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"Please tell me you have good news, please, please, please, please, please, please!" Eddy begged Topaz.
"UH, Spike and his Mouser group are going to keep their eyes and ears opened for anything." Topaz said, slightly worried about Eddy.
"Fire the Bat is going to break in and get the blue prints." Nazz said.
"And Sun and Moon are going to keep their eyes and ears wide open." Knuckles said.
"Good, I called Cyrus and he's going to see if he can find anything out about that ray gun." Double D said.
"Very nice, now, can SOMEONE GET ED BACK DOWN HERE WITH MANIC?!" Shelby screamed.
Ed and baby Manic were outside, riding thermals.
"Oh dear, how do we get them down?' Double D asked.
"You're a chameleon now right?" Topaz asked.
"Yes." Double D said.
"Then you should be able to climb walls easy." Topaz shrugged.
"I can…climb walls?" Double D asked.
"Yeah, just place your hands on the wall, pull yourself up, and make like spider!" Topaz giggled.
Double D was shaking again.
"Don't worry, you'll do fine." Nova said, taking his hand.
"Ooh, is that a blush I see?" Eddy taunted.
"Eddy!" Shelby scolded. "You'll be fine Double D, don't worry about it."
Taking a shaky breath, Double D pressed his hand to a wall.
Several climbing attempts later…
"AHH!"
"How many does that make?" Eddy asked.
"I lost track at forty." Nazz said.
"Seventy-eight." Johnny said.
"That guy is really going for it." Kevin said.
"Well I think we've had Manic in enough danger as it has been." Shelby said.
"What danger? Ed's been going around in a circle the whole time." Topaz said.
"At ten-thousand feet!" Shelby snapped.
"Good point." Topaz said. "I'm going after him."
As Topaz flew off, Shelby stood over the pitiful Double D.
"Double D, have you ever done anything athletic and actually did good at it?" She asked.
"Not really." He groaned.
"I figured as much." She said. "Listen rookie, I'm gonna help you."
"You will?" Double D asked hopefully.
"Yep, I'm going to train you, by the time I'm done, you should be able to climb walls with ease." She said. "However, it won't be easy. Be prepared for anything."
"Yes ma'am." Double D said.
"Come to think of it, all of you need to be trained before you can actually go into any sort of battle against the 'bots." She said. "You lot maybe from another world, but you've barely scratched the surface of what you can do."
"We have?" Kevin asked.
"Yep, some of you I haven't even seen in battle yet. I'm going to train you 'til you drop." She said.
"How so?" Eddy asked.
"Eddy! Give me ten laps!" She snapped.
"Okay." Eddy shrugged.
"Not running, flying. You're going to break your wings in." She said. "Ed, time to use that inner fire in you and control it. Kevin, give me ten laps rolling in your shell. Johnny, you and Plank should make a tag team, you can throw him like a ball and he'll attack your enemies. Sarah, time to put your fox skills into action. Jimmy, time to learn how to use that Paint Brush properly. Nazz, it's time to learn how to use your martial arts properly. And Rolf, I'm going to train you to have some self-control on the battlefield. No more running in without a plan, that's how most rookies get caught."
"Where'd she get all of this?" Eddy asked Topaz.
"Comes from being trained by that nut job, Sergeant Doberman." Topaz said. "He maybe retired but he STILL gets up at five AM every morning. That reminds me, I don't think his wife…got…her…new…glasses…yet."
Upon hearing that, Shelby dropped her general act and froze in place.
"Please tell me you didn't just say: Sergeant Doberman's wife doesn't have her new glasses yet." She said in a scared voice.
"Wish I could." Topaz said, just as scared.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Both of them were screaming.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE I LET THAT NUT JOB HOLD DOWN THE TOWN'S DEFENCES!" Shelby screamed and taking off in a sonic boom.
"What's with you guys?" Eddy asked.
"Sergeant Doberman's next to blind without her glasses, and she can usually be found on the training grounds with…the…CANNONS!" Topaz screamed. "Oh everything is going to be a wreck, I just know it!"
"Why, what happens?" Eddy asked.
"The last time she fired those things without glasses, we had ten forest fires at once. We were just lucky they were small enough to be contained and everything grew back." Topaz said.
"Oh, that bad huh?" Eddy asked.
One sonic boom later, Shelby had returned, this time with a set of keys in hand.
"I ran as fast as I could." She panted.
"Didn't you go through the secret entrance?" Topaz asked.
"No, I took the risky one." She panted.
"You didn't get hit, did you?" Topaz asked.
"I moved so fast that the lightning didn't even notice me."
"That's good." Topaz said.
"Those two were just about ready to go inside, and on glasses in sight anywhere."
"We were lucky that time."
"Yeah." Shelby said. "Forget training for now, once I catch my breath, we'll work on it." And she fell over, completely wiped out.
"She over did it again but I can't blame her this time." Topaz groaned.
"Is it really that bad?" Double D asked.
"Worse, much worse." Topaz answered. "You guys better stretch and/or warm up while you can, her training is gruesome. She'll have you going for quite a while."
"How long, exactly?" Eddy asked.
"Her ruff past has made her unbelievably strong. She'll have you going for a few hours without a break unless you injure yourself." Topaz said.
"Then Jimmy will be out in a heartbeat, he got a broken foot from a clothes-peg." Eddy said.
"That won't work for her." Topaz said. "Unless you have one of the following, you'll be training. Ahem: swelling, a rash, leaking body fluids, a broken bone, a sprain, something sticking in and/or out of the flesh, a disorder, broken teeth, a cramp, the list goes on! But if you don't have any of them, you'll be training your butt off. All I can say is: good luck."
"That's quite a list." Double D said.
"Yeah, but you'll have to get used to it and fast, you only have so long." Topaz said.
"They never taught us anything like this in school." Double D said.
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Well their training is about to begin with a general like hedgehog. Will they survive? Keep reading to find out! R&R please.