Sonic overheard and had to ask Lara what part of Yoha Island were they and Sha-Guvara village located, leading to the archeologist saying they were on the east side of the island and asking the hedgehog why he was concerned.
"I'm just hoping we're goin' in the right direction." The blue blur answered.
"Relax, Sonic. There's nothing to be concerned about other than the probability of us getting attacked by sea monsters or one of our enemies coming along to try and beat us to the key."
"One minute..." The GPS hummed, the screen showing the yellow triangle on a blue map nearing a red X, representing the boat on the ocean coming up on the group's destination, "Please let up on the gas just a bit."
A couple minutes had passed the five-minute mark and Sarah gently raised her foot on the pedal and loosened her grip on the steering wheel, the boat's speed starting to drop from fast to slow, they were coming up on their stop.
"Shall we put on our scuba flippers and snorkels now?" Sonic asked Lara.
"Not yet." The rich heroine replied, "Wait until the boat stops."
The GPS began to beep, announcing that the boat was now a full half a mile out to sea and the group was above the spot where they were destined to find that very last Ratakyan Key they would ever collect in their treasure hunt.
Sarah turned the key and took her foot of the pedal, the boat slowly coming to a halt until it came to rest, floating on the calm ocean as small waves ran up against its sides and a warm sea breeze blew in.
Lara nodded to Sonic as she stood up from her seat, telling him it was time to get the scuba gear. Agreeing with his girlfriend, the blue hedgehog got out his pair of scuba goggles and flippers before putting them on.
Afterwards, he gave a pair of flippers to Lara, who put on the flippers on her bare feet and the goggles over her eyes while taking a snorkel tube. Tails put on his own goggles and flippers before giving Sarah a pair and she put them on.
"Good luck on getting the key, guys." Oskar said encouragingly to Lara, Sonic and their friends, "I wish I could come with you, but I guess it doesn't hurt to stay behind and get some fresh air."
"You're in charge of guarding the yacht and making sure nothing happens to it while we're down there." Lara told Oskar firmly, "I don't want something to happen to the yacht, resulting my friend getting mad at us."
"Not to mention the possibility that we might have to wait until somebody comes along with another boat that we could have to borrow." Sonic added.
"Does anybody have a waterproof camera?" Tails asked, "I wish we could take some photos while we're under the ocean, surrounded by lots of water and schools of fish and other marine life swimming about in the area."
Sonic groaned, rolling his eyes, "Oh shit, did somebody forget to bring a damn camera? I'm not in the mood to race across the damn ocean to get one."
Sarah reached behind her back and got out an object that looked like a box with a small mermaid statue on it. "I got my Mermaid Camera right here."
"Crisis resolved then, we don't have all day, so lets do it to it."
Sarah nodded and walked to the edge of the boat with Sonic, Tails and Lara, ready to take the dive, unafraid and prepared, knowing what they had to do.
Taking a deep breath and putting the snorkel upon their mouths, the goggles already over their eyes, Sonic and Lara grasped each other's hands and they dived into the ocean together with a splash with Tails and Sarah following suit.
Swimming down towards the bottom of the ocean, the two adventurers took in the scenery surrounding them; Rocks, fish, seaweed, clams and nothing but water as far as the eye could see, all except for a couple statues.
Taking note this was different from when he was in Lara's pool, Sonic did his best to remain calm and go with the flow, moving his arms and legs while steering his body with the butt-kicking brunette right beside him.
The group began to swim forth, following the fish, passing under the Relano yacht and past the statue of a man in ancient robes pointing his finger, obviously a Ratakyan pointing the way where they needed to go.
Onwards, the heroes swam, Sonic at the front with Lara, Tails and Sarah at the back. A couple gold fish swam in front of the group, oblivious to the presence of the quadrio following them all while Sarah took photos.
A great white shark passed by, chasing after a school of brown fish, not even seeing Lara, Tails, Sarah or Sonic, whose blood had just began to boil as the blue hero had a great dislike for crabs, orca whales, even sharks.
"I phucking hate sharks." Sonic said with a growl, "They're vicious, dangerous and I got attacked by one once while I was at the beach."
"Its ok." Lara pat him on the back, "Not everybody like sharks and even though all sharks are dangerous, I prefer whales and dolphins"
Sarah giggled, "Dunno about whales to be honest, I think dolphins are very irresistibly cute, energetic and fun to play with from time to time."
Lara, Tails and Sonic nodded in agreement with the red-haired vixen and decided to stop chatting, feeling that it dangerous trying to talk while underwater due to the risk of losing the snorkel tubes and losing oxygen
Another Ratakyan statue loomed ahead of them, pointing forwards in the direction they were taking. Beneath the four scuba swimmers, a group of rocks lay on the ground, forming a grey arrow marker upon the ocean floor.
The ancients are really proving to be helpful now. Sonic thought as he took in the sight before him, I'm thankful that they didn't hide the key in some ocean labyrinth and call forth a sea monster to act as the key guardian.
As Sonic, Tails, Lara and Sarah swam on, their surroundings slowly started to become murky, the clearness of the water starting to become unclear and everything becoming foggier by the second.
Nervousness started to fall upon the adventurers, they had thought getting to the key would be no challenge, but it appeared that a trap laid out by the ancients a long time ago had been sprung.
Or were there?
Sonic spotted something through the murkiness laying upon the ground, just inches away from a towering, immobile figure. When he swam down to have a closer look, the object turned out to be some sort of can leaking... mist?
This was impossible, how long had this cylinder-shaped can been down on the ocean floor, causing the murkiness to happen and who would do something like this just for the fun and heck of it all?
Did the Ratakyans decide to try and mess with anybody seeking out the underwater key from beyond the grave, why would they try to provide a challenge like this if it proved to be extremely ridiculous in the end?
The can suddenly faded and the statue started to glow a shade of brown before it stopped, Lara swam up behind Sonic and tapped him on the back, telling him that it was all a Ratakyan illusion to mess with people.
Well, they did a fine job messing with me, the blue hero thought, but they're not gonna really fool me again. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times... Nah, its probably nothin', never mind.
Sarah took a quick photograph of the statue before she and the others moved on, following the rocks and the fish swimming the direction they were taking as rows of seaweed lining the ocean floor came into view along with more statues.
That was when the gang saw the large mountain-sized rock with the hole shaped cave entrance, they had made it without a problem and nothing had gotten in their way in attempt to hinder their efforts.
It looked easy, but the hard part was the seaweed, which was known to be a problem for some swimmers as you could get stuck if you were unfortunate enough to get yourself entangled or if the seaweed came alive and attacked you.
But why would sentient seaweed attack somebody if it wanted too, maybe the seaweed was hungry and was carnivorous or maybe the seaweed was actually tentacles belonged to some hungry sea monster?
Nah, lets not worry about it, Sonic thought, shaking his head. The second he'd seen the seaweed, he'd started to imagine his leg getting caught in a seaweed vine and struggling to get free.
Judging by Lara, Tails and Sarah's nods, they'd obviously read the blue hero's mind and were thinking the same thing, Lets be careful and make sure the damn seaweed doesn't become sentient and try to strangle us.
The group swam slowly and carefully over the patches of seaweed, swaying back and forth beneath the currents of the ocean, the entrance to the cave was getting closer until they made it without a single problem involving seaweed.
Making sure not to bump their heads on any rocks so they wouldn't get any major migraines, the group swam into the cave. Sonic and Lara holding hands with Tails and Sarah next to each other, looking out for one another.
As the four of them passed two nearby statues, swimming forth through the cavern, they noticed to the ancient waterproof banners with the Ratakyan symbol decorating the walls, still in fine condition after thousands of years.
Sarah held up her camera and clicked away, taking photos of the area, photographing the cave, the fish and the banners. Knowing she'd never forget what she had seen, even with the snorkel tube on, the vixen smiled happily.
With no problems in sight and nothing getting in the way, the four swimmers swam onwards, knowing they were on the right path... until they found a rock wall blocking the path.
Sonic looked at Lara and at Tails, Sarah looked at Tails and at Lara, both of them confused and attempting to piece together what was next. Do they turn and go back or was there nowhere else to go but up?
Up, that's when they remembered Teresá's instructions, Swim through the cave and, after a while, swim up and you'll surface in a large chamber. How could they nearly have forgotten that piece of info?
Sonic, Lara and the others looked up and saw where they needed to go next, moving their arms and legs, the four adventurers swam upwards, watching where they were going and making sure they didn't hit anything accidentally.
A dim light shone overhead, illuminating what looked like the surface of the water and serving as a guide for the adventurers. They swam and swam and swam until they hit the surface with a splash.
Lara raised her goggles and removed the snorkel tube from her mouth, gasping for air, the others did too. Breathing underwater had been tough, at least they didn't end up blacking out.
"Well, making it here was easy." Sarah commented as she felt fresh air rush through her lungs and out her mouth and nostrils, "Who expected the ancients to have some sort of trap or challenge in store for us?"
Tails shrugged as he and the others climbed onto the nearest inch of dry ground, "I didn't. After the Pyramid in Egypt, I had a feeling the Ratakyans set up traps in their shrines as tests for those seeking the Senga Keys."
"But because we didn't go to the Chinese Rainforest Shrine to get the Green Key or have to go to an ancient temple to get the Gold Satuyama Key," Sonic commented, "There was never a need to worry about ancient traps."
"Speaking of keys..." Lara said as she got to her feet, catching sight of something close by, "Our fourth and final key is here in plain sight, we're just next to its resting spot, it happens to be sitting in a rocky dais."
Lara pointed and the gang looked ahead of them, their eyes widening. Sure enough, just inches away, a deep-blue water colored key lay within a rock, the front of it pointing upwards while the rest was in a hole in the rock.
Behind the key and the dais, a yellow banner with the swirly symbol of Ratakya rested on the wall with a grey-colored slab on the left with words etched into it along with more swirly symbols of the ancients themselves.
"That slab there." Sarah pointed out, ignoring the Senga Key temporarily and noticing the tablet with lettering, "It looks like the Ratakyans have left behind another message for those who seek out their ancient property."
"Lets get the key first," Lara suggested nervous, "Then we'll read their 'message' before we get the heck out of here, assuming we have plenty of time and nobody is on our tail, tracking our every move and is in the area."
"Ok." Sonic rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me you're nervous because we're in an ocean cave, Lara. Its not even dark in here, there aren't any creatures in the shadows waiting for their chance to emerge and attack us."
"I'm not nervous about being in a cave nor am I worried about monsters in the shadows watching about to pounce us. I'm just being cautious and hoping nobody has been tracking us, watching every move and following us."
"Hey, quit worryin', nobody's snatched away any of the artifacts we've earned as of yet. Have we gotten any phone calls from your butler saying somebody attacked the mansion and stole some things?"
"Not really. I'm more worried about Teresá's yacht and Oskar."
"Really now, Lara?" Tails grunted, "You're worried about that boat and your best pal even though we know he and the boat will be fine?"
"Its... Its nothing. Lets just get the key, read that text and get out of here before we get sidetracked and something that is not good happens."
"Ok then, I hope you're feeling OK, you're kinda acting super nervous."
"Could somebody just grab the damn key already please and stop stalling?"
Sonic winked and flashed a thumbs up, "No prob, Lara." He zipped over to the dais and grabbed the key, expecting it to come out easily. When it barely budged an inch, the hedgehog's eyes widened with surprise.
"What the hooba?" He yelled, clenching his fist angrily, "Don't tell me its stuck! D'oh, PISS!" The blue hero kicked the dais and, somehow, he didn't even hurt his foot which was a bit odd given that Sonic wasn't wearing any shoes.
However, if kicking the rock did cause any pain, it was very minor. Sonic sat down and took off his scuba flipper, making sure his feet were ok. Just in case, the hedgehog rubbed his right foot, checking for sore spots.
"Does your foot hurt, sweetie?" Lara asked, "If so, would you like somebody to rub it for you and make the owie feel better."
"Nah, I'm ok." The adventurous hedgehog replied, "If my feet were to hurt from kicking a rock, it would be temporary and go away in a bit."
"Ok, enough joking around, lets get the key and read that text already."
Sonic stood up as Lara approached the dais, they looked at each other and nodded, understanding what they had to do. Looking at the key, they grasped it with both hands and pulled, using all of their strength to get the job done.
At first, the key didn't budge, but the two adventurous heroes pulled and pulled harder and harder. Tails and Sarah joined in, pulling and pulling, it was like trying to yank a weed out of the ground that wouldn't come out.
The rock started to crack and shift as the group yanked the key, which had started to budge, until the key finally popped free from the pedestal it had rested in for countless centuries.
Lara and Sonic lifted the key in the air triumphantly as Sarah kissed Tails on the cheek, they'd just gotten the final key and the Yujunaka Statue was almost within their grasp. But before they left, there was one last thing to do.
"Lets see what the Ratakyans say in their message?" Sarah said with optimism, "I'm guessing they knew we would get the keys in the order we got them in and are commending us for our perseverance."
"Ok, we'll get a look at it." Tails said, he looked at Sonic and Lara just as they were sharing a romantic kiss, "Lara, you're more familiar with ancient stuff, so why don't you read it to us please?"
Lara stopped kissing Sonic and nodded, walking to the tablet and knelt down to take a look at it with Sonic joining her as Tails and Sarah bent down with their hands on their knees, looking at the text with curiosity.
Thankfully, the scroll was written in English just like the Ratakyan Scroll that gave instructions on how to get the "riches of Ratakya", thus making it easier to read instead of having to translate an ancient foreign language.
Clearing her esophagus, Lara began to read...
Ye who have come to obtain the Watery Blue Key of Ratakya after (presumably) collecting the other keys of Senga beforehand, we commend thy courage and thy perseverance.
By collecting the keys, you have proven yourself worthy of having the riches of Ratakya, thus we will gladly give you the details about the statue's location.
Ye shall find the Great Senga Temple in the deserts of Lybea in Afericana, but be prepared for the depths of the temple may test thee and there are others who want the statue for themselves.
Luck to you, brave adventurer and treasure seeker.
-Yumana Relano, Ratakyan Key Protector
Sonic, Tails and Sarah gasped, saved for Lara, who smiled. "Teresá's ancestor was here," she said, "he was one who left the key this message here."
"It was written in English like the scroll though Yumana was Spanish and the Ratakyans were some foreign tribe." Tails said as he scratched his chin.
"Well, if you think about it," Sonic commented, "Its like the Ratakyans predicted English speakers would get the keys and the statue, they knew."
"Either way," Lara stood and put her goggles back on along with the scuba flippers, "Its time we got back to the boat and then head back to the mansion."
"You got it," Sonic gave a thumbs up, "But two questions, who's gonna hold on to the key? Also, where and what the heck is Lybea and Afericana?"
Lara held up the water blue key, "The key? That's no problem..."