"I'm the god of fire!" Knuckles shouted. "Bow before me!"
"You're not the god of anything," Sticks huffed, "I think a fairy is playing a trick on us."
"Maybe," Amy crossed her arms, "Maybe not." She watched Knuckles prance around the fire and couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm.
Just then there was a whoosh that nearly put the fire out once again. Conveniently, the Chaotix appeared nearby by use of a warp ring.
"I told you we took a wrong turn! We needed to go left at the Cracker Barrel- Oh! Sonic!" Vector shouted.
"What brings you out here?" The blue hedgehog chuckled. "Merry Christmas, guys."
"Merry Christmas!" Charmy Bee shouted. "We're here to interrogate you!"
"If it's about the witch she's over at Eggman's lair." Sonic sat back down in the sand and strummed his guitar. "I think. That or she's at GUN with Shadow and Rouge. She kinda bounces between places."
"How did you know?" Espio curled up his tail.
"Rouge texted me that you guys got bounced out of the club and thought it was hilarious- and that you saw Eggman there. It was only a matter of time before you started asking about his Overlander friend." Sonic was not stupid, contrary to popular belief.
"They're headed for Spain," Vector put the warp ring away, "Looking for some giant pearl or something like that."
"Sheptilah said she'd come and get me when they were leaving. I volunteered to be her apprentice and she accepted!"
"Then why is an airship leaving?" Charmy pointed to the lair across the water. A small Egg Carrier emerged from behind it and flew off at breakneck speed.
Amy stomped her foot. "She left without me! I have a present for her, too!"
"Vector, we can beat them there with the warp ring." Espio nodded.
"Is that such a good idea? They're just going to the Aquarium Park ruins." Sonic shrugged.
"I acquired some intel from them earlier when they didn't know I was in the room. We want to conduct our own independent investigation on them." The chameleon shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I don't trust any Egg Bosses."
"She's not really a Boss," Amy explained, "They're just manipulating the other bosses into helping."
"No offense but after the Soumerca base incident I wanna avoid going anywhere with her." Sonic coughed.
"And then that nonsense at the ziggurat," Tails wagged his tails nervously, "I heard things, unholy things, went down over there."
"I would avoid going after them, period." Sticks butted in, "You can't trust a fairy!"
"Is she a fairy or a witch?" Vector was confused. "I thought you said she was a witch." He looked at Espio.
"She didn't have wings." Espio shrugged.
"I have wings and I'm not a fairy," Charmy pouted, "But it would be cool if I was one…"
"She's a wairy! A fitch?" Knuckles scratched his head. "A chairy! Wait…"
"Lady and gentleman, I am proud to welcome you aboard Eggman Airlines. Please remember Eggman Industries is not responsible for damaged items or loss of life during the trip." MARI's sarcastic voice filled the cabin, "Keep your hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times. We're going to Ibiza!"
"MARI, don't you dare." Eggman threatened the bodiless entity as he shoved some things into an overhead compartment. It was a small ship but it was big enough for the two Overlanders and the little robots in compact mode.
"Woah! We're going to Ibiza!" MARI began to sing along to the VengaBoys song. "We're gonna have a party!"
"MARI, I will walk back into my lair and unplug you right now!" That song irritated him to no end.
"Ee-oh ee-oh oh way-oh oh way-oh... " The AI teased, "Thank you for flying Eggman Airways…" She giggled.
"Ibiza?" Sheptilah laughed. "Uh…"
"No, we're not going to Ibiza," the man huffed, "Ibiza is an island off the coast of Spain. MARI is just pushing my buttons."
"Nin Sheptilah," MARI spoke, "D'jen mi ?"
"Huh?" Tilly looked at Eggman, eyebrow raised. "Why is your robot calling me sweetie?"
"Nin means sweetie?"
"No, uh, in this context it's like infantilizing, my name comes first. It is properly said as 'Sheptilah nin'. So it's like calling me 'little girl' or 'sweetie'."
"MARI, don't try talking to her for a while." Eggman buckled himself in. "In fact... MARI, shut down for the ride."
"Goodbye…" MARI said and did not speak again.
Eggman took off with great speed, forcing the woman to yelp. He couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.
"Shadow is going to kill me when he finds out I did this without his supervision." Her knuckles were white from gripping the armrests so hard.
"You're an adult; you don't need supervision."
"This is true," she let go of the armrests, "But still, they don't like us being alone together. They think I'm going to let you indoctrinate me. Then again, you did put a mind control thing into the crown you so warmly gifted- so maybe they have a point."
He choked. "You knew about it?"
"Mhm, that's why the crown was conveniently 'lost' at the North Pole."
"I was taking precautions." He set the ship to autopilot so he could sit back and relax a bit.
"You moron- we're bonded. If you had rendered me unable to function you would've done the same to yourself! How many times do I have to go through this with you? You have to treat me like you'd treat yourself!"
"You have to treat me like you'd treat yourself," he mocked, "Oh, please. You don't want me to treat you like I treat myself. I haven't so much as looked at a vegetable in years."
She snapped her fingers and changed into her Egg Boss uniform sans the jacket. She sighed and rubbed her temples. "I'll never get used to all the iron."
"Headache? It's probably from the change in air pressure. Just pop your ears."
"No," she sighed, "It even makes my teeth hurt. It's all the iron."
"I'm sorry," he actually apologized, "Maybe enough exposure to it will build up a tolerance."
"I hope so."
The silence between them was weird, they both felt the urge to fill it with their voices but neither of them wanted to initiate.
After about ten minutes of uncomfortable quiet Eggman finally asked the loaded question.
"Is your Oracle Stone alive?"
"What?"
"Is that rock on your chest alive? Like, is it its own thing?"
"No, it's just my stone. It's not alive," she tapped it with her fingernail, "Solid magic rock."
"... Sometimes," he paused, "Sometimes it seems like it's talking to us when it takes over."
"That's my subconscious talking to you, sort of like sleep-talking; but it can't tell you anything I don't already know. When it takes over it's pure instinct."
"Ah," he laughed, "I was a little worried you were actually two things and not just one."
"I am two things," she held up two fingers apart and then brought them together, "Me and my familiar make one complete being."
"You know what I meant." he stuck out his tongue.
It was a long flight, but not quite as long as Sheptilah expected it to be. They killed time by playing cards together.
"Got any threes?" Eggman looked up from his hand.
"Go fish?" Sheptilah was having a hard time remembering the rules and remembering what symbols meant what numbers. Thankfully, she could count the number of suits on each card. "Wait, here's one." She handed the three of spades to him.
"A-ha! I win!" He laid out the final cards across the small table and grinned widely. He had most of the cards whereas Sheptilah didn't and this was the fifth time he won in a row.
"Ah, you're cheating!"
"How could someone cheat at go fish?"
"You're the Doctor Eggman- you could probably cheat at solitaire. Well, at least when it's just us I know you're not raising any Hell so I'll gladly play again."
"I'm actually getting bored. We should eat." He pulled a small bag out from under his seat and handed it to her. "I quickly put together something for you yesterday."
"What is it?"
"Calorie-dense foods. Typically this is for people who are ill or very old, but since you are sort of both you can bulk back up to where you're supposed to be."
She unzipped the bag. Inside were dried dates, trail mix, bottles of weight-gain smoothies and other goodies.
"For your height, which is five-foot-ten, your ideal healthy weight is somewhere around one-hundred-and-fifty. You're currently at one-twenty-five, if we're not counting your three pounds of hair."
"Twenty-five pounds, huh?" She tried to imagine herself as being a little heavier, "Are you sure that's enough?"
"Give or take," he shrugged, "I'm not a nutritionist but I can see your ribs. Doesn't take someone with a degree in medicine to tell you that's probably not healthy for someone your height."
She ran her fingers up and down her ribs, feeling the ridges. "Yeah, you're right." She opened a bag of dates and chewed on one wrinkled fruit. "Why are you being nice?"
"You ate an entire head of lettuce the other day. I was disturbed." He grinned. In reality, he kind of liked having someone to talk to and care for a little.
"You're a bad liar," she smirked, "You like me."
"And you like me," he looked over the rim of his glasses at her, ruby irises peeking out, "You haven't threatened to kill me once today."
"Mmm," she swallowed her food, "You're right." Her phone chimed. She pulled it from her pocket and unlocked the screen.
"Oh," she placed the phone on the table, "Can you read the message for me?"
Eggman carefully picked up the phone and looked at it.
[Shadow] Where are you?
[Shadow] Nobody is answering the door at the lair.
"He wants to know where you are."
"Tell him," she urged.
[Banana] This is Eggman. She's on an Egg Carrier with me.
[Banana] We're going to retrieve the pearl.
[Shadow] Without telling me?
[Banana] It's not going to take that long.
[Shadow] Eggman.
[Banana] What?
[Shadow] Shadow is typing…
"It says he's been typing for three minutes now. Is he sending me a dissertation?" Eggman pouted. "He must be angry."
[Shadow] Fine. Don't die.
"He says don't die." He handed the phone back to Tilly.
She sighed. "I think he's secretly relieved he doesn't have to spend more time with you." She slipped the phone back into her pocket and leaned back.
"Honestly I'd rather be with you than at GUN; at least you don't have an armed guard escort me all over the place."
"I am the armed guard." He pulled out a bag of beef jerky for himself.
"It's a little red fox named Apollo. He's my assigned chaperone or something, I guess. Both iron fortresses are on islands by the sea but yours at least has a garden. Orbot and Cubot are also really cute."
She finished off the bag of dates and opened the little plastic container with the drink in it.
For the first time in her life she tasted chocolate.
"Whatever this is, it's amazing!" She guzzled the shake down, stars in her eyes.
"You've never had chocolate?"
"No!"
"You poor woman."
Vector bid the group goodbye and brought his warp ring out. "Let's hope we don't get lost in France like last time."
Charmy and Espio jumped into the ring. Amy dove in after them without getting permission. Before any of them could react the warp ring had closed.
The Aquarium Park ruins were just that: ruins. Scaffolding and shattered glass filled the small, uninhabited city-sized dump, jutting dangerously outward just begging for someone to fall onto it. It was obvious some time was spent breaking down the buildings and rides to recycle the parts, but then abandoned later for other endeavors.
Rusted out remains of Egg Pawns and Crabmeats lay strewn about haphazardly.
Eggman and Sheptilah had landed not far from the Chaotix's location and prepared to disembark. He handed her a hard hat and work gloves to wear. He put on his own set of gloves and hard hat.
"Safety first! Try not to get impaled on anything this time." He remembered the incident back at the ziggurat. Damn, this woman gets eviscerated a lot , he thought. Like, a lot.
"I just ate a bunch of food," she adjusted her backpack, "I'm gonna do my best to keep it on the inside."
"I hear voices!" Charmy shouted. He flew up over the rubble and spotted Eggman and Sheptilah's Egg Carrier. He pointed to their location. "There they are!"
"You've gotta be shitting me." Eggman sighed. Squinting, he looked up and shaded his eyes with his hand. "Is that Charmy Bee? The Chaotix are here?"
Vector's imposing crocodile silhouette appeared over the edge of a pile of trash. "Yeah! We're here, and you've got some explaining to do, Eggman."