Days at the Mansion

Krane Arc

Chapter 1

"The Newcomer"

Destiny is such a loose term. Some believe their destiny is set into stone and that no matter what they do, they cannot change it. There are those who do not believe that things are decided for them and are willing to fight to the end to assure their path in life. However, not all destinies are good or are they truly a way of deciding one's future. These fates are inescapable, and no matter what you do or how hard you try, you can never change the fate of yourself. People could end up good and well-lived or become dark-hearted and evil depending on their decisions, but the only way to change it for better or worse is the influence of other life. Only through the touch of another can one's fate change, not by sheer force or intelligence, but rather the influence of those close to heart.

For the lives of three hedgehogs on one beautiful starry night in Mobius, their fates and destinies will change forever. It all starts at the Aeros Mansion, where their story begins.

Inside the Mansion, a blue hedgehog female was sweeping the floor of what seemed to be burnt ashes, humming to herself. Now, the room she was in was the foyer, where it linked to what seemed to be a kitchen and upstairs room where the separate rooms were at. A chandelier lit up the room this woman was sweeping in, giving off some good light to see the burnt ashes on the ground. Shaking her head, she sweeped it into a dustpan and looked up towards the other rooms. Her name was Dawn Raiga, and she was a blue-haired hedgehog woman with a sleeveless purple top and slim dark blue pants. On her left ear was a pink bow and on her hands were fingerless blue gloves. The mansion was eerily quiet except for what sounded like deafened punches upstairs. She heard them as she gazed upstairs, letting out a sigh as she shook her head, mumbled something to herself and resumed cleaning.

Suddenly, there was a scream outside, which broke Dawn's concentration as she immediately looked to the door, slamming it open and running outside. The scream was close enough to the Mansion as she stopped, looking around for the source. The entire estate was in a sort of small clearing of a forest as the leaves rustled with the evening breeze. Close to her, however, there was a white cat running towards the house. Another explosion occurred right next to her as this sent the cat to the ground. After the smoke cleared, she rose back up, still stumbling a bit as the cat was trying her hardest to run, but something was slowing her down. Her right leg was limping as she fell over again, screaming, "N-no, get away from me!" What she was screaming at was a human-like robot walking to her. This robot didn't have any other features but a hollow cannon on its left arm and red eyes. It was clearly going for the fallen girl as she was backing away as best as she could. Dawn was about to run forward until the doors at the Mansion slammed open as a red, burning flash of fire flew right by her and at the robot as it stopped walking and took the attack head on, dragging it back a bit until it retaliated by slamming it aside, breaking the fire up. Through the cinders, a blue hedgehog jumped back and made a battle stance, raising his fists up as they sparked and ignited. Bright orange flames showed off some natural red eyes and a fierce look of determination. The cat gasped at the new appearance as Dawn ran over to her.

"Don't worry, everything will be all right. You're safe." The blue haired girl told the victim as the other hedgehog rushed at the robot, yelling out as he swung his fists at a fast speed, punching the robot several times as the robot could take the hits and slam the fire hedgehog back. It aimed its cannon and fired off a black blast in which its opponent dodged in time.

"The hell is this thing?! How is it using dark based attacks?!" The fighting hedgehog yelled as he was dodging more attacks from the robot.

"I don't know, Scorch! Be careful!" Dawn yelled back as the cat on closer inspection was a white Persian cat. All she had on her was a purple top that reached down her hip, which was sleeveless and a red bow. She looked to the blue hedgehog with wide light blue eyes. Dawn noticed that her right ankle was swollen as she knelt down to it. "I-uh..I think I broke my ankle…." The Persian told her as Dawn clasped her hands together. She looked to the one called Scorch. "Hey, think you can handle that robot?"

"Ha, that's a stupid question. Then again, it's coming from you." He said with a tone of arrogance. He rushed in again as the robot looked to the two girls and fired off another blast right at them. For a second, Dawn glowed as a white bubble shield covered over the both of them and the blast bounced right off. The Persian gasped as the hedgehog's hands glowed a soft green. She reached down to the cat's broken ankle and emitted more energy onto the ankle. For a second, the cat felt relief from the pain as if she was…healing.

"W-who are you people?" The surprised Persian asked. The healing hedgehog let out a smile. "My name is Dawn, Dawn Raiga. You are?" Dawn asked.

"A-Apricot, my name is Apricot…" She answered.

Meanwhile, Scorch was still fighting off the robot, his fire attacks barely phasing the thing as it was handling the hedgehog's attacks just fine. He had to try a frontal attack again as the fire hedgehog burned his fists brighter and dashed right in, going at a blur as the robot didn't catch his movements. Scorch landed a solid punch against the robot's head, knocking it back. Scorch took this chance and continued on, whaling on it as fast as he could, hitting the robot harder and harder, but the robot recovered and grabbed his fist, stopping his barrage. Scorch grunted and leaned back delivering a good side kick, but it didn't hurt the robot as it jabbed the cannon to the hedgehog's face. A stronger blast came out as Scorch sprawled along the ground, getting back up quickly and ignited his fists again. This time, Scorch let out a strong stream of bright orange fire right into the enemy. The instant it made contact, the area around it exploded. As the smoke cleared, the robot still walked, it being much brighter than usual from the heat Scorch fired upon it. "Damn it, the hell is thing made of?!" Scorch yelled as he still stood his ground. The robot now focused his attention on the attacking hedgehog as it ran straight to Scorch, punching him several times and grabbing at his neck again. This time, the robot drove Scorch into the ground and proceeded to slam him again and again. Scorch blasted at the ground with his flames as he broke loose and went up close, delivering a strong punch that literally dented into the robot's chest.

Dawn looked toward the Mansion as there was a bright light shining from the rooftop. She could sense something powering up. "SCORCH! GET BACK!" A loud voice yelled as Scorch heard it, his expression looking quite angry as he leaped high into the air. The robot could also see the bright light shining from the household. Before anything could happen, a bright white beam shot out and it came fast, aimed straight at the robot as it couldn't see it in time, impacting and exploding with great force, oblinerating the robot into nothing but dust. Scorch guarded from the explosion as it sent him skidding back. Dawn let down the shielding as the dust cleared, a new hedgehog standing in the field. To Apricot, this one seemed a lot stronger. He was a dark grey hedgehog with brown highlights and fierce brown eyes. Unlike Scorch, he wore a long sleeved red shirt and brown pants. His wrists seemed to be a lot bigger though, as if he was wearing rings, but she couldn't really tell.

"Mikee, about time you showed up. I was about to finish that thing off, but you had to come ruin it." Scorch told him harshly, walking to the grey hedgehog.

"It didn't seem like it to me. You looked like you were having trouble." Mikee told him. Scorch's fists clenched at that, looking annoyed as Mikee looked to Dawn and Apricot as she finished healing her.

"Dawn, what happened and who's this?" Mikee asked, his voice sounding kinder this time as he walked to them. As she was explaining the recent events and introducing Apricot to him, Scorch scoffed and started walking off towards the Mansion. Dawn looked scornfully to Scorch as she got up. "Hey, mind helping out here? We need to take her back to the Mansion, her ankle is still broken!" She yelled.

"What are you asking me for? You got Mikee to help, geez." He told them and started leaving. Apricot looked at him too as he was walking away, looking pretty mad as Dawn helped the Persian up. The group all headed inside, regrouping in the lobby as Dawn wrapped bandages around the injured cat's ankle. Mikee stood from them as he looked to them.

"Well, Apricot, can you explain to me what happened back there? Why was there some kind of robot after you?" He asked. Apricot looked tired and worn out, slightly injured here and there as she looked nervous about the question. Dawn looked to her questionably. "Um…well…I'm…traveling around…and then that thing attacked me out of nowhere. I…don't know anything else." She told him, looking to the tile ground.

"Well, you're probably tired from all that then. You can't move around too much with that ankle, but you should be okay tomorrow. Why don't you rest here for tonight?" Dawn suggested as Apricot looked to her, the cat's white tail reacting to her surprise.

"I…I don't know…I can't stay here." She said until Mikee smiled a bit.

"You can't walk far with that ankle anyway. Besides, it's just for a night." He reminded her as Apricot didn't look too happy with this. She didn't have any other option, and it was the dead of night. There wasn't much left to go to. She nodded after a moment of silence, Mikee and Dawn nodded to each other.

"All right, good. Don't worry about paying back or anything, if you're worried about that. After what you went through, it's crazy to think about it. Dawn, can you lead her to a guest room in the second floor? Make sure it's away from Scorch's room, just in case he tries something." Mikee told Dawn. She nodded as she pushed back her blue hair. She had Apricot around her shoulder as Mikee helped too, all three of them going up a flight of stairs. As they went up, they noticed Scorch was in his room, the door slamming shut.

"What's with that guy? He's so rude." Apricot asked, cringing a bit as she leaned a bit on her ankle.

"That's Scorch, he's a fighter from local tournaments. He was reigning champion for a few years until Mikee here brought him down from his stand a year ago. Since then, he's been bugging Mikee for fights to 'see who's the stronger one.' It gets kind of annoying." Dawn complained a bit, sighing as they got up to the floor. Inside the room, there were just different doors leading to rooms as they led Apricot to one of the doors. Dawn opened it as it was a simple room with a nice bed, wooden dressers, and a bathroom. It looked really nice for a guest room as Apricot made her way to the bed.

"So…good night, and rest easy. You're safe here, very safe. No crazy robots can get in here easily, not while we're around." Mikee told Apricot with confidence as he left, Dawn quickly following him as they softly closed the door behind them. Apricot went to sit down on the bed, finally taking a bit of a break as the bed was very comfortable. They seem really nice to let me stay here for the night. Apricot thought to herself as she lifted up the covers.

You know, we can't stay here. We have to leave first thing in the morning. A voice told Apricot in her head as she looked to the mirror on top of the dresser. In her reflection, there she was, but Apricot was…different. In the mirror, her eyes were red instead of blue and her facial expressions were different from Apricot. She got up and looked to the mirror. "I-I know that." She told the reflection as it nodded. The copy of Apricot walked around the room, looking at the doorway, as if she was looking at something. We can't let him find these people. She finished saying as Apricot finally decided to lie in bed.

Meanwhile, Mikee and Dawn were downstairs, sitting on the couch. The male hedgehog sighed as he sunk further into his seat, looking tired. Dawn looked to him, sighing herself. "Long day, huh? How's the project coming along?" Dawn asked, moving closer to him.

"Well, it's coming along. Wish I was more of a mechanic than a fighter. I'd have this done a long time ago. It isn't easy messing around with power cores either. Not to mention Scorch, we're fighting again in the morning." He told her, which got a scoff from her.

"Ugh, again? Didn't you guys just fight in the afternoon? Geez, he's really determined to beat you, huh?" Dawn asked, leaning on his shoulder. He nodded as Mikee looked upstairs, staring towards Scorch's room at the mention of the Fire user. "I've been tired too, making sure the house is clean since Scorch keeps burning everything. Our supplies are starting to run a bit low too. I might need to go to the store soon." She told him, closing her eyes and resting on his shoulder. He laughed a little as his hand went past her blue hair.

"Ugh, get a room you two, it's disgusting." Scorch told them as he was walking down the stairs, interrupting their time as both hedgehogs looked to the fire user. He wasn't looking at them as Scorch made his way for the kitchen. "Well, you wouldn't know, Scorch. You need to get yourself a girlfriend one of these days. It'll help out that attitude of yours." He commented.

"You need to remember that you have a girlfriend. She's always trying to flirt with you and wears tight clothes, it makes me sick." Scorch said as he walked on upstairs, taking a water bottle. Dawn flinched a bit at the mention, turning a bit red as Scorch went back to his room, the door slamming again. Pfft, my clothes aren't tight… She thought as she got up, the mood ruined as Mikee did too. He stretched a bit as Dawn went upstairs to their own room. Suddenly, there was something…dark she felt coming from Apricot's room as she sensed it quickly before it faded. It got her attention as she stopped. Mikee stopped as he looked to Dawn's concerned eyes. "Hm? What's wrong?" He asked her, which snapped her out of concentration.

"Did you…sense something just now?" She asked him. Mikee shook his head as Dawn looked to Apricot's door again. It wouldn't bother her as much, but what she sensed just now…it was really dark and wrong. She couldn't describe it much since it vanished the instant it appeared. "Come on, you must really be tired if you're sensing things. Let's go to bed." Mikee told her, holding her shoulder. Dawn agreed to the suggestion, a warm bed sounding really good at the moment.

The next morning finally came for Apricot, but she woke up to the sounds of yelling right outside her room as she groaned herself awake. "Get up you asshole! Our battle starts!" She heard Scorch yell from inside her own room.

"Aah! Scorch! Get the hell OUT!" Dawn screamed as there was a small explosion and something hitting the floor. She heard Scorch yell out as there was the sound of running.

"Scorch, if you really wanted to fight, you could have at least waited until we got dressed, sheesh." She heard Mikee tell him. Apricot got up as she remembered at the moment that she had to go, but if they were going to fight, then she might as well watch. As she slowly opened the door, Mikee was putting on his red long-sleeve shirt, but at the moment, she noticed that he was in fact, wearing black rings on his wrists. The two boys didn't seem to notice her as they went downstairs. There was a mumbling heard from inside Mikee's room as Apricot heard Dawn muttering to herself. "Dawn? What's going on?" She asked her.

"Mikee and Scorch are having another one of their fights. Ugh, I don't know why it has to be so early in the morning. It's not even seven yet." Dawn yawned, shaking her head as she put on her pink bow on her left ear. Both girls ran downstairs to see the two male hedgehogs outside in the front of the house, both of them looking at each other.

Yes, new story that I will be working on, I apologize for me being absent all this time. This will be my new primary story. For those who've read Rise of the Horde, you might recognize two of the characters. ^^

Anyway, sorry for being gone so long, but I'm back! ^^

~PerfectPhoenix/PerfectPhoenixLPs