Ancient Secret, Inner Emerald

"Amy! AMY!" Tails couldn't help but cry out excitedly when he saw the pink hedgehog approaching the shrine.

She laughed up on noticing his excitement and ran the rest of the way to the monument. Tails jumped at her with a smile and the hedgehog scooped him up in an embrace, twirling the both of them around before releasing him into the air with a laugh.

"You're okay!"

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" She giggled lightly.

"What happened? With Havoc? What did he do?" Knuckles interrupted. He was smiling too but his seemed more out of relief.

Then the pieces began to click together in his brain. "You were with Havoc?!" He cried in distress.

"Well- yeah, but Knuckles is making it sound worse than it was, trust me, we just... Talked."

"Seriously?" The echidna asked in disbelief. The hedgehog nodded genuinely.

"It's kind of a lot to unpack. Hey wait- how did you guys even get back here?" She asked curiously, turning her attention back to the fox and the hybrid who looked distant.

"Oh well- that's also a lot to unpack? We saw..." He trailed off as he thought back to all the different parts of Havoc's past they'd witnessed.

The mindset that led to his creation, the hedgehog's looping descent into fear, the horrifying gaze of Iizuka as he towered over the other and annihilated his ability to even defend himself. The way the two laughed and smiled together, the way the elder moved Havoc to make things easier for him, the parent-like relationship the two had, the way Havoc changed Iizuka into a more compassionate person the longer they were with each other.

"... A lot."

Amy tilted her head in confusion and looked around at their group of five- er- six.

"Oh my Gaia who is this!" Amy squealed excitedly noticing the Koco Tails had neglected to introduce.

"Oh! This is... Uhhhhhh..."

"𐌍ል𐌌ቹ ክ𐌀ጮ𐌄! ⶴaⶴ𐌀! L𐌄ሠOክe!" The Koco giggled boldly and danced around the other in a circle.

Amy looked startlingly confused and turned to him as if to ask what in the world the other was saying.

"I'm... Just gonna call him Blue." Tails sighed loudly, gesturing to the little blue flowers sprouting from the Koco.

"Alrighty then Blue, it's nice to meet you!" Amy greeted him happily. The Koco made a joyous noise before releasing a loud gasp and trotting up the steps of the shrine towards Tikal.

"𐋅i ⶴ𐌉! ⶴቹረlዐ! 𐌋ዐng ፕ𐌉m𐌄! w𐌀ፕ𐌄ዪ ፏoጋ! 𐌁ዐom!"

Tikal looked increasingly more distressed with each excited noise the alien let out. "W- what? What is this thing?" She asked nervously.

"It's a Koco," Tails explained with a sigh.

"It's a talking rock with a speech disorder." Shadow supplied helpfully.

Amy shot him a look and Tails had never felt more gratified and couldn't help but smirk when the hybrid turned his eyes to the ground and muttered a quiet apology.

"They're remnants of the past, of Havoc's people." Amy further explained. "They're harmless."

"Well, looks like we've all been busy and we've all got something to say, but it's late so I propose an idea." Amy said happily, clapping her hands together.

"What were you thinking?" Tails asked.

"Campout!" The hedgehog cried excitedly. He heard a loud groan from Shadow and Tikal looked intrigued.