A portal opens up in the sky. Coming out of it is Sonic and Ryder, falling and screaming in the process. As they get further and further down, they begins hitting tree branches until finally settling on a wooden border. They lay unconscious for a few seconds before Sonic wakes up.
"Oh, I really gotta start landing on my feet." Sonic looks up. "What...?" Sonic quickly gets up while Ryder is still unconscious. He begins looking around in confusion.
"Where am I?" Sonic yells, with his voice echoing "Nine? Nine? Are you out there, buddy? Rebel? Heck, I'd even take Knucks at this point." Turns around "Is this a city park? Huh, I wonder if the Rebels know about this." Sonic slightly kneels and looks down into the jungle. Suddenly, he notices the change in his gloves and gears caused thanks to the Regulators. "Whoa..." He then starts looking at his gloves. "My kicks and gloves have a new look." Looks at his shoes, lifting his leg up in the process. "But why?" He turns his hand around, looking at his glove once more "Okay, no time to worry about that. Gotta wake up Ryder." Sonic turns to the unconscious Ryder and shakes him. "Come on Ryder, wake up."
Ryder barely opens his eyes and sees trees. "Yay, I'm home. That was some dream."
"What? No, that wasn't a dream. It was real! Wake up!" Sonic slaps Ryder's face until he wakes up completely.
"Huh? Sonic? Where are we?" Ryder said, as he stands up.
"That's what I've been trying to figure out."
"Looks like we landed in Guns and Roses dream world: The Jungle."
"I don't understand half the things you say."
Ryder shrugs. "It doesn't matter. What matters is finding a way out and back in New Yoke to save the others."
"Right. Okay, Sonic, think." Puts his hands to his head "It's not like answers are just gonna fall from the skyâ" The Hedgehogs hear a cawing sound. He looks up.
"Run!" They hear the voice of Rebel yelling. It seems like she, Knucks, and Big are flying out of the jungle.
"Is that...?"Ryder wonders as he sees them.
"There you are!" Sonic begins excitedly running over to them.
Ryder sticks behind thinking for a moment. 'They look different from how I remember them. Though under the circumstances I guess that doesn't matter, does it?' Ryder thought just before sprinting after Sonic.
"Guys! Can you hear me?" Sonic yells to the group ahead of them. "Guys? Guys! Where are you?"
Sonic continues running towards them and sees them just up ahead of him.
"Sonic watch out!" Ryder said, already starting to slow down.
"Huh?" Sonic quickly skids to a stop, accidentally bumping into the rebels in the process. Ryder fails to stop in time as he slips and trips all the way to them, hitting them like a bowling ball hits pucks. They all, including Sonic and Ryder, fall. Rebel loses grasp of the berry she was holding.
"My berry!" Rebel yells.
Big notices it flying in the air. He becomes delighted by the sight of it. He begins jumping up, trying to grab it. The others do the same. Eventually, it bounces and lands on Ryder's mouth.
Ryder was startled for a second before tasting it. "Mm. Mm-mm. That is one tasty berry. Got any more?" He turns to the angry crew.
"No!" They yell before they each lay down, feeling defeated.
"Yep, we're wasting away." Big puts his hands onto his chest.
"Umm, sorry?" Ryder apologizes, still confused about what happened? His head then fills with questions like why do they look like that? Why are there trees? Where's Nine? And where is the council?
Sonic gets up and looks behind him. His vision is slightly blurry as he is still gaining consciousness, but eventually goes to perfect sight. As soon as he notices them, he begins getting excited.
"Rebel, Knucks, and... Big?" Sonic quickly gets them back on their feet and runs around them doing a Super Peel Out. "What are you doing here?" He hugs the trio. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay! And where are we?" He quickly steps forward "And any sign of Nine?" He urns to them. "And why are you dressed like cave people exactly?"
Each of the 'Rebels' holds out their weapons towards Sonic, thinking of him as a threat.
"Now... That's new." Sonic points at the weapons.
"Uhh, Sonic. I don't think these are our friends." Ryder guesses.
"What? What makes you say that?" Sonic questions.
"They're here for our supplies!" 'Knucks' accuses them.
"How about that?" Ryder points out.
"Oh, no." Sonic and Ryder quickly runs from the Scavengers. Prim Rouge charges towards him, holding her weapon out. They manage to dodge, jumping over her. Suddenly, cyan-colored claws come out of their gloves as they grab onto a tree.
"Huh?" Ryder looks at one of his hands and clenches and un-clenches his fist, realizing what the claws do.
"Oh, so that's what you do!" Sonic realizes as he does the same.
Gnarly Knuckles charges towards Sonic. He climbs further up the tree, but then notices Prim Rouge charging towards him. He screams and runs away again.
"What's gotten into you? Do you have any idea what we've just been through?" Sonic then begins telling the complex recap about what happened.
"And then we ran into you guys," Sonic back-flips to avoid a weapon being thrown at him as Ryder ducks and slides. "-which pretty much brings you up to speed."
"No one asked you!" 'Knucks' said as he throws his stick towards Ryder. Ryder dodges and grabs the stick down, then looks towards the Scavengers.
"Okay guys, calm down or I'm gonna start fighting back." Ryder points his stick at them threateningly.
"Wait, don't hurt-" Sonic accidentally bumps into a tree.
"Whoa!" A weapon is thrown towards Sonic. It narrowly misses him. He begins to run away again. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" 'Rebel manages to get passed Ryder and fly towards Sonic, leaving her allies to fight him alone. Sonic jumps off the platform. He manages to grab onto a vine hanging off a tree branch. He begins jumping across lots of tree branches while avoiding Prim Rouge.
"Now a minute ago, we were battling robots in New Yoke City... Right?"
Meanwhile, Ryder keeps the two adversaries at bay with his stick.
"Huh? What's a ro-butt?" 'Knucks' asks Ryder.
"It's like a machine that's made to look like a person and does things for you."
"Cool. What's a machine?" 'Big' asks.
"Gosh darn it!" Ryder then flips over 'Big' and jumps off the board and throws his stick at 'Knucks, before turning to follow Sonic. 'Knucks' throws his weapon at Ryder. Prim Rouge does the same to Sonic. Sonic swings from another vine, then jumps across another two branches. He swings from a vine and screams in the process. Finally, he lands onto the wooden platform again and slides towards the edge. He manages to stop, looking down behind him. He turns towards the Scavengers, who all land in front of him.
"Hey, hey, hey, wait! I'm not the bad guy here. We're friends!" Sonic reminds them. The Scavengers don't believe him. They charge at him once more.
Ryder jumps from tree to tree until he reaches the group and lands in front of Sonic.
"Stay back you crazies!" Ryder said, clenching his hands and releasing his claws.
"Wait, Ryder. I get it now. They don't know who we are... again! Which means we're not in New Yoke, we're in-"
"Another world. And these guys are more doppelgangers... Oh, not again!"
The Hedgehogs turn to the edge of the platform again. It's a large
"So this is another altered Green Hill." Sonic determines.
"At least this one has plants." Ryder shrugs.
"Yeah..." 'Rebel' said. "...the Boscage Maze has super-sized plants that are suffocating the life out of this place. Thanks to the monster."
"Boscage Maze huh? Neat name." Ryder compliments.
"Monster? Hmm." Sonic said, more focused on what she said after. He looks up at the vines hanging from a tree branch. "Yeah, it does look extra healthy, doesn't it?"
"Extra healthy isn't how I'd put it. The trees are so big, they're squeezing us out and the monster won't let us touch whatever food is left." 'Rebel' tells them.
"Monsters, overgrown trees, lost Shards... Tricky situation. There's only one person who could help me figure this out. I gotta find-"
Suddenly, a cawing sound can be heard again. A certain fox comes flying out of the jungle. Sonic mistakes him for Tails.
"Tails...? Tails!" Sonic calls out.
"I got him!" Ryder said. He runs over, going to save him. He manages to grab onto one of his tails in time. "Gotcha buddy!"
'Knucks' look at him surprised. "He's fast."
"Fast enough to occupy the monster, while we grab what we need." 'Rebel' points out, scheming.
"Great to see you pal. It's been one crazy day. I've gotta fill you in bro." Ryder begins to pull up 'Tails', who begins to make noise. He lifts his head up at Ryder who screams. Suddenly, 'Tails' charges at Ryder and bites his arm.
"Ow! What the heck man?!" Ryder yells as 'Tails' continues to press on the attack. Eventually, 'Rebel' swoops in and picks him up.
"Hey, give it a rest. He just saved you." 'Rebel' tells him before he drops him to run back to the other Scavengers. She flies down to help Ryder up, offering him her hand. He accepts it.
"Thanks for your help,... stranger." She said, looking at him strangely.
"It's Ryder actually."
"Yeah... You know you look really familiar for some reason."
"I shouldn't be. We've never met. Well, I've never met this version of you at least."
Sonic draws attention back to him."Hi, I'm Sonic. Also why didn't he just fly with all his tails?" He said, referring to 'Tails'
"Fly?" She points at the fox, who can be seen in the background scratching his head. "Mangey doesn't fly."
"Wait, 'Mangey'? Really?"
"And I'm Prim." Prim introduces herself.
"Hangry!"
"Gnarly, but you already knew that, didn't ya? Who sent you?!" Gnarly attempts to interrogate them. Ryder just backs himself and Sonic to the edge to huddle.
"So, yeah, all of their names either mean crazy or plant. I say we just forget we ever saw them and look for our way home."
"Agreed. But first..." Sonic pulls out of the huddle and turns to the Scavengers. "Look, you all seem like a lovely group, but we're trying to find my way back home and we're looking for some answers. Do any of you know about the Paradox Prism?"
Prim, Mangey & Hangry all look at Sonic with confused looks on their faces. They don't say a word.
"Okay... how about a shiny crystal Shard that may or may not have some really weird powers? It's the only clue we have to getting back home."
"A Shard? We don't know-" Hangry begins before getting interrupted by Prim.
"Why you waited so long to ask us about it!"
"So you know where it is. Can you take us to it?" Sonic asks, hopeful.
"Of course. But... first, come to our village. I'm sure we can help each other."
Prim & Sonic begin walking together to the village. Gnarly Knuckles puts his hands up. Hangry, Gnarly Knuckles, Ryder & Mangey follow behind.
Ryder turns to Mangey. "So, if there isn't any technology here, what do you do?" He asks, but only gets a bark in response. "Huh. You know, you're a lot friendlier then the other Tails. Well at least you aren't trying to kill me. Good on ya' little buddy." He then pets Mangey, who beams at him.
"We didn't always live in the Canopy. For years, we lived on the ground, took everything we needed from the jungle to survive. And then, the monster drove us up into the trees." Prim tells the Hedgehogs.
"Every day in the Boscage Maze is a struggle to survive. It's miserable!" Hangry yells shaking Sonic.
"Whoa! Easy!" Sonic puts his hands up in defeat. "No need to get angry."
"I'M NOT ANGRY!" He lets go of Sonic. "I'm hungry."
"I think you mean Hangry." Ryder jokes.
Hangry Holds up a piece of bark. "You ever tried filling up on bark?"
""Bark"? Why don't you guys just get some fruit from the trees. You must be overloading with them by now." Ryder asks the Scavengers.
"They used to, but they're tapped out. That's why we have to forge below despite the monster." Prim stops to a halt. "We're here." She said referring to the empty lot that is there 'village'
"This is your village?" Sonic runs up to a large dangling leaf and begins shaking the leaf. Gnarly Knuckles runs over to protect his home.
"Hey! Get away from my house." Gnarly Knuckles said.
"Your-- I mean, it's very... rustic!" Suddenly, Mangey climbs back up. He has his hands clenched together, holding something beneath them. He unveils what he was holding to be a berry he caught from inside the jungle.
Prim Rouge takes the berry from him "Ah-ah-ah! Hold that thought." This causes Mangey to whimper.
"Sorry buddy." Ryder apologizes for his misfortune.
"Sonic, Ryder, we'll take you to the-the- uh-" She tries to remember what they said earlier.
"Shard." Sonic reminds her.
"Exactly! But... first, you'll help us by taking care of the monster so we can gather supplies." She chucks the berry out of her hand. It lands into Hangry's hands. Suddenly, Gnarly Knuckles & Mangey begin fighting Hangry for the berry. Sonic gets shocked by the sight. "Deal?"
"Oof! These guys really need some help." He walks over. Gnarly Knuckles & Mangey are still fighting Hangry for the berry. Gnarly grabs onto his face, while Mangey bites onto his ear. Suddenly, they stop and turn their attention to Sonic as soon as he begins speaking. "Good news, everyone! Guess which special guests can handle a so-called monster without even breaking a sweat?" Gnarly Knuckles, Hangry & Mangey all stare at Sonic without saying a word. Sonic gets annoyed. "It's us. It's obviously us." He gestures to himself and Ryder. They still continue to stare at him. "We'll help you. Berries for all, as many as you want!"
"You mean we could have..." Hungry begins as they all run up to Sonic. Hangry's eyes light up. "Two berries?!"
"Yes... you can have two berries." Ryder said, weirded out by their energy towards such a miniature goal.
Boscage Jungle
Vines drop down from above. The Scavengers come sliding down. Ryder looks up, and becomes shocked.
"Oh my god. It's the loop-de-loop." Ryder said. At least it was still intact. Hopefully if they can fix this, it'll look just like Green Hill.
"You were not kidding about the plants. They look even bigger from down here." Sonic comments. Prim and Ryder shush him. "Right! Stealth mission." Sonic whispers as he tip-toes.
The Scavengers and Hedgehogs begin quietly walking ahead. Prim points at some plants, while Gnarly Knuckles picks away at them so he can make room for everybody to move. Mangey takes the lead, sniffing the way there. A vine gets in the way of them all, but Mangey manages to squeeze under it. Gnarly Knuckles breaks it apart.
"We need to be very quiet. The monster could be anywhere." Prim notifies them.
"Uhh, noted." Ryder said.
Gnarley looks through some roots and finds one berry. "Hey! I found one! I guess it's our lucky day." Mangey tries to take if but Gnarly holds Mangey back from getting closer with one hand. He eventually manages to throw the fox to a far distance. He begins to pick away at the plants again.
"Whoa! You know, you might wanna take it easy on the plants." Sonic tells Gnarly.
Gnarly turns to face Sonic. "Why are you on the plants' side?!" He points at Sonic's chest. "They've gotten to you."
"I can assure you the plants haven't "Gotten to him". We're just saying that stuff like that has negative impacts on the environment and-"
"What did the environment ever do to you? Talk to you?" Gnarly asks up close and personal.
"No. Not much. Just oxygen, nutrition and keeping the world alive. No big deal." Ryder remarks sarcastically.before he begins to back away slowly. Sonic becomes confused. Gnarly ignores him and reaches in to grab the berry, and succeeds. All of a sudden, Mangey & Hangry charge at him and begin fighting for the berry.
"So much for being quiet." Sonic mentions.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Ryder said, nodding.
"Shh! Do you wanna get us all killed?" Prim scolds them.
"What, wha-- but, uh, he--" Ryder tries to reason but gets shushed again.
Gnarly Knuckles, Hangry & Mangey continue fighting for the berry. However, their version of Froggy suddenly appears and takes the berry, eating it. He begins to hop away. The three Scavengers feel defeated. As Froggy hops away, Sonic looks at him confusingly. A rustling sound comes from a bush, to which Sonic becomes startled. Prim begins looking around, raising her ears to stay further alerted. Mangey sniffs the air, then hides behind Ryder.
"Don't worry buddy. I got ya." Ryder pats his back.
"Run!" Prim tells them, and they all sprint away, but Prim stops Ryder and Sonic from going with them. "Not you! Go deal with the monster!" She told them.
"A-aren't you gonna help us?" Ryder asked, a little scared.
"Not are job. We had a deal. Stick with it!" Prim yelled before running away.
"Right! We'll deal with the monster. You go find those berries." Sonic climbs up onto a tree root. "Alright, monster, show yourself!" The "monster" runs through the bushes again. Sonic stays alerted of his surroundings and where it is headed. Meanwhile, the Scavengers continue to make their way out of the jungle. "I'm right here. Come and get me!"
Ryder hears the "monster" again inside the bushes. He runs forward, swings on a vine and lands on the ground, then becomes shocked to see what is ahead of him; Thorns. Instead of going through the valley of thorns, he instead uses his claws from the gloves to climb around them, and while he is climbing up a tree, he sees a large sum of berry's ripe for the picking. "The berry patch! I found it!" He turns around to call them. "Hey, guys! Sonic I found a bunch of berries. Two berries for everybod-" He is interrupted by some screeching from the "monster" and sees the Scavengers be set flying by it. He looks around for Sonic and finds him alone. He jumps down behind him and taps his shoulder, startling him.
"Whoa!" Sonic said.
"Relax. It's just me." Ryder eases him.
"Oh. Good. Could you please not startle me next time there's a monster on the loose."
"I'll try to remember that."
They then hear another ruffle sound coming from the bushes.
"Okay, so you're pretty quick, but how quick?" They begin running forward, avoiding plants and vines along the way. Sonic accidentally rolls over, but Ryder catches him and gets him back onto his feet. They continue to look in the bushes to not lose sight of where the "monster" is. It seems to be large and covered in feathers.
"What's back there? Show yourself, monster!" Sonic yells as he slides on the ground to avoid the "monster" again "Yikes!"
"Yeah, how about we just run away from the big scary monster?" Ryder asks.
"Uhh, good plan." Sonic agrees as they continues running ahead. They jumps over various plants and even a large branch. "Whoa! This place needs a monster-sized weed whacker! I can't hit the gas!"
"You're right." Ryder skids to a stop and pulls Sonic with him by the arm. "Enough running. If we don't face it head on, we can't win." Ryder looks around. "Can't fight what we can't see. But..." Ryder points to his ears for Sonic to get the point.
"Right! We've got other senses!" Sonic looks up to his own ears, thinking they could be the key to scoping out the "monster".
"Exactly." Ryder said as he begins moving them around to do so. He listens to his surroundings, trying to scope out the possible location of the "monster". He then hears some ruffles coming from behind. "Behind us!" Suddenly the large beast reveals itself as it attempts to slam onto them, but they manage to flip away and see what this "monster" is. As the dust settles they see that the true monster is... a giant pink flicky.
"Haha! You're no monster. You're just a giant Flicky!" The bird caws again angrily. "You're gonna regret saying that." Sonic spin-dashes the bird. She gets knocked down. "Gotcha!" The bird gets up "You wanna dance? Let's party!"
"Hey Sonic, what do you say to a little spinning pinball?" Ryder requests.
"Ryder, I think you just read my mind." Sonic smirks as they both ready up, and curl into spin dashes and hit the bird from different angles and then hitting trees and striking the Flicky again, over and over and over like a pinball machine. The bird gets dizzy and falls to the ground.
"Ha! And stay down!" Sonic points at it in victory.
"Man, that was easy. And to think, Eggman could probably make a super-robot with a Flicky of this size." Ryder observes.
"Well, no need to worry about that. You can come down now, I defeated the monster." Sonic alerts the Scavengers.
"That's not the monster. That's the monster's pet!" Prim tells them.
"Say what now?" Sonic and Ryder say at the same time in shock of this new development.
The real monster is hiding in the bushes. She looks out angrily at Sonic, then hits him with her hammer. He goes flying.
"Whaaa!" Sonic and Ryder cry out as they lands into a pile of thorns.
"Ow! Spikes?" Sonic pulls a spike out of his cheek. "I hate spikes."
"Come on!" Ryder picks him up and they start running. The monster steps forward again. She begins slamming her hammer onto the ground near Sonic and Ryder. They begin to crawl away. Suddenly, Sonic falls and notices that his leg has become stuck in a tangle of thorns. Birdie appears, flying down towards him. Ryder desperately tries to pull Sonic out. The real monster gets further and further towards him, gripping her fist onto her hammer ready to attack Sonic again. Her hammer drags along the ground. Sonic leg eventually manages to break free from the tangled up thorns and Ryder falls from pulling. The monster finally manages to hit Sonic with her hammer and flips to strike Ryder to the same tree, causing Sonic to dodge. He lands into a tree, then goes sliding onto the ground. He opens his eyes to notice the monster jumping towards him. He looks up and becomes shocked by who it is: Boscage Amy Rose.
Sonic gasps at her. "You're the monster? Ugh, oh, those guys up above have really got it-" The monster holds her hammer up to Sonic's chest "-wrong."
"You hurt my jungle..." Amy hits Sonic with her hammer. "I hurt you!" She strikes Ryder as well.
"Amy, stop! We're friends!" Dodges an attack from her hammer "You like me!" Ducks down. He lowers his ears to avoid them getting hit by Amy's hammer. "...to some extent." She attempts to hit his head but is blocked by Ryder.
"Run!" Ryder exclaims, and they both sprint for it.
"Get out!" Both Amy and Birdie begin running after the Hedgehogs, who are trying to get away. They jump over a log, then begins running up a tree. Sonic looks down to notice that he's not being chased anymore, and smiles as a relief. However, Birdie jumps down and attempts to slam them both, but Ryder notices in time to jump away, with Sonic being slammed back onto the ground.
"And stay out!" She said before using her hammer to launch Sonic to the sky. Ryder watches his friend get sent flying and decides not to hold back anymore.
"Okay Amy, you asked for it. No more mister nice Hedgehog." Ryder then extends his claws and poses while growling.
Amy just stares at him. "What are you doing?" She asks.
Ryder stops posing, feeling awkward. "Oh, you know. I'm... Wolverining."
"Wolverine...ing?"
"Yeah. If Hugh Jackman can do it I can."
"What are you talking about?"
"Wait, you've never seen Deadpool & Wolverine? It's one of the most grossing movies of all time. It's awesome!" Ryder said, shocked.
"If it's gross, how is it awesome?"
"Because gross means... oh right no technology... or movies... or phones... You know what? Back to fighting." He charges at Amy with his claws. Ryder tries to slash her but she blocks with her hammer. She tries hitting him but he blocks with his claws and pushes the hammer away. He tries to slash again but she locks them with the hammer handle and twists his claws left, forcing him to retract them, punch her in the face, and bring his claws out again. Amy tries to strike his head but he grabs the end of it with his left hand and uses his right hand to slash her in the face, with them reaching her right cheek and causing her to move away in pain. She touches her cheek and sees blood on her fingers, causing her to get angry and for Ryder to be shocked and scared.
"...I'm sorry." He apologizes, but that isn't enough to quench her fury. She flips above him, lands behind him, and uses her hammer to strike him. He turns and blocks with his claws, but she keeps trying, striking again, and again, and again until his claws begin to crack and the ones in his right glove break off. "Whoa whoa. Hold up please!" Just as she is about to strike him down with a final strike, she stops, freezes in shock, and takes a close look at him. "Uh, not that I'm complaining but why am I not being pounded to the ground?"
"I know you." Amy revealed.
"What?" Ryder asked for a repeat in case he heard it wrong.
"I said I know you. You think you can fool me with that berry juice for paint? You always were a fool Ricky."
"Ricky? Uh, no. I think I get what's going on here. You see-" As Ryder tries to get up, he is stopped by the hammer, which puts him back down. "Oh, okay. Still doing this."
"So you finally pick a side, and just when you do you choose the wrong one. I thought you were smarter than that, but in the end, you turned out to be a disappointment." She preps to finish him off.
Ryder sighs. "Why is it that every Amy I've encountered today has tried to kill me?"
"I don't know who this Amy is, but she sounds like Gnarly." Boscage Amy says as her last words to him. As she is about to land the final strike she sees an unexpected Sonic speed towards her.
"Stay away from my friend!" He goes to save his friend, but then something stops him from making his move, and he skids to a stop. "I can't smash you!" He gets hit by Amy's hammer, who abandons the shocked Ryder. "Ow! Quick recap..." Birdie charges to Sonic, but he misses. "...I'm not from around here." Amy tries to hit Sonic with her hammer. She misses once more. She continues to swing it in front of him. "Violence never solves anything." Amy swings her hammer towards him again "And where I'm from..." Sonic spin-dashes to avoid Amy's hammer again "...You and I are buds."
"My name is Thorn Rose, and you are finished!" She swings him like a baseball away from the scene.
"Sonic!" Ryder said as he presses the button on his shoes and activates them at full power. His eyes and chest start to glow blue and the tattoo appears once again. He then runs at his highest capacity to Sonic's aid. Little did he know he was being covertly followed by Thorn, as well as another dark figure, hiding high in the trees. Some sort of Hedgehog who swiftly traveled through the trees towards the adversaries.
"Ugh!" At the crash site, Sonic looks behind himself. He notices that one of the two Flickies are stuck inside the mud puddle, desperately trying to break free. He runs over to help it. He picks it up and begins blowing his air onto the mud covered on the Flicky to clean it up. "There you go." Lets go of the Flicky he was holding. "You're free now, little Flickies." Thorn watched this action and was surprised by this show of kindness.
Ryder finally reaches Sonic, still glowing blue. "You okay bro?"
"Eh. A little sore from those blows to the head, but I'll be fine." The Hedgehogs look at the broken tree stumps surrounding them.
"What the heck happened here?" Ryder wondered before getting a surprise entrance and surprise by Thorn Rose, who is carried by Birdie.
"You're what happened here. You and your kind above, hacked and slashed, and nearly destroyed it all!"
"Our kind?" Sonic repeated, confused and slightly offended.
"You Scavengers took everything the jungle had to offer and left this." Sonic looks around at the damage caused by the Scavengers long before he entered Boscage Maze.
"Oh-ho yeah. I can totally buy that." Ryder said, not at all surprised by the mess that the Scavengers left behind.
"I'm bringing back nature. By force, if I have to!" Thorn tries to hit Sonic with her hammer but Sonic drops to the ground and dodges her, giving Ryder the chance to kick up the hammer and take it for himself.
"Yes. Now let's see how you like it jerk!" Ryder then hits Thorn with the hammer and she is set flying backwards but is caught by Birdie. She looks like she's ready to strike back, but she sees something surprising, a glow in their shoes.
"Wait. That glow..." Thorn said, revealing said glow to them.
Sonic takes a look. "Huh? Yes! That means there's gotta be a Shard nearby!"
"Great. Let's find it and get out of here." Ryder said.
"'Shard'? No! I've seen that before. It looks like the Great Green." Thorn tells them.
"It's pretty powerful stuff. Can you help me find this "Great Green"? This jungle's been giving me, uh, a little bit of trouble." Sonic takes the hammer from Ryder and offers it to Thorn in peace.
Thorn takes it and rolls her eyes. "Fine. I'll help you. As long as it means you're out of my jungle... for good!" She and Birdie lead the Hedgehogs down a path. Though they didn't know it, the dark figure still dwells near.
Looking around Ryder decided to speak curiously. "You say the Scavengers did all this?"
"Yes. We all used to live together in harmony with nature. But then they got greedy, always taking, never considering the harm they were doing to the world around them." Thorn explains.
Sonic ducks under a tree root as does Ryder. "So that's why you chased them off and went all... whatever this is." Birdie lands behind Sonic with a loud slam to the ground. He becomes startled. "Hey! I meant it as a compliment." He continues to walk with Thorn Rose. "I mean, this is way less creepy than the last you I met."
"Last me?" Thorn asked, confused.
"Let's just say multiverse theories a b****."
"Whoa! Language! But yeah. It's a long story. If you used to live in harmony with the others, why don't you just bring everybody together and, you know, work it out? They deserve to survive too, yeah?"
Thorn annoyed, points her hammer at Sonic. "Do you ever stop talking?"
"Eh, not really." Ryder remarks. Sonic doesn't disagree.
As they keep moving, Thorn pushes a bush aside and it hits Sonic in the face.
"Ow!" Ryder laughs at his misfortune.
They continue to walk with Thorn Rose & Birdie. "Listen, I get that you and the tree peeps don't see eye-to-eye on stuff." Sonic looks down at his shoes, which are still glowing, as he gets closer to the Great Green "But isn't calling them Scavengers a little... dark?" He stops for a moment, but Birdie caws at him, telling him to hurry up and get moving.
"Quit it Birdie!" Ryder said as they start to walk again.
"What else would I call them?" Thorn asks, not really looking for an answer for a name for those she hates.
"How about foragers, or hunters?" Ryder offers.
"We both know 'Forager' is too good of a name for them." Thorn disagrees.
Ryder shrugs in agreement. "Good point."
"How about happy, happy, fun upstairs people just tryin' to live?" Sonic offers optimistically.
"Do you even think they would like that name?"
"I'm an optimist."
"You're an idiot."
Thorn Rose puts her hammer to Sonic's chest again "You're both wrong. He's dead if he keeps defending them. There's nothing fun about destruction. It's all they know." They keep walking.
"So... who's Ricky?" Ryder asks Thorn.
"What do you mean? Clearly you're Ricky. Painting yourself with blueberries doesn't fool me."
"It's not blueberry. Look, let me prove it." Ryder walks up to a water puddle and wipes it on his fur. He shows her the fur and reveals that it's still blue.
"Oh. Then I guess you aren't Ricky. Sorry."
"It's cool. But who is he? I didn't see a Ricky back up there."
"He was once my friend. He too believed that we should not take more from the land than what it can give us, not to abuse it. But when I decided to fight back, instead of joining me, he abandoned me. He said that he wasn't going to get caught in this battle and that it wasn't his problem."
"Hmm. Sounds like a jerk move."
"He was also really annoying. You remind me of him a lot." Thorn adds.
"Gee thanks." Ryder said sarcastically with narrow eyes. Ryder notices the glow getting stronger and sprints towards the end.
"Behold... the Great Green!" Thorn said, revealing a giant version of the crew's special palm tree.
"The palm... It's--" Sonic begins talking.
"Magnificent? Yes." Thorn points her hammer to Sonic's chest again. "Now do your thing and get out of my jungle!"
"If my kicks are right, and they always are," Sonic points to the ground "the Shard is buried down here." He clenches his fists. He gets out the claws connected to his gloves. "Let's get to digging Ryder."
"Uhh, I would, but thanks to Wilderness Survivor here, my right claws are destroyed."
"Hey! You brought that upon yourself for what you did to me." Thorn points to her slashes on her cheek.
"Fine. I got this." Sonic uses his claws to dig into the ground so he can grab the Shard. Thorn, Ryder & Birdie look down as he gets the Shard. "I found it!" Sonic spin-dashes out of the hole. "But I can't touch it or I... you know, poof!"
"Just get a leaf or something." Ryder suggests and receives a nod from Sonic, who goes back into the ground to get the Shard. He digs up the other side and puts out the Green Shard, wrapped in the leaf he caught. Thorn Rose becomes fascinated by the sight of it.
"Magnificent!"
"Yeah, it's pretty, but trust me, this thing is-" Sonic is then surprised by the surprise attack from Thorn.
"Mine!" She hits Sonic with her hammer, causing him to let go of the Shard and send it flying in the air.
Ryder stares in shock. "What are you doing?" He said to Thorn who holds the Shard and places it onto her hammer. It grows vines around the hammer.
"Give me that back!" Ryder spin-dashes towards Thorn.
"As if I would give the heart of my jungle to a stranger. 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.
And that's it for now. Thanks for tuning in. Sorry for taking so long. I was occupied, and there was another Fan-Fiction I needed to focus on. But don't worry my friends. I have delivered, and don't worry, you'll meet Ricky next time, and I'll be sure to make it quicker. Also for all you Gleeks, I'm also working on Duets. I have something interesting in store for Sunshine this time around. See you all next time and as usual
Drift out!