Chapter 27: The Past Part 3
"I can't believe that he picked us to do this!" Tangle said as they went over a hill.
"It shows that he has a lot of trust in you Tangle…" Jewel said. "He has to if you are pretty much going to be the ambassador for the planet to greet towns that are transported here."
"I know right!" Tangle said. "Still, the fact that he came to visit us instead of calling us to him, that was nuts!"
The Previous Day
"Ah, Ms. Tangle! I am glad to see that you are doing much better!" The President said. "And please, call me Michael."
"Oh… uh… right…" Tangle said. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Yes, well, between Chaos and the Ark, things have been quite busy for me." Michael said. "And on top of that, the topic of my visit."
"Uh… hello…" Jewel said.
"Oh my, looks like you made a new friend here." Michael said.
"This is Jewel, she's my best friend from our home world." Tangle said. "Jewel, this is the President, he pretty much runs the show for this entire country!"
"Oh, so like a mayor but for the entire country?" Jewel asked.
"That would be a good, general summary of my job, yes." Michael said. "Back on topic though, I have a bit of a request for you Tangle."
"For me? What? You find an Eggman base that needs trashing?" Tangle said.
"No, actually, I want you to play more of a… diplomatic role here." Michael said. "We have come to discover that a whole town has been transported from your world to ours."
"Really?" Tangle asked.
"Indeed. From what I can tell about you, you are very good at making people feel welcome, and your positive attitude is something to be admired!" Michael said. "And since you are from the same world as them, I figured that you would be the perfect fit for the job of welcoming them to our world, and making them feel welcome here!"
"Really? Why me? I would think that Sonic would be a better choice, since he's a well known hero." Tangle said.
"Yes, well, I did ask him, but he declined." Michael said.
"Politics aren't exactly my thing." Sonic said.
"Oh… uh… ok! Uh… would it be alright if Jewel comes with though?" Tangle asked.
"But of course! Anything that would help you with your task!"
"I still don't know why you wanted me to come with you…" Jewel said.
"Cause you are much better at this political thing than I am, since you interned with the mayor a couple of years ago." Tangle said. "Plus, having my bestie around is always a good thing!"
"Right." Jewel said with a smile.
"Anyways… where is this place?" Tangle said as she stopped and pulled out the map they were provided.
"Let's see… looks like it is just past a forest on the other side of this cliff." Jewel said.
"Right… he said it was on a hill, so it should be easy to spot." Tangle said.
"Well, let's get going!" Jewel said as they got moving again.
When they got to the other side of the cliff though…
"… Jewel…"
"…Yeah…"
"Is that what I think it is?"
"… Yeah… I think it is…"
"… What did we get ourselves into?"
The two of them looked on in disbelief, as they were staring at Spiral Hill Village…
They were home.
"Ok, let's just get to the mayor's office, tell him about what's going on, and get out of here as fast as we can…" Tangle said as they passed a familiar looking gate.
"Tangle… I know you hate this place, but we really should stay for a bit… it would look bad if we rushed out of here." Jewel said.
"Jewel… for years we were bullied here… YEARS! And no-one ever decided to help us. Not once. The mayor was the only one who decided to help us, and he pretty much just told us to leave in the end!"
"That wasn't his fault… he just wanted to help us…" Jewel said.
"Still… really bums me out that we have to be back here right now…" Tangle said. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can leave this place behind for good!"
"Alright…" Jewel said.
Tangle was usually so positive all the time… this was really unlike her, not that Jewel could really blame her for that though.
Thankfully, since the citizens were still a bit freaked out by what was going on, no-one was in the streets, and just watched as they went towards the mayors office.
Shortly after knocking on the door, the bear answered, and was surprised by what he saw.
"Tangle? Jewel?!" The Mayor said.
"Sup…"
"Hello mayor… good to see you again." Jewel said.
"Yes it is! Please, come inside!" The Mayor said before gesturing the two of them in. "Things have been so crazy here, all of a sudden there was this bright light, and the next thing we knew, we were all transported to… wherever this is!"
"Yes, well… that's why we are here actually." Jewel said. "Tangle…"
"Ugh… fine…" Tangle said. "So, here's the gist of what's going on. There was this thing called Chaos Control, it basically is transporting chunks of our world to this one. The President sent us here to make you guys feel welcome here since, well, you know how I am."
"The most welcoming person that I know!" The Mayor said. "But still, this is a lot to take in… like how someone who is obviously a big figure in this world trusts you so much in such a short amount of time!"
"Well, I've been here for over half a year now." Tangle said. "Pretty much the day that we left was the day that I showed up."
"Oh dear… what about you Jewel?"
"I only arrived recently… I was staying with a new friend of ours until then." Jewel explained.
"How did that happen?"
"Well… it all started when we came across Dr. Eggman…" Tangle started.
"And that's pretty much it." Tangle said.
"Ok… wow, that's a lot…" The Mayor said. "Still, the personal protege of Sonic the Hedgehog, and someone he acknowledges as a great hero! You have no idea how happy I am to hear that!"
"Yeah… thanks." Tangle said. "Been a lot of ups and downs, but overall, I am a lot happier now."
"That's good to hear…" The Mayor said. "Now, about our current predicament, I would love to meet with this President to discuss things further if that is alright."
"Yeah, we'll let him know." Tangle said. "Anyways, we should probably get going now."
"Tangle…"
"I don't want to bump into… you know… while we're here Jewel." Tangle said. "The sooner we leave, the better…"
"Very well… please though, I encourage that you at least write me every so often." The Mayor said.
"Sure, I don't see why not." Tangle said.
"It was great seeing you again Mr. Mayor. Maybe next time, we'll bring some of our new friends along!" Jewel said.
"I would love that, thank you." The Mayor said as they walked out.
And when the door closed, he had a very… apprehensive look on his face.
And as they pedaled back, they began to talk again.
"See, it wasn't so bad…" Jewel said.
"Let's save that til we actually get out of town…" Tangle said as they turned a corner and stopped. "Cause I knew this would happen…"
"Well well well! Look at what we have here!" Said the familiar face in front of them.
"We were just leaving Howard…" Tangle said. "Get out of our way please."
"Oh come on! I just want to catch up with my close friends Tangle and Jewel!" Howard said as he and his friends approached them. "You disappeared for a while there, where'd you go?"
"We decided to move out to get away from your ugly face." Tangle said.
"Wow, rude! Can't be a hero if you're just gonna insult someone like that!" Howard said.
"Actually, from what I've seen, small quips are a big part of being a hero." Tangle said. "That's what Sonic always does at least."
"PFFT, yeah, like you met Sonic!" Howard laughed out.
"He's actually been training me since I left. He thinks I am a great hero already, I'll have you know." Tangle said.
The bullies took a moment to take this in, but before long… they started laughing hysterically.
"Seriously?! You actually expect us to believe such an obvious lie like that?!" Howard said.
"Huh? But… it's the truth…"
They only continued to laugh.
"Like he would actually train a useless freak like you!" Howard said.
"Hey, hey! You want to know what I heard about the other day?" One of the bullies said. "I heard that there was once a group of people who would gather up all the freaks, give them a trial, and then when they found them guilty…"
He then ran his thumb along his neck and made a cutting noise.
"Hahaha! Really? Maybe we should call them up, get rid of this waste of space right here!" Howard said.
"HOWARD!" Jewel shouted.
The beetle then looked to friend to see if she was alright from that remark, and she was not at all surprised by what she saw.
That comment shook her to her very core.
It was obvious to Jewel that Howard crossed a line that should never be crossed… but to Tangle?
To Tangle, that was the absolute worst thing that she could of heard.
"BURN HER!"
"BEHEAD HER!"
"GET RID OF HER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"
"…Jewel… hang on tight…" Tangle said.
"Huh?"
Without warning, Tangle started peddling as fast as she could, and barged past the bullies and out of the town.
"AND GOOD RIDDANCE!" They heard Howard shout behind them.
Eventually, they arrived at the cliff from before and stopped.
"Tangle… are you alright?" Jewel asked.
"… No… not really…" Tangle said.
"Tangle…"
"Listen Jewel… Tails' workshop is on the other side of this cliff… go there and wait for me." Tangle said.
"Tangle?"
"I just… I remembered some things… and I need to be alone for a bit, alright?" Tangle said. "Please?"
"… Alright…" Jewel said as she got off her bike. "Just… come back soon, alright?"
Tangle smiled. "Of course."
And with that, she rode off into the forest.
And Jewel began flying towards the other side of the cliff to meet with Tails.
When she arrived, she was surprised by how much of a mess everything was.
"Tails? You here?" Jewel called out.
"One second!" Tails voice called over. Shortly after, he walked into the room. "Oh, hey Jewel!"
"Hey."
"How'd things go with that village?" He asked.
Jewel's face told a thousand words.
"Oh… wait, where's Tangle?"
"She… needs some time to herself." Jewel said.
"Ok… That bad huh?" Tails asked, earning a nod in response. "What happened?"
"Well… it turns out that the village we were going to was Spiral Hill Village… where we grew up." Jewel explained.
"Oh… don't tell me you bumped into those bullies again…" Tails said.
"Well… things were going well for a while, got the Mayor caught up on what was going on here, he wants to meet with the President… but then just before we got out of town…" Jewel said.
"You bumped into them…"
"They probably saw us enter the town and waited for us…" Jewel said. "We were so close… but then everything just went wrong from there…"
"Yeah… I can imagine…"
"This though… this was so much more than some simple bullying…" Jewel said. "When Tangle told them that she was friends with you guys… they just laughed, and made fun of her cause they thought she was lying…"
"Well, maybe Sonic and I should…"
"But… then they went too far…" Jewel said. "If… if I wasn't so weak… such a coward… I would of punched that jerk right in his face for what he said…"
"What?" Tails said. He may not of known Jewel for long, but he knew for sure that she was not a violent person. "What happened?"
"… They said that Tangle deserved to die…"
That… that made Tails mad.
"… Where are they?" Tails asked.
"Huh?"
"I asked you where they were! I am going to give them a piece of my mind!" Tails said.
"H-hold on!" Jewel said.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go over there and…"
"Cause Tangle doesn't want that!" Jewel said. "If she did… she would of done it herself… and you know it."
"…"
"Listen… she just wants some time to herself for now… we'll talk to her when she comes back, alright?" Jewel said. "Whatever she wants us to do… we do it…"
"… Deal…" Tails said. "But I'm calling Sonic and having him come here."
"Yeah, that might be wise." Jewel said.
After a while, Sonic arrived, and they were all sitting down after catching him up on what was going on.
"Those jerks…" Sonic growled out. "You have no idea how much I want to go over there and give those guys a piece of my mind!"
"We all feel the same way, but for now, let's just worry about Tangle, alright?" Jewel asked.
"Yeah, alright…" Sonic said. "Still… you said she remembered some things… any idea what?"
"No… not really…" Jewel said.
Taking a look outside, Sonic saw that the sun was beginning to set.
"I'm gonna go look for her, she shouldn't be out alone at night, especially not right now." Sonic said.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Tails said.
"Right, I'll be right back." Sonic said.
Before he could leave though, a familiar red orb floated into the workshop.
"What in the world?" Jewel asked.
"Is… that…?"
The red orb began to glow in a bright light, and when the light cleared, a familiar face took it's place.
"Tikal?" Sonic asked.
"That's Tikal?" Jewel asked.
"What's going on?" Tails asked.
"We need to hurry… Tangle's in grave danger!"
End of Chapter 27
I literally cannot give this girl a break! What is wrong with me?!… It makes for a good story, that's what…
It should be pretty obvious what's happening at this point, but I'll save it for next chapter.
Next time, is when many of the BIG reveals happen!
So, I'll see you next time for Chapter 28!
