On an island, a ring portal appears in front of the sand, with Robotnik's drones flying out of it. Knuckles steps out first while holding the compass in his hand. "The Owls were fools to think they could hide this," He remarks to Robotnik. The man just plays with his gloves instead of responding and scans the area. He moves away some of the sand to reveal that there's a marking on the ground. Knuckles gasps and then places the compass on a circle. It comes to life and spins around, the symbol from the sand coming to form and glowing. They watch as the symbol gets bigger and then a ray of green light goes to sea.
"What's happening?" Knuckles wonders as they step forward to get a better look.
"Wait for it," Robotnik holds up a finger. Then the spot where the green light stopped grows bigger, causing an explosion. The man exclaims in shock and then starts cackling. "Yes. Eureka! I've found it!"
The spot in the water starts to sink and form stairs, the water falling from both sides.
Maddie looks over the still-unconscious Tails leaning against a tree when an explosion gets their attention. They look towards the source, seeing the green light, as well as a storm cloud forming over it.
The four slowly step forward while the Chief is tied up. "Oh no..." Sophia murmurs in horror as she realizes what's going on.
"Sonic...Soph..." Tom starts off slowly. "What is that?"
"A big problem," Sonic reveals solemnly, Sophia frowning deeply. "The compass led Robotnik to the Emerald."
"That's gotta be hundreds of miles away," Maddie points out as they stare.
"We HAVE to go over there and stop him," Sophia narrows her eyes, looking over to the others. "With the kind of power the Emerald has, Robotnik's gonna use it to destroy the world."
"All right. Huddle up," Tom tells the three. "Let's figure out a plan." Maddie nods in agreement as he looks down at the hedgehogs. "Together."
"There's no time for that," Sonic argues, stepping forward. "Sunshine and I are the only ones that can get there fast enough."
"Sonic, this is way too big for you to do by yourself," Maddie points out and he freezes.
"She's right, you can't stop him or Knuckles on your own. You'd just...you'd just get hurt, and I don't wanna see that. Not after last time," Sophia says sadly, referring to the last fight they had with Robotnik in the middle of Green Hills. She thought he was dead until he managed to power up and defeat him with her.
"...You see that little fox over there?" Sonic gestures to Tails. "He came all the way across the universe to meet his heroes. And what did one of his heroes do? I practically got him killed, and as well as ruined his girlfriend's life!" He gestures to Sophia, who blinks in confusion. "If it wasn't for me, you'd still be human, you'd be in college, you'd...you'd be living the time of your life right now. Instead I just make things worse for you. I know you said that you're getting used to it, but I can see it in your eyes, Sunshine, we both know the sad truth..."
"Sonic..." Sophia murmurs as she doesn't know what to say.
"You know what?" He turns to Tom. "You were right. My moment came and I blew it. I'm no hero. And I'm not mature enough for Sophia."
"...You said that to him?" The hedgehog looks up at her dad, a bit angry.
"Wait," Tom starts off.
"No. I'm not letting anyone else get hurt because of me. Especially you. I'm gonna get that Emerald...and I'm gonna use it to turn you back! And I'm gonna fix this while I still can."
"What?" The pink hedgehog murmurs, baffled at his decision. Tom and Maddie are shocked too to hear this. "You don't need to do that, I already said that-"
"I know, but It's not good enough!" Sonic squeezes his eyes shut, clenching his fists. "...I want you to be happy, Sunshine. If that means changing you back, so be it. This is the best thing for you...and I'm gonna do everything I can to give that to you. And if that Emerald can't do it, then I'll force the one who did this to you."
She tries not to shed a tear, touched at the lengths he would go to just to give her a better life... "Sonic, I-"
Before she can explain, he runs off towards the island. "Sonic!" Tom shouts and Tails suddenly wakes up, gasping.
"Sonic, wait!" He tries to fly, but falls onto the ground, still weak from the blast.
"Tails!" Sophia runs over to him. Maddie turns around and joins them.
"Hold on. Hold on, wait, wait, wait. Don't move," She advises him gently. "Don't move."
"Take it easy, little guy. You're hurt," Tom reminds the fox.
"But we have to help him. You don't know what he's up against..." Tails looks towards the light and they turn back in the direction Sonic went in.
"You believe us now?" Tom retorts to the Chief as he and Maddie approach him. He looks between them and nods. Sophia closes her eyes briefly before opening them with a determined look on her face. "And we're definitely not gonna forget what you did to them," He narrows his eyes angrily since he had to see them hurt Sophia and Sonic. He falters as he looks at Sophia staring across the water. He could tell what she was thinking about. "...I didn't say it to him because of...how I felt about you two at first. I said it to help him."
"I know..." She closes her eyes, the wind blowing in her hair. "But Dad, that's for me to decide. He may be sometimes a bit childish, but...I love that he can bring out that side of me," She smiles weakly at her dad. "Having fun is okay, you know? I get that you're worried, but...he takes good care of me even if he is a goofball sometimes, though that just makes him adorable to me. I may get annoyed at him for that, but that's just who he is whenever he's not stepping up to protect others. That's the hedgehog I fell in love with. And it's okay for him to grow up, but not at my level. I don't need someone to be me, I just need someone who loves me for who I am."
Now he feels bad after she tells him this. He should've considered how she feels about her relationship with Sonic when he told the hedgehog he has to be more mature for her. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry-"
"You don't need to apologize," She closes her eyes, shocking her parents. "Your heart was in the right place, but your brain wasn't," She teases him a little and he chuckles at her.
"Yeah, I deserve that one."
A siren goes off as Wade is riding a scooter for some reason. Since Tom is away, he's acting as the sheriff temporarily. "Hey, Bob! Hey, Maria, how you doing? Ah..." He comes to a stop at the Mean Bean. "Working on my moves," He approaches the door. "Just keepin' it green. No need to burn the fuel. Speaking of fuel-" He bumps into the closed doors of the Mean Bean, not noticing that it is closed until then. He tries opening the doors, but fails since they're closed. "Closed?" He removes his sunglasses and sighs, hands on his hips. "That doesn't seem right..."
He bends down to the window curtains to get a better look, noticing Stone working on something with the computer.
"Close..." Stone uses some gloves to move through pictures of Robotnik costumes. "Yes," He settles on one with a black cape with spikes on it, and a black suit. "Makeover, makeover. Look at you..."
Wade busts open the back door. "Freeze! Police!" He points something that's into a gun as Stone holds up his hands. "Oh my god, you got robot hands...you got robot hands," He starts to freak out a little.
"No, they're gloves," Stone states simply.
"Get 'em up," Wade demands and the man does so. "Now spread your fingers!" Stone does so, only because he doesn't want to get hurt. "Now wiggle 'em!" Stone looks confused by the request, wondering what's going on in the police officer's head. "Wiggle your digits!" He does so, reluctantly. "Yes! Like you just finished a big musical number." Stone does jazz hands.
"Good."
"...Why is there a light on your head?" Stone points to the police light on top of Wade's helmet.
"...Cause I'm the sheriff for the weekend, pal," He explains slowly.
As the waves come in, Sonic slowly steps up to the edge of the beach, looking down at the water. "Ugh. Water. Why did it have to be water?" He...may or may not have a fear of water...He exhales and bends down, preparing himself. "Okay, you can do this." He charges up his power, looking up as his quills glow. "Gotta go fast..."
Once Sonic is charged up, he takes off like a rocket across the water, moving left and right. He looks up and then runs over some waves, sliding down one and then running up another. He struggles to keep up and then jumps as thunder strikes. He yelps in alarm at the water below him and then loses his balance, bouncing across the water a bit. He takes off again, although still feeling a bit bumping because of the moving waves. He looks up ahead at the green light coming up and strains himself to keep going. The water starts hitting his face and then suddenly it was dark as something pink approaches...
Sonic lies down across the sand on top of someone's knees, a small crab going over to him. He coughs as he slowly sits up, gasping to see Sophia in front of him. "Soph! What are you—how did you-"
"I went after you, of course. You really think I was gonna let you come here without me?" She places her hands on her hips.
"You shouldn't have followed me," He stands up fully, walking past her. "Go back to the others, they need you."
"Sonic, I need you," She points out while standing up and he stops, letting his ears fall. "What you said back there...I don't care anymore what I am or what being a hedgehog will mean for me." He looks back at her in surprise. "I just wanna be with you..." She confesses sadly to him.
"But what about college? What about opening up a bakery like you wanted?" He steps up to her, holding her hands. "You got expelled because you look like this...because of my power..." He looks down sadly. "That's why I wanna use the Emerald—so that you can be with your friends in college and make something out of your life." He looks at her pleadingly.
"Well, yeah, I did care about those things and in some way, I still do. But I'd take saving the world with you over all that any day. Because I love you, and I can't let you do this alone," She smiles softly at him. "And besides, you turning me back isn't your decision to make." He blinks in realization that he never considered to hear her out on his rash choice. "You didn't ruin my life. You make my life better. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be in San Francisco, regretting never telling my dad how I felt about him wanting to move there. And plus, my powers are pretty cool too. Don't ever think you ruin my life, Sonic the Hedgehog. You make me happier than I can ever express into words," She tells him, squeezing his hands. "The things we go through, the hero things...that's more worth than anything else human life can offer me."
He gasps at her words and then hugs her tightly, earning a laugh from her. "Thank you, Sunshine. I needed to hear that," He pulls back to look at her with a soft smile. "I love you too." He leans in to kiss her, but she places her hand over his mouth.
"Save the world first, and then kissing," She reminds him and he whines.
"Come on! Not even just one? We're about to face two jerks over the world," He gestures to the light.
"I'm not so sure that Knuckles is really a jerk," Sophia places a hand on her hip. "If anything, he's just really misguided. I don't think he really means for Robotnik to destroy Earth...still, he's not gonna be easy to beat. Come on, let's go," She walks off and he hugs her from behind, causing her to blink.
"Just...one more hug for snapping me out of it," He tells her quietly and she smiles at him.
"Relax, blue bear, I know you believed you were doing the right thing. But don't ever make decisions like that without me again," She points a warning finger at him.
"Yes ma'am," He kisses her cheek and she giggles.
The two walk past some bushes, gasping as they see a big temple up ahead surrounded by the water. The green light's coming from inside the temple.
"Well...time to do this," Sophia murmurs and Sonic takes her hand. She squeezes it as they look up ahead.