Hello! I'm back with another story for the 'Sonic Boom' collection. This is my take on Season 3 (since we never did get that Season 3 in real life). Be warned. This is a little darker in terms of tone and it has a bit of an actual plotline. But there's tons of sweet and wholesome Sonadow fluff to balance it out ;)

Oh, and this story is kind of OC-centric. In truth, this whole thing is something I've been wanting to write for a long time. I'm glad I finally forced myself to sit down and write this. Enjoy!

NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING HERE, EXCEPT FOR MY OC. ALL SONIC CHARACTERS BELONG TO SEGA!

Episode 1: Midnight Trash Raid

It was a dark and stormy night on Seaside Island. The rain fell in sheets and the sky was pierced with jagged lightning bolts.

At a beachside shack, Sonic the Hedgehog lay in his hammock. Snuggled beside him was his boyfriend, Shadow the Hedgehog. Tails, Sonic's brother, slept in his own hammock with a pair of earmuffs to block out the thunder. All three Mobians were fast asleep, their dreams peaceful.

Meanwhile, at the docks, a lone figure snuck off of the one ship that had come sailing to Seaside Island from the mainland. Cloaked in darkness, the mysterious figure looked around as it traversed the island.

A crash of thunder woke Shadow from his peaceful slumber. Sitting up, the black hedgehog blinked his bleary eyes as a flash of lightning from outside illuminated his surroundings. A pair of blue arms wrapped around him, coaxing Shadow back to lying down. Sonic murmured soothing nothings into his boyfriend's ear who calmed and fell back asleep. With a yawn, Sonic closed his tired eyes and gently stroked Shadow's quills until he, too, fell asleep.

Outside, with the storm still raging, the trash cans behind Sonic's hut were upturned and all the contents spilled out. The mystery figure looked to its left then to its right, gathering whatever bits of food it could find, before bolting towards Hazard Jungle.

The next day was bright and sunny, which gave Shadow an idea for him and Sonic to have breakfast at the beach.

Tails had woken up earlier and was busy doing maintenance on his prized plane in his workshop. Sonic was setting up the picnic area, placing a picnic blanket on a nice sunny patch of sand that had a picturesque view of the water.

The radio in the kitchen played oldies tunes as Shadow whipped up some pancakes and chili dogs. Flipping the last pancake onto a plate, Shadow hummed as he headed outside with the food.

"Beautiful day, the plants are happy thanks to last night's rain, the sun is shining and birds are singing…" said Shadow as he kissed Sonic on the cheek and set the food down on the picnic blanket.

"And I'm having chili dogs and pancakes with you. Life is good," Sonic concluded, taking two cans of fruit juice out of the cooler he'd taken with him.

"Amen," Shadow said, sitting cross-legged across Sonic, smiling lovingly at the blue hedgehog.

But, just as the two hedgehogs were about to dig in, something popped up from underneath the picnic blanket and sent Shadow's pancakes flying into the air!

"Sonic! Shadow! You guys gotta hide me!" Sticks the Badger squeaked as she yanked the picnic blanket off her head.

"Good morning to you as well, Sticks," Sonic deadpanned while Shadow quickly caught the pancakes before they hit the ground. He sighed and looked at his chili dogs, which had been tossed onto the sand. "Hey, Shads, mind sharing those pancakes?"

"This is no time for pancakes! I've been framed!" Sticks pulled at her brown locks.

"What did you do this time?" Shadow sighed, taking a bite of pancakes.

"There she is!"

Sonic and Shadow turned around to see two police officers with about half the village population approaching them.

"Sticks…" Sonic glanced at his friend, his eyes narrowed. "What did you do?" he asked.

Sticks huffed, "I'm innocent, I tell you! Innocent!" she declared, glaring at Sonic and Shadow as the two were still eating.

"Morning. What seems to be the trouble?" Shadow asked the officers as he nonchalantly fed Sonic the last bite of pancakes.

"Hey, I know your friend's semi-feral but can you tell her to stop rummaging around our trash cans?" Dave the Intern piped up, already looking drained.

"She raided every single trash can in the village! Do you know how hard it is to clean up after a storm?" D.B. Platypus glared at Sticks.

"Rummaging through garbage cans during a storm?" Sonic glanced at Sticks and raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound safe, Sticks," he told her.

"I know it's unsafe! Which is why I do my scavenging during the day! Besides, everyone knows that the garbage cans come to life at night to poison our water supply and send reports to their alien overlords!" Sticks rambled, earning confused looks from the villagers.

"Well if you didn't do it then who did?" the beaver officer asked her.

"It could have been just a stray dog or cat," Shadow cut in before Sticks could spout off another one of her crazy conspiracy theories. "If it happens again, we'll look into it," he said, shrugging.

The police and the villagers, satisfied with that answer, left. Sticks breathed out a sigh of relief then looked at Sonic and Shadow expectantly. "Told you two I'm innocent. So are you going to find the thief?" she asked them.

"I don't think rummaging through people's trash cans counts as stealing," Sonic pointed out.

"But what if I get accused again?!" Sticks exclaimed.

"As I said, if it happens again, we'll look into it." Shadow shrugged. "But, for now, I advise that you don't rummage through anyone's dumpsters for the time being," he told her.

Sticks sighed. "Fine…" she eyed the boys' picnic spot and scuffed the toe of her sandal against the sand. "Sorry I interrupted your date," she mumbled.

"It's fine, Sticks. I'm sure this was just a one-time thing. The whole thing will blow over tomorrow," Sonic reassured her. The badger smiled, thanked the couple, then hung out with them until Amy called in the rest of the team with an Eggman alert. All thoughts about mysterious trash thieves were forgotten for the rest of the day.

The next morning…

"I've been robbed!" Sticks screeched, running towards Sonic and Tails as the two cleaned the last of the garbage behind their hut.

"My trash heap's been looted, pillaged, plundered! We need to catch the trash thief!" the badger exclaimed, clutching her trusty boomerang.

"What did they take?" Tails asked, placing the lid on the garbage can.

Before Sticks could respond, the angry shouts of villagers were heard. "Hang on. I'll handle this," Sonic sighed, running to intercept the mob before they got to Sticks.

Tails put a finger to his chin before taking the lid off the garbage can again. "Strange…" he muttered, inspecting the trash within. "The waste paper and scrap metal are still here. But all the food scraps are gone."

"That's what's missing from my trash heap, too!" Sticks' eyes went wide. "I was gonna gather them up so Amy could use them for compost," she told him.

Sonic returned, his face set in a frown. "Looks like we're not the only ones whose garbage cans got raided. We're gonna have to investigate," he informed them before pushing a button on his wrist communicator.

"Meet up at my shack, team. Looks like we got a thief to catch."

Inside Sonic's shack, the entire team gathered around to discuss their latest mission.

"Okay. This is the second night in a row someone's gone through all the trash cans in the village. If this happens again, we might need to set up a Sticks Protection Squad in case an angry mob comes after her," Sonic began, glancing at Sticks who gulped at the thought of being chased with pitchforks and torches.

"Did any of you guys throw food out last night?" Tails piped up. The others looked at him. "I inspected the garbage can behind my and Sonic's shack. All the food scraps were cleaned out," he told them.

"I did leave a couple of grapes out last night…" Knuckles mused. His face lit up. "I bet a couple of birds flew by my place and ate them!"

"So the common thread here is that the thief's been stealing food scraps." Amy put her hands to her mouth. "Oh, the poor thing must be starving!" she gasped.

"Which is why we're going to stake out some locations that accumulate a lot of food waste. If the thief comes out, we apprehend them without resorting to force," Sonic told his friends.

"If it's a stray puppy, I get to keep it!" Amy said, smiling.

"And if it's a stray cat, it's coming home with me," Shadow said in the most serious tone.

Chuckling, Sonic gave Tails the floor as the fox set up a map of the village that highlighted locations that usually had a high percentage of food waste thrown out each day. Once each member of Team Sonic was assigned, they all headed off to prep for their stakeouts.

Later that night, Sonic hid behind some bushes near Meh Burger. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. So far, nothing.

"Anything on your end, Blue?" Shadow's deep voice came from his wrist communicator.

"Nothing yet. See anyone snooping around the grocery store?" Sonic answered.

"No. I'll let you know if that changes. Be careful," Shadow replied before his line went silent.

Sonic returned his attention to Meh Burger. A tall trash can full of half-eaten Meh Burgers and chili dogs stood against the counter. From what Dave told him, the thief had eaten most of the leftovers during the last two nights.

'Must be one hungry stray…' thought Sonic before the crunching of grass made his ears twitch.

A lone figure wearing a gray hoodie entered Meh Burger's courtyard. Sonic noticed that the figure was quite short as it stood next to the trash can, which was a whole foot taller than it. The thief looked around, keeping its hood up, before pushing against the trash can.

There was a crash and a clatter as the trash can tipped over. Remnants of Meh Burger meals spilled out onto the floor which the thief proceeded to gather. Steeling his nerves, Sonic emerged from hiding and made a beeline for the thief.

"Hold it right there!" The blue hedgehog shouted, startling the thief into dropping the leftovers. Quickly, Sonic grabbed the thief by the waist and lifted it to eye level. Then his heart dropped into his stomach.

'Oh Chaos, it's a kid,' Sonic thought as he stared into the little girl's panic-filled eyes. The child whimpered, trembling violently. As he held her, Sonic felt dread fill his gut as he realized how easily he was able to hold her. She was so light…

"Hey there, kiddo…" he said softly, hoping to calm down the girl, and carefully removed her hood. Pale pink quills tipped with lavender hung past the girl's shoulders in five bunches. She had downward curving arrow-like lavender eye markings and her muzzle was tinted red.

'She's sick…' Sonic realized, hearing the girl cough and sniffle. The child must have caught a cold while rummaging through everyone's trash cans during the storm.

"Ow!" Sonic yelped as the girl suddenly sank her teeth into his hand, making him drop her. The girl wasted no time and bolted.

"Hey, wait!" As Sonic ran after her, his worry was temporarily forgotten as he saw the girl running even faster. Heck, she was probably running at the same speed that he was going. How was that even possible?!

He chased the girl all the way into Hazard Jungle where she took a sharp right and disappeared into the vegetation. Sonic was just about to dive into the foliage after her when his communicator beeped.

"Sonic, what's your status?" Amy asked, her jade eyes filling with worry as her teammate failed to respond. "Sonic? Sonic, is everything okay?"

Sonic looked out into the depths of the jungle. 'I can't leave her alone out there in the wilderness… She'll get sicker if I don't find her…' he thought, guilt weighing down his heart.

"I know who the thief is… Everyone, meet me at Hazard Jungle ASAP," Sonic commanded in a quiet voice, his emerald eyes filled with determination.

He was going to make sure that that little girl had food to eat and a roof over her head before the night was over.

"A child?" Shadow gaped at his boyfriend. He and the rest of the team had joined Sonic in the jungle, where their leader quickly filled them in on the situation.

Glancing at Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and Sticks, Shadow could see the shock and concern on their faces. He was worried, too. Hazard Jungle was a dangerous place even in the daytime. To think that a small child, and a sick and hungry one at that, had run there was a cause for alarm.

"We split up. Two to a team. If any of you find the kid, try to keep her calm so she won't run and contact us immediately," Sonic instructed.

Sonic and Shadow headed out in the direction where the former had last seen the girl followed by the rest of the team. Amy and Sticks went one way, Knuckles and Tails the other.

Sonic kept his ears cocked as he and Shadow looked around. His eyes scanned a half-mile radius a second. His heart hammered in his chest as all possible worst-case scenarios played out in his head.

'What if she collapsed because of her fever? What if she's fallen into a ditch? What if she got bitten by a venomous snake? What if she's been kidnapped by ruffians?' he thought, biting his lip.

Shadow noticed the worry etched into Sonic's face and sidled closer to him. "Hey… Don't worry. We're going to find her, Sonic," he reassured him.

Sonic took a few deep breaths. "Yeah… Yeah, we'll find her," he mumbled. They continued the search in silence, looking under bushes and peering into any nook and cranny a little kid could hide in.

An hour passed before Tails' voice came over the line.

"Sonic! Shadow! We found her! But…"

Sonic's eyebrows raised as he heard his little brother panting.

"Sweet Chaos, she's fast! Sonic, I think she's running at a speed near identical to yours!" Tails exclaimed.

"Where's she headed now?!" Sonic asked frantically, pulling up a virtual map of Hazard Jungle. He and Shadow could see a yellow dot and a red dot in the East sector moving at a fast pace.

Suddenly, a shrill scream came over the comm line.

"Uh oh! Sonic, she's fallen into the quicksand pits!" Tails shouted.

Sonic and Shadow raced through the jungle, using the map as a guide. In less than five seconds, they were at Tails and Knuckles' location. Upon arrival, they saw a terrifying sight.

The little girl was stuck waist-deep in quicksand and was crying while Knuckles tried to calm her down from the banks of the pit as Tails circled her. But every time Tails moved to get her, the child screamed and flailed about, which caused her to get sucked in deeper into the quicksand.

"Kid, it's okay! We're here to help!" Knuckles said, trying hard not to panic as well. The child's cries were heart-wrenching to hear.

Sonic and Shadow joined the echidna at the banks of the quicksand pit. Upon seeing Sonic, the girl locked eyes with the blue hedgehog. "Help! Please! Please, help me!" she sobbed, her thin pink arms stretched out to the speedy hero.

"Tails, get me up there!" Sonic shouted to his little brother. Tails hoisted him up into the air. And they hovered over the girl. At Sonic's nod, Tails flipped Sonic over and gripped the blue hedgehog's ankles.

"It's okay, kiddo. I'm right here. Grab on," Sonic said soothingly, his hands reaching out to the little girl. The child lifted her arms and her little hands, covered by thick black rubber gloves, held onto Sonic's.

Tails twirled his namesakes as fast as they could go, his muscles straining to pull both Sonic and the little girl up. 'That kid's counting on us! Come on, Miles! You can do this!' he thought as his tails whirled around like helicopter blades.

But then disaster struck. Tails' grip around Sonic's ankles loosened for just a split second but it was enough to send Sonic tumbling headfirst into the quicksand. The azure speedster quickly righted himself before the quicksand started sucking him in too. Tails yelped then quickly flew over to Shadow and Knuckles, the two scrambling to come up with a plan.

"Oh no…" Sonic mumbled before turning to the little girl. She whimpered as tears streamed down her face.

"I'm sorry…" The little girl hiccupped, covering her face with her hands. If she had been more careful, she wouldn't have fallen in. And the nice blue stranger wouldn't be stuck with her…

"Hey, hey, it's okay. We're gonna be okay…" Sonic murmured, gently taking her hands into his. "We'll get out of this mess together. I promise," he reassured her, giving her a soft smile.

That's when a large log dropped into the quicksand pit, just an inch away from the two of them.

"Grab hold!" Knuckles hollered, setting a boulder under one end of the log just as Amy and Sticks came running.

Sonic grinned and turned to the girl who looked at the makeshift lever with uncertainty. "See, kiddo? We're getting out of here," he told her.

That was enough to convince the little girl. She and Sonic grabbed the other end of the log and held on tight.

"Okay, NOW!" Sticks gave Amy and Knuckles the signal. Amy used her hammer while Knuckles used his brute strength to bring their end of the log down. Sonic and the little girl were immediately catapulted out of the quicksand pit.

Shadow jumped, his jet skates activating, and caught the kid while Tails caught Sonic.

"Don't worry. You're safe now," Shadow whispered as he landed. In his mind, red flags were being raised. The child looked to be around five to six-years-old but was far too light for a girl her age. He hardly felt any strain in carrying her.

The kid whimpered, not liking being in a stranger's arms. Seeing the child's discomfort, Shadow carefully set her down.

The girl looked at the strangers in front of her, eyes wide with fear and panic. To the team's worry, she started hyperventilating as she sobbed.

"Oh, you poor thing… It's all right. We're not gonna hurt you…" Amy took a few steps forward with her arms open, but that caused the girl to freak out even more. She backed away, her gasping breaths turning into violent coughs that caused her body to convulse.

Sonic sprinted over to the girl's side as she fell to her knees and began to vomit. He gently held the child's quills back as she threw up on the ground. He could feel the heavy heat of a fever radiating from her body and knew that there was a high possibility that the child was also suffering from food poisoning.

"Shhhh… Easy there… It's okay, kiddo. You're safe now…" said Sonic as he gently rubbed the little girl's back until she stopped vomiting.

The child whimpered and whined, giving out one last cough. Looking up at all the different faces looming over her, she immediately shielded her head with her arms and cried out, "I-I'm so s-s-sorry! P-please…! D-don't hurt me!"

Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, Sticks, and Tails felt their hearts sink. Sonic frowned, noticing how the kid was already scooting away from him. She looked utterly terrified of them all. A seed of dread began to grow in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Hey… Kiddo, it's okay. You don't have to be scared…" Sonic said in a soft voice, making sure to stay crouched down so he was eye level with the little girl.

The girl sniffed, rubbing her eyes, and looked into Sonic's emerald green orbs. She cocked her head to the side. He didn't look scary and he was so nice to her earlier…

"My name's Sonic." The blue hedgehog in front of her placed a hand to his chest. "What's yours?" he asked.

"F-Faith… Faith Tenrec," The child answered, sniffing.

Sonic smiled gently at her. "It's nice to meet you, Faith. What do you say we get out of this jungle? It's pretty late. And you must be hungry, right?"

A gurgling noise came from Faith's stomach and she looked down at the ground in embarrassment. Sonic chuckled then got up and made a move to help her up. But Faith squeaked in fear and held her hands up over her head.

"It's alright, Faith. I won't hurt you." Sonic held his hands up in a peaceful, non-threatening manner. "Can I help you up?" he asked.

Biting her lower lip, Faith thought about it for a few seconds before giving Sonic a nod.

Carefully, Sonic placed his hands under Faith's armpits and helped the child to her feet. Alarm bells rang in his head as he felt Faith momentarily stiffen when he touched her. Faith leaned against Sonic, panting softly, and he could tell that she was on her last legs.

"Hey, Faith, I'm going to carry you, okay? The walk back to our place might be too long for you and I don't want you getting any more tired. Is that okay with you?" Sonic asked her.

"Okay…" Faith mumbled and let Sonic carry her. Sonic kept one arm around Faith's back while the other supported her from underneath. "I'm sorry I bit you…" she whispered, her big red eyes sad and filled with guilt.

"It's okay, Faith. I'm not mad," Sonic said softly, rubbing circles on her back.

Faith wrapped her legs around his torso and buried her face in Sonic's chest, trembling. Sonic sighed, gently petting her quills. The poor kid was still traumatized and needed medical attention. Looking to his teammates, Sonic knew that they were just as worried as he was. They left the jungle in silence and made their way to Amy's house.

"We'll have to wait a bit for her stomach to settle down before we can feed her. In the meantime, let's get you cleaned up," Amy said gently, already drawing a warm bath. She picked out a long-sleeved pink nightgown she used to wear as a kid from her wardrobe and handed Faith a towel. "Do you need help?" she asked.

Faith shook her head, hiding behind Sonic with a quick, "Nope! I can take a bath by myself!"

Sonic and Amy looked at each other worriedly, watching Faith run into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Hey, Sonic, I think we have some electrolyte drinks in the fridge back at our shack. You want me to go get them?" Tails asked his big brother.

"Good idea, Tails," Sonic said, plopping down on the couch next to Shadow. Sticks and Knuckles sat in chairs, twiddling their thumbs, while Amy went to the kitchen.

"You think it'll be okay letting her bathe by herself?" Knuckles looked at the closed bathroom door. "I mean, she's got a cold, food poisoning, and she was just pulled out of quicksand. Maybe leaving her in the bathroom without adult supervision isn't the best idea," he told his friends.

"I'll check on her." Sticks went over to the bathroom door and knocked. "Hey, kid, you need any help cleaning up?" she asked.

"I'm good," Faith answered over the sound of running water. Twenty minutes later, she emerged wearing Amy's old nightgown that reached down to her ankles and with the towel wrapped around her head like a turban. The team noticed that she was still wearing her black rubber gloves, though the gloves looked like they had been washed and dried, but chose not to comment on it.

Tails returned with a few bottles of electrolyte drinks. "All right. This will help her regain all the fluids she lost," he said, placing the bottles on Amy's coffee table.

Sonic helped Faith up onto the couch. "Okay, Faith. Which flavor do you want?" he asked, gesturing to the pastel-colored bottles.

Faith looked at the bottles. There was orange, apple, grape, and strawberry. Just as she was about to point at the drink with strawberry flavor, she tensed and looked at Tails and Sonic nervously.

"A-Are you sure I can have one?" she asked quietly.

Tails froze, his face becoming pinched with worry. Several emotions ran through Sonic's face before he schooled his expression into a calm and reassuring one.

"Sure, we're sure. Tails got them for you. They'll help you feel better," Sonic said, smiling at Faith.

"Okay. I… I want strawberry, please," Faith whispered, pointing at the pink bottle. Sonic opened the bottle for her. Faith took a sip, smacking her lips, before proceeding to gulp down the rest of the drink.

"You like strawberries, don't you?" Sonic asked her, amused. Faith shyly smiled and nodded, making the cobalt hero's heart melt. In the background, Sticks, Tails, and Knuckles went, "Awww..." while Shadow chuckled to himself.

Amy joined the team and placed a bowl of chicken soup and rice and a platter of plain crackers on the table. "Here you go, sweetie. Eat up," she said with a bright smile.

"Thank you…" Faith mumbled. At the first spoonful of chicken soup and rice, stars appeared in her bright red eyes. The team watched in amusement as Faith shoveled more soup and rice into her mouth.

"Easy there, kiddo. No need to rush," Sonic chuckled, wiping Faith's face with a napkin.

"I'm sorry… I was just so hungry…" Faith nibbled on a cracker, her eyes downcast. "I'm sorry for stealing," she said softly.

Sticks sighed. "I should be mad… But who am I kidding? I can't get mad at the thief who accidentally framed me if she's a starving little kid," she declared, going over to Faith. "No worries, kid. You're off the hook," she said, patting Faith on the back. But, to her and everyone else's immense worry, Faith yelped as soon as Sticks' hand touched her and scooted away from the badger.

'Red flag. Red flag. So many red flags are being raised right now,' Shadow thought, glancing at Sonic who was anxiously biting his lip.

"All right. For now, the best thing that can be done for Faith's food poisoning is to let her body purge itself of the toxins naturally. But since it looks like she also has a mild case of the flu, we might need to give her medication. We should let a doctor see her first thing tomorrow morning," Tails told the group while Sonic let Faith sit on his lap as the fox checked her temperature.

Faith yawned, completely exhausted by the night's events.

"Looks like someone's ready to nod off." Sonic gently carded his fingers through Faith's pale pink quills, the little tenrec purring softly. "Ames, d'you mind if she stays the night with you?" he asked.

"Not at all. I've already got the spare room fixed up," Amy replied.

Faith temporarily snapped out of her sleepy state upon hearing the two hedgehogs' exchange. "Y-You're leaving?" she whimpered, looking up at Sonic. She liked Sonic. He was really nice and, even when he was stuck in quicksand with her, he still managed to smile and told her that they would be all right. And they were all right in the end. Sonic's friends looked nice but she still wasn't sure about them.

Seeing the growing distress on Faith's face, Sonic thought of something quick. "Tell you what? You stay here with Amy tonight and, tomorrow, Tails and I will build you a nice cozy spot in our shack so you can stay with us next time. Sound good?" he offered, smiling brightly.

Faith blinked and looked at her gloved hands, thinking. Finally, she nodded.

"All right. See you tomorrow, Faith," Sonic helped her get off his lap before standing up.

"Bye, Sonic… See you tomorrow…" Faith mumbled, waving to the blue hedgehog.

Amy saw the boys and Sticks out. But just before they parted ways, the six members of Team Sonic exchanged concerned looks.

They were going to have to ask Faith tomorrow why she was rummaging through trash cans in search of food late at night. And then they needed to find out where she came from… which was probably going to be difficult, given how scared Faith still was.

"I'm worried, Shads…" Sonic folded his arms over his chest as he, Shadow, and Tails walked back to the shack. "Little girl scavenging for food in the dead of night. It just isn't right," he muttered.

"I'm worried, too, Blue." Shadow put a hand to his chin. "She might be a runaway," he guessed.

"A runaway?" Sonic blinked.

"There aren't any tenrecs in Hedgehog Village or any of the settlements on this island. She must be from somewhere else," Shadow explained.

Sonic pondered on his boyfriend's words. "Then… that must mean she could have come from that ship from the mainland the day before yesterday!" he turned to Shadow, his eyes wide. "But… that ship was for transporting light cargo. There weren't any passengers on it, aside from the captain and the crew. How the heck did she board that thing? More importantly… why would she run away?" he asked.

"I have a hunch…" Shadow grimaced, remembering the fear in Faith's eyes after she was rescued. "I just hope I'm wrong…" he muttered.

Reaching the hut, the three boys decided to hit the hay. Lying down in the hammock, Sonic and Shadow snuggled together.

After a few minutes of silence, Sonic whispered to Shadow, "That hunch you mentioned earlier… Do you think Faith's been abused?"

Shadow sighed, gently petting Sonic's quills. "She was scared of us even after we rescued her. She got nervous when we offered her a drink and even asked if it was okay with us if she had one. And she didn't want to be touched. Those are serious red flags of child abuse," he answered.

Sonic bit his lip, resting his head against Shadow's chest. "We… We can help her… Right?" he asked.

This was completely different from saving Hedgehog Village from Eggman and his robots on a weekly basis – a duty he and his friends had plenty of experience with. This was meeting a frightened child – who probably ran away due to being abused – and figuring out how to help her get better.

Could they do it?

Soft lips gently kissed Sonic's cheek, making the blue speedster tilt his head up. Shadow smiled at him, his ruby eyes filled with warmth.

"We'll figure it out. All six of us," he reassured him.

Sonic smiled, snuggling closer to his boyfriend. "Yeah… We'll figure it out," he mumbled, closing his eyes.

Meanwhile, back at Amy's house, Faith was in the small guest room Amy had set up for her. Curling up into a ball in the bed, Faith thought about the night's events.

She hadn't meant to cause Sonic and his friends any trouble. She'd been careless and hadn't looked where she was going, so desperate to run away. She thought Sonic and his friends were mad at her for stealing from trash cans. In hindsight, in ordinary circumstances, she wouldn't have done that. But she was so hungry that she couldn't stop herself.

Faith shivered, burrowing deeper into the blankets.

"You no-good brat! I told you you're not getting any food today! You call this 'clean'?!" Her father roared, gesturing wildly to the living room he had ordered her to sweep up 30 minutes ago. There were still fragments of broken bottles and a few cigarette butts littering the floor

"I-I'm sorry, daddy! I-I just need a little more time to finish…" Faith whimpered, clutching the broom. She did her best to clean up most of the mess but was already weak from hunger and had asked if she could have a little something to snack on before getting back to work.

"Bullshit!"

Faith put a hand to her cheek, wincing. Her father had smacked her real good at that time. At least the bruise was gone…

Her thoughts then drifted back to Sonic. Even when he tried to catch her the first time, he had been really gentle, especially once he saw her face. And at the quicksand pit… he held her hands without a second thought and gently carried her out of the jungle. He had a kind and gentle touch.

No one's ever treated her like that before…

'He was so kind… And he felt so warm…' Faith thought, staring at her gloved hands as tears trickled down her cheeks.

I hope you guys enjoyed this first "episode" of Sonic Boom Season 3: The Faith Tenrec Saga. Shout out to ShisaBun on Twitter for making the super adorable image of sweet little Faith that is featured on this story's cover.

Next time, Episode 2: Getting to Know You – where Sonic and co. try to get to know their new little houseguest as she recovers from the flu and food poisoning… while an oblivious Dr. Eggman tries to get Team Sonic to fight him.

Read and review! Reviews are greatly appreciated :D

-GuardianDragon98