Tloj: Forgot to post on the weekend! ...Sorry? ^^;

I wake up to a purr, and I snuggle closer to Sarah with a content sigh.

She's still asleep, but hanging on me like a curtain. A warm, soft, purring curtain.

I kiss her forehead and smile running my hand through her hair and stopping on her cheek.

She lets out a quiet moan, and slowly opens her eyes. "...Good Morning."

"Morning, Beautiful." I kiss her lips and purr.

She hugs me gently around the neck before letting me go.

I slide out of bed and pull my clothes on, handing her hers before scratching Aether behind the ears.

The puppy wakes up with the cutest yawn one can make with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth. He looks up at me sleepily, but his tail thumps the bed.

"Hey buddy." I murmur with a smile.

He yips at me, and hops off the bed as Sarah climbs out.

I walk over and caress her body for a few seconds before saying, "Hopefully Mom got the locations last night."

She purrs, and sets her hands over mine as they move, "Mm-hm..."

"I wonder if there's a private shower for us." I continue.

She smiles and looks around, "If only I'd bought a robe..."

I look around too before smiling. "Be right back." I turn Tails Doll and zip out, returning a few seconds later with a cotton robe.

She takes it, and kisses me on the cheek, "Thank you." She ties it around herself as we head for the showers with a change of clothes for each of us.

I take a look around. For being kind of late in the morning, there sure is a lack of people roaming around...

Sarah looks up as Aether climbs on my head. "What's wrong?"

"It's almost nine. I'm amazed there aren't that many people around." I blink.

Sarah looks around too, "...Weird..."

Aether has his ears perked, eyes scanning for trouble.

Antonio walks out of a tent. "Oh, hey bro!"

"Hey. Where's everybody?" I ask.

"This place is pretty modernized. Pretty much everyone wakes up around ten." Antonio explains.

Oh, well that makes sense.

"Thanks bro."

He waves and walks away.

We walk into the showers, and I look around before switching to Ice Hero, creating a wall of opaque ice at all openings.

Sarah smirks as she tosses the robe on one of the sides, and turns towards me.

I pull off my clothes and smile back.

She rubs my back with one hand as she starts the water.

I grab some soap from my hair and start lathering it.

Sarah snickers, and puts her hands in my hair, "What all do you keep up here?" She raises an eyebrow as she removes a rubber duck.

"Just some stuff." I smile, rubbing the soap onto her arms.

She purrs, and guides my hands to her chest.

I smile and give them a squeeze.

She stretches up for a kiss, and lathers some soap on my back.

I lather soap on her chest before moving on to her back.

As I do she nuzzles into my neck, and I feel her purring on my chest.

I smile more, lathering while slowly moving down.

I chuckle when I feel her tail wagging on my hand.

"I can't wait to go home and do this." I murmur, moving to her legs.

She nods against my chest, "Me too."

I go to my knees and lather her legs and feet. "I wonder if you're ticklish?" I start tickling her feet.

She squeaks, and squirms, "Ah! Stop it!"

"You're too cute for me to stop!" I laugh and move up her leg continuing to tickle her.

She puts her hands on my head like she's trying to push me away, and squirms to get out of my grip.

I let her go and wrap her in a hug with a chuckle.

She smacks my chest, "Meanie! I will get you back for that."

"I know you will." I kiss her before continuing to lather her.

She relaxes into me, almost going limp with a happy sigh. "Mmm... I love you Hero."

"I love you too, Sarah." I stand and pull shampoo from my hair, pouring some into my hand before moving on to her hair.

She purrs even deeper, obviously enjoying me spoiling her like this. Frankly she deserves it, and I can make a list of reasons why. One of which is the way she's lathering my back just above my tail.

I purr and murmur, "Am I the first guy you've taken a shower with?"

She nods, "Uh-huh... it's heavenly..."

"I'm glad I get to hear an angel say so." I smile.

She snickers, and kisses me before dumping some water over the both of us.

I shake water out of my hair and laugh.

She laughs right along with me as we finish up. As we towel off she reminds me about the gun I ordered yesterday.

I nod and we put on our clothes before I change into Fire Hero and melt the ice walls.

When we get to the stand the guy who runs it is binging coffee as he works on a metal backpack.

"Hi, are you finished with my guns?" I ask.

He looks over, and yawns. "Yeah, it was an all-nighter for me, but I got them finished- DAMN IT!" He catches two gold bracelets with a triangular piece on each before they hit the ground. He heaves a sigh of relief before setting them on a shelf.

I tilt my head. "Okay... How much do I owe you?"

"Um... Just a sec, let's make sure you actually like it. I got a target range to the north."

"All right, lead the way."

He nods, and hands me the gun. To his word it's an Uzi with a backpack. He lets me feel it before he loads it, and I'm surprised at how light it is. Even when he loads the pack with bullets, and shows me how to load the feed into the gun I'm sure I could run a marathon with this thing without needing my watch.

"You made two, right?" I aim down sights before nodding.

"Sort of," he yawns. "Those bracelets over there are a prototype on the B.M. a friend of mine slipped me. I can make you basically a wrist piece that shoots just as well as this thing."

"Cool. So where can I test it?"

"About... a mile north." His eyes start to droop, and he downs the rest of his coffee.

"How about I leave something here to ensure I come back and not steal this thing, and you take a nap?" I offer.

He waves a hand, "I trust you man, any friend of the princesses... is... a friend... of..." He dozes off in his chair.

I smile and reach in, pouring him another cup of coffee before motioning to Sarah and walking north.

She follows, and Aether hops off her back to challenge a rattlesnake on the way there.

He's halfway through eating it by the time we come to a long range of targets.

I smile and load the Uzi, aiming down the range. I aim down sights and fire a burst, destroying a target. "Wow, pretty powerful for an Uzi." I whistle.

"It must be the bullets," Sarah reasons. "All those fragments..."

"Yeah." I charge down the range, destroying targets as fast as I see them. I flip over a wall, spraying on my way down, before continuing forward.

Sarah watches in awe, but Aether doesn't pay me any attention.

I throw the gun into the air and catch it with my left hand, letting the ring in my right hand become a sword. I run through a second course, this time using them in tandem to destroy every target even more efficiently.

Sarah claps, and calls up her shield to deflect some flying material.

I land and walk back, nodding. "This is great!"

Her shield collapses back into a ring, and she nods, "That was fun to watch too!"

Aether burps, and looks up at me with his tail wagging.

"Aether, we need to get you some specialized dog food or something." I state, putting the Uzi in my hair as my sword changes back.

He groans as he rolls on his back for a belly rub. Sarah obliges with a giggle, "Silly puppy."

I smile. "Let's go back and pay for this."

She nods, and scoops up the little Werehog. We find the man just as alert as he was when we last dropped by.

"You awake dude?" I nudge him.

He snorts, and sits up. "Yeah?"

"I'll purchase it and the bracelet." I smile.

He nods, and passes me one of the gold bracelets from earlier. He blinks, and shakes his head before taking it back. "Sorry, last time I do an all-nighter..."

"It's okay. How much do you want for these?" I ask.

"Um... *yawn* Three thousand?"

I hand him the money. "Good night man. Thanks for the work."

He nods, and passes out after pocketing the bottle of rings.

I laugh before we walk away.

Sarah runs a finger over her ring, "..."

"Something wrong?" I move closer and pull her into a one-arm hug.

"Just thinking."

"About what?" I tilt my head.

"Stuff." She looks to the side.

"You can tell me. I'm here for you." I kiss her cheek.

She smiles, "Can I keep a few thoughts for myself?"

I frown. "If that's what you want. Just... don't let it come between us, okay?"

Funny how I'm saying this, but I haven't even told her the truth as to how Chrys died.

"Oh it won't," she assures me. "I promise, this is just personal to me."

"I understand." I smile.

She looks down at her ring. "...Okay, it just... if my father weren't a total dick I'd have wanted him to be there, leading me down the aisle."

I frown. "I take it your father wasn't that great?"

I then remember what Millie had said. "Oh, right. Sorry."

She smiles, "Well... once we find your dad maybe he can replace mine?"

"That may work." I smile. "Let's find the others."

She nods, and they head for the breakfast hall.

Everyone is eating and joking around when we walk in.

Reave waves, "Man of the hour! Have you seen Antonio by chance? He, and Millie took off a while ago, and we haven't seen them yet."

"Just this morning before nine." I blink.

Crystal taps her chin, "I think he was going to have a look at the firearms, and other weapons shops."

"We were just there, and we didn't see them." I tilt my head.

Spike smirks, "Maybe they're making out, and stuff."

"We totally were." Antonio walks in. "It was awesome."

Mille elbows him with a smirk. I notice she's wearing the bracelets from the gun shop.

Antonio snickers. "Anyways, check out what I got!" He flicks his wrists, and daggers came out. "I bought some of those magic weapons! I now have unlimited daggers!"

Sarah taps the bracelets, "How do these work?"

Seis walks in. "Like my sword, only more liquid." He unsheathes his broadsword and does a cool swirl jump, the sword transforming into a huge shotgun. He lands and spins it around, and it shifts back into a broadsword before he sheathes it.

"Yeah, like that." Antonio confirms.

Mille holds up her wrists, "Whoever came up with these was a genius. Basically a wrist-mounted cross between a shotgun, and a rocket launcher."

"I thought the guy that made guns didn't use magic." I blink.

"Nope," she clarifies. "Just cold steel science. Check this!" She balls her fists, and I watch as the bracelet uncollapse into gauntlets with muzzles over her index knuckles. She jerks her hand back, and it cocks like a shotgun, and when she punches the air it obliterates a nearby table.

"Woah." I say, impressed.

She smirks, and collapses the weapons back into bracelets. "These are gonna go real good with my kickboxing."

"I'll bet." I nod. I look around. "Is Mom here?"

Spike jerks a thumb over to where Knuckles, and the three clan leaders sit eating.

"Thanks." I walk over. "Hey Mom, did you find the routes?"

"Yes. I'm letting Reave study them." She nods.

"Smoke is helping his compare it to the Nage's movements," Shade fills in. "Between the two of them we should have a battle plan within the next few hours or less."

"Good." I turn to my friends. "Pack up and get ready to go." I call.

"Can we finish eating first?" Spike waves a fork in the air.

"After you eat." I add.

Sarah smirks, and starts feeding Aether some bacon.

I grab some food and sit next to her, offering Aether a slice of ham.

He snaps it up without further prompting.

I pet him as I bite into a piece of bacon.

Reave points on a map, and taps it. Smoke sticks a pin in it, "That's one, but I see at least three other places, and we haven't even been over half of this stuff."

Reave rubs his chin, "How to narrow it down?"

"Well, if we had some idea what this guy wants that'd help. I'll call Cinder up, see if she's got any legionnaires in talking condition."

...

*Cinder's POV*

Cinder smashes the head of a legionnaire with a knee before tossing him into a comrade. Her phone rings, and she answers it by slipping it into her mask so her hands are free. "Hello?"

"S'up Cinder?"

"Smoke, I'm busy."

"So I can hear, can you leave one or two of them alive? We could use some inside info."

"I'll see what I can do."

"And a left! And another kick!" Chaos cheers from inside the Master Emerald.

I elbow one in the face as I whirl to put him in a headlock, "Yes, thank you Chaos."

"Never took you for the religious type Cinder."

"Shut up Smoke, you want a prisoner or not?"

"Punch one between the eyes! It's excruciating!" Chaos jumps up and down, wanting very much to be part of the action.

I roll my eyes, and knock this one out before kicking another off the edge of the island.

"Finally, the last one."

Tikal claps politely as Chaos seems to pout, "Aw, it's over."

I say into the phone, "One legionnaire ready... and is Knuckles returning anytime soon? He has a few friends here who miss him."

"Just a sec, YO KNUCKLES! PHONE FOR YOU DUDE!"

"Hello?" Knuckles comes on.

"Knuckles, are you returning home at some point? While I enjoy the extensive training your comrades here would like to join us in the modern world."

"Who?" He asks, confused.

"Princess Tikal, and Chaos." I glance at them.

"They're awake?! I thought they disappeared!" He says, astounded.

"I can vouch they definitely did not... and apparently Chaos is quite fond of modern slang."

"I need to talk to Vector about that..." He mutters. "I'll stop by."

I nod, "Thank you."

I disconnect the line, and turn to the Master Emerald. "Knuckles is going to return here at some point. Apparently he did not know you were in there."

"Of course he didn't." Chaos sighs.

I touch the emerald, "Calm yourselves, I am certain you will be free soon. You on the other hand are another story." I pick up a decent sized rock, and hurl it at the back of the head of the legionnaire who had been feigning unconsciousness. He's not pretending anymore.

Chaos cheers again. "Two points!"

...

*Hero's POV*

Spike fixed his truck, and we went to Angel Island because Knuckles wanted to.

I hop out and stretch my legs.

"The ride was much smoother that time," Sarah notes.

"Well I already tried to kill Hero once in the last twenty-four hours, it's kinda out of my system now."

"I'm glad for that." I smile.

Knuckles hops out. "Go ahead and go to the altar. I'll meet you there." He dashes into the forest.

Spike hops out, "Gonna see my mommy!"

"I thought she hated you calling her that." I say.

"So what? She's my mom," Spike says proudly, and dashes after Knuckles.

I shrug. "Let's go to the altar, then."

When we get there the ground is littered with black cloaks, and robotic parts. Shade eyes it warily, "By my father, what happened here?"

"A party that we missed." Seis grunts, kicking one of the limbs.

*POW!*

Spike soars through the air, and lands at my feet. "...Stewardess, there's a man on the wing of this plane."

I look the way he came and create a sword, just in case.

It's just Cinder, cracking her knuckles. She eyes our company, and then they settle on the princesses. She walks over, and salutes them. "Royalty of mine people, this is an honor."

They return the salute.

"So you're Spike's mother? Glad to see you keep him in check." Julie-Su states.

Cinder removes her mask so they can see the annoyed expression. "One might loosely say I adopted him, of a sort... All I did was teach him to survive."

Shade chuckles, "Well you did a good job of that, he survived an attack from Lien-Da."

Cinder pales, and turns her eyes downwards, "I apologize for the offense... whatever he committed."

"I apologize for making him almost kill Hero." Julie-Su nods.

Cinder snaps her head to Spike, "You... what?"

Spike pales to pure white, and tries to leap off the cliff. Cinder is there before anyone has time to register it, and grabs him by the ankle.

Spike is crying now. "I don't want my mommy... I don't want my mommy..."

"I'm all right though." I say quickly.

"Yes, I can see... Spike what happened to your face?"

"Uh... got hit with laser vision?"

"And the scars on your chest?"

"Julie-Su."

Cinder nods with understanding, and almost casually tosses him into a tree behind her. "So that's what happened..."

"Hopefully he won't make a habit of tripping into a girl's ass." Julie-Su states.

"It was sandy," Spike whines.

"Again, I apologize," Cinder says with a bow.

"It's all right." She sighs.

Knuckles walks up to Cinder and says, "Could I have that piece back? I need it to release them."

Cinder hands him the shard, "Thank you for trusting me to this extent Knuckles."

"You're welcome." He nods before going back into the forest.

Smoke drags over a legionnaire, "This one is still more or less intact so I'm guessing this is our friend?"

Cinder nods. Crystal pulls a vial from her pocket, "I bought this in Julie-Su's tribe. Venom from the duck-billed platypus. Nonlethal, but it targets the nerves that register pain, and causes massive swelling."

Reave blinks, "I didn't know they were venomous."

"The males have a sting on their hind feet," Crystal explains.

"Odds are, he's not going to talk to me." Lien-Da says. "He's probably loyal to Fear."

Cinder bows, "Might I be the one to interrogate?"

Smoke nods, "She's gotten good at that."

"Very well. You have my permission." Mom says.

Cinder nods, and roots around in Spike's quills until she finds some rope. She ties the prisoner's hands together over his head, and throws the other end over a thick tree branch. Then she looks it over, and tosses Spike the other end after pulling him out of the tree. As soon as he wakes lift him from the ground. Royalty, will you be observing?"

"No." Mom walks back into the truck.

Spike hauls on the rope, and the legionnaire is lifted so his feet are a good two feet off the ground.

Smoke looks, "Oh, he's awake now!"

"Then let the fun begin, kids." Seis states.

Cinder walks over, and with a stick she pushes back his hood.

"He's an ugly turd, isn't he?" Antonio muses.

Cinder crosses her arms, "Do you know who I am?"

He glares at her silently.

"Then allow me to introduce myself, I am Cinder Waverider of the Sea Clan. My friends here are Smoke, and Spike."

"Charmed." He hisses.

"Yes, enough to betray your princess, and Grandmaster," Smoke chuckles. "But we don't care about that. You see, there's a small device we wanna know more about, and why your boss is so keen on getting it."

I'm grateful that I'm out of sight with Sarah now.

"Then steal it yourself, we ain't got it." He states.

"Already on it," Smoke says. "I know the best guys out there, hell, I'm one of them. You're looking at the members of Poisoned Rose right here."

Spike steps around the tree to look at his face, "So what's your boss up to? Maybe he could use some extra hands?"

"He doesn't trust outsiders. I wish we could have your services, though. Snot-nosed punk wouldn't know what hit him." He sneers.

Cinder crosses her arms, "Sounds as if we'll need to make an impression. What do you know of his agenda?"

"Fear? 'S fair as I know, he's saying that the device can allow you to copy anyone's power and use it. Just imagine copying Enerjak's power! You'd be almost unstoppable!"

Cinder raises an eyebrow, "Ambitious, I take it that is indeed his goal?"

"Heck if I knew. He only told us to get the Guardian, and force him to tell us where this Hero kid is."

Smoke stretches, "And your friends? I know what it's like working with groups, soldiers talk about their missions, and orders all the time with one another."

"Peh. The other soldiers are Nages. As if they'd talk to us." He scoffs.

Spike tilts his head, "The assassins?"

"That's them. Why don't you talk to the Nightshades over there? They'd know." He glares at Crystal and Reave.

Cinder eyes them, "You never said anything of this."

Smoke shrugs, "I figured, I mean they've warred for years."

Crystal scowls, "Our clan is dead, you think we would allow that to go unpunished?"

Spike looks up at the prisoner, "So bub, where can we find a guy who knows what's what?"

"Counterpunch knows a lot. For a price." He states.

Smoke smirks, "Oh him? I remember running a job with him. Where is he?"

"He switches back and forth between Soleanna and the Eggman Empire. If you hang around one of them long enough, he'll definitely show up."

Cinder steps up, but stays out of striking range. "Anything else you have to offer?"

He shrugs. "You're going to kill me now, aren't you."

"No... Because I do not believe you." Cinder pulls out the vial of venom, and a syringe. Next she strikes two pressure point on his legs that make them go utterly limp.

"I had you tied like that for a reason," Cinder says with a hard edge to her voice.

"Tell me, do you know how crucifixion works?"

"You nail me to a cross and whip me?" He shrugs.

"The biblical tale," Cinder sighs. "In truth it's actually not a form of execution, but public display. The Romans believed their body was a temple, and so to have it violated like that was a great punishment. Sometimes they would be nailed, other times they would be tied, and both they would be left for three days like this. Do you know why so few survived though?"

"Blood loss?"

"No, gravity."

Cinder fills a syringe with the venom, "The fitness of the person being tortured was what depended on their survival. It forced their body weight to be pulled in such a way their arms would collapse their lungs by crushing the ribcage. Now we don't actually have you tied to a cross, but I imagine you're feeling a little hungry for breath, am I right?"

He shrugs. "Probably."

"Well you certainly will be after you're done screaming," she injects a small dose into his left foot. "And as time wears on you'll slowly loose the strength in your arms to pull your torso up to take a breath. When that happens, you die."

"In other words you can be honest, and we'll make it quick," Smoke says casually. "Or we'll drag this out for as long as need be."

Cinder checks a watch, "The venom should take effect soon."

"What else do you want?!" He starts to struggle. "He's in Soleanna, go bug him!"

"Wrong answer," Cinder says calmly, injecting his other foot.

Smoke give a low whistle, "You know what that stuff does to guys? I heard one a guy got stung in the hand, and it swollen up to the size of a softball... or was it a soccer ball? Either way it's gonna make walking a bitch."

"Gonna hurt even worse with those boots on," Spike comments.

The soldier struggles, but has nothing more to say.

Cinder paces in front of him for a few more minutes. From my hiding place I can see the coldness in her eyes.

"What else do you even want?!" The soldier demands.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Cinder deadpans. She checks her watch, "The swelling should be hitting a peak soon."

She's right, I can see strain in his boots.

"I know where Eggman is! Do you want that?!"

Cinder stops, "That could be helpful, yes."

"He's in Robotropolis, the old one!"

Smoke rolls his eyes, "Oh please, anyone with half a brain cell could guess that. I think he's trying to lead us into a trap."

Cinder eyes the soldier coldly, "Oh really..."

"If only, then I'd laugh." He growls.

Cinder fills the syringe again, "Unless you have some sort of proof I suppose I'll have to help you to more of this. Then again most men I imagine would prefer this area to swell..."

She aims it right for his crotch.

"My communicator in my right pocket!" He screeches, wincing.

Smoke walks over, and takes it out. "So who's this supposed to call?"

"My superior! He's in Robotropolis right now!"

"Name?" Smoke raises an eyebrow.

"Galvix! Galvix Negatronus!"

Smoke nods, "Name rings a bell... neutral player in the legion. Has a little bit of a moral streak too. Probably was ordered on this mission so his regiment would get killed off."

"Well he's there. You may want to get over there before he calls my squadron." He winces.

Cinder nods to Smoke, "Introduce ourselves."

Smoke nods, and clicks on the communicator. "Yo! When I say Sheriff you say Nottingham. Sheriff!"

"Uh... Nottingham?" A female voice returns.

"Hey bra! Who's this?"

"Who is this?" She counters easily.

"Oh just the guys who've wiped out ever soldier you've sent, and it's quite the collection. Thanks for the workout."

"WHAT- who are you?" She recovers, growling.

"Smoke of Poisoned Rose, who're you Sweet Cheeks?"

She sputters, flustered. "I-I'm not at liberty to say, Smoke of Poisoned Rose."

"Aw, but I never ask a girl out without knowing her name," he says with a wink at his friends. Spike snickers, and Cinder crosses her arms.

She sputters again. "W-What do you want?"

"I just wanna see that pretty face," he says smoothly. "Swing on by with your commander, and whoever else you wanna bring, kay?"

She stutters before cutting out.

"Real smooth," Spike whoops, and ties off the rope.

Cinder turns to the remaining two princesses, "Perhaps you should wait on the island with the others while we handle this?"

Smoke cracks his neck, "We'll have this dude eating out of our hands pretty soon."

They nod.

Spike summons his sword, and sits by the prisoner. Smoke occupies himself with gymnastics between the tree branches while Cinder sits in meditation. From where I am I can feel her reaching out with her Chi towards the forest.

I look at Sarah and say, "Well, we've got a trap set up."

"I think it's already set," she mutters.

"So now we wait. I don't like having to hide, though."

Millie transforms her gauntlets, "Me either, so get ready."

Tloj: Alrighty, the return of Cinder and stuff. Everybody is owned by somebody. R&R if you've already F&F'd!