Tails woke up to whispering.

Well, perhaps "whispering" wasn't the right word, since that implied an actual meaning to the sounds. This was more like a flock of birds were outside his window, trying to sing quietly enough not to wake him. But the sounds they made weren't like any birdsong he'd heard before. There were some squeaky chirps that sounded like the babbling of Chao, another voice that sounded like a strange frog, and one, uniquely, made a sound like laser fire.

So. Probably not birds.

Tails blearily rubbed his eyes, his sleep-addled mind helpfully noting that he was not in his bed and the floor beneath him was cold steel, not dirt or wood. Where was he…? He tried not to move too abruptly, wary of alerting the creatures still chattering nearby. Without turning his head, he carefully scanned the room from where he was lying. There was a window above him showing a dark expanse speckled with stars. That's right—they were in Eggman's space station. He and Sonic had come here to stop the madman's latest scheme.

His memories of yesterday slowly coming back, Tails shifted slightly, hoping not to alert the creatures nearby—Wisps, he finally realized. The squeaky chirps were those of the white Wisps he'd encountered on the space station, the laser-like sounds were those of a cyan Wisp, and he was pretty sure the drilling noises came from a yellow Wisp. There were two other sounds he didn't recognize. More Wisp varieties?

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Tails made out Sonic's sleeping form a short distance from him. Hovering nearby were the Wisps, bodies glowing softly in the dark as they looked at Sonic with suspicion. They didn't seem to be paying any attention to Tails, so he slowly drew himself up onto his elbows to get a better look. His ears perked up with interest.

The group of Wisps weren't all one color like the (flocks? shoals? choruses?) he'd seen before; there was an assortment of white Wisps, like the ones he was growing used to seeing flitting about the space station, but there was also a cyan Wisp and a yellow Wisp like he'd seen on Tropical Resort and Sweet Mountain, as well as Wisps he didn't recognize at all. There were several black Wisps, with round, bulbous heads and, uniquely, jagged red mouths. Combined with their lack of eyes, they looked decidedly creepy. There were also a few orange Wisps, torpedo shaped and with two eyes stacked on top of each other. And they were all clustered together. This was the first time Tails had seen Wisps of different breeds interacting with each other, and that alone was enough to pique the curiosity of his inner scientist.

The Wisps continued chattering amongst themselves, oblivious to their silent observer. One white Wisp seemed to be talking the most, gesturing animatedly as it made its Chao-like babbling sounds. Was it the same Wisp Sonic and Tails had run into when they first arrived on the space station? It had the distinct curl on its head and the same pink eye. Was it some sort of leader here? One of the black Wisps butted in, its chirps deeper and blunter than the white Wisp's. The white Wisp seemed to take the interruption in stride, nodding along patiently before bursting into another round of chatter. This seemed to set all the Wisps off, and their noisy chirps overlapped in a chaotic burst of noise before the cyan Wisp shushed them and the conversation resumed at a lower volume.

The conversation.

Wait.

Tails's eyes widened. The Wisps—the Wisps were talking to each other. They were having a conversation, they were even arguing. Tails had (perhaps naively) assumed they had a similar level of sentience as the Chao back on Earth: clearly intelligent, more so than most other animals, but not to the same extent as humans or Chyans. Chao could use a few simple tools and understand their caretakers to some degree, but they didn't, to his knowledge, have a translatable language or any sort of organized civilization. He'd figured Wisps were the same; cute, semi-intelligent little creatures whose babbling had no particular meaning. Or even if they were as intelligent as humans and Chyans, Tails had figured they probably had some strange, alien means of communication he couldn't even comprehend.

But they were talking. Communicating verbally with each other. Was there a way to translate what they were saying into an Earth language? Could Tails actually talk to them? Maybe he could explain to them that Sonic was not, in fact, evil incarnate. Though… Tails glanced at his sleeping brother, remembering the robot generators. Still online, despite Sonic's claims otherwise. There was something strange going on with Sonic. Maybe the Wisps could help Tails figure out exactly what that was. If only he had a way to understand them…

Tails was so wrapped up in his own whirling thoughts that he almost missed the end of the Wisps' little meeting. He jumped as the gathered Wisps suddenly broke apart, shooting off in different directions. The cyan Wisp and yellow Wisp shot into a portal—not one of the ones leading to their own worlds, Tails noted with surprise. The rest of the Wisps, meanwhile, dove off into the space station, the white one way and the black the other. The orange Wisps seemed to split between the two groups. One white Wisp, the one with the curl on its head, paused, glancing back at Tails. It cocked its head, chirping inquisitively. Tails opened his mouth to say something, but then beside him Sonic stirred, mumbling something in his sleep, and the Wisp shot off.

Tails flopped back on his sleeping bag with a frustrated huff. How was he supposed to figure out how to communicate with the Wisps when they couldn't seem to stand being near Sonic? Of course, Sonic had left him behind on the past few planets, so aybe he'd do the same on the next one? But if Tails let Sonic leave him behind, he wouldn't be able to find out the truth of what Sonic was doing (or not doing) to the robot generators.

Tails nodded to himself, mind made up. The Wisps would have to wait. His first priority was figuring out what was going on with Sonic.

Though it felt like ages of tossing and turning and spinning thoughts to Tails, it wasn't long before Sonic woke up. It was almost eerie—one moment Sonic was still and silent in his sleeping bag, the next he shot upright like someone had flicked his on-switch. There was no early morning grogginess to be had with him; he immediately shot to his feet, that wide, strangely forced grin on his face.

"Ready to go?" he asked Tails, voice chipper.

"I guess so," Tails said, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt. He had the basic outline of a plan in mind, but he had no idea if it would work. It had to work. He had to get to the bottom of this, whatever "this" was.

Sonic cocked his head at Tails. "Are you okay? You sound worried."

Was he suspicious? Or was he genuinely concerned? Tails swallowed and plastered on an attempt at a smile. "I'm fine!" Gah, why did his voice have to choose now to crack? Sonic was looking at him, clearly not buying it. Okay, new tact. "I… am nervous," Tails admitted, chewing his lip and glancing to the side, tails swishing nervously. At least he didn't have to fake that. "We have no idea what to expect on this new planet, you know? What if those creepy aliens attack you again?"

Sonic's expression cleared, his bright smile returning. "We'll be fine! I can handle anything, remember?"

"Right," Tails said, nodding. Nailed it.

Sonic patted him on the shoulder, then stepped up to one of the portals. "First one to find the robot generator's a rotten egg?"

"Wait!" Tails squeaked, and Sonic looked at him curiously. "C-could we go together this time?" He fiddled with his gloves, making a show of looking like a scared little kid. "I'd just… feel better having you nearby."

Sonic frowned. Was he suspicious? Think, Tails, think. You can't let him run off on his own again or you'll never get to the bottom of this.

"You know I'm not used to being on my own," Tails said, looking up at Sonic with wide, baby blue eyes. Come on puppy dog eyes, don't fail me now. "And those aliens really creep me out." Well, that one with the giant mouth and no eyes certainly had. "Can't we stick together, like we always do?" Take the bait.

"Alright," Sonic agreed at last, still sounding hesitant. "I guess we could go together this time."

"Thanks Sonic!" Tails beamed, internally pumping his fist. Even the weird, nauseating feeling of going through the portal didn't bother him as much as it had the first time. Maybe he was getting the hang of this whole "hopping between alien planets" thing. He could get used to this.