Hello everyone!
Long time no see. ^_^
I'm really sorry for taking so long with this chapter. In fact, I took a brake in this project for spending my free time with other things. You know how it goes: too many things to do, too less free time to spare. :D
But I don't intend to leave this work incomplete, no way! So here's chapter 6, I hope you1ll enjoy it. :)
Please, post your comments, I would really like to know what you think about this work of mine. Many thanks. :)
OCs in chapter belong to me and ReeceTails: Switch, Simona, Panzer, NICKI
All official Sonic the Hedgehog characters belong to SEGA and Archie Comics
-o-o-
Chapter 6: A Team of Rookies
Somewhere at a secluded place, not too far from the city, the members of the Acorn Council were waiting with tense curiosity. It was early morning, the first rays of the sun had just shown up on the horizon. In front of the group, Jacques D'Coolette anxiously looked at his watch from time to time.
"Skye surely knows how to make the audience wait." he muttered silently.
Only Tails Prower could hear his complain who stood directly beside him. Tails was quite anxious himself too, but for him this was a pleasant waiting.
"Don't worry! I'm sure he'll be here soon. He just tries to make his appearance more effective." he tried to calm Jacques.
Similarly to all the late Freedom Fighters, the young coyote respected Tails dearly. For this, he was really sorry deep down in his soul for being unabe to have any positive opinion about Skye. He didn't deny, the results Skye achieved in such a short time were fairly remarkable, and he could surely convince the Council easily. However, Jacques still had some reservations about the whole idea: he simply didn't see the necessarity of this project, wasn't sure about it's success in the long run, and of course he didn't agreed to put someone as unexperienced as Skye on the lead of such a group instead of a person, who would be more reliable for this post. These were the technical objections from Jacques, but he had serious personal reasons too. He looked sidelong to throw a short glance at Princess Sonia, who waited for the development with stoic calmness, as it could be expected from her. Seeing her with the young Prower boy in Uncle Chuck's Dinner on that particular night left a deep mark in him. It was clearly obvious for him they were on a date then, and this fact really shocked him. It was a small solace for him he wasn't alone with these opinions. The late king, Maximilliam Acorn also was fully negative about Skye and his doings. During some of their conversations, the old man talked about the boy with such hatred even Jacques was frightened by him. He clearly wouldn't want to be hated by the gentleman.
"Look over there!" pointed one of the members to the way of the sun.
A small black spot could be seen there, which was nearing them rather quickly.
"It was about time." muttered Jacques.
Pretty soon, the small spot became the silhouette of an odd looking airplane. There wasn't time to check it though, since in the next moment it glided overhead the audience with huge bluster. By the time they turned after it, the plane could barely be seen once again. It took a turn and started to the way of the council members again. This time it neared in a slower pace. As it arrived to them, it practically hovered in the air. It was a black and robust airplane, wide and flat. It's tracing was agressively angular, but streamlined at the same time. On it's back was placed a huge jet engined, that surely could give it high speed. There were rotors on four points of the plane, that gave it ability to hover in one place and maneuver smoothly. It had machine cannons at all of it's corners, that could be turned almost in any way, so they gave full protection. It was an intimidating sight indeed. After maneuvering a bit, it landed on the ground vertically. While it's engines turned down, a ramp opened from it's belly. Twenty soldiers stepped out from the plane in organised rows. All of them wore black, armoured suit. They drew up into two groups.
On the lead of the first group was a grim looking grey wolf. His green eyes suggested audacity. In front of the other group stood a rabbit boy with yellow fur, light brown muzzle and dark brown hair. His blue eyes behind his glasses seemed a bit uncertain, but he stood there firmly. After the soldiers lined up standing at attention, two other figures stepped out the plane. One of them was Skye himself, while the other one was a black fur cat girl with light brown muzzle, dark brown hair and golden yellow eyes. They both had the same kind of suit on.
Sonia's attention perked up from the very moment the airplane showed up on the distance, and it became more intense when she saw Skye stepping out the plane in his rather unusual body armour. He seemed really robust in it, but she thought it might easily be her imagination, caused by the fact they had barely seen each other since their first date. Both of them were busy with their own works, and the girl was really sorry for that. She could just hope they would have more time to spend together soon. Of course, they did everything they could to keep in touch, so they didn't suffer in too big of fallback. She smiled as she saw the boy standing up before the council members with pride written on his face. He told her earlier how nervous he was about this day, and his eyes clearly reflected that.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's my honour to present you our very first quick-reactionary tactical squad, and their troop-carrier, the DRAGONFLY." he announced.
After that, he showed everything to the members. He introduced his soldiers, their equipment, and the airplane itself. He described the way of their millitary training, and how the organization works. It was a quite long presentation, but the princess enjoyed every minutes of it. She was amazed by the precision, and how well this whole group were organised, and it was completely the merit of this particular young boy. While he finished with the presentation, the sun was already quite high on the sky, reminding some of the members that they should get back to the city. But before going back, Sonic wanted to say a few words.
"Skye, I guess I'm talking in the name of the whole Council when I say we're very satisfied with the results so far. We're curious of how the group will perform from now on. So I wish good luck to everyone." he said stirringly to the soldiers.
Skye was absolutley happy. His long time fonded visualization finally reached the level of realization. Now all he had to do is proving it's reason for existence. Of course, he was well aware of the fact this all couldn't be worked out without the people who helped him in it. So he decided to celebrate the success in a worthy way.
Later on the same day, it was a big racket at the huge backyard of the Prower household. Skye organised a little celebration for the members of his team and his close friends of course. The weather was nice, and everyone were enjoying themselves. On the bench, Sonia, Melody and Belle were chatting with each other.
"It seems like Skye knows those two pretty well." commented the princess.
Not far from them, the premised boy was having a seemingly light conversation with the rabbit boy and cat girl, whom could be seen at the presentation. All of them were in plain clothes of course.
"They are his good friends from Downunda." said Melody. "The boy's name is Switch."
"Ah'm curious how he got into the group. He doesn't seem to be a soldier type." interposed Belle.
Her remark was reasonable. Switch was quite slim shaped, and with his thick, black framed glasses, and well-set mellow brown hair, he seemed more like a geek or a computer maniac. He wore a loose white shirt, dark blue jeans and black shoes.
"My brother needed a pro technician. This guy spent whole days in our father's workshop, so he learned from the best." Melody finished her sentence with proud voice. "But he's surely not a tough guy. I don't how he will manage in a serious situation."
"And what about the girl?" asked Sonia inquiringly.
The cat girl was sporty and quite good-looking, almost as tall as Skye. Her brown hair reached down to her shoulders, and she wore an aqua-green tank-top, shorts and brown trainers. Her yellow eyes were stealing short glances at Skye constantly, and this didn't avoid Sonia's attention.
"I don't know much about Simona. We'd barely spoken to each other. Skye said she's a great navigator, and in fact she escorted him on most of his journeys."
"Did ya also notice, how she look at Skye sometimes?" asked Belle.
"I personally suspect since long she has a crush on him. If I were you, Sonia, I would quicken up the pace with this relationship."
"What are you talking about?" reacted the princess with seeming calmness.
"Come on, girl! Just think about it. They know each other well, and they work together every day. And how much time you'd spent with him since your date?" asked Belle.
"The answer is simple: barely any." grinned Melody.
"Oh, poor girl! She finally finds love, but already has to face a rival." dramatized the rabbit girl.
"Competition could be useful though. There's no better way to convince a guy of your feelings, than kick a rival chick's butt." they both laughed.
"Girls, please!" Sonia warned them, while she shook her head holding her forehead. "Anyway, I couldn't do anything about it. I'm going to a diplomatic tour tomorrow early in the morning. I'll be out of the city for weeks."
"Do ya want me to occupy your boyfriend while you are away? Ah have mah methods." winked Belle at her, and Melody snickered.
Then the doorbell rang.
"I thought all guests we expected are here already." said the mongoose girl as she went to see who came.
"Sorry Belle, but I won't need your services." said Sonia, looking strictly to her friend. "We've already discussed with Skye we would spare more time to spend with each other after I come back."
"What a diplomatic relationship ya two have."
"Okay, it had to be solved somehow." the princess reddened.
"Look who decided to visit us!" arrived back Melody along with Jacques, who waved to the girls.
"I thought you couldn't come, brother."
"I won't stay for long. I just thought to give the authorization documents to Skye personally. His group is officially acclaimed now."
"That's very kind of you. He'll surely be glad." said Sonia approvingly.
Jacques looked back to the girl a bit bemused, then looked at the crowd.
"And where's the newly assigned commander?"
"He's over there..." pointed melody to the way of Skye and his company, then stopped for a moment and a smile appeared on her face. "Where Manik is just about to make a move on the soldier girl."
They all looked over there, and saw as the young prince was deploying his manly charm to allure Simona.
"Oh, Manik! He simply can't be above himself!" said Sonia, burying her face into her palms.
The young hedgehog talked temptingly to the girl, who listened to him without stirring an eyelid. Then she answered him shortly with unchanged smile, and Manik's face became uncertain in an instant.
"I guess he failed... again." commented Sonia.
"Okay, I'm going there and save him from some more humiliation." said Jacques and headed to Skye's company.
"See? I told you that chick picked on my little brother." said Melody.
"That not proves anything. Every girl ditches Manik."
"Yeah, my brother is way too pushy. I've already told him several times he won't get a girl like this."
"You just bugger him about. I think he's quite cute." reacted the mongoose girl simply.
"You think so?" Belle's eyes literally popped out.
"Just wait 'till he moves on you. You'll run for your life." both girls laughed, while Melody just shook her head with a smirk.
"Hello guys!" greeted Jacques as he reached the group.
"Hiya Jacques! You finally made it, bro?" Manik shaked hands with him, while he tried to cover his frustration about his failed flirting.
"I don't want to disturb you. I just wanted to give you these, Skye." he handed the pack of papers to the fox boy. "The Council officially accepted your military group. Congratulations."
The two boys shaked hands.
"So, we have to call you boss from now on?" asked Switch.
"Well, actually commander would be the right style." replied Skye with a half smile.
"Yes, commander!" saluted Switch and Simona simultaneously.
The group laughed a bit, Jacques just smirked. He once again looked around the guests, until he found who he looked for.
"Well, I still have some business to do, so I'm leaving. Good luck for the continuation." he said, and headed to the way of the person he looked for.
The wolf, who also participated at the presentation event, was talking to some of his squad mates. He was a tall and muscular man, seemingly the kind of guy who you don't want to fight against. He had a dark brown sleevless vest, millitary patterned knickers, and dark brown boots. As he saw Jacques nearing to him, he turned to him with a big grin.
"Here's the guy who got me this new job!" he said loudly as a greeting. "Thanks again for commendating me. I'm really grateful for this opportunity."
"I'm glad you successfully passed the training session, Panzer." replied Jacques politely. "Could we talk in private a bit?" he asked him.
The two men stepped aside from the crowd.
"So, what do you think about the project?" asked Jacques.
"It's really professional. Skye Prower is young, but fully aware of what he's doing."
"And what about his friends?" he pointed to the way of Switch and Simona.
"The girl is good in navigation and scouting. The guy is some kind of a computer mage and good mechanic. They are not big deals, but do their job fairly."
"So, since you're in the group, it's time to speak about your part of our deal."
Panzer's attention turned fully to the young coyote. He remembered their deal well. In exchange for Jacques using his position to get Panzer into the squad, he would do a favor for him.
"I'm all ears. What dou you want me to do, my boss?"
"Well, there are several of us, whom don't agree with this whole project. That includes me, but also Lord Maximilliam Acorn for example."
"And why's that?" asked back the wolf wonderingly.
"We don't believe in the success of this whole thing. And we don't think Skye Prower would be a good leader for a squad like this."
"He leads the group really well. I couldn't imagine a commander any better than him. Could this possibly be a personal matter?"
After hearing the question, Jacques looked at the way of the princess who still talked to her girlfriends.
"You don't have to be concerned about that. Anyway, an organization like this could be dangerous with a wrong command. But since all the council members support this project, my only way to step up against it, if I could prove it's unworthyness, or Skye Prower's inability to it's command."
"I hope you don't want me to be a saboteur. I'm not willing to do something like this." replied Panzer a bit vehemently.
"That's not the case, my friend. A guy like you have to be a trustworthy soldier. I just ask you to monitor the working of the organization precisely. If you see or hear anything that is not mentioned in the official reports, you let me know about it immediatelly."
The wolf thinked about it a bit, then nodded in agreement.
"All right. I guess I could do that much."
Jacques grinned after hearing his answer.
"Great. I can assure you we'll be grateful for your services. Now, I gotta go to take care of a few things. We're counting on you. Good luck."
After finishing his sentence, Jacques headed to leave the place. He contentedly took cognizance of the fact he successfully sent a spy into Skye's group. He couldn't wait for the first opportunity to find out even the smallest fault from the boy, and pounce on it right away.
Skye left his guests for a short time to take the documetns he received just before, and place them into the safe in his living-room. With this pile of papers, he had everything he needed to achieve the next level of his plans. From that point, all he had to do is to give everything into it. And of course, he hoped he would have the opportunity to prove the rightfulness of his ideas. Right after he closed the important papers into the safe, he heard footsteps nearing from behind him. He turned around, and saw the princess, who just stepped into the room. Skye's heart warmed up by the sight of the young lady. If someone would ask him in that moment to define beauty, he would say it stood right in front of him. They both smiled at each other.
"Congratulations for your results, Skye. It's really remarkable what you achieved." she said approvingly.
"Thank you. There are still a lot of work to do, but I'm glad I could reach this important milestone." he replied with a blush, then looked at the clock on the wall. "I guess you came to say goodbye." he said a bit sadly.
Even if they couldn't spend much time together since their first date, they could meet for short times every now and then. But now, during the following few weeks he would be glad, if they could at least talk to each other somehow. Sonia smiled at the boy pityingly.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go. I'm going away early in the morning, and I still have to pack."
"This three weeks long tour sounds to be tough. Are you going to be all right?"
"Don't worry. There will be other deputies with me, and also NICKI will come to help. So I'll be fine." while she spoke, she was stepping nearer and nearer to the boy. "And in fact, I'm going to spend the last few days at Lara-su's place, so I could have a little rest in the end of the trip."
"I think you deserve at least that much." said the boy who really felt the urge to tightly hug the girl standing right in front of him.
For a few moments, they looked into each other's eyes sadly, then the doorbell rang.
"Well, my carriage is here, so I should get going." she said, Skye only nodded.
The next moment, without the slightest hesitation, they embraced each other gently. It was a really nice, but sad moment for both of them.
"Have a safe trip. And take care." said Skye to the girl in his arms.
"Of course. And good luck to you with your team. Make me proud." she replied.
They released each other finally, and the princess headed to the way of the entrance door. Before she would step out, she once again looked back at the boy, who made her heart beating faster every time. Skye waved to her with wide grin on his face. Sonia finally left the place, and the boy stayed in the silent room for a few minutes. His thinking was disrupted by an other girl's voice.
"Hey, commander! It's not nice to leave your guests behind, you know!" stamped in Simona.
Skye smiled again, and headed out from the room in the way of the girl.
"Sorry, I had some stuff to do." he apologized.
As he stepped out to the terrace, he looked around to see his celebrating men. He was curious of what tasks they are going to face.
"Here you go." said Simona, and handed a glass of refreshment to him. After he took the drink thankfully, she continued. "You organised a very good team."
"I'm really glad I have you and Switch in it though. It's a relief to know there are people whom I could trust without a doubt."
"I didn't think much about it, when you called me to join. I was more than glad to come." she reddened a bit. "It took a little time to convince Switch though, but it was successful fortunately." she said proudly.
"Cheers then!"
"Give it your best, my commander!"
The young Prower looked ahead the forthcoming period in excitement. He knew he'll have to face with a lot of hardnesses. He had to convince a lot of people about the worthiness of his plans. Well, he was definitely going to do his best, so it wouldn't depend on him.
-o-o-
So that was it. I hope you enjoyed. :)
I'm really looking forward to write the next chapter. I have very nice plans of how to do it. So I promise it won't be taking much time to be done. :)
Take care.