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Everyone was high strung they couldn't shake this feeling that something really bad was about to happen, and not just Shadow's attacker. They could feel another powerful force at play here, and it had yet to strike. Garin could feel it especially it felt like there was nothing but ice everywhere. The feeling was something they couldn't explain really, but it was strange and that was the best thing they had to go with.
"Something's going to happen." Garin told Shelby after a while. "I can just feel it."
"We all can." Shelby said. "We're getting close to Castaway Kay, we're just outside the danger zone, another few miles and we'll hit the first whirlpool. I'll get Topaz to clear any storms that we may encounter."
Garin nodded and let her go. As she left, Garin kept a watchful eye on things, with Shadow's attack no more then a few hours ago, it was hard to relax. But now they were nearing the island and it would help them get their minds off of things.
"Topaz the Wind Master, reporting for duty." Topaz said, giggling at her own title.
"Very nice." Garin said. "You know the drill."
"You've got it." Topaz said, and took to the air.
"Be careful!" Shelby called after her.
"You know I will!" Topaz called back.
Topaz fell straight into the oncoming thunderhead, not showing any fear.
'Okay Topaz, keep it straight, keep it straight.' She thought.
FLASH!
Topaz nearly jumped out of her fur as the lightning flashed under her.
"Maybe I should have let Shelby come along." She said to herself. "But either way, I've got a job to do."
Topaz flew until she reached the center of the storm.
"Okay Topaz, remember your training." She told herself.
Topaz pulled herself into a ball and focused all of her energy into this task.
"WIND BLAST!" She cried.
"HIT THE DECK!" Shelby cried, pinning Garin to the floor. "I told her not to use that one!"
"What's wrong?" Garin asked just as a howling wind hit.
"IT'S HER MOST POWERFUL ATTACK!" Shelby cried over the howling winds. "THE WIND BLAST IS EXTREMELY POWERFUL!"
The wind died down just as quickly as they came.
"Finally." Garin panted.
They saw a tired Topaz slowly flying down, panting heavily.
"I cleared the way for another few hours." Topaz said, panting.
"You did good, I'll take it from here." Shelby said, helping support her friend. "Garin could you hold her?"
"Of course." He said, taking the small fox.
"I'll be only a minute." Shelby said and ran onto the figurehead.
"Isn't that dangerous?" Double D asked, walking up with the others.
"She's done more dangerous, don't worry." Topaz said, leaning on Garin.
"If you say so." Double D said.
Shelby reached into her pocket and pulled something familiar out.
"Isn't that the same jewel from the clock tower?" Double D asked, seeing the black jewel.
"The very one." Topaz panted.
"What's she going to do with it?" Sonia asked.
"Stop the whirlpools."
Everyone looked at Shadow. Shelby had managed to save him before so much as a bruise had been inflicted.
"What?" Sonia asked.
"She's going to use that jewel to stop the whirlpools, although I don't know how." He said.
"She's going to use the Chaos Control." Topaz said with a pant.
"Chaos Control?" The others asked.
"I'll explain later." She said.
Shelby clutched the jewel and held high above her head.
"CHAOS CONTROL!" She cried.
There was an intense flash. Once it died down, they looked around.
"That's it?" Eddy asked.
"Believe me, this is BIG." Topaz said.
"What's big?" The bee asked.
"Shelby just stopped time." She laughed.
They just looked at her in shock.
"S-S-Stopped time?" Double D asked.
"That's the power of Chaos Control." Shelby said, jumping off of the figurehead. "I'd explain it to you but we're wasting valuable time here."
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
"Chaos Control only works for so long, if we're not to the island by the time it wears off we could be in BIG trouble." Topaz said, catching her breath. "And on to of that, Chaos Control takes a lot of energy, once it's done, Shelby could pass out. It's effects doesn't hit the user till the timer's up, and with all the energy she used this time, I'd day it's a safe bet that she'll be knocked out cold when the timer is up."
"How much time do we have?" Garin asked.
"A few hours." Shelby said.
"A few HOURS?!" Topaz asked. "Shelby, you've never held a Chaos Control for THAT long!"
"How long does she normally do it?" Double D asked.
"Usually ninety seconds if we're taking on SWATbots, sometimes longer if the odds are against us, less time if the odds are good but NEVER over twenty minutes! Who knows what kind of damage it'll do to you!" The young fox said.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take, if it'll help free Mobius from that sleaze ball, Robotnik!" She said.
'She's got some sense of justice.' Sonic thought.
"Lets' hurry." Garin said. "I wanna be at that island before the timer IS up."
"Aye, aye Captain!" Shelby said and took off.
"What's with that girl?" Sonic asked. "She's going to pass out in a few hours and she's going to only make it worse by working."
"That's her life style, she put the important stuff first, Mobius, those around her, the Freedom Fighters and such." Topaz said.
"Well why push herself so hard? I mean, isn't that dangerous?" Knuckles asked.
"In a way, yes, but she knows that not many people are part of the Freedom Fighters and she takes it upon herself to take their places, she also tries to take the places of those we've lost." Topaz explained.
"But if she does that, she could seriously damage her body." Sonia said.
"I know, our friend, Click the Rabbit, she's gone over that with her nearly a thousand times already and she still doesn't listen." Topaz went on.
"Why is she like that?" Sonia asked.
"Yeah, I mean, we're the heirs to the throne and we don't do NEARLY as much as she does." Manic said.
"Because…her mother was like that." Topaz said, looking to the floor.
"'Was'?" Sonia asked.
"I'm not in the place to tell you what happened to them." Topaz said, looking to the floor again.
"'Them'?" Manic asked.
"Her parents." Shadow replied.
The others looked at him in surprise, especially Topaz.
"She didn't give me details but she told me that she had lost her parents." He quietly said.
"That's just the tip of the ice burg." Topaz said.
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
Topaz sighed heavily.
"Topaz…?" Tails asked.
"Listen, when she was a baby, she lost her parents to Robotnik, no one other then him knows the details but what we DO know is that they were killed and that Robotnik was involved one way…or another. No one's quite sure how it happened but she ended up in an orphanage where Robotnik's rule had spread out of control. She was usually starving she weighed very little, even for a kid her age she got sick very easily, and on top of all that, she was beaten often, not only by the kids but the people who worked there as well. When she was taken into her first family it was only a single man and he was a drunk madman, she ran away her very first night. Soon, it turned into a cycle, get pulled into an abusive orphanage, get tortured with little food, beaten often, get adopted into an abusive family, and then run away soon afterwards. After a while, she was living on the streets. A group of Freedom Fighters soon found her and she surprised them when they got jumped by some SWATbots by taking them down with ease. They wanted her to be part of their team but they had to send her to someplace safe for proper training. She was to take a boat to a trainer but, it was attacked by pirates and I guess that was when she met Garin."
They were all stunned by this new information. That a single girl could go through so much and end up so nice was…stunning.
'So that's what she meant the night we met.' Garin thought.
(Flashback)
"It isn't the first time something like this happened to me." Shelby said.
"What do you mean?" Garin asked.
"It's…It's nothing." She said.
Garin just looked at her.
(End flashback)
"Man, I thought living out on the streets was tough but I didn't think someone could go through something so ugly." Manic said in guilt.
"She thinks that if she does enough, she can forget all of the pain she went through in her past, every now and again, some of the burn marks start hurting but she keeps on going for it, she doesn't stop. She's learned to deal with pain, that's all she went through as a child." Topaz said. "She can go up against a knife and it might not even make her shed a tear. Take a hit from a laser beam and she won't even whimper. A few good punches as and she won't even falter. Rake at her face or cheek, she won't even flinch. She's a fighter, but if it's the other end of a beer bottle, it's a WHOLE 'nother story. She's like a helpless kitten, literally. She'll fall over, start shaking like crazy, and if you hit her with it, she'll cry out! I think it's 'cause she was hit with so many of them so many times that she can feel the old wounds all at once at full force when she gets hit with one of those things."
"Oh man, you're kidding." Nazz said.
"I'm afraid not." Topaz said, shaking her head. "I wish was though. I've seen some of the scars that she bares they're NOT pretty. Some of the fur is starting to grow back though, but it's going extremely slow."
"Oh, that's awful." Sonia cried.
"Seriously." Kevin said, and he rarely ever showed sympathy for anyone.
"I heard ya, dude." Manic said.
"Why is it like this?" Johnny asked.
"Choa." Plank said quietly.
"Man, and here I thought she had it good." Sonic said.
"WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ed was crying his eyes out.
"Man, now I feel guilty for being jealous of her because she has all those jewels." Eddy said, kicking a small piece of wood on the floor.
"And I feel guilty for my sisters' actions against her." Nova said, looking to the floor.
Tune looked sadly to Tails.
"I feel sorry for her." They both said.
"If I ever find those guys who caused her so much pain, they'll wish that they were dead!" Knuckles said, punching the air.
"But I can't help but wonder how she managed to stay this way." Double D said.
"That's an easy one." Topaz said. "Being with such nice people makes her happy and she doesn't want anyone else to feel the pain that she did. That's why she and our friend, Kyoushiro, get along so well. He was the leader of a group of children who had been abused by their parents so they get along very well on those levels."
"So they can relate?" Double D asked.
"Yeah, you know it." The young fox said with a smile.
"Topaz, you just helped me get a LOT more respect for her." Manic said placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Well, she's still strong." Sonia admitted.
"You're right. I mean did you see her get the van out of that hole?" Sonic said.
"Yeah, but guys, could you not tell her?" Topaz asked. "It might REALLY upset her."
"Don't worry, our lips are sealed." Manic assured her.
"Promise?" She asked.
"Hedgehog's honor." Sonic said, crossing his heart.
"Thanks, I don't think I could bare to see her like that again." She said.
"Why, what happens?" Sonia asked.
"She gets really depressed, you know, like sighing heavily, trying to hold back tears, and other things like that?" Topaz asked.
"Topaz, I was raised by thieves, I know how to keep quiet." Manic said in a gloating voice.
"Don't worry, we're not going to blow a thing!" Sonic said.
"Thanks." Topaz said.
"What are friends for?" Sonic asked.
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Well, how's that for a chapter? And I wrote most of this in one sitting too. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. R&R please.