Frank's eyes ballooned up in primal fear, as though he'd been stricken with a chance meeting of a long-lost enemy. He cracked open his mandible in an attempt to scream, but instead found himself only able to gasp and fall onto his behind.

Puzzled and spooked itself, Star slowly walked over to the once hardy-looking insect. "G-git away! I thought I'd be done with you mean ol' things forever!" Frank sputtered.

"Oh, no, not this... It was a mistake for me to keep quiet..." Solakku's father groaned with a darkened grimace.

"Star, do what he says..." Arrowhead cautioned from the sidelines, unwilling to act more forcefully. Paint's diplomacy instincts kicked in, a little delayed by the startling nature of the conflict, but she couldn't think of an immediate course of action that mightn't simply make things worse - especially when she didn't even know why Frank was reacting this way or Star was not opting to back away with a proverbial white flag in tow.

No, Star was going to keep going. Frank had no weapon to attack it with, and his bladed arms would do nothing to damage its hull. He managed to cough up a few unintelligible syllables; "Lussendeth", the name of Baaritch's goddess wife, was among them - probably some kind of prayer. This all stopped, though, as Star leaned down, its arm closed in, and it stopped to help Frank up.

He only stared up confusedly, and Star whistled to offer help.

"W-what're you d-d...?" Frank sputtered.

"Star, bad idea," Maxwell muttered from the sidelines.

Star tilted its head curiously, keeping its hand planted in the same place. Cautiously, Frank reached out his, trembling with exponential force as it neared the robot's, and gulped as he grabbed it, then firmed his grasp. Star gently and slowly pulled him up, let go, and whistled as a greeting.

Frank leered at his hopeful friend for a few grueling seconds, then turned quickly to Paint. "Girl, you know this is one of Eggman's robots, don't ya?"

"Of course I do!" she confirmed. "Well... vestigially, at least. It once claimed de facto allegiance to the factious Doctor E, but ever since it was abandoned on a mission by its robot teammates and came to us for help a while ago, Star has been able to release the winds of its gentle heart unfettered by any silly ties like that. It won't hurt you."

Sure enough, Star continued not to hurt the disheveled Frank despite the relative ease of doing so. It only focused its eye cameras on him, confused as to what it might have done wrong and what it could do now to help.

Paint waved him on to encourage him to reach out, so he sighed and stood firmly and formally to greet Star like a sensible adult. "Hello, 'Star'. I do apologize for my reckless behavior just now. I reckon I was being prejudiced and I might instead be better off lookin' at you like a friend, and not as somethin' to be feared."

"Naturally," Arrowhead stated, "but why were you so scared in the first place? I wonder if it could've been... been more than just a general fear of robots manufactured by Eggman...?"

"Could've been, maybe, sum'n along those tracks. Anyway, turtles and guests, I think I'd better be scamperin' off to my daily chores right now. I'm sorry, Star. Have a nice morning, everyone." The discussion neatly wrapped up as far as Frank was concerned, he hopped away tersely, leaving everyone else in an uncomfortable silence.

Visibly shaken, Solakku's mother stepped up and quietly reminded the group, "Okay, it's late enough in the morning, so I think you'd better leave. You have everything, correct? If not, I'll help. It's easy."

Her daughter followed, returning once again to an attitude of stony, firm compassion for Star. "It's okay, Star; he's just... well, a long time ago, he-"

The last member of the chelonian household made sure to quickly interject, "Star, never be afraid of who you are. I implore you of that much - security in one's identity is so rare to come by these days. Your heritage should never be a cause for discomfort. The hyenas, way back in their day, were some of the most vicious colonialists on the entire planet, and Jewel is only... You'd be well served not to let this discourage you." He sighed and rubbed his eyes wearily, and it was only morning.

"I guess that's it, then," Arrowhead conceded unenergetically. "Let's... let's just..."

"Wait! You bozos can't go yet!" Solakku shouted out of nowhere.

Everyone stared at her inquisitively, so to answer them she pulled an old pencil from in front of her neck, through the upper opening of her shell.

"Nope, not yet!" she repeated. She grinned turned her head toward her parents optimistically, coughing once to get their attention so they could see what she had in store.

Once they were finally descending the hill that had obscured Little Apple the previous evening and was closing it off to them once more, the five friends alternated who got to hold Solakku's group portrait and admire it warmly.

"Well, I can tell ya one thing, Paint," Maxwell summed up after his good, hard look at it. "She sure captured your 'strange, kinda alien appearance'."

"Thanks!" she yipped agreeably. "I can almost feel the quixotic caress of your 'odd odor' leaping off the page. She captured that well."

"Oh, you are so..." he snarled, flexing his arms behind his back in a flighty adrenaline burst, "...silly." Unable to bring himself to project - perhaps even feel - any more anger at her, he chuckled to himself and began eyeing the tiny artist's little intricacies in the five brave figures.

"Heheheh. Arrow, what do you think of yours? You are obligated to use at least two pretentiously long words. In-depth gifts deserve in-depth thought!"

"It's really, really... good," he said blankly before looking back at the prairie expanses and distant mountains that lay in their path.

"Knew I could count on you, tadpole!" Paint chortled, playfully rubbing one fuzzy, leafy shoulder against his damp, smooth one. "Ah, I suppose sheer loss of oneself in this portrait's compelling intricacies has to count for something, huh?"

"I like mine," Jewel admitted quietly. "It's just kinda... strong, maybe. Purposeful. I wish I was more like that. A-and Star, I think your dark cape is pretty neat. Maybe even imaginative."

Star looked at the heroic, ostensibly battle-worn creases and mild tears in the cape of its drawn incarnation, then whirred rather loudly a few times in cheerful agreement. It was a bit startling.