Chapter Text
“Has anyone seen Jewel? “ a voice cried out amidst the rubble, “I need to ask her what we are going to do about rebuilding the Restoration”
“You’re too late. She just left with Lanolin,” responded a small vole in military attire.
“Did they go to get materials and help with rebuilding? There is so much . . .”
The voice was interrupted by the vole who said, “They’re not coming back.”
“What?! What do you mean they are not coming back?”
“They quit. I hear from Clang that the Diamond Cutters disbanded.. Tangle, Whisper, and Silver are going after Mimic. Amy, Tails, and Blaze are making sure the other Restoration facilities are okay. And Sonic, . . . well, we all know he’s on an adventure somewhere”.
“So what do we do now, Libi?” asked the slightly defeated porcupine.
“Nothing . . . There is nothing left to do but give up. There is so much to repair and no one to help us. The main heroes left us, Danni. We can’t do anything but give up”
“Give up?!”, the mild-mannered porcupine screamed. “But what about all those who were hurt because of the crash. There is still so much left to repair. So many people are still missing their houses, their homes. We can’t leave them, not now! Jewel and the Diamond Cutters might have left but we can still do something.”
“And what are we going to do Danni? We don’t have leadership skills, no offense.”
“Says you Libi.” Danni retorted.
“Sure Danni, since when has the shy girl become a leader?”
“Don’t hate until I’ve failed.”
With that Danni the Porcupine walked away to get everyone’s attention leaving a dubious Libi behind to pick up what was left of her belongings amidst the debris of what was left of the Restoration building.
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“So . . . can we go over the plan again?” Tangle asked while she, Whisper, and Silver navigated through the dense forests trying to reach their destination before sunset.
After the Diamond Cutters disbanded, the trio of friends decided to look for Mimic. Whisper, who knew this murderer before he had gone down the dark path of betrayal, had suspicions as to where to find Mimic. Tangle, as excited as ever, was thrilled for the task of finding and bringing Mimic to justice, but as the hours of dense, never-ending shrubbery grew ever longer the initial excitement started to die off. Even with Silver’s psychokinetic powers moving the branches to allow his teammates to pass, it was still difficult to see where or even if they were going somewhere and not getting lost in the jungle. Of course Tangle wasn’t one to distrust her best friend Whisper but, even with said undying trust Tangle was starting to get bored of the lack of action.
“Make it to Wickquak city before sundown. Plan and take Mimic down”
“You mean take him to jail, right? ‘Cause we’ve talked about this before Whisper. No matter how many bad things someone has done., it doesn’t give us the right to just end their lives. We end up just like them if we do” Tangle answered worriedly.
“Mmm . . .”
Silver spoke up interrupting the pair, “Hey guys. I think I found something up ahead”.
“Wickquak city”
“Cool!” Tangle said, mesmerized by the sparkling lights. “So, what do we do now?”
“Set up camp,” Whisper responded by taking out Tails’ quick build-a-tent from her backpack while Silver did the same.
“Camp? Why don’t we just ask for a room in town? I’m pretty sure the locals will be happy to help us out”
“Too risky. We don’t want Mimic to know we are here”
“Well, when you put it like that . . . I guess it makes sense. I’m at least glad Tails fixed these things. Last time we went camping it took us almost an hour to put it together. And that with Jewel doing almost all the work. I wonder how she’s doing with helping Lanolin rebuild Emeraldville? Anyways, I guess all that’s left is to make a fire”.
“Too bright. We might give our position away”
Silver spoke up by saying, “But it’s going to get cool at night Whisper. I’ll keep the smoke in check to avoid detection. Plus, it’ll be a good idea to make S’MORES!”
“No way! You brought marshmallows?” Tangle exclaimed, with stars in her eyes.
“Yup! Sonic and Blaze told me about how it's a camping tradition to melt a marshmallow in between two graham crackers and chocolate to make s’mores. I haven’t tried them yet but . . .”
“You’ve never made a s’more before? Oh, please let us make a fire Whisper. Silver needs to know about the marvelous food that is s’mores,” pleaded Tangle.
“. . . Okay. But be careful”
“When have I never been careful? You know what, don’t answer that. Let’s go Silver” Tangle said, dragging the excited hedgehog to go find sticks to make a fire.
Whisper sighed looking ahead towards the city, “I’ll find you soon Mimic. And you’ll pay”.