Sonica drowsily walked down the stairs. She had woken up bright and early, even though she went to bed so late. She wanted to see her brother and sister, to make sure it wasn't just some crazy dream.

Sure enough, the two hedgehogs were fast asleep on the couch. She smiled to herself and walked into the kitchen to start breakfast. She jumped in surprise when she saw Shadow sitting at the table, dozing lightly.

"What are you doing here, especially so early?" she whispered loudly.

Shadow half-opened one eye. "I wanted to see you."

Sonica playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Well, if you're gonna be here, make yourself useful and help me make breakfast."

Shadow yawned, exposing his sharp fangs, and got up.

Tails woke up to the smell of pancakes, bacon, and eggs.

'Sonica,' he realized. He was still half-asleep, but hunger and his bladder overcame his sleepiness and he dragged himself out of his bed. When he reached the bottom of the stairs after using the bathroom, he made sure to tiptoe as quietly as he could, so as to not wake up their guests.

"Hey there, buddy," Sonica said as she saw the fox enter. (Shadow had left when he heard Tails get up.) "You hungry?"

Tails yawned. "Yep."

"And tired too, apparently." She put the bacon down in front of him. "Here ya go. Save some for the rest of us."

This got a short chuckle out of him. "I'll try."

Sonica shook her head, grinning as Tails started to dig in. Then, she heard a noise from the living room. The cobalt hedgehog stuck her head out the door to see her brother and sister starting to wake up. "Morning, sleepy heads."

Sonia looked up at her sister. "Morning." She stood up and stretched. "That smells really good."

"Come and get some then."

Manic made his way to the kitchen. "No chili dogs?"

Sonica rolled her eyes and sat down in a seat beside Tails. "I don't eat chili dogs 24/7, for your information."

"You still eat them a lot," Tails added in-between bites.

"Yeah, yeah." She took some eggs for herself. "You guys gonna eat or not?"

Sonia took a seat next to Sonica. "Gladly."

As they ate, Sonica started telling stories of her adventures and the places she had visited.

"What about that Chaos thing that Tails mentioned yesterday?" Manic asked through a mouth full of eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

"To put it short," Sonica answered as Manic got hit for talking with his mouth full by Sonia. "A god of destruction broke out of the Master Emerald and destroyed a good part of Station Square and we stopped it."

The two stared, awestruck, for a moment, but Manic broke it very quickly. "Cool!"

Sonia seemed more worried. "What happened to the city?"

"Don't worry, it's fine," Sonica assured her. "The city recovered really quickly, plus it happened a really long time ago."

"And your eyes?" she added.

"Ummm…" To tell the truth, she wasn't entirely sure how it happened.

Luckily, Tails seemed to have an idea. "I think it might have had something to do with the Master Emerald. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I'm pretty sure it had to do with her exposure to it."

Sonica shrugged. "What he said."

"They do match the color," Sonia said thoughtfully.

Said emerald-eyed hedgehog finished off her breakfast. "Anyway, how about we head to Station Square for the day?"

Tails also cleared his plate. "I'm game."

Sonia jumped up. "Sounds fun!"

Manic joined her. "Totally!"

Sonica and Tails got up as well. "Let's go then." Sonica rushed out the door, then popped her head in again. "You guys comin'?"

Tails giggled and ran out with Manic right behind him. Sonia followed more slowly.

'Where are Tails' parents? Are they at work or something?' she wondered.

"Come on, Sonia!"

"We're waiting!"

She smiled. "I'm coming! Don't you guys have any patience?"

"Nope," came multiple voices in unison.

They arrived in the city and two jaws dropped. Station Square was a busy city with people everywhere. Talking, shopping, and just having fun. With buildings as high as the clouds and cars driving up and down the streets busily. It was like a different version of old Mobius.

"You guys can close your mouths now."

They did as they were told and looked over to their grinning sister.

"This place is amazing!" Sonia stated, looking around at the new sites.

"And there's a lot more to see." Sonica started to walk ahead of them, and backwards.

"You're going to run into something." Tails was looking into some of the store windows.

"I haven't yet, have I?" Sonica smirked.

Tails just rolled his eyes. The two hedgehogs walking frontward smiled. Sonica was just as cocky as always. Even with walking.

"Miss Sonica!"

Sonica turned forward to see Cream the Rabbit running toward them with Cheese the Chao and Chocola the Chao. "Hey there, Cream." She got attacked by a small, light blue blur and a small, brown blur. "You too, Cheese and Chocola."

"Chao!"

The cream-colored rabbit stopped in front of them. "Hello, Miss Sonica."

"Whatcha doin down here?"

"We were shopping with Amy," she answered.

Sonica looked slightly nervous all of a sudden. "Is she here?"

"She's still in the store. She should be out any minute."

Sonica gave an exhausted sigh with Cheese placing himself up on her head again. Manic came up to her and started poking at his sister. "What? Isn't she your best female friend?"

"Yes," she replied. "But she tries to get me to wear dresses that I would only wear if I were dead, and that's only because I would have no say in the matter."

"Sonica!"

Amy ran up at the sight of the hedgehog. Sonica sighed. "Hey, Amy."

She refrained from glomping her. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Showing these two around the city," she motioned to her siblings.

Amy ran over to Sonia. "Oh! I know the perfect place to show you!" She started jumping in excitement. "There's a really good hair stylist not far from here! I have to show you!"

Sonia's eyes lit up. "Really?" She looked over to her sister, brother, and Tails, hesitant to leave them.

"Don't worry 'bout it, sis," Sonica reassured her. "Go on. We'll meet up later."

The magenta hedgehog hugged her tightly. "Thanks, sis!" She turned to the two girls. "Let's go!"

Sonica and the guys watched them run off giggling and talking.

"Girly-girls," Manic muttered, smiling.

"Hey." Sonica put her arm around the green hedgehog. "She doesn't get to do this often. Let her be."

"Yeah, I know."

"Hey, Sonic. Can we go to the park?" Tails came up beside the hedgehog with pleading eyes.

"Sure thing, buddy." She turned to where she remembered the park was. "Over there, right?"

"Actually, over there." Tails pointed North of where Sonica was looking.

"Oh."

"You're not a very good guide," Manic teased.

Sonica, in turn, headlocked her brother. "Would you rather walk around by yourself and get lost?"

"As opposed to getting lost with my big sister?" Sonica tightened her grip. "Any day."

She let go of the emerald hedgehog and warmly smiled at him. "Come on. Let's head down there. There's this chili dog stand that's really good."

"So you do still have an endless appetite for chili dogs. We just had breakfast!" Manic remembered her endlessly eating chili dogs anytime she saw a stand, even during missions.

"You have no idea."

"Ha, ha." Sonica brushed Tails' bangs purposely into his eyes. "Very funny."

"Thank you."

Manic and Tails laughed and even Sonica had to smile. They kept this up all the way to the park. Laughing and mocking each other, being boys and a tomboy. Not caring about Robotnik or Eggman. Sonica paused in her laughing. She would eventually have to tell them. But not now, not when they were so happy and not when they just came back together.

"You okay, sis?"

Her brother's voice shook her out of her thoughts. "Yeah. Just lost in thought, I guess."

"You gettin' philosophical on us?"

"Not even close."

"I can confirm that."

"Whatever!" She tackled the fox in a blue blur.

"Hey!" Tails was giggling like crazy as he wrestled around with his best friend on the grass. Luckily, they had arrived at the park, so it wasn't too out of place.

"Dogpile!" Manic joined in the tussling, landing on top of the two with Sonica at the bottom.

"Again?"

When they all finally untangled themselves from each other, they burst out laughing and panting on the ground.

"Man, this place is beautiful," Manic thought aloud. "I wonder why Robotnik never tried to take over this area."

Sonica turned her head to look at her brother lying next to her. "Don't know, but I'm glad he didn't." She looked over to Tails on the other side of her. "There's some pretty cool people over here." The fox grinned in return.

Sonica closed her eyes and enjoyed the sun beaming down on her, the gentle breeze tugging at her fur, and the soft grass that she laid on.

Her brother watched Sonica lie there and smiled to himself. He'd never seen her so relaxed before. Sonica usually was running around, never taking a break. Now here she was, taking a nap in the middle of the park.

Then someone else came up. "I've never seen you so calm and not hyper and running around."

Sonica squinted one emerald eye open. "Hey, sis."

Said sister had about a dozen bags hanging off her arms and her hair didn't look as tangled and messy as when she left. Amy and Cream were right behind her. "You seem awfully peaceful there."

"Yep." Cheese plopped himself down on the hedgehog's chest and snuggled against her neck. Chocola plopped himself down on her belly and snuggled into her peach fur. "You guys done already?"

"It's been an hour and a half." Sonia and the rest of the girls sat down on the grass. "We thought you guys might be getting impatient."

"Really?" Tails sat up. "Doesn't feel like that long."

Sonica yawned, but didn't get up. "Yeah. It feels like we just got here. How long have we been here?"

Manic folded his arms under his head. "I don't know. Forty minutes, maybe."

"What have you guys been up to?" Amy asked.

"Well," Sonica thought for a minute, "We started walking to the park, teasing each other and whatnot. Then, when we got here, we all started wrestling with each other, and after we laughed for a bit, we chilled. Then you came along."

Sonia rolled her eyes affectionately. "Tomboy."

Sonica looked over to Manic with a teasing glint in her eyes. Manic only replied with a slight shove on her arm. He hit the still red gauze. "Oh, man. We should have changed out your gauze this morning."

All eyes turned to her injured arm. Sonica, cautiously as to avoid disturbing the Chao on his chest and belly, reached over and removed it completely.

"Sonica, are you sure-?"

"Don't worry 'bout it, sis." She gazed down at the now-exposed arm. It was slightly pale due to the lack of oxygen compared to the rest of her limbs. The cut itself seemed to have closed and was a slight shade of pink, slightly inflamed. Some blood was still crusted on parts of her skin, but she quickly scraped it away. The scar wrapped halfway around her arm. She knew it would fade though. It didn't seem that bad to her.

"Oh, man." Her siblings were less impressed. "Are you sure we shouldn't get more gauze for it?"

"Nah." She put said arm under her head, careful for the spines. "I've had worse."

"Worse?" Bad thing to say.

"Nothing." She tried to brush the subject away. "It's nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Manic was now sitting up as well.

She had failed to mention her close encounter with death on the ARK and just about every other adventure or section of an adventure where she almost died. And the werehog incident too. That would be hard to explain.

"Okay. So I've had a few close shaves with death." She then looked to Tails and her other friends for support. None was provided. "But I'm fine now, though. It's not like you guys haven't ever been hurt during our missions."

The two tried to think of a good comeback, but nothing came up. She had a very valid point.

"I know how you feel," she continued. "I nearly had a heart attack every time you guys were in major trouble. But it's different for me. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if anyone got hurt because of me or I could have stopped them from getting hurt. That goes double for all you guys. I'd rather me get hurt and all my loved ones be safe than them be hurt while I just sit on the sidelines doing nothing."

Sonia leaned forward so that she was looking directly into her eyes, "And we don't want you getting hurt." She kissed her on the forehead. "We've been on the sidelines for years. Now that we're back, you can't go and get yourself killed. Got it?"

She reached up and moved some of her hair that was hanging down in her face. "Got it."

They spent the rest of the day playing in the park. Sonica made a run back to the house for the frisbee that she and Tails would often bring to play with. Sonica often showed off with her speed when catching the disk. Tails decided not to use his tails to fly, as that might seem like cheating. Cheese and Chocola took a ride on it every once in a while and they would always fly a little awkwardly after the frisbee had been caught.

The boys and Sonica, being a tomboy, would often tackle each other to keep the other from taking the flying disk. A girl would just pick it up while they were tussling about.

They did go to the chili dog cart that Sonica had mentioned to Manic for lunch. Luckily for Sonia, they had more than just chilidogs. And all the girls, for that matter.

Overall, they spent the entire day just playing and having fun. No missions, no robots on patrol, just a day throwing around a frisbee and just being the teens/kids they were.

On the way home, after saying good-bye to Amy and Cream, Manic brought up an inevitable subject. "Eventually, we're going to have to go back."

Sonica nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"How though?" Sonia stared down at her feet as she walked. "The Oracle teleported us here. We have no way back." She looked at Sonica with a sad look in her eyes. "Unless, maybe, you found the way back…"

"No. No," she quickly corrected her. "If I had, I would have come back to see you guys." Then she started to look depressed. "I ran all around the world, and I couldn't find you guys." She felt a slight brush beside her and looked to see Tails giving her an encouraging smile.

Manic put his hand on her shoulder. "'Course you did, sis. We still can't get back, though."

Then one of Tails' amazing ideas struck. "Do you guys remember where you landed when you were teleported?"

"Um. Yeah. Yeah, I think so." They were obviously confused.

"I might be able to track were you were transported from, if I bring out the right equipment for the readings." The fox looked like he was making a mental list of all the things he would need.

"Really?" Sonia asked.

The kit nodded. She looked over to Sonica for conformation. "Twelve-year-old prodigy," she explained.

"And I know how we can teleport there," Sonica continued.

"And Eggman?" Manic seemed almost reluctant to ask.

Sonica smiled back at him. "My friends will be able to hold down the fort while I'm gone. And I can teleport back when I need to. I can spend as much time as I want back there!"

Both of them lit up like the city lights did at night. "Awesome!"

She got glomped by her sister. "You can see everyone again!"

"Yep." She looked over to Tails. "And they can meet all my friends."

The young fox beamed up at her. Sonia and Manic seemed to like the idea too. "Yeah! This will be great!"

Sonica threw her fist into the air. "Look out, Robotropolis! Here we come!"

After everyone else fell asleep, Sonica snuck out to visit Shadow's house. As she cuddled with him on the sofa, she thought about her trip tomorrow, and the possibility of telling the others about their relationship.

"Shads?" she asked quietly.

"Hmm?" Shadow mumbled.

"I'm going back to Robotropolis with my siblings tomorrow," Sonica explained. "I've thought about telling them about us. We should tell them."

Shadow smiled. "All right."

"Do you want to come with us to Robotropolis?"

He hummed thoughtfully. "I'd like that." Sonica snuggled against his shoulder, completely relaxed now. "When are we going to tell your friends?"

Sonica mumbled sleepily. "Maybe when we get back."

"All right."

Sonica soon fell asleep next to Shadow. Noticing this, he got up and gently laid her down. He got an extra pillow and a blanket and tucked her in, before heading to his bedroom to sleep in his bed.