can you hear the spirits shout

The human Nine had spotted in the garage wasn’t the first to notice him. A distinctly smaller creature, a juvenile of the species, emerged from the creeping darkness at the edge of his vision, off to the left. Nine, who hadn’t even realised the little girl was there, recoiled visibly and mentally reached for his robotic tails. They continued to defy him; most lay stationary on the ground, while one flopped half-heartedly like a fish out of water and another sparked with electricity. Without his tails or his tools, Nine was all too conscious of how powerless he was. He patted his jacket, hoping at least one of his gadgets had made it through the Void with him, but found nothing. By now the girl was only a metre or so from him, hunched down so her bright, curious eyes were at his level, her tone friendly and concerned as she chattered away. Nine lowered his hands and raised his eyebrows a little. She sounded like Sonic.

A sharp voice barked down the driveway. Nine’s shoulders tensed and his pointed ears pricked as the man he had noticed earlier came thundering towards them with heavy boots and a heavier scowl. He was holding a canister in his hands – not vastly dissimilar to the one another human had used as a weapon against Nine earlier that day. The fox’s hands curled into fists and he spread his legs to balance his weight. It would have been a fighting stance if he could lift his mechanical tails, which were still twitching uselessly on the ground.

The bigger human practically snarled his question, causing Nine’s blue eyes to narrow. People. All he ever wanted was to get away from people with their stupid problems and their incessant yammering. He used to be just fine in his lab away from everyone, until that hedgehog came along –

Nine sucked in a breath, forcibly redirecting his brain from wondering where that hedgehog was right now.

“It’s Nine,” he growled through gritted teeth. He took another breath and tried to relax his jaw. His tone was better when he spoke again, but still had a forced calm to it. “Look. I’m not from here. Obviously.” He gestured behind him, where one of the tails was still sparking dangerously. “I just need to borrow some tools so I can fix my tails.”