After some walking Tikal finally came across an excavation site of sorts. There was many tents, equipment, but most importantly people. She came across a Beaver mobian working in a tent styled to be a kitchen and decided to approach.
"U-Uhm, excuse me, I--"
"I do not have time for chatter, if you want to talk to someone talk to Cliff. He's down that way." The Beaver replied pointing down to the pit not far from where they were.
"Right, thanks." She replied, and started to walk off in that direction. As she walked she saw the huge robotic ruin in the cliff face, it was just as intimidating as it was odd to her. Reaching the bottom she saw the old man talking to some workers as she approached.
"huh? Ah, welcome. I don't get many visitors out here in the site with all the mining about. Are you a recruit?" He said to Tikal.
"Eh? Oh uhh, no I was just passing through...I tend to travel around a lot." Tikal replied. Depending on just how different the world was, she figured she wouldn't need to say who she really was unless she had to.
"In fact, I was hoping to get some info while I was here. If you don't mind."
"Hmm, I don't see why not. What was it you needed to know about?" Cliff said.
"I need to know about someone, he's a friend of mine...We haven't spoken in awhile and i'd like to know how he's doing. His name is Sonic." Tikal replied.
"Sonic? Oh, no need to worry about him. He's often seen adventuring off with the friends he's made."He said.
"Who are they?"
"Knuckles, a boy who's got a lot of muscle but not a lot of brains. Then there's Tails, a really smart young boy, Amy is a level headed lady who tends to keep Sonic in check, and then there's Sticks...she's a bit...off."
The fact that Knuckles has been seen with Sonic a lot must have meant he lost his role as a guardian which was worrying. Then there was Amy, has she lost her love for Sonic? And who was Sticks?
She couldn't share that with Cliff knowing he wouldn't even understand what was going on. He'd probably never believe her.
"I see, thank you for letting me know this. If you can, please look after Sonic for me." She said.
"Did something happen between you two?"
"We...Kind of got in an argument last time we talked. It was pretty bad..." She replied looking down.
" Ah, say no more. Ill keep an eye on him."
"Thank you. By--!" While she was walking she raised her hand to wave but in the process accidentally put her hand on the person walking by her. In surprise Tikal turned to the girl and removed her hand from her head. Before Tikal could apologize, the person dropped the items she was carrying. Her face expressed shock.
"Wh...what did I..?" The badger said.
"Sticks? Are you okay there?" Cliff called out to her.
"I saw things, many things, what did you do to me?!" She said in panic to Tikal.
"I-I don't know! What was it that you saw anyway?"
"I-I saw robots! Weird, Weird pirate like robots with boats and it had a mustache and--great scott it had a mustache! What the flip did you do to me?!"
"M-Mustache?" Tikal uttered out as she backed away from the hysterical Badger.
"Sticks, calm yourself! There are no pirate robots." Cliff said as he walked over.
"Then why did I see it?! I saw it you know! The mustache!!"
As Cliff and Sticks walked off, Tikal looked at her hands. She knew what Sticks meant, there is only one thing Sticks could mean. "She saw that place when I touched her...Can I do this to the others?"
She felt Chaos stir in the jug, he probably wanted to be back with the chaos he grew up with in their old world, to enjoy their company like old times. Tikal knew she would have been happy doing that too. But they might not even exist anymore, and they don't even how if its possible to bring them back. If they had Sonic and the others....
"Wait."
Sonic, he and his friends, they've done this before, maybe they could help again. Tikal knew that just leaving them alone would cause more trouble, but if she got them to remember, then maybe, just maybe...! "but how am I going to do it? I can't just walk up to them...They likely don't know me." Tikal said as she walked over to a nearby box and sat down on it.
But then again, she wouldn't have to be their friend to get them to remember.
Tikal let out a sigh, she didn't like what she was thinking. The last thing she want to resort to was violence, and drawing them out by making them think she's a villain would make fighting unavoidable. But what other choice did she have? She can't just walk up to them and say "Im a friend of yours from a previous version of your world, can I touch your head to make you remember what you forgot?" and if she did she could be labelled as crazy and they'd avoid her or everyone would think she was messing with their heads and try to stop her. There wasn't much room for choice.
"Chaos, what should we do? I just found out I might be able to restore their memories, but I don't think I can do it without being marked a threat."
Chaos came out of the jug just enough to let his head out, and then released more so his hand could hold hers. He looked at her and she knew what he was trying to say.
"You're not alone."
She smiled at him. "You're right. Thanks Chaos." She said. Chaos then let go of her hand and returned to the jug.
She looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. She already knew this was going to be the start of a long journey.