Alright, as usual, I only own the Kintushians currently in the story (nobody has submitted a Kintushian character yet), Fangor, Green Lightning, and Green Lightning's parents. Sonic and his friends are owned by Sega. Aleena is owned by FoxFan999. If you wish to use Fangor or Green Lightning, or add your character to my story, please post a comment here to request. Now on to the story.

Chapter 6: A Barrier Broken

Later that night, on the roof...

Fangor's POV

I had gone up to the roof so I wouldn't have to bother with the party, and so I could be alone with my thoughts. I found that since few people could reach the roof, I would be alone most of the night. Alone... just the way I want to be right now. I don't belong at parties. Nothing to talk about, nobody to talk to. I sat up there a good while, just thinking. I felt as though my problems were all gone, as if they had never exsisted. Except I could never really push those few thoughts out of my mind... I failed to keep him from being captured... I failed to get to the base in time to save him... and now I must wait for him to be found before I can use the order emeralds... I sighed. There was no sense in dwelling on past mistakes that you can't do anything about at the moment.

About an hour passed, everyone had gone home, not even noticing my absence. After everyone left, it got very quiet. I waited a few minutes, making sure everyone was gone. Just then I heard the sound of bells heading my way. I stood up and tried to focus on the sound, as I could not see in the dark. I blocked out my sense of sight to strengthen all other senses. I turned around to the south, where the sound of the bells were coming from. I released my restraint on my sight, allowing me to see again. There was a red light in the sky, heading towards my roof. What could it be? They don't have airports or planes here... Robotnik hasn't been seen in at least 9 years... could it be a meteor? Well, whatever it is, if it's hostile, I will most likely be prepared to fight it. I sat down and closed my eyes with my arms resting on my legs. A few minutes later I heard something land on the roof. I stood up and saw a fat man in a big red suit holding a lantern and smiling at me. Can't be Robotnik... he wouldn't come anywhere near this close to me. I looked down at the man. "Who are you, why are you here, and how did you get here?" He laughed, something like "ho, ho, ho!" and then said, " You've never heard of me? I'm Santa Claus! Ho! Ho! Ho!" I just stared. " Jolly Saint Nick? Chris Cringle? No? Oh well. You Kintushians were always too busy to celebrate holidays anyways. By the way, sorry I'm late. Kintushians are hard to track, ya know. Ho! Ho! Ho!" I nodded my head. He went into his sort of big sled and grabbed something out of a bag. " I have something for you, Fangor. An old friend of yours. I believe you are quite familiar with it." He handed me a scabbard with the handle of a sword sticking out. I drew the sword out of it's scabbard, and smiled widely. " The Sword of Justice! I thought that had been lost forever! I thank ye, kind sir, for obtaining it for me. How much do you take for these services?" He shook his head, smiling. " My services are free, Fangor. It is Christmas, after all." I saluted him in the Kintushian fashion (hand you write with above the eye that is on the same side, with tailblade above other eye.), and attached the scabbard to the right side of my belt. "Well, I must be going now. Many other children to see. Merry Christmas, Fangor!" WIth that, he got in his giant sled and took off.

January 7

Green Lightning's POV

"Green Lightning! It's time to get ready to go to the academy! Wake up!" My mom called from downstairs, waking me from another nightmare about Fangor being stabbed while trying to save someone. I rolled over and looked at the clock. 4:30 AM. I groaned. I had forgotten to pack a time-keeping device. I decided I would take my new watch for the job. I checked my temporal vortex to see if I had everything. Laptop, 500 pencils, 500 pounds of notebook paper, dresser, bed, desk, 4 chairs, comb, 3 bars of soap, 12 bottles of shampoo... What else do I need... Oh! I went into my closet and dragged out the books I got for Christmas presents that I still hadn't finished reading (3650 out of 4380) and put them in the temporal vortex as well. I decided to pack a picture of my mom and dad as well, just for memories sake. I closed the vortex, causing me to pant a little from the excertion. "COME ON GREEN LIGHTNING! YOU'RE HOLDING US UP!" Came a voice from outside the window. I looked out and saw Sonic next to his car. He had volunteered to drive Aleena and myself over to the portal to the academy. "I'm waaaiiitiiing!" Sonic said with a cocked eyebrow. " I gotta eat first, Sonic!" He sighed and said something under his breath. I went downstairs where Mom was cooking breakfast. She turned around as I entered the kitchen.

"Pancakes are on the table, dear. Oh, and please invite your friends in. I'm sure they're hungry too." I went to the front door and opened it. Aleena and Sonic were standing there. "Something smells good!" Aleena said as the door opened. " Mom's making pancakes. She asked that I invite you in for breakfast." Aleena grinned and ran into the dining room, pulling a few chairs up to the table. About 10 minutes later we were in Sonic's car. After Aleena and I got our seatbelts on, Sonic 'floored it'. Aleena was immediately shoved back in the seat. Soon after that I heard police sirens. Sonic pulled over to the side of the road, sweating nervously. The officer stopped his car right behind us and walked up to Sonic. "Do you know how fast you were going! This is a 40mph zone and you were doing 325! Do you know what kind of fine that could get you!" Sonic grinned nervoulsy. "Sorry officer. Not used to going so slow and we're running late for the academy." The officer sighed. "I'll let you off with a warning this time. Next time I will confiscate your liscense. And don't be going that fast again with children in the car!" He looked at me. " How are you going to get home after these two get to the academy?" Sonic shook his head. " I'm not getting enrolled in the academy. These two are. Fangor enrolled both of them after graduation." The officer nodded. " Very well. Get going, and mind the speed limit!" Sonic's face turned red as he got back in the car. " Well, that was... awkward." I checked my watch. 5:30AM. "3 hours till it starts, Sonic. Please don't exceed the speed limit again, alright?" Sonic's face turned a deeper shade of red. The trip proceeded without further incident.

When we arrived at the moongate, Sonic let out a low whistle. " Immpressive! How do they get something like this to stay?" I shook my head. " I don't think you would understand it Sonic. Well, see ya when we graduate... or when we get vacation time." We waved as we went through the moongate, Aleena holding one of my hands as we went through. The first thing I noticed when we arrived, aside from the size of the building, was a HUGE ship in the sky that had a moongate directly under it that many 5-10 feet tall Kintushians were coming out of. The building was big enough to have housed Knothole and still have room for Robotniks base, Mystic Palace, Angel Island, and several swimming pools. South of us was a huge forest with some sort of forcefield covering it. We turned towards what looked like the front doors of the school and ran to it. After about 30 minutes we reached it, gasping for breath. We opened the doors and went inside.

Immediately a sheet of paper appeared in front of each of us. On the back mine said: "Green Lightning--Room 307Deluxe

Instructor--Fangor Thunderbolt--Master of the Sword

Classes--History of the Sword, Tactical Combat, Advanced Alchemy, Formation Combat, Combination Combat, Freestyle Combat"

Aleena looked over. " Looks like we have the same classes and will be sharing a room." She smiled. She showed me her sheet of paper. Her instructor was named "Akara Niphedel--Mistress of the Forge" I smiled. "Different instructors though. Well, we'd better get to our room." I walked up to a map on the wall. It had every room number listed and the name of the room beside the number. They looked sort of like buttons. I found the one for 307 and pushed it. I heard the whirring of a moongate forming behind me. We turned around an entered it, appearing in a long hallway. We turrned around and the moongate had disapeared. Aleena read the number on the door that had been hidden by the moongate. "307. Occupants: Aleena and Green Lightning. Room is paid for by Fangor Thunderbolt." She turned to me. " Seems like he's already a good friend! Well, shall we go in?" She opened the door and we were greeted by a glamorously decorated room (more like a many room house!) that had all our stuff moved in already. At one end there was a large pool (looked to be the size of a lake and about 20 feet deep) the walls were trimmed with gold, There were signs on the doors leading into our rooms, there were two seperate bathrooms with working bathroom fixtures, there was a snack bar, a coffee machine, even a soda machine! Aleena whistled in astonishment. "They weren't kidding when it said "deluxe" were they?" I looked at the door again and saw that dust was covering part of the sign. The part that was right after "deluxe" read: "Couples room. Boyfriend/Girlfriend; Husband/Wife, etc." She grinned. " Guess that's another reason why he got it for us." I checked my watch. 12:00PM it read. Aleena looked over. " Guess we'd better find the cafeteria, eh?" I agreed. I walked outside and looked next to the door. "Another one of those maps! Convenient!" I looked through it till I saw "Cafeteria". I pushed the button for room 500. We stepped through the new moongate.

I opened the door to the cafeteria and was immediately tackled from behind. " Look out!" My assailant said as she knocked me into a wall. I stood up, woozy from hitting the wall so hard. " Sorry, kid. Didn't mean to hit you that hard." Aleena helped me to my feet. We looked over to who had knocked me into the wall. A blue echidna stared at us with custard in her quills. " I'm Esna, and this is my brother, Leadfoot. Sorry about knocking you into the wall, but you shouldn't just go walking into the cafeteria like that." The black echidna behind her cracked his knuckles. " Must be new here. Well, we've gotta go eat and you look like you could use a few extra pounds." He said, poking me in the stomach. " How much do you weigh, anyways? 20 pounds?" He chuckled. " I'm Green Lightning, and I only weigh 10 pounds." His mouth gaped open. " ONLY 10 POUNDS! You must be sick or something!" Aleena got a laugh out of that. " Come on. We'll get you to a safe spot in the cafeteria that they don't seem to throw food at. Be sure to duck though. This food fight isn't going to end, according to Jemerai, one of the Kintushians we met before going in here." He ducked and opened the door as a custard pie flew in his direction followed by several fried chicken legs. " Stay down." We ran low to the ground, dodging food as we went. We arrived at a far, untouched corner of the cafeteria. The table was empty when we arrived. Leadfoot turned to me. " Hey, Green Lightning? Could you stay here and guard the place while we go get some food? I'll try to find something 'edible' in the line." With that Esna and Leadfoot ran to the self-serve line while dodging food.

They came back covered in fried chicken grease and custard pie. Aleena looked at what they had brought and her jaw dropped in disgust. " THAT is EDIBLE!" I looked at it. I don't know what it was, but it looked like charcoal glop that had been discarded from a science experiment and had ranch dressing dribbled over it to make it look 'edible'. Esna smiled. " It tastes better than it looks, trust me. I had some for breakfast." They gave us each a bowl and took one each for themselves. Leadfoot shrugged his shoulders. " Guess if I'm going to die, might as well make it food that kills me. Bottoms up!" He raised his bowl and began pouring it's contents in his mouth. After he finished he put the bowl down with a satisfied look on his face. " Tastes like pinnapple!" We each devoured our 'soup' and Leadfoot ran and put the bowls in the wash basin. "Hey, what rooms are you two staying in?" I pulled out my paper and handed it to them. Aleena followed suit. " No way! You two share a room?" Esna said, staring at the papers in disbelief. Leadfoot whistled low. " You both have the same classes, too!" Esna grinned. " May we see your room? After we wash up, of course." I shrugged. " I'm leaving that decision to Aleena." Aleena smiled. " Sure, why not?" We all headed out of the cafeteria, getting hit by the seemingly multiplied amount of food flying through the air. Outside the cafeteria we went to our seperate rooms to get washed up. Aleena giggled as we arrived outside our door. " You're a mess! Even Ramia's little brother hasn't gotten that messy, and he's your age!" She looked at my shirt, shorts, and shoes. " How come those didn't get dirty?" I shrugged. "Magic, I guess." We both went into our seperate bathrooms and took showers. After I dried off, got dressed, and combed my fur down, I walked into the living room. I got a good look around the place before i heard a knock at the door. Aleena yelled from the bathroom, " Just a minute! I'm getting dressed!" The knocking discontinued. I walked into my room and put my cloak up on the coatrack by the door. " Green Lightning! The guests are here!"

I ran to the living room and stopped before I ran into anyone. Esna was gawking at the sign on the door. " You're married!" Was her first remark. Aleena and I replied in unison, " No!" Aleena finished up with: " We're too young for that! We just met a couple of weeks before last Christmas!" Esna grinned. " Then you must be boyfriend and girlfriend! Lucky!" Aleena blushed and giggled. Esna looked at the sign again. " Deluxe, funded by Fangor... Now THAT is LUXURY!" Aleena giggled more. Leadfoot stepped in. " Can we have a tour of the place, Aleena?" Aleena nodded. "Green Lightning? Why don't you go read a few of your books while you wait? This is going to take a while." I went into my room, shutting the door behind me. I grabbed a book at random from the shelf and read it, only being interrupted by a shout from the kitchen: " NO WAY! You have a refrigerator that restocks itself with REAL food! And a snackbar too! LUUUUCKY!" This was accomponied by Esna and Aleena's giggles. " Wait till you see our rooms!" I stuck my head out of my bedroom door. " Could you keep it down, please? I'm trying to read!" I heard Leadfoot whisper to the other two. " He can READ!" This was accomponied by Aleena giggling. " He's alot smarter than it would seem for his age. I heard from his mom that he graduated in 3 weeks!" Leadfoot laughed. " If that doesn't make me feel stupid, I don't know what will!" "We'll see my room first so Green Lightning can finish his book. He isn't very happy when he is disturbed during his reading." I heard Aleena's bedroom door open, followed by a low whistle from Leadfoot and giggles from Esna.

"Silk curtains, a hot tub and spa, queen size canopy bed, and a door into your boyfriend's room! Everything a girl needs! I envy you!" Esna said, giggling. I finished the book I was reading and put it on another shelf where all the other books I had finished went. Just then a door near the head of my bed opened, revealing 3 gawking people staring into my room. " I've heard the term bookworm, but this is ridiculous! You've got an entire library in here!" Leadfoot said after recovering from the shock. Esna walked over to a corner of my room and spotted my laptop sitting there. " Wow! He even has a laptop! What kind of internet connection does it have?" I looked in the manual in the top-left mahogony desk drawer and flipped to the section marked internet protocol. " IXC3-XK88-20751. Or, to put it short, ALPHA 2.0" She whistled in astonishment. " Definetly luxery!" Leadfoot walked over to my bed and ran his hand along the covers and pillows. " What is this, velvet? It feels softer than anything I've ever touched! Even Aleena's silk covers aren't this soft!" I pulled out a scanner from my temporal vortex, panting from the straint of such powerful magic, and pointed it at the covers. The screen on the scanner read: "Kintushian velvet" Esna looked in my closet and took something out of it. " A tuxedo in your size! Nice!" Aleena's mouth dropped open. " I didn't know you had that in there! How come you never wear it?" I shrugged my shoulders. " I didn't know either. Besides, I prefer what I am wearing now." Aleena ran over to the closet and began combing through it, looking at all the clothes that I had never known were in my closet at home. " Let's see... a Robin Hood custume comeplete with hat... UGH! This Golden Robe is heavy! Is it made of real gold!" I frowned. " Please don't drag that out. Lots of bad memories accompany it." She nodded. She eventualy closed the door after insisting that I wear the tuxedo and the Robin Hood suit at some point. Eventually Esna and Leadfoot left, promising to visit our 'house' sometime. After they left I checked my watch. 6:30 PM it read. " Aleena? Want to go to the food fight and see if the food has improved?" Aleena laughed and shook her head. " I'm going to see if I can find anything good in the fridge. Go wait at the table, ok?" I nodded and went to the long dining table that was made to seat 24. I must have fallen asleep at the table, because I was startled by Aleena setting food in front of me. " I found a few pizzas in the freezer and cooked them in the oven for us. Should be safer to eat than the experiments in the cafeteria." We both laughed at that.

After eating, She looked at the clock above the living room door. " 9:30 PM... I think we should get to bed now. I'll put the plates up." Just then there was a knock at the door. I went to answer it as Aleena went to take care of the dishes. What greeted me was a pair of legs until I looked up. A 8-foot tall Kintushian towered over me. He kneeled down on one knee and looked me directly in the eye. " Classes start tommorrow. I don't want EITHER of you giving the teachers a hard time, ESPECIALLY not Fangor. Is that CLEAR!" I nodded. Just then a fist flew into the side of his head, followed by a thud as he hit the wall. " How many times do I have to tell you! I don't care if you ARE the principal of this academy, DO NOT YELL AT THE STUDENTS! Especially not Green Lightning! Don't make me have to settle this at the arena! Is that CLEAR!" The other Kintushian got up and rushed the individual that had hit him, missing and crashing into another wall. I immediately recognized the attacker as he appeared in front of the door. Fangor rolled his shoulders. " You really think you could get the jump on me like that?" The other Kintushian replied: " See you at the arena, Fangor. And bring that freak with you! He's dead after I'm done with you!" Fangor shrugged his shoulders. " Your passing. Just be sure not to let the ceiling hit you on the way out." Fangor turned to me as the other Kintushian stormed off. " Sorry you had to see that. He's been yelling at all the students today just because he is a general. Well, we're going to have to get a new principal tommorrow. I have a feeling that our current one won't be leaving the arena the way he entered." With that,Fangor walked off. I shut the door and turned around only to be hugged by Aleena. " Are you ok! Did he hurt you!" " No, I'm fine." She let go of me, blushing. " Sorry. I was just worried when I heard all that yelling. YIKES! It's almost 10! Well, have a good night's rest." With that we headed for our beds.

February 12

I woke up in the same room I had been using for over a month now. I was far ahead in history of the sword, and in the defense part of all of my classes. I was, however, failing in the offensive parts, like I was now. " Come on you two-tailed little freak! How are you going to be able to defeat your opponent if you won't attack!" My tactical combat instructor, a hot-headed fire Kintushian named Iccoli, said as he landed another blow into the ground with his Kintushian-tin sword, causing the weapon to shatter. " Ack! Blast you! Now I have to go get another from the storage department! I'm going to kill you one of these days you weak little freak!" He ran off towards the storage facility, throwing students that didn't get out of his reach in time and cutting others with his tailblade as he passed them. I felt a hand on my shoulder and i looked up, seeing Fangor standing there with a note in one hand. " You all have tommorrow off for Valentine's day. Aleena asked me to give you this note. Well, I must be off to stop my class from killing itself in my absence." He waved and parted, heading for the 200 hall. The teacher came back, with a new sword in hand and his eyes glowing bright red. " Now you DIE!" He said as he lunged at me. I immediately parried the attack with my staff, causing the blade to break again. He immediately grabbed me with one hand, raised the other, and was about to strike when he was hit with a 'mind blast' spell. he dropped to the ground clutching his head. I looked behind him to find one of the Black Robe gang members standing there, ready to throw out another spell. " How many times must we tell you incompetents! The prince is OURS to kill! Now get back to training him so he will be a challenge when we decide to go kill him!" Iccoli was lying on the ground, comepletely blacked out from the spell. Aleena, who happened to be at the arena at the time, ran over to where I was.

" What did you do to him? He's out cold!" I shook my head. " It wasn't me. It was one of the Black Robe gang members. He hit him with a 'mind blast' spell." She shrugged her shoulders. Soon afterwards the bell rang, signaling a change of classes. After all our classes were done for the day and we had gone through a personal training session with our instructors, we headed to our 'house'. I went into my room and opened the note at my desk. It read:

Dear Green Lightning,

This is to invite you to dinner at Akino's Mixed Resteraunt tommorrow for Valentine's day. I would like for you to wear your tuxedo on this occassion, please.

Forever yours,

Alena

P.S.: Your mom said she was going to send you something today, so check your mail box next to your door when you come in.

I put the note down and checked my mailbox. Sure enough, there was an envelope inside. I opened it at my desk and out fell a letter and a ring. I read the letter thoroughly, not wanting to miss a word. Not to my surprise, it was written in Mystic.

Dear son,

I hope you are doing well in your school! I heard from Aleena that you made a couple of friends your first day there! I feel so happy for you! I have enclosed the engagement ring that your father gave me before we started dating, and thought you should have it. Stay safe and be happy! Don't forget: No matter what happens, you will always be our son and we will always love you!

Love,

Mom & Dad

I examined the ring closely, then used the scanner on it. It read: '12ct Diamond embedded into a 24ct gold ring.' I put it on my nightstand and checked my clock above my door. 7:30 PM. Wonder what all is going to happen tommorrow? I went out of my room, leaving the note and letter on my desk next to my computer. I was greeted outside by Aleena who ran her fingers through the fur on my heead. " Did you get the note?" I nodded. She looked at the clock. " Well, you might want to get to bed early tonight. It's going to take a while to find that resteraunt in Knothole. I made lasagna for supper tonight. I hope you'll like it." She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the table while I tried to walk as she pulled. I sat down and began eating it. It tasted good! " Good cooking, Alena! This is tastes even better than the casserole you cooked last night! I don't see how you outdo yourself every night!" She giggled. " I'm still learning from Amy on the weekends. She said to be careful and make sure the recipes that don't contain caffine for some reason. I wonder why?" Soon after eating, I went to my room and fell asleep.

February 13

I woke up the next morning and saw a note on my door. I shoved a chair over to it so I could reach it and took it to my desk to read. It read:

Dear Green Lightning,

Be ready for our date by 6 tonight. And please don't forget to wear your tuxedo. I will be spending the day at the mall with Amy, Rouge, Bunny, Sally, and Esna. If you need anything, Leadfoot is right next door. See you soon!

With love,

Aleena

I looked at my watch. 6:30 AM it read. Plenty of time to get ready... If I knew what I was getting ready for. I chuckled nervously to myself. I didn't have any idea what she meant by 'date'. Oh well. I'll learn the meaning sooner or later. Now what to do today... I looked at the school handbook to see what activities would be available. Half-way down the list I spotted something that caught my interest. A chess tournament, eh? Sounds like a challenge. I left the 'house' and pushed the button for room 205. Immediately I was shoved in by some badger holding a book with a cover that resembled a chessboard with the black king knocked over. " Come in! Come in! The tournament is about to start!" He shoved me into a seat across from an armadillo that looked like it would rip me in half at any second. Concentrate on the board... nothing else. I turned my attention to the board. The armadillo turned the board around to where white was on his side, grinning. " You're going to lose, freak!" I shrugged. I had yet to lose at anything, so I was confident that I wouldn't lose at a chess tournament. He moved his pawn in front of his king-side bishop forward one space. Simple maneauver. I'll just counter with this... I moved my pawn in front of my queen-side bishop forward 1 space. He laughed. " I would expect such a stupid opening move from a two-tailed freak! Time to lose!" He moved his pawn in front of his king-side Knight forward two spaces. I took this opportunity to put his king in 'checkmate' using my queen. " Fools mate." I called out. Immediately the same badger that had shoved me through the door ran over to the table. He examined the board, then turned to me. "What's your name, kid?" " Green Lightning." He grabbed my hand and raised me out of my seat, about 4 feet above the ground. " And Green Lightning takes a point! Better luck next time, Butch." 'Butch' stormed out of there, taking a peice of the door with him because he didn't bother to open it. 7 matches later it was down to me and some kid wearing shades and a sash that read: '4-year chess champ'. He set up the board and we began, this time I was white, unlike all my other matches.

The match dragged on, with both of us losing peices left and right after playing conservatively for about 30 moves. I was down to a rook, my queen, and my king. He had his queen and king left, both on the eigth rank. I had just advanced my rook to the seventh rank, blocking his king from moving. He got desperate and shoved his queen into a corner, hoping to force my king toward his on his next turn. I took advantage of this by sending my queen to the eigth rank, causing a '7th heaven' checkmate. " 7th heaven checkmate." He examined the board and grinned. The referee jerked me out of my seat, causing my legs to dangle in the air again. " And another '7th heaven checkmate' victory for Green Lightning, our new chess champ!" He put me back in my chair and turned to me. " How does it feel to be the youngest chess champion in the history of Knothole?" I just shrugged my shoulders. " Great, I guess." Suddenly a camera flashed somewhere as the referee put some sort of sash over me. " You will be appearing in next week's newspaper. Congratulations!" Soon after that, I headed back to my room to see if there was anything to eat in the refridgerator.

After I ate lunch, I took a shower and put on my tuxedo. Just then I heard a knock at the front door. I looked at the clock above my bedroom door. 5:30 PM it read. Not time for the 'date' yet... Who could it be? I left my room and opened the front door. Standing there, in a red dress with red shoes and a red bow in her hair, was none other than Amy Rose. She ran her hand through my fur when she saw me. " Aww! You look so cute in that outfit! Aleena is going to love it!" I dragged out my comb and combed my fur back again. Amy giggled, the turned around. " Aleena? He's ready. I'll be waiting in the car." Amy left, using the moongate system. Aleena came into view wearing a sparkling red dress that stopped halfway between her knees and her feet. She was wearing ruby-red high heels, a pink bow in her hair, her hair was pulled back behind her shoulders, and she was wearing earings that depicted green lightning bolts. She smiled. " Amy was right! You do look cute like that!" She grabbed my hand and we left the building through the moongate. Amy was waiting outside with Sonic, who was tied up in the back seat using ropes. He didn't look too pleased in that position. Amy grabbed a camera out of her purse and snapped a picture of us as we approached the car. " Your mom is going to love this!" She grinned. She grabbed Sonic and put him in the front seat, making room for both of us in the back. " Come on! You want to get there in time to avoid rush-hour, don't you?" Aleena and I both jumped into the backseat and buckled-up.

After a thirty hour trip of listening to Amy say how she had finally caught Sonic (turns out she tied him up while he was asleep) and Sonic struggling to break free of the ropes, we were finally at the resteraunt. " I'll be back by to pick you two up at 8! Have a good time!" With that she drove off, talking about Sonic until she was out of hearing range. " I feel sorry for Sonic..." Aleena said, giggling. We walked in and were immediately shoved over to a table. Sheesh! Everyone's so pushy today! I thought as they sat menus in front of us. We both ordered the 'valentine surprise', wanting to try something new. For drinks, I ordered water and she ordered a Strawberry milkshake. When our order was ready, Aleena decided to set the table while I went to get the food. It was a mistake to leave her. When I came back she was gone, and a note was left in her place, written in heavy black ink, like that used by the Black Robe gang.

Dear weak little prince, A.K.A: Green Lightning,

We have taken your girlfriend hostage. If you ever want to see her agian... ALIVE... Enter the upcoming tournament in the 'all odds' category. Have a horrible evening, you two-tailed freak!

Hating you with a passion and jealousy,

Gregory De'osol Mundar

Leader of the Black Robe gang

Something inside of me went off... It felt like anger, only deeper... Something else made it different... It was... Love? I heard a cell-phone go off somewhere, and everyone in the resteraunt looked at me. I reached into each of my Tuxedo pockets and pulled out a cell phone that I hadn't put in there. " I'm on my way to pick you up! Aleena already called, telling me she was going to run back to the academy so she can get some exercise! See you soon!" Just then I heard a car pull up to the curb outside. I was fighting back tears as I ran out and jumped in, note hidden in a pocket of my tuxedo. About an hour later We arrived at the academy. Amy waved bye before driving off. I ran into the building and pushed the button for the room Aleena and I owned. I walked in, closed the door, turned on the lights, turned around... and there was Fangor... sitting at the table with a sheet of paper in front of him. " I have already entered you into the tournament, Green Lightning. Your only match will be against the Black Robe gang. Good luck." He said without turning towards me. " So they told you too?" I said, trying hard not to cry. He walked over to me. " It does not do well to hold in sorrow. Sometimes the best thing you can do is let go of it. Never be afraid to cry." I ran into my room and closed my door. I began sobbing on my bed until I drifted off to sleep.

February 14

Day of the tournament

I sat in the stands, between my mom and my dad. It was the 598th match that day, Fangor was against another fire Kintushian. He had already given him several scars that healed instantly, and was smirking as he hacked and slashed at his opponent almost too fast for me to see! Then multiple images of him showed up, surrounding his opponent even from the air. " And it's Fangor's patented 'cave-in' attack! This could be it, folks!" The fire Kintushian began looking around desperately. Then all of the Fangors charged him. He raised his sword directly above him and, just when all of the images struck him, we heard the sound of metal striking metal. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he jumped back into the fight, slashing and thrusting at Fangor with each attempt being deflected. Fangor then flipped backward, landing in a battle pose, then charging forwards and performing an upward slash, followed by several other attacks way too fast for me to see. " This is it folks! The moment you have been waiting for, Fangor is using the 'omnislash' technique! This is the end of Fraqual Firestorm!" When he stopped there was a large pool of blood on the ground where the opponent had been standing, with no trace of the opponent. Fangor sheethed his unstained sword and saluted the crowd before leaving the arena. " That as an awesome match! And, once again, Fangor wins the one-on-one matchups! Now onto the only two entries in the 'all-odds' category... the Black Robe gang! A group of seven mages bent on killing their opponent just because they are jealous of his power and stature! According to them their motto is : " Down with royalty! We will rule the universe!" Well, good luck with that. Their opponent is... Green Lightning!" A few cheers rose up near me, and that was about it. " Umm... Guardian of the Forest!" Almost the entire audience started chanting: " GUARD-I-AN! GUARD-I-AN!" I hung my head. They don't even care! They only know me as the Guardian of the Forest! Oh well... I ran down to the arena floor, and immediately after entering a barriar came up seperating the audiance from the arena itself.

My oponents stood at the opposite end, staves ready and grinning menacingly. " And lets start the match!" Yelled the announcer. Immediately 7 emeralds materialized, one in each of their hands. " Let's see your power stand up to us when we go super using the 7 chaos emeralds!" Immediately there was a black flash, and they were engulfed in dark energy. I collapsed to my hands and knees, struggling to stand up until they had finished. " If you don't defeat us, or even fight us, we will kill your girlfriend!" I looked behind them and saw Aleena bound and gagged, in a chair outside the arena with several spears pointed at her from all directions. " If anyone so much as tries to help you, those spears will find a new home in the flesh of your friend!" Everyone in the audience gasped when they saw this. Immediately time seemed to stop and 8 figures stood around me, 1 of each race of Kintushian, only they looked far different... more like dragons than the Kintushians we knew today. " Child, it is time for you to fight. Call upon the power of your staff and use one of the order emeralds so you may free the girl. You must win this fight, or all is lost!" I cringed a little. " Who are you?" They all replied in unison, using a monotone voice: " We are the servers of the eight order, remenants of the order dragon. The master serves to unify our power, while the guardian serves to channel it. The power of the emeralds reflect the wishes within the heart of the one who uses it. If those wishes are evil, destruction will reign throughout the universe. However, if those wishes are good, it is said a miracle will happen. Go forth, Green Lightning. Let us be your aid in defeating these servers of the chaos!" With that they disapeared and I was immediately hit by 7 black lights, one from each of my opponents. I was immediately slammed against the barrier, in great pain. I called out my staff, then focused on drawing on the power of one of the order emeralds that would have the most effect here: the order emerald of the Forest. Immediately a large green gem appeared in front of me, shining very brightly. Immediately the Black Robe gang backed off in surprise, then charged me again, preparing fireball spells. I immediately remembered seeing something on 'TV' once... A large metal machine with blades on top... the blades spun around and around, faster and faster, until, slowly, the machine lifted off the ground. I quickly looked back at my two tails. If they can propel me forward, can I use them like a helicopter? Only one way to find out! I immediately positioned my tails to where they pointed upwards and spun them around as fast as possible...

I rocketed into the sky! Their fireballs hit each other and they spent a while regaining their senses. It was all the time I needed. I called out to the Emerald of the Forest for aid. Immediately it flashed and disapeared, leaving my staff glowing green. I dropped to the ground, going into combat mode. Immediately wind swirled around me with the force of a Lightning-Kintushian tornado, pinning down the Black Robe gang. " By Thunder, this kid has almost as much power as Fangor! These guys are in for it now!" They black robe gang members got up and raised their hands, preparing to use the power of the chaos emeralds. Their eyes turned blacker than the skin of a Dark Kintushian, only one thing left in them: Hatred. I swung my staff and a green crescent arced towards them, enveloping them in a green light. Everything went too blind to see for a moment, then returned to normal. When I could see again, all of the Black Robe gang members laid on the ground, comepletely drained of energy. My staff lost it's green glow and returned to being an amulet. Aleena's bonds and gag disapeared and she came running over to me. I was just about to fall, having spent most of my energy on my last attack, but caught myself. " My hero!" She said, hugging me. The audience and the medical team that had run down to send the Black Robe gang to the hospital ward began chanting: " Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!" She smiled, put one hand on my back and the other behind my head, bent me over one of her knees, and kissed me as she had on Christmas day. My mom was standing behind her, with my dad. Both of them looked very shocked with tears in their eyes. My mom was the first to speak. " Do you know what you just did?" My dad followed. " You just fought back... for the first time in your life!" They both ran over and hugged me, saying how they always knew that I would come through some day. I began to feel woozy and tired, as though I had just spent an entire day doing nothing except running at top speed. My eyes grew heavy, I smiled and let them close, falling forward and entering the realm of sleep, listnening to the faint cheers of " GREEN-LIGHT-NING! GREEN-LIGHT-NING!"

YAY! I finally finished this chapter! It's been less than a week since my last one, but hey! who cares! Be sure to tune in for the next chapter... It's gonna be good! Green Lightning has finally earned the respect of not only the four good kintushian races, but the rest of Knothole as well! Oh, and the reason why he fell asleep at the end is because the order emeralds take ALOT of energy out of you when you are done with them. I will leave you now with a quote from Fangor:

It is not how you look that makes you who you are. The actions make the individual. Don't let others words discourage you. In the end, you are in comeplete control of the final choice.