Chapter Text
Sonic raced up the meandering path that led to the aptly named Spiral Hill Village. A Badnik battleship hovered high in the sky, sending floods of the killer machines down into the town.
“Oh no! I hope I'm not too late!" Sonic cursed to himself. He leapt over a pile of Badnik scrap at the town gates, finding the town on the other side trying their best to survive. Some had set up barricades in the street, or hidden in their houses. There were a few citizens wielding Wispons and fighting off the horde, though they hardly did any damage. At least they’re being held back... Don’t know for how long, Sonic thought. He quickly smashed through the Badniks, allowing the struggling citizens a chance to seek shelter.
Through a nearby alleyway, Sonic heard the unmistakable sound of hand-to-metal combat, and the shattering of Eggman’s devices. He made his way to the source, where he found a lemur making quick work of the horde surrounding her. The lemur used her tail to send two Badniks flying into each other, leading her to believe she had enough time to wipe her brow. She did not. Behind her, a damaged Badnik charged its weapon at her, ready to blast her into oblivion within seconds.
"Watch your back!" Sonic shouted as he demolished the Badnik.
The lemur said nothing, staring back at him, coldness expressed in her purple eyes. She wore a solid black catsuit underneath an orange sweatshirt, the hood draped over her head with her fluffy gray ears poking out on top. Over the lower half of her face, she wore a black mask, obscuring most of her expression, and on her hands were a pair of fingerless brawler gloves with orange padding.
Ignoring the implicit hostility, Sonic attempted small talk. "So, you’ve got a bit of a robot problem here, huh?"
The lemur just narrowed her eyes. "I have it handled," she said coldly.
Sonic raised his eyebrow at her and looked down at the would-be attacker at his feet, the Badnik’s weapon fizzling out from the interrupted blast. "Do ya now?" he snarked.
"I could’ve dodged that," said the lemur.
"Maybe, but that's no reason to turn down a bit of help."
The lemur sighed and pinched her brow in frustration. "Fine. Just don't be a distraction."
"Alright, alright... Hey, the name's Sonic, by the way."
The blue hedgehog’s introduction was not met in kind. Instead, the lemur huffed and ran towards the nearest wave of Badniks. Determined to learn more about the nature of this attack, and maybe to make sure this lemur's stubbornness didn't get her killed, Sonic followed her.
"So, how often have these attacks been happening?" Sonic called across the battleground.
"I thought I told you not to be a distraction."
"Who’s distracting? I’ll probably be out of your hair quicker if you answer my questions."
The lemur sighed, dropping the Badniks she’d tangled up in her tail. "Fine," she grumbled. "They’ve been happening for a while, but never in hordes this large. They usually just wandered into town and started attacking, until I was able to take them out."
Before Sonic could respond, two massive Motobug tanks came into view, surrounding the two of them with a firepower greater than they could handle alone.
"Crud..." the lemur mumbled.
"Glad you have my help now?" Sonic quipped, causing the lemur to glare at him.
With a sudden boom, a blazing inferno came crashing down from the sky, destroying a handful of Badniks in an instant. Out of the receding flames stepped a beautiful purple cat whose royal status was apparent from a mere glance. Sonic could swear he saw the lemur’s eyes widen in awe, much as she tried to hide it. He grinned and ran up to his friend.
"Blaze!" Sonic exclaimed. "You came in just in time."
"Sonic!" The purple cat met him with similar familiarity. "It’s good to see you. Who’s your friend?" She gestured to the grumpy gray gal behind Sonic.
"She’s a local," said Sonic. "Care to help us clean up the mess?"
"With pleasure," Blaze chuckled, her fists lighting up with her trademark flames.
Sonic and Blaze rushed towards one of the Motobug tanks. Blaze's flames surrounded the machine, transforming the surrounding Badniks from devious killing machines to melted hunks of metal. From the other side of the battleground, a Badnik on top of the other tank was aiming the mounted cannon towards the princess.
Boldly, the lemur used her tail to grapple onto the tank, knocking back the Badnik controlling the cannon and forcing its aim away from Blaze. She pushed the cannon down as far as she could as it charged another attack, so that when it fired, the beam went straight through its head and into a few of the Badniks below. Her tail then wrapped around the machine’s claw, tearing it out of its socket and aiming it across the clearing. The claw flew through the air and punctured the fuel canister on the side of the other tank, and the sparks from the high-energy metal-to-metal contact ignited the gasoline within. The flames spread over the tank before it fell to the ground, exploding on impact.
The chaos caused by the lemur’s move allowed Sonic and Blaze to focus their efforts on the more manageable Badniks on the ground. However, despite the efforts of every combatant, the horde continued to grow.
"Sonic... I don’t believe the three of us are enough," Blaze said once they found a moment of respite.
"Does your town have a militia that can help out?" Sonic asked the lemur.
"They’ve been helping," she scoffed.
"Even so, the Badniks won’t let up," added Blaze. "We need a new point of attack."
"Hey." Sonic and Blaze turned their attention to their aloof ally. "What about that battleship?"
The two of them followed her tail to where it was pointing. Hovering high above them was the massive wasp-shaped Badnik battleship Sonic had spotted on his way into town.
"Destroying that might help," the lemur said.
Sonic studied the battleship. It was hard to gauge its size from the ground, but it certainly would take extra effort to demolish. "Well, Blaze? Think you can fly us up there?"
"Seems a little out of my range..." said Blaze, her tail flicking back and forth.
"I could give you a boost," the lemur said. Sonic and Blaze looked back at her. She was waving her tail at them, offering it as a vehicle to launch them towards the battleship.
"Ah, so you can be a team player!" Sonic snarked, earning a warning nudge from Blaze.
The lemur scowled at him. "Anything to keep people safe."
Despite her cold demeanor, Sonic couldn’t help but admire the lemur’s dedication to helping out. He gave Blaze an eager smile. "Whaddya say?" he asked.
Blaze only hesitated a moment before letting out a resigned exhale. "If it works, it works."
The lemur placed two pieces of scrap from the destroyed tanks across from each other and wrapped her elastic tail between them to form a slingshot. She pulled her tail back, filling it with enough elastic energy to propel Sonic and Blaze forward upon release. The two of them held hands as they settled at the apex.
"Hey, before we go," Sonic began, tilting his head back to meet the lemur’s gaze, "how about we catch your name?"
The lemur narrowed her eyes to a glare, an expression Sonic had grown all too familiar with by this point. Without warning, she let go of her tail, sending Sonic and Blaze flying into the air. Clearly, the time for small talk had once again passed, and Sonic shifted his focus back to the task at hand. He rolled into a ball so that Blaze could throw him the rest of the way to the battleship.
Engulfed in his friend’s flames, Sonic burst into the heart of the Badnik battleship. He smashed through his surroundings without hesitation, leaving explosions and scrap metal in his wake. The battleship started falling from the sky, down towards Spiral Hill Village below it. The ship then jerked to the side, sending Sonic flying through the interior. He guessed Blaze had shot it out of the way of the village.
He was proven right when the explosions increased in frequency. That was his sign to get out of there. Sonic dove out of the opening through which he’d entered, leaving the battleship to explode without any hedgehog casualties.
The metallic remains crashed down to the empty fields that surrounded the town, well out of the way of any civilians. Sonic, too, did some crashing of his own. Curled up into a ball, he bounced slightly on the ground before landing flat on his back in front of the lemur and Blaze.
"Haha, wow… That was fun, you four should try it…" Sonic slurred.
Blaze laughed as she helped Sonic to his feet. "Always so resilient," she said with a hint of admiration to her tone.
"I can take care of the remaining Badniks if you two need to move on," the lemur said. Her arms were crossed and her tail flicked rapidly, signaling that her patience with her co-combatants was starting to grow thin.
Sonic shook the remaining dizziness away and locked eyes with the lemur. "Can’t we get some proper introductions out of the way first?" he asked.
The lemur sighed, removing her hood and pulling down her mask. "The name’s Tangle." She hesitantly extended her tail as if prompting a handshake.
"There we go!" Sonic exclaimed. He grabbed the end of Tangle’s tail and shook it in greeting. "I’m Sonic, and this is Blaze. Blaze, this is Tangle."
Blaze scanned Tangle’s expression, and Sonic could tell the lemur’s demeanor worried her. She brushed it aside and took Tangle’s tail from Sonic’s grip. "Charmed."
Tangle took her tail back and widened the distance between her and the other two. "Look… I’m sorry for being a jerk. I don’t really… do teamwork much these days. But, thank you for helping out. Both of you."
"If you don’t mind, I’d like to at least help calm the flames before I go," said Blaze. "Both those caused by the Badniks and by myself."
"That’d be nice," said Tangle. "And Sonic… I’ve heard about you and your adventures. It was an honor to fight with you today."
"Likewise." Sonic grinned and saluted the lemur. "I’ll remember you the next time I need an extra helping tail."
Tangle had already lifted her mask back over her nose, but Sonic could tell by the look in her eyes that the offer made her smile. "I’ll remember that," she said with a nod, then disappeared down a nearby alleyway.
Blaze grabbed Sonic by the arm before he could run off. "Are you sure about that?" she asked.
"Sure about what?"
"Offering to work with her again. I’ll admit she’s formidable, but I don’t think she respects the ‘together’ part of ‘working together,’" Blaze said.
Sonic playfully shoved Blaze’s hand off his shoulder. "I wouldn’t worry about it. Tangle’s a bit rude, but she’s tough and adaptable. I think with just the right push, she’ll fit right in beside our friends."
Blaze sighed. "If you say so."
"Now, don’t you have some fires to put out?" Sonic asked with a laugh.
The inter-dimensional princess smiled at him before taking off towards the same alleyway Tangle had left through moments prior. "I’ll see you later, Sonic."
"Later," the hedgehog said, returning his friend’s smile. He waved ‘goodbye’ before making his way through the streets of Spiral Hill Village, racing to the next leg of his adventure.