A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying this. Sorry the chapters are so short. ^^;

Chapter 9

The sun was peaking over the tree tops and birds were sing softly in the dawn. Rouge had woken up first. She yawned and looked around seeing Knuckles on one side of her sleeping softly against the rock and Lilly on her other sleeping with her mouth open. She gently lifted her soar body and let Lilly lay in the spot. She felt stiff and tired. Oh would she ever find her old strength again? She quietly made her way down to the creek. The early morning weather made the water feel cool and crisp as she splashed her face. She whipped her eyes and looked into the water to see her reflection. "I look worse than I thought." She tried to look closer. Suddenly Rouge realized why her reflection looked so strange. it was not her own! Rouge jumped back from the water landing on her palms as she scooted back. "What was that?" She gasped in surprise. She regain her composure and carefully moved back to the water's edge. She looked again and just as before her reflection was someone she didn't recognize. Another white bat with golden eyes and three silver studs on her left ear was staring back at Rouge.

"Hello Rouge." the reflection was speaking to her. Rouge just stared with her mouth slightly ajar. "I can see you weren't expecting me." She said in a gentle voice.

"I-I must be dreaming." Rouge rubbed her eyes.

"I assure you this is no dream." The white bat in the reflection looked rather serious.

"Then who are you? And what do you want?" Rouge asked with pure curiosity.

"I am Nova, and I have come to help you."

"Help me?"

"Yes, you are the guardian are you not?" She made it sound more like a statement than a question.

"Guardian? I'm nothing of the sort." Rouge's mind suddenly flashed over all her doings of the past.

"Don't you bare the mark of the guardian on your right arm?" Rouge blinked at this question and looked down at her right arm which was covered by a long black glove. "I know it's there I can sense it." Nova held up her own right arm to show the same mark which was glowing.

Rouge rolled down the glove and saw that her mark was glowing as well. "What do you know about me?" She was a little on edge now.

"You are the current guardian of the Tokoda stone."

"The what?" Rouge looked closer into the water.

"It is a precious stone from an ancient race long perished from this world." Nova looked saddened as if remembering some heartbreaking memory. "That is except for the guardians of the stone."

"What race? What guardians? And what is a Tokoda stone?" Rouge was pouring out questions like a curious child.

"Slow down." Nova said softly. "You are a decent of the Etherien race. It was clan of bats that lived long long ago. It was a collection of special bats each provided a special service to the clan and each and every one wore pelts white as snow." She seemed deep in thought as she went on. "In the beginning, a single white warrior was chosen to become the guardian of the clans most precious possession, the Tokoda stone."

"Why was this stone so precious?"

"The clan's home was made in a deep lush canyon in a desert country. As you might imagine, water was a valuable resource, even in such a plentiful canyon. As far back as the clan's history goes the Tokoda stone has always been in the hands of the clan. Only legends tell of the stone's origin."

"What does the legends say?" Rouge wanted to find out all she could.

"It was said that the clan had began as only a hand full of traveling warriors. These warriors happened upon a city that was at the mercy of an evil water demon. The city's magical protector had tried hard as he could but was unable to slay the demon. The noble warriors offered their help, but he refused. Instead he entered into battle again with the monster, during which the monster defeated him once more. The warriors intervened and with every last drop of their combined strength were able to slay the demon and save the wizard. The entire city was overjoyed and pleaded for the warriors to become there new protectors, but they declined. The wizard angry with jealousy and hatred went to the great body of the water demon and used all his magic to bring the creature back to life and seal it into a small river stone. He took the stone to the warriors, and on his knees, begged for them to take it as thanks. He told them it was a Tokoda stone, which in their language means a stone of water. He showed them a spell to use to cause the stone to produce water, make it rain, and even to storm. What he did not tell them was what lay within the stone. There was an evil curse within it."

"And so what happened?" Rouge was completely engulfed by the story.

"The warriors took the stone and thanked the wizard. They traveled on using the stone whenever needed and as they grew older they began to travel less and less until the settled in the canyon. They used the power of the stone to turn the canyon into a paradise, and they prospered. As the clan began to grow so did the knowledge of their existence and the existence of the stone. Soon the clan came to the decision that the stone must be protected and thus the first guardian was chosen. Many battles were fought over the Tokoda stone."

Her face suddenly seem to turn to heartbreak once more. "In the end the entire Etherien clan was lost in a war over the stone. The only survivor was the guardian of the stone. When he finally past on, it was said that the clan had pledge so much to the stone that the stone itself had come to life. Without the clan there was no one left to serve it. Every few millennia the stone gathers it's strength and calls forth a guardian from the clan, and somewhere in the world a white bat is born with the mark of the guardian, and each time the stone has found its way to them by some means and is once again protected by the blood of the clan."

"So you're saying I'm the next guardian?"

"Yes, you are my successor."

"So then you guarded the stone before me?" Rouge thought for a moment. "Why do we guard it?"

Nova's expression turned very serious. "The stone must never enter evil hands. The stone is limited only because the blood of a Etherien can keeps its power in check. The stone has never known anything else, but if should fall into the hands of any other person with knowledge of its powers...heaven help us."

"This can't be right." Rouge shook her head this was just too much. "I can't be this so called guardian. I'm not any kind of noble warrior. I'm a thief. My blood can only taint the stone."

"You may have used your guardian abilities for the wrong reasons, but as anyone can see you have redeemed yourself. The stone would not reject you. Your heart has always been pure even if your actions do not always show it." Nova's eyes suddenly shifted. "Our conversation is no long private. I must go." Suddenly the water rippled and Rouge's reflection was her own once more.

"Rouge what are you doing?" Knuckles was walking toward her.

Rouge's eyes shift from the water. "Nothing, just washing my face." A lie was all she could think to tell Knuckles at this point.

"I'm surprised you are able to move around so well." He was beside her now.

"Yeah I'm still sore and I have to move very slowly." She said looking back into the water.

"You okay?" He bent down and looked at her closely. "You look like you've seen a ghost."