SONIC RIDERS: WORLD TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Sonic Characters © SEGA
OC's © Respective Author's

Chapter 25: Questionable Acts

- Hotel -

Hope and Strike had won their matches over Marisa and Johnny. After the third round ended, everyone went back to their hotels to rest in for the night, while most of the other competitors, whether they were eliminated or not, were hanging out at Main Plaza of the hotel.

Over at one part of the plaza, we could see Hope sighing deeply. Rena was concerned for her friend, while Smash just relaxed against a wall.

"What's the matter, Hope?" Rena asked. "You don't look well."

Hope opened his eyes a little. "It was that match I had against Marisa. I didn't think that the ball would knock her out cold like that."

"And your feeling bad about what happened in that match?" Rena wondered.

"Yeah." Hope nodded. "And that Larcen person looked really mad at me when I asked if she was OK. He must've thought hurting Marisa was my intention, but I would never do something like that."

"Well, I heard that Marisa is Larcen's close friend, so I can see why he would get angry at someone else." Rena said.

"I guess you have a point." Hope paused for a moment before speaking again. "But still, I need to go and see if Marisa is OK, and hopefully, Larcen won't get mad at me anymore."

"I'll go with you." Rena suggested.

"Thanks, Rena." Hope nodded once at his friend.

"You two go ahead." Smash said as he stood straight up. "I'm going to the food court and snack on some stuff." With that, the wolf made his way towards the food court.

Rena shook her head before she and Hope made their way towards Marisa's room.

Inside Marisa's room, we could see the red-haired mage resting in her bed. We could also see her mother, Louise Harmon, along with Larcen, Samson, Kera, Sonic, Tails, and Amy. Knuckles went out to his room and get some early rest, while the others stayed with Marisa.

"How is she doing, Louise?" Amy asked.

"She's fine, Amy." Louise replied, as she looked on at her sleeping daughter. "She's just getting some rest."

"It's good to know she's feeling better, now." Tails said with a smile.

"Agreed." Samson added, before turning to Larcen. "Senor Larcen?"

Larcen stared at the ground. It look liked he had not either heard him or he was just ignoring him.

"Larcen?" Kera raised an eyebrow. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." Larcen replied quickly.

"Are you sure? It doesn't look like it from the look on your face." Kera said.

Larcen stayed silent for another moment before he spoke up. "Hope."

"What?" Kera wondered.

"It was that white hedgehog." Larcen stated. "The one who Marisa faced in her match today. He was the one that knocked her out." The dark blue hedgehog gripped his gloved-fist. "He's the one that did this to her."

"Larcen, calm down." Kera said, trying to get a hold of the situation. "Getting angry at the situation won't help at all."

Larcen gritted his teeth a bit. He wasn't sure if he was going to let this one go.

"She's right, you know." Sonic added. Larcen glanced over at him. "Besides, I'm sure Hope didn't mean it. It was all probably a mistake, and I'm sure he feels the same way too."

Larcen glanced back at the ground, thinking about the situation. "Y-your right. Maybe I'm just overreacting."

That's when somebody knocked on the door. Everyone turned to see this.

"Who is it?" Louise asked.

"It's me." A familiar voice called.

"Who?" Tails wondered.

That's when the door opened, revealing it to be Hope the Hedgehog and Rena the Fox.

"Hey, Hope!" Amy Rose waved at him. "What's up?"

"Hey." Hope waved a little before speaking again. "Listen, I need to apologize to Larcen."

Larcen narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm listening."

"I'm sorry about what happened today." Hope said, feeling a little bad. "I didn't think my special move would knock your friend out."

"Well, it did." Larcen answered. "And if I have seen your previous matches, you did the same thing against Knuckles and Kiba."

"I know. But they seemed more physically ready than Marisa." Hope thought. "N-no offense."

Larcen glanced down at the ground again. "It's all right. Marisa's not physically strong like Knuckles or Kiba."

"So...are we OK?" Hope asked, a little worried.

Larcen looked at Hope's eyes for a moment. He then took a deep breath before replying. "It's all right. I know you didn't mean it."

"Thanks." Hope nodded in relief. "How's Marisa, by the way?"

"She's fine. She's just sleeping." Larcen answered.

"That's good to hear." Hope said with a small smile.

"Yeah. I guess so." Larcen replied back with a small smile of his own.

"We better get going." Rena replied. "We're going to get some rest so that Hope is ready for his next match tomorrow."

"OK, then." Tails said. "Take care."

After saying their good-byes, Rena and Hope left the room and closed the door behind them.

Larcen glanced at the floor again, while Sonic had a cheeky grin on his face.

"See? What did I tell you?" Sonic said as he relaxed himself on a small sofa. "Nothing to get angry about."

While that was settled, Tails looked over at Louise, whom was sitting on the bed next to her daughter.

"Louise?" Tails called.

"Hm?" Louise looked up at Tails. "What is it, Tails?"

"I was wondering...have you talked to Kyla yet?" Tails asked.

"No." Louise replied. "I'm going to lay off a little bit and let Kyla have some time on her own. I know that she's still thinking about what happened last night, and I don't want to ask her about it yet."

"Are you sure she's thinking about it?" Sonic asked.

"She is." Louise replied. "I saw her looking at me when she was leaving the stadium with Zed."

"That reminds me...have you looked into Zed Goodwin?" Kera asked.

"No." Louise replied. "And he's still a mystery to me. But..."

"But what?" Amy wondered.

"The only one who I think might know him is Kyla." Louise thought. "But she won't talk to me about anything."

"Do you think that's the reason why Kyla is so angry? Because of this Zed guy?" Sonic asked.

"Maybe." Louise closed her eyes, trying to remember the situation that happened last night. "I remember Kyla always reacting when I mentioned his name. She always got so angry and said to leave him out of the conversation."

"Hmm..." Kera hummed to herself. "Maybe he's the one that's behind Kyla's anger. The reason why she's so angry all the time. He's already shown his face a few times at the arena whenever he accompanies Kyla."

"True. But we're not exactly sure if that's the reason or not." Louise said. "What do you guys think?"

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know. I'm pretty sure you'll think of something."

"It makes a lot of sense...but it's still unclear." Tails replied, as he rubbed his furry chin.

Louise could only wonder that same thought. Who was Zed Goodwin?

In Kyla's room, we could see Zed Goodwin tightening his gloves wrists, while Kyla was sitting next to a window, as she gazed at the view of the night sky. Zed looked over at Kyla while tightening his gloves.

"I noticed you weren't playing your usual game, Kyla." Zed said. "Mind telling me the reason?"

Kyla didn't answer him for a moment, but she eventually answered anyway. "I just...didn't get enough sleep last night, is all."

Zed eyed her as Kyla continued to stare at night sky. "Didn't get enough sleep last night? Hm...you didn't look tired to me."

Kyla didn't reply back at the comment. Ever since last night, Kyla had been thinking about what Louise did for her. She protected Eve from getting killed, and she wasn't sure what to respond to it. She was confused. She didn't think someone would do that for her. Kyla pushed her away, but Louise still wanted to help and to care for her.

"Zed?" Kyla spoke up.

"What is it, Kyla?" Zed asked.

"Am I...doing the right thing?" Kyla spoke more clearly.

Zed raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean; is hurting other people what I'm suppose to do?" Kyla questioned again, feeling a little uneasy.

Zed seemed confused for a moment. He didn't think Kyla would ever ask something like that. He then smiled and walked towards her. "Listen Kyla, what you are doing is what you need to do in order to achieve your goal."

Kyla didn't say anything. She just listened to what Zed had to say.

"Your arm, Kyla. Everyday you look at it, more memories of the past came back to haunt you. You want to be a normal person, like everyone else. And in order to do that, we need the seven Chaos Emeralds. Once we have that, we can use their power to restore your arm and make it normal again. Do you understand?" Zed finished, as he looked at Kyla.

The light-blue haired female human felt hesitant at first, but she slowly nodded her head. "Yes. I-I understand."

"Good. Now go get some rest. You need to be ready for your match tomorrow." With that said, Zed walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Kyla sighed. She wanted to believe that if she won the Chaos Emeralds, her arm could possibly be restored back to normal. But deep down, she felt like something was wrong. Like...Zed wasn't being truthful about his words. Or the Chaos Emeralds might not be able to do the job. She thought of Louise again, and the events of last night. She remembered the older sage telling her that she would always be there when she needed her. All of these things ran through her mind, as Kyla closed her eyes and lowered her head while hugging her knees with her arms.

"What am I gonna do...?" Kyla asked herself.

Questions begin to flow through the mind of Kyla Vonstar. Is Louise's theory about Zed Goodwin true? Is there something else in the works? And what does Kyla know about Zed? Find out on the next Sonic Riders: World Tennis Tournament!

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