Mario and Sonic: Super Eclipse and Determination

A small situation

__Everyone was standing in front of the castle entrance. Mario, Luigi, and Toad were trying to lead Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles inside but the three of them were watching the sunset. Sonic was mesmerized by the beautiful colors the sun was emitting through the mountains. He was immediately reminded of his home. He would always stand outside and watch the sunset until it got dark and go inside. Sonic then sighed and was about to comment about going home when Tails flattened his ears and crossed his arms.
__"How long do you think it'll take for us to get home this time?" He asked sadly.
__"Not too long hopefully," Knuckles responded without looking at him.
__Sonic just smiled as he put a hand on Tails's head. "We'll be home soon, bud. Don't worry."
__Tails smiled back at him until Sonic pulled him into a noogie. He started grunting and growling as he tried to push Sonic away. "Ah! Stop!"
__Knuckles had to come in and separate them before pointing at the brothers and Toad. "I think they're waiting on us," he infered.
__That's when Sonic used his super-speed to run to them and wore this smug look. "You mean they're waiting on you."
__"You little...!" Knuckles then sighed and led Tails over to them.
__They all went inside the castle and headed straight for the throne room. Professor E. Gadd looked like he was finished setting up and the princess and Toadsworth had just entered the throne room. The princess saw Knuckles and a big smile formed on her face.
__"You found another one!" She said happily. "Who's this?"
__"This is our friend Knuckles," Sonic said while looking at him. "He's a loose canon."
__Knuckles suddenly frowned and pretended to hit Sonic, causing him to flinch. He then smirked and crossed his arms. "Flinched."
__Sonic responded by nudging him with his elbow and snorted.
__E. Gadd was holding onto the Miles Electric, which was still plugged in, and looked at Tails in confusion. "Your weird tablet thing is taking too long to charged."
__Tails rolled his eyes. "Because that's not the charger I made for it. It's gonna take all night for it to be completely charge."
__"Ah." E. Gadd set the Miles Electric on a table and looked at everyone. "Well, we might as well all catch some z's while we wait."
__Princess Peach nodded. "You can all stay here. We have plenty of rooms." She then looked at Sonic. "Do you and your friends want separate rooms?"
__Sonic looked at Tails and Knuckles before shaking his head at the princess. "Nah, it's okay. We'll share a room. There's some things we need to talk about."

__Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were sitting around in a bedroom. Tails was sitting on the bed, Knuckles was sitting in a cushion chair, and Sonic was sitting in the open windowsill. The light was on and Tails was reading the books that were available in the room. Knuckles was just groaning about the Master Emerald being by itself. Sonic was staring at the land below him.
__"Wow," Tails muttered. "This world is insane."
__"More insane than ours?" Knuckles asked.
__"Depends on who you ask," Tails said as he pulled out another book. "This Bowser guy is obviously more powerful than Eggman, but his motives are... subpar."
__"What do you mean?"
__"Toad told me that Bowser just wants to marry the princess and combine their kingdoms," Sonic explained. "I already met his son. He apparently tried getting Princess Peach for his dad."
__"Seriously?" Knuckles said in disappointment. "Freaking Eggman has tried to take over and destroy the world how many times?"
__Sonic tittered. "We even met other enemies that tried destroying space and time."
__"Wait," Tails began flipping through some pages. "They've had similar situations. Someone called Count Bleck, or Lord Blumiere, tried destroying the universe before changing his mind and Dimentio tried to continue this destruction before Mario defeated him."
__"Huh." Knuckles repositioned himself in the chair where he had his legs over the arm.
__Tails continued to look through the pages. "Someone called Princess Shroob messed with time and took over the Mushroom Kingdom in the past for a new home. After Princess Shroob was defeated, all five pieces of the Cobalt Star were combined and released Elder Princess Shroob."
__"The hell?"
__"She was mad that Mario, Luigi, and their... baby selves?" Tails narrowed his eyes as he continued. "Defeated her sister and tried acting out her revenge, but they defeated her anyway."
__"So they have been through what we've been though," Sonic concluded.
__Tails closed the book. "Yeah."
__"Anyway," Sonic sighed. "Nothing came back yet?"
__Tails shook his head. "I still don't remember who else we were with or what we were doing."
__"I kinda remember?" Knuckles said awkwardly. "It uh... we were on an expedition to either find or stop something."
__Sonic groaned. "That's what I figured."
__"Sorry, but that's all I know." Knuckles then yawned and started stretching his arms before relaxing in the chair. "Welp, let's get some sleep now."
__"Okay." Tails went to turn off the lamp before pulling the bed sheets over him and lying down.
__Sonic smiled as he watched his best friends fall asleep. He then looked back outside and saw the moon. He was wondering if any of their other lost friends or their friends back home were looking at the moon. Sonic could only sigh as he shut his eyes and waited for sleep.

__Knocking suddenly sounded from the door. It woke up everyone and made them sit up.
__"It's open!" Sonic called out tiredly.
__The door opened and Toadsworth was pushing a breakfast cart into the room. "Sorry to wake you boys. The princess wants to make sure you have breakfast." On the cart were fried eggs, bacon, toast, and three cups of coffee with sugar and cream next to them.
__"Oh wow," Sonic rasped as he slid off the windowsill. "Give the princess our thanks, please."
__"Of course." Toadsworth bowed his head before he left the room.
__"Come on, guys." Sonic was motioning Tails and Knuckles to get up and join him. He waited until his friends picked out what they wanted to eat before taking what was left. They then each took a cup of coffee. Knuckles left his black, Tails was adding lots of cream and sugar to his, and Sonic barely put any cream and sugar in his.
__"By the way, Knuckles," Tails began as he ate. "Why did you let yourself get caught in that trap?"
__"I didn't see it!" Knuckles retorted.
__"It doesn't make sense, though," Sonic added.
__"What? Me getting caught in a trap?"
__"Nah. You're too gullible."
__"Hey!"
__"What I meant was that Mario had told us before that no one goes into Goomba Woods," Sonic explained. "So there's no reason for there to be traps."
__"Is someone trying to capture goombas?" Tails asked.
__"I wouldn't bet on that," Sonic replied. "Locals are apparently scared of Bowser's minions."
__After they finished breakfast, they made their way to the throne room. Everyone was already there. Tails immediately went to join Professor E. Gadd and help him with all the technology. Sonic left Knuckles and went to join the princess and the brothers, who were talking about something urgent. When they saw Sonic Princess Peach greeted him.
__"Good morning, Sonic."
__"Morning," Sonic greeted back. "What's going on?"
__Toadsworth was shaking as he began to explain. "Everyone is saying that Bowser is recruiting a bunch of bad looking humans!"
__Sonic narrowed an eye. "Is that bad?"
__"Bowser never associates himself with other humans," Princess Peach explained. "This is new to us."
__"It's definitely going to be bad," Luigi added.
__"This isn't going to get in the way of searching for my friends, is it?" Sonic asked. "I mean, I don't mind helping you with this Bowser guy, but I want to know if all my friends are safe."
__"It shouldn't," Mario assured him. "But what we were planning was going into a nearby city to see what some of the other people are doing along with looking for more of your friends."
__"That's fine," Sonic nodded.
__"The princess must stay safe, though!" Toadsworth shouted. "How is she supposed to be safe while Bowser's trying to get her with Mario and Luigi being away!?"
__Sonic looked at Tails who was helping E. Gadd, and Knuckles who was watching everything. He then looked at Toadsworth. "Tails and Knuckles can stay with her."
__Toadsworth did not look convinced. "What are they gonna do!?"
__Sonic narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "They're way more than capable of protecting one princess. Knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald back home and Tails is one of our stronger and smarter Freedom Fighters. The amount of times they've helped me save the universe is uncanny."
__Princess Peach smiled as she looked down at her steward. "We'll be in safe hands, Toadsworth."
__Toadsworth began muttering something to himself as he walked away.
__"Princess," Mario began. "May we borrow your bus?"
__She nodded. "Of course. Toad, take them to the city."
__Toad just started bouncing up and down in excitement.
__"We're driving there?" Sonic asked.
__"Yes." Mario then started walking but stopped when he realized Luigi wasn't following him. He began hopping up and down. "Luigi!"
__Luigi shook his head. "Nope."
__Mario then began walking up to Luigi's face until their noses touched. Luigi looked nervous as he backed up and sighed. "Okay."
__Mario hopped up in excitement as he and Luigi began running out of the castle. Toad began hopping up and down at Sonic with his arms up. Sonic giggled for a bit before picking up Toad and running past the brothers.