"How'd you sleep?" Tails scrolled through his messages on his laptop while everyone else was eating lunch.

Sonic chuckled. "Just fine. Thanks, guys."

"Of course!" Amy smiled behind her cup of juice.

Sonic's phone beeped. It was a text from Rouge.

"My babies!" Eggman shouted gleefully at Orbot and Cubot. They were reunited at the submarine. The robots immediately floated up to him and hugged him.

"We slept through the whole thing!" Orbot said.

"Boss! I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried we'd be homeless and overlord-less." Cubot frowned. "What would I do with my life without you to tell me how to live it?"

Tundra handed Eggman the soaking wet messenger bag that was found in the wreckage. The bag itself had begun to ice over in the cold. Eggman held it for a moment and then passed it off its rightful owner, Shadow.

"Thank you again, Tundra and Akhlut." Sheptilah shook their hands. "Please continue to keep the poles safe. As you know the witch-eaters attacked us from under the ice. They also most likely followed our submarine when we were coming here."

Maybe that's what scared the whales away, she thought.

"While in the air I saw no other evidence of them," the walrus spoke, "No tracks or broken ice."

"Can I ask you for a favor?" Sheptilah hesitantly tapped Eggman on the shoulder to get his attention.

"That depends," he flashed a crooked smile, "What is it you want?"

"Can we not take the submarine? If those beasts are still in the water I would prefer to not be stuffed in the can." She pouted.

"We don't have an airship for you at the moment." Tundra shook his head.

"I have an idea." Shadow held the half-dead communicator in his glove up to his mouth. "Rouge? Text the following to Sonic for me."

[WhiteEcho] Shadow wants you to summon the witch

[BlueBlrr91] why

[BlueBlrr91] dont you have a stone

[WhiteEcho] IDK he just asks you do it

[BlueBlrr91] okay?

"I'll be right back, guys." Sonic stepped outside and fished the witch orb out from his sock.

Sheptilah turned to an annoyed looking Akhlut and Tundra. "You're going to witness something cool."

It was a moment before she was summoned. Her body fizzled away like desert mirage.

"Wait!" Eggman said. "What just happened?"

"Sonic summoned her." Shadow shrugged.

"He summoned her?" Eggman was bewildered.

Something was miscalculated and again she was teleported high up in the air but was able to right herself. She landed gracefully in the sand, took off the heavy cloak and immediately started feeling around the air for knots.

"Come on, come on…" She muttered to herself.

"Uh, what's up?" Sonic scratched his quills in confusion. "And what the heck are you wearing?"

"Looking for a space… aha!" She pulled open a portal to the arctic circle as wide as it would go. Having to create a snag that far away instead of just opening up an old one nearby was an uphill battle.

"Alright, everyone off the North Pole!" Sheptilah stuck her arm through and pulled Shadow to the beach. Thunderbolt gratefully followed afterward. No more drowning in soft, powdery snow for the two little Mobians. Cold air blasted Sonic in the face but it felt nice.

"All this time you could make portals?" Akhlut was frustrated. He wandered in ice caves for hours only to find out all this time she could teleport?

"Yes but it isn't as easy as it looks. There's all kinds of nonsense involved in getting one open. You really did need to rescue us." The woman shrugged innocently.

"But my submarine!" Eggman whined.

"You're welcome to drive the ten hours to get back to your lair by yourself." Shadow huffed.

Without a moment's thought Eggman stepped through the portal with his robots following suit. Sheptilah waved goodbye to Tundra and Akhlut and closed the portal. Thunderbolt, Eggman and Shadow all peeled off their winter boots and coats. The weather was sunny and mild, a very welcome change from the cold, dark north.

"Yay, the Overlanders are back." Tails said sarcastically. "What the heck are you wearing, Sheptilah?" He walked up to Sonic and stood beside him. Amy, Sticks and Knuckles approached them soon after.

She looked down at herself and realized she was still in her Egg Boss uniform, sans the tiara which was lost in the watery scuffle.

"I would like to introduce you to this island's Egg Boss." Eggman broadly gestured toward the woman, smiling menacingly.

"I told you she couldn't be trusted!" Sticks picked up a small rock and chucked it at Sheptilah.

The witch yelped and just barely moved out of the way in time. The badger snarled and sprinted at the woman on all fours. Sheptilah turned and booked it, wishing she pulled off her boots before doing this.

"Tell them the truth, Eggman!" The witch shouted.

"That is the truth!" He responded.

Shadow was too tired to interfere and knew that Sticks couldn't do too much damage to the Overlander.

"Get back here!" The badger continued to give chase. Sheptilah initially made her way toward the ocean but stopped at the shoreline when she remembered the witch-eaters and turned. She fled to the nearest coconut tree and shuffled her way up to the top.

"Sticks!" Amy scolded her.

"She's not really an Egg Boss," Ivo admitted, "I just wanted the other Egg Bosses to think she is."

The coconut tree was at least fifty feet tall and Sheptilah was all the way at the top. The witch pulled off a snow boot and threw it at the badger, purposefully missing her. Sticks got halfway up the tree before she heard that the woman wasn't really a Boss.

"So she's a spy?" Sticks narrowed her eyes at Eggman.

"A spy? No I am just manipulating them into helping me stop the threat. I don't trust GUN alone to help."

"Hm," Sticks thought for a moment, "I can respect anyone who undermines government entities; especially two at once." She jumped down from the tree and made her way back to the group.

"Hey, Shads." Sonic chuckled. "So why are you hanging out with Eggman?"

"GUN business." The black hedgehog said curtly.

"Hmph." Sonic wanted more details than that. Sheptilah also made her way down the tree, straightened her coat and rejoined the group. She opened a portal so Shadow could return to the GUN fortress. He gratefully stepped through and bid her goodbye. She closed the portal and then turned to the Mobians.

"We have to stay out of the water." Her face was grim.

"You don't have to tell me twice." The blue hedgehog dug his toe into the sand.

"We were attacked by a massive beast up at the pole. It tried to kill all of us by trapping us under the ice. I think it followed us in the water up there." She let her hair out of the ponytail.

"Do you have a sample of the monster?" Tails approached the witch. "I can do a search for organisms like it."

Sheptilah shook her head. "Sorry, Tails. There was nothing to collect. It vanished as quickly as it arrived. It had to be at least sixty of them stuck together as one. Shadow was the one who managed to blow it apart with Chaos energy."

"We need the Chaos Emeralds. GUN has two of them, the other five are still out there." Eggman scratched his chin.

"What good would that do? We'd have to find all of the beasts, right?" Thunderbolt's tail twitched. "Or make them gather in one place so that the effort to collect all of them isn't wasted since they just scatter again after use."

The sound of the ocean lapping against the shoreline felt louder and harsher to all of them. "Come into my shack; we'll discuss it there." Sonic turned to go back into his house.

"Wait," Sheptilah hesitated, "We need to rest first. We'll come back later."

"Are you sure?" Amy tilted her head.

"She's right, we haven't slept in over a day." Shadow huffed.

"We should also have Shadow and Rouge here when we discuss it. We'll come back tonight." She opened one last portal to the lair after picking up her cloak. Thunderbolt, Eggman and his robots stepped through after Sheptilah. The portal zipped shut.

Sonic looked and saw some young children playing in the sand near the water with their mother.

It's always something.