Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except for the ones not
recognized as being in the Sonic universe.
A/N: Yes, I know you are all glaring at me right now. Heh heh, sooo sorry! Again you must please forgive me, I had a nasty case of writer's block (Blame my muse..wait I've never introduced him so you can't o_0 .oh wellz. ^_^;;;) and I had some unjust problems with FF.Net so I was kinda on strike as a retaliation. *shrug* Anyway, thank you to all those who care and I tried to make this chapter extra long as a way of saying I'm sorry.
As The Years Go By....
Chapter Five: Discovery
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'I thought it was going to be fun....' Sonic thought sulkily as he stared at his teacher explaining something called the alphabet for the third time. When they had first arrived in the morning he was very excited and intrigued by the bright room and various objects but now it wasn't even midday yet and everything was already considered old and boring. He began to shift again as he sat looking around for anything interesting to look at.
"Stop it Sonic...stay still." his sister hissed at him from her spot next to him.
The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes but actually listened and sat still...at least for the time being while Amy was paying attention to him.
There were only seven children in this kindergarten class but with the times they were living in it wasn't surprising. It made the classroom more spacious since there was only one large round table serving as the desk for all seven children. Amy sat to Sonic's right while Shadow sat to his left and Knuckles sat to Shadow's left as well.
To Amy's right there was a black cat with gray eyes and a white diamond on his forehead. Next to him as ironic as it sounded was a chestnut colored dog with light brown eyes as well and on her other side was a young bear with black fur and a tan muzzle. His black eyes seemed angry whenever he looked at any of the others making them want to avoid eye contact with him.
"Okay children so let's see what you have learned today! Sing along with me now.... A, B, C, D..."
The children sang along knowingly they had already heard the song twice already in the morning this was only review. Sonic barely sang along but made sure he made his voice strong as they reached the end. "...Next time won't you sing with me!"
Shadow raised his hand as they had been taught earlier in the day as well. Mrs.Spinoza smiled warmly at him and his confused look. "Yes Shadow?"
"Um.... Mrs. S? If we are all singing together already why do you ask us to sing with you next time? Didn't you hear us?"
The middle-aged mongoose's smile brightened at his innocence as she responded. "No dear, I heard you, it's just part of the song."
"Oh."
"Um hm..... now class who here knows how to count?"
Seven tiny hands rose into the air and their teacher nodded approvingly. "Okay so let me hear you count, go ahead Knuckles you can start."
"Okay...um.... 1.2.3...um...4...5...6.um...10?"
"Not bad, you did very well. Keep going children I want to hear all of you."
"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,13,24,15." The black bear said proudly with a smug look on his face.
"Um, well you skipped a lot of numbers there but very good otherwise Derek."
"1,2,3,4...um.... what did they say? Oh yeah...5!"
Mrs. Spinoza couldn't help but chuckle a little as she nodded and praised the cat. "Good Onyx."
The dog, Misty had gotten correctly and gone as far as to the number eight while Knuckle's siblings knew
as much as him. Their teacher was pleased and gave them all a lesson on how to count to ten properly. After a while she could tell they had gotten restless having sat still all day so far. "I think it is time to do something different. This is a free period now children. You may get up and play with any of the toys in this room or read any of the books."
The children cheered with happiness as they leapt from their seats, especially Sonic who had already leapt up after hearing the words "free period". Amy shyly made her way over to the only other girl in the room. "Hi Misty...um...wanna go play with the blocks with me?"
Amy's nervous disappeared as soon as she saw how friendly the little dog was. Her curled tail wagged happily as she responded. "Sure! Let's go!"
Onyx sat calmly as he began to sculpt things with the bucket of play dough he had acquired. Knuckles cringed at the sight of the play dough and quietly told of him of the incident he and his sister had undergone when they were even younger. Onyx laughed and asked him to join in.
Sonic and Shadow began working on a toy track they had so that their toy cars could be placed on it making them race and do crazy things. Derek had been left out from any of these activities. It wasn't because the other children wanted to be cruel, but they had been intimidated by him and were uneasy about approaching him. However he had taken it the wrong way and reacted the way any other left out kid would.... if they had a tantrum.
Derek had been looking at the pictures of a book but the other children's laughter and enjoyment began to irritate him, mostly because he wasn't a part of it. His adoptive mother knew he wasn't good with keeping his displeasure to himself and he was about to demonstrate it to the others. He became like a hurricane destroying everything in his path.
"Hey!" was the shout he heard from both Onyx and Knuckles as he passed by and squashed all the different colors of the clay together making it one giant rainbow ball of clay.
The shout of indignation was the same from both Sonic and Shadow as he threw their cars under the railing of the heater. Amy was enraged as Misty broke down into tears when he came by and demolished the castle they had only just finished building to perfection.
There was a moment of silence before all six children came to the same conclusion..." I'm telling!!" they shouted at almost the same exact time as they raced over to their new teacher.
Needless to say, their teacher was overwhelmed when all of them bombarded her with their complaints, but one thing was clear, there was only one person they were complaining about.
"Derek, come here please."
The bear came to her obediently but there was a challenging look in his eyes. She ignored this and escorted
him out of the classroom to speak with him, telling the others that she would be right outside and that they still had their free time.
The nuisance gone the children got back to their activities but Onyx and Knuckles joined the other boys since their activity was the most ruined. Amy and Misty started to rebuild their castle while Sonic and Shadow got new cars from a basket kept on a shelf. Knuckles and Onyx grabbed two of their own and joined in as well, all of them "racing" with them. After a few minutes however, the girls were discouraged with the way their new castle was coming out and wanted to join the boys.
"Can we play?" Misty boldly asked.
"But it's for boys." Onyx answered quite confused, his sisters were older than him and never showed any interest in his games.
"Okay, so then come play with us!"
Sonic raised a suspicious brow at this; he knew Amy's ways to well. "No way Amy, I don't think anyone here wants to play house."
Her remaining two brothers heard these horrible words and quickly shook their heads in agreement. "You are not making me the husband again!" Sonic added.
"And I'm not going to be the nanny."
"And I'm not going to be the baby." Shadow added in knowing that she had conned them all into those parts before.
Onyx looked on amazed. "How do you play h----"
Knuckles quickly covered the cat's mouth shaking his head wildly. "You don't want to know, trust me."
Amy quickly turned on the charm as Misty giggled. " Come on we need a daddy!"
"No!" The boys called out not willing to give in.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No way."
"How about if...."
However Amy's pleading was cut short as their teacher walked back in with a calmer Derek. He seemed gentler but they were wary of him.
"Class, free time is over, but that doesn't mean that we won't be having any more fun! Next we will have art time!"
"Art?" Knuckles inquired voicing everyone's confusion.
"Yes art, you will be able to make pretty pictures for your parents with your fingers!"
The four siblings looked at each other with a familiar look that meant one thing...'huh?'
Going into a cabinet that was in the corner at the end of the room, Mrs. Spinoza pulled out smocks, paints and large papers. She then demonstrated the art of finger painting. Sonic smiled, now this was something new and exciting. Maybe there was some hope for this school thing after all.
They all had to sit at the table once again to begin their masterpieces. Tiny tongues stuck out in concentration as they created works of art. Everything was going just fine, until hurricane Derek decided to show its ugly face again....
Shadow had been sitting next to him as they worked when by accident his arm bumped Derek's as he was reaching for a certain color of paint. Derek had been holding a container of paint at the time as well and with the bump to his arm, ended up spilling it all over his painting of a sun.
Black eyes burned with a certain fire as Derek looked at the shorter boy expectantly. Shadow never was one who had let himself be intimidated when confronted and merely looked him in the eyes calmly. ".... Sorry..."
"You're sorry?!?"
"I said that didn't I? Can't you hear right? " The black hedgehog quickly retorted meeting the others icy
glare.
Derek smirked as he eyed Shadow's picture. "Then...I'm sorry too."
"Huh?"
But quicker than he could react, the bear had snatched the blue paint from the table and pulled back ready to spill it over the other's picture as well, but he miscalculated and ended up spilling the paint on the hedgehog.
"Hey!" Shadow shouted indignantly as he stared at the blue paint dripping from the fur on his chest and arm. The others had stopped their work only to stare in horrified shock.
Angered and slightly embarrassed, Shadow retaliated the only way he could think of. Grabbing paint off the table he flung it with all his might at the bear, smirking with triumph when it hit its mark. Green paint now dripped from Derek's face. However, a low growl from said bear immediately followed making Shadow think that maybe.... just maybe.... that wasn't such a good idea.
With a louder growl of anger, Derek began throwing paint wildly hitting the remaining children and bystanders. They quickly joined in however and it became complete and total chaos. By the time Mrs. Spinoza was able to stop them they were all covered from head to toe in different colored paint.
Heads hung low and eyes downcast, the children nodded their understanding at the stern reprimanding she had given them. This was all their teacher needed of reassurance that it would not happen again and her attitude brightened almost immediately.
"Good! Now let's get you all cleaned up for lunch, and then a nap."
Upon hearing the dreaded "N" word, the four siblings in the room looked at each other once more, a fear in their eyes. "No nap!" They chorused immediately...some things never change...
*___________________________________________________*
"All right, Knuckles and I will keep the guard busy, giving you time to sneak in Sonic, and Shadow you keep guard this time, k?"
A seven-year-old Sonic rolled his eyes as he looked towards the heavens. "Why don't Shadow or me just run in and grab it Amy?"
"Because, we can't cheat! We have to do everything fair and square. Coach said so."
"Coach smoach...."
"You just want to go and show off anyway...."
"It's not showing off Knux! Just gets it over with quicker...."
"I still say you want to show off, lets just do it the way we are supposed to!"
"Why don't we stop arguing about it and just do it...." Shadow cut in walking over to take his spot in front of their red flag.
"Yea guys, I mean Misty and her team must already be coming towards us and we are nowhere near their flag!"
"Lets get going then." the red echidna stated already walking ahead of the small group.
The children were currently within in their school hours during a period called gym. Another two years had passed since they had first started school and things had not gotten better. The leaders of their resistance were distressed and had lost a certain fire to their spirits. Over the last two years they had attacked two towers of power within the oppressed city, one ending in victory, the other ending in horrible defeat. Destroying these towers was essential in the stopping of the evil genius as they were the harbors for his mechanical creations. But they had taken a risk in attacking and they had paid dearly for it. Many of the young teenagers that had been training to fight when Maya's adopted children were babies, were lost in the attack leaving their adoptive parents with a haunted look in their eyes and a deep hole in the spirits of all.
Desperation they had not felt since the first day of the oppression took hold of their hearts once more. Both blood related and non-blood related parents were now reluctant to let their children go out and fight. However, with the encouragement of their leaders they reluctantly continued to train everyone including the young.
The gym periods the school now had were nothing but training. It may have seemed like fun and games to the younger children, but they were lessons in tactics as well as building their fighting skills. It was games like "Capture the flag" that helped build skills in tactical planning. The game was simple in appearance, two teams of children, each having one child guarding a colored flag while the other teammates would go out and attempt to sneak up on the other's guard and capture their flag. If the two teams should meet along the way, it was considered a face off and they could either try to escape their opponents or try and capture their flags tied on a belt around their waists to take them out of the game. Meanwhile their coach was keeping an eye on them always.
Amy, Knuckles and Sonic made their way through the thick section of woods they were supposed to stay in, each concealing themselves but knowing where the others were at all times. They moved as stealthily as possible for a group of seven year olds, but they still bumped into Misty, Onyx and Loretta. Loretta was a young chipmunk girl who had joined their class a year earlier. Seeing all three of them together meant one thing and one thing alone...Derek was guarding the flag.
They all shudder slightly at the thought. Derek was still a bully that they had to constantly fight off. Two years had done nothing to improve his temper or attitude and even though everyone had confronted him constantly, he still was under the impression that he was superior.
Along with this mentality, his height and built made him feel he was invincible and therefore could pick fights and win easily over the smaller children. Given the general advice on how to deal with bullies, all the children had tried to become friends with him at one point, but for reasons unknown he simply refused to attempt to become friends with any of them, preferring to be alone and at times it seemed that they simply annoyed him.
So the children complied with his wishes and left him alone, until he would begin to bother them. They were no longer intimidated by him, having learned that they could yell just as loudly as he could and comforted by the fact that they outnumbered him...yet...there was always that fear of pain that still made them respect him and stay out of his reach. This is why knowing that he was guarding the opposing team's flag was so disturbing. They would have to sneak by him and grab the flag; it would prove to be a very difficult task indeed. Derek never let his guard down, always looking about and capturing everything with his sharp eyes. And if they were indeed caught, they would have to confront him and they now feared he would abuse his position to be unnecessarily violent.
Realizing this, Knuckles, Amy and Sonic shared a knowing look...they would have to save their energy. They chose to flee from the opposing team instead of having a stand off. Sonic almost left his teammates behind, forgetting to control his speed to one that they could keep up with. Knuckles had gotten stronger and was able to keep him in his sight being only a few steps behind when he wasn't breaking the sound barrier but Amy could not keep him in her sight at all when he ran no matter how hard she tried.
Stopping abruptly behind a fence of bushes close to their target. Sonic turned to see his siblings coming to stop behind him, Knuckles panting slightly while Amy was gasping like a fish out of water. "You okay Amy?" he whispered.
"Yea...." She took in a deep breath of life giving oxygen and then frowned. "But don't do that again!"
Sonic merely grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. "So.... what are we going to do about bear butt?"
Knuckles smirked at the comment but stayed composed otherwise. "What else? Go in there and take that flag!"
Amy fought off the urge to roll her eyes. "Don't you think we need a plan?"
Both boys shrugged in response once more making her want to scream. "Look...how...about this time you do just run in Sonic?" She asked nervously, obviously being the only one who was truly intimidated by the boy.
The blue hedgehog shook his head and pointed without looking at the target behind them. "No can do, he's holding on to the flag."
"But that's cheating!"
Knuckles gave his sister a disbelieving look. "Did you really think he would be fair?"
It was Amy's turn to shrug in response. "So...what now?"
Sonic sighed, he knew his sister wouldn't like the answer but it was something they had to do. "We have to go and confront him...but at least make it look like we were trying to sneak in I guess."
Amy did not try to hide they groan that escaped her lips. "Fine...Knuckles and I will go to the sides, Sonic you can come up the middle, you have a better chance at snatching the flag away."
"Yeah yeah, sure." The blue hedgehog answered impatiently, he just wanted to get this over with.
It only took a few moments for the three children to get into their places and with a quick as lightning hand signal, all three leapt into action. Derek, having no defense since his own team was trying to steal the other's flag, jumped slightly at the sudden commotion, but it was only out of surprise...not fear.
He calmly watched as all three-came charging at him. The blue hedgehog reached him first and reached out to grab the flag, but he quickly slapped him away sending him rolling a couple of feet away. His brother came in quickly demanding that his attention be turned to him, the red echidna attempted to punch him, but he dodged easily and always sent him flying in a different direction.
Amy came up shortly after, pounding him on the arm incessantly trying to get him to loosen his hold on the flag. Derek watched her bemusedly for two seconds before he lost his patience. He grabbed her by the collar of her dress and flung her away as he had done with the others.
However unlike her brothers, she had landed wrong and let out a yelp of both surprise and pain at the sudden harsh impact with the ground. All four siblings were incredibly protective of each other even though sometimes they refused to show it. Upon hearing their sister cry out with pain, both brothers charged at the bear enraged.
"Leave her alone!" Sonic cried running in kicking and punching at the big bear.
Knuckles was not far behind and drew back his fist driving it in forcefully into Derek's stomach, successful in driving him back a couple of feet clutching his stomach. "You!!" he growled as he regained his breath, eyes blazing with fire as he pointed at Knuckles. "I'll hurt you for this!"
Knuckles was unfazed by his threats. "Yeah right."
That was all the bear needed to fuel his already burning fire... without a second thought he charged. He ran at the echidna and kicked him sending him rolling away again once more. This time Knuckles could not help but cry out as well. Sonic could not take it and charged towards the bear once more, he blindly kicked and punched him, but he could feel the other's thick fur coat...perhaps he wasn't even feeling his attacks? His eyes glanced over to where his brother as he was trying to recover from the blow...apparently only his punches could do the most damage.
As he was contemplating this however, Derek had taken his carelessness to his advantage and had lifted him up by one of his quills and hurled him roughly. He would have been all right...if he hadn't been thrown into the direction of a tree, and made contact with it. The last thing he had seen and heard as a black blanket began to cover his vision was his brother charging at the bear and the whistle of their coach as he came charging in to stop everything...he was angry as he fell into the abyss...where had their teacher been before when they really needed him?
~*_________________________________________________~*
A sharp eerie sound was what he awoke to as Sonic was finally able to open his eyes. Already lying facing the heavens, he could see a plane above him...falling.
With a groan and a lot of effort to rise, the young hedgehog was both shocked and confused as he watched the plane continue its erratic downward spiral. With a squint of the eyes he could see a parachute. Shortly after, the plane finally crashed with a loud explosion. But in the skies the parachute was landing much more slowly, a precious bundle in its grasp.
Sonic kept his eyes on it until it finally landed in some foliage across a large clearing from him. It was then that he realized that he was still in the area that he and his siblings had been fighting Derek. Had they not found him? His young heart clenched at the thought of simply being abandoned, but looking around himself showed that, he was covered by a thick fence of bushes a good distance away from where the flag had been standing. "They couldn't find me..." He stated softly as he stood and unconsciously started to move towards the area where he had seen the bundle land.
His young mind was spinning with questions, including questions about what was the end result of the confrontation with Derek, but more with what he had just witnessed. Pure curiosity pulled him towards the bundle. At first he was disheartened as he could not find it, he was in the right area but he did not pinpoint where it landed exactly.
Another shrill cry assaulted his ears and they perked instinctively, turning to and fro, attempting to find the direction of where the sound was coming from. There was another cry and this time he was able to follow it. It sounded like someone was crying and he wanted to help. He was more than surprised however when the crying brought him straight to the bundle he had been looking for.
He stood a few feet away watching the bundle warily as it moved slightly and continued to make the crying noise. He approached it slowly and finally walked boldly to it as it became clear that it wasn't going to move any farther...if only that crying would stop.
He picked up the bundle and peered into to it...only to gasp in shock. In his arms was a baby. A baby fox. This was the cause of all the incessant crying. However as it saw that someone had finally picked it up and was paying attention to it, it stopped and giggled playfully smiling at the blue hedgehog.
Sonic stared at it uncertainly, unsure of what to do. His heart melted however when the baby smiled and cooed at him reaching up his small hands towards him. With a nod of a silent decision he held the baby close to his chest and started to run back in the direction of his house. Another look up to the sky showed that it was getting dark and he knew that his family was worrying about him.
Not having to worry about controlling his speed, a mile trip from the clearing to his house was cleared in mere seconds, the baby laughing and making noises of enjoyment the entire way. Sonic smiled brightly at his adoptive mother as she opened the door her eyes red and puffy indicating that she had been crying...yep they had been worried.
"Sonic!! Oh my goodness hun, where have you been! We couldn't find you! " She cried throwing her arms around him ignoring the bundle in his arms for the moment.
"I was still in the clearing.... I hit my head and fell asleep." He stated calmly making her eyes widen.
"That Derek boy did that to you? I swear they should not allow him to train until his attitude is fixed! I'm sorry to say this but I'm glad that your brother broke his nose..."
"He did what?"
Knuckles came into the doorway smirking proudly having heard. "Yeah I let him have it!"
"Knuckles dear...."
Knuckles grinned sheepishly at his mother and shrugged, he couldn't help but be proud of his deed. But his mother still gave him a stern look even though she had just admitted that she agreed with his actions. "I don't want you to resort to such violence again, don't get a swelled head and go around hitting people just for fun or because you are angry...only when you need to like today okay? We already had a talk remember?"
Nodding the echidna headed back inside, but he was still glowing with pride. Sonic himself smirked, so that was what had happened before he blacked out.
Maya sighed but smiled at her other son and began to usher him into the house, when a cry that was now familiar to Sonic, pierced the silence once more. The fox women stopped abruptly and stared at Sonic in shock. "Sweetie.... are you okay? That wasn't you was it?"
Sonic laughed wholeheartedly as he shook his head and held out the bundle she had been ignoring out towards her, lifting the little flap of the blanket that covered the face of the tiny being within. "I found it." was his only explanation.
Maya stared in shock at the baby fox in her arms as they all made their way back into the house. "You found it?" she asked incredulously.
"Uh huh...I'm going to go play now, okay?" and with that the hedgehog ran off to be with his siblings.
Maya just continued to examine the bundle in her arms, the baby was not an infant, it was a few months old at least and had big bright green-blue eyes staring at her with three strands of hair falling into them slightly. Its fur was a sable color and it seemed healthy as it was laughing and holding onto her fingers.
She couldn't help but fall in love with the child already...it was just too adorable. But Sonic's explanation of him finding it confused her and she was determined to get more answers from him. Shifting the baby in her arms another piece of the blanket it was wrapped in exposed itself showing an embroidered name.
"...Miles Prower..." she mused as she cooed at the baby. "Well hello Miles." she said sweetly tickling his stomach gently earning a giggle and made her way into the living room. Yes her son would have a lot of explaining to do.
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Okay, time for personal shout outs:
Nibbs: Thank you so much for your kind words, they really warmed my heart and meant a lot to me, and you do deserve cookies! Lol, too bad I can't give you them for real. Here: ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:)...kinda funky looking but I tried. Lol.
Krystal the Echidna: It's okay at least you reviewed now! ^_^ Hopefully you will continue to do so and you liked this chapter! A cookie for you too. ^_^.. ( :_:)
Windfield: You are another one I owe cookies. Thank you for always reviewing. ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:)
Nick Issac Hedgehog: I finally updated! Woo hoo! Lol hope it was worth the wait, thank you for your patience. ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:)
Suzaku no miko: Thank you too! Ditto with Nick's message. Lol ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:)
There. I have now given out the cookies. o_0 (Don't mind my stupidness I just wanted to show that I am grateful, Lol.) Thanks again!
A/N: Yes, I know you are all glaring at me right now. Heh heh, sooo sorry! Again you must please forgive me, I had a nasty case of writer's block (Blame my muse..wait I've never introduced him so you can't o_0 .oh wellz. ^_^;;;) and I had some unjust problems with FF.Net so I was kinda on strike as a retaliation. *shrug* Anyway, thank you to all those who care and I tried to make this chapter extra long as a way of saying I'm sorry.
As The Years Go By....
Chapter Five: Discovery
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'I thought it was going to be fun....' Sonic thought sulkily as he stared at his teacher explaining something called the alphabet for the third time. When they had first arrived in the morning he was very excited and intrigued by the bright room and various objects but now it wasn't even midday yet and everything was already considered old and boring. He began to shift again as he sat looking around for anything interesting to look at.
"Stop it Sonic...stay still." his sister hissed at him from her spot next to him.
The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes but actually listened and sat still...at least for the time being while Amy was paying attention to him.
There were only seven children in this kindergarten class but with the times they were living in it wasn't surprising. It made the classroom more spacious since there was only one large round table serving as the desk for all seven children. Amy sat to Sonic's right while Shadow sat to his left and Knuckles sat to Shadow's left as well.
To Amy's right there was a black cat with gray eyes and a white diamond on his forehead. Next to him as ironic as it sounded was a chestnut colored dog with light brown eyes as well and on her other side was a young bear with black fur and a tan muzzle. His black eyes seemed angry whenever he looked at any of the others making them want to avoid eye contact with him.
"Okay children so let's see what you have learned today! Sing along with me now.... A, B, C, D..."
The children sang along knowingly they had already heard the song twice already in the morning this was only review. Sonic barely sang along but made sure he made his voice strong as they reached the end. "...Next time won't you sing with me!"
Shadow raised his hand as they had been taught earlier in the day as well. Mrs.Spinoza smiled warmly at him and his confused look. "Yes Shadow?"
"Um.... Mrs. S? If we are all singing together already why do you ask us to sing with you next time? Didn't you hear us?"
The middle-aged mongoose's smile brightened at his innocence as she responded. "No dear, I heard you, it's just part of the song."
"Oh."
"Um hm..... now class who here knows how to count?"
Seven tiny hands rose into the air and their teacher nodded approvingly. "Okay so let me hear you count, go ahead Knuckles you can start."
"Okay...um.... 1.2.3...um...4...5...6.um...10?"
"Not bad, you did very well. Keep going children I want to hear all of you."
"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,13,24,15." The black bear said proudly with a smug look on his face.
"Um, well you skipped a lot of numbers there but very good otherwise Derek."
"1,2,3,4...um.... what did they say? Oh yeah...5!"
Mrs. Spinoza couldn't help but chuckle a little as she nodded and praised the cat. "Good Onyx."
The dog, Misty had gotten correctly and gone as far as to the number eight while Knuckle's siblings knew
as much as him. Their teacher was pleased and gave them all a lesson on how to count to ten properly. After a while she could tell they had gotten restless having sat still all day so far. "I think it is time to do something different. This is a free period now children. You may get up and play with any of the toys in this room or read any of the books."
The children cheered with happiness as they leapt from their seats, especially Sonic who had already leapt up after hearing the words "free period". Amy shyly made her way over to the only other girl in the room. "Hi Misty...um...wanna go play with the blocks with me?"
Amy's nervous disappeared as soon as she saw how friendly the little dog was. Her curled tail wagged happily as she responded. "Sure! Let's go!"
Onyx sat calmly as he began to sculpt things with the bucket of play dough he had acquired. Knuckles cringed at the sight of the play dough and quietly told of him of the incident he and his sister had undergone when they were even younger. Onyx laughed and asked him to join in.
Sonic and Shadow began working on a toy track they had so that their toy cars could be placed on it making them race and do crazy things. Derek had been left out from any of these activities. It wasn't because the other children wanted to be cruel, but they had been intimidated by him and were uneasy about approaching him. However he had taken it the wrong way and reacted the way any other left out kid would.... if they had a tantrum.
Derek had been looking at the pictures of a book but the other children's laughter and enjoyment began to irritate him, mostly because he wasn't a part of it. His adoptive mother knew he wasn't good with keeping his displeasure to himself and he was about to demonstrate it to the others. He became like a hurricane destroying everything in his path.
"Hey!" was the shout he heard from both Onyx and Knuckles as he passed by and squashed all the different colors of the clay together making it one giant rainbow ball of clay.
The shout of indignation was the same from both Sonic and Shadow as he threw their cars under the railing of the heater. Amy was enraged as Misty broke down into tears when he came by and demolished the castle they had only just finished building to perfection.
There was a moment of silence before all six children came to the same conclusion..." I'm telling!!" they shouted at almost the same exact time as they raced over to their new teacher.
Needless to say, their teacher was overwhelmed when all of them bombarded her with their complaints, but one thing was clear, there was only one person they were complaining about.
"Derek, come here please."
The bear came to her obediently but there was a challenging look in his eyes. She ignored this and escorted
him out of the classroom to speak with him, telling the others that she would be right outside and that they still had their free time.
The nuisance gone the children got back to their activities but Onyx and Knuckles joined the other boys since their activity was the most ruined. Amy and Misty started to rebuild their castle while Sonic and Shadow got new cars from a basket kept on a shelf. Knuckles and Onyx grabbed two of their own and joined in as well, all of them "racing" with them. After a few minutes however, the girls were discouraged with the way their new castle was coming out and wanted to join the boys.
"Can we play?" Misty boldly asked.
"But it's for boys." Onyx answered quite confused, his sisters were older than him and never showed any interest in his games.
"Okay, so then come play with us!"
Sonic raised a suspicious brow at this; he knew Amy's ways to well. "No way Amy, I don't think anyone here wants to play house."
Her remaining two brothers heard these horrible words and quickly shook their heads in agreement. "You are not making me the husband again!" Sonic added.
"And I'm not going to be the nanny."
"And I'm not going to be the baby." Shadow added in knowing that she had conned them all into those parts before.
Onyx looked on amazed. "How do you play h----"
Knuckles quickly covered the cat's mouth shaking his head wildly. "You don't want to know, trust me."
Amy quickly turned on the charm as Misty giggled. " Come on we need a daddy!"
"No!" The boys called out not willing to give in.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No way."
"How about if...."
However Amy's pleading was cut short as their teacher walked back in with a calmer Derek. He seemed gentler but they were wary of him.
"Class, free time is over, but that doesn't mean that we won't be having any more fun! Next we will have art time!"
"Art?" Knuckles inquired voicing everyone's confusion.
"Yes art, you will be able to make pretty pictures for your parents with your fingers!"
The four siblings looked at each other with a familiar look that meant one thing...'huh?'
Going into a cabinet that was in the corner at the end of the room, Mrs. Spinoza pulled out smocks, paints and large papers. She then demonstrated the art of finger painting. Sonic smiled, now this was something new and exciting. Maybe there was some hope for this school thing after all.
They all had to sit at the table once again to begin their masterpieces. Tiny tongues stuck out in concentration as they created works of art. Everything was going just fine, until hurricane Derek decided to show its ugly face again....
Shadow had been sitting next to him as they worked when by accident his arm bumped Derek's as he was reaching for a certain color of paint. Derek had been holding a container of paint at the time as well and with the bump to his arm, ended up spilling it all over his painting of a sun.
Black eyes burned with a certain fire as Derek looked at the shorter boy expectantly. Shadow never was one who had let himself be intimidated when confronted and merely looked him in the eyes calmly. ".... Sorry..."
"You're sorry?!?"
"I said that didn't I? Can't you hear right? " The black hedgehog quickly retorted meeting the others icy
glare.
Derek smirked as he eyed Shadow's picture. "Then...I'm sorry too."
"Huh?"
But quicker than he could react, the bear had snatched the blue paint from the table and pulled back ready to spill it over the other's picture as well, but he miscalculated and ended up spilling the paint on the hedgehog.
"Hey!" Shadow shouted indignantly as he stared at the blue paint dripping from the fur on his chest and arm. The others had stopped their work only to stare in horrified shock.
Angered and slightly embarrassed, Shadow retaliated the only way he could think of. Grabbing paint off the table he flung it with all his might at the bear, smirking with triumph when it hit its mark. Green paint now dripped from Derek's face. However, a low growl from said bear immediately followed making Shadow think that maybe.... just maybe.... that wasn't such a good idea.
With a louder growl of anger, Derek began throwing paint wildly hitting the remaining children and bystanders. They quickly joined in however and it became complete and total chaos. By the time Mrs. Spinoza was able to stop them they were all covered from head to toe in different colored paint.
Heads hung low and eyes downcast, the children nodded their understanding at the stern reprimanding she had given them. This was all their teacher needed of reassurance that it would not happen again and her attitude brightened almost immediately.
"Good! Now let's get you all cleaned up for lunch, and then a nap."
Upon hearing the dreaded "N" word, the four siblings in the room looked at each other once more, a fear in their eyes. "No nap!" They chorused immediately...some things never change...
*___________________________________________________*
"All right, Knuckles and I will keep the guard busy, giving you time to sneak in Sonic, and Shadow you keep guard this time, k?"
A seven-year-old Sonic rolled his eyes as he looked towards the heavens. "Why don't Shadow or me just run in and grab it Amy?"
"Because, we can't cheat! We have to do everything fair and square. Coach said so."
"Coach smoach...."
"You just want to go and show off anyway...."
"It's not showing off Knux! Just gets it over with quicker...."
"I still say you want to show off, lets just do it the way we are supposed to!"
"Why don't we stop arguing about it and just do it...." Shadow cut in walking over to take his spot in front of their red flag.
"Yea guys, I mean Misty and her team must already be coming towards us and we are nowhere near their flag!"
"Lets get going then." the red echidna stated already walking ahead of the small group.
The children were currently within in their school hours during a period called gym. Another two years had passed since they had first started school and things had not gotten better. The leaders of their resistance were distressed and had lost a certain fire to their spirits. Over the last two years they had attacked two towers of power within the oppressed city, one ending in victory, the other ending in horrible defeat. Destroying these towers was essential in the stopping of the evil genius as they were the harbors for his mechanical creations. But they had taken a risk in attacking and they had paid dearly for it. Many of the young teenagers that had been training to fight when Maya's adopted children were babies, were lost in the attack leaving their adoptive parents with a haunted look in their eyes and a deep hole in the spirits of all.
Desperation they had not felt since the first day of the oppression took hold of their hearts once more. Both blood related and non-blood related parents were now reluctant to let their children go out and fight. However, with the encouragement of their leaders they reluctantly continued to train everyone including the young.
The gym periods the school now had were nothing but training. It may have seemed like fun and games to the younger children, but they were lessons in tactics as well as building their fighting skills. It was games like "Capture the flag" that helped build skills in tactical planning. The game was simple in appearance, two teams of children, each having one child guarding a colored flag while the other teammates would go out and attempt to sneak up on the other's guard and capture their flag. If the two teams should meet along the way, it was considered a face off and they could either try to escape their opponents or try and capture their flags tied on a belt around their waists to take them out of the game. Meanwhile their coach was keeping an eye on them always.
Amy, Knuckles and Sonic made their way through the thick section of woods they were supposed to stay in, each concealing themselves but knowing where the others were at all times. They moved as stealthily as possible for a group of seven year olds, but they still bumped into Misty, Onyx and Loretta. Loretta was a young chipmunk girl who had joined their class a year earlier. Seeing all three of them together meant one thing and one thing alone...Derek was guarding the flag.
They all shudder slightly at the thought. Derek was still a bully that they had to constantly fight off. Two years had done nothing to improve his temper or attitude and even though everyone had confronted him constantly, he still was under the impression that he was superior.
Along with this mentality, his height and built made him feel he was invincible and therefore could pick fights and win easily over the smaller children. Given the general advice on how to deal with bullies, all the children had tried to become friends with him at one point, but for reasons unknown he simply refused to attempt to become friends with any of them, preferring to be alone and at times it seemed that they simply annoyed him.
So the children complied with his wishes and left him alone, until he would begin to bother them. They were no longer intimidated by him, having learned that they could yell just as loudly as he could and comforted by the fact that they outnumbered him...yet...there was always that fear of pain that still made them respect him and stay out of his reach. This is why knowing that he was guarding the opposing team's flag was so disturbing. They would have to sneak by him and grab the flag; it would prove to be a very difficult task indeed. Derek never let his guard down, always looking about and capturing everything with his sharp eyes. And if they were indeed caught, they would have to confront him and they now feared he would abuse his position to be unnecessarily violent.
Realizing this, Knuckles, Amy and Sonic shared a knowing look...they would have to save their energy. They chose to flee from the opposing team instead of having a stand off. Sonic almost left his teammates behind, forgetting to control his speed to one that they could keep up with. Knuckles had gotten stronger and was able to keep him in his sight being only a few steps behind when he wasn't breaking the sound barrier but Amy could not keep him in her sight at all when he ran no matter how hard she tried.
Stopping abruptly behind a fence of bushes close to their target. Sonic turned to see his siblings coming to stop behind him, Knuckles panting slightly while Amy was gasping like a fish out of water. "You okay Amy?" he whispered.
"Yea...." She took in a deep breath of life giving oxygen and then frowned. "But don't do that again!"
Sonic merely grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. "So.... what are we going to do about bear butt?"
Knuckles smirked at the comment but stayed composed otherwise. "What else? Go in there and take that flag!"
Amy fought off the urge to roll her eyes. "Don't you think we need a plan?"
Both boys shrugged in response once more making her want to scream. "Look...how...about this time you do just run in Sonic?" She asked nervously, obviously being the only one who was truly intimidated by the boy.
The blue hedgehog shook his head and pointed without looking at the target behind them. "No can do, he's holding on to the flag."
"But that's cheating!"
Knuckles gave his sister a disbelieving look. "Did you really think he would be fair?"
It was Amy's turn to shrug in response. "So...what now?"
Sonic sighed, he knew his sister wouldn't like the answer but it was something they had to do. "We have to go and confront him...but at least make it look like we were trying to sneak in I guess."
Amy did not try to hide they groan that escaped her lips. "Fine...Knuckles and I will go to the sides, Sonic you can come up the middle, you have a better chance at snatching the flag away."
"Yeah yeah, sure." The blue hedgehog answered impatiently, he just wanted to get this over with.
It only took a few moments for the three children to get into their places and with a quick as lightning hand signal, all three leapt into action. Derek, having no defense since his own team was trying to steal the other's flag, jumped slightly at the sudden commotion, but it was only out of surprise...not fear.
He calmly watched as all three-came charging at him. The blue hedgehog reached him first and reached out to grab the flag, but he quickly slapped him away sending him rolling a couple of feet away. His brother came in quickly demanding that his attention be turned to him, the red echidna attempted to punch him, but he dodged easily and always sent him flying in a different direction.
Amy came up shortly after, pounding him on the arm incessantly trying to get him to loosen his hold on the flag. Derek watched her bemusedly for two seconds before he lost his patience. He grabbed her by the collar of her dress and flung her away as he had done with the others.
However unlike her brothers, she had landed wrong and let out a yelp of both surprise and pain at the sudden harsh impact with the ground. All four siblings were incredibly protective of each other even though sometimes they refused to show it. Upon hearing their sister cry out with pain, both brothers charged at the bear enraged.
"Leave her alone!" Sonic cried running in kicking and punching at the big bear.
Knuckles was not far behind and drew back his fist driving it in forcefully into Derek's stomach, successful in driving him back a couple of feet clutching his stomach. "You!!" he growled as he regained his breath, eyes blazing with fire as he pointed at Knuckles. "I'll hurt you for this!"
Knuckles was unfazed by his threats. "Yeah right."
That was all the bear needed to fuel his already burning fire... without a second thought he charged. He ran at the echidna and kicked him sending him rolling away again once more. This time Knuckles could not help but cry out as well. Sonic could not take it and charged towards the bear once more, he blindly kicked and punched him, but he could feel the other's thick fur coat...perhaps he wasn't even feeling his attacks? His eyes glanced over to where his brother as he was trying to recover from the blow...apparently only his punches could do the most damage.
As he was contemplating this however, Derek had taken his carelessness to his advantage and had lifted him up by one of his quills and hurled him roughly. He would have been all right...if he hadn't been thrown into the direction of a tree, and made contact with it. The last thing he had seen and heard as a black blanket began to cover his vision was his brother charging at the bear and the whistle of their coach as he came charging in to stop everything...he was angry as he fell into the abyss...where had their teacher been before when they really needed him?
~*_________________________________________________~*
A sharp eerie sound was what he awoke to as Sonic was finally able to open his eyes. Already lying facing the heavens, he could see a plane above him...falling.
With a groan and a lot of effort to rise, the young hedgehog was both shocked and confused as he watched the plane continue its erratic downward spiral. With a squint of the eyes he could see a parachute. Shortly after, the plane finally crashed with a loud explosion. But in the skies the parachute was landing much more slowly, a precious bundle in its grasp.
Sonic kept his eyes on it until it finally landed in some foliage across a large clearing from him. It was then that he realized that he was still in the area that he and his siblings had been fighting Derek. Had they not found him? His young heart clenched at the thought of simply being abandoned, but looking around himself showed that, he was covered by a thick fence of bushes a good distance away from where the flag had been standing. "They couldn't find me..." He stated softly as he stood and unconsciously started to move towards the area where he had seen the bundle land.
His young mind was spinning with questions, including questions about what was the end result of the confrontation with Derek, but more with what he had just witnessed. Pure curiosity pulled him towards the bundle. At first he was disheartened as he could not find it, he was in the right area but he did not pinpoint where it landed exactly.
Another shrill cry assaulted his ears and they perked instinctively, turning to and fro, attempting to find the direction of where the sound was coming from. There was another cry and this time he was able to follow it. It sounded like someone was crying and he wanted to help. He was more than surprised however when the crying brought him straight to the bundle he had been looking for.
He stood a few feet away watching the bundle warily as it moved slightly and continued to make the crying noise. He approached it slowly and finally walked boldly to it as it became clear that it wasn't going to move any farther...if only that crying would stop.
He picked up the bundle and peered into to it...only to gasp in shock. In his arms was a baby. A baby fox. This was the cause of all the incessant crying. However as it saw that someone had finally picked it up and was paying attention to it, it stopped and giggled playfully smiling at the blue hedgehog.
Sonic stared at it uncertainly, unsure of what to do. His heart melted however when the baby smiled and cooed at him reaching up his small hands towards him. With a nod of a silent decision he held the baby close to his chest and started to run back in the direction of his house. Another look up to the sky showed that it was getting dark and he knew that his family was worrying about him.
Not having to worry about controlling his speed, a mile trip from the clearing to his house was cleared in mere seconds, the baby laughing and making noises of enjoyment the entire way. Sonic smiled brightly at his adoptive mother as she opened the door her eyes red and puffy indicating that she had been crying...yep they had been worried.
"Sonic!! Oh my goodness hun, where have you been! We couldn't find you! " She cried throwing her arms around him ignoring the bundle in his arms for the moment.
"I was still in the clearing.... I hit my head and fell asleep." He stated calmly making her eyes widen.
"That Derek boy did that to you? I swear they should not allow him to train until his attitude is fixed! I'm sorry to say this but I'm glad that your brother broke his nose..."
"He did what?"
Knuckles came into the doorway smirking proudly having heard. "Yeah I let him have it!"
"Knuckles dear...."
Knuckles grinned sheepishly at his mother and shrugged, he couldn't help but be proud of his deed. But his mother still gave him a stern look even though she had just admitted that she agreed with his actions. "I don't want you to resort to such violence again, don't get a swelled head and go around hitting people just for fun or because you are angry...only when you need to like today okay? We already had a talk remember?"
Nodding the echidna headed back inside, but he was still glowing with pride. Sonic himself smirked, so that was what had happened before he blacked out.
Maya sighed but smiled at her other son and began to usher him into the house, when a cry that was now familiar to Sonic, pierced the silence once more. The fox women stopped abruptly and stared at Sonic in shock. "Sweetie.... are you okay? That wasn't you was it?"
Sonic laughed wholeheartedly as he shook his head and held out the bundle she had been ignoring out towards her, lifting the little flap of the blanket that covered the face of the tiny being within. "I found it." was his only explanation.
Maya stared in shock at the baby fox in her arms as they all made their way back into the house. "You found it?" she asked incredulously.
"Uh huh...I'm going to go play now, okay?" and with that the hedgehog ran off to be with his siblings.
Maya just continued to examine the bundle in her arms, the baby was not an infant, it was a few months old at least and had big bright green-blue eyes staring at her with three strands of hair falling into them slightly. Its fur was a sable color and it seemed healthy as it was laughing and holding onto her fingers.
She couldn't help but fall in love with the child already...it was just too adorable. But Sonic's explanation of him finding it confused her and she was determined to get more answers from him. Shifting the baby in her arms another piece of the blanket it was wrapped in exposed itself showing an embroidered name.
"...Miles Prower..." she mused as she cooed at the baby. "Well hello Miles." she said sweetly tickling his stomach gently earning a giggle and made her way into the living room. Yes her son would have a lot of explaining to do.
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Okay, time for personal shout outs:
Nibbs: Thank you so much for your kind words, they really warmed my heart and meant a lot to me, and you do deserve cookies! Lol, too bad I can't give you them for real. Here: ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:)...kinda funky looking but I tried. Lol.
Krystal the Echidna: It's okay at least you reviewed now! ^_^ Hopefully you will continue to do so and you liked this chapter! A cookie for you too. ^_^.. ( :_:)
Windfield: You are another one I owe cookies. Thank you for always reviewing. ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:)
Nick Issac Hedgehog: I finally updated! Woo hoo! Lol hope it was worth the wait, thank you for your patience. ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:)
Suzaku no miko: Thank you too! Ditto with Nick's message. Lol ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:) ( :_:)
There. I have now given out the cookies. o_0 (Don't mind my stupidness I just wanted to show that I am grateful, Lol.) Thanks again!