OldiesButGoldies

Chapter 2: Face the Music

"Who... Are you?" Tiara asked, her scepter pointed straight at the bat woman.

The bat stared at the glowing blue gem at the end of the scepter, showing a lot of interest in it before looking back up at them. "No need to be so aggressive!" She said and nudged the scepter a bit away with her finger.

"AGGRESSIVE?!" Chip flew into the bat's face in anger, "YOU TRIED TO KILL US!!"

"Out of my face!" Rouge pushed him away, "That's no way to treat a lady!" She stood up and dusted herself off before pointing a finger at the manx, "You need to teach your pet some manners."

"I mean..." Tiara blinked, "You did try to kill us."

"What are you talking about?" Rouge asked, "I've never seen either of you in my life!" She then finally looked around at her surroundings, "Where... Are we, actually?"

"I'm not even sure," said Tiara, "I woke up here a few minutes ago." She stared at the bat as she looked around, "Are you really sure you don't remember? You're body was all dark looking, you had this watch on your chest and this emerald was inside it."

She showed off the purple chaos emerald and Rouge's eyes lit up. "Ooh! Gimme!" Tiara quickly put it away. "Come on, I just want to see! I'm a jewel fanatic, myself!" She placed a hand on her chest, "In fact, I'm a world famous jewel thief, Rouge the bat!"

"My name is Tiara," said the manx, "this is Chip."

"Chip..." Rouge lifted her hand and let it rub her head, "That name does sound familiar somewhat... Maybe my friend Sonic knows..."

The second that name was mentioned, Tiara felt her heart skip a beat. She placed a closed hand on her chest, "S...Sonic?"

"Yeah. You know? Sonic the hedgehog? Pretty popular guy." Rouge looked over at Chip, who was now pulling out something from one of the large broken computers. "What are you doing, pipsqueak?"

"I promised Princess Sally I would find her friend!" Chip said as he managed to get what he wanted out. It looked to be some kind of handheld device.

"Sally..." Tiara echoed. She wasn't sure why, but hearing that name made her feel mild annoyance. It made her feel a bit guilty considering she's never met this person yet.

"You know a princess?" Rouge asked.

"Yes, though, she's not one for titles," said Chip, "says titles are meaningless."

"I beg to differ, but whatever," Rouge shrugged.

"What's that thing?" Tiara asked.

"Sally's computer friend, Nicole," Chip answered, "we've been looking everywhere for her! This guy captured her and used her for something we don't know."

He handed the manx the small computer and she observed it. It was a rather tiny computer really. She opened it up and was met with a small black screen and several buttons. "How do you turn it on?" She was hesitant to press any buttons in fear she could mess something up.

"Nicole? Are you there?" Chip asked the computer.

"Maybe it's broken," said Rouge.

"Nicole, please!" Chip started to beg, "Please say something!"

The screen flickered for a moment. So there was life after all in there.

"Nicole!" Chip yelled as the screen flickered more and static came on.

"Ch-Ch-Ch-Chip..?" Said a voice from the computer.

"Yes! It's me!" Chip said, excitedly, "Finally found you! I'm taking you home to Sally!"