Outside of Sanctuary, children were playing, having a great time, their laughter filling the air. Because they were outside, they were the first to see Sonic Underground's van pull up. As the band members came out, the children crowded all around them, the band in turn stopped to greet them, gave a few high fives, and when Sonic and Sonya managed to break free, Manic stayed behind. Cyrus rushed over to greet his friends.
"Well, looks like your brother's having a great time," he laughed.
"Yeah well, children seem to give him joy and he just enjoys being around them as much as they enjoy being around him," Sonya replied looking back upon her brother.
"Back when he was their age, he didn't get to have the kind of free time and opportunities they do, also he was being taught some pretty bad stuff. So I guess, for him, this is catching up," agreed Sonic as he handed the stolen blueprints over to Cyrus. He looked over the paper, shook his head and rolled it back up.
"No, most of the calculations are incorrect, the majority of the drawings are poor at best, and the writing is garbled gibberish. I'm sorry, but these are definitely not the blueprints for anything Robuttnik might have in mind," he replied with a solemn voice. Sonya and Sonic became wide-eyed at the remark.
"But the rumors we kept hearing! Robuttnik himself was gloating over this before we snatched it! How on earth could this be-wait? A fake?" asked an alarmed Sonic. That's right about when they heard screaming. Looking up, it was quite easy to see why. Swatbots suddenly appeared in the sky, sending fireballs down upon Sanctuary and the surrounding area. Sleet and Dingo's hovercraft was right behind them.
"Get the children outta here! My sibs and I will deal with these metal heads!" Manic ordered. As the resident Freedom Fighters rushed to get the children into the safety of the trees, Sonic Underground turned their medallions into the weapons/instruments. Sonic and Sonya constantly blasted at the Swatbots, while Manic, of course sent up giant boulders.
"I don't think we can hold them off much longer!" Sonya shouted. That was right about when a laser from one Swatbot singed off some of Sonic's quills.
"I say we retreat, like now!" she commanded. They turned their instruments back to medallions; Sonic grabbed Sonya by the wrist and zoomed into the thick brush of what is left of a nearby forest. Manic, meanwhile ran to the van and pulled his hoverboard out of an exterior compartment, right before the van was blasted.
"Catcha later dudes!" he yelled, putting his thumb to his nose and waving his fingers at the Swatbots before hightailing out. Right then, Sleet and Dingo's craft landed at the scorched remains of Sanctuary with a few Swatbots. Robotnik stepped out of the vehicle, shortly followed by his two bounty hunters.
"Mwa ha ha ha! Now those Freedom Fighters have no place to keep their children safe, and they will become lost, disorganized, and I will easily pick them off!" he laughed. Suddenly he saw some of Sonic's singed-off quills and picked them up.
"Hmmm, this day just keeps getting better and better!" he said with his evil grin upon his face. Sleet and Dingo looked at him confused.
Somewhere in another nearby forest, the Freedom Fighters had set up a quick camp. Bartlebee, Cyrus, Sonic and Sonya all stood around a campfire, where they were shortly joined by Manic.
"I took the liberty of making sure that all the children had been tucked in properly," he stated rather simply.
"Good, but how on Mobius did Robotnik know where to find us? Our van doesn't leave tracks and no one other than our fellow Freedom Fighters knows where Sanctuary is, or rather was?" Sonic replied, clearly trying to still stand in charge despite the bleakness of the situation.
"Wait, you don't suppose those phony plans you gave me were being tracked in some way, do you?" asked Cyrus, a twinge of alarm in his voice.
"Oh no! That must be it! So we did lead them there!" said a now horrified Manic.
"Do not feel so hard on yourself. Knowing Robotnik like I do, he is a very clever chap and would have fooled just about anyone with a trick like that. It is certainly something he would do, put a tracking device on a piece of paper that is," said Bartlebee, trying to be reassuring.
"Well, now that we've answered that question, let's try to answer this one; what are we going to do with the kids? We can't just have them stay out here with minimal protection! That is just so not cool!" said Sonic.
"Well, I think I might have an idea, but it might be a little crazy," said Sonya, raising a finger, a guilty-looking smile slowly etching upon her face.
Sometime later, the children of the Freedom Fighters were being moved onto the Floating Island. Those who were in charge of their safety were making sure that tents were being put up. The three hedgehog siblings were shaking hands constantly with Knuckles.
"Thanks again for doing this Knuckles, and on such short notice," said Sonic.
"Hey, no problem. You guys needed help, I knew my island would be a great (temporary) sanctuary, and besides, I just couldn't say no to Sonya," replied Knuckles.
"Oh, Knuckles, you're too kind," replied Sonya. She gently held his hand, and they look into each other's eyes. Her brothers sniggered into their hands.
"Sonya and Knuckles! Sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love! Then comes marriage! Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" they started singing.
"Do you two ever stop?!" she asked in an annoyed voice when she shook herself out of her trancelike state.
"No," her brothers replied in unison.