Thank you for the reviews, GuardianDragon98! Sonica and Shadow have their first romantic moment in this chapter!
Please read and review! I hope you enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Sonic the Hedgehog or Sonic Underground!
She picked up the robot's head, looking into the black sockets that had once held the glow of life. If you could really call it life.
Sonica felt the hateful gaze coming from the doctor to her right and turned to meet his eyes. She couldn't actually see his eyes, no one really has since she left Robotropolis, but she could imagine what they looked like. Especially right now.
"Why, you…! You little…!"
Sonica cocked an eyebrow up at Eggman. "You going to finish any of those sentences?"
He growled in response. Orbot retracted into his ball form and Cubot jumped off the animal containment unit and back onto the Eggmobile next to Orbot, then also retracted. This wasn't going to be pretty.
"YOU LITTLE BRAT! YOU HAVE GOTTEN IN MY WAY FOR THE LAST TIME! I WILL GET YOU!" He started to fly away. "HEDGEHOG!"
Sonica sighed, then, using the head as a soccer ball, kicked it to hit Eggman's engines, making him smoke and swerve out of control. They could hear yelling from the vehicle as it spun out into the distance.
"Does he have to say that every time?"
Suddenly, she had arms gripping her tight around the waist. She looked down to see his sister, crying so hard it looked like rivers were flowing down her eyes onto her chest. She didn't mind though. She put her arms around her, propping her up slightly. Then, Manic ran up, panting but smiling, and joined the hug.
The Sonic Underground was back!
They stood together for several minutes just enjoying each other. They could have stayed there for hours. They had been separated for such a long time that they had lost hope of ever seeing each other again. Should have known better.
They did eventually tear apart. Sonia was still crying and it was easy to see Manic had moisture in his eyes too. As did Sonica.
She couldn't believe this was real! "Are you guys okay?"
They nodded, still shaken up. "A lot better now." Sonia gripped Sonica's hand.
She smiled and squeezed her sister's hand. "Good." Then she remembered the audience and looked over to her friends, who all had goofy grins plastered on their faces, except Shadow. "Wipe those silly grins of your faces." She was smiling when she said it so, of course, it had no effect. It just made everyone laugh, including her siblings. "I take it you introduced yourselves, right?"
Manic beamed at his sister. "Yep."
The bushes nearby rustled, making them jump. Sonica figured out who it was very quickly though. "Took you long enough, Knux."
The red echidna walked out of the plants, brushing off leaves, and obviously not paying any attention, since he hadn't noticed Sonia or Manic. "What took me so long was about fifteen dozen robots. Next time you come up with the plan, I would like a bigger job than destroy the robots Eggman calls." He looked up and froze.
"Man, you're slow."
"Knuckles!"
The guardian jogged over to his old friends with a large smile on his face. "Hey! Long time no see!"
Manic was practically jumping for joy. "Man, that thing with the Chaos Energy transporter thing did send you here."
Both Sonica and Knuckles whirled around to him.
"Chaos Energy?" they asked in unison.
The green hedgehog's expression changed to confused. "Um… Yeah?"
Sonica held up her hand, a sign to drop it. "Nothing. We'll talk about it later." She started walking toward her friends, dragging Sonia along. "Come on, let's head back to the party. I've got lots to tell you guys."
Unfortunately, Sonica had forgotten about her arm. That is, until she walked over to his friends.
They made it over to the group, who, despite Sonica's scold, still had goofy grins on their faces. Tails had landed the plane behind everyone and was now at the front of the group. Sonica ruffled his bangs when he came up to her.
Shadow saw the blood dripping down Sonica's arm. He couldn't hold himself back anymore; he didn't care if anyone figured out that they were dating. He marched over to the cobalt hedgehog, a stern look on his face.
'Oh no...' Sonica thought to herself, realizing why he was coming over and worried that her friends would find out about their relationship.
Shadow grabbed Sonica's hurt arm. His expression softened greatly as he inspected the wound. "Sonica..."
"Shads, it's just a scratch..." Sonica insisted, trying to pull away. He just gripped her arm tighter.
Sonia moved to look at the arm in question. Her eyes widened. "Sonica!"
Tails ran back to the Tornado, almost there. "I think there's a first-aid kit in the Tornado!"
Sonica took a step to stop him, but, remembering her sister holding her hand and her boyfriend holding her arm, stopped. "Tails! I'm fine. It's no big deal."
Tails had found the first-aid and was on his way back to his friend.
"You call that no big deal?!" Shadow spat. To be honest, her arm felt like it was on fire; the blood streaming down it added to the effect.
"Shadow, you drink my blood every three days," Sonica snorted, making sure no one else heard her.
"That's different," Shadow hissed.
"Sonica! Why didn't you say anything?! You're hurt! Bad! When did that even happen? When you were fighting that weird, robot version of yourself?" Sonia's grip on her hand tightened as she yelled at her. She knew it was more out of worry than anger; same with Shadow yelling at her. "Ohh… that's a lot of blood."
The injured heroine gripped her sister's hand tighter and gave her and Shadow a small smile, trying to show that she was fine. Her siblings and boyfriend stopped yelling at her, though they still didn't seem happy about her arm. Sonica looked down at the fox who was currently wrapping her arm in gauze.
"Do you always have to be a tough girl when it comes to this stuff?" he asked, securing the gauze in place.
"Yes."
That did get a small chuckle out of the kit, but it was obvious he was way worried. Tails gave Shadow a weird look. 'Why is he so worried about her?'
"I'm fine, buddy," Sonica tried to reassure. "I went through that battle with this and I'm still standing."
"You went through the entire battle with that?!"
Sonica winced at Sonia's raised voice. "Ummm…" She tried to think of something to say, but, for once, she came up blank.
"Why did you do that?"
This she knew how to reply to. "I was making sure he didn't try to attack you guys."
She instantly fell silent. She didn't expect that. She should have. "Ummm…"
Sonica laughed. "It's fine, sis. I get that speech a lot from these guys." She pointed back to her circle of friends standing behind them. "Amy tends to bring out the hammer." She rubbed the back of her head, remembering.
Pretty much the entire group cracked up at this. Amy just started turning the said hammer in her hands, making Sonica a bit nervous. Even Sonia had smiled at the thought of her sister getting a hammer to the head by the pink hedgehog.
"Done."
Sonica looked down at Tails' handy work. The white gauze was already partly red, but did seem to be slowing the flow of blood. And it did feel slightly better. "Thanks, Tails. Let's get back to the party, shall we?"
Manic hooked his arm around his sister's neck. "Sounds cool to me. We could use some chill time."
"Sweet." She grabbed her brother and adopted little brother and started pushing them toward the picnic. "Let's go before you find any other injuries on me."
Sonia looked at him with fake suspicion (most of her anger was gone), "You don't have any more do you?"
"Probably."
"Knux!"
Another bout of laughter started up and Cheese took his spot on Sonica's head. Sonica rolled her eyes to the sky, smiling.
'This really is the best birthday ever.'
Shadow narrowed his ruby eyes.
"You better not have any more injuries, Faker," he whispered in her ear.
"Shads..." Sonica whispered warningly, rolling her emerald eyes in fond exasperation. "I'm fine. We'll talk later, sweetie."
It didn't take long for them to get there. They were all some of the fastest Mobians you'd ever meet. Sonica still insisted on running, despite her injury. This worried her friends, but they knew that there was probably no way to stop her.
The clearing was exactly how they left it. With the small picnic table full of snacks and the large tree with a good amount of its leaves on the ground from Sonica and Shadow's race.
Vanilla was sitting at the table and stood up as she saw the group's return. She saw the gauze around Sonica's arm and, her motherly instincts kicking in, grew very worried and went to her first "Sonica, dear, are you all right?"
Sonica looked down at her arm then back at the mother rabbit with a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, Vanilla. It's just a little scratch."
Manic came over and lightly punched his sister on her good arm. "Little scratch, my butt."
She grabbed Manic in a headlock. "Whatever."
"Come on, man! Let go!"
"No way!"
The two started laughing. Sonia came over to watch the two, and since they weren't paying attention...
"Hey! No pushing!"
Sonia bent over with laughter. The two hedgehogs were now sprawled on the ground. Sonica had released her headlock on Manic. They both looked to each other and nodded, smiling mischievously. Then they tackled their sister to the ground.
"Hey!"
"Now we're even, sis!" Sonica said through her laughter.
She crossed her arms, trying to be cross, but couldn't help a smile.
"I'm guessing these are your brother and sister?"
Sonica had almost forgotten that Vanilla was standing there. "Yeah. Vanilla, this is Sonia and Manic. Sonia and Manic, this is Vanilla."
They scrambled off the dirt and exchanged hellos.
Rouge flew up over everyone's heads. "Hey, where did Omega go?"
Everyone looked around the meadow, but no one could see him.
"Omega?" Sonia asked.
"Yeah, another friend. We didn't take him with us 'cause we thought he might blow our cover," Sonica answered.
"Blow your-?"
"Found him!"
They all turned toward Tails' voice. The large robot emerged out of the shadows of the forest he was in.
Sonia squeaked slightly and jumped toward Sonica. Manic just gawked.
"It's all right," she reassured. "That's E-123 Omega. He's friendly."
Omega raised a metallic hand. "Greetings."
Sonia still looked slightly unsure. Manic thought it was really cool and went up to the robot.
Sonica tried to think of something that would help her sister relax. Then it came to her. "You remember ART?" She nodded. "Omega's almost exactly like him. He was created by Eggman, but after being locked up in a room, he rebelled against him." Sonia's expression seemed less tense and more interested. "Better now?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Good." She started directing her towards the large bot. "We can introduce you then."
After all the introductions, they all continued with the party. Sonica and Vector were having a chili dog eating contest, Sonia, Amy, and Cream were talking about clothes, hair, and so on, Manic was comparing notes on theft with Rouge, and Knuckles was talking to Tails.
"Oh yeah! Fifty dogs! That means you owe me fifty more rings, Vec!" Sonica cheered.
"Oh, come on!"
Espio sighed. "You should really stop betting against her. You're never going to win."
"Yeah. Sonica always wins. Always, always, always," Charmy added.
"Thanks for the support, you two." Sarcasm was dripping off his voice. "Hey! Wipe that smirk off your face!"
Sonica did indeed have a smirk on her face, and Cheese, who had plopped back on the hedgehog's head earlier, copied the expression. Charmy and Espio thought it was hilarious and laughed. Vector thought it was funny too, but he restrained himself from laughing. He just smiled instead.
"Heh. I think I'll go see how everyone is doing." Sonica stood up to leave. "See you later."
She headed toward the other girls, but when she heard what they were talking about, turned toward her brother. "Hey, guys."
"Sup, big sis."
Sonica put her arm around Manic's shoulders. "Two thieves together? Should I be worried?"
"You know I don't steal from family," Manic said, smiling.
She started poking her brother. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't give her any ideas,"
"Aw, come on, Blue."
"Sorry, Rouge, but I think I know you well enough by now. And I think Knuckles would agree."
She put her finger on her chin, pretending to think about it. "I guess you're right. Knuckie never was big on my jewel hunting."
Sonica rolled her eyes, grinning. "Mostly because the jewel you hunt is his."
"Fair enough," she admitted.
"You try to steal his Chaos Emerald?" Manic asked.
Rouge looked confused, but Sonica knew exactly what he was talking about. "Actually, it turns out that that Emerald isn't a Chaos Emerald. It's the Master Emerald."
"Master Emerald?"
Sonica nodded. "Yep. It's the most powerful relic in the universe."
"Whoa."
"It's also one beauty of a gem," Rouge added, her teal eyes sparkling.
"Don't even think about it, bat girl."
They turned to see Knuckles and Tails coming up to them. Knuckles went up to Rouge with a suspicious look in his eyes. Tails stood next to Sonica.
"Hey, guys."
Tails smiled up at his best friend. "Hey. Knuckles overheard Rouge talking about the Master Emerald and got suspicious, so he came over here."
"Chao!"
Sonica reached up to pet the Chao. "I hear that, pal."
They all giggled. Well, except for Knuckles and Rouge, who were having an argument (as usual) and completely oblivious to the others. Rouge was using her usual charm and Knuckles his usual temper.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Tails asked, gazing at the two.
"I guess." She took a starting pose. "Hold on tight, Cheese."
"Chao!"
"Hey, Shads! Race ya!"
"You're on, Faker!" Shadow replied, smirking as he also took a starting pose.
They took off, instantly boosting past the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom. Everyone grew quiet. Sonia and Manic's eyes grew to the size of saucers.
'Oh, right. I haven't told them about how much faster I am now, or how fast Shadow is.' She and Shadow skidded to a stop back with their friends, who were all gathered together now. Sonia and Manic were at the front.
"How did you guys do that?" Sonia asked.
Manic came up beside her. "I don't think I've ever seen you do that!"
"I just got faster, I guess." She rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I forgot to mention that, didn't I?"
Manic grinned. "Maybe."
"Heh."
"I've never seen anyone keep up with Sonica," Sonia remarked, staring at Shadow.
Shadow crossed his arms indignantly. "I'm the Ultimate Lifeform; of course I can keep up with Faker."
"All right, Shads, that's enough." She playfully flicked his ear, causing him to blush faintly, then looked at her siblings. "Come on, let's have some cake."
"Faker?!" Sonia asked, glaring at the black hedgehog.
"It's just his nickname for me; it's kinda an inside joke at this point," Sonica reassured.
They were all around the table, enjoying the cake and each other. Cheese had a cupcake and was eating it happily. Chocola, who was back on Sonica's lap, was doing the same. Sonica felt the crumbs on her head, but didn't really mind.
"Oh my gosh!" Sonia suddenly burst out.
"What is it, Sonia?" Sonica asked.
"Cyrus! Everyone back home is probably worried sick!" Sonia put her hand to her head.
"That's right!" Manic realized when his sister pointed it out. "We really need to call them."
"Do you have any way to call them?" Sonica asked.
"Yeah." Manic showed his communicator on his wrist. "Cyrus made it for us. It shows the call to everyone in Freedom HQ."
"Cool. Call them up." Sonica stood up, excitement glowing in her eyes. "I wonder how everyone is."
Manic and Sonia looked at each other, each smiling from ear to ear. "Let's find out."
Cyrus was pacing around Freedom HQ. Sonia and Manic hadn't called since they left. They should have been in the unknown land by now. Were they in trouble? They should have gone to the Oracle first. Then they would have known what to expect there. Did they get stopped before they could reach him?
"Cyrus, relax," Trevor tried to calm him from his seat nearby. "You're starting to act like Sonica when she gets worried. I'm sure they're fine."
The tense lion sighed. "Maybe, but-"
A loud ringing sound interrupted them and the entire HQ grew silent.
"Told ya," Trevor said.
Cyrus ignored him and ran over to answer the call. He pushed the respond button and released the air he had been holding in tension when he saw his two friends' faces appear on the large screen. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah, Cy. We're fine. Everything okay over there?" Manic asked.
He was answered by the cheers of all Freedom HQ. Trevor came up to stand next to his friend. "I'd say we're just fine."
"So, what's going on over there?" Cyrus questioned over the roar of the crowd. "You find any leads on Sonica?"
"Is this a good enough lead for ya?"
That wasn't Sonia or Manic's voice.
Sonica had jumped in between her siblings when she heard Cyrus ask about her and hooked her arms around them. She looked down at the small screen and saw Cyrus and Trevor in complete shock. She snickered at their expressions. "Hey, guys. Long time no see." They could hear all of Freedom HQ cheering from behind them. "Heh. Miss me?"
Cyrus grinned at the blue hedgehog. "Of course." He noticed the changes to the hedgehog; the longer spines, the leaner body, her new clothes, and most of all: her eyes. "When did your eyes turn green?"
Sonica blinked, then crossed her eyes in a fake effort to look at her eyes, making her friends in Robotropolis chuckle. "I'm not really sure."
"I think it was around the time of the Chaos incident," Tails inputted.
"Oh, yeah!" Sonica remembered. "Thanks, buddy."
"Who's that?" Cyrus looked around the screen, trying to find the source of the voice.
Sonica signaled for her friend to come over to them. "That's my friend, Tails. Stop being shy and get over here." Tails was walking slowly, obviously nervous and shy. The Blue Blur just smiled and walked over to the fox. "Come on."
"Wha-? Hey!" Sonica started pushing him toward her family. "Sonic! Cut it out!"
"Then stop being so shy and get over there," Sonica retorted, refraining from laughing.
"Okay! Okay! Stop pushing!" Tails complained.
Sonica snickered, but did stop. She put her arm around him to try and comfort the young fox. "Yo, Knux! You too!"
The echidna got up from his seat and walked with the two. Tails was still anxious, but not as much. Sonica had an entire past before she met Tails. Tails had just been a little kid with no parents. He barely had a past; Sonica had basically raised him. How would everyone from Sonica's past react to him? Would they like him?
"Relax, Tails." The young reynard jumped at the blue hedgehog's voice. "It'll be fine." Tails hadn't realized that he had started tensing up. Sonica, having her arms around her friend, felt this and could easily guess what he was thinking.
When they did make it over to the two, Sonia moved to the side so that they could all see the small monitor. Tails was scratching the back of his head nervously; even with his big sister there, he couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy.
"This is Tails," Sonica introduced. "Tails, meet Cyrus and Trevor."
"Hi."
'Man, Tails is really nervous,' Sonica thought, slightly nudging the fox in an effort to get him to relax. "And you should remember Knuckles."
The echidna came into the picture. "Yo." He rested his elbow on Sonica's shoulder.
"So the Floating Island did get teleported too." Cyrus looked deep in thought.
Tails looked over to Knuckles. "Floating Island?"
"Right. Forgot to mention this. It's not called the Floating Island anymore." Sonica looked kind of awkward saying it. "It's Angel Island now."
"Oh." Manic thought for a moment, thinking over the name. "It's a lot more creative than 'the Floating Island' at least."
Knuckles smiled and gave a nervous chuckle.
Trevor decided to cut in. "So, Tails." The fox tensed. "How long have you known Sonica now?"
Tails thought for a minute. "Since I was little; I can't remember exactly when."
"I think you were about four or so," Sonica suggested.
Tails shrugged. "I guess."
"How old are you now?" Cyrus asked.
"Twelve," Tails answered.
"Wow. You look older," Cyrus observed.
"He acts older too," Sonica added, ruffling the fox's bangs.
He laughed while he fixed his bangs. "I act older than you."
The blue hedgehog locked her friend in a headlock. "Whatever!"
The kit giggled as he struggled against his older opponent. "Yep! Now let go!"
"No way, Tails!"
A thought suddenly came to Trevor. "Tails? Where did you get that name from?"
The two stopped wrestling each other; Sonica let go of the fox. Tails warily gulped. "From these." He turned around to show his two tails that had been the main focus of his bullying when he was young. "Sonica gave me the nickname since I didn't like my real one too well."
The two on the other side of the receiver stood in shocked silence for a moment. Tails' ears slightly drooped and he looked out in the distance, away from the communicator screen. Sonica put her hand on his shoulder to try and relax the twin-tailed fox.
"That's pretty cool."
Tails snapped his head to the communicator. Sonica smiled, and looked over to her surprised little brother. "You didn't think everyone was like the kids on Westside Island did you?"
"Westside Island?" Sonia asked.
"That's where I lived before I came here. Most of the kids there bullied me. Then, I met Sonica." He looked over to said hedgehog who was grinning down at the fox. "I saw her running and followed her 'cause I thought she was cool." He scratched his nose, embarrassed.
"I was four," he added.
Sonica resisted a giggle hearing him try to explain his reasoning. She tousled the fox's bangs around, making him smile.
Sonia smiled at the affectionate brothers, then looked down at the communicator. "Dang it! Low battery."
Manic looked at the small battery symbol at the bottom of the screen. It had a small exclamation mark in the middle. "She's right. And I left the charger in the van, which is in front of the Oracle's cave at the moment."
"What type of battery does it have?" Tails asked.
Manic blinked, confused. "Um… Cyrus?"
Cyrus paused for a second, trying to recall. "I think it's a C.S 27."
"I have one of those at home. That's what Sonica's uses." Tails pointed to the communicator in question.
The Blue Blur rotated her wrist, looking at her present. "I didn't even know there were different types of batteries."
They cracked up this. Even Sonica laughed. Then the communicator around Manic's wrist started beeping. "Uh. I think we need to go."
"Sure thing, Manic," Cyrus said, "Good to have you back, Sonica. It was nice to meet you, Tails."
"Good to be back, Cy."
Then, the communicator went black.
The party continued for a few more hours, with games and eating. They were constantly laughing throughout the time. Sonia and Manic fit in perfectly with all Sonica's friends. Manic even competed with Vector some. And, surprise, surprise, Vector lost. Sonica constantly wrestled with Manic and Knuckles all through the day.
But eventually, the sun started to dip into the horizon, signifying the arrival of night. Rouge and Omega left first, followed by the Chaotix. Charmy had basically passed out from the sugar rush he had and from buzzing around so much. Cream fell asleep on her mother's arm soon after; Cheese and Chocola had also fallen asleep on top of Sonica's head and lap, respectively, where they had stayed throughout the day. Sonica had gently lifted the twin Chao off her head and lap and handed them to Vanilla as they left. Knuckles also left to go back to his island. How he planned to get there with no plane, Sonica didn't know.
Shadow still hadn't left yet, hiding behind a tree. He silently signaled Sonica that he wanted to say goodnight to her with a flick of his ear.
Tails started to yawn, beginning to grow tired.
"Getting sleepy there, buddy?" Sonica asked. The only reply was a drowsy nod from the fox. "Let's head home then." She turned to her siblings. "Come on. You guys can crash over at our place."
Manic hopped up from his seat at the table. "Cool."
'Our?' Sonia thought, also getting up. 'Does Sonic stay with Tails and his parents?'
"Tails, why don't you start leading our guests the way?" Sonica suggested. "I'll catch up."
Tails let out another yawn. "Okay, Sonica."
Once her three siblings were far enough away, Sonica turned towards her boyfriend. Shadow wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace. He let out a sigh.
"Why do we have to keep our relationship a secret?" He murmured into her shoulder as he lovingly rubbed her back. "Especially from Miles and your siblings? It would be so much easier if we didn't have to hide."
"Shads…" Sonica whispered, a hint of sadness in her voice. "We don't know how they'll take it. We're such polar opposites; they might not be accepting of us being a couple."
Shadow pulled out of the hug, but still held her in his arms. There was a bit of pain in his ruby irises. "Why do you care what they think? If they can't see or accept that we are meant for each other, then they're fools."
Sonica sighed, burying her face in his soft, fluffy chest fur.
"I just don't want to lose my friendship with any of them," she whispered, her voice starting to crack as she tried not to cry. Sniffling, she met his eyes once more. "I'll think about it."
Shadow gently brushed away her tears with his thumb, then hugged her tightly. "I love you, Faker."
Sonica sniffed one last time. "I love you too, Shads."
They shared a chaste kiss. Shadow gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Goodnight," he whispered, eyes soft.
Sonica gave him a return peck on the cheek. "Goodnight. See you tomorrow."
Shadow nodded in acknowledgment, then Chaos Controlled away, leaving Sonica to catch up with Tails, Sonia, and Manic.
The four of them all walked to Sonica and Tails' house together. Sonica couldn't carry all of them and run after all. Mystic Ruins wasn't too far from Green Hill, so it wouldn't take long. They mostly talked about the Freedom Fighters and everything that had happened since the incident. The parts about Sleet not changing anything confused Sonica the most. That dude was more snake than wolf. Then, she heard about their latest mission when they learned she was alive. Then she understood. She kept her mouth shut though. She didn't want to upset them, especially after such a great day. For the most part anyway.
After the eleventh story, they finally reached the small workshop. Dusk had taken over the area, so it had a light orange tint. The place was exactly as they left it. There were still nuts and bolts scattered around. Tools were in just about every place you could think of.
"Sorry 'bout the mess." Sonica picked up a screwdriver that had been laying on the couch. "We weren't expecting guests."
"Don't worry." Sonia came up and sat on the arm of the couch. "We weren't expecting to be guests."
"Heh." The blue hedgehog looked around the room. "Hey. Where did-?" Then she saw Tails walking up the stairs, already half-asleep. "'Night, buddy."
Her reply was a loud yawn as the fox made his way to his room. Sonica shook her head in amusement. She went back to get the blankets for the two. "You guys sure you don't just want to take my room?"
Manic helped his oldest sister with some of the larger blankets. "Nah,big sis. We're fine out here."
"Yep. Right now, I could hibernate in a cave. A couch sounds a lot more comfortable though." Sonia plopped down on the cushions.
"Yeah." Sonica looked down at her sister. "It's good to have you guys back."
Manic put his arm around her in a half-hug. "You too, sis."
Sonia got up and kissed her sister on the cheek. "Yeah, I missed you."
Sonica wrapped her arms around them, drawing them closer. "Missed you too." She let loose her own yawn. "I guess I should hit the sack too. It's been a long day. 'Night, guys."
"'Night, Sonic," the two said in unison.
"One of you guys should say 'jinx'." She started up the steps, hearing Manic yell 'jinx' and Sonia say something back. Despite her enhanced hearing, she didn't hear what she said, but knew it was probably something pretty rude.
Sonica laid in bed thinking about, well, everything. She thought about her time back in Robotropolis. The incident. About the first time she met Tails. About how much he had grown into a little brother for Sonica. The night she met Shadow. Their first date. The day he officially asked her to be his girlfriend.
'My entire family is together,' she thought. 'Well, almost. We're missing two people.'
I think that's the longest chapter I've ever made.