Return to the Underground

A Day in the Park

Sonic drowsily walked down the stairs. He had woken up bright and early, even though he went to bed so late. He wanted to see his brother and sister, to make sure it wasn't just some crazy dream.
Sure enough, the two hedgehogs were fast asleep on the couch. He smiled to himself and walked into the kitchen to start breakfast.
Soon, Shadow came out to join him. Sonic was surprised. Shadow usually didn't get up until 10.
"You're up early," he remarked playfully.
"I figured I should be better about my sleeping habits," Shadow replied, sitting down at the table.
Sonic playfully rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You're in an awfully good mood."
Shadow chuckled softly.

Tails woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs.
'Sonic,' he realized. He was still half-asleep, but hunger and nature calling overcame his sleepiness and he dragged himself out of his bed. When he reached the bottom of the stairs after using the bathroom, he made sure to tiptoe as quietly as he could as to not wake up their guests.
"Hey there, buddy," Sonic said as he saw the fox enter. Shadow gave the cub a greeting nod, crunching on his raw coffee beans. "You hungry?"
Tails yawned. "Yep."
"And tired too, apparently." He put the bacon down in front of him. "Here ya go. Save some for the rest of us."
This got a short chuckle of him. "I'll try."
Sonic shook his head, grinning as Tails started to dig in. Then, he heard a noise from the living room. The cobalt hedgehog stuck his head out the door to see his brother and sister starting to wake up. "Morning, sleepy heads."
Sonia looked up at her brother. "Morning." She stood up and stretched. "That smells really good."
"Come and get some then."
Manic made his way to the kitchen. "No chilidogs?"
Sonic rolled his eyes and sat down in a seat between Tails and Shadow. "I don't eat chilidogs 24/7, for your information."
"You still eat them a lot," Shadow added in-between handfuls, smirking. He laughed as Sonic playfully boxed his ears.
"Shut up." He took some eggs for himself. "You guys gonna eat or not?"
Sonia took a seat next to Sonic. "Gladly."
Manic gave Shadow a weird look. "Is Shadow eating raw coffee beans?"
"Don't judge me," Shadow growled.

As they ate, Sonic started telling stories of his adventures and the places he had visited.
"What about that Chaos thing that Tails mentioned yesterday?" Manic asked through a mouth full of eggs and bacon.
"To put it short," Sonic answered as Manic got hit for talking with his mouth full by Sonia. "A god of destruction broke out of the Master Emerald and destroyed a good part of Station Square and we stopped it."
The two stared, awestruck, for a moment, but Manic broke it very quickly. "Cool!"
Sonia seemed more worried. "What happened to the city?"
"Don't worry, it's fine," Sonic assured her. "The city recovered really quickly, plus it happened a really long time ago."
"And your eyes?" she added.
"Ummm..." To tell the truth, he wasn't entirely sure how it happened.
Luckily, Tails seemed to have an idea. "I think it might have had something to do with the Master Emerald. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I'm pretty sure it had to do with his exposure to it."
Sonic shrugged. "What he said."
"They do match the color," Sonia said thoughtfully.
Said emerald-eyed hedgehog finished off his breakfast. "Anyway, how about we head to Station Square for the day?"
Tails also cleared his plate. "I'm game."
Sonia jumped up. "Sounds fun!"
Manic joined her. "Totally!"
Sonic, Shadow, and Tails got up as well. "Let's go then." Sonic rushed out the door, followed by Shadow, then popped his head in again. "You guys comin'?"
Tails giggled and ran out with Manic right behind him. Sonia followed more slowly.
'Where are Tails' parents? Are they at work or something?' she wondered.
"Come on, Sonia!"
"We're waiting!"
She smiled. "I'm coming! Don't you guys have any patience?"
"Nope," came multiple voices in unison.

They arrived in the city and two jaws dropped. Station Square was a busy city with people everywhere. Talking, shopping, and just having fun. With buildings as high as the clouds and cars driving up and down the streets busily. It was like a different version of old Mobius.
"You guys can close your mouths now."
They did as they were told and looked over to their grinning brother.
"This place is amazing!" Sonia stated, looking around at the new sites.
"And there's a lot more to see." Sonic started to walk ahead of them, and backwards.
"You're going to run into something, Faker," Shadow warned flatly. Tails was looking into some of the store windows.
"I haven't yet, have I?" Sonic smirked.
Shadow sighed and rolled his eyes, mumbling about Sonic being an idiot. The two hedgehogs and fox walking frontward smiled. Sonic was just as cocky as always. Even with walking.
"Mr. Sonic!"
Sonic turned forward to see Cream the Rabbit running toward them with Cheese the Chao. "Hey there, Cream." He got attacked by a small, light blue blur. "You too, Cheese."
"Chao!"
The cream-colored rabbit stopped in front of them. "Hello, Mr. Sonic."
"What'ch ya doin down here?"
"We were shopping with Amy," she answered.
Sonic looked slightly nervous all of a sudden. "Is she here?"
"She's still in the store. She should be out any minute."
Sonic gave an exhausted sigh with Cheese placing himself up on his head again. Manic came up to him and started poking at this brother. "What? Aren't you two dating?"
"No," he answered quickly. "She just has a really big crush on me."
"Really?" Sonia pet the Chao on Sonic's head. "She told me you two were dating."
"A really big crush."
"Sonic!"
Amy ran up at the sight of the hedgehog. Sonic sighed. "Hey, Amy."
She refrained from glomping him. "What are you guys doing out here?"
"Showing these two around the city," he motioned to his siblings.
Amy ran over to Sonia. "Oh! I know the perfect place to show you!" She started jumping in excitement. "There's a really good hair stylist not far from here! I have to show you!"
Sonia's eyes lit up. "Really?" She looked over to her brothers and Tails, hesitant to leave them.
"Don't worry 'bout it, sis," Sonic reassured her. "Go on. We'll meet up later."
The magenta hedgehog hugged him tightly. "Thanks, bro!" She turned to the two girls. "Let's go!"
The guys watched them run off giggling and talking.
"Girls," Manic muttered, smiling.
"Females," Shadow muttered at the same time, shaking his head.
"Hey." Sonic put his arm around the dark hedgehog. "She doesn't get to do this often. Let her be."
Shadow sighed. "Yeah, I know."
"Hey, Sonic. Can we go to the park?" Tails came up beside the hedgehog with pleading eyes.
"Sure thing, buddy." He turned to where he remembered the park was. "Over there, right?"
"Actually, over there." Tails pointed North of where Sonic was looking.
"Oh."
"You're not a very good guide," Manic teased.
Sonic, in turn, headlocked his brother. "Would you rather walk around by yourself and get lost?"
"As opposed to getting lost with my brother?" Sonic tightened his grip. "Any day."
He let go of the emerald hedgehog and warmly smiled at him. "Come on. Let's head down there. There's this chilidog stand that's really good."
"So you do still have an endless appetite for chilidogs. We just had breakfast!" Manic remembered him endlessly eating chilidogs anytime he saw a stand, even during missions.
"You have no idea."
"Ha, ha." Sonic brushed Tails' bangs purposely into his eyes. "Very funny."
"Thank you."
Manic and Tails laughed and even Sonic and Shadow had to smile. They kept this up all the way to the park. Laughing and mocking each other, being boys. Not caring about Robotnik or Eggman. Sonic paused in his laughing. He would eventually have to tell them. But not now, not when they were so happy and not when they just came back together.
"You okay, Faker?"
His big brother's voice shook him out of his thoughts. "Yeah. Just lost in thought, I guess."
"You gettin' philosophical on us?" Manic asked.
"Not even close."
"I can confirm that."
"Whatever!" He tackled the ebony hedgehog in a blue blur.
"No! Please! Not again!" Shadow was laughing like crazy as he was tickled mercilessly by his best friend on the grass. Luckily, they had arrived at the park so it wasn't too out of place.
"Tickle party!" Tails joined in the tickling, landing on top of the two. The tickling quickly turned to wrestling.
"Dogpile!" Manic joined in the tussling, landing on top of the three with Sonic at the bottom.
"Again?"
When they all finally untangled themselves from each other, they burst out laughing and panting on the ground.
"Man, this place is beautiful," Manic thought aloud. "I wonder why Robotnik never tried to take over this area."
Shadow turned his head to look at his cobalt brother lying beside him. He cocked an eyebrow at him, as if to say, "Does he not know?"
Sonic flicked an ear, telling him they'd talk about it later. Shadow shrugged in response and yawned, exposing his fangs, as he lazily scratched his fluffy, white chest fur.
Sonic turned his head to look at his green brother lying next to him. "Don't know, but I'm glad he didn't." He looked over to Tails and Shadow on the other side of him. "There's some pretty cool people over here." The fox grinned in return and the black hedgehog peeked open a ruby eye and briefly smiled slightly.
Sonic closed his eyes. The two Ultimate Lifeforms enjoyed the sun beaming down on them, the gentle breeze tugging at their fur, and the soft grass that they laid on.
Their brother watched Sonic lie there and smiled to himself. He'd never seen him so relaxed before. Sonic usually was running around, never taking a break. Now, here he was, taking a nap in the middle of the park.
Then someone else came up. "I've never seen you so calm and not hyper and running around."
Sonic squinted one emerald eye open. "Hey, sis."
Said sister had about a dozen bags hanging off her arms and her hair didn't look as tangled and messy as when she left. Amy and Cream were right behind her. "You seem awfully peaceful there."
"Yep." Cheese plopped himself down on the hedgehog's furless chest and snuggled against his skin. "You guys done already?"
"It's been an hour and a half." Sonia and the rest of the girls sat down on the grass. "We thought you guys might be getting impatient."
"Really?" Tails sat up. "Doesn't feel like that long."
Sonic yawned, but didn't get up. "Yeah. It feels like we just got here. How long have we been here?"
Manic folded his arms under his head. "I don't know. Forty minutes, maybe."
"What have you guys been up to?" Amy asked.
"Well," Sonic thought for a minute, "We started walking to the park, teasing each other and whatnot. Then, when we got here, Shadow and I got into a tickle fight, then we all started wrestling with each other, and after we laughed for a bit, we chilled. Then you came along."
Sonia rolled her eyes affectionately. "Boys."
Sonic looked over to Manic with a teasing glint in his eyes. Manic only replied with a slight shove on his arm. He hit the still red gauze. "Oh, man. We should have changed out your gauze this morning."
All eyes turned to his injured arm. Sonic, cautiously as to avoid disturbing the Chao on his chest, reached over and removed it completely.
"Sonic, are you sure-?"
"Don't worry 'bout it, sis." He gazed down at the now-exposed arm. It was slightly pale due to the lack of oxygen compared to the rest of his limbs. The cut itself seemed to have closed and was a slight shade of pink, slightly inflamed. Some blood was still crusted on parts of his skin, but he quickly scraped it away. The scar wrapped halfway around his arm. He knew it would fade though. It didn't seem that bad to him.
"Oh, man." His siblings were less impressed. "Are you sure we shouldn't get more gauze for it?"
"Nah." He put said arm under his head, careful for the spines. "I've had worse." He smirked at Shadow.
"Worse?" Bad thing to say.
"Nothing." He tried to brush the subject away. "It's nothing."
"Doesn't sound like nothing." Manic was now sitting up as well.
He had failed to mention his encounter with death on the ARK and just about every other adventure or section of an adventure where he almost died. And the werehog incident too. That would be hard to explain.
"Okay. So I've had a few close shaves with death. Some because of this jerk." He playfully punched Shadow on the shoulder. Shadow playfully smirked at him. He then looked to Tails and his other friends for support. None was provided. "But Shadow and I are all good, and I'm fine now, though. It's not like you guys haven't ever been hurt during our missions."
The two tried to think of a good comeback, but nothing came up. He had a very valid point.
"I know how you feel," he continued. "I nearly had a heart attack every time you guys were in major trouble. But it's different for me. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if anyone got hurt because of me or I could have stopped them from getting hurt. That goes double for all you guys. I'd rather me get hurt and all my loved ones be safe than them be hurt while I just sit on the sidelines doing nothing."
Sonia leaned forward so that she was looking directly into his eyes, "And we don't want you getting hurt." She kissed him on the forehead. "We've been on the sidelines for years. Now that we're back, you can't go and get yourself killed. Got it?"
He reached up and moved some of her hair that was hanging down in his face. "Got it."
"And I would lose it if something happened to you," Shadow commented softly, his ruby eyes big and soft with brotherly affection.
Sonic looked over at him, the same look in his eyes. "I know." He reached over and scratched Shadow behind his ear, causing him to purr.

They spent the rest of the day playing in the park. Sonic made a run back to the house for the frisbee that he and Tails would often bring to play with. Sonic often showed off with his speed when catching the disk. Tails decided not to use his tails to fly, as that might seem like cheating. Shadow just watched from the sidelines. Being the always serious and mature brother, he didn't really care for these things.
Cheese took a ride on it every once in a while and would always fly a little awkwardly after the frisbee had been caught.
The boys would often tackle each other to keep the other from taking the flying disk. A girl would just pick it up while they were tussling about.
They did go to the chilidog cart that Sonic had mentioned to Manic for lunch. Luckily for Sonia, they had more than just chilidogs. And all the girls, for that matter.
Overall, they spent the entire day just playing and having fun (except Shadow, who mostly brooded, only joining in when they were wrestling.) No missions, no robots on patrol, just a day throwing around a frisbee and just being the teens/kids they were.

On the way home, after saying good-bye to Amy and Cream, Manic brought up an inevitable subject. "Eventually, we're going to have to go back."
Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"How though?" Sonia stared down at her feet as she walked. "The Oracle teleported us here. We have no way back." She looked at Sonic with a sad look in her eyes. "Unless, maybe, you found the way back..."
"No. No," he quickly corrected her. "If I had, I would have come back to see you guys." Then he started to look depressed. "I ran all around the world, and I couldn't find you guys." He felt a slight brush beside him and a hand be placed on his shoulder. He looked to see Tails giving him an encouraging smile and Shadow, whose hand was the one on his shoulder, giving him a concerned yet soothing look.
Manic put his hand on his other shoulder. "'Course you did, bro. We still can't get back, though."
Then one of Tails' amazing ideas struck. "Do you guys remember where you landed when you were teleported?"
"Um. Yeah. Yeah, I think so." They were obviously confused.
"I might be able to track were you were transported from, if I bring out the right equipment for the readings." The fox looked like he was making a mental list of all the things he would need.
"Really?" Sonia asked.
The kit nodded. She looked over to Sonic for conformation. "Twelve-year-old prodigy," he explained.
"He even rivals the Doctor's genius," Shadow added.
"Seriously?" Their big brothers nodded.
"And I know how we can teleport there," Sonic continued.
"And Eggman?" Manic seem almost reluctant to ask.
Sonic smiled back at him. "My friends will be able to hold down the fort while I'm gone. And I can teleport back when I need to. I can spend as much time as I want back there!"
Both of them lit up like the city lights did at night. "Awesome!"
He got glomped by his sister. "You can see everyone again!"
"Yep." He looked over to Tails and Shadow. "And they can meet all my friends."
Shadow's face was twisted with multiple emotions. On one hand, he was annoyed about having to be around a bunch of people, being an introvert. On another hand, he was excited to meet his little brother's old friends. And on yet another hand (if he had another hand), he was nervous to meet them. Would they like him? Or even accept him, for that matter?
The young fox beamed up at him. Sonia and Manic seemed to like the idea too. "Yeah! This will be great!"
Sonic threw his fist into the air. "Look out, Robotropolis! Here we come!"