-Chapter 258-
Quiet at the Museum
Knothole
In his lab, Tails was working on something. He held out his hand.
"Screwdriver."
"Screwdriver." Cosmo handed him a screwdriver. He twisted a bolt.
"Circuit board."
"Circuit board." Cosmo handed him the board.
"Peppermint."
"Uhhh...we're all out." Cosmo hastily popped the last one in her mouth.
"Darn it! Remind me to make a run to the candy shop later. In the meantime, plasma torch."
"Plasma torch." Cosmo held out the torch. Tails pulled his goggles down before letting loose. A few moments later, he pulled back.
"That should do it." he chuckled.
-X-
Back in the common room, Chris and Keith were in the middle of a debate.
"C'mon Keith, think about it!"
"Chris, we have plenty of powerhouses in the team. We need to focus more on defense and utility options. It takes more than muscle and offense to win a fight."
"Well, what use are all those going to be if you can just blast the guy before they can do anything?"
"And if they're tough enough to survive it and counterattack, what're you gonna do then?"
"Dodge it and try again, of course."
"Hey, guys!" They turned as Tails and Cosmo entered.
"Oh, hi Tails," Keith greeted. "How'd it go?"
"How'd what go?" Sonic asked, looking up from his Blurr comic.
"I'm glad you asked, my dear Sonic," Tails grinned. "Presenting, fresh out of Tails Labs, I give you… The new and improved T-Pup!"
Tails held out T-Pup… who looked exactly the same.
"That's, uh… really something, buddy," Sonic remarked.
"Just wait till you see him in action. Trust me, it's awesome!"
"Hey, guys!" Hope came running out of the lab. "Check out what I just got from Jewel!"
Sonic blinked. "Jewel?"
"Isn't that the beetle you and Shadow's team helped out a while back?" Tails asked, getting a nod.
"Right," Sonic scratched the side of his head. "I was undergoing my first training-from-hell session with Longclaw at the time. So, what's up? She need help with another Power Gem?"
Hope shook her head. "No, nothing like that. She's hosting a brand new exhibit at her Mineral Museum, and she sent us all free passes!" She held out several slips of paper, no doubt the aforementioned passes.
"After everything that happened in Wyldwest, a nice, peaceful museum visit sounds great," Tails remarked.
"I'm down for it," said Chris.
"I dunno, guys," Sonic mused. "What even is a Mineral Museum?"
"Jewel's pride and joy," Hope replied. "A museum stocked with all the minerals, jewels, and Power Gems she's found in and around Spiral Hill Village."
"Sounds interesting," Tails said.
"But it's just a bunch of rocks," Sonic remarked.
"Sonic…" Tails sighed.
"What? It's true, isn't it?"
"Those 'rocks' include Power Gems and the like, Sonic," Hope said. "You can't honestly tell me you're not the least bit curious."
"Hope, museums are quiet, stuffy, and you aren't allowed to run or shout in them," Sonic shot back. "Not exactly my idea of a good time."
"Sonic!" Sally came in. "I just got a call from Longclaw. Didn't you have wind training today?"
Sonic stiffened, starting to sweat.
"W-well… uh…" He looked at the passes. "A-Actually Sal, I'm gonna have to raincheck on that. Still recovering from the whole thing in Sand Blast. Plus, Hope invited me to check out this cool rock museum and I thought it'd be a great way to relax. Take the edge off, y'know?"
Sally nodded. "Alright, I'll let her know, then."
"Thanks, Sal."
As she left, Sonic sighed in relief. "Close one."
"Seriously?" Tails asked. "Was it really that bad?
"Oh, no," Sonic replied. "Unless running around non-stop and doing acrobatics wearing a hundred kilos worth of training weights is your idea of a good time. And don't even get me started on 'The Drop'..."
-X-
Flashback
Sonic stood over a tall cliff overlooking Green Hill, Longclaw standing behind him.
He swallowed. "Uhhhh...Longclaw, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Of course, Sonic. This is a traditional training exercise for my people, I've supervised it for countless other owls."
"Yeah...you know I'm not an owl, right?" Sonic held up his arms. "You see any wings here?"
"Worry not. I've taken the necessary precautions. Now… close your eyes..."
He did so. "Okay…
"Relax your muscles..."
He did so.
"Take a deep breath..."
He did so.
"And keep your feet straight when you fall."
"Wait, what!?"
Before Sonic could react, Longclaw shoved him off the cliff. Time seemed to freeze as he looked down at the ground.
" I'm going to die now… " he thought. " I'm going to frickin' die now. "
And then, he fell. Out loud, he screamed "Ohhhh, CRAP! " before flailing frantically, screaming and babbling incoherently all the way. Longclaw watched as Sonic fell, wincing as he landed with a loud thud and scared numerous Flickies from their perches. Once the birds had cleared out, she looked over the cliff and saw Sonic caught amongst the branches.
"I told you to keep your feet straight!"
Flashback Over
-X-
Sonic shuddered. "Yeah… not fun."
"She seriously threw you off of a cliff?" Cosmo asked.
"Said it was to help me 'feel the wind'."
"Jeez... what's her next training exercise?" Chris deadpanned. "Eating a live frog? Setting you on fire? Making you run through a briar patch in your birthday suit?"
"By Aurora, I hope not," Sonic shook his head. "A-Anyway, let's get going. Where's this place located again?"
"Spiral Hill Village," Hope replied. "None of us have ever been there, so we'll have to take the Special."
"Works for me. I'll send word to the others."
Outside Spiral Hill Village
Spiral Hill Village was a relatively small, quaint town in Northamer, possessing both stone houses and a distinctive tower. As its name implied, it was situated on top of a tall, spiraling hill with rather steep sides, a stone staircase/bridge that led up alongside the hill the only means of access. And just outside the village, Axel, Clove, and Cassia were chilling in Axel's jeep. Cassia was playing her new Game Cog Twin. (1)
"Come on, Hercules! You can do it! Show that minotaur who the real King of Beasts is!"
"Cassia, the whole reason we went on this trip was to get you away from those games for a while," Clove deadpanned.
"Well, I gotta do something until Hope and her friends get here. So, I'm kicking me some fat, ugly cow butt!"
Axel raised an eyebrow, seemingly offended.
"Not you, Axel. You're awesome."
"Calm down, I'm just messin' with ya." Axel ruffled Cass' hair.
"Hey!"
"Axel, please," Clove cut in. "We're about to meet the Princess herself. Try to show some decorum."
"Clove, it's Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters ," the water buffalo pointed out.
"Yeah, they don't give a Picky's ass about fancy titles and all that jazz."
"Cassia!"
"What? It's true."
"That's exactly what I'm talking a–!"
Just then, they heard the sound of a jet engine. The trio looked up to see the Special flying in the air.
"They're here!" Cass shouted as she leaped out of the jeep.
"Cass, wait!" Clove called out but was ignored.
Cassia watched as the Special landed, twitching with excitement the entire time. Once it hit the ground and shut down, the door opened up, allowing a lone figure to step out…
"Ahhh, smell that fresh air."
"Hope!" Cassis shouted as she tackled the figure, startling them. "Hope! Oh my gosh! We heard about what happened in Sand Blast on the news! Are you okay!? Those wackos didn't hurt you, did they!?"
"Easy Cass, I'm fine," Hope replied. "I'm also over here."
Cassia opened up her eyes and looked behind who she was hugging to see Hope walking over to her, waving. Confused, the younger Pronghorn turned to who she was hugging.
"Sup?" Sonic said, giving her a two-fingered salute. Realizing she'd made a mistake, Cassia released the hedgehog, letting out a sheepish squeak as she did.
"Whoops," she said, her face red with embarrassment.
"Cassia!" They turned to see Clove and Axel running over to them.
"I am so sorry about that, Mr. Hedgehog, sir," Clove said.
"Hey, no worries."
Sally walked over.
"Ah, you must be the Pronghorns!" She extended a hand. "Sally Acorn, a pleasure."
"Clove and this is my little sister, Cassia, and our guardian, Axel." Clove bowed. "It's an honor to meet you, Your Highness."
Sally chuckled. "No need for formalities. Just call me Sally."
Clove blushed. "Ah! Y-Yes, of course."
Axel grinned as Cassia mouthed "Told ya", causing Clove to give them a flat look.
"Anyway…" Clove cleared her throat. "Before anything else, we just want to say thank you for everything you've done for Hope."
"Like I said, no worries," Sonic replied. "Honestly, we should be thanking you three."
Axel chuckled. "Mighty kind of you."
"Okay, okay, awesome as this is, can we pleeeease go now!" Cassia pleaded as she practically bounced with excitement. "I wanna see what cool Power Gems Jewel's got in her Rock Museum!"
Clove laughed. "Alright, alright, let's go!"
"Last one there buys lunch!" Sonic zipped off, startling Clove and her family and kicking up a substantial amount of dust and wind as he raced toward the village.
"Holy shit, he is fast!"
"Cassia!"
Spiral Hill Village
Meanwhile, Jewel was picking up something to eat from the bakery. The vendor had just handed her a fresh croissant roll when she heard a loud boom in the distance, startling her.
"What was that!?"
She turned toward the entrance just in time to see Sonic zoom into town.
"AAAAAAnd goal!" he cheered as the others managed to catch up, Chris panting like a dog.
"Whew!" he let out. "Well...there's my exercise for the day."
"Yeah…" Cassia huffed. "Mine too…"
"Me three..." Hope chimed in.
"Oh! Miss Kintobor!" Jewel called out, grabbing Hope's attention.
"Hey Jewel!"
"Look at you!" the beetle said as she flitted over. "You look so much better now. How have you been?
Hope's mood deflated slightly. "Well… better than I was, at the very least. We just got back from a...really crazy mission."
Jewel winced in sympathy. "Oh yes… I saw it on the news."
"Whussup, Jewel?" Cass cut-in.
"Oh! Cassia, you all made it too!"
"Wouldn't miss this for the world!" the younger Pronghorn grinned as she flashed a peace sign.
"Thank you again for inviting us." Clove said with a bow. "Especially after…"
"Y'know…" Axel finished with a wince.
"It's alright," Jewel said. "Given your circumstances, I can hardly blame you for what happened."
Most of the Freedom Fighters looked confused, save for Sonic, Sally, and Hope, who winced in sympathy.
"A-Anyway…" Sally interrupted, wanting to change the subject. "Jewel, could you show us where your museum is?"
"Oh! Yes, of course! Right this way, please."
At that, Jewel flew off, motioning for the Freedom Fighters to follow her. As they did, Sonic suddenly stopped, his ears twitching as he turned toward a nearby alleyway.
"Sonic, is something wrong?" Sally asked in concern.
Sonic stared at the alley for a moment longer, his eyes narrowing. "It's nothing, Sal," he said, shaking his head. "C'mon, let's go."
With that, Sonic and Sally went to catch up with the others. Not realizing that, from an alleyway across, they were being watched by a pair of…hooligans.
"Whew! That was way too close," Nack the Weasel gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Dammit! It was bad enough that Axel the Water Buffalo and the Pronghorn Sisters were in town! Nobody said anything about Sonic!"
"Maybe they came to try the croissant rolls?" Bean provided.
Nack scoffed. "Idiot. The only thing he and his loser friends do is help people. For free. They're here to see the new exhibit."
"Oh. Well, I hear they put raisins in 'em, anyway." Bean pulled out a communicator and prepared to press the button. "Welp, better call Bark and the newbie and tell'em we're going straight to Plan B!"
Nack choked before grabbing Bean and wrestling him to the ground, grabbing his communicator before getting in his face.
"Are you crazy!?" the weasel shouted.
"Clinically or figuratively?"
"You can't call them now! Especially not the newbie!"
"Why not? She's gonna find out anyway."
Nack glared at Bean. "Yeah, and by then, we'll have the loot and be getting out of here! We play our secret weapon even one minute too early and who knows what she'll do! Besides, it's called Plan B for a reason. Think of our professional pride!"
Bean gasped before hugging Nack, starry-eyed. "We still have that?!"
"Get off me ya–!" Nack shoved Bean off just as his communicator beeped. He cleared his throat, answering it. "Talk to me."
" This is Bark. The newbie and I may have figured out a way to keep Sonic and his pals from getting in our way. "
"Did you now?" Nack said, skeptically.
" Yeah, she's setting things up as we speak. "
Nack froze. "Hold on, she's what !?"
" Don't worry Boss, she's smart. Nobody will suspect a thing. 'Specially not Blue Boy. "
"They'd better not," Nack warned. "Twenty million Mobiums is a lot of money."
-X-
"I'm honestly surprised to see you here, Mr. Hedgehog," Jewel said. "I never took you for the museum-going type."
"Just Sonic, Jewel." Sonic stretched his arms as he walked. "And normally, I'm not. But, things have been real hectic lately. Needless to say, we all need a break."
"Well, you came to the right place to have one! Although..." Jewel realized who all was with her. "I didn't expect you to bring so many people."
Hope chuckled sheepishly. "Well, like I said, we all needed a break."
Jewel smiled. "Well…the more the merrier. Come along, the museum is this way."
"YAAAHOOOO!"
Everyone stopped.
"What the...?" Sonic let out.
"The heck was that?" Keith asked.
"Over there!" Chris pointed off in the distance.
"Oh no...!" Jewel managed.
Everyone turned to see a Mobian lemur running and jumping along the rooftops. She had primarily light gray fur and orchid-purple eyes. She possessed one eyelash on each eye, a small black nose, and a long bushy tail with gray stripes. She also had gray fur around her muzzle and between her eyes, and dark gray fur around the sides of her eyes and on her eyelids and round ears. She also had extra fur on top of her head and chest and small cheek tufts. For attire, she wore a short-sleeved black bodysuit with dark orange stripes down the sides, an amber sleeveless top, and detailed amber hi-tops with white laces and soles, black details, and dark orange cuffs. She also wore amber sports tape around her forearms and fingerless black gloves made of black sports tape with dark orange backings.
"Woo! Yeah!" She ran to the edge of the building. "Hardcore parkooooour!"
Jewel just sighed, shaking her head.
"What in the world is that crazy raccoon doing!?" Tekno demanded.
"Actually Tekno, that's a ring-tailed lemur," Rotor clarified.
"Okay, but what in the world is she doing up there!?"
"Making a scene, that's what." one citizen remarked.
"Honestly, can't Tangle go for five minutes without stirring up trouble?"
"AAAAAAAnd...Spider-Swing!"
What happened next, nobody was expecting. The lemur shot out her tail, which stretched like rubber, seemingly sprouting fingers before grabbing a tree branch.
"What the...!?" Amy exclaimed.
"Hut!" The lemur leaped, letting out a loud Tarzan yell as she swung. They watched as her tail released the tree branch, the lemur doing a flip before shooting her tail out again. This bit continued for a bit until the lemur looked down, seeing Sonic. Her eyes widened in awe, and she lost focus. Jewel gasped, seeing what she was approaching.
"Tangle! Watch out for that-"
But it was too late. The lemur slammed into a tree full force.
"...tree."
Everyone winced before she slowly peeled off, faceplanting in the dirt.
"Uuuuuugh..." the lemur slowly stood up, shaking her head. "Granddad...you ran another stop sign."
Sonic ran over. "Hey, you okay?"
The minute she saw him, the lemur's eyes lit up, and she enthusiastically grabbed his hand, practically pumping it off his shoulder
"Oh my gosh, it is you!" she exclaimed. "Sonic the Hedgehog! My name's Tangle the Lemur! I'm a huge fan, and it's such an honor to meet you!"
Sonic smiled as she kept shaking his hand, growing increasingly uncomfortable. Thankfully, she soon caught on.
"I'm... shaking your hand too long, aren't I?"
"A bit."
"Sorry," Tangle let go of his hand, taking a step back.
"Tangle!"
"Sir!" the lemur shouted as she stood at attention, seeing Jewel staring at her.
"Oh, hey Jewel!" Tangle waved, her mood suddenly lightening as she gestured to Sonic excitedly. "Check out who came to visit!"
Suddenly, Jewel flew right in Tangle's face, almost knocking her over again.
"What in Aurora's name do you think you're doing!?" the beetle shouted. "Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"
"Whoa! Easy there, Jewel!" Tangle held her hands up placatingly. "A little fall like that's not gonna hurt me." she snapped her fingers. "Remember that time I slipped off the bell tower?"
" Why do you think I'm shouting!? " Jewel sighed harshly as she massaged her temples. "I swear, you are the embodiment of leap before you look."
"Hey, how else do you react when a freakin' celebrity like Sonic shows up in your town? Pretty sure you'd be distracted too."
"That's not the-!"
"So, uh… Tangle, was it?" Hope quickly cut in.
"Hmm?" Tangle perked, seeing Hope. "No… way…" She suddenly ran over. "You're kid genius, Freedom Fighter, and GUN superspy of Team Dark, Hope Kintobor!"
Hope blinked before smiling, flattered. "Well, nice to meet someone who mentions all of that before getting into me being Eggman's niece."
Tangle scoffed. "Who cares about that? Everybody with half a brain knows you aren't like him at all." Tangle pointed to her head. "Case in point."
Hope smiled at that.
"So! What's it like being the world's youngest GUN agent!? Is it true that Shadow the Hedgehog is your dad? Does that make Rouge the Bat your mom? Is Shadow really an alien!?" She gasped. "Are you really dating Fred Baker's grandson?!"
Jewel grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back. "Tangle, behave."
"Oops…" Tangle chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry."
"Well...she's certainly..." Clove began, unsure. "Certainly..."
"Insane?" Axel chimed-in.
"Unhinged?" Cassia added.
"Demented?" Sticks concluded.
"Let's just go with…energetic," Jewel decided.
"So!" Tangle shouted. "What brings the Hero of Mobius and his merry band of misfits to our sleepy little corner of Northamer?"
"Jewel invited us to see her museum," Hope explained.
"Oooh! You're here for the new exhibit!" Tangle scratched her head sheepishly, "Yeah, shoulda guessed."
"Yeah…" Sonic nodded. "If you've been watching the news or been on the Internet, we've been in dire need of a break."
"Well, I don't watch much TV, but if you wanna see the new rock, it's rad!" Tangle grabbed Sonic's hand. "C'mon! Onward, Freedom Flunkies!"
She dragged Sonic off to the right.
"Uh, Tangle?" Jewel piped up, getting her attention before jerking her thumb in the opposite direction. "The museum is that way."
Tangle blinked for a moment, then quickly reversed direction. "Onward!"
"Is she... always like this?" Sally asked.
Jewel sighed. "Yes. Ever since we were kids."
-X-
Later, the group arrived at the Mineral Museum, a two-story gray building with a blue-famed entrance and windows. They entered to see an open hall with stairs leading up to a second floor on the sides. The hall featured many shelves with several types of valuable minerals (including gems) put on display for the public to see.
"Whoooa…" the Freedom Fighters all let out.
Sonic whistled. "Okay, I'll admit, this is really cool."
"Glad ya like it," Tangle remarked. "And to think this all started with my and Jewel's rock collection."
"Hold up," Shorty cut in. "You collected all of these?"
"Yep! As you can probably tell, I'm the free-spirited, wild and crazy, bold and daring, adventure kinda gal. I'd go off exploring the forests and caves surrounding the village. And Jewel would come along with me."
"Only because you needed me to bail you out of whatever traps and hazards you'd constantly fall into." Jewel deadpanned.
"And if you hadn't, we'd never have found all these awesome crystals and gems!"
Jewel smiled. "True…"
"Wow," Keith remarked. "Sounds like someone else we know. Right, Hope?"
"Whoa…" Hope let out, not paying attention.
"Hope?"
Hope headed over to an exhibit consisting of an orange stone with a flame engraving, and a blue one with watery bubbles on it. "Keith, check this out! They have a Heat Opal! A-and an Aqua Turquoise!"
"No way!" Keith ran over. "Mom and I have been looking all over Mobius for Power Gems like these. Just imagine the specialized Power Rings we could make with them…"
"And check out the size of this…" Chris read the case. "Malachite. It's as big as my head!"
Amy looked over a pink gem with a spiral on it.
"Hmmm...a Spin Spinel..." Curious, Amy reached for it
"Don't touch that!" Jewel cried out.
Amy touched it and started spinning in place very rapidly. "WhoawhoawhoawhoaWHOA!"
"I gotcha!" Sonic grabbed Amy, stopping her from spinning. The pink hedgehog groaned as she stumbled about dizzily, Flickies circling her head.
"Uuuuuuugh..."
"Amy, are you okay?" Sally asked.
"Ohhhh...sick as a dog..." she moaned.
"Yeah…" Jewel rubbed her forehead. "In the future, please look at the exhibits with your eyes and not your hands, okay? A lot of these are dangerous Power Gems."
"Axel, Clove, over here!" Cassia called out.
Axel and Clove found Cassia standing by a pair of large geodes. Each one was lined with crystals. The geode on the left was filled with orange, pink, and white crystals, while the one on the right was filled with green, white, and blue crystals.
"These rocks are totally gay, aren't they?"
At that, everyone looked at Cass like she'd grown a second head. Cassia's mood dropped as she realized what she'd just said.
"Cassia…" Clove sighed in exasperation.
"Nonono! Not like that!" Cassia pleaded. "I just meant they look like your pride flags! Sorry, that didn't come out right."
Clove rubbed her eyes. "Think before you speak in the future, please."
"Hold on," Tails said. "I thought the homosexual pride flag was rainbow-colored?"
"Kinda," Axel cut in. "The green and blue flag is the flag for gay men, specifically. They gave 'em one since lesbians had their pink and orange."
Axel and Clove turned, showing off a set of pride patches stitched on the sleeves of their jackets, each matching the geodes.
"So then you're... " Sticks began.
"Eyup, they are," Cassia confirmed with a nod.
"Okay, I guess Clove's kinda tomboyish," Sticks turned to Axel. "But you look so... buff and, well... manly."
"What were you expecting?" Axel deadpanned, more amused than offended. "Some campy, flamboyant guy wearing makeup and gaudy, sequined clothes who goes around going 'Heeey'?" His voice took on an exaggerated lisp for the last bit.
"Yeah, just ignore Sticks," Sonic said. "She's a couple quarters short of a buck if you know what I mean."
"Hey!" Sticks objected.
"Do you deny it?"
Sticks sighed. "No."
"Exactly."
"Hey, guys..." Knuckles pointed to a display case in the center, covered by a curtain.
"Hello there," Sonic remarked, the group walking over to the case.
"This must be the new exhibit," Sally guessed.
Jewel nodded. "You would be correct. My crew found this shortly after Hope and her friends helped me with the Warp Topaz. We were going to show it off by the end of the week, but..." Sticks slowly tried to peek under the curtain, but Jewel promptly slapped her hand away. "No peeking, please. You'll have to wait until the public unveiling like everybody else."
"Oh, come on!" Sticks whined.
"Sticks, behave," Sonic told her.
Antoine's ears perked before he grabbed his sword.
"Antoine?" Bunnie asked.
"Something's coming."
Everyone tensed, readying for a fight. The doors opened up.
"Not one step closer, pal!" Tangle shouted.
The person who entered blinked. It was a female Mobian fox with red fur with a pale yellow front, muzzle, and tail-tip, short brown hair tied in the back with a yellow bow, and blue eyes, donned in a yellow-orange zip-up leotard with a white stripe down the front and silver cuffs at the head, leg, and armholes, alongside matching boots and white gloves.
"Uhhh…" she blinked. "I'm sorry, are you not open yet?"
A moment of silence passed before Sonic blinked, looking closer.
"Hang on a sec…" he said. "I know you. Weren't you a prisoner in the Egg Dungeon a while back?"
The fox smiled. "Oh, hey Sonic! Long time no see. Thanks for the prison break back then, B-T-Dubs."
"No prob. What was your name again? Fiona, right?"
"That's right. Fiona Fox. Man, it's been a minute, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, guess it has."
"You're looking better than you were back then. Though most of that might have been the motor oil in your quills. Still, visibly better."
"Thanks," Sonic noticed Fiona's choice of outfit. "And you look, uh… pretty… good yourself."
"Why thank you," Fiona smiled. "Much better than those jumpsuits, I'll tell ya. I swear he purposely makes those things itchy as fugg."
Tails was staring at Fiona absently, seemingly lost in his own head. Cosmo looked between Fiona and him before puffing her cheeks in annoyance.
"Tails? Tails!" she clapped her hands before his face, snapping him back to. "Hey!"
Tails blinked. "Huh? What? Did something happen?"
"You were busy admiring Fiona's… outfit," Keith remarked.
"Seriously, how are you able to-?" Hope began.
"Get away with it?" Fiona offered. "Mobian dress laws are a bit more relaxed than humans. Fur and all that. Heck, I'm pretty sure that if humans weren't so uppity, we'd all be runnin' around in the buff."
"Okay, stopping this right now," Sonic cut in. "I got enough of that in Meropis."
"Can we help you with something, Miss Fox?" Jewel asked.
"I'm just here to check out the new exhibit. I heard you actually managed to find a real, live Ice Diamond."
Jewel blinked. "How did you-?!"
"Never underestimate mercs, Jewelia. We got instincts that make most detectives and reporters jealous."
Knuckles blinked. "Jewelia?"
"Her real name," Tangle clarified.
"Tangle!" Jewel objected.
"What? What'd I do?"
"No way…" Keith breathed, "You actually found an Ice Diamond!?"
"I'm guessing that's a big deal?" Shorty asked.
"The biggest! Ice Diamonds are the rarest, most powerful type of Power Gem on Mobius!"
"Good job, Mr. Kent, you get a gold star," Fiona cut in. "Anyway, I'm here because I know that Jewelia has an Ice Diamond, and it just so happens that one of my clients is looking for one."
Knuckles scowled. "So that's it. You here to try and steal it?"
Everyone looked at Fiona in shock, the fox just blinking before sighing.
"It's because I called myself a merc, isn't it?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Axel confirmed.
Amy blinked. "Knuckles, how did you-?"
"Let's just say my sister isn't the only one with a sus meter," Knuckles said. "You also mentioned one of your clients looking for the diamond, and I don't see any suitcase of money. Plus, there's the fact you're here before the museum even opens."
"Seriously?" Sonic demanded. "I save you from Eggman just for you to become a jewel thief?"
"I'm just earning my living, Sonic. Nothing personal. Now then..." Fiona quickly pulled out a pair of daggers. "You have two options: A. Hand over the jewel, nice and quiet. Or B. We kick your butts and take it from you."
"Hold on, we?"
Sonic then heard a whistling noise before looking back to see Fiona covering her nose and mouth. Sonic quickly looked up and saw a bomb dropping. As the bomb passed his face, he noticed there was the word "BOOM" written across it.
"SCATTER!" Knuckles cried out.
They all hit the deck as the bomb went off, releasing a huge cloud of green smoke. It was followed by, surprisingly, a farting noise.
"AAAGH!" Sonic let out in agony. "My nose!"
"Oh Aurora," Hope cried out. "It's Rough and Tumble all over again!"
"I can't breathe!" Cassia struggled to say, coughing as she held her throat.
"Cass!" Clove cried out, rushing over to her. "Your inhaler!"
Thinking fast, Tails quickly started spinning his tails in order to vent the room. As he did, they could all distantly hear Fiona taking off.
"Nothing personal!" she cried out as she fled. "It's just business!"
Finally, the gas was cleared, allowing the Freedom Fighters to regroup.
"Okay, what the heck just happened?" Porker asked. "Besides our nostrils getting burned."
A scream from Jewel pierced through the museum, cutting off anyone from answering. Tangle was immediately on her feet, rushing to the beetle's side.
"Jewel?!"
"It… it's gone!" Jewel cried. "It's all gone!"
Sure enough, as everyone looked around the Mineral Museum, everything was gone. Every last gem, jewel, rock, and mineral has been completely removed from the building, leaving only empty cases and displays.
"Holy crap…" Cassia let out, rubbing her face.
"They snatched everything!" Amy exclaimed.
"Yeah…" Sonic turned to the new exhibit. "Including Jewel's Ice Diamond!"
Jewel fell to her knees, utterly horrified. "My exhibits…my collection…it's all gone! It's over…I'm ruined!"
"Don't say that, Jewel!" Tangle insisted. "It's not over yet! We'll find them! Right, Sonic!?"
"Right!" Sonic agreed, turning to the others. "Everyone spread out! Find where the thieves went! We need to get those gems back!
Author's Note:
(1) Mobian Nintendo DS
And here we have the long awaited return of Team Hooligan and Fiona Fox. After the madness of the Sand Blast arc, we figured we were all due for a break. Enjoy yourselves, don't forget to R&R, and we'll see you next time!