Clutch's eyes widen and his free hand comes between him and Dale. "Now, now, let's not be so hasty! A conversation never hurt anyone."
Athea snorts and releases the shield, but keeps her hand on the metal fist. "We just came here for information. Tell us what we want to know and we'll be out of your hair. And you won't have to suffer anymore losses." She gestures to the bot parts scattered around them.
Clutch scowls at them. "What information are you looking for?"
"We're looking to track down Mephiles. Creepy guy, sorta looks like Shadow but with a different color scheme, basically if Shadow and Silver had one too many in the casino night zone." Dale explains.
"With no mouth." Athea adds.
"Yeah, why doesn't anyone question that? Nobody finds it weird...?" Dale asks, slightly intrigued.
"Why have a mouth when you can speak telepathically?" Athea responds.
"TO EAT OF COURSE! Shit, no wonder the guy is evil, he's never had ice cream...wait do they have ice cream he-".
"IS NOW REALLY THE TIME FOR THIS?!" Athea interrupts.
Clutch stares at them for a solid minute before bursting into laughter. "Sure, I'll tell you where he is. Where he is, where you can find your friend-"
"How do you know about Dani!?" Dale lunges forward, gripping the front of the possums cloak.
"Does it matter how I know?" Clutch chuckles. "What matters is that you can find both of them in one place. I'll even tell you for free. They're in Null Space."
"Null-"
"Space?" Dale frowns. "What the heck is that?"
"It's a place of…well, nothing. Eggman and Infinite tried to trap Sonic in it, but he and the avatar character managed to escape." Athea answers. "Why would you tell us that for free?" She narrows her eyes at Clutch suspiciously.
Clutch shrugs. "Because there's no way you can get there. Only Infinite can open the way to you, and there's no way he'll do that for free." He laughs.
"Guess that's our problem then. So where is Infinite?" Dale asks.
"Wait, you can't tell me we're really considering this?" Athea stares at Dale and then facepalms. "No, of course we are. We need to rescue Dani, and to do that we need to get to Null Space, and Infinite is our only ticket in…man, this sucks." She mutters.
"The Jackal has made several hideouts but ironically, he can currently be found here in Soleanna. You will find him up the mountains, you'll see a field and a cliff. He has made his hideout invisible with his illusions, but if you find him, tell him he still owes me." The green possum gets up and no one stops him. "I must head off now. We shall meet again I presume..." With that, Clutch disappears into the night.
"Chao abuser..." Athea huffs.
"Can we trust that guy?" Dale mutters.
"No, but his intel is good. He's a businessman, he's gotta protect his rep." Athea sighs. "I'm just worried 'cause he didn't try to make a deal for it. He must be real confident we're about to get ourselves killed."
"I think we can handle some defeated jackal and his pretty illusions." Dale scoffs.
She shakes her head. "Not just illusions, what he makes becomes reality. Don't underestimate him. Infinite is not like Clutch."
"Oh, so he might be a challenge?" Dale chuckles and turns around. "At least this time, we can actually see the mountains." He gestures towards the distant peaks.
"Yeah, I won't have time to fall asleep in a barrel waiting for you to arrive. You should've brought me along earlier, I could've saved you, like, two hours of wandering… and yes, this world does have ice cream." Athea grabs a backpack from the barrel and runs for the mountains. "Cliff…mountains…a field… why does that sorta location sound familiar?" She mutters to herself.
Dale thinks on this. "Didn't Sonic take an L near a cliff or something in 06?"
Athea winces at the memory. "You're right, he did. I wonder if Infinite knows that… if it is the same place." She stumbles and shakes her head. "We need to rest Dale, we can't go after Infinite when we're this tired. We'll have to camp out someplace, Sonic and the others might get suspicious if they see us sneaking inside."
Dale nods. "Yeah, you're right. Where do you suggest?"
Athea looks around and nods to herself. "There's a pond near the mountains where Elise and Sonic hung out in '06, we'll sleep there."
Dale yawns. "Sounds good to me."
Athea and Dale find the pond after a short run. She drops her backpack to the ground and sighs. "It's a good thing I packed extra while I waited for you to leave. I brought some snacks, a couple water bottles, and a sleeping bag…it's warm out, we can just unzip it and share."
Dale grabs the water bottles. "I'll go get these filled up while you do that then." She nods and the two quietly set up camp together. Finished, the two curl up on their own sides of the sleeping bag and go to sleep.
Sunlight shining over the trees wakes the two up. It takes only a few seconds for the two to pack up. Athea takes a sip of water. "Is finding a blood thirsty mercenary really the only thing we can do...?"
Dale shakes his head. "We need to rescue Dani, and you yourself said Infinite is the only way in. If we go back to Sonic, he's just gonna give us a speech, have us train until Shadow is satisfied, and then what? Hog the glory like in every game? Yeah nah, didn't Mephiles kill his ass? We need to rescue Dani as soon as possible, not wait 'til the stubborn one with military training is satisfied."
"He blasted Sonic from behind!" Athea shakes her head trying to hold back her anger. "Look, Sonic doesn't hog the glory, he's just the only one out of his friends who can tap into the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow and Silver can too, but they're not usually around. But yeah, you got a point, it would take forever to meet Shadows standards… Why Infinite of all villains? Why couldn't it have been Eggman or someone else?"
"Let's get a move on. If we lose, maybe he'll just throw us in there anyways to get us out of his hair." Dale smirks, ready for this epic fight.
Athea ignores his enthusiasm. "If he doesn't kill us. But lets see what happens."
They start running up the mountains. When they reach the cliffs, Dale and Athea stop and look down. Waves crash on the cliffs jagged wall.
"A good place for Infinite to hide our dead bodies if we fail. Sonic will never know." Dale jokes.
"That's not funny." Athea backs away from the edge.
Dale backs away too and shrugs. "As Dani says, It's better to laugh than to cry."
"If Dani was in our situation what would she do?" Athea asks pointedly.
"Oh. Yeah... She wouldn't have been able to sleep. This would stress her out and she'd probably talk us out of it and tell us to train. But ya know what, Dani would also go just to ask Infinite a bajillion questions so..." Dale answers.
Athea nods. "Exactly."
They continue forward away from the cliff and walk through the field until they almost reach the other mountain peaks. "Uhhhh... so where's this base again?" Dale asks.
Athea squints her eyes to see if there are any red tints of an illusion, but sees nothing. "Maybe a bit farther down?" A few steps later they walk through a thin barrier. As soon as they walk through they fall silent.
The mountain peaks are gone, and substituting them is a barren field of dirt and dry, yellow grass patches. In the center is an abandoned aircraft that looks as if it has been wrecked there for years. The sky looks polluted, and the air smells of burning.
"Damn, why does every villain base look so damn depressing? Just once I'd like to see a base that's like, a nice cottage with a fence and two puppies running around. Just because you're depressed or edgy doesn't mean you have to live like it." Dale comments.
"It's called aesthetic. Aesthetic and privacy. Does this place look like he wants visitors?" Athea asks with a sigh.
"Nope. Looks like he wants cancer or some kind of sickness though. Can you smell this place? It smells like he wants to burn alive." Dale says.
"Or us, the unwanted visitors." Athea mumbles.
"Eh cheer up, he can't be that bad with that stupid excuse of a backstory. Some dude calls him weak one time, then all of a sudden he becomes this edge lord fans love? Nah bro. We got this. Maybe we won't even have to full on fight." Dale says to cheer Athea up.
"That's kinda oversimplifying it, but Infinite has a lot of potential. The only thing holding him back from that was Eggman, and for all we know he may not be working for Eggman anymore." Athea argues.
"That's Eggmans airship, the dude obviously still simps enough to live in one of the guys old airships." Dale argues.
"One. He doesn't SIMP. He is a blood thirsty mercenary who lords his power over weak people like us and has a grudge on Shadow and Sonic, who are our friends. Two. The guy loves a proper fight, and if we can't deliver he's going to get completely sadistic. He will play with us before finishing US OFF! And third-" Athea breaks off in shock. "Dani?" She whispers.
In the window of the airship, Athea and Dale can see Dani pounding on a window.
"Hang on Dani, I'm coming!" Athea shouts and makes a break for the ship.
Dale charges after her and grabs her shoulder. "Wait, didn't that Clutch guy say she was in Null Space?"
"He must've been wrong! 'Cause she's right there!" Athea shakes him off and keeps running. They reach the door of the airship and Athea runs in without a look back.
Her feet pound against the rusted floor, a sharp contrast to Dale's silent lope.
"I dunno about this, why would Mephiles leave her with someone that you say is sadistic?" Dale wonders.
"Mephiles is also a sadist." Athea shrugs without stopping, though she does slow down. Ahead of them, the two hear another's footsteps and arrive just in time to see Dani run into an open room.
"Dani!" Athea calls after her. The two follow her into the room to find Dani hunched over her knees, crying.
"You're okay now Dani, we'll get you out of here!" Athea runs over and gives Dani a hug. Dale notices Dani smirk, her eyes lifeless. The room becomes cold and eerie. Athea stiffens and groans as she feels her energy begin to disappear.
"Athea get back! That's not Dani!" Dale yells. Athea tries to let go, but Dani's arms around her are like chains. I can't…can't keep my eyes open… Her eyes flutter closed, her breathing slows, and her chest feels as if she'd swallowed sharp glass. Athea hunches over. Her arm comes up, weakly pushing against Dani.
Shoot! Athea isn't looking good. In a fast attempt at saving Athea, Dale shoots a bolt of electricity at the Dani copy. The Dani copy dissipates into red cubes.
Athea collapses, coughing. After a minute, she slowly gets up, regaining her strength. "Th- Thanks..." She rasps.
An evil chuckle sounds through the room, and a voice echoes. "It appears a few pests have made their way into my domain. How sad it will be to see you go."
A jackel with a gem attached to his chest hovers above them.
"Aw yeah! It's Infinite! Let this fight commence, then we can go to nullspace." Dale says smirking.
"You will not even have the chance. Now face your demise, weak pests!" Infinite says as his chest gem begins to glow.
The room distorts, disappearing, causing Dale and Athea to lose sight of each other. "Dale!" Athea steps forward, frantically trying to spot him. "Da-Dani!" She steps back, wary now, but the copy only stares at her sadly.
"I wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for you." She whispers. "I was only worried about you, I thought you needed help. Why didn't you tell me Athea?"
"I…I…" Athea steps back again, watching in horror as the copy begins to melt.
"You promised me! You said we had to tell each other the truth!" Dani howls. "Why didn't you tell me about Mephiles?"
Athea stumbles backwards, tears prickling her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Dani's hand reaches towards her.
"Your fault!"
Athea feels herself falling, falling. She lands on the ground, into a world she instinctively knows is her own.
"Thea! Thea!" Renny runs up to her and pulls on her arm. "Get up!" He urges her.
"Renny?" Athea blinks at him, confused. "What are you doing here?" This can't be real, this is how Mephiles got me last time! But it feels real. She can feel the heat of the sun, her brother's insistent hand on hers, she can even smell him. That odd mixture of soap and grass.
"Sissyyyyyy!" Renny whines. "You gotta stop them!"
"Stop who?" Athea looks around as the day bursts into noise.
"-lazy, selfish brat! You still haven't done the dishes!" Her stepfather opens the door and storms towards them. Renny cries and hugs Athea. Her hands automatically reach around him.
Athea's face is white as her stepfather stops just a few feet away from her. The smell of beer wafts over her and Athea forces back a gag.
"I do everything around this house! I've had to fix so much shit, I've practically built this house! The cabinets, the bathrooms! The floors! And all I asked you to do was the damn dishes! Sweep the floors after lunch maybe!" He rants.
Renny cries harder, hugging Athea tightly. She says nothing, only holding Renny tighter.
"Shut it!" Her stepfather snaps at Renny, who only cries louder. "I said shut it!" He takes a step forward, raising his hand.
"I'm sorry!" Athea stands up, still clutching Renny to her. "I'll go do the dishes now, I got this."
"No, no, don't bother. I already did them, like I do every damn thing in this house." He scoffs. "Lazing around on your phone all day, no wonder you couldn't protect your friend."
Athea stumbles and nearly drops Renny. "What?"
"You heard him." Her mother leaves the doorframe and walks forward to stand by her husband. "You couldn't protect Dani, and even worse, you lead Dani right to her kidnapper! How can you protect Renny when you would do such a foolish thing?" She steps forward. "Give him to me Athea. You can't protect him."
"Wait, please, no!" Athea steps back. "I can do it, I have him!" Her breath is coming too fast, Athea's head feels like it's spinning. If this is an illusion, then wake up! Snap out of it! But she can hardly breathe and she can feel her stepfather's angry, condemning gaze.
"Just do the right thing and hand Renny over." Her mother says.
"She's far too selfish to do that." Her stepfather snorts. "It's because she's so selfish she can't do anything right. Can't do the dishes because she's playing on her phone, can't protect Dani because she has to save Renny by herself. And here you are, again, doing something stupid and selfish. When will you learn Athea? You can't do anything right, least of all by yourself." He steps forward, reaching his hand out towards Renny.
Athea flinches and takes another step back.
"Give me my son Athea." Her stepfather growls.
"No-no!" Athea shakes her head. "You-you're wro-you-I-"
"Stop stammering and hand Renny over!" He lunges forward. Athea turns around and runs, blindly, desperately.
She trips and falls, and when she looks up she's back in the cave. Renny has disappeared from her arms. "No…nononono!" She gets up and stumbles forward…and into her own, personal horror show.
Mephiles stands in the middle of his protective dome, and this time he really does have her brother. "Don't even bother trying, Athea. You cannot break my shield, your fire is too weak. YOU are too weak." Mephiles laughs. "You could not protect Dani, and now, I shall take your brother as well."
"No!" Athea shouts and runs forward, banging on the shield. Not again! Not again! I can't watch this again!
"This is all your fault! If you had just handed Renny over when we told you, none of this would be happening!" Her stepfather is standing behind her, and her mother behind him.
"Oh sweetheart…" her mother shakes her head, disappointment etched onto her features. "I knew I was right to be worried about you."
"Worried? Worried?! She's gotten our son kidnapped and you were worried about her?!"
Athea shrinks back against the shield, her eyes flicking between Renny and her parents. Her hands cover her ears and she shakes her head. Snap out of it, snap out of it, stop it! This is just an illusion! Stop! Stop! "Stop it!" She shouts.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Her stepfather takes angry, stomping steps towards her.
Athea raises a hand, summoning her flames. "I. Said. Stop it." She says through gritted teeth.
Her stepfather stops, looking at her flame with wary eyes. "And what are you going to do if I don't? You're selfish, immature and lazy, but you would never hurt a person. You wouldn't dare try and hurt me." He takes a step forward, and another, bolder step.
"No." Athea admits. "You might be right about me, but there is one good thing you said there."
"What?"
"I'm not like you, I wouldn't try and hurt someone on purpose, especially over some DISHES." Athea turns to look at Mephiles. "But YOU on the other hand…well, I guess it's a good thing you're not really real, now isn't it?" She throws the flame at the bottom of the dome, feeding it with her anger and fear, and her love. Let me save him. This is an illusion, I know that, but let me save my brother this time.
The dome shatters and Athea lunges forward, grabbing Renny.
"You foolish mortal!" Mephiles disappears.
"I know this trick!" Athea mutters, and a shield appears between her and Mephiles moments before his power can connect. Athea makes a fist and punches Mephiles as hard as she can.
With one hand, she holds a shield over Renny, and with the other, controls her flames. "Burn it. Burn this illusion to the ground." She whispers.
"Athea! Athea stop! You'll kill us!" Her mother pleads with her.
Athea winces, but forces herself to meet the creature's eyes. "You. Are not. My mother. You're a copy Infinite's made to get inside my head, but you're not real. None of you are!" She raises her hands, allowing the fire to burn higher, hotter, her breath comes in gasps as the heat of the flame burns straight through everything, her hair is drenched with sweat. Distantly, she can see objects around her bursting into red cubes. "Not…not enough." She whispers.
"Nothing will ever be enough, your fire cannot kill us!" Mephiles hisses.
"Oh go to hell!" Athea yells. Mephiles screams as her flames destroy him, leaving him nothing but another burst of red cubes. The illusion disappears, the cave, her parents, all except for Renny. The two stand in a blank world.
Athea's shield and flame flickers away and she looks down at her brother tiredly. His eyes look up at her, solemn. "I saved you this time." She rasps, her throat feeling ragged with the smoke and heat.
"I know."
"You're an illusion too." It isn't a question.
"Yes."
"I don't think I can stand to burn you too." She admits.
"Then you'll never leave. Dale and Infinite will fight, but you'll stay here, with me."
"That's not an option." Athea shakes her head.
"Then kill me." Renny shrugs, as if it doesn't matter either way.
"No. I'm not going to let Infinite force me to live with that memory. Real or not, I refuse to live with that memory." Athea turns around and walks forward.
"That won't work!" Renny shouts after her. "You have to kill me! That's how this works!"
As if Renny would ever say something like this. He's five for goodness sake! "I don't believe you." She says simply. She raises her hand, summoning her flames once more. "It's time for me to go. You know what they say though, out of the frying pan…" The flames burn a hole through the world and Athea steps out to see Dale, ready to fight Infinite. "And into the fire."