AN: I'm doing this one a little differently than the first. I'm putting it up in installments instead of the entire thing at once. Hopefully, I'll be able to get onto this site more often, and update stories more. Also, I don't own Sonic chars, only my own.
"Ha ha! You can't catch me, Zulkin!" Amanaru laughed, gliding over his head.
"That's not fair!" he yelled, quickly climbing one of the tall trees in the Clearing and gliding after his sister.
"How's it not fair?" she asked, "You climb better than I do with those weird spikes of yours."
"But you glide faster," Zulkin complained, not gliding quite close enough to catch Amanaru.
"So?" she asked, ducking behind one of the support columns for the Dome atop the Pyramid and dashing down the steps.
"So it's not fair!" Zulkin barked, following her down the steps. He jumped and tackled her from behind. The pair tumbled down the steps together, and when they finally hit the bottom, they lay dazed for a few minutes.
Amanaru recovered first, and pounced on Zulkin, making sure she pinned his powerful arms with her strong legs as she sat on his chest. "I win," she declared brightly, grinning widely.
"I never said that," Zulkin growled defiantly, struggling to get himself out from underneath his adopted sister.
Amanaru resisted the urge to lean into his face to gloat, as that would give him enough room to free himself.
"Will you at least let me breathe?" Zulkin asked, glaring at his sister.
"Not until you concede."
"Never."
"Then you'll be stuck under my butt until dinner," Amanaru said simply, looking smugly down at her brother.
After about three seconds, Zulkin arched his back in an attempt to throw Amanaru off, but merely made her loose her balance a little. Which was all he needed.
"Makis, help," he called, and the little chao rammed Amanaru in the shoulder, shoving her completely off of her brother. She instinctively rolled into a tight ball, a red-and-white sphere of spines.
As she came out of her ball and skidded to a halt, Amanaru looked up to see Zulkin advancing quickly on her, his fist pulled back and ready to strike. She stayed where she was until he was right on top of her, then slipped underneath him and used his momentum to flip him over her shoulders and felt his head roll down her spine. She heard him land on his feet and quickly swept her leg under him in a tight circle, tripping him.
Unfortunately for the hedgehog girl, he landed right on top of her. With Zulkin's red quills in her face, Amanaru was extremely uncomfortable. She shoved him one way with her left arm, and when she went to roll in the opposite direction, she found her right arm was pinned under Zulkin's white-gloved hand.
"Sneaky. Gonna let me go now?" Amanaru asked after a second.
"Not until you concede," Zulkin replied smugly.
"Clever. Now let me try something," Amanaru said, whipping her legs around his and pulling him back to the ground. She jumped up quickly and dashed up the steps, using her powerful legs to jump half-way up one of the support pillars for the Dome atop the Pyramid. She was bound to win this round of King of the Mount. Or Pyramid. Whatever.
Amanaru shimmied quickly but awkwardly up the column, some of the stone crumbling under her grasp.
"No you don't!" Zulkin roared from below her, and jumped up the pillar she was on. Amanaru groaned inwardly. Once Zulkin had begun the initial climb up the Dome, he was practically unbeatable.
The girl hedgehog climbed more quickly, but could still hear her brother's spiked knuckles digging into the old stones of the support column under her. She made a snap decision.
When Zulkin was just inches below Amanaru's, she let go suddenly, making sure both of her feet were together right above his head. She landed hard on him, and he tumbled to the ground, several yards below. She shimmied the rest of the way up the column, and swung herself up to rest lightly on top of the Dome.
Amanaru looked over the edge of the Dome where the support column to find herself snout-to-snout with Zulkin, who had swiftly climbed up the column after her.
After a few seconds of staring into his sister's ruby eyes, he grinned as he said, "Alright, I concede. Good job, sis. You finally made it." He dropped lightly to the ground below, bracing his feet and holding out his arms to catch the hedgehog girl as she dropped from her perch atop the Dome.
"Let's head on home," Amanaru said as Zulkin set her on her feet, "I think it's almost dinner time."
As the duo left the Clearing, a small pair of black eyes watched them from the thick undergrowth.