I thank KatherineOzawa of Wattpad for helping me.
Back at the White House, with the chaos of the battle having died down, the president had all troops search the island for Eggman's whereabouts at his former base of operations. On land or by sea level, however, no one could find the mad scientist high or low.
Even the news came as a shock when the President was speaking with his third assistant.
"Where is Dr. Eggman? I need to know if he survived the attack at his base." He demanded.
The assistant shook his head, speaking, "We are searching the area near the crash site to see if there's any sign of him."
"If we don't track down that madman soon, he's going to strike back. Find him!" He shouted, making the young man flinch and nod rapidly.
"Right!" He quickly fled and ran like he was running a marathon, slamming the door behind him. The President huffed and groaned with stress, running his hands down his face exasperated. After rubbing his eyes from any sleep he may have lost, he turned to stare out the window, wondering where the maniac of a scientist would have fled…
…Unbeknownst to anyone searching, out in the water and floating on the sea, the Egg Fort was concealed by the rocks, waiting for resurrection…
Meanwhile, The team were all flying back on the Tornado after parting ways with Rouge. With three of the seven Chaos Emeralds now in their possession, they were almost to the halfway point of gaining all seven.
"Okay, we've been fighting robots, military guys and two crazy scientists out to destroy us for who knows how long. I say we need a vacay." Sparkle suggested after cracking her knuckles as she laid out on the left wing of the Tornado. The team heard her and nodded in agreement. Sonic and Knuckles on top of the plane and the right wing, respectively, while Amy and Cream in the shared passenger seat talk animatedly.
"Oh, Amy, are we going to go somewhere that is sunny?" Cream gushed.
"Uh huh." The pink hedgehog nodded with a smile as she showed her the travel guide she was reading in her spare time. "Look! The Grand Blue Sapphire Sea! This travel guide says it's one of the most beautiful places of the whole planet. I bet the sunsets are very romantic." Amy smiled dreamily.
"Ames." Sparkle whistled for her attention.
She perked up, "Huh?"
"Is it really the scenery you're gazing at?" Sparkle smirked, knowing full well what Amy was really referring to. Amy blushed darkly and changed the talk towards the same topic, albeit with pink cheeks.
"I'm not looking. I only care about one thing: and that's getting to the Sea ASAP."
"You do know we're flying over the Grand Blue Sapphire Sea as we speak, right?" Sparkle looked down, making Amy and Cream look over the edge of their seat to the gorgeous ocean below them all.
"Wow! The water looks amazing!" Amy's eyes sparkle, the crystal blue waters giving her lots to see under the waves, from coral to schools of fish.
"It's so beautiful…" Cream sang happily.
"Yeah! I wanna go swim! And go water-skiing too!" Amy started bouncing in her seat.
"Let's all go sailing!" Cream copied her actions.
"Okay, girls, let's calm down before you take an unwanted dive!" Sparkle laughed, feeling a little excited as well for the need to have some fun in the sun.
"Hey, Knuckles." Tails called to the echidna.
"Yeah, what's up?" He looked over.
"Check out the Chaos Emerald." Tails requested. Knuckles nodded and peered under the plane, seeing the Emerald glowing brightly.
His eyes widened, "Is it sensing the Fourth Emerald?" On cue, the Tornado began to shake.
"Hey, what's going on?" Sonic tried to steady himself atop the plane. Tails gripped the controls with vice, searching the sonar screen.
"The same thing happened when we were flying over Bulls Stadium. And that means…"
"Since we're flying over water, there must be a Chaos Emerald underwater." Cream piped in.
"You're right, Cream." Amy nodded.
"But we can't just dive in without being prepared! Who knows what we're gonna face?" Sparkle countered. Tails looked further behind and saw land for them to plant on and regroup.
"Hang on, I see a landing spot. I'm gonna take us down." He called out, bringing the plane down to the surface.
After landing on the ground, the group leaves the Tornado camouflaged by some trees in case. Heading into a small town by the coast nearby, the walk in, taking in the sudden culture shock to their sights.
"Ahh... nice place here." Sonic inhaled the fresh sea breeze with closed eyes, only ripen them and notice that several people were looking their way and whispering to one another with curiosity. "Let's try to keep a low profile here, okay, guys?" He whispered, making them nod in agreement.
Some time had passed after their brief glimpses of the town, and soon found themselves on the beach. Hot sand under their feet, salty breeze sticking to their fur, and giant waves out in the distance: it felt like paradise.
"Y'Know I can't help but think that the moment I turn my back, we'll have a swarm of people right behind us…." Sparkle thought a bit.
"Hey, why don't we all go for a swim while we have a chance?" Amy smiled, stretching her arms wide to get some sun.
"Hey, didn't Sonic run here with us? Where did he go?" Cream piped up, letting everyone turn everywhere to try and find him. Sparkle was the only time to answer where he vanished off to.
"Said something about. Tryna go after the Emerald by himself."
So the group split into teams to try and track him down on either side of the shore. Tails, Amy and Cream took one direction, leaving Sparkle and Knuckles to go the other direction.
"Geez Sonic, it's like the moment we get on the ground, your first thing to do is just go after the Emerald!" Sparkle was griping to herself as if Sonic was in front of her.
"You're talking about me?" Speak of the devil, the two look up to see him.
"There you are. What were you thinking?!" Knuckles punched him lightly on the arm.
"That Chaos Emerald is out there somewhere, but I can't find it unless I can get to the bottom and stay there for a while." Sonic answered.
"Look, we have all the time in the world to get it. For now, let's just kick back and relax. We can see what the town has for us and maybe when an idea comes to us, we'll put it on the list of to-do's." Sparkle persuaded, getting Sonic to nod after a while of thinking.
Couple minutes later, the gang were on the beach having the time of their lives. Amy and Cream swim in the ocean, splashing each other with water and laughing. Cream wore a cute yellow one piece dress-shaped swimsuit with pink ruffles at the hem and cute daisy buttons on the straps connected to the top of her swimsuit, matching pink sandals on her feet. Amy fashioned a two-piece tank top and skirt swimsuit set colored a deep red with pale yellow hearts and matching flip-flops with green and purple accents. Tails and Cheese, meanwhile, rested by a few giant rocks, their faces up to the sun. Wearing matching purple shades with big square lenses and frames.
Sparkle donned a one-shoulder sea green swimsuit decorated in pale orange and royal blue flowers with white leaves, and plain white flip-flops to cover her feet. Having caught sight of the food vendors on the boardwalk, she eyed them all with keen interest until stopping to see one in particular. Served in a giant bowl was a mountain of shaved ice, topped with what looked like condensed milk. She looks up at the sign: Kakigoori Aloha. She smiled, deciding to buy one, feeling the temptation to not only try something new but also to beat the sizzling heat.
After a few minutes, she held her giant bowl of green-tea flavored kakigoori. She gazed at it with intrigued eyes. "Maybe if I eat it, it'll gimme some of that brain power I need." She chuckled, grabbing her plastic spoon and dug out a huge chunk of the ice and popped it into her mouth. The flavors exploded like fireworks, making her gush. It tasted like fresh fallen snow, so light….so fluffy…so…..COLD!
She nearly dropped her bowl to grab her head as she felt a brain freeze hit her like that punch to the face Rouge gave her, but far different…it went away after a moment, but now she had learnt the hard way to take it easy on cold and sweet things…
Elsewhere, many people were surrounding one of the game booths, playing a game called Suikawari, or Melon Smash. Each of them took turns being blindfolded, spun around and given a stick, trying to smash a watermelon in front of everyone; almost like trying to hit the Piñata at a kid's birthday party. Some have taken a few attempts to crack them open, but very few could make even a clean half-split that really got the crowd riled up with excitement.
Knuckles, having wandered off on his own, came across the game with his interest piqued. He stood in front of the crowd, watching as various people took turns trying to hit the watermelon with the bat given to them and give it their all.
He smiled and took his turn next. While some looked at him skeptically, others cheered him on as he was blindfolded and spun three times. But before he could be given the bat, Knuckles already knew where to hit. He raised his fist in the air and brought it down hard on the melon, splitting it into dozens of juicy red chunks, flying everywhere: into the crowd, onto the booth, even on himself! The crowd went silent in surprise as he ripped off the blindfold, looking at the mess he made. He winced and nearly made a run for it, but stopped when he heard screams of pure and utter craziness. The crowd was chanting as they plucked off the dripping pieces of melon and ate to their heart's content. Knuckles smiled, sweeping up his own half of the watermelon he busted open and chewed with victory.
After everyone had had their fun under the sun, they all took a much needed walk through the town, chatting about their experiences. And think of a way to get the next Emerald.
"Y'Know, I have heard some people in town go scuba diving when they want a closer look at the ocean life. But to do so, they'd need special gear to breathe properly underwater." Sparkle spoke. "Let's get some at one of the shops before we get to work."
The team made their way to a nearby surf shop and after searching high and low, they found six air tanks and pairs of flippers for swimming. The shop manager, who was watching them with intrigued eyes, approached.
"Is there anything else I can get for you guys? It might help if you told me what you are diving for."
"Actually yeah, you see we're tryna look for something in the ocean…." Sparkle started, knowing that the last thing she'd want is for anyone to know what she and her team were doing. Her eyes darted everywhere for something to save them, until she saw it….the model of a wooden ship right beside an oil-painting of the same ship that was displayed, drifting along the seas. She smiled, "It's actually what we're looking for!" She pointed, directing the manager's gaze towards it. "Are those two things the same ship?"
"Oh yeah, they're the same." The manager smiled. "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 legend's true." He chuckled, helping ring up their purchases and they leave, breathing a subtle sigh of relief.
"Thanks for that." Knuckles saluted.
"Take care, and have fun! I hope they find what they're looking for." The manager waved with a bright smile.
It took some time for the crew to find a suitable spot for them to dive into the sea after fitting on their flippers and scuba gear, especially on a small boat. Bobbing out far at sea, they circle up, preparing to dive down.
"Don't worry, Sonic. We'll be with you in case you get into trouble." Amy assured, slipping on her mask.
"And this time, DON'T run off and get yourself knocked out early." Sparkle warned.
"But we know you'll do great down there." Tails gave a thumbs up.
"Remember: take deep long breaths. We don't want you losing air because you can't follow directions!" Knuckles clicked his tongue as he tipped on the gear, securing the mask around his eyes.
"Right." Sonic nodded, he and the others gearing up. After checking their oxygen tanks were stable, checking by breathing through the primary regulator and the pressure gauge was normal, all six were ready to dive.
"Let's get started." Sparkle nodded, diving head down first, breathing carefully as she swam down.
"You all set, Sonic?" Amy smiled.
"Yep, let's dive!" Sonic gave a thumbs up as he, then Knuckles, next Tails, and Amy and Cream dove down after Sparkle, heading for the seafloor.
Meanwhile, at another part of the Ocean where the Egg Fort was hidden on the waves, Eggman's was having his own episode, recuperating still after the ambush on his base…
"All right you two, get to work!" He snapped at Decoe and Bocoe, each complaining about how their new working conditions weren't the most ideal…especially since they were robots, and being forced to repair the new Egg Fort…
"Underwater working the worst."
"My circuits get soaked."
Eggman was trying to get a clear signal on his monitor when he came across the news and turned up the volume. One of the news anchors was giving a report.
"Now it's time for SSTV Sonic News Update. After destroying Doctor Eggman's base, Sonic and his friends are taking a much deserved holiday." The news reporter smiled.
"Holiday!? He gets a holiday!?" Eggman nearly crushed the remote in his hands.
"But Sonic is a goofball! We work harder than he does!" Bocoe groaned.
Decor whined, "We have never had a day off since we were activated. This is unfair!"
"Robots need vacations too!" Bocoe pumped his fist in the air. But Eggman was seething in his seat…
"I'll make Sonic pay! Prepare to submerge!" He shouted with a grunt.
All six divers kick and swim for the ocean floor, the light from the sun above. Several streams of sun beam down into the ocean giving them light to see the beauty and wonder of the ocean floor. Tails held the Chaos Emerald in his hands, leading the pack to where the forth Emerald was lying. The Emerald grew brighter the further they got to the floor and he smiled.
"The Chaos Emerald's getting brighter. We must be getting closer!"
"Hold your horses!" Knuckles shouted as he saw a dark figure looming ahead. Everyone stopped at his words and followed his gaze seeing it as well.
"Whoa!" All peer up as they get closer and the black blur becomes clearer, seeing they had arrived at the wreckage of a ship. But to Sparkle, it wasn't just any ship, she realized.
"This is the same ship the Manager told us about in his shop!" She looked at the rotting wood and sculpting of the rails, ballast and masts of the ship. The details in the picture didn't do the real thing justice in close and personal….it was breathtaking!
"It looks like that's where we'll find the Chaos Emerald, too." Tails smiled, seeing the Emerald shine like a beacon in his hands.
"Then what are we waitin' for? Let's go check it out." Sonic grinned. The group slowly proceeds towards the sunken ship. It was tilted a tad on its side, but held up the seabed of rocks. The tears it had spent on the ocean floor rotted away at the wood and rusted the metal. Even the giant gaping hole in the hull that they swam through may have been done by a force of nature or an enemy with cannons. Either way, as they swam through it, the inside of the ship was just as gorgeous as the outside. Traditional architecture styles, robust and grand decor, even while covered in mildew and grime, it had never looked more ancient…especially with a giant pile of gold tucked away in the hill itself!
"Wow…" Tails murmured, his eyes shining just as bright as the gold that laid before the group.
"Guess the legend is true after all…!" Knuckles nodded slowly.
"It's amazing!" Cream gushed.
"Think of how much jewelry you could make with all this gold!" Amy gathered a handful of the treasure in her hands and showed it to the group with a grin.
"Oh, I'm definitely thinking about it." Sparkle nodded. From her swimsuit pocket, she brought out an empty backpack she brought with her and began to fill it with as much treasure as she could. With Amy and Cream helping her fill it as well, Tails turned away when he saw the Emerald was totally lit up.
"This is glowing at full brightness now. I bet the new Chaos Emerald is buried somewhere under all this gold. We'll have to dig through the treasure to find it!"
"Then let's dig!" Knuckles nodded and began to push aside the treasure to start searching, making Sonic help him. Minutes after minutes of digging made their limbs tired, but they dare not give up. Just as more gold was pushed away, a small red and rather grumpy crab crawled out of the pile, but in his claw was the Dark Blue Emerald.
"Guys!" Sparkle, having filled up her bag to the brim with gold and jewels, shouted.
"Oh, no way!" Sonic sighed.
"It's got the Emerald!" Knuckles pointed.
"You think he'll give it to us?" Tails scratched his head. Sonic huffed and crawled over to the crab, who turned and nearly jumped out of its shell seeing the giant blue creature approaching him. But then went on the offensive and held out the other claw as a warning, an irked look in its eyes.
"Hold it right there! We need that Chaos Emerald. Drop it or I'll give you something to be crabby about." Sonic warned as well, giving the crab a look that said if he wanted to, he would drag it out of the ocean, get steamed in hot water over a flame and served with melted butter.
The crab, not wanting to get in any trouble, or be in someone's stomach for dinner, quickly threw the Chaos Emerald towards Amy and scurried off as fast as its stubby legs could go.
"This vacation turned out to be very rewarding." Amy laughed.
"We're one emerald closer to going home!" Cream cheered. But the happy vibes came to screeching halt-
"Your vacation is over, Sonic!" A voice echoed from somewhere, making the group hall as everyone looked up, seeing the Egg Fort descending upon them through the waves.
Eggman laughed, seeing his enemies on screen. "He's going to wish he never saw the sea! Clurken, put the sting on that hedgehog!"
At his command, the E-57 Clurken, a giant jellyfish-like robot emerged from the darkness of the sea. It's grayish-lavender body made it look like it was blending in to the sea itself, save for the yellow accents, red cores and a translucent dome-like veil over it. Four tentacles wiggled with a nozzle on each end.
"You guys get back to the boat. I can handle Eggman and this robot myself." Sonic cracked his knuckles, eyes trained on the robot
"But Sonic-" Sparkle tried to talk him out, but the look he shot at her was saying he wasn't joking.
"Go! Besides, I can handle myself! I learned my lesson last time! Hurry!"
She nodded reluctantly and followed after the others, swimming for the surface as Sonic faced the Clurken. It launched one of its tentacles at him, but Sonic darted up just as the appendage embedded into the rocks he stood on. He tried to run, only to end up kicking up sand in a major dust cloud. So instead, he used his legs to speed swim for it, only to go flying before he could do so when the Clurken slammed all its tentacles onto the floor.
"Running underwater is really a drag! It's impossible to move fast here!" He grit his teeth as he slowed himself down from being flung far away into the water.
"He should have known that water makes the perfect speed trap!" Eggman's laughs at his feeble attempts to try and run, his boisterous laughs rebounding from the walls of the Egg Fort.
The Clurken proceeded to fire missiles from its tentacles, hitting Sonic and sending him towards the water's surface, Eggman's laugh gegoaing more and more victorious.
"This time, he's all washed up!"
Back at the boat, the team made it back to safety as Sparkle quickly helped Cream onto the boat while the others caught their breath.
"Everyone alright?" Sparkle looked over once Cream was not overboard.
"Of course we are!" Tails nodded for everyone, but was worried since Sonic was still down there…
Sonic swam out of the way, the tentacle aimed at him smashed into the rock, but gave him the chance he needed. He seized it and using all his strength, threw the Clurken over his head and towards the surface. But just as it broke the water, it used its tentacles to snatch Sonic and throw him up into the air above the water.
"Hey! Get your tentacles off of me! Hey! Cut it out!" Sonic yelled getting hit over and over or grabbed by the four slimy appendages, his team watching from the boat.
"Okay, NOW he needs backup!" Sparkle decided. The team looked around, trying to find something on the boat that could help them in aiding their team leader. Knuckles turned at the sound of a jet ski boat and turned, seeing two people, likely a couple, riding it. He dove off the boat and power-swam to them, stopping them with the touch of his fist.
"Get off. I gotta borrow this!" He said, dragging their boat to where the others were. The couple quickly got on the boat as Knuckles jumped on, revving the ending and he grabbed the handles. He cut through the water with vigor, bearing where Sonic was battling the robot. Reaching behind, he grabbed the wooden bar handle used for water skiing and threw it to Sonic once he was in range, shouting, "Catch this!"
Sonic grabbed the handle with both hands, yanking him away from the robot squid. Letting Knuckles run the ending of the jet ski, Sonic skid on the water several feet behind, the Clurken giving chase; firing missiles but, using a zig-zag technique he saw on TV, Sonic avoided them with ease.
"Come on! You can do better than that, Eggman!" He stuck his tongue out at the robot who failed to hit him.
"Hey, Sonic!" He heard Tails shout from up above. He looked up, despite the glare of the sun and saw his dual-tailed comrade flying high. "A ring! Here, catch!" From Tails' satchel, he pitched a Power Ring towards Sonic, catching it with ease. Looking behind, the Clurken was gaining ground, but Sonic had an idea. Motioning to Knuckles to circle around the rocks, the echidna floors it, circling the nearby large rock formation.
Just as the boat began the turn, Sonic threw the plastic handle up high and curled into a ball, cutting across the water with his Spin-Dash maneuver. The Ring gave him power as he launched himself into the air with the help of the rocks as a ramp and catching the edge with one hand, he u-turned mid-air and just as the Clurken was within distance, he turned into a ball and quickly barreled through the robot's body, leaving a major hole in place. He didn't look behind, only hearing the Clurken explode in a mass of metal and wires as he caught the tossed handle, letting Knuckles lead them back to the boat.
"Awesome!" Sparkle cheered as the group celebrated.
Knuckles looked over his shoulder and gave Sonic a thumbs up, returning with a wink and a smile, "Thanks, Knuckles."
The group sailed back to shore, after Re-trading the jet ski with the couple, and made it back to the Dive shop to rerun the equipment now that their task was complete. And give the manager quite the surprise when Sparkle started telling him about their finding of the ship.
"Whoa! I can't believe it! The legend of the sunken ship is true?" He gasped in amazement.
"Indeed it was. But then we ran into an enemy of ours…his robot made a bigger mess of the wreck than before. So big, it actually obliterated the ship and sent the treasure and the hull it was in another layer down into the sea…" she mourned a little sad, seeing all the precious gold and jewels being lost further into the earth…
The angry man nodded solemnly, "Ah, I see... But the ship really did exist. You saw it." He cast a glance over to the oil painting behind him, a melancholic smile on his lips. "I tried to find that ship for years. Thanks to you, I finally have proof that it was real."
Sparkle looked at him and smiled sadly, seeing the deep sadness in his eyes. Feeling remorse for him, she reached into her backpack and scooped out a healthy chunk of the treasure found at the bottom of the ship.
"Here, this might help with more proof." She nodded pushing it towards him as she turned and left, slinging her backpack over her shoulder, still full of treasure.
Back on the boat, the sun was setting over the horizon, the skies painted orange, yellow and pink. Everyone was cheering and celebrating their victory, their fourth Chaos Emerald now in their hands.
Sparkle leaned on the rim of the boat by her elbows, looking out at the sunset with a serene smile. Tails was next to her, eyes closed and taking in the last of the sun's rays.
"Y'Know…. When we were talking with the owner earlier before we went on our underwater mission, he told me he heard that his great-grandfather was once captain of the same sunken ship we came across."
"Whoa, cool!" Tails perked up with interest.
"I'm sure glad we came here." Cream smiled, Cheese proudly agreeing with a,
"Chao-chao!"
"And now that Dr. Eggman's gone, we can enjoy our vacation." Amy kicked up her feet with a grin.
In the Egg Fort, the Tv was blaring, the only light in the dark room, as footage of the fight at sea played over while the newscaster was giving the lowdown,
"Dr. Eggman struck again today with a new robot, but was quickly defeated by Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic went on to continue his vacation-" the voice was cut off as Eggman angrily shut it off, throwing the remote elsewhere as his hands grip the armrests of the chair he sat on.
"Rest while you can, Sonic. You're going to need it." He growled to himself, knuckles white under his gloves.