The only character I own in this story is Fangor, Green Lightning (will appear in next chapter) and their dark sides (will appear in part 3). Thoughts will be in italics. The words of the sages will be in bold print. Sorry if I get the accents for Bunny and Anthonie wrong. This story is about the bonds of friendship and how it can influence even the strongest warrior to act selflessly to save that person from death. The story starts in Knothole and is done from Fangor's POV (point of view) throughout most of the story. It is probably going to be the best work I have done so far, so please review. And I must warn you: This story contains HEAVY violence. I will be listing the main characters' respective ages and birthdays at the beginning of each chapter (if any of their ages have changed) and possibly a quote by the Kintushian sages. Well, time to continue the story of: The Guardian of the Forest

Chapter two: The Party

Character ages:

Fangor Thunderbolt: 16-February 18

Miles 'Tails' Prower: 5-January 30

Sally Acorn (called 'Aunt Sally' by Tails): 11-may 3

Sonic Hedgehog: 13-August 9

Amy Rose: 11-August 19

Rotor: 12-November 9

Bunny Rabbot: 12-January 8

Anthonie: 12-April 17

Shadow (signs up for the security force and, like in many other stories, becomes Sonic's rival): 13-March 26

Knuckles (like Shadow, signs up for the security force and becomes Sonic's rival): 13-June 9

Rouge (a thief-turned-treasure hunter since the king was willing to pay good money to recover artifacts for the palace.): 12-June 17

Dr. Quack (the best doctor in Knothole): 37-April 29

The power of friendship leads to great things. It leads to strange happenings. It leads to a stronger bond of friendship, and strengthens the Gaurdian that has applied the 'Guardian's Oath'. Such is the way of the Gaurdian. -The counsel of the 8 Kintushian sages

Almost 6 years after the incident…

JANUARY 28

I was sleeping. I heard voices in my room, which told me that Tails, who had taken a liking to me, as I had to him, was now awake and talking to Sonic, Shadow (recent arrival), Knuckles (another recent arrival), and Sally, completely oblivious to the fact I was still trying to sleep. I decided to wake up since I obviously could not return to the realm called 'dreams'. I sat up and opened my eyes. I blinked a few times to gain my focus. I checked the calendar. Hmm… January 28 already… JANUARY 28?!?!??! That leaves me only 2 days to salvage some machine parts to give to Tails as his birthday present! I knew of his interest in machines, so I decided the best birthday present I could give him would be machine parts. Not TOO hard… all I have to do is head down to Ronutnik's base, smash some swatbots, take the parts, and run like heck back to here. This was an easy item to get, especially since I was many times faster and stronger than a normal Kintushian. And, like all Kintushians, I possessed 3 retractable claws between the knuckles on each hand that led into my arms and grew depending on my age. Currently they could reach up to 16 feet. Good enough for taking out swatbots. My speed would allow me to do it undetected.

I stretched and yawned, attracting everyone in the room's attention. "good morning Fangor!" greeted a cheerful Tails. "Morning Tails. Morning all. Umm Tails? Might I ask that you go outside to talk to our friends whenever I am still asleep in the mornings?" Tails replied looking out the window, " but it was raining outside and I was sure we wouldn't wake you." He drooped his head, "Sorry." My eyes widened and a smile spread across my face. " It's raining outside? (I loved the rain. It always soothed my nerves) Why didn't yall wake me up sooner?!" I bolted out the door before anyone could answer and also before my covers could hit the mattress. Shadow had grabbed Tails so he would not fly into the wall with the force of the wind in my wake. I had decided that since I was out I would, shall we say, pay Robotnik a little 'visit'. I took off at maximum speed reaching his base dismantling a few swatbots, and returning to Knothole in less than a second. I stopped in the middle of town and walked to Rotor's machine shop to store the machine parts for Tails. Rotor was not the least bit surprised at what I had brought, nor how late I had brought it. "late again eh, Bolt?" Rotor greeted as I entered with the parts being dragged behind me. I smiled, knowing I didn't have the best reputation for being on-time. " You actually expected me to be early?" I joked. "Well, see if you can make something useful out of those parts for Tails." The young fox had quickly become my best friend by my account. I left and headed to the palace to get my orders for the day.

After I arrived in the throne room (Bunny Rabbot was already there, as usual) the king wore the familiar look that basically asked: late again eh? I strode up to where he and Bunny stood looking at me with the look that was all too familiar to me. I smiled as I waited for the king to give me my orders for the day. He gave them, but what he said I had not expected. " Fangor, Bunny, your orders are to take a vacation until a week after Tails's birthday." This had caught me off-guard. I looked at Bunny and by the look on her face, you'd of thought Robotnik was gone and Mobius had been restored to what it had been before Robotnik. I asked the king, "Are you serious sir? THAT much time off from duty?" He nodded. I thanked him, and told them that I had finally taken the time to get Tails his birthday present. They knew what I had gotten him. With that I headed out the door happily.

When I got to my house I found Tails and the others there still talking, until Tails noticed me coming, WITHOUT my uniform. He had the same look on his face as Bunny had. Everyone noticed that he took his attention from the conversation and turned towards the door. "Hi all. I guess the secret's out huh?" I was smiling too. This was my first big vacation in quite a while. I felt a prickle on my neck meaning that after Tails's birthday party, something was going to happen. I knew it was nothing bad (otherwise it would have been an intense pain instead of a small prickling), but something was going to happen. "Hi Bolt! I see the king let you have a vacation huh?" Tails said, still beaming. I looked at everyone that was staring at me and replied, " Of course, little buddy! You think he would let me miss your birthday and risk making me angry?" They all laughed at that. They knew it was not a wise idea to anger me. I was the reason why all the gang activity ended. I had either turned in or killed all of the gangs that had arisen in town.

That day passed quickly with the only other big event being Shadow and Sonic racing through Knothole. I went to bed at the same time Tails had (9 pm to be exact) and fell asleep just as Sally had come in to tell him his nightly bed-time story. Like usual, I did not have a dream. Not even a nightmare or a vision. I slept soundly until the sun came in through the window. I woke up and gave my standard stretch-and-yawn routine. I looked over to Tails bed and noticed he wasn't there. I looked out the window and noticed the rain had stopped, meaning he was probably out playing tag with the others. I got out of bed and started for the door only to be stopped by a rumbling in my stomach. Figures. Been at least 2 days since I last ate. I cast the spell that I had used many times to get a good meal quickly: "IN POR YLEM!" I yelled. This was the 'create food spell' that I used every now and then. I didn't really need to eat. I just did so to be polite. What appeared was my favorite food: a bowl of mashed potatoes and a plate of hot-rolls. I had hoped for this. Hehe. Perfect this time. I thought to myself. After I had finished my meal, which tasted great due to me being in a good mood. Otherwise, it would have tasted bad. I finished eating and made the plate and bowl disappear, once again using my magic, and headed outside.

One day left… better see if they need my help setting up the decorations… Like always they didn't want to give me the burden of messing with such things. I decided that since I was not needed at the moment I would go scout out the town for renewed gang activity even though I was off duty. I checked the ENTIRE town North to South, East to West, even in the forest. Nothing. I was feeling kind of bored since there was nothing else for me to do at the moment. I decided to see if the king had changed his mind, but to no avail. It was going to be a long day. I decided to wander through the town aimlessly hoping I would run into some trouble or Sonic and Shadow or Knuckles in another fight. Not even that happened. Disappointed, I decided to go back to bed hoping that I wouldn't wake up till I woke up in the morning. Not even one bit of sleep. I was bored and irritated. Combat had been the only thing that had kept me going for a while. Now that I was off-duty I had nothing to do. I just lied down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. " What's wrong, Bolt?" came a familiar voice from the door. Amy Rose. "Nothing to do. Ugh." I moaned. She left me to my thoughts.

I decided that I had better make sure that I had memorized my entire collection of spells and marked all my runes in the right places. People didn't even look up as I popped in and out without the usual large wind that knocked almost everyone in the area off their feet. Well, I had spent quite a few hours making sure I knew my spells and had my runes properly marked, and it was just the thing to pass the time. When I returned it was 9:10 pm. Uh-oh. I thought. Sally is going to have my head for this. She had not only had a curfew put on Tails to make sure he got plenty of sleep, but also on me to make sure I was always there when he went to bed. Like I expected, Sally was there with that familiar frown on her face that meant I had missed the curfew. "What am I going to do with you?" She sighed knowing it was a tough day for me since I had nothing to do, due entirely to my vacation. "Sorry Sally. I guess I lost track of time checking my runes and making sure I knew my spells. I guess I need to get a watch of some sort." Sally just smiled and moved out of the way so I could enter the house. When I went in Tails was sleeping soundly, regardless that he kept saying 'chilidogs!' and licking his lips in delight. I smiled at this, knowing his favorite food was going to be one of the many things served at the party tomorrow. I lied down, Sally shut the door, and I went to sleep.

In the morning, I woke up with my standard routine. I looked at Tails's bed seeing he was still having the same dream. Sally had already attached the note for Tails to the door. It read: 'Tails, please come to the palace. It is urgent. -Sally Acorn. I knew that I had to be careful not to wake Tails while opening or closing the door, so I opened it very slowly and shut it just as slow. I then walked all the way to the palace. When I got there I was grabbed as I rounded the corner. My stalk eyes glanced around to face my attacker. It was Knuckles. He had grabbed me so that we would all be hidden when Tails got there. Rotor had already set up the mechanisms that would cause the party decorations to appear once the king had given the signal.

I decided it was time for me to dispense the invisibility potions I had prepared. Each of us faded out of sight once we had drunk them. Then Tails arrived, still groggy from just waking up. He looked around while heading up to the throne, looking for Sally. He usually wasn't called here unless he was in trouble. I noticed he had his ears slightly drooping meaning he thought he was in trouble for something. Boy is he in for a surprise. I thought to myself. He marched up to the throne his head hanging. " I assume you have received Sally's message Tails?" The king stated. Tails gulped. "Y-y-y-yes sir." The king looked down at him and asked, "Do you know why you are here?" Tails looked scared. " n-n-no sir." " Then how about we find out?" Stated the king. Right on cue all of the party decorations appeared behind Tails without him noticing. Everyone except for me moved, dispelling their invisibility. Then I moved dispelling my own invisibility. We all silently counted to three, then all of us, king included, shouted: " HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAILS!" He turned around so fast you would think Sonic had just run by him. He was very relieved when he saw all his friends standing at the entrance to the palace and all of the party decorations, food, and the tables and chairs already out. He breathed a sigh of relief. " Hi guys!" We immediately made our way to the tables, while the rest of the town was filing in. All our favorite foods were already on the tables, courtesy of my magic enchantments on the tables. Every chair had someone's name on it, depending on who their friends were. I had a chair next to Tails. I automatically dove into my favorite dish like it was about to run away the moment I sat down. Everyone saw this and started laughing. I hardly cared. This was the best food I had ever tasted. Everyone remarked that I had outdone myself this time. I simply replied, "Nothing is too good for my friends." They all agreed with me. After everyone had eaten the main course, (Tails and Sonic had gone through about one hundred chilidogs each), it was time for the cakes that had been prepared by Bunny, Sally, and Amy (I decided it should be cakes not made by magic). After the meal, it was time for Tails to open his presents. He beamed each time he opened one, seeing that the contents was something he liked. When he opened the gift I had Rotor put together, he was ecstatic. I knew exactly what Rotor would need to make Tails what he had been wanting for quite a while: a hoverboard (once again my magic played into this).

After the celebration, I headed outside to make my rounds, even though I was off duty. I headed for the house that Tails and I lived in, and what I saw was quite unexpected. It was an eerie white glow coming from the bedroom (first room you walked in when entering). I walked in seeing Tails staring up at it curiously. I decided to examine the glow by hand. I approached and when I came within a few feet of it, it disappeared. I decided that we were just seeing things. Then I saw it again. Right behind Tails. The light immediately took up a position between the two of us. Fearing that this would harm the one I swore to protect, I grabbed Tails quite quickly, ran out the still open door, and as I got to the center of the town I tripped over a rock. Tails was sent sailing out of my hand. Again, the light took a position between us. Now I decided that I had better try to fight whatever this was. Before I had a chance to act though, the white light suddenly arced a strange lightning between us, sending him in one direction, and me in another. I then remembered what this light was, just before I blacked out.

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