Team Chaotix, Cream, and Cheese were still trekking. They were marveling at the beauty of the area; there were frozen lakes, a dandelion sprouting from the ground, and penguins sliding down hills.

"These hikes make me think of the ones my family used to have way back when," Cream reminisced.

The penguins' belly-bogganing gave Vector an idea. "Who wants a quick belly-slide?"

"Sure!" Charmy said. He then started sliding downhill and the others went down with him. Vector tried the same thing, but he started to spin and roll around. Espio was the most graceful of them. Cheese smelled smoke from afar and coughed.

"Their cold sure is doing a number on them," Espio thought.

Cheese then felt another sneeze coming on. Cheese put her finger under Cheese's nonexistent nose, but that did not work, and they sneezed loudly. Just then, a distant rumble was heard.

Cream's ears perked up and she turned around. Lo and behold, an avalanche was sweeping the area. She remembered what her father had done during such a situation.

"Quick, to the tree!" she yelled.

The gang all ran to the nearest tree. Cream and Cheese carried Vector and Espio up there, and then brought Charmy up to the same branch. They were all relieved, but a surge of horror hit them all when they heard a crack. The branch could not support the weight of everyone at once, and it cracked underneath them. They plummeted out of the tree and fell back to the ground. The avalanche was even closer.

The realization hit Cream; she had no choice but to attempt to carry all three of them at once with Cheese's help. She was worried that she would not be able to fly with so much weight, but she knew she had to do her best.

"Grab onto me!" she urged.

Vector held onto Cream's ankles, Espio held onto Vector's ankles, and Charmy held onto Espio's ankles. Cheese held onto Cheese's shoulders to support her and flapped their own wings. Indeed, the guys were all quite heavy, but Cream knew she could not give up. With her friends' safety in her mind, she flapped her ears as hard as she could and did not stop. Cheese was also having trouble keeping afloat with so much underneath them, but they kept flapping their wings as the snow and rocks flowed underneath the gang.

Cream started to smell smoke as well. She looked into the distance and saw a trail of it in the air. Curious, she followed the trail, though she eventually ran out of energy and returned to the ground. Now that they were out of harm's way, she collapsed and gasped for breath from all the effort she had exerted. Vector helped her up.

"That was…awesome," he complimented her. "You're much stronger than you look."

Cream looked flattered, but then she looked rather serious.

"Was it something I said?" Vector asked.

"That's not it, Mr. Vector," Cream answered, as her ears drooped a bit. "I've never told anyone this, but there's actually a reason I learned to fly better."

Charmy was intrigued. "Spill the beans."

"When my dad got lost, I felt terrible because I couldn't help," she confessed. "I decided to become stronger at flying so nothing like that would ever happen again."

"Aw…" Vector said, stroking her behind the ears. "It wasn't your fault, and you did what you could. I can tell you this, your hard work has come in handy for sure." Then he caught the whiff of smoke in the air as well.

"Maybe it's a campfire," Espio said.

"Oh, someone must be there," Cream said. "Perhaps they've seen my dad."

The gang followed the smoke. They did not have to walk far before they found the source of the smoke, and they were met with quite a shock.

There was Ice, warming his hands on a campfire. He had gained a five o'clock shadow since the last time Cream had seen him, and his eyes were red, as if he had been crying.

Cream gasped and let out a delighted scream. "DAD!"

Ice looked up and he was equally surprised and overjoyed to see his daughter. "Cream, is that you?!"

Overcome with bliss, Cream sprinted towards him and clung to his legs. She did not want to let go. She laughed in relief as tears went down her face.

"I'm okay, Cream, I'm here now," Ice mused as he held her close. "I've been searching for such a long time, but I was so lost."

Ice's face darkened a bit. "But there was a cost." He took out a torn piece of a photo. In it, it showed Vanilla holding Cream as a baby. "The one thing I kept of you and your mother has been ripped apart, and I have never found the missing piece."

Cream recognized this photo. She took out the torn photo that had Ice on it and put the two fragments together. It was a perfect fit. Ice began to brighten again and the father and daughter cuddled each other once more.

Espio's eyes filled with tears, but he tried to keep them in. "Don't do it, don't do it," he whispered to himself, but they were too much for him and they came flowing as well. Charmy didn't feel like teasing him about it, though, as he was just as moved. Vector just smiled fondly. Cheese cheered in triumph.