Author's notes: I regret nothing on how I ended the last chapter! Nothing new.
Chapter 53
Egg Carrier, Briefing room...
"Okay, explain to me how you can beat Infinite and Mephiles but then you don't permanently defeat them for us." said Shade, trying to keep calm as he sats across from Razor in the briefing room of the massive ship.
"Well, if I fight them in a straight up fight eventually they're going to adapt to my style of fighting. That's why I do quick short fights when alone but longer fights when I can be support for others. They can't adapt to me if I ambush them when it's just me, or if I ambush them while supporting others. If I fight them long enough to where they ignore my theme song that's magically playing and my insane nosensical tactics, they're going to kick my ass. Infinite can't kill me but I don't exactly want fifth degree sunburns if Mephiles decides to go full power sun god on my ass." said Razor calmly.
"Wait...fifth degree? Don't you mean third degree?"
"Oh no! Hybrids can get fifth degree burns! That's where only the skeleton remains and then the Hybrid has to wait for their body to regenerate. It's how great-grandpa got his titanium skeleton. Although he fell into a vat of molten titanium. And usally only Hybrids who lack heat resistance get fifth degree burns, while those with heat resistance get third degree. Oddly enough, I know he's heat resistant but I guess falling into and fully submerging in molten metal bypasses resistances! Anyway, I lack heat resistance since the dragon half of me is an Earth Dragon so yeah, I don't want fifth degree burns! Besides, Infinite's going to eventually adapt to my tactics but that's not going to happen for a long, long, long, long while! So until then, I'll be doing the kicking!"
"So to avoid being countered, you let the villains recover after fighting them but then fight them again when they least expect it?"
"Bingo!"
"I'm getting a headache..." muttered Shade as he rubbed his forehead.
"It's about to get worse!"
Shade goes to ask what that means but then the intercom system crackles to life.
"This probably isn't important but...does anyone know why the ship cafeteria's ENTIRE stock of mints is suddenly gone? I'm serious. Fifty-two crates worth of mints just...gone." came Admin_Fun's voice over the intercom. Shade slammed his head onto the table to keep himself from yelling in anger. Razor falls onto his back laughing.
"SHUT UP!" snapped Shade at Razor who kept laughing.
Floor 4, Sector 3, Subsector 2A...
Orbot and Cubot slowly move through the hallway of the massive ship following a trail of spilled mints.
"Uh...why are we doing this again?" asked Cubot as he scratched his head.
"Beats me actually. All I know is that Shade didn't want to waste anyone else's time trying to find the culprit, or culprits. Probably some faulty loader bots or something misplacing the crates." said Orbot as he followed the trail.
"But then, wouldn't the cleaner bots have informed us? We are on the same network."
"I didn't think of that. Well, keep your optics and audio sensors on alert then."
"Hey, do you hear whispering?"
"Whispering?"
"Yeah, listen."
The two bots stop and listen and hear whispering coming from a storage closet, with the trail of spilled mints leading into it. As the two approach the door, they hear a banging sound, like crates being shoved against something, coming from within and hear the voices a bit more clearly.
"Come on! Come on! One of the crates sprung a leak! Someone's gonna find us!" said one voice as quietly as possible, the quietness making it impossible to identify.
"We're trying! But these portal's not big enough for the whole stack!" said two voices at once but they're perfectly identical.
The orb and cube-shaped robots look at each other before Orbot grabs the handle and opens the door to the room. As the door fully opens; three foxes quickly look at the two robots as a fox-dragon looks at them from around the large stack of mint storage creates behind the two partially healed foxes. The two foxes are trying to shove the crate stack into a portal created by the other fox with a gem rod hanging from his head. Orbot fumbles for the door handle and then closes the door. The whispering and banging of the crates becomes more frantic after the door fully closes.
"Um...should we inform anybody about the thieves?" asked Cubot to Orbot nervously as he looked back and forth between Orbot and the door.
"We didn't see anything." said Orbot calmly as he began floating away from the door.
"Um...but...we did..."
"Nope. Our memories got wiped by two foxes with IQs to rival Eggman's."
"But they didn't...oh wait, we're lying to avoid having our memories wiped by them, right?"
"Indeed. Now, keep quiet about this. They'll slip up themselves."
"But you don't have those freaky eyes Razor has."
"Simple math calculations to see where this goes."
"Uh...please no math! My CPU can't handle them currently! Too much going on around here for me to get rid of bad files lately!"
"If anyone asks, just pretend we only found an empty room."
"Oh, that's easy. I think."
The two calmly however back the way they came from.
Ten minutes later...
Tails, Frenzy and TD cautiously peak around a corner to make sure the way to the infirmy is clear while Mayhem just calmly walks by them.
"You three are being too cautious. Looks too guilty." said Mayhem as he walked before he pulled out the same tablet he had used earlier (in a previous chapter) with the words "target locked" visible on it, "And it looks like I'll be going now."
He creates a small portal, revealing an open mint crate and the other three look extremely nervous and Mayhem chuckles as he pulls out a mint tin.
"What? I disabled the cameras in the hallway before we got here. You think I'm that lousy at covering my own tracks when I'm a kleptomaniac?" said Mayhem chuckling as closed the portal.
"Wait, you're a kleptomaniac?" asked the three confused.
"Yeah. I'm just good at hiding it. By the way, none of you planned to buy anything worth thirty rings right?"
"No?"
"Good. Later."
Mayhem disappears into a red distortion portal, leaving the three in the hallway. The three quickly pull out their ring storage units (1) and find that they're all missing ten rings.
"Whatever. Come on, let's get back before anyone notices." said Tails as he put his counter away and headed for the infirmary with the other two quickly following. The automated doors open and the three quickly enter the dark infirmary as they're supposed to be asleep, or at least Tails and Frenzy are supposed to be. To help their recovery. The lights suddenly turn on and both Frenzy and Tails jump into TD's arm in surprise with his gem turning white in surprise. The trio see Bunnie and Slothic standing there and both don't look happy.
"He did it!" yelled both Tails and Frenzy while pointing at the other, "Uh...he made me!"
"What are you two talking about?" asked Slothic, tilting his head to the side a bit.
"This isn't about the missing mints?" asked Tails nervously.
"Guys? I'm still not used to being a Mobian and I'm definitely not used to holding two teenagers!" said TD before he collapsed from the weight of the two in his arms, dropping the two onto the floor. Frenzy yelps and holds his ribs. Tails grabs his still healing arm in pain, hissing from the pain.
Slothic looks at Bunnie and the two carefully help the injured foxes up. TD gets to his feet.
"No. We were wondering where you two disappeared off to." said Slothic calmly.
"Cafeteria." said Tails quickly.
"Data archives." said Frenzy quickly.
The two look at each other before smiling sheepishly.
"Alright you two. Come clean." said Bunnie sternly.
"Okay we took SOME mints." said Tails calmly.
"What's a few?" asked Slothic crossing his arms.
"Um...two, maybe three pieces?" said Tails before a hidden compartment on one of his tails pops open and three empty mint tins fall out.
"Two or three pieces huh?"
"They each only had one piece I swear!"
His other tail has a hidden compartment pop open as well and an additional five empty tins drop out along with two full tins. He chuckles nervously as a sweat-drop forms on his head.
Slothic then looks at Frenzy.
"Remove the kelvar bud. I know you installed a hammerpsace into it." said Slothic sternly to Frenzy.
"But...what about..." began Frenzy but was stopped by Slothic.
"We'll explain it after. For now, kevlar off. Bunnie wants to also make sure your ribs are healing properly anyway and that kevlar blocks the scanners."
Frenzy sighed and he reached up and put two of his fingers onto a fingerprint scanner which then unlocked the seals on the kevlar torso armor and he began working on taking it off. Upon it being fully removed, several scars are visible on his chest as well as a hole where his heart should be. He then shakes the kevlar and twenty empty tins drop out from a hammerspace hidden on the inside of the armor.
"Twenty?!" yelled Tails in surprise.
"I was hungry and the cafeteria didn't have anything good available! It especially lacked Chili dogs!" said Frenzy in his defense.
"And how many did TD-" began Slothic before everyone in the room winces from the lound crunch of metal. Tails, Frenzy and Slothic look at TD, now in doll form, who upon being noticed, stops eating the four mint tins he was trying to eat like a sandwich.
"What? Is this not how you get rid of evidence quickly?" asked TD with the half-eaten tins sticking out of his tooth filled mouth.
Slothic and Bunnie both face-palm while both Tails and Frenzy have sweat-drops form on their heads.
"IT WAS MAYHEM'S IDEA!" yelled the three at once.
"And do you have evidence of this?" asked Bunnie.
The three then realize that Mayhem planned for them to take the fall when he suggested the mint heist.
The infirmary is put onto lockdown and the trio are left inside as Slothic stands guard.
"Is this what being grounded is like?" asked TD, the half-eaten tins still in his mouth.
Both Tails and Frenzy then grab TD by the neck and start strangling him but his gem just turns yellow in confusion.
"You know that doesn't work while I'm a doll right?"
Meanwhile, atop the Egg Carrier...
Shardic Overlord, in a semi-powered down state to recharge his systems from the huge energy drain of the cannon shot against Dark Gaia, has a "high concenration of mint detected" warning appear on his sensors.
Okay, who left the mints unguarded? And am I glad I can't actually smell. Ugh.
Admin_Fun whistled innocently as he spun a keychain around one of his fingers and walked down the ship hall calmly.
"Hey, why are looking at me? I had nothing to do with this. The keychain could be for anything you know!" said Admin_Fun yet the key had a clear "Cafeteria storage" label on it, "Okay, shut up author. That's really unfair. You know what, I'm pulling the plug on this chapter here."
"Hey! That's my job!" said Razor popping into view.
"Oh go jump off the ship!"
"OKAY!"
"Wait, what?"
"Wheeeeeeeee!" said Razor as he fell past a nearby window.
"I hate him, more and more." muttered Admin_Fun as he frowned and his gag moustache drooped.
END CHAPTER
(1) Ring Storage Units: an in-universe way of how anyone besides Sonic carries rings around. Imagine digital hammerspace wallets!
And if you're wondering, yes, this joke was made to lighten the mood a bit. If you know the source of the joke, good job!
And if you're wondering why TD ate mints as well; his name has TAILS in it.