Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I know. "Why didn't you post the next chapter up sooner?!" is what you're
probably thinking. Well, here's an answer for you.
Life sucks.
There ya go! (You probably have the same problem. Don't worry, we all do.)
In other words, school has started, and I'll TRY to write more.
Blackspeed_Mistress
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Disclaimer: My life sucks. Oh, wait a minute, I already told you that. Ok then! One of the REASONS why
my life sucks is because I'm friggin' poor! It means I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. I only own Marika,
Bradley Robotnik, Airam, Faith, Youma, Rapture, Damein, and Doreen. Are you happy now?
One Fatal Mistake
Knuckles the Echidna slowly leaned on the pillar of his shrine. He sighed contentedly and closed his eyes.
His little adventure is done, and he was mighty grateful for it. Oh sure, he loves adventuring as much as the
next person, but it takes a lot out of you. Especially the last adventure. That adventure was just plain odd.
It started out normal enough. He was discussing with a bat about why it was not the best choice to take the
master emerald. She insisted that it was hers to keep. Eggman came, tried to take the emerald away, forcing
him to break it He had to search in a canyon, a mountain filled with ghosts, and water filled mines. Then he
just HAD to meet up with Sonic and co. who where after Eggman. So he ended up searching a pyramid
and a space colony as well.
Sigh…anything to protect the master emerald from evil. He really needs a vacation.
Knuckles instantly thought of a plan. Why not take the emerald with him? He can shrink it down to size,
put it in his pocket, and leave for a nice long vacation! But then Angel Island would fall out of the sky and
he'd have to come back. Damn.
The Echidna settled for a nap instead of a vacation in hopes that he won't be going on an adventure for a
long time. Of course, his well-deserved nap was cut short by yet another seeker of the emerald.
"So this is the legendary Master Emerald. My, what a horrible place to put it!"
Knuckles shot up and growled. The intruder was a man with black hair and armor. His steel gray eyes
silently mocked the guardian while he smirked.
"Who are you?"
"Oh? You must be the guardian. How pitiful."
Knuckles growled again as the man walked up to the emerald.
"Unfortunately, I don't have time for you. Bye!"
He touched the emerald and Knuckles dove for him. But to his surprise, nothing was there.
He sighed again in frustration. Not only was the emerald taken, but he also had no clue where to look.
What a wonderful vacation.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Marika and Maria headed down the busy street in despair. With Shadow out of the hospital, they had no
way of knowing where he was. What's worse is that they had to walk back to Marika's house! It took an
hour to get there, and they were only halfway through. The blue-green cat lazily yawned.
"I'm bored." She thought while surveying the area. A sky blue two-story building caught her eye. The cute
little teardrop face stood out amongst the rest of the signs.
"Oh! Maria, do you mind if we go in there," She pointed to the building for the blonde to see. "for a while?
I didn't get to go in yesterday and they'll probably be mad at me if I didn't go in today."
"I don't mind." She replied. Marika smiled and led her to the lobby. A house cat sitting at the desk was
sowing a piece of cloth when they came in.
"Hello Doreen!" Marika chirped. The cat jumped at her voice and sat up.
"Gracious me!" She said, startled. Fixing her glasses, she looked at her guests. "Oh, hello Marika! My, you
scared me! Any louder and my head would have hit the roof!" She chuckled and set down her sewing work
as she glanced at Maria in the back. "It's been such a busy week!" She proclaimed and settled back down.
Her eyes shifted to Marika again.
"Thank goodness you came today. Kia was throwing a fit and poor Tom had to calm her down."
Marika smiled. "Thanks Doreen."
The elder cat tossed her a blue key and once again continued her sewing.
"Good luck child. Kia will be so happy to see you!"
The two continued up a flight of stairs and into a room filled with transporters. Marika placed the key in a
hidden panel when Maria stepped on it. They were instantly transported to another room.
"I'm going to go in there," Marika said while pointing to the gray doorway in front of them. "You're
welcome to go anywhere you like, just as long as you don't leave without me, k?" Maria nodded and
Marika took off.
She looked at her surroundings, trying to take it all in. The place was decorated with bronze supports
holding the starry roof, a set of glass stairs leading to a golden archway. In the middle, the walls were
crystal clear glass, looking as if they were in space. The glass floor reflected the roof, only with shades of
dark red, giving it a gloomy look. Glass stairs led down from the floor and stopped at a dark granite
archway with purple flames lit. A blue archway on the first level made the point clear that it led to the chao
kindergarten. She had yet to know what chao were.
Figuring that the whole room represented the afterworld, she headed for the upstairs. She eyed the archway
suspiciously.
"How am I supposed to walk in without falling down?" She thought out loud. Maria stretched her arm into
the archway. Her whole arm disappeared! She slowly walked in and found herself in a little utopia. Cute
little creatures roamed around, each with a halo floating on its head. A few of them were lined up by the
pond. One of the little creatures waved a flag and they dove into the water. They all were nearly tied until a
creature with dragon wings and a phoenix tail swam ahead of the rest and made it to the other side. It
crawled out and cheered for the others. They all made it to the other side in a matter of seconds. She
smiled as all of them cheered for finishing the race. All of them moved away, except for one. It had a spike
ball floating above its head, with two spines pointing back. The spines were adorned with flames as well as
his arms and legs. A yellow crescent moon stood out on its black stomach. It approached the dragon
winged one and spoke.
"I know you cheated! If you hadn't, I would have won! Cheater! You give chao a bad name!" Maria was
surprised that they could actually talk. The other calmly replied back.
" I not cheat, Oni. Dragons taught me using dragon wings for swimming."
"Dragons? I bet you lived with dogs!" Oni jeered. The other's eyes flashed dangerously.
"What you say?" The other chao started crowding around.
"You lived with dogs! Airam's a dog! Airam's a dog!" Airam growled dangerously.
"At least I wasn't born stupid spineless wimp. Those who challenge dragon honor are fools." Oni threw a
punch at her, but she merely dodged and glared at him.
"That's it! I challenge you in a karate battle tomorrow! You'll regret calling me a spineless wimp!"
Oni huffed away, past Maria and through the exit. The crowd dissipated and the chao named Airam swam
toward the little island in the middle of the pool.
Maria sat by the edge and inspected Airam a bit. The chao was sitting under the fountain of water, looking
at the sky. She sat up all the sudden and hid behind where the water gushed out.
"Are you okay?" Maria quietly asked. Airam meekly peeked her head out.
"Human watching me. What do you want?"
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have stared at you like that. It's just that I haven't really seen a chao before."
"Haven't seen chao before?" Airam repeated. She nodded and the chao emerged from her hiding place.
"My name is Maria." She introduced herself. Airam swam across yet again and climbed to her side. She
intently stared at the human before her for a few seconds and smiled.
"You my friend friend!"
Confused of Airam's repeated word, she decided that it was her way of saying friend.
"Want to play game with me?"
"Okay, what kind of game?"
Airam pattered over to a tree, and pulled out some cards from a small hole in the trunk. She shuffled the
deck to the best of her ability. Separating the cards in three piles, she wiped off the excess dirt off them.
Two of them were slightly smaller, and the larger was placed on the ground. She placed one of the smaller
piles in her hand.
"We play old maid!" They played the game while talking. Airam told her about her life with dragons and
some of her little adventures. Airam just put the cards away when another person came in and whistled.
A chao with a shiny white coat and condor wings ran toward him. Airam hid behind her.
"Are you afraid of humans?" Airam made an indignant face.
"Humans no good. Take me away to garden. Take friends somewhere else."
"Are all the other chao like that too?"
"All chao in garden were born and raised by humans. They don't think humans are dangerous."
"Well, it seems like the chao are happy." Airam shook her head.
"I watch humans. Some good, some bad. Good owners treat chao nicely. Chao grow up to be angel chao.
Bad owners hurt chao. Chao become mean, and turn to be devil chao, like Oni."
Maria remembered the downstairs entrance in the room where her and Marika split up.
"Why don't they take the chao away from the owner?"
"Cause it depends on personality too. Can't tell the difference."
"Then what is the garden in the middle for?"
"For chao that are just born or neutral chao."
"So you don't like humans because of that?"
"Don't like humans because of what they take away."
The way Airam thought about humans reminded her of Shadow after-
"Maria!"
A blue-green cat approached her and Airam.
"I see you made a little friend! Come on, it's time to go." Maria nodded and stood up.
"I'll see you tomorrow, alright Airam?"
"Okay. Bye bye!"
The two girls walked back to Marika's house. As they entered the living room, Marika looked at the clock
sitting on the end table. The bright red glowing letters read 4:59 p.m., reminding her that it was almost
time to eat. She thought of a slight problem.
"Maria, do you have any place to sleep for the night?"
The girl froze, realizing that there was no place for her to go.
"Not…really…"
"That's okay! I'll go ask grandpa if you can stay here!"
"But I don't want to intrude or anything-"
"Don't worry!" Marika said, pulling her into the kitchen, " It'll be fun! We haven't had any visitors in a
while, I'm sure grandpa will agree."
The elderly man walked into the kitchen from the back door. In his hands was a basket full of fresh
vegetables. He set the basket on the counter and began washing the produce.
"Hello Marika, Maria! How was your day?"
"Okay," Marika replied. "Can Maria stay at our house until we find Sonic?"
The old man thought about it for a minute, then agreed.
"Alright. Show her around the house then."
The cat jumped for joy and led her to the stairs.
"Marika, please bring down my pocket knife!" The old man called. Marika yelled an OK and continued the
tour. She led them up the stairs and down a hallway.
"You'll be staying in my room, which is right here." She said while opening the door.
Marika's room looked like something from a magazine. The walls were a turquoise color that reflected the
sky blue carpet. Marika's bed stood in the corner by the open window with pastel blue curtains. A dresser
littered with small trinkets and stuffed animals sat by the right wall. A picture of her and her grandfather
hung on the opposite side. She closed the door and continued on.
They passed a door on the right and Marika went into the next room. It was a simple room, with an end
table on one side and a dresser on the other. The bed stood in the middle. Marika opened the drawer in the
end table and shoved a few of its contents around.
"This is Grandpa's room. Wait a minute, I gotta find his pocket knife." She closed the drawer, unaware that
a pocket knife dropped out, and proceeded to the dresser. Maria picked it up and was about to claim she
found it when she saw something on the end table. There was three framed pictures sitting there. One was
of him and Marika when she was younger, one of what Maria thought to be his parents, and one she
thought she would never see.
She almost dropped the pocket knife out of shock.
The picture she was gazing at was of herself and her grandfather, before the ARK incident.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Author's Note: Sorry if my ramblings had put you off in the deep end, but my mom told me that I shouldn't
be writing fanfiction! I got PISSED after that. So now I'm hoping to get back on track. Just a little question,
do you think how to kick the bucket would be a good essay topic? No, I'm serious…. Don't look at me that
way! Screw it, This is Blackspeed_Mistress, signing off!
probably thinking. Well, here's an answer for you.
Life sucks.
There ya go! (You probably have the same problem. Don't worry, we all do.)
In other words, school has started, and I'll TRY to write more.
Blackspeed_Mistress
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Disclaimer: My life sucks. Oh, wait a minute, I already told you that. Ok then! One of the REASONS why
my life sucks is because I'm friggin' poor! It means I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. I only own Marika,
Bradley Robotnik, Airam, Faith, Youma, Rapture, Damein, and Doreen. Are you happy now?
One Fatal Mistake
Knuckles the Echidna slowly leaned on the pillar of his shrine. He sighed contentedly and closed his eyes.
His little adventure is done, and he was mighty grateful for it. Oh sure, he loves adventuring as much as the
next person, but it takes a lot out of you. Especially the last adventure. That adventure was just plain odd.
It started out normal enough. He was discussing with a bat about why it was not the best choice to take the
master emerald. She insisted that it was hers to keep. Eggman came, tried to take the emerald away, forcing
him to break it He had to search in a canyon, a mountain filled with ghosts, and water filled mines. Then he
just HAD to meet up with Sonic and co. who where after Eggman. So he ended up searching a pyramid
and a space colony as well.
Sigh…anything to protect the master emerald from evil. He really needs a vacation.
Knuckles instantly thought of a plan. Why not take the emerald with him? He can shrink it down to size,
put it in his pocket, and leave for a nice long vacation! But then Angel Island would fall out of the sky and
he'd have to come back. Damn.
The Echidna settled for a nap instead of a vacation in hopes that he won't be going on an adventure for a
long time. Of course, his well-deserved nap was cut short by yet another seeker of the emerald.
"So this is the legendary Master Emerald. My, what a horrible place to put it!"
Knuckles shot up and growled. The intruder was a man with black hair and armor. His steel gray eyes
silently mocked the guardian while he smirked.
"Who are you?"
"Oh? You must be the guardian. How pitiful."
Knuckles growled again as the man walked up to the emerald.
"Unfortunately, I don't have time for you. Bye!"
He touched the emerald and Knuckles dove for him. But to his surprise, nothing was there.
He sighed again in frustration. Not only was the emerald taken, but he also had no clue where to look.
What a wonderful vacation.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Marika and Maria headed down the busy street in despair. With Shadow out of the hospital, they had no
way of knowing where he was. What's worse is that they had to walk back to Marika's house! It took an
hour to get there, and they were only halfway through. The blue-green cat lazily yawned.
"I'm bored." She thought while surveying the area. A sky blue two-story building caught her eye. The cute
little teardrop face stood out amongst the rest of the signs.
"Oh! Maria, do you mind if we go in there," She pointed to the building for the blonde to see. "for a while?
I didn't get to go in yesterday and they'll probably be mad at me if I didn't go in today."
"I don't mind." She replied. Marika smiled and led her to the lobby. A house cat sitting at the desk was
sowing a piece of cloth when they came in.
"Hello Doreen!" Marika chirped. The cat jumped at her voice and sat up.
"Gracious me!" She said, startled. Fixing her glasses, she looked at her guests. "Oh, hello Marika! My, you
scared me! Any louder and my head would have hit the roof!" She chuckled and set down her sewing work
as she glanced at Maria in the back. "It's been such a busy week!" She proclaimed and settled back down.
Her eyes shifted to Marika again.
"Thank goodness you came today. Kia was throwing a fit and poor Tom had to calm her down."
Marika smiled. "Thanks Doreen."
The elder cat tossed her a blue key and once again continued her sewing.
"Good luck child. Kia will be so happy to see you!"
The two continued up a flight of stairs and into a room filled with transporters. Marika placed the key in a
hidden panel when Maria stepped on it. They were instantly transported to another room.
"I'm going to go in there," Marika said while pointing to the gray doorway in front of them. "You're
welcome to go anywhere you like, just as long as you don't leave without me, k?" Maria nodded and
Marika took off.
She looked at her surroundings, trying to take it all in. The place was decorated with bronze supports
holding the starry roof, a set of glass stairs leading to a golden archway. In the middle, the walls were
crystal clear glass, looking as if they were in space. The glass floor reflected the roof, only with shades of
dark red, giving it a gloomy look. Glass stairs led down from the floor and stopped at a dark granite
archway with purple flames lit. A blue archway on the first level made the point clear that it led to the chao
kindergarten. She had yet to know what chao were.
Figuring that the whole room represented the afterworld, she headed for the upstairs. She eyed the archway
suspiciously.
"How am I supposed to walk in without falling down?" She thought out loud. Maria stretched her arm into
the archway. Her whole arm disappeared! She slowly walked in and found herself in a little utopia. Cute
little creatures roamed around, each with a halo floating on its head. A few of them were lined up by the
pond. One of the little creatures waved a flag and they dove into the water. They all were nearly tied until a
creature with dragon wings and a phoenix tail swam ahead of the rest and made it to the other side. It
crawled out and cheered for the others. They all made it to the other side in a matter of seconds. She
smiled as all of them cheered for finishing the race. All of them moved away, except for one. It had a spike
ball floating above its head, with two spines pointing back. The spines were adorned with flames as well as
his arms and legs. A yellow crescent moon stood out on its black stomach. It approached the dragon
winged one and spoke.
"I know you cheated! If you hadn't, I would have won! Cheater! You give chao a bad name!" Maria was
surprised that they could actually talk. The other calmly replied back.
" I not cheat, Oni. Dragons taught me using dragon wings for swimming."
"Dragons? I bet you lived with dogs!" Oni jeered. The other's eyes flashed dangerously.
"What you say?" The other chao started crowding around.
"You lived with dogs! Airam's a dog! Airam's a dog!" Airam growled dangerously.
"At least I wasn't born stupid spineless wimp. Those who challenge dragon honor are fools." Oni threw a
punch at her, but she merely dodged and glared at him.
"That's it! I challenge you in a karate battle tomorrow! You'll regret calling me a spineless wimp!"
Oni huffed away, past Maria and through the exit. The crowd dissipated and the chao named Airam swam
toward the little island in the middle of the pool.
Maria sat by the edge and inspected Airam a bit. The chao was sitting under the fountain of water, looking
at the sky. She sat up all the sudden and hid behind where the water gushed out.
"Are you okay?" Maria quietly asked. Airam meekly peeked her head out.
"Human watching me. What do you want?"
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have stared at you like that. It's just that I haven't really seen a chao before."
"Haven't seen chao before?" Airam repeated. She nodded and the chao emerged from her hiding place.
"My name is Maria." She introduced herself. Airam swam across yet again and climbed to her side. She
intently stared at the human before her for a few seconds and smiled.
"You my friend friend!"
Confused of Airam's repeated word, she decided that it was her way of saying friend.
"Want to play game with me?"
"Okay, what kind of game?"
Airam pattered over to a tree, and pulled out some cards from a small hole in the trunk. She shuffled the
deck to the best of her ability. Separating the cards in three piles, she wiped off the excess dirt off them.
Two of them were slightly smaller, and the larger was placed on the ground. She placed one of the smaller
piles in her hand.
"We play old maid!" They played the game while talking. Airam told her about her life with dragons and
some of her little adventures. Airam just put the cards away when another person came in and whistled.
A chao with a shiny white coat and condor wings ran toward him. Airam hid behind her.
"Are you afraid of humans?" Airam made an indignant face.
"Humans no good. Take me away to garden. Take friends somewhere else."
"Are all the other chao like that too?"
"All chao in garden were born and raised by humans. They don't think humans are dangerous."
"Well, it seems like the chao are happy." Airam shook her head.
"I watch humans. Some good, some bad. Good owners treat chao nicely. Chao grow up to be angel chao.
Bad owners hurt chao. Chao become mean, and turn to be devil chao, like Oni."
Maria remembered the downstairs entrance in the room where her and Marika split up.
"Why don't they take the chao away from the owner?"
"Cause it depends on personality too. Can't tell the difference."
"Then what is the garden in the middle for?"
"For chao that are just born or neutral chao."
"So you don't like humans because of that?"
"Don't like humans because of what they take away."
The way Airam thought about humans reminded her of Shadow after-
"Maria!"
A blue-green cat approached her and Airam.
"I see you made a little friend! Come on, it's time to go." Maria nodded and stood up.
"I'll see you tomorrow, alright Airam?"
"Okay. Bye bye!"
The two girls walked back to Marika's house. As they entered the living room, Marika looked at the clock
sitting on the end table. The bright red glowing letters read 4:59 p.m., reminding her that it was almost
time to eat. She thought of a slight problem.
"Maria, do you have any place to sleep for the night?"
The girl froze, realizing that there was no place for her to go.
"Not…really…"
"That's okay! I'll go ask grandpa if you can stay here!"
"But I don't want to intrude or anything-"
"Don't worry!" Marika said, pulling her into the kitchen, " It'll be fun! We haven't had any visitors in a
while, I'm sure grandpa will agree."
The elderly man walked into the kitchen from the back door. In his hands was a basket full of fresh
vegetables. He set the basket on the counter and began washing the produce.
"Hello Marika, Maria! How was your day?"
"Okay," Marika replied. "Can Maria stay at our house until we find Sonic?"
The old man thought about it for a minute, then agreed.
"Alright. Show her around the house then."
The cat jumped for joy and led her to the stairs.
"Marika, please bring down my pocket knife!" The old man called. Marika yelled an OK and continued the
tour. She led them up the stairs and down a hallway.
"You'll be staying in my room, which is right here." She said while opening the door.
Marika's room looked like something from a magazine. The walls were a turquoise color that reflected the
sky blue carpet. Marika's bed stood in the corner by the open window with pastel blue curtains. A dresser
littered with small trinkets and stuffed animals sat by the right wall. A picture of her and her grandfather
hung on the opposite side. She closed the door and continued on.
They passed a door on the right and Marika went into the next room. It was a simple room, with an end
table on one side and a dresser on the other. The bed stood in the middle. Marika opened the drawer in the
end table and shoved a few of its contents around.
"This is Grandpa's room. Wait a minute, I gotta find his pocket knife." She closed the drawer, unaware that
a pocket knife dropped out, and proceeded to the dresser. Maria picked it up and was about to claim she
found it when she saw something on the end table. There was three framed pictures sitting there. One was
of him and Marika when she was younger, one of what Maria thought to be his parents, and one she
thought she would never see.
She almost dropped the pocket knife out of shock.
The picture she was gazing at was of herself and her grandfather, before the ARK incident.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Author's Note: Sorry if my ramblings had put you off in the deep end, but my mom told me that I shouldn't
be writing fanfiction! I got PISSED after that. So now I'm hoping to get back on track. Just a little question,
do you think how to kick the bucket would be a good essay topic? No, I'm serious…. Don't look at me that
way! Screw it, This is Blackspeed_Mistress, signing off!