San Francisco

(Ayla's POV)

*We soon arrived in San Francisco & came up to a house Tom said belonged to his sister-in-law, Rachel. He had Sonic in his arms, wrapped in a blanket, & I was wearing the disguise I wore at the bar*

Tom: Come on, buddy. You're gonna be alright. You'll be alright

Ayla: He better be. Or I'll never forgive myself.

*Tom knocked on a door & an adult woman with black hair, brown skin, & brown eyes answered it*

Tom: Is Maddie here?

Rachel: No, no. Not today. Goodbye!

*She slammed the door on us*

Tom: It's an emergency!

Rachel:*off-screen* Bye-bye!

Tom: Rachel, stop! Please! Maddie! Don't do this! This is important!

*Maddie opened the door*

Maddie: Oh, my God! Rachel, let him in!

*Tom & I went into the house*

Rachel: I am calling the police! No, I am calling the FBI. I am calling the CIA.

Tom: Stop, don't do that.

Rachel: I am calling your Mother!

Maddie: Okay, got it!

Tom: Maddie, can we talk?

Maddie: Tom, what's going on?! You're-you're all over the news, I've been trying to call you!

Tom: I had to ditch my phone so they couldn't track me

Rachel: Ditch his phone!?

Maddie: Track you!?

*I stayed quiet during this whole conversation because I knew nothing I said would help. Just then, a little girl with black hair in frizzled pigtails, hazel eyes, & brown skin came up to us*

Jojo: Uncle Tommy!

*She gave him a hug*

Tom: Jojo, hey!

*Rachel pulled her away from us*

Rachel: Now your niece is an accessory to treason!

Tom: No, she's not.

Maddie: Would you calm down?

Rachel: Calm down?! I will not calm down!

*Ozzy came up to us next*

Maddie: Enough!

Tom: Yes, calm down. Stop talking *Ozzy barked at him* No. Ozzy, please. Good to see you, too.

*He leaned forward, almost dropping Sonic. I managed to calm Ozzy down by scratching under his chin & behind his left ear*

Rachel: Oh, Little Lord Baby Jesus! What is that, Tom? Is that plutonium?! Is it emails? *she pointed at me* And who is this!?

Ayla: It's a long story, Ma'am. But for starters, my name is Ayla.

*Tom turned to Maddie*

Tom: Yes, it's plutonium

*Ozzy started to pull on the sleeve of my hoodie*

Ayla: Easy, boy. Down.

Tom: Stop it, Ozzy! Quit it!

Rachel: This is why I told you he was no good!

Maddie: I'm not engaging!

Tom: No, Ozzy! Quit it! *Ozzy tugged on my sleeve harder* Ozzy, no! Ozzy, no!

*Ozzy pulled on my sleeve so hard, it ripped, revealing my blue arm. Everyone stopped arguing & looked at me in shock* I tried to back away, but I tripped & fell backwards, grabbing the blanket Tom bad around my brother & pulled it off, revealing him*

Rachel: Oh, catch me, Jojo

*She fainted*

Tom: Oh, thank God.

Ayla: Well, that went well.

*Maddie pulled Jojo closer to her*

Tom: Can I get a glass of water?


*Later, I took off my disguise & Sonic was laying on the kitchen counter, still unconscious. Rachel was tied to a chair in the other room. Jojo was with us*

Tom: He's gonna be okay, Jojo *Maddie came in with a first aid kit* Oh, thank God.

Ayla: Is my brother going to be okay?

Maddie: I'm a vet, Tom. I don't even know what I'm looking at here.

Ayla: My brother is a hedgehog like me.

Maddie: And he talks like you?

Ayla: Yep.

Tom: Almost constantly.

Maddie: Okay. *she felt Sonic's pulse* Holy . . .

Tom: What?

Ayla: What's wrong?

Maddie: His pulse is super fast.

Tom: That actually might be normal for him. I don't know. You gotta help him, Maddie.

Ayla: Please. He's the only family I have left.

Maddie: I don't know his physiology. He doesn't seem to have any broken bones. He's just really banged up. *she took off his shoes* Oh, look at his poor little feet.

Ayla: I keep telling him to get new one, but always says he doesn't need them.

Tom:*to Sonic* Hang in there, buddy. You're gonna be alright.

*Jojo left the room, walking past Rachel*

Rachel: Jojo? Untie your mother. Jojo! Untie Mommy. *she ignored her & went upstairs* Sweetie. Jojo! I have to go to the bathroom.

Tom: He's gonna be okay, right? He'll snap out of this. He'll wake up soon? Oh, smelling salts! Don't you have, like, vet smelling salts, like, for cats or parakeets or something?

Maddie: No. They don't make cat-smelling salts.

Ayla: They should.

Maddie: I have human smelling salts in my human first aid kit *she took out a smelling salt & opened it* Okay. Here we go.

*She waved it under my brother's nose*

Tom: Come on, buddy.

Ayla: Please wake up, bro.

*Suddenly, his eyes opened & he sat up with a jolt*

Sonic: Gotta go fast! *he started zipping around the kitchen* Where am I? What year is it? Is The Rock president? Where's Ayla!?

Tom: Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy, you're okay. Calm down.

Ayla: I'm right here, Sonic! I'm okay.

*He jumped down from the counter & hugged me*

Sonic: Oh, thank God. *then he noticed Maddie* Oh, hi, Pretzel Lady!

Maddie: Hi . . . Tom?

Tom: Yeah?

Maddie: Can I talk to you, please? *she went into the next room with Tom* Space hedgehog, stay there. Try to rest.

*She closed the door*

Sonic: You got it. I am great at resting. I rest faster than anybody. *as soon as they were gone, I hugged my brother tighter* Ayla?

Ayla: Don't ever do that again. You really scared me. I thought I'd lost you.

Sonic: Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere.

Ayla: You promise?

Sonic: I promise.

*We sealed then promise with a pinkie swear*


(Third-Person POV)

Tom: Still talking.

Maddie: Um, first of all, can we take a moment to acknowledge how under control I've been?

Tom: Uh, amazing.

Maddie: Didn't freak out.

Tom: No.

Maddie: Totally calm.

Tom: Thank you.

*He & Maddie did a fist bump*

Maddie: Second of all . . . What the heck is going on?! Are those things aliens?!

Tom: Okay, so, remember how Crazy Carl is always going on about the Blue Devil and the Guardian Angel?

Maddie: The Blue Devil and the Guardian Angel!? That's them?! They're real!

Tom: Yeah.

Maddie: What are they doing here? What are you doing here?

Tom: I kinda, sorta, shot our little blue friend and her sister with your tranq gun

Maddie: No, you did not.

Tom: I didn't mean to. Okay, this is kinda hard for me to explain. And it's gonna sound a little bit crazy. They have to get to the Transamerica building, and I promised I'd take them.

Rachel: Uh-uh! Aliens? Maddie, your husband's lost his mind. Use this as an opportunity to leave him. No one would judge you!


(Ayla's POV)

*Jojo had come back to the kitchen with a pair of red shoes in her hands. She gave them to my brother*

Jojo: So you won't hurt your feet anymore.

Sonic: Really?

Jojo: Uh-huh.

Ayla: Wow. That's really sweet of you. Thank you.

*Sonic took the shoes*

Sonic: No one's ever given me a gift before. I gotta check that off my bucket list *he tried on the shoes & did a little dance* All right! Looking good!

Ayla: Those were made for you, bro.


(Third-Person POV)

Maddie: Okay, you said you wanted to help people in real trouble, right? Well, that's what you're doing. Blue alien hedgehogs still count as people, right?

Tom: I think so, too.

Maddie: Yeah.

Tom: I think.

Maddie: Okay.

Tom: I love you. Did I tell you that already? *Maddie lead him out of the room* I don't deserve you. You know that?

Rachel: I know that.


(Ayla's POV)

*Sonic stared at Ozzy*

Sonic: So, you're supposed to be Tom's "best friend" that he won't shut up about. Well, I don't see the appeal. *Ozzy started licking his face* Stop! That is very gross!

*Jojo & I giggled*


*Later, Sonic dangerously drove what was left Rachel's car through the streets of San Francisco*

Sonic: Coming through! Whoa, now, this is my turn, and I go around him! Sorry! And, perfect park!

*Then he crookedly parallel parked next to the sidewalk*

Driver: What are you, crazy!?

*We all got out of the car*

Tom: Is there anything you didn't hit?

Maddie: Why'd we let the alien drive?

Ayla: Because he wouldn't stop begging.

Sonic: Hey, I got us here. And please, five stars.

*I got close to his face with a glare*

Ayla: You get zero stars for your bad driving. And you're banned from ever getting behind the wheel!

*We all stared up at the Transamerica Building*

Sonic: So, this is it?

Tom: That's it. That's your pyramid

Sonic: Wow, look at that thing!

Ayla: It's really tall.

Maddie: What happens now? *suddenly, Sonic sped up the building* Oh! He's . . . gone.

Tom: Yep.

Ayla: Mhm.

*He quickly came back down*

Sonic: No good. You need a special key to get to the roof.

Maddie: What now?

Tom: Time for me to abuse the power entrusted to me.


*I put my disguise back on & Sonic hid inside a duffle bag as me, Tom, & Maddie made our way to the front desk*

Tom: We got a jumper on the roof. Gotta get up there fast or we're gonna have a human pancake on our hands.

*He held up his badge*

Receptionist: You came all the way from Montana.

Tom: Yeah. That's how serious it is.

*The Receptionist paused for a moment before giving him the key*

Receptionist: Okay.

*He took the key*

Tom: You just saved a life.

*We then waited for the elevator to take us to the roof. A business man & a business woman got in the elevator with us*

Sonic:*off-screen* How much longer? I can't breathe in here! Hello? Anybody there? *I kicked the bag* OW!

Ayla:*whispering* Shut up, dummy!

*But it was too late. The woman had heard him*

Business Woman: Do you have a child in that bag.

Tom: No. I mean, yes, it's a child, but it's not mine.

Business Man: It's not your child.

Tom: Relax. I'm a cop, okay? Plus, he likes it in there. *he shook the bag* Don't you, buddy?

Sonic:*off-screen* Why would I like it in here? This is worse than the dog cage you had me in earlier!

Tom: Such a kidder.

*Maddie & I also laughed as she zipped the bag shut*

Maddie: Okay.

Sonic:*off-screen* No, I'm scared of the dark! *the business man & woman moved away from us* Is anybody there?

Ayla:*whispering* Would you be quiet!


*We finally got to the roof of the building. I giggled as Sonic came out of the bag with a pair of underwear on his head, coughing & gagging. He glared at Tom*

Sonic: Ugh! What were you keeping in this bag? A jar of pickled farts?!

Tom: All right. All right. What are we looking for?

*I picked up the brown pouch with the rings inside*

Ayla: This.

Maddie: Okay. What happens now?

Sonic: Now, all I have to do is think of where I want the other end of the ring to appear, and I throw it.

Tom: So, that's it? We did it?

Sonic: Yeah! We did it!

Ayla: Yeah . . . I guess we did.

*I wasn't feeling very happy at the moment. In fact, I was sad that we were leaving*

Tom: Hey, sorry we didn't get to do everything on your bucket list, pal.

Sonic: It's okay. I did the ones I needed the most.

Ayla: Same here.

*Maddie giggled*

Maddie: You three are so cute.

Ayla: Thank you.

Tom: Oh, please. What?

Sonic: We are not.

Tom: No. We're not cute.

Sonic: We are a group of loose cannons just living by our own rules.

Tom: Exactly.

*I giggled while Maddie gave them a smug look*

Maddie: Really?

Tom: Yeah.

Sonic: And our rules include expressing heartfelt emotion.

Maddie: If you say so.

Ayla: Uh-huh.

Sonic: Okay, then.

Tom: All right. Um, you both gotta go, right?

Sonic: Yeah, we gotta go.

Tom: I gotta go. We gotta go.

Ayla: Yeah. This is it.

*We turned away from them, but looked back at them*

Sonic: Just one more thing. *Tom stepped forward & kneeled down to us* I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I know it's a tough decision for you to leave Green Hills. Walking away from something you care about has to be painful.

Tom: You're not sure you really want to go, huh?

Ayla: We don't want to leave, but we can't stay here. As long as we're here, we'll put everyone in danger. We can't do that.

Sonic: I just want you to know that these last two days have been the best two days of our lives.

*The three of us smiled. Tom stood up & went back to Maddie*

Tom: You know, I never thought I'd say this, but, I'm actually gonna miss you, you little Blue Devil and Guardian Angel.

Sonic: Thank you.

Tom: For what.

Sonic: For saving our lives.

Ayla: We'll never forget you guys. Thanks for everything.

*We turned away & Sonic took a ring out of the pouch. He tossed it. But before it could open, it bounced off one of Robotnik's drones. Soon, we were surrounded by drones*

Sonic: Okay, did someone leave their 'Find My Phone' on?

*We took a step back from the edge as a flying egg-shaped aircraft hovered down to us. inside it was Dr. Robotnik, wearing a red flight suit*

Dr. Robotnik: Welcome to San Diego, Mr. Wakowski. Are you enjoying the clam chowder?