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Just because Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has plenty of laughs and thrills doesn't mean it can't break any hearts.
- Sonic is still torn up about having lost his mother figure, Longclaw. When he sees her hologram expositing about the Master Emerald and passing the duty of protecting it to him before declaring her love for him and disappearing, Sonic looks like he's almost about to break down again, while Tails is visibly saddened for him.Sonic: I won't let you down, Longclaw...
- After getting home from stopping a robbery, Sonic rummages through his ring bag and map. It turns out that there's also a feather from Longclaw, which is the only thing he has of her. This is also repeated after Longclaw's hologram ends: she turns into a digital feather that Sonic grabs, only for it to disappear in blue light. With The Official Pre-Quill Comic confirming that Longclaw is dead, this is all that Sonic will ever see of Longclaw ever again.
- The fact Sonic already knew Longclaw was dead does offer a depressing implication; that Sonic at one point risked disobeying Longclaw by briefly returning to his home planet to reunite with her only to find out she's dead, which would suggest Sonic stayed in isolation on Earth not just for his own safety, but because there was no one left for him in his previous home.
- Speaking of the bank robbery, during Sonic and Tom's fishing trip, the latter scolds Sonic for his "attempts" at being a hero for destroying a city block while trying to stop the said robbery.Tom: How many times are we gonna do this?Tom: I think you know what I'm talking about; the lying, the sneaking out, the pretending to be Batman.Sonic: Blue Justice. Trademark pending.Tom: Whatever, you're being reckless.Sonic: (exasperated) Ugh. Not this conversation again.Tom: Hey, it's no fun for me, either. But if you keep being irresponsible, we're gonna keep having this conversation.Sonic: How is it irresponsible to use my powers?Sonic: The block was already messed up! Who cares? Look, I stopped a robbery! I was a hero!Tom: No, you put people in danger and that's NOT what a hero does.(Beat. Sonic then looks upset, then sighs.)Sonic: (miserably) You're supposed to be my friend. Stop trying to be my dad...
- After he says this, you can see Tom's hurt expression on his face. note
- Luckily, at the end of the movie, Sonic finally calls Tom his dad. Not only can you see Tom visibly holding back Tears of Joy at this, but his voice cracks as he says, "Race you to the truck".
- Before meeting Sonic, Tails didn't have any friends. On his home planet, he was shunned because everyone thought his two tails were weird.
- This may be why Tails got scared when people at the bar started calling him and Sonic freaks. This little fox has had to go through difficult things on his own.
- Knuckles' backstory. His father and tribe died in the fight with Longclaw, causing him to vow to avenge them by defeating Sonic. Sonic immediately drops his snarky attitude and sadly tells him that he, too, lost everything that same day. Knuckles almost drops his vendetta against Sonic, but Tails didn't realize they were reaching an understanding and is attacked when his guard was down, leading Knuckles to believe Sonic tricked him.
- As much of a Jerkass she was in the previous movie, and while the scene is still played for laughs to some extent, you've got to feel sorry for Rachel upon learning that her would-be husband Randall is an undercover G.U.N. agent and that the entire wedding is one whole setup (even the priest). It outright angers her and then she breaks down sobbing inconsolably. It even makes her wonder if everything between her and Randall was a lie.
- Sonic's remorse after Tails gets knocked out by Robotnik, so much that he decides to go to the temple where the Master Emerald is alone, so as to prevent anyone else getting hurt.Sonic: You see that little fox over there? He came all the way across the universe to meet his hero, and what did his hero do? I practically got him killed. You know what? You were right. My moment came, and I blew it. I'm no hero.
- Listen to Sonic's voice when he's begging Tails to wake up: it cracks. Sonic isn't just trying to get him to wake up, he's basically pleading for Tails to still be alive, as it's his fault the fox was hurt to begin with.
- Tails wakes up right when Sonic leaves and desperately tries to follow him, but is held back by his injuries. When Tom and Maddie urges to him to take it easy, he is begging to go and help Sonic.Tom: Hey, take it easy, little guy. You're hurt.
Tails: But we have to help him! You don't know what he's up against!
- You can't help but feel for Knuckles when Robotnik betrays him at the temple hits really hard, especially when Robotnik rubs salt into the wound by calling him naive and dumb for putting his trust into him. We all knew that it was going to happen, but it hurts anyway.Knuckles: Wait! That wasn't the deal!
Dr. Robotnik: Oh, you poor, naive creature. It's not your fault. A more advanced intellect would have seen this move coming a mile away. Or 1.6 kilometers.
Knuckles: (angrily) But I trusted you! You were my friend!
Dr. Robotnik: (laughs mockingly) I'm sorry, that just hit me funny. Let this be my final lesson to you, you dim-witted celestial skin tag. Friends are open, honest and vulnerable with each other, which means X squared times the hypotenuse of Y squared divided by the absolute value of friendship equals… DOOKIE!- Adding a bit of Fridge to this, earlier Robotnik jokingly refers to Knuckles as his new BFF(AE)note when taunting Sonic, which to everyone else was obviously not genuine and just part of Robotnik's Large Ham over-exaggeration, but Knuckles is Sarcasm-Blind. He probably took Eggman at face value, and genuinely believed Robotnik was his friend; knowing he spent so long obliviously believing this is actually quite sad, even before getting to how painful the realization is.
- After the heroes fail to defeat Robotnik and the Master Emerald is shattered with only the seven Chaos Emeralds left, Sonic, Tom, and Maddie are trapped and are about to be crushed by the Giant Eggman Robot. Sonic desperately tells them to leave him, as he doesn't want them killed alongside him, but they refuse to leave their adopted son, and comfort him in the face of death. It's both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Of course, this leads to a Moment of Awesome and even more heartwarming when the Chaos Emeralds react to their familial love, cause Sonic to transform into Super Sonic, and let him make Robotnik pay for trying to harm his new parents.Sonic: You gotta get away from me! I'm the one he wants!
Maddie: Hey. (holds Sonic's hand) We're not going anywhere. We're family.
Tom: Families stick together. (holds Sonic's hand too) No matter what.
[They huddle together, prepared to face their doom.]
Sonic: (voice breaking) I love you guys.
Tom: We love you too, Sonic.[The Chaos Emeralds levitate and merge with Sonic... before the three are seemingly crushed by the G.E.R.'s foot.]Tails: NOOOOO!- As shown in the quote above, Tails is absolutely crushed when he sees his idol seemingly die in front of him, even if it's revealed a few moments later that Sonic survives. And when he sees that the three are fine due to Sonic's transformation into Super Sonic, his eyes are visibly welling up as if he's about to cry. First under the deduction that he just lost the first friend he's ever made, and then the other way when it turns out he's not only survived, but successfully tapped into the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
- Knuckles’ reaction in the same shot isn’t any better, as he's shown with a shell-shocked expression. He and Sonic had finally started to become friends after the hedgehog saved him from drowning; and he also started to see even more of Sonic's heroic side that he first earned his respect for. Before it’s revealed that Sonic survived, he clearly looks like he's having pure regret for their earlier interactions.
- As shown in the quote above, Tails is absolutely crushed when he sees his idol seemingly die in front of him, even if it's revealed a few moments later that Sonic survives. And when he sees that the three are fine due to Sonic's transformation into Super Sonic, his eyes are visibly welling up as if he's about to cry. First under the deduction that he just lost the first friend he's ever made, and then the other way when it turns out he's not only survived, but successfully tapped into the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
