Cream was staring blankly, staring into the emptiness of a non-existent horizon. Voices, sounds, everything around her were white noise, like a winter breeze whispering in her ears. A strange cold sensation had not left his body for a week. Everything felt icy, even in the full light of the afternoon sun, everything felt cold and hostile, even herself.
"Miss?" she could elucidate a strange voice saying. "Miss Am I doing it right?"
Barely coming to her senses to attend to her reality, Cream turned to look at the girl who accompanied her, a small hamster, a new recruit of The Academy, with a uniform that seemed two sizes too big. In her hands, a sort of faint light sphere flickered between transparent and opaque as it deformed erratically. The girl seemed to be worried that she was doing something wrong.
"Uh... you're doing fine, just...," Cream tried to put her full attention on the girl, who for a moment reminded her of herself before The Union. "Concentrate on what you want to do, not the form," she would tell her as she put her hands around the girl's hands.
"How's that?" the confused girl asked.
"It's...um...," Cream struggled to get the words she needed. The idea was crystal clear in her mind, but it was complicated for her to express it so that the girl would understand.
"[Meta-Quartz visualization training is over!]" the voice of the head instructor was heard ringing over the megaphones scattered throughout the courtyard of The Academy . "[To all senior recruits, please decommission the training Meta-Quartz from the new recruits and vacate the training grounds until further instructions!"]
"Miss...," the little girl said as she looked worriedly at Cream.
"Don't worry, you've done well. The next thing will be easier for you, you'll see," replied the Rabbit trying to calm the girl down before retiring along with her companions who were also leaving behind their respective assigned apprentices.
With her eyes lost, gazing into the emptiness of a non-existent horizon, Cream was sitting on a lonely bench, totally abstracted from reality. However, a violent jolt brought her out of her reverie. When she turned to see who had disturbed her, she found Charmy Bee, who was looking at her with concern as he held out a can of soda.
"Heat stroke?" he asked her.
"No, quite the opposite. As strange as it sounds," Cream replied, trying to sound calmer.
"Oh, no problem," the bee said as he held out the coffee can he kept behind his back.
"Aren't you too young to drink coffee, Charm?" said Cream with a half smile.
"So do you, but we both know that as long as Vector doesn't find out, there's no problem."
"Deal," Cream took the still warm can, opened it and as she drank it, she felt a genuine wellness run through her body. "Thank you," she finished saying authentically relieved.
"Were you thinking about how annoying it is to have to deal with rookies?"
Cream looked up to see the group of new recruits in the training camp going through the obstacle course. Being just kids who were no more than 8 years old, they were clumsy and slow, some more than others. It was not uncommon to see some who simply stopped, fell to their knees and started crying for their parents.
"Sort of," replied the Rabbit.
"That's the only bad thing about being a senior, babysitting," added Charmy as he took a seat next to Cream.
"We were rookies too, Charm."
"But no one babysat for us this way."
"Because we're first generation, Charm."
"Yeah, what a bummer."
Cream couldn't help but crack a smile thinking about the irony of it all, there was a time when everyone had to take care of her, now she had to take care of others. It made her wonder if it was just as unbearable..
"[To all senior recruits, approach the combat arena for instruction on Meta-Quartz Summoning!" the instructor's voice was heard again over the megaphones.
"Now the fun really begins," Charmy was saying as he stood up and rubbed his hands together.
"Just for you, for some reason," Cream said also getting up.
"It's fun to hit brats," Bee replied with a shrug.
"By Gaia, Charm," Cream was saying as she tried not to let out a laugh.
"Meta-Quartz is, literally and figuratively, the cornerstone of the prosperity of the Kingdom of Acorn!" exclaimed the instructor, a burly Bison with the appearance of having several years of experience, into the microphone in her hand as she walked in front of the hundred or so recruits surrounding the combat arena, a large circle of sand raised some 12 inches off the gravel floor.
"It is, as the name implies..." the Instructor continued speaking. "A type of quartz whose characteristics go beyond those of normal quartz. Quartz, you see, is piezoelectric, meaning that it develops electrical characteristics in response to being put under pressure; Meta-Quartz, on the other hand, besides being piezoelectric, is also capable of storing energy, and not only electricity, but all kinds of energy: thermal, nuclear, even kinetic and, the most important: Chaos energy, the same of the now extinct Chaos Emeralds and which every living being on this planet possesses to a greater or lesser extent as vital energy. Now...", the instructor stopped in the middle of the combat arena. "What you are holding in your hands is an Alpha Meta-Quartz bracelet, it is for training and civilian use only. At the beginning of the training you were instructed by our senior recruits in the manner in which you are to imbue the Meta-Quartz with your own chaos energy, your life energy, to then perform the main action that Meta-Quartz allows us and its strongest point: Materialize the energy into a concrete object, at that time, a bubble. Please, put your bracelets back on".
All recruits, freshmen and seniors, proceeded to place their Meta-Quartz bracelets on their dominant hand.
"The traditional form of the Meta-Quartz is in bracelets, but when you graduate and become part of the ranks of the Freedom Fighters or Diamond Cutters, you can decide on the form of your Meta-Quartz, which is manageable and easy to disguise. Well! If you have read your guides, you will know how to summon your Meta-Quartz weapon, which is slightly different from how you summoned the training bubble, but both procedures share the same principles: a mental image and the will of the user, only that now a keyword needs to be added to tie it all together. I have faith in you, but as there is always the occasional clueless person, I remind you that you must visualize the Kingdom's defenses' regulation weapon and issue the regulation keyword, which is...".
"Duty!" all the recruits exclaimed in unison. At that moment, in the hands of each of them, a faint flash of light began to be emitted from their bracelets. That flash began to take shape until it became a baton composed of a faint, translucent light.
Cream, who was to the east of the Arena, could see and recognize the girl she had been assigned to instruct on the other side, and she recognized her back. The girl's energy weapon was working smoothly, and she was smiling and trying to show Cream what a good job she had done, to which Cream nodded back with a smile.
"Very well, very well, I will assume then that you did read your guidelines and that you know what is going on. What you are holding in your hands is the Kingdom's regulation weapon, that means you are only allowed to invoke that weapon. Any other type of weapon or any modification to it is strictly forbidden for anyone who is not a captain or above. If you want to let your imagination run wild, you will have to work very hard. And speaking of captains...", the instructor moved to the north of the Arena, where two people were waiting for her. "Today we are joined by Sergeant Lanolin along with Captains Tangle, here present as well, and Whisper, who is... somewhere. They are here to evaluate the performance of not only the freshmen, but the seniors as well. You'd better not let them down."
When the fights began, the instructor positioned herself to the south of the arena to serve as referee, while to the north Lanolin and Tangle evaluated the fights; Whisper, as was her custom, preferred to stay away from the crowds, so it was not known where she was. The first round of fights were exclusively between senior recruits, to serve as a demonstration of how the fights with the Meta-Quartz weapons would have to be. Of all of them, Cream stood out for her impeccable technique. Her opponents were unable to land even one hit, although she didn't seem to make the slightest effort. Only when was Charmy's turn to fight her she make a concession and let him give at least one hit, as a thank you for the coffee, which the young bee appreciated.
The second round of fights was between the rookies, to familiarize them with the weapons. As expected, they were clumsy and somewhat embarrassing fights. Only one of them, a small badger, stood out more for his aggressiveness than for his technique, which helped him come out on top in several fights. In the last bout of this round, the badger faced Cream's apprentice. For some reason he was especially aggressive with her, bringing her to the point of tears before defeating her, which upset Cream very much.
Finally there was a third round between rookies and veterans. They were more like instructional bouts, for the veterans to correct the style of their younger opponents. However, in the last demonstration, the instructor was called out by Lanolin, who said something in her ear before she stepped aside and called rookie Badger and Cream into the arena.
"You two, one-on-one. Don't hold back, sergeant's orders."
"I wasn't planning on doing it anyway," the bratty Badger was saying in an overbearing manner.
Cream said nothing, just stared at the boy for a moment before looking at Sergeant Lanolin, who was also watching her carefully.
"Okay," Cream finally said as she thundered her neck.
"All right, let's begin!" said the instructor to start the fight.
Quite predictably, the rookie lashed out with full force at Cream. Cream simply dodged him by going to the left, then rounded him and delivered the first blow to the back of the head.
"Argh! That's cheating, she attacked me from behind!" the boy exclaimed.
"That's strategy. More learning, less complaining," the instructor replied.
The badger began to lash out with several violent blows in a row, all of them ending up in the air while Cream simply danced around them. As the "fight" progressed, the more furious the boy became, while Cream watched him with some pity.
"Coward!" the rookie shouted. "Stop running away and fight!".
"Cream," the Rabbit heard Lanolin call out to her. "Take it seriously."
"Fine," exclaimed Cream to herself. Then she took position and, from the waist, pointed the tip of her baton in the direction of Badger's face and muttered, "Home."
The baton instantly extended, striking the boy's face and knocking him out. The baton only stopped growing when Cream lifted it slightly, by that time the baton was 33 ft. longer. The instructor blew the whistle hanging from her collar to signal the end of the fight, the veteran recruits stood their ground, though the odd chuckle or whistle broke out. While the rookies were celebrating the bully's defeat. Tangle found himself laughing while Lanolin looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or be embarrassed.
"Cream, we've already discussed this! No modifications to the regulation weapon!" the instructor scolded.
"I took the combat seriously," Cream replied as she watched Lanolin.
"Haha, it's okay Crisbel," Tangle said to calm the instructor. "That's the right attitude. Isn't it, Lanolin?"
The sergeant merely nodded.
"Alright, the mood has picked up," Tangle continued as she approached the arena. "Now it's my turn."
"Uh... Captain..." the instructor tried to protest. "I don't think it's-".
"Leave her, Crisbel," interrupted Lanolin. "When she get an idea in her head it's hard to get it out," concluded the sheep evidently resigned.
"You and me, little Rabbit. We've seen your attitude, let me see more of your aptitudes".
The instructor stopped protesting and proceeded to attend to the knocked out rookie. Meanwhile, Cream retracted her baton as Tangle headed east of the arena.
"There's no way the Alpha Quartz would do something like that," Tangle stated as she moved into a combat stance.
"Difficult, not impossible," Cream replied, positioning herself to the west of the Arena.
"Oh, Did you learn how to break the limiters on your own?".
"Fake them, not break them. I can only make the baton bigger, not make it stop being a baton," Cream explained while also getting into a fighting stance.
"Well you better make that baton as big as you can, because it's time for Action."
With that last word, Tangle summoned the energy from the Meta-Quartz necklace that surrounded the base of her tail. From the light it emitted, 9 silhouettes of energy tails began to form. Cream tensed her body while the instructor swallowed saliva and Lanolin tried to look away.
"Easy, I'll be gentle... But not too much," Tangle was saying with a half-smile.
"Perfect," Cream replied feigning confidence.
"S-start!" the instructor exclaimed.
Cream made the first move trying to repeat the attack that knocked the rookie out, but Tangle used his energy tails to block it. Cream then tried to retract the weapon, but Tangle had her pinned down with one of her tails. The lemur then lifted the Rabbit using her own weapon, intending to slam her to the ground. Halfway through the arc, Cream made a move with which she commanded the expansion of the diameter of her weapon, making it impossible to hold by just one of Tangle's tails. Before the latter could hold Cream's weapon with all its tails, the Rabbit retracted the baton to its natural size and, while still in the air, instantly extended it back in Tangle's direction again and again. Tangle blocked each blow with one of her tails until Cream, in her last attack, somersaulted with the baton still extended to strike Tangle from the side. However, the lemur was able to stop the attack and hold the baton again with two of its energy tails, then quickly with the other free tails she climbed up the baton to catch the Rabbit. Cream desperately made her weapon vanish, causing both her and Tangle to begin to fall.
Before she hit the ground, however, Cream summoned the baton again, extended it and made it spin like helicopter propellers, stopping her fall. Above her she could see that Tangle had had the same idea, using two of his energy tails as propellers. The familiar sight caused Cream to freeze, fading his weapon and causing her to fall.
Tangle took the opportunity to lunge with all his free tails, but stopped when she saw that the Rabbit did not react. Tangle faded his energy tails and landed, approaching the Rabbit to see what was wrong.
"Earth to Cream! Hey! Are you okay, girl?" asked Tangle as she snapped her fingers in front of the Rabbit.
At the fourth click Cream reacted and, seeing Tangle so close, immediately summoned her weapon again and extended it to its maximum, striking the lemur in the chest. By the time Cream came fully back to her senses, Tangle had already moved several feets away and was about to touch the wall of The Academy. While the veteran recruits struggled to maintain their composure, the rookies found themselves squirming with laughter, the instructor had to do everything in her power to regain control of the group.
"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!" apologized Cream as she vanished her weapon and ducked her head in front of the instructor and Lanolin.
"It's okay Cream...," replied the Sergeant as she covered her face in embarrassment.
"...She asked for it...", Cream heard someone say behind her back.
When the Rabbit turned around, she found that it was Whisper, who was on her way to find the knocked-out Tangle.
"You may go, girl. Everyone, we're done training for the day! Please withdraw!" the instructor said to end the day.
The freshmen recruits filed out on one side, led by the instructor, while the seniors filed out on the other. Cream joined Charmy Bee, who greeted her with a pat on the back.
"That was sweet, it's not every day you knock out a brat and a captain."
"The second thing was an accident," Cream corrected. "And frankly I feared for my life 90 percent of the fight."
"Yes, I could see it on your face," stated Charmy.
"But... You were right."
"In what?"
"It's fun to hit brats. Not as much fun as hitting adults, though."
Charmy let out a snort trying not to let out a laugh as Cream struggled not to laugh as well, even though deep down she felt... weird.
"Cream!" called Lanolin in the distance, the Rabbit turned to see her. "Come see me in the office later, please," she said before retreating.
The young Rabbit swallowed saliva.
"Oh no," exclaimed Cream to herself.
"I will pray for you," Charmy said.
Cream stared at him for a few seconds before putting on an uncomfortable smile and finally saying:
"Thank you."
"It's not my fault she took me by surprise!" came Tangle's muffled voice from behind the office walls. "You saw how she got! What did you want me to do, attack her while she was catatonic?".
Cream was in front of the office door next to the Principal Office, a place that the military high command uses as an office when they come to visit.
"How about not initiating unscheduled combat with a recruit?" replied Lanolin's voice.
"You gave me the green light!".
"Because I made the mistake of trusting that you would be professional and not do, I don't know, imitate one of our dead friends!".
Hearing that Cream felt that weird sensation and froze again.
"Why do you always say that? Tails and the others aren't dead!".
"Oh yeah, so where are they? It's been 7 years already, Tangle, please stop insisting."
"I'm not going to stop insisting! because I haven't lost hope! Not like you!".
"How dare you...!".
"...Enough!...," Whisper's whispering but firm voice overpowered those of the other two. "... That's not the point. Lanolin, you should have been firmer and stopped Tangle. Tangle, you shouldn't have initiated the fight in the first place, let alone lost it. Remember what Minister Honey always tells us: how what we do is seen is as or more important than what we do. If the recruits, the civilians, don't trust us, we've already lost. We are now the laughing stock of those kids...".
A heavy silence prevailed.
"... There's someone outside...", the she-wolf concluded.
The office door opened and Lanolin was met by a transfixed Cream.
"Ah, hello Cream! I'm glad you're finally here... Cream?", Lanolin snapped his fingers in front of the Rabbit until she finally reacted.
"Ah, excuse me, I...," stammered the Rabbit.
"It's okay, come in. The stress must have paralyzed you, right?".
"Ah... Sure, sure."
"Well don't worry, we're not going to do anything bad to you. Come in an have a seat."
The large office consisted only of a large desk with a couple of file cabinets framing a window with the blinds closed, an office chair in the back and two single chairs in the front for visitors. From the ceiling hung a fan that kept the place cool enough to be pleasant in the middle of the afternoon. Tangle was frowning, leaning against the back of one of the chairs to Cream's right. She immediately changed to a friendlier face when she saw the Rabbit enter.
"What's up, little girl! you sure took me by surprise back there!" she said while feigning her usual energetic attitude.
"I'm so sorry," Cream said as she bowed her head.
"Nah, Let bygones be bygones..."
Whisper, meanwhile, remained leaning against the wall to Cream's left. As usual, it was difficult to discern her thoughts or feelings just by looking at her face. Cream took a seat in the free chair while Lanolin took her position on the other side of the desk.
"First of all, let me congratulate you on your performance in training. Your grades certainly don't lie, you are the most outstanding recruit of your generation."
"Thank you very much."
"On the other hand...," Lanolin sensed herself uncomfortable with what she was going to say next. "Tell me, how have you been feeling lately after... you know what?"
"Excuse me?"
"...How have you been after the kidnapping?..." asked Whisper in a gruff manner.
"Oh... Ah, good. All right," Cream lied.
"Are you sure?" interjected Tangle. "You've been acting strange."
"W-Well, I've been a little scattered lately...".
"Afraid it will happen again?" asked Lanolin.
"... A little, maybe?"
"...You mustn't worry anymore...", Whisper sentenced.
"Sure, we'll take care of it!", added Tangle.
"Of what...?".
"On direct orders from Queen Sally and with directions from Commander Shadow, a search and suppression commission has been formed for the perpetrators of your kidnapping."
Cream was silent as she processed what she heard.
"It will be a joint operation with the Freedom Fighters and the Diamond Cutters. I wanted to call you to let you know so you wouldn't feel insecure anymore," Lanolin concluded with a smile.
"Yeah, whoever your kidnappers are, we'll turn them into desert dust, you can be sure of that!" added Tangle as she patted Cream on the back.
"Yes... T-thank you very much...", it was difficult for the Rabbit to articulate words, she held her hands tightly so that it could not be seen that she was trembling.
"Well, that was it. You can retire and get on with your training."
Robotically, Cream stood up, gave a military farewell and walked towards the exit. Her steps were heavy and orthopedic, like a mannequin forced to walk. Her breathing was heavy and beads of sweat were beginning to form on her forehead. When she was in front of the door, with her hand firmly holding the knob, she stood frozen for a few seconds.
"Everything okay, little-?", Tangle started to ask before she was interrupted.
"Excuse me!" exclaimed Cream as she suddenly made a half-turn. She put her feet together and made a military salute. "Sergeant Lanolin! Permission to make a request, sir!".
After Thoughts:
For those who are still reading, first of all: Thank you very much for reading my Fic! Second: I'm really sorry for the delay!
Finishing the previous batch of chapters was very difficult and unsatisfactory, you can see it in the time difference between the third chapter and the fourth, as well as some inconsistencies that I may correct later. I think I had abused all my creativity in the first chapter (which was originally more than 8000 words and I had to divide it) and I was immersed in a brutal creative block that lasted until recently that I could finally sit down to write again.
This new batch is better structured and with a more polished finish, although I did not rule out the occasional error. If you find one, let me know!
I swear that from now on I will keep the periodicity, I have many ideas in mind that I want to shape in this story. I hope you continue to join me in the course of it!
Random Trivia: How many types of Meta-Quartz are there?*
In short, as many as there are letters in the Greek alphabet. You know what they are: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and so on up to Omega. Each type has its limits, except Omega and Omicron, since the first one is the most powerful and the second one is special, but talking more about it would be Spoiler. That if, not all types will be mentioned in the story, only the most important ones. For now I can say that:
Meta-Quartz Alpha is for self-defense, it can only create small to medium weapons.
The Meta-Quartz that the recruits of The Academy receive after graduation is Gamma.
The Meta-Quartz Beta, Epsilon and Kappa are used in heavy work, as you can only create tools with them, each one does a heavier job than the previous one.
Meta-Quartz Dseta, Eta, Zeta and Iota are used in telecommunications.
The Meta-Quartz of the Diamond Cutter captains is Delta type.
The Meta-Quartz of Lanolin and the captains of the Freedom Fighters are Lambda type.
The Meta-Quartz Mi, Ni and Xi are used as fuel.
Shadow's Meta-Quartz is Sigma (yes, that's on purpose. I find it funnier that way).
Meta-Quartz Fi and Ji are used in the anti-aircraft defense of the realm.
Meta-quartz Tau and Ipsilon are used in the energy system.
Meta-Quartz Psi is used in medicine.
At the time the story takes place, there are only three people in the entire world who possess an Omega Meta-Quartz, and one of them is, of course, Queen Sally. The other two people are Spoiler.