CHAPTER 1

Attack on the Garden

"Wake up, Flash!" a voice said.

Flash the Chao yawned and opened his eyes. Everything seemed blurry. He closed his eyes and opened them again. Everything looked fine now, exactly like the Hero Garden he knew. He looked around to see who had woken him up.

Flash was a white baby Chao with mostly half fish parts with one dragon one and a fiery expression ball (gotten from a Half Fish). He had two medals on his chest; one for winning the beginning Chao Karate tournament and one for winning all the Beginner Races. He was strong in Flying and Power, but weak in Stamina.

As it turned out, Flash's best friend, Speed, had woken him up. Speed was a blue baby Chao with mostly rabbit and cheetah parts, with a touch of seal parts. He had won all the races except the Challenge, Hero, and Dark races. He was the strongest in Running and Stamina, but weak in Flying.

"Whatgoinon?" Flash murmured groggily.

"Today's your birthday!" Speed said. "How could you forget?"

"You know I don't exactly have a good memory."

After having a breakfast consisting of Chao Nuts, the two Chao waited for their owner, Sonic, to come. Sonic was a fast blue hedgehog who often came with animals and fruit for the Chao.

Around eleven-o-clock, Sonic came with a few animals and a box. After he gave Flash two Half Fishes and Speed a few rabbits, he opened the little box. Flash and Speed walked over to see what it was. It was a cake, made for Chao.

Sonic opened the box and took the cake out. He also got out a plate and then proceeded to place the cake on it. "Eat up!" he said, and then left the garden.

Both Flash and Speed headed for the cake and started eating. After a few seconds the cake was gone.

"That was tasty!" Flash said to Speed. Speed seemed to have agreed; he was still licking his lips for a sign of frosting.

Eating had made the two Chao sleepy, so they went under a Chao Nut tree and went off to dreamland.

Red and a few other Dark Chao crept into the Hero Garden.

"Good," Red said. "Everyone's sleeping. Now we pay them back for all they've done to us."

The other Dark Chao murmured in agreement, and they all started wrecking the Hero Garden.

When Flash and Speed woke up, their garden was in ruins. The trees had fallen down,
and the water had turned to a maroon color. The waterfall was overflowing and the tower had fallen down.

"Who could have done this?" Speed wondered.

Flash shrugged.

At that moment, Sonic entered the Hero Garden. He gaped at the sight. Then he looked at Flash and Speed. Then the garden. Then Flash and Speed.

"You did this, didn't you?" Sonic bellowed. "I already have enough bills with the mad shopping spree Amy's doing! I don't need another one!"

Sonic picked up Flash and Speed, threw them into the Chao Transporter, and set it to Goodbye. The next thing Flash and Speed knew, they were in a forest.

"Where is this place?" Flash asked, more to himself than Speed.

"Sonic said something about a Chao Forest once," said Speed.

"How did we even get here?" Flash wondered.

"I think he threw us into the Chao Transporter."

"Chao Transporter? Wha?"

"Something that lets your owner put you in a Tiny Garden or say good-bye."

"Well, this place isn't tiny." Flash said, looking at all the trees. "So that means Sonic said good-bye to us! Sonic doesn't like us anymore!" Flash sat down and started to cry, even more than he had when he had been thrown into the water by Shadow.

"He thinks WE wrecked the garden," Speed said, patting Flash on the back.

"But we didn't!" Flash sobbed.

"We were the only ones there, so he would have thought we did it!"

Flash stopped sobbing for a second when he heard this logic. "It might have been someone else," he said.

"But who?" Speed questioned. "The Neutral Chao wouldn't have done it."

"That leaves only the Dark Chao." Flash said. "I remember when I got into a fight with one of them, when Sonic took me to the Dark Garden."

Flash was trying to stand on a ball that was placed in the Dark Garden. All the Chao there were watching, transfixed.

"This weird white guy won't be able to stand on it for much longer," he heard a Dark Flying Chao say.

Flash didn't pay much attention to these comments; he was mainly focused on his balance. Then...he fell. But not because he had lost his balance.

A Dark Power Chao was right next to him, sniggering. The other Chao in the garden followed, except for one baby Chao.

"Red, that was mean!" the baby Chao said.

"So? It's still funny!" Red said between laughs, and laughed even more.

Flash started crying. This caused the Dark Chao to laugh even more. But Flash's crying got to the Dark Power Chao called Red, and he punched Flash in the face.

Flash's sadness was immediately replaced by anger. He punched Red in the face, and kept punching him. Red tried to fight back, but the flurry was too strong.

"Stop! You'll kill him!" said a voice. It was Sonic.

Sonic tended to Red, shooting glances at Flash occasionally. After that was done,
they immediately went back to the Hero Garden, where Sonic told Flash not to fight with any Chao and that being a bully was bad.

"Well, that IS bad...but I don't think Red would wreck the Hero Garden..." Speed said after much thought.

"It might not have only been him." Flash replied.

"Who else would do it? Red was the only one that had any reason..."

"But obviously Red had some friends."

"Well, yes. You do have a point there. Now that we've established why we're here,
let's explore this forest."

The Chao Forest was basically a big place with many fruit trees and a waterfall.
Flash wondered why he didn't notice any other Chao in the forest. When there was a fork in the path, Flash noticed a sign written in the Chao language.

FOREST PATH ------->
------ CHAO VILLAGE

Flash decided to see Chao Village, so he went that way. After following the path for a few minutes, he came to a sign saying "CHAO VILLAGE. VISITORS WELCOME."

Following the path more, he saw something amazing. Here were many Chao, of all three types, in an expanded version of a Chao Garden. There was a big river, trees, small huts for Chao to live in, and other various things.

Apparently a guard noticed Flash staring.

"Are you a newcomer?" the guard said.

"No...I'm...just looking...What is this place?" Flash asked, transfixed.

"This is Chao Village, where all Chao live freely with no owners. You can do whatever you want. There are, of course, many small animals living in the jungle behind here. If you're over 1 A/N: This is in Chao years, and most Chao evolve before their first birthday., you can also get a job. My name's Chaolin."

"Well, I'd love to stay here...can I?"

"Sure, we have quite a few vacant huts."

"But first I have to go get my friend."

Flash raced out, looking for Speed. He found Speed near the waterfall.

"Hey, Speed!" he shouted.

Speed turned around quickly. "Where were you?" he asked.

"Speed, I know where we can stay."

"Where? I don't want to live in this forest."

"We're still living in the forest, but there are Chao and it's a...um...what's the word...community!"

"Where is it?"

Flash led Speed to the village. Speed gaped in awe.

"This...this place is better than the gardens!"

"I know, isn't it?"

Flash walked up to the guard, Chaolin.

"Can we...um...live here?"

"Sure," said Chaolin. "Just find two vacant huts. A vacant hut has a sign on it.
We'll announce that we have new people."

Flash and Speed ran around, looking for two vacant huts. Soon they found them,
right next to each other. They both ran into a hut.

The huts were cozy places. They were equipped with Chao-size beds, miniature fans for the summer, chairs, and a few books. Also, they had a fruit bowl. The first thing the two Chao did when they went into the hut was eat the fruit.

It was getting dark, and the Chao were returning to their huts for sleep. Flash and Speed both got in their beds, and slept.