Quick update, but I couldn't wait to get this one out. Who's ready to meet the rest of the dozen?

"Sand! Sandshrew shrew!"

Knuckles, who had been trekking toward the house in the distance, paused to turn around when he heard Sandshrew's yelling. She was squatting by the cliff that dropped down to the glistening waters below, peering down at it.

"Don't get so close to the cliff!" Knuckles sternly barked. He was sure she would be scarred for life if he had to save her from drowning. And honestly, Riolu would probably be too from the secondhand terror.

"Shrew?" She glanced back at the echidna before nodding with a smile. "Sand!"

When Sandshrew bounded over to him, Knuckles continued his way over to the home. He was careful not to bump into Riolu because the pup was basically huddled into his side at this point, the grip on his wrist trembling. Knuckles had half the mind to tell him to give him more space, but the nervous eyes snapping back and forth made him hold his tongue.

"Rew rew?" Sandshrew padded over to Riolu, tilting her head at him with a concerned frown.

"Rio…" Riolu answered, clearly overwhelmed.

Sandshrew nudged him and beamed. "Rew!" She ran ahead, plucked a red flower, and brought it over. "Shrew!"

She held the flower out for Riolu, and he took it with the tiniest of smiles.

Knuckles watched their interaction, still processing them and everything that he's been told. Sonic and Tails apparently have more of these creatures with them, and they had powers.

He had asked Sandshrew and Riolu if they had any, but they had looked like they didn't know what in the world he was talking about. So, either it was another language thing, or maybe only certain breeds had them?

Actually, Knuckles was glad that none of his could breathe fire because the last thing he wanted was for Angel Island to start burning down. Again. And he wasn't going to let that fire creature anywhere near it either. Knuckles had to dock the island in the nearby sea, but he was going to keep a sharp eye on the hotshot just in case it got a little too curious.

Knuckles continued along his short trek with Sandshrew zigzagging in front of his feet. When he reached his friends' yard, he saw the house's front door fly open. Knuckles paused in his stride when a grey bird, a weasel with two tails, a red fox, and a flowery hedgehog ran out.

He knew that he shouldn't be so surprised, but this was still insane.

"Oh, hey, Knucklehead!" Sonic had exited after the creatures and spotted him. The blue blur ran over to him with a waving Tails at his heels. When the two stopped in front of Knuckles, Sonic smiled down at Sandshrew and Riolu. "And friends!"

The shrew returned the smile and chirped a greeting while Riolu hid behind Knuckles' legs.

"Aw…" Tails squatted and held out a hand, but Riolu leaned away. "It's shy."

"That's an understatement," Knuckles distractedly murmured, his eyes on the others running over here as well.

Sonic chuckled as he patted the energetic Sandshrew on her head. "So, you gonna introduce us or what?"

"That's Sandshrew, and-" Knuckles pointed behind him at the quiet pup. "-this is Riolu. Now tell me which one breathes fire so I know to never let it on my island."

Sonic rolled his eyes while the kit answered with an amused giggle, "Vulpix isn't going to burn anything down, Knuckles! At least, not on purpose." Tails pointed at the red fox that reached them, it going over to sniff a whining Riolu. "That's Vulpix!"

"And this is Buizel!" The weasel stood beside Sonic, and the hedgehog ruffled the fur on its head. "This little guy can put out any fire, so no worries!"

"Bui bui!" It confirmed, grinning.

Knuckles wasn't impressed. "I'd rather have no chance of it happening at all than having a backup plan." At the sound of chiming laughter, he looked down to see Sandshrew and the green hedgehog running around each other in a game of tag before taking off. Not wanting to be left out, Buizel chased after them. "What's the green one?"

"Shaymin!" Sonic shook his head in jest as those three played in the yard. "It and Buizel are somethin' else, I tell ya. I took an unexpected swim in the bathtub because of 'em."

Knuckles wished that he could've seen that. "So, the one with the fire is one of the calm ones, huh?" He peered over his shoulder. Vulpix was still by Riolu, but it was busier scratching itself than paying attention to the uncomfortable pup. "That's one good thing to come out of this."

"It's all good, Knuckles!" Sonic scratched his cheek. "It's just that there was no way we could've predicted this."

Tails grew pensive. "And we don't know why either…"

Knuckles would like to find that out as soon as possible. "Yeah, I told you about Celebi, but that thing rose more questions than ans – gah!" The echidna stepped back when the white bird swooped down right in front of his face. The move would've been fine and dandy if Riolu hadn't been right behind him. There were flailing limbs as they both crashed to the ground.

"Ruff?"

Knuckles groaned as he sat up, seeing the bird tilt its head down at him. Tails must've caught his glare, for he hastily said, "Sorry, Knuckles! This is Rufflet, and it's uh…really curious sometimes."

"To a fault," the echidna grumbled as he stood back up, wiping off specks of dirt.

"…Yeah."

"Let?" Rufflet landed by Riolu, who froze mid-recovery at the sight of the bird.

Vulpix, having scampered out of the way, sent Rufflet a level gaze. "Vulpix pix," it crisply yipped.

The bird cooed in apology. Riolu glanced between the other two before subtly relaxing. "Lu lu…"

Rufflet happily tweeted, hopping back and forth.

Tails' eyes were gleaming. "So fascinating! I wonder though…did something happen to make Riolu so skittish, Knuckles?"

Knuckles shook his head. "Nope. Been that way since he hatched."

"Wait, he?" Sonic questioned, looking Riolu over. "How do you know that?"

Knuckles was surprised that they hadn't tried to figure it out earlier. "I just asked them. Sandshrew's a girl."

"…Huh." Sonic whirled around and waved the ones playing over. "Hey, Buizel, Shaymin! Come back for a sec!" They didn't hesitate in doing so, Sandshrew running over as well. When curious gazes focused on him, Sonic clasped his hands together. "Okay, so! If you're a boy, go stand over by Riolu!" He motioned to the pup before switching to the shrew. "And if you're a girl, stand by Sandshrew!"

Tails glimpsed at his newest buddies. "You guys, too!"

They all looked at each other in a brief moment of hesitation, before following orders. Buizel and Rufflet crowded around Riolu, who stiffened at the closeness, while Vulpix trotted over to a smiling Sandshrew.

Shaymin looked between the two groups before sitting down where it stood. "Shay!"

None of the trio expected that.

"Uh…" Sonic took a guess. "Is it both?"

"Or neither?" Tails took a shot in the dark. "I think there are some animals in the world like that…"

"Min!" Shaymin smiled and squealed when Buizel playfully pounced on it.

"Just one thing after another," Knuckles muttered to himself before raising his voice. "What do we do with them?"

Sonic put a hand on his hip, raising an inquisitive brow. "What do you mean? I thought it was obvious that we keep 'em until…something happens."

Knuckles stared incredulously at him. "Until something happens."

"Yep!"

He didn't quite agree with that. "Well, so that something doesn't happen anywhere near the Master Emerald-" Knuckles cut his eyes over to Riolu and Sandshrew. They weren't paying attention to him, busy picking flowers. "-I'll leaving those two with you."

The brothers stared at him like he was crazy. "Seriously?" They both asked before Tails frowned, unsure. "We don't even know if something will happen yet!"

"It always does sooner or later, Tails, and you know it."

Sonic jumped into the conversation. "You really wanna toss 'em to the side just like that? What about the mystery? Sure, they can't spit fire, water, or create wind." Knuckles' eyes widened when they locked on Rufflet circling high in the sky. "But they could do somethin' cool later on! And plus…" His voice softened. "They seem really attached to you, Knucklehead, especially Riolu."

"That's because they've only been around me, so-"

Sonic snickered as he threw an arm around Knuckles' shoulders. "I know that havin' these adorable little guys following you around ruins the rough-and-tough thing you're going for, but c'mon…" He went to pick up Sandshrew, who squeaked in surprise. Sonic held her in front of Knuckles' face. "Look at her!"

Knuckles fought to keep his expression blank. "It's not working, Sonic."

The speedster waved Sandshrew a bit back and forth, and she giggled with outstretched arms. "Shrew rew!"

It was a losing battle. Knuckles relented, taking the shrew and allowing her to climb on his shoulder. She cheered before relocating to his head, joyfully twittering.

Sonic and Tails high-fived each other; Knuckles rolled his eyes. He was then distracted when Riolu stepped beside him with his arms raised as well. "Lu?"

Before Knuckles' rough-and-tough exterior could take another hit, a familiar voice called out to them.

"Hey, everyone!"

The trio of boys whipped around to find Amy jogging towards them, but she wasn't alone. In her arms was a green plant, and there was a small white creature keeping up at her side.

"What the – she has them too?" Knuckles asked, frowning. Exactly how many people did Celebi give these things to?

"And that makes eight…" Tails muttered, just as shocked as the echidna was.

Sonic got over his surprise enough to greet her back. "Hey, Amy!" He gestured to the full yard when she met up with them, grinning. "Guess you got invited to the party too, huh?"

"Guess so!" Amy's wide eyes drifted from a smiling Sandshrew, to Riolu hiding behind Knuckles once more, and to all of the others frolicking in the grass. "Wow…I should've known that I wasn't the only one who found adorable surprises this morning!" She reached up to pet Sandshrew. "Aren't you a cutie?"

She leaned into the touch. "Rew!"

Amy giggled, pulling back. "This is Budew!" She adjusted the one in her arms. It barely looked awake, yawning loudly. "He just woke up. And this is…Ralts!" She quietly huffed when she saw the white one at her side glaring at the boys. "What did I tell you about being nice? These are my friends!"

Ralts glanced at her before looking away. "Ral."

Amy sighed. "That's Ralts. She's a little bit too protective, I think."

"You think?" Tails repeated doubtfully.

Sonic waved her off. "No worries! She's new to this like we are! Once we all get to know each other and be friends, things'll work out!"

Amy sighed. "I hope so." She set Budew on the ground, giving him a little nudge. "Go meet everyone, Budew! Make sure to play nice!" He didn't go anywhere, though. He simply sat at her feet and started to doze off again.

Sonic could sympathize. "I feel ya, lil dude. It is early in the morning."

"Pix?" Vulpix was making her way over at this point. Ralts gave her a harsh glare, but the fox wasn't bothered. She kept approaching, bypassing Ralts and sniffing Budew.

The plant blinked sleepily. "Dew…"

"Pix vulpix."

"Bud."

Vulpix crouched low to the ground, and Budew managed to maneuver onto the red fox's back, laying on his stomach. With a yip, she trotted over to where Rufflet was pecking at the ground.

"See?" Amy put her hands on her hips, frowning down at Ralts. "You'll make new friends really easily if you just be nice!" The other still wasn't looking at her.

Knuckles scoffed, slightly wincing when Sandshrew jumped off his head due to a call from Shaymin. "Looks like she has a bad case of the Shadow-syndrome."

Sonic and Tails chuckled at that while Amy groaned. "Please don't let that be the case!"

"Keep all black dye away from her, and everything should be fine," Sonic teased, and Amy shook her head in amusement.

"So anyway…" The bubblegum hedgehog twirled one of her quills, gazing in interest at their new bunch of friends. "Do you have any history on them? Like, where did they come from?"

Sonic shrugged. "Knuckles said that something called a Celebi delivered the eggs to us for some reason. But there was a language barrier, so we're lost in the dark at the moment."

Before Amy could ask about this Celebi, Tails continued the convo. "All we know for sure is that some of them have powers. For example-" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Vulpix sneeze again, catching the grass in front of her on fire once more. And like last time, Buizel ran over to put it out with a splash of water. "-that."

Amy gawked for a solid ten seconds before enthusiastically asking Ralts, "Can you do anything like that?"

Ralts shook her head with no other comment.

Amy was still in awe. "That's so cool!"

Sonic snickered. "Our lives don't stay dull for long, huh?"

"Unfortunately."

He ignored Knuckles as he addressed Tails, "Now that we got a whole crowd to choose from, you wanna run some tests to see what you can find?"

Tails brightened at the suggestion. "Yeah! I was thinking about doing that." He searched around the yard and called, "Rufflet? Can you come here for a second?" The bird glanced up at him before taking flight, eventually landing on the fox's outstretched arm. "Do you mind if I take one of your feathers?"

Rufflet held his head down and chirped, signifying a no. Tails smiled before combing his fingers through the thick plumage, loosening a feather with little effort.

Tails held the downy white feather and thanked him. Rufflet nuzzled his cheek and then fluttered over back to Vulpix. The resting red fox lifted her tails to allow him to settle beside Budew. Once he was comfortable, she lowered her tails as a make-shift blanket.

Amy cooed at the adorableness.

Sonic nudged Tails. "She knows how to make use of her tails like you can, bud!"

Tails chuckled at the comparison before looking for another donor. It wouldn't hurt to have two different samples. Fur would do nicely. He didn't want to take it from Vulpix because she looked comfortable over there, Buizel and Shaymin were out because they were busy rolling Sandshrew around while she was curled into a ball, and Ralts…well. He probably wouldn't be able to get any from her.

So, Tails kneeled and gently smiled at the still nervous Riolu. "Hey, can I get a strand of your fur? Just one! I promise it won't hurt!"

The pup didn't move, hiding behind Knuckles even more, and the echidna sighed. "Go ahead and do it, Riolu. He won't hurt you, trust me."

Riolu seemed to weigh his words, intently eyeing Tails. After a long moment, he held out a slightly trembling arm. Tails' smile widened, and he gently pinched the short blue fur there. He pulled away with a few strands between his fingers.

"Thank you so much!" Tails hopped back up, facing his friends. "I'm going to see if these tell us anything!" The kit whirled up his tails and hovered to the workshop.

While Sonic and Amy watched Tails go, Knuckles secretly patted Riolu a couple times on the head. Unfortunately, Sonic still noticed and shot him a knowing grin.

"Shut up."

Shadow woke up to something crashing in his apartment.

Despite being completely dead to the world a second before, the black hedgehog was fully alert as he shot up in his bed, listening. There was another crash coming from his kitchen, and Shadow knew that it wasn't Rouge because the rising sun was far too low in the sky for her to visit him yet.

Someone had idiotically broken into his home, and the last thing Shadow had on his mind was mercy.

Scowling, he threw the blankets off himself and quickly slunk out of his bedroom, making sure to stay silent. He crept through his living room as the noises kept coming. There was yet another crash, and Shadow didn't hesitate in flipping the light on when he reached his destination, ready to become someone's worst nightmare.

All of Shadow's anger dissolved into shock at who, or rather what was in his kitchen.

He was first drawn to a black and blue feline laying on top of his fridge, staring down at him with curious yellow eyes. Its star-tipped tail was leisurely swishing back and forth. It reminded him of a lion cub.

Shadow's attention snapped to the floor at the sound of crunching. There was another cat-like creature sitting there, but it was fully black with…red feathers? It met his gaze as it used white claws to pick up and eat the cereal scattered all around. Three colorful boxes that had been sitting on top of the fridge were now on the ground, wide open.

"Shinx?" The cub nimbly hopped from the refrigerator, to the counter, and ultimately to the floor. Shadow watched numbly as it padded over to him and rubbed against his legs, quietly purring. It didn't linger for long though, going over to the mixed assortment of cereal and feasting.

The black feline gathered a handful of their breakfast before standing on two feet and walking over to him. Shadow noticed how it was only a few inches shorter than he was.

He was tense as the other stepped closer and held up the cereal with a raised brow. "Sneasel sne?" Shadow's brain was busy booting and rebooting, so he was running on autopilot when he offered his palm. The feline dumped the cereal into his hand before reclaiming its seat in the middle of the mess.

Shadow stared at his hand for a long moment.

Then he marched back to his bedroom because this was obviously a bullshit dream caused by the pizza that Rouge convinced him to order way too late last night.

Shadow woke up approximately an hour later with a weight on his stomach.

When he saw the cub sleeping on him like there was nothing wrong about its existence, a string of curse words echoed around in Shadow's mind.

He didn't know what they were or where they came from, but he wasn't exactly a pet person. Especially since these 'pets' trashed his kitchen and didn't know what personal space was.

Shadow frowned before picking the cub up by the scruff of its neck and transferring it to the space beside him. The hedgehog stared hard as it drowsily yawned, its tired gaze meeting his.

Shadow cut to the chase. "What are you and who brought you here?"

It slowly blinked at him. "Shinx." Then, the cub stumbled over to Shadow's pillow and curled up on top of it, dozing off again.

He had half the mind to put the thing on the floor, but he figured that waking Rouge was positioned higher on the priority list. He didn't care if she was still sleeping. He wasn't dealing with this alone.

Shadow gave the sleeping cub another look before slipping on his gloves and shoes, leaving the room soon after. He would've made a beeline for his front door if a strange whooshing noise from the kitchen hadn't made him pause. After a quick glance around the room, he noticed that the black feathered feline was nowhere to be found.

Shadow sighed harshly, marching into the adjacent room and finding it empty also. His brow creased as he looked around. Half of the cereal had been eaten, some of the leftover sugar dust decorated his countertops, and the door to the freezer was slightly ajar. That was the source of the noise.

Despite his irritation, Shadow subtly tensed in alarm when he saw a clawed arm hanging limply out of the cold storage. He zipped over and flung the freezer door open, chilled air hitting his face.

The feline was inside, slightly curled with its eyes closed. The most important thing was that it was still breathing and not frozen to death.

But…why in the hell did it choose to sleep in the damn freezer?

The sudden light roused it. The creature peered one eye open and groaned, rolling over in the confined space to hide its face in the darkness. Due to his fast reflexes, Shadow managed to catch the bag of frozen peas that were almost kicked to the floor.

He tossed the peas on the counter, left the feline where it was, and stomped over to the front door because he did not have the patience for this.

Shadow was almost hit in the face when the door was thrown open.

It was Rouge. She was still wearing pajamas, her eyes were blown wide, and there was a bat in her arms.

Shadow's frown deepened. "Rouge, what is that?"

"I'll explain in a second!" She hastily said, stepping inside his apartment. He only allowed it because there was a twinge of panic in her voice he wasn't used to. "First, I might sound a little crazy, but there's a ghost in my apartment, Shadow."

Shadow stared. "A…ghost."

Rouge pouted, and the bat she was holding giggled in her hold. "Don't look at me like that! I'm serious!"

Shadow studied her, then the purple creature with large ears, and images of his own sleeping intruders mentally popped up. Under normal circumstances, he would've doubted her more, but as it stood…

He crossed his arms and jutted his chin at the smaller bat. "It's probably one of them."

The one being cradled tilted its head at him. "Noi noibat?"

"Huh?" Rouge was just as puzzled. "What do you mean? The last time I checked, cute bat-things and ghosts don't really-"

Shadow sighed. "I don't know how closely they're related, but I have a lion cub sleeping on my pillow and a something similar to a cat sleeping in my freezer with the same speech patterns." He barely gave her time to process that. "Was the ghost see-through?"

Most of Rouge's panic was replaced by confusion and interest now. "No. It was blue with purple highlights, and it was honestly pretty adorable, but I was too focused on it being a ghost and all." She rubbed her bare eyelids, it being too early for makeup. "So, is it going to haunt me or not? Being haunted is such a bother and I really don't have the time for it in my daily routine."

"Dreavus?"

Rouge tensed in surprise before whirling around. Shadow peered around her to see the ghost emerge from the wall across the hall. Rouge's closed door apparently wasn't enough to stop it.

It glanced between the two as it floated nearer, eventually stopping in front of Rouge. A broad smile grew on its face. "Mis misdreavus!"

The smaller bat waved a stubby arm. "Noi noi!"

Shadow couldn't believe this. "You were scared of that thing?"

"Don't judge me, mister!" She lightly glared back. "Sorry if I'm not used to being woken up by ghosts flying around my room."

The mentioned ghost guiltily frowned. "Mis mis…"

Most of her fear was gone now. Rouge cautiously looked it over before relaxing her expression. "Don't feel too bad. It was about time for me to wake up anyway."

Usually she got out of bed an hour from now, but Shadow wasn't going to call her out on her lie.

The frown morphed back into a smile. "Vus!" The ghost flew around Rouge's head multiple times. "Misdreavus!"

The white bat pursed her lips in thought. "You can completely understand me?"

"Vus!"

"Interesting." Rouge glanced at Shadow with a smirk. "Looks like we got a mighty mystery on our hands."

"Not necessarily." Shadow grunted apathetically. "I don't want anything to do with them."

Rouge rolled her eyes, talking over the smaller bat's worried chirping. "How'd I know you would say that? They're babies, Shadow. Or at least, I think so." She examined the one in her arms before. "You're just going to leave them? And you said you had a couple of kittens, right?" She jeeringly tisked, shaking her head. "Shame on you."

"And who was just begging me to get rid of a ghost problem?"

"That doesn't work because I learned better."

The ghost did a flip in the air. "Mis!"

Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then we dump them with the Faker. Or you can take care of the two who somehow broke in here. I don't care." He wasn't enthusiastic at all about this.

Rouge opened her mouth to say something to convince him, but static unexpectedly filled the air. It was coming from his wrist communicator. HQ was calling on their weekend off.

Shadow answered it, "This better be important."

GUN's Commander responded, "It is. Is Agent Rouge with you?"

"I'm sure you already know that answer," Rouge replied smoothly. "Hopefully there's a very good reason you've interrupted our rest and relaxation."

"I'm going to cut to the chase. There have been some sightings of strange creatures today in Mystic Forest that never have been seen before." The agents shared a glance. "There's nothing known about them other than they don't venture outside the forest, have a massive variety of physical attributes, and, from what has been seen, don't have visible pupils."

Shadow looked into the eyes of the ghost and the small bat. They had pupils, and he recalled the felines having them too.

"There was one case of an attack when a person cornered one at the edge of the forest. I suggest starting your investigation as soon as possible. Is the level of importance high enough for you?"

Rouge ignored the sarcasm and hummed, pretending to think just for show. "You got lucky, Commander. And I'm assuming that we'll be compensated with more days off in the future?"

"I'll look into it."

He hung up, and Rouge gave her partner a sly smile. "Do you care enough now?"

Shadow did nothing but glare.

And there we have it! Shadow's got a couple kittens to take care of, and Rouge met an interesting duo. Also, something weird is happening in Mystic Ruins…