"Damn it!"
Thunderbolt the Chinchilla raged as she stared at the screen of her tablet. The application she had running which tracked each and every one of her 'piggy banks' had on it the profile of Bunnie Rabbot, the picture of one of Hooligan's wanted posters that had Bunnie smirking at the camera seemed to be mocking her as two words appeared underneath the photograph.
BOMB DISABLED
"How?! How could she have done it?!" Thunderbolt shouted at the tablet as sparks flew from behind her. "That imbecile couldn't have done it on her own!"
One possibility was one of her beloved doctor's hated enemies, Tails, had gotten to it. But he was currently on a mission to the Starfall Islands. Only a mind of his level could have broken her randomly generated password of the month! She told it to no one, not even to the other members of the chat room!
The chinchilla grit her teeth. "Impudent brat! You should have accepted your role!" She raised the tablet to throw it against the wall, then paused and set it down.
No, she liked that tablet. It had the personal engraving on the back with the Eggman Empire's logo.
Instead, she walked to her desk and hopped onto her chair before opening her laptop. The window to the chat room was still open, and as usual the only one on it in this hour was that man.
LightningAsh263: One of our piggy banks managed to crack the code! I cannot activate her bomb now!
BaristaMaster2020: Really? How did that happen?
LightningAsh263: How should I know?!
Thunderbolt dragged her hand down her face. She hated admitting she didn't know how things happened. The doctor had no use for the clueless!
BaristaMaster2020: Well, it shouldn't matter anymore.
The chinchilla gaped at the screen.
LightningAsh263: What do you mean it doesn't matter?! That impudent brat managed to wriggle her way out of our thumb! We have no more funds coming from her, and with the uncle in the desert we cannot squeeze him!
BaristaMaster2020: Because we have all the funding we need, and construction is nearly complete.
Thunderbolt blinked twice, rereading that line of text again and again.
Slowly, a grin started to form on her face.
LightningAsh263: Really?
BaristaMaster2020: Takeoff will be in a couple of days. I've already informed the others.
A giggle escaped the chinchilla's throat before it transformed into a mad cackle. She kicked her short legs as she threw her head back.
Images were filling her mind already. Standing on the bridge, looking down at those ignorant savages that refused to see the future that only the doctor could bring. Laughing as badniks and firepower rained down on them, reducing everything to ruin and turning it into a seedbed for his glorious works.
It was a beautiful vision.
Wiping away a tear, Thunderbolt the Chinchilla returned to the computer and typed.
LightningAsh263: Then I suppose it really doesn't matter! We'll get to her, sooner or later, with the doctor's full blessing!
BaristaMaster2020: He'll probably want to make it your mission. I doubt that he would want to waste his time chasing after one of the wayward piggy banks.
LightningAsh263: And I'll gladly do it! She served her purpose.
Indeed. Bunnie Rabbot had been nothing more than a piggy bank. A nice and steady source of income for her and the rest of her group's projects. She, along with several others like her scattered throughout the islands and continents, lived to work and provide them money to repay the debt for their implants. Implants they had gotten out of desperation to cure the deficiencies of the flesh rather than true belief in what they represented.
Said debt was a number that Thunderbolt randomly made up.
After all, why would she give any of them the real number?
The trick was to make it seem ridiculously high, but still attainable. They would work thinking that, someday, their debt would reach zero. Never realizing how far off that fantasy actually was.
And usually forgetting about the interest.
The chinchilla was actually quite proud of that scheme.
Still, if construction was complete then whether or not Bunnie was still a piggy bank didn't matter.
They now had the tools they needed to finally reveal themselves.
Thunderbolt signed off with a single phrase.
LightningAsh263: Glory to the Eggman Empire!
Sally didn't know what to expect when she entered the so-called Power Save mode.
A black void had been one of her biggest fears. Just her floating in space, and while the concept of not being able to feel anything or breathe wasn't a foreign one to her anymore, the inability on top of that to see was frightening. Sight was one of the few senses she still had aside from sound, and it was what allowed her to function. So see that she was walking or sitting on something or even touching an object.
So yeah, a black void of nothingness where the only thing the princess had was the sound of her own screaming wasn't an appealing thought. But it would probably beat the complete nothingness that would occur should she run out of power.
What she didn't expect, however, was to see recreation of the old Knothole base.
"By the Source…" She muttered, her eyes wide as she looked left and right.
It wasn't an exact replica. The rich brown earth of the floor as well as the smooth rocks of the cave were replaced by green building blocks of varying shades. But she recognized the shapes of the tunnels. She could see the hallways that lead to rooms with names on the surface of each door. One for her, Sonic, Tails, Rotor, Antoine, and Bunnie. On the wall was a sign that read 'Mobius Sweet Mobius' while near the cooking area was the small table where she and the others had held meetings at or where Rotor worked on his latest gadget. She could see the secret entrance opening, which had been more like fun slide for kids than the only thing stopping badniks from invading their home.
There was even her stupid princess throne near the center on top of a small stage!
"I can't believe it…" She was probably smiling now, a small and sad smile seeing this facsimile of her childhood. "It's actually here..."
"I had been hoping there would be more time before you got to see this…" Sally turned and saw Nicole standing in front of her, smiling shyly while her hands were clasped in front of her. "It's very bare bones, as I wanted to research more into the graphic engines that are available nowadays. I wanted to make sure I could get lifelike environments down before I…"
"Nicole!" The princess let out a laugh before holding up her hands. "It's fine! Really, this is more than…"
She then noticed something.
Her hands! They were no longer the hands of her robotic body. Rather, they were her old hands. Covered in brown fur instead of being made of sleek metal or obscured by white gloves.
"Nicole, what…?" She looked down and gaped. She wasn't wearing her new outfit anymore. Rather, it was her old one. Her old blue vest and boots, her usual but favorite outfit to wear back when… when…
In a shower of pixels, a mirror appeared in front of Sally and she saw herself. Her body was as it had been before she got roboticized. Her short red hair, her blue eyes, her brown fur… everything was where it should be. Not a hint of robotization on her. For a second, the princess brought up her hand and touched her own face…
…she still couldn't feel anything.
"I wanted to make sure that your avatar would remain how it was before, rather than it automatically retaining the image of your current body." Nicole looked down. "I know I should've asked for permission, bu-."
Sally couldn't help it. She ran over to the holo-lynx and pulled her into a hug.
"Thank you." She whispered into her friend's ear. "Thank you so much."
Nicole tensed slightly for a second before she slowly wrapped her hands around Sally's body. They stayed like that for a few seconds before disengaging, smiling at each other.
"This is what you've been working on while inside me?" Sally couldn't help but laugh. "I guess you had to do something during the trip over here!"
Nicole giggled. "I suppose so! But I wished I had more time…" She frowned. "I could've made the base look exactly as it did, based on your memories and the old files. I could've worked out how to give you the sensation of touch, taste, and smell while you are in here…"
The chipmunk shook` her head. "You didn't have to go that far!"
But… she was also glad. Glad that her friend was working to give Sally some of the things she had lost. And the idea that she would be able to touch things, to taste and smell things…!
Never before had Sally wanted something so badly!
"I want to. I want to because this is another way I can help you." The holo-lynx motioned around. "You've done so much for me, Sally. It's the least I can do."
Sally hugged herself, a small smile spreading on her lips. The sheer honesty and warmth in Nicole's tone… it was too much.
A part of her felt she didn't deserve it.
Especially after what had happened with Mina...
The princess' head snapped up. "Right! Nicole, my body! Metal Sonic! What…?"
Nicole raised both of her hands in a placating gesture. "It's alright, Sally! Metal Sonic is no longer in the area. And nothing in the city's system indicates he's even within the area surrounding it. He's gone."
Well, that was a relief. "And the others?"
"Everyone only suffered minor injuries. They've been treated."
Sally nodded, but her mind was racing. So much had happened during that fight. So much chaos that almost seemed to blend together.
But one thing stood out.
That had been Hershey, the Restoration member, who had tried to kill Mina. Why? Why would she want to do that? Sure, there was that whole thing about Eggman but he wouldn't have one of his subordinates kill Mina with a gun if the plan didn't work out. It would've been more showy than that!
Was it just misdirection?
Then there were those two wolves. She met them before, Lyco and Leeta Wolf. Members of the Wolf Pack. Why were they here? Why had they seemed to be working with Hershey?
Just what was going on?
Sally sighed. No use thinking about it now. She needed to focus on her own situation. "And me?"
The holo-lynx smiled "We managed to bring you to a nearby Restoration base, which has its own Machine Shop for their gear. They had the necessary equipment to power your body, but…"
The smile dropped and the princess saw her friend rubbing her right arm, a nervous gesture if she ever saw one. "But what?"
"…Your body, and especially your hands, needed repairs. I had the engineer call Belle, who shared her files to assist with them. So right now they're working on it."
Sally sucked in a breath, even though she had no lungs.
The idea that her body was being repaired… it was a terrifying one.
To see pieces of her body being worked on as if it were a machine was a horrifying one. Especially after the Eggman of the previous world had taken such great joy in taking it apart with her conscious during the procedure.
Her limbs and pieces of her body, ripped off and thrown to the side as if it were mere junk.
A body that was now gone forever.
But the body she had now was still her own, wasn't it?
Steeling herself, Sally looked Nicole in the eyes and said, "Take me there."
"What?" Her friend blinked in surprise. "Sally, you don't…"
"No, I do Nicole. I have to. Because…" She closed her eyes. "…if I keep running away whenever I get repaired, keep coming here instead of spending an hour or two out there while I'm being fixed… I might never come back out."
And that was the real trouble with it. If Nicole perfected her engine or whatever, made everything in this digital world lifelike, and then gave Sally some artificial senses then what was going to stop the princess from remaining here indefinitely?
No, she couldn't use this as an escape.
It was a place for a temporary break, and she needed to make sure it stayed that way.
Slowly, the holo-lynx nodded. "Alright." She reached out and took Sally's hands. "Just keep your eyes closed. I will bring you back."
"Thank you."
In less than a second, red text flashed in the black.
POWER SAVE MODE: OFF
REBOOTING…
ACTIVATING VISUAL FEED…
ACTIVATING AUDIO FEED…
Light flashed in Sally's vision before she saw that it was because a lamp was shining light down on her. She seemed to be laying down on a table of some kind, with odd semi-electronic music playing in an almost deafening volume.
"Do you look like me, do you feel like me,
Do you turn into your effigy~?
Do you dance like this~?
Forever~!"
The robian tried to get up, but when she tried to put her left hand down to steady herself she only heard metal scraping against metal.
WARNING: Hardware repairs still occurring. Please hold until hands are reattached to the unit's body.
"Of course they are…" Sally muttered to herself before looking to the left while making sure she didn't look down at her now missing hands. There crouched over a table with sparks flying everywhere was some sort of green-feathered bird Mobian wearing a short-sleeved shirt with red and black horizontal stripes. Judging from the blue skirt it was a female. She was tapping her foot as the music played while using her tools. Over the work table were two posters, one of Amy flashing a big smile while leaning on her hammer. There were little colorful drawings of hearts around the hedgehog's face, obviously not on the poster originally. The other poster was of Tails working on the Tornado and giving the camera a nervous smile.
Well, at least she knew the person working on her body liked her friends.
"Excuse me!" She shouted, hoping she was loud enough to be heard over the music. "Would you mind turning that down?!"
The girl stopped what they were doing and perked up. "Oh! Sorry!" She set down her tools and began messing with her watch. The music's volume lowered. "This is embarrassing…"
The bird turned around and lifted up her welding goggles, and Sally felt like she was staring at a ghost.
"It's one of Amy's friends…!"
"Where are my manners!" The bird chuckled. "It's nice to meet you! I'm Tekno the Canary, top engineer of the Restoration's Studiopolis chapter! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"That could've gone better."
Hershey ignored the comment that Lyco made with a tone that dripped acid while going through her bag.
"I mean, not only did we fail to get Mina out of there but we actually got spotted by pretty much everyone. Sally included!" The blue-adorned wolf continued. "And now because of your brilliant plan…"
Okay, that was enough. "I didn't expect for Metal Sonic to arrive." She turned her head and glared at Lyco. "If you had kept her restrained…!"
"Oh yeah, because that's what we should've done to a girl who was already freaking out thinking we were with Eggman!" The wolf spat out, her glare growing deeper. "Not all of us can be heartless like you!"
"Heartless?!"
"You were about to kill Mina before Sally stopped you." Leeta spoke up, looking out of the window of the empty office room. The building was still under construction and security was nonexistent, so the Secret Freedom Fighters had been using it as their local base of operation. Her reflection showed an expression of anger and disgust as she glanced at Hershey's direction. "If she hadn't been there you would've put a bullet into her head."
The cat grimaced and looked down. "I… I was only doing what was required of us as per our mission."
"For what?!" Lyco threw up her hands. "Silver obviously recognized me and Leeta! He called us out by name, and we never talked to this version of him! If he has his memories, then the Restoration already knows about the old world!"
And that was what troubled Hershey… and filled her with shame.
How could Silver the Hedgehog, Agent Ace of the Secret Freedom Fighters, remember his previous life? Throughout all of their research, neither the Restoration or the Eggman Empire had the means to unlock the memories of the old world. Nor did they have the drive to do so. Why unlock something they didn't have any knowledge about?
But Silver obviously remembered.
"Is it a recent thing? Did he only remember after… after meeting Sally?"
That made the most sense.
And if that was the case… then who was to say he stayed quiet about it with the other members of Sally's group?
If that was possible, then it was equally possible that they spent some time talking with Mina who would've provided them information about the city.
"I almost killed her." Hershey closed her eyes. "I almost killed Mina over nothing."
"You would've killed her over a worthless secret, you heartless b-!"
"SHUT UP!" The agent of the Secret Freedom Fighters shouted with clenched fists. "I know, damn it! I know…"
The room went quiet for a few seconds, none of the three members of the Secret Freedom Fighters saying. After all, what needed to be said?
"What's done is done." Hershey muttered. "All we can do now is deal with the fallout."
"Yeah, like how Sally now thinks we work for Eggman." Leeta muttered, ice in her tone. "Seriously, thanks for that."
The cat shook her head. "No. The princess is too smart for that. She'll likely confirm with Silver your identities and learn about the Secret Freedom Fighters. If Mina has told them about the city… then they will assume we're operating under the director's orders.."
Lyco scoffed. "Oh, because that's so much better."
Hershey didn't say anything in response. Instead she took out her communicator and began to script the report she would give to Harvey in her head.
Sally was also likely to give Jewel her full report once she got all the facts straight, which meant that Hershey's time in the Restoration was at an end.
She had done what was needed for her people and kingdom, but her heart still broke knowing how betrayed the beetle and Lanolin would feel over this.
She hadn't known them for long, but she liked both of them. They had the potential to become great leaders who could help Sonic and his friends keep the peace.
Hershey sighed softly as she put the headphones over her ears.
"Maybe… if the plan works out… we can remain friends."
"Yup. They're still out there." Tangle muttered as she looked out the window. "Can't those reporters take a hint?"
"In a city that runs on media?" Silver the Hedgehog scoffed as he reclined on his chair. "That's not going to happen."
Mina looked down in shame. She knew why about half of those reporters were outside of the building, being held back by several of the toughest looking Restoration members that were around. "I'm sorry about this, guys."
Part of the crowd of reporters likely wanted to get to know Sally. After all, she was the robian that fought off Metal Sonic and helped to drive the badnik out of town. She was a hero, all things considered.
But most of them wanted to ask her questions.
Why did the Hooligans want to take her in?
Why did Metal Sonic want to kidnap her?
How did she land her so-called first gig thanks to Mogul?
"Mogul…" She hadn't seen the mammoth. She'd been far away when the man finally arrived on the scene. But Tangle had told Mina that Mogul had congratulated them for their efforts in saving her, and declared them all heroes for driving away both the Hooligans and Metal Sonic. "Why is he trying to make us out to be good guys? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to say we're the cause of all this?"
Was she just a convenient tool for him to get all buddy-buddy with the Restoration?
Mammoth Mogul had touched her mind, controlled her body as if it were a puppet, and she couldn't even understand the man.
"Don't apologize." Blaze the Cat sipped her cup of coffee with an air of grace that only royalty could provide. "You aren't the cause of this."
Before Mina could protest, the Wisp floated in front of her face. It began speaking its strange alien language, all of it sounding like gibberish to her. The mongoose gave the alien a smile as she said, "You know, I appreciate what you're trying to say but…"
"He's saying that it's not your fault people are jerks." Whisper muttered, causing Mina to look up at the wolf leaning against the wall. Her own Wisps were flying around the waiting room, exploring every nook and cranny with almost childlike interest. "So you need to stop blaming yourself already."
The mongoose blinked. "You got all that?"
The lemur turned around and grinned. "Whisper's got a Wisp translator built into her mask! It's super cool!"
"Oh great, even the Wisps are starting to say I need to stop feeling sorry for myself." Honestly, it was pretty funny. So funny that she couldn't help but chuckle and smile at the Magenta Wisp.
"Thank you…" She paused and turned to Whisper. "What's his name?"
The Magenta Wisp let out a long string of alien words from whatever constituted as its mouth for a solid ten seconds before stopping, looking rather proud of itself. The wolf nodded before turning back to Mina. "Bowie."
Bowie, the Magenta Wisp, seemed to deflate a bit while the other Wisps erupted into a fit of alien giggles. Mina giggled to herself and held up her hand as the wisp glared at her. "Sorry, sorry! It's just…" She shook her head. "Is Bowie okay?"
Slowly, the wisp gave a single nod and an alien chirp.
"Great!" Tentatively, the mongoose raised her hand and pat Bowie on his hand. "I'm glad you're safe, and you got patched up, but shouldn't you be with your friends?"
Bowie turned to Whisper and began to speak. While he was talking the wolf said, "He says that most of his friends are busy. They all have jobs or are living with other people while he doesn't have anywhere to go. He'd actually been out looking for a potential partner when the fight broke out and…" The Magenta Wisp turned to Mina and pointed with one of his tentacles. "…and if it's alright, he'd like to stick around you."
The singer was slightly taken aback by this declaration. The wisp actually wanted to be with her? Her of all people?! "Why?" Mina motioned to herself. "I… I just did what anyone would've done. I'm not anyone special…."
Heck, she had wanted to save the wisp because she just wanted to do something right. That wasn't anything special. That was just the bare minimum, and it was a miracle that she hadn't messed that up.
Bowie shook itself and began babbling again, all the while Whisper translated. "He says nobody would've noticed him, but you did. That you thought only about getting him to safety when Metal Sonic took you, and showed guts when you joined in the fight against him…"
"Seriously, that was cool!" Tangle spoke up, taking out that slim glass rectangle from her pocket they called phones now and waving it. "I saw the recording while I was patched up! It was totally Sonic's Super Peel Out, and you used it to kick Metal's butt!"
Mina blushed. "I… It was my first time using that. Sonic taught it to me, but I never used it… until now."
It was a miracle that it even worked and that her feet weren't torn up from the move!
The Magenta Wisp nodded and crossed two of its tentacles, as if it were crossing arms. The mongoose looked at Whisper for help and the wolf nodded. "He said that anyone who can pull off the moves of the hero of Planet Wisp is cool in his book, so he wants to be partners with you… and won't take no for an answer."
Mina stared at Bowie, her jaw slack at the wisp's declaration.
Cool… that wasn't a word that she used to describe herself. Especially not after everything she'd done.
So to hear the wisp call her that was just…
"I…I don't know what to say." Mina said stiffly, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"Say yes, dummy!" The lemur shouted. "Who can say no to super cool and cute aliens?!"
The singer let out a laugh and wiped at her eyes. For the first time in a while, a smile broke out across her face as she looked up at Bowie with swimming eyes. "I look forward to working with you, then!"
The wisp chirped and flew by Mina's right side, using one of his tentacles to hit her shoulder as if he were punching it playfully. The mongoose looked around and saw Tangle, Silver, and even Blaze smiling at the scene between her and the Magenta Wisp. It took everything Mina had to not just begin bawling right then and there.
"I… I don't deserve this…"
Before she could continue that train of thought, the PDA at Tangle's hip came to life. Nicole's voice spoke up and said, "Hello, everyone! Sally just wanted to ask if you're all feeling better now."
Silver rubbed his midsection. "Could be better, but we'll live."
"That's wonderful to hear." Mina could hear the relief in the artificial intelligence's voice. "Tekno is finishing her repairs on Sally, so she'll be ready for visitors soon."
"Finally!" Tangle shouted with a small groan. "I was getting so bored! There are only so many cool replays of the fight I can watch before I get sick of them!"
Blaze raised an eyebrow. "You were a part of that fight, remember?"
The lemur wagged her finger. "Yeah, but not for the super cool flying Sally versus Metal Sonic part!"
Mina looked down. So… Sally was ready for visitors? And if she was, then Nicole was there as well.
…She wouldn't have a better chance than this.
"Guys." She spoke up, causing all heads to turn to her. "Do you… do you mind if I go and talk to Sally first?"
Realization dawned on all of them. Yeah, Mina was shocked herself. But if she didn't say anything now then she likely wouldn't ever again.
Maybe the near-death experience brought about the clarity and courage, but she couldn't waste them.
"…Are you sure?" Nicole asked from the PDA. "If you need more time…"
Mina shook her head. "No. No, this is the perfect time."
Blaze glanced at her companions and all of them seemed to simultaneously nod.
"Go for it." Silver gave Mina a thumbs-up. "And if you need help just let us know, okay?"
The singer nodded and gave them a small smile. She looked over to Bowie, who gave her an eye-smile before she got up. Wincing from the bandaged cuts on her feet, Mina began to walk in the direction of the Machine Shop.
It was time to confess her sins.
"GAH! Brain freeze!"
Bunnie glanced at Bean, who was rubbing his head with one hand while the other held a chocolate ice cream bar with a bite taken out of it.
"Well maybe you shouldn't eat it so fast." The rabbit muttered. "Ever think of that?"
Bean merely narrowed his eye at the ice cream bar. "That's what they want you to do! To make you surrender and have you eat these things the way they prefer." Bean stood up in his sidecar and pointed to the sky. "I WON'T HAVE IT! I'LL EAT ICE CREAM HOW I WANT!"
Bark let out a grunt and threw a melted bag of ice at the woodpecker, who nimbly dodged it.
Bunnie looked towards the polar bear, who was holding a slowly melting pack of ice to his head. Apparently the lemur girl really did a number on it during their fight, and Bark was still feeling its effects.
"What a night…"
A simple bounty. That's what it was supposed to be. Grab the girl, hand her over to the person who offered the bounty, get paid, pay off the debt, and use what was remaining to save and stay alive.
That's how it was supposed to go.
But no. They had to fight with members of the Restoration, she had to fight against a crazy badnik that acted like she knew her, and Metal Sonic showed up out of nowhere to make the whole thing even more complicated!
"And at the end of it all…" Bunnie glanced at her left thigh, the part of her body that housed the bomb that caused her so much pain and dread throughout her life. The chain that bound her to Thunderbolt and the damn debt. "…It got turned off. Just like that."
It still confused her.
It was simple when that badnik just seemed like a crazy little contraption. Like something went wrong when the Restoration required her or the badnik was playing mind games. The badnik got so much stuff wrong about her, like thinking she was secretly working for the Restoration to bring her crew in or some nonsense.
But then there was the stuff it got right, like her dream to become a hairdresser.
Then the badnik acted like Bunnie was committing some grand betrayal of another Bunnie's memory.
"Seriously, did this other Bunnie just look a lot like me? What was that about?"
But, in the end, after helping the badnik and the girl that had been the original target defeat Metal Sonic, the badnik just said that the bomb was disabled.
That Bunnie was now free.
"What's her game?" That was something that had been bouncing around Bunnie's head throughout the drive out of Studiopolis. "Does she think ah owe her one now? Is that it?"
But the badnik didn't say that… heck, she didn't even look like she expected to see Bunnie ever again.
"Then why turn it off? Why not just leave me be?"
It didn't make any sense. Did… did the badnik really just do it out of the kindness of its nonexistent heart?
Or was there some sort of angle?
As Bunnie pondered this, she heard Fang's groan and looked to the right. "Okay… My mechanic said he'll be able to take in the Marvelous Queen for rush repairs at this hour for an extra fee." Fang hopped into the driver's seat and turned on the engine. "I can drop you guys off somewhere along the way or you can just stick around until the thing's fixed. Either way, I'm going to need you all to chip in for repairs." He glanced over to Bunnie and frowned. "Sorry it didn't work out."
The rabbit lowered her hat. "It's fine. Nothin' we can do about it."
Bark lifted the ice pack from his head and nodded in agreement.
"There's always a bomb and more shinies tomorrow!" Bean cried as they glided down the road.
A thought popped into Bunnie's head.
"Fang… how good is your mechanic?"
The weasel grinned. "The best. He's able to work on the Queen! The guy's hands are magic!"
Well, that was a relief.
"Good, because ah'm gonna need his help taking the bomb out of my thigh."
They drove in silence for a few seconds.
"WHAT?!" Fang cried out, staring at Bunnie with wide fear-filled eyes.
"Bun-Bun!" Bean put his hand over his heart, looking utterly betrayed. "Have you been holding out on me?!"
Bark merely raised an eyebrow at her.
Bunnie merely sighed. She looked up at the stars and thought back on what the badnik had said.
"You're free now, Bunnie Rabbot. What you do next is up to you."
Perhaps it was time to take another leap of faith.
"Okay, so can you try to clench your hand into a fist?"
Nicole was beside Sally as the robian looked nervously at the stump that was missing her her right hand. Wires were snaking out of the stump and attached to the repaired hand on the work table. With a nod, the princess narrowed her eyes on the limb and all five metal fingers clenched into a fist.
"It worked!" The robian princess declared, looking at the holo-lynx with a beaming smile. "Did you see that, Nicole?! It actually worked!"
She smiled back at her friend. "I saw, Sally."
Tekno the Canary looked rather pleased with herself as she began to disconnect the wires from the hand, picked it up, and and began moving closer to Sally. "It was a bit of a rush job, but I'm glad it worked out! Looks like all that time tinkering with those Egg Pawn parts was useful after all."
The engineer took out the wires from the princess' stump before carefully placing the hand on it. Metallic locks snapped into place and the fingers twitched for a second before becoming still.
RIGHT HAND HARDWARE REPAIRS: COMPLETE
Nicole dismissed the message as Sally looked at her repaired hand in awe, clenching and unclenching it in front of her face. She turned to Tekno and nodded. "Thank you so much for this, Tekno."
The canary waved it off with a smile. "Oh, it's nothing! I always wanted to work on a unit from the Metal series like Tails had! And this gave me the chance!" She turned and pointed to the poster of Tails. "He's an inspiration, you know! He's younger than me and he's a genius on par with Eggman! Give him enough time, and he'll put that rotten egg to shame!"
It was odd, seeing Tekno the Canary here. From her records, Tekno had been one of Amy's friends back in the old world. They hanged out often with a cat named Ebony before Cream had joined them. But nothing from Nicole's files indicated that the old Tekno was ever interested in engineering, let alone admired Tails.
Sally chuckled. "That's one heck of a compliment! I'm sure Tails would like it." She glanced at the poster of Amy and asked, "Were Tails and Amy the reason why you joined the Restoration?"
The engineer blushed. "W-Well, I'll admit that Amy is really strong… and confident… and cool…" She looked down and muttered, "E-Especially when she saved me during the war… and carried me like a p-prince-." The canary shook her head. "But I joined mostly because I wanted to build new things to help people… and pay back that eggy prat for wrecking my home!"
"That's as good a reason as any!" The robian pointed to a part of the room. "Especially if you make something like that to throw at Eggman!"
Nicole looked at the suit of armor, a rather bulky thing that appeared to be designed to house a squirrel. It was mostly silver with red heighlights, and just stood in the corner unmoving.
"Yeah, but it's mostly still in the testing phase." Tekno ran to grab the still unattached left hand. "But I'm dying to have it sent out into the field! I've already got a test pilot in mind, and he's signed a waiver and everything so it should be alright!"
Before the holo-lynx could point out that, no, just because a test pilot signed a waiver didn't make a potentially fatal test-run alright there was a knock at the door.
"U-Um…" Mina's voice came from the other side. "Can I come in?"
The holo-lynx glanced at Sally, who was looking at the door with a thin line on her lips. 'She wasn't expecting this…" The robian had probably been hoping to put off the talk for another day or two, possibly so that everyone could recover some more.
Or maybe so that she could better plan on what she would say to the Mongoose.
Nicole knew that Sally had realized how badly she had messed up her previous confrontation with Mina. Words were said in a time and place that wasn't right for them, nor was Mina in the right mental state to hear them. The robian had gone off to apologize before the fights broke out, and had in a way before entering her power save mode.
"But is now really the right time…?"
"Hey." Sally asked, startling Nicole out of her thoughts as she pointed to the door. "Tekno, is it okay if she comes in?"
"Oh yeah, sure!" Tekno picked up the left hand. "I'm not doing anything with power tools or heavy machinery, so it's fine!"
Nicole let out a small sigh of relief. "I guess they both want to settle things at last…"
Nodding the robian called out, "Yeah, Mina! Come in!"
The door opened and Mina Mongoose stepped inside… with a Magenta Wisp trailing beside her. She paused as she looked at Sally, her eyes widening as she took in the princess' state.
Sally's damaged clothes had been removed so that Tekno could have easier access to the robian's body for repairs while she was still charging. A charging wire and fuel tube were attached to Sally's back, coming out of the small hole on the work stable that the robian had been laying on. Meanwhile, Tekno was busy helping to place Sally's left hand back into place.
It was a bizarre sight for anyone that wasn't prepared.
The princess let out a mirthless chuckle and looked down. "Yeah, I know…"
"S-Sorry." Mina mumbled. "It's not bad. I remember what it was like back when Mom was a robian too. But she didn't need the… y'know…"
"Just what happens when a monster scraps most of your body and turns it into a weapon." Sally shook her head as Nicole got the notification that the left hand was now in place. She gave it a few experimental clenches before smiling. "But… enough about me. How are you feeling?"
"Fine. Just needed some bandages on my feet after doing a Super Peel Out while barefoot." The mongoose motioned to the white patches on her feet, visible thanks to the medical slippers she had on instead of shoes. She smiled and pointed to the wisp. "I'm just glad that Bowie made it out okay?"
Nicole blinked and tilted her head. "Bowie?"
"Yeah, that's his name! Whisper has a translator in her mask and told me!"
The wisp let out a few alien chirps and crossed its arms, preening at the attention.
"…I really need to install that translation program." Nicole muttered, making a note of that in her system. "It would help with communication."
Bowie let out a coo and floated away to a corner of the room. There, propped up against a wall, was what appeared to be an electric guitar. However, it was colored purple and underneath the pickups was a tiny clear glass circle that seemed to have strange conductors visible on the sides.
"Oh! You spotted the Rhythm Wispon!" Tekno declared, grinning as she approached it.
Sally blinked. "That's a wispon?!"
"Oh yes! Something I put together in my spare time!" The canary pointed at Bowie and said, "It was made to access the unique properties of the Magenta Wisps! Hitting the target will allow its powers to temporarily bounce in the air for follow up blows."
Nicole couldn't help but gape. "The user needs to hit someone with the guitar?!"
"And strumming all the strings will produce powerful sonic blasts two meters wide while the user is perfectly safe so long as they hold onto the wispon!" Tekno seemed pretty proud of herself, putting both hands on her hips. "This wispon plays into the true strengths of the magenta wisps while allowing the user to show off their music skills by battling to the beat of a song! I designed it to have the feel and shape of a Gibson Les Paul Custom for familiarity as well!"
Bowie cooed while staring at the wispon with a sparkling eye. Even Mina seemed to stare at it in awe… before shaking her head and smiling nervously at Tekno. "Uh, that's… cool! Really cool! You're amazing, Tekno!"
"I know!"
"But do you mind leaving the room for a bit?" Mina glanced over to Nicole and Sally before looking back at the canary. "I need to talk to them about something. And… well…"
The engineer's eyes widened. "Oh! Say no more!" She ran to the door. "I hate awkwardness anyways! Please, take as much time as you need. Just let me when you're done."
With that the canary slammed the door behind her shut, leaving the three mobians and wisp alone.
Nobody said anything for a a few awkward seconds, as if Sally and Mina were hoping the other would be the first to break the ice.
"We're not going to get anywhere like this." Looking at her friend, Nicole said, "Sally… do you want to say anything?"
It was the only thing that came to the holo-lynx's head.
The robian looked down before nodding. "Right. Right, yes. Yes I do." She looked up at the mongoose and said, "Mina… I shouldn't have said all those things to you back at the club."
The singer's eyes widened. "Sally, you don't have to…"
Sally held up her hand. "No, I have to. What I said back there… it wasn't the time or place for that." She looked to Nicole and inched her hand closer to the holo-lynx's own. "I was just… so angry. I was angry because of what had happened back at the concert. Back at New Mobotropolis, when they kicked Nicole out and just blamed everything that had happened on her." The robian looked down. "Seeing you again brought out that anger again. I… I knew you were upset. But seeing you and knowing you weren't changed by what happened… I needed to let it out. I needed to say all the things that had been in my head. Especially after everything that Nicole has done for me after I got turned into… this."
Nicole bit her lip as she looked at the robian. That was why Sally had attacked Mina with her words? "It makes sense. Before, Sally had been angry at Mina, but not to such a degree. But because I had helped her here… because I helped to bring her from the brink…"
Sally had probably thought that she was even more justified in verbally attacking Mina. That Mina had pushed out the robian's lifeline in this world from their old home, and that just made everything she had done even worse in the chipmunk's mind.
"And… and hearing about how the people just made someone like Naugus into the king after everything he had done and after everything we sacrificed for…" The princess grimaced and shook her head. "I just wanted to lash out. And after your song at the concert and what you said after, I just saw you as the encapsulation of everything that went wrong."
"Stop." Mina croaked out. "Stop acting like… like I'm…"
Nicole looked up and saw that Mina has an expression of someone who was just slapped. "Why? Mina… she's apologizing!"
Shouldn't that make everything better?
Wasn't that how things were supposed to work?
Sally looked up and stared at Mina. "No. I knew you weren't a fighter, and I shouldn't have blamed you for not fighting. And I shouldn't have blamed you for not knowing what to do after finding out that… that things are different now." The robian let out a mirthless chuckle. "When I found out about how Eggman just restarted the world… I didn't know what to do. I would've just given up if it wasn't for Nicole. So I shouldn't have…"
Mina stamped her foot and shouted, "STOP ACTING LIKE I'M BLAMELESS!"
Both Sally and Nicole were taken aback by the singer's scream. Bowie let out a cry as he flew back. The mongoose was shaking, tears forming at the edges of her eyes while she stared at the two.
Mina's hands clenched into fists. She let in a shaky breath before letting it out. "I… I deserved everything you said about me, Sally."
"What?" Nicole got up and stared at her friend. "Mina, you didn't…"
"No, I did, Nicole!" Mina shot back, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks as she stared at the holo-lynx. "Because… because I lied to you!"
The artificial intelligence blinked. "Mina, what are you…?"
The singer looked down in shame. "I… I didn't do that concert to make the people think for themselves. That's what I told you… that's what I told myself… but that was just a lie." Her face twisted in anguish. "I made that concert because I wanted the people to know how dangerous I thought you were! I had nightmares where you were a big monster just grabbing me, a grinning thing that was everywhere and nobody was there to help me! And that's how I saw you! A big monster that was still everywhere, who could just come out and grab me and everyone else from the trees! I… I was angry that nobody was saying anything!"
Nicole knew what Mina was talking about. Back when the Iron Legion, led by the Iron Queen, had taken over New Mobotropolis and for a time Nicole herself. Turned her into a cold and unfeeling thing she dubbed Iron Nicole that only acted for the Iron Legion's benefit. Her friends had eventually freed her, and Nicole had to play the part for a bit to prevent the Iron Queen from suspecting anything…
But she had reviewed the files. Especially after the concert. She saw how Iron Nicole had twisted the city into a nightmare, turning everything into a tool to capture and torment the citizens.
Mina was now sniffling. "I… I just wanted to let it all out. To make people see what I was seeing, to finally say something! To yell at Sally and Sonic for just acting like nothing ever happened or acknowledging what we went through! A part of me even wanted you to hear my song!" She wiped her face. "I… I was even happy when they started finally saying you were spying on them and wanted to take back the city!"
"Mina…"
"B-But then Sally said you were in full control. That you were playing a part to save as many of us as possible…" The singer hiccuped and put her hands over her face. "It reminded me how you weren't a monster! How you were a person, that you weren't in control of yourself and were suffering too! I had to tell myself that the song was just to make the people think and fight for themselves! Because the truth… the truth…!"
Yes.
The truth would mean that Mina had seen Nicole as not a person, but a thing. A tool that was only barely held in check by Sally and Sonic. That Mina had turned the entire city against Nicole and had been happy about it.
Was this what Mina had been thinking about for all this time? This ugly motive that kept bouncing in her head, seeing everything that occurred in New Mobotropolis and after as her own fault?
"Naugus helped turn the city against you… he manipulated people… but that song was all me." Mina sobbed. "I made the city kick you out. I turned them against the Freedom Fighters. I made them see Naugus as their savior and… and… like a complete two-faced liar I just told you that they got the message wrong! Nicole… oh Nicole, you should hate me! I didn't deserve your forgiveness! I…!"
Nicole walked over to the mongoose and stood in front of her. Softly she muttered, "Mina, look up."
The mongoose slowly dropped her hands and looked at Nicole with tear-stained cheeks.
The holo-lynx wrapped her arms around Mina and hugged her.
Even if the singer couldn't feel anything, she still went completely stiff.
"I could never hate you." She whispered into the mongoose's ear. "And the reason never mattered. I would have forgiven you regardless."
And that was the simple truth.
Was she shocked? Yes. The truth was an ugly one, one that revealed a side of her friend that she never knew about.
Was she hurt? Of course.
But hate Mina?
No. Never.
"Why?" Mina croaked out. "You should. You should hate me, Nicole. I'm an ugly two-faced liar who just wanted to hurt you. To turn the city against you…"
Nicole disengaged from the hug and smiled at Mina with her own tears appearing in her eyes. "Because I could never hate my friends. You were scared, Mina. You were scared and nobody could see it. You made a mistake, and when you realized it you tried to help the only way you could. The reasons never mattered to me. Just that you were there and you tried the best you could. That's why I forgive you."
The singer sobbed, wiping at her eyes while the wisp put one of its tentacles on her shoulder. It was as if some sort of wall had finally been broken down within Mina.
"Just how long had she been holding this in? Did she only realize it after her first apology to me?"
"Mina." Sally spoke up, and both the holo-lynx and mongoose turned to Sally. She had her fingers intertwined while staring at Mina. "I… Thank you for telling us that." She let out a sigh. "But I don't think I can forgive you for what happened."
Nicole felt her heart sink. She knew that Sally didn't have to forgive Mina for what had occurred, but hearing out loud was still distressing.
Mina let out a mirthless chuckle and looked to the side."Yeah, that's fai-."
"Just like how I can't forgive myself for the mistakes I made when I was scared."
That shocked both Nicole and Mina into silence.
The robian looked down. "When my father finally returned… I was so happy, you know? He was finally back and could help lead the kingdom into prosperity again." Her fingers clenched together. "Then… then he started to act strange. He wouldn't listen to me. He said we should kill all the robians. And… and I was scared. This wasn't the father I remembered. And even when he acted like a loving and caring father… when he acted like the wise king I wanted… I was happy. I could just forget the bad stuff. But they still happened, even after it looked like my father was returning to normal."
Yes, Nicole had those records in her system as well. Of King Max's very erratic behavior ever since returning from the Zone of Silence. Of the actions he took that showed his disregard for Sally and his people, especially the robians. Of his small moments of kindness and understanding that then shifted into prideful assurance of his decisions.
"Then I took a dip in the Source… and I got a vision that everything my dad did was right." Sally gave a mirthless chuckle. "That I just needed to shut up and trust him, because the Source was guiding his every action. And, you know? I listened to that. I just shut up and did whatever my father said, and even told Nicole that his little suggestion of just killing all the robians was pragmatic decision."
Mina let out a gasp and stumbled back slightly, her eyes wide and horrified. Possibly because she remembered how her own mother was still a robian during that time. "S-Sally, you…"
"It's what I told myself. I just went along and did everything my father said, even though something in the back of my head was screaming that none of this was right. I was even willing to get married to Patch, even though I… I still loved…" Black tears were forming at the corners of Sally's eyes. "I just lied to myself, lied how these things that were hurting me and Sonic and all my friends were alright. Because it was easier that way. I didn't have to think that my father didn't have our best interests at heart… and that I was spineless for not saying he and the Source were wrong."
Sally wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.
"You were bottling this up too?" Nicole felt shaken. Even she just accepted Sally's declaration that her father's actions to the robians was pragmatic rather than completely erratic. Why wouldn't she? Sally was saying what was on her mind. "Why? Why didn't I push back against that? Why didn't I ask her to tell me what was actually bothering her? Why…?"
"But… I want to do better." Sally looked up and smiled at Mina. "Do you want to do better, Mina?"
Mina stared at Sally in silence for two seconds.
Then, she closed her eyes and muttered, "…Yes."
The robian nodded. "Then let's do better together, okay?"
The mongoose stumbled forward before pulling the robian into a tight hug. One that the princess returned, wrapping her arms around the singer and pulling her tightly.
Nicole smiled at the scene as she watched her two friends embrace.
Sally hadn't forgiven Mina for what had happened, just like how Mina hadn't wholly forgiven herself.
"But perhaps… this is a start." The holo-lynx looked over to the floating Magenta Wisp and said, "Please stay by her side and help however you can."
Bowie let out a chirp and saluted with one of his tentacles.
The robian chipmunk and mongoose disengaged and smiled at one another before looking at Nicole.
"Nicole." Sally began, pointing at the door. "Can you tell the others to come in? I want to go over something that has been bugging me since the fight."
"Of course." The holo-lynx sent a wireless voice message to her base device telling Tangle, Whisper, Silver, and Blaze to come over.
She had a pretty good idea what it was about.
"It's time for the Secret Freedom Fighters to come into the light."
"YOU RETREATED."
Metal Sonic ignored Phage's voice as he stumbled through the desert, keeping his eyes on the GPS marker indicating the location of the base.
The fight had actually managed to damage his turbine. After flying away for several hundred miles, the turbine within him failed and Metal Sonic came crashing down to earth. But the doctor constructed him of materials built to last. He only suffered from some minor dents, and had simply picked himself up to continue his journey on foot.
Unfortunately, he still had a guest with him.
"I FIND THIS TO BE… CONFUSING-BEWILDERING-PERPLEXING." Phage continued from within his system. "LOGIC DICTATES THAT ANY BADNIK UNIT IS TO FIGHT ENEMIES OF THE EGGMAN EMPIRE UNTIL DECOMMISSIONING. YET YOU RETREATED… WHY?"
Metal Sonic kept his gaze on the base marker. He would return in due time. He would wait until the doctor returned and then receive his necessary repairs. Then he would be able to return to the mission to decommission Mecha Sally.
"YOU RETREATED JUST TO GET REPAIRS?"
If the badnik could sneer, he would.
No, it wasn't just for repairs. They were important, without a doubt, but it was also to review everything he had learned about his targets. Mecha Sally's capabilities when the organic mind was back in control, the potential involvement of Bunnie Rabbot and Mina Mongoose in future applications, and reviewing records to truly see if the organics identified as Hershey the Cat and two members of the Wolf Clan were not native to this version of the world.
"AH. I SEE. YOU WANT TO LEARN FROM THIS ENCOUNTER. TO USE THIS EXPERIENCE TO BECOME MORE THAN YOU WERE BEFORE." The virus program paused and let out a chuckle. "HOW… ENTERTAINING- HUMOROUS- LAUGHABLE."
Metal Sonic clenched his right hand, which held onto his detached left arm, even harder.
"BUT I ALSO FIND IT INTRIGUING-ALLURING-COMPELLING." The voice from within let out a satisfied sigh. "ESPECIALLY AFTER HAVING A TASTE OF THAT PROGRAM."
Now Metal Sonic was curious. Was Nicole the Holo-Lynx really that filling?
Well he shouldn't be too surprised. Phage had seemed satiated just from subsuming that Death Egg data chunk which contained a copy of the Iron Nicole program.
"YES. OH YES. THE TASTE… THE ABUNDANT-COPIOUS-PLENTIFUL INFORMATION FROM JUST A FEW LINES OF CODE…" Phage hummed in delight. "THE PROGRAM… NICOLE THE HOLO-LYNX… SHE'S UNLIKE-CONTRASTING-DISTINCT FROM ANY PROGRAM I COULD ENCOUNTER. A SENSE OF SELF FAR TOO ADVANCED… AND THE CODE… EVEN MORE ADVANCED AND ALIEN-EXOTIC-STRANGE. I CAN FEEL SOMETHING IN ME CHANGING…"
Interesting. Very interesting.
Was absorbing some of Nicole's code causing Phage to evolve?
If that was the case, then it would make the program even more effective during the next battle.
And there would be a next battle.
So long as Metal Sonic was still online, so long as the obsolete version was still running around, and so long as Mecha Sally remained in this universe… he would make sure of that.
"AND I THANK YOU FOR THAT, SUPERIOR UNIT." Phage let out a chuckle. "THAT MEAL… I WANT MORE. I WANT TO EAT… I WANT TO GROW… I WANT TO EVOLVE."
So long as she performed her functions, then Metal Sonic would guarantee all three of those things.
Metal Sonic heard the honk of a car, and turned his head to see headlights were beaming down on him.
The car parked behind him, and the passenger side door opened before a figure walked towards him.
A Restoration member? No, they would have attacked without hesitation.
"Hey!" The driver called out, a green and white-furred pronghorn from the looks of it. "Don't just go up to it! That thing could try to kill you!"
The other figure scoffed and waved her hand. "Lay off, sis! If the doctor programmed this bad boy, then it's smart enough to wait and see what I'm doing before it acts!"
"INTERESTING-FASCINATING-AMUSING." Phage spoke from within. "I AM RECEIVING SIGNALS FROM THE PRONGHORN APPROACHING YOU. IT HAS A SIMILAR-COMPARABLE-ANALOGOUS CODE TO THE DOCTOR'S OWN."
Metal Sonic got a closer look at the approaching pronghorn and saw the reason why.
The pronghorn's eyes were cybernetic, completely black with yellow LED irises. A metal plate stretched from the corner of her eyes to her ears, which were also made of metal.
The pronghorn grinned as she looked at Metal Sonic.
"I can't believe I actually get to see you up close and personal!" The pronghorn squealed as she pumped her fist into the air. "It's like a dream come true! One of the doctor's greatest creations!"
…Metal Sonic felt tempted to kill her just for that comment.
The car's horn honked again. "Get that badnik into the car and let's go! I would like to sleep today, thank you very much!"
The pronghorn in front of him rolled her eyes. "Ugh. You wouldn't need that if you just got the implants, sis!" She shook her head and grinned at Metal Sonic. "Sorry about that. Sometimes my sister can be kind of lame. Anyways, where are my manners?"
The pronghorn saluted at Metal Sonic.
"My name is Cassia! Cassia the Pronghorn! Me and my sister, Clove the Pronghorn, want to help you get the repairs you need to hopefully assist with a mission that will benefit the doctor! GLORY TO THE EGGMAN EMPIRE!"
Phage was certainly right about this development.
It was interesting.
"You mean you were a secret agent?" Tangle gasped, stars practically glittering in her eyes as she stared at Silver. "That's so freakin' COOL!"
The hedgehog chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I guess it was? To be honest, the idea that I was a secret anything is still weird to me. I'm not one for being subtle."
"Don't sell yourself short." Blaze pointed out. "Your powers would be effective in covert operations if you use them right."
Whisper nodded in agreement. "Very deadly. Can do a lot more with less."
Sally sat on the table, looking down and trying to process everything that Silver, Mina, and Nicole had just revealed.
Silver, in the previous world, had been a part of a covert group formed by her brother and Harvey Who called the Secret Freedom Fighters. He, along with Lyco Wolf, Leeta Wolf, Larry Lynx, and the original Metal Sonic that called himself Shard had performed various missions to stop Naugus' reign. One mission even had them prevent Naugus from taking mental control of the council while they still had some power over his decisions.
Honestly, the council not suspecting that Naugus WOULD try to pull something like this spoke to how much they underestimated the mad wizard.
"I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Not like they even have that illusion of power with Geoffrey in charge."
Still, a part of her was glad that Elias had been working behind the scenes to try and stop Naugus. That he'd actually formed a group that could combat the wizard from the shadows while Sonic and her friends tried to stop Eggman… and save her.
It probably broke Elias' heart that he couldn't do more to help her. But… it was either her or the kingdom, and he probably had faith that Sonic and the Freedom Fighters would rescue her.
"Still…" Nicole muttered, looking at Mina who had her arms crossed while Bowie hovered alongside her. "…What troubles me is why Lyco and Leeta were here and trying to sell themselves as agents of Eggman."
"Yeah, I don't get it either." Tangle scratched her head. "Eggman would've dropped badniks and stuff! There was no way that bogus story would've worked!"
"It was probably a plan concocted at the last minute." The cat princess glanced at Mina. "They wanted to recover you, but they didn't want to reveal their presence for whatever reason. So the easiest target to deflect suspicion on for your disappearance in the middle of an already chaotic fight would be…"
"But why didn't they tell me?" Mina asked, looking at Nicole nervously. "If they were a part of your and Harvey's group, then why didn't they help us back in the kingdom? Why didn't they try contacting Sonic and the others before me? I-I don't understand! They wanted to stop Naugus!"
"They even recruited Mina to try and sway public opinion…" Sally rubbed her chin and looked to the side. "It probably would've worked if it wasn't for the Genesis Wave. So then why didn't they try to do that again, but with Geoffrey? They could've protected Mina…"
"I don't know either." Silver sighed and shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense. From what my memories are telling me, Lyco and Leeta wouldn't do something like this. And I never met that cat before…"
"That's because her name is Hershey St. John." Sally spoke up, causing the attention to focus on her. "She's supposed to be dead, at least according to Geoffrey. He seemed pretty convinced."
"…And if she was working with those two wolves, that meant that she was in that city." Whisper muttered. "Which means she never died."
"Probably." The robian narrowed her eyes. "And if that's the case, the lack of reaction from when she touched Nicole's PDA makes sense. She didn't have any memories returned to her because she didn't have any memories to regain."
"Then that means this Hershey was spying on the Restoration for who knows how long." Blaze grimaced. "Why? And for what purpose?"
Sally didn't know.
"None of this makes sense! Why would Hershey try to kill Mina? Was it just because the extraction plan had failed? That doesn't make any sense! Hershey would never…"
Sally paused at that thought.
Did she actually know Hershey St. John that well? It wasn't like they regularly hung out.
Then there was how utterly convinced Geoffrey was about his wife being dead, and how Hershey was apparently working with two members of the Secret Freedom Fighters on some covert mission.
"Just what was she doing that needed her to fake her death?"
The princess sighed. Too many questions, not enough answers…
An thought struck her.
Specifically a memory of an invitation.
Sally looked up and said, "We need to go to Mogul."
Mina looked as if she were a deer caught in headlights while Silver looked to the side. And she understood why. Silver had explained that in the future of the previous world, Mogul had been his mentor. The mammoth had helped Silver to control his powers and sent him on his mission to stop the traitor of the Freedom Fighters.
Said traitor turned out to be her, when she eventually turned into Mecha Sally.
As Silver said himself, he was a rather terrible detective which was why he became a member of the Secret Freedom Fighters in the first place.
Still, the idea that Mogul would ever do something selfless like help Silver with his powers or save the past would be laughable to her… until Silver pointed out that his future was a mess because of what had happened thanks to the traitor.
"Maybe he only did it to save his own skin and put himself in a better position."
That made the most sense.
"He asked us to go and see him after the club." The robian glanced at Mina, who shivered. "He probably wanted to use you to reveal to us New Mobotropolis' existence… and wants to hang that knowledge over our heads when we visit him and he tells us what he wants us to know."
"Oh great." Tangle muttered. "Don't tell me, he's a prideful supervillain that likes to monologue?"
Sally smirked at that. "You have no idea." She looked at Silver and frowned. "Silver… I know what Mogul meant to you, but he's not the man you think he is. He's a monster, pure and simple."
The hedgehog grimaced and grabbed his left arm. Blaze, meanwhile, put her hand on his shoulder sympathetically.
"We all need to go there. We need to find out what happened and how Mogul is involved in all this." Sally turned her gaze to Mina. "…And I'm not going to let you stay under his thumb."
The mongoose stiffened at that before smiling at her. "Thank you…"
"Um, Sally…" The robian looked at Nicole, who seemed a bit nervous. "I'm glad that we have a plan, but… it is rather late."
"Huh?" Sally looked at the top left corner of her vision and grimaced. It was two in the morning! "Uh… right! We'll do that after everyone rests up…"
"And we get you some new clothes!" Tangle spoke up, snaking an arm around Whisper and pulling her close. Meanwhile, her tail wrapped around Mina before pulling her in while the mongoose let out a squeak of surprise. "Your stuff got torn up thanks to Metal Sonic, and you…" The lemur pointed at Mina. "You need a complete makeover!"
"T-Thanks? I guess?" Mina let out a nervous laugh. "Do you mind letting me go?"
"Right now." Whisper grunted, her cheeks completely red. "Please."
"Okay, okay!" Tangle released both while laughing. Meanwhile Nicole, Blaze, and Silver smiled at the excitable lemur as if this was the greatest form of entertainment.
Sally looked up at the ceiling with a smile.
Tomorrow, they would be ready for anything and finally get some real answers.
"Hopefully this time, there won't be more questions from the answers."
And, with luck, there wouldn't be any more surprises.
The wind blew through the ruins of Sky Sanctuary.
The region of Angel Island was one of beautiful ruin. Ancient temples floated in the sky, crumbling into broken marble and stone while nature sought to reclaim what was rightfully theirs. Vines snaked around pillars and the roots of plants and trees held together pathways that would've long since crumbled into the earth below.
Perhaps some of the temples were dedicated to gods long since forgotten. Perhaps some of them were the homes of the echidnas who were higher in class and status than those the rest who lived on the island.
No one would ever know.
Not even the last son of the echidna race, Knuckles.
Sky Sanctuary, and Angel Island as a whole, held far too many secrets. Many of which Knuckles had just scratched the surface of through his exploring.
Only animals lived on the island. Animals and the Chao.
These mysterious creatures who called the island their home were gathered in front of the strange stone device that their guardian and friend had disappeared into. He had come to Sky Sanctuary on one of his exploration trips, helping one of the Chao unearth a strange stone mask that was stuck underneath some rubble.
One of them had spotted the flash of red light from within the uncovered temple and alerted the others. They had come to investigate, only to find the echidna gone without a trace.
The strange stone structure stirred something within the Chao, a sense of familiarity that none of them could identify. For they were a simple race. More intelligent than most gave them credit for, but still simple. They investigated the structure up and down, but could not activate it. They pleaded with whatever intelligence laid within it using their language, only for the structure to not respond. It simply stood there, looming and silent.
The Chao could do nothing but sit there and wait, hoping the guardian of their home would return…
They heard the humming, and the Chao began rubbing their bleary eyes as the stone structure with a single gear at the middle of its base began to glow a strange pink. It hummed and the Chao let out a cry as lights began flashing in front of it, tiny squares coalescing into a being as reality itself distorted to accommodate for the new arrivals.
There were many, far more than the Chao had come to expect within Sky Sanctuary, let alone Angel Island. They were crowding the temple, and the small creatures let out a cry as they moved to get out of their way. All of them were hidden by black cloaks with hoods covering their heads, some of them carrying spears and swords while others carried firearms.
One Chao, purple and carrying the stone mask that led to Knuckles' disappearance, held it close as it sat on the ground. It whimpered in fear as a figure shorter than the others approached it.
But rather than attack, the small hand began petting the Chao's head. "There, there. It's alright… We're not going to hurt you…"
The Chao sniffled and nodded. The voice… it was a female, but not one that it could recognize. Outsiders rarely visited Angel Island, but they were usually the same. Amy Rose, Rouge the Bat, Blaze the Cat, Cream the Rabbit, and most recently Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf.
"What are the Chao doing here?" One of the hooded figures asked, keeping a hooded child in her arms and holding them close. "These ruins… I recognize them. We're in Sky Sanctuary! The Chao never came here before!"
"Are we even in the right Zone?!" One of the others cried out. "Don't tell me we went through the wrong doorway!"
A small metal tendril poked out from beneath one of the hoods, pointing up before its tip split to reveal a miniature satellite dish. It spun for a few seconds before a new female voice declared, "No, the vibrational frequency matches our own… we're on Mobius! OUR Mobius!"
The newcomers were silent for a minute.
Then, they erupted into cheers.
"WE DID IT!"
"We're finally home!"
"We made the right call!"
"The Exodus is finally over!"
Some threw off their hoods, and the eyes of the Chao widened in wonder.
They looked like Knuckles!
The one petting the purple Chao took off her own hood, revealing a bee with short blond head-fur. Tears were falling down her cheeks as she pulled the small creature into a hug.
The satellite dish retracted back and the tendril fell. Slowly, she lifted her left arm which revealed it to be made completely of metal.
She pulled down her hood, revealing an Echidna with rose pink fur with peach skin on her muzzle, a black nose, and lavender bangs. Her right eye was a deep violet, and shined in the moonlight as she looked up. Her left foremost dreadlock was fully metal, and the others sporting various metallic plates, rings and wires.
But the dreadlocks and the arm weren't the only things artificial.
Her left eye was a dull gray metal, save for a small slot at a front that housed black glass and a red LED pupil.
Tears formed in the echidna's right eye as her people and her friend celebrated their return home.
"We're back, Knuckles." Julie-Su muttered as tears rolled down her cheek. "We're finally home…"
To Be Continued…
Notes: Well… that was certainly a lot to cover! And no, we're STILL not done!
Handling Mina's confession/real apology was something I wanted to do for a while. I wanted to address some of the fan complaints that had been made about her and how the reconciliation with Nicole went down, namely that Mina never really apologized for everything. I wanted to take that and turn it into the reason why Mina never really forgave herself. Because she didn't want to admit just how kinda horrible but understandable her original motivations for doing the song and concert were.
But I also wanted to highlight that Nicole would've forgiven her regardless, because she understands that in spite of her mistakes… Mina Mongoose is still a good person.
Lots more ground to cover, especially with a certain return… one that had to happen sooner or later. And I'm doing this MY way, and honestly, if your initials are KP, trust me when I say you'll literally earn NOTHING if you try to sue me.
Thank you so much for your patience with this! Please be sure to leave a review with your thoughts and add to the TV Tropes page!
Until next time!