Egg Crawler
Location Unknown
Main Chamber
12:00 AM

Arra lifted the black Safety Deposit Box up and tossed onto the table in front if Eggman. "Your prize, doctor."

Eggman examined the box, unconvinced. "How can you be so sure?"

Arra looked to Crack and nodded. Crack nodded back and picked up the box, crushing it against his horns. He reached into the hole he had made and took out a Chaos Emerald. He tossed it at Eggman and narrowed his eyes. "Very funny."

Eggman took the Chaos Emerald in his hands and examined it, smiling evilly as he did so. He then handed it over to one of his robots, who in turn raced off with it. He then turned back to his unwilling servants. "What are you still doing here? You have five more Emeralds to get! Go! Go! Go!"

Arra Crack and Glide turned away and left through the same door, leaving Eggman alone in the chamber. The doctor turned and left himself, crossing to a secure door on the other end. He typed in the password and entered as the door slid open and closed behind him. He stepped into the next room, harboring a massive device. It consisted of a massive central chamber attached to the surrounding seven smaller chambers. Each chamber was attached to a large computer the processed the constant data. The computer was currently focused upon a smaller collection chamber connected to the central chamber. Eggman went up to the computer and typed in a few commands, switching focus to the outer chambers. Six were shown at empty, the seventh at full power. The power source was labeled as Chaos1. Eggman then continued off to an empty chamber. He grasped his fingers around a metal hatch and pulled it open as he placed the Chaos Emerald inside and into a Chaos Emerald-shaped indentation in the slot. Lights across the outside of the chamber lit up as the computer showed the same chamber reaching full power and a new power source appearing, labeled Chaos2.

Eggman went over to a metal chamber and input a password, causing the metal door to swing free, revealing the shelves inside, lined with various metal capsules. He took one out and weighed it in his hands. It was identical to the one that G.U.N soldiers had fired upon his cannon, making it disappear. He shut the metal door and brought it over to the small collection chamber attached to the central chamber. He placed the capsule into the chamber and locked it in place. Once he had secured it, he crossed back over to the computer and input a command. He selected Chaos1 and Chaos2 and hit the "Execute" key. The levels of chambers 1 and 2 dropped for about a minute before rising back to normal as the capsule's levels filled. Eggman smiled and went back to the capsule, removing it and placing it into one of three slots at the far end of the room, one of which already had a capsule in it. Above the slots was printed:

Main Power

Eggman then turned and left the room. He was not one to be surpassed by anyone. If G.U.N had found a way to weaponize his creation, he was going to do them one better.

G.U.N Ocean Base 8
Coordinates 36'W, 36'N
Landing Strip
10:00 AM

The G.U.N Ocean Base 8 had not been used for the past ten years. It was old, bulky, and thoroughly obsolete. The only reason G.U.N hadn't scrapped it or sank it was that it still served some purpose. When small G.U.N planes flew across the ocean, they would normally have to travel over the smallest stretch of ocean possible, meaning traveling either far south or far north to ensure that one would not run out of fuel in the middle of the ocean. But the location of Ocean Base 8 was such that it made for a perfect half-way mark. Smaller planes could cross the ocean, land on the floating base, refuel from the still-active fueling ports on board, and be on their way. One of the greatest G.U.N bases in history, reduced to a gas station. That was progress for you.

But today, Ocean Base 8 would serve a greater purpose. Lieutenant Herez, thanks to a message along the anonymous tip system signed Rouge the Bat, had searched through the G.U.N database, or as much as he was authorized to, and found an interesting article about the S.S. Gambit. The Gambit was one in a line of identical boats used by the Cross-Waters Shipping lanes (Which, as fate would have it, was actually created by a Mr. Cross and a Mr. Waters, but that is beside the point.) The Gambit was only in the newspaper because of an accident on-board resulting in the ship sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Which would not concern anyone but the lawyers at Cross-Waters, had it not been for one important piece of cargo that had been on board. None other than a Chaos Emerald. And it had crashed not more than two miles from none other then Ocean Base 8.

It is for this reason that Rouge, this time along with Knuckles, Tails, and Sonic, had all come to Ocean Base 8 on a rather crowded Tornado. Rouge sat at one of the communication terminals, waiting for a response, being watched closely and untrustingly by Knuckles. And sonic was running laps around the landing strip, as was normal for him. Sonic didn't idle well. And there really wasn't much to do until Tails called in.

Coordinates 36'W, 36'N
Ocean floor

10:04 AM

When they had come to Ocean Base 8, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails had all been assured by Rouge that there were still some operational submarines and they could all use them to reach the Gambit. But, having come from Rouge, it was not entirely accurate. What they had found was a tiny, one-man submersible, used to collect rock samples. And, being the resident pilot, Tails had been volunteered to go and get the Chaos Emerald. As he sank down to the sea floor, with a single jet to control him, he thought to himself just how much he was not enjoying himself. His specialty was air, not water. And he didn't too much enjoy the idea of a leak in the tin can he was riding in occurring and the pressure crushing him. He had reached the ocean floor, rather abruptly at that when he called in his position on the com-link. "I'm down here and I see the ship. I'm gong in."

A crackly reply came from the other end. "Good job! Now go and fetch me my Emerald!"

"Your Emerald? What do you mean, you Emerald?"

"Oh, sorry about that, I mean THE Emerald. Go and fetch me THE Emerald, then. Sheesh."

Tails had to smile as he set the com-link down and he set the jet to forward. He shot forward towards the ruined ship. It had been transformed by nature into a coral reef. Fish swam to and fro amongst the kelp and iron. Such a peaceful scene it was that the submersible crashed through to get inside. Tails braced himself as he did so. He knew that he would crash through easily, but that didn't make him feel better about doing it. Once inside, it was a simple matter to locate the Chaos Emerald in the cargo hold. It hadn't even been inside a box. Tails extended one of the arms towards the Emerald and clamped down on it, pulling it into the tiny hatch used for rock storage. Once he had gotten it, he turned around and turned on the jet, leaving through the same hole he had made to get inside. But this time wasn't so fortunate.

When tails had burst through the weak metal of the ship, he had bent the metal inwards, such as metal behaved. And this meant that the hole was outlined with inward-facing spikes. It was one of these upon which Tails caught the submersible when exiting, creating a tiny tear in the hull. Tails was alerted to this dangerous state when he heard a hissing sound coming from the top of the craft, accompanied by a spray of water. Now, you didn't have to be a genius to know what was going on, but it helped. He frantically set the thrust to up and tried to cheat death as the ship neared depressurization. Just another day on the job.

With only a few yards to go, the ship crumpled inward and water rushed inside. Tails panicked, but only for a second. That was all the time he could allot to panicking. Tails frantically thought of a way out of his current situation. Being a genius helped him in this case. Somewhat not as smart would have sat there and thought of a way to plug the hole. But Tails was smart enough to realize that in a few seconds, the submersible was going to be crumpled like an aluminum can. And the fact that his head had not imploded upon itself meant that he was near the surface. And so the fox crawled out of the hole that had been made and made a break for it. Using his twin tails as a propeller, much like he did when running, he swam frantically to the surface. He swam and swam, becoming more and more fatigued as he did so. His body, starved for oxygen, moved slower with each stroke. He could see the sunlight hit the waves just as he began to see black in the corners of his eyes. He gave it one last stroke before he couldn't go further without a breath. And even though he was two yards under water, he still had to do it. And so, as he swam upwards, his body took over as his mouth opened and sucked salt water into his lungs. He forced it out of his lungs just as he breached the water's surface. The next breath he took he had to cough back up. But the one after that went down. H was breathing as he paddled towards the floating base. He managed to climb aboard the surface and look at his friends, who were helping him on board, before passing out.

Sonic looked down at his unconscious friend. He was okay, but they still had no idea what had happened to his craft, or the Emerald. Rouge put her hands on her hips and looked around. "Where's my Emerald?" She demanded.

She was soon met with an answer as the remains of the craft, being the rock hatch, bobbed up on the surface of the water. She smiled as she turned and leapt off the landing strip as Sonic and Knuckles carried Tails off. Knuckles looked at the jewel-obsessed bat and shook his head. "Why is she like that?" he asked.

Sonic looked at his friend confounded. "She never changes…" The two then turned away from Rouge and back around. They stopped short, startled by the soaking wet flying lizard, pangolin, and ram that had just appeared before them.

The pangolin, apparently the leader, stepped forward and looked down upon Sonic. "Give us the Emerald."