#belleyells

These took me all day but as soon as I read "dragonfly" I had to run to my tablet

Now the gang is complete!!

yes. a lot

it's an idw au that focuses, specifically, on the impact the metal virus had on the world and its people. so it takes place directly after that arc in the comics.

it's my headcanon that the metal virus impacted plants and humans/mobians differently. while humans and mobians were able to recover from being... pseudo-roboticized?... plants weren't.

once infected, plants were kept alive by the metal virus, but they were suffocating to death underneath it. they weren't able to get sunlight or water. so, once the metal virus was eradicated, it left behind swathes of dead forests.

i think mass environmental destruction aligns nicely with eggman's typical M.O.

plus, environmental destruction like this leaves a physical, lasting mark on the world. it will take time for it to recover from the damage of the metal virus. humans and mobians, too, will take time to heal from experiencing what was essentially a rapid, aggressive, all-consuming zombie apocalypse with, at the time, no cure.

the "circus" that sonic and sun are at is in one of these dead forests. and what's the first thing on the scene when a plant, or many plants, die? decomposers. worms, bacteria, fungi... mushrooms.

in real life, animals can specialize in mimicry. think of butterfly wings that look like a bird's face to deter predators. plants can do this too. leaves that look like birds (birds are very popular to mimic) or flowers that look like bees.

"Let's watch a movie, come on."

Tails exhaled sharply through his nose, closing his eyes briefly before looking up to see his big brother's gentle smile, a hand held out towards him to take if he wanted.

He took a deep breath and gave the computer on his desk another look, but Sonic was right. He had been working on this invention all day - for multiple days - and nothing was any clearer than it had been a week ago.

So, swallowing his frustration and thoughts that he should be better than this, dammit - Tails held down the power button on the device until the screen went blank and then blindly reached for his brother's hand as he stumbled up from the desk chair.

Forcing technology to close wasn't exactly the best way to shut it down, but it was the quickest and in this case, Tails couldn't bear looking at the bright screen any more lest he be compelled to continue work or, more importantly, further escalate the headache that throbbed behind his eyes now they weren't staring at tiny details that blurred from aching.

Sonic made a quiet clicking noise with his tongue as he led them out of the lab, having clearly noticed the way Tails rubbed at his face with a pained grimace. Still, the hedgehog made no comment as he entered the living room of their small space, carefully leading Tails around some of the mess to gently push him onto the sofa.

Tails immediately curled his tails around his body, settling into the corner of the sofa as Sonic waited patiently in front of him until he could look up enough to meet light green eyes.

"Where'd you keep the headache meds again?"

Tails made a gesture towards the little kitchen, tiredness calling him strongly now he was in a safe and comfortable space. "Third cupboard, top shelf," he managed to mumble.

Sonic made a brief gesture of 'be right back' in the shorthand they'd accumulated over the years of communicating with one another without words, even when sign wasn't exactly needed. It was simple and succinct and Tails nodded drowsily in response as Sonic quickly disappeared from view. He returned a moment and some small noises later, holding out two different bottles with a questioning expression.

Tails didn't bother to speak; he just pointed to the correct one after a glance, and barely blinked when Sonic once again flickered away and back in half a second with a water bottle and can of plain lemonade, once again holding them both out. Tails fumbled for the lemonade, preferring fizzy right now to take pills with, since his mouth and throat already felt not only dry but felt bad.

Sonic put the water bottle on the floor next to the side of the sofa, smiling fondly in response to Tails' latent thank you flat hand extended from white muzzle in the simple sign.

"Anytime, lil bro," Sonic said softly, sitting next to the tired fox as meds were swallowed, happy to take the role reversal of being the main speaking one tonight. He switched on the TV as Tails sipped at the can, eyes already half closed. Knowing the kit wouldn't be awake much longer - lemonade was a useful fizz without caffeine for moment like this when it was warranted - Sonic simply flicked to a movie channel and let it play some cartoon dog investigating with a group of humans that seemed almost half way through already.

What’s your relationship with Blaze and Silver like?

He's always thought very highly of his mother, but he's never actually met her. He's too scared to try.

Hello hello! I live in Sol with Blaze so I spend a good chunk of my time here. I go over to Mobius whenever I’m missing my friends or there’s something happening over there they need my help with, but I try to make trips over there every other week if my schedule allows me to go see the others. Hmmm now that I think about it I haven’t hung out with Shadow in a while, I need to go see him and Sonic soon.

Hi there, I mainly spend my time here in Sol and only go to Mobius whenever there’s a terrible event about to happen or I want to see the others, Amy also drags me there on occasion to go on dates when she thinks I’m working too much.

Oh talking about dates, do you want to try going on one soon? It’d be a nice break from all your princess duties.

Hm maybe, I have a few things I need to take care of.

(Amy sighs) We’re going out after you handle those duties, alright? You’re going to end up overworking yourself to exhaustion again if you keep going like this.

(Blaze fidgets with the fluff of her cuff, going silent for a moment) Do you think we can spend a few days in Mobius after I finish up? I’d like to see everyone again

Of course! I’ll go ahead and get everything set up for us!

Thank you, Belle! :D

22.) What is your favorite kind of pizza?

I like barbecue or BLT pizza. Tomato sauce is okay but if you can substitute it for other things then the pizza truly rocks. Like peanut sauce; I love a good peanut sauce pizza.

23.) What is one of your favorite TMNT fics?

Okay I'm. I can't pick "one" why is that word even there it's too difficult. So NOPE YOU GET MANY

Ghost in the Shell by Amevello Blue - I love it so much I can't even quantify, it hurts my heart and it is slowly starting to heal it but we're not quite there yet and I am so excited to get there. The journey is long but so worth it. 2k3/Rise crossover proposing "what if SAINW Donny disappeared into the Rise dimension?"

I Get Knocked Down by Justalittleobsessed, perchance you've heard of it, great angst, great character development, I love characters with secrets and I love the painful reveal and I love characters that *heal*

The New York Conspiracy Corner by blueh - a really really good social media fic set in Rise

Skin by Halogalopaghost - A 2k3 Raph who realizes how different he is from his brothers as he starts laying eggs, and the feelings involved in grappling with that reality.

Shrunkified Raph and the Aftermath by 6monthsfromnever is a 2k12 Raph fic where he gets (temporarily) de-aged and the emotions and interactions in it are so good (it's a series but I'm putting it in this list of fics because I love every fic in it)

Where in the World is Neon Leon? by 316_frogs - A Rise fic where Leo learns how to use his portals the hard way, and ends up traveling a lot and getting into a lot of Situations

I'll Be There when the Light Comes In by taizi - another series but I don't care, each one of these crossover fics brings me so much joy. They are just so warm. 2k3, 2012, Rise crossovers.

The Day The World Broke by saladmix - a really good horror story, and I say that as someone who does not like horror. Their own iteration of ninja turtles get plunged into a horror scenario, but various more familiar versions come to their rescue as they track down the source to fix their world.

On Earth 4218 by Astronomy_Nerd - a Rise/Spider-Verse crossover AU by my mutual Astro, a Shellshocked fic in a universe where Miles is the Prowler and the turtles were raised by Draxum! The worldbuilding/history is so cool and I love the Miles/Mikey dynamic and the secret identity plot.

A Tale of Two Spirits by unorthodoxx - a very long very good (on hiatus) crossover between Avatar The Last Airbender and Rise, and it's the reason I got back into the ninja turtles recently. I read it and was so intrigued by the Rise turtles' characterizations that I decided to read some more fic, and here we are.

First Encounters by Cadoodledoodleydoo - a Rise story about some of her cool OCs with some really cool art!

And One to Grow On by Zelgadis55 - a 2k3/2k12 crossover in which the Michelangelos get switched and it's sad and it's good

Second Shot by twignotstick - a really cool iteration and I can't wait to see where it goes because the story is so good and there are a lot of really interesting twists!! And it's really well written