All Tangled Up
Tempest paced impatiently around outside the medic tent in the makeshift camp the Resistance had set up close to the entrance of the forest as she waited. With all of them working together, they’d managed to get the fires mostly under control, so she, Sonic, Rainbow, and Silver had been ordered back to the camp to be checked by the medics that had been sent while the rest of the troops quelled the remaining fires. They’d finished looking her over and cleared her several minutes ago and now she was waiting for them to get done with the others so they could go after Infinite.
After several minutes, the tent flap opened and Tempest stopped and turned to look. Sonic still had some signs of where he'd been hit, but he hadn't gotten any bandages. Rainbow, however, was not wearing her helmet due to having bandages wrapped around her head, and Silver had been given the most bandages, having some on his arms and legs. He walked slower than the others, seemingly mindful of how fast he went.
"Well?" Tempest asked.
"Well, aside from some dings and dents, we're pretty good," Sonic stated.
"Then let's go after Infinite!" Tempest said, turning to walk over to the Extreme Gear.
She only got a few steps before Silver held up his right index finger and started, "Um, about that, Tempest…"
The medic, a female albatross with light brown plumage, stepped out and said, "Commander Knuckles was contacted and told what happened while I was tending to all of you. He advised against going after Infinite."
Tempest turned her head to look back at the bird, one eyebrow raised. “What?! Why?!” she asked.
The medic answered, "I don't think I need to remind you that you were all involved in a serious fight against an enemy who has a power that we don't understand. I would think a little bit of your self-preservation would kick in now that he's left."
Tempest glared, "I'll worry about myself when he's paid for what he's done, both to this world and Twilight."
The albatross replied, "And I think it’s wonderful that that’s what’s driving you on, but I still have to agree with the Commander. I must advise against doing something so reckless at this time.”
Rainbow asked, "But what about that guy? Of course, finding and helping everyone in the forest was more important at the time, but I agree with Tempest. We’re not just gonna let him get away, are we?”
The medic answered, "Don't forget that you are part of the Resistance now, Rainbow. The intel teams and spies have probably been alerted by now, so they'll be assigned to tracking him. There's no need to do everything on your own."
Rainbow groaned and asked, "So what are we supposed to do, then? Just sit around here?!"
The albatross replied, "That's my best suggestion for you." She turned and walked back into the tent.
Tempest growled in frustration as she walked over and sat down on the Extreme Gear. "This is unbelievable. We weren't hurt that badly. What happened to the Resistance being stretched thin?" she grumbled as she laid her head on her forelegs.
Rainbow flew over and leaned on the side of the bike as she said, "I'm with you; I don't like this. We did a good job at Egghead's old base, we rushed to help Silver, we all gave Infinite a beat down, and now we're being treated like the time I broke my wing. It's annoying." She had a thought and turned to look at Silver as he and Sonic walked over. "Hey Silver, what happened to those hog guys?" she asked.
Silver's eyes widened a bit at that and then he sighed as he placed his right hand against his forehead. "I was flying over the forest when Infinite attacked me. I was able to lower myself a little while holding onto them, but then I lost my grip when he attacked me again. I don't remember where I was, and I don't know what happened to them," he explained.
A raccoon soldier came around the side of the medic’s tent and approached the group, calling out, “Excuse me, sirs, ma’ams.” Sonic and Silver turned to look at him while Rainbow and Tempest looked over. He held out a long cable in his hands, “Do any of you know what this is?”
Everyone except for Sonic almost immediately recognized it as the cable that was used to tie up the hog gang. “That’s… Where did you find it?” Silver asked.
“It was found by one of the scout teams, I’m afraid, sir, so I’m not certain. They said they found fresh prints near where it was, though,” the soldier answered.
Sonic looked at Silver, “So they’re okay.”
The other hedgehog nodded, “And they managed to free themselves.” He looked back at the soldier, “Thank you for letting us know. Uh… you can do whatever you want with that. I don’t think we need it anymore. You can go now.” The raccoon saluted and left, taking the cable with him.
The two hedgehogs turned back to the ponies when Rainbow said, "Aw, man… I'm glad they're still alive and all, but that still kind of stinks. After the mess they made, we should've been able to get something out for them for all that trouble."
Tempest nodded, "Especially for having to put up with their voices, and that smell." She shook her head in disgust, "I may not spend a lot of time around pigs, but that stench they had did not seem like what a pig would smell like. It was like something lingering in the air, following them around."
Sonic and Silver shared a look before looking back at them, Silver saying, "Yeah, things really haven't gone how we were hoping them to these last few hours, but at least we're all still feeling mostly healthy, you guys made Infinite retreat, and the day isn’t over yet. We still have time to do something to make up for not defeating Infinite." He noticed Tempest giving him a shifty look after a few moments and asked, "What?"
Tempest replied, "I'm waiting." Silver gave her a confused look at that, so she asked, "Isn't this that moment? The one where something happens to come up at just the right time to justify what you're saying? It seems fairly common in Equestria; why should it be any different here?"
Sonic looked over at Silver and smirked, "Wow, she's good. I didn't realize she had that much experience."
Rainbow fluttered over while saying, "Yeah. Tempest has seen a thing or two, so she knows a thing or two." She stopped in front of them, "That would be pretty cool if something happened, though." A couple moments of silence passed, nothing happening as they all remained where they were.
A sudden ringing sound pierced the silence, surprising them. Sonic reached into his quills after a moment and pulled out his Miles Mobile. It was shaking and saying it was picking up an unknown transmission on the screen. He looked at the others before he flicked his thumb up across the screen, answering it with a "Hello?"
A female voice on the other end spoke, "Uh, hello? Hello, hello?”
Sonic answered, “We can hear you here.”
The voice said, “Oh good, it’s working. May I ask who I'm speaking to?"
Sonic replied, "I'm Sonic. Who are you?"
The voice answered, "My name is Jewel. I'm calling from Spiral Hill Village." An explosion sounded in the background, prompting her to let out a yelp before saying, "Are you with the Resistance, Sonic? Can you please help us?! We really need it!"
Sonic asked, "What's going on over there?"
Jewel explained, "We've been experiencing attacks from Dr. Eggman's robots for some time now, but this is the worst one yet! I don't know if we can push them back this time! And…" There was a momentary pause before she started, “What… Is that a centaur?! I didn’t know those were… How did Dr. Eggman…?” She was cut off by another explosion and exclaimed afterwards, “Please, help us!”
During the second explosion, Sonic looked up at Rainbow and Silver and they shared a nod. When Jewel finished, he said, “Hang tight, Jewel! Help’s coming!”
As he ended the call, Tempest asked, “Is that really the way you should’ve ended that?” When everyone looked at her, she clarified, “I haven’t learned the geography of this world, but I don’t know where this Spiral Hill Village is. Do any of you?”
Silver answered, “Yeah. Here, I’ll show you.” He reached over and tapped on the screen of Sonic’s Mobile for a minute, pulling up a map and the destination on it. “It’s right here. It’s not that far from the city and, by extension, here.”
Rainbow peered at the map before saying, “Oh yeah, that’s not far at all. We should have no problem getting there to help them out.”
The flap to the medical tent suddenly whipped open again and the albatross medic stepped out. "I beg your pardon? Forgive me if I didn't hear you all correctly, but I could swear you were all just talking about going back into battle," she said.
"That's exactly what we're talking about," Sonic replied.
The albatross let out an annoyed trill before saying, "Did I not make myself clear before? I specifically forbade that! You all need to rest! Don't you remember that?"
Rainbow shrugged, "Yeah, well, that was before we got word that Tirek might be back in play. And speaking from experience, believe me when I say we do not want him walking around, okay?"
Silver said, "You and your friends mentioned he's one of the most dangerous bad guys you've ever faced."
Rainbow nodded, "Yep. He stole everypony's magic, including Discord's, the princesses', and Twilight's, and he destroyed the library and would've destroyed the rest of Equestria if we hadn't stopped him. If he's got a lot of power on his side, he could destroy Spiral Hill Village by himself." She bowed her head, "I'd be willing to wait if the rest of the girls were available, but Twilight's still out, Applejack and Fluttershy are helping the Resistance, and Pinkie and Rarity are still away." She looked up, "We can't wait. We gotta go now."
Tempest stated, "She makes a good point. We'll call HQ on the way and tell them what's going on. Hopefully they'll be able to redirect some support our way." She looked at Silver and motioned for him to get on.
Sonic said, "Then let's go!" Once Silver was seated and holding onto Tempest, they all quickly shot off.
As she watched them disappear into the distance, the albatross shook her head and sighed, "And I thought Gen was the most difficult patient I've had to treat. They're going to get themselves hurt. Badly." As she turned and walked back into the tent, the light inside shone off of her eyes, causing a nearly imperceptible pink glow over her pupils to be visible for a moment.
Soon…
Sonic and Tempest slid to a stop and Rainbow slowed down, flapping her wings above them as they all stared. Off in the distance in front of them was a hill so large it could almost be called a mountain with a town on top of it and a long, curving stone bridge extending out from it to the ground. Even in the dark of night, they could see the town due to it being lit up by flashes of light and explosions from within. And above it, blocking out part of the night sky, it looked like there was a large number of robots overhead, glowing shots firing down from them.
"That's it, isn't it?" Tempest asked.
Silver looked down at his Mobile for a moment before saying, "Yeah. That's Spiral Hill Village."
Sonic put his hands on his hips, "They must have something Eggman wants. That is a pretty big attack force."
Rainbow nodded, "Yeah. There's so many robots up there, it looks like they got a giant cloud hanging over them." She winced a bit as she flipped her helmet back on her head, but she grinned all the same, "And when it comes to clearing clouds, I'm the best!" She readied herself and then shot up towards the robots, her wings flapping furiously.
"H-Hey, wait for me, Rainbow!" Silver exclaimed, using his psychokinesis to raise himself up and go after her, leaving Sonic and Tempest alone.
The two looked at each other. "Take the bridge?" Sonic asked.
"Why not," Tempest replied. She revved up her Extreme Gear and balanced herself before driving after him.
It didn't take them long to get to the end of the bridge and enter the village, both stopping inside the entryway to take stock of the situation. Even from where they were, they could see most of the village's inhabitants were running scared with only a small number attempting to fight back. They were mainly being attacked by Egg Pawns, but some Buzz Bombers and Nebulas had descended low enough for a more direct attack. Some buildings were on fire and some were beginning to fall apart from all the fighting. It was starting to resemble the city a bit too much.
Tempest got off her Extreme Gear after setting up the kickstand and moved next to Sonic. "What's your plan? Same as Rainbow Dash's?" she asked.
Sonic replied, "Just about. It kinda goes like this. Step one: rescue everyone in danger. Step two: destroy Badniks. Step three… Eh, we'll figure that one out when we get there. Cool?" Tempest raised an eyebrow, but she still nodded and they ran into the village.
They headed towards a small group of Egg Pawns they spotted, which was firing on what looked like a hastily built barricade. Sonic and Tempest looked at each other and nodded, Tempest facing forward again and firing a bolt of magic from her horn at them. It temporarily shorted out its target and caught the attention of the others, all of them turning to look and reprioritizing when they spotted Sonic. The two stepped and leapt to avoid the shots for a moment before they broke off, Sonic running for the barricade while Tempest leapt into the group. She was able to take them out easily due to them recalculating while Sonic checked on the animals.
Once the Egg Pawns were reduced to scrap, Tempest turned to look at the barricade, Sonic and two young wolves and two young lionesses coming out from behind it a second later. She ran after them and got alongside the hedgehog before asking, "What's going on?"
Sonic answered, "They got separated from their mama when the attack started, but they know where to go when there's an emergency. I'm gonna make sure they get there safely." They heard a yelp behind them and looked to see one of the wolves had stumbled and fallen. They all stopped, the other wolf and the lionesses running back over to him.
Sonic and Tempest noticed several Buzz bombers and Nebulas coming in from above, their sights seemingly locked on the kids and their weapons almost ready. Sonic shot towards the smaller animals and grabbed them, leaping to avoid the barrage of shots that came down. He managed to keep a hold of them as he landed on his feet further down the road and Tempest fired a strong bolt of magic to destroy the robots. The children whimpered at the sounds of the explosions and the debris raining down, but Sonic patted them to comfort them.
As he stood up straight, he winced and let out a grunt as he felt a sudden burning sensation go across two of his quills. He looked to his left and saw another group of Egg Pawns down the side road, smoke coming from the blaster of the one at the front. As they began to approach, Tempest leapt in front of Sonic and the kids, glaring at the robots. "I'll handle them. Get the kids to safety!" she said.
Sonic nodded, "All right. Be careful!" He turned to the kids, "Come on, let's get to your parents' special hiding place." He started running down the street again and they followed close behind him.
Tempest, meanwhile, charged at the Egg Pawns, all of them raising their blasters at her. This did nothing to intimidate her and she had no trouble leaping out of the way and stepping around their shots while continuing to move towards them. She did fire off a magic bolt when she was about halfway to them to scramble the circuits of some of them, allowing her to get close and finish them off easily. There were a few more scattered behind them as well as a few low flying Buzz Bombers and Nebulas, so she eagerly moved to deal with them as well.
After a few minutes, there were no more robots near her, at least not ones that were still together. As she stood surrounded by various different piles of scrap, she suddenly heard something hit the ground nearby; she looked and saw it was the remains of a Buzz Bomber. She looked up and realized it came from the fighting in the sky. She could see a few more falling that seemed like they were going to land near her and she started running down the street again, hearing them hit the ground behind her. She kept running until she approached what looked like a town square, at which point she slowed down since she couldn’t hear pieces falling behind her as loudly. She slowed to a trot and looked back over her shoulder as she got closer; sure enough, the rain of Badnik parts had stopped for the time being.
She came to a stop when she heard a clanging sound in front of her and quickly faced forward. An Egg Pawn had dropped out of the sky, landing a short distance in front of her. It charged at her after a moment and she prepared to retaliate, but suddenly, something smashed into it from its left side and knocked it off the ground. Sparks shot out of it after it landed a second later, but Tempest’s focus was on the being in front of her. She only had time to see that it had primarily light gray fur and a long bushy tail before it suddenly used that tail to spring up into the air. She followed it and saw several more Egg Pawns dropping down behind where the first had been. The figure spun in a circle, using its long tail to intercept them and send them flying, causing them to explode when they hit the ground. From her vantage point, Tempest could make out more details. The figure appeared to be wearing a short-sleeved black bodysuit with dark orange stripes that ran down the sides, an amber sleeveless top, amber high tops, amber sports tape around the wrists, and black fingerless gloves that also appeared to be made of sports tape with dark orange back rings.
The figure finished the impromptu pirouette as it came back down, landing on its feet. It then looked at Tempest with orchid eyes and said, "Hey there! Hope I didn't frighten you; just wanted to help!" Its tone of voice indicated to the unicorn that it was a girl.
Before she could say anything, Sonic ran into the square, slowing down when he got closer to Tempest and walked towards her saying, "There you are, Tempest! I didn't know how far you…" He trailed off when he noticed the other girl, looking at her for a moment before looking back at Tempest and asking, "Who's your lemur friend?"
She replied, "We just met."
The lemur pointed a thumb at herself, "Yep. My name's Tangle!" She looked at Sonic, "You're Sonic, right? My friend Jewel told me she talked to you; she said you were coming to help."
Sonic nodded, "You bet. We all answered her call." He gestured to Tempest, "She's Tempest Shadow." He then pointed up, "And that's Silver and Rainbow Dash up there."
Tangle replied, "Awesome! Nice to meet you two, and I guess I'll meet them later. The last couple of attacks weren't too bad, but this is definitely the worst one so far, so I'm glad for the help." They heard a loud clanging sound a moment later and looked to see that they were surrounded on all sides by a large group of Egg Pawns.
The three of them turned and backed up next to each other as they surveyed the group. "Looks like any more talking will have to wait until later as well," Tempest remarked.
“Guess so,” Sonic said. He held his right fist up, “You up for some more of this, Tangle?”
The end of Tangle’s tail bumped against his fist, “I thought you’d never ask!” With that, they all leapt at the robots surrounding them.
They continued on like this for a while, destroying Eggman’s robots, protecting and helping the other villagers, and dodging Badnik pieces raining down from above. Eventually, it seemed like they had gotten the situation under control: the skies were clear and the remaining robots on the ground seemed to be retreating, at which point Silver and Rainbow came down and introduced themselves to Tangle. Shortly afterwards, however, they felt the ground beginning to shake, though it wasn’t from an earthquake. Rather than a continuous shaking, there were brief, intermittent shakes like something very large was walking close to the village. And they were getting stronger each time they occurred.
Suddenly, they heard a loud explosion, which sounded like it came from the village entrance. They ran towards one of the streets leading to the square, which offered a good view of the entrance gate. It was heavily damaged, the doors hanging from their hinges and the top blown almost completely off the cracked and burnt support columns. And further up the road, Tempest's Extreme Gear was laying on its side. And then they heard a loud yell before something crashed through the columns, reducing them to rubble.
After a few moments, the one responsible was revealed to be Tirek, the centaur standing up straight as the dust fell around him. “Tirek!” Rainbow exclaimed.
He soon spotted the small group and, with a sneer, generated an orange orb between his horns. He then turned his head and fired a beam back at the bridge, leaving a sizable hole in it. He looked back at them and said, "Nowhere to run now." He then grabbed a small house nearby and ripped it out of the ground, throwing it at them.
Silver had predicted he was going to do this and leapt forward, stopping and planting his feet on the ground a short distance ahead of the group. He held his hands out and used his psychokinesis to catch the house in midair. He managed to stop it, but he grunted and slid back a bit before it did. He didn't get to hold it long before Tirek let out a roar and came smashing through the house moments later, swinging his fist. Fortunately for Silver, Rainbow had flown by and seen him coming and was able to fly back down and grab him before the punch connected, flying him away and leaving Tirek with nothing but the ground to punch.
He punched the ground hard enough to get his hand stuck momentarily. Seeing this, Sonic shot forward and spun into his chest. The hit made Tirek grunt and take a few steps back, but it didn't do much else. Sonic bounced back a fair distance and Tangle ran over to him as he stood up. Tirek glared down at them and created another orange orb between his horns. They both broke to the sides as he fired it down at them, avoiding the brunt of the explosion and leaping towards the buildings, using them to parkour their way towards the centaur.
Tirek saw what they were up to, however, and picked up on the fact that Sonic was going to reach him first. He clapped his hands together as the hedgehog came spinning towards him, catching him between them. He could feel the vibrations from his spinning, but they weren’t enough to stop him from throwing Sonic straight down at the ground, leaving the hedgehog stuck in the street on his back. The end of Tangle’s tail struck him in the face a moment later, but he quickly brought his right hand up and grabbed it, giving it a hard yank up and letting go so he could close his hand around the lemur’s body.
Tempest clicked her tongue as she thought, “He’s faster than I thought.” She then steeled herself, “I’d better help them.” She started galloping forward, firing a shot from her horn at Tirek’s face to get his attention. He responded by firing a series of smaller beams at her, which she had little trouble avoiding. That didn’t matter to him, though; when she was almost to Sonic, who was trying to get up after the hard landing, he stomped the ground with his left front hoof, which caused the ground to shake and Tempest to lose her balance. While she was trying to get her hooves back on the ground properly, he reached forward and grabbed her with his left hand. As he held both her and Tangle up in front of him, he eyed the unicorn’s broken horn and a smirk crossed his face. He brought her towards Tangle like he was going to jam her horn into the lemur’s body, but she managed to twist her tail around and hold it up in front of her protectively. She managed to stop Tirek’s hand inches away from her, but it was taking all of her strength to hold him there.
Suddenly, his left arm jerked back, pulled by an unseen force. Sonic looked up from where he lay and saw Rainbow descending with her forelegs still wrapped around Silver. “Silver!” he said, causing the others to look up as well. The white hedgehog pulled his hands back for a moment before thrusting them forward again with a shout, shifting his psychokinesis from Tirek’s arm to the rest of his body, trying to push him backwards. He succeeded in causing him to slide back a few feet away from Sonic, but then he began to resist it, planting his hooves against the ground and beginning to slowly step forward while still holding Tangle and Tempest while Silver struggled to keep him back. And he was beginning to generate another orange orb as well…
His concentration was suddenly broken when two wooden barrels filled with water hit him in the face. This disoriented him enough to get pushed back a bit by Silver and release Tangle and Tempest, the former using her tail to catch herself while the latter landed on her hooves okay. Silver stopped pushing after a few more moments and, while Tirek wiped his face, Rainbow asked him, "That wasn't you, was it, Silver?"
The hedgehog replied, “Nope.”
Down on the ground, Sonic looked up and saw a familiar figure rushing forward, and behind him was a cart that was tilted in Tirek’s direction. “Big!” he exclaimed. The cat came to a stop a reasonable distance away from everyone and held up his fishing rod, waving it a bit before he cast the line, aiming for Sonic. The hedgehog reached up and grabbed near the end of the line when it got close enough, holding on when Big gave a sharp pull and then started swinging it around in a circle. Sonic quickly picked up on what he was doing and went along with the swinging to pick up speed; the others soon got it as well and readied themselves, waiting to see what was going to happen.
When Tirek had finished wiping away most of the water and bits of wood, he started to say, "Do you think petty tricks will…" He stopped when his glaring eyes locked with Tempest's and she fired a bolt of magic up at his face. Tangle followed up by striking him in the face with her tail to disorient him further, at which point Sonic, Rainbow, and Silver made their move. Sonic let go of Big's line at the right moment and went shooting towards Tirek while Rainbow flew down almost as fast with Silver following in her slipstream. Sonic and Rainbow struck at about the same time, the centaur recoiling from the impact, and Silver unleashed his psychokinesis at them to enhance their attack and add his own. The combination attack sent Tirek sliding straight back towards the gate, Sonic and Rainbow rebounding off of him before he went through the remains of the gate and fell down through the hole in the bridge.
One of his hands managed to grab onto the ledge and Sonic, Rainbow, and Silver could hear him growling, the appearance of his other hand followed by the sound of his hooves thumping against the side of the hill moments later indicating to them he was trying to climb back up. He seemed to be climbing fast, so Silver suggested, “Let’s regroup!” He turned and ran back towards Tempest, Tangle, and Big and Sonic and Rainbow followed suit.
As they got closer to them, they could hear Tempest asking Tangle, "So you know him as well?"
The lemur replied, "Well, sort of. He just kind of showed up about a week ago and has been kind of hanging around since then. I'm not complaining; he's been a good guy to be around, and when the attacks started, he's been nice enough to help us protect the village."
Tempest raised an eyebrow, "So the attacks really started after he showed up?"
Rainbow, Sonic, and Silver stopped near them, Silver saying, "Let's not worry about that now! We need to focus on stopping Tirek!" He looked at Rainbow, "Rainbow, what's it going to take to bring him down?"
Rainbow replied, "Your guess is as good as mine. We didn't exactly fight him before. The princesses found out he escaped from Tartarus that one time after he started stealing magic from ponies, and he got nearly all the magic in Equestria when he tricked Discord. He turned on him and stole his magic when Twilight was the only one left, and she wasn't able to beat him!"
Tempest asked, "What do you mean?"
Rainbow explained, "She was holding onto the magic from the other princesses, so she wasn't outmatched, but she was only able to tie with him. He had to use us to get her to give up all the magic she had."
Silver stated, “That’s terrible! …Not that what he’s doing right now is any better, of course, but…”
Tangle said, “Yeah, I’ve had enough of him too. We’ve already had to deal with enough damage that Eggman’s robots have caused. I don’t want to know what else he’ll do.”
Big suggested, “Maybe we should make him leave?”
Tempest glanced over in Tirek’s direction, seeing his hands causing more damage nearby as he got closer to pulling himself up the rest of the way. “A valid thought for protecting the village, but he seems determined to make sure it’s unsuccessful,” she remarked.
Sonic followed her gaze, looking as well. “Maybe we just need to get him facing the right way,” he said after a second. He turned to Tangle, “Tangle, do you know if there are any parts of the wall that have taken a lot of damage already?”
The lemur thought for a moment before saying, “Uh, yeah, I can think of a spot or two. Why?”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “You’ve got an idea, don’t you?”
Sonic smirked back at her, “I might.”
About a minute later, Tirek managed to get his front hooves on the pavement, letting out a yell as he did. He soon got the rest of his body up and looked around. He couldn't see any of the interlopers, so with another yell, he charged into the square and began looking around again. "Where are you?! Show yourselves, you puny fools! I will destroy this entire town if that's what it takes to find you!" he shouted.
“Hey, Tirek!” Sonic called. The centaur looked back over his shoulder to see the hedgehog standing on the roof of one of the buildings at the edge of the square, Rainbow and Tangle joining him as he held up his left index finger and said, “There’s no need for that. I think Spiral Hill’s been through enough to earn a pass from any more destruction for a long time. Can’t we take this somewhere else?” Tirek responded by firing a beam at the trio. As they leapt out of the way, Tangle jumping up and being grabbed by Rainbow and Sonic leaping off the roof, he remarked, “I was hoping he’d say that.”
After landing, he shot towards Tirek and hit him with a Spin Attack that went from the front of his lower half up to his chest before bouncing off and landing on the ground again. Tirek prepared to attack him, but Sonic ran forward before he was ready and came to a stop underneath him. He began darting out from under him briefly before going back underneath him, his speed making it next to impossible for Tirek to step far enough to be away from him. Rainbow swooped down with Tangle after a minute and let go of her close to him, the lemur using her tail to move and swing around under him while the pegasus flew around, throwing him off further.
Their antics made Tirek go from irritated to aggravated, his anger starting to cloud his mind. Suddenly, Tangle swung out from under him and used her tail to swing around one of his horns and land on his face. It was a bit of a shaky landing, but she regained her balance and used the end of her tail to grab his nose while she thrust her hands at his eyes. He closed them before she could touch them, but he couldn’t take this mockery anymore. He closed his left hand into a fist and swung it at Tangle, but she used her tail to pull herself back and lower herself to the ground, leaving him with only his face to punch. As he held his face and groaned and growled, Sonic, Rainbow, and Tangle took off down one of the streets, laughing loudly.
Their laughter pushed Tirek’s anger over and he charged after them, yelling, “I’ll get you!” When they turned and went down a street to the right, he slid slightly as he slowed down, his hooves scraping up the road under him before he turned and continued pursuing them. He had no idea that Tempest was in the alley behind him, watching. After a few moments, she turned her head to the right and raised her hoof, signaling to Silver and Big.
The trio continued to follow the road until it ended at part of the wall surrounding the village, the wall itself lined with cracks and holes that had not all been tended to yet. They turned around as the heavy stomping got closer, turning around completely several seconds before Tirek reached them. He grinned down at them, “Now you really have nowhere to run. Any last words?”
Sonic nodded, “Yeah.” He smirked a moment later, “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.” At that, Silver, who had been hovering closer with Big held in his psychokinesis, made his move. While Tirek was stalled, he swung his right arm and sent the cat flying at the centaur. Big held his fishing rod in both hands and watched carefully as he flew, sending the line flying when he was close enough and wrapping it around Tirek’s horns. The centaur noticed him when he dropped down past his face, the line long enough to allow Big’s feet to touch the ground. He immediately gave a sharp pull, Tirek giving a surprised grunt as he felt himself get dragged down, his back hooves leaving the ground.
“Now!” Rainbow yelled, both her and Sonic shooting past Tirek while Tangle moved towards his front legs and extended her tail past in front of them. Silver and Tempest met up with Rainbow and Sonic and aided them, Silver using another psychokinetic force and Tempest firing another burst of magic while the two speedsters struck Tirek from behind, Rainbow against his back and Sonic against one of his front legs. Tangle’s tail didn’t really contribute much considering Tirek’s size, but it still helped unbalance the centaur and caused him to stumble forward, crashing through the wall with a loud yell. Big’s line snapped from the strain a second later, and it only took a few more seconds before they heard Tirek crash into the ground below, debris from the broken wall raining down on him.
Everyone moved to peer over the edge. They saw Tirek lying on the grass just a little way away from Spiral Hill, small and moderately sized pieces of stone strewn on and around him. Suddenly, a few seconds later, the centaur's body began to flicker, red bolts of lightning flashing across him as his body became fuzzy. Rainbow, Silver, and Tangle tensed at this, wondering what he was doing, but Tempest and Sonic recognized what was happening. They couldn't hear it, but there was a strange sound a second later followed by Tirek disappearing, the stone on him falling to the ground.
"Hey, where'd he go?" Tangle asked.
"He just disappeared," Silver said.
"Just like those three on the Death Egg," Tempest stated.
Rainbow suggested, "Maybe he teleported? He has magic; he might be able to do that. Or maybe Eggman teleported him away!"
They all heard a familiar voice ask, “Tangle?” They all turned to see a beetle with light blue skin and antennae, pink eyes, and a white muzzle wearing a pink blazer with a matching miniskirt and pumps, a white cravat attached to a golden brooch with a blue gem, white gloves with navy cufflinks, and navy tights approaching them slowly.
“Jewel!” Tangle exclaimed, running over and giving her friend a hug. She pulled back after a few seconds and looked at her, asking, “Are you okay? What are you doing out here?”
Jewel replied, “I got worried about you when I kept hearing lots of different sounds almost at once. Are you okay?”
Tangle nodded, “Yeah. You don’t have to worry about me. We took care of that big centaur guy. It’s over now. Unless there’s another attack going on that we don’t know about?”
Jewel answered, “Not as far as I know.” She stepped back from Tangle and looked past her and saw Sonic, Rainbow, Tempest, Silver, and Big walking over. “Oh, Mr. Big! I’m glad you came to help as well.” She looked at Sonic, “And you’re Sonic, correct?”
The hedgehog replied, “You got it, Jewel.” He then pointed, “This is Rainbow Dash, Silver, and Tempest Shadow.” All of them nodded at being named. He then asked, “Is everyone okay?”
Jewel replied, “I think so. With the rising frequency of the attacks, everyone has been on edge, anticipating the next one. Some citizens came to me when this attack started, but we’ll have to do a proper census later to find out for sure.”
Silver asked, “Do you think there might be a reason Eggman has been attacking more frequently? …I mean, besides him not being happy that you fended him off the first time.”
Jewel and Tangle shared a glance for a moment before looking back at them. “We actually might know what the reason is.” She held out her right hand, “Come with us. I think it’ll be easier to just show you.” She turned and started walking, Tangle immediately following her. Sonic, Rainbow, and Silver quickly followed after while Tempest waited a moment before doing the same, Big walking behind her.
Jewel and Tangle led the group to a two-story building that had a blue-framed entrance with glass windows. Parts of the outside showed signs of damage, but it seemed to have held up well. As they approached the front doors, Jewel looked back at the others and said, “Wait here a minute.” She walked over to the doors and opened one, poking her head inside. The others could hear her say, “Okay, everyone, it’s safe to come out now.” They could make out some talking inside that lasted a minute before the citizens of Spiral Hill Village began to empty out. Once they were all gone, Jewel invited everyone to follow her inside.
Inside, they found an open hall with stairs on the sides leading up to the second floor, many shelves and display cases taking up the open space. “Is this a museum?” Rainbow asked as they walked through the building.
“You bet! It’s the Mineral Museum! I help Jewel keep it going. I help her collect all kinds of different minerals, and she puts them on display for everyone to see. We both contribute to it in our own way!” Tangle explained.
Tempest eyed one of the cases they passed, seeing a rather sizable mineral sample inside in the middle surrounded by smaller samples. “As we can clearly see,” she remarked.
Jewel led them to a door near the back of the museum, pulling her keys out of her blazer as they approached it. They all came to a stop in front of it while she inserted the key. Once it was unlocked, she pushed it open and looked at Sonic, “Go ahead.” He stepped forward and peered into the dark room for a moment before looking back at her. “Oh, the light switch is on the wall to the right, next to the door,” she said. Sonic nodded and then stepped into the room.
Reaching over, he flipped the switch, revealing the room appeared to be a storage room due to all the boxes stacked up on the sides. He quickly saw the object of interest, though, due to it being against the wall opposite the door. A humanoid mostly black robot with yellow highlights and yellow three-pronged horn on its forehead with a blue gem in the center was slumped against it. It was in a sitting position and was clearly badly damaged, wires poking out in several places. He recognized it almost immediately. “Gemerl!” he exclaimed, running over to the robot.
As he knelt next to it, Silver came over and asked, “Gemerl? Isn’t he Cream’s friend?” Sonic nodded in reply.
Jewel, Tangle, and the ponies stepped into the room and walked over. “What happened to him? If he’s Cream’s friend, shouldn’t he be with her in these dangerous times?” Tempest asked.
“I’d rather know more about him. You guys never talked about him before,” Rainbow said.
Sonic started, “Well, it’s kind of a long story, Rainbow, but to sum it up, we had another robot friend named Emerl. Ancient tech, Eggman’s grandfather discovered him. He went a bit haywire because Eggman tried to sway him and had to be taken out before he destroyed the Earth.” He gestured to Gemerl, “Gemerl here was made from some of his parts. Basically, Eggman wanted a new, obedient version. During his plot, though, Gemerl also ended up going haywire when we were at the Master Emerald Altar and tried to take the Chaos Emeralds for himself. We managed to stop him and afterwards, Cream and her mother found him washed up on the beach and took him to Tails. He was able to repair and reprogram him so he would be more like Emerl. Since then, he’s been our friend, though mostly Cream’s friend.”
Tangle put her hand to her chin, “She found him on the beach, huh? Big brought him to us about a week ago, saying he caught him while he was fishing. That’s about the time Eggman started attacking Spiral Hill Village more frequently.”
Jewel added, “We tried to clean him up as best we could, get all the salt water off of him and everything, but actually fixing him is beyond us. We’re not sure how to get him working again or what happened to him.”
Rainbow said, “I think I know.” When everyone looked at her, she explained, “When Eggman started all this world conquest garbage all those months ago, he had to have come after Cream at some point. Gemerl must’ve stepped in to protect her, Cheese, and her mother so they could get away, no matter what it was he had to protect them from. But he suffered some major damage and was thrown in the ocean, where he disappeared until Big pulled him out. Eggman must’ve seen him get reeled in and now he wants him back to being his robot again.”
Silver said, “Well, in that case, we’d be happy to take him off your hands. It might not stop Eggman’s attacks completely, but he might ease off if he knows Gemerl isn’t here anymore.”
Tangle remarked, “That’d be great. It would be a nice to get a little break after all this.”
Jewel nodded, “It certainly would.” She turned to look towards the front of the museum for a moment before turning back and saying, “Speaking of which, it’s getting rather late and I’m sure it’s going to be a long way back to your base, especially after all this. Would you all like a place to stay for the night?”
Everyone looked at each other for a second before looking back at the beetle. “Well, I don’t know…” Tempest started.
Tangle interrupted her, “Aw, come on! You guys came to help us out and did a pretty darn good job if you ask me! The least you could let us do is repay you for it!”
Rainbow spoke up after a moment, “I think we should take them up on their offer, and not just because I really want to crash after how busy today was. I’m actually thinking about Tirek and the way he disappeared. That guy was relentless last time; if we hadn’t managed to free all the magic he stole, he would’ve destroyed everything in Equestria and probably beyond. I’m just worried he’s gonna come back and start attacking the village again. It’d be better if we were here in case he does.” The others had to agree she made a good point, so Sonic grabbed his Miles Mobile to make a call to Resistance HQ.
The Next Morning…
Tangle and Sonic grunted as they finished securing Gemerl to the seat of Tempest’s Extreme Gear with cords, both checking afterwards to make sure he wouldn’t move much. “I’d say he’s secured. We’re good to go,” Sonic said a second later.
Rainbow hovered overhead, looking down at them. “And you’re sure this thing still works?” she asked.
“Already checked it. Still fires up and runs like a dream,” Tangle assured her.
Tempest nodded, “Then let’s get going. The sooner we get Gemerl back to base, the better, and we can’t keep wasting time looking for Big, even though he would be a powerful ally.”
Rainbow said, “I can’t believe he just disappeared without a trace while we were looking away. How does he do that?”
Sonic shrugged, “No idea. He does have a habit of turning up in the strangest places, though.”
Silver turned to Jewel, “Sorry we have to leave like this, but… well…”
The beetle replied, “Don’t worry. We know you have a war to fight. But maybe when it’s over, you and the rest of the Resistance could help with the reconstruction in some places?”
Silver nodded, “Oh, of course. Absolutely!”
Sonic looked at Tangle, “If anything else comes up, you know how to reach us.” He held out his right hand, “And hey, if something’s going down nearby, we might just extend you an invitation to join the fun.”
Tangle took his offered hand and shook it, “Sounds great. I’ll look forward to it!” After releasing hands, they stepped back to allow Tempest to get on her Extreme Gear. She turned it on and its engine started up while she got comfortable. Once she was ready, Tangle and Jewel stepped back and waved to them. “Good luck, you guys!” Tangle called. They all waved back and then they headed out, Sonic and Tempest going out over the wooden boards that had been put down to make it possible to use the bridge until it could be repaired while Rainbow and Silver took to the air, all of them refreshed and in better spirits for the journey back to HQ.
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Sweet chapter.
Cool seeing the fight with fake Tirek and also Gemerl appeared! This is still getting good. I do hope we see the Egg Bosses after you namedropped the Battle Bird Armada.
Nice job, can't wait to see what happens next.
So we get out 2nd and 3rd characters in the story which is nice to see. Though I will admit I think Tangle would be a bit more of a fangirl meeting Sonic for the first time here.
Really liked that “Tirek” was still a pretty big powerhouse of Eggman’s army and was tough to take down. Now they just need to fight Cozy Glow and our heroes would have fought each of the Equestrian villains that are a part of Eggman’s army.
Can’t wait for more!!!
Great inspiration for putting that tirek fight in, another way to show off the Phantom rubys powers. Also an excellent chapter, loved how you introduced jewel and tangle! Can’t wait to see what’s on store next!👍