Everything had been going way too well so far (unexplained detransformations and creepy jungles aside), so Tails really should have expected something like this.

The moment he stepped through the portal, Tails heard the familiar whine of a charging laser cannon. Instinctively he dropped to the floor. One laser blast grazed his ear, while several other shots hit the wall behind him. Tails scrambled to his feet and darted behind a nearby console. He waited a moment until several blasts hit the console, then peered around to take stock of his situation while the cannons were recharging. Several badniks—mostly Egg Pawns, accompanied by a few Buzz Bombers—surrounded the portal he'd just come through. Several more waited by each exit, though fortunately there was another console between Tails and the ones that were close enough to hit him. There was no sign of Sonic.

Deciding not to worry about that for now, Tails grabbed his own energy cannon from his subspace. He ducked behind the console as the badniks finished charging their weapons and another barrage of laser fire rained down around him. He was fortunate the Egg Pawns didn't have more advanced AI; as it was they were more of a threat to the tech he was using as a shield than they were to Tails himself. He smiled at the smoke rising from the console. It was always nice to cause Eggman an inconvenience.

Once the shots stopped coming, Tails jumped up and fired his cannon at the badniks guarding the nearest doorway. He dropped down again as the badniks by the portal finished recharging and started firing. The moment the attacks stopped Tails sprinted for the exit, swiping the badniks that hadn't been hit by his energy blasts with his tails. He was out the door before they could turn their weapons on him.

Tails pounded down the metal corridor, ducking the shots of the badniks behind him. A cavalcade of Moto Bugs charged towards him from the other direction. Tails kept running and, at the last minute, leapt into the air. The ceiling was too low for him to fly effectively, but he cleared the Moto Bug line and kept going. Behind him, the badniks spun to follow, their wheels whirring loudly in the corridor. Drat. So these ones could turn around, huh?

Tails came to the end of the corridor and broke out into what seemed to be a waiting room. He looked around wildly, but there was no exit besides the one he just came through. Great. Thinking quickly, Tails jumped up on what looked like a snack bar and readied his energy cannon. The Moto Bugs burst into the room a moment later. Their metal "jaws" clicked menacingly, but without legs they couldn't jump up and reach him. Instead they started ramming repeatedly into the snack bar he was standing on. Tails almost laughed. Were they trying to knock him down? The tactic might have worked if they were trying to get a frightened cat out of a tree, but most cats didn't have weapons.

Tails easily picked off the Moto Bugs with a few choice shots. Unfortunately that meant the energy cannon had to recharge, and the price of its more powerful fire was it took longer to charge up then the badniks's weaker weapons. Tails's ears twitched nervously as he heard the familiar engine whine of approaching badniks. It was one thing to tear through Eggman's scattered robots while blazing from one place to another, but getting cornered by the machines on their home turf was considerably more intimidating. Glancing around, Tails hopped behind the snack bar. A moment later the Egg Pawns arrived and immediately started firing in his direction. Tails winced at the sound of energy blasts chipping off pieces of plaster. How long would his cover last?

"Come on, come on," he muttered, slapping the top of his energy cannon. It obsinately refused to charge any faster. He peered over the top of the bar, then quickly dropped down again when a waiting Buzz Bomber shot at him. "This would be a great time for a heroic rescue, Sonic!" If something else could draw the badniks' attention, maybe he could take them out while they were distracted.

Across the room, there was a familiar burbling sound.

Tails's eyes widened, and he peeked up over the counter again to see a group of white Wisps floating in the doorway, chirping loudly. The assembled badniks turned to look at them, then back at Tails, uncertain which target to prioritize. The Wisps took advantage of their distraction. They dove between the robots, tempting the robots to try and grab them before darting at the last second. While the robots were distracted, one of the Wisps darted over to Tails and started chattering at him.

"Thank you for the distraction, but I have to wait for this to charge before I can do anything about the badniks," Tails explained, tapping the energy cannon.

The Wisp chirped again, cocking its head at the energy cannon. It tapped curiously at the device with one of its tentacles and then, to Tails's shock, dove into the cannon. He stared, dumbfounded, at where the Wisp had been a moment before. It had… disappeared? Was it actually in the cannon? How?

The cannon whined. Fully charged. What?

Well, no time to look a gift cannon in the muzzle. Tails aimed at the nearest Egg Pawn and fired. There was a burst of white energy, and the Egg Pawn (and all the badniks behind it) suddenly found itself with a hole through its head. While the damaged badniks fell over, Tails quickly turned the cannon on the other robots. It felt dangerously hot in his hands, even through his gloves, but it kept firing until every badnik in the room was disabled. As soon as that was done Tails dropped the cannon, hissing and blowing on his hands. A moment later the Wisp popped out (somehow), chirping merrily.

"Wow," Tails said, blinking at the carnage. "Thanks? For… whatever you did."

The Wisp chirped again, then darted away to join its brethren. Tails bent to pick up the energy cannon, then jumped back as it sparked and coughed out a puff of white smoke.

"I'll fix you later," he promised, tucking it into his subspace.

Looking up, Tails saw the Wisps had departed, leaving him alone with the badnik wreckage. He climbed over the bar and dropped down to the floor, then hurried out into the hallway. Now that he was free of his attackers, he was left wondering where Sonic was. Had he been captured? Surely Sonic could handle a few badniks. Maybe he'd taken off down a different corridor to lose pursuers, but he still could have at least left Tails a warning.

As Tails walked, his heart slowing down from the adrenaline rush of the fight, he noticed a strange background hum. It was soft and subtle, but… familiar. He stopped for a moment, trying to place what it was. His mind drifted back to the jungle on Tropical Resort, the strange absence of some sound he'd never realized was there before. That was what this was. That unheard music, singing softly in the distance, that had been there all his life, but which he'd never noticed until it was gone. It felt like a piece clicking back into place, making even Eggman's space station feel far less alien and hostile than that strange, silent world.

Shaking himself, Tails started walking again. He could figure out the weird not-sound later. Right now he needed to find Sonic. He slowed down as he neared the control room. He perked his ears, but he couldn't hear the telltale whine of lasers charging, or even the usual whirring of servos. What happened to the badniks guarding the room? Had they all followed him? Tails peered through the door cautiously. His eyes went wide.

Standing in the room was Sonic. He wasn't looking around, wasn't fighting badniks. He was just… standing there. Staring into a portal. Tails couldn't see his expression with Sonic's back turned like it was, but he didn't seem agitated. In fact, he didn't seem anything at all. No impatiently tapping foot, no bristling quills, no twitching ear. Perfectly still.

"Sonic?" Tails called.

Sonic jumped, whirling around to face him, and broke into a wide grin. "Oh, there you are!"

"What are you doing?" Tails asked, carefully stepping into the room. This felt like a trap, but he tried to shake the feeling. It was just Sonic.

"Waiting for you," Sonic answered smoothly. Now his foot was tapping with characteristic impatience. Why the stillness before?

"Why didn't you come find me?"

Sonic shrugged. "I figured you could handle a couple of badniks on your own. And you did, didn't you?"

"I did." Tails's gaze drifted to the portal Sonic had been looking at. The colorful name at the top read 'Sweet Mountain'. "So is that where we're going next?"

"Yup!" Sonic said cheerfully. "Whaddya say we go now, before we get ambushed again?"

Not how ambushes work. "Sure," Tails said, forcing a smile.

"After you, then," Sonic said, stepping aside.

Tails hesitated just a moment, then nodded and stepped up to the portal. His fingers twitched towards the energy cannon, but… it was broken now. If there was an ambush waiting on the other side he'd have to fight without it. He glanced back at Sonic, who waved him on impatiently. Sonic will be right behind me, Tails reminded himself. He jumped through the portal.

He stumbled out on the other side, barely keeping from falling off the edge of the narrow cliff face he landed on. Tails quickly scrambled back, his shoes scraping on stone. Yellow dust puffed up around his feet with each step. Thankfully, no badniks attacked him while he regained his footing. Huffing, Tails brushed his fur off and looked around.

The portal seemed to have deposited him on the side of a mountain. All around, peaks of layered yellow, red, brown, and white stone rose into the air. They weren't shaped like traditional mountains, more rounded and spherical, resting on the tops of thin spires. Some reached high enough that he could see snow dusting their tops like frosting. The sounds of construction, the whirring of engines, and the clacking of Eggman's robots at work echoed off the stone as Egg Pawns swarmed over the nearby mountains, constructing rails and walkways. Hoverships whirred between the peaks. Eggman seemed to be going for a food motif for this section of his "amusement park", and massive lollipops and donuts (hopefully fake) were being erected along the paths. At least the ocean the spires jutted out of seemed to have been left untouched, assuming its cloudy yellow color was natural.

In short, it looked nothing like Tropical Resort. Yet now that Tails knew to look for it (listen for it? Sense for it?), he immediately felt the same strange absence as he had on the other world. Like a sudden, deafening silence where once there had been beautiful, lively music.

Turning around, Tails saw the portal was suspended against the mountain face above him in the same metal frame as on the space station. It was a strange location for guests to arrive at, especially given there wasn't so much as a railing to keep them from falling off the edge, just some warning tape and a cheerful "watch your step!" sign. Had Eggman moved the portal knowing Sonic and Tails would come through it? Could he do that?

The portal fizzed, and Tails stepped to the side as Sonic jumped out. Tails reached out to keep him from plunging off the edge, but there was no need: Sonic skidded to a stop just short of the cliff, then turned to face Tails, dusting himself off calmly like he hadn't nearly fallen to his death. Typical.

"Nice view," Sonic commented. "Could use some air conditioning, though."

"At least you have short fur," Tails grumbled. Now that he wasn't staring at the alien sights, he was keenly aware of the hot and humid air that was already making his fur feel sticky. Ugh.

Sonic laughed, then tilted his head back to look at the mountain above them. "Guess we're heading up there?"

Tails pricked his ears to the telltale sounds of construction echoing down from above them. He could make out what looked like railings on a ledge above them, but it was hard to see much more than that, especially with the mountain's strange spherical shape. "Guess so. Should I fly you up or—" but Sonic was already jumping up the cliff face, nimbly bounding from foothold to foothold.

Sighing, Tails took to the air. At least flying gave him a nice breeze. He stopped to rest on a walkway that seemed much more visitor friendly than the ledge they'd been deposited on—it even had a "Welcome to Sweet Mountain!" sign, which seemed confirmation that the portal had been moved for Sonic and Tails—before continuing on. He passed several Egg Pawns, but they were all construction robots and took no notice of him. Laser fire twanged from the mountaintop. Had he been spotted?

Tails dropped down onto a ledge just below the top of the mountain. He nearly pressed his back against the cliff, but stopped when he saw something sticky and sweet-smelling was covering the rock. He grimaced. Was there frosting on the top of the mountain? Gross. Sonic joined him soon, sniffing at the frosting before making a face. He moved to jump up to the top, but Tails quickly motioned him to wait. Thankfully, he did, tapping his foot impatiently.

The sound of laser fire above ceased. Tails flew just high enough to peer over the ledge. Several badniks stood on the mountain top, their backs turned to him as they aimed at an unseen target. His ears pricked at the sound of now familiar chirping. It sounded rougher and lower in tone than the white Wisps, but warmer than the cyan. A new breed? Either way, they were distracting the badniks, which gave Sonic and Tails an opening. Tails looked down at Sonic, who grinned and shot him a thumbs up. Helpful. Tails flew up higher, then dropped down behind the unaware badniks. He reached for his energy cannon before remembering it was busted. Instead, he swiped the nearest badnik with his tails, then jumped up and kicked another down the side of the mountain before the robots could realize they were under attack.

The rest of the badniks finally noticed what was happening and turned their fire on Tails. He ducked and swiped another robot's legs out from under it,. but while he was distracted, several Buzz Bombers broke away from the group and dove down the cliff, presumably after Sonic. Well, Sonic could handle himself. Right now Tails needed to disable the rest of the badniks on the mountaintop. He pushed another Egg Pawn off the edge, then jumped back as what looked like a yellow missile slammed into a robot next to him, knocking it over the cliff.

Tails dispatched the last of the badniks with a well-aimed kick and ran over to the edge to check on Sonic's progress. He felt a twinge of concern when he saw the ledge below devoid of blue hedgehogs before he noticed distinct sneaker-shaped footprints leading down the path away from the ledge. Sonic must have run off that way while trying to shake the Buzz Bombers. He'd be back in a moment.

Straightening, Tails turned back to see what the badniks had been so distracted by. The first thing he noticed was a fallen bucket of frosting, several discarded metal beams, and other abandoned construction supplies. Hovering around the fallen objects were… well, Tails assumed they were Wisps. They each had a big head—striped in yellow and orange—, a single round eye, no obvious mouth, nose, ears, or even body, and three tentacles. But unlike the other Wisps he'd encountered, these Wisps's heads were triangular, which was… interesting, to say the least. And they were taking great pleasure in grabbing the scattered construction supplies and throwing them off the side of the mountain.

"Thanks for the help!"

As soon as Tails spoke, the Wisps darted over to surround him in a mass of yellow and orange. By this point he was getting used to being swarmed by aliens, and he patiently let them fly around him, their curious warbles filling his ears. They really did sound distinct from the other Wisps; their cry was a jackhammer-esque sound, like a woodpecker or a cane toad might make. One of them grabbed curiously at his bangs with its tentacles, sending a buzz of warm energy through him, and Tails quickly shooed it away.

"Thank you for the warm welcome, but I need to go find Sonic—" Tails started, then cut himself off as he heard the familiar pounding of running footsteps approaching. Sonic burst onto the scene a moment later, his blue fur coated in yellow dust, but otherwise none the worse for wear. "Oh, there he is. What kept you?"

"Oh, you know," Sonic said casually. "I was just— aagh!"

Tails was nearly knocked over as all the Wisps abruptly switched targets, swarming Sonic. He almost laughed at seeing Sonic get the same treatment he had, but the sound died in his throat as he heard the noises the Wisps were making. They were harsh and grating, far more aggressive than the warm, friendly chatter from earlier. And they weren't curiously poking at Sonic; they were slamming into him, just like they had with the Egg Pawns they'd helped Tails with.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Tails yelled, running over to stop the onslaught. His eyes widened as he realized Sonic, unbalanced by the Wisps's assault, was dangerously near the edge of the mountain side. "Stop it!" Tails's heart jumped in his throat as he saw Sonic tilting backwards. He dove forward, the Wisps parting around him, and grabbed Sonic's hand. He tugged him upright, then whirled on the still hissing Wisps, fur bristling. "Go away! He didn't do anything to you!"

The Wisps quieted. One of them chirped, darting closer to Tails, and he bared his teeth at it. It quickly backed away. The Wisp chattered quietly at each other for a moment, then they all flew away. One lingered a moment longer, glaring at Sonic, before following its brethren.

Tails sighed, fur smoothing, and turned to Sonic. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sonic said, chipper as ever. He didn't even sound shaken. "Maybe they just really hate the color blue?"

Tails tried to smile, but it didn't feel convincing. "Maybe."

"Well, we're not gonna let a bunch of angry doritos stop us from stopping Eggman, are we?" Sonic raised a hand to shade his eyes as he looked around. "Let's split up and find that robot generator."

"Are you sure? If they attack you again—"

"I'll handle it," Sonic said dismissively. "The quicker we find the generator, the quicker we leave this place, right?"

"Right," Tails agreed.

"Great! Meet you back at the portal!" Sonic gave him a cheery thumbs-up, then took off down the mountainside.

Tails watched him go, wondering how he wasn't more shaken by what had just happened. Were the yellow Wisps just more aggressive? The cyan Wisps had been hostile to Sonic, too, but they hadn't attacked him. Maybe they just hadn't gotten the opportunity? Despite the heat, Tails couldn't help from shivering. Should they really be working to save these aliens when they all seemed to want Sonic dead?