A/N: I couldn't have picked a better time to write this story. First, Sonic X comes to Netflix. Now, Japan finally gets to watch the Metarex Saga on their TVs! What's with the popularity surge in Sonic X lately? While I doubt it will get a reboot or anything, I can only keep my fingers crossed that we'll get a new Sonic anime series next year or something!

First off, I want to thank my newest fan Gurahk for binge-reading this story and reviewing every chapter. My review count has shot up from 83 to 106. I am absolutely astounded. Not to mention SuperTailsFan0812 thought the last chapter was so good she reviewed it not once, not twice, but three times! Check out her latest story, "An Author's Adventure"!

Sorry to change moods all of a sudden, but I just want to rant a little bit concerning Sonic movie spoilers. There are YouTubers out there who are outright posting spoilers not only in the titles of their videos, but also the thumbnails. One of the channels I'm subscribed to is guilty of this. Not to mention it popped up as a desktop notification, which I cannot possibly avoid. Someone posted a fanfiction containing a spoiler in the cover art, and the spoiler is even in the avatar of someone on a Sonic Discord server I'm part of. Now for courtesy's sake, I will not tell you what it is, and I wish I didn't know it, because I haven't seen this movie yet, even though I'm sure everyone and their brother has already. Due to my life situation and circumstances, I'm not able to go see it in theaters, so I have to wait for it to come out on DVD, so I won't be able to join the fam until maybe early June at the earliest.

Now that that's out of the way, I wanted to share one of my new favorite fanfictions - "Blue Hedgehog Psychology" by SmallInsect. She is the author who created the wildly popular (and sadly now-deleted) fanfiction "Chaos Mythologies". It's in my favorites if you're interested. It may be abandoned, at least for now, and I won't give away the plot or anything, but I made a subtle reference to it in the beginning of the last chapter. Let me know if you can find it!

This chapter is shorter than usual, mostly because it's not a very memorable episode for me, except for the fact that it's the one where the gang find that fourth Chaos Emerald (I bet you thought of Shadow when you read that :P ) I made a few major changes near the end, but the only one I will show here is E-57's rename. Its Japanese name is "Kuraken", but similarly to Guerra-Hard, it's probably a translating error, so I called it "Kraken".

Also, this chapter was originally going to be called Deep Sea Nemesis.

Thank you to Keyblade132 for favoriting this story!

Thank you to sonictj31 and YveltalFan for following this story!

Thank you to Hero Of The Hazard, Gurahk, TopGun1986, CloudNine27, and annea101 for doing both!

With that being said, let's get on to reviews and what matters most: the story!


SuperTailsFan0812

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS! That was literally my reaction when I saw this chapter in my inbox. I was cheering and jumping up and down.

I love how Chris was comforting Tails and how the battle was compared with the original episode.

Thank you so much for shouting me out and it meant so much. I actually cried tears when I saw that.

My favourite part was when the gang was fighting the bad nicks and Chris assuring Tails and pretty much everything about this chapter.

Anyways, I loved this chapter and can't wait for the next chapter.

Every time a chapter from this story gets published, I get very very excited.

I also understand why you chose to omit episode 14.

I'm so glad you enjoyed that chapter as much as I did writing it! :D Here's the next chapter!

GuardianDragon98

Man, this was full of heart-pounding thrills! I loved it. Nice tribute to Sonic's good ol' Uncle Chuck with the Power Ring idea. Don't worry, Sonic! I'm sure your Unk's mighty proud of you ;)

I know it's probably unfair to mention the Power Rings without thinking of SatAM, and who created them in the first place. Indeed, Sonic's uncle would be proud of Sonic. :)

D.J. Scales

This was a big upgrade to the original episode. Still if I know Eggman I get the feeling that the Egg Fort has to be much more durable than that. Regardless he is gonna need a safeguard and a way to dispatch his robots now that his tower is history not to mention a new fleet. Regardless the thought that went into this helps.

Even without his tower, Eggman still has his underground robot factory no one knows about. And I'm pretty sure he lacks all the materials he needs to create a new fleet from scratch. Even for a genius like this, he probably couldn't do it without alerting the entire nation.

Animation Adventures

Welcome back from your hiatus!

I remember this episode pretty clearly. Mostly because it was the first time after the attack on Eggman's island that the gang went out in public without needing to hide.

Not really a fan of Black Friday. Knowing all those horror stories about shopping that day, my family tries to stay home on that occasion.

Never thought about it before, but yeah, having Tanaka show up with the X-Tornado was kind of an easy way out. Also, Stewart randomly appearing like he did adds more fuel to my opinion that he's a creep.

Good idea adding more badniks to the attack. After losing his base, I imagine Eggman would be furious and would want to retaliate with more force than a new airship.

Tails, Amy, and Cream getting to do stuff was amazing. Especially Cream and Cheese, who wouldn't get a chance to be heroic until Emerl appeared. I also thought it was funny that Amy found Cheese in an arcade. Good taste, little chao, good taste. It also sprinkles in a little personality for him so he's not just Cream's best friend who mimics her every reaction and occasionally acts as her attack.

Nice touch about the Power Rings. I actually think it was stated that Chris's grandfather was given his name as a tribute to Sonic's Uncle Chuck.

I only have a minor complaint. At times, I felt the dialogue in this chapter was too formal, especially some of the dialogue from Chris. He sounded too formal for his age and personality. Perhaps read through the dialogue again, and maybe tweak some of it to be more casual? I know at one point Chris called Chuck by name instead of Grandpa, that would be an example.

Great job as usual. Looking forward to the vacation episode- it's another one I remember well.

I'm not the biggest Black Friday fan myself, but I am strangely interest in what happens in that day. It's humanity at its worst. XD But I remember one time where I was in Walmart on Black Friday, and hardly anyone was there. Go figure.

Stewart really did seem like a creep in those episodes. Was there really no other way to make his motives more subtle?

Of course Eggman needed more firepower than just a new ship. The Badniks really punctuate his revenge.

I wanted Sonic's other friends to get in on the action too, because I didn't want Tails to pull off what he did (or didn't) do in Forces. Not helping Sonic fight Infinite? Cowering from Chaos 0 when he fought Chaos 4? Yeah, not happening here.

I thought of the similarities myself, with both characters named Chuck. Here's a little something I had just come up with before the last chapter. In my rewritten canon I may want to write about, Sonic's Uncle Chuck had died at some point between SatAM and Forces. I amended the first chapter on AO3 with this nugget, and will soon update this version of the story with it as well.

And thank you so much for telling me about the dialogue. I've already fixed it, but I've found Ella and Tanaka much harder to write than I thought. I'm also going back through all previous chapters and tidying them up as well.

In case I didn't say this before, I'm thinking of omitting "Fast Friends" and "Little Chao Lost" for technical reasons - I'll explain when we get close to that time.

HAVEABOY

HEY!

HEY! WHAT'S UP?

kitsune

nice like always !

Thank you!

All of Guhrahk's reviews which are too many to repost

I honestly wasn't expecting you to bingeread and review every chapter, but thank you anyway!

While I love the IDW Sonic comics, I will admit that the characters could show just a tad more emotion. I'm curious as to how the current arc will resolve itself, though.

I am fully aware of all the hate Chris has, which is why I'm taking pains to make sure he is a good character. I'm also reading other people's good fanfictions with Chris to help as well. And Angry Birds and Candy Crush are oldies but goodies. If they made it into Sonic X, I would love to see the fanart people would make of it. :P

There's just something about fans' characterization of Sonic that SEGA just can't do. I do admit I could write Sonic a little but better, but no one shows his protective and caring side quite like the fans do.

Yes, I'm aware Knuckles was OOC at the end of Chapter 3, but I've already resolved it in the AO3 version of this story, and will eventually do the same in this version.

Having Chris not know Danny, Frances, and Helen seemed like the right thing to do. Also, my brother laughed when I told him about Eggman's environmental friendliness. :P

I never thought of Dark Sonic when writing Chapter 5. Now that you mention it, I should probably go back and reread it...

You are going to absolutely love what I've done with the Chaos Saga. I'm still making plans for the Shadow Saga at the time.

Matt is a surprisingly tricky character to work with. I created him to be a functional OC, not just a tagalong who does nothing. Even now I'm still trying to figure out the entirety of his story.

In my canon, the Blue Typhoon was used in one of the battles in Forces, but was shot down (and eventually repaired), which explains them hijacking a rocket to get to the Death Egg.

I love writing with Eggman, probably even more than Sonic and Chris.

I know you're bummed about Episode 14 not being adapted. While I could write a story with Sonic and Helen, the whole reason they went on their unexpected adventure was because of Jerome's selfishness. "He's ruining my party!" Need I say more? The trip to the island of flowers is still canon, even if it's a passing reference.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this 250k-word monstrosity, and here's the next chapter!


Chapter 15
Episode 16
Sonic Learns to Swim!? The Fourth Chaos Emerald
The Monterey Excursion


The Seahawk – Mon December 20; 5:47 PM – Third-person POV

The three weeks following the failed revenge attempt of Dr. Eggman was a tense time for the country.

No one knew whether the evil genius had survived or otherwise, since his flying fortress seemingly vanished without a trace. President Remerson had voiced the nation's concern that Eggman was still at large, and Congress approved of his request to organize a full-scale widespread manhunt for the doctor.

All five branches of the military, the FBI, the CIA, and GUN tirelessly searched the entire Pacific coast for any clue to his whereabouts, making sure no stone was left unturned. But no clues turned up. Not even a thorough investigation of the suspected crash zone yielded any results.

A GUN patrol under Captain Westwood was on one such mission. Westwood had taken the GUN ship Seahawk to the edge of international waters, confident that no one else had swept over this area already.

"It's been almost a month now," Westwood grumbled as he peered out over the horizon. "You'd think the guy would come up for air at some point."

"I don't like this," Topaz voiced her agreement. Turning to Rouge who was leaning on the wall behind her, she asked, "Rouge, is this normal for Eggman to just... disappear like that?"

Rouge furrowed her brow. "If you ask me, he does tend to lay low after a major defeat, sometimes for a few months at a time. I don't really keep tabs on him all that much, anyway."

"Guy really knows how to bide his time," Westwood said.

Rouge nodded slowly. "Ain't that the truth."

Topaz glanced at her watch. "Well… time to check in," she announced as she reached over and activated the frequency of Mission Control.

"HQ, this is Seahawk with our routine check-in," she spoke. "There is nothing to report after the fourth hour."

Topaz got an immediate response back. "Copy that. Another two hours and you can head back."

"Copy."

After breaking contact, Topaz leaned back in her chair and stretched. "HQ says two more hours, then we can call it quits," she relayed.

Westwood sighed, still not moving from his spot. "He's got to be out there somewhere."

Topaz rose to her feet and strode over to the coffee machine. She needed the caffeine to stay awake for the remainder of this time-consuming mission.

This was not Rouge's ideal mission. She vastly preferred anything that involved jewels, specifically the Chaos Emeralds. But she wouldn't balk; she knew an opportunity to find the Emeralds would arise soon.

"It's gotta be intact down there," she stated. "Otherwise, the doctor would have gone to Davy Jones' locker, as you humans put it."

"Good point…" mused Westwood.

"But what I don't understand is how Robotnik can survive down there for that long with a limited supply of air and food," Topaz said as she put the filter into the machine.

"Oh, believe me, hon, he'll find a way," Rouge said in a matter-of-fact manner. "He always does."

"I hate all this uncertainty," Westwood muttered as he finally left his post and wandered toward the others.

"I want answers just as much as you do, Captain," replied Topaz, "but we need to stay focused. Sooner or later, we'll find him, dead or alive."


The Egg Fort – Mon December 20; 8:06 PM – Third-person POV

Dr. Eggman had been marooned aboard the Egg Fort beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean for nearly a month now. Fortunately for him, the ship was completely watertight, and held up fairly well against the elements.

Since the destruction of his original fortress a few months prior, the doctor had spent the better portion of his time salvaging what was left of its remains and hiding from the government's salvage team within his underground robot factory, which was left nearly completely intact. He had been concerned about radiation in the confines of the factory, but Decoe and Bocoe had confirmed that there was none. All he lost was three fourths of his existing robot army. He could always produce more.

Having escaped the fiery explosion by the skin of his teeth, the first thing he did was move into the Egg Fort. Just as he had announced over Station Square, it was indeed a ship that would have been the newest addition to the Egg Fleet had he not been transported here by those Mobian rebels.

The ship contained prisons, a prototype roboticizer he had been recently perfecting, and a primitive robot factory and hangar bays. He had brought everything he needed with him aboard the ship, which wasn't much. At least nothing important was left behind.

He could not have chosen a better day to strike – according to his later research, that was the day the humans called "Black Friday", where just about everyone took to the stores to bargain shop in advance for Christmas. Earth truly did have the strangest traditions.

In any case, everyone was taken completely off guard by his sudden return. It was quite a sight looking down at all the traffic jams he was inadvertently causing.

Things quickly went downhill despite his best efforts. He failed to capture the Thorndykes and the Mobians, and Sonic even had the nerve to lure him out to sea away from the city and shoot down his Egg Fort.

However… he had a vantage point no one had counted on.

The rebels had lured him so far out to sea to the point where land was barely visible before he went under. Additionally, he had taken further precautions in staying incognito by shutting off all power aboard the craft, except for the sub-radar auxiliary system that provided basic life support. In short, he could stay down there for a very long time.

Going dark forced him to become nocturnal. He slept during the day, and he, Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun had worked tirelessly on repairing the ship every night for the past month. However, he still wasn't ready to reactivate Orbot and Cubot; he still found them annoying, even if they had provided him years of assistance. Still, he wasn't going to dismantle them by any means in case something happened to Decoe and Bocoe.

Once Eggman eventually returned to the surface, he would swear revenge on everyone for real. He still couldn't get over the fact that his previous revenge attempt went so sour. How could he have lost so easily?

Eggman still had a long way to go with his repairs. At the very least, it would take him a couple more months. At the most, the repairs would take up to a year, and he couldn't wait that long to conquer the planet. There was no way it could fly in its current condition.

One night, Eggman was tinkering in the engine room, attempting to repair the heavily damaged engines. They had become waterlogged upon impact with the ocean floor, but the doctor had been able to painstakingly patch the holes.

"Doctor!" Decoe called, urgently running into the room. "A blip has appeared on the radar!"

This got Eggman's attention. He immediately sat up.

"They couldn't have found us," he said. "All the primary systems are shut off."

"We have not run an initial scan on the object yet, Doctor," Decoe reported as Eggman followed him out of the engine room and toward the elevator.

"So you're jumping to conclusions," Eggman assumed.

"Negative, Doctor," Decoe replied. "We concluded that we should inform you about this first before taking any actions." Eggman nodded in understanding.

The two stepped onto the elevator and rode it up to the bridge, which had previously taken quite a bit of damage from Sonic's ring-powered assault. The bridge was now decently repaired – an incredible feat given their current predicament. Then again, the engineering skills of a man with an IQ of 300 could accomplish many things.

Seconds later, they reached the bridge, where Bocoe was seated in one of the navigators' seats. Eggman turned to a large green wall at the back of the bridge. It served as both a touch screen and a greenscreen, and was much sturdier than it looked. The wall currently displayed a long-range radar. True to Decoe's words, a blip could be seen at least ten miles away from their location.

"Has any movement been observed from this object since you detected it?" Eggman asked.

"Negative," Bocoe answered.

"How long have you noticed it there?" was Eggman's next question.

"It has remained undetected until we activated the radar for our routine scan," Decoe said.

Just then Eggman got a sudden stroke of genius.

"Run a scan for Chaos energy, just in case it is what I think it is."

"But Doctor, that would require activating the primary power supply," Decoe pointed out.

"I know it's risky," Eggman said, "but it's dark at the surface, which means we have a much lower risk of detection."

He walked over to a hidden panel in the ship's console. Flipping the panel upward, he pulled the master switch underneath it, and a low hum filled his ears as the ship's systems came to life. This was a good sign it could still function.

Next, he tapped a few buttons on the opposite side of the console, bringing up the Chaos energy scanner, which overlapped with the radar on the green wall. The area around the blip glowed in a psychedelic array of colors – the result was positive.

"It is indeed a Chaos Emerald!" he grinned.

The first thing he planned to do now was repair the bay doors and get them ready to deploy a suitable robot to pick up the Emerald. Since he had worked on the bay doors and hangar previously, they only needed touching up. The only tricky part would be deploying a robot underwater.

In any case, he would be in possession of the fourth Chaos Emerald, and he would return to the surface with a vengeance that burned akin to the Flames of Disaster.


Thorndyke Mansion - Dining room – Mon December 20; 6:42 PM – Chris' POV

It was a few days before Christmas, and once again, we went all-out with decorations. The tree was fully decked out like usual, and everyone chipped in with hanging the garland. I especially enjoyed the touch that Cream and Cheese had.

Tonight, we were all finishing supper. Grandpa had to get up because he said he forgot something, which made me just as curious as everyone else about what it was.

A minute later, he reentered the dining room carrying several envelopes.

"Everyone, your passports and IDs have arrived today," he announced, though I knew he was talking about my friends and not me. "I forgot to pass them around earlier, but I guess now's as good a time as any."

A while back, my friends had to report to the DMV to have their pictures taken for special licenses the government would issue out at least two weeks later. The reason it took so long to get legal documents and identification cards for them was because the House and Senate were both debating whether to make the Mobians just like other humans or give them special privileges. At last they reached a compromise: while they still required documents, they could be given some amenities, which included not being required to have an education.

Having sorted the envelopes out, Grandpa passed them around to the four Mobians gathered around the table.

"You may go ahead and open them," he invited as he took his seat once more. "Inside are your passports and Social Security cards. As for you, Tails, you get several different kinds of licenses, including a pilot and mechanic's license."

I looked on as my friends opened their envelopes and studied their various documents, interested in how they would react.

"It still baffles me that I'm going to need all these just to operate my planes," remarked Tails as he sifted through his various documents. "I never needed anything like these back home."

"I know, Tails, but it is what it is," Grandpa said. "Part of the compromise stated you will need these. Even you, Sonic, although I'm sure you've probably been all over the globe by now," he added with a chuckle. "Make sure you memorize your Social Security numbers; you may end up needing them later."

Cream held up one of the licenses set before her. "Grandpa, what is this?" she asked.

Grandpa peered at the card in the small bunny's hand. "That certifies that Cheese is your pet."

Cream looked as if she was about to protest, until Grandpa raised his hand slightly.

"I know, Cream," he reassured. "I tried to explain it to them, but… frankly, I don't think they understood. I'm going to call them after supper and tell them again."

"Please do that," Cream pleaded. "Cheese is not a pet. He's my dear friend!"

"Chao chao-chao!" agreed Cheese.

"Try not to be upset," Grandpa softly spoke. "We all know that, but they don't."

The rest of supper went by pretty normally. Sonic was pretty chill about receiving his documents, much to my surprise. He was really adapting to this world faster than I thought was possible from someone like him.

"Now that you're free to legally go anywhere," I announced, "I think we should take a Christmas vacation."

"That's a great idea," Tails agreed. "Where does everyone want to go?"

"What about Monterey Bay?" suggested Amy. "I read they have a really nice beach and even an aquarium."

"I like that idea, Miss Amy," Cream agreed, having gotten over the license debacle. A vacation was well-earned, since we had spent a large portion of our time either hunting for Chaos Emeralds or battling Eggman. Plus, my friends had quite a taste in choosing vacation spots.

"Heading out like this will definitely give us an opportunity to see a little more of this country," Tails pointed out. "Maybe we should check out San Francisco while we're at it too."

"What about you, Sonic?" Amy asked.

From his seat to my right, Sonic pondered the request for a moment.

"Yeah, I'll come," he nodded, sounding almost… enthusiastic. "I may not be one for water, but I can tag along."

I almost swore he sideglanced me as he spoke. I hoped that me getting in danger would not be a common factor in every adventure we went on.


Thorndyke Mansion - Outside – Tue December 21; 11:34 AM – Chris' POV

The next morning found us fastening our seat belts, prepared to depart for the sandy beaches of Monterey Bay. Sonic was seated on the wing – a precarious position, but I had grown used to seeing him perched there.

Tails was still in the driveway, going through final ground preparations; and Grandpa, Ella, and Mr. Tanaka were there to see us off.

"Now you take care of yourselves out there," I heard Ella call over the roar of the engines.

"And be careful around other people," Grandpa added. "They might not be used to you still."

"Don't worry, we'll be careful," promised Tails as he spun his namesakes and lifted himself up to his seat at the controls. We waved goodbye before the kit pressed the button to close both canopies.

"Everyone secure?" he asked once he himself was buckled in. All of our replies were yes.

From the ground, Grandpa pressed a button on his remote that tilted the palm trees back, giving way for us to have a clear takeoff. As Tails mumbled to himself about the takeoff checklist, I couldn't help but feel excited about the trip as much as everyone else. We were finally going to have a real vacation!

It wasn't long before we were airborne. This trip was finally for something other than fighting Eggman or hunting for Chaos Emeralds with slim success rates. It was a well-needed change of pace from our usual high-octane adventures.

"I estimate it's gonna take us about an hour to get there," Tails advised, "so just relax and enjoy the scenery."

That wasn't hard at all. I was engrossed by the scenery below us, even if it was going by in a flash. I didn't even need my phone to be mesmerized, but for the sake of it, I brought it anyway.

Speaking of phones, it was a good thing Sonic, Tails, and Amy had all gotten phones of their own. Now we could all stay in constant contact, no matter where our adventures would take us. Even Sonic didn't balk about his latest Samsung model, even though he had told me he might not use the apps on it all the time.

Over the next forty minutes, I absent-mindedly listened to Amy and Cream taking turns reading a tourism brochure about San Francisco and Monterey Bay from a time my family and I had been there before. Eventually, they too were gazing down at the scenery.

Eventually, I looked to my right, and began to recognize some familiar scenery along the coastline. I almost missed seeing it, though, as it had been a few years since I was last there, not to mention everything looked different from the air. I knew we were getting close to our destination.

"Tails?" I asked. "Are we flying over Monterey Bay?"

Tails glanced down at his radar screen.

"Yeah, we are," he reported. "Good eye!"

"Did you hear that?" I asked Amy and Cream. The girls' awed silence was all the answer I needed.

"We made it!" Amy breathed in wonder.

"It's just like the book!" Cream added.

"Chao-chao chaaoo!" agreed Cheese.

"Hey guys, did you hear what kind of activities they have there?" Amy asked. Without waiting for an answer, she said, "They've got volleyball, waterskiing, and even scuba diving!"

Interesting… I had never gone waterskiing before, but I could hear Tails' voice in my head telling me there was a first time for everything. That must have been one of his catchphrases or something.

"Hey Chris…" Tails softly called. "The Chaos Emerald is glowing."

"Is it?" I asked in interest, and looked past the back of Tails seat to see that the Emerald was indeed glowing brighter than it usually did. In fact, its brightness was gradually increasing, which forced us to squint.

And then I knew why it was doing that.

"The only way it can glow like that is if there's another Chaos Emerald nearby, right?" I asked.

"Yeah…" Tails said. "That reminds me…" He raised his voice so Amy and Cream could hear too. "Guys, I'm picking up signs of a Chaos Emerald nearby, so we could run into some turbulence in a few."

"But why is there going to be turbulence if–"

Suddenly the plane shook hard, taking us all completely by surprise. The girls cried out, and I was forced to brace myself against both sides of the canopy to prevent myself from hitting my head. That didn't stop me from hitting my head on the back of Tails' seat, however. Fortunately, it didn't hurt very much.

"Hang tight!" Tails tried to assure us. "It should be done soon!"

I looked out over the ocean. "It's gotta be underwater somewhere," I called.

"You might be right about that," Tails commented. I could tell he was gripping the controls firmer than he usually did to keep us in the air. The turbulence was surprisingly strong, almost as strong as Tingalin Villa.

"See a place we can land, Tails?" asked Amy.

Tails visually scanned the ground to our right, then peered down at a particular spot.

"…Yeah, I think I see a spot down there," the fox reported. "I'll take us down as fast as I can."

As we descended, the turbulence gradually lessened, much to our relief. I was wondering how long I could hold on to my breakfast. Frankly, I didn't want to see it return. Tails was pretty nitpicky when it came to keeping his planes clean.

It took about two minutes for the turbulence to finally die down, and another one for us to land. Tails had chosen a relatively hidden area in an alley between two small buildings. While there weren't many people around, there were still a few of them milling about, but they steered clear of us as Tails converted the craft to X-Cyclone mode and touched down. They probably weren't expecting us to drop by today.

Tails opened the canopies and helped me and Amy to get down. Sonic had leaped to the ground right before we landed, and Cream and Cheese were able to fly down on their own.

"Yo, Tails," Sonic called as I touched down. "What happened back there, buddy? The plane was shaking pretty bad."

"I think we accidentally detected another Chaos Emerald," Tails explained. "Judging by our position when the turbulence happened, it's probably under the ocean somewhere."

Sonic visibly shuddered. "The Emerald did all that?" he warily asked. Tails nodded.

"I think it has something to do with them being without the Master Emerald," he speculated.

"This will be our fourth Chaos Emerald!" Cream spoke. "Now there are only three more to find!"

To be honest, I did not at all expect to discover a Chaos Emerald on our vacation time. It was Murphy's Law, actually. We didn't find any Chaos Emeralds when we were actively searching for them, but guess what turned up when we let our guard down? When going on adventures with Sonic, it seemed surprises awaited at every corner.

"If the Emerald's underwater, then it's not gonna be easy to get," Sonic stated.

Amy caught on to Sonic's tension and moved closer to him. "C'mon, Sonic, what are you afraid of?" she asked in a somewhat playful manner.

"Well, it's just…" Sonic sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "…it's underwater, and…"

"We'll go with you and we can get it together," Tails suggested. "Nothing to it, right?"

Sonic was silent for a moment, and I felt concerned for him. I had to admit, he was doing a good job bottling up his fear, instead of outright panicking at the prospect of diving underwater. Then again, he was everyone's role model, and we all looked up to him as not only our hero, but he was like a big brother to all of us.

"Fine…" he said at last. "I'll do it."

With that, Tails flew back up to the X-Tornado to fetch his Chaos Emerald off the console. I too stepped closer to Sonic for support. I was there when he first arrived, and I saw firsthand that he couldn't swim. I wanted to be there for him too.

I smiled reassuringly at him. I wanted him to know that I had his back. He smiled back.

"Everyone stay close and try to act natural," Sonic advised us as we started forward, "just in case we get a paparazzi following us."

"What's a… papa... razzi?" Cream asked.

Tails cautiously looked around for any curious humans. "It's like a big crowd that follows famous people around. They usually take a lot of pictures, and they can get really annoying." It was true. In one case, someone had lost her life because of a drunk driver distracted by a paparazzi. The danger was all too real.

"...Remember what happened at the mall last month?" Tails continued. Cream shyly nodded. "That was a paparazzi."

We approached the boardwalk now, and I took note of Tails concealing the Chaos Emerald within his namesakes so it wouldn't interfere with any technology. I had asked my friends how they were able to do that, to which they replied "Hammerspace". It made no sense to me, and somehow cartoon characters managed to pull it off all the time.

I pushed those thoughts aside because I had a different question at the tip of my tongue.

"Tails?" I asked. "Do you ever have to worry about the Chaos Emeralds damaging your Miles Electric?"

"It almost did happen when the two Emeralds we got from Eggman's base attempted to adapt with the one we have now," he replied. "I was able to get it out of the way just in time."

Our peaceful stroll was unfortunately short-lived, as several onlookers noticed us and inconspicuously took out their smartphones.

"Not again…" moaned Amy. One run-in with overeager humans was enough for her. She didn't need something like this to ruin her day.

"Just ignore 'em if you can," I advised. It was honestly harder than it sounded.

"We need to get to the beach," Sonic quietly told us, "but don't run. Just act natural."

No one really approached us this time, which made this outing far more bearable than our trip to the mall. However, some teens and Millennials followed us to an extent. Cream huddled close to Amy, understandably nervous around the big crowds, while Sonic told the onlookers there was "nothing to see here" and "just a couple heroes passing through".

It took at least ten long minutes before the crowds were finally behind us. Sonic pointed out a vacant spot on the beach, a place where no one was around to stare at us. On the outside, my friends may have looked different, but on the inside, they were just like them, only with hearts of gold that many people unfortunately lacked.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Amy nodded slightly, still looking somewhat exasperated. Crossing her arms, she cast a glance back at the way we came.

"I didn't think we were this famous back on Mobius," she said. "When will we ever get a chance to mingle with everyone normally and just relax?"

"I have to admit," Tails added, "it was a lot easier when we had to hide from Ella and Mr. Tanaka before the party."

"There are a lot of people," Cream voiced her concern, "but we can't blend in at all!"

"Yeah," Amy agreed, now starting to get riled up. "It was a lot better back home, where we had a different crowd we were used to!" Turning to me, she asked, "How do you stand it, Chris? How come people don't just flock around you if you're the son of really famous people?"

I shrugged. "I think Tails asked me the same thing when we were at the mall," I recalled. "I guess people are just used to me, or don't really think about it. But now that you guys are here… well, it feels like I'm a lot more famous now." I honestly didn't know what to think about it. I mean, I didn't mind being famous, even if I was introverted, but being famous and the friend of aliens from another planet was something else entirely.

"Well, I don't think we can help it if we're famous or anything, and knowing this world's humans, they can't resist swarming celebrities, can they?" Sonic said. "It is what it is, I guess. I bet they'll be good and used to us in no time, am I right?" he added with a reassuring wink.

"I hope you're right…" Amy replied.

"It's not going to do us any good to just sit around and mope, you know," Tails stated. "We should probably come up with a way to get the Chaos Emerald."

"But I thought we were here to take a vacation," Amy commented, voicing my thoughts exactly. However, priorities came first.

"We are," Cream said. "But if we don't find it now, Dr. Eggman may come and take it later." Tails nodded his agreement.

"I know," Amy responded. "I just wasn't ready for this today is all."

"Tell you what," Sonic announced, being the voice of reason. "Think of it like an adventure in an adventure. We'll get the Emerald now, then we can reward ourselves with a vacation. Sound good?"

We all agreed with Sonic, especially me and Tails. His insight was always fascinating.

Tails looked out over the tranquil water. "Although, I don't have a clue how far out or how deep it is, and the X-Tornado is not made for underwater travel, so… I guess we need to come up with a way to deep dive for it."

"What about snorkeling?" Cream suggested, and Cheese made happy noises, most likely agreeing with her.

"That's a good idea, actually," agreed Amy. "Chris, do you know of a place around here that sells snorkeling gear?"

"Uh… Snorkeling isn't exactly for deep diving," I amended. "I think you'll probably want to bring scuba gear instead."

"And a boat," added Sonic.

"Have you ever gone scuba diving before, Chris?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, only once," I said after a moment of thinking, "but that was a few years ago with Grandpa. What about you?"

"Amy and I went a couple times before, but this will be Cream's very first time," Tails said.

"Is Cheese coming too?" I asked. I probably should have asked about Sonic in hindsight.

"You okay with leaving Cheese in the boat?" Sonic asked Cream. She consulted the Chao floating beside her, before turning back to the rest of us.

"He'll be okay," Cream relayed. "He's feeling tired right now."

"It's all good," Sonic replied. "So… we just find a dive shop around here and get what we need, yeah?"

"I don't really know this area too well," I said, "but we can look."

"Lead the way, then!" Amy invited as we all prepared to leave the beach. The sooner we found a dive shop, the sooner we could find the Chaos Emerald, and the sooner we could relax.


Monterey Bay - Dive shop – Tue December 21; 12:34 PM – Chris' POV

Surprisingly, it only took us fifteen minutes to find a diving shop. I did not know the layout of Monterey very well, and it was probably by sheer luck that Tails was able to point out a sign indicating the shop that quickly.

Sonic reached the door to the shop and opened it for the rest of us, the bells dangling from it chiming. Amy and Cream entered first, followed by Tails and me. Sonic and Cheese brought up the rear.

The interior of the shop contained all kinds of accessories and decorations, including a canoe hanging on the wall, and a floor-length mirror. A man with blond hair was working behind the counter. At the sound of the door's bell, he looked up.

"Hey! What can I help you guys with?" the man asked. A nametag he wore bore the name Steve. It was apparent to me that he was pleasantly surprised and even excited to see us in person.

Amy picked up a life jacket and held it up to the mirror, curious about which human size would fit her. Tails and Sonic examined some of the scuba gear hanging on a rack, while Cream and Cheese aimlessly looked around the shop. There was so much to see in there.

I took it upon myself to walk up to the counter, rehearsing in my head what we would all need.

"Uh, I think we'll need a boat, five sets of scuba gear with air tanks and flippers… and goggles for me." I glanced back at the others. "Is that right?"

Everyone nodded their approval, and I turned back to Steve.

"Do the rest of you need goggles, or are you good?" Steve asked my friends.

"We're good," Tails answered for everyone. "Our anatomy allows us to be able to swim without needing goggles, so… yeah." Even so, I wondered how swimming goggles could even fit them, because their eyes were much larger than humans' eyes.

"Gotcha," nodded Steve. "I'll get everything ready for you guys."

Just then I realized one very important detail about this trip.

"Uh… how much is this gonna cost?" I mentally kicked myself for not thinking about this beforehand. It wasn't my fault anyway; I had no idea we were going to stumble upon a Chaos Emerald.

"It's all on me," Steve answered on his way toward the back of the shop. "You don't have to pay a thing."

…What? But… Weren't we supposed to…?

Tails, having seen my obvious confusion, approached me. "Did you forget about the government compromise?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, I did forget…" I recalled as it all came back to me.

Sonic overheard and walked over as well. "While we still need documents, which is kinda a bummer, Big Brother's gonna cover all our bills whenever you guys go shopping at small shops like this one."

"That's good," I said, sighing with relief on the inside. "Because I don't think I brought any money with me." With a deal like that, I knew Amy and Cream would easily get a kick out of it. They could practically shop to their hearts' content.

"All these life jackets are too big for me," Amy called to Steve. "Do you have 'em in our size?"

"No, sorry," Steve apologized. "Best I can do is the kids' section. You should be able to find your size there."

As Amy headed over to said section, something on the wall to the right of the counter caught my eye. It was a painting of a ship that appeared to match a similar-looking model ship that was on display on the counter.

There was a sheet of protected paper underneath the painting that said a little bit about the ship. It was known as the Victoria's Bounty, named for Queen Victoria. It had gone down in a violent storm somewhere off the coast of San Jose in 1903. It was rumored to carry a weighty load of gold and precious jewels. People have attempted to find the wreck of the Victoria's Bounty for decades, but without any success.

I wasn't much of a history buff, but this was strangely fascinating. It kind of reminded me of the Bermuda Triangle stories I had heard about from Grandpa. Not to mention there could be–

"What'cha lookin' at, Chris?" came Amy's curious voice from behind my shoulder, snapping me from my trance.

"I think there's buried treasure out there…" I whispered as Amy scanned the information on the ship.

"That's cool... Maybe someone will find it someday," she said with hope.

"It's been over a hundred years…" I added. "So far, no one's found it yet."

"Well, we're going diving today, so…" She smiled at me. "Who knows? Maybe we'll be lucky."

I continued to stare at the picture, and read the information sheet once more. I told myself not to get too excited, but still, maybe it was possible… Perhaps we could find the treasure if we also looked for the Emerald.


The Pacific Ocean – Tue December 21; 1:44 PM - Sonic's POV

About an hour later, give or take, we were all aboard a boat we had rented and were headed out to sea. I had quickly gone back to the X-Tornado to grab the lunch we had packed, which we had just finished now.

Tails had driven the boat out to sea. He needed a boost to reach the human-sized controls, and Steve was kind enough to lend us a stool for him to stand on.

However, it took a bit of motivation from my friends to finally get me to put on my scuba gear. Not surprisingly, I was the last to slip on my wetsuit and mask. I couldn't remember the last time I had work scuba gear, if I did at all. I was never one for water.

By now all of us were in our diving suits, except for Amy, who volunteered to stay in the boat and monitor our air supply. As a precaution, Tails had also secured the Emerald we brought with us, so that it wouldn't potentially affect the boat.

"Take deep breaths, Sonic," Tails gently instructed me, having picked up on my nervousness. "Try and breathe slowly when you're underwater, okay?"

"I-I'll try," I said, trying to put a brave face on this situation. "It's just that I haven't been in the water since–"

Amy raised a finger, as if to tell me not to continue my thought in front of Chris. He didn't need to know yet.

"I know," she assured, "but it's for the Chaos Emerald. You know we need to get it if we wanna go back home to Mobius."

Looking down at the water, I nervously rubbed my arm. "Yeah, you're right…" I admitted.

"Say that one more time for me, Sokikku~" Amy playfully said. I shrugged and tried to hide a smile that made its way onto my face anyway. Even though I wasn't into her the way she always thought I was, Amy was still a really great friend.

"Is Sonic always like that…?" I could hear Chris quietly asking Tails. The fox shrugged, and Chris seemed a little unsatisfied with the answer. I knew that my brother knew the truth. He just didn't want to upset Chris about my past or anything.

I realized that I was probably letting my hydrophobia get the better of me. I was acting like a baby. And yet I was the oldest in our group. As Amy once told me when I was in a situation similar to this, I had to "act my age, not my shoe size". I was supposed to be everyone's role model. This was not how role models behaved.

Being the next to approach me, Chris asked, "I don't know if I asked this before, Sonic, but how come you can't swim?"

I smiled wanly at Chris. "'Cause I sink lower than Eggman's chances of winning whenever I'm in the water," I explained. "I tried, and… well, I guess hedgehogs aren't made to swim. Well… this one, anyway."

"It's okay, we can help you," promised Chris. "And if you get in trouble, we'll help you back up to the surface."

I really appreciated Chris. It felt like he had really grown close to me, and would do anything to make sure I was okay, just like I did for him.

"Sounds good," I said. "All right, let's dive."

"Take care!" Amy called as we approached the edge of the deck. Tails was the first one into the water, followed by Chris, then Cream. After taking a deep breath, I dove into the ocean as well.

As soon as we were all beneath the water's surface, Tails held the Chaos Emerald he brought out in front of him, both as a light source and a way to detect the other Chaos Emerald. He then began to move it back and forth to see where the Emerald shone the brightest.

While he was doing that, Chris stayed by me to make sure I wouldn't sink or anything. And so far I wasn't. I hoped it would stay that way.

"Deep breaths, Sonic," Chris gently told me.

I kept an eye on Cream to make sure she got the hang of using scuba gear, seeing as she had never worn it before.

"You doing okay, Cream?" I asked.

"I'm okay, Mr. Sonic," she replied, her voice filled with awe. "It's so beautiful down here!"

She was right – the scenery beneath the waves was absolutely stunning. While we were too far above the ocean floor to see any coral, there were colorful fish everywhere, and I told myself that I should probably appreciate the ocean more. I could do a pretty good job at that without ever having to set foot in the ocean.

"Okay, I think it's this way," Tails announced, indicating in a certain direction below us. "Stay close, guys."

As he led the way, we swam after him, and I looked around at the scenery. Chris continued to stick close to make sure I was okay, which I very much appreciated.

The deeper we dove, the higher the pressure became on us, and the darker and colder the water got. It was a good thing we brought the Emerald with us, so we could see where we were going.

"Try not to panic," Chris advised. "I don't think we're gonna be down here that long, I hope. We're just gonna get the Emerald and be back in the boat soon, right?"

"Easier said than done, bud," I said, managing a smile.

I was starting to get a little impatient the further we traveled, but no way would I let it show in front of Chris. I was a role model, even if Chris was trying his hardest to be strong for me. He really did learn from the best.

We didn't talk much during our journey, especially not Cream. She was awed at the various fish and aquatic life, as were the rest of us. Tails was sticking close to her, and making sure she was doing okay as we dove. She knew how to swim, but she had never worn scuba gear before.

It took us about ten minutes of nonstop diving before we finally reached the ocean floor. By now it was really dark around us, and Tails' Chaos Emerald was pretty much the only light source we had.

"How much longer?" wondered Chris.

"Hm… Not much longer now," Tails responded, glancing at the glowing green stone in his hand. "The Emerald's getting brighter, which means we're getting closer."

A few more minutes of diving later, we reached what I assumed to be a secluded alcove on the ocean floor.

"You getting anything, Tails?" I asked.

"It's glowing the brightest it's been since we came down here," reported Tails. "I think the Emerald might be in that alcove!"

"How cool would it be if we actually found the shipwreck while we were down here?" Chris excitedly said. Tails, Cream, and I were equally confused.

"…Say what now?" I asked.

Over the next minute, Amy filled us in via headset on something she and Chris had learned back at the dive shop. I had to admit, it was pretty fascinating to hear about a sunken ship and a mystery that was left unsolved to this day.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up, but you never know," I told Chris.

As we approached the alcove, Tails had to move the Emerald to his side due to the intense glare it was creating. Just then its light illuminated a dark shape along the wall.

"I think we're getting close…!" Tails declared, sounding more excited. I peered at the object shrouded in the darkness of the ocean.

"Definitely looks like a galleon, no doubt…" I surmised.

"Is that the sunken ship?" Cream asked with hope.

"I think so...!" agreed Tails.

I could tell Chris was really excited; his beaming grin proved it. And why not? We had just discovered a long-lost sunken ship all by ourselves, and would inevitably make history without even trying.

I too was stoked on the inside. While there was an entire world beneath the sea that I preferred not to see in person for obvious reasons, the discovery of the Chaos Emerald made the whole trip worth it, and now there was a bonus thrown in there as well.

"Wait, you guys actually found it?" Amy exclaimed.

"Yeah, I think so!" Chris eagerly confirmed.

"I know you guys are excited about the treasure and all," I said, "but I think we should look for the Chaos Emerald first. Then we can take a peek at the treasure, if it's still there."

"Sonic's right," Tails agreed. "I don't want this Emerald to wind up in Eggman's hands any more than the rest of you do."

"Careful of the wood," I warned as we neared the wreckage at last. "There could still be splinters." I didn't know how much danger splinters could pose to scuba gear, but I decided to warn everyone anyway.

"Also, some parts of the ship might be loose and they can easily come off, so try not to touch the walls," added Tails as he waved the Emerald around slowly to pick up a stronger signal.

"Yeah, don't do that," I echoed. "Don't want anyone getting buried alive underwater, now do we?" I chuckled nervously. "Let's see if we can find a way in."

"There's one!" Chris pointed out. Sure enough, I could make out a hole in the wreck, probably torn by coral. I wasn't all too familiar with this world's history, but I was pretty sure they started to use metal ships a hundred years ago.

"All right," I began as we landed on the ocean floor, grateful to finally have ground beneath my feet. "We're gonna enter single file. Looks like it could be a little tight, though, so be careful."

Tails was the first to enter the wreck, followed by Cream, then Chris, and lastly me. There was a lot of coral and sea moss coating just about every surface within the wreck.

"Remember, we're here for the Emerald," Tails reminded us again, "but if we can find the treasure too, then that would be really cool."

"Everyone stay together," I advised. "I don't want anyone getting lost in here."

Once we started moving again, Chris drew near to me. "How are you doing?" he asked.

I glanced around the wreck. "Don't worry about me, Chris. As much as I hate this, I just gotta keep telling myself I'm doing this for the Emerald."

My own words echoed through my head for the next six minutes as we carefully searched the galleon for any sign of the Chaos Emerald. Tails' own Emerald provided our only light source in the otherwise pitch-black environment. Cream and even Chris were a bit nervous of the dark, but we promised that we were there for them, and that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Just then Cream broke away from our group. "Come quick! I think I found something!" she excitedly announced.

Tails immediately swam in the direction Cream's voice came from – which wasn't very fast because we were in the water. Chris and I followed suit.

"Did you find it?" Amy asked over our headsets.

"Cream thinks it's somewhere in the room we're in now," Tails reported. "Which means we'll be able to–"

He and Cream immediately gasped in wonder at the sight of what lay before them. There was treasure everywhere. Most of it was in the large metal box it was originally kept in, but some of it was spilling out. We were in the vault.

"Wow! There's so much gold and jewels in here!" exclaimed Cream.

"I wonder how much all this is worth?" Tails added.

"Good thing Rouge isn't here to see this…" I chuckled to myself.

All of us, particularly Chris and Cream, were awed at the sight of the priceless treasure overflowing from the box. It was a legend come true.

"Where is the Chaos Emerald?" Cream asked. "Is it under all this treasure?"

"It has to be," Tails guessed. "It looks like it's going to be really heavy, so… Uh, can you hold onto this, Cream?"

He handed the Chaos Emerald to Cream, who accepted it and used it to aid us in digging through the treasure. There were so many riches to sift through – gold, silver, necklaces, jewelry; but the most valuable treasure of them all was the white Chaos Emerald and the brilliant glow it created.

Before long, I reached in and removed it from among the other treasures.

"You guys got it?" Amy asked over our headsets.

"Yup," I responded, handing it to Cream for her to look at. "That makes number four."

"Wait Sonic, I don't think that's a good–"

Tails was interrupted when both the Emeralds in Cream's hands suddenly glowed intensely bright. Then a massive beam of energy shot upward and tore its way through the ceiling of the ship.

In hindsight, I should have thought this through. And yet none of us even considered that this would happen.

Tails had told me about the effects of this light pillar, known as a Chaos Beacon. From his experience with it at Diamond Stadium, he was locked in place with the Emerald in his hand, and couldn't move at all until the beacon dissipated. This was how the Emeralds acclimated to each other.

Now, Cream was holding two Emeralds at once, witnessing their raw power as they adapted. I was scared for her, I really was. Two of the most powerful artifacts were going absolutely haywire in her hands.

"Sonic, what's going o–?" Amy urgently asked, before interrupting herself. Most likely she had answered her own question.

"Chaos Beacon," was all I could muster as the beam continued to rise, showing no signs of stopping.

"I see it," Amy quietly said.

I could tell Tails and Chris were just as terrified as Cream was. Tails may have dealt with it at least once before recently, but Chris had never seen such an event up close before. In fact, I was pretty sure Cream may have been hyperventilating.

"They're just adapting!" I tried to reassure them. "Just give 'em a minute or two. It should be over soon."

It took about two minutes for the Chaos Beacon to finally die down. By this time, Cream looked on the verge of tears, overwhelmed at what had just happened.

"Are you guys okay down there?" Amy asked.

"Yeah," I replied as confidently as I could, even though the event had frightened Cream. "We're good."

I gently moved over to Cream, who was still terrified. Having a giant pillar of pure Chaos energy bursting out in front of you was pretty traumatizing.

"You're okay, Cream," I comforted. "We'll get back to the boat, and then we've got a well-earned vacation ahead of us, yeah?"

"Mhm," Cream said silently as I led the way out of the vault. But Chris spoke before I could leave.

"Wait, what about the treasure?"

I turned back to look at him. "We may have discovered the treasure ourselves, but it's probably best to let someone else know about it first. Otherwise, it would be stealing, you know?"

Chris stopped to think about it for a moment. It seemed to make sense to him, for he looked up and accepted the facts.

"Yeah... You're right, Sonic," he said.

"You know, maybe they will recognize us for finding the treasure," added Tails. "It's not a total loss."

"I hope so," Chris said, trying not to sound disappointed.

"Everyone ready to head back?" I asked. "I know I am."

With that, I carefully led everyone out of the wreck, hoping the whole time I knew where the boat was. Tails had offered to take the Emeralds back from Cream, who was nervous to hold them should they try to adapt again. So far, I had never seen the Emeralds attempting to readapt, at least not since we arrived on Earth.

Everyone stuck close to me to make sure I could swim all right. I really appreciated their consideration and kindness, especially Chris. The only hurdle for me to jump over was actually swimming to the surface.

"Um… What's that light over there?" Cream asked from behind me, and I turned to look in the direction she was gesturing at. "Is someone else diving?"

"I wish," Tails commented. "It looks like one of Eggman's robots… but…"

"Wait, did you say Eggman?" Amy questioned.

"It has to be," Tails said. "The design doesn't look human at all."

"Then that means Eggman survived..." Amy said.

"But how?!" Chris exclaimed. "That was a month ago!"

"Believe me, he's been through worse," I said, immediately recalling some of Eggman's memorable downfalls, such as Perfect Chaos, the Time Eater, and even the Deadly Six. "Recognize this one, Tails?"

"Nope," the fox recalled after a second of thinking. "It's not in the log that I can recall."

I was just about to tell everyone else to head back to the boat when I caught a glimpse of a yellow television in one of the robot's tentacles. He had my attention; this task was normally given to Bokkun.

"Hold up," I told my friends. "Eggman's got something to say to us."

Once the robot got close to us, instead of attacking, it just stopped. It held the TV up to us for the four to see Bokkun's face on the screen. I was a little surprised that I could hear him speak underwater. Either it had something to do with the scuba gear we were wearing, or Eggman's TVs were just that good.

"I know you guys can hear me down here," Bokkun said, "and this message is from the VERY much alive and well Dr. Eggman, and it's fir Sonic the Hedgehog and all his friends. SO PAY ATTENTION, IDIOTS!"

I flinched at the shrill tone of Bokkun's scream. I'd have to say his mood swings were faster than Amy's, and that's saying a lot.

After a burst of static, the image changed to Eggman inside his relatively undamaged Egg Fort – and he was upset.

"Long time no see, Egghead," I teased. "I see you got cable down here."

Eggman pretended I hadn't spoken, and got right to the point.

"How dare you take a vacation," he growled. "For the past month, I've been rotting on the ocean floor, constantly one heartbeat away from Davy Jones' locker, and you have the nerve to have fun while I'm stuck here having anything but. Now I'm going to make you all pay for not observing equal rights."

I could have laughed. Thanks to his predicament, Eggman had gotten irrational.

"My E-57 Kraken here will retrieve the Chaos Emerald you pillaged from that shipwreck, but not before it sends you all to the bottom!"

"Since when was that kind of equal rights a thing on Mobius?" I chuckled as the screen powered off. "There are rich people and poor people, winners and losers, and I think I know who today's winners are."

To my friends, I said, "You guys get back to the boat. I'll handle this."

"But Sonic, you can't swim, let alone fight in scuba gear!" Amy frantically told me.

Now was not the time for me to think about being afraid of the ocean.

"That's beside the point," I stated firmly. "I can handle myself. You three, get back to the boat while you still have the chance!"

After a moment of hesitation, most likely in their concern for me, they began to swim the long trip back to the boat. Long for me, that is; everything seemed farther away in the water. At least the Kraken didn't try to follow my friends. So Eggman did have some respect…

I turned back to E-57 just as it was making its first move. It slammed one of its four massive tentacles into the ground right near me, barely missing the air tank on my back. I told myself that I had to think fast and act faster, especially since I was in dangerous territory.

I was glad that we were far enough away from the wreck so it wouldn't get… wrecked. There would be no telling what could happen to the treasure if the ship was destroyed by Eggman's robot. The evidence that would solve a hundred-year-old mystery would be gone. I was not about to let that happen.

As I continued to narrowly dodge the robot's attacks, I began to formulate a strategy. Perhaps I could get it to slam all of its tentacles into the ground at once. Then, while it was on cooldown, I could shear them off and take out the unprotected body.

This was easier said than done, however.

The Kraken did what I wanted, and slammed all four tentacles onto the ocean floor, which I barely avoided; that attack was quite unexpected. The impact kicked up a large dust cloud that started to blind me, and the motion forced me upward toward the surface which seemed so far away.

Unfortunately for Eggman, I saw through E-57's strategy and was easily able to force myself back down toward the ocean floor. Sometimes, not being able to swim had its advantages, few as they were.

Reaching down, I took hold of one of its tentacles and pulled with all my might until it snapped clean off the robot's body. My alternative was to swing the robot around and throw it, but I didn't have a lot of momentum down there (plus it felt like more of Knuckles' thing), which was also why I opted not to use spin attacks.

Now that the Kraken was down to only three tentacles, it became enraged, if non-sentient robots could express emotions. It immediately reacted by firing several torpedoes at me. With some difficulty on account of my reduced momentum, I vaulted myself backwards and out of their path. The resulting explosions churned up the ocean floor even more, but at least they didn't hit home. E-57 was really putting up a fight today.

Then I realized, the missiles were only a distraction! While I was busy trying to see my enemy through the cloud it caused, the Kraken was beginning its ascent toward the surface – and the boat. I knew exactly what it was after.

With great difficulty, I ran after the Kraken as fast as I could… which, as you probably guessed, was not that fast since I was still in the water. I pushed myself off the ground as hard as I could and flew up toward the Kraken, hoping I could at least grab on to one of its tentacles.

I was able to take hold of one of the robot's dangling limbs, but just barely. It was all I needed to keep up with it. However, E-57 had a change of plans, which, in a way, was lowkey what I was hoping for… or not.

E-57 aimed another one of its tentacles directly at me, and activated a powerful suction that firmly attached me to it as we continued upward. That was probably a bad idea, what I just did… While I was good at coming up with strategies on the fly, I could see why Sally always thought I was reckless.

We finally broke the surface, and to both my relief and dismay, I saw that the boat was way off in the distance. Good thing they heeded my warning when they did.

The tentacle that was securing me unleashed a jet of water that lifted me high into the air, and a second tentacle activated a second water jet that held me in place, effectively trapping me in place. Now things were awash. I had to escape somehow.

However, E-57 sure wasn't making it easy to do so no matter how hard I tried. Not to mention it was on the move, skimming along the ocean's surface toward the shore at a decent clip.

As much as I didn't want to show it, I was pretty scared, both for myself and for my friends. I had no idea if Tails could get to the X-Tornado in time. But I realized that I could use forced hitchhiking to my advantage. I could ride it to shore quickly, and get to dry land at last. The only hiccup would be getting loose from the water jets.

However, something happened that took me by surprise, something I wasn't counting on in both a good and bad way.

E-57 began to gradually lose speed, probably because of the damage I did to it earlier. It quickly atoned for this automotive failure by activating a rocket jet and lifting itself out of the water. Now it flew toward land, much faster than it had been previously traveling. I was still in tow, much to my dismay. I tried not to panic; I hated water with every fiber of my being, but this was the fastest way to get back to good old solid ground.

My only hope of escape was my friends and the X-Tornado. I kid you not when I say I was completely helpless. I couldn't even roll over in the water jet. At least E-57 hadn't ditched me thus far. I would be in real trouble then.

At last the shore came into view, just as a faint sound began to fill the air. The water jets were loud, but I could make out the distinct whine of the X-Tornado's engines. Help had arrived at last.

Now that I had backup, I tried my hardest to break free from the relentless water jets. No matter how hard I tried, there was still no escaping this hydro horror.

Apparently I didn't need to worry about a thing, for the Kraken decided to ditch me right before we reached the shore.

…Okay, there were still a couple things to worry about, like how I was supposed to get back to land after I fell into the water. The moment I went under, I automatically began to panic. At least no one was around to see how silly I looked when I touched bottom a few seconds later.

I was able to painstakingly push myself upward to the surface and make my way onto the beach, but I was forced to duck under a couple falling tentacles, sheared clean off by the X-Tornado's laser. E-57 was occupied for the time being.

In a stroke of luck, I spotted the boat parked not far from where I was, and ran toward it. I wasn't as fast as I wanted to be provided I was wearing scuba gear, not to mention I looked incredibly awkward. Ever see a supersonic hedgehog running in flippers?

Once I reached the boat, which was secured at the dock (my friends were pretty fast in getting there), I clumsily boarded it, and quickly discarded my gear next to the other sets of gear. Taking in a lungful of fresh air, I stretched my legs, feeling freedom from having been underwater. This was more like it. I could fight more efficiently now.

I glanced up to see the completely airborne E-57 fighting against the X-Tornado with a barrage of missiles. Seeing it with only one tentacle was pretty weird. But since it was busy with Tails, now was my time to act.

I waited a moment for the Kraken to hover over land, then bolted toward it. Leaping high into the air, I executed a perfect home attack, burrowing through the heart of the robot. After I landed on the boardwalk, I looked back to watch the robot just beginning to explode. I know, cool guys walk away from explosions, but way past cool ones are a different story.

Now that the danger was over, I stood there and watched the X-Tornado land in X-Cyclone mode on the beach not far from me. Cream, Amy, and Chris ran over, and I too walked toward the plane as Tails opened his canopy and flew down. We met in the middle about a minute later.

"You look shaken up, Sonic," Tails pointed out. It was true; my adrenalin was wearing off, and it was apparently showing.

"Don't sweat it, buddy," I dismissed. "Just… haven't had an underwater fight in forever is all." I had been hoping I wouldn't have to have one here, but it was over at last. "…You know the Kraken was chasing you guys earlier?"

"I figured it would," Tails said. "That's why I was trying to get us to shore as fast as I could."

I noted that Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Chris hadn't gone with Tails in the X-Tornado. That was a good thing for two reasons: one, because we were on a mondo time crunch; and two, because Chris didn't like being in air battles. Good to know Tails put his friends first. He really did learn from the best.

"Now that we have the Emerald," Chris said, "I think we should return the scuba gear and boat."

"We also gotta tell Steve about the treasure," added Amy.

"Yeah, let's do that," I agreed. "Now that we got the Emerald, we totally earned our vacay time, am I right?"


Monterey Bay - Dive shop – Tue December 21; 3:01 PM – Chris' POV

"So, you guys find what you're looking for?"

The five of us were back in the dive shop once again. It wasn't as hard to locate this time, because we had been here before. We had left the scuba gear in the boat at the dock for Steve to pick up.

"We sure did!" Amy beamed, showing Steve the Chaos Emerald we had found. "And then some!"

Steve cocked his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

Sonic gently ushered me forward, which to me meant they thought I should be the one to break the news. I cleared my throat.

"Uh… You're not gonna believe this, but we found the ship… The one in the painting…"

"What… really?!" Steve was astonished. "You guys really found it? People have been trying to find that ship on and off for decades! How did you of all people manage to find it?"

"Um…" Tails shyly rubbed the back of his head. "We used a Chaos Emerald… Do you know about them?"

"Kinda, yeah?" Steve shrugged.

"Well, um... this Emerald was reacting to the one that was in the wreck with the treasure, so… that actually made the search a lot easier."

"You know, I've been searching for the Victoria's Bounty myself," Steve reminisced. "I don't know how I couldn't find it anywhere when all the reports and newspapers pointed to it sinking off the coast of San Jose. In fact, let me tell you something. The captain of the Bounty was my great-great-grandfather Robert Hamish."

What a coincidence.

"He was the captain when the ship sank in a violent storm," Steve continued. "They were never able to salvage the treasure, but Hamish and his crew escaped in the lifeboats and eventually they were washed ashore. No one drowned."

After a moment of awed silence, he asked, "How far out did you have to go?"

"Further out than I thought," I said.

"About eleven miles," Tails amended. "Also, if it helps, we found the ship a little bit under a ledge on the ocean floor."

"Fascinating…" breathed Steve. "From what I heard, the divers had done scans of the ocean floor all along the immediate coastline. But thanks to you guys, my great-great-grandfather's legacy is going to be upheld!"

I couldn't help but feel a feeling of pride and accomplishment swell within me. Looking around at my friends, I saw that the feeling was mutual. Not only did we solve a century-old mystery practically on a whim, but today had been a great day overall. I had a lot of fun, even though we discovered that Eggman was alive. In spite of the fight with one of his robots, I never really felt like I was in much danger at all. Granted, today felt like a real adventure.


A/N: And that's "Depths of Danger"! I made considerable changes to this episode, the most prominent being Chris helping Sonic to travel underwater, and removing Tanaka and Sam Speed from the episode, as those two characters felt out of place in every way imaginable. In fact, I'm surprised Chris didn't suspect Tanaka and Sam of stalking him.

Instead of a generic name such as "Grand Blue Sapphire Sea", it's now Monterey Bay. Shoutout to all Sonic fans in that area! Let me know if he speeds your way!

I fleshed out the scenes in the dive shop, and decided to keep Amy in the boat this time, as someone had to monitor the air supply. I don't know if that's how scuba gear works, as I've never gone scuba diving before myself, but this is a fanfiction, after all.

The epilogue now takes place at the dive shop rather than on Tanaka's nonexistent boat. And the battle is now about Sonic, not about Chris or Sam Speed.

I'm not going to do the crazy list of changes like I did in previous chapters, as it seems unprofessional.

I'm going to post this note about the next chapter early. It's going to be a bit different than other chapters, and not just because Sonic and Chris don't appear. It may be a bit darker, and explore a theme I didn't think I would, and that theme is...

Gang activity.

Also, as a result of Sonic and Chris not appearing, all scenes will be written in third-person, which means no POV indicators. I plan to do the same thing with "A Revolutionary Tale" and another upcoming chapter.

Next up is "The Adventures of Knuckles and Hawk", where Knuckles meets a new friend overseas and uncovers the fifth Chaos Emerald! Don't miss it!