For once, the Resistance Base was almost completely silent. Their main room of operations was an endless supply of work, conflicts, and hardship that created a constant tension within its walls. Not even the night shifts on guard duty, after most of them had left to try and get some sleep, were exempt from stress. Now, finally, they had made a major accomplishment in their fight for the world, one which took every ounce of their strength. No one had reason or energy to worry right now, finally creating a sense of solidarity as everyone enjoyed their victory.

Of course, that did not mean that the Resistance was able to rest. Eggman was almost certainly going to double down on his own efforts to quash them now that they had stolen an ace from under his nose. As such, a particular fiery-red avian could be found doing some research on the HQ's main screen in the dead of night.

Eggman Industries
Project 1107
Codename: Prism

File: Color Power Generator

Premise

A device capable of mimicking the capabilities of the Wisp species to draw Color Energy from their surroundings and concentrate it. Color Energy is more stable than Chaos Energy, as the name may imply, and thus is more suitable for spontaneous generation. A repeat of the issues surrounding my grandfather's Project Shadow is not desirable.

Ledge was interrupted from his reading by the sound of the Base's automatic door opening behind him. He gritted his beak – he didn't want the others knowing about his data escapade quite yet, and the current night watch wasn't supposed to return from their shift for another couple of hours.

"Who's up at this late hour?" the visitor inquired in a soft whisper. Amy's voice now was quite the contrast to her impassioned exclamations following the rescue of what the bird had since realized was a strong, unrequited love interest. "Oh, it's just you, Ledge. Something on your mind?"

"Nothing in particular. Just recreationally watching some late-night Egg-o-vision," he replied, trying to keep his voice casual and sarcastic. He quickly powered down the screen and turned his full attention to the woman at his back.

The pink hedgehog had switched her attire from her usual frilly red dress to a maroon one that fit her more snugly. She wore plum-colored mittens and socks, as well as a pair of violet slippers. Each of the slippers had a face on them with two plush horns with dark stripes that curved back with a sharp angle. Must be a reference to some popular culture icon I never paid attention to.

"Very funny. Really, there's no need to be shy. No one sets foot on the Death Egg and walks out unscathed."

"I was serious about the first part of that. I was really working on my inventions is all. Nothing you would have any interest in. How's Sonic?"

Amy sighed deeply. "Poor baby has to readjust to sleeping in a bed. He'll have nightmares for months, I bet. I just came here to get more bandages and some water for when he wakes up again."

She shuffled around to gather those items while Ledge watched silently. He had observed during his time that she was something of the core of the team despite not being the Commander. She de-escalated many of the disagreements that broke out, particularly those against him, and kept the computer he was currently using very organized with their resources and plans. She was also quite skilled with her hammer (not to mention being able to hide it nigh-undetectably on her person), but that seemed secondary to her role than helping everyone else out. He admired that.

It wasn't long before the door closed behind her and Ledge was left to his devices. Truth be told, there was something else on Ledge's mind: that green wolf. The Alpha, as she referred to herself. An enigma in his understanding of the state of this mission. How did she know about his Wispon? Does that mean Eggman knows about it? Why would he want it now when it was taken four months ago?

It was even more reason to commit his full faculties into researching the Wispons and producing as many of them as he can. And for that, I'll need a factory…

Crouched on the roof, a figure watched towers of wooden crates made their way down a street in the City. One tower stood above the rest at around double the height, and beneath it sprouted green legs with black boots. The smaller stacks walked on legs of various colors, and an oversized bee flew around the group.

"Aw, yeah! We're gonna have a party with all this food!" the bee exclaimed.

"Easy for you to say when you're not carrying any of it!" the large tower responded, a snout sticking out from behind the side to identify the carrier as a crocodile.

"You're just jealous that I'm so good at finding it!" Charmy retorted, roosting on top of the tower of boxes to peer down at his friend and guardian.

"Hey, watch it, you'll knock it–whoa!"

The top two boxes on the stack tipped off. Charmy was able to catch the one he had been perched on, but the other fell towards the ground.

Without wasting an instant, the figure sprung into action. It leapt off of the building, rolling perfectly with its feline build as it hit the ground. Using the momentum, it cleared the distance to the group in seconds and entered a slide.

Vector could only watch in terror as the box of provisions was about to spill everywhere, until it got swept away by a black-and-yellow blur. Gently but quickly, he and the others set down their loads to address what just happened.

Breathing heavily on the ground was a black cat with yellow stripes. Or, at least it looked to be, due to the large crate covering most of its body. It could theoretically be a yellow cat with black stripes, and as a detective, Vector wasn't going to assume anything. The face was mostly black, though, with the exception of a yellow cross on its forehead and a yellow bandana covering its mouth that evened out the color scheme.

"… 'sup," the cat wheezed out, unable to remove the crate that was pinning it to the ground.

"Now that's what I call ace reflexes!" Vector remarked as he easily lifted the worn brown box and set it aside.

He extended a hand, and when the cat accepted, he noticed that it was wearing a gold, stylized snake bracelet. The other hand had a more standard bracelet, also gold, and its feet were covered by sneakers with a gold-and-black color scheme. Now that the crate was out of the way, he could also see that it wore a big black belt with a gold buckle.

"And some serious bling, to boot! You're making me look like a chump!"

The cat laughed, a voice just above the middle of the spectrum, which he knew to be a contralto. This surprised Vector, as the cat didn't look much like a girl. But then again, people had never been his strong suit, and he couldn't deny that his view of gender was somewhat dated compared to today's kids. Speaking of kids…

His reptilian eyes saw Charmy trying to fly away and hide. The croc pointed dramatically at him and said, "Where do you think you're going, you little troublemaker?"

"Woah, hey, chill out," the cat interjected. "It was an accident, no one got hurt. Cut the kid some slack."

The perpetrator floated back over to the conversation. "I agree with the cool new guy! Err, girl. But also… I'm sorry for that. I should've known better."

"Apology accepted." Vector smiled a toothy grin, then turned his attention to the new face. "Hey, you got a name, kid?"

"Yeah, my name's Arc. Arc the Lynx."

"It's a pleasure to meet you! You know, we could really use someone with your skills in the Resistance. Whaddaya say?"

"Been thinking about asking you guys that myself. Eggman needs a taste of his own medicine after taking all of us prisoner aboard that space station. I want to help take him down any way I can."

"Well, in that case…" Vector held up his fist, and Arc mirrored with hers. With a fist bump, they sealed the deal. "Welcome to the team, rookie!"

A couple of days later, the two red bodies of Ledge and Knuckles stood in front of the Resistance HQ's large monitor, an image of a metal pyramid surrounded by sand on the screen behind them. Amy and the Chaotix were listening from various locations around the room, and Sonic was finally standing up and walking about.

The echidna cleared his throat. "Alright, now that we've had a few days to get the refugees from the Death Egg settled in, we need to refocus on our battle for the planet. Whatever's going on in the Mystic Jungle, Eggman must be scrambling for a plan now that we've stolen an ace from under his nose. I'll admit, I never really planned for what would happen if we got this far. Sonic, finding you alive is the best news we've had since this war began."

He paused for a brief moment, which everyone in the room took as an opportunity for a round of applause. Sonic himself looked a little sheepish for once at all the attention he was getting.

"But not to worry, because I'm here," Ledge continued. "If we want to build up a force that can fight Eggman's army, we'll need a lot of firepower with which to do so. I have made a breakthrough in the development of weapons like mine, which I now know are called Wispons, that should allow me to mass-produce them."

"As you may recall from when we raided it a few months ago, Eggman's got a weapons factory in Sand Ocean, pumping out munitions for his war effort," Knuckles explained. "If we take that, we can reverse engineer it for our own use. Sonic, I know you just got back, but we're spread thin as it is with supplying our refugees and skirmishing around City limits. Can you take care of this?"

The hedgehog gave an easy smile. "Eggman's recycling his old base for parts, eh? Well, I've got six months of payback I'm just dying to spend. This sounds like a good start!"

"You sure about this?" Vector questioned, his mouth a frown instead. "Sonic, you've been shaking like a leaf the whole time since we got back from the Death Egg. No offense, but I don't want your mouth to write a check your body can't cash yet."

The croc received a pointed look from Sonic, who made slight gestures towards the female hedgehog that was looking at him with great concern. It was clear he wanted to get away from her after being doted upon for several days now.

"Take the rookie with you then, to be safe," Knuckles amended.

"I'm… afraid I can't do that, Commander," Ledge refused, his gaze lacking the confidence it had a few moments before.

"Ledge, wait… what?" Espio said, confused.

"I am retiring from the adventuring business, effective immediately."

"But why?" Charmy asked. "You saved our tails back there!"

"I did, but it was a situation I do not wish to repeat," he answered, his free hand moving almost subconsciously to his waist where he had been injured. "Near-death experiences are far out of my comfort zone, I'm afraid. I think I am better equipped to provide logistics and coordination, much as Amy Rose and our dear Commander do."

"The Commander does also get field experience," Knuckles argued. "I really don't think it's smart to send Sonic in there alone right now."

"I know. Of course, I wouldn't be making this declaration if I hadn't prepared for contingencies. Arc, if you will?"

The black-and-yellow cat appeared from an inconspicuous location off to the side and walked up to the front, in between the two presenters. In her hand was a black square-looking device with a yellow handle as one of the sides. A large lightning bolt design was extruded on both faces across the diagonal and extended beyond the square into a clamp.

"I present to you the Lightning Wispon, the second of Eggman's prototypes," Ledge gestured. Arc waved and opened her mouth to say something, but the well-dressed avian didn't give her the chance. "Arc here has volunteered to test it out on this next mission. Is that to your liking, Commander?"

Knuckles didn't look extremely pleased, but he relinquished nonetheless. "I suppose so. Sonic, you take the lead. Rookie… just make sure you take good notes."

A flash of blue, yellow, and black approached a large, beige pyramid under the bright, midday sun. The terrain around them was a mix of faded red pillars and modern metallic structures with the same beige color scheme as the pyramid. It all rested on a mostly flat expanse of sand for miles around.

Knuckles: "Sonic, it looks like your return has inspired more people to volunteer! I can send reinforcements if you don't think you can handle it."

The blue of the duo shook his head, although the echidna on the other end wouldn't be able to see it. Running free under the sun and blue sky was a sensation Sonic had sorely missed. All of his worries about the fate of the world, his friends, and of that cold hard torture were but dust in the wind. He was home now, and nothing could take away this moment from him.

Sonic: "No need! The two of us are more than enough. We'll blitz the place and open up a path for the Resistance!"

He turned to the cat holding onto him. "Right, partner?"

Arc's expression was hidden under her bandanna, but her eyes betrayed a look of excitement but also of weariness. He had seen that look on pretty much everyone the first time he dragged them along for a run. It was the look of someone who has never gone so fast in their life, leaving them exhilarated yet exhausted because they haven't grown their running legs yet.

"Hah… I think you're doing most of the work here…" she exhaled as she focused on keeping up.

"Hey, you're doing pretty well! Tails tripped five minutes in when we first met."

"Is that so… Wait, up ahead!"

The hedgehog's green eyes looked to see a squadron of Egg Pawns ahead. "Well, sorry, no time for a break quite yet. We're kicking it into high gear!"

He switched Arc's left hand into his own, secured her behind him by grabbing her right with his, and they shot away with a sonic boom. Arc's world turned into a blur of yellow, red, blue, and robot parts as they rocketed through the squad. It was over quickly, and as the two ascended a large brown pillar that had toppled backwards onto the sand, Sonic guided the lynx back around to his right side.

"Looks like you're up!" he commented.

They leapt off the edge of the pillar together, over a ravine of sand created between the ancient structure behind them and the modern one in front. The pathway visible in front of them was littered with Egg Pawns, although the shade did look tempting. Arc's mind quickly registered what shade meant, and she looked up to see another walkway above. Two pipes connected to each other above it with a red sphere-looking thing, which had a narrow center that was just begging to be hooked into. She pressed a button on the Lightning Wispon and swung it forward. A long chain flew out of the device and wrapped around the divet, holding taut as it reeled her and Sonic to it.

Once they cleared the floor of the roof, a lone robot became visible in front of them. This one was much more humanoid, with a separate, somewhat flat head with green eyes above its round, silver body. Its limbs were longer, with back-folding legs and two small cannons in place of its forearms.

The robot was also more observant than a regular Egg Pawn, as it noticed them as soon as they appeared and began charging both of its cannons. Arc felt Sonic's hand tense in hers, and she realized she needed to be the one to take action. She pressed the button again to slacken the chain and immediately pointed the Wispon at the robot, letting the chain roll out to wrap around its neck.

With another press, the chain retracted, pulling the robot and feline towards each other in their equal and opposite reactions. While the weapon was built to withstand this particular force, the robot's head was ripped off of its body, which fell uselessly to the ground. Both Mobians stuck their landing.

"That was wicked cool!" Arc exclaimed, pulling down her protective cloth to reveal a large grin on her face. "I don't know how I pulled that off."

Sonic gave her a thumbs up. "You'll get the hang of it. Glad to see you've figured out how fun it is! Ready to keep moving?"

"You bet."

The roof they were on curved in an S-shape, and its surface was plastered was golden, unfilled circles laying in neatly arranged rows.

"Rings? What are they doing here?" Sonic asked. It seemed to be a rhetorical question, because he immediately went about touching as many of them as possible, causing them to disappear in a sparkle. This was a completely ordinary sight for her, because Rings were the standard currency of Mobians worldwide. No one understood how they worked or where they came from, but no one was going to question having an infinite, weightless wallet that only worked for them. She went about picking them up, too.

Once they had cleaned the rooftop, they continued speeding on their way. They cleared a gap onto a raised alcove that covered a pipe leading out towards the pyramid over another pit. With another flick of her chain, she and Sonic latched on to a pole somewhere and skidded across the curved surface of the pipe. It met with a road leading straight towards the pyramid, so they hopped off. However, the sight before them made them wish they had scouted their path more thoroughly.

Robots by the dozens stood in formation on the road, in between them and their destination. Sonic wouldn't be too concerned if they were just Egg Pawns and those Gamma knock-offs, but he could see further down several ranks of a larger, sleeker model of robot, their left arms morphed into shields. He would never forget how painful those were to fight all the way back on the Egg Fleet, and that was individually.

"I think it's time for the two of us to team up," he proposed, looking at his supposed student once more with a sly grin. She eagerly made eye contact, a glint of wild excitement shining from within.

That second exchange confirmed an inkling that Sonic had. There was something else to the look in Arc's eyes that was much more special than a first-time Speed of Sound Service. It was the look of someone who wanted more. The look that said, "This is what I've been searching for in my life!" It was rare for someone to have that adventurous spirit, even among his friends. He had only seen that look once before: in the face of Miles Prower.

And that link, that undertaking, birthed an incredible dynamic. It didn't take any training or explanation for Tails to know what to do, from extracting him from dangers like the start of that first standoff with the Red Mask, to performing powerful moves like the Rolling Combo. The Blue Blur could feel that connection here with Arc, and the glow that started to form around them proved him right.

"It doesn't matter what obstacles they put in our way. We'll blow past everything they throw at us! Double BOOST!"

They high-fived, the aura flaring to life, and they blasted forward. Any robot that touched them was eviscerated by the energy they were producing. Even the E-2000s failed to slow them down, so much so that Sonic didn't even recognize when they ran through them.

"Yeah, that's how it's done! We've got unstoppable speed and timing! We just have to keep this up."

The road ended at the base of the pyramid, but they simply didn't care and kept running up the side of the pyramid, all the way to the top.

The excitement petered out once they hit the apex, revealing a large hole in the flat top of the pyramid. The first time Sonic and his friends had raided this pyramid, it was used to launch a rocket into space. From the empty cylinder leading into the heart of the pyramid, it didn't look like it had been repurposed or reconstructed since then. That's exactly what Sonic was hoping for.

Sonic: "Bingo! Found a way in!"

Amy: "Perfect! I don't think you'll have radio reception while you're in there. Stay alert!"

Sonic: "Heh. This should be fun!"

Sonic loved skydiving. He straightened his body and went straight into a nosedive. However, an alarm triggered the moment he passed through the aperture, causing walls of lasers to appear throughout the shaft.

"Sonic, what do I do?!" Arc called. Sonic glanced up to see the lynx quickly covering the distance to a laser wall, limbs flailing all the way.

Oh, yeah, not everyone is a natural at this…

It was easy enough for him to change his posture back and spread his limbs to slow his descent. He leaned to adjust himself closer to her as they fell and carefully flipped himself over to look at her directly.

"Stay calm!" he shouted over the sounds of machinery around them. "Don't worry about the lasers! Those Rings we collected earlier will protect you!"

Arc didn't look particularly comforted, and she braced for impact with the lasers. As he had foretold, though, she wasn't hurt by them at all. Instead, the Rings scattered in all directions with a distinct clanging sound he had heard all too many times.

Sonic sighed. He looked over his shoulder to see what other obstacles had been placed on this vertical course, and nearly lost his own composure when he saw a second laser wall in front of the first. Again, Arc was headed for a head-on collision, but she had no protection this time.

"Arc, spread your limbs wide, like me! Do it now!"

The feline did as she was told, but without the proper form, her arms and legs uselessly dangled behind her instead of increasing her drag. Sonic squinted away as she made impact, fearing the worst. But he didn't hear or smell signs of a fried cat. That distinct sound came again, and he peeked out to see a singular Ring fall from her possession.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I-I think! Except for the part where we're still falling from the sky!"

Do all cats hate heights? Or just the ones I know? Sonic questioned. He flipped himself to focus on the other lasers that were popping up from the wall. Arc had fallen enough that they were almost level, and the hedgehog guided himself over so he could grab onto her. They were clear from the next wall, so he had time to find a comfortable position to be able to pull her.

"Okay. My mistake there, leaving you behind. But I'm here now, so please calm down."

Arc took a steadying breath. She closed her eyes and allowed her limbs to catch the wind as much as possible. The force against her was awkward, but manageable.

"See, now you got it! Now follow me. I don't want to freak you out again, but there are more lasers, and they're moving now."

She opened her golden eyes and saw that the laser walls were indeed spinning around the circular chasm. But she was in the groove now, she wasn't scared. Going with the flow was what she did. She allowed Sonic to navigate them through the air, and he did so with skill. They spiraled beautifully and landed on the ground on their own two sets of feet.

As soon as they did, though, she let go and started pacing a little bit.

"What's up?"

"Oh, just… shaking myself out a little bit. Not every day you have a near-death experience, y'know?"

Sonic refrained from commenting that that was basically his last six months in a nutshell. In fact, he really didn't want that thought to come back up at all. "You wanna know one of my mottos?" he asked tersely. "If you have time to worry, then run. Eggman already knows we're here, let's not give him a chance to set up a trap or something." He started jogging deeper into the facility without really paying attention to whether Arc had followed him or not.

The lynx frowned and started after him. His mood had changed quite a bit since their mission started, and it was not at all like the jolly, groovy speedster that had become revered in everyone's memories. It was a red flag for anyone experienced on city streets, but she couldn't just give up faith in the heroic hedgehog like that.

She passed through a square archway, curiously noting the letters "E-01" on the wall over the frame. What lay on the other side felt like an entrance to another world. In stark contrast to the stainless steel launch pad, she stepped onto an ancient stone balcony, painted in faded red and green patterns. A fairly large chasm lay before Sonic and her, filled with enormous gears many times their size that looked a lot newer than the aged infrastructure holding them up. The interlocking network made any of the other walls impossible to see.

Her blue companion looked back at her and raised his eyebrows; any trace of his previous attitude was gone. "So they're building weapons here, huh? Looks like the fun's just beginning. How about you lead the way from here? I bet that chain of yours will be real useful."

A pensive smile crept across her face. Although the gears looked much more dangerous than the fall, they at least made floors and walls to cling to and had overhanging supports for her chain. It would be a fun challenge indeed.

"You got it, dude."

Together, they leapt onto a flat gear before them. Taking only a brief moment to orient herself to its rotation, she immediately made a running jump onto a vertical gear connecting to its side. Practically crawling up its side, she grabbed one of the square teeth, itself fully capable of holding her weight, and pulled herself up. She looked back to see Sonic following one step behind her, and her grin widened.

Their gear rotated in parallel with another ahead, creating a metal sandpit that would eat them if they stood in inaction. She crouched down in her little alcove, and when the angle was right, she leapt across. But she didn't stop there, lest she get pulled back. She made a single bound across the exterior face of another tooth and leapt to the next one, repeating it until she was at a point where the gear was pushing her upwards.

Behind her, Sonic appeared to be struggling to mimic her movements, and he had to perform one of his midair dashes to meet her. While it probably should've been at least slightly concerning, she instead reveled in it, her grin now reaching from ear to ear. Without hesitation, she took his hand and hefted her chain to a bar protruding from one of the support beams. Sonic barely had time to register what she was doing and properly anchor himself to her before she jumped off.

"Tsk tsk, Sonic, you're going to have to be faster than that," she mocked.

"You're calling me slow? Ha! Did you forget how hard you were trying to keep up with me before?" he shot back. His tone of voice conveyed that he was both surprised and amused by this.

They landed on a flat gear across the way, which was connected with a series of others like stepping stones. A heavy rumbling above them caused them to hesitate. Pretty quickly, a large, flying cart of some kind stopped overhead. A bunch of robots just like the one she initially destroyed outside dutifully disembarked on all sides, falling in a rough circle around the two of them.

"World's fastest hedgehog is a pretty big title," Arc responded. She flicked a switch on the handle of her weapon and heard the crackling of it charging. "It's not just about your miles per hour, you gotta be fast at everything!"

Using both hands, she swung her chain loose, a glowing yellow line bursting with energy. It cleaved through any robots it met with a satisfying crack. She turned herself in tune with the gear to maximize her the degree of her arc; Sonic had to jump rope to avoid becoming prickly in another way than his spines.

"For example, you were too slow to beat these robots," she added as her chain cooled and retracted. As she turned her body to look at the Blue Blur directly, she noticed a robot that she had missed, its glowing gun barrels pointed straight at her. "Oh crap!"

The robot fired before the words finished leaving her lips, but it was toppled a split-second later. Sonic was already there, kicking out the robot's midsection using his hand as a fulcrum. Turning back towards Arc, he easily outran the bullets and tackled Arc out of their path.

And then, in one fluid motion, he did a handspring to land on his feet, crossed his left leg over his other one as he turned to face her, and started wagging his index finger at her. The dumbfounded look on her face was hilarious. This was the classic Sonic pose, after all. She had been thoroughly and completely owned.

"Now, what were you saying? I couldn't hear you over the sounds of me saving your butt."

Arc said nothing as she got onto her feet, re-orienting herself with the motion of their platform, and started walking. Sonic laughed out loud for several seconds before focusing on the goal ahead of them. This place looked so different than when he was here last; a lot of the original pathways seemed to have been cleared to make room for these gears. At least those hourglass doors seemed to be gone, too.

The gears led up to another platform. The edge of this one was crumbled, but Sonic could recollect that this was supposed to be one of the pyramid's long, winding pathways. Only a winding trail of Rings between the machinery above provided evidence of its former existence.

"Those gears aren't safe to climb," Arc stated, still not looking towards Sonic. "Is this a dead end?"

"Nah. I've found many uses for Rings across the years." Sonic gave her a smug look, happy that she wasn't paying attention. He rushed forward, grabbing her hand again and ignoring her obviously flinch at the touch, and took off at light speed across the path of rings. In a fraction of a second, they were traveling up under a pair of gears facing them and through a large loop-de-loop through the air before the path of rings led them to the left.

Another gear platform met them on the other end, connected to a couple other vertical and horizontal ones. However, when they landed on it, those gears pulled back, and another cart filled with E-1000s dropped down. This time, they doubled up, a ring surrounding them on the ground and another in the air supported by jetpacks.

Arc took a moment to come to her senses before powering up her Wispon. She began chewing through the ground troops with cracks of lightning. Over the commotion, she shouted to Sonic. "Man, you already got me back. Was that really necessary?"

"Sorry, but no one insults my speed," the hedgehog replied, leaping up and beginning to pick apart the flyers with Homing Attacks. "Mess with the best, fall like the rest! But yeah, I'm done."

The enemies were quickly dispatched, and the surrounding gears shifted back into place.

"Cool. Now what was that you did?"

"That was a Light Dash. It's an odd experience to describe. It's kinda like that Boosting we did earlier, where I just will myself to move forward and it happens. But Boosting power comes from within. A Light Dash is like… channeling yourself through the rings, if that makes any sense."

"Kinda like electricity?"

"Yeah, exactly! It took me a long time to take off the training wheels on that one."

They clambered up the gears onto another long, ancient platform. In the distance, they could see a similar alcove attached to one of the walls of the giant room. Three stone shacks were placed evenly along the platform, and a variety of cables, axles, and antennae were hooked up to each one of them.

"My guess is Eggman has them here to conduct power," Arc commented.

"Who knows? Rings like to show up in unexpected places. Anyway, we must be close to the control center. But how to get over there…"

Before they could come up with any plans, another rumbling sound distracted them. They looked around for the source, but couldn't find any until robots started falling from the sky.

"Up there!" Arc called, pointing at a large square hatch in the ceiling. Dozens of robots were spilling out and positioning themselves in between the heroic duo and their goal. There were two models, both of which had gray bodies shaped like lumps and two arms attached to their bottom sides. One was bluer with a visor-like eye and spear-like arms. The other was purple-ish with a circular eye, and its arms were both as large as the main body and had several claw-like spikes that were pulsating with a green energy.

"Shoot, I forgot this place had those hatches!" Sonic bemoaned. "These types of enemies didn't used to be here. But I recognize those ones with the hands. They want to capture us!"

"Well, there's no way I'm going back to that space prison! Ledge made me a big gun just for a moment like this!"

"Those things aren't going to go down to your chain-whip thing! They're just as fast as it."

"That's not my plan," she said, taking out a capsule. Inside was a pale yellow creature shaped like a lightning bolt, with three angular tentacles keeping it afloat. She slotted the cylinder perfectly into the hole in the Wispon's reel. "Now come on!"

Once again, she grabbed his hand and sprinted forward without giving him a chance to ready himself. She flicked her switch and felt all of her fur stand on end as the air became charged with electricity. She leapt off their platform to meet the robots, and as soon as one got within several meters of her, bolts of lightning flew out of the Wispon and surged into it. The arc jumped to the next robot, and the next, snaking its way along the entire horde and destroying each one moments after contact.

The Arc jumped through them as well. The Wisp inside her weapon seemed to be responding to her desires, and its power pulled her and Sonic through the chain of robots just like the chain of Rings. Within seconds, they had cleared the whole group and the gap. The electricity, thirsting for more, attached itself to a nearby power cable, causing the Wispon to clamp down like a zipline as gravity pulled their twosome towards the generators in the center.

Arc screamed. She screamed as loud as she could. Not in fear, or in pain, but in excitement. Back in the streets of Empire City, she had taken up parkour because she wanted the thrills of such activities like roof-hopping and climbing buildings dozens of stories high. This moment, right here, blew all of that a mile out of the water.

They landed on top of the center of the flat rooves with a stunning lack of grace. They tumbled unceremoniously from the cable onto the stone, and Arc definitely heard some pops and cracks. She ended face-up, arms spread out, and she could feel the electricity inside her literally and metaphorically draining itself. She allowed herself to lie there, eyes closed, for an unknown amount of time.

"Alright, I have to hand it to you, Arc," Sonic finally said. She opened her eyes as he stood over her with a goofy look and an extended hand. "You may not as fast or sharp-witted as me, but you are, for sure, far more daring and foolish."

He pulled her into a sitting position, and she couldn't help but laugh. She laughed as loud as she could, too. Sonic couldn't help but laugh with her, until she went hoarse and couldn't laugh any more.

Coughing, she finally pulled herself onto her feet and they went to complete their mission.