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Chapter Text

A duo of 3rd grade girls were attending another day of school. One was Tangle, a Lemur with an unusually stretchy tail and a knack for trouble. The other was Jewel, her beetle friend who tries her best to keep her out of any. As they took their seats, Tangle was expecting to be bored out of her mind, while Jewel was ready to learn. Both sat in the back.

The teacher of the class, a kind lady named Isabelle, got their attention. “Good morning class, we have a new student who will be joining us today. He’s an orphan who should be here any minute now…”

Tangle was intrigued. She was always eager to see new faces. She tapped on Jewel’s back with her tail, “Who do you think he is?”



Jewel tilted her head, “How am I supposed to know? He just moved here.”

Right at that moment, a blue streak entered the classroom with enough speed to blow some papers off the teacher’s desk. After stopping, there stood a blue hedgehog. This got starry eyes from Tangle, but the rest of the class had expressions varying from concern, horror, or amusement. The teacher was a bit annoyed, “That…certainly was a dramatic entrance. Care to introduce yourself?”

Sonic took a look at the class, and declared, “I’m Sonic The Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive!”

The teacher would sigh and then smile, “You have quite the ego, don’t you? But…” The teacher then realized what seat was open and was filled with concern, “...Please take your seat in the back next to Tangle.”

Sonic looked annoyed, “Do I have to, school is so boring…”

The teacher thought, This kid is going to be trouble isn’t he…, she then insisted, “Yes Sonic, your speed may be impressive, but you need to learn like everybody else.”

Sonic then reluctantly took a seat as requested. It was clear that Tangle was giddy at getting to have this cool new kid sitting next to her, which concerned Jewel. Tangle was about to ask Sonic a question, but Jewel put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, shaking her head in order to encourage her to focus on the lesson. While waiting for class to end, Sonic tapped his foot impatiently but cautiously to not make too much noise, Tangle tried to focus while her tail gave away her struggle, Jewel was attentive to the lesson, and the rest of the class did their own stuff. Jewel was a bit concerned, Tangle’s already impressed by him, isn’t she?  

Little did Jewel realize how much of an understatement that was…

(Many years later, on South Island)

It was another day in the lives of Sonic, Tangle, and Jewel. They arrived in a zone full of Green plants, water falls, totem poles, grand arches, and hills that were in fact the most common color of which plants have in the wild. As they arrived, Sonic asked, “We’re in Green Hill, right?”

Tangle smirked, “No doubt about it!”

Jewel, the third wheel of this trio, didn’t disagree, “Sure. So…How about we take it carefully through-”

Sonic and Tangle responded in kind, “As if!” And so they were off, Sonic speeding through, Tangle swinging around, and Jewel flying desperately to keep up. As they traversed the zone, Sonic found a Motobug. He stopped, suggesting, “Hey Tangle and Jewel, check this robot out!”

His friends quickly stopped to meet him where he stopped, Tangle giving shiny eyes to it, “Awwwww…That’s the most adorable robot I’ve ever seen!”

Jewel, however, did not agree, “Why…”

Sonic patted his beetle friend on the back, “Lighten up, it’s not like this thing could do us any har-” Sonic reacted to the sudden shock of being cut by one of the bug’s incisors, “YEEOW…”

Tangle raised an eyebrow, “Sonic, I told you, you’re not a cat.”

Jewel sighed in frustration, “Tangle, that thing attacked him.” Sonic was trying hard not to cry from the pain as Jewel pulled out her first aid kit and sighed, “You two are lucky I prepare for these things.”

Tangle then grabbed the robot with the tail from behind, bringing it to her face, “You know, that wasn’t very nice!” The robot gave an expression like it was sticking its tongue at her…but it lacked the tongue. Tangle grinned, “Okay, suit yourself.” As she smashed the robot into the ground, breaking it to pieces and revealing something disturbing: A flicky had been housed inside the robot.

The three friends were in shock, Sonic suddenly being back on his feet. Jewel fortunately had just finished applying a band-aid on Sonic, but was frustrated how eager he and Tangle always were to get back to adventuring after any injury. Sonic asked, “Where did that come from?”

Tangle replied, “I don’t know.”

Jewel flew over to the flicky and kindly asked, “What happened to you? Why were you in that robot?”

The flicky chirped, Jewel listening intently. She was dumbfounded and horrified by what it said. After it finished, Sonic asked Jewel, “What did the flicky say?”

Jewel had a look of dread on her face, “It said a crazed doctor stuffed it in there”

Both of her friends' jaws dropped at the revelation, Sonic asking, “You have to be kidding.”

Tangle agreed, “Why?! Who would want that?!”

Jewel glared in determination to defend such work, “No scientific committee I know of. Whoever did that is acting alone.”

Sonic and Tangle suddenly had an expression of angry determination, Tangle responding while her tail tensed up and she prepared to threaten with a fist, “Whoever it was, we will make him pay!”

Sonic nodded with folded arms, “You got that right!”

Jewel agreed, “Neither of you think it could be a she.”

The duo blushed in embarrassment, Tangle apologizing, “Sorry.” 

Sonic smiled and winked as he pointed a finger, “Cut us some slack, time to put our hands together!” Sonic put forth a hand to his friends.

Tangle cheerily joined in, “Oh, I love doing our cheer!”

Jewel grimaced, “Do we have to?”

Sonic and Tangle groaned, “Come on Jewel, please?”

Jewel sighed and smiled, “Okay…” And put her hand in with theirs.

Tangle then spoke, “And a one, and a two, and a one two three…”

They then lifted their arms out of the circle as they shouted, “TEAM SPIRAL!”

They sped through the zone quickly. Sonic would at one point shoot up way high from the S, causing Jewel to catch him in the air, “Sonic, you know landings from those heights could hurt you, right?”

Sonic rolled his eyes, “Geez, such a spoilsport Jewel.”

Tangle giggled as she swung close behind, “Yeah Jewel. We can take care of ourselves!”

Jewel gave a counter-declaration, “Sure…I swear, if you two were cats, you would have blown through all 9 lives by now…” She finally dropped Sonic back to the ground, “Sheesh, you really could ease off on the Chili dogs.”

Tangle looked at Jewel sternly, “Jewel, what did we say about that?”

Sonic got between his two friends, “It’s fine Tangle. You know we can’t help ourselves.” He gave a chuckle. As they ran further, that’s when they found a mysterious scientist. He had black pants, a red shirt, and a yellow bandana. He was flying in some kind of sphere shaped ride. 

Jewel grimaced in anger, “He must be the culprit.”

He heard a noise and looked in their direction, “Oh…Hey there critters…Lovely day, isn’t it?”

Sonic was tapping his foot while Tangle and Jewel prepared to fight, “Sure. You wouldn’t know anything about putting animals in robots…would you?”

Dr. Ivo Robotnik gave the most obvious ‘I’m a liar’ fake grin in response, “No…Of course not. What kind of mad, insane, world-conquering genius would ever do such a thing?! Certainly not Dr. Ivo Robotnik! No, absolutely not!”

Tangle punched his machine, “Very funny.”

Sonic smirked, “I almost respect your shamelessness. Now…” He then took a stance, “How about we take you down, Eggman!”

Jewel folded her arms, “Like you’re one to talk!”

Sonic smirked, “RUDE!” He next attacked the machine.

Eggman was sent reeling, “OOOF…That’s it you pests!” He revealed a wrecking ball out of his machine, “You’re going to pay for that!”

Each of them dodged out of the way of its path with ease, Tangle yawning, “And here I thought you’d be a challenge…” She delivered a rapidfire punch combo to his machine as Sonic and Jewel attacked it directly with their spines and shell respectively, decimating the wreck-ball off it in less than 5 seconds.

Eggman was horrified, Maybe I should have come better prepared… He frustratedly bellowed as he started flying away, “Dag nabbit! I’ll have my revenge in the next zone! Sayonara, Suck-” Only to find he had been grabbed by the lemur’s tail, dragged back to them.

Tangle spoke, “Where do you think you’re going!”

He was panicking as he showed obvious desperation, “I was just going to de-commission my robot factories!”

Jewel glared in obvious disbelief, “You can’t seriously think we’ll-”

Tangle agreed, “Fine, but don’t expect mercy if we catch you doing anything else!”

Eggman smirked, “You got it!” So he flew off. Once he was comfortable out of sight, he breathed a sigh of relief, I am so lucky that lemur and hedgehog are so dimwitted. I’ll get my revenge in the next zone!

After he left, Jewel chewed out Tangle, “Tangle, what were you thinking!”

Sonic, however, came to his friend’s defense, “It’s fine Jewel. If he tries this stunt again, we’ll make sure his dumb flightcraft doesn’t fly again!”

Jewel put some fingers to her forehead to sigh in frustration, “Fine. But that better be a promise!”

Meanwhile, Tangle had ventured off the cliff, using her tail as a repel to search for anything, seeing something shiny right on a tree. It was a blue gem with a an octagonal shape. She shouted in joy, “Hey guys, I found something!”

Jewel and Sonic ran over, looking where she was. Jewel flew down to where her friend was, looking at what her friend pointed to. She grabbed it, and her eyes immediately glowed, “Well done Tangle! That’s a huge find!”

Sonic was looking down impatiently, “What did you gals find?”

Tangle shot back up the cliff as Jewel flew with the gem in tow. Jewel explained, “A Chaos Emerald! I always thought these things were a myth, and yet here we are.”

Tangle smiled, “Oh! Aren’t they really powerful!”

Sonic looked at it and touched it, “I can feel the power emanating from this thing!”

Jewel teased, “You might want to make sure it’s not the Placebo effect.”

Tangle, however, smirked as she suggested, “Let’s look for more, just in case!”

Sonic winked, “Sounds like a plan! Race you to the next zone!” Sonic then sped off.

Tangle began chasing after, “No fair! You know you’re faster than us!”

Jewel frowned, These two push my limits in more ways than one.

Chapter Text

(3rd Grade, Spiral Hill, Recess)

At recess, Tangle was swinging on the monkey bars and everything else on the playground using her tail extensively while Jewel followed. Jewel asked Tangle, “You dig the new kid, huh?”

Tangle smiled, “Of course! What’s not to like?”

Jewel had a concerned look, “...He seems like trouble.”

Tangle just giggled, “We could use some excitement.”

Jewel just put a hand to her face, sighing. Before she could say anything, Sonic showed up on the jungle gym where they had been talking. “Talking about me?”

Tangle and Jewel were surprised, though Tangle wasn’t about to complain, “Oh, hi there Sonic. I’m Tangle and this is my friend Jewel.” She then put out a hand to shake, “Glad to meet you.”

Sonic then extended out his to shake it too, “Me too, I’m Sonic The Hedgehog.”

Jewel sighed, “...Right. You plan to do anything besides show off?”

Sonic nodded, “I want to see the world!”

Jewel raised an eyebrow, “Where?”

Sonic shrugged, “I dunno, why choose?”

Jewel grimaced, He’s not a thinker, is he? 

Tangle smiled, “Sounds fun, but there’s a lot to do here too.” She winked, “Mind if we show you around later?

Sonic grinned teasingly, “Maybe, if you can keep up!” He then ran to the other side of the playground in half a second, standing right above the slide.

Jewel was about to put a hand on Tangle’s shoulder, but it was too late. She’d already stretched her tail to the spot Sonic was at, but instead wound up slingshotting over it and skidding into the grass.

Jewel put hands over her mouth, but Tangle did a thumbs up with her tail after coming to a stop.

Jewel flew over, scolding, “Tangle! What were you thinking?!”

Sonic giggled as he ran over to help her stand up, “That was pretty fast.” After helping her up, he giggled, “Maybe learn to stick your landings and we’ll be seeing the world in no time.”

Tangle lifted her head with an embarrassed smirk, “Maybe.”

Sonic laughed, “I’ll take it!”

Jewel pinched her head, “You two are a disaster waiting to happen.”

Sonic and Tangle spoke simultaneously, “Says who!”

Jewel sighed, but smiled because her longtime friend was happy, “But…Who am I to stop you?”

Tangle and Sonic Smiled, Sonic offering to pound it, which Jewel did and then Tangle met with her tail. Sonic giggled again, “Your tail is like a third arm, isn’t it?”

Tangle grinned with folded arms and doing a thumbs up with it, “You bet it is!”

And thus, a friendship was born.

(Present day, South Island)

Next they came to Marble Zone. As they entered the ruins and maze, Jewel was a little bit disturbed, “Uh…Guys. All these contraptions seem dangerous. How about we take our time?”

But, realistically, she already knew the answer to that, as Sonic declared, “Not gonna happen!”

Tangle agreeing, “We go our own ways around this junk!” She used her tail to quickly push blocks into place, after which Sonic yoinked her tail, stopping right above the lava, letting her launch across, Sonic holding onto the tail, and Tangle throwing him across and then grabbing a chain to sling-shot to safety. Sonic exclaimed, “Wooooo!!!”

Tangle exclaimed in response, “That never gets old!”

Jewel, after flying across herself, shook her head, “There are safer ways to get across that…”

Sonic countered, “Says the girl who can fly freely!” Then he winked as he put out a fist to Tangle.

Tangle winked back, “We have to earn our ways over it.”

The frustrated Jewel, “You know as well as I do that both of you would be dead if it wasn’t for my help!”

They continued on into the ruins, Sonic rolling his eyes, “Yeah yeah, we never look before we leap, we know.”

Tangle put a hand on her hedgehog friend, “Sonic, she’s only concerned for us. Less fighting, more adventuring! Besides, we could find another emerald here!”

Sonic apologized, “Sorry Tangle, and Sorry Jewel.” He put out a hand, “Your friendship is priceless.”

Jewel softly smiled and shook it, “Thank you, Sonic.”

Then the lemur grabbed both her friends in her arms and gave a group-hug with her tail, “We make a great team, huh?”

Sonic winked, “Absolutely!”

Jewel nodded, “I can’t stay mad at you two…” She gave a smile 

Then came a section with spiky traps that hang from the ceiling, which makes Sonic and Tangle grin at each other as they know what they’re about to do. Sonic charges up a spin-dash while Tangle prepares a slingshot with her tail, launching him into the chain and breaking it. Jewel looked at that and asked them, “Was that really necessary?”

Sonic jumped out of the ball and shrugged, “I dunno…”

Tangle finished the sentence, “But wasn’t that cool?”

Jewel chuckled, “...It was.”

As one of the traps fell, they also found a gemstone fall out from the ceiling. Jewel was dumbfounded, Is this place seriously rewarding them? She sighed, “Well, guess we found another Chaos Emerald at least.”

As they escaped the Zone, they came to another fight with Eggman. This time his machine was equipped with a spout at the bottom. He declared, “Hah, did you really think the great Dr. Ivo Robotnik was done! Now for my revenge!"

Tangle smirked, “Oh please…” She launched her tail at his aircraft, “This fight will be over in no time!”

Eggman’s glasses shined, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you…”

Sonic taunted, “What, you’re going to write us angry letters if we defeat you again?”

Eggman continued, “Nope.” As she came close to it, let out a flame on her tail. 

Tangle’s arrogance evaporated on the spot as she screamed, “aaaaaUUUUGGH!” She brought it back to herself and tried to blow out the fire.

Jewel reminded her, “Tangle, that will only make it worse. Put it on the ground and I’ll roll my shell over it!”

Tangle, still in pain, nodded, letting Jewel do that as the flame was put out just in time. 

Sonic then jumped at Eggman as that was going on, “That was a dirty trick! You’ll pay for that!” As he jumped at him from many different angles.

Eggman smiled, “Oh, there’s more fire to come.”

Tangle, who had finally recovered from the fire, clenched her tail into a fist. She then suggested, “Sonic, how about we team-attack him!”

Sonic winked with a smile, “Sounds good!” He rolled into a ball as Tangle grabbed him and lobbed him at Eggman, bouncing him between her tail and his machine.

Eggman was panicking, Oh crap! It can’t take much- Then the spout fell off as his machine became harmless again. He growled, “Fine, I’ll get you next time you brats!” 

Then he was grabbed by the lemur’s tail again. Sonic glared at him, “Remember what we said last time?”

Eggman was very nervous, “Uhhhhh…You’re a brilliant genius, Robotnik?”

Jewel reminded him, “You betrayed our trust.”

Tangle announced, “Now get out of the machine because it’s toast!”

Eggman looked at her viciously, “You wouldn’t dare.”

Jewel smugly smiled, “Watch her.” 

Sonic smugly smiled, “Last call to leave it of your own free will.”

Eggman shouted, “NEVER!”

Tangle then flung the doctor out of his own machine and threw it into the lava. 

The mad doctor screamed, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” as he flew away into the distance.

The trio did a group high-five, “Yeah!” 

Sonic went next, “Oh, that was good. With him out, it should be smooth sailing through this island now!”

Tangle nodded, “You said it.”

Jewel further agreed, “Now let’s get back to freeing the animals, shall we?”

They next ran off to see the rest of the island...

Chapter Text

After school, the two fast friends and one less fast friend went on an adventure in the forest. Tangle had to ask Sonic, “How many places have you seen, Sonic?”

He smiled, “A lot. I’m too much for any Orphanage to handle.”

Jewel gave a half smile, “You and Tangle will get along just fine.”

Tangle nodded, “Probably.” 

Sonic reminisced, “Once, I snuck off with extra cookies before they realized what had even happened, then gave them to the disabled kids. It was great!”

Jewel was a bit surprised, “That’s…surprisingly wholesome of you.”

Sonic disappeared and came back with a cookie, eating and nodding, “mmhmm.”

They then came to a gap, “Let’s see who clears this gap first, shall we?”

Sonic went with a spindash and jump. He barely missed the edge, causing Jewel to grab him from falling down into it. Jewel scolded Sonic, “You didn’t even think to look before you leaped?”

Tangle had jumped then grabbed the edge to shoot back to the other side on her own.

After the three made it across, Sonic shouted, “That was so cool!” She complied using her tail. Sonic laughed, “Your tail is amazing!”

Tangle blushed in humility, “Thanks. It was nothing.”

Then Jewel got a message on her phone from her parents, “Sorry, but we need to get back. My parents need me home.”

The duo complied. As they walked back, Sonic said, “See you at school tomorrow.”

Tangle gleefully replied, “You too Sonic.” She slingshotted back across, but accidentally shot herself down the same gap, “AAAAAHHHHH!!!” 

Jewel panicked, “TANGLE!!!” She flew down to grab her friend’s tail just in time, saving her from otherwise certain doom.

Tangle noticed her tail get grabbed, slingshotting back up to the other side, “Whew, thanks for the save, Jewel!”

Jewel clearly looked hyper stressed, speaking as calmly as she can, “Don’t mention it…” These two are going to get each other killed, aren’t they?! She thought to herself.

Sonic grinned, “Suit yourself!” 

Tangle mused, “Jewel could totally rock a suit, huh?”

Sonic giggled, “Not what I meant. Later!”

While they left, Jewel pondered that thought for a bit, Suit?

Next up was Spring Yard Zone. Jewel smiled, “With that monster gone, it ought to be smooth sailing now!”

Sonic and Tangle however, were getting themselves getting into pinball shenanigans, Jewel facepalming, “Guess I spoke too soon.”

Sonic and Tangle both exclaimed “WEEE!!!”

Jewel panicked, watching them hit different bumpers, hitting some enemies in her shell form to protect them. Once they got through, Sonic and Tangle bumped fists, “Nice Job Tangle!”

Tangle winked back, “You too, Sonic!” 

They continued on to a place…Or at least Jewel thought they had, before realizing her friends weren’t with her. She sighed, flying back through, and would you know it, she found the duo on the springs. She asked, “Come on guys, we need to get through here!”

Tangle responded, “Oh, hi Jewel!” She was holding onto a spring with her tail, bouncing up and down on it over and over again, “Check it out! I’m a living paddle ball!”

Sonic smiled, “Keep it up Tangle! You’re gonna set a world record!”

Jewel asked, “Do they even track ‘living paddle ball’? Can we stop wasting time please?”

Tangle responded in offense, “Wasted?!” She stopped her stunt, revealing she’d somehow claimed another Chaos Emerald, “How’s this for a ‘waste of time’!”

Jewel’s eyes went wide, “...I stand corrected. At least we’re done here…” 

On their way out, they made it to the end of the zone. For a moment, Sonic wondered, “I feel like we should be seeing that guy here again…”

Tangle agreed, “Yeah, this place has ‘battlefield’ written all over it.”

Jewel reminded them “We took his ride out, remember?”

Both embarassedly admitted, “Sorry, forgot.”

So they went on.

Upon reaching Labyrinth Zone, Tangle pondered, “Huh…Rather on the nose…”

Sonic looked mortified, “Oh…Please don’t tell me we’re going to get wet!”

Jewel looked down, “Nope, I’m not doing this in my nice dress!” She ran behind a pillar to change into her swimsuit, storing her normal clothes in a waterproof container. She also put on some goggles, getting some out for her friends too.

Tangle looked at her, teasing, “You worry about that too much, Jewel!”

Jewel suggested, “I might be with you two, but I have a reputation to hold!”

Sonic shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

Tangle giggled, “Hehe, literally!”

Sonic grinned, “I’m glad I’m a boy, no clothes for me!”

Tangle then teased Sonic, “You could totally rock an outfit like mine!”

Sonic shook his head, “Maybe, if that doctor turns me into a girl.”

Tangle responded along the same lines, “Maybe I could become a boy instead!”

Jewel facepalmed, “Less gender debates, can we enter the water already?”

Sonic groaned, “Do we have to?” Jewel nodded. Sonic reluctantly jumped in.

Tangle grinned, “Me next!” And went in too.

There wasn’t a lot of talking to be had in the water, what with the whole fact about them being in the water and all, difficult to make conversation in it. After a bit, Jewel wondered, Hope we find somewhere to resurface soon.

Then Sonic breathed an air bubble rising from the floor. Jewel was dumbfounded as Tangle took the next breath, walking behind Sonic, then Jewel. They made their way through, dodging the many dangerous obstacles and finally resurfacing again. Sonic breathed heavily, “Thank goodness that’s done! Tangle!”

She resurfaced next! “Yes Sonic!”

Sonic smiled, “Glad you made it. Where’s Jewel?”

She resurfaced a few seconds later, “Sorry, I got distracted by this:” She revealed the next Chaos Emerald.

Sonic smiled, “Nicely done…Can we get out of here?...Please.”

Tangle smiled, “Yep, looks like our exit is very shortly.”

As they walked out, Jewel whispered to Tangle, “You remember how to swim…Right?”

Tangle whispered back, “Yeah, but walking and stretching in the water is more fun.”

Jewel chuckled, “I understand.”

Starlight Zone went by without much trouble…Except for Sonic and Tangle getting distracted by the bouncing spike balls. Tangle at one point launched one very far away using her tail slingshot to send one flying. Sonic commented, “Where do you think that one will go?”

Tangle shrugged, “I hope it hits something the Doctor’s working on.”

Sonic nodded with a content frown, “Me too Tangle.” 

As he revealed another emerald he’d found as he traversed the zone, “I got another emerald by the way.”

Tangle smiled, “Nice!” She looked at their next destination, “Now…How about we head into that suspicious tower!”

Jewel grimaced, “That doesn’t seem safe…”

Sonic grinned, “Sounds like a challenge! I like it!” And he ran in, Tangle following closely behind. Jewel, the third wheel of the trio, flew behind.

A few miles away, he was working on another prototype of his Egg Mobile, only for it to fall apart after getting hit by the spike ball Tangle sent flying, destroying all the work he made on it, “HOW?!...Oh, that pesky hedgehog and his friends must be getting here soon. Better be ready!” 

The mad doctor ran up to his final machine, eagerly awaiting them to finally put them in their place.

The trio made their way through Scrap Brain without much difficulty. They even found another emerald, Jewel finding it this time, “Yes! That’s 6! Now where is that 7th emerald?”

Sonic shrugged, “We’ll see it if we see it, I guess.”

Tangle cracked her knuckles, “Can we get out of this place already? It gives me the creeps!”

Sonic winked, “I’ll race you out!”

Tangle winked back, “Challenge Accepted!”

Jewel begged, “Wait!” But…They were already gone. She flew around and above the water, trying to avoid changing her clothes again. Eventually she managed it, finding the entry to the next zone.

She waited for her friends there, Tangle showing up first, “Woohoo! I win this time!”

Jewel clapped, “I knew you had it in you, Tangle!”

Sonic shortly thereafter, seeing his friends already had made it. Jewel waved a bit sarcastically, Sonic grimacing, “Dang it! Dumb water slowing me down!”

Tangle smiled, “Guess you were too slow!”

Sonic sighed in slight embarrassment, then congratulating them, “Not many girls can keep up with me! So glad I met you two.”

Tangle blushed in humility, “Awwwww…shucks Sonic.”

Jewel introspectively looked down, before sighing, “I’m glad we met too, despite the stress.” Then she started flying again, “Now let’s get out of here!”

The trio went up into the next area, finally coming face to face with Dr. Eggman again. He was furious, “You thought you were done with me! That Egg Mobile wasn’t cheap you know!!!”

Jewel countered his attack, “Neither is your bottomless crimes of Animal Cruelty!”

Tangle tensed up, “Yeah! You’re going down!”

Sonic agreed, “You can say that again!”

Tangle complied, “You’re going down!”

Jewel facepalmed, “Tangle…You didn’t have to actually do that…”

Tangle smiled gleefully, “It sounded cool though!”

Sonic giggled, “That it did. “

Eggman groaned, “Ugh! Your friendship is obnoxious. The lady bug, however…Would you like to join me? Doesn’t it get tirin-OW!”

Jewel kicked him in the face, “I refuse to work for an animal abuser!”

Eggman sighed in disappoint, “It’s your funeral!” He ran back to his Egg Crusher, with the trio following closely behind.

Tangle pondered as the door closed behind them, “What’s this doohicky about?” 

One started to drop, almost crushing her. Sonic noticed, “TANGLE!” And dashed to get her out of the way. 

Jewel looked around, noticing Eggman was in one and flew over to attack it. He responded, “OW! But it’ll take more than that!”

Tangle grew angry, waiting for another to drop. Sonic attacked the one Eggman came out of, at the same time as Tangle lassoed the other one and broke it, keeping it from going up again.

Eggman looked at it and was horrified, “Oh crap! No matter, eat this!” And sent down the electric balls. 

Sonic and Jewel avoided it with ease, while Tangle tried but was easily caught, “AAAIIIIIEEE! Crap, my tail makes me an easy target…”

Eggman cackled, “HAHAHAHA! That’s what you get for breaking part of my machine! Now to crush you!” He tried to crush the lemur, but in her quick thinking, she wrapped her tail around the one about to crush her, and she crushed instead.

Eggman was panicking, “NOOOOOOO!!! You’re supposed to lay down and die!”

Tangle chuckled, “Hehe, I may be down, but I’m not out…”

Sonic grinned, “Give up yet, Eggman?!”

Still with two left, he cackled, “Never! The world will bow to-” But after a rapid fire attack from Sonic and Jewel from both sides, his machine broke down. And with nowhere left to run and his machine down, he jumped off the edge. 

Jewel wondered, “Is he really-?”

Then he pulled out two Buzz Bombers before hitting the ground, “I’ll get you next time, you pests! The Eggman Empire will rule the world!”

Sonic rolled his eyes, “Whatever, Eggman!”

Tangle agreed, “We’ll be ready!”

Eggman flew off into the sunset, holding his two robots. They could barely carry him, but he was surprisingly strong, holding them for the long flight to…Wherever he went next.

The trio of friends went out to Green Hill again, Sonic smiling wide, “We did it!”

Tangle smirked, “Honestly, that guy was barely a pushover!”

Jewel did not agree, “He almost killed you both… multiple times!”

Sonic was still self-assured, “That’s hero work for you!”

Tangle agreed, “And we got some cool gems!” As she pulled out her emeralds.”

Sonic winked and pulled out his, “Yeah!”

Jewel then finished with hers, “I guess…” 

The 6 then glowed together, flying up into the air. After a few seconds, they flew off together, and they noticed what appeared to be a 7th light join as they flew off to a new island.

Tangle wondered, “Was that the seventh Chaos Emerald?”

Sonic shrugged, “Probably, guess they’re magical after all.”

Jewel was dumbfounded, embarrassed to be wrong for once, “Can’t argue after that…”

Sonic smiled, “Should we go chase them and find out?!”

Jewel shook her head, “Nah, we need to get back home, remember? My parents will flip if we do that.”

The other two looked deflated, but smiled, “Okay Jewel…”

And there ended the first adventure of the trio and their exploits against Eggman…

Chapter Text

Another day of adventure went between the young trio. They’d ventured so far into the forest, Jewel was afraid they’d never find their way back. But…Somehow, they’d returned just in time before the sun was about to set.

Sonic patted his tummy, “I’m getting hungry. Where can I get a good chili dog?”

Jewel shrugged, “I dunno.”

Tangle, meanwhile, agreed with Sonic, eyes lighting up, “I know just the guy! Follow me!”

Sonic, unsurprisingly, did, to Jewel’s frustration. Tangle used her long tail to tap on the back of the rabbit running the hot-dog stand, “Hey mister!”

The hotdog guy turned around, “Huh?” He turned around to see a child trio of a little boy hedgehog, girl lemur, and girl beetle. The hedgehog and lemur were doing their most adorable begging child eyes. The rabbit asked, “What do you kids want?”

The hedgehog begged, “Could we get some food?”

The lemur joined in, “And me too? We’re very hungry.”

The guy raised an eyebrow, “Uh…Kids…You know gotta buy those. Where are your parents?”

Sonic explained, “I’m an orphan. I never knew my parents…”

Tangle shrugged, “Mine aren’t around often.”

Jewel sighed, “I guess I’ll call mine…”

He rolled his eyes and sighed, “Just this once, I’ll do it. But you can’t just ask me for free meals, kids.”

The lemur and hedgehog both lit up, speaking simultaneously, “THANK YOU, SIR!”

He giggled, starting to assemble their chili-dogs, “I’m Ron.” He finished them for the trio, “Have a nice night, kiddos!”

Sonic grabbed his, thanking Tangle, “Thank you Tangle, you’re a life saver!”

Tangle winked back, “Any time!”

Jewel grimaced, “You two are lucky he was so generous…”

The three went to the castle wall of town to sit as the sun was setting, Sonic noting, “I’m glad I came here. What a view!”

Tangle agreed, “I know, right! I think I can see a cloud that looks like my head!” As she pointed into the sky.

Jewel was concerned yet again, “Is this really where we should eat?”

But no answer came. Sonic took a bite of the chili dog, and instantly, he fell in love with it. The spices, the meats, the tinges of salt and sugar, they all combined to make this the most… heavenly thing he’d ever eaten. His eyes became stars, salivating at the chili dog as his little tail began wagging, “This…IS THE GREATEST THING EVER!”

Tangle and Jewel were caught a bit off guard by this. Tangle smiled though, “...Glad you like it.” Taking a bit out of one herself. She liked it a lot, and would take a long time to get sick of it. But best thing ever…She wasn’t so sure.

Jewel giggled though, “Awww…your tail’s wagging. Glad to know Tangle’s not the only one with an expressive tail here.”

Sonic was confused, “What?” He looked behind him, “I don’t see no tail wagging. Less talking, more eating!” He took another bite, tail wagging again.

Tangle now noticed too, “I see it now too! You must really love that thing!”

Sonic checked behind him again, stopping barely as he looked back. He shrugged, getting back to eating, which of course caused it to wag again. Tangle giggled now too, getting back to eating it herself, her tail showing how content she was with this meal.

Jewel ate hers now too. She didn’t understand what was so special about this thing. It was fine, but she could probably live without it. Still, it was clear her friends were loving theirs, so she kept the thought to herself. The trio finished their foods, Sonic exclaiming, “Ah…That hit the spot! Catch you later!” And he disappeared, off to his orphanage.

Jewel grimaced, “We’ve known him for days, and yet each time he suddenly disappears, I’m still surprised.”

Tangle stood up, “That’s just who he is. Later Jewel!” As she began to swing around back to her place.

Jewel closed her eyes, Kindred spirits indeed… She flew back to her house next.

After the excursion they had finished, the Spiral Hill trio had made it back to their home. Jewel knew what to expect from these returns so she sarcastically asked, “What are we doing next you two?”

Sonic winked, “Chili dogs, of course!” They ran over to their favorite hot dog vendor: Ron. 

He greeted them happily, “Hey, it’s my #1, #2, and #5 customers!” 

Sonic and Tangle giggled as they winked opposite eyes, “You know it!”

He quickly started preparing chili dogs for Sonic and Tangle, asking Jewel, “You want one today, Jewel?”

She shook her head, “Nah. I’ll go grab myself some chicken wings.” 

The two of her friends gave thumbs ups in response, Sonic suggesting, “Ah well. I can respect that.”

Tangle agreed, “Me too.”

The two of them got their chili dogs, waving Ron goodbye. He looked at his cash from them and smiled, I’ll be able to purchase a permanent store location with the money these 3 have given me. Nice kids, glad my generosity all those years ago paid off so handsomely …

They caught up to Jewel in her favorite chicken wings place: An indoor restaurant close to where Ron ran his stand. They ate around a table, musing about their day. Sonic stretched, “Ooooooooooohhh, what a day you guys.”

Tangle agreed, “Tell me about it. Even compared to our past adventures, that was nuts !”

Jewel sipped her tea, sarcastically noting, “You can say that again.” Jewel then put up a hand to stop Tangle before she did. “They don’t usually involve crazy scientists…”

Sonic chuckled, “ That’s a new one.”

Tangle wondered, “How many animal rights violations did he commit with his ‘stuff animals into machines’ anyway?”

Jewel, who’d done cursory research on it, remarked, “Too many. Easier to list the ones he didn’t.”

Tangle laughed hard at that, wiping a tear from her eye when finished, “Oh, Jewel, your dry wit gets me every time.”

Sonic admitted, “Gotta have someone to keep us alive, eh?”

Jewel smirked, “You two seem a little too eager to throw your lives away.”

Sonic and Tangle put arms around each other and recited together, “We live life to the fullest? Would you expect anything less?”

Jewel softly smiled after sipping tea some more, “Nah.” She looked at the time, “It’s getting late you two…”

Tangle asked them, “What’s the plan for our next big adventure?”

Sonic wondered, “Jewel, didn’t you say something about a small planet that appears over some lake?”

Tangle wondered, “That sounds pretty far fetched…”

Jewel insisted, “I know, but I swear it’s been corroborated by several sources. In a few weeks, it will be over Never Lake. If we can visit it and come back in time, we might secure some unique rarely-before-seen gemstones.”

Sonic winked, “Sounds great!”

Tangle wondered, “You gonna fly us there and back?”

Jewel shrugged, “Maybe if Sonic didn’t own a plane.”

He scratched his head, “Oh yeah. Good idea.”

The trio waved goodbye for the night, getting to rest. 

Chapter Text

(3rd Grade, Cafeteria)

The trio of Sonic, Tangle, and Jewel quickly became a notorious trio. Everybody dug Sonic’s chill demeanor. Tangle’s excitable and friendly demeanor proved more divisive, but everyone knew the bond between her and Sonic was something special. Jewel, however, was the odd one out of the three. She did her best keeping them relatively on point with their schoolwork and out of danger, but everyone wondered why the two of them put up with her and vice versa.

Naturally, there were some who would poke fun at them. In one school lunch, a Skunk bully duo named Rough and Tumble noticed the trio of Sonic, Tangle, Jewel eating their lunches, and couldn’t leave well enough alone.

The taller bully snarked, “Gosh, why don’t you just kiss already?”

Sonic and Tangle raised eyebrows at them, while Jewel told them off, “Come on, you two. Leave them alone”

They insisted, alternating between Rough and Tumble before finishing together.

“When it comes to love,”

“our judgement doesn’t stumble.”

“Your romance has the approval of Rough & Tumble!”

Sonic put his hands to his face in embarrassment, while Jewel rolled her eyes. Tangle clapped, “Great rhyme, you guys!”

Tumble was frustrated, “Urgh! You’re not supposed to cheer us!”

They approached, Rough saying, “You’re supposed to make it easy for us to bully you!”

Sonic smirked and defiantly responded, “Keep practicing those skills and you’ll be rapping in no time.”

Tumble growled, “Shut up!”

Rough had lost his patience, “Just give us your lunches and we’ll leave you alone.”

Tumble added, “We’re growing boys. We need more than two girls and an orphan.”

Sonic’s demeanor changed and he got ready to fight, “Back off.”

Tangle’s did too and she followed up, “Leave us alone or else.”

They continued approaching, grabbing Jewel’s first. That got a smack from Tangle’s Tail. “Seriously, leave us alone.”

Rough insisted, “You really think you can stop us?”

Sonic began charging a spin-dash while Tangle formed a fist with her Tail, “You think we can’t?” They said in unison.

The brothers shouted, “Bring it!”

Sonic then spin-dashed Rough into a wall, trying to be soft enough to not seriously injure him, but it still hurt very bad. Tangle wrapped her tail around Tumble, then spinning him silly, ending up slapping Rough really hard by accident.

“Owwww! Why, bro!” Yelped Rough.

Tumble whined, “I didn’t mean it bro! That rude lemur made me do it!”

The two then declared,

“When it comes to fighting,”

“We refuse to strangle!”

“You’ve now been humiliated by Sonic and Tangle!”

One brother was angry, “You steal our gimmick now?!” Said Tumble.

Rough whined, “You two are mean!” He ran off crying.

Tumble chased behind, “We’re telling the principal!”

Jewel grimaced, “Really, you two?”

Sonic asked, “Did you want your food or not?”

Jewel sighed, “...Yes, but not more trouble..”

Principal Gilbert came back with the brothers, “Sonic and Tangle!”

Tangle declared, pointing with her tail, “They started it!”

Sonic suggested, “We tried to go easy on them too.”

The two bros showed their injuries and did crying eyes, Rough’s being more authentic, Tumble faking it. Tumble cried, “Liars.”

Jewel added, “They tried to steal our lunches first.”

Rough whined, “It’s not our fault we need the food more than you three doofuses…”

Tumble facepalmed, “Rough, you idiot!”

The principal changed the target of ire and scolded the boys, “Again, you two? I thought you learned to not steal others’ lunches, so don’t! Are we clear?”

They groveled, “Sorry sir, we won’t do it again!”

He declared, “Good.” He turned around to the trio, focusing on Sonic and Tangle, “As for you two, I’ll let you off with a warning.”

Tangle sighed, “Understood, Mr. Gilbert.”

Sonic looked down, muttering beneath his breath, “We didn’t do anything wrong.”

Sonic, Tangle, and Jewel went back to eating. Tangle mused, “Do you think we’d make a cute couple, Sonic?”

He went back to eating, “I dunno, maybe.” 

Jewel giggled, “That’s a question for our teens. Doesn’t need any further thought right now.” 

Sonic and Tangle both nodded, “Sounds good.”

Jewel pondered it herself, however, They certainly could be someday…

Tangle and Jewel were relaxing on their walk towards Never Lake. They took the direct route to the lake, Sonic opting to venture around the island for a while checking for any signs of Eggman. 

Upon arrival, they found a young pink hedgehog. She was placing some cards down. She placed a few down, frustrated with the result. “No! That can’t be right!” She shouted. 

She reshuffled the cards and placed a new one instead: The Knight! She smiled with glee, “That’s more like it!” 

Unfortunately for her, the wind blew a few cards away. She panicked, “No! My cards!”

Very fortunately though, Tangle and Jewel had arrived just in the nick of time, Tangle grabbing two of them with her tail. She chuckled, “Careful there, kiddo, you’re lucky we came in time!”

The hedgehog smiled in embarrassment, the lemur giving her cards back with the tail not exactly helping, “...Thank you.” Internally, she wondered, Is this my knight? But then…Why are there two?

Jewel walked over and asked her, “Who might you be?”

She glowed, sweetly posing, “I’m Amy Rose!”

Tangle looked at her closely, Pink fur, spines pattern, green eyes… She needed to ask, “…Are you Sonic’s sister?”

Amy blinked a few times and tilted her head, “Who?”

Tangle waved her hands, “...Never mind.”

Amy shrugged then continued, “Anyways…My fortune cards led me to this lake. I drew the Knight, I’m so excited!!”

Tangle tilted her head, “Wait…these cards predict the future?!” Her eyes turned into stars, “Can I have some?!”

Amy chuckled, “Sorry, I only have one deck for me!” She noticed a planet had appeared behind them, “Wait…Where did that planet come from?”

Jewel looked at a nearby hill and noticed a familiar face, “Is that-”

Eggman’s Egg Mobile quickly began flying towards the planet, a chain being towed with it from the hill. He cackled, “Just as planned! Little Planet will be all mine! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Jewel panicked, “Quick! We need to stop him!”

Tangle wondered, “But…How will we reach him in time?! He’s flying fast!”

Amy revealed her hammer, “I could give you a launch!”

Tangle gave a stern look, “Do it!”

Tangle nodded, grabbing her hammer with the tail after running back to gain a launch away from Eggman. Jewel shouted, “Amy, now!”

Amy Swing her hammer very fast with Tangle co-ordinating her launch-back impressively well for a first-try. She went flying in Eggman’s direction. Upon grabbing his Egg-Mobile, she declared, “Eggman I won’t-T-T-T-T-T-T-”

Eggman had prepared it this time with a powerful electricity defense system since last time just for Tangle, “Not this time, Tangle!” The lemur’s tail slipped from his vehicle, “Have a nice fall! Ohohoho!”

Tangle was falling to the Earth, but Jewel grabbed her out of the air. She brought her back to where Amy was. Tangle pouted, “I’m sorry. I thought he’d go down easier.”

Jewel re-assured her friend, “He’s prepared for us this time, it’s not your fault.”

Amy was disturbed at what was happening to the planet after Eggman reached it. It was like it was terraforming itself, going from being as lucious as the lake around them to a techno-dystopia landscape in a matter of moments. Amy shrieked, “How…Did…He…?!”

Tangle looked up at the planet too along with Jewel, “Oh dear…” Jewel exclaimed aloud.

Tangle wondered, “How?!”

Amy declared, “I don’t know, but on that planet I will find my destiny!” Then she blushed and smiled softly, “…And true love!”

Jewel put her hand towards Amy, “Wait!” But Amy disappeared in a pink flash, running up the chain almost as fast as Sonic would.

Tangle wondered aloud, “Maybe she is Sonic’s lost sister.”

Jewel squinted her eyes and glanced to the side, “Or maybe more than one hedgehog can run fast.”

Tangle asked Jewel with genuine curiosity, “You think her fortune cards are correct?”

Jewel closed eyes and her wings fluttered in annoyance as she explained, “Their ‘predictions’ are open-ended so you can project your life experiences onto them somehow.” She put on a sterner expression as she fluttered harder and began levitating with her wings, “We decide our own destinies, not stupid cards.” She began flying even faster, “And where oh WHERE is Sonic already!”

By this point, she was flying in the air high enough that Tangle could barely hear her, shouting, “While you’re on your high-horse, mind looking for him?!”

Jewel blushed in embarrassment, “Oh…Sorry Tangle. Will do!” She looked outward, and saw some dust suddenly rise in the distance, “I think I-”

Sonic showed up where Tangle was standing on the lake, “Sorry to keep you gals waiting. What’s-” He looked up at the planet and was speechless and terrified, “I guess that’s what’s up here…No pun intended.”

Jewel sighed, “Took you long enough…”

Tangle put an arm around his shoulder, “He’s fashionably late.”

Jewel flew back down, “Not the term I’d use, but whatever. We have more pressing issues!”

Sonic nodded, “Don’t need to tell me twice!”

The three of them started running, swinging, and flying up the chain. Tangle asking Sonic, “Sonic, did you ever have a sister?”

He pondered it, “No? I don’t remember my parents though. Why do you ask?”

Tangle lied, “Uhhhhhh…nothing.”

Jewel shook her head, “We met a girl who ran more recklessly up this chain than you did.”

Sonic teased, “What? Surely you jest. Nobody rushes more recklessly than me!”

Tangle suggested, “What about swinging more recklessly?”

Jewel mused to herself, “You two are a yarn ball of danger to yourselves.”

Tangle overheard it, “Thanks for that, Jewel!”

Jewel was flustered, “Did I say that out loud?”

Sonic nodded, “Yep, but no time to chat, we’ve got a planet to save!”

Jewel smirked, “Like that will stop you.”

So they continued on up to Little planet…

Chapter Text

(3rd Grade, class)

Another day of school was here, and the trio were sitting in their chairs in the back. Sonic asked Tangle, “Should we ditch class?”

Tangle pondered it, but Jewel interrupted, “No Sonic. You need to learn too.”

Tangle gave Jewel a dirty look, but sighed in agreement, “Sorry Sonic, but she’s right.”

The teacher spoke to the class, “Settle down class. Today, we are learning about speed.”

Sonic sped to the front of the classroom in response, knocking over some papers, “You called?”

The class mostly giggled at this stunt, making the teacher sigh, “...Get back to your seat, Sonic…”

Sonic shrugged, “Fine.” And he was back in his seat just as fast.

Jewel glared, “Do you always have to make a scene?”

Sonic put feet on his desk and laid back, “No, just for that.”

Tangle giggled.

The teacher continued on, “That was somewhat related, however.” She went on to explain the measurements, “...So that’s what the signs mean: Miles per Hour.”

A different child raised a hand, “Miles? Like the person?”

She shook her head, “No, but it is a name. It means how many miles the unit goes in one hour.”

Sonic teased, “Yeah, I’m sure that Miles is an absolute unit!”

The class giggled again, forcing the teacher to scold, “Sonic, please stop before you earn detention.”

He looked to the side and nodded. Tangle was curious, “Seriously, how fast do you run?”

Sonic pondered it, “I’d like to know myself.”

Tangle shouted, “Ms. Patience, how do we measure that?”

The teacher closed her eyes with a smile, “They use a ‘Speed Radar’. Police have them to catch people going too fast, or they can be found on certain roads.”

Jewel looked at her friends, and she saw Tangle look at Sonic. She couldn’t see their faces, but correctly guessed they were grinning wide. She whispered, “Please don’t bother Police for that.”

Tangle nodded, “Don’t worry Jewel, I have a better idea…”

The trio made it to the planet in the sky. Initially, things looked okay. Tangle was confused, “Where are all the robots?”

Jewel looked around, flying higher, “I spotted some!” As she pointed in one direction.

Sonic grinned, “On it!” He went up the ramp, running up as fast as he could. He got some nice air-time “WOOOOO!” Then he landed, Tangle and Jewel awaiting.

The Lemur poked fun at him, “Showing off again?”

Sonic smirked, “Absolutely.” 

Tangle began to jog further into the area, Jewel following behind, “Glad, now let’s keep going!”

Jewel noticed a sign, “...Past?”

Tangle tilted her head, “Past what?”

Sonic looked at it too, “Hmmm…” He poked it, feeling a bit of a shock, “Ow!”

Jewel raised an eyebrow, “These things shock you?”

Sonic shrugged, “I guess…” Sonic couldn’t explain why, but he felt the need for speed…Even more than he usually did, “Sorry gals, I gotta run!”

The two of them sighed, “Don’t need to tell us twice.” They both spoke. But they didn’t expect what came next. Not only was he leaving behind a trail of stars as he ran, but as Sonic built enough speed, they saw him disappear into some kind of portal.

Jewel was shocked, “What?!”

Tangle, however, had already grabbed the sign and then grabbed a nearby tree, “I dunno, but we gotta follow him!”

Jewel’s eyes went wide, “TANGLE?! WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT DID!”

Tangle was getting a running start, getting more and more distance from where her tail was anchored, “Only one way to find out!” 

Jewel reached out, “Tangle! Wait!!!”

After running 70 feet, she let her tail launch her far into the distance, causing a similar trail of sparks as she too disappeared into whatever it did.

Jewel tried to chase her, but couldn’t. So she sighed, grabbing a closeby sign herself, flying far above the landscape. She spoke, “…Here goes nothing!” And then letting herself fall to the ground protected in her shell. Soon enough…she triggered the teleportation too.

After warping, Sonic took a moment to recollect himself, “What on Little Planet was that?!” A few moments later, he saw a lemur shoot out of a similar portal.

She was screaming, “AHHHHH!!!!”

Sonic panicked, “TANGLE!” He ran to catch the flying lemur, successfully preventing her from a crash landing.

Upon the catch, she stopped screaming, “Wha…” After being caught, recognizing who it was, she dramatically teased, “Oh…My knight in shining armor…”

Sonic teased her back, “You’re welcome, M’lady?”

Tangle’s tail patted his head while she smugly replied, “This Princess couldn’t ask for a more loyal knight.” She took a look around, expecting her other bestie, “…Where’s Jewel?”

Jewel exited the portal. She looked around for any sign of her friends, “Sonic! Tangle!”…But was quickly distracted by how dreadful this place now looked. Everywhere she looked, what was once beautiful and vibrant greenery was now replaced with metal pipes everywhere and oranged out grass that was clearly dying out at an alarming rate.

She grit her teeth in horror, crying out “Eek!” She began flying around, looking for any sign of her friends…or indeed any sign of life in general. “Whatever happened, it doesn’t look good…”

Sonic shrugged, “Guess she wasn’t eager to follow.”

Tangle folded her arms, “I’m concerned, maybe look around?”

Sonic nodded, “Absolutely.”

They looked through the place. Tangle asked him as they searched, “Is it just me, or is this place less-“

Sonic replied, “Infested with robots? I think so.”

Tangle giggled, “Finishing my sentence?”

Sonic dashed up to Tangle, “We do share a brain cell.” 

Tangle snickered, “Indeed.” Then, it was spotted: some kind of strange generator-like object. Tangle grimaced, “I don’t trust that thing.”

Sonic agreed, bowing and motioning towards it, “You wanna do the honors, m’lady?” The lemur’s tail punched it and destroyed it in one blow. She wiped her hands together to get the dust off them, Sonic teasing her, “You didn’t use your hands!”

Tangle winked, “Dramatic effect!”

Sonic nodded, “Respect. Now…Race you to taking out the rest!”

Tangled grinned, “You’re on!”

They spend the next few minutes running up and down the zone, finding each last generator. 

Sonic relaxed for a moment to catch his breath, “Woof.”

Tangle launched up to meet him, equally tired, “That was exhausting, “What now?”

Sonic leaned on a future sign post and reached out a hand, “What do you think?”

Tangle’s eyes went wide and met his, “I love this planet already!”

Tangle jumped into his arms, and the duo sped forward until it happened again…

Jewel was not having a great time. No birds were singing, the plants were dead, and it left her so very crabby. She sighed as she layed on the ground somewhere safe, her wings so very tired from incessantly searching for her friends and surviving the robots. At least she found a gemstone while at it, but she was focused on finding her friends, “Sonic! Tangle! Where did you go?!”

That complaint was met with a bizarre sight: The machinery that had blanketed this zone was fading to a lesser presence and the grass was green again. Jewel raised an eyebrow, “How?! What?! Wh-“

But her questions were interrupted by the sudden appearance of two very familiar friends. Upon exiting the portal, they looked around for a moment, Tangle offering, “Wow, this place is gorgeous!”

Jewel sarcastically remarked, “You should have seen it a few minutes ago.” She then showed a Time Stone, “At least I found this while I waited.”

Sonic looked behind, “Nice!”

Eggman interrupted immediately thereafter, “Of course you rats would come bugging me!”

Jewel rolled her eyes and glared to the side. Tangle declared, “What have you been up to, Egglord?!”

Eggman angrily replied, “Say that again and I’ll cut your tail-OOF!!!” 

Sonic made his machine eat a spin attack, “Don’t you dare threaten my friends!”

Eggman was frustrated, “You think you can sto-OWW!”

Jewel had struck with a flying and then ramming with her protective shell, “I second that!”

Tangle tries to wrap the legs of his robot, but got shocked by it, “I didn’t forget about you, Lemur!”

She was on the ground, weakened by this. But, this only made Sonic and Jewel more aggressive, “Her name is Tangle!” They shouted in unison. Shortly thereafter making the machine break down. Eggman’s Eggmobile made a mad dash out to safety.

Sonic ran over to Tangle, helping her up, “You okay, Tangle?”

Tangle was on one knee before speaking, “I’ll be fine. Guess Egg-for-brains prepared for me.”

Jewel nodded, “We kinda clobbered him, should we be surprised?”

Sonic folded his arms, “As we should!” He then winked at the two of them, “I’m gonna get a head start, catch you two in a bit!” So Sonic ran off…

A little on his way, he ran past a pink hedgehog. She quickly gave chase…

Chapter Text

(Road near Spiral Hill)

Jewel saw this coming. There was no way she couldn’t have seen this coming. Of course Sonic and Tangle were going to be on the hunt for a speed radar after the lesson today. At least they weren’t as much trouble in class for once, but still…

She pleaded with them, “Seriously, you two?”

Tangle nodded, “You know the one, Jewel!”

Sonic was growing a bit impatient, “You sure this thing is out here?”

Tangle smirked, “You bet!” They exited the forest and found a road. It was almost deserted, but sure enough: it had a speed radar.

Sonic asked, “Huh. How’d you know about this?”

Tangle winked, “This ain’t our first rodeo, boy!”

Jewel glared to the side, “Ugh, stop with the fake drawl please.”

Sonic giggled, “I like it, pardner!”

A car drove down the road while they spoke, Jewel noting it, “I don’t think this is a good idea…” She looked around, noticing a certain hedgehog was gone, “...Sonic!”

He reappeared as fast as he left, “What was that?” He looked at the radar, and it didn’t register anything, “Are you kidding me?! It didn’t work?”

Jewel tilted her head, “Why didn’t it work?”

Sonic waved a hand in front of it, then running to the side, “It worked! It says 4!” Sonic then ran by it again, still nothing, “Oh come on!”

Jewel breathed in and out, next flying up and looked at it from about it’s height, “I think you need to be this high to-”

Sonic zoomed by her, jumping this time to hit her eye height, and this time, it read 99. He ran back to see it, and it annoyed Sonic, “Ugh, I’m surely way faster than that!”

Jewel pointed out, “It only has two-.”

Then he looked around, “Hey…Where’s Tangle?”

She shouted, “Over here!” She had found a sign further back and was getting a running start with stretching her tail.

Jewel was panicking, “TANGLE ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!”

Tangle shouted back, “Sorry, can’t hear you!”

Jewel glared at Sonic, “You’re a bad influence…”

Sonic grimaced in horror himself, “This was not my idea.” He dashed towards her, “Tangle, what are you doing?!”

She had a pained grin, taking a deep breath, then winked with the pain in her grin suppressed, “Gotta go fast!” After that, she started her slingshot with the sign, “Wahoo!!!”

Jewel was alarmed, dodging out of the way. Tangle got very lucky and sped right by the radar, also registering a 99. Sonic stopped for a moment, “Huh.”

Jewel quickly stated, “Focus, Sonic!”

The hedgehog looked back in the direction of the launched lemur, “Right.”

He sped down the highway, Tangle still flying, “YEAH!”

Sonic kept his arms ahead of him, ready to catch the lemur, “Don’t worry Tangle, I got you!”

Tangle, after a few seconds, began to panic, “Wait, how do I-” Then she landed in Sonic’s arms.

Sonic didn’t anticipate the amount of force she landed with, sending him rolling forward, “I got this Tangle, this is my other specialty!” He began to roll into a ball, and it worked for a few seconds, but then it broke apart, “Drat! I haven’t done this before!”

Tangle smirked, “Don’t worry pal, I got this!” She rolled the two of them up into a log made of her tail, and they continued rolling down the road. They slowly, in terms of time, lost speed, hitting a tree at just slow enough a pace to not be seriously wounded, making the Lemur with a dash of Hedgehog tail wrap stop, and Tangle then unrolled them onto the ground.

It took a minute for Jewel to catch up, flying like her wings have never flown before to catch up to her friends. When she found them, they were laying next to each other, unbelievably dizzy.

Sonic commented through the dizziness, “Ooooooo…Pretty rings…”

Tangle asked similarly dizzy, “You talking about me?”

Sonic wondered, “I’m collecting them, silly.”

Tangle teased, “The only rings you collected were on my tail!”

Sonic broke out into a laughing fit at that, Tangle joining in thereafter, as they sat up.

Jewel caught up, “There you two are! Tangle, what were you thinking?!”

Tangle scratched the back of her head, “Had to go fast…”

Sonic grinned awkwardly, “That’s my job, not yours.”

Tangle responded smugly, “We don’t work, silly!” She then lit up, asking Jewel, “How fast did I go, by the way?”

Jewel sighed, “You also went 99 Miles per hour.”

Tangle’s tail stretched back and upwards in shock and awe, “No way!”

Sonic gave his smug smile towards her, “As fast as me!…According to that radar.”

Tangle squeed, “EEEEE!” She ran up and hugged Sonic, “Speed buddies!”

Sonic was a bit stunned to get hugged, giving a fake smile, “Uh…Well done…”

Jewel giggled, “Tangle does tha-aAh!” As Tangle’s tail roped her into the hug too, the tail now hugging the two of them.

She insisted, “You two are the best!”

Sonic whispered to Jewel, “Does she do this a lot?”

Jewel answered with a whisper back, “...yes, but not usually with the tail.”

She put an arm around Jewel now to hug them each with different arms, “I love you sooooooooo much!”

Sonic chuckled with closed eyes and a grin, “Sure.”

Jewel thought to herself in bemusement, You two deserve each other… Then she smiled, …But I’m happy for you.

Sonic ran for about a minute, then stopped for a break, “This place looks far less…Inviting.”

He was waiting for a bit before out of nowhere, a hedgehog just like him tackle hugged him, except this one was Pink. Sonic was confused, “Wha?”

Amy shouted, “My Knight in shining armor, I knew I’d find you here Sonic!”

Sonic was dumbfounded for a moment, then tried to push her away, but her grip was too tight. He requested, “Give a man his space already…wait, how did-.”

Tangle Shouted as she approached, “Yo! Sonic, how’s-“ But then she saw what was going on, “PFFFT!”

Jewel glanced to the side with a smirk, “Should have seen this coming…”

Sonic sweat, waving, “Hey Tangle, hey Jewel.”

Tangle teased, “Someone found his very first admirer?”

Sonic scratched his head, “I guess.”

Amy fantasized, “Oh, all the adventures we’ll have…I just know you’ll be mine.

Sonic grimaced and tried to break from her grip, “Okay, that’s enough! Tangle, can you-"

Tangle began stretching her tail, “On it.” She tapped Amy on the back with a tail finger.

Amy was startled, “Wha-" Opening her eyes and finally letting go of Sonic. Then she looked over towards them, “Oh…Hey again you two! Aren’t you excited! I found my knight!”

Jewel looked confused and concerned, “Your knight?”

Tangle faked a smile while closing eyes, “Uh…Amy, I hate to break it to ya-“

Sonic immediately dashed over and put an arm around Tangle, closing his eyes, “This knight has already found his Princess!”

Tangle smiled and closed her eyes too, “Yeah!”

Jewel narrowed her eyes, “Uh, your highnesses…” 

Both of them looked back at Jewel, “Yes, our loyal advisor!”

Jewel pointed behind them. Amy could be heard in shouting from the distance, eyes closed, “Sonic, SAVE ME!!! Use my hammer to stop Eggman!”

Both of them were very embarrassed, “All that mushy acting just to let Amy get kidnapped!” Tangle complained.

Sonic glared to the side, “At least Eggman didn’t make a robot duplicate of you!”

Tangle looked at the ground where Amy had been, and spotted a hammer, using her tail to pick it up, “Why did Eggman leave us a hammer?”

Jewel was frustrated, “Were you two even listening?! That’s Amy’s hammer!”

Sonic grinned, “Let’s not keep her waiting then!”

The two girls nodded, “Right!” Tangle immediately handed the hammer to Jewel, “I think you’ll need this the most…”

Jewel groaned, “I’m not that weak. But thank you.” And accepted the hammer.

They made their way through the zone, and upon reaching a past sign, Sonic grabbed it, Jewel suggesting, “How about this time, we make the jump together!”

Tangle nodded, “sure.”

Sonic then picked them both up in different arms, “On it!” 

Jewel grimaced, “Not exactly what I thought you me-AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!”

He then dashed and caused the teleportation into the past.

Upon escape, Sonic clarified, “Not taking chances after last time. Figured you’d appreciate me thinking ahead for once.”

Tangle joined in the pile-on, “Think he’s got you there, Jewel!”

Jewel sighed and conceded, “Thank you.” Jewel was kinda dumbfounded at the result, “This place was overflowing with tech, and now it’s almost all gone?!”

Sonic smirked, “Time travel!”

Jewel pondered it, “But then, if you changed the past, then wouldn’t it change how events happened when we came here-” Her wings started fluttering, “And then we would have never-”

Right as she was about to fly out of reach, Sonic grabbed one of her shoes, “Don’t get carried away overthinking it!”

Jewel regained her composure at this, taking a moment to meditate, and fly safely to the ground, “Thanks for stopping me this time.”

Tangle declared as she hands off, “Now let’s take out more of those generators!”

Jewel and Sonic nodded, the trio splitting up to find them.

Shortly thereafter, Jewel found one, pulling out the hammer and bashing the generator. She then put it-Wait…away?! She looked at her hand, confused that she no longer held the hammer, and yet it felt like she could-and it did just barely reappear. How does this thing work?! 

Tangle tapped her on the shoulder with her tail, “Jewel, something the matter?”

Jewel went crosseyed, “I just have a weird creepy hammer from a fortune teller girl that keeps re-appearing and disappearing. But otherwise no, I feel totally fine!”

Tangle scratched her head with the tail, “Surely you’re overreacting. Let me try it, Jewel!”

Jewel sighed, “Fine, here you go, Tangle.”

Tangle grabbed it from her, then it “disappeared” into her tail in a way Jewel couldn’t see it, “Woah, Jewel, you were right.” 

Jewel’s eyes widened, “You did it too?!”

Tangle grimaced, “Yep, now if I can just make it appear…” And then it popped out into her tail ‘hand’, “Haha! I made it reappear again!”

Jewel giggled, “Doing the tail trick again with the hammer, okay…”

Tangle put a hand on her friend, “Just trying to help.”

Jewel sighed, Flying up to grab it back, and then holding it in front of Tangle, and thinking to make it disappear, “But I am being serious.”

Tangle shrugged, “We’ll have to figure it out later, I guess.”

Sonic came back, “I found a generator, how’s-“ he saw the ruins of one where they were, Tangle and Jewel waving, “Guess that answers it.” He also showed the gemstone he found while running, “And I found one of these!”

Jewel and Tangle giggled, “You wouldn’t believe what we did.” Tangle asserted.

They then went on, finding a future sign right in front of a…”Pinball machine?” Sonic wondered.

Tangle grinned widely and squeed, “Oh, I love pinball…But where is Eggman and the other-”

Jewel mused, “In the future, I’m guessing. Sonic, you know what to do!”

Sonic nodded, holding them again to grab the future post and take them into the future…

Eggman waited impatiently for them, “Where are my new menaces?! They better come here soon!”

Then he saw a portal open up, out coming the trio of danger…he needed to come up with a more biting name for them.

He didn’t get to wait any longer as the 3 of them showed up shortly thereafter. He taunted, “Good luck making it through my maze! It’s sure to pin you down!”

Sonic shouted as he entered the contraption, “Good luck!”

Tangle shouted too, “We’re coming for you, Eggman!”

Eggman saw them trying to get up, smugly smirking at their struggles, he was about to gloat-

But then he found himself getting hammered, literally, by the beetle. He was stunned, “Where did you get that?!”

Jewel growled, “Tell me what you did to Amy and I’ll tell you!”

Eggman growled back, “I don’t know who that is, you have any idea how many prisoners I keep?!” This made her angrier, and so his contraption was toast, “Should have thought about you more, stupid bug!” He then fled, Jewel trying to attack more, but found he’d built a force-field for his Egg-Mobile too, “Always need a backup plan with you meddling kids around! Later losers!”

Right as that finished, Sonic and Tangle made their way up, Sonic complaining, “Couldn’t have left some of him for us?”

Tangle added, “Yeah, we could have teamed up on him.”

Jewel asked them, “You two absolutely promise you didn’t have some fun being giant pinballs again?” The both of them looked embarrassed in response, “Thought so. At least you had fun…Unlike me.”

Tangle smiled, “I’m glad you took initiative.”

Sonic agreed, “Your ability to stay on task we will always appreciate.” He ran towards the next destination, pointing onwards. And thus, it was onto the next zone.

Chapter Text

A chasm was encountered by the trio. Tangle looked down, “That’s a long way down.”

Jewel immediately asked, “And we’re about to cross it…aren’t we?”

Sonic had gotten a running start, shouting, “You betcha!” He made the jump, making it impressively far…but came up just short of the edge, “Crap crap crap!” He started running down the chasm wall, “I can still fix this! I’ll-” But then he entered the water, and sank to the bottom like a rock.

Tangle looked down, “Sonic!”

Jewel grimaced, “Is he gonna get out?”

Sonic looked up at them, but his vision was blurred by the water and the flows. He thought to himself, Calm down, remember what you can do. He took a firm stance and launched himself into a dash. He managed to get out of the water, launching himself half-way up the chasm wall. As he lost momentum, he started to panic, but a hand grabbed his right before he fell.

Tangle exclaimed, “Got you!” She then slingshotted the two of them back up to the top. 

Jewel sighed in relief at that, but asked Sonic, “Do you know how to swim?”

Sonic boasted in confidence, “Why? I can run out of any water, easy!”

Tangle was curious herself, asking sincerely, “And what if it’s too deep?”

Sonic nervously insisted, “I don’t believe in such a thing.”

Jewel bluntly countered, “Ever heard of something called the ocean?”

Sonic uneasily grinned, “That’s where I run across!”

Jewel pinched her head, Note to future self, get this boy a life preserver.

Tangle suggested, “Maybe you could use swimming lessons?”

Sonic shook his head, “I’m not interested in that, okay?”

Jewel shrugged, “Okay.”

Tangle looked across the chasm, “Maybe I can-”

Jewel grabbed her tail right as she said that, “Let’s just head back instead.” She looked at a gemstone she’d found, “I think we’ve gotten enough out here anyway.”

The three of them nodded, heading back to Spiral Hill.

This next zone was once again Sonic’s least favorite thing: Water. Sonic immediately griped as he looked down the ramp into it, “Great, more water.”

Jewel looked nervously at the erupting volcanoes in the distance, “I’m more worried about the Volcanoes.”

Tangle teasingly countered, “Why? Might mean we get a nice hot spring bath.”

Sonic was a bit torn: Even he could enjoy a nice hot spring, but it still didn’t make him want to do this any more than he already did. So he sighed, “Let’s get this over with.”

Tangle had already started rolling down the hill with her cartwheel maneuver, “It’s Tangle Tumble time!”

Jewel and Sonic followed shortly thereafter. It took them a bit, but eventually, after leaving the water a few times, they found their gateway to the past. Tangle did, using her tail to notify Sonic, him sighing, “I just can’t avoid the water today…” 

Sonic ran down and grabbed it, and left the water again, “Now how do I-”

Jewel shouted to him from down the hall, “Found a spring!”

Sonic and Tangle grinned, Tangle jumping in his arms, “You know what to do!” 

He ran down to Jewel, who joined Tangle in Sonic’s arms, and he then got his launch, sending him back to the past yet again…

It didn’t matter how many times they did it, this still felt so weird to Jewel. She grumbled, “I don’t like this planet.”

Tangle half jokingly suggested, “A Little too much.”

Sonic respected it though, “It is kinda weird, true. But, we got other problems to worry about right now.”

Sonic let them out of his arms, and now it was the hunt for the generators. As Tangle found one, it projected the robot who stole Amy up to no good. She punched it with impunity.

As they reunited later, Tangle admitted, “Every time I see that robot-” She clasped her fists together and her tail made a fist, “-I want to punch it more!”

Sonic fully agreed, “That thing won’t get away with ripping me off!”

Jewel came back to where they’d met up, with a gem in tow, Tangle grinned, “Nice! Where’d you find that one, Jewel?”

Jewel sarcastically suggested, “Had to fight a bunch of UFOs for it.”

Tangle’s eyes looked like they were about to cry, “And you didn’t even ask us to help?!”

Sonic similarly griped, but disappointed, “Way to leave us out of the fun!”

Jewel facepalmed, “I forget how gullible you two are.”

Tangle pouted, “Awwww…What’s the fun in a new planet without any aliens?”

Sonic didn’t have a counter argument, instead preparing to take them into the future for their inevitable Eggman battle.

Eggman was preparing for their inevitable arrival again, awaiting his chance to separate the trio and isolate Sonic to take him down on his own. It might even work against Tangle too, leaving that Beetle for easy pickings…

He awaited them, and soon enough, he saw them coming. Sonic was quick to charge at him, “Time’s up, Eggman!”

He played the fool, “Oh no! Not you again!”

Sonic rushed at him, the door closing behind him on the way.

Tangle and Jewel were concerned, Jewel expressing it first, “Crap! How do we get to them now?!”

Tangle, meanwhile, calmly stated, “Jewel, I have an idea…”

Sonic rushed at Eggman, attacking him several times rushing down the corridor, “Still too slow for me, huh Doc?”

Eggman faked a panicked demeanor while taking the hits and faking a machine breakdown, “Oh no! I need to make an emergency escape!”

He then ran into the water. This concerned Sonic, but he took a deep breath, making the jump in. He looked for Eggman, spotting him.

Eggman, now protected from the water, announced in his speaker system, “HA! Welcome to your demise, Sonic!”

Sonic, unable to speak well in water, still declared defiantly, “We’ll see about that!” He jumped at Eggman’s machine, but was stopped and thrown back down to the ground by his whirlpool technology.

Eggman gloated, “This was my plan, you spiky-haired imbecile! Jump at me all you want, each failure will only hurt more and more!”

Sonic got back up, and tried to jump at him again…and again…and again…But it didn’t feel like he was getting any closer and was taking more damage with each attempt. After 15 tries, he was legitimately struggling to stand, but still kept up his bravado, “I’ll get you this time, Eggman!”

Eggman cackled, “Sorry hedgehog, I can’t hear you! Hahahahaha-“

Then he was hit by a hammer, and it was hard enough to damage his machine into critical mode. He was panicking, “Where did that-?!”

But then came an onslaught of follow-up blows, taking his machine out and the water started to reced, “AAAAUGH!” He realized what was going on: That lemur was hammering him with the tail…literally. 

He cackled, “Ha! Time to bring you to a shocking end Lem-UH?!” But even as he turned on his electrical protection, he still was taking hits from the hammer, and before he knew it, his machine once again sat in disrepair.

Jewel was helping Sonic stand back up while Tangle smugly noted, “Guess you’re no match for…” She took a look at it after successfully destroying his mech with it, “Whatever this thing is called!”

Eggman, having lost his machine again to the lemur, was raving mad, “Tangle when I get my hands on you I’m gonna-OOF!”

Tangle punted him away with the hammer, sending him out of the caverns, “Save it, you animal abuser!”

While that was going on, Sonic was finally up, congratulating Tangle, “Great job…Tangle…What was the hold up.”

Jewel explained, “Eggman set up this trap.”

Tangle added, “Had to hammer our way through his door.” She then showed it off again, “Thanks to this!”

Sonic got out some chuckles before coughing, “Maybe meeting that girl was worth it after all.”

Jewel clarified, “Her name is Amy.”

Tangle nodded, “We really owe her one, huh?”

Sonic tried to take a step on his own, but immediately fell. Tangle asked him, “Sonic, are you okay?!”

Sonic attempted to get up again, “I’m f-f-fine Tangle, help me up!”

Tangle technically did…up into her tail. She made sure he was wrapped up snug and safe, “Sonic, you obviously aren’t. Let me carry you for a while, you need some rest.”

Sonic wanted to insist otherwise, but even he had limits, so he reluctantly conceded, “Okay…” He muttered under his breath, “Thank you, Tangle.”

So the three of them went on…