Hop To It - Adventure 12

[Amy]

“This isn’t going well!” Amy shouted. She swung her hammer, knocking a missile away. It went into a tailspin and flew over the side of the Carrier, crashing into the sea and exploding. The fireball was just big enough to be seen from the middle of the deck. “Isn’t that a little overkill?!”

“Warning: Beta has been extensively upgraded,” Gamma declared. He lined up a shot and fired. “Caution is advised.” 

“Thanks for the tip!” Amy yelled, a little sarcastically. 

The black badnik swerved, avoiding Gamma’s shots or letting them be only glancing blows.

Big, to look at his expression, didn’t seem very concerned, but the way his fur was standing on end betrayed his alarm. “Look out!”

Beta dove, extending bladed limbs. Then it… shimmered, for lack of a better word, and two copies of it flickered into existence. They swept across the deck, and Amy was barely able to avoid them. Gamma was able to jump up and hover slowly back down to avoid the attacks, but Big panicked and huddled in on himself.

“Big, look out!”

One the Betas went right for him--and passed through as if it were a ghost.

“They are illusions!” Gamma realized. “Only one is real!”

“How do we tell?!”

They wouldn’t get a chance to figure it out, because however Beta was doing that, it suddenly stopped and rose above them again. Its limbs shifted around, changing shape until the entire robot looked like a gun barrel. A yellow glow built up inside, and a laser blast as thick around as Big lanced across the floor. It didn’t come close to hitting any of them, but every plank the laser touched exploded.

“...Excessive caution is advised,”

“We have to run! We can’t beat him!” Amy said, desperation leaking into her tone.

Gamma buzzed angrily. “No! Beta must be rescued!”

“Rescued?! He’s doing just fine for himself! Who’s going to rescue us?!”

High above, the main superstructure exploded. A section of wall that looked the same as the rest turned out to be a hidden window, when it shattered from the inside in a shower of glass and smoke.

Amy screamed, covering her head. Big skidded over and held up his fishing pole, which turned out to also be an umbrella that he opened and held over both of them. Just in time, as glass sprinkled the deck.

“Hahaha HA!”

The two of them plus Froggy looked up to see Heyu leap from the smoke cloud. Beta, pausing to take in this new element of the battle, ended up being in the right position for the hare to land right on top.

The flying badnik reacted immediately, trying to buck him off, but Heyu plastered himself to it, hanging on with all four limbs, hands taking Beta’s stabilizing fin in a death grip.

His ears flapped all over the place.

“What is he doing?!” Amy asked.

Beta dove for the floor, clearly intending to scrape him off directly. Mid-dive, Humi popped out of the hare’s backpack and used a wrench to loosen something, and Beta let out a metallic screech as it started spinning.

Heyu let go just as Beta pulled up, landing on his feet and stumbling a few steps before regaining his balance.

He seemed just as surprised by this as everyone else. “Well! That went better than I could have expected.” He held up his hand, which was holding something long and flat. “I wonder if this was important.”

Gamma leaned in for a closer look. “...It is Beta’s directional flap.” He held up his gun. “Beta will be much less agile now.”

“Oh, good.” Heyu stretched and turned as Beta finally got its flight pattern under control. “So, how’s tricks?”

Amy stared in disbelief. “How’s tricks?” she repeated.

“Oh, I’m fine. Could use a nap,” Heyu said conversationally. Amy didn’t miss how his eye twitched. “Packrat, how about you?”

From inside the backpack came a muffled reply. “I’ve got a trick!” 

“I don’t think the potato gun is gonna cut it.”

“Not that!” Humi popped up with a pair of actual laser guns. “I tore these out of the walls earlier!”

Heyu stared at her. “I don’t think I like you having done that.”

“Stealing is okay if it’s from Eggman!”

“No, I agree. It's more you having access to weapons that bothers me, but now’s not the time.” He shook his head. “How are you powering them?”

Humi paused, looking down at the guns. “...Uh.”

Beta sounded an alarm and fired a series of missiles, and everyone scattered.

While the robot was less mobile now, it didn’t diminish its firepower. On the other hand, having to split its attention between more targets made the attacks less focused, and dodging became easier. Well, easier for Amy. Big’s bulk made things hard for him, and the even bigger Gamma was forced to pick and choose which attacks to let hit him rather than avoid them altogether. Heyu dealt with it by staying on the move and bouncing as much as possible; the missiles seemed to have a harder time tracking a target vertically than they did side-to-side.

When the barrage ended, Heyu cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. “Hey! Artificial amateur! Thanks to you, I know why they’re called missiles!”

Beta focused all fire on the hare, who ran away faster.

“Thatwasdumbthatwasdumbthatwasdumbthatwasdumb--”

Big huffed and swung his pole while Beta was distracted. The hook flew out and managed to latch onto the iron bar that went around the robot’s body. Beta noticed the second it happened and tried to escape, but Big didn’t budge. The cat started reeling it in.

Gamma took advantage of the change. “Fire.” He peppered the other badnik with bullets, punching holes in its armor.

Humi shouted. “I figured it out!”

Amy turned and saw Heyu slip off his backpack to let Humi step out, setting up the twin guns on makeshift tripods. She ran over. “What are you doing?”

Humi beamed. “Shooting!” She took the stray wires from where she tore the turrets out and wrapped the copper around a middling-sized ring, then she reached into her pocket and--

Amy gasped. “Is that--?!”

Humi laid the Chaos Emerald in the ring like it was a cupholder. The ring sparked, and the turrets whirred to life.

“I’m almost certain that shouldn’t be working,” Heyu said, voice flat. His ears straightened and he looked worried. “Hey, how are you controlling the targeting system?”

The mouse blinked. “The what?”

The turrets finished warming up and started firing with reckless abandon. They spun in place, shooting at random angles.

“Hit the deck!” Heyu shouted, and all of them pressed themselves against the ground except Gamma, whose design didn’t allow it.

Humi stayed standing, grabbing one of the turrets and trying to wrestle it back into control.

“That girl is so grounded,” Heyu muttered. Amy barely heard it over the gunfire.

“I got it!” Humi pulled something off the tripod, and it collapsed. “Or not.”

Amy, not wanting to get shot, smashed the downed laser with her hammer, and then she jumped up to wrestle with the other.

Humi crawled under the gun and messed with something that went click, and the turret finally stopped spinning. “There we go! Now fire!”

While they were messing with the guns, Gamma and Beta had continued fighting. The slowly accumulating damage on Beta slowed it down enough for it to be more even, but Gamma was getting hurt too. Amy decided to work with the tools she was given, and pointed the turret at Beta. It lacked a firing mechanism, just shooting on its own every two seconds, but she could work with that.

“Are we safe now, yes? No?” Heyu rolled onto his back and sat up with a grunt. “Was this helpful? I hope so.” He watched the ongoing fight intently, and after a moment he gestured at Humi. “Hey, you got anything like a baseball? Something round-ish?”

The mouse blinked, then rummaged through her pockets. “Um… aha!” She produced a round doorknob. “Should I fire it?”

Heyu shook his head. “I have a better idea. Big!”

The huge cat looked up from where he was huddled. Humi passed him the knob and pointed at the flying Beta, and he nodded, catching on quickly.

Big threw a fastball, and knocked one of Beta’s thrusters clean off.

Beta staggered, struggling to stay airborne with only one jet. The moment of stillness let Amy nail it with the laser turret, sending it into a spin it couldn’t stop, which in turn lined it up for a shot from Gamma that destroyed the other thruster.

Beta went down.

------------------------------

[Heyu]

Man, after the stupid theme park thing, watching a killer robot get beaten down was immensely satisfying.

I let out a breath and took the Emerald out of the ring, then pocketed the ring, too. “Humi, next time you repurpose a weapon like this, put a little more thought into it, okay?”

She perked up. “So there’s going to be a next time?”

I faltered. “Wait. No, I mean--”

“Too late, you said it!” She saw me holding the Emerald and flinched. “Are you…?”

“I’m okay.” I waved a hand in front of my eyes. “I’m not glowing again, am I?”

“I can’t tell in this light,” she admitted.

“Gamma!” Amy shouted, distracting us. The pink hedgehog ran over to the collapsing robot. “Are you okay?”

Gamma beeped. “...Systems at 74%. Internal damage… minimal. Operating within acceptable parameters.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and turned her attention to the black scrapheap. “I’m sorry we couldn’t save your friend.”

Gamma didn’t respond, just staring at Beta with his usual lack of expression.

I sighed. I was pretty sure what was coming, so I decided to hurry it along.

Walking over to Beta, I felt an itch behind my eyes, and I suddenly dove to the side as the robot moved, not so broken after all. It stared at me with its single eye--no, I think it was staring at the Emerald in my hand. I hid it behind my back.

It raised its working gun again, and that was when Big stomped over and crushed it under his fist.

The cat sniffed. “Sore loser.”

“Right. Thanks big guy.” I pried open the dented metal, reached inside…

Amy’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh!”

…and pulled out a green orb with a bird inside. Separated from the machine, the orb flickered out, and the gray Flicky inside stirred, stretching its wings. It hopped around my hand before seeming to realize where it was.

“Fweet?”

Amy covered her mouth. “One of Birdie’s family?”

Birdie flew down from wherever he’d been hiding and the two of them danced around each other, chirping ecstatically.

Humi climbed up on my shoulder, watching the scene with a neutral expression, and I passed her the Emerald back.

Gamma made a sound very similar to a satisfied sigh. “Rescue of Beta: complete. Remaining E-series units: Gamma.”

“What!” Amy whirled on him. “You don’t mean--!”

“Yes.”

Big hissed in sympathy and walked over to help Gamma stand. Humi and I joined them. I wasn’t sure what to say about this, but even if I hadn’t known Gamma for long I still didn’t enjoy watching this happen.

Gamma turned its head to look Amy in the eyes. “I contain an animal power source as well. In order for… Birdie… to be reunited with its family, I must--”

Amy stomped her foot. “No, no, that’s not fair! You shouldn’t have to… to…”

“Die,” I said dully.

“I am a robot. I am not alive.”

“You think,” I argued. “You turned against your creator, made your own decisions, and made moral decisions. Alive or not, you’re a person, and when a person ends we call that dying.” I smiled sadly. “And from what I’ve seen, you’re a good person Gamma.”

Humi pressed herself into my neck, not taking her eyes off the scene.

Birdie and the gray bird each settled on one of Amy’s shoulders.

“Chirup.”

“Twee-tweet.”

Amy couldn’t speak, and Big’s ears lowered.

Gamma sat back down. “Amy… Thank you for being my friend.”

She nodded tearfully.

“Please stand back, as I engage my self-destruct mechanism.”

Amy gave him a hug.

And I… frowned, because while this was a lovely and tragic scene of self-sacrifice for the greater good, it didn’t sit right with me. Something about it felt like we were all missing something obvious.

I raised a finger. “Point of order.”

Big, Amy and Gamma looked at me.

I pointed at Amy’s shoulder. “You, gray bird. Can I just call you Gray?”

Gray tilted its head. “Fweet?”

“Was it… unpleasant, inside Beta?” It gave me a flat look. “Let me rephrase: were you in any pain? Hungry? Being tortured?”

It rattled off a series of chirps, and Amy wiped her nose. “She says th-that it was like being half-awake the whole time, feeling really sleepy and tired.” She listened a little more. “But she also says it didn’t hurt, it was just cramped and uncomfortable.”

“Okay.” I clapped once. “Okay, and hear me out: Why don’t we… wait, before letting Gamma destroy himself?”

Gamma stared at me. “...I will not allow suffering to continue unabated.”

“But they aren’t suffering, are they? Not as such,” I pointed out. “And I’m not saying to let you keep your Blicky battery indefinitely. I just wanted to point out that, you know, Amy is friends with a genius. An alternative power source might not be impossible.”

Amy’s eyes lit up. “Hey, yeah! Tails is a genius! If anyone can figure out how to save you, he can!”

Big smiled happily. “It all works out. Good.”

Gamma hesitated. He looked at the birds, who seemed equally uncertain.

Then Birdie hopped off of Amy and onto Gamma’s chest, standing on the lip in front of his eyes. It used its little stage to make a grand-sounding speech with lots of gesticulation. Amy smiled, but didn’t bother translating.

Gray looked unhappy, folding her wings in a huff. But after several seconds, she nodded her head once.

“Then it’s settled!” Amy cheered. “Gamma, we’ll take you to Tails’ workshop! He’ll make everything right as rain!”

“If Tails can’t fix it, no one can!” Humi agreed. She pumped her fist.

I smiled, happy to have resolved that. Then Amy pulled me into a hug.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! Thanks Heyu!” She laughed. “Man, I would have felt awful if I let Gamma destroy himself and then ran into Tails later.”

“There’s still one person’s opinion we should hear,” I pointed out, giving Gamma a significant look.

The defected Badnik was still for a long moment. “...Very well.” He rose to his feet. “For my friends, I will… try.”

And all’s well that ends well. I dusted my hands and turned to make for the raft. Going back the way we came would be more difficult since we’d be going against the current this time, but between me and Big I think we’d manage.

Gamma’s midsection shuddered. Something clicked, and then a horrible crack rang out.

We stared at Gamma. “...Systems at 68%. Flight mode disabled.”

I groaned. That was going to make things… difficult.

--------------------------------

The sun was finally setting by the time we made it back to the Mystic Ruins Station.

By some miracle we managed to figure out a way for all five of us to fit on the raft, but it was embarrassing and uncomfortable, and I’d rather not describe it. Just take my word for it that a small, medium, large, and extra-large Mobian plus one huge robot made for a cramped journey and leave it at that.

Once we were back at the Station dock, I hopped over to land and stretched my back. As I was leaning back, I found my gaze drifting back out to sea. And it took me a second to realize why, which I blame on not having had much chance to look before, but once I did I couldn’t help but stare.

Big climbed up to join me, saw me staring, and followed my gaze. “...Huh. Wouldja look at dat.”

“What’s wrong now?” Amy asked, helping Gamma climb the ladder without breaking it.

I pointed. “Was that giant rock… always floating there?”

Giant rock was a bit of an understatement. An entire island was floating a mile off the coast, level with the surrounding cliffs. It was huge, and even from this distance I could see ruins rising over the trees. They looked an awful lot like the ruins in the jungle.

“Angel Island…” I murmured, not sure where the name came from. “Didn’t you mention that place earlier, Amy?”

“Hm? Oh, maybe? It’s where Birdie and his family are from,” she said, looking to see. “Wow, it’s close! I thought it mostly stayed out over the sea.”

While I was wondering how I’d missed it while rowing back to shore, Humi climbed out of the backpack and squinted at it. “Oh, that thing. It comes and goes, but it visits that spot every so often.”

“Really?”

“Three times a year, I think,” Humi said. Her voice sounded flat. “The rope bridge is new.”

I grabbed one of my ears and used it to shade my eyes as I looked out for the bridge she mentioned. My night vision sucked.

“Alright Gamma,” Amy said, walking towards the cape. “Let’s just get you up to Tails’ place.” Big followed them.

I was… kind of at a loss as to what to do now. With the day saved and solutions to lingering problems soon to be worked on, I didn’t know what was left. But I knew something was left.

But what? The things the Emerald showed me were… fading. Mostly gone, already, but I knew it was important. Something else was coming. But was that true, or just paranoia? A lot happened over the past--two days? There was no way that was right.

“Has it really only been two days?” I asked out loud.

“A lot happened, for sure,” Humi agreed. She jumped out of the pack, pulling it off my shoulders as she did. She hesitated. “Thanks for coming out here with me.”

I stopped trying to see in the dark and smiled down at her. “Well, of course. How could I have done anything else?”

The sun was almost down, so I fished through my pockets for that headlamp Humi made. Humi herself was staring at me, mouth open slightly, and I waited patiently for her to speak.

“~SONIC!~”

We both looked over in time to see a faintly glowing blue blur streaking off into the jungle. Amy ran after it for a few yards before giving up with an angry huff. She spotted us and waved. “What are you still doing over there?! Come on!”

Ambling over with Humi, some lights on the tracks above us came on, illuminating the area enough for me to see a new addition to our group: a young, yellow-furred fox with two tails.

Tails, because of course that’s who it was, waved happily. “Hello!”

I nodded at him. “Hey kid.” I looked over where the blur had vanished. “I suppose that must have been Sonic.”

“Yeah!” The fox held out his hand and I shook it. “I’m Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails.”

My lips twitched at the name, but thankfully I was too tired to laugh. “Pleasure to meet you. Since you and the other hedgehog are out here, should I assume that Robotnik is taken care of?” That felt correct, and Tails nodded.

“Sonic took care of him at his hideout about… two hours ago,” he confirmed. He glanced at Amy who was silently fuming. “I’m sure he’s just… making sure Eggman is really gone.”

“You mean he’s running away from me!” Amy said, folding her arms. “I’ll get him next time. One day I’ll talk him into marrying me.”

I stared at her. “You are a fetus. You shouldn’t even be dating.”

She squawked, offended, and Tails stifled a startled laugh. As Amy started sputtering denials, I walked past her and towards what I guess must have been the fox’s workshop. “So, sorry to interrupt your evening, kid, but we’ve got a robot that needs a battery change.”

Tails perked up. “I know! Gamma, right? Amy talked him out of serving Eggman! That’s so interesting! I’ve never gotten to work on a working badnik before, they either run away or Sonic leaves them too destroyed to really study.” He pointed over his shoulder, and I could just about make out Big helping Gamma up the stairs. “This is going to be fun!”

I smiled and jokingly wagged a finger. “Don’t spend all night on this, young man. You need to sleep at some point.” I laughed at the way his face soured. “I do too. It’s been a day and a half, you wouldn’t believe it. Or maybe you would, I think you’ve had an even more interesting time of it than I have.”

He shrugged ambivalently, but Amy gasped. “I know! We should celebrate Sonic’s victory--and the rest of us, I guess--with a slumber party! Tails, do you have sleeping bags?”

Taken aback by the suggestion, the fox scratched his ears. “I think so? You’re not just trying to stay here because Sonic might come by, are you?”

“I mean, it’s not the only reason.”

Completely shameless. I grinned and shook my head. We started making our way up the stairs to his place, and a new idea occurred to me. “Say, Miles.”

“Call me Tails, please.”

“Right. Tails, do you think you could build a robot yourself?”

He tilted his head, looking interested. “Maybe? Looking over Gamma might give me some ideas; Eggman’s tech is weird, so I’m sure I’ll learn something. Why?”

“Well, me and Humi stole a robot head from the Final Egg earlier today, and after meeting Gamma she seems pretty set on rebuilding it. She’s great with gadgets, but I bet she could use a hand with a full robot.”

Humi had a lot of talent with technology, but if she couldn’t read--and I would be fixing that--she probably couldn’t program, and electrical systems were a lot more complex than just mechanical ones. Tails was a kid too, but from what I knew he had a lot more experience with building things. If they worked together on something, it’d be good for her.

Tails nodded, already thinking about it. “Sure, that could be a fun project! Where is she? She sounds like someone I’d like to meet.”

I blinked and held my arm out by my side to ruffle her fur. “What do you mean, she’s right here. She’s small but not that sm--”

My hand only met open air. I looked down.

Humi was gone.

“Where’d she go?”

“Huh.” Amy looked around. “I could have sworn she was right next to us.”

“Humi? HUMI!” My ears swiveled around, trying to pick up any trace of the slight jangling sound in her pockets that followed her around.

Tails jumped into the air, and I was so focused on finding her that I didn’t even blink at the way his tails rotated around the base of his spine as he flew straight up. While I was fumbling with the headlamp and trying to turn it on, Tails called down.

“Is Humi a white mouse with a big red backpack?”

“Yes!”

He dropped back down. “I just saw her running into the jungle.” Tails frowned worriedly, picking up on my mood. “Is everything okay?”

“Maybe? Maybe.” Why would she run off like that? I thought she was a fan of Tails. Wouldn’t she want to properly meet him? And why wouldn’t she tell me? Was she going back to her shack? I guess she wanted to drop everything off, but it couldn’t be that urgent. “I’ll go get her. We’ll be back.”

“Are you sure?” Tails asked. “The jungle’s dangerous at night. I can go with you.”

“You need to make sure Gamma is stabilized,” I said. “And Humi’s place isn’t that far in.”

“But--”

“I think it’s best if Heyu goes alone,” Amy said, nodding firmly. “Come on, Doctor Tails, you have a patient!”

She grabbed him by the shoulders and started walking him up the stairs, to only mild protest.

I raised my brow at that, but whatever. I finally got the flashlight working and started after Humi.

I had to walk slowly, in the dark. The ground was uneven and again, my night vision sucked. Which is odd, since I don’t think it was supposed to. Wait, no, was that something from the Emerald? It felt like my memory, but also not.

Humi had been really subdued since showing me the Emerald. Whatever happened really shook her up. Was this related to that? Did she just want to put the gem away so it was far from me? I could appreciate the sentiment if so, but I didn’t think it was necessary. Gosh, I hope she wasn’t too upset.

If nothing else, the walk gave me time to think about what came next. According to Amy, Station Square wasn’t that damaged. If my apartment was still intact, I’d need to call my parents, make sure they knew I was fine. Tory’s store was a wreck, but I’m pretty sure it was insured, so I might only be out of work for a short while. Assuming she didn’t get trampled in that panicked crowd, but that’s not helpful to think about, stop it.

I should ask my mom for some of my old books when I called her. I knew she had them. Maybe she could give me some advice on teaching someone to read. She taught me after all, way before I entered school, so she might be able to make teaching Humi easier.

I should probably make some room for her at my place too actually. If I’m taking her back with me--

“...?”

I frowned to myself, pausing midstep. Something was off. Let me run that by myself again.

Call parents, make sure I have a job, ask Mom for advice on teaching kids, since I don’t think Humi would do well in a normal school--

Wait.

A big choice is coming up that you need to consider carefully.

…Wait.

Any idea what the big choice might be?

Oh. Oh I see. I’m an idiot.

Darkness be damned, I started running.

---------------------------------

[Humi]

It was nice while it lasted.

Heyu hung around with her because there was a big crisis going on, but now that it was over he’d probably want to go back to his life. It’s just what always happened.

Sure, he hadn’t said anything about it yet, but they never did. It was best to break it off cleanly. That way it wouldn’t hurt as bad.

Humi kept her face blank as she entered her… house. It wasn’t her home, because a home was where you were welcome. No one welcomed her here. It was cold and stone and empty despite all the things inside it, and she stayed in the city most of the time because at least there were people in the city, even if they rarely looked at her.

She took the Emerald out of her pocket and glared at it. The lantern light glimmered off its facets, and in her current mood Humi almost felt like it was mocking her. She stuffed it in the velvet bag and crammed it as far into the chest as she could reach. It would float back to the top like it always did eventually, but for now she didn’t want to look at it.

It was supposed to be her treasure, but all it did was hurt her friend. She wouldn’t even blame him if he wanted to leave after that.

Still… It was nice while it lasted.

Once the box was back on the shelf where it belonged, Humi went about the process of emptying her pockets. All the little statues and toys in her house watched her with lifeless eyes…

Humi turned the lantern down. She didn’t want to see any of this garbage right now. She’d sort through the haul later.

It was a good day, really. She filled her pockets twice and with lots of new and exciting stuff. She even paused as she passed Iota’s head, smiling at his silly name. Then the smile faded and she went up the stairs.

The loft bedroom was empty, like always. The old clockwork Omachao was still sitting on the ledge after its flight. She looked at the big bed. Heyu had fixed the sheets before they left that morning. It looked neater than anything she’d ever tried to do; making the bed had never been a high priority for her when she rarely slept in the same place twice. She looked at the… hammock. The hammock Heyu made out of his work apron, just for her.

…Maybe this one would hurt more than she expected.

Humi shook her head, trying to shake out the bad feelings. This was always going to happen, because it always did.

Slowly, she climbed from the chair to the desk and into the hammock. The apron smelled like printer ink and copper coins. She tried not to pay attention to it.

Humi looked to the side. The unopened pack of cards sat on the dresser still. She wondered what cribbage was and if it was fun. If you could play it alone.

It had been a long day, and sleep was gradually sinking its claws into her. Humi didn’t really want to stay awake right now, so she closed her eyes and let herself drift off…

…

tap ta-tap taptap…

Humi’s ears twitched. She opened her eyes.

tap SLAM

She jumped, getting all twisted in the hammock before being unceremoniously dropped onto the floor. Humi squeaked in surprise before crawling on all fours to the ledge of the loft.

A beam of light was flashing every which way, shining a spotlight on random points of interest. “Humi?!”

She rubbed her eyes. “Heyu…?”

She hadn’t even meant to say it out loud, but those giant ears must have been good for something because the spotlight instantly pointed at her. “Humi!”

Heyu leapt right at her, jumping from the first floor to the second, and Humi squealed, reeling back to avoid getting headbutted by the much larger hare. She rocked onto her tail, and when she righted herself Heyu was on his knees in front of her.

“Heyu, what--eep!”

He pulled her into a hug. “Humi, I’m an idiot, I’m so sorry I didn’t realize it sooner. You deserve so much better than this, much better than me, but I promise--”

She pushed him away, her ears folding back. “Heyu, what are you doing here?”

He smiled sadly. “Why would I be anywhere else?”

“What?”

“Tails is hosting all of us for a sleepover,” he said, like this was a normal thing to say. “I’m a little old to be at a party with a bunch of preteens, but we can take the cards and the cribbage board and play some games. He wanted to talk to you about Iota, so we should take that head with us too.” He looked at the hammock, still twisted on itself. “Do you want a sleeping bag? The apron shouldn’t be hard to untie and then set back up at the workshop, if you prefer that.”

Humi boggled. “Tails? Sleepover? What?” She stood up looking at him like he was crazy.

Actually, looking at him, he might be crazy. He had a wild look in his eyes.

“Why are you here?” she asked, trying again. “Isn’t all the danger over?”

Heyu blinked. “I’m here because you’re here.”

He said it so simply that it took her a few seconds to parse his meaning. “But… you don’t need to look after me anymore?”

Oh, he was hugging her again. “Maybe not. But I want to.”

Humi choked on air. “W-what?”

“Once things have calmed down, I’m gonna start teaching you to read. We’ll get you some clothes that aren’t so well-worn, some better shoes, a few good meals--oh lord, I’m going to have to get you a whole wardrobe. Unless you want to stay here, I can probably commute to the city instead--”

She looked at him, completely thrown. “I don’t… understand.”

For a moment, Heyu looked very sad. He gripped her shoulder and sat down with his legs crossed so she could meet his eyes without looking up. “I’ll be honest, I don’t either, not really. I haven’t known you very long,” he began, “But it feels like it’s been weeks. The idea of leaving you behind is physically painful to contemplate. I don’t know if I could look at myself in the mirror if I left you alone because a child living like this by herself is really not okay!” He made a wide sweeping gesture at the shack in general before taking a deep breath. “And more to the point, I’d miss you. Maybe you don’t need me looking after you. But I don’t want to leave you alone again. Understand now?”

Humi’s mouth flapped open. She couldn’t make sense of this. Because things like this only ever happened in movies and shows and never in real life. She’d learned a long time ago that no amount of wishing and praying would make it happen. 

But she looked into his eyes and couldn’t see anything but sincerity. “You…” She swallowed roughly. Her eyes were itchy, but she wasn’t going to cry. “You aren’t leaving?”

He chuckled, wetly. “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried, packrat.”

Oh. She was crying now.

But that was okay, because so was he.

Something broke. A tension that Humi had forgotten she even had drained out of her,  and she practically collapsed into Heyu’s lap, shaking.

“It’s alright. Let it all out…” Heyu rubbed her back. “Gosh, I’m really bad at this touchy-feely stuff. But I promise I meant every word.”

After a long time, Humi felt empty but in a good way, Heyu stood, holding her in his arms.

“Now. How about that sleepover?”

She didn’t trust herself to speak. She still didn’t believe this was happening. But she wanted to.

She really, really wanted to.

Heyu gave her another squeeze. “Then let’s hop to it.”

They grabbed a few bits and bobs, and slowly made their way back to the cape. And if when they arrived, they were still a little red-eyed and wet-furred, none of the others elected to comment.

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[Eggman]

An alert was flashing on the Egg Mobile’s screen when he finally got back to it. An hour or so in the woods, screaming into the void, had done him some good and he was ready to start working on the next plan. But the alert surprised him, because as far as he knew Beta wasn’t even active.

Eggman opened the file. The data packet’s file name told him that it was Beta’s final transmission before destruction. It consisted of one image and one sentence.

“Asset located.”

And the picture was of a gormless-looking rabbit Mobian looking at the camera, Beta’s eye, with an expression of shock. There were other details in the background, like a heavily damaged Gamma and the pink hedgehog, but the thing that stole Eggman’s focus was the White Emerald in the lagomorph’s hand.

“Perhaps I judged you too harshly, Beta,” Eggman muttered. Beta and Gamma were destroyed, but they had delivered vital information in the process.

Maybe the plan could still be salvaged. If he could gather the Emeralds one more time… perhaps all seven could--well, they could do anything, really. At the very least, he’d pry them out of Sonic and his friends’ hands with a crowbar if he had to.

Eggman made a call. “Theta! Change of plans. Prepare the Egg Carrier 2. We ride in the morning!”