Chapter 79: Shapes of Bonds
Tikal has felt comfortable within the city of Echindapolis wanting to practice her powers with Mina tagging along with her trying to push her levels to fight Minerva one day when they get back to her dimension. Mina observes Tikal transforming her arms into water claws to unleash long whips of water to slice and tear into nearby trees turning them into piles of wooden scrap.
"Very impressive Tikal," Mina said as she was in a training outfit consisting of a white sports bra and blue leggings showing off her curves.
"I want to help out and become part of your team to recover those Anarchy Beryl gems to get my people to a better world to live in," Tikal said as Mina focused on unleashing waves of fireballs and lightning bolts to strike several trees to turn them into ashes.
"Your water powers will be handy. We got word of a gemstone within an island nearby in the ocean. You can tag along with me and Sonic to recover it," Mina said as she struck the tree with her strong leg to snap it in half using her gravity powers to enhance her physical hits.
"That would be lovely," Tikal said as she was in her new travel outfit consisting of a green combat bodysuit used by female guards of the city militia along with a red skirt, white top, and sandal shoes fitting her old tribal past. Giving her outfit a mix of old and new.
"I love your choice of travel outfit. It's quite fitting for you," Mina said as Tikal nodded her head.
"Thank you so much, I wanted to show you what I can do for you all. My new friends," Tikal said as Mina summons a spike of stone to split a boulder in half.
"Come on, I need to get my gear on and we will head for the island," she said as they went to Mina's house to see Sonic sitting on a couch watching the news.
"Hey there babe," Sonic said to kiss him on the lips.
"Hey honey, we are going with Tikal to secure an Anarchy Beyal on this abandoned island. I need to get into my travel outfit," Mina said as Tikal waited on the couch in the living room. Mina heads for her room to take off her leggings to show her pink panties to look in her mirror.
"Looking good there babe," Sonic gives her a nice slap on her booty making Mina feel wanted.
"Hmm, thanks sweetheart," she said putting on a black tank top and brown short shorts while putting on green gloves and green knee-high boots. She puts her long silky purple hair in a high ponytail. "Okay, let's get into the stealth ship and head for that island to collect the gem," she said as the trio headed off to the hanger to grab Anti Eggman's stealth ship to head off to the location.
Anti-Eggman looks out to see the trio leave the island to search for the gemstone. He looks at his family photo to see his grandfather and cousin to feel a sense of dread. "I wonder, is the legacy of my family to cause pain or to bring hope with the power of science to change the world," he is in deep thought when to hears a weird message on his screen.
"Welcome cousin, it's been a while," a familiar voice said on it as Dr. Ivo looked on with confusion and horror.
"No, I must be hearing things. Maria, you are not real," Dr. Ivo said in disbelief.
"Of course I am but if you want to know the truth about me. Come over to my lair in the mountains within Eurish. We can have a nice chat," Anti Maria said the screen turned off with Anti Eggman being deeply concerned by this.
"I thought I was the only human left and now my cousin shows up out of the blue. Quite curious," he said as he began to get out of the room to meet with Belle.
"Hello there sir," Belle said looking concerned with the worried look on the doctor's face.
"I need to go out for a while," Dr. Ivo said.
"Why, where are you going?" she asked.
"My cousin Maria has contacted me to meet her to confirm her existence," Anti Eggman said as Belle has her wooden mouth opened with shock and surprise.
"This doesn't sound like a good idea," Belle said as Dr. Ivo petted her on the head to comfort her.
"I will be alright, I am a genius afterward. I will figure something out but I need you to keep watch when I am gone. When the worst happens, use the tracker in my glasses to find my location if I go missing," Anti Eggman said as Belle nodded her head.
"Of course, stay safe," she said as she hugged him. Dr. Kintobor goes off with his Egg Pawns guarding him to go into a shuttle to head off to the location Maria told him to go to find out who she managed to survive all this time.
Elsewhere Sonic, Mina, and Tikal go flying towards the island to see the radar detecting the gemstone's power. Mina looks out the window to think about the past. "Hey hon, what's shaking?" Sonic asked.
"Oh hey Sonic, I was thinking about my mother. Seeing your mom, makes me miss my mother," Mina said as Sonic sat beside her to place his hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I bet she is worried along with the others. It's going to be one hell of a story to tell them when we get back home," Sonic said lightly.
"Hey remember when I first showed you off to my mom when we began dating? She was so worried about me," Mina said.
"Ash right?" he asked.
"Yes, I only dated him for around a year when I was 14 years turning 15. He was so clingy to me and wanted to mold me into something I am not. He wanted to help me with my music but only saw credits in his eyes. It was tearing up my soul being with him and I dumped them. My self-worth was shot into the darkness, not sure about myself. Until I met you and you bring me back into the light," she said looking deeply into his eyes to holding onto his hand gripping it softly.
"All I did was point you in the right direction and you did the rest. You are strong-willed and kind, too bad Ash never cared about that," Sonic said.
"Mom was grateful that you came into my life," Mina said.
"Your mother is sweet and bold. Just like you," Sonic said as Mina showed a small smile about this.
"Yeah, mama did so much for me and Melody when Daddy was done protecting us," Mina said thinking about her father who Sonic reminds her of.
"Yeah, I remember when we were traveling around the world after Station Square. We went to your hometown of Okina City to visit your mother," Sonic said as Mina nodded her head.
"I was so happy to finally show you to her and my little sister. I can't talk about you on the phone with them all the time," Mina said as she remembered after the crisis with Chaos was over. After some time after becoming a couple, she finally showed her new boyfriend to her family.
-Flashback Begins-
Within 6 months of dating, Sonic and Main were deeply committed to each other while traveling around the world to stop Eggman's plans which made it hard with two strong speedsters taking him down twice as fast.
Sonic has been aiding her in doing small gigs as her idol persona Songoose within Station Square and other places like Central City, Empire City, and Okina City. At the end of one of her gigs as the Songoose she goes up to hug Sonic backstage.
"Wow Mina, that was one hell of a performance. The crowd loved it," Sonic said as Mina sports a big smile which he grows to adore.
"Yeah, my new song Diamond in the Sky is a big hit. My diamond being you of course," Mina said with Sonic rubbing his nose with his cocky grin.
"Yeah I am, I do look pretty shiny in the big blue sky," Sonic joked as Mina laughed at his silly comment.
"Right, come on. We are here in my lovely city. My hometown of Okina City with humans, Demi-Humans, and Mobians working together in peace," Mina said as they both got away from the stage at the local shopping center.
They are going through the humbler areas of the city which has traditional buildings based on Yurashia culture built on the ashes of ancient Earth cultures like Japanese, Chinese, and Korean heritage.
They go to a tofu shop with a home on top of it on the second floor. "Cute little place, this is a tofu shop?" Sonic asked as Mina nodded her head.
"Yep, this has been in my family for generations. One day I will owe this place along with my future husband," she said with a loving stare with Sonic blushing from this.
"That is a lovely thought," he said going inside the building to see the comfy little tofu shop with people eating in booths and Isabella working at the pot cooking some stew.
"Oh hello there honey, good to see you here. I saw your concert on TV. It was a smash hit and brought a lot of joy here within the city," Isabella said as she went up to her daughter to hug her.
"Mama, this is Sonic. The new boy I told you about," Mina said as Isabella went up to the blue hedgehog to greet him.
"Yes, she tells me all about you. She is quite lovesick with you," Isabella teased as this made Mina embarrassed with her blushing.
"Mama," she protested as Isabella laughed at this in good.
"I am joking, it's good to finally see the boy my girl always talks about," Isabella said
"The honor is my miss. Mina speaks highly of you, you seem like a swell lady," Sonic said as he grabbed her hand to kiss it.
"Oh my, such a gentleman," Isabella said to make them comfortable. "You can head upstairs, it's pretty calm today. I will be up there with you," she said.
"Thanks, mama," she said to take Sonic's hand to go up the stairs to be within her home section. "The business stuff is done on the first floor while our home is on the second floor," she said to be within a living room to see a young girl mongoose watching TV with Mina on screen.
"Hey, I saw your show. You look so pretty on stage," Melody said to go up to hug Mina.
"Thanks, Melody. Sonic, this is my younger sister Melody. She is such a cutie," Mina said.
"Hey there, good to be here," Sonic said as Melody had a bright smile.
"Oh you are Mina's boyfriend right, she always talks about you," she said.
"I bet," Sonic said as Mina petted her on the head.
"Sonic is here to have lunch with us," Mina said as the little girl looked happy about this.
"Okay, I am hungry," Melody said as Isabella came upstairs to grab some spare food they had in the shop kitchen.
"Well, everything is set up downstairs. We have a quick lunch together," Isabella said as she placed a stew on the table in the dining room. "This is a spicy tofu stew I made for the customers. There is a fair bit left. We can enjoy this, Mina grab some glasses for the fruit tea," she asked.
"Yes mama," Mina bows her head in respect for her mother to go to the kitchen to collect the pitcher of fruit tea and glasses for it.
"My dear, I am quite thankful for what are you doing for Mina," Isabella said.
"It's no biggie miss," Sonic said.
"She was very miserable with her past boyfriend Ash. He was trying to help her in setting up her indie career but he was too concerned with money. Only seeing her as a means to an end," Isabella said having a look of relief on her face.
"Yeah, he seems like a piece of work," Sonic said as Mina told him about all the bad things he did which made him sick thinking about it.
"It took a lot of effort to get her to dump him but it was all worth it in the end. Now she is so full of energy and happy. She is overcoming her shyness due to your positive influence," Isabella said feeling pleased with this.
"Well, all I did was give her a good push. She did the work and I am proud of her," Sonic said.
"Me too, I am happy that she has managed to gain her dream guy. It's like me and my husband. It was love at first sight like my daughter with you," Isabella said.
"She told me he died protecting you and the town," Sonic said as Isabella looked over at a photo of her husband, herself, and little Mina while she was pregnant with Melody.
"Yes, he died shortly after I was pregnant with Melody. These girls are his legacy, I am willing to safeguard that. Brave, strong-willed, and filled with justice. You and my husband are very similar which is why Mina has a strong attachment to you," she said.
"I feel honored," Sonic said as Isabella placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Keep my daughter safe. You have my blessing if things get more heated," Isabella said in a playful tone.
"Mama, don't say things like that," Mina said holding onto glasses and a pitcher of fruit tea with both lovers glowing in the face.
"Hey, I want to have grandkids in the future. I am getting older," Isabella said with a cute little wink. She places drinks down for the four to sit at the dining table to enjoy a hearty meal. "I hope you enjoy the meal," she said.
"Oh if you are like your daughter, I am going to deeply enjoy this," Sonic said as Isabella humbled by his words while Mina was blushing from his sweet comments.
"Oh, thanks for that. I try my best," Isabella said as their TV screen came on to see GUN getting ready for something from Eggman.
"That bad man at it again," Melody said.
"Yeah, I have not seen Eggman for a while now. He must be planning something big," Sonic said.
"I know, we need to be aware in the coming months," Mina said as there is a report about an old space colony that was left abandoned for over 50 years.
"That place, the Space Colony Ark. Many scary stories about that place," Isabella said.
"Oh yeah, it was shut down due to some weird experiments that happened there," Mina said
"I never hear of it," Sonic said
"No surprise, it was a place of knowledge until bad things happened up there and now it's long abandoned. Only drones remain up there," Isabella said for Mina and Sonic have a bad feeling about this. They enjoy their meal with Sonic having a good time meeting with Mina's mother and younger sister.
-Flashback Ends-
Mina gets out of her memories by looking at her beloved husband. "After I am done with singing as the Songoose. I can retire singing and run the family tofu business with you by my side," Mina said to lay her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah with you, me, and a ton of kids around our feet. Keeping up the family business," Sonic said as Mina kissed him on the muzzle.
"Oh yes, I am looking forward to that baby," she said as they arrived at the island which is a tropical place with plenty of palm trees and sand on the beach. "Goodness, wish we could take a dip here," she said with the hot air brushing against her purple hair to dance along with it.
Sonic holds the gem radar to see if the gemstone is heading deep within the jungle. "Time to split and jam girls," Sonic said rushing into the jungle to upon weird machine creatures.
"These look-like animals turned from the Metal Virus," Mina said as she powered up with a cloak of rainbow energy around her body.
"Metal Virus?" Tikal asked to be confused by this.
"Long story but they are dangerous. We need to get through them to get the gemstone," Mina said tossing flaming discs that chop up incoming robotic big cats. Sonic uses a Spin Dash to slam into a cybernetic bat smashing it into pieces.
Tikal summons her water claws to slice and cut apart the metal beasts while whipping around her warm claws to tear into her enemies. She blows bubbles from her mouth unleashing a barrage of explosive bubbles taking out groupings of cybernetic animals and turning them into scrap metal.
Sonic releases wind crescents from his infused kicks to cut up the robotic foes. Mina summons a wave of gravity to lift them harmlessly with Sonic using Sonic Wind to spin and dash around the floating cyborgs to kill them with sharp winds.
Tikal unleashes waves of water needles to dig into their bodies and then lets out a watery blast scattering the cybernetic creatures into pieces. She uses her claws to slice in half robotic enemies. "Where did they come from?" Tikal asked.
"Humans from the past. Sadly they are gone except for Dr. Kintobor. They disappeared and went to another dimension using portal technology," Mina said as she kicked the monster into a tree blowing up on impact.
Sonic rushes in to find the gemstone. "I got the stone, let's find the source and seal them up," Sonic transforms into Mystic Sonic to use wind magic to gather all the remaining metal creatures to fling them into a nearby cave. Mina transforms into Rainbow Mina to use a Flare Laser to tear into the side of the mountain to block off the entrance sealing them off.
"Wow, you both look so powerful," Tikal said as the couple was pretty impressed in her eyes.
"Useful when things get serious," Sonic said as the couple went back to normal to take their new gemstone.
"Clean and simple. Let's get back," Mina said as they went back into the Stealth ship to claim their 8th Anarchy Beryl getting closer to the 21 gems they needed to get back home.
Elsewhere Anti Eggman managed to get to a mountain range within the Eurish landmass to see a lone person waiting for him there. The doctor gets out of his shuttle to meet with this woman covered in a white cloak.
"So I am here, show me the truth," Dr. Kintobor said as the woman raised her palm to unleash energy to take control of his Egg Pawns to aim their blasters at him.
"The truth is in front of you cousin. I am here, Maria Robotnik," Maria said pulling off her hood to show her light skin, striking blue eyes, lovely face, and shoulder-length blond hair.
"Maria, you haven't aged a day," Dr. Ivo said as Maria was about 22 years old while standing 4'10 tall. She is sporting a simple blue dress along with her short cloak and brown knee-high boots.
"That is my little secret cousin. Now I want to show you something before I punish you for abandoning our family name. How insulting, you just flipped our name backward," Anti Maria said.
"Our name carries a lot of pain," Anti Eggman said as Maria was not amused with this answer.
"I will give you pain when I am done with you cousin," she said as she used Magitek to control his machines with her mind to make him go along with her to go into her hideout deep within the mountains.
"How did you learn Magitek?" Anti-Eggman asked to be curious about her new magical ability.
"I have a lot of time to do many things, Cousin. I will show you when I punish you," Maria said with energy coursing through her body to feel a surge of deep power. "Much more," Anti Marie said with a sadistic smile for she is going to enjoy this.