At the Mean Bean, in a cup of coffee is a picture of Robotnik and Stone. There's hearts around the both of them and Stone adjusts the cup, looking satisfied with it. The door is thrown open by Robotnik and he smiles.
"Doctor...it's really you," He says happily at the sight of his boss. "You look...different."
"Papa's got a new stache," Robotnik spins and poses, laughing.
"I knew it," Stone walks around the counter to give Robotnik his coffee. "I knew it! I knew you'd come back, sir. I never stopped steaming your Austrian goat's milk," He hands the coffee over and Robotnik takes a sip. As he does so, Knuckles enters the café.
"Could use some mushroom," Robotnik comments and Stone glances down at Knuckles, looking a bit disappointed.
"You brought something. Some kind of, uh...space porcupine," He replies in distaste.
"Porcupine?" Knuckles asks in defense, clenching his fists. "I am an echidna! Trained since birth in all forms of lethal combat, destined to restore honor to my tribe, and willing to destroy anything that gets in my way!" He grits his teeth up at Stone.
"Welcome to the team," Stone decides to put his pettiness aside and offers his hand. Knuckles grasps it and just like with Robotnik, his bones dislocate. He screams in pain as he bends down, Robotnik chuckling and bending down to him once Knuckles lets go.
"That means he trusts you, Stone." He nods meekly in pain, Robotnik standing back up. "Now let's renovate this dump!" He waves a hand, gesturing to the café.
"Latte with steamed Austrian goat milk!" Stone calls out, which is actually a coded message. He turns around to the wall. Robotnik and Knuckles watch as the walls flip and shift around to reveal a large computer and drones. The Robotnik symbol is on the computer as the counter turns into a holographic table. Robotnik looks on in delight.
Meanwhile, in Hawaii, a volleyball rises into the air. Randall jumps up and hits it, wearing a hat on his head. The ball hits Tom in the chest, knocking him onto the ground. Randall and his friend do a handshake while Tom stands up. "Good one. Solid."
Randall hits the ball again, once again knocking down Tom. He gets hit several times or straight up misses the ball. He groans after another attempt, laying down on the grass. He looks at his team, who don't seem to be very athletic, especially since they don't seem to be playing.
"Sorry, fellas. When I practiced with my kid so she could get on the team, I was much better than this..." He groans a bit; when Sophia was a kid, she used to ask her father to play against her so she could practice and get on the volleyball team in middle school. And usually he'd let her win, but now he's debating whether or not he did that to make her happy or because he's really out of touch.
"Ha ha, that's game!" Randall hollers while his team celebrates. "That's how we do! That's how we do!"
"But are they good at math?" Tom points out. His team just look awkward as they stand there.
"Teamwork makes the dream work!" Randall goes over to Tom. "Sorry about that, Big Tom," He helps him up. "Are you good?"
"All good. Fine," Tom dismisses it. "Hey. Thanks for inviting me out to hang with you and your groomsmen. Good quality bonding."
"Yeah, you know, bro? Those guys right there, they're way more than my groomsmen," He glances at his teammates, who are all exercising. "That's my squad. Never would've made it through life without 'em."
"Get over here!" One of them waves Randall over.
"Yeah, I'm coming. I'm coming!" He turns to Tom, holding up a fist. "I'll catch ya later."
"Oh, hey, yeah!" He fist-bumps Randall, a bit out of breath.
"Let me know if you're ready for some power yoga, huh?" Randall pats Tom's shoulders.
"You bet."
"Come on, Tommy-boy, let's go," Randall backs away, flexing his muscles. "Let's go."
Tom shows off his own arms. "Whoo! Don't make me, ha! What am I doing?" He asks himself once Randall's gone.
"Hey, Uncle Tommy!" He turns around to see Jojo and Maddie walking up to him.
"Oh, hey girls!" The man greets as Jojo has gotten taller since the last time she saw him. "How are you do—oh!" He notices something in Jojo's hands. "Are those the wedding rings?"
"Uh huh," Maddie smiles at him.
"May I?" He asks and Jojo hands over the velvet pillow to him. He takes a look at them.
"This little ring bearer has been taking her job very seriously. She's been practicing all morning," Maddie explains to her husband.
"Yeah, I can see that. How very responsible of you," He hands the pillow back to his niece. "Except aren't there supposed to be two wedding rings?"
She looks down and notices that one of them is missing. "Uh-oh..."
Instead of freaking out, however, Maddie gives him a knowing smile. "Uncle Tommy?"
"Hang on...what's going on here?" He reaches behind Jojo's ear and pulls out the wedding ring from behind it. She giggles and takes the ring back. "You're gonna do great, kiddo."
"Thanks...I wish Soph was here, though. I miss her, I hope she gets better."
"Well, I'll tell her you say hi," Tom smiles at her and she runs off.
"Bye!"
"Hey, baby," Maddie wraps her arms around Tom.
"Hi," He greets and they share a kiss. Suddenly they hear a noise, turning to the group of men. They decided to shower Randall in bottled water to celebrate his upcoming wedding. "Look at those guys. I wish Sonic had that." They watch the group hug.
"Muscles?"
"Control yourself," Tom warns her playfully.
"Mm-hm," She turns to him and they both laugh.
"No. Buddies. Wingmen. A squad. Sonic doesn't have anything like that. He's flying solo...I mean, our daughter looks like him, but she doesn't count. She's got Maeve and Lila and he's got no one. And I wish Sophia could show herself without having to worry about everyone, you know? Getting expelled is gonna be something she'll have to live with now, and dealing with not being able to be here."
"Baby, you gotta relax," She tells him, gesturing to their environment. "You're at the Four Seasons. Have a Mai Tai. Spend some time with your wife."
"That's what he said," He points at her and she nods. "Seriously, his exact words."
"See? They're both smart kids. They'll find their way. As for our daughter, she'll bounce back from all this. That's how she is. She'll push back everything that's been against her."
Tails, Sonic, and Sophia trudge through a blizzard. "I absolutely cannot find my way. We are completely, totally, unequivocally lost!"
"And I can't push back against this! No way!" Sophia adds in, shivering a little. Tails puts a hand over his eyes as he looks at his device.
"Hey guys, in this weather, there's no way we're gonna get any readings on this thing! Should we go back?" He calls out to them. Sophia falls onto the snow with a grunt. Sonic looks down at her with a gasp, helping her up and pulling her along so he can help her walk.
"No, no, no. There's a light up ahead," Sonic notices a small bar up ahead. "Maybe we can take shelter in there!"
"How? We can't be seen like this," Sophia asks and he walks forward. He looks over a snowdrift and sees some gear and clothing hanging.
"Ahh, perfect," He ducks down to face Tails.
"Are you sure about this?" The yellow fox asks skeptically. "We don't know who's inside."
"Don't worry. On Earth, people are very welcoming, and love taking complete strangers into their homes."
Sophia gives him a skeptical look while hugging herself, since it doesn't always work like that...
The bar is brightly lit as people party, drink, or dance. Everyone is enjoying themselves and then the door slowly opens. Everything and everyone goes silent as they all stare at who just entered. Standing at the doorway are the trio, dressed head to toe in clothing. Sophia has a pink parka, a large knit black knit cap, a scarf, and some pants. They all blink as they stare at the people, and some of them don't look as welcoming as Sonic said. They gasp from the looks they get, someone stabbing a table with a knife. They gasp again, and then see an old lady with a rocking chair, knitting something. The three sigh in relief as they think she seems innocent enough, but then she holds up her blanket to reveal a skull symbol on it. They all scream again, a butcher chopping off a fish head. It rolls to a stop in front of them.
"Run."
Sophia leans in towards Sonic. "Okay, clearly, we're not welcome here, let's just find another place to stay," She whispers nervously to her boyfriend.
"Trust me, it'll be fine. And besides, this is the only place we've found so far, it might take forever to find someplace else," He whispers back to her and she sighs in defeat, since he's right. Tails faints out of fear and Sophia looks down at him. "Table for three, please!" Sonic holds up his fingers.
The waitress puts down the menus in front of them. "(What would you like to order?)" She speaks in Russian, which none of them speak.
"Three beef stews, please," Tails states, holding up his device, which is also a translator. It tells her the order and she looks put off by them, taking their menus and leaving silently.
"Where'd you get all these cool gadgets?" Sonic wonders to the fox.
"I...invented them," He explains to the duo.
"You did?" Sophia asks in surprise.
"Yeah, they're...kinda my thing. In fact, my inventions are how I discovered the both of you."
Sonic ran around the baseball field, giving off lots of blue energy as he was upset over being alone. "Remember that night at the baseball field?" He jumped and gave off his power, essentially putting the whole town in a black out. One of them hit a satellite. "Your energy blast reached all the way to my home planet."
At home, he looked at his computer and then looked amazed. "I saw you and Sophia save your whole village from that crazy mustache guy."
Sophia blinks in surprise, glancing at Sonic. "Wait, so you've been watching us all this time? Even in the shower?" Sonic looks a bit awkward.
"Ah, that's a trick question. Sonic the Hedgehog prefers bubble baths," Tails reveals, earning a giggle from Sophia as Sonic blushes in embarrassment.
"Man, you're good! ...You haven't been watching Sunshine take showers, have you?" He narrows his eyes protectively.
"No, no!" Tails shakes his head rapidly. "But I have seen her take hours just to fix her hair and quills, even putting on a lot of oil."
She groans in embarrassment as Sonic laughs at her and she sinks a bit. "Well, it takes a while to get in the good spots between the quills..." She mumbles in protest. "And sometimes if my hair is really messy, it takes forever to get out the knots."
"Don't worry, Sunshine, I love you just the way you are. Your bed head looks cute every morning," Sonic wraps an arm around her, kissing her cheek. She freezes and smiles, blushing a bit as she looks happy for his words.
"When I learned Knuckles was on your trail, I knew I couldn't just sit back and watch anymore," Tails explains to the duo. "I had to come warn you...and also because I'm curious as to how Robotnik turned you into a hedgehog!" He gestures to Sophia, surprising both of them. "Do you mind if I ask you what happened?"
"Um..." Sophia bites her lip awkwardly and then Sonic's phone beeps.
"What? Hang on one sec on that," He pulls out his phone to see a text that says 'How's it goin'?'. "Donut Lord is checking in."
The texts are being shown from a screen. "Just chillin'. Watching TV with my adorable Sunshine," Knuckles reads off, though feels a bit awkward saying those last two words. Tom starts to reply back, and the typing bubble appears. The trio were reading off the text messages after hacking into Tom's phone. "Dot, dot, dot," Knuckles reads that off, oblivious to the fact that Tom is still writing. "Dot, dot, dot. Dot, dot, dot. Dot, dot, dot." The two men just stare at him before slowly turning back to the screen.
"Doctor...why are we working with this imbecile?" Stone couldn't help but ask, and because Knuckles is still reading off the screen, he pays no attention to them.
"Because that simpleminded space trash is the key to something extraordinary," Robotnik answers him in a low voice.
"Something to help you get revenge on the hedgehogs," Stone suggests, but doesn't know the extent of it.
"Think bigger, Stone. The emerald he seeks could power my wildest designs. My genius wouldn't just be recognized on Earth. It would spread virally to every corner of the galaxy, allowing me to harness all the negative forces of the universe and commune with darkness itself," Robotnik thinks blissfully at the thought.
"Wow. That sounds big..." A small smile comes to Stone's face.
"It's been on my vision board for years. It's the law of attraction. Didn't you see the secret? Kaplooey!" He mimics an explosion from his head.
"Kaplooey."
"Another boring night at home?" Knuckles reads off Tom's text. "The hedgehogs have returned home!"
"Falsa," Robotnik turns around to him. "Which is Latin for wrong-o." He taps a few keys on the counter. "According to my worldwide network cell tower triangulation, he's lying, all the way..." He tracks down Sonic's phone. "From the majestic hinterlands of Eastern Siberia," He shows off the land from the counter, a hologram of Sonic and Sophia appearing. "He's a long-distance liar!" He hits the holograms over the head, damaging them. "Yeah, there's more where that came from..."
Knuckles slams his fist on the holograms, getting rid of them both. "Tiny magic hedgehogs destroyed." Robotnik just stares, a little shocked. "Now let's begin our quest," He jumps off the chair, Stone glancing at them as they start to leave. "Wait," He looks up at Robotnik. "What about your minion?" Knuckles looks back at Stone. "The goat-milker."
Stone is sweeping up the counter.
"There's no room on the ship for Stone. I say we ditch him, ghost him, blow him off."
"Dishonor!" Knuckles exclaims at this, especially since without Stone, they probably wouldn't have tracked the hedgehogs down. He feels like it wasn't right to just leave him behind after all he did.
"Dis is how I roll," Robotnik dismisses, opening the door to leave. Knuckles just scowls at this, as he doesn't agree with how he handled it...