Yeah, so... here's a new chapter. ^^
Enjoy...
The next morning, Dark was found sitting at the table, eyes closed and head propped up with his hand while he looked like he might have fallen asleep there, and from the dark lines under his eyes, it can be gathered that he fell asleep within the hour.
When Shadow set the newspaper down (or to be more accurate, he flat out dropped it on the table, and this being a Sunday edition, it was rather heavy and made a sound.), Dark snorted and jumped, resulting in him toppling out of the chair and hitting the ground before he knew what happened exactly. He blinked and glared at the hybrid hedgehog, who just stared.
"Oh... it's just you..." Dark picked himself up off the ground and saw to it that he was dusting himself off casually, as if he didn't really care who it was that just startled him. "You're up early..."
"My house, not yours. Any reason why you fell asleep here, and not over there?" Shadow pointed to the living room, where an untouched set up of blankets and a pillow had been set in front of the couch, which Mephiles was sleeping on at the moment.
Dark stared at Mephiles for a while, as if trying to figure something out, and simple said: "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."
"Fine, be that way." Shadow scoffed and pulled the Currents section out of the newspaper to read as he waited for his bread to finish toasting in the toaster. "It looks like we got jumped forward about a few weeks... so that drops us near the end of the month..."
"It's only been that long?" Dark raised an eyebrow and sat back in the chair he fell out of. "I thought it had been at least a full month or two... but then again, Mephy's mind has no set time constraint, and how often he fell asleep also might have thrown me off..."
Shadow folded the section up without a word and grabbed the local section, while Dark decided to see what the deal was with the current section, and why it was a bit more colorful than the rest. Of course, this was the Sunday paper, so that meant the Dark eventually discovered the comics, and one particular one was taking up a quarter of the front page. It was a bit minimal in words, but the visuals seemed enough to tell the little story there. A kid gets out of bed, only to be tackled by a tiger easily three times his size, to whom the kid shouts a few insults to, but only receives a playful toss in the air, and the tiger shouts how they can now "do stuff again" because it was morning. The kid simply says, presumably to the reader, that it's hard to be mad at someone who misses you while you're asleep.
He blinked and looked a something about a cat that like lasagna.
Again. He blinked.
"I don't get it..." He pushed it away. "Why would a kid live with a tiger, and how come that cat speaks in clouds?"
"Try looking at it more simply. It's not meant to make think, it supposed to get a laugh."
Dark narrowed his eyes and tried again.
"Nope. Still the same..." Dark shoved the newspaper farther away and put his head back down on the table.
"What? Didn't sleep last night?" Shadow looked at him out of the corner of his eye as he got up to get his toast.
"Would you believe me if I said that something wrong was going on right now and I have nothing to do with it?" Dark lifted his head up and said hopefully. "No? That's what I thought..."
"I'm actually more interested in why Meph's arm was cut with your quill, and you don't seem to know what happened..." Shadow said in a way that seemed more calm than the vibe he was giving off. "Moreover... why did he not seem the least bit scared, if he's been known to panic about everything..."
Well, he's starting to get one piece of the puzzle... he's just not going to use it to solve it, it seems. Dark growled to himself.
"Perhaps a mystery that has yet to unfold?" Dark said, shrugging slightly. "As his best friend, I'm sure that you would be able to tell if anything was amiss with him..."
"I don't like the way you speak so..."
"Cryptically? As if I'm trying to communicate something that is otherwise being stopped from me saying it quite clearly?" Dark said with a bat of the eyes.
"Just what are you up to?" Shadow narrowed his eyes at him.
"No, I think the question is what am I not up to, and what is Iblis up to now that he's ticked that he's been tricked?" Dark pressed a palm to his forehead. "Think about it. Just what am I going to do to you if you let me into your house, eat your food, and spend an entire night, presumably awake? Notice that you actually got up this morning? If I was up to something, and if I was still evil... I would have killed you before now. And yet, here I am, in your house, talking to you and saying all of this, because I have no desire to cause any harm to anyone..."
"And what about Mephiles' arm?"
"Well, I know I didn't do that."
"There was only you and him in here last night."
"Well, if I didn't and he didn't... and neither did you or the bat... who else does that leave?"
"No one..."
"Points for getting an answer..." Dark got up and left for another room. "But minus that many for doing the wrong problem..."
"Where are you going?"
Dark stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder with a slightly annoyed look.
"I plan to find someplace where I can sleep without being disturbed... Preferably under a rock right now, since that seems a bit more inviting than the situation I'm currently in... Surprisingly, no offense aimed at you..."
As it turned out, as what would be discovered by Rouge several hours later, that the place he ended up picking was at the bottom of a coat closet, curled up on several fallen ones, and was currently shielding his eyes from the light difference to the bat's bewilderment.
"I'm probably better off not asking..."
"... That light is hurting my eyes..."
"That... would be called the Sun..."
"... I don't think I like it..."
"Well, you can't spend all day in there..."
"... Watch me..." Dark rolled over to face to wall side, only to get pulled out by Mephiles, or by who he hoped dearly was said hedgehog.
"Aw, c'mon! You won't get on anyone's good side if you hide in there!"
"... You won't get on my good side if you keep touching me..." Dark glared and pulled his arm away quickly.
"Sheesh... Not really a morning person, are you?" Mephiles rolled his eyes.
"I just didn't get enough sleep last night..."
"Why not?" Mephiles tilted his head. "None of us were up late last night, so that should have been enough time... Oh, hey..." He looked at his arm and saw a piece of gauze taped to it. "When did that happen? Weird... I don't remember getting hurt..."
Not only did that confirm Dark's suspicions as to whether or not that was Mephiles right now, but seemed to cause a raised eyebrow with Rouge, and both reactions did not seem to get caught by Mephiles at all, who was confused as to how he got injured.
"Don't you remember last night?"
"Uh... just that we got home and I showed Dark a few things, caught a couple shows on TV, and I guess I fell asleep. Did I claw myself or something?"
"..."
Instead of letting himself get worried by that, Mephiles shrugged and asked the date, and having learned that it was three weeks back, he smiled.
"Hey, that means that there's that House marathon still on TV today, so I can still catch it!" He said excitedly. "Y'know, Dark, that might be something that would interest you. This guy is smart, and also a bit of a jerk, even though he actually cares about his friends."
"Eh?"
"Well, he's a jerk most of the time because he... well, you have to check it out for yourself... if I remember right, it's a best of season five this weekend. That was one of the best and really recent seasons, so it's really a good catcher there..."
"Uh... huh..." Obviously, Dark was a bit skeptical, and was slightly annoyed that he had assumed that a smart jerk would automatically mean Dark would find an interest in whatever that show was about. Nonetheless, just to humor all of them, he gave it a try anyway.
"So let me get this straight..." He said after a few episodes. "The episode usually starts of pretty normal, and focuses on a particular person for no reason, often switching to a background character in the beginning and after some time, everything warps out a bit and someone loses consciousness or has a seizure or starts coughing up blood..." Dark tried to piece the set up of an episode together. "The person goes to this particular hospital because no one else can figure out what's wrong. This guy, House, is usually wrong between each commercial break, and often nearly kills the patient because of a mistake he overlooked." Dark took a deep breath. "Anyway, apparently, it's never Lupus, and he likes to eat the food of a guy in a coma. Secondly, it's quite obvious that his boss and him both like each other, so why are they-
"
"It's part of the drama of the show."
"Why?"
"People are more interested in the characters than the actual medical accuracy of the show."
"Why?"
"Just watch it."
Dark was actually more intent on paying close attention to Mephiles to determine if and when Iblis would switch on them. But as far as he could tell, as of the moment was that nothing seemed to suggest so, since there wasn't a clash with Dark's Aura, which he noted to himself that it seemed that Iblis' caused his to... well, he had no word for it, but it felt like his was being pulled forcibly in any and all direction, which in turn wore him out.
But, it seemed not the case as of the moment, so he figured to take that as a time to not worry, so that he didn't cause himself to be exhausted, as seemed the case this morning.
Should I try to tell him, or would Iblis do something? Or worse, how would he react? Mephy is too fragile mentally to have such a stress put on it, and the last thing I need right now is him falling apart because of something I told him... Shadow would be sure to blame me somehow, even though I'm trying to help... Dark thought to himself. So I'm screwed if I do nothing, because Iblis will grow bored of this eventually, and I'm screwed if I do something because then I risk Mephy getting hurt, which falls back on me one way or another... either way, I suffer. Great... that's exactly how he wants it. He's either trying to make me look insane, or actually break me enough that I actually go insane again...
Of course, this was all said to himself in rapid thought, since Dark didn't need much time to think to himself, having the advantage of a fast thinking brain.
"Well, I'm taking a break from this. I'll be back..." He said quickly and got up to leave before Mephiles could ask why. "I said I'd be right back..."
"But it's just getting to the good part!" Mephiles protested and grabbed his arm, which Dark froze and tensed up to, having felt such a shove to his Aura, he wondered briefly if it had been knocked out of him.
Of course, Mephiles didn't have the slightest clue what was going on, and was very surprised when Dark shuddered and reached his hand back to try to pull the other one free, and found it even more surprising was how much effort was not being put into doing so.
Sensing that it had to do with the skin contact, Mephiles let go and watched Dark stumbled a few steps before he could catch himself by bracing a hand to the side of the couch. Dark was shaking slightly, and took a deep breath to force himself to stop.
"What was that all about?" Mephiles said in concern. "You alright?"
Dark held a hand to his head, realizing that a migraine was going to make itself known as a dull pain was forming on the right side of his head.
I don't get it... I thought now that I figured out that my memory suppressing was accounting for most of the migraines they wouldn't be so bad and frequent... then why is this one starting now? Unless... Iblis' Aura doesn't agree with mine... and he did that to me on purpose just to see what I would do. I bet he thinks if I'm in pain, I won't think right...
"... I think I'm getting a headache now..." Dark said slowly, realizing that he nearly left Mephiles' question unanswered.
"Oh, well, I know what can help."
"Don't use your power right now." Dark said quickly, waving a hand as if to gesture the thought of it away.
"Why not?" Mephiles raised an eyebrow. "We both know that it will work."
"You already used it yesterday, and it doesn't seem right having you do it every time my head gets sore..." Dark said, trying to avoid any contact at all. "That, and every time you do that, you feel it too. I don't understand why you would purposely hurt yourself like that, anyway..."
"If it helps, I'll do it..."
"Thanks, but no thanks..." Dark declined. "I would rather this time wait on it. It doesn't seem as bad and perhaps it may be over before the hour is."
"Well, at least stay for the show then." Mephiles' eyes shifted back to the TV once the commercials were over. "This was the third commercial break, so that means he's going to have them do a test on the person-"
"Only to stop it before it progresses too far, because it's not what they thought it was?"
"That's a pretty good guess."
"Because that's a recurring theme." Dark rolled his eyes. "Just let me know if someone actually dies or not in this one. I'll be back before the end of the next one."
Before another word was said, Dark disappeared down the hall, intending on finding the most secluded area to be out of sight and have a moment to think.
That was, he intended to do so... before a certain bat grabbed him by the arm, pulled him into her room, shoved him against a wall and shut the door with a foot.
Dark blinked, taking a moment to let his brain figure out what had just happened before looking from side to side with a confused look.
"Uh... you do know who I am, right?" He said, wondering if she had meant to grab another spiky quilled, fluffy chested hedgehog.
"Yeah, of course, Dark." Rouge rolled her eyes. "Keep your voice down... I don't want to be overheard..."
"Alright... so why pin me to the wall, in your room, with the door... closed?"
"So no one can hear us, so that I can ask you a few things."
"I have to admit, this is kind of awkward, if not a bit unnerving..." Dark pushed her away a bit to establish that personal space bubble. "I mean, what would your boyfriend think if he walked in right now?"
"Shadow is not my boyfriend!" Rouge still managed to keep her voice low, but it was obvious that she would have shouted, judging from the tone of voice as she blushed a bit. "He's just a very good friend who-"
"Lives in your house, sleeps in your room-"
"On the floor!"
"You're hardly seen without any sign if him, not to mention the devotion the both of you have to each other, and your are practically raising Mephy as a couple..." Dark allowed a small smirk at this. "If that doesn't shout relationship, then I must have read wrong."
"Oh, would you just shut up? I brought you in her to ask you some questions about last night."
"That again?" Dark rolled his eyes (wow, there seems to be a lot of that today.), and folded his arms to stare at her."Look, I can tell you that I didn't use that quill on him."
"I gathered that much."
"Wait, you believe me?" Dark was a bit caught off guard. "Wow, that was easier than I thought. I mean, I had this odd feeling last night that Shadow was going to stand over me with a pillow or something while I was asleep... You on the other hand seemed like you sense something was going on..."
"Yeah. There was something weird about the way Mephiles reacted to bleeding like that." The bat explained with a nod. "I'm sure it can be up to debate as to who between Shadow and I know Mephiles better, but I do know that I've helped him more times with tending to injuries."
"And..."
"I know that he would not have been that calm if he knew that he was bleeding like that." Rouge twitched her ears a bit, as if trying to hear for something, but all seemed well. "He can't stand the sight of blood in any amounts, and he would not have been so collected if you really had used that quill on him."
"Very observant. But Shadow seems to have been completely fooled."
"Because I think he's too strung on trying to bust you for something."
"He's going to have to work hard then, because I have no intention on doing something wrong."
"Anyway..." Rouge steered the conversation back. "Where is Mephiles really?"
Dark sighed and rubbed a hand on his forehead in thought, trying to ward away the dull ache.
"This is complicated." He started. "But, Mephiles is still here. He hasn't left. Iblis on the other hand, is remotely using him, mostly to get to me somehow. Mephy doesn't know at all. Last night, Iblis revealed that to me, and was the one to cut Mephy's arm with my quill that Shadow broke off earlier. He told me that he wants me to play along, as if I don't know anything about it, because if I don't, I'm sure he'll do worse to Mephiles than just cut his arm with a quill..." He looked up. "I've been trying to figure out the underlying motive here, and my best guess is that he wants me to look insane to Shadow, furthering the hostility until he snaps and from the look of what I can See, one possibility of the outcome is that I'm taken to an asylum or some such place with maximum security, and that will have me out of the way for Iblis to make his next move. That is, if I follow along too long, and not find a way to reveal this to both Mephy and Shadow without causing any harm at all. As far as I See... that option is still foggy, since I haven't a clue how to get it like that..."
"You See? Like what Mephiles does?"
"To a degree, and on a different time spectrum entirely..." Dark heaved a sigh. "I only See options and outcomes, and what may happen based on what I do. Of course, this won't take into account variables and unpredictables, so for all I know, it could all easily blow up in my face..."
"Well, that's still a pretty handy ability..." Rouge said, a little impressed. "How often do you use it?"
"Not much, to be honest... I See a lot of things, but I only chose to follow a small percentage of options..."
"Why is that?"
"Simple..." Dark closed his eyes and cringed a little. "No one is meant to know what will happen in any situation. Me having this skill alone breaks so many rules just for being there." He opened his eyes and added bitterly. "Some things are best not knowing, and what good does it do if I can only see what could have happened?"
Taking a breath, he turn to leave before he felt a pulse of energy in the air, the kind that didn't agree with his. He froze as his fur stood on end, giving the illusion that he looked fluffier. He had just felt a chill slip down his spine, making each and every one of his muscles quiver from the unpleasant sensation.
He did that on purpose... Dark growled to himself, ignoring the bat now and pulling the door open to hurry out and get to a place where he wasn't going to be bothered. What is he planning? He's going to drive me mad again if I can't keep myself away from him... but with him using Mephy, who's bound to follow me anyway, that's going to be near impossible. I can't ignore it either... and I have no way to fight it without hurting Mephy, and he won't even know what's going on...
He paused and realize that there was another door at the end of the somewhat short hallway, wondering why it was there, having already known that the house had only one bedroom, and the other necessary rooms to make a house were already there. Glancing over his shoulder quickly to see if he was being watched, his curiosity got the better of him and he couldn't resist taking a look to see what was on the other side.
It was dimly lit, with light seeping out of a large door on a wall adjacent to where he entered. The room was practically bare bones in interior, with boxes of all sizes stacked against the walls, various appliances and objects that seemed to not have been used for a while were there, as was two large and equally sized cubical shaped machines, one being linked to a large container with hoses, and the other one leading to a vent.
Now of course, being who he was and also lacking any need for clothes due to being a Mobian hedgehog shaped creature, and male, meaning that if not for the crystal layers on his hands and feet, he was not in need of gloves or socks and shoes, so Dark never heard of or had the faintest idea what a washing machine or a dryer was. And since Mobian sized home furnishings were difficult to come by in Westopolis, despite the large number of Mobian occupants, these appliances were just a couple inches shorter than him, making the height of them at least three feet on the dot, Dark being three feet, three inches tall, the same as Mephiles and Shadow.
Running his eyes over them, however, he quickly concluded what they were and their purpose, based on the item near them, most of which were mainly Rouge's, having been nearly the only one to use much of the fabric items that were not gloves, towels, bedding and the like.
Realizing the air was a bit hot there, no doubt for the water heater nearby, Dark left that area and went to the colder area that simply had a rug, which he sat on.
Don't really care much for heat... just not my element... He told himself, glad to see that he might have found a secluded area for a little while to think.
"You know the next episode is starting, right?"
Dark jumped, having not heard Mephiles come in.
"Kinda high strung today, huh?" The hedgehog tried not to laugh when Dark fell over from the shock of being jolted out of his thoughts so sharply.
He blinked and narrowed his eyes at Mephiles.
"Next time... warn me before you find me or something..." He growled. "... Otherwise, you just might give me a heart attack someday..."
"I've had one at least before. It's something you hope won't happen..." Mephiles said, looking around as if taking a sudden interest in all the boxes.
"I know... I felt it when you had it... remember?" Dark said with a hint of annoyance, picking himself off the ground. "We both had our hearts stop..."
"Really? So that's why you lost..." Mephiles said without meaning for it to sound as blunt as it did to Dark, who flinched and growled deeply. Mephiles heard that and jumped back nervously, realizing just what it sounded like to Dark. "Whoa, calm down!" He had his hands up, palms out. "I didn't mean it like I was making fun of you or something. I meant that I didn't know what happened to you after that fight. Shadow and Rouge only told me what happened to me, which was bad enough as it was, since I was really badly hurt..."
"It would be nice if for one day..." Dark glared, folding his arms. "... Just one... that I could go through it without at least one reminder of my failures. Just one..."
"Why not focus on what you haven't failed at?" Mephiles asked shyly, not certain if Dark was serious or just relapsing a bit because of what he said.
"If you can think of one let me know... because I'm coming up a bit dry..."
Mephiles was silent. Dark raised a pretty good point. The only thing he seemed to be really good at was really being himself... and even at that, he just learned that he was wrong about that too...
Ouch...
"Y'know what would be a neat idea?" Mephiles said quickly, clapping his hands together once to bring back a more positive mood. "Since we're back at the house, and it's not too early in the day, we should see about checking on my Chaos. I have three of them, and I think one of them is halfway yours, since he has more your traits than mine..."
"The plural of Chao is Chao, by the way..."
"Eh?"
"It's like sheep, moose, and deer. The plural and singular are the same..."
"But everyone around here call them Chaos..."
"Then everyone is wrong..."
"Do you wanna see them or not?" Mephiles rolled his eyes. "Either way, I want to check on them. Krystal is very sensitive, so I'm sure she can't wait to see me too."
"You named a Chao after the stuff on your quills?"
"I didn't. I was unconscious at the time."
"What are the other ones?"
"Her brother, Sharpe, and Kai, who I picked up shortly before this whole thing started up..." Mephiles tapped his foot a bit. "But I'm serious... Shadow said we jumped three weeks ahead, and that's the longest they've been without me..."
"Is it still too bright out there?"
"It's afternoon."
"I really don't care much for light... makes my eyes burn..." Dark shook his head.
"Y'know... there's no harm in going outside."
"Other than retinal damage..."
"Oh, don't be such a baby." Mephiles turned around and headed for the door. "With or without you, I'm still going."
Dark was a bit stuck there. On one hand, he could stay there and not have to deal with adjusting to the sun outside, and on the other hand, he could go and avoid the possibility of a confrontation arising if he were to encounter Shadow...
"But...it hurts my eyes... I like the ability to see..." He argued feebly.
"Hold on." Mephiles disappeared out of the room for a moment and came back with a pair of dark lensed glasses and held them out. "Try these. They're sunglasses, and they're supposed to protect your eyes from the sun."
"Is it really that easy?" Dark raised an eyebrow as he examined them then tried them, only to take them back off. "They're too dark..."
"Because we're still inside. Seriously... genius IQ, and you don't even know how to put on-"
"Okay! I get it! Geeze!"
Later led to the two outside, unknowingly with a certain hedgehog watching carefully from afar.
Anyway, Dark had his back pressed to a tree to keep light contact to a minimum and was watching the reunion between a hedgehog and his Chaos... er... I mean Chao. Yeah, thanks Dark, for clearing that up. Oh, and a purple fox and her senile dog were there too.
"Rae? Did you get glasses?"
"Yeah." Rae blinked, as if this wasn't really something that was surprising. "What do you think? I had to look through a lot of frames to find a pair that really said..." She paused and took them off to hold them out to look at them. "Well, actually, they're inanimate, so if they did speak, I'm either losing my mind again, or the future just came early..." She put them back on. "Do you know how hard it is to keep Sharpe from trying to claw a scratch into the lenses? And these are a custom prescription... so that's not something I can replace easily..."
"I actually had no idea that you needed them."
"Yeah, funny story about that." Rae grinned and laughed. "Apparently my left eye is nearsighted because it's lazy eye... or whatever you call an offset one. Watch..." She focused her eyes on something stationary and straight ahead. "I heard that if you look closely, that the left one turns in a little, like it's a tiny bit off center." She blinked and looked back at him. "But not visibly by much. Usually only doctors can see it... So anyway, it's been doing that since I was little, and over time it's obscured my vision enough that I'm nearsighted in one eye. In fact, the right lense on the glasses is not concave or convex at all, since it's twenty twenty. But..." Rae said suddenly. "I like them because they look nice, and I've waited for a reason to have glasses since I was four. It's a functional accessory."
"Hmm..." Mephiles said slowly. "Well... have you noticed Dark over there?" He added.
"Huh-wha? Dark? As in the jerk who tried to kill my dog last time?" She widened her eyes and looked over at said jer- I mean, hedgehog... shaped... shadow thing. Gee... he needs a set species. "Isn't he your evil twin or something? Bent on destroying you, and something something... there can only be one?"
"Eh... yeah..."
"What's he doing here?" Rae tried to whisper, but seemed to fail at doing it right, since she tried lowering her voice, and still achieved clear volume. "I thought he died or something... melted, right?"
"Funny story right there, too." Mephiles then went on to explaining what happened, and all to the fox.
"So... he's not actually bad... and he broke his brain, so he wouldn't remember certain things, but goofed and somehow thought he needed to kill you..." Rae tried piecing together. "But now... he's good... and part of your family?"
"Well, not officially, since he won't accept the offer until Iblis is gone, since Iblis wants to kill me even more now..." Mephiles had his arms around Krystal, who was flailing her arms and legs a bit with a whine, as if she wasn't enjoying being held by her favorite person at all. "Huh? That's odd... Krystal, it's me, Mephy."
The Chao tried to push away from him, crying out in distress, as if she was scared or something to the effect of it.
"That's weird..." Rae said slowly, Jak sniffing around at Mephiles' feet, then tilting his head questioningly. "She didn't do that when you were gone. Huh?" She and Mephiles both realized that Kai and Sharpe were staring at their owner with puzzled looks, as if they didn't believe he was who they were told he was. "Whoa... maybe you've been away from them too long?"
"May-OUCH!" Mephiles cried out in pain suddenly and let go of his Chao, who scampered behind her brother, Mephiles having been bitten on the arm by her from under the eggshell hat. "Wha-what did... but..." He stuttered in shock, tearing up a little, not so much from being bitten, but by who. "K-kyrstal... bit me. Sh-she's never bitten me b-before..." He held his hand to the bite, wincing in pain a little from a sting. He watched in confusion, as well as everyone else present, as Krystal started bawling and throwing a Chao tantrum. "Wh-what's wrong with her?"
"I dunno. I've never seen her do that." Rae stepped away a bit, hating how awkward she was around upset people. She was always afraid she'd say the wrong thing or something, so she hoped she wasn't going to be asked much.
"Oh, no... what if she's sick?" Mephiles said, more worried about his Chao than the bite she gave him, now. "I've heard about Chao acting odd if they get sick. It's about the only way they can tell us since it's hard to find one who can talk... I should take her home right now and see if Shadow and Rouge know what to do..."
He reached down to pick her up, only for her to cry louder and claw at him frantically. And since one of her acquired physical traits from him was tiny crystal claws, that left a few marks on him.
"I can't calm her down!" Mephiles was bewildered. "She's never done this before, much less actually attack me!"
"May I try something?" Dark offered, knowing full well why the Chao was upset, and of course, Dark could not explain to him why.
"I don't think you'll fare any better than me right now..." Mephiles said grimly. "She doesn't even know you... so I don't think she'll be happy being handled by a stranger..."
"Can't be any worse than she is now, right?"
"Hrrrrmmmm..." Mephiles groaned and tried anyway. "Might as well... be careful, like I said, she's very sensitive..."
"If Chao absorb the traits of their owners, then she's just like you, right?"
"What are you saying?" Mephiles raised an eyebrow.
"Eh... if you trust me now, she's bound to follow your example..." Dark reasoned over the Chao's wails. Truth was, that wasn't going to work as fast, and that Krystal was having a fit because she was sensing Iblis' Aura in Mephiles, being a Chao and all... well... they have a connection to Chaos Energy, simply put. Sharpe and Kai were just confused, and poor Krystal felt the energy first up, and sadly, Dark suspected that the poor little Chao was an emotional wreck to begin with. "She could just be confused and upset as you leaving her for as long as you did, and with her seeing the both of us, perhaps that's causing her to have a meltdown because she thinks she sees two of you...." Dark was really making up a theory as he went along, but hoped there was logic to it. He reached over to pick her up, and Mephiles was astounded that she quieted down considerably.
Other than being grateful, however, he frowned and said levelly: "She's still my Chao..."
"I'm not taking her... I'm just helping..." Dark's ears shifted up a bit as if he was surprised by that response. "I really have no interest in a Chao of my own."
"But didn't Mephy say that Sharpe is, like... partly yours since he has some of your traits?" Rae said, having been silent since the Chao's tantrum intensified.
"Not helping, Rae."
"Sorry..."
Sharpe was looking up at Dark and Krystal before exchanging a look with Kai and Jak, all of whom were thinking the same thing the fox and the hedgehog hadn't given a thought about.
Through a bit of body language common among the Chao, with a few coos and whatnot that Chao annunciate, which translated roughly to what Jak could pick up on, if we were to translate it, it might be along the lines of this:
I don't get it... it's Dad, but it's not Dad... Sharpe told Kai. He's supposed to be giving off calm vibes, but there's something else there...
What about that guy there? Kai looked in Dark's direction. He looks kinda like Mephy, but he's got too much Chaos coming from him, like he makes more than he can hold.
I think that's that Dark person. Dad had some trouble with him before you were picked up... Sharpe explained. Krystal and I never saw him til now, but we've heard all sorts of things about him...
Is he nice?
Well, that's the problem there... I remember hearing that he was pretty mean, and he made Dad do a bunch of bad things...
Well, what's he doing here and holding your sister then!? Kai's emotion dot above his head turned into an exclamation point.
I dunno, but he seems a lot different than what I've heard. Sharpe tilted his head and looked up at Krystal. Hey, sis! What's he feel like?
Wh-who?
That guy that's holding you. Is he good or bad?
Uh... w-well... he's got too much energy, b-but it's pretty calm right now... Krystal was glad that her eggshell was hiding everything but her eyes, and so was hiding her scared expression. But Daddy has something that's hiding in his glowy th-thing... it's not very nice...
Well, that's because he's something hiding in his mind... They all heard Jak add, who circled around Rae's feet unnoticed, sniffing at the ground with his nose nearly pressed to it, trying to pick up a scent then followed it to make his way to both boy Chao. I can't see it, but it's not the same color, and it's doing a good job at hiding from the Mobian ability to sense them...
Since when can you sense Auras? Sharpe's dot shaped a question mark as he frowned and sidestepped a bit while Jak seated between the two as Mephiles continued to find every reason he could to see why Krystal was being so upset, all the while Dark giving his insight to try and make it as simple as possible, hoping someone would catch one to his messages he was leaving in tone of voice and word choice. Sadly, Dark was way too smart for the rest of the world here, so it easily got overlooked, much to his displeasure. That's why no one knew three Chao and a dog were figuring this mystery out as well.
Long time. Very helpful too... That's how I knew Rae was trying to help me when she met me... Jak shifted his head around, trying to see which Chao was talking to him. The purple Auras are always nice... the red ones are often misunderstood and tend to be angry because of that...
What color are you seeing?
There's an orange one flickering in there... fire like.
What's orange?
I honestly don't know... never seen another one like it... Jak admitted. But just how fire like it is is making this something to be worried about...
Is it Dad's?
No... I don't think so... Mephiles has always had purple... That's why I like him so much, because I knew he was good...
Just a question, old man. Sharpe said skeptically. How come you can see them, but you have trouble seeing for real?
I believe you answered that before you asked... Jak sneezed. I'm old. It's the only way I can find my way around here, because I know who has what.
Well, then what's mine, if I have one? Kai asked, very curious. Do Chao have Auras?
You are an Aura. Well, no. You're a Chao, and that means that you have a direct link to Chaos itself.
Wha?
Before that subject could go any further, the Chao and the dog were all picked up and taken back to their homes, the Mobians having finished the conversation as Mephiles decided that he should just bring the Chao back home. To his annoyance, Sharpe and Kai were preferring to hover next to him instead of every taking their usual perches on him.
"I've never seen that happen before!" Mephiles told Shadow, following behind him closely around the kitchen as the black hedgehog tried maneuvering around him as he gathered ingredients for the directions on the box of noodles. "I mean, she even bit me! Me! And- Hey, whatcha gonna make?"
"I figured I'd try an idea here, and make something that's going to make everyone happy..." Shadow looked at the box, stared for a moment, shrugged and said: "Do we still have any tomato sauce? I don't feel like making that from scratch..."
"I think it's at the top of the pantry..." Mephiles pointed. "But anyway... I dunno what happened, and what's even weirder is that she calmed down when Dark held her..."
"Say that again?"
"Top pantry?"
"No, the last part."
"When Dark held her?"
"Yeah, that..." Shadow cursed to himself when he saw just how far the top shelf was, again, his short, average Mobian size causing a problem. "Can you find a stool or something? I don't feel like trying to climb the shelves..."
"Like that time at that gift shop?"
"You remember that?" Shadow looked over his shoulder. "But, that was when Dark was still..."
"Oh, he told me about that one. It sounds kinda funny..."
"Nothing funny about being banned from a gift shop for a year..." Shadow sighed. "And like I said, those plushies just caught of fire themselves..."
"I don't even see how that was possible..."
"I was having a bad day... found that stool yet?"
"Got a chair..."
"It'll work..." Shadow got the jar of spaghetti sauce and set it down. "Anyway, I figured that I can just make the noodles, then heat the sauce up, get some meat for it and set it aside, that way we all can add in what we want, and Dark won't have to complain. Oh, and this is milk free..."
"Perfect!"
"So tell me again about earlier with Krystal?"
Dark, who had been listening on the other side of the wall, sighed and decided to wait by taking a better look into this thing they called... TV.
It was easy enough to figure out how to turn it on, and even easier how to use the remote.
Several channel flips and he landed on something that caught his interest.
"Hello, Gotham. Joker's back in town!" It was animated and a rather insane looking and sounding clown guy announced to a crowd as an old guy stared at him in shock.
Dark looked from side to side before cracking a smile and decided to give it a try.
"This looks interesting..."
Yeah, Dark. It is. If you can guess the movie it's from, then good eye ^^
So, the Chao, Jak and Rae made a reappearance, and something goes on.
Of course, I've observed Chao behavior in the games, so try to imagine it like that, with the way Krystal was freaking out.
Heh, The Chao and Jak got "speaking" parts. I was looking for a slight bit of humor there.
Also, might I add that I thought the Rouge and Dark scene was interesting, because that's probably the longest the both of them have spoken to each other, and it all starts with Rouge yanking him out of the hall then slamming him into a wall. Obviously, Dark thought something else was going on for a moment XD
