When the portal's light faded away, Tom saw that Sonic had landed on top of the snow mound that now occupied half the wedding stage. In the madness, Tom and Maddie both rushed to Sonic's side.
"Sonic! Manic! Sonia! Are you okay?!" Tom said.
"What's happening? Are you hurt?" Maddie asked.
"I'm... I'm fine." Sonic said, totally not fine.
"More or less." Manic stated.
"Okay, good," Tom exhaled, and then sucked in a breath to scream out, "because you are SO GROUNDED! No screen time for a year! For 10 YEARS!"
"Tom, listen to me," Sonic said with a more earnest look than any the kid had ever given him. "Robotnik is back on Earth, and he's after a magic Emerald! The only way to find it is with a special compass that Robotnik has right now! So Tails and I need to get it back or the world is doomed!"
"All of this happened since yesterday?" Maddie asked.
Sonic reached into the pile of snow and pulled out the still-breathing body of what looked like a fox, but a humanoid, like Sonic. The kid groaned as Sonic turned him over, and Tom noticed two wet tails hanging off Sonic's arm.
"Tails? Can you hear me?" Sonic said and shook the fox gently.
Tom kneeled down and put his arm around the pair. "Don't worry, Sonic. We'll get him help. We'll solve this."
"Oh, thank goodness." Sally sighed in relief that Tails was okay.
"And you!" Tom then pointed at Sally sternly.
"Me? Look, Mr. Wachowski, I know this looks bad, but can you yell at us later?" Sally replied in defense. "We have a lot going on as it is with that Robot Creep and his Little Red Anger Machine after us."
"Wait. Who's Tails?" Tom then asked before looking at Patch. "And I could've sworn I just heard that puppy talk."
"Heh... Woof?" Patch grinned nervously in response.
"Oh, Lord, there are six of them now." Rachel complained due to the talking animals.
"All right, guys, it's time to come up with a new idea." Thor soon said to the others.
"How about we take it from here?" came a voice from behind them.
Tom turned and saw a figure coming down the aisle toward him. He wore a Hawaiian shirt but walked like a soldier. This guy definitely wasn't on the wedding's guest list.
"Wait, I know you!" Tom realized. "You're that Department of Defense spook who showed up last year after the battle in Green Hills. The one who left us that high-tech walkie-talkie."
"Olive Garden Dude." Manic added.
"Correct!" The man said. "Though I may have misled you on my credentials. My name is Commander Walters, and I represent the Guardian Units of Nations: a global task force created after the incident in San Francisco and dedicated to protecting Earth from alien threats." He flashed a badge with a spiked G at its center.
"So you guys are also known as G.U.N?" Mo asked out of slight disgust. "Who would call a spy organization G.U.N.? That doesn't even sound real!"
"Yeah, it really doesn't." Maddie agreed with the tomboy.
"It's totally real!" Walters snapped. "And as a federal agent, I'm calling jurisdiction on this site. We knew you were harboring these hedgehog creatures, Wachowski, but we never thought you'd hand them over. So we had to set up this sting operation to draw him out of hiding."
"Sting operation?" Tom said, and then he realized... the groomsmen with the mystery blasters who were currently buried under a pile of snow. They were G.U.N. agents. That meant that the groom was also...
"You're a secret agent and you didn't tell me?!" Rachel screamed and began to beat her partner mercilessly.
"That's correct," Walters said. "The priest, the wedding band... even the groom! Every aspect of Operation Catfish was a complete fabrication. We had to ensure these alien threats were contained."
Slowly, arms began to move from within the snow mound. The "groomsmen" had come to and were rising to circle around Sonic, Sonia, Manic, and Tails, blasters ready.
"No..." Sally whispered in horror for Tails and the hedgehog triplets.
"No!" Lionel exclaimed. "You can't take them!"
"Can and will." responded Commander Walters firmly.
"Tom?" The triplets whimpered nervously as Sonic held onto Tails.
"You're making a mistake!" Tom called, and began to slug every agent in sight.
A slippery wrestling match ensued, but before Tom could fight them all off, one leveled a blaster at the hedgehog triplets, and WHOOOM! A laser net shot out, capturing the five aliens in its webbing. Tom screamed before two agents collapsed on him, wrestling him into a pair of handcuffs.
"Sonic, Sonia, and Manic aren't threats! They're on our side!" Maddie pleaded with the commander. "You should be protecting the planet from Dr. Robotnik!"
"Robotnik is dead." Walters sneered.
"You're wrong. He's back," Atticus spoke up. "And you've just captured the only ones who can stop him!"
Commander Walters paused and then slowly spoke into a wrist communicator. "Sounds like Dr. Robotnik might be back in play. If he is, I want him found immediately!" he said. "And get me a helicopter evac for Wachowski and these aliens, immediately!"
The G.U.N. agents dragged Tom to his feet and pulled along Tails and the hedgehog triplets like they were common animals and not the world's only hope. Tom looked into Maddie's eyes, powerless.
"Wait! WAIT!" Cherry cried out before she looked emotionally crushed and devastated. "No..." she then whispered lowly.
A random fat kid came onto the scene in the background. "THE 'ALL IS LOST' MOMENT!" he exclaimed before he ran off.
But just then, Jojo came over to Maddie, holding something in her hands. "Aunt Maddie?" she asked.
"Yeah?" Maddie inquired.
"Sonic and his friend dropped this." said Jojo as she handed over Tails's backpack.
Maddie then took the backpack and opened it up to reveal all sorts of gadgets inside. "I have an idea." she then said.
"And I want to have a word with my fiancé," Rachel added firmly. "And that word is 'murder'."
"You're not killing anyone." Atticus told her.
"I don't think it's wise to temper her anger." Patch whispered to his human.
"What's your idea, Maddie?" Thor asked the woman hopefully.
"Yeah, we just gotta save Sonic, Sonia, Manic, and Tails." Johanna added.
"Don't worry, we'll just use these tools to help get them back and find them." Maddie reassured them once she showed the backpack.
MEANWHILE, A FEW MINUTES AGO...
Robotnik's brain was on fire with the possibilities before him. Below, the roaring waves of the avalanche were burying his hated enemy. In his grasp was the key to lead him to the Master Emerald and ultimate power. He was so close to achieving his dream of a world destroyed by chaos and then perfectly reorganized by his intelligent design.
"He chose saving the fox over his compass." said Knuckles as he hung off the side of Robotnik's egg-pod.
"Of course he did," Robotnik brushed off his passenger's awe. "New friend, same pathetic weakness." Knuckles glared at him. "Which is completely unlike our friendship... one built on power and respect!" the doctor recovered quickly.
Knuckles turned the compass over in his hands. After pressing its center, a glowing globe spun to life in the air. It was a perfect jewel ready for the snatching, both the Emerald and this world.
"Tell me, my crimson companion... what's your endgame? What will you do with the power of the ultimate Chaos Emerald once it's in your swollen clutches, huh?" Robotnik fished for any additional info that could come in handy.
"I will return with the Emerald to my ancestral home, using its power to lift the capital temple of echidna society from the sinking ruin it's become and restore it to glory," The creature's eyes were fierce. "I warn you, I'm the last of my kind. The Master Emerald is my destiny. The only way to bring back my people."
"If that glowing orb of a compass is correct, this ring is our quickest path to the other side of the globe... where your Emerald awaits," Robotnik informed. "Shall we?" he then suggested.
Knuckles reluctantly lifted a ring in the air and opened a portal to the South Pacific. ZAM! They dropped from the portal and onto the peak of a tiny rock-covered island that jutted out of the Pacific Ocean. There was nothing else as far as the eye could see.
"This cannot be right," said Knuckles. "Have we misread the compass?"
"I don't misread. Ever," Robotnik growled. "Look down."
Knuckles held out the compass, and its laser lights focused themselves on a point going straight down. Beneath their feet, a stone marker protruded out amid the craggy natural landscape. Robotnik hated nature and all it stood for, but at least this spot held the potential for the sweet, sterile power of alien tech.
The echidna dropped from the egg-pod and landed atop the marker. "The carvings here match the key system used by my ancestors." Knuckles said, fitting the compass into a wide divot in the stone.
Cha-Klang! Shoooooooooom! With a turn of the compass key, the entire island began to rumble. A whirlpool began swirling around the tiny island, and the ocean seemed to drain away around them. It revealed a massive structure of stone extending far beneath them. And then... Foom! A ray of bright green light shot from Knuckles' marker and straight into the sky above.
"Holy Moses!" Robotnik cheered. "I've found it! Archimedes would be floating in his grave right now!" Knuckles' eyes were steely, and he only scanned the depths of the churning water. Seriously, what was the fun in upsetting the balance of all life on planet Earth if you couldn't gloat about it a little?
The pair grasped tightly to the peak of what was revealing itself to be a massive hidden structure. If the compass's resting place was an Owl Tribe temple, this location was practically the lost city of Atlantis.
"Not much impresses you, does it?" Robotnik called to his emotionless echidna.
"We should retrieve the Emerald now!" Without another thought, Knuckles jumped down into a crevasse on the still-rising island's rock face.
Deep below, Robotnik could see the water draining from inside, and as he maneuvered his pod after the echidna, the details of an elaborate labyrinth came into focus. His last remaining drones scanned the walls and fed him data on the underground maze. It was disgusting. Mossy living things. Carving after carving of majestic owls... those grotesque, pellet-pooping monstrosities. The walls of the labyrinth were a monument to wild, living things; the kinds of things his bots would someday replace with cold, metallic perfection. The pathways in the labyrinth narrowed. Stinking, static water still pooled around Knuckles' feet, but the creature dug forward with purpose.
At this point, even Robotnik was beginning to lose his place. "Hey, Knucklehead!" he called. "I know you're dying to get your Emerald on, but could we be a little more mindful? A crumbling animal cage like this usually contains booby traps, and I've only got three drones left!"
K-tang! Crshhhhhhh! A spear flew out of a side wall and cleaved a drone in half. Its finely tuned circuits spat hot sparks as its oil-hemorrhaging body crashed into the water below.
"Make that two drones!" Robotnik then added.
"Fear not, friend," Knuckles said without looking back. "In a moment, I'll have my Emerald, and balance will be restored to the Echidna Tribe AND the universe."
Click! At that moment, he stepped on a pressure plate on the floor, setting off a series of booby-trap blades that sliced, diced, and dissected everything in the tunnel they could reach.
Robotnik pushed his egg-pod ahead, tossing Knuckles into an open chamber just as the last of the blades chopped another of his drones in half. "You see what I mean?!" the scientist cried before briefly regaining his composure. "Allow me to show you how you can work smarter, not harder."
With a tap on his control pad, Robotnik commanded his last remaining drone to scan deeper into the rock of the labyrinth. In minutes, the computer had calculated every turn, tunnel, and trap in the place. It would be slow going, and Robotnik would have to stoop to traveling on foot. But they'd get there alive if his companion could hold his dang horses for once.
It took hours. They pressed deeper and deeper into the muck and mold of the hot and humid labyrinth until, with a glowing super punch, Knuckles broke through a stone wall and into the structure's main chamber. And as the dust settled, there it was amid the gloom. Floating in the middle of the grand cavern...the green Master Emerald!
"At last!" Knuckles called.
"Ultimate power..." Robotnik said, grinning.
"Soon, order will be restored. Peace will be everlasting...all because of what we've done together."
"Aww, such a lovely sentiment, Knuckles. I believe I feel a single tear forming," Robotnik said as he snuck up behind the creature. Now was the moment to strike. The echidna was no longer of any use. In fact, he was the only thing standing between Robotnik and total domination.
Meanwhile, in The Birds of Paradise hotel, there appeared to be a young Hawaiian girl in a red mumu with white leaves printed on it as she was on her way to the ocean with her backpack and seemed to have a peanut butter sandwich in her hand, running past the hotel. In the hotel's basement, however, G.U.N agents were hauling Tom, the hedgehog triplets, and Tails into the basement.
"Hey, come on. You can't just leave us in here. Our friend is hurt!" Sonic cried out. "He needs a doctor, a vet, anyone! Tails, you got to wake up, buddy. Please wake up." he then begged the young fox.
"How are we gonna get out of here?" Manic frowned. "I hope we didn't fail Longclaw and the world."
Sonia gently took his hand and nodded as she felt exactly the same way.
Meanwhile, outside of the hotel, the Hawaiian girl appeared to be going inside the ocean with the sandwich, now wearing a swimsuit and took a deep breath before going under the water. Rachel, Maddie, and the Toon Force were soon hiding in the bushes together and saw that the hotel had several G.U.N agents guarding all the entrances.
"All right. Game plan," Maddie soon told her sister and the others. "I get inside the hotel and find where they're hiding Tom and the triplets."
"Thor, are you listening to us?" Atticus asked his friend who looked distracted.
"Peanut butter sandwich..." Thor mumbled and drooled before licking his lips, seeing the girl in the distance with her sandwich. "Why are you putting that sandwich in the water, little girl? If you don't want it, I'll take it~"
"THOR!" yelled Lionel angrily. "This is serious! Quit thinking with your stomach!"
"Sorry, Lionel~" Thor blushed nervously.
"Okay. Then I find Randall, right?" Rachel soon suggested as she looked very angry with her so-called groom. "And then I squeeze the breath from his lying, deceitful, perfectly manscaped body!"
"Rachel..." The others groaned slightly.
"I'm going through a lot right now. So let me process this my own way, okay?" Rachel defended firmly.
"Sure, sure. No judgment." Maddie told her sister.
"All right, let's see what we can do to help, especially with our training from The Justice League." Cherry quietly suggested to her friends.
"Likewise," Sally nodded in agreement. "Let's do it to it."
Maddie fished around inside the bag and pulled out a small yellow device. Rachel picked it up and glanced at it a little.
"Okay. Is this meant to be a weapon?" she asked. "This is adorable." she then started miming shooting noises. "Take that, Randall! Run, Randall!"
Maddie reached over and plucked the device from her sister's hands. "All right. We're about to find out." she stated.
"Let's see what that baby can do then, and fast." Johan suggested to the sisters.
"Let's go kick some booty." Rachel added.
"For once, I agree with the Banshee." Cherry muttered to herself.
The group soon began to walk around the pool with the two sisters, but Rachel stopped to have a drink.
"Rachel! No. Rachel!" Maddie cried out to her sister.
"In a minute." Rachel replied as she held a lemon wedge in her mouth before tossing the rest of the drink away.
Cherry rolled her eyes at that and they soon made it around the corner and were suddenly met by someone.
"Stop right there!" Grommet demanded.
"Get the bag." Rachel told her sister.
Maddie then tossed a mechanical disk under Grommet, which made a beeping sound. Once it stopped, it emitted ripples into the air that sent the agent flying into the air. "He's gonna come back down, right?" she then asked warily.
"Eventually?" Atticus shrugged in response.
"Good luck!" Rachel then called out to the unfortunate man.
Maddie and Rachel soon looked to see the doorway into the hotel that led to the basement.
"Look. Tom and the triplets have to be inside." Maddie soon pointed out.
"I got a fiancé to vaporize," Rachel soon said. "Watch your back, sis."
"Okay." Maddie nodded.
"Time to split up, gang." Cherry suggested.
"But Cherry! I thought that we were so happy!" Thor suddenly cried and hugged her and Lionel tightly.
"For the mission, Thor." Cherry clarified and narrowed her eyes.
"Oh... I knew that," Thor said before dropping them suddenly with a smirk. "What do you think I am, stupid?" he then asked rhetorically.
"No, but from how ya been actin' sometimes, I wonder," Lionel remarked. "Now c'mon, guys: it's time for a Sonic Jailbreak!"
In intergalactic animal society, there was no crime greater than keeping a creature bound in a cage. And despite years as an outsider to his own kind, Tails had never known this unique pain until he faded into consciousness somewhere warm; far and away from the wind and snow in Siberia.
As soon as Tails understood what he was being carried in, he faded back into a painful slumber as he wondered if this was all just a dream or if he even actually met his hero or if he was just the crazy freak everyone back home said he was.
"Come on! You can't just leave us here! My friend is hurt. He needs a doctor... a vet... anyone!" a voice called out like a dream. In a nearby cage of his own, Sonic the Hedgehog called out to the wounded fox to no avail. "Tails, come on. You gotta wake up!"
"Poor little guy," came the gentle voice of a man that must have been Sonic's ally. "Who is he?"
"His name is Tails, Tom. He's a genius. Brave. He came all the way to this world to find me... Tails is a lot like I was when I first came to Earth. All alone on a strange planet. Needing to find someone to believe in. A hero. Only I got lucky. I found Donut Lord. All Tails found was... me and my sibs. Only Sonic the Hedgehog could've let him down this much." Tails could hear the pain and tears in Sonic's voice. Maybe this wasn't just a bad dream?
"Listen, Sonic. You and your siblings didn't just find Donut Lord," Tom said. "Donut Lord didn't even exist until I found you three. Until I finally found out how it felt to be responsible for someone other than myself. That's what growing up is all about, pal."
"Maybe we don't wanna grow up." Manic pouted.
"I know it can be scary sometimes, but I know you can do it, especially with some help," Tom advised. "You know that Maddie and I believe in you. All of you. We're a family after all."
Sonia sniffled and wiped her eyes a little, feeling emotional at that.
The room that the five of them sat in came into focus: a small holding cell full of baggage.
Tails weakly whispered the first thought on his mind. "The Emerald..." barely passed his lips when his world was rocked again.
BOOM!
The doors blew off the holding room as the triplets and Tom all shouted, "Maddie!"
In the smoldering hole, a human woman stood. Around her waist was Tails' tool belt. It was a good fit. "Come on," Maddie said. "We're busting out of here!"
"Someone call for a rescue?" Thor added bravely.
"You're amazing, you know that?" Tom kissed Maddie after she removed his handcuffs. "How did you pull this off?"
"It wasn't too tough, I had a bit of help. Been working my way with a little alien tech," Maddie said, showing off a few of Tails' miniature explosives and smiling at The Toon Force group who were shown beside her. "Whoever's responsible for these things really saved the day."
"That's this guy here," Tom said, pointing to the two-tailed fox. "We call him Tails."
"Is he... Is he...?" Atticus started to ask out of concern, not wanting to finish that question.
Mo knelt down by Tails' cage and reached gently. "He's got a pulse, but it's weak," she said. "We need to move."
"Follow us, but this whole hotel is crawling with G.U.N. agents," Maddie added and informed. "We can target them with Tails' devices. That seems to be working so far."
Maddie sprinted into the hallway like a righteous warrior. She activated a pulse ray to lift furniture up off the ground and bowl over agents! In a flash, another gizmo magnetized their weapons, pulling the blasters out of G.U.N. hands and away from danger. She even snapped out bolo whips that tangled and tripped new waves of attackers.
Free of their cages, Sonic, Manic and Sonia bounced from agent to agent as Tom sprinted along in their wake, cradling Tails' carrier. The group made their way to the exit, cut off by a final pair of burly G.U.N. agents. Maddie whipped out her last defensive device: a gumball-size black ball with only the barest hint of a switch on the outside. She pressed it but then held on... her first wrong choice!
"Get... rid of it..." Tails called, but his voice was unheard in the chaos.
Beep-beep-beeeeeeeeeeeeep!
"What's that supposed to mean? Beeping is bad!" Maddie said as the final wave of agents ran at them. "Sorry for whatever's about to happen to you!" she said, and threw it right at them.
FWUMP! Suddenly, the ball burst into a massive wave of goo that quickly hardened around the agents, holding them fast against the wall.
"This is gross," Maddie shrugged. "More for you guys than me, but still."
Patch soon barked and pointed out the beach in sight.
"Good eye, boy." Atticus smiled and pet his Dalmatian, sounding very proud of him.
Meanwhile, near the Pacific Ocean, Robotnik and Knuckles were walking through a ring portal and ended up on a small island in the center of the ocean.
"The owls were fools to think they could hide this," Knuckles said as he placed the compass into a slot on the ground, causing the area to suddenly shake violently. "What's happening?" he then asked.
"Wait for it..." Robotnik told the echidna.
Suddenly, a labyrinth erupted from the sea.
"Yes. Eureka! I've found it!" Robotnik then cheered out of victory.
Meanwhile, the group began to run to the beach only to be suddenly stopped.
"Not so fast!" came a harsh military voice.
"This guy again?" Sonic groaned.
"Bummer." Manic complained.
"Don't roll your eyes at G.U.N. Commander Walters," The man said in a pompous tone. "As soon as my men recover from your shenanigans and get these aliens into the hands of our scientists, I'll be up for a promotion. Maybe even the presidency. Why not? I worked for it."
"You worked hard for someone who's full of hot air." Sonia retorted.
"How about you work your way through this?!" Maddie shouted, and tossed the final goo bomb in her arsenal at him.
Walters dodged it. "Well, you forgot the first rule of warfare: Never bring a ball of exploding alien goo to a G.U.N. fight!"
"Ooh, buddy, you just poked a bunch of bears." Cherry warned and smirked with her hands on her hips.
"Oh, this little lady brought a gun," Maddie said, and through the haze, Tails knew what she meant and felt afraid. It was the piece of his tool belt even he wasn't sure should be used. "It's just a very little gun. Sonic...think fast!"
Maddie flipped something off the end of the belt, and it flew into the air. Bouncing off a table, Sonic tipped the gizmo midair until it fell squarely into Tom's hands. It was a gun... sort of? Probably only big enough to really fit in Tails' hand. But Tom aimed it with every ounce of focus his small-town sheriff training provided him.
"Hands up, Walters!" Tom shouted.
"As if that squirt gun is anything compared to the authority my badge empowers me with!"
Zyark! The blaster shot went wide and completely atomized the wedding cake.
"Okay, so maybe it's something compared to my badge." Walters cowered, hands up.
"Hey, Tom?" Sonic whispered. "Do us all a favor and be careful with that."
"What should we do now to our 'fallen friend'?" Thor soon asked his friends with air quotes.
"Simple, make sure he can't go anywhere." Sally replied.
Johan and Johanna soon had Walters tied up, but they were all still running out of time.
"Good work, guys, but how can we find where the compass was leading them without Tails?" Atticus soon wondered.
FOOOOOOOM! Far out on the ocean, a bright beacon of green light split the sky in two.
"Well, that works, I guess," Sonic said before shaking his head in dismay. "The compass has led them to the Emerald already."
"As bright as that light is, it's still got to be miles away on the open ocean. We'll never get there in time," Maddie said.
"We won't," Tom added. "But you guys still can." he then told the hedgehog triplets.
"Us? No way," Sonic shook his head. "You don't know this Knuckles guy."
"Yeah. He's stronger than us, tougher than us; not as handsome, sure, but no one is the total package." Manic added before sighing.
"We can't do this, Tom," Sonia frowned. "We're just a bunch of kids... No wonder you sent Sally to check on us."
"No, you're not 'just a bunch of kids', guys," Tom said, kneeling down. "Remember the last time you fought Robotnik? What did you say?" he then asked them.
"That his facial hair looked super creepy?" Sonic then asked from memory.
"Not that. The other thing."
"We said that this is our power, and we're going to use it to protect our friends." Sonia replied.
"That's right... because that's what heroes do," Tom said finally. "And if you keep ahold of that in your heart, there's nothing you can't do."
Suddenly, the hedgehog triplets looked slightly more motivated.
"Donut Lord is right," Sonic soon said to Sonia and Manic. "Looks like it's time to go fast."
"Eh, that sounds kind of generic," commented Manic. "I'm not really feeling it."
As Sonic, Manic, and Sonia hugged Tom and Maddie goodbye and dug in for a run across the ocean, Tails realized he had to be a hero, too. He had to shake off his wounds. If he couldn't help Sonic and his sibs now, no one could. Clearing his mind of the haze, the fox started kicking at the door of his carrying cage just as Sonic, Manic, and Sonia zoomed into the distance.
"No, wait!" Tails finally called, though his voice was hoarse. "Don't go, Sonic! I'm coming with you! You need..." But he was already gone; just three trails of electric blurs on the horizon.
"Hey, hey, little guy. Calm down," Tom said, wrapping an arm around Tails' shoulder. "You can't go after Sonic. You're hurt."
"But we have to help them," Tails said firmly, his strength seeming to grow back inside of him. "You don't know what they're up against. They can't do this alone."
"Tails is right," Sally nodded. "Besides, it was my responsibility to look after Sonia, Sonic, and Manic."
"You did just fine, Sally." Maddie reassured her.
"I know... There must be some way we can help." Sally replied as she pondered, looking deep in thought.
They soon turned to Walters who was still tied up.
"So, do you believe us now and have you learned your lesson?" Cherry asked the man.
Walters nodded and lowered his head.
MEANWHILE IN GREEN HILLS...
Wade was riding down the road on a Segway, wearing a helmet with a police light on it. "Hey, Bob! Hey, Maria, how you doing? Working on my moves. Just keepin' it green. No need to burn the fuel," he then greeted people he passed by before stopping at a certain coffee shop. "Speaking of fuel..." he then tried to walk in, but slammed into the locked door. "Closed? That doesn't seem right." he then peeked in through the window and saw Stone working at the computer. His eyes then went wide and he left the window.
Inside, Stone was flipping through new outfit concepts for Dr. Robotnik. "Yes. Makeover, makeover. Look at you." he then said to himself.
Wade then suddenly burst in through the back door, gun drawn. "Freeze! Police!" he then called out as Stone raised his hands over his head. "Oh, my God, you got robot hands. You got robot hands." he then remarked.
"No, they're gloves." Stone reassured him.
"Get 'em up. Now spread your fingers! Now wiggle 'em! Wiggle your digits!" Wade then instructed Stone who did what he asked. "Yes, like you just finished a big musical number. Good."
"Why is there a light on your head?" Stone couldn't help but ask.
"'Cuz I'm the sheriff for the weekend, pal." Wade replied as a certain group walked by the cafe just then.
"Guys, I sure hope Sally's okay," Bonnie said to her friends as they walked by. "She's been quiet ever since she went to check on Sonic, Sonia, and Manic last night."
"Hey, Sally's pretty tough," commented Rotor. "But good point, we'd better contact her."
Bonnie nodded before she took out her cell phone and dialed a certain number, deciding to do a video chat since they were all together.
"Maybe she's just sick?" Antoine suggested nervously.
"Ah don't think so." Bonnie shook her head at that.
The phone continued to ring as the friends waited for an answer from the other side only to get Sally's voicemail.
"Huh... No answer..." Bonnie frowned. "She always answers our calls, especially from her friend from outta town."
"Then we've got to do something!" Antoine exclaimed.
"Calm down... maybe she had another important call?" Rotor suggested warily.
"Ah dunno 'bout that, besides, there are strange things goin' on lately." Bonnie remarked thoughtfully.