"So... you're telling me that Cream's a part of this prophecy?"

Sonic nodded, his eyes darting down. "We don't like this anymore than you do, but Cream is part of this thing." Amy said.

Cream glanced from her mother to Amy, fiddling with her doll's arms. A prophecy that included her... It wasn't as if she was unfamiliar with the strangeness of being a demigod. So, she wasn't completely in disbelief. More just nervous.

She remembered when she was five- how she'd wandered away from her mother while at the park. The trees had soon encompassed her and she couldn't make her way back. She called her mother's name, trying to figure out where she had gone. Then, a distant call came from the woods. A distinct sound of a cow. A cow in the woods? She found it odd, so she followed it. And it led her back to her mother, who was calling her name.

She never saw the cow, but she did see red hyde disappear into the trees and shaded sunshine.

Vanilla leaned forward, clasping her hand over her mouth. She glanced at her daughter. "I... I don't know." She knew her daughter was capable for her age, but a quest to defeat a titan. It felt like far too much for the eight-year-old. Then again, if the prophecy was true, her daughter - and she herself - didn't have a choice.

Amy stepped forward, grasping Vanilla's free hand. "Ms. Vanilla, I promise to you that nothing will hurt your daughter. Not as long as I'm with her." She assured the woman, her voice calm and sure.

Sonic nodded in agreement as he spoke up. "And if she isn't part of the prophecy and we find who is, I'll bring her back home faster than I can blink."

Vanilla looked at Cream. The Rabbit girl nodded her head. "I can do it, Mother." She insisted, smiling. "I really can, I promise. And I'll come home nice and safe."

Silence consumed the room as Vanilla thought. "I... You can go. But please come back home safe." She leaned over to her daughter and hugged her. "I love you so much..."

Cream smiled, hugging her mother back. "I love you, too!" She beamed. With that, she pulled back and went over to the two Hedgehogs. She smiled up at them. "I'll go pack some clothes and food." She said, noticing the backpacks the two had.

With that, she rushed off to her room. Vanilla looked at the two teens.

"Are you sure you're alright with this all?" She asked, her voice soft with sympathy. "You're just kids. And the gods are just sending you off the fight?" She seemed worried.

Sonic took a moment to respond, contemplating that. Amy rubbed her arms, shrugging a bit. "I don't know. It's all a lot- and it's happening pretty quickly. But... I think we'll be okay." She said, smiling.

Vanilla didn't look very convinced. "If you say so. Just be careful." She whispered. Sonic nodded, smiling at the woman- which she returned.

Soon, Cream came back with a little backpack, dressed in overalls, a vermilion t-shirt, and blue sneakers. "Okay, I'm ready to go!" She gave her mother another hug, and the three soon left.

~~~

"So, how do you know this 'beater of betrayers'?" Sally asked, trailing behind Knuckles.

As he led her and Tails up the stairs of the apartment, he said, "We meet up sometimes. A daughter of Nemesis."

Tails sighed a little and used his namesakes to fly to the top of the flight of stairs. The two quickly reached the top and Knuckles started down the hall. Soon, the three reached one of the rooms and Knuckles knocked on the door.

The door was opened by a tall girl with fluffy white hair and light eyes, Bat wings folded neatly to her back and ears the same color as her hair flicking about in response to every noise. Her and Knuckles' eyes met and she immediately smiled. "Knux, you didn't say you were coming over."

He shrugged a little, the corners of his mouth quirking up in a smile. "Stuff came up. There's something important you need to know, Rouge."

The Bat girl, Rouge, tilted her head. Her smile faltered for a moment. She glanced over and noticed Sally and Tails behind him. "Uh, yea. Come in." She nodded, motioning for them to come inside.

The apartment was small, but neat- minus the cluttered cardboard boxes in the corners of the room. Tails glanced inside an open one and noticed broken pieces of jewelry, necklace chains, and other shiny things.

Rouge sat down in a nearby chair and Knuckles sat next to her. "How's my favorite delinquent?" He asked, to which Rouge giggled. Sally could swear she saw blush line the Bat's cheeks.

"I prefer the term amateur vigilante." She said, rather proudly. "But I'm alright."

Knuckles nodded and glanced over to his friends. "Tails and Sally. I've told you about them. This is Rouge."

Rouge looked at the two and waved. Sally glanced between the Echidna and Bat. They were definitely not just friends.

"So, Rouge, there's this prophecy that seems to include you." Sally said, taking out the paper where Amy had written the prophecy out on. Rouge leaned forward to read it, tilting her head.

"I see..." She whispered. "So, what's actually happening in this?"

"A titan named Ivo escaped Tartarus. He's trying to destroy everything." Tails said, climbing onto a chair to get a better look of the trio.

The Bat stared for a moment. "Well, that's... Gaia, that's a lot." She sucked in a deep breath and leaned back. "Well, saving the world time, I guess." She laughed. "How in Tartarus do we save the world?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Focusing on finding people in the prophecy." He said.

Sally nodded and quickly wrote Rouge's name next to her line. Tails leaned closer. "Maybe you know about some of these people?" He suggested, looking up at Rouge.

She scanned her eyes across the paper and pointed at one of them.

"Bringer of fire, powerful as a feline monsoon." She went over to one of the boxes. "I found this map about this 'Sol Empire' place. Its Princess is a Cat. There's a volcano there that Hephestus works in a lot, apparently."

"Found?" Knuckles asked. Rouge pulled out a piece of paper from the box, smiling mischievously.

"Stole." Knuckles nodded in confirmation at the sight of the smile.

Rouge spread the paper on the table, revealing a delicately drawn map of an empire. "According to this, there's a gateway to the Sol Empire at the treeline over here." She said, pointing to a spot on the map.

She turned to a different wall, which held a map of Green Hills. She pointed at a nearby spot toward the trees that surrounded the town. "Just a bit of a walk."