And Sonic said Tails was a gear head geez. Spike thought as he admired the garage. Boards and accessories as far as the garage could fit. "You guys sure got a lot of gear."

"Blame Korbin." Lindsey chimed in. "She practically buys just about everything she can get her claws on."

"Can you blame me?" Korbin quickly responded in defense. "Each gear is like a little baby to me, every type and every accessory that goes with it."

Spike quickly huddled next to Lindsey as Korbin cuddled with the nearest board in sight, even continuing on to kiss it like it were a real person. "From what I saw, those boards are pretty expensive, how does she afford them?"

"I don't know how she even affords one. I imagine she has some kind of job or something that she hasn't told me about." Lindsey then ripped the board away from her and placed it back on its respective rack. "Would you knock it off and help me get Spike settled in?"

Korbin crossed her arms and growled like a kitten before motioning Spike to follow her inside. They made their way from the garage to a small hallway where a variety of paintings hung. "These are nice pictures, but who are they of?"

Lindsey giggled, the memories coming back to her. "This is our history, Spike. Our fathers were friends back in day and thanks to that,"

"Me and Lin Lin have been friends since we were kids." Korbin quickly responded jumping on Lindsey's back.

"I requested that you not to call me Lin Lin."

"But it's so cute!"

"And childish, that's why I said stop calling me that."

"Can I at least stay on your back, it's comfy."

"You're just a big housecat aren't you?" Lindsey uttered as Korbin purred into her shoulder. "Anyway, the first EX-Gear was developed 30 years ago, at least the first prototype."

"And guess what? Our papas were the first to test them."

"The way they described it, it was something otherworldly for them. Straight out of the future, as if defying what the earth planned."

"They got so much better and eventually helped develop the first successful EX-Gear." Korbin happily meowed at her comment. "They were the most awesome riders to ever touch an EX-Gear, so awesome that the gods themselves graced them."

"Korbin stop exaggerating."

"But they were though."

"19 pictures sit on this wall, all of the amazing feats our family has accomplished. This one, 25 years ago, my father won the first Grand Prix"

"And this one, 2 years later, my dad won the next one." Korbin happily added.

"Soon, our mother became interested in riding, then our uncles, aunts, and cousins, and so on and so forth until we and our cousins were the family's next generation of riders."

Spike thought himself before putting 2 and 2 together. "You said "our" mother?"

"Oh yes, we're half-sisters," Lindsey said with a smile. "As you can see in this one over here, our mother was a monkey. She met our fathers about 20 years ago but couldn't bear to choose between them. The two were inseparable and choosing between them would more than likely cause tension between them. So she chose them both. My father was a monkey and so, 1 year later, I was born a monkey."

"And mine was a cat, so one year later, I was born a cute little kitty cat."

Spike smiled as he continued to observe the pictures. "Most of the time, something like that would cause tension between a family, having two dads you know. But somehow someway, you guys worked it out and have a happy family."

A sudden tear came to Spike's cheek, his mind in heavy thought. Lindsey instantly took notice and gently wiped his tear away. "Spike, are you ok?"

"Yea...uh yea just..." he uttered wiping another tear away.

Both Lindsey and Korbin looked at each other, concern for the young dragon on their faces. "Spike, do you miss your parents in the other world?"

"Well...I guess I can't say, never really had any."

"Did they...leave you?"

"I have...no idea. I was born from an egg...by the number 1 girl in the world, Twilight Sparkle. She's done so much for me, I might as well call her mom."

"So this Twilight Sparkle isn't your mom?"

"Well no...she's a pony...and I'm a dragon. I imagine I did have parents, else I wouldn't be here. As for what happened while I was in that egg that somehow ended me up in the hooves of ponies...I don't know."

"Spike..."

"I miss them and I don't even know them. If I had one chance to meet them, just one...I would...Um sorry, I didn't mean to push my sob story on you."

"No no, it's ok right Korbin?"

"Yea Spike, everyone needs to vent a little every once in a while."

Spike smiled and wiped the last of his tears. "Thanks guys, I didn't think everyone would be this nice to a total stranger in this world." It was then that his attention was drawn to an empty picture frame. "What about his one, it's empty?"

"Well every one of the families under our family tree has their respective wall of pictures and everyone has done something to land them a spot on it."

"They either won a Grand Prix, huge battle competitions, or even did something totally out of this world." Korbin excitedly added.

"That empty frame is ours, for when we do something truly spectacular, something that will make our family think twice before assuming a Grand Prix is the ultimate win, something that can outdo...her," Lindsey said pointing to a picture of a white monkey with red eye shadow in the middle of a race.

"Who is she?"

"She was a family friend and the best EX-teacher in all of Mobius."

"Least in our opinion," Korbin added. "She taught us everything we know about the sport, but recently she's become a bit...jerky...jerkish? Well, she's a jerk just to simplify it."

"We all looked up to her at one point in time. She owns the top spot on the leaderboard for her 3 consecutive Grand Prix wins. No one else can claim that title, not even Sonic the hedgehog has won 3 in a row."

"Really?" Spike said surprised. "He told me he was pretty good."

Lindsey chuckled. "And he is. He's just as fast on that board as he his on his feet, but to get 3 wins in a row is a long risk. You're talking making to the finals every single time against well-suited riders not to mention the skill of the finalist his or herself. We just need to find our chance, something that will earn us that spot at the top."

"Well," Spike began. "Sonic and his friends are held in pretty high standards from what I saw of their races, even discovered the lost home of the Babylonians I think Sonic said. If you beat them, it would be a pretty astounding feat."

Korbin quickly and excitedly jumped up and down. "Oh yeah, he's not wrong. Those guys came into the scene and like a blur, they were nailing 1st place spots and everything. If we beat them, that would help our cause."

Lindsey thought about it for a moment then smiled. "Well, our dads do kinda admire Sonic and his friends. If we beat the legendary Blue Blur then this achievement would be set in stone."

Spike nodded and gave a quick thumbs up. "Then it's decided. Our first goal will be acing the EX 4 Ever World Grand Prix, then I'll help you two solidify your legacy with something awesome."

Everyone gave a playful cheer as they agreed and continued the tour of their home. They exited the hallway and entered the living room where on the left lay the kitchen and the front door, and on the right lay a mounted flat screen, 2 beds, and a couch in between them. Korbin pushed Spike as they made their way towards the beds. "Welcome to where the fun happens stud."

"Korbin." Lindsey annoyingly called out.

"Can't I just have a little fun with him?"

Those words brought a deep blush to Spike's cheeks and warmness to his body. Hopefully, Lindsey would diffuse the situation."He is a guest Korbin, a new and fragile one at that, pulling his tail all night is not as fun for him as it is for you."

"Aww fine. As you can see, the kitchen's over there where I make all my delicious meals for us."

"A live tuna on a sandwich is not my ideal idea of a delicious meal."

"It is for me." she happily replied. "And over here are our beds, but you'll have to sleep on the couch unless you're willing to make a deal."

Again the blush on his cheeks was apparently clear. "Um...my tail says no...But wait, if you guys sleep out here, then what's in the back?"

"Well, every pro has to have one simulation chamber."

"Simulation chamber?"

"For days when there's nothing EX related going on outside, that or it's raining or snowing really bad and too dangerous to ride."

Lindsey then tossed Spike a can of soda before continuing upon Korbin's explanation. "The chamber uses a Virtual Reality system to project an environment into your mind. It disables motor functions so you can ride as if in real life. You're basically still getting practice just in your head."

Spike gasped with excitement. "That's really awesome."

"EX news says it's possibly going to pour down tomorrow, so maybe we'll give a whirl if you really want to. Honestly though, I'm really tired and I didn't even notice, I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep any sooner."

"Me either," Korbin said letting out a yawn and stretching. "I need to sleep like neooow."

Suddenly the two began removing their added clothes. First their shoes, then their gloves, all the way until they wore nothing but those leotards. Spike sat motionless, the blush stronger than ever as if a force was forcing him to admire their forms. "You ok Spike?" Lindsey asked.

"Y-yea...just...I...you guys are..."

"I think he's embarrassed." Nicole's voice chimed in as she appeared full size out of spike's wrist.

Korbin suddenly gasped as Nicole came into view. "Nicolie olie!"

"Long time no see you two."

Spike cocked his head in confusion. "You guys know each other?"

"Well, I have friends too Spike, I met them a couple of years ago at a cafe. We got to talking and turns out we had a lot in common. Besides, I can't be Nicole the computer program forever."

Korbin rushed to hug Nicole like she was prey. "I missed you so much!"

"You too Korbin. Have you been behaving yourself lately?"

"Of course I have, I'm not as bad as you think I am."

Her eyes seemed to squint in disbelief as she turned to Lindsey. "Lindsey."

"She "accidentally" clawed a guy's face a week ago."

"Accidentally? What happened Korbin?" She said an annoyed motherly tone.

"Well..." Suddenly she dropped to her and pouted like a small child. "I...may have gotten a little mad at him..."

"For?"

"He said I was doing a move wrong."

"I'm waiting Korbin."

"He said I was doing a move wrong."

"And that gave you a reason to claw his face?"

"He was basically bullying me."

"I think he was giving you advice. Now I want you to think about your actions before you claw another guy's face ok?"

"Ok..."

"Good, now drink your soda."

"Yes mam."

Both you and Lindsey stared at each other with confusion but just shook your heads. "Say, I just noticed but how did you and Spike meet?" Lindsey asked, her curiosity peaking.

Nicole looked at me then nodded. Spike sighed then explained my entire dilemma to them to which they both seemed overly shocked, stopping whatever they were doing no matter what it was. "Wait wait, I just thought you were exaggerating, you're actually from another world where we don't exist?" Korbin said, soda dripping out of her mouth.

"Yea, I thought you understood that."

"Well when you said another world I was thinking maybe off the planet or something but to just jump an entire dimension without emeralds, that's insane."

"It's quite a surprise to me," Lindsey said sounding genuinely surprised. "Look, I'm a little too tired to take this all in so if we could get some sleep first and hopefully redo this tomorrow, that'd be great."

Everyone nodded mentally thanking Lindsey for bringing it to their attention. Korbin made her way under her bed and pulled out a pillow and some covers. "Probably gonna need these Spike."

"Actually, I'm quite fond of a nice cool room."

"Really?"

"I'm a dragon remember. Some things are different for me. The first thing is I like to be a little cold when I sleep, like I'm in a cave."

"Alright then." Korbin returned the two items under her bed and hopped in, pulling the covers over her immediately.

Lindsey slowly slid into hers pulling her covers over her and replacing her eyesight with an eye mask. "Goodnight everyone," she said turning off the light on her side.

Korbin proceeded to do the same and just like that, the room was dark. A few hours passed and soon everyone was out cold, everyone except for Spike. He sighed sitting up from his comfortable position. His eyes slowly shifted, looking at the floor as he was lost in thought, then at Korbin and Lindsey. "...Where's my board?" he said picking up his wrist pad as he looked for it.

Spotting it by the side of the room, he picked it up and approached the front door, not before looking back in concern. He unlocked the door and exited before closing it. A few minutes later, he was riding back into the night, the city within a football field's reach. "And where do you think you're going?" Nicole quickly fired out as she appeared on his wrist pad.

"I'm just...going somewhere to think."

"Think about what?"

"Trust me it's nothing, I'm not hopelessly depressed or anything. But I do need to know where a cliff is or something?"

"If I show you where it is, will you tell me what's up? Pleeeeease?" she asked, her puppy dog eyes paying tribute to the question.

"Ok yes, just please stop with the eyes. I get enough of that from Pinkie and Rainbow." Soon enough to Nicole's instructions, they arrived at a large cliff about a mile of the highway on the edge of the city. Spike looked out to the everlasting desert, the sands and dunes shifting with each second as he put his feet over the side and sat down. "(Sigh)"

"I can tell whatever it is is pretty heavy. Come on, you promised. I'm a good listener I swear."

"Alright alright, just give me a second." He took a deep breath then let it out. "I've...been thinking."

"About that conversation earlier? About your parents?"

"It's shouldn't be this much an issue, I've never questioned it before. Twilight's been the best mom I've ever had, so why now am I suddenly sad about it?"

"Perhaps it was the idea of impressing them, giving the ones who made you something to be proud of?"

"I just wonder...what if I do meet them one day? Would they be proud of who I've become, what I've become? What if I never left them in the first place, would I be better equipped to handle all the things I've had to go through?"

"I understand your plight, it's quite the thought to think of what life would be if things were different. There are a lot of things I would have liked to change in my own life...Robotnik's takeover you know. Would have saved so many lives...but then I think, would anything I know and love today still be here? Would I have stayed in that computer and always been a program instead of living mobian?"

"I see your point, dragons in that world aren't so nice and happy as compared to me. They're usually brash and mean, competitive and greedy, at least most of them. They've begun to show a bit more compassion in certain areas, at least two that I know are showing that they're changing for the better."

"Who are these two might I ask?"

"Oh, the dragon princess Ember and one of her younger students, Smolder. They came to our school of friendship to learn well, friendship."

"Now see, imagine if you had decided to stay with your parents, would you be as nice as you are now?"

"Hmm...that actually makes sense now that I think about it. I kinda guess I came out for nothing huh?"

"Seem like it."

"Well even then, I think I'm gonna stay out here a little bit, you know, get used to sights while I'm at it."

"Don't get to lost in the sights, you have things to do tomorrow."

"I know I know." Nicole disappeared and Spike was left to really wonder what it might have been like if he had met his parents. I mean if I did, I imagine so many things would be so different. I'd have a father and a mother to play with, to give me advice, to give me courage in a time like this. But just like Nicole said, I probably would have never met the ponies then, never would have been as nice as I am now. Twilight's magical prowess always inspired me to do better, Pinkie always kept me happy even when I was down. I most likely would hate ponies too...I guess that's a few negatives to being raised by dragons. Suddenly Spike heard another voice besides his own, one that was feminine and obviously distressed. He searched for it, wondering who it was. After following the sound for a while, he noticed a cliff even lower than the one he was on and sitting at its edge was a girl. Spike quickly dropped down, setting his board down on the rocks and walking towards her. "Excuse me..."

Suddenly she jumped up and screamed, "I swear if you have that Neon girl with you!" Spike dropped to the ground, his heart feeling like it was beating twice as fast as normal. "Oh um...sorry about that kid." she said extending a hand to him. "If you need the cliff it's yours. I was just leaving."

"H-hey wait a minute."

"Hmm?"

"It's just that I came here to think, and it kinda looks like you were thinking too..."

"Why should it be any of your business?"

"I mean...I came here to think too so...If you have any problems, It's better to get it out to someone, you know..."

"You don't even know me kid, I could be a serial killer for all you know."

"You're not are you?"

"No..."

"Oh, well then if you don't wanna talk about it, I'll j-just go. I didn't mean to butt in on your business sorry."

Spike began to nervously walk away until a yank on his tail made him breath a little fire before turning around. "Alright kid, I'll bite. Can't be worse than what's already happened."

"R-really?" he uttered in a muffled tone covering his mouth as smoke snuck out of the corners of his mouth.

"Yea yea, you want to listen or not, because I can leave."

"No no no, let's sit please." Both of them sat down back at the edge of the cliff as they stared into the cloudy moonlit sky. "You mentioned a name a second ago, Neon right?"

"Yea what about it?"

"I met a girl named Neon today, along with with two other birds, one of which was the kind of guy that seems like he likes to bully new competition."

"That's jet alright."

"So you know them?"

"Know them? We're practically family."

"So why weren't you there at sign-ups?"

"Because Neon knows a few different things that make her suddenly a gear expert but while my methods are left in the dust."

"What are your methods then?"

"Slow and calculated hard work kid. The kind of work an EX-Gear really deserves to be the best but no, fast and to the point wins the race apparently."

"Wait a minute, you're that Wave character they were talking about, aren't you?"

"Yep, best EX tuner in the world."

"Better than Tails?"

She took the fetal position placing her head within her knees. "No..."

"I probably shouldn't have said that."

"No...I'm glad you did actually. I mean if I could tell you the truth but...I swear if you laugh." She said with an angered scowl.

"I won't, I swear." He said in fear.

Her attention then turned back toward the sights just beyond the cliff. "I like jet, well...liked jet until I saw he was really a jerk with feathers. That was rubbing off on me and poor storm so I gave him an ultimatum, fix his act or I leave."

"Well seems he made the wrong choice right?"

"You have no idea. He was all "She's so pretty and she can fix EX-Gear in half the time you can" like I'm some type of machine you can replace with a new model. Am I not pretty enough, am I old news or something?"

"No way, you're definitely way more pretty than she is." she quickly jerked her head to stare at him to which he quickly waved his hands in defense. "I-I promise I'm not trying to take advantage of you, I'm just saying. You know maybe he's just looking for a girl that he can control."

"I know that's the case but I'm curious, how do you figure that?"

"Well I learned to read people very well. He has a big ego and it seems like he likes to be in control all the time based on how he treats Neon. That's probably why he got rid of you."

"Yep, that seems about right." She sighed. "Nice to know I'm just a waste of space then."

"That is no way to think Wave. He's just a jerk is all, I imagine if he loses control for even a second, he gets very insecure and very doubtful, or in the case of losing to Sonic, denies everything and does everything he can to win. At least that's what Sonic told me he was like."

"You seem to know your stuff kid. You said Sonic told you that?"

"Yea."

"Any chance you talked to Tails?"

"No, not at all. Apparently, they're setting up the Grand Prix and not really talking to anyone."

"Darn..."

"Is there something going on between you and Tails or should I leave that alone?"

"N-no there's not... He's just some rookie mechanic that got good at messing with EX-Gear. So what if he as smart as he is cute...I don't care."

"I get the feeling you do care."

"So what if I do? I've been messing with them on Jet's behalf every chance we get. It's not like I can change the past and suddenly be all nice and buddy-buddy."

"Well I've realized that some things have to happen in order for things eventually go right. I've been sitting on the idea of meeting my real parents for a while now, I never knew, and instead was raised by ponies."

"Come again?"

"Oh yea, you don't know the full story. Anyway, just think of the chances you would have had to even know about Tails if you hadn't been a Babylon Rogue."

"Well when you put it that way...yea, it would zero to and I would still be on that island doing nothing."

"So why not use that past to turn this negative into a positive?"

"How am I going to do that? I'm not even in the races."

"Well, maybe I'm being overly generous here and a little too optimistic, but what if we got you your chance."

"Come again?"

"Well, you say you're a hardcore EX-mechanic right? What if you joined our team and just maybe if we win, you'll get the chance to talk to him."

"What are you a really persuasive ladies man, why would offer me a spot on your team and you just met me. Remember, serial killer most likely?"

"I mean yes, I get that, but a gamble is a gamble and this is an opportunity that I want to give you, the only one you'll get until the end of the Grand Prix probably."

Wave paused, her eyes closing as she continued to think about it. "It's tempting," she said reopening her eyes. "I'll think about it."

"That's awesome, I'm glad to have you on the--"

"Woah Woah, I said I'll think about it, don't get ahead of yourself kid.

"I-It's actually S-Spike, not kid..."

Wave raised an eyebrow. "Well, you know what kid, you did talk to me against your better judgment so you know what, you earned it. See you later Spike."

"Nice to talking to you." Just as Spike was about to leave, rain began to drip down from the clouds above. He continued to walk until it began to come down harder and harder. Within a minute, it was pouring with a mist blocking Spike's vision almost instantly. "What is with this world, the rain never came down this fast and hard back in Equestria." He felt his way to his board, grabbing it and barely being able to make a step towards wherever he could seek shelter. Suddenly a scream got his attention. His highly attuned ears picked it up immediately coming from the cliff face where Wave was sitting. He dropped the board and quickly made his towards the cliff where instinctively reached out. He caught the feeling of Wave's hand over the cliff face and latched on without error. "Hold on!"

"I don't really have a choice!"

He struggled to pull her up, the rain making his traction slip from under him. He was practically over the cliff at this point and if he didn't pull her up now, they would both fall to rocky sand dunes below, and with the rain, the desert is now a deathtrap of quicksand. Suddenly that draconic feeling kicked in, his arms feeling like they were 10x stronger. He pulled her up with ease and jumped back watching as the cliff began to crumble only seconds afterwards. "You ok?!" he managed to get out though the sound of the overpowering rain.

"Get us out of the rain would you?!"

"R-right!"

Spike quickly moved them to a group of trees blocking out most of the drenching rain before he went back out, grabbed his board, and returned. They both were breathing heavily, the verge of death will do that. After a few seconds, they let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks for that ki--I mean Spike, really. Thought I was gonna bite it there."

"Where did this rain come from?"

"It’s been happening for a week now. We just get a blinding storm out of nowhere in very odd spots, like a specific radius it has. Could be an hour before it goes away, could be more."

"That's insane."

"But really, thank you. If you hadn't been here. I'd probably be dead."

"No problem, I'm just glad my instincts kicked in or I would've never caught you."

Wave attempted to stand up but limped as a result. "Ah...ow. Well, don't say that, what if you hadn't been here idiot."

"Oops, my ba--Hey your leg, you're hurt."

"I noticed."

"Well I can't just leave you to limp back to your house."

"What house?"

"Apartment?"

"What Apartment?"

"A friend's house?" She shook her head. "Well, where do you sleep?"

"I...haven't for a couple of days, I kind of lived on the airship with Jet."

"He kicked you out of the only home you had?"

"And didn't even give me enough money to cover a new place, pretty much.”

"That Jet really needs to get some sense knocked into him."

"Like I don't say every day of my life.”

"Well here I am again probably jumping the gun, but I could always see if you can stay at my friend's place."

"And they are?"

"Lindsey and Korbin. Some pretty cool EX-riders I met at Emerald Park."

"Lindsey and Korbin? They're not a monkey and cat, are they?"

"Yea why?"

She groaned in frustration. "Dear Mobius, not those two. Let's just say that we're not on the...best of terms."

"Well it's them or we just sit here until it ends."

"F-fine, just get my board would ya? It's behind you."

Spike picked the board up and place it under his arm as he hopped on his. "Alright get on and hold on tight."

"Yea I know," she said as she wrapped her arms around Spike. "Ready." Spike for the first time put his glasses on and began to slowly take off through the trees. Eventually, they reached the highway again and made their way in the direction of the house. As Spike focused on the road ahead of him, Wave looked up at him, a slight blush coming to her face. What kind of idiot picks up a random stranger and just...ugh, I can't even begin to understand how annoying this is. Even with no cars on it, the highway was long and treacherous, an infinite loop unless you got off at an exit and theirs was coming up until something caught their attention. There was light in the sky, shining through the clouds. But it wasn't the moon, it had the feeling and look of a spotlight. "Spike, what is that?"

"I don't know, the rain makes it hard to see."

Suddenly the rain began to get harder and the light closer. At this point, it was apparent what was causing this sudden storm. A giant airship made it's presence know as it lowered with the sound of futuristic engines. The entire underside of this airship was littered with holes to which the water was coming out of. "And...fire." An old man's voice rang out.

Suddenly that light began to spark and get brighter. "Spike watch it!" Wave yelled.

Spike quickly jerked his board to the right to which a giant buzz of lightning came down where they just were, the flash making Wave let go for a moment only to fall helplessly off the board. With haste, Spike grabbed her hand as fast as he could and pulled her up to which she latched her arms around him again."Are you ok?"

"Don't worry about me, keep your eye on whatever just shot at us!"

"Who did that? That was giant freaking lightning bolt!"

It was then a hearty laugh came through over an intercom. "Judging by that ridiculous laugh--"

That old man's voice suddenly sprang to life even more, his laugh getting even more intense before he began to cough uncontrollably. "Darn, gotta cut down on the laugh time." He then cleared his throat and continued. "My plan is finally complete, I've finally built the ultimate creation, and with it, I will capture the anomaly."

Spike curiously hummed. "Anomaly?"

The voice instantly responded. "You dragon, are the anomaly. I am aware that you're not from our world, and not just off-planet, but from a completely other dimension. That is unusual, and you've been shown to release a rather interesting power when you are properly motivated."

"You've been watching me whoever you are?"

"Oh in great detail. But simply watching provides only so much progress toward discovering what makes you tick. I want to study you and this latent power, it may be the key to world domination."

"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm not some kind of secret weapon, I'm just a dragon, you'd have more luck with Sonic, he has super speed."

"Well, I won't know until I capture now will I? Bring us to ground level next to the highway and prepare a port barrage!"

"Spike!" Wave nervously called out as the Ship began to drop down beside them, dozens of guns preparing to fire upon them.

"Ready...aim...and...fire!"

"Too slow!" Another voice rang out as Spike and Wave were suddenly skyrocketed into dodging each and every bullet coming from the guns. Suddenly they were released from their intense speed to which they proceeded to look for the savior. Sure enough, to their right was the savior himself running like a speed demon to keep up. "What are ya doing attacking innocent people egghead, seems to me like you're getting desperate."

All three of them called out at the same time, "Sonic?!"

"Hey hey Spike, long time no see. Only been here a day and Egghead's already got his sights on you?"

Spike scratched his head. "I didn't think I was such an important target."

Sonic then turned his attention toward Wave. "Well well Wave, where's the egomaniac?"

Her expression turned to anger as she looked away. "It's none of your business."

He whistled in surprise. "Wow, that's cold, still not crazy about us huh?"

Spike could hear the growl in her tone. "Sonic! What are you doing here?!" Eggman angrily chimed in.

"Who little old me? Well, I had a hunch egghead, well actually Tails had a hunch really. We both did, point is we both knew you would try something if you knew about Spike here."

"And your hunch was correct it seems. Very well, I'll have to crush you before I can get my hands on such a unique specimen.'"

"Spike, go wherever you need to go, I'll handle this."

Spike nodded and began to trail off near the nearest exit until the sound of something got their attention, a missile being launched from another cannon near the front of the ship. Sonic with his quick thinking instantly jumped up. "Oh no you don't!"

Without a moment to spare, he kicked the tip of the missile, flipping it over, and sending it now barreling at Eggman's giant airship. Before Spike could see what happened, they descended down a ramp and all that was heard was an explosion.

Spike decided to find an alternate route to use, although it took an extra hour. Finally, they were on the long road that leads down to Korbin and Lindsey's abode. Instantly Spike began to chuckle. "Not gonna lie, that was kinda entertaining, does this happen often?"

"What, you actually enjoy the hair-brained schemes that idiot comes up with."

"Well, I just figure if you're like Sonic, kinda always on top of it, you learn to enjoy the newest scheme for how dumb it is...or at least I hope that's the philosophy."

It was then that she let a chuckle. "Well if we're speaking from Sonic's perspective, it's pretty much an everyday thing, like they're weird frenemies or something. Good thing we got that newbie of a Blue Blur around though since no else seems to want to do the job as much as him, except for when he leaves for like a day, then all hell breaks loose. Thy both hysterically laughed at that before Wave tightened her grip on Spike a bit. "Hey Spike..." Wave quietly said.

"Yea?"

"Thank you...for saving me or whatever...I thought about it...but I really didn't want to die."

"Hey, no problem. Besides everything seems to be going around you anyway."

"And what do you mean by that?" she hissed.

"Nothing nothing at all, I promise. I just think that I should protect you or something." He reassured before returning his attention to the road.

"That's...so stupid...and cheesy..."

Wave found herself hugging Spike so tight, he could barely breathe. "Hey...you're squeezing kinda hard--"

"Thank you, Spike...I mean it...I wasn't on the cliff to think."

Spike's eyes widened at that realization. "You mean you were gonna..."

She nodded. "I just...everyone hates us...everyone hates me...because of the rogues...because of the way we've treated everyone and I just...we've been doing for so long, our reputation is downright dead, my only family back on the island won't write back to me." It was then that Spike stopped the board just inside an alley, letting Wave lean against a wall as she continued. "I tried to get an apartment, tried to tell the woman running the place that I wasn't with rogues anymore, but she just kept kicking me out. I've been homeless for 2 months now... living off what little scraps I can find, it's amazing I've survived this long. But who cares about one homeless swallow, who cares about the beggar on the side of the street, when you can live in your nice cushy house." It was then that she hugged him, pushing her way into his embrace. "That's why...I'm glad you came by...to talk to a random mobian no less, but you came nonetheless. Just please don't be lying about this...please..."

"I'm not I promise. All I want is to make everyone happy in my mission to get back to my world."

"So Eggman wasn't kidding huh? What do they specialize in friendship or something?"

"Yea actually."

Her eyes went wide at those words. "Wow, and I was just kidding..." As she retreated from Spike's embrace, she nailed him hard in the arm. "Don't you even think to tell a single soul about this or I will personally beat you to death with my wrench."

He quickly comforted his arm as a sharp pain shot up it, Wave obviously trying to avoid eye contact. "Ow..." They arrived minutes later, hopping off as they got a look at the house. The lights were on, which meant that the two ladies were awake. "I guess they figured out I left."

"Oh boy." Wave said un-enthusiastically.

"Now you might not be on the best terms, but knowing what I know now, I'll back you up as much as I can, believe it.

She smiled before quickly shaking her head. "Stop making me all sappy would ya and get a move on already."

"Alright, time to introduce the team to the new EX tuner."