Chapter Fourteen: Questions that Need Answers

The moon shone brightly over Mystic Ruins as almost everyone was resting at Tails' workshop. Most of the protectors were inside their emeralds and were kept in capsules so they could recover the energy that they lost, or at least, half of that energy. Tails and Amy shared a room while Sonic was out on the roof and Miki and Mango had their own room. Shadow decided to sleep on the couch since he wanted to be alone. Nazo was standing outside a few feet away from the workshop and stared at the moon while in deep thought.

Why did Raze show up when he knows that he can't be able to last in this world while he doesn't have full power yet? Was he trying to risk fighting Miki? Even in the state that she was, Miki could've have taken him out with physical strength.

Nazo's ear twitched as he heard a small rock roll against the surface of the ground. He turned to the origin of the sound and saw River climbing down the rocky hill. The old fox was slightly limping, but he wasn't too badly hurt. "River." Nazo greeted coolly as he walked up to the older protector. "Why am I not surprised that you're not worn out unlike the others?"

"Raze's power doesn't last as long in day as it does at night." River answered. "How are the others doing?"

"They're resting in their emeralds." Nazo answered, knowing that River was referring to the other protectors. "They should have some strength by tomorrow and should be able to walk around, if that and be able to use their basic attacks."

"Then shouldn't you be resting too?" River asked as he started walking to the workshop.

"One of us has to stay up and keep look out in case Raze would try to attack." Nazo followed.

"Don't worry about that. He and his warriors are as tired as we are so they won't be able to attack for a few months. That will give us plenty of time to be able to seal him back inside the Master Emerald before the next Solar Eclipse which should happen at the end of the year."

"But what about the protector of Light? We need him in order to seal Raze away."

"He's here among us, he just needs to realize that when the time comes, Reko."

"Do me a favor and don't call me that." Nazo said angrily. "It's already bad enough that Raze had to call me that in front of Miki."

"Just be glad it wasn't Shadow that was there or he would've kept asking and then the other mortals would soon start asking."

"Point taken." Nazo said irritably.

While some of the others were sleeping soundlessly, Miki was the only one that wasn't sleeping. In fact, she was wide awake and it was more than likely past midnightso it was probably a bad thing for her. She stared at the ceiling with her arms behind her head as what Yami said earlier echoed through her head. "It's useless to do something that you can't succeed in, but you already experienced that before, have you?" Then what Yami said after that has Miki on edge. "It's useless to try and resist what has happened in the past, especially after what happened to your mother, Serena." Miki sat up when the thought of her mother came to mind. "Just how the hell did she know about what happened?" Miki asked herself.

Mango was still sleeping on the other side of the bed, curled up like a ball, so Miki moved slowly out of bed. She walked over to the door, opened it slowly and walked out. She didn't even bother closing the door behind her as she walked down the hall. She came to the hanger and saw that the doors were opened at the end. The planes in here haven't been used in awhile, but it never hurts to have the engines cooled before they would be ready to use. She then walked out and looked up at the moon. Some of the things that she could remember played in her head, filling her with sadness. The pour five year old that day seeing her mother dead right in front of her and with no one there to comfort her other than her father, that is now somewhere in the entire world. But one thing still bothered Miki, and she was going to have that problem fixed soon enough.

"One of these days Yami, you're going to tell me what happened that day. I promise you that." Miki said with her voice filled with anger, hatred and determination.

"Why don't you just ask her yourself?" A voice said from behind. Miki turned and saw River.

"Do you really think it's easy as that? I can't just walk up to her and say "Hey, do you want to talk about what happened eleven years ago?" After attacking me twice, do you really believe that she would turn over a new leaf for two minuets? What is it that she has against me other than that we aren't on the same sides?"

"Well it never hurts to try now does it?"

"Okay, I'm sorry but you just don't understand."

"You had a difficult past to deal with and you want answers. I understand that and Nazo can relate to that as well."

"Is Nazo his real name? Or is Reko?"

There was silence between the two when the question was spoken. "That will be explained when the time comes." River finally said.

"That's what the other protectors are saying. The others and I need to know right now because if none of our questions are answered, there's going to be tension between ourselves and we would eventually turn against each. I don't want that to happen; especially now considering Knuckles is somewhere and we have no clue where he is. I want to make sure he's safe, okay and well away from the Raze person." Miki said calmly, but River could tell that there was anger trying to get out. She was good at keeping self control when it's needed.

Again a moment of silence, but this time it was broken by a blowing wind coming from the east. It was a somewhat gentle wind, familiar and had slight energy power in it. Miki knew that energy from somewhere, but she couldn't place it. "Your echidna friend is still alive, just barely in the clutches of Raze." River finally said.

"He's been with Raze for the past few days?"

"Sadly." River said with sadness. "I was going to rescue him myself, but I had little time before my life force would end in Raze's castle. Knuckles is strong, which made him last this long. After all, he did survive the wrath of Perfect Chaos when Pachacamac and his tribe tried to use the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds to conquer over the other tribes."

Miki nodded at that. She had heard about the story of Perfect Chaos and how Pachacamac's daughter,Tikal, sealed herself and Chaos inside the Master Emerald. She also heard that Chaos somehow broke free of the Master Emerald and nearly whipped outStation Squareby flooding it. Luckily,Tikalcame by and helped save him from causing anymore damage. This was before Shadow came into the lives of the Sonic Heroes.

"Either way, we can use the time what we have to figure out a strategy on dealing with him and the other three."

"Or we can use this time to train and for some explaining to be done." Miki protested. "I have much of my past to figure out and Yami is the only one who knows about. I would like to have that knowledge before Raze is put down for good."

"Some things are best kept secret until the time comes, Miki Hoshiko. You're still young and have to learn that sometimes, what you want to hear isn't always the best things to remember." With that, River left the hanger and Miki alone.

"What you want to hear isn't always the best things to remember." Miki repeated as she turned back to the moon. She kept thinking it over and she knew what the eldest protector was saying. She wants to know what happened to her mother that day, but the information can change the end results of this battle.

"Yami, why didn't you kill her on the spot?" Raze asked the black wolf. The two were in a healing room and one of the chaos-like black creatures were bandaging Yami's wounds since they reopened from Miki's burst of energy. The black creature made sure to avoid the fur on Yami's left arm because…lets just say the fur is beyond natural.

"Master Raze, I have my reasons for doing so. She was bundled up with negative energy and it was trying to over come her own mind. If that happened, she would still have her physical form, but she would be thinking differently and her power would be too much to handle even for you at this point in time. She was resisting, of course, but it was a battle that she wasn't able to win and it wasn't just that negative energy that wasn't the only thing trying to take over her body either."

That last part caught Raze's interest. "It wasn't?"

"No Sir, it was also her shadow that was trying to take over as well. I separated the two so that we would have the upper hand, but she had a mind of her own."

"She got away didn't she?"

"Yes, but we can send Mephiles to go after her and-"

"No." Raze stopped her from continuing. "Mephiles and Sora failed me enough times as they did and their planning something. You're the only I can trust, Yami." Raze saw that Yami's wounds were bandaged up so he signal the creature away. It respectfully bowed its head before leaving the two alone.

"Do you know if they're going to over through you?"

"That may be what they're trying to do, but it won't matter because by the time they do, I'll have full strength. Until then," Raze kneeled down so that the two were at eye level and he gently gripped her chin, making Yami go slightly red. "You have every bit of my trust."

The black wolf nodded as she was too shy to speak. Raze leaned in and kissed the wolf on the lips, making Yami jump a little, but she relaxed. It lasted for a few seconds before they parted. They stared at each other in the eyes before Raze left the room. Yami followed him out, but went in a different direction. As she walked down the hallway, she came to some windows and the moonlight was shining through. She looked up at the moon and could've sworn that she saw the face of the white hedgehog. "One day." Yami said with hatred before continuing her way.

up.