"Oh beautiful Princess Elise, Princess Elise… All my love, and all of my dreams… are only for you…"
Sonic clapped, and then flicked a golden object into the middle-aged accordion player's briefcase as he kept playing. "Nice song, Accordion Man. Thanks… I needed that," Sonic sipped from a cup of root beer he had gotten from a New City fast food joint, watching the Castle Town fireworks as they shot over the wall.
"Of course, my friend!" The Accordion Man replied, scratching beneath his own hat. "Say, I need some help. I love this… uh…" The Accordion Man reached down into his briefcase and pulled up Sonic's Golden Ring. "... This whatchamacallit, but you see, I'm in some deep trouble."
"Oh, you don't say?" Sonic asked.
"Y'see, this accursed Accordion… I stole it from some mean folks over in one crisis of a city. Apocolopolis, they called it. I just couldn't bear to see it gathering dust in the Luppyluppy hideout," the Accordion Man explained, continuing his instrumental verse one last time. "If you want it, it's yours. I'm growing old, and I can't outrun them for long. Would you mind taking this accordion, and running as fast and as far away from here as you can? They won't follow you overseas."
"What about you?" Sonic asked, shocked at the deal this man was proposing. He was handed the Accordion, rather hastily.
"Eh, this is my home. If I had to choose between Soleanna and the world, I'd choose Soleanna," the once-accordion man said. "Maybe they won't find me, who knows? Just… it's yours. I'd hate to see it fall back into their hands. Take care of it, please."
"You got it, guy!" Sonic exclaimed, shaking the old man's hand. "Wish you luck." Sonic sped off into the night.
"Wow, he really might be able to escape the Luppyluppies," the man gasped. He looked to the Portal Ring, threw it, and opened up a portal to a far-off metropolis. The portal sang to him, called him. He approached it slowly, its light glinting in his eyes. "From this day on… I will no longer be 'Accordion Man'. I'm… I'M!"
"I'm Sonic Man."
END OF SONIC RUNAWAYS ARC 10, 'ANCHORED'. THE FINALE OF THE WORLD ADVENTURE SAGA BEGINS NOW.