AN: Surprise. I changed my mind. I already got everything ready and prepared, so I'm speeding things up. Now, I'm having updates on Saturdays and Tuesdays. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Special thanks to Infinite's Ruby and TheLostEternity for following this story!
Chapter 2 – What Happened Before
Clay's POV
OK then. Let's start this with a bit of an introduction.
My name is Clay Colourz.
I am 14 years old.
I live in Australia.
And oh, I'm an anthropomorphic wolf.
If you see a male wolf with gold eyes, turquoise fur, ears that curved upwards, noticeable canine fangs, four small tufts of fur sticking from both sides of my head with white tips, white chest fur and a short bushy tail with a white tip, that's me. Also, I wear headphones.
I sometimes don't know who I am supposed to be. I…can feel lost sometimes, feel like an outcast…just because I have poor communication skills.
Yet, I have these strange powers that I thought were a curse before, but they ain't.
They're my true powers.
Let's start my story right here
Let's go back to 27th of January.
I lived in a large forest and in a tree-house in a medium-sized clearing. That was where I always stayed. However, I wasn't alone.
I had my older brother with me. His name is Belt. He might look like me, but he is different. He is three years older, his fur is red-orange and he wore glasses due to being near-sighted.
We had been living together in the tree-house for so long. It was quite lonely there since nobody came over. Belt was the only person I knew, so he was like my best friend.
Not like I got any friends at that moment…
"Do we have to do this?" I said as Belt led me to the exercise room. "I'm bad at this."
"It's good for your health," said Belt matter-of-factly.
I rolled my eyes. "You know that I'm not much of a sports person. Besides, my body is JUST fine."
"Still."
I sighed and went towards the punching bag. I decided to not argue with him. I took a good glance at my brother.
He was wearing black rimmed glasses, a tan three pouched utility belt with a strap, an ice blue zip-less vest, ice blue gloves, large mint green rings on each wrist, black pants with ice blue skull kneecap pads and ice blue/purple shoes with mint green buckles.
I rolled my arms around for stretching, before clenching my hands into fists.
"LEFT JAB!" said Belt.
I hit the bag with the left jab.
"RIGHT JAB!"
I hit the bag with the right jab.
"CROSS!"
I hit the bag with both jabs.
I used all the punching moves onto the bag; jabs, crosses, hooks and crosses. I wasn't that strong, but I was getting there.
"You know that one day you're going to be on your own, so you need to know how to defend yourself," said Belt as he walked around and I continued to punch – even kick at some times – the bag.
"But you always stick with me," I said. "And I've never been out of the tree-house for ONCE."
Belt shrugged. "I know. I am worried for your safety and since we're on our own, I want to be the eldest brother who always look out for his little cub. But you…you may be all alone someday. That's why I need you to know how to fight when I'm not around."
"Copy that, boss," I said, kicking the bag.
However, Belt walked in front of the punching bag and my kick caused it to bang into him. The red wolf flew and crashed onto the other side.
"Ow…" he said.
"Ah!" I said, coming up to him. "I'm sorry! Are you OK?"
Belt stumbled to get up. "Good one…OK. Training's over."
"About time," I said.
At this, Belt's phone started to ring.
"Ah," he said. "My shift is about to start. Got to go. I'll get dinner on the way back."
Just to say, Belt had a job where he gave newspaper to people. However, he never told me where he did it.
He grabbed a bag and started to make his way down the entrance.
"Now stay there and I'll be right back," said Belt.
"Wait," I said.
"What is it?"
"Yesterday, I found something in your room."
Belt looked slightly concerned and confused. "What is it?"
I rushed into his room and picked up a photo that was on his desk. I came back and showed him.
It was a photo of two wolves; one is a light purple female wolf wearing a purple and white dress and another is a blue male wolf. They both have gold eyes.
"Who are they?" I asked. "Do we know them before?"
"Um…" said Belt. "They….they…"
He hesitated. He looked down and muttered something under his breath. "They…were our parents."
I looked at him in shock. "That's them? Mum and Dad?"
"Yeeeee…ep…" said Belt awkwardly.
"Wow! I didn't know that was them when I first found the photo. So they raised us before?"
"Um…yes."
"So what happened to them? How come they are not with us anymore?"
Belt started to become very nervous. He started to look sideways, sweat started to drip from his head and he bit his lip. His fur was turning redder.
"Your fur is turning red," I said. "That's a sign that you know something."
"No…I…"
Tense filled the air. I swore…I saw…tears at the corners on his eyes.
"Belt?" I said in concern.
Belt quickly shook his head and just said, "We'll talk about it later."
He closed the door hatch and made his way down the tree trunk. I head over to a window and saw him walking slowly, deeper into the woods. He stopped and let out a big sigh of relief. He went off.
"Whelp, that was weird," I thought. "I wonder why Belt didn't want to tell."
I was thinking about going outside and joined Belt, but I knew that I wasn't allowed to. He didn't allowed me to. Not even a step into the forest without his permission. And as if he would give me permission which was rarely. He would always say that he wanted me to be safe inside the tree-house because I was too 'young'. I can tell because at that time, I was just 13 years old. I was going to turn 14 soon, but still. I guess he was overprotective and feared that I might be lost.
I looked back at the photo of my parents. I wondered how it would be like if I get to see them. But most importantly; what happened to them? Where are they now? Are they even alive?
I tried to remember a memory of me with them…but I couldn't.
I sighed sadly. I placed the photo back in Belt's room and went to the bathroom, deciding to take a look at myself.
Staring back at me from the mirror was a turquoise wolf wearing blue and black headphones, a wooden cross necklace, a dark grey zip-less vest, dark grey gloves, large yellow rings on my wrists, a brown belt with a yellow buckle, black pants and black/purple shoes with yellow buckles.
I looked at my face; the curved ears, the slightly pointed muzzle and the fangs. I scowled at my appearance. I slowly touched one of my fangs before flinching back. Even though being a wolf might be cool, it gives me a threatening look.
I took out a black headband and used it to tie my hair into a low ponytail. Huh. I didn't look bad, even if I have to say so myself.
I went to my room and laid down on my bed, playing a game on my phone. After a few minutes, I heard the doorbell rang.
DING-DONG!
Just in time.
I went to the door hatch and opened it, revealing a bear postman below.
"Is this uh…Clay…CoGO?"
I rolled my eyes. "It's CoLOURZ. With an 'L', 'O', 'U', 'R' and a 'Z'."
"Oops," said the postman as I made my way down the ladder. "Must have been a typo."
I finally made it down and took the package he was holding.
"Well um…" I said trailing. "Uh…"
I was…loss for words.
"Do you mean thank you?" said the postman helpfully.
"Oh! Um…yes. Thank you…"
The postman smiled and tilted his head a bit. "Do you have trouble saying words?"
"No, no…I'm…I'm just a bit shy…"
"That's OK," said the postman before walking off. "Your welcome!"
After he disappeared from sight, I growled in disappointment. "Why can't I be confident in a normal conversation?"
The reason why is because I am not much of a 'people' person. Even though I stick around with my brother all the time, I can't talk to people that I didn't know. My social and communication skills have always been a concern. I am a bit worried of what I would say in front of strangers. To put it simple, I am a nervous wreck.
Shrugging the embarrassment, I went back inside. I was lucky to get the postman here in time. Let's just hope that Belt didn't find out.
I went to my room and opened the package. There was a pair of black rimmed glasses – similar to Belt's, BUT – with a left olive-green dome-shaped headset and a microphone connected to the glasses.
These were going to be for Belt. On the 31st of July, it would be Belt's birthday. I decided to give him an upgrade. Just a few days ago – when I was home alone – I ordered these headset glasses online, using the credit card Belt LEFT behind. I decided to do this early as I got a lot of time. These glasses were much better than Belt's as they are more powerful and could make people see more clearly. The headset can be used as headphones and as a communicator with any devices.
"Belt will be happy to get those glasses," I thought. "Hopefully on his birthday, he will cheer up. Now I need to know where to hide them."
Third Person's POV
As Belt walked away from the tree-house and deeper into the forest, he sighed in relief.
"That was close," he thought. "I know I should tell him – I mean, he DESERVES to know the truth – but how am I going to…will he…hate me…?"
The thought of Clay getting mad at him made the red wolf upset. He felt tears coming from his eyes and quickly wiped them off. He quickly forgot that thought and went on walking.
As he strolled through the woods, he could see the sun over the horizon. It is a large glowing orange ball of fire over the horizon. The blue sky filled the entire place. There were many trees with wood trunks that were as velvet as silk, the branches swayed slowly with its vivid green leaves floating in the air and colorful flowers appeared on the lush green bushes. The fresh air breezed on his velvet fur, brushing his ears and his tail that was slowly swaying from side to side.
"It's always a nice stroll in the forest," said Belt to no one. "It would be a good place to have a picnic."
He continued to walk through the forest. There was one place he knew he was going to; Forest Tournament Town.
The town was far away from Belt's home, but he was able to get there within an hour with no sweat. That was where Belt got his supplies, got his job and received money from. He and Clay could have stayed there, but Belt was used to living in the woods that he didn't want to leave. He was hesitant of leading Clay to new people as…he was just worried for the young boy.
As Belt went over a mountain, he could see the town. There was a large wall made from white and red bricks surrounding a bunch of buildings. The wall looked like a castle wall…without the castle towers. Right in the middle is a huge stadium with colorful lights on top.
Belt smiled. It was always nice coming to Forest Tournament Town. Even though he didn't live there, he knew most of the people well, so he will be alright. He started to walk down the mountain and headed towards the front gates; always open for new people to come and only closed when there is a threat.
"Time to work," he thought as he went inside.
Bubblegum's POV
"And I will see you in a few days for your training, OK?"
"Alright. I'll be there."
"See you later."
"Bye Chief."
I got up from my seat and went outside, away from the Forest Tournament Town Police Headquarters
For those who don't know me, my name is Beth Lehem…or 'Bubblegum' as I don't use my original name that much.
For my looks, I'm a bubblegum-pink female cat who was 13 years old during that time, have light navy blue eyes and have my hair tied in a ponytail. I wore a left purple spy tech ear piece, a black police sleeveless vest (overs the torso and bottom), black gloves (the left one has the letter 'B' and the right one has metal spikes on the wrist cuff) and purple and black metal sneakers with spiked shoe soles. On my left arm, there is a white skull tattoo with a red bow on top of the skull.
Walking through the normally busy streets, I headed back to my house. There was a lot happening that day.
I sighed in somewhat pleasure as I arrived at my home and was about to open the door…
BANG!
THUD!
WHOMP!
"Ow!" said a voice inside.
Oh goody, goody. Again?
I rolled my eyes, knowing who it was. I opened the door to find an ice blue female rabbit with emerald eyes, long floppy ears and just turned 13 a few weeks ago. She wore a yellow jacket with aquamarine stripes, a blue top with purple polka dots, a purple skirt, white gloves with pink-gold bracelets, white ripped jeans and white shoes with pink hearts on them.
The rabbit was lying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. There was a basket on her head along with clothes scattered everywhere.
Seriously, when will she learn to not be that much of a klutz?
I shook my head. "You can't go on one night without hitting yourself, can you Emerald?"
"I guess I can't," said Emerald smiling.
I rolled my eyes again. Emerald can be naive and humiliate herself or ME in public a LOT, not to mention that the rabbit is a literal butt monkey. It's pretty hard for me to keep up and I can get easily annoyed with her. Despite this, I care a LOT for Emerald. She isn't a bad sister. Just sometimes annoying.
"How did the interview go?" asked Emerald as I helped her pick up the clothes and put them in the basket.
"Eh. It went well," I said. "And guess what?"
"You got through?"
I smiled. "Absolutely."
"Did you get your police badge?"
"Not yet. I only got the job. I will have to go through a couple of training and tests in order to get it. Once I got it, I will finally become a police cop."
Emerald squealed in joy. "You did such a good job!"
Happy of what I did, Emerald hugged me. Even though she was hugging too hard, I wrapped my arms around Emerald. A hug is always what I need every day to make me feel better. I felt proud at that moment.
"I BET your father would be happy for you!" Emerald said.
I chuckled before looking up. Hanging on a wall shelf, I saw a picture of my parents; a lavender male cat with the same light navy blue eyes and have five long hair bangs combed to the left. A pink female cat with brown eyes.
My smile dropped. My…my father was a master cop, but he had been killed in a terrible incident. Then, my mother passed away after that. Ever since, I lived with Emerald Stone as her adoptive sister. The main reason why I signed up as a police was to follow my father's steps, but I NEVER told anyone that because I didn't want to bring up the topic of my deceased father.
"Why does it feel like I'm a failure when I think about him?" I thought sadly.
Finally, Emerald let go and read the look on my face. Wanting to light the mood up, Emerald had an idea.
"Hey!" she said. "Jade, Yumi, Taffy, Fuchsia and Addison are free tonight. Since Mum and Dad are busy at the moment, they allowed us to go out for dinner with our friends! Maybe we can eat that sushi place!"
I shrugged. "Yeah…whatever…OK. Let's hang these clothes before we go."
Honestly, I didn't feel like going, but I want to see my friends. After getting the clothes sorted, we made our way to the town square. However, Emerald grabbed my hand and pulled me as she ran. Yup. I couldn't expect more from her. If you ever team up with her for a running marathon, I hope you can keep up. I tried to stop by dragging my sneakers on the floor, but decided to let myself run with Emerald.
We arrived at the town square where there were many shops showing the latest clothes, products and trends in the town. The buildings lighted up the place in bold neon colors; mostly blue and yellow. My legs were sore due to running too fast. I was about to tell her to stop when…
BUMP!
We accidentally bumped into another person, all three of us fell down. The bags that the person was carrying dropped onto the floor, spilling out many items.
I picked myself up and saw the person they bumped into. It was BELT. I recognized the red wolf. We know each other because Emerald and I always saw him coming into the Town Square.
Belt groaned and stood up on his feet. Since his glasses fell off, everything was BLURRY to him. His hands were waving around like how a zombie would do.
"Sorry, Belt," I said.
"Here," said Emerald, helpfully giving the red wolf his glasses.
"That's OK," said Belt. "I'm already used to this."
"After about four thousand and thirty five times?" I said sarcastically.
Emerald laughed at that joke.
Belt put his glasses on and noticed my vest. "What's that?"
"You mean this?" I said. "This is my police vest. I signed up and got the job today."
"Aren't you underage though?" pointed Belt. "Aren't you going to turn 14 on the 13th of March? That's a bit low."
"Whatever, idiot. You know that I can handle myself."
Belt shrugged. "Did you get your badge yet?"
"Not yet…obviously. But I WILL soon."
"Heh, not bad."
He turned around and picked up his items. He was about to leave when Emerald piped up.
"Oh, by the way," she said. "Our team got into the semi-finals for the recent tournament. Want to come and watch us?"
"Um…" said Belt. "I'm sorry. I can't come."
I wasn't aware of what he was thinking that time, but Belt looked like he wanted to go.
"I got to go now," the red wolf said. "See you guys later."
"Sayonara," I said.
Belt turned to leave until…
"See you later, Mr Bean!" yelled Emerald.
Belt froze. Even though Emerald didn't yell too loud, this caused attention from people nearby. They turned to see who was 'Mr Bean'.
And that was the red wolf.
Belt looked embarrassed. His fur started to run redder and became a reddish-pink color. He quickly ran and disappeared behind a corner.
"When will Emerald stop calling me that?" I heard him snarled.
The people who saw this chuckled.
Instantly, I looked at Emerald with a gritty face.
"Emerald," I scolded firmly. "You IDIOT. It's BELT, not 'Mr BEAN'."
The ice blue rabbit just smiled dumbly. Emerald isn't easily hurt by my words. She is used to them and prefers being on the bright side instead of acting negative…and sometimes, she would eagerly challenge me.
"Oops…me bad," she said stupidly.
"It's 'my bad'," I said, rolling my eyes in annoyance. "Not 'me bad'."
"Oh…you're right."
"HEY!" called a familiar voice. "Why are you two taking so long?"
The two of us turned around to see our friends coming to them; a group of five girls.
One of them was Jade; a brown dog with blue eyes and wore a shiny metallic silver jacket, a black shirt with a pink stripe through it, pink gloves, black jeans with metallic silver stripes and knee-high metallic silver boots. She acted like the leader of the group and always remained positive.
Another girl was Yumi; a white bird with long hair tied in a braid ponytail, pink eyes and wore a hair chopstick, a light pink and white robe, mint green gloves black leggings and mint green sneakers. She was a laid-back, quiet girl who sometimes only speak in soft voices.
The other girl was Taffy; a purple rabbit with floppy ears, blue eyes and wore a blue taffy candy wrapper bow, a purple dress decorated in blueberries, dark blue gloves, blue-purple trackies and black small boots. She was the free-spirit and always adventurous.
Picking up the rear was Fuchsia; a magenta cat with two tufts of fur sticking from both sides of her head, yellow eyes and wore scientific glasses with a blue rim, a dark blue shirt with magenta paint splashes, blue and pink gloves, black shorts and pink/violet sneakers. She was the sassy one and the creative one from the group.
Lastly, but not least in front was Addison; a reddish-pink fox with pink hair, brown eyes and wore a white/pink cap, a white shirt with short pink sleeves, black leather finger-less gloves, a pink skirt, black jeans and black/white sneakers. She was the sympathetic one from the group who was always caring and thoughtful.
And of course, let's not forget Emerald and I as we were part of this girl group; sigh…I was the snarky, razor-tongued girl with an attitude and Emerald being the jokey, bright ditz who likes to play stupid (and sometimes extreme) pranks.
"Hey guys," I said.
"What's up?" said Addison, sharing a fist bump with me. Both of us had been best friends since kindergarten as we both shared the same tomboyish and caring character.
"Everything's fine," said Emerald.
"Emerald," said Yumi quietly. "You need to learn not to say things SO LOUD. We could hear you from two kilometres away."
"Let's not start on that," said Jade. "So we are going to have fun tonight?"
The girls all cheered in agreement. I just nodded in agreement. We started to head to the restaurant.
"Oh," said Fuchsia. "Just to let you know, Bubblegum and Emerald…our team are in the semi-finals."
"Um…what semi-finals are we doing?" said Emerald.
I gave her a glare. "You just forgot about it even though you said it like TWO FREAKING MINUTES AGO?!"
Before moving on, I should explain a bit; the tournaments are huge events in Forest Tournament Town like the Olympics. Teams of 6 players would go head to head in many exciting challenges. Some of the challenges are fun but some of them are DANGEROUS. These tournaments happen 2 or 3 times a year and the team who tops all of the matches wins. But it isn't only about getting the trophy; it is about BRAGGING RIGHTS.
Emerald, Fuchsia and I are in one of the teams; the Blazers. Despite being one of the best teams, we were no match for other teams who were expert pros and we NEVER won a tournament before.
Anyway, I face palmed and sighed. Emerald REALLY need to have her brain checked. "Ugh…listen up, you idiot. We are in the semi-finals for this tournament tomorrow and we are against the Death Shockers in a parkour challenge."
"Ooh!" said Emerald excitedly. "That will be fun."
"I hate to break it to you, but it WON'T, dummy. This is SERIOUS. The Death Shockers are our rivals and we never won a match with them before. With Mecha's incredibly tough and sharp skills, we will be nowhere. You know that Mecha is going to make it SUPER HARD for us, right?"
"Well I say: BRING IT ON, Mecha!" said Emerald, raising her fists up and had a smirk on her face.
"That's how you bring it, girl!" said Fuchsia, sharing a high-five with Emerald.
The girls laughed, even Yumi slightly chuckled.
I sighed, nervous that I was seemingly the only one worried about the tournament.
"Besides," said Emerald. "I get it; you always want to be the number one. You want to prove yourself to them and want to make Tom proud as he will flip his lid if we lose, but you're missing the main point. As long as we try our best, we will be alright. It doesn't matter about who wins or who lose."
"It does to me," I said. "I LIKE to win, especially when it comes to the Death Shockers."
"You mean us?" said an obnoxious deep voice from behind them.
Oh great.
I looked behind. It was the Death Shockers; a team of 4 birds and 2 wolves.
One of the members was Sebastian Von Tsunami; a male lime green wolf with a left yellow eye, a right red eye, have four tufts of fur all combed down with white tips and wore a silver/black cap, a black skull bandanna, a utility belt with a strap (loaded with small drones and smoke bombs), a red jacket, a silver and yellow camouflage vest, white gloves, black pants with yellow stripes and silver boots.
Another member was Nicki Nism; a cyan bird with hazel brown eyes, her hair tied up in a ponytail and wore pilot goggles, a black/yellow jacket, a rainbow dye shirt, yellow/black gloves, yellow skirt and yellow boots.
The other member was Finn; a teal wolf with yellow eyes and wore a black/yellow jacket, black leather finger-less gloves and black boots.
There were two members standing together; Ryan and Ian Iron. They are both brothers and birds with the same red-orange eyes, the same beak colour, the same yellow scarf and the same ruffled hair on the back of their head except that Ryan have light grey feathers and Ian have sky blue feathers. Ryan wore silver sunglasses, black finger-less leather gloves, a black leather jacket and silver hi-tops with black accents. Ian wore a sky blue denim cap, a sky blue denim jacket, sky blue gloves and sky blue converse shoes.
In front of the team was the leader; a male vibrant turquoise bird with brown eyes. He wore black goggles, black finger-less leather gloves, a dark purple shirt with teal arrows, a black/yellow jacket, army camouflage jeans, and black sneakers. He also have two long feathers that sticks from the back of his head. They are also the same length as his tail feathers. On his face is a large light peach scar on the right eye. On his utility belt were small yellow smoke bombs.
"Why isn't it Mecha Nism," I said, not satisfied to see him. "The bird brain, four eyed captain of the Death Shockers."
Mecha smirked and said sarcastically, "Oh thank you very much, SOFT kitty."
I snarled under my breath. I felt the urge to punch that stupid bird in the face.
"Oh, don't mess with her!" said Addison, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah," said Jade, spicing up Addison's defense. "Just today, she became a cop."
Mecha just scoffed. "But where's your badge? Without one, you aren't OFFICIALLY a cop. You wouldn't be able to do any authority actions if you don't have your badge yet."
He was right. Without a badge, I wouldn't have that much power. Ryan and Iron snickered at this. Nicki even snickered…but her chuckle turned to a nervous one upon seeing my face. Sebastian and Finn just watched nervously.
However, Mecha wasn't done yet.
"I hope that your little police training will bring you luck to tomorrow's semi-finals," said the mocking bird. "But…I don't think it can help you that much."
"Oh, yeah?" I hissed, clenching my fists. "We'll see about that!"
"I don't think so. You're just a police rookie and rookies are WEAK. You won't improve."
"Really? You know I can make a neck snap like how you do it."
Mecha just rolled his eyes. "Unlike me, you don't know all the moves. Besides, you don't look that strong with that stupid face of yours."
This caused Ryan and Ian to laugh. Nicki chuckled a bit. Mecha smirked. I felt my face turning red after that statement.
I was TICKED OFF.
"I'LL BLOW YOU UP TO TOMORROW, YOU JERK!" I screamed, lunging at the turquoise bird.
To avoid a fist fight, Addison and Yumi held me back. Mecha just stared at me with a neutral expression as if angry people charging at him was just a normal thing in life while I thrashed my arms around.
"C'mon guys," said Jade. "Can't for like ONCE can we get along?"
"Let me go!" I snarled as I finally wrenched my arms free from my friends.
"Whoa!" said Finn, blocking me. "Just chill! Look. You are my friend and I hate to see you act like this again. Just listen to me!"
Reluctantly, I begrudgingly nodded.
"If you are cool with me, then you're cool with us. So let's just forget about all this hate thing, OK?"
"We're cool with YOU," I said meaningfully. "But you need to teach your BIRD friends some MANNERS."
Mecha frowned, looking away.
"He's just trying to get in your head," said Sebastian.
"Can't you people be nice and win?" said Taffy. "And even congratulate people if you lose?"
"Sounds like what a loser would say," sneered Ryan. "We are not losers."
"Yeah," said Ian. "We are better than anyone. Right, Captain?"
Mecha made no word on that remark and rolled his eyes. He shook it off by smirking and talked in an annoying Jar Jar Blinks voice. "Oh, looken at da timen. Wesa got to go to practicen now. Bye bye!"
Mecha turned his back and went off along with his team. Half of them laughed along with Mecha as they disappeared in sight leaving us in their spots.
"That stupid jerk…" I cursed angrily.
"Hey, I realized something," said Emerald.
"What?"
"The parkour challenge will be based on Jurassic Park, not Star Wars."
I slowly looked at Emerald annoyed.
"Really, stupid?"
"Let's just go inside," said Jade. "It's not worth just standing here."
At this, we all went to the restaurant…well except for me. And Addison.
"Bubblegum?" said Addison, placing her hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"…no…I'm not…" I said quietly.
Addison gave me a quick hug. "Don't worry about that. We are all here tonight."
I broke out from her hug. "Please don't touch me…"
"Whoops. Forgot that you need space after things like that. Let's just join the others."
I said nothing as Addison grabbed my hand. She knew how I was feeling.
Mecha was the one who like to bully me a lot. Whenever he mocked me, I would get easily upset. Even through my rage, I felt like I should just accept the truth that I was a failure.
I felt like giving up.
We all went inside the sushi restaurant and found a table. We ordered some sushi to share.
"So, everyone," said Fuchsia. "I got something to tell you."
"Spit it out," whispered Yumi.
"I'm moving."
The table went silent.
"What?" said Emerald.
"Sorry. It's because my parents are going to work overseas in Europe, so I will be away for a while."
I couldn't believe it.
"Oh my gosh…" I said.
"But don't worry. I will be back in a year. I will be able to keep in touch with all of you."
We all smiled and nodded.
"Huh?" said Addison, seeing something on the TV. "What's that?"
"What is it?" I said as we all turned to the TV.
On there was a news report with a male man at the table with black hair combed to the right.
"In breaking news, just yesterday, Sonic the Hedgehog – the worldwide hero – was defeated by a mysterious creature who apparently sides with Dr Eggman. This happened at Park Avenue in America where a huge massive attack happened. Many buildings are destroyed and many people are killed. Witnesses saw the horrifying attack and they claimed that Sonic is DEAD. His body is gone after the invasion. There is no doubt that the Eggman Empire is starting to conquer more countries around the world slowly. The death toll in this chaos continues to rise as more lives are lost due to the constant attacks. It is advised for everyone who lives near the North America continent to get out of these locations while you still can."
"Oh no…" said Addison and I in unison.
"Sonic's gone?" said Emerald.
Taffy gulped. "This might be scary, but…are they going to attack here?"
Jade shook her head. "I don't think so, but that's a possibility. We will be safe. We already have an underground bunker for emergency. The mayor will let us hide there."
I wasn't listening to the conversation. I looked at the TV that showed a footage of Eggman robots attack Park Avenue.
It was horrible.
"Oh God…" I thought. "What's going on? No. It can't be. This shouldn't be happening."
But it IS happening.
I just stared at the TV helplessly. I couldn't believe that Sonic was defeated and the world would be in the hands of Eggman. I knew that there might be some good guys to save the day, but…
"What if it was not enough?" I thought. "What if Eggman wins?"
F.Y.I., my father always say this; 'Make the world a better place'. My father was so compassionate about keeping the world safe from any crimes. I want to make that dream come true, but this happened. Soon, our home would be in trouble. I…I felt like I needed to help, but how? Sure I know how to kick butt – I am a black belt – but…I am just an ordinary girl.
"I don't think so. You're just a police rookie and rookies are WEAK. You won't improve. Unlike me, you don't know all the moves. Besides, you don't look that strong with that stupid face of yours"
Hearing Mecha's words, I bit my lip, trying not to cry. Still, those words made me questioning my strength. I opened my nearly watery eyes and sighed.
"How can I solve this?" I thought.
Clay's POV, A few minutes after dinner
I banged my head repeatedly on the table in frustration. I was doing my math homework, but my answers were wrong.
I don't get it. My workings looked fine, but how come they were wrong?
"Belt…" I grumbled. "I need your help…"
He came over to my room.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm stuck," I said, pointing to the math worksheet. "I did the right thing, but the answers said they are wrong."
Belt checked over them. "I don't know what the problem is with your workings. They look alright. Maybe the answers are wrong."
"Maybe they're stupid," I said, crossing my arms.
"Hey. Don't say things like that."
I rolled my eyes. Belt sighed.
"Clay," he said. "Look at me."
I looked at him.
"I know it's hard," he said. "But not everything's perfect. Nobody is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. One day, you may make a huge mistake that makes you feel like you lost everything, but remember this; you have to learn from your mistakes. It will be tough, but in the end, you will get your problems sorted. If you give up, then it won't solve anything; you would lose everything."
I looked at Belt. It was nice hearing it and I know the problem I had at that moment was not a huge one.
"Thank you, brother," I said smiling. "I'll keep that in touch."
AN: While this chapter may not be that much, it gives you an insight of the characters of the story. Here, we see Clay, Bubblegum and Mecha. I might as well give you a description of how I come to create the characters.
Clay Colourz is my personal avatar for the game. He is socially-awkward like me, his fur is my favorite color and he wears headphones that signifies my love for music. Since the game's avatar is normally quiet, I want to make Clay shy, so I gave him his timid character to show how lonely he is. Through the story, Clay will have trouble trying to talk with people. As for Belt...I got the idea of Clay having an older brother based on the fact that I have an older brother (and his names starts with a B). Belt is a bit like my older brother and his appearance is based on the Promotional Wolf Avatar of the game.
Beth 'Bubblegum' Lehem is based on the Promotional Cat Avatar of the game. Back before, I used her whole appearance, but I forgot about her skirt since I didn't see it when I first saw the promotional picture. To add to her tomboyish character, I gave her a tattoo and now a ponytail. She is snarky and no-nonsense in which I am as a teenager. In most Sonic Forces fanfic, female OCs as protagonist are seen as nice and are quite shy. Bubblegum isn't really this since I want to give her an abrasive character. Adding to this, she has doubts about herself due to her experiences. And what experiences you may ask? You will find out soon.
Mecha Nism is based on the Promotional Bird Avatar. Back before, I wanted to make a supporting bird character as one of the protagonist. But he would be this bully who turns out to be a hero at the end. At first, I thought of him as having golden feathers, but when I saw the Promotional Bird Avatar from the game, I fell in love with the design, so Mecha's looks are now like this; turquoise feathers and army-based clothes. The half-opened eyes on the game bird avatar's face might have inspire me to give Mecha this 'jerk' personality other than him being laid-back. I know that bullies in stories are often seen as minor characters, but I want to show in this story that he isn't what he is seen to be.
Bubblegum's friends and Finn are something I quickly made up just to fill in what would happen later in the story. They do really make up good characters.
As to why their home is in Australia...I want the main characters to live in a place that reflects my home. So, I decided to combine the world from the Sonic games to the world we all live in, so you will see real-life countries mentioned in the story. Of course, wolves don't live in Australia, so most furries in my universe always migrate to other countries.
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. If you enjoy this story, be sure to follow or favorite this story, so you can get updates about this story. Make sure to review this chapter on what you think about this chapter. I'm OK of hearing improvements from you (please no flames).
In the next chapter, the drama will build up, so be excited!
Until next time, keep on rocking!
