Disclaimer: All non-original characters are property of SEGA or their respecive creators.
Inescapable Past, Act 33: Breakfast at Sally's
"Are you sure you won't let me redo these?" asked Sally as she massaged shampoo into Amy's braided quills.
"But that'll take ages," whined the hedgehog.
"Hey, I've done them before," said the chipmunk with mock indignation.
"Not recently!"
Sally curled her lip. Amy had her there. As a matter of fact, the last time she'd braided the twelve-year-old's quills was almost as long ago as the last time she'd bathed the hedgehog, as she was doing now.
With her left arm still out of action, Amy had come and woken her up specially to ask for her help. She was apparently quite anxious to look her best for visiting Shadow later on. Indeed, it was all she seemed to want to talk about.
While being helped out of her pajamas, she was already listing the colors of she thought Shadow should paint every room in his new apartment.
Sally was tempted to remind the preteen that Shadow might have his own ideas about interior design, but the last thing she wanted to do was blunt Amy's enthusiasm. There was something quite nostalgic about listening to the hedgehog ramble on in a tub of foamy bubbles.
During her first couple of years living in Knothole Village, Amy had seldom agreed to let anyone but Sally bath her. More than once, the chipmunk had returned from a longer-than-planned mission to be greeted by a rather pungent little hedgehog indeed.
"Okay," said Sally, reaching up to unhook the showerhead, "I think we're about ready to rinse."
〜
"Mr. Mighty?"
"Huh?"
Expending considerable willpower, Mighty opened his heavy eyelids to find a buzzing cellphone being held in his face.
"You've got a call, Mr. Mighty."
The armadillo squinted, looking past the device to the little rabbit holding it. Cream was dressed in pink pajamas dotted with strawberries and clutching a Chao plushie with a red bowtie.
"No school today?" he asked groggily, heaving himself into a sitting position on the couch. His head didn't welcome the exertion.
"No, Mr. Mighty, it's Martina Day," replied Cream, waggling the still-buzzing phone at him.
"Is that right?" said the armadillo, finally taking the device.
According to the screen, it was Sonic calling. Mighty's eyes widened. Why in the world would the hedgehog be calling so early? If that afterparty in Trillium City was anything to go by, he wouldn't be up this side of noon.
Sure, he hadn't actually played a show last night, but these days, simply spending too much time around Sonia made the guy want to drink himself silly. Not that he usually did, but what else was there to do in Echo Beach?
At length, the buzzing ceased and Sonic's grinning mug disappeared. Satisfied his onetime cellmate had rolled onto his phone in bed or whatever, Mighty set the device aside. Meanwhile, Cream had sat down beside him. He looked over to find her busily retying her Chao plushie's bowtie.
"Who's that you've got there?"
"This is Mr. Cheese," replied the rabbit, standing the toy up on her lap.
"My friends call me Mighty. So can you," said the armadillo.
With some assistance from Cream, Mighty and Mr. Cheese shook hands.
"And how did you two—"
He was interrupted by buzzing violently on the hardwood coffee table. He picked it up. It was a text from Sonic.
Do you want your car back or not?!, it said.
"Mr. Mighty?" said Cream, watching the armadillo stare blankly at his phone, "What's the matter?"
Amid his unplanned trips to Westopolis and Metropolis, his red convertible's whereabouts had rather slipped his mind.
Don't suppose you've got somewhere you can dump it for me?, he texted in reply.
Are you kidding?, texted Sonic.
Bit short on transport options this end, texted Mighty.
This party animal has you covered, texted Sonic.
"Tails!" squeaked Cream, peeping at the phone in Mighty's lap.
There was indeed a picture of Tails onscreen, but not as they'd ever seen him before.
The ten-year-old fox was splayed out on a three-seater couch, mouth agape, presumably snoring. His white dress shirt was half-unbuttoned, exposing much white chest fur, and a green plaid necktie was tied round his head like a bandana.
Before Mighty could respond, Tails was displaced by a picture of a pearl-white business-jet.
Cream gasped in childish wonderment. "Are you going to go for a ride on that, Mr. Mighty?"
"Apparently so," said Mighty, suppressing a grimace.
After yesterday's melodrama, he could already picture how Espio was going to take news of him dashing off up the coast, however briefly. Unfortunately, lying wasn't an option. Not with Cream as an eyewitness.
After a few more moments staring silently at the screen, he thumbed the Call button beside Sonic's grinning mug.
"Yo, how many ass…" — the armadillo glanced sidelong at Cream hugging Mr. Cheese, nuzzling the yellow bobble atop the plushie's dumpling-shaped head — "How many seats does that thing have?"
〜
"Tangela, you forget these," said Hershey, patting a pile of serviettes on the countertop.
"Yes, ma'am," said Tangle, shuffling across the tiled floor to grab them, "Sorry, ma'am.
She promptly shuffled back the way she came and resumed laying the table for breakfast. The air was thick with the smell of…whatever it was Hershey had sizzling on the stove. She didn't want to risk getting close enough to peep, lest any stray cooking oil find its onto her freshly-laundered white polo shirt.
She'd almost teared up when Hershey presented her with the clean top. She'd been resigned to spending another day in her blush-pink Spiral Hill Secondary uniform. Better yet, with the help of some scissors, she'd fashioned a serviceable pair of cargo shorts out of some pants Amy had outgrown.
The closet full of Amy's old clothes had come as a surprise, given that embarrassing moment last night in which she'd asked to borrow some pajamas from Principal Acorn. It turned out Mobians who eschewed clothes in the daytime weren't big on nightwear either. Go figure.
Doling out the serviettes, Tangle triple-checked she'd arranged all the cutlery properly, then sat down.
"Good morning, Tangela," said Sally as she entered the kitchen.
"Good morning, Principal Acorn," replied the lemur shyly, occupying her hands by buttoning up her polo.
Amy came skipping in behind Sally, dressed in a baggy white T-shirt and green plaid skirt. Seeing the hedgehog overtake the chipmunk, Tangle braced herself for an amorous greeting.
"Hey," said the twelve-year-old, taking the chair beside the lemur.
"H-hey," said Tangle, a little thrown (but not especially displeased) by the lack of physical contact, "Nice sling."
The hedgehog's left arm was trussed up in a sling cut from an old green blouse.
"Heh, thanks," said Amy.
Sally went to help Hershey, and the table was soon filled with the modest but appetizing breakfast buffet. Eyeing the glass bowl of granola, Tangle hesitated to pounce, unsure if Solaris needed to be thanked before the fast was broken. She'd jumped that particular gun more than once at schoolfriends' houses.
"How long until the telekinesis kicks in?" asked Hershey wryly.
Sally nudged the cat in the ribs, then served the lemur two dollops of the oaty concoction. With that, they chowed down. Chatter was kept to a minimum, other than requests to be passed this or that, and Tangle's steady stream of thank-yous, sometimes just mouthfuls apart.
Suddenly, a phone rang.
"Sorry," said Sally, reaching the ringing cellphone out of her blue gilet's inside pocket, "Vector?"
"Really?" said Hershey, "Did one of you girls forget something last night?"
Tangle and Amy shook their heads.
"Probably Cream angling for a picnic," said Sally, "Hi Vector, what can I—"
Her fellow breakfasters' brows furrowed at the sudden pause.
"Is that you, Mighty?" said the chipmunk.
Tangle watched how Sally's expression evolved as she digested whatever it was the armadillo had to say.
"Tangela," she said at last, catching the lemur's eye, "Mighty wants to know if you'd like to go to Echo Beach with them?"
"Echo Beach?" said Tangle, tilting her head.
A few seconds later, memories of huge billboards all over Westopolis bearing Sonic and Mina's faces came flooding back. Echo Beach was but one of many places on the list of tour dates she'd never heard of.
"Would I ever!"
"That's a yes, in case you missed that," said Sally into her cellphone, "Will you be…no, no, that's fine, there's no sch…oh, you already know?"
The chipmunk spluttered with laughter.
"I'll bet she did. But yes, see you then…one of us will, anyway. Buh-bye."
"No invite for us?" remarked Hershey as Sally hung up.
"Like you've ever listened to Mina through choice," muttered Sally, putting her phone away, "Besides, Mighty says he owes Tangela a favor."
Across the table, Tangle had abandoned a spoonful of granola in favor of hugging her tail.
"What's up?" asked Amy.
"Nothing, really," said Tangle unconvincingly, "I just thought…well, Mighty knows Sonic, right? He's probably gonna, like, introduce us, right?"
"I would imagine so," said Sally flatly.
"Be kind of rude if he didn't after dragging you all the way up there," added Hershey.
The lemur gulped audibly, then pivoted towards Amy.
"Please come with me," she said, bouncing her right leg, "I don't trust myself not to faint, and, well, it's not like I really, like, know Mighty that well."
The hedgehog frowned. "But…Mighty didn't invite me."
"I'm sure that can be remedied," said Sally.
Amy turned to the chipmunk. "What about Shadow, though? I've gotta go—"
"Someone does," Sally cut in, "No one said that necessarily had to be you."
Hershey cocked a brow. "Don't tell me—"
"I'll take Shadow his things," said the chipmunk, "You go keep Tangela company. You've always liked Mina's music."
Amy grabbed a handful of her baggy white T-shirt. She clenched her fist so tight, it trembled as her green eyes moved back and forth between her principal-in-waiting and the Mobian she'd kissed three times already. Before long, there were teeth embedded in her lower lip.
"I…I'll go," she half-whispered.
Tangle sprang out of her chair, stepped behind Amy's, then threw her arms around its preteen occupant.
"You're awesome!" she gushed, pressing her forehead against the hedgehog's damp braided quills.
〜
"How's it going, sweetie?" said Rouge, putting her head round the door of her Westopolis penthouse's guestroom, "Ready to go?"
"Almost," replied Tekno, buttoning up her white dress shirt in front of the room's mirror.
Seeing the shirt, and the pleated grey skirt it was tucked in to — both garments were components of the Alicia Acorn Academy uniform she'd been given by Amy — Rouge frowned.
"Sticking with that, huh?"
"Those other things were all clingy," said the canary, casting a glance at the guestroom's bed. It was piled high with inside-out leggings and assorted subspecies of tank-top.
Rouge grimaced. So much for the universal appeal of athleisurewear. As Tekno went on buttoning up, Rouge came up and placed her hands on the twelve-year-old's shoulders.
"How about I take you shopping after breakfast?" said the bat, catching Tekno's gaze in the mirror.
The canary smiled sweetly. "Sure."
With a parting wink, Rouge left her new roommate to put her earrings in, headed for the penthouse's front door, and opened it.
"Wh-Whisper?"
The bat looked the yellow wolf on her doorstep up and down. She was barely recognizable without her poncho or tactical gear.
"Well, this is certainly a—"
"We need to talk," Whisper cut in, brandishing a hard-light blaster.
"The hell we do!" snapped Rouge, deftly kicking the sidearm out of the wolf's hand.
Whisper ducked the ensuing roundhouse kick. She took out Rouge's standing leg with a foot sweep.
Seeing the toppled bat grope for the straining blaster, the wolf jumped on her back.
"I didn't come to fight," said Whisper severely, wrestling Rouge into an armlock.
"Funny way of showing it!"
"I just want to—"
"Rouge!" yelped Tekno from inside the penthouse.
Unable to see the canary, Rouge drew in breath, ready to tell the twelve-year-old to shut the door and call Sonar.
She and Whisper both wheezed as Tekno used the writhing wolf's back as a springboard.
"Get off Rouge!" demanded the canary, pointing the hard-light blaster at Whisper.
Hearing the whine of the weapon's power cell overcharging, the wolf looked up at Tekno, then down at Rouge.
"How?" she breathed, releasing the bat's arms.
"She's a smart kid," said Rouge, sounding a note of pride as she crawled out from under Whisper. Standing beside Tekno, she put her arm around the stony-faced preteen, "Now. just what the hell was this about?"
"GUN," said Whisper, getting to her feet.
"Answers first."
"Not gun. GUN. G-U-N," Whisper enunciated.
"GUN?" echoed Rouge, frowning, "What is there to talk about?"
"Eggheads."
Rouge plucked the hard-light blaster out of Tekno's hands and replaced it with a credit card.
"Sorry, sweetie, those crepes will have to wait," she said, "Go grab us something from Bodie's, 'kay?"
The canary nodded and sauntered off towards the elevator.
"I don't suppose I need to ask if Infinite or Jet know about this?" said Rouge, handing Whisper the blaster.
"Why should they?" said the wolf, holstering the sidearm inside her denim jacket.
〜
"Last chance to change your mind," said Mighty.
Cream's unruly ears whipped the tip of his nose as she shook her head.
"No can do, Mr. Mighty," she said severely, "Tonight's a school night!"
"We'll be back before tomorrow," said Mighty, "I promise."
"But then I might be sleepy in class!" blurted Cream, as if there was no greater sin a Mobian could commit.
Mighty glanced despairingly at Vector over on the porch of what was now his and Cream's house. The crocodile shrugged.
"Get in already, hobo!" Espio yelled out the window of the black sedan parked on the sidewalk.
Mighty dropped his shoulders in defeat and stood up.
"Have fun, Mr. Mighty," she said brightly, putting her plushie Mr. Cheese down to hug the armadillo.
"Will do," said the armadillo, ruffling the fur between Cream's ears.
Turning on his heel, he started ambling up the garden path. Suddenly, he felt something jostle him from behind. He looked down to find Cream's hands pressed flat against his red carapace, driving him on.
"Quicker, Mr. Mighty, you might be late!"
Mighty shot Vector another glance. The crocodile merely grinned and waved.
"Thanks a lot, big guy," muttered the armadillo, stumbling his way to the garden gate.
Once he'd opened it, Cream gave him one last helpful shove onto the sidewalk.
"If that kid doesn't grow up to be Governor, Vector's gonna have a lot to answer for," remarked Mighty as he climbed into the sedan's backseat beside Tangle.
"Who'd her running mate be?" said Espio, "Mr. Cheese?"
Amy and Tangle both snorted with laughter.
"You met him too?" said Mighty.
"Met him?," said the chameleon, "Feels like I've known him for years."
Mighty chuckled. "I've known full-grown Mobians with less personality than Mr. Cheese."
"I've dated full-grown Mobians with less personality," said Espio.
Amy and Tangle both looked at Mighty in anticipation of a witty riposte. They were still waiting when Hershey got the sedan back on the road. Their interest waned as the lulling hum of the engine — and a collective lack of sleep — put paid to any conversation for the duration of the drive to Station Square's King Alexius Acorn Airport.
"Wait, what?" Tangle piped up as the sedan turned off the approach road to the airport's main terminal.
"Thought you'd be used to special treatment after working for J-Bird," said Mighty.
"I never got any," mumbled the lemur.
The snaking slip-road took them to the edge of the runway apron, where a pearl-white business-jet was being refuelled.
"Tails!" blurted Amy, spying a pair of bushy tails protruding from a pair of green plaid pants on the tarmac.
"They sure are," said Tangle.
"No, silly, that's Tails!" said the hedgehog, hastily unfastening her seatbelt and clambering out of the car, "Tails!"
"There's got to be some regulation against unaccompanied children on runways, right?" mused Mighty, watching through the windshield as Amy took Tails by surprise. The startled fox almost dropped his clipboard.
"Accompany her, then," grumbled Espio as he opened his door.
Mighty looked across at Tangle and offered her his hand. "Shall we, Tango?"
"I'm...good," said the lemur, scooting across the backseat to leave via Amy's door.
Over by the plane, Amy rocked back and forth on her feet as she waited for Tails to finish talking with the ground crew member. Eventually, the fox handed the stoat his clipboard and turned around.
"It's you?!"
Tails looked quizzically at Tangle as she drew up alongside Amy.
"You're the kid who stopped that missile!" the lemur gushed.
"I, uh, guess I am," said the fox, scratching the back of his neck.
"It's going to be a long day if you insist on being so easily shocked," remarked Espio as he passed by.
Amy went to shoot him a scornful glance, but the chameleon was already climbing the business-jet's airstairs.
"It's not like I fainted, is it?" mumbled Tangle, curling her lip.
"Tails, this is my friend Tangle!" proclaimed Amy.
Caught unawares, the lemur looked up to find Tails holding out his hand. She shook it tentatively.
"Nice to meet you, Tangle," said the fox cheerily.
Tangle smiled broadly, feeling a pang of glee to hear someone besides Amy use her preferred name.
Only then did she properly notice how the fox was dressed: green plaid pants and necktie, shined shoes, vermillion blazer with a crest embroidered on the left breast pocket. It could only be…
"Are those…school clothes?"
"Yeah," Tails laughed bashfully, "Gotta wear them when I fly this thing."
"How does that fig—"
"Sorry to interrupt, kids, but Cream wasn't exactly wrong," interjected Mighty, "We really should get moving."
Tails pulled back his blazer sleeve and cringed.
"Yeah. You guys get onboard. I've just gotta do a walk-around."
"Roger that, Captain Prower!" chirped Amy, bolting for the airstairs with Tangle in tow.
"Don't mind me," said Mighty, beating her to the bottom step.
The youngsters exchanged grins, then pushed the armadillo up the stairs. He tripped on the top step, landing on her front. Amy and Tangle landed on top of him as they saw inside the aircraft.
Every surface and console was trimmed with gold, a long white couch took up half of one side of the cabin, and a chandelier hung over their heads.
"I guess Vector wasn't exaggerating?" wheezed Mighty as the youngster got to their feet.
"Wait, this is that plane?!" blurted Tangle, recalling the story the big friendly crocodile had told last night about how he'd gotten back to Station Square from Soleanna.
"Sure is," said Tails, stepping into the cabin.
Noticing a sudden unsteadiness in Tangle's gait, Amy grabbed the lemur's left hand and rushed her over to the long white couch.
"Thanks," said Tangle, grabbing the nearest seatbelt and fastening it around her waist.
She did the same for Amy, undid her polo's top button, and tossed her head back.
"Today's only gonna get crazier, isn't it?"
Amy giggled. "Yeah, probably."
The lemur sighed aloud. "Is it too late to go see your friend after all?"
The hedgehog frowned. "Don't be like that."
"But I'm just gonna embarrass everyone."
Amy glanced around the cabin. Mighty was following Tails into the cockpit. Espio was in the galley up at the back, seemingly with his head in a refrigerator.
"You've got this," she whispered, kissing Tangle on the cheek, "You've got me."