Chapter 2: The Celebration Blows Out

The next day, everyone in Mobotropolis are gathering at the front of the palace for the big celebration. In fact, almost all of Mobius arrive for the festivities. Among the crowd are the Prowers; Miles 'Tails' Prower, his wife Mina, and the twins Melody and Skye.

"I'm jealous, it's like they gather five of my concert audience and put them in one," Mina says.

"You're a great singer, but nothing beats royalty," Tails says.

Just then someone calls out, "Skye! Melody!"

The twins turn their heads to see Yong-Ho along with two grown echidna and a baby. Rutan, his wife, Sasha, and their baby daughter. Flow-Sea. There is also a robotic metal echidna head in a orb named, Dimitri.

"Hey Yong-Ho, here for the celebration," Melody asks.

"Yeah. I was also hoping to see Maria after the celebration," Yong-Ho says.

"Oooh!" The twins says with smile, causing Yong-Ho to blush.

Rutan says to Tails, "He's been excited to see Maria for the party since this morning."

"Yeah. I'll have to guess they'll be together very soon," Dimitri says.

Yong-Ho blushes, "Dimitri."

Then everyone start laughing.

"Alright, stop teasing the boy. We're here to have fun, right Flow-Sea," Sasha says.

The baby coos in reply.

"You're right. We're here to have fun and celebrate," Rutan says.

He sighs, and says, "If only my mother could be here. I'm sure she would love to see how much Yong-Ho grow. But you know…"

"What?" Sasha asks.

"I think my mother is out here somewhere, and is watching over us. I wonder what she will think that Yong-Ho and Maria are together," Rutan says.

"I'm sure she'll be happy that Yong-Ho has found someone special in his life. Same with us and little Flow," Sasha says.

"You're right," Rutan says with a smile.

Yong-Ho, Melody, and Skye continue to talk.

"I can't wait to see Maria tonight, we're going to have so much fun," Melody says.

"Yeah. I wonder how she's doing," Yong-Ho says.

In herbed room, Maria is all dressed up for the festivities. However,Maria is feeling uncomfortable of what she is wearing. She is wearing a red dress with black shoes. She is also wearing the bracelets Yong-Ho has given to her on their date. Her quills are tied in a down ponytail. She looks at the mirror and feels embarrassed wearing a dress.

Maria sighs, "Why do I have to wear a dress? I don't feel comfortable wearing this. It feels so different than what I'm used to."

Just then, she hears the door knocking, and says, "Come in."

The door opens and it's Sally and Sonic walk into the room. Sally is also carrying a box in her hand.

"Hey mom! Hi dad," Maria says.

"Hello sweetie, ready for the big day?" Sally asks.

"Kind of. I still feel weird about this. Wearing a gown, looking professional, and all this royal life. I feel, funny about it," Maria says.

"It's understandable. You only lived the royal life for a year. You'll get used to it," Sonic says.

"If you say so," Maria says.

She looks at the box, "What's in there?"

"It's a present. From me and Sonic," Sally answers.

"What is it?" Maria asks.

Sally opens the box to reveal a gold crown with a red gem in the middle.

"Wow!" Maria replies.

"I know, you're not into these royal stuff, but I feel this is something you would like and will let everyone know you're a princess," Sally says.

She takes the crown out of the box and places it on Maria's head.

"There. Now you look like a real princess," Sally says.

Maria smiles, "It's perfect."

She turns to Blackberry, her little Chao. Blackberry is also wearing a purple ribbon around her neck and a red skirt.

"What do you think?" Maria asks.

"Chao chao," Blackberry happily answers.

"I think you look great. Now, you're ready for the party," Sonic says.

"Thanks," Maria replies.

The three begin to leave the room with Blackberry flying beside Maria.

Sonic says, "Let's go get the twins and head to the ceremony."

The group of four leave the room so they will get to the ceremony and then to the party.

In the ground, Yong-Ho and his friends gather together to join in with the ceremony. They can't wait for the party to get started and to see Maria after the ceremony.

"You think we get to play with Maria later?" Twinkle asks.

"Mabe, but she needs to be with the family as off now," Mystic says.

Sugar happily says, "I can't wait for the party to get started."

"By the way, where's Laura-Su?" Melody asks.

"Right here," A female voice appears.

The kids and teens turn to see Laura-Su floating down to the sky.

Mina says, "There you are! We were hoping we'd see you! You look great!" She then gives Laura-Su a hug.

"Oof!" Laura-Su replies being hugged all of the sudden.

Then she says, "Mom and dad said 'Hi'"

"Too bad they had to be away fro this," Tails says.

"Duty calls and all that jazz," Laura-Su replies.

She then notices the twins, "Hey guys! How you've been?"

"Very well thank you," Melody answers.

Skye however, remains silent.

Melody says, "Sky-ye!"

Skye snaps out and starts to feel embarrassed.

Laura-Su pats him on the head, "It's okay, Melody. He's just a little nervous with everything going on today, right?"

"How about you?" Tails asks.

"Me? Nervous? Yeah. Actually, this is my first big assignment without the Chaotix in a long time," Laura-Su admits.

"Come on cuz, we've been through much worse than patrols," Yong-Ho says.

"He has a point. You and the Freedom Fighters have dealt with Eggman and his robots for a year. I think you and the Guardians will keep us safe, including the Freedom Fighters," Rutan says.

Sasha says, "I'm confident that you will all keep us safe on this special day."

Unaware to the crowd of friends, two echidnas at a food stand are setting up a secret weapon from the briefcase.

The vender brings out the communicator, "Team B here. Setting up."

At a different side two more are setting up as well. One is passing balloons while the other opens the briefcase.

The one with the case says, "Team D is set. Poor visibility."

On top of a building two more echidnas are setting their weapon on a roof of a building. One is wearing a brown coat and setting the weapon up, while the other wearing a black suit walks over with the case.

The one with the coat says, "Team A checking in. We're setting up now."

The last one is in a car, but it's caught in a traffic jam.

He informs, "Team C here. We're not gonna make it."

Lien-Da is in a secret location and is checking in with her officers.

She says," Understood, Team C. Team A,B,D, mission is still go. I repeat: Mission is still go."

In a room next to a large balcony, Sonic, Sally, Maria, and the twins, Sonia and Manic are about to go on stage.

Sally asks, "Ready?"

"Ready," Sonic answers, feeling a little nervous.

Sonia asks, "Hey Maria, are you ready."

"Yeah. I guess," Maria answers.

In the crowd, Tails puts Skye on his shoulders, and asks, "You ready kids?"

"Yeah!" Skye happily answers.

"Ready-ready-ready!" Melody happily reply.

Laura-Su is flying over the crowd on Patrol, "Okay girl, calm down. You're ready for this?"

Lien-da has a rocket missile in her hand, and talk to the rest of the Dark Presence.

"All Teams, final check," Lien-Da says, through the headset.

Each one answer, "Ready… Ready… Ready…"

At the castle, Sonic and Sally take each other hands and walk on to the balcony. Marai, Sonia and Manic walk alongside them. Everyone cheer to see the royal family appear. The royal couple waves to the people of Mobius. Sonic and Manic look to see the crowd. Maria is amazed to see so many Mobians in one place.

Laura-Su is patrol in the air, when she sees something catching her eye, "Wait a minute!"

She looks down to see two of the Dark Presence are spying on the family and with a weapon.

"So it's true… No news is good news!" Laura-Su says to herself.

Laura-Su then begins to descend to where the spies are.

Sonic begins his speech, "Um… well… thank you all for coming today. Thank you for accepting me as your king. For welcoming our great kids into the world. For welcome Queen Sally's to us… and heck, for being so accepting of us."

One of the Dark Presence aims a rocket gun at Sonic.

But Laura-Su kicks it out of the way, "I rather you didn't!"

"Oh shoot!" One of the spies panic.

Sonic continues his speech, "The past fifteen years have been great for everyone. That's in part thanks to the change in management… but it's really thanks to all of you. You've wanted peace, and you made it happen by working together."

On the roof, Laura-Su is attacking the spies. She then notices one running away.

"Get back here!" Laura-Su shouts.

Sonic continues, "You all have shown you know what it took me… what feels like two lifetimes… to figure out. That you need to cherish the people you work and live with. They're what make Mobius so awesome, and they're what make each of us special. Sure, we've all still got our differences. But we're solving them the way we always should have… peacefully."

As Sonic gives his speech, Laura-Su is fighting two of the Dark Presence. She manages to beat one, but then notices the other one is gabbing the rocket missile. So she punches him in the face, knocking him out.

"I'm not really the speech-giving type, so I'll sum it up quickly so we can party," Sonic says.

After knocking the guy out, Laura-Su grabs the rocket missile, but notice something wrong, "No rockets…?"

Sonic says, "We'll maintain the peace we have today with love, trust, and respect. And we'll maintain those with understanding, patience, and honesty."

Sonic, Sally hold the twins up, while Maria is close with her mother. He crowd cheers for the speech that is given.

On top of the building, Laura-Su comes to realize that she end up looking for the wrong people.

"They were a decoy!" Laura-Su shockley says.

Lienda who is hiding in a secret spot. She has the rocket missile over her shoulder.

She smirks, and says, "Very pretty last words!" and fires the missle.

Laura-Su quickly turns to see a rocket missile heading towards the balcony the royal family is one. In the crowd, Tails, Mina and others look up to see something fly over them.

"Miles...?" Mina asks.

"What was…?" Tails asks, looking confused.

Laura-Su flies off to see the missile is almost to the balcony.

"I'm too late!" Laura-Su panics.

Maria is the first to notice, "What the…"

Marai quickly grabs Sonic and push him away from the missle.

She cries, "Run!"

Sally grabs the twins and Sonic comes to Maria's aid.

Maria shouts, "Chaos…"

"Control?" Maria asks in shock.

Maria looks to see that the rocket has stop in its track and is inside a bubble made of energy. Sonic, Sally, and the twins look to see the rocket is stopped, and explodes inside the bubble.

Tails, Laura-Su, Twinkle and Yong-Ho fly up to see what has happen, and are surprised.

"Whao..." Laura-Su reply.

The five look up to see that someone is in the air besides their friends.

Manic asks, "Who's that daddy?"

"My name is Silver the Hedgehog. I come back to your present to save my future," The white furred hedgehog answer. He is wearing white gloves with green rings on it, and gold wristbands. He has a greenish like aura around his body.

Maria wonders who is this mysterious hedgehog, and what does he mean by saving his future.