Let's not wait any more time and jump exactly where we left off, shall we?

Once the pod dropped, Bunnie reached out for T-Pup and held on to him tightly, it was still open and it was only one arm that was damaged so she didn't waste any time and just left the capsule altogether with her rocket boots trying to find the other one and she quickly located it also falling at high speeds, she rushed towards it fighting against the strong winds. Once she reached it, she found Antoine hanging by the sword that he stuck on the pod.

"Take my hand!" she shouted.

Antoine obeyed, with one hand on Bunnie and one hand on the sword; he took a deep breath and ripped the sword away letting the pod fall on its own while the two of them stayed on the air watching the thing go down.

"I reckon we should land," she said after a few seconds with one hand holding Antoine and T-Pup on her shoulder by now.

"I agree" replied the coyote but the thing was that neither of them wanted to do it, they wanted to go back but the Death Egg was already getting away very fast nor it's not like they were in the best fighting shape. Slowly but surely they landed on a big plain of desert, rocky terrain, and pretty much nothing else…

"Hey, you guys are also here?"

They both turned around to see none of other than Boom Sonic.

"Wait… you were supposed to be in the ship," he continued "and… there were three of you right?"

"How did you get here?" asked Antoine more puzzled than anything.

"Yeah, right, I got handed the mission of following the ship to keep an eye on it… And are you here because you jumped out or..?"

They were still processing the fact that they had casually stumbled with Boom –or the other way around- but suddenly T-Pup barked catching their attention to a group of jeeps heading towards them, the trio couldn't make out who they were until they got close enough and once they did it the confusion wasn't any less. A gray rabbit with a black jacket and an eyepatch jumped out of the jeep with a face of pure confusion.

"What are you doing here?" he asked to Bunnie, with Antoine slowly putting a hand on his sword handle "And I thought I heard that a D'Coolette was… unavailable".

"Well, your questions can be answered just by telling-" Boom Sonic was swiftly cut off by the rabbit pointing a weapon at him.

"Finally testing a new outfit?" he asked sarcastically before switching to a tone more serious "…seriously what the heck are you wearing? A scarf? When have you ever-".

Now it was the rabbit that was swiftly cut off by Antoine who had unsheathed his sword provoking the rest of the mobians in the jeeps also pointing their weapons at everyone raising the tension of the scene pretty high.

"Just to be clear I didn't catch your name," said Sonic.

"Jack..?" he said skeptically about the question.

"Good! And.. I don't think your sword will be of any good here pal," he said to Antoine.

"Ah know that we may look familiar," stated Bunnie "But trust me that we are not-".

A shot was fired, not a bullet no, maybe a dart but it was shot at Antoine who just fell to the ground causing an unpleasant and sudden reaction on Bunnie that was ready to attack, Jack noticed this so he triggered his gun at her causing a bolt of electricity through her body also knocking her out.

"Dude-" said Sonic who ended up receiving the last shot by someone else "So uncool…" were his last words before also falling into the ground.

The rabbit looked at the one who gave the first shot –who was a roadrunner- with a scolding look.

"He looked like he would attack".

"Take them away" he replied almost immediately, there was something odd about these three, for example, Sonic didn't have blue arms, and if it was for him, he wouldn't care if they let him right here on the desert –after all, he was more trouble than worth- but Bunnie and Antoine being here were mysteries on itself.

Especially Bunnie.

Secret HQ Base.

"I left for one small scout mission and this is what happens?! When did this happen?"

Elias Acorn was currently having an intense debate about the status of the team with Director Harvey Who in the room Shard was in and it wasn't going very well because of the presence of a newcomer along with the news of a broken and possibly irreparable Shard was just a lot to take in and arguing pretty much right after was just a mix of things that would boil anyone over.

"I already chatted with Silver," Harvey explained trying to keep his cool "And I am the director but you are the leader of this team-".

"Well I can't control what everyone in my team does can I?" he said as if he knew what Harvey was going to say and let out a deep sigh "This project started with seven members…"

"A time traveler, a luck-bender, two skilled wolf warriors, a reformed Metal Sonic-"

"A king and another-worlder," Elias finished the roll call "Yes, I know how it goes but I think this dimension thing has distracted us more than it should because now there's someone that can't be in this place… As for Shard… just let's not do anything for now".

Harvey was about to state another point but was interrupted by the materialization of a familiar face in one of the screens of the room.

"Nicole?" asked Elias.

"I'm sorry for the interruption.. you must be Sally's brother" this statement was striking to them because everyone should know that especially someone like Nicole, that was until they noted the different attire the lynx was wearing and she noted their reaction "I look different, I know. I am not the Nicole you know but I was sent here by your Nicole".

"O-Our Nicole?" continued Elias and after a few seconds it clicked "Is it about dimensions?"

"That would be correct… Your Nicole explained me everything" she said looking at Shard "And I've come to help"

Elias sighed but it wasn't in frustration or anything negative, but it wasn't in relief either, it was more of the realization that this 'dimension thing' was now becoming bigger than what he wanted it to be. Before he could comment, the door opened and it was Tangle who entered.

"Hi… I.. didn't know there was a reunion here, sorry, heh- but… the team agreed on a possible way to help Shard but as responsible teammates, we wanted to see if you were okay with it… Oh, hi Nicole! Trying out new outfits?"

Both Elias and Harvey looked at each other.

"Don't forget the true mission" instructed the owl before leaving the room.

Elias thought about it for a second.

"Fine, other Nicole, what do you have to tell me?"

Nicole smiled.

"What I could do is to transport your friend into what we call the Digital World, this can be done with organic beings but it would take some time to do it".

"Tangle?"

"Other Nicole..? Wait, does that mean she-?" she asked with enthusiasm before Elias interrupted it.

"Tangle…?"

"Yeah, right! You see, there are these little energy aliens that we have and you can use to do many great things and.. well, Whisper knows more about them and can explain better".

That was good, those were two good options… especially the first one, actually, the fact that Whisper had literally just arrived and that she was a stranger in his eyes made Elias lean more to Nicole's suggestion but this didn't mean he completely dismissed the idea, he just needed to talk with her a bit more.

"I'll leave you for now king," said Nicole "You can always talk to your Nicole if you need my presence" she stated before disappearing the same way she came.

"Tangle, I want to talk with your friend, and… don't do that again" the lemur apologized with a smile and left the room leaving Elias alone with Shard, after a few seconds, the wolf entered "Whisper, right?"

"Yes," she said now with her mask out and with the Cube Wisp accompanying her, giving a light but shy smile.

Elias offered a small handshake which she accepted.

"Very well, Whisper you're in our house now, tell me about your aliens".

Instead of saying anything, she decided to show it. A quick demonstration of her hammer weapon with the cube Wisp just swinging it lightly –of course, she wasn't going to smash anything-, after a few swings, the cube wisp shot out of the wispon making its little 'happy wisp noises' leaving Elias quite amazed.

"You say that… these creatures can help?" he asked after a few seconds looking at the wisp floating in circles.

Whisper looked at the robot lying on the table before replying.

"I've… heard many things," she said softly.

The chipmunk let out a quick sigh.

"It's not like I can send you away so… welcome to the Secret Freedom Fighters".

This was a short chapter, I wanted to write more but none of the scenes fit. Also because many things have been happening at the moment, all good things, but it has slowed my writing progress. I'm fully open to any suggestions or complaints you have about the story, all of it gives me tremendous help.

Hope you liked this chapter and I'll see you soon!