Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Routines and schedules are an incredible thing.

They can really enhance your focus and make you just feel so much better throughout the day.

And that is exactly why waking up at 2 AM to heavy footsteps was not part of Scourge’s sleep schedule at all.

Mumbled swears fall out of his mouth as he slowly sits up in his monster truck bed - yes, his redecorating gave him a fucking monster truck bed. Was it childish, sure. Did he care, hell no, he’d fight anyone who said otherwise.

Blinking a bit he spots the offender to his precious sleep routine making his way to the window with a hockey stick in hand. “Knuckles, why are you awake? It’s 2 in the morning.”

The red warrior looks back, momentarily surprised to see someone awake. “Border patrol, we must ensure our territory is not in danger.”

I severely overestimated how well he was going to adjust to living here.

Scourge yawns as he gets out of bed reluctantly, heading towards the trapdoor and downstairs. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

Once reaching the first floor he turns into a small office, punching in the password to a video monitor as he sees red quills stop by his side just as he finishes pulling up different security footage. “This is what us Earth dwellers call a ‘home security system.’ It uses cameras to record everything happening outside and it’ll send an alert to Tom, Maddie, and I’s phone if something approaches the house.”

Knuckles carefully holds the monitor in his large hands, trying not to crack the delicate piece of technology as he inspects it. “This small picture box is the only protective measure for our territory.”

“Not just that.” Scourge gently takes the monitor and puts it back as Ozzie trots into the room. “Ozzie’s been living here long enough to know who is supposed to be here and who’s not by smell. If the monitor doesn’t alert us, Ozzie’s barks will.”

Knuckles seems to be more accepting of that answer as he gives the dog a few pets. “A worthy guardian for protecting this establishment for so long.”

Scourge nods as he starts heading back upstairs. “If your security concerns are met, can we please go back to bed?”

Knuckles follows up after another moment and watches the green hedgehog drop into his bed. “May I still awaken to check the picture box regularly?”

I’m not even gonna fight him about it, he’s gonna do it anyway.

“Sure, go ahead, just try not to wake everyone up when you do so.”

The echidna warrior looks back at the two other sleeping aliens in the attic. “When can they be awoken?”

Scourge sighs as he rubs his eyes. “Tell you what, if we’re still asleep by the time the sun comes up and the sky turns blue, you’re allowed to wake us up. Deal?”

“Understood, King of Green.”

“Great, now please, go to sleep.”

Chapter Text

Tails yawns as he feels himself being softly shaken. He didn’t want to get up, the bed was just so comfy and warm!

“Come Fox, the sun has risen and it is time for us to awaken.”

He stretches and his eyes slowly open, then sits up when he hears a loud yelp in the next bed. It looks like Knuckles had picked up Sonic. “Hedgehog, the day has begun, we must get up!”

“Put me down, Knucklehead!”

Tails silently slips out of the attic as the two argue with each other, and the smell of food was drawing him downstairs.

The smell of fruit and sizzling bacon leads him into the kitchen, where he finds all the adults working together to make a big breakfast. Scourge looks up from where he’s cracking eggs and chuckles as the little fox flies up to watch. “Morning Twister, sleep well?”

“Mmhm.” He yawns as he watches Maddie pour flour, milk, and an egg in a big bowl. “What are you making?”

Maddie smiles as she lets Tails come over to watch. “I am currently about to mix up some pancake batter for Tom to cook.” She smiles as she holds out a cooking utensil Tails thinks is called a whisk. “You want to give it a try?”

This could be fun, and since I’m on Earth I should learn how to cook their foods.

The small fox is careful as he starts mixing up the ingredients, trying not to spill any out of the bowl as the chunky flour turns into a smooth batter. Maddie smiles as she lets him stop and then Tom takes the bowl over to the griddle.

“Hey, good job bud! You did good!” Tails puffs up a bit at the sheriff’s praise and a small squeak escapes him as he’s picked up and placed on Scourge’s shoulders so that he can watch easier.

“Comfy up there?”

“Yep!”

“Nice.”

A few more thumps upstairs get everyone’s attention before heavy footsteps make their way down the attic stairs and into the kitchen. Knuckles has a proud smile on his face as he holds up a very annoyed blue hedgehog by the armpits. “I have awoken the hedgehog.”

Tom and Scourge both try to hide their laughter as Maddie takes a deep breath. “Thank you Knuckles, I think you can set him down now.”

Sonic pouts as he’s finally set down and Scourge ruffles his quills. “Hey Blue, mind helping me set the table?”

“... Sure.”

Tails chuckles a bit as he’s brought along too since he’s still on Scourge’s shoulders. This household was crazy, but he just knew he could fit in.

Chapter Text

“Thanks Carl, they were happy to help.”

Wade chuckles as he sets down the phone for the 13th time since this morning. Just like with Sonic’s last adventure, people were calling the station nonstop to thank the alien kid for saving their town… again.

Well, at least things are finally somewhat back to normal. I wonder when Tom will let me meet the two new kids?

The door opening caught his attention and a huge smile crossed his face when he saw the green hedgehog. “Hey, it’s our resident hedgehog cop!”

“Good to see you too, Wade.” Scourge chuckles as he high fives his college and flops down into his desk chair. “So, what did I miss?”

“Just a baker’s dozen of calls thank you and your brother for stopping that maniac again.”

“Damn… and it’s not even noon.”

Wade nods ‘solemnly’ much to Scourge’s amusement. “So, where’s Tom at?”

“The highschool getting Knuckles and Tails signed up for classes.” Scourge already had a giant mug of coffee in his hands. Sometimes super speed makes it very difficult to keep up with someone. “I’m not entirely sure what classes they’re going to get into. Tails definitely has the brains for college level classes, but he definitely needs that social element too. On the opposite end, I don’t think Knuckles got any basic form of education, by American standards, but he’ll likely riot if he gets put in a grade lower than Sonic.”

Wade leans back in his chair as he thinks it over. “If they’re being smart, they’ll put all three of them together. I think those two will be calmer if Sonic is around.”

“You can say that again, Wade.”

“... Is that your third cup?”

“Fifth, actually.”

Yeah, nope, I’m not dealing with that.

Wade glances around for an idea then smiles when he spots some keys. “Well, since you're here, mind heading over to the speed trap?”

Scourge catches the keys tossed his way then pauses for a second. “Wait, these aren’t the keys to the cruiser.”

“I know, look in the back.”

The green hedgehog jogged out the back door, then absolutely (did not) squeal with pure uncontainable joy when he saw the shiny pristine white police motorcycle in the back parking lot. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

Wade only laughs to himself as he hears the engine rev up and take off down the road as he sent Tom a recording of Scourge’s reaction, just as he promised to.

Chapter Text

Maddie smiles as she places one last kitten inside a blanketed pet carrier and walks out into the lobby. “Well Mrs. Zimmer, Mittens will be happy to know all six of her kittens are perfectly healthy and vaccinated.”

The older woman smiles as she takes the little carrier. “Oh thank you Maddie, I’ll get these little ones back to their mama. She’s probably meowing off Frank’s ear.”

Maddie chuckles at that and heads back to the examination room, cleaning up any stray fur the kittens left behind when her pocket buzzes. Pulling out her phone quickly, Maddie is surprised to see that she’s getting a call from Rachel.

“I hope she’s still not too mad about the wedding… Hey Rachel!”

“Hi Maddie! Randall tells me that hell went down in Green Hills.”

Maddie chuckles to herself as she sits at the desk. “Yeah, the town took a bit of a beating, but we’ve gotten everything fixed in record time.”

“How’d you manage that?”

A small smile crosses her face as an image of a certain green hedgehog sneaking out at night with a green emerald. “Let’s just say that Scourge has got a knack for fixing things.”

She can hear the amusement in her sister’s hum. “Scourge, that’s the green one, right?”

“Yeah, that’s him. He’s been a huge help around, especially with taking care of the kids.”

“Wouldn’t have guessed that at first sight.”

Maddie thinks back to when she first saw Scourge, unconscious in Rachel’s kitchen in need of her help. “He grows on you quickly. He looks rough, but he means well.”

“Guess I’ll see for myself in a few days.”

Does that mean-

“Are you finally coming over for a visit?”

“Well after getting my wedding crashed by aliens and learning that my now-husband is a secret government agent, I think I can bury the hatchet with Tom.”

Maddie nearly slides out of her chair in relief, she’s been waiting for this day for years. “We’d love to have you, Jojo, and Randall over. It’ll be great!”

“Then it’s settled, we’ll be there in a few days.”

“Can’t wait to see you again, Rachel. Don’t worry, all of you will have a wonderful time.”

Chapter Text

Sonic smiles as he runs over to his locker, opening it up to put the last of his textbooks inside. “Come on guys, we’re gonna be late!”

Tails runs up beside him, smiling as he adjusts his backpack. “Sorry, math was just so fun! It’s really easy.”

The blue hedgehog smirks as he nudges the younger fox. “I told you school was fun! Have you seen Knuckles?”

“I think he was in gym.”

Sonic winces as the two jog through the school halls. “Hopefully he doesn’t put another hole in the wall. I still can’t believe he did that.”

“Did what?” The two aliens jolt as the third member of their group shows up behind them.

“... You know what, doesn’t matter. C’mon guys, Scourge has something planned for us. Let’s go!”

Scourge smiles as three blurs come to a stop in front of him, getting up from the log he was sitting on. “Good day at school, boys?”

“Indeed.”

“It was great!”

“I had fun!”

“Well that's good to hear. Now, I'm sure you guys are wondering why I brought you out here into the middle of the woods. Well, we're going to work on something I should have done a long time ago.”

Knuckles nods quickly and raises his fists. “Finally, some training!”

“Not quite, Spikes.” Scourge reaches into his pocket and pulls out Sonic's ring pouch. “Can we all agree that the rings are our greatest tool?”

Sonic nods. “They come in handy in just so many situations. They're kind a life saver.”

“Right, but the problem with using them a lot,” Scourge empties the pouch into his hand and shows the trio that there's half a handful left. “Is that mean we run out quickly. That's why today we're going to make some rings.”

“But that can take awhile.” Sonic and Knuckles both glance over at Tails. “Well, the rings are made out of metal, so we'll need a forge to melt and shape metal in.”

Knuckles picks up one of the rings and holds it up. “And while faint, the rings do have a Chaos Energy signature, so we would also have to fuse the metal with Chaos Energy.”

“Whichhhh shouldn't be a problem since we got the Master Emerald.” Sonic plucks the ring out of Knuckles' hand. “My problem is the gold. The rings are clearly made out of gold but the only ways to get it is to mine it, buy it, or rob a bank, and none of those are something we can do.”

“Or we can use the second method.” Scourge chuckles as the kids stop their brainstorming and stare at him.

“... There's a second method?”

“Sure is, Blue. Follow me.”

Scourge walks the trio over to a small empty pond. “Now, this method has largely been forgotten so I don't blame you guys for not knowing it. All you need is a water source, a ring, and a source of Chaos Energy. Sonic, could you run home real quick and get the Master Emerald?”

It takes two seconds for a blue blur to disappear then come back with the large emerald.

“Thanks, hand that to Knux. Tails, fly over the pond real quick.”

Tails takes off while Scourge crouches next to the water beside Knuckles. “Spikes, I want you to put the emerald in the water.”

Knuckles furrows his eyebrows speculatively but does what he's told, and the trio gasps as the water around the emerald starts glowing green.

“Now Blue, toss a ring in.”

Sonic scrambles and quickly throws a ring in, watching it sink below the surface and dissolve into a golden dust. When the dust and the glow meet, they swirl around each other before combining and covering the pond in a soft golden sheen.

“Look!” The water in the center of the pond starts rippling and Tails jolts as he catches the new ring that pops out from the water.

Knuckles’ eyes widen as he looks at the pond. “Of course, Chaos.”

Sonic's head whips over as Tails lands beside him. “Wait, Chaos, like, the water god, that Chaos!?”

“Got it in one, boys.” Scourge smirks at the kids. “According to the myths, because Chaos is a god made completely out of water and is probably the originator of Chaos Energy, water can do some pretty incredible things when exposed to Chaos Energy. In this case, turning a regular old pond into source of rings.”

“Whoa.”

“That's incredible.”

Knuckles is quiet as he sits down, staring at the Master Emerald. “I had no idea that such things were possible.”

Scourge kneels beside him, patting him on the back. “Hey, you're still young, you'll get it figured out. Besides, I only learned about this because my old home had a pond like this and the story got passed down through many generations.”

Knuckles slowly nods as he gets back up. “... I should return the Master Emerald to it's hidden spot.”

“Actually, I got an idea about that. Hold out the emerald and close your eyes.”

Sonic and Tails run over and watch as Knuckles stands there with the Emerald.

“Now, think of something secure that you can store things in, like Tom's safe.” Green sparks emit from Knuckles' hands as he focuses. “Put the Emerald inside and lock it tight.”

Sonic gasps as the Master Emerald disappears from the echidna's large hands. Knuckles peeks his eyes open and is equally surprised.

“How did-”

“I figured that since echidnas were the ones to forge the Master Emerald, they can do a few tricks to keep it safe.”

Knuckles focuses for a moment then smiles as he makes the Emerald return with ease. “I shall practice this in my training.”

“Awesome. Blue, you can probably do that too since you've already gone Super. Tails, we might have to work with you on that.”

“Wait, Super- oh is that what the golden god form is called?” Scourge nods at Sonic's question. “So, that would have made us Super Sonic and Super Scourge?”

“I dunno.” Tails rubs his neck. “While he looked like you, Scourge’s form felt a little different.”

“That's cause it was. While transformations can look identical, everyone reacts just a little differently to Chaos Energy.”

“So while Sonic was Super Sonic, you were more like, um…” Tails taps his foot as he thinks. “Uh, oh, Shining Scourge.”

Scourge cracks a smile as he picks up Tails and puts him on his shoulders. “Heh, Shining Scourge, I like it, Twister.”

He glances around and spots Sonic and Knuckles practicing with the Master Emerald. 

“Come on boys, let's go home. Tom and Maddie are probably waiting for us.”