The early morning sun slowly began to rise over the western horizon. The predawn colors of the light red and blue colors lit up the skies. The small party made its way across the desert sands coming to a large clearing where Gadget could make out the distant shape of a temple several meters to the northwest of the small campsite, a group of jackals walking by Cassius nodded at him respectfully before leading a small team out somewhere in the desert.
Gadget gazed around the campsite in wonder. The wolf never imagined he would have seen a lively place seeing several jackals, coyotes, foxes and maned wolves moving about the campsite putting out fires which had been burning all night long to ward off predators the night guard stretched their legs heading of into makeshift tents to be replaced by another Mobian
The refugee group which he'd formerly been a part of mostly consisted of bears, hedgehogs, birds, cats, dogs, and rabbits. Since he'd been the only wolf in the group, he was met with suspicion since wolves weren't known to mingle with the other races of Mobius. Wolves in everyone's opinion usually formed tight pack bonds with each other, but it was rare for a wolf to head out on its own.
"Welcome to our home out here in the desert," Zerinn said grinning. "Just stick close to me since we're all a little wary of newcomers here, also to make sure no one impales you by accident."
Cassius said nothing to Zerinn keeping an ironclad grip on Chad felt an uncontrollable rage upon hearing his son was giving away information to a wolf of all Mobians. Mara and Aster escorted by the other two fierce jackals leading them away ignoring their loud protests. Gadget felt a small, twinge of satisfaction knowing his bullies were now prisoners unable to attack him. Cassius huffed in annoyance turning his head towards another male jackal bowing his head in respect.
"Ace and Flint, please get these three out of my sight," Cassius said glaring at Mara lifting her head glaring back at the battle-scarred jackal. "I will deal with these three later."
"Understood boss," Flint said placing a firm hand on Mara and Chad leading them away. "Follow us, and neither of us wants to hear a word from you got it?"
Ace took hold of Aster following his squadmate taking their prisoners to the only rundown building in the whole campsite with Ace opening the door allowing Flint to force their prisoners through the door od the old building nearly closing it on Mara's tail before positioning themselves in front of the door, lowering their katanas blocking the only entrance.
Gadget nodded his thoughts coming back to the present looking over at the foxes, aardwolves, wolves, fennec foxes, jackals, maned wolves, and coyotes milling about in the market square a variety of male and female voices were talking over each other trying to bargain with shopkeepers, preventing their children from wandering off.
Cassius' group walked past the makeshift stalls various species of Mobians running the different stalls selling a wide variety of weapons desert delicacies, and beautifully crafted jewelry that was pleasing to view to the naked eye.
"Fresh scorpion tails! Get your Scorpion tails right here!"
"Finest jewels in all of Saharais!"
"Sale on the latest weapons! Best way to kill your enemies in their sleep!"
The vendor's voices drifted on the wind. Gadget paused. His nose twitching was inhaling the different scents his stomach growling in hunger. He was tempted to go into the bazaar and purchase that delicious food, but he had no money and Gadget doubted that Cassius was going to have a change of heart choosing to buy something for them all to eat.
The small party soon left the small makeshift market behind them heading towards five more tents set up on the outskirts of the camp
Gadget looked to his left hearing a rustle of the tent flaps a pair of older jackal children poking their heads out glowering upon seeing a wolf in their midst a small movement alert prompted Gadget to look to his right seeing another young jackal sticking his head from out of the tent flap. Upon seeing Zerinn, his tail began to wag in excitement. A broad smile appeared to split the young jackals' face in half, the wide smile splitting the jackal's face in half.
"Uh oh," Zerinn laughed. "Gadget be prepared to say hello to the most excitable jackal pup in all of Saharais."
The jackal paused for a moment to adjust his bandana on his ears the smile never left his face. Before anyone could even react, the young jackal put on a burst of speed one that could rival Sonic's making a beeline straight for Zerinn.
"Brobrobrobro!"
Zerinn was knocked over by the force of Kaito leaping against Zerinn's chest causing him to lose his balance landing on his back the puff of dust rose into the air. Kaito happily embraced his older half-sibling his arms wrapping tightly around his brother his tail wagging like crazy.
"Wow, that's quite the welcome," Gadget chuckled softly. "So, that's Kaito huh?"
"You're back! I knew that you'd pass your trial!" "Dune and Oasis said that you wouldn't, but you did!"
Zerinn winced feeling Kaito's hug triggered wincing at the sudden pressure on his ribs. Kaito was starting to get a little muscle on his arms seeing the two white stripes adorning on both of his half sibling's arms like a pair of bands.
"Kaito please let go of me. There's someone I want you to meet," Zerinn wheezed. "This is Gadget. "He's going to be staying with us."
Kaito loosened his grip slightly turning his head to gaze at Gadget who nervously smiled. Gadget could tell straight away Kaito was related to Zerinn. He had a large white patch of fluff on his chest; those bright yellow eyes sized up Gadget, his lips pulled back exposing his teeth.
"Hey, you're Kaito.?" Gadget asked. "If so it's nice to meet you. I'm Gadget."
Kaito narrowed his eyes at Gadget hugging Zerinn even tighter ignoring the protest from his family member that he couldn't breathe. Gadget looked uneasy seeing the intense look from the seven-year-old. The thing was Kaito didn't like that this stranger that suddenly sauntered in claiming to be an acquaintance and he was going to take his half-brother away from him.
"My half-brother. No, you can't have him." Kaito said flattening his ears in a gesture of defiance.
"Kaito! Stop displaying that sign of weakness and get of Zerinn!"
Cassius' sharp voice cut through the air. Kaito flattened his ears slowly releasing Zerinn the smile faded from his face standing next to Zerinn who lowered his head still staring defiantly at his father in contempt clenching his fists.
"That kind of weakness will both get you killed one of these days Chaos so help me," Cassius said rubbing at his temples. "Weakness is a curse. The only thing that you should focus on is your strength."
He tilted his head ever so slightly hearing the Gadget's footsteps the wolf had placed one of his feet on the marble steps turning his head around slightly folding his ears back in a gesture of submission.
"What do you think that you're doing?"
The speaker was revealed to be a female jackal glaring down her muzzle at Gadget. A disdainful expression appeared on Sera's face the long light blue sari clung to her skinny frame. Her arms adorned with gold bangles and anklets just above the grey sandals above her ankles her sharp eyes inspected Gadget over his body. The wolf began to shake and shiver lightly.
"Oh uh my name's Gadget and I'm an acquaintance of Zerinn, and I lost my fam—"
"We're taking in an orphan dear," Cassius interrupted Gadget. "He's already worthless."
Sera jerked her head towards the smaller building taking several steps towards Gadget who stepped back a nervous expression was on his face. He could feel the waves of hostility rolling of Sera who looked down at him a sneer on her face her tail slowly swishing back and forth.
"You're going to be staying in that tent with Zerinn and Kaito," Sera sniffed disdainfully at Gadget." I won't have mismatched pups tainting our perfect home."
Gadget felt Zerinn tap him lightly on the shoulder guiding him over to the smaller tent with Kaito following not too far behind them looking back over his shoulder to see Cassius lightly touch Sera on the shoulder the two of them leaned their heads in close to each other talking in low tones.
Gadget wasn't sure what to expect of his new home. The second Zerinn pushed on against the tent flap all three of them began to cough from the little clouds of dust floating up from the heavy material; Gadget looked around his surroundings seeing three sleeping bags lying on the sandy ground, the tent flap closed sending up small clouds of dust into the air.
"Agh Kaito I thought you said that you cleaned up!"
"I did it with my tail, "Kaito said proudly holding up his tail covered in dust. "I'm Mr. Dusty tail."
"Gadget you can have a look around," Zerinn called out. "I've got to give Mr. Dusty tail a bath, in our cruddy makeshift showers outside."
Zerinn led Kaito away protesting that the didn't need to be bathed leaving Gadget to explore their shared home for the time being and possibly the future. The wolf bent down to examine the sleeping bags checking for scorpions, or venomous snakes were slumbering in them.
"An unsafe bed often leads to unwanted deaths." Gadget recalled an old saying of his mother for he exited the tent heading back out into the harsh desert air, deciding to explore the nearby area towards one of the stalls noticing a small crowd staring intently at a small TV resting on the stall bench. Gadget made his way through the crowd seeing the image of a dingo reporter looking pleased and was trying his best to maintain a professional attitude, while unable to hide the beaming smile on his face.
"Westside Island was liberated today by the heroic actions of Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles Tails Prower." The dingo said. The screen transitioned from the newsroom to the blue skies over the northernmost parts of Mobius where a giant grey egg-shaped ship was seen plunging towards the ocean smoke and flames traveling from the Death Egg looking like it was heading towards the ocean.
"The Death Egg was sighted heading on a crash course towards the Northern part of the ocean. Clean up crews and GUN are already heading to the location to arrest Dr. Eggman will be arrested on charges of global terrorism, converting small animals into robots and for his attack which led to the Cyber City massacre that took place over three years ago. He will be arrested and taken to G.U.N's highest security facility where he will await his trial."
The dingo shifted the stack of documents in his hands. "There will be more on this story when it updates."
Gadget sank into the bed a small content smile was on his face. Sonic had done it again. He'd defeated Eggman, and in a way, he had avenged not just his parents, but all of those Mobians who lost their lives when Eggman destroyed his home.
Someday I'm going to be a famous hero just like Sonic the Hedgehog. Gadget vowed to himself.
"Attack!"
Gadget was nudged out of his thoughts a light impact slamming into him causing him to tumble to the ground with Kaito sitting on top of his chest water dripping down from his fur he felt a slight stab of pain from one of his bruises.
"How do you like that? I was stalking you." Kaito shook out his wet tail sending small droplets of water everywhere before Zerinn came racing into the room a scowl on his face a towel in his hands.
"Kaito! Honestly, I know that you're not sure of Gadget yet, but he is going to be living here with us from now on."
Zerinn gently pried Kaito of Gadget rubbing the towel all over Kaito who squirmed. Zerinn rapidly dried Kaito off before he could shake himself off again sending even more water everywhere.
"Now what's wrong with you?" Zerinn scolded Kaito gently. "You've never jumped on anyone like that before."
"He's going to take you away from me!"
Kaito let out a low whimper with tears in his eyes. Zerinn sighed drawing his younger brother close to him. Kaito snuggled into his half sibling's chest small tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.
"Listen to me Kaito. No one is going to take me away from you."
Hearing his half-brother emit a small sigh. Gadget saw those mismatched eyes turn to gaze at him, removing the towel from Kaito. Of course, he should've known that Zerinn would have a family member that he genuinely cared about and the thing was Kaito felt threatened by his presence.
"Listen Zerinn I should go," Gadget said with a frown on his face. "Kaito may not be comfortable having me here, and I don't want to do anything to upset him further."
The truth was Gadget didn't have a plan on where he was going to go. Maybe there could be a tent where he could sleep for the night and with Chad's group locked away he somehow get some supplies and make his way to Sunset Heights even if the trek killed him.
Gadget let out a low sigh slowly walking back towards their shared tent preparing to enter it feeling a set of claws dig lightly into the tip of his shoulder he turned to meet the pair of mismatched eyes. Zerinn had stretched out his arm draping it around Gadget. His left arm was wrapped around Kaito's shoulders holding the sniffling pup close to him.
"Look you're not going anywhere," Zerinn said earnestly. "Kaito, Gadget's lost his family, and he's not going to take you away from me. No one else is going to look after us, and we're sticking together."
Gadget saw the young jackal sniffle lifting a hand to wipe away his tears. He turned to make eye contact with Gadget his tail slowly wagged from side to side cautiously.
"Hey, your half sibling's right," Gadget said soothingly. "He will always be your older half-brother, and he's too strong to let anyone or anything ever take him from you."
Kaito nodded the small smile appeared. The three of them broke apart from each other feeling like a bond was starting to be formed between them. The sweet moment was interrupted by Gadget's stomach rumbled in hunger causing him to blush from embarrassment.
"Was that your stomach Gadget?" Zerinn laughed in amusement.
"It was! I heard it," Kaito chimed in joining in. "We'll have to get some breakfast. Dune and Oasis raided our fridge and stole all of our food while you were gone."
Zerinn smiled walking away back towards the makeshift stalls. Gadget noticed that the tension between them vanished as Kaito ran ahead past his older half-brother into the warm morning sunlight. He felt the sharp pain coming from his thumb realizing that Zerinn noticed his slight discomfort.
"Just some advice Gadget," Zerinn said. "The next time you ever get into a brawl with someone make sure to keep your thumb tucked outside of your fist, so you don't break it. I've had to learn that lesson myself."
"We know a good place to get breakfast," Zerinn said. "This place may look pretty during the daytime, but things do get dangerous at nighttime."
Gadget heeded the jackal's warning stepping out into the warm rays of sunlight following the pair of jackals pausing for a moment to grab his canvas sack following the half-siblings into the campgrounds eager to explore his new surroundings.
Author's note. A calm after the storm chapter to establish where Gadget's going to settle into his new home for now. I know that the chapter was a bit shorter than the others as I want to establish a couple of plot points that are going to come later in the story.
For those who are curious, I've decided to make this story more in line with a project I've got coming out sometime early next year. Ace and Flint are two members of the future Jackal Squad since the rest will be coming in the next chapter. The names of Zerinn's and Kaito's older siblings are Dune and Oasis. Kaito is seven years old which is the same age as Gadget. Zerinn is ten years old.
Now then as you can see we're beginning to see the adoptive brotherhood that's going to spring up in the Illusionary Resistance and in the other project I've mentioned. Kaito was different as a pup here he was less level-headed, but he's still in that innocent, naive state of mind. Ten follows already I have to say thank you all so much.
Now it's time for the replies, and a sincere thank you to all the people who have taken the time to review.
TGN Fate is cruel to Gadget, but don't worry he's going to grow into the character that we see in the Illusionary Resistance, and I'm not the type of person who likes to spoil things for others so you'll have to wait and see what happens.
SD321 It was a very satisfying moment for Gadget when he fought back against Chad's group. At that point, he was tired of being tormented by them so he made the decision to fight back and he doesn't regret it.
SharpDragon Klaw I know. I feel sorry for Gadget, but things are going to get better for him from here on out.