Chapter 8: Refuge at Rachel's House

Meanwhile, Tom is able to drive the truck to San Francisco and is able to reach Rachel's home. Wrapped in separate blankets, Tom carries both sonic and Eve to the house.

"Come on, guys. You're gonna be alright. You'll be alright," Tom says to the unconscious hedgehogs.

Tom rushes to the door and quickly knocks on it, and Rachel answers the door.

Holding the two bundles, Tom quickly says, "Is Maddie here?"

"No, no. Not today. Goodbye!" Rachel denies and slams the door in Tom's face.

"It's an emergency!" Tom calls out and tries to force himself in.

But Rachel refuses, "Bye-bye!"

Tom calls out, "Rachel, stop! Please! Maddie! Don't do this! This is important!"

Maddie soon walks in to see Tom trying to get in and rushes over, "Oh, my God! Rachel, let him in!"

Maddie manages to get the door open and allow Tom in.

"I am calling the police! No, I am calling the FBI. I am calling the CIA," Rachel shouts in anger.

But Tom says, "Stop, don't do that."

"I am calling your mother!" Rachel replies.

"Okay, got it!" Maddie says to Rachel

Then Tom says to Maddie, "Maddie, can we talk?"

Then Maddie asks, "Tom, what's going on?! You're-you're all over the news, I've been trying to call you!"

"I had to ditch my phone so they couldn't track me," Tom answers.

"Ditch his phone?!" Rachel questions.

Maddie is just as confused, "Track you?!"

Just then, Jojo runs to Tom,Uncle Tommy!" and gives him a hug.

"Jojo, hey!" Tom says with a smile

But Rachel pulls Jojo away from Tom, "Now your niece is an accessory to treason!"

"No, she's not," Tom says.

Maddie turns to Rachel, "Would you calm down?"

"Calm down?! I will not calm down!" Rachel shouts, upset.

Then Ozzy walks over as Maddie and Rachel arguring.

"Enough!" Maddie shouts

"Yes, calm down. Stop talking," Tom says.

Then Ozzy begins barking at him.

Tom turns to his dog, "No. Ozzy, please. Good to see you, too."

Tom then leans forward a little and almost gives the two hedgehogs away.

And Rachel notices the blanket, "Oh, Little Lord Baby Jesus! What is that, Tom? Is that plutonium?! Is it emails?"

"Yes, it's plutonium," Tom says, which is an obvious life.

Then turns to Maddie, "Can we please go in the other room and talk-"

Ozzy barks again.

Tom turns to Ozzy, "Stop it, Ozzy! Quit it!"

And Rachel turns to Maddie and says, "This is why I told you he was no good!"

"I'm not engaging!" Maddie angrily shouts back.

Soon, Ozzy barks and then grabs one of the blankets.

"No, Ozzy! Quit it!" Tom shouts.

Ozzy soon begins tugging on the blanket and everyone begins arguing at one.

Tom shouts, "Ozzy, no! Ozzy, no!"

But Ozzy yanks the blanket off, revealing Sonic, and cause everyone to stop and become silent. And soon, the group begins to hear groaning and the other blanket has been removed by Eve who is already regaining consciousness. She still feels dizzy and feels head pain from the explosion.

Dazed and lightheaded, Eve slowly asks, "What's going on? Why is it so noisy here?"

"Oh, catch me, Jojo," Rachel says, stunned and faints on the ground.

Tom pants and says, "Oh, thank God."

Maddie then pulls Jojo close to her.

Then Tom asks, "Can I get a glass of water?"

Meanwhile, in his truck interior, Robotnik then places a set of headphones and opens a music playlist called Tunes of Anarchy on his holographic computer, and the song 'Where Evil Grows' by The Poppy Family plays as he spins around in his chair and begins to analyze both of the hedgehogs' quill. He touches some power conductors to the quills, which causes the power inside his lab to go out. Robotnik is now carrying a match to see where he's going and he opens up the breaker panel and turns on the backup power and the music resumes with Robotnik dancing and lights flashing as the quills are inserted into separate capsules.

Robotnik then starts playing holographic videos of a snowcap and a Tyrannosaurus Rex running down the street and dances along with them to fit the theme like skiing down the slopes and running away from the dinosaur. During the T-Rex chase, Robotnik mimics his head getting chomped by the dinosaur and keeps dancing as the lights in his truck flash like strobe lights.

And as Robotnik dances as the quills are being analyzed, he doesn't notice Agent Stone dancing with him. Eventually, he turns his head to notice Agent Stone; he screams as the music and flashing lights stop.

Agent Stone holds the cups and says, "I just thought you might like a latte with steamed Austrian goat milk.

"What do I look like, an imbecile? Of course I want a latte. I love the way you make them!" Robotnik shouts.

Soon, a beeping sound catches Robotnik and Stone's attention. They both walk over to see that both Sonic and Eve's quill is at the 'Unlimited' kind of level, making Robotnik smile evilly.

Then Robotnik says, "Ready the prototype. With these kinds of powers, my machines can finally reach their full potential."

Back at Rachel's house, Tom, Maddie, Eve, and Jojo are in the kitchen. Eve turns to Sonic in deep concern to see him still unconscious on the kitchen table.

"He's gonna be okay, Jojo," Tom reassures.

Maddie then walks in with her first aid kit.

"Oh, thank God," Tom says, relieved.

Then asks, "He's gonna be okay, right?"

But Maddie says, "I'm a vet, Tom. I don't even know what I'm looking at here."

"They're hedgehogs. Or so they say," Tom says, and turns to Eve.

Eve sighs and says, "Of course we're hedgehogs."

"And you talk?" Maddie asks, turning to Eve.

"Um yeah. I do talk, especially Sonic," Eve says.

"Almost constantly," Tom says.

"Okay," Maddie says, and feels Sonic's pulse.

This catches her by surprise, "Holy…"

"What?" Tom asks.

"His pulse is super fast," Maddie says.

"That actually might be normal for him. I don't know. You gotta help him, Maddie," Tom says, worried.

But Maddie says, "I don't know his physiology. He doesn't seem to have any broken bones. He's just really banged up."

Then turns to Eve, "I'm surprised she woke up before he did."

She then walks to Eve and checks her pulse too.

She then notices, "Wow. Her pulse is super fast as well, maybe even faster."

She then checks her body as well, "And it's a miracle that she doesn't have broken bones either. And your clothes are so… worn out, and look a bit burned…"

"Um yeah. A bomb exploded, and I've been using practically almost the same clothes all the time," Eve replies.

Soon, Maddie takes off Eve's shoes, "Oh, look at these poor feet."

Then does the same for Sonic, "And his feet are in the same condition."

Tom turns to Sonic and says, "Hang in there, buddy. You're gonna be alright."

Eve then gently rubs Sonic's quills.

Unknown to the others, Jojo is looking at both Sonic and Eve's worn out shoes.

Just then, Jojo asks, "Um Aunt Maddie, can I take Eve to my room?"

"Uh sure," Maddie says.

Then Jojo turns to Eve, "Come on Eve."

"Um okay," Eve replies.

Jojo and Eve walk out of the kitchen and past Rachel, who is tied up in the living room.

Rachel calls out, "Jojo? Untie your mother. Jojo! Untie Mommy."

But Jojo ignores her and walks up stairs.

"Sweetie. Jojo!" Rachel calls out.

Then turns around, "I have to go to the bathroom."

Soon, Eve finds herself in Jojo's bedroom.

"Um so, what are you up to?" Eve asks.

Jojo says, "Looking for shoes for you and your brother, and get you some new clothes."

"Really? For us? Eve asks.

Jojo happily nods her head.

"Wow. Uh thanks. You think I can help you. I might be able to find a good style for him and myself," Eve says.

Sure," Jojo happily says.

Eve smiles and begins to help Jojo search for any good shoes for herself and Sonic. Eve is also worried and hopes her brother is going to be okay.

"He's gonna be okay, right? He'll snap out of this. He'll wake up soon?" Tom asks frantically.

Then he has an idea, "Oh, smelling salts! Don't you have, like, vet smelling salts, like, for cats or parakeets or something?

But Maddie says, "No. They don't make cat-smelling salts."

"They should," Tom replies.

"I have human smelling salts in my human first aid kit," Maddie says.

She opens the kit and takes out the smelling salts, "Okay."

She cracks the capsule and holds it close to Sonic's nose, "Here we go."

"Come on, buddy," Tom says, hoping the smelling salt will work.

As soon as Sonic gets a whiff of the smelling salts, he wakes up instantly and talks super fast, "Gotta go fast!"

And then zips across the kitchen at high speed, and returns to the table in complete shock.

Sonic panics and asks, "Where am I? What year is it? Is The Rock president? Where's Eve?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy, you're okay. Calm down," Tom says to Sonic. "And Eve is with my niece upstairs."

Soon Sonic notices Maddie and says, "Oh, hi, Pretzel Lady!"

"Hi…" Maddie says, feeling awkward.

Then calmly says, "Tom?"

"Yeah?" Tom replies.

"Can I talk to you, please?" Maddie asks, and leads Tom out of the kitchen.

She then faces Sonic and says, "Space hedgehog, stay there. Try to rest.

Then closes the door.

"You got it. I am great at resting. I rest faster than anybody," Sonic says.

Tom chuckles and points his thumb towards the door, "Still talking."

Soon, Maddie questions, "Um, first of all, can we take a moment to acknowledge how under control I've been?"

"Uh, amazing," Tom replies.

"Didn't freak out," Maddie says.

"No," Tom says,"

"Totally calm," Maddie says, and fist bumps Tom.

"Thank you," Tom says, and replies with a fist bump.

"Second of all…" Maddie says calmly.

And then asks in shock, "What the heck is going on?! Are those things aliens?!"

Tom then begins to explain, "Okay, so, remember how Crazy Carl is always going on about the blue devil and the red witch?

"The Blue Devil and the Red Witch!" Maddie says, surprised.

Then realizes, "That's them?! They're real!"

"Yeah," Tom says.

Then Maddie asks, "What are they doing here? What are you doing here?

"I kinda, sorta, shot our little blue friend and her sister with your tranq gun," Tom admits.

"No, you did not," Maddie sternly says and gives him a suspicious look and crosses her arms.

"I didn't mean to. Okay, this is kinda hard for me to explain. And it's gonna sound a little bit crazy. They have to get to the Transamerica building, and I promised I'd take them," Tom explains.

Suddenly Rachel says, "Uh-uh! Aliens? Maddie, your husband's lost his mind. Use this as an opportunity to leave him. No one would judge you!"

"Sheesh, what's your problem?" Eve asks, out of nowhere.

Tom, Maddie, and Rachel see Eve standing in front of the hallway. Only she's wearing a different outfit than she has already worn. She is now wearing a black jumpsuit with short sleeves, red and blue vertical jagged patterns on the legging, and is wearing black and red color shoes with black straps on them.

"Hey Eve, glad to see you're better. And uh, what are you doing?" Tom asks.

"Uh, I was with Jojo and heading to the kitchen, when I couldn't help but hear what was going on," Eve says.

Then asks, "Anyway, you want to tell me what her problem is?"

"Long story short, Rachel has a few problems with me," Tom says.

"Few problems don't begin to cover it!" Rachel angrily says.

Eve turns to Rachel and crosses her arms, "I don't see what the problem is. Tom is actually a great job, maybe a bit of a goof when he talks to donuts and eats them. But the point is, I don't really see what the issue is, especially when Tom is risking his neck out to help me and my brother."

"Risk his neck?" Maddie asks.

"Yeah. Sure he kind of accidentally shot me and Sonic with the tranq. Gun, but we scared him by accident and lost some important rings in San Francisco. We've also been chased and attacked by some crazy scientist with all these crazy robots. And he practically destroyed your house and the truck," Eve explains.

"Sounds like you got yourself in deep trouble," Rachel says.

Then Eve turns to Rachel and sternly says, "You have no idea. The guy's crazy. And even then, Tom still decided to take us here to get our rings, and could have gotten hurt from those robots that chased us because it was trying to capture me and my brother. I thought they were trying to kill us."

She then calmly says, "The point is, Tom is a very good person and is willing to help us no matter what."

Then Eve walks away into the kitchen, and Jojo joins her.

Rachel then says, "Gotta admit, alien or not, the girl is kind of sassy. Gotta respect that."

Back in the kitchen, Eve and Jojo return to the kitchen. "Hey Eve, are you doing okay?" Sonic asks.

"Um yeah, but what about you? Are you alright? You were knocked out longer than I have," Eve says, and sits down next to Sonic.

"I'm okay," Sonic says.

Then asks, "So who's the kid?" then notices Eve's new look, "And where do you get the new look?"

"This is Jojo? She helped me find some clothes. These are her mom's old clothes she was planning to put in the trash, so I decided to wear this and make a little alteration," Eve explains.

Then says, "Either way, Jojo has a present for you."

Jojo then presents Sonic some brand new running red shoes with white straps.

"So you won't hurt your feet anymore," Jojo happily says.

"Really?" Sonic asks, surprised.

"Uh-huh," Jojo replies.

Sonic takes the shoes and says, "No one's ever given me a gift before. I gotta check that off my bucket list."

Sonic then tries on the shoes and begins to grow excited all over, which makes Jojo happy.

"All right! Looking good!" Sonic says.

"Yeah," Eve replies.

Back in the living room. Maddie says to Tom, "Okay, you said you wanted to help people in real trouble, right? Well, that's what you're doing. Different colored alien hedgehogs still count as people, right?"

"I think so, too," Tom says.

"Yeah," Maddie replies.

"I think," Tom replies.

Then Maddie replies, "Okay."

Then Tom says, "I love you. Did I tell you that already?"

Then Maddie starts leading Tom away.

Then Tom says, "I don't deserve you. You know that?"

And the two hurry off.

"I know that," Rachel comments.

Meanwhile, Sonic is practically staring at Ozzy.

He then says, "So, you're supposed to be Tom's "best friend" that he won't shut up about."

Ozzy is practically staring at Sonic as he has his tongue out.

"Well, I don't see the appeal," Sonic says.

Then Ozzy walks over to Sonic and begins licking him, causing him to laugh.

Sonic then calls out, "Stop! That is very gross!"

Maddie walks down the stairs as Tom enters the house.

Maddie says, "Hey."

"Hey." Tom says, "So, my truck still runs, but it's pretty much totaled. You think your sister would mind if we borrowed her car?"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Rachel says.

But Maddie says, "She'll be fine."

"Yeah, let's do that," Tom says.

"Mm-hmm," Maddie replies.

Then Tom and Maddie walk out of the house, leaving Rachel tied up.

Rachel shouts, "This is my house!"