Author's Note: Nearly 3 years after I had started work on this story, and almost 2 after I originally posted the first chapters on I return. The lack of an update has been for many reasons, which include work, school, and severe bouts of writer's block. While I may have the entire story in my head from beginning to end, it has often been hard to formulate a combination of words that convey the story in a fine manner.

There have even been times where I simply wished to delete some, if not all of my stories posted on Having read back on them, there are several things that I frown upon, which include the fact that the plot(s) seem rushed in areas, and what at times could seem as if a character (whether it be of my own creation or an already established one) would be out of character. Discouraging to say the least, but it proves that I have grown as both a storyteller and writer, so I now take my previous mistakes with stride.

But now, I return to you with a new chapter, and in time, hope to finish this story and the following one it for what it is. Before I start, I would like to once again take the opportunity to thank Baby Amy (a.k.a. Kawaii Sonikku) for being persistent in getting me to continue work on this yet unfinished story.

Hope you all enjoy it.

P.S.: I've mentioned the horrible spacing apparent in both the first story (17 chapters in total) and the first two pertaining to this story. I have currently undertaken the daunting task of properly aligning the spacing, punctuation, grammar, etc. in my spare time, and even going back and making minute altercations to some of the dialogue to make for a better representation of the characters and the story in general.

Aquatic Ruins?

In another area of the world, apart from the enchanted island our heroes were currently residing on, there stood an abandoned building some miles off from the busy community of Station Square. Within its aged and decaying foundation laid the slowly rousing body of one female squirrel. A squirrel, who by events of the past days, was no longer the person she had once been…

She slowly opened her eyes as a few of the sun's rays had actually managed to penetrate through cracks of plywood that covered up the windows in the building. At first, all she could really see was darkness, but some shadowy images began to come to life as her body awoke from slumber. Eventually, she could make out what was the outline of a table, with a few items scattered around it. Ever so slowly, she turned herself over on her stomach and crawled towards the silhouette of the table, her arms and legs collecting dust and grim from years of decay along the condemned floor.

On top of the rotting table were scattered the following items: a dented up bottle of spring water, which at most was half empty. A half consumed loaf of bread. Lightly nibbled portions of chicken and pork. A burger that was no longer a burger, but two pieces of bread that held together what were now rapidly decaying vegetable dressings in the middle. All of these were edible at one point, and any sane person would have thrown each of these items away if left in such inadequate conditions of decay. Yet she managed to consume each of them as hunger made itself known to her body, not quite caring about the later consequences her body could possibly endure as a result of consuming food in such a state.

She was nibbling upon the bone of a chicken tight she had just polished off when she noticed some other items scattered on the table. A newspaper, which compared with the surroundings and other items, still maintained its original composure. Judging by the date, it had only been issued a few days prior. Next to it, a kerosene cigarette lighter was placed. Most likely the only lighting available, as the lights and electricity were shut off within the condemned building.

The squirrel took the lighter and lit it after one or two attempts. Carefully, she held up the newspaper to the frail light, to discover that the newspaper was that of the Station Square Tribune, with a headline that was only dated 5-6 days ago. It stated the following:

Attack on G.U.N. Research Facility

At about 3:12 p.m. GST on Monday afternoon, the G.U.N. scientific research facility was attacked. From eyewitness accounts, a mysterious creature was seen rampaging through the laboratory of Dr. Yoshimo Yatsumito, who had died a week before the incident. The laboratory was almost completely destroyed, if not for the appearance of the cerulean hero, Sonic the Hedgehog.

With the aid of his friends, they succeeded in driving the creature away. Unfortunately, during this confrontation, several articles went missing from the lab, including the last known project that the late Dr. Yatsumito had been working on. G.U.N. is offering a monetary reward for the return of this project. If anyone has any information on this, please contact…

She had ripped up the article and began to burn the pages, when she noticed yet another article:

Obituary: Dr. Yoshimo Yatsumito (xxxx-xxxx)

Dr. Yoshimo Yatsumito was born into a poor family that resided on South Island. While his family had a lack of formal education, they strived for their son to receive one and benefit from it. Their wishes were answered when Prof. Gerald Robotnik took him as his ward after witnessing his sharpness at a public rally he attended in a more prominent area of Yatsumito's normally downtrodden neighborhood.

Yatsumito is most famous for being one of the few survivors of the ARK tragedy, in which G.U.N. officials raided the space colony ARK after Prof. Robotnik had been killed in an experiment he was working on at the time. As Prof. Robotnik's premier assistant, his original works and concepts were scrutinized from rumors that speculated that his mentor's own recklessness resulted in the disaster that ultimately shut down the colony. While he did his best to distance himself from his mentor's works, he himself followed along the same path of discovering the secret to immortality, as he eventually made it his life's work.

A little known fact is that he did a little study in the ancient study of alchemy before devoting his life to discovering immortality…

Rip went another page. But the article continued on yet another:

As a result of his work, he did not have time to start a family of his own, and thus, does not have anyone to carry on his family linage. However, in one of his more controversial moments, he had a work/love relationship with one of his assistants, an anthromorphic squirrel. His entire estate, estimated at the sum of $20,000,000, has been signed on over to her account, and for security reasons, her name has not been released to the public.

"Opportunity", she murmurs. She burns up the rest of the newspaper as she begins to study her surroundings some more, all the while in thought…

Eventually, she ventures outside of her condemned dwelling, and walks to the east. Her eyes quickly shift around as if looking for something. They eventually rest upon the frame a young mouse female, who is dressed in a navy blue dress suit with matching blue stilettos. She compares them to her own garments, which happen to be the same dress and blood stained lab coat from a few days earlier.

In a nonchalant manner, she approaches the young woman, forcing the latter to come to a stop.

"Nice outfit you have on there…"

Meanwhile, back on Flora Island…

Shadow and the others had all gathered in the sitting room of Sara's cottage. Sara had wanted to discuss the severity of their battle with the demonic being at G.U.N. headquarters. Shadow sat off a long way from the others. Tails was seated next to Sara and some of the documents she wanted to show them. Rouge and Knuckles sat together, but they seemed more interested in each other's assets at the moment rather than the topic at hand. On the other side across from Shadow sat Sonic, who had just come inside after his slow stroll towards the cottage. He obviously wanted to keep his distance from the others for his behavior towards Amy the other night.

Everyone stopped what they were doing when they noticed Amy walking in to join them. She no longer wore the bandages intended to conceal her wounds, which were now very unnoticeable. She was also fully dressed in the same outfit that Sara and given her the first time she had reached Flora Island, after her former red garment had been burnt to prevent poison ivy from spreading. Rai floated in behind her over to Sara, who took the floral chao in her arms. She quietly sat back and watched the expression of everyone in the room, particularly that of Sonic's, who now showed a bit of concern towards the pink hedgehog.

"Amy, shouldn't you be resting up?" he asked, with a slight tone of worry in his voice. The others turned to watch him, as they were curious to see if he was in for a world of pain after his past demeanor with Amy. Amy sat down next to Shadow, he looked a bit in awe at her presence, before turning to Sara and asking, "What's the plan?"

Sonic was about to repeat his inquiry, but Shadow beat him to it. "You should really be resting up and gaining strength, Amy" he stated sternly. "Those injuries could have been more serious if that thing had continued, or even chosen to kill you from the get go. You should really b…"

He was cut off as she place two dainty fingers over his lips. Tails went "Huh?" Both Rouge and Knuckles were finally paying attention to something other than each other, and both Shadow and Sonic stared at the feminine hedgehog as if all something was awry. Sara and Rai just watched on, a bit amused by the gesture. But needless to say, the others were puzzled by the action, as they seemed to have a collective interrogative mark floating over their heads. Only difference being that Rai's was the only one completely visible.

"It's alright." she stated slowly. "I feel much stronger than I was before. Thanks to Sara and Rouge's care. If it weren't for Rouge flying out for medical supplies, and Sara with her natural medicine, I might still be sickly in bed." She took notice of the stunned expression of the others before continuing with: "I'll be just fine. Don't worry about me."

While she was busy reassuring Shadow and the rest of their group that she was well, Sonic was off in his own little world. To him, that little gesture between Amy and Shadow was just rubbing him the wrong way…

"What the HELL was that? A pass? Out in the open flirtation?" were some of the statements that are flying through his head. But another side of him knew perfectly well what was happening…

"She's ignoring me out of spite. That's what I get for being the jackass act I performed the other night. Serves me the fuck right."

"No you idiot! She's flirting with the faker right in front of you! Better watch out…"

"Sonic?"

"Hmm?" the blue blur mumbled as he was stirred out of thought. He looked around to notice that all eyes were fixed on him, including the glaring red eyes of his once again 'rival'. "Sonic", stated the smoke hedgehog once again. He had said his name at least six times before he finally came out of his mental wanderings. He waited until Sonic was completely paying attention before he continued:

"If you had been paying attention for the last several minutes, you would have noticed the world map that Sara has pulled out." He paused for a moment to point to one particular set of coordinates – an area of map that had no immediate land surrounding it save South Island. Other than that, it was nothing but water.

"If we are going to stop what is to come, we need to locate and acquire all or as many of the Elemental Crystals as we can. Sara already has one of them, but we need the other 4 remaining crystals to have a fighting chance." He paused for a moment to take in the twitching expression that had befallen the entire frame of the azure hedgehog that stood before him.

"Something the matter?" Shadow inquired calmly. He also noticed that Sonic had not once lifted his eyes off the blue area of the map that he had pointed to a few moments prior. He paused a moment more before continuing: "The first and probably the most difficult of the Elemental Crystals to obtain will be the Aqua or Wa…"

"Aq...Aquatic Ruins", stuttered Sonic. It was then that everyone took notice of the sudden color change of the normally cerulean crusader to that of a sickly shade of white. Sara rushed over with a concerned look on her face, wanting to make sure that the blue blur was not coming down with something dire.

"What's the matter?", she asked as she placed a cool palm over his forehead. She eased Sonic back down onto a cushioned seat and motioned over for Rai to fan him with his leaf-like wings. "I hope you'll be alright", she added after some color returned to his visage.

Sara's ears perked up to a bit of soft giggling that came from across the room. Her eyes scanned the room until they met Amy's face, which was by then had erupted into full laughter.

"Oh please", she said in between the breaths. "He's just afraid of water because he can't swim. But that's never stopped him from diving in for the Chaos Emeralds."

Sara turned back to Sonic, with a worried look on her face. "Is that true Sonic?" she said after a brief pause. Sonic only gave a slight nod, with more of his blue pigmentation coming back to him all the while. He could tell Sara wasn't happy by it, because she said next:

"I won't have you go if you can't swim. The Aqua crystal could be very deep within the water, and if you can't swim at all, then you shouldn't…" She had stopped to see Sonic jump back up on his feet, all his color fully visible as if the mention of water had not had any effect on him moments before.

"I don't like water. But…", he said proudly. Nonchalantly, he made his way back to the world map, and pointed to their destination.

"It's about time I went back to Aquatic Ruins anyway…"