The walk from the scuba store down to Teresá's house didn't take too long as it was just down the street, when Sonic, Lara and their pals saw the neighborhood, they were surprised to see all the houses were located on piers.
However, once everything was put in perspective, it wasn't too common for people to have homes next to the sea. Beach houses were a thing all the time, even fishermen had homes next to the ocean.
Because of that, this was pretty much the lifestyle of people who chose to live next to the sea, be it on Yoha Island, anywhere else in the Caribbean Ocean, the Atlantic or somewhere in the Pacific Ocean islands like Hawaii or Midway.
Teresá's house was tall, compared to the other houses in the area, it was mostly white colored with a brown roof and a few gray linings. There were plenty of windows and the house was three stories high, even as the other houses on the block were either one story or two stories.
"I gotta say, Ms. Relano." Sonic told Teresá, "Your home and lifestyle is something, not to mention that it's a relief the houses haven't fallen into the ocean. Either the materials making up the house must be light enough to not cause the dock to collapse or the dock area is very strong."
"If you want to be fair, Sonic." Lara interjected, holding up her finger, "Its actually a matter of both. Then again, its best not to question it. Right, Pedro?"
Young Pedro nodded as his mummy lead the group to the front door and pulled a small fish-shaped key out from her pocket.
Inserting it into the lock, Teresá turned it and the doorknob lock clicked, signaling that it was unlocked. Putting the key back into her pocket, the store owner turned the knob and opened the door, the others followed her in, feeling the smoothness of a brown carpet under their feet as set foot inside the house.
Soon as they were inside, Sonic, Lara, Tails, Oskar and Sarah marveled at the sight of the Relano household's interior with photos of Teresá, Pedro and other fishermen lining the wall while a dried-up caught trout fish sat on a rack.
The air smelled very nice as the sea breeze blew in through the sitting room through a glass window which was wide and open enough to see the ocean as well as breath in some fresh air. Surprisingly enough, there was no fireplace, usually most people had them to stay warm and most homes had chimneys.
Regardless, the place looked nice, the walls were painted ocean blue and the ceiling was sky blue with a round yellow object probably meant to symbolize the sun. A huge photograph showing a fisherman and his crew at sea, which hung on the wall above a comfy sofa, got Sonic's attention.
"I'm telling you, Ms. Relano, you have a very nice lifestyle and you know how to keep everything in order." Tails said, interested in the environment around him, "Did this belong to your parents and grandparents?" Teresá nodded, "Si, seinor Tails. Papi owned this house and so did his papi."
"Huh, so it belongs in the family then?" Sonic commented, "Sure has changed over the years leading up to the current generation." Pedro told Sonic that the house did belong in the family for generations and had changed many times.
"So, uh, how was the house different in terms of look and location?" Sarah asked, getting more curious about the history of the Relanos by the second all while the thought of Ratakya still lingered strongly in her mind as it did with her boyfriend Tails, Lara, Sonic and Oskar.
"Well, at first, the house was a bamboo shack." Teresá explained, "Also, the location was on a hill overlooking the ocean before we moved to a nearby town at the bottom of the hill. It wasn't until the mid-20th century when we moved to this spot here in town before it was named Sha-Guvara."
"When did you guys get your fishing yacht?" Tails questioned curiously.
"My papa got it when I was little, his old motorboat was getting old and starting to fall apart, so he sold it to a man who sold him a yacht. Papa tried to keep the yacht in good condition, making sure it never fell apart."
"Ok, Teresá." Lara said, rolling her eyes, "Can you tell us where we can change into our swimsuits before we see your boat and go after the key?" Teresá giggled, "Oh, si, of course. Almost forgot you're going swimming.
"The bathroom and my bedroom upstairs can be where Sonic and Lara can get changed, Pedro's room and the guest bedroom is where Tails and Sarah can change into their swimsuits as well."
"Thanks." Sonic said, holding up the bag full of swimsuits and scuba gear as he and the others headed towards the staircase. "We'll be waiting with the boat!" Teresá called, "Hopefully you don't have a lot of trouble."
It didn't take too long for Sonic to change out of his normal clothes and into his swimsuit, at least he wasn't wearing a speedo this time. The swimsuit he'd chosen was nothing more than yellow colored swim trunks with white linings, the blue speedster felt very happy that Lara wasn't making him wear a speedo.
Sonic finished putting on his swim trunks and looked at himself in the mirror with a grin, flexing his muscles. He was pleased to know that he looked good, how else was the hedgehog going to impress the girls?
The hedgehog left the bathroom and, not long after, Lara emerged from Teresá's room and smiled at Sonic, wearing a revealing dark-colored one-piece swimsuit with a black belt with canisters around her waist, her hair tied back in a ponytail again.
"What'cha think, Sonikku? How do I look?" She asked.
"Your swimsuit may not be two-piece but you look nice." Sonic replied, winking and giving the gorgeous archeologist a thumbs up.
"So you think I look good even though I'm not wearing a bikini?"
"Yup."
They fetched their towels before going downstairs and walking through the hallway. The back door leading out onto the pier with the yacht wasn't hard to find as it was just past the dinning room.
Sonic, Lara, Tails and Sarah found Oskar, Teresá and Pedro waiting for them on the edge of the wooden dock just next to a large, white boat with the words "Relano Fishing" on the side.
Looking at the scenery with the blue ocean, the day lit horizon and the chirping seagulls flying over, Sonic and Tails wasted no time in getting out their cameras and started taking pictures of the ocean, the birds and the boat.
"The boat's ready, hopefully you know what to do." Teresá said, gesturing to the group to climb aboard. "Do I have to help drive and accompany or does one of you know how to drive a boat?"
"I think we can manage." Tails replied, carefully setting foot onto the boat, "I'm good at piloting planes. I actually drove a motorboat once."
"How about I drive?" Sarah asked, walking towards the piloting area of the boat, which had a traditional wooden steering wheel and a control console." Sonic held up his hand, "Uh, how do you start this boat up?"
Teresá realized she didn't have the keys to the yacht and told her son to go fetch them from the house, after all, motorboats were like cars and needed keys to get the engines going. Otherwise, good luck trying to get it up and running.
"You can actually drive a boat?" Tails asked his foxy girlfriend. Sarah nodded, "Well, its like flying a plane, and my pop's given me lessons. We used his yacht a few times, he calls it the HMS Serena at Sea after my mum."
"I thought your old man was a pilot." Sonic quipped.
"My pop was a pilot before he retired after he met mum. As for the boat? he got it in Hawaii from Alan the Coyote, Alan used to call it the HMS Wolfie."
"Cool, can I go for a ride with you in the HMS Serena sometime?" Tails asked enthusiastically at the thought of a romantic boat ride with Sarah.
"Sure, sweetie. Maybe you can drive." Sarah replied, kissing the yellow fox.
"That sounds like a great idea, how very romantic of you, dear."
Lara and Sonic locked eyes with each other and nodded, smiling as if they had the same idea too, the two of them taking a motorboat out on the water and spending some alone time together, enjoying themselves.
"I got the key." Said the voice of a Spanish boy. Pedro had returned with a small, golden key in his hand which he gave it to his mum. "Good boy, Pedro." Teresá said, patting her son on the shoulder, "You're very helpful."
"Wow, Pedro and I are similar." Oskar commented, "Pedro's your assistant and I'm Lara's assistant. Difference, Lara and I are unrelated but you two are, we love family and always will for the rest of our own natural lives in the end."
"Ok, Lara and Sonic, you and the others all set?" Teresá asked, giving Sarah the key, "Are we ready to go? Do you have everything you need?"
The group ran through a quick check over of everything they had or needed: Swimsuits? Check. Scuba gear? Check, they had it in the bag sitting upon a sofa. Directions? Check. Yacht? Check. Key to yacht? Check.
"I think we're clear." Tails said, giving Teresá and Pedro a thumbs up, "Thanks for all the help, we'll never forget how generous and how kind you were in lending us the boat and pointing us in the right direction."
"Yeah," Lara agreed, shaking Teresá's hand, "We mean it." She and Teresá hugged again, "I think the two-tailed fox called Tails just said that."
"Thank you again for your kind service, Teresá."
"Good luck, Lara. You be safe out there. Remember the directions I gave you, I also set up the GPS system to help."
As Teresá and her son headed back into the house, Lara, Sonic and their friends happily waved to the Relanos before all assembling on the boat, Sarah inserted the key into the key hole on the console and turned it gently.
Within seconds, the engines roared to life and the boat vibrated a little bit, green and blue bulbs on the dashboard lighting up. A blank screen in the middle of the console turned on, blinking to life and glowing green.
"How do you drive a boat exactly?" Tails asked Sarah, standing next to her as she took the wheel, "I've never driven a real boat before even though my plane can turn into one, its like driving an automobile on water, right?"
"Looks like you're about to start learning how to do so, Tails." Sarah replied, "Just hang back and watch me, ok? I'll teach you to steer and drive boats at some point, maybe when we're on my pop's yacht in the future, ok?"
The bikini-clad vixen pushed down on a pedal with her foot and the yacht started moving. The GPS device soon spoke in a robotic, yet familiar, female voice, "This is the Relano Yacht GPS, thank you for using Relano Fishing Yacht."
"Totally way past cool!" Sonic exclaimed, "The GPS can talk and has Teresá's cool voice."
"This boat and GPS unit are her property after all," Lara said, "So of Teresá must've programmed it to talk in her voice and managed to install some type of feature that allows the GPS to have sentience and speak in people's voices."
"Hey, GPS! Try speaking in my voice" Oskar said, leaning over the dashboard to look at the activated device showing a map. The GPS beeped and then spoke in a Scottish male voice, "No prob, lad."
Sonic clutched the bag full of scuba equipment as he sat down on a smooth seat next to Lara, the two of them holding hands and stifling giggles as they enjoyed the sight of their friends playing with Teresá's GPS voice mimic device.
"Is this immature or is it just fun?" The hedgehog asked, "Playing with something that belongs to somebody else? I almost feel bad about messing with that GPS even though we borrowed this boat from your friend after all."
"Don't worry about it, sweetie." The British-accented adventurer assured Sonic, holding the muscular hedgehog's hand, "As long as we bring the boat back and not mess around with the GPS' settings, I think we're be fine."
"Relano GPS?" Sarah asked, "Can you tell us how close are we to the spot where we'll find the cave with a key and how much time has passed?"
The GPS beeped and replied in Teresá's voice, "We just left port, we aren't even a full half a mile out to sea yet. As for the time, I do not have a clock installed."
"I almost forgot that Teresá said the exact spot was somewhere around eight to ten minutes out to sea from the shore of Yoha itself." Tails said with a chuckle, "Thanks for reminding us about that little fact, GPS Device."
"Nothing to worry about, my two-tailed friend. I'm honored to be of service."
Tails turned to Sarah and asked, "So I'm guessing when it comes to boat driving is, all you gotta do is turn on the engine, push down on a pedal with your foot and use the wheel to steer?
Sarah gave the two-tailed hero a kiss on the cheek, "Yes, my two-tailed foxy love. You're very observant, I'm impressed, even though you allowed your curiosity regarding that piece of technology to take over."
"This piece of technology is self-aware, has speakers and can hear you." The GPS said in a robotic voice, "If you don't want me overhearing, maybe you should keep it to yourselves, talk quieter or not say anything at all."
"Teresá's GPS has a point, you two." Oskar said as he put on some brown sunglasses and sat down on a lawn chair to kick back and relax under the afternoon sun, feeling content and unworried about a thing.
"Four minutes have passed since we left shore." The GPS buzzed, "Four minutes remain until we are in the estimated area where you will proceed to go scuba diving after your treasure. Have I really been very helpful so far?"
"Yes, you have. Thanks again, GPS." Sarah replied optimistically, she and Tails smirked and gave each other a look upon their faces that said very silently, Even though there wasn't a need for us to be reminded.
"Are we going north or east right now?" Oskar asked.
"Analyzing," The GPS replied, "We are going east."