Last Boarding Call

[Amy Rose]

[Moving along. =O]

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

But it was too late. Slick had already jumped and here I was, still safe in the ship. What was wrong with me? I'd joined GUN on the premise of proving myself to the people around me and yet here I was, holding back. Two years ago, I wouldn't have thought twice. I would have beat Slick to the punch. Especially considering a well known fact between us was that Sonic couldn't swim!

Instead, I sat there with a hand clutched to my chest a moment. Thinking. Was everything really gonna be alright? Tails' outburst made me almost jump. He was on the same page as me. I wanted to go down there. Slick had made a point though. Plus, if common sense served me right, the water's suction from the nose-diving ship would likely be dangerous. Being an otter, Greyer could deal. As for Tails and me though, it was a higher risk. I frowned and shook my head, getting myself to stand. Walking over to Tutley, I braced my hands on the back of the pilot seat and peered over.

"Tutley, take us down as close as you can to the water. I have a feeling this might be close."

Although I wasn't sure where the two would surface, the closer we were to the ship, the better chance of us spotting them. I would trust Mathias for now. I knew he was far more experienced than me. But so help him if he didn't bring Sonic back alive!

[Tutley Sakamoto]

(Give me a heads up if this is a bit much, k? )

Tutley brought the ship near the edge of the lake like Amy requested, thre dropship hovering about 5 feet above the water. He soon grinned to himself, a smirk on his face. "That hedgehog saved my future before! No way I'm gonna let him drown on my watch!", he exclaimed as he stood up. Sure, Slick could likely save the hedgie, if he found him in time. But why leave a sole person to find a single person lost aboard a sinking class 4 doomship? This was his chance to save his hero, and he was the best equipped for the job! "Tails, take the helm!", he said as ran to the door, his chao tagging him as the pair dived out the door without a second thought, makeing a large splash. The chao gained the turtle's shell and beak, and was also able to hold his breath like the turtle underwater.

After looking around for a moment, he spotted the sunken ship and dove towards it, jet boots at maximum thrust as his backpack's consealed propellers emerged from his backpack, further propelling the turtle along. He held out his arms, fingers held tougether as he quickly passed Slick, leaveing a wave of unintenional turbulance behind himself as he jetted towards the ship. As he neared the ship, he pointed towards a hole in it's front section. It was a very small hole, one only the chao could get through. Takeing the turtle's hint, the chao nodded, swimming towards the hull breach as Tutley began to find a way in himself.

The chao forced its way through the hole, tumbleing out into a semi- flodded hallway. it could hear noises in a room up ahead, so it flew just outside the door. It's antenna formed a question mark as it noticed Shadow. It pondered wherther or not the black hedgehog was indeed Sonic. They DO look alike.., it thought to itself.

[Jack-the-Hedgie]

Jack said nothing else for a while. Just sitting in his seat while Slick made the plunge into the waters below. Indeed, the first sound he did make was a surprised "Huh..?" When Tutley and his little chao friend decided to risk life and limb to further assist his superior. The chaos sudden transformation as they dropped didn't help. He opened his mouth to speak, but they were gone before it had even registered in his mind.

From there, there was nothing else but a tense silence. His fist rested against his head as he sat,thinking. There was nothing else he could do, and he hated it. Sure, he didn't know this hedgehog too well, but Jack still worried for his safety, as he would any person. His status as an apparent hero, and the way everyone in the pod worried for him like they would a close friend only served to make him hope for the best all the more.

"They'll... They'll all be okay... right?"

[Mathias 'Slick' Greyer]

As Tutley raced past Slick, the agile aquatic mammal was easily able to twist and turn back on track with little difficulty before resuming his chase of the sinking ship. In fact his motions might almost be described as graceful; but what else would one expect when he is an otter.

It didn't take long for Slick to figure out what had gone screaming past him either. Like all aquatic mammals he could look around underwater with ease and his sharp eyes quickly recognized the blur of bubbles to be Tutley. He scowled momentarily at that realization. He'd told everyone to stay on board. But he could neither do anything about that nor had the luxury of time to think about it. He had to keep up with that ship or else as soon as Sonic entered the water he might not be able to find him in time. The good thing was that the incredible suction of the sinking ship was making that relatively easy. Using the suction to help pull him along, he only had to use a limited amount of energy to keep up. Getting away after rescuing Sonic... well, that might be a different story. The good thing was, he could stay under water for quite some time on one lungful of air. 'Come on, spiney, where are you?'

Meanwhile aboard the drop ship, Cutter was at the door way having just missed her chance of stopping Tutley cold in his tracks before he decided to jump ship. "Man, Slick is NOT going to be happy about that."

"Too right, sheila. He's gonna be madder then a dingo with a sliver is his paw. Hope that turtle knows what he's doing." Boomer added as he too approached the open door. "What now?"

[/color]"Only thing we can do. Wait here and hope they can manage to get back."Cutter replied with a heavy sigh.

"They'll... They'll all be okay... right?"

Cutter turned around towards Jack and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, if anyone can pull off an underwater rescue, its Slick. I just hope our amphibious friend didn't just get in over his head here."

[Yolanda Riona]

[Blitz, you're up as Shadow since Sarath is waiting on his response.]

[Shadow]

Shadow shook his head and smiled, slipping the gun back over his shoulder and standing up straight. "The only thing I've resigned myself to is getting off of this boat alive," he said with a smirk. Then the smile abruptly left his face and he looked all buisness. "As to killing you, well..." He quickly glanced through the main bridge windows at the quickly darkening water. He knew what he should do to save himself, had prepared himself to simply leave, even if Sarath was alive, but something held him back. What if he escapes? his thoughts nagged. If he survives he can make a new army and come back and repeat the whole thing over again, and all the efforts and ordeals of the people of this planet would be for naught. It's unlikely, but can I... no, can the world afford to take that chance?

Shadow made up his mind. "I can't leave the chance that a villain like you could escape!" he declared, raising a hand over his head and summoning fifteen golden Chaos Spears into existance in an arc above his head. "I'm going to get off of this ship, alive. But first, I'm going to make sure that this is ended, once and for all! Chaos Spear!" Shadow waved his hand and the Spears flew forth as one to strike down the former leader of the Crecent Imperium.

[Sarath Crescent]

The dazzling array of lights lauched by Shadow was quickly intercepted by a second set of dazzling lights. Lefina's outstretched hand was still glowing as she smiled at Shadow in a strangely warn and friendly manner.

"I am sorry, I cannot permit any harm against our Lord," she said softly, "I thought you would have figured out by now that our powers are similar...although mine do seem to be a little more refined."

"My my Lefina my dear, you're slipping. Since when did you wait for your opponent?" enquired Sarath.

"Since my attention was focussed on you my Lord, your health is more important than a pre-emptive strike," replied the wolf.

Sarath didn't reply and simply looked back at Shadow as he absently fastened a harness around his middle. His left hand wandered to the arm of his chair, his fingers tapping a few keys.

"As amusing as you are I think its finally time to see if you really do sink or swim," said Sarath as he looked up at Shadow, "Computer, seal all security doors and release emergency overrides for compartment 1...drop all water tight screens..."

A moment later the two seals that had slammed down over the broken bridge windows released. Due to the pressure the water shot into the bridge, slamming off the back wall and circling round. As the security doors to the bridge were now all locked the water quickly swirled round the bridge and started to fill it with water, it was already half full in a matter of seconds.

[Sonic]

'Gotta move, gotta move, gotta move!'

It was a good thing Sonic was accustomed to precision jumping running up perfectly vertical walls, otherwise the steep incline that the Mono-whatsit was taking on would have made things more difficult. As it was now it just made finding the back of the vessel a heck of a lot easier. The problem was, no water anywhere to be found. The place was definitely sealed shut and that meant he was going to have to force his path open.

"Finally," Sonic said after finding the engine(Or their alien equivalent) room. "Now to find my way out."

The hedgehog leaped into the off-world contraptions and started to blaze a trail of blue until finally leaving the room altogether in search of some miracle escape route.

[Tutley Sakamoto]

[Since Ames scooted ahead, its her go. =p)

[Shadow]

(Well, since the order is allowed to go to all hell...)

Shadow's eyes widened as the wall of water blasted in through the now-open windows, slamming him against the back wall and stunning him for a few seconds. By the time he had recovered the water had filled the room over half way and Shadow was struggling to get back to the quickly-rising surface for a breath of air.

Normally water was no issue for him, a substantial advantage over Sonic, since he could run over water, even rough ocean, with relative ease thanks to the cushion of air created by his Air Shoes, so long as he kept moving. But here it was different. Not only was Shadow not moving, but his feet were underwater, and his jets needed to be able to pull in air in order to function. However, miraculously, Shadow managed to get up to the ceiling and take a quick breath of air, just enough to last him for a couple of minutes.

His lungs temporarily filled, Shadow let himself sink again and concentrated his thoughts on the outside of the ship, what it had looked like, what the roof of the bridge had looked like, and so on. When he was confident he had a close enough lock, Shadow pulled forth his Chaos Emerald, it's red glow shining dimly through the water to light up the now-dark room. The hedgehog warped away in a flash, appearing again outside and above the bridge. He could feel the pull of water rushing into the room he had just left, but the still-moving ship soon passed by beneath him and the room and it's pull were gone.

Shadow closed his eyes, trying to think about anything but breathing. He knew full well that his chances of survival were slim, if not nonexistant. I was so sure I would survive, he thought, almost sadly. I was always so sure. I'm the Ultimate Life Form, after all. Damn it all! Maybe I should have taken a hint when I survived that fall. That was a miracle, I can't expect a miracle every time I'm about to die. I should have quit while I was ahead.

Then Shadow smiled. Well, at the very least I've had a good run, he though to himself. I couldn't have stayed away from action like this. If I'm going to die, I would want it to be this way, trying to save the world. His thoughts began muddling as his air started to run out and the ship rushed away beneath him. Even if he tried to swim, there was no way whatever feeble distance he could make would overpower the current caused by the ship's decent, pulling him deeper in it's wake. At least now I know that tyrant will die, he thought with a faint smirk. I can rest assured that this is over, even if I only played a small part. I did what you said, Maria. At this point Shadow's eyelids began to flutter. He was out of air, and on the brink of unconciousness. I helped to protect the earth, to make people happy. Did I make you happy, Maria?

Shadow's eyes finally closed, and his mind and thoughts faded away. Well, here's hoping for a miracle, he thought before finally succumbing to the silent darkness of unconciousness.

[hint hint, Turtley ]