Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in these dark times… especially for the one who has standards.

~保護者~

"The Storm"

~保護者~

Novei knocked loudly and forcefully several times on the door to Calypso's home, blinking only once as she realized Li wouldn't have let her knock that many times. She briefly contemplated what he would say, her head tilting as she set a hand to her chin. Probably something akin to it being rude. Her hand transferring to her chin allowed just one of the many native pests on this moon to begin crawling around on her cheek toward her eyes. It was a spider, albeit one of the smallest varieties, but this species was known to bite… savagely. The Therian idly noticed this, slapping the spider with much more force than necessary despite hitting herself in the process. This annoyed her, and she began knocking more rapidly and with more force.

After just a few more knocks, the door swung open and a dark figure greeted her. Ancient eyes narrowed at the sight Novei made, smacking the crap out of herself as she was, then the figure huffed. "You come in," she ordered tersely in a thick accent, "before your eyes be eaten."

"Finally," Novei commented simply, stepping in and flicking off whatever remained of the spider on her face, then her own hand. "I am not a fan of pests crawling on me."

"Then why you be outside, eh?" the other woman retorted. She crossed the dark front room to a table littered with candles and lit just one. "There no need for you to be here."

Novei ignored her and glanced outside. "The hell is he doing here?" she asked herself, walking to the door and opening. She then roughly grabbed her wolf friend and drug him inside as he squeamishly shook. "Damn it, Li. You should have told me you would be here. Those spiders kill people."

"I-i didn't… actually choose to come here…" Li answered, still shivering faintly and trying to make sure no other spiders had crawled on him.

The Therian rolled her eyes and walked back to Calypso. "Something bad is going to happen soon. It has been too quiet, and I wished to have your help. That's all."

Calypso eyed Li, a stranger to her, closely as she said, "I know dis. I see wit' magic what be happenin'. Death be comin' to those worlds. A hunger more ancient than I is desperate to feed. Who be you to stand in it way, eh?"

Novei stood there silently, trying to discern precisely why she even cared. It wasn't like her to give a damn about anything. Luckily for the woman, Li managed to calm himself and speak up, albeit shakily. "U-uh, well… I think… Kath, Sein, and Alana wanted to ask for your help too… They seemed adamant-" Li suddenly remembered that Novei used to not fully understand the so-called 'universal language' as well, and quickly corrected himself. "They really wanted you to help. Kind of seemed like they… needed you."

The ancient being before them seemed to drift into thought. Eventually, a vaguely creepy smirk crept onto her face. "Kath ask for help, did he now? That be a rare t'ing. He know my standard, that I am busy." There was a short pause, but she soon continued. "So be it. He ask, so I will come. I keep my promise to do so. You tell him that if he ask." Turning away, she disappeared down a hall and called out in her mother tongue, "Trekk! Dani ata ne'lo! Kekal su'lowei ona'i!"

"Eh? Who the fuck you calling for?" Novei called, crossing her arms and resisting the urge to follow.

No one immediately answered as Calypso moved further down the hall and into a room. Soon muffled voices could be heard coming closer to the pair and Calypso could be heard scolding, "You are like a child, wandering around, don't know what to do! Listen to me when I tell you, boy." The teenager she was apparently speaking to stepped into the front room before her, grumbling as he did so.

Novei blinked once and raised an eyebrow. "Who?" she questioned simply, pointing at the teen.

"Trekk," the other Therian introduced simply. "Guessing you're Novei, in which case, I suppose I'm meant to be polite. So hi, cousin." This was said with a falsely chipper attitude that earned him a small smack from his mother.

"Not necessary," Novei huffed, already tempted to walk over and smack him on her own. "I am glad that you're intelligent, at least." Li nudged her with a concerned look, grabbing her attention enough to make her look to him. "Eh?"

Li wasn't sure about how to respond, so he simply said, "Is this normal for you guys?"

"What, arguing and shit?" Trekk crossed his arms, contemplating. "S'pose so. Never heard of anybody doing it differently."

Calypso butted in. "Unimportant," she chided both Li and her son. "Time be slipping by. The World Eater will soon be awake. It be comin' for t'ose worlds soon enough."

The wolf noticeably cowered away, worried that he'd upset her until Novei suddenly picked him up and began walking to Calypso. "Let's go, then." Li's surprise left him incapable of resisting. Calypso repeated her earlier command to her son, warning him to stay home and not to follow, then teleported after her niece with a flash of magical energy.

Left to his own devices, the teenaged Therian simply returned to his room. "Good grief…"

~保護者~

Sonic shook his head with a lofty sigh as he walked out of the hut Shadow and Tails were staying in. Worries clouded his thoughts and intruded upon them, despite his efforts to keep it all at bay. Fingers tugged at an ear sharply enough to earn a wince, then another sigh as he dropped his arm back down to his side. Gotta stop doing that. Stepping around the withering husk of a burnt-up tree, he made his way back toward Espio's house. The chameleon was currently there, sitting on part of his roof with his gaze on the sky up above. Sonic decided not to bother him, jumped up onto the porch, and gratefully headed inside out of the smoke and ash. Glad these barriers are managing to keep all that crap out.

"Oh, hello, Mister Sonic," Cream's voice greeted him. She was sitting beside a blanket on the ground with the baby (Sonic wondered if it had been named yet) laying on it. Vector sat beside her, keeping half an eye on the child just as she was doing, and uttered a gruff hello of his own.

Rose quietly walked up to Sonic and gave a gentle smile. "Sonic. I would like you to meet an old friend of mine," she explained, motioning toward the grey cat standing beside her. "This is Kial."

Emerald eyes blinked at the newcomer several times. "Uh… hey?" he finally said, voice upturning into a sort of question without him meaning for it to,

"Ah, forgive my sudden appearance. I used to live on Mobius and I came to see what happened with the… battle." Kial's expression soured temporarily, but he managed to return to his soft smile. "I met Rose many years ago, and Espio much further back."

That caught Sonic's attention. "You used to know Espio?" he asked, genuinely surprised. I was under the impression that he didn't ever know that many people. ...By choice, even.

The bobcat nodded. "I knew him fairly well, I would say. The depth of my knowledge could be up for debate, as he was always a quiet one. Not one to deeply trust or speak of himself often."

"...That was true when I first met him, too," Sonic admitted. "We first met when we were pretty young, like eleven maybe, but it wasn't until we met again years later that I actually got a chance to sort of get to know him."

"I see. We eventually went our separate ways, and we have not seen each other until today. It was… interesting, to say the least," Kial admitted, idly fixing the leather cloak he wore. "He is so different, yet still so much the same."

"Yeah, he's definitely changed a lot over the years," Sonic agreed, ears shifting downward ever-so-slightly. "He's been through a lot, too, which accounts for much of it. Nothing anyone can really do about it now."

Kial nodded slowly. "I understand." The response was vague, as though there were more he could say but didn't want to reveal.

Suddenly, Sonic's ears perked up and his gaze swung to Rose. "Are you doing that?" he demanded quietly, although not in an angry sort of way. As he spoke, Cream also perked up, for she sensed a change in the energies around them. Vector, not being in tune with that sort of thing, watched the two of them in mild bewilderment.

"No, I am not." Rose, despite there being no danger, set a hand on her sword out of instinct and searched around curiously. "It is not what one could call 'average' Light. It has some of the essential properties needed for life, Sonic."

That caused him to frown. Ythene mentioned to me once that the revivals I carried out in the past were subconscious… which is why they came as a surprise, and why I never noticed the energy it took for it to happen. Guess I also never felt the change in my Light because of it, either. With this in mind, he committed this sensation to memory just as Espio appeared within the room, no doubt keen to escape the Light's touch up above his shattered home.

Kial frowned, not entirely catching on to what was occurring just yet. "What do you mean by that, Rose?"

"I came here to help Sonic gather Light to revive some of his allies. It seems that is occurring now," Rose murmured softly. Her hand slowly moved off of her sword and she stood more properly upright, extending her senses to watch for their arrival.

Almost as if on cue, there was a flash. Then a prolonged shout echoed down from the heavens. Then there was a thunderous crash that Espio neatly side-stepped… but which creamed Sonic and smashed him into the floor with a loud, "Oof!" As the dust settled, he just lay there for a second in a tiny bit of a daze.

Meanwhile, the weight on his back shifted and complained, "Ow… what the hell…?"

Cream was on her feet immediately with a bright, beaming smile. "Silver!"

Rose was over to the two in an instant, checking over both while also attempting to help Silver and Sonic both stand after the unceremonious landing. "Sonic, are you alright?"

"Yes," was the grumbled response. Then it fully registered who Cream had just greeted and his eyes snapped open. "Wait- Silver?" he breathed, spinning around.

The younger hedgehog stood where he was for a moment, also a bit dazed with a hand on his head. "Uh… yeah?" He rubbed his head a little and then finally opened his eyes to look around. He stared in stunned amazement at Cream and Vector briefly before his eyes fell upon Sonic. "...Is this some weird new part of the Master Emerald's world or are we all…?"

"...Alive?" Sonic finished for him. "Yeah. We're alive, kiddo. And more or less in one piece." With that explanation given he pulled his son into a quick hug. "Although, I can't say the same for the roof, thanks to your ungraceful butt." Though Espio appeared to agree with that last statement, he said nothing about it, choosing instead to just cross his arms.

Armaris landed on the porch, wind already circling her body as she glared. "What in the hell just happened?" she growled, her eyes locking on Silver. "And who the fuck are you?"

Silver quickly separated himself from Sonic at the sight of the new "scary cat woman" (as he no doubt viewed her) and backed away a few steps. "Uh… I fell through the roof… for some reason?" he replied after a second. Then he thought to add, "I'm Silver. His kid." He waved a hand in Sonic's direction.

Her glare didn't fade in the slightest, but the wind did as she stood up. Armaris' gaze then shifted to the roof and she huffed in agitation before resolving herself to hide in her own shadow. "Don't use that much Light around me. Fucking stings," she hissed, moving off to a corner.

"That wasn't intentional," Sonic told her with a little huff. "It just happened that way. Oh, and speaking of that, Rose, that was a lot of Light. Way more than what's needed to revive just one person, right?"

The white cat nodded softly. "That was far more than necessary."

Sonic frowned. "So, what's gonna happen to it? Is it just gonna dissipate, or…?"

"Dissipation is… unlikely. I will keep a watch, however," Rose murmured, closing her eyes temporarily.

It was at that point that Silver had the presence of mind to ask, "Wait, so… why was I revived? Why were any of us revived? What's going on?"

"We'll get to that," Sonic assured, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Just be patient. We're kinda waiting to see what's going on with this whole Light thing, plus we'll have more details on our situation once Jet and Steam get back."

Silver's ears perked up. "Uncle Jet's here? That's awesome!" His grin soon faded as he looked around, however. "...I sense Uncle Shadow, too, but his mind feels like a real mess right now. Plus this place is trashed. What happened?"

"An attack," Vector informed him. "Couple of 'em, actually. They, uh… really did a number on us. And, y'know, the whole area."

Kial nodded softly. "Much has happened as of late, that much I am becoming starkly aware of."

"Right, sorry, who are you?" Silver asked, suddenly switching topics again. "Think I missed that part."

"You missed nothing. I was not introduced to you, my hedgehog friend. My name is Kial. It is nice to meet you," he explained easily.

"You probably heard, but I'm Silver," he introduced in turn. "Nice to meet you, too." With that, he spun around in dramatic fashion and pointed a finger at the blanket on the floor. "Now somebody please explain the baby ninja on the floor."

Espio quirked an eyebrow but seemed (for the moment) surprisingly mellow about the whole "having a son" thing. At least for the moment, anyway. Maybe, just maybe, all that Light washing over him outside had helped calm his Darkness some more. One could only hope. Still, Sonic watched him closely for any signs of upset. "He is not a ninja yet, Silver. We do not train our children quite this young."

The hint of dry humor in his tone caused Silver's usual grin to return. "If you say so. But, in all seriousness… is he yours?" A slow nod was the only answer he got. Kial smiled softly at this, glad to see (not literally, though) that his old friend seemed to feel better than he had a short while ago.

Before Silver could ask any further questions (and perhaps incite some anger in doing so), Sonic cut in again. "How're you feeling, kiddo?"

His son gave that some thought. "Kinda tired, actually. Like, not totally at my full strength or whatever. Is that normal?"

"Sorta, yeah," Sonic sighed. "Happened to me, too. Didn't seem to happen to Cream, though… so might only happen sometimes. I'm not really sure."

Rose gave a soft smile. "Taking time to rest should certainly help counter that feeling. If you have any concerns, feel free to speak with me and I will help in whatever way I can."

Silver again seemed to carefully contemplate what he'd been told. Then he suddenly broke out into a wide, happy smile. "You know, you remind me a lot of my gramma. She's real caring and nice like you are. Always did her best to take care of others, too, even when she'd only just met them. So, yeah, a lot like you."

Bittersweet though this reminder was, Sonic managed a fleeting smile of his own. Hopefully she'll be back with us soon…

The cat blinked a few times before her smile widened slightly. "It is something I strive to do, to the best of my ability," Rose mentioned thankfully.

"That's great," Silver replied in kind. There was a brief silence, then Silver returned his attention to his dad. "...Why're Tails and Uncle Shadow in some other building?"

Realizing that Silver must have sensed them, Sonic answered, "Shadow's not exactly… feeling well. He's resting where it's quieter, and Tails is keeping an eye on him. Hopefully he'll be back on his feet soon, even if he's not entirely better by then." There's no way he could be better again so quickly… but it'll be good once he's at least up and around.

Silver nodded slowly, then asked a new question. "What about Uncle Jet? I mean, why's he not physically here? You said he's still around, right?"

That earned another brief smile from Sonic. "Oh, yeah, definitely. But not here here, like you mentioned. He's off dealing with… some things, but he'll be back in a while. Or, at least, he should be."

"I would be ready to believe that he will be back before long. If I am correct, Steam seemed to be in a rush," Rose commented softly. "They will likely be back as quickly as they can manage."

"Okay," Silver said. "Well, that's good to know." He looked around for a second, selected a spot on the floor, and took a seat. "Now, seriously… will you guys please explain what's been going on?"

~保護者~

As expected, Locke was still waiting for Jet and Steam when they arrived by his side, floating in the blackness of space some distance from Kaden's chosen homeworld. Despite the many miles separating them from that planet and any of the others contained within this realm, heat still radiated so intensely that Jet immediately found himself gritting his teeth in dismay. He hated heat, hated fire, hated everything about this. But now was not the time for old fears to take hold of him, so he forced himself not to pay them any mind. "He has left?" he inquired quietly.

Locke nodded once. "Yeah. Took a hell of a lot of demons with him, too. More than I've seen head out all at once in a long time. He's not gambling with luck this time around. He's dead-set on putting Nareish down, and not letting her do the same to him."

"Which means it's gonna be our best chance to do this, likely. He's gonna be busy as hell with that fight once it starts," Steam answered.

"I agree," Locke said. "With that in mind, I'm ready to go whenever you two are." He looked at Jet, reading his tension but not commenting on it. "You're in charge here. We'll follow you wherever you go. If you need us to do anything, just tell us." Jet didn't speak, just answered with a short nod of his own and teleported straight to the planet where they all now suspected Analia was being held. There was no sense in wasting time. Locke followed after tossing a glance at Steam. The hedgehog gave a nod and followed suit.

Once on the surface of the planet, Jet turned his gaze squarely on Steam. "Where was it that you sensed her energy?"

Steam pointed in the direction he was sure he'd sensed it. "That way."

Pure blue eyes drifted in that direction with a sense of dread… dread that he did his best to keep under wraps. Resisting the urge to grit his teeth, Jet muttered a new question. "How far in that direction?"

"It's a good ways away from here," Steam answered, frowning. "It'll take a bit of travelling to get to the area."

That sense of dread only deepened. This time, Locke seemed to catch on to it. "What's wrong with that direction, dare I ask?"

Jet took a second to curse himself for being so easily read, then relented and answered, "I have been there once before. There is a storm of Darkness and Hellfire so vast and powerful that I cannot venture far into it. That place is the one Wave and I guessed Analia may have been all this time, but neither of us can survive any attempt to properly search."

"Using Light to get through it would just create more problems, I assume," Steam replied, already beginning to walk carefully in that direction. "Have you and Wave thought up any potential ideas?"

"None that have any hope of succeeding," Jet remarked somewhat bitterly. Out of habit, he took to the air to travel, having long preferred flying to walking when the option was available. Still, he stayed low enough to the ground to be easily heard by Steam and Locke without having to raise his voice.

Locke crossed his arms and trailed after the pair of them. "Think there'll be any demons around? Even they wouldn't survive being too close to something like that, but regardless."

"There are seldom any demons near it at all," Jet told him. "Kaden is confident enough in the energies that rage there that he has not felt the need to station forces there to guard it." And that confidence is far from misplaced.

"Think any form of magic could hold some sort of ground in that?" Steam dared to ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Unlikely," was the clipped response. "Especially if his own magic is present in that storm in any capacity."

"I wager you've never stuck around long enough to check?" When Jet didn't answer, Locke nodded. "Thought so. ...How close can we get, anyway?"

"I'll take you as far as you will be able to go," Jet muttered. "I can proceed further, but not too much so."

Steam wracked his mind for ideas. Light is a bad idea… my magic probably won't stand up long, and I've got no resistance to Hellfire. Fuck.

Wasting further time was never a great idea, so Jet opted to speed things up. Escaping from this realm unnoticed was ideal, anyhow, and the best way to do that was to be quick. With this in mind, he plucked his two companions from the ground using his aura and flew them the rest of the way to their destination. He dropped them onto the molten stone below, at the very fringes of the wave of heat the vast columns of Hellfire were letting loose. Darkness raged amidst it all, writhing and swirling with such malice that Jet found himself gripping at his arms again in an anxious motion. Still, he managed to keep his voice level when he spoke. "Step no closer, or you will begin to melt." He said this with a pointed glance at Locke, as if daring the Sun God to disagree. Then he added more quietly, "If the Darkness does not rip you apart first."

"Fucking hell…" Steam watched this hellish storm and grimaced. "Even trying to touch that would tear through whatever Light I can pull."

"You, in particular, would be destroyed from the inside out," Jet said firmly. "It would use whatever Light you possess currently to tear you asunder. Do not try to call your energy forth."

Thanks, Steam thought to himself as he quickly burned through several ideas mentally. He couldn't think of anything in particular that would work to get through this, considering several of the allies he once had in his own timeline weren't present in this one.

Out of the blue, Locke pointed dead ahead. "Something's moving," he warned in grave undertone. "It's definitely not the fire."

The green hedgehog turned his attention that way and raised his stance immediately. "You said Kaden doesn't have demons guard this area, right?" Steam asked Jet. Jet confirmed this with a mere shake of his head, eyes locked on the blurry shape in the distance. "Are those demons? And how are they surviving this?"

Jet's voice was scarcely a thoughtful murmur when he replied, "Those are not demons." Locke looked at him with a frown, then shifted his attention back to the shape in readily apparent concern.

Steam took a step back, unsure of what exactly to do. Nothing should be surviving this but Kaden himself, so what were these things? He couldn't figure it out, and he was damn sure that he'd never seen this in his timeline. "What do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do until whoever or whatever they are comes out here," Locke said tersely. "We go in there, we die. Jet's made that pretty damn clear." As he spoke, the shape came closer, close enough by this time for them to gauge the size of the person or people heading toward them. They were the same size as… any normal person, really. Which was strange.

"I don't like just standing here and waiting…" Steam muttered softly, biting his lip.

Jet's fingers dug harder into his arms. They aren't giving off any energy… as though they have none to sense to begin with. He frowned slowly to himself. That should be impossible.

Eventually, someone emerged from the storm. A pale purple Da Asani stood before them, glancing over the group quietly. Jet recognized the species immediately, based on sight alone. The da Asani, like the Hexans, were very bird-like in appearance and yet still different enough to be noticeable. And they (again, like Hexans) most certainly were not birds. The differences were there, and even an untrained eye could tell. He just happened to have been so closely allied with the da Asani for so long that he spied those differences quicker than some others. But while he knew the species, nothing he knew about it could ever explain how an individual of said species was here. How had they survived what they had just come out of? He should be dead.

"Do not attack," they murmured toward Steam, blinking once. "Not understanding is no excuse for violence." The hedgehog was visibly shocked by this and reluctantly stood more naturally, not ready to strike at a moment's notice anymore.

It was Locke who first decided to reply. "Mind explaining how in the hell you're not disintegrated?" he inquired rather casually. But before he could fully finish voicing his question, he noticed a second person emerging. This one was a reddish-purple Babylonian (a rare coloration indeed, seen only in a few specific species, such as sparrows - which this person was). His eyebrows shot up at the sight of this person beginning to step into view and he, for once, spoke without thinking. "Another one?"

The person, a woman, fully emerged from the shroud of smoke and Darkness, surrounded in some sort of protective sphere. It faded away as she said, "Silence, please." A glance down. All eyes shifted to the limp form in her arms. There was no mistaking who it was. "She requires aid."

Jet dropped down by Locke's side in an instant and approached with no hesitation. Forgoing his usual suspicious nature, he walked right over to the pair and gently took Analia from the mysterious woman. He then quickly moved back and away from the energy storm, which only seemed to rage more violently the further away he took its former captive. "...We need to leave. Now."

Steam nodded, and with a glance back at the two walking miracles (as he saw it), teleported away immediately. Because every fraction of a second counted (Kaden had been alerted, after all, and this would never warrant anything but an immediate response from him), Jet followed suit with both Locke and Analia in tow.

Left alone once more, the Babylonian woman glanced at her male companion. "Staying here is ill-advised. We cannot disrupt too much this soon. The consequences could wreak incredible devastation."

"There is much we have missed. I wish it were possible to stay longer merely for that fact," the da Asani man responded. "But you are correct."

She allowed her gaze to slowly drift back to where Jet had been seconds before. "We will return soon. He is still in need of our aid. But just now… it would be unwise to get further involved, lest we draw too much attention."

"They have a healer, yes?" he asked.

"One. And another will be joining them soon. Chaos has enveloped her and restored her life-force."

"Let us leave, then." The man disappeared from sight, followed by his Babylonian companion… just in time to escape being seen as a large demon arrived.

The demons surveyed the area, scowled, and raised a communication device to its face. "Relay this message directly to our God. Someone has been here." Crimson eyes scanned the energy tempest before him. Clawed hands tightened in quiet rage. "She is gone."

Someone has stolen her.

~保護者~

4,969 words this time. Hope you all enjoyed! Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 12:30 p.m.) 03-25-20.