CONTENT WARNING: The following writing contains strong language, graphic depictions of violence, and triggering topics like suicide, survivor's guilt, and death. This issue, series, and its content are meant for readers 16+. Reader discretion is advised.
PLEASE READ: I'm adding Author's Notes to some segments! This is where I'll leave some little treats and details for y'all to see, like how I planned something, my reasoning, etc. Also, a quick correction from previous issues, Shira's gifts included WEAPONS, not wispons. I realize how that messed with the lore of the story :).
DISCLAIMER: All characters except original characters are owned/created by SEGA and IDW Publishing.
AUTHOR'S NOTE #1: Jaiden's character and design take inspiration from Sonic and Knuckles. Originally, he was supposed to be a panther, but I decided on just making him a hedgehog since people already remember good and well that Sonic is a hedgehog. To me, it seemed like hedgehogs have more notoriety.
Resistance HQ
As from the last issue, Whisper and Tangle had a run-in with XiNai's top 3 soldiers, only known as Tank, Stalker, and Swiftwing. The encounter left Tangle's tail injured and caused Whisper to lose her wispon and mask. However, the Big 3 had their injuries as well, with the main victim being Stalker, with a minor concussion and bruises. It ended with Jaiden dropping in last second and saving the two girls, and the Big 3 deciding to regroup. Upon meeting Jaiden, Tangle takes him back to Restoration HQ to introduce him to Jewel the Beetle and give information about these three top soldiers. Through him, the girls realized that the threat over the horizon was something they weren't prepared for yet, and they needed an upgrade, FAST. Sometime later, Jaiden, Tangle, and Whisper arrive at Resistance HQ, for the formerly known Resistance, where they, along with some newer people were waiting for Jaiden's arrival.
Upon opening the door with Whisper and Tangle, the group is met with that familiar quick breeze, before they feel the cold atmosphere from the fans inside and the smell of metal instantly enters their noses. Jaiden sees the familiar faces of Sonic, Tails, Silver, The Chaotix, and Amy, but as the door opened some more, more faces could be seen, faces vastly unfamiliar to him. This makes his body tense up a bit. He saw a red echidna, a white bat, and a group of what he thought to be soldiers, only wearing helmets and some wearing sleeved shirts and pants. The chatter that had been happening ceased, and everyone looked toward the direction they heard the door from. Jaiden just blinks a few times.
"Uh," is all he could sputter out.
"Hey, Amy," shouts Tangle, her right hand up in a wave, her left hand by her mouth.
"Tangle, Whisper," the pink hedgehog shouts back. "It's good to see you two back safe. Jewel told us all about what happened." She walks up to the three, gesturing for them to follow her. Before she walks off, though, she shoots Jaiden a look. "Now I'm glad you saved them and all, but couldn't you do it any faster? Sonic said you nearly matched his speed." The broad hedgehog crosses his arms.
"Well yeah, that was because I was following him. I still had no damn idea where I was goin' tryna find those two," he responds.
"Mmm, hmm," the pink hedgehog spouts. "You're gonna have to do better than that around here, Jaiden. We are gonna need you." With that, she walks off, not before Jaiden gives her a look silently saying: "Bitch…"
"All right, he's here," shouts Tails. "Let's get this underway." Stepping to the middle of the room, were the group of random soldiers, and some newer characters. Sonic walks to the computer where Tails is and turns to face the crowd.
"I'm glad you all came out today," he starts. "I know you all have responsibilities of your own back at your own jobs. Means a lot." He turns to Jaiden, seeing the broad hedgehog standing at the edge of the crowd. He gestures with his hand for him to come. Looking to his right at the crowd, Jaiden walks up to the computer and turns. All eyes were on him now. "This person right here is Jaiden. Some of you met him, for you others, this is your first time."
"Look at that, looks like he's got some strength on him," a voice shouts. Jaiden, Tails, and Sonic look toward where it came from.
"Jaiden, that red one who said that is Knuckles," the blue hedgehog says. "Don't let him intimidate ya. He's just a big softie."
"Softie!? How bout you come over here and I'll show you whose a 'softie,'" Knuckles shouts in response, shaking his spiked fist at Sonic, in which the hedgehog just sticks his tongue out at him and puts an "L" on his forehead.
"Anyway, the purple one is Blaze, from the Sol Empire," he says, pointing a the purple cat in the crowd with gold eyes. She had a red gemstone in her head, which was the first thing Jaiden noticed. "Long story, that one is, but she is royalty." The light gray hedgehog was surprised at this information, and he looked right at Blaze, who was standing next to Silver.
"That's… crazy," Jaiden says, shaking his head, and looking down. He looks back up, and Sonic points to another person.
"That one over there, her name's Rouge," the blue hedgehog points at the white-furred bat. She wore a pink chest piece, adorned with a black sleeveless jumpsuit. She wore White high-heeled knee-high boots with pink cuffs and heart tips, powder blue eyeshadow, and pink lipstick. As Jaiden catches her green eyes, his face turns a tint of red. He brings a fist up, and fake coughs.
"Ca-can we move on to the… n-next," he sputters out, slightly looking away.
"Y'know, we've met before," Rouge's voice echoes. "I saw you when we came into Vanilla's house. You didn't even speak to anyone of us, and ran off like you were scared to talk to a lady." The bat crosses her arms, a cold half-lidded stare burning right through Jaiden's dark brown eyes. Soon after, though, she sighs. "But, we never got the chance to thank you, cuz, at the end of the day, you did save her." The light gray hedgehog's face tightens up and goes back to neutral as he listens to the bat's words. "In case you're wondering, thanks to the Restoration, we were able to quickly rebuild her home, since hers was the only one that got damaged weirdly enough. Cream's injuries weren't too serious, so she was easy to care for. Her chaos wasn't too hurt, so they were also easy fixes. Vanilla told me to tell you this in case she never got the chance to meet you: 'Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.'" Jaiden's gaze never faltered, and he kept that same neutral expression. Rouge chuckles, shifting her weight on her hips. "C'mon, sweetheart. Liven up. You saved one of ours, so for now, I trust you."
"That was him," Knuckles questions. "Well, you're okay in my book, Jaiden." Whisper, who was sitting next to Tangle on some boxes to the left, slightly opens her eyes, looking at Jaiden for a moment. Her gaze, usually intense, was a little softer before she squints them again.
"Big guy here was also the one that helped with one of our cases," Vector, who was standing in the back with Espio and Charmy shouts out. "He's a pretty good guy if ya ask me." Espio eyes the hedgehog down for a moment, before closing his eyes.
"Agreed," he spouts out.
"Ditto," the small bee follows up with, causing the crowd to talk amongst themselves. Jaiden looks around the room, his face surprised at just how much notoriety he built up in a short time frame. Tails and Sonic look at him, smiles on their faces as they feel just how good he must feel right now.
"Tch," is all the sound Jaiden can make, just smirking and nodding his head up and down, holding the crown pendant on his necklace.
"Don't forget that he saved me and Whisper! Jaiden's the real deal," shouts a positive-sounding Tangle. Silver looks back at the two girls behind him.
"I knew he would," the white hedgehog says. Looking back at the crowd, Sonic steps up again.
"There's no doubt that Jaiden has done a lot in the short time he's been here," the blue animal starts. "But the reason why we brought you guys here, was to show you who he is, and the trouble that follows behind it." Everyone goes silent as they pay close attention.
"We have reason to believe that Eggman is already on to him," Tails adds, sitting down in a chair in front of his big computer. He then turns to Jaiden. "Jaiden. If it's alright with you, can you show them?" The light grey animal looks at the young fox for a moment, before he nods. He holds up his right hand slowly, for the crowd to see. All, except for Amy, Silver, and the Chaotix's eyes went wide open, even Whisper.
"Well, I guess that's one way to keep a Chaos Emerald secure," Rouge implies. Knuckles walks up to the light gray hedgehog, his stance defensive, his face once a smile, now in angry suspicion.
"Where'd the hell you get that," he asks, looking Jaiden directly in the eye. "You did all those deeds just to distract us so you can steal a chaos emerald!?" The hedgehog before Knuckles started to tense up even more. His breathing started to speed up.
"Wait, Knuckles," Tails shouts, reaching his hand out. "It's not like like that!" Jaiden clenches his teeth, and Sonic is the only one who notices the faint glow in the other hedgehog's dark blue emerald. Quick to act, he puts a hand on Knuckle's shoulder.
"He'll explain, Knux," he starts quietly. "Give the man some space so he can speak up." The echidna looks at the blue hedgehog, then back slightly up at the light gray hedgehog. A second of cold-blooded tension passes before he backs off.
"This better be good," he scoffs, before returning to his original place in the crowd. Jaiden breathes a sigh of relief, looking at Sonic.
"Take your time," he starts softly. "We got your back, man." The light grey animal's gaze stays on the blue animal for a bit, before he nods then he turns to the crowd. The attention was completely on him now.
"Because of that bullshit, now they look like they'll fuck me up if I say the wrong thing," Jaiden thinks to himself. "I ain't even know that there were chaos emeralds here, and we already mentioned that I'm not from around here. It doesn't matter, though. I got people here that will back up what I say. Just breathe, Jaiden. What would Shira say, how would she explain things?" The hedgehog shifts his shoulders, breathing softly.
"I know, that what I got here doesn't look very believable, but…" Jaiden paused. He gazes around the crowd for a moment, everyone's faces still skeptical. He then looks at Tails, who just nods at him. Then at Sonic, who gestures for him to continue speaking. The light gray hedgehog sighs, then looks back at the crowd. "The species I hail from; the Limnites, are born with this in our hands. We did not know that Chaos Emeralds existed outside our world: Xevir. I promise the last thing I'd want to do to y'all boys is steal from ya. That's on my life." Before Jaiden continued speaking, Rouge raised her hand.
"Okay, so you're a 'Limnite,' are you the only one that ended up here? Are there any more in this, 'Xevir,' place," she questions, her voice full of skepticism.
"Let's just say, that I'm the only one that ended up here, cuz the rest… couldn't follow," he responds. No one knew, but he was hiding something; the undeniable truth behind those words.
"Now, let's say I believe you," the voice of Knuckles inputs, his arms crossed. "Are there more out there that are just born with chaos emeralds and their power?" Jaiden turns his head slightly.
"Not that I know of," he insists. "All my life I thought Limnites were the only ones that had somethin' to do with Chaos Emeralds. The way it worked is that a kid was born, they had a chaos emerald in one of their hands, and that emerald had a certain ability that develops eventually."
"Uh-huh," the echidna musters out.
"I have a question," the voice of Tangle shouts, raising her hand. "From what I've seen and heard about Chaos Emeralds, they're like, super powerful tools that can turn the tides of anything. If there are more out there like you, and they have an amazing ability like you, why don't you bring them here?"
"I agree, and furthermore, if you had a functioning society, then we could have had enough to fill our ranks. Power like that could overpower Eggman or any other adversary with ease," the voice of Blaze adds on. Jaiden's thoughts were now shifting too, that day, and it wasn't a very pleasant reminder.
"Erm, um… well, y-you see…" the light gray animal studders and chokes on his words. His mind races with ways out of this topic, but, the only solution his brain would give them, is to tell these people that he lost… everything. Moments passed, then seconds, then minutes, and Jaiden's mind went numb. Everyone was expecting an answer. Everyone's eyes were staring holes in him. What is he gonna do? Will he have to bring that day up? How will he-
"Because of the resources it'll cost to bring a lot of Limnites here," a voice cuts in. Jaiden's mind cleared with the sounds around him. He looked toward the direction where that statement came from. It was none other than Sonic, saving his ass… again. "Besides, it wouldn't be too smart to put 'Xevir' on Egg-heads list. A whole society of chaos emerald-having superbeings? He'd salivate at the thought."
"Yeah," Jaiden adds in, looking at Sonic. The blue hedgehog shoots him a wink, and the light gray animal gives him a small smile while nodding. He looks back at the whole crowd. "From what I heard, and from what I've seen firsthand, this Eggman guy is a major asshole. If he's so greedy about power, then bringing more Limnites over might be a death wish for all of us. With that being said, however, I know he might already be on my ass and coming after me, which means there's two groups after me." Most of the people in the crowd in front of him gasps.
"So why don't you go back to where you came from," questions Knuckles. Rouge and Blaze gesture for the echidna to die down.
"Knuckles, that's a little much, even for you," the bat says.
"No, this needs to be said," the red animal's voice cuts in. "Not too long ago, we literally had a virus taking us out left and right, on top of more nefarious acts only because that madman was chasing power and domination. Now we have some guy show up, and he has our enemy, as well as his enemy on our radar."
"Knuckles…" Rouge says quietly, wanting the echidna to stop here.
"Maybe if we turn you over to them, they'll leave us alone, so that the people don't have to suffer any more than they already had to…" There was a look of malice and coldness in this echidna's purple eyes.
"Unfortunately, Knuckles, we can't reverse time," Jaiden cuts in his voice matching the chilliness of the red animals. "We- I, came here because this was the only place I could find among the galaxies. Had I known they would be on my ass still, I wouldn't have come here. That's on everyone I love."
"Yeah, and it's not like he asked to have a big target on his back," the voice of Vector chimes in, his arms crossed. "Kind of like how Sonic is."
"And he's not coming here doing absolutely nothing," the voice of Espio cuts in. "Despite our, earlier conflicts, I trust that his intentions are pure and he's going to do what he can to help us."
"And help is what he did," Tails, the fox still sitting at his computer chimes in. "Belle!" After a couple of minutes, the sound of wood hitting metal fills the room. From the backroom emerged Belle the Tinkerer. She looked strained, holding something with two hands.
"Well then," Rouge sputters out, shifting her weight on a hip and putting a hand on it.
"Gears and Starters, this thing is heavy," she shouts, her teeth clenched as she walks over to Jaiden. The hedgehog's eyes were wide open, and his mouth was slightly agape. He looks at the weapon before him, grabbing it off of Belle, before looking back at Tails.
"They figured this out," Jaiden thinks to himself. "I don't know if I should be impressed or pissed off that they were able to figure out Limnite technology so fast. But, yet again, Tails is pretty damn smart." He then turns to the wooden doll, who steps back into the crowd. "And there's something about her…" Nonetheless, the hedgehog's face gets serious, and with quick efficiency, he primes the weapon in his hand, priming the chamber with a crisp metallic sound filling the room. Everyone's widened eyes zoom in on the weapon the big hedgehog is holding. Whisper's eyes opened once again, and her mouth was slightly open. She jumps up from the box she was sitting on and walks in closer.
"This," Jaiden simply starts. "Is what you guys'll start needing to get used to in order to have a chance against XiNai and Master Zhire." He inspects the magazine; there is no ammo. He places the magazine back in, seeing the button above the magazine well pop out. "The Kilo-433. This is exactly how Shira made it, right down to a tee. Tails, Belle, you guys are damn amazing for being able to make this so fast."
"It was actually Belle that figured it out," the young fox adds, closing his eyes and scratching the top of his head with a finger. "I caught on a little soon after. Your sister's instructions were surprisingly detailed. All it took was aluminum and poly fibers that we used for our previous wispon builds. Taking the data we knew about Whisper's wispon, we made a few adjustments based on that thanks to your sister's data. Should function almost similarly to how a normal wispon would." Jaiden raised a brow to the young animal's statement. He inspects the weapon again, seeing that the base has a circular, dim LED light trail built in. The circle at the base was circuited to a line of lights at the magazine well, stock, and barrel. "Mind you that was the only prototype we were able to create for now, so handle it with care. We should have more on the way, however." Jaiden brings the Kilo up, and rests it against his shoulder, holding it by the rear grip.
"Weapons like this is what XiNai uses," the armed animal starts. "Tangle, Whisper, you saw something like this, so you know the firepower these have." The two mentioned girls look Jaiden directly in the eye. The lemur gulps, but Whisper keeps her gaze. "If what Tails said is accurate, it shouldn't take y'all too long to get used to these new weapons. You're gonna have to if you don't want to be quickly overrun. Master Zhire is a calculated dictator. Knowing him, he also set sights on taking this world over for his own gain." All except for Tangle and Whisper were shaken at this revelation, after all, they heard it before.
"Well, some of us, haven't really used wispons like that," the raspy voice of Vector says. "What will we need to do?"
"Vector, the best thing you and Espio can do is get better gear," Jaiden starts. "You two can learn to use weapons like this if you want, but a vest and some padding will do you good if y'all know how to fight. Charmy, though, might be a bit too small to wield a weapon or wear any gear."
"It was always our duty to keep Charmy accounted for," Espio starts, his voice low. "These circumstances don't change a thing."
"But that doesn't mean he ain't gonna help at all," Vector chimes in with a toothy smile. He turns to the young bee. "Ain't that right?" Charmy scratches his head. The whole time, the bee was very nervous, but that fear subsided for a moment because his closest friends were speaking to him.
"Well," he begins, a sheepish grin forming on his face. "I guess I could stay back and update you guys on what's happening. At least until things die down, I'll be right back out there with you guys!"
"For yo sake, Charmy," Jaiden's voice rooms in. "I hope things'll die down."
"They will, because we're all in this together," Sonic affirms. "Guys, before Jaiden or these 'XiNai' goons even showed up, we've had to take care of Eggman for a while now. He came close to beating us with his Infinite scheme, and he nearly wiped everyone out with that virus of his, but no matter what we all overcame it, and kicked him a new one. Now, with Jaiden as our ally, I have no doubt that we can handle Egg-head, Zhire, and his goons! We can do it, as the Resistance!"
"Hey, I disbanded the Resistance," Knuckles adds. "What gives you the right to suddenly reform it? There's no need for it anymore!" Rouge scoffs.
"That stubbornness of yours really does make you a knucklehead," the bat says.
"What you say," the echidna shouts in response.
"Knuckles, we can't expect to take guys like this down separately," Tangle implies. "I think it'd be best if we got together again."
"I think it's best if everyone worked jointly," Jaiden adds, now holding the Kilo in both hands. "What XiNai does to keep their operations organized, is divide their forces into factions. From what I've seen here, we can divide our forces like this." Jaiden points at the small group of soldiers who were still standing idly by the whole time, not uttering a word.
"Those guys over there can serve as 'Infantry,'" he marks. Then he points to Vector, Charmy, and Espio,
"My three homies over there is the 'Chaotix' of course, specializing in reconnaissance. That alright with y'all?"
"If that's just a fancy word for 'detectives,' then of course it's alright with us, big man," Vector shouts out proudly in response, wrapping his arms around his two friends and bringing them in.
"Good," Jaiden says with a content smile. He then turns to Rouge.
"Rouge, erm, I dunno much about you," he starts. "And I dunno exactly what you spe-"
"Just call my faction 'Dark,' specializing in covert and intelligence," the bat quickly cuts in.
"And being a pain in the tail," the echidna quietly mutters.
"Look who's talking," the bat arrogantly responds.
"What's that mean!? It's not like you're here to JUST aid our cause! You three always have an agenda of your own," the red echidna shouts back.
"You three," Jaiden asks, raising a brow at Rouge.
"It's me, someone named Shadow, and a droid named Omega. And as for our agenda, you needn't worry about it yet. Just know we don't plan on tangling with Zhire or Eggman," the bat inputs.
"Y'know what, whatever," the light gray animal sighs. "If you're here right now, then that means these guys trust you enough. Will I get to meet this Shadow and Omega?"
"Right now, Shadow, as per usual is out doing his own thing," she sighs. "Didn't say much, just said he's going to investigate a disturbance. It bothered him when he figured out that Sonic nor Eggman wasn't behind it as they always are." Jaiden's face was serious now.
"Does he usually sense bullshit when it comes around," the broad hedgehog musters out.
"Typically, but not as good as he senses it in chaos energy. Doesn't make sense to me, however. If Eggman had a chaos emerald, he would have at least said something to me about it," she responds. "Obviously it wasn't from you either, and if it was from Zhire he would have been back with us giving us an earful."
"What about Omega," Jaiden adds.
"He's an Eggman badnik turned good, and he's got the guns and the smarts," the bat starts. "Past that hard cold shell of metal, he's a sweetheart. As for where he is, he decided to leave as well. He's in Sunset City making sure no badniks try to attack it again. That whole incident is a really long story so don't worry about it."
"Sure, I understand what you gettin' at though," the broad animal responds. "They allies." He turns to face Sonic, Tails, and Amy. "Sonic, you, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles should faction together. Y'all don't necessarily have to specialize in anything either. Just go out and work where y'all see fit."
"We do that anyway," Sonic adds, winking and holding a thumbs up. "I just hope you don't expect me to use one of those weapons. I just can't see myself ever touching one."
"Oh, I wish he was exaggerating," Tails says. "He won't even use a normal wispon at all."
"It probably would have helped his stubborn behind back in the war," Amy retorts, her fists on her hips. Jaiden turns back to the crowd, this time to Silver and Blaze.
"Silver, Blaze, I dunno your abilities, but…" he starts, before being cut off by Silver himself.
"You needn't worry about us, Jaiden," the white hedgehog insists. "Me and Blaze also won't be using those weapons of yours, but we'll still adjust as we need to, and we'll be operatives in this upcoming conflict." This catches Sonic and Tails' attention.
"Woah, Silver, you and Blaze don't have to stay," the blue hedgehog begins. "Blaze, the Sol Empire needs their princess! We wouldn't want to keep you here and risk your life for us again!"
"Sonic, I can go back and check on things anytime I want to," the purple cat implies. "I'd never be able to sleep at night knowing you all are facing a danger as serious as this. XiNai doesn't know about the Sol Emeralds, but it's bad enough the fact that they and Eggman are after Chaos Power, I'm sure both from Jaiden and from the emeralds."
"Don't forget the Master Emerald," Knuckles shouts. "Hopefully XiNai still doesn't know about that."
"Right, but the point is," Blaze continues as she puts a hand by her face, and the other by her side. She shrouds them both in flame. Jaiden gasps at this display, and to add to that surprise, Silver floats next to her. "You have our aid. We're not going anywhere, Sonic, you know that." Sonic's face showed that he was initially opposed to the idea, but, he sighed.
"Well, we wouldn't have gotten Angel Island back without you guys, so, I ain't opposing your help," he says.
"From one descendent of royalty to another, I got mad respect for ya, Your Highness," Jaiden inputs, holding that same Kilo-443 this time with both hands down right. "You got folks in 'Sol' looking out for things, right?"
"Of course I do," the cat responds, looking at the hedgehog before her as she puts out her flames. "And drop the formality. Just call me Blaze, Jaiden. By the way, I like your necklace."
"'Preciate ya, but really, thank you. You too, Silver," the light gray animal says. "None of y'all should have to be caught up in my nonsense."
"We've dealt with a lot of nonsense long before you got here," Silver states, hovering for a little longer before dropping to his feet. "Besides, I know just how valuable you'll be in this fight, Jaiden. You're an essential piece believe it or not."
"Well okay then, 'essential piece,'" Knuckles scoffs, walking up to the hedgehog and looking him in the eye. "You obviously know more about these new enemies than we do, so along with me and Sonic, you'll also be in charge, that way when stuff goes off the rails, we can put it on you."
"Knuckles, can you lighten up," Rouge suggests. "Jaiden doesn't need you up his ass way more than everyone already is. He gets his responsibility, you just make sure you understand yours." The red echidna turns to the white bat with an angry look.
"How about you worry about not stealing anything behind our backs, thief," he retorts. The bat walks up to him puffed up, before Amy's voice stops them both.
"You two, please," she says. Jaiden shakes his head, chuckling to himself, before he walks up to Tangle and Whisper.
"Well, Tangle, Whisper, that just leaves you two," he says. "Do you guys have a name y'all go under," Tangle's face lit up with excitement at this question.
"We're called The Diamond Cutters, and don't ya forget it," the lemur shouts, involuntarily bouncing on her heels. "We have one more, but she's back at Restoration HQ. She's been super busy with some boring paperwork. Her name is Lanolin, and she's the boss lady!" Jaiden turns Whisper, in which the wolf's eyes were squinted. She didn't say a word. He turns back to Tangle, in which the lemur is STILL speaking. "...we went on this crazy mission where we-"
"Tangle," Jaiden cuts in.
"Hm?"
"You think you can get Lanolin over here?"
"I'm already here," a feminine voice shouts from afar. Everyone present in the room looks at where it came from. Approaching was a sheep. This said sheep has cloudy white wool on her head resembling hair, a light tan muzzle with a black/salmon nose, and slate blue eyes with light powder blue sclera and two eyelashes on each one. She has black/brown pointy and stubby horns on top of her head, droopy medium-long ears with light tan canals, and black/brown hoof stubs for fingertips. Additionally, she has a large tuft of wool on her forehead while the rest of her hair is styled in four buns.
"See, there she is," shouts the lemur, as everyone watches the sheep walk up to her, Whisper, and Jaiden.
"I'm sorry I'm late everyone, I had paperwork for Jewel to fill out, but she updated me on everything," the sheep says, her colored eyes scanning everyone in the room before turning back to Tangle and Whisper. "Tangle, my goodness, is your tail okay?" The sheep's face had lots of worry and fear. The lemur brings the bandaged part of her tail up, blood faintly staining the white wrap.
"You know me, I tough it out no matter what happens," the lemur declares proudly. The sheep turns to the wolf who is sitting next to Tangle.
"Whisper, I'm so sorry about your mask and wispon," she says. "Your wisps are being treated by the doctors back at HQ. Still, I know nothing can replace that mask." Whisper looks away slightly.
"it's fine," she simply responds in her usual soft voice. Lanolin finally turns to Jaiden, she slightly flinches at his big size and the weapon he is holding.
"And th-thank you for saving their lives," she says, putting her hands together under her cowbell. "You're Jaiden, right? She wasn't lying when she said you were huge…"
"Well, if you call being 4' being huge," the hedgehog responds. "And it was my pleasure. Yes, that is my name, and you must be Lanolin. You lead a tough-ass team, ma'am." Lanolin closes her eyes and gives Jaiden a sheepish grin.
"Y-you don't have to be so formal," she musters out. "Thank you, nonetheless."
"Jaiden was just asking about the role you guys would take, Lanolin," Sonic adds, crossing his arms. The sheep turns to him, closes her eyes, and smiles at him.
"Well, we'll do what we always do: rapid-response, out there in front," she answers. "Jewel also told me that Jaiden has some new tools we can use in the fight against XiNai." The sheep turns to Jaiden. "Whatever they are, I'd appreciate if we can use them. We need whatever we can get to face such scary adversaries."
"You got it, 'boss lady,'" the broad hedgehog says with a small smirk. Lanolin's face cheeks turn a slight tint of red at this.
"I told you drop the formality," she shouts.
"Right, my bad, my bad," Jaiden responds.
"Well, that leaves everyone accounted for," Tails says. "We should…"
"Wait," Sonic says, stopping the young fox. "Jaiden, other than being one of the leaders, where will you station yourself?"
"Oh, shit, you right," Jaiden responds. "I don't wanna be just sitting around, because at the end of the day, this is my fight, and I just dragged y'all in with me." The hedgehog puts the barrel of his Kilo down on the ground and rests his hands on the stock.
"You definitely belong out there in the frontlines, big guy," Vector chimes in. "You could be a Chaotix, but I don't think it's exactly what you're looking for."
"I don't think Shadow would want someone fuming with chaos power making us an easy target in Team Dark. Hell, I don't," Rouge also chimes in.
"Me and Blaze will just be everywhere, so that wouldn't be for you either," Silver adds along.
"And we're not excusing you to just be an infantry," Knuckles says. After some seconds of silence, Tangle gasps, stars in her eyes.
"Ooooo, Jaiden, you should totally join us, dude," the lemur shouts. Whisper turns her head to the gray lemur fast, her eyes slightly open. Lanolin was also surprised at this outburst.
"Tangle, a-are you sure, I dunno if he'd be willing," Lanolin suggests.
"C'mon, Lanolin, look at him! He's perfect for a rapid-response team," Tangle argues. "He's super powerful, and Knuckle's just said he knows XiNai and Zhire better than anyone here!" Whisper's expression showed resentment and confusion about this idea. She turns to Tangle and taps her shoulder, getting the lemur's attention, all the while Jaiden and Lanolin continue having their conversation.
"he'll make us a walking target," she says in a low whisper. "he could put us in more danger than we need to be."
"That may be true, but where else can he go? We'll need him out there on the frontlines so we can get more information about XiNai, and see about getting back at their Big 3." the lemur pauses, and turns her full body to Whisper. "You trust me, right?" The wolf looks down at the ground before she sighs. They both turn to look at the hedgehog and sheep.
"Just so you know, I'll be your superior," Lanolin says to Jaiden. "Whatever you get on XiNai and Zhire from here on out, you report it to me."
"Absolutely fine with me," the hedgehog responds. "I'll do what I can for y'all."
"Right then," the sheep begins. She turns to the female lemur. "Tangle?" Tangle gives her two thumbs up with a big smile. "Whisper?" The wolf eyes Jaiden for a moment, and the hedgehog eyes her back with a big side-eye. Moments pass, and the tension could be cut like a knife, but after it passes, she sighs and nods.
"Okay. Jaiden, you're officially a Diamond Cutter! Welcome to the team," Lanolin extends a hand to him. Jaiden looks away from Whisper and looks the sheep in her eye as he shakes her hand with his right one, his left staying on the stock of his weapon. "I'll get a hold of Jewel and tell her the news."
AUTHOR'S NOTE #2: Jaiden was originally planned to be a Chaotix, but I decided on the Diamond Cutters because of a development I plan for Jaiden to have with those characters. That's why he interacted with them earlier in the story as opposed to now.
"Alright with that, now everyone is accounted for," Tails starts, turning to his computer. "Let's go over some things we know." Everyone looks up at the large computer screen. The young fox does some typing, and up comes pictures of Zhire, XiNai, and his Big 3. "Going off of what Jaiden said, Zhire and his forces are here to capture him. While that isn't much on the surface, we don't know the reason why, and Jaiden also mentioned that Zhire is a dictator. We could be dealing with another 'Eggman.'"
"You could say that, but he seems to have way more conviction than him," Rouge implies.
"Right, but we can't forget that he IS still in the picture," the young fox adds. "That attack at Cream's house for Gemerl could only just be the beginning. Jaiden also told us that he had a run-in with one of his badniks when he first came here, so we have reason to believe that he's onto Jaiden as well." Knuckles scoffs and shakes his head.
"So you just have everyone on your back, don't you," the echidna says with crossed arms, looking to his right at Jaiden. The hedgehog shakes his head.
"Aye, man, I ain't ask for any of this," the hedgehog responds. "It's bad enough that Zhire's on my ass. Now I gotta deal with a fatass mutated looking mothafu-"
"WOAH! Okay, you made your point," Lanolin cuts in, a nervous look on her face.
"Yeah he… definitely has a way with words," Tangle says, chuckling and scratching her head.
"Well, like it or not, Jaiden, Eggman wants a piece of you," Amy affirms. "We'll help, but you'll have to make sure he doesn't get a hold of you. That could be catastrophic for us." Jaiden looks at the pink hedgehog and nods.
"I won't let his ass touch me," he simply responds, affirming his grip on the Kilo-433. "The things I've heard that man has done to y'all." He pauses, looking around, then back at Tangle and Whisper. "If only I heard about it sooner, I would have helped."
"I know he doesn't look like much on the surface, but Eggman is a smart and cruel man," Silver says to Jaiden. "No matter what, he always has another trick up his sleeve. Knowing what we know now about you, having you here during those times would have posed even more of a risk." Jaiden shakes his head.
"Yeah, but still," he starts. The hedgehog looks down at the ground, then he looks around back at the crowd. "Y'all don't exactly seem like folk that fights wars, 'specially cause y'all don't even have tac vests."
"Well we did, and without the need for vests, or whatever else you think we needed," Knuckles sharply retorts.
"Yeah, that was because obviously, Dr. Eggman is a punk-ass sack of lard, but as I keep saying, Knuckles, XiNai is a completely different story. Trust me, you'll need this." He looks from Knuckles to the crowd again. "You'll all need this. It's my fault you lot got caught up in this mess, and now, it's my duty to make sure I get you guys out of it. It's what," The hedgehog pauses and holds his necklace. "She… would have wanted."
"Who's she," questions Knuckles before taking a punch to the shoulder from Rouge.
"Well, Jaiden, you're one of the leaders now," the young fox says. "We have an idea on how we can deal with Eggman, but XiNai and Zhire is your thing. What's our move?" Jaiden just stares at Tails for a moment, before he walks over and stands in front of everyone again.
"Our biggest priority right now is to prepare," he begins. "XiNai will strive to go on the offensive as soon as they get an edge in the fight. Until I know y'all won't get yourselves killed in confrontation, defense is our greatest weapon." He scans the room. "Looking around, I see many of y'all have abilities that even Zhire won't see coming. We have to capitalize off that, as well as adjust your other tools to match them, or even surpass them." Jaiden looks over at The Diamond Cutters, specifically at Whisper and Tangle. "Whisper, Tangle, I'm gonna be brutally honest here. The only reason why y'all aren't six feet deep right now is that they never saw abilities like what you two have, a stretchy tail, a 'wispon,' and those little floaty things, uh," he turns to Tails. "What are those called again?"
"Wisps?"
"Right," the hedgehog clears his throat. "They'll surely adjust to that, but, we need to capitalize more on that unpredictability y'all have. I don't have that, because Xenic and Xevir have been at it for years, so I'm sure they know what to expect from me." The broad animal looks to his right at the infantrymen. He walks up to one of them, making a rather nervous look contort his features. "You boys will need a lot of new toys. This ain't the usual game you went through way before I got here," he turns to the crowd again. "That goes for all of you," he then turns to the infantries again, specifically to that soldier he's standing in front of, a nervous look still on his face. "This will be a war, unlike you've ever seen, and I put that on the ones I love." Everyone's faces in the background were mixed with concern and conviction. Jaiden hands the Kilo-433 into the arms of the soldier he's standing before, making him grunt. But he takes the weapon, slightly struggling to hold it. He turns and walks away, looking at the other named characters as he approaches his original spot in front. "I need y'all to realize the hell that's about to await everyone. By choice or not, everyone in this room right now is choosing to live by the gun, everyone." Everyone's faces had slightly petrified looks on them now. "I've seen shit hit the fan and hit it again."
"Wha-what does that mean," questions Tangle.
"The situation going terribly wrong," Rouge answers, before looking back at Jaiden with crossed arms.
"Every second we waste is a second XiNai is preparing to blow us a new one and enslave y'all," Jaiden continues. "So here's what we'll do."
And thus started the team's preparation. Under Jaiden's instruction, piece by piece, a new Resistance front was being created.
"First, we'll need Tails and Belle to stay on top of giving us more weapons. To start us out, everyone who's big enough to hold a firearm should have at least a pistol. I'd recommend just making Walther .22s. They have low recoil, and they are rather easy to control. It'll make it easier to adjust y'all to what's gonna be replacing wispons from now on," Tails and Belle both wear wielder masks as sparks fly in the lab. Tails at his end of the table, aided by a robotic assist contraption worked diligently on the pistols, all the while his Tinkerer friend worked on the ammunition, skillfully putting melded metal with the correct amount of gunpowder. If you looked up you could see the instructions and blueprints on a big display, courtesy of course from Shira. As more were being made, Jaiden was passing them out, all fully loaded with 15 rounds of .22 WMR ammunition. The barrels were accented by dim lights with the triggers also having some accent. Vector, Espio, Rouge, Whisper, Lanolin, and the 12 infantrymen all received one along with Jaiden. The rest had their reasons to refuse. "As I said, it ain't too much different from many of the wispons y'all used previously. All these do is shoot a little differently, sound a little differently, and ooo do they punch a little differently, as well. I'll give you all a little walkthrough, all we'll need is a couple of old propane tanks." Knuckles and Jaiden haul out old propane tanks the group previously had for their gadgets. The echidna follows Jaiden into the forest, in an area away from any city or outsiders to intervene. The tanks were spread out to give space. Standing several feet away from them, stood the 6 named characters and soldiers, all having muffling headphones on. Jaiden and Knuckles put them on, before the hedgehog walks and stands in the middle lane. He holds his hands up, the Walther .22s cold metal pressing against his black gloves. Before firing, he inspects the magazine while everyone looks right at him, seeing all the bullets in the clip. He reinserts and pulls the barrel back, and closes his left eye to look into the metallic iron sights. Everyone stands back as the hedgehog eyes the worn-and-torn white propane tank with a sharp focus. He sighs deeply before he pulls the trigger. A loud bang could be heard and an orange flash illuminated from the muzzle of the barrel, and Jaiden felt small ripples travel through his body. Everyone still looks at him, before they slowly look the distance where the propane tank is. The shot hit its mark: 40m back, dead square in the middle lay a black bullet hole. Everyone, especially Whisper seemed to be surprised at just how accurate Jaiden was. The hedgehog lowers his arms, smoke still leaving the barrel and a potent smell of gunpowder filling the air. (Entire weapon training will be covered in a separate spin-off issue.)
2 Days Later
"Once everyone has a little grasp on the new weaponry they'll be using, and everyone has a weapon that they are more comfortable with, we can move on to dressing the part. As comfortable as it is, the fellas ain't gonna get by in just gloves and shoes." Once again, Tails and Belle are going off of Shira's schematics to create vests. These vests are black, come with pouches, and can carry armor. As they were making them, however, outcomes Gemerl from a room in the lab. He catches the attention of Tails, who looks back and lifts his mask to eye him well. There were no words exchanged, but the black robot eyes the new gear that the team was about to wear. The young fox looks at them also, before he looks back at Gemerl with a sly smirk.
Hours later - Sunset
The team worked and worked for 2 and a half days now, preparing and following Jaiden's instructions. Inside Resistance HQ, there seemed to be no activity, until the garage door opened. Walking through comes Jaiden, Tangle, Amy, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Espio, Vector, and Silver. However, something was different. Each now wore clothing, courtesy of Tangle and Amy.
"I… don't feel right," Sonic scoffs, slouching his back and letting his hands hang. He now wore a blue sleeveless shirt paired with camouflage pants and his usual shoes. "These feel so restricting!"
"You're one to talk," Knuckles shouts. "I'm wearing more than you!" The echidna now wore a long-sleeved green shirt with camouflage pants and the same shoes he was known for wearing. The echidna walks crossing his arms.
"C'mon guys, it could be worse," Tails adds, closing his eyes and scratching the back of his head. The young fox adorned a white cloak. Under it, he wore a white t-shirt and also adorned camouflage pants with his usual shoes. Vector chuckles.
"I personally like it a lot," the crocodile adds, wearing a grey hoodie only, paired with his beefy chain and camouflage padding on his arms. He puts his hands behind his head. "Makes me feel ready, y'know?" Espio closes his eyes and shakes his head.
"Certainly brings out who you are," he chuckles. The chameleon wore a solid black cloak held by a belt and a black t-shirt to adorn it. This was paired with jet-black camo pants and his same shoes. He kept his hoodie down, for now at least.
"I think considering our circumstances, they'll get the job done," Silver suggests. His outfit was a white body suit, paired with black arm cuffs. "This outfit doesn't feel restricting at all to me."
"You all were harder than necessary because you literally had no taste in clothing," Amy says, her outfit being a white tank top with pink accents at the sides. Along with that, she had pink pants on with white accents and pink sports shoes. "Me and Tangle had to do our best with you lot, but Jaiden on the other hand…" The attention went to the broad hedgehog walking in the middle of the group. He wore a long-sleeved black compression shirt with gold accents on the sleeves, allowing his necklace to sit over his chest. He adorned gray camouflage pants along with his usual black-gold shoes.
"He knew exactly what he wanted. It looks amazing on him, too," Tangle shouts, her new attire consists of an orange short-sleeved shirt with black arm cuffs and her same sports tape, paired with black pants with orange and white striped accents like from her previous outfit.
"Well, I used to wear compression outfits when I'd train with Shira, I'm just used to them," Jaiden inputs, dusting imaginary dust off his shirt. The entire group walks into HQ, with Knuckles closing the door behind them.
"Jaiden, have you ever considered taking down your quills," Amy asks. Jaiden habitually fiddles with the black hair tie holding his quills in dreadlocks.
"Nah, not really," he responds, looking at the pink hedgehog. "My quills are pretty long but… it's just never been my style. I never really… felt the need, y'know?" Jaiden looks down for a moment, and a memory plays in his head.
"Nah, keep it tied back, Lil bro. That style shows just what you are," The image of Shira in Jaiden's head looks at him with a smile. "A leveled leader. Besides, if you lead in anything, you can't just have your style to freestyle unless you know things are under control."
"Probably why you always wore your hair tied up in those coils," Jaiden thinks to himself. "You were too damn good at hiding that pain you had."
"Oh, that's right," Tails shouts. The young fox runs up to Jaiden. "Jaiden, if you don't mind, could you come with me to the back?"
"Oh, yuh, I gotchu," the light-gray hedgehog responds. The rest of the group looked with slight confusion as the two walked back to the lab.
Laboratory
As the two walk in, they are greeted by Belle, who doesn't change her appearance at all. She was at a table and looked to be hiding something in front of her body. The tinkerer turns her head slightly to see the two walking it.
"Tails, can I show it to him," the wooden doll questions.
"It's about ready, so you can," the young fox confirms. At that, Belle turns her body toward the two animals in front of her, holding a piece of gear in her hands. She walks up to Jaiden, the hedgehog having a slightly dumbfounded look etching his face.
"We made several already for the people that's gonna be out there, but we wanted to let you see it first," Tails implies, putting a hand on his hip. Jaiden holds his hands out and grabs the vest. He takes a moment to take in the details of the piece of gear; they got it nearly right down to a tee! It was solid black and was covered with velcro patches. The two front sides had 3 little pouches on them. On the top front, is a long zipper that opens to store armor. The bottom sides have belts that tighten around the body of its user.
"Once again, Tails, Belle, you two really have blown me away," Jaiden says. He slips on his vest, putting his arms through the openings on the sides. He then tightens the belts to keep it firm on his body.
"Well, we still have your sister to thank," Tails says, closing his eyes and scratching his head. "The stuff she provided wasn't necessarily hard to follow, because we made things similar to it in the past. We just never made it like this before, with resources we usually use for other projects. It's been a lot, don't get me wrong, but with Belle here, we figured it out." Jaiden feels out the material used for his vest before he looks back down at the young fox.
"Tails, listen, I know this is probably a lot for someone as young as you, and…" Tails cuts the broad hedgehog off.
"Don't even," he begins, holding his hand up. "Along with Sonic, I've been through thick and thin, this feels no different. Putting your life on the line to save others is exactly what Sonic has taught me to do. I'm gonna do what I can to make sure everyone smiles again. Eggman and XiNai are still at large, and it's our job to ensure we stop them." All Jaiden could do was sigh, then nod at him.
"I followed your sister's exact instructions," Belle says. "But gears and starters, finding some of the needed material was tricky!"
"We'll give the others that need a vest one soon, but Jaiden, can I ask you something," Tails says, looking up at Jaiden. The hedgehog raises a brow at him and turns to give the fox his full attention.
"We're grateful for this new technology and all, but I'm assuming you guys were never able to make these yourselves because I would think you'd already have stuff like this when you came here," the young fox states. "Why didn't you have all this before?"
"Oh um," Jaiden coughs. "We, never felt like we had to use much of it quite yet. Our way of doing things was with our weapons. We knew they were really powerful, so we thought we didn't have to use what Xenic used. However…" the hedgehog looks down at his vest. "Apparently Shira figured it out, and was about ready to get us adjusted because she knew another battle was coming." A silence fills the room before Jaiden realizes something. "Oh! Yo, Tails, what happened with that robot that protects Cream? Gemerl, I think his name was."
"Yes, that's his name, and he's back with Cream," Tails responds. He walks over to the table in front of him and grabs a black metallic plate. "When he came too after I repaired him, he approached us. He looked the same but he asked me for something. Seeing what we were making, he wanted upgrades, too, to 'better protect Cream and her family.' I worked on improving his armor and the core in his chest, and I took some inspiration from these firearms we were making, so I upgraded his current blaster to fire these bullets here." Tails hovers his hand over to the right and picks up a .50 caliber bullet, its shell gleaming in the light. Jaiden only muttered sounds as his eyes widened and his pupils shrunk.
"T-Tails," he starts. "You gave that fool a canon, that shoots goddamn 50 cal!?"
"Yeah, why, is there something wrong," the young fox questions in response.
"I, uh… n-n-nothing," Jaiden finally musters out, his face going to a slightly concerned look. "He should certainly have a better time protecting them."
"Well, yeah, of course. I saw Shira's notes on the ammunition, and she says that the 50-caliber rounds were extremely powerful. Going off that, I gave Gemerl the best option."
"...but do you know what 50-caliber does to people and objects?"
"No." An awkward silence fills the room, with everyone staring at one another, with a big smile on Tails' face.
"Hate to be the one that bothers Cream this time," Jaiden thinks to himself.
"Oh, Tails," Belle chants out to the young fox. He turns to her. "Can we give it to him?"
"Is it ready," he questions in response to the wooden doll. She nods in response. Jaiden raises a brow at this little banter and looks back and forth between them.
"Wwwwwwhat are you two talkin' 'bout," he questions. The two shoot Jaiden a smile before Belle walks to a table across the room. A couple of seconds pass before they hear the doll grunting, carrying a long black case. She walks up to a surprised Jaiden and puts the case in his hands. The hedgehog holds this case for a moment, seeing his name on a sticky note on the front.
"As we were reading, we saw some… personal notes that Shira left just for you," Tails exclaimed. "That's how we were able to see your favorite weapon that she knows you work best with." Before the hedgehog puts the case on the table, Belle moves the gunpowder and metal she was working with to the side. Popping the latches, Jaiden's mouth was slightly agape. He slowly opened it, and his eyes sparkled. "An 'MP5.' Custom made with '10mm Auto' instead of the usual '9mm Parabellum' she marked it coming with."
"I had to make it a tad thicker and a little longer than the 9mm ones," Belle says with a smile. "Shira says its supposed to be a stronger version that has a little more kick and power."
"You, you guys replicated it so well," Jaiden whispers out. The weapon attachments were to a tee; just how Jaiden tells his sister to make: The stock was collapsed, with a studded surface. Gazing over to the left, the fire mode switch could be seen next to the light interface like the other weapons had to indicate which wisp is being used. The magazine was straight out, and a light interface accented the edges. Going back up, the barrel stayed the factory version, however, the muzzle held a long, thick suppressor, and the bottom of the barrel had a stripped, thick, vertical grip. Jaiden slowly takes the weapon out of the case, from on top of the cordua holding it and the other 3 magazines in place. He holds it up for a moment, his right hand gripping the grip tape on the weapon's rear and he feels the material against his chaos emerald. His left hand tightly grips the underbarrel attachment. He looks through the iron sights: the back being rectangular and the front being circular with a stud up in the middle of it. "Damn."
"While we don't know what exactly those extra features do," Tails inputs. "Your sister says those are the ones you like, so we wanted to stay faithful to her instructions." Jaiden presses the eject button against the magazine well, and inspects the skinny mag, seeing all the bullets in place.
"Oh, I know exactly what they do," Jaiden says with a gritty smile. "'Preciate y'all." He toys with the chamber on the left side of the barrel. "You guys think I can have a holster for this?"
"Actually, yeah, I figured you'd need one, so I took the liberty of making a hip holder the same size as that thing," Tails proudly said. He turns around to the back table, grabs a plastic holster with fabric straps, and hands it to Jaiden. The hedgehog puts his MP5 down and straps the holster around his waist like a belt. After this, he grabs his weapon and carefully places it in the plastic, that was melded to fit the frame of his MP5 well; the barrel and magazine hanging in place.
"Ooooooo you don't know how satisfying that is," Jaiden chants out. Before anything else could be said, Belle lets out an "eep!" as the three hear the door open. Walking through the door, was none other than Whisper the Wolf. Her eyes were slightly open, and her face rested in a natural frown.
"Oh, Whisper, hey," Tails greets. "Not really used to seeing you without your cool mask, and did you take off your cloak?" The wolf ignores Tails' advances, however, and walks up to Jaiden.
"Jaiden," she starts, making the hedgehog's ear twitch. "the weapons that they used… the weapons that she used…" the wolf looks down at the ground, before up at Jaiden. "it was like my wispon, except it was a little different." The hedgehog crosses his arms.
"Yeah. The weapons used by Stalker were an AX50 and a 1911 if I recall," he responds, looking up, before back at the wolf again. "What's it to you, though? If ain't know no better, you don't trust me, even after I SAVED your asses." Whisper closes her eyes and clenches her sharp teeth, not being able to hide a low growl, before she sighs.
"i want something, like hers," she begrudgingly whispers in response.
"..." Jaiden never said a word, just eyeing this wolf down. His thoughts then drift back to weapon training. Whisper's shots, despite never using these different firearms, were deadly accurate. Not only that, with the subtle kick the pistols they were using had, she controlled it very well. The hedgehog sighs. "I remember Tangle saying your wispon was like a sniper, and your mask was like a scope. I saw and heard about that accuracy of yours. I think I know a rifle that suits you."
"my wispon did more than just shoot," she scoffs, squinting her eyes again and crossing her arms.
"I have an idea for that, Whisper," Tails adds. "And we'll give you a vest. It'd be best if all the Diamond Cutters got one."
"okay," the wolf simply responds, holding a thumbs up at the young fox.
"Ight, Tails, how soon can you make this," Jaiden starts, getting the attention of everyone in the room.
"I think our girl, Whisper here could do a lot with an SPR-M24."
AUTHOR'S NOTE #3: I'm sure you've noticed, but yes, the weapons are named based on Call of Duty/IRL weapons. Figured it'd be a little clever. The first weapon Tails and Belle made was the Kilo 141, renamed of course as the Kilo-443. The rifle Whisper is about to get the SPR 208, just renamed as the SPR-M24. I also want to make it clear that the weapon training, some updates with XiNai, and a little more on Whisper and Jaiden's relationship will be clarified in a spin-off issue. (Because there is a lot to cover)