As they finally arrived at their home in Green Hills, they dropped Wade off at his house and then drove to their home at the Wachowski. They parked their motorcycles at the garage as they went inside. Once they went in, they saw Sonic and Tails running straight towards them and hugged them tightly.

"Knuckles! Gwen!" Sonic and Tails exclaimed in unison.

"Sonic! Tails! I'm so happy to see you two again!" Gwen said in relief as Knuckles smiled with happines.

Once they hugged, Sonic and Tails saw Gwen in her new outfit. Sonic was impressed by her new looks while Tails was speechless and red all over his face to see her hot while spinning his twin tails with excitement.

"Whoa, sis. Appreciate this new look of yours. Your new outfit really suits you." Sonic said, impressed.

"Thanks, bro. Wade's mother has given me some new clothes" Gwen smiled in appreciation as she looked at Tails, who was blushing, and walked towards him. "Hi, Tails. It's great to see you again and I missed you, you sly little fox."

Gwen then kissed him on his cheek and he faintsd to the ground, making them chuckle. As they are happy to see each other again, Maddie walks towards Knuckles and Gwen who look furious at them for leaving Green Hills without permission.

"KNUCKLES! GWEN!" Maddie yelled, making Gwen and Knuckles get scared at the sight of her.

"Where were you two? I've been looking for you guys!" Maddie demanded angrily.

"Um... We can explain. You see, Knuckles summoned a spirit of the chief of his echidna kind and he was tasked to make someone a warrior." Gwen said.

"Yeah, and we helped Wade be more confident than ever and braver. We even got into a fight with the others who wanted my power." Knuckles added.

"What?! Is this why you guys left?! And what are you wearing, Gwen?!" Maddie exclaimed. "Don't get me wrong, love the new look though."

"We visited Wade's mother and sister's place to hide. Then we fought off the bounty hunters and went to Wade's bowling tournament at Reno, Nevada." Gwen said.

"You guys went to Reno, Nevada?!" Sonic questioned in shock.

"Yeah. Great place and I even got myself a ring." Gwen showed them her ruby ring that matched her necklace. "And we... had a great time there. We even danced..." she continued, blushing shyly at Knuckles.

"Heh... Yeah, we did. We even defeated another enemy that tried to drain all of my power, but with her and Wade's help, I was unstoppable. Wade even won the tournament and became a true warrior. My task is completed. I even got my own favorite song!" Knuckles explained with a smile.

Maddie was speechless at such a story. She massaged her head to ease the frustration and anger she was having.

"Okay... I believe you. And I'm glad you two are safe and sound." she said before hugging them. "Welcome home."

Knuckles and Gwen happily hugged her back. Then Maddie released herself from them before giving them a glare.

"But you're grounded. You're grounded for two weeks, Knuckles for leaving the house arrest. You, Gwen, are also grounded for a week for allowing Knuckles to leave."

"Fair enough." Knuckles said, knowing this would happen.

"Yes, Maddie." Gwen sighed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knuckles and Gwen went up to the attic to their rooms as they were grounded and sat on their beds to have their moment.

"Well, Knucks, we may be grounded for a week for leaving the house without permission, but I appreciate the quest we went on to help our friend Wade and discover our destinies together." Gwen said gratefully.

"Indeed, Gwen, and I'm glad you came along with me I had the best moment with you, and appreciation for protecting me." Knuckles added with a smile.

"You're welcome, babe." Gwen blushed while holding hands with him. "And I'll never let anyone hurt you or my brother or our family ever again."

"And I'll never let anyone hurt you again, not even many betrayals to protect you, our home, and our family." Knuckles promised.

"At least we are grounded together and it's worth the quest we went on."

Gwen and Knuckles gazed into their eyes for a moment before kissing each other passionately. Sonic and Tails stare at them, having a peek without them noticing and looking happy to see them together better than ever, especially when Tails is jealous of Knuckles for having all the love from Gwen. So they left to give them some space and have the moment of their lifetime, and nothing is gonna change in their relationship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later at night...

While the boys are sleeping in their beds, Gwen was staring at the night from outside her window having thought about her quest with her boyfriend and it was the best thing that ever happened to her. And hopefully, nothing will ever happen to her, her brother, and her family in Green Hills. She went to bed, took off her black jacket to hang up on the hook of the wall, and went to sleep. A few hours later, she was struggling in her sleep about having another dream and her ruby necklace began to glow bright. She opened her eyes to see that she was back in her dream.

"Where am I? Wait! I'm back in the dream? Wow, my dreams are strange." Gwen said in surprise.

In her dream, she saw a hanging in the tree with a lake around the tree just like before but this time, the dream was more beautiful and better. She walked towards a swing and started swinging.

"Well, this dream is getting better than my last one, except for..." Gwen said to herself as she realized the one thing she remembered from her last dream.

As she started to remember, she looked at the lake to see her own reflection until she saw another reflection next to her. Shadow the Hedgehog. She turned her head to see he was standing next to her and she jumped in surprise.

"Shadow! Gosh, you scared me." Gwen said, glad to see him again.

"I'm sorry for that, but I'm glad to see you again, and I like your new outfit." Shadow said, looking at her new outfit.

"Thanks, and nice to see you too. Well, especially since we are back in the dream." Gwen said.

Shadow then joined her by sitting next to Gwen on the swing.

"So, what happened?" Shadow raised a question

"Well, it's quite a long and complicated story, you see it begins when Knuckles trains in the morning when he questions his place on earth..."

Gwen started to explain the story about the warrior quest they went on and Knuckles training Wade to be his apprentice in the ways of the echidna, their feelings growing stronger than ever, and on their first tango dance at the casino, defeat another enemy who wants Knuckles' power and Wade winning the bowling tournament championship back at Reno, Nevada.

"...And after we dropped him off at his house, we drove back home, but we ended up grounded by leaving the house without permission." she finishd explaining the story.

"Wow. That really is a complicated story, but I never knew that you and Knuckles were the couple and saved the day together." Shadow said, surprised while slightly jealous to hear she was taken.

"Yeah, we are, but it doesn't mean you can be my new best friend and your only real friend. Even in the dream" Gwen said, holding his hand to make him look at her and they both blushed at the contact.

She cleared her throat to ease off the blush and questioned something she has been wondering for a while.

"So, what promise are you willing to keep?"

But Shadow still didn't want to talk about it yet as he looked down at Gwen's reflection in the lake as it turned into someone else he had once known for a long time. He became saddened, which Gwen noticed that and immediately became apologetic.

"Oh right, it's classified. It's okay that you're not ready to talk about."

"No, but one day once we meet in person, then you will get your answer." Shadow promised, looking into her eyes.

Gwen was confused and curious about what he meant when suddenly the dream world started to fade into white. She was about to say something when she noticed Shadow is gone already before she too disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With a silent gasp, Gwen wakes up to find herself back in the attic room and sees the boys are still sleeping. She sighs and closes her eyes for a moment, thinking back of what Shadow told her earlier and getting a feeling that she and her family will get into more... sudden turn of events. But she'll be ready for it. Gwen then went back to sleep, not noticing her ruby necklace glowing.