The first thing that happened after Shadow got him out of the ball was him getting an arm full of fox as Tails launched himself at Sonic. Sonic returned the hug happily; his bro needed the support and honestly Sonic needed it too. "Good to see you too bro."

Sonic flicked an ear as he heard sniffling. "I-I'm glad you're back Sonic…" Tails hugged him tighter. "I was s-so scared…"

"Don't sweat it little bro I'm here." Sonic shut his eyes as he deepened the hug. "I'm here."

"As much as I don't want to break up this touching moment…" Shadow coughed awkwardly. "We need to make sure you're alright Sonic."

Opening his eyes Sonic nodded. "Go ahead and give me a check up Shads." Sonic winked and he swore he saw the ghost of a smile on the other hedgehog's lips.

He waved for Sonic to follow him. "I told you not to call me that." As Sonic went to move he noticed the fox still clinging to him. He rolled his eyes fondly before picking up Tails enough that he could move. What kind of big brother would he be if he denied his little bro the comfort? He winced. The kind of big brother that kept secrets that only made things worse. Shaking his head he tried not to dwell on it for the moment.

Seeing as Tails was still clinging to him, and not showing any signs of letting go, Shadow began to hook him up. It was a slower process then it normally might be, a combination of Tails clinging to him and Shadow being more unfamiliar with Tails' tech, but Sonic didn't really mind. It almost felt kinda good to slow down for a bit after everything. He focused on the feeling of Tails' soft breathing against his chest. He was safe. As far as he could tell everyone was safe. Shadow looked a bit rough, but nowhere near the point of life threatening.

Shadow's eyes flicked over the screen as Sonic continued to comfort his brother. Thankfully Tails hadn't burst into tears, Sonic wasn't sure he could handle that right now. It felt so nice to just embrace him though, knowing he was safe. He knew things weren't over though, as nice as that would be. Super was still a very real threat. Just because Sonic had managed to get back control for now didn't mean Super was gone. Until they figured out how to get rid of him for good Sonic had to be careful. Though that also meant he needed to make sure he told his friends everything. Clearly hiding things from them had been… a poor decision on his part he could admit.

"Seems that for now everything is normal." Shadow finally spoke up. "I'm sure Tails will want to keep an eye on you for a while after this though." He looked over at Sonic, crossing his arms. "You scared a lot of people, Sonic."

"You included?" Sonic rose a brow teasingly.

Shadow huffed. "Don't push your luck hedgehog."

"Alright alright." Sonic backed off. As fun as it was to tease Shadow, Sonic knew that now wasn't really the time. "Oh, by the way…" Sonic trailed off as Shadow gave him a curious look. "Thanks for looking out for everyone while I was… you know."

Shadow shook his head. "Thank Tails. He's the one who got me involved in the first place, and I suppose Rouge as well." Shadow sighed. "But Tails was the one who kept us coordinated in our search for you."

Sonic glanced down at the fox, smiling fondly. Based on the steady breathing Sonic guessed he'd fallen asleep. "My little bro really is the coolest huh?"

"He's impressive I suppose." Shadow admitted.

Ok scratch not messing with Shadow, this was a prime opportunity to do so and Sonic could do with some normalcy right now. Plus how could he not when Shadow so easily set it up? "A genuine compliment? Is the world ending?"

Shadow shot him a glare, but there was amusement in his look. "It very well could have. You're just lucky that there are people willing to help you."

"I'm quite the lucky hedgehog huh?" Sonic sighed as he adjusted Tails so they'd both be more comfortable.

"Yes, I suppose lucky is one way to put it." Shadow said as he put a hand up to his ear. "I'm going to let the others know what's going on." He glanced at Sonic. "Are you prepared for more company?"

Sonic glanced down at the sleeping Tails before nodding. "Yeah, just make sure they know not to wake up Tails."

A lot happened when Sonic's other friends showed up. There were tears shed and threats in his general direction. The threats were mostly from Knuckles but that was pretty normal. It was just nice to be back, though even as he visited and caught up with his friends he was still acutely aware of Super lurking in the back of his head. He wasn't close enough for it to be hard to keep control, but Sonic was just aware of him now. Based on what happened the first time he'd likely slowly get closer to the surface. At least Sonic knew what to look out for now.

"So." Knuckles crossed his arms and glared. "Care to explain?"

Sonic looked at him and frowned. The echidna was still pretty heavily bandaged. Although it wasn't really Sonic he still felt bad that the other had gotten hurt. "Yeah… I suppose that's the least I owe you all huh?" Sonic said, glancing around. Knuckles simply huffed and continued staring at him. Right yeah. He should just get on with it. "Right so, back before I ran off. And yes I know it was a bad idea." He interrupted himself before anyone else could. "I was starting to feel emotions that weren't mine and getting random intrusive thoughts. I know now that they were Super's but back then I had no idea. I admittedly got kinda scared and didn't wanna put any of you in danger so I hid it. I figured it wouldn't help any and Tails and Knux were already worried enough." Sonic took a deep breath. "It just kinda got worse from there until the only way I could think to keep everyone safe was to leave. From there I traveled around just trying to keep Super from taking over, maybe see if I could fix things on my own. I was uh… not doing well." He winced as he got several looks of varying emotion. "He was getting more and more persistent until I just couldn't anymore. I just kinda gave in, hid myself in a cave and just hoped things would work out."

A groggy Tails blinked at him, frowning. The fox had woken up not long after the others had arrived. Despite the warning from Shadow there wasn't much that could stop the noise they'd all made. Thankfully Tails hadn't seemed too bothered, just content to lean against Sonic. "But how come we couldn't track you?"

Sonic rubbed the back of his head. "I was being careful to not run at a high enough speed that you could track me. I left because I didn't want you guys to find me til I had this all sorted." Sonic sighed in frustration. "You saw how well that worked out though."

"It was pretty stupid of you." Knuckles grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah I know." Sonic agreed. He shook his head, a bitter smile on his face. "You'd think by now I'd know I can rely on you guys." His ears flopped down and his smile turned sadder. "I just don't wanna risk you guys sometimes you know?"

Amy huffed. "We're capable of taking care of ourselves, Sonic." She smiled at him. "Don't you forget that."

Sonic chuckled weakly. "Yeah I know."

"Don't worry big blue. We'll be there to cover you whether you like it or not." Rouge winked. "Right?" She glanced at Shadow and Omega.

Shadow huffed but nodded. "If only to keep you from dragging the rest of us into trouble."

"AFFIRMATIVE." Omega also agreed. "WE SHALL CONTINUE TO PREVENT ANY HEDGEHOG RELATED DISASTERS, PREFERABLY WITH EXTREME VIOLENCE."

Rouge patted Omega on the arm. "Simmer down Omega."

Sonic shook his head fondly. "Thanks."

"So." Sonic looked over at Tails as he spoke. "Is he gone?"

Sonic frowned as he twitched an ear. "No, unfortunately. He's still there. Not anywhere near a threat at the moment, but he will be again eventually."

"Then we just have to figure out how to keep him from being one." Amy said, grinning.

"Together this time." Tails lightly scolded.

Sonic held his hands up in surrender. "Yeah together this time. No hiding stuff." He placed a hand over his heart as his ears perked back up. "I promise that this time you'll get all the information from me and you have my full permission to lock me up somewhere if I try and run off again."

"I'll make sure you're held to that Sonic." Knuckles spoke up, a hint of amusement on his face.

"Of course you would. I'm sure you'd be glad for the excuse to fight me." Sonic shot back also with an amused look.

"As if I need an excuse to beat you." Knuckles huffed and looked away.

"Sure sure." Sonic said, waving a hand.

"I collected a lot of data on Super while we had him trapped. We can probably use that to help us figure out how to keep Super trapped for good." Tails said as he sat up straighter, still keeping contact with Sonic. It was entirely possible that the fox felt like Sonic would disappear if he wasn't. Which was reasonable after everything and it wasn't like Sonic minded.

"Sounds like a plan, buddy." Sonic ruffled the top of Tails' head and the fox leaned into the touch.

The group talked for a while more. People throwing out suggestions that were either recorded by Tails to be looked into further or just shut down then and there. By the end of their brainstorming they had a few promising ideas but setting any of them into motion would take time. Thankfully if they were worried about Super taking over again Sonic had promised to just go in the ball again so he couldn't hurt anyone. That way they should have all the time they needed to figure this out.

Later that evening after most of his friends had left for the night, he was fairly certain most of them would be back tomorrow, he was walking around the master emerald shrine. Only Tails, Knuckles, and oddly enough Shadow had remained behind. When Sonic had asked Shadow why he was staying the other hedgehog had given an excuse along the lines of making sure someone was there who could keep Super in check if needed. Which while that made sense Sonic was also fairly certain, thanks to the fuzzy memories from Super, that Shadow hadn't actually ever beat Super directly. Oh well, it wasn't like Sonic minded that Shadow wanted to stay. He was glad for the extra company.

"Yo Tails. I'm gonna go for a quick jog around the shrine alright?" Sonic walked over to where Tails was looking over the data he'd collected on Super.

Tails looked at him wearlily for a moment before sighing. "No sense in trying to keep you in one place for too long huh? Just stay close." He walked over to Sonic and checked on the armband that he was now sporting. "And make sure not to mess with this. You shouldn't be able to get it off but I don't want you trying."

Sonic threw his hands up in a mock defensive gesture at the stern look Tails gave him. The device was for tracking Sonic's vitals and the like. Not unlike the one Tails had him use when this mess first started. This one however was nearly impossible to get off himself and required a special tool that Tails had to get it off. It was a safety precaution just in case and Sonic had accepted it immediately. "I won't touch it. And I won't go far promise. You can even keep an eye on where I go if you want."

Tails shook his head. "No it's fine. I trust you. I'm just…"

"Scared?" Sonic finished for him, tilting his head.

Tails ear's drooped. "Yeah… We just got you back, I don't want to lose you again already."

"I'm not going anywhere." Sonic gave him a reassuring look. "Trust me when I say I don't wanna go through that again. I especially don't want to put you all through that again." He flicked an ear before holding out his hand for a fist bump. "I won't go far and I won't be gone long. If I'm gone too long just come after me. Send Shadow or Knuckles. I'm sure the two of them would love an excuse to come after me."

Tails chuckled as he gently bumped his fist against Sonic's. "Alright. I'll see you soon."

"If I'm not back in 20 feel free to send em after me." Sonic winked as he sped off. He didn't plan being out even that long but he figured it was a reasonable amount of time. He just needed to run for a bit to help clear his head.

True to his word he did stick close to the shrine. Close enough to draw a couple angry shouts from Knuckles as he shot past. While things were far from normal at the moment Sonic could just be happy to be back. He was cautiously optimistic that they could figure things out. They had a lot more information now, and a plan should Sonic start losing control again. It made things seem more manageable he supposed.

Stopping for a moment he took a deep breath. By his count it had only been about ten minutes, but he could only be entertained by running around in circles for so long. At least he'd be heading back with plenty of time left so he didn't worry Tails. Just as he was about to head back he heard heavy footsteps behind him. He turned around to see who it was. Had someone followed him? With everything that had just happened he wouldn't be too surprised if someone had, but he was fairly certain it wasn't Tails or Knuckles. The two of them were accounted for. Shadow then?

"Shadow?" Sonic tried. There was no response. As Sonic watched though the source of the footsteps became visible. Sonic looked at the figure, confused. "Metal? What? Now isn't a good time for a race if that's why you're here dude. Kinda a lot going on at the moment."

The robot stopped a few feet from him and shook his head. Metal looked him over and tilted his head in question. "You're… checking up on me?" He guessed. Sonic was very confused. Why would Metal even care? Metal made a so so motion with his hand before crossing his arms. Guess he was waiting for a response. "Well I mean, I'm ok? I guess?" Sonic didn't exactly feel keen on spilling everything that had happened to his mechanical rival. "I've been better but things are improving."

Metal gave him a look that read as disbelief. Though there wasn't any further pressing. Instead he unfolded his arms and held out his hand, there was a small metal disk in it. Sonic looked at Metal in confusion before the robot pointed to the disk.

Sonic shifted his focus to the disk and waited for something to happen. After a moment Metal tapped the side of the disk and a hologram lit up. Sonic felt his quills raise up defensively and his ears pin down against his head as the image flared to life. "Well hello there Sonic. Been some time hm? Why don't we catch up?" Eggman grinned at him maliciously from the screen. Great, just what he needed right now.