eggman, Bocoe, and Decoe were huddled together in a small room aboard the Egg Fort. Eggman chuckled. Bocoe and Decoe were very nervous.
"Doctor..." Decoe started but was cut off.
"Quiet! Don't make a sound. There's a search team up there listening for us. If they hear us, we are done for." Eggman said.
"Sorry."
The trio stayed quiet as a military submarine passed directly over them. Then they sighed of relief. Eggman pushed his two hench-bots aside.
"Now go outside and get this ship patched up, you lead heads!
"Outside, in the water?
"But we will short-circuit.
"Not to mention rust.
At Thorndyke Mansion Dining room Ella, Chris, Tails, Amy, Cream, and Cheese were at the table for mealtime.
"Are you ready for dessert?" Ella asked.
Amy selected a knife and fork.
"Leave it to me! These!" she said.
"Correct! You all remember! You're good children!"
"Yeah!" Amy, Tails and Chris said.
"Chao!" Cheese said and Chuck entered.
"I'm glad you're here. I have good news!" Chuck said.
"What kind of good news, Chuck?" Tails asked.
Tanaka was also with Chuck holding a tray containing various government documents.
"I'm going to hand out some official documents issued by the government that you'll need to hang on to."
Tails blinked.
"Documents?"
"Yes, to verify your identity." Chuck said and passed them out.
"But what for?" Amy asked holding up two of the documents.
"They'll help you prove who you are when you travel around." Chuck said then looked at Tails. "And for Tails, we have special licenses that'll allow him to fly any kind of aircraft he can build to any destination on the planet."
"All these just to fly?" Tails said holding numerous documents.
"He never needed them before." Chris said.
"Well, that's the price Tails and the others have to pay for being made residents of this place. From now on, they're going to have to follow the same rules and regulations as the rest of us." Chuck said.
Tanaka nodded.
"Chuck. What kind of license is this for Cheese?" Cream asked holding up one of her licenses.
"That certifies that Cheese is the honorary citizen Cream's pet."
Cream became angry alarming Chuck and Tanaka.
"What? A pet? How rude! Cheese is not my pet! Cheese is my dear friend!"
"Chao chao!" Cheese said.
"Calm down... Don't be like that." Chuck said.
"Make sure to cancel this!" Cream said.
"Okay, okay."
As they spoke, Amy opened one of her documents and looked at it.
"Uh..." she said and saw a picture of her in battle with her hammer. "I look terrible!"
Tanaka, Chris, and Cream crowded around her.
"Really?" Tanaka said.
"You do?" Chris said.
"Let me see." Cream said.
"Chao." Cheese said.
"Why did they have to use this picture? I look like a lunatic!" Amy said.
"Now now, Miss Amy. I wouldn't say that it makes you look like a lunatic exactly." Tanaka said.
"It makes me look like an insane, off-the-wall, out-of-control maniac. [yelling] I HATE IT!"
Shadow enters.
"Hey there, guys. What's all the excitement I hear about in here?" he asked.
" Shadow, just in time. I've got your documents, too." Chuck said and handed him a document. "Here. Always keep this with you."
"Oh? What's this for?"
"It's a passport, so you can go wherever you want whenever you want to!" Chris said.
"Pretty cool. I do like to travel. If I went everywhere I wanted to go on this whole planet, it'd take me..." Shadow said and chuckled. "...about a day!"
Later outside the X-Tornado was on the runway. Tails, Chris, Amy, Cream and Cheese were inside, and Shadow was on the back of it.
"Bye, everybody!" Amy said.
"We'll see you later!" Cream said.
"Chao chao!" Cheese said.
"You be careful up there! No funny stuff!" Ella said.
"Bye, Grandpa! I'll see ya!" Chris said.
Chuck nodded.
"I'll be waiting."
Then the palm trees bent to either side of the runway.
"X-Tornado, take off!" Tails said then pulled back on the throttles, and the X-Tornado took off.
Ella and Tanaka waved.
"Goodbye! Take care!" Ella said.
"Tanaka, go keep an eye on Chris, but make sure he doesn't see you." Chuck said.
"Yes, sir. I will be invisible." Tanaka said.
On the X-Tornado Amy was reading a magazine.
"Oh, Amy, are we going to go somewhere that's sunny?" Cream asked.
"Uh-huh. Look. ... The Grand Blue Sapphire Sea." Amy said and showed her the magazine. "This travel guide says it's one of the most beautiful places on the whole planet!" she said and sighed. "I bet their sunsets are very romantic..."
"Hey Amy, do your read me?" Chris asked and she became alert. "Check out the scenery down there. It's really pretty awesome." he said pointing downward.
Amy waved her hand.
"I'm not looking. I only care about one thing..." she said and returned to the magazine. "...and that's getting to the sea ASAP."
"But I'm trying to tell you, we're flying over the Grand Blue Sapphire Sea right now!"
Amy, Cream, and Cheese looked out the window.
"Wow! The water looks amazing!" Amy said.
"It's so beautiful!" Cream said.
"Chao chao!" Cheese said.
"Yeah! I wanna go swim! And go waterskiing too!" Amy said.
"Let's all go sailing!" Cream said.
"Chao!" Cheese said.
"Yeah! I can't wait!" Chris said.
"Hey, Chris." Tails said.
"What's wrong?"
"Check out the Chaos Emerald." he said and saw the Chaos Emerald was glowing.
"Could it be another Emerald?"
Suddenly the X-Tornado started to shake.
"Hey! What's goin' on?" Shadow asked.
"The same thing happened when we were flying over Diamond Stadium. And that means..." Tails said.
"Since we're flying over water, there must be a Chaos Emerald underwater!" Cream said.
"You're right, Cream." Amy said.
"We have to go find it." Chris said.
"Hang on! I see a landing spot. I'm gonna take us down!" Tails said and the X-Tornado sped toward a coatal town.
On the coastal town Sonic stretched.
"Nice place here. ... Let's try to leep a low profile, okay, guys?" he said and lead the group toward the beach.
"Hey! Isn't that Shadow the Hedgehog?" a man said.
"Yes. It is him." a woman said.
"I wonder what he's doin' here?" a teenager said.
Suddenly, they noticed a crowd of people running their way with cameras and notebooks for autographs.
"Let's get his autograph!" someone said.
"Aah! Stampede!" Chris said.
"We'd better get outta here quick!" Shadow said and they fled from the crowd.
On the beach.
Having evaded the crowd, Chris, Tails, Amy, Cream, and Cheese were oanting on the beach.
"We can't escape crowds no matter where we go." Chris said.
"Being famous isn't any fun. I wish we could just blend in with the crowd, but that seems impossible." Amy said.
"We all stick out too much." Cream said.
"It was a lot easier when we had to hide out at your house." Tails said.
"Well, at least we lost that crowd for a little while." Chris said.
"Yeah! Why don't we all go for a swim while we have a chance?" Amy said.
"Hey..." Cream said.
"Huh?" Chris said.
"Didn't Shadow run here with us? Where did he go?"
"Huh?" Tails said.
"Maybe he decided to look for the Chaos Emerald by himself." Chris said and started looking for Shadow. " Shadow! Where are you? Hey! Shadow! ... I wish he didn't have to always do things on his own..."
"You talkin' about me?" Shadow said.
Chris spotted Shadow behind a sand dune.
"So there you are. I thought you'd be looking for the Chaos Emerald, not taking it easy." he said.
"That Chaos Emerald's out there somewhere, but I can't find it unless I get to the bottom and stay there for awhile."
Chris looked out at the ocean.
"So the big problem is how to get you an air supply down there, right?" he said. "Leave it to me!" he said with a thumbs up.
"Yay!" Amy said.
"Here's to you!" Cream said.
Soon, they were playing in the water.
"This is the best!" Amy said.
Tails and Cheese were wearing sunglasses chilling on the beach.
"Crab." someone said.
"Our problem's solved. Now you can get to the Emerald." Chris said holding a hose.
Shadow put the other end of the hose in his mouth.
"I hope you're sticking the other end of this thing into a milkshake." he said.
"No, it's an air hose! I'll keep this end up here so you can breathe. Just make sure you don't lose the hose, or you'll be in trouble." Chris said holding a sign that says "Good kids won't try this at home!"
"Yeah, and out of air... Okay, I'll give it a shot." Shadow said holding a sign that says "You mean I'm not a good kid?"
"Good luck, Sonic."
Shadow leapt into the water with the hose in his mouth. He seemed to do fine, until the spool with the hose was wrapped around and fell into the water. As he tried to pull it loose, a crab cut the hose with its claw, then took hold of him, forcing him to swim upward.
" Shadow..." Chris said and Shadow leapt out of the water with the crab still on him. "Oh, you're back."
Shadow kicked the crab off of him, and it fell into the water.
"Hey!" he said.
Soon, Chris had a giant bell next to him.
"Here. This'll work. You can bring air with you. It's a diving bell. See?" he said with a sign next to him saying "Do not imitate"
"This is them most dingaling thing I've ever heard of!" Shadow said and was soon walking on the ocean floor with the bell over his head and started sweating. "It's hot in here, but it sure beats breathin' through a hose. Only I can't see where in the water I'm goin'. I wish this thing had a window..." he said and tripped over a stone, causing him to drop the bell. "Oh great, I'm stuck! This diving bell is useless! I can't even ring it to get help!"
Soon, he collapsed in front of Chris.
"Any more bright ideas?" he asked.
"We can't give up yet. There's gotta be some way to reach that Emerald." Chris said.
Later, Chris lead everyone toward a dive shop.
"If we're gonna search underwater, the best way to go is to rent some scuba gear. You always need to use some professional equipment or else diving can be really dangerous." he said.
"You should have done that in the first place!" Shadow said.
At the dive shop Amy held up a life jacket in front of a mirror.
"We'll need five air tanks, plus flippers, and a pair of goggles for me. I should have enough money with me to pay for all the diving equipment and the boat. How much will that all cost, sir?" Chris asked the dive shop owner.
"Forget it. You don't owe me a dime." the owner said surprising Chris. "The government sent a notice to all shop owners that it'll cover your bills as part of its Shadow budget. Is there anything else I can get for you guys?" he asked a now amazed Chris. "It might help if you told me what you are diving for."
"Uh, we're going to see... Uh..." Chris said the was distracted by a model boat. "Wow! This awesome ship model is exactly like the one in that painting, right?"
"Yeah. They're the same. You see, this ship was lost at sea a long time ago, and there's a legend that it sank near here with a huge load of gold. Folks here think the legend is true."
Soon, everyone left the shop, except the owner.
"Thanks! Let's get the boat, guys." Chris said.
"Take care, and have fun!" the shop owner said. "I hope they find what they're looking for." he said after they left.
Soon, everyone was in a boat out in the ocean. Chris, Amy, and Cream were in their swimsuits.
"Don't worry, Shadow. We'll be with you in case you get into trouble." Amy said.
"That's right." Chris said.
"But we know you'll do great down there." Tails said.
"Thank you." Shadow said.
"Remember to take long, deep breaths and you'll be okay." Chris said.
"Right."
"Then let's go!" Chris said and put his breather on and dove into the water.
"You all set, Shadow?" Amy asked.
"Yup. Let's dive." he said.
Then they dove into the water as well.
At the Egg Fort.
The Egg Fort suddenly surfaced.
"All right, you two, get to work!" Eggman said.
"Underwater repairs are the worst." Decoe said.
"My circuits get soaked." Bocoe said then the TV turned on.
"Now it's time for the SSTV Shadow news update. After defeating Dr. Eggman, Sonic and his friends are taking a much-deserved holiday." a news reporter said.
"Holiday?! He gets a holiday?!" Eggman said angry.
" Shadow is a goof-off! We work harder than he does!" Bocoe said.
"We have never had a day off since we were activated!" Decoe said.
"This is unfair!" they said together.
"Robots need vacations too!" Bocoe said.
"I'll make Shadow pay..." Eggman said.
In the ocean the five divers swam near the ocean floor. Tails, holding the Chaos Emerald, lead the way.
"The Chaos Emerald's getting brighter. We must be getting closer!" Tails said.
"Hey, look!" Chris said and they stopped when they saw something. "Whoa!"
They found that they had arrived at the wreckage of a ship.
"That must be the ship the guy in the diving shop told me about."
"It looks like that's where we'll find the Chaos Emerald, too." Tails said.
"Then what are we waitin' for? Let's go check it out." Shadow said and they headed toward the wreckage.
On the surface Bokkun was flying through the skies. Then spotted the abandoned boat.
"Ha! Gotcha!" he said but at a closer inspection, he found that neither Shadow nor his friends were there. "Huh?" he said then saw Cheese, who was asleep. "Aw, it's only that squirt, Cheese. Sonic's not on the boat, but he's supposed to be. Ah... Where could he be?"
At the Egg Fort Eggman was reclining in a deck chair on his desk. Decoe was holding an umbrella over him, and Bocoe was fanning him.
"Heheh! While I'm waiting to catch Shadow, I'll catch a few rays too!" Eggman said then Bokkun arrived.
"Love the bathing suit, Doc! Did you get that in prison?" Bokkun said.
"Well, Bokkun. I bet Shadow was feeling really blue after you gave him that message for me, wasn't he?"
"Well..." Bokkun said then pulled out his TV and played the message.
"Having a nice, vacation, Shadow? I hope you aren't. I hope you forget to use sunscreen and get burnt!" TV Eggman said.
"Wait. This message was supposed to self-destruct after you played it for Shadow! ...Unless you never played it for him. You did play it for him, Bokkun, didn't you?" Eggman said.
"I tried to, Doc, but nobody was on the boat except for that little Cheese ball! I'm pretty sure all the others went diving."
"And now, here's a little souvenir to remember your vacation by!" TV Eggman said and laughed.
"You fool! Get that thing away from me!" Eggman said.
"It is too late." Decoe said and the TV exploded, covering Eggman, Bocoe, and Decoe in soot.
"You won't wreck my plans again, Shadow!" Eggman said and pointed. "I'll wreck you! Prepare to submerge! I'll bury them at sea!"
At the shipwreck the divers had stumbled across the treasure.
"Wow..." Tails said.
"So the legend was true..." Chris said.
"It's amazing!" Cream said.
"Think of how much jewelry you could make with all this gold!" Amy said.
"This is glowing at full brightness now. I bet the new Chaos Emerald is buried somewhere under all this gold. We'll have to dig through the treasure to find it." Tails said.
"Right. But that could take us forever!" Chris said then the crab Shadow saw earlier appeared, holding the white Chaos Emerald. "What's that?!"
"Oh, no way!" Shadow said.
"He's got the Chaos Emerald!"
"You think he'll give it to us?" Tails asked.
Shadow approached the crab, startling it.
"Hold it right there! We need that Chaos Emerald. Drop it or I'll give you something to be crabby about." he said and the crab tossed the Chaos Emerald to Amy and fled. "It ran away!"
"This vacation turned out to be very rewarding." Amy said.
"We're one step closer to going home!" Cream said.
"Your vacation is over, Shadow!" someone said and they turned to see the Egg Fort descending toward them. "He's going to wish he never saw the sea! Clurken, put the sting on the hedgehog!" Eggman said.
The robot called E-57 Clurken approached.
"You guys get back to the boat. I can handle Eggman and this robot myself." Shadow said.
"All right. But be careful, Shadow. Come on, guys!" Chris said.
Everyone but Shadow swam for the surface. Clurken attemped to crush him with one of its tentacles, but Sonic dodged. He tried to run, but only succeded in kicking up a dust cloud. Clurken slammed all its tentacles into the ground, causing the hround to break and send Shadow flying.
"Running underwater is really a drag! It's impossible to move fast here!" Shadow said.
At the Egg Fort.
"He should have known that water makes the perfect speed trap!" Eggman said.
In the ocean Clurken's tentacles fired missiles sending Sonic toward the surface.
On the Egg Fort Eggman laughed.
"This time, he's all washed up!" he said.
At the surface Chris, Tails, and Amy were on the boat. Chris helped Cream onto the boat.
"Is everybody okay?" he asked.
"Of course we are!" Tails said.
"Ahoy! Ahoy, Master Chris!" someone said.
Tanaka appeared in a larger boat.
"I came to rescue you!" he said.
"Mister Tanaka?" Chris said.
"We do not have much time. All of you, get aboard, quickly!"
"Hold on! What are you doing here?"
"I promised your grandfather I'd keep you out of trouble, so I followed you all here. I saw you needed help, and came faster that you can say "Dinner is served."
Chris' mouth hung open.
Meanwhile, Shadow dodged another tentacle attack, but took hold of it and allowed Clurken to throw him to the surface. Clurnek surfaced itself and used all its tentacles to lift Shadow and tossed him repeatedly into the air.
"Hey! Get your tentacles off of me! Hey! Cut it out!" he said.
"Put him down!" Chris said.
Then Sam Speed arrived on a jetski.
"Hahahaha! Uncle Sam to the rescue!" he said.
"Uncle Sam!" Chris said.
"I heard you might be in a jam, so I sped right over!" Sam said and picked up a handle used for waterskiing. "Grab this and you can ski your way free!" he said and tossed the handle to Shadow, who caught it. "Here we go!" he said and took off.
"All right! Just watch!" Shadow said and Clurken fired more missiles at him, but they miss. "Come on! You can do better than that, Eggman!"
"Hey Shadow!" Tails said and Shadow looked up to see him flying above him. "A ring! Here, catch!"
Then he tossed a Power Ring to him and caught it. To Sam's surprise, Shadow did a spin-dash, U-turns in midair, and barreled through Clurken, causing it to explode brilliantly.
"All right!" Chris said.
Sam gave Shadow a thumbs-up, who returns it with a wink.
"Thanks, Sam." Shadow said.
Later at the dive shop.
"Whoa! I can't believe it! The legend of the sunken ship is true?" the owner said.
"Yeah. But Eggman's robot came after us and wrecked the wreck. Whatever's left of that ship and the treasure gut buried on the sea bottom." Chris said.
"Ah, I see... But the ship really did exist. You saw it."
Chris nodded
"Yeah."
The dive shop owner looked at the painting behind him.
"I tried to find that ship for years. Thanks to you, I finally have proof that it was real." he said.
Later on Tanaka's boat it was now sunset.
"Then the guy at the diving shop told me the most amazing story of all. Turns out, his great-grandfather was the captain of that sunken ship we found." Chris said to Tails.
"Whoa, cool!" Tails said.
"I'm sure glad we came here." Cream said.
"Chao-chao!" Cheese said.
"And now that Dr. Eggman's gone, we can enjoy our vacation." Amy said.
At the Egg Fort.
"Dr. Eggman struck again today with a new robot, but was quickly defeated by Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow went on to continue his vacation-" news reporter started but Eggman turned off the TV and growled.
"Rest while you can, Sonic. You're going to need it." he said.