Chapter two: A Cruise gone wrong
Rouge and Shadow ran into Shadow's room. Knuckles, Amy, and Sonic went into their cabins. Tails, who was now driving the ship, tried his best to fight the stronger waves and the fresh rain.
There was another flash of lightning and shortly after it pounding thunder. The waves rose higher and higher, making it more difficult for Tails to control the rocking of the S.S. Marble. He turned some dials and watched his radar for anything they could hit. Tails swayed from side to side as wave after wave collided with his cruise ship.
A red light went on in the bridge and the cabins.
"What the…?" Tails looked over at the computerized layout of the S.S. Marble. There was a blip on the screen at the bottom of the boat.
"Ahhh!" Tails screamed, "There's a hole in the ship!"
Tails didn't know what to do, since he only had life vests for all of them. If they jumped into the water, the water would be able to splash over them and drown them. Plus, Sonic hated water, and they can't let Sonic drown on the ship. Tails panicked. Finally coming up with a half solution, Tails said into the intercom "Everyone, remain calm and put on your life vests."
Sonic heard Amy scream, "We're going to jump overboard!"
Sonic, hating water, said, "I'm going to put on my life vest but I'm not going in the water."
Rouge and Shadow wondered what was the cause to make them put on their life vests. Shadow, putting his on, said, "I'll go check in with Tails to see what is wrong."
Knuckles was thinking the same thing when Shadow saw him braving the wind to get to the bridge. Inside, he could see Tails scurrying about, flipping switches and turning dials.
"Activate emergency hull replacement!" Tails pressed a button. There was a rumbling from beneath the ship, and Tails watched on his layout of the ship to see that the replacement layer of the hull had been placed, covering the hole with an extra hull.
Tails gave a sigh of relief, but then the boat shook harder, and he saw that not only had there been another hole made in the replacement hull, but it was bigger and wider than the first one!
Shadow and Knuckles reached the bridge, completely soaked.
"What's going on?" Shadow said as Tails rushed by, flipping another switch to check how fast the boat would sink.
"We're sinking!" Tails cried, and returned to the wheel to steer the cruise ship out of the way of a huge wave.
"Say what?" Knuckles shouted. He went over to the computerized layout of the S.S. Marble to see if it was true. "How'd this happen?" he pointed at the hole in the ship.
Tails answered as he put the ship into full throttle. "We were hit by a large wave, and the power of it broke a hole in the hull. I tried to fix it, but the waves just broke an even bigger hole in the replacement hull!"
"What's full speed going to do about that?" asked Shadow as the boat rocked from side to side.
"Well, if we go fast enough, the water might not be able to get through the hole in the ship. If we were going slowly, there would be more time for the bottom of the boat to be filled with water! But it's extremely risky, because if I make one bad movement, the boat's going to tip over and continue filling with water!"
Knuckles staggered out onto the deck, once again braving the wind and harsh rain, and returned to his cabin.
When he entered, he found Sonic waiting for him.
"What's going on, Knuckster?" Sonic asked.
"There's a hole in the boat." Knuckles replied. "We're going to sink!"
"Say what?" Sonic said, jumping up off the bed. "Will we have to jump overboard?"
"I'm afraid so." Knuckles said.
Sonic raced out to the bridge to see Tails.
"Tails! What's going on?" Sonic asked.
Tails, who was busy steering the ship, said, "There's a hole in the hull!"
"What?"
"The waves broke a hole in the hull. I tried to fix it with the replacement hull, but that just broke too! We're now going one hundred miles per hour with a five-foot hole underneath us. If I make one wrong turn, the ship will capsize and we'll sink!"
Sonic looked down, shaking his head. Then, something caught his eye on the radar.
"Tails…" Sonic staggered.
"Sonic, I know you're mad at me, but I'm trying to save our lives!"
"It's not that!" Sonic shouted. "I just thought it was important that you know that we're heading for something big!"
"What?" Tails looked down onto the radar. "Oh, no! We're going to collide with an uncharted island in less than ten minutes!"
Tails reached down to the intercom button and screamed, "Everyone, brace yourselves for impact!"
Sonic raced to the front of the S.S. Marble. Up ahead, he could see a gigantic island growing larger and larger and larger and closer and closer and closer. He rushed into his cabin.
"Seven minutes until impact!" Tails' voice called over the intercom.
Sonic crouched down and leaned up against the wall.
Shadow and Rouge were also braced for impact. The cabin shook as the waves got rougher.
"Do you think we will make it?" Rouge asked Shadow as Tails' voice said "Six minutes until impact!"
"I don't know," Shadow said. "But if we survive, we'll be stranded on an uncharted island!"
"Five minutes until impact!"
Rouge closed her eyes and waited for the collision.
Amy braced up against the wall with her Piko Piko hammer.
"Sonic…" she moaned
"Four minutes until impact!"
Knuckles sat in his room, in the same position he would be in as if he were protecting the Master Emerald. "It is all going to end soon. All my life was about… protection. I will die a protector."
Tails' mind was racing as he said into the intercom "Three minutes until impact!"
Tails was starting to cry. Why was it going to end this way? Why did he have to die a captain instead of the most famous scientist and inventor ever?
He staggered into the intercom "Two minutes until impact."
Tails released the wheel. He sat down on the floor, hugging his knees. If only they had known the weather was going to be this bad. Tails remembered how he had been so willing to make a cruise ship to take them on a vacation. Now he wished he didn't.
"One… minute…"
Sonic braced himself, remembering how great it was to run as fast as the speed of sound. If only he could run one more time.
Shadow held Rouge close to him. If he was going to die, it would be with the one remaining person he loved.
Amy cried, wishing Sonic would have married her, so they could be together forever.
"Thirty… sec…onds…"
Knuckles recited the old poem that releases the power of the Master Emerald.
"Chaos is power… Power is enriched by the heart…"
"Ten… seconds…"
"The Controller unifies the Chaos…
"Five seconds…"
Suddenly there was a huge explosion, and the S.S. Marble flipped over with an earth-shaking CRASH!
Everyone on board blacked out. No one seemed to notice the green flash of light.