Hey again everyone! Sorry for the delay in updating, various things occurred, among them losing the USB drive containing the original file. So I had to rewrite this. I actually like how it came out. I hope you all enjoy the third chapter of "A Hero's Return!"

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

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Okay, so far, so good. Only question is, how did Shadow's mission go? Sonic mentally snorted. The black hedgehog had nothing to fear from the SWATbots that made up most of Eggman's forces within his empire. Shadow and Rouge would be waiting for them at the meeting point. And with them would be the two people that Sonic had longed to see since he decided it was time for him to return to the Eggman Empire. Currently, he was in the sewers beneath Robotropolis with Kncukles, Tails, and his mother, Queen Aleena herself.

Sonic had been so focused on just getting his mother out of there, that he had nearly missed the magnitude of the moment. Thankfully, the purple hedgehog had reminded him. After that emotional moment, he had quickly pulled himself back together. There would be plenty of time to properly enjoy the long-awaited precense of his mother later.

The past months had been hectic for him. But it had also been, in a way, enjoyable. During his adventures beyond the boundries of Robotnik's, who now called himself Eggman, empire, he had gained more then he ever thought possible. Now here he was, ready to rejoin the Freedom Fighters and permantly destroy the only foothold the Eggman had gained in the world. The blue hedgehog wondered what the mad scientist was doing now. Probably fuming over how victory had been snatched from him with it had been just within his reach. Sonic mentally siggered at the image.

The plan from here was that after Sonic and his group met up with Shadow and Rouge, they would work their way to the others they had brought with them. The others, a large and varied group, were currently serving as a distraction, keeping most of Eggman's forces and possibly his two lackeys, Sleet and Dingo, busy.

Sleet and Dingo. Heh. Those two weren't even in his league now.

His usual impatience, combined with a partial desperation to see them again, kicked in after the group had nearly reached the redevous point.

"Hey Tails, Knux, I'm going up ahead. See if Shads and and Rouge are there yet." Sonic said

"Shads? Rouge?" Aleena questioned.

"Shadow," said Knuckles, "Black hedgehog who would destroy an entire city block at the drop of a hat. Rouge is a bat who's annoying, batty..."

"And whom you completely and desperately like..." Sonic teased.

"Shut it!"

Sonic chuckled. Getting a rise out of Knuckles was always fun. "I'll see you guys at the meeting point."

"Okay Sonic. Watch yourself," was Tails's reply.

Sonic took off with his usual burst of speed. A mere few seconds later he stopped, ears perked for any noises. His sharp hedgehog hearing quckly picked up a sound. The sound of someone approaching. It had to be them. Excited, he dashed off again. He called out their names. The names of the two he wanted to see again so much,

"Sonia! Manic!"

Turning a corner, Sonic saw Shadow, leading Sonia and Manic. The pink and green hedgehogs were in suprisingly good shape given their imprisonment. They had no idea how glad he was to see them again. Sonic came to a halt as his siblings looked as him incredulously,

"Sonic!?" They both cried out in disbelief.

There was a tense moment in which none of them said anything. Just by looking at the two, Sonic could tell that they were both processing what they were seeing. The moment was broken by Sonia who rushed forward and hugged the blue hedgehog tightly. He returned embrace as he heard her whisper,

"You're alright..."

"Of course I am sis. Why wouldn't I be?" He spoke reassuringly.

Sonia didn't respond, instead hugging him even tighter, as if afriad he would vanish at any moment.

"Sonic!" Sonic looked up as Manic ran up. "Bro! I can't believe it!" Sonic quickly took one arm away from his sister to give his triplet brother a high-five. Sonia broke away from him as Manic continued, "Where have you been all this time? A lot of people thought you had kicked the bucket!"

Sonic chuckled. Oh, if only he could explain it all in such a short amount of time. The adventures he had these past months had been incredible, some so much so that he had a feeling his family would have a hard time believing it. Fortunently, he had lots of witnesses to back him up. "It's a long story," The blue hedgehog said, "A really long story." Then he turned to Shadow. "Where's Rouge?"

"We had to split up," Shadow replied, "She's more then capable of handling herself and will catch up with us."

"Knuckles will probably be relieved," Sonic commented. Things had gotten so awkward for the echidna around the bat thief, that the past few weeks he had used every possible means to avoid her. He had even left his island briefly during one of Rouge's attempted thefts of the Master Emerald, which Sonic, and several others, suspected was actually a way for her to get Knuckles to face her. The bat had left without the Master Emerald in the face of the temporary guardian that Knuckles had left to look over the Emerald for him. Really though, everyone, even Sonic who had himself recently realized just how little he knew about romance, knew that Knuckles was delaying the inevitable.

"Knuckles is here?" Sonia asked in suprise.

"Yeah, along with someone else I'm sure you're both eager to meet." On cue, he picked up the sound of a group approaching. Sonic stepped aside from his siblings line of sight to allow them to see who it was. They deserved this. Sonic had had his moment. Now he simply watched his sibling's reactions as his group appeared from around the corner.

Sonia, predictably, welled up with tears, "Mother?"

In the next moment, both the pink and green hedgehogs were in their mother's arms. Sonic watched sliently as he watched his family reunite. After a few minutes, Aleena looked up at Sonic and nodded. Taking the hint, Sonic walked over. All four hedgehogs embraced each other. None of the onlookers dared to inturrupt the reunion. Safe and secrue the four were, in the knowledge that, at long last, they could be a family.

"Hate to break up the family reunion, but we've got problems."

Sonic reluctantly broke from his family and turned around in time to see Rouge land, having apprently come from another sewer pipe that branched off nearby.

"Rouge. Its good to see you made it out," said Shadow. Sonic allowed his eyes to dart backward. Just as he thought, the bat's sudden appearance had caused Knuckles to turn a deep shade of red.

"It was easy, too easy," the bat thief spoke with a tinge of uneasiness in her voice, "Something's up here and I don't like it."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked.

"Think about it for a moment kiddo. This kingdom is the only real holding that Eggman has. I expected it to be guarded by only the best that insane doctor has. Instead, he mostly has these weak robots that represent only a fraction of what I know he's capable of."

"In other words, he's holding back," Shadow surmised.

"And its obvious why," said Sonic, "He doesn't want anyone within his empire getting hints of what's been going on in the world at large." Sonic had come to that conclusion rather quickly. Once he realized, from talking to a few people living in outlying villages, that no one knew what had been going on beyond Eggman's empire, it didn't take very much to figure out why. It wouldn't do anything for the dictator if the Resistance got wind of how one of their most powerful members, long absent from their ranks, had defeated Eggman time after time.

"If I may inturrupt," Aleena said, "A few times now I've heard the name Eggman. Who is he?"

"Just another twisted persona that nutjob, Robotnik, has thought up for himself," Knuckles said flatly.

"Here's another question, just who the heck are you guys? Knuckles we know, but what about the rest of you?" Sonia asked, her head turning quizzically toward Shadow and Rouge in particular.

"That's right we never got around to proper introductions in the middle of all that, did we?" Rouge purred, "I'm Rouge the Bat. I'm an agent from GUN, the human military. Of course, you three probably don't have a clue what that is."

Tails spoke next, his two tails twitching eagerly, "I'm Miles Prower. But everyone just calls me Tails."

"I can see why," Manic noted, his eyes following the two tails that swished behind the kitsune. Sonic made a mental note to inform his triplet brother that Tails could be sensitve to teasing about his unusual number of tails. Sonic didn't want the kitsune to be reminded of his rough time on Westside Island.

"And what about you?" Sonia asked, directing her question at Shadow.

Shadow 'hmphed' before answering, "I'm Shadow the Hedgehog. I'm here as Rouge's partner."

"It's very nice to meet you all," Aleena said, "And thank you all for what you've done."

"So, bro," Manic said, turning to Sonic, "What exactly happened to you? Why'd you leave?"

"More importantly," said Sonia, "Why didn't you come back before now?"

Sonic responded by chuckling, sounding more weary then he meant to. "Hoo boy, where do I even start?" How could he possibly even imply to them even a fraction of the magnitude of what he'd been through?

There was a loud screech.

Immediately, Sonic tensed. All of his senses were on high alert. Around him, his friends had similarly tensed and ready themselves. Sonic's time outside the empire had only served to reinforce many of the habits and instincts he had developed during his time with the Freedom Fighters. Another loud screech. The blue hedgehog's sharp hearing informed him that it was coming from somewhere above. There was another screech followed by something landing, hard, on the ground above them, shaking the tunnel. Sonic laid his ears back. He did not like the feeling he was getting from this...Yet another sharp screech and then something slammed through the tunnel ceiling.

It was a large mechanical beak.

The beak was right above them, mere inches away from their heads. It quickly withdrew. Sonic looked up through the hole it had created. There, towering above them, was a large mechanical pteradactyl. Sonic knew, instictively, that this was one of Eggman's creation. His time fighting the tyrant had allowed him to instantly identify what had been made by the mad doctor. That, and there was no one else except his buddy Tails that could possibly make something like it. The pterodactyl screeched loudly as it looked down at its prey through the hole. It began using its talons to widen the hole, causing rock and derbis to fall from the tunnel's ceiling.

A long dormant protective instinct, which during his time outside the empire had been reserved for Tails, drove Sonic to quickly grab his siblings and pull them a short distance away from the falling debris, as well as away from the mechanical beast that now threatned them. His two siblings merely looked up at the creature in disbelief.

"Dude, what it that!?" Manic yelled.

"Something that we don't really have time to deal with," was Shadow's response.

A confident smile crossed Sonic's face. Looked like he was going to get the chance to have some fun. "I'll take care of it," He declared, "You guys get my family out of here. I'll keep this thing busy." Before anyone could say otherwise Sonic crouched and let out one of his famous quips, "Hey birdbrain!" He launched himself at the pterodactyl. Jumping up and curling up into a ball, he slammed into it. It screeched in suprise as it recoiled. Sonic landed a short distance away, now outside of the sewer. He looked down and saw his family, looking up with a mixture of concern and amazement, while his friends tried to pull them down the tunnel to safety. Sonic smiled, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I've handled worse. A LOT worse!" They didn't seem convinced, but nevertheless the three hedgehogs followed the rest of the group down the tunnel.

A loud screech drew the blue hedgehog's attention back to the pterodactyl. Sonic allowed himself a moment of indulging his ego. How fast could he take this thing down, he wondered? Once upon a time, this pterodactyl would have given him and his siblings hell. Now, with just him alone, it was as good as scrap metal. It wouldn't be easy of course, it never was, but the challenge was part of what made these fights so enjoyable. One thing was for sure nowadays: Sending 'ole Egghead and his various creations packing never got old.

n/n/n/n/

"Will Sonic be okay?" Sonia asked once the group had put some distance between them and the pterodactyl.

"Sonic can handle anything," said Tails, "I wouldn't worry about him."

"But that thing was huge!" Manic argued, "Sonic can't possibly handle that by himself!" A short silence suddenly put that statement into doubt. "Can he?"

"Sonic's different," said Knuckles, "What happened beyond the empire's borders changed him. He's more then capable of handling himself now."

Manic was left to ponder that statement as the group continued to work their way through the sewer tunnel. Sonic, different? What did that mean? His hand went to his medallion. Something didn't make sense here. Earlier, his medallion had fizzled. He still didn't know why. Now that he thought about it...His memory flashed back to when he had finally seen his long-lost brother again. One thing that growing up on the streets had taught him was to pay attention to detail. And now one detail about his brother stood out.

"He didn't have it..." Manic muttered to himself.

"Huh?" Sonia turned to him questioningly.

He turned to his sister, "His medallion Sonia. I didn't see it. I don't think he has it anymore."

"Now that you mention it," Sonia drifted off for a moment as she thought back, "He DIDN'T have it, did he?" She looked at Manic with concern, "Maybe that's why our own medallions stopped working?"

"Maybe. But we can't be sure," Manic replied.

As the group continued to make their way through the sewer tunnels, Manic pondered over recent events. First, months ago, Sonic up and vanished. Then he and Sonia fell into a clever trap placed by Robotnik. Yet, instead of being roboticized they had instead been imprisoned. One thing had lead to another and now here they were. The green hedgehog had a feeling that there was more going on here then their escorts let on. On the bright side, they had finally reunited with their mother. A part of him was enjoying every precious second of her company. According to the Oracle, the war would end soon after the royal triplets found their mother.

But why was the feeling in his gut telling him otherwise?

The black hedgehog, Shadow, who was spearheading the group, made a motion to stop. It took Manic a second to realize that the sounds of battle he had heard earlier were now much louder. Knuckles, who had been a nice suprise to see, walked over to a nearby ladder. He climbed up and peeked out the sewer hatch. He looked back down at the group waiting below,

"Looks clear. The others shouldn't be far from here." With that, Knuckles went through the hatch completely and on the streets above. Manic noticed his sister's expression directed at the echidna as he went up. Rouge followed close behind. Shadow went up next. Manic decided to follow them. He was halfway up the ladder when a glint of mischieviouness danced in his eyes. Turning around, he said,

"Hey sis, don't tell me you still have a thing for Knuckles."

Sonia immediately turned bright red. "W-what makes you say that?"

"Aw, c'mon sis, I saw the way you looked at him."

The fox (How did he have two tails anyway, Manic wondered?), Tails, blinked and turned to Sonia, "You like Knuckles?"

Sonia was now completely red at what was obviously an innocent inquiry. "Well...He's cute but..."

"Are you all coming up or not?" Came Shadow's voice.

"Coming!" Tails yelled back. The kitsune walked over to the ladder and looked up at Manic, "We better get moving. Eggman's bound to send machines besides that pteradactyl after us."

Manic nodded in understanding. He turned back around and started climbing up the ladder again. When he popped out in the street above, he saw Knuckles, Rouge and Shadow waiting. He climbed completely out. His sister and mother were right behind him. Tails brought up the rear.

The battle that sounded like it was right next to them did nothing to quell the growing unease in Manic's stomach.

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If there are any spelling mistakes, forgive me, I didn't have the luxury of spellcheck this time around.

Not much action this chapter, but I'll more then make up for it in the next chapter. I'll also introduce a platheon of Sega Sonic characters, a few of which I can assure you will be very pleasant suprises.

R&R!