You have no idea how much time has passed, but when you finally regain consciousness, you find yourself in a bed back at Rebellion HQ, surrounded by your friends and colleagues.

"Sonic, you're okay!" Amy is the first to glomp you in a tight hug.

"Oooo!" you cry, "Careful Amy, I think I'm still tender down there…" You look around to see Silver, Knuckles, and Tech in the room with you. "What happened back there? Did we save the Master Emerald? And where's Tails? Is he okay?!"

"Tails is fine," Knuckles replies, "So's the Master Emerald. We couldn't have gotten it back without your reckless assault on Nega. So, thanks for that."

"I think that's the only time anyone's even been that close to Nega to land a hit," Tech gives a small smile.

"Tails is taking it easy in the lounge," says Silver, "Nice job, Sonic. Mission accomplished."

"Though I have to admit," Knuckles adds, "Getting out was not easy, with you and Janae unconscious, and having to drag the Emerald out of the building while swarms of giant robots chased us…"

"Janae..?" you suddenly clench your fists, "This is all her fault! She knocked me out when we were trying to get in the lab!"

"We got a confession out of her," Silver mutters, shaking his head, "She tried to say you got spooked and ran away, but after what happened afterwards, and you showing up when you did, her story didn't add up, especially when Tech and the others saw firsthand her reckless charge-in and attempt to go after Nega on her own. She didn't get very far before one of the guards took her out."

"I knew she'd pull something like this," you grumble, "Where is she now?"

"Solitary confinement," Silver replies, "We'll deal with her later. Right now, we're just lucky we all managed to get out of this alive."

"Oh boy, Sonic!" Amy squeals, bouncing on her toes, "You missed out on some great smashing! We had a successful run ourselves, didn't we, Silver?"

The silver hedgehog nods. "Out of pure luck, we managed to take down a huge chunk of Eggman Nega's armies. I can't remember the last time we've had such a successful mission! I think this calls for a much needed celebration."

You suddenly remember something. "We can't celebrate now!" you cry, nearly jumping out of bed, but Amy holds you down. "Silver, there's people who need our help! When Janae knocked me out, she threw me down this chute, and it led to the Secret Lab underneath. They do gross experimentations… They turn people into actual robots! And not the 'battery-life' kind… the actual TRANSFORMING kind. And if it fails, they throw them away like trash…

"There're prisoners down there, locked up!" you continue, "They have Wisps stashed in these tight capsules. We can't just leave them there, we have to go back!"

Silver narrows his eyes. "Sounds like the things Oydax went through when he was turned into a Badnik," he says, "Okay, Sonic. I'll look into it."

"Look into it?" you shout, "No! We're saddling back up and going back there to save them! I promised them I'd come back!"

"I know, Sonic, I get it!" Silver shouts, "But we can't make the same mistake Janae did and go in with only half a plan! The lab's on a bigger lockdown than before. We need to plan accordingly…and we're going to need YOU at one hundred percent if you're coming to help us. So take it easy. Leave the planning to us."

Sighing, you lie back in bed. "Okay, fine," you mutter, "But you better be quick! And fully charged or not, once you're ready, I'm coming!"

"Then I suggest you rest up," Silver smirks and heads out the door, "Because I won't take long."

Knuckles nods and leaves you be as well, followed by Tech. Amy wraps her arms around your neck, plants a kiss on your cheek, and wishes you well as she walks out of the room.

You lay in bed and tried to sleep it off. But after a moment, you realize you've already had plenty of time to sleep everything off.

So you swing yourself out of bed and head out to visit some friends.

To skip chatting with everyone, go directly to Chapter 32

After wandering around some, you find Silver, Tech, and Oydax gathered together in the computer room. The computer screens have several floor layouts of the lab you were all in earlier.

Tech is the first to notice your presence. "Hey Sonic," he greets, "Good to see you out of bed already. We're just mapping out possible plans to get to these prisoners."

Silver looks up and nods. "Maybe you can help us out a little."

You approach the three. "Sure. What d'ya need?"

"You said something about being thrown down via a chute?"

You nod. "Yeah, like for laundry. Only I guess it's for spare scrap parts. They must've thought I was just that, because they didn't even notice I was there. That's how I was able to sneak around, and came across the prisoners."

"Sonic," Oydax speaks, "Tech said you mentioned 'Wisps' when you were attacking Nega…"

You glance downward. "Yeah…" you mutter, "Lots of Wisps… All crammed in just a few capsules. They were doing an experiment, and… well, it 'failed'."

Oydax clenches his fist. "Egg-Neg's still doing those experiments… Doing what he did to me!" He whips around to face Silver. "Silver, we can't fail! We've got to find a way to bust in there and save everybody!"

"We will, Oydax," Silver places a hand over his, but also glances downwards. "We can't forget though… There's still the Time Stones. I still want to send you all back to the past. If you're all able to stop the original Eggman from even creating the Empire, it can save this entire future. Meaning none of this would ever happen!"

"Yeah, but…" Tech crosses his arms, "Janae had a good point earlier. Changing the past doesn't necessarily mean things will become better here. Personally, I think it'd be best if we ensure the well-being of everyone in this timeline first, instead of just banking on one thing that could have unknown consequences."

Silver sighs and nods reluctantly. "You're right…" he mutters, "Sonic, can you tell us anything else about this secret lab?"

You tell the three everything else you can think of, including the one and only elevator, which has an alarm system if you try to enter the lab from within. After telling them all you know, they thank you, and you leave to let them plan.

You decide to explore through the halls of HQ a bit. As you turn one corner, you see two Resistance members standing guard by a door. Curious, you walk over. "What's going on here?" you ask.

"Guarding this room," one of the members replies, "The traitor to the Resistance."

"Traitor..?" you narrow your eyes, knowing exactly who they're talking about. "Any chance visitors are allowed?"

The two Resistance members look at one another. "Well… we're not allowed to let her out, or anyone else in without Silver's say-so…" They both look around quickly. "Though we know what she did to you, so…"

They step to the side. "Be quick!"

"And give her hell!"

You smirk, nod your thanks, and walk in the room. Inside, you find Janae lying in bed on her side, her back towards you. She glances over and grimaces at you. "What do you want?"

"Just wanted to make sure you were okay," you reply.

Janae sneers and turns back. "Yeah right… Get lost."

You knit your eyebrows. "Okay, I admit. If you were REALLY hurt, I wouldn't feel VERY bad… But I just wanted to let you know how much of an idiot I think you are."

"Whatever…" she nearly growls, "This would've never happened if you hadn't come out of nowhere."

"Oh get over it!" you shout, "This isn't about you! This was NEVER about you! This isn't your story, or your legacy! This is about saving the world from the Eggman Empire! It's about helping you all bring peace to the world before we go back to our timeline! All you care about is getting your name in the limelight!"

Janae twists around and glares at you. "Look, when you're descended from a legend like Cream, you've got a lot to prove!"

"SHUT UP!" you shout, "It doesn't matter who you're descended from! Your history doesn't define who you are! YOU YOURSELF define it! And all that was proven was that you're a self-centered brat willing to endanger her own friends just for attention! You even put my own friends in danger… My best friend was almost killed by Eggman Nega. If anything had happened to him…" You grit your teeth, "Then they would need to lock you away, just to keep you safe from me."

Janae turns away from you again, laying on her side. "Are you finished?" she grunts, "You feel better now that you got to yell and scream at me?"

"One more thing," you say, "If there's any good you've done, you helped me find out what Nega was hiding in that secret lab of his, even if you didn't mean to. We've got a new mission now. We're going to rescue the prisoners they have hostage down there."

"Hostages..?"

"Yup. A whole bunch of them," you reply, "People and wisps. So yeah," you turn to leave. "Thanks.."

You knock on the door and are let out.

You recall being told that Tails was seen in the lounge area. After what happened with Eggman Nega, you decide to go over and check on him.

Sure enough, there he is, sitting on one of the many couches, staring down at the small table in front of him. Clearly a lot of things were going through his head.

"Tails?" you call over as you approach.

The fox whips his head up towards you and lets out a huge smile. "Sonic!" he cries as he jumps up and rushes over, hugging you tightly. "I was so worried! You were unconscious for a really long time."

You return the hug. "I'm fine," you assure, "You know me. I've been through worse."

You both release your embrace. "What about you?" you ask, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine…" Tails mutters, slowly sitting back on the couch.

You roll your eyes. "Doesn't sound like you're fine."

"I thought for a moment, I might've lost you…" Tails turns his face away, "I already lost so many other friends…"

You take a seat next to your friend and place a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, buddy, you haven't lost anybody," you smile, "It takes more than a few hits to keep me down. And once all is done here, we'll return to our time, and it'll be like you never left anyone's side."

Tails lowers his head. "I hope so…" he mutters, "But it's been over 200 years!" He tightens his grip on his crossed arms, "I can't imagine what everyone must've gone through… what they must have felt. They all probably thought we abandoned them. You've seen how Cream looked on those history files. So tough, so serious... All those years, all that hardship, trauma…" You see a tear fall from his eye, and he quickly tries to wipe it away, "She probably went through things no child should ever go through…"

You squeeze his shoulder assuringly. "Tails, I promise," you say, "We're going to fix everything. And the next time you see Cream and all the others, they'll be the same, dopey, lovable friends they were when we left them."

Tails nods, but he doesn't seem to be quite assured yet. "I…" he starts, "I just hate the feeling of putting them through what you put m-"

He quickly stops mid-sentence, but you already know what he's talking about. "What I put you through?" you finish.

"Sonic, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

You hold up your hand to silence him. "Tails… don't apologize," you say, "You're right. I do put you through the ringer a lot. More times than it should be considered fair. I guess it really does hurt you, huh?"

"Not hurt," Tails replies, "But maybe worry a bit…"

"I'm sorry to worry you then," you smile, squeezing his shoulder once more, "You really do mean the world to me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lunged at Nega the way I did." You chuckle. "I promise, I'll always find a way back to my best friend." You give your traditional thumbs-up. "Just like you will for everyone else."

Tails smiles and returns the thumbs-up. "Thanks, Sonic."