Disclaimer; See last chapter.
Trek
Whisper was absolutely certain that this trip was going to destroy any image she'd had in her head of Surge. Then again, her current image was essentially 'mean islander who specialized in hurting people with electric powers and the means to use them'.
As of right now, she was being proven both right, and wrong.
For one, Surge got cold. Very quickly, actually, based on the way she started shivering less than fifteen minutes away from her home base. She kept up the same motions though, her hands to the sides and obviously not caring about anyone else who was following.
Violet and Lavender had picked up the rear, both of them chatting about random things. Violet was still treating this whole thing as one of her dad's adventures, and Whisper couldn't really blame her. This was new to her in every way. Whereas to Whisper...this was the third time this trip that she'd done something like this. She was trying not to get tired of it…but failing.
The snow crunched underfoot, and the visage was that of a snowy mountain. Far off, in another valley or some other hilltop, Whisper could see the small smokestack that represented some actual civilization.
Whisper idly thought what kind of trouble she'd have to go through once she was there, and she realized just how cynical she was about this entire time travel thing. Everyone needed help all the time, so why would twenty three years change anything? Of course, it's not like she was in the best of ways to change it.
"Yo, Wolfy. You done staring out into space?" Surge asked suddenly. "Seriously, that's some impressive disassociation. Last time I saw that was you, back in the Resistance. Restoration. Some other 'ation'."
Whisper didn't blink herself out of it. "What?" she asked, even her usual whispering voice much quieter than normal. Surge's ears had to basically bend backward to catch it.
"I'm just gonna say, what happened to the lemur? What was her name?"
Tangle. Her name was Tangle! Whisper almost growled the name out, mostly on account of who she was talking to than the name she was whispering.
"Right, her."
"She's with Tails."
"...He's poly with multiple girlfriends? What the shit, Kit. Supposed to be his damn copy and he has more than one..." Surge muttered under her breath. Whisper rolled her eyes, making sure that the tenrec saw.
"No, as in trapped with him."
"...Oh, see that makes more sense. I always figured the lemur for playing the other team."
Was Surge deliberately trying to piss her off, and was that just Surge in general? The wisps had basically gone into hiding, not that Whisper blamed them, and so she'd have to figure this out herself.
Surge's eyes widened after a moment. "Oh that's why you need to get there so badly. I was wondering about that. Made no sense to me. You could probably kick both Violet and Shadow's butts. Force them to take you there next time you get the plane running."
"Could. Won't."
"I don't get that about you goody two shoes. Seriously, they have something you want and are keeping you away from, so why not just take it? That's why you're strong, right? To take what you want."
"I'm strong to protect."
"Protect? Good job with that one Wolfy! It's been years since the crash of the Restoration. And newsflash, shit still spreads uphill! You haven't. Helped. Anyone."
"She helped me," Violet spoke up from the back. "And she helped Green Hill Zone, and Spiral Hill."
"Oh boy, two podunk towns in the middle of nowhere. Kid, stay out of this talk," Surge advised. "So as I was saying-"
"Stop," Whisper said suddenly. The group stopped instantly, and the wolfess held out her hand. There was a sound out there, the sound of crunching snow that wasn't them. Surge blinked, tilting her head, an action oddly mimicked by Violet behind them.
A little brown rabbit, non-sentient, jumped out of the corner. It stood up on its back legs a bit, sniffing the air, before it saw them and quickly dove back into the snow and brush. "Aww it's so cute!"
"Oh no, it's the dreaded bunny rabbit of Ikakathon!" Surge came up with instantly. "Watch out, for it will fly through the air and chew your limbs off! We'll have to use some super power and get all seven chaos...where are those emeralds?" Surge asked suddenly.
"What?" Violet asked. Lavender mimicked her the same.
"Those emeralds you people always used. Can't they do like...everything?"
"Shadow has a few. Sonic has another. As does Tails and Knuckles," Whisper remembered. She had asked the same question not long ago...only a few weeks. To Belle, in fact. She'd come a long way in only a few weeks, hadn't she?
"Oh. Damn that sucks," Surge grinned. "Can't even use your super powered friend to just break through it all, huh?"
Had Surge even met Super Sonic or Super Shadow? Whisper didn't know; by the time that Super Sonic came onto the scene the only thing left was one of Eggman's really big mechs or some other giant problem. Surge was...as much of a threat as she was, she wasn't big enough to require the chaos emeralds.
"Have you even met Sonic when he went super?" Violet asked, her head tilted. "Because I've wanted to for ages but he's never transformed since I've been with him."
Surge surged around. "Wait, you've seen him transform!? Quick, what was the method, how did he do it, did his spikes actually turn up like that!?" Whisper rolled her eyes. Surge must have misheard Violet.
Violet bounded backwards, landing in some snow before she tripped and fell onto her back. Her tail fell back down onto the snow with a sullen plop. Lavender came down and assisted her up gently. "I wouldn't know any of that! I just said I've never seen him transform!"
The green tenrec's eyes turned dead. "Oh. And here I thought you were actually useful to me. Well. Never mind then."
"Why would you need to know any of that? And what exactly is a chaos emerald?" Lavender asked.
"I have no idea what you just said wispy, which means I don't care," Surge said, turning back around and marching forward.
"A chaos emerald is an artifact of power," Whisper explained, echoed by Violet a moment later. Surge paused, her ears perked back. Of course she was listening in now. The wolf glanced back, and nodded at Violet to continue.
"They're basically power gems in chaotic physical form, noticeably that of an emerald," Violet continued. "Dad did a bunch of research on them and the Sol Emeralds. They're physical representations of chaotic power. The Sol Emeralds are the same, but they use fire rather than chaos energy," she kept going.
"Sol Emeralds?" Surge asked. Her eyes narrowed, "I don't recall Starline ever mentioning those."
Violet shook her head. Whisper hadn't heard much either, except they were what Blaze used over in the Sol Dimension, as Sonic and Tails had nicknamed it at one point. "He wouldn't. The Sol Emeralds are from where Mom came from. She was their guardian-"
"And she left the job to have two kids. Wow, what a mother."
"She took them with her," Violet retorted. Whisper stopped. Blaze had done...what? How did Violet even know that? "But she couldn't...they're connected inherently with the Sol Dimension, so they have to go over there every once in a while to charge. It's what she uses to hop dimensions."
"...So wait, your mom can just decide 'oh by the way, I set up a picnic over here in this other world.'?"
Violet nodded. Surge's arms dropped in shock. Lavender started excitedly hovering around her. "Oh, crossing the Master Barrier! Using an alternate energy source is fantastic! No wonder none of us ever got that!"
Whisper wasn't sure what to think of this information dump. Blaze had brought the Sol Emeralds to this world...why? To keep guarding them? She hadn't seen any sign of them in the house in Central City.
"Master Barrier huh? Apt name," Violet muttered as she glanced down. "But yeah, the Sol Emeralds are just physical representations of fire given form. Just as the Chaos Emeralds are the same, but for chaos."
"And what is chaos? You're gonna define that for the class too?" Surge glared.
Violet shrugged. "Sure. Dad gave it as 'endless possibilities of undefeatable magnitude'. I call it more 'the ability to open your heart to live and learn."
Surge stamped her feet. "That explains literally nothing."
Whisper sighed. She thought that she got it, but at the same time she agreed with Surge. And wasn't that a scary thought, agreeing with the humorless green tenrec? "Choice. Chaos...is all about choice," Whisper tried.
"Exactly!" Violet grinned. "Chaos is the opposite of everything! Every action that we do has an opposite, somewhere. Those actions generate energy, in that they didn't happen. That energy has to go somewhere."
"So...what? All the good choices I could've made are in the fantastical emeralds that don't exist?"
"Yeah!"
Surge stared at her, before she flung her arms up. "I don't get this talking thing. Let's hurry to Snowdrift so I can abandon all of you to the mountain," Surge complained as she started walking again.
"I don't get what her issue is. I think that your discoveries on chaos energy is amazing!" Lavender chittered.
"Thanks. But that's mostly my dad talking. I figured it out a while ago, but it wasn't quite the same as what Dad did. Mr. Sonic wasn't too sure, but he agreed with both of us when I brought it up one time."
"You came to this conclusion yourself?" Whisper asked after a moment.
"Yes. Dad left me all of his notes on the Tornado and a copy of everything on his computer. Mom couldn't make heads or tails of most of it, but after I cracked the password I had all of his experiments."
Whisper blinked. "You...cracked your dad's password?"
"Yeah, it was easy too. Mr. Sonic wasn't too sure what it was, exactly, but it only took me about a day to figure it out. Of course, it also helps that Dad re-made it after I was born. He made the password my birthday."
Oh. Whisper stared out into the blank expanse of the snowy canvas. That made sense. It also made sense as to why she would crack it so easily. But at the same time...she had thoughts about how Tails and Blaze ended up, but she was still struck by despite the circumstances, how much Violet was simply...missed.
Will. Undo.
Right, she had to remember that she was going to undo it all. But...would that get rid of Violet? Would that undo Sonic's injury? Would that set Surge and Kit onto the same track they were on, where they were at least hermits rather than actively antagonizing everyone?
She wasn't sure. She knew she had to do it, but it just seemed like a waste. Violet had come so far, and yet...all of it would just...go away once she went back in time. "It's so pretty out here," Violet murmured as she glanced around.
"It's the same color, but in thousands of shades!"
Surge wasn't too far ahead, but it was obvious she had stopped paying attention. She didn't get what Violet had mentioned earlier, so she just...didn't care. Whisper had to give props for that, but that didn't excuse her for anything.
"Honestly the mountains are nice. I think Mom and Dad only took me skiing or snowboarding once. Mom-Amy- and Mr. Sonic took me to the mountains a few times, but they were cautious about it."
"And how many times did you choose to go down a more dangerous slope than you should have?"
Violet grinned. "A bit too many times. I was grounded after the last one, when I jumped almost twenty feet off a ramp, disconnected the board and spun it to slow down before landing on it perfectly."
"I wonder why. That sounds awesome!"
"It was! Velocity was so pissed, he wanted a turn but was restricted to just the medium slopes. He went on the jump the next day anyway, but he bailed halfway through and landed in a snow drift."
"And Mata and Thunder didn't try?"
"Mata had summoned up some guy who'd died in an avalanche a few years before. She didn't want to go on the jump after his story. Thunder was kept to the bunny slopes."
"You know, why do they call it that? Those are the hardest ones, right?"
Violet shook her head. "Nope, the easy ones. Just a simple downhill. I think Mata doesn't like trying new things."
Whisper didn't blame her. 'Trying new things' was what led to this exact scenario. The snow underneath them crunched ominously before Whisper dived to the side. A small rock that she'd barely touched was starting to roll down the hill.
"Surge!" Violet warned as the snow started to drop quickly. The tenrec turned, obviously pissed, before she saw the large amount of snow aiming just for her.
Whisper wanted to tell her to try to stop it, because the town was just on the other side, probably going to be taken out by the accidental avalanche.
Instead Surge stopped in place, and Whisper could see the electricity lance out from her as she slammed it into the snow around her. The heat from the makeshift bolts melted the snow around her, letting the small snowdrift instead flow into the cracks leftover, freezing up over the warmed water.
In an instant, the snowdrift avalanche was deterred. "Watch your step. Don't want more of those, I only got two more in me," Surge smirked, rubbing her nose exactly how Sonic used to do.
She had just saved the town. And wasn't expecting thanks. Wasn't even trying to yell at them about it. Whisper stared at her; what had happened to do over the last twenty three years that she'd changed that much?
The last time Whisper had seen that kind of behavior, was back during that grand prix thing that she'd had to referee. Surge and Kit had saved a bunch of people, but then acted like they were key Restoration members who'd taken down Eggman with ease all the time. Rather than usually on his side.
The rest of the trip was much quicker, seeing as Whisper now followed in Surge's footsteps directly, and the snow drifts were starting to thin out. Before long it was obvious they'd reached the city proper.
Small wooden buildings, mostly houses, strayed at the farther edges. Most of them had obvious wood chimneys, large piles right outside the house under a covered area. The pathway was originally impossible to see, but as they went further inwards it slowly changed from pure snow to a more rocky hidden snowy path.
Until they got into the city proper. The rocks that had been the main path changed to a cobblestone, and then to a pavement. The air around had lifted from extremely cold to simply very cold. Grocery stores were more obvious, small signs lit up to prove exactly what it was they sold.
There weren't many people around, most of them Islanders with thick woolen jackets or the more form fitting ones similar to the one Violet used. Surge was looking around with a large scowl on her face, obviously uncomfortable around the few people that were around.
Whisper, too, was uncomfortable with it but for different reasons. The last time she'd been around so many people was Green Hill, and considering what happened when she'd left...well, she doubted that Snowdrift could handle a single wisp gone wild, let alone her own.
Violet though was seemingly fine with it. She would wave to some of them that were staring at Surge and Whisper, and Lavender too was getting into some of the fun by pretending to be a nega-wisp styled balloon before coughing and rolling over in midair.
Surge eventually held out her hand. "Alright. Stop. Stop. Obviously he's not here," she said with a tone of finality. "That means that Kit and Shadow have it. We'll head back to the cabin," she murmured.
Whisper looked at the fading sun. The trip had taken them most of the morning and early afternoon, and now the sun wasn't quite at the tip yet of the mountains. They'd be walking back in the dark. "It's too late to start now."
"Yeah, let's just find a hotel or something. And some food, I'm hungry," Violet agreed. Lavender nodded, as if the nega-wisp got hungry.
Surge growled as she looked at the nearby clock. "Argh. Fine. Fine, we'll do it your way. Let's find a hotel. Cheap. I didn't bring money," she deadpanned.
"That's fine! Cyan said that Whisper has more than enough!" Lavender brought up.
Whisper stared at her, before remembering that was true. Twenty three years of backpay and the drug bust from Green Hill. She was practically loaded now. And that was an odd thought.
A sudden explosion made them all look towards it. Towards a giant sign clock that had the name of a bank on it. Whisper and Violet ran towards it, only outwardly cursed by Surge.
As they ran, they overheard maniacal laughing that reminded Whisper far too much of Dr. Eggman. "Oh ho ho ho! This is the greatest that Snowdrift can come up with!?" the voice shouted. Whisper felt herself relax. It was nowhere close to Eggman's own deeper voice, and seemed to be an actual islander.
Sure enough, a rabbit islander hopped out of the wreckage caused by the small explosion. Next to him were two small badniks, obviously repurposed based on the strange paint job, a mix of green and black. The rabbit himself was mostly black with a hint of blue and red on him. "And now you'll have the pleasure to be known as the bank robbed by the great Doctor Hopps!"
Whisper wasn't sure who would break first. Violet or Surge. They were both very close to laughing, and Whisper silently tried to urge Lavender to poke Violet in the back. They could get Surge to break first, they could.
But no, Violet broke first. "Doctor Hopps!?" she shouted, a large grin on her face. The rabbit turned to her, his goggles stuck on his head. He had the look of a villain, long flowing red cape with a black bodysuit and the wide eyes of someone who thinks they are far more intelligent than they really are.
"Ah ha! Someone who dares call the name of Dr. Hopps! Don't you worry Snowdrift, for you will...you're just a bunch of kids," he said, staring at Violet in particular.
That's when Surge broke. She'd been struggling to hold it in for a while, and Whisper was almost debating about getting her to crack instead. "You dare laugh at Dr. Hopps!? I am the second coming of Dr. Eggman himself!"
By now most of the other civilians had already left, running away. Whisper didn't hold it against them; anyone who was calling themselves the 'next coming of Dr. Eggman' deserved to be treated without the kids gloves. "Surge," Whisper suggested.
The tenrec was smirking. "You go after the big guy. I'll go after the hitters," she said, lightning crackling around her. Dr. Hopps laughed, commanding the two badniks next to him, a repainted motobug and buzz bomber, to start attacking.
"Blue, Orange," Whisper said, knocking on a few of the canisters. Surge took off, bolting into the parking lot of the bank. They came out for just a second to make sure that Surge wasn't there, before the wisps nodded and floated around Whisper. The wolf turned to Violet and Lavender, "Get behind some cover," she suggested.
The vixen nodded, ducking behind one of the small cars. Most Islanders didn't have them, but they must have been much more common in the future, as roads were seemingly more prevalent. Lavender huddled up to her.
Dr. Hopps laughed as Surge essentially danced around the badniks. "Ha! You may think you are as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog himself, but even he was no match for Dr. Hopps!"
He was silenced as Orange singed off a piece of his ears. "No! My beautiful ears! How dare you interlopers get in the way!" Dr. Hopps yelled, before he pressed a button on his arm. The badniks, most of which were being torn to shreds by Surge, came together around him, rebuilding themselves around him. "Now witness the genius of Dr. Hopps!"
"This guy needs to stop talking. Was Eggman like this too?" Violet asked. Whisper nodded.
"He was worse, depending on his mood. Sometimes he'd spill his entire plan in a heartbeat, and other times he'd play it so close to his chest that no one saw the betrayal coming," Blue answered. "The worst was after Sonic had been captured, and we almost lost the world."
That event had seen the formation of the Diamond Cutters, and the Resistance. No matter how bad the world had ended up, it had been so close to being taken over...and Eggman had done it in literal months.
Whisper had never seen Infinite, but even she knew who he was.
The badniks rebuilt themselves around Dr. Hopps, forming a type of energy armor around him. "Now witness my genius!" he yelled and shouted as he stomped around, attempting to hit Surge. The tenrec was almost having fun at this point.
"Almost hit me there," she shouted back as he stomped down on where she was, only for her to reappear not far off. "Careful, or you might actually hit me! Unless that's what you're trying, in which case you'll just keep missing."
Whisper brought up the wispon, before her radio crackled ominously. A series of beeps brought her attention to whatever it was. Violet didn't appear to have heard it.
Code. Where had she heard that? She knocked on Cyan's canister, motioning for her to imbue into the radio to trace the signal. Cyan glanced towards Surge, but nodded and disappeared from view.
The beeps didn't stop, but slowly started to form words that Whisper could understand thanks to Cyan translating. "I am thirty out."
Who? Who was thirty out? Thirty minutes? Thirty seconds? She brought up the wispon, and glanced around in the scope. "Hey Wolfy! I don't care if I get all the glory but seriously, are you just standing around? We don't have time for that!" Surge yelled.
"You are correct! You won't have time to stand around!" Dr. Hopps yelled as he blasted Surge's position with a few energy blasts. The badniks were pulling their weight, the money long since having been dropped.
The bank's customers had long since locked themselves down, and there was no one in the parking lot. So no one except Whisper and Violet saw the blue streak as it sped by, rolling into a ball and slamming into the middle of Dr. Hopps badnik ball.
He was pushed back onto another car. "What!? Who dares interfere with Dr. Ho-" he started. Surge landed on top of him.
"Just...just shut up," she murmured, punching his lights out with one strike. "So Wolfy, care to tell me why you didn't tell me he was on his way?" she shouted.
The blue streak unfurled from the ball, and Whisper felt her hackles rise instinctively. Her hands rose on the wispon, and she felt the wisps start getting ready to arm themselves.
The blue head, the red shoes, and the large intake fan on the chest. The glowing red eyes, and the...white scarf? That was new.
But it was, without a doubt, Metal Sonic. He had a few more scratches on his head, and some of the paint had come off some of the actual painted areas, but it was him.
"Who is that...?" Violet murmured. She'd probably never seen the robot before. Whisper tried to remember that they weren't technically against her anymore, but it was hard seeing him without shooting at him.
Her radio crackled, and the mute robot simply stared at her. "Salutations. I am Metal Sonic," it said through her radio.
Add another returning character here. We're just going down the list, aren't we?
Until Next Time!
