When the X-Tornado landed on the rich, green grass of the rainforest, Tails leapt out and made his way to the damaged side of his precious ship. Anyone would think that the Tornado was his child. He whipped out his toolbox that he kept stored away in a hidden compartment and quickly got to fixing the inside of the machine.

'Do want any help with that, Tails?' Cosmo asked nervously.

'I could use a sweet assistant?' Tails said boldly as he blushed.

Cosmo blushed and bowed her head at his comment before taking a seat next to him and passing a tool that was just out of his reach. Knuckles and Shadow exchanged a look before rolling their eyes and folding their arms.

'So what are we supposed to do?' Knuckles huffed.

'You're such a hothead. We're going to find fresh water and somewhere to stay tonight!' Amy exclaimed with a cheery smile.

'Fun.' Shadow said sarcastically with a large, fake smile plastered across his muzzle.

'Lighten up, guys. Let's go!' Sonic said cheerfully, following the ways throwing lush plants and trees.

Tails and Cosmo watched their friends wander off into the forest before turning back to the damaged Tornado. Tails poked his head inside the hole before extending his arm out to Cosmo, looking for the next tool. She placed it in his hand without saying a word before leaning back on her hands.

'I am sorry, you know.' Tails mumbled from inside the ship.

'What was that?' Cosmo asked intently.

'I'm sorry, for snapping earlier. I was just worried about Cream and I could've really hurt you all if I'd crashed the ship and…' Tails trailed off after pulling his head out to talk to the girl.

'Don't be sorry, Tails. We're all feeling the pressure. Besides, we're a lot closer to finding the tombs now.' She said with a cheery smile.

Tails' face instantly lit up when he realized that his friend had forgiven him, or never even been angry at him in the first place. He placed a friendly hand on her shoulder and looked into her in the eyes, causing her to smile widely. He playfully knocked her on the face with a fist before turning around to continue mending to ship.

While the Tornado was being tended to, Amy, Rouge, Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles traipsed through the thick scrub to look for somewhere suitable to stay the night. Sonic couldn't help but have a bad feeling that they wouldn't be going anywhere for a few days, he'd never seen Tails so worried about his own ship.

'Where are we?' Amy panted as she tried to untangle her dress from a vine.

'No idea. There is no way we are going to find anyone out here.' Shadow huffed.

'Amen, who would be crazy enough to live out here?' Knuckles added.

'Whoever is crazy enough to live in that strangely large house over there?!' Sonic pointed ahead.

Everyone followed Sonic's finger to find he was looking at a beautiful, floral house covered in vines and trees. It was obviously not abandoned, the lights were on and the garden appeared neat and tidy. That is, compared to the rest of the surroundings…

'I'll check it out.' Rouge offered.

She jumped up to get herself some momentum before gracefully flapping her wings. She slowly headed up, only to get herself tangled in vines and leaves stuck to her dark wings. Knuckles and Shadow fell over in hysterics, gripping their stomachs as if they were going to explode.

'Pipe down, you jerks! Get me out of here!' Rouge screeched as she squirmed around in the vines.

'Calm down, I got it.' Sonic smirked.

He jumped up onto a branch above her before spin dashing through the vines. Unprepared, Rouge screeched as she fell to the ground, landing on Shadow and Knuckles who certainly weren't impressed. Amy began to giggle by the time Sonic came back down and stood beside her, chuckling to himself.

'Come on then, let's go, you losers.' Amy said after she finally contained herself.

The gang walked towards the house cautiously, not sure if anyone else was around. Amy walked forward and politely knocked on the door, awaiting some sort of response. The door finally opened to reveal an elderly woman, a grey dog who looked up at them in fear.

'Who are you?' She asked timidly.

'Uh, hello, Miss. My name is Amy Rose and we were wondering if you could help us?' Amy asked cautiously.

'What kind of help?' She asked, hiding half her body behind the door.

'Please don't be scared of us, we don't bite!' Sonic smiled.

She looked up at him before stepping out from behind the door and closing it, leaving it on the latch. She supported herself on her walking stick, trying not to get tangled up in all the vines and bushes that surrounded her front steps.

'What's your name?' Shadow asked.

'Ariana.' She responded quietly.

'Do you live here alone, Ariana?' Rouge asked.

'No, my granddaughter takes care of me. She isn't in right now.'

'Nana?' A voice came from behind them.

The gang turned around to see a young, light green dog holding a basket standing before them. She looked at her grandmother and smiled before glancing around at all these unfamiliar faces around her front door. The girl looked no older than fifteen, if that, very young to be looking after someone.

'I recognize you.' She said, looking directly at Sonic.

'You do?'

'You too.' She said again, now looking at Amy.

'Really? Have we met?'

'My name is Summer, we've never met but I recognize the two of you. I assume these are your friends?' Summer said as she gestured to Shadow, Knuckles and Rouge.

'Yes, we kind of need some help. We-'

'Are you and Sonic some sort of duo?' Summer cut Amy off.

'Um, uh well.' Amy stuttered, caught off guard.

'Are there others?' Summer asked.

'Yes. We have a friend, a young girl. She is very sick and we are travelling to get her help. Our ship is being repair by our other two friends only a mile back if that. We saw your grandmother's house and stopped by to see if you knew anywhere nearby we could stay?' Rouge spat out, trying not to get interrupted.

'You'll stay with us. I know of Sonic and his heroic acts, I have no doubt you are all a part of it.' Summer said with a smile.

'They're heroes, my dear?' Ariana asked her granddaughter with an intriguing smile.

'Yes, Nana, so we need to help them for as long as they need.' Summer said as she walked towards her grandmother and kissed her on the cheek.

'We don't want to trouble you or anything.' Knuckles said, in his own attempt to be polite.

'Not at all, sir, it's-'

'It's Knuckles, please.'

'Knuckles, it's no trouble at all. Now please, go and get you're other friends. Bring them here and we shall prepare a meal for you all.' Summer said with a bright smile.

Sonic nodded before he, Knuckles and Shadow began to walk off towards Tails again. Amy and Rouge said another thank you to their hosts before letting them know they would be back soon. They quickly jogged to catch up with the boys, making sure not to tread in mud or trip over yet another vine.

'She was certainly mature.' Rouge commented, breaking the silence.

'A different kind of mature from you.' Knuckles mumbled through a chuckle, earning him one hell of a backhand to the head.

'I guess you'd have to be if you were the caretaker of someone else. Her grandmother seems nice, she was probably just a little frightened to have so many unexpected visitors.' Amy said with a smile.

'Yeah, you're not wrong. At the end of the day, we've got somewhere to crash until Tails fixes the ship.' Sonic said with his cocky grin, making Amy smile a little.

'We have to keep moving, though. We don't know what that turn was Cream had or how often it's going to happen. She needs help and she needs it now.' Shadow said firmly.

They soon arrived back where they had landed to find Tails and Cosmo sitting down, chatting away like the good friends they were. The duo looked over at the rest of their friends when they noticed them walking towards them with smiles on their faces.

'So, how'd you go?' Tails asked.

'We found a house, an old woman and her granddaughter live there.' Rouge stated.

'The girl recognized Sonic and Amy and invited us to stay with them. How did you go with the ship?' Shadow asked.

'I've repaired it the best I can with what I've got. It's not perfect but it'll get us to the tombs and home. I don't want to fly it until at least the day after tomorrow, just in case.' Tails stated firmly.

'No worries. Well, we can leave it here for the time being and get back to the house, it'll be dark soon. I'll get Cream.' Sonic said before leaping onto the wing of the Tornado to look down on Cream, who was still sound asleep.

After an early meal, Ariana suggested that Summer take their guest out the back of their house. Summer suddenly got excited and basically pushed the gang outside, where they found a beautiful pool, surrounded by flowers and trees in bloom. You certainly wouldn't guess it was here looking at the front. I was completely hidden from all the vines and taller trees. Cosmo got a little worried about swimming in clothes, but Summer assured her she had plenty of spares and she would be happy to wash, making the delightful girl feel so much better.

As evening set, Tails, Cosmo Knuckles and Shadow were playing shoulder wars in the pool. They were constantly demanding rematches, which never ceased. Sonic steered clear of the water, as usual and hung about in a tree overseeing the pool. Rouge Amy and Summer sat themselves down on the nearby lounge chairs, watching the others in the pool.

'So what is actually wrong with your friend, Cream?' Summer asked politely.

'We don't know yet. That's why we're travelling to find this mysterious Tikal.' Rouge rolled her eyes in frustration.

'She's helped us before, she sends visions to Knuckles and Sonic. Don't ask how, we couldn't tell you.' Amy giggled.

'Your friend Tails seems like a nice guy.' Summer said with a smile, breaking the minute silence, as she stared at him fighting of Cosmo in the pool.

'Uh, yeah. He's great, and smart too.' Amy said, giving Rouge a subtle look.

'Really? How do you mean?' Summer asked curiously, not severing her gaze from the fox.

'Well he builds planes and machines, he can fix almost anything and-'

'So he studies mechanics and engineering?' Summer cut Amy off.

'He hardly has to study it, he just does it.' Rouge shrugged.

'What a coincidence! I'm studying metals and engineering at school right now! Through distance of course, I live a long way from a school. I should ask him about it.' Summer said, her face beaming.

'Yeah, good idea. I'm sure he'd be happy to help.' Amy said with a small smile as she looked at Rouge.

They couldn't be sure, but they had their suspicions that little Miss Summer had taken a shine to Mr. Miles 'Tails' Prowler. Everyone knew he was off limits, they were all waiting for the day he would ask Cosmo for at least a dinner date. They hoped they hadn't given the young dog the wrong idea, maybe they should've mentioned something of Cosmo? It was too late to say something now. They'd just have to wait and see what happens.

'Alright, Rouge. You coming in?' Knuckles said as he leaned over the side of the pool to talk to the ivory bat.

'Don't kid yourself, babe.' She rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, it was a rhetorical question.' Knuckles smirked before leaping out of the pool.

Rouge's eyes widened before she looked up to find a red echidna bolting towards her. She let out a screech as she struggled to get out of the beach chair and out of Knuckles' grasp. Before she knew it, he had her picked up bridal style and she was sending him death threats left right and centre. He simply chuckled and stroked her head, just to annoy her before bombing into the pool, still holding her firmly.

The pool yard went silent before a wet, white bat leapt out of the water and scurried to the edge, gasping for air. Knuckles cheekily followed her with a goofy grin, only to get a playful punch to the face. Rouge complained that he ruined her make-up, which he hadn't, it was still perfect. He dragged her back under before the other joined in for an all-out splash war.

'Come in, Summer! The water's great!' Tails yelled out and gestured for the dog to get in.

'Alright, I'm coming!' Summer yelled out before slipping off her shoes and gracefully diving in, clothes and all.

Sonic and Amy remained in their spots, lounging about and watching their friends splashing about in the pool. Amy couldn't help but look up to see her blue hero, just casually laying on the tree branch and using his hands as a pillow. He looked so handsome, so relax and so brave even when he was doing nothing. She couldn't help but think about how excited she was for this all to be over. For Cream to be awake and well again, for everyone to back in the comfort of their own homes and for Amy to go back to trying to spend time with her hero.