"I never knew butterscotch cinnamon pie was so good! I've never had it like this!" Sonic said as he ate the pie slice. Shadow had put his slice into a plastic bag and put it into a bag. He made sure that the bag was rather large so it could carry their stuff in case if they decide to go on an adventure. Sonic looks up from his pie. "Should we go talk to Toriel now? Apologize for not listening to her?"

Shadow looks at the ground. He didn't want to talk to her after he had doubted her so much. "I guess it's the only thing we can do now. We can't stay in here forever."

"I need to get in contact with Tails somehow. I need to return to my friends somehow... We both do. I just don't know how yet... Maybe Toriel will tell us!" Sonic said racing to the doorknob. Shadow followed him a little more reluctantly.

They left the room. They looked into the living room. Toriel was back in her rocking chair and reading almost as if she never left. Sonic walked into the room and Shadow continued to follow. Toriel looked up and smiled.

"I noticed that you found your way here on your own. You didn't run into any trouble did you?" she asked.

"Not really. Shadow only doubted you a little. He forced me to follow you right after you left," Sonic answered.

"Er-um... Yeah... I'm sorry. I don't really know how people roll down in the Underground yet. That's why," Shadow added.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad that you trust me now! How did you like the pie? Did it turn out alright?" she asked.

"It was the best pie I've ever had!" said Sonic giving her a thumbs up.

"Thank goodness! I was afraid that I burned it a little! Your rest?" she questioned.

"We slept just fine." Shadow stopped. He sighed. " Listen, I want to thank you for being so nice to us. Even though we would like to stay here and eat your awesome pies forever, we do want to return home. We have friends there who are waiting for us."

Toriel was silent. She stood up from her chair and put down the book without even caring to save the page. She looked to them and began to walk out of he room. "Wait here."

"Wait! Where are you going?!" demanded Sonic.

They both raced after her downstairs. There was an extremely long hallway. Toriel began to walk down it. She stopped and turned back to them. "Go back upstairs. I'm going to take care of you and keep you safe forever."

"We can't stay here forever! We need to find our friends! All they know is that we fell down the hole to our deaths with- THE CHAOS EMERALDS!" Sonic yelled suddenly frantic.

"What are chaos emeralds?" asked Toriel

"They are the seven stones that sealed you down here. Where are the chaos emeralds?!" demanded Sonic.

Shadow quickly inhaled. He then facepalmed himself. Sonic knew what it meant when the Ultimate Life Form facepalms himself.It was bad. "The chaos emeralds must've teleported away after coming in contact with the barrier... Now they're scattered all over the Underground. They may be the only things that can save us now..."

"You're not going."

Sonic and Shadow looked to Toriel in alarm. Her face was so serious. Why didn't she want them to go out and save the Underground? Didn't she want to leave? "Why can't we leave?!" Sonic and Shadow both yelled.

"You both will only get killed out there. I've seen it happen again and again. I'm not going to let you through just to find a bunch of emeralds that could save us. What if they don't? Your journey will be all for nothing. What if you don't find them at all?" Toriel asked.

Sonic huffed. "Quit talking like that! If you asked any more what if questions, I'll go out of my mind! There are no what ifs! There's only I wills!"

Toriel flinched. She turned and fled further down the hallway. Shadow and Sonic ran after her. They used their speed to get in front of her. She hardened her stare. Neither of the hedgehogs budged for a second.

"I'm not going to let you two die like when the humans were falling down... The monsters outside of the ruins would always find them. One way or another... They would always die. All because I let them pass beyond this tunnel...," she said slowly tearing up.

"Have any hedgehogs come down here and died?!" demanded Shadow.

"Not yet. However, I suspect that it is possible that you will be accepted as humans because of the way you are. You are more like humans than animals. You have souls. That's enough to get other people to kill you to try to open the barrier."

"So, we'll tell them that we have another way other than killing us! Won't they stop then?!" asked Sonic.

"No. There are some whose soul purpose is to destroy and absorb souls from the ones that they kill."

Shadow planted his feet into the ground. "We aren't going anywhere but out."

Toriel sighed. "Very well. However, I must do what I have to do to protect you. I must destroy the door that goes beyond the ruins. I'm sorry that you can't go back to the surface. It's what must be done," Toriel said pushing past them. She was standing in front of the door and was readying her pyrokinetic powers.

"WAIT! What if we proved we could survive outside of the ruins? Then, would you let us go?" demanded Sonic.

Toriel stopped. She turned back to them. "You really want to leave that much? Fine. I'll give you a chance to prove yourselves. Show me that you can survive outside of these ruins in the Underground," Toriel told them getting into a battle position.

"Wha-?" Sonic asked. Shadow jumped on Sonic to knock him over to avoid a quick starting attack by Toriel. Sonic was breathless on the ground and Shadow was standing back up to face Toriel. He saw his little soul heart floating just in front of him.

"Toriel! We- uh- I- Um... Dang it! I can't think of anything to say that'll help in this situation!" Shadow said with frustration.

Toriel took a deep breath and launched another attack at him. Shadow amazingly was able to dodge it. He was practically running through the attack!

"Shads, let me try! Why must you keep us here being held captive when we could potentially save the monsters of the Underground as well as ourselves. Let us go!" Sonic tried.

"There's no point... The same thing will only happen again..."

"What do you mean again?" asked Sonic.

"This happened with the human as well."

Shadow looked to Sonic baffled. "A human has been here before? How can that be possible unless if the monsters were telling the truth about coming from the human world!"

Sonic sighed. "It took you that long to figure that out?!"

"It's just that everyone is forgetting that we were rejected in the human world. Now, everything that happened to the human is happening to you. Everything that's happened is familiar to me in every way. However, if you don't do what the human did, you could be trapped down here and then be killed before you leave."

Sonic clutched his fist. He knew he had to try. He didn't want to hurt Toriel in any way. He was a little sad to leave as well, but he didn't want to stay forever. "Please! We'll do even better than the human! We can run faster than sound for crying out loud!"

Shadow looked to Sonic and shook his head. "Talking isn't helping. We should try sparing her."

"Why should we spare her?! She's not going to let herself be spared!" Sonic yelled.

"Trust me on this!" Shadow snapped.

Sonic shut his mouth and showed to Toriel that he was sparing her. She blinked and shook her head trying to make herself fight harder.

They went round and round in circles. Spare, attack, and dodge. Somehow, when they got hit, they felt only more determined to show her that they could survive on their own.

Toriel huffed. It was their fifth time around. She suddenly realized, they weren't going to take no for an answer. Sadness welled up within her and she looked to the two hedgehogs. They were bravely standing before her awaiting her next attack. There was no point anymore.

"You really want to go that badly? We could stay here together forever... I could make you all the pie you could ever want. I'll do anything," Toriel said quietly.

Sonic got rid of his determined glare. His face completely changed. It was so fast that Shadow could hardly believe it and he thought that Sonic was going to change sides. The blue hedgehog walked up to Toriel and stared into her eyes. He said with a slightly wavering voice, "I want to go home."

Toriel's heart melted. Seeing Sonic's pleading eyes made her know. They were going to save the Underground. They didn't care if they failed or not. They were too desperate to get back to the surface with their friends and everything they once knew.

"I-I'm sorry for attacking you... You really are that serious about leaving. Very well. Promise me that you'll be careful...," Toriel said wiping away a tear. She knelt down beside Sonic and hugged him. Sonic hugged back. When she finally stood again, she walked away back down the hallway with only one look back. After that, Toriel was gone. Sonic and Shadow were now on their own.

"You're too nice for your own good," Shadow said as he shook his head.

"If I wanted to continue, I had to do it," Sonic replied wiping off his tears on his gloves. He hated goodbyes more than anything.

"Well, I suppose that it's time for us to face the world...," Shadow said as he stared at the door just a few feet in front of them.

Sonic nodded. "Right! Let's go save the Underground!"

The two walked through the door unaware of what waited for them...

A clearing sat before them. A flower was sitting in the middle of the clearing and looked at them. Instead of the happy grin on its face, it had a sly smirk. Shadow and Sonic could feel a ripple of terror run down their backs at the sight of the flower.

"Don't you dare think that I don't remember you. To be honest, I'm surprised that you were even able to have the pleasure of meeting me a second time!" Flowey stated.

Shadow and Sonic didn't move. They weren't sure what to say. Flowey's smile vanished. It looked disappointed. "What's the matter?! Did I rip out your tongues the last time we met?! I remember what happened the last time. A human fell down. Toriel saved the human. The human left. However, at the end of the journey, the human fell! I killed the human! Over and over and over...," Flowey told them. It's face changed back to the monster face it had showed off only a day before.

Shadow flinched and Sonic boldly glared at the flower's face. It laughed at their determination to continue. "I know you'll meet the same fate that my buddy did those years ago. Be sure to remember this face. It'll only get worse the more you see me. I'll kill you both one day and absorb your souls! Then, I'll travel to the surface and kill everybody there too. After all, it's kill or be killed..."

Flowey cackled and disappeared into the ground right before them. The flower was gone for now, but its words still haunted the clearing. Another door stood just beyond the clearing where the flower once stood. Shadow and Sonic ignored Flowey's words and stepped through the purple door to the outside.

First step outside of the door and the two hedgehogs got a good smack in the face of what reality was. Cold. Really cold. Actually, the weather was just cold. They didn't have jackets or anything. Sonic shivered and pulled himself together. They started their trek through the powdery snow.

"You know, that flower... Was it right about killing the human? Did it really succeed?" asked Sonic.

"I think it was just bluffing. Toriel said that the human saved them all years ago," Shadow replied.

"What if the flower isn't bluffing?!"

Shadow didn't answer. The horrible reality of the situation was almost more than Shadow or Sonic could bare. Sonic shook it off and tried to change the subject.

"I wonder how long it'll take before anyone realizes that there are hedgehogs here like us! What do you think Shadow?" asked Sonic.

"Probably six seconds," Shadow stated.

"Hm... Maybe you're right! What's that up there? A bridge?" asked Sonic pointing to a bridge with a jail wall with extremely wide bars was sitting on. They could probably still fit through the bars.

Shadow saw the bridge. He was baffled by the wall. but he didn't question it. Why? He wasn't sure if bridges like this were normal. For all he knew, the bridge was a monster itself! It was certainly a possibility.

They began to walk across it. They stopped when they heard footsteps behind them. Sonic slowly turned around. A being stood before them. Sonic and the person were about the same height. He wished he had a flashlight so he could see whether if he should be terrified or relieved.

"Hedgehog, I bid you welcome to the Underground," the beings voice said.

Sonic trembled now. Shadow was now looking as well. Neither of them could see who they were talking to. The snow was falling too fast and it was too dark. The being stuck out its hand. The two hedgehogs stared at the hand.

"What? Aren't you going to shake a friend's hand? Please... Shake my hand...," the voice said.

Sonic reached for the being's hand. He shook the hand quickly. Before he could let go, however...

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" cried Sonic.

When Sonic shook hands with the person, his hand came in contact with a hand buzzer! Electricity shot through him and he fell on the ground. The one with the hand buzzer burst out laughing. Shadow couldn't help but laugh too! The being's face became clearer.

"Ah! The old hand buzzer trick! Sans told me it would work! Although, I didn't expect to find anyone out here to do it to!" a female voice stated. Shadow realized that the female voice belonged to the person who shocked Sonic.

"Owwwwwwww...," groaned Sonic from the ground.

"I'm sorry! I just had to do it! It would have been no fun if I jumped right in front of you and said, "Hello! I'm Lily! Welcome to the Underground!" she said helping Sonic to his feet again.

"You're a girl?" asked Shadow.

"Yep."

"A hedgehog girl?"

"That's right! My name is Lily! Pleasure to meet you!"