GT: Yo. So…let's recap. Last time, Yuichiro and Haruka came to Mobius for the family to enjoy a festival together. They meet the princess of the kingdom, Elise, along with Princess Pride of Creamland who is doing a joint work between the three kingdoms for this year's Festival of the Sun. Eggman attacks, intent on capturing Elise for these 'Flames of Disaster.' They drive him away and rebuilding happens. Meanwhile, in the future, Geo and Sonia work alongside Silver, Mogul, and Blaze to fight a monster. The trio are sent to the past and meet the group. Missions are made and people are deployed. Should also make things clear.
Initial Knothole Freedom Fighters in Soleanna: Sally, Nicole, Zero, Rotor, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine Netto, Saito, Meiru, Roll, Shun, Frost, Enzan, and Blues.
Allies: Yuichiro and Haruka Hikari, Jules and Bernadette Hedgehog, Uncle Chuck, Larry Lynx, Princess Pride, KnightmanEXE, Elise, and SiegEXE.
Other characters will be showing up in this chapter, but just wanted folks to understand why some folks weren't here last chapter.
"Okay, just tighten this bolt and…" Rotor muttered before grinning as he, Shun, and Tails stood up, "Done!"
"It was the best we could come up with given the time crunch we're under, but it should be enough," Tails noted.
Shun nodded while they looked over their creation. It was a pair of rickshaws with several springs added to the underneath of the seats with the wheels replaced with hover units. While one had a bar connecting the two poles attached to the rickshaw, the other had a red one-wheeled motorcycle with the wheel itself made of layered metals with small spikes on each sheet. The three smiled at one another before turning to see the other Freedom Fighters with Elise, Chuck, and Pride approach.
"They're all ready for the missions," Tails informed.
"Oh my! I've never seen something like this before," Elise noted in surprise.
"I have in Electopia," Pride spoke, "They've always been such a delight to ride in…aside from that one time with the Virus breakout."
"We have ridden in some vehicles like these before during the two wars we've had to deal with," Sally added, "The important thing is to remember that this is just another way to transport about, like an airplane or helicopter."
Elise nodded before giving the two a curtsy, "Thank you for taking care of my people while I am away on this task."
"We are eternally grateful to you both."
"It is of no trouble, Elise," Pride assured, "What you are doing will likely aid your country far more than what Sally and I shall do."
"It's something that friends do; looking out for one another and lending a hand when we can," Sally added, the three royals giving one another a smile at that.
"Feels like the CyberCycle IPC was developing," Blues noted as he got onto the motorcycle.
"Here ya go, kids," Chuck spoke as he placed two backpacks on the backs of the rickshaws, "Me, Haruka, Bernie, and all the chefs made you all a large lunch each! Just in case you don't forget you need to eat like anyone else. The backpacks are insulated, so don't worry about them losing their heat."
"Thanks, Uncle Chuck!" Netto beamed.
"Now remember who's going with who," Sally reminded, earning sounds of agreement from the others.
"Right this way, Elise," Roll spoke as she, Tails, and Meiru escorted her to the first rickshaw where Netto and Saito were picking up the bar to act as the 'engine.'
"Thanks goodness Netto, Saito, and Roll are so fast that they managed to get all the materials we needed to make these," Rotor noted, hopping into the other rickshaw followed by Shun, Enzan, and Frost.
"And thanks for helping hold everything up, Silver," Shun added.
"It…It was nothing…" Silver assured, blushing a little as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"Oi…What about us, huh?" Omega-Xis compalined.
"Now, now. Be patient, Omega-Xis," Lyra scolded.
"You guys were great in checking the internals for everything," Tails noted, "I think you boosted the efficiency and safety by a good thirty percent!"
"It wasn't that much," Subaru sheepishly replied.
"No problem!" Misora giggled before the two Wave Changed, "Let's get going!"
"Sure! Try to keep up~" Netto teased before the two Hedgehogs raced off, pulling the cart along before Silver used his telekinesis to fly after them while Subaru and Misora raced off down the primitive Wave Roads above.
"At least I'm not being pulled by Hikari again…" Enzan muttered as Blues proceeded with driving off.
Several SWATBots marched, their armor colored to be the same colorations as a fresh snowfall. They went past several tall, narrow trees…before the group peeked out from behind them to look at the backs of the machines. Enzan nodded to Rotor, who nodded back at them and they followed after the walrus. They went over a hill and gazed upon a massive steel fortress with several of Eggman's iconic emblem on various parts of the base.
"Okay, we need to…" Enzan began before an alarm went off and they tensed.
"We've been spotted," Rotor gulped as he looked…to see the SWATBots running another way, "Huh?"
Shun reached into his tail and pulled out a pair of binoculars as the SWATBots began to open fire upon something in the distance amongst the trees, "I…I'm not able to see much. Switching modes." He rotated a dial on the side, causing the lenses to change colors, "Okay. Heat vision picking up something moving pretty fast…and heading this way."
"Something fast?" Rotor pondered as Shun handed him the binoculars to look while switching to another view, letting him see a black and red blur race by, "?! No way…That's…"
Erupting from the trees, Shadow raced out with the soles of his sneakers blazing with jets of flame to make them a pair of rocket skates. He swung his arms out and a barrage of spears made of a chaotic orange-red energy lanced through several SWATBots. Frost nudged the others and he pointed at a spot near the walls of the base that had no one there. They nodded and ran over to it, letting Frost put a hand on the ground before a pillar of ice rose up to let them get onto the other side. As they landed, Shadow leapt over the walls and landed between Enzan and Blues. He glanced at them before seeing Rotor.
"New kid recruits, walrus?" Shadow questioned.
"Hey…" Shun growled in annoyance.
"Saito spoke of you. You were there in Old Megaopolis during Operation Triple Threat," Blues noted.
"The strange Human in blue armor?"
"It's a bit more complicated with Megaman," Frost spoke, "But now isn't the best time. Why are you here?"
"...I owe a favor to someone here," Shadow stated, "They're calling it in to get them out of this place."
"A prisoner?" Rotor asked.
"Spy," Shadow corrected, "I don't care what it's about, but since Robotnik is here, I can end him as well."
"He's mine," Enzan growled.
"Down!" Shun barked, "We all have the goal of getting in and getting out with information. If we run into Eggman, you two can deal with him, okay?"
"...Fine," hedgehog and wolf replied after a moment of glaring at the other.
"I think that's the best we'll get, Rotor," Shun whispered, earning a nod from Rotor.
A gentle breeze blew across a forest, nature reclaiming much of what had been taken over the years. A blur raced through the foliage, the slipstream that followed pulling apples from several fruit trees in the forest. Within a few seconds, the blur slowed to a halt before a broken stone and marble bridge, revealing it to be the twin-pulled cart. A moment passed before Silver landed down by it followed by Subaru and Misora. Everyone got out with Meiru and Roll helping Elise. They looked out and several stifled gasps while Elise just stared. Ahead of them was what had once been a magnificent castle, seemingly merged with the massive lake beneath it. Towers rose high above yet still nestled within the cliff sides at its sides…with one midfall and seemingly stuck in the middle of the air. Flames flickered in several spots, looking as if they were just colored ice or colored hardened resin molded into flames. Rubble was frozen in the air, seemingly resembling several paths of sorts in mid-air. It was as if the destruction itself had just…frozen.
"It…What is this?" Meiru pondered.
"It's like time just…stopped here," Misora noted.
"Huh…I think we spent a night here," Subaru thought as Omega-Xis appeared at his side.
"We did. Just replace the water with lava and part of it just gone," Omega-Xis huffed, "Granny took that tower over there, the Big Guy was over that way with Silv, and you two had the honeymoon suite AKA that floating part up there." He gestured to a part of it, "All that wasn't there. Probably got smashed by the giant fire buzzard and sunk into the lava."
"..." Elise frowned, a somber look in her eyes, as she gazed upon the castle in frozen destruction.
"...Elise?" Netto pondered, "Do you…need a minute?"
"...No," Elise replied, shaking her head, "Though…maybe a hand would be kind?" She gestured to the broken bridge meant to lead to the wrecked massive oak doors, "As you can tell…I can't jump that far."
"Hmm…" Silver walked ahead and looked into the surprisingly clear waters below, "..."
He placed his palm on the ground and took a deep breath. Cyan energy began to cover his body before the water churned beneath. Chunks of broken stone rose from them and swiftly reassembled into what had been the bridge's mission portion, parts of it eaten away from their time beneath the waters. The glow left and Silver looked to the others.
"Whoa~!" Netto and Roll awed.
"That was amazing, Silver!" Saito exclaimed, causing the older hedgehog to blush.
"It…It's nothing much. I-I did this a lot back in the future," Silver sheepishly waved it off before the blush grew when Misora gave him a hug and Subaru patted his shoulder.
"Don't sell yourself short, Silver," Subaru assured.
"This skill has saved a lot of folk from that monster and its familiars," Misora reminded him, ending the hug but still holding his hands, making sure the backs of his hands were shown to the air above, "You even did it and saved us from them when we were trying to figure out just what happened to our time when we came back from the past."
"Okay, let's get going then," Netto grinned.
"Okay, everyone into a phalanx formation around Elise," Subaru ordered.
"A what?" Netto tilted his head.
"..." Subaru facepalmed, "Just surround the princess and be ready for anything."
"Oh…Why didn't you just say that?" The younger hedgehog asked, causing the older wolf to facepalm.
"CHAOS SPEAR!"
With the roar of the black and red hedgehog, an accompaniment of a rain of spears made of a yellow-orange chaotic energy tore apart the oncoming machines. Several tried to attack in a charge from behind only for a thick sheet of ice to appear beneath their feet, knocking them all over one another from slipping on it. Frost flicked his hand claws up and spikes of ice ripped through piles of them, tearing through wires and circuitry with ease. Enzan and Blues roared as the former threw anything heavy he could grab while the latter raced about as a blur, leaving behind cut down robots. Meanwhile, Shun and Rotor were looking at Shun's PeT, grateful that Shadow had at least given them the frequency this spy had provided for him to track them down. The two, while the others ran distractions by destroying everything, turned a corner and came upon a pile of containers. Rotor looked around before giving several knocks in a rhythmic pattern. After a moment, Rouge jumped out and landed before them, her eyes widened in surprise when she realized it wasn't Shadow.
"What the…?" Rouge began.
"We came here to find intel on what Eggman's up to involving Soleanna and Shadow said a spy was here that asked for removal from the place," Shun informed, "You're the spy?"
"Sent by GUN," Rouge replied as she held up a strange relic resembling a scepter made of a purple and black steel and stone mixture, looking as if it were a winged snake with three heads wrapped around a pillar with the heads biting down on a purple crystal shaped to resemble a ball of flames with the wings folded in and wrapped around the heads and 'fire.'
"What the…?" Rotor pondered.
"Dr. Eggman had this connected to all sorts of machines. If he did, then he was planning something, so…he won't mind me 'borrowing' it for GUN," Rouge winked as the others regrouped with them, "Surprised you're working with others, Shadow."
"Hmph," Shadow scoffed, "They came for their own reasons." He turned around, "Let's go."
"Don't you want to know what this is?" Rouge asked, offering the scepter.
"Our agreement was only getting you out," Shadow replied, "That's it."
"Ah, I see, I see. Still the same as ever, I see," Rouge noted.
"I'm kinda curious," Shun admitted, glancing at the strange relic in her hands, "What is so important that Eggman wanted it?"
"We'll have to ask later," Frost noted as he pointed up ahead where several robots landed before them.
"Hmph…Let's settle this quickly then," Shadow scoffed, cracking his knuckles before stopping as a cloaked figure jumped over the wall and, with a glint of light reflecting off of it, a blade cleaved through several of the machines, "?"
The cloaked figure moved about with skill and grace, tearing through the machines as if they were warmed buttered. Eventually, one of the explosions caught the cloak and ignited its fabrics, forcing the figure to toss it off…revealing a Mobian Clydesdale donned in chainmail and an emerald green shirt with a red fleur de lis on the center of it.
"Sir Connery!" Rouge gasped.
"Who?" Enzan questioned.
"A legend," Rotor explained, "A knight said to be the strongest knight of the Acorn Kingdom before the Great War who answered the call of the Ancient Walkers. But…what is he doing here?"
Within seconds, the last automaton was slain and the steed snorted before looking to the group. His eyes focused upon Rouge and sheathed his sword. He took a step before a Dimensional Area formed, making Blues and Frost change back to NetNavis. The group tensed before Hope appeared between them.
"Hoi~!" Hope greeted happily, her tail wagging, "So~ you're all intruders and Ms. Pretty Bat Lady stole Daddy's property. …I have to beat everyone here and get the spooky thingy back for Daddy, okay?"
"The Scepter of Darkness and its inhabitant must be purged for the safety of the world," Sir Connery responded, drawing his blade, "They are the last of whom must be slain in my noble task bequeathed to me by the Ancient Walkers."
"Mmm…Okay!" Hope replied with a smile, "But only after Daddy is done with it, then whoever is in the thingy will be easier for you, Mr. Knight!"
"Hope…"
"Ah…Did I say it wrong, Daddy?" Hope tilted her head.
Eggman sighed, "We'll go over how to do negotiations later. For now, get the Scepter of Darkness back."
"Okay, Daddy!" Hope beamed before avoiding the swipe of Sir Connery's blade and the stab of Protoman's along with avoiding the barrage of ice shard from Freezeman.
"I'm surprised you don't ask about us," Protoman noted.
"I have seen many things in this realm in my noble crusade to slay the dark spellcasters of Mobius," Sir Connery responded, "Thou art but a mere tip of what I have experienced."
Freezeman nodded as he swung his arms up…and a shadow came over Hope. The blonde NetNavi looked up and her eyes widened as her pupils shrunk into dots. Above them all, all the snow and ice of the area had gathered above her. She looked at Freezeman…before pouting.
"You stink," was all she could get out before it all came crashing down, forcing everyone to dodge the oncoming waves by either hiding behind a thick wall of ice Freezeman formed, Shadow teleporting onto higher ground, or Rouge taking flight.
Rouge let loose a slow whistle as she overlooked the massive mound of Winter upon the land, "Remind me to not fight that fox in a place like this." A spot began to bulge, "Hm?" The spot erupted as a whirling drill ripped out of it and shot up at her, "AHH!"
She tried to dodge only for the drill to split open to let Hope in her Drillman Armor snap her tail out and grab the Scepter of Darkness while she delivered a right hook to Rouge, sending her crash into Shadow as he jumped up to catch the bat. Hope laughed as the drill halves sealed up and let her 'drill' into the air, leaving a green gaping hole in the sky. A moment passed and the EggCarrier emerged as the Dimensional Area broke down. Just before she vanished atop the vessel with Mecha at her side, Hope blew a raspberry as her tail gave her older sister the Scepter. Enzan grit his teeth as Shadow landed beside him and Blues while the EggCarrier turned to them…and its front opened.
"We gotta get out of here!" Shun panicked, realizing what the vessel was about to do.
"Tch…Chaos Control!" Shadow roared, pulling out a green Chaos Emerald from his quills just as a massive beam shot out of the EggCarrier and the area was filled with light.
"We used to live here," Elise broke the silence as the group walked along a hallway, walking past portraits of past rulers in varying states of quality, slowly becoming ruined the deeper they got in, "I was a little girl when it happened. I was making my way to see my father. One moment, I was opening a door to the basement. The next, I awoke outside the castle in its current state and my father was…" she trailed off, a tear falling and causing Meilu and Misora to hold her hands to give comfort to her, "He left a verbal list of orders. Unless the flames for the Festival were ignited, I was to never shed even a single tear. I've managed it for this long, always saving my tears for this period."
"..." Saito's ears drooped on hearing that.
"Subaru, Silver, and I can relate on losing loved ones," Misora spoke up, "Before our future changed when we were in the past, Subaru's father went missing for several years and was presumed dead. As for me…I lost my Mama. She was really sick and she inspired me to become a singer, wanting me to pursue my dreams and bring smiles to everyone I could."
"And then we went to the past because of Clockman. We thought we'd return to friends and family waiting for us, but…all that was there was fire and brimstone. Our whole world…nothing more than hell itself," Subaru went on, "No friends…no family…no one. We nearly died if not for Silver, our Master, and Blaze…and…and before we arrived in the past again, we lost them both."
"Master sacrificed himself, using his magic to turn himself into a bomb that went off inside of the monster and Blaze…she gave her everything to fully destroy it and send us back here," Silver explained, looking down in pain at the fresh memories.
"...Thank you," Elise thanked, giving them a small smile as she wiped the tear off her face, "Oh! Over here is the library."
"The library? That might actually give us clues as to what that monster is," Subaru spoke.
"Subaru and I can look through them and get them out of here and to the rickshaw," Silver spoke.
"Could I help?" Saito asked.
"It would be nice to recover the library," Elise noted.
"You boys have fun now," Misora winked, "Us girls, and Netto, got protecting the princess."
"Ye-hey~!" Netto complained, earning a laugh from the older redheaded Mobian as they went on ahead, leaving behind the rest of the boys on the mission.
"Well…let's get started. Silver, you start looking while Saito and I start getting these out to the rickshaw.
"Got it," Silver nodded as he grabbed several dozen books from the shelves with his psychic abilities and began to peruse while Saito was a blue blur, zipping in and out with a few books at a time vanishing, while Subaru picked up large stacks and changed frequencies to carry them out of the small amount of Wave Roads.
Famous took in a deep breath before coughing a little, "Phew…That decade of constant pollution was not good for the air quality here…"
"Glad I'm in here and not out dere," a voice chuckled from his PeT, making him look at the screen to see a ruddy red NetNavi with no visible mouth, an orange metal mohawk, and metal cables acting as arms and legs to go into ruddy red and black spiked gauntlets and boots.
"Very amusing, Punk," Famous huffed before turning around in time to get a faceful of green light that dispersed after a moment, letting the group that had been at White Acropolis crash onto the ground, "...Well…That happened."
"Is dat horse wearin' knight armor?" Punk asked.
"Well…that isn't good," Rouge noted, lying on top of Shun and leaving the fox's face bright red due to his position, before she stood up and lightly dusted herself.
"We are in grave danger," Sir Connery warned as he rose up next, Enzan and Shadow falling off him and caught by Blues.
"Because of that scepter?" Frost questioned as he helped Shun up before nodding at Famous.
"Why was it even so important?" Rotor asked.
"A demon lies within…a god's spirit without its body and soul," Sir Connery replied, "I must make haste to the one place that can free them from confinement."
"You mean we, sir," Enzan corrected, "We have issues with Eggman and this scepter is part of whatever he plans. We can collaborate: destroy what you seek in the scepter and stop Eggman's ploy before he can achieve whatever it is."
"...Very well," Sir Connery agreed.
"Where do we go then?" Blues asked.
"The realm of sands that was once a place of worship for the God of Time and Fire, Solaris," Sir Connery replied, looking around with a frown.
"The Dusty Desert, correct?" Famous spoke up, earning their attention.
"Mr. Famous?" Shun asked.
"Just Famous."
"What are you doing here?" Frost asked.
"I was in Creamland and helped them with the Ring Tunnel and Dimensional Area needed to run it," Famous replied, "I thought it'd be nice to partake in festivities and start introducing the folks to the usual things over here in Soleanna City." he pointed to the east, "If you're looking for the desert, it's that way."
"...I swear, the climate of this planet is insane at times," Enzan muttered, "A permanent Winter to the north and a desert to the east."
"There's a massive jungle to the southeast," Famous added, looking amused at how Enzan nearly fell over in disbelief.
"SHIT!"
"What's wrong, Frost?" Shun asked.
"We left our lunches in the rickshaw!" Frost replied, his hands to the sides of his head.
"...Damn," Blues scowled as their NetOps fell over with wide eyes of disbelief as Rouge and Shadow quirked a brow.
"What is that noise?" Meiru pondered, grimacing as she had her ears covered.
"It's the fire," Misora explained as they walked along a path through frozen flames.
"Huh?" Netto pondered.
"Those of us who can control fire can 'hear' their 'voices.' It's what allows us to work with them, guide them," Misora explained, "These flames are frozen mid-sentence, so we're hearing that delayed syllable."
"Wait…That's a thing?" Roll asked before the two looked at Meilu.
"...I didn't want to worry anyone about me hearing voices," Meiru admitted, looking down in shame.
"Hey, it's alright. I would've done the same if not for Blaze," Misora noted, gently rubbing the younger girl's back.
"Blaze?" Roll repeated.
"She was my mentor, my teacher," Misora explained, a somber smile on her lips, "She was blind but used the fire to 'see.' She taught me so much in the time we had…" her ears drooped, "She used these gems called Sol Emeralds to save us from the monster and sent us to the past."
"Sol Emeralds?" Netto repeated.
"She came from another Zone when it first appeared," Misora explained, "It managed to blind her, weaken her, before she could stop it. She couldn't even return to her Zone because the Sol Emeralds refused. Given it was able to get to our Earth…"
Meiru frowned in sympathy as she held Misora's hand, "We have a chance to keep that from happening thanks to you, Ge-errr-Subaru, and Silver." she sighed, "We just had to go with pseudonyms on Mobius…"
"Hey, new body, new name," Misora shrugged with a giggle, "I went with Misora Hibiki and Subaru went with Subaru Hoshikawa, then I changed mine from Hibiki to Hoshikawa after we married." She looked at the ring on her hand, "No regrets aside from not having all our friends or family there."
"Our teacher that awoke Misora and Subaru's heritage that let them become Mobians made these using Alchemy and the Chaos Force," Lyra noted, "They're indestructible and allow these two lovebirds to sense where the other is and surface emotions."
"Fascinating," Sieg noted.
"If I remember the layout right, this is the epicenter of all this," Elise spoke up.
The group approached a pair of doors, mid-flight in splinters, shards, and chunks. Misora looked around before turning Lyra into a blade of plasma and cutting the sharp edges to round them out before punching the sharp parts. Netto raised a brow at that.
"Eh…better to be safe than sorry," Misora quietly explained with a shrug.
They went on inside and Roll was the first to notice the myriad of machines all about with some mid-exploding. Cables scattered about, most blown away and frozen in mid-spark or being severed into chunks from the explosion. In the center of it all laid a molten container of sorts, the entire thing looking as if it was still exploding with two green Chaos Emeralds in the room that were put into two machines that were in mid-collapse. Behind it, still connected to the devices, was a large bronze and quartz ring with a platform behind it.
"What is this place?"
"Where the accident that took my father's life happened," Elise replied, looking around solemnly, "I've…never been here since it happened."
"Huh? Aren't those Chaos Emeralds?" Roll pondered.
"But they're both green," Netto pointed out in confusion, taking out the red Chaos Emerald of the seven different colored ones from his vest.
"Did you two seriously forget the history lesson Nicole gave us?" Meiru asked in disbelief.
"Er…"
Meiru sighed, "Yeah, school is a good idea then." she looked at the two, "There aren't just seven; there are hundreds of thousands of them all over the world. They're why the Mobosaurs went extinct."
"Like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs?" Netto asked.
"Yes," Meiru replied, "So this isn't something surprising…well…aside from them being here."
"I wonder what it's about," Netto pondered.
"Elise?" Roll asked.
"It was a project my father was working on," Elise replied, "He…wanted to go back in time and save my mother."
"Your mom?" Netto asked.
"She died when I was a child," Elise replied, "A cave-in on a tunnel connecting Soleanna to Westopolis. Reports from the Freedom Fighters correlated it with a demolition project Dr. Robotnik was doing in the area far above the tunnel." she lightly wiped a tear, "I miss her every day along with father, but I hope they are together once more in the life after, basking in Solaris's warmth."
"Chaos Emeralds can let one travel through time?" Netto asked in surprise.
"That's new," Roll gawked.
"No. They were just the power source," Elise replied as she walked towards the center of it all, "They were feeding the fire that was stored into here, said to be the original fire given to the world by Solaris itself."
"The original fire, princess?" Sieg asked in surprise.
"Yes. The fire that burns and creates Time itself," Elise explained, "It burns away that which prevents Time from progressing. Our ancestors, long before the Xorda and their Gene Bombs reshaped the world, were said to have been blessed with the original flames that Solaris once used to create Time with."
Sieg looked upon the wreckage, eyes focused upon the Emeralds and where the flames had been. Netto reached a hand out to the two Chaos Emeralds…and the Emeralds started to glow. Netto yelped as his own seven started to shine through his vest. A loud groan made everyone look at the ring to see it start to rotate clockwise. A ball of flames lit itself on the ring, followed by another…and then another. Eventually, thirteen balls of flame encircled the ring, following the clockwise path. Within, a swirling black and purple vortex filled in the entirety of the ring's empty space.
"What's happening?" Roll asked as everyone took several steps back.
"I-I don't kn…" Elise began to reply.
A light began to shine within the vortex before a bright flash went off, making them all holding a hand up while closing their eyes. Slowly, the light faded away and everyone began to open their eyes. Aside from Misora, Sieg, and Lyra, everyone else gasped. Crouched down before them on the stand…was a blue Mobian Hedgehog that was sixteen years of age. He wore white gloves and red and white running shoes with a gold buckle on the outsides of them. His head was dropped down as he slowly stood up. With a grunt, he began to do several small stretches, making sure everything sas there.
"..." the eyes opened, revealing a rich emerald green, before he smirked at them, "Well…This is new."
GT: *lying flat on face, steam coming from top of head*
Zaito: Yeah…He was having a lot of issues, which is why this took so long. Work, real life issues, work, other story ideas he's been working on that's causing my twin and I even more work, work, and periods of just not wanting to write. …Did I mention 'work?