Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, as Sonic was stranded on Angel Island, his friends and family try to find a way to find him and the Death Egg. Jenni, Tails, and Uncle Chuck begin construction of an Emerald Radar in order to find the Chaos Emeralds, with Jenni theorizing they'll find Sonic as well. Meanwhile, Sally and Aleena begin their adventure to find and perhaps recruit the hidden echidnas to their cause. But what of Eggman and his minions?

In the slowly reconstructed Mobotropolis - now renamed Robotropolis - at the front gates of the intimidating city, a wet Omelette walks up to said gates, now guarded by a squad of Egg Robos. Omelette looked particularly angry as she muttered profanities under her breath as she walked up to the gate. She then stopped as the Egg Robos stared at her, then at each other.

Omelette: "WELL!? OPEN THE GATE ALREADY!"

The Egg Robos jumped in fear before quickly opening the gates, allowing Omelette access as she continues on her way towards Castle Acorn, now transformed into the Egg Citadel.

Once she arrives, Omelette starts calling out for her father, wanting his presence as she wanted to destroy Sonic and that "accursed bee lady" that defeated her. As she screams out for Eggman, Sage soon appears to shut her up by muting her vocal processors.

Sage: "...Silence. That's music to my hearing."

Omelette starts to scream profanities at Sage - still muted - jumping up and down while red in the face.

Sage: "Our father, Lord Robotnik, had suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of that blue hedgehog. He is currently developing a new body and will shortly develop a new plan to change the world."

When Sage stops talking, she sees Omelette pointing to her throat, the girl demanding to be unmuted. Sage rolls her eyes before reluctantly complying.

Omelette: "Ugh… Alright fine. So Papa is currently rebuilding his body. …Wait, how did a pathetic hedgehog beat him?"

Sage: "I am still processing that information myself. The odds were in Lord Robotnik's favor, and yet the hedgehog pulled off a last minute victory. With any luck though, the explosion he caused destroyed him along with the Death Egg."

Omelette: "Still… That's a big shocker to me…"

Sage: "Death Egg detected. Location is…"

As Sage read the coordinates, she raised an eyebrow as she read them. The coordinates were somehow in the air over Mobius. Confused, she summoned a small drone that would act as her way to find the Death Egg.

Sage: "I will determine if salvaging the Death Egg is manageable or not. If not, then I will simply reclaim the necessary data from the Death Egg's remains and abandon it."

Omelette: "And what about me?"

Sage: "You stay here and undergo repairs. Perhaps a new makeover."

Omelette screams angrily as Sage vanishes, the drone flying out of the base and to the desired coordinates. After her tantrum, Omelette moves to peek into her father's main lab, which was the king's throne room transformed. In the back of the room was a large metallic egg, lights flashing from within, indicating Eggman was rebuilding himself. With a gulp, Omelette sneaks away.

Omelette: "M-Maybe I'll come back later… Although… This could be a good time for me to finish my own personal project… Mwehehehe~"

Omelette leaves for her lab, smiling evilly as she descends down the elevator.

At Angel Island, early in the morning, Sonic is brought outside where he meets his echidna hosts. He lets out a yawn and stretches, which causes Knuckles to raise an eyebrow.

Knuckles: "You alright, Blue?"

Sonic: "Huh? Oh yeah. Just can't remember the last time I woke up this early and not do my morning jogs. Helps get the body moving and active you know?"

Knuckles: "...I guess… Alright. Listen up. Starting today, you'll be helping us out with the garbage. One of us has to keep an eye on you, so the other will be patrolling the island and keeping intruders off."

Sonic: "Right… You guys don't quite trust me…"

Knuckles: "Just how things work. No offense, Sonic."

Kicks looks at Sonic with a somewhat softer look than she usually gives him. But she remains silent otherwise.

Knuckles: "Now. The way we decide who stays and who goes is by a good ol' game of Stone, Leaf, Clippers!"

Sonic: "'Stone, Leaf, Clippers'? You mean Rock, Paper, Scissors?"

Knuckles: "Same thing! Anyway, ready, Kicks?"

Kicks: "I'm going with Sonic today."

Knuckles: "Great! Let's do thi-"

Knuckles stops mid sentence, Sonic practically hearing the record scratch go off in his head as Knuckles plays back what Kicks said.

Knuckles: "Wait. You're going with Sonic?"

Kicks: "...Yes."

Knuckles: "...Why the sudden interest? You usually like to decide who takes the shift fairly."

Kicks doesn't answer; she instead just grabs Sonic and walks off with him. Though Sonic makes no attempt to resist as he just shrugs.

Knuckles: "...Man… What's going through her head at times like these?"

Sonic is soon dragged through the mushroom filled jungle by Kicks before she stops in front of a seemingly random clearing. Though calling it a clearing would be generous; it was more of just a patch of land not covered by thick flora.

Sonic: "Oookay… Look, lady, if you wanted a date, you could have-"

Sonic is met by a sharp piercing gaze in his direction from the female echidna that sent shivers down his spines, causing his quills to get stand up defensively.

Sonic: "-asked… Sh-Shutting up now…"

Kicks looks back at the patch of untouched ground and approached a long, unassuming rock. She presses her foot on it, catching a hatch to open to the underground. Sonic looks at the reveal in awe before peering into the open hole.

Sonic: "Whoa… Where does this lead?"

Kicks: "Down."

As Sonic was about to correct his question, he feels his rear end get lightly kicked as he's shoved into the hole, causing him to fall in with a splash following. Kicks soon joins afterwards as the hatch closes behind her. When she lands, she finds Sonic flailing his arms around in pure fear as he makes what she could assume to be drowning noises.

Sonic: "Help! Call the coast guard! A life guard! Any kind of guard! Just help me! I'm… drowning…?"

Sonic stops and notices the water was actually very shallow. He then looks up to see Kicks just staring at him with a questioning "What the hell are you doing" look.

Sonic: "Uh… I… uh… can't swim…"

Kicks: "...I guess you never went to your local lake to swim?"

Sonic: "Our lakes usually are either too cold or frozen, since I live on Christmas Island."

Kicks: "Hmm… Better learn fast then… We're going through the Hydrocity Zone."

Sonic: "Hydrocity or Hydro City?"

There was a pause… Then before Sonic could react, his face was kicked into the nearest wall, leaving a small crater in the wall as Kicks drags the unconscious Sonic by the leg.

Kicks: "...Maybe I should leave him to drown…"

After a bit of walking down the path, Sonic wakes up and decides to forgo the jokes as he and Kicks come to a water slide, a few paths leading to a deep lake underneath.

Sonic: "S-So remember how I can't swim? I-I'm not sure this is a good idea."

Kicks ignores Sonic as she sits at the edge of the slide and gestures to him.

Kicks: "Sit down, shut up, and hold onto me tight. Just don't grab anything… on me specifically."

Sonic blushes at the implications and just complies. She knew where she was going better than him so who was he to argue. Once Sonic was good and comfy, Kicks slid forward and let the currents drag her and Sonic through the slide, causing the hedgehog to start screaming. The two went through so many sharp turns and hoops, Sonic began to get dizzy, something that was rare for him when running through the same obstacles. The two dunk into the lake below a few times, but their speed kept them from slowing down, but Sonic had some mild heart attacks as his head went under the water.

Going through the Hydrocity Zone in record pace, Sonic and Kicks flew out of the hatch exiting the zone, Sonic in particular screaming before landing face first into a pile of snow. His eyes were swirls as his mind tries to catch up to what happened. Kicks approaches his downed body and taps him with her foot.

Sonic: "One sec… I want to embrace solid ground for a couple seconds more…"

Kicks: "...One second or a couple, make up your mind."

Sonic ignores her to embrace the snow for a while longer. After he was satisfied, he stood up, stretching as he calmed down.

Sonic: "Sorry. I'm ready now."

Kicks: "Good. This is Ice Cap. It's a snowy mountain that stands next to its cousin, Red Mountain, which houses the opposite of cold - the hot Lava Reef."

Sonic: "Huh. So one of the debris pieces of the Death Egg fell here? Then let's get to it then."

Kicks looked at Sonic before undoing her ponytail to let her long dreadlocks hang loose. She then grabs Sonic, who's asking what she was up to. She then runs and jumps off the edge of a cliff. Then as she and Sonic fall, her dreadlocks start trapping wind, causing her to start gliding with Sonic still in her grasp. She then grabs the nearest wall with her one hand, holding Sonic with the other before he himself gets onto the wall.

Sonic: "Since when could echidna fly!?"

Kicks: "They can't… normally. Me and Knuckles learned to glide through our years of being on the island. Self taught to protect ourselves and learned ways to survive."

Sonic: "By yourselves? Didn't you have parents?"

Kicks falls silent as she starts descending the cliff she and Sonic were on. Once they were on solid ground, Sonic waited for an answer, which Kicks could feel.

Kicks: "That's none of your business, hedgehog. It's… just me and Knuckles now… That's all…"

Sonic: "Kicks… I know you two don't trust me… In fact, I'm pretty sure you want to smash my head in, but… I want to understand you two better…"

Sonic approaches Kicks, placing a hand on her shoulder. Sonic almost expected her to shrug him off, but she didn't surprisingly. She turns to him before sighing.

Kicks: "Our parents died a long time ago… A year after we made this island our home after leaving our previous one. I remember it more vividly because… I was there… Mom and Dad went into a hidden cave in the Mushroom Hill jungle that they discovered. Me and Knuckles were playing hide and seek then. As I was hiding near the cave, I heard fighting in the cave I saw. When I peeked inside, I saw them… fighting…"

Brief flashes of the scene flash into Kicks' mind. How as a child, she ran away from the gruesome scene, soon crying into her brother's shoulder once she found him. Sonic saw the first bit of emotion aside from anger from the female echidna… Fear. Genuine fear.

Sonic: "H-Hey… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have brought it up…"

Kicks: "...No… I… I feel okay telling you this… The fact you cared enough to ask is… more than enough… Which brings us to the real reason we protect this island… Yes, this island is a paradise… But what it holds is a terrible secret that the world must never ever claim… A stone that induces madness, evil into the hearts of the pure. The stone that, while it glows bright, is filled with black malice… The Master Emerald."

Sonic: "The Master… Emerald?"

Kicks: "Sonic… We aren't protecting the Master Emerald from the world below… We are protecting the world from the Master Emerald… and its inevitable hubris."

Sonic started to let his mind wander; if the Master Emerald was considered evil, then what does that mean for the Chaos Emeralds? Were they somehow connected?

Sonic: "Kicks. This is a very important question. When you and Knuckles found me, was there a giant robot nearby?"

Kicks: "Giant robot? No… Not that I remember… Why?"

Sonic: "The Chaos Emeralds were still in that giant robot when I blew up the Death Egg. If they are still in that robot, then-"

The duo then see a firework go off in the far distance. It was a red firework from what they could tell, but Kicks' expression turned from confused to absolutely serious.

Sonic: "Tell me that firework was just Knuckles celebrating the Fourth of July early…"

Kicks: "We don't celebrate. It's a warning that he saw an intruder approaching."

Sonic had a bad feeling about this as he and Kicks exchange a look and nod, racing back to investigate the warning. But Sonic's mind continues to race about the Chaos Emeralds and just what their relation to this 'Master Emerald' was. All sorts of new questions and doubts filled his mind, but one stuck out from the rest… Was the intruder here for the Death Egg remnants?

To be continued…