Chapter 1: An Introduction to a Psychological Darkness

The sun began to rise above the clouds, and with it, a young heroine known as Tangle the Lemur rose as well. Despite her sudden passing out after a particularly hardcore workout the day before, there she was, stretching herself and looking around for something to eat right as the sunrise began.

"You're up already? Ya know, if I was you, I'd take a break after what happened yesterday." Tangle's friend Jewel the Beetle lamented, seeing the hyperactive lemur reach for a protein bar.

"Well, I'm not you, am I?" Tangle argued. Jewel sighed.

"You're really lucky to have me around. After your little stunt, I was the only one left to post all those flyers around town! If I wasn't here, they wouldn't have been posted at all!"

"What about Whisper though?" Tangle asked, concerned. "She didn't help you? That seems really unlike her…"

"One of her wisps wasn't doing so well, so she had to stay behind to take care of them." Jewel explained.

"Oh… Sorry, I didn't know-" Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Jewel and Tangle looked at each other. "An interviewee? Now? It's kinda early for that isn't it?"

"You have no room to talk, Tangle. " Tangle giggled at Jewel's remark.

"Yeah… that's fair." She replied.

"Well, let's just hope that it isn't the only thing you two have in common, might be nice to have another powerhouse around, ya know, for extra-" Jewel then suddenly paused herself as Tangle opened the door.

The two were faced by a tall brown female tiger, her puffy green jacket making her look even more threatening than she already was, her sharp claws on display.

"-Protection…." Jewel mumbled, frozen in fear by the threatening figure before her.

"Yo, this is the right place, right?" The tiger asked, her chilled out tone making her true nature clear. Tangle and Jewel awkwardly laughed off their original dread and responded.

"Yeah..! You're here to apply to be a part of the Freedom Trainees, right?" Tangle asked.

"I sure am!" She held out her hand, offering out a handshake. "My name's Lux. Nice to meet ya!" Despite her loud and brutish ways, Tangle was taken aback by Lux. Maybe it was that the energetic personality she had didn't do any favors to tone down her scary appearance? Or maybe she was intimidated in a completely different sense? Either way, Tangle sheepishly shook Lux's hand.

"I'm Tangle, Tangle the Lemur...! Nice to meet you too." Suddenly, Tangle heard the sound of someone racing down the stairs. She turned to see that it was Jewel, who she hadn't even realized had left the room at all. Jewel had a look on her face that looked like it was a mix between worry and embarrassment. Before Tangle could even ask her as to what was going on, Jewel approached Lux and began to talk to her.

"Sorry for not being here to greet you, One of our current teammates is still asleep! I-I tried to wake her up, but I guess I'm not too good at it, cause she slept right through all of my efforts!" She explained, referring to Whisper.

"Oh... Well uh… That's fine. I'm honestly kinda surprised that you two happen to be up." Lux chuckled. "Though you were probably quite groggy before I came along and made ya near piss yourselves huh?"

"Eh… kinda?" Jewel responded.

"Speaking of that, my bad for scaring y'all like that." Lux said as she retracted her claws. "I usually just go with this look for evil folks, but I guess I wasn't really thinking."

"Ah, yes, nothing like giving the baddies a good scare!" Jewel noted.

"That's the point of the look, snucums!" Panicked footsteps followed Lux's response. Whisper was racing down the stairs, two of her wisps in her hands, and the others right behind her. Tangle was the first to react verbally.

"Whisper! What's wrong?!"

"The sickness in one of my wisps has worsened… and it seems to have spread…" She explained, teary eyed. "I don't know what to do…!" Jewel then chimed in. "Last night when I was putting up the flyers, I came by a small little establishment, owned by a fox named Dr. Clysdale. I talked to them for a bit, they said their speciality is taking care of wisps! Perhaps I can take you guys there and see if they can help you, Whisper?" A glimmer of hope shined in Whisper's eyes.

"That sounds like a good idea…" She responded.

"Alright, let's get going! Lead the way, Jewel!" Tangle declared eccentrically.

"So should I come back later…? Should I stay here-?"

"Nah, you can come along! You've already made a great case for yourself!" Tangle pulled Lux in and said. Lux nodded, and all four of the women started their walk downtown.

As they walked, the four of them talked about random little things; whatever came to mind, they talked about it. This was mainly to make Whisper feel better, and it did exactly that. However, eventually, Tangle could tell that something seemed to be bothering Lux.

"Hey, what's up? Ya look troubled." Tangle asked her

"I've been meaning to say something, but... I don't wanna ruin the mood. I know that Whisper is worried, and even though we just met, I don't want to make her worry more." Lux explained. Hearing that made Tangle smile, as she too cares a lot about Whisper.

"I get that, totally. You can just tell me, and I'll let Jewel and Whisper know later, if you think they should know." Tangle patted Lux on the back, speaking reassuringly to her.

"Thanks, that means a lot." Lux responded. "Anyway, the reason why I responded to the flyer so quickly is because I'm practically desperate to find help with this case I've been working on... I've tried getting the attention of the Freedom Fighters, but none of them have responded to any of my emails." She explained.

"Oh, yeah, I've heard they're going through a bit of internal drama right now. I don't know what exactly is going on, but I found out some surface info when I tried to find out why Sonic hasn't been doing signings and interviews recently." Tangle said.

"Oh, you're a fan of his too?" Lux asked.

"Yeah. I've always wanted to be like him…" Tangle responded.

"Anyway, still, I was hoping you guys could help me with this…" Lux pulled some papers from one of her jacket's pockets as she shifted the conversation back on topic.

"Absolutely! What is it?" Tangle asked, admittedly somewhat excited.

"These are some newspapers throughout the years of several different missing persons reports. The earliest of them is from November 19th, 2005, and the latest is from just a week ago, September 21st, 2011. None of them have ever been found, and all of them share two things in common. They're all young males in their 20s, and they were all said to be last seen with this young woman right here…" Lux then pulled another paper from another pocket, putting the newspapers back in the first pocket. "A dark purple and pink fox known as Wilma Brevair, age 25. She's been questioned several times, but the police never seem to find any evidence that links her to the disappearances. Some, like myself, are still suspicious of her, though. What are the chances of her being the last person seen with ALL of these men, who were never seen again? The general public most likely gives her an easy time cause she's a single mother, and "She's just looking for a father for her son!"-"

"Oh, Miss Jewel, you came back so soon?" A voice suddenly interrupted Lux's story.

"I'm sorry, are you busy right now, Dr. Clysdale?" Jewel responded.

"No no, not at all. It's just rather early…" The fox called Dr. Clysdale, a late 20's - early 30's looking light gray and crimson fox, with bags under their eyes, their hair pulled back into a low ponytail, and a soft but low voice with a British accent. Seconds after they revealed themself, another person popped up behind them, and immediately noticed Whisper's ill wisps.

"Oh dear goodness! What happened to these poor little sweeties?!" The woman's behavior made her seem to be Dr. Clysdale's assistant; a blue mouse of sorts, with her hair pulled into two buns on each side of her head, other than the bit of bangs that flopped over her face, wearing a pale green dress shirt, black pants, and a semi-formal black jacket.

"Last night, one of them became ill… I kept an eye on them, but when I woke up this morning, the first wisp's illness got worse, and another got sick as well…!" Whisper explained to the doctor and their assistant.

"Mmm… How peculiar… Just leave them with me, dear. All of them, just in case the others get sick. May be just a quick acting case of the common cold, but I'll examine them for you…" Clysdale explained. This made Whisper a bit panicked.

"Wh-when are they gonna be able to come back with me..?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"Don't fright, Love, they'll be better in a few days at the MOST." They assured her.

"A-Alright." Dr. Clysdale took Whisper's wisps and brought them to their office.

"Don't worry, the doctor is quite skilled at what they do! Your little lovelies will be back to 100% health in no time at all!" The assistant said to her.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry if it's a bother, but I never got your name when we met yesterday." Jewel said, budging into the conversation.

"Oh? I thought I told you already! Well, nevertheless, my name is Relic the Pika. Quite the pleasure to meet you!" The assistant responded to her.

"Oh… Well nice to meet you Relic! We'll come check to see if Whisper's wisps are all better tomorrow, alright?" Jewel suggested.

"Sounds good to me! I'll let Dr. Clysdale know!" Relic assured, before leaving the room.

"Hey… Lux, was it?" Whisper suddenly asked on the way back home.

"Yeah?"

"What were you talking about with Tangle earlier?"

"...I'll tell you and Jewel when we get back to your guy's place, alright?" Lux answered.

"Alright…" Whisper responded, still feeling slightly off about Lux.