Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) during these scenes of uncertainty and concern… especially for the one who knows the value of humor.

~保護者~

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Hello, MelGamingPlays! Glad you enjoyed! And yeah, a lot of new stuff to remember, for sure. Lol. XD It was but, I mean... for them, it probably wasn't that random. They've had weirder conversations before, I'm sure. XD Such is life with best friends, haha.

~保護者~

"End of Terror"

~保護者~

A moment after Jet's last teasing comment was voiced, Tails decided to interject for Sonic's sake and change the subject. "Hey, get your blue butt over here."

Though he tossed a small glare to his friend, Sonic obliged and got up. "What is it?" he asked once he was by Tails's side.

"This." Tails handed him a tiny device, one smaller than a fingertip. "Put it in your ear."

"No way, not until you tell me what the hell I'm even looking at."

With a small laugh, Tails explained, "It's essentially a bluetooth device, just one that doesn't need to be paired with another device. We can use it to talk and hear each other whenever, so long as we aren't too far apart."

Emerald eyes blinked down at the tiny, unassuming disk. "And… why am I using this now?"

"Just to test it," Tails answered easily. "I haven't put any of these things to use in years, so I want to make sure that at least a couple are working. Shadow and Cream have a couple of the others, and theirs are in working order so far."

"Fine," Sonic sighed. "If you insist."

Tails grinned. "I most certainly do."

The device slid in without any resistance. Sonic allowed it to rest in place for a moment before complaining, "It itches."

"You're just not used to it, is all," Tails assured. A blue arm raised, finger pointed and poised to poke and rub, but Tails lightly smacked it away. "Don't touch it."

Before Sonic could even think to complain, Jet calmly told him, "They break with excessive ease due to their size… Best not to ruin it."

Stifling a groan, Sonic lowered his hand. "Whatever."

At that point, Jet suddenly turned his head toward the nearest window. Tails's smile dropped in an instant. "...What's the matter?"

It was Wave who chose to answer. "Something's coming. Feels like Tel'or."

Jet inclined his head. "They're pushing at the barriers," he murmured, standing and grabbing his cloak off the couch in one fluid motion.

Growing visibly nervous, Tails asked, "Will they hold?"

Sonic was hoping for some sort of reassurance, one little glimmer of hope. But all it took was one word from his best friend to completely ruin that for him. "No." Jet quickly donned his cloak and summoned his sheathed sword into his hand.

Steam (who had briefly left the room) teleported over to the small group, noticeably bothered by the oncoming threat. His ears and fingers were twitching lightly with the anxiousness that waiting brought him. "Want me to head out and intercept?" he asked Jet.

"No," Jet repeated curtly. "It won't do any good."

Tense all over, Sonic demanded, "So what do we do? We can't just let them come here!"

"I never suggested that," Jet responded, shoving his sword under the strap that kept it secured to his hip. "I'll move them when they break through."

Tails's eyes were glued to his communicator screen. "The damage being done is massive, we've got maybe a minute or two before the barriers fall."

"You can take us too, right? I'm not letting you fight them alone," Steam followed suit, grabbing hold of his own sheathed blade simply to be ready.

"He can," Wave answered. "And if we have a minute, then we're going to get your ship, Tails. Let's go." Tails hopped up, and the two vanished with a golden flash.

Adrenaline already pumping, Sonic shouted up the stairs, "Shadow, get your ass down here!"

The darker hedgehog was there in an instant. "I know," he said before Sonic could speak again. He already had his guns in hand.

"Where's Cream?"

"She's coming. She was grabbing a weapon."

There was no real time to ask about that, so Sonic refrained. Instead he asked, "And Espio?" No answer.

Once more, Steam posed a question to Jet, walking close to the hawk with a frown. "Is he here?"

"Not here," Jet responded, looking at Sonic. He then turned to Steam and said, "No. But he will be." With this dire threat issued, he teleported outside to monitor the situation.

Sonic gritted his teeth. "You mean that Tein guy… right?"

The green hedgehog snorted angrily, flames sparking as if to say that Sonic was right. "The fucker is gonna have hell if he shows up here."

"This has gotta be the worst planet for two Immortals to fucking duke it out," Sonic muttered under his breath.

"It can't be helped," Shadow responded briskly. "Jet may be able to forcibly teleport most any other living thing, but another powerful Immortal can easily resist. If Tein does not wish to leave, there is little any of us can do besides fight back." Sonic cursed under his breath.

Steam's grip on his weapon tightened, light beginning to noticeably build up within him. "He's getting a fight," he muttered, agitation evident in his voice.

Another curse, then Sonic demanded his half-brother, "Can you monitor the barriers at all?"

"I have access to Tails's systems," Shadow allowed vaguely.

"And?"

"We have mere seconds, perhaps less."

Sonic ripped Caliburn out of his sheath just as Cream came running down the stairs. She was carrying the new weapons that she had been gifted by Jet sometime before (weapons Sonic had forgotten about entirely) and looked just about as ready as the rest of them. "There are so many," she said breathlessly once she was standing with them. "How will we manage with so few of us?"

Explosions completely cut off whatever Shadow had started to say to her in reply. The entire room was torn apart by fire and debris, and Sonic was keenly aware of numerous unfamiliar individuals starting to rush toward them in the ensuing chaos. However, a dazzling array of heavenly blue and white lights cut through it all, forcing their newfound enemies to freeze entirely in place. Then, in a split second, they were all gone. Before Sonic could even try to comprehend any of it, he and the others were whisked away as well. They were deposited in the middle of nowhere, dropped roughly on the ground while their enemies remained temporarily frozen.

Steam's initial response to seeing the enemies frozen was to unleash a hellstorm of Light arrows from the sky that all, upon impact, exploded with bursts of flames. Thinning the numbers early was his plan, especially because he had every intention of fighting Tein as well. Taking Steam's lead, Sonic, Cream, and Shadow also began to attack in earnest. Shortly after they all began to attack, Tails and Wave appeared in the sky. While Tails began unleashing a volley of missiles and other weapons at their foes, Wave let loose hellish torrents of magic from her hands. Jet, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Just as Sonic noticed this, Tails spoke into his ear. "Hey, can you guys hear me?"

"Yes," Shadow answered by Sonic's side, guns firing faster than Sonic bothered to try to track right now.

"I can hear you," Cream confirmed a moment later.

"Yeah, I can," Sonic answered. "Hell of a fucking time to be trying to test your devices though, Tails!"

"Can't be helped," was the simple reply. "Coordination is important in these fights, and so is communication."

Only a few moments later, Steam managed to link the voice transmission through his communicator with the devices and answered, "I can too. Though, I'll mostly be listening. Speaking through this is hell when fighting."

"That's fine, just be prepared to listen whenever I or Wave starts talking. Since we can see the fight from above, we're going to do our best to direct you guys on where to be at all times. We need to try to keep these guys from escaping the area."

Taking a quick look around, Sonic noted two things. One, this dusty landscape was utterly abandoned, which was good. Two, they were mostly surrounded by a ring of high mountain peaks, effectively caging everyone in… more or less. "Yeah… that sounds good." He whipped around and sliced through an enemy that had tried to sneak up on him while he was talking.

That was about when Wave decided to mentally say to the group as a whole, "Listen, when Tein gets here - and he will show up - you all need to stay the hell out of Jet's way. Got it?"

"I am not staying out of that fight," Steam retorted immediately, twisting and dropping an enemy to the ground with a brutal kick, letting an explosion he created send them flying away.

A massive column of rotating aura energy shot up violently in the midst of the seething crowds of enemy forces, ripping apart the battlefield close to a half mile away. Sonic wasn't sure how, but at just about the same time, Jet's voice could mentally be heard. "You will not interfere!" he snapped, his usually calm demeanor completely lost under a roaring flare of temper.

"I have seen what happens with this bastard! I will not let him get out of here!" Steam snapped right back, his anger showing more clearly as his attacks grew more violent.

The raging aura energy violently expanded with explosive force, further ripping apart the land around it. Jet gave no reply then, but Sonic could feel his friend's building fury in his energies. He wisely grabbed Cream and started to quickly pull her back and away, knowing that that hellish storm was headed their way. Shadow, too, began to quickly get the hell back. Wave and Tails were quick to swerve mid-air and fly well away from the attack as well. If they were to be engulfed, who knew what would happen.

Despite everyone else fleeing, Steam didn't budge, continuing to fight as he was and almost ignoring the massive storm of aura. It washed over him with seemingly no effect, despite blanketing him in the very same energies that were currently utterly disintegrating everything else it touched. It died down mere moments after having done this, leaving the area horribly decimated and the enemy ranks just as much so. Jet calmly surveyed the damage he had wrought with blue eyes that had taken on a very glacial quality - a look of coldness that Sonic never enjoyed seeing no matter who it was directed at. Those eyes then drifted to the sky, locking onto something perhaps only he could see for the time being. He made no move to defend himself from the Tel'or soldiers that rushed for him, but each one was nevertheless blasted back well before they could reach their target. He wouldn't even so much as give them a slightly more honorable death by bothering to use Alkarus on them.

Steam further added to the destruction by suddenly draining himself of Light and replacing it all with Darkness, bringing out a wave of the energy that slowly covered and ate away at whatever it touched. At about the same time, Jet dug his feet into the stone he stood upon with so much force that said stone began turning molten from the pressure alone. Bolts of energy started crackling all around him, teasing his cloak up into the air mere seconds before he blasted off into the sky. The ensuing collision mere seconds later was so violent that it briefly darkened and then all at once lit up the sky. A shockwave rang out that, despite being so many miles up in the air, immediately flattened Sonic and the others to the ground. No one spoke, but they didn't need to. They all knew what this little display meant.

Tein was here.

Despite the shockwave, Steam simply launched himself up after the hawk and entered the fray as well, intense and utterly pissed off gaze immediately tracking down the man he wanted to get killed. The two Immortals were currently locked in a fierce sword fight, clashing and recoiling and clashing again with so much violent force that their blows continuously blasted apart the air. They shot around all across the sky, leaving not even afterimages behind as they did so. At one point, Jet managed to get under his former student's guard and get in a quick slash, but Tein was quick to recover and get away. "That will never be enough!" the younger Babylonian snapped tauntingly, goading as much as possible with his tone alone. "I know how you fight, and it won't do you any bit of good! I know everything you know!"

As if only to draw attention, Steam snapped his fingers lightly, finally unsheathing his own blade. "You should know that's a lie, Tein. There is no way in hell that you will know half of what he knows." He was holding himself back right now, wanting nothing more than rip into this Babylonian's throat and make him regret turning against Jet.

"You 'know' only what the Night has pretended to teach you about power and might," Jet muttered coldly. "And you listened… That was your mistake." And mine.

"Mistake?" Tein grinned. "I don't seem to recall any sort of mistake ever leading anyone to a position of control over half of the known universe, teacher."

Steam frowned deeper at this, Darkness cloaking his blade. "Lack of understanding has gotten you far. Sounds like it's about time for it to be your downfall, too."

While Sonic and the others fought down below, Jet readied his sword again. There is so much to regret with you… However... your choices were yours. There is nothing left of you to save. He glanced over his former student's darkly gleeful face and allowed himself a small frown. So be it, then. Without a word, he rushed at Tein again, this time with visible resolve. He was ending this today, one way or another. There was another violent clash as a result, this time resulting in both parties being sent hurtling backward from the sheer force of it.

Steam, as soon as he recovered, threw himself forward and around Tein, lashing out with his own sword. Tein managed to dodge him, but as a result unintentionally threw himself straight into a lightning bolt that Jet had just fired at him. Words echoed through Jet's mind as he watched Tein spin further out of the way and begin hurling balls of energy his way. "Those who seek to take control of the Darkness may instead find themselves consumed by it"... He gritted his teeth, staring hard at one ball that shot straight past his head. There was so much visible evil tainting the color of these attacks. Yet more reminders of everything that had gone wrong… and everything that was still at stake.

With these things in mind, he tore off after Tein again. The pair resumed their earlier brutal fight through the sky, leaving a trail of deadly explosions, shockwaves, and energies and their wake. Steam kept pace with the two, actively participating by attempting to injure Tein or otherwise get him to be injured by Jet's attacks. Working together like this, the pair was able to rapidly injure the younger Immortal - not that this came as any sort of surprise to Jet. It was as he had told Sonic the day of the man's revival: this was a problem he could handle without help (though the help he was receiving now was not unappreciated, as it were). The real trouble in fighting Tein was not Tein's power, but rather actually getting a chance to fight the man to begin with. But with Tein so boldly choosing to show himself today… things could finally end.

Gathering up more energy, Jet tore into his former student practically from the inside out with several Immortal energies. This had multiple effects, chief of which was both stunning and horribly injuring Tein. Steam followed this up directly with a hellish fire and Darkness attack. Both attacks proceeded to utterly swamp Tein, and it was right about then that Jet knew the younger man was about to lash out. Knowing better than to let him do so here, Jet opted to take advantage of Tein's stunned state while he could and teleported off the planet and far away, dragging Tein along with him. They were gone in an instant, and things were instantly almost silent.

Steam growled lowly at this, yet didn't do anything about it. At this point, the fight was Jet's (even though he hated that). Instead, he simply let himself fall to the ground, landing somewhere nearby to the group and examining the area to see how the battle was going. Thankfully, the battle down below was wrapping up as well, with Cream and Espio (who even knew when he had finally showed up) working together to finish the last of the Tel'or off. Tails, meanwhile, was busy landing the Tornado while Wave surveyed the area from above. As they were all doing this, Sonic was examining his half-brother's glaring injuries with a critical eye. "How the hell are you not bleeding?" he demanded, only partly as angry as he sounded.

Sparks flew wildly around and from revealed sections of wires, metal, and so on, but Shadow didn't seem bothered in the slightest by most of it. Though, he did seem irritated that a sizeable chunk of his right arm was currently missing. "I can redirect blood flow around damaged areas when need be. Now stop fussing. It's irritating."

"Dude, you were just about blasted to smithereens!" Sonic snapped. "Your whole side is practically gone!" Shadow responded by just lightly shoving Sonic over with a foot. The blue hedgehog immediately sat back up and shot him a fierce glare.

"It's not worth the argument right now," Steam murmured, lifting one hand to launch spears of Darkness to end the few Tel'or that remained and the other to slowly do his best (which wasn't much) to heal the wounds Shadow had sustained with his golden magic.

Grunting, Sonic stood up. "Clearly that leg is still usable, but can you walk?"

Shadow let out an indelicate snort, as if to say, "Does it look like I can?" But all he actually ended up saying was a simple, "No." Warnings of extensive damage and multi-system failure flashed across his vision - vision that was rapidly going darker as several other systems were essentially put to sleep in order to prevent further damage caused by continued usage.

Tails came running up the the trio, momentarily fighting through a gust of wind. Dirt, bits of ash, and other debris momentarily blinded. "Jeez Shadow, again?" he asked, eyes clouded with worry when he saw what had happened. "You know that you don't have to take hits just because you can, right?" Another small snort was the only answer he got.

At this point, Sonic finally calmed down enough to add, "To be fair… it was either him or me, and he opted to save my ass." He tossed his half-brother a look. "Next time, though, I'd rather you save the show of brotherly love for a less dangerous situation." Oh, Shadow glared at him for that one.

Steam snickered at this, stepping back when he was finished attempting to heal Shadow's leg. "You two are so fucking odd sometimes," he commented with a smirk.

"My research suggests that it's pretty much just because they're siblings," Tails joked, chuckling. "But, it's not as though I've studied the matter extensively."

"Oh, shut it," Sonic sighed, looking away to check on Cream and Espio. "We don't need your guys' comments."

Tails smiled, if only briefly, and began checking over Shadow some more. "Whatever you say, O Mighty Lord of Chaos." Sonic sputtered, stumbling for a reply but never managing to get anything out.

Around that time, Wave flew down to the group and hovered within it, glancing everyone over with a assessing eye. "Well… this could have gone better," she sighed, forced to briefly shield her eyes from more dirty wind. "Could've gone worse, too, though… so I guess there's that." She look at Steam specifically. "Guessing Jet took off with Tein."

Steam nodded, sighing as well. "Yeah. I assume that, since he did that, the fight was about to get way more serious. Though, Tein was definitely injured before they left. I see no reason for Jet to lose this."

Wave returned the nod. "Tein's young yet, younger than he seems sometimes. He's naive, in over his head, and far too vain for his own good. He was never going to win this, it was just a matter of getting the opportunity to properly deal with him." She looked away, eyes clouding a bit. "Still… even as far gone as the guy is… Jet's gonna take this hard. He helped raise him, you know?"

Emerald eyes blinked. "Wait… he did?" Sonic cut in carefully. "I heard Tein was his student, but…"

"It went deeper than that," Wave replied. "Jet just… doesn't like to talk about it, for obvious reasons." She pause, then looked at Sonic. "When he comes back, depending on how he is, you might need to go talk to him. I can't imagine how high his stress and anxiety is going to be running once all's said and done."

Sonic frowned and tugged at one ear. Right… I hadn't even thought about that… "You think he might break down?" He accidentally inhaled a bit of dirt and coughed.

"It's possible," was the sighed response. "And, honestly, he doesn't always let me help. You'd be the only other option, in that case."

"Yeah. Okay." Sonic turned away again, seeking to change the subject. "So… new question." He glanced at Steam. "For you, that is." A raised eyebrow served as response. Seeing this, Sonic gestured toward Cream and Espio, who appeared to be having some sort of a conversation. "You took off earlier to talk to him or something, didn't you? Why?"

"Depends when earlier is." Steam subconsciously shifted his sheathed blade, biting his lip. His eyes flicked away, toward some random thing in the distance that he decided to focus on instead.

"As in shortly after he and Cream randomly left the house together," Sonic shrugged. "I don't know what time it was or anything, I just sensed them leave. And then you, afterward." Steam's only response at the time was a short, stiff nod. "So why did you go after them?" Sonic pressed, tone a touch firm. There was no hint of distrust to suggest that he thought Steam had been out to harm them or anything, but he wasn't making much effort to mask his concern.

"I had to ask Espio some questions about important matters. It would be best if they were discussed once we get Jet back with us," Steam answered softly.

Understanding dawned in Wave's eyes. "...He already knows about that, if that's what you're worried about," she told Steam slowly.

"I'm talking about how bad it's gonna get." This answer made the swallow frown. Steam took this opportunity to refocus his gaze on the group. "Do you know anything about his ancestors?"

Tails and Sonic traded looks that were notably blank while Shadow merely blinked. Eventually, Tails spoke for the lot of them with a simple, "...No?" He then added, "I was sort of under the impression that he doesn't, either. Or anyone else, for that matter."

There was a long, deep sigh that escaped Steam. "His parents were essentially defectors of evil clans. They were both born into deeply evil families, but managed to somehow turn out different than their own ancestors. They were more neutral than anything. In contrast, everyone before them was immensely evil."

Sonic and Tails traded shocked looks, while Shadow didn't allow his expression to change at all. There was a moment of stunned silence before Sonic responded, "...You're sure?"

"I hate it, but yeah. I am absolutely sure," Steam answered softly. "And the chance of him awakening that hidden evil inside himself is getting higher and higher."

"Higher?" Tails echoed, plainly startled. "Why?"

Wave chose to explain. "Listen, I'm not privy to a lot of this, but I do know this much. You know that woman he... well, cares for? She's a huge part of the reason why this is even an issue. She deliberately does what she can to incite emotions that can start to trigger a slip into that state. Emotions like anger, hatred, and so on."

"There are other factors at play here, but yeah. That doesn't help. And it will only start getting worse from here on. She's not going to stop, this isn't gonna stop, and it'll eventually awaken in him," Steam added, shifting a little to try and relieve his tension.

"We're not going to be completely in the dark when this happens, though," Wave sighed. "There is a way to tell that things are going wrong." Before anyone could even ask, she turned her head and called out, "Cream, Espio, get your butts over here!"

Espio, in particular, was there in a flash. "What?" he asked, looking a touch annoyed at having been summoned like that. He'd never much liked that sort of thing, perhaps just because he much it felt like being ordered around. He was a lot like Jet and Shadow in that regard.

Being incredibly forward, not to mention brave, Wave went ahead and pulled the sleeve of his good arm up to his shoulder. The same fading marks Steam had earlier seen remained, though they had darkened again since that time. "These are our clues," she told Sonic and Tails, tossing the now silent ninja an apologetic glance. "Our only ones, at that. When these appear, it's a sign. The more appear, the worse things are."

"That's why I left. I had questions for him about stuff related to this." Steam moved his sword again, scratching his fingers against his leg. "It has me worried." As he said this, Espio pulled his arm free of Wave's grip, causing his sleeve to drop.

Sonic rubbed at his eyes. Can nothing ever be simple? Or not dangerous? He sighed heavily. "Great… Just lovely."

"Easy, Sonic," Tails responded. "We'll deal with it. Like always." He glanced over he group just as Cream rejoined them. "In the meantime, though, we really do need to go. I need to get him," he jerked a thumb at Shadow, "repaired before he has to fully shut down." Steam nodded and motioned for Tails to get moving. The fox proceeded to, with Sonic's help, take Shadow to the Typhoon. This left everyone else behind to do whatever they decided to do. The ship took off shortly after.

"Alright, so. Let's talk." Steam's gaze shifted to Wave, raising an eyebrow. "We gotta figure something out to help handle this and keep it from being a surprise if it happens." More like "when", really...

"Mm-hm," Wave murmured. "Unfortunately, the biggest thing we can do - and that we're going to have to do - and constantly monitor you," she told Espio, again apologetic. "We just can't afford to be blindsided if something does end up happening." He let out a soft, indelicate snort and looked away. Cream seemed to read something into that reaction that Wave didn't and raised a silent brow.

"I've been in your situation, Espio. It sucks, but we have to." Steam's gaze fell over to Cream for a moment, almost silently questioning her before his focus moved back over to Wave. "I'll actively keep up with him. But, if I'm not here, I can only keep up with his present state, meaning it could catch me off guard."

Wave nodded, then turned back to Espio. "How long have those marks been there?"

He'd already been through this line of questioning once before, but that didn't make Espio any more open to answering. Still, he went and did it this time, if only because Steam already knew anyway. "A few days."

That got the swallow thinking. "You had a really big fight with her a few days ago, right?" He didn't exactly answer that, but his silence was telling enough. "Right. So did you notice the marks before or after? That's a pretty crucial difference."

"...After," Espio muttered, wishing for this conversation to be done. "They weren't there before."

Now Cream looked worried. "Are the marks merely a symbol of what's happening, then?" she asked Wave and Steam, not caring much who answered. "Or… are they somehow the cause?"

"It's showing what's going on," Steam murmured. "They're in no way a cause of the situation. If they were the cause, this conversation wouldn't be happening, and I'd be hunting down someone skilled in handling things like this."

Wave steered the subject around a bit. "Let me see the marks again." Initially, Espio appeared prepared to ignore her. Shortly afterward, however, he huffed and allowed her to again lift his sleeve. "These are swirls…" Wave murmured thoughtfully. "I swear I've seen these somewhere before." Dropping the sleeve, she turned to Steam. "...How much do you know about entities of Darkness?"

"Depends on what you're referencing. I know a lot, in my opinion." Yet more wind picked up, briefly gaining strength and forcing everyone to close their eyes until it died back down.

When the wind ceased again for the moment, Wave frowned as she said, "You're aware, then, of how sometimes certain physical traits distinguish different entities of Darkness from others, right? For example, demons have eyes not seen in any other living creatures."

"Yeah. You referencing the origin of those markings?" he asked in return.

Blue eyes closed. "...Clan markings. Certain beings of Darkness, ages ago, are said to have formed family groups. Clans, really. They still retained their distinguishing traits when they did this, too. Sometimes they were marks on skin, marks that came to signify their clans as a whole. There's a possibility…" She trailed off, but Espio seemed to catch on and frowned deeply.

"You're saying that they're potentially beings that had access to Darkness, yeah?" Steam's eyebrows raised once more, questioning her almost rhetorically.

She nodded once. "...Yeah. That's exactly what I'm saying." She opened her eyes and glanced at the subject of their discussion. He gave her a look that was now disconcertingly apathetic. "I don't know if there's even a way to tell, though… I mean, we all know Shadow has Darkness thanks to Kaden, but it isn't as though anyone can sense it. What with it being dormant and all."

Steam gave a sigh, drumming his fingers on his thigh. "You're entirely right, Wave. That's the dangerous part of it all. If this happens, he's tapping directly into it." He teleported something into his hand, slipped it into his mouth, then glanced to Espio. "Would you mind if I did a small experiment, Espio?"

Silence answered him at first, but at length, Espio relented. "Fine." There was a short couple seconds of silence before Steam slowly drew out a small amount of Darkness into his hand and held it close to the ninja, attempting to see if there was any sort of reaction within the chameleon. It took a moment for anything at all to happen, but just when it seemed like nothing would occur a very faint crackle of energy snapped back at Steam. Slightly startled, something that next to never happened, Espio reflexively jerked away.

"There's the proof," the hedgehog sighed, chewing on the object in his mouth. "He's got that energy in him."

Cream's eyes clouded with concern, the emotion accentuated by the agitated whirling of dusty eddies by their feet. "I could feel it, for a second," she murmured. "It felt so different from the Darkness that Mister Kaden had…"

Something in Steam's eyes darkened and he nodded. "His Darkness was neutral. Unlike Light, it has alignments of sorts. There's neutral and evil Darkness. Not much is different in the way it works, but the way they feel and act is definitely what separates them."

"The simplest way to remember the difference," Wave patiently explained to the much younger woman, "is to compare a demon to Sonic when he's gone Dark. A demon is going to obviously be evil and want to do evil things, such as murdering and such. Someone like Sonic, with neutral Darkness, however, is going to be more interested in self-preservation and other, well, neutral endeavors instead." Cream slowly inclined her head. Wave glanced at Steam. "Think that about sums it up?"

He nodded. "That's most of it. The thing about neutral is that, even though it isn't directly aligned in any real way, they still can often have serious non-neutral tendencies, such as Kaden's large bursts of anger that would lead him to… brutal situations."

At this, Cream cringed. "...Such as the time he fought Miss Analia and tried to kill her."

"After Ivo forced him into a very hate-filled transformation, yeah," Wave sighed. "That definitely wasn't normal for him."

"Yep," Steam nodded. "That's a perfect explanation. In a position like mine, I have issues with it as well since I already have some problems related to anger. It doesn't help."

The mention of temper issues caused Cream to glance specifically at Espio, who refused to look back at her. Her thought was clear, but she didn't mention it. Instead she said, "So what do we do if something… happens?"

"I don't know," Wave admitted. "Espio, is there anything you can think of that would be potentially detrimental to us trying to deal with this?" Apparently choosing to be unhelpful now, the ninja just shrugged with his one good shoulder.

"Erm, touching," Cream reminded. "He's always let me and Charmy get away with it, and Vector usually as well, but he has never been especially… well, fond of it." She looked over at her former caretaker, a certain familial fondness making itself known in her face despite her growing concerns. He didn't much acknowledge her attention except with a quick glance. "Aside from that, though… I don't know if there's anything in particular that would really help or not."

Wave sighed. "I was worried you'd say that." As the air began to stir again, her keen Babylonian eyes locked onto a tiny chunk of charred rock that was trying its damnedest to scoot across the ground. The distraction was only temporary, however. "The only trick I know of, in that case, is the one Analia used to use with Kaden. The one where she'd either let him wear himself out or use memories and the like to calm him down, with both methods resulting in him eventually powering back down and resting for a while." Again, she turned to Espio. "Do… you have any particularly powerful happy memories that you'd be able latch onto if you ever needed to?"

Now, Espio knew better than to think that his past had been all sunshine and rainbows. He'd had his fair share of struggles and hardships. But his life also hadn't exactly been hell itself. Things had just been… normal, he supposed. Nothing that he remembered carried strong emotional responses back to him. He associated no past event with any particular thought or feeling. The memories were what they were, and seldom managed to be anything more than that. So his answer to that question was a resounding, "No." There was nothing else to say.

Cream's once hopeful expression immediately dropped. "Oh," she said softly. "I see."

And you aren't exactly known for exerting yourself much during combat… Wave silently remarked, frowning a touch deeper in thought. Then again, neither is Kaden. But even so... maybe this won't work for us, after all. Crap. "Well, I'm all out of ideas, then," she reluctantly admitted, her hair briefly whipping around her head. Dust billowed for just a second or so before dissipating again. Cream covered her nose with a hand and Espio sort of grimaced. "At least for the moment. I can be more helpful after I've had time to sit and think." And had the time to get after Jet's ass for letting the wind here start acting upon his emotions. This is getting a little ridiculous… and he might cause or a tornado or some shit if he's not careful.

As much as Espio was loving this conversation, truly, he was ready now to leave. Cream, however, apparently wasn't done here. Turning to Steam, she murmured, "Do you, perhaps, know of anything that could help?"

"As far as I know, it'll likely come down to preventing the problem from occurring." He glanced at Espio. "Which means you'll have to find ways to control it." Steam was fairly quiet, his distant gaze hinting at the fact that he was in deep thought.

"Even so," Wave countered, "we need to have a plan in place in the event that he can't control it. It's happened enough times with Kaden in the past, and even with Sonic, for us to know better than to leave it to chance."

Steam gave a sigh, rubbing at his face with a hand. "The only thing I can figure out for sure would be having the ability to fight him, as shitty as that is. A problem with that is that, well, how the hell are we gonna hit him if the situation arises?"

Espio almost seemed to want to scoff, as though the very idea was somehow offensive (likely out of some sense of pride as a ninja), but he refrained. Cream was the one who answered the question, rhetorical though it was. "Erm… we aren't."

Now Wave took her turn to sigh. "Right. He's got the highest evasion skill out of all of us. Jet could probably catch his ass, but chances are he's not going to. If something were to happen that caused Espio to lose control, chances are there'd be a larger situation at hand."

"And the other people with the skill to do it are gonna be busy, such as the Gods and Goddesses." Steam suddenly frowned, biting his lip.

"Pretty much." Wave crossed her arms, then briefly closed her eyes as more wind roared through the area. Damn… he's getting pissed. We'd better clear out of here soon. She stifled another sigh. "We may need to sit down and talk to everyone together. We might be able to brainstorm better that way." She opened her eyes again and looked Steam over. "...And you look like you need a break," she added simply.

He narrowed his eyes at the swallow, huffing softly. "I'm fine, Wave. Just been through a bit of shit." Steam shifted his sword again, discomfort written on his face. Damn. Is it that obvious?

"Yeah… I gathered." She uncrossed her arms. "You gonna come with us back to Tails's place?"

"Sure. Sounds fine enough."

Nodding, Wave teleported there with them all in tow.

~保護者~

It was quiet in Tails's workshop. Shadow lay on a table, put under by medicines so that Tails could work on repairing him. Sonic hovered nearby, too worried to join Cream and Espio outside. The bunny had practically dragged Espio on a walk a short time ago, seemingly worried about her guardian's dark mood, while Wave traveled the globe alone to try to repair the fallen barriers. Tails stayed inside to work, however, so Sonic stayed, too.

Still, actually watching as Tails worked his magic was a little much. Seeking a distraction, Sonic glanced around the cavernous space until he spied something familiar resting upon a nearby drawing desk of sorts. Walking over to the small white device, he picked it up and scrutinized it. "He still uses these, huh?"

"What?" Tails glanced over. "Oh, yeah, that. Yeah, he still needs those."

Plying for more information, Sonic started, "It looks familiar, but…" He let the sentence hang.

"The shape of it is about all that's the same about it," Tails gladly explained. "That and the color. Everything else is different."

"Even the medicine?" Sonic asked, a little surprised. He relied on that old medicine for most of his life.

"Even the medicine," was the calm confirmation. "He started to need something stronger, unfortunately."

Sonic shook his head and set the device down. "How'd you even get him to go see a doctor to get it? He almost didn't cooperate enough to get the other one."

At this, Tails smiled. "Ah, you see… we sort of failed to get him to do that. Maybe if Vector were here to help get through to him…" He cleared his throat. "Anyway, when he wouldn't go see a doctor after dealing with his worsening issues for who knows how long, Shadow and I did our research together and developed a new medicine ourselves. It took a couple tries, but we found a dosage that works."

A moment of silence passed before Sonic let out a small sigh. "I'd hoped that it'd stop bothering him by now. That it'd... I dunno, just go away or something." He pursed his lips together. Maybe that was naive of me.

"This is Espio we're talking about," Tails reminded gently. "He's strong. He gets by."

Strong. That word conjured up many memories, some reaching all the way back to Sonic's youth. He had first met Espio when the pair had been barely eleven and the ninja had only just left his isolated home for the first time. The pair had fought - though not seriously - and Sonic still to this day recalled having that same thought on that day. He's strong.

Strength alone, however, wasn't always enough. Strength did nothing to help Espio get over his mysterious respiratory disorder, one that sometimes caused him to have very asthma-like attacks. When such attacks hit, he suffered from coughing, wheezing, gasping, breathing disruptions (including breathing too hard, too little, or not at all), a pounding and racing heart, and so on. During more serious attacks, he could even start to choke, get dizzy or lightheaded, begin going physically weak, and even result in him losing consciousness. During these attacks, he relied on his inhalers to manage or even end them.

He had lived with this since his early childhood, but events later in his life had only served to make it all worse. Shade had, long ago, all but destroyed Espio's left side. The effects of this were still clear to this day. His arm remained paralyzed, his eye remained blind and permanently shut, his leg remained weak and painful… but that wasn't all. Sonic had long suspected that there had been more internal damage as well. He, regrettably, hadn't been around Espio much since the fall of the Nocturne Clan and so couldn't say for certain, but if he had began needed stronger medicine to help with suddenly worsening respiratory issues… Maybe Shade had damaged his lung, too. Permanently, even. Guess it's a good thing he was trained how to expel as little breath as possible during combat and such.

Small comfort.

"Right… so Espio's still got a bunch of physical issues that we've gotta watch out for." Sonic closed his eyes. "What else do we need to keep an eye on? Anything knew?"

"My eyes," Tails reminded. "Without my glasses, if my vision suddenly decides to go wonky I won't be able to see. Well, at a non-microscopic level."

A nod. "Others?"

"Jet's arm," Tails said.

Sonic wasn't following. "His arm?"

"Yep. His left one. Had you fooled didn't it?" Sonic stared, utterly confused, so Tails explained. "Malevolence ripped it off years ago. Everything from the shoulder down is just gone. The arm he has now is a robotic one, just also a very realistic one."

That was… certifiably horrible. And Sonic preferred not to dwell on it. "...Right…" He cleared his throat. "Anything else?"

"Shadow's still a cyborg. We've gotta keep an eye on his non-biological parts, make sure nothing's going wrong with them." He paused, then added, "And we should definitely keep him away from electricity."

Right… electrical surges plus robotics equals "bad". Sonic opened his eyes. "I'm gonna go ahead and assume that Jet still has seizures."

Tails was the one who nodded this time. "Yeah. Dunno how frequently, though, since we don't see him much. But, last I'd heard, nothing much had changed regarding that. They're roughly the same as they used to be in severity and such."

"And nothing's going on with Wave, right?"

"Not a thing."

At least someone isn't struggling with too much shit. Sonic sighed and leaned back against a table. "Hey, about Jet…"

When he trailed off, Tails verbally prodded, "Yes?"

Sonic crossed his arms. "I don't know how much you're aware of since it wasn't talked about much, but his conditions can be pretty serious. The mental and emotional ones, that is. Things like his autism and his depression and the like." He frowned at the floor. "He's probably needed a lot more help than he's ever gotten. You know, therapy and the like."

Thankfully, Tails caught on. "You're worried about how he's doing… and not just physically." Relieved that he didn't have to fumble with his words some more in an effort to explain himself, Sonic murmured an affirmative. Tails continued. "I can't say much for certain of course, but I do know what Wave's told me in recent years." With an apologetic glance, he said, "It's all I can offer right now."

It was good enough. "That's fine."

Accepting this, Tails explained, "From what I've heard, he's not really gotten any better or worse than he used to be. Depending on how you look at it, that's either good or bad. It's good in the sense that he hasn't gotten worse, but he also hasn't really improved." He tossed Sonic another glance. "I know that before you passed, you learned a lot about autism and such. You worked with him pretty often, didn't you?"

"As often as he'd let me," Sonic confirmed. "Back then… I mean, I was never any sort of a professional, but he was getting better. He was opening up more, you know? Getting better at telling us what he was thinking and stuff, socializing better, coping with stress and the like more easily…" Stifling another sigh, he executed a weak shrug. "Guess I was just hoping that he'd continued to get better. But, after being around him for a few days and interacting with him, I noticed that it didn't really seem like he'd changed much in that sense."

"Wave does what she can," Tails murmured, "but she's just like you in this situation. Well-meaning and well-educated, but nevertheless unqualified. And without an actual professional that he's willing to go see, there's only so much we can do."

"I know." Sonic's frown deepened a touch out of worry. A moment later, he reminded, "Wave's worried he might collapse into a total meltdown over all this Tein shit."

"He might. I can only imagine the kind of havoc that this conflict is wreaking on his emotions." Tails paused what he was doing briefly and turned to face Sonic. "But you're here. I'm glad you're here, because it isn't just us who need you. He needs you, too, Sonic." Blue eyes searched an even bluer face, full of earnest and hope. "You've been so worried about how you can possibly help throughout all of this… but this is one way that you can. Be here. Let him be here for you, too. Work together, just as you two have always done." Smiling, Tails turned away again and imparted one last bit of lasting wisdom.

"When you stand together united, there isn't anything that can take you guys down."

~保護者~

Night was falling by the time Sonic finally felt comfortable enough to leave Tails and Shadow alone. He ventured outside, stretching his senses for any sign of Cream and Espio. It didn't take long to determine that Cream was inside the main house, so he began heading her way. No telling where Espio is, though… But I can't exactly fault him for always hiding his energy. Opening the door to Tails's small home, he stepped inside. There, he found Cream relaxing in a chair while busily scrolling through something on the communicator Tails had given to her that morning. "Cream-" he started.

She looked up, gifting him with a small and knowing smile. "Don't worry, he's close. I made him promise."

Somehow, Sonic managed to crack an answering smile. "How in the world did you manage that?"

"Would you believe me if I said it was magic?" Cream teased, a twinkle in her eyes.

"I might," Sonic chuckled, "in the right circumstances."

"I don't suppose this situation qualifies."

"Maybe."

Laughing a little, Cream turned off her communicator screen. "Was there something you needed?"

Sonic executed a small shrug. "I mostly just want to check on everyone," he admitted. "Shadow's stable now, he's just sleeping, so I wanted to make sure you guys were alright, too."

"I'm fine," Cream was quick to assure him. "I wasn't injured earlier. I don't believe that anyone else was, either."

So it was just that crazy brother of mine, then. "Good. Glad to hear it." Turning slightly, Sonic glanced outside. "...Think Espio's going to be willing to have a little chat?"

Finally, that smile of hers faltered. "No. He most definitely won't be. He just wants to be left alone."

Hardly surprising, given how little tolerance the man likely had for social interaction these days. Living in near-total isolation did that to a person. Still, this was important. "Wave was messaging me earlier," he told Cream, "about him. She told me about the marks, his family… pretty much everything."

She shook her head. "He was already growing upset over the questioning earlier. I don't think he'll be open to anymore right now." After a slight pause, she asked, "What was it you wanted to say?"

There was nothing to hide, so Sonic didn't hesitate to reply. "Same thing as I did with you."

There was that smile again. "Just making sure he's okay."

"More or less."

"Perhaps later. For now-"

"Yeah. I get it." Sonic walked over to an empty seat and claimed it, leaving the front door open (as Tails himself often did) to allow a cool breeze to filter through. "On another note, how long did you guys hang around the battlefield before you finally left?"

This made Cream blink, a vaguely puzzled expression appearing on her face. "I'm not sure how long it was," she admitted. "We came straight here when we left."

"So it was probably a while, then," Sonic murmured. "Did you happen to notice if Espio was carrying his inhaler? It was getting pretty breezy and crap when Tails and I left with Shadow, and there was a lot of debris starting to blow around."

Her gaze turned troubled. "Oh… I'd forgotten about…" She trailed off for just a second, then finished with, "I didn't see if he had it with him, no. But he's seemed alright since we left."

Surprising, given how much dust and the like just did not get along with the ninja (it really was fortunate that he was such a tidy person), but Sonic wasn't about to complain. "Okay… good."

Some comfortable silence ensued for a short time before Cream posed a question of her own. "When do you think Mister Jet will return?"

Sonic sighed. "I don't know. I've been worried about that, myself." He shifted in his seat, then admitted, "I know everyone's confident that he's going to win and all, but I can't help being concerned. He's always… had a knack for getting himself into shit."

This earned a small giggle from her. "Yes… I do recall." Sonic lapsed into concerned silence, but Cream refused to allow him to remain that way. It seemed she was intent on at least temporarily take his mind off of this. "Is Mister Tails still in the workshop?"

"Mm-hm. He wants to monitor Shadow until he waked up." There was a slight pause, then Sonic thought to ask, "Why?"

"Perhaps you can aid me in convincing him to come inside and get some rest," Cream responded lightly. "If he is anything like the fox I remember, he will hole himself up in that workshop all night instead of sleeping."

Nothing about this comment should have been amusing, but Sonic found himself feeling that way regardless. Chuckling, he said, "You're probably right. We might need to stage a little intervention."

"That's an interesting way to put it," she laughed.

Smirking to himself, Sonic stood and stretched a little. "Yeah, well, I try. Anyway, we may as well go try this. I'll carry my brother's metal ass in here myself if that's what it takes to get Tails out of the workshop for at least a few hours."

"That may not be necessary, but I'll keep that in mind." With that said, Cream also stood. She positively radiated humor as she led the way out the door. Grateful for the shift in mood to this from the tension and worry of earlier, Sonic followed her out.

~保護者~

9,162 words this time. Apologies for the delay, all. We've had these scenes written for a while, I just wasn't sure what I order I wanted them (and some others) I wanted to put them in, so I hesitated... a lot. Heh. Sorry about that. Anyway, as always, many thanks to Blazing Winds for all his help! Steam is sure proving himself useful as a source of information today, huh? Posted (at about 12:55 p.m.) 03-26-19.