Chapter Text
Prologue: Deja vu
The ground felt cold, A chilling sensation waking them up from a slumber. They begin to move their hands around and felt the grit of chiseled stone against their fingertips. The unfamiliarity of the environment resulted in a rising panic filling their chest. Eyes flinging open, they were met with a dark room, with only a little bit of light trickling in from a crack in the doorway.
‘W-where am i?’ They think while scrambling to their feet, it's obvious the room they are in is quite cramped. As their feet press against the wall and hands push the door forward. The motion causes them to tumble out of the doorway and crash to the floor.
Recovering from their clumsiness they see that they are inside some sort of small classroom. Only two rows of desks along with a worn-down looking chalkboard. The windows of the room were boarded with titanium, and he could see a faint red glow surrounding the walls. What caught their eye was in two of the desks seats there were people seated. Heads lying against the table as they were both unconscious. One was a girl, she had pink quills, a light muzzle and was wearing a red uniform. The other was a much younger looking boy with yellow fur and two tails, which was unusual for any Mobian to have.
> Planning Room
“Ah hello?” they said worriedly. Nervously wandering up to the other Mobians they shook the shoulder of the girl. She had a minor reaction but didn’t wake up. Threy shook harder, which made the girl grumble in annoyance as her eyes fluttered open.
“Mrgrn, what…what do you want?” She mumbled. Her eyes tiredly opened all the way and came face to face with his. He watched her expression change from slightly annoyed to confusion. She pushes herself sitting upright. “Who are you?” The girl takes a very quick glance of her surroundings, then practically jumps out of her chair. “WHERE AM I!” She reaches for something but is left surprised as her gloved palm grasps at something that isn’t there. “wh-wha?” She looks at her own hand in confusion, then back at them. “Tell me what's going on right now!” she shouts.
“I-I don’t know either.” Their voice cracks as he tries to explain. “I just woke up in the closet over there and…then I saw you two.” They point at the other boy on the desk who was starting to stir awake from all the noise.
“So, you’re not the kidnapper? We’re all in this together?” She says, her expression still distrustful.
“Y-yeah.” They rubbed the back of their neck nervously. “I'm Barry, Barry the Quokka .” They decided to introduce themselves, hopefully it would make her less nervous.
“Okay Barry.” The girl folded her arms. She looked Barry up and down, clearly deep in thought. “For some reason, I feel like I can trust you.” The pink girl sighed, throwing her hands to her hips. “I’m Amy Rose… the hedgehog .” Amy’s face had a small smile as she told him her name.
Barry has a moment of recognition. “Wait aren’t you famous or something?” They ask Amy. Who raises her brow.
“Famous? I wouldn’t consider myself famous. Have you heard of me before?” Amy questions..
“What who's famous?” A third voice broke the conversation, it was very youthful sounding. The other boy has woken up and was rubbing his eyes. He was wearing white gloves and blue shoes, the gloves held in place with a blue rubber band. “What the? Where am I?” He went through the same phases of shock Barry and Amy had already gone through.
“We don’t know.” Amy answers. “Does anyone know how we may have gotten here?”
Barry searches their mind palace. They remember they were at work, Barry worked as a customer representative on a high-end passenger train. The Qukkoa looked down at their clothes and noticed they were still in uniform. If Barry recalled, their shift was just about to end. There was one more stop to make, the train was empty. Though right before the end, someone entered the train. Barry had already turned down the lights so they almost might not have noticed had there not been a cheerful chime when they entered. The person approached them in the darkness, it was only then Barry realized no one should have been able to get on at this point. The mysterious figure began to raise their arm in the air, in the dim illumination Barry saw their lips move as they told them-
They told them...
Snapping back to reality Barry realized his memories ended there. ‘Was that my kidnapper?’ They thought.
“I don’t know how I got here.” the other boy eventually says, breaking the brief pause. “I was in my workshop, when I began to get sleepy, someone must have poured sleeping gas through the vents.” he says, tilting his head thoughtfully. “Oh!” He realized something. “My name is Miles Prower, but most people call me Tails, I heard you guy’s names, Barry and Amy right?” He points at them, respectively.
‘Miles Prower? Does he know his name is a pun?’ Barry thinks
“What just because you have two Tails? How original.” Amy sarcastically comments.
“Well, my friends think it is cute! And I like it as well.” Tails pouts. The two tailed fox then leans forward towards Amy rubbing his chin. “Do I know you?”
Amy gets nervous as he leans close to her. “Well, I was thinking the same thing but, I'm not sure where we have met!” Amy thinks for a little while longer. “Wait, were you ever in Station Square?” She seems to recall.
“Yeah! During the perfect chaos incident!”
“You saved the city from a missile!” Amy smiled. “Yeah, I remember that newspaper.”
“Wow Tails’ looks like you got a fangirl!” Barry chuckles.
“Hahah heh.” He blushes, then turns away from them. “Where are we!” Tails looks around the room. He heads straight for the door; it opens without protest. “Hey, we aren’t locked in here!” Amy and Barry both look at each other then follow Tails through the door.
In the hallway they step outside to see a large building, brick walls all red tinted from some holographic thing cloaking them in. The ceiling made of glass allowing yellow light to trickle in. Outside the room they were in was something along the lines of a strip mall. Indoor plants and some shops and dining areas. It was clear that it was an office space though, as the more recreational areas were on one side, while the there were more official-looking doors and hallways on the other side.
“Restoration HQ.” Amy suddenly said.
“Huh? You know this place, Amy?” Barry asks.
“I don’t know, I don’t think I've been here.” She pauses. “I just-knew it.”
“I’ve got it! Someone erased our memories!” Tails replies. The younger boy looks left and right, his gasp catching the other two's attention as he points to other people standing in the distance by one of the food courts shops.
>Food court
Barry follows Tails to the other people, both of whom are already in a conversation.
“Meh burger, how are they still in business.” A girl with large poofy wool tied back into four buns folds her arms. She is wearing an orange dress with a blue belt tied into a bow on the back. Her shoes are light brown hiking boots.
“I think they’re kind of good” a red dreaded male stood next to her. Barry could not help but notice his boxing gloves with spikes on them.
“Don’t lie about being able to think.” she spits back.
The other man standing next to her instantly explodes in anger. “HEY!” His voice was deep and booming, it caught Barry a tad off guard.
“Hello hey!” Amy spoke up. “Did you also wake up here?” The girl turns to Amy clearly caught off guard.
“Ah my gaia! You scared me!” She folded her arms and tapped her foot.
“Hey there are other people! Finally, I was getting tired of her.” The guy smiled upon seeing the three of them. “Wait... do I know you guys?”
“We seem to be getting that a lot!” Tails asks.
“I'm Barry, this is Tails, and that's Amy.” Barry says.
“Oh, I'm Knuckles , I'm the last Echidna. ” The red Echidna replied.
“Why would you just give away information like that! These could be the bad guys!” The girl sighs in defeat. “I'm going to hope you aren’t cause if Knuckles is my only hope just go ahead and kill me now.” She shoots him with a disappointed glare. “I'm Lanolin, The Sheep , not a goat, or a pillow, or a cloud, or anything else that would be completely stupid to believe.”
“I wasn’t thinking that!” Barry put their hands up in defense.
“I ALREADY SAID I'M SORRY FOR TRYING TO SLEEP ON IT!” Knuckles shouts again. The two of them bicker for a little bit before Lanolin turns back to the three of them.
“Have you all looked around yet? Knuckles and I just left our room.”
“No, you’re the first people we saw!” Tails replies.
“Well, we thought we heard something in the gym area, past the food court, so I'm going there.” She speaks.
“Hmmm.” Tails thinks “We will join you in a second, let's look around some more.”
“Hey why are you making the executive decisions!” Amy protests. “But I agree.”
‘Then why even protest?’ Barry thinks.
“Alright then goodbye, Knuckles you should follow them.” Lanolin turns away.
“No way! I was the one who heard the noise I am getting there first!” Knuckles ran past her slightly shoving her out of the way.
“it's not a competition!” Lanolin's voice trails off as she chases after him in a rage.
> Shopping Corner
Walking to the other side of the indoor foliage the three of them reach a shopping area.
“Hey a grocery store!” Barry notices, he looks through the glass and sees the shelves are mostly empty, save for some random inedible items. “No food...”
“Wow a clothing store!” Amy cheers. She runs up to the window to get a look at a mannequin. The interior of the store was dark and Amy screams in terror as someone's face pops out at her from the shadows.
“Boo!” The voice is muffled. Amy makes a swinging motion with her hands, gasping with pain when her fists collide with the sturdy glass.
The front door of the store opens as Tails and Barry catch up to comfort her. A grey furred girl with an impressively long tail walked out in a panic. “Are you okay? Shoot I am sorry!” Out behind the girl comes another Mobian, whose face is obscured by a mask, and body covered with a long black cloak. Barry can see they have yellow fur and sharp ears.
“What was that for!” Amy is irritated. The other girl looked apologetic.
“I had to go for it! It was a little bit funny, wasn’t it?” The girl nervously chucked. “You don’t look like a kidnapper, I'm Tangle the Lemur. ” She held out her hand to shake.
“Quick to introductions huh?” Tails looked suspiciously at her. “Trying to butter us up, aren’t you?”
“Maybe I am? better sleep with one eye open right? Or you will not live to tell the tale” Tangle smirks while her own long tail gestures to Tails’.
“it’s okay I have another tale!” She and Tails break out into a light fit of laughter. Barry does not really get it, and instead looks at the person behind Tangle who was standing there motionless.
“Hello.” he moves past tangle as she talks to Amy and tails. “You are?”
“...”
“I'm Barry.”
“...”
“You were also kidnapped like us, right?”
“...”
“Okay good talk!” his voice cracked, and he turned back to the convo with Tangle. ‘What was her deal?!’
“So then i gave my kidnapper a the ol’ 1-2! But he had a trick up his sleeve- sleeping gas!” Tangle punches the air.
“Thats how they got me too!” Tails eyes are sparking. “Those big cheaters!”
“I wonder how many people are here?” Amy frowns.
“Some people were in the food court I thought? Or was that you guys?”
“That might have been Lanolin and Knuckles, they went to the gym.”
“I guess we’re heading there then!” Tangle points.
“We’re gonna stay back and check on everywhere thoroughly.” Tails comments.
“If there’s nothing in the gym, I'll come find you!” Tangle nods. Then she turns to the person behind her. “You coming?”
“...” The masked person moves closer to Tangle.
“Oh, by the way this is my friend she's kind of shy” Tangle elbows her playfully. “C'mon tell them your name, they’re nice guys.” Tangle prods them.
“ Whisper ” a tiny feminine voice finally comes out from the person.
“What? I didn’t quite catch that.” Barry said.
“...”
“Awesome, you aren’t going to say it again, are you?” ‘I wish I had bigger ears like tails!’
“Yeah, you won't be able to make her talk.” Tangle laughs. “This is Whisper the Wolf, and I know from experience that she is quite capable of making others talk! My arm still hurts.”
“Nice to meet you both!” Amy smiles.
“See you around.”
> Entrance
As the three of them walk away from the food court they come to the more serious-looking side. At the end there is a large set of doors, with hallways to its left and right. Right at the door there is two people a man and a woman both prodding at the comically large padlock.
“Damn you! You said you could open it.” The man's gruff voice spat at her. He was a taller dark hedgehog as far as Barry could tell. Red stripes streaked across his head and body. His gloves were white with a black and red collar. On his hands and feet were large yellow rings. Like the one Amy’s had on. But his seemed to be tight, more handcuff like than jewelry.
“At least I'm actually trying, why don’t you go try out your little teleporting trick and get to the other side!” A bat woman wearing a purple and black striped skinsuit was desperately trying to pick the lock. Her fur was white and was cut short above her neck. In the back of her suit was an opening where two large dark wings were out freely.
“I'm not the only one who is capable of tricks it appears.”
“You got any ideas smart guy!?”
“Carry me up to the ceiling and I'll break the glass.”
“And rain shards down on us? Are you crazy!!”
‘I'd also not like our escape plan to involve raining glass,’ Barry thinks. “Um hi.” Barry calls out to them. They both stared Barry down with a neutral expression. ‘Their gaze is sharper than glass!’
The bat woman loosens up after assessing the three others. “Well, what do we have here? More people are in here.”
“ it's the worlds strangest meet n greet.” Barry awkwardly laughs. There's another long silence as the two of them tilted their heads, Barry couldn't read what they were thinking. "I'm Barry.” this received a tilt in the other direction. “The Quokkoa.” Barry’s last hail Mary to make this interaction less awkward was to hold out their hand for a shake.
The bat woman puts her hands on her hips and sighs. “ Rouge. ” Barry thinks the look in her eyes is only one of pity.
“I'm Tails! Nice to meet you, Rouge.” He seems on edge.
“Amy...” She says carefully.
“I suppose you are all having dejavu right now?” The black hedgehog chimes in.
“Everyone but me apparently!” Barry doesn’t know why they felt the need to talk.
Tails look at the imposing doors. The exterior is a purple tinted metal, with enough bolts and shutters to keep even the world's strongest bomb from getting in. “You’re not the only ones we’ve seen, whoever did this really didn’t want us getting out of here! But what does it mean? Why are we-”
“Ugh, your voice is so annoying.” The black hedgehog cut Tails off. “Don't waste your breath or your energy. If I couldn’t get out of here by now, we are going to be here for a LONG TIME. ” He folds his arms before turning his back to the three of them. “ Shadow the hedgehog, I'm the Ultimate lifeform . Consider yourself lucky I even told you.” He marches off towards the food court.
“Rude.” Amy puts. Rouge lets out light cackle.
“Guess I should get going as well. If I'm going to get out of here, I probably should stick with him.” Rouge flaps her wings and flies towards his direction.
‘Geeze, did it get cold in here or is that just my shoulder!’
> Left Hallway (Rooms)
Turning to the left hallway away from the entrance was a stretch of less ominous looking doors. Barry took a count, Eight on the left and eight on the right. There was also a stairwell at the end of the hall that was blocked off. Standing in the hallway was a group of three, a green bird guy, a green crocodile guy, and a green spiney girl. Surely all this green together was a good sign?
“Woah who's that over there?” the crocodile guy shouts and points at the three of them. “a couple of shady eyed customers maybe?”
“No no! I'm not shady eyed! In fact, my mom always told me my eyes sparkle!”
“Was that supposed to be a joke?” The bird guy seems very disgusted.
“If you thought it was funny then yes.” Barry squirmed where they were standing.
“Okay that’s enough let me take over now.” Amy stood in front of him. “you guys also kidnapped, yes?” The three of them give various nods of agreement. “Okay cool, I'm Amy, this is Barry, this is Tails, none of us know why we are here! There's apparently no way out, and we are all getting dejavu! That about cover it?”
“Well, I haven’t experienced that last one just yet” The crocodile guy says. “Regardless of it seems like we got a mystery on our hands! And if you have Vector the ace detective on the case, I'll make sure we all escape.” Vector grins in a way that makes Barry feel comforted. Taking a better look at the detective he saw that he had some expensive-looking headset on his neck, along with a solid gold chain. His gloves and shoes were stylish and more bougie than Barry could afford.
‘Does being a detective pay well?’ they think.
Amy’s brows raised at his comment. “You’re a detective! What's it like? I just love a good mystery.” She puts her hands to her sides. “Not so much being in one.”
“Oh yeah, I'll tell you all about it, not now though there’s more pressing matters at hand.” Vector eyes glint with a fiery intent.
“Pressing matters such as leading us to another dead end?” The green bird rolled his eyes. “We’ve been following this chump around for like 20 minutes, and now this girl is telling us there’s no way out!” His voice is full of frustration. “I shouldn’t be treated like this, or forced to hang around your plebs, Jet’s finding his own way out! Peace!” Jet pushes past Barry and Amy.
“Wait hey! Now we know there’s only dead ends, the real mystery solving can start!” Vector’s pleas fall on deaf ears.
“Don’t worry about guys like that Vector, I think you have the right attitude for this kind of situation.” Tails comments.
“Oof now would be a really bad time to say I lowkey agree with Jet.” The spiny-haired girl finally chimes in. Barry gets a good look at her; her fur has a black patch over her eyes. The look in her eyes is ice cold with bright blue color to match. Her outfit was also eye-catching, a torn up black polo shirt which was buttoned up haphazardly, high waisted yellow jeans, black spiked bracelets and similar rings on her fingers. The girl flashed a toothy grin. “Ahh this is about to be something really annoying, isn't it?” She puts her hands in her pockets. Her face fell into a frown. “I'm Surge the Tenrec, and you better not be the one behind this, or I will destroy you.” Surge practically burns a hold through Barry with her gaze.
Barry grabs the arm of Amy. “Can we check somewhere else now?” He stands behind her trying to shy away from the tenrec girl. Amy nods and the three of them say goodbye to Vector as he jumps right back into investigating.
> Right Hallway (Offices)
Crossing by the entrance to the other side, the group comes to the right hallway. Barry is caught by surprise and a Mobian comes bolting down the hallway on all fours and tackles them. They both briefly roll till the other one is on top of him. Barry gets a good at their assailant whilst his heart is racing. It's a girl with orange and brown striped fur, her clothes are tattered and made of other animal pelts, with a necklace made of teeth and feathers. Her wild demeanor is only supplemented by her terrifying crazed expression.
“YOU! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO TRAPPED US HERE! WEARING A SUIT LIKE THAT! YOU’RE APART OF THE HIGH SOCIETY OF ELITES THAT TOY WITH OUT LIVES FOR THEIR AMUSEMENT!” She yells at him.
“I ASSURE YOU I'M A WAGE SLAVE!” Barry cries.
“Hey! Let them go.” another female runs up to Barry and the crazy girl. Amy and Tails are first to help and they pull her off Barry.
“I’m telling you! He isn’t supposed to be here! He's apart of someone's plan!” Shes trashes in their grip.
“Calm down now.” A new voice also steps in. As Barry recovers, he gets a good look at the two other people. A purple chameleon with a yellow horn, his gloves and shoes are very shinobi inspired and he has dark makeup around his eyes. The other is a bug looking woman, her outer shell and wings are shiny, she wears a light red suit with a white dress shirt underneath, the suit has large gold cuff buttons. The girls face is wracked with worry, and she kneels down towards Barry.
“I'm so so sorry, that girl has been freaking out the entire time from this...Situation.” She helps Barry get up. “ My name Jewel the Beetle , Are you alright?” Barry gets a good look at her face. Her eyes were gentle pupils a soft pink color.
“Ah-bah- well.” Barry begins to stammer face flushed. “I’m okay, it's no big deal.” They rub the back of their head. Her face relaxes and a small smile forming.
“Thank goodness.” She lets go of their hand. During this time Amy, Tails and the other guy manage to get that weird girl to calm down. The strange girl approaches Barry rapidly stopping a few meters in front of their face.
“Sorry I tackled you.” She said flatly, Barry was not sure she was sorry. “ Sticks the Badger.” She leans into his ear. “I'm onto you.” Sticks hisses. Afterwards she wanders off to the left hallway.
“Hmph There she goes.” The purple chameleon frowns. “Apologies but I'm going to follow her before she causes more trouble.” He looks at Amy, Tails and Barry. “I am Espio the Chameleon Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He chases after Sticks.
The three of them were left behind with Jewel. She twirled her fingers, as they all stood in a stunned silence. “So what do you guys know about what's going on?” She started. “I woke up in one of the office rooms with those two. Sticks just instantly started going crazy so for the past couple of minutes we haven’t found out much.” Her voice is slightly shaking, Jewel’s eyes were darting around getting a good look at the dimly lit facility they were trapped in.
“We don’t know.” Amy sighed. “a bunch of people kidnapped and placed in a building. Maybe we are going to be put in a Blade Trap or something? Like the movie.”
‘what a horrible thought’ Barry’s face curls. Seems the other two had similar thoughts from the looks on their faces.
“O-or maybe not.” Amy attempts to backpedal her words. Jewel inches closer to Barry.
“I'm still not sure if I can trust you guys, but for now is it okay if I stick around?” She looks at them and asks.
“Of course! Don't worry Jewel! You can trust me I promise to keep you safe.” Barry claims.
“Of course.” She smiles.
> Rec Room
There was nowhere else to go down the right hallway, most of the office rooms being empty. So, the group of four decided they needed to head towards the gym. Barry noted the building's layout. From the entrance you can go left or right. To the left were bedrooms, to the right were offices. End the end of both hallways was stairwells to the second floor which is currently blocked off. From the entrance there is a mini set of staircases that take you down to the shops, in between the shops was some indoor plants on the other side was the food course which only had one operational store and 2 empty ones. To the left and right of the food court were two more doors, he supposed the left one led to the gym, considering the right one was blocked. Above them was a balcony you probably could get there from the stairwells.
Heading towards the left double doors from the food court Barry notices a single door off to the side. Unable to reel in their curiosity they went into a much smaller room. It looked like a recreation room, with mirrors, weight training devices, yoga mats, and a television in the corner, the was another set of. In the Rec room there were two people, a blue hedgehog and a smaller blue fox, this time fitted with only one tail. Barry saw the blue hedgehog was wearing red shoes and white gloves. The fox had some weird looking yellow backpack on. Due to the room's walls being lined with mirrors, the two notice the group of four instantly. Before either of them could make a comment, Tails and Amy react.
“SONIC!” They shout in unison, causing the blue hedgehog to nearly leap in surprise. Tails runs up to him into a hug with the other does not reciprocate.
‘Sonic? As in THE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, hero of Mobius! Fastest thing alive? Eater of chillidogs?’ Barry was shaken to suddenly be in the presence of such a legend.
“Hey Tails!” He seems annoyed in a more endearing way than upset. “So, you were brought here as well?”
“I’m so glad, I was worried I was here by myself.” The fox boy seemed more upbeat than he been before.
“So you guys know each other?” Barry asks. “I’m Barry by the way.”
“Yeah, Sonic is like my big bro!”
“We’re birds of a feather! Or some other fox and hedgehog related analogy.” Sonic rubbed under his nose. “I'm Sonic The hedgehog , great to meet ya~” He gave a thumbs up. Barry had no idea why, but his energy made all the fear of this scenario leave their body. If they were with Sonic, things would be okay.
“But Amy how do you know him?” Tails questions.
“Uhm well. I'm just a huge admirer.” She closes her eyes and rocks her feet in a cutesy manner.
“I think I recall seeing you around.” Sonic puts his hand on his chin. Then puts it to his head. “...” His face cringes as he begins clenching his teeth. “Ouch ouch, headache!” Everyone in the room looked worried, Sonic’s headache quickly passed. “I'm good.”
'W-what was that?’
“What was that!” Amy asks.
‘I said that already! no wait, I just thought it.’
“Seems like I almost remembered something, then it disappeared! Oh well.” Sonic put his hands behind his head. “it’ll probably come back to me eventually.”
“How can you be so casual.” Jewel frowned; her words trailed off. She then turned her attention to the other boy in the room. “Hey sorry we’ve been kind of ignoring you, what's your name.”
“ It’s Kit .” He says roughly. Turning his head to the side. The young fox gripped the straps of his bag tighter as he avoided eye contact.
“And cutting the tension with a knife.” Sonic interjected quickly.
“Sonic what I don’t understand is how someone like you got captured? Did they use sleeping gas on you as well?” Tails questions his friend.
“No, he didn’t use sleeping gas.” Sonic looked serious. Before anyone could ask what Sonic had meant there was a feedback noise blaring over the speakers. The tv in the corner of the rec room sprung to life.
“Hello, hello? Are you rodents listening?” an all too familiar voice came over the loudspeakers, on the tv was a shadowy figure sitting on a throne.
‘No, that voice, it can’t be’ terrible memories of an all too recent war flooded Barry’s mind.
“Please make your way to the gym! You have 2 minutes, don’t be too slow now! HOHOHOO!” the voice laughed as a the tv shut off.