Notes: I couldn't not write something like this after yesterday's announcements. I'm hype for Mighty and Ray. Are you hype for Mighty and Ray? HOOORAAH!
I flubbed the timeline in this, and I maybe made one too many meta jokes, but I'm not sorry.
Disclaimer: I am sorry for the Knuckles Chaotix but it had to be done.
Lifeline
1.
Sonic sits on top of a stone loop, leg swinging, back and forth, as he holds the communicator up equal with his face. Emerald Hill is alive with the summer, from the natural wildlife to the tourists on the beach to the locals, all stretching their limbs in the sun, and he swings the communicator around to show off this small part of the forest he's found that seems relatively untouched.
"You'd love it here," he says to the screen. "Ray'd love it here. It's just like back home. All the loops and the beaches and the sand."
Behind the glass, Mighty shakes his head and smiles, ignores Ray's squawk from off-camera ("Tell Sonic I said hi!"). "Maybe, but we're trying to get away from all that. Y'know? Change of scenery. I'm sick of sunburn."
Sonic lays back on the loop. "Can you get sunburn? Shell and all?"
Mighty rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "Everyone can get sunburned."
Sonic opens his mouth to argue, realizes he can't come up with a single creature or person that can't get sunburned, and snaps his mouth closed. "Maybe so..." He sighs and throws an arm over his forehead. "I just miss you guys. I wish I had a friend."
"Well then go make one. You're friendly—"
"And handsome," Sonic shoots back.
"And conceited," Mighty finishes. "Just go talk to someone."
Sonic groans. "Okay Mom..."
2.
"When I said 'make a friend,'" Mighty says as he stares at the tiny, emaciated fox Sonic presented to him as Tails, "I didn't mean adopt a child."
"Psh," Sonic flaps his hand and rubs Tails on the head, "I'm a child. I can't legally adopt another child. Besides, he fixed the communicator's connection problems! Now I can call you from wherever! Tails is the best!"
"Whoohoo!" Ray calls from the other side of the room, where he's crouched over an ancient puzzle, one they stole from some echidna ruins.
"Whoohoo!" Sonic and Tails echo.
"Whoohoo," Mighty says, with a lot less gusto.
3.
"Then Tails strapped rocket jets to the plane! Where'd he even get rocket jets?!"
Mighty, who is currently traversing through a hidden tunnel in some ruins, doesn't answer immediately. Instead, Sonic is treated to a visual of rocks, rubble, and stones, and he can hear both Mighty and Ray grunting.
"What were we talking about?" Mighty says when they eventually pull themselves out of the tight crawlspace and into what Sonic thinks is a tomb. It's all echoic, and there's carvings on the wall behind Mighty's head. Slightly, Sonic leans toward the screen, probably giving them a great view of his forehead.
"Is that Mystic Ruins?" he demands.
"Maybe," Mighty shoots back. Ray pops up over his shoulder and beams at Sonic.
"I solved the puzzle! It led us here! I think the floating island is close!"
"Oh," Sonic says, then looks behind him, where Tails is currently digging around in the guts of the plane. The flora surrounding them is unfamiliar, unlike anything Sonic has seen before despite the tropical locale, and he covers the camera with his palm. "Tails," he calls, "what'd you call this place again?"
"A floating island!" Tails answers, backing out of the plane's chassis. "Can't you feel it? We're moving. Feels like we're on a boat."
"That's what I thought." Sonic uncovers the camera, and it's to Mighty and Ray's flabbergasted faces. "Oh, you heard all that?"
"You covered the camera, not the mic," Ray croaks.
"Right, my fault. Well, uh, Tails and I accidentally found a floating island. I don't know if it's your floating island—"
Mighty sighs. "Great. Where are you?"
"Floating island."
"I meant what are you above?"
"Oh, uh, hold please." Sonic stands, dusts the backs of his legs off, and zips to the edge closest to them. He peers over, into the stomach churning drop. "Nope, can't tell."
"You sure?" Mighty's voice asks.
"Here, you look." Sonic holds the communicator over the edge.
"It's all clouds!" He hears Ray yell.
"Exactly." Sonic pulls it back towards him.
Mighty looks chagrined and upset, but mostly awed. "I can't believe you found it. Get pictures for us, will you? Ray, we gotta go get a plane."
"You got it!" Sonic and Ray answer at the same time.
4.
"There's this dude here!" Sonic hisses into the communicator. He's currently huddled in a ball on one of the rare dry platforms in Hydrocity, watching Tails splash around and attempt to kill one of the chompy chompy piranha robots. "He's got these huge fists, like—!" He holds his other hand up, trying to approximate the size with his fingers. "And he's strong! He might be stronger than you, Mighty!"
Mighty sucks in a harsh breath through his teeth because he's impossibly, incredibly strong. "The floating island is supposed to be empty—"
"Well it's not!" Sonic cries and holds the communicator out so they can see all the water and the future technology that pumped it there. "And I think it's called Angel Island. That's what the red dude called it."
"Red dude? He's not an echidna is he?"
"Man, I don't know! I'm surrounded by water and he dropped a bridge out from under me! Wait, not in that order! He's mean! I'm trying to help!"
"Sonic, breathe. Did he have spikes on his fists?"
Sonic's stomach is still alive with fire from when the Emeralds were punched out of him. "Yes."
"You're sure?"
"He punched me so I'm pretty sure."
"Oof." Mighty and Ray both wince. "Sonic," Mighty continues, "the echidnas are supposed to be dead."
"This guy is definitely alive, unless ghosts have suddenly developed the ability to rearrange internal organs with their fists! Physically! By punching!"
"Oh Chaos. Okay, Sonic, whatever you do, don't anger him further. He's got some secrets up there that he doesn't want you getting close to. Just be careful."
Sonic groans and then yelps as the water laps a little closer to him. Luckily, it's only Tails agitating the water as he climbs out. "I wish you were here," he mumbles to Mighty. "Tails is great, but you know more about this than we do."
Mighty grimaces. "Stay in touch."
5.
It's not a call this time, just a picture, forwarded to Mighty while he and Ray are in the middle of scouring radar from multiple governments, trying to pin down Angel Island. Mighty opens the picture when they take a break, and he can't help but grin.
It's of Sonic, standing close, but not too close, to what can only be the echidna. He's red, has slanted, angry eyes, and big fists, which he's holding up slightly in front of him, as if he's afraid of the camera. Behind them are tropical plants, all bending one way, as if the island is moving quickly in one direction, and behind those plants is ocean, large and wide.
Knuckles is our friend now! says the message just under the picture.
"Knuckles," Ray says incredulously. "Did Sonic name this one too?"
Mighty laughs, loud and long, and types out quickly: Tell "Knuckles" we say hi!
The response is immediate, delivered with the speed Sonic is famous for: what do you mean quotation mark-knuckles-quotation mark! that's his name!
Sure it is, Mighty answers.
6.
"Little Planet!" Sonic cries as he points the communicator's camera toward the tiny celestial body floating above Never Lake. "And I'm going up there!"
"Where's Tails?" Ray asks, probably worried about the small fox. Sonic grins, happy to see they already have a kinship. Every gold-colored, flying sidekick should get along, after all.
"He's working on the Tornado. Says he has Big Updates to make, with capital letters. I'm on my own this time."
"We've finally found Angel Island," Mighty says, holding the radar sheets up to the camera. "It has incredibly advanced cloaking, but we figured it out."
"Well then get up there! And tell Knuckles that I sent you, or else you'll be punched off the edge."
"He didn't punch you off."
"He tried!"
7.
Sonic is currently somewhere in the past, trying to find the badnik generator, when his communicator rings. He digs his heels in, stops, and pulls it out, slightly afraid. Mighty's name flashes across the screen and he gingerly answers the call.
"I don't know what Tails did to this thing, but it's got incredible signal!" Sonic says before Mighty can speak. "Hello from the past!"
"Sonic— Wait, what?"
Sonic flaps a hand. "Don't worry about it. Little Planet is funky. Time travel and time stones—y'know how it is."
Mighty gives him a look that says that he very much doesn't know how it is, but instead decides not to dwell on it. Carefully, he holds the communicator out, and Sonic is treated to the sight of Knuckles, begrudging, unhappy, and refusing to look directly into the camera. "I found... 'Knuckles'." His tone implies the quotation marks but Sonic plows forward without noticing, excited.
"Knuckles! You found him! And he didn't kill you!"
"Oh, I found him all right." Mighty holds his hand up, showcasing a large gold ring, large enough to fit around his neck if he wants. He tugs it once, and an energy band appears, encircling the ring and extending off and down, out of view of the camera.
"I'm confused," Sonic says.
"Hold yours up," Mighty orders, and Knuckles does what he's bid, grumbling the whole time. He's holding an identical ring up to the camera, and Sonic realizes that the energy band is connecting the two.
"Okay," Sonic says carefully. "I'm still confused."
"We're connected to each other," Knuckles says, as if Sonic's an idiot. "Can't let go of the rings."
"What?"
"We can't let go." Mighty sighs. "We're stuck together."
Sonic looks between them, their stricken faces, and bites his lip to keep himself from laughing. "Where's Ray?" he manages.
Mighty shrugs. "Somewhere safe. He got away before the rings attacked."
"Uh huh, and what's your goal?"
"Metal Sonic."
"No way! Me too!"
Mighty and Knuckles share a glance. "Don't you think it's weird that Eggman and Metal Sonic are in two places at once?" Mighty asks.
Sonic shrugs. "I don't know anything! I'm in the past! Sorry, I can't really help you."
Mighty sighs again. "That's okay."
"You got this Might. Knuckles has your back. He's very strong."
"I know."
"Good. And Knuckles—" Knuckles grunts from the background to let Sonic know he's listening. "If you let anything happen to my friend, I'll push you off that Island."
It's a serious threat, devoid of any of Sonic's normal joking sass, and Knuckles knows it; he nods once, sharply.
Mighty glances back at Knuckles. "Can you give me some space? I need to talk to Sonic."
Knuckles pads as far away as he can, the energy beam stretching and straining between them. Sonic tries to grin at Mighty, even though he's slightly panicking now. Of course he's stuck on this weird planet when his friends need him. Well, maybe Mighty wants some advice. Sonic straightens up, trying to be serious.
"Okay." Mighty lets out a harsh puff of air. "I can't believe his name is actually Knuckles!"
Sonic laughs then, for the first time in a while. "I know! I told you!"
8.
Another image, this time from Mighty to Sonic. It's of Mighty and Knuckles, both giving thumbs-ups with both hands, free of the rings. Knuckles is actually smiling and Mighty looks relieved.
After the picture, the message: I told Knuckles bye and he told me to tell you that I'm safe because he doesn't want you on his island.
Sonic replies almost instantly: Too bad. Tails and I are on our way there right now.
9.
The Hard-Boiled Heavies have ripped some kind of rock out of Angel Island and Sonic feels like he's been sent through the time travel equivalent of a blender, or a meat grinder, or a meat grinder blender (for all your meat processing needs!), but when his communicator trills he answers it without pause, mostly because he doesn't want Mighty to worry, but also because it's a competition now, to see who can answer the fastest while in the worst predicament.
"What did you do?" Mighty and Ray demand together, so at least they found each other again.
"It feels like the world just split apart!" Ray continues, throwing his hands up and almost whacking Mighty in the face.
"Don't look at me!" Sonic cries, and points the communicator towards Knuckles, where he's lying face first in the dirt but seems to be waking up. "Blame him! It was his Island!"
"Not my fault," Knuckles calls groggily.
"Oh, hey Knuckles," Mighty and Ray say, politely.
"Say hi, Knuckles. You're on candid camera," Sonic quips.
"Hi Knuckles," the echidna groans out.
Mighty sends Sonic a flat look. "I don't think it was Knuckles's fault."
Sonic sighs loudly, dramatically, puffing out his cheeks. "Then blame Tails! Don't blame me!"
Tails, who is sitting up and rubbing his head, sends Sonic an evil, seven-year-old glare. "It was an icosahedron-shaped, red gem," he says to Mighty and Ray, who have made it their business to know things about strange, mystical rocks. "Ripped right out of Angel Island."
Sonic is awed. "You could tell how many sides that thing has? How many is that?"
"Twenty," Tails, Mighty, Ray, and Knuckles all say together.
"How'd you know that?" Sonic demands of Knuckles.
"I know things!" Knuckles cries, as he rubs his head. "For example, I know that if you don't shut up you're gonna have a black eye in a few seconds."
"You said it was red?" Mighty asks, and Tails nods. "Okay. We'll— We'll get back to you."
10.
"Bad news," Mighty says when Sonic answers. Currently, they're making their way back to Angel Island, but it's slow going, especially since Tails is trying to do science and collect readings. "It's the Phantom Ruby."
Knuckles sucks in a harsh breath, which means this is bad, very bad. Sonic and Tails share a look.
"The Phantom Ruby," Ray continues. "It's a time-space anomaly that only occurs when someone splits a timeline into two dimensions."
"What did you do?" Knuckles demands of Sonic as he stomps up, grabs the hedgehog by the shoulder, and shakes him. "I let you off the Island for two seconds and you go and split the timeline?"
Tails, who has impeccable comedic timing if you ask Sonic, merely looks up at Knuckles, all innocent, with big eyes and big ears, and asks, "How do you know what that means?"
"I know things!" Knuckles cries, and lets go of Sonic so he can throw his arms up, incredulous and agitated. Then, those arms cross and he wanders off, mumbling.
"I swear, I didn't do anything. For real this time," Sonic argues, trying to save his own butt. "Or if I did, I don't remember it."
"If you caused a time-space rift, you probably don't remember it," Ray offers helpfully. "You probably entered some kind of time void, met your older self, fought your way through his past and your present, and then came back here with no memory of it." Then he laughs, because the specificity of that is far too vivid and exact.
A long pause as Sonic tries to compute that, Tails worries his upper lip, eyes widening, and Knuckles ignores them all.
"Or maybe not," Ray mutters.
Tails still looks incredibly worried—and enlightened, as if some lost memories have come back to him. When Sonic sends him a concerned glance, he merely shakes his head; he's got a thousand-yard stare.
"So, what do we do?" Sonic asks Mighty and Ray.
Ray answers immediately. "No idea."
Mighty puts the communicator facedown so the screen goes dark, and Sonic can just hear him and Ray muttering to each other, trying to come up with some sort of plan. It takes them a while, and Sonic can feel worry dripping slowly into his gut because what if they don't have any ideas? They don't know what this gem is capable of, and considering that it transported them through time and space, that's a very bad thing.
Eventually, Mighty picks the communicator back up. "We're coming to help you."
"You are?" Sonic tries not to sound too excited, but he hasn't seen them in a few years. "No way!"
Mighty nods, and Ray winks at them. "We'll be there as soon as we can," Mighty says.
"See you soon!" Ray calls, waving.
The transmission cuts off, and Sonic is all smiles.
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