"Young Shadic is… gone…?"

Grand Queen Aleena gasped in horror as the news reached her, her brother Charles/Chuck, and her wife Bernadette, and Bernie's brother Jules, in their retirement home. Bernadette fell into her knees, crying in agony. Jules held his sister comfortingly while Chuck hissed.

"How?" he spoke. "How did he die…? He… He was strong… So, so strong…"

["I… Sh-Shads, would you tell them…?"] In the screen of the tablet, Sonic motioned for his husband to take over.

["O-Okay…"] Shadow took the tablet and hissed. ["I… I'm sorry, I… I failed him. I failed keeping him safe…"]

"Now, now, calm down, Shadow," Aleena sighed. "Tell us what happened,"

["T-Towers… H-He… He kidnapped Shadic after attacking us… then he… he threw over the waterfall…"]

"HE DID THAT TO A KID?!" Bernadette screamed. "HOW COULD HE DO THAT?!"

"A waterfall…?" Aleena looked surprised. "Hmm… what waterfall are you talking about, exactly?"

["O-One near the flower field near the house,"] Shadow answered.

"Hmm… I see," Aleena nodded. "Thank you for telling us, and don't worry. Perhaps Shadic is not completely gone,"

"H-Huh?!" Jules, Chuck and Bernadette stared at her in disbelief.

Even Sonic and Shadow looked puzzled, but Aleena didn't explain as she hung up and stood up. She made her way up her room to change into some adventuring clothes then she went down to head out.

"Alee, where are you going?" Bernadette asked.

"I have a feeling that I know that waterfall, but I need to go and make sure first," Aleena placed on the hood to her clothes. "I will return,"

X

X

"Where we going, Grandpa?" Pickle asked as they packed all their bags.

"Moving to a new city, a city where your parents found a new job," Grandpa pickle told him.

"Do… Do I go with you?" Shadic asked.

"Of course you should," Grandpa Pickle nodded and patted his head. "Until we find your parents or any relative to take you back, we're keeping you as close to us as possible. Wouldn't want you to get lost out there,"

"Oh, okay, Grandpa Pickle!" Shadic nodded.

"Perhaps, you can let Shadic help you pack up your things, Pickle," Grandpa Pickle suggested.

"Okay!" Pickle nodded. "Come on, Shadic!"

"Okay," Shadic nodded and drove after the small green truck.

Grandpa Pickle smiled as they drove off. As soon as they were gone, he sighed and took out a box of letters from the past few days since Shadic came to stay with them.

Some letters were questions from journalists. Others were biddings for the Chaos Emerald and for Shadic himself.

How those pesky journalists and scientists found out about Shadic's existence, he'll never know, but he can't let the poor pup get hurt and tortured by those cold-hearted beings that cared for nothing but their reputations.

With a heavy sigh, he threw the letters away and turned to continued packing.

In a few minutes, they were all ready to head to Axle City. Grandpa Pickle had gotten in contact with his son Ganmul, along with his wife Atsara, Pickle, Lily, Tillie, Millie, and Frilly's parents, to meet them at the city with Ben, Ken and Sven's parents Asinan and Brina.

"Come on, kiddos, let's go," the elderly truck spoke before motioning them to follow him through the forest.

The sooner they were away from the danger, the better.

X

X

Aleena stopped in front of the waterfall that Shadow had described.

Just as she thought, it was the waterfall with crystal blue water and diamond rocks that she discovered years ago when she was hiding out from Robotnik. She had always wanted to enter and find out where the waters went, only researches saying that it leads to another world.

And now, this was her only chance to figure out.

Now that she had a good reason to.

She took a deep breath before she took the jump. She fell down, down and below until she reached the crystal water. She dove inside and held her breath as she swam through, following the fast current before allowing the river below to carry her away.

The cave she had entered soon brighten up, and Aleena headed up to the surface to find herself in a forest, one that she had never once seen before.

"Hmm… so this is the world that the waterfall leads to…"

She climbed out of the water as soon as she got the chance. She dried herself up before walking around.

"If the waterfall leads here, then Shadic MUST be alive," she glanced down at her flute medallion and grasped it. "And I will do all that I can to get my youngest grandson back,"

Years had passed since his arrival at this world of trucks.

Shadic had lived with the Pickle Family since they found him. He had become their honourable sibling/cousin and had even comforted Lily, Tillie, Millie, Frilly and Pickle after their mother died at childbirth and when their father died of depression. He had also been there when Ben, Ken and Sven's parents died. He had also been there to take care of the new baby Gherkin.

In addition, Shadic had changed his name in attempt of not attracting any attention to any enemy that might have followed him through the portal, via the suggestion of Grandpa Pickle.

Soon, he had reached the age of 18, and in that age he had gotten into a hobby; racing! In his truck form, he could speed fast, not as fast as he usually would but fast enough not to burn himself out and still win the race.

Unfortunately, this made him greedy for the win. With the chaos emerald in one of his inventing pouches, he created machines and robots to get rid of his competitors and win races.

This new hobby got the family concerned, but Pickle was there to help out. There to attempt to talk the dark blue truck out of cheating.

Things seem to have grown worse when the new red truck Blaze and his driver AJ came to the city. Shadic was already uneasy with Gabby bring the mechanic, his trauma on humans from his childhood wounding him harshly. When he saw AJ, his trauma came back, and he didn't bother to trust him or Blaze.

His inventions got worse, and every time Blaze broken it, a twinge of pain came to him, most likely because each invention was linked to him, and it pained every time they were destroyed.

Even with his life busy with races and cheats, he never once forgotten his beloved home Mobius. Never forgot his parents, his siblings, his many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Never forgot his grandmothers; Grammy Aleena and Nana Bernie, and his Grand-Uncles/Grunkles; Grunkle Chuck and Grunkle Jules.

He wished he could see them all again.

And one day, his wish came true.

X

X

She had searched across the world for her youngest grandson. She had shifted into many forms, with the help of a special trinket she had taken with her.

But at long last, she had found him.

Shadic could change his name. He could change his form. He could grow up and be almost unrecognisable to anyone and everyone.

But she knew it was him.

The marks on his sides gave him away, revealing his quills even in his truck form.

It was him.

It was Shadic.

She shifted into a truck form of her own, similar to Shadic's. She had driven to the Monster Dome as fast as she could, ready to cheer for her grandson as he raced.

She even went as far as to call her grandson through a nickname she made with the name he used.

"Oh, Crushy!"

Crusher stiffened at the familiar voice as he skidded to a stop. Even if it sounded a little older than when he had last heard it, he KNEW it was her.

"GRAMMY!"

He turned to see a truck similar to him, no doubt a form to match him and look like they're actually related. The flowery hat on her head was a give away to her identity for him, knowing that his grandmother loved to garden roses and other flowers as he dashed to her.

"Oh, Crushy, I came to see you race!" Aleena cried with a smile.

Anyone would have thought that the sentence was simple, but Crusher was not just 'anyone'. The look in her eyes told him the secret message.

'Race now, talk later.'

He nodded and accepted her kisses, ones that he thought he could never get in years before making his way to the starting line.

X

X

The day had been very eventful. Runaway Rocket Skis, pinching crabs, runaway logs, a knitted rope…

But finally, it was already done, and Crusher was heading to his and Pickle's shared apartment with his Grammy.

"You have quite a friend there, Shadic," Aleena giggled as they drove home. "So strong, amazing…"

"G-Grammy!" Crusher flushed bright red.

"What? It's a fact," Aleena laughed.

"H-He's my rival," Crusher insisted. "He's got that… human driver,"

"AJ? Why… oh," Aleena's eyes softened. "I see the problem. You're scared of humans since Towers threw you down the waterfall, aren't you?"

"Mm-hmm…" Crusher nodded, turning away. "I know that it's stupid since Uncle Ivo, cousin JC and cousin Violet are human…"

"The trauma is normal, don't worry, Shady," Aleena smiled and patted his back. "but I have a feeling that your feelings also stretch to another?"

"…Maybe," Crusher sighed. "It's hard to choose…"

"Okay, I understand," Aleena giggled before taking a deep breath. "For years, I've been searching for you. Everyone thought of you gone, and they're miserable…"

"I… I didn't mean to make anyone miserable," Crusher winced. "Can… Can we go back…?"

"Unfortunately, I don't think it works backwards," Aleena sighed. "And even if it does, the way through the cave and heading up a waterfall is a difficulty,"

"Oh," Crusher let out a sigh. "Well, it was worth a try…"

"Dont worry, Shady," Aleena held her grandson comfortingly. "We will get back, no matter what,"