Chapter 28: The Past Part 4

"Tangle's in… what?!" Jewel asked.

"She… she…" Tikal said before collapsing to the ground.

"Whoa!" Sonic said. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah… it's really hard to maintain a caporal form for me right now…" Tikal said. "I… need some kind of host…"

"Then please, use me." Jewel said.

"Very well…" Tikal said before reverting to her Orb form again and merging with Jewel.

Then, her spirit emerged from the beetle.

"Ok, so, what's going on? What happened to Tangle?" Sonic asked.

"Well… after she split up with Jewel, she went into the forest to clear her head." Tikal said. "I… tried to speak with her… figure out what was going through her head… but she didn't want to talk about it."

"Even you huh…?" Sonic asked.

"But… that's not the worst of it." Tikal said. "The worst part… is what happened when she decided to come back here."

"And that is…?"

"She got attacked." Tikal said to everyone's shock. "Someone put something over her face, which knocked her out, and she was dragged away."

"What?!" Tails asked. "Any idea who it was?"

"No… I'm afraid I don't…" Tikal said. "When I left her body though… I heard them say 'finally got you'…"

"That's… weird…" Tails said. "Jewel, do you know anyone who might of been after her for a while?"

"No… not really." Jewel said.

"Hey, you said that she remembered something before… right?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, she did." Jewel said.

"That means she forgot something at one point." Sonic deduced. "What if it's all related?"

"That… is possible." Tails said. "But… we have no way of knowing that for sure… and even then, it's not like that helps us find her in any way."

"… Wait a minute." Jewel said. "Tikal, in Tangle's log, she said that you can take us to the past, show us what happened years ago."

"Yes… that is correct." Tikal said.

"Wait, really?!" Sonic asked. "That's awesome!"

"Yes, well… I'm afraid I would only be able to take Jewel with me, since she is acting as my host right now…" Tikal said.

"I see… alright Jewel, we'll be counting on you!" Sonic said.

"Right…" Jewel said. "Let's go."

And with that, a strange feeling overtook Jewel as everything went white.


When the light cleared, they were all floating above the forest nearby.

"So… it worked?" Jewel asked, earning a nod in response. "So… where, or rather, when are we?"

"Just a short time ago." Tikal said. "First, we need to identify Tangle's attacker, and follow them to where they took her."

"Right!"

They all flew down into the forest, and found Tangle, who was sitting in front of a campfire.

"Geez… I really should talk to Jewel about this…" Tangle said. "Tikal, you can listen in if you want."

"I told her that I would do that." Tikal pointed out.

"You were living in her head right? Couldn't you listen in on her thoughts?" Jewel asked.

"No… I can only hear the thoughts that she wants me to hear unfortunately." Tikal said.

"Oh well, would of made things a bit easier." Jewel said.

They then saw a wolf sneak up behind Tangle, and placed a cloth over her face.

Tangle struggled for a bit, before she lost consciousness.

"Chloroform…" Jewel mumbled out.

"Finally got you…" The wolf said before he began to drag her away.

"Tangle!" Jewel said before trying to grab the wolf to stop him.

She just passed through though.

"We can't interact with anything here… I'm sorry." Tikal explained.

"Oh… right…" Jewel said. "Come on, let's follow them…"

They then continued to follow the wolf, and eventually came across a village that was hidden away in the forest.

"I had no idea this was here…" Jewel said.

"Well, it looks like this is the place that they took her to." Tikal said as the wolf handed her over to a jackal.

"You finally got her." The jackal said.

"Yes… I did..." The wolf said, though he seemed a bit down by it. "Get everyone prepared for her trial. If all goes well, it will all be over tomorrow afternoon."

"Of course, our eight year journey finally comes to an end." The jackal said with a smile. "I have to inform you though… She isn't going to come back… you know that, right?"

"I know that…" The wolf said.

"… Very well…" The jackal said as he dragged Tangle away.

"Tomorrow afternoon? Trial? What's going on here?" Jewel asked.

"Let's find out." Tikal said as she began to glow again.


When the light cleared, they were in the same place.

"Uh… what was that?" Jewel asked.

"We are eight years in the past." Tikal breathed out.

"Hey, are you alright?" Jewel asked.

"Taking you to the past in another world… is not easy." Tikal said.

"Take a minute to breathe, I'll go and look for that wolf." Jewel said.

"Right… of course." Tikal said.

Getting to work, Jewel searched all the houses to see if she could find him.

Eventually…

"Hey! I found him!" She called over.

Tikal then over to her to see the wolf knocking on someone's door.

Who answered though, surprised both of them.

"Hi Mr. Shout!" A young lemur said.

"Hello Tangle! How are you doing today?" The Wolf asked.

"I'm doing great!" Tangle said with a grin.

"Oh… my goodness…" Jewel said.

"That's Tangle?!" Tikal asked. "So… is this village where she was born?"

"Where she lived before Spiral Hill…" Jewel gasped out.

"Is your dad home?" Shout asked.

"Yeah! Lemme get him!" Tangle said before running away.

Shortly after, an older lemur came to the door.

"Hello Shout."

"Brawl… can we talk?" Shout asked.

"Of course… let's go for a walk." Brawl said. "Tangle, go play in the back yard, daddy will be back soon."

"Ok daddy!" Tangle said before running off.

The two older gentlemen then walked away.

"So… how's your daughter?" Brawl asked.

"She's still really shy, but she's doing well." Shout said. "Still really good friends with Tangle."

"Yeah, I can imagine! Those two are pretty much inseparable!" Brawl said.

The two of them then enjoyed a good laugh together.

"So… any signs of it?" Shout asked.

"…No, nothing." Brawl said.

"That's good… I would hate for her to meet the same fate as her mother…"

Brawl physically grimaced at this.

"Why… why do we do this…?" Brawl asked.

"You know what could happen if we don't." Shout said.

"I know… but still… Tangle's just a little girl… even if she has… that… can't we just leave it be? It's not like she can cause any harm…" Brawl said.

"You know that the others would never allow that. Especially after what happened with the Prowers!"

"Prower? Why… does that name sound so familiar?" Jewel asked.

"I'm… unsure…" Tikal said. "I feel the same way however…"

"Yeah yeah, I know… they left as soon as they found out that their firstborn had two tails, right?" Brawl asked.

"Two… Tails?!" Jewel asked.

"Are they talking about Tails?" Tikal asked.

"It's… possible…" Jewel said. "We'll talk about this with him when we get back though. For now, let's focus on Tangle."

"Of course…"

"Yes, that's right." Shout said. "Broke him out of his cell and ran."

"Cell?"

"Still… why do we have to kill anyone who has a mutation like that?!" Brawl asked.

Oh…

Oh no…

"KILL?!" They both shouted.

"Oh no… this is what Howard's friend was talking about before…" Jewel said. "The group that kills anyone with a mutation…"

"That's why she took that comment so hard…" Tikal said.

"Does… does this mean that her mother was…?" Jewel asked.

Neither of them wanted to answer that…

"You know why… monsters like them would only bring ruin to the planet, that is what this town was founded on, and what everyone believes." Shout explained.

"Doesn't make me like it any more…" Brawl said.

"Still… you almost have enough saved to move out. As long as she doesn't show signs of it for a couple more weeks, you'll be nice and safe in Spiral Hill…" Shout said.

"Yeah, I know…"

"Anyways… we should probably go back to your house. Your daughter is way too accident prone to be left alone too long!" Shout said.

"Yeah, you got that right!" Brawl said with a laugh.

Despite their prior anger, they smiled at this.

"Some things never change…" Jewel said.

The two of them then made their way back to the house, and went into the back yard.

What they saw though, horrified all of them.

"No…"

"Hey daddy! Look at what I can do!" Tangle said as she hung from a tree with her tail.

Her now extra long tail.

"…Shout…"

"Shout please…"

"I'm sorry…" Shout said as he began to walk away.

And as he left, Brawl had a horrified look on his face.

"Tangle… come inside."


Before long, they were running.

Brawl had hidden Tangle inside a small box, and began running for his life.

In the distance though, he could hear the voices.

"Find the traitor!"

"Kill the monster!"

"Behead it!"

"Burn it before it kills all of us!"

Brawl completely ignored all of these voices and kept on running.

A root sticking out of the ground did not like this though, and he tripped.

"AGH!" Brawl shouted as he clutched his leg.

It was clearly broken.

Realizing that he couldn't get away, he grabbed the box Tangle was in and hid her in some shrubbery.

"Stay quiet sweetie… I'll come back for you…" Brawl said.

"Mmmhmm…" He heard Tangle say from inside the box.

Brawl then limped away as fast as he could…

But the screaming they heard told them everything they needed to know.

"Oh… oh gosh…" Jewel said.

"Well… I think we've seen everything we needed to." Tikal said.

"Hold on… there's still something bothering me." Jewel said. "You know… about Shout. He… didn't seem too happy about all of this."

"Yeah… he was friends with her father after all." Tikal said.

"That begs the question though… why would he go after her then?" Jewel asked.

"That… is actually a good question." Tikal said. "Come on, let's find out."

The group then went back to the village.

"So… she got away." The Jackal that they recognized from before said to Shout.

"Yes… well…"

"You know we cannot tolerate this." The Jackal said. "There is no way that she got too far, go and find her."

"But…" Shout said.

"Am I detecting a bit of hesitation?" The Jackal said.

"N-no! Of course not!" Shout said.

"Shout… You know what I have to do here…"

"Please no…"

"You have ten years." The Jackal said. "We were friends during our childhood, so I am going easy on you, but after those ten years, if she is not brought before me…"

"Yes… I know…" Shout said.

"You have a beautiful daughter… I would hate for her to meet the same fate." The Jackal said before walking away.

Jewel and Tikal… just looked on in shock at this.

"They threatened to kill him… kill his entire family if he didn't bring Tangle back…" Tikal said.

"I think we've seen enough…" Jewel said.

"Yeah… let's…"

"Daddy?" They suddenly heard someone say.

"Oh… hey sweetie." Shout say.

"Where's Tangle?" The little girl said.

Shout stayed silent.

"Daddy?"

"… I'm sorry…"

The girl didn't say anything, and began to cry.

And when Shout approached her…

"I HATE YOU!" The girl screamed before running into the forest.

Shout stayed silent at this, before suddenly sprinting after his daughter.

"That poor thing…" Tikal said. "She just lost her only friend… and now her dad has to bring her to her death… It… must be really tough on them…"

"… Let's go…" Jewel said.

Tikal nodded, and the world went to white once more.


Moments later, Jewel woke up.

"Hey, welcome back." Sonic said. "So… what did you find out?"

"… You two better sit down for this…"

Moments later, Tails was seething.

"THEY PLAN TO DO WHAT?!" Tails asked.

"You heard me… and it sounds like this isn't the first time they did this too…" Jewel said.

"Oh… oh no…" Tails said, starting to feel sick to his stomach.

"…Tsk…"

"Sonic?" Jewel asked.

"I've… had a feeling this was the case for a while now." Sonic said. "At least, what happened to her folks."

"Really?" Jewel asked. "How did you…?"

"A while ago, she mentioned how the mayor had been raising her for as far back as she can remember." Sonic began to explain. "That got me thinking about what happened to her folks… but then I remembered a rumor I heard not long after I met Amy."

"The same rumor that Howard's friend was talking about…" Jewel deduced.

"Exactly." Sonic said. "I've been to Spiral Hill once before, just in passing."

That revelation surprised everyone in the room.

"While I was there… that is when I heard the rumor." Sonic said. "I didn't hear anything about it anywhere else though, so I figured that wherever these creeps were had to be at least kinda close to Spiral Hill…"

He then looked to Tails.

"So… I decided to do my best to avoid going back to that area… for Tails' sake."

Tails smiled at this. "Thanks Sonic…"

"Actually… speaking of Tails…" Jewel said. "Kinda out of no-where but… what is your real name?"

"Huh? Miles Prower, why?"

That confirmed it.

"Tails… you were born in that village too…" Jewel said.

"HUH?!" Sonic and Tails both asked.

"They mentioned you… said that your parents got you out of there as soon as they found out about your… well…"

"Oh geez…" Sonic said.

"Did… did you find anything else out?" Tails asked.

"No… I'm sorry…" Jewel said.

"Oh… alright…" Tails said.

"So… what do we do from here?" Jewel asked.

"We gather everyone up, go to that village, and get our friend out of there!" Sonic said.

"Hold on, we can't rush into this." Tails said. "While I agree that we should get everyone, and catch them up on what's going on… we need a plan."

"We don't have time to make a plan!" Sonic said. "You heard what she said! They're going to kill her!"

"Yeah… tomorrow afternoon." Tails said. "It's not even midnight yet… let's get everyone together, and calmly come up with a plan first."

"… Alright." Sonic said. "I'll make the call… you take the X-Tornado and get Knuckles."

"Right." Tails said before running towards the plane as Sonic went over to the computer.

"…Jewel…" Tikal said.

"It'll be alright… I have faith in everyone." Jewel said.

"Yo Tanaka… listen, I'm gonna need you to gather everyone up and come to Tails' workshop quickly." Sonic said into the communicator

"Master Sonic, it is almost midnight, I must ask that you wait until the morning." Tanaka said.

"We don't have time!" Sonic said. "If we don't hurry, Tangle's going to die Tanaka!"

That seemed to do the trick, as the usually stoic Tanaka was silent at this reveal.

"I'm… sorry?"

"Tangle's life is in danger right now… if we don't get to her by tomorrow afternoon, we could very well lose her." Sonic said.

"I… I see…" Tanaka said. "I will inform Master's Chris and Chuck… Ms. Rose is here and would like to speak with you though."

"Alright…."

"Sonic?" Amy's voice came through. "What's going on?"

At this point, Jewel saw the X-Tornado take off into the distance.

"Hey Amy, listen, things are really… well, bad right now. I'll explain when you guys get here." Sonic said.

"Sonic… Tangle and Jewel never came home…" Amy said.

"Yeah… Jewel's here… Tangle's the one who's in trouble though…" Sonic said.

"Alright… we'll be there as soon as we can." Amy said.

And with that, she hung up.

"Sonic…"

"Don't worry Jewel… with everyone's help, I'm sure we'll figure something out." Sonic said.

"Right… I know we will."


Before long, everyone had arrived, though still a bit groggy from being woken up.

Surprisingly, Rouge was on Angel Island… probably trying to steal the Master Emerald, but that's besides the point.

"Alright Sonic… what's going on?" Knuckles asked.

"Right… where do I begin…" Sonic said.

"As it turns out, the village that Tangle and Jewel went to earlier today was Spiral Hill Village, where they grew up. Some things happened, and Tangle needed some time to herself. She told Jewel to come back here while she went into a nearby forest to clear her head… as she was coming back though, we found out that she was attacked and taken to a nearby village that was hidden in that forest. After getting some help from Tikal, who's been living in Tangle's head, Jewel was able to get a look in the past… and found out exactly what is going on…"

Tails then picked up where Sonic left off. "That village… is where Tangle was born."

This caught everyone by surprise.

"But… there is something very different about this village… They think Mobians with mutations… like me and Tangle, don't deserve to live…"

"Jewel found out that Tangle's mother was killed by the citizens, probably cause her tail was like Tangle's. Then, when they found out that Tangle had a stretchy tail… they tried to kill her too. So… now she's been captured by these guys, and is gonna most likely be killed tomorrow afternoon if we don't do something."

"Oh… oh gosh…" Amy said.

"Chris… you and Cream should probably stay here." Sonic said. "This… this might be a lot more dangerous than fighting Eggman. These guys are gonna be out for blood here."

"Y-yeah, you're probably right…" Chris said.

"We'll all be rooting for you." Chuck said.

"Right, thanks." Jewel said.

"What about you Jewel?" Tails asked.

"I'm coming." Jewel said. "This is Tangle we're talking about… I have to be there to help in any way I can."

"Still… this is gonna be tricky." Knuckles said. "One mistake could end up killing her."

"If you guys can create a good distraction, I should be able to break her out." Rouge said.

"Yeah, but we're gonna need a lot of people for that." Sonic said. "If they decide that they could spare even one person while fighting us… it'll be over."

"We can't rely on them deciding to send everyone at us cause we are renowned heroes too… they might be completely cut off from the rest of the world, and not know about us at all…" Tails said.

Jewel then got lost in thought.

"Well, how are we going to gather a large amount of people in such a short amount of time? They need to be close enough to get there quickly too…" Knuckles said.

Then, Jewel spoke.

"Guys… I have an idea."


Knock Knock Knock

"Coming!"

The Mayor opened the door, and was greeted by Sonic the Hedgehog himself.

"Hello, you're the mayor here right?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, that's me! It is…"

"Save it, we need your help."

End of Chapter 28


Fun fact, as of this chapter, this is officially the longest story I have ever posted! Reconnecting with the Team held this record previously with 28 chapters including the prologue and a small one shot for Christmas. Since I wanted to make this one special, I made this chapter a good bit longer than usual!

If you're wondering when Sonic heard about Tangle's upbringing, it was in chapter 7.

You all might remember Brawl and Knot from "Tangle and the Village" so I don't feel a need to explain their names here.

As for Shout… well, you might be able to figure it out, but even then, it will become obvious next time.

Speaking of, I will see you all next time for Chapter 29!