Chapter Text
"Heads up, guys!" The speedboat's propellers make it hard to hear Tails, not to mention the sharp spikes of water crowning around the vehicle. "We'll be hitting the island in a minute or two!"
On board with the fox are Sonic and the Diamond Cutters: Tangle, Whisper, and Lanolin. The task is simple: find the source of the strange chaos energy reactions on Cocoa Island, which most likely have to do with the Chaos Emeralds.
Usually, the emeralds remain dormant if they don't have a user. So when Tails couldn't take his robot dog for an upgraded test run without an earthquake starting? It raised some concerns. He would have investigated on his own, but his gut told him he should have some company. And if he has to round up emeralds, he won't be short of hands!
"Alright!" For the fifth time on the boat, Tangle's tail starts flapping against Lanolin's face. Her face crinkles at the motion. "I wonder what the emeralds got themselves into this time." A laugh bubbles in the middle of Tangle's comment. Lanolin doesn't wait for Tangle to notice her disruptive tail.
"Tangle . . . TANGLE!" Her energetic teammate whirls her head around at the second shout of her name. Lanolin remembers to take a breath before she addresses Tangle. "Can you reel your tail back in, please?"
'Before I swing you off this boat,' she so desperately wants to add. But no, no. She should contain herself.
"Oh—sorry, boss!" Tangle grins apologetically before gaining control of her tail, pulling it to wrap around her lap. Lanolin sighs heavily.
Whisper hardly reacts to Lanolin and Tangle's minor conflict, only glancing at Tangle when she pulls her tail in.
Meanwhile, the feeling of apprehension continues to squeeze around Tails' sharp mind.
When he was explaining the situation beforehand in the Restoration, he decided to give the party an abridged version of his encounter with the Battle Bird Armada. They are an army of birds hellbent on the notion that they are superior to other species. The fox had to collect the seven emeralds scattered around Cocoa Island before the Armada could. The possibility of even one emerald being on the island again is what makes this quest particularly interesting. Is it possible for one to travel back to the island after all this time?
"You okay bud?" Sonic asks from the passenger seat, getting an acknowledging hum and a glance out of Tails. "You look like Silver when he's trying to resist the urge to throw me."
Tails can't hold back a snort. Seems like Sonic always knows what to say to make him smile again, if for a short time.
"Pff—I'm okay. I guess I'm just . . . thinking of the possibility of one—or even all of the Chaos Emeralds being on the island again. My energy tracker wasn't picking up any single location of an emerald." His brow draws downwards in a stern bridge. "That means the energy is all throughout the island. But it's statistically impossible for all seven of them to spawn in the same place twice. Unless they somehow went here deliberately?"
"Or someone got a hold of one and it reacted," Sonic suggests, but the way he says it sounds like he's unsure himself. "Think those military birds you talked about are poking around here?"
"Hmmm." Tails frowns deeply in thought, slowing the boat down as Cocoa Island's shore grows closer. "But it's been three years and I haven't heard a single word about them."
"They the laying low types?" Sonic smirks and kicks his feet against the dash. "As hard as that is to believe, especially for a bird army."
"Well, not entirely. I forgot to mention that they disguised their ship as a smaller island right next to Cocoa . . . " Tails chuckles awkwardly. For him, it's hard to believe that he didn't catch on to that until he was inside the ship.
The brothers' conversation starts to spike Tangle's attention; she pokes her head between Sonic's passenger seat and Tails. "They don't seem like laying low types if they made themselves that obvious. Psh." She scoffs and drums her feet against the boat floor, eager to stretch her legs on the sand and grass.
Tails chuckles. "It took me a minute to realize they were in hiding. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me and I just overlooked a new island." He presses a button on the panel controls to project a 3D map of Cocoa Island and the two—not three—sister islands neighboring it.
Tangle utters a noise of amazement as she drags a finger through the projection, briefly distorting it. Tails continues after a moment of studying it, his smile becoming a bit brighter.
"But don't worry! I have my map updated down to the last crumb, so any suspicious landmasses will be easy to spot!" He snaps his fingers for emphasis. A habit picked up from the hedgehog.
The moment Tails beaches his boat is the moment Tangle and Sonic jump out and do a brief scan of the shore. Their eyes lead to a dirt path trailing up a low grassy hill. Lanolin, jostled by the motion of two bodies launching themselves off the boat, grumbles under her breath. She thought that getting the Diamond Cutters some off-the-radar experience would do them some good. Working on different kinds of terrain does wonders for team building. As long as Tangle listens to Tails' instructions to stick with the group in case of earthquakes—
'Gods just relax; she'll listen to him. And she'll listen to me, too . . . it's not like she secretly hates me for everything that happened at the Clean Sweepstakes. And before that . . . '
Lanolin almost doesn't register Whisper's outstretched hand. The leader blinks as if someone pinched her—but Whisper doesn't drop her hand.
Doesn't she remember? 'What I did?'
"Thanks," Lanolin mumbles softly, taking her hand and stepping out of the boat.
Whisper nods once. Lanolin was never good at reading faces, but Whisper, as reticent as she can be, almost looks like she wants to say something more. Sadly, Lanolin won't find out—well for now at least. Because Tails' next announcement directs everyone's attention back to him.
"We can head to my workshop just up ahead!" He points to the path up the hill. "That's where we'll plan further."
Once the group enters Tails' log cabin, he quickly introduces T-Pup, who he built when he first settled on this island. But during the fallout with the Armada, T-Pup was severely damaged and placed under reconstruction in the workshop. Tails was reunited with and swept up in another adventure with Sonic before he could fully rebuild his companion. Recently though, he returned to the island and finally fixed him up with some upgrades. And that's when the earthquakes started.
Luckily, one of T-Pup's upgrades include a way to "sniff out" chaos energy sources. Basically, this means the group won't have to split up and spend hours trying to pinpoint the source of the energy. T-Pup can't do everything though, which is why everyone will be on the lookout for threats.
The robo dog leads them through a thick leafy forest, his little propeller whirring with a quiet buzz. Zipping this way and that, making sure the scent stays locked. The island's sounds are lively and plentiful, a vast variety of mobini birds and critters chirping and scattering around the trees.
These periods of calm would relax Lanolin, if they didn't remind her of the minutes before Badniks invaded her hometown.
She checks on her teammates—Whisper's body language is closed, calculated. But she seems calm. Tangle's walk is wide and peppy, but she's keeping a close eye on her surroundings. Neither of the fighters' traits seem to fit with Lanolin. Her calm was never Whisper's calm, her days of vitality never matched Tangle's.
She could spend hours comparing herself to those around her. Think about how unlikely it is that she'll ever become close to any of them. But that's not what she's here for. She's here to become someone better. A Lanolin that isn't herself.
Whisper's ear twitches. "Stop."
Everyone turns to her. Her wispon trained at the high ends of the trees to the right. Steady.
"I hear something."
A heavy beat of silence passes. A light gust of wind brushes across them. Every muscle tenses.
Meanwhile, T-Pup is still flying ahead. He isn't programmed to listen to others' commands, only Tails'. "T-Pup, come back," Tails says. The robo dog huffs, flies back to Tails' side, and lowers to the grass. Unwanted silence returns.
Tangle is the first to verbalize her confusion, in a whisper: "Whis, are you sure you—"
"Yes."
She is able to close Tangle's mouth with a single word. A power Lanolin wishes she had. A stable trust was built between those two and continues to be in front of Lanolin's eyes. At least she has Maggie. The wisp's hyper-go-on wraps tightly inside Lanolin's bell, glowing dimly, waiting.
The silence shatters when Whisper shoots a staticky cyan bolt at the trees, cutting through the thicket. Torn, charred leaves scatter from where the attack zipped through. A much more prominent thud shortly follows, accompanied by creaking metal.
Of course, Sonic is the first to reach the bundle of trees. After jumping onto a less than sturdy branch, he bends over to scan the ground. The rest of the approaching group can't see what he's looking at. Not at their level, because of the feathery bushes cramming between the tree bark.
"Hey guys, good news!" Sonic shouts. "Someone's spying on us!"
Tangle uses her tail to vault over the bushes, then she's momentarily stilled. "Whoa—awesome job, Whisper! That's not Eggman tech though . . . " She steps to the side so that Tails, Lanolin, and Whisper can maneuver over the bushes. T-Pup hovers above Tails.
Lanolin first notices the stark contrast between the polished blue metal and the pale grass. It's a tall robot in the shape of a mobian bird. Its twitchy legs resemble those of an anatomically accurate bird, especially the ankles. Stainless steel wings (not so stainless now) shaped like folding fans are connected to the arms. The robot itself is decapitated thanks to Whisper's excellent marksman senses, electric currents running through its splintered neck.
"First of all, this isn't good news—" Lanolin narrows her eyes at the branch Sonic is perched on, watching him flip off of it. "Second of all, is this…?" She turns to an exhausted looking Tails scratching at the base of his bangs.
"Battle Bird robots," he confirms in a sigh. "I could've sworn I sunk their ship!"
He should have expected the immediate gaping stares from everyone once those words left his mouth. But what's the big issue?
" . . . How old were you when you met them, Tails?" Tangle slowly asks.
"Uh—Five? Why do you ask?—"
"FIVE?! AND YOU SUNK AN ENTIRE ARMY'S SHIP?! AT FIVE YEARS OLD??"
Tails' brow scrunches even further before the understanding clicks. That wasn't uh. Normal. Got it. "Oh, uh . . . yeah."
Sonic blinks a few times before he's shaking his head and laughing. Lanolin can't help but whip her head back at him, bewildered. A five-year-old was stranded on this island and attempted murder (in self defense) on an army of birds . . . and he's laughing?
"Haha-! Oh man, you left that part out for sure!" His laughter trails off unnervingly and his smile falters the slightest bit. "We're gonna have to unpack all of that back at your house, you realize this right?"
Before Tails can refute needing one of Sonic's mental wellness talks, because he is a perfectly stable eight-year-old capable of forgetting the past, four more of those Battle Bird bots burst through the trees beyond the group.
No hesitation—Whisper shoots one out of the sky, then everyone dodges as the remaining swoop down with steel talons. They latch onto the grass instead of fur or wool, giving Lanolin the chance to flick her golden bell. The concentrated sound wave damages their wings beyond repair and knocks them over. Sonic and Tails spindash into two of them while Tangle strangles the last with her tail, popping the head off. Easy enough. Too easy.
"I think it's safe to say there might be more where that came from," Tails warns, inspecting each bird model with a critical eye. Then he groans and runs his hands over his bangs and between his ears, grasping the fur at the back of his head. "They're probably all over the island by now! With the tech they have, they must've detected the chaos energy! Ugh, I shouldn't have been so sure that I got rid of them! What if they've been here this whole time a-and I didn't— . . . "
"Tails." Sonic takes a knee and claps a hand on his shoulder.
Tails jolts and turns to face him, breathing shaky and quickening as if he was back in his bedroom and waking from a nightmare. Sonic clenches his free hand into a fist. Just how much did he endure on Cocoa Island that he didn't tell Sonic?
Sonic holds up his fist. "Breathe with me."
While he slowly counts to three with his fingers, he inhales; his fingers curl back up as he exhales. He repeats these sets of motions, only this time, Tails copies his breathing. And once more.
Meanwhile, Lanolin thinks of the next possible course of action. Continue looking for the source of the chaos energy? Return to Tails' workshop? The latter seems like a good idea, in case more of the Armada is invading from the shores. But everyone except Tails barely knows what exactly they're dealing with. It's better to ask him firsthand.
Back with the brothers, Sonic smiles and pats Tails' shoulder. "You're not alone anymore, buddy. C'mon, it's five awesome fighters—plus a robot dog—" T-Pup barks and bumps the back of Tails' head, making him chuckle—"against a buncha cheap Badnik knockoffs and a ship that you sank! This win's in the bag!"
Tails doesn't mean to smile, but he does anyway. "You're right." He takes one last deep breath. "Besides, I've only encountered them once years ago. I guess I can't know their next move as well as Eggman's."
"Exactly. And even then, we'll be ready! We've faced worse."
Much worse.
"We've always faced worse. You always say that." Tails eye rolls, and to that note Sonic snorts.
Lanolin pipes up. "Hey—if you're feeling somewhat better?—can you tell us what we're supposed to expect from the battle birds?"
Tails has that same exhausted look from earlier, but he nods. "I'll see what I remember. But let's keep looking for the source of that chaos energy." He gives T-Pup the prompt to continue his scent searching and, as if nothing happened between the first sound of the battle bird bot and Tails' stress-induced spiraling, he leads the group down the trail again. And this time, Whisper scales the trees with her wispon at the ready. Their stalker is still lurking.
Tails talks about the Armada's piloted flying mechs, the submarine mechs, the sometimes incompetent soldiers, and so on. He also mentions a "Doctor Fu-something," but the names aren't important. Then there's the captain of the Battle Bird Armada and his son. They were the most trouble.
"I still can't believe you did all of that by yourself!" Tangle exclaims, only for her face to visibly deflate. "I'm clearly not putting in enough training . . . "
"Aw don't say that!" Tails reassures, flipping a hand back. "I think I was both very lucky and conditioned enough by Sonic's shenanigans that it all worked out in the end."
Sonic, who was way ahead of T-Pup, zips to Tails' side and ruffles his head. "Or you're just extremely smart for your age, how 'bout that?"
Lanolin sighs and shakes her head. They're all getting too distracted, too . . . relaxed. She purposely distances herself from them, watching the trees overhead. She notices one of the trees at the left jerk forward as a figure leaps to the next one—that's Whisper.
"Personally, I think we should speed this up a little. Didn't you say the Armada's around, Tails?" Lanolin emphasizes the Armada to hopefully get her point across.
Tails blinks. "Oh—yeah, but I'm not sure what their game plan is or even what the state of their ship is. Or how big their fleet is . . . I did cut down a decent chunk." He flies ahead of the group and over to T-Pup. "But T-Pup should start moving quicker once the source is nearby!"
Suddenly, as if Tails flicked a switch once he neared his companion, T-Pup begins barking and makes a U-turn past the team. Out of utterly nowhere, he was flying at speeds comparable to a jet. Speeds that even startled Tails.
"Hey—T-Pup wait! Wait boy!" Tails flies after him at top speed, forcing up gravel and loose grass in his tails' path.
"Shoot, alright grab hold." Sonic takes Tangle's hand, who securely wraps her tail around a protesting Lanolin's waist. Her yelp is lost in her lungs when Sonic blasts across the forest floor.
Tails manages to catch up to T-Pup by the skin of his teeth. "T-Pup slow down a little!—"
Two figures suddenly fall from the sky—one stays flying upright as they shove the other away, throwing them to the ground unforgivingly. T-Pup finally stops, but not because he's listening to his maker. He's instead turned to growling at the figure floating above.
Tails skids to a stop in front of a fallen Whisper, helping her up. "Whisper!"
Sonic stops just ahead of them.
"I'm fine," she spits out, despite her noticeable limp.
Lanolin gazes up at the sky for the assailant, eyes squinting as they adjust to the sun lasering through the clouds. But she manages to identify a green-feathered mobian wearing something metal, she guesses by the way it pierces her eyeballs from the sun's rays bouncing off it.
Once the sun dims behind the clouds, Lanolin's glare hardens.
"Wow, you lot had the same idea, it seems." The bird chuckles quietly. A red emerald matching the color of his eyes materializes from his matching bandana. He holds it up and waves it slightly, wearing a victorious grin. "Too bad ground mobians take their sweet, sweet time."
Tails swallows hard, his namesakes puffing up in defense. He almost didn't recognize the heir of the Armada with his new white and red body suit and sizable gauntlets. The jet thrusters on his back expel hot orange combustion gasses, while his lime green helmet proudly displays the insignia of his army of origin.
"Speedy. That's a nice upgrade from the floating diaper device." Tails smirks.
"Ah, Tails." Said with so much disdain. "You grew a whole three inches taller since we last battled!" Speedy sneers down at T-Pup, his chest puffing out while he crosses his arms. "And the pest is back. I'll have fun dismantling it again."
T-Pup barks with flashing red eyes, but he seems to cower under the self-proclaimed prince's gaze.
"You'll be upset to hear that I upgraded him!" Tails retorts. "You won't hurt him that easily again."
With a quiet smirk, Sonic steps in line next to Tails. Tails glances up at him, waiting for some kind of joke about Speedy's outfit or an insult to knock his ego down a peg. But surprisingly, he hears neither.
"So you're one of the guys that gave Tails trouble, huh? And what did he do to you exactly?" His smirk didn't match his tone, interrogative and irritable.
Speedy scoffs, beak dropping into a frown as he cocks his head. "What do you think? One look at him tells you everything. He's a two-tailed freak that shouldn't be allowed to fly."
Between now and then, the last time someone's called Tails a freak was the last time he fought Speedy. And it still stings, it still leaves a mark toppled on old ones from those before Speedy.
Sonic doesn't flinch from Speedy's insult at all, doesn't miss a beat. "You think so, huh? At least he can fly, unlike the bird himself." And there it is.
Speedy's fists shake when he clenches them. His eyebrows lower into a nasty crease as spittle flies from his beak. "I'm meant to fly! There's a difference, rodent!"
"Sure. So—"
"If you have the emerald already, why not just leave?" Lanolin steps forward, eyes cold and stance strong. "Is your mission to gloat? Intimidate us?" Honestly, maybe she could knock Speedy out of the sky with a flick of her bell, but she wants to judge how intelligent the enemy is first.
A hiss of a sigh leaves Speedy's beak, his harsh expression relaxing in the blink of an eye. "My mission is already complete. So yes, I'm simply delivering a message."
He narrows his eyes down at the small group, flying up a little higher as though to put more hierarchical space between them.
"The Battle Bird Armada has returned, stronger than any of your feeble minds can comprehend. In our hunt for global domination and our ancestors' history, we will not be so merciful." Speedy jabs a metal claw downwards. "We will tear your soiled lands apart if it gives us an advantage!"
Tails groans and shakes his head, muttering something about blowing up their fuel supplies.
Tangle beats Sonic to the comeback, her tail arching above her and giving Speedy the "L" sign. This made Lanolin want to eye roll, but she'll let it slide since she's already tired of this bird. "Yeah right! How big is your stupid army anyways? Nothing that Eggman could pull!"
He seems to love that question. A huge smirk dawns on his beak and he snickers under his breath. "What a smart assumption. Tails might've cut down our army a considerable amount, but recruits have been pretty high these years!" His judging gaze zeroes in on the fox. "Now that we're on the topic, the Battle Lord's mission requires Tails' capture."
Not a second passes before the trees on either side burst apart, revealing a hefty portion of the Armada's piloted flying mechs that descend on the heroes. Speedy dives right for Tails, leaving behind a jet of flames. Luckily, Sonic intercepts him with a spindash—only to be blocked by a solid mass. Speedy grunts as he holds the attack back, muscles straining and aggression rising.
Meanwhile, Lanolin flicks her bell once, twice. The shockwaves disable the incoming mechs from a distance. As they uselessly slam to the ground, licks of fire jostle Lanolin's puffs.
To her right, Whisper is blasting a line of mechs while dodging the red lasers. While Tangle doesn't have any wispons of her own, she's holding the line just fine by jumping onto the mechs and crashing them into each other with her tail. A little reckless, but gets the job done, Lanolin realizes.
Just several yards ahead, Sonic, Tails, and T-Pup are dealing with a mix of piloted mechs and drones, and Speedy himself. Lanolin doesn't have time to think about helping them though; the Diamond Cutters have their own swarm to deal with.
A couple of lasers nip at her side, putting her on the move. "Tangle, give me a boost!"
"You got it!" Again Tangle's tail wraps Lanolin's waist, throwing her up and at the relentless machines. Her bell is already freed from her neck. She swings her wispon viciously and the soundwave takes out a huge chunk of the forces. A pitch of fulfillment overcomes her, but leaves just as fast. She could do more.
As she lands in a crouch, a streak of orange and green whizzes above her.
"Oomf!" Tails skids across the grass before Speedy grapples onto his chest fur. After exchanging a few blows, Speedy catches his twin tails in an iron fist once they start smacking him. Tails cries out when Speedy yanks on them, sending him to his stomach.
"Nice try kid, but you're coming with me!"
A pit drops in Lanolin's stomach when Speedy starts to take off with Tails in tow. She didn't think he'd actually get a hold of Tails, with the way she internally marveled over Tails' story of sinking the entire Armada (or so he thought). But with an obvious weak spot like Tails'—tails, Lanolin should've known this would happen.
'What would Sonic do?' she used to think. She used to think he could do anything. But he's not the one man show she thought he was. She now understands that Tails is his best friend. So why did he still insist on rushing into things bigger than himself?
And why was she judging when she never had a best friend to begin with? She couldn't know their dynamic from the back of her hand. Still, even if Sonic was faster than speed of light and could find a way to catch Speedy, she had to make amends for the Sweepstakes event. For everything she is and doesn't want to be.
So Lanolin strikes her bell so hard her middle finger vibrates.
The soundwave catches both Tails and Speedy. They fall out of the sky, Speedy still grabbing onto Tails until they slam onto the ground. Lanolin knows Sonic and maybe T-Pup will stop to check on Tails, so she directs her attention to Speedy. Her elbow sinks into his cheek before he can get up. But his fervent swings startle something inside her, something afraid to lose to someone so vicious. Someone so much more determined than her.
Because of her mental beatings, her outsides suffer. Her side is crushed under metal. One of her puffs strain against his grasp before she's thrown against wood.
"Shit—Lano!" Tangle is at her side at a moment's notice. Even Whisper, after taking down the last few soldiers, joins the two as Tangle tries helping Lanolin up.
"I'm good!" she snaps, not so happy about her wool being grabbed like free real estate.
Tangle flinches, pulling her hands away. "Okay okay . . . "
After checking herself for anything broken, Lanolin sees Speedy backing off of Tails and Sonic. T-Pup lingers by his maker's side, laser canisters whirring loudly.
Something is beeping repeatedly—Speedy grumbles as he glances at his wrist. He tugs his bandana above his chin.
"Dammit—" He dodges cyan lasers from Whisper. "I don't have enough time. Thanks for nothing! And enjoy what happens next!"
Tails glares up at him. "What do you mean by—that . . . " He trails off when Speedy leaves a stream of dust and smoke. The plethora of defeated soldiers follow their commander on jetpacks.
The question answers itself when tremors rock the ground. The ground is moving in a way that liquid moves when interrupted.
Lanolin's ear twitches as she picks up a sound similar to crackers snapping in half. It's coming from—
"LOOK OUT!" Tangle pulls Lanolin and Whisper out of the falling tree's way, which lands with a mighty BOOM.
Sonic, Tails, and T-Pup are on the other side of the tree. They jump or fly over it to meet with the Diamond Cutters.
Past the fallen tree, far off to the right in the thick of the forest, more trees crash down like dominos. A devastating crack resounds from the earth—it's splitting exactly where the trees collapsed.
"The island is breaking apart!" Tails' voice warbles and cracks as he scans the incoming damage. "We gotta get back to the boat!"
"Fast?" Sonic takes Tails' hand, followed by Tangle. Whisper and Lanolin grab hold of each others' hands and Tangle's tail.
"T-Pup, lead us back to the boat! Be careful!" Tails warns.
T-Pup barks affirmatively before taking the lead as fast as he can.
Sonic takes off, not at his max speed in case he passes T-Pup accidentally. Around them, dozens of trees collapse and more fissures form that Sonic jumps over. Geysers burst from pockets of water deep in the earth, disrupted from an eternal rest. The great lake in the middle of island was starting to flood it. A cacophony of the island's unnatural sounds threaten to deafen the group.
But finally, finally, they make it to the shore. The sand is sliding towards the ocean, particles of rock and shells jumping with every rumble. The boat is vibrating, almost entirely in the water at this point.
The group hastily leaps into the speedboat; Tails starts the engine, and they're off just before a fissure nearby bursts open with a gush of sand and rock.
Once the vessel is a safe distance away, Tails turns it back to Cocoa Island and stops.
He is shell-shocked. His pupils as thin as needles.
The rest of the crew is dead silent for minutes, hopelessly watching the island split into who knows how many pieces. But it doesn't seem to be sinking, thankfully(?).
Sonic is the first to open his mouth. "Does anyone have any clue how that happened?"
Tails is despondent and can't bring himself to process the destruction of his safe haven. From here, he can't see if his house is still standing, but the mountaintops in the back are splintering at their peaks and colliding into each other as they tumble down. T-Pup lays on his lap with a whimper that translates to his maker's distress.
Tails' ears pin to his head. "I-I don't . . . I don't know . . . "
Sonic frowns and rubs his shoulder.
Lanolin offers an answer. "Did Speedy do something to trigger that earthquake? Don't the emeralds give power to the user holding it?"
"Yeah, but it'd be pretty impressive if Speedy was able to harness the power on his own," Tails says with an air of doubt. "Unless . . . there was another emerald here and the Armada powered a machine to cause the island to fracture…?"
He opens the dash on his boat and pulls out the Miles Electric, checking the chaos energy signatures on the tablet. "The energy's gone . . . meaning any chaos sources on the island are gone too."
"Sheesh, they must hate your guts, Tails," Tangle mutters with a shake of the head, hand partially covering her muzzle.
"I know. But Speedy, he . . . " Tails sucks his teeth and sighs, tightening and loosening his grip on the steering wheel. "Never mind. The island is still unstable and I don't want to keep us in the middle of the ocean. I'll take us back to the Restoration."
Sonic furrows his brow at Tails' deflated tone. The whir of the boat engine starts up again as Tails continues heading to the mainland.
There's no room for doubt; Cocoa Island was Tails' second home. If there's no way to fix it, to make it safe for the creatures living in it, Tails will be crushed.
And soon will the rest of the world, if the Battle Bird Armada's plans come together.
But Sonic smiles a little and gives Tails a thumbs up. "Hey, don't worry. If we find an emerald, maybe we can glue the island back together again. I have an idea of how much this place means to you."
"We can also break into an Eggbase. Find logs on the Armada's history and uncover their plans," Whisper suggests, grabbing the group's attention. "The doctor keeps data on many organizations. It would be worth the shot."
Tails hums to himself, his ears perking up halfway. "That's true. It wouldn't be improbable to think the Armada works with Eggman." He looks at Sonic. "And thanks, Sonic. If I know anything about you, it's that you never give up." He cracks the slightest smile. "So I won't either."
"Yup!" Sonic ruffles his bangs. "Guess it won't be the last time I deal with smug green birds with a bald spot."
Lanolin fixes her wool despite having already fixed it earlier. When she hears of the possibility of the Armada working alongside Eggman, she wants to slam her head into the sea. As if the Restoration doesn't have enough issues revolving around or directly relating to him! She can barely handle one Eggbase raid.
She wants to be mad at Tails, she really does, but then she remembers he's only eight. Just five when he dealt with an army he most likely didn't mean to intimidate. Alone.
Alone.
Lanolin clutches her side; it stings like shards of glass punctured her. "So that's . . . it?" Her voice ends on a sour note. "We let this army get away with not one, but two emeralds?"
Sonic shrugs. "Wellll it could just be one. We don't know exactly why the island had a mental breakdown anyways—we just got theories." He turns back to Lanolin with a smile, his arms folding behind his pressed quills. "We'll just find out on our next visit. Or the next time we run into the Birdy Arms."
Lanolin feels a vein twitch in her head, and it's not from her wool being yanked at. She folds her hands in her lap and clenches them tightly. "Okay," she says in a sigh. "I admit none of us had any idea the island would rip apart, but I'd rather we deal with the Armada directly instead of waiting for villages to be destroyed by bird robots. That's my vote." She glances at Whisper and Tangle. "What do you two think?"
Tangle props her face up with her hands. "Hmmm . . . you're not wrong, but I don't feel confident going up against hundreds of soldiers. There could be some risk."
She's right. There could be a lot of risk.
"Whisper?" Lanolin urges.
Whisper lightly grips the handle of her wispon, using it like a cane. "Rebellion sounds nice. But an army is different from an individual enemy. It could be difficult to eliminate them all." She grimaces. "And if the Doctor is working with the Battle Birds, then . . . I'd rather be cautious."
Lanolin opens her mouth to fight against both Tangle and Whisper's opinions, but she catches her tongue just in time. This feels like something to schedule a meeting over. Ironically, she feels like she's becoming as reckless as Sonic. Jumping into the fray to fight an army she just found out about.
"We can think on it, then," Lanolin decides with finality. But it's only a matter of time before taking the time to "think on it" is useless.