Rain pattered a gentle rhythm on the wood as the people of Adabat hurried from building to building, raincoats pulled over their heads as they grumbled about the weather. Sonic chuckled, leaning forward to catch some of the raindrops in his hand before shaking them off and pulling it back under the temple roof.

Thunder roared in the distance, and "Whip", the little dog-like creature Light Gaia had been turned into, ducked behind Amy with a yelp.

"My kind of weather," Pretzel pronounced with satisfaction, smirking at her counterpart.

"You're being nice to him, right?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

Pretzel rolled her eyes. "I'm not nice to anyone. He doesn't get special treatment." She glanced outside again. "Besides, everyone should be grateful for the rain after all that heat." She shuddered.

"It is a little odd to have rain in the dry season," Amy mumbled around a forkful of noodles. "But I think it's nice!"

"Well, I'm not looking forward to having to walk through it," Tails muttered, curling his tails around him. "My fur's going to get soaked."

"Who said anything about walking?" Sonic teased.

"As long as you don't run into the ocean," Tails shot back, standing and dusting off his fur. "Besides, I'm going ahead to make sure everything's ready."

"Aw, you're leaving already?" Amy pouted. She set down her noodles and bounced to her feet. "Do you need help with anything?"

"I don't think so," Tails shook his head, then glanced at her hopefully. "Unless you have motion sickness medicine…?"

"Sorry, we came through the temple door," Amy gestured into the interior of the temple. "Whip makes traveling a lot easier." She smiled down at the little dog-like creature, who glanced up from his bowl of noodles to beam at her before resuming eating, his namesake tail whipping back and forth.

Tails sighed. "I'll manage. Thanks anyway, Amy."

"Meet you at the space elevator, bro!" Sonic waved as Tails set out determinedly into the rain. He turned to Amy. "So they haven't been any trouble?"

She beamed. "They've been great! Whip gets along great with everyone, and Pretzel…" She cast a questioning look at Dark Gaia.

Pretzel shrugged. "I get the apartment to myself most of the time. As long as it's not hot, I'm happy."

"'Keep in a cool dry place', huh?" Sonic grinned. "Thanks for looking after them, Amy."

"Happy to help!" Amy bounced in her seat, then steadied herself with effort, trying to look more mature. Sonic resisted a laugh. "Did you find the Emeralds?"

"Nah, I got sidetracked helping Blaze track down hers." He closed his eyes briefly. The beacons were there immediately, assuring him of their presence. Red, blue, green, purple, cyan, yellow, and grey. All there. They had always been there, of course. They could never go out. Dim, maybe. Rest, maybe. But never go out. Not them.

Still. It was good to feel them and hear them again.

He held on for a minute, then let them go and opened his eyes again. "I don't think I need to find them right now, anyway."

"What about Eggman?" Amy frowned. "I heard he escaped."

"Yeah, but his latest plot doesn't seem to involve the Chaos Emeralds at all, given that he's in space and they're down here." Sonic shrugged. "Maybe he's learning new tricks after all." He glanced out at the sky and the distant shape of the space elevator. If there was one thing he had to give Eggman credit for, it was that he worked fast. "Speaking of which, I should probably get going."

"Aw, already?" Amy sighed.

"You could always come with me," Sonic offered, somewhat jokingly.

Amy considered, then shook her head. "I need to take care of Whip and Pretzel."

"They could come, too."

"The planet would die if we left," Pretzel said matter-of-factly.

Sonic blinked. "Really?"

"I dunno. Probably?"

"You'll be back soon anyway, right?" Amy asked hopefully.

"Should be!" Sonic grinned. "And the sooner I leave, the sooner I get back." He hopped to his feet and winced as Amy immediately tackled him in a hug. At least she didn't touch his wings. Those things were getting old.

"Come back soon!" Amy called, waving, as he darted out the door. Sonic grinned and waved back before darting away. Puddles splashed over his sneakers, and he paused as sunlight broke through the clouds to appreciate the view of the ocean, dark and cool and endless.

A shadow slipped through the raindrops behind him, and he turned to greet her.

"Forget something, Pretzel?"

Pretzel jumped up on his shoulder, hesitating briefly before butting her head against his. "Thanks. For helping me."

"Any time. Seriously, any time, Pretzel. If you ever need help… you've got friends now."

Pretzel smiled. "I know." She glanced up at the sky, and Sonic followed her gaze to the waiting elevator. "Be careful." She looked him in the eye. "Please."

Sonic returned her gaze steadily. "I will."

Pretzel nodded and jumped off his shoulder, vanishing into the dwindling rain.

Sonic stayed a moment more, taking in the sight of the earth and the sea and the sky, then at the space elevator, stretching endlessly into the unknown.

He grinned and started running.

Pretzel rejoined Amy and Whip without either of them noticing, too busy talking about deserts or something. She shook out her fur, sprinkling Whip with water in the process, and stuck out her tongue at his disgruntled expression. While Whip tried to shake the water from his fur, Pretzel swiped a noodle from his bowl.

"Give it back!" Whip protested, flaring his wings dramatically.

Pretzel grinned and jumped out into the rain, the noodle still clasped in her claws. She twitched her tail tauntingly. "Then come and get it."

Whip narrowed his eyes, then without warning shot out his paws and grabbed her tails. Pretzel yelped as Whip dragged her into the temple and pounced for the noodle. She tried to kick him away, and the fight quickly devolved into a wrestling match that knocked over the rest of Whip's noodles and nearly Amy's as well.

"I take it you two are done eating?" Amy crossed her arms.

Pretzel released the now squished noodle, and Whip backed away with an expression of disappointed disgust. Pretzel grinned and ate it without hesitation. "I'm good," she announced

"Can I finish mine at home?" Whip asked hopefully.

"Can I finish mine at home?" Whip asked hopefully.

"Why not?" Amy shrugged. "I don't think they have a rule against food in the inner temple."

"And even if they do, they'll probably let Whip get away with it," Pretzel added, jumping on Amy's shoulder.

"I'll use my innocent charms!" Whip agreed eagerly, perching on Amy's other shoulder with the noodles clasped in his paws.

"Your what?" Amy blinked.

"Pretzel told me about it." Whip widened his eyes in a puppy dog expression to demonstrate. "She said with my looks and her brains we'll make a great team!"

"Did she now." Pretzel was proud that Amy had learned to pull off a deadpan expression so well.

"We'll only make a great team if you stop telling everyone," Pretzel hissed.

"Pretzel, stop corrupting your brother." Amy told her as they entered the inner sanctuary, ignoring the looks they got from the security guards.

"I'm not corrupting him, I'm teaching him important life lessons!" Pretzel flared her wings in protest.

Amy decided to drop the topic as they reached the doors. They stood as they had before, with the exception of the Chun-nan door, taken apart by Eggman before he fled his base. Whip fluttered to the door to Empire City. The moment he touched it, it lit up with an eager glow. Pretzel winced at the sudden white light.

"Ready?" Amy asked, glancing at her.

Pretzel blinked her vision clear. The fierce white faded, and the soft colors of the temple and Amy and Whip returned. Whip looked up at her, head cocked, with a concerned expression. Small. Harmless. Her brother.

Pretzel smiled. "Let's go home."

Together, they stepped into the light.

Far, far above them, a silver bullet shot to the heavens.

"Hello, happy people! Buckle up, as Eggman's Ultra-Accelerating Space Elevator whisks you to an interplanetary wonderland of fun!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I can't believe he got this set up so fast."

"Well, it's not like anyone was going to stop him," Tails muttered from where he was huddled miserably on the floor, clutching a sic-sac. "There's no evidence he was involved with the Gaia incident at all other than a base on South Island that was there way before everything went down. And no one was really sure what was being built or if he was even involved. We're still not sure what's up there. It could be a space station or a weapon of mass destruction—"

Sonic raised a finger to stop his rambling. "And that's what we're here for, right?"

"Right." Tails returned his smile queasily.

Leaving him to his misery, Sonic walked over to the window and peered out at the blue Earth, fast falling away beneath him. For a moment he felt dizzy, remembering falling gold and white hot pain. But he pushed it away as always, focusing on the tethers in his mind, holding him to the ground. The seven beacons echoed familiar and comforting, warm and bright and brilliant. And now there were two more presences. The light one, he didn't yet dare to touch, the burns too fresh in his mind. But the dark he reached out to with practiced familiarity, as he did every night when the memories woke him.

Pretzel claimed it was because she was nocturnal, but he couldn't help but notice that regardless of their respective time zones, whether it was night for her or not, she was always awake when he reached for her. He tried not to peer too closely at her mind, but he felt— no, he knew she had nightmares of her own.

Not now, though. Now, her mind was the soft glow of fresh powder and thawing ice, calm and still like a lake outside of time. It lapped reassuringly at him. Not falsely sweet and not secretly bitter. Open and clear.

Be safe, their minds echoed to each other. I know you, and I care.

Beyond the gleaming metal walls space stretched impassive and dark, broken only by the cold light of the stars. Infinity, asking if he dares to challenge it.

He chuckled. This would be fun.