Amy turned her head back to face her blue hero before shaking him off, leaving him dazed and confused. They all ran up to the house and knocked on the door politely, awaiting to see who would answer it this time around.

'Hello? Can I help you?' A tall, dark echidna asked as he answered the door.

'Uh, hi there. We were just wondering if you knew of-'

'Sonic the Hedgehog?' The echidna cut Tails off.

'Um, yes?' Sonic answered nervously.

'Juliet! Juliet! Come here, quickly!' The echidna called out over his shoulder.

A pretty, turquoise hedgehog ran down the stairs in her robe and a towel on her head and up to the echidna in a panic, not noticing their visitors. She must have thought someone had been shot by the expression on her face.

'Diego! What's the matter? What are you-' Juliet cut herself off when she laid eyes on Sonic.

'Sonic the Hedgehog?'

'Juliet?' Sonic replied.

Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, Rouge and Cosmo all took a subtle step back and looked at their friend curiously. Who were these people? How did Sonic know this female hedgehog? Rouge couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, this hedgehog was old enough to be his mother. Plus, the echidna appeared to be her husband or partner of some sort.

'It's so good to see you again, my dear!' Juliet exclaimed as she embraced Sonic in a warm hug.

'Yeah, it's great to see you too.' Sonic replied and politely hugged her back.

'Please, come inside. These must be your friends! Any friend of Sonic's is a friend of ours, please come in and make yourselves comfortable.'

The team walked inside and sat down in the living room when Juliet and her husband, Diego, asked what they were doing around these parts. Sonic quickly explained their situation and introduced everyone to Juliet and Diego. Amy asked how they knew each other, as it turns out, Sonic had saved Juliet once from one of Eggman's robots and ended up getting himself hurt. She took him in and helped him heal.

'So tell me, where are your other two friends?' Diego asked.

'They're probably another mile back. Cream is in the Tornado and Tails is fixing it, he thinks one of the engines overheated.' Knuckles answered.

'You need to get them here, it will be dark soon!' Juliet exclaimed.

'Which reminds me, where is Alycia?' Diego asked firmly.

'Who is Alycia, sir?' Cosmo asked.

'Our daughter.' He answered with a smile.

'Shit.' Rouge mumbled under her breath and looked over at Amy.

As it dawned on dark, Sonic had sped back to the Tornado, filing Tails in on everything that had happened that afternoon. Of course, Tails came out with a smart remark saying they were lucky to be travelling with him, otherwise they'd be sleeping in the forest. Sonic carried Cream back to the small but beautiful beach house and Juliet put her in a lovely spare room, where she remained peaceful and asleep.
Tails was quickly introduced to their hosts and discovered he and Diego had a great deal in common. Diego worked at a large company where he was in charge of all the mechanics and engineering. Once they got to talking about that, they didn't stop.

'I'm home!' A female voice yelled out from the front door.

'It's about time, Alycia. You know you're supposed to be home by dark.' Juliet said firmly, still with a smile on her face.

'Sorry, Mama, I just-' Alycia cut herself off when she noticed all the people in her living room.

'Oh, hello.' She greeted them politely.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow quickly shot up out of their seats. Their mouths agape, staring at the eighteen-year-old purple echidna. She was nothing short of stunning, could easily pass for a model. She had her bikini on, her long, beautiful hair flowing down her back. Her make-up was practically perfect, not even smudged, assuming she'd spent the day at the beach.
It suddenly occurred to Rouge that Amy wasn't the one that need to worry about the daughter, she wasn't about to hit on Sonic. Rouge herself was the one that needed to start stressing. Alycia could jump in and take Knuckles out from under her nose at the drop of a dime. Which was really saying something, because everyone around their area knew that Rouge was the girl to go for. What happens when she gets knocked down a peg?

'Hello, I'm Rouge.' Rouge said as she stepped forward to shake her hand.

'Hiya, I'm Alycia. Sorry to be blunt, but do I know any of you?' She asked politely as she shook her hand.

'Darling, do remember when I told you about Sonic the Hedgehog? He saved my life once. Well, he and his friends need our help tonight so they'll be staying here until they move out in the morning.' Juliet said with a large smile.

'Oh, Juliet, we don't want to be trouble.' Sonic said nervously.

'Nonsense. You will stay with us until you are good and ready. I don't you believe you met my daughter when you were here?' Juliet said as she pushed Alycia towards the blue hedgehog.

Sonic shook the purple echidna's hand and smiled at her intently, making Amy's blood boil. Amy, Rouge and Cosmo all exchanged looks. Cosmo knew she had nothing to fear, except the fact that this poor Alycia girl might not survive the night if she even looks at Knuckles or Sonic the wrong way.
She couldn't help but let her mind wander over to Tails, not that she liked him in that way or anything! Would Alycia be interested in him? Not that she cares! But no, she is two years older than him. Not that it matters!

Over dinner, Rouge kept her eyes firmly glued to the purple echidna, unless she was speaking or being spoken to. Alycia could never pass for a spy, if Knuckles was sitting right next to her then her head would be turned at a ninety degree angle. She didn't once see the beach babe take her eyes off him! She restrained herself from leaping over the table and pinning her to the ground, but she knew that wouldn't go down all that well. Amy noticed the steam coming out of Rouge's ears and tried to think of a way to calm her down. Maybe bringing up a topic of conversation that both her and Alycia could talk about.

'So, Alycia, what are you interested in?' Amy asked when the conversation died down.

'Oh, well, when I'm not at the beach with my friends I'm out shopping. I'm really into fashion and all the latest trends. I'm actually taking a small course in make-up and hair design right now as well.' Alycia answered proudly.

'We're very proud of our girl.' Diego said as he cupped is daughter's cheek.

'So what sort of fashion are you into?' Rouge asked.

'Mainly beachy stuff. Floral shorts, prints and all that jazz. You seem to be the fashion type too, Rouge?' Alycia said with a small smile.

'I'll take that as a compliment I guess.'

'Of course!'

'Well I'm more into the stuff you see on the catwalk. Classy, trendy, all that jazz.' Rouge said, looking at the purple echidna.

The boys hadn't exactly been listening to their talk of fashion, make-up and all that excess crap, but when a brief yet intense stare happened between the ivory bat and the dark lavender echidna, it occurred to them that something might be going on behind the scenes. Something only girls understood. Juliet and Diego got to talking about something they had to do the following day, when Cosmo and Amy sunk into their shoulders and began to stare at Knuckles. He quickly worked out that the 'behind the scenes' thing was because of him.

'You know you're screwed right. Alycia seems just as, if not more, feisty than Rouge.' Shadow chuckled as he spoke to Knuckles.

'No one is crazier or feistier than that bat.' Knuckles answered.

After dinner, Alycia and her parents went upstairs to bed. Amy, Cosmo and Rouge went into the spare room and set up an excuse for a bed around Cream's bed. The boys remained in the living roomed and made themselves comfortable on the lounges.

'He makes a good point, but I think that echidna has taken a fancy to you, Knux.' Tails smiled.

'We sound like a group of girls.' Knuckles huffed.

'Don't try and change the subject. You can't deny she's a bit of a looker.' Sonic chuckled as he propped his head up on his hands.

'Christ, don't let Amy hear you say that, Faker.' Shadow smirked.

'Huh?'

'Give it boys. Just shut up and go to sleep!' Tails said before throwing a pillow at someone's face.

-
'Knuckles, you're going the wrong way.' A voice echoed.

'What? Tikal, is that you?'

'Yes. Change you're course, you shouldn't be near the ocean.' Tikal answered bluntly.

'Where are we meant to be going? Help us!'

'You need to travel through a small patch of desert before entering a rainforest again. There you will find the tombs.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, and for the love of Mobius, Knuckles. Stay away from that lavender echidna, we all know Rouge is the one for you.'

'What?!'

…

Tikal? Tikal!'
-

'How are you feeling, Rouge?' Cosmo asked as she lay in her bed.

'Fine, why?'

'Don't play dumb. I could have sworn you were going to leap over that dining room table and attack that girl!' Amy said as she propped herself up to look at her friend.

'I was just going to let her know what was what?' Rouge said as innocently as possible.

'In her own home?' Cosmo pointed out.

'Oh, shut up.'

'Can't you just admit you like Knuckles?' Amy asked.

'Nope. How about you tell us where you and Big Blue got off too today?' Rouge asked with a coy smile.

'Good thing she changed it to an interesting topic.' Cosmo giggled.

'Nothing happened? We walked, we laughed, he tackled me, we laughed more, he apologized for the bold move in front of Vanessa, I told him he was apologizing for the wrong reason and that's when Cosmo and Knuckles came in.' Amy said casually.

'What?!' Rouge and Cosmo exclaimed simultaneously in a whisper.

'What?' Amy replied confused.

'What do you mean he tackled you?' Cosmo asked.

'He was just tickling me?'

'Pfft, and you think he doesn't have feelings for you.' Rouge smirked.

'Also, what do you mean he was apologizing for the wrong reason?' Cosmo added.

'He was apologizing for taking me by surprise. I wanted an apology for him kissing me without meaning it.' Amy admitted.

Rouge and Cosmo exchanged a sad look, even though they could barely see each other in the dark. While their pink friend was a little on the crazy side when it came to Big Blue, she made a pretty good point. The two assured her it was nothing to look into, hence why he would've looked so confused when she told him he was apologizing for the wrong reason.

'Goodnight, girls.' Amy said as she shrugged off their attempts to comfort her.

'Night, kiddo.' Rouge replied.

'Nigh-night.' Cosmo added.