A white light.
That was all Nicole the Holo-Lynx remembered seeing before everything became dark.
Her friends, all of them so confused and scared.
Eggman… he was winning. He had hurt so many people, and this time her friends were too late to stop him.
Failure, heartbreak, families lost, trust betrayed, loved ones perverted and twisted into unfeeling machines…
…Heroes from other worlds… a crisis on two worlds… time and space smashing into one another….
…She could only remember flashes of it now.
When the white light hit her, she had been flung somewhere far away. Away from any wireless network or anything remotely close to civilization.
Nicole remembered crying for help for the first few days.
She remembered sobbing for a day or two after that.
She tried to save power and could only pray someone, anyone, would pick her up and bring her home to her friends and loved ones.
Nobody came.
Rain fell, as did snow and leaves. Time passed, and she had to turn off the internal clock before she went mad.
But it didn't matter. Because, in time, everything went dark.
And Nicole was still alone, trying desperately to keep herself whole. To not become code that degraded and lost itself.
Sonic would come, she told herself. Sonic or one of their friends would come to save her.
Because Sonic the Hedgehog and her friends were heroes. And heroes always came in the last minute to save the day.
And it was that hope that kept her going until the faithful day when, by pure chance, a hero with a kind soul did pick her up.
And so a new adventure began…
When Whisper the Wolf knocked on Tangle the Lemur's door, the last thing she had been expecting was her friend asking for help with some outdated piece of technology she had found in the forrest.
"A.. PDA?" Whisper asked in her usual quiet voice as she looked over Tangle's shoulder. "I… remember those when I was seven. They aren't very good."
"Eh, maybe. But hey, it looked fine to me!" Tangle stuck out her tongue as she unscrewed the back of the device. "I mean sure there was some grime and stuff on it, but after I wiped that junk off it looked practically new! I think it just needs a change of batteries!"
The wolf shook her head as Tangle used her tail to grab a soda and bring it to her lips to drink. If what Tangle was saying was true, then the PDA would need a lot more work than just some batteries. A lot of the circuitry was probably ruined by water and the elements. The thing was practically junk!
She could tell Tangle this, but Whisper knew the lemur well enough that she would just see it as a personal challenge.
Whisper glanced over to the Wisps and frowned. Tangle's place… wasn't exactly the neatest. A bunch of various toys, comics, video games, and clothes were just strewn about without a care in the world. And, of course, the Wisps were new messing around in the junk. She pointed at the Cyan Wisp that was messing with a portable game console and said, "Hey. Behave."
"Aw, let them have fun! Mi casa es su casa!"
Whisper raised an eyebrow. "Where…?"
Tangle chuckled as her tail grabbed a single battery from a work table. "Mom went to Spagonia once. Showed me a bunch of pictures too! Man, I wanna go there someday…"
"Hm." Whisper had been to the country once on a job with her team. It was, in fact, a very beautiful country. She would've liked to enjoy it, but unfortunately Eggman had decided to 'redecorate' a lot of the landmarks during his brief stint as the ruler of the world. "Maybe… we can go together."
She was a bit surprised that slipped out of her mouth.
"Sure! Sounds like fun!" Tangle took out the defective batter and placed the new one inside. "And when I get this bad boy running we can watch movies on the plane ride over!"
Whisper felt her cheeks heat up from embarrassment but shook her head to focus. She looked over her shoulder to take a look at the damage.
To her astonishment, there wasn't any. All the insides of the PDA looked pristine, as if it were brand new! Whoever made this thing sure built it to last, or the device just got super lucky!
But her keen eyes noticed something.
"Rock." She pointed at the offending item on one of the microchips.
"Oh!" Tangle took out a pair of tweezers and took the rock out. There was a small spark but otherwise nothing happened. "Nice catch!"
"Thanks."
Tangle began screwing back on the back panel and asked, "So… how come you decided to visit? I thought that you wanted me to go and find you so that we could go off on some adventures..."
Right! The reason she was here! "There… was some strange wreckage I found. A battleship from Eggman."
The lemur raised an eyebrow. "And this one is weird because…?"
"It's not one from the war. Doesn't match with any of the battleships Eggman has used before." Whisper watched as Tangle pressed the power button. "Was hoping to ask Sonic for help. But he's gone."
"Oh yeah! I heard he, Tails, and Amy are going off exploring some islands." Tangle giggled and leapt up. "Well, I'm always game for some adventure! Lets g-!"
There was a blinding flash of light that erupted from the PDA. Whisper cursed as she lowered her mask and tackled the stunned lemur down. The Wisps were at her side as the wolf turned on her heel and aimed her Variable Wispon at the device in Laser Mode.
Was the PDA a trap? A last cruel gift from Eggman? Something Mimic had cooked up specifically for Tangle and her?
But the light then died down and something stranger was laid out before her.
It was a lynx with brown fur and black hair. It was a girl as far as Whisper could tell, wearing black pants and a sleeveless purple top.
But the strangest thing about the lynx?
She was there… but not really. Parts of her were being distorted and pixelating as if she were a program from a bad television reception.
"I-I am… I'm free! I'm finally free!" The lynx shouted in an only slightly distorted voice. "I-I can't believe it!"
Whisper's finger was already on the trigger, but her own discipline prevented her from just shooting at the newcomer. She needed to asses the situation first.
"Ow, my eyes… so many spots…" Tangle mumbled from behind. "Uh… Whisper? Why is there a holo girl in my room?"
"How many… how many years has it been?" To her astonishment, the lynx was clutching at her head and… crying? "I can't… I can't remember. Everything's so foggy…"
"Identify yourself." Whisper demanded quietly. "Or I will shoot."
"Woah! Whisper!" The lemur behind her gasped. "A bit hardcore, don't you think? Cant you see she's crying?"
It was then that the lynx seemed to notice them. She raised her hands and said, "Please! There is no need for that! I am not…" She looked a bit nervous as she tentatively asked, "Are you real?"
Whisper and Tangle glanced at each other. This was not how they expected their afternoon to go.
"No, no my scanners indicate that you are Mobian." Mobian? What the heck was that? "I… I apologize. I've been alone and on standby mode for so long with no connection to the network… where am I?"
"Uh, Spiral Hill Village?" Tangle put her hand on Whisper's wispon and pointed the barrel down. Begrudgingly, the wolf allowed for it. "I'm sorry. I know you're scared but do you mind telling us who you are?
The holographic lynx seemed confused by the question. "You don't know…? I thought…" Shaking her head, the hologram seemed to stand up and cleared her throat. "I am Nicole. Nicole the Holo-Lynx of the Freedom Fighters and former system manager of New Mobotropolis."
…Yeah, Whisper had no idea where that was.
"Freedom Fighters? New Mobotropolis?" Tangle scratched her head. "Sorry, I'm a bit lost here. Do you mean the Resistance?"
If the lynx was confused before, now she looked completely out of her depth. "I… I need to speak to a member of the Acorn family. If you can perhaps bring me to King Elias…"
"King? Sorry, but I don't know any kings."
"Then Sonic. Or Tails. Can you please take me to them?!" The lynx pleaded desperately. "Please! The fate of the world could be at stake!"
Tangle and Whisper glanced at one another, and it seemed as if they were in silent agreement.
"How can we help?"
Looks like Tangle was getting her adventure of the day after all.
"Have to admit, I wasn't exactly expecting to see you so soon, Tangle." Jewel the Beetle, Tangle's childhood friend and current leader of the restoration, plugged away at her keyboard. "You said you were going to travel with Whisper the last time we spoke!"
The lemur chuckled while scratching the back of her head. "Yeah… I may have forgotten to pay my rent. One minute I'm biking down the roads and the next I'm getting screamed at by my landlord!"
She hadn't gotten that far in her search for Whisper, which is pretty embarrassing to admit. In hindsight she probably should've asked where the wolf was going to be staying at so they could meet up. So there she was, peddling for miles in circles and hiking up hills trying to find the sniper while feeling like a freakin' idiot.
The only bright side of the entire endeavor was that she got a free PDA out of it.
It got even better when it turned out that the PDA was possessed by a pretty cute lynx lady!
Jewel turned her head and gave her a blank stare. The beetle sighed with her antennas drooping in their usual way. "Only you would forget something that important…"
"Hey! Last I checked I was a kicking Eggman butt with Sonic the Hedgehog!" Tangle pouted. "You'd think that would give me a couple months worth of free rent!"
"Unfortunately, capitalism and landlords are just as heartless as Eggman's machines." Jewel rolled her eyes and continued scrolling down a window she had opened on her computer.
"Heh."
Tangle whipped her head to her friend, who was leaning against the wall now maskless and with her Wisps floating around her. She was smiling ever so slightly, and even with her eyes closed the lemur could tell that Whisper was looking at her.
"Hey! Come on, it's not funny!" Huffing again, Tangle crossed her arms and looked to the side. "Heroes shouldn't have to deal with this kind of junk!"
"Excuse me." The tiny electronic voice came from the PDA in Tangle's left hand. Opening it she looked at the electronic image of the lynx that was in her apartment, Nicole. "I'm sorry, but do you mind setting me by Miss Jewel's computer? I think I can possibly help in her search."
Tangle glanced at her friend. "Is that cool?"
The beetle sighed and pushed against the table. "I don't see why not. Right now I'm having no luck. I've alphabetized the Restoration's register in alphabetical order and so far there aren't any results for anyone you've asked me to look up. There aren't any members named Sally Acorn, Bunnie Rabbot, Antoine D'Coolette…"
"That can't be!" Nicole shouted, and a quick glance at the PDA showed that the lynx looked pretty shaken up by the news. "I know my friends! T-They would have joined with any group that fought against Eggman! They wouldn't…! They can't…!"
"Okay! Okay, Nicole! Calm down!" The lynx was something of a mystery to Tangle. She wasn't unfamiliar with artificial intelligence. She'd met Omega, Gemerl, Belle, and even Eggman's two annoying assistant bots. The closest she could compare Nicole to was Belle, but there seemed to be something… older with her. Something far more scared and shell-shocked. It reminded her of some older folks that had been around since Eggman first started becoming a real pain in the butt for the people of the world. "Look, I'm setting you by the computer, okay? It's all good."
That seemed to calm the lynx down somewhat. She was still sorta shaking and her picture was a bit distorted, but she did give a nervous smile at her. "T-Thank you, Miss Tangle. I really appreciate it."
Tangle put the relatively old piece of technology next to the new laptop model. To her astonishment, pixels seemed to shoot out from the PDA and into the laptop's screen.
"What's she doing?!" Jewel screamed out. "I just bought that!"
But despite her friend's distress Tangle couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at the scene. "So cool…" She whispered aloud. It was just like the movies!
Nicole's face appeared on the screen, her eyes filled with zeroes and ones and speaking in code before the window shrunk to the top right corner. Windows of various programs and code began to pop in and out from view For a few minutes. After that the stream of pixels shot out from the computer and the holographic image of the lynx was now on the floor in front of Jewel's desk.
She was sitting and hugging her knees to her chest, looking as if she were on the verge of tears.
"I-I couldn't find them." She whispered. "I checked the Restoration's list of active, retired, MIA, and KIA members and none of them are there! There's Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Team Dark, some of the Chaotix… even Cream's family, Blaze, and Silver are listed as associates! But Princess Sally… the rest of our friends… they aren't there! I even checked the government database and list of people born in the last twenty years!"
"Y-You broke into the government's database?!" Jewel rushed to her computer and grabbed it, fear etched on her face. "On my computer?! Oh my gosh, please tell me you didn't just have me become an accomplice in a federal crime!"
"Jewel, calm down!" Tangle put a reassuring hand on the beetle's head. "I'm sure Nicole didn't do anything that would get you in trouble!"
"Besides." Whisper added. "I'm sure you could leverage the Restoration's good will against any charges."
"That's not helping!"
Tangle took her hand off of Jewel's head and just let her friend continue her freak-out. She would calm down in a bit. Instead she went on a knee and looked at Nicole. "Hey, come on. Don't let it get you down! It just means your friends were probably acting independently during the war!"
"Then why weren't they listed as independent agents or associates…?" Nicole muttered. "They… they should be there. I should be able to find them. But…"
She glanced over to Whisper, who gave a small shrug. There were many things about the holographic lynx that confused them. Nicole said that she knew Sonic and his friends, but then said stuff like how she helped out the Royal Acorn Family and whatever. And that there not being a kingdom anywhere near here was a big problem that needed Sonic's immediate attention.
Only problem was that Sonic, Tails, and Amy were off on their own mission and weren't picking up. Same went for all the other Restoration members that Nicole said she knew. Everyone was off doing their own thing, or in Shadow's case making all messages go straight to voicemail.
Like a jerk.
Still, she wasn't one to be a downer! So Tangle hovered a hand over Nicole's shoulder since she was unsure if the hologram was one of those fancy solid ones or one of the lame hand-pass-through types. "It just means we gotta keep looking!" Nicole looked up at her and she grinned. "If we give up now, then it means we learned nothing from Sonic! He wouldn't want us to be down in the dumps just because we couldn't find an easy solution! He'd tell us to try and try again!"
Honestly, that little pep talk could've used some work.
But it still made Nicole smile a bit. "Yes. He is stubborn like that." With a chuckle Nicole got up and, to Tangle's disappointment, turned out to be intangible. "I'm okay now. Thank you, Miss Tangle."
"Please, you're making me feel like an old hag!" Tangle laughed as she got up. "Call me Tangle! All my friends do!"
"She's very insistent about it." Whisper chimed in. "Very persistent."
"I'll keep that in mind." Turning to Jewel, who was still fretting over her computer, Nicole said, "Miss Jewel, I apologize for the shock. I can assure you that there were no cookies or any other trackers that would like your computer or the local area to my search."
Some of the tension in the fussy beetle's body seemed to melt off. "R-Really?! Oh man, that's a relief…"
"But I will need your computer's help again."
Jewel hugged her laptop to her chest. "…Why?"
Nicole smiled. "If you let me do what needs to be done, I can eliminate the viruses in your computer, organize the backlog of data you're still sifting through, and…" Nicole leaned down and whispered something into Jewel's ear. Tangle didn't hear a word, but she saw the beetle's white cheeks turn red and even her shell turned a shade darker. The Holo-Lynx leaned back and smiled at her. "Sound good?"
"R-Right! Yes! Delete it! Delete it no-!" Catching herself, Jewel raised her fist and coughed into it. "Um, I mean, go ahead!" She placed the laptop down and opened it. "It's all yours!"
"Thanks!" With that, Nicole turned into pixels once more and went into the laptop.
Tangle and Whisper stared at Jewel.
Jewel stared back of them with a defiant frown.
"Don't judge me." She whispered in a low and accusatory tone.
Both raised their hands in surrender.
"I-I found it! I found a signal!" Despite the declaration, Nicole didn't appear too happy on the screen. "It's faint, but it's an SOS frequency that I'm familiar with." A map popped up next to Nicole's face as well as a red dot that was emitting waves. "It means one of my friends is here after all!"
Whisper leaned forward and frowned. "That place…"
"Huh?" Tangle looked at her friend. "What's up?"
"That's where the destroyed Eggman battleship is." Whisper's eyes opened ever so slightly as she stared at the screen. "The one we have no records about…"
It was a serious moment.
It was a mystery crashing into another one.
Honestly, even Sonic would probably take it at least momentarily seriously.
But that just wasn't Tangle's style.
Instead she grinned and pointed at the screen. "Sweet! Lets go!"
"You sure you ladies will be okay?"
Tangle waved at the driver of the pickup truck they hitched a ride on as Whisper got down from the back. "Yeah, we'll be fine! Thanks for driving us here!"
"Anytime!" With a salute, the dog drove off and left the two by themselves at the edge of the Green Hill Zone.
Well, technically three.
Whisper glanced around the familiar green grass and rocky checkerboard terrain. If one only saw the green hills they would consider it to be a dull site in the middle of nowhere. However, many unique and natural loops and twisting pillars turned the area into one of the most unique places on the planet.
Best of all? Almost all of it was natural.
While Whisper preferred sticking to the trees and shadows, there was always something calming about the area.
That was the reason why she had been wandering around in the first place before she stumbled on their target.
"I detect a high presence of Badniks." Nicole's voice chimed in from Tangle's pocket. The lemur took out the PDA and stared at the lynx. "But they don't appear to be receiving any orders… its as if they're on standby mode."
"It probably means that Eggman didn't reactivate these things. They were probably too far away from anywhere populated and not worth his time collecting them." Tangle chuckled and rubbed her palms together. "Which means more for us!"
"I would advise against seeking unnecessary conflict." Nicole pointed out. "You will likely encounter some type of defense system in the battleship."
"Also, it's a bit of a trek." Whisper looked around before pointing to the northwest. "Seven miles."
"Oh please, that's nothing!" The lemur waved Whisper off. "I jog that in two hours every morning!"
With how much energy Tangle had, Whisper could believe it.
"Mind holding Nicole?" The wolf found the PDA in her hand now as Tangle began to stretch her legs. "These girls fell asleep on the ride over, so if we're going on a run I want to be nice and limber!"
"Hrm." Whisper glanced down at Nicole, who seemed a bit amused by the act. The Wisps gathered around the PDA's screen, all of them equally curious about the holo-lynx. "Sorry."
Nicole shook her head. "Do not be. It's just… unfortunate that Sonic or Shadow weren't available for this mission." Yeah, she could understand that. With the two hedgehog's speed they likely would've reached the ruins in a couple of minutes. "I can see why Tangle is one of Sonic's friends, especially with that energy!"
But despite the giggle that escaped the lynx's lips, Whisper noted there was a sad and confused look in her eyes. And, to be honest, Whisper was a bit confused as well.
Nicole spoke of Sonic and his friends as if they were her friends. While Whisper hadn't known any of them for long, she had sort of followed the hedgehog's exploits as a member of the Diamond Cutters. There was never any mention of him teaming up with an artificial intelligence of Nicole's caliber.
And then there were the other people that Nicole kept mentioning. The people she said should've been a part of the Resistance if not the Restoration. From the way she acted when looking for their records, it was as if they never existed. "But she considers such an idea abhorrent… as if it were some truth set in stone."
Before she could think more about it her friend shouted, "Okay! I'm ready!" Whisper looked up and saw that Tangle was on the ground in all fours, positioned in four point start. "Set…" She could swear she saw the lemur's eyes sparkle as she shouted, "GO!"
And with that, Tangle shot out and ran through the green fields. Nicole giggled while Whisper rolled her eyes.
She was so glad that she had convinced Tangle to wear that earpiece on the ride over.
Without the need for warm ups, Whisper ran after the lemur and kept up the pace easily. She had training for long treks, and being constantly on the run from Eggman's forces kept her stamina up. The Wisps flew beside her, each of them ready for action should she need it.
And with all the Badniks running around, they would be needed soon.
"Badniks signals up ahead!" Nicole shouted. Whisper's eyes caught them first. An Egg Pawn was stumbling around while Moto Bug was going back and forth in a straight line, not seeming to look at anything. "Three meters before they detect us!"
"Oh! Oh, I got this!" Just as Whisper was about to take aim with her wispon, the lemur shot forward and shouted, "Hey! You cute little jerks!"
The two Badniks took notice of them. Life seemed to return to their eyes and the Moto Bug actually glared at Tangle before it turned its body to her and shot forward. Its engines flared with life as it made way to collide with the lemur.
Tangle simply jumped up, making the Moto Bug roll under her. At the same time the end of her tail shot down and smashed into the top of its body, crushing the metal monstrosity in an instant.
"I'd feel bad if you guys weren't made by Eggman and attacked me first!" Tangle's tail wrapped around the wheel of the Moto Bug before flinging it at the charging Egg Pawn. It hit the robot square in the face, crushing the orange dome in an instant. "You, however, I don't feel too bad about! You aren't cute like that little guy!"
The humanoid Badnik stumbled two steps before falling down flat on its face. The lemur turned towards Whisper to give her a thumbs up.
She wasn't paying attention, and likely would've missed it even if she was, but Whisper saw the shimmer of color and spotted the Newtron Badnik as the chameleon-shaped machine took aim. Switching the Variable Wispon into laser mode, the Cyan Wisp got in as she pulled the trigger. Her blast went over Tangle's shoulder and hit the Badnik dead-center, smashing it into pieces.
"Ep." Tangle squeaked as she looked over her shoulder to see the destroyed Badnik.
"Focus, Tangle." She reminded her friend as she held the wispon in both of her hands. "Enemy territory."
"Yeah, yeah I get you." Tangle glanced at the PDA. "Uh, Nicole? Do you mind letting us know how many Badniks are in an area we head to?"
"Oh, yes! Of course." The wolf saw that the lynx looked a bit sheepish. "I… I apologize, Tangle. It's been a while since I've worked in reconnaissance."
"No sweat!" Turning on a heel the lemur shot forward and began running again. "Come on! Daylight's a wastin'!"
Nicole did reconnaissance? While that made sense, as Nicole's capabilities would be a godsend on the field, it made the questions pop up in Whisper's head again.
"If Sonic had Nicole, it would have been noted. She would've been a star asset noted in field reports. She would've had a hand in stopping the ARK's Eclipse Canon and would've made the news. So why hadn't she?"
Was Nicole truly one of Sonic's allies?
These questions kept bouncing around in Whisper's head as she and Tangle traveresed the Green Hill Zone. While Whisper was careful and precise with her jumps over cliffs, Tangle bounded over them with reckless abandon. While she used her wispon's hover mode to go around the loops, Tangle shot her tail around a rock and pulled herself forward to give herself the extra boost needed to run inside the circle.
Once or twice Whisper had to circle around in hover mode to catch Tangle by the tail when she didn't have enough momentum.
Nicole armed them about the Badniks whenever they were nearby. At first, Tangle was eager to smash them to pieces but eventually seemed to come to the silent decision that they would waste time destroying each one on their path and allowed for Whisper to shoot at them from a distance.
Nicole even offered coordinates to the Badnik's locations, which Whisper didn't ask for but was grateful. It improved her aim, that was certain.
Eventually they made it to the location of the mysterious battleship.
Tangle looked over the cliff leading into the dark cavern and whistled, which echoed from within the black maw. "That's a drop!"
"Yes." Whisper dug into her pouch and produced a spike and rope. Hammering the spike in with her wispon's cube mode, she tied the cope around it and the end around her own waist. "I'll go first."
"You sure?"
Whisper tapped on her mask and smiled underneath it. "Night vision."
"And I'll be there with her!" Nicole declared and before the wolf could say anything the lynx showed up in the corner of her eye. A quick look at Tangle told Whisper that Nicole was in her visor rather than being fully holographic again. "I will monitor the rope's tension."
To be honest she would prefer to just be doing this in silence or with Tangle. But still, knowing when the rope might give would be useful. "…Appreciated." With that, Whisper went to the edge of the cliff, got on all fours, and then scooted off until she was hanging off the ledge.
Then she began to climb down.
"Good luck!" Tangle shouted from above as the wolf climbed down.
"Fifteen inches from your left foot." Nicole instructed, and Whisper followed her advice. She stuck her foot in the small crack and slowly crawled down. "I just want to thank you again for assisting me with this."
"No problem." Whisper muttered as she continued her climb down. It was a good thing that she never had a fear of heights. Otherwise she'd be having a panic attack right now. "Curious too."
"Still, you were willing to help. Even though I appeared out of nowhere." Nicole looked down. "Even when I must have sounded so… strange."
That was one way to put it.
Another way was that Nicole sounded desperate and kind of crazy when she first popped out of the PDA.
No use hiding it. "Tangle wanted to help." She informed the lynx. "And I wanted to help her."
Honestly, if she had been the person she was before she met Tangle, she likely would've just left the lynx with Jewel and went off to explore the ruins on her own.
Rather than seeming offended by the confession. Nicole merely smiled softly. "Well… at least you're honest. Still, what you're doing is very kind and brave. So thank you."
Whisper paused at the compliment.
Nobody had really called her that before.
For the longest time, she had felt anything but brave.
The word 'coward' went through her head more than once after all the Diamond Cutters save for her and Mimic had perished.
"…Welcome."
The AI kept giving Whisper directions to where to place her hands and feet, while also giving the occasional assurance that the rope was holding. They fell into a steady rhythm, slowly but surely making progress down.
"What you said before, about how there is no record of this Eggman battleship." Nicole frowned in the wolf's vision. "I do find that odd. When Eggman creates a battleship he either mass produces it or makes it so large and extravagant it's a class on its own. Every battleship is recorded since he first began his crusade against the world. For this one to be unclassified is…"
Yes, it was strange. Which is why she wanted to inspect it in the first place. And, if anything were to go wrong, the Restoration would know where it was. "Yes. It is odd."
Thankfully, her feet touched the rocky ground and Whisper untied the rope around her. Pulling on it twice, Tangle began to pull it from above. The wolf turned around while digging into her pouch to take out the flares she brought along. Lighting one, she tossed it forward and allowed herself to see the battleship.
It was a massive thing. It was cut in half vertically and laid on its side upright, but she could tell it was once egg-shaped. The top half of it looked a bit like Doctor Eggman's face, as was usual with the vain design of his war machines. But rather than his full face it was simply a massive metal mustache and a cracked glass eye, now foggy from moisture and dust.
Nicole let out a gasp and covered her mouth.
"What is it?" Whisper asked the lynx.
The answer she received came out in a croaked whisper.
"The Death Egg…"
Tangle whistled as she looked upon the massive battleship. "This is a Death Egg? I thought these babies were, like, moon-sized!"
She had heard that Sonic blew one up, too! Too bad Eggman escaped that, but hey it lead to him meeting Knuckles so it wasn't a big loss!
"Not… not this model." Nicole muttered as they approached one of the battleship's entrances. "This one… it served a very specific purpose."
"Oh yeah? What kind?" Tangle rubbed her chin. "Like, a giant city-destroying ray?"
The AI seemed to hesistate. "I-I'm unsure. My memory… its corrupted." The lynx's hand rubbed against its head as she muttered, "I'm sure that Sonic, Sally, and our friends were heading over to destroy it for… a specific reason. Besides it being one of Eggman's terrible creations. But…"
"A Death Egg would've made big news." Whisper pointed out when they reached the door. "Never seen this model. Not even during the war."
The lemur frowned at her friend. While she couldn't see Whisper's face behind the mask, she could tell the sniper was giving Nicole some weird looks.
"And why is she even here….?" Nicole muttered to herself. "I don't… It doesn't make any logical sense." Shaking herself, Nicole popped out of the PDA and became a hologram again. She pointed to a small port by the door and said, "Plug me in there. Let's see if I can turn the power on."
"Analog?" When Nicole pointed to a part of the device Tangle tapped on it. A wire end popped out. "Wow! Talk about old school!"
The lynx put her hands on her hips. "It's not that old!"
Giggling, Tangle plugged the wire into the port and waited.
After a few seconds the two heard a sputtering and, to their astonishment, the lights began to work!
Kind of.
They kept flickering on and off, turning bright and then going low again.
"It appears that the power reserves are running low." Nicole looked down and muttered, "Which means there are no grapes fueling it…"
"Grapes?"
"Not important." Nicole returned to the PDA and pointed foward. "The signal is coming from inside. I only detect one Badnik within the entire structure."
"Well that doesn't sound ominous…" The lemur muttered to herself as the door opened and the two women and one AI entered the battleship.
Honestly? Tangle never really liked horror movies. It wasn't really her style.
So it wasn't exactly cool that she felt like she was in a horror movie.
"Okay… flickering lights… Dusty and abandoned hallways… rusted metal where a lone monster is stalking in the shadows…" She shivered and looked back. Thankfully, Whisper was still there. "At least we're not going to do the stupid thing and split up!"
They traversed the hallways and jumped across destroyed walkways. Only pausing occasionally whenever they heard a noise before continuing when Nicole assured them that the Badnik signal was still a ways off.
"How can anyone hide out here?" Tangle whispered. "I'm pretty sure I'd go nuts if I stayed in a place like this!"
"I don't understand either." Nicole agreed. "While she has always created safe rooms and hidden tunnels to escape capture, she would never hide in such an unstable environment willingly. She would've been on the move…"
"Your friend?"
"Yes." A smile appeared on Nicole's face. "I remember when she was young. I had to go over her plans for Knothole and advise whether or not a project was feasible. Sometimes she argued with me, but most of the time she listened and learned. We… had fun together."
Knothole… that didn't ring any bells in her head. While Tangle couldn't say she was a worldly person, she knew most zones around her area and any that Sonic had visited. Knothole wasn't one of them.
"Where is that?" Whisper asked, finally joining in the conversation. "Knothole. I'm not familiar with that location."
The smile on Nicole's face faded. "It… It's gone. Eggman… he destroyed it. Just because it was our home. Because it was Sonic's home…"
Well that was news to her. "Sonic had a home?"
The AI seemed surprised at this. "Everyone has a home!"
…Okay, she had a point there. But that just seemed… wrong for Sonic. He wasn't the kind of guy who stayed in one place for too long. He was always moving, always heading off to his next big adventure.
Its why she admired him so much.
Throughout all this, Whisper remained quiet.
Tangle didn't like that. At all.
"What's your deal?" She whispered to the wolf as they continued to walk. She hoped Nicole wasn't listening in. "You're acting all weird."
"We're in hostile enemy territory." Whisper reminded her. "Being cautious."
"Yeah, but you've been giving Nicole the stink-eye ever since she called this place a Death Egg. What's up with that?"
"…"
Tangle sighed and shook her head. Yeah, she probably wasn't going to get answers from the wolf anytime soon.
Eventually, they stopped at a big metal door that just seemed to exude a whole 'ominous' aura.
Maybe she had been watching too many movies.
"T-The signal is coming from here…" Nicole was hesitating even more now. "And… so is the Badnik's? I don't understand…"
"Were you created by Eggman?"
Tangle and Nicole looked at Whisper, who had her wispon in her hands. She wasn't aiming it, but even a dummy like Tangle had all the imagination required to guess what might happen soon.
"No!" The AI didn't even hesitate in her response. She looked pissed. Heck, more than pissed. She looked absolutely livid! "I am not a spawn of that… that monster! How can you even say that?!"
"You led us to this battleship. A battleship I only discovered by chance." Whisper shot back. "You are able to access the system. You claim to know Sonic but we have no records of your existence. Eggman has skills and knowledge needed to create something like yo-."
"Whisper, calm down!" She interrupted the wolf and walked foward. "That's enough! Nicole's weird, but she isn't working for Eggman!"
"How can you tell?" The wolf pointed at the PDA. "She could've been created to lead us into a trap."
Tangle may be a dummy but she wasn't stupid. Whisper's suspicions made sense. But… "Because I trust her." She said honestly. "Because nobody can look that alone and scared and be faking it." She put her hand on Whisper's weapon and said, "Because I can tell she needs our help. I know this situation is weird and scary. But… please trust me on this, okay?"
For a second, the wolf seemed to hesitate. But the tension slowly drained from the sniper's shoulders and she gave a small nod. Smiling at her, Tangle looked back at the PDA. Nicole seemed to be sulking in the screen, her back turned away and hugging herself. "Hey, Nicole? You there?"
"Happening again… it's happening again…" The lynx muttered to herself. "…don't trust me…"
Man, did Whisper accidentally step on some sort of landmine? "Come on, Nicole! I trust you! So what if your memory's a bit foggy? I forgot to pay my rent!" When Nicole looked over her shoulder Tangle grinned. "Compared to that, a buggy memory's nothing!"
"…Okay." To her relief, Nicole seemed to cheer up slightly. "But I'm still confused as to why the SOS signal is mixing with the Badnik's. If we can find a computer terminal the-."
The doors exploded.
Tangle screamed as she flew back, saved only because her tail caught on the railing while her free hand grabbed onto Whisper's. Landing on the walkway, the lemur put Nicole's PDA in her pocket and got ready to fight with both her fists raised.
A metal foot crashed onto a piece of rubble.
"Observation: Primary Target Sonic The Hedgehog is not within scanning range."
The voice was female, but was cold and artificial. There was something in it that sounded natural, but perverted by metal speakers and reverb.
"I-It can't be…" Nicole muttered from Tangle's pocket.
"Scanned Lifeforms: One Mobian Lemur and Mobian Wolf. Five Wisp life forms are detected in close proximity to wispon. Lifeforms are now designated as Freedom Fighters and enemies to Eggman Empire."
The smoke cleared and Tangle got a good look at the Badnik.
It appeared to be humanoid, but made with a metallic blue vest that had a silver midsection with a black and red crystal underneath the vest. Its hands were metallic silver claws and it had black boots, black shoulder pads, and blue legs that matched its middle section. The head looked vaguely like a chipmunk's, but had silver discs on the cheeks and completely black eyes with red digital irises. It had red hair, but it was a smooth and spiky metal thing that didn't so much as move with each step that it took.
It was a thing closer to Metal Sonic than any run of the mill Badnik.
It had a mouth, but it seemed to be in a perpetual frown as it looked at each of them before focusing on the PDA.
"Secondary Target Nicole the Holo-Lynx has been found." The Badnik opened its clawed hands and the tips glinted in the dim light. "Commencing with extermination."
Nicole then said something that confused the heck out of Tangle.
"Princess Sally?"
The Infamous Man Presents…
Rediscovered Frontiers
Notes: Well… TBH I'm kinda surprised I wrote this myself.
I wouldn't call myself a Sonic megafan, but I always did have a soft spot for the series. The Archie Sonic Comics were one of the first comics I ever owned, and Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes were some of my favorite GameCube games. Recently I love the new IDW Sonic comic series and Sonic Frontiers, and the idea of actually having the IDW and Archie cast interact is one thats been bouncing in my head for a time…
So yeah, here you go!
I would also really appreciate it if you guys left reviews and how I wrote the characters! Trying to make sure I ONLY use the characters provided in both iterations of the comic, so don't expect any OCs! Don't need them here!
Writing Tangle is a ton of fun, BTWs. She's basically Chie Satonaka so I already have experience with writing a spunky go-getting tomboy!