Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) during these small scuffles… especially for the one who really doesn't want to be destroyed by his friends, thanks.

~保護者~

"A Suitable Distraction"

~保護者~

As reluctant as he was to admit it, situations like these forced Sonic to do just that. He didn't mean to be, he didn't like to be, but he nevertheless was a bit of a worrywart. He worried about sensible things, sure, but the fact that his fears weren't unfounded or impractical hardly made it any better for him. It was just awful, worrying nonstop about everything from the outcome of battles to other people's hardships to his own shortcomings and on and on… And it was just as awful feeling like he had to worry over his best friend, too.

Granted, Jet had always done plenty of things to warrant Sonic's constant concern. Sometimes plain stupid things, too, like brashly challenging an anrgy gun-toting thug who had stolen from Storm back when they were all just teens. Other times, he did things that weren't stupid, per se, but were no less reckless… such as the time he'd taken on Ix and Shade all by his lonesome in order to (quite understandably) save baby Suri. It was normal for Sonic to find himself worrying about the hawk when these sorts of things came up. But just now, worrying about every little thing that might go wrong when all that Jet was doing was meeting his (apparently real) parents for the first time… that felt like a little too far.

It wasn't like Jet wasn't safe. He was strong enough on his own and, even assuming he wasn't, he also had Wave with him - and they were within the same building as everyone else, no less. His parents had seemed nice enough, too. So he wasn't in danger physically. It also stood to reason that he wasn't in danger otherwise either, given the fact that his parents really did seem nice and Wave was there as support, but Sonic still couldn't help the nerves stabbing at his heart. He was such a damned worrier, after all.

Perhaps it was best to take his mind off of it all. It wasn't even his business, anyway, so surely thinking of something else was prudent. Something else, anything else other than this worry and all the other ones that he'd left to lurk in the back of his mind for now. Worries about… well, everything. He rubbed at his temples. This isn't working. Need a new plan. Gotta think of something else. In theory, that should have been easy enough. However, it seemed life was just hellbent on making his life as difficult as possible today. "Could you stop grinding your teeth, Shadow? For God's sake, you're driving me nuts."

His half-brother leveled him with a flat look. "I'm not."

"Sure." Emerald eyes rolled toward the ceiling. "I must be imagining the sound that's preventing me from hearing myself think. Got it."

Taking notice of the air of annoyance arising from the pair of them, Tails left off examining items on a nearby shelving unit and suggested, "Maybe we could go outside and get some air?"

"No thanks," Sonic huffed. "I've had enough snow for one day."

"Come on," Tails coaxed with a smile. "It might do you some good. And besides, we have time to spare at the moment, so maybe you and Shadow could work in some more training."

Shadow's demeanor in that moment fairly screamed, "I'm not going out there and you can't make me." All he said, however, was a much simpler, "I'm staying here."

"Do not bother trying to convince him otherwise," Cream interjected with a small laugh. "I believe his mind is made. It is a lost cause."

Tails laughed, too. "You're probably right. Guess I forgot that he's sensitive to the cold. Sorry, Shadow."

"What, no sympathy for me?" Sonic asked with an exaggerated sigh. "I don't do well in the cold, either, you know."

"You're different," Tails replied, laughing a little more. He then went on to explain, "See, way back before Malevolence went and turned Mobius upside-down for a while, Shadow and I found some really ancient data on some of the experiments Gerald did on him and the abilities that Gerald was working on giving him as a cyborg and such. We found some things that really needed improvement, and for most of them that involved erasing any weakness and sensitivity toward heat. The catch is that it makes him extra sensitive to the cold, though."

After giving himself a second to consider this, Sonic nodded. "Right. Got it."

"I still say you should make use of your time a bit better than this, though," Tails persisted. "We all could stand to get up and do something, actually."

"And you expect me to do that how?" Sonic asked, jerking a thumb at Shadow. "You three said it yourselves, this guy's not moving out that door."

"No," Tails agreed easily, "but that still leaves myself, Cream, and Espio. I'd include Armaris in that number, too, but I'm not actually sure where she and Steam went."

Sonic glanced around, noticing their absence for the first time. Was I really that lost in thought? He wondered about that briefly before brushing it off. "Okay… but I have no idea how to fight you three."

"I think that's the point, isn't it?" Cream answered, tilting her head a little. "That is, to learn how to battle opponents who fight differently than yourself."

Tails's agreement was pretty enthusiastic. "Precisely. I mean, you can't reasonably expect to be able to fight everything with a sword and some fire, you know? Sometimes that just won't work. Take Cream here, for instance. In a fight against her, she can easily keep you at a distance using her mental powers in various ways, thus rendering your sword useless." He paused, thought, then added, "I mean, unless you did something crazy like throwing it, but I imagine she'd just fling it back at you."

That mental image finally lifted some of Sonic's random bad mood, and he smirked. "Probably," he agreed. "We all know how vicious she is, after all." Cream covered her mouth to quiet herself down, but nevertheless indulged in a series of amused giggles. Sonic gave himself a moment to think this all over, then asked, "Okay, so against you three specifically, what would I need to be mindful of in a fight?"

"Let's break it down one person at a time," Tails suggested, "starting with Cream since we've already discussed her a bit. As previously stated, she can very easily be a long-ranged fighter with her powers if need be, putting you at an immediate disadvantage with your weapon of choice. She's also fully capable of using powerful barriers, further hindering you since that allows her to block your fire. On top of that, physically speaking what she lacks in speed, she makes up for in her ability to fly and get herself away from you that way. Though, it's true that you can probably jump high enough to catch her before she could get away."

"You're right," Cream agreed. "I can only fly as fast as I can move my ears, and they do tire easily if I try to fly too quickly."

"Right," Tails nodded. "But keep in mind that in the event you can get close to an opponent like her - and assuming you can also stay that close long enough for it to matter and get past any barriers and such - your physical and energy-based attacks will be your greatest ally. A psychic-user's strength lies almost solely in their mind, after all."

Sonic inclined his head a bit, frowning as he committed all of this to memory. He basically knew all of this in the back of his mind, he noted, but since he'd never actually fought anyone with such powers… he supposed he had never really given it much thought before. "Yeah. That all makes sense."

Armaris emerged from Sonic's shadow and huffed faintly, causing them to jump. "And if you're not careful, chances are she could just blow you away before you ever were to land a hit."

"How long were you there?" Sonic demanded, heart thudding.

"I've been here," she answered easily enough, blinking in an almost amused manner.

"Why? And for that matter, how?"

Armaris raised an eyebrow for a moment at him. "I'm a being of Darkness, as for the how. Why, well… Dunno. Didn't really feel like standing."

For several seconds, Sonic tried (and failed) to respond in any way, but ultimately he just clamped his mouth shut, too flabbergasted to speak. It wound up being Tails who picked up the slack. "Erm… okay. Uh, anyway… Point being, it'd be a difficult fight for you, Sonic. That's all I was really getting at." Sonic just huffed at him, arms crossing as he nodded. Seeing that he wasn't going to speak at the moment, Tails pressed on. "Against me, you don't have as much to worry about. Pretending that I don't have a ton of gadgets and such on-hand, I would be forced to mostly rely on my dual katana, which you can probably fend off easily. I don't have a lot of physical strength, after all. My strength is more energy-based."

Sonic sighed. "Yeah. You've got electricity and that crazy radiation power."

"Yeah, but… I mean, it's not like I'd use that last one on you," Tails said, offering a small and sort of tired smile at the mention of his radiation. "I'd be forced to rely solely on the electricity, which might not be super useful against you in all fairness. Your fire is stronger than it, I think. So, without gadgets and without radiation, I'd say I'd be the most disadvantaged. Besides the whole 'I-can-fly-and-you-can't' part."

Turning his head, Sonic regarded Espio. "What about you, huh? What crazy ninja shit do I have to be worried about with you?"

"A lot," Armaris answered with a snicker. "Amazing evasion tactics, quicker-than-the-eye-could-hope-to-see movements and attacks, attacks from multiple directions… You'll probably be a bit discouraged if I keep going."

Tails would have comically sweat-dropped if he could have, judging by his expression. "She's not wrong," he confirmed. "Aside from our Immortal friends, he has by far the highest capacity for speed in short bursts, hence his perfect evasion - when he's focusing, mind you. Combine that with the fact that he has the highest strength in physical attacks out of all of us aside from Jet, his mastery of more weapons than even Shadow probably knows about, his general ninja skills, and… yeah. Pardon my language here, but, uh… you'd be fucked. Just saying."

Sonic frowned. Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy.

"As far as advantages you might have against him… there aren't many," Tails continued. He paused, thought, then amended, "Actually, correction, I don't think you have any at all. He may not have use of his left arm and eye, and his left leg may be permanently damaged, but he's trained to overcome those weaknesses for longer than you even lived previously, so… yeah." He gave Sonic an apologetic smile. "I pretty much stand by my original statement, I think. You're just kinda screwed."

Armaris inclined her head to Tails. "Kid's right, and I gotta say you'd have an easier time going against me. I tend to have minor openings between my attacks and all, and I don't exactly move so fast that you couldn't hope to touch me."

That was something Sonic took a small amount of time to consider. "Okay… but there is still a problem. You use Darkness, which I have no means of countering without Light. Which I've only ever been able to access using some objects I don't have at the moment."

"Isn't the biggest enemy we've got lurking about a being of Darkness?" Armaris posed in question, crossing her arms.

Suddenly, Espio interrupted. "Wrong," he said quietly. "It was never stated that she was."

She rolled her eyes faintly. "Sorry, right. That one. The other of the biggest enemies, then."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Sonic muttered. "That's part of the reason why Jet's not let me fight them yet, if you ask me. I don't know how. Watching my dad fight wasn't exactly enough to teach me that."

"Then going against someone like me should give you some insight. Not to mention my father, Ylden, considering he's the right hand of the God of Death, meaning he's an extremely powerful one as well," she offered in explanation, a faint smile on her face.

Tails had a hand on his chin as his mind worked, then he said, "Honestly, I think it'd be a great idea to go through with this, Sonic. Aside from me and Shadow, you have a lot you can learn from everyone here. It'd be good for you."

By now, Sonic had given in to the idea and recognized the soundness of it. As such, he didn't grumble too loudly while standing up. "Fine… but the second my fur gets matted with snow, I'm calling it quits."

"Deal," Tails laughed.

Sonic stifled a sigh. "So, who exactly am I up against?"

"Unless anybody objects, I guess Cream, Armaris, and Espio," Tails answered. "That alright with you guys?" Armaris just nodded.

"That sounds alright to me," Cream said. "I believe Espio-san will be fine with it, too." Sonic didn't doubt that. The ninja had always had a thing for combat, after all. He lived for battle and other such thrills, as far as Sonic could remember. And, tellingly, Espio made no effort whatsoever to correct Cream.

"Now that that's settled," Tails continued, "who's going first?"

When Armaris didn't volunteer and answer, Cream decided to. "I would rather not, personally. I'd like to take some time to get in my own practice before participating in a mock-battle. I've never really used my new weapons before."

That was a fair request. "Fine by me," Sonic agreed. He looked at Espio again. "You wanna go first?"

For a second it almost looked as though Espio was prepared to ignore the question (or maybe hadn't been paying attention to any of this at all), but then he shattered that illusion by also moving to stand. "Fine."

Sonic glanced from Espio to Tails and back again before asking no one in particular what he deemed to be a very important question. "Erm… so, how serious is this fight gonna be?"

Much to Sonic's surprise, Espio decided to answer himself. "In combat, your enemies will not show restraint. Do not expect me to do so."

Blue ears lowered slightly. Oh… joy. "You're not… gonna be that serious about this, though, right?"

There was no real telling whether Espio was just giving him shit or being genuine when he replied, "I will refrain from killing you or inflicting permanent damage."

At least that wasn't any worse than training with Shadow, Sonic supposed. Still, though, he wasn't thrilled by the idea. "If I'm supposed to be fighting three people, I don't want to be badly injured right off the goddamn bat," he grumbled.

"I might have a solution for that," Tails volunteered. "We're close enough to New Babylon that one of my teleporters can probably get me there, even if I have to use it more than once to get all the way to the surface. I can pick up some medical stuff from a shop while you guys go at it. There are capsules and things that can accelerate healing immensely for a short period of time, and that ought to do the trick."

Not a bad idea. "Maybe stock up on those, then," Sonic suggested. "We could use 'em, especially when real shit starts hitting the fan."

Tails nodded. "Will do."

He began walking to where he'd left his things, so Sonic turned away and reluctantly started toward the doors. The idea of heading back outside didn't leave him feeling particularly enthusiastic, but… Tails does have a point. It's better not to waste time sitting around. Besides, it's already been proven time and again that I'm way behind everyone in terms of power. That just won't do.

Cream slipped out past him, flashing a smile as she went. "I will join you two in a bit, once I finish practicing." Turning her head, she called back lightly, "Do not be too hard on him, Espio-san. He has never sparred like this before." With that, she disappeared outside and around a corner.

Blue eyebrows shot up. "Sparred like what? The hell kind of other tricks does she think you're gonna pull, Espio?"

The ninja was outside standing with crossed arms (well, sort of, since only one arm could be moved) in the snow before Sonic could even finish blinking. "I do not do 'tricks'," he informed Sonic blandly, expression as closed off as ever. Then his head canted, and he unexpectedly added in a murmur, "Illusions, perhaps."

Oh, the joys of fighting a ninja. Sonic could see it already… He was about to get his ass royally kicked. "Lovely," he sighed, stepping outside the rest of the way. "Look, just… do me a favor and don't hold back more than is necessary. It's gonna suck for me regardless, but at least if I improve it'll ultimately be worth it." When no reply other than a small hum came, Sonic looked around. "Looks like there's an open area over there, away from all these trees. Think it'll work?"

Amber eye sliding calmly in that direction, Espio nodded once. "It will suffice."

Sonic returned his nod, then looked back inside. "Hey, Armaris," he called, "you gonna hang out in there, or are you gonna come watch me get my ass handed to me?" No response. He shrugged, but nevertheless found himself griping. "Wish she'd stop disappearing like that."

"She will not cease solely because it annoys you," Espio informed him. Sonic got the feeling he spoke from experience.

"Guessing she used to do that a lot when you two knew each other, huh?"

"Yes." With that said, Espio turned and began walking off toward the clearing Sonic had spotted.

In an effort to try to prepare himself mentally for the coming fight, Sonic filled the silence with questions. "So, seriously… what should I expect you to throw at me?"

"Telling you would partially defeat the purpose of this, no?" Espio countered evenly. "Your goal is to learn how to fight those you have no experience with in combat. Encountering unfamiliar foes in real battle will often leave you unprepared. Dealing with it in a mock-fight will help that happen less."

Sound logic. Truly, it was. That just didn't translate into Sonic liking what he'd been told. "Any advice, at least?" he sighed. "Seriously, I'm completely in the dark. I know jack-all about ninja skills, as you probably recall." Hopefully. Or else I've just made an ass of myself by assume he can remember.

After a slight pause, Espio relented. "In many cases, ninja utilize speed and illusions as a means of overwhelming their foes. The latter is not preferred method, but all ninja are trained to perfect it."

"Right, you mentioned that a little," Sonic nodded. "So, what's your advice for me?"

"Simple." Espio gave Sonic a stern look. "Never allow yourself to be fooled by what you think you see."

Sonic frowned. "...I assume that translates to other senses as well, then. Like hearing, in my case. I tend to rely a little too heavily on that when something seems up with what I'm seeing." That was a trap he had fallen into more than once.

"At times, that strategy is effective," Espio responded with a small half-shrug.

"But just as often not," was the sighed reply. "Guess I have to be mindful of that."

Unexpectedly, Sonic was offered a second piece of advice. "You have sharp instincts. They have served you well throughout most of your life. Trust in them, and they will continue to serve you well."

A few seconds passed in silence, then Sonic smirked. "Except against you and your kind, right?"

"Perhaps," Espio allowed, stepping into the clearing.

For the first time, Sonic noticed that the ninja was treading so lightly across the snow that he wasn't leaving any footprints. He felt a pang of jealousy as he glanced down to his own feet, both of which were fully buried (right up to his shins, in fact), then brushed it off. If I could practically walk on air, too, instead of dragging my sorry butt through the snow, I would. Reaching behind him, he grabbed the handle of his sword. "You ready?" Though he tried to sound confident, ultimately he wasn't. Try though he might, he just couldn't quiet his mind down. You're going against Espio with a freaking blade? he chided himself. Are you absolutely insane? There's no way this'll end well… for me.

Espio drew his sword and gave it an almost idle twirl, his thoughts seeming to be elsewhere. But despite how distant his gaze seemed to be, Sonic knew better than to be fooled. There was no way Espio wasn't focused. Not when they were about to fight. "That question is better directed at you."

True enough… Sonic took a breath and assumed a steady stance. "Yeah. I'm ready. ...As much as I'll ever be, in any case." The hedgehog approached slowly, eyes narrowing. He's fast, so I can't rely on speed to help me much in this fight. Maybe I can try to predict his movements…? Maybe this is a good time to try and learn to use Dad's magic, though… He watched Espio for a long moment, noticing no nuances from Espio's overall appearance. Just as I thought… He's not going to let on to anything. Time to experiment. Gonna get my ass handed to me either way. Sonic suddenly surged forward at Espio, letting a torrent of flames fly from his left hand to judge the way Espio reacted.

Just like that, Espio appeared at Sonic's side, and he knocked the hedgehog sideways with a swift kick to the knees. He only made one comment, and it was delivered with a small frown. "You have speed. Use it." The second the words left his mouth, he vanished from sight.

Sonic grunted from the sudden hit, spinning in the air until he managed to catch himself on the ground and skid a few feet back. Yeah… expected something like that to happen. He turned on the spot for a moment, clenching his sword handle tightly. Things were silent for all of two seconds. After that point, however, all hell proceeded to break loose. Razor-sharp attacks suddenly came flying at him from a surprising variety of directions, cutting him each and every time. Though, it could be said that Espio did keep his promise. He never inflicted damage that was too serious.

There was a moment of pride when Sonic managed to maneuver his sword to block one of said attacks properly, a sigh of relief escaping him until the next attack came only moments later. A hail of kunai knives began to rain down upon him (seriously, where did they all even come from?) a short time later, threatening to take him down and end the fight already… especially when the curious paper tags tied to the handles of some of them began to freaking explode. Quite violently, in fact. Suddenly getting an idea, Sonic quickly threw his hand down and let out an eruption of flames from the ground to throw the kunai well off course and mitigate the damage he'd take. Satisfied that Sonic was no longer just taking the blows, Espio eased up for just a moment to see what the other man would do. He crouched in the branches of a tree, almost perfectly invisible as he watched on.

The hedgehog took a moment to slowly tap into his father's magic, letting it flow around him. After taking this time to remember how Kaden had used the magic, he let it explode outward throughout their battlefield to try and force Espio out of hiding. The magic roared outward at rather impressive speeds, forcing Espio to quickly make use of his speed so that he could pull off the "perfect" evasion he was known for. In doing so, he managed to successfully dodge the magic, and he flung a small firework-like bomb at Sonic as he did so. This was purely meant to be a distraction, mostly on a sensory level, to buy him time to decide his next move. Poor Sonic didn't even have time to notice before it went off, assaulting his ears with a loud bang, followed by bright lights that clouded his vision. Quickly, he teleported away from the sight, his ears folded down and ringing from the noise. Damn it! Of course he's that versatile.

The second Sonic reappeared, an ice-cold chain launched forward and wrapped around his ankle tightly. It pulled taut, then flung him high into the air. "Crap!" No sooner than the word had left his mouth, he was swung full-force into the ground. As it turned out, it was surprisingly hard under all of that snow. But his ordeal wasn't over when he hit the ground. Instead, it only continued, with him being flung around into trees and other pieces of the scenery in rapid succession. Espio gave him no real time to react, but Sonic would have to if he wanted this to stop. Which was the point, no doubt.

The moment that Sonic had even the slightest chance to move, he made use of it by maneuvering into a homing attack to launch himself as far away as possible from where he assumed Espio was. As soon as he pulled the chain taut again, Espio released his grip, but not before he sent the other end of the chain flying straight toward Sonic. And it turned out there was a sickle attached to that end (because of course there was) which proceeded to miss Sonic's cheek by mere fractions of a millimeter. It shaved off the tips of some fur as it sailed by.

Sonic landed in the snow some distance away, holding a hand to his cheek instinctively before rushing in the direction the sickle had come from. As the chain fell away, his mind was already racing with ideas to try and save his ass. Meanwhile, Espio (who had assumed a defensive crouch as soon as Sonic had landed) stood up and blurred forward to meet Sonic's sword full-force with his own. The hedgehog skidded backward from the impact, using his left hand to brace the end of his blade as he held off Espio's attack for the moment before trying to throw the chameleon backwards and away from him. This attempt ultimately failed, but Espio leapt away of his own accord regardless. As he moved, he threw a fairly sizeable dagger at Sonic's head. It missed, deliberately, but the threat it implied by just how close it was when it embedded itself in the tree Sonic was beside… that could not be underestimated.

Sonic's eyes widened at this, more fully realizing that Espio really hadn't tried yet. Fucking hell.

Expression as aloof as ever, Espio lowered his hand. "You're done," he murmured. "In a real fight, you would be dead."

"I figured as much…" Sonic huffed, watching Espio as he panted faintly. His body was certainly aching, with the adrenaline rush already beginning to fade.

More than bored by this point, Espio turned to leave, only to pause when he spotted Cream jogging up to them. When she arrived, she gave Sonic a once-over and then cheerfully deduced, "Oh, you did go easy on him. Thank you for taking my advice, Espio-san." He merely shrugged and vanished, taking his many scattered blades with him. "At least, I hope he did," Cream giggled, turning to face Sonic more fully. "Are you alright?"

Sonic snorted a little. "Yeah. He didn't beat the ever-loving crap out of me this time. Guess I should count myself lucky," he grumbled.

"I was more concerned with stab and slash wounds, if I am to be perfectly honest," Cream confided. Though, she did so with a very unconcerned smile still present on her face. "I didn't think he would treat you that poorly, however. It's good to see I was right."

"Honestly, that's what I was worried about most, as well," Sonic admitted readily, sighing faintly.

"I suppose it's fortunate that he got bored," Cream giggled. After that, she changed the subject. "Do you want to rest before we begin?"

Emerald eyes glanced briefly over minor wounds again, then Sonic sighed. "No, I guess not. There's not much point." There was a small pause. "So… how're we gonna do this? Do you just want to jump right into it, or…?"

Cream smiled sweetly. "Actually, I did have an idea about that."

The sheer amount of sweetness in that smile somehow put Sonic on edge. Growing wary, he carefully asked, "What… kind of an idea?"

That evoked a giggle. "Relax, Mister Sonic. It isn't as though I intend to maim you."

That makes one person from the last hour to feel that way, at any rate.

"I was thinking, instead, about something we could do as we spar."

Wariness ebbed away into curiosity. "Oh?"

Visibly pleased that he was listening calmly again, Cream continued. "Battling while distracted is an important skill to learn," she said. "Espio-san always used to tell me so, but I never did quite learn how to apply that knowledge to battling with my psychic abilities. By the time I came into his care, we were all done with fighting and such, after all."

"Until a long time after you passed, yeah," Sonic nodded.

She returned his nod. "Yes. So I believe that it would be most prudent to practice today. It's a skill that you, like most anyone else, can benefit from learning as well."

It made sense, Sonic decided straight away, and it was a good idea. But he had one lingering question about her little plan. "Alright… so how do you wanna do this?"

There it was again. That sweet, sweet smile. "I suppose there are probably many ways to practice this, but I was thinking… that perhaps we can talk."

Both eyebrows and pointed ears perked up. "Talk?" he echoed.

"Yes," Cream confirmed. She lifted her weapons up with her mind, allowing them to hover around her almost menacingly. "Let's have a conversation, shall we?"

He felt himself gulp. "Erm… sure." he eyed the sharpened metal discs, slowly shifting into a fighting stance as he did so. "But, I mean, about what?"

"Oh, anything," Cream answered breezily. "It doesn't have to be anything important." She paused to think, then her smile grew. "Oh, I know. Let's play that question game. What was it called? Truth?"

The memory of that very old little game made Sonic unintentionally drop his stance. "...Yeah… Yeah, I think so. That's the one we used to play with the whole group, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Cream answered brightly. "I loved that game as a child. Might we play it?"

There was no way he could deny her this simple request. Not when she looked so hopeful. "Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah, of course. We'll have to play it a bit differently since it's just the two of us, but… it's fine." Shifting, he assumed his stance again. "You go ahead and make the first move, I guess. I'll think of a question to start the game." She wasted no time in flinging two of the discs at him at high velocity. He dove to the ground straight ahead and they whizzed past him on either side, spinning wildly all the while. Heart pounding from the near-miss, he quickly got up and asked, "You've always tried to do everything you can to make other people happy, even though you don't have to. Why?" With his question asked, he flung a small fireball at one of the discs as the arced in the air to come back toward him. His fireball threw that disc off course momentarily.

It was likely a bit of a struggle to focus on attacking while also thinking of a response, a fact visible in how Cream's attack hesitated momentarily. However, it quickly resumed. "As a child… I suppose I thought I did have to. At least, to a point. I thought that if people were sad or angry or lonely or… anything, really, that someone had to do something to help. If no one else did it, I tried to take it upon myself to make up for that." Her discs flung full-force at Sonic, forcing him to block with his sword. The impacts were bone-jarring and knocked him backward. "I do know now that it isn't my job to make everyone happy," Cream continued, bringing her discs back around again. "But be that as it may, I still wish to try. I suppose it's just the kind of person I want to be."

Damn if that wasn't heartwarming. Sonic blasted the discs away with some more fire and readied himself for them to fly back at him. "That's real fitting of you, if you ask me."

She giggled. Then, out of the blue, she blasted him sideways into a tree with a small psychic blast. "I remember you used to be very… reserved, Mister Sonic. Why was that?"

That question came as a surprise. He hadn't thought of himself in such a way in many years, after all. "...No one can hurt you quite like a friend can," Sonic murmured, picking himself up out of the snow. "Even if they don't mean to, even if it only hurts because they're no longer there… they can still hurt you deeply. I was tired of that pain. I'd experienced enough of it at that point." With another blast of fire, Sonic deflected the discs, only to be pushed roughly aside again by a now very familiar invisible force. Still, he smiled. "I guess making new friends again taught me that the risk is worth it, though. It just took me a long time. is all."

Smiling right back at him, Cream readied herself for his attack… and his next question.

~保護者~

5,940 words this time. Apologies for the delay... again, but I hope you all enjoyed. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for his help! He of course wrote for his own character (Armaris) here, but he also played the part of Sonic for me during the brief fight with Espio because I got stuck. Posted (at about 3:20 p.m.) 07-28-19.