In a secluded lab on Westside Island; a grey furred lynx Mobian in a dark purple and black labcoat was watching the results of his latest experiment and was growing frustrated. "Another failure... These cloned cells just won't hold together! These are my best hope lest I have to go to more drastic measures..." the lynx ranted to himself and he heard beeps from machinery.
In bed strapped to medical machinery was a 15 year old brown furred lynx Mobian girl with black hair in a dark purple gown with a special machine connected to her head which was wired to a computer. The lynx then administered the girl's medicine and held her hand softly but then the security alarm went off...
In the palace there was a sparring tournament between the royal cadets and Captain Armand was there to watch his son Antoine make it to the final two against another promising cadet called Hamlin Pig. Antoine with a smirk kept dodging Hamlin's attacks and upon finding an opening striked to get the winning point causing the instructor to call the match.
"Tremendous work Antoine; you have made me so proud of you and I can see you being a great guard! I could be seeing you as my successor as Captain of the Royal Guard!" Armand told him coming closer and Antoine smirked at the praise.
"Well I do have a talent for telegraphing attacks and just being all around better than all the other cadets; not their fault that they can't be as good as someone from the D'Coolette family!" Antoine stated with the other cadets glaring at him.
"Wow Antoine; how can you even stand on your two feet with that big head of your's?" Sonic asked having watched from the door along with Sally who was shaking his head.
"No one asked for your snide remarks Sonic; besides you're one to talk with your showing off and having people think that you're some great hero! That would be bad enough but you endanger the Princess by having her join in the battlefield dressed like that! Princesses should be safe in the Palace while their brave guards fight on her behalf!" Antoine retorted having been aghast when he first saw Sally in her mission attire and Armand glared at Sonic not only having dealt with him multiple times but he was against the idea of Sally joining in on Sonic's missions.
"I can make my own decisions Antoine and Sonic isn't endangering me!" Sally retorted shaking her head and Sonic smirked at Sally talking back at Antoine.
"I can protect you better than he could; I mean I would be a better fighter on the battlefield than he is!" Antoine stated as Sonic thought of an idea.
"Want to put your money where your mouth is? How about you join us on our next mission?" Sonic suggested as Sally batted an eye and Antoine was taken back looking surprised.
Antoine coughed and said "You will be on hedgehog!" Antoine decided that he could make an excuse when the next mission has come for him to stay home. Or see that they could forget all about this moment.
Then came in a guard saying "Sorry to bother you both Princess Sally, Sonic but King Elias has gotten noticed of a Badnik attack and so King Elias wants you both for a mission!" Antoine was open mouthed and ready to faint.
Antoine joined Sonic and Sally as the guard was briefing them on this mission; it had been a week and a half since Sonic and Sally's trip to Central City and Robotnik had been sending Badniks to attack parts of Westside Island which they were sent to take care of along with a group of guards for help.
"This time the Badniks are attacking the home and lab of Dr Ellidy..." said the guard and Sally gasped as Sonic looked confused. Seeing Sonic's confusion the guard explained "Dr Ellidy is one of the greatest scientific minds on Mobius; he has made great progress and the technology that holds the Chaos Emeralds is all his doing."
"Not only that but his daughter Nicole was my best friend... But she got sick, real sick and the doctors said that it may become terminal one day..." Sally muttered as Sonic gasped and held her hand as she looked depressed thinking about her younger days with Nicole:
Sally and Nicole as young girls were laughing together while playing with each other's hair at a sleepover; during spin the bottle when it was Nicole's turn it landed on Sally and they were embarrassed as they shared their first kiss with eachother.
Sally calmed down and looked determined as she led Sonic, Antoine and the group of guards to the area where Dr Ellidy lived. They came across Badniks and Sonic dashed at them with great speed while Antoine nervously went to hide and tried to stab at a Badnik with his sword when one got close enough to him.
"I think I am beating you in how many Badniks we can crush Antoine!" Sonic mocked with a laugh when he noticed Antoine hiding.
"Can you please not treat this like a game or a contest!" Sally yelled angrily at Sonic who sighed as the Badniks in the area were done away with.
"Yes um... I had to be on the lookout just in case more came." Antoine said and Sonic and Sally rolled their eyes at the excuse as they entered Dr Ellidy's home.
There was a large lab area with Badniks attacking and they went on the offensive; Sally's eyes widened as she noticed Dr Ellidy standing by Nicole's bed and jumped to the area with the bed and attacked the nearby Badniks. "Sally?" Nicole asked noticing Sally and Sally gave her a smile turning her head.
While this was going on ground Badniks were hacking into the computer files and downloading data to send back to a server and had completed before Sonic crushed them. Antoine continued to hide and only weakly attack the closest Badniks.
Soon they were done away with and Dr Ellidy said in astonishment "so the famous Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Sally; my have you grown since I last saw you." Dr Ellidy said as Sonic and Sally smirked and Antoine made himself known. "You must be Captain D'Coolette's boy..." Dr Ellidy muttered and Antoine took a bow.
"Sally... Wow you look good. I heard about you attacking those robots that Robotnik made with the hero Sonic... Nice to see you after so long Sally and an honour to meet you Sonic." Nicole said before she coughed and Sally hugged her and Sonic went closer.
"Glad to see that the Badniks didn't do too much damage." Sonic told them.
"Nicole; I am so sorry that I haven't visited in so long! I promise you that I will visit more often; with as much time as you have left!" Sally said with tears in her eyes as she held Nicole's hand comfortingly.
"No worries Sally and glad you came when I really needed you, I will look forward to seeing you again." Nicole said as Sally kissed her on the forehead. Minutes later after Sally had a talk with Nicole to catch up.
They returned to the palace where Armand was there to ask Antoine how it went; "Pretty well; I didn't want to show off so I let them have a chance..." Antoine told his father and Sonic and Sally were surprised he could say that with a straight face. Armand was pleased and made his son silently groan when he suggested that he join Sonic and Sally on their missions more now.
The two weren't pleased themselves as they had a moment to themselves; "I just wonder how he could be so much of a coward out there; I know he was one when the Badniks first attacked but it's totally different than how he fought in that sparring contest..." Sonic asked confused.
"I bet it's because fighting on the field is a different story than sparring in a controlled environment where there are rules and a referee..." Sally said before sighing looking sad.
"I bet you are still sad about Nicole; I wish there was more to help her but right now it's enough to be there for your friend in her remaining time." Sonic said with a warm smile and a hand on her shoulder as she smiled in return.
"One more thing; any reason why Robotnik just decided to attack the lab? I know his attacks on villages could be used to destabilise the Kingdom but was there something Dr Ellidy was working on that he was after?" Sally brought up and Sonic shrugged.
Dr Ellidy was working on fixing the damage done to the lab and was disappointed with how damaged a certain project was; "A setback on the project to clone you a new healthy body to transfer your mind and soul in. However the neural interface connected to your mind was undamaged." Dr Ellidy said as he went and held his daughter's hand. "I promise you Nicole that no matter what it takes... I will save you." Dr Ellidy swore as he went to double check to make sure that her medical equipment was undamaged.