Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic and Lam continue their trek through South Island, soon running through a set of ruins left by aliens from long ago. Or so they assume. During this time, Sonic gets to know Lam and her desire to someday travel. After leaving the ruins, they manage to reach the Spring Yard, the next leg of their journey.

Sonic and Lam look around at the Spring Yard, seeing it was once a large sprawling playground, now turned into a robot-filled nightmare. Sonic could tell Lam was looking heated now.

Sonic: "Yo, Lam. Are you okay? You've got a look that's giving me some vibes."

Lam: "Sorry, Sonic. But the fact these monsters would aim for my childhood just… hurts…"

Sonic: "Childhood? You played here?"

Lam: "A lot of kids did. It was one of my favorite places to go back when I was a little lass. In fact, it's what inspired me to want to travel!"

Sonic: "I see… Yeah, I'd be angry too if I were in your boots."

The duo are then met by Buzzbomber scouts who immediately spot them from above.

Buzzbomber: "Hedgehog and goat identified. Report back to Scrap Brain base."

Lam: "Scrap Brain?"

One Buzzbomber flies away while the others stay to cover its escape, leading Sonic and Lam to handle the scraps. As Sonic launches a Spin Dash, he is tackled by a Roller, knocking him back before he stops himself.

Lam: "Friends of yours?"

Sonic: "Hardy har. No. Just cheap imitations!"

Sonic then jumped as Lam slam dunked him at the Rollers, destroying them. The two high five before realizing they might have alerted the rest of the robots up ahead.

Lam: "So much for just walking in…"

Sonic: "Any ideas on how to get around then?"

Lam: "Hmm…"

Lam runs up to a spot on the ground next to a wall before pushing a button, causing a spring to pop out. She smiles before ushering Sonic to follow, bouncing up the spring to higher ground. Sonic jumps onto the spring, bouncing onto another higher up and landing next to Lam at a high vantage point.

Lam: "I know this area pretty well, given I played a lot here. But that dragonfly thing mentioned something about a base…"

Sonic: "And I bet my back quills that's where your village is."

Lam: "Read the situation like a pro."

Lam looks ahead and finds what looks to be a docking station. Supplies? Either way, it likely went straight to Scrap Brain. They would have to sneak over to the docking station and sneak aboard a cargo ship.

Lam: "You get that?"

Sonic: "So sneak aboard and get to these jerks' base much faster. Yeah, I got it all."

Lam: "Alright then. Let's go!"

Lam and Sonic hop off the building, heading through the park. As they ran through, Lam took note of the various additions to the Spring Yard that weren't there before; despite how recent the invaders came, they've already set up various structures that don't belong on the island. The look at how corrupt the park looked only made her angrier, which made her more aggressive. Once the duo tore through more of the robots, Sonic decided to voice his concerns.

Sonic: "Hey. Are you sure you're doing alright? You're acting a bit…"

Lam: "I'm fine, Sonic. Really, I am. I…"

Lam looks at Sonic's concerned expression before turning away, shaking her head.

Lam: "We can talk later…"

Sonic: "If you want to talk at all that is."

Lam: "I'll talk. I may not want to, but I may need to…"

Sonic, satisfied with that, does not press on the issue and runs ahead to clear more of the path.

At the docking station, the duo could overhear a Crabmeat speaking to a monitor which had Omelette's face on it. The two seem to be planning something.

Crabmeat: "Supplies should be arriving in a few minutes, Lady Omelette. Along with the captured animals for the Badnik Production Line."

Omelette: "Good work, CM Model 6742. Keep a lookout for those fools though. Daddy will be awfully angry with me if I let them come anywhere NEAR my precious Scrap Brain base!"

Sonic turns to Lam, curious if she knew anything about that girl's 'daddy'. Lam shook her head since Omelette was the only vaguely living thing to come and attack her home when that large flying shadow appeared. Sonic turns back to the area around them and finds a supply crate. He opens it and crawls in, helping Lam in as well.

Crabmeat: "At the rate we are progressing, the big unveiling is soon to occur, yes?"

Omelette: "Don't worry about that, bolt brain! That's Daddy's business and not yours. Besides, why else would we be capturing these stupid Mobians? They are too good for mere robots like you~"

Crabmeat: "Sorry. I will keep my mouth shut next time…"

Omelette: "See that you do. Or else… I'll activate your self destruction protocol."

Communications are cut as Crabmeat orders the supplies be transported to the Scrap Brain base immediately. A roller approaches him with a question.

Roller: "Should we check the supplies? Make sure they are to Lady Omelette's liking?"

Crabmeat: "They are fine, R-9645. Just send out the scouts to find those intruders and destroy them."

Roller: "Affirmative."

The robot curls up and rolls off with a scout party to try and find Sonic and Lam, unaware that they were in one of the crates. A crane comes down and starts loading the crates. Sonic and Lam's hiding crate was stacked on top of a neat pile of other crates, which are then taken by a cargo ship. Flying over the island, the cargo ship makes its scheduled trip to their home base.

While waiting patiently - or in Sonic's case, as patiently as he can muster - for them to arrive at their destination, Sonic decides now is a good time to chat.

Sonic: "Boy, I know we're a smaller group compared to humans, but this crate is not what I would call comfortable."

Lam: "What's in here anyway?"

Sonic picks up a random object and examines it. He couldn't quite see it, but it felt smooth and soft. With a shrug, he drops it and leaves it at that.

Sonic: "So what's been going on, Lam? Ever since we left the Marble Zone, you've been… really angry. What's up?"

Lam: "...I guess I have been a bit more aggressive over seeing a park being transformed into some… ugly thing, huh?"

Lam sighs before looking down at her shoes.

Lam: "When I was real young, I never really had much of a childhood. Because I always wanted to travel, I'd often get the odd look or get laughed at for wanting to do what I wanted to do. Our elder is against us leaving, remember? Well… My mother left a while back."

Sonic: "Your… mom?"

Lam: "Me and my mom… We were close. Whereas everyone would seemingly hate me for wanting to go outside the village, my mom supported me. She embraced the idea of a free spirit. The Spring Yard was our little getaway. It's the only place that kept me connected to mom…"

Sonic's expression changed to a more understanding one. He was reminded of his own mother, Bernadetta, who supported his needs for adventure too since she was an explorer herself. While Aleena was never against the idea of being a free spirit, she only kept him in line because she was scared of losing him too. And… he made the dumb decision to just leave; she could be in danger and he just left her…

Lam: "I still want to save them though."

Sonic: "Hm?"

Lam: "My village. They may have some seriously archaic ways of thinking… But they aren't bad people in the end. And once they are saved, I intend to find my mom. An adventure all my own. And even if I don't find her, I'll make the most out of my adventure. For both of us."

Sonic: "Lam… Hehe… You really are a great person."

Lam: "Nah. You are. You wanted me to talk, so I did. And… I feel better doing so… Like a ton weight became completely weightless, if that makes sense."

Sonic: "It… kind of did."

The two laugh at Sonic's teasing. Sonic stopped though and felt like he needed to admit to, if anyone, himself what he did was wrong…

Sonic: "Lam… I'll be honest… I…"

Lam: "You dropped out of a plane and ended up on South Island, leaving whoever on that plane, right?"

Sonic pauses, blinking at Lam as he had that look of puzzled bewilderment.

Lam: "You think you were all that stealthy, hedgehog? I could see your fancy parachute from where I was standing. Only reason I didn't confront you at that moment was because you didn't seem at all threatening. And hey, you saved my lamb chops; I have no reason to think of you as anything but a friend at this point."

Sonic: "...Wow. I just… Wow."

Lam smiled before placing a hand on Sonic's shoulder.

Lam: "You're a good fella. No matter what you might be thinking, you have others' best interests at heart. That much I've learned from spending time with you."

Sonic was very touched by this sentiment. He had friends, but other than Sally, no one really connected with him as well as Lam did. As he smiles, a renewed fire burns in his eyes. In fact, both of them had a renewed vigor in them now. Once they felt the cargo ship start to slow to a stop they knew what that meant…

An Egg Robo stationed at the cargo hold of Scrap Brain starts to motion the cargo ship to park for unloading. As the crane comes down to lift Sonic and Lam's crate, the duo of heroes burst out and immediately destroy the Egg Robo. Robots immediately stepped in once they heard the commotion, but then see Sonic and Lam stretching as they both had smirks on their faces.

Sonic: "So which one of you is gonna give us the grand tour?"

Lam: "Of course, we can probably find our way around on our own if that's what you want."

The duo have reached Scrap Brain, meaning their confrontation with Omelette is close at hand. A fierce battle in the base awaits…

To be continued…