Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Changes
The plane flight was surprisingly rough. Every few minutes there would be a ding as the 'please buckle up' sign turned on, although Whisper had never unbuckled.
Shadow had never buckled, although most of the flight attendants all ignored him. If Whisper had seen him with an extra few bruises from the turbulence, she wasn't about to say why.
It wasn't until they got off of the airplane that Shadow's ears twitched. He held up his hand and walked off to a booth, leaving Whisper alone in the airport terminal.
It was quiet, and with an air of wariness and concern heavy over everything. She heard a few people whisper along as they went, "I'm surprised we managed to get in this time. The storm seems never ending." "Think we can make it?" "We'll have to."
Whisper wasn't sure what was going on, exactly. There was a storm outside, which explained the turbulence on the airplane, but it seemed like all the other planes were grounded.
She gave a glance to the to the arrival and departure board, taking a deep breath as she saw that all of the departures had been labeled, "Delayed".
Something was off, here. Whisper was split on what she would do. On one hand she wanted to help, because it was in her nature to investigate and figure what was going on out. The other hand though...she wanted back to her home time. She wanted out.
Shadow came back out of the corner. "Bad news. No one's allowed to leave Green Hill at the moment. Local government issued a martial law order around ten minutes ago."
Whisper sighed. There went her choices. "What's the issue?" she asked instantly.
"No one's sure. Belle's been looking into it. Neither the Faker nor Amy have reached out to us for help, so it's something they can handle. However, if we ride the Tornado out they'll probably shoot us down."
"They can't activate martial law just because they want to."
"There's conflicting reports. Some say Chaos was seen on the southern quarters. Some are saying the mafia is attempting a coup of the mayorship. And there's a riot on the western side. Faker's on the east side."
"Perhaps it'd be best if we went to go to Sonic. We can see what he's thinking of what's going on," Green said as he popped out of his canister. Cyan and Orange followed a moment later.
"A good idea," Whisper said. She looked over at Shadow, who was scowling back, but seemed to understand what she wanted as he started to walk off to the exits. She'd wanted to avoid Sonic and everyone else she knew, but part of her was also curious. Sonic and Amy had kids now. That was an oddball. She wondered what they were like as parents.
The Green Hill airport was much smaller than the other one. It was barely two stories, and most of that was because it was built on a hill. The air was full of the salt air, Whisper noticed, the instant she walked out into it. Despite the rain above, it was quite clear they were close to the beach.
Shadow took off into the darkness the instant that he could, the only thing showing where he was going was the small flames from his hover skates. Whisper didn't even attempt to keep up, instead calling for a cab.
"Where you goin'?" the cabbie asked instantly as she hopped in. He was a reptile of some kind, gecko if she had to be honest. She wasn't sure. She was glad he didn't ask questions about the three wisps hovering around her head, or the wispon that she placed on the seat next to her.
"Do you know where Sonic the Hedgehog lives?" Whisper asked hesitantly. Her first plan would be to ask them to follow Shadow, but he was already far out of visible distance. Maybe in the day it'd be better.
"Everyone in Green Hill knows that. Speedy guy makes no attempt at living it down. But there ain't no party planned, I can tell you that much."
"He'd want to see me."
"Lass, everyone says that. With those kids of his, I think he and his wife get along great. They don't need you messin' up their lives."
"Follow the black hedgehog then?" Whisper asked, pointing ahead. The driver turned, his eyes narrowing as he attempted to see Shadow.
"Hold on, I think I have an idea!" Orange said, before imbuing herself into the taxi. Whisper immediately buckled in, and started to tell her no, before the driver realized that something was going on and grabbed onto the wheel. Green and Cyan, sensing trouble, dove back into their canisters.
A wisp, when they imbue an item, generally gives it properties similar to the wisp. Orange had essentially 'rocket' powers. For her wispon, that made it a sniper rifle, an extremely powerful single shot weapon that held itself together at long trajectories and high speeds.
A car, such as a taxi, meant that only one of those properties would carry over. Both the driver and Whisper shot back into their seats as Orange's power took over, rushing them faster than Whisper was sure the car had ever gone before.
About a minute later found Whisper on the side of the road, angrily glaring at Orange whom looked rather ashamed of the entire thing. The driver, at least, was amused enough to let Whisper off for only half of his usual price, if only because he found it rather fun, and a challenge to his skills.
Shadow came up from behind, his eyes staring at the rapidly driving off taxi cab. "That...was you, right?" he asked gently. "In the rocket powered taxi?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you ask him to take you to Sonic's?"
"I did. He refused."
"And so the rocket was...?"
"Orange had ideas," Whisper explained instantly.
"I said I'm sorry!"
"It's fine. We're close anyways," Shadow said. He took off skating away, this time at much more reasonable pace. Whisper still attempted to keep up, Orange floating overhead, her eyes showing her shame.
Even in the rain, the suburbs of Green Hill were colorful. Though the sky and air were grey and dark, the houses had all kinds of various colors, from bright blues to dull greens and more than a few dirty yellows.
"He lives here," Shadow said, pointing at one of the larger houses on the block. It had a few trees in the front, with what looked like a tire swing in one of them. A kite hung barely on the branches of another. The house itself was a dark blue, almost Sonic's color exactly, with more than few wings off of it. A small sign hung off the roof, dripping with water now. It read, "Amy Rose + Sonic the Hedgehog". A smaller sign attached to it, as if put up much more recently, read, " + Velocity Rose and Thunder Rose".
"Velocity and Thunder are their kids names. Velocity is around ten, Thunder eight. Violet and Mata are twelve and ten."
"Violet and Mata?"
"Tails' kids. They stay here. Have been for a while," Shadow explained. He walked up to the door, Whisper just barely behind.
"Perhaps it's best...?" Whisper whispered to Orange. The wisp blinked at her, before she did a full face nod and went back into her canister.
Shadow knocked hard against the door, not even bothering to use the doorbell next to it. Whisper wasn't sure of the time, but it probably wasn't too late. Or if it was, she'd make it up to Sonic some other way, once she got out of the rain.
Whisper heard Amy's voice come through the door, "I told you before, stop trying to-" she called out just as she opened the door.
It was still obviously Amy. She was taller now, about as tall as Whisper was. Her spines had grown downwards, almost down to her neck. She had a weathered look about her face, as if she spent most of the time stressed and worried. "Oh, Shadow. I wasn't expecting...is that...?" Amy said, looking behind him straight at Whisper.
"She came back. But now she needs help," Shadow started before Amy pushed him aside, and grabbing and hugging onto Whisper tight.
"It's Whisper! Whisper! Sonic, Sonic, come look!" Amy called out. Whisper froze the instant the hedgehog made contact. Physical contact, of any kind, made her freeze up. Except from Tangle. Maybe. It seemed to take Amy a second to remember that.
"Oh, sorry. Forgot...it's been so long Whisper...where have you been? You haven't aged a day..." Amy said. "Oh, but I've forgotten my manners. Please, come in, come in!" She helped Shadow back up, who didn't even bother with some sarcastic remark, before she led them back inside.
The house was surprisingly open, with an obvious living room off to the side and only a step down. A few couches sat around the center, on which a large TV was set up. Toys were scattered on the floor, from kids of all various ages. Off from there was the kitchen, separated from everything only by a counter at waist height, various bar stools and chairs set up around it. Behind the counter were the dozen or so appliances, only most of which Whisper recognized.
A dining table, long and covered in pieces of mail, sat practically unused except by mail. There was a long hallway off the side of that, probably leading to the rooms.
Behind the counter was a much older Sonic. Taller than before, his spines also got a much darker blue. Not quite black, but getting there. Some were greying, as well. His face was old and aged, small wrinkles already starting. But the most disturbing of which was when he looked up and got excited, and immediately reached for a single crutch.
"Well, never thought I'd see you around here, Faker!" Sonic said jovially as he maneuvered around the counter expertly. He glanced towards the wolf, a large smile on his face. "And Whisper...we all thought you'd died," he said, going quiet.
"I gathered that," Whisper said.
Amy nodded. "We'll have to hear about it. Sonic, I think we still have some punch in the fridge, right? Would either of you like some drinks? I'm afraid it's passed the time for dinner. If we'd known you were coming-"
"It was a last minute thing," Shadow clarified. "And I'm assuming Sonic still drinks that Blue Lagoon Lager of his?"
"I've had to cut most of it out," Sonic grinned, "but we still have a few. And you, Whisper?" he asked.
Honestly, seeing Sonic walk around being forced to use crutches was such an anathema to Whisper that she was still processing it. "I'm...I don't need anything," she managed to get out.
"Come on, sit down," Sonic said, gesturing to the living room. "Ignore the toys, we would have had them clean up. Seems a weekly chore is only a weekly thing if they want it to be," he chuckled. It took him a moment to navigate down. One of his legs was badly mangled and burned, and that's the one that Sonic didn't dare put any weight on.
"We need to use the Tornado," Shadow said instantly. "We'll be out of your hair by morning."
Sonic shook his head as he sat down. "Can't. Hasn't had maintenance done in a long time, and Green Hill is down on martial law at the moment. No one in or out. You must've come in on the last plane. Sorry Shads."
Somehow, Whisper knew this was coming. There was no way any of her plans would have come to fruition without something going wrong. And sure enough, here it was. "Dammit. I guess you were right; we should've just gone straight to Spiral Hill," Shadow admitted. Whisper stared at him, before shrugging.
"Spiral Hill? Tangle's old place? Why?" Sonic asked.
"Trying to find Tails to help Whisper back...you know, it'd be easier if you explained it," Shadow said. "Everything."
Whisper sighed. More talking, her favorite thing to do. Amy came in with a small bottle of something right as she started, handing it to Shadow while trying to listen in.
Whisper explained as much as she knew she could. The mission at Eggman's remote base, finding the clock thing, having Cyan accidentally imbue it with energy, combined with the power cell, and finding her in a place with only a vague idea of what happened.
It reminded her a lot of giving a debrief to both Amy or Jewel, depending on who was leading the Restoration at the time, and she fell back into those patterns. She noticed that Amy did too, the pink hedgehog's eyes only occasionally drifting towards Shadow or Sonic.
The old Sonic would have been bored out of his mind, starting to fidget around. This Sonic was...controlled, for lack of a better term. He still fidgeted a bit in his seat, shredding the back of the chair of whatever fabric was there, but it was much less than what his old version would have done.
After she was done, Amy had a solemn look on her aged face. "Sorry Whisper, not much that we can do. As Sonic said, Tails hasn't been around to do much of the upkeep on the Tornado, and even then, Green Hill's on lockdown."
"Oh, oh I can help!" a younger, much younger, voice called out from the side. Whisper turned, seeing a small purple, almost lavender but maybe a bit darker, fox standing there in a far too big for her shirt. She was waiting on the sides, obviously having listened in while trying to remain inconspicuous.
"Vio...how long were you listening in?" Sonic asked, forcing himself up. Whisper noticed that he grabbed the crutch out of habit. His injury had happened a long time ago.
"Long enough! Come on, Mr. Sonic! You know I can help, I've been studying the Tornado's schematics in my spare time!"
One of Tails' kids, then? Whisper turned an eye to him. She looked a lot like Tails had, back in her time. Surprisingly tall for her age, but with a flatter muzzle. She still had the sky blue eyes, the same shade that Tails had. What had Shadow said? She was twelve right now?
"She has been doing a lot," Amy admitted from the side.
"Not as much as her father did at her age," Sonic said harshly.
"That's not fair! You never let me try, I bet I can keep up with you just fine!" Violet shouted from the hallway.
"Vio," Amy started as she walked over to the girl, "Whisper and Shadow are doing something very dangerous, but they know the risks their taking. You've heard the stories, but you don't know the risks."
"I know enough!"
"Violet, why were you even listening in? Bedtime was an hour ago," Sonic asked as he sat back down. He had an apologetic look in his eyes as he gave a glance towards Shadow and Whisper. Shadow shrugged. Whisper could tell that he had a feeling this would happen.
"Mata's cheating on some homework again. Uncle Chuck keeps giving in even after you asked her to let him rest," Pia muttered. "And Velocity keeps complaining through the wall that he's bored."
"Mata..." Amy sighed. "I'll handle Mata. Vio..." Amy said, giving the fox a look before she knelt down and whispered a few words to the girl. The hedgehog gave a knowing smirk back towards Sonic before she darted into the hallway, a door shutting loudly behind her.
"Mata's continuing to break the natural order again?" Shadow asked without hesitation. Sonic sighed.
"Sounds like it," he admitted. "I mean, she's ten, but darn it Uncle Chuck was supposed to be resting."
Whisper didn't see what was wrong with it. How was asking a grand-uncle or a grandparent cheating, or breaking the natural order? Her confusion must've shown on her face, as Shadow answered her unasked question.
"Mata's capable of conversing with, and bringing back, the dead. Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle, died nearly...what, thirty years ago?" he asked, looking at Sonic. Whisper stared at him, her mind having froze up.
What.
"Yeah, about that," Sonic said. "And it's not so much bringing back as allowing their spirit to come back. It...opened our eyes a lot when Mata was three and we first adopted her."
Mata could bring back the dead?
Orange popped out of her canister. "Whisper's broken, sorry. The idea of someone bringing back the dead...well, you know."
Cyan, Green, and Pink all popped out a moment later, nodding laughably quickly. Blue popped his head out for a moment to agree, before heading back down.
Sonic blinked. "Uh...sorry, don't have my translator on me. Shadow?" he asked, looking towards the black hedgehog.
"And how do you know I have mine on me, faker?"
"They said that 'Whisper's Broken', whatever that means," Violet stated quietly from the hallway. Sonic and Shadow looked surprised before she flicked one of her ears, showing the small metal thing on top of it. "Come on Mr. Sonic, you know I made my own translator. If Dad could do it, so could I."
"Your Dad also once translated Yacker's words as 'Sometimes all we need is headsalad.', so I don't think you should take that seriously." Cyan said. "Yacker told me that one, cracked me up for days."
"Wasn't there also something about underwear in there, too?" Orange asked. "I'm not sure. Whisper, you back with us yet?"
Whisper sighed. The idea that someone could just...bring back the dead. That was...absolutely terrifying. "Yes, I am," she uttered quietly. The talk of someone, anyone, bringing back the Diamond Cutters...it must hurt the wisps more than it would have hurt her. She only knew them for as long as she was on the team, the wisps knew them far longer than that.
"Headsalad, underwear?" Violet asked, hesitating.
Sonic burst into laughter, "Oh man that brought me back. Your dad's first attempt at the translation for the wisp language. It was bad...he showed me it later, translated out of binary, and ooh boy was it a giant mess," Sonic explained.
"That's all well and good, but if you can't help us, Faker, then Whisper and I will head out tomorrow morning. There has to be some way to get out of here," Shadow said.
"Well, even the roads would be watched. I'm expecting another protest hosted outside my door again," Sonic answered. "The quickest thing to do would be to get the mayor's help, but good luck with that. He hated the Resistance back then, and he can't stand the Restoration now, either."
"Why?" Whisper asked before she could stop herself. Why would anyone not want to help the Resistance? She could understand the Restoration, as they couldn't help everyone so maybe they had missed a town or two, as much as they didn't want to.
Sonic shrugged. "He had a deal with Eggman during the fight. Green Hill would be his and Eggman wouldn't kill everyone here, but in return all the people had to sign up to fight for Eggman. Even now there's a standing militia about it. His grandfather was mayor when Eggman attacked the first time."
"So our only hope is to fly out of here. But the one plane we need is trashed because you can't do maintenance," Shadow accused.
Sonic grinned. "Sounds about right. You try having time with four kids around. If it wasn't for Amy and Vio over there, I'd be run ragged! More than I am already, that is," he answered.
"Mata's old enough to take care of herself, and that's without the spirits," Violet responded. "And I'm as old as Dad was when he went on his adventures with you. And I know the schematics, I can at least make the plane flyable!"
"And you have no idea how much I regret having him there with me," Sonic answered, all sign of happiness and jolliness gone in an instant. "You're actually older than he was, Vio, but Eggman attacked Westside Island directly, and that wasn't even counting Cocoa Island."
"You should at least let her work on it. She couldn't hurt anything," Shadow said.
"Yeah, I'll keep watch too! Trust me, if anyone can make a plane fly, it's me!" Cyan said.
Orange glared at her. "That's bullshit and you know it! I'm the one who can make anything with rocket thrusters fly!"
Green's eye closed, and with it Whisper's patience. "Come on, you know that I'm the one with hover powers. If anyone understands flight, it's me."
"Please stop," Whisper said. Violet was watching the wisps with a hopeful look on her face, and an amused look on Sonic's despite the fact he couldn't understand them.
"I think I'm the only one who can! Put spikes on it, that'll solve all your problems!" Pink proudly prodded.
Green, Orange, and Cyan all looked at him, before shouting at the same time, "That won't solve anything!"
"I heard shouting, is everything...oh hi there wisps!" Amy said from the hallway. Behind her was another girl, a yellow cat with two long tails flowing from behind her. She was clutching a small stuffed cat with an emerald sign right in the middle of its stomach.
Behind even her was a white...thing. It had some semblance of shape, but Whisper could only barely tell that much. It was bipedal, but still...floating. Whisper's head started hurting, and the more she focused on the shape, the more her head started to pound. Once she looked away, her head started to relieve itself.
"Oh hey Uncle Chuck! Mata, you're going to let him go back soon, right? He needs his rest!" Sonic grinned.
The cat shook her head. "No, not yet. He's almost gone. It was harder to reach him this time. I think this is the last time. You should say goodbye," she said, her voice high pitched and kid-like, yet with a serious tone to it.
Sonic nodded. "Alright then. You shouldn't try to reach out to him again then. You feeling alright there?" he asked the white spirit thing. Whisper didn't dare look at it.
"Yes, I'm okay for now," it spoke. It was a masculine voice, old and weary, and it drilled into Whisper's head like a yellow wisp on steroids. "But I'm afraid Mata's right. It's almost my turn. I don't think I'd see you much longer, but I'm grateful for the time I had," it continued.
"Alright," Sonic agreed. "Hey...thanks for doing your best for me, old man. I'm sure Amy appreciated it-" he said, ducking a hammer that appeared out of nowhere.
Whisper started, throwing herself back to the top of the stairs. Amy was in a throwing position, her hammer appearing in her hands again before it could damage a wall. "Be serious, Sonic!" she reprimanded.
The spirit laughed despite it all. "I'm glad you're respectful to the end, Maurice!" the spirit shouted with a look towards Mata, who grinned back. She immediately closed her eyes for a moment, letting the spirit dissipate. Whisper felt her head start to return to normal a bit, the feel of a headache, the wrongness of the world, start to realign to what she knew as reality.
"Grah, you know I hate that name!" Sonic shouted. "And darn, right in front of Shadow too. Now I'm never gonna live it down."
"Would I ever do that to you, Maurice?" Shadow asked, more of an evil grin than a smirk now. Sonic groaned.
Violet walked up to her sister, giving her a hug. "Hey, I didn't know it was the last time you were gonna get him. I wouldn't have said anything if I'd known," she said.
"It's kay. Mom explained it," the cat said, looking at Amy. Violet nodded, smiling towards the hedgehog's way. "And...hi Mr. Shadow! I don't know you," Mata said, looking towards Whisper. "But, wisps! Wisps!" she let out a loud cheer, before running towards the floating energy beings.
"Kid incoming, kid incoming! Run, run!" Cyan shouted as she darted back to her canister. Orange and Green seemingly had the same idea as they quickly followed the light blue one in. Pink rolled into a ball, small spikes emanating from his floating personage.
"Mata...it's also your past your bedtime. Was Velos keeping you up, too?" Sonic asked. "I'm gonna have to ask to have him keep it down."
"No, I had homework due tomorrow but I hadn't done it yet because Thunder wanted to play Plumber Kart," Mata explained. "So I wanted to get Uncle Chuck to help me, because he explains math so much better than Vio does-"
"I can't help it, I just understand it!"
"And then she went out here to tattle on me and now we're here," Mata said. She stopped in front of Pink, and cautiously poked at him with a tiny finger. "Hi there wispy. I'm Mata," she said. Her eyes turned down once she made contact with his body. "And you have not had an easy life on earth, have you...?"
"How...?" Whisper asked. One of Mata's ears stood up tall, as if listening, although the cat didn't say anything.
"Mata's...well, Blaze warned us before she went into the emerald chamber. Cats with two tails are rare, and they usually have more magical powers than even she knew," Sonic said.
Whisper digested that information, before she realized that meant Tails and Blaze were together. That was something she hadn't seen coming.
Meet some of the kids. Thunder and Velocity Rose, and Violet and Mata Prower!
If anyone's wondering how those names got picked, particularly Mata's...it gets explained. Eventually. As in next chapter.
Until Next Time!