Chapter Text
Westopolis, Year 3237
“Give it up, hedgehog!”
“Not gonna happen, Eggman!”
Sonic rocketed into a Spin Dash, slipping past a hailstorm of bullets to smash into the mech’s leg, spines carving deep gouges into the armor. Eggman let out a curse as his machine buckled, mechanical arm rotating to swipe at the hedgehog, which he nimbly dodged, striking the mech’s torso with a follow-up kick.
“Sonic,” Tails yelled from somewhere behind him, “move!”
The hedgehog only had a split-second to jump away as a ring of flames, fired from the fox’s gauntlet, struck Eggman’s machine and engulfed it in flames. “Nice shot, buddy!”
He touched down next to the hedgehog with a smirk. “As expected.”
“Is he done yet?”
“Doubt it.”
Eggman let out a wordless roar as the mech stood, kicking up a plume of sand, flames licking the edges as he charged forward like a meteor. Sonic maneuvered in kind, shining with brilliant blue energy. Tails followed just behind, twin tails spinning in a vortex to propel him forward.
“Hey, Eggs-for-brains!”
Sonic paused mid-stride, his aura dissolving. As did Tails, namesakes whirring to a stop. As did Eggman, even as his mech smoldered from the blaze. Even the Badniks spread out across the beach had stopped. Wait, no, Sonic realized...they were destroyed. He definitely hadn’t broken that many, and weren’t all burned or slashed like the ones Tails would’ve taken down. Some of them looked like they had been physically thrown into each other.
But Knuckles wasn’t around, right? So who would’ve done that?
Tails’ eyes narrowed, aimed towards the shoreline. “There!” Sonic followed his gaze to see some sort of flickery blue shape, almost invisible against the similarly-blue morning sky.
The hedgehog blinked, and he swore it was gone. Eggman seemed to think the same, turning back to his usual opponents. “Ready to die, rodents?”
Sonic’s retort was cut off by a streak of blue lightning, zipping straight towards the mech and solidifying into a white-furred mobian, sparkling with electricity. “Miss me, doc?”
“What are you-?”
“Say goodnight!” The figure’s tail, pulsating with plasma, whipped around and jammed itself into the cut Sonic had torn in the robotic leg. The machine glowed blue for a split-second, then suddenly slumped, inactive. Eggman let out a yelp as he ejected, both hands jittering from the aftershock. Without another word, he flew away, his leg-mounted jets spitting out acrid black smoke. The newcomer yelled after him, fist raised. “Not so tough when your mech is shut off, huh?”
Then they collapsed, flopping face-first into the sand in sync with the robot suit they’d just taken down. “Ow...” Tails ran over to the Badnik’s mutated remnants and ignited his blade, cutting into the chassis and releasing the flicky inside. It fluttered over to the newcomer and tapped them on the head, transferring some rings from the looks of it.
With a groan, they climbed to their feet, petting the bird before it flew off. “Ah jeez, that’s gonna sting later...oh hey!” Her face split into a grin as she sprinted over to the hedgehog. “Long time no see Sonic!”
“Uh, hey,” he replied, “same to you.” He quickly tried to remember where he’d seen this person before. A lemur, white-furred with gray markings on her face and tail, wearing mostly orange and white, several metallic loops on her fingers and piercing her ears, shorter than Tails but probably around the same age. He racked his brains but just couldn’t place her.
Speaking of Tails, he was just dropping down from an aerial scan of the area. “Hello Tangle.”
“Tangle?!” Sonic’s eyes bulged. “No way!”
She glared, joy vanishing from her face. “What, you didn’t even recognize me? Rude!”
Sonic sputtered. “Well you’ve changed a lot since then and I wasn’t even sure where you were-”
He was stopped by a laugh from the girl, as she dropped the serious act and went back to her cheery attitude from before. “Hey don’t worry about it, it has been a while y’know!”
Tails glanced between Sonic and Tangle. “How did you meet?”
Sonic turned his way. “I could ask you the same thing, Tails.”
He shrugged. “Tangle?”
The lemur grinned in response. “Sonic first, by about a year.”
Tails snickered, leaning against a broken Badnik shell. “Go on.”
The hedgehog sighed, scratching at the back of his neck. No way out, huh? “Well...”
South Island, Year 3230
“Hey, is this your plane, mister?”
Sonic’s eyes cracked open from his nap under the wing, looking at the young girl next to it. She didn’t have those piercings or markings yet, so she was just a white-furred lemur girl wearing an orange top and shorts. “Yeah. Why?”
She smiled in return. “It’s really cool! Can I try?”
“Aren’t you a little too young to be doing that?”
“I can totally handle it! Pleeeeeease?”
Sonic closed his eyes again. “Nope.”
“Aww, you’re no fun!”
“I just changed the oil anyway, it’s gonna need a few minutes before it’s safe to fly.”
She paused for a moment, but eventually changed her course. “Are you Sonic?”
The hedgehog shook his head. “Nah, not me.” He wasn’t going to sign any autographs or anything today, he just wanted to snooze for a bit while the plane’s oil cycled. Actually, it was probably done by now...
“It’s painted onto your plane though.”
“That’s, uh...that’s the brand name.”
“It says ‘property of Sonic the Hedgehog’ on the wing.”
“Er...he’s my mechanic...?”
“Okay that’s a huge stretch and you know it!”
Giving up on his nap, Sonic rolled over onto his side, eyeing the girl. “Whaddya want, anyway?”
She smiled. “I already told you, I want to try the plane!”
“And I already told you, that’s not happening.”
The lemur pouted. “What’ll change your mind?”
Sonic rolled his eyes. “Once you’re an adult, maybe.”
“How about this?” She pulled a black loop of metal out of her pocket, and Sonic’s heart almost stopped.
“A Chaos Ring?!”
She twirled it around her finger. “Yep! They’re all over the place, especially in the Labyrinth!”
“Wow,” was all Sonic could say. Eggman was complaining last time about how he could detect a Chaos Emerald somewhere near Metropolis but not exactly where. This must be it, since all the other ones had known locations...except for the Blue one, since it moved around so often.
“I’ve even found the Haven! Not that I’ve been able to get the Emerald, but I got really close the last time!” She tossed the Chaos Ring in her hand. “So now can I try the plane? Pretty please?”
He was kind of impressed, but still, she wouldn’t be able to pilot it at her age. “Tell you what. If you can beat me in a foot race, I’ll let you fly the Tornado.” She definitely couldn’t, but it’d give her a chance to burn off some of that energy at least.
“Okay!” She pocketed the ring and pointed at a cliff on the other end of the beach. “That’ll be the finish line!”
Sonic got to his feet. “Alright. I’ll even let you call the start.” He smirked. “Oh, and no tripping.”
She grinned, tail wrapping around the boulder he’d used as a stepstool earlier. “Okay then let’s threetwoonego!”
The hedgehog didn’t hesitate to start jogging, nowhere near full speed but still way too fast for anyone else. No way she was going to catch up to-
“See ya!”
Sonic’s eyes went wide as the girl somehow flew past him, and even wider when her tail latched onto a nearby tree branch and she used it to throw herself forward.
Oh that was it. This wasn’t a game anymore, this was a real race! He dug in and started revving a Peel Out, kicking up clouds of sand. After a few moments, he released it to blast ahead at top speed. The hedgehog caught up and blew past her, then it was an easy run to the cliff’s edge. It took about ten seconds for her to catch up, panting heavily. “Whew...er...best two out of three?”
“No.”
“Awww...”
She looked really dejected, actually, so Sonic decided to cheer her up a bit. “Still, that wasn’t too bad! I didn’t expect you to be that quick!” Her face brightened up a little. “Tell you what kiddo, if you’re still interested next time I’m around, we can have a rematch then. That sound good?”
The lemur nodded rapidly, smile restored. “Ooh, yes please! I’ll be sure to train up and get even faster!”
He stretched out one hand. “High-five?” She grinned and met him halfway, smacking it with all her might...which wasn’t much, thanks to the exhaustion she was now feeling.
“Alright, I’m gonna head out.” Sonic turned to face the Tornado. “By the way, what’s your name?”
The lemur waved as he walked away. “It’s Tangle! Bye, Sonic! See you when you come back!” Then she fell backwards onto the sand, fast asleep, as the hedgehog ran off.
Westopolis, Year 3237
“I would’ve given you another shot, but...after Iron Fortress I didn’t think you were still alive.”
The lemur growled, fist clenching and emitting sparks. “Don’t remind me.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s cool.” Her ears twitched at the sound of helicopters. “Looks like GUN’s coming in force, we oughta split.” She turned to face the hedgehog, a devilish glint in her eye. “So...”
Sonic groaned, realizing where this was going. “Fine! Fine, you can fly the Tornado, just this once!”
“Yes!” The lemur ran off towards the plane, which was parked further down the beach. “C’mon!”
Tails chuckled and sprinted after her, though that attitude would soon be reversed once he found out exactly how much of a daredevil Tangle was.