Hi all. I know it's a day past when I usually post. This chapter was kind of weird and has a bit of a different feel to it though. But I was able to finish it.

I just want to thank Bakuganman for their kind words on my story and the past works I've written. I was a bit alarmed anyone really felt inspired by the things I've written, even what I'm writing now. For anyone who's wondering, here's what he said.

Bakuganman:

First off, I wanna say... thank you. For writing good stories, stories that bring me laughs and tears. Your work has also finally given me the push I needed to get a Sonic the Hedgehog story out there, but was scared to post it. [...] (He uh...sent like 3 paragraphs but I won't send everything. This is just the tipe of the iceberg.)

I just wanna say that I've received very few reviews from people. There was Serene Serious, WordVomitComet, XxSnowdropxX, and very recently, Goku the Carrot. I see your responses and I didn't really feel a reply was needed to let you know I was grateful for your words. But now I really wanna say thank you for giving me the reviews and the attention. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to let me know you enjoy it all.

As for Bakuganman, I really want to thank you for sending me such kind words. It was a shocker. I never would have thought I ever inspired anyone. But now I'm confident that if I could do that, I can do so much better.

Please make sure to check out Bakuganman's recent story, Sonic DXD. If you're into anime and know how Highschool DXD went, you may love how Sonic may enter the mix. And if you like that one, please check out more of their work!

Again, thank you! But for now, let's just jump into it...

Chapter 14: The Ringtail and the Indian Fox

The wind blows loosely as it usually does on a calm spring night, pushing and fighting against pockets of grass and ripples of lake water. It's like how it usually is in your everyday life when you feel like life is going your way. The sky is a beautiful dark blue with feathery navy blue clouds stretched across, reflecting itself onto open waters and the eyes of the earth, along with the trillions of stars sprinkled throughout the galaxy.

Trees and grass are tickled and brushed as though they were servants to the wind. This wind is a gentle one, serving even the blue sky with delight. But even though it serves well, it also feels the need to protect life in the world. Such as a Cherry Blossom tree by a pond.

The tree was pink all over, different from the rest as though it was an outlier of nature. It gave it's surrounding neighbors a more passionate atmosphere that would motivate them to keep moving forward with life. It motivated love as well, as the wind intertwined with it, like holding hands, guiding one of its leaves to the shallow water that leads into the pond.

While shallow, it was still a sight to see in the likes of this world. The crickets were chirping, singing their whistling tunes. The moon was shining with all its might. Everything was indeed peaceful.

Or so...you thought.

Suddenly, someone jumps out from the forest and onto the tree, sitting on a weak branch on the Cherry Blossom tree, causing it to crack and fall from under him, making him crash down along with it. This was lucky for him since a sword came swinging where hid s head was, chopping the tree bald and causing the nocturnal flickies to awake from their slumber and fly away in fear.

He got up, stumbling to his feet as he started to sprint away from the big fella that tried to kill him. The big guy didn't stop there, though, because behind him were several other big guys chasing after him.

"Hey!" The big guy yelled, looking more like a bulldog than anything else, despite him actually being an Alligator. Yeah, weird. "Get back here, Ringtail!"

The short, skinny one with the Ringtail that broke the branch like an idiot didn't stop though. He was running way slower than our previous protagonist, but fast enough to keep out of their line of attack. Still, rather than panicking and flailing his arms in an attempt to run, he was excited, laughing to himself and panting while escaping his predators. It was like a game to him. "Hehe, if you're ever gonna have a crack at catchin me, you oughta lose all that fat, first!"

The Alligators got even angrier with the Lemur, sprinting faster on their four legs. The Ringtail noticed this and also ran faster. He looked as though he was holding a bag whose strapped was wrapped around his chest. (I guess you could put two and two together now, huh?) The Ringtail ran into another area of the forest, skipping over rocks and puddles, the Alligators following like mammoths.

Of course, it's true that he was enjoying himself but he was getting tired fast. He checks his surroundings for an out and some vines catch his eye. He smirks and leaps for one, swinging from one another while also scaling upwards into the trees. The Alligators followed, leaping from tree to tree, ignoring the vines entirely. "When I get my hands on you-!" The Alligator starts.

"If you can!" The Ringtail responds, sticking his tongue out while swinging across another vine. He backflips onto another tree and parkours downward.

"I will!" The Alligator retorts.

After a bit, the Ringtail lands back on the forest ground with the Alligators still after him. The forest begins to open up a bit, giving them all more room to run. The sounds of wild tweeting and thundering footsteps echo through the forest, but louder than that was the sounds of hissing. The Alligators look back while they run. Unfortunately for them, the vines back in the trees weren't vines at all. They were snakes. And not just any snakes-

"PYTHONS!"

(HEY, THAT WAS MY LINE! :0)

The Ringtail looks behind him and sees the Alligators running faster, hightailing it in various directions. He also noticed the warning of Pythons and confirmed his previous theory. He knew those weren't regular vines. Sadly, it didn't matter if his footing gave out. To be blunt, he was beat, but he was too stubborn to admit it. He needed a miracle or he'd be trampled by Alligators and eaten by snakes. But that was when his savior arrived.

"Right here!" The Ringtail comes up to a cliff as the crowd of Alligators and Pythons close in on him. He leaps off, jumping over the edge. The Alligators, running at full speed, begin backpedaling and skidding across the ground before they find themselves floating over a lake 400 feet below. While staying stationary in the air for a bit like some wacky cartoons, the leader Alligator taps his foot as he looks towards me with dissatisfaction.

(No, they're not getting paid for this.)

Finally, they fall down into the lake like canons, causing sky-high splashes of water.

The Lemur whistles at the marveling sight of the fall in awe. "That was close. Sure glad I'm not those idiots."

They see the Ringtail flying off into the distance, carried by a black and orange bat. Chuckling, the Lemur waves while his friend carries him to safety.

"This isn't the last of us, you understand me?!" The leader of the Alligators yell. As he does, a plethora of snakes falls into the water with them. The Alligators jump in fear, starting to swim away. Unfortunately, snakes can float on top of the water. Whoops.

~With the Ringtail and the Bat

"Thanks for the save, Prix. I knew I could count on ya," the Ringtail gratefully salutes. She looks at him with a look of admiration, like your typical little sister would look. But that's expected when your older brother is your favorite role model. "Hey, I totally got the goods. You should've seen it."

The bat named Prix doesn't say anything. Instead, she responds with a long, exaggerated blow from the nose. She's the one who even brought him there in the first place. If she wasn't there to follow and watch, she wouldn't have known where to pick him up. Still, it's enough to put up with for her. Though she was only a small bat colored like a pumpkin, she needn't worry about her eldest kin. He was the only one who understood her silence after all.

"Don't know about you but I think we hit the jackpot," he says. She nods, flapping her wings more strongly to push them farther. "We're talking ten chests full of gold in under 20 minutes. Seriously, how dumb can you be not to have double the security the fifth time I've robbed you? This has gotta be a world record."

Prix glares at him, his ignorance making an enemy of her purpose. He notices this as a mental kick to the shin and goes to correct himself. "Aahh...b-but I couldn't have done it without you." She smiled and goes back to looking forward to the night sky. Like the wind, she carries them both to new heights; new heights of life, and adventure. And like any other time before, it was time to have fun once more.

XXX

The two convicts land in a dark alleyway a few dozen miles from where they were before, between a small circular hut and some sort of rectangular shop. In the darkness, they light a fire and rummage through the bags from their heist. Smirking, the Ringtail lifts a golden crown out of the bag, showing it to his younger sibling, who smiles at its shine and places it upon her small head. It fits decently, sliding down a little towards her left ear.

She manages to pick out several golden rings with jewels like ruby and sapphire embedded within them, to which she kindly shares with the Lemur, affixing them to their fingers.

"Hey, you like my bling?" He says, posing with a peace sign and a winking smile.

The bat puts up her index finger, telling him to wait while she gets out a board and a marker from her satchel. She writes down what she's trying to say for a few moments then turns it around, holding it in front of her small little body. "Yes", it reads. "We're gonna be rich for another month."

The Lemur laughs and salutes to her. "Yep, you guessed it! More big meals and places to sleep for us, my friend."

Prix opens her mouth with an even wider smile showing her small fang in the back of her mouth before turning the board around and wiping it with her arm. She continues to write more on the board while the Lemur waits patiently. She finally turns it around after a moment. "Maybe now, you can get a girlfriend."

The turns away and crosses his arms with a frown. "What? No way! If I got a girlfriend, she'd just take all our money. Women are trash!" He claims. He soon receives the back of the board slamming into his face with a loud TWACK.

He holds his face in pain. When he regains his eyesight, he looks at the fuming Prix through squinted eyes. He groans, ignoring it to pick up the board, but as he does, he sees she has written more on it. "No wonder you're still a virgin."

He dies a little inside and tosses the board back in embarrassment that he's too proud to admit to. "Whatever," he says. Trying to ignore the feeling, he looks through the back more to find something rather large in size. "Hey, check this thing out."

Prix scoots over to him, coming to look at the marvel. Out of the bag of golden treasure, the Ringtail picks out a big, and somewhat heavy, object in the shape of a ring. It has no unique design on it other than some ancient writings, but no jewels or beads.

He looks at Prix in confusion, who looks back with the same face. But it's when they look into each other's eyes that they come to a moment of realization. "Ah! Maybe it's a bracelet!" He declares.

Prix watches as he places the object onto his wrist, having to twist it to get it on. Luckily, it fits just around the elastic fabric of his glove. They look at it in awe, gawking at its form with wide open smiles. Yet, in a blink of an eye, it flashes and disappears. The Lemur's widen, and Prix's eyes couldn't widen any more than her eyebrows could raise. "Hey! What the heck?! Where'd it go?"

Prix sits in confused silence as well, as what just transpired left her in a loop of her own. But while her elder brother starts a tantrum, her ear twitches excitedly. She gasps, running over to zip up the bag of golden items.

"It was just right here, didn't you see it?" The Ringtail asked Prix. But Prix wasn't interested in conversing. She threw him the bag, which is a surprise for how short and skinny she is compared to the bag that weighed a few tons, and put her finger to her lips telling him to be quiet.

He raises his eyebrows, looking around in the case they've been spotted. But nothing was there unbeknownst to them other than the litter of trash on the ground and vacant boxes sitting near the walls of the square building. There was a door that led into the building, so it was a possibility that Prix's supersonic hearing picked up someone coming to exit. Even then, there was nothing but silence. The only thing there was them and the night sky.

The Ringtail turns to Prix, who still seems alert to him. While he goes to say something, a shadow casts over them causing them to look up to the top of the building before them. At the top of the wall is a silhouette whose eyes can barely be seen staring back. The Ringtail steps back, pulling Prix behind him. He doesn't care what happens to him, even if it's him doing the dirty work, but to him, Prix is his number one priority.

As he anticipated, the figure leaped at the two of them. There was no hesitation in his movement, so Ringtail had to think fast and grab his bag and step out of the way. The silhouette lands in from of them, in front of the fire they've started to check out the gold they've stolen. From there, Prix and the Ringtail can just barely make out the guy's face.

Violet colored eyes, a white-greyish muzzle, and black fur that matches the darkness. His body is covered by a cloak with the exception of his white boots. Ringtail and Prix look up with fear, intimidated by his sudden arrival. Even then, they're collectively worried about priority number 2, the bag of treasure.

The man stares at them with discontent, almost as if he was disappointed by their appearance. "How pitiful" he starts with a low octave, enough to send chills down their spines. "How pitiful of me to rely on such simple souls such as yourselves."

"Yeah, well you're not so good lookin yourself, sweetheart." Ringtail quips. The man scoffs, looking down at the Ringtail, or rather looking down on him. The man kneels down before them, inching closer. Prix scoots closer to Ringtail, and it's subtle, but he also backs up a bit in fear.

As he gets closer, his face gets lit up more by the fire below him, showing his frown. It was more menacing in the dim light of the fire, like a demon looking through your soul before reaching down your throat to grab it. "You..." The man starts again. "...arent that bright, are you?"

Ringtail's frown turns into a serious concern. But before he could seriously react, the fire fades into nothingness. It's dark. A rustling could be heard, but the darkness is too thick to really move faster for Ringtail. Prix could easily move, yet Ringtail tightens his grip around her wrist to keep her still. Instead, Ringtail feels around for the only other thing he cares about.

Slowly, he reaches out into the abyss, sliding his hand farther and farther down. Nothing to the left but that box by the wall. Nothing to the right but some paper. There's a puddle of water they didn't see before. Ringtail flinches at its slight chills and shakes it off.

He keeps deeper while his grip on Prix remains locked. "Where'd that bag go? Don't tell me he took it," he thinks to himself. He feels a little more to the right, crawling around the wood and scraps used to start the fire before. For a moment, he feels a pad or something. It's Prix's board. He grabs it, dragging it towards him. "Well, at least I found your 'Voice Box'."

Ringtail sighs, climbing to his feet and loosening his grip on Prix just a little bit. Prix can't make any noise to show that she's been hurt, but he knows he nearly took her hand off in all of that.

While catching his breath and calming down, a light shines from the front entrance to the alleyway, scaring whatever was left of the daylights in the two kids.

They both turn around to the source of the light, squinting and holding their hands up to it in order to block it. But it passes through anyway. At the other end of the light is a Rabbit, holding a broomstick in his hand and trying to catch his breath while clinging to the bricked wall. He looks up towards the two.

~The Rabbit's POV, a few minutes earlier

In this town, there's a shop that sells odd instruments, or rather uncommon. It sits in between two larger buildings, almost completely out of anyone's line of sight. In fact, it has the lowest pay, just barely hanging on to the minimum wage requirement. But as the say, do what you love and not what you want to get paid for. Well, Mach is one of those people. A freak music enthusiast who focuses mostly on his knowledge of instruments. If anyone around town knew anyone who hated their life, it was Mach.

Mach knew this as well. He hated his job, for being in the category of what he wanted to do and getting him paid. There was almost nothing to do all day but stand, which always left his back hurting and feet screeching in agony. Even when he has a chair like tonight, he would almost fall asleep. But tonight wasn't one of those nights. It was starting to get different.

Like any other night behind the counter, Mach sat silently on the verge of following asleep. He was desperate not too, as he was afraid to get caught by his boss with the cameras. His boss was the only one who kept him from leaving. No, he chose to struggle to stay awake. His eyes waved a few times, aimed at the window. It was then when he saw it; a man standing outside the window looking back at him.

Finally, something interesting to look at after a few hours of doing nothing. His eyes open with wonder, trying to study the man's figure. That's when it clicks. Mach turns to check the clock on the wall, sitting above his head. If he wasn't half asleep, he would've noticed the time on the cash register. It's midnight. "Why is he out there at midnight?" Mach turns around to see a crow flapping in his face.

CAAAAWWW CAAAWWW

He starts batting at it, shooing it away. But it keeps closing in on him in its rage. Soon, it starts pecking at Mach, hurting his arms and sending him stumbling back a bit. He falls on his ass.

The glass shatters near the front entrance with what sounds to be like footsteps ascending forward with heavy crunches. Freaked out, Mach grabs the closest thing to him, a broomstick, and gets up. "Hey, you there! Stop!" He calls.

But he receives no response from the man. Not only that but guess what? The lights had given out as well. He couldn't see the culprit for a report. But thanks to the moonlight, Mach could make out his position within the store. The Thoramin showcase. It was one of the stores, as well as towns, most prized possessions.

"Damn, I can't let him steal that..." Mach thought as he watched the guy snatch it from its display case and make it for the exit. It's not like every other animated character does this...right?

Mach starts his chase down the street with this guy, but before leaving, he made sure to snag a flashlight. He can't take the same route this guy is taking. Leaping from building to building, in and out of the shadow from heights out of his range is way out of his league. So why is he chasing him? Especially when he seems stuck in a dead-end job where half the city feels bad for him? Maybe it's because he just really cares about his job. Or perhaps it's because he finally gets to do something exciting for once.

Even after a seemingly impossible 5-minute chase, Mach was able to catch up with the guy he'd been chasing for breaking into his workplace. He spots him on a roof near the end of the town's border jumping down into the alleyway. His flashlight on, he races towards the scene. He notices a light go out upon coming up to the alley. He waits a few moments for some sound, but the alley is just as silent as it is dark. It's then when he turns his flashlight on.

~Normal POV

"Finally, I found you," Mach Ringtail looks around for a second, checking his left, Prix, right, back, and front. He even checks his crotch. Then he points to himself slowly. "Hm?"

"YES, YOU!" The rabbit yells, pointing at him. "You're in a lot of trouble you thieves." Collectively, both the Ringtail and Prix are confused. Could the Alligators from before have had some connection with the people of this town? That shouldn't be the case. Ringtail and Prix usually move at night when no one can see them, so it's not like anyone knew what they really looked like.

"You know," the Lemur starts. "It's rude to point." But at this point, the Mach had already started charging towards the two with the handle of the broomstick aimed at him. "I'LL GIVE YOU A POINT!"

As soon as he reaches them, he thrusts the stick forward with all his might. Instead of hitting him, however, Mach misses and the Ringtail hops on the handle, making it hit the ground. With his foot on the handle pinned to the ground, the Ringtail makes Mach stumble forward and drop the broomstick. The Ringtail picks it up quickly and starts beating Mach with the bristles. "Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself~" the Ringtail sings.

"I'm not hitting myself!" Mach cries in between the dirty broom attacks. He tries pushing the broom off of him or catching it, but the Ringtail doesn't let him. "You're hitting me!"

Soon, he stops his assault and sprints over to Prix, gathering the duffel bag and her board. He tosses the broom to Mach, then takes Prix's hand and books it. "That's what you get for pointing!" The Ringtail yells as he runs off.

"Dang. They had a spotter on us!" Ringtail shares with Prix, who's trying to keep up with him. They escape into the backwoods, where the other guy must've gone. It's dark but still visible enough to migrate the walls of trees they could squeeze through in the moonlight. Eventually, Ringtail's eyes would adjust and he could paint a clearer picture of his surroundings.

Those sounds of crunching and splashing he heard while they ran weren't just leaves, but the small streams of water originating from the top of the hill with pebbles gathered around them. No wonder their feet felt bumpy and sleek.

At some point, Prix squeezes Ringtail's hand to tell him to let her go. Whether he was hurting her or not, he wasn't sure of. What he was sure of were her instincts. He let her go and allowed her to lead the way for both of them. As he expected, she only wanted to take a break and rest. She lets her wings carry her over to a large boulder that has a dip in it, deep enough to hide under it like a cave.

He follows her up to it and sits down next to her. Next to him, he drops the bag and the board and stretches. It's been a long day for the both of them, from snagging something to eat at a restaurant and getting kicked out to robbing a gang of Alligators of their treasure.

It wasn't how they wanted to live their lives, but in a world like this, they could only do so much. One was the talker while the other was the observer. One was the brawns while the other was the brains. One had the personality of a troublemaker who didn't take anything too seriously and trusted no one other than his little orphan sister. The other got serious when she needed to and trusted whomever truly gave off a positive vibe but loved her older orphan brother with all her heart.

But both of them live their lives day by day, striving for something new, even if it could get them in dire trouble. Her name was Prix, the Indian Fox bat. His name was Runner the Ringtail Lemur.

Oi. Thanks for taking the time to read this one. I just wanna let everyone know that I'm not as much of a writer as you think I am. I'm still new to this and I'm glad I was able to excel past the cringe I wrote years ago. Times have changed and I'm trying new things. And I guess I ended up rewriting my other story in the process. Please stick around for more and don't be afraid to comment on what you think. I welcome criticism and if you see any errors or have ideas, feel free to let me know! As always, my Twitter is itsHiroShima on Twitter. I draw stuff so check it out if you're interested!