Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Spiral
The newly renamed Lavender hovered down in front of Violet. The one tailed fox tilted her head a bit. "Hi...there?" she asked lightly.
"Hi. I'm...White originally, then Purple, and now...I guess Lavender?" the nega-wisp asked, glancing at Whisper for some amount of reassurance. Whisper nodded. "Nice to meet all of you..." she muttered before she dove back into the Cyan's old canister.
"That could have gone better. Still, we know that it's working! Somewhat," Blue said. Green nodded, and he hovered himself over to Whisper before heading into the same canister that Lavender had.
"I didn't think wisps could change colors like that," Shadow said quietly. "You said she was a dark purple originally. Seems much lighter now," he said.
"Yeah, she was a white originally. Sierra, I think Whisper said her name had been? She hadn't gone by that in so long that she'd almost forgotten it. Any case, she was treated pretty bad, so Cyan came up with the idea that if we all treat her nicely she'd change back!" Blue explained.
"I don't think it'd be quite that simple," Jewel muttered. "Usually there's some other change necessary."
"Mindsets, from what I know. The guy around her was mean all the time, so she turned mean to protect herself from that mindset. We aren't mean, so maybe she'll turn back! You know, same way Chao turn into a hero Chao or a dark Chao."
Whisper blinked. Those weren't just stories? She turned to Shadow and Jewel, who both shook their heads.
Violet nodded though. "I get it. By influencing her with positive energy the same way we do a Chao, you're hoping she'd go back to being a white wisp rather than the nega-wisps." Blue nodded.
"Isn't that...just exactly what I said?"
"It is but it's helpful to have it restated," Violet answered. Blue rolled his eyes before he dove into the same canister as the others. "And did he just go into othe same canister as the other two? I didn't think they could do that."
"There's more to them than meets the eye," Whisper deadpanned. "I'm starting to learn that just as much as all of you," she finished.
Jewel let out a small snicker. It was a rare sound during the times of the Restoration, and Whisper didn't think that she was going to hear it now here, either. "No one knows all about the wisps except the wisps themselves. Honestly you know more about them than all the others do, despite Tails' breakthrough on a translator."
She stood up tall, a statement which didn't mean much when she was barely over two feet normally. But it did mean to Whisper that she was feeling better, "We'll take it from here. Where are you three off to? And why come to Spiral Hill in the first place?"
Shadow nodded. "A few reasons. One is that due to circumstances beyond our control, I've been reinstated as a government agent, and my goal is to find all the high playing powers of the Restoration and Resistance."
Jewel nodded. "My reason was to find out where Tangle went," Whisper interjected. "Because Tails probably went with her, and he could probably build a time machine to send me back to the right time."
The beetle nodded slowly. "I get it. You're here asking for information on where Tangle's mission is, because you heard that Tails went with her. Did anyone tell you why Tangle went?"
"Something about the missing king having access to time magic?"
"That's pretty close, actually. She heard that the entire kingdom had been displaced through the time, sending it hundreds of years into the future. To right now, actually. She went there to figure out why, and if they knew about what it was that did it. Tails found out, through Blaze, that they had access to some kind of time magic, and was sending people back and forth. He went there to try to get them to bring you back," Jewel explained.
"I'm just here for the adventure," Violet admitted. Jewel gave her a reassuring smile.
"Sometimes not all reasons have to have a deep background. Sometimes, that's enough," she said. "I don't think I've seen you since you were two," Jewel admitted, giving a much better look towards the violet fox.
Whisper could tell she was feeling much better than before. She was flying now, even if she didn't realize it. "You knew me as a kit?" Violet asked.
"Most of us did. Knuckles absolutely adored you, you know? I don't know how often Tails and Blaze took you up to Angel Island. If you have time, I suggest you go up there again. He'd be glad to have you around for a bit."
"Mom or Dad never mentioned it."
Jewel looked away. "I think they wanted to keep you out of the worst of our fighting. We were fighters at heart, raised to be since kids. With Eggman's fear looming over us all, how could we not be?"
"You fought with them? Arguments, right?"
Shadow snorted. "More than that. I had to peel Blaze off of the trees that weren't on fire on Angel Island more times than I care to count. She and Knuckles, both guardians, fought physically and vocally. A lot. And Tails was never on Knuckles' side," he said.
"Huh. I never knew that..." Violet said softly.
"They tried to keep you out of the worst of it. Sonic's easy going enough that the worst of their traits brushed off, but Knuckles not so much. And the less said about Silver and the Chaotix, the better."
"They fought with them too?"
"Not with the Chaotix," Shadow answered. "Tails fought Silver a lot, mostly philosophically. Silver was of the opinion that the future was never set in stone, as he actually came from it and could see the butterfly effects. Tails was of the opinion that each person had their role to play, but their own effect on the timeline was minimal. The 'butterfly effect' didn't exist."
"I...don't think I've ever met Silver," Violet admitted. "Mr. Sonic told me a lot about him, but he never came around."
"He wouldn't, nor should he. If he did, we had bigger problems. Much bigger," Shadow said. "Timeline altering problems."
"And a civilization arising out of nothing isn't a timeline altering problem?" Whisper interjected.
"Not to Silver, apparently. We haven't seen hide nor hair from him for years. Twenty three years, actually," Shadow said, his eyes widening as he glanced at Whisper.
"Oh, I've been meaning to ask!" Jewel said suddenly before the black hedgehog could say anything else. "What actually happened, from your perspective, on that mission?" she asked.
Which one 'that mission' was, Whisper had no questions. There was only one that could be said as 'that' mission. "Tangle and I found an old device in the ruins. I told her not to turn it on, and we couldn't use Cyan as she had just overpowered herself."
"Tangle went and turned it on."
"She went and turned it on. It fell and by instinct I grabbed it."
"What did that feel like?" Shadow asked. "Did it feel like it was pulling you somewhere?"
"Why would that matter?" Violet asked, her head tilted. Jewel gave a quiet giggle as she glanced at the vixen.
Whisper shook her head. "No, it was as if I was falling. Frozen, everything around me running in fast forward, before I landed here, in this time."
"Nothing was pulling you?"
"No."
"Why would it pull her?" Violet asked. "Unless it was behaving erratically in the fourth, Whisper would just see things as strangely colored snakes while her brain tried to figure out what was going on," she said.
Jewel giggled. "Yep, definitely her mother and father's brains."
"Because if it had, it would mean that this is a potential target point. In other words, Silver was here before, at some point in his personal timeline. That would explain why she landed here, rather than some other point."
"I don't think time works like that," Violet said. "Time isn't a river where you're either in the 'past' or 'future'. Time is a series of streams, with everyone's personal line being a stream. Sometimes they mix, and sometimes they don't, but landing in a set point is impossible."
"It's magic."
"There's no such thing," Violet said instantly. "Just technology we haven't figured out yet."
That sounded like a line right out of Tails' playbook. Shadow stared at her, in which she didn't back down one bit. "Fine. I'll admit I don't know everything about time or chaos energy."
"So where are you heading to now? Who else is on your list?" Jewel asked the black hedgehog. "Me, obviously, I'm guessing Amy and Sonic, probably Knuckles?"
"Knuckles. Tails. Tangle. Whisper. Silver. Espio. Vector. Charmy. Cream," Shadow answered instantly.
"Really, they have you checking up on a guy who isn't even in the same timeframe?" Jewel asked. "That just seems kind of mean of them," she said. "You might be waiting around for a while."
"They're aware. They're not expecting a report on him. Knuckles too, Angel Island's long out to sea-"
"No it's not?" Jewel interjected. "It's hovering over the Doomsday Deserts," she said. "Or at least, last I checked it was."
"Doomsday Desert?" Whisper asked. She'd never heard of that one. Where in the continents was that?
Shadow sighed. "Doomsday Deserts. Plural. Faker knows more, but it's the region of deserts that most of Eggman's mechs fell down on after the appearance of the, as he puts it 'Doomsday Zone'."
"Close by, all things considered," Jewel said. "No one ever checks out there, so Knuckles was pretty much allowed to just be in peace. The island's invisible, or so he said last I checked with him. Which was, admittedly, a long time ago."
"He's been alone on an island for how long?" Violet asked. "How is he still sane!?"
"Willpower, mostly," Shadow said. "Some Islanders are known for it, and echidnas are some of the hardiest."
He turned to Whisper. "It's also only around three days journey from here, on the same way as Fern Valley and the Snow Cap mountains," he said. Whisper nodded.
She'd just be dropped off, and Shadow would head on his way to Knuckles, and then they'd go investigate the civilization as soon as he was done.
"Fern Valley? That's where you're headed next?" Jewel asked. Whisper nodded. "Okay. Here, I have a map somewhere..." she muttered, flying over to some cupboards and rummaging through them.
The sound of running water stopped them, as they glanced at the bathroom. "Got the shower working!" Orange offered as she held what looked like a wrench in one 'hand'.
"Dibs!" Violet shouted as she ran for it. Whisper glanced over at Shadow, who shrugged.
"I hadn't realized the water wasn't working. Because why would Pink...what did he do," Whisper stated softly. The pink wisp slowly hovered out of the kitchen, more of Violet's muffins in his appendages.
"I didn't do nuffink!" He protested.
"Asides from eating all of the food in the house," Shadow said. He turned to Whisper to explain, "I brought some back with me when they realized how useful Chaos Control was, and just how badly Spiral Hill was off. I brought enough for a few days, just enough for the trucks to start bringing in more."
Jewel came flying back out, her hands heavy with old foldable maps, the kind that Whisper remembered all too well. GPS was nice, but sometimes a physical map was better. Especially because a physical map didn't update automatically.
"Found them! Okay, so Fern Valley and King's River, or the Snow Cap mountain range," Jewel said, placing all three maps on the table. "King's River goes all the way from here through the Frog Forest, before ending out somewhere close to Station Square and Central City," she said. "You won't need to explore the forest, I hope-"
"We won't. I've been there before," Shadow answered.
"Oh good, that makes this easier. Fern Valley is this map, and it covers the entire protected area and most areas outside of it. And if you get really lost, here's the map of the Snow Cap mountains...where's Violet?" she asked.
"Shower," Orange volunteered. "For some reason she really wanted one. I don't know, I just fixed it. And made sure to run it so it didn't have any of the nega-wisp gunk," Orange said.
"Least you remembered something about that, wisp," Shadow said, his eyes narrowed.
"Hey, I'm not Pink, I remember the basic stuff," Orange retorted. Whisper rolled her eyes, making sure that both Shadow and Orange saw her. She leaned over at the maps, making sure that she remembered at least the basic outlines.
The Fern Valley map was an elaborate set of lines that designated height. She could see in her mind's eye which spot would be best for a sniper like her to be at. A long and winding path designated the canyons that would be the most likely path for her to take. Mountains on each side, going all the way up to the Snow Cap mountains.
Tangle had always gotten the Snow Cap mountains versus the Ice Cap mountains, until Sonic calmly set her straight at one point. The Ice Cap mountains were on Angel Island, floating high in the sky. The Snow Cap mountains is entirely different geology, and much less likely to collapse or have loops that collapse when he runs through them at two hundred miles an hour.
Which is mostly how Whisper remembered the difference. One is collapsible, one is not. Other than that, they were extremely close in temperature range, with the Snow Cap mountains being slightly warmer. Of course, 'slightly warmer' only meant by one or two degrees.
Not enough for the snow to melt, certainly.
Violet came out of the shower a few minutes later, her body wrapped in a massive towel that Whisper knew was one of Jewel's favorite ways to bundle up. There was also a heater in the bathroom to fluff it up, not that it appears Violet used it. "Is...there a reason this towel is so big? I just found it in the closet..." Violet asked shyly.
"Oh, yeah! Turn on the heater and let it fluff, it feels like a cloud," Jewel said, grabbing the girl by the tail and pulling her back into the bathroom. Despite the dilapidation, it seemed everything was still working.
Shadow noticed her looking around a bit. "Amazing how much having some more energy fixes things up," he commented. "I'll pack the Tornado," he said, heading off towards the front. Whisper nodded.
They would need at least a little bit of food and water. How long though...the Tornado generally flew at around a hundred and twenty miles an hour, unless the rocket booster was firing. Why Tails had added a rocket booster, she'd never asked.
It would take most of a day to get from Spiral Hill to Fern Valley. Whisper sighed, she'd been sitting on that information the entire time, and even when she'd told everyone they'd had to come here anyways.
Although, it wasn't all bad. Seeing Jewel was nice, saving Jewel was even better. And she supposed she shouldn't be so...uptight. "What are you thinking about?" Orange asked, hovering close to her and looking over the maps.
"...This isn't our time."
"No. It's not. I know you want to go save Tangle right away, but this is one of those things that we can take our time with."
"Is it? We have the Time Eater right behind us, and I'm surprised that it hasn't attacked us here."
"The Time Eaters are aware of other energies, like Chaos. And Shadow gives off enough chaos energy he's like a beacon of the stuff, and it's not likely to want to tangle with him again. No pun intended."
"That was fully intentional," Whisper accused with narrowed eyes. "And when it does?"
"You think it's going to come after us anyways?"
"We've been with Shadow since before Green Hill. Yes, I do. His presence didn't seem to slow it down."
"We've also been on the move for a while. It didn't come out instantly right behind us, it took a while to catch up. It's like smell; it can smell the trail we leave, but it takes a long time to catch up. Even if it catches up again. And we have no guarantee of that."
"We also have no guarantee that it won't," Whisper admonished. "And remember the Diamond Cutter rule."
"Whatever can happen, will happen, especially if it's bad or if it happens to Smithy."
"...I don't remember that last one," Whisper smiled gently. She heard Violet's shriek of delight as the heater started up, despite it probably blowing large amounts of dust bunnies around everywhere, and of Jewel's 'ooh!' as it came on for the first time in...probably forever.
"Next time someone tells me that they have muffins, don't let me take any," Pink murmured as he floated in, landing right on the maps. "Oh this is a comfortable nest..."
"Don't put holes in those," Whisper warned, "Jewel probably doesn't have spare copies."
"Give it to Green or Orange, they'll probably have enough memory space for it," Pink said quietly, his eye closing as he curled up. Whisper grabbed the maps and gently pried him off of them, if only so that way she could study it more.
"Memory space? We aren't a computer, Pink," Orange commented. "Green would probably appreciate the compliment though."
"We aren't? But, I could've sworn...wait, maybe Blue told me that. That we're nothing more than characters in some sci-fi novel."
"That sounds like a Blue thing, and also sounds wrong," Orange stated simply. Whisper nodded, her head bobbing to the wisps talking. She was only vaguely listening, something about Blue having tricked Pink into thinking something wrong.
The top of the Snow Cap Mountains was only three miles into the air. High, certainly, but Angel Island was usually much higher than that at its peaks. Not even tall enough to require oxygen masks, although it wasn't as if her mask didn't have one.
"Whisper, help?" Shadow asked as he carried out another box towards the Tornado. She folded the maps over one another, making sure that the squares would hold as she put them into a pocket in her cloak.
The kitchen was an absolute mess of everything. It was obvious what Shadow was carrying now was the water. There were small MRE's in the corner, set into the bricks of a box. They were bricks, literal, and about as heavy as that. They only needed water, hot or cold, in order to be edible, which made them perfect for things like traveling.
The box weighed nearly thirty pounds, and she tried to make sure she didn't give out just how heavy it was as she brought it out. Orange and Pink were still talking. "Oh so that's when I said, Lavender please, you're looking chilled, that's all!" Pink slurred.
"Why are you acting like that? You're not drunk, you've never talked with her, and you've certainly never seen her cold!" Orange rebutted. Whisper tried not to giggle as she walked out, following the black hedgehog's footsteps.
The museum seemed much brighter now, although the lights still weren't on. It was as if the darkness around Spiral Hill had lifted in its entirety.
Even outside the museum, people were starting to talk and bump into each other. They almost all of them looked starved or gaunt, as if they hadn't eaten or drank anything in several days, but they were out and about none the less.
The Tornado was given a wide berth, though. Whisper wasn't sure if that was because they recognized it, or because they didn't. More than one person had gasped when they saw it, before they gave a sigh of relief and turned around. They had most definitely recognized it.
"I'm beginning to think it was a mistake leaving the Tornado out here," Shadow murmured as he hefted around a few boxes in the back of the Tornado's undercarriage. Whisper dropped the box she was carrying near him, and he gave a slight start.
"Why? They recognize it. It's a symbol of hope."
"It is, but it's going to make getting out of here much harder than it needed to be. Now that the airport is waking up, we're going to need clearance to leave," Shadow said.
Whisper looked down the empty road ahead, seeing mostly paved clear runway rather than a road. Cars had been moved mostly onto the side rather than leaving them in the middle as they had been.
She looked behind them, seeing much the same way in that direction too. "We don't need clearance. We can just go."
"That's not legal, Whisper."
When had Shadow become such a legal nut? Wasn't he the one who was usually gung ho about just going in and getting it done? Wait, that was Sonic. No, that was Shadow too. Truth be told, that was most of the Restoration.
"Was that the last box in there?" Shadow asked as he moved some more of the boxes around. Whisper gave a glance inside, seeing dozens of boxes fitting each and every corner like a puzzle. She could also clear see the indent of where Violet had waited it out on the way to Central City.
Whisper nodded. "It was. We're good to go, except for sleep."
"We can sleep plenty on the way. Stay here, get ready, we'll leave in fifteen," Shadow commanded, heading back inside.
Orange and Pink hovered outside a moment later. "What's up with him? He didn't seem this bad earlier," Orange asked. Pink gave a sigh and went back into his canister, as if wondering how anyone could find anything wrong with Shadow, of all people.
It wasn't as if a cactus had more of an attachment problem than he had, after all. Maybe her own memories were starting to go, but she agreed with Orange. He was seemingly worse than he'd been twenty three years ago now, although he was in general much nicer. It only made the difference that much more obvious.
"I think he wants to go," Whisper admitted. She climbed up into the Tornado's back seat, taking a moment to make sure she was buckled in before letting the other wisps out.
"Oh, it's time to go!" Blue said congenitally. He looked towards Lavender, who was admiring the Tornado with a discerning eye. "You'll like it if you want to stay out. It'll be fun!"
"Shadow says fifteen minutes," Whisper said. Cyan nodded, doing a small flip in the air before she rocketed around to the back of the airplane.
"Yeah, it'll be great! Come on, I'll show you the ropes. So this thing is awesome," she said, pointing to the small rocket booster still attached to the bottom, "This thing can output so much energy! I think it's something like several thousands newtons of force for each second it's on!"
"That's not the right measurement, Cyan," Orange said from the pilot's seat. "It gives acceleration, which is...wait a second no that's right how did you know that!?"
Lavender giggled. Cyan grinned at the orange wisp. "Come on I remember some things! Come on let's go let's go let's go!" she said, imbuing the Tornado instantly and starting it up. Whisper made sure the brakes were on and they weren't about to randomly take off with no one in the pilot seat.
"Cyan! Don't do that..." Whisper warned. The Tornado stayed on even as Cyan disimbued it, the propeller starting to stay strong.
Violet and Shadow came out a moment later, both of them seemingly in a hurry. "Whisper! What's going on, why are you starting it up!?" Violet asked as she hurried to the pilot's seat. "I can't even take a shower anymore!?"
"You weren't! You were just taking up time sitting in front of the heater!" Shadow argued back as he hopped onto the top wing. Whisper noticed that this time he turned on the magnetic parts to his shoes to make sure he didn't have to Chaos Control back on.
Like he'd had to last time.
"Blame Cyan!" Whisper said. Neither Violet nor Shadow seemed to have heard her over the roar of the propeller, and she rolled her eyes. She turned to Lavender and the other wisps. "Final warning, staying out or canisters?" she asked.
The others nodded before they went back into the canisters, leaving only the young nega-wisp out, who settled down between Whisper's legs, an adventurous grin on her face.
Bad depression bouts recently. Hopefully it hasn't affected quality.
Until Next Time!