Disclaimer: Sonic The Hedgehog and all related characters are copyright to SEGA.

Athair the Echidna was originally copyright to Sonic Archie Comics and Sonic Underground. I changed him a lot, but they still get credit.

Knives, Aleena, etc, Lemon the Echidna, Tenchi the Hedgehog and all related characters that don't belong to SEGA belong to me, Zeldafreak-Vikki and my friend, Alyssa the Bat!

Author's Note: Two parts done with 204 reviews. I never dreamed this was even possible with my first fic. (I figured it would be flamed in its first week!) Thank-you all SO MUCH for all of your feedback, this is all helping me to become a better writer. (or so I hope) Anywho, be prepared to meet some NEW characters!!! In CHAPTER 26!!! (all the new characters is kinda the reason this is so late, that, and I've been insane with my comic and art, har)

PART THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX – SURPRISE, SURPRISE

FIVE YEARS LATER...

"WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

"Mom!! Mom!! Radar got stuck in the tree again!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO PUT ME UP HERE!!! AAAHHHHHH!!!"

Amy slapped her forehead as she sat there with Rouge. They were in the central park of Station Square, having a picnic in celebration of the first day of spring. The pink cherry blossoms were in full bloom and there were many families out viewing the beautiful trees. But when Amy looked up in the tree nearest to her, she could see an orange figure hanging onto one of the branches. Rouge stood up, hands on her hips. Unlike Amy, Rouge hadn't changed that much, except she wore more casual clothes these days.

"Radar!! What are you doing up there?!"

The little bat looked to her, his lip trembling. "It's Knives' fault! He's the one who put me up here!!" He pointed to the little red hedgehog who was standing at the base of the tree, giggling. Rouge glared to Amy, who grinned apologetically. Knives, her son, had a knack for mischief. Just like his father.

"FEAR NOT, RADAR, I'LL SAVE YOU!!!"

Everybody stared as Knuckles the echidna burst out from a nearby tree, startling a group of humans. He came speeding through the air, his hands out in front of him, letting out a great battle cry, and went smashing into the tree his son was stuck in. Radar screamed and held on for dear life as Knuckles landed, cackling.

"Don't worry, Radar, you're fine!!"

Radar seemed to have turned white with fear, as he did not reply. Knuckles picked up the terrified four year-old and jumped to the ground, putting him down. The little bat simply flopped over, scared out of his mind. Rouge smacked Knuckles over the head and began yelling at him.

"What is the MATTER with you?!"

Amy chuckled. Ever since the Ultimate Life-Form had been dealt with, peace seemed to have finally found them. Dr. Eggman was nowhere to be found and wasn't seen as a threat any longer. Arashi had made sure Jigoku was kept safely locked away. And now that Shuri was around, Yami wouldn't cause anymore trouble. And so they had all settled down. And Amy couldn't be happier. Her and Sonic were married a few months after Shadow and Lemon's disappearance and now, five years later, they had two children. She looked over to where Arashi was sitting, holding her youngest child, Aleena, who was only a few months old.

"Everything ok, dad?" she asked. Arashi looked up, smiling a little. He still had trouble dealing with happy emotions, but he had at least learned to smile a little. "Mm-hm!" he replied, keeping his voice down. "She's sleeping..."

Amy grinned and stood up. "Well! Everything seems fine here then! Wanna go for a walk, Rouge?" Rouge glanced back, then shrugged as a yes. Anything to find some peace and quiet.

"Don't leave poor Arashi alone with all the kids, okay, Knuckles?" said Rouge, giving Knuckles a stern look. Knuckles gave her a big smile. "Awww, Rouge, I won't go anywhere!!"

"Suuuure, you won't..." mumbled the bat in reply.

Amy looked up to the top branch of the tree she was standing under. "Keep an eye on 'em, Sonic!!"

Sonic the Hedgehog looked down at her as he lounged around a tree branch, soaking up the warmth of the sun.

"Yeah, no prob, Ames. Have a nice walk."

Amy smiled and her and Rouge made their way through the park and were soon out of the sight. The two boys continued to play around (once Radar was out of shock, anyway) and Sonic just lazed around, keeping an eye on them. Knuckles walked over to the tree.

"Hey, Sonic!!! Come down here for a second!!"

"What is it, Knuckles?"

"Guh!!" Knuckles turned around, seeing Sonic had zoomed down from the tree and landed behind him before he could blink. Sure, the hedgehog had settled down and had a family, but he was even faster than he used to be now. Knuckles coughed.

"Uh... You heard from...Shadow at all?"

Sonic raised an eye ridge. "No, nobody has. No word from Lemon either, hey?"

Knuckles nodded. "Nothing at all. I'm scared for her, man... What if they separated and she's all alone?!"

Sonic shrugged. "Lemon'll be okay... it's Shad I worry about."

Knuckles opened his mouth, about to start one of their daily arguments about Shadow, when another voice called out, cutting him off.

"DADDY!!! MOMMY!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!"

Sonic looked behind him to the tree where Arashi was sitting and the three adults saw a small child come out from around the base of the trunk. And her appearance alone was enough to make Knuckles gasp with shock.

It was a little girl echidna. Judging by her height, she must've been around four or five years-old. Her fur was yellow and her short, golden quills fell down around her face. Knuckles blinked and stared at her. Her quills were awfully short for an echidna her age. And that wasn't the only strange thing about her: black streaks seemed to run through all of her quills, as well as her arms. Sonic approached the girl slowly, seeing that her big red eyes were glistening with tears.

"Hey, there..." he said, as gently as he could. "Are you lost?"

The little girl stared up at him, as if she was about to scream at the top of her lungs. Knuckles walked up beside Sonic and the girl's eyes became wider.

"Hey!!" She raised her little hand and pointed right at Knuckles. "I know you!! You're Knuckles, right?"

Knuckles blinked as Sonic began to chuckle. This seemed quite funny to him.

"Uh... yeah, that's me..." He blinked, confused. "How do you know me?"

The girl smiled, laughing. "Mommy talks about you alllllll the tiiime!!"

Knuckles scowled, his face turning a bit red as Sonic burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. The angry echidna raised his already clenched fist and brought it down HARD on Sonic's head. "IT'S-NOT-FUNNY-SONIC!!!"

"Sonic?" piped up the little girl, staring in wonder. "Ohhhh, I know about you!! My daddy says he's faster 'n you!!"

Sonic felt his eye twitch as Knuckles began to laugh. The blue hedgehog clenched his teeth. NOBODY was faster than him. NOBODY. "Haha. Sure, kid." He glared over to Knuckles. "Oh, shut it, already!!"

The girl blinked as she watched the two begin to argue before her. She felt her face burn as her patience grew quite short...

"STOP IT!!!" she screamed, making nearby strangers look up. The two guys looked down at her, their eyes wide. Arashi simply chuckled and went back to watching the children. The little girl sniffled, tears beginning to fall down her red cheeks again.

"I just wanna find my mommy!!"

Sonic kneeled down before the child and gently wiped the tears away. "Aw, don't cry, kid, we'll find your mom... what's your name?"

The little girl sobbed before replying. "S-Sakura."

Sonic grinned. "Alrighty then!! Let's go find your parents, Sakura!"

Lemon the echidna clenched her teeth as she ran through the park, starting to panic. Where WAS she?!

"Sakura!!! SAKURAA!!!!"

She looked up ahead and suddenly stopped, recognizing Rouge the Bat and Amy Rose walking down the sidewalk, talking to each other. She called out their names as she sprinted over to them, desperate.

"Rouge!! Amy!!"

"Hm?" Rouge looked up, surprised. "Oh my God!! Lemon?! Is that really you?!"

Lemon came to a screeching halt before them, panting slightly. "Rouge! You've gotta help me!! I've lost my daughter!!!"

"DAUGHTER?!"

"Ugh, I'll explain AFTER we find her, okay?! I lost her in a crowd!!"

"R-Right! Let's go, Amy!"

"Right!"

One hour passed. One long, painful hour. Sonic and Knuckles walked through the ENTIRE park with Sakura, Sonic holding her hand as Knuckles brought up the rear of their small party, looking around. But nobody recognized the little girl, and she only knew her mother as "Mommy", it seemed. Same deal with her father. Sonic decided to try asking more questions about them, now that she had stopped crying. She actually seemed to be enjoying this search.

"So, I'm guessing your parents are echidnas?" he said, his voice quite low from boredom.

Sakura shook her head. "Nuh-uh! Only my mommy is!!"

"Huh?" Sonic stopped walking, staring down at the girl. Couldn't be... "Oh...well, she must have black fur then..."

The young girl shook her head again. "She's yellow like me, silly!"

Knuckles' eyes widened as he caught on to what Sakura was saying...

"Your mother must have red eyes then...?" said Sonic weakly.

Another shake of her head. "Nooo, daddy has red eyes though!!!"

Knuckles felt his body go rigid. "NO!!! JUST- NO!!"

Both Sonic and Sakura looked back at him. "Knuckles, shut up! We're in public, moron!!"

But the echidna's anger had risen too much to be subdued anytime soon. "THIS IS LEMON'S KID, ISN'T IT?! SHE ALWAYS LIKED THE NAME SAKURA AND THIS KID LOOKS JUST LIKE HER!!!!"

Sonic laughed nervously. "Nuh-Now, now, Knuckles, no need to flip ou-"

"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO FLIP OUT!!! MY SISTER RUNS OFF WITH SOME DUMB HEDGEHOG AND NOW I SEE THEY'VE GOTTA KID?!"

Sonic gulped. Knuckles was pretty scary right now... "C'mon, Knux, we don't know that's really Lemon's daughter!! Or Shadow's!"

Knuckles yelled, making Sakura run and hide behind Sonic's legs. "IT'S OBVIOUS, SONIC, DON'T YOU DARE DENY IT, YOU BAST-"

"Sakura!!"

Knuckles looked to Sonic and saw a very peculiar look on his face. He couldn't quite decide if he looked shocked or just plain scared. He blinked, then felt a shiver run down his spine. He whirled around and ended up yelling and stepping back in surprise.

A black hedgehog stood there firmly, his clenched fists down by his sides, one of which was heavily bandaged, as was the rest of that arm. His red eyes gleamed with worry and what seemed like a small amount of anger. It was Shadow... but he was so different now...

"Daddy!!!" exclaimed Sakura, running to Shadow and crying at the same time. Shadow kneeled down and hugged her close as she threw herself against him, sobbing. He wrapped his scarred arms around her, breathing a sigh of relief. Then he grasped her lightly by the shoulders and faced her sternly.

"Sakura, where did you go? You scared your mother half to death." He didn't seem very angry, but Sakura still looked scared.

"I-I lost her in that big group of people... I'm sorry, Daddy..." There was a small silence, then she gasped as she looked to Shadow's bandaged arm. "Omigosh, daddy!! Did you hurt yourself AGAIN?!"

Shadow went a little red as he stood up, holding his arm. "Uh, it's nothing... I just fell..." He coughed, then looked over. "Oh, there's your mom. Better go let her know I found you."

"Mommy!!!" And off she went.

Shadow looked up to see Sonic and Knuckles staring at him. The black hedgehog scowled back at them. He had been hoping to not see them just yet.

"Sh-Shadow...?" stuttered Knuckles, speechless. Sonic, however, stepped forward, looking at his friend.

"Wow, what'd you do...?" He pointed to Shadow's face, where a scar ran down his left eye. Shadow narrowed his eyes in annoyance and covered his eye with his hand, obviously uncomfortable. "None of your business." Sonic was about to protest when Shadow was suddenly assaulted from behind. He clenched his teeth as somebody grabbed him by the throat and began choking his roughly. He grunted and quickly grabbed the person's arms, heaving them down so that the person was flipped over him and landed in between him and Sonic.

Sonic blinked. "Hm, see you still have them reflexes..." He looked down to see who had been foolish enough to try and attack Shadow and his eyes widened. "Oh crap..."

Shadow wished right there and then he could disappear off the face of the Earth.

"Uh... H-Hi, Athair! Long time n-no see, huh?!"

"...HEDGE-HOOOOOG!!!!"

Author's Note: I'M STILL ALIVE! Yes, this chapter sucked. More will be explained in the next one, I swear it. I'm sorry this took me so long to update, I had to learn HTML, construct a new site on Fireball20XL, plus I've started two comic series (one of which includes my widdle Tenchi!) and I'm moving again in a week. JOY. The next chapter will be easier to update, this chap gave me some trouble because I wasn't too sure how to introduce my new characters... You'll learn more about them as time goes on, and I'm planning to draw up some profiles for all the characters here, because I'm getting questions on what some of them look like so... yeah... Har. See ya next time!