Chapter 21
"Are you sure Miky?" Tails asked as he, Miky, Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow all stood in Sonic's backyard. A week or so had gone by and Miky had been preparing to face her old nemesis; the RC Egg Fighter.
Miky nodded as she stretched her legs, "As sure as I'll ever be. Its time for a long overdue rematch!"
"Alright then, I'll start it up." Tails turned on the RC Egg Fighter, "So where do you want to start?"
"Right where I left off: RC mode!"
Sonic gave Miky a thumbs-up, "I'm sure you'll knock it out of the park!"
Miky smiled and gave him a thumbs up back, "Thanks! I think I know just how to beat this thing."
Tails gripped the controller, his thumbs on the joysticks, "Ok, I'm not going to go easy on you. We'll start with evasion and then we'll see how good you are at combat."
"Right. Don't hold back!" Tails moved the joysticks forward, sending the robot in to motion. This time Miky ran around to the side of the robot instead of straight towards it like all of her previous attempts. The torso of the robot turned to follow and began to fire laser bursts. Miky continued to run, dodging the bursts. She reached out with one hand and focused; her locket and hand began to glow yellow as she called up her power. The RC Fighter gained the same glow, stopped turning, and was stuck in place.
"Wha-!? The movement controls aren't responding!" exclaimed Tails as he rapidly moved the joysticks.
Miky grinned as she jumped up at the robot, "I've been practicing my telekinesis! And it's gotten a lot better!" With a graceful flip she landed on the robot's shoulders and pressed the button on her foot, turning it off, "TADA! Victory is mine!" She laughed and bowed as the guys applauded.
When she jumped down, Shadow smiled and said, "That was an impressive use of your powers."
Sonic high-fived Miky, "I'll say! You got it on the first try!"
"That practicing is indeed paying off." agreed Knuckles with a nod, "But I wanna see whether or not the combat training I gave you paid off."
"Well, Combat Mode will be just the right test for that. Are you ready for this Miky?" asked Tails as he adjusted the dial.
The determined raccoon nodded fiercely, "Ready to go!"
"Ok, remember, I'm not controlling the Egg Fighter this time. It's going to block, attack, and come at you with everything it's got."
"Right, let it rip!" Tails hit a button on the controller and the RC Egg Fighter came to life. Everyone but Miky took a step back as the robot searched for its target.
It locked on to her and said with its robotic voice, "BZZZTT! TARGET ACQUIRED! ENGAGING TARGET!" The RC Fighter lurched toward Miky with surprising speed, winding up a punch as approached.
Miky blocked the blow and threw her own punch, her fist bouncing off, "OW! This thing's armor is much tougher than that boulder ever was!"
"Of course it is!" shouted Knuckles irritably, "Did you forget everything I taught you already?! Use your head!"
"I thought you said no one wins with a headbu-AH!" Miky went flying as the robot punched her, taking advantage of the distraction. She bounced and the Fighter fired a laser burst that struck her midair and sent her careening into a tree. Shadow tensed and was about to run to her aid, but Knuckles held him back.
"Give her a chance, lover boy! I didn't spend two months training her to get knocked out by the first hard hit! Get back on your feet, and take that thing down!" barked the echidna. Miky slowly got to her feet and the RC Egg Fighter quickly realized that it had not neutralized its target and resumed fire. She barely scrambled out of the way and onto her feet.
Miky dodged and rolled away from the laser bursts while yelling, "Knuckles, what do you mean by use my head? That doesn't make a lick of sense!"
"My Chaos are you really that clueless?! Remember your training!"
"My training? Oh yeah! My training! I understa-OUCH!" Once again, Miky's lapse of attention earned her a hit as two burst hit her simultaneously. She skidded backwards but dashed forward again, fists clenched and glowing with her power. Once close enough, Miky threw her punch, a surge of telekinetic power re-enforcing it and adding extra power. The blow struck the body of the robot, putting a huge dent in the armor and knocking it over.
"It's about time! Now finish it off!" ordered Knuckles. Miky nodded and pushed her power into her feet and kicked the robot into the air. She jumped up above it and with a kick similar to the one Sonic had used to demonstrate at the boulder test, sent it slamming into the ground, thus defeating it. Miky landed on the robot, but true to her clumsy nature, slipped and fell off.
"Whoo! That's was great!" she shouted gleefully as she jumped up, her ponytail coming undone for the umpteenth time, "Ugh, I hate this thing! I should just cut my hair short or something than deal with this stupid ponytail holder. I really need a new one."
Sonic laughed and shrugged, "Sorry Miky but as you can see, we're all guys. Besides, no ponytail holder could keep this head of mine in order!"
"Holy crap Miky, your training has paid off! This thing is trashed!" exclaimed Tails as he examined the RC Egg Fighter.
The red-haired raccoon looked at the ground bashfully, "Sorry Tails, I might have gotten a little carried away."
"That's quite alright, I'm just glad you didn't use your pyrokinesis on it; there would be no fixing it then! That reminds me, is the limiter bracelet helping keep that in check?"
"Yep, without it, I would have burnt down the Emerald Forest already. I just can't seem to get a handle on my fire power, every time, it spins out of control and I have to slap on the bracelet before it gets too out of hand. But I'm sure I'll get the hang of it someday…"
Shadow nodded and put a hand on her shoulder, "Of course, practice makes perfect. By the way Miky, since you are no longer in training you don't need to live with Knuckles right?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I wonder where I'll live now?"
"Well… I thought perhaps, you could stay with me… you know, until you find someplace?" asked Shadow nervously.
Miky smiled and hugged him, "That sounds great! I promise I'll try to find a place of my own as soon as possible! Granted, while I love staying at everyone's houses and such, I'm starting to feel like a moocher!"
"Take all the time you need, it's no trouble."
The next day Miky was packing up her stuff on Angel Island and preparing to go to Shadow's house. Knuckles watched her and commented, "You certainly have come far since you arrived here months ago. You're part of the team, you got a boyfriend, and now you're moving in with him."
Miky put her backpack with all of her stuff in it on her shoulders, "Yep! Amazing how time flies and how quickly things change! I can't believe Shadow was nice enough to let me stay with him for bit, we've only been together for a short time."
"Yeah, either he really likes you, which is a miracle considering Shadow doesn't really like anybody, or he's got something else in mind, eh? You know what I mean? Hahahaha!" As Knuckles laughed at his own joke, Miky merely looked confused.
She tilted her head to the side, "I don't get it. What do you mean 'something else'?"
Knuckles rolled his eyes, "Chaos, you don't know anything do you? You'll know what I mean if he asks to share a bed at night."
Miky had to think before a moment but turning bright red and shaking her head furiously, "Knuckles! It's not like that, I swear!" She began to punch him lightly in the arm as she continued to rant, still red in the face, "Why would you make a joke like that anyways?! That's so pervy! Ugh, you're such a guy!"
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much! Didn't your parents ever tell you about the birds and bees?" replied Knuckles with a chuckle as he gently shoved her away.
"Well even if they did, I don't remember anyways! And I am protesting just the right amount thank you very much!"
Shadow appeared via Chaos Control and looked on wordlessly as he watched Knuckles hold Miky back, taunting her as she continued denying and trying to punch him. "Ahem. Is everything alright here?" he finally asked.
Miky turned away from Knuckles and answered, "Knuckles was teasing me and I was trying to shut him up cause he was being stupid."
The echidna scoffed, "What are you, six? I just had to mess with you one more time, I couldn't help myself! Anyways, all of that aside, it's been nice teaching you and having you here."
"It was great learning from you, even if you pushed my buttons a lot. I'll see you later Knuckles!" With a wave and a flash of light, Miky and Shadow disappeared.
They reappeared in a large grassy field, the same field that surrounded the hill with the oak tree that Shadow often hung out at. Miky had never noticed before, but there was a small bunker-like house situated in the grass. Shadow led her inside, "Well this is it; my humble little home. I'll show you the guest bedroom." Once Miky put away her things in her new room, Shadow gave her a tour. From the outside, the house looked gray and drab but on the inside, it actually looked quite nice.
The living room for example contained two armchairs, a small table, and an entertainment center holding a TV. On the walls were pictures of various moments throughout Shadow's career with G.U.N. from the academy to missions to promotions. Accompanying some of the pictures were medals and certificates. Miky looked them all over curiously and asked, "Shadow, what does G.U.N. stand for?"
The black hedgehog straightened one of the pictures that Miky had accidently skewed as he replied, "Guardian Units of Nations. We protect this world from any and all threats. I am one of their soldier agents."
"But, I thought that's what Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles did. Are they members too?"
"No. What they do is what we call in my business, vigilante justice. Granted, I'm not above admitting they do help out… a lot… Anyways, G.U.N. is the official authority all around Mobius. While Sonic and his crew take on the big catastrophes, we handle the day-to-day emergencies they don't."
"That's cool! Judging from all of these medals you must be really good at what you do, whatever that is." Miky turned to him, "What exactly do you do in G.U.N. anyways?"
Shadow folded his arms, "Sorry, but that's classified information, I can't tell you. Moving on from that, allow me to show you the rest of house."
Later that night, Miky was lying in bed, thinking as she drifted off to sleep, 'Wow, I never thought I could lead such an exciting life. Knuckles was right, these past months have been full of adventures and progress. Now that I can fight and hold my own, I can go with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to take down Eggman. Which is good because I wanna show him that he won't be able to mess with me anymore! He and anybody or anything that stands in my way better look out!'
Author's Note: Look out world, Miky is ready to take you on! Sorry it's been so long since the last posting, me and Werehog have been really busy putting the pedal to the metal on our Valentine one-shot for 'Holiday Mayhem'. Of course, we have been taking the time to make sure its quality stuff that's sure to please (at we hope so!). So till next time, read, review, and most of all, enjoy!