Disclaimer: See first chapter.

News


Despite the television being on, Whisper got little news from it that made actual sense to her. Watching the news was a relatively new thing in the Restoration, seeing as how most news stations were only recently being brought back online, although Whisper was one of the ones 'forced' to do it.

The news nowadays though seemed much more...entertainment based rather than fact-based. At least, that's how Whisper would have put it.

There were some smaller news cases of some bad guys getting caught stealing a jewelry store, but most of them were of the 'X politician did this nasty thing at one point in their lives'.

Most of them weren't even that bad. Whisper couldn't help but roll her eyes at some of the more inane ones. Apparently these news casters had never heard of being kids. One of the politicians was being razed over the coals for tipping a cow when he was eight years old. Not even an islander either, one of the barely sentient ones that were raised for milk!

The wisps were playing around the ATM, empty as it was since Whisper had emptied it earlier. Cyan liked imbuing herself into it and seeing if she could make the screen have funny faces. Harmless fun, for the moment.

She'd warned them from doing anything permanent or online. The ATM couldn't actually connect to anything online truthfully, if they were the same type of machine she was actually used to, but it wouldn't do to not warn them.

The lights above didn't want to dim, and Digger and Beverly hadn't turned them off when they'd left, so Whisper turned and pulled on her mask, forcefully dimming the amount of light entered from its eyes to basically zero.

A sleep mask. She kept her wispon close to her, but she made sure that even if the wisps imbued themselves into it, nothing would happen. Except Blue, but Blue made the thing into the hammer and truthfully Blue was the least likely wisp to do that.

Honestly, the only ones she really needed to worry about were Pink, Cyan, and Orange. And Orange only because she might get the idea that it'd be fun. Pink and Cyan just because they wanted to.

She did ask them to wake her up early in the morning before anyone showed up, but she pulled up a few armrests and laid down comfortably into the seats. They were a type of fabric that was stretchy and bouncy, yet held taut.

She woke up a few minutes later to have Cyan pushing her awake with her...arms. She would definitely have to find a book on wisp physiology at some point. "It's early, boss. You said five, right?" Cyan asked.

Whisper nodded, pushing aside the yawn that threatened to form. "Thanks," she said. She rolled off the chairs a bit, glancing at the news on the holovision.

4:30 in the morning. "We thought we oughta get you up a bit earlier than that!" Cyan's voice was obviously grinning. She looked over at the wisps to find a small pink line over both Blue and Green. "Okay, not them."

Whisper took a moment to sigh. "Free them?" she asked. Pink immediately let go of the line, letting both Blue and Green 'breathe'. They didn't need to, being energy beings, but they often acted like it.

"Sorry Whisper. We tried!" Blue said. Whisper shook her head.

"It's alright. I did need to wake up early," she said, glancing around the bus stop. It was still the same dim light, and she could have sworn that the news reel was the same as last nights. Oh wait, it was playing a soap opera now, and that was just a commercial for the news.

These people had the time for soap operas?

The building was still mostly in one piece, to Whisper's relief. They had obviously messed around with the ATM, but there wasn't anything they could've done more, and there were a few snacks on the ground from the five of them attempting the vending machines. They got no nutritional value from the snacks, but that didn't stop them from eating them.

Breathing a sigh, she went around and gathered up the pieces of evidence from the vending machines. Bags of half eaten chips, some cookies, a few drinks with their caps still mostly on...it ran the gamut.

She pocketed the drinks for herself and make sure to actually pay the money into the vending machine for however much was owed. She wasn't too worried about the cost right now, she already had her ticket.

Speaking, the bus was actually supposed to be here before the place opened. How would it get any passengers?

Whisper wasn't sure if that meant they didn't ever actually make any money. Why would they bother having it be a route then, if it didn't?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a change in the schedule holovision. Whereas before it had read, 'Scheduled' it now read 'On Its Way'. Wait, that meant that it was right outside-

A sound of one of the doors on the far side of the entrance unlocking made her start, and she grabbed her wispon by habit. Each of the five wisps immediately hovered around her protectively. A small duck peeked his head in. "Oh. A passenger this time. Heading to Emeraldville?" he asked.

Whisper nodded, heading closer and making sure to grab her ticket. "Canisters," she commanded simply. All of the wisps nodded and entered into their territories with surprising alacrity.

They must've been really wanting out of this bus stop if they were that quick on it. Maybe she should make them more bored in the future, if that'd help round them up a bit...

"Anything to declare?" the duck asked, his head tilted. "We're gonna be alone for a while. Usually we don't pick up passengers for Emeraldville until around Badgerton. If you wanted to catch a nap or listen to a certain radio station, let me know."

"Nothing. Wisps and a wispon," Whisper said. The duck didn't seem fazed, merely nodding as he checked her ticket.

"Yeah, I'd say you're traveling light. Did you get breakfast already? I can make a few stops if you wanted to stop by a fast food place. There's only a few scheduled, and not until lunch," the duck continued.

"I'll be fine."

"Right. I ain't gonna question ya. That ain't my style," The duck said in a heavy accent, as if he was imitating something that she should know. "You from around here?" he asked as he let her on the bus.

It was about what she expected. A long grey tube, with two seats on each side of the aisle. It didn't go too far back, and each of the windows could be made to open up. She felt as if she should take one of the back seats, if only to let the wisps out, but that might make him inquire more.

Each of the seats had a holovision embedded in them, and she could spot electric sockets on each of the rows. That, at least, hadn't changed.

Instead she sat at one of the front seats, behind the driver. He climbed up after her, turning the bus on and letting it idle for a minute or two. "You seem pretty quiet. You want a specific radio station, or should I just turn on my tunes?" he asked.

She didn't know any of the radio stations nowadays. She shook her head. "Do you mind if I let the wisps out?" she asked after a moment.

"Nah, I don't mind. Long as none of them mess with my driving, and you don't have one of them drill ones. Or the lightning ones, the lightning ones hate me for some reason," the duck answered. He reached down to his side and touched a button from somewhere and immediately loud rock started to flood the bus.

Whisper made a small gesture, and immediately all five wisps came out. Cyan and Pink started headbanging to the loud music, while Orange looked behind them with a look of confusion, before she went back into her canister. Blue and Green traded glances for a bit before they flew to the back of the bus, intent on checking things out.

It wasn't the type of music that Whisper preferred to listen to, but it also wasn't the worst thing she'd heard. That title belonged to Lanolin's preference, a type of orchestral wail that the sheep had said a thousand times over was opera. No, this music was more Tangle's preference, and Whisper had learned to at least tolerate it, and even like a few of the bands.

A moment later she felt the brake disengage as the bus started moving. "Right on time," the duck called out. "Next stop, probably something to eat in around four to five hours. What do you prefer, burgers or tacos?"

Was 'none of the above' an available option? If not, she quietly murmured "Burgers". The duck let out a laugh.

"If it counts as food! You wispies want anything? Salad? Do they eat salad?" the duck asked.

"No, we don't," Cyan glared. "We eat normal food! Although...you know...those chips did not agree with me."

"You're telling me...oh mother I need bathroom! I shouldn't have eaten that sushi!" Pink called out as he flew to the back into the restroom. Whisper stared. They had eaten what?

"They uh...they gonna be okay?" the duck asked as he ran a red light. Whisper tensed up but fortunately there weren't any other vehicles around. Was she distracting him too much? "Shit! Jus' ran a red didn't I...eh, no one's around."

That didn't make her feel better. "They...should be fine. Apparently they ate the sushi," Whisper explained.

"Yeah, it was disgusting. I had one, and knew better than that," Blue said. "Did Orange get any?"

"No, she knew better too," Green answered. "I didn't either. I'm honestly surprised it took Pink this long; usually he doesn't eat anything."

"Except for the chips. We had plenty of those. The sea salt ones were fantastic! When we get back, can we take a bag back and let Tails get more?"

Whisper sighed. "You can understand 'em? I've heard that some people can, but it all sounds like gibberish to me," the duck said, turning the bus slowly onto the freeway.

"Translators," Whisper said, motioning to her ears. The duck nodded, but had a confused look on his face.

"The only ones I knew of that had a translator was the Restoration, and that was...years ago. Wasn't that just the fox guy? Prower?"

"The only one with a translator was Tails," Green said. "And even then, Yacker had to help out a lot. Too bad him and the other White went back to Planet Wisp."

"I don't blame him. I mean, considering what I heard he saw at that park, I'd want to go back too. I was just on the bunch of ships," Blue commented.

"Not sure who that is," Whisper said. "Do you keep much track of the news?" she asked.

"Nah, got better things to do. I mean, I can explain some things. Where are you heading to in Emeraldville, anyways? Got a job interview out there or something?"

"Visiting the Restoration."

"Ooh, that's gonna be a tough one. Last I heard no one can get in. Even if they did, they'd have to deal with Shadow or that wooden puppet. Did you know they have horror movies about trying to get in? It's hilariously awful." Whisper raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, it's pretty bad. It came out a few years ago, my ex-girlfriend and I watched it in the theaters. The girl in it is so painfully stupid! Seriously, she thought she could punt the puppet through a window."

Punt Belle? Wait, why were they making horror movies about trying to visit the Restoration? Jewel wouldn't allow that kind of thing!

"Like I said, it was bad. Still got taken down by the leadership of the Restoration though. Amy, I think? Came straight up to the publishing company once she heard it and you can still see the destruction once she heard their plans for a sequel!"

...Why was there a sequel?

Whisper had said nothing aloud, but the duck continued to talk as if she had. "That one was gonna be about Sonic turning into a true zombie, and then for some reason the Dumbots were going to help everyone else out as he ate everyone."

What.

What is this madness?

"I'm glad that one didn't go through. For one, Sonic himself put a stop to it, and second, everyone could tell it was gonna be awful. Like, not even B-movie material, I'm talking like all the way down to F. Least effort kind of thing."

"That's...really dumb."

"That sounds awesome, what're you talking about? Think about it, it'd just be Sonic zooming around at high speeds, taking bites out of people's throats as he goes by-!" Cyan was shouting from the back.

"Yeah, it was gonna be. They've done a few documentaries too. I think we have one loaded on the bus. Headphones are under the seat!" the duck said, going back to headbanging to his music.

It took Green a few moments to learn how to activate the holovisions, and it took Cyan another minute to figure out how to move the selection. In less than five minutes, Whisper was watching it, keeping an eye on the wisps. Pink was still in the bathroom, and Orange was still in her canister, but the others were all watching various cartoons.

Some were from Whisper's era. She recognized a few of the characters, but it was still weird for her to see. Everything had changed so much in the twenty three years.

She hadn't checked her bank account for a long time, apparently.

"This is the story of a small group of heroes, battling against the darkness of the villainous Dr. Eggman. This is a true story, although the names have been changed to protect their identity, with the exception of Sonic the Hedgehog.

The story of Sonic is well known. First appearing in South Island, this blue hedgehog is known for going at extremely high speeds. When Dr. Eggman made his debut there, capturing the other Islanders and other sentient animals for his badniks, Sonic came to stop him.

And for every time Dr. Eggman arose, Sonic came with him, to bring hope to the darkness. Until one time, Dr. Eggman brought forth another individual. A jackal who had shed his lost name, and in turn, took another. Infinite.

Infinite defeated Sonic, and with it, the hope was lost. However, as Sonic was locked away for six months, his other friends worked together to form what became known simply as 'The Resistance'. Other resistance cells popped up as well. 'Team Dark', 'The Diamond Cutters', and 'The Lone Fox', all took the fight to Dr. Eggman.

With all of their help, the Resistance located Sonic, and broke him out of the Death Egg. Hope was restored, and in short order the Dr. Eggman was defeated once again, Infinite disappearing into the void."

Infinite hadn't disappeared. He had died. Whisper would know, she'd found his body. Or rather, she was the first one to spot the body, the large jewel missing straight from his chest.

That was after the Diamond Cutters had disbanded. For lack of a better term.

"Peace came back to the land...for now. The Resistance was left to pick up the pieces, and whenever Dr. Eggman came back, the newly-named Restoration was there to put him back down, and help the citizens restore the world to what it should have been.

After numerous attacks on a nearly yearly basis, Dr. Eggman simply stopped attacking. Still on their guard, the Restoration sent out various members to all of his known locations. There was plenty of internal drama, however none of the members chose to disclose what it was in interviews.

After a year and a half, he was found in the upper chambers of the Metal City. Not dead, however he was very ill, and unable to even get out of his bed. He launched one final attack from his deathbed, hoping to transform the world into robots once again, similar to the Metal Virus.

He passed shortly afterwards, dying not in a blaze of glory but rather the wheezing coughs of the ill. It was only Sonic the Hedgehog and fellow speedster Power the Tenrec to see his end."

Power the Tenrec? They didn't even bother to change what species Surge was? Wow. Lazy documentary, Whisper thought. But that meant that Surge changed sides, permanently this time. She knew the story of what happened with Surge and Kit; experimented on, turned into cyborgs, erased their memories by Dr...Quackstar? Starstone? Starquack? She didn't remember the name.

Some doctor who absolutely adored Eggman and wanted to copy him. And then whom Eggman killed.

Both Surge and Kit had their memories and identities erased by the quack, leaving them nothing except the urge to kill Sonic. Or in Kit's case, to help Surge.

They had changed sides once before, although Whisper didn't remember too much from then. She was too focused on making sure Mimic wasn't infiltrating the Restoration, which he had been. Not that she knew that for a while.

"After that, peace in general reigned. For the next several years, members of the Restoration bowed out, seeing as how most of their efforts had succeeded. The real death blow to the Restoration as a whole was when Sonic announced his 'retirement' from being in the Restoration, three years after Eggman perished.

The membership fell quickly then. It was only the official closing of the doors when the commander of the Restoration, Gem the Beetle, announced her own retirement, going back to being the curator of a jewel museum.

The building of the Restoration is still well known, however all attempts to enter it have failed. Small branches of the Restoration are still found in various places, but they are all local branches, as there is no single unifier anymore.

Most members of the Restoration have chosen to ignore this program's intent on interviews, instead calmly telling us that what they did is well known.

Some members could not be reached for interviews."

That didn't explain much, Whisper thought. If anything that just left more questions, but it did answer a few other things. The Restoration was, for all accounts and purposes, a thing of the past. Her time.

The world had healed since Eggman's rampages. The Resistance had officially won, and the Restoration had lived up to its name. But after everything was restored, the only thing left was...to live.

Which made her wonder what exactly had happened to everyone. The documentary hadn't covered that at all, so she supposed she'd just have to learn when she gets to Emeraldville.

Twenty three years though...this documentary had been made around five years ago. Eighteen years after she'd left, and seven after Eggman had died.

That was still a rough thought to have. She'd always thought the madman was near immortal. To have something like old age take him was...humbling, if anything. No one truly escapes death.

Not even the wisps, or chao. They always mentioned that they could die, but she'd never seen it. And truth be told, she'd never really asked. Chao could die, but they could also make themselves reincarnate to a new version of themselves, and after a while...they'd become near fully immortal.

Near, though. They had twice as long a life as the other Islanders had, which was already half again as long as most humans lived. Sonic could be expected to live into his early hundreds, unless his metabolism actually caught up to him, and some chao had been known to live up to two or three hundred years.

The song changed from the bus's speakers, suddenly becoming a loud remix of an old song she knew. The duck driver gave a squawk and reached down to turn it down. Whisper had held her hands over her ears.

"Alright, food time! Did uh...they ever come out of the bathroom?" the duck asked as he jumped downwards to open the door. Whisper stared outside. They'd gone further than she'd thought, or she'd found herself ruminating for much longer than she'd accounted for.

Whisper turned around to the back, trying to see if Cyan and Pink were out. Pink was, staring out the back windows with his one eye wide. Cyan was making a mockery of the internal systems of the bathroom, making the automatic door open and close at a whim. "They're fine," she said a second later.

"Right. Did they want anything?"

Whisper wasn't going to ask. They'd had plenty back at the bus stop. "They're fine," she repeated. The duck shrugged, before he headed off to the small building. It was mostly red and brown, with some soft greens mixed in.

This was a new chain that Whisper had never heard of before. She ordered just the basic meal, before she headed back up to the bus to eat. A small burger, some fries, and a little water.

It wasn't bad, but it was a bit greasier than she was hoping for. For the next time she knew not to. She gave a few of the fries to each of the wisps, Cyan munching down happily before she went straight to the bathroom again. Pink looked down suspiciously at his, before he gobbled it in one bite.

Orange, Green, and Blue were a lot less suspicious, but they also ate much slower. Which was probably why they didn't need to run to the back.

The duck came back with a larger bag, nearly three times the size of Whisper's. "This'll keep me set for a while. Next stop is Grasstown, a couple of hours for now. Supposedly there's a few that actually need to get picked up, but it's pretty unlikely," the duck explained.

Whisper nodded and sat back down, watching patiently as the surroundings slowly changed from a city to back to endless roads and highways. The duck was a decent driver, first impressions notwithstanding.

The wisps continued to watch most of the same show, finishing the entire first season by the time they stopped in Grasstown. It lived up to its name, endless hills of green grass circulating the entire area. Even the pavement was a soft grass green, and had a little give to it as if they were driving on actual grass.

There were two pickups, a local couple that immediately sat themselves down in the back and what looked like a large older badger, sitting curiously up front close to her.

Whisper got a promise from Cyan and Pink not to go annoy the couple in the back. She had to fish out a few wisp treats for it, but it was worthwhile in Whisper's mind. She didn't want to answer any questions about what they might get up to back there.

The badger hadn't said anything, even as the duck sat back down in the driver's seat. "Right, next stop, Emeraldville. After that, Roguetown!" the driver said.

There was a town named Roguetown, now? That must have popped up some time after she'd vanished.

The surroundings and outside changed again back to hills and mountains, most of which was starting to look familiar to Whisper. The Restoration hadn't changed anything out here, and the general layout was still mostly the same.

The bus stop at Emeraldville was practically abandoned as she got off. Each of the wisps were back in their canisters, having finished watching the second season of whatever kid's show they'd been watching.

The bus left after she got off, barely having enough time for just that. This was apparently a rare stop, Whisper could tell. The entire place was looking rather sad, windows busted out and graffiti all over the side. Even the benches were dented in places.

The city itself hadn't changed much in Whisper's mind. It still had the same layout, and even the library was still operating. But there was no one around on the streets, and it seemed an unearthly calm as she walked down the roads.

A small valley off to the right, with a shed built into it. The hidden entrance to the Restoration. Silver's old garden. The plants looked sickly and not taken care of, but even then there was a hint of life still to them.

Whisper hoped that wasn't a metaphor for the Restoration as a whole. The code shouldn't have changed, she hoped, as she moved the tools on the inside to the proper spots.

The back of the shed moved inwards, revealing pitch black. Whisper pulled down her mask, turning on the night vision. Her heart threatened to leap into her throat. Who was here? Belle? Tangle?

The pathway wasn't long, without any spider webs as she was expecting there to be. She heard voices from close by, but she couldn't quite tell what they were saying.

The stairs leading upwards creaked a bit as she stepped foot on them. They led to a steel door, briefly outlined in light. She remembered it opened outwards, and she hoped she wasn't about to get scared by Tangle deciding to attack her the instant the door opened.

Instead her vision was filled by black and red, as a very angry looking Shadow the Hedgehog stepped in front of her.


I'm experimenting with chapter names again. This is probably a Bad Sign.

Until Next Time!