"Are you ready for desert?"

"Yeah!"

"Chao!"

The Thorndykes and Mobians were sitting next to each other at the dining hall table. They had finished their meal and were eager to have some desert.

"I'm glad you're here. I have some great news."

Penny turned towards the door to see Chuck. She glanced at him curiously. "Grandpa, what kind of good news?"

Chuck smiled at them. "I'm gonna hand out some official documents issued by the government that you'll need to hang on to." He nodded his head over at Tanaka, who was holding a plate full of cards.

"Documents?" Penny and Tails asked in sync.

"Yes, to verify your identity." Chuck said, handing them out to everyone in the room. Amy glanced up from hers. "But what for?"

"They'll help you prove who you are when you travel around. And for Tails, we have special licenses that allow him to fly any kind of aircraft he can build to any destination on the planet."

"All of these just to fly?" Tails asked, surprised.

"He never needed them before." Chris pointed out.

Chuck nodded. "Well, that's the price Tails and the others will have to pay for being made residence of this place. From now on, they're gonna have to follow the same rules and regulations as the rest of us."

Tanaka nodded.

Amy smiled as she opened up hers, but when she turned her photo around, she narrowed her eyes. "I LOOK TERRIBLE!"

"Really?" Tanaka asked, peering over her shoulder.

"You do?" Chris asked, taking a peek as well.

"Let me see!" Cream said.

"You don't look so bad." Penny said helpfully.

"WHY DID THEY HAVE TO USE THIS PICTURE?!" Amy hissed. "I LOOK LIKE A LUNATIC!"

"Now, now, miss Amy," Tanaka said uneasily. "I wouldn't say it makes you a lunatic. Exactly."

"It makes me look like an insane, off-the-wall, out of control maniac! I HATE IT!"

"Hey, there!" Sonic said, walking up to the group. "What's all the excitement about in here?"

Chuck turned to Sonic with a smile. "Sonic. Just in time. I've got your documents, too!" He handed the paper to Sonic, who took it curiously. "Always keep this with you."

"Huh?" Sonic asked, inspecting it. "What's this for?"

"They're traveling documents, Sonic!" Penny grinned up at him. "That way, you can use them to travel around the world freely!"

"Pretty cool!" Sonic grinned down at her. "I do like to travel. If I went everywhere I wanted to go on this planet, it'd take me..." Sonic burst into chuckles. "...about a day!"

"Bye, everybody!" Penny called, waving down at Ella, Chuck, and Tanaka.

"We'll see you later!" Cream added.

"Now, you be careful up there!" Ella warned. "No funny stuff!"

"Bye, Grandpa!" Chris waved. "I'll see ya!"

Chuck nodded with a smile. "I'll be waiting."

Now equipped with documents, the gang had decided to go on vacation. So that's what they were doing. Penny had never been this excited in a while.

The trees parted, and Tails grinned as he prepared for takeoff. "X-Tornado, Take off!"

The thrusters fired up, and off they went. Penny gasped excitedly as the plane lifted off the ground. She glanced behind over at Tanaka, Ella, and Chuck, watching as they got smaller in the distance.

They'd been in the air for a while now. Penny was taking a nap while Cream glanced over Amy's shoulder. "Oh, Amy, are we going to go somewhere that's sunny?"

Amy nodded. "Uh huh!" She showed Cream the magazine she was reading. "Look! The Grand Blue Sapphire Sea. This travel guide says it's one of the most beautiful places on the whole planet!" She closed the book with a happy sigh. "I bet the sunsets are very romantic!"

"Hey, Amy!" Chris called from the plane's radio. "Do you read me?"

"Huh?"

Amy glanced ahead to see Chris pointing below with a wide smile. "Check out the scenery down there! It's really pretty awesome!"

Amy waved him off. "I'm not looking." She said flatly. "I only care about one thing." She opened up her book with a grin. "And that's getting to the sea ASAP!" She let out a happy giggle.

"I'm trying to tell you, we're flying over the Grand Sapphire Sea right now!"

At that, Amy jumped, and she, Cream, and Cheese glanced out the window to see that Chris was right...they were flying right above the Grand Sapphire Sea. It sparkled in the sunlight, making the girl's eyes sparkle in excitement. "Wow!" Amy cried. "The water looks amazing!"

"It's so beautiful!" Cream added.

"Chao-chao!" Cheese added.

"YEAH!" Amy pumped her fists in the air. "I wanna go swim! And water-skiing, too!"

"Let's all go sailing!" Cream said.

"Chao!"

"Yeah!" Chris chuckled. "I can't wait!"

"Hey, Chris!"

The boy glanced up over at Tails, who looked concerned about something. Chris leaned forward, giving his friend a worried look. "What's wrong?"

"Check out the Chaos Emerald."

Chris took a look at the Chaos Emerald, which was glowing even brighter than before.

"Could it be another Emerald?" Chris mumbled thoughtfully.

The X Tornado suddenly began rattling, and that woke Penny from her nap. She yelped as the rattling caused her to jump around without her even moving in her seat, and she glanced over at Tails with wide eyes. "Tails, what's happening?!"

"The same thing happened when we were flying over Diamond Stadium!" Tails replied, remembering the night. "And that means..."

"Since we're flying over the water, there must be a Chaos Emerald under water!"

"You're right, Cream." Amy said.

"Then we have to go find it." Chris said.

Penny took a look out the window over at Sonic, who had also been awakened by the rattling. He looked pretty nervous...

"Hang on!" Tails called. "I see a landing spot! I'm gonna take us down!"

Sonic let out a happy sigh as he stretched, breathing in deeply. "Nice place here." He glanced around, and over at his friends. "Let's try to keep a low profile, okay, guys?"

"Hey, isn't that Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Yes, it's him."

"I wonder what he's doing here! And is that Penny?"

At that, Penny lowered her gaze instantly, scooching close to Sonic, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"Let's get their autographs!"

Penny, Chris, and the others glanced around at the crowd of people running at them at full speed.

"Stampede!" Chris yelped.

"We'd better get out of here, quick!" Sonic said, taking Penny's hand in his.

They took off, crowd close behind. Eventually they managed to loose the crowd, and now they were in a safe hide out near the water. Penny and the others breathed heavily, exhausted from all the running. After a moment, Penny spoke. "I thought that they'd leave us alone by now."

"Sadly we can't escape crowds no matter where we go." Chris added, panting heavily.

"Now I'm not sure I like the idea of being famous anymore." Penny moaned. "It's not fun."

"Yeah." Amy sighed. "I wish we can just blend in with the crowd, but that seems impossible."

"We all stick out so much." Cream said sadly.

"It was a lot easier when we had to hide out at your house." Tails glanced over at Chris, who smiled at everyone. "Well, at least we lost that crowd for a little while."

"Yeah!" Amy grinned, taking off her backpack. "Why don't we all go for a swim while we have a chance?"

"Hey, didn't Sonic run here with us?" Cream asked suddenly.

"You're right." Penny glanced around. "I wonder where he went..."

"Maybe he decided to go look for that Chaos Emerald himself." Chris mumbled. He glanced down at Penny. "You wanna come help me find him?"

"Of course!" Penny nodded.

The two took off, looking everywhere and calling his name. "Sonic, where are you? Hey, Sonic!"

Chris lowered his hands with a sigh. "I wish he didn't always have to do things on his own."

"That's just who he is." Penny smiled. "Sometimes he just needs..."

"You talking about me?"

At that, Penny jumped, and glanced down the cliff to see Sonic glancing up at them. Chris joined her and smiled. "So there you are. Penny and I both thought that you'd be looking for the Chaos Emerald. Not taking it easy."

Sonic frowned, glancing at the water ahead of them. "Hmmm...that Chaos Emerald's out there somewhere, but I can't find it unless I get to the bottom and stay there for a while."

"That is tricky..." Penny muttered, glancing ahead at the crystal blue water.

"Uh?" Chris raised his eyes in realization. "Hm...so the big problem is how to get you air supply down there, right?" Chris shot him a thumbs up. "Leave it to me."

A while later, Chris returned with a hose. "Our problem's solved!"

"How so?" Penny glanced at the object curiously. "How's that gonna help?"

Chris turned to her. "This is an air hose. This way he can get to the Emerald."

Sonic took the tube and popped it in his mouth, and frowned a second later. "I hope you're sticking the other end of this thing in a milk shake."

Chris shook his head with a chuckle. "No. Like I told Penny, it's an air hose! Penny and I'll both keep this end up here so you can breathe. Just make sure you don't lose the hose or you'll be in big trouble."

"Yeah, and out of air." Sonic grumbled. He glanced down at the water and sighed. "Okay, I'll give it a shot."

"Good luck, Sonic!" Chris called.

"Be careful!" Penny added.

Sonic hopped in.

Everything seemed to be going okay, until the air hose got stuck. Penny and Chris both yelped as the air hose fell in the water, and the two watched as the blurry object got trapped in between rocks.

Sonic grunted as he tried pulling it free, but jumped at the sight of a crab swimming at him full speed, cutting the hose apart. Sonic let out a bubbly scream as the crab pinched his tail, and up he went, sputtering and coughing. Penny and Chris cringed as he let out a shriek as the crab pinched his tail again, and fell into the water.

"Let's try something else..." Chris mumbled. He walked off, and a second later, he came back with a bell. "Here! This'll work! You can bring the air with you! It's a diving bell, see?"

Sonic sweat-dropped. "This is the most ding-a-ling thing I've ever heard of."

But there was no other option. Sonic let out a heavy sigh as he hopped into the water once again, the bell hovering above him. After a moment, even he admitted that it was better than the air hose. But after a while, it became unbearably hot. "It's hot in here." Sonic groaned. "But it sure beats breathing through a hose. Only I can't see where in the water I'm going. I wish this thing had a window."

He yelped as he tripped over a rock, trapping Sonic in the bell. "Oh, great, I'm stuck!" Sonic complained. "This diving bell is useless! I can't even ring it to get help!"

In the end, Penny had to dive in and rescue Sonic. Once the two got on land, Sonic fell flat on his face, panting heavily. After a moment, Sonic finally spoke. "Any more bright ideas?"

"We can't give up yet!" Chris said. "There's gotta be some way to reach that Emerald."

After collecting the group, Chris led them over to the swim shop. "If we're gonna search under water, the best way to go is to rent some scuba gear! You always need to use professional equipment, or else diving can be very dangerous."

Sonic groaned, a bit irritated. Why didn't Chris mention this before? He'd never know.

Chris walked up to the cash register and spoke to the salesman. "We'll need six air tanks, plus flippers and a pair of goggles for me." He glanced down at his cash. "I should have enough money with me to pay for all the diving equipment and the boat." He glanced up at the man. "How much would that be, sir?"

"Forget it." The manager smiled down at him. "You don't own me a dime."

"Huh?"

"The government sent a notice to all shop members that it'll cover your bills as part of its Sonic budget. Is there anything else I can get for you guys?"

"Uh..."

"It might help if you told me what you're diving for."

"Uh...we're going to see..." Chris thought of a good excuse, and his eyes trailed over to a model of a pirate ship. "Wow! This awesome ship model is exactly like the one on that painting, right?"

The manager nodded. "Yeah, they're the same. You see, this ship was lost at sea a long time ago. And there's a legend that it sank near here with a huge load of gold. Folks here think the legends are true."

After giving the manager his thanks, Chris and the others headed out to the diving spot. Sonic clung to Penny as the boat moved further into the water. Noticing his unease, Amy gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Sonic. We'll be with you in case you get into trouble."

Chris nodded. "That's right!"

"But you know you'll do great down there!" Tails smiled.

"Don't forget to take long, deep breaths!" Penny added. "You'll be okay."

Sonic finally let go of Penny and clenched his fists determinedly. "Right."

Chris smiled. "Then let's go!"

Chris dove in.

Amy glanced over at Sonic. "All set, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog nodded. "Yup. Let's dive in."

Meanwhile...

"All right, you two, get to work!"

Decoe sighed as he followed Eggman around their new ship, covered in oil and soot. "Underwater repairs are the worst."

"My circuits get soaked," Bocoe added, nodding in agreement.

The news turned on, gaining their attention.

"Now it is time for the SSTV Sonic News Update. After defeating dr. Eggman, Sonic, and his friends are taking a much-deserved holiday."

"HOLIDAY?!" Eggman roared. "HE GETS A HOLIDAY?!"

"But Sonic is a goof-off!" Bocoe complained. "We work harder than he does!"

Decoe nodded. "We have never had a day off since we were activated!" The two robots turned to the audience, clenching their fists. "This is unfair!"

"Robots need vacations too!"

Eggman couldn't have agreed less. He was fuming with anger at the thought of Sonic getting a vacation and not him.

"I'll make Sonic pay."

Back in the ocean, Emerald in hand, the group continued swimming (and walking) in the direction of the next Chaos Emerald. Tails glanced at the Emerald as it glowed brighter. "The Chaos Emerald's getting brighter. We must be getting closer!"

Chris glanced ahead and gasped. "Hey, look!"

"What is it, Chris?" Penny asked, glancing ahead. Curiously, she and the others swam to it.

"Wow!"

They were standing in front of a sunken ship.

"This thing's huge!" Penny gasped. "You guys, I think that's the ship the guy was telling us back at the shop!"

"It looks like that's where we'll find it." Tails said.

"It makes sense." Penny nodded. "After all, you know what they say about sunken pirate ships: There's usually a treasure chest hidden inside."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Sonic turned to his teammates with a grin. "Let's go check it out!"

"Ha! Gotcha!"

The high-pitched laugh of the little messenger bot, Bokkun, was heard as he drifted down to Sonic's boat to deliver his newest message from Eggman. He happily lowered himself down to the boat but paused at the sight of one passenger tanning in the sun.

Cheese.

Bokkun frowned, looking around. "Aww, it's only that squirt, Cheese! Sonic's not on the boat, but he's supposed to be!" He sighed, putting his hands to his hips as he thought where the blue hedgehog would've sped off to. "Where could he be?"

"While I'm waiting to catch Sonic, I'll catch a few rays, too!" Eggman snickered, resting on a beach chair while his robots fanned him and provided him shade.

"Love the bathing suit, doc! Did you get it in prison?"

Eggman glanced up and frowned at the sight of Bokkun sailing down, messenger bag in hand. "Well, Bokkun...I bet Sonic was feeling pretty blue when you gave him that message for me, wasn't he?"

Bokkun cringed, pulling out the TV. "Well..." He turned the screen on, and the image of a very annoyed Eggman popped up. "Having a nice vacation, Sonic? I hope you aren't. I hope you forget to use sunscreen and get sunburnt!"

Eggman sat up, realizing what this meant. "Wait a minute, this message was supposed to self-destruct after you played it for Sonic! Unless you never played it for him? You did play it for him, Bokkun, didn't you?"

Bokkun cringed again, shaking his head. "I tried to, doc, but nobody was on the boat except for that little cheeseball! I'm pretty sure all the others went diving!"

Eggman winced, turning his attention back to the TV as he gave the last warning. "And now, here's a little souvenir to remember your vacation by!"

At that, Decoe, Bocoe, and Eggman jumped back in fear. "YOU FOOL, GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"

"It is too late!" Decoe said, his eyes wide.

BANG.

The TV exploded, leaving Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe covered in dust.

"You won't wreck my plans again, Sonic!" Eggman vowed, clenching his fists. "I'LL WRECK YOU!" He turned to his robots. "Prepare to submerge! I'll bury Sonic at sea!"