NiGHTS blinked.
"What was that about?" they asked, turning towards their darker counterpart.
"Hmmmm…" Reala hummed thoughtfully to himself as the gears in his head started to turn.
He only met them a handful of times, but the red nightmaren could tell that they were cocky, rebellious, and annoyingly heroic. His band of friends, in his honest opinion, were tolerable at best. Some were mostly one note, and Big was… Big. That cat still confused him. The doctor himself was like a giant, somewhat intelligent clown. Regardless of how he felt, the blue hedgehog never gave any hints of a rather high temper underneath his blue fur. If anything, he seemed more laid-back in nature, and childish.
Now curious, he floated over to inspect the meeting room. NiGHTS went too far behind.
What they found would've caused Wizeman to crack a smile and laugh. Chairs were stuck in or smashed against the walls. One was halfway through the ceiling and missing all its wheels. Some were broken into multiple pieces and littered the floor, along with tiny bits of the walls and ceilings, hence the cracks and holes. The main table, hazelnut in color, looked to be smashed directly in two, with one of the table legs stabbed into the wall on the far right side. The large big screen TV which usually sat on the wall was now an amalgamation of crackling wires and broken glass that littered the carpet. The most damaging part of the destruction was the large, life-sized windows that replaced what would've been concrete and brick covered in gray paint. The windows were gone; completely and utterly shattered, with only tiny stray bits managing to hang onto their frame. The rest were either all over the floor, or, Reala theorized, down on the streets below.
Carefully, Reala inspected the damage closer, noting small craters in the wall indicating where someone might have punched it. Scorchmarks also seemed prominent, especially on one part of the now halved table. NiGHTS flew up to the chair in the ceiling. They flew a few circles around it before leaning in close, trying to figure out just how the heck one of the fun swivel chairs managed to find their way into the ceiling. As they looked, the chair came loose and fell, causing NiGHTS to yelp and jump back. It landed on the floor with a thunderous crash, ending up in two. The purple nightmaren gingerly inspected the hole, noticing how it managed to expose one of the many pipes that ran through the building. They then slowly floated to the floor and inspected the now damaged chair.
"What could've caused Sonic and his friend to go absolutely crazy like this?" NiGHTS wondered aloud.
Reala remained silent for a moment, carefully picking up a larger shard of glass and inspecting it. Briefly he spotted his reflection.
"You've hung around him more than me," he said, turning towards his sibling, "did you ever get a glimpse at his temper?"
"No," NiGHTS replied with a shake of their head, "he always seemed so… cool and calm. But earlier… he seemed so angry… like… like he was about to hit someone."
"From the evidence here, he might've already done that," Reala scoffed, looking around once more while crossing his arms, "and maybe a bit more."
NiGHTS nodded absent-mindedly. In all the years they had known Sonic, they had never seen something as destructive as this. He was always happy, and on especially good days cheeky. They still remembered the few times they talked him into helping prank Reala during their collaborations and special events. He was a good friend, and NiGHTS didn't like the idea of them being so furious about anything. Questions kept floating around in their head: What was Sonic so angry about? Who were he and his friends meeting with? And why?
"Looks like SEGA's golden boy isn't so golden after all," Reala remarked, being somewhat impressed by the amount of destruction the hedgehog had caused.
NiGHTS huffed, glaring at their brother briefly.
"Well… the same could be said about you tough guy. Or have you forgotten the whole Chao Garden Incident?"
The purple nightmaren smirked triumphantly and cheekily as their brother slowly glared at them. Despite the death glare he gave, they could see his cheeks turning bright red from embarrassment.
"...I thought we agreed to NEVER speak of that day again…" he growled slowly.
"Don't insult my friends and we'll keep it that way," NiGHTS countered, crossing their arms. In the back of their mind though, they still planned to share that special day with their peers at one point.
Reala snarled, but said nothing more and turned away.
"Well, whatever it was that got them so worked up, we won't find any answers in here."
"Yeah," NiGHTS agreed reluctantly. Then, an idea sparked into their mind.
"...But what if we find them?"
"Excuse me?" Reala turned back to their sibling with a raised eyebrow, "what are you babbling about?"
"What if we find out what's got them so upset?" NiGHTS said, floating towards their brother, "someone has to have known something, and if we find out what, maybe we can help them."
Reala scoffed and crossed his arms.
"Their business is none of our concern, sibling," he stated firmly, "it's not our place to be poking our noses into everyone's problems. And anyway, why should we help them? And to that extent, why should I help you?"
NiGHTS stared back at their brother momentarily. The answer seemed obvious to them.
"I want to help Sonic because he's my friend, and I don't like seeing him so upset. He'd want to find out what was wrong with me if I was acting like that. How could I call myself his friend if I didn't do something to cheer him up?" they paused, crossing their arms behind their back and giving a knowing and cheeky grin.
"And I know you'll help me because if you don't… I'll post the footage of you in the Chao Garden all over the internet."
The red Nightmaren glared intensely at their sibling, body and muscles tensing up.
"...Are you threatening me?"
"I believe the term is called 'blackmail,'" NiGHTS replied, "And maybe I am. But I also know that you and Shadow get along fairly well. You can't tell me you wouldn't want to find out what's bugging the only person you've ever considered a friend."
Reala remained quiet, but still kept their glare. Admittedly, their sibling was right; sort of. While the two were never buddy-buddy like NiGHTS and Sonic, Reala did find Shadow to be tolerable company. The black hedgehog shared some of his feelings about their partners' childish behaviors, and was powerful enough to hold his own against him in battle. When they weren't filming or fighting, the two could be seen sitting quietly somewhere, making very little yet very pleasant small talk. They respected and tolerated each other enough where you could argue that they were, to use the term VERY loosely, friends.
The Nightmaren sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead, placing another hand on his hip.
"Come on Reala," NiGHTS begged, "when was the last time we did anything together?"
"...You consider the two of us prying into the lives of our peers as 'quality time together?'"
The SEGA star just shrugged and smirked.
"I don't see why we can't do both."
Again, Reala sighed. For a long minute, he said nothing, but finally, he turned to face his sibling.
"...Fine. I suppose someone has to keep you in line. Might as well be the one person who can actually do it."
"Excellent!" NiGHTS cheerfully clapped their hands together, much to their brother's irritation.
"We'll be just like detectives!"
"If you make me wear that Sherlock Holmes costume again I will tear off your horns and throw you into the Dark Ocean."
NiGHTS scoffed, completely unbothered by their brother's threat.
"You won't do that. Now, where do we start?"
"Unbelievable," Reala groaned, "the one who suggested we do this in the first place doesn't even know where to begin…"
"Oh stop complaining!" NiGHTS chided, "Come on! Use that big boy brain of yours and help me figure out where we should start looking for clues."
The red nightmaren growled under his breath, but then let out a tired sigh of defeat.
"Very well then… the answers we seek seem to lie within Sonic and his friends. However, talking to them seems out of the question right now. And the doctor will not be pleased if we intrude his base."
"...Orbot said they were having a private meeting. I wonder with whom?"
"Well whoever it was, it managed to piss them off immensely. I've heard it takes quite a bit to get that cat girl angry."
"Yeah," NiGHTS agreed, floating around, "and Silver's never been that intense before."
The Nightmaren wondered just who these guys were meeting with. With the small exception of Knuckles and Shadow (and Amy on particularly bad days), Sonic's gang were never known to have such violent outbursts. Sure, some of them would argue with staff during meetings or filming, but that was over little things like questionable script dialogue, paychecks, and the amount of times they had to shoot one particular scene. But those never went beyond loud shouting, feet stomping, or fist banging. It was very rare that Sonic ever got angry at a director and caused actual property damage. NiGHTS could only recount two times that had happened, and whenever someone told it, there was always some level of fear both in their tone and their eyes.
Whoever this person was they were talking to, they must've royally pissed everyone off if the room looked like it was attacked by a hoard of Nightmares.
"Well," Reala sighed, "if we find their meeting partner, we'll find some answers."
"Great idea!" NiGHTS exclaimed, "There's just one problem: where did they go?"
Reala slowly floated towards the now shattered window and looked down at the streets below. An odd shape in the street caught his eye.
"...I may have an idea of where they went…"