Chronicles of the Elusive Angel (Vol. 4):

Protection

C/By Kenjaje

Chapter 1: Trauma

Hahli slowly stirred; suddenly alert that she had fallen asleep. She also noticed that Metabee was absent in her arm; where she had been scratching his head and hearing his purr earlier. She glanced at the clock, she had only dozed off for ten minutes or so, though it felt like it was a whole night's sleep to her. An uneasy feeling of false jetlag overcame her, but she ignored it.

As she did every day, she hopped out of bed and walked into the closet, picking out what she wanted to wear; all of her dresses were gone, those were the first things to be depleted, and often the fastest. She opened the right closet door and found a full set of dayclouths-shorts and T-shirts-which may as well have collected dust. Moo-moo's were more her taste, she didn't know why, but she scarcely wore her 'emergency' clothes, unless she knew she would be going somewhere rough and dangerous, like Mt. Wialeale.

In moments she walked out of the closet in green shorts and purple shirt, running a hand through her hair to get it out of the back of her shirt. She slipped on her sandals that were on the floor near the elevator. There were a few pairs, all of the same style, some of different colors, but mostly ranging from blue to blank, a pair or two were pink. Again she avoided the thing she didn't like; the infected pink sandals that she somehow seemed to despise, and fumbled to find a matching pair of right and left foot.

With a sigh she pressed the button, she was purposely taking her time. Though it was dull and boring; things were too quiet. Though she knew it was good to have a time of silence every now and then, to her now was not the time. She suddenly just wanted to scream erratically and break something, or just run around and be less destructive. But the elevator seemed to be too quiet too, and the mass of the silence was like an epidemic; making all within its muteness-and even an extended three-mile radius-as quiet as and as tranquil as a mime-house.

The hum that Hahli felt surrounding her from all sides finally stopped as the elevator jolted to a halt and opened the doors on the opposite side behind her. Lazily, she turned around and walked through, though it took a few seconds for her to take the first step. She strode slowly, but consistently down the hallway, listening to the creaking below her feet on the soft wood floor; the scuffle of her sandals as her feet shuffled below her; the sun even seemed to have a noise as it shined through the window of her bedroon, giving the hall a sort of calm and tranquil ambiance.

The heat of the sun tingled her face as she passed the ray of light. She paused and faced the source of it, closing her eyes and taking a calm breath in. Her back thumped against the wall as her body felt the need to bask for a few seconds; the light felt rejuvenating. She hadn't actually seen her own sun since she got back sometime last night, she remembered falling asleep while flying, and that was it. Perhaps that's why she halted here, she missed the feeling of the sun's warmth loosening the pressure of her skin and blue armor, and relaxing her muscles as it seemed to relaxingly massage her.

She opened her yellow eyes, almost falling asleep again, and stood up straight, and made her way again at a faster pace then before. The house seemed abandoned; no one was visible in the living room as she walked down the stairs. But, to her relief, as she came level with the kitchen she saw Metabee sitting down at the table. His head with the KBT attennae was bent over his arms, his palms pressed against his mouthplate covered cheeks as he seemed to stare at something with great yet dull interest.

"Is anyone else up?" Hahli spoke, after waiting at the entrance for a few moments. Metabee hadn't even noticed her until she broke the silence. His faced turned to her.

"Naga nota." He said quietly. The sun casting through the window curtains passed his face, glimmering his eyes in Hahli's sight. She smiled.

"Want breakfast?"

"Mm...ok." He said, scooting the chair out. Even the wooden screech of the chair seemed quiet to Hahli in this dome of silent ambiance. Metabee hopped out of the chair and grabbed two bowls, while Hahli made her way to the cereal. He placed the bowls for her to pour as he got the sugar and the milk. Hahli carried the bowls to the table and went to the drawer to get spoons as Metabee poured the milk. She then placed a bit of sugar on each of their servings as Metabee put the milk into the fridge, and waited as he took his seat.

"What were you thinking about?" Hahli asked, after chewing a spoonful. "It seemed very important for you to not even hear me come down the stairs."

"Metabee thinking..." He began, swallowing his spoonful; a smile crossed his face. "About yesterday."

"What about it?" She munched.

"Lot's...Brass, Hahli saving Metabee...and Metabee's anger..." He lowered his voice on the last mentioned, as if he was ashamed for some reason. "Stitch doesn't understand though..."

"Understand?" Hahli asked rhetorically. He seemed to be slipping back in to a pondering state again.

"Naga understand anger." He said, thumping his head. "Naga remember." Hahli reached over and patted him.

"Maybe I can help." She said optimistically. Metabee took in a sigh. "Needs an explanation?" Hahli asked, translating what his sigh was saying.

"Eh." He responded.

"All ears." She smiled, putting her spoon down and laying her hands on the table. She almost wanted to play 'psychologist' and have Metabee lay down on the sofa, but she figured that would be too extreme.

"Metabee thinking back to Achie-baba Kino. Remembers everything, but remembers being angry vividly. Everything else is...blurry, with exception of anger." He paused. "Remembers how anger felt...Metabee didn't like, but had to use in order to get strong. Otherwise, not beat Achie-baba Kino." He turned in his chair and faced her, thinking of what else to say, he was half-thinking as he spoke. "Since Hahli made Metabee promise not to be angry, Metabee tries hard. Knows anger scares Hahli, but somehow always seems to happen...wasn't brought to Metabee's attention until Hahli and friends saved him from robots yesterday."

"Everyone gets a little angry now and then...and plus yesterday wasn't really anger, you were under Neo Mecha Sonic and Grezar's control. But...even though I was scared because you were frightening, I was more scared that I would lose you. That's what happens every time you get angry; you change and become viscous, like you're a different person. Whenever that happens, I just feel like I'm alone."

"Eh...that's why Metabee wants to stop anger...but doesn't know how." He sulked, slumping his shoulders. "Metabee doesn't want to scare Hahli anymore...wants to do things without anger. But Metabee already tried, when fighting 625...and it didn't work." Hahli looked empathetically at him.

"Let's go the beach." She said suddenly, hopping out of the chair.

"Huh?" Metabee looked at her curiously.

"I'm going to try and help you, but to do that, I need you to be cheerful. If you're not cheerful and yourself, I can't do anything." Metabee smiled. She was really intent on helping him, something in the tone of her voice said that she was, despite the attitude she said it with, being serious about the matter.

"Ok...kowa bunga!" He exclaimed, running to the door.

"Hey hold up! I got to get my swimsuit on first!" She shouted running up to the elevator. Metabee waited patiently, tapping his foot on the ground. A minute passed by...nothing. He check his wrist and pretended to look at the time. Another few moments passed. He began to smirk, amusing himself by pretending to be impatient, but soon it seemed like she had been gone for an eternity.

"Hahli!" He hollered.

"I'm coming I'm coming!" She panted down the stairs, carrying a pail with shovels and two towels. He opened the door and bowed as she bolted out. "Thankyouverymuch." She said as one word, as he paused for a moment and then followed her out the door.

"And there you have it." Said Commander Cody, tossing the white ball with gray numbers on it. "Cody-1, Little robot girl and the robot trog-0."

"I'm actually surprised." 625 said with convincing sarcasm. "You managed to catch a stationary ball that was completely harmless...and even though you still had a hard time getting it, it's a very commendable feat." Gantu smiled, not understanding he was being insulted. "I'd give you a merit but..."

"C'mon Metabee only a little farther!" Commander Cody heard Hahli's voice over the hill, and immediately froze.

"No...it can't be..." He gawked skeptically.

"Iga chookaba!" He heard the experiment's voice reply.

"625, hide, we'll ambush them!" Commander Cody ordered, and he shoved his companion into the bushes as Hahli and Metabee came into site.

"Beating me in a race will be an essential part in my plan to cheer you up, but I'm not going to make it easy on you-"

"Freeze!" Commander Cody ordered, jumping from behind the bush.

"Big dummy!" Hahli screamed, as she tried to turn around, skidding on the floor. Metabee tumbled over her and turned around, skidding on the floor. Quickly he sprang up, and helped his friend to her feet. "Metabee, Cody's here, we have to do something."

"Eh!" Metabee said turning around; the barrel of Commander Cody's blaster was aimed right at Metabee's green eyes, blocking the man's face from his view. Metabee moved more in front of Hahli and extended his other two wrist gun armed arms to help buffer her a bit more effectively should Cody fire.

"You're always getting in my way." Cody sneered, lowering the gun to gaze upon his quarry.

"Ju kaba choobita soupa!" Metabee retorted, as he gazed into Cody's eyes. "Miga arootaba...soku...chisi..." Metabee heard a high-pitched ringing in his head. His body suddenly turned to mush as he felt his heart pounding in his chest. The memory of being inside the holding cell while Commander Cody loomed over him flickered back vividly into his mind. A sharp and continuous throbbing pain started to boil on the right of Metabee's neck. He clasped the spot bare of yellow and white armor and tumbled to the floor.

"Metabee?" Hahli cried with sudden alarm. He curled up into a ball, breathing and crying with what seemed like utter suffering pain. A swell of panic came over her; she recalled when she had thought she heard Stitch just a few days ago. "Pasha...Hahli..." Echoed through her mind again as she saw Metabee writhe with horror on the ground. She lightly put a hand on him, he was burning to the touch, she could feel the blood rushing through his arteries, his body had snapped into some kind of overdrive-shock.

As if Commander Cody no longer existed to her, she picked Metabee up and hoisted him over her shoulder. A thing she was used to, and found she was doing it often. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew someone who would be able to figure out. She darted home as quickly as possible. Her destination: Eggman's room.