Sonic and Tails stayed with Shadow for about 5 years. Rouge would visit them ever so often, and the three of them would often visit her. As time went on, Shadow and Rouge also gained crushes on each other, which Sonic would tease endlessly about. Tails would sometimes jump in on it too, but mostly he was a peacemaker.

The young fox also got more and more cheerful and bold the more he spent around Sonic, and Sonic more protective of Tails.

One particular afternoon, Sonic, Tails and Shadow were playing with a ball (Rouge had come around to play too), when they heard a song in the distance.

"What's that?" Asked Tails, nearly missing the ball.

"Sounds like we have more neighbours." Sonic realised, "we should go say hello."

"Noisy neighbours." Shadow muttered, "There go the property values."

"Oh, Mr. Gloomy Guss over here doesn't like celebrations, does he?" Rouge giggled.

"Ugh…"

As the four of them emerge from the backyard, they find themselves in the middle of the ostentatious finale of the song, with the mobains forming a huge pyramid with Knuckles and Tikal at the top, and the other echidna kids bowing down.

Knuckles/Tikal/Jon: Standing in the spotlight

Espio: Not yet!

Knuckles/Tikal/Ralph/Remington/Julie-Su/Shade/Gabor/Jon/Kneecaps/Other mobains:
Let every creature go for broke and sing
Let's hear it in the herd and on the wing
Gonna be Guardian Knux's finest fling

Knuckles/Tikal/Jon: I/He can't wait to be guardian

Ralph/Julie-Su/Gabor: He can't wait to be guardian

"Oh, perfect." Complained Shadow, "They've made this the theatre district! Get a load of these guys."

"Oh come on, Shadow." Rouge tried to convince him, "He's just excited."

Shadow slaps one of the mobains on the tower (which happened to be Rotor), "Knock it off!"

The mobians' eyes pop wide open, and they lose their balance. Among them are Rotor, Nicole, Manic, Mina, Sally, Khan, Charmy, Melissa, Ivo, Vanilla, Cream, Amy, Cosmo and Sonia, collapsing on top of each other as the last bars of the song are sung.

Remington/Shade/Kneecaps: Oh, he can't wait to be...

Sonic saw Tails standing too close.

"Tails look out!" He cried, pulling the fox away.

"Aah!"

Knuckles/Tikal/Ralph/Julie-Su/Remington/Shade/Gabor/Jon/Kneecaps: Guardian!

The pyramid of mobains collapses onto a stack of pillows that some of the locals had cleaned out of their houses.

"I'm okay!" Called Knuckles to his friends.

"Quick, Espio isn't looking." Tikal pointed out, "let's bolt!"

"Echidnas, go!" Cried Shade, and the children rushed off.

"Oy." Sighed Shadow. "Phew. Show people."

"That was your fault!" Groaned Rouge. "The kids could have gotten hurt in the mess."

"Hey!" Called a young voice, which turned out to be Jon, "You wouldn't happen to not tell our families we're going to the Rogues Base, right?"

"Er, not at all, kiddo." Sonic promised.

"Come on, Jon!" Called Gabor, "We can't be late."

"Let's get on this field trip!" Kneecaps encouraged.

"Coming, buddy! Coming bro!" Jon raced after them.

"Hmm…" Sonic said to himself, "Speaking of travelling… I haven't flown in the tornado in ages."

"You mean… you're leaving?" Asked Shadow, slightly shocked. He had gotten used to Sonic's company, and started to think of him as a brother. He was attached to Tails too.

"Well, I honestly didn't realise how much time had passed." Sonic admitted. "You three want to come?"

Tails nodded eagerly and already dashed to the plane, but Shadow and Rouge shook their heads.

"I'm not much of a traveller, Sonic." Shadow replied, "try as I might, I just don't have the same free spirit like you do."

"And I'd love to come." Rouge told him, "But my mum is training me to be a G.U.N. agent this week and I can't go for too long or go too far from home."

Sonic was a bit disappointed, but was glad Tails was tagging along with him.

"We'll send you some postcards and letters." Tails promised.

Shadow and Rouge nodded gratefully, and hugged their friends farewell.

"Give Mrs. Aleena our thanks, and say hi to Mrs. Ruby for us."

"Will do."

Then Shadow and Rouge waved as the Tornado took off.

"Want some lunch down at my place?" Asked Rouge, "Mama's serving some soup."

"Count me in. Race ya!"

Laughing, the bat and black-and-red hedgehog rushed off.

The fox and blue hedgehog looked around from the air.

"I wonder where those echidna kids wanted to go." Tails said to himself.

"And why they didn't want their parents knowing." Sonic added.

"Well, they seem like they are having fun." Tails admitted, "So I guess that's not an issue."

"Probably not…" Sonic looked out of the plane as they were flying, and soon…

"Tails, I think this is it."

The two of them gazed at the sight. Broken robots lay everywhere in a dark shadowy area of Angel Island.

"Goodness, this place is real creepy."

"I'll say." Sonic agreed. "Where did the kids say they wanted to go?"

"The rogues base I think."

One of the worn out robots collapses to the ground due to the plane's propellers.

"Sounds like the rogues haven't done much work here…" Tails said to himself.

Just then, there were two voices coming from the distance.

"Tails, fly up!" Cried Sonic, and the fox launched the plane up higher, just in time for Locke to come running in. Espio runs after him, briefing him in on what happened between Sonic and Tails' flight here.

"Guardian," He said urgently, "the rogues are after the children!"

Sonic and Tails watch wide-eyed from the air of the safety of their plane as the shadows cast on them pantomime the scene of Locke beating up the rogues.

"Yikes…" Tails said to himself, "Now I'm really confused why they wanted to come here."

Sonic nodded in agreement.

Later, Sonic and Tails were trying to find a camping spot for the night.

"I don't see any camping spots here…" Tails sighed to himself.

"Maybe not." Sonic agreed, "This place looks just as creepy as the Rogues' base."

"Yeah. Look at those steam vents." One of them barely misses the plane, Tails steered away just in time, "I'm just glad we don't have any unexpected visitors this time."

A green light suddenly floods the area, and "Be Prepared" begins. Goose-stepping Rogues march past them, casting shadows on the wall.

"Somethin' tells me this ain't the travelling company of 'Riverdance.'" Tails muttered.

They stare at each other for a bit, then Tails flies the plane off. Luckily, they manage to find a suitable camping ground nearby.