Hey! I was so pumped that I was contiuning this story that it took me less than 24 hours to write it down and type it!

This may possibly be the shortest time that I took to type any chapter to any of my stories on this site!

Does that mean it's a good thing or bad?

But anyways, we're soon getting to the part that everyone knows! (Not telling which yet. Have to guess!)

Pretty soon, I'll kick it into high gear and finally get to the parts about Sonic and Friends. ^^

But, until then, enjoy more from the Past! (All good stories have a back story, right?)

~ I wish you all sun, sea, and books.~ NISIOISIN

4. The Meeting and Foreshadowing of A Disaster

"Are you insane?" one of the male echidnas said in the back of the conference room. "I mean, I don't mind you trying to expand our clan's landspace, but stealing the 'Gems' to do so? That's crazy!"

Pachacamac sat in the front of the room, listening to what the unknown echidna had said to him. He folded his hands and pursed his lips slightly, taking in the information.

"How dare you call our leader insane! That's a disgrace towards you! You should be executed." a female echidna said from the opposite side of the room, all the way in the front.

"He said express our feelings as to however we feel over the subject. That was all the guy was doing. Give him a break!" another male echidna said from the right side of the conference room.

"There are some things that some people should really keep to themselves," the female scoffed.

"Look who's talking!" the first echidna exclaimed

Pachacamac sat in the same position, listening to the three creatures arguing. The rest of the conference room was starting to be filled with slight whispers, be nonetheless, was completely quiet. He knew that something like this was going to happen. That's why he wanted to try to see which one's stood on his side and who else was against him. But it wasn't like he was going to punish the ones who were against him. He just wanted to see where people stood on the situation.

What they didn't know was . . .

He was still going to go through it, whether they agreed on it or not.

When Pachacamac was a small child, he had first seen the Master Emerald in front of the Altar of where it stood. He remembered how strong and great its aura was. How much power it had.

He wanted some of that power.

He had learned from his mother that it wasn't healthy to be greedy and want things that he knew he couldn't just receive. Be happy with what he had right now and hope that grateful things crossed his paths as he aged.

He didn't listen to her.

Sure, he went on to have a normal life, met someone, got married, had an adorable daughter. Just like a normal person right?

But even so, the thought of having the intense power right at his fingertips, to do whatever he wanted to with it . . .

There hadn't been a single day since he saw the Master Emerald he hadn't thought about it.

Now was his opportunity to make his fantasy a reality.

"Sir, what do you think we should do before things start to get wild?" one of Pachacamac guards whispered, making sure that other people wouldn't be able to hear.

"What if someone's decides to try and assassinate you from the crowd because they don't agree with you?" another guard another on the other side of Pachacamac.

"Then we let him get killed," the first guard answered sarcastically, sounding as if it were obvious. "What else do you think we'll do? You can sure be stupid at some times."

"You know that's not what I meant!" the second guard whispered loudly. "And I am not stupid!"

"I didn't say you were stupid. I said that you can be stupid at sometimes, but now I'm starting think I'm wrong about that. You're stupid all the time!"

"Shut up!"

"No!"

"There's no need for that now, boys." Pachacamac said, interfering with the guards' argument. Both men immediately stood at attention, hearing their leader's voice. "You say that you're worried about me, but you know that I can take care of myself. You really should be worrying about if a fight is caused in here because of you two." he laughed deeply after that.

Both of the guards laughed awkwardly along with the echidna, blush appearing across their cheeks in embarrassment. "Sorry, sir." They both said at the same time, nervously.

"It's okay. Just think about yourselves first before you worry about others. I know it seems a little selfish, but that's what my mother taught me."

"It's very good advice, Sir," the first guard said.

"Your mother is very good at giving life-long lessons as well." the second guard commented as well.

"No need to flatter her, she's not here." Pachacamac insisted. "Well, maybe spiritually of course."

'Yes, of course."

"Of course, sir."

"Grandmother, what are you doing?" Young Tikal asked, now at the tender age of 14. She was currently watching her Grandmother sitting across the dirt floor, her legs crossed, meditating while mumbling words to herself with her eyes closed.

"You know what I am doing," she answered, sounding very trance-like.

"I know that you are meditating, but you're channeling something as well." Tikal said, making her question more clearer.

"Your father's meeting is going on right now," she answered in the same way.

"Oh," Tikal answered, sounding slightly depressed. Her and her father had grown far apart over the past 5 years since her mother had died. She was sent to live with her grandmother as her father was the leader of the entire clan on Angel Island, and her father wouldn't have been able to take care of her properly as he would be working all the time. "Is it anything important?" she asked.

"Nothing that is too important, just boring things," her Grandmother answered.

"I'm not 9 anymore, Grandmother. You don't have to tell me that it's just boring things. Just tell me what is going on," Tikal insisted.

"It's just a debate about expanding the clan territory," her Grandmother answered simply.

"Anything else going on?" Tikal asked, slightly interested.

"Not really."

Tikal sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to get much out of her Grandmother while she was in this state. As soon as that thought came across her mind, her Grandmother immediately opened her eyes, and stood up with such ease. She stretched for a couple of seconds while saying, "Well, I'd better get started with dinner. Your father's actually coming over this time."

"The conference is over?" Tikal asked, slightly confused.

"No. Just got boring." her grandmother answered simply.

"You really are a free spirit." Tikal murmured, laughing quietly to herself.

"And don't you forget it either, kid," She laughed as well, while walking toward the area of the kitchen.

"Do you think that I can help you with the dinner tonight, Grandmother?" Tikal addressed, feeling slightly nervous.

"Because your father's coming over?" she asked, a small smile creeping across her lips.

Tikal felt her cheeks turn warmly as she answered, saying, "Yeah, but I have to talk to you about something else too."

"Boy troubles?" Her Grandmother asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No!" Tikal exclaimed, shaking her head rapidly while she heard her Grandmother laugh loudly, seeing how agitated she was. Once Tikal calmed down, she began to say, "It's about the altar."

Her Grandmother froze in her footsteps and turned around to face Tikal, cobalt staring into cobalt. "What about the altar?" her Grandmother asked in a serious tone.

"When I went there this morning," Tikal started hesitantly, "The Chao seemed preoccupied with something else, like they were worried about something. They usually stop whatever they're doing to come and greet me, because they can sense my aura, but this time, I had to announce that I was there."

"Oh, that's nothing. They all probably just had something else going on their mind at the time. You don't know what goes on in those Chao colonies after you leave. It could be something happening there." her Grandmother said, brushing off Tikal's explanation. "Now, let's get to the dinner, okay?" She started to stalk towards the kitchen area once more.

"That's not all," Tikal continued, not following her mentor. "Chaos didn't come out today."

Her Grandmother froze yet again, not turning around at this point. She knew very well about the deal that her granddaughter made with the liquid lifeform, that he was to come out every time she would come to the Chao Garden. She also knew that Chaos was a creature not to go against his word. This had meant there was something disturbing the Chaos and Order on this island.

"Grandmother, I think that that there is something wrong with the island," Tikal inferred, sounding slightly depressed. "The distracted Chao, Chaos not coming out. I had a slight feeling of something strange on this island since I went to the Altar."

"Something's disrupting the Chaos and Order of Angel Island." Her Grandmother said slowly, sounding wise and true about her words. "And I think I know what it is."

"Tell me," Tikal pleaded, desperate to know why her friends were acting like this.

Her grandmother turned around to face, the small smile growing slightly as she spoke. "I know that you are growing, young one, but this kind of problem is not of any of your concern at the moment."

"Grandmother, Chaos and the Chao are my friends! I have a right to know why they are acting like this! I care about them!" Tikal said, starting to feel tears well up in her eyes.

"You're so grown up," her Grandmother said, ignoring what Tikal pleaded before towards her. "This kind of problem, you cannot solve on your own. If I tell you, then you'll only try and solve it on your own. It's impossible to do so that way."

"I promise not to solve the problem, as long as you'll tell me what's wrong!" Tikal exclaimed, feeling hot tears running out of the corners of her eyes. She quickly wiped them, but then felt more of them appeared. She repeated this action several times, until she felt a dry cloth being pressing against her cheek. She opened her eyes and saw that her Grandmother was wiping the tears away from her face.

"You're talking to the one who practically raised you, Tikal. Don't you think by now, I would know when you're telling white lies to me?" Her Grandmother mused, trying to comfort Tikal as well.

"It was worth a try," Tikal said, taking the handkerchief away from her Grandmother. "But you can see how much I care about them!"

"Lying to someone to try and help someone else is not the way to go, Tikal. I care about the Chao and Chaos as well, but not as much as you do. But this problem is just too big to be fixed by yourself." Her Grandmother explained softly, watching as Tikal wiped the endless tears away from her eyes. "And I know that if I tell you what the problem is, you will just make it worse by fixing it yourself!"

"I can get other people to help me," Tikal mumbled, wiping her eyes a few more before keeping the cloth balled up in her hands. She added, with looking up in the directions towards the moon.

"You always did have the same charm as your mother did when she was your age. All the boys wooing over her, including your father." her Grandmother inferred, laughing slightly at what she said. "May her soul rest in peace."

Tikal now had her own regular smile back on her face, now that her mother was being brought up. Tikal didn't have many memories about her loving mother, but the few she did had, she cherished the most.

"You have her looks as well," Pachacamac added, while walking into the room that they were currently in.

"Father! You're here already?" Tikal asked, disappointed that they hadn't had a chance to start dinner before he came because of her. She lowered her head slightly in shame and embarrassment from her father's comment.

"You make it sound as if you didn't want me to come, Tikal." Pachacamac said, tilting his head slightly to the right in confusion.

"No! It isn't that!" Tikal exclaimed quickly, reassuring her father as more blush appeared across her face. "It's just that we didn't have a chance to start dinner before you came! I thought that the meeting would go on for a few more hours!"

"I cut it short because I remembered that I had to have dinner with you two. Besides, there was too much tension in the room anyways." Pachacamac assured, slowly turning his direction towards his mother. "How has she been to you?" he asked with a slight smile.

"A perfect angel. Far different than you were when you were her age." She answered, slight tones of sarcasm and disgust running through her words.

Pachacamac ignored the tones of her voice and instead laughed it off. "Well, it's good to know that she's being good to you." He turned to Tikal and whispered loudly, saying, 'Your father was quite the rebel when I was your age."

Tikal laughed softly to herself, feeling more blush appear across her cheeks.

"Since dinner isn't ready yet, you and I should go for walk together, Pachacamac," Tikal's grandmother had said suddenly, glaring into the light blue eyes of her son. "Tikal will be able to cook dinner for three people." She then looked at the 14-year-old next to her and said, "You should be able to handle that, right, young one?"

Tikal was ready to protest, saying that she wanted to go for a walk with them as well, but then she looked more deeply into her grandmother's eyes. Something inside them had told her to just agree with what her Grandmother asked her to do and not to ask any questions about it at all.

This was grownup business, she soon realized.

"I should be able to do so, yes," Tikal answered, a slight smile across her lips.

"Good, now that that's done with, shall we catch up?" Tikal's Grandmother said, as she stalked towards the front door of her home. Pachacamac nodded silently, concealing a smirk from appearing across his face in the presence of his daughter. He pleaded a silent goodbye towards Tikal, and then turned around to follow his mother outside of her home, finally letting it appear across his lips.

Watching them both leave her Grandmother's home had made Tikal feel slightly suspicious and worried about what was going on between the two of them.

"It is none of my business, it is none of my business, it is none of my business," Tikal repeated to herself over and over as she turned towards the direction of the kitchen, and had started to walk inside to start the dinner.

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