Sonic and Gwen bursts through a portal from the sky and spins down into the wooden decks of Boscage. Their gloves, shoes, and clothes changes into Boscage jungle ones. They run after the Mothership that's flying ahead of them.

"Oh, no." Sonic said.

"We better do this fast." Gwen said, which Sonic nodded in agreement.

"We won't let you down, Shadow." he declared.

"And that's a promise. Together, we're gonna fix this." she added with determination, pulling out her grass sword.

Sonic and Gwen spin dashes as the Mothership flies away through a portal. They go down through the canopy as Sonic slides down vines, jumps, and flips then spins down to the grass and runs. Gwen grabs onto the vines and swings and swings to the other like Tarzan before sliding down with the help of the earth she summoned. She lands and looks around before whistling. She waits as she looks around. Her ears twitches and she looks to see the bushes rustling. Then, a familiar black blur jumps out of the bush and tackles onto Gwen. It was T'Challa who licks her face.

"Okay, okay, stop! I know. It's great to see you again." Gwen laughed, lightly pushing him off.

T'Challa gets off of her and kneels down for her to jump onto his back. Then, Gwen rides off with her black panther to catch up with Sonic. Later, they later stopped and watched the Eggforcers cut down trees.

"And I thought gardening was supposed to be relaxing." Sonic commented.

"No kidding." Gwen said, surprising him to see T'Challa.

"Hey, bud." Sonic waved.

T'Challa huffed in reply before growling at the Eggforcers. Gwen nodded at her black panther and the two took off. T'Challa rushes towards the Eggforcer with Gwen raising her grass sword. Once they're close, T'Challa bites off its legs while Gwen slashes its head off. Sonic grabs another Eggforcer and swings it against the tree. Two more Eggforcers comes behind him when he spin dashes them away as they slam into a thick vine.

"Hey!" Gwen shouted.

Another shoots beams at Gwen and T'Challa as they dodged them and pounced it down. Gwen stabs its face.

"So if the Chaos Council's still looking for the shard, that means they haven't found it yet!" Sonic said with relief.

"Good thing for us, we have a pretty good idea where it is." Gwen said with a smile.

"You know it, sis."

Sonic jumps onto a tree branch and looks down. T'Challa jumps and climbs up to the same branch he's in and looks down as well. Gwen looks and gasps in horror.

"The trees!"

"What have they done?" Sonic gasped.

Eggforcers are cutting down more trees with chopper bots scanning.

"They're destroying the forest! They're home!" Gwen exclaimed.

T'Challa whimpers to see his home being cut down. She quickly comforts him and pats his head.

"Looking for the Shards is one thing, but why all this needless destruction?" Sonic questioned.

"This is Eggman we're talking about. He wouldn't hesitate to destroy anything that are in his way until he gets what he wants." Gwen explained.

Sonic jumps down and bashes into some Eggforcers while T'Challa pounces onto some others and tears off its limbs with his fangs and claws while Gwen slices them off in half with her grass sword.

"We need to find the Boscage Gang." Sonic said.

Gwen nodded and urged her black panther to get moving as they run off through the jungle. They run up the tree as Sonic runs down and swings around the branch while T'Challa jumps onto each branch he could land on with Gwen riding him. Sonic slides down a vine and jumps to another and swings above the canopy. Gwen summons her whip and lassoes onto the branch and swings herself and T'Challa above the canopy as well. They run up the bare tree and stopped on the branch to look down. They see Prim, Hangry, Gnarly, Mangey, and Thorn.

"Ah! There they are!" Sonic smiled.

It seems that Thorn is trying to talk some sense into her friends.

"The time for hiding is over. We need to fight now!" Thorn declared.

"No, we give them the Shard and they'll leave us alone." Prim shook her head, hovering.

Thorn pointed her hammer at her.

"The Shard is the heart of our jungle. I'll never give it up!" she said, slamming her hammer down.

Prim lands and exclaims.

"We don't even know where it is."

"It's hidden and it will stay hidden." Thorn assured.

"But we could use it against them!" Hangry suggested.

"We're not using the Shard. It's too much power for anyone to wield."

Thorn marches up to him and points her hammer at him. Hangry raises his hands and gulps.

"It's all coming back to me." he whimpered.

Sonic, Gwen, and T'Challa lands behind them.

"Hey-hey, gang!" Sonic waved.

Everyone gasps in surprise and Gnarly throws a spear. Gwen quickly catches it and throws it back at Gnarly who yelps and ducks.

"Nice throw." Gwen commented with a smirk.

"Nice to see you, too." Sonic said, a little frightened of getting a spear almost hitting him.

"Sonic? Talia??" Gnarly said in surprise to see them.

"It's Gwen. Still Gwen." Gwen said, rolling her eyes along with T'Challa.

Hangry peeks out from behind post and Mangey peeks out behind Hangry.

"You've returned. Where have you two been?" Thorn asked, looking happy to see Gwen.

"Everywhere. Nowhere. Somewhere in between?" Sonic replied, looking unsure.

"It's a long story. But we need a favor." Gwen said.

Prim lands behind them and points.

"Not a chance." she said. "In case you hadn't noticed, we got enough trouble as it is."

She points to the flying ship as the Eggforcers are flying down from it.

"We're being invaded! Monster who want to hurt us." Gnarly said, looking scared. "Or eat us?"

Mangey shrieks and clings onto Gwen, who comforts him by patting his back.

"Which is why we need to fight back! Who's with me?" Thorn shouted, raising her hammer.

No one said a word as Gwen gently removes Mangey from her as he instead hides behind her.

"But without the Shard, we don't stand a chance." Hangry said.

"Fine! If you won't fight, I'll fight them on my own." Thorn glared.

"By yourself? It's too dangerous! You don't know how many Eggforcers there'll be." Gwen said.

"It's either that or let our jungle die. You're more than welcome to come and help me if you want."

Thorn then whistles and a familiar bird roars. Birdie flies down to Thorn who gently touches her beak. Sonic looks down at the ring on his shoes while Gwen looks at her hair as they glow brightly. Sonic lifts a finger.

"Thorn, wait!"

She ignores him and rides Birdie who takes off. Birdie swoops low over Prim and the others then dives down through the canopy.

"She's right, you know." Sonic said. "We need to fight. And I have a plan. See that spaceship up there?"

They look up to Don't and Babble's craft that's flying above them.

"What's a spaceship?" Hangry asked in confusion.

"It's a big metal vehicle that fly in outer space." Gwen explained, pointing up.

"What's metal?" Gnarly asked.

"That's where the metal men are coming from. We gotta stop them!" Sonic said.

"Yeah, if we don't, your home will be completely gone." Gwen added with T'Challa nodding in agreement.

"Look at the size of that flying beast." Prim said, not agreeing to this.

"You can't sit this one out, Prim. We have to work together and fight." Gwen said firmly, approaching her.

"I'm not going anywhere near that metal bird." Prim shook her head, pointing at the flying ship.

Gnarly throws a stick at Sonic who yelps in pain.

"Ow!"

"Shh, shh." Gnarly shushed, moving his arms around frantically. "The metal men have eyes everywhere."

"We're just trying to survive. They're here for the Shard, not us. All Thorn has to do is hand it over and they'll go." Prim said.

"But that won't stop them from destroying your home! They're clearly going make your home into their own empire just like they did with the rest! You're just going to let that happen?!" Gwen shouted in anger, glaring at her.

They glare at each other as the tension rises between them. Prim falters a bit to see how strong and angry Gwen's glare is. Sonic breaks the tension and faces the gang with disappointment.

"You wanna sit on the side lines and watch your world get trashed, be my guest. Me? I'm off to help Thorn." Sonic said, glaring before spinning up and dropping through the canopy.

"So am I." Gwen said, hopping onto T'Challa. "If you want to survive, save your home not yourselves."

With that, T'Challa takes off and climbs down the tree. He lands on the ground and runs. The scavengers watch from the deck, recalling what Gwen said with a frown. Prim walks away as Gnarly, Mangey, and Hangry watches where Gwen had gone.

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

In the jungle, Thorn rides Birdie as she runs.

"Thorn, wait!" Sonic called out.

She turns to see Sonic trailing behind her along with Gwen and T'Challa.

"Spare me." Thorn groaned as the tree catch up. "I told you, I won't give up the Shard."

"That's not what we came here for! We—"

Gwen was cut off when she heard explosions. A familiar manic laughter was heard and something drops through the canopy, creating a cloud of dust.

"Huh? Argh!" Thorn yelped as flying debris trips Birdie and causing her to fall.

T'Challa trips as well from the loud thud, making Gwen fall as well. Sonic trips as well. A hammer lands besides Thorn. Dust clears to reveal Babble's bot as babbles could be heard, sounding as he's angry.

"Not the baby again!" Gwen groaned, getting up.

"Eurgh. How can one baby be so hateable?" Sonic groaned in frustration.

Babble taps the yellow button as colored lights flash in a circle. Thorn stares up with her eyebrow raised.

"Thorn, get out of there! That thing is not a toy!" Sonic shouted.

"That baby is very, very naughty!!" Gwen added.

The light stop on one with three circles. Babble lets out maniacal laughter as a three barrel gun opens on a bot's arm. It shoots a laser that lands behind Sonic. Birdie and T'Challa runs out of the way. Thorn charges and leaps with her hammer raised when a laser knocks the hammer from her grip. Don't chuckling could be heard and Gwen turned to see Eggforcers land behind Babble.

"Ready to dance?" Don't asked.

An icon of Don't appears above Eggforcer's head, showing that he's controlling it.

"Yes, eat that!"

The Eggforcer punches and swings a flaming disc, which Thorn dodges it.

"You monsters! You're destroying my jungle! I'm gonna make you pay!"

Thorn jumps on the Eggforcer and Babble shoots at Sonic who dodges them.

"Let's play a game of speed tag."

Sonic spins at the bot.

"Tag. You're it."

He dodges a swing and Babble falls on his back. Thorn holds the Eggforcer's antennae.

"Huh?"

Don't moves to the other one and approaches her. Thorn jumps off and the Eggforcers crash into each other. Gwen finds herself surrounded by the Eggforcers and she glares. She creates a large cloud of dust, walks in, and encounters the Eggforcer, who takes some time to notice her. As it moves its flaming disc to attack, she smirks. It swings at her, which she dodges. She bends up the ground and sends her own wave, ejecting him from the jungle as it slams against the thick tree and lands on the ground with a crash.

Another charges at Gwen. It fires lasers which she easily dodges. She bends up a series of pillars, sending it flying out of the canopy. It then crashes into another that she just defeated. The other Eggforcer throws a tree bark behind Gwen right at her head. She grabs the bark and returns it. It gets hit in the face and a pillar came out from the ground and knocked out of the jungle and right into the others. Two more Eggforcers prepare to attack Gwen. The other flies in from behind to complete the ambush. However, Gwen hears it and turns the center of the ground around to put the third Eggforcer on a collision course with the other two bots. With the three down, Gwen ejects them all onto the other defeated bots.

Gwen clears the dust cloud; only her and Don't remain. Gwen gets into a fighting stance and they circle around each other. Don't fires several lasers at her. She brings up an earth shield, deflecting them all. She turns part of the shield on him. He dodges one piece, but when he fires again, Gwen picks up and senses an attack. She dodges a laser and creates a fissure, sending him flying between Thorn and T'Challa. Unfortunately, Don't manages to move to the other Eggforcer that was hiding behind the tree.

Meanwhile, Babble slams a bot fist on the ground to which Sonic backflips away. He climbs on top of the bot and Babble tries to hit Sonic, but hits the bot instead.

"Whoa!" Sonic yelped, dodging them.

T'Challa claws out the Eggforcers and roars, pouncing onto another with Gwen taking out as much Eggforcers as she could as more appears. Don't's Eggforcer swings a flaming disc at Thorn. She trips and falls back.

"Time for you to split."

Sonic and Gwen turns to see Thorn in trouble.

"Thorn!!" they exclaimed in unison.

Sonic leaps off Babble's bot and spins. Gwen blocks Babble's way by creating earth pillars. The flaming disc gets closer to Thorn when she spots Sonic. The Eggforcer turns and Thorn escapes as Sonic smacks the bot down with his spin dash. It loses the flaming disc. In slow motion, it spins towards Thorn. Gwen sees that and throws a big boulder from the ground she created that's just enough to slam the disc away from Thorn as it stabs the tree. Gwen and Thorn glares at Sonic who rubs his head awkwardly.

"Er, my bad."

Sonic turns to an Eggforcer Don't controls.

"Rematch, bro."

It throws an Eggforcer part and hits Sonic. Thorn jumps away from the laser shot and stops in front of Babble's bot. It raises a fist when Birdie and T'Challa smacks it. Birdie flies in a circle while T'Challa runs around the bot. A chopper bot scans her and it turns green.

"Shard energy signature detected."

Gwen and Thorn gasps in horror.

"NO!"

Babble voices in confusion and shock.

"The Shard." Don't said in realization.

Thorn whistles and Birdie turns and swoops, enough for her to jump on her back and grabs the hammer. Babble gets angry as he babbles out and jumps.

"Duh." Don't sassed before following him.

Babble and Don't chase Thorn and Birdie. Gwen was about to go after them when she heard a groan and turned to see Sonic throw the part away that hit him. She and T'Challa runs over to his aid.

"You alright, bro?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Huh?" Sonic said, getting up. "Where is everybody?"

"They're after Thorn and Birdie who has the Shard. We need to go after them now!" Gwen explained.

"Oh, no."

Just as they were about to leave, an Eggforcer gets up. They turned and get into their fighting stance.

"Oh, no, you don't!"

Sonic knocks onto its back.

"Sonic, it's me." Nine said through the Eggforcer.

"Nine??" Sonic and Gwen said in shock.

Gwen approaches an Eggforcer to get a look.

"We've been looking everywhere for you." she said. "You had me worried."

"I dunno how much time I have." Nine replied.

"Are you inside the Eggforcer?" Sonic asked, checking around the bot.

"I'm up on the ship with the doctors." Nine said.

"The what-the what?"

"You're working with them?" Gwen asked in shock and anger.

"No! Would you just listen for second?" Nine said in frustration. "They captured me but I'm working them from the inside."

"Are you okay?" Sonic asked with worry.

"Wait, does that mean they also have their Shard back?" Gwen concluded with horror.

"Yes, temporarily." Nine said.

"Well, don't worry, we're coming to get you." Gwen said.

"No, you're not." Nine declined.

"We're not?" Sonic questioned. "Pretty sure we are."

"We can't leave you with those Eggheads. You know what they'll do." Gwen shook her head.

"Don't worry about me. Focus on finding the Boscage Shard."

"And I already know where it is." Gwen said.

"Really?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah." she nodded.

"Yeah, so do the Chaos Council. Now, hold still."

Nine twisted Sonic and Gwen's rings on their gloves and starts zapping electricity onto them.

"Is this some kind of secret handshake I have to learn, 'cause—"

"I'm re-programming the regulators so we can communicate through them!" Nine explained, cutting Sonic off.

"Oh, score." Sonic commented.

"Good thinking, Nine." Gwen complimented.

If Nine wasn't talking through the bot, he would've blushed right in front of her to show that he's embarrassed.

"You'll also be able to make contact with the Shards in any way without risking teleportation, especially the whole draining the Shards which I don't know what's that about." Nine explained, muttering quietly at those last parts. "Something I picked up from being here. You see? Playing prisoner has its advantages."

"If you say so." Sonic said, kicking his leg up. "I mean, we should still come up with a secret handshake, but that can probably wait."

"Hey! Rat! What are you up to?" Don't called from the background, scaring the three.

"Got to go." Nine said.

The Eggforcer jerks and goes limp as soon as Nine cuts himself off.

"Alright, let's go find Thorn and get that Shard." Sonic said.

"Yeah." Gwen nodded, hopping onto T'Challa.

They then run off.

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

Thorn and Birdie are surrounded by Babble and Eggforcers with Don't controlling one of them.

"Gimme the Shard or I'll fry the chicken." Don't ordered and raised his hand. "Dibs on drumsticks."

Sonic and T'Challa Gwen is riding on runs through the jungle. The regulator rings and shoes glows brighter along with Gwen's hair. They notices and stops not far from where Thorn and Birdie are surrounded. Chopper bots fly above. Thorn jumps off Birdie and readies her hammer. Sonic runs to Babble's bot and taps its foot.

"Tag. You're it!"

He spins around its feet.

"Wha?!" Babble exclaimed and angrily babbled.

He swings at Sonic, so does Don't's Eggforcer. Babble's bot falls on it. Don't moves control to an Eggforcer behind Sonic. Gwen and T'Challa leaps and pounces on an Eggforcer. Gwen gets off of T'Challa and swings her grass sword at the Eggforcers, slicing them off with T'Challa knocking off the others. Sonic leaps over a swing of the flaming disc from Don't who controls the other. He spins and knocks it down. Don't moves again and makes the Eggforcer grabs Sonic and moves him.

"I can do this all day." Don't mocked. "Now!"

Eggforcers pile on top of Sonic. Thorn hammers an Eggforcer away and does the same to Don't. Don't moves to another. The pile of Eggforcer shakes and Sonic bursts out. He runs in circles and takes off. Gwen and T'Challa came to Thorn and Birdie's rescue and takes out more Eggforcers as they keep on fighting. Gwen creates an earth shield to protect Thorn and Birdie while making the pillars move up and down to knock away the Eggforcers.

"Stop them." Don't ordered, pointing at them.

More Eggforcers run at them and Gwen looks up at one flying. She prepares her grass sword when a spear knocks it away. She turns and was shocked to see Gnarly.

"This is our home!" Gnarly shouted.

"And you are destroying it!" Prim added.

They all let out a battle cry and charged forward. Sonic and Gwen were happy to see them come around and help.

"You made it! Welcome to the party." Sonic said.

Prim throws a spear and hits an Eggforcer. Mangey jumps onto another. Hangry knocks away two Eggforcers with his fists. Gnarly punches two and a chopper bot. Babble blocks a spear from Prim, making him shriek in anger. A flying Eggforcer gets hit by Thorn's hammer. Another lands and fights Gwen and she knocks it away with a part of earth shield. Thorn jumps on Birdie who shoulders an Eggforcer and flies besides Prim. Gwen jumps onto T'Challa who bites an Eggforcer and runs besides Birdie.

"Change of heart?" Thorn smiled.

"Finally listening?" Gwen smiled.

"It's our home and I'm ready to fight for it. You are right, Gwen." Prim said.

"For Boscage Maze." Thorn declared.

"For Boscage Maze!!" Gwen and Prim yelled together.

"For Boscage Maze!" Gnarly yelled as well, punching away an Eggforcer.

Mangey screams in response as if saying the same thing Gnarly is saying while holding onto the Eggforcer. Hangry pulls its arm out of the bot Mangey was dealing with and holds it up.

"For Boscage Maze!" Hangry yelled.

Flying Eggforcers chase Birdie. Thorn jumps down and Sonic knocks back an Eggforcer.

"Got to hand it to you, Thorn, pretty creative hiding spot."

Birdie lands between them as Gwen and T'Challa caught up to them.

"You knew? When?" Thorn asked, hammering the Eggforcers away.

"More like I knew." Gwen said. "Back in the village."

"Why didn't you two say anything?"

"Because I wanted you to trust us." Sonic said.

More chopper bots and Eggforcers arrive. Sonic and Gwen growls.

"Thorn, it's the Shard they want. Give it to me and they'll follow me and sis out of here." Sonic said.

"But the jungle." Thorn said.

Babble giggles, approaching them.

"We'll come back. We'll help you rebuild it." Gwen promised. "But first we gotta get these guys out of here."

Thorn thinks for a moment before turning to them.

"Take the Shard. Take it and run as far and as fast as you can."

Sonic starts checking on Birdie as he looks at her wings.

"Alright, where'd you stash it? Under the wing or?"

Thorn nods to Birdie and Birdie starts gagging. After a few seconds, Birdie coughs out a green Shard, grossing Sonic and Gwen out.

"Why'd I ask?" Sonic asked.

"Not it!" Gwen quickly said, making him groan.

"Really, sis?"

"I said it first, you hold it."

"Great..."

Don't gags at the sight.

"Oh, oh, no, no." he said and kept gagging.

"What are you waiting for?" Thorn asked impatiently.

Sonic picks up the Shard and runs along with Gwen and T'Challa.

"So glad I'm always wearing gloves."

"Same."

"Hey, Chaos Clowns, follow us!" Sonic called out.

"We can't let those hedgehogs get away with the Shard!" Don't shouted.

A spear hits Don't's Eggforcer. Babble gets out his rattle. Thorn and Birdie swoop down and the Eggforcer fires at them. They dodged it and Thorn hammered Babble's bot, making him fly back and crash and losing the rattle. In the bot, Babble regains his balance in his chair. His bot stands back up and Babble notices the rattle is gone. His pacifier falls out of his mouth. Don't shrinks, knowing this did not look good.

"Hashtag uh-oh."

The main button doesn't work after Babble tried to press it. He started crying, letting out a loud angry tantrum.

"Calm down. We need to go after the Shard. Sonic and Gwen are getting away!" Don't said, trying to stop his crying. "Forget these losers!"

Babble doesn't listen to him and started hitting an Eggforcer.

"Stop! We got to get the Shard!" Don't shouted.

Babble smacks another Eggforcer away.

"He's gone full tantrum mode."

The bot jumps on Eggforcers, grabs another and throws it. The bot slams another down. An Eggforcer shoots and Babble's bot grabs it and throws it far. The Scavengers run away from Babble's tantrum. In the bot, Babble pounds on his chair tray. The bot throws at the chopper bot and Prim and Birdie dodge it. A thrown Eggforcer hits a tree, causing the tree to fall on Prim. Thorn rides Birdie through falling debris. Sonic and T'Challa stops running after hearing screams.

"What? The Chaos Council didn't follow us?" Sonic asked.

"They're in trouble!" Gwen gasped.

They look back to hear loud thuds with dusts forming around.

"Those eggheads!" Sonic growled. "Ah, that is the most stubborn baby of all time."

"No kidding!" Gwen rolled her eyes.

Sonic and T'Challa runs back.

Eggforcers hold Birdie down on the ground as others faced the Scavengers while Thorn keeps fighting. She stands, holding her hammer as more Eggforcers approach.

"Thorn!!"

Thorn looked over shoulder to see Sonic, Gwen, and T'Challa running back to them.

"Sonic? Gwen? No!"

"We're getting you out of here."

Gwen hops off of T'Challa and leaps up along with Sonic. Sonic holds the Shard high with Gwen's hands raised and together, they slammed it to the ground. Trees and pillars shoot up from the dirt as they throw out Eggforcers. One crashes down. Sonic looks at the Shard.

"Not bad for a—"

"Sonic, look out!" Gwen warned.

Sonic looked back just in time to see Babble jumping and he dodged the first. Eggforcer grabs him, causing him to drop the Shard.

"No!"

Gwen gasps and was about to run after the Shard when the Eggforcers pinned her down. Babble giggles to see the Shard in front of him. Sonic throws an Eggforcer over his shoulder while Gwen bursts out of the pile, knocking them away. They turned and gasped as Babble's bot picks up the green Shard.

"Dr. Don't to mothership. We've got the Shard. Now get us out of this dump."

Babble and the Eggforcers fly up through the hole of canopy. Sonic spots a tree and another hole. He turns and Gwen nods at him. He takes her hand and speeds off toward it with Gwen holding on. Sonic runs up the tree through the canopy.

"Come on. Come on!" he panted.

"You can do it!" Gwen encouraged him.

He speeds towards the sky and throws Gwen and she starts spinning along with Sonic. Babble and the Eggforcers fly toward their craft. Sonic and Gwen knocks out one then two more. Babble's bot lands on the craft. Sonic and Gwen knocks out the last Eggforcer and leaps through explosion. A green portal opens and the mothership comes out. The craft's engine fires and throws Sonic and Gwen back.

"Woo-hoo!" Babble cheered and giggled in victory.

"No, no, no!"

Sonic and Gwen screamed as they fall to their death. Or so they thought. Prim catches Sonic and Gwen by their hand.

"You two were never gonna make that jump." Prim said.

"Prim? What are you doing?" Gwen asked in shock.

"Saving your hide." she replied, smiling down at her.

"So, does that mean after this we're even?" Sonic guessed.

"Depends on whether or not you survive." Prim said, making Gwen giggle.

They noticed the portal is opening for the mothership.

"What is that?" Prim asked.

"Our last chance." Gwen glared.

"Think you can get us through it?" Sonic asked.

"Not a problem."

Prim flips and throws them up. Sonic and Gwen screams as they were about to fall again when something swoops them up. They find themselves on Birdie's back with Thorn. Sonic and Gwen smiled as they fly toward the craft on mothership.

"Promise you'll return and help me restore the jungle." Thorn said.

The mothership goes through the portal.

"You have mine and my brother's word, Thorn." Gwen promised wholeheartedly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah." Sonic nodded.

Birdie screeches and speeds toward the portal.

"I'm gonna set everything right." Sonic promised.

"With my help as well." Gwen added.

Birdie turns and Sonic and Gwen jumps and flies into the portal before it closes.

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

In the void, Sonic and Gwen keeps flying toward the mothership. They jump off of passing dark shards on their way. They make one more jump and talked into a regulator.

"Hang on, Nine. We're coming for ya." Sonic said.

"No. Don't worry about me." Nine said. "I'm working on a plan to get the Shards from the inside. The best thing for you to do is to get the next Shard before they do."

"Are you sure?" Gwen asked with worry.

"Totally. These eggheads are playing into my hands. They don't..." Nine explained about something as he continued, not knowing he was being watched by Don't. "...been downloading their tech. You two just need to get to the Shard first then get out."

Sonic and Gwen landed on the dark shard as they look at their regulator then to the mothership.

"I better go." Nine said and cut off.

"That's the first time one of them has made any sense." Shadow said, appearing next to them with his arms crossed.

"Nine's on our side, Shadow." Sonic deadpanned, crossing his arms. "And if you're not gonna help you can—"

"Oh, I can help."

Shadow spin dashes and knocks Sonic toward the blue gateway. Gwen looks at Shadow with an unamused look, to which he just shrugged.

"What? He had it coming." he defended.

"Just keep those Chaos Council busy and make sure they don't come here." Gwen said, shaking her head.

"Will do."

Gwen smiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek, surprising him.

"See you, Shadow." she winked before jumping down towards the blue gateway.

Shadow blinks for a moment before smiling, touching to where she kissed.

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

Gwen falls into No Place and sees Sonic screaming and falling toward a tiny island.

"Not again!" he shouted.

The two landed into the water with a splash.