Meanwhile in Siberia, the group continued to trek through the blistering snow and bitter cold, but they were at least more comfortable due to their winter weather gear, hoping to find a way.
"I absolutely cannot find my way," Sonic complained. "We are completely, totally, unequivocally lost."
Tails soon looked at his Miles Electric's screen, which flickered. "Sonic, in this weather, there's no way we're gonna get any readings on this thing!" he then cried out as he tapped the screen. "Should we go back?"
"We can't give up now! Longclaw and the world are counting on us!" Sonia told the young fox.
"Besides, there's a light up ahead!" pointed out Sonic. "Maybe we can take shelter in there."
In the distance, Sonic could make out a tavern in the snow. It was a broken shack of a bar. The kind of place you'd never take a date. The kind of place that Sonic naturally meshed with.
As they approached, the hedgehog wove his way through dogsleds. "Listen, I've been in a place like this before, and things get rough very quickly. Just follow my lead and we'll be okay. Got it?"
"Got it." said Tails.
They stepped into the dim light of the bar and kept their heads low. They were already the shortest creatures in the place. Sonic couldn't risk their real forms freaking out the locals ... especially locals like these. A quartet of gamblers crowded a green-topped table; one of them with a wicked scar across his face. Even the bartender had an eye patch. And in the corner, the world's most unsettling granny knitted a shawl showing an ax splitting a skull.
"Boy, this looks familiar." Atticus commented.
"Tell me about it." Thor added.
"This has happened before?" Johan asked.
"Something like it, yeah, when we first met Sonic, Sonia, and Manic." Cherry nodded.
"Good to know." Johanna replied.
The chef in the bar then used a butcher's knife to chop off a fish's head which soon landed in front of the group at the door.
"Run." The fish head suddenly told them.
Tails immediately went limp and fainted.
"Uh, we're gonna need a pretty big booth." Atticus said to the bartender.
Soon, everyone sat in a pretty big booth together as they got settled into the bar that night.
A waitress soon appeared, speaking in Russian as she handed them some menus. "Что бы вы хотели заказать?" she then asked them.
"Uh..." The group paused, looking a little unsure of what to say since they didn't know what she said.
"Four beef stews, please." Tails said, ordering for himself and Sonic.
"Два тушеных говядины, пожалуйста." Tails' device soon added in the native language for him.
The waitress seemed satisfied at least and went off toward the kitchen.
"Man, where'd you get all these cool gadgets?" Sonic asked.
"I invented them." Tails shrugged sheepishly. "It's kind of my thing. In fact, my inventions are how I discovered you. Remember that night at the baseball field?"
"Kinda wish I could forget." Sonic replied with a chuckle.
"Ya had to bring that up." Sonia groaned and face-palmed.
"Sorry." Tails replied bashfully.
"Wait, so you've been watching us this whole time?" Sonic asked the fox. "Even in the shower?"
"Ah, that's a trick question," Tails smirked. "Sonic the Hedgehog prefers bubble baths."
"Man, this guy's pretty good." Manic commented.
"So Tails, can you maybe tell us more about yourself?" Sally asked the young fox. "I mean... What brings you to Earth and what led you to Sonic?"
"When I learned Knuckles was on Sonic's trail, I knew I couldn't just sit back and watch anymore," Tails explained. "I had to come warn him as well as Sonia and Manic."
"Well, at least that's handy," Sally remarked. "You remind me of my old friend Nicole."
Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard.
"Oh, what? Hang on one sec." Sonic pulled out his phone to see a text from Tom asking 'How's it goin'?' "Donut Lord is checking in."
"You better answer him, Sonic." Sally advised.
"Good call, Sal." Sonic agreed as he began to type up a reply.
Meanwhile, at that very moment at Mean Bean Café, Sonic and Tom's texts were being displayed on a screen. Robotnik, Stone, and Knuckles were shown watching said screen.
"'Just chilling. Watching TV with the sibs, Sally is even here'," Knuckles read aloud as Tom began to write a reply, causing the typing bubble to appear. "Dot, dot, dot. Dot, dot, dot. Dot, dot, dot. Dot, dot, dot. Dot, dot, dot."
Stone and Robotnik glanced back at Knuckles for a moment before looking back at the screen.
"Doctor, why are we working with this imbecile?" Stone asked his boss.
"Because that simpleminded space trash is the key to something extraordinary." Robotnik answered.
"Something to help you get revenge on those hedgehogs and their friends." Stone added.
"Think bigger, Stone. The Emerald he seeks could power my wildest designs," Robotnik replied. "My genius wouldn't just be recognized on Earth. It would spread virally to every corner of the galaxy, allowing me to harness all the negative forces of the universe and commune with darkness itself."
"Wow. That sounds big." Stone admitted.
"It's been on my vision board for years. It's the law of attraction," Robotnik then said and reminded. "Didn't you see The Secret Kaplooey!"
"Kaplooey." Stone nodded at that.
Tom's text then finally came in on the screen.
"'Another boring night at home'," Knuckles read aloud before gasping. "The hedgehogs have returned home!
"Falsa. Which is Latin for 'wrong-o'," Robotnik told the echidna before he began to hit a few keys on the counter, bringing up a hologram of Earth. "According to my worldwide network cell tower triangulation, they're lying, all the way... from the majestic hinterlands of eastern Siberia."
A topographic hologram of the Siberian mountains appears, with three holograms of the hedgehog triplets shown before Robotnik and Knuckles.
"They're long-distance liars!" Knuckles realized.
Robotnik then hit the holograms over their heads before poking and prodding at them several times. "Yeah, there's more where that came from." he then said.
Knuckles soon slammed his fist into the counter, damaging it and dispelling the holograms. "Tiny magic hedgehogs destroyed. Now let's begin our quest," he then said as he and Robotnik began to leave until the echidna stopped them. "Wait. What about your minion? The goat milker." he then asked, gesturing to Stone who was shown sweeping up the broken fragment of the counter with a sweeping tray.
"There's no room on the ship for Stone," Robotnik told the echidna. "I say we ditch him, ghost him, blow him off."
"Dishonor!" Knuckles glared and scowled at what Robotnik said.
"'Dis' is how I roll." Robotnik retorted as he left through the door.
With a cold clatter, four bowls of gray slop landed on the table before Tails and the hedgehog triplets. The waitress stood with hands on hips, staring the two down with disgust.
Tails picked up a bare set of fish bones from within his soup. "I'm sorry, but I asked for the beef stew."
Quirrp! Queep! His little device ran the comment through and spat out some more Russian. "Your breath smells like goat poop."
The waitress looked furious. "What did you say?"
"There must be some confusion. I just mean that this isn't what I ordered!" Tails said in a nervous hurry. With another Quoorp! the machine recited more Russian, and now half the bar was looking at them with angry eyes.
"Dude, what is going on?" Sonic asked.
"I don't know!" Tails fiddled quickly with the device as the men at the poker table rose up and shouted what must have been something like, "Who said our mothers were three-legged goats?!"
Sonic stepped in their way, a cool smile on his face. "Okay, take it easy!" he said, hands up. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for whatever my friend said or did."
The Miles Electric beeped and mis-translated. "Stand back. I just farted."
"Can't you control that thing?" Cherry complained to Tails.
"I'm trying!" Tails replied in defense.
The crowd briefly looked disgusted, then removed the disguises on the animals, suddenly gasping at their true appearances.
"Uh... Meow?" Sonic smiled nervously.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Johan said in concern.
"That makes two of us." Johanna added.
"Throw these monsters in the fire!" A giant bully told the crowd.
The crowd cheered in response and soon picked up Sonic, Sonia, Manic, and Tails, dragging them towards the roaring fire.
"Oh, no, no. Come on, guys!" Sonic cried out.
"Take it easy, dudes! We mean you no harm!" Manic added.
"Yeah! Let's talk this through. Let's talk this through!" Sonia added.
The crowd ignored their pleas and continued to prepare to throw the animals into the fire.
"Stop it, let go of our friends!" Atticus demanded firmly.
Patch growled as he barked angrily at the crowd to get them away from the hedgehog triplets and two-tailed fox. But their yells and shouts were ignored.
"Come on, come on!" Tails yelled as he tried to get the Miles Electric to work. "Scanning Siberian customs. There's got to be something in here!"
"Little fuzzy dude, whatever you're doing, do it fast!" Manic exclaimed. "Or else we're gonna be some flame-broiled freedom fighters!"
"Oh, no... I was afraid of this..." Sally groaned to herself.
"There must be something we can do to stop this," Thor said before he poofed up a handbook and began to flip through the pages. "Let's see... Foreign Customs... No asking for ketchup in France, slurping your noodles loudly in Japan to show you enjoyed your food... Aha! Siberia."
"Hurry up!" Johan and Johanna urged the warlock teen.
"I think I might have a solution," Thor smirked. "Tails, help me! Say the word 'Pivonka'!"
"Pivonka?" Tails asked.
"Pivonka!" Thor replied.
"Stop it." Cherry groaned slightly.
However, the two kept saying the word anyway once they saw they had a solution. "Pivonka! Pivonka! PIVONKA!"
"Pivonka?" The bartender asked.
Soon, the crowd parted away, giving way to a burly man wearing an ornate red robe with the word "Champion" on its back in Russian. "Da. Pivonka!" he then replied.
The crowd then roared for him.
"Tails, what's a 'pivonka'?" Sonic asked the fox.
Tails then took out his Miles Electric to help answer that question. "It's a Siberian custom to resolve disputes," he then began to explain. "If we win, they let us go. If we lose..." he then stopped as the fire flared up to add to that answer.
"Oops... I guess I was looking at the wrong page..." Thor grinned nervously. "I guess I just invited our hedgehog friends to a fight to the death."
From behind the mob of humans, a towering figure emerged. He wore a shimmering tracksuit that barely stretched over mountains of muscle. As he smiled, a gold tooth glittered, and he said, "Da... Pivonka!" The crowd erupted into cheers at the arrival of their apparent champion.
"Okay, we have to grab the map and get out of here," said Lionel as he felt around. "Where's the map?"
"Oh, no. I left it on the table! Look!" exclaimed Tails as he pointed towards the table. A bartender had just grabbed the map and put it on a plate with other assorted objects. The champion removed his robe, revealing a tattoo of what seemed to be himself with arms spread out.
"...what?" asked Sonic.
"I know," said Manic. "I can't believe he got a tattoo of himself. What an egomaniac!"
The champion beckoned his friends in as the tavern band started playing, then began dancing with the others to a Siberian tune. The crowd clapped as they finish their first round of dancing with a flourish.
And that's when it hit Sonic. "...oh, my God, it's a dance fight." he realized.
"Uh, guys? What do we do?" Tails asked nervously.
"I think it's apparent," Johana replied. "We dance without two left feet."
Patch then looked down at his four legs before shrugging at himself.
"I'll tell you what we're gonna do," Sonic soon told Tails. "We dance and get that map."
The Siberians watched as the hedgehog triplets and Tails tried to dance, but did so very poorly.
"Here we go." Sonic said as he tried to mimic the Siberian champion's moves, only to step on Tails' tails.
"Ow!" Tails complained.
The Siberians did not look impressed, as they tried to dance again.
"Okay, now let's do this... No, we're gonna go..." Sonia soon said as she tried a different dance only to collide with Tails as they fell on top of each other.
The Siberians then got up once again and began dancing, as Manic and Tails tried to mimic the moves again.
"My turn... Ah! Ah, Okay!" Manic said, though he struggled like his siblings.
"OOF!" Tails grunted.
Another bartender soon noticed the map stuck to the bottom of a cup. He then tossed it away without a second thought.
"Okay, this is not going well," Manic soon said to the others. "Channing Tatum and Michael Jackson make it look so easy."
"Wait, Sonic. Look!" exclaimed Mo. The map had gotten stuck to the bottom of the champion's boot.
"Pivonka! Pivonka! Pivonka! Pivonka!" The crowd barked.
"Good eyes, Mo!" beamed Sonic. "C'mon, let's grab it!"
Sonia reached for the map, only for the champion to pick it up and hold it over his head. "You want? Come get," he sneered as he placed the map into his waistband, for security. "Freaks!"
"Freaks! Freaks! Freaks! Freaks!" chanted the crowd, and Tails looked absolutely mortified.
The group could tell that their fuzzy orange friend wasn't feeling too confident, as he buckled under the crowd's chants.
"Come on, Tails! We need you here!" Sonic called.
"I can't do it, Sonic! I'm not brave like you," Tails quivered. "My gadget got us into this mess, and I lost your map... and now we're gonna get tossed into the fire!"
"Try to look on the positive side of things." Thor suggested.
"Did you not hear what I just said?!" Tails reminded firmly.
Patch soon noticed the device playing music and suddenly had an idea. "Hey, Atticus! I know how to help!" he then told his master before whispering into his ear as he knelt down to hear the plan.
Atticus listened and nodded. "Great idea, boy," he then told the Dalmatian before facing the hedgehog triplets and fox. "Hey, guys! I know how to help! Patch just said-I mean, we should use music we can all really dance to." he then suggested before taking out his own phone.
Patch smiled and nodded, as he agreed even if it was all his idea.
"Well, alright..." said Sonic. "They called us freaks, so let's get freaky!"
"Remember, little brochacho: just filter out all the hate, and jam the way you like." instructed Manic as he cracked his knuckles.
"I'll play something I think we can all agree on," Atticus said as he plugged his phone in. "New DJ in the hizzhouse!" he then cheered.
Cherry groaned and face-palmed because of how cringey that sounded. Soon, the song Uptown Funk began to play for Tails and the hedgehog triplets.
"Just follow our moves and you'll be fine." Sonia told Tails with a small smile.
Tails smiled back hopefully at her. Sonic soon extended his hand to Tails who grabbed it. Both of them began dancing in synchronization. The crowd applauded at this display of breakdancing as well as funk dancing. Manic and Sonia then danced in their own way. Tails then used his Miles Electric to create several dancing holograms of himself.
"All right! Backup dancers!" Sonic laughed at that.
The champion suddenly looked nervous at seeing this, as the holograms all marched towards him. Some of the holograms cover the hedgehog triplets with their tails.
"Here we go!" Sonic called out as he jumped in the air and struck a laidback pose and eventually, Sonia and Manic were also tossed in the air.
Tails then took flight and lifted the triplets and soon, there were holograms of the triplets all together with combinations of them holding Tails' hands as he spun them around in the air as his tails propelled them to the ceiling as the audience cheered and clapped.
"There's a lot of us up here!" Sonic laughed.
The champion desperately tried to outdo the hedgehog triplets by dancing. Tails soon tossed Sonic onto a chandelier, which he swung around on.
"I love pivonka!" Sonic beamed.
The champion soon looked very tired out, unable to keep up with the five "freaks."
"Looks like we got a winner, folks!" Sally cheered for Tails and the hedgehog triplets.
Soon, the five of them landed and all of the holograms disappear in glimmering "fireworks." And the champion finally fell over as the crowd cheered.
"Yeah! I'll take that." Sonic then smirked as he took the map from the fallen champion.
"Now that was way past cool," Manic grinned, as Cherry, Atticus, Mo, Thor, Lionel and Sally applauded for their friends.
The map was theirs again, and so was the Pivonka!
Later on, the fire had burned down to embers. The Russians were either passed out or moved on, and the triplets and Tails lounged in a back corner, relieved to have survived. Mo, Patch, and Atticus were sleeping in a group with Johan and Johanna, while Thor, Lionel, and Cherry were huddled together.
"Thanks for having my back, Sonic," the fox said. "Earth seems like a tough place to be on your own."
"Stick with me, pal. I know everything about this ol' pale blue dot." replied Sonic.
"Suuuure you do," Sonia remarked with a roll of her eyes.
"Do you really mean that?" asked Tails. "About me being your pal?"
"Sure, buddy!" said Sonic.
Tails wrapped his arms around Sonic in a fierce hug. "Whoa. Take it easy!" urged the Blue Blur.
"Sorry," Tails said, wiping a tear from his eye. "Growing up, I didn't have any friends. Everyone in my village thought my two tails were weird."
"We know that feeling," said Manic.
"I hated being different. But then I heard about you guys. The fastest creatures in the galaxy. You were weird, too, but you were legends! It made me think that maybe being weird wasn't so bad. You inspired me, Sonic; inspired me to leave my village and come here to help you in your mission."
Sonic looked at him. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but he didn't think he could have come this far without the little guy's help. "I'm glad you're here, Tails," he said finally. "But we might as well get some sleep, and this feels as good a place as any to spend the night. Maybe you can get some clear readings on the Emerald once the storm has blown over."
And with that, they settled into a restless slumber. Tails' tails stuck out from the blanket and wrapped around Sonic, keeping him warm. From across the bar, Lionel quietly gushed at how cute this was.
"Well, guys, we better find someplace to sleep for the night." Sally suggested to Cherry and the others.
Patch soon yawned before he began to fall asleep on the floor, closer beside Sonic and Tails.
"Maybe we should just stay here? Maybe the floor is more comfortable than we think." Atticus suggested.
"I am not sleeping on a floor." Cherry rolled her eyes.
"Then what do you suggest?" Mo asked. "Finding a hotel in the middle of snowy nowhere?"
"I dunno, I've seen it happen before in video games," Cherry shrugged. "Surely we can find an inn somewhere around here."
"Look, it's late, alright?" asked Lionel. "I'm sorry if this is unpleasant, but we're in flippin' Siberia right now."
"All right, at least someone bring out the pillows and blankets and give me my headphones so I can sleep through the night." Cherry then said as she put her hands on her hips.
Lionel managed to conjure up some blankets and pillows, and gave Cherry her headphones to put on. "There you go." he told her.
"All right, thanks," Cherry said. "This should be a peaceful night's sleep now."
"That sounds good, especially to me." Sonia replied as she began to put in her hair curlers and put on her sleep mask.
"Light's out, gang. We'll probably go out more tomorrow after some shut-eye." Manic suggested.
"G'night." said Lionel as he settled in and drifted off.
Everyone else soon began to get as comfortable as they could and they fell into a deep sleep together. Luckily, it was a decent sleep for all of them, even Cherry, and before they knew it, the next day came.
Sonic soon woke up and yawned before feeling someone sleeping directly beside him and clinging to him. "Oh, Sally, my princess, is that you?" he then murmured and woke up before flinching to see it was a woman from the bar and jolted nervously. "Tails. Tails. We have a situation." he then quietly told the fox, sounding a little nervous.
A little while after that, the group had left the tavern and was on their way once more. As the noonday sun crested the peaks higher up in the mountains, the snowstorm had finally calmed. They were close; Sonic knew it. He could feel something calling to him down in his quills.
"So where should we go from here?" Atticus wondered.
"Probably just above these mountains." Sally suggested.
The others nodded as they headed that way once they were all set to go as Tails carried the hedgehog triplets just over the Himalayas. There appeared to be an abominable snowman monster there who had a snowcone stand until he saw them coming and went to quickly hide in his cave before anyone could see him.
"Today's forecast calls for clear, sunny skies, and a 100% chance of adventure." Sonic noted.
"I pinpointed the coordinates," Tails told Sonic as they continued along. "It's right up ahead."
"There it is!" Manic pointed out once he spotted one particular mountain where their friends were.
Soon, they landed at the entrance while Cherry and the others also made it up there while Thor looked like he was about to try something until Cherry shook her head at him before he could do something risky.
"Wow. Hey, guys. Wait up." Sonic said as they soon walked forward together and they looked up to an entrance in the shape of a giant owl warrior.
"Okay, we got a giant owl door," Sonia noted. "Seems encouraging."
"Whoa, guys, check this out." Johan said and pointed out something carved out in the cave.
Johanna glanced over her brother's shoulder. "What exactly are those?" she inquired.
"Probably some kinda hieroglyphics?" Johan guessed.
"Yeah, only not Egyptian." Atticus added.
"Tails, do you think you can translate that?" Sally asked the two-tailed fox.
"Yeah," Tails said as they looked at the cave paintings with seven echidnas each holding one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. "Ages ago, a fearsome group of warriors, known as the echidnas, forged the seven Chaos Emeralds into the most unstoppable weapon ever created."
"The Master Emerald?" Mo guessed.
"Exactly," Tails nodded as he continued to tell the story. "With it, a single warrior could defeat entire armies. Believing no one should have such power, an order of heroes recovered the Emerald and swore to protect it from evil. Sounds like the owls and the echidnas have been fighting each other for centuries." he then commented and concluded.
"Like Vin Diesel and The Rock." Manic smirked.
Before them, ornate carvings of owl warriors battling against spiny-haired figures covered a wall in a massive single scene. It was like a memory pulled from Sonic's nightmares, reliving the day he and his sibs lost Longclaw forever.
"And now Knuckles is the last echidna left." concluded Tails.
"The last of his kind," Sonic said in a whisper. "So he's been all alone..."
They came to the end of the cave, and above them loomed a huge owl statue under a ceiling of sharp stalactites.
"Okay, giant owl door, giant owl," shrugged Sonia. "Makes sense."
At the base, Sonic could make out the carved shape of an Emerald in the stone: one with familiar symbols around it. "I've seen these symbols before... and I know where!" he realized.
Taking out their map, Sonic traced a finger over the same set of symbols, just in a different configuration. With a trembling hand, he reached out and turned the stone versions like keys to match the map. Whoom! The Emerald carving lit up green along with the eyes of the great owl. The sound of ancient stones grinding together echoed as the owl's chest opened up; ice and dust floating off its wings, and from within the chest floated something else... something small.
"A compass!" Sonic cried as the item lowered itself to their level. He snatched up the device, and as the light from the owl faded, the compass began to glow with its own energy, revealing an expansive map of the Earth in a similar projection to the electric letters on the map.
"Make sure it points 'North'," Thor advised. "Zelda says that a good compass always points north."
"Of course it will." Tails reassured the warlock teen.
"So now what do we do?" Manic wondered.
Sonic felt a sense of relief as he looked into the excited eyes of his young companion. But what was that on Tails' head? It looked like...a red light!
"Tails, look out!" Sonic yelled, tackling Tails just before the laser sight of Robotnik's drones opened fire on the fox's face.
"RUN!" Sonic commanded, and sprinted off through the cave, nearly a dozen drones flying after them. It was the Eggman's drones. They'd been found!
SHOOOOM! A miniature missile rocketed over their heads and struck the arch that made the cave's entryway. Their window outside collapsed into a hundred pounds of snow, ice, and rock. They were trapped!
"Yodel-ay-hee-hooooooo!" cried a familiar, blustery voice from above. "Heads up, my little stalagmites!"
In the gloom, Sonic made out the figure of Robotnik bursting through the ice sheets above their heads. He rode in a massive egg-pod with turrets of guns and razor-sharp claws spinning all around its body. "Thanks for all your hard work!" The mad scientist cried.
"But we'll take it from here!" came the voice of Knuckles from behind Robotnik. The echidna crashed to the ground and swung out massive fists in Sonic's direction, practically clawing after the compass.
"It's that enchenda!" Thor cried out.
Cherry took a breath before she sighed and shrugged. "Eh, close enough." she then remarked as Thor got Knuckles' species wrong yet again, but that was the closest one to the many that he's said.
"Okay, we really gotta talk about your new look," Sonia complained to Robotnik. "Seriously, you wouldn't last a minute with RuPaul... What are you even trying to be? You like Professor X meets the Monopoly man."
Manic snickered and chuckled at that. "And what kind of genius shows up to Siberia in a convertible?" he then added.
"The kind of genius that can turn up the heat... With a flick of a switch." Robotnik retorted with a smirk and with the press of a few buttons, he launched a rocket at the hedgehog triplets who leapt up until Sonic grabbed it and threw it at Knuckles.
Knuckles then dodged and made it hit the wall, making rocks fall, shaking Robotnik and his Egg Mobile, and he then held up rocks that fell on him.
"Good one!" Robotnik pointed out to Knuckles. "I'm sure that wasn't important."
The owl statue then proceeded to fall towards a wall, shattering it.
"All right, guys, that's our exit. Come on." Sonic pointed out.
Soon, the group headed up to the statue with the Badniks hot on their tails. Sonic soon slammed into one of them, destroying it. They then stopped at the edge and saw the way down.
"All right, we should split up," Atticus suggested. "Tails, you should definitely go high and some of us should go low."
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Sonic agreed.
"Right." Tails nodded.
"Quick little stretch and here we go." Sonic then said before he took Sonia and Manic and rode the remains of the Badnik as a snowboard and slid through the snow.
"Yee-haw!" Manic cheered and laughed. "Now we're really shredding!"
"Gangway!" called Lionel as he joined in the pursuit from the air.
Sonic looked back to see a fleet of drones pouring out of the hole. Holding the compass, he knew they'd never let him go without a fight. Through the wind and snow, he could just make out the red form of Knuckles; cold and cruel as always. The echidna had crunched his own slice of shell into a board and was now cruising down the mountain in wordless fury.
"Has anyone ever told you you've got real anger issues?" The blue hedgehog called out.
"Surrender the compass! You stand no chance against me!" Knuckles was gaining on him now. "I've been training for this my entire life!"
"I have no training at all, and yet here I am ahead of you," Sonic waved the compass in a taunt. "That must be so embarrassing!"
"Oh, Sonic..." Sonia sighed.
"Yeah, he's got an attitude." Sally added.
The two began to sway back and forth along the slope in a wicked cat-and-mouse chase. The echidna started digging his fists into the mountainside to push himself closer and closer. Trees and boulders alike fell as he dug his way right on top of Sonic.
"We can't ride away forever. What're we gonna do now?" Atticus wondered thoughtfully.
"Up here!" Tails called from above Sonic's head.
The blue hedgehog tossed the compass up toward his partner, and it floated in his vision as if in slow motion...
Until Robotnik swiped it away! "Later, haters!" he cackled, and piloted his way into another deep crevasse.
They followed as fast as they could. In the cave they continued their ski-slope-style battle, accelerating the pace of the back and forth. Tails took off after Robotnik.
"Look out, Tails!" Mo warned the young fox, causing him to see that he still had unfriendly company.
"Give up, Fox, before I stuff your tails and hang them on my wall!" Robotnik jeered his way around columns of stone.
"Sorry, you're breaking up!" Tails mocked the villain, almost like Sonic would have. "I think your tech has a glitch!" With a few quick button mashes on one of his tool belt's endless gadget supply, the kid managed to remotely take control of the egg-pod! "Welcome to Tails Mountain," the fox said, mimicking a theme park host as he guided Eggman around like a pinball. "For your safety, please keep your arms, legs, and creepy facial hair inside the ride at all times!" In a final move, Tails twisted the pod upside down and collected the compass as it fell from Robotnik's hands!
"What have you done to my baby?" The scientist screamed. "You think you can outsmart me? I'm the outsmarter! Nobody outsmarts the outsmarter!"
"Way to go, bud!" Manic laughed as he soon high-fived Tails in approval.
And with the flick of a button, a volley of missiles erupted through the cave. One finally blew up next to Tails!
"Tails, no!" Sonic cried, still taking a pummeling from Knuckles' big fists.
An unconscious Tails crashed into the snow, the compass sliding out of his hand. Both rolled down the slope of the mountain, getting closer and closer to a sharp drop off a cliff! Sonic couldn't lose his new friend and the only key to the Master Emerald! He had to get them back at all costs. Sonic and Knuckles rode their boards, inches from each other, their eyes locked on the compass. They both burst out of the mountain at top speed. But just before Sonic could break away, a stray boulder barreled out of the cave and struck his satchel. The bag flopped open, spilling his collection of rings across the snow and down into darkness!
Sonic regained his footing just in time to see Knuckles reaching out for the compass. They were all just at the cliff's edge, and the hedgehog had to make the most difficult decision of his life: save the compass or save Tails. It really wasn't a choice at all. "Gah!" he cried, and swung one arm out for the fox and dug another into the snow for stability. Sonic had his friend. Tails wasn't moving, but he was breathing. He was okay; for now. The weight of two creatures slowed down the rapidly fraying snowboard to a stop, just inches from peril.
"Guys, do you feel something coming?" Johan asked.
"I think I do," Johanna said to her brother as she pointed out to the mountain behind them. "Look!"
"AVALANCHE!" The twins cried out in unison.
"Oh, come on!" Atticus complained.
R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-RUMBLE! It was an avalanche!
"Enjoy the powder!" laughed Robotnik as the scientist grasped Knuckles and the compass in his egg-pod.
"Tails! Wake up! You gotta fly us outta here!" Sonic screamed into the fox's ear, but there was no response. Sonic reached into the satchel that flapped in the wind over his shoulder. No luck! In the fight, he'd dropped all his rings! Not a single warp portal was in his hands now.
"Now what are we gonna do?" Mo asked. "Are there any tools to help us out of this jam?"
"I think I found something," Manic said before he found something. "Our phone?"
"What good is a phone gonna do when we're buried alive?!" Sally panicked.
"Wait a second, you still have the portal rings, yeah?" asked Lionel.
Sonic reached into the satchel that flapped in the wind over his shoulder. "Uh-oh..." he then muttered.
"Good uh-oh or bad uh-oh?" Manic asked.
"Since when is uh-oh ever good?" Sonia deadpanned and rolled her eyes.
"Dang... I must've dropped the rings in the snow during the fight." Sonic groaned nervously.
"You sure you don't have any other rings? Surely you do!" Thor frowned. "And no, I'm not calling you, Shirley, I meant the word that sounds like the Hollywood girl's name who looks like that Dimple kid we once met or whatever her name is."
Sonic stopped to think. "The only other ring I know about is the one we gave to Tom and Maddie so that they could come back home." he then answered uneasily.
"Then it's time to contact Tom!" Lionel exclaimed. "So start dialing, Big Blue!"
"Well, okay, if you guys are sure..." Sonic replied as he took out his phone to get a hold of Tom.
MEANWHILE IN HAWAII...
Everyone sat down for the wedding. The ring bearer held up the pillow with the rings and gave it to Rachel and Randall just as a red biplane flew over them with a flag saying "Rachel & Randall 4-Eva".
"These rings signify the..." The priest began to say only for Tom's phone to start ringing, interrupting the ceremony.
"Sorry. Thought it was on silent." Tom smiled nervously as he picked up his phone to turn it off.
The priest nodded and soon continued. "These rings..." he then started to say again only for Tom's phone to start ringing again.
"So help me, Thomas!" Rachel glared firmly.
"Okay, sorry, sorry," Tom smiled nervously as he picked up his phone with a message reading "EMERGENCY! CALL ME BACK NOW". "Excuse me, this is an emergency. Sorry," he then said before heading away from the wedding to take the call. "WHAT?! This better be important. I just, Are you skiing?" he then demanded before seeing the three hedgehogs on the screen, doing a certain snowy activity.
"Snowboarding, actually, but we need your help now." Sonic urgently told Tom.
"Life or death situation this very second." Sonia added.
"Dude, we need you to use the Ring we gave you to save us," Manic warned the human man. "Like right now!"
"Okay, slow down. I don't even know where you are," Tom replied. "Where is even Sally?" he then asked.
"That's not important right now, just listen!" Sonic retorted urgently. "You just gotta picture where you want the Ring to go. So picture this." he then said before showing the hillside they were snowboarding on to Tom through their phone.
"Oh, my God. Okay, okay. Hang on." Tom said nervously as he took out the ring he had and threw it... only for the Ring to land on the ground and do nothing at all.
"Did you throw it?" The triplets asked.
"Lemme guess; he has a different ring?" Atticus commented.
"Stop meddling in the story!" Cherry and Lionel told him.
"Sorry. Sorry." Atticus then said.
"Oh, God." Tom murmured nervously.
"What? Tell us what 'Oh, God'." Sonia demanded.
"I mixed up the rings when I was teasing Jojo." Tom said in realization.
"WHAT?!" The hedgehogs panicked.
"Where is it then? Where is it then?" Sonic demanded.
Tom soon looked to see that Randall was about to put the Ring on Rachel's finger. "You don't want to know." he then said nervously.
"But we do, Tom. We very much want to know, before we become PEOPLE, DALMATIAN, AND HEDGEHOG-FLAVORED SNOWCONES!" Cherry replied hysterically and urgently.
"Hang tight, guys. I got this." Tom said before he decided to go back to the wedding.
"With this ring, Rachel..." The priest then tried yet again only to have another interruption.
"Hey! Hi." Tom said as he walked up to Rachel and Randall.
"Everything okay, bud?" Randall asked out of concern.
"Not really." Tom admitted sheepishly.
"What are you doing?" Maddie asked Tom anxiously.
"This is gonna sound crazy, but I need to see that ring for just one second, one second." Tom grinned nervously as he came over to the bride and groom.
"Have you lost your mind?" Rachel asked with a glare.
"I'm gonna give it right back, I promise," Tom explained. "Please, Randall, it's really important.
"No, bro. Go sit down." Randall demanded.
"Randall, give me the ring, please?" Tom asked him.
"Randall, don't look at him, look at me." Rachel glared at her future husband.
"Randall, Randall." Tom pried.
"One second. Put the ring on my finger."
"No, Randall, listen to me."
"Randall! Look at me! Ring on my finger!"
"Give me the ring! Just one second!"
"PUT A RING ON IT! Please, love? Okay?"
"With this ring-" The priest tried once more as Randall was going to give Rachel the ring.
"Yes, baby~" Rachel cooed in excitement.
"I'm so sorry about this." Tom said as he soon punched Randall in the face, much to the shock of the crowd, and he grabbed the ring out of the air and threw it, generating a Ring portal to Siberia, as the group from there could be seen heading for the portal with a massive avalanche of snow following them.
"Snow my God." Rachel murmured in shock.
"Oh, boy." Tom mumbled nervously.
"Incoming!" Patch cried out, unable to help it at this moment.