"You're just another Scavenger, like the rest of them." Thorn said.

"Oh, yeah? And what about me?" Gwen glared, gripping onto her sword tightly.

"You're... you're different. But you have to understand why I have to do it."

"That crystal is nothing but dangerous. It could lead to more disasters. Do you really think this is what Talia would want?"

"I..."

Thorn struggles to find the word, but she shakes her head and glares back at Gwen.

"Sorry, but there's no point in changing my mind. I have to protect the jungle."

"And I have protect my friends and family... from you! Hi-yah!"

Gwen and Thorn leap at each other. With her grass sword, Gwen knocks her through the air. Thorn lands on the ground with a loud thud.

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

~ FLASHBACK ~

In Green Hills, Gwen watches with excitement as Amy guides Sonic, who had his eyes covered, towards her and her friends that are waiting for them.

"Can I open my eyes now?" he asked.

"No, Sonic, not yet." Amy said, giggling.

"Amy, you better not be tricking me into the water again."

"No trick, Sonic. Trust me. You're gonna love it. Okay, open them!"

In Green Hill, standing before Sonic was Gwen, Amy, Knuckles, Tails, Birdie, Big, and Froggy sitting or standing next to the palm tree with a picnic blanket besides them.

"Ta-da!"

Sonic was confused and in disbelief.

"You got me... the Palm Tree? So it is a trick."

"No, Sonic, it's not a trick."

"But I already have a palm tree. That one. And that one. And those over there." he said, gesturing to all the palm trees around them.

"The gift isn't just the tree. It's all the memories we've made around that tree."

"Like that time when you bet me I couldn't fly up to the top by the time you ran home and back. You still owe me, by the way."  Tails said, flying up to the tree before chuckling.

Knuckles bumps the tree with his boxing gloves, causing the coconut to fall and he catches it.

"And the time we worked together to make Amy that coconut cream pie."

Rouge flies up next to the tree.

"Or when I saw you buy a coconut cream pie and tell Amy you made it."

She flies down and snatches the coconut from Knuckles. Amy immediately turns and glares at Sonic, who chuckles nervously. Gwen places a palm on the bark of the palm tree with a fond smile.

"And the time you have to hold me back from attacking Knuckles and Rouge that snooped around my room when I was chasing them around from this tree. You even defended me as you scold them and threatening them to spin dash them into space." she said before giggling.

"You still won't let that go, huh?" Rouge asked with a nervous smile.

"Nope." Gwen grinned.

"C'mon, I said I was sorry. Rouge was the one that was snooping into your room just to find secrets about you." Knuckles said in defense.

"Oh, come on. You were curious about her, too."

He opens his mouth to retort back at the bat before finds nothing to say and pouts, crossing his arms. Rouge smirks at him.

"That's what I thought."

"Or that time I laughed so hard, chili shot out my nose." Big said before laughing. "I still can't smell."

Froggy croaks in agreement.

"Yeah, really good times. Right, Sonic?" Amy said, placing a hand on the tree.

"Come on, guys, don't you think you're all being a little too... I don't know..."

Sonic lies down on the picnic blanket.

"...sentimental?"

"We're not sentimental. It's all the good times we have by this very special tree that holds so many memories." Gwen said, slightly offended of what he just said.

"Look, I get it. Tree. Friendship. Memories."

He glances over to see Big holding a handful of chili dogs and sits up.

"Chili dogs!"

He goes over and starts chomping and slurping on the chili dogs. Amy and Gwen watches him in disbelief before glaring at him.

"I guess you don't get it, do you, Sonic?"

"He never does. Hopefully, he will."

~ FLASHBACK ENDS ~

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

In the Boscage Maze Jungle, Sonic falls back on the grass. Gwen and T'Challa lands besides him as they glare at Thorn that somehow gets up from Gwen's attack and comes charging them with her hammer attached to the green crystal raised. She misses them when they dodged it. A tree shoots up where the hammer struck. Thorn looks up at it with a grin.

"Yes! The power to regenerate the jungle in a single strike. Hi-yahh!"

Thorn strikes again as more trees shoot up. Sonic jumps back along with T'Challa when Gwen earth bends it, causing the trees to be cut in half. Thorn glares at her and yells and takes a step forward. Gwen eyes her movement and moves forward, opening her arms as she set up for her attack. She swing her right foot in an arc toward the ground in font of her. As she strikes the ground, her strike creates a shock wave in the arena floor that churns up the ground in the direction of Thorn in a straight line.

Sonic and T'Challa stare incredulously, following Gwen's shock wave. Thorn's foot meets the shock wave just as she stomps on the ground with her hammer raised. The shock wave makes her drop down onto the ground in a perfect split. Sonic, T'Challa, and the giant bird winces at the sight. Thorn looks up with a look of excruciating pain on her face.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!!"

Gwen smirks and makes a chopping motion with her right hand. Three stalagmites erupt from the ground near Thorn and eject her from the ground as she slams into the bark of the tree.

"Oh! I could get used to this!" Gwen smirked, liking her new power.

"You are special, you know that?" Sonic said in admiration.

Thorn slowly gets up while wincing as she glares at Gwen. She looks up to one side and hammers the ground. A tree shoots up and fills hole of the canopy as the jungle gets darker. She grins at the accomplishment she made.

"Finally, I can shut them out. All of them. They'll never harm the jungle again."

"Uh, what was that now?" Sonic asked.

"Let's see what this hammer can do! Yahh!"

Thorn hammers the ground as another tree fills another hole and she creates more trees. She hammers again where Sonic, Gwen, and T'Challa is as they dodges. Another tree blocks a hole. The ring on Sonic's shoes and gloves glow in the darkness along with Gwen's hair strand bangs.

"Not good."

"Ditto. She's gone crazy."

Lit by the green crystal, Thorn turns to Sonic and Gwen. She stalks toward them and the giant pink bird follows. T'Challa growls at them. Thorn swings a hammer, creating more trees as Sonic jumps to a tree. Gwen creates an earth wall to block the trees as it gets hit. She holds it as much strength as she could while protecting T'Challa.

"Thorn, wait! How many times do I have to tell you? We're not your enemy!"

"Can't you just listen and talk things out? This isn't like you!!"

Sonic jumps down as Gwen takes down the wall back into the earth ground.

"Come on, Thorn, you gotta trust us! Hand over the pretty crystal thingy. Please?"

"That crystal is dangerous! You don't know what it's capable of! Please, just give it to us and we'll work things out."

Thorn laughs and hops onto the giant bird.

"You're a fool if you think I'd give you the heart of the jungle when I'm so close."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! So close to what? Where are you going?" Sonic asked.

"To do what I must to protect the Green forever."

Thorn and the bird runs off.

"'Protect the Green'?"

Gwen gasps in realization.

"The Scavengers!"

She mounts on T'Challa and runs off along with Sonic as they run ahead of Thorn and stops in front of them.

"Sorry, Thorny, I don't want to hurt you, but I won't let you hurt anyone else."

"As do I. They may be scavengers but that doesn't mean they're that heartless to hurt your jungle."

"Ha! Then you two don't have a choice."

Sonic, Gwen, and T'Challa dodges a bird attack as Thorn leaps at them.

"Hi-yahh!"

Thin trees shoot up to make a cage around Sonic while the thin trees bind around Gwen and T'Challa.

"Get in my way again, and I won't be so forgiving. As for you Gwen, stay out of this. I don't want to lose you again."

Sonic pulls onto the trees to try and get out while Gwen struggles to get free as she wiggles. Thorn then rides away.

"Thorn! Wait!"

"Thorn! Stop! Please! You're making a big mistake!!"

Sonic's head pops through the gap.

"Thorn!!!"

He then sighs in defeat as Gwen starts looking around for anything to get out when she starts to get an idea, seeing 

"Okay. Maybe it's not so bad. The Scavengers have dealt with her before. They'll be fine!"

"Sonic, I don't think they'll be fine. With that powerful crystal she wields, there's no way they stand a chance against her."

"Oh, come on. It's not like they're just sitting around eating bark."

"More like enjoying the berries I gave them. But I wouldn't jinx that if I were you."

"...We gotta get outta here!"

"Working on it."

Sonic looks up at two Flickies.

"There's no roof! Of course! Wow, I really should have throught of that sooner."

He activates the spikes on his gloves and shoes and climbs the trees. Gwen manages to earth bend the ground to blast out some pointy tops to cut off the trees, freeing herself and T'Challa. Sonic then makes it up to the top and jumps out as Gwen and T'Challa waits for him.

"I'm free! Gotta go fast!"

"Let's go then!"

Sonic runs back down and flips and spins away with Gwen and T'Challa following after him. Ahead, a giant bird runs over the grass as Thorn rides on top. The bird leaps on logs and roots and jumps down on the grass again and keeps running through the dark jungle. The green crystal glows on the hammer. Sonic, Gwen, and T'Challa catches up.

"You guys again." Thorn said.

"Yep, us again."

Sonic dodges a hammer swing. T'Challa snaps his jaws at the bird to try to slow it down. The bird screeches at him as the black panther growls back. Gwen swings her sword at Thorn when she dodges it and swings a hammer back to her when she earth bends a column as it hits it.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you! But we're taking that hammer!"

"By force if we have to!"

"The only thing you're going to take is a beating!" Thorn glared.

"Fine by me!" Gwen glared back.

Thorn hammers the ground and a tree blocks Sonic. Sonic shakes his head from concussion and runs after Thorn again. Gwen creates a large cloud of dust, covering around them. Thorn looks around as she stands guard before finding Gwen. She jumps off of the bird and raises her hammer. As she moves, Gwen smirks. Thorn sends out wave of trees at her, which she dodges. Gwen bends up part of the ground and sends her own wave, ejecting her from the ground as she slams against the bark and lands on the ground. The bird watches in shock. Thorn gets up and hops back to her bird and rides off. Gwen goes after her as she rides T'Challa. Sonic eventually catches up and hangs onto the hammer as Thorn notices him.

"Wow, that's some grip you have. Have you— Ahhh!"

Thorn swings him around.

"Sonic!" Gwen called worriedly.

"I could do this all day!" he shouted through the swing.

"Hi-yahh!"

Thorn throws him off and Sonic flips around the branch and jumps down. He goes flying towards the hammer.

"Yay! Oh!"

He misses the hammer as Thorn dodges him and rolls up. Thorn creates more trees at Gwen when she brings up an earth shield, deflecting them all while slicing them off with her grass sword. She turns part of the shield on her. Thorn dodges one piece, but gets hit by the other. She swings her hammer towards Gwen, which she dodges again and creates a fissure, almost sending her flying out of the bird if she hadn't held on. The bird rams onto T'Challa to the side to throw him off when he growls and rams the bird back by the side as well. Back to Sonic as he swings on the vine up to Thorn and grabs the hammer. She sees him and swings it and he jumps on top of it.

"Ha ha!"

Thorn tries to shake him off, but he gets the hang of this as he cheers along the way while balancing himself. This made her angry and she swings the hammer around and hits the tree. New branch shoots with Sonic on it.

"It'll take more than getting a few splinters to stop me and sis."

Sonic spins down and chases again. The bird leaps from branch to branch as Sonic runs under them with Gwen chasing Thorn and the bird. She creates columns of rocks to block them when Thorn and the bird dodges them.

"Hey!"

Sonic jumps over a thorny vine and dodges other ones. The bird leaps on a couple of more branches and jumps down to the grass. Thorn hammers the ground again as more trees grow. Sonic and Gwen, who's riding T'Challa, runs or climbs around the trees that shoot up. Above the canopy, Prim and others heard rumbling in the distance.

"Huh?"

Prim sees the tree top sticking out.

"See? I told you. It's the trees coming to get us." Gnarly said, looking around the trees in fear.

Prim looks at him in disbelief and glares, shaking her head. Below in the jungle, Sonic jumps off the new trees as he spins to catch up to Thorn. He jumps off the tree to a vine and swings to a branch. Sonic flips to another and slides on it. He jumps over a branch and spins at Thorn and the bird. T'Challa fastily climbs every other trees while jumping over as Gwen holds on. T'Challa lands on the ground and keeps running as they're closing in on Thorn and the bird. Thorn notices them and lowers her hammer and drags the crystal on the ground. Trees pop up faster behind her. Sonic bounces off the new trees, flips and jumps between the branches, and hits his head on one. Gwen creates ground shift to move the trees out of their way, but more trees keep shooting up even with Sonic's attempt to spin dash through a crowded jungle.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!"

"Dead end!!"

Sonic, Gwen, and T'Challa stops at a big tree. Under them, another shoots up and throws them through the canopy.

"Whoa!!"

"Wha!!"

Sonic falls onto the deck as Gwen and T'Challa lands onto the deck. Sonic groans and gasps out from all the chase they had been through. Gwen breathes in and out as T'Challa collapses on the ground in exhaustion from all the running. She looks down at her brother and goes to help him after mounting off the black panther when spears were pointed at them. T'Challa growls at them.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." Prim said.

Hangry looks confused and turns to her.

"I did not."

Prim rolls her eyes.

"It's an expression." Sonic said.

"You'll get it someday or another." Gwen said.

The Scavengers points their spears further at them, which caused Sonic to gasp and T'Challa to growl even louder. Gwen immediately acts and in a flash all the spears were tossed somewhere on the deck as she points her grass sword at them while holding the rip vine.

"What's with you guys?"

"What are you doing here? The last time we saw you two, you were with the monster, betraying us." Gnarly said, glaring at her while looking hurt.

"Betraying you? Are you serious? We were trying to calm her down and work things out!" Gwen shouted, pointing her grass sword at his neck, who gulps.

"She's right. You got it backwards, bud. We didn't betray you. We went to get the Shard, the thing you were supposed to help us get?" Sonic explained.

Gwen glared straight at Prim, who smiles nervously.

"Right, Prim?!"

"So... you're not after our bark or berries?" Hangry asked.

"No one wants your bark!" Sonic exclaimed.

"But they would want your berries, though." Gwen added.

"What's your point?" Prim asked.

"My point is, she's on her way here! Whatever your beef is, you gotta squash it, pronto!" Sonic said, speeding to the top where Mangey is.

"What's all this about beef?" Hangry asked.

"What he's trying to say is, you need to find some common ground." Gwen said in frustration, lowering her weapons.

"'Common ground'?! We live in the trees!" Gnarly said before chuckling. "These two're paranoid."

"Are you kidding me?!" Sonic said in disbelief.

"You really do not get it, do you?! I'm trying to say is you all need to talk things out with Thorn!!" Gwen shouted, shaking the canopy from her anger with her earth bend.

"You don't understand. There is no common ground. Not anymore." Prim said, looking down along with others.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

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

~ FLASHBACK ~

Thorn's bird flies through the sky and swoops down over Mangey, Prim, Hangry, and Gnarly as they could be seen gathering the food from the batches, trees, and more.

"We used to be... friends."

Thorn smiles as the bird lands behind her. Besides them was Talia, who's looks exactly like Gwen, but in different jungle outfit like she's from a war as she smiles at Prim and others, causing others like Prim and Gnarly to blush at the sight of the light blue hedgehog.

"Now I can barely remember a time when we all got along."

Thorn and Talia watches Prim pick the berries and tosses them into the full basket as some drops to the ground.

"Sharing the spoils of the jungle."

They watches Hangry picking up apples from the tree and tosses them into the basket.

"Taking only what we needed to survive."

Gnarly shakes the tree as fruits were dropped down. Apples rolled towards Thorn and Talia as they pick a lot. Suddenly, Thorn screams in anger, causing the bird and Talia to run away from her as they watch her with wide eyes. Prim and the others stop at what they're doing and turns wide eyes to her. Thorn runs with her hammer, yelling as she hits Gnarly, who tries to run away from her. She then hits Mangey and Prim.

"Then, one day..."

She then chases Hangry last and hits him, sending him flying.

"Ahh!"

Prim and others starts climbing up the tree as Thorn, Talia, and the bird watches them. Talia looks worried as she turns to Thorn.

"...she chose the jungle over us, chasing us up into the canopy, where we've been ever since. As for Talia..."

Talia makes Thorn face her as she was trying to talk things out with her while confronting her. But Thorn was too angry as she seethes and yells, hitting Talia with her hammer. Talia goes flying and slams into the bark. Time stops as Prim and others watches in horror along with the bird. Thorn takes a deep breath and gasps, after calming down as she sees her best friend had slammed into the sharp point of the bark that she didn't notice. She drops her hammer and runs over to Talia, cupping her face. Talia looks like she's trying to say something but ends up closing her eyes with her last breath. Thorn tears up and turns to Prim and others with a hateful glare.

"She took her life away from us, our only friend right in front of our eyes."

Prim and others glare back at her for what she did.

~ FLASHBACK ENDS ~

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

"You can't find common ground with a monster." Prim said in anger and sadness.

Sonic and Gwen were silent and shock after hearing that story, especially the tragic of Talia.

"I can't believe that. Amy has to be in there. Somewhere." Sonic said in denial.

"I don't believe it either. She would never do that without reason or she didn't mean to hurt Talia. I know her." Gwen said. "You have to make peace with Thorn. Otherwise, you'll lose everything."

Prim and others stare at her until Mangey steps forward and chitters, making Gwen's eyes lit up. Prim blocks his way.

"No. We're done with her."

"Look, we talk to her as friends and we try to get her to listen to reason. Right?" Sonic said.

"For once, Sonic is right. And you're actually listening." Gwen smiled at her brother.

"I learned the hard way."

Sonic turned to the group.

"Are you with us?"

A loud rumble was heard and a tree shoots up through a bridge.

"Uh..." Gnarly said nervously.

Mangey chitters and runs off. The other Scavengers hold their weapons.

"Uh, you should've listened to us!" Sonic exclaimed.

Trees shoot through the decks and T'Challa pulls Mangey away from one. Hangry whimpers as the tree was about to shoot up when Sonic speeds over and pushes him away before it hits him.

"We gotta go now!!"

Gwen runs over and tackles Prim and Gnarly away from another one and rounds them up to the others.

"Do we have a choice?" Gnarly asked.

"Nope." Prim said, seeing more trees shooting out.

"Finally!!" Sonic and Gwen sighed in relief.

"Okay, here's the plan. We go in gently—"

Gwen was cut off by the Scavengers running off the deck and jumping down. Sonic, Gwen, and T'Challa groans in frustration and look down as their falling cries were heard.

"Attack!!" Prim shouted.

The trio winces after hearing a loud thud. Then the tree throws them back up and they land on the deck roughly. Gwen angrily stomps over to them and earth bends the ground beneath them for them to stand back up as they stand straight.

"Would you all listen for once and follow our lead this time?!!"

"I-I vote yes." Gnarly smiled nervously, raising a hand.

"Yes." Prim and others agreed, raising their hand as well.

"Alright! Follow us!" Sonic grinned.

Gwen hops onto T'Challa and rides off as she and Sonic jumps off the deck and runs down trees to the jungle. The Scavengers follow them.

"It's dark." Prim said, seeing all the jungle is completely black.

"Too dark." Hangry added nervously, holding the big leaf close to him.

"Or... she's making us think it's too dark!" Gnarly sneered.

"Yeah, no, it's definitely dark." Sonic pointed out.

Sonic's shoes get brighter while Gwen's hair green strand glows brighter as well. Thorn rides the bird onto the root. T'Challa growls, getting into his pouncing stance with Gwen on his back.

"Well, well, well, look what the hedgehogs dragged in." Thorn said with a mocking smile.

"Okay, be cool. Act natural." Sonic said.

"You have a plan, right? We could use mine since mine is better." Gwen said.

"Let me do my part this time."

"Alright..."

Gwen looks unsure as Sonic steps forward and smiles nervously.

"Hey, Thorn. We just want to have a friendly chit-chat. Remember those?"

Sonic starts imitating Prim and Thorn with his hands as he talks, making Gwen face palm her head hard with a loud smack, leaving a red mark on it. Once he's done, he brings his hands together.

"We start there, then move on to a constructive conversational volley about our issues, minus the—"

He demonstrates by making a fighting noise with stomps and spin dashing.

"Oh, I'll get you!"

He clenches his fists with his angry face before turning back to normal.

"Okay, look, despite the last several— oh, I don't know how long— we're all really good friends here. Yeah? Right? So let's talk this through, come to a peaceful agreement, and who knows? Maybe by the end of it, we'll all be laughing."

Thorn jumps down from the bird.

"What is there to talk about?"

"See? We're talking! Now, Amy would probably say we should talk about our feelings."

"Our 'feelings'?" Thorn questioned.

"'Feelings...'" Prim repeated with confusion.

"'Feelings...'" Hangry repeated.

"'Feelings.'" Mangey said with puppy eyes.

"Feelings like a trap to me." Gnarly glared.

"Oh, my Chaos! Just get on with it!!" Gwen shouted in frustration, scaring everyone.

"Ugh. Okay look, I'll go first. I feel like, um..." Sonic started.

"Like you don't know what you're doing?" Prim stated.

"I agree with her." Gwen said.

"I'm trying! I feel like this would be easier if you didn't interrupt me all the time! And feel like this is harder than it looks, even though Amy and sis makes is look so easy. Now you go."

"Me?" Thorn asked in surprise.

"Sure. Go ahead." Sonic said.

"It wouldn't hurt to say what you really feel." Gwen said.

Thorn looks down and thinks when Gnarly had to rudely ruin the moment.

"She's distracted! Now!"

Gnarly and the Scavengers charges toward Thorn.

"No!!! Don't! You buffoons!!!" Gwen shouted.

"Hey! You voted to follow our lead! Remember?" Sonic shouted.

"I feel... angry! Yahh!"

Thorn hammers the ground and trees shoot up under Hangry and Prim while more trees push up Mangey and Gnarly. She then hammers a tree and a shooting branch misses Sonic, but another hits Gwen, knocking her off T'Challa. Thorn jumps and runs. Sonic runs and jumps after her as Gwen quickly hops back on the black panther before following after them. Thorn hammers Sonic as he hits the ground. Gwen creates a column of earth under Thorn as she went flying and T'Challa jumps and swipes at Thorn with her claws as she lands on the roots. Gwen and T'Challa lands besides Sonic as Thorn gets up.

"Okay, I get it, you're angry. But what happened to the not-fighting part?" Sonic said.

"They've proven they can't be trusted. And now at last, it ends!"

Thorn jumps down and raises her hammer towards them as they dodges the hammer blow. A tree shoots up and fills the hole of the canopy. Thorn looks up at it as Sonic stands with Gwen and T'Challa looking up as well.

"What did you do? Do you realize the consequences?" Gwen asked in horror.

"I... I did what I had to. This should keep the Scavengers above the canopy. Where they belong!"

"Thorn, you destroyed their home. They'll starve!" Sonic said.

"And they'll die!" Gwen added.

"If that's what it takes to save the jungle... so be it."

Thorn hops back onto the bird and goes to ride away when Sonic blocks them.

"No, no, no! Ugh, why are none of you getting this? You need to figure out a way to live, all of you, together!"

"What do you two know about togetherness?"

Sonic begins to remember something that Amy showed them as Gwen remembers as well. She put two and two together and gasps.

"It's the tree that binds us all together." Gwen and Sonic said in unison.

"Thorn, everything is connected— you, me, sis, T'Challa, the Green, even the Scavengers."

"He's right. Especially Talia."

Little did they know, the Scavengers are watching them.

"We're all a part of something bigger than ourselves." Sonic said.

Thorn scoffs.

"What a bunch of sentimental garbage!"

"But you and sis told me that."

Sitting on the bird, Thorn looks at her hammer for a moment before shaking her head.

"No matter. With the Heart of the Jungle, I have the power to make sure the Green never gets hurt again."

"'Hurt'?" Sonic and Gwen questioned.

"I'm done with you two."

"You're done with us?" Sonic asked.

"Fine! You may be done with us, but I'm not done with you!" Gwen glared. "Let's see if I can talk to the Great Green! How about that?"

Gwen smacks T'Challa's butt and starts riding off fast.

"Sis!" Sonic called.

"No! You stay away from the Great Green!"

Thorn rides after Gwen as Sonic follows after. Gwen creates rock columns of earth to at least block their way as she rides T'Challa.

"Come on, T'Challa! We can do this!"

They eventually made up to the palm tree. She frowns to see the fonts droop in dead light. Gwen gets off of the black panther and approaches it, placing a hand on the root.

"You poor thing. The darkness must not really giving you much energy you need. Thorn is completely lost in herself. But there's always hope and I've got a plan and you'll be saved in no time."

Gwen notices a pink flower as the roots were wrapped around it like it's hugging and protecting it. She immediately recognizes the name of the flower.

"Talia's named after that flower..." Gwen voiced out.

Thorn eventually arrives and T'Challa growls and roars at them.

"Get... away."

Thorn jumps down and glares at Gwen.

"From my... tree! And my flower!"

Gwen earth bends the column underneath her and moves it up high.

"Oh, yeah? Try!"

"Birdie!"

Birdie runs and flies up.

"Okay, your bird can fly?!"

Gwen jumps away from it as T'Challa jumps and tackles Birdie. The two animals lands on the ground and rolls around before getting up and fighting against each other.

"Face it, Thorn! You need to stop! You're not only starving the Scavengers, but you're hurting the jungle!" Gwen said, jumping to the next column she made.

"How dare you disrespect the Great Green! You may not be Talia, but I won't hesitate to hurt you!"

Gwen smirks, seeing her holding up the hammer.

"Just give it your best shot!"

Thorn lets out a battle cry and spins and throws the hammer up. Gwen earth bends herself down and leaps at the hammer and kicks it through the canopy, creating a big hole. Thorn covers herself from the dust and looks up after it died down. Golden sunlight shines down over the tree and the pink flower. Thorn frowns, beginning to finally see what she did.

"What have I done?"

A falling leaf lands on her hand as she grips onto it before kneeling.

"How did this happen? All I ever wanted was to protect the green... avenge Talia's death... and now I've ruined it. I've failed you, Talia."

Birdie walks toward her and Prim does too. Gnarly, Mangey, and Hangry come out from behind bushes and follow. Sonic also comes out from the bushes and runs over to Gwen as she lands safely besides T'Challa, who walks toward her as well.

"We used to be... friends."

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

~ FLASHBACK ~

Birdie flies down and lands besides Thorn and Talia.

"There used to be balance."

Thorn and Talia watches Prim yank a berry plant from the ground.

"But after a while, all I saw was the constant taking, taking."

Hangry shakes an apple tree. Knuckles punches the tree as Talia runs over and blocks him, trying to reason with him.

"Finally realizing that they were depleting our resources."

Hangry pushes the leaves to find the berry patches, scaring the yellow Flickies away. Thorn runs over and blocks him.

"They take but never give back."

Gnarly pulls the tree off the ground and throws it off.

"Never giving it rest."

Mangey digs a hole.

"They were killing the jungle. I couldn't take it any longer. I snapped and became a monster."

Thorn holds up her hammer and lets out a battle cry, charging at the Scavengers as she hits each of them away.

"I couldn't sit back and let it happen."

Talia makes Thorn faces her and tries to reason with her.

"My best friend Talia, the Queen of the Jungle, tries to talk some sense into me that my action was wrong. But I was too blinded by my anger and..."

Thorn hits her with her hammer, sending flying towards the sharp point of the bark.

"...I never meant to kill her. I didn't mean to. That's when I knew I could never get back to who I used to be. Or bringing back Talia. I even blame the Scavengers for her death when I knew it was mine."

Thorn cups Talia's face as she closes her eyes and lets out a last breath. Thorn glares up at the Scavengers that glares back at her. She turns to the unmoving Talia and kneels to her feet and sobs uncontrollably.

~ FLASHBACK ENDS ~

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

Birdie steps closer to Thorn and nuzzles the back of her head.

"I... I didn't see it like that." Prim frowned, grasping her arm.

"I'm sorry, Thorn. I didn't know. I..." Gnarly said, frowning.

Mangey steps forward and whimpers as he's also sorry with puppy eyes. Gwen smiles softly and starts doing her magic as her ruby glows. Birdie and T'Challa notices as Gwen makes the palm tree cover with rainbows as all different kind of animals and fishes can be seen on the bark of the tree like they're coming out from the Tree of Life. Thorn and others, including Sonic sees the display she's showing as they could hear the noises of the creatures. Gwen begins to sing.

https://youtu.be/51ohlN5qQJM

Is it really over?
The echoes just seem to get longer
How did we get here?
There was so much love in us
And all I have left is my faith
That I can change

I can't watch this burn
I can't watch this burn to the ground
You'd have thought we'd learned
You'd have thought we'd learned by now

I can hear the whole world singing together
I can hear the whole world sing, "It's now or never"
'Cause it's not too late if we change our ways
And connect the dots to our problems
I can hear the whole world sing, "We're in this together"
"We're in this together"

Pickin' up the pieces
I listen out for beating hearts
And now it's time for healing
The sun will rise, but this time it's so bright
And all I have left is my faith that we could change

'Cause I can't watch us lose
Like I watch us lose what we found
You'd have thought we'd learned
You'd have thought we'd learned by nowI can hear the whole world singing together

I can hear the whole world sing, "It's now or never"
'Cause it's not too late if we change our ways
And connect the dots to our problems
I can hear the whole world sing, "We're in this together"
"We're in this together"

Oh, oh

Oh, I can hear the whole world singing together
And I can hear the whole world sing, "It's now or never"
'Cause it's not too late if we change our ways
And connect the dots to our problems
I can hear the whole world sing, "We're in this together"
"We're in this together"

Ah-ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh

The sunlight then shines down on Gwen as soon as she finishes singing. Sonic wipes a tear away from his eye with a proud smile on his face. Prim and others, including Thorn starts tearing up. Just then, in front of Thorn, a small drooping plant revives from the sunlight. The frons of the palm tree rises. Birdie and T'Challa notices the small plant and the palm tree. Birdie spreads its wings and smiles. It looks down at Thorn and nuzzles her. T'Challa roars in happiness and nuzzles Gwen, who smiles. Sonic flashes back to Amy and others as a smaller bird flies by Amy. He smiles approaches Birdie.

"Go. Up there. Stretch your wings."

Birdie looks up then down at Thorn. She touches his beach softly and smiles sadly.

"Go ahead."

Birdie flies up through the canopy, cawing. Mangey watches. Gwen turns to him.

"You too, bud. Just spin your tails."

Mangey looks at his two tails and spins them, making him rise and fly up through the canopy. He laughs along the way as he looks happy and excited to actually be flying. Birdie loops through the sky as Thorn watches him and Mangey through the hole. Gwen turns to T'Challa and scratches his chin.

"Our journey ends here, sadly. I'll be sure to find you in my own home."

T'Challa looks up ahead of the jungle and then to Gwen before purring and nuzzling her. Gwen places her head against his head, closing her eyes. T'Challa lets out a final roar before running off, disappearing.

"Wakanda forever, T'Challa."

Sonic turns to his sister in confusion.

"What's that?"

"Just learn it from a black panther."

Thorn chuckles and sniffs as she watches her Birdie go.

"It got so dark, I lost myself. It was selfish to keep Birdie from flying while trying to shut... you all out."

She turns to the Scavengers. Sonic and Gwen bends down to Thorn.

"You were right to defend the jungle, but the thing is, this jungle is unnatural."

"That Shard is nothing but trouble. It knocked everything out of balance, including your friendships and your Talia."

"How do we start over?" Thorn asked.

"Well, our friend Amy would say, 'Talk to each other.'" Sonic quoted. "But she's a little corny."

Sonic, Gwen, and Thorn stands up.

"I don't know. She sounds pretty great." Thorn said.

"Yeah. You are." Sonic agreed.

Gwen smiles as Thorn smiles back. Sonic winks at her. Mangey flies back down and lands with his friends. Prim and Thorn step toward each other. They stood there for a moment, looking awkward.

"We have to acknowledge our part in this if we're ever going to live in harmony."

"Me, too. This is what our Talia would've wanted."

They turn to Gwen, who blushes. Prim and Thorn moved to hold hands when a croak stops them. They look to see the frog hopping between them and it goes to Hangry, who picks it up.

"I'm not crying, you're crying."

He starts to cry. Sonic looks at everyone through a frame with his fingers. He flashes back to his friends in Green Hill. Gwen smiles, feeling reminded at this memory when they're all together.

"Oh, snap! The Shard!" he exclaimed, scaring Gwen a little.

He looks up through the hole and down to his shoes.

"These two'll find it. Sorry, friends, gotta go! Gotta go fast!"

Sonic backs up and runs up to the palm tree. Gwen stands there for a moment and faces her friends.

"See you, guys."

Gwen turns when Thorn calls her.

"Wait."

She looks back at them.

"Will we... ever see you again?"

"...I don't think so. Maybe someday when we fix the world, you'll see your Talia again. Hopefully sooner than later."

Gwen salutes them with a grin before earth surfing away as Thorn and her friends watches her depart.

"She's really something, isn't she?" Gnarly said with a lovestruck smile.

Gwen keeps earth surfing as she feels her hair bangs glowing brighter green, tracking the shard. She sees Birdie flying next her and waves as he screeches softly back at her before taking off. Suddenly, a familiar deep voice calls out to her right next to her.

"Gwen!!"

She becomes startled the sound of Shadow's voice and falls backward off of the mound. She lands roughly on the grass and groans, rubbing the back of her head. She gets up and looks around the jungle.

"What was that?"

She sees the hammer with the green shard resting on the log and runs over to it. Gwen stops for a moment.

"Sonic? Where are you?"

She's confused that her brother normally comes over to the shard first before waiting for her. Unless... Gwen looks at the shard hesitantly and slowly places a hand on it. Then, a familiar sparks bursts around her hand and the green starts to lose half of its color as well before she disappears into the shard.

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

In New Yoke City, the rebels could be seen firing off lasers against the Eggforcers.

"New Yoke City isn't quite how I remember it." Sonic said before running off.

Knucks could be seen punching the Eggforcer when he stopped to see him.

"Sonic?"

He jumps off the robot and glares at him.

"Never thought I'd see your smug mug again. Where were you? Where's Iris?"

Knucks spins off two bots. Suddenly, a portal appears above the sky and Gwen goes falling. Her jungle outfit turns back to her normal red suit outfit.

"Ahhhh!!!"

Hearing her scream, Sonic and Knucks looks up and Gwen crashes onto Knucks.

"Oof!!"

"Ow!!"

Gwen rubs her head in pain and was about to apologize when she freezes to see Knucks underneath her.

"K-Knucks?!" she shouted in shock, blushing at the position they're in.

"Iris?! You're alive?!" he shouted back, blushing as well.

"Again, it's Gwen!"

They quickly got off of each other while dodging lasers.

"If you're here then..."

Gwen looks around the city, to the rebels, the robots, and others. She groans, facepalming herself.

"Great..."