It had been nearly three days since Shadow put Robotnik underwater, and in that time the government searched for him but didn't even find so much as a trace. Robotnik had fallen off the face of the planet.

On the ocean floor, Robotnik sat in his ship, typing in commands on a screen. He'd been manipulating his robots to try and get his ship to a least fly again, but was having a difficult time. It didn't help that he had to stop every hour or so just to avoid detection.

"Stupid chaos powered rodent..." Robotnik muttered, keeping himself quiet.

.

At the Thorndyke Mansion, Maria was gearing up to travel out with everyone in the X Tornado. Shadow sat in a small corner on top of the plane, starting to fall asleep.

"Tails, does Shadow usually take naps?" Maria asked.

"Well, he burns off a lot of energy while using his chaos powers and speed. So eating and especially sleeping is something he needs to do." Tails explained.

"I understand that, but why not just do it at night?" Maria said. She had already figured he burns calories extremely fast, but why not just settle down with everyone else.

"It's a bit more complicated than that." Amy put herself in. "Shadow constantly feels his Chaos Powers inside of him, and they aren't calming powers either." Amy explained.

Maria's eyes widened just a little. Shadow pushes himself until he falls asleep, which can't be good for him. "What do they feel like?"

Tails and Amy looked at each other, shrugging. "We don't actually know." Tails answered. "At first he said it just stings. But now?..."

"Wait, at first?" Maria caught. "What do you-" Amy cut her off with by waving her hands, telling her to just drop it. "Right." Maria said, understanding but also a little frustrated. "So, are we ready?"

"Yep, just let me start her up and we're out of here!" Tails said excitedly. Maria hobbled into the X Tornado with a bit of help from Amy. She'd been doing better with her leg, but it wasn't fully healed just yet. Tails blasted off into the sky, almost hoping they wouldn't find Robotnik. Wherever he was.

Cream had been looking through a magazine, wondering where they were going when Maria nudged her shoulder.

"Cream, look down." Maria said with a smile. Cream looked over the edge and saw the crystal clear ocean below and gave a big smile.

"It's so pretty." Cream stated when suddenly.

Tails had chuckled at seeing the two when he looked down and noticed his Chaos Emerald was acting funny. He cocked an eyebrow before the X Tornado started to rumble just a bit.

"Tails, what's going on!?" Shadow asked concerned. He woke up with the rumbling, but couldn't see an attack anywhere.

"The Chaos Emerald is reacting the way it had over that cornfield not long ago!" Tails exclaimed.

"That's where we found the Chaos Emerald buried there, right?" Amy asked and Tails nodded.

"Which means..." Maria came to the conclusion. "A Chaos Emerald must be here...underwater."

Shadow grimaced at that. He couldn't swim...so of course a Chaos Emerald was underwater.

"Hang on, I see a place to land." Tails stated, seeing the small island not far off.

The group landed, drawing the attention of people. Shadow told everyone to at least try and keep a low profile, but the people weren't having it. They rushed the heroes and Shadow grabbed Maria and bolted, knowing everyone else was fast enough to get away. The two got to a clearing and Shadow looked at the beach front.

"Shadow..." Maria started. "Why are you so afraid of water?"

"Mobians are known for being able to with stand low atmosphere's and breath. But underwater...there's nothing but water to breath down there." Shadow explained.

"So, you're not afraid of water, you don't want to drown." Maria concluded and Shadow nodded. "Well, simple solution then. Get you an air supply! This place has to have a scuba store somewhere. But we need to find the others first."

Shadow nodded, pulling back his glove to show a wrist communicator. "Tails, is everyone alright?"

"We're fine Shadow, we managed to ditch them. Where are you guys?" Tails responded.

"South side of the island. Meet us here." Shadow said as he ended the talk. He sat down and leaned back, his eyes looking just a little droopy but Maria kept it to herself.

"I'm fine." Shadow said as if he read her mind. She looked at him shocked. "You think I'm pushing to hard. Trust me, I haven't even started."

"Shadow..." Maria started but was cut off when everyone arrived. "Right...We need to get some gear if we're going under water." Maria explained, leading them to the nearest scuba store.

Getting the supplies, Maria went to pay when the clerk stopped her, saying it was part of the "Shadow Act" before asking what they were diving for.

"Uh...this is a nice ship. It looks exactly like the one in the painting." Maria stated quickly to change the subject.

"Hm? Oh yeah. It legends say that it sank around this area with it's massive treasure still inside." The clerk stated, looking a bit out of it. The group rented a boat, heading out to sea as Tails held the Chaos Emerald.

Shadow held the round mouthpiece in his hands, unsure of what to think of it. Maria had explained it keeps air for them to breath, enough for a few hours, but Shadow was still skeptical. Maria herself had on a black scuba suit to help with the pressure from being so deep under water. Suddenly, the Chaos Emerald reacted to something and Tails stopped the boat, stating this was the place.

"Come on Shadow, let's go!" Maria said as she hopped out and dove under. Shadow put his mouth piece in, going to the edge but seemed a bit skidish.

"Oh for the love of-" Amy thought before she gave Shadow a shove, knocking him into the water and diving in after him with Tails and Cream. They grabbed hold of Shadow as he gave Amy an irritated look, but started to relax a bit as they went deeper under the water.

.

"That should do it." Robotnik stated, putting his tools away when he brought up the news to see a report of Shadow...TAKING A VACATION!? "So, he sinks me to the bottom of the sea and thinks it's over? I'll show him!" Robotnik roared as his ship came up to the surface.

.

The group swam at the bottom of the sea, Tails holding the cyan Chaos Emerald in front of him as it kept it's glow. Maria tapped his shoulder, pointing to a cave.

"That must be it..." Shadow thought.

The group got to the cave and found out it was the wreck of a ship...a really big ship holding several tons of gold. They started to dig around, searching for the Chaos Emerald when suddenly a crab popped up, holding a dark blue gem that glowed. Shadow walked up and simply took the Emerald, walking over to the group as the two blue Chaos Emerald reacted to each other. Cream held up five fingers with a smile and Shadow nodded. Only two more, and they would go home. However, movement caught Shadows eye as he looked up to see a giant robot, several thin tentacles coming out of a long shaft with a clear dome up top. One of the tentacles raised up, firing a laser. Shadow grabbed Cream and Maria and jumped back, Tails and Amy doing the same. Getting their attention, Shadow gestured them to get to the surface. They nodded, swimming up as Shadow got ready for a fight. While they retreated, Tails hit the device on his wrist, calling the X Tornado.

Firing more lasers, the jelly fish robot kept at Shadow, kicking up the mud on the sea floor. Shadow had a hard time dodging them as he lined up for a Chaos Spear. But the spear fizzled out just as soon as he formed it. He looked at his hands in disbelief. His speed was cut and his powers were useless down here. He wasn't paying attention when one of the tendrils smacked him away. Shadow landed on his back hard, getting up and jumping. He activated his shoes, using the air to help him move around. But he wasn't nearly fast enough as he was smacked down again, and this time his air supply broke. Shadow covered his mouth in a panic as he was hit again. He looked up as his vision faded, releasing a last breath and passing out.

.

Everyone else broke the surface and got back to the boat.

"We have to do something!" Maria said as she took off the face part of the suit. "Shadow could be in trouble down there!"

"Maria, calm down. Help is on the way." Tails stated, looking into the distance as he saw a glimmer.

No sooner than that, the jelly fish robot broke the surface, hoisting up an unconscious Shadow up to Robotnik who hovered in the air.

"Finally." Robotnik stated menacingly. Shadow was drenched, beaten, and best of all, knocked out. He looked over as he saw the X Tornado coming up with a determined Tails and Maria inside.

"Let him go!" Tails cried out, firing bullets at the tendrils holding Shadow. As Shadow fell with the broken tentacles, Robotnik ordered his robot to fire back. Tails showed off his piloting skills again as he dodged the lasers, but it wasn't easy. Shadow was still tangled up as Tails fired away, hitting the guns of the robot.

"Enough of this! Go under water, drown that rodent!" Robotnik roared as he left for his ship, thinking his troubles with Shadow were over.

"Hope this works!" Tails prayed as he fired a rocket aiming for the stem under water. He hit his mark and the robot started to shut down, and Shadow went back under water.

"HOLD ON!" Maria yelled as she opened the cockpit and jumped before Tails could do anything. She hit the water in a dive, keeping her eyes closed and searching with her hands but couldn't see anything. Deciding to open her eyes slightly, she saw Shadow still tangled in the tendrils as they sank. She swam over, getting Shadow out of the tentacles and swam upwards, breaking the surface with a loud gasp. She went over to the head of the robot, climbing up with Shadow and put him on his back. She pressed on his chest, begging him to wake up. Putting her mouth to his, she forced air down, then pumped on his chest again. Finally, Shadow sputtered, coughing out water in a fit. He hacked out the liquid as Amy pulled up in the boat, handing Maria a breather.

"Shadow, use this." Maria told him as she put the breather in his mouth. Shadow took a biig gasp, forcing oxygen into his lungs before coughing again. He finally regained his composure, trying to stand but fell back. "Are you ok, Shadow?"

"No...no I'm not." Shadow answered, shaking his head. "I will be soon though." He coughed again, spitting out water. "How do you know CPR?" Maria sat up, stating she took a few classes on it just in case. Shadow nodded, thanking her before they loaded him in the X Tornado and flew back to return the gear, Amy following in the boat.

They got back to the island, giving back the gear when Maria spoke up.

"We found the ship...but some complications happened and it was buried under the sea floor now." She said solemnly.

"Wait, so it was buried around here?" The clerk asked.

"Yes...but it's gone now." Maria answered.

"It's ok...I'm just glad that you guys found it. Thank you for telling me." The clerk said and Maria asked him what was so special about it. "Well you see, my great grandfather was the captain of that ship. He wasn't ever found after it went missing..."

"I'm so sorry." Maria said and the clerk shook his head.

"From what my father and grandfather say, it's how he would've wanted to go out. He was a sea fairer to the end." The clerk said with a small smile. Maria nodded, heading back to the X Tornado. She decided to share a seat with Cream when she looked in the back seat to see Shadow fast asleep, even having a small snore about him and what she could swear was a slight grin. She smiled at this, getting ready for take off. They left into the sunset as the store clerk walked out, looking at the sea.