"I can sense one, Tails."
Tails looked behind him at the red, glowing light following. He raised an eyebrow.
"You can?" he asked, twitching one of his ears. "How?" Tikal laughed, the light pulsating slightly with her vocalizations.
"I can just feel it," she said. "I'm a spirit, you know. I can see things you can't." Tails muttered darkly.
"I wish I could sense stuff…'cause then if I had, then no one would have gotten captured…" he said, slightly accusatory. Tikal's light glowed angrily, brighter then before.
"You're going to get nowhere blaming yourself for all this!" she cried, her light seeming to bristle. "You have to accept what happened! You have to know that this is what was meant for you! You always wanted to be a hero, and now you have your chance to prove it!" She grew larger and flew right up to him, making him wince and advert his eyes.
"And you're NOT going to get anywhere feeling guilty about the past!" she shouted, her light exploding all around him. Tails let out a gasp and then sighed sadly. She had gotten so mad at him she'd killed her own spirit…how could he do such a thing—
"What are you doing just standing there?!" came Tikal's voice from behind him again. Tails squealed and whirled around, and there she was, standing before him with her hands on her hips.
"There's a young fox about a mile from here. She found an emerald, and we have to get it from her before she can do anything evil with it," she stated, turning back into her light. "Follow me, Tails."
Tails stared after the light flying in front of him, shocked. How did she DO that?! He shook his head and walked after her, bemused.
"I sure hope she's right," he muttered to himself under his breath. "Or else, we're going to be in big trouble…"
~*~
There was not a soul in sight. Just the shimmering beauty of the lake and the nature that surrounded it. Nothing really out of the ordinary. A mouse skittered out of the loam, its nose twitching, trying to find some food. Catching eye of something, it ran over to a tree, sending the pine needles on the ground flying in its haste to make its way over there. Suddenly, however, it skidded to a halt, breathing rapidly. There was someone by the tree.
The mouse regarded this character intently. It was a young fox, clad in nothing but a pair of blue shoes and gloves. It had its eyes closed, with its back up against the tree, and it looked rather peaceful. The mouse thought about it for a few minutes and then cautiously crept forward, it's eyes now on nothing but the acorn at its feet. Right as it was about to obtain its prize, however, the fox stirred and fluttered it's eyes open.
"Mmm…" it moaned contentedly, stretching a bit. "That was a nice nap…"
The mouse was frozen in fear, the acorn clutched tightly between its paws, hoping it wouldn't be noticed by this big…thing. Unfortunately for it, however, the fox stood up to stretch some more, stepping right on its tail. Unable to take it, it let out a squeal of pain and tried to run for it. The fox gasped and looked down, it's large, sea green eyes widening.
"Oh my…" it said, and picked the mouse up gently. "I'm sorry, you poor little thing…"
The mouse stared at it, a confused look passing through its eyes as the fox stroked its head. No one had ever been nice to him before…
The fox let out a giggle and cuddled him to its chest, further confusing the small creature.
"Don't worry, mouse…Arielle will take good care of you!" the fox, now known as Arielle, exclaimed. "You can sit over here with me next to this pretty rock I found…I'm sure you'd like that, wouldn't you?"
The mouse blinked and looked at her blankly as she carried him over to the tree she was at before, placing him on top of a pale blue stone. She smiled down at him and patted his head, leaning back against the tree again.
"I'm glad that I found you," she said, sighing a little bit. "I was getting so lonely out here…"
The mouse, however, wasn't listening. It took advantage of the young fox's distractions and made a hasty getaway, racing as far away as he could. Arielle lifted her head and looked towards where the mouse was, and then sighed again when she saw it was gone.
"Aw, man…" she murmured sadly. "This bites." She turned to the stone and held it in her hand, awed by it.
"At least I still have you," she said. "Such a nice, shiny rock…"
~*~
"Right there…can you see it?"
Tails looked through the canopy of the tree and gasped, nearly loosing his balance.
"I do! I see it!" he cried, staring at the Chaos Emerald in the fox's hand. "I wonder where she got it from…" Tikal, in her light form, soared down from the tree and continued along the ground in the direction of the fox.
"No time to waste on questions!" she cried. "We have to get that Emerald before anything happens!" She started to go on without him as Tails scaled down the tree, cursing his injured tail.
"Stupid tail…" he muttered, carefully placing his feet on the branches that would support his weight. He looked out at the young fox again and shook his head.
"I don't think she'd use anything for evil…but…I guess you never know," he said to himself, finally reaching the ground and running after his friend.
"Hey, Tikal! Wait for me…"