In Boscage Maze, Sonic and Ryder had promised the Scavengers that they would defeat the 'monster' for them, but it turns out that the monster was actually Amy Rose's doppelganger Thorn. She also noticed that their glow on their shoes was similar to the Great Green which was revealed to be powered by the Green Shard. But when she saw its power, she betrayed them and took it for herself to destroy the Scavengers. Now it is up to the Hedgehogs to stop her.
"You're just another Scavenger, like the rest of them...! Hi-yah!" Thorn Rose clenches her grasp onto her hammer. She charges towards Ryder, getting ready to attack him once more. Ryder clashes with the hammer but after about five minutes, Thorn manages to push back and knock him away.
Flashback, Green Hill
"Can I open my eyes now?" Sonic asked while being guided by Amy while he covers his own eyes to an unknown surprise.
"No, Sonic, not yet." Amy tells him.
"Amy, you better not be tricking me into the water again." Sonic warns her.
"No trick, Sonic. Trust me. You're gonna love it. Okay, open them!" Sonic opens his eyes and sees Amy presenting Big, Birdie, Froggy, Knuckles, Ryder, and Tails surrounding a palm tree. "Ta-da!"
"You got me... the Palm Tree? So it is a trick." Sonic said, as he crossed his arms.
"No, Sonic, it's not a trick." Amy ensures him.
"But I already have a palm tree. That one." Sonic points at a tree at the distance. "And that one." He points at another. "And those over there."
"The gift isn't just the tree. It's all the memories we've made around that tree." Amy said, sentimentally.
Tails flies to the top of the palm. "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 as he chuckles.
Knuckles punches the palm tree and catches the coconut. "And the time we worked together to make Amy that coconut cream pie."
Rouge flies in to join them. "Or when I saw you buy a coconut cream pie and tell Amy you made it." She swoops and steals the coconut off of Knuckles' hands.
Sonic chuckles as Amy glares at him.
Ryder speeds next to Sonic. "Or the time I ran by and tripped and hit the tree, and a coconut landed on my lap. It was painful, but it was also my lunch." He then jumps to steal the coconut from Rouge.
"Hey!" Rouge yells, feeling disturbed about the coconut.
"You snooze you lose." Ryder then gets a straw out, cuts the coconut in half and drinks from it.
"Or that time I laughed so hard, chili shot out my nose." Big laughs at the memory. "I still can't smell." He reminds them.
"Oof. You might wanna get that checked buddy." Ryder points out.
"Yeah, really good times. Right, Sonic?" Amy taps the palm and turns to Sonic.
Sonic steps on the blanket. "Come on, guys, don't you think you're all being a little too... I don't know..." Sonic lays on the blanket "...sentimental? Look, I get it. Tree. Friendship. Memories." Sonic then sees something ahead and starts craving: "Chili dogs!" Amy sees Sonic chomping and slurping at some Chili Dogs and is a little disgusted.
"I guess you don't get it, do you, Sonic?" Amy said, disappointed.
Ryder shrugs. "Come on Amy, give it time. You know Sonic isn't one to look back. I mean, he is the fastest thing alive."
"I know, I'm just saying it would be nice if he slowed down a little to appreciate the finer things in life. I feel like if he does, it'll be because reality blew up." Amy mostly jokes while rolling her eyes.
"Oh come on Amy, what are the odds of something like that happening?" Ryder said with a smirk.
Flashback End, Boscage Maze
Ryder and Sonic scream while they are forced back by an attack and lands and skims along the ground.
"Huh, so I guess Amy was right after all." Ryder realized while looking back.
"Right about what?" Sonic thought out loud as Thorn attempted to hit Sonic with her hammer powered by the green shard, but Sonic alerted and leaps out of the way to dodge it, letting it hit the ground. The shard's effect causes roots to rise from the ground and grow quickly into a large tree, to Thorn's delight. She looks proudly at her upgraded hammer.
"I'll tell you when we aren't in mortal danger." Ryder promises Sonic.
Thorn steps towards the duo, reminiscing in the tree that appeared just now. "Yes! The power to regenerate the jungle in a single strike. Hi-yahh!" She slams the ground next to Ryder with the hammer, growing a chain of trees in ascending order of size. The fourth tree hits him and blows him back to a tree, causing him to hit his head and begin to fall into unconsciousness.
"Ryder!" Sonic said as he reached out to his friend. He looks back at Thorn in shock.
She looks at her hammer again and spins it on its shaft. "Oh! I could get used to this!" She slams the ground again, causing another tree to grow and block the cave's exit up towards the sky. "Finally, I can shut them out. All of them. They'll never harm the jungle again."
"Uh, what was that now?" Sonic said, confused and scared.
Thorn starts running with her hammer. "Let's see what this hammer can do!" Thorn then slams the ground multiple times, growing multiple trees. She then has a go at Sonic, whom she misses. Sonic is seen laying on the ground in disbelief
"Not good." Sonic gulped.
Thorn stares down at Sonic, walking closer to him with Birdie behind her. Thorn slams the ground again, delivering a chain of trees to Sonic, blowing him back again.
Sonic manages to catch himself by using his glove claws to latch onto the tree next to him. "Thorn, wait! How many times do I have to tell you? We're not your enemies!" Sonic lands to the ground and continues to plead to her. "Come on, Thorn, you gotta trust me! Hand over the pretty crystal thingy. Please?"
Thorn cackles at this favor and jumps onto Birdie. "You're a fool if you think I'd give you the heart of the jungle when I'm so close." Her hammer gets bigger thanks to the power of the Green Shard.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! So close to what? Where are you going?" Sonic asks.
"To do what I must to protect the Green forever." Thorn rides off, leaving Sonic behind to think to himself.
"Protect the Green"? Sonic gasps in realization. "The Scavengers!"
He runs and confronts her, completely forgetting about Ryder.
Ryder lies at the bottom of a tree, barely conscious, when the last thing he sees is a hooded figure who drops down near him.
"Who... who are you?" Ryder asked before slipping into unconsciousness.
The figure then stops to take a quick look at him before running towards the unconscious Hedgehog.
Meanwhile, Sonic runs in pursuit of Thorn and Birdie, who attempt to find the Scavengers. He then speeds up and gets ahead of her and stops her at that spot.
"Sorry, Thorny, I don't want to hurt you, but I won't let you hurt anyone else."
" Ha! Then you don't have a choice. I've already beaten your friend. Now I'll crush you!" Birdie tries to attack Sonic with his wings, but he dodges. Thorn slams her shard-powered hammer down to the ground to hit him. Sonic is blown back in a spin-dash and is followed by roots until he is caught and trapped inside a thin cage of stalks. He gets up and looks at his surroundings.
Thorn reaches Sonic on Birdie. "Get in my way again, and I won't be so forgiving."
Sonic strains while he is trapped in the stalk cage. He tries to pull the stalks off, to no effect. Thorn and her Birdie depart. "Thorn! Wait!" Sonic strains as he tries to push the stalks, only for his head to pop through and get stuck in between two of them. "Tho-o-o-orn!" He sighs in exhaustion while his face remains stuck. "Okay. Maybe it's not so bad. The Scavengers have dealt with her before. They'll be fine! It's not like they're just sitting around eating bark." He thinks for a moment and realizes they definitely are.
"I gotta get outta here!" Sonic declares before he looks up, hearing chirping from a few small flickies and no roof on the end of that wall. "There's no roof! Of course! Wow, I really should have thought of that sooner." He sticks out his claws from his gloves and starts climbing the stalks. He stops as he sees Flicking flapping slowly past him. "Hey, how's it going?" He asked them as he continued climbing, making his way to the top. He spin jumps and does a star pose to celebrate. "I'm free! Gotta go fast!" He runs down the stalks and spin-dashes freely. "I sure hope Ryder's okay."
Meanwhile, Ryder finds himself waking up in a dark place with a small light near him. He can also hear something burning. He opens his eyes completely and sees a small fire next to him. Ryder then sits up and looks around him, and realizes he's in a cave. "A cave? What am I doing way out here?" He asked to no one in particular as he stands up and wonders what happened.
"I brought you here." The sudden voice startles Ryder and makes him look around. "You were unconscious and hurt in the jungle. I saved you." Ryder then looked behind him and saw a figure at his height wearing a brown hood and cloak.
"And just who are you? Tell me now and I won't give you a huge beat down." Ryder takes a stance to prepare for a possible battle. He then clenches his fists and sees his claws come out, and then sees that somehow the ones on his left were repaired and partially grey.
"Ah, there is no need to be afraid my friend, for I am..." The hooded figure grabs his cloak and tosses it aside to reveal his true identity: "Ricky the Hedgehog, or Ricky Hedge, at your service." He reveals to be a brown Hedgehog with brown fur and large beige chest fur. He also has gloves that have makeshift claws made of rock on them and shoes with spikes on the bottom for climbing on trees.
(Ignore the toes)
"Good to meet you? Would you like some stew? I made it from berries." Ricky offers Ryder a bowl of Berry stew.
Ryder takes a look at him and realizes that he's his doppelganger of Boscage Maze. "Whoa. Wait a minute, we look so much alike, but your fur is brown."
"Oh, that's some mutated mud I put on myself for camouflage. It isn't bad but it does make me look like this forever. But it's still stylish." Ricky complements himself before coming to a realization. "Wait a minute, why do you look so much like me?" He looks at him suspiciously, wondering if he's trustworthy after all.
Ryder raises his hands in surrender. "Relax Ricky. I'll explain everything. But first, how about that stew?" He asks the other Hedgehog, who smiles at the question.
Meanwhile, Birdie runs and jumps from tree to tree, before running afoot again. Soon, Sonic appears and runs alongside her.
Thorn turns to look at Sonic. "You again."
"Yep, me again." Sonic quips. She tries to hammer Sonic, but he dodges. "Look, I don't want to hurt you! But I'm taking that hammer!" Sonic said, no longer interested in negotiation.
Thorn points at him. "The only thing you're going to take is a beating!" She hammers the ground, scoring a direct hit on Sonic and generating a tree out of a green aura. Sonic rubs his head in pain.
"Whoa." Sonic said as he recovers instantly and goes after Thorn's hammer. Sonic sees the green shard in his sight. With Thorn unaware, he grabs hold of her hammer. "Haha!"
Thorn groans. she then sees Sonic hanging on to the hammer.
"Wow, that's some grip you have. Have you..." He screams while she spins her hammer around trying to shake him off. "I could do this all... day!" Sonic challenges, but soon fails as with a loud grunt, Thorn throws Sonic off with her hammer.
"Whoaa!" Sonic grabs hold of a tree branch, swings around, and propels himself back towards the green shard. He misses the catch and lands head-first onto the ground. Sonic gets up, with Birdie shrieking behind him, and grabs hold of a vine, swinging his way towards Birdie's back, and tries to snatch Thorn's hammer. She forces Sonic off the bird, but he hangs on, jumping on top of the hammer. He does a backflip and balances on the hammer's head on one leg, taunting her. Thorn hammers the ground, trying to shake him off. "Whaa! Hey!" Thorn swings the hammer around; this time it hits a tree, causing a root to grow horizontally, forcing Sonic well away from her.
Sonic continues running his way back towards her. "It'll take more than getting a few splinters to stop me."
Birdie jumps and then hops from log to log, while Sonic runs along the grass. Sonic is suddenly under attack dodging thorns from all sides while he runs.
"Hey!" Sonic complains as he runs closer to Thorn, while she hammers the ground on both sides repeatedly to try to slow Sonic down.
Sonic jumps from tree to tree while Thorn continues hammering the ground. Sonic then runs up to the top of a diagonal root and leaps onto the vine, swinging and jumping onto a branch, which he uses as a pole to swing and leap across. He grinds along the next root, crouching to dodge a stray root, and spin dashes towards his target. Thorn changes her tactic by dragging the shard on her hammer along the ground, repeatedly growing roots at various angles. Sonic tries desperately to catch up, but gets hit by several obstacles.
"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Sonic cries out. Unfortunately for him, it's too late, as he gets blocked by a wall of trees and Thorn escapes. He is then launched by a growing root up into the sky and screams in mid-air. "Whoa! Whoa!" Sonic then flies outside the jungle and is set flying all the way to the canopy. Sonic groans as he crash lands onto the canopy. He catches his breath, but is noticed by the scavengers as they threaten him with their weapons.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in." Prim quipped at Sonic.
" I did not." Hangry said, not understanding the expression.
"It's an expression." Sonic tells him. He then gasps, flinches and steps back as the weapons point closer to him.
"What are you doing here? The last time we saw you, you were with the monster, betraying us. And where's the other guy? Still with the monster planning to ambush us?" Gnarly accuses both of them.
"You got it backwards, bud. Ryder and I didn't betray you. We went to get the Shard, the thing you were supposed to help me get?" Sonic tells them.
"So... you're not after our bark?" Hangry asks him, lowering his weapon.
"No one wants your bark!" Sonic yells angrily.
"What's your point?" Prim asks the Hedgehog.
Sonic speeds next to Mangey. "My point is, she's on her way here!" Sonic points down to the Boscage Maze. "Whatever your beef is, you gotta squash it, pronto!"
"What's all this about beef?" Hangry asks him.
"What I'm saying is, you need to find some common ground!" Sonic explains to them.
"'Common ground'?! We live in the trees!" [Gnarly chuckles and nudges Hangry. "This guy's paranoid."
"Are you kidding me?" Sonic groans.
"You don't understand. There is no common ground. Not anymore." Prim tells him as she has a flashback of the past.
Flashback, Boscage Maze
"We used to be... friends." Prim said as the scavengers pick fruit to put in their baskets. "Now I can barely remember a time when we all got along. Sharing the spoils of the jungle. Taking only what we needed to survive." Thorn then spots the apples that fell off of the tree that Gnarly shaked, and suddenly screams in anguish. Birdie, and the scavengers gasp in horror. While screaming, Thorn attacks Gnarly with her hammer, followed by Mangey. "Then, one day..." ... then, Prim, and finally Hangry. The scared scavengers climb their way up to the canopy. "...she chose the jungle over us, chasing us up into the canopy, where we've been ever since."
Flashback End, Boscage Maze
"You can't find common ground with a monster." She told Sonic in anger.
"Sonic looks in sadness for the doppel-ganger of his friend, and tries to hold back his tears. "I can't believe that. Amy has to be in there. Somewhere. Listen. You have to make peace with Thorn."
The team feel guilty and ashamed about themselves. Mangey chitters his way to Sonic, but Prim restrains him.
"No. We're done with her." Prim replies.
"Look, we talk to her as friends and we try to get her to listen to reason. Right?-- Yeah? Are you with me?" A rumbling can be felt from below, causing everybody to huddle together and brace themselves. More roots grow all around the canopy, scaring the Scavengers and Sonic.
"Uh, you should have listened to me!" He runs as a root grows behind him, saving Mangey from crashing into another growing root. Hangry whimpers and stands there, only for Sonic to save him from another root attack. Gnarly and Prim stand next to each other.
"Let's go, you two!" Sonic saves them from another root attack and brings them back in the huddle.
"Do we have a choice?" Gnarly asks as more growing roots destroy parts of the canopy behind them.
"Nope." Prim tells him.
Sonic: Finally! Okay, here's the plan. We go in gently-" Sonic is interrupted when the Scavengers battle cry and dive down, to Sonic's dismay. Sonic groans. Sonic is helpless as he watches down while the Scavengers war-cry. He hears Prim yelling Attack but they are soon tossed up and crash land back to the canopy via a growing root. Sonic runs back to them.
"Maybe follow my lead this time?"
Gnarly raises his arm while downed. "I vote yes."
"Yes." The Scavengers agree.
"All right! Follow me!"
Meanwhile, back at the cave, Ryder and Ricky enjoyed the surprisingly delicious berry stew that Ricky cooked up.
"Wow, so you're saying that your friend shattered something called the Paradox Prism, and now there are a bunch of worlds created by it, including my own, and there are who knows how many versions of us in this multiverse and for some reason your pal doesn't have one?" Ricky sums up.
"Yep, and now Sonic and I are just trying to get home. I've been trying to stay chill, but to be honest, I'm really freaking out." Ryder tells him.
"I feel for you brother. I'd be freaked out too if I didn't know if my friends were alive or dead." Ricky said, feeling sympathetic towards him.
Ryder widens his eyes. "I didn't even think about that!"
"Oh. Oops." Ricky smiles nervously.
Ryder sighs. "Distract me from that. How did you manage to put my claws back together?"
"Oh, I used this rare item that you won't find anywhere else, that can rebuild anything. I call it: Dooct Tap." He shows him this 'Rare item' and it is revealed to be a roll of duct tape with a sign saying duct tape.
"Isn't that duct tape?" Ryder asked.
"Uh, no, It's dooct tap." Ricky corrects.
"No, it's duct tape. It's something from my world. Where did you get this? This shouldn't exist in your world, unless you went all Dr. Stone in here." Ryder said to him. He does have a good point. How did duct tape exist in a world with no technology?
"I don't know what that means, but I don't know where it came from. It just fell on my head one day."
Ryder furrows his eyebrows for a moment before shrugging. "We'll talk about it later. So what's going on in this world? Thorn told me you abandoned everyone."
Ricky's face dropped in disappointment. "It wasn't my intention to abandon them. My intention was to wait."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Let me tell you a story."
Flashback, Boscage Maze
"We used to be... friends." Ricky is seen swinging on a vine to see the Scavengers collecting berries and Thorn watching. "But one day..." The Scavengers then started pulling roots to get a few berries, breaking trees off of stumps, and digging random holes in the ground. "The Scavengers began depleting life from the jungle by pulling it tree by tree to increase their food numbers. Thorn tried to stop them, but they didn't listen. Suddenly, Thorn decided to fight. She used her immense strength to kick them all out of the jungle... except me." She had hit the Scavengers with her hammer, sending them flying and hiding, and turned to Ricky offering a hand for an alliance and friendship. "She saw that I didn't destroy anything, and offered me a place on her side." Ricky looked at the Scavengers running at the distance, and the once gentle soul who became a violent monster. He shakes his head and ran away. "I refused."
Flashback End, Boscage Maze
Ricky hugs his legs close to him in sadness. "I wanted to come back, but I never did."
"Why not?" Ryder asked. Ricky's face then hardened.
"Because they brought it upon themselves. Instead of using her strength to force them to listen, Thorn. used it to literally throw them out of her life. And the Scavengers should've been more mindful and respectful towards nature. Even if I tried they would never come to a compromise." He said looking away.
Ryder looked at him feeling bad for him. "I'm really sorry. But why hide in this cave? If I was trying to get away, I'd just leave the jungle."
"The jungle is all I know. Besides there is something here in this cave that I need to protect, so that neither side gets a hold of it."
"What is it?" Ryder asked, but was met with silence from Ricky.
He looked down in dread before his eyes widened with an idea popping in his head. "You know, my friends and I fought a lot too, but there is this old trick Amy had that always made things better." This caused Ricky's ears to perk up and for him to turn back to Ryder.
Meanwhile, Sonic leads the Scavengers safely down to the bottom of the maze. The Scavengers explore tentatively.
"It's dark." Prim said.
"Too dark." Hangry said, a little sceptical.
"Or... she's making us think it's too dark!" Gnarly said, being paranoid... again.
"Yeah, no, it's definitely dark." Sonic told him just before the Regulators on his shoes glow as Thorn approaches the Scavengers while riding Birdie's back.
"Well, well, well... look what the hedgehog dragged in." Thorn holds out her hammer to them.
Sonic turns to his Scavengers. "Okay, be cool. Act natural." He said as Mangey starts to lose patience and is ready to pounce. "Hey, Thorn." Sonic chuckles nervously. "We just want to have a friendly chit-chat. Remember those?" He then starts imitating Prim and Thorn with his hands. "Hi, Thorn, I love the bird you're riding. Thanks, Prim, Birdie is one of a kind. That's an excellent treetop village you built. Thanks, it does the job. Why are we arguing again? I have no idea. Hugs? Huggsies!" He gently clenches his hands together, imitating a hug. He speaks normally again. "We start there, then move on to a constructive conversational volley about our issues, minus the..." He then impersonates an angry scenario, clenching his fists. "Oh, I'll get you!" He then stops. "Okay, look, despite the last several... oh, I don't know how long... we're all really good friends here. Yeah? Right?" Thorn still shows an unconvinced look. "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 off Birdie and threatens Sonic. "What is there to talk about?"
Sonic gestures to her. "See? We're talking! Now, Amy would probably say we should talk about our feelings."
"Our feelings?" Thorn asked, confused.
"Feelings..." Prim said.
"Feelings..." Hangry said.
"Fee-rings!" Mangey said, revealing he could talk.
"Feelings... like a trap to me." Gnarly accused.
Sonic facepalms in annoyance. "Ugh. Okay look, I'll go first. I feel like, um..."
"Like you don't know what you're doing?"
Sonic turns to Prim, annoyed. "I'm trying! I feel like this would be easier if you didn't interrupt me all the time! And I feel like this is harder than it looks, even though Amy makes it look so easy." he then turns to Thorn. "Now you go."
"Me?" Thorn hesitates, surprised.
"Sure. Go ahead. Remember, there's no wrong way to feel." Thorn looks at herself in misery but is interrupted by the Scavengers.
"She's distracted! Now!" The Scavengers blitz past Sonic and start attacking Thorn.
"Hey! You voted to follow my lead! Remember?" Sonic reminds them.
"I feel... angry! Yahh!" Thorn jumps up to hammer the ground, but at a distance, Ryder and Ricky watched this and Ryder, with his shoes active, prepared to strike.
"Enough of this." Ryder then readies up, but something strange happened. He didn't notice, but his anger and frustration caused his regulators to glow even more vibrantly.
"Uh, Ryder, you might want to-" Before Ricky could stop him, Ryder sprinted at a speed he couldn't reach before, and ran at the angry Hedgehog, and caught her hammer before she could strike the ground.
"Huh?" Thorn was surprised to see a glow-eyed Ryder stopping her attack.
"Ryder! You're here!" Sonic cheered for his friend.
"And now I'm going to end this." Ryder pulled with all his might and managed to get the Hammer out of Thorn's grasp, spins the arm carrying it, and tosses it far away from her and the Scavengers.
"No!" Thorn cried out in anger of her weapon being lost.
"Yeah! I knew we could trust him." Gnarly said, getting looks from everyone. "What?"
"Guys, I'm not joining a side. I'm here to end this conflict. And I can't believe I'm going to say this but... it's feelings time. Ricky!" He calls out to his new friend, causing everyone to gasp.
Ricky then walks out of the bushes he was hiding in, revealing himself. "Hi everyone." He waves to everyone nervously.
"It's time Ricky. Tell them how you feel." Ryder tells him.
Ricky takes a breath before finally speaking his mind. "I feel... frustrated, and honestly annoyed. You guys have been fighting each other for so long, I can't remember how long it's been." Ricky turns to the Scavengers. "All you guys had to do was not take more then nature could give. But you took too much, making a path that would kill the jungle. And worst of all, you called the one person who defended it a monster." He then turns to Thorn. "And you. I'm not against the fact that you attacked the first time, but the fact that you kept doing it, not letting anyone back in or even talking to them or even reaching a compromise. That's why I left. I was frustrated by your reluctance to listen to each other. And I knew that you would never listen to me." He turns his head down in sadness.
Thorn felt guilty for a little bit but then brought back her steel-face to match her steel resolve. "No! Everything I did was to protect the Green. The jungle. Those Scavengers proved that they could not be trusted, especially just now when they attacked me."
"Because you were gonna destroy us." Big defended the group.
"Both of you are wrong. Thorn, look around." He gestures to the giant trees around them. "The trees that you allowed to keep growing, and the ones you've been making have blocked the sunlight out of the entire jungle, and it's taking life away from the rest of the jungle. Your efforts to protect the green will only kill it." Ricky tells her. Thorn opens her mouth to argue, but nothing comes out. He was right. She just wanted to protect the Green, but she ended up dooming it. "Just look at Birdie. She doesn't even have space to fly anymore." Ricky turns back to the Scavengers. "I know you guys are scared of her, and you have every right to be, but you can't just attack her when we're so close to peace. And you definitely can't treat her like she didn't attack you provoked. You guys didn't listen, and if you kept going, there would be nothing left." Ricky explained to them, causing them to look down in guilt.
Sonic then came a realization. He finally understood what Amy meant about the tree. "It's the tree that binds us all together. Thorn, everything is connected... you, me, Ryder, Ricky, the Green, even the Scavengers. We're all a part of something bigger than ourselves."
"What have I done? How did this happen? All I ever wanted was to protect the Green... and now I've ruined it." Thorn realizes her mistake and falls on her knees to the ground.
Flashback, Boscage Maze
"We used to be... friends." Thorn notices Prim pulling off a branch full of fruit. "There used to be balance. But after a while," Hangry shakes the tree, dropping fruit, with one of them rolling in front of Thorn's feet. "all I saw was the constant taking, taking." Gnarly punches the tree, prompting Thorn to stop him. "Finally realizing that they were depleting our resources." Hangry pushes the bushes out of the way, scaring the birds away, before being confronted by Thorn. "They take but never give back." Gnarly pulls off and lifts the tree up, tossing it to the ground. "Never giving it rest." Mangey digs the ground. "Never giving it respect. They were killing the jungle. I couldn't take it any longer. I snapped and became a monster." Thorn battle cries and attacks the Scavengers. "I couldn't sit back and let it happen." The Scavengers make their way up to the canopy. "But I could never get back to who I used to be."
Flashback End, Boscage Maze
She starts sobbing, both in the flashback and in present time. Birdie rubs her head gently.
"I... I didn't see it like that." Prim admitted.
"I'm sorry, Thorn. I didn't know. I..." Gnarly apologizes
[Mangey whimpers and goes bubbly-eyed.
Ryder, who continues to glow, looks up to the sky and then sees a dying plant near Thorn. Suddenly, he knew what he needed to do. He readies himself for a jump and does a high jump all the way to the top and hits the tree trunk, exposing the dying plant to life. Unfortunately this causes Ryder to tire himself, and fall to the ground with the glow fading from his body.
Suddenly, the plant starts to grow, prompting Birdie to look at the light in excitement and spread her wings, but Thorn is distracted by her tears, causing Birdie to console Thorn Rose again.
"Go. Up there. Stretch your wings." Sonic tells him.
He chirps at Thorn and lowers his beak. She pets him on said beak with a caring smile on her face. "Go ahead." With no need to be told twice, Birdie flies up and out of the Great Green, roaming freely around the jungle.
Mangey runs up to take a look at Birdie's flying, amazed at the avian's trailing through the sky.
Sonic turns to Mangey with a smile. "You, too. You just gotta spin your little tails." Mangey chitters and tries to spin his tails, and succeeds. He laughs and flies up next to Birdie.
Thorn chuckles while still sad. "It got so dark, I lost myself. It was selfish to keep Birdie from flying while trying to shut..." She turns to face the Scavengers. "...you all out." Sonic, from behind, smiles as he hears her say that. He walks over to her.
"You were right to defend the jungle, but the thing is, this jungle is unnatural. The Shard, it knocked everything out of balance, including your friendships."
"How do we start over?" Thorn asks him, hoping that this does not end in dread.
"Well, my friend Amy would say, 'Talk to each other.' But she's a little corny." Sonic replies. They both stand up.
"I don't know. She sounds pretty great." Thorn complimented her.
"Yeah. You are." Sonic tells her, they then stare for a moment. Sonic winks at her.
"Can you please stop? You're encouraging the SonAmy people." Ryder groans, lifting his head off the ground, but then it falls. They just chuckle at him.
Mangey flies down to join his group. Prim and Thorn confront each other, with the latter feeling guilty.
"We have to acknowledge our part in this if we're ever going to live in harmony." Prim said.
"Me, too." Thorn agrees. They give their hands out ready to hug, but Froggy croaks, interrupting them. The two girls watch Froggy croaking and jumping towards Hangry, who picks him up.
"I'm not crying, you're crying." Hangry denied. He sobs. Sonic, pleased by what he's seen, takes an air camera photo of them respecting each other.
Ricky then draws attention back to himself. "Well, with that out of the way, I was hoping to talk to Ryder about something... once he gets up." He said, commenting on the fact that Ryder is barely conscious anymore.
A few minutes later, Ryder recovers enough energy to move. The group then makes their way to the cave. Ricky tells the others to wait outside as he wants this to be private.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about? And can it be quick? Sonic and I have a shard to look for." Ryder reminds him.
"Yeah yeah. It won't take long, just listen." He walks behind a boulder and pushes it, revealing a secret passage to a small chest. Ricky pulls out the chest and walks up to Ryder. "You said that the shards are like gems right? They look anything like this?" He slowly opens the chest and what was in it was more surprising then anything that Ryder could think of.
"Oh. My. Gosh. A CHAOS EMERALD?!" Ryder yells in surprise. And he was right. It was in fact the Cyan Chaos Emerald. Completely intact and somehow has found its way in Boscage Maze.
"Is that what this is? I found it a week ago. It just appeared out of the sky out of nowhere. What is it?" Ryder asked.
"It's a Chaos Emerald. One of Seven. Each one has great power, and when you gather all seven, the wielder will be able to harness that power by themselves for a short time, essentially giving them near godly powers."
"Whoa. And I thought the Great Green was a big deal. So how did it get here."
"I think that the explosion from the Prism shattering must've sent a wave that the Emeralds responded to. They do have teleportation abilities, so it's not outside the realm of possibility." Ryder deduces.
Ricky thinks for a moment before taking the emerald out of the chest and holding it in his hand. He took a moment to think about what to do with it. Keep it? It could be useful later on, and it could be good to have that kind of power, though the opposite may be true as well. Power can corrupt even the purest of souls. After some careful thinking, Ricky had made his decision. He walked to the wall that he kept a satchel made of leaves in. He placed the emerald inside and then carried the satchel to Ryder. "It belongs to your world. It's only right you have it." He holds it out to him. "Take it home Ryder." He pleads to his doppelganger.
Ryder was amazed that he would just give away that power, but wouldn't stop him. He took the satchel and put it on his shoulder. "Thank you."
They then exist the cave. As soon as Sonic sees them, he remembers something. "Oh snap! The Shard!"
Ryder widens his eyes. "We gotta find it." He looks down at his two shoes and remembers what they did in New Yoke.
"These two'll find it. Sorry, friends, we gotta go! Gotta go fast!" Sonic declares before they get ready to run. They prepare on their mark, and then super-peel out up to the top of the tree outside the maze. They look across the sky and see a flying Birdie. Birdie screeches and swoops down and circles a specific area to Ryder and Sonic.
"He must be telling us where the Shard is." Ryder realized. He waves at the bird, before dropping along with Sonic back down inside the jungle, preparing another run-up.
"Speeding dogs don't lie!" The run turns into a Super-peel-out generating a white aura. A hologram of Shadow appears in the aura's reflection.
"Sonic! Ryder! I'm lost in the void!" Shadow tells them.
"Shadow?!" Sonic cries out.
"What's he doing back?" Ryder asked.
"You have to keep moving!" Shadow tells them.
"Ho-how could...?" Before Sonic or Ryder could get some answers, they both trip over a large vine and dive towards Thorn's hammer where the shard is and quickly crash into it, causing them to teleport once again...sending them flying into the Void.
As they scream through the void, they speed through it until they reach a red gateway and pass through it.
They then land back in the high levels of New Yoke City. They start falling dangerously quickly towards the ground. They continue screaming, but just as the Hedgehogs think they're about to fall, half of the vines they brought with them back to New Yoke City from Boscage Maze prevent him from falling by tangling to the walls near them. They look around in confusion, realizing that he has arrived back in the city.
Ryder groans in exhaustion. "New Yoke? Again? How did we get all the way here?"
"Your guess is as good as mine buddy." Sonic tells him. They then hear Knucks screaming. They see him spin dashing in the air and uncurling with a piece of an Eggforcer on him taking them down, along with the resistance.
"For a better tomorrow!" He swings the metal pipe, taking out two Eggforcers. "Who's with me?!"
"Oh, no..." Sonic said.
"Here we go again." Ryder agreed.
And that's it. Thank you for waiting. Well don't worry, I will be sure to have the rest of the season complete soon enough. Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you don't quite understand the appearance of the Chaos Emeralds, please let me know, and I'll be happy to help. Well, see you guys next time.
Drift Out!